A/N: Hehe. I like this story. It's giving me something to enjoy as my family is out 'camping'. Hooray for being in an area with electricity :3! Oh, thanks for the review xD! I've had this written to the middle of chapter four since before I started posting the story, I was just waiting until Saturday. Just because of your review I'm posting it now. Also, I haven't played this game for nearly a year, so if you see anything that's weird or the game is against let me know so I can go through and revise it. Enjoy, ?-san!

Also, I might come back and add in a random little bit about the family and Kaoru getting to know each other again, it sounds like it'll be interesting. I've actually started considering making a new 'story' for a bunch of holiday one shots, so I might throw it in there. I have a busy schedule for like three days because of my birthday.

Also!: a cookie for whoever knows what MMO (AFK) is from :3!

Waste Some Time
Chapter Three
The Rose On The Move

Endrance stood beside the chaos gate, watching the different characters coming and going. Every so often somebody would watch him, or wave or smile. To each person he simply stared. He was waiting for Haseo by Breg Epona's gate, just standing there. The kid was the leader of a guild. He had other people he leveled with. It was perfectly logical that he was taking a while to get to the gate. And still Kaoru could feel the ugly emotion of jealousy bubbling up in his chest at the thought.

That Atoli girl… She threw herself at Haseo almost as much as he did himself, although he did it far more tastefully.

Sitting in silence, he wondered for a moment if that was why he was late. If the man of his dreams (as Haseo had been labeled a month or two after they met) was being delayed by that healer. He knew they were close, closer than he'd probably like to admit. But… He couldn't help but hope that the adept rogue preferred his company to that of the whiny girl's.

To Kaoru's surprise, his character sat of its own accord. When left idle for fifteen minutes they were programmed to sit, and (AFK) was set to appear before their name to let other players know that they were away from the keyboard. Kaoru frowned from within his headset, as did (AFK)Endrance. That meant that Haseo had asked to meet him there about seventeen minutes ago, and yet he wasn't showing up.

With a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, Kaoru removed the headset. That probably meant Haseo was off with one of the girls. As he thought about it, he took a bite of the food his mother had left on the corner of his desk for him in the unlikely case he grew hungry. Haseo had girls left and right. From the big-breasted Pi to Alkaid and Atoli… And, after all, they'd only known each other for a year… It wasn't like he had any claim on the boy.

With a sigh he settled on going back to his search of Breg Epona's market when he heard "Damnit!" echo quietly from the headset.

He lifted it curiously and replaced it over his eyes. As he grew accustomed to the sights, he recognized Haseo standing in front of him, looking distressed.

A smile broke out over Kaoru's face. "Haseo. There you are," as soon as the words left his lips, Haseo perked up, looking down at him. "I was getting worried..." his smile faltered slightly when the guild leader glared at him.

"Endrance, you moron! What were you doing waiting here? I told you to meet me at Mac Anu's chaos gate!" he rebuked, hands finding his hips as they had a habit of doing.

(AFK)Endrance became Endrance a second later. The avatar stood, taking the few steps that brought it as close as he liked being to Haseo. And as surely as he drew nearer, Haseo took that step back like he did when he was annoyed with him. "What do you mean? You just asked me to meet you at the chaos gate. You must have told Mac Anu to… somebody else." Endrance's arms wrapped around himself. "I've been waiting here because this is the last place I saw you."

Haseo blinked, taken aback by the statement. He scratched the back of his neck nervously, kicking at the ground. "Actually… Atoli told me to meet her at Mac Anu…"

Kaoru felt the butterflies attacking his stomach. A small smile spread across his lips. "But, why are you here if you have Atoli, right? She obviously wants to be alone with you," he pointed out, the wings were suddenly sharp as razors, scratching at his insides.

Haseo crossed his arms over his chest instead of his hips, something he did when he was feeling nervous. Or so Kaoru had surmised. "Yeah. I told her that I'd already promised to spend the day with you."

Endrance blinked. "But you didn't…" he said, confused by the Terror of Death's choice of words.

