Chapter 16: Is Age a Lie?

Thud.

Asuna huffed and puffed a bit once she'd let the heavy box of appliances fall to the floor, lifting an arm to wipe the sweat that had accumulated on her brow. Carrying things so cumbersome was hard work, even with Kazuto and Agil both helping out, not that she would admit to her fatigue. She'd always hated how women were degraded in society based on their ability to physically contribute.

A succession of heavy footsteps reverberated across the dusty wooden flooring, alerting Asuna to another person's approach. She didn't even have to turn to know that it would be Agil walking through the door. Who had footsteps as intimidating as him? There had been brief times where the man's wife would be present at the bar, and the woman would always insist they call her husband by Andrew, his given name. She had never succeeded, however, as the name "Agil" fit him better. True, Asuna had had a difficult time adjusting to the given names of her other friends, but Agil's just seemed right for him. So Andrew wasn't needed.

"All done for this room?"

Tilting her head a bit, she called out behind her back, "A couple more boxes, I think. Then we'll be done here."

Despite it being her own idea, Kyouko had put endless restrictions on the young couples' living together. "Separate rooms," The older woman had dictated for obvious reasons, reasons which brought the blood flushing to the youngsters' cheeks, which the mother tried her best to ignore. She did not want to know how rigorously the young of this generation went about their lives. There had been many other rules and orders, all of varying severity. However, of all of them, both Kazuto and Asuna had a feeling they were going to have to violate the first one.

There was also the issue of pricing to consider. They had been given a few options, and eventually settled on one; a small apartment room not too far from the college, with a clean reputation and reasonable price. Both Kyouko and Kazuto's aunt were planning to supply the young couple with enough money to last a short while, but ultimately it would be up to them to maintain living costs. Kazuto did not expect this to be a problem, as his internship at Complexity had recently been developed into a full employment. He'd been allowed to skip a few levels in payment as well, apparently due to "extraordinary skills in the fields of computer science", words that had come out of Hideki's mouth. His only worry was juggling this with college work.

Rika had come again to say farewell. While they weren't moving in just yet, it was essentially their departure from their hometown, which warranted a farewell. This had brought to Asuna's attention that their connections to their home in reality had begun to fade as well; they hadn't visited Agil's bar so often, she hadn't interacted with Rika so much, and she hadn't even heard from Keiko for weeks. It really felt like she and Kazuto were going to enter a new phase of their lives alone, a prospect which both terrified her and filled her heart with excitement.

"Don't get too drunk," Rika had said tearfully.

Asuna laughed at the jibe. "I don't even drink, Rika. What are you saying?"

"Giving you advice for the future. You don't look like someone with a high cap on how much alcohol you can consume."

"Oh, and you do?"

"Yes."

Laughter.

The hugs had come afterwards, then the promises to keep in touch, and the vows to never forget each other. While Asuna expected to be able to meet most of these, there was a certain sadness overshadowing her. For she knew once Rika went off to her own college, she would meet new friends and make new acquaintances who would have no connection or affiliation to her at all. Like she was losing a part of Rika to growing up.

Asuna had expected Kazuto to be more embarrassed about the prospect of living together. Sure, he was highly adaptable, and they had lived a married life together in Aincrad, but the boy had looked absolutely devoid of care during the car ride there. It made Asuna's heart hurt a bit, not that she didn't understand why. That message after the server shutdowns...

Data has been altered...

It had taken a little while for Kazuto to figure it out, and even longer to accept it. Whoever had chosen to buy the rights to the servers had dealt a discriminating blow; a server-based hacking probe which corrupted Yui's data within the NerveGear, rendering her incompatible with Seed-based games. Meaning the AI was not only unable to access SAO or ALO, but any game created through the template of the World Seed. As far as anybody knew, it was nigh impossible to force Yui's data to match up with other VR's without literally destroying her memory and ability. Which would equate to killing her.

He had cried. It had come to a shock to Asuna, not used to seeing her lover in tears. She'd only witnessed it once or twice, and was obviously unaware of the other instances he had wept before others or alone. To her, Kazuto was always steady, and resolute, and absolute. That had been one of the many reasons she'd fallen for him, because he was constant and reliable. However, she had been forced to realize lately that there was no such thing as an absolute in reality, only the human want for it, and this applied to Kazuto's fortitude as well. The best Asuna could do was hold him and murmur words of condolence into his ears, even as her own heart broke over the incident.

