Chapter Twenty

After Titan's Hand had been arrested, our party took the girl, Silica her name was, back to Floria. Kazuto and I apologized profusely for putting her in danger in order to catch Titan's Hand. Luckily she understood and even thanked Kazuto for helping her get her dragon, Piña, back.

After the long couple of days we had, our party retired to their rooms. Kazuto and I had decided to share a room that night, like we used to when we first partnered up on the first few floors after Kayaba's announcement of this death game. Though now that we were dating, we could cuddle without the embarrassment.

Snuggled up with my head on Kazuto's chest and his hand running through my hair, I was content. A feeling I hadn't felt in a long time, not since before he joined the Moonlit Black Cats. My eyes closed and I started to drift, sleep creeping up on me like an animal stalking its prey.

"Holy shit!" My human pillow suddenly disappeared and my head plopped on the mattress. I let out a disgruntled noise and glared sleepily up at Kazuto.

"You have to see this. Look! I've got a new skill! One that wasn't in the beta nor is it in Argo's book!" He pointed to his skills menu. I sat up to get a better look, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.

And there it was. Dual Wield. The ability to wield a one-handed sword in each hand. I had never heard of this skill in this game. Many other games allow it, but I never thought SA:O would be one of them. Not many people only wielded a one-handed sword unless it was a rapier or they equipped a shield in the other hand. Like Asuna and I respectively.

My jaw dropped and I hugged Kazuto around the chest in excitement. "Oh Kazuto! I'm so proud of you! You've discovered an original skill! A skill no one else has!" I kissed him on the cheek.

"Is that all the reward I get? Just a kiss on the cheek? I unlock an original skill and that's my only reward? That doesn't seem fair." Kazuto mock pouted, with a tint of red to his cheeks.

I giggled, dragging my hands from his back up the front of his chest to clasp behind his neck. I could hear and feel his breathing coming faster, waiting for my lips to reach his. The blush on his cheeks deepened and spread all the way to the tops of his ears. I watched as his black eyes roved over my face, only to stop at my parted lips.

I stopped when only an inch separated our lips. I could feel his warm breath fanning over my mouth, waiting for me to close that small gap. "Is this the kind of reward you were hoping for? Or should I stop right here?"

Kazuto growled. He slammed his lips against mine in answer. His arms wrapped around my waist, pulling me closer, and my fingers tangled in his black hair. I let out a small whimper at the heat of the kiss.

My heart was trying to beat out of my chest. I could hear the pounding in my ears, and nothing else. Lightning raced from my lips to my toes with every movement of our lips, leaving behind a burning in my veins.

I felt a slight pull on my hips with Kazuto leaning into the kiss more, pushing me to lie back on the mattress beneath me.

Eventually I ran out of breath, and had to break away from the kiss. Kazuto was hovering over me, breathing equally as hard as I was, and straddling one of my legs. His hands had moved from my waist to the mattress by my ribs in order to hold himself above me.

When I opened my blue eyes, I found two black ones gazing lovingly at me. "I love you, Kazuto." The words came out of my mouth before I could stop them.

Kazuto's eyes widened in shock. While we had been getting even closer these last few months, learning about each other's lives outside of SA:O, we hadn't said those three little words to each other yet. Yes, we told each other of our feelings that fateful Christmas Day a few months ago, but we hadn't really spoken much of it since. We became too preoccupied with helping out the assault team and getting Kazuto's level back up.

"I… I love you too, Sarah." Kazuto smiled hesitantly. I could see the happiness in his eyes from my declaration. I loved this look on his face, the absolute joy that he only showed to me. To everyone else he was the steely black swordsman, the beater, to be feared by all. But to me, he is Kazuto. Secret technology geek with a sensitive heart that only I get to see.

Trembling slightly, Kazuto leaned down for another kiss. This kiss was slow and gentle, but by no means less passionate. We put every ounce of the love we felt for each other in that kiss. Once again, we had to break apart to come back up for air.

"I can't wait until we can do this IRL." Kazuto whispered as he dragged his lips against mine.

Another chaste kiss later, Kazuto attempted to resume his earlier position on the bed. No longer content with this, I pulled him to face me. He raised his brow in an unasked question. I scooted closer to him and buried my face into the hollow between his neck and shoulder.

Chuckling, Kazuto draped his hand over my waist and pulled my body flush against him. I could feel his warm breath on the crown of my head.

I wished this moment would never end. I also wished this was happening in the real world. I wanted to feel Kazuto's warmth, bury my face in his scent. Hopefully soon, we can clear this game so we can be together, for real.

