Sword Art Online

After The Incident

Chapter 9 – Never Forget

I slowly blinked my eyes open as the gentle rays of the morning sun shined through the thin curtains of my bedroom window. I blew some of my raven hair away from my eyes as I stared up into the ceiling of my room, taking a deep breath. I looked slightly to my left, smiled, and chuckled a bit, as I saw Asuna clinging to my arm and sleeping peacefully.

I smiled a bit and softly kissed her cheek as I slowly sat up, so I wouldn´t wake her from her peaceful slumber. I looked around my room sleepily and stretched a bit as I stood up and grabbed my grey t-shirt and black jeans, putting on my clothes as I made my way down the hall towards the bathroom. I sloppily stepped inside and grabbed my toothbrush, grabbing a towel and preparing myself for a bath.

I opened up the water and stripped myself of all clothes, soon stepping into the refreshing and warming rays of water soon covering my whole body. I made sure I thoroughly washed myself on every last spot on my body, making sure to enjoy a nice warm bath, something I hadn´t been able to do in a long time due to my stressful lifestyle the last year.

After several blissful and peaceful minutes of letting warm water cleanse me and wash away my worries for a moment, I stepped out of the bath, turned off the water, and wrapped up my waist with a towel, beginning to dry my hair with another towel, softly humming the floor 22 background music to myself.

Suddenly the door handle turned and the door swung open, revealing Asuna staring down at her phone, with a small smile. When she had swung the door open she looked up from her phone, and when she realized I was here her movements froze, leaving her in the doorway with a dumbfounded look on her face. My movements froze as well, leaving both my arms on the towel on my head, staring at my girlfriend who had just interrupted me in the bathroom.

In a long while we both stood there, dumbfounded, frozen, unable to move from sheer surprise and embarrassment. I could slowly feel an intense blush run over my cheeks as I stood there and stared at my girlfriend, who was also blushing intensely as her face finally began to contract into an embarrassed expression.

"I-I´m so sorry! Please continue!" She yelped as she rushed out and slammed the door behind her, her footsteps disappearing down the hallway. I still stood in the bathroom, still unable to move from embarrassment, having a hard time processing what had just happened. I sat down on the toilet and sighed a bit.

"Why do we have a bad habit of ending in embarrassing situations?" I asked no one in particular as I continued to dry my hair and prepare myself for an all new day.

I changed my clothes into a black t-shirt and a pair of blue jeans, and walked down the hallway towards ground floor. I walked down the stairs and looked at Asuna who was waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs, looking up at me with a faint blush as she began walking up the stairs past me, whispering something like, "I´m sorry" as she passed me on the stairs.

I smiled and chuckled a bit as I found her shy behavior cute, and smiled all the way down to the kitchen. By the kitchen counter, Suguha was currently preparing breakfast, which of course consisted of salad somehow.

"You just can´t live without salad can you?" I said with a smile as I patted her head.

"Nope. Now go get a plate" She said with a giggle and a smirk as she chopped the tomatoes.

"you don´t want my help?" I asked as I began setting the table.

"No it´s ok." She said with a smile and a nod as she looked over her shoulder "You, setting the table is good enough"

"ok then." I said with a smile as I put on the last silverware "Hey, where is mom?" I asked softly as I realized my aunt was nowhere to be seen.

"Well, she is at work. Left a couple of hours ago" She said as she put a bowl of salad on the table.

"Shouldn't you be at school? It´s Thursday" I said as I looked at her and she nodded.

"Yeah I should. " She said with a sigh "But when I told my teacher how bad you were doing she let me stay home this week to be there for you"

"Aww Sugu" I said as I wrapped her up in a hug "You´re too cute!"

"Nope. Just a good sister "She said with a giggle "Now go tell Asuna breakfast is ready"

I nodded a bit and smirked as I began walking up the stairs to the second floor. Since Asuna had interrupted me in the bathroom earlier, I suspected she was there. So I walked up to the bathroom door and knocked softly.

"Asuna? You in there?" I asked softly as I waited for a response, just to be sure I wouldn´t interrupt her in… Whatever she was doing.

