I'm in a good mood right now, so I'll just knock out another chapter of SAO and LOZ. But don't expect this to suck- it will be SWEET!

Chapter 7

Grudge Match

He couldn't believe it. Kirito had just lost trying to win Asuna's freedom by defeating Heathcliff in a fight. But something else was also on his mind.

"Hey Link. Where you ever going to tell us that you and Heathcliff fought?"

Zelda just looked at Link with a blank look, then slapped him.

"Strike two, buddy."

Asuna was shaken by Kirito's loss, but even she managed to laugh at that. Link rubbed the back of his neck and smiled.

"Strike three earns me an all-expense paid trip to pain from shouting and hitting."

Even though Kirito was laughing, he had to stop himself to ask his next question. "How did you beat him?"

Both Asuna and Zelda just looked at him with shock etched into their faces. Asuna got right in Link's face and let all of her questions go.

"How did you beat him? When was this, and why didn't you tell us?"

Link's previous happiness faded to reveal a more serious face. "It was a tough fight, but I caught him while he wasn't looking. Two years ago, and it wasn't important."

Asuna backed up, then slapped him with enough force to actually send him a few feet in the direction of the blow.

"Strike. Three."

OOO

After Kirito recieved word of his new coat being completed, he checked his inventory to see if he still had room. Of course he had plenty of room. He went out to get the coat, and he was shocked to see Asuna there.

"Hey, uh, I have your new coat with me."

Kirito nodded and gestured for her to come inside. She did, and then opened her menu, sending the notive that he'd get a new item, and then sent the coat and other accesories. He went in to his menu and put them on, and seeing them for the first time, he moaned with annoyance. They were white with red borders, with a clip at the neck with the sword that was basic for most shields and crests in SAO.

"Didn't I request something that wasn't so, I don't know, flashy?"

She chuckled. "Actually, that is one of the less flashy ones. And why haven't you ever been in a guild before? There are plenty of people that could use your help."

Kirito went from annoyed to solemn. "I was in a guild once. It wasn't big, a small one called the Moonlit Black Cats. They were all weaker than I was, but that didn't matter. One day, we were checking out a dungeon, but we came across a trap like in the Gleam Eyes' boss room, and they were all killed. I never trusted myself with a guild since, so that if I died, I'd be the only one."

Asuna came up and hugged him. He was about to hug back, but he stopped himself and put his hand down.

OOO

At a meeting with Asuna at the knight's HQ, a man named Godfree came in during her conversation with Kirito.

"Alright, Kirito! Heathcliff requested I take you out to see what you can do!"

Asuna turned to look at him. "Godfree, he is far more skilled than you are. Why do you need to even bother?"

Godfree laughed a hearty laugh. "Commander's orders. We will be taking another one with us to the dungeon of floor 75 to train."

Asuna bolted upright. "But, he barely managed to beat the floor 74 boss, even with Link's help!"

At the mention of Link's name, he became slightly pale, but Asuna let it go.

Kirito walked over to Asuna and put his hand on her head. "Don't worry Asuna. I'll be fine. It's not like we're challening the boss."

Godfree smiled and nodded. "We'll just go around the dungeon and slay a few monsters. Nothing the Black Swordsman can't handle."

Asuna nodded and let Kirito go. As he left the compound, he saw who would be acompanying him and Godfree.

"Kuradeel." It was the man who tried taking Asuna away by force, but Kirito stopped him by defeating him in a duel.

Godfree chuckled. "It appears you two have met eachother. Good, tha basically takes care of introductions for us. Now, we will be heading to the dungeon on floor 75, and so that I know you don't run, I'll be taking all of your warp crystals."

Kirito was shocked. "A-all of them!?"

Godfree took Kuradeel's crystals, he motioned for Kirito to do the same. Reluctantly, he handed them over.

Godfree laughed a hearty laugh. ""Alright! Let's get going! Hurrah!" He pumped his fist in the air for effect. Both Kirito and Kuradeel gave a half-hearted 'hurrah and slowly lifted their fists into the air.

Ugh, Kirito thought to himself. It's going to be a long day.

OOO

At some point or another, Godfree motioned for the group to take a break. Both Kirito and Kuradeel glady sat down on the nearby rocks to rest their legs. Godfree got out some bags of food and tossed them to his men. Kirito caught it and looked inside, and immidiately began thinking of Asuna's cooking.

When he went to drink some of the refreshment, he saw Kuradeel smiling madly out of the cornr of his eye, and threw th now-suspicious liquid out in front of him, and it shattered on impact with the ground.

