Hey all, Sorry about the near Two-month abscence from this story. I've been dealing with a lot recently, but hopefully the next update, a small epilogue, should take less time. The bad news is that I will officially be putting this fic on Hiatus after that chapter while I work on book 3, which will focus on the familial relationships of our various protagonists. I might even have time to come up with a separate title for it.
Thanks everyone for being so Patient, and without further ado: here is a new chapter, in which Tomo visits the Kirigaya household.
"Are you certain you'll be okay?" Kazuto could be a bit of a mother-hen at times, Tomo thought, leaning back against the wall as her boyfriend fussed over their mutual girlfriend as she settled back into her bed. The ride back had been tense, with none of the easy conversation that had marked the first half of the ride to the hospital, and Tomo had had to scrap any plans of hitching a ride to Kazuto's house after getting Asuna settled in.
"I'm fine, Kazuto," Asuna said, her voice tight with annoyance as she brushed off her partner's hands. "You go show Argo her new quarters, okay? I'll still be here tomorrow, you know?"
Kirito pulled back from the bed, wringing his hands as he cast one last glance around the room.
"Hey," Asuna reached out with one frail arm and grabbed his clasped hands. "I'll be alright." She squeezed her partner's hand reassuringly, and Tomo couldn't help the pang of jealousy in her heart. "Besides, you have my phone number and I've instructed the doctors to contact you if anything changes, okay?" Asuna continued, stroking one thumb reassuringly over Kirito's hand.
"Okay." Kirito nodded, his shoulders marginally more relaxed.
"Now give me a hug, and I'll see you tomorrow." Asuna lifted her arms up, and Kirito returned her embrace. The two looked so natural like that, even with the awkward position of Asuna having to half-turn while seated. They fit together so well, that it almost seemed—
"Tomo, get over here." Asuna's face popped out of Kazuto's shoulder and one arm reached out towards the info broker. "I need to give you a hug as well." Kazuto half-turned, his arm reaching out in parallel to Asuna's.
Tomo felt the swirling dregs of jealousy vanish like dew under the morning sun. Of course they would make sure there was room for her. They always had.
The fencer was warm under Tomo's touch, as though her frail body couldn't hold all the energy that made Asuna, Asuna. "I'll see you tomorrow, Aa-chan." The info broker said as she pulled away, letting one hand run down Asuna's arm to preserve their moment of contact.
"See you tomorrow Tomo."
The info broker couldn't resist getting one last cheeky comment in as she went through the door. "Oh, and let me know if there's anything in one of those books you want to try out!"
"Try out— is one of these a—" Asuna's rising voice was cut off by Tomo closing the door, gently, so as not to disturb the other patients.
"Alrigh', let's go." She whispered to Kazuto, who was looking at her strangely.
"You didn't… actually sneak a sex book in there, did you?"
"A sex book?" Tomo scoffed. "I was talking about the three-person date ideas." She started to walk down the corridor, the clicking of her cane accompanying hers and Kazuto's footsteps.
"And you just so happened to say it in such a suggestive way." Kazuto nodded, looking entirely too sure of himself.
"Eh, it's fairly tame, as far as pranks go."
"You do realize that this will make her read through all of those books obsessively?" Kirito asked as they entered the elevator, readying themselves for the drop.
"You say that like she wasn' already goin' ta." Tomo countered, spinning one-hundred and eighty degrees to look Kazuto in the eye as she entered the elevator, walking backwards for the last few steps. "Sides, this way we can get a few ideas fer our next date!"
"Ah, right, that," Her boyfriend's face colored slightly, before he scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. His motion was punctuated by the "ding" of the elevator opening.
Tomo couldn't help giggling. It was always cute when Kazuto got flustered.
"It's okay Kii-bou, we've got a while ta come up with somethin'." She grabbed her boyfriend's hand, and started walking out of the elevator. "In the meantime, let's go see my new digs, 'kay?"
"Yeah, that sounds good." Kazuto said, nodding as he kept pace with her. "My mom doesn't have work today, so she'll be home to—"
"Your mom's gonna be there?" Tomo asked, her voice unnaturally tight.
"Hmm, yeah," Kazuto said, unaware of how Tomo's heart was starting to pound. "She said something about wanting to meet you."
"She wants ta meet me?" The info broker's throat felt dry, and she swallowed. Her meeting with Kazuto's sister had been tense enough, and she had known about that one hours in advance. It was just a twenty-minute walk to her boyfriend's home from the hospital. He'd mentioned it a couple of times.