"Yes? Come on in Kazuto" She called from behind the door.

I smiled a bit and entered softly, looking at Asuna with a small smile as she was currently drying her hair after a bath.

"Breakfast is ready." I said with a smile as I wrapped my arms around her waist from behind "It´s Suguha´s infamous salad supreme"

"Does she even know how to cook anything else?" Asuna asked with a giggle which she tried to hide with her hands.

"Nope. Now come on" I said with a chuckle as she nodded and put away the hairdryer, walking down the hall close behind me.

When we reached the kitchen we all sat down at the kitchen table, with each of the girls beside me, with Asuna on my left and Suguha on my right.

"So guys I was wondering" Asuna suddenly said with a small smile as she looked me and Suguha at turn "It´s been a long time since we´ve been together with everyone in one place, so how about we meet everyone at Agil´s new café?"

"That´s a great idea! That way Suguha can meet all of our SAO friends!" I said with a small smile. Suguha nodded with a small smile in agreement.

Asuna then began hastily typing away on her phone, most likely telling everyone to meet us at the Dicey Café. What I didn´t know was what kind of surprise her and my friends had in store for me.

~Asuna´s POV~

Yes! He had approved of the idea! Now just to tell everyone that the plan had been set in motion. I texted everyone that Kazuto had approved, and told them to be at the Dicey Café at 2 o clock in the afternoon. I looked forward to how Kazuto would react to the little surprise I had arranged for him at the Dicey Café. He would surely be surprised by it, but hopefully happy. Of course he didn´t know that Suguha also was a part of all of this.

The meaning with all of this was to make him forget, at least for a while, what he had had to go through to protect his family and his loved ones. So many injuries had been inflicted on him, as a result of him trying to protect me and the people that was important to him. I could still clearly see for myself his agonized and scared face when I had jumped in front of him to protect him against Heathcliff in SAO.

According to Klein he had become enraged when I had disappeared from Sao, when I died. He had been so shocked and afraid when he thought he had lost me, that the normally calm and collected Kirito I knew from SAO, in the matter of moments had been utterly destroyed and replaced by a rage-blind individual, who didn´t care if his opponent died or not. And the thought scared me to be honest.

I wanted him to forget as much of all the pain, emotionally and physically, as possible. I never wanted to hear about this new Kirito ever again, and I didn´t want to ever experience a meeting with him first hand. So this was one of the reasons I had arranged this little surprise. To make him happy again.

For this to work I had gathered all of his loved ones. Every last person he had helped in the game, every last friend he had made in Sao. I had downloaded Yui down on an app on my phone, so I could monitor her on my phone, and chat with her wherever I was, so she would of course be there with me.

Then there was all our friends from SAO. Every last person him and I had made throughout the two years we were caught in the game, had been invited to this little surprise for him. All those people who held thoughts of gratitude, and who loved Kazuto for who he was, had gladly accepted the invite. And now everyone was waiting for Kazuto, Suguha and I, so they could give him his big surprise.

By now it was around 10:30 in the late morning. If we took the bus right away we would be right in time.

"Ok Kazuto! Everyone is already at the Dicey Café!" I said with an excited squeal "If we take the next bus we should get there before noon!"

"Ok! Let´s go then" Kazuto said casually as he grabbed his shoes and jacket, heading for the door "You coming girls?"

"Of course! Just try to stop us!" Suguha said excitedly as she sprinted for the doorway, putting on her shoes and jacket as fast as she could.

I took on a more slow approach, tying the knots on my shoes carefully so they wouldn´t get unbound. I smiled over at Kazuto as he smiled and tied his shoes as well, probably looking forward to see his friends. It´s understandable though. He had either been busy with school or helping with developing new SAO, so he hadn´t had much time seeing his friends. So I would understand that he looked forward to seeing everyone again.

When we made our way out the door, Kazuto hanged back to lock the door behind him, just to make sure. He had grown more and more careful, almost to the point of paranoid every day ever since he first time was abducted by Sugou in ALO. And honestly I understood why. I would get paranoid as well if the main thing I feared the most kept coming back to hurt me. I really felt bad for him.

