Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel or any of the Characters or events therein. These works belong Reki Kawahara, A-1 pictures, and Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy Respectively.
The strange girl walked into a sitting room where an angry looking young woman and a bespectacled Englishman were waiting for her.
"Anything to report?" said the the angry woman.
"A young couple was attacked by a vampire, the guy was injured. I staked the vamp before he could do any worse."
"So it was the usual night I see," The Englishman said, stooped over his large book logging her report. "Anything else, Shizuku?"
"The girl, she fought the vampire. She would have lost if hadn't intervened, but she was giving it her all. I think she might have been a slayer, albeit an untrained one."
The Englishman furrowed his brow "Could you give a description of this girl?
"She was a little taller than me, Japanese but with long blonde hair."
"Did you get a name by any chance?"
"No."
"We'll have to wait until we get more information before we follow this lead, thank you Shizuku."
"Has there been anything new on the cult in the mountains?" Shizuku asked.
"No." Said Giles "I haven't been identify them, but everyday they continue to arrive at that mountain. We'll have to continue surveillance."
Shizuku Nodded and left to her room, which she currently had to herself now that all the other slayers had some where else to live. She was orphan for as long a she could remember, besides Giles and Kennedy she was the only permanent resident at the slayer basecamp.
Shizuku sat on her bed when it occurred to her that the possible slayer looked familiar as if she had seen her on TV or something. She opened her laptop searched Japanese actresses, nothing. She searched Idols, nothing. Then she remembered the catastrophe that had taken place a few years ago and she searched "Sword Art Online survivors". She was taken to a list of the most notable survivors, the most famous and the ones that got the most credit for beating the game. There she was.
Shizuku ran out of her room to Giles's study and knocked.
"Giles, I know who she is."
The next day was quite ordinary for Asuna. Then in the evening her mother came in.
"Asuna, There are some people here who want talk to you."
"Did they say what about?"
Kyouko paused, "They want to talk about the game."
"Okay, did you let in them already?"
"I did but…." Kyouko shook.
"What is it Mom?"
"I wish this would go away, I am so damned tired of hearing about that damned game."
"Mom." Asuna embraced her mother.
"I don't understand why you keep obsessing over what happened. It's in the past why can't you move on and live. You seem happy, you're recovering quickly, you're catching up in school, and you have that nice young man who cares about you."
Asuna quivered, feeling empathy for her mother's pain, "I have to, Mom. I still have too many questions and I don't ever want this to happen again, to anyone. You can sit this one out, mom. I can deal with anything they give me."
"Okay, I leave them to you." Kyouko said wiping her eyes, "Be careful."
"I will mom."
Asuna left her room and went to the sitting room where the people were waiting for her.
"Are you Asuna Yuuki?" Asked a middle-aged British man.
"Yes, I am."
"I am Rupert Giles and this is Kennedy. We are here from the International internet security Agency. We're to ask a few Questions about your experience in the game and your recovery, Im sure you know the drill by now."
"I am Familiar with how this goes. You may proceed."
Giles asked her many of the routine questions that she used to by now and somewhat irritated by the repetition. She was practically answering the questions on autopilot until near the end of the meeting when Giles asked an unexpected question.
"Now, Asuna. Our research has caused us to suspect that such a long time connected with the nerve gear may have lead to some unique psychological phenomenon. Have you noticed anything different since you got out: hallucinations, strange dreams?"
"Yes, I have been having some dreams that leave me feeling… different when wake up. Like they are not just dreams."
"Would you mind describing these dreams for us, Ms. Yuuki?"
"One that I have been having a lot recently is about people trapped in some dark place. Voiceless and in pain, trapped between life and death. I assumed it was my subconscious coping with the trauma from being trapped in SAO, but it kept coming back and the danger felt so urgent as if it was happening to people right now."
"Hmm, curious we'll have to check to see if there are any other cases that match yours." He then proceeded with common questions and eventually the meeting was concluded. Giles left Asuna their contact information in case she needed to tell them anything else. Asuna accepted it and showed them out.
"Well?" Giles asked as he and Kennedy had entered their car.
"Her dream is definitely similar to the one me and the other slayers of had recently." Said Kennedy. "That doesn't mean she is a slayer, she could just have some innate psychic abilities that keyed her into whatever it is that's going on here."
"Still," Giles responded "it is enough to suspect that she could be. From what the reports said she was one the key players, no pun intended, in freeing those people who were trapped. It was reported that she was a capable fighter and possessed almost superhuman speed and agility. I would not discount the possibility until we have discovered all the facts."
"Just what we need," Kennedy smirked. "Some young hotshot who thinks she's a hero. I know that we're thin, but not all 'help' is going to fix our problems."
"May I remind you that it was being a hotshot who didn't know her place that got you demoted from the frontlines." Giles Scolded.
"Faith didn't know what she was doing. She would have gotten us all killed. Besides didn't she side with that mayor who wanted to make himself a demon, that's far worse than anything I did and she gets off for it."