"Yeah. I think she wants to 'evaluate' you, see if you're trying to take advantage of me or something."
"You'd know if I was tryin' ta take advantage of ya." Tomo teased back, nudging her boyfriend in the elbow. Inside, her heart was racing. I'm meetin' Kii-bou's mom before Aa-chan? That's not right. She was his girlfriend first, an' they got married in Aincrad. She should be the first one ta meet her.
Wait, am I even ready ta meet her? Do I introduce myself as his girlfriend? Does she know about Aa-chan? Does Kii-bou want his parents to know that we're dating?
"Tomo?"
"Yeee?!" The info broker yelped as Kirito poked her cheek.
"Hey, it'll be okay." He laid his hands on her shoulders, staring into her eyes reassuringly. "She's going to love you. I know it."
That's not the problem! Tomo wanted to scream at him, but his gaze was so full of that unshakeable certitude that had sparked her crush on him that all she could do was nod.
"I reserve the right ta yell at ya if this goes wrong," Tomo said, making her boyfriend chuckle.
"You probably won't be the only one yelling if this does go wrong," He said, dropping his hand down to grasp hers. "Now come on, let's go. My house is this way."
The house was surprisingly quiet when I opened the door. I could hear the hum of the heater, and the rumbling of the dishwasher, but it was otherwise quiet, given that mom had told me she was going to be spending the day cleaning up. Maybe she got done early?
That or she was working in some other area of the house.
"I'm home!" I called out as I took off my shoes, Tomo half a step behind me. I grabbed one of the spare pairs of slippers for my girlfriend, as I put my own on. "The kitchen's this way. We can grab a snack before I take you on a tour," I said over my shoulder as I moved toward the hallway, Tomo oddly quiet as she followed.
The wooden floors of my house creaked slightly beneath our feet as we moved past the closet near the entrance, sitting opposite the old-fashioned hat stand that my parents had refused to get rid of.
My plans, however, were interrupted when my sister appeared at the end of the hallway.. "Kazuto?"
"Oh, hey Sugu," I said, waving in greeting. "How's it going?"
"Could be better," my sister grumbled, crossing her arms. "My sensei got sick today, and forgot to tell me until I was already almost there, so I biked all the way there for nothing."
"Gonna be in the dojo then?" I asked rhetorically. Sugu's workout schedule made my physical therapy look easy, and she threw herself into it with an enthusiasm that I almost envied..
"Yep, was gonna grab a water bottle and head over," She said, shrugging the Kendo bag looped over her shoulder back into place. "Oh, hey Hosaka." She gave an absent wave to my girlfriend, who jumped.
"Hey, Kii-chan," She said, leaning on my shoulder. A feat, given that she was almost a full head shorter than I was.
"You're here for the tour, I assume?" my sister said, waving for us to follow as she turned around. "You're in luck." she continued without waiting for an answer. "Mom just got done with the family room, so she should be available to help you guys out."
"Help with what?" My mom said, opening one of the few doors in the house. Upon seeing me, she let out a small sound of realization. "Oh, Kazuto, you're home. How did your outing go?"
"Pretty well," I said, taking in the atypical outfit my mom was wearing. She was dressed in a turtleneck and a pair of sweatpants, both a shade of light grey that complimented her hair rather well. She was also wearing her glasses, round, wire-rimmed frames that I rarely ever saw, what with the combination of her work often taking her away from home for months at a time and her preference for contacts. "Asuna's got a couple of books to read, so she shouldn't be too bored for the rest of her stay at the library."
"That's good," Midori Kirigaaya said, straightening up to her full height, only a bit taller than I was. "So." She clapped her hands together, her gaze traveling over the, to her, unfamiliar presence at my side. "You must be Miss Hosaka!"
"That's me," My girlfriend said, "Thanks fer given' me this opportunity, Miss Kirigaya,"
"Please, come sit! I don't have any meals prepared at the moment, but we do have a wide variety of premade onigiri and some ramune if you're thirsty."
"Oh, no, ma'am, I-I'm alright," Tomo raised her hands in an attempt to politely decline, but my mother would not be deterred, and usher her into the kitchen/dining room hybrid that our family cooked and ate in.
"Nonsense," Midori clucked her tongue. "You must have just walked from the hospital, yes?"
"Yeah, but,"
"Then your legs must be tired. My son's legs are usually tired whenever he has to go on a long walk these days. Here, sit." My mom all but forced Tomo into a chair, and I grabbed one of my own before she could turn her attention to me. "Now, what would you like for a snack?" My mom asked Tomo, already starting to ruffle through the pantry.
