.hackGODDESS
by SmkViper
Proof readers/editors: Sehet Xaui, Greybolt, Gen, Eponine, Cholene

Copyright
.hackGODDESS © 2003 SmkViper
Oh My Goddess! © Kosuke Fujishima
Japanese Language Version © Kodansha Ltd.
English Language Version © AnimEigo, Pioneer, Dark Horse
Project Dot Hack © Project Hack, Bandai, TV Tokyo, Comptiq

.hackGODDESS is a fan fiction work based off the
Oh My Goddess! and Project Dot Hack universes. It
is not affiliated with Kosuke Fukishima, Kodansha Ltd.,
or Project Hack. And resemblance to any person, living
or dead, is purely coincidental.

Author's notes:
Text in are a character's thoughts.

Chapter 1: .hackGODDESS

"Hmm…this month's budget is going to be closer then I thought," thought Keiichi as he attempted to balance his checkbook. He was lying on his chest on the floor, receipts spread out in front of him, wearing the jeans and sweatshirt that he commonly wore during the colder months of the year. Keiichi was rather short, with spiky brown hair and brown eyes.

"Don't worry honey; I sense some good fortune coming our way soon!" Belldandy replied in her typical cheerful manner as she wiped down the table in preparation for laying out the lunch she had prepared. As usual, she could sense his worry and knew just how to alleviate it.

Keiichi smiled as he remembered a similar incident almost 8 years ago when he was purchasing new furniture for their temple home right after moving in. In that case, his sister Megumi had showed up just a few minutes later with enough money to last him the next month, which he needed more then ever after finding out that Megumi had decided to live with him while she was attending college.

8 years ago, a lot has happened since then. Back then I couldn't get a girlfriend to save my life, and now I'm married to the most beautiful goddess in the entire world! Keiichi thought to himself as he looked lovingly back at Belldandy. She was roughly the same height as him, with long blonde hair tied back into a pony-tail hanging down to her waist, and bright blue eyes that lit up the room when she smiled. She had a vertically elongated blue diamond on her forehead and a small blue triangle under each eye, identifying her as a goddess.

Keiichi reached over and picked up the cup of hot tea he had been sipping all morning. He raised it to his mouth and tipped the cup, but instead of warm tea, a large block of frozen tea bumped against his nose. With a sigh, he asked Belldandy to heat the tea back up for him. She giggled and left for the kitchen when a 2-year old girl toddled into the room. She had blue eyes and black hair, currently tied back into two little pony-tails. On her forehead was an elongated blue diamond, identical to the one on Belldandy's forehead.

"Daddy!" she said as she ran over to Keiichi and gave him a hug.

"Hey Shinobu, you haven't been messing with daddy's tea again have you?"

"I didn't do anything!" She insisted with a pout.

"I'm sure you didn't, but daddy has to work on his checkbook, why don't you go find Aunt Skuld and see if she'll play with you, ok?"

"OK!" she replied and ran out of the room to go look for her Aunt.

Belldandy came back in the room and handed the reheated tea back to Keiichi.

"Thanks Bell, do goddess children usually show powers this early?"

"Well, they can show some affinity for their natural element, though they don't usually know what they are doing," Belldandy replied. "My parents used to tease me about how I would inadvertently blow all of my father's paperwork around the house, and usually just when he was working on a difficult project," she said with a grin.

"Well then I should be glad that Shinobu's element is only ice and not something more destructive. I don't think I would have wanted to see Urd's first fire spell!"

"I heard that!" said Urd as she walked into the room. She was two or three inches taller then her younger sister Belldandy but had long silver hair, tanned skin, and a blue triangle marking on her forehead and one under each eye. "And you'd best keep your mouth shut if you don't want to have a hot foot, goddess-style!" she retorted.

"Daddy! I can't find Auntie anywhere!" said Shinobu as she ran back into the room.

"Do either of you know where Skuld is?" asked Keiichi, looking at Belldandy and Urd.

"She mentioned something about a computer sale and took off on Banpei about an hour ago," replied Belldandy. "I hope she's back in time for lunch."

"Speaking of lunch, do you need any help in there Bell?" asked Keiichi.

"Nope! You just finish your paperwork. Lunch will be ready in another 30 minutes or so," Belldandy replied with a smile as she walked back to the kitchen.

"Urd? Would you mind looking after Shinobu until lunch? I really need to get this done."

"Sure K, come 'ere you little brat!" she said as she scoped up the little girl and headed outside. A minute later Keiichi could hear loud squealing and a few small thunderbolts outside as Urd and Shinobu chased each other around the temple yard.

A few minutes later the front door slammed and Megumi walked into the room.

"Hey bro! Guess what? The new Final Fantasy movie comes out in theatres next week. Hiroshi and I were going to go catch it next Saturday; you guys want to come along?"

