A/N: I actually don't like resorting to using author's notes, but I feel it's necessary here to give a rundown of what this is. Essentially, this is a fanfiction like 'Partners', but it will only cover the Aincrad arc. It will also approach the relationship between Kirito and Asuna a lot differently, and they will definitely admit their feelings for each other, likely around the mid-point of the story, perhaps a bit earlier.
The canon game mechanics (full pain absorption, no blood, where canon items are dropped) are still in place however I may add onto these with my own additions as I see fit to go more 'in depth'. Kirito and Asuna are powerful but they won't be solo'ing bosses, at least not for a while. I will likely also add more skills and items.
Oh, and the most important reason I wrote this is because I want to see a long, in-depth fanfiction focusing just on Kirito and Asuna throughout the entirety of Aincrad where they actually have a loving relationship, but also with a ton of action as well. Partners is the closest thing there is to that right now, it's about 80% of what my ideal FF would be…so I'll try to make this 100% ?. It's my chance to fully flesh out all the game mechanics I want to as well as dive into their relationship in a different way.
I hope you enjoy it.
"Will you disband your party?"
The dialogue box hovered in front of Kirito, and his finger hovered over the confirm button. Moments before, he and Asuna had defeated the first floor boss, Illfang the Kobold Lord, something only made possible through their perfectly synchronised teamwork. Yet now…? He was going to throw that all away?
As he moved his finger down to press the confirm button, a voice cut through the air behind him.
"Do you think you could have beaten that boss all on your own?"
It was Asuna's.
Climbing the stairs until she was just a couple feet away from Kirito, she looked dead into his eyes, her own questioning and probing his for a response. "Maybe I could have. There's no point guessing about what could've been", came the response. Though he had tried to make his response emotionless, she could tell that his voice didn't carry sincerity. Some emotion had slipped through, and Asuna was going to capitalise on it.
"All it will take is for that HP gauge of yours to hit 0, and then you will be guessing about what could've been." She glanced at his level. He was level 12, she was level 10; while there was a clear gap between them, it wasn't huge. "Besides, we aren't worlds apart in skill. Even if you don't want to be in a guild, don't you think two strong players have a much better chance than one?"
Part of him simply wanted to turn away, to teleport to the second floor and leave her behind, and to spare her from all the abuse she would receive due to being associated with a "beater". But he couldn't, because he knew that she was right. "You realise…you realise what it will be like with someone who is going to be as hated as me, don't you?", warned Kirito half-heartedly.
A shout tore through the room before Asuna could respond. "Don't go with that filthy beater!", cried out one of the players from the boss raid, "Come with us instead!".
Asuna glanced over her shoulder with a deathly glare in her eyes. "Don't you realise that this "beater" saved your asses?", came the cold reply, instantly putting an end to the shouting. Kirito's face took on a slightly shocked look at her straight-forwardness, but he quickly hid it behind a façade once more. "Yes, I realise what it will be like. I don't care anyway. I think I'd prefer being with only one person, anyway."
Kirito nodded, thinking the same. With a quick swipe of his finger, he dismissed the dialogue box, keeping the party active. A quick glance behind him and he proceeded through to the second floor, his Coat of Midnight swaying behind him and Asuna on his trail.
Floor 2: Urbus
As Kirito and Asuna stepped into Urbus, the main settlement of the second floor, they both had vastly different things on their minds. While Asuna was still reeling from the thoughts of what she had just decided to do, Kirito was dead-set on what he had to do immediately from his experience in the beta.
"Asuna? Asuna!" he snapped, grabbing her attention from her daydreaming. "There are some things we need to do immediately. How many health potions do you have left?", he quickly asked. A quick check of her inventory yielded the answer. "I only have two", came the reply, "and they're both the lowest level".
"That's no good," Kirito responded, glancing at her HP bar, "especially as you have 2500 HP and I have 3000. One of those health potions will only restore 500 HP at most, and that's over a minute. Luckily floor two is where crystals become available, and the healing types will instantly restore our HP to its maximum."
"That sounds amazing! Why do potions even exist, then?" Asuna quickly asked.