After all, he rarely cried, and she hadn't decided to cry with him, no matter how much she wanted to. Asuna didn't resent him for it, either. Sword Art Online had taught them that you couldn't ever yield or admit defeat, because to give up was the lose, and to lose was to die. Showing emotional weakness or human composure was something unacceptable to front-level clearers, and out of the question for solo beaters like Kazuto.

"It's small, but cozy," Agil said as he set down two more boxes on the floor.

Startled out of her reverie, Asuna blinked and agreed, "Yeah. There won't be many people living here, in any case."

The bartender smirked childishly at her. "Make sure you don't take advantage of that too often."

Asuna was ashamed to find that she understood the innuendo and went red in the face. "I think not!"

His grin grew wider. "Oh? I've heard rumors from the NPCs around the lake that the two of you were engaging in some naughty activities..."

Asuna could not believe how wrong it sounded when Agil said the word naughty. "Please, just no," She sighed. "This is the real world, and there are repercussions for doing things like that without careful planning, first, so..."

"So you're planning it?"

"Out. Now."

"Sorry."

Asuna smiled and shook her head, glancing about at the bare, colorless walls of the room. This was the main central room, if it could be called that, with two bedrooms and a bathroom branching off. That pretty much summed up the apartment, really.

"Hey, Agil," She murmured.

"Hm?"

"Do you think Kazuto will be alright?"

The big man smiled and went back to sorting boxes. "Nobody knows him as well as you. What do you think?"

A silence ensured as the girl gave it some thought. "I...well, I know he'll be alright eventually. Nothing effects him forever; or maybe it does, and he choses not to show it. My question is, how long will it take for him to be able to do that?"

Agil glanced over and sighed inwardly. These two were way too young to have to deal with such questions; the world was indeed cruel. "You can't be alright yourself, Asuna. Are you feeling fine?"

Asuna looked down at the hardwood floor and crossed one shoed toe over the other. "Well...in all honesty, I expected myself to have some sort of mental breakdown, like I almost did before, but...I just didn't. I can't explain it. You would think I would feel devastated, don't you? Since I care so much about Yui..."

"Is something holding you back from that?" Agil asked tactfully, eyeing the girl's countenance carefully.

Asuna closed her eyes and inhaled slowly. "Maybe. After all, this has been going on for a long time. I mean issues related to SAO, not just our separation from Yui...and now that I can't do anything about or distance, perhaps I've just chosen to...not feel? Not care about it at all?"

The bartender let the boxes be and smiled sadly. "You're personality normally wouldn't allow you to lack empathy for something so important."

"I know. It makes me sick."

"Maybe you are? No offense meant. In a mental sense."

Now it was Asuna's turn to smile sadly, as she watched a pair of birds flit by the window of the eleventh floor she stood on. Carefree and always set on a goal.

"No," She murmured, so quietly Agil almost missed it. "I'm not sick.

"Just...desensitized."

Another pair of footsteps, these lighter but still somewhat weighty, meaning Kazuto had entered the room. "Hey, how's the progress here?" He asked before seeing his lover staring quietly out the window. He turned to Agil for answers, who shrugged and patted his shoulder.

"Do what you do best," He said before leaving the room.

Kazuto looked back at the rear of Asuna's head and frowned, crossing the room and placing a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, what's wrong?"

She didn't say anything at first. Kazuto's frown deepened and worry spawned inside of him. "Hey, are you alright? Are you feeling sick?"

Asuna turned, then, and buried her face into his chest. Blinking in surprise, Kazuto instinctively held her close to him, running a hand through her silky hair.

"Hey, Kazu-kun," She said softly.

"Yes?"

"Why do you love me?"

Kazuto's heart skipped a beat at that one, and he forced himself to think carefully about the question. But then he realized that perhaps he shouldn't have to think so hard about it; shouldn't he know why he adored the most important person in his world? This led to a great jumbling conundrum in his brain, and he decided to settle for the simplest answer.

Breathing heavily out his nose, Kazuto planted a small kiss on Asuna's forehead and whispered sweetly into her ear:

"You make life worth living."

