A/N: Sorry it seems I'm always late in updating but alas I have one too many stories going for me, and I swear I have ADD. I going to college next month, which I'm thrilled about, if my updates slow down even more then…I'm sorry. Now you will know why at least. Anyway Enjoy!

Chapter 7: Someone Special

"How is he?" Leafa questioned the healer as soon as he exited Kirito's room.

The healer merely sighed before answering, "He's ok, I gave him a strong sedative so he's out for now."

"His face?"

"Completely healed, there won't even be scarring." The healer answered calmly.

"Do you know what caused him to act like that?" Asuna, who had until that point been sitting silently on the floor by the door with her back against the wall, spoke.

"Young lady I am no expert in the problems others have in their minds, I heal what's only physical. However if I had to guess I would say that it is some form of emotional trauma." The fairy stated as he headed towards the door, "Keep a close eye on him, he seems to have the wonderful knack of injuring himself." He finished as he opened the door and turned back to acknowledge the two young ladies one last time.

Both nodded determinedly, "Thank you for coming out here this late at night; we really appreciate your help." Leafa stated quietly, she knew for a fact the she had woken the man from what could have been a good night's rest. He was a bedraggled mess when he answered the door to her frantic pounding.

The healer merely hummed in response before closing the door behind him, leaving two girls in a heavy silence.

Neither knew where to go from there.

Asuna sighed after a long while before quietly heading back towards Kirito's room, careful not to wake him.

"I'll keep watch of him for tonight, you should get some rest." She whispered back to the blond from the doorway.

Leafa wanted to protest but she knew she had work tomorrow, whereas Asuna did not. She couldn't afford to lose anymore sleep than she already has or else she'd be falling asleep out in the field, in other words the monster infested areas in which her and her group, among many other groups, were in charge of taking out if and when they became a problem.

The monsters out there would just love that, free food.

She nodded before making her way back to her own room silently.

Asuna watched her go down the stairs before turning back to the sleeping boy in the room; she shook her head in concern before pulling the chair from the corner of the room over until she was seated right next to his bed.

It felt like she was back to square one, Kirito injured and in a bed and her sitting and waiting for things to get better.

But this time it was worse, much worse…

This time his injury was in his mind not his body, and no one but him could fix such a thing.

It was a scary feeling to realize she was absolutely helpless to helping someone, especially since that someone had spent time helping her.

And he was her only support in this strange world, she supposed she could rely on Leafa but for some unknown reason she wasn't as comfortable with that.

She just felt safest with Kirito, which was absolutely bizarre seeing as she barely knew him at all.

But really there was just something about him…

"Asuna? Hey wake up." A soft voice called as she felt someone poking her face.

Asuna jolted awake vaguely realizing that the voice belonged to Kirito, looking around she found herself curled up into the chair, though her head must have been resting on the bed.

When she looked towards said bed she found her eyes locked onto another pair, the intense gray making her pause for only a moment before it registered to her: Kirito was awake.

"Kirito! You're awake! How are you feeling?" she questioned concernedly, restraining herself from tackle hugging him in relief.

"Why wouldn't I be ok?" He questioned back as a response, looking genuinely confused.

"Last night-"

"I went to bed, nothing happened. You're acting weird." Kirito cut off; looking at her like he was still a little confused and even a bit concerned at Asuna's behavior.

Asuna just stared at him in shock for a long moment, "You don't remember?" she inquired in a near whisper.

He just stared back at her in irritation trying to hide the growing concern, "Remember what?" he asked in false exasperation as he slowly climbed out of bed on the other side.

"N-nothing."

He paused and stared at her genuinely worried, she really was acting weird. "Fine then…why were you sleeping in my room?" he questioned in return as he stretched his arms over his head and yawned before mumbling under his breath, "Creeper." When he looked back over at Asuna again to see how she would react he smiled, now she was acting more normal.

Asuna didn't answer as she was currently busy trying to learn how to magically make blushes disappear. Her face was putting tomatoes to shame.

"T-t-that's not it!" She squeaked in embarrassment before leaping from the chair to march out of the room. "You're stupid Kirito!" she screamed from the hallway.

