"Oi! Natsu-chan! Over here!" A certain blond-haired girl called out to me.

"Coming!"

The weather today's not so bad, which is good news.

A group of three people awaited me at the train platform. Looks like I'm the last to arrive here...

"Where have you been, Natsumi!?" Hayako shouted. Heh, she's still the same as usual. "We've been waiting forever for you!"

"Any much longer, and we'll going to miss the train." Akiko adjusted her glasses, but didn't get her eyes off the book she's reading.

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry!" I sighed, surrendered. "It wasn't entirely my fault! If my stupid aunt hadn't stop taking a restroom break at the gas station..."

"Hah, you always blamed Amano-san for everything, ice queen!" Himeko teased while showing a mischievous smile, and I responded by staring frustratingly at her.

"Alright, girls." Someone cleared his throat. "Let's continue this on the train, shall we?"

I looked back, and saw a black-haired boy walking toward me. He's wearing a dark-blue shirt and black jeans, his hair as messy as usual. Alongside him is girl with orange-brownish hair in a white dress, holding his left hand as they're walking along. Both of them have bright smiles on their faces.

Just seeing him smile is enough to make all tiredness in me to melt away.

Kirigaya Kazuto.

"Me, Klein and Agil already take care of everything so you girls don't have to worry! Others are already waiting on the train." He explained.

"Hey! me and Shino-chan did help you, too!" Asuna stared at him disapprovingly. "And all you ever done is ordering us to do everything while you were nowhere to be seen!" She punched him lightly in the head.

"I was talking with my sister on the phone!" Kazuto defended. "You know how she is! She'll have my head if I don't answer her call!"

And then we all shared a good laugh before boarding the train.

Alright, so all the above might seem so random to you guys at first. Let me clarify things a bit.

My name is Sakura Natsumi, and me and my friends are survivors of the Sword Art Online incident.

You guys probably know what I'm referring to, right? Otherwise, you wouldn't be here.

Today's the fourth anniversary of the Sword Art Online incident; the day when that boy, Kirigaya Kazuto, Kirito, beats the game and freed us all from that nightmare. After two long years of torture, we've beaten the odds and survived it all. We are still alive.

But still, there are some who didn't make it, some who perished in that death game, some who were our friends.

And so, we held the anniversary every year, to honor those who were denied the chance to live.

This year, we decided to take a trip to Kyoto per the suggestion from Asada Shino, whose grandmother is living there. Even though she wasn't a victim of the SAO, she's also our friend who helped us a lot in our adventures, and we owe her a lot for many things she did for us.

My friends, as I've mentioned, consisted of my old party mates, Himeko, Hayako and Akiko, who are all pretty much the same as I remembered them back then, probably because we're in the same neighborhood, after all. Others are, of course, Kirigaya Kazuto, the 'hero' of SAO, and his 'wife', Yuuki Asuna. Kazuto's friends also joined the anniversary trip, namely 'Klein' and 'Agil'. Actually, Lizbeth and Silica are going to come with us, too, but well...they have their own businesses to attend to, university stuffs, something like that.

After a while, the train finally left the station.

"And you people all made such a great deal about missing the train..." I complained.

"At least you could've gotten here sooner!" Hayako argued. Heh, that girl never backs down, as always.

"She's probably just worried for you, Natsumi-san." Klein commented.

"I didn't worry for her, you idiot!" Hayako yelled, before hitting poor Klein in the head with her hand. "I worried that we're gonna miss the train!"

"You don't have to hit me!" Klein moaned.

"Because you're always such a jerk, stupid Klein!"

I giggled a bit. Heh, those two really got along together well since high school.

I glanced at Kazuto, who's sitting beside Asuna about two seats in front of us, chatting together happily. Sitting across them are Shino and Agil, the latter leaned back on his seat, already sleeping, probably because he was tired from all his works during the weekdays.

"So," Akiko began. "It's going to be a big while until we reached Kyoto. Why don't we find something to do?"

"Er...what are you suggesting, then?" Himeko asked.

Akiko reached into her bag, before pulling out several books and place them on her lap.

"Let's read some books!" She smiled.

You've got to be kidding me, Akiko.

"Are you crazy!? All of these are in English!" Hayako exclaimed, her eyes widen in shock. "How the hell are we supposed to read them!?"

"Most of all, how in the blazes can you understand them!?" Himeko added, also with a surprised look on her face.

"Er, well, I just read them a lot. It's a good way to practice English, too. Ever heard of Rick Riordan? That guy's just awesome at fantasy novels!"

"You're just plain weird...in an awesome way." Hayako sighed. "Seriously, you should go study overboard someday."

"It's not like it's that hard, actually! You know, if you could get through Sword Art Online, most of the systems are in English, by the way, reading English novels' not that...what's wrong?" Akiko paused as she saw Hayako's face saddened. I could tell she's still troubled by her experiences inside that game. "...I'm sorry."

