A/N: Ay, sorry this took me so long, but as you can tell from the prompt, this was hard... It took me a while to find a way to make "online" special in an anime called Sword Art Online. But you can thank my amazing beta for making me actually get this shit done.

PS, for those of you following IDWF... I'm so deeply sorry, I'm trying!


Online

Shino was just exiting school grounds when a familiar voice stopped her in her tracks.

"Asada-san!"

She blinked, staring down the sidewalk with wide eyes.

"Shinkawa-kun?"

The sandy-haired boy jogged to meet her, breath only moderately heavy as he grinned at her. "Hey. Long time no see."

"Sh-Shinkawa-kun," Shino stuttered, surprise rendering her momentarily speechless. "What are you doing here?"

"Don't look so shocked," he laughed. "We haven't hung out in a while, so I thought I could walk you home at least once."

For a long moment, Shino simply looked at him, her gray eyes blinking into his brown ones. She could hardly remember the last time she had seen her best friend Kyouji Shinkawa in person. It had been right before she transferred schools and they were having one last hurrah in their favorite café before she left… oh how she missed those days.

A small smile slowly crept its way onto Shino's face. "I can't find a way to argue with that. I'd love to walk home with you."

Kyouji smiled at her, rubbing the back of his head. "Good, I'm glad. Otherwise I would have run all the way here for nothing."

Shino grimaced as she started walking, Kyouji easily falling into step beside her. "I'm sorry I made you come all this way; not seeing each other for a while is mainly my fault."

"That's ok. Sure, I miss seeing you every day, but I know you've been busy settling into your new school."

"I still should have tried to at least call you every once in a while," the ebony-haired girl muttered. "I'm sorry."

"Asada-san. It's ok."

Shino sighed softly, glancing at her companion out of the corner of her eye. She was glad to have such an understanding friend. "Thanks, Shinkawa-kun."

"No problem… Say, did you get a new phone yet?"

"Um, no. I'm still saving up," the girl replied, careful not to look at him. A few months before she had transferred, her phone had been… mysteriously broken and now she had to save up money from her monthly allowance to buy a new one.

"Then you should sign up for a messaging service."

"Messaging service?"

"Yeah, like Skype," he elaborated. They came to a stop at the end of the sidewalk, waiting for the light to turn green again. "I have an account there. Just create one and look me up, then we can message each other whenever."

Shino was silent for a while, giving his proposal some thought. Did she really want to do that? Not that she didn't want to talk with Kyouji more often, but did she really have to make an entire online account on social media just for that? It was a general rule of hers to keep her chances of hostile contact with her bullies as minimal as possible, which included online interaction. If she got an account, odds were she would be harassed through yet another medium. Still…

"Alright. I'll think about it."

Kyouji smiled. "Great. That's all I ask."

"Asada?"

Blinking, the two turned toward a new voice, seeing two people with dark hair sitting on a black, humming motorcycle.

"Kirigaya-kun?"

The seventeen-year-old flashed her a small smile. "Hey," he said, then turned his gaze to Shinkawa, his eyes narrowing slightly in suspicion. "Who's this?"

"This is a friend of mine," she explained quickly, catching the subtle, hostile undertone he had adopted. She had noticed that, after his encounter with her bullies, Kazuto had become a bit more protective of her. Normally, she would have been annoyed with his behavior because she had long ago learned to deal with her problems by herself and didn't need help, but she thought it was sweet of him to feel that way and it made her warm inside to know he cared.

"Hi, I'm Kyouji Shinkawa," the other boy greeted with a small wave. "Nice to meet you. I assume you're friends with Shino?"

"Um, yeah. I'm Kazuto Kirigaya. Though Kazuto is fine, I guess," Kazuto answered, as awkward as ever. Suddenly, he winced, and Shino could just make out the small twitch of his passenger's fingers as they pinched his side. "And this is my baby sister Sugu."