Asuna made a sound of discontent at this. "Why does life have to be unbearable without me in it?" She murmured. "Is it really so horrible?"

Kazuto twined his fingers through her hair. "Lately, it has been."

"It isn't always that way."

"That was when life was simple."

"Is it complicated now?"

"Yes." Kazuto said tiredly, bending his head to nuzzle his nose into the curve of his lovers neck, choosing to lose himself within her bewitching scent of strawberries and the morning dew.

Asuna shifted slightly against him. "Am I complicated?"

It was uncharacteristic of her to have doubt in herself. "Of course not. I love you, Asuna, but that love's always been simple...it hasn't ever been contorted."

"How do you know?"

Kazuto smiled and nipped the upper ridge of her ear affectionately. "I call it simple because I can't put it in words...if I could express how much I cared about you on paper, then it could be changed, and I know that will never happen. Regardless of what happens, Asuna, I'll always be here. I'll always care for you. But that's as close as I can come to using words as a medium of expression, so love must be simple."

Asuna laughed and threw a light fist at him. "You were always too good with words."

"It's one of my many endearing traits."

Soon another week passed. It was the first one in a while that hadn't blown by like a frightened sparrow. Nevertheless, time will pass and it did in this instance, and seven days later Kazuto found himself in a new home.

He had received endless teasing about it too. The whole "a young couple living alone together" thing. True, they would be relatively uninterrupted while inside, and they did plan to break Kyouko's rule about sleeping separately, but they had their own lives to lead. Not everything they did under the same room involved something unsuitable for teens, people.

Regardless of where his fantasies took him sometimes.

His aunt and Asuna's mother had both come together to send their children off. Kazuto's aunt had been good natured and surprisingly mature about it, even avoiding making any snide remarks about him living with a woman. She just hugged him and said that she was proud, but would miss him, and that his mother would have wanted to be here too. Kyouko had just stared at him levelly and said simply,

"If you sleep with her, I'll kill you."

She had never been one to speak superfluously.

Nevertheless, there had been something Kazuto had been wondering about during his moving into the apartment; it was a notion he had not chosen to share with Asuna just yet, wanting to explore it properly before expressing himself. It was the thought that perhaps this was a new opportunity for them to "act their age" as it was said. While he hadn't been present to hear Asuna say it, Kazuto was well aware that the two of them had been thoroughly desensitized to the feeling of pain and disappointment. He also knew that it was unnatural for people their age to have gone through such things, and at such magnitude, already.

Now, their greatest cause for concern was unreachable. While Kazuto still did not accept the fact that Yui was gone forever, and would continue to search for ways to bring her back, he knew there wasn't much he could do in the near future. Essentially, by moving away from home and going to college he could launch a sort of clean slate program where the grievances of the past had no place.

A chance to act young, He mused amusedly. I sound so old. Does this mean I've failed at this already?

Later that night, when he and Asuna were laying together in bed, Kazuto had decided to broach the topic. The two of them had, of course, decided to go against Kyouko's decree. After all, repercussions for doing so had never been placed, and barring the woman barging through the door, there was no reason to get caught. So there they lay, Asuna curled up against him like a cat. Kazuto had always been fascinated by the way she slept when he was with her; she always brought one leg up to half-straddle him in her slumber, and the limp fingers of one hand were usually splayed lightly across his chest. Not only that, but the girl's lips were always pressed against the skin of his neck, and they twitched occasionally as she dreamed, shaping meaningless words against his veins with thrilling softness.

It like she was trying to seduce him in her sleep.

That aside, Kazuto poked her on the head, and she murmured something incoherent. Lifting her head, Asuna blinked until her eyes adjusted to the darkness and asked, "What is it?"

"Were you asleep?"

"No."

"Good. I want to ask you something."

Asuna rolled her slight body on top of his, angling her hips as to not let all of her weight down on him. "What do you want to know?"

"It's about this whole notion of college."

"Nervous?"

"Not so much. It's more like, going to college is something young people do, right? And I feel like the things we've had to go through aren't very...young for lack of a better word. As in, most people our age haven't experienced what we have. We haven't been able to act our age, really, due to circumstances...so do you think this is a good chance for us to fill in that blank?"

