Disclaimer: I don't own jack!
Pairing: Klein/Kagome; Souta/Lisbeth
Suggested Listening: I'll Be Good by Jaymes Young
Broken Stone
Chapter Seven: Promise
Ryoutarou laughed as he glanced down at the sight of Kagome tangled up in her sheets. She was snoring away with one arm thrown over her eyes and her legs kicked out from the covers. Sunlight bled through the curtains into the tiny room while Souta sat upon the desk chair. The teen was giving her a disdainful pout.
"Why the hell did you let her drink so much?" The dark haired male complained, crossing his arms over his chest.
The guild leader shrugged, "She only had one. If I'd known she was such a lightweight I would've stopped her earlier." He rolled his shoulders in anticipation of what had to be done next. "Besides, the mead here is hell of a lot stronger than most sake. It takes some getting used to." The man flexed his hands and grasped the sheets wrapped tightly around the woman's calves. "Rise and shine!" Ryoutarou cheered, giving the cloth a harsh yank. Just as with Souta the day before, Kagome went tumbling sheets and all onto the floor. Azure eyes cracked open and glared at the ceiling.
"I hate you all." She muttered incoherently from the floorboards.
"Good, now time to get up. We've got a meeting to assemble." The red haired man turned his back and clasped his hand onto Souta's shoulder. "Make sure she's ready in ten minutes." The boy shrugged and waved him off. He waited until he heard the soft 'click' of the door shutting behind Ryoutarou.
"I told you so." Her brother quipped at her from across the room. An air of haughty righteousness emanated from his thin frame.
Kagome turned her neck to glare over at him, "Oh shut up. At least I had a reason to sleep in unlike a certain someone yesterday. Besides," She tilted her nose upwards and crossed her arms over her chest while still lying on the floor. "I have every right to drink if I so want to. I can take a night to let loose can't I?"
The teen scoffed, "Not when you get so hung over you have to literally be dragged out of bed. Plus, 'let loose'? Really?" His smile turned devious and Kagome knew with a pit of fear in her stomach exactly where this conversation was going. "Last I checked 'letting loose' didn't involve getting so drunk that you'd run around not one, but three different bars ordering every kind of shot and then pretend that you can fly off the end of the bar top." The young man laughed as he pointed at her, "Admit it, you can't drink without someone to babysit you. You'd fly off the handle and try to run around the neighborhood naked. Geez, I wonder where you get that crazy streak in you? It's definitely not from mom. Think the gene can skip a generation from jii-chan straight to you?"
A pillow smacked him square in the face.
"Shut up!" A bright flush crossed her cheeks. She had no denial. Although Kagome couldn't remember the night fully herself, her friends had regaled her of tales of the things she did do. Now apparently she was never allowed to return to the three bars closest to her shrine. Pity, she'd wanted to try out the drinks there when she was sober enough to enjoy them.
The young woman quickly went through her menu screen and dressed herself in the lazy fashion. Some days, she really didn't feel like going through the full motion of getting ready. It'd taken less than five minutes for the siblings to wake up and fully prepare for the meeting soon to take place. It'd been decided that they'd host the vote in Harry One's room since his had the most space and they couldn't afford for others to listen in on their conversation.
The pair walked quietly down the halls of the Sela. The jeers from the night before were replaced with animated chattering as people went about their daily lives. There were glimpses of conversations that whizzed by them.
"If we attack here then that would give us a good advantage on the Mob Dogs…"
"No, no we can't do that. Without healing crystals we'd be screwed."
"Can't we just teleport back to the Town of Beginnings. It's getting too dangerous here."
"Teleportation crystal my ass. We'll walk the way to the central tower if we have to. We haven't come this far for nothing!"
It were almost as if things here were starting to become normal. Almost. Her azure eyes narrowed at the thought. Soon, they'd have to shatter that false reality once again and shed light on the increasing danger that lurked within the forest. More than monsters, they now had to fear players who were willing and wanting to harm others for the sheer enjoyment of seeing another in pain. It was sickening. Her lips twisted into a deep frown. But what evidence could they collect to prove their existence? This notion alone struck her.
"Hey, you coming or what?" Souta pressed as he threw his sister a look over his shoulder. The young woman increased her pace and left the strangers behind. If this world was going to change then she wanted to be the one to front that change. Be it for better or worse, she wanted to see this game through to the end. Azure eyes hardened as they passed the final corridor and made it to Harry One's suite.
