I know that you've been waiting for a while, but it was worth it! Chapter 9 is here! How about a disclaimer?

Asuna: OniHelix does not own anything from Zelda or Sword Art Online.

OniHelix: Thank you, Asuna!

Chapter 9

Girl of the Morning Dew

Kirito and Asuna wer sleeping in their house on floor 22. Asuna woke up, and turning to Kirito on her right, smiled.

"He sure is a heavy sleeper."

She got up and layed down next to Kirito and hugged him. "Promise you won't ever leave me. I love you."

Suddenly a thought struck her. "Wait, he's not younger than me, is he!?"

Her outburst was effective in waking him up, albeit wih a yawn. "Oh, morning, Asuna."

She quckly sat up next to him. "You didn't hear anythig I just said?"

Kirito raised his eyebrows. "What? What did you say?"

She let out a sigh of relief, then stood up. "Let's go play."

Kirito moaned and covered his head with a pillow, though Asuna took it from him. "We played all day yesterday, and the day before that. Can't we just stick around here for a bit?"

Asuna raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms. "I don't think so."

Kirito sighed and got out of bed and equiped his casual clothes, as dd Asuna. Suddenly, a thought struck him.

"Hey, I have an idea on where we can go."

She perked up. "Where?"

He smiled. "Oh, you'll find out when we get there."

With that, they left.

OOO

Kirito and Asuna wre walking down a path to the forests on floor 22, as Kirito's idea had something to do with those. Soon enough, Asuna asked Kirito to carry her.

"What? Why can't you just walk there yourself?"

She smiled. "Why can't you carry me? With your strength parameters, it should be a piece of cake."

He sighed and croutched down. "Get on."

She lifted up her skirt so that she could get on his shoulders saying, "If you turn around, I'll slap you."

He, however, rolled his eyes. "That doesn't seem fair."

She ignored him and sat on his shoulders, after which he stood up, causing Asuna to laugh slightly.

"Wow! The view is way better from up here!"

Kirito was more awake by then. "Yeah?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I can see the lake from here!"

He began to walk, and eventually they passed the lake, where a few people were fishing. They noticed them and waved, and Asuna waved back.

"It's good to see that a few people are actually enjoying their time here. Some only focus on the dath penalty."

Kirito didn't like the attention they were getting, so he told Asuna to hold on. When she asked why, he just said to watch, then sprinted of towards the forest, Asuna screaming with joy the whole way.

OOO

Once they got to the forest, Asuna began asking questions.

"So, what's so special about this forest anyway?"

By then, Kirito had a sinsiter grin on his face. "Apparently, there is supposed to be a ghost wandering these woods."

At the mention of the word 'ghost', Asuna paled. "G-ghost?"

Kirito's grin spread even wider. "Yes, a ghost. The story goes that a carpenter needed wood for one of his projects, so he came out here to get some. Well, when he was sawing some trees, he heard whispering."

Asuna was listening intently, but at the same time she was looking around.

"He searchd for the source of the sound, and what he found was... a ball of light, the ghost!"

Asuna jumped, but listened for the end.

"It attacked, but he couldn't do anything to stop it. What was it, you may ask. No one knows for sure, but maybe it is the spirit of a past player, maybe a piece of corrupt data. Whatever it was, it was never seen again. Just like the carpenter."

By that point, she was sweating and very jumpy. She kept looking around, but this time, something caught her eye. It was a little girl, dressed all in white, slowly walking between two trees. Of course, she freaked out.

"EEEHHH! IT'S THE GHOST!"

She fell off Kirito's shoulders, but landed on her hands. She quickly stood up and hid behind Kirito.

Kirito searched the area she was staring at, and found the girl. "Oh, geez. I was kidding!"

While they were watching, the little girl fell down, spurring Kirito to run in and check on her. Once he arrived, he noticed something strange.

"She doesn't have a cursor."

Asuna checked, but she couldn't find any player stats. "Must be a bug. Because if she were a quest CPU, she would have activated when you picked her up."

Kirito nodded and lifted her over his shoulder, earning a moan from the little girl. "We should take her back home, get her in a bed. She seems exhausted."

"Right." With that, the two headed back to their house and layed her down in a bed. Shortly after, she began to stir, and ultimately wake up.

She was small, she looked around 7 years old. Her hair was long, and a deep black like Kirito's. Her eyes were also about the same color as Kirito's, though hes wer full of question. She looked back and forth between Kirito and Asuna.

"Hey, are you okay? Do you know where your parents are?"

She cocked her head to the side in question. "N-names?"

Asuna smiled. "I'm Asuna, and this is Kirito."

The girl looked down. "A-u-na. Ki-to."

Kirito sat down. "No, Kirito. Ki-ri-to."

The girl looked at him and pointed at him. "Papa."

Kirito was startled, to say the least. She then pointed at Asuna. "Mama."

Asuna thought of something. She pulled Kirito up next to his and whispered in his ear, "I think she has amnesia. Should we go with it?"

Kirito nodded, and the little girl began speaking again. "Papa? Mama?"

Asuna sat down and hugged the little girl. "Yes, yes, I'm your mama. What's your name?"

The girl thought about that for a long time and eventually said, "Yui."

Asuna leaned forward. "Your name is Yui? Cute!"

Kirito was smiling the whole time, as innocence like this was hard to come by in SAO.

This was the beggining of something great.

YEAH! I always loved Yui, both in the novel and in the Anime! She was just so unique. But anyway, OniHelix out!