He saw Godfree fall, as he had eaten some of the food as well.

"Kuradeel, didn't you prepare this!?"

Kirito was struggling to just sit up. "Kuradeel, why!?"

Kuradeel still hadn't dropped his maniacle smirk, and then he removed his gauntlets, revealing the symbol of Laughing Coffin.

"T-that's the seal of the murderers guild, Laughing Coffin!"

Kuradeel laughed. "Yes, and when you're a part of a crowd like that, you learn a few things about different poisons and such."

He walked over to Godfree while drawing his sword. "Kuradeel, what are you doing!?"

He didn't need to answer as he begun driving his blade into the man's back, turning his cursor orange and rapidly lowering Godfree's HP. Eventually, he began giving his reasons.

"This is your fault, Godfree! Long ago, when our group was killed by those PKers what did you do!? You watched as they slowly died!"

He then drove his sword through his head and killed him.

He turned to Kirito and brushed his hair out of his face. "Thanks to you, I just killed an innocent bystander."

Kirito gritted his teeth. "Yet you seemed to be happy enough doing that."

Kuradeel slowly walked over, licking his sword. Once he reached Kirito, he held it high and stabbed it right through his hand, causing him to yelp in pain.

"Damn Beater. It's all because of people like you that we're stuck in here in the first place."

He rocked the sword back and forth, making the wound larger and larger. He soon took it out and drove it right into his gut, lowering his health to red.

"Come on! Aren't you scared to die? Scream! Cry! I don't care how you show it, I just want to see the fear in your eyes as you die! Die! DIE!"

Is this really how it's going to end for me? No, I must live. For her. FOR HER!

He slowly moved his hand to the sword and pulled it out some, causing Kuradeel to smile slightly.

"Oh, you still have some fight left in you, eh? Well, then let's just extinguish that fire, shall we?"

He used both hands to slide the sword back into place, the rocked it back and forth, lowering Kirito's HP dangerously low, slowly and ever so slowly getting closer to the death point. He closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable... until he heard running. He looked up to see Asuna charge in and knock Kuradeel back a large distance with her Lambent Light. She looked down at Kirito with a look of true fear in her eyes.

"Thank God... I made it in time."

She then looked to Kuradeel with the anger raging in her eyes. She activated a sword skill that sent large amounts of blades at him, only allowing a few to scathe him, effectively terrifying him in the process.

"Please! This was just a... training accident! Yes, yes, a training accident!"

Asuna didn't buy it, and knocked him back and turned back to Kirito, only for the latter to shout a warning to his compainion. When she turned, only to have Kuradeel knock the rapier from her grasp.

"Vice- commander! Now here is a topic!" He swung his sword down at her, only to witness Kirito block it using his hand, as well as it being cut off. He then activated his martial arts skill and drove his hand through Kuradeel's chest, quickly killing him. With his final breath, he said, "Y-you... murderer..."

His avatar then shattered. Asuna looked to Kirito and reached out for his hand, but backed away, right as tears began welling up.

"Your hand... I should just stay away, shouldn't I?" She was caught off guard as Kirito leaned in and kissed her. She tensed up at first, then went to kiss him back. As they stopped, Kirito took her hand in his remaining one and bowed.

"Asuna, my life is yours. If it isn't too much to ask, but tonight, I want to stay with you."

She nodded, and they hugged tightly.

OOO

Link and Zelda were back at her house in Selmburg talking.

"Are we ready for the boss of floor 75 yet? I feel like our troops in the archery unit should get higher level bows first, as well as you getting the rapier of yours reforged."

Zelda looked down at the rapier in question. "I guess you're right. So, are we ever going to tell anyone about us?"

Link blushed, but shook his head. "Do you have any idea what kind of rumors would be brought up if they found out? No, I don't want to take the chance. Besides, they could find a way to use that against us."

She nodded back and sighed. "Yeah, I suppose so. Want to go hunting? I really need some ragout rabbit for dinner later on this week."

He was already out the door by the time she had finished the sentence. Shaking her head, she said, "Men. You never know what they're going to do next. But, that's why we love them so much."

Well, it seems that both Link and Zelda are a couple, as well as Kirito and Asuna! Relationships are something beautiful, are they not? But ti seems that some people are still grudging, aren't they? *looks at Kuradeel's body irl* Poor man. He had so many heart attacks left ahead of him. To much bacon. Until next time!