Beater and the Black Cats of the Full Moon
Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online
Warning: I am still studying so please forgive me if there is too much grammar mistake. It will also be appreciated if you would help correct my grammar mistakes.
Chapter 4
Bullet of Bullets
Ten seconds ago, Kirito decided to get some fresh air and teleported himself out of his house.
"Teleport to Floor 63."
000
With the commotion about his dual blade and the idol Asuna joining his guild, most of the information broker and players would be outside of his house. The only logical choice of destination for him to go could only be the 63rd floor which he had just cleared. Newly opened floors tended to be deserted until a few days later when everyone was prepared to occupy the town of the new floor. In Kirito's case, having an entire town to himself without being chase by information brokers for even one day would be good enough.
Hmm what should I do? I could go ahead and try up level outside or maybe I could find a place to take a nap...Nah that is too risky. I wondered if I could just sleep on top of a roof-
"Onii-san! You are late!"
"Sword skill: Ukifune"
"Wha-Gua-haa!"
The first thing Kirito saw when he was teleported to the 63rd floor was a flash blue. The second thing he could only see was the clear blue sky, or rather the blue ceiling above the floor.
What in the name of Kayaba happe-
Before Kirito could complete his line of thought, he fell and crashed onto the ground. Even though he was inside a Anti-Criminal Code Effect Area, the sword skill and his fall to the ground delivered intense pain to his nerves. This is the second time he is attacked today. He realized that he should have stayed back home to take a nap instead of risking his life for fresh air.
Standing before Kirito was a girl slightly shorter than him. She have black, slightly to purplish, long hair to her shoulders with black eyes. Her armor was a black light armor suit with a white armor plating to protect her chest. In her hand was a black katana that was held against Kirito's throat.
"Ki-Kiriko!?" Kirito exclaimed in surprise. She was one of the first person on his ran-away list. With her katana now on his throat, he needed ways more than battling himself out to run away.
It has been a few months since he last saw her, there were occasions when the thought of meeting up with her again crossed his mind. However, he never got over his 'fear' of interacting with people and gave up. The last time he saw her was the time when he left her under the care of a certain girl because he was 'afraid' of having her with him.
As if he could lose her to anyone at any moment.
Though you stalked her once in a few weeks to see how she was doing.
Tink~!
Before Kirito could reply to himself (Sachi), he instinctively rolled on the ground, missing the stab that would have left a cracked surface if the ground were not an immortal object. He quickly leapt up and brandished his proud Elucidator, his sword lowered at his personal stance, preparing to counter any of Kiriko's attack.
"Before I ask what is your objective of attacking me, can you stop calling me 'Onii-san'?" Kirito asked, his eyes never leaving Kiriko. "I am not really your brother in the first place."
"I can't help it." Kiriko smiled. "I am programmed to become such a character after all."
Kirito did not get to hear the rest- or rather, he did not expect to hear the rest as he deflected a slash formed by a straight line from Kiriko. Even though a player's hp would not drop in a Anti-Criminal Code Effect Area, he or she would still suffer the knockback from a skill. It was considered the most safest way for friends to fight with each other since their hp would not go down no matter what.
Friends. Even though it was not the proper term to call them, the two of them enjoyed their fight.
Kirito could not help but smiled. It has been quite some time since his last 'spying' and he realized that Kiriko has changed a lot since he left her. In the past she was quiet, as gloomy as the current him. However now as he continue to spar with her, he could see her bright smile on her face, enjoying the very second of the duel.
The katana came and aimed for his head. Kirito knew that it was going to happen and made a perfect dodge. The same happened to Kiriko as she stepped back to avoid a slash. The two were moving faster and faster, threatening and forcing into their optimum speed. Even though there was a speed limit placed on players, the two were trying to become even faster. Technique did not matter here. The only way to defeat each other was to become faster and faster than the other.
That's because both of them were of the 'same' people after all. It was as if they could read each other's thought and movement. Different color of skills flashed in the air. A small crowd of players has already gathered around them. Some of them were information brokers but were too afraid to approach their intense duel.
However as the duel continued, Kirito started to become more anxious. He has been thinking over what was Kiriko plotting. He knew that she has enough reason to attack him out of nowhere but...something felt wrong with the situation.
"Sword skill: Impaler."
Kirito! Behind you!
"Behin-Gua-Ah!"
The unexpected hit from his back and the annoying smirk on Kiriko's face told him that he has been tricked. He should have known that the 'other one' would be hidden and waiting for a chance to ambush him. The lance was stabbed 'into' his stomach, knocked him back in a straight line until he crashed into a wall.
