~Posiden666: So this FanFic will be completely different from The Archery Skill. It will not have a plot that is so big it makes your head spin, it won't have so many OCs it's hard to keep track of them all, and it won't take place almost entirely in the virtual world. One thing I can say with almost complete certainty will be the same though… It will be cute.

An update on The Archery Skill: Short hiatus, I need some time to outline the plot, and stuff like that.

Warning: Massive yuri

Heart of Lead

Chapter 1: Muzzle Flash

I screamed. The boy on top of me continued repeating my name. He hissed it, screamed it, His spit covered my face. I tried to push Him off, but He was strong. I was weak. He pinned my wrists to the floor. I kept screaming, my throat going raw. "SHUT UP!" He snapped, moving to press His face against mine.

Glass stung my face, and I dimly registered the sound of a crash, muffled by His body. A streak of black flew over me, slamming into my attacker, throwing Him off of me. I struggled, sobbing, and propped myself up on my elbows, watching the fight uncomprehendingly. My savior threw Him into the back of the couch, which splintered. I could feel my arms, wet and sticky with blood, but the pain was dull, replaced with tense relief when He was slammed into the ground, unconscious. Above Him stood a figure with long black hair, with what looked like a taser glowing in her hand. They spun around. She seemed surprisingly familiar. The girl walked over to me and slid down beside me, her face kind.

"Hey," she said, looking me over.

"Hey," I whispered, shaking.

"Are you okay?" She asked, her voice full of concern.

"Yes... I think. Thank you, er..."

"Kazuko," she said, wrapping her arms loosely around me.

I was quiet for a moment, enjoying the slight comfort of her embrace. The name sounded familiar as well. "I'm Shino."

"I know who you are. You probably know me as Kirito."

My mind went blank. This was Kirito. The BOY who helped me win the BoB. "But-but you're a g-girl!"

She giggled a little bit, and then replied, "I got a rare random avatar that looked like a guy."

"Why didn't you tell me?" I stammered, feeling my face beginning to flush.

"Well…" she pondered, "It was just...I guess I thought I had a better shot of you liking me if I was a guy. It was an awkward topic," she said, looking away from me and scratching the back of her head.

My face became a thousand degrees, "You wanted me to what!?"

"I just thought you might like me more," she repeated unhelpfully.

I stayed silent. My mind going crazy. This girl liked me? Did she like-like me? Ah!

"I can see I've only made this situation more awkward, so I'll go," she said, letting go of me and beginning to get up.

I grabbed her arm, "Wait!"

She looked at me like I had gone mad, but she sat back down on the floor and asked me what I meant.

"I-I'm scared," I said. I began shivering, hoping the compassion she had shown before still remained.

"Okay," she replied, pulling me closer to her, into a warm hug.

Although I had seemed freaked out by Kazuko earlier, she felt good. "How long can you stay," I asked, looking up at her from where my head rested on her chest.

She looked down, her kind violet eyes meeting mine and letting me forget what had just happened, if only for a moment, "As long as you need," Kazuko replied.

Yay. I thought, though I didn't know why.

I nuzzled into the comfortable girl beside me slightly more, before noticing that I was still bleeding, and that the bruising He had inflicted was starting to show. I stumbled up, told her that I'd be right back and to just make herself at home, then rushed off into the bathroom.

"While you do that, I'll call the police." She yelled after me.

Several minutes later, I walked out of the bathroom having cleaned off the blood and taken out the glass shards. Kazuko sat on my couch and typing on her phone. "I'm not keeping you from something important, am I?" I asked nervously.

"Huh? No, don't worry."

"Ok cool. Would you like some tea?" I asked, already starting to get out the kettle.

"Oh. Umm. Sure."

I began to hum, not because I usually did when I made tea, but because the silence was so loud it felt like it was perforating my eardrums. I filled the kettle and put it on to boil.

"So…" the girl started awkwardly, "Where are your parents?"

"I live alone."

"Oh," she said, obviously afraid she'd hit a nerve. I finished setting up the teapot for the boiling water and joined her on the couch.

