You guys don't know this, but this update came a little later than planned, sorry D: I didn't expect to be so busy (I'm in New York right now on a trip), but here it is! Enjoy!

P.S: Ai Mamoru, more jealous Kazuto in the future. I've concluded after some thought that it will fit very nicely with Kazuto's dynamic with Takanashi, so thanks for the idea!

Chapter 17: Connections, Rejections

"You didn't have to hit him, you know," Asuna sighed as her pencil scrawled across the paper.

Kazuto didn't answer at first, busy trying to decipher a difficult math problem. After reaching an acceptable conclusion and circling the proper answer, he replied, "Maybe not, but he provoked me, didn't he?"

"He was just flirting, Kazu-kun. Does that really warrant a fist to the nose? I didn't knock you out whenever you tried to woo me, you know."

Kazuto blushed to the tips of his ears and furiously tackled his math assignment. "I don't remember ever trying to woo you."

Asuna, who was also preoccupied with her studies, snorted at that. The two of them were both sitting on a decently sized coffee table in the central room, having decided to finish their schoolwork together in advance. "Oh, really? Did you forget Valentine's Day?"

Of course, he hadn't. On Valentine's Day within Aincrad, the Cardinal System had announced a game-wide event where giving a present to someone of the opposite sex would increase their chances of finding a rare item by ten percent. It had been more than enough incentive to Kazuto, then Kirito, because one could never be too prepared for anything. The only question was who to give a present to. If the recipient refused, the challenge would go uncompleted, and the reward not given. Kirito had sat down in his room and thought long and hard about who to try, perhaps foolishly, as he really had only one female acquaintance at the time, and that had been Asuna.

"You tried so hard to hide the fact that you had a box of chocolates behind your back," The aforementioned girl continued almost blandly, like she was recounting a portion of historical fiction. "You were blushing to the roots of your hair and you couldn't get any of your words in a straight line." Then she broke out giggling. "You were so cute."

"Well, you accepted in anyway, didn't you?" Kazuto muttered, trying to hide from the embarrassment associated with that moment in his life. "It was purely for gaming purposes, back then."

Asuna smirked at him from across the table, curling her lips back to show off a straight set of teeth. "I didn't know 'gaming purposes' could make a man smile like a doofus when the woman accepts his gift."

Kazuto gulped under his lover's knowing gaze and ground out, "I was...excited to go find some rare items, of course."

The girl laughed at the obvious lie and reached over to plunk him on the head. "You could take down a Frost Dragon with one hand tied to your side, and ascend the World Tree with minimal support, but you've never been a liar, Kazuto. You're too honest for your own good, sometimes."

"Would you rather all of my words were just riddles?"

"Well...it would make life more interesting."

"Oh, shut up."

They quieted back down after that, both of them toiling silently at their schoolwork, trying their best to concentrate despite the other's presence. That had been one of Kazuto's primary worries about moving in with his partner to go to college; how could he possibly get any reasonable amount of work done, knowing that Asuna was under the same roof, or even in the same room? Even now, Kazuto couldn't help stealing the occasional glance at the girl's focused eyes, or her nimbler fingers, the sweep of her collarbones, the way she always bit her lip in concentration.

He never got tired of looking at her.

"In any case," Asuna said, making Kazuto blink a few times, "Don't attack every other guy who wants to talk to me, okay? Some people just have a flirtatious way of making conversation. You might not know this, based on what you told me about your social life before SAO, but a lot of guys can talk to girls and not have the intention of taking it further than a simple friendship."

Kazuto grunted. "It makes me uncomfortable, though."

She smirked at him again. "Are you really so afraid I'll leave you?"

"Would you?" He challenged her.

Asuna chuckled. "That'd better be rhetorical. Now, would you kindly help me out with this question?"

