Here we are with chapter 9. Sorry it took so long, I've been writing, rewriting, having no idea where I want this chapter to go, but I managed to figure it out. Leave a review about what you think about this story, if you think it's falling, and where you think it falls.

Disclaimer: I don't own Assassination Classroom or Sword Art Online. Assassination Classroom is owned by Yusei Matsui and Shueisha. Sword Art Online is owned by Reki Kawahara and Shuiesha.

"Cheers!" a group of people clinked their glasses together. Asuna and Kirito looked at them a little uncomfortably. The group of people were the Moonlit Black Cats, a Guild that the two managed to save from some pretty nasty mobs in a Labyrinth.

It had been over five months since they cleared the second floor, and over half a year since they started playing SAO. The players managed to make quite a bit of progress since then. Over 25 floors cleared, and the beater duo were both at level forty. Kirito and Asuna have teamed up with Nagisa and Hotaru on several occasions, but tended to avoid them in an attempt to prevent other players from targeting them. Not that they themselves weren't targeted.

While the attempt to create a government was still underway, members of Laughing Coffin had broken out and began gathering more and more members, resulting in people gathering together into their own game, known as the Assault Team. The Assault Team doubled as the floor clearing team, and the police force. Kirito and Asuna have teamed up with the Assault Team on several occasions, and were on fairly good terms with them, despite their reputation, though they still received rather hostile looks every now and then.

"Thanks again from saving us! There was no way we would've survived if it wasn't for you two. By the way, what level are you two?"

"Forty." Asuna said bluntly. Kirito winced slightly.

"Forty!? Wow, that's amazing! No wonder you guys are so good!" the leader of the group, named Keita, said, amazed. His fellow Guild members nodded in agreement. "Hey, you two aren't part of a Guild right? Why don't you join ours?"

"Your Guild? We appreciate the offer, but we tend to work better with just each other, sorry." Kirito refused politely. Truth be told, he kind of wanted to. The bond they had with each other reminded him of the one he had with Nagisa and Hotaru.

"Uh huh." Keita equipped a strange looking hat. It looked like a conductor's hat, being green with a red stripe and goggles. "And what if I use this hat?"

"I don't understand how that will-what are we signing Kirito?"

"Huh?" Kirito looked down to see a contract he and Asuna just signed being swiped away.

"Here's to our new members!"

"How did that even happen!?" Kirito grabbed his head in confusion. He didn't even realize he was signing something at all. Asuna looked at Keita in disapproval, shaking her head as she sighed.

"You'll get used to it." one of the other three boys, Tetsuo, assured the two. "He may be rather cheap in terms of recruitment, but he's a pretty good leader." Kirito groaned as he put his head on top of his arms. Asuna was frowning at Keita who was trying to pretend he didn't notice her glare. Trying.

"Um, I'm s-sorry about our Guild leader." the only female of the group, Sachi, spoke up, grabbing the attention of the Beaters. "But he's really nice. I'm sure you'll like it here in the Guild." Kirito sighed, but smiled warily.

"Don't worry. We'll give this Guild a chance. You guys all look like nice people at least." he said. Sachi and Keita smiled back gratefully.

"Stop smiling. You're not off the hook just yet." Asuna warned Keita, whose smile slipped off quickly.

-A Month Later-

Despite their initial impression about the Guild, Kirito and Asuna found themselves enjoying the Guild rather well. Keita and Asuna might've gone off the wrong foot, but she found that he was quite the planner and leader. Sachi was shy but very sweet. She had a tendency to get irritated easily though, so the Guild tended to tease her a lot. Ducker was aggressive, yet friendly. Tetsuo acted like a brother to the entire Guild, teasing them at times, but also doing his best to take care of them. Sasamaru was quiet, but friendly. The Guild was quite fun and enjoyable. Currently, they were in a forest on floor 20, grinding for levels. Kirito and Asuna were now level 45, with the other members being around 25.

The Guild was also in the Guild so Sachi could be trained to be an emergency Forward fighter. Forwards were the ones who mostly kept the monster's attention on them and off the others. Kirito and Tetsuo were the current Forwards, but should anything happen to them, she was to fill in.