"Faith spent years in prison for what she did and she is still a more experienced slayer than you. On top of that it has been Faith's business to make the final decision ever since Buffy went into semi-retirement. Faith has the hardest job of all of us. You'd do well to remember that."
Kennedy, remaining silent, curled up and sulked silently for the rest of the car ride.
A week later Asuna was at a nightclub. She had been invited to by one of her rich friends from before she put on the Nervegear, Hoshimaya. Asuna had only agreed to come to be polite, even before the game Asuna never felt much of a connection to this girl and the distance only grew after Asuna had returned to her old life. While Hoshimaya and her friends were dancing, Asuna was standing on the side.
Asuna's eyes drifted down the dance floor and fell upon a young couple. The boy about thirteen was dancing with a well-dressed girl about the same age. The boy seemed the slightly dorkish type and therefore seemed overwhelmingly happy to be maintaining the attention of such an appealing partner. Asuna turned to the girl, and got the feeling that something was very wrong. She did not seem to have any reason to suspect anything, but the last time she felt this way was when Kirito was on his training mission after joining the knights of the blood oath.
Asuna saw the girl lead the boy off the dance floor. Asuna knew she had to follow them.
The girl lead the boy out of the club into the dark alley. Asuna was close behind having pulled out a piece of wood that she had discretely bought and sharpened to point. The boy relaxed against the wall while the girl came in for a kiss. Asuna quietly snuck up close to them. The girl had slowly moved down to the boy's neck and as she pulled away, sure enough there were the same bumpy forehead and fangs.
Asuna moved in to attack, only to feel a firm grip on her shoulder before she flew into a nearby wall.
"Well, what do we have here?" The girl vampire said with a sneer holding her hand over the mouth of the boy as he struggled. "Is this a little baby slayer? Aw, she's so cute. I just have to gobble you up." The boy let out a loud moan from under the vampire's hand. "When I'm done with him, of course."
Asuna got up and moved to act, but was grabbed from behind by another larger vampire.
"Pull her into the light, Slim." the girl vampire said. "I want to take a good look at her."
Slim did as she said. "Oh, you're Asuna. There are some very important people who have put a price on your head. Apparently you've been quite the nuisance. No matter, I shall see to that."
Suddenly, slim was hit from behind and Asuna fell to the ground.
Someone was attacking the bigger vampire. Asuna got up to see that the attacker was the same girl she saw a week before. The strange girl made quick work of Slim and moved on to the smaller vampire. Asuna picked up her stake as she saw the boy run out of the alley, hopefully to somewhere safe. Asuna moved into attack the vampire and staked her while the strange girl had her occupied.
The strange girl nodded at Asuna and turned to leave.
"Wait," Asuna called after the girl. "She said I was a slayer. Is that what you are?"
The strange girl turned to look at Asuna. "Let's find a better place to talk. I'll explain everything there, Asuna."
Asuna put her stake away and walked after the girl. "Why does everybody know my name?"
"Because you were in the news a year ago." The girl responded.
"Yeah, I guess so."
"My name's Shizuku, by the way." The strange girl said.
"Nice to meet you, Shizuku." Asuna responded.
They found a small cafe that was open late. There Shizuku explained the history of vampires and the slayers. Shizuku explained as well she could the events that took place in Sunnydale before it sunk into the earth, something that had been publicly reported as a massive earthquake.
"That was in may 2003, right? Two years ago." Asuna Asked.
"I believe so." Shizuku responded "That was around when I noticed that I could run faster and lift weights easier in the gym."
"Well I was still trapped in the the game when that happened." Asuna replied. "I did, however, notice that I could break the rules of the game. Do you think I did that because I was a slayer?"
"The game was probably designed with regular humans in mind. It is definitely possible." Shizuku said.
"Better than any other explanation I came up with." Asuna said.
"That vampire" Asuna said "She said that I had a bounty on my head?"
Shizuku hunched her shoulders, thinking. "It would explain why you were attacked a week ago. Have been attacked at any other time?"
"No." Asuna answered.
"Good." Shizuku said. "But if there is a bounty on your head then we need to take precautions. I'll accompany you home tonight and than I'll talk with Giles about-"
"Wait, Giles? The man from that agency?"
"Yeah sorry, we made that up. He's actually a watcher, a person assigned to train and organize the slayers. He oversees our group here in town."
"And i'm assuming Kennedy is a slayer too?" Asuna asked.
"Yes, in fact she is leader of our group." Shizuku said. "Our group also includes three other slayers: Natsumi, Chihiro, and Yoko. We all have our sections of the city we patrol, this area is mine."
"How many slayer groups are there?" Asuna Naively asked.
"Many, all over the world. Ours is a small group of less experienced slayers due to the lack of threats in this area."
"Vampires, bounties on people's heads, and death traps disguised as video games are minor threats." Asuna yelped.
"Compared to what happens in other parts of the world, yes. It's not like there's a hellmouth here or anything like that."
"Hellmouth! What's a-." Asuna stopped herself. "You know what, I don't want to know. Let's just go home or get me home or whatever." And so they left.