Well, this was originally intended to be a one-shot, but due to popular demand- Popular being about five to nine reviewers- I've decided to see how long this story goes on before I run out of inspiration...or readers.
This chapter is completely fluffy, because this is all I could come up with. Don't kill me. I would do a depressing, angst filled chapter, but this came to mind and my inner voice shouted "Sure, why not?"
So here this travesty is.
Yay.
(^^^^^^)
When you think on it, really, really hard, you'd kind of see that Kimiko wasn't the complete badass she was made out to be.
I mean, yeah, she was stuck in a game where death meant dying in the real world; and it got worse when she woke up one day after killing Kayaba in SAO to find herself in a new game, American made and completely safe- well, for the other players. She had no idea where she was or what was going on, but she learned quickly when she saw a group of government-looking chumps in black suits waving around a wanted poster with her face on it.
She was still in a game, that was certain, but what game it was, exactly...well, that was the thing. She should have died in SAO; she'd made peace with herself, had convinced herself that it was the only way. She'd had to leave behind her surrogate daughter, Yui in the process- that was heartbreaking enough, and it almost crippled whatever semblance of sanity Kimiko had left when Yui 'died'.
She should have died in that monstrous game, becoming a martyr and freeing the others from the game by sacrificing herself. She'd become the Jesus Christ of the modern age, and for some reason, as much as reverence as a hero in death sounded cool, she hated it. dying for someone else, for the very people that put her through hell in the real world, made her have to think really hard on whether or not to become the martyr the world needed. She died for them in the end, drifting off peacefully with the first smile she'd ever had in nearly ten years.
Apparently it wasn't enough; her torturous life was constantly filled with death and glares, disappointed words sent her way and beatings following soon after. Her hellish nightmare of a life decided to spite her decision to die peacefully to save the others, and when she opened her eyes, she'd been completely lost; in place of forests and medieval buildings were crumbling skyscrapers and sandy desert lands.
She'd walked through the barren desert lands for four days before remembering that even in game she needed to eat to survive- another thing others needn't have worried about.
That was when her eyes met Shino's, a girl who was wandering around with a massive sniper in her hands, trigger finger itchy to shoot something that remotely looked like an enemy.
She remembers shocking Shino with her superb speed as the woman took aim and fired at her; she'd claimed she was known as the best sniper in GGO, but Kimiko had dodged every bullet as if it weren't even worth dodging them at all.
Kimiko had explained her position, told the whole story of her life, and in the end Shino had made a vow that would shock her beyond anything; she'd make sure Kimiko got out of the game, even if it killed her.
After that, well, they began working together, becoming infamous, and eventually fell in love- though Kimiko would never say she loved her, simply because...well...she was used to being strong! Showing emotion in her eyes was something seen as weak, but Shino was doing her best to break it out of her.
One night though she paid the price for her stupidity and illusion that she was finally falling for Shino; a group of raiders, twenty or so, had ambushed them as they slept together soundly, ignoring the world around them- that was her first mistake.
The second mistake she made was telling Sinon- or Shino, or whatever her real name was- to run, when really she should have been thinking about her own survival; Sinon could survive in the real world if she died in the game, while Kimiko wasn't so sure about herself.
The last stupid thing she did was slice an explosive round in half, the shrapnel killing her instantly, and her world blacked out.
(^^^^^^)
Eyes shot open, feeling as if they hadn't been open for years, shooting around to find desperately a notice of where she was; this all seemed to unfamiliar, her chest felt heavy and her arms tired. Speaking of her arms...
Wiry papery arms, thin, bony hands, blue veins visible through her pale skin. Blue veins. Veins; veins meant blood, blood meant real world, real world meant...she'd gotten out of the game. But how? She remembers slicing that explosive round, then her world going dark.
How had she finally managed to leave the game, finally, just by dying? Did someone from the virtual world do it for her? No, she doubted they'd try to care enough to help her, let alone actually help in the first place- someone from the real world, perhaps? Yes, that sounded more plausible than her previous idea, but the question remained as to whom, exactly, would care enough. Her cousin, Suguha, who she knew hated her with every fibre of her being? No, she'd probably liked her 'disappearance'. Maybe a simple nurse got lucky? An engineer perhaps?
