A/N: I believe that this chapter needs a little explaining. The beginning of this is going to resemble my Kirinon fic "In Darkness We Fall" mostly because I've had this idea in my head for a while and i wanted to figure out how to do this chapter without actual character death. I might actually use something similar to this in my other story at some point. Maybe.
I feel like the themes are a bit mixed up, but whatever, i'm trying to work with it. It just keeps things interesting for me.
Basically, in my other story, Kirito and Sinon are partners as "assassins" and work to "make the world a better place."
I feel so shallow right now, like I'm self-advertising. But hey, if you are interested in that story after reading this, go ahead and check it out, it's my most popular SAO story so far :)
Death
A figure clad in black stood amongst the pile of rubble, his long coat whipping around him and his sword tip touching the ground. He attempted to steady his breathing as his stood there, knowing that this was one of those rare moments when he could actually catch his breath.
It felt like he's been fighting for an eternity. Night after night, day after day, for hours on end, he's only known the constant swing of his sword and the blood of his enemies as it spattered his clothes and the ground around him.
So much blood.
But he is resolute. He knows that all of this bloodshed isn't for nothing. He knows that there is a purpose for this. There's a reason why he's been doing this for so long.
And that reason was the only thing that kept him going.
A sudden explosion behind him caught the swordsman's attention. He glanced behind him, in the direction the sound had come from. In the distance, a large cloud of dust and smoke rose up from the street.
His heart seemed to drop out of his stomach.
No. It couldn't be. If his sense of direction was as spot-on as he feared it was, then in that area was where…
The swordsman immediately dashed in that direction, his heart racing to painful speeds. There was no way. There was no way in the world that she was dead. They promised. They promised to get through this together. That was the only way that they would get through it. How could she do this to him?
How could she leave him all alone?
Several enemies tried to interfere with his personal mission, attempting to shoot him down or run him through, but the figure in black just cut them down without batting an eye. There was no way in hell they were going to stop him. Not as long as he could still move even a finger.
He would get there even if he had to drag himself through the pits of hell.
In a matter of minutes, the swordsman arrived at his destination. His throat closed up painfully when he saw the wreckage that used to be an office building.
No.
He slowly made his way to the wreckage, wanting to search it but afraid of what he might find at the same time. He inched closer, not even realizing that he was holding his breath in apprehension.
Then, a shock of powder blue caught his eye.
He stared at it for what felt like a millennium, his mind suddenly blank as he stared at that familiar shade of blue.
A volley of shots brought him back to reality. They sounded close. Quickly, he rushed over to the patch of vibrant color amongst blackness of their godforsaken world and knelt down next to it. He barely glanced at the debris around it before beginning to claw it away with his bare hands. He didn't even notice the deep scratches that appeared on his hands as he worked, his mind working in a frantic overload.
As soon as he uncovered the torso of a girl dressed in green military gear, the swordsman lifted the girl's head by putting one arm around her shoulders and the other hand under her neck to support her. His heart pounded in his chest as he glanced her over, painfully registering how broken her body was.
He called her name-to make her wake up, to speak, something-but his blood was pulsing so loudly in his ears, he couldn't even hear himself think.
The girl didn't stir.
He called her again, more desperately this time.
She did not reply.
Tears were welling up in his eyes now. He was screaming, screaming her name to the sky, to the nonexistent heavens, to the depths of hell itself, but she never answered him. She just laid in his arms, limp and devoid of life.
She couldn't be dead. She couldn't be. She was the only thing that tied him to this place, to life. She was the only thing he ever truly cared about. No one else mattered. The world didn't matter. She was his world. She was his everything. How was he supposed to go on knowing that the only thing he ever smiled for had disappeared from his life?
He vaguely registered that soldiers were surrounding him now, pointing their guns at him and telling him that it was all over. Surrender or be put down.
His face hardened, his dark bangs hanging over his eyes as anger flared up inside of him. He gently laid the girl down on the ground.
Surrender? It was too late for that now. There would be nothing to live for if he surrendered. Now all he felt was a burning hatred for the scumbags around him.
They took her away from him. How dare they take her! Those monsters had no right to take something so pure and beautiful from this black void they call life. He wanted them dead. He wanted to slaughter them all. He wanted to make them pay for taking her, for killing her.
He wanted them all to scream in agony as he drove the light from their eyes.
A hand touched his shoulder, and it was like a bomb went off.
The swordsman sprung up, spinning with his sword tip in the air and ripping his assailant's body in two.
The others immediately opened fire, most bullets missed, but some entered the swordsman's body.
One. Two. Three.
He didn't even register the pain. Red tinted his vision as he cut down as many of them as he could, his anger driving him beyond his ethics and common sense as he pushed on.
Four. Five.
There was blood on the ground now. So much of it.
Six. Seven. Eight.
As suddenly as it had come, the anger left him, and the swordsman stood there, his sword arm going limp. He suddenly realized it was pointless. There was nothing left to drive him anymore, nothing left to fuel his will to fight, to live.
Nothing mattered anymore.
That's when the bullets ripped his body apart.
Kazuto woke up in a cold-sweat, his hands fisted tightly in his blanket. His breathing was in short gasps and his heartbeat was pumping out of control. He stared up at the ceiling in his room, the images from his dream replaying in his head.
He sat up, slowly, his heart and breathing beginning to slow as he began to focus on controlling the air that entered and exited his lungs.
That dream. That girl. It had seemed so real.