"Sorry Meg, I'm going to be cutting it close in terms of my budget this month, I'm afraid I can't afford it right now."

"Oh! That reminds me!" Megumi pulled an envelope out from under her coat. "Here, this is what I owe you for those motorcycle parts last week."

"Hey thanks Megumi, maybe we can go with you guys next weekend. I'll talk it over with everyone here and I'll call you ok?"

"Ok, I've got to get back home so I'll see you later!" Megumi called as she headed out the front door.

"I'm saved!" Keiichi thought to himself. "I could have used the money last week when she 'borrowed' those parts, but at least we can do something fun before the month is out, and then there is our marriage anniversary next month. I'm going to have to start saving for that now if I want to get Bell something nice…"

Just then there was a loud crash outside.

"Urd! Why don't you watch where you're going!"

"Why don't you Skuld! You shouldn't have had your nose stuck in that shoujo manga!"

"SKULD BOMB AWAY!"

"URD LIGHNING STRIKE!"

There was a loud explosion, followed by a crash of thunder outside. Shinobu came running inside, crying and ran over to Belldandy, hugging her legs.

"I'll take care of it Bell, why don't you try to calm down little Shinobu."

"Will you guys cut it out!" Keiichi yelled. "You just scared Shinobu with your childish fighting!"

"Oops, sorry about that Keiichi," replied Urd with a sheepish grin on her face. She looked down at herself, now covered in dirt and debris. "I guess I better go clean myself up."

"I'm sorry Keiichi, but it's all my big sister's fault! She should have been looking where she was going!" insisted Skuld.

Keiichi tried to stifle a laugh. Skuld's black hair was all frazzled from the lighting strike and her clothes were dirty and scratched up from the results of her bomb. Skuld was a little shorter then he was with long black hair and brown eyes. She had a blue teardrop shaped marking on her forehead and under each eye. But the cute little pout on her face was too much and Keiichi had to go back inside to keep from laughing out loud at her comical expression.

"Humph!" Skuld said as she picked up her manga and the computer equipment that had gotten strewn about in the little fight.

"You better clean yourself up Skuld, Belldandy will have lunch ready in a few minutes," Keiichi told her.

Skuld walked past him wordlessly, nose stuck up in the air.

"She my be 22 years old, but she still acts so much like a kid sometimes," Keiichi muttered under his breath.

"I AM NOT A KID!" retorted Skuld as she stuck her tongue out at him before rounding the corner into the hallway.

"Would you help me carry the food out to the dining room Keiichi?" asked Belldandy.

"Sure Bell!" He picked up a couple of the dishes that she had prepared for lunch and followed her into the dining room. "Smells great as always!" Keiichi remarked.

"Thanks K," she said with a grateful smile. "I'll set Shinobu up here if you'll go tell Urd and Skuld that lunch is ready."

Keiichi walked down the hallway and knocked on the girl's bedroom door. "Lunch is ready!" he called through the closed door.

"Be there in a minute!" replied Urd.

"I'm coming," said Skuld as she slipped out of the "Skuld Labs" room and headed for the dining room.

A few minutes later they were all seated around the table enjoying the lunch Belldandy had prepared for them. Shinobu, as usual, was playing with her food instead of eating it.

"How was your shopping trip Skuld?" asked Belldandy.

"It was great! I picked up some more memory for Banpei and components for my new project. I saw this game called 'The World' which looked interesting, so I picked it up and I'm working on a computer that will be able to play it."

"A computer game? Really? Can I play it? Please…" pleaded Urd.

"It's going to be another day or two until the computer is ready sis, and even then, I bought it so I'm going to play it first!"

"Why you little!" Urd replied, raising her hand to call another lighting bolt.

"You just try it!" retorted Skuld, reaching inside her dress for another Skuld bomb.

"Stop right now you two!" shouted Belldandy. "I don't want you causing another commotion and scaring Shinobu again!"

"Sorry," they both replied and went back to eating their lunch, glaring at each other between bites.

"So, um…Skuld, what is this game you bought?" asked Keiichi, attempting to relieve some of the tension.

"Well, you remember the 'Pluto's Kiss' incident about 2 and a half years ago?"

"Yeah," Keiichi replied, shuddering at the memory of the computer virus that shutdown the entire net and caused a world-wide panic.

"Well, 'The World' is the first online computer game made since that incident. It's an online role playing game set in a fantasy world where you can meet and play with thousands of other people! It just came out last December and is already the hottest selling game in history. I figured we could have some fun playing it as a family, and at least there Urd can let off some steam without hurting anyone."

Urd glared at her little sister with that comment and was about to reply when Belldandy stopped her with a quick look.

"That sounds like fun! When can we start playing it Skuld?" asked Belldandy.

