A/N: I just had to write a fluff chapter before that massive time skip, which I may or may not be implementing. Yup. Anyways, enjoy!

Four - Date Night

It had been a month since Sinon last saw Kirito. Even though they weren't technically friends, she still craved someone to talk to. Of course, she could track him due to him being on her friends list, but she took the lack of messages or meetings to mean that he didn't want any contact with her. Asuna was always away with her guild, so she was out of the question. Deciding to see where Kirito was at the moment, Sinon opened her friends menu.

[Asuna] Floor 10, Lisbeth's Smith Shop

[Kirito] Floor 12, The Sleeping Centaur Inn

Sinon ignored the fact that her friends list only consisted of two entries. Wait… What?! Kirito was staying at the same inn Sinon had been staying in, for the duration of time it took to clear floor 12. Making up her mind to go visit him, she brought up the teleport option, only to bite her lip and think twice. He probably doesn't want to see me… I was such a jerk to him! Maybe I should apologize again? I really need someone to talk to… That last thought motivating her, she pressed opened up the teleport menu, and pressed [Affirmative].

Sinon opened her eyes again outside of a door, standing in a hallway. The game only teleported players to the room door (or front door) if the target player was staying in an inn room or in their own home. She nervously knocked on the door, and stood back to wait. The door opened, revealing a yawning Kirito, whose bloodshot eyes showed the telltale signs of staying up too late at night.

Shocked by the person standing at his door, Kirito's face lost all signs of tiredness. "Si-Sinon? I thought I told you…"

Sinon pouted. "You didn't think you could've just sent me a friend request and leave, did you?! Idiot…"

Kirito scratched his head, awkwardly. "Well… I didn't expect you to accept it. But now that you've found me," He said, before adding under his breath, "And based off of how stubborn you probably are…" He returned to his usual cheerfulness. "I guess there's no getting rid of you?"

"You're absolutely correct." Sinon confirmed. "And also… I wanted to properly apologize. I was being really cold, mean and imposing when we first met- Do you think we could be friends?"

"I- uh…" Kirito was cut off by the sound of a stomach growling. Sinon, realizing that the noise had come from herself, began to blush furiously. Silently wishing for a muffler that wasn't there. "Well! Let's get something to eat, huh?" Kirito quickly said, not wanting the situation to become awkward.

"U-um… Yeah!" said Sinon. She hadn't eaten anything since she had woken up… and it was 5:00 pm. How could she have been so careless?

Kirito hadn't come to Sword Art Online to eat good food, but that's what it felt like as he sat at a table for two, across from a certain dark-haired girl. He definitely didn't come to Sword Art Online for awkward dates in romantic restaurants, but oddly, that's how it turned out. It seemed Kayaba had either a joking side or a romantic side, as the last Friday afternoon of every month was 'date night' at all the restaurants in Aincrad. Luckily for Kirito and Sinon, that was today.

"Uhh- " Kirito rubbed the back of his neck, obviously uncomfortable with his current situation. "Sorry about this…"

Sinon's face had been a light shade of red for the entirety of their sitting in the restaurant. Trying to make up for her attitude towards Kirito before, she tried to continue the conversation, however awkward it might be. "N-no, it's okay. It's not like either of us have any points in the cooking skill… And as long as I'm not eating those pieces of cardboard disguised as bread, I-I'm happy." Sinon wanted to smack herself. She hadn't thought about the implications of what she had just said before the words came out of her mouth. "P-plus, we know we're not -"

"Yeah!" Kirito quickly replied, cutting her off.

"We're just- "

"Friends!" Kirito finished for her, awkwardly ending the conversation. They sat in silence until the food they had ordered arrived at their table. Friends? Sinon considered the thought. She hadn't really thought about Kirito as a friend, in it's own right. But now that she thought about it, to her, Kirito was a genuine friend.

As the NPC waitress arrived at their table, she grinned at the couple. "You two are so cute! Aww… Anyway! Enjoy your meal!" She said, dropping the plates off at the table. This only added to Sinon's blush, as her face turned a more vivid shade of red.

"Hey! We're not…" Realizing she was talking to an NPC, Sinon trailed off, and proceeded to absentmindedly push her food around her plate with a fork. She looked up, to see Kirito stifling a laugh. "What…?" She asked, slightly self-conscious.

