I wanted to flesh out Keiko and Asuna's relationship at the same time as I make it clear Asuna is a very, very, very intelligent and observant young lady. So here you go, please do enjoy and REVIEW!

As the meeting broke up Kirito turned to Asuna smiling wanly as she fiddled with her menu, a moment later a group invitation popped up before the brunette's eyes.

"Sooo, since we're partners and...apparently relegated to the reserves for some inane reason, want to group up?" Asuna frowned at that but nodded regardless as she accepted the invite. A moment later a new health bar appeared in the upper left hand corner of her HUD and it took Asuna a moment to realize that the new addition was a party status window.

"Right, agreed, so ummm...now what?" Kirito shrugged as she gestured to her gathered friends behind her with a sigh and a shake of the head.

"Well those guys are going to go get drunk which really isn't a bad idea but I want to get you squared away first, business before pleasure. Besides Klein deserves to have a bit of fun without having to keep an eye on me, tomorrows gonna be bad enough as is. Eat, drink, and be merry after all."

With that she began walking towards the town center and Asuna had to rush to catch up with the other girl. Once matching her pace Asuna coughed into her fist before speaking, "Umm, if you don't mind me asking is Klein your boyfriend or something?"

Rather then blushing or freaking out Kirito simply laughed while shaking her head, "No no, we...we look after each other as much as possible. We both have a habit of worrying about the other, we went through quite an ordeal together and it kinda made us battle buddies. He looks at me like a little sister and tries his best to keep me out of trouble, making sure I have fewer than three drinks in me at any given time is part of that.

"I want him to have fun though, so I'll refrain from indulging so he doesn't have to look out for me tonight, he deserves it. Now, as for you Miss Rapier, what weapon are you using?"

Asuna blinked at the sudden change of subject but a moment later drew her blade examining it with a weary eye. "An iron rapier, I bought a half dozen of them and just kept grinding until they all broke and would return to the city to buy new ones with the col I earned."

Kirito clicked her tongue once in disapproval while shaking her head in disdain, "Nope not gonna work, here take this, got it off a monster drop getting to you actually so seems fair. It will last you to the third floor at least and we can upgrade it a few times at one of the NPC vendors. Pity we can't go past +4 until we get mats off the next floor but what can you do?"

Before she could protest a trade window popped up and an item called the 'Wind Fleuret' was placed inside it, a moment later a confirmation button lit up.

"I can't possibly take this!" Asuna automatically stated, Kirito seemed to not care about her wishes on the subject though.

"Just take it Miss Rapier, I don't need it, none of my newbies are fencing specialists regardless, and I don't need the money. Besides, you're going to have my back tomorrow so I want you to be as well equipped as possible. We'll call this...enlightened self interest on my part if you'd like further justification."

Asuna worried her lip a moment before setting her face in a scowl, "I'll only take it if you stop calling me Miss Rapier," Kirito snorted out a laugh at that while shooting the brunette a wry smirk.

"Right-o, never call me 'The Black Princess' and we have an agreement, Asuna." Smiling the brunette nodded accepting the trade and quickly equipped the blade, eyes widening she unsheathed it and stared at its exquisite etching in open surprise.

"It's...beautiful..."

Kirito stared at her a few moments before chuckling lightly, "C'mon gorgeous lets get it upgraded and then get something to eat, you can give it a try tomorrow on the way to the boss room. Speaking of which, got a place to stay tonight?"

Asuna snapped out of her reverie and quickly sheathed the blade before shaking her head in the negative, "No I was going to just stay at the inn tonight."

Clicking her tongue once again Kirito began walking and Asuna hurriedly followed as the younger girl spoke, "All the inns will be bought out by now, and the NPC housing is open to all players so any creeper can sneak up on you in the night. Then...then the stabbing starts..."

Asuna really had no idea how to respond to Kirito's suddenly blank face and murderous gaze so she decided to just ignore the change in her partners attitude as she replied, "So do you have other suggestions?"

Kirito shook her head as if to break herself from some memory or another before grinning widely shooting Asuna a warm smile that fully reached her dark eyes, "Yup, stay with me! I may have cheated a bit and beaten a once a month quest to get a house on the river for myself. Four bedrooms, full kitchen, and one very swanky bathtub."

Asuna stopped dead in her tracks at that as she grabbed Kirito by her shoulders and swung the shorter girl directly before her while leaning down touching noses, "Did you say...bathtub?"

"Uh...err...yes?" Kirito managed to stammer out as her face turned beet red, a moment later Asuna grinned widely and pulled her into a rather uncomfortable hug.

"I am staying with you tonight, and I am using your tub," Kirito just nodded quickly wondering if the game had caused some sort of slow acting brain damage to her partner but dismissed the idea quickly. She'd been taking baths every night since she'd acquired her home, so she really had no idea what the poor girl had been going through herself.

"Right, umm, anyway, upgrades?"

