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Kirito paused as he looked at his opponent. Heathcliff the avatar for Kayaba Akihiko, the man that had trapped him and 10,000 other players in a death game. Kirito himself had almost died more times then he cared to remember. In an instant, he remembered. It seemed his life was flashing before his eyes prematurely to any death moment.
His life seemed to decide that the start was him getting into S.A.O. as a beta tester. He had gone into the virtual world to further distance himself from the confusion he felt over the fact that his family was not who he thought they were. He had by now realized that had been the wrong way to think. They were still his parents and Suguha was still his sister. Then the day of the launch came. He had been so excited for it. Then all of IT happened. The announcement of the death game. Players dying all around. Things had not calmed down until months later.
He had been a loner up until he had met the Moonlit Black Cats. He had enjoyed his time with them, but that time came to an all to quick end with them all being killed. Kirito still blamed himself for their deaths and had returned to being a loner pushing towards the end of this game. Then he had met Asuna. Well he had already done that earlier, but he had the chance to do it again. He remembered them working together to clear floors. Her speed was truly a beauty to behold.
He remembered falling in love with her and the moment that he had asked her to marry him. He had been so happy when she said yes. At first there were some awkward moments, but they soon hit a good stride together. He never wanted it to end, and neither did she. Even though they were not in their home world, there love was a real thing. The early days of their Honeymoon were filled with them doing stuff together and enjoying the time they had. Then they had found Yui.
Yui, the young girl who was lost in the forest, who called them Mommy and Daddy. At first, he had been surprised but it brought so much joy that he soon came to enjoy it. They had tried to find her parents in the Town of Beginnings. They had not found any leads and were soon in a dungeon. Inside they fought hard. Getting Thinker out had been a tough moment. They were able to get him out, but it had cost the lives of two Army members while they had basically ran out of there as fast as they could. It was after that that Yui had her memories returned to her about who she really was. The knowledge that his new little girl was an AI did not bother him or Asuna in the slightest.
They had returned to their home on the twenty second floor and enjoyed their time together. They had convinced Heathcliff to not rush into the 75th floor but to spend some time leveling up. This gave the new family 3 months to really get to know each other a lot better. Over that time, they had come to bond as a real family. That year’s celebration of Christmas had been a true joy to them. He still laughed at them still having to explain what Christmas was to Yui and her being so excited at having presents of her own to receive.
Over that time, he and Asuna had gotten to know each other a lot better. They had talked about their families and hopes for the future. They even had a wedding reception when Lisbeth had found out about them being married. It was a small and private event. Only their close friends were present. They had decided on a traditional Japanese theme. They had gone through the ceremony. Asuna looked incredible in here wedding kimono. It had been this event that most of their friends had meet Yui. They at first were cautious about them adopting an AI but were soon understanding after spending some time with her.
There was no formal adoption system in S.A.O. like there was for marriage. Instead they had gone to Thinker again and had his help in creating an adoption seal for the two of them. They both wanted something physical that said to anybody else how series they were about their daughter.
Then they had gotten the signal that the Clearers were approaching the 75th floor’s boss. Kirito and Asuna had quickly gone to help them, telling Yui to go and stay with Silica until they came back for her. The fight had been a tough one even with all the boosts they had gone through before moving forward. It was during this fight that Kirito had noticed that Heathcliff’s health bar had not dropped after a point. After the boss was defeated he decided to test his theory. It was soon discovered that Heathcliff was really Kayaba Akihiko. Now here he was about to fight a battle with him to end this death game.
Kirito focused back onto the present just as Heathcliff begins to rush forward. The fight almost instantly becomes a series of lighting flashes between the two of them. Switching off between slashes and sword skills in a dance that can only lead to death. Kirito thinks hard to fight with the knowledge he gained from the last time he and Heathcliff fought. Seeing an opening he hopes will work, he starts using Blazing Star. His face a mask of rage towards his enemy Kirito slashes consistently against Heathcliff’s shield. The final stab is up but the shield gets in the way.