"Nothing, nothing," Kirito said, waving his hand dismissively. "It seems that Kayaba went to decent lengths to make 'date night' consistent." Knowing that this was the same person who had trapped them all in this death game, it was only fair to laugh.

"D-don't say that here! Everyone else can hear you!" Sinon whispered frantically. It was as if admitting that they were on a date was the worst thing that could possibly occur at that moment, but for poor Sinon, who had never been on a proper date, even though she definitely wasn't on one with Kirito right now, it meant the whole world. She was never really good with interaction. Put that on top of her inherent fear of men, and you have one lonely girl.

As the two ate in silence, they tried to avoid each other's eyes. The quiet didn't last long, however, as Sinon was soon finished her plate. Having not eaten for over 12 hours, she, naturally, was still hungry. Looking over at Kirito's dish, which was still half-full of food, her mouth started to water, though she tried her best to keep it hidden. She sat there awkwardly, shifting back and forth as Kirito ate.

"Hey, um…" Sinon internally smacked herself. Why had she said anything? Oh, well… Might as well finish the thought. "I haven't eaten in a long time, and I don't want to spend more money, and I'm kind of hungry…" Sinon babbled, trying to think of a good excuse to take some of Kirito's food. "What I meant to say was, I'm still kind of hungry… And I was wondering… Can I have some of that?" She said, her face determined.

"Huh? O-oh. Mm hmm, sure! I'm not too hungry anyway." Kirito said, oblivious to Sinon's extremely embarrassed state, as he pushed his plate towards her. Sinon's eyes lit up, as she dug into that plate as well, finishing with a satisfied sigh. Even though players didn't log in to SAO for good food, it was still a damn good reason.

As Kirito payed from the menu, Sinon stood up and stretched, barely hearing Kirito mumble, "Man, some of these restaurants are not cheap~"

"Oh, quit being a baby. The food was good." Sinon argued, wanting to keep up a conversation with her new 'friend'.

"Maybe you thought it was good," Kirito mumbled, dejectedly thinking about all the cor he had had to spend on one meal.

Standing in front of Sinon's room's door, the pair lacked most signs of awkwardness, which had stemmed from the night's events. They had been out for about 3 hours after they had finished supper, talking about their interests and such, because good friends had to get to know each other, and moving onto game-related topics, such as boss strategies, and skills along with preferred weapons and such.

"Wow. I actually had fun." Sinon said, exhausted, from chasing Kirito after he had poured a cup of ice cold water down the back of her armour.

"Of course you did, you're playing a game." Kirito smirked. "In all seriousness though, how was 'date night'?" Said Kirito, making an 'air quotes' gesture.

"Ha ha. We weren't on a date." Sinon said, used to Kirito's joking sarcasm by this point.

"Of course not!" Kirito said, waving his hands awkwardly. "Anyway, you get a good sleep! We're both with the raiding party tomorrow."

"Mm hmm!" Sinon replied enthusiastically, as Kirito turned to walk down the hall towards his own room.

"Maybe we could party up sometime." Kirito mused, absentmindedly, as he walked into his room and closed the door.

Yeah… Maybe… Sinon thought. Kirito wasn't so bad after all.

The next day was a slow day. The raid party's main priority was mapping, as most of the dungeon had already been cleared. They'd been working at floor 12 for only 2 days- a testament to the willpower of the clearers to get out of the death game. The first floor had motivated them. One month for the first floor, and another month for 11 more. It seemed Sinon's prediction that they'd be stuck in SAO for quite a few years was wrong.

"Hey, Kirito?" Sinon asked.

"Hmm?" Kirito lazily responded. The two were walking at the back of the group, each with their own map data pulled out.

"Did you really want to party up?" She asked.

This elicited another awkward response from Kirito. "I was just thinking out loud… But I guess when we find the boss room, we could party up together. And we'd need a third person… So maybe that girl- Asuna?"

"Well- I don't know if Asuna would be able to help us. She's always away with her new guild, reaching levelling quotas or something. Speaking of levels… What level are you?" Sinon asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Hmmm…" Kirito growled slightly as his eyebrow twitched. He probably didn't want to tell her. "Why do you want to know?" He asked Sinon.

"I bet mine is at least double yours." Sinon said, jokingly. She had done a decent amount of grinding after the first boss floor, it had only shown her that she needed to become stronger. However, she still couldn't find a weapon she was satisfied with, as her dagger required her to get unsettlingly close, and swords were out of the question as she found them awkward and heavy. The weapons she enjoyed using the most were her throwing picks, but they didn't do enough damage, even at floor 10.

