I'll Never Let Go! Not Again!
(Asuna's POV)
Ever since I was little I loved water and when I was a little kid insisted to my older brother that I could control it because I loved it so much. As I got older though I learned to appreciate a different side of water, not just the puddle left over from last night's rain and how it rippled when something disturbed it. As my mother got more strict by the day year in, year out, I would go to the small pond on our backyard blinking back tears and wondering what I did to deserve the treatment I was getting. I would watch the mini waterfall and the guppies swimming around in the water, watching how the water over the years erode the rocks it was running through and slowly made its own pathway into the lawn instead of the actual pond. It was a free spirit, something that couldn't ever tamed and it was beautiful. Simple, stubborn, and determined to carve its own path and bask in it's triumph once the task was completed. Just like me in a way.
Except… I'm weighed down with a metaphorical ball and chain chained to my leg and sinking under everything my parents want me to be. Sure I could put up a kind smile and introduce myself, "hi, I'm Asuna Yuuki and my father's the CEO of RECT progress!" But I never really felt pride in it. After all, I was the ruined child of the family. My brother, Kouichirou, is the heir to my father's company and is perfect in my parents eyes. He's calm, smooth tongued, very business savy, and capable of everything.
A crash of thunder pulled me temporarily out of my thoughts as a lock of my long caramel colored hair drifted in front of my face, and so I lifted a fair skinned hand and tucked it behind my ear once again.
Who wouldn't want to have a son like that? Like my brother I mean. Meanwhile I'm supposed to be perfect too, a perfectly talented person completely capable and unfazed by the harsh words of my mother.
I sniffled and a moment later sneezed, leaning forward a little precariously from where I was currently sitting. The water, it's surface punctured by today's rain, rushed around below the strangely quiet bridge, black and fierce with the surface being illuminated by the occasional strike of lightning. It was pretty cold, I hadn't noticed, too deep in my thoughts of my dim future. What seventeen-year-old girl wants to be a simply trophy wife as one of my friends, or used to be friends, scoffed once I told them my parents' plan. My mother wanted to marry me off the moment I turned eighteen, which was next week, to some rich guy at least four or five years older than me as a way of thanking him as his family for joining the family. I hated it, but quietly kept my tongue in check and never told them anything, instead I smiled, quietly agreed to everything they asked of me, and didn't object. It still bothered me though, I wanted to go to college, get a degree, actually fall in love, and get married to a guy that's roughly my age and has similar goals and a mindset like mine. My grandfather joked that I was a silent warrior, meaning I had the heart of a warrior but was too intimidated by my parents and overwhelmed that I couldn't do anything about it. So he had taught me to fence, and let me try sword fighting, only to find that to my surprise, I was good at it. And so for a few years it was the best times of my life, being able to express myself in the way of a sword, I used a light bamboo rapier due to my fencing, and my grandfather affectionately nicknamed me to be "lightning flash" because I was fast and accurate.
I blinked some of the rain water out of my eyes, my tears mixing with the water hitting my face. My grandfather died two years ago when I was fifteen, and when my parents found out they had immediately put a stop to it and took my rapier for good.
After that I found myself getting deeper and deeper into a depressed state I couldn't get out of till it spiraled into today.
At the moment I was sitting quietly on a walking path bridge semi close to the actual city with the thick river running beneath me and licking at the bottom of my shoes leading to a deep lake. Slung over my back was a rather bulky black case that held the one thing I managed to keep a secret from my parents. A real rapier. Once my grandparents had gotten custom made for me. I had promised to not use it against anyone because it was a real blade, sharp enough to cut through cloth and paper like butter, but they had given me a special sleeve for it that dulled the edged to the point where I wouldn't cut myself if I used it.
Ducking, I moved the strap over my head and held the case in my hands, looking down at the black case and thumbing at the zipper. Well? Maybe one last time? I mused to myself and the beautiful sword that lay tucked in it's sheath inside the black case.
Asuna unzipped the case and carefully pulled out the featherlight weapon before she pushed the case off her lap and into the water with a splash, watching it bob away and knowing that it was okay, because she would follow after it tonight too. Together with the last piece of her grandparents and without anybody else in her life to stop her. Here, with the rain pounding against the ground and half country like landscape just outside the city, Asuna felt at home. She stood up, slid the white sword belt on and hopped off the edge. Just for a few moments, she promised herself, then I'll end it. She softly pulled the rapier from it's sheath, stepped onto the center of the bridge, grasped the sword's hilt, and closed her eyes. The rapier exited the sheath with a soft, zzing and she held it in front of her in a fencing style, one hand above her head while the other held the rapier at eye level, helping her aim the featherlike weapon.
