Crossing Blades, Crossing Hearts

Prologue: They Meet

Beginning A/N:

This is the prequel to "The Kendo Club", and as you can see by the character settings, this is pure Kirito/Yuuki. I don't know how, but I fell in love with this pairing. Like I said in the beginning A/N of chapter four of TKC, this is set before Kazuto met Sachi. This takes place starting in Kazuto's first year of middle school and continues until halfway through his last year. In Japan, middle school has three years, so this fic will be pretty long. There won't be as much swearing in this fic, seeing as this story takes place before Kazuto started to get bullied, which is what hardened his personality. That said, he will be more in-character with his anime/LN self.

With that in mind, have a fun read!

The sounds of Shinai clashing against one another could be heard throughout the arena. In the center, two boys fought for their honor, pride, and the title of Tokyo Champion.

I watched, focusing on the boy on the left, whose skill was clearly superior to the skill of his opponent.

The skilled boy had black hair, fascinating steel-gray eyes and a thin yet well-toned build. His opponent had black hair, black eyes and an average build, the epitome of plain. The only thing that made him stand out was his bright red uniform, in contrast to the vastly superior boy's all-black garb.

Yes, he's a perfect subject! I thought, whipping out my sketchpad and beginning to draw.

In a matter of minutes, the fight had ended with the black-clad boy emerging as the victor.

"And Kirigaya Kazuto is the winner!" the announcer shouted.

After congratulations were expressed, the boy thanked the announcer and began to leave. Eager to see this boy, I ran from my seat and left the arena, chasing after him.

When I caught up with him, he turned around and requested my name curtly.

I shook it off, cheerfully saying, "My name is Konno Yuuki! It's nice to meet you, Tokyo Champion!"

(Kazuto)

When I turned around, I was faced with a girl so beautiful that she could only be described as a fallen angel. Her long, lustrous violet hair, her beautiful magenta eyes, and her petite yet curvy figure, combined with her cheeriness… it all just lured me in…

I found myself speechless when I saw her give me a bright smile.

Eventually, I found my voice, but it decided to betray me. "You're… beautiful."

"Thanks! You look pretty handsome yourself!"

I could feel my face get hot, and I knew I must have resembled a tomato. "Th-thank you…"

"What'cha getting so embarrassed about?" the violet-haired angel teased.

"I-I'm not embarrassed!" I stammered, the blush on my face darkening.

"Suuuure."

"W-well anyway, why are you here?" I queried, trying to divert the focus of the conversation away from myself.

"I was watching the tournament that you just won, obviously! I gotta say, you're an amazing fighter!"

I looked away, rubbing the back of my neck. "You really think so?"

"Of course! You were awesome! The other kid was sorely outmatched! You beat him in exactly two minutes and thirty-seven seconds, which broke the middle school championship record!"

I turned to look at her again. She's so cute when she gets enthusiastic like that…

"Hey, do you mind if I come to your house tonight?" Yuuki asked, catching me off guard.

"Eh? W-what?"

"Would you mind if I came to your house tonight?" she repeated.

Why would she want to come to my house…?

"Well, I'd have to ask my mom…" I gave in.

"Okay! Can you ask her now?"

I heard familiar footsteps coming up behind me.

"Ask me what?"

"M-Mom!" I gasped, turning to face her.

"I was just wondering if she could come over tonight… her name is Konno Yuuki."

"I see. Well, I'm sorry Yuuki, but not tonight. Maybe another time. Where do you live? If you give me your address, he might be able to come to your house some time," my 'mother' (actually my aunt) said nicely.

"I won't give my address to you. I'll give it to Kazuto," she replied angrily, whipping out a notepad and jotting something down.

"Here," she said, handing me the paper.

It had an address on it, but I was more fascinated with what appeared to be a drawing showing through from the other side. I flipped the paper over, taking in an almost perfect picture of me, in a deadlock with the boy I fought earlier.

When she noticed me staring at it, I saw her blush vividly out of the corner of my eye.

"I-it's bad, isn't it…"

"No way! It's so cool… I can keep this, right?" I requested, immediately feeling dumb afterward.

"Y-yeah, if you want it," she replied shyly.

I could've sworn I heard someone whisper, "Adorable!" but I dismissed it as part of my imagination.

"Well, we'd better get going," my 'mother' replied, dragging me to her car by the hand.

"I'll see you later!" Yuuki shouted.

"You too!" I shouted back.

When we got in the car, I was left to my thoughts.

What a nice girl… she's so pretty! I wonder…

"You were so open with that girl, it's amazing!"

"Yeah…"

"Hey, do you mind if I see the address she gave you? I think I have an idea as to where she might live."

"O-okay," I said quietly, carefully handing the paper to her.

After a moment of reading it over, she suddenly said, "You're in luck!"

"What do you mean?"

"You know how someone bought the house next door a week ago?"

"Yeah…"

Wait, does she mean that—

"Her last name is Konno! She's moving in next door, and the address Yuuki gave you matches up perfectly! Yuuki is moving in next door!"

A/N:

Okay, I know this is really short… but it's a prologue, so what did you expect?

Anyway, I'll be making most of the chapters in this story at least 2000 words, so get set for longer chapters than this one!

Also, I'll be writing this story alongside TKC, despite the fact that this happens before the mainline story.

I should mention that none of the other characters, (especially the ones in the mainline fic) aside from some characters from the light novels, will appear in this fic. As a tradeoff, this story explains a lot of stuff that will be skipped over in the main story, such as why Kazuto dropped kendo.

All right, it's time for everyone's most hated line (other than, "I lost the game"): the loathsome disclaimer!

I don't own Sword Art Online or any of its characters!

See ya!