Kirito can only stare as his sword shatters against Heathcliff’s defense. Wide open as he is Kirito can’t stop as Heathcliff’s sword comes down for a killing blow. “NO!” With a speed reminiscent of her name, Asuna is suddenly in-between the sword and her husband. She stretches forth her hand and it is loped off, stopping the sword long enough for Kirito to react and slam the handle of his broken sword down on Heathcliff’s exposed forehead. As Heathcliff begins to stumble back from the force of the blow a sword appears through his chest stabbing him in the back.
Kayaba’s face is at first confused, then peaceful as he shatters into particles. Following the sword to the person who had ended the game they meet the face of Klein. He looks up and smiles at the two surprised faces looking at him. “Did you think you were the only one that started to carry around anti-paralysis items after hearing the story Kirito told at the reception?” He asks with a laugh. Kirito quickly opens his inventory and applies a healing potion to Asuna to restore her hand.
“It’s over, he says slowly, it’s over.” They watch as the clearers open their interfaces and prepare to logout. Looks of confusion begin to show. “My logout button still is not here.” Agil says with confusion, looking down. Kirito quickly opens his own and confirms that they can still not log out. Before anybody can worry to much about this they all get a new message.
Attention players, this is Cardinal System. The final boss has now been defeated. Visitation is now in effect. Logout abilities will be available in one standard year.
“Wait, we have to wait a whole year before we can log out now?” The cry seems to be on every one of the lips in the room. “Everyone! Calm down!” Asuna yells out. People begin to calm down and slowly turn towards her. “It would appear that we are still trapped in this game for the next year before we can logout. However, we have no further need to clear the floors. I take full command of the Knights of the Blood Oath since the first in command is now dead. The Knights will now act as peace keepers for the rest of the players and keep them alive until the year is over.”
The Knights who are there with them slowly nod their heads in acceptance of the change. They had seen the battle and knew of the desire of everyone there to get home. “We’ll have to first stop people from panicking. It’s most likely this message went out to all the players.” Kirito says slowly, thinking through what just happened. Asuna laughs a little at the fact her husband is trying to think problems through for once. “Let’s use the teleport crystals and return to Yui. I’ll need to go to headquarters and confirm the chain of command and get everyone organized.”
Kirito nods and pulls out his crystal. Shortly there heading towards the inn that Silica is currently staying at. Opening the door Kirito looks around the room only to be knocked down by a cute missile. “Daddy, Mommy, your back!” Yui cries happily. “Aunt Silica just got a message saying the final boss was defeated but how can that be possible, you were only on floor 75.” “It turns out Mommy’s boss Heathcliff was actually Kayaba this whole time. I fought him, and Klein was able to finish him at the end.” Kirito answers. All the while he has not let go off Yui. “Come on let’s tell Silica that were here and take you back home. Mommy has a bit of work she has to do before she can join us, so how about you and I go fishing and catch something for dinner.”
“Okay Daddy.” Yui agrees. After explaining what happened on the 75th floor to Silica Kirito and Yui make the trip back to their home. They don’t manage to actually catch anything down there at the lake but neither of them minds to much since they spent the time together. Finally, after it gets dark Asuna returns home to hugs and kisses from each of them. Both parents tuck Yui into bed and tell her goodnight. In the safety of their bedroom Asuna and Kirito look at each other. Finally, Asuna breaks the silence with a few tears. Kirito quickly brings her close and wraps his arms around her tightly. “What’s wrong Asuna? Please talk to me.” He whispers into her ear gently.
“I was just thinking how grateful I was that we did not have to leave right away. I miss my family and everything, but I don’t want to leave Yui here all alone. I know we will find each other outside but Yui can’t log out. I just feel so jealous to want to stay here with you both.” She sobs out. Kirito just smiles a little and continues to comfort her. He loved his wife with his whole heart, but sometimes it seemed to him that she overthought some problems. “Don’t worry, I feel the exact same way at times. It does not make us monsters to want to keep what we have. When the time comes, I promise you, we will be a family, Always.” With those words Kirito and Asuna slowly fade into sleep.