Asuna put all of her hurt, pain, sorrow, and frustration into her next movements, imagining a pretend enemy to fight with her. Her amber eyes opened slowly and she exhaled to calm herself before she lunged forward, "Hyya!"
"If you would just listen to him you wouldn't have gotten hit again," Sugu huffed to her older brother with her arms crossed over her chest, "he doesn't beat me you know."
Kazuto said nothing to his sister and instead held his bruise cheek, looked out the car door window, and ignored the pain flaring in his ribs, back, and split lip. He would never admit to her that he had agreed to take her beating for her and so their grandfather beat him repeatedly as they both made mistakes in his opinion despite Sugu being a Kendo champion and Kazuto doing a different art that involved bamboo replicas of swords instead of Kendo. He had given up on Kendo years ago, and instead had taken up a generic art called sword fighting where he fought with a pair of one hands bamboo swords that weight almost twice as much as Sugu's shinai. However, the main reason he was getting beaten was because he wasn't do Kendo anymore and it was family tradition. Even then, he couldn't leave the sword fighting till he found one of his opponents in the past. She had been a rapier user with a clear background in fencing, but he couldn't for the life of him remember what her name was, despite how he was desperate to find her. The last time he had seen her she had looked rather depressed outside of the ring, and he had gotten to know her a little bit. Finding out that she had controlling parents who had no idea she was sword fighting and a future that made him want to smack the beautiful girl's parents silly. I want to find her again, he sighed and gazed unhappily out the window, it's not fair what she goes through. He had kept tabs on her for a little while through one of his friends, but had stopped after his friend told him she had completely stopped sword fighting, and his concern had jumped. If she wasn't sword fighting then she was just bottling everything up, which meant he may never see her again. She hadn't been suicidal or anything, but everyone had their limits, and he was afraid that over the almost three years he hadn't seen her again she had reached hers and hit the point where she couldn't do it anymore. He had told the rest of his friends about her, and all of them had been looking for her with him. The only picture he had of her, which was of her holding the trophy for the month's tourney, didn't say her name, like she had been trying to hide her name and prevent her parents from finding out.
His phone buzzed, making Kazuto snap out of his thoughts and answer a little huffily. "What?"
"I just sent you a text," Akira spoke rapidly, "I found her, the girl you're looking for! But there's no time Kaz! She's at Shuna bridge, like she's about to jump!"
Kazuto straightened up so fast that he almost smacked his head on the roof of the car and his eyes widened like golf balls. "I'm almost right next to the bridge-Mom! Stop the car! Stop!" He lightly shook Midori's seat, "get over here Akira!" and hung up.
Midori slammed on the brakes and pulled over before she twisted to look at Kazuto, "what?!" she asked, startled by his actions, but Kazuto was already half out the car door.
"It's her!" Kazuto stumbled out of the car and was immediately drenched by the rain picking up and half deaf from the wind howling in his ears. "The fencer!" He started running on his Kendo practice exhausted legs, pushing them to the limit as he squinted through the rain, trying to find her through the falling rain.
Soon enough he reached the bridge, only to stare in shock and horror.
The fencer was standing back on the edge of the bridge, shying away from the small crowd who had gathered around her but weren't daring to touch her with the beautiful silver sword held nervously in one of her hands, panic in her amber eyes at the people near her, and she was sobbing in a panicked and trapped animal like fashion.
Kazuto's feet started to move running toward her with her nam popping into his head and being screamed from his lips in a panic, "ASUNA!" He started racing toward her, pushing through the people gathered and toward the crying girl. "Don't!" He roughly shoved the person in front of him out of the way and finally reached her, standing about three feet away. "Please don't…" he spoke, his words possibly lost to the wind's grasp. "I don't want you to go…"
The girl in front of him was as beautiful as he remembered, even more if it were possible. Her long caramel colored hair was dark with rain water and stuck to her fair skinned face, she was taller than he remembered, and looked much more sad then she had a few years ago, tears were mixing with the rain water, leaving his beautiful amber eyes red rimmed and distressed, her entire body was shaking, her clothes were clinging to her body in a way that made her look a little like a drowned rat, she had a sword belt and sheath around her waist, and she was standing hardly an inch and a half from the edge of ledge, one of her heels hanging over empty air.
"Please!" He raised his voice over the thundering wind, "don't go! You can't do this!"
"Why not?!" Asuna yelled back in a trembling voice, "it hurts!" Her voice broke, "it hurts so much…"
Kazuto's heart wrenched and tears welled in his onyx colored eyes, "you have so much ahead of you! I've seen you use that rapier, you're amazing at it! And I bet you're just as talented in everything else!" He took a cautious step closer, "You have to fight! Fight back!"
"What's the point?!" Asuna sobbed and vigorously shook her head, "what's the point when I'm just going to lose?"
"Then live for me!" Kazuto tried, "I was looking for you! I've been looking for you!"
