Chapter 3: Quiet Eclipse

Kazuto stood in the doorway to the living room and stared at the five girls lounging around. "Close enough to what?" He asked as he moved to join his lovely wife Asuna on the couch. "Why are you all blushing?"

Sugu went to speak but couldn't find the words, Rika and Keiko both looked away blushing, and Asuna just buried her head in the crook of his neck. Finally, Shino, arguably the shiest on in the group, spoke up. "Asuna offered for you to take each of us out on a date."

Everyone stared at the brunette all bundled up on the chair. She had shamelessly revealed what they were planning while the others were all a flustered mess. Shino watched with slight amusement as Kazuto stared at her, then Asuna, then his sister.

"Run that by me again. You said 'Asuna'," he pointed to his wife, "offered all of you a date with me." His finger swiped right to left pointing at all of them before landing on his chest to finish his statement. "That is what I heard, correct?"

"More or less." Shino pushed her glasses up to her nose with her blanket covered hand. "We were talking about how we all have a cr..." She was interrupted by Sugu who threw a pillow at her. Said projectile knocked Shino's glasses into her lap, leaving her stunned. Since her glasses were nothing more than a bulletproof set of frames and clear lenses, she could still see everything just fine.

"Shush!" The pixie cut girl glared angrily before turning back to her brother.

Now he really wanted to know. If Sugu shut Shino up, then it was way more important than he thought. "Okay, now I want to know." Using his logic, and knowledge of people in the room, he turned to the one person who could never lie or keep a secret from him. "Keiko."

"Eeep!" The youngest girl squealed a bit as her name was called. "Y-Yes?"

"What are they talking about? It seems important if Shino said 'all'." He moved off the couch cushion and sat against the side next to her. His hand began to rub her head affectionately which made her purr like her cat Pina who rested in her lap. "Please?"

There was no way she could say no to him. She loved him so much and any affection he showed her was engraved in her great big heart. "I... uh... Asuna offered for all of us to go on a date with you because we all have crushes on you!"

Instantly, all the girls, except for Shino, turned on the youngest. "Keiko/Silica!" They all cried out one name or the other.

Rika simply pouted. "Traitor. Can never resist his touch." This wasn't the first time that Keiko had given away a secret because of Kazuto.

Astounded by what he was told, Kazuto turned to his wife. "Is this true Asuna?" He'd already heard it from Shino, but the way they reacted was different for Keiko.

The light haired woman looked away blushing. "Please, don't be mad." He nodded in response. "I offered it as a way for them to deal with their crushes on you."

He looked at all the ones around the room. He knew Asuna loved him, that was a no brainer. He also knew that Sugu did at one point in time during the events of ALO. But as far as the other three, he never even knew. "Wow. I had no idea you all felt that way."

"Of course you didn't," Rika started. "You and Asuna are so all over each other that we never even got a chance to try. N-Not that we'd ever come between you..."

Shino added on next. "We see how much you two love each other and we don't want to ruin that by trying to take you for ourselves."

"S-So, she offered that we each get a day out with you," Keiko finished blushing profusely.

"B-But since you have Yui now...," Sugu started before looking to where Yui's room is. "I don't want you to think that you have some obligation to return our feelings."

"Oh no," Shino cut in. "I say we make him take responsibility for our feelings," Redness soon crept on her cheeks as well. "Even if its just for a day."

As the four of them argued about whether to go through with it or not, Kazuto himself had gotten back on the couch and laid down with Asuna and was soon asleep with her on his chest. Asuna giggled and traced circles over his sternum. "I don't think you'll get him to agree to anything right now you guys."

The quartet stopped and looked over at Kazuto, who had fallen asleep as per usual.

Shino sighed. "Never fails to fall asleep."

"Even if its in the middle of something important," Sugu shook her head.

"I think he looks cute asleep," Keiko looked up from the floor and could see his face.

Rika scowled and blushed at her friend's comment. "Suck up."

Together, they all started to giggle. Asuna had also started to doze off on her husband's chest. "S-Sugu, we have a bedroom for you set up. Rika and Keiko, you can take our room if you want it. Shino you look very comfortable in that chair."

The once pinkette was the first to respond. "W-We couldn't take your room Asuna. That's like a total invasion of privacy."

"I doubt we'll be able to get him upstairs now," Asuna smiled as Kazuto wrapped an arm around her in his sleep. "And I don't think *yawn* he wants to get up either."

