Greetings, reader! I must apologize for failing to update over the week; I have been hideously busy. I'll try my best to post more frequently! Meanwhile, this chapter is a bit less meaty than its brethren, but I intend for it to set up several more plot points in later chapters. The character named Takashi introduced in this chapter is entirely OC and may or may not exist in canon.

Chapter 4: Ambush

Vindication is such a strong adjective, Takashi thought as he adjusted a few wires at the base of the full dive gear.

No, it wasn't the proper word to describe what he intended to accomplish. As he'd worked, Takashi had been searching for a singular, embodying word to describe what he was about to do. Certainly not vengeance, that sounded too strong as well, like he was some sort of desperado. Righteous and lawful didn't fit either, because he had no qualms about admitting that his plans were nothing if not illegal. After all, it was easier to work outside of the restrictions of law than within them. His teachers had always said that he had the intelligence to do so much good for the world, but Takashi didn't see the point in that while evil existed to combat it.

Ever since he'd learned the English language during his late years in elementary school, he had taken to reading American fiction; he found them intriguing for their cultural difference and originality. Among the many fantasies and books he consumed was a series named Artemis Fowl, by Eoin Colfer. It was the story of a young Irish boy who had been gifted with the strength of an incredible intellect. Unlike most feel-good stories, this boy utilized his potential to commit heinous crimes and improve his own personal status in life. Takashi had personally admired the boy, named Artemis, for his unflinching determination and complete disregard for lawful authority. Artemis knew his actions were punishable, but he didn't let that bother him.

I'll have to become like him, if I want to be able to go through with this, Takashi thought as he absently fingered the wires between his palms. Wires weren't really used for full dive equipment these days, but his resources had been limited. So he'd had to go retro. There's nothing but the goal. Artemis Fowl took revenge plenty of times himself. An eye for an eye. A life for a life.

Takashi's deep frown only intensified as he inspected his equipment a last time before leaving the room, letting the door bang closed behind him.

I'll avenge you, Aniki.

Alas, it might have been beneficial for him if he had also read the biography on the all famous Gandhi; there, he would have found that "an eye for an eye only makes the whole world blind."

Not that he knew that.

Asuna's hand twitched.

It felt a little empty. As she walked through the various shops and attractions the local mall offered, glancing at the occasional article of clothing, she wondered why. Closing the aforementioned hand into a light fist, Asuna repeated the movement a few times, pondering. It felt like something should be there, but what was it?

She sighed into her collar.

Who was she kidding? Asuna knew exactly what she was missing. Kazuto-kun. Whenever she'd been seized by a need to go on a small shopping spree, the boy would always follow along with an enthusiastic attitude. In fact, he'd be the one to drag her around, something that conflicted greatly with the stereotypical expectation from a young couple at the mall. This was accented by the fact that Asuna was well aware that Kazuto had no special love for shopping, considering the rather uniform shade of clothing he wore. No, he'd simply adjust to fit her, and her desires. It always made Asuna feel guilty, like she was forcing him to change, but Kazuto had assured her that spending time together was more important than the setting. "As long as it's you," He'd smiled, "It doesn't matter to me."

Maybe I should have brought him along, Asuna thought as she made her way to the food square to order her lunch. She'd neglected to notify Kazuto about her plans to go to the mall, and had subsequently gone on her own. Asuna had not really understood why she didn't allow herself to call the boy and tell him, but she knew deep inside that it was a rift that had been forced between them. Not from any fault of either of their parts, to be frank, but rather due to the continued efforts of Rika and Keiko. The latter proved to be the most troublesome when it came to their never ending conquest to win over Kazuto, because she could play off her actions as that of a child's and avoid a serious laydown when necessary. Asuna couldn't count the times the freshman had made the excuse of "being tired due to her size" so she could stay for just another hour.

Rika, on the other hand, had been a tad more mature about the whole thing. Her participation in their "conflict" was certainly irritating to begin with, but at least she didn't go to ridiculous lengths like her younger counterpart. Just the occasional invitation to share a brief lunch, or a short walk together through downtown. And Kazuto, of course, responded much better to this approach, a fact that Asuna found both charming and infuriating all at once. It made her wonder when her best friend's infatuation with Kazuto had really begun, despite that fact that the former blacksmith claimed it had begun a significant time after their first meeting. The truth was that she'd fallen for him less than fifty hours since their acquaintance, but that was something Asuna was kept unaware of.