The more she thought the more her head hurt, and so she stopped. Raising a hand connected to IV drips and other wires sticking from it, she lifted the NerveGear from her head gently, only to find that as soon as she did she was attacked by something that she detested more than life itself, abhorred with her very being and instinctually tried, but failed, to get out of and away from; a hug. It made her heart try to feel things, and she didn't want that; but the hug felt similar, like a memory you just can't place until you see a photograph of it, and then it clicks. It hits you like falling bricks from the sky, like a wave of water as you wade through the shallow end of the ocean. Like an amnesiac suddenly remembering everything of the past thirty years they'd forgotten.
This hug felt too familiar to be something of a one-time thing. No, this hug felt anything but platonic, wanting, needing of reciprocation to know that she wasn't dead inside as always has been. She'd never hug back, if that person truly knew her and wasn't some random person who wanted to meet a hero and cop a feel.
Looking down slightly, though, her glassy grey eyes came across a most curious sight; brown tufts of hair sticking up in all different directions, a feminine figure wearing what appeared to be a school uniform, and she could feel a pair of glasses pressing into her chest, making her unconsciously blush out of the sheer awareness she had over her own personal space.
Clearing her throat, she almost laughed at how the person stiffened up, before raising their head to meet eye level.
And then her laughter choked her, for she stared wide eyed at the familiar looking girl in glasses. "S-Sinon...?" Immediately after speaking, her voice croaky already, she began to cough, a mixture of liquids pooling in the back of her throat, attempting to dry the barren tube and remind her of the need of water. Sinon wordlessly passed her a glass of water that lay on a side table, but her jaw dropped when Kimiko downed it all in one knock-back of the glass.
While the meagre amount of water barely satiated her needs, Kimiko overlooked her parched throat attempting to preserve the small trickles of water as she stared into Sinon's eyes, a question silently forming; if she knew Sinon, a blush would start right...about...now. And lo and behold, her cheeks were tinted red as Sinon shakily sat up and dragged herself next to Kimiko, more than aware of the wires protruding from her virtual lover's arms and legs, not to mention her chest- it was barely covered, so Sinon couldn't help but stare for a second. Kimiko simply attempted a chuckle, it coming out as a wheezing laugh.
Once it died down, an explanation was given. "Well..." unsure of what to do, Sinon explained everything that happened, to the best of her ability, anyway. "Once you went to sleep in the game they- the engineers working to get you out- discovered that your heart rate seemed to fall like it does in the real world. So, when you died last night it put you in a state of sleep, and an engineer got lucky and disabled the part of the NerveGear that emits the radiation...stuff." she really wasn't good at the technical side of things- she left that to Kimiko- so Sinon's explanation was rushed, lacking, and above all, exactly something she'd come up with to say. "Apparently he got some sort of award."
Kimiko simply lifted an eyebrow before stealthily looking over Sinon. "You know...you really don't look different from what you used to look like in GGO." Now that she thought on it, all that looked different were the eyes and the hair colour. Everything else, even the style of hair, was all up to par. Though Kimiko was not one to complain, for she was practically a carbon copy of her avatars in both SAO and GGO; something about her avatar and consciousness being transmitted into GGO from SAO when that world ended.
Sinon just stifled a giggle and snorted rather cutely. "Says you, you look exactly the same. At least I looked slightly different." Sinon then lifted her hand to cup Kimiko's face, while the other flicked her on the nose. "And my real world name is Shino."
"Yeah...no. I like Sinon better. Besides," Kimiko then flicked Sinon back, earning a small puppy-like whine. "I prefer my online name to my real one."
After stopping herself from giggling, Sinon asked, "And what is your real one?"
Kimiko placed a hand over her face, sighing deeply with a red tinged face and closed eyes. "If I tell you do you promise not to laugh?" peeking through the holes that her fingers allowed, Kimiko looked at Sinon with the most serious expression she could muster up.
Sinon just placed a hand over her heart, trying not to laugh already at the sight of a trying-to-be-serious Kimiko.
Kimiko just sighed once more. "It's Kimaka Kazuto."
Five minutes. The silence afterwards lasted for five whole minutes before Sinon just stared with what seemed to be pity and a mixture of wanting to laugh but holding it back. It's the expression one gets at wanting to laugh at someone falling over, but then finding out that said someone is disabled. If she did so it would alleviate her need to laugh her head off, but at the same time make her feel like crap for the rest of the day and apologise profusely for the rest of the week, knowing it would have little to no effect on Kimiko.
