Thanks everyone for reading with me so far. I will be shifting to a semiweekly update schedule (once every two weeks) for the foreseeable future. I'm glad everyone enjoyed the changes to the confrontation with Sugou last chapter. It always incensed me the lack of agency that Asuna got in Fairy Dance, so that was one of the things I tried to fix. Without further ado, a new chapter, in which Kirito, Argo, and Asuna reconnect

Caring For A Rat: Book 2, Part 9

"CEO of RECT Progress, inc. arrested for holding 300 people in captivity in popular VRMMORPG Alfheim Online," I read off of the morning newspaper. "Sugou Nobuyuki was arrested at 11:53 pm yesterday after one of the trapped victims managed to free herself through means unknown." I paused, and looked over at Tomo, who was lounging indolently in the sun coming through the window.

"Was that what your phone call was about last night?" Tomo had left the room for approximately fifteen minutes after a nurse came in to check on Asuna and inform her that her soon to be ex-fiance had been taken away, and that he wouldn't be coming into her room.

While she had tried to be quiet, the hospital had poor soundproofing, and we were able to hear the muffled conversation that had taken place.

The info broker shifted languidly, letting the sun play out over her features. "Perhaps."

I sighed, and went back to the paper. "...While at this point it is uncertain if he will be charged with a crime-" Asuna snorted in contempt. I raised a tired eyebrow at the bed-bound woman, still feeling the effects of a night sleeping in a hospital chair.

"Please." My wife said, crossing her arms, "Any half-decent lawyer could hang him by his collar for kidnapping and unlawful imprisonment." She was looking far healthier today, although she was still confined to her bed. "In any case, enough about the creep, I want to know what you guys have been up to, oh and Yui, is she doing well? How did you wake her up?"

"Yui's doing well," I said, "Apparently she goes to sleep when I'm logged out, but we had a lot of fun on our journey through Alfheim. She's really eager to meet you again." Asuna smiled warmly.

"That's good." She nodded. "I want to see her again."

"As for us," I exchanged a glance with Tomo, who was visibly on edge. "Tomo's probably going to be moving into my place."

"Really? That's nice." Asuna said, clapping her hands together excitedly. "I'll have to think of an appropriate housewarming gift."

"That's okay with you, right?" Tomo asked suddenly, rolling over to look Asuna in the eye, her hair mussed from a night spent sleeping next to my wife. "That I'm going to be living with Kii-bou?"

"I don't see why not," Asuna said, somewhat taken aback. "It's not like you're going to try to cut him off from me." Tomo visibly relaxed, and I chuckled.

"You should probably be more worried about my sister." I scratched the back of my head. "She's not happy that I dived into ALO, even if it was to rescue you." Thankfully I had remembered my phone and was able to text her that I was staying at the hospital overnight, so she probably wouldn't be too worried about me.

"She also thought that I was his girlfriend for a long, long time," Tomo laughed, "Man, the look on her face when I told her that we weren't was priceless."

"Well, that's something we'll have to remedy," Asuna said, raising a shaky hand for the newspaper. She winced as the IV drip leading into her arm tugged painfully. She was still on a mostly liquid diet, and the IV would be coming out soon, but there were some nutrients that she couldn't digest well in her current state, so until that was solved, she was on an IV drip.

She seemed more fragile than ever before, and it took conscious effort on my part to not bundle her up in the sheets on her bed. She wouldn't like it if I did, and it would only make her weaker in the long run.

"You mean…" Tomo trailed off as the implications hit. "You guys still want me?"

"I thought that we established that a while back," Asuna said, and I nodded in support.

"We said we'd wait for you to make up your mind." I handed the newspaper over to Asuna, making sure to look Tomo in the eye. "And that our offer is open."

Tomo swallowed, shifting upright, gripping the edge of her seat tightly. "I-" Her eyes darted back and forth between Asuna and I, looking for signs of hesitance, "I do," she said, her shoulders collapsing forward as her head came up. "I want to- I want to be in a relationship with you two."

Asuna tried to let out a squeal of delight, but was cut off halfway through by a coughing fit as her throat, unused to speaking, made it's anger known. "Wow, Aa-chan," Tomo siad, skipping off her seat and rubbing Asuna's back as she coughed. "I'm really flattered ya think so much o' me, but next time let's try to keep the breath-stealin' metaphorical, kay?"