Kirito just stifled a laugh before going about getting ready for the day. Hey, maybe she had a crush on him and that was why she was acting so weird.

A smug smile stretched across his face. He didn't exactly know why, he's had just about any and every girl of the kingdom fawning over him at one point or another and he hadn't really cared but instead almost felt annoyed by it, but the thought of Asuna having a crush on him strangely pleased him.

After her husband died the queen was at a loss, however she had no time to grieve as her son was falling to pieces.

She feared that at this rate he would soon join her husband in whatever awaited those after death.

He would not eat, barely drank anything, and sleeping…he did not sleep.

No it was horrid nightmare after horrid nightmare, and when he would awake they would have to stop him from hurting himself.

On the least worst of nights he'd just attack his face with his own hands, something they could easily fix by holding back his hands and getting a healer.

But on the worst of nights…

Those haunted the queen's own dreams.

"Here I made breakfast."

"You didn't poison it did you?"

"Shut up and eat, before I change my mind and throw the food away."

"NO! Not the food!"

Asuna just shook her head as she sat on the other side of the table to witness the lovely sight of Kirito inhaling his food.

"Don't you have any table manners? You're a prince for crying out loud!"

Kirito merely paused for a moment before swallowing, "Sorry, this is surprisingly really good."

"I hate you." Asuna responded mostly joking as she glared at him yet at the same time she almost wanted to smile at the semi-compliment to her cooking, "What's surprising about the fact that I can cook?"

"Um…You aren't patient, you aren't gentle, you-"

"Ok I get it; you're a jerk with a low opinion of me, now shut up and eat so we can go already." Asuna interrupted in annoyance, her eye twitching in contained rage, never mind smiling she really wanted to punch him now. However last night seemed to change her overall outlook of him, before she would just be thinking he was a spoiled jerk, but now…now she knew there was more to it.

Kirito just chuckled, "Why aren't you eating?"

"I already did, why you were taking your sweet time getting ready."

"I couldn't help it; I kept getting this nagging feeling that I was forgetting something big…"

Asuna twitched in her seat uncomfortably, she wanted to tell him but at the same time she had this feeling that it wouldn't end well.

"Not like I'm not used to the feeling…" He continued oblivious to her internal turmoil.

"Used to it?" she questioned in concern.

"Yeah, I wake up feeling that a lot in the morning."

After every night of keeping the prince from destroying himself, the young boy would wake up like nothing happened.

He never remembered the night before.

Although sometimes when he managed to injure himself enough that it couldn't completely heal over night, he would question the queen on his strange injuries.

He never got an answer; the queen would just start crying.

After a while he stopped asking, just accepting it as a normal part of his day to day life.

He hated seeing his mother cry anyway…

She was all he had left.

"So where are we going anyway?" Kirito questioned as he allowed Asuna to drag him down the street. He had a cloak on with the hood up to hide his face. He'd like to find a way to contact his mother, but he feared that might also give his position away. Unfortunately she would just have to wait till he got home.

"This big secluded backyard to this old abandoned mansion, Leafa told me about..."

"Why the heck are we going there?!"

"So you can train me, without anyone seeing us."

"Fine but I won't teach you to fly…" He answered as a peculiar expression crossed his face, too fast for Asuna to catch it.

"That's fine by me!" She answered happily, she didn't have wings anyway.

He had long since stopped smiling, he still ate like a bird, and the nightmares continued to haunt him but his awakenings seemed to have toned down a lot more, much to the relief of the queen and the many guards watching after the boy.

He trusted no one but his mother, and even she was kept at a distance.

He did not laugh; he didn't express much of anything.

He just glared, scaring many away.

Most ran because the look in his eyes spoke of a sad wisdom that should not lie in the eyes of one so young, and when he set those hostile eyes upon them…it felt as though he could see right through them.

Just one look into said eyes and the queen knew he'd never be the same.

He used to glow, smile, laugh…there hadn't been a single ounce of hostility in his body.

He had changed almost beyond recognition.

