Caring For A Rat Part 9: Yui

I jolted awake at the slam of a pot, my back aching and my neck cramped. I had spent the night sitting in one of the chairs after much cajoling from Asuna, and now my body was paying the price. Groaning, I stretched out, my spine cracking as I worked the tension out of my body.

"Mornin' sleepin' beauty," Argo yawned from the doorway, her hair still tousled from a night of sleep. She had been strangely reluctant to sleep last night, insisting that she could take another shift despite having kept watch over the Mystery Girl for far longer than I or Asuna had.

"Morning," I replied, standing up and rolling my head around to try and work out some of my neck cramps.

"Any change?"

I glanced back at the girl resting on my bed, who had not moved between when I'd fallen asleep and when I'd woken up. "Not that I can tell."

"Aa-chan's makin' omelettes," Argo said, smiling a little at the thought of such delicious food. "If ya hurry, she migh' let ya choose what goes in it."

"Well, I'd best hurry then," I said, already hustling towards the doorway, "I wouldn't want to miss out on omelettes." Of all the foods that were quick enough to prepare for breakfast, Asuna was best at omelettes. However, the eggs necessary to make them were rare, mainly found in the early levels, where not many people farmed mats anymore, and she had taken to trying more exotic eggs in an effort to keep the quality of the ingredients up with her cooking skill.

When I walked into the kitchen, Asuna was determinedly scraping the bottom of a frying pan, and As I walked closer, she flipped a folded omelette onto a non-browned side, before reaching over to the spice rack and dusting it with what looked like dill. I waited till she wasn't holding anything before wrapping my arms around her.

"Morning," I breathed into her ear, resting my chin on her shoulder as she continued to work despite my presence.

"Good morning Kirito," Asuna said brightly, scratching my head with one hand while the other started to distribute ingredients across the yellow mass of egg and cheese that would soon become an omelette. "Did you sleep okay?"

"It could have been better," I admitted, leaning a bit more heavily into Asuna. Ah, it was so nice to just bask in her presence like this. "I acquired the statuses 'sore back' and 'stiffness' over the course of the night."

Asuna's breath huffed in mirth, "Well," she said, "I suppose it's a good thing that I'm preparing something that cures those status ailments, isn't it?"

I nodded against her neck. "I'd like some of the leftover pork in my omelette."

"Hmm," Asuna tapped her chin with one finger, "I could do it, but the sauce on the pork wouldn't mix well with the eggs we have, so it might be a bit more sour than you're expecting."

"That sounds okay," I hummed into Asuna's neck, making her giggle as my breath tickled her.

"Alright, Kirito, you need to let me cook." I lingered a moment longer, nuzzling into my wife's neck before I released her.

"I'm looking forward to breakfast."

"When are you not?" Asuna smiled over her shoulder at me, and I met her with a smile of my own.

I leaned back on the counter behind me, basking in the domesticity of watching my wife cook breakfast. I could almost forget that we were in a death game when we were like this.

"Kirito! Asuna!" Argo shouted, appearing in the doorway to the bedroom, making Asuna flip her omelette a second too early, causing some of it to spill out of the pan.

"Fuck!" I raised an eyebrow as Asuna cursed, frantically shovelling the pieces of omelette back into the pan.

"What is it Argo?" I called back, moving my hand so that I could open my inventory if I needed too. The woman looked confused, which while not an immediate sign of danger, was concerning.

"She's awake!" The excitement in her voice was palpable, offsetting the visible confusion on her face. Behind me I heard another curse and a clatter as Asuna dropped something in her excitement.

The strange girl was sitting up in bed, looking around at her surroundings with an intense kind of curiosity, her eyes gleaming with the eager inquisitiveness only a child could manage. She didn't seem overly perturbed about the strange surroundings, more confused about how she had gotten there than worried about what it might mean.