Haseo looked embarrassed, staring openly at him. His hands were balled into fists at his side in an instant. "Fine! If you don't wanna come with me then stay here!" he exclaimed, leaving the scene at once.

Kaoru blushed, a smile coming unbidden to his lips. He wondered for the briefest instant if that was an invitation before he acted on it. In a heartbeat and a half he was porting between Breg Epona and Mac Anu. As he landed in the starter city, he saw a less-than-pleased Atoli standing with her arms crossed over her stomach beside the still-embarrassed Haseo, who was looking determinedly at the chaos gate.

"Haseo." Endrance called. The white-haired character ignored him, but his posture stiffened. "Please invite me." This time even the simulated voice sounded excited. Both Atoli and Haseo looked up at him as he approached. He scooped Haseo's hands up into his own, leaning closer to him. The implications in what the other had said in his newest root town… He could barely contain himself.

Atoli bristled at the motion, but remained silent. Haseo's face tinged red. "Fine. C-calm yourself down!" he demanded, ripping free, though the hold wasn't tight at all.

Haseo has invited you to join his party of Haseo and Atoli. Accept. Decline. As soon as the words flashed across his screen, he accepted. Endrance has joined the party. popped into the corner. His smile remained in place.

"Can we go now, Haseo?" Atoli asked, taking a childish pose that candidly drew attention to her chest.

He didn't even spare her a glance, still flustered by Endrance's actions. "Uh- yeah. We're going now."

The next second, they were warping through the gate to a low-level field.

When they landed, Haseo smiled, taking a few steps forward. Atoli waited behind, giving Endrance a hard look-over before rushing to catch up with a huff. Haseo paused, turning back to look at him. "You coming, Endrance?"

"Man, Kaoru. You sure can space out if you try hard enough…" Kaoru's eyes came into focus from the ceiling only to see that his sister was in the way, smiling. "C'mon. We're getting ready to go. Make sure you're all packed!" She smacked his arm, jumping off his bed and twirling around his room.

"I've had everything packed up for a week, Minoru," he replied, sitting up and pointing to the two bags against the wall opposite his desktop.

She gasped dramatically. "What? You aren't bringing you precious computer? Who are you and what have you done with my brother?"

"I have my laptop…" he conceded.

Minoru gave a bark of laughter, a bright grin on her face. "Aha! I knew it. Got our game all loaded 'so I can play it when I visit?'" she asked, air quotes and all.

He frowned at her. "You don't have much faith in me…"

"Oh, it's not that. I'm just a hopeless romantic," she said matter-of-factly, plopping down in the rolling chair and spinning in it as she had a habit of doing. At his confused expression, she smirked. "I'm confident that once you find out that the love of your life is worried about you and has written to you, you'll forget all about whatever it is that made you want to give it up. That and because I already told Atoli you'd be on tonight," she pointed out.

"He's written to me?" he said, regurgitating the only part of her sentence that he'd registered aside from 'worried about you'.

He was on his feet in an instant, moving toward his desktop. "Yep. He wrote you the night you gave it up actually." He looked at her as though she'd just kicked his metaphorical puppy. "And the night after that. And about a week later."

"And you didn't think it necessary to tell me?"

"Of course not. You don't want to play anymore. You insisted on it, in fact."

He lunged for the computer, but right when he was poised to turn it on, his mother opened the door. "We're going."

"Can I have a moment? Something just came-"

"We're leaving now." His father's voice interjected.

The room went silent.

"Yes."

The time it took to drive to Tokyo only increased his dislike for Minoru. Especially since the whole way she was saying things like "'If only you'd gotten on, Endrance. We could have made up and had hot, sweaty, cyber-!'" His parents had looked back at them for that. She'd continued talking behind his hand, though it was muffled enough that they didn't understand. "'Where were you when I needed you so badly? Atoli had to comfort me instead of the one I really wanted… And she kept trying to take my pants off.'" He'd shot her a glare for that one, though it wasn't directed at her. "Oh, by the way, Atoli's trying to get you back online. She said something about being worried about him and how he's not the same. Stupid things like that."