It was rare to see mom in full mother-hen mode, or at least, it was from what I remembered of my time before Aincrad, what little of it I spent with my family. These days it seemed to appear more, particularly right before one of Suguha's Tournaments. Given how rarely she was home, I guess she was just trying to make up for her absences.
"Well, what sorta delicacies do ya have, miss Kirigaya?" Tomo said, starting to recover her balance, a familiar calculating gleam returning to her eye.
It was the most composed she would be for a while. My mom had been relentless, engaging us in conversation while we snacked on the leftover fish and pickled plums that had been yesterday's dinner and insisting on guiding Tomo through the house.
At least she wasn't going to stop me from coming along, I was a little worried about what my new girlfriend might do if she ended up alone with my mom.
I managed to get Tomo a brief reprieve while my mom washed down the dishes by pulling her aside under the pretense of showing her where the washroom was.
"Are you okay, Tomo?" I asked as my girlfriend visibly relaxed on our walk toward the first floor washroom.
My girlfriend gave a dry chuckle. "Ya coulda' warned me, Kii-bou." she elbowed me in the side rather sharply. "Woulda' liked a bit more time ta prepare myself."
"Sorry," I winced, only partially because of the impact. "I should have said something, but Mom only mentioned wanting to meet you yesterday and you already seemed to have a lot on your plate with the library." I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly. "That and she's not usually this…" I trailed off, wracking my brains for the appropriate word before my girlfriend interjected.
"Smotherin'?" Tomo raised an eyebrow in disbelief.
"Yeah, that's it." I snapped my fingers. "She's usually a bit more… distant." I shrugged my shoulders helplessly. "I really don't know why she's being like this. She wasn't this bad when I first got home." of course, she also had work almost every day then, but still…
"Eh, I've dealt with far worse on shorter notice," Tomo shrugged, "Just need a bit o' space ta prepare myself."
"Tomo," I said, my tone deep and serious. "If you don't want to be around her, tell me and I can work something out. I… I don't want this to be a bad experience for you because my mother was too overbearing."
"Eh, she's not too bad—"
"Tomo," I interrupted her, reaching out and grabbing her hand. "You were more off balance there than I've ever seen you before. If there's anything I can do, tell me."
My girlfriend's eyes widened, before she shrugged. "I-I'm a bit nervous, that's all. I'll be fine." She squeezed my hand back reassuringly, before slipping out of my grasp. "It's just… what are we gonna tell her?"
"Tell her…?" I tilted my head, confused for a bit. I'd already mentioned the particulars of Tomo's housing situation to my mom, and that she was… my… friend…
"Oh."
Tomo nodded, "I don't know if ya already told her that ya were datin' Aa-chan, but what if she thinks we're datin'? Do we deny it? Deflect it? Say we're just friends?" The petite info broker started pacing back and forth in front of me, tapping off points on her hands.
"I want ta build a good relationship with yer mom, since she seems like she's the only parent among all o' ours who's good at carin', but what if she thinks that I'm tryin' ta steal ya away from Aa-chan, or thinks that I'm a bad influence on ya—"
"You kind of are," I said, rubbing my chin; trying to take my mind off of the growing anxiety I could feel in my own heart. "A bad influence, I mean."
Tomo glared at me halfheartedly. "Not what I meant, and ya know it."
"Still," I said, letting my hand fall back to my side. "I, I don't think you have to worry too much about her not liking you. She was ecstatic that I'd managed to make friends in Aincrad, and, well, she doesn't serve the good plums to just anyone."
"Really?" Tomo asked, her nerves making her look for a confirmation that she normally wouldn't have needed. I nodded in response.
My girlfriend's face broke out into a small smile. A tender thing, to be cherished and supported gently. "Good," She said, the smile growing steadier. "That's… good."
"I told you she'd like you," I said, nudging her with my elbow as we started walking again, this time heading back toward the kitchen.
"Yeah, ya did," Tomo said, even as her smile turned into a frown. "But, we still have ta figure out what we're gonna tell her about our relationship."
In the end, we decided that Tomo and I would pretend to be close friends to my family. Well, Tomo was really the one who decided it. She almost started sweating when I proposed just telling my mom the truth; that I was dating two women, they were dating each other, and we were all happy with the situation. Maybe once our relationship was more established, we could come out, but Tomo had been all but terrified of doing something that might cause my mom to hate her. Given how she would rather move in with three strangers and me rather than go back to her parents, I could hazard a guess as to why that was the case.
