A/N: I'm only going by what I want to see in SAO lol. Expect OOC as well as canon and anything in between. You've been warned ;)

Edited to add: This is the revised chapter. Let me know what you think of the changes. I'm currently working on chapter 2, so it'll be up today or tomorrow. TIA!

Prologue:

In 2022, 10,000 players were trapped in a VRMMO called Sword Art Online. Some players rose above the rest and eventually, after 2 years of combat and deaths, the game was cleared by an above-average player named Kirito. In his time in the game, he dealt with player killers, crushes, impossible situations, and still managed to fall in love. Asuna was his reason for living and his reason for fighting. Near the end of the game, they were joined by an AI named Yui. She became their daughter in almost every sense of the word. When the system discovered her defection, Kirito saved her into a game item and into his local NerveGear. When Kirito killed Kayaba, he woke up soon after in his hospital bed. He discovered his family at his side, including his cousin Suguha. After a little searching, he discovered Asuna…still locked inside her NerveGear. Getting a tip that Asuna was trapped in a game called Alfheim Online, Kirito began his next journey to get her back. He was assisted by a Sylph named Leafa. Just before the final push to get to his wife, the partners discovered they were Kazuto and Suguha in real life. That is where we come in.

Chapter 1:

Kirito stared in shock at the empty spot where Leafa –no, Suguha- had been standing. He quickly brought up his own logout screen and shushed Yui.

He woke up and stretched, pulling the gear off in one movement and sliding to the side of the bed. In too few seconds he was standing at Sugu's door. Knocking, he waited a minute. He could hear her sobbing. He eyed the door, confused, and knocked louder. He heard a muffled "go away!" from the room. Sighing, he just opened the door and stepped in. Sugu looked up at him in complete shock. He had never been so forward as that before.

"Go away! Goawaygoawaygoaway!" Sugu shrieked. Kazuto ignored her and sat on the edge of her bed.
"What the hell is going on? I'm sorry I'm using the NerveGear again but with Asuna trapped, I didn't have much of an option." Sugu closed her eyes and shook her head.

"It has nothing to do with that, you idiot. I fell in love with a player in a game, trying to escape these terrible and wrong feelings that I have for you in real life, and then…then…it's just you. It's always you. What am I supposed to do?" Her voice rose every few words until she was sobbing and screeching again.

Kazuto sat back, stunned. "Uh…I…well…I had no idea…what…" well crap. What the hell do I say now?

Sugu looked at him and let out a little hysterical laugh. She reached over and shoved him, "get out. Now. I don't think I can survive seeing disgust in your eyes when you look at me."

Kazuto reached out and grabbed her hand, "Never. Never. We'll talk about this later. This is important and our relationship is important. Sugu, you've become my best friend. I still need your help rescuing Asuna but I will not sacrifice our friendship, so if you don't want to help me, I will understand."

Sugu began to quiet. The occasional hiccough was all that marred the silence. She let her eyes stay locked with his. Finally she lowered her head and twined her fingers through his for a brief second before releasing him. "I could do no less than help you save the love of your life."

Kazuto smiled but still looked troubled. "All right. Are you up for logging in now? How long do you think you would need to be ready? I have a terrible feeling that time is not on our side."

Sugu nodded and answered, "I need the rest room, a biscuit, and to wash my face. Then I'm good to go." She looked up at him shyly. "Would you like to bring your gear into here and dive with me? I somehow feel safer that way." Kazuto nodded, "No problem."

15 minutes later the pair reconvened in Suguha's room. Laying side by side wasn't unusual, since they had comforted each other many times with closeness and cuddling since Kazuto's return to the real world. Sugu reached over and held his hand as she counted down the seconds before they announced in unison "Link start!" and the final assault began.

ALO:

After a few minutes of arguing about Leafa's suggestion, the two went their separate ways to implement their parts of the plan. Leafa sent messages to the leader of the Sylphs and the leader of the Cait Siths. Kirito asked Yui to run any analyses she could on the area around the World Tree while he thought back to his last attempt. He sat with his eyes closed and relived the entire scene. How can it seem so designed to failure? Neverending hordes of enemies, with both melee and ranged weapons? Who could beat that? How many would it even take?

It seemed no time at all before Yui and Leafa were both poking him in the face and giggling.

"Sleeping on the job?" Leafa teased. Kirito turned red and shook his head.