Rolling his eyes, Kazuto brought his books and papers across the table and sat down next to her. After helping Asuna with the problem, he decided to just continue working next to her in favor of moving back to his previous spot. Maybe, if he just focused really really really hard, he would be able to get through five problems without wanting to look over at her-

His thought processes were thoroughly skewed when Asuna shifted her weight and leaned in his left shoulder, pencil still scrawling back and forth across paper, her pace of work never faltering in the slightest. Blinking, Kazuto was about to ask what was going on, but she beat him to it.

"You need to improve your concentration skills," The girl murmured to him. "Consider this a test. Now, get to work."

Ah...a challenge.

Huffing, he muttered, "Challenge accepted," Before silencing himself and returning to his math homework. This wasn't so hard; he could work under such conditions. The only change that Asuna had brought to the battlefield was the presence of a slight, warm body against his thudding heart, and the sensation of her soft, silky hair as it tickled his ear, sending goosebumps running down his spine.

Dammit, Kazuto thought in despair. Who was he kidding? He was totally lacking of the ability to control himself under the current circumstances. And said circumstances were not so severe, either. He could only pray that Asuna wouldn't take it any further than she already had.

Kazuto's prayers were flatly denied, however, when he felt a warm pair of lips press against the skin of his exposed neck, drawing a strangled breath from his throat. Clutching his pencil with a death-grip, he stammered,

"A-Asuna, what are you-"

She cut him off with a sharp tsk. "See? No concentrative ability whatsoever," She scolded him, murmuring every word against his jumping veins. "Can't you at least try?"

"I don't think I'll ever have to face these extremes," Kazuto choked out, desperately trying to keep himself from jumping on his lover and ravishing her without restraint. He would not lose such a petty game. He was better than this...

Sighing in mock disappointment at being unable to properly tempt her prey, Asuna ran her nose up the length of his jaw and warmed his ears with her breath, murmuring sweet nothings into the sensitive things, every torturous syllable pushing his consciousness closer to madness. Kazuto was involuntarily forced to squirm when a soft pink tongue flicked out to sting his ear lobe, sending some sort of numbing sensation through his entire cranium. Witchcraft. Witchcraft, he was telling you. No mere human would be cruel enough to push someone to such desperation.

Allowing a small whimper to escape from his lips and hating himself for it, Kazuto breathed, "Asuna, please, I-"

"No excuses," His lover rasped into his ear, nipping him discriminately in all of his weak points, forcing him to suppress his voice from escaping again. Asuna laughed, the sudden sound startling against his now wet ears, and his grip on the pencil skyrocketed so much that the wooden stick actually snapped under the pressure.

"You..." Kazuto choked out, grasping at words now, "Are unbelievable."

She chuckled at him and brought her fingers into play, moving to tug almost languidly at his belt. "Am I?"

Then the doorbell rang.

He took his chance immediately. Bolting to his feet so fast the chair flew into the wall, he spluttered, "GOTTA ANSWER THAT!" And sped for the door.

Asuna watched him go, and only allowed her laughter to escape once he was out of earshot, despite the flush which dominated her own expression.

He was just so cute.

"I'm going to out buy some things," Kazuto called out some days later, speaking from his position by the open door. "Do you need anything while I'm out?"

He couldn't see her, but Asuna laughed at him from the other room. "You sound like the wife, Kazuto."

"I wasn't aware we were married."

There was a brief silence while Asuna tried to best to act like what he'd said did not affect her, but he knew her too well for that. Finally, clearing her throat, she called down, "Just some greens would be great. Celery, stuff like that. You know where to find those, right?"

"I got out of the house a bit more often than you might think, Asuna."

"Well, then, prove it."

The moment he left the threshold of the apartment building, Kazuto wished he'd chosen more comfortable attire for the day. It was a sweltering autumn saturday, one of those post-summer heat waves, where the season attempted to stage a comeback as if to deny the fall's proper coming. Exhaling forcefully from his nose, he decided it wasn't worth it to go all the way back and change; best to get things done quickly.