"Wow," was all she could say without hurting Kimiko's feelings. "That's...you must have been picked on a lot, huh?"
"The girl with a guy's last name, wandering around a school of at least six hundred hormonally challenged, horny teenagers? Oh yeah, I was picked on a lot. So many spit-balls; how can you even produce that much spit!?" she sighed, rubbing her stomach calmly; it was something she picked up from Sachi- god rest her soul. The girl, when she was nervous, anxious or simply contemplating would rub her stomach and close her eyes- this often got her confused with being hungry, not that Kimiko wasn't raring for some big ass animal to eat right about now.
Sinon seemed to pick up on the tick Kimiko had, but let it be- Kimiko had never expressed hunger before aside from verbally, so she knew this was something else.
And so they laughed it off, eventually agreeing to use their in-game names because they were both easier to remember and cooler than their real life names.
But Kimiko had an ulterior motive; she'd be walking Sinon to school as soon as she got out- if she had anything to say about it, she'd be out by tomorrow- and she'd make sure everyone knew not to mess with Sinon ever again.
(^^^^^^)
She was given so many medals, so many awards for saving thousands of lives, so many hand shakes that she still felt the tremors that she just didn't know how to feel. The general populace treated her as some sort of hero, but those that were in SAO and know who she is know that she was more than that. She was an outcast pariah, someone who fought no matter what- the Sachi incident was a minor setback- to free those of the death game. She remembered running her sword with sick satisfaction through he-who-shall-not-be-named- also known as Kayaba-, and smirking evilly when she placed a bullet between the eyes of many a would-be assassin.
Killing Death Gun was just fun.
She ignored it to the best of her ability as she walked down the street, hand in hand with Sinon, glaring at all who turned their heads their way- little children and old folks were allowed leeway, but not much.
Where was she currently walking? To Sinon's school, of course. She had promised to act as an unofficial protector for the girl, of a sorts anyway, and swore to keep her out of harm for the rest of her life; she may as well have proposed right there and then, but with the restrictions on gay marriages...she settled for promises that she knew she'd keep. Plus that would be rushing it a bit.
It didn't take a while to walk her there, but it did to spot the small bench that Sinon usually sat at alone. While yes, it was small and charming, Kimiko had to admit that this was a place of unfathomable loneliness, a feeling she knew all too well. It suddenly dawned on her how little she knew of her girlfriend- and vice versa- and how much they had to catch up on. But aside from the digressing, Kimiko sat down, earning a couple of wary stares from nearby students, teachers and passing parents.
When one person she recognised from her old school looked at her in shock, Kimiko simply glared, scaring the man witless and speed walking in the opposite direction.
Sinon sat down shortly after, immediately placing the back of her head on Kimiko's shoulder, leaning against her with a sad expression. "Time for hell," she muttered "are you sure you can't come in with me?"
"This is your school, not mine; sorry, but I don't think they'd appreciate someone like me wandering around with you during your classes." Sinon frowned at that, and Kimiko looked down at her while stroking circles into her back. "It'll be okay, won't it? You're Sinon in GGO, so why can't you be her here as well?"
While the words didn't cheer her up, they did give her some form of courage to face the day, truly like a brave heroin with a massive sniper rifle would: Except no killing...which with some people it was hard to resist the urge. Many bullied Sinon due to her glasses being a requirement, her nerves and her fear of guns; and the same three that tormented her every day about guns just happened to be walking in their direction. Her courage sank to the bottom of her feet, remaining there, though Kimiko's presence gave her enough still to look up at them as they approached.
Kimiko crossed her arms over her chest, sighing and shaking her head slightly at the sight of a slightly cowering Sinon and a group of girls; they must be the bullies, the ones that use the excuse of a fear for weapons as an excuse to bully and get a rise out of Sinon.
She was going to have some fun tormenting them, but how? What fears did they have? They bullied, so they were insecure, and they went for someone with a dark past and who was a bit jumpy to boot. Hmm...Maybe abusive parents? Could she taunt them with such a low blow?
No, she may be dark, cold hearted, but she knew her limits- that's more than could be said for her childhood tormentors. Embarrass them somehow, but how exactly? She could figure out what they wanted to do, why, and then embarrass them with a comeback for when they likely started to bully Sinon.