Shortly after we had settled on our agreement, my mom came looking for us, having decided that we were taking too long, and that she might as well meet us on the way back from the bathroom.
"C'mon, let me show you around," My mom said, waving for us to follow after she had made sure we were both alright. "This house has been in our family for almost 300 years—"
"300 years?" Tomo whistled. Why didn't ya ever tell me yer parents were old money, Kii-bou?"
"That's because we aren't really," I said, and my mom nodded.
"Our family used to be a Samurai clan, but we lost most of our wealth and influence during the Meiji Restoration, and now all we have left of worth is this House. Still, it's a nice house." My mom patted the wall fondly.
"We've lived here ever since the family moved to Tokyo in the late Shogunate, but we've made extensive renovations over the years. This—" My mom swept open the door in front of her. "—is the least diverged room in the house." She finished, indicating the dojo, where even now Suguha was running through a series of Sword Drills.
"Even though it's a dojo, we all use it for general exercise as well, so if you need to, feel free to do your workouts in there," My mom said as my girlfriend took in the space. I had told her that we had a dojo, but I didn't think that she believed me until now. The room itself was fairly spacious, perhaps 15 meters long and ten wide. It was easily the single largest room in the house, in addition to being the oldest.
Tomo just nodded in response, still looking around the room. She stayed quiet as we moved on from the Dojo to the living room, an area perhaps half the size of the Dojo with a seldom-used TV and a table that we occasionally played games at when I was younger.
It didn't see much use these days.
When she stayed quiet even beyond that, I carefully positioned myself next to her while my mom was talking about our television plan. "Is everything ok?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah," Tomo said in a very distracted manner, shaking her head as if to clear some cobwebs away. "I'm fine, I just, yer pretty rich, huh Kii-bou?"
"We're not rich," I said, all too aware of the distinction. "Asuna's family is rich. I don't even have a stock portfolio."
"Uh-huh," Tomo nodded, looking unconvinced. "Most people don't have an actual dojo built into their homes, Kii-bou."
"That doesn't mean we're rich," I contested. Tomo just gave me that knowing smirk of hers that meant 'I'll humor you, but you're not changing my mind.' "Oh, forget it. In any case, what do you think so far?"
"It's pretty big," she said, stretching her arms out. "I mean, this feels like a house out in the country, not in a Tokyo Suburb."
"It is kinda big," I agreed. "I think we've got a few bedrooms that we aren't using."
"That we do," my mom said. I almost jumped as she reminded me of her presence, but steadied myself in time. "I was thinking that we could go and check them out next, okay?"
"Anythin' else we could be checkin' out?" Tomo raised an eyebrow, the corner of her lips tugged upwards in half a smirk.
"Well, there's the pantry, but you already caught a glimpse of that," I said, raising my hand and starting to count off on it. "There's also the bedrooms already in use, but I don't know why you'd want to see my mom's room."
"Ooh, could we go see Kii-bou's room?" Tomo said, resting an arm on my shoulder. "It's been a while since I got to find somethin' embarrassing' about him."
"Sugu told you about my brief and unhealthy interest in cosplay not even a full week ago," I said, nudging her in the side forcefully.
"Yeah, a week ago," Tomo repeated, like it had been an eternity since then. "Yer not even flushin' when I show you the pictures anymore."
"I've grown numb."
Tomo laughed and headbutted me lightly. "That's why I gotta get more blackmail."
"To keep me perpetually flushed? Is that it?"
"Why else would I need it?" Tomo's smug grin makes my heart skip a beat, the way it usually does nowadays, yet I couldn't help but want to wipe it off her face.
"Well, If you're going to be so insistent about gathering blackmail, I think I should remind you of what I do to blackmailers," I said, curling one hand into a claw and starting to advance upon my girlfriend
Her eyes widened as my hands rose, and she backed away slightly. "Now, Kii-bou, don't do anythin' rash, I still haVE—"
"Blackmailers get noogies!" I cried, and pounced. Tomo tried to dodge to the side at the last moment, but it was obvious she hadn't spent time getting to know the limits of her physical body the way I had, and it was easy for me to catch her and pull her into a tight embrace, one hand already rubbing furiously at the top of her head.
"Kii-bouuuuu!" Tomo whined as I lifted her off the ground, her hands tugging at my arm. "I worked hard on thaat!"
"Blackmailers must be punished!" I said cheerfully as my girlfriend kicked halfheartedly in the air. I released her half a second later, keeping one hand on her head.