Barely a week had gone by since Kazuto and I said those three words to each other. Now, we were even more inseparable. Back to always sharing a room whenever we needed to sleep or just wanted to take a break from leveling up and the assault team.

We still partied up with Charr and Stark when one set needed help with a mid-level boss. Along with every floor boss fight, we usually have Agil and whoever he brings to the party for those. Since Asuna joined the Knights of the Blood Oath, we don't see her much outside of boss fights. She's quite busy being second in command, these days.

Currently, we were relaxing in a field of flowers, waiting for the mid-level boss to respawn. Charr and Stark were sparring not too far away with their two-handed swords.

Ping

A message popped up. It was from one of the instructors that we used to work with on floor one, Alastairius. He wanted the group to get together for a concert happening in a few days at the Tolbana Amphitheatre.

"Yo, Charr! Check your messages! Alastairius wants to get the gang together for a concert!" I yelled over to the red-eyed twenty-year old.

I looked to my right with a questioning look. Kazuto stared blankly at me, confused. "Do you wanna go with us?" I rolled my eyes at him. If he can't read my expressions by now, we got issues. I chuckled in my head.

"Is… is that such a good idea? I mean… we are kind of infamous. Or atleast I am." He plucked a blade of grass from the ground, refusing to meet my eyes.

"Don't worry about that. We got your back. I just messaged Agil and he said he's gonna be there too. And if anyone can get people to back off, it's that guy." Charr laughed as he plopped down next to me. Stark remained standing, leaning on his two-handed sword he was using to spar with.

Kazuto gave Charr a speculative glance. "I guess." He didn't sound convinced as he went back to worrying the blade of grass between his fingers.

I felt a bump on my left shoulder. Charr had a brow raised and mouthed: He doesn't know? I just shrugged back. He'll find out soon enough. We tended to not talk about the time we spent apart last year.

"Come on, Kirito! It's gonna be so fun! The band playing is really good! They worked really hard to get their instrument levels maxed out!" Stark piped up from his perch on his sword.

"Fine! I'll go! Do they even have a name?" Kazuto asked, exasperated.

Charr and I looked at eachother, chuckling. "I believe their name was Blades of Blood." Charr answered. "They play a lot of anime music. An american song here and there-oof!" I had elbowed Charr in the ribs to get him to shut up before he ruined the surprise.

Luckily, Kazuto wasn't paying enough attention to see it. He was still staring at the blade of grass in his hands, twiddling it between his fingers.

I leaned my head onto his shoulder and rested my hand on the inside of his forearm. "What's wrong? Do you really not want to go?"

"It.. it's not that. It's just… will I be welcome to? You're more liked. Especially since you helped train all those newer players. I'm still just a beater in most of their eyes." Kazuto sighed. He leaned his head against mine, nuzzling as if he was seeking comfort. After a moment, I could feel his shoulders start to relax with a sigh.

"Like Charr said, we will all be there. Along with Agil. No one would dare block you from coming in. Besides, we are honored guests. I have a feeling if we didn't go, there would be no concert." I chuckled. I caught Stark's eye and shared a knowing look with him.

Kazuto let out a deep sigh. "I'm not getting out of this, am I?"

"No. But it's funny that you tried." I laughed at the scowl on his face. I kissed his cheek before standing up to face the boss as it had finally respawned.

The time flew by and before I knew it, it was concert day. I was thankful that Charr and Stark were around to help me keep Kazuto distracted, otherwise I would have heard even more whining from him. It was bad enough at night when it was just the two of us. He made every excuse he could to try to get out of going. All ended in failure.

I guess crowds still make him uncomfortable, unless it's for a boss fight. Not that I blamed him. I still sometimes get glares from other players, though it's toned down since I helped train the newbies.

I was surprised to find the amphitheatre packed to the brim. There were some seats reserved for us in the front row, otherwise we would have had to squeeze somewhere into the crowd.

Agil was there already, waving us over. "What's shakin'?" He asked, giving the boys a "manly" handshake. Me? I got a hug strong enough to crack some health points out of me. For a giant of a man, he sure is affectionate.

"I swear one of these days you're gonna kill me, Agil. And Kirito won't be too happy about that." I laughed as he dropped me to the ground.

"Glad to see you two finally stopped making googly eyes at each other and did something about it. 'Bout time!" Kazuto and I blushed bright red and looked away embarrassed. Agil laughed and clapped us on the shoulders.

Charr caught my eye and jerked his head to the stage. "Hey guys, make yourselves comfortable. Charr and I gotta go meet with some of the other instructors real quick." I pulled Kazuto over to me for a quick peck on the cheek. "Enjoy the show." I whispered in his ear before pulling away and following Charr backstage.

This was going to be a fun show.