(A/N Hi everybody someone commented on my lack of show don't tell like description and I have to agree he (or she) was correct. This chapter is an attempt to show the why to the what mkay? Thanks for everybody who's given me constructive reviews (and encouragement), favorited and followed my story. Enjoy the chapter ^-^)
Asuna sighed heavily lying down on her bed and opening her menu. She stared at the option for the 5th time, Ethics code off. She wasn't normally that type of girl but in reality she was afraid. Afraid she would be too late; afraid he'd chose someone else. It's not like she was the only contender after all. At least 11 other girls were interested in him one of which had no problem using almost any means necessary to get him.
She knew he would never have a relationship based solely on something like that though. But they were friends, he had said so himself, and even if she almost never took advantage of it she knew he would help her in any way possible the same being true for the rest of his friends. She hoped that maybe… she sighed. She really didn't know what she hoped, that it would make him love her? That he'd start to treat her specially? She didn't know, the only things she knew were that for the first time in her life she was in love, she was in love with a wonderful caring and yet clueless guy. She also knew that if she let him slip through her fingers she would regret it for the rest of her life.
She wasn't alone in her revelation though. It was shockingly obvious; before they knew it 12 girls had their hearts enraptured with love including her. Her memories were filled with him, His smile, and his hair blowing in the gentle wind, his words like music, soft and gentle. Her heart was always light when she was with him, like a weight was lifted off her as he laughed in his carefree manor. With thoughts like this Asuna drifted off to sleep.
Sinon wasn't an emotional girl. Ever since that incident when she was younger she had always been quiet, fierce, and yet withdrawn. She always did her best to hide her emotions and had succeeded, except when they were related to one person. At first she had though he was attractive but quickly it became more than that. He seemed to be able to be all the things she wanted to be without the downsides.
He was able to be strong and untouchable at will and yet display emotions. He laughed, he joked, and yet she somehow still felt he was strong, stronger than anyone or anything else. She was jealous until she realized how she was acting around him. She relaxed, for the first time in months, no years she was relaxing, she was displaying emotion. And yet people still respected her, she was still a warrior.
It was like being around him had awoken something in her, the part that laughed, the part the cried, and the part that gave a damn about what people felt. She cared if one of her friends were sad she was happy when they were happy and she honestly couldn't have felt better. It became so she was actively seeking his attention, seeking to have his smile directed at her. It had been a few weeks before she could put name to the feeling.
Love.
She Asada Shino, alias Sinon, the cold and emotionless loner, was in love. And there was absolutely nothing she could do about it.
Love… she had heard the word a million times in books and stories since she was young. She had always dreamed of her prince charming coming to her rescue and taking her off to live in a castle. In a weird way Silica's wish was granted though not how she'd hoped. Why? Because she didn't think he loved her, yet. He was a bit older than her, she was well aware of this and yet she felt it didn't matter. After all she had always believed that love was timeless.
When she had first found out that she was trapped in a death game she had been shocked and terrified if she hadn't met Sinon and the others she honestly thought she would not have made it, one way or another. She had for a while felt a bit safer with them, never truly safe mind you, but safer. But then they'd met him. His grace and calmness, his posture and attitude all of these things left her no doubt. He was indeed a charming prince but the problem lay in the fact that he wasn't hers, not yet anyway she thought.
Many would say she was too young to know such feelings but she disagreed. The fluttering of her heart when he smiled at her, the way she felt happy just being around him. Despite what others might say she knew what love was and she was truly undoubtedly in love. And she was enjoying every single moment of it.
When he had first walked into her shop her heart had leapt into her throat. She had seen him from a distance once before but it didn't have the same effect. The way the light seemed to play with his eyes and how his hair seemed to flow with the non-existent wind. She was immediately entranced, when his later actions showed he did not expect her to simply agree to join just because of who he was she was further impressed.
Over the next few weeks as she slowly, but steadily, finished repairing the base of the black mark she began to become afraid. Afraid that once she was finished she would become useless and eventually removed from the guild. As she saw more and more players join the black mark and how strong each and every one of them was her fears intensified.
When it turned out that after the base was completely repaired it gave the option to begin upgrading the various facilities she felt a huge weight lifted off her which is when it struck her. She was happy, happy to be part of this guild, happy to be around the people she'd come to call friends. She then realized something else, which was that her idolization of him had changed into something. With each conversation each joke and smile they shared he became less of an idol and more of a person.