As he struggled to resist the momentary pain and opened his eyes, two expected figures stood in front of him. The first was Kiriko. The other one was a girl with short blueish white hair with her lance resting on her shoulder. She was Sinon, the girl he has left Kiriko with. Both of them have a satisfied grin on their face. Kirito knew that he was not going to like what was going to happen next.
Kiriko took out a teleport crystal, one that was used to teleport a few people at once. Kirito widened his eyes and tried to escape but he was too late.
"Teleport to Ralback."
A faint blue light started to surround the three of them. Kirito attempted to escape the teleportation field but he was grabbed in the arms by the two girls. Soon, they were gone, leaving the information brokers behind cursing their misfortune and their stupidity for losing their chance for an interview.
ooo
"As I thought, you must be the reason..."
"Come on Kirito. It has been a few months since you came to visit us. What's wrong with taking the initiative to force you to visit us?"
"I am sure that what you just said is wrong in ways more than one."
In a room with a long table in the middle, a tall american player laughed, much to Kirito's annoyance. The room consisted of nine people. With the american and Kirito both sitting at the opposite ends of the table. Four other players sat on Kirito's left while three sat on his right with Kiriko and Sinnon sitting the closest to him.
Kirito looked around with the corner of his eyes. There was a window that was close to him. If he could make a distraction and jumped out of the window, he would be able to escape-
"Don't even thinking about jumping out of the window, Nii-san."
"...I really hate the fact that you are 'me'." Kirito sighed, recalled their first meeting. It brought back a lot of bad memories so Kirito decided to give in and handled the situation at hand.
"So what do you need me for, Satrizer?" Kirito asked without bothering to hide his uncomfortable expression.
Satrizer was the guild leader of the main Counter Player Killers Guild, the Bullet of Bullets. He was an american soldier-spy that came to Japan to test the Nerve Gear. Until a few months ago, he was a famous solo player who fought without weapons. However when his party members was killed by Pkers, he formed BoB to fight against the Pker guild, especially the Laughing Coffin. BoB was considered the second largest Guild after KoB, not including the unknown numbers of players that existed in the Laughing Coffin.
"I know you are annoyed that we force you to join us but this is urgent news." Satrizer answered. His gaze told Kirito that he was not here for some reunion. "This is a matter of life and death that may matter specially to the people around you, Kirito."
The joyful atmosphere of the room was faded in the blink of an eye and tension rose. Kirito changed his annoyed attitude and prepared himself for what Satrizer had to say.
-may matter specially to the people around you
Satrizer's words echoed in his mind. He knew that joking time was over. He suffered before. He let down of his previous ones before. He was not going to lose anyone this time.
Satrizer felt that the atmosphere around Kirito changed, he knew it was time he headed straight into the topic.
"The laughing Coffin are starting to get serious." Satrizer said with a stern face. "Our spies report that there was a mad increase of pk-ing during these two months. Known casualties are now over a hundre-"
"A hundred!? That's not possible!"
"That is the fact Kirito! I haven't even mention about the unknown deaths that happened these two months. We try to expand our guild to counter the Laughing Coffin but they are fast and unpredictable. The only pattern we learn is that the leader, PoH, tend to head for high level players that appeared in the newspapers."
Kirito is now starting to see what Satrizer really want to say.
Asuna, Argo and himself were in danger.
"The news of your Dual Blade Unique Skill and Asuna joining your Guild was spreading like wildfire. I have no doubt that PoH would target you and your guild as a revenge from our attack at their previous headquarter a few months ago." Satrizer finished.
"...Revenge..." Kirito muttered.
Satrizer was right. PoH would definitely take revenge. Kirito could still remember the duel he had with PoH last time. He and Kiriko, who he had just found, joined the attack formed by BoB against the Laughing Coffin. It was a terrible slaughter. They were ambushed by the Laughing Coffin and a lot of them lost their friends. Kirito himself almost died fighting against PoH if were not for the intervention of Kiriko.
Looking at Sinon at his right, her face was as white as her hair. Kirito knew that she must had recalled 'her'. He wanted to comfort her and patted her head. However in the end he could only sunk back further into his chair. There was nothing he could do. It was impossible for someone who let his guild members die to do anything.
"Sinnon."
"!"
"!"
At first Kirito thought his body disobeyed him again but only to realise otherwise when he heard that it was a feminine voice. Kiriko stretched her hand out and took Sinon's palm. Both Kirito and Sinon were surprised. Kiriko did not say anything else.