Asuna wrapped one arm around Tomo's shoulders, drawing the other girl as close as she could. "Get in here Kirito." She waved at me with her other arm.

"It's Kazuto, actually," I corrected, standing up and letting myself be drawn into the group hug.

"Shut up and come hug your new girlfriend," Asuna said, running one hand through Tomo's hair. Well, with a command like that, how could I refuse? I slipped into the bed next to Asuna, wrapping one hand around to grip Tomo as comfortably as I could.

Tomo reached up and grabbed my hand. I squeezed back. "I never thought that I'd end up here when I fell in love with ya two," my new girlfriend said, rubbing her thumb over the back of my hand.

"Well, I'm glad that we did," Asuna said. The rest of her sentence was forestalled by a knock on the door. By unspoken agreement, the three of us separated. I returned to my chair, and Tomo leaned back against the wall, trying to catch the sunlight.

Hopefully we looked inconspicuous enough.

"Come in!" Asuna called, her voice still a little weak.

A nurse opened the door, carrying with her a bowl of applesauce, and a small remote. "Well, it's nice to see you awake," She said. "I'm Nurse Fujita, and I'll be on call for you today until 7:00 pm." Fujita carried the tray over to Asuna, and set it down on the table next to the bed.

"Now, I know you're probably thirsty, so let's see how you do with a little water."

"I feel hungry for a lot more than just water," Asuna responded, reaching out for the bowl, but Fujita avoided her grasp.

"No lifting things until the physical therapist has had a chance to look you over, alright?" Fujita said, dipping a spoon into the water and pulling out a spoonful. "I know it's embarrassing, but I don't want you to spill water all over yourself, so can you please-"

"Can Kir-, sorry, Kazuto do it?" Asuna asked, "I'm sorry, it's just…" Thankfully, Fujita nodded, and offered the spoon and cup to me. I carefully fed Asuna for a few minutes, watching as she struggled to swallow the water. Even last night, she had struggled to keep the water down.

Tomo and I had gone through a similar process back when we first woke up, and the experience of swallowing something other than air for the first time in years was not fun. Asuna took the discomfort and pain much better than I was expecting, and before long Nurse Fujita put a hand on my wrist, stopping me from offering another spoonful to Asuna.

"Let's hold it here and wait to see how her stomach reacts, okay?" she said, lifting the bowl and spoon out of my hands and putting them down on the tray. "I'll be back in about half an hour, and then we can see about having the rest of the water, okay?"

Asuna nodded, and the nurse picked up the remote. "Now, if any of you need me for any reason, any reason at all, just call me using this yellow button." The button she was pointing at was large, yellow, and set slightly off to the side of center, in a way that would be very easy to press, but not easy to press accidentally.

"It also works for the TV over there, and we get satellite, so I'm certain you can find something you like." Nurse Fujita handed the remote to me, and turned to leave. As she opened the door, she paused, turning back. "Oh, and before I forget, your father is going to be here later today. He said that he would have been here sooner but that he had to run into the office for an emergency."

"Alright," Asuna said, fiddling with the blanket. I felt a surge of annoyance that the man couldn't be here for his daughter, but stamped it down. Asuna had barely been able to help ease my transition into the KoB, and she hadn't been dealing with a major scandal at the same time.

"Oh, and Ms. Yuuki?" Fujita said, pausing at the door. "It's good to see you awake." Asuna smiled tentatively back.

"It's good to be awake."

The nurse nodded. "I'm certain it is." With that, she closed the door, and we were alone again.

"Well," I said, "Does anyone want to watch some TV?" I held up the remote.

Approximately half an hour later, we had discarded any attempt to watch television, as there was nothing on that we wanted to watch. I still hadn't found any new shows that captured my attention, and none of the ones I had been interested in before were running at this time slot. It was a similar scenario for Asuna and Tomo. Instead, we were talking about the SAO task force, and what to expect from them.

"They're probably going to confiscate and then destroy your NerveGear, unless you can convince them to keep it somehow," I said, tapping out a list on my fingers. "What else, what else…"

"They're gonna want ta know about anythin' Sugou did ta ya in Alfheim." Tomo supplied.

