Authors note: alright, first Sao fanfic. I just wanna mention one thing first. I know that Sugu calls Kirigaya 'brother' instead of saying his name in the anime because of Japanese culture and their language. However, it doesn't sound natural in English so instead, I'm just gonna have them use first names. Alright? Alright.

IMPORTANT: this takes place after GGO and before Alicization

Kirigayas eyes slowly opened to a dark sky lit up by the pale moon. He felt hard concrete beneath him, his vision struggling to cooperate. Two brick walls were on either side of him. An alley-way?

He struggled to sit up, leaning on one arm while his dominant hand held his aching head. His knee hurt like hell too.

His cheek stung as he dragged himself to the wall to lean on using his right leg and shaking arms, Careful not to move his injured leg too much.

…His whole body hurt.

He bent his knee a bit a made a pained noise, grabbing it in pain. There was a gash right above his knee and it seemed his knee itself was hurt too.

He looked around. He didn't recognize this place.

"... I need to get home" he muttered to himself

Wait… But where is home? Where do I even live?

He looked down at his hands.

And... who am I…

A reflective surface caught Kirigaya's eye. There's a cracked phone laying on the ground to his left.

Is that mine?

He twisted his body to reach for it but stopped short when he felt pain in his right side. He put his hand on the spot on his stomach where it hurt. It's as if the skin on his stomach burned.

He lifted up his dirt-covered shirt to see a burn mark on his stomach close to his right side.

Had he been… Branded?

It looked like something specific but nothing he had seen before. Or, nothing that he remembered seeing.

It was really hard to make out, but It was a shape with an arm sticking out the side. It also seemed to have a smile, but it was too wide to be natural. And had two big eyes with small pupils.

The whole thing made him feel uneasy, and if he was being honest, a little sick to his stomach. Not that he didn't already feel sick.

He put his shirt back down and slid his whole body over to reach what he thought was his phone. He pushed the button to turn it on and the screen lit up.

A phone call?

"... H-hello?"

"papa?" a girls voice came through the phone

"who is this" he more demanded than asked

"what do you mean? It's me" she said

He thought for a moment. "Do I know you? And why did you call me papa"

She was silent for a moment. "... You, don't remember… "

The sound of footsteps was coming down the alleyway. They sounded hesitant. Kirigaya looked over and saw a silhouette of a person coming into the alleyway. They had really long hair. Down past their waist even.

They're footsteps quickly picked up to a run until the person was kneeling beside him.

"Kirito-" she said with tears in her eyes, hand on his shoulder, "are you okay? I heard from Yui you were in trouble and-" she took his dominant hand and held it, making sure not to touch his clearly injured knee. Kirigaya winced as his breathing quickened a bit. His wrist felt sprained.

She quickly let go of his hand, "ah, I'm sorry"

"it's okay," he said "um… I'm sorry but…" he trailed off

"but what?"

"am… Am I supposed to know you…?"

Her tears she had been holding back started to fall. "come on Kirito, don't joke around. It's me, Asuna… You know that…" her voice trailed off

Kirigaya looked at her with confused yet sad eyes, not recognizing the name at all. He looked down at his lap. His eyes looked so… Empty.

There was a long pause.

"You- you don't remember me…"

Kirigaya shook his head "I'm sorry. Seeing the way you're reacting, I must mean something to you"

"Kirito I-..." She paused, "do you remember anything?"

He shook his head "I'm sorry"

She shook her head "no. don't apologize. Because… i-It's because you mean so much to me that i-I'll figure out a way to fix this. Okay?"

Kirigaya looked up at her and gave a soft smile. There was a certain something about this Asuna that put him at ease.

Asuna could feel her heart melt when he smiled at her. Definitely. She would definitely get him to remember.

Asuna… she's my only lead

"Mama?" the girl's voice came through his phone again

"Yui?" Asuna wiped away her tears

"papa needs medical attention"

Kirigaya stared at his phone as they talked about the best way to get him to the hospital. He still had to keep his guard up. After all, he didn't know these people.

"Alright, Yui," Asuna pulled him out if his thoughts "can you call an ambulance?"

"yes, I'll be right back," Yui said before calling

"Okay, um… I know your wrist is probably sprained, but is there anything else that isn't obvious I should look out for? I don't wanna accidentally hurt you" Asuna said as she opened her bag and pulled out a handkerchief and a bottle of water

"just my side," he said, putting his hand over the spot

Asuna nodded as she poured some water onto the handkerchief. She went to wipe off some of the semi-dried blood still on his cheek from where he had been cut.

He instinctively flinched and leaned away, wincing from his unexpected movement afterwards.

"Hey, hey, it's okay, it's just water. I wanna wipe some of the blood off your face, you'll feel a little better after" she said

Kirigaya hesitantly moved back to his original position.