After a while, each girl left for their respective rooms. Shino went to get a glass of water and returned to her chair. As she bundled herself up again, she looked over at Kazuto and Asuna. She watched his breathing pattern. In, out, in and out. Then she eyed his chest movements. Up, down, up and down. In the end, she reached her conclusion.

"You're awake Kazuto. You have been the entire time."

The dark haired boy opened his eyes. "H-How could you tell?"

"Your breathing pattern changed from the last time I saw you sleep," That last time was in ALO when Yui was asleep in his lap. "You faked being asleep to get yourself out of that conversation, didn't you?"

Now that he was found out, he smiled. "Yea. Sorry Shino, I was just too nervous to come up with anything to say. I'm surprised you noticed I was awake still."

"I would have done what I could to get out of that conversation too, were I in your shoes. So I don't blame you at all. However, that does give me the opportunity to ask you..."

"Ask me what?" He was starting to get nervous again.

"What do you think of what we talked about? The dates and... how we all feel."

Kazuto used his free hand to rub his neck. "Well, I, uh... I was surprised to learn you all feel that way. I mean, I knew Sugu did but all of you...," His eyes looked away from Shino and up to the ceiling.

"Asuna didn't know either. The four of us were talking about baby stuff thanks you the way you acted with Yui. I think it was Sugu who brought up the characteristics she wanted in a man and they matched you perfect. That's when Asuna caught on."

"How did she take it?"

"She was surprised. Dumbfounded is another good word," She sipped her cup of water. "From there she just blurted out her idea saying it was Christmas present to the four of us. I was telling her that we were all content being as close as we are to you now right as you walked in."

Kazuto chuckled a bit and played with Asuna's hair. "She's always trying to be selfless to cover up for what she really wants."

"How so?"

"She wasn't sure how to take your feelings to heart and didn't want to come across as a bad friend so she made you the offer. In truth, I think she'd rather keep me all to herself. I'm fine with either result, as long as she's happy too," He pulled his hand away from his wife's hair and wrapped it around her. Then he looked over to Shino. "What about you? What do you want to do?"

Shino pulled her blanket up to her neck. Now she was completely covered save for her head. "I-I don't mind going out for a day. I'm not as hopelessly in love with you as the rest of them. And don't forget Alice."

"I don't think Alice loves me."

"Oh please." She scoffed. "You gained a whole new harem of girls in the Underworld. Each and everyone of them willing to follow you like a love sick puppy, just like we do," Her light giggle made him feel a bit better about it. "I saw how they all looked at you. They looked at you like we do."

Kazuto thought back to the friends he'd made in the Underworld. Alice, her sister Selka, his two students Ronie and Tiese, his mentor Sortiliena. Each and everyone of them left an important mark on his life. But most important of them all, Eugeo. As the Underworld timeline goes, Eugeo, Alice, and Kirito were all born on the same day. While still in testing, Kirito and the other two were best friends, inseparable. After Kazuto was attacked, he returned with no knowledge of what was happening and they didn't remember him. Once reunited with Eugeo, they began their journey as swordsmen. (You know this, I'm babbling to up my word count lol)

Anyway, Shino had joined after the war against the dark was declared to fight and save Kirito. She saw how the girls around him flocked to him and believed in him, despite his vegetative state. As expected, she was jealous as was Asuna. But that wasn't the pressing matter, so they put it aside.

"I admit that I had many female friends in the Underworld, but I don't think it was love." Kazuto smiled, looking back at his time there.

Shino once again rolled her eyes. "Kazuto, you dense moron, if they could have 'done it' with you without Asuna killing them, they probably would have."

He immediately blushed at the idea. "W-What do you mean?"

"They would have," her own blush creeping up, "had sex with you just once if they thought Asuna or I would have let them get away with it. Luckily, they never tried anything."

"Who all..?"

"Alice, some woman in purple, and two younger girls, a brunette and a redhead. Asuna knew their names. I don't."

"Purple... You mean Sortiliena Serlut. She was my swordsman mentor in that world. And the younger brunette was Ronie. She was more of my student than anything. Her and Tiese..." His mind wandered at the thought of Tiese. That poor soul lost everything she loved. Of course, she looked up to Kirito like Ronie did, but she loved another. She loved Eugeo. Even now, in what was left of the Underworld, the blue rose sword was past down her family line. During their time there, Kirito had given the sword to her when she was to be promoted to a lower Integrity Knight. Tiese became the thirty-second Integrity Knight, just like Eugeo. Ronie became the thirty-third.