"Meditating about the last battle here," he ducked his head, "but I might have been a little sleepy."

The girls both laughed again. Kirito waved a hand and turned to walk away before he realized he didn't know what their immediate plan was. "So, what'd we learn?"

"We'll have assistance, no doubt. I have faith-" Leafa was cut off as a short Sylph barreled into the small garden area.

"Leafa leafaleafaleafaleafa!" Recon shouted as he flailed towards her. The fairy in question rolled her eyes and put a hand out to hold the boy at arm's length

.
"yes, Recon?" He stopped, perplexed.

"Um…I heard you're calling for backup for the World Tree and you're helping some Spriggan." Leafa's eyebrows drew together in annoyance.

"Yep, that'd be what I'm doing. If you're just here to whine, go find something else to do. This "Spriggan" is better backup and more honorable than that guild and Sigurd ever was." Meanwhile, Recon was shaking his head in denial.

"No, no, no. I let my mouth get away from me. I came to offer my help." Everyone blinked in surprise.

"Ok…Are you sure?" Recon nodded. "of course! I couldn't let my beautiful Leafa charge into battle undefended!" THWAP. Leafa turned away from the boy and rubbed her stinging hand. 'At least he'll have a red mark for awhile' she thought amusedly while he held his cheek.

"All right then folks. Let's head over to the plaza in front of the World Tree and wait a few before we enter to give everyone a chance to get closer." Kirito interjected, trying to hold back his smug smile at the whole debacle.

Everyone trooped up the stairs toward the door and paused as a unit. Leafa checked her messages and observed the time. Doing some quick math, she turned to Kirito, "I think we can head in, and they'll make it in a few minutes."

Kirito nodded and instructed everyone to do a last minute weapon and item check. Everyone chimed in when they were finished. Taking a deep breath, Kirito approached the door for hopefully the last time.

Later:

Sugu kept looking at Kazuto on the cab ride to the hospital. He hadn't said much since he woke up and discovered her sitting over him. His smile and spontaneous hug told her everything. Within minutes they were en route to the hospital Asuna was at. Alighting from the cab, Sugu paid and hurried after her cousin. He was striding across the dark parking lot purposefully. All of a sudden, she heard a whistle of air and felt an explosion of pain, then, nothing.

Kazuto whirled around at the sickening thud and his jaw dropped in horror as he saw Sugu crumple to the ground. A bruise was already forming on her temple. Sugou smiled malevolently behind her, tapping a pipe against the ground.

"You didn't think that I'd just let you walk away, did you?" The man kicked the unconscious girl aside unnecessarily as he stepped toward Kazuto. The younger boy's eyes were hard and his hands curled into fists. He watched the villain drop the pipe carelessly and unsheathe a knife from a hidden spot under his coat. "No more games." He lunged at Kazuto. He succeeded in scoring a mark across his cheekbone.

"No more games," Kazuto/Kirito agreed, settling into a battle stance. Sugou lunged again but this time the young fighter sidestepped quickly and used his fist to chop down onto the other's wrist, loosening the knife and adeptly picking it out of his fingers. There was a flash of panic on Sugou's face and he gathered himself to attack again. Kirito relied on his honed instincts and training; he dropped into a crouch and caught the other man around the waist, flipping him to the ground. He pinned him there and looked deep into his eyes. Seeing nothing that indicated any kind of soul or sanity, Kirito wavered for just a second. This is real life. Police. Remember that. He flipped the knife around and used the hilt to smash into Sugou's other's eyes rolled up and he went totally limp. He won't be up for awhile. Long enough to call the police. He stood up, dropped the knife, and went to Sugu. He picked her up and carried her all the way into Asuna's room, carefully not thinking about anything. He opened the door to see his beloved sitting up in bed, waiting for him. She cried out when she saw his cuts and scrapes but couldn't hear much so he settled for laying Sugu in the other bed and climbing in with Asuna to hold her. He regretfully pulled away and reached into his pocket for his cell phone to report the assault. He called the emergency number and within minutes they could hear sirens. Well, Kazuto could. A few moments later a pair of officers entered the room and started to question the boy. They had a good look at Sugu and at his face, and their faces both hardened. After a few more courteous questions, they left with a promise to follow up at another time. Kazuto settled back into bed with Asuna and they both fell asleep and nobody awoke for hours.

