The Blackwyrm Coat, the black leather coat that I wore, wasn't only the strongest piece of light armor I've ever wore, I was also quite fond of how it looked on me. It was player-made by a girl named Ashley, widely renowned as Aincrad's best tailor.

I'd tell you about her, but…

No, it's not like there's anything dangerous stopping me from doing so, and I remember everything clearly. It's just that… she's a difficult person to describe.

You could call her strange. That's certainly what you'd think the moment you see her, but it's a different story once you do get to know her.

Shy and timid, but somehow fiery and violent, maybe even hysterical. Incredibly childish, but at times easily way more mature than I'll ever be. Sometimes clingy and affectionate, other times cold and even genuinely threatening. I don't know. Maybe it's a girl thing.

Well, if there's any word to describe her, it'd be "unpredictable."

While I got the coat from her some time before I met Lisbeth, I actually met Ashley half a year earlier before that.

January 2024, 50th floor

The Black Swordsman, Kirito, was on his way to his nightly sessions of grinding experience when he found a hooded figure waiting by the entrance to the dungeon.

They seemed suspicious, and Kirito kept his head down as he neared the entrance, hoping that it wasn't him the hooded figure had been waiting for, for whatever reason. Sharp eyes flashed towards him as he came close.

Kirito breathed easier once he got past, and was about to open the door to the dungeons when he felt a light tug on his coat. He instinctively froze, then slowly looked back to see the hooded figure tugging at him.

The figure gasped, and let go of his coat. Fidgeted, looked around, evidently unsure of what to do.

"P-party with me," a soft voice finally said. Barely audible, but Kirito was sure it was a girl's voice coming from beneath the lowered hood.

Kirito spent a few moments of silence in response to her request, before turning back to the door and walking awa—

A hand tugging on his coat. Kirito doesn't look back. "That was a no, if you hadn't figured that out," he told her. No—he can't party with anyone. That was still fresh in his mind. The events on Christmas Eve continued to haunt him and confuse him. She might not feel the same as he did, but Kirito can't forgive himself. Neither does he know if he'd ever be able to.

But…

Two hands tugging on his coat.

Kirito closed his eyes, and sighed. "No," he said before pulling himself free from the girl and entering the dungeon.

He was ready to feel heavy-hearted about rejecting the girl, but then he heard the sound of the dungeon door opening—and received a flying kick to his back.

Kirito found himself with barely the time to yelp in surprise as he flies face-first into the wall before him. He immediately turned back to see the girl kneeling down before him, pouting beneath her hood even as she grabbed him by the collars. "Party with me," she said in a more determined voice, eyeing him.

"A-alright, I'll party with you," Kirito reluctantly replied, sweat dripping off his cheek. It was hard to take his eyes off the girl's purple ones. Their beauty aside, Kirito couldn't read anything from them, and it was a bit unsettling.

The girl dropped him and fiddled with her menu. The invitation window came up in front of Kirito. He looked at it, then back at the girl. Clearly, he wasn't fond of the idea. He quickly accepted the invitation when the girl looked back at him, pouting.

The girl's HP bar appeared beneath his, along with her display name: Ashley.

"So… Ashley," Kirito called as he lifted himself up, "why did you need to party with me?"

Ashley was looking away, silent.

Kirito answered her silence with silence, so they stood there for several moments… in silence.

"H—"

"A-Argo said you, the Black Swordsman, could help me," she finally said.

Argo? That Rat… she knew he was a solo player. He didn't know what she told this girl, but she should know he wasn't very keen on being with people.

Kirito almost sighed. "Help you with what?" He couldn't possibly imagine what he—he exactly—could do for this girl that others couldn't.

"T-there's a secret room in this dungeon—I… I found it two days ago," she looked back to Kirito, suddenly eager. "There has to be something nice in there, right?"

Something nice… probably something dangerous, too. "Then just bring a party—why do you need me?"

"Because it only allows two people in—and you're strong."

Kirito's eyes twitched. "You know, it being a secret part of the dungeon and all, there's a high chance that it's also really dangerous." The part of allowing only two people in… it's the first he's ever heard of it, too.

"T-that's why I'm asking you!" Ashley neared him, and grabbed his hands. "I'm curious about it!" she exclaimed, looking up at him, her hood falling off to reveal long, lustrous black hair that framed her beautiful white face.