She also realized she had begun to care more and more what he thought of her. Did he think she looked cute in this? Did he think she was fun to be around? All of these questions all centered around him and it was then she realized what it was. She Shinozaki Rika was in love, and she was not alone in this respect.
For most of her life she had been alone and unmatched. She was hailed as a kendo prodigy and a genius having skipped 2 grades. She had entered the finals in hopes to meet an opponent who would prove an actual challenge all the way up until the match before the finals she had yet to meet anyone who was even close. She had begun to lose hope in ever meeting anyone till he stepped on the field against her in the semi-finals.
She had at first been shocked as a boy with midnight black hair finished putting on his helmet and stepped onto the floor. This was her opponent in the semi-finals? She hoped he may prove to be more of challenge than the rest of them had been. As soon as the fight began something happened to her that she had never felt before. She was being overwhelmed; his speed and grace outclassed her completely without any apparent effort.
When she had lost he had taken of his helmet and thanked her sincerely for the match. She had shaken his hand in a daze and when he later won the finals without any apparent effort she wasn't surprised. For the first time in her life she had a goal.
When she had seen him fighting the kobold part of her had realized who he was even before she saw his face. His speed his grace the style she had watch over and over again on tape in her attempts to grow stronger. Yes she knew who he was before she saw his face. She had been stunned when he had recognized her the second she had stepped into his view.
As weeks passed they began battling together more and more skillfully slicing through their opponents switching gracefully. It was then she began to notice the change in how she looked at him. When he partnered with someone else she had felt a pang of jealous which stopped her cold. I mean sure he was cute but he was just her partner right? The next time she had partnered him she had noticed it the light hearted feeling she got when fighting at his side. She later realized it was not necessarily fighting next to him just doing something with him.
Whether it was going to the market to buy something or reviewing potential recruit with him she felt happy. What was initially just her chasing after the first person she had ever lost to slowly became much more. With each passing these feelings grew and grew until she was forced to face what it was…Love.
It wasn't easy for her to make friends. Ever since she was little she could memorize anything with little difficulty. What was looked at as a blessing to her parents became a curse for her. Sure kids wanted to be her friends but not for who she was but what she was, a genius. They wanted her to do their homework or help them finish their projects not play with them or hang out with them.
When she had first met he had done something no one had done in years. He corrected her; she had made a slight miscalculation charging him slightly less than was actually due. He had done it in an instant without any obvious effort. He had just bought around 16 different pieces of information and found the total amount in an instant.
She had been intrigued, was he like her? And so she had begun to attempt to befriend him. It was then she noticed the difference between the two of them. Her smile was false, a defense against the world around her, his was real. Around a week after she had met him something happened that she never thought would, ever again. She smiled. Not her normal fake smile but a real I'm happy smile.
She then began to seek his company more and more, she then began to become afraid when he started asking her slightly personal questions. Simple things like what her favorite food was or even her favorite color. It wasn't that these were things that were creepy to ask about it was that he was the first person to ever ask. He had helped her open up which resulted in her meeting her second friend, Asuna. When the beta had ended she was overcome with sadness looking forward with anticipation to the games release.
At the end of the tutorial she had been terrified, for herself and the two people who she could truly call friends she had been incredibly relieved when she had met Asuna again. But despite befriending the members of her group she felt the fear in her heart grow with every passing day. She was truly worried about her first real friend the person who had broken down the walls she had built around herself.
When she saw him fighting the first boss she was stunned. As the boss shattered and he came into view standing in his familiar way she had been frozen, he was alive! After an hour or so as they were chasing after him she had begun to fear that it was not actually him. But later when she had confirmed it was him her heart felt light as air.
Despite how she may have acted she genuinely cared about his well-being and would never take a joke to far as to hurt him in anyway. She found that seeing his real face was like a weight off her shoulders he was her age and just as nice as he appeared in the beta. So she allowed herself to grow closer and closer to him.
She wasn't stupid she knew exactly how she felt. She could calmly admit that she was in love with him. The first person to care about the little things about her, the first person to ask her about herself and actually seem interested when she answered.
(A/N: obviously this is done in a way directly showing their thoughts so if you couldn't figure out who was who here is the order Asuna, Sinon, Silica, Lizbeth, Yukki, and Argo. Yukki and Argo's are longer because we know less about them from canon and I changed up Yukki's back ground even if I did keep the whole loner thing for different reasons.)