In any case, the increase of activity between Kazuto and Rika and Silica had had an affect on his daily schedule, consequentially. Time with him that Asuna usually cherished for herself had to be divided between all three of them, and this obviously meant she didn't get to spend as much time with her beloved. It made what time they did share a little stagnant, knowing that somehow, Kazuto no longer belonged entirely to her. She knew she should have expected other individuals to make their advances on him, but she would have never imagined them to come from her two closest female companions. The rather irritating interest the other males of the high school expressed towards her also served to feed the mounting tension inside of Asuna's soul.

Despite her firm decision to never blame Kazuto for the current situation, as he had done no real wrong, Asuna couldn't help but feel a little frustration at him. She had a feeling that Kazuto was fully aware of the motives behind Rika and Silica's actions, yet he did nothing to affirm that his heart belonged with Asuna. Of course, this also brought up the issue that he hadn't exactly said the three magic words to her yet, but he'd already recognized the two of them to be a couple. So why did he allow it to continue? She couldn't fathom it.

Sighing heavily, Asuna flopped heavily into a booth at the food court without even ordering anything; she'd lost her appetite. She glanced in a cursory manner at the mass of menus situated at an angle with her eyes, but Asuna didn't really read what they said. Letting out an exasperated sound that went a little like, "bleh..." she spread her arms out on the table and leaned so that her chin joined the flat surface, as her fingers tapped away in agitation.

That was the most confounding observation yet. The three magic words. I love you. He'd more or less said it after their first kiss deep within the canyons of Aincrad, but since then he'd failed to express himself in an identical manner in reality. It awoke the horrible speculation that perhaps his earlier confession had simply been the product of a "spur of the moment" feeling, and all Kazuto harbored towards her a rather intense and elongated infatuation. If he really cared for her, why couldn't he say that he loved her? Asuna knew that she could easily say it to Kazuto, but she'd decided to avoid it once she'd realized that he was somehow lacking in the ability to say it back. She knew that the strength of the bond between them was virtually unquestionable, but nevertheless the bare fact that Kazuto couldn't express himself to her left a small pit in her heart.

Oh, Kazuto, you idiot...

Takashi had first been introduced to the virtual reality by his older brother. His first full dive into the computer generated world had been...unpleasant, to say the least. He and his brother lived alone, since both of their parents had died from cancer. Luckily, his aniki was old enough to hold a decent job and keep a roof over their heads as well as food on the table. Being only in high school, he'd depended heavily on his older brother for emotional and financial support; and although he was cold and unforgiving sometimes, the relationship between them had been healthy and strong.

Takashi had been more pressured into taking his first full dive than anything else. His older brother was an assertive type, and he'd wished to share his obsession with VR with his younger sibling. Takashi couldn't find a reason to say no, and since he respected his brother's interests, he'd gone and tried it. He'd linked into a beta server which had just gotten its butt off the ground, consisting of less than three hundred active players. Unfortunately, the lack of popularity the beta had resulted in it being vulnerable to hackers. During the first full out duel Takashi had managed to participate in with his new avatar, it had been against one of these said hackers. His opponent had managed to gain the ability to manipulate the pain absorber level during combat, and he'd been cruel enough to test it out by reducing it to zero during the fight.

Being new to VR and video games in general, Takashi had been severely beaten; while this may have been all right in any other circumstances, the lack of any pain absorbance whatsoever was cause for a rather traumatic experience. The blows had just kept coming without relent, as duels in that game did not end until one was killed. The pain hadn't stopped either, and he hadn't gone numb to it at all. His older brother could do nothing, as he was restricted from entering the premises of a duel. So Takashi had suffered, and suffered, until he died.

The second he respawned, the boy logged out at the speed of light and tore the NerveGear off his head once he'd awoken in reality. After throwing the demonic tech across the room, he'd curled up on the bed and cried for hours. His brother outlinked soon afterwards, and muttered a brief apology before leaving him alone. As Takashi lay there, the memory of swords biting into his flesh still vivid, he'd wondered. Wasn't virtuality's purpose to allow you to enjoy an enhanced life where human weaknesses did not exist? To roam freely without the restrictions mortality and reality placed on a person? If so, it shouldn't be possible to feel pain in virtual reality...he'd shuddered when he remembered every time that blade had dug into his body, every time his tendons had snapped under its onslaught, and then the bones underneath...

It was like he'd tasted death.

I'll give them a taste of the same, and see how they like it, Takashi thought as he wet a small cloth and wiped it over the face of an ordinary kitchen knife. Inspecting the tip to make sure it contained no impurities that could potentially poison his blood, he shifted in his seat so that he sat curled with his knees against his chest.