"Right," Asuna nodded, her forehead furrowed in concentration. I paused, trying to figure out how best to word the question that occurred to me.

"He didn't…" I began, hesitantly. No, I needed to know. "Touch you or-"

"He didn't abuse me physically if that's what you're asking." I felt a weight I didn't even feel lift off me when Asuna spoke. "He was entirely too obsessed with his mind control tech to try and control me in any other way."

You could have heard a feather drop in the silence that followed.

"Mind…" I began, fearfully.

"Control?" Tomo finished, grabbing Asuna's hand. "He didn't, he didn't test any of it on you, did he?" She grabbed Asuna's head, peering into her eyes, trying to see if something was wrong.

"No," Asuna shook her head. "He said I was too 'precious' to be damaged by equipment failure."

I felt myself rise from my chair, my hands clenched into fists. I wanted to hit something. I knew that Sugou was a creep, but…

I hadn't known just how far he would go.

Even three years ago, I would have said that mind control was out of the question. But I had seen people afflicted by mental status ailments in SAO. I had seen people being so enraged that they couldn't tell friend from foe, people staring sightlessly with perfectly clear eyes, people made to hallucinate, or panic, or sleep at the drop of a hat.

What Sugou had been trying to do didn't sound quite as far-fetched anymore.

Was this what Kayaba meant when he warned us about the dangers inherent in Full Dive?

If Tomo hadn't found that picture… Would I have seen Asuna wake up, only to despise me? Would she have stared at me with hate in her eyes? Or even worse, apathy?

I grabbed on to Asuna's hand, desperate to feel her squeeze back against me, and to know that she still loved me.

"Thank god he failed," I said, bowing over her hand. "Thank god." If she had woken up not caring about me… I didn't know what I would do.

Asuna gently removed her hand from mine, and reached up to stroke my cheek. "Silly Kirito," She said softly. "You know I would have thrown off any amount of brainwashing the second I saw you." I leaned into her touch, relishing in the warmth. God I had missed her.

"Should I leave ya two alone so ya can make out?" Tomo grinned cheekily from the other side of the bed.

"I don't know," I countered. "Do you want to join?" Tomo flushed red, and Asuna and I had the rare experience of seeing a flustered Tomo.

"Ah, um, may...be?" The blonde girl said, running her hands through her hair. "Wait, no, I haven't brushed my teeth! My breath would smell really gross, I don't want ya ta have ta go through that."

"That's a shame," Asuna said, her voice low and seductive. "I was really looking forward to kissing you, you know." Even trapped in a bed and severely underweight, Asuna still managed to be one of the most beautiful people I had ever seen.

Tomo flushed further, her forehead turning red with what I now knew was embarrassment. Then she squared her shoulders, grabbed me by the collar, and tugged me forward. My lips met hers in a fiery kiss.

It was different from kissing Asuna. Tomo was more cautious, trying out little movements here and there, figuring out what to do. I gently gave way before her, guiding her as best I could into a comfortable position, with the two of us still bent over Asuna's bed.

All too soon, my new girlfriend backed off a bit. I surged after her, gently massaging her bottom lip between mine. Soon we were making out, our lips locked in an intricate dance.

Eventually I had to pull away as my back twinged in pain. Tomo was left panting, her face only slightly less flushed than it had been.

"My turn," Asuna said, reaching up and turning Tomo's head towards her, the blonde's eyes wide. I half expected to feel jealous as their lips met. My wife was kissing another woman, after all.

But I only felt a warm joy as they made out. They loved each other; why shouldn't they get to express it? When Asuna finally pulled away, Tomo stumbled back into a chair, breathing heavily.

She slowly brought a hand up to her lips, playing with them tentatively. "Wow."

"Feels nice, doesn't it?" Asuna said, running a hand seductively up Tomo's arm. Any further seduction was forestalled by a sudden grimace, as Asuna clutched her stomach with one hand.

"Ugh, I'm not certain I'll be able to finish that water." She glared at the cup, her brow furrowing.

"Do you want me to take it back to the nurse?"

"No." Asuna waved a hand, "She can just pick it up when she comes by later."

As if in response to Asuna's statement, the door opened and Nurse Fujita walked into the room. "Well Asuna, I've got some good news for you." She indicated a clipboard. "The physical therapist has indicated that he'll be able to come by tomorrow, and we can see about getting a routine set up for you, so that you can get out of that bed and walk as soon as possible, okay?"