It wasn't until this trip that he realized what a cruel, dirty mind his sister had.

For rarely leaving his room for five years, he was suddenly fairly close to his little sister. And it had everything to do with how nosy she was. She'd rarely left him alone the whole month he was offline. When he'd asked her if she had any real friends she'd reciprocated, so he gave it up and submitted himself to being stuck with her.

As they pulled into the parking lot of his six-month home, he was chomping at the bit to get inside and on the web, but his mother wouldn't let him go that easily. She pulled him into a tight hug, holding him to her as if he were back in infancy and somebody were trying to take him by force.

"I'll miss you, Kaoru-chan. I wish we would have known you'd be back to us by now. I wish you could join us! So badly." She sobbed into his shoulder.

"I'll be okay, mom," he replied, hugging her back a little awkwardly since it was something he still wasn't used to. "Remember? You said it yourself."

"I was just trying to give you a little confidence. I'd take it back if it would keep you with me!" she sounded on the verge of hysterics.

Minoru came to his rescue for the first time that day, smiling and peeling his mother from him in a way that suggested she'd had practice.

Only recently did Kaoru realized how clingy his mother was. According to Minoru she'd slept in a chair outside of his room a couple times when he hadn't slept in a few days and she would be the one who carried him to his bed the few nights he didn't remember making it there. And there were many more little things she did on a daily basis, like remake his bed, even when it went untouched, bring him the cup of water he'd only barely realized was always full when he needed a drink…

And he'd deprived her of this for so long.

"Come on, now. We have to let him go, mom. He's a grown boy. And he needs to make up with his lover, so hop to it, bucko!" she said, clapping her hands as she pointed to the building.

"Lover?" his mother asked immediately. "My little Kaoru hasn't been meeting girls online, has he…?" she asked, a pointed look in her eyes, "You know they lie where they can… Bust size, hip size, personality, general looks. It's all lies, Kaoru!" She sounded as though she were right back on the verge of hysterics as Minoru started pulling her back to the car.

"I love you, mom. Dad, Minoru," he said respectfully, bowing low as they looked out from inside the car. He repressed his impulse to run for the stairs and restart his connection to the online world.

"We… love you, too, Kaoru. We'll be back for you in six months."

"And I'll be back in time for school, bud. You'd better believe I'll be over every weekend."

"Make some real friends, Minoru!"

"You too!"

As soon as they were out of sight he sped into his new home, ignoring the impending fear that clenched at his stomach. When he was in his new sanctuary, he immediately unpacked his laptop and plugged it in, connecting to the local wireless internet hotspot.

Just as Minoru had said, there were three mails from Haseo. He dove into the first one greedily.

Endrance, please come back online. I can explain whatever happened. I , I don't have enough time to type it out and I want to make sure you understand. Please meet me at Breg Epona's chaos gate.

That one came ten minutes after he gave up the game. Kaoru felt a sting of guilt in the pit of his stomach. He checked the time of the next one. It was the next day at 2, two hours after they usually agreed to meet on Saturdays.

I'm sorry. Saku just told me what happened. I'm so sorry. I waited for you, but you didn't show up like you usually do. You really are mad at me, aren't you? Now that I think about it, you've never been angry at me. Not once… guess I really blew it this time. But I want to talk to you. No matter when you get this, please let me know. This is my number, please call it the next time you get online. I don't care what's happening. I'll drop anything. I really want to talk to you. Please don't be too mad at me, Endrance. Wow. I just realized I don't know your real name after being your friend for three years. Did it really never come up…? I'm horrible. My name is Ryou. You can call me that if you want, but please don't use it in front of anybody else. Nobody else from The World knows it. Like I said, please call me. No matter if it's 2 in the morning, the middle of the day, two weeks from never… I'll be online as soon as I can. Please, Endrance.
Ryou.

Kaoru felt his stomach clench with the skilled words of the one he'd grown so attached to. He really seemed serious about it. Why was he saying 'Saku told me what happened'. He was there, too… He shouldn't need to be told. Not after he asked him to leave. The 20-something-year-old swallowed hard, looking down to the phone number. The final one he sent was, as Minoru said at the very start of semester break.

I feel horrible about making you so angry at me. And the worst part is I don't even know if you just hate me now or if you're not getting these… Or… worse yet… did it make you quit. Endrance, please. Please. I hope that I didn't make you quit something you love so much. I'm out of school as of tomorrow at noon. I'll stay home for the month. I'll be in my room, by my computer. I won't leave it for a second. If you call I will be online immediately. Knowing I could have hurt you bad enough to make you hate me or quit… I'm sorry. Please come back, Endrance. Please forgive me. I've never explained what happened, have I? I'll explain at the end of the month if you don't get online. It's too impersonal just through mail to tell you. I want to make sure you understand. Please don't hate me. That's it. I've made my case. Here's my number again in case you didn't get the last mail. Did you know there's a new character running around Mac Anu with the name Endraseo? I thought it was pretty funny. She even looks like the both of our characters. Next time I see her I think I'll talk to her. She looks a lot like you. Well… your character at least. Ah. I'm rambling. Okay. Please let me know if you get online. Hopefully I'll talk to you later.

Ryou

Kaoru stared blankly at the screen. He could barely believe he had worried Haseo enough to write this. He inwardly cursed Minoru. She'd seen him. There was no way she wouldn't have. His design is too obvious in Mac Anu. His level too high… Why hadn't she said anything, or maybe spoken to Haseo herself? He breathed in deeply, calming himself down. If only he'd read it in the car or before they left. He could have called. But as it was he had nothing but a return message to send. As soon as his rent was paid, he was saving for a cell phone.

He was about to reply when the topmost message caught his eye. Atoli. He debated for a moment. Maybe there was something important in there. It was from the previous night. The original message read:

Endrance,

I want to talk to you, would you please get online? It's about Haseo. He's been acting differently these last few weeks. He got in a fight with SakuBo and they were arguing over you. I don't remember all of it, but in the end, Saku wound up logging out, shouting that it was entirely his fault you weren't getting online anymore. I won't ask what happened, that's your business. But… Normally I would try to solve it myself, but it hasn't worked this time. Whatever happened, whatever he did… he's sorry about it. Genuinely. He's only been running through low-level fields, he hasn't been leveling at all. When I asked him why, he said it was because he wants to stay even with you. I… I want the old Haseo back. The Haseo who gave snappy remarks when they were deserved. Not the Haseo even Gaspard can walk all over. Please come back online. Maybe we can set up a time to meet. I know I'm not your favorite person… but if it takes you to bring him back, I'll do whatever it takes. Please?

Atoli

Above that was a reply that Minoru had obviously written:

Atoli,

My brother is having something of a breakdown because of whatever Haseo did (Way to blow things out of proportion, Minoru.). I don't know what it is and I don't really want to know, but what I do know is that my brother is still attached to Haseo. Whatever he did hasn't made him hate the guy. Every once in a while he accidentally mentions him and just kinda drifts off. I'm sure I can convince 'Endrance' to get back online. Let's talk online. I'll meet you by Mac Anu's chaos gate. My character's name is Endraseo.

Minty-chan (Endrance's Sister)

Kaoru couldn't quite tell whether to want to hug her or strangle her, which was a fairly typical thing, as he'd recently found out. The final response sat on top, like the head of a pyramid.

Endrance,

I've spoken with your sister. She said you would be on tonight. I hope so. She also said that you don't have a phone to call Haseo (Did he give you his number?), but I spoke with him when he was on yesterday, he said he'd get on at 10 tonight. If you want to talk to him, please get on and talk to me first. I would like to be there too. I want to see if you being there really has anything to do with his response. It's getting a little annoying, to tell the truth… I'll be on at 930. I know we haven't really gotten too close… but I'd like to change that. If you don't mind, that is.

Atoli