"Well, I could have a computer ready tomorrow, but I wanted come up with something better then the primitive controller and headset the game comes with so I'll need another day or two to finish it off. I'm such a genius!" Skuld said, with stars in her eyes.

After lunch Skuld hurried back to her lab to work on "Mr. Immersion" as she called it and Urd floated off to her room to watch some TV, followed closely by Shinobu, who was tugging on her dress, wanting Urd to pick her up. Keiichi stayed and helped Belldandy clean up the dishes then went back to his paper work.

That night, as he and Belldandy got ready for bed, he asked her where Shinobu was, since she usually slept with them in their room.

"Oh, she wanted to sleep with Urd and Skuld tonight, so I told her it was alright."

Keiichi chuckled at the thought of those two being kept awake by Shinobu as she would usually crawl all over him and Belldandy before suddenly falling asleep.

"Well then, this will be a quiet night for the two of us," he said with a grin as he and Belldandy crawled into bed together. "Goodnight Bell."

"Night Keiichi, my love."

Two days later…

"Daddy! Mommy! Wake up! I'm hungry!"

Keiichi groaned as he felt a little hand slapping him gently in the face. "Not now Bell, I'm tired"

"Daddy! Please get me some breakfast!"

"Hmmm…? Oh, good morning Shinobu." Keiichi stretched out on his futon, trying to wake up enough to get out of bed. "Shhh, Shinobu, let mommy sleep. Let's go find something to eat. Now be quiet and don't wake up mommy, OK?"

"OK!" Shinobu replied with enthusiasm, and then covered her mouth as she realized how loud she was. She then ran out to the hallway. "Daddy! Come on!" she whispered insistently.

"I'm coming Shinobu," he whispered back. He carefully got out of bed, coving up Belldandy and quietly left the room shutting the door behind him. He noticed Belldandy smiling slightly and realized she wasn't as asleep as he thought she was. This gave him an idea.

When he and Shinobu got out to the kitchen, he started gathering the things he needed to make breakfast and also pulled out a tray.

"Daddy? Why do you need a tray? I'm a big girl and I don't make messes anymore," Shinobu insisted.

"Shh, let's try to surprise mommy this morning and bring her breakfast in bed, OK?"

"Can I help, please?" Shinobu asked, completely enamored with the idea of surprising her mother.

"Sure, here, you can make the toast, alright?"

"OK, thanks Daddy!"

Fifteen minutes later, a breakfast was arranged on the tray and Keiichi was about to take it to his wife when Shinobu suddenly ran off down the hallway.

"Where are you going Shinobu?" asked Keiichi, quietly.

"I'll be right back; I want to get something really quick!"

Half a minute later, she was back, holding a white lily she had picked from Belldandy's indoor flower pot.

"Here! Put this on the tray too!" Shinobu said as she tried to hand the flower to Keiichi.

"How about you give it to her yourself and I'll take the tray in."

Shinobu quietly tiptoed over to Keiichi and Belldandy's room and quietly opened the door. Keiichi thought he could see Belldandy close her eyes quickly as soon as the door opened.

"Mommy! Wake up, I have something for you!"

Belldandy opened her eyes and saw the flower that Shinobu was holding out to her. She sat up in bed and lifted Shinobu into her lap.

"Why thank you Shinobu! Where did you find such a pretty flower? And what is Daddy carrying?"

"It's a secret," Shinobu replied, giggling. "And Daddy and I made breakfast for you. I made the toast all by myself too!"

"Why thank you Keiichi!" Belldandy gave one of her heartwarming smiles as she took the tray from him. "Would you like some too, Shinobu?" she asked.

"Yeah, Daddy forgot to make me breakfast!" She stuck her lower lip out at Keiichi.

"Well then you can have some of mine then."

The food on the trey was slightly overdone, and the toast was a bit burnt, but Belldandy loved it just the same because of the love that had gone into preparing it. Shinobu started picking at the food and ate some of it, but eventually started playing with it like usual. Suddenly, the juice on the tray froze solid. Keiichi noticed this and quickly went to thaw it out.

After breakfast, they got dressed and Shinobu went to help Belldandy with the chores around the house and Keiichi left for his job at Whirlwind.

When Keiichi got home later that evening, he noticed a lot of technical gadgets lying around in the living room and asked Skuld what they all were.

"I'm finishing Mr. Immersion Mk V! We will be able to play the new game I bought tonight."

"Well make sure everybody has a chance to play tonight," Keiichi replied.

"Don't worry about it Keiichi! I made it so everyone can play it at once, see?" She pointed towards four odd looking helmets lying near her on the ground. "We should be able to play right after dinner."

Dinner that night was rather hurried as Skuld and Urd wanted to try out the new game. After it was over they both rushed to the other room to set the computer up while Keiichi helped Belldandy clear the table. Shinobu followed Skuld and Urd wondering what the excitement was all about, then contented herself by playing with a small left-handed spanner that Skuld gave her.