My wife nodded, "Yeah, that sounds good."

"Oh, and Kazuto?" Fujita turned towards me. "Your sister's here. Should I send her up or do you want some more alone time?"

I felt a weight fall over me. Today was a Sunday, which meant that Sugu didn't have school. Was Asuna ready to meet my very overprotective sister? Was I ready for the two of them to meet? What if the two hated each other? My first instinct was to ask her to send Sugu away, but that wouldn't solve anything.

It would just exacerbate the problem.

Helplessly, I looked at Asuna.

"You can send her up." Asuna answered for me. "I'll have to meet her eventually, and no better time than the present."

I nodded my assent. Soon, we were left alone again.

"So, tell me about your sister," Asuna said, leaning back on the pillows propped up behind her. "You never did talk much about her in SAO."

"Well…" Where to begin? There was so much that made Sugu who she was, and trying to distill that all down was… a challenge. "Well, she's actually my cousin, for one." It was as good a place to start as any.

"I was adopted by my maternal aunt when I was two, so we've been raised as siblings," I started sketching out our relationship, touching on how she would defend me from bullies, had picked up Kendo to satisfy our grandfather when I wanted no part of it, and finished with probably the most impressive part: "...And just last year she placed in the quarterfinals of the national Kendo tournament!"

"That's really impressive!" my wife said, enraptured. "Now I really want to meet her." I chuckled nervously, scratching the back of my head.

"Well, she's not the most happy with you right now." Asuna tilted her head quizzically, her brow furrowing.

"Why not?"

"Well, I've been spending a lot of time here, at your bedside, and Sugu thinks that I'm setting my recovery back by doing that-"

"Yeah, you are." Suguha entered the room confidently, carrying a brown paper bag. "And since you didn't bother to grab anything before you left last night, I grabbed breakfast for you." Tomo perked up, her eyes scanning my sister while Asuna hummed in thought.

"Oh," I grabbed the bag, feeling guilty. I was a horrible brother, I didn't deserve a sister who cared about me this much, not when I had so consistently gone against her wishes. "Thanks." It felt inadequate. Especially when I unwrapped it and revealed a handmade rice ball.

"Well, It's nice ta meet ya again, Su-chan," Tomo chuckled from her seat by the window. "Thanks a bunch for takin' care o' this big lump."

Suguha narrowed her eyes at Tomo, tracing Argo's spriggan features onto the blonde girl. Before she could speak, Asuna cleared her throat.

"Ah, hello, Suguha, was it? I'm Asuna. It's nice to meet you." She held out a thin hand for my sister to shake. Suguha took it gingerly, shaking it with a sense of caution. Asuna responded by gripping more firmly, and meeting Suguha's caution with vigour. "Thank you for taking care of my boyfriend. I know that he can be a hassle at times."

"Ya say that as if ya didn't spend almost as much time grindin' in the dungeons as he did," Tomo leaned back, folding her arms behind her head.

"That's different," Asuna defended, "I had a good party backing me up, and I always bought your latest guide before going into a new dungeon if you had one."

"I think we all took care of each other to some extent," I said, sensing rising tempers that would need to be cut out before they could truly blaze.

Asuna and Tomo nodded in agreement. "Certainly felt like it at times," My new girlfriend said.

"Kazuto?" I turned towards Sugu, who had found a seat while me and my significant others- I felt a jolt of happiness at the thought; I was dating Tomo- had been talking. "I'm glad that you found someone to help you while…" She trailed off, looking awkward. It had to be hard for her. Asuna, Tomo, and I were very close, and despite my meager efforts to reconnect with her, I still felt like I didn't know her at times.

"Say, Suguha, was it?" Asuna asked, tapping a finger on her chin. Like always, she managed to change the course of a conversation as easily as I breathed. "Do you have any stories about Kirito when he was a child?" A surge of embarrassment rushed through me.

Suguha grinned evily, surely raking through the back of her mind for all the stupid shit I had done before getting trapped in SAO. "I sure do."

"Oh, this I gotta hear," Tomo said, leaning forward eagerly. "It's been a while since I heard such juicy info."

God, this was going to be mortifying.