Sugu slowly opened her eyes amidst a pounding headache and saw a very familiar sight, although one she thought she was past seeing all the time with Kazuto awake. 'A hospital? What the…what…?' Her gaze travelled further and she spotted Kazuto and Asuna wrapped around each other and asleep a foot away. There was a small pang in her heart but she was surprised at how her happiness overwhelmed it. The clock read 6:00 in the a.m. She pulled a chair over by the other bed and resumed an all-too-familiar vigil over a hospital bed. Thankfully this time it wasn't unknown or endless. She pulled her phone out and set to reading over some of her favorited fan stories set in ALO. Time passed and it wasn't long before she felt something nudge her. She jumped and looked up to see Asuna's eyes open and relaxed.

"Hey, I'm Suguha, are you doing ok?" She whispered.

"I know who you are, Sugu. Kirito is very proud of you. I'm so glad you're here." Asuna whispered back. The other girl blinked. 'Proud of me? What?'

"Well that's new information," she chuckled uncomfortably. "I have heard a lot about you, though. I can't believe we actually saved you. I feel like I know you. You're going to make Kazuto so happy." She babbled on, shifting in her seat. Asuna smiled and nodded.

"I sure hope I can. He makes me so happy too. It's almost unreal to be here…in the real world…with him." She confided in the younger girl.

"Whatcha guys doing up so early? Go back to sleep, and shhhhh," Mumbled the blankets. Both girls instantly started poking the lump and trying to tickle him. A head finally emerged with a disgruntled look. "Oh come on. Leave me alone."

The girls shook their heads. "Nope. We have so much time to make up for." Asuna replied, including Sugu in her smile. Again, the other girl blinked in surprise and just nodded. 'It's really hard to dislike someone who is so happy and warm.' She thought ruefully.

Within 4 hours, everyone and everything had been checked out. Asuna was allowed to be released into Kazuto's care by some miracle of god, her guilt-ridden father, and her absent mother.

A cab ride later, Sugu followed Kazuto into the house. He carried Asuna, she carried her bag. They all sat down in the kitchen to have a discussion about living arrangements. They looked expectantly at the older girl to speak her mind.

She shifted a bit and smiled nervously. "I know we were married and all that entails but I'd like to take it a little bit slower for a few days at least. I was thinking I could bunk with Sugu and we could go from there."

Kazuto blinked and nodded. "Well, that makes sense I guess. But my bed is always open, for any reason platonic or not. I don't enjoy sleeping alone. We have an extra pallet we can set up in there. " Asuna twined her fingers with his sympathetically.

"Me neither." She said softly. Suguha nodded too, and stood to take the bag up to her room.

Later that night, the females were shut up in their room getting ready for bed. Asuna finished brushing out her hair and walked to the door. "I'm going to call Kirito-um, Kazuto, to come say good night to both of us." Sugu nodded, sitting down on her bed with her feet underneath of her. "Kaaaazuto," she called.

The boy appeared faster than seemed possible. Asuna giggled softly and reached out for a hug. He folded her into his arms and smiled, "Ready for bed honey?" He felt her head move in a nod against his chest. He lifted his eyes to Sugu and smiled at her, while a niggling guilt tried to mar his moment. 'I need to take the time to figure this out with her. I really couldn't have asked her to be any more of a saint than she is. She deserves more.'

Sugu watched Kazuto's face and was surprised to see a flicker of something else when he looked at her. She dropped her eyes and wondered what would happen whenever they had a chance to talk. She was lost in thought until she felt two pairs of arms encircle her. She jerked in shock and then relaxed into the embrace. The trio stayed like that for a second until Asuna pulled away from Kazuto and wished him a good night. After the boy had left, the girls looked at each other. Both were unaware of the other's thoughts; why does it seem like we have known each other forever? Why am I so comfortable with her?

Asuna broke the silence again, "Sugu-chan, I…I…" her face began turning pink, "I was wondering if we could share the bed. I spoke honestly. I don't like sleeping alone and I feel safe with you. I think I will take a lot of comfort in sleeping with you. But only if you're comfortable too." She added hurriedly.

Sugu looked blank for a second and then a smile spread across her face. "Of course. I will sleep much better as well." It took a few minutes but soon they were cuddled together in the little bed. It took another few moments and both were sleeping as soundly as they ever had.