"It's nice sometimes," I lied.

She looked around the apartment, obviously in search of a topic to redirect the current conversation. The tea kettle whistled, and I got up and poured the steaming water into the pot.

"Do you have any hobbies?" She asked, as I brought the teapot and cups to the coffee table, almost dropping them due to my shaking hands.

"Not really, other than GGO. But you know about that," I offered unhelpfully. I poured us both some tea, and I sank back into the couch - just a little too close to Kazuko - but she didn't seem to mind. "So why do you carry a taser?"

"Oh, this," She asked, picking it up and fiddling with it. "Because carrying a sword around would look funny. And this is non-lethal."

"You really like swords, don't you?"

"Well," she started, "It's complicated"

"Oh?"

"Remember what I said about Sword Ar-"

A loud banging sounded on the door. "It's the police," spoke a voice from outside.

We both stood up, I was shaking a little. Kazuko gave me a brief hug, and went over to the door.

"Thank you for your cooperation, ladies," said the officer, dragging the handcuffed unconscious boy out of Shino's apartment.

"Well, I'm glad that's over with," I said, half because it was true, and half to try to break the endless silence.

I failed: the silence continued.

We kept standing there for a few more minutes. Neither of us spoke a word. Our breathing seemed loud in the silent room.

"So…" I started, grasping at straws for a topic that we could talk about, walking back to the couch and sitting down, "What was it like to be in Sword Art Online?"

She walked over to me, collapsing into the soft couch, "We aren't really supposed to talk about it," she sighed.

In a last attempt to lose myself in the conversation and not think about what had just occurred, I wrapped my arms around her, resting my head on her shoulder, and began to shiver, "Oh please, Kazuko, I need you to tell me a story," I whispered.

She began rubbing my back and exhaled. Her eyes locked with mine, and I could see her trying to suppress a smile, "Fine," she responded.

She began reliving her first day in SAO to me, saying that I needed to understand the setting and circumstances under which she was trapped for two years. She finished the story with quoting Akihiko Kayaba's monologue during the first day of the death game.

The next story she told me was about a dragon, and how she fell into its lair, only to ride atop the beast to escape the next morning.

It was getting late and my eyelids were beginning to feel heavy. With my head resting on the girl's lap, and her fingers gently stroking my hair, the day's events seemed more distant, almost as if it was all a dream. Almost.

Kazuko was still telling tales of her adventure and heroism within the world of swords. I was only barely listening, when I heard a name, one of the few the girl had mentioned. "Asuna." Kazuko spoke her name differently than all the others. I looked up into her eyes, shining as she recounted a time when she had, almost single-handedly, defeated a floor boss. Apparently, Asuna had dashed in to save several exhausted Army soldiers but had not noticed the monster swap aggro to her. Luckily for her, Kazuko had been quick to react: deflecting the boss's strike and using her previously secret unique skill to solo it.

I sighed, wondering at how her eyes sparkled when she spoke of Asuna.

"Hey Kazuko," I started sadly, my heart felt strangely pained at what I assumed would be her answer to my next question, "Who's Asuna?"

Kazuko gave me a forced little half smile, and moved her hand to the back of her neck. She stared into space for a few seconds before finally saying, "Well… She's a lot of things."

November 6, 2022: 9,972 players logged on for the official launch of Sword Art Online. It was the first VRMMORPG ever created. Five hours after it's launch, the world realized that the players had not logged into a game, but a death trap. At 5:30 that day, Akihiko Kayaba announced this to the players, but 241 players had already died...

A/N: Okay, so I know this is a really short chapter, but before I put too much time into this, I want to hear what you people think. This story will make updates on my other story probably take a little longer, but since they take completely different mindsets to write, it shouldn't interfere that much.

Thanks to my long-time beta-reader ~Furrballnerd for all his help smoothing everything over. Also, to ~Mauriot for all her help on writing girls, and yuri and all that. Y'all are awesome.

Anyways, tell me what you think in your R&R's.

Next time: "Ballistic"