This is short because it's the setup for Asuna's introduction, and as with Klein and Kirito I wanted her intro to be fully from her perspective thus the length of this. As for the pairing, I'm considering to just let things grow organically and see where it takes us, if you want to see a prime example of a good story being ruined by the author forcing her chosen ship look no further than Harry Potter.

JKR said that from the beginning she wanted Ron and Hermione together despite them being...completely and utterly incompatible, hell even she admits it these days. So in order to avoid that, I'm contemplating letting Keiko figure it out on her own, anyway as I said I know this is short and gave the reason for it, so please, review!

This was it, the day that her big sister's privacy was to be revoked as her struggle for survival in the death game of Sword Art Online was broadcast on the internet for all to see. Suguhu cringed as she stared at the laptop on the side table, gripping a glass of juice with white knuckled hands, doing her level best not to cry.

The feed she'd been watching the past few days, and if she were to be honest, during every free moment not taken up with school, eating, or sleeping, had been a lifeline. Knowing that Keiko was alive, fighting, and desperate to see her family again filled her with hope, but that was offset by the simple fact that it would only take one mistake to end her life.

Caring about people sucked, no wonder Keiko made it a point to be just social enough to not be considered a recluse and leave it at that...

That was something else that had her tensed up, the Keiko that was being projected on the screen was not her Keiko, at least not fully. Her big sis was always confident, kind, and a bit sarcastic, but she also had absolutely zero patience for large groups paying any sort of attention to her or dealing with their clashing egos.

Ergo why she refused to play team sports and wore baggy clothes unless Suguha forced her (i.e. used puppy dog eyes) to dress up, and otherwise doing her level best to just be part of the crowd until she graduated and could move on with her life.

Suguha often wondered if Keiko had plans for world domination and that's why the young genius chose to remain so low key and in the background. When she'd brought it up to her mother she had only laughed and said there wasn't a chance in the world that girl would set herself up for that kind of paperwork. It...damnit she was stalling her own thoughts...

What it came down to, was the Keiko on screen was exactly what the government and the VR industry wanted, a calm, cool, and kind leader...the thing was, they really hadn't seen her pissed off yet. Perking up slightly as a smile curled up her lips Suguha finally released her tension as that realization hit her.

The people who hijacked her sister's life into some sort of twisted reality tv show (and wasn't that image enough to make her know exactly how said big sister was going to react to that) were unaware that Keiko was acting out a part. They hadn't realized yet that her sister could be...well...an unrepentant bitch when the mood took her.

As the live feed clicked over on the TV Suguha closed the laptop and took in the first thing the world at large saw of Aincrad, and couldn't hold back a laugh. Keiko was leaning against a tree, boots off, sword at her side, napping. She glanced at the chat window displayed next to the feed and shuddered at the molestation of the written language occurring there as everyone scrambled to comment.

Words like 'super kawaii!' and 'my waifu!' seemed to be prominent, and Suguha, for the first time began understanding exactly why her sister refused to let anyone on the internet know she was a girl.

"Things are about to get very stupid...aren't they?" the girl muttered, sipping her juice as she shook her head pityingly.

Keiko's eyes snapped open as she had the sudden feeling of being watched, sitting up from her tree she cast a wary look about the area, absently opening her menu and equipping her boots and the dark blue jacket Dale had given her in the process. Sitting up she eventually sighed and scratched her head in frustration, usually her senses didn't play these kind of games with her, what wonderful BS to wake up to.

"Right..." glancing at the clock she sighed again, it was time to get moving regardless considering she had an appointment with Argo which was always mildly stressful. Making her way down the road Kirito half heartedly waved to the passing groups of newbies who greeted her happily as she faked some platitudes playing her part.

She vaguely remembered some of them but to be honest she'd gotten to the point where she didn't really care, progress was stalled, no one could find the boss room, and she was getting frustrated.

Five minutes later she caught sight of the information broker who was busying herself with with her menu, the young woman glanced up and despite the hood over her head the smirk was unmistakable.

Here we go...ugh...

"Ki-chan! How is my most favorite frontline female doing today?"

Sighing Kirito crossed her arms under her breasts and glared at the older girl while rolling her eyes, "I'm the only female front liner, not that it really matters since we can't find the damn boss."

Argo snickered at that causing Kirito to grit her teeth, "Well that isn't completely true anymore, but regardless business first. The guy who wanted to buy your Anneal Blade increased his offer again, I know for a fact your response would be some variation of 'piss off' but he paid me to ask and I am, if nothing else, a business woman."

This shit again, she and Klein had gotten a few offers over the past month but after they, along with his friends, began a boot camp of sorts for new players the offers on hers had sky rocketed.

Boys were dumb.

"Pretty much nailed it, was that all Argo?" While Kirito was annoyed at the waste of her time she wasn't actually angry, Argo was...well not really a friend, but a decent business associate so it was best to humor her when all it cost was was few minutes instead of half your goddamn col.

"Sorry Ki-chan nothing that would interest you I think," sighing Kirito was about to blow this entire thing off as a bad job when she paused.

"What wasn't completely true about me being the only female front liner?" Argo grinned and opened the trade menu, of course, the damn miser. Sighing Kirito traded a bit of col to the information broker who gave her a slightly mocking bow in turn.

"Your generosity knows no bounds Ki-chan. I wouldn't call her a front liner, but she definitely seemed talented. Solo player, held herself alot like you do so obviously trained in some form of combat. Seemed a bit desperate to get out of the game, or more so than most I should say. Came to me earlier asking about a cave that supposedly had a secret logout point, the rumors been drifting about for awhile so I sold her the location."

Kirito couldn't help it, she buried her face in her hands and let out an incredibly frustrated, albeit muffled, scream. Argo for her part simply cocked a brow at her associates antics as the younger girl took a few moments to compose herself.

Dropping one hand Kirito pinched the bridge of her nose as she turned back to Argo and shot her a glare that caused her to take a step back, "This shit again? Argo I thought you of all people would know better then to feed these kind of rumors, there is no easy way out! Ugh...what cave?"

Argo, slightly taken aback by Kirito's sudden hostility brought out her map and pointed, Kirito only shook her head in return. "That cave is an offshoot of the main labyrinth, there is literally nothing in there aside from horrific screaming death. Which...I suppose in a rather ironic sort of way would log you out, if you don't mind your brain becoming a microwave dinner that is."

Argo blanched at that, she hadn't thought it was a logout point but hadn't expected it to be that dangerous, after all it was unmapped and...

"You've been holding out on map data! I thought we had a deal Ki-chan!"

Kirito rolled her eyes at the information broker's exclamation and began walking away, "Issin was supposed to handle it, must have gotten distracted with the newbies. Look I'm going to go see if this potential front liner is still alive and if she is, drag her out of that death trap, I'll talk to you later. Oh and make sure that the guy who keeps trying to buy my sword knows I'm not freaking interested in selling...again."

What Kirito didn't know was that across the internet countless viewers saw a beautiful young leader going off to rescue someone she didn't even know upon her on vocation, which immediately began her legend with the masses.

What they didn't know was Kirito was desperate for another girl she could talk to that was also a competent fighter, and if she was even moderately skilled there was a good chance she could be of use to get out of this damn game.

Back in the real world, Suguha had to resist the urge to laugh again as she read her sister's facial expressions while the wall of text on the chat channel scrolled by. Yup, things had gotten stupid, but this was actually turning out to be kind of funny.

Poor Keiko.

Next up Asuna