The youthful faced man greeted them with a swing of his door and kind smile. Once inside Kagome and Souta found the rest of their guild waiting for them. Ryoutarou stood from his perch by the windowsill and moved to the center of the room.
"Alright, now that the dead have arisen from their thousand year slumber we can officially start our meeting." The man shot her a playful glance. She scowled but said nothing. It wasn't like she had anything to shoot back at that comment with.
"First of all we need to make one thing clear," Hazel eyes hardened as he glanced from one member of the guild to the next. They were apprehensive but their fear was no longer as palatable as it had been. "Regardless of whether we focus our efforts on moving to the central tower or the orange players, we cannot for any reason give up hope on passing the information onto others. Information brokers have proven useless."
A grumble of agreement rose from the other men and Kagome found herself nodding along with that statement.
"So regardless we'll need to try to work with other guilds in the mean time. It'll be the fastest way of leveling up and it'd create a better way for us to circulate information more quickly." Dale and Kunimittz glanced up in concern. Working with those outside of their guild seemed rather risky at this point. Who was to say which guild was a 'green guild' and which was made up of those other players? Even the most incompetent of idiots could find away around the cursor coloring if they wanted to. All they'd need is a little bait.
"The Knights of the Blood Oath have already contacted us." Ryoutarou announced. The ex-miko glanced up at him. This was news to her. The Knights of the Blood Oath was a fairly recent guild that had gained some bit of notoriety by clearing several of the harder sections of the forest with a three party team. For as small as they were, they were definitely made up of powerful players. When had they been contacted? "We can forge an alliance with them and pass information quickly. Also we can use their strength to tackle the bosses on the front lines. Does that sound agreeable to you?"
Dynamm and Issin nodded but Kunimittz and Dale still remained apprehensive. However it was Harry One to ask the one question that was plaguing the back of their minds.
"Can we trust them?"
Ryoutarou sighed, "Your guess is as good as mine, but it'd be better than going in alone." A light breeze picked up from the open window. The scent of mead and steak filtered through the room. White curtains billowed gently in the current. Incoherent mutters turned to silence.
"So I'll ask you now, which would you rather do? We can haul ass to the central tower within a few days time but it'd wipe out nearly all of our reserves." The red head surfed through his menu and displayed all the back up items he'd managed to store away. On a normal forage it'd have been more than enough but for the trek that they'd be looking at to make it to the front lines in time, it'd be downright suicidal.
"Or we can strike up a deal with the Knights of the Blood Oath and try to hunt down the bastards that attacked us. It's your choice." The leader backed out of the vote. As they had an even number of members, he felt that it'd be much easier to decide with an odd number voting. Not only that but he wanted to ensure that everyone felt that the decision would be a fair one. His opinion would only drive a wedge between them.
"All for going to the front lines, raise your hands."
As expected, Dynamm and Kunimittz lifted their hands into the air. They were itching to level up quickly and start moving forward. However Kagome knew deep down that such a move would only hinder their success, if not put them in grave danger.
Ryoutarou nodded, "Okay so that's two. Now for all those in favor of going after the orange players please raise your hands."
Kagome, Souta, Dale and Issin raised their hands. Also as expected. Even though the numbers were right there was still one other person that had to voice their opinion. All eyes turned onto the youthful faced Harry One.
The man's expression turned serious as he contemplated his next decision.
"How do you propose we fight them?" If there was one thing the ex-miko learned about her guild mates then it was the fact that they were always direct and to the point. There was never any miscommunication or misunderstood intentions with them. It was this honesty that she appreciated the most.
"As suggested we pass information back and forth between us and the Knights of the Blood Oath." Kagome started. She grabbed onto her sleeve and pinched the cloth between her index finger and thumb. The fabric felt surprisingly soft against her skin. "We can gather evidence of their existence and then lay a trap for them."
Azure eyes met Harry One's onyx ones, "We'll hit those sons of bitches where it hurts the most." Her lips pulled into a smirk, "And they'll never even see it coming."
The man took a deep breath, "I'm in."
"It's settled. We'll take today and tomorrow off in order to prepare. Stock up and do some leveling if you can. Don't put yourselves into too much danger or exhaust your strength. We'll need you at your best." The red head clapped his hands together, "Everyone is dismissed!"
Souta tugged on his sister's sleeve—fully intending on dragging her out onto the field to level by themselves. The teen felt his brow twitch as Ryoutarou quickly followed them.