However Sinon could feel Kiriko's warmth traveling to her, comforting her broken heart. Sinon tightened her grip on Kiriko, she was afraid that she would left her alone again. Sinon laughed inside her heart. Kirito had left Kiriko under her care but it seemed that Kiriko was the one that was looking over her. The warmth on her hand now is different from the warmth she had before she died. She almost committed suicide when she died but it was Kiriko who was the one that kept on supporting her.
"Thank you...Kiriko..."
"Any time."
The two girls smiled at each other. Sitting beside Sinnon was Musketeer X, the only other female player in the room. Sinon snapped her head at her when she heard her grinning, only to start blush furiously when the others in the room decided to tease Sinon more by laughing at her emotional face. Despite being comforted, Sinon glared at Kiriko with a blushing face, only to earn another laugh from Kiriko much to her embarrassment.
In the middle of the laughing, Kirito watched Kiriko silently. It was just a small act that she has made but it has lightened up the mood of the room. Kirito realized that it was wrong to say that Kiriko has changed.
The truth is that Kiriko is starting to grow on her own now. She was starting to have her personal thoughts and personalities. She was no longer mere copy of him anymore. She has moved on from those feelings of losing someone important.
The meeting continued for a while until Satrizer decided to dismiss everyone. Since it has been quite a while since he was in the headquarter of BoB, he decided to stroll around the headquarters.
ooo
"...Is the wound healed?"
"Isn't it a bit too late to try to comfort me?" Sinon smirked. "And to answer your question, there is no way that it could have healed. No until I killed that bastard. Even after killing that bastard, I don't think it will heal that easily."
Standing outside the headquarter of BoB, Kirito and Sinon leaned into the wall and enjoyed the last sunlight for the day. Even though it was quite misty in floor nineteenth Ralback, the orange-red twilight was a sight for sore eyes.
Kiriko has gone to buy drinks, leaving the other two behind. A sudden impulse made Kirito tried to ask a question that he knew it would only brought back bad memories. Kirito cursed himself for his carelessness, accepted the scolding his mind (Sachi) has given him.
"Don't worry about it. It is quite a long time since we last talked to each other after all. I hear that your 'Dual Blade' skill is finally discovered. Must be nice to become a celebrity."
"No thanks to your sarcasms." Kirito complained. "It is a pain to avoid those information brokers from now on. And to think that I used to be the Beater whom everyone feared and don't dare to be close to."
"Well I am sure that after a few weeks, your popularity will die off eventually. I am quite surprised that you manage keep it a secret for so long. The only time I saw you used it was when you fought PoH one on one." Sinon's expression saddened. " I am glad that Kiriko and I arrived in time. I don't want to lose you to Pkers too."
Normally, Kiriko would have teased her for saying such a cheesy line but she knew that Kirito would not do it. Even though both of them were of the 'same' person, Kirito was different. Kiriko was just a 'copy', Kirito has experienced the true pain of losing his precious ones. That's why she knew that she could open up to Kirito. They were like cats licking each other wounds.
It was almost the same to Kirito's point of view. To Kirito, Sinon was a similar existence to Sachi to him. Both of them lost their precious ones. However Kirito has thoughts- guilt of his own.
"It's my fault." Kirito muttered under his breath, his head hung low as if ashamed to meet Sinon's gaze. "If I did not decide to keep it a secret...If I decided to use my dual blade openly without hesitation back then, Shino would have been save-"
Slap!
Kirito never got the chance to finish his words before Sinon slapped him, cutting him off his sentence and rendering him speechless. Sinon angrily approached Kirito and grabbed him by his collar.
"You fault? Don't screw with me!" Sinon shouted. "You are not the one that killed Nee-san! Stop pushing the blame to yourself!"
"But if I used dual blade earlier last time, Shino would have-!"
"Stop pushing the blame to yourself! Nee-san died and your dual blade has nothing to do with it!" Sinon continued. "Do you think I really need sympathy here!? None of the BoB members need sympathy. All of the members here are all those that lost their friends to Pkers. All of us here are more than ready to kill them to avenger our friends!"
Sinon glared at Kirito in the eyes. However after a moment, she began to calm down and let go of Kirito slowly.
"...Sorry about my outburst just now..." Sinon muttered. "...I just..."
"It's fine. I am the one at fault in the first place." Kirito answered.
This time, Kirito turned and stood in front of Sinon. His shadow by the twilight towering over the two of them. Kirito has a...saddened face as he looked at Sinon.
"Are you really ready to kill a Pker?" Kirito asked. "Even though they are a killer, they are still a player like us."
"You are too naive Kirito. The people that joined BoB are players that are ready to kill for vengeance." Sinon answered straight to Kirito's face without flinching. " 'Those who kill are the ones who are ready to be killed'. If we clash with the Laughing Coffin head on one day, we will have to kill them to ensure our own survival."
