A/N: A retelling of Kyouji's reveal and the aftermath.

Staying By Your Side - KiritoxSinon Fanfic

It was the night the Bullet of Bullet tournament ended with the combined victory of Kirito and Sinon, and Shino found herself at Kyouji's mercy as he glared at her with lustful eyes and the needle at her throat. He had just finished revealing everything about him and the persona that is Death Gun. Shino could do nothing but stare in horror while biting her lip, shivering with the knowledge that her best friend–her only friend–was the murderer Death Gun.

Shino quickly threw Kyouji off of herself and dashed for the front door, only to realize with horror that he had locked it when he entered her apartment. She struggled with the lock and chain and had just pulled the chain from its slot when Kyouji grabbed her and pulled her from her only escape.

"Oh, Asada, I want you!" Kyouji giggled. "Asada! Asada!" Shino spun around and pushed him away and raced for the door again, but was sent to the ground when Kyouji grabbed her knee and began dragging her towards him. He got on top of her and wrestled at her clothes, attempting to pull her shorts down, but Shino furiously resisted, all the while screaming for help. Kyouji had just slapped her hands away and was pulling down her shorts, catching glimpse of her panties, where the front door burst open. A blur of black rushed inside and tackled Kyouji off of Shino, who scrambled up against the wall. She watched as a black-haired teen about her age wrestle with Kyouji, both of them throwing punches, kicks, and shoving each other around.

Suddenly, the black-haired teen snatched Kyouji's jacket and threw him down, where he then threw himself onto him and began pummeling him repeatedly. "Get out of here, Sinon!" he yelled.

Shino took a closer look at the teen and soon recognized him, despite his hair being shorter and having a more masculine face. "Kirito?" Shino mumbled. However, as soon as Kazuto called to her, Kyouji took this moment to throw him off, then got onto him and began punching him.

"I won't let you take my Asada away from me, Kirito!" Kyouji screamed at him, spiting saliva onto him. "Asada is mine, not yours! You will never have her for yourself!" Shino, snapping from her daze, ran over and grappled Kyouji from behind, managing to pull him off of Kazuto, He unhooked her hands and pushed her off, sending him slamming into the wall, but Kirito regained himself and jumped back onto Kyouji with a roar and resumed slamming his fist into his face again.

Then, Kyouji pulled out his needle gun, the very same one that housed the killing drug. Shino recognized it right away and dashed for the pair, where she snatched at Kyouji's hand, wrestling the needle gun from him and sliding it away. Kyouji growled at her and pushed her away. Kazuto reeled his fist back and drove it into Kyouji's cheek. "You bastard!" yelled Kazuto. "How could you go kill innocent players the way you did?!"

Kyouji was about to give an answer, but Kazuto, in his burst of rage, drove his fist into his face again repeatedly. He did not hesitate, even when Kyouji stopped resisting or when Kazuto's hand began bleeding from his bruised knuckles. When he noticed, he switched to his left hand, striking Kyouji more until the teen was still.

"Kirito!" Shino cried. She scampered to his side and wrung her arms around his. "Please stop, or you'll kill him!"

"He deserves every bit of it!" Kazuto shot back, retaking his arm back and sending a couple more punches at Kyouji. "I'm sick of people dying in-game, and this sick bastard has done nothing but commit murder, just like his brother! I'm doing what is right!"

"No, Kyouji doesn't deserve to die! Stop this now!" She went around to his front side and tackled him, pulling him over and making them both fall to the side onto the floor. Shino sat on top of Kazuto and held herself close to him. It was then that he noticed the tears in her eyes. "Please, stop this before you hurt yourself more," she wept. Kazuto glanced down at his bleeding knuckles, bruised and perhaps broken from beating Kyouji so much.

"Sinon…"

"It's Shino, remember, Kazuto?" she reminded him, giving him a small smile. "Here, I'll get some alcohol and bandages for you. Can you call 9-1-1 for a police car and ambulance?" Kazuto nodded in response, prompting Shino to rise from him. She went over checked Kyouji's pulse, letting out a sigh of relief that he was still alive. She went into the bathroom, gathered the items, and went back to Kazuto, who was explaining to the police that they had a break in, and that he fought Kyouji off. The dispatcher explained that a couple policemen and an ambulance will be on their way, and Kazuto gave the address before hanging up.