He smiled a bit at me and his sister as he put away the key for the front door of his home, walking off the porch and down to us. I smiled a bit as I reached my hand away from my waist for him to take it, and he immediately smiled and obliged, taking my hand in his and giving it a little warm squeeze, before we began walking towards the nearby train station.

Soon we arrived at the train pavilion near the Dicey Café, the new Café that Agil had bought not long ago. We began making our way down the crowded streets, and I reached for my phone to text everyone we soon would arrive, telling them to keep quiet for now.

We arrived at the Dicey Café and Kazuto walked inside. I could see his confused expression as everything inside was dark as night, and no one seemed to be around. That´s until he stepped into the middle of the room.

"SURPRISE!" Suddenly the lights turned on and everyone jumped out of their hiding spots, almost scaring the living day light out of Kazuto.

"W-What the hell?" He asked dumbfounded as he looked at our large group of friends who was all running over to crowd him from all sides.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you?" I asked innocently, trying not to laugh "Were just having a celebration, to congratulate you on winning SAO"

"Huh?" He asked dumbfounded as he was dragged to a small stage near the bar in the café by Liz and Scilica, who was both giggling loudly.

Liz then proceeded to introduce the main guest.

"Give it up for Kirito!" Liz yelled loudly into her microphone "The guy who saved us and four thousand other players from certain death!"

"To Kirito!" Klein then yelled, raising a glass of soda.

"TO KIRITO!" Everyone cheered loudly, making Kazuto blush and shyly scratch his neck.

I ran up on stage and hugged my boyfriend close, kissing him deeply and passionately, trying to ignore the teasing grinning and giggling from Scilica and Liz, and the "aww" from the gathered crowd in the bar. I smiled a bit as I felt Kazuto wrap his arms around me and kiss me back just as passionately.

I pulled away from him and smiled at him happily. We were both blushing a bit, and he smiled sweetly back as he wrapped an arm around my waist facing us out towards our friends, smiling out at them happily. Then we stepped down the stage to chat with our friends.

"You do know you guys were making quite a scene right?" Liz asked us teasingly as she nudged me "That´s not like you Asuna"

I blushed a little and put a lock of my hair behind my ear in nervousness.

"W-Well I didn´t really think when I ran up to Kirito so uhh…" I mumbled as I looked downwards in embarrassment.

"This is why I love teasing you Asuna" Liz said with a giggle "You get so cute when you´re embarrassed"

Then Kazuto leaned in and whispered in my ear "That is true you know"

"S-Stop it both of you…" I mumbled softly, which resulted in soft chuckles from both of them, and a soft kiss on my cheek from Kazuto.

"K-Kirito-san?" Suddenly Scilica stood beside Kazuto, softly tugging at his sleeve.

"Yeah Scilica?" Kazuto then asked as he turned and smiled at the young girl.

"Sasha-san want to talk with you" She answered as she kept tugging at his arm "Come on!"

"Asuna, it will just be a short moment I promise" He said with a smile as he let go of my waist and went with Scilica to talk with Sasha in private.

~Kazuto´s POV~

I wandered away from the crowd with Scilica who led me to Sasha, who was sitting alone in the back corner of the Café by the tables. I took a seat by the same table as her, and she smiled at me and nodded.

"Good to see you again Kirito" She said with a smile and I smiled back "It´s been a while"

"Yeah it has" I said with a smile "How is the kids from the church doing?"

"they´re doing quite well thank you" She said with a soft smile "they have all gone through rehab perfectly and was able to go back to their old life already a few weeks after getting out of SAO"

"Wow that´s amazing!" I said with a wide grin and a happy nod "Now, Scilica told me you want to talk about something?"

"Well you see" She began as her smile turned into a more serious expression "You did know a girl named Sachi in the game right?"

I frowned a bit as I heard her name again. It had been a while since I had thought about her last.

"Yeah I did." I said as I sighed "What about her?"

"Well, you do remember that record crystal she sent you on Christmas Eve right?"

"Yes, and?"

