A/N: Hi, this is Posiden666, author of 'The Archery Skill.
Anyways(1), a few quick things before I get to the chapter:
I am, again, really sorry about the update schedule (If you could call it that). Fortunately, I have been spending this time creating an actual plot for this arc, so I won't be just making it up as I go along anymore.
Reviews:
Alex: I do. You did. *pats on head* I felt like it (I didn't want to, I just had writers block(You know the kind that lasts for weeks) so I thought I'd break it there to get an update, and it seemed like an ok place, and I love twists and suspense), also because I'm a bad writer. That brings me to my next point: GAHH! LIES!
Patient 0 Zero: I know, I'm trying to be better about that.
Fundindar: Yeah, I hate how the anime depicts that entire scene. The LN version is soooo much different and better. Yes, well I mean not cover blades precisely but just a game in general it's just so… so… so… well if you play the game, you know. How's that funny? I'm tired of you guys telling me that I'm a good writer, I'm not! ^_^
Sexy Sinon: [WARNING]: [ADORABLENESS AHEAD]. I think that is probably my favorite part of the story so far. Criticize, nag, do whatevs, as long as it's input, its greatly appreciated. If you do: P.M. me… or umm… write longer reviews I guess. Anyways(2) Thank you for your review(s).
Wow, only 4 reviews. R&R?
If you like what I do here, and you want me to try to find more decent plots to twist into terrible monstrosities: consider reviewing, that would be cool of you.
Check out Sinoto, you know the community page. No seriously, you have to do this, if you've gotten this far in the story that means you love this pairing enough to suffer my terrible writing, so as a present yourself, you should go to this page, and read all of the actually good Sinoto fanfics. Go to this place to do that thing: community/Sinoto/111446/99/0/1/0/0/0/0/
And hey, thanks.
The Archery Skill
Chapter 11: The Black swordsman Part 3
Kirito and Sinon walked through the forest, their eyes to the ground. The tracks of the three laughing coffin numbers were getting less faint now, the stride lengths in the footsteps were also getting shorter, suggesting they were no longer running. Glancing up, what appeared to be a large hill, walking towards it were the three members of laughing coffin they had been tracking the past two weeks. Quickly, each of them ducked behind the nearest tree. Using his [Listening] skill (a sub-skill of [Search]) Kirito managed to overhear most of what they were saying.
"I don't get it." One of the murderers remarked.
"What?"
"I haven't gotten any items yet, those dumb apes should've killed her by now."
"Maybe you missed your throwing pick, and didn't get credited with the kill."
"No, there's no way I missed."
"Maybe someone saved her," The other one remarked sarcastically.
"Ha! Like that would happen there is no one around for miles."
They all started laughing.
"She probably just bought them off for too long and you are discredited the kill."
"Yeah you're right. That seems probable. Well at least we still get paid."
"Oh, bases just up ahead!" The one in the middle, who hadn't spoken the whole time, exclaimed.
Kirito's eyes burned with anger: how could they speak about something like murder so nonchalantly. It made him furious. He looked over at Sinon. She had a similar face, but hers was stained with terror. The trio walked to the base of the hill. One of the murderers, the one in the middle, drew his foot back and kicked a large rock. There was a rumbling sound, one of stone scraping against stone. Next to them a large boulder split in two revealing that it was merely a facade concealing a tunnel into the hill.
From inside the tunnel footsteps could be heard. It was a man. He was tall and slim with rather long brown hair. He was dressed in white knight's armor and a white cape. Across the front of his breastplate was… Kirito gasped, it was crimson cross, the symbol of the KoB. He glanced at Sinon, her mouth agape. "Kirito-kun…" She started, "Isn't that Kurdeel, one of the newer members of the guild…"
He looked at the man again, also noting that he had an orange marker. She was right that he was KoB, Diabel had even talked to him about this man after he recruited him, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it… "Yeah…" He said, "I remember now, Diabel said that he was an expert two-handed swordsman, and would be a great addition to our guild… but that it would best to keep an eye on him."
"I guess he was right." Sinon said, "Quiet, they're talking."
"Welcome home, my brothers!" Exclaimed Kurdeel. "Did your hunting go well?"