Asuna smiled and traced small circles onto his chest. "You really like to think really deeply into things, don't you?"

Kazuto smirked back and ran a single finger along his lover's thigh under the blankets, drawing a hitched breath from the girl.

"I guess...though, I can be spontaneous at times," He murmured.

"Can you do both?"

"Be young, and spontaneous?" Kazuto asked in mock dumbfounded-ness. "Don't they go hand in hand?"

"Shall we find out?" Asuna whispered to him, her lips just a micrometer from his. He could feel her hot breath warming his face, and the hands tangled in his hair eager to roam elsewhere, as well as her lithe form pressed against him, and he smiled happily.

"It would be my pleasure."

And so a long night of pleasures ensued.

Though they didn't go as far as they did in Chapter 16.5...that would have to wait for later. Preferably post-marital.

When the first day of school came, he almost didn't notice.

Kazuto simply woke up on a Monday and realized blandly, I have school today. Okay, time to get up.

And then, of course, he moved his body only to find the smooth body of a young woman wrapped around him with disheveled clothes on, and he had to wonder if he'd fallen for the traps of alcohol after all.

Asuna would have killed him if he'd told her that.

The walk to school was actually quite uneventful. They went together, but did not pass any other students. It could be assumed that the rest were living in dormitories, or had apartments elsewhere. Nevertheless, neither of them laid eyes on anything related to the University of Tokyo until they reached the grounds themselves.

"Damn," Kazuto muttered.

Tokyo University had always been hailed for the beauty of its campus, and he'd seen pictures, but apparently a camera was not capable of properly capturing the sight before them. A massive garden of interlocking circles and paths wove out before them, eventually ending at a massive glass building that rose for several stories. A spire peaked the structure, gleaming in the early morning sunlight, and two wings branched off from the main structure, resulting in a form almost reminiscent of the US capitol. The young couple stood there for a moment to admire the view.

"We'll be late for class," Asuna murmured.

"Ah," Kazuto agreed, and they took off.

On the issue of friends, Kazuto had chosen not to worry too much about such a topic. True, college could serve as a sort of clean slate, but his name had been exposed to the general media as well. While it was usually under the alias Kirito due to privacy laws, he was aware that many others knew his face and importance. Which made it very possible somebody would recognize him, and make a big deal out of it, which he had never been able to understand.

With this in mind, Kazuto entered his first class in college without the intention of talking to anybody. If he had to interact with anybody besides Asuna at all, he had Hitomi; the girl was a year above him, yes, but she had always been friendly to him. If not a bit inappropriate.

Shuffling over to a seat at the far back end, Kazuto took his seat and began sorting his things, preparing for the impending class. Hopefully at this location, nobody would disturb him.

Apparently, the universe had other ideas.

"Yo."

Blinking, Kazuto turned his head and saw another student sitting beside him. So it appeared his tactics had failed after all. Briefly, he examined the person in front of him. He appeared calm enough, other than his cropped blonde hair, seeing as he wasn't a foreigner. His clothes were quite disheveled, however, with a few patches of dirt showing here and there, and he had a general air of cockiness about him.

"Hey," He answered carefully.

"Do you mind if I sit here?" The other man asked politely, and Kazuto decided it was best to shake his head. The student grinned and adjusted his seat, then leaned forward and asked,

"Hey, can I see your shoes?"

"...Excuse me?"

"Your shoes, I want to take a look at them."

"What could that possible accomplish?"

The odd man before him crossed his arms and shook his head like he was scolding a child. "You can tell a lot from a person's shoes, you know! For example, if the covering over the upper heels are scuffed, it means the owner is too lazy to lean down and take them off himself. I say 'himself' because most girls are too cautious about their shoes to damage them in such a manner, as there's an eighty percent chance of a person who has scuffs of their shoe heels being a male. Do you understand my objective?"

Kazuto eyed the man for a moment and said, "You know, I've seen and heard a lot of confusing things in my lifetime, but you've managed to trump every last one of them."

"Thanks," He said with a cheeky grin.

"What's your name?" Kazuto asked, giving into the social demand to make connections. Apparently, it couldn't be avoided after all.

"Takanashi Sota," The fellow student announced proudly. "The kanji for my name makes it look like it says 'Katanashi,' but it isn't! I hate when people mess that up."