"Sachi, switch!" Kirito said as he jumped back. Sachi gulped nervously and charged in. She was equipped with a sword and shield combo, but it was too heavy and bulky for her, and she had trouble moving. The Killer Mantis they were fighting snarled and recovered too quickly for her to take advantage of its imbalance. Sachi yelped as it swiped at her. Asuna quickly jumped in between them, bringing up her sword to defend Sachi. The two were pushed back slightly, and Tetsuo rushed in to finish the job, smashing the mantis with a mace.

"Nice job Tetsuo!" Keita and the other members cheered. A status screen popped up in front of Tetsuo, informing him what he got and that he leveled up. Sachi sighed in slight frustration at herself, but smiled in congratulations. Kirito noticed and walked over to her. Resting a hand on her shoulder, causing her to look up at the taller boy.

"You okay?" he asked. She nodded.

"I, I just feel guilty. Everyone is trying their best, but I'm too scared to be in the front." Sachi confessed. Kirito gave her a reassuring smile.

"The frontlines can be a pretty scary place. No one blames you. Besides, Tetsuo and I have things handled pretty well. It's fine if you want to hang back." Kirito told her. Sachi smiled at Kirito.

"Thank you Kirito." she said.

"Hey Sachi!" Keita called. Sachi and Kirito looked up to see the other members walking over. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay." Sachi nodded.

"That's good. Let's get back to the town. Maybe we can move up to the next floor?" Keita turned to the Beater Duo hopefully. He was both thrilled and disappointed.

"Why not?" Kirito shrugged.

"No." Asuna said flatly. The two turned to each other with blank stares. The Guild all winced slightly.

'And, here we go.' they all thought collectively as they backed away slightly. Though he was the leader of the Guild, Keita would often turn to the two for advice and their opinion on certain actions and decisions, such as what floors they should go for training. As the co-advisors of the Guild, Kirito and Asuna would often argue about what to do next. Floor levels are a frequent topic of debate.

"This Guild is not ready to go to higher floors! We still need to be at higher levels. Keita and Tetsuo may be able to handle what's up there, but Sachi still needs more training, and the others need to finetune theirs as well." Asuna insisted.

"It's not like they're children, Asuna." Kirito said. "Trying to baby them will only hurt, not help. Besides, they'll have the two of us. It'd be fine, they can handle it."

"They can handle some, but not all! The hordes are too much, and they won't-"

"We can deal with the hordes. The two of us are more than enough. The individual mobs will be weak enough for them to handle easily, even with only half of the Guild." Kirito cut off.

"Don't interrupt me."

"Come on, it should be fine! Look, probably a place to sleep, probably a place to grind." Kirito listed. "That's all. We can handle that much."

"Hey Mom, Dad. Can we go now, I'm hungry." Keita said sarcastically. The rest of the Guild laughed as the two blushed and glared at the Guild Leader. "No but seriously. I'm hungry. Quit arguing like a married couple and let's get back to town."

"We're not a couple." The two grumbled but followed the Guild as they left the forest.

This was the routine that the two had taken over the last month. A major decision regarding levels, floors, dungeons would be assigned to Kirito and Asuna. They would argue, with Asuna being offensive and Kirito being defensive. If Keita didn't intervene, they'd be at it for hours. Currently, they were tied in how many arguments they've won, 2 to 2. The two were silently looking at each other, most likely thinking about what to say when they inevitably started arguing again.

"So, can we go to the next floor?" Sachi asked.

"Yes."

"No." the Beaters turned to each other again.

"Stop." Keita deadpanned.

-Line Break-

It took a long time, but Kirito and Asuna finally reached an agreement. They would go to the upper floor, but they would stick to just the plains for leveling, and they wouldn't go into the dungeons.

"Nothing more than that. Got it?" Asuna said sternly. The Guild rolled their eyes but nodded.

"Seriously Asuna, you're like a mom." Ducker groaned as he fell back onto his bed.

"Hey guys?" Sasamaru spoke up. The Guild turned to the Damage Dealer. "Where's Sachi?"

"What?" Asuna looked around. Sure enough, Sachi was gone.

"Oh man." Keita said worryingly. He swiped his hand through the air. He opened a voice connection to Kirito, who had the day off and was spending it on Floor 5 at the moment. "Hey Kirito, we need your help. Sachi disappeared. Can you help look for her?"