As it ended up the vendor blacksmiths were in fact able to upgrade the monster loot blade and Asuna was shocked to see that her attack stats had doubled from when she was using the starting weapon.

Kirito, well, not so much.

"Part of the draw of this game initially was the scarcity of good weapons. You have to earn nearly everything the hard way until the smiths get properly leveled out.

"See the system only spawns gear that will benefit those who can use it that are in the general area, ergo why I was able to loot that blade. You're a fencer, it's a rapier, boom, no brainer right? Waaaay better then back in the old 2D games when you looted shamen gear and everyone was wearing plate mail. Fucking alliance..."

Asuna wasn't really sure what that last bit was about but easily understood the rest, "So that's one of the reasons you gave this to me without hesitation right? Because it wouldn't have even dropped if you weren't heading down to pull me out of that cave?"

Kirito smiled brightly at that while nodding, "Yup!" She chirped out looking rather pleased that her partner was catching on so quickly.

Asuna worried her lip a moment and had to brace her hand on the building next to her as she took in a deep breath trying her best to keep her calm. A moment later she turned to meet Kirito's now concerned gaze, "Thank you Kirito. I don't know if I've said it yet but...thank you for saving me, thank you for...giving a damn when you could have easily left me to die."

Kirito smiled again as she cocked her head to the side, eyes closed and seeming slightly amused, "No need to thank me Asuna, you had a bad day, I pulled you out of your funk and now you've got my back. You want to thank me, help me get us out of this game, and don't ever lose faith in yourself like that again, all right?"

Asuna stared at Kirito for a moment more before she broke out into laughter, Kirito raised a single brow and waited patiently for her partner to get her mirth out of her system which took a good few minutes. Eventually Asuna managed to contain her emotions and wiped the tears from her eyes as she explained herself, her smile never leaving her face.

"You are just so, so...you! I mean you literally just went up to someone trying to make you into a scapegoat and told them to go fuck themselves while walking away smelling like roses and here you are spouting this never give up stuff at me. I mean...I'm impressed, seriously, very impressed. You are a class A manipulative bitch and I can't say I'm not proud to associate with you."

Kirito's entire demeanor changed as she appraised Asuna over several moments, eventually she replied in a quietly demanding, yet tentative tone. "You...aren't upset about the fact that I'm manipulating nearly everyone around me? That I was trying to manipulate you?"

Asuna smiled at that shaking her head slowly, "No, I'm not, because your goal is pretty obvious, you want to get out of this game. So you're going to do everything in your power to get out which means helping all those around you become stronger. So I have to ask, would you rather me be Miss Oblivious, following your tune mindlessly, or would you like me to be your true partner, doing everything in our power to get out of this game, together?"

Kirito stared at Asuna for over a minute, then two minutes, going on four, eventually she extended her hand as her body language shifted to that of an anxious teen, "Hello, my name is Keiko, I'd like to be your friend."

Asuna beamed a brilliant smile in return as she took her hand and shook it lightly in turn, "My name is Asuna, I hope we can get through this together."

Kirito...Keiko snorted as she shook her head slowly in turn, "You named your avatar with your real name? You...you haven't played many RPG's have you?"

Asuna shrugged at that, "No, I only ever played freeware on my phone, this was my brother's game and since he got called out to a meeting out of country I thought I would give it a try. And here I am."

Keiko nodded at this before cocking her head to the side, "And here you are...well...partner... shall we head home? My cooking skill isn't that high but it's better then eating black bread and tepid water, hope you like BLT's."

Asuna stiffened at that and it nearly looked like sparkling stars formed about her as she grasped the sides of Keiko's head, eyes brimming with tears, "You have food that has actual flavor?"

Caught completely off guard Keiko tried nodding but failed due to her partner's rather firm grasp, sighing she forced out her response quickly, "Yes, side effect of helping hundreds of newbies learn to kill boars. Lots of bacon."

Asuna let out a squeeing noise as she pulled Keiko into a hug, "Marry me woman!" Said woman only sighed in turn, it was going to be a long evening.

Argo wasn't sure about this, Ki-Chan was a good sport who was rather fond of the information broker even if said woman denied it, so bringing someone to her sanctum felt...wrong. This was important though, incredibly important actually, and while Ki-Chan could be a Class-A bitch when she put her mind to it she was also pragmatic to the bone, so with a sigh she knocked on the buildings door and tensed up.

A minute later the door swung open exposing her friend, who was wearing a black and blue plaid skirt, a black blouse, and bunny slippers.

Adorable.

"Ki-Chan! How are you doing this evening? Rumor on the grapevine is you dragged the only other female front liner to your dungeon of depravity and are hell bent on twisting her to your wiles!"

Ki-Chan, of course, looked fully unimpressed and unflustered, "Gee, lemme just get in on that wet dream action, would be worth a mint wouldn't it? What do you want Argo?"