"Well, right after she had send the crystal…" Sasha then continued "She realized she had forgotten to tell you something on it. And since they were quite expensive she couldn´t afford a new one."

"ok, go on" I said, wanting to get to the core of the case.

"You see, I was a very good friend of her" she said with a sigh "both in game and IRL. And she told me, if I ever managed to meet you, to give you her thanks for the time she got to spend with you."

I teared up a bit at these words but nodded.

"And… She also wanted me to give you this" Sasha then continued as she produced a beautiful hand crafted wooden box.

I looked at it in wonder and hesitantly took the box out of Sasha´s hands, and opened it to see what was inside.

I widened my eyes a bit as I saw what was inside.

A beautiful silver cross necklace lied inside, decorated all over the cross with beautifully cut silver roses and vines, and a small engraving on the back, being the letter S.

Along with this necklace was a note, and a black and white photo, consisting of Sachi, and the rest of my old guild, The Moonlit black Cats. Keita, Tetsuo, Sasamaru and Ducker. They were all there. Happily grinning at the camera that was taking their picture. They were all standing in front of row after row of computers, so I guessed they were standing in their schools computer club room, which they all happened to be a member of. I teared up even more as I saw their smiling faces once again, something I had longed for for a while.

I folded open the note, and it was from Sachi. It read as following:

Hey Kirito. Yeah, you´re surprised to hear from me again right? Well there was some things I missed out to tell you in SAO, and if you ever receive this wooden box it seems you have survived the death game. Congratulations.

Me? Well, as I told you in the recording crystal, I'm most likely dead. I am honestly not surprised by the fact, seeing how I couldn´t face a monster without being scared.

But you, you survived. And I am forever grateful for that. Cause then I know that there is always hope of happiness and peace for those people that surround you.

I just want you to know that I don´t want you to dwell in the past. What´s done is done, end of story. I can ensure you that whatever happened, is not your fault. We are all to blame for what happened.

I´m happy that I at least had a good time with you in SAO. You managed to pull me through my fears, and showed me how beautiful the virtual world can be. You made me believe in myself more than anyone else ever could, and I feel I owe you somehow. So I will now cash in my debt by giving you this photograph and necklace.

The necklace has been my special treasure for many years before the SAO death game even began. It had a special place in my heart when I was still alive, since it was a gift from my mother, who soon after giving me this necklace sadly passed away from illness.

I want you to have it.

Because, just like my mother, you were a special person to me, ever since day one. You protected me, helped me when I was scared, and told me everything was going to be ok. And even though I´m dead, I learned to accept death as a possible destiny for me. And I thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the special memories you gave me, right until my dying breath.

What I´m really trying to tell you with this blabbering is, that dwelling in the past is not good. Don´t dwell over what happened. Just remember all the fun times we had together, just you and I. And Kirito, please, do never forget me. That is all I ask of you in return for this necklace.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I might never have lived life to the fullest in my final days if it wasn´t for you. Thank you so much.

Love, your friend forever, Sachi.

Now I could no longer contain my tears. They were flowing like streams now, and I didn´t even want to stop them anymore. I just let my emotions go. Gave myself the freedom to cry.

"I´m so sorry Sachi… I will never forget you, I promise" I whispered out as I clutched the rose silver cross close to me, never wanting to let it go.

I ran outside in a heap and stood in the middle of the street, crying for a moment. I watched the sun for a bit and held the necklace close to me as all the memories me and the guild had shared rushed back to me in a flashback. I looked down at the necklace, with tears running down my cheeks again and again.

"Sachi… I don´t know if you can hear me" I whispered softly "But thank you… For everything"

And as I stood there in the street and looked up into the sky, drying my eyes in my sleeve, I could almost hear a faint whisper carried by the wind that rushed over me and the street.

"Thank you Kirito…. Good luck…"

A/N

Hey guys! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Gosh I just had to do this. The feels man. The feels!

Hope you enjoyed the extra sad part I put in the chapter in the end. Cause I think it came out rather good in the end.

I look forward to uploading the next chapter next week, and I hope you guys look forward to reading more of my stuff.

Thanks, and read you next week guys!