So, I know I said that I'd make this chapter longer than the rest, but I promised to have this out before next Friday, and I think with the introduction of someone, you can all hold out just for a little more.

As for the other SAO story I'm currently writing, it should be ready for ya'll to read by next Wednesday.

Hold in there, avid readers! Hold on for me!

(^^^^^^)

"Plip, Plop, the rain drops,

Splashing all over the ground.

Endlessly soothing the dryness of earth,

A shower all around..."

(^^^^^^)

It became somewhat of a task for Yui to stop her mother from completely breaking down into hysterical, insane giggles. Something akin to the times when Yui had first 'died'; oh yes, she'd witnessed what her mother did, babbling about revenge with hatred seeping from her very pours like a cursed water through cracked rocks.

The fact that her mother could no longer log out of GGO must have caused her to snap, caused her to relive memories, caused her already broken soul to break even more- if only just a little bit. Her grey eyes had shrunken to nothing but small pinheads that shook from side to side every second, her hands shaky as they clasped themselves around her grinning mouth; this was another side no one could ever witness, no one. Otherwise they'd see her weaknesses, her failed strength, and her one moment of absolute failure.

For in that moment, she failed to protect Yui.

It was the day Yui died in SAO that Kimiko snapped; the day she truly became the Black Swordswoman. Sure, Sachi's death did a number on her fractured spirit, but Yui's death broke it, shattered it. Yui's death rendered the healing of Kimiko's heart useless, pointless.

She became the Black Swordswoman not out of necessity, but out of love; too much love for the people around her- those she knew, those she didn't now, those she saw die and those that barely escaped with their lives. She also did it to push people away, make them fear her as much as she hated the fear her very name warranted- it still strikes terror into SAO survivors and GGO players everywhere.

Those that truly felt the sting of her name though, none other than Laughing Coffin themselves, avoided everything and anything to do with her; they skipped towns that Kimiko was rumoured to have been to, they avoided people that she interacted with- be them few as they were- and they absolutely complied with everything the Swordswoman would say to them if they ever did come across her.

But now was not the moment for reminiscence, Yui thought with a grim smile; there was a time and a place for those kinds of thoughts. No, she needed to keep her mother sane enough to last the day without murdering a village of NPC's to feel better. She needed to keep Kimiko sane enough to survive the night without fitful nightmares- she assumed her mother would be sleeping in this world once more, because reality didn't seem to want to have her back.

She's been sucked into SAO, a death game, and now GGO too?

"Yui won't die again, not again..."

What would you do if you had one friend?

"Not again, not again, not again..."

Only one...huh?

"She's all I got, everything and nothing, all of it..."

Only one...the only one.

"I need you Yui." Kimiko grabbed Yui by the arms, keeping the surprised girl in place as her mother hugged her tight to her chest; her face pressed against her collarbone, her hands frozen where Kimiko's kept them in place. Yui's surprised expression soon shifted to that of a saddened frown, her mother's choked sobs and shaking form showing the beginnings of a true 'Kimiko Style' breakdown.

That meant she wanted to kill something, sit alone all day, or lie in bed and just sleep.

Hopefully it was the latter, because the two formers were respectively horrific and depressing.

(^^^^^^)

What's your nightmare, Kimiko?

What do you hate beyond all else?

Loneliness perhaps?

No, you seem to like the loneliness...

...is it what causes the loneliness you hate?

Or is it simply...yourself?

(^^^^^^)

Kimiko could feel the effects of a hangover routing deep within her brain; the skull that shelled it was cracking under the throbbing and twitching centre of nerves.

Her veins pulsed as she lifted a heavy hand; grey eyes squinting with all their might trying not to fall asleep- the digital fly flew around her head for hours, and she had tolerated its existence long enough. the incessant buzzing that it seemed to give off annoyed her deeply to no end; it caused her to hate the fly, to loath its existence, to want to snuff it out just to get some form of peace.

The chopstick in her hand was drawn back like a dart thrower would launch a dart, and flung it true. The chopstick didn't make a noise as it snatched the fly and pinned it to the wall.

Even intoxicated she could still be a force to be reckoned with- with chopsticks no less! Chopsticks, of all things! Her aim was true, as true as it had always been when she was sober, when sobriety took her away from the pleasures of alcohol- hangovers and intoxication were just mere things, words, to her. They mattered little when she was the one with the Five-SeveN in her hands: When she was the one with the photon sword glowing as she blocked bullets, defying the VRMMORPG's physical laws.

As a drunk, being not completely impervious to its tricks and side-effects, Kimiko tended to act a little differently. Different than normal, that is.

