Hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving if you celebrate it! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online.
Chapter 55. Fireside Stories
"Mother?" Asuna asked. "What are you doing?"
"What does it look like I'm doing, dear?" Kyouko asked, a bit sarcastically.
"Well... I thought you would be going to bed at this time..."
"Oh, I am." Kyouko replied as she moved over to the hearth in the living room.
"...Then," Asuna watched as her mother put some newspaper onto the wood there. "Why are you starting a fire?"
"Because it's almost freezing tonight, that's why." Kyouko struck a match and threw it onto the wood. "I just want to warm the house up a bit. You'll be up for a little while yet, won't you?"
"I...I didn't plan on-"
"Good. I'll leave the dousing to you, then." Straightening up, she fixed her robe a little. "I'll see you in the morning. Don't stay up too late, now."
"...Right..." Asuna saw her mother off before mumbling under her breath. "Does it make any sense to light a fire and then walk off and go to sleep, Mother?" Asuna sighed.
Knowing she had no choice but to stay up a while longer, she quickly dashed back to the kitchen where she had left Kazuto staggering against the wall, half asleep.
"K-Kirito-kun, bad news." She whispered sheepishly. "But I think this can work out for us, actually. Take off your shoes and come with me." She beckoned him into the living room.
Kazuto yawned as he slipped his shoes off at the door and slowly followed her. "Ahh, it's nice and warm." He sighed blissfully, noticing the glow from the fireplace.
"It is nice, isn't it?" She smiled, taking her coat off and hanging it in the hallway closet. "You don't have a fireplace, do you, Kirito-kun?"
"Nope. So this is really nice." He sunk down onto the couch with a blissful sigh. Asuna held back a chuckle as she saw him close his eyes with an airy smile, the cat whiskers still on his cheeks. She debated getting some water and cloth to remove the marker, but Kazuto had already pulled his feet up onto the couch, lying down sideways with his head resting on a pillow.
"Silly. Don't sleep like that." Asuna scolded as she sat down in front of him. Kazuto gladly accepted the offer of her lap and let out an exhausted sigh. Reaching behind her, Asuna grabbed a spare blanket that sat on top of the cushions and draped it over him. "Nice and warm?"
"It's like heaven." He mumbled.
"Good."
Asuna smiled to herself as she ran her fingers through his hair affectionately. She began to hum some of her favorite background music from SAO, the tune that would always play every morning when the two of them woke up together in their virtual home. She knew it was Kazuto's favorite song as well, and she noticed the whiskers on his cheeks move a bit as he smiled.
For a while, they sat there, listening to the crackling of the flames. Asuna watched the tiny spark from the match her mother had thrown in as it gradually spread across the wood, igniting the newspapers underneath until the entire hearth was a glowing, lively mass of heat. The sound alone was calming, but when combined with the comforting warmth as well as the scent, it took her thoughts on a tangent back to her childhood days.
Countless times, she had fallen asleep in front of the fireplace, bundled in a blanket. Sometimes she would be scolded, but more often than not, her mother or father had simply carried her back to her room to sleep.
"Neh, Kirito-kun? Are you awake?" She wondered.
"For the most part." He answered. "Do you have a story to tell me?" He had learned by now that when there was not much else to talk about, Asuna would often bring up a humorous story from her past, which he always enjoyed listening to.
"Yep. Let me tell you about the time when I was little and my father played a prank on me."
"What kind of prank?"
"Well..." She chuckled a bit as she remembered the details. "My mother had the fire going in the hearth as well as some candles around the house. My father told me that the flames on the candles had escaped from the fire and were trying to run away. So I ran around the house collecting the candles and threw them into he fireplace. My mother wasn't very happy about it, but when my father told her the story she laughed a little."
"That's adorable." Kazuto mused. "It reminds me of a time Sugu and I were little. Kids at school always talked about having fireplaces, and we wanted to know what it was like. So one evening, we collected all the candles my aunt had lit from around the house and lined them all up on the living room floor for a makeshift fireplace. My aunt freaked out a bit when she found out what we were doing, but when we explained, she just laughed."
"That's so cute!" Asuna giggled. "And then there was this one time..."
The two of them continued to exchange stories of their childhood for a while longer. They followed any train of thought that surfaced and traced back the memories as far as they could, sharing every story they could remember.
Kazuto wanted to picture every story she told him, longing to know about every event in Asuna's life where he had been absent. Likewise, Asuna wanted to know as much about him as possible, and she found that listening to tales about his younger days helped her learn more about the person he was now.
They continued to talk for another hour, which was much longer than either had anticipated they would stay awake, but by 1AM, it was clear neither would last much longer.
"Come on, sleepyhead." Asuna nudged him slightly. "My legs are numb."
"And very comfortable." He mumbled.
"I'm flattered," she ruffled his hair. "But we've got to get to sleep. And if we don't get up now, I'm not sure if we ever will."
