Kanazawa Chronicles

by Alexia Lunaria

Set after the events of the GGO arc, Kazuto has been working towards creating a brighter future, one that involves Asuna. He's studied abroad and worked hard developing the technology he needs to keep his promises. A new secret enemy who blames Kirito: Hero of SAO for all the wrongs in their life, places Kazuto and co in a situation he never could imagine. VR manifesting IRL...

2. Dangerous Shadows

Kanazawa Chronicles

By Alexia Lunaria

Chapter Two: Dangerous Shadows

"Kirito, wake up. Come on, sleepy head. It's already past noon."

The angel's voice awoke him and he obliged her by opening his eyes and gazing up at her lovingly. The sun filtered through white see-through curtains, giving her an ethereal glow. Her hair cascaded around her head in thick locks, the color of honey, and her eyes had a gentle twinkle only for him. He reached up and pulled her down next to him, getting her to squeal in surprise. He loved getting those kinds of reactions from her. "What do you think you'd doing!?" She mock struggled against him but eventually relaxed when he remained still.

"I wanted my sleeping buddy back." He buried his head into her back with his eyes still closed. "I thought that's what you came back for. Your side of the bed was cold when you left."

"I made you breakfast so I came to wake you up!" She turned around and allowed him to use her chest as a pillow. "Honestly…" she chided, stroking his head fondly.

She jolted suddenly and Kirito looked up sleepily to see a dagger piercing her from behind. Blood soaked her orange shirt, soiling the sheets. He was awake in an instant. "Asuna!"

Jolting up in bed, Kazuto withheld a scream and looked around frantically for the culprit. His body was covered in sweat and he shivered in the night cold. He took deep steadying breaths and attempted to calm his rapidly beating heart. It was dark and looking around he realized he was in their new home in Kanazawa. Next to him Asuna was sleeping with little Yui, the AI wanting to experience sleeping with her mommy like they used to. It was a simple request and Kazuto had conceded.

Not wanting to wake them up he got up and left the bedroom, walking barefoot down the wooden steps to the first floor. It had been a while since he had nightmares about Aincrad. He knew many of the survivors had nightmares in the months following their release from the game but now after so many years? And why would I have a nightmare about that particular time? It was peaceful, without any strife…

Wishing to drain some of the unnecessary adrenaline, Kazuto decided to go for a run. He changed quietly and ran through the streets of an early morning in Kanazawa. Several of his neighbors who were up at that hour waved at him as he jogged passed. His presence was town was common now but there were still a few whispers here and there.

"That's him. Some big inventor who's going to change everything around here."

He was used to that kind of reaction. He had been in Kanazawa for a couple months now and the project was progressing greatly. Graduation came and went with he and Asuna receiving a great farewell party from their SAO friends. Asuna cried but she told him several times how much she was looking forward for the two of them to be on their own again.

She had been a great help, of course. Her out-of-the-box thinking when it came to his technology helped him several times come up with unorthodox solutions. While he was out working on various locations where his cor cubes were to be used, Asuna kept the house clean and always made sure he ate three meals a day. Her cooking was good if not better than their SAO days and Kazuto truly felt blessed.

So why then, with everything going so well, did he have an inkling that something bad was going to happen? He finished his jog and returned home, pausing to make a certain phone call when it was finally after eight in the morning.

"Hello, Agent Seijirou Kikuoka here," came the voice on the other line.

"It's been a while. It's Kazuto."

"Kazuto! I've been following your success! Congratulations!"

"Thank you. I just called to see if everything's been okay?"

"What do you mean?"

Kazuto pursed his lips and tried to keep from pacing. "Have there been any…incidents involving the VR world lately?"

"Oh that, nope, everything's stayed pretty quiet. Why? Did you have suspicions you needed me to look into?"

"No no, thank you. Sorry for bothering you." Kazuto slowly hung up and forced down his anxiety. I've just been working too hard. He went back inside and decided to make breakfast for his family instead. His cooking skills in the real world were thankfully much better than his VR skills and he was able to make a lovely meal of pancakes, eggs, and bacon.