Those sharp purple eyes were twinkling, and she gave off the impression of chilling beauty, were it not for the light freckles, which actually served to make her look… rather cute.

Kirito blushed and looked away. "Curiosity isn't a good enough reason."

Ashley saw her hands holding the Black Swordsman's in her own, gasped softly and let go of them, clasped hers together, and turned away, suddenly back to being timid.

Kirito was just… confused now.

"I… I'll make it worth your while," she mutters softly.

What… WHAT.

Ashley unclasped the hook keeping her hooded cloak on, and it slowly slid off her shoulders, revealing a lithe, fragile-looking body, slender and attractive. A simple white cardigan over a black shirt, a white miniskirt, and black stockings covering slim legs, all fashionable-looking, and would impress people even in the real world.

Kirito covered his face in an attempt to hide how red it is. "Wh-wha-what are you doing!?" he stuttered in a panic.

Ashley looked at him questioningly. "I'm giving you this cloak," she said, handing it to him, folded properly. She seemed to smile then, and looked away sheepishly. "I… I made it myself."

Kirito sighed loudly, mostly in release of his panic. Partly because apparently this girl thinks that a cloak she made herself would be enough of a proper price. He was about to point that out when—

She was pouting again. A hand on her hip as the other jabbed the cloak at him. "HEY. What's with that doubting look?" she started, voice edgy. "Are you underestimating my tailoring skill?" Just how random of a personality can someone have? She's angry now!

"W… what if I am?" Kirito weakly muttered.

Ashley closed the distance between them and grabbed his collar. "I'll have you know I already maxed out my tailoring skill," she said, "AND this cloak is made from rare spider silk from the last floor boss!" She let go of him, almost throwing him back. "It's WAY better than that…" she eyed him from head to toe. "That… th—coat you're wearing."

"You were about to say something bad about my coat, weren't you?" Kirito retorted before sighing. This girl had been giving him a lot of reasons to sigh ever since he met here just minutes ago. "Besides…" he looks away, a hand on his shoulder, as if massaging a cramp, "cloaks aren't my style."

Ashley blinked. "Oh, is that so?" She smiled. "I'll still make it worth your while," she said again.

Kirito looked back at her, not sure of what to expect as she puts on her cloak again, leaving the hood down.

"I'll make you a coat from the best materials I have. Something that fits you and would look really good on you."

Kirito sighed again, giving up. Ashley obviously had no intentions of backing down or letting him go. "I hope you're prepared for this."

Ashley gave a bright smile in her apparent victory. "I'm ready. Don't worry about me, I can fight really good."

"No," Kirito immediately replied.

The girl suddenly gave him a serious look. "No… By 'no,' you mean…?"

"No." Kirito didn't back down from her almost intimidating look, his black pupils staring directly at her purple eyes, his expression grim. "It'll be dangerous. Stay behind my back, hide whenever something appears; I'll do the fighting."

Her face started to shift towards an angry expression again. Kirito sighed when it subsided, but then suddenly—

"YOU'RE MAKING ME MAD. WHAT DO YOU THINK I AM—"

"NO!" Kirito yelled back. The next thing he knew was Ashley grabbing him by the collar again, her face furious.

But no matter how fiery she is, Kirito refused to back down.

Those memories could only keep haunting him, and he didn't want another. He really didn't want another such memory.

Her words echo through his mind even now, and his heart felt tight, his fists clenched at the memory. "No," he said again, determined to stand by his conditions. If she wasn't willing to go by them, then she could go look for someone else to party with.

Ashley growled, violently let go of his collar, then walked past him.

Before Kirito could ask what she was doing, he was being dragged by the back of his collar back outside the dungeon.

"H—," he started when they were outside, but was interrupted when a window appeared before him. It wasn't a window asking to disband the party like he expected.

Accept duel: Y/N?

Her purple eyes looked at him expectantly, her expression serious.

Fine. If this was how she wanted to play it.

The Black Swordsman pressed the button to accept the request for a duel, and selected the First Strike Mode in the following menu.

The 60 second timer appeared, and Kirito drew the one-handed sword strapped on his back, raising it high, taking up his stance. Ashley, however, made no such move, not even bothering to take up a stance.

"Don't look at me like that," she said in response to Kirito's scrutinizing look, and she was still angry as implied by her voice. "I don't need a stance."

That's… ridiculous. But if that was how she wanted to be, Kirito couldn't really tell her otherwise. If he could, he wouldn't be in this situation right now.