Suguha got home from school in a depressed mood. It had been a little over 2 years since Kazuto had gone into a coma. Christmas had been rough on the family. They had hoped that he would awake this year, but it did not come to be. Another year gone without her brother. While true that he was technically her cousin, he had been her brother for her whole life, that did not change now. No matter what her emotions might try to say in the matter. As she began to make her way upstairs her phone started to ring. Looking at it she saw it was Shinichi.
“Hey Shinichi, what is it?” “You have to turn on the news right now!” Was the frantic response. “Uh?” “Just do it!” He continued to insist as Suguha made her way towards the T.V. and turned it on. It was showing a broadcast from the new station. She found herself sitting down and the message was displayed.
“ong with this message is the information that people can now use existing V.R. technology to log into Sword Art Online with no risk to them and be able to communicate with the players. As of right now officials are warning people not to try this until safety has been assured.” The reporter was just finishing saying. Suguha returned to the person at the other end of the line. “You better start telling me what is going on here.” “Kayaba sent out a message to a lot of different sources saying that S.A.O. had just been cleared. The players are now trapped inside like previously for one year at which point they will be able to log out.” Shinichi quickly stated.
Suguha had to sit back at the knew information she had just received. Her brother would be able to wake up in one year. One more year before she could see her brother again. It was great news but then she noted that there was still the chance her brother would be killed in the coming year. That he might not be able to survive until that time limit was up. Yet. There was one way she would be able to see her brother again. She had her AmuSphere up in her bedroom. All she would need was a way to access S.A.O.
Hanging up quickly on Shinichi she opened the internet to find it going crazy with this new information. Most of the world was following the Death game and what little was known about the players. Looking around she quickly found Kayaba’s original message he had apparently sent out. It included a way to hook up your sphere to the servers allowing anybody with the hardware to access and Link up the S.A.O. Without thinking twice, she took the information and ran up into her room. She knew that she was not in the best state of mind to be trying this, but she had to see her brother again.
Before she could get started her mother was heard entering the house and calling for her. Pausing at this she slowly went back downstairs and greeted her mother. She smiled and chatted with her, trying not to show that anything was wrong. Suguha knew that if she told her about all this that she would confiscate her V.R. helmet to stop her from doing anything rash. Rash was exactly what she wanted to do at the moment though. She helped with dinner but was silent for most of it. Heading back upstairs she set everything up so that she would be able to Link Start before pausing.
Truth be told she was nervous. What if Kazuto did not want her to come and see him? What if she did not find him? What if SHE got trapped in the game with him? This eternal debate lasted until it was well dark. With a sigh she looked down. It was now, or she knew it would be never. Looking up at her ceiling and her poster of Leafa, she made her choice. Climbing into bed she put on her AmuSphere. “I’m coming big brother” she whispered. “Link Start.” With that she saw the rushing of lights and knew she would soon be seeing him again.
Klein was tired. Ever since Cardinal had sent out that odd message players had been flocking down to the Town of Beginnings to try and get answers to what was going on. Klein had joined many of the Clearers in trying to keep the peace and explain to everyone what had happened up there.
Nobody really believed that he was the one to land the final blow to Kayaba, but really, he knew most of that fight went to the black swordsman. Besides that, it would eventually sink in when all the other stories backed him up. For now, he was just hopping to find an opening at an inn to get some rest.
Beginning to move towards the nearest inn that he knew off he saw a flash come from a fountain nearby. “Another player just getting in trying to find some answers.” He thought as he turned and headed over. From new experience the player would be panicking, and he did not like that. Especially if it was a cute girl.
Coming up on the square he saw a young woman. She was wearing basic starter gear with a very green theme. Her blond hair was worn in a ponytail with two styled bangs on the side of her face. The only thing not really starter gear was her sword, which looked a bit like a short katana. He also checked her curser color. A few orange players had been seen trying to use the confusion to make trouble or even just looking for answers. Since the guards still dealt with them like normal this did not last long but better to check.
“Hey, did you just get here?” Klein asked. “I was there when it all happened, so I’ll answer what questions I can.” The girl turned around and stared at him for a moment. “I’m actually looking for my brother. I just got into this game.” “…Uh?” “His name is Kirigaya Kazuto, I don’t know what his avatar name is. Is there somebody who would know? Please you have to help me, it’s been 2 years since I got to see my brother!”