"Come on Keiichi and Belldandy! I want to try this out now!" Skuld insisted.

"But who is going to watch over Shinobu? We can't all play at once," Keiichi pointed out.

"Don't worry, I'll watch her, you go on and have some fun," said Belldandy with a smile.

"Thanks Bell, so how do we play?" asked Keiichi.

"Just sit down and put the helmet on, the game will start up automatically and it will feel and act like you are really in the game! It's sooo beautiful…" Skuld sighed as she started petting the red and white helmet.

"It does come off whenever I want, right?" asked Keiichi. He seemed to remember another helmet a few years ago that Skuld had designed to help him out with tests. It didn't come off until he answered every question correctly.

"Of course it does!" Skuld insisted, putting a helmet on herself. "Switch…ON!"

Keiichi and Urd each slipped on a helmet. At first, Keiichi couldn't see a thing, but then a screen showed up that let him choose what he looked like.

"Um…Skuld? How do I pick what I look like?"

"Just push the buttons; I designed it so you can interact with the game just by moving like you usually do. And don't worry about the face, I was able to get each of our faces into the game and I'm working on some other enhancements too."

Keiichi looked at the options and decided to pick a blade master character. It seemed to be something like the traditional Samurai from Japanese history and he always wondered what it would be like to use a katana. Once he was satisfied with how he looked, he clicked the glowing "OK" button at the bottom and his view faded again.

When his vision came back, he saw he was standing in a large city crisscrossed with waterways where many boats were moving back and forth. Several people were milling about in the streets, chatting and exchanging items. Behind him was something that looked like a large spinning ring with a blue crystal filling the middle. As he was wondering what it was, two other figures appeared next to him. One was a tall woman, wielding a big sword and the other was a shorter woman with two daggers, one in each hand. The faces were strangely familiar…

"Urd? Skuld? Is that you?"

"Of course it is silly!" replied the shorter lady. "Can't you tell by looking? I picked a twin blade class!"

Keiichi looked closer and noticed the Goddess markings identifying her as Skuld. He turned to the other women and noticed that she had Urd's markings.

"Urd? What class is that character?"

"It's a heavy blade! The best character to beat up monsters with. Now let's get going, I want to play!"

"I know, lets try out this area I read about in the game manual, it's supposed to be easy for beginners!" Skuld said. "But first we have to form a party. Just a sec and I'll send you an invitation."

A moment later a little box appeared in front of Keiichi asking if he wanted to be a part of Skuld's party. He clicked the OK button and saw Skuld's health and other information appear at the bottom of his field of view, next to his own. A moment later and Urd's information joined his and Skuld's.

"Ok, now all you have to do is tell the Chaos Gate, that's this spinning ring in front of us, where you want to go. Each location is made up of keywords that modify how the area looks and what kinds of monsters and treasure are in the area. Now we're off!" Skuld faced the Chaos Gate and said, "Bursting Passed Over Aqua Field!"

Suddenly, the world faded out and was replaced with the sight of rolling green hills and strange looking windmills. Suddenly he heard a roar behind him and a large monster come running towards them. Urd gave a yell and ran towards the monster, swinging her sword while Skuld quickly ran up and started slashing with her daggers.

"Come on Keiichi, don't just stand there, help us out!" Urd yelled.

Keiichi snapped out of it and ran towards the monster swinging his katana. After about five minutes of battling, the monster was dead. It fell to the ground and faded away, leaving a gold colored treasure chest where it had fallen. Keiichi walked over, opened up the chest and looked inside. There was a small vial of green colored fluid in the bottom of the chest that he pulled out.

"What's this?" he asked Skuld.

"That's a health drink. It will replenish some lost health if you drink it. Your current health is indicated by the green bar under your name."

After defeating several more monsters, Keiichi looked up at the clock at the top of his field of vision.

"Hey! I have to go to bed now if I'm going to get up in time for work tomorrow, how do I get out of this?"

"Just go back to town by clicking the 'Root Town' button and then log out from there. I'm going to stay a while longer and try to get more stuff with Urd."

"Don't stay up too late you guys." Keiichi said before vanishing.

Once he logged out, he removed his helmet and saw Belldandy sitting on the couch reading a book.

"Sorry about that Bell, I wasn't paying attention to the clock."

"Don't worry about it. You need to get to bed now if you want to not be exhausted for work tomorrow."

"I know," he said with a grin, "is Shinobu already asleep?"

"Yes, I put her to bed about an hour ago."

Keiichi and Belldandy walked into their room together and fell asleep a few minutes later. Urd and Skuld were still playing the game until late into the night before finally logging out and heading to bed.

"I thought I saw something strange just before logging out, it looked like a tear in the air and I heard some static. I wonder what it could be?" Skuld thought to herself before finally drifting off to sleep.