"Huh? Oh no, it's alright!" Hayako shook her head before giving a little reassuring smile. "It's just...it's been a while since we talked about Sword Art Online."

"Yeah, I haven't played that game for months now." Himeko added. "I'm just...I don't really feel like playing online games lately."

"A shame for you, really." Klein said. "You've been missing out a lot of cool things since the latest patch update! And you didn't see Kirito cleared all floors again in, like, two weeks, from scratch! That guy's a maniac..."

"HEY! I heard that!" Kazuto shouted, while Asuna and Shino giggled.

"I'd love to see you in action again, White Swordsgirl." Klein turned to me. "You're just as good as Kirito, back then."

I turned to look outside the window as the scenery quickly pass us by.

Four years already, huh?

"Um, excuse me, miss?" A voice came up from behind me.

We turned to look, and saw a young girl looking at us.

"Er...I'm sorry if I'm intruding, but I heard something about 'White Swordsgirl'. Are you, by any chance, that legendary SAO player?"

Whoa, legendary?!

"Seems like you got a fanclub already, Natsu-chan!" Himeko teased. "There she is, young girl! That's the White Swordsgirl you're looking for."

The little girl's eyes widen.

"Awesome! I finally got to meet the legendary White Swordsgirl! Whee!" She cheered. "I'm a SAO player, too! My name is Marina! I heard a lot of cool things about you!"

"W-w-wait! Slow down!" I stammered. How in the world!? "H-how did you heard about me!?"

The little young girl, Marina, paused for a moment to think, before answered.

"Uh, my friends told me that during that...that incident...there were two players who managed to save everyone from the crisis and win the game together. I don't really know much, but I know that they are known by their nicknames 'Black Swordsman' and 'White Swordsgirl'."

Huh? Me? Saving everyone from the game?

Granted, I did do a lot of things back then to help others win the game, but really, it was only Kirito...I mean, Kazuto, who beats Heathcliff and freed everyone. I didn't help him.

"My big brother told me about you two, telling me that it was the two of you that saved his life. That's why I wanted to find you!"

Suddenly, she bowed her head.

"Thank you so much for saving my brother!" She said.

"Oi, oi, when did you do something like that, Natsumi? You never told me anything about this!" Hayako stared at me curiously.

"Now, now, this is something more interesting than my books." Akiko said, finally closing the book she's been reading since at the train station. "Why don't you share your stories with us, Natsu-chan?"

"I know you're not really a team player, Natsumi, but seriously? Damn, I gotta learn more about you!" Himeko grinned.

"I'd love to know that, too." Kazuto suddenly appeared out of nowhere. "We never really got to know each other that much in the game. Right, Natsumi-san?"

"Kyah! It's the Black Swordsman! In a flesh!" Marina smiled happily.

"Yep! That's me!" Kazuto then put his right hand on his chest, before smiling proudly.

"Can you explain to me more about your time in SAO? Please?" Marina asked.

"Of course! I'd gladly give advices to a fellow SAO player!" Kazuto grinned.

"She's not talking to you, you idiot..." Asuna spoke. "She's talking with Natsumi-san."

And with that, Kazuto came crashing down onto the floor, earning everyone a good laugh.

"So, can you tell me more about your experiences back then, nee-san? Marina asked again, making a face that kind of hard to resist for me...

"Come on, Natsumi!" Klein said. "Everyone's eager to hear your stories!"

"It's been a while since we talked anything about SAO, so yeah, this is a good idea." Akiko added.

"I agreed with that. Since I'm not a SAO player myself, I'd love to know more about how things worked in that game." Shino appeared beside Asuna and Kazuto, who managed to get back up, but with an awkward look on his face.

Damn it, I gave up already.

"Alright, listen carefully," I sighed. It will be a big while till we arrived at Kyoto, anyway. Guess I can kill some time with this.

"It all began six years ago..."

Editor's note: First of all, SORRY for the long inactive, guys! The long pause of my other SAO story, Sword Art Online: Alternate Story, will be continued in a while! I'm just kind of struggling at the moment, can't really figure out how to continue the story...You could say it's one form of writer's block...

Alright, so here's my new SAO story. A request OC fic by my fellow fanfic writer, Shiranai Atsune (her stories are awesome, people), about a young girl who's a former SAO player during the 'Sword Art Online Incident' retelling her journey in that game to a young girl whose brother she saved back then. This girl, Sakura Natsumi, known by her nickname as 'White Swordsgirl', was one of the top-tier players in Sword Art Online back then, almost on par with Kirito, and now, we're gonna find out how her actions has driven the plot of SAO forward, as well as her personal journey along with her friends in the deadly game. *IMPORTANT* So there's one of SAO fic called Sword Art Online: The White Swordgirl by Hibiko that was requested by the same writer and shared the same OC characters. Check that one out, too! :)

And for Atsune-san, I'm sorry this took so long! I'll update it as soon as I can, and I'll do my best with this story. Thank you for giving me a chance! :)