Said girl frowned at that, she really wished Ki-Chan would trust her more, she honestly went out of her way to spread disinformation about Kirito on a regular basis to help divert the perverts but... *Sigh* she really couldn't blame her. Argo's reputation wasn't the most savory, it would take time, it would seem, to unfreeze the woman's heart.

"Someone important wants to talk to you Ki-Chan, I agreed to bring him here solely due to the fact that if anyone else finds you out here, we would know who to blame. He's aware of this, so I really hope you agree to talk to him.

Kirito became absolutely livid, "You brought a fucking man to my goddamn house Argo!? Do you know how hard I had to work to get away from those fucking fanboys?! What the fuck were you fucking thinking?! FUCK!"

Argo winced and fell in on herself a bit, before she could apologize her client walked up to the door and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, a moment later he spoke up.

"Kirito, we need to talk," the girl in question froze mid rant and took in her new arrival, rage cooling instantly she nodded once before jerking her thumb over her shoulder.

"All right Diavel, Argo, take a seat in my parlor, gimme a minute." Walking away from the pair Argo stepped into the house as Kirito gently knocked on a door before her. "Asuna, we have guests, don't come out nekkers all right?"

A muffled 'Thanks for letting me know Keiko!' was heard through the door as Argo quietly filed that away for later, her name was Keiko...

Plopping into one of the open seats Kirito stared at Diavel for a time before sighing, "What do you want?"

Diavel shifted uncomfortably a moment as he coughed into his fist before speaking, "I'm sure you noticed already that I put you on the reserves handling the trash mobs, and I'm also sure you're wondering why."

Kirito shrugged at that while crossed her arms in a casual manner, "I figured you're actually a beta tester and you're after the Last Attack Bonus item and wanted the nastiest damage dealers well away from your target."

He winced and nodded slowly at the barb, "That was true...initially anyway." This seemed to gain Kirito's interest as she untensed her body and cocked her head to the side obviously listening closely, "The thing is, you're a leader, like me. If you were a loner I'd probably have gone out of my way to hinder you but...you...you're trying damn it. You're doing your best to get these idiots to work together, and I don't want to stop you.

"The problem is...well...attrition, do you know how many beta testers were actually logged in when this all went down, and how many have fallen?"

Kirito pursed her lips at this and nodded slowly as she glanced towards Argo, "Seven hundred to eight hundred were logged in, over forty percent of them are dead now."

Diavel nodded slowly at this, "Yes, nearly half of us are dead, all due to the fact that the Beta screwed us over. We had a supposed advantage but enough things were tweaked that our knowledge has become a liability. We're a dying breed, and we're either going to be seen as saviors...or scapegoats, and that's where you come in."

He took in a deep breath pinching the bridge of his nose in the process as he closed his eyes, eventually he dropped his hand and met Kirito's gaze evenly, "If anyone dies tomorrow, those idiots are going to blame you and all the other beta testers for it."

Kirito pursed her lips at that but nodded slowly in return, "Yeah, I figured as much."

Diavel snorted as he rolled his eyes to the ceiling, "Of course you did. Regardless, I'm a tank, I'm on the front, I am the vanguard, and I'm most likely to die. If I do...I need...no, they need you to take control. That's why you're handling the trash mobs, that's why you're in the reserves, that's why I'm handling you with kid gloves.

They need you if I fail."

Kirito blinked rapidly at that and Argo couldn't help worrying her lower lip a bit as her friends put it all on the table, eventually Kirito pulled her knees up to her chest wrapping her arms around her legs in the process.

"I don't want to be a leader, I hate it. I hate being the center of attention, I hate being crowded..."

Diavel nodded slowly at that, "Yet you do it regardless, why?"

She lifted her head and the fury roiling forth from her gaze was palpable, "Because someone had to...and no one else would, and...and I want to go home...I want to hug my sister...I want to be held by my mom...I want to go home...that's it..." was her heavy response. Diavel sighed as he stood up slowly giving the young girl a sad smile in the process.

"The problem is, you are an amazing leader despite not liking the post, and that's why I have you in the back ranks. We have to keep our trump card safely hidden after all... I'll see you tomorrow, if we don't speak before the raid, good luck."

Diavel left without another word and before Argo could speak Asuna entered the room looked flushed and refreshed in a red bathrobe, turning to Kirito in confusion the brunette muttered, "Keiko are you ok?"

She shook her head slowly as tears ran down her cheeks while muttering, "No, I need a hug," a moment later both Argo and Asuna were on either side of the girl wrapping their arms around her trying to comfort the distraught teen.

This wasn't fair, not by a longshot, but it was what it was, and all Argo could do was show her friend that she was there, and that she cared.

None of the trio would know for quite some time this singular moment would make all of them legends as the internet rambled to itself, two would be flustered, one would be highly amused.

I decided Argo is now a main character, I like her honestly. Regardless, character development! Next chapter Illfang and then the second level which Keiko will never stop referring to as Bovine Genocide.