"Sachi?" Kirito asked worryingly. He cut off for a second, but returned, a little more relieved. "I know where she is. Don't worry, I'll bring her back."

"Really? Oh good." Keita said relieved. "Thanks. Uh, bring her back soon, please."

"Don't worry. I got this." Kirito said. He hung up and looked to the street where he could see the footsteps left behind from Sachi thanks to his scouting skill. He ran after them, following the trail left behind. After a few minutes of running, he followed them into a tunnel. It looked like a sewer. Looking inside, he paused as he heard crying. He walked carefully in, shuffling his feet and body in the way Nagisa taught him. He was lucky that SAO was designed with real world physics.

"Sachi?" he called out cautiously. The crying stopped abruptly.

"K-Kirito?" she called back. Kirito walked forward more. Sachi was in a fetal position, eyes puffy and red. He stopped and sat down, close enough to try to be of comfort, but far enough to give her space.

"You were so quiet. How?" Sachi sniffed.

"A little trick called Uki-Ashi. What's wrong? Everyone is worried about you." he asked, shuffling a little closer. Sachi rubbed her eyes.

"Kirito?"

"Yeah?"

"C-can we run? Run away?" she asked quietly.

"Run away? From what?" Kirito asked. Sachi lowered her hand and stared listlessly at the ground.

"From this town. From the monsters. From the Guild." she hugged her legs, bringing them closer to her chest. "From Sword Art Online." Kirito made a small noise, sweating slightly.

"A-are you, you can't be talking about suicide, are you?!" he panicked. Sachi laughed humorlessly.

"That doesn't seem so bad." Kirito made a painful noise as she said this. "Sorry, that's not what I meant when I said I wanted to run. If it was, I wouldn't be hiding here, now would I?"

"O-oh! That's what you mean." Kirito gave a nervous laugh.

"Why, why are we trapped here?"

"Huh?"

"Why are our lives at stake when it's just a game? Why is all this happening?" Her voice shook as she spoke. Kirito had no answer. He looked away, unable to look at her.

"I don't think there is a meaning. And if there is, it's probably stupid." Kirito answered quietly. The tunnel was filled only with the sound of rushing water for a few seconds.

"I'm afraid of dying." Sachi spoke quietly. Kirito's eyes widened slightly. He took a sharp intake of breath.

"Of dying?" Sachi curled up tighter. Her voice wavered more as she answered his inquiry.

"I'm so scared. So scared, I can't even sleep now." she said, looking down at the water. Kirito was silent.

'Sachi. I didn't even realize.' Kirito looked at her.

"You won't die, Sachi." he said quietly, but firmly. She looked up at him. "The Moonlit Black Cats, we're strong. As you can probably tell, Asuna, Keita and I are doing our best to take care of this guild. Asuna and I are putting careful thought into our next plan of action. If you feel uncomfortable, I can talk to Keita, convince him to let us go to lower levels if you want." he offered.

"But, everyone seems so excited to go higher. I can't be so selfish." Kirito smiled at her comfortingly.

"Sachi, a friend once told me something. The desire to live isn't selfish. You care about others. I think you deserve to be a little selfish." Sachi stared at him. Her eyes held some sorrow, guilt, and doubt. But a little hopeful.

"Will I survive?"

"Yes."

"I'll go see my family again?"

"Yes. I promise." Kirito promised. Sachi smiled at him shyly.

"Thank you Kirito." the two left the tunnel, and Kirito took Sachi back to their guild, where she was greeted by a group of worried friends. Kirito talked with Keita, and the two decided that maybe they would go to the lower floors. The Guild apologized to Sachi for not noticing her fear, to which Sachi insisted it was fine, it was her fault for hiding it.

"Asuna?" Kirito spoke, walking closer to his partner.

"Yes Kirito?"

"Let's do our best to protect this." he said determinedly. Asuna looked at him with an unreadable face before turning away.

"Of course. They're our guild. That's our duty." she said cooly.

That's the end. Now, regarding the Moonlit Black Cats. Should it be close to canon? Exactly like the canon? Or not even close to canon. Let me know what you think. For the record, Sachi will not be a love interest of Kirito. No harem. At all. Maybe another girl will have a crush on him, but it won't be a harem. At all. If you like this story, favorite. If you want to see what happens next, follow. As per the usual, leave a review. Azure out.