'What the…hmm. Well this is different.' Kazuto stared at the scene in front of him. The girls were completely wrapped around each other and sleeping soundly. He thought he'd come surprise them for breakfast and instead, he was the one who got the shock. He walked out of the room and then changed his mind. His footsteps back into the room made both start to stir.

Asuna woke first, and was full of wonder at her comfort level. 'I didn't even have a single nightmare last night.' She thought. She was completely and somewhat surprisingly ok with the level of intimacy she was sharing with Sugu. She wasn't sure what it was yet but she had a feeling that this girl was her other half in a lot of ways. Her eyes continued to take in the room and observed Kirito standing there, watching them. He gave her a lopsided grin and shrugged. She smiled back and then looked down at her bed mate. Sugu was just starting to open her eyes.

She became aware first of the body that was holding her so tightly; then she became aware that she was holding on just as firmly. She peered through her eyelashes and saw Asuna looking down at her.

"Good morning," she said in a sleepy voice.

"Good morning, Sugu-chan," responded both Asuna and Kazuto in unison, startling her. She hadn't realized he was standing there. "I made breakfast for you sleepyheads, if you're ready to get out of bed yet," he continued. There was grumbles and nods, so he left for the kitchen to set the table. Moments later, both appeared and took their seats. "Breakfast is served! Oatmeal and fruit and bacon and waffles and breakfast potatoes." He rattled off. They looked at him wide-eyed before digging in.

"I was under the impression you couldn't cook, Kirito," Asuna accused between mouthfuls.

The boy just smiled sheepishly and shrugged. "Well, you just took so much pride in it, and you were better at it, AND you enjoyed it. Why would I interfere?"

Later, everyone helped clean up after breakfast and they all sat at the table again. "what should we do?" the ex-warrior commander asked. The other two shrugged and thought about it.

"Well," Sugu suggested timidly, "You and I could go shopping if you feel up to it, and Kazuto could do whatever. Maybe visit Agil." The others looked thoughtful.

"All right. I do need quite a bit of stuff," Asuna said, then, turning happily to Kazuto, "Agil? He's here? He's out? You know him?"

Kazuto nodded, "He's the one who got the tip about you being imprisoned. He runs a bar here in the business district. I could go let him know what's up, I guess." The girls clapped, excited.

Within half an hour, everyone was dressed and leaving for the day.

Later that night, Sugu was dragging their bags of purchases up the front walk. It looked like Kazuto wasn't home yet so he couldn't help. She grunted and yanked, praying that they didn't rip a bag open. On top of clothes and under things, Asuna also picked up some of her "must-haves" for the kitchen, some toiletries, and she insisted on plumping up Sugu's wardrobe. A few minutes later, they rewarded themselves with a glass of wine and curled up on the bed.

"This is NICE." Asuna sighed, relaxed. Sugu agreed wholeheartedly. They sat in companionable silence while they perused some TV and magazines. Before they knew it, they were well into the second bottle of wine.

"Hey, Sugu…could I ask you something?" she said, pulling her hair behind her shoulder and shifting to face the other girl fully. Sugu hurriedly gulped her wine and nodded, suddenly uneasy. Asuna patted her shoulder and drained her glass as well. "Well, I seem to have some kind of…connection with you. I'm not sure why, I've never been one to believe in that kind of stuff but it's getting undeniable. I feel almost like we are two halves of a whole. Very different halves obviously, but important and needed nonetheless. Have you felt anything similar?"

Sugu nodded. "Oh, yes. I thought I was crazy. Plus, part of it is feeling the feelings for Kirito that you have, except I already had them anyway so I couldn't tell and I…" she trailed off in horror. "Oh my god. I need to…run away somewhere." She groaned and covered her face with a pillow. Asuna merely looked at her patiently.

"You think I can't feel that too? I know you're not really his sister. It's not like it's the worst thing in the world. Plus nobody can help who they fall in love with – especially with someone like Kirito. He's one of the most amazing people I've ever met. I can't blame you at all. I'm actually not even jealous and I am not sure why." Her eyebrows scrunched together quizzically. "it is a little strange but I'm just going with it. Besides, it makes me feel…full, in a way, to have so much room to love in my heart. I was just hoping you would feel the same way."

Sugu's eyes appeared over the edge of the pillow and got bigger and bigger as Asuna went on. "I know exactly what you mean," she confessed in a whisper, "I couldn't understand how my feelings changed so suddenly from resenting you when you were not there to caring about you and wanting to help you when you woke up."