While outwardly cynical in the real world, inwardly, the side alcohol dragged out, she was soft. A very caring person- but she almost forgot why she began drinking in the first place. It had only been a day, after all. A day since she realised she'd been trapped in a game once more, but surely that wasn't enough to warrant excessive drinking, right?

But of course it was! This was her descent into madness right now, her only way to escape the nightmares. The world seemed intent of annoying her and toying with her, it seemed content with the suffering she had already been through; the world seemed to want to destroy her fomr the inside out, slowly degrading the proud, feared woman into nothing but a babbling, giggling mess. A dangerous babbling, giggling mess. Her first love Sachi had died, her second Sinon had perished; the third...third...third? There was a third?

Kimiko lifted her hands to her face, feeling absolutely hammered right now, but decided to count anyway; yep, she held three fingers up alright...but why? There were only two people she loved more than life itself, her daughter excluded. Only two she'd slept with, only two she'd kissed, only two she'd felt safe with and would protect with all of her strength.

...but a thought, niggling at the back of her brain, crawling through with claws as sharp as knives, began scratching at the surface of something greater. Something undiscovered, which continued to annoy her. She knew everything, or so she thought- she became a genius simply because of ostracism, simply because she was hated. She became what the bullies wanted her to be; a smart-ass, cynical, always-defiant, hateful woman with enough bubbling hatred to cause the world to fear her.

Then she slumped, a deep sigh flowing through her mouth; she was stuck in yet another game, and could somehow tell she'd been placed back into the hospital. It wasn't exactly rocket science why- to keep the ignored hero alive long enough to die naturally, so that way the doctors could claim they had done everything they could to avoid law suits. She wasn't going to give them the satisfaction of dying in the game; she wasn't going to leave Yui.

Her daughter came to the forefront of her thoughts, shielding her in a bright ray of smiles and a hug...oh wait...not a thought; Yui was in front of her. She was sure she'd left the little six year old-looking AI behind at home so she could drink without scaring the girl.

Shows how much she knew about her own daughter when it came to the girl's detecting skills- as in this girl may as well be the next Sherlock Holmes of Japan with the amount of times she'd found things that even Kimiko herself would admittedly have a hard time seeing.

Yui looked to be smiling, but Kimiko, even with a hangover threatening to split her head in two, could see the disheartened look hidden behind the cheesy grin; she was scared for Kimiko, sad that the once strong woman had resorted to slipping into an alcoholic frenzy to kill the memories.

Turns out that, as soon as she got stuck here, alcohol began to affect her system. To say she was overjoyed that she could drink herself and her sorrows away was an understatement. A big one.

Sitting up straight despite the lights of the outdoors threatening to burn her eyes from her sockets, Kimiko put on a stoic face as best as she could, trying desperately to ignore Yui's look of sadness behind the smile. "Hey Yui, you okay?"

Yui smiled even more, now a little more genuine thanks to Kimiko sounding fine. Her voice was no longer scratchy like it was a couple of days ago after her little 'insanity slip'. Nodding her head, hair falling over the left side of her face, her mouth opened in a bigger smile. "Yeah! Hey mama, I found a friend!"

Kimiko sat up straighter than a board, if that was even possible. A friend, in GGO, a place where killing was your number one priority? Yeah, right! But she couldn't discourage her little girl, she couldn't do it without her heart breaking. A friend, as unlikely as she thought they were to come across in VRMMORPG's, was all Yui would have aside form Kimiko herself.

And as much as Kimiko was loathing saying it, she couldn't always be there- not entirely. She'd be there in spirit, in heart, but she physically couldn't always be there. She had to find food, her still being the most wanted woman in GGO meaning she had to resort to the times when...Sinon was around.

Shaking her head, she looked at her girl with a smile, small, hardly noticeable, but Yui knew what to look for. "Well? Let me see them then." Her voice was soft despite the copious amounts of alcohol that flooded her system only a day before; sounding abnormally soft, actually. She brushed it off; Yui took the stage all the time, and Kimiko would never deny her the spotlight, even if it was on herself.

Yui squealed and ran outside the bar, many shooting Kimiko strange looks and some with a recognised glint in their eyes; they'd found out who she was already!? Great, now this meant she'd have to wrap up this little meeting of hers sooner than she would have liked.

Just before she could stand, a purple haired girl stood before her, some sort of sword that she recognised instantly strapped to her waist; an outfit resembling that of something you'd see out of SAO that the girl wore was catching her eye though. Purple eyes wide with excitement, a smile almost as wide as Yui's own- by a very small margin- and a face almost as pale as Kimiko's own.

