10:35 AM

"Ki-Kirito!" I jolt awake from a dreamless sleep. "Wh- what is it?" I see Asuna on top of me, her face full of joy. "Asuna, why are you bouncing me awake at a time like this?"

I see her scramble off of the bed and stand with her arms at her sides, blushing slightly. "And you called me by the wrong name again. Now that we're married, don't you think it's time you learned my real name?"

Asuna sits down next to me on the bed and pats my cheek lightly, "So, you thought you actually logged out, did you?"

I sit up and feel my head and then look around. It's not my room, yet it is… "I forgot to log out?"

Asuna pulls me out of bed and drags me down the stairs and into the kitchen. "Yes, you dummy! and I had to come in here to get you up! I had to make breakfast all by myself again!"

"S-sorry…" I stutter. I look at her face and her beautiful brown eyes are glimmering so much that they might as well explode into glitter. "What're you so happy about?" Asuna blushes and turns away.

She sure is doing a lot of blushing…

10:57 AM

I sit on the kitchen chair and watch her hair swing as she puts some towels away. "Hey…" Asuna puts away the last towel and looks at me, a hint of a grin hidden under her hair. "Yes?" She walks up to the counter and rests her face in her hands.

"Uhm, what are you so smiley about?" I ask, wondering about her overjoyed activity this morning. "I've never seen you put away towels in such a good mood. Not that its bad," I add, remembering how serious and ferocious she was in the days in the Knights of The Blood Oath.

Asuna straightens up and brushes the hair out of her eyes. She winks at me, "You'll know later."

My thoughts stumble. "You're keeping a secret, aren't you? How about you tell me now, rather than later?" Asuna leans in close to me with a secretive smile and wags her finger in beat with her syllables, "No. Can. Do."

I narrow my eyes and try to see past her unbreakable secret-protecting wall. She catches me at it. "You've tried that so many times on me, but I've built my defenses. Yet you, are so vulnerable, the old 'Black Swordsman'"

I groan, "Ah-Su-Nah! That was so long ago, give it up!" Then again, she comes up to my face with the same three finger wags. "No. Can. Do" I throw up my hands in exaggerated defeat. I turn around and whisper to myself, "My wife, Lightning Sass Asuna."

I feel a sharp slap on my shoulder, and hear the thud of a spatula on skin. "It was 'Flash', not sass." As demonstrated, I think. Spinning around, I wince and put my hand up onto my throbbing shoulder. I give her an off-center grin, "I know." Asuna laughs and goes to put the spatula back.

I'm glad I met her.

11:08 AM

"Asuna! I'm logging out!" I sit on our bed and pull up the menu. My finger hovers over the button that says 'Log Out' and I remember the feeling of dread when it wasn't there.

Asuna's voice startles me out of my emotions, "Okay, I'll log out in about fifteen minutes. I just need to finish cleaning up!"

"Okay." I nod and move my finger to press log out. It's gone. The button is gone. My heart practically bursts and it seems to beat five times faster than normal. I close my eyes and shake my head. I mentally cross my fingers.

Please be there, please be there, please be there, please be there!

I open my eyes and see the Log Out button, in it's spot, normal as ever. It's only a hallucination. Nothing to worry about… I select it, and see a rush of colors fly by.

11:12 AM

I breathe in and out and smell the familiar smells of home, along with the faint scent of burnt toast. I smile to myself and take off my AmuSphere. Asuna was a great cook in SAO, as it really required no real cooking skill. But in real life… well, she's getting better. I place the AmuSphere on my pillow and get up to go into the kitchen. (I'm starving) I reach the door, but stop in my tracks. My breath quickens as I see a note taped to my door, and out of the jumble of words, the first one I see is… Pregnant. I feel like I've been jabbed in the gut by Sugu. I pull the note off the door with shaking hands. I'm not sure if they're shaking from joy or fear.

Dear Kirito,

I am overjoyed to tell you that I am pregnant, that Yui will be an older sister, and you a Father.

Love, Asuna

I rush to Asuna's room and drag my laptop along with me. A vague thought rushes through my mind. She never gets my real name right. I smash open the door and call up Yui. Asuna lies on her bed, still logged in. I turn on the lights and send Asuna an in-game message.

please log out as soon as you can- there is something i want to talk about to you and Yui.

11:26 AM

I sit and wait for a while at her desk, going over all the times Asuna and I talked about starting a family and getting together in real life when we were trapped in Sword Art Online. I never imagined the feeling of the reality of it all as it is now. But, says a little voice in my head, you weren't in reality.

True. But, we escaped, and made that dream real. Married even before my eighteenth birthday, I scoff. Then, it seemed a good idea. I met a really nice girl on the day of the planning to defeat the first floor boss, and we bonded. A while later, got married and moved to a nice cabin in the woods. Then found a little girl there, who turned out to be an immortal object. The weirdest, craziest, and scariest two years of my life.

I stare at the dimmed computer screen and watch my life in my mind. "Hey, Kirito."

I turn and see Asuna sitting up on her bed, holding her AmuSphere. I sigh. "That's not my name…" Asuna gets up from her bed and comes over to me and plants a sweet kiss on the tip of my nose. Something only she would do. She caresses my hand in hers and looks into my eyes. "I know that it's not. But it's the name of the man I fell in love with. And the name of the man I'm going to start a family with."

And from then on, Kirito and Asu-

I then hear a voice from my laptop. "And I'm your beautiful first-adopted, real life daughter." Asuna lunges for the laptop. "Yui, of course you are!" Yui's smile brightens the screen. "Just wait Mama, Papa. There is something better." Yui pulls up a newsletter and clicks on the most popular topic. The headline reads, Yui, an AI made in Sword Art Online, is to be the first tester of the first ever perfected humanoid. She will live with her adopted family from SAO in and out of the game. More on this topic…

Asuna's hands grasp mine tightly and she begins babbling excitedly. "Yui, oh! You're going to live with us, and meet us in real life, and actually be here! Oh this is wonderful…" Her voice gradually fades away into the background in my mind, and I think of all the crazy things happening.

Asuna and I getting married. Asuna getting pregnant. Yui coming to live with us. I thought that those two years were crazy, but now they seem almost normal. These next years might be closer to first place than those times, but Death Gun and Akihito Kayaba have the win in their tight grasp.

I look at Asuna's excited face. "We should go out. Just you and me. On a peaceful night, before things go crazy." She nods and says goodbye to Yui. "Yeah. Our lives have been crazy ones."

TO BE, OR MAYBE NOT TO BE CONTINUED