“Hold on for a minute!” To say Klein was confused would be a very good start. Who was this player? What did she mean just got into this game? Looking for her brother, she sounded crazy to be honest. “What is your name before we continue, my name is Klein.”
She paused and took a deep breath, trying to compose herself. “Sorry, I go by Leafa. I have a brother in here and when I got the message that we could now enter S.A.O. I had to come and find my brother.”
“Okay your cute, but crazy. What do you mean, able to enter S.A.O. Nobody can come in and we can’t get out. At least for another year according to that message we got.” “Didn’t the message talk about how people can come into the game and join you all?” “No. Any way to prove what you are saying.” “What would it take for me to prove to you what I am talking about?” Klein had to pause at that. He wasn’t to sure what he would accept.
It was a mark of how tired Klein was that he only now noticed something else that was odd about this girl. He had checked to see if her curser was orange but had not noticed that it was not green. It was blue. Klein kept staring at the cursor over her head as he tried to figure out what blue meant. “Okay, something is up with you. That much I believe because of your cursor.” The girl looked at him weird at that until she slowly nodded her head. “Okay…”
“Okay, you’re cute, so I’ll help you. Before that though, it’s getting late so how about we get some sleep. The Inns are full, so we might have to share a room.” Klein said with his best attempt to flirt. The sound of Leafa slapping him echoed for the next few seconds. “You go find a place to sleep, I’ll just logout.” Klein barely missed the blush she had. She missed the look of complete confusion he had when she opened her menu and logged out.
Klein stayed in that square staring at where Leafa had been for minutes before he slowly made his way towards the nearest inn. He got lucky and there was still some space for him inside. Laying down to rest he was wondering if he was already dreaming. Sleep came fast for the slayer of Kayaba. His dreams were about a blond-haired woman.
Suguha woke up smiling a little. Today’s school had been canceled due to the reactions of news about Sword Art Online. Looking through the resulting news and feeds online, nobody was yet reporting to have done as she had and gone into the game already. It would be happening soon though and she wanted to find her brother before it got harder with more players coming in. With that thought in mind she put on her AmuSphere. “Link start.”
Coming back in where she had exited out the night before she looked around. It was still early morning, and it looked like no other players were walking around at the moment. Leafa looked around and had to think about where to find Klein. Seeing the nearest inn, she went inside and asked the inn keeper. She was directed towards a room near the end of the hallway. Coming up the stairs she saw Klein just exiting out of his room. He looked at her and stared for a few seconds. “Okay, so that was not a dream.” “Nope, so what do we do to find Kazuto.”
“I don’t actually have a good idea on that. Tell me about your brother and maybe we might find something that we could use.” Klein said. “Not much to tell I guess. He would be 16 now. He stayed to himself a lot of the time. Was constantly giving off depressed vibes and played a lot of games. Did a little Kendo but stopped that years ago. I honestly expect to find out he holed himself up somewhere and has stayed there this whole time.”
“Okay.” Klein paused for a minute thinking. “Well if your right about your brother, the Army might be a good place to look. They’ve been keeping the peace here on the first floor and would know about most of the players here. We don’t use RL names a lot, so I don’t think that will be of any use.” Leafa thought that through and had to agree with Klein from her experience with A.L.O. “So, who do we talk to?” “Oh, that’s easy, we go ask Thinker.”
They both exited the Inn and started to move towards the center of the town. Leafa took the time to look through her inventory and stats. She was confused because it seemed that along with her appearance her stats and inventory had also been transferred over. Most of her inventory was a series of question marks though. She pondered this but could not think of a good reason for this to have happened.
As they continued to walk towards the now seen castle, players began to pause and stare at Leafa. She was getting nerves when a group of men in armor started to move towards them. The one in the lead got in front of them and blocked their path. “And where do you think you are going?” The man said.
Klein just stared at the guard for a while before just shaking his head. “Don’t want any trouble, just taking Leafa here to Thinker to have him sort out what is going on. And to answer your other question, neither of us know what the cursor color means. Hence us going to Thinker.” Klein was doing his best to not let this develop into a mess. Tension was still high and the last thing he needed was people attacking each other even in the safe zone.