Yui bounced exuberantly, face scrunched into that familiar look of barely contained glee. The girl in front shot a hand out with speed Kimiko could see clearly while outsiders would only see a blur- 'Impressive', was one thought, but she settled for 'poser'.

"Hi! My name's Yuuki Konno, or Konno Yuuki; however you want to say it!"

Kimiko looked at the girl with a stoic face, her hangover suddenly wearing off, the remains of alcohol escaping her bloodstream at last- thank god for her healing factor that was dragged over from SAO, otherwise she'd be knocked on her ass. "Kimiko."

The monotonous voice caused Yuuki to falter momentarily, before she seemingly rejuvenated her happiness. Nevertheless she lowered her arm that was waiting for a handshake. "So...Yui's your kid, huh?"

Kimiko nodded, not missing the slightly put-down attitude of the girl; she figured her cold voice scared the girl, Yuuki was it? "Yes."

Yuuki raised a hand behind her confused head, scratching it as she looked at Kimiko with the look akin to a lost puppy. "But...you look my age...and she looks about six."

Yui stomped in now, standing in front of Kimiko with her hands across her chest. "I'll have you know I'm sixteen, thank you very much!"

Yuuki deadpanned, face blank and voice unbelieving. "Yeah, okay, sure." She then leaned down and patted Yui on the head, her hair being ruffled simultaneously. "And I'm a witch!"

As Yuuki waved her hands as a ghost would, completely failing at the 'witch' part of her statement, Yui huffed. "You sure act like one..." she muttered, eyes off to the side and head down.

Yuuki simply chuckled shaking her head. "Sticks and stones~"

"-Are the weapons I'll use to break your bones if you keep it up!" Yui tried, and failed, to attack Yuuki, the taller girl simply holding her hand on Yui's head, stopping her from moving, as she lifted a hand to her face and yawned exaggeratedly, further aggravating the little AI.

Kimiko just watched with slight amusement; her Yui could get into such trouble sometimes, but ti was good to see she'd found a friend that didn't really care how young she was- sure she implied it, but this Yuuki person was simply joking, so she'd do the only thing she could at this moment.

"I approve."

And just like that the fighting stopped.

Yuuki slowly turned her head to the otherwise silent Kimiko, before looking down to see a beaming Yui; what was going on? Approve of what? Her death!? Oh no, she was too young to die! As she began blubbering, Yui caught the bit about her 'dying before she's supposed to', and couldn't help the giggle that escaped her lips.

"No, silly; mama means she approves of you being my friend!"

Yuuki stopped, her face scrunched into a scowl at the little girl, before she simply sighed, as though tired of the girl's presence already. She looked up at Kimiko, silently asking how she should deal with the little girl in front of her that smiled as though expecting something. Kimiko simply shook her head and placed a hand on Yui's shoulder, indicating she wasn't going to help Yuuki with this one; so cruel!

She sighed once more, the world feeling as though it were bearing down on her. "Well...okay then. If I must, then I'll be your friend!"

Yui, grabbing Yuuki's hands, spun the taller girl around in circles, exuberant laughter filled with glee echoing through the room that they occupied; others in the bar simply watched with amusement, some sharpening their daggers and cleaning their guns as they prepared to take Kimiko down right here.

Kimiko heard something off in the distance; something that sounded familiar to her but at the same time, it was as though she hadn't heard the sound in ages. A click sounded, and she scrambled form her seat, grappling Yui and Yuuki both to the ground to avoid the bullet that would hit the wall between them.

A sniper.

(^^^^^^)

What's that one thing you hate most, Kimiko?

Your 'daughter' Yui?

Your unknown feelings?

Yourself?

...or maybe all three?

You remember when you murdered me, right?

Of course you do, but I don't hate you.

I'm probably the only one that doesn't, actually.

Don't you worry, girl; I can save you.

Your madness gone, this world torn apart.

I can send you and Yui somewhere safe.

Somewhere you can be the Black Swordswoman again.

"..."

You'd like that, wouldn't you?

"..."

Wouldn't you? You miss the Swordswoman.

Let her out, Kimiko.

You miss her.

"...Yes, Yes I do."

Told you, child! Good!

Admit to yourself that you need to be her again.

Not this snivelling wreck hiding behind guns and fancy light swords.

You need yourself, don't you?

"Yes, Yes I do."

Then do you want me to send you there? Yuuki knows the place, she's been.

Do you want me to make sure you and Yui can live out your days?

Live away from the real world?

"Yes."

Then it is done.

Oh, and Kimiko, before I forget?

"Yes, Kayaba?"

Thank you for freeing me in SAO, Kimiko.