"Tiese? I never met her I don't think."

"Tiese was another page in the academy, the redhead. She wasn't my student, she was... Eugeo's."

Shino didn't know a lot of what happened there. None of them really did. All they knew was they went in, fought a great war, got Alice and left. "Who is Eugeo? I never met him."

Kazuto took a deep breath. Part of him didn't want to go into it, but Shino fought to save him, twice. She deserved at least that. "Eugeo is... was my brother in that world. Not by blood, but by choice. We were raised together, fought together, and trained Ronie and Tiese together. The reason that Ronie was so infatuated with me, and Tiese with him, was that Eugeo and I saved her and Tiese from being attacked by two other knights. But I think they got their feelings before that."

"By attacked you mean..."

"Raped." He squeezed his eyes shut at the bad memory. "In the end, Eugeo had to fight a system that prevented killing. To overcome this, he lost his right eye which was the thing holding him back. He harmed one of the two knights and saved our pages. I killed the other one." The next part was going to make him cry, he knew it.

"What happened to him? I never met someone like that. I saw the red headed girl, but she was always holding that blue sword when she was with you."

"You saw how I was in that state. That depressing, lifeless shell of a person that didn't really understand." Shino nodded. "That was caused by Eugeo's death."

"H-He died?"

"Yea. We fought our way up the tower in the capital. A lot like Aincrad, it had 100 floors. Once we reached the end, I had to fight him. We did end up turning him back, then Eugeo, Alice, and I fought to bring her down, the Pointifex, ruler of Underworld's human race. Alice lost her right eye as she overcame the system as well. When I tried to finish it, Eugeo was... he was..."

Shino interrupted. "You don't have to finish Kazuto. I think I get it. That blue sword, the one you always had around you. The only reason she was the only one to hold it..."

"That was Eugeo's Blue Rose sword. I think part of me knew that Tiese would feel better with it in her arms as well. I remember bits and pieces of that time. I remember I woke up once looking for the sword only for Alice to tell me that I agreed to lend it to Tiese for the night so she could sleep better. I ended up giving to her later on after you all left, about a year or so." He looked over to Shino who seemed really interested in his story. "I'm sorry. I must being boring you to sleep over there."

"No, no. Not at all. I'm finally learning something about the mystery that is Kazuto Kirigaya. I-I'm sorry for having you go back into that story. I know it must be heartbreaking."

He wiped his eyes clear with his free hand. "Actually, it feels good to talk about it." His eye fixated on his wife who was lightly snoring on his chest. "Even she doesn't know it all."

"She doesn't?"

"Well, she did. But that was before our memory reset."

"How much of your memory did you two lose?"

"200 years worth."

Shino was shocked. 200 years of happy memories just lost in the blink of an eye. "Ouch. You two must have been hurt to lose all of those memories."

Kazuto smiled a bit. "I remember more than she does. About 5 years worth, but I'm not gonna tell her. Not yet."

"Yet?" She didn't know why she kept asking questions. Something about just hearing him open up.

"I'm writing a book for Yui and any other children we may have, or you all may have later on. It will detail the world we lived in for those five years. Ronie and Tiese will be the main characters probably. The title will be 'Moon Cradle'. I plan to give it to Asuna when I'm done." He kissed Asuna's head. "I don't mind that she doesn't know about our lives there. I know. That's enough."

Shino grimaced a bit. "The only real memory I have with you is in GGO. And you looked like a freaking girl the whole time. Even after it was over."

That made Kazuto grin. "Then how about we go with Asuna's plan. That way, I can give you a memory to remember."

"W-What are you planning to do?" She instinctively covered her chest, even under her blanket.

He threw his free hand up in defense. "N-Nothing like that. I meant like a walk in the park or a nice dinner date. Something like that."

As he laid out his simple yet effective plan, Shino had an internal war. 'You know you want him to do perverted stuff with you.' 'Shut up!'

Her thoughts raged as Kazuto laid back again. "Thanks Shino. For letting me ramble. You're a great listener."

"I think you just like to talk." She quieted her thoughts and rolled over in the chair. "Goodnight, black swordsman."

This made him laugh. "Goodnight, Sun God Solus."

While he imagined Shino pouting at his remark, she was grinning ear to ear. 'He does remember that.'