Thus resolved, Kazuto set off down the sidewalk, following the general sense of direction he had of the area. He knew there was a bustling mini-city nearby, with plenty of malls and stores, though he couldn't claim to know every establishment. This excursion was less a quest for materials and more a way of developing a feel for the area. Strangely enough, Asuna had never been one to need to do such a thing, as if she had pre-downloaded a map of the area before arriving. Women were indeed strange.

Proceeding down the street which would lead him where he wanted to go, Kazuto allowed his wind to wander, as it often wished to. There were a lot of things to think about, anyway. Firstly, his newfound situation. It had been a tumultuous time when he'd been informed of Kyouko's suggestion that he move in with her daughter; they had both been heavily preoccupied with highly pressing matters. Now that the dust had settled somewhat, however, and time to contemplate given, Kazuto could speculate about what his current setting would lead to. Of course, living with Asuna was a big step for their relationship, and he could safely assume it would only assist the growth of their bond. It was the implications of the move that bothered him, really. Just because he had been flatly squashing everyone's remarks about the topic didn't mean he did not harbor his own misgivings.

Kazuto had learned a long time ago that certain things could not be reversed. He knew some people who chose to live a lifestyle cultured after some sort of brinksmanship, those who would push the chance of risk to the extreme in the hope of assumption that they could cease before it was too late. That wasn't how life worked. This much, he could state without hesitation. There were certain junctions every person had to face, and these choices would always seem incapable of largely affecting the final outcome. Despite this, the simplest or most frivolous of choices have the potential to set in motion an unstoppable course of events. His simple decision to beta for Sword Art Online had resulted in a two year separation from reality. Likewise, his impulse to speak to Asuna during their first interaction had begun the journey of his love for her. It was a process of give and take, life. Except taking too much always resulted in failure.

This established, Kazuto wondered what would ultimately come of his living with Asuna. Of course, the logical conclusion did not elude him; he was not so oblivious. After college, assuming they still lived together, it would almost be a given for them to marry. He loved Asuna almost unconditionally, and he knew she returned his feelings; and once they were adults, there was no other end to reach. What else would they do? Date for a decade. No, that was ridiculous.

Though of course, there was the "issue" of Asuna's mother. Kazuto was well aware the older woman had adjusted more to the notion of his love for her daughter, but he still reserved doubts about whether she would approve of anything beyond that, and forget marriage. The woman would bust a major artery if were to even allude to it. Though if she were to refuse such an advancement, what else would she do? Continue to attempt to pair Asuna with an ideal partner without her child's consent? Whether she ended up being forced to accept it or not, he knew such a move would not go over remotely well with his lover. And he didn't intend to give up on her so easily, either.

Kyouko's excuse for having me live with Asuna was for me to keep other men at bay so she can focus on her studies, as well as watch over her, Kazuto thought as he turned into a narrow street that ran by a long row of ragged shops and stores. But what kind of double standard is that? If his relationship with Asuna made Kyouko so uneasy, why chose him to watch over her for three years in college at all? It confused him beyond measure. Whether it was some extreme form of hypocrisy or not, Kyouko had been very inconsistent with her standing on the topic. He almost wished she would chose one side and stick to it steadfast, even if it went against his goals, because then he would know what to expect.

Closing his eyes and letting out a short sigh, Kazuto tried to take his mind off the thought process and focus on something else, like the waves of heat beating down upon him from above, not that he found that so savory either.

In any case, i should just focus on living through college first, he thought. And refrain from punching people too often, like Asuna said. I still haven't gotten the chance to apologize for that...

"Kazuto-san!"

Startled, he looked to the right to locate the source. His eyes focused on a small, shabby store sitting alongside the narrow road, with an old worn sign that read Shoes on Sale for Bargain Prices. Looking under said sign, he saw a familiar blonde man sitting on a crate and waving at his direction.

"Katanashi?" Kazuto asked dumbly, still surprised to see him.

The shoe-expert huffed and crossed his arms over his chest. "It's Takanashi, idiot."