"Good morning, Papa!" Yui bounded down the stairs followed more groggily by Asuna, marks in her cheeks reflecting the creases of the sheets she'd slept against. The look was as adorable as that time under the tree when she'd woken up with drool escaping the corner of her mouth and a blade of grass on her cheek as her souvenir.

"Good morning, Yui." Kazuto served them and then sat down himself.

"So today's the day," Asuna grinned as she took a sip of tea. "Everything's going to go perfectly. You've checked and double checked almost every day."

"At least one of us thinks that." He gave her a sufferable look. "Sorry, bad habit of mine."

"We'll work on it," she replied, "When we're husband and wife again."

Kazuto nodded. If this was successful, Asuna and Kazuto could move forward with their wedding plans and whatever Asuna wanted Kazuto would provide. He only wanted to see her happy and smiling for the rest of her days. She'd earned that. They'd both earned that. He would be able to provide for her and they could do whatever they wanted.

The launch didn't officially begin until three in the afternoon so Kazuto retreated to his office and sat down at his desk. He had books lining the walls and set in a framed glass box high above the door was his copy of Sword Art Online. It had been the first of ten thousand and though it was a dark time of his life it reminded him no matter how bad things got that he was still alive and darkness like that would never happen again.

Turning on his computer, Kazuto opened a smaller side project he had been working on. Smaller being a relative term. With the release of the World Seed, Kazuto had allowed VR games to be created by anyone with a computer and internet. Worlds had spring up like crazy, some better than others. He remembered being in Aincrad and having moments where he would notice things about the game, monsters he would have improved or removed certain flaws, and weapon skills he would like to see.

It had been those thoughts that spurred this drive, during those nights when sleep eluded him or he hit a kink in his work on the cor cubes; the drive to create his own VR world. He didn't tell anyone, of course, and he didn't plan to do anything with it, but it was nice to play around with. He called it Journea and instead of a leveling system it used a player's will to become something better: anything they wanted. They could equip any weapon, any armor, become anything they wanted.

Magic played a part but something Kazuto heard from Kayaba Akihiko all that time ago made him create a system that didn't use traditional health and magic points. Any spec could be altered with a special algorithm that took into account the player's heart rate, adrenaline, and overall sense of will. Monster creation was easy enough; the World Seed would draw from the internet and create monsters and even quests on an endless cycle. Yui had been privy to some of the beginning stages but he intended to use her more for quality control towards the end.

What made his game unique was the game required the input of the user's hometown and the area the player had to work through incorporated familiar landmarks with a fantasy spin. By constantly updating from the internet, the maps would always reflect current real estate. It was why he didn't give his land a name, only the game. No one player's journey would be the same.

Something in the code caught his eye and he frowned, clicking into the administrative section to review his recent changes. "I know I took care of some of this the last time I logged in." It appeared some of his progress had been lost. That was unfortunate but not uncommon. He might've logged out without saving. "I better run a security and virus check just to make sure."

Hours later, Kazuto had lost track of time again, Asuna came to his office. "Are you ready to head to the gardens?"

"I'll be right there." Kazuto took notice of the beautiful yukata Asuna wore for the occasion, after all they were re-creating edo era individuals using his cor cubes. He dressed in a suit and bringing along Yui went to the Kenrokuen Gardens. Yui wore a yukata as well. With her suggestion, he had adjusted her settings to allow her to change her clothes at will with what images she found online, though he restricted her access to remain child friendly.

Asuna's father was there. Her mother was not. After the expected pomp and circumstance, Shouzou Yuuki hit a button and "turned on" the cor cubes stationed all throughout both the gardens and the city limits. Surprise gasps and open mouths were the usual and applause rose into the afternoon air.

Cor cubes would take the form of tourist guides to give direction and suggestions for entertainment based on the most up-to-date schedules. Within Kanazawa Castle and surrounding shrines, his recreations would provide, as his partner had suggested, ancient dances or duels, while some other important figures, such as Oda Nobunaga, would be available to answer questions for those brave enough to ask the mighty warlord.

