Author's Notes: So, I was watching the opening sequence to Rebirth, in preparation for writing the next chapter...and I realized that the timeskip was EIGHT months, not six like I originally wrote. Whoops. Silly me. After all, one does not simply solo grind from Level 1 all the way to Level 133 in a mere six months. This shall be corrected once this chapter is finished uploading.

Also, here we get to the first reason as to why this fic is M-rated! Since there is a first reason, this implies that there are more...

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or .hack. I definitely wish I owned the latter, so I could get more support for it, but...

Ryou looked down at the body of Shino Nanao. He had been doing this every single day for the past eight months, ever since she'd fallen into the coma. He'd visit and tell her something funny or interesting that had happened to him that day. She never responded, of course. She couldn't, in her comatose state. He'd heard that people in comas were still at least partially aware of their surroundings, so that's what he was hoping for, otherwise he'd feel pretty stupid when she woke up.

"Hey, it's you-know-who again. Sorry I'm late." He forced a chuckle out. "You're not gonna believe what my dad pulled with me…"

"The hell do you mean 'you're staying with me'?!" he shouted at the transfer student, releasing the blue-eyed boy from his grip. Ryou had noticed that he was being followed ever since he'd left school to head to the hospital to visit Shino. It was as if his pursuer wasn't even trying to hide this fact. So, he'd ducked into an alleyway and hid, leaping out and pressing the boy against the wall, arm against his throat, ready to press down at a moment's notice to knock him out.

Gasping for air and rubbing his throat, Sora looked up at him once he was sure there was no permanent damage. He was pretty sure his neck might bruise a little, but he'd live. "You didn't get the letter your dad sent you? Well, no problem, he gave me a copy, just in case you forgot." He rummaged through his bag for a few seconds before pulling out the envelope, his father's signature on the front and a silver crown seal on the back. It wasn't the usual stamp from the company on the envelope, so Ryou was initially suspicious. Yet that boy, Sora, didn't look like the kind of person who was, well, malevolent, so Ryou snatched the letter away and tore it open. Sure enough, there was a letter, typed from a computer and printed out, detailing that he'd be getting a roommate. At the bottom sat his father's signature, so neat that it had to have been stamped on, and the company logo beside it. He groaned in annoyance. Why did it seem like his bad feelings usually seemed to be spot on? On the bright side, he would be getting rent and be allowed to set the rules, and Sora was not a troublemaker; no drinking, partying, or smoking of any kind, as the boy himself had said.

With a irritated "Follow me," Ryou began walking home, in the opposite direction of the hospital, without even looking to see if Sora was following him. He intended to get this over with as quickly as possible so he could see Shino, and then log in to The World to search for information. Arriving at his apartment, he gave Sora a brief tour of most of the house, stopping outside of his room last.

"Alright, Sora. This is my room. Since you aren't the party animal, or do any of that other shit, there are only two rules here. Rule Number 1: Don't go into my room. Rule Number 2: Do NOT go into my fucking room. Other than that, you've got free reign, as far as I'm concerned. Just let me know if you're gonna invite anybody over before hand, so I can not be around. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got somewhere to be. I'll be back later this evening." He turned and began to leave, but stopped and turned back around, fixing him with a glare that promised pain. "If you go in there, I will know."

"...and that's about all there is to it. He's living with me, and I can't do squat. Hopefully he won't be too much of a pain in my ass." He sighed. "This is gonna sound crazy, but Sora feels...familiar, somehow. Which is weird, because I'd definitely remember meeting somebody as obnoxiously optimistic as him. Anyway, I'd better get going." He paused, placing a honeysuckle in the vase beside her. He looked back at her, the forced smile fading, and for the briefest moment it looked like he was about to burst into tears. Then his eyes hardened as he spoke.

"I'll find him, Shino. I'll find Tri-Edge, and I'll make him pay. That's a promise."