"Ah...sorry?"

Minutes later, Kazuto was sitting awkwardly on a crate of his own while Takanashi looked around in the back for some cold water. He had been unable to refuse to man's offer to stop by for a moment and cool off, mainly due to the still lingering guilt over punching him. It was hot, anyways.

Takanashi returned with the water, which Kazuto accepted politely. Twisting the bottle open, he took a reserved sip as the blonde beside him fell heavily onto his crate and downed half the container in one go. Wiping his mouth, he sighed and said, "It's getter hotter and hotter here every year, I tell you. Global warming's a bitch."

"You still believe in that hoax?"

Takanashi tutted at him and shook his finger. "Just because the politicians say it isn't true doesn't mean it isn't, know what I mean? Those guys will do anything to get support from us, and that includes telling lies."

"Well, I wouldn't know anything about that."

"Do you know anything about anything?"

"I'm not that ignorant. In fact, I know plenty of things," Kazuto snorted, succumbing to the instinct to protect his manly ego.

Chuckling, Takanashi set his water bottle down and rubbed at the back of his neck languidly. "You don't know anything really until you learn to understand shoes," He said sagely, gesturing at the rows of products lining the walls behind him.

Kazuto stole a glance and asked, "Do you sell these?"

"Mhm."

"Yourself?"

"No, my dad does it with me. He taught me everything I know about shoes, you know. He's out right now, but I'll be sure to introduce you next time."

"Is he as into shoes as you are?"

"Heck no. He loves them twice as much. No, three."

Oh, god.

Tugging at his collar, Kazuto let out an overheated breath. He really should have dressed more lightly today. Taking a deeper swig of water this time, Kazuto cleared his throat, preparing to reengage in conversation.

"Oh, uh...and I'm sorry for hitting you, back then."

"Mm?" Takanashi mumbled, too busy staring at something in the grass across the road. He tried following the blonde's gaze but failed to comprehend what captivated him so. After a few more moments of deliberation, the shoe lover hummed and said, "Oh, that. It's fine. I guess I crossed a couple lines there, huh?" He laughed then, rubbing his head in self exasperation.

No, you crossed a dozen. "Well, I made things a bit unclear from the start, anyways. Asuna and I aren't married, but we are dating, and we live together. Sorry for the confusion."

"Asuna," Takanashi murmured, back to staring at something in the glistening tarmac. "That's a beautiful name."

"...Right."

"Fits her appearance."

"Watch it."

"Sorry," Takanashi laughed. "You're just easy to mess with."

"What?"

"Nothing," The blonde dismissed easily with a flick of the hand. "So where'd you meet her, man? It couldn't have been from around here, none of the chicks here are pretty anymore. Was it while you were inside that death game? What was it called again?"

Kazuto blinked in surprise. "You know about that?"

"Of course I do, man. Everyone on the whole planet was flipping out about it when the ball first dropped, remember? Or maybe you don't since you weren't here," He realized with a laugh.

"How much do you know about me?"

"I read that article on you, or your in-game you, if I could call it that."

Ah...that one. Simply searching the keyword "Kirito" into a Google searchbar would bring up thousands of results, but the most popular of them had been a highly acclaimed article of his supposed experiences within SAO. Kazuto had noticed some discrepancies from what had actually occurred within the writing, but sadly it was the most credible account of his story out there on the media.

"Most people would have mentioned that first thing if they recognized my face," Kazuto murmured. "Not that I enjoy that."

Takanashi hummed again and tossed his empty bottle somewhere in the general direction of a trashcan. "Well, I figured you wouldn't, so I decided not to mention it."

"You're right, I hate it. But how'd you know."

He shrugged before answering. "I guess I could kind of relate, you know? It don't put any effort into hiding it here, but the truth is that me and my dad are poor. And that's embarrassing, of course. People at school who know about our financial situation always try to offer some sort of consolation or sympathy, as if it would help. Empathy about me being poor always pissed me off, but it's hard to explain. Anyways, I figured you'd feel the same way about being asked about SAO. Must've been a horrible time, based on what I know. and since I can't do anything to fix what happened my sympathy would only upset you, right?"