"Well, there's a few problems. While potions always work, sometimes you can enter a Crystal-Nullification Area, though those are rare and usually only on the higher floors. As well as that, Crystals are really expensive. How much Cor do you have?"
"Hmm, let me see…right now I have around 4000. What about you?"
"5000 here. A healing crystal will cost us around 8000 Cor, so we'd only be able to buy one between us right now, which is no good. A Lesser Healing Potion from the NPC Shops on this floor, however, will restore 1000 HP over a minute and only cost 100 Cor."
"Damn. We better start saving up."
"Yeah. Luckily, I know some monsters we can grind tomorrow morning to get some XP and Cor. Speaking of tomorrow, what's the time?" Kirito wondered, pulling up his player menu. Seeing that the time was 9:41pm, he gulped. "We need to move quickly, the Inns will close for renting at 10pm. Unless you want to sleep outside in the cold, that is," and with that, he bolted in the direction of the nearest Inn.
"I don't think so!", she shouted, bolting after him.
Floor 2: Urbus, Leather Inn
The NPC Innkeeper flashed a smile at Kirito and Asuna as they ran into the "Leather Inn", panting. "How much will it be for a room for two for the night?", Kirito asked, not noticing the look of surprise on Asuna's face that they wouldn't be in separate rooms.
"Psst! If you're going to do that, you better not have us be in the same bed!", Asuna hissed at Kirito.
Before Kirito could respond, the Innkeeper piped up: "The prices can be seen on the desk in front of me. We also offer separate beds for couples going through troubled times."
Both Kirito and Asuna blushed at the thought of that, and Kirito quickly decided to pay the rent for the rooms for a week just to make the NPC stop talking. "How much did you pay?", Asuna questioned.
"Just 50 Cor for a week. The prices are pretty good on the lower floors, but the rooms are nowhere near as nice as higher up in Aincrad. Plus you can't actually buy your own house until the 10th Floor."
"You can buy your own house?!", exclaimed Asuna. Maybe she finally had a reason to grind out all these monsters! Other than, you know, being able to escape this death game she had been trapped in…
"You can, but it's really expensive. A small house on the 10th Floor alone costs 300,000 Cor. I don't want to think about what it might cost on the really high up floors – although those houses must be really nice!"
At that moment, the Innkeeper held out the keys to their new room, which Kirito took, promptly using to unlock the door to their new room. Their first impressions were that the room was clearly cheap, but altogether not too bad. It would definitely work for a cheap place to live in.
"Before we go to bed," Asuna asked, cutting through the silence, "you were taking about crystals earlier. There are other types of crystal, right?" And so Kirito went into a lecture about the different types of crystal and their relative prices. There was the antidote crystal, costing 6000 Cor, commonly neglected but extremely important in higher floors or special dungeons, where paralysis or poison could lead to your death. There was the healing crystal, which he had mentioned already.
"And then there's the teleport crystal." Kirito stated blankly, drawing an inquisitive look from Asuna.
"Is there something special about it?"
"I want you to make sure you always have one on you at all times. It's expensive – 10000 Cor – " the price of it made her draw a breath in – "but it will save your life. I always try to keep my HP out of the red zone when I'm alone. Once we have enough Cor to buy ourselves teleport crystals, I want you to teleport away whenever your HP hits the red zone, no matter what."
"What if I'm leaving you behind? I'm not just going to do that!" Asuna was conflicted. Why was she concerned about an absolute stranger? She hadn't known him for very long, but in that short boss battle, it seems like they had already formed a bond…
In Sword Art Online, every Sword Skill comes with a delay after it has been used. So in a fast-paced boss battle like the previous one, where a direct hit can seriously lower your odds of survival, those parries they performed for each other…was it equal to saving each other's lives, over and over? Could she just leave him to die after he had done that for her, and she had done that for him?
"Asuna." His voice pierced her thoughts. "There's not going to be any discussion about this. Promise me you will."
"…Okay. I promise."
As her eyes closed to go to sleep, she wondered how truthful that promise really was.