"I understand. you don't know me, so how could you trust me" she said sadly as she started to slowly wipe his cheek

He winced when she got a little too close to the cut.

"Sorry," she said

There was a pause.

"...my name," he said

"huh?"

"you called me Kirito. Is… Is that my name?"

"Well, sort of. You see, Kirito is your username and the first name I know you by. Your real name is Kirigaya Kazuto" she explained

"My username? Did we meet in a game?" He asked

Asana nodded.

"Huh… I wasn't very creative was I" he gave a pained chuckle

Asuna felt relieved that Kirito was still able to joke around, but she could hear the pain in his voice.

He felt this feeling of isolation and loneliness. This feeling felt familiar. Like he's felt it many times before. Without his memories, however, he just couldn't quite put his finger on it. This thick fog. This black curtain. He wasn't sure why but-

…he felt like crying.

Asuna put her hand on his shoulder, "Hey, are you okay?"

Kirito shook his head.

The sounds of sirens off in the distance echoed in the alleyway. Asuna went to cup his cheek to comfort him but he turned his head away as soon as her fingers brushed his face.

She looked hurt as she pulled her hand back. "Right…" She rested her hands in her lap, "you don't know me. Sorry..."

"Mama?" Yui spoke through the phone

"I'm here Yui," she said

"They said you should stand at the entrance of the alleyway so they can see you. There are a lot of alleyways in this area so they need to know where to go" she explained

Asuna nodded, "okay. You keep Kirito company." she put one leg up and started to stand, "I'll go-"

Kirito grabbed Asuna's arm. He was scared to let her out of his sight.

She looked down at him, not expecting to see the look of feeling so lost on his face. "Kirito…" She knelt back down "I'll be right back. Do you trust me enough for this?"

Kirito's grip tightened

"Papa..." Yui said

Kirito sighed and let go

"Don't worry" Asuna assured, "we're going to get you the help you need"

She stood up and ran to the entrance. Kirito was starting to shiver. He had so many questions. Including how this Asuna found him in the first place.

"Papa? Are you cold?" Yui asked

"W-why do you keep calling me that?" He asked

"Um, well-"

Before Yui could answer, the paramedics had found Asuna and were coming into the alleyway. He could hear Asuna explain what she knew about his condition to them as they got closer.

Asuna knelt back next to Kirito where she was before. She pointed to his phone, where Yui was, "do you mind?"

Kirito's grip on his phone tightened.

One of the paramedics knelt in front of Kirito, "Hey, how are you holding up so far?"

"...okay" Kirito answered

"Do you remember anything before this?" He asked

Kirito shook his head

"What about ID. do you have that on you?" he asked

Kirito used his good arm to search his jean pockets and found his wallet. He pulled it out and opened it, finding his ID.

"Kirigaya… Kazuto," he read aloud. He looked over at Asuna. That's the name she had told him. He continued to look it over, "I'm… I'm 17"

The conversation continued ranging from stuff about memory, to his physical injuries. It was a pretty relaxed conversation, until…

"Any other injuries I should know about?" The paramedic asked while the other paramedics set up the back of the ambulance with what they needed

"Well… I have this burn mark..."

"burn mark? Was this recent?"

Kirito nodded "it still hurts"

"Alright, can I see this mark?"

Kirito nodded before pulling up his shirt to reveal it.

Asuna stiffened up, putting a hand over her mouth. She recognized that mark. It was the mark of laughing coffin. The murderous guild inside of SAO.

Kirito looked over at Asuna. She looked extremely unsettled, and… scared.

"Do you… know this symbol?" Kirito asked

Asuna nodded, emotions swirling in her head. Sadness, anger, anxiety…

...Kirito could have died tonight

"Well," the paramedic chimed in, "let's get you into the ambulance, and you," he looked over at Asuna, "you're going to have to go in for questioning. You're not in trouble, but this isn't the only case like this that's happened this week"

Not the only case?

Asuna put her hand back down into her lap and nodded. She looked distressed, "Um… if I may ask, the other victims. Were they all… Sao survivors?" Asuna asked

"To my knowledge, it seems so. I can't say any more than that though" he answered

Asuna nodded, "I understand. Thank you"

Before they knew it, Kirito, Asuna, and Yui, who was still there on Kirito's phone, all rode in the back of the ambulance and Kirito was emitted.

Asuna had to wait in the waiting room for a while. She sat there, bouncing her leg. She had Yui there with her.

"It's okay mama, papa will be okay. I'm sure" Yui said, trying to convince herself as well

"Kirito's strong" she added, "... But memories are a hard thing to fix"

Eventually, someone came out into the waiting room. She held a clipboard in her hands. "Asuna?" She called out

Asuna stood up faster than she thought humanly possible, the chair making a loud noise on the floor.