After Ryou had left, Sora let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. Yen Sid had been insistent that Sora find this Ryou Misaki, but could the sorcerer at least have warned him that he was gonna be so, well, grumpy? This guy gave Leon and Cloud a run for their munny; he didn't want to imagine what would happen if all three of them somehow ended up in the same room together. He was about to head into his room when he heard a muffled 'pop', followed by the doorbell, and another muffled 'pop'. A part of him hoping that Ryou hadn't come back suddenly, he was relieved when he opened the door to see no one around. He was about to brush it off as a prank when he saw the package on the ground addressed to him. His curiosity piqued, he grabbed it and brought it inside. He went into his bedroom and opened it up, a letter sitting on top of the other objects inside it. Picking it up, he began to read the flowery script.

Hey there, Sora! Hopefully Merlin can get this package to you real soon. You probably heard him poofing outside your new place to drop it off. Anyway, what was I supposed to tell you? Oh, yeah! Master Yen Sid told us that'd you'd need these things for your super top-secret mission. You're so lucky though; all you have to do is playing an online game! Anyway, Cid already took the liberty of making your character, and he even managed to give you your own special Class...or was it Role?...No, wait it was Job! That's what they're called...I think. Technically, it's illegally hacked, but Tron made it so that the game more or less recognizes it as a "promotional class", so it can't be deleted by anyone. Anyway, you'll have everything you need in this package. Merlin managed to enchant all the gear so that it wouldn't ever run out of juice, and so that if you ever manage to break it, it'll automatically fix itself. We all know how bad you are with computers, after all. Anyway, Aerith, Squall, and the rest of us here at the Restoration Committee are rooting for ya! Good luck! This is the Great Ninja Yuffie, signing out!

Sora let out a laugh. He supposed they'd never let him live it down that he'd literally gotten sucked into Ansem's computer. It was more Donald's fault than his, and yet they constantly teased him about it. He was about to set the letter down when he saw a postscript.

P.S. Yuffie forgot to mention it, but Riku and Kairi should be getting their own sets as well. You'll already have their Member Addresses, and there should be a camera built-in so you all can keep in touch. Stay safe. Aerith.

The grin on Sora's face looked like it could split his face in two. Without wasting another moment, he pulled out the laptop, slid the M2D headset over his eyes, plugged the controller into the laptop, and booted it up. The machine couldn't load up fast as the words "ALTIMIT MINE OS" appeared in the background, a soothing piano melody filling his ears. Rotating the menu away from "The World" and straight to the webcam image, he hit confirm. He was a little disappointed to see that Riku wasn't online yet, but seeing the words "Online" surrounded in dark blue next to Kairi's name almost made him jump for joy. He selected "Call With Video", and waited for her to answer. It hadn't even rung three times before she picked up, and he couldn't help but let out a laugh as she appeared on screen, an M2D over her own eyes. He vaguely recognized what sounded like a startled squeak from somewhere else in the room, but he couldn't stop laughing at how silly Kairi looked! "What's so funny, Sora?" she pouted, feigning annoyance.

"Have you looked in a mirror, Kairi? I mean, not that you could, what with that headset in your way," he teased, finally managing to control his laughter.

"You're one to talk! I'm surprised that you managed to fit that thing on over that mess you call your hair," she shot right back at him. Now it was Sora's turn to pout.

"Hey! Leave my hair out of this!" He sounded incredibly offended, and one would think he was...until he started laughing again. Kairi joined in too, and Sora realized that he heard a third person giggling with them. "Well, your roommate sounds like she enjoys my existence," he grinned. The third person let out another embarrassed sound.

Kairi giggled again, then held up a finger, signaling him to wait as she stood up, removed the headset, and walked across the room she was in. He heard a muffled conversation, and slid the headset above his eyes as he wondered what was going on. He saw Kairi come back in front of her computer, dragging a dark-haired girl who looked like a deer in headlights, despite the M2D on her face as well. "Well, go on. Say hello to him. He won't bite, I promise!" Kairi encouraged the girl.

"Oh, uh, hello there. I'm Chigusa. It's...nice to meet you, Mister Sora." Her voice was so quiet that Sora almost didn't hear her. He laughed when she called him "Mister Sora", as did Kairi. Chigusa looked down, suddenly very interested in the sheets she was seated on. Immediately, Sora stopped laughing.