"For the most part," The murderer on the left said, "We didn't get the girls items, but that guild leader woman, and the Silver Flags went off without a hitch, sir.
"Excellent, I'll inform our clients immediately."
People paid these murderers to do their killing, Kirito was disgusted. The four began to move into the tunnel, so he had to act quickly. "Sinon?"
"Yeah." She said already pulling her bow off her back along with an arrow.
"Cover me."
"Roger." Her arrow was nocked, already aiming. Her expression cold, like machine, made of ice.
He darted to the nearest tree, sliding his Elucidator off his back, its weight giving him strength. He held up his hand, closed his eyes and inhaled. He was ready, he had to stop these murderers before they killed anyone else… even if he had to end their lives in the process.
He crouched. His eyes flashed open, glinting gold momentarily. His hand dropped. He exploded out of the bush, an arrow accompanying him. It struck true, the upper spinal column of the center player, paralyzing him immediately. He prepared his swing, directed at the legs of the player on the left. His target was too slow to doge, and was now missing his right leg, the other badly damaged. The two remaining players drew their weapons.
"Ahh, Kirito-dono, and I assume the archer is the beautiful Sinon-dono?" He asked, letting only a little bit of psychotic into his voice.
She stepped out of the woods, arrow nocked, "Surrender or we will use excessive force."
"Awwe, Sinon-dono," He pouted, "Why so cold?"
"Because you're a disgusting creature who doesn't have the right to exist."
"But if you kill me, what will that make you?" He argued smugly.
Her eyes flashed with anger, "I don't have to kill you, just disable you. Or make you to surrender." She liked her lips sadistically, trying to scare him to surrender.
"Ohhh Sinon-dono," He moaned, "I didn't know you were into that." He took a step towards her, his grin widening, "Now I'm going to enjoy this sooo much more." He took another step, "Why don't we go have some fun, Sinon-dono." He started walking towards her faster. It was more than she could handle. She released her arrow.
She heard a clash of swords, probably between Kirito and the other bastard, but she couldn't think about that right now.
Kurdeel stumbled, an arrow stuck into his forehead. His grin faded. A memory played across her mind. It was similar to what she was seeing now. It was a man. There was red liquid… everywhere. It was coming from his head. The man was reaching towards her. She knew this memory too well. His hand gripped a sword. She heard the sound of glass shattering, faintly. The man was stumbling towards her, sword raised. This wasn't right. She was outside; the man she had shot was looming over her; his sword coming down on her head in slow motion. She deserved this. Her life was at its end. She heard a faint voice call her name. The sword was centimeters from her head now. She closed her eyes. She heard the familiar sound of a virtual sword cutting virtual flesh. And she heard the painful sound that was made when a player bursts into a cloud of polygons, never to exist in any world again, real, or virtual. It was over, she was finally dead… But she didn't feel dead. She opened her eyes, surprised that she still had eyes. A boy with black hair and black eyes, wearing a black shirt, with a black cloak and black pants, fell to his knees in front of her, his black sword thudding to the ground. He embraced her in a warm hug. Her nerves were still numb, but she could feel his pain. She wrapped her arms around the boy. Her ears stopped ringing, she hadn't realized when they had started doing that. She felt something wet on her shoulder and heard the boy sob softly.
"Sinon, I've done something terrible." He said quietly.
"Kirito?" She asked sadly.
"I've just killed two people, am I a monster?" Came a scratchy whisper, laden with the pain of someone who had killed.
She shook her head softly, "You're too good of a person to be a monster Kirito."
"Sinon," He pulled away slightly, which she allowed, grudgingly, "I've already promised never to leave you, but…" He looked down briefly before returning to her gaze, his eyes wet with sorrow, yet burning with passion, "After all this time with you, I… I need you Sinon… I don't know what I'd be without you-" He paused briefly, more tears rolling down his cheeks, "-And that scares me."
She was shocked, he felt so fragile in her arms, not the fearless black swordsman, but just an ordinary boy, filled with anguish because of her selfishness. She smiled slightly, her eyes dampening, "I promise… I promise I'll never leave you either Kiri-"
She felt something soft brush her lips. His face was much closer now. She didn't need words. She let the tear that had been welling up in her eye fall. She pulled him towards her, embracing him tightly. Their lips joined, and she smiled into their kiss.