The girls shared a very teary smile and curled up into each other. 'Perfect,' echoed both of their thoughts.

Kazuto arrived home around 1am and was kicking himself the whole time. He snuck upstairs to try not to wake anyone up and saw the girls' door was wide open and their lamp and TV were on. He blinked a few times at the empty wine bottles and the girls asleep, sitting up, wrapped around each other. He walked in and shut the TV off, shut the lamp off, and started lifting the girls to put them under the blanket. He was never really sure what happened but suddenly he was yanked off his feet and pinned between them. He froze and realized both girls had curled up into his body and were hanging on stubbornly. He laid there for awhile trying to puzzle out the situation but couldn't come to any kind of satisfactory answer. Eventually the day caught up with him and he fell asleep.

The morning light shined straight into Asuna's closed eyelids and made her groan quietly. She didn't have much of a hangover but she definitely should have drank more water with her wine. She opened her eyes and saw a sweet and soothing image – Kirito laying on his back, an arm around Sugu and herself, and everyone just looked peaceful. 'Damn my bladder!' she thought savagely. She climbed down to the end of the bed and hurried to the bathroom. She returned seconds later and crawled back into her spot, falling straight back asleep.

The afternoon sun was slanting in the room when Kazuto stirred. He froze as he remembered the situation. He looked around himself and was oddly comforted. He didn't understand it but being curled up between these two had given up an incredible peace of mind. The next to wake was Sugu. She looked up at him shyly and seemed to withdraw her presence. He frowned and pulled her closer to him. She seemed about to say something with Asuna sighed and smiled, her eyes popping open.

"Good morning, loves." She sang out, pressing her lips to Kirito's and brushing her fingers over Sugu's cheek. The other girl grabbed her hand and rubbed it against her cheek like a cat, smiling too.

Kazuto looked lost and just lay there for a minute. "Ok, I think someone should tell me what's going on and what I should be doing. Just so I know." He chuckled a little, but was definitely serious. The women exchanged looks and sat up as one, nodding.

Ten minutes later they were all sitting in the kitchen drinking coffee, ready to have the conversation.

"So, Kirito…I don't know exactly what the deal is. I seem to have some kind of empathic connection to Sugu. I know I love her and we are better together. I know I love YOU and we are also better together. Last night we had to talk about it, about how we felt, and about how Sugu felt about you." Asuna looked at them both apologetically. "I know this is the hard part, ok? Just stay with me."

The other two both nodded and looked at each other then away, quickly.

"My feelings are amplified by hers, and hers are amplified by mine. Both of us need you. Our question to you is, how do you feel about Sugu? You didn't recoil from her when you discovered her feelings. You didn't even pull away."

Kazuto sighed and put his face in his hands. "I know. And I just don't know. We were raised as brother and sister for all of our younger years. Knowing we weren't siblings made me uncomfortable, made me push her away. Sorry, Suguha. I just didn't know how to handle it. Now since I've been back, we have fallen into a close relationship that doesn't rely on the bonds of family but it was still jarring to hear the situation laid out like that. Especially when I was also hiding from my growing un-brotherly feelings," he ended on a whisper, still with his face buried in his hands.

Asuna and Sugu reached across and held each other's hands as they reached out to Kazuto as one. He slowly lifted his head and looked at them each in turn. They held his gaze confidently. He finally allowed a smile to spread across his face. Who would have ever imagined…

The girls looked at each other and with their connection, both instantly came to a decision. They pushed back from the table and grabbed each of Kazuto's hands. "What…? Where are we going?" he stuttered. They just smiled knowingly and led him upstairs to his room. At the door, he balked. "Are, are you sure? Like, really?" he stuttered some more.

Sugu laughed and rolled her eyes at Asuna, "Can you believe him? Look a gift horse in the mouth and all that." The other girl laughed too and helped her pull him into the room, pushing the door shut behind him.

A/N Ahhh. Let me know what you think. Please and thank you! Yes, cliffhanger, and yes, the next chapter may be a bit citrusy ;)

Edited A/N: So I go back and forth between Kazuto and Kirito on purpose, to show how conflicting the whole thing still is. Asuna has a hard time not thinking of him as Kirito and Kazuto fell back into a Kirito mindset when he was fighting Sugou. So anyway, yeah.