So very much going on, PoH obsessing, Kirito playacting, Asuna comforting, Kayaba getting annoyed. A bit short, but allow Lily and myself to present you with the latest chapter!

Enjoy!

There was dead silence before someone began clapping which was quickly followed with amused laughter, soon a figure stepped out of the gathered crowd of player killers, his body language making him seem more curious than anything as he stood before the Black Queen of Aincrad grinning widely beneath the shadows of his drawn up hood.

"My my my, how ruthless, poor...what was his name Johnny?"

A pause, "Ummm..."

He sighed, "XaXa?"

"Fernier boss, think it was a wolf theme thing but honestly I really have no fucking idea. Sorry never cared enough to find out more on the subject."

PoH laughed at that, "No you are not."

Xaxa shrugged, "Eh, not really."

"Ah well, poor wolf boy, taken out without a thought or care, how...invigorating!"

Kirito stared at him a moment then tilted her head to the side, "You're a crazy person, aren't you?"

PoH laughed again, "Oh I'm sure many would say I was but really I am a Nihilist more than anything," with that he spun about a bit before stopping to bow, "Annnnd I very much wanted to meet the Queen herself thus why I expedited the execution of your little playmates. Oh don't look so surprised, I'm wiping the low leveled players out floor by floor just for the giggles, and the fun part? There are always new playthings that come along to entertain me!"

He laughed, then stopped abruptly as he tilted his hooded head to the side, "So I must ask, out of honest morbid curiosity, now that you have killed a man, what was the first thought that entered your mind? When you realized you had ended the life of a man with a family that likely loved him, and deprived him of ever having a chance to say goodbye, what was your first thought when you knew you ended another human's existence?"

Kirito stared at him for a long moment before rasping out, "Wow, that is a lot of blood."

Not even the Prince of Hell knew what to say to that.

"I beg your pardon?"

She shrugged slightly while her swords shook with repressed rage in her hands as old memories took hold, "I always thought it was a movie thing, loved Kill Bill growing up, watched both movies with my grandfather. He was the one who told me that the human body could not possibly hold that amount of blood while the Bride slaughtered the Crazy 88's and I always believed him. Then, mister wannabe rapist gets hit by a bus and goes *pop*. Then... blood everywhere...almost like a water balloon..."

PoH was now quite curious, "Indeed? So this had not been your first kill, interesting. Context?"

Kikuoka was on the borderline of having a full on panic attack as Tsunayoshi and Nagi stood at the far corner of his office while Hayato was doing his best to shuffle his way towards the door without being noticed hoping to escape whatever was about to go down.

"Nonononono don't do it girl..." Kikuoka muttered causing his minions to freeze up as curiosity overpowered survival instincts when the girl in question grinned.

"You're under the misinterpretation that this was the first life or death situation I found myself in. It is not, and by comparison I am far better off then I was last time."

"Don't... Kikuoka muttered, Tsunayoshi raised a brow at that, why was he so against her speaking her mind?

"Last time?" PoH asked in curiosity.

She shrugged, "Serial rapist, liked little girls. We live in a chauvinistic misogynistic society, he got away with most of his crimes, usually threw his name around to get out of lockup, much less jail time. Then one day he grabbed ten year old me as a target of opportunity."

Keiko grinned, "He chose his target poorly."

More silence and she soon shrugged, "He kidnapped me out of an arcade, dad...he always blamed himself for it even if it was not his fault, but regardless the fucker dragged me out of the arcade. Everyone just stared at me talking about how rude I was, how I was a problem child, how my father should discipline me more as I was being dragged off by a man who fully intended on raping me."

Keiko smirked at that, "Then the stupid cunts whispering about what a dishonor to my family I was froze up when I tasered the bastard and kicked his stunned ass into oncoming traffic."

She smoothed her smile a moment, then straight out grinned whilst baring her teeth, "There was so much blood when that bus ran him over... much more then I expected..."

"Fuck," Kikuoka muttered, while Keiko met her adversary's gaze evenly.

PoH tilted his head to the side, "Do you have any regrets?"