But the thing that scared her most was her seemingly accurate fear that he would never smile truly again.

"Leafa should be getting back soon." Asuna broke the silence as she stared, at the rock sitting on the ground before her. Kirito sat a little ways away leaning against an old tree; they had been like that for quite a while. She was pretty much just humoring him, she knew the rock would never move.

"Yep, now make the rock move already. I don't care how as long as it's with something else other than your hands , preferably before I'm old and dying."

Unfortunately for her Kirito thought she needed to learn magic first which was obviously entirely impossible. She thought that she already made that clear with the whole 'magic disorder' card. With a smile, as she thought over his words more analytically, she kicked it.

Kirito just glared at her.

"You said anything other than my hands." she giggled.

"Yeah I know what I said, but that's obviously not what I meant." he shot back annoyed.

"I'm telling you magic is impossible for me, teach me how to fight." She responded just as bluntly.

They both glared at each other for a good five minutes before Kirito huffed in annoyance. He got up and dusted his pants and shirt off before sending her another good hard glare.

"You're a horrible teacher." Asuna added just for kicks, it's not really his fault she was human. But it was his fault for just sitting there drawing with a stick in the dirt while she just stared at the stupid rock for a couple hours. She was pretty sure at some point in there he even took a nap.

"Fine, you want to learn to swing a sword and suck at everything else, be my guest. It's your funeral."

"No its not, I'll always have you!" Asuna joked falsely batting her eyelashes and making a point to draw out the 'always'. She even opened her arms like she expected him to run into them for a hug, though that wouldn't end well seeing as she was still sitting on the ground.

Kirito stared at her as if he was horrified, "I wouldn't hug you if you were the last fairy on the planet." he snorted. Something was off about how he responded, it was like his heart really wasn't into it, though it escaped Asuna's notice.

Asuna dropped her arms to her lap with an over dramatic and very fake hurt expression across her face, "You wound me." she added for good sarcastic measure.

However instead of getting some witty sarcastic remark in return as she had expected, she found that Kirito was weirdly silent for a moment as he seemed to contemplate something serious, whatever it was it had Asuna curious, did she say something too weird? However his expression quickly returned to its soured state once again before she could really question it, making her wonder if she had imagined it.

"Ok weirdo, we'll start with the swords tomorrow." He stated bluntly but then he hesitated for a moment, opening and closing his mouth as if debating whether or not to voice his previous thoughts before seeming to come to a decision, "And for the record; I'll have your back, if you have mine." He spoke turning his head so he wasn't facing her, as if nervous of her response.

That was certainly uncharacteristic of him, and yet she felt like she was seeing something rare… Did her joking that she'd always have him actually effect him, did he take that seriously? In a sense she had been serious, she really did believe he'd always have her back if she needed it, though she didn't know what started such a belief. Now he just confirmed it all the more, much to her surprise.

and yet not that surprising at all...

His walls, if only for a moment, just seemed to have completely come down. Now he stood before her vulnerable waiting for a response to his words. At this point he had even turned to look her in the eyes again, not uttering a word as they both just stared at one and another, minutes ticking away without their awareness.

She just nodded her head, "Sound like a deal to me."

It was almost funny to Asuna how in that moment she could almost feel the relief floating off Kazuto before he quickly covered it up.

"Great. Um...remember swords tomorrow" He spoke like he wasn't sure what to say now, quickly he tried to recover himself again and walked past her like nothing happened.

"Hey at least help me off the ground, jerk!" Asuna called after him lazily.

He just turned and surprised her with a smile.

With time the prince became more mischievous, and health seemed to return to him.

He was a grand actor; he seemed easy going and content. If not a little scary to some…

But the queen knew better, she stopped him from hurting himself every other night.

The prince was miserable.

Only someone special could ever change that.

'I've never seen him smile like that before' was all Asuna thought as she followed him out the yard.

A/N: Oh man I thought I'd never get that thing done! Ok look at that…it was sort of fluffy…Right? Riiiight? Anyway sorry again for the wait, I hope you liked this chapter!

Please review if ya got the time! See ya later