"Keep this in mind next time you try to blackmail me, okay?" I said with a smile. Tomo spun on her heel to face me, managing to mess up her hair even worse than I had.
"There will be consequences for this." Tomo intoned, her eyes mirthful even as her voice was dark and serious.
"I'm certain there will be," I said, letting my hand drop. "Now, let's go take a look at my room so that you can gather some blackmail material."
"I'll leave you two to it, then," My mom said. I wasn't too proud to admit that I had jerked in surprise, having forgotten completely about her while bantering with Tomo. "Oh, and Kazuto?"
"Yes?"
"Make sure to let your girlfriend choose her own room," my mom said with a smile. And then she left.
I exchanged a look with Tomo. She looked about as shocked and uncertain as I felt. We hadn't been that affectionate, had we?
"I'll go after her," I said, already starting towards the door, only for my girlfriend to grab my arm.
She took a deep breath as I looked back at her, before starting to speak hurriedly. "Can—can I talk with her about this?" Her eyes were clouded with something I couldn't quite figure out, but I couldn't refuse her. She'd put up with a lot of surprises from me today. The least I could give her was this. I nodded.
"After, we take a tour o' yer room, o' course," She continued, dropping her hand. "I need time ta think."
"Of course," I said, gesturing towards the door. "Shall we?"
"We shall," Tomo said with an air of fake haughtiness, raising a hand to cover her grin.
In the end, both showing Tomo my room and helping her select one from the two spare rooms we had available turned out to be something of a footnote, compared to the emotional turmoil of dealing with my mother. She chose the room on the first floor, citing an ability to easily get to it if she needed to, but privately I suspected she just didn't want to have to deal with stairs again, given that her current apartment was on the 12th floor of it's building.
Her conversation with my mom, on the other hand, was something I had no participation in. I had remained mostly silent as Tomo explained that yes, we really were just friends, and that I already had a girlfriend, while making no mention of her recent addition to our relationship.
Mom had looked somewhat dubious at Tomo's statement, but accepted it without complaint, and reaffirmed her decision to let Tomo stay. It was after she left, after I had made certain she had her train pass, a can of mace to use if she needed to, and her hidden knife that I was cornered by my mother again.
"You know," she opened, leaning against the door frame of the kitchen. "I thought that you were dating when you first mentioned Tomo to me."
That long? I did not say, instead letting the second phrase that came to mind fall from my lips. "And you never asked me?"
"You went to meet up with her almost daily for a month, Kazuto." My mother leveled a hard gaze at me. "When before…" She took a deep breath. "Before your hospital stay, I had to drag you out of your room just to have dinner with the family."
"I wasn't that bad, was I?" I frowned, rubbing at my chin. Midori gave me a flat look. "Okay, point taken." I sighed, letting my arms cross in front of me as I leaned back against the back of the chair behind me. "In any case, Tomo and I are friends; have been friends since the SAO beta. I've known her for over two years now, and she was one of my closest companions in Aincrad. I couldn't let her go back to her most likely abusive parents when I could do something to help."
My mom sighed, and then smiled. "Well, if it makes you happy, I think we can figure out something. I take it that Tomo living here will most likely be a long-term arrangement?"
"She's mentioned trying to work as a freelance journalist or get hired on by a paper, to try and save up for her own apartment, but if she had to go home to her parents…" I trailed off. Tomo hadn't shared much of her familial relationship with me. I knew that she was an only child, and that her parents were very concerned with how much she 'cost them', but it felt intrusive to share that without her consent, especially given that I was already keeping the truth of our relationship from my family.
"I don't think anything good would come of it." I finished, glancing up at my mother.
"Okay, that's good to know." My mom rose to her feet. "I'll talk to Tomo later about figuring out an appropriate rent, but she can stay."
"That's good." I smiled. I didn't think that mom would have kicked Tomo out, not after the good impression she had made, but it was still nice to hear her reaffirm her commitment.
"Now, I was going to get started on dinner, and if you aren't going to help then can you get out of the kitchen?"
"I can help," I said, before I could stop myself. I had been meaning to spend more time with my family, but with my near-daily visits to Asuna and talks with Tomo, it just hadn't happened. Now was a good time to start making up for it.
The kitchen soon started to clatter and buzz with the sounds of cooking, and for a brief moment, I was back in my apartment in Aincrad, watching Asuna prepare dinner while Argo was running her newspaper as best she could.
Then the memory faded, and I continued on with a new warmth in my heart.
As Always, please follow, favorite, and leave a review! I know that I've been lax in responding to them, but it really does make my day!
