Title: Reunions and Sand Reminisence

Summary: [KiriArgo Prompt Week 2021] Life isn't always easy, and Kirito knows that. He lives a life that's main goal is to protect those around him and protect the world from horrors it has never seen before. It leaves him separated for days from his family, and even longer from his equally busy wife, but he knows that if he didn't do what he did, the civilization he calls home would be gone. Still, is a house a home without the presence of the person that carries his heart?

Prompt - Forever Home

Kirito's life wasn't easy, and while he knew that he could be worse off, that didn't mean his was a walk in the park. Every day, for days on end, he spent his time leading and fighting. Fighting for everyone's lives and pushing his mind and body to the limits to protect them all. While in the moments where he was working but wasn't out in the field, he was training, pushing himself further and further.

Which would be why he was walking home with his muscles burning with pure exhaustion and feeling like his arms might as well be about to fall off.

"You should rest, daddy," a worried high pitched voice spoke in his ear, and Kirito's onyx colored gaze drifted over to the fairy lingering in the edge of his vision. Another reminder of why this device, the Augma, had been so special to him before the danger had started. The Augma made it possible for his daughter to be around him and free of her illness. Safe and sound while the battle was being fought every day and he was at the front of it.

"I'm fine Yui," Kirito denied and gently poked his daughter, who was in her fairy form, with a finger, softly tickling her. "Besides, I'm going home, aren't I? I'll just sleep there at some point."

"I doubt you're going to make it home like this, daddy," Yui disagreed and frowned, her hands now gripping his fathers feeling rather like a ghost's touch. "You're not taking care of yourself! What would Mama say?"

Kirito blinked and paused standing still. Finding himself rather caught off guard by Yui's question. He then lightly ruffled his child's hair. "Some stuff has to be sacrificed, you know, Yui," he answered her vaguely, even though he was well aware of what Yui's mother would say if she found out he was exhausting himself. He changed topics, continuing his trek home, "do you have that playdate with Yuuki tonight? And how's Sinon?"

"I think so," Yui hummed and gave a little happy jig in the air, much to the amusement of her father, "but I don't want to go if you're home, daddy. I miss, you Daddy…"

Kirito gave a weary smile, "I miss you too Yui."

Nearly being mauled by a high energy speeding bullet of a child when he entered the right floor of the apartment complex, after he ran into another coworker, was not what he had expected. Well, at least the woman beside him reacted like lightning and caught the speeding bullet of a child before they collid directly with his stomach.

"Yuuki!" His co-worker scolded the hyper child now in her arms, amber eyes appearing rather annoyed though it was softened with affection for the child. "Since when were you allowed to nearly knock people over? That's bad manners, honey."

"I know, but I'm so excited!" The child squealed and squirmed a little in her hold, and Kirito, not for the first time, wondered how the rather calm strawberry blonde ended up with the most excitable child on the planet.

"If I didn't know better, Asuna," Kirito chuckled to the obviously exasperated parent, "I'd think that it's impossible that Sinon's Yuuki's other parent with Yuuki's energy levels."

"Honestly, I have no idea where she got the energy from," Asuna chuckled, while she kept a firm hold on the squirming child, "neither Sinon or I have the energy she does."

One of the apartment doors close to the elevator opened and out walked a, just mildly grumpy woman with black hair with teal ends and dark silver eyes. She didn't exactly look surprised to see the child in Asuna's arms rather than in the apartment, though she did look tired, just like the rest of them. "Ah, so that's where Yuuki disappeared off to."

"Yeah," Asuna chuckled again and walked toward her while Kirito walked toward the apartment across from Sinon. With traces of a smile gracing his lips.

The strawberry blonde reached the other woman and passed the now sulking child to her, "she almost mauled poor Kirito though, Sinon."

At the sound of his name, Sinon turned her attention briefly to Kirito. "Welcome back, Kirito," Sinon greeted him and gave him a two fingered lazy salute, a greeting exchange Kirito's friends did with him besides Asuna. Instead, he did it to Asuna, being a lower rank commander than the strawberry blonde.

Kirito returned the salute as he fished his pockets for his keys, "same to you, enjoy Asuna," he added cheekily and got an eye roll from the sniper in return.

"I will," Sinon deadpanned and adjusted her glasses on her nose. Though unlike usual, she didn't give a smartass quip, which just suggested that like him and Asuna, she was tired. Granted, Sinon also wasn't much of a people person, which would be why she rarely interacted with all of his team, which she was part of, and mingled vaguely near her wife during meetings. Not exactly comfortable in a packed room of at least a hundred people and that was just his team alone, not Asuna's crimson knights.

Frankly, Kirito didn't blame her for being tired. This was the first time in almost a week that he, Asuna, and other the integrity knights had been cleared for leaving the base and allowed to see their families. Sinon wasn't part of that team by pure choice, choosing to play a role that allowed her to be home every night to take care of the hyper ball of energy that was her and Asuna's daughter.