They stayed like that until they could no longer hold their breath. They reluctantly separated and just hugged, wrapped in the warmth of the other's company, neither wanted to move, time passed, though neither knew how much.
After a while he heard a soft voice ask, "Hey Kirito?"
"Yeah."
"Mmmm…" She nuzzled his neck, "Nothing." She giggled.
He kissed her forehead, as much as I'd like to continue…" He started, "We still have business to attend to." He looked over at the two red-players, who appeared to be unconscious, probably from pain. He stood up and extended a hand to her, which she accepted.
Sinon watched as he opened his menu, producing the corridor crystal. As he opened the corridor and dragged the unconscious players into it, she couldn't stop thinking about what had just occurred. He, the 'completely oblivious to girls' Kirito, had just kissed her. And had said that he 'needed' her. Just thinking about it made her blush.
She was pulled from her thoughts by his stare. "What are you looking at," She said, trying to cover her cheeks.
"Nothing," He said, obviously suppressing a chuckle, "You just look cute when your face is all red like that."
"Stop being an idiot, let's go home. I'm starving," She said, walking over to him and covering her face with her scarf, but also grasping his hand. He didn't complain.
"Hey Sinon," Kirito asked, "Can you message Zoë with the map coordinates of this place, so that she can send a raid party here, that tunnel looked like it was probably their base, and if we can help arrest even more of those sick bastards, we'd be doing everyone in this world a favor.
"Sure"
As they walked towards the nearest teleport gate Kirito opened his menu to message Silica. We're done, lets meet up at the café by the teleport gate. He closed his UI and looked up, but received a reply so fast, Silica must've typed it before he messaged her. KIRITO! Thank god, you're alive. I was worried, it's been more than an hour since you left. I assumed the worst. Ok, sounds great. C U Soon.
Hmm… That girl is weird. And wow, over an hour.
"Zoë says she's sending a party of twelve, Asuna, and Diabel. And she's also contacting the Holy Dragon Alliance and some other small guilds we're on good terms with." Sinon stated.
"That should be good enough."
The café was warm and cozy, and the cheesecake was pretty good, although it paled in comparison to Molly's on floor fifteen. Sinon and Kirito were seated across from the girl, who had arrived before them and had already eaten hers. The two were holding hands out of Silica's view and giving eachother occasional shy glances but she didn't seem to notice. "So?" She asked, "I assume you two are clearers, by the amount of stuff you lent me. And I also assume you're from KoB, given you both have a cross on your armor. Am I correct?"
"Yup"
"Yes"
"So now tell me, what were you doing on a floor like this."
A shadows covered their faces, and Kirito replied, "I'd rather not… if you don't mind."
Silica took one look at their faces and knew she had gone way too far. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't…"
"It's fine, but we should be finding an inn soon," Kirito said glancing at the clock in his HUD.
"Though there is one more thing we'd like to ask you, Silica," Sinon started, "Did you happen to find a throwing pick in you during or after your fight with the apes?"
"Noo…" Silica responded, "Actually, wait, I found this on the ground after you saved me," she continued, producing from her inventory, a throwing pick, "I guess I just assumed it was yours."
Kirito inspected the thin spike further, "Nope," He said, "I guess that confirms our suspicions. Now, about that inn. I can't wait to get some sleep." He said, briefly making eye contact with Sinon but looking away quickly.
"Yeah… me neither…" Sinon started, "Umm, Silica-chan, are you staying anywhere right now? If we stay in the same inn as you we can start for the hill of memories earlier tomorrow."
"Good idea, I'm staying in the place next door."
"Let's go then," Kirito said finishing the last of his cheesecake. As he stood up and slipped his hand from hers, which made Sinon feel a little emptier inside, and a lot colder.
Silica paid, claiming it was the least she could offer for all the things they were doing for her. They walked next door. The inn was a plain looking, three story wooden building, it didn't seem to be a particularly expensive inn, not that they couldn't afford it, they had over eight million col between the two of them, but it didn't look like the sketchy 20 col per night inns that had locks that a player with a [Lock Picking] skill of ten could break into, it looked right in the middle, which was the best kind. They walked inside and stepped up to the counter and rented one room. Silica gave them a weird look, "Don't you guys have enough to get two rooms?" She asked quizzically.