"Hello." Asuna took the lead, as she usually did in social situations. Her term as the closest thing SAO had to a politician had made her very adept at dealing with people of all sorts, even the children that mainly resided in the school down on the first floor. "It's really nice to see you awake."

When the girl merely blinked in response, her face not changing in the slightest aside from that, Asuna started asking questions. "Do you remember what happened to you?" The girl cocked her head, but otherwise made no effort to respond.

"Alright then." Asuna sat down on the edge of the bed, moving her torso so that she was still facing the mysterious girl. "Can you tell us your name?" At her words, the little girl withdrew into herself, and started muttering.

"M- M- My- na- my name I th- I- I thin- think-" The girl mumbled to herself, her mouth seeming to roll over the words as if she was testing out how they sounded and felt, like she was speaking for the first time. "I- it- issss- Yu- Yuiiii- Yui. My name is Yui" The girl, now named Yui, finished with a small smile that seemed to make the room glow.

"Well Yui, it's nice to meet you," Asuna said, "I'm Asuna, this is Kirito, and the lady next to him is Argo." I could feel Yui's eyes hone in on us; there was something heavy about them, but I couldn't figure out what it reminded me of. Next to me, Argo stealthily grabbed my arm, her cloak concealing any movement.

"Una?" Yui spoke slowly, her mouth struggling to form the complicated shapes needed to make up my wife's name. "Kito? Ago?" Argo's hand clenched so hard on my arm that I thought for a second that my health would start ticking down, only to remember that we were in a safe zone. When I looked over, her lips were squeezed tightly shut, quivering from the laughter that wanted to escape. I reached across and pried her hand off my arm.

Asuna smiled serenely, and kept talking to Yui. "It's okay," She said, "Now, I need you to try to remember what happened to you. Can you do that for me, Yui?" The young girl once more shrunk in on herself, her lips moving without actually saying anything.

"I, I can't," Yui started, her eyes shooting wide open in panic, "I can't remember anything!" The girl's eyes narrowed onto a single point on the wall, and she stared at it, unblinking.

"Hey," I said, trying to get her to focus on something other than her circumstances, "You're awake." When Yui stared blankly at me, I sat down on the bed next to the wall, angled so that I could talk with her easily. "It's nice to meet you; I'm Kirito."

The little girl stared intently at me, her mouth struggling to form the syllables that made up my name. "Kito?"

"Ki-ri-to" I sounded out my name for her, "And the one in the back is Argo," I waved my hand back towards Argo, who responded with a wave.

"Nice ta meet ya squirt, can you say Ar-go?" Argo sauntered forward, hiding her nervousness under a heavy layer of showmanship and bravado. Asuna and I exchanged a fond look. Argo had never been very comfortable around children, and turned all the attributes that made up the persona of "The Rat" to their furthest extent when interacting with them. She still didn't know why she was so popular when she visited the first floor orphanage.

"Ago?" Yui said hesitantly, her mouth mulling over the name as it came out.

"Close, it's Ar-go."

"A-go," Yui repeated, her mouth not able to make the needed consonant to produce Argo's name.

"Tell you what, kid," Argo said, sitting down on the couch in between me and Asuna. "You can call me whatever makes you the most comfortable,"

Yui sat in silence for a few moments, before her mouth sounded out a word that made Argo freeze in stupefaction. "Ago-mama?"

"Me?" Argo pointed to herself, as her brain tried to reboot from the shock of having a young girl call her 'Mama'. Yui nodded, once.

"Congrats on your adoption, Argo," I said, enjoying the sight of the info broker's face going slack, her jaw dropping to form her mouth into a cute little 'o'.

"We'll be here to help you through every step of the way," Asuna said, placing a reassuring hand on Argo's shoulder. The Rat flushed red in response, and I braced myself for the incoming outburst of anger when Yui's voice, now a little more confident, cut through the room.

"Papa."

Slowly, I turned, feeling much like a swimmer does when he spots a shark fin circling in the waters near him. Hesitantly, as if speaking would confirm it, I gestured to myself and said a single word. "Me?"