The gathered crowd was mixed with potential sponsors as well as scientists eager to test the knowledge of these animations. Part of what was funny was those gathered knew about the cor cubes and yet no one looked twice at Yui. She held onto each of her parents' hands and viewed the activities with child-like excitement.

After a couple of hours without any major glitches or system failures, Kazuto left Mr. Yuuki in charge of potential sales and future projects while he treated his wife to a quiet dinner. He ate and made light conversation while they watched the geisha dance in the center of the room. There was such passion and feeling in the movement that he forgot he was watching a manifested program.

"Nee, Papa," Yui asked during dinner. "When will I get a baby brother or sister?"

Kazuto nearly dropped his chopsticks. "W-what are you talking about, Yui? What brought this about?"

She looked innocently up at him. "Well you guys are going to get married soon now right? I did some research and to make a baby I know it takes a mommy and a daddy so I was wondering when? Tomorrow?"

Asuna was bright red and drank heavily of her water before she could answer. "Y-Yui, not that I'm against having children but your Papa is going to be very busy soon and even considering that, we need to actually get married first."

"Where can we do that?" Yui asked.

Asuna played nervously with her rice. "Well, um, it's not that I haven't thought about it, but we would need to send out invitations and find a venue. A lot of planning goes into a wedding, dear."

Yui's expression fell. "Oh…"

Kazuto thought about it. "What if it didn't?"
Asuna blinked, "Huh?"

Kazuto smiled fondly at his, now, fiancée. "I don't know about you but I've said it before: even if it's not considered valid in this world, I always considered you my wife. So you want a big wedding, small wedding, whatever you wish you will have, but what about just going somewhere to say our vows? It doesn't have to be a big deal just to make that promise to each other…again. It was simple in SAO…it can be that way here."

Asuna thought about it but when her eyes caught her ring she held it up against her heart and cupped it tenderly. "All right. Let's do it. Only we should keep it a secret from my family. We'll still do the bigger ceremony, our families and our closest friends, mostly because they'll hate us forever if we left them out of it."

Kazuto laughed, "Yeah, I can just see Liz's face if she thought she missed out."

"What about Klein's face? I bet he'd even cry during the ceremony!" Asuna laughed.

Yui closed her eyes, accessing local information. "A nearby shrine offers wedding services. Mama already has a pretty dress on."

Asuna blushed and shrugged, putting down her chopsticks and napkin. "What are we waiting for?"

Though it had been his idea, Kazuto was nervous waiting for Asuna to join him. Yui was the flower girl and tossed petals along the carpet proceeding the bride-to-be. Though she was wearing the same yukata, someone had lent her a jeweled headpiece that made her natural glow even brighter and a modest but beautiful bouquet. Kazuto briefly saw the Asuna from his nightmare and shook his head to clear the image away. That wasn't going to happen.

Asuna joined him and they stood together before the head priest of the shrine. Kazuto pledged to live for Asuna as he had in days gone past and Asuna promised to support him and protect him no matter what. They shared a kiss and Kazuto produced two rings he'd quickly bought (and probably paid too much for) from a nearby jewelry stand. Rings could be replaced or upgraded later. What matter was they were husband and wife again and their family would never be apart again.

Kazuto parked in front of their house and took out the key for the front door. Asuna and Yui were behind him when Kazuto heard something inside. He narrowed his eyes and held out an arm, stopping the girls form entering. "Hang on." He reached over and found a nearby rake he had left from cleaning leaves the day before. He turned the door handle and sure enough it was unlocked. Asuna's grip on Yui tightened when Kazuto opened the door and ran through, shouting loudly while holding the rake defensively in front of him, ready for any attack.

"SURPRISE!"

Skidding to a halt, Kazuto fell back on his butt and looked up in pure shock. The rake fell backwards and knocked him in the head right after he thought he saw all of their SAO friends explode in celebration.