The guard looked at Klein for a little bit and nodded his head. “Okay Klein, take this lady to Thinker.” Turing to Leafa he said, “Don’t think about doing anything funny, or else we will throw you into the dungeon area and leave you there.” Leafa nodded her head in reply. With a snort towards her the guard captain and the rest moved out of their way and started down another street.
“That was close. Come on let’s keep going. Also, don’t talk about being able to log out to anybody unless I tell you it’s okay. Last thing we need is for people to get more upset then they already are.” Klein said tugging on Leafa’s arm. They got to the gate and Klein was able to quickly get to see Thinker. Neither Klein or Leafa had noticed that he had not yet let go of her arm.
Leafa was uncertain about what this meeting was going to be like. She figured it would be like meeting with a leader of one of the races. Yet if that was the case, how was Klein able to so quickly get a meeting with this Thinker. She remembered that he had said that he was there when it had happened, so that must mean that he was a strong player. Was that enough in this game?
Before she could really get into these thoughts, they entered an office. Behind the desk was an older man who looked at first Klein then at her with great interest. “So, you’re the young lady who I got the report about. I must say, I have never seen a cursor color like yours.” Klein looked at her. “It’s okay, you can tell him everything.” So that is exactly what Leafa did.
Throughout the time it took to relay everything Thinker kept a look of deep interest. He did not stop it to ask any questions but stayed attentive. When Leafa was done and taking some deep breaths Thinker slowly nodded. “That is quite the story you have told. I know Klein here and if he believes you then I will as well. It’s not like there isn’t evidence for what you have claimed.”
Leafa breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you, is there anything you can do to help me find my brother?” Thinker paused to think about that. “I don’t think so, there is nobody with that title that is in the Army. There is also nobody with that title living in the city of beginning to the best of my knowledge. That does not mean that he is not here just that he has a different name. The problem is also that people share the RL information very rarely.”
Leafa was dejected at that fact. She had already expected the information at the end, but Klein had made her think this could have been the best chance. Now that was gone. Klein noticed her distress. Turning to Thinker he asked, “Is there anything that you can do?” “Yes, but it might not be much.” Thinker responded. “Asuna set up a meeting for the major guild leaders to be hosted today. I can ask there about this Kirigaya Kazuto, maybe one of them will know more.”
“Thank you.” Leafa took that as her leave and headed out the office door. Klein followed her. “Don’t worry, once other people start showing up looking for family members things will get easier for you. I mean, it will take a while, but we’ll soon get RL information sorted out and your brother will come out of the woodwork.” Klein noticed that this was not working to cheer Leafa up. “Also! Thinker might find him through that meeting. While we wait how about I show you around?”
“I would like that, it does seem like a nice world you have here.” Leafa responded. She was still sad that it looked like it would be so hard to find her brother but at least she had more hope then she had had in the last two years. Also, Klein was a little weird but was nice.
Asuna woke up slowly. She smiled when she saw her husband next to her still asleep. She always loved the peaceful look on his face when he was asleep. It had become a habit of her to wake up a little earlier than him in order for her to be able to have these moments.
Getting up slowly she made her way out of the room and towards the kitchen. She stopped when she saw that there was food already laid out on the table and ready to eat. Suddenly hands went around her waist. “You realize that you slept in a bit. I prepared breakfast for you, it’s not as good as you can make but it should do the job.”
“Thank you!” Asuna said while throwing herself into a hug. The couple hold themselves together for a short time before breaking. Kirito heads towards Yui’s room to wake her up while Asuna checks over more closely the meal prepared. It was simple but looked good.
Kirito returned with a yawning Yui and the family sat down to eat. “itadakimasu!” With that they began to eat. Asuna looked at the time and began to eat faster. She had slept in and had the meeting with the other guild leaders coming up soon. Kirito was going to be joining her as the representative for the Clearers. Yui would stay with Lisbeth during the meeting.
After finishing the meal the family headed towards Lisbeth’s forge. “Now you be good Yui.” “Don’t worry Daddy, I will.” “I’m sure we’ll be just fine here.” Lisbeth finished. With that small ritual performed around the world, Asuna and Kirito moved on to the Iron Castle. They got into the meeting room with a little time to spare before the meeting was scheduled to start.