They altered the rules of a world where mortality should have been impossible...and I'll never forgive the pain I was caused because of it. Those who immerse themselves within the virtual reality will ultimately become ugly, twisted, former shadows of themselves...my brother just didn't know it. He never knew, and because of that he was trapped for two years. There he was killed, by the very same kind of people who nearly killed me.

Gritting his teeth to the point of breaking them, Takashi raised the knife and positioned it carefully over his left forearm.

An eye for an eye.

He pressed the razor edge of the blade against his skin. The flesh there was pushed downwards from the pressure, not yet breaking but being stretched thinly.

A life for a life.

Takashi overexerted his strength, forcing the edge of the knife to slip in between his skin, smiling weakly when fresh, thick blood flowed freely from the new wound. It dribbled rapidly from the newly made opening in his body, pattering softly onto the hard floor at his feet.

Blood for blood.

Leaning downwards, he made a similar slash in his left calf, ignoring the pain that resulted. Cleaning the knife and putting it away, he washed his wounds before walking out of the bathroom.

After finishing the lunch she'd forced herself to eat, Asuna paid and left the food court at a leisurely pace. She hadn't bought as much as she'd planned to, but the amount she had was still enough to content her for now. Carrying her things with her, Asuna exited the mall.

She called a cab and entered it once it arrived, giving the driver instructions to where her house was. Once the cab had done its work, she left the vehicle and paid before it sped away to drive more folks around. She'd told the driver to stop about half a mile from where her house actually was, and now she was walking through the sidewalks that led to her home, not really thinking about much, really, until something caught her eye.

Actually, she heard it first. A muffled bumping sound, and then a loud oof as someone fell to the asphalt with a dull thud. Stopping in the center of the intersection of roads she was taking, Asuna turned her head and stared into the darkness of an alley adjacent to her position. The banging around continued, and she narrowed her eyes at the disturbance. Due to the shadows the currently setting sun cast, it was difficult to make out what was going on.

Finally, the source of the noise made itself into view. The first thing Asuna saw was a boy, younger than her by a few years, hurtling out of the dark alley and plowing into the asphalt in a rather graceless sprawl. Taken aback by his sudden appearance, Asuna dropped everything she was carrying and shifted into a ready stance, apprehensive.

"Ouch..." The boy muttered, slowly beginning to pick himself up from the floor. He didn't seem to notice Asuna's presence. "That's going to bruise..."

"What, not hard enough for you?" Came a gruff voice.

Looking up, Asuna saw a brute of a man emerge as well from the shadows. Well, no, perhaps he wasn't a man. The male had some childish features left in his face, and he dressed like a young person. If this wasn't a professional weightlifter, it was a boy who had hit puberty rather early. Before the smaller boy could recover, he'd picked him up by the scruff of the neck.

"Hey!" Asuna yelled, catching both of their attentions. The larger boy turned his squinty eyes on her and dropped the smaller one like a sack of beans, turning fully so that he could advance as menacingly as possible. Asuna, however, stood her ground; she was stubborn and she hated bullies. Plus she owned a killer right hook; this fight would not last long.

"Who the hell e're you?" The large boy growled, flipping his greasy, blonde dyed hair out of his eyes. Asuna glared right back.

"Doesn't matter who I am. Leave that kid alone!"

The large boy threw his head back and laughed. "What e're you gonna do about it?"

Asuna's answer was a quick left jab that smashed into his nose, throwing bright stars into the boy's field of vision. He gasped and stumbled back, his top heavily build causing him to fall backwards on his rear. Asuna advanced her position and loomed menacingly over him, eyes alight with an unrestrainable fury.

"This is what I can do about it. Do you want any more?"

Gasping again, the large boy blubbered out something incoherent and stumbled to his feet. Asuna prepared for another attack, but instead he turned and ran into the opposite alley as quickly as he could. Sighing in relief, she let her arms drop and turned to see where the smaller boy was. There he was, still laying where he'd been dropped earlier. Asuna rushed over to his side and turned him over, quickly searching for wounds. She found a rather unsightly gash on the boy's left forearm, as well as an equally bad wound on his calf. Frowning in worry, she shook him until his eyes opened.

They were red. Deep red. Asuna shivered involuntarily at first sight, but she suppressed the instinct. It was ridiculous, this boy was harmless. His long, messy hair fell in waves in front of his face, reaching just past his eyebrows, and he had high, clearly defined cheek bones as well as a deep dip to his mouth. His appearance reminded her vaguely of someone, but Asuna couldn't quite place it.