Kazuto heard the click of a camera and Klein grinned mischievously. "Yep, that one's a keeper."

Asuna came over to help Kazuto up but she was as clearly surprise as he was. So it hadn't been her idea then either. "What's going on? How are you all here?"

"We wanted to congratulate you on your success!" Liz greeted. "Silica wanted to come but her folks wouldn't give her permission to leave the city. She said she's sorry but offers her congratulations too."

Sinon waved quietly from the side of the pack. "I'm sorry I missed your birthday party, Asuna, so I wanted to make sure I came for this."

"We got everything ready while you guys were gone." Egil stepped aside, revealing the living room table, as well as the dining room table, full of food while the kitchen counter had drinks ready. In his hand Egil popped a bottle of champagne and winced when the cork broke one of the ceiling lights. "I can fix that."

Yui leapt up with excitement and eagerly dove into the food. Everyone sort of looked at each other then broke out in laughter. Asuna and Kazuto missed their friends and it was so good to see them all.

"We've meant to invite you guys over before but with the launch date getting closer every day," Kazuto accepted the glass from Egil. "We just never got around to it."

"Don't worry about that now. For tonight, we celebrate! Bonzai!"

"Bonzai! Bonzai! Bonzai!" Everyone cheered and drank from the champagne glasses, except Yui, of course.

After Liz swallowed her, she held up a card. "Better late than never right?"

Kazuto frowned. "What are you talking about?"

Klein shrugged, "You sent us that card with your house key and invited us for this launch party."

Kazuto looked worriedly over at Asuna when she stepped forward to speak for both of them. "We never sent out anything."

Just then Yui gasped and spun to face her parents. "Papa! I'm detecting an outside signal! It's hacking your computer system!"

"What!?" Kazuto moved to run upstairs to his office when the world began to spin. He shot a look around but already Liz and Asuna were unconscious on the floor. Klein and Egil were on their hands and knees but it was a losing battle.

"Papa!" Yui screamed just as the front door was beat down and lizardmen came barreling in. They grabbed Yui and started taking off with her. They wore leather armor and carried daggers.

Kazuto saw the rake he'd brought in still resting next to the wall where someone had picked it up off the ground. He reached for it but the intruders wouldn't allow him to get that far. A large green tail slammed him up into the second story railing and all he knew afterwards was black.

"Kazuto! Kazuto! Please wake up!"

Kazuto moaned and opened his eyes, looking up at Asuna who cried openly into his chest. "A-Asuna?"

"Kazuto!" She helped him into a sitting position but the slight motion caused his head to pound. "What happened?" He frowned when his motions were restricted and looked down to see black leather arm guards around his wrists. He looked at Asuna and she was dressed in a light blue dress but what hung at her hip was undoubtedly a rapier.

"What's going on?" He used the unbroken portion of the railing next to him to pull himself to his feet. Regarding himself anew, Kazuto saw he wore all black with the same leather armor here and there. Reaching behind him he felt two swords held in a cross sheath on his back. "It's a dream…"

"Or a nightmare." Asuna pointed downstairs where even now their friends, all dressed similarly to their VR avatars, were trying to make sense of the situation.

Egil hefted a large double bladed ax. "I know I'm lifting it but it should feel a lot heavier in my hand. My real body doesn't have the strength to wield solid iron or even steel like this."

Sinon reached to her side and felt a dagger while on her back was an intricately carved wooden bow. "I'm pretty sure I didn't come here with this."

Klein, thinking he too must be dreaming, pulled out his samurai sword and ran the tip softly against his finger. "Ouch!" Crimson blood trickled down from his cut. "No way…" yet no sooner had he been injured than the cut began to heal up until it didn't leave so much as a scar. "I know I was drinking but I didn't drink that much."

Kazuto walked downstairs with Asuna and tried to make sense of what was going on. "We were drinking…something must have been in the drink?"

"The champagne came with the invitation," Liz said, her signature club at her side. "So if you guys didn't send the invitations then whoever did spiked the drink."

