And the next chapter's rolling in! I guess this didn't come out as soon as I wanted. Which was back in February buuuut... my bad. High school has sort of kicked my butt in the stress department and my "friends" not being cool and my actual friends being busy/having drama and then Track&Field, finals, visiting grandparents, taking a family trip to DC, camp... Guys, I've been busy. But my time is freeing up(for the next 2-3 weeks, I think?) so that means more creativity and more chapters! Yay! So anyway, thanks all of you for sticking to this story and enjoying it, even if I don't update regularly. Means a lot :)

I also really want to thank the followers(139), favoriters(100, WHOOHOO!), and reviewers(63, in total) of this story. And to those who reviewed(To guests, I'll be answering via below) on the last chapter:

Delta Marauder

Nicholas Barbour (Guest): Will do!

Otaku of Anime

shypuppylover19

Patient 0 Zero

DiasterMaster0

shenkain000 (Guest): Yeah, I agree with you on Kayaba

shadowstar618

alanhuang649

Thank You to you all!

Chapter Eight:

Meeting the Flash

Hey there Sao! I was just wondering if maybe you could come by the teleport gate in Granzam at 9:00 a.m. tomorrow? I was thinking, after a quick visit, we could go to the dungeon there and give each other Beast Tamer tips? We can talk about it at the teleport gate.

That is if you want to meet me.

-Silica

Kirito sighed. He really would love to meet her but he was exhausted and nowhere near a teleport gate. He guessed he could use a teleport crystal but he tried to only use those for emergencies. There was also something that was off about her message. Sure, she was usually self-conscious and stuff, but it was written almost like she was too nervous and the statement "after a quick visit" confused him greatly.

Kirito laid back on the bed and looked at Zeal.

"Well? What should I do? Accept or say I'm busy?"

She yawned in reply.

"Yeah, it would be rude to decline, wouldn't it. But still…"

Zeal chirped and flicked her ears.

"Alright. I'll accept." Kirito sighed, bringing up a reply. "I'm going to blame you if my suspicions are correct though."

Zeal's eyes flickered to the piece of hair that moved when he starting typing his reply message. She tensed then pounced on his head, startling Kirito.

"Flare!" Kirito yelped as her claws bite into his skin and he heard her happily chewing his hair.

"Seriously?" He asked her, a little aggravated.

Zeal didn't reply. Kirito groaned in frustration and looked back at the message he had attempted to write.

Draft has been deleted.

Kirito let out an audible sound of anger and fell back on his bed. He was completely stumped on what to do. He couldn't outright decline. But he really wanted rest from the crazy experiences he had in the past two days. Then he sat up jerkily as a light bulb went off in his head.

Bringing up the reply again, he began to type:

Hey Silica. I would to meet you but we'd have to compromise. Remember that friend I mentioned? Well, he needed me to do an errand and now I'm way out on the 75 floor. Also I'm absolutely exhausted. Do you think you could do your visit or trip before we meet? I won't be able to give you a set time of when I'll be back in Granzam but it'll be later in the morning, maybe around lunch. Does that work for you?

-SaoKakk

Kirito nodded, happy with his reply, and pressed the send button. He laid on his back, absently petting Zeal. She began purring then moved, stepping on his stomach. Kirito instinctively winced and petted her as she curled up on his stomach. His world faded into black as sleep claimed him.

.*.

Groggily, Kirito awoke to Zeal crying. "Imup, imup." Kirito muttered, pushing the black cat off the bed and stretching. He yawned, blinking his watery eyes to clear them. He glanced at the time as he scrolled through his menu to wake up. 9:30. He blinked rapidly, trying to remember what was so important about the time. As the minute changed from 30 to 31 he remembered. And completely jolted awake and hurried to get ready for the day. Zeal Flare ran after him, climbing up his back as he bolted out the door. Kirito paid and left the inn and the village, running along the paths. He encountered a few monsters but otherwise got to the main city of floor 75 in good time. It had taken about an hour by running and avoiding monster spawns. He was panting in front of the teleport gate, receiving weird looks from other people. Zeal meowed and jumped into his coat pocket.

"Ready?" He asked his familiar. She blinked up at him and he grinned. "Alright. To Granzam!"

Floor 75 disappeared and the main city of floor 55 appeared in its place. As he stepped off the teleport gate, Kirito tripped over someone's stray foot. The person and people next to them snickered as Kirito groaned and stood up, a little disoriented.

"What a loser."

"He must have just raised his levels just high enough to attempt to be on the front lines."

"Bah, I think some person must just have pity on him and is inviting them to their house."

Kirito turned his head to look at the group taunting him. It was four guys, all smirking which meant they knew he heard them. Three of them were wearing KoB uniforms and the other looked like a young kid, possibly a blacksmith from the appearance of a hammer and apron. The one who Kirito assumed tripped him was tall, seeing as his uniform was a little different from his party mates probably due to customizing it, and had long black hair, tied into a low ponytail. He was equipped with a flammard on one hip and three daggers on the other. The other two from KoB guild were equipped shields and swords, one possibly having a flail.

Kirito gritted his teeth and ignored them, walking away. Zeal's head popped out, meowing a complaint. Kirito ignored her too, at least for a little.

"Hey beast tamer. Your familiar just talked to you." The voice pointed out. There was something familiar about that voice but when did Kirito ever meet someone with that cold and uncaring of a personality? At least those that are still allowed to roam free.

"Sao! You made it!" At that Kirito turned around just in time to see Silica pounce on him.

"Gah! Huh, hi Silica." Kirito said once she let go of her iron grip hug.

She just grinned. "I thought you said you wouldn't be here until lunch."

"Yeah, well when I realized the time I didn't want to leave you hanging." Kirito answered her then noticed her companion tap Silica on the shoulder.

"Oh! I almost forgot." Silica said, pushing the person behind her in front of Kirito. "This is my guild leader and mentor. Most people call her 'The Flash' or 'Lightning Fast Asuna' but i just call her Asuna."

Kirito lost the will to breathe. Asuna stood in front of him, a scowl painted on her delicate face. Her eyes were no longer a warm fire-like amber that you could feel comforted by but instead like the rock amber, frigid and calculating and hard. Her river at sunset hair still flowed from her head but it didn't fit her new appearance. The KoB uniform that she had changed as well. She wore more armor and she had two swords equipped. One was her rapier and the other… The other was his sword, Elucidator.

"Hey." Her voice snapped him from his thoughts. "Quit checking me out and tell me what your plans are for messing with my scouting party."

Kirito narrowed his eyes. "Messing with your scouting party? Excuse me, not like I knew."

Asuna's lips twitched. "Well, no wonder Klein told me to investigate you. Rude and shady."

Darn it Klein. Kirito cursed in his head. "Same to you as well, Miss 'Flashy'. At least I don't go insulting people I just met."

"And you just did, hypocrite."

The two had a silent stare off until Silica separated them.

"Can we please find a place to eat and talk this over peacefully?"

Again thanks to you all for sticking to this story. I sincerely hope it does not take as long to write the next chapter as it did for this one. Please review or PM me to tell me what you thought of this chapter!

So, until next time my fellow peeps!

Chapter Nine:

Re-Saving Each Other's Lives