Asuna looked surprised and didn't respond, instead sniffling and looking at him, amber eyes pleading with him to tell her how to fix this, how to save her broken heart and how to live through the pain.
"I've been looking for you for two and a half years!" Kazuto shouted through the wind, trying to push his messy hair from his face, "trying to find the talented fencer I met at a tournament! Remember me?!" He mimicked swinging two one handed swords, "after I fought you and lost you taught me something! Something I will never forget, and you want to know what it was?!"
"What?"
"You leaned over and offered me a hand to help me up and said, 'don't take this as a loss, take it as a learning experience!' You taught me to keep going when it gets tough Asuna! And now it's my turn to help you!" He took another step closer to the skittish girl, "let me help you! You saved me from myself back then! So even if you never trust me again, let me help you! I know it hurts and that it's like your heart's already beaten so how can it take any more?! It can take more by letting others help you!"
Asuna hesitated, looking at him with an unsure look on her face, but it looked like she was leaning toward his words, leaning toward letting him help her.
"Asuna! Please! Let me help you like you helped me!" Kazuto pleaded, only to be pushed aside by a police office who clearly had no idea was he was doing.
"Thanks for trying kid," he looked at Asuna, "Alright Missy, get off from there! Your parents are worried sick!"
That was the wrong thing to say, and the moment it came out of the officer's mouth Kazuto was already moving toward the ledge, racing as fast as he could toward her. "Asuna!"
Asuna, at the mention of her parents, faltered and slipped, having shifted her weight to the foot already half off of the bridge.
Kirito threw himself onto his stomach and caught her wrist, sliding forward and trying to grip the brdge and keep himself from falling over it. Gritting his teeth he looked down at Asuna, who was partially in the river, from the knees and below and was hugging her rapier to her body and crying.
"Let me go! Just let me go Kirito!"
Kazuto faltered, having forgotten that she back then only knew him by his sword handle, but quickly recovered. "Never! I'll never let go! Not again!" Startled, her amber eyes met his onyx colored ones and he yelled through the wind, slipping further off of the bridge due to his own lack of strength and the water current pulling on Asuna, "I refuse to lose you again! Especially not when I just found you!"
Asuna said nothing, her amber eyes fixated one his face, a look of shock on her own face.
"I want to be your friend!" Kazuto yelled, "I want to be your friend and a shoulder for you to cry on when you need it! I want to support you like nobody else has! So no! I will not let go! And nor will I lose you again!" He slid further, his torso nearly hanging of the bridge and gritted his teeth, "even if I fall over with you, I will not let go!"
Asuna was touched, he could tell, and he saw her uncurl her fingers and grasp his wrist, amber eyes locked on him, rain still battering at their bodies and mixing with both of their tears. She also managed to sheath her rapier, holding onto him with both hands.
Kirito's onyx colored eyes were fixed on hers, " I will never let you go! And I will never leave you! Never again!" Even as he slipped forward, he strained his arms and pulled Asuna toward him, pulling her high enough to hook his arms under her shoulders and try to bring her up and out of the water.
"Kazuto!"
"Onii-chan!"
Kazuto paid no heed to them even as he slipped to far and was almost vertical with the water below. He heard the shrill honking of some kind of boat in a rhythm that he and his friend group knew, meaning Akira had finally gotten there. "Will you trust me?" Kazuto yelled over the thunder and wind, "even if it's just this once?"
Asuna nodded weakly, "I trust you…" her words were swallowed by the wind, but she repeated it louder. "I trust you with my life!"
Kazuto nodded, "It'll all turn out okay alright? I promise!" With that he slid completely off the bridge and twisted his body, gathering Asuna in his arms with her face held to his shoulder, "you'll be okay!" He yelled just before they hit the water with a splash and went under the water, the river current yanking them down and toward the lake.
Kazuto held Asuna closer, trying to comfort and reassure her as they were pulled harshly through the water. She's so strong to have gone through this so long, her strength is unmatched and yet her confidence is broken, I'll show her one day that she's as beautiful and talented as the rest of the world thinks she is. He could feel her shivering from the cold water and knew that he was shivering too, but he threw one of his hands out of the water, the wind chilling his hand to the bone as he waved it around, waiting. The current softened and stopped as they were dumped into the lake, and they were pusher further down.
Asuna started struggling kicking like she was running out of air and a moment later he felt a series of bubbles tickle his ears and Asuna's arms, which had been wrapped around his back released him to struggle. Her chest was heaving in her fight for air and Kazuto struggled to keep a hold of her through his own blurring vision and lack of oxygen. A moment later panic filled Kazuto as the struggling stopped and Asuna laid completely still in his hold, her long hair tickling his face in the water as it floated above them. Kazuto forced his eyes open and kicked upward, swimming as fast as he could toward the surface and thrusting once of her hands once again out of the water.