5.

4.

3.

2.

1.

0! Kirito didn't waste any time, activating a Sword Skill even as he dashed forward with great speed, determined to finish this as quickly as possible.

A glowing slash down. Ashley sidesteps, and dodges it cleanly. The next horizontal slash barely managed to do otherwise, Ashley twirling on her feet and dodging yet another slash from Kirito. She lashes out with her foot—something no one really expected anyone to do in SAO—and caught Kirito off-guard, hurtling away quite a distance away.

While the impact was still there, unarmed attacks generally did no damage in the world of SAO, except for a select few Skills if one had either Hand to Hand Combat or Martial Arts equipped. Ashley's kick, however, was no Skill, and dealt no damage, so Kirito dashed back towards her again, barely slowed.

It almost cost him his victory, though. Just as he neared her, she dashed forward as well, and he saw something gleaming from her left. Kirito immediately threw his head forward, narrowly avoiding something that would've cut through his head. He rolled forward, and saw Ashley close to him, twirling on her feet, that gleam catching his eyes once more.

Kirito brought his sword up and threw himself backwards. He didn't hear anything clash with his blade, but rather received a light scratch on his cheek. Ashley drew back, spinning on her heels. Her hand moved in intricate motions, and something flashing, gleaming in the moonlight whirled around her, following her movements as she drew back.

The gleam disappeared, and Ashley stopped to look at Kirito. It was hard to see, but she was definitely holding something like the handle of the sword before, but now she showed no signs of holding a weapon in her hands. "You have incredible reaction time, Kirito-san."

"I didn't know there were any glass blades in SAO."

"Oh? Most people just assume I cheat," Ashley replied.

Kirito couldn't really deny what she just said.

While it was a surprise to him, Kirito didn't really find it unusual that there were glass blades in SAO. There were many different kinds of weapons in the game, and he could swear that each high-level weapon is unique to their owner. The one he held in his hand, the Black Blade, despite its incredibly simple and mundane name, was one of a kind.

The glass blade in Ashley's possession—Kirito wasn't sure if it was a dagger or a sword, as he couldn't see the blade—was undoubtedly the same. It was probably very light, and incredibly quick—so quick that it would've been practically impossible to follow its movements even if it weren't glass.

Remembering that gleam of moonlight, Kirito could swear that it matches Asuna's rapier—perhaps even faster.

Thin, and most definitely sharp. It might have only taken a small scratch on his cheek, but the glass blade had made an impressive hole in his HP bar, and his HP count was nothing small.

Of course, it had one glaring weakness. He didn't have to use too much brains to make up an answer for what it was: the glass blade had an incredibly low durability. The moment he blocks it with his sword, it would probably break, which is why Ashley had deliberately avoided clashing with it.

But the sword aside, it was something else that was unusual.

You can't possibly hide a weapon you have equipped. Of course, it's definitely possible to do so in real life, but the same can't be said in SAO. But there she was, hands without weapons, and no signs of a sheath anywhere. This, in addition with her lack of a stance, and the fact that her eyes were nigh unreadable, made her figure feel incredibly dangerous.

She was, just like her personality, unpredictable.

Kirito was almost prepared to take back his words of not letting her fight—but regardless of how well the cloaked girl could fight, Kirito wasn't intent on losing easily. No—this wasn't even about letting Ashley fight in the dungeon or not. He wanted to win this.

"You have it, don't you?"

Ashley tilted her head questioningly.

"A Unique Skill."

"I could ask the same of you, Kirito-san," Ashley smiled. She put a hand to her chest. "Shurikenjutsu. It appeared in my Skills menu around November last year." Ashley looked at his face, looked away, hid her hands behind her back, and suddenly turned away, exposing her cloaked back to Kirito. "As you might have guessed, it allows me to conceal weapons.

"As for you, you have a one-handed straight sword—a weapon whose greatest advantage is the ability to wield a shield on the side." She hums. "It's not like a rapier, which foregoes the shield in favor of speed."

Kirito gave another sigh. Seriously, this girl had given him nothing but sighs. He raised his empty hand, and went through his menu. "That's right," he said as he tapped that Skill on his menu. Glowing polygons gathered on his back, and another sheath materialized, complete with another sword that Kirito drew. "Dual Wield."

Ashley looked back at him, and smiled. "Are you ready to start this duel in earnest, Kirito-san?" she wasn't angry anymore, she actually almost sounded eager.