When Yui nodded, I felt as though the house had collapsed on my shoulders. I readied myself for Argo to start laughing, and teasing me about the young girl assuming things about our relationship. She'd done it before. But instead, when I turned around, Argo was fidgeting, hunched in over on herself, looking much like she didn't know what to do.

"Look, Yui," I began, "I'm… grateful… that you think I'd be a good father, but I'm in a relationship with Asuna-"

"Una-mama," Yui nodded sagely, like she had unravelled some great secret of the universe.

Asuna let out a small sound, something between a yelp and a sharp inhalation, before speaking. "Argo, Kirito, why don't you two go get breakfast. I'd like to speak with Yui alone for a bit."

I exchanged a look with Argo, who seemed about as apprehensive as I felt. The info broker shrugged, and I got the message. There's really nothing we can do here.

"Okay," I said, feeling very much out of my orbit here, like someone had switched two of the digits of Pi around when I wasn't watching. The world seemed to spin around me as Argo and I walked out of the room, and it didn't stop spinning as I sat down at the table.

Argo flopped down opposite me, wearing the same expression of bewilderment that I was sure was on my face.

"Well," The Rat began, tipping her head back to stare at the ceiling, "What a day."

"What a day indeed," I agreed, slumping over on the table. It wasn't even 7:30 and I was already worn out.

"So…"

"...Yeah."

"You wanna try and fix up the omelettes?"

"No," Argo shook her head, "I don't have the cooking skill, so I'd probably just burn them or worse."

"I'll go get us some leftovers then." I rose from the table, and plodded towards the cabinets, still feeling the weight of the awkward silence between us.

Thankfully, we still had a little bit of the pork stir fry from last night, so even if it was cold, we'd have something to eat.

Argo and I ate in silence. It was frustrating, that the atmosphere was so awkward. All the comfort and friendliness that I had come to love over the past week had vanished. I should have done something better, refuted Yui's assumption better. Maybe then I would be able to look Argo in the face.

Thankfully, the awkwardness is somewhat dispelled by the bedroom door opening again. Asuna ushers a yawning Yui through, and the little girl mumbles something about food as she moves toward the kitchen. Asuna heaved a sigh, then scraped up what omelette she managed to cook.

"We're heading to the first floor directly after breakfast." Asuna's tone brooked no argument. Not that I had any plans for what to do today in the first place.

The conversation over breakfast was somewhat light, with the three of us all entertaining Yui to various degrees, any awkwardness fading as the very, very cute girl asked earnest questions about Aincrad, with a particular focus on the people who made up it's inhabitants.

"So if I ever need anything I go to Egg-il?" Yui frowned cutely as she tried to sound out the merchant's name.

"Not everythin'," Argo corrected, "I can probably tell you where it is for cheaper."

"And Agil, while he is a very good man, mostly deals in material support," Asuna said, changing out her indoor slippers for more suitable shoes outside. "So if you have a serious problem, you can come to us."

"Alright, let's head out," I said, opening the door to "my" apartment. A cold breeze swished through as I did so, and Yui, in her thin white dress, shivered. "Oh shoot." I hurriedly closed the door. I'd forgotten that it was fall, and Yui would need more protection than what she was wearing.

Not only that, but it was one of the rare "cold days", where the temperature was approximately two degrees celsius colder.

"You shoul' probably equip somethin' heavier, squirt," Argo said, scrolling through her inventory to pick out the scarf that Asuna had sewed her for days such as this. She never changed out that scarf, even though Asuna had only made it when she was a novice sewer.

"Equip?" Yui said, cocking her head to the side quizzically.

"Yeah, Equip, like when you change your gear?" I said, flipping open my menu as an example.

"Equip…" Yui formed her hand into a close approximation of the gesture I had just made, and swiped her menu open. "Ah!"

