.Hack//END OF THE ROAD

Genre - Romance/Action/Adventure
(Kite x Blackrose) Timeline - the end of .Hack//INFECTION, and the beginning of .Hack//MUTATION Disclaimer: I do not own .Hack or any of its characters, they belong to Bandai Entertainment. Summary:
As Kite prepares for the battle against Skieth he begins to think about his friend and
ally Blackrose, and the feelings he has for her. Kites POV (point of view)

Chapter 1: "Questions and feelings"

As we made our way through the dungeon of Theta - Chosen, Hopeless, Nothingness I find myself occupied with the thought of my last conversation with Blackrose at the chaos gate in the root town of Dun Loireag. How I told that I wasn't sure if I was strong enough to defeat the monster that put my friend Yasuhiko, or Orca as he was know in "The World", into a coma and how we could end up the same way.

I pushed the thought out of my mind as we entered the next room, it was large and square with the exit on the far wall, unfortunatly a lone magic portal stood between us and our exit. I took a step toward it, it became active, and a large Tetra Armor took it's place. Towering over us it raised its right arm, which consisted manly of a huge mace, to stirke us. I found myself giving out orders without even thinking. I told Blackrose to circle around behind it and attack, Elk, a very shy and timid but kind wavemaster, to hit the creature with every spell he had while I did my best to distract it. As the Tetra Armors attention was on me I heard a wooshing sound and intense heat fly over me, it seemed that Elk had used a fire spell, and was quickly followed by another sound, the all to familiar clang of metal against metal, as Blackroses heavy-blade sword made contact with the Tetra Armors back. The impact of Elks fire spell along with the pain of Blackroses sword slicing through the monters armor and the flesh it protected made the creature roar an mixture of pain, anger, and fear into an unearthly and hideous scream that could have shaken the walls. The monster slouched down badly wounded but very much alive, the on-screen counter showed that the previous attacks had brought the creatures health points down to one-quarter of its total. I shouted "get back" to my comrades, to which they immediatly obeyed, and ran toward our wounded adversary. "Staccato" I shouted as my character opened up on the Tetra Armor with a flurry of attacks with my two short swords. The monster fell in defeat under the power of my attacks. Elk let out a releaved sigh, Blackrose a triumphent "Yes" while lifting her large sword over her head, while I remained silent my thoughts returning to the beautiful young girl in front of me.

We made our way to the exit, which had until only moments before been blocked by the hulking Tetra Armor, Blackrose went through first and just as I was about to was stopped as I was held back on account of Elk had grabbed my arm. "Is something wrong Elk?" I asked in my usual calm and collected tone, "Ummm...... Kite do you......" his voice trailed off. "Do I what?" concern edging its way into my voice now. "Do you love Blackrose, Kite?" Elk then blurted out in his usual quiet tone. It took a few moments for Elks question to sink in, did I really love her? was this feeling I had toward her really lo... "Hey whats taking you two so long?". Blackroses voice cut off my train of thought. "Oh nothing, just needed to talk to Elk for a minute thats all". "Oh well don't talk to long we've got to keep going" her tone was serious, trying to hide a hint of nervousness that was creeping its way into her voice. "Yeah...... sure Blackrose". With my reply Blackrose left the room again with Elk following close behind, but before he went through to the next room I blurted out one final question "Elk". "Yes Kite?". "Why did you ask if I loved Blackrose?". "Because you were staring at her after we beat that monster and you spend all that time with her that I just wanted to know". And with that said Elk turned and walked through the door leaving me alone with my thoughts.

End of chapter 1