"Come with me," she said

Asuna followed her to one of the hospital rooms. They got to the door and Asuna looked at the name card.

Kirigaya Kazuto.

"He's awake, seems like he could use some company," she said

"Okay thank you," Asuna opened the door and went inside, closing it behind her

Kirito was sitting up in bed, staring at his lap. He was wearing one of the hospital gowns, bedsheets over his lap. White bandages covered his wrist. some were wrapping his head a bit under his hair as well, and there was a smaller bandage on his cheek.

"...hey" she spoke up

Kirito jumped at her voice and looked up, "oh, it's you"

Asuna sat on the stool next to the bed

He wasn't sure what to do without his memories. she did help him though, so…

"Thank you," he said

"For what?"

"You helped me. When I was lost, and alone. So, thank you"

Asuna smiled "I'd do anything for you"

He wondered, on what terms their relationship had been in. Cause, when he saw her smile, he found it to be the brightest thing in the room

"I do have a question. Well, I have a million questions, but there's one specifically I wanna ask you" he said

"Sure, what is it?"

"How did you know where I was?"

"Oh, that, well, Yui heard that you were in trouble and she sent me your location"

"So, I must have been on the phone with her before I was attacked and sent her my location"

Asuna decided to stay quiet about who Yui really was for now. If she brought that up, guaranteed she would also have to bring up Sao which probably isn't the best thing to do right now.

Kirito stared out the window. He wondered what his life was like. Did he have a family? What did he like to do? Was he still in school? If so, what was his school life like?

The room door flew open making Kirito jump. He turned his head to see who had opened it. Standing there, was none other than Sugu, tears running down her face.

"Is it true?" she said, "your memories, are they really gone?"

Kirito looked over at Asuna, not knowing what to say.

A nurse came in and stood next to Sugu, "I apologize, she just rushed in"

"I-it's okay, um…" he said

"It's okay, she's family," the nurse said, "is it okay if I leave the three of you alone?"

Kirito nodded. If one of the nurses said she was family then it must be true. The nurse bowed and left the room, closing the door behind him.

"Kazuto…" Sugu trailed off

There was a pause

"...I'm sorry," he said

Asuna, with tears in her eyes, got up and hugged Sugu as she cried, "it's alright Sugu, we'll figure out a way to get his memories back. We can all sit down and talk about the good times we've had together, okay?"

These people… he has no memory of them, but that fact alone is causing them so much pain. He didn't want to cause people to hurt, he wanted the opposite. How many people was he forgetting… how many people was he hurting?

...He didn't want this

"Hey," Kirito chimed in, "don't cry..."

Both girls looked over at him

Tears welled up in his eyes. He looked up at them as he choked on his words.

"...please"

"Kirito-" Asuna sat back down on the stool, "I know you don't know me," she paused, not expecting that sentence to hurt as much as it did, "but, I still know you. And I want to help you" she held her hand out for Kirito to take. She could tell he wanted to say more. To explain himself, but she knew him too well

Kirito looked over at Sugu, who nodded. He looked back at Asuna, then down at her hand. He felt so lost. Feeling that sense of calmness she brought him, his hand instinctively started to reach out. He still wasn't sure what it was about her that made him feel this way. He paused for a moment, before letting his hand rest in hers.

… Her hand's warm

Asuna smiled, squeezing his hand lightly, "you never were good with words"

There was a knock on the door and an 'excuse me' as it opened. The same nurse from before walked in.

"I hate to interrupt, but Kirigaya needs his rest. You can come back tomorrow during visiting hours" he explained

"Okay, thank you," Asuna said. She looked back at Kirito, placing her other hand over his, "we'll be back tomorrow. We'll get this whole memory thing sorted out then. Okay?"

Kirito nodded "okay. I'll see you tomorrow... Asuna" he gave a small smile, hoping it would make her feel better

she smiled back, and his heart fluttered. She reluctantly let go of his hand and stood up.

Kirito looked over at Sugu, "I'll see you tomorrow too… Sugu"

Sugu gave a half relieved half tearful smile before she was guided out by the nurse. Asuna walked over to the door and grabbed the door handle before she paused. She turned her head to the side to look at Kirito.

"I love you" she said before opening the door and leaving.

Kirito didn't know how to react.

She… Loves me?

He looked down at the hand she had held only moments before.

...her hand had felt very familiar to him

He let his thoughts wander.

...Would he ever get his memories back?

Authors note: and that's chapter one. I hope it's good and I hope you enjoyed it. it would really help if you let me know what you thought. I do wanna know though. What's preferred when it comes to names? Kirito, or Kirigaya. I played around with both in this chapter but I'm just not 100 percent sure which has more of an impact. Anyways, till next chapter :)