It took a while for everyone to settle down into their respective seats. At one end of the table was Asuna as the new leader of the Knights of the Blood Oath. Sitting on the other end was Thinker as head of the Army. Representatives and leaders of the other major factions and guilds were also present on both sides.
Thinker was the first to start the meeting. “Thank you all for coming on such short notice. Obviously, we are here to figure out what we are to do now that we have a time limit before we can leave this game. However, before we get into that there is some new information that I must share. The message we all received from the Cardinal system was that Visitation was in effect, yes?”
The others at the table nod their heads at this. Nobody knew what it was but the fact that it was coming up was a good sign. “Just spit it out already.” One of the guild leaders said. “Very well.” With that Thinker explained about the player Leafa. How she said she was able to log in and out of Sword Art Online as a visitor without fear of being trapped or killed herself. He then explained that others like her would soon also come.
The group were shocked at the new development. If this turned out to be true, and those who knew Thinker knew that he would not share this unless he was certain of the information, this would change a lot of things. They had been operating by themselves for quite a long time and had set up their own system of government and order. The ability for people to come into the game changed all of that. Most at the table hoped it would be a good change.
Finally, Asuna was able to collect her thoughts enough to ask, “Why did this Leafa come into the game before it was cleared as safe to try?” “She has a brother that is in here with us. His RL name is Kirigaya Kazuto. I promised her I would ask here if anybody knew of this person.”
Asuna and Kirito both just stared at each other. Kirito had told Asuna about his sister, Suguha and about the strained relationship he had shared with her and his family before being in this situation. If she was truly here, then they had to find her. Kirito turned to Thinker. “I believe I know about who she is talking about but would like to confirm this all for myself first. Where can I find this Leafa?”
“Last I heard, she was being escorted around the city by Klein. They seemed to be close while she was explaining her situation to me last night.”
“Thank you, while this is probably going to be important, there is other things we need to focus on at the moment.” Asuna responded. The rest of the meeting was about trying to organize the guilds to keep monster populations down and to guard against orange players. The KotBO would keep the peace on the higher floors while smaller guilds would work together to cover the middle floors. The Army would maintain the lower floors.
“One last thing before this meeting ends” began one of the smaller guild leaders “I think we should appoint a head for this new council.” “I agree, we should vote on nominations. I nominate Thinker.” Another responded. Thinker nodded his head at that.
“Thank you, but I think that Asuna is a better choice then I am.” He responded. Asuna looked shocked as Thinkers motion was seconded. No others were put forward to be leaders and the vote began. Asuna was shocked when the vote went into her favor.
“I accept this responsibility and hope I do not fail your expectations. If there is nothing else, I believe I have a possible guest to Aincrad to speak to.” She said at last. The group stood up and began to either talk or leave to their respected guilds to get things started. Asuna left with Kirito behind her.
“What do you think about this?” Asuna asked as they began to move through the crowd outside. “Well, I think you will make a fantastic leader.” Kirito responded. “Not what I was talked about, and you know it.” She responded. “I... I don’t really know how to feel about this. I would like to see my sister again if it is her. But will she be able to accept me?” Both knew he was referring to the changes he had gone through since the Death Game had started.
Asuna looked at him at that and smiled at him. “I think that she will accept you just fine.” Looking forward again the couple began to search the city by hitting all the places they thought Klein would take a possible date to. They eventually heard his voice as they approached one of the bigger fountains found in the city.
“This area is were most of the players come to get their food. It’s a little basic part of life that we still need.” Klein was saying. The couple saw him with a player that was being watched by other players with various levels of discretion. It was not hard to see why with the curser being a different color than any other.
“Klein, heard about your friend from Thinker.” Asuna said as they approached. Kirito was looking over the player with a frown on his face. This person could not be his sister. The face had some semblance, but it was not her face and not her hair.
“Asuna, Kirito, it’s good to see you. This is Leafa.” Klein greeted back gesturing to his companion. “It’s nice to meet you.” Leafa joined in, then paused for a moment. “Wait, were you the one that Thinker was talking about with the meeting?”
