I do not own Sword Art Online, this is a fanfiction only.
Author Note: If you want a story where Kirito is paired with Asuna or a harem this is not it, you have been forewarned.
Kirito had a great interest in both programming and electronics, he spend every bit he got of his allowance on making his own dream computer, he built it from scratch. He used to say it allowed him to upgrade and modify more easily that way.
The second great passion was swordsmanship and archery. He was the very best in his grandfather dojo, and was so good that at the age of ten he won the National kendo championship using his own dual wielding style. It was a great shock to him to find that he parents he once loved so much were actually his adopted parents.
This made him almost cut all of his time with his family to nothing, having own a beta player version of the new MMORG he bought an old model of the nerve gear in an online auction. The weird this was that the seller didn't collect the money after he found out who it was and made the mistake of sending him a new top of the line models.
Kirito took every moment he could to either invest in the stock market or plan out a nice residual income plan from himself. He needed to make sure he had an income so that one day he could say goodbye to his dying relatives. When he was not doing that he was playing Sword Art Online.
To him it was quite therapeutic actually since he took out all his frustrations on monsters and sometimes on other players that were dumb enough to either try to rob him, or try to kill him to make a name for themselves. His friend and old hunting buddy formed a guild. The guy was nice to his friends and horrible to those he consider his enemies, his online name was PoH.
During the month long Beta the two formed and made the others Beta fear their guild. They called it Laughing Coffins. They were quite happy to say that it was such fun killing the fools that dared to attacked them that they almost laughed as they defeated their enemies.
They two were good friends and had a few things in common. Kirito was an expert in potions, archery, dual wielding, detection, hiding and blacksmithing. He was dangerous with his swors but was lethal with a bow. The many potions he could make were everything between healing to status effect cures and poisons.
During the last day of the Beta they both got a nice tattoo of the Guild symbol. Kirito had it on his right hand and PoH on his left. It was almost as if saying the two worked together as hands of the same body.
The time for the last day of the Beta came and having done the impossible, both received as an award special weapons, armor and their own copy of the game once it was out for sale. They cleared all one hundred floors and did so while fighting against most of the other beta's that tried to stop them from being the ones to clear it.
On the last day the two friends decided to have a duel, whoever won the duel would be the leader of the new Laughing Coffins guild in the game and would decide what the new guild goals were going to be. The duel was fought many times, but it always came out a draw. It seems having spent so much time fighting side by side made them very familiar with each other's style of combat.
In the end it was decided that PoH would be the leader of the new group. Kirito wished his old friend the best as he left the guild to avoid any unpleasantness about the rumors that would say he threw the fight either because of the other being his friend or cowardice. "You know I could care less what they say in rumors, Kirito. It simply will not be the same without you."
Kirito looked at him and smiled, "You might not bother with the rumors, but I am liable to beat those that speak them for the sheer principle of it. You do not need that as soon as you remake the guild." PoH laughed as he heard his friend.
"How about instead you stay in the shadows and if you think we are doing wrong? That we no longer are the sword of the weak and shield of the meek. You will be there to stop us or see that we face justice." Kirito laughed as his friend said that, "But don't complain then if a whole bunch of your people lose experience, items and worse. You asked my friend."
"If I asked is because as always I trust in your judgement. Be sure that I will look after your squad in your absence. I know that you worry about the foolishness both Johnny and Xaxa would get involved in if they are left unsupervised. " He said his farewell to his old friend as the timer came to end the Beta and he logged off.
It was during the days that he spent working on his investment plan and avoiding his so called family that he began to read more and more into his own origins. He began to look and look for any traces of his birth parents. He found his mother died in child labor, which was weird since thanks to today's medical technology that was unheard of.
It took him a year to find out he did not even have a birth certificate since his parents were never married, it was likely that his father was never even told of his birth in the first place. Kazuto could not believe he was the product of a one night stand and nothing more. He gave up looking for the supposed identity of his father.
After one year of waiting and continue to practice Kendo, he defended his title in the next championship. His opponent for the fight believed she would have it easy since he was her brother. She was sadly mistaken as it took her only two minutes to disarm her and defeat her.
"Brother you could seriously injured someone if you strike so hard... " He looked at her and smiled," Your pride would be more injured if I did not take you seriously and this is for my title.. I must do what I can to protect it. I am sure if the roles were switched you would have done the same. "
As they walked home they saw a package waiting for him, " This means the game will be out soon, finally I can do something fun for a change. " Suguha complained that he would now spend all this free time playing the blasted game and not with his family. He simply said that a little fun and relaxation was good for him.
" So is training at the family dojo no fun? " Suguha asked as he opened the door. " You know very well grandfather hates it when we goof around, he always has to remind you kendo is serious business. If you took things more seriously you could have avoided that attack and even turned it against me. "
Kazuto went inside and opened the package in a hurry as to be back in the castle as soon as possible. He saw a letter addressed to him by the inventor he always admired Akihiko Kanata. He opened the letter and he wished for the first time that he had not open it. In the letter he congratulated him on clearing the final level during the Beta.