"You guys feel like hitting the fields together?" The man smiled as he rubbed the back of his head.
An evil thought crossed her mind as Kagome scowled playfully, "I don't know. You did kick me out of bed this morning." She purposely posed the phrase in such a way that it'd draw the unwanted attention of their other comrades. "Sheesh there are other ways to wake a woman after a night out, you know." The young woman fought the urge to laugh at the red head's furious blush. He waved his hands in front of his face and tried to quiet her—already fretting that the other guys would hear the suggestive words and misunderstand.
"That headache was a killer and I'm still sore all over. You're so evil, you know that?" Her lips quirked playfully as his expression turned horrified. A couple of the men quirked their brows but said nothing.
"Look who's talking!" He hissed through his teeth as quietly as he could. "I didn't try to embarrass you earlier and it wasn't like that!" His voice went up an octave.
The red head felt a heavy hand clap his back. Souta gave the man a few more pats on his shoulder blade and nodded his head in understanding. Oh he knew that feeling well. Even if he was annoyed that the guy was always butting in on his time with his sister, he'd give him some sympathy every now and then. The teenager turned on the ball of his heel and slowly exited the suite—leaving both Kagome and Ryoutarou behind. He'd give them this day but tomorrow would be a time for family bonding. The young man threw a devious smirk over his shoulder.
"Don't keep her out too late again Klein. We wouldn't want a repeat of last night now would we? She couldn't hardly even walk straight." Said main proceeded to sputter as he realized that he'd been drawn into a trap.
With that the younger of the Higurashi siblings left the room. Loud snickers from the rest of the Fuurinkazan and Ryoutarou's adamant denial echoed loudly down the halls of the Sela. Perhaps he'd give the man a little more credit. Had he been lesser of a person, his sister wouldn't have returned to their suite at all the previous night. For that, Souta was grateful. A tiny smile tugged at his lips. Although that didn't mean the guy was safe from the hell he'd give him every now and then. It came with a territory with them.
The young man hummed to himself as he casually strolled out of the Inn. The low calls of the cattle reverberated from the cobble stone streets and tightly knit homes. His azure eyes scanned the crowd and found a blacksmith stand that was nearly empty. He shrugged, what the hell. He needed to stock up on some supplies anyways.
The dark haired male approached the counter. He stopped before a girl around his age. Blossom pink hair fell into her face as she leaned over one of her latest creations. There was an incoherent mumble as she gave her work a once over.
"Good, now time to test its durability."
The woman lifted the curved blade into the air and slammed it against the stone of her working table. The sound of metal clashing against rock reverberated loudly in Souta's ears. He fought the urge to clap his hands over them. The blade in her hand shook lightly then steadied after a few seconds. No dents or signs of damage had been dealt to the weapon.
"That's a pretty sturdy sword you've made." The teen commented as he looked over the item.
She stop mid-swing of her arm to bring it down on the table again. Lifting the blade she offered it to him to look over.
"It's called Onfroi. It's a curved blade with high durability stats. It's one of the best I've made yet." The girl beamed as she pulled up all the information and statistics of the sword.
He twisted it in his hand and lifted it into the morning's light. The blade gleamed, the shimmering of silver reflecting onto some of the glass windows of the homes around them. Souta cringed as a curtain fell closed from the open window from the home the light had shined on—perhaps he needed to be more careful about who he was directing that at.
"It's pretty well made but it's not the type of sword that I'd use. You have any weapons specialized for tanks?" He inquired.
The pink-haired girl flashed a bright smile, "Of course! It's actually one of my specialties. I'm Lisbeth by the way." She offered him her hand.
"Shita." He returned, following her around the booth stand to look at some of the items she'd created. Most of them were pretty well done but a few still needed a bit of tweaking.
"So what would you prefer to specialize in? Durability or offense?" Her hands thumbed through a few pages of her recorded products. "I've got several for both so you just tell me what you want."
His lips quirked at her positive attitude. It was nice seeing it in other people than his guild. Everything had gotten so dark and depressing since this game started. He just wanted to enjoy having fun again.
"Offense if you please."
The two spent several minutes going over the different options that she had. Most of which had much higher levels than the Krieger but unfortunately he didn't quite have enough money to purchase any of them.
Souta's shoulders slumped, "I never knew how expensive these weapons got."