"Spiking doesn't explain…this," Asuna threw up her arms. "And where's Yui? Is she okay?"

"Yui…" Kazuto thought back to the moment right before he had been knocked out, before lizardmen knocked him out. "They took her. I don't know why but for some reason they took Yui." He closed his eyes to try and focus through his fear and panic. "Yui said something about an outside signal hacking my computer…let's start there."

He ran back upstairs and opened his computer. Logging back in he noticed with a start that, "It's gone. Journea is gone."

"What?"

Kazuto tried to find it but everything had been deleted. "Journea…it was a game I was creating, well, playing around with in any case. I hadn't decided if it was release worthy." While he was on his computer Kazuto thought about something and opened a file containing Yui's original data. It was encrypted so whoever hacked his system had left it alone. He tapped a few keys and was able to bring up a map. A red blinking dot near the center of the Kenrokuen Gardens told him what he wanted to know. "There's Yui. I have a chip installed with her necklace, that is, her cor cube. As long as that's detecting a signal then we know Yui's all right."

He stood up and turned to face everyone. "Getting Yui back isn't something you guys have to do. I'm still not certain what's going on so I can't guarantee anyone's safety. Stay here and I'll get to the bottom of this."

Asuna's rapier suddenly appeared at his neck faster than he could blink and he stood perfectly still. "If you think I'm staying here while you go and save our daughter, you're dead wrong."

He laughed nervously. "I wouldn't dream of it."

"I'm with you, too." Klein stepped forward. "Yui's family. She's saved us enough times that it's our turn to save her."

Liz, Sinon, and Egil bobbed their heads and Kazuto knew he was outnumbered. "All right. Let's go outside and take a look." He transferred the GPS signal tracker to his phone and he noticed with dismay that he had no phone signal. Yet another foreboding problem. They went downstairs and withheld the urge to unsheathe his weapon before he even opened the door.

It was still night outside, so they hadn't been out for very long, and pure chaos had erupted in their absence. Monsters were everywhere, varying in sizes, chasing after the neighbors, vendors, and tourists. Several injured were already littering the streets. He ran out and instinctively blocked a sword swipe from a pig-like humanoid before he could cut down a mother and child.

The jolt rocked him to the soles of the feet and it took him a moment to recover before he leveraged enough strength to counter the blow and kick the monster away. Asuna switched out with him and stabbed the monster seven times in two seconds. The monster let out a roar of defeat and shattered like glass. At his feet dropped his cor cube with one of its sides dented.

Kazuto bent over and picked up the cube. It's starting to make more sense. Just gotta find out who's behind it. "Come on, let's go." He led the way through the streets, saving who they could, and dispatched any monsters they came across. Every time they did Kazuto got a worse sinking feeling. I know these monsters…

They made it to the gardens and moved more slowly as the monsters got more powerful the closer they got to Yui. Coming upon one of the larger ponds, Kazuto confirmed her location. "She's on that island." He crouched behind a park bench. "There could be things around the shore but there won't be anything in the water."

"How can you be so sure?" Liz asked.

Kazuto turned to her. "Because they're using my tech."

"You're going to be sorry! My daddy is one of the strongest swordsmen ever!" Yui shouted at someone.

"Yui…" Asuna's eyes misted.

Kazuto came up with a strategy and took a deep breath. "Okay, here's what we're going to do…"

Kazuto waited until his friends took positions nearby on the shore and slowly came into view of the island. He himself had swum underwater quietly emerging on the island's shore. Sure enough as soon as they were spotted, monsters from other locations began to converge on them. The sounds of battle reached him and he used the distraction to creep closer to Yui. The girl herself sat on a rock, her body unbound. Like the monsters, she was unable to enter the water for then her cor cube would malfunction.

"Yui…" he whispered.

Yui turned and smiled widely. "Papa!" She ran to him and hugged him. "I knew you'd find me!"