"Hey," She said softly. "Are you alright?"

Blinking those bloodred eyes of his, the small boy whispered, "I guess so."

"Here, try to stand," Asuna soothed, helping him to his feet. The boy winched when pressure was placed on his injured leg, and Asuna frowned again in worry. "We should get you somewhere safe," she said. "My house is nearby-"

"No, it's fine," The small boy interrupted her suddenly. "I have a place where I can get medicine and bandages that is very close by. Thank you so much for helping me; that brute is always giving me hell."

"It was nothing," Asuna said assuringly. "You seem light enough, so I'll carry you, alright? Where's your place?" She asked as she bent and picked up the skinny lad in her arms. He really was light.

Seemingly without cause, the boy smirked at her.

"Not far."

A needle suddenly pierced her flesh, just below the collarbone. Looking downwards in horror, she saw the syringe loaded with tranquilizer being pumped into her veins.

She didn't even have enough time to groan before she collapsed.

It's cold, Asuna thought when she regained consciousness.

And it was. She didn't immediately open her eyes once her mind awoke, finding her mental faculties were still too taxed to do much else than stare at the insides of her eyelids. She remembered the events leading up to unconsciousness in perfect order, but her incredulity at such a turn of events were suppressed by a general sense of exhaustion. Wherever she was, the wind was blowing strongly through the area, and it tangled in her hair before whistling away in that way wind always did. She was sitting, probably in a chair, but when she reached out she didn't feel a table in front of her. When Asuna shifted her feet against the floor, there was earth, not flooring.

She opened her eyes.

What she saw brought back memories.

Asuna was indeed sitting in a chair, but it seemed totally out of place when compared to her surroundings. She was surrounded on two sides by rock walls, and when she looked up it became apparent that she was within a canyon. Smaller boulders dotted the space at the bottom here and there, and the rest of the ground was simple sand. It was a scene she'd seen before. This place held importance to her. It was where Kazuto had killed Kuradeel. It was where they'd recognized their love for each other.

She blinked.

But why am I here?"

"Remember it, do you?"

The hairs on the back of Asuna's neck rose. Turning slowly in her chair, she shifted her view and saw the small boy from earlier standing in the sand behind her. He was the same boy, only dressed differently; he was adorned in a dark, flowing cape, and a gleaming ebony blade was strapped to his hip. It shifted slightly as he moved, rasping like a dying man.

"Who are you?"

The small boy smiled arrogantly at her. "I suppose it is your right to know who I am. Very well. I am Takashi. That is my name, both in reality and here."

Asuna blinked. "We're in the virtual reality?"

Grinning widely, Takashi spread his arms before him and said, "Isn't it obvious? How else could you have gotten here? I expected a quicker adaptation from you, Asuna-san."

Asuna narrowed her eyes when he used her name, and stood up from the chair so she could face him. It was then that she realized that she was dressed in her most recent gear loadout from Sword Art Online; a light armor set emblazoned with the emblem of the Knights of Blood. She reached at her hip to see if her rapier was there as well. It wasn't.

Closing her eyes, Asuna took a deep breath. She needed to prioritize, and fast. This Takashi had to have a motive for bringing her here.

"Why did you bring me here?"

Takashi's smile faded a bit, turning into a sort of half smirk. "Don't you know? My my...is it that easy for you to forget the crimes you've committed?"

"Crimes?"

"Killing, chiefly. You're a murderer. What do you have to say to that?"

Asuna frowned deeply.

"I'm not a murderer."

"You are!" Takashi suddenly spat, and his dark cloak flared behind him like it was a living flame. The very air got a little colder.

Asuna sighed and looked around her. "Did you create this place?"

Takashi regained a bit of his self control and straightened up. "Indeed. An interesting little thing, the World Seed. I suppose one could say it's brought more than enough benefit to the VRMMORPG genre. Although this doesn't really help you; if the World Seed had never been revealed, you might have lived a while longer."

Asuna's heart began to race a little faster at those words, but she held her ground. "Please, do explain further."

Takashi smirked at her again, and reached for his hip. Drawing his black blade, he positioned the tip by his ankle and began to advance towards her. Remembering her instincts from SAO, Asuna immediately began to back away and to the side; if she could initiate a circling, it would buy her time to think.

"I'll tell you everything while you lay dying of your wounds," the small boy whispered, and then he was gone.

