So ive never really been happy with how the anime and most fanfic treat asuna and kiritos relationship post sao. They were married, lived together, fought next to each other. You never really see that intimate side of there relationship.
That's what this is. Don't expect much, its just a collection of shots and clips.
For what seemed like the first time in forever, Asuna opened her eyes to sunlight. Real sunlight. After so long in the virtual world, she almost forgot what real sunlight felt like. It all felt so...real. As if reality was some how more. More intense, more vibrant. More real.
"Kirito..." she croaked out, her hand grabbing her throat. Her voice didn't sound like her voice. Beeping of medical equipment softly filled the background and IV in her arm hurt. Everything hurt. It hurt to move, it hurt to lift her head.
"That's right, im in a hospital." she said before passing out again, unaware of the doctors rushing in at the sudden spike in her vitals.
it was dark when she woke again, this time to Kirito holding her hand, his head on her bedside, exhaustion lining his face.
"Hey, im back." She said as she turned on her side, curling around his head, running her fingers through his hair as she struggled to hold on to the moment. How many times had they done this in aincrad? And how many times had she wondered what it would be like to hold him in the real world?
The clang of metal had her bolting upright from sleep, on her feet and throwing a the nearest object, a clock at the source of the noise, in this case, a clumsy nurse. He went down, and she was half ready to attack him when her body gave out.
"My god, are you okay? You shouldn't be out of bed." he said as he helped her up off the floor and back onto the bed.
"Sorry, old habits." she muttered remembering this was japan, where people making noise when you are sleeping wasn't a cause to defend you self.
"You friend should be back soon, he said he had to run home for something." the nurse said to her. Asuna just nodded and turned away from him.
"Hey, im back." Kirito said as he walked in the room.
"you left."
"I know. I'm sorry. My mother needed help with something."
"hold me." she said simply.
He set down the bag of food, and climbed gently into the bed next to her, knowing the meaning of her words. She snuggled into him as he wrapped his arms around her, listening to her soft breathing as she fell back asleep.
She inhaled his scent, something the virtual world could never reproduce, the smell somehow comforting and strange at the same time.
Five minutes. It had taken her five minutes to walk to the bathroom. Five agonizing minutes. The doctors said she wasnt ready for rehad yet, but she was damned if she was going to stand having that catheter shoved inside of her anymore. Her cheeks burned with embarrasment when she remembered looking down and seeing diapers.
Now she stood there, griping the handicap rails next to the bathroom trying to catch her breath and figuring out how she was going to do this.
Another five minutes later, she finally had to admit she needed assistance.
"Kirito?" she called out.
"yes?" his voice came back muffled through the closed door.
"I, um, need help." she said, her breathing still hard from the exhertion. A long silence.
"Do you want me to get a nurse?" he asked.
She didn't want to think of some one seeing her like this, that that same person might have been the one to change her diapers when she was in the VR world. Taking a pause of her own, she answered him.
"Can you help me?" she said softly.
"sure." he said, then opened the door a few moments later.
"What do you need?" he asked.
"I cant sit. It hurts too much." she said, looking down at the floor.
"Okay." he said as he moved to her, lacing her hands behind his head.
"wait." she said as she moved the hospital gown out of the way. "okay."
He lowered her on to the toilet, the eyes looking every where but at her.
"Its not like you haven't seen me before." she said, blushing.
"I know, its just..." he trailed off.
"too real?" she finished.
"Yeah."
"You know I still love you, right?" she asked looking up at him. His eyes met hers.
"I know. I love you too."
Asuna was released three weeks later. Between her dogged determination and the steroids, she was up and walking by week two.
Her fist day home was an emotional one. Her home no longer felt like home. Her mother felt like some one back from the dead. Being a kid again was hard. Probably the hardest part was helping her mother with cooking, and her absentminded flipping of razor sharp knives in one hand as she cut lettuce in the other, only noticing the look of horror on her mothers face too late. To asuna, knifes weren't just tools, they were weapons. Things to keep you alive, and things to make other things dead.
Lunch was akward, neither willing to bring up the subject. Asuna spent the rest of the day asleep, finally waking up near two in the morning. She tried to go back to sleep. Before giving up and reaching for her phone. She dialed his number, then stopped herself before pressing send. Should she really be bothering him this late?
After another hour of tossing in her bed, she gave in and called kirito. He answered on the first ring.
"hello?" he said, not sounding sleepy at all.
"Hey." was all she could come up with.
"Cant sleep?"
"Yeah."
"Want me to come over?" he asked.
"Sure."
twenty minutes later she went down stairs to open the door for him. They walked in silence back to her room, the dim lighting soft against the walls. She shut the door and sat on her bed, motioning him to sit next to her. An akward silence formed.
"So, this is the first time ive seen your room." He finally said.
"So, what do you think?" she answered.
"sparce." he said after a pause.
Not knowing how to answer that, she reached out and placed her hand on his. He responded by curling his fingers around hers. He looked at her, his fingers tracing the lines on her lips, her jaw before stopping at the hem of her dress.
"Its okay." she said, as she leaned in for a kiss.
She pulled away and slipped under the covers, never letting go of his hand. She felt him slid in next to her, his body close to hers. This feeling, strange yet so comforting. She placed his hand her her hip, then grapped his arm and used it as a pillow, his hand trailing down her breast before landing on her stomach.
"I missed this." she said.
"Me too. its just not the same without you."
"does it get eaiser?" she asked.
"what?"
"being a kid again. Not having to fight all the time. Being able to live and not worry about people dying."
"I don't think we will ever be kids again." he said, " I just pretend."
"My mother saw my playing with knives when I was helping her with lunch. She freaked."
"Yeah, I can see that."
"I don't know how to be normal again." she admitted.
Suddenly it was all just too much. The emotions just wouldn't stay away. The tears came hot on her cheeks, her body shuddering as she cried soundlessly. It wasn't supposed to be like this. They had won. They had lived. They had beaten the death game. So why did she feel like such an outsider? As her thoughts raced and raged, she felt Kirito hold her tighter as she griped his arm.
Eventually she stopped crying and was away of his body reacting to hers. She felt him hard against her backside. Yet he still just held her, his hands not moving. Simply comforting. Always trying to protect her, even when his body wanted something else.
She ground her backside against him and felt him grow harder. When was the last time they did this?
"Asuna..."
"What? We got married." she simply stated.
"In a game." he said, panic rising into his voice.
"Does that mean you didnt mean it?" she asked, turning to face him.
"Of course I ment it."
"then its real enough for me." she said to him.
"Me too." he said quietly.
"come on." she said, getting out of bed.
"Were are we going?"
"I want a bath. A real bath. With real water. They never got the water right." at his hesitation she added, "a real bath, with a real you." she said as she led him by the hand out the door and in to the large bathroom. She hummed quietly to her self as she turned on the water, then undressed. She watched him in the mirror, his eyes fixed on her.
"Are you getting in?" she asked as she turned to him, fully nude, her hand on one hip.
"Uh, sure." he said and started to undress. She saw him, the muscles he had. She took a moment to look at her self, bones and ribs showing where she didnt used to have them. She crossed her hands in front of her, suddenly worried. She was thin, too thin.
As if reading her thoughts, she felt his arms wrap around her as he whispered in her ears.
"You will always be beautiful."