"Then are you really ready to kill Spiegel!?" Kirito continued. "When the time comes, can you pierce your lance through him?"
"!"
Sinnon twitched her eye. She could not give Kirito a clear answer. There was no way she could. She had refused to believe that Spiegel killed Shino but everything happened in front of him. She personally saw Spiegel piercing his rapier through her twin. There was no way she would forgive the murderer who killed her sister.
But the murderer was Spiegel.
He was her childhood friend.
Can she really kill him when the time come?
"Then do you think you can kill a Pker, Another player? I am not just talking about some serial killer like PoH, I mean normal Pkers when we clash with them again. Can you really end another person's life?" Sinon countered back.
"If I could, I would avoid killing them." Kirito answered without hesitation. "But if it risked getting any of my friends into danger, I will kill them. I have lost too many things already. I won't let anyone take anybody from me anymore."
Kirito's voice did not even waver when answered. Looking into Kirito's eyes, Sinon knew that it was the eyes of someone who was willing to sacrifice everything for the sake of his friends. He would not allow the same tragedy as Sachi or Shino to happen again.
Sinon realized, Kirito has changed as well. The change was probably recent, such as Asuna joining his guild but the one standing before her was not the one that was too afraid to have people to protect anymore. The Kirito standing before her now is the one that is willing to stand up from his past again to protect the ones previous to him.
She has to change herself too, or else she would never avenge Shino or protect the people she loved.
"Seriously. I went away just now to give you two private time together but was player killing the only thing you two could discuss?"
""Kiriko!""
Kirito and Sinon jumped when Kiriko's unexpected voice appeared behind Kirito. She was sucking onto the straw and staring at them with disappointed eyes. She had hoped that those two would maybe flirt with each other so she had rushed all the way to buy drinks and came back to watch the show. But in the end what she got was just some depressing talks about player killing. A program she may be, she certainly knew that 'player killing' stuff was not something that was normally discussed by a boy and a girl together alone.
"...Ah... ..."
Kirito, realized how close to Sinon he was, quickly back away. Both of them were blushing furiously while Kiriko was still sucking onto her strawberry milkshake. Just as Kirito and Sinon were fumbling for words to say, a ninja appeared before them.
"Yamikaze? What are you doing here? Aren't you on spying duty today?" Kiriko finished her milkshake and asked.
Yamikaze was the fastest ninja in their guild before Kiriko. He boosted his AGI all the way and used kunai to fight. Since he was the fastest player, he was responsible for spying the moment of the Laughing Coffin.
Right now, Yamikaze is breathing heavily. Seeing the look on his face, the three knew that something happened.
"The Laughing Coffin- PoH himself is in the Starting City! There are about twelve of them chasing after Asuna and two other girls in the dungeon under the Black Iron Castle!"
"Asuna! Argo!" Kirito shouted. "There is no time to waste! I will go first, Yamikaze please tell the others about it!"
Without a moment to lose, Kirito quickly opened his inventory and took out a teleportation crystal. Beside him, Sinon and Kiriko did the same.
"""Teleport to Starting City!"""
A faint blue light started to surround them, signalling the starting of the teleportation. Before Sinon teleported, Yamikaze quickly talked to her.
"Sinon...I saw XaXa just now...That means Spiegel would most probably be there..."
"Spiegel!" Sinon repeated. Her childhood friend's face appeared in her mind again.
No, Shinkawa Kyouji was dead the moment he entered SAO. The childhood friend she once had a crush on was gone.
"When I find him, I will kill him." Sinon replied without turning her head at Yamikaze again.
And then the three were gone. Yamikaze stood there for a while, reflecting on Sinon's words before heading into the headquarters to spread about the news about the return of PoH.
A/N: And finally Chapter four is finished! Sorry for the delay guys but after chapter 3, it became a lot harder for me to write. Interestingly Yui is getting a lot of fans but I am sorry to say that Yui would not be appearing that early. She would definitely appear but it would take some time to build up the character of Asuna for it to happen. And since the existence of Yui is basically the prove of love between Asuna and Kirito, there may changes to the setting.
Let's make this fiction more fun! Here is our Heroine Count Meter!
Sachi: 100 (Obviously Sachi would have a head start. She would not be able to increase her Heroine count that easily anyway)
Asuna: 10 + 10 (Asuna defended Kirito and joined Kuroneko)
Yuuki X Asuna: Currently closed
Argo: 10 + 5 (Information about Unique Skills)
Kiriko: 20
Sinon: 10 + 5 (Remind Kirito of Sachi