Lisbeth smirked, "You're paying for the quality, kid. So don't come crying to me when your sword breaks mid battle and you have to shift to using a short blade." Her voice dropped low as she whispered to him in a conspiratory tone. "Had that happen once to a customer who complained about the prices. Things didn't end well for him because he went too cheap."
The teen sighed. He knew she was right but that didn't stop the fact that he didn't have enough to get the equipment in the first place. Damn, maybe he really should have dragged his sister out to the fields today. He was in dire need of Col!
"Yeah, yeah I got you." He held out his hand and dropped some spare change into her hand. "That's all I got. What can I get for it?"
Her face twisted before breaking into a loud laugh, "You serious? Come on. I can't sell you a sword for this amount. Maybe a fork or knife but not a full blade."
Souta shrugged, "Eh, I tried." He couldn't stop himself from smiling at her laughing face. She was rather cute.
"Thanks for your help Lisbeth. I appreciated it." The teen remembered his manners as he shot her a genuine smile. "I'll be sure to pay you a visit after I get some Col."
The pink haired girl grinned back at him, "Alright but you better hurry it up, I'll be moving my shop to the central tower soon."
He nodded, "Yes ma'am! I shall returned in a fort night!" The dark haired male saluted her before taking off. Just this once he'd go solo and hunt for some cash. There were areas around Lanslet that were meant to be easy pickings for players like himself. His lips pulled into a smirk. Besides, it'd be fun to crash Kagome's and Ryoutarou's date. They'd never see him coming until after he'd swipe all their cash and rewards right out from under their noses. With that thought in mind, he swiftly tracked down his sibling and their leader. This was going to be more fun than he'd ever hoped.
Kagome's shoulders slumped as Ryoutarou groaned.
"Sneaky little bastard." The red head complained. His companion could do nothing but nod in agreement. Her brother had swooped in on the last second of their final strikes every time they fought a monster. So with each battle not only did they not earn any experience points but they also lost out on all the items and Col because her brother was being a greedy little bastard, as Ryoutarou had so elegantly put it.
Although it was not all for naught. Kagome had learned how to issue a challenge to another player and fought her brother tooth and nail. At the end of the day she taught her younger sibling a very valuable lesson in not taking things that didn't belong to him. Specifically things that were meant to be hers.
"Oh come on, are you guys still pissed off?" Souta grinned with his arms casually folded behind his head. Due to the fact that he had yet to heal himself, the teen was currently sporting a dark bruise just below his left cheekbone.
Two pairs of eyes turned onto him with the full ferocity of their fury.
"Should I challenge him this time or do you want to do it again?" Ryoutarou quipped as he fought the urge to smack the boy upside his head.
"Nah, we'd risk killing him." The dark haired woman's expression turned devious, "But we can ban him from leaving the Inn until we leave. That should be fair enough."
The red head nodded in affirmation, "Sounds good to me."
Kagome crossed her arms over her chest and faced her brother fully, "From this point forward you're grounded."
"You can't ground me!" Souta cried out as he dropped his arms to his sides. "I can do what I want to here!" He fussed even louder. So maybe he was having a little bit of a temper tantrum. He'd admit that much but everything he did was all for fun. Being grounded shouldn't have even been part of the equation in a world like this!
"Oh I can and I will." She pressed a finger to her chin, "Don't forget that I am second in command of this guild and I will be using that title to make sure you keep your toes in line, mister!" She prodded his chest with the same finger.
The teen pouted but said nothing further. The last thing he needed was to get himself into even more trouble than he already was in. His mouth clicked shut and a permanent frown marred his features. This sucked.
Night began to fall upon the town of Lanslet and the trio found themselves walking quietly amongst the pastures that surrounded the village. Many of the monsters during the day had become fairly weak. So they decided to play a little bit past nightfall to see what would turn up in their search. Ryoutarou withdrew a blue crystal from his menu. He had a teleportation item ready to go in case they needed to get out of a dangerous situation quickly.
All three stopped as a blood curdling scream resonated from the forest. She snapped her head in the direction from which the sound came. It reminded Kagome of the screech of a barn owl—high pitched and eerie enough to send chills down her spine. Either that or a creature on the cusp of death. Azure eyes squinted as the form of a child came running out of the blackness that was the foliage that laid beyond the town's borders. The group found themselves stunned into silence as they watched the girl run as fast as she could. Her tiny legs carried her halfway across the fields before a monster was triggered.