Kazuto sluggishly pushed himself up and allowed Asuna to free herself before he slumped back onto the couch. The fire had already burned itself out, leaving no work left for Asuna to do but sprinkle some water for good measure.
"Okay, let's go. Off to bed, now."
"I can't just stay here?" He complained.
"No, silly! Here, here. Follow me." Asuna hoisted Kazuto up into a sitting position. "I'll take you to the guest room. It's probably a lot warmer up there, too."
Still enervated from the long night, Kazuto hardly managed to move his feet by himself as Asuna lifted him up, slinging his arm across her shoulders. He slowly trudged up the stairs after her, one by one, trying to heed her advice not to fall asleep while walking.
Once they reached the top, Asuna veered off in the direction opposite her room, opening a door Kazuto had never seen the interior of until now.
She did not turn on the lights, as it would probably hurt their eyes which had long-since adjusted to the dark house, but Kazuto could still see the room clearly outlined in the pale moonlight that seeped in through the windows. While not as luxurious as Asuna's room, it was fairly large for a guest room, containing a large bed as well as a closet and desk.
Asuna helped him over to the bed and let him sit before she went back to the door. "I'll get you some of my brother's pajamas." She offered before disappearing back into the hallway.
Kazuto did his best to maintain his posture, slouched as it may have been, as he waited for her to return. When she did, she was dressed her own sleepwear, carrying a bundle of clean clothes in her arms. "Here you go. He's still at University so they're clean. Do you want me to get you anything? Maybe some milk?" She wondered.
"That'd be wonderful, thanks." Kazuto smiled.
Once she had gone again, he changed into the sleepwear, long warm sleeves and wool pants that were a bit too large for him. Asuna returned with a warm glass of milk along with a wash cloth and a small towel. She handed him the milk before sitting down beside him on the bed as he gave her a questioning look.
"I'll clean off your whiskers." She explained.
Dabbing the cloth across his cheeks, she gradually cleared away the marker before drying his face with the towel. When she had finished, she let him drink his milk as she folded the materials and placed them on the desk to clean away later.
Kazuto squinted as he glanced at the clock on the wall to find it was already past 1:30AM.
"I'll leave early in the morning." He mumbled. "I don't wanna trouble you guys with having to make me breakfast."
"It's fine!" Asuna twirled her hand.
It was another minute before Kazuto finished his drink, but still Asuna made no motions to leave the room. Guessing at what he was thinking, Asuna lowered her voice a bit. "There's no way I'd be able to sleep in my room knowing you were over here by yourself."
"I feel the same way." He chuckled, glancing to the door once to make sure it was closed.
"Don't worry. I'll get up early and go back to my room. My parents tend to sleep in on the weekends anyway." She stretched her arms out in front of her, her shoulders popping satisfyingly. "I think we should get to bed."
"Agreed."
They pulled up the bed covers and slipped underneath them together, their bare feet tangling as they huddled close. Asuna wrapped her arms around his shoulders and kissed his cheek.
"Your face is still a little cold from when I cleaned it off just now." Her tone was playfully apologetic as she kissed him again.
"It's fine." He grinned. "Plus, just like you said, this room is very warm, but I don't think it's from the fire." He sighed, pulling her into a tight embrace. Asuna fixed the blankets behind his back and tucked him in as best she could manage before rubbing her hands up and down his back.
"I had a lot of fun tonight, Kirito-kun." She reminded him. "We should try to do things like that more often."
"Yeah. We could definitely make time with everyone to do it again soon." A yawn interrupted him briefly. "I'm glad you had fun."
"And if you really are going to leave without breakfast tomorrow, wake me up before you leave okay? Even if I woke up first and have already gone back to my room. Okay?"
"Got it." He agreed, his eyes closing as he began to feel his grip on the waking world slipping away. "Just remember... some day, there'll come a time when we can sleep together like this, and in the morning you won't have to sneak back to your own room."
"I know." She breathed. "And every day, that time draws nearer."
Kazuto heard a faint clicking of chains and knew that she had brought a hand to the heart-shaped necklace that she never removed, even when she slept.
"That's right." He agreed. "Every day, it draws nearer..."
"It's still a little ways off, though, isn't it?" She imagined. "But that's okay."
A moment of silence drifted between them, letting the more serious topic float to the backs of their minds. Then, Kazuto spoke again. "We'll take things one day at a time." He decided. "So do we have any plans for tomorrow?"
"I'm sure we'll think of something." She replied happily. "We always do."
"Right." Resting his head against her collar, Kazuto finally allowed sleep to overcome him. "Goodnight, Asuna."
"Goodnight, Kirito-kun." She kissed his forehead.
"I love you."
"Love you more."
"Love you most."
"Oh, you did it again!" She pouted, falling silent in her defeat.
The moonlight washed over them as the pair fell asleep with smiles on their lips, and a familiar warmth in their hearts that could never be replaced.
A/N: Perhaps so more Yui next week?
Please review!