Blinking, Asuna glanced left and right. Takashi had simply disappeared into thin air; where had he gone?

Her question was answered when a brief woosh sound emanated from behind her. Asuna had barely enough time to turn halfway before a solid kick connected with her midsection, driving the wind out of her lungs and sending her sprawling into the dirt. Coughing violently due to the rather vicious attack, Asuna fought through the pain that followed and pulled herself up before another barrage of blows could ensue.

Once she had her feet under her, Asuna turned and backed up against the wall of the canyon behind her. Takashi was smirking at her again, an expression she'd already learned to hate. Reinitiating his earlier advance, he said, "I asked you a question earlier. You remember this place, do you not? I do; after all, I modeled this area just like the memories showed me. My brother took a good look around before trying to kill your boyfriend."

The blood singing in Asuna's veins froze at those last words. No...impossible. He couldn't possibly mean-

"Yes, I do," Takashi hissed then, as if he'd read her thoughts. "You killed my brother. You might have known him by his display name, Kuradeel. You destroyed his life out of spite and you lacked the humanity inside you to spare him. What do you have to say for yourself?"

Without answering, Asuna gasped and stumbled backwards again. No. This was too much. Too much all at once. Kuradeel...he...

Kuradeel had a brother?

Takashi frowned grimly at her. "I'm disappointed, Asuna-san. I expected one such as you to at least put up for of a fight than this. Don't tell me you're surprised that Kuradeel had a little brother? Of course he did. He was a person, just like you, although I consider you to be more of a subhuman, you murderer." His tone hardened. "I was sitting by his bed when the NerveGear suddenly hummed and sparked. He woke up, you know, for just a second before the helmet killed him. He looked me in the eye and I saw the terror there. A pain that you caused. Then the microwave destroyed his brain and blood flooded from his ears..."

As the boy spoke, he closed the remaining distance between them. Asuna made a last desperate attempt to evade him, but she was unarmed and Takashi had her cornered. As the ebony blade closed in on her body, she thought, At least it won't hurt.

She was wrong. It hurt more than anything else she'd ever experienced in her entire lifetime. The sword's tip plunged into the soft skin of her side, and blood - yes, blood - sprayed from the wound. Asuna fell to the floor and screamed, the cry going unheard by anyone who cared to aid her. Takashi walked over and loomed over her form, which was curled into a fetal position as blood continued to pour from her body. Asuna's muscles twitched every few seconds, sending brief spasms down her spine, and any more screams were stifled by the shear amount of agony she was experiencing.

"That is nothing," Takashi said softly as he raised his blade once again. "I experience that a hundredfold, when I was the one at the point of the blade. Now you'll understand by pain, and Kuradeel's pain, when I kill you. But before you die, I will tell you this; your true body is currently in a secluded room where no one will find us. We are both strapped to NerveGears. However, yours is set to kill should your heart stop beating in this world, while mine isn't. Even if you manage to overpower me and end my life, I will awake in reality and kill you there. I simply wished for you to understand the horror virtual reality can bring into a person's heart. It twists you and mauls you inside...it isn't human. It took my brother away, and people like you are soley responsible."

Asuna closed her eyes tightly, waiting for the end. It went against her will to give up so easily, but she saw no avenue out of this situation, no tricks up her sleeve, no trump cards to play.

"I spent years planning out this very moment," Takashi continued, seething now as his breathing increased its pace. "I only told one person about it; you met him, earlier. That big brute of an idiot. He's virtually useless, but he is loyal to me, and I have used him for my own ends. He wasn't really torturing me, you know. It was all an act. Unfortunately, my caretakers at the orphanage seemed to take note of my 'obsession' for vengeance. They thought my mental state was unstable. Can you believe the arrogance of some people? What I am about to do is right... it is not something an insane person would do. I want my brother back more than anything in the world, but I can' t have that...so the next best thing I can do is kill you."

As the ebony blade rose once more to strike the killing blow, Asuna's hope died out.

I love you, Kazuto...

The sword descended.

Kazuto was about to bite into his sandwich when his phone buzzed.

Grumbling slightly at the disturbance, he fished the device out of his pocket and flipped it open. A notification for a new message was flashing on the screen. It was from Asuna.

Smiling, he tapped at his phone so he could read it. It had become increasingly difficult to spend time with her lately, and the distance had forced some hard feelings between them. He was glad that she had decided to open up to him at last.

Kazuto opened the message.

[Help me.]

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