A moment later Kazuto felt someone fish around in the water, seize him under the arms and heave upward, causing his hold around Asuna to be broken
Kazuto broke the surface with a coughing fit and felt himself get dropped on the desk while the person went and fetched Asuna. Through his stinging vision he saw Akira and Agil, Agil jumped into the water to fetch Asuna and Akira was rushing around the small fishing boat, grabbing blankets, an oxygen canister he didn't want to know how she got, a thermos, and a backpack stuffed with something or other. "Asuna!" Kazuto coughed to Akira, wide eyed and worried.
"Agil's getting her," Akira responded as she threw two blankets over his shoulders and promptly smacked him upside the head, "you idiot!"
"Save it for later," Kazuto coughed, looking for Agil to return, "I have to make sure she's okay."
Agil broke the surface a few seconds later with Asuna held in one arm, the girl didn't move, laying still and limp in Agil's hold with her eyes closed. "She's got water in her lungs," the big man reported after he heaved her up onto the deck along with her rapier and Kazuto scrambled over. "Roll her onto her back and hurry!"
Kazuto did as Agil asked and watched worriedly as Agil pushed on her back, pushing toward her shoulders and trying to force the water from her lungs. Come on, come on, come on, come on! Wake up, you can do it!
As if reading his thoughts, Asuna's entire body convulsed up and she heaved up a few mouthfuls of water, hacking and vomiting up the water in her lungs and stomach.
Kazuto pulled her into a sitting position and cradled her to him, not caring that she was puking up water all over his shirt. He looked at her, hugging her and making sure the blankets around wrapped around her too, looking at her face and waiting for her to open her eyes. Her hair was clinging to her face, her lips were tinted blue and she looked half drowned, but she was alright. The fencer he had met and wanted to help and become friends with was alive. Scratch that. The girl he had been looking for for two and a half years was alive.
Asuna's amber eyes slowly opened half way, looking at Kazuto in an exhausted fashion.
Kazuto grinned lopsidedly, "hey," before he smoothed back her wet and tangled hair, "rest, I'll be there when you wake up."
"Promise?" Asuna croaked, her vocal cords raw and exhausted.
Kazuto nodded and rested his cheek on her head, "promise, I'll always be your friend and I'll always there for for you. Always."
Other SAO Stories
I'll wait for as long as it takes Kirito ~ Kirito has decided after being in a party with her for a year, that Asuna's potential is limitless. So she needs to be with a guild, the new third guild called the KoB. But to get her there he may have to push her away to get her to leave him and join the guild. However, one sentence stops him in his tracks 'Because I love you! I love you much to leave...' (Kirisuna) (COMPLETED) (Sequel Completed) |I'll Wait Forever Series|
New Memories And Resolve ~ Numbed by rejection and heartbreak, Asuna is at a loss of what to do. So she makes the hard decision to follow Kirito's wishes and join the KoB, purely for his sake. However, Kirito wants one more day with her, a last day of making new memories and and giving her the strength to go on. "I care for you more than you'll ever know Asuna…" (Sequel to 'I'll wait as long as it Takes Kirito) (Kirisuna) (Completed) |I'll Wait Forever Series|
Butter Knives and Togas ~ Argo needs info, Asuna and Kirito volunteer, they find out there's a reason no player escaped the dungeon, and it's a miracle Kirito can take his eyes off of Asuna at all. Plus the next boss fight is in two days, their inventories have been snatched, Kirito's wearing armor he can barely stand in, Asuna looks like an angel, and they're armed with butter knives. Seriously Kyaba? (To be Uploaded) |I'll Wait Forever Series|
I'll Never Let Go! Not Again! ~ (Title changed) Asuna's had enough. The lonely and tired girl gazed below at the water from where she was sitting, was it worth it? And if so, what could change her mind? A boy from her past who's been looking for her since she beat him in a tournament two and a half years ago. 'I will NOT lose you! Never again!' Heavy AU (Completed)
The Hacker's Role ~ I unknowingly helped make the game unhackable from the outside, and now I'm going to make up for my mistakes. I wasn't originally trapped in the game, but now? Now I'm the mystery that keeps players alive. I was a Beta Tester alongside my childhood friend 'the Rat,' and now I'm nicknamed "the Hacker" or "AI." Why? Because in other players eyes, I can't be killed, so I will beat this game. (Collection centered around Caylee's involvement in SAO.) (In Progress)
Little Moments ~ "I belong in our little cabin in the woods with you and Yui, Kirito." Little moments in the world of SAO, ALO, and in real life with Kirito and Asuna as the main characters. Asuna and Kirito have gone through so much, but behind the scenes, they've gone through even more than what meets the eye. (In Progress)