"Yeah," Kirito replied, "We just always get one room and sleep in different beds. Unless there's only one, then I take the floor."
"We've just been doing it since day one, literally, and habits are hard to break. Plus that's a little more col we can use to upgrade our weapons with." Sinon continued.
"Well I can't argue with that logic," Silica said yawning, "I'll see you guys in the morning."
"Night" they said in unison.
Now alone again Kirito took Sinon's hand ant they ascended the staircase. "Hey Kirito?" She asked as they approached their room, "Did you get one with two beds?" She secretly hoped the answer was no.
"I didn't specify. It's not like it matters anyway. We almost never get what we ask for when it comes to inns."
"Oh. Ok." She took a deep breath and opened the door. There were two beds.
Usually Kirito cheered when this happened but this time he just sighed and said, "I guess we got good luck."
Sinon was staring at the ceiling, unable to sleep. Images of Kurdeel killing her kept playing out in her head. She had, several times, almost called out to Kirito, to ask him if she could sleep with him. But she had stopped herself, thinking about how awkward that would be. She figured that he was also probably sleeping. She rolled over to glance over at Kirito, who had the back of his hand on his forehead, and the moonlight glinting off of his still open eyes. He was wearing his casual black shirt, for her sake. She always insisted that he leave the room while she got ready for bed, being far too shy and embarrassed to let him see what she slept in. She smiled to herself; in this light he was so cute. She saw his lips curve upwards into a smile, as if he'd read her thought. His smile faded, and he turned his head so he was staring into her eyes. "Hey Sinon?" He asked timidly.
"Yeah, Kirito?"
"I-I can't sleep."
"Me neither." She said, hiding the excitement in her voice.
"Could I…" He sighed nervously, which she found kinda cute, "Could I sleep with you tonight," He asked, in a voice so soft that if it hadn't been exactly what she wanted to hear, she wouldn't have known what he said.
"Sure." She said, too quickly, "I mean I guess, its all right with me, if we sleep together… as long is you don't try anything." She covered, expertly.
Kirito began to get up but he heard Sinon say, "No it's alright."
He looked over at her, confused, only to see her sliding out of bed. She was wearing a light green not-quite-opaque nightgown, which clung to her body very tightly, and her perfect figure, was gorgeously illuminated by the moonlight. She held her hands behind her back, and was looking away from him, a deep crimson covering her face. He looked away, expecting to receive a blow, but was pleasantly surprised to find instead, two arms wrap themselves around his torso. Sinon pulled herself closer to him, her chest pressing lightly against his back, and a voice next to his ear ask, "Is something wrong Kirito?"
"No," He started, turning around, safely maintaining eye contact; "You just caught me by surprise." He said kissing her softly.
"Then let's go to sleep," She said, nestling under the covers and looking at him expectantly."
"Ok." He said sliding back into the warmth of the comforter, and Sinon's embrace, which he returned. "Thank you, Sinon."
"No Kirito, thank you," She muttered into his chest.
A/N: Hope I didn't butcher it too bad.
Please Read AND Review, this helps me a lot, and I really appreciate knowing people are actually reading my story. It's also a great way to tell me I suck. Also, you get to see your name at the beginning of the next chapter, how fun is that.
Another method of telling me this is through P.M., also you can tell me your ideas on what you think I should do to the plot, or your ideas on what might happen that might spoil the story for other viewers.
Anyways(2), thanks to Furrballnerd for helping me with phrasing, and content issues. And thank you to Kyrito, Ph1n4l, for pointing out my typos and grammar mistakes. Ty y'all are awesome.
I don't need anymore beta testers, but if you want to do that thing still, I'll accept, I do make a lot of errors.
Sinoto: [1] n. the combination of Sinon and Kirito (The most adorable pairing) [2] n. It's the community devoted to this pairing. [3] n. The name for this pairing that you should start using around the Internet so it will catch on.
Oh and again, sorry for the slow updates. You know, life.
Oh, I'm also sorry about how terrible this was/is/will be.
Anyways(3), that's all I have to say, ^_^