He brought his knee up and rested his forehead against it, trying to calm the sudden wave of emotions that flooded through him. Fear, anger, despair, they all shrouded his senses in a torrent of pain.
What was with that dream? And who was that girl? As he thought back on it, he couldn't remember her name, or what they were doing on a battlefield, but he knew that he had been fighting thinking only of her.
But why? Why did her death bother him so much? Who was she? She must have been pretty important for him to suddenly breakdown like that.
Just who was she to him?
He took several shaky breaths before he registered the cold air through his sweat-soaked clothes. His dark eyes glanced up at the clock on his wall, and he noticed that it was 5:21. A sigh escaped him as he swung his legs onto the floor and stood up. There was no point trying to go back to sleep now. He would have to shower and start cooking breakfast before Sugu got up and they had to go to school.
Now that he thought about her, Kazuto had the sudden urge to check on his sister. The boy went to his door, exiting his room and going out into the hallway. He walked over to the door next to his and knocked quietly.
"Sugu, you awake?" He whispered through the wood. When there was no answer, he cracked the door open and peeked in.
It only took a second for him to locate his sister's form on the bed. When at first, he didn't see her move, he panicked for a second, but as he stared for a bit longer, Kazuto saw her breathing and relaxed.
That stupid dream had gotten him paranoid. Now he was thinking about death.
Death was a scary thing.
Kazuto shook his head slightly, trying to rid his mind of those thoughts as he watched his sister fondly. His mind wandered to her after a while. His sister really was something. Well, she wasn't really his sister, she was his cousin, and in actuality, he was living in his aunt's house.
His train of thought was suddenly interrupted when he noticed that Suguha was tossing and turning in her sleep.
Slightly alarmed, Kazuto fully entered the room and made his way over to the bed. His heart clenched at the sight of her, her eyebrows were scrunched in fear and her fists were holding her sheets in a death grip.
Was it a coincidence that they both had nightmares on the same night?
Kazuto sat down on the edge of her bed, saddened and slightly shocked that his sister still had nightmares. He thought she had stopped having them a long time ago, when she had finally stopped sneaking into his room at night, crying. But then again, maybe she just stopped seeking comfort from him, not wanting to bother him anymore.
In an effort to calm her down, Kazuto began to stroke her hair. It seemed to work as she steadily began to settle down.
Even though she was his cousin, he still loved her like his sister. He had lived believing that she was his sister for so long, it didn't really matter that he knew the truth. He still saw her as his kid sister.
But she didn't know the truth, he knew that for a fact, yet that didn't really bother him either. It was probably better that she still thought of him as her big brother. He didn't want things to get awkward between them.
Suguha began to stir, and her eyes opened blearily to reveal her brother looking down at her.
"Onii-chan?"
Kazuto smiled. "It's ok, Sugu. You were just having a nightmare. Go back to sleep."
Suguha was too tired to argue, she just nodded and gave a hum in affirmation before taking his hand from her hair and holding it to her cheek. Within minutes, she had fallen asleep again.
The smile faded from her brother's face as he looked down at her. Why hadn't she told him? He just wanted to help her. He knew how rough her dreams could be, and he just wanted to help her get through them like he used to. Like he still tried to.
For some reason, he remembered Shino Asada and the sudden "episode" on the roof of the school yesterday. He remembered how frightened she had looked, and how she had been convinced that he would hate her.
What if she died?
That thought sent a sick feeling through Kazuto's stomach, but he didn't know why. Maybe it was because of what he had witnessed. He had begun to understand now, why Shino seemed to avoid other people. She talked to them, sure, but the majority of the time, he saw her keeping to herself. He used to think nothing of it, but now, he thought she looked sad, alone.
When Kazuto was sure that his sister was fast asleep, he slipped his hand away as gently as possible before sneaking out of her room and into the hallway.
He knew what that was like: to be alone. It can seem like the best course of action at first, but later on, you realize that all it's doing is hurting you and those around you. Loneliness isn't just physical, it's emotional as well, and emotions can hurt. A lot.
Kazuto entered the bathroom, shedding his sweaty clothes and dropping them onto the floor.
Loneliness was a feeling. A very strong feeling that someone felt when they believed that they didn't have anyone to love them or they that it would be better if they stayed away from others. It was the feeling that you didn't matter, didn't belong, and without knowing that there was a place where you fit in, a person could slowly slip away.
Loneliness was the slow and painful death of a person's very being.
Feeling alone hurt, and if it was intense enough...it was the worst kind of pain anyone could ever feel.
The boy turned on the shower and waited for the water to heat up before stepping in. He relished in the burning sensation that enveloped his body as the hot water flowed over his skin. It may have been a bit scalding, but it felt good compared to the chill he had been feeling earlier.
Shino was lonely, and deserved someone that could help her through whatever it was she was going through.
It was then that Kazuto decided that he would help Shino, even if she hated him even more for it.
A/N: If you haven't noticed by now, I'm better at writing adventure/drama than normal, day-to-day life.
Anyway, about Sugu. I wanted to make her kind of important, mostly because I like her as more of a sister figure than another member of Kirito's "harem." So no, i am not intending to make Suguha Shino's "competition" or anything. I enjoy good sibling relationships in stories, i just like the idea that people can really connect to each other on a close level without being "romantically involved."
In answer to a guest review: Yes, we are assuming that Shino did indeed skip a grade. As for Death Gun, I don't think that he will appear mostly because SAO (as in the death game) did not exist to drive people insane to the point where they would kill people just for the sake of it. Shinkawa (Kyouji) may appear later though. I'm thinking about it.