Keiko snorted in amusement, "Only the ones the shrinks didn't want to hear."

"Oh?"

"Annoyance, that I couldn't kill him again."

The Prince of Hell broke out laughing, and eventually shook his head while turning away from her, "We shall meet another day my dear queen, I believe our time today has run down to a close."

As the sound of the thundering feet of dozens of players shook their entire world The Prince of Hell motioned for his followers to activate their teleportation crystals.

If he had been a moment slower, he would have fallen to the enraged army of the Black Queen.

As things stood Kirito stared down at the ground a few moments as she was now surrounded by the Guilds that had sworn to follow her before shooting a glance at Sachi, "Nearly everything I just said was a lie, and now I think I am about to have an emotional breakdown."

A few moments later the world watched the quite concerned Asuna and Argo throw themselves at a sobbing Kirito while Sachi did her best to keep her calm.

It didn't work.

This was...not a good situation to be in, Kou fully admitted to this but thankfully it had not been his call, hell it hadn't even been Kikuoka's call really, they had tried to order a cut to the feed when the first Black Cat had died and...nothing had happened.

Be it their superiors or Kayaba himself, they were cut out of the loop in that regard.

Then off course the entire world got to see Kirito cut down another player, one they had easily confirmed had died at the exact moment she had beheaded him, followed by her admitting to having killed someone in the real world followed with her expressing how she didn't care at all.

The saving grace for everyone involved was that the moment that the player killers fled, she broke down.

Thankfully, miraculously the viewing audience realized she had been playing a part, that she was trying to scare the true murderers off, and that she truly had not wanted to do what she had to in order to save herself and her surviving friend. Kou counted his lucky stars though that no one pointed out the fact that she honestly didn't seem to care that she had killed, but rather that she had been forced into that position to begin with.

He wouldn't burden himself with that thought for now, or ever.

Soon Asuna, Argo, and Kirito led Sachi away and back to their home, where Argo promised to keep an eye on her while Kirito tried to center herself. Asuna watched her for a time before the younger teen sighed and walked outside, her partner quickly following her as she tried to clear her thoughts, fully aware of the presence behind her and not knowing what to do about it.

Eventually, at the bank of a creek she enjoyed fishing at Kirito spoke, "You know I told a tall tale today... About my attempted kidnapping when I was a kid..."

Asuna stood beside her staring into the water for a time before stating, "Oh?"

Kirito sighed, "Yeah, made it out to be... I don't know...some sort of glamorous 'I don't mind killing and kind of find amusement in it" thing. I was honestly just trying to bide time for the raid to show up, the problem is..."

Kirito shivered and fell to the ground wrapping her arms around her knees, Asuna followed her and quickly threw her arm around ravenette's shoulders as the younger teen leaned into her.

After they settled Asuna asked, "The problem is what?"

Kirito was quiet for a time before she muttered out, "I... really don't care that I killed a man who intended to rape me, nor a man that helped murder my friends...I'm just glad they are no longer threats, and I don't know what that says about me..."

Kou sighed and leaned back into his chair, watching his little sister and a girl he was gaining a sneaking suspicion may eventually be more than just her 'friend', when Asuna pulled her closer and muttered, "It says you are a survivor Keiko, it says you are a survivor."

There was silence for a time, then eventually Kirito dropped her head onto Asuna's shoulder while whispering out, "Will tomorrow be better?"

Asuna gently dropped her head onto her partners while responding with, "It has to be, otherwise what's the point of moving forward?"

Kou snorted and shook his head, well that is just going to lead to soooo many problems an-

"Hey Asuna?" Keiko shot out.

"Yes Keiko?"

"Thanks for being awesome."

Asuna broke out laughing, and Kou could only smile while deciding as long as his little sister could do that, well then maybe things would work out in the end, or at least he hoped so.

Kayaba was irritated, very irritated actually, he knew those nutcases who formed up Laughing Coffin were going to be an issue but he had not anticipated their leader to begin creeping in on his apprentice, that...that would just not do...

Perhaps it was time for Heathcliff to take a more prominent role in young Keiko's development...