"Now that everyone's assembled, let the main event begin!" A voice announced from the sky. The island shook and out of the nearby foliage a large ox monster emerged wielding an ax. It towered over Kazuto to perhaps three times his height.

"Yui! Get behind me!" He unsheathed his twin blades and rushed forward, taking the fight to the enemy. As he struck he took note that his blocks against the ax felt different than the strikes he landed against oxen flesh. The monster slashed with his ax and cut the tree Yui had been hiding behind in half.

"Papa!" Yui exclaimed.

"Yui!" Kazuto moved to intervene but he lost his footing in the leaf covered floor. He stumbled and looked up in horror as the monster took another swipe at its new target.

When he did three arrows embedded themselves along his arms, making him roar in pain. Looking across the water, Kazuto saw Sinon standing there. She nodded and he returned the motion. Returning his attention to the enemy, Kazuto looked frantically for the cor cube and saw it glowing slightly on the monster's forehead. He leapt up, higher than he knew he should have been able to, and slashed across the jewel. Instantly the ox warrior roared and disappeared.

"Seeing you in action is so much more satisfying than reading about it or even seeing videos!" the mocking voice sounded again. "I have so much to look forward to!"

"Come on, Shinji, I know it's you." Kazuto called out.

"You're good but I'm better. You'll have to forgive me but like my father before me I have a flair for dramatics." Shinji Koujiro appeared as a Death, floating high above the island. He wore black tattered clothing with a white bone skeleton and red glowing eyes. A great scythe remained gripped in his hand. Kazuto took note that his friends had finished their battles and were watching intently from the shore. "This is your gauntlet and your tomb. You've taken away my glory for the last time!"

"I don't remember taking anything from you," Kazuto stated calmly. "I fought and earned everything I have now. I worked hard for it and I'm sure as a fellow inventor you can attest to that."

"I worked hard, despite my father's reputation, and yet the one thing that should have been mine from him went to you!" Shinji shouted at the end. "The World Seed could have made me famous again but he went and gave it to you. So I did a little investigating, okay hacking, and found out everything about you through Agent Kikuoka's oh so secretive investigation force. After that all it took was simple backtracking to find out about your real life endeavors and make them all mine."

"To what end!?" Kazuto shouted at the sky. "I thought you had guardian plates to sell to the military!"

"My genius isn't something the government is ready to accept. My time, it seems, is still coming, but your time is finished!" Shinji's avatar disappeared and in its place was a map of Kanazawa only now it had new additions. "You probably recognized I borrowed your little game project. Do you like what I've done with it?"

"You've endangered innocent people all to get back at me? You're insane!" Kazuto shook his head. "Get to the point. I'm tired of hearing your voice."

"Your situation is a little more complicated than I think you realize. Your cor cubes, along with several I've added, have been reprogrammed to reflect monsters you yourself created. The city limits have been blocked in by a force field being projected by cor cubes located within thirteen fortresses, six of them air born. Communications and transportation do not exit the city. Any lives trapped within the force field are your responsibility as are their inevitable deaths. Also, like my father, I've decided to give you a fighting chance.

"The nano-machines you ingested with the champagne, another invention of mine, have given you and your party abilities similar to what you're all accustomed. I am meticulous in my research, after all. Healing, magic, weapon skills: use what you will but I can promise you in the end your research will be blamed and any future will be taken away just as mine was taken away by you." Shinji laughed. "Oh and if you're thinking of finding a shortcut to my little game…" the map disappeared and a camera feed of Mr. Yuuki bound and gagged filled the aerial screen.

"Father!" Kazuro heard Asuna call out.

"Happy hunting!" Then the feed disappeared.

Yui held onto Kazuto's arm. "Papa?"

Kazuto, already planning ahead, forced a smile for the little girl. "Don't worry, Yui. Papa, Mama, and our friends are going to take care of this but first things first, let's signal Klein and get one of the boats from the dock over to come get you. It's been a long night."

"But where can we go that's safe?" she asked.

"We'll go home for now," Kazuto replied. "I've got an idea that just might work."