"They'll be here in a little while," he told Shino. He leaned over and glanced at the unconscious Kyouji. "Is he…?"

Shino shook her head. "No, he's alive, but I think you were close to killing him. C'mon, let me bandage you up a bit before the medics come." She lead him to her bed, where she set to work dribbling some alcohol on his knuckles–prompting a small grunt from the teen as he grit his teeth–then she wrapped some bandages around his hands, stretching his fingers out to give him ample room to move them. "There, it's not much, but it will hold over until the the emergency people get here." Shino gazed at Kazuto for a moment. "Kazuto, were you actually going to kill Kyouji then?"

"…Maybe, I dunno. When I woke up from GGO, I had a feeling that Death Gun's partner might still try to finish the job, so I intended to get here as fast as I could. When I heard the scuffles from you and Kyouji from outside, I got so angry and I…I guess I just lost it and even if I killed him, it wouldn't matter; killing a criminal is different from killing an innocent person."

"Like those three Laughing Coffin guys in SAO?" Shino asked. Kazuto nodded.

"Yeah, I have been wrestling with the guilt for a while, but while I was beating on Kyouji, I realized that even if I killed him, I was doing something right; I was protecting you, me, and anyone else he wanted to hurt."

Shino placed her hand on his cheek and turned him towards her. "You're not a murderer for killing those men, Kazuto. If anything, you're a hero. If you hadn't killed them, they could've gone on to kill more Players, including any of your friends."

Kazuto pulled himself from her grasp and glanced away. "I was never meant for the hero type of role," he admitted. "All I wanted was to play VRMMOs, and yet I somehow got roped in having to rescue everyone of SAO."

Shino slung her arms around Kazuto and brought her closer to him. "I still think you're my hero, Kazuto," she whispered, her cheeks flushed pure red. Though she was hesitant for a moment, she gradually reached up to kiss him, then the doorbell rang.

"Police here, we received a call about an intruder," said a man's voice. Kazuto got up and answered the door, allowing two officers in, who took Kyouji's body down to ground level, where an ambulance was waiting. Kazuto and Shino followed after them, and one medic tended to Kazuto's hands while the other was busy on fixing Kyouji for transfer, saying that the boy's nose was broken.

"You're a lucky kid," said Kazuto's medic. "Had you continued hitting that other boy any more, your hands could have been damaged beyond repair, but luckily, you'll just need to keep them bandaged for a few weeks, and be sure to use your hands a lot; the more you use them, the quicker they will heal."

"Thank you," Kazuto muttered before leaving the open back of the ambulance and heading over to Shino, who had just finished answering the police officers' questions. "So, I guess I better head home now that it's late," he told her. He had just reached his motorcycle when he heard Shino again.

"Um, Kazuto?" called Kazuto. He glanced back at her. "Um, do you think Kyouji's brother or any of the other people they hired for the killings might come after me?"

Kazuto let out a small gasp; Shino was correct. "You got a good point. Do you think you can stay with your family for a while until this blows over?"

Shino shook her head. "No, my mother lives over in the next city, and I doubt I could get a bus to her place tonight."

Kazuto began rubbing his chin while deep in thought. After a minute, he took her hand. "How about you stay at my house for a few days? I'm sure my mom wouldn't mind."

Shino let slip a smile. "Thank you, Kazuto. Let me go pack some things first." Shino disappeared up the apartment steps and, given about seven minutes later, Shino came down with a duffel bag over her shoulder. Together, they drove for Kazuto's home, where he kindly invited her in, even preparing some buttered bread and hot tea for the girl; his mother was out doing late night work at the office at that time. Before Shino had finished her meal, Suguha returned home after hanging out with her friends. Suffice to say, she was surprised to see Kazuto with a girl other than Asuna. She gave her cousin a wink and a smile before retreating to her room, where she would remain for the rest of the night.