"Help me!" She cried, directing her attention to Kagome. Her tiny palm reached towards her; fingers splayed out in a desperation. Without hesitation the young woman darted across the grassland and dove head first into battle. Her Eiki shimmered in the silver moonlight as she launched a series of Linear attacks into the misshapen beast that had been summoned. The health bar of her opponent dipped into the red before disappearing altogether. A familiar blue light engulfed the shadow-like beast before it shattered away.
Ryoutarou and Souta ran up to them, their eyes darting between their companion and the child that seemed so out of place in this dark and lonely world.
"Are you alright?" Kagome inquired as the last of the Post Motion wore off. She knelt before the girl that was still crying out loudly.
"You have to help us!" She began between her hiccups. "She went to save me but I didn't listen and now…" A fresh round of tears streamed down the girl's face. The ex-miko took her hands and held her steady.
"Slow down okay. We're going to help you. What's your name?" She tried to soothe the girl by drawing her attention away from her fears.
"Nagisa." She sniffed, "My name is Nagisa."
Kagome nodded, "Okay Nagisa, what do you mean that she went to save you? Who was trying to save you? What were you running from?" It was a technique she'd picked up in the Sengoku Jidai when dealing with a frantic Shippou. He often had to be led to give out detailed answers when he reached a state of panic. It was always heartbreaking to see a child so full of fear at such a young age.
"Mama," Nagisa started. Blonde strands of hair fell in front of her eyes as she bowed her head. "I didn't listen to her about going into the forest. I got lost so she went in after me. But then…" Her face twisted and her chin wobbled. The dark haired woman held her hands tighter.
"It's okay, take a deep breath."
A shuddering inhale and exhale of air was all they could hear for several moments. When she was able to breathe properly, Nagisa continued where she left off.
"It was other players. They took her." The young woman felt a deep sense of shock and rage hit her. The girl's hands shook in her grasp as tears fell down onto the grassy earth beneath them. "She was crying. I couldn't stop them. I ran away. I ran away… I ran…" The blonde relived the moment in the subconscious of her mind.
Kagome folded the traumatized girl into her lap and in the warmth of her embrace, "You're safe, Nagisa. Where did you last see your mother? We'll go look for her, okay?"
"It was by a river. That's where the other players took her from." The girl's cerulean eyes darkened as she pressed further. "They had orange diamonds above them. It was weird. I thought those were always supposed to be green. Mama even said so."
Ryoutarou stiffened as he hand fell to his blade. The orange players. The river basin. It all added up. He shot Kagome a fretful glance. She nodded at him in silent agreement. They would take Nagisa back to the Sela and then mount a counter force in the morning to search for her mother. It'd be too risky to go in right now.
"It's alright now. We'll go looking for her tomorrow when it's bright out. I'm sure she'll be fine until then, okay?" Kagome hated saying those words as she was uncertain of the fate of the woman who was being held captive by that bunch of rogue mongrels. Even if she wasn't dead, the ex-miko wasn't sure if the woman would make it back in one piece mentally. She'd seen the effects of such type of captivity first hand back in the Feudal Era. Still, she needed to convince Nagisa to return with them. It'd be far too dangerous for her to remain.
The girl nodded, "You promise?"
A soft smile touched the young woman's lips, "I swear on my honor." She held up her pinky and offered it to the little girl.
Nagisa wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. The with a hesitant raise of her own finger, she curled her pinky around Kagome's and shook.
"Now you can't go back on it."
The young woman's smile turned grim.
"I won't."
A/n: And thus, Nagisa has been introduced. I've been saving this character for quite some time actually. She'll have an important role in this story and in this arc in particular. Souta himself will have quite a bit of development and yes, a side pairing! Woot! I always felt kind of bad for Lisbeth as she got 'friend zoned' so bad in the original Sword Art Online series. Her character had a lot of potential that'd been wasted. Then again, the same could be said for most of the female characters there. Anyways, I definitely had a blast working out the dynamics between Kagome, Ryoutarou and Souta. A drunk Kagome is always fun to include as well. Anyways, coming up will be the infiltration of a lifetime and how the Fuurinkazan will rise to fame. I can't say how many chapters exactly it'll take to get to that point but we're definitely getting close to a massive blowout between the Fuurinkazan and the Orange Players. Anyways, let me know what you guys think! I really appreciate all of the support! Ps: have a cookie for your awesomeness!