I almost yelped as well. Yui's menu was different from any other menu I had seen before. Even the basic page had more columns and rows available than any other I had seen before, and I caught glimpses of corrupted labels from over her shoulder as I guided her to the inventory screen.

Getting her actual clothes was a bit of a hassle, and Asuna had to grab a spare set of casual gear for her. She equipped her gear without complaint however, seeming to enjoy wearing the much warmer stockings and dress, although I think what fascinated her the most were the shoes.

Yui seemed to delight in stepping on as many different surfaces as she could, trying to feel the differences between them through the boots that Asuna had given her. It was as she was balancing on the land-side curb of the street that Argo approached me.

"She's really cute, isn't she?" The info broker asked rhetorically, smiling as Yui almost stumbled off the curb. She spoke a bit loudly to be heard over the noise of the stream nearby that supplied water-wheels in some of the shops.

"She sure is," I smiled myself, as Asuna sidled up on the side of us, trying to join our conversation.

"You know, I never though' we'd be raisin' a kid together, Kii-bou, Aa-chan,"

My foot hit the edge of the sidewalk, and I almost tripped and fell.

"Argo," I said, bewildered, "what?"

"We're just finding her parents, aren't we Argo?" Asuna said, one eyebrow raised.

The Rat's face was shadowed. "I didn' wan' to say this where Yui coul' hear, but mos' of the kids in this game are bein' taken care of by one lady on the first floor named Sasha," Argo sighed heavily, "An' she's never had a kid named Yui in her care, from what I remember."

"So she's been on her own all this time?" Asuna said, looking stricken.

"Musta' been," Argo answered, scratching the back of her head, "I haven' though' abou' it too much, but she's not a normal kid, even for SAO."

"No wonder she's an amnesiac, if she's been struggling for survival on her own for the past two years." Even I, who had avoided almost all social contact for months at a time on occasion had been unable to ignore some aspects of the network that SAO players had built up.

Weapon repairs from a blacksmith, food from Asuna, new armor from the tailors and armorsmiths, I needed many things to play a Solo style, and I couldn't provide most of them on my own. So how had Yui been able to survive on her own for so long?

"Well," Argo said, "There's still a chance that Sasha can take care o' her, but she's already swamped as is, an' Yui's a real cute-"

"Mamas, Papa, Look!" Yui shouted, drawing us out of our conversation and making my eyes widen in shock. "It's so fast!" The little girl laughed, leaning out over the rapidly flowing stream, heedless of the fact that she could fall in and be swept away at any time, the water destroying any resistance to cold damage her gear had, until she was thrown up in the middle of a field, alone, suffering from several debuffs and forced to fight monsters over thirty floors above where we had found her.

I had just drawn in breath to yell at her when I saw her lean out too far over the water, trying to touch it with one hand.

Her foot slipped, and I saw her eyes widen as she started to fall.

For a split second, I saw another black-haired girl falling…

...And shattering.

Before I could move, I was almost bowled over by a sudden blast of wind. Asuna moved so fast if it wasn't for the distinct lack of light I would have thought she had teleported as she dived for the girl who was now falling.

Falling into the ice-cold river.

I barely even noticed my leg burning from the sudden acceleration and then deceleration I had put on it. The only thing that crossed my mind at that moment was Yui, falling into the river.

The world seemed to stop for a brief instant, as all three of us ran towards Yui, Asuna already lunging forward. Snatching her by the collar. Yanking her back over the lip of the canal.

By the time I slid to a stop, Yui was held tightly by Asuna, who was on her knees, nuzzling the young girl's hair. I didn't hesitate to join the little huddle, and I felt Argo's warmth wrap around my side half a second later.

We'd only known her for less than a day, not even half of one, and she had already almost died.

"Let's be more careful from here on out, okay?" I murmured to much more sedate Yui. The young girl nodded against Asuna's chest, sobered by her near-death experience.

It took us almost five minutes to get started again, and by some unspoken agreement, Asuna held Yui by the hand while we walked.