A little later, Kazuto lead Shino up to his room. There, she explored his room while he procured her a sleeping bag and a spare pillow. Her gaze was captured by Kazuto's old Nerve Gear, the same one he was forced to wear for two long years in Sword Art Online. She stared at it for long minutes, wondering what is must have been like for Kazuto to be trapped in a paralyzing state, forced to fight dangerous creatures to survive and escape. Her grip around the headgear tightened as she pulled it close to her chest. Kazuto, she thought. I know I cannot begin to understand what you had to go through in SAO, but I wish I could. A minute later, Kazuto returned with the desired items, and Shino returned the Nerve Gear to the shelf. Kazuto rolled out the sleeping bag, then exited the room to give Shino some privacy to change into her pajamas.

The two of them decided to turn in for the night. Kazuto crawled under the covers of his bed while Shino went into her sleeping bag at the foot of his bed. While it was a step down from her apartment's bed, Shino felt at ease and safe on Kazuto's floor, however, she has yet to fall into slumber after about twenty minutes.

"Hey, Kazuto?" Shino whispered, hoping for a response, but none came. She silently slipped from her sleeping bag and rose to Kazuto's level. Seeing him asleep while breathing in and out, a kind smile spread across her face. She stretched her hand out for his cheek, slowly, but surely. Suddenly, Kazuto gave a snort, making Shino flinch back, but she retracted back towards him when she realized he was snorting in his sleep. She brushed the back of her hand against his warm cheek and exhaled.

Shino suddenly felt at peace around her new friend. Not even thinking of the consequences, she carefully lifted the covers and crawled into bed next to the sleeping Kazuto. She snuggled up to the snoozing boy and slowly wrapped her arm around his waist. However, when she pressed herself against him, the shift in weight on the bed combined with the newfound touch upon his body snapped him from his slumber. "Shino, what are you doing?" he asked in his groggy state.

Shino shrank back a little, but her wrapped arm did not leave him. "I'm sorry, but I just…well, I don't know why I did it, but I just want to be close to you, Kazuto," she confessed. Kazuto swallowed hard. He turned on his side to face Shino, where he placed his hand on her cheek. "Look, I know I can never understand what it must've been for you to kill people in SAO, evil or not. It is never easy to take a life, even when they deserve it or when you're in danger."

"Yeah, I can't imagine what it must've been for you to kill that criminal when you were younger, and not only that, but in real life too," he whispered. "I guess, so long as we are protecting those we care about, we are nothing like criminals."

Shino nodded. "Yeah. You know, after being with you for so long, and getting to know you and the troubles you have endured, I feel like…I feel like I can overcome my fear of guns now."

"Shino, that's wonderful."

"Yes, and I owe it all to you. I guess I didn't need GGO to act as some kind of therapy after all." Shino inched a little closer to Kazuto, being only a few inches from his face. "Kazuto, I…I think I love you." Kazuto could see her cheeks flush a beet red even as the moonlight bled through the curtains into the bedroom.

"Shino…" Kazuto mumbled, him himself turning red now. Shino inched closer, her eyes slowly closing and her lips pursing for a kiss, and Kazuto felt his own lips quiver as they too did the same, but then his phone rang on his nightstand. He reached over and swiped it up, noticing that Asuna sent him a text message congratulating him on his BoB victory and on defeating Death Gun. He was about to answer back, but he chose to instead place his phone back on the nightstand and turn back to Shino. "Don't worry about it, it was nothing important," he whispered to her. He ran his hand through Shino's jet black hair, making her smile a little, which in turn made his smile as well.

Shino came back towards him again, and this time, they both locked into a loving kiss, their arms wrung around each other. They were pressed together for minutes before they broke apart, both of them blushing pure red. Kazuto's hand brushed against Shino's cheek, making a shiver run through her. She suddenly rolled him over on top of her, and she ran her hands behind his neck before pulling him in for another kiss, which he did not object to. Kazuto's hands caressed Shino's shoulders for a minute before he pulled away to smile at her.

He went back to his side of the bed, while Shino rolled back onto her side away from him. There, Kazuto pressed himself against her, his arms around her waist before she pulled the blankets over them.

"I love you too, Shino," Kazuto whispered into her ear before he fell into a slumber. Shino smiled as tears blinked in her eyes, then she nuzzled into the pillow and fell asleep as well, both of them in blissful happiness. She knew she will never have to be afraid again, neither of guns, men, or anything else, all thanks to Kazuto helping her overcome her fears.

THE END.