An idea that brought a wry grin to her face.
The leader, who's name was mentioned but didn't interest her in the slightest, walked right up to Sinon, completely ignoring Kimiko as if she didn't exist; a small frown creased her face: She hates her even more now. Such a self-righteous bitch doesn't deserve to be in her presence, let alone ignore it.
Suguha hated when Kimiko even breathed, and as much as she tried, Kimiko couldn't hate her back for it; she loved her sister-slash-cousin with as much platonic, familial love there could be between them. They actually had a good childhood, were the best of friends, and would do everything together. Then, one day, Suguha seemed to realise something or was convinced of something, because the next minute Suguha ignored her, glared at her, called her names daily, and it hurt. It still hurts, and even Sinon's presence couldn't keep the spikes of pain crashing into her away.
She shook her head, having realised that she had completely ignored Sinon's curious eyes and the glaring haughty girl in front of her.
With a superiority complex, she sure seemed confident that Kimiko would do something to aid her in some form of argument or another; why would she exactly? Sure, she had ignored the argument, and yes she had spaced out, but this random girl, who was picking on her girlfriend, was staring as if smug; almost relying on Kimiko to join her, to aid her.
Kimiko just stared, and for a minute both girls had a fierce staring competition. "What do you want?"
The girl jumped, not expecting that, and replied with a smug grin and a flash in her eyes, her back straightening as if demanding respect. ""You weren't listening to the past two minutes?"
Kimiko just stared, emotionless for another minute, before stating "Should I have been?"
One of the girl's friends simply leaned in to her other friend and whispered "She's so cool!"
The other nodded in agreement, before eyeing Kimiko up and down. "And hot."
The leader of the group didn't seem to hear her friend's statements, and looked at Kimiko with a curious gaze. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Sinon calming down, and was thankful for that. At least diverting the girl's attention had allowed Sinon to slip out of the argument, but the girl still had smarts to stay within her lover's field of vision.
She tended to attract trouble when Kimiko wasn't there.
"Well...what do you mean?" it was said as a question, but Kimiko could hear the demand behind it, and decided to play along.
"I mean..." she answered slowly. "...why drag me, a girl you don't even know, into an argument between you and Si-Shino?" she had to correct herself, but the girl in front of her didn't seem to catch the fault in the words.
She looked taken aback, and tried to defend herself against such a logical conclusion. After a while, she just decided that she didn't know why she had decided to drag Kimiko into it, and looked at her with a frown, but a sorry face nonetheless.
"Well...I don't know."
"Let me guess." Kimiko loved this, toying with her like a cat; she used to do it all the time in SAO, and GGO just provided more means to toy with people, before killing them mercilessly. Sadly killing was something she couldn't do here- well, without getting caught- and the first person she'd kill was staring at her with a worried expression. "You thought I'd help you in whatever bullshit argument you were in, just because I was there; that about right?"
The girl was speechless and her friends were openly giggling. While she stood there with an open mouth, looking a bit like a fish, Kimiko pretended to look her over sensually.
The girl, however, noticed her faux-hungry look.
"You're gay!?"
Kimiko knew she'd throw up a little saying this, but it had to be done, for the sake of annoying her into leaving Sinon alone. "And you're hot."
The two girls behind her seemed to be fanning themselves over the husky tone Kimiko used, and the black haired beauty enjoyed watching the leader of the three's face fall into that of mild disgust, but heat up red. flattery worked on all different kinds of people, as she had learned early on in life; compliments would get answers, flattery would get you anywhere you wanted- even if the other person said it wouldn't, it would, truly.
She'd sooner nail herself to a train track for what she was next about to do, but it had to be done. She sauntered past the open-mouthed girl, closing her mouth with an absent hand as she passed, swinging her hips that even brought Sinon's attention.
She walked in between the two red faced, fanning girls, brushing a hand over their cheeks and whispering in both their ears. "You two look a little hot under the collar...care to take it off?" she was cringing on the inside, but the effect seemed to take place; both the girls feinted, the leader of the group running away shouting profanities and how her girls needed work.
All in all, as Kimiko waved a blushing Sinon away, she came to the conclusion that today had been a rather productive one.
Now, to visit her old SAO acquaintances: And to see Liz...oh boy, this was gonna be a hard week for her.