To be more specific, the letter read as follows, 'To my missing son Kazuto: I can not tell you how proud you made me when you finished the last floor of the castle. I was so proud that my flesh and blood was able to do what no one else had done. Very well done. If you are wondering why I gave you this I guess there is a little explanation is needed. '
' I met your mother during my days as I tried to develop the technology for the nerve gear. We fell in love and the day we were supposed to marry, her parents took her away and I was unable to find her. Apparently, she was pregnant and so your grandparents gave you away to an orphanage. The sadness of losing first me and then you caused your mother to die. '
' It was probably your grandfather who told her that I had died and that she died during childbirth. I am sorry that I could not tell you this in person, but I am sure one day we will meet and we may discuss it then, your name is Kazuto Kayaba. I do hope that one day you will let me treat you as you are, my son. Signed Akihiko Kayaba. '
Kazuto could hardly believe it, the man he had admired so much, was none other than this own father, and when he looked for a birth certificate he found it when he looked for the name Kazuto Kayaba. It appears that his so-called father made the effort to make it up to him by making sure he was registered as such.
He placed the letter inside his desk drawer and did not bother looking at the picture that was inside the envelope. He placed the cartridge inside the machine and he placed the nerve gear on his head and started the game. He was happy to see that he had everything from the Beta, all his stats and a new one he had single swords skills mastered. It must have been a skill he mastered without him noticing before. His armor was much like you would expect, a black mythril armor with a black hood.
He had his weapons he won from clearing the events and he looked beneath the gauntlets and he saw he still had the guild tattoo on his right hand. He decided to get in some exercise as he walked through the city of beginnings, greeting the npcs that became friends with during the Beta.
Klein was surprised as he saw the NPC and him chatting as if they were friends for a long time. He decided to follow him till he missed him from his sight. He lost him from view completely. He began to walk back till he felt a sword under his chin. "Mind telling me why are you following me around?"
"Relax, I am new to this game and I figured that since you were a Beta you could show me the ropes. The name is Klein by the way. Could you please teach me to play this game?" Kirito relaxed and told him that he should have shouted or waved at him, he only made himself suspicious when he started to sneak around after him.
"With that face of yours, who wouldn't think you were a bandit out to steal from me? " Klein told him he just wanted to learn how to play and if he did, he might even be able to help him out later on." So sure grab your sword and follow me. " Klein jumped at the chance to follow him to the nearby monster fields.
" First and foremost let's see you fight that boar." Klein tried his best but only ended up upsetting the boar and ended up kicking him on the family jewels and walking off. "Why are you on the ground for? It does not even hurt." Klein stopped when he realized this. "I guess you are right, but man activating these skills is tough.."
Kirito told him he needed only to begin the initial motion and wait till he saw his blade glow and when he did he let go of that position and the system would make sure it actually hit. "Yea, easy for you to say but how about a lesson rather than an example." Kirito picked up a small stone and did the initial movements for the most basic attack.
Klein saw the stone glow and when he let go of the position the stone when flying and hit the right ass cheek on the boar that had kicked Klein and furious it began charging at Kirito. Using his sword he kept the boar occupied. "Come on do as I did, and just let the skill go when the sword vibrates. "
Klein did as he was shown and sure enough, he killed the boar. "Alright, I guess that is how you do it, but why did I get so little money and experience?" Kirito looked at him and smiled. "Boars in this game are like the slimes in other RPGs you know it is probably the weaker monster there is." Klein had to admit he had though it was a mid-level boss, not the weakest monster ever. "So you feel like clearing a few more of these with me?" Kirito agreed that he would help him out.
As the two relaxed after fighting so many monsters and Klein gaining a few levels. He looked down at the setting sun. "I still can't believe we are inside a game, this place is amazing." Kirito smiled at him as he looked at his sword. "This place is a place where your sword can take you to amazing adventures and fight in great battles."
"I have to admit I feel more alive here than any other place.. I guess we should part ways, the name is Kirito I guess you need to do some other things. " Klein and Kirito exchanged addresses and he smiled." You bet, I have a pizza coming, with some nice ginger ale and some side dishes. "
" Sound nice, but when is the food supposed to get there? Cause it's seven thirty already. " Klein looked at the clock and could not believe it. He had two whole minutes to log out and put on something to get this food from the delivery. He looked at the menu and found something missing.
"Kirito is there any way to log out besides the menu option? " Kirito looked at him and flat out said no." You can't do voice commands, you can't remove the nerve gear off your own head, and you can't just wait for the thing to power off either.. 80% of the weight of it is the battery.. It can hold power for a solid week before it even needs recharging. "
"But someone else could remove it right? You live with other people?" Klein was really pulling at straws here... "Yea, I got family but something tells me this is no bug. If this was a bug this big they would forcefully log us all off to fix it. It could mean the end of an entire genre of games if they don't fix it.."
Klein looked at him and started to realize their is something more going on with the missing option. "Game Master, why don't we try a GM then?" Kirito again looked at him with a serious look on his face. "The GM would only know the game program if he worked for the developer. Most GM are also players who are volunteers from the Beta. I can tell you this much that bunch did not learn that much in the Beta."
"Speaking of which how far did you get while on doing the Beta? " Klein smiled as he asked."What so you mean? Me and my friend cleared the entire thing. " Klein nearly fell over when he heard that. "You and your friend cleared 100 levels in a month.. You have got to be kidding me. What level are you right now?" Kirito told him 99, he even told him that in their party he should be able to see the number on the right hand corner of his name tag.