Kirito took up his stance. "Yeah," Kirito replied, smiling himself as the cloaked girl turned to face him.

He kicked forward, his right sword glowing in activation of a Skill. Ashley lightly jumped backwards, dodging the downward strike, whirling in the air as she does so. She kept spinning, her confusing movements and unusual style giving Kirito a hard time as she counterattacked.

The invisible blade flashed towards Kirito, who couldn't just put in minimum movement to narrowly dodge it and counterattack with a powerful Sword Skill when he gets into her range, as he cannot gauge the length of the blade.

He leapt back, and watched again as the twirling blade of flashing moonlight disappeared. It's the cloaked girl's style that confounded him, made it a lot harder to find an opening without risking his own hide.

Or perhaps…

Kirito dashed forward again, and activated a quick Dual Sword Skill. He whirled on his feet, the swords glowing in a circular motion around him. As he thought she would, Ashley spins as she lowers herself down on the ground to dodge the first cut, a small whirling step back for the second cut, and then there comes the dreaded gleam of moonlight.

Rather than retreat, Kirito kept moving forward, his swords flashing.

The invisible blade slightly nicked his neck, but immediately draws back before the two swords met it, and Kirito stepped forward, making sure to keep close with the retreating cloaked girl, who almost looked shock at his reckless move. Had the blade been any longer than he thought, he might have lost then and there. And were it not a First Strike Mode duel, which would make sure that the damage calculated will stop as soon as it reaches the yellow zone, he might have died.

Kirito made sure to keep up the pressure, and swung his left sword, right sword, sometimes together, sometimes in quick succession, but he didn't relent. Ashley evaded each of his attacks with her ballerina-like movements, but rarely found the time to counterattack. Whenever she did find it, she managed only a scratch, not the direct hit required to win the duel. Kirito's high Battle Healing skill assured that he wouldn't reach the yellow zone any time soon, either.

And then, it seemed Kirito's relentless attacking finally produced a result, no matter how little. His right sword made a light scratch to her cheek, shearing off just a bit more than a fourth of her HP bar.

Her HP stat must be very low, since her armor, even as light cloth armor, are of definitely high quality, and should protect her from so much damage.

Just one more! Kirito yelled in his mind as he sped up his whirlwind of attacks.

Ashley moved to swing her blade—this was it! He could break that weapon now! His left sword glowed green, and flashed to meet that invisible glass blade—shatter it, break it. But nothing happened, the sword stuck to the ground. Ashley rolled past him, this time, that gleam of moonlight flashing towards Kirito's open back.

Kirito almost never made it, but he dodged that attack, letting go of his left sword in the process. His retreat was rudely interrupted by a kick to the face, and the Black Swordsman tumbled backwards clumsily, quickly got his feet under him, raised his sword—and saw Ashley's purple eyes, and that gleam of moonlight scything towards him.

The duel ended then, the timer indicating that it lasted for 10 minutes and 43 seconds.

His back to a tree, Kirito sighed as he slid onto the ground. "That was a feint," he sighed, "I can't believe I fell for it." There was no flash of moonlight—really, he shouldn't have fell for it.

Ashley, the victor, tossed him an HP potion, and sat next to him. She wasn't looking at his direction, and Kirito can only guess on what's in her mind, or how she'll phrase her next words.

Or… maybe not, as she remained silent even after Kirito finished drinking the potion.

Curious, Kirito stretched to look at her face. Ashley's head sleepily leaned onto his shoulder.

Kirito sighed again. A weary sigh, but he smiled soon after, poking the girl's cheek.

Afterword:

Hello, hello! I am Dango, and this is my first SAO fanfic, but actually not the first I planned-

Anyway, this story is about Ashley, who isn't actually an OC... well, mostly. She's mentioned in name as the best tailor in Aincrad, and the one who crafted the Blackwyrm Coat. She has a shop three times larger than Lisbeth's, and it's name is "Ashley's." This chapter is before that, though-at least, before she becomes known as the best tailor in Aincrad. Her policy is to only take custom jobs that interest her. That's about it-everything else is not canon.

I've taken some liberties with the SAO system, such as with the First Strike Mode, and with the Unique Skills. Apart from Holy Sword and Dual Wield, the rest should've been released by the 90th floor, but that's not interesting at all isn't it?

Well then, I'll see you all next chapter, whatever it might be about or whenever it might be finished.