"Send us a message when you want Yuuki over to play with Yui," Sinon suggested as Kirito unlocked his door, "Yuuki's been bouncing off the walls all day about it."

"G'night Kirito," Asuna hummed from her spot now hugging both Sinon and Yuuki and Kirito snorted at the thought of the other members of the front lines seeing their strict sub leader being so relaxed and almost… fluffy.

"I will," Kirito responded to Sinon's suggestion and nodded his head to the two of them, "and same to you guys, see you in the morning briefing Asuna."

With that, he stepped through the door of his apartment.

However, he noticed right off the bat that something was off. Not in a dangerous way so much as it wasn't what he usually returned to. The apartment being clean was a Sinon thing, the sniper helping out alongside some of his other friends to help out with Yui while his job was so time taxing.

Kirito slid his pack's straps off of his shoulders and slowly put down his pack, not exactly sure what was going on when he had had no word about anything beforehand.

There wasn't usually a large stack of folders placed messily on the table, loose paper beside them, and a unique brown and tan augma sitting on top of them. Nor was there usually another pack by the door, a beat up pair of steel toed running shoes kicked off and lay next to the shoerack, and a rather iconic nanotech infused hooded dusty cloak hanging up. The more than slight messy chaos wasn't something that spoke of his friends.

Yui was sitting on the floor near Kirito's bedroom with a tablet, playing some kind of word game, as language was one of Yui's favorite things, even if she would never be able to speak without her augma. The child was bathed, and in clean clothes, with her augma in her ear and she seemed to be breathing okay on her own at the moment.

Kirito unzipped his uniform jacket part of the bullet proof armor his wore and got to work removing the rest of the armor. All while he looked around.

Okay, so the obvious answer was that someone else was here. However, Kirito had never been notified before of someone being home…

The bedroom door nudged open, revealing that it was a short woman with golden blonde hair and naturally rather playful brown eyes that currently looked tired. Well, despite Kirito's doubts, it was definitely her. She was in the middle of rubbing a towel through her short golden hair, while in casual clothes, a forest green loose sleeveless hoodie with a dark stripe going down each side that showed a few inches of her midrift, paired with comfortable shorts. She also wasn't wearing the dark colored augma that was currently sitting on the table, which also meant that she wasn't on call, nor was she working at the moment.

Argo was home.

Kirito found himself temporarily frozen still, just watching her.

Argo crouched down beside Yui and lightly ruffled her hair, getting a mild complaint from the child in the form of lightly batting at the offending hand, and let her towel rest over her shoulders, brown eyes moving to one side and seeming to skim through something that only she could see due to her augma. Before her brown eyes then connected with Kirito's and the exhaustion in her eyes vanished, replaced with a playful cheeky nature that was a major reason why he had married her in the first place. "'Ey Kiri-boi," she chuckled and pushed herself to her feet, "Ima back," she said as she approached him, "ya miss me?"

Kirito's face broke into a smile and it was like her voice released him from the frozen hold his body had been in before. "Definitely, you still covered in sand like last time?"

"Blegh," Argo pulled a face, "dat sand is never gettin' out of my gear." She then smirked mischeviously, "if 'Ealthcliif sends me ta another dessert Ima dump a bucket of sand in 'is office."

"Do it, I bet Asuna would let you," Kirito grinned while he felt Argo's arms slip around his waist till she was standing in front of him, looking up at him due to the height difference. He returned the embrace, bringing her closer and bending over to rest his nose in her still slightly damp golden blonde hair. Argo said nothing for the moment, instead she just stayed close. She smelled of her soap, a cinnamon based smell, a unique smell that was just her, and… just a little sandy like the desert.

He snorted.

"What?" Argo pulled away from him and looked up at him, a mildly confused look on her face.

"You still smell like sand," Kirito smirked, and the scowl he got was perfect.

"Are ya kiddin' me?" Argo scowled, "seriously?"

"Yup," Kirito chuckled, "looks like the desert's just a part of you now."

Argo rolled her eyes, "if da desert's a part of little ol' me, then it's part of ya too, Kiri-boi. 'Owever..." She released him, and moved away from him. Though once her back was turned, she flipped him off with a cheeky smirk that made the dimples in the left cheek appear, "it's rude ta 'all a girl smelly, ya know?"

Kirito smirked and grabbed her by the waist, "what do you mean? I'm the perfect gentleman. Nice and polite, good looking, and even smart. Isn't that why you married me?"

"Ya wish, Kiri-boi" Argo snorted and her smartass quip was cut off by squealing when Kirito blew a raspberry against the sensitive skin of her neck. Where she was rather ticklish.

She was back. Finally, after months, Argo was home and Kirito had really missed her.

"I missed you."

"I missed ya too Ki-boi, now come 'ere."

He had missed the spark of her kiss, a detail that spoke of her wildfire personality.

How much he had missed her didn't matter anymore, not while she was here with him and Yui.