Klein laughed outload. “Yep, this is the same Asuna. She is the leader of one of the most important guilds around.” Leafa looked at Asuna with hope in her eyes. “Does that mean you know something about my brother?”
Kirito slowly stepped forward. “We should probably take this conversation somewhere else.” He was looking around at the growing crowd of players watching them. The others quickly agreed. Leafa grabbed hold of Klein as the two of them followed the black and white pair through the city towards the black iron palace.
Once they were inside a private room the group sat down. Kirito and Asuna was sitting together with Klein and Leafa sitting opposite of them. Kirito coughed to disrupt the tension that had grown between them. “Forgive me for this, but you do not look like Suguha.”
Leafa started at that. She looked wide eyed at Kirito. “How do you know what I’m supposed to look like!?” She exclaimed. She paused and looked more closely at Kirito. She finally noticed why he had looked familiar. “Kazuto…”
It had not registered to her at first because of the way he carried himself here. Her brother carried himself so differently in this place then he had back home. At home he had been reclusive, always having his shoulders hunched and his head down. He would avoid contact with everyone.
Now he stood tall, back straight. He had looked her in the eye since they had meet. It was those eyes that were the real difference. They had a strength in them that she had only seen since logging into this game. Kazuto did not have that look, Kirito did. So did Asuna, Klein, and Thinker. She did not know what that look meant, but she knew it was not something she would want to have in her own.
Leafa started speaking hoping to convince her brother it was her. “Kazuto, it’s me, I swear. Remember that time when we were 8 and there was the camping trip and we went out to the forest and we started to fight with those branches and then I knocked your’s out so that I coul”
“OKAY!! Okay! It’s you, be quite now!” Kirito was quickly trying to make her stop with his hands making gestures in the air. Asuna was laughing at her husbands’ actions. She was excited about getting to meet a member of her new family. Klein had a dawning look of horror on his face and he slowly panned his gaze down to were he was still holding Leafa’s hand.
Leafa took a moment to pause for breath after the rush of speaking. She took in her brother. He looked well and she once again took in his new attitude. The outfit he was wearing looked good on him. She had to wonder about his desire to still be wearing black of all colors. She looked at his hands that were now resting on his knees. “…” There was a ring on his hand. A ring where a wedding band would go.
Leafa slowly turned towards the woman sitting besides him. She also had a ring. It matched the one on her brother’s hand. “Kazuto… why do you and Asuna have matching wedding rings?” Asuna and Kirito turned to each other and chuckled a little. Asuna was the one to speak up first. “Well, that would because we’ve been married for a few months now.”
At the look of shock on Leafa’s face the rest of the people in the room began to explain to her about everything that had happened since the death game had started. Leafa learned about how Kirito and Asuna had met and then met again latter on. Klein filled in his own part of the story. She had to keep stopping them to confirm what she was hearing was true.
“You have a daughter?” “Yes, she’s actually in town while we had the meeting.” “You should meet her, she would love having an aunt.”
Once the story was done Leafa just sat back with a look of complete shock. She knew that 2 years had passed since this had all started, but she had not imagined how much had happened during that time. The others were willing to let her sort out her thoughts. Klein was trying to be subtle to remove his hand from her death grip with little success.
Leafa slowly focused back on the couple in front of her. “That is a lot that has happened.” Kirito nodded his head. “Yeah it really has been.” “You’re not the person who left.” It was the only thing that she could think to say in this situation.
Asuna reached out and put her hand over her husbands. “Why don’t you and Klein let the two of us talk for a little bit?” Klein looked up at Asuna like she was a personal savior. “Yeah, let’s do that. Come on Kirito!” Klein made a quick exit, partially dragging Kirito out with him. Once the two of them were outside the room with the door closed, Klein turned towards Kirito.
“I didn’t know she was your sister. It was just some little flirting that’s IT! Don’t hurt me!” Klein was panicking. Kirito had talked about his sister a little bit recently. The changes in his life made it a little easier to open up about the life before. Klein knew that Suguha was too young for him, plus you don’t date your best friends’ sister without telling him first.