"Hey, no need to be sad." His tone was respectful and kind. He grinned when she looked up. "Besides, 'Mister Sora' is my dad. Just call me Sora! No need for fancy titles or anything. Any friend of Kairi's is a friend of mine."

Chigusa looked as shocked as one could looked with a headset obscuring her eyes. "Friends?" she whispered.

Sora nodded. "That's right! We're friends now, no matter what! That's a promise!"

Chigusa's lip quivered for the briefest of moments, like she was about to burst into tears. Sora worried that he'd said something wrong for a moment before she smiled, a light blush adorning her cheeks. "Then...I'd be happy to have you as a friend, Sora!"

He smiled right back at her. "You know Kairi, your roommate's pretty cute." After he said that, Chigusa's mouth dropped into an astonished 'o', her blush darkening in color. "Of course, my girlfriend is much, much cuter." He gave a sly grin.

"G-girlfriend?! Kairi, you never told me that he had a girlfriend! Oh no, what if she finds out about this? What if she gets mad at me? What if-" Chigusa was stopped by the next words out of Kairi's mouth.

"His girlfriend already knows. After all, she's sitting right next to you."

For the second time that day, Chigusa's mouth took the amusing shape of a Cheerio. "Uh, Kairi, I think you might have broken her," Sora joked. Immediately disproving his theory, Chigusa shook her head and stood up, bowing to Sora.

"Well, um, it was very nice to meet you, Sora! I hope we'll get to meet someday!" With that, she headed back across the room to sit at her computer, picking up her controller.

"Well, at least she's nicer than my roommate. He's...pretty grouchy," Sora sighed, looking a little dejected. At least Kairi looked like she was getting along better with her roommate than he was with his own. Determined to wipe the frown off Sora's face, Kairi tried to think of a way to, before she glanced over at Chigusa and saw what she was playing.

"Sora! You have got to play this game! The World! It's just...It's so…look just, play the game, and you'll see!" Without further ado, Kairi slipped her own M2D back on and ended the call.

Sora raised an eyebrow, curious. For as long as he could remember, Kairi had never been interested in video games. So either she only liked a specific kind of game...or this game was so good, that even Kairi enjoyed it. So now Sora was really excited to play this game.

"The World, huh? Alright, let's see what this is all about!" With that, he slipped the M2D back over his eyes, moved the cursor back to the position it had been when he'd first started up the laptop, and logged in to The World.

Δ Server Root Town: Eternal City Mac Anu

The sound of trickling water was the first thing that met the ear's of Sora after he Logged In. Then the chatter of the few players lounging in the hall he'd appeared in, some bartering, and others simply relaxing. He opened his eyes and saw that he was within a domed structure, standing over a small water way. As he looked into it, he was awestruck by his appearance.

He looked quite similar to how he'd looked when he'd first started his journey on Destiny Islands, with a few noticeable differences. His yellow shoes weren't nearly as oversized as they were before, a fact he was grateful for. His red shorts were held up slightly by the hardened leather armor covering the lower part of his torso. A blue belt hung loosely around his hips, leading up to a red zipped up shirt. A miniature hoodie sat on his shoulders; it was white on the outside and blue on the inside. It wasn't too snug, but neither was it too loose either. Around his neck hung a bronze necklace with the familiar crown symbol he usually wore. His eyes were the same sky blue that they were in real life. His hair, on the other hand, was vastly different. The front half was a lighter shade of brown than it normally was, and completely untamed. The back half was the complete opposite; dark brown and neatly trimmed. His gloves were exactly the same. Everything looked so real!

He caught a glimpse of something swishing out of the corner of his eye, and turned to see what it was, only for there to be nothing there. He was about to play it off as a trick of the mind, when he saw it again. So he turned, and once again found nothing. He continued this for a few more seconds before a girl shouted "It's your tail!" He looked over his shoulder and, lo and behold! He had a lion's tail. Forcing down his embarrassment, he turned to thank the player, only for her to speak once more. "Judging from how long it took for you to realize that was your tail, I'd say that you're a newbie, right?" The girl had a large, puffy hat, with baggy purple pants as well as a purple top. She bared her midriff and was smiling cheerfully. Beside her stood a man the same height as her, clothed in navy blue pants and a silvery chainmail top. His grey hair obscured his eyes, but he too wore a friendly smile.