Kazuto stared at Takanashi for a moment longer before answering slowly. "..Spot on."

"Mm," The blonde agreed, nodding as he squinted at the heat waves outside. "When bad things happen to people, they don't care about how badly others feel for them. They just want results. Or at least, that's how it was for me. I don't speak for everyone."

Kazuto frowned thoughtfully and said, "You know...you're a lot smarter than you come off to be."

"Don't rub it in."

"Sorry."

"That's why I've taken my dad's obsession with shoes and run off with it, Takanashi continued, swinging his arm around to encompass the ones behind him along the walls. "People treat their shoes the way they really are. One can act kind or cruel, but nobody ever thinks of treating their shoes with the same attitude, right? They'll abuse them if they want to, or care for them if they wish. It's a lot easier to just look at a person's feet and make basic judgements off of that, than to have to speak to them and face the lies and social facades they put up for the sake of a warped sense of courtesy."

Kazuto didn't respond to that immediately, instead choosing to drink more water and stare outside with the other man from under the shade. While he couldn't exactly say they were friends yet, he was now aware that both of them shared the same feelings about how people acted. Or at least, people who couldn't relate to what they had gone through. Takanashi would never have to go through the horrors of SAO, but he understood the meaning of adversity and the sympathy passerby had for it, and why to hate said sympathy.

In a sense, the two of them knew more than anyone else, and it was this knowledge that plagued them so.

Nevertheless, Kazuto felt a newfound respect and connection for the man sitting on a crate beside him. Maybe he was a bit odd with his hobbies, and the blonde's apparent interest in Asuna was irking, but finally he had found someone who could truly understand his grievances. Before, he had kept them bottled up, tucked away; after all, where was the point in venting where nobody could comprehend you?

"Thanks," He murmured, making Takanashi blink.

"What for?"

"For thinking like I would," Kazuto elaborated, for some reason having trouble translating his thoughts into words. "You refrained from mentioning my past not out of pity, but out of understanding, because you at least know what I think like. And I can appreciate that. So, thanks."

"Does this mean you forgive me for hitting up your girlfriend?"

"For now."

"I'll apologize to her, too."

"If you want. It's not mandatory, though. She didn't mind at all."

"Really?"

"That doesn't mean you should try again."

"Oh."

Kazuto laughed genuinely, then, and plunked Takanashi on the head.

And the two men enjoyed a brotherly silence together.

So, I ended up making acquaintances after all...

The following week, Kazuto was sitting in his cubicle tapping away at his computer when he got a message instructing him to meet Hideki in his office.

Tilting his head, Kazuto began randomly speculating about why this had come to be. Hideki would occasionally stop by and have a word with him after their working hours, but it was indeed rare for the head of his department to request a meeting in the middle of his shift. It must be an important issue then. No time for milling around.

Clearing the message, Kazuto gathered up what he'd been working on before heading for Hideki's office.

He knocked before testing the door. "Come in," A voice said from the other end. Taking the go-ahead, he pushed open the door and stuck his head in.

"Ah, Kazuto," Hideki said, smiling. "That was quick. Please have a seat," He said, gesturing at the chairs in front of his desk.

Accepting the offer, Kazuto sat down and waited.

Tapping his pen on the wooden desk for a moment, the older man took a moment to get his thoughts in order. "I must apologize, first of all. I called you hear for a more personal reason than a professional one, and it concerns a topic you might be unwilling to speak about. So if you having any misgivings at all during our conversation, don't hesitate to say so."

"I won't," Kazuto answered tactfully.

Asuna's elder brother smiled. "Good. Because it might concern Yui."

He didn't have to wait for a response. Kazuto was already all ears. He had briefly spoken with Hideki about his situation with Yui being trapped within his NerveGear before, and the head of the department had made a small promise to look into the matter, though Kazuto hadn't expected anything to come of it.