"That's cute," Kirito laughed. "Here." He opened his player profile screen, and showed it to Sinon.

She gasped when she saw the number under his level indicator. No way- he's already level 18? I'm only on 13… Levels in SAO were by no means easy to get. It wasn't your average MMORPG, where the first 20 levels or so only required you to kill a few slimes. This only added to Sinon's admiration of Kirito's strength, wondering where it came from, and what motivated him. Intending to ask, Sinon started again. "Kirito…?"

"What is it?" He said, carefully examining his map data.

Sinon suddenly decided that she would ask another time, when he was more likely to answer her truthfully. "A-ah. Never mind."

Kirito opened his mouth to say something, but not before the man leading the raid party stopped. "The boss room is just up ahead!" He yelled. "A meeting based on the info broker's information will be held later today! The boss fight will be tomorrow! You are all free to teleport back to town to rest for now."

A collective sigh could be heard from the group, as players started to pull out teleport crystals, or turn around to walk home. Each pulling out a teleport crystal, Kirito and Sinon were enveloped in the blue fire of teleportation.

"It says here, the floor 12 boss is… Orochi the Eight-Forked Serpent?" Kirito said, reading from the info broker's newly-updated boss handbook. "That's different from what it was in the beta test…" He was currently sitting around a small coffee table in Sinon's inn room; the two were discussing boss strategy.

"It seems as if the boss has almost no weak spots, and it's also pretty fast. But it's pretty balanced, taking into account that it has barely any health." Sinon added. "Anyway… It's getting late. We should get to sleep."

"R-right!" Kirito said, as he quickly got up to leave. "See you tomorrow!" He said, backing out of the door, inadvertently hitting his shoulder on the door frame. Sinon giggled as she got up to close the door.

AAAHHHH! Kirito was awoken from his sleep by a blood-curdling scream. The voice it came from was strangely familiar. Opening the door to his room, Kirito walked out into the hallway and made his way to Sinon's room. Assuming she was awake as that scream must've woken the whole inn, he knocked on her door. "Sinon? It's me. Are you awake?" He asked, intending to find out who the scream was from.

The door opened to a Sinon, whose face was tear-streaked, and her eyes red and puffy from crying. "Sinon- are you okay?" Kirito's voice was full of concern.

Stepping aside to let Kirito enter, she shook her head and began shakily, "It's nothing… Just nightmares- I used to have them all the time, but-" She was cut off by Kirito enveloping her in a hug.

"It's okay," He said. "They're not real…"

Sinon allowed herself to relax in the warmth of his embrace. "Thanks, Kirito." She sighed happily.

"Well, if you're alright," Kirito said, pulling back, "I'll go back to my room. Get some sleep, we have a boss fight tomorrow." He opened the door and started to leave, when he was stopped in his tracks by Sinon.

"Hey, Kirito… Do you mind… Staying with me?" She asked, with completely innocent intentions.

Blushing a light shade of red, Kirito turned. "U-uh, sure. I'll sleep in the armchair over there." He said, gesturing to the chair in the corner, while walking back into the room and closing the door behind him.

Subconsciously, Sinon felt slightly disappointed when Kirito said he'd sleep in the chair, but she hardly noticed it. She just nodded, relieved that she wouldn't be alone to suffer more nightmares. Tucking herself in under the covers, she looked over at Kirito, who was already peacefully asleep in the armchair in the corner of her room. Thanks, Kirito.

A/N: If there's one thing I've noticed about my own writing, it's that I rely heavily on horizontal lines. Oh, what would I do without them? Anyway, two big things. Numero Uno! I don't have a proofreader! :/ If you notice spelling/grammar issues, point them out to me, and I'll try to fix them. Furthermore, if you want to be my proofreader, just PM me, but be warned, I do work on this story a lot, so you might have lots to read ;). Numero Dos! Sinon is out-of-character. Yes, I know. But then again, her overall personality was never really established for me, watching the anime and the SAO II Offline episodes. But if you have a good idea of how she should be, PM me, or simply post a review! And onto feedback again! If you liked, or disliked, write a review! Lets me know that real people really like my writing. (Surprisingly).

Anyway, that should be all. Until next time,

-TheSilentSwordsman