Kazuto watched as Takanashi wrote down his name in kanji and frowned. "Doesn't that actually say Katanashi?"

"No," Sota said patiently. He pointed out the tiny discrepancy and said, "It's Takanashi."

"Ah. Well, in regards to looking at my shoes, I suppose I don't mind..."

Sota saluted his thanks and dove under the desk while Kazuto tried his best not to inch away uncomfortably. Katanashi (or Takanashi, whichever) spend a hefty amount of time simply staring at the shoes before clambering back up into his seat.

"Find anything out?" Kazuto asked with imld interest.

Takanashi nodded vigorously and sneezed. "You walked through the gardens to get here," He started out.

Kazuto blinked in surprise.

"I can tell you were walking here with a girl, too," Katanashi added with a small giggle. After forcing down a blush, Kazuto demanded, "How do you know that?"

"Well, these look like relatively new shoes. Despite this, you being a male, the heels and soles should be more scuffed than they are. Meaning you've had to restrict your strides a bit, and the reason is most likely a woman, as their steps are shorter and more delicate.

"You're also a huge worrywart," Takanashi said off-handedly.

Kazuto smirked at this. "What told you that? The material of the shoes?"

"No, the laces. You triple tied them and then looped the aglets to make sure they don't flap around when you walk."

"...I see."

"Kazu-kun!"

Starting, Kazuto looked up to see Asuna walking swiftly across the classroom towards them. She was drawing a lot of looks from the other males in the room as well, a fact duly noted by her partner, who threw daggers with his eyes at as many of the onlookers as possible, intimidating most of them.

"Sorry I fell behind," Asuna panted as she eased herself into a seat next to Katanashi. "Had to get some stuff cleared up at the office I totally forgot about."

"That's alright," Kazuto amended.

Meanwhile, Takanashi was evaluating his next subject.

"Hey, you're pretty," The shoe-examiner said almost vaguely, drawing Asuna's attention to him. Kazuto just rolled his eyes and looked in the opposite direction, hoping his partner would be tactful enough to deflect Katanashi's weirdness.

"Um...well, thank you?" Asuna said uncertainly. Takanashi grinned his cheeky smile at that and continued talking.

"Are you from around here?"

"No," She answered truthfully. "I came from a couple hours' drive away."

"Where?"

"Um...well, it's hard to say."

"Would you like to take me there?"

"...Why?"

"To see if there's anyone else as beautiful as you wandering around."

Kazuto felt his temples surge at that last one, and he had to clench his fist around a sheaf of papers to maintain his composure. Sure, Katanashi might be an oddball with eccentric tastes, but he shouldn't allow anybody to go around talking to his lover like that. However, the calmer side of his mentality told him to stay his hand. The shoe-expert wasn't really doing much harm, was he?

Asuna laughed nervously. "I'm not that attractive. You're exaggerating."

"I couldn't exaggerate about how good you look," Takanashi insisted in good nature.

"Oh...um..."

Just remain calm...

"Are you busy after classes today?" Katanashi asked nonchalantly, or at least what he thought was nonchalant, reaching out to place a hand over Asuna's.

The girl spluttered at the sudden contact and stuttered, "I-I-I, um-"

Just...don't...break...

"I know this great cafe downtown," Takanashi said softly. "I know the manager there, and he'd be more than willing to lend us a back room where we could-"

"I THINK NOT!" Kazuto roared, bringing every pair of eyes towards their area in a split second. But he didn't care. Jabbing a finger into Katanashi's chest, and seethed, "The young lady you were speaking to just happens to be my partner in life, so would you kindly lay off?"

"P-P-Partner-"

"Yes, partner! We live together and everything! Does the context elude you!?"

Takanashi gulped hard and asked meekly,

"You're...married?"

An epic silence in the classroom.

Then Kazuto sighed and left his arm drop. "No, you idiot, we aren't."

"Then what's the issue here?"

A fist connected with Katanashi's nose, and his world went black.

Yay, finally some non-dramatic moments XD The story will get a little more uplifting from here, so those of you who wanted some more funnies/happies, just wait!
And now, I must go study for finals.

*Ugh*

-Shrrg

Review it, yeah? It motivates me!