"You see, Kazuto, my core team has been working on a top-grade project for the past two years," Hideki began. "It started in the wake of the launch of SAO, when ten thousand consciousnesses were trapped within a virtual reality. People began to fear that their friends and children would never escape. As a result, Complexity made it a goal to develop a sort of roundabout solution to the predicament."

"And that was?"

"Memory grafting. That is, growing a human bio-capsule and assimilating an SAO victim's consciousness with it. Basically, sticking a person's brain and its contents into an empty body. It wasn't exactly a tested science back then, so production inevitably stalled, but it was never really cancelled. And quite recently, a breakthrough allowed us to prepare for the next step. However, we encountered a problem."

Kazuto nodded, ushering him on.

Hideki frowned in concentration, carefully selecting his next words. "For such a high-end project, I needed the President's approval to move onto the next step. He was indifferent while I was explaining it to him, but when I suggested you for the process he became immensely interested."

Kazuto narrowed his eyes. "How could I even contribute to this?"

"Well, the next step was human trials. Except, we need a sheltered consciousness from within some sort of catalyst to carry out the tests. So I thought, why not use NPCs and monitor systems from SAO? We own the servers, so it would be no issue to find a suitable candidate. And since you've spent extensive time among the computers there, I figured you could recommend a "person" for me. When I made this suggestion, however, the proposal was immediately vetoed, and the funds directed towards the project were promptly jettisoned."

The younger employee's eyebrows shot up. "Why does my involvement have such a dramatic importance to it? I wasn't even part of the process beforehand."

"Precisely," Hideki stressed, placing five fingers on the desk, spread out like a poised spider. "Which leads me to believe Fuzen had a good reason to keep you from becoming entangled within what happens with my now cancelled project. So I thought, what could you do if you were able to assist? The only conclusion is, bring someone from within the SAO servers to reality, or at least potentially. And so Yui came to mind."

Hideki's reasoning no struck Kazuto like a lightning bolt. Kazuto already knew that the company had need Fuzen's direct approval to buy the SAO servers; the President's go-ahead was also required to approve his own involvement with the memory-grafting project. So for whatever reason, Fuzen didn't want him possibly bringing Yui into the real world. Additionally, the cuber attack which had rendered Yui's data incompatible with Seed-based games must also have come from Complexity, as the servers were isolated in this very building.

Only Fuzen could have approved such an attack, unless it was done secretly.

Secretly.

"So you're telling me the Prez has a strong motive to keep me from bringing Yui here?" Kazuto said, voicing his deductions.

Hideki nodded solemnly. "I honestly can't say why, and I'm sorry for that, but its what I know. He was quite intrigued about you when I wanted to bring you in for the internship, too. Do you have a special relationship with the President?"

"Of course not."

The older man nodded in acceptance. "Alright, then. I just thought you ought to know, since Yui is very important to both you and my sister. Just don't do anything irrational with what I've told you, okay? It isn't exactly free-running information; it's top-secret, actually. I just hope my office isn't bugged."

Kazuto smiled. "Don't worry, I'll think it over really carefully."

Hideki gave him a pained smile. "Regrettably, that does not comfort me in the least."

"Ah...sorry."

Upon exiting Hideki's office, Kazuto took a moment to look out the window and observe the surrounding skyscrapers. Of course, he hadn't forgotten about his daughter's predicament. It had been pushed to the back of his mind, perhaps, with his newfound situations with Asuna and Takanashi, but it was still important, needless to say. Kazuto knew, anyway, that this was an issue that would continue to persist until it was somehow, resolved, one way or another.

I couldn't possible give up on Yui, anyway.

Sighing, Kazuto watched his breath fog the glass for a moment before wiping it away with his sleeve.

I'll bring us all together. One way or another.

Because that's what family is.

Your reviews always inspire me to update faster! Thanks for reading!