Kirito just stared at Klein and tried to figure out what he was talking about.
It took a while before Asuna and Leafa came out of the room. Leafa was looking a lot better. The group moved out of the palace and began to head towards Lisbeth’s forge. There was still one member of the family Leafa had not yet been able to meet. Leafa began to get more nerves when the building came into sight.
Kirito turned and smiled in support to her. She was unable to think of this Black Swordsman as Kazuto. Yes, he was her brother, but he had changed so much that the new name seemed to fit better than the old one. She turned her gaze to the door that was now in front of the group. Through it was her niece. She was still unsure about how she felt about being an aunt while still so young. Let alone that fact it was her brother who should still be in high school was the father!
They went into the building and Leafa was surprised when a blur ran into Asuna. After a moment the blur became a young girl. The girl was talking fast about what she had been up to since she had last seen her parents. She then turned and saw her standing next to Kirito. She seemed to look directly into her for a moment.
“Daddy, who is that next to you? I don’t remember her.” Yui asked. Kirito smiled at his daughter and gestured towards Leafa. “This is your aunt Leafa, she came in with the visitation rights.” Lisbeth had followed Yui into the room and had to interrupt at that.
“Wait, you mean that you figured out what that message meant?” She asked. Klein was the one who answered her. “Yeah! It means that while we wait for the time limit to end people can log into the game like Leafa here and chat with us. We did find out that they can’t leave safe zones though.”
Asuna looked over at Leafa a little sadly. “That means you won’t be able to come to the cottage we live in.” Yui had spent this time looking Leafa over then turned back to Asuna. “You didn’t talk about a Leafa.” Kirito laughed. “Her other name is Suguha.” Yui nodded then went forward and looking directly up at Leafa. “Hi! My name is Yui. It’s really nice to meet you!”
Leafa found herself smiling at the cute scene before her. “It’s nice to meet you to. Could you tell me about yourself a little?” Yui was excited and began to tug the former fairy towards her temporary room. Leafa had a slight look of panic that was only slightly eased by the easy smiles on the other’s faces.
Inside the guest room Yui began to show Leafa some of the toys she had brought with her. Her favorite was a Kendo sword. “You know, I’m actually a little good at Kendo. Want me to help you a little?” “Yes please!” The two of them were soon having fun going through some stances. Leafa was a little surprised that Yui really didn’t know anything about contest Kendo, instead thinking about it as a battle against multiple opponents.
The two of them talked a lot during the impromptu training and teaching moment. Leafa learning more about her new niece and hearing for herself about Yui’s origin. She had to take a moment to think about it. She finally decided that anybody that had this much emotion was a person no matter what their background.
While Leafa was with Yui the rest of the players were talking about what had happened in the meeting. Asuna figured that they would have people coming in by the end of the day at the latest. Since she was now the leader of the players, she would have to be here in case anybody from a government body came. The idea of giving command up to somebody who had not lived the Death Game did not appeal to any of them.
When Leafa and Yui came back out it was with equal smiles on their faces and talking adamantly about the finer points of Kendo. “Did the two of you have a good time?” Asuna asked. “Yes Mommy, Aunt Leafa is really fun. She taught me some things about sword fighting!” Kirito smiled “So your still doing Kendo?”
“Yep. …Now that I think about it, I never did tell you about how things have been outside.” The group migrated towards Lisbeth’s kitchen table. Leafa then began to talk about what had happened outside the game since they had been trapped. Most of it was about her and Kazuto’s family. By the time it was done Yui was nodding her head.
Asuna looked at her daughter. “Thank you for that Leafa. There is a lot of stuff we need to get done though before more people decide to log in. We will talk to you latter, I promise.” Leafa nodded. “Okay, I’ll leave you be for now, but I will be back soon.” “Looking towards it.” Kirito answered. Leafa gave everyone a hug before leaving. She was the only one not to notice how panicked Klein looked during his.
Leafa then went and pushed the log out button. Suguha woke up and saw the poster above her bed. Slowly getting up she looked around her room. Then smiled and rushed down to were she could hear her mother working downstairs.
She had a lot to tell her.