This time, he hissed a sharp "ow!" and rubbed at his hip. Meanwhile, Suguha smiled innocently at the two standing on the sidewalk. "Hello, Shinkawa-san, I'm Suguha Kirigaya, though I don't know you very well yet and using first names with each other doesn't seem appropriate right now. But you can call me Suguha if you want to, senpai."

Shino blinked. It was rare that anyone offered to be on a first name basis with her. "Alright, Suguha it is, then. You can call me Shino, if you would like."

"Ok! And you can go ahead and call Onii-chan by his first name too."

"Now hold on!" Kazuto interjected, turning in his seat to glare at his sister. "You can't just give other people the right to call me by my own name."

"And yet, I just did," Suguha answered with a smirk.

"Ugh," the older sibling groaned in despair, probably asking himself something along the lines of 'why can't I have a sweet, innocent sister that idolizes me?' "Only if you want to, Asada."

"Um, ok… Kazuto-kun," Shino answered, testing out the new texture of syllables on her tongue. And they somehow felt natural.

For a second, Kazuto remained silent. A subtle red hue rose to his face then, and his onyx eyes fixated on something across the street as he scratched at his cheek. "Ok. Great."

Behind him, Suguha's grin became somehow sinister. "Now you use Shino-san's first name."

"Ok, my name was one thing—!"

"Come on! Just let him do it, please, senpai? Onii-chan needs more friends."

"I feel like you're some kind of pimp handing out my friendship."

"I would gladly take that title."

Shino laughed as they bickered on. "He can, but only if he wants to," she said, but hurried on because she didn't think she was ready to actually hear him say her name just yet. The thought of it was surreal enough. "Anyway, Shinkawa-kun is walking me home and we were just talking about messaging services… You're a tech guy, right? Should I sign up for one of those?"

"Messaging service," Kazuto repeated, tasting the words slowly. "I have one of those."

"Don't exaggerate, Onii-chan, you're not rich or successful."

"I meant I have an account," he retorted quickly.

"Really?" Shino asked with a blink. Hearing that was certainly a surprise for her. She knew he wasn't the sociable type, so having any kind of social media, or well interaction of any kind with people, was unexpected.

"Uh, yeah. Skype, I think," Kazuto answered, looking thoughtful. "Sugu forced me to get it."

"It was a way to get him to talk to people. He's hopeless when it comes to actual social interaction, so I thought, since he's marginally better online, this would be a more effective method for him to have a life that wasn't so pathetic."

"…Pimp."

"Well, that makes you the hooker."

Kazuto's face reddened slightly again. "I do not appreciate this treatment."

"Your feelings don't matter."

"Then what's the point of—"

His retort was cut off by several cars honking their horns behind them. Startled, Kazuto twisted to look behind him, seeming surprised and that he had actually forgotten they were in traffic and he was holding up the afternoon commute.

"Uh, sorry. I guess we should go," he said quickly.

Shino tried not to smile too much. "That would probably be best. Maybe I'll message you."

He flashed her a quick smile, then made her stomach leap with a simple phrase: "See you tomorrow, Shino."

"Bye," she replied, waving as Kazuto put his bike into gear and sped down the street, the motor revving loudly.

"Bye, senpai! It was nice to see you guys!" Suguha shouted with a cheerful wave. Shino watched as the bike roared down the street, remembering the first and last time she had ridden on it. Kazuto had taken her home after the incident, and it had honestly been one of the best experiences she had ever had.

Still smiling slightly, Shino turned to head across the street, but stopped when she saw Kyouji. He was staring off after the bike as well, only his expression was peculiarly dark, eyes shadowed by something Shino couldn't quite place.

"Shinkawa-kun?"

Kyouji looked to her. "Yes?" he asked, tone light and conversational. But that hardness still lingered in his irises.

"…Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing," he replied. "I just spaced out a little. Come on, I still have to walk you home." Then he turned and promptly walked across the street, leaving Shino to trail uncertainly behind him.