"I'm IYOTEN, a Blade Brandier, and this is my partner Asta, an Edge Punisher. We like to help out newbs. Show them the ropes. It makes the game fun for us. Here, join a party with us! Take my Member Address," the man offered, handing Sora what looked like a business card with his name, player class, and other statistics on it.

"Mine too!" Asta gave Sora her's as well.

Upon closer inspection, Sora saw that the two of them were in their early-20s in terms of their Level, and they now had 100 Member Addresses, after having added him to it. "Wooooah! I'm gonna be the hundredth person you guy's have helped! That's pretty awesome!" Sora grinned cheerfully.

"Yup! Looks like it's our lucky day! All three of our's!" IYOTEN smirked.

"I know the perfect Field to go to!" Asta exclaimed, walking up to the Chaos Gate and speaking the Keywords aloud. "Δ Screaming Ruined Paradise!"

As the three of them Gated Out to the chosen Field, a figure dressed in a black cloak with the hood obscuring his features let out a sigh. "I swear, that kid is just too trusting for his own good sometimes." He couldn't intervene directly; not without exposing himself too soon. Indirectly, on the other hand... "Yeah, that could work." Typing out an anonymous e-mail to the user behind one Haseo, Ryou Misaki, the figure smirked under his hood; tell him that there might be a lead to Tri-Edge somewhere, and the boy would be off like a bloodhound in no time. Now all that remained was for him to get there in time. A slight chuckle escaped the man as he Logged Out.

Author's Notes: IYOTEN and Asta seem pretty nice, don't they? Those of you familiar with .hack, however...well, let's just say that those who aren't are in for a surprise.

Anyway, we know that Sora got his laptop and what-not from Merlin, and Kairi surely got her's the same way...but what about Riku? Well...let's just say that, as a disclaimer, I don't own Harry Potter or Scooby-Doo.

EDIT: Changed the ending to this chapter, and I'm going to be redoing the next chapter. I looked over it again, and realized a little to late that it was...going a little too fast. Changes should be up shortly.

Omake #2: A Wizard Did It...

Merlin let loose a sigh, crumbling an Ether in his hand and letting the item restore his mana pool. He couldn't recall the last time he'd ever Apparated in such rapid succession! Wait, he's never Apparated this many times in such rapid succession before. He let loose a chortle, certain that this would would set a Wizarding World Record; after all, how many could claim to have Apparated between worlds in rapid succession before? Kairi's delivery had been rather easy; wait until the parents of her roommate were out of hearing distance, Apparate in, drop the package off, and Disapparate away like he'd never been there. Kairi hadn't arrived back from school yet.

Sora's package had been a little trickier, since he and his roommate were there. He'd waited until he'd seen with his portable crystal ball that the roommate had left, Apparated outside the apartment, set the package down, attempted to knock before remembering that doorbells where a thing, used said doorbell, and Disapparated back to Radiant Garden.

Now came Riku's package. Since he was somewhat tired, he didn't bother checking if nobody was there. He Apparated in, muttered "Alohamora" to unlock Riku's door, set the package on his bed, walked back out (after making sure he'd locked the door behind him), and was about to Disapparate when...

"By my beard! Who let a skunk in here?!" He looked to his right, only to see a young man and his Great Dane staring at him with wide, bloodshot eyes, a lit piece of paper about to slip from the man's lips and drop to the floor. That would surely cause a fire! Merlin cast a weak Water spell, absolutely drenching the young man and the dog. Then he realized that this man had most likely seen everything. "Oh, bollocks." Merlin muttered. Wasting no time, he prepared to Disapparate, pointing his wand at the soon-to-be ex-witness, and spoke in a perfectly calm voice.

"Obliviate."

The Memory Charm went off without a hitch, erasing the short-term memories of the young man completely as the young man blinked. There was a 'pop', and Merlin was gone by the time the young man had reopened his eyes. Blinking stupidly, the man looked down at himself and said only one thing aloud. "Zoinks, Scoob. Like, how'd I get so wet?" The Great Dane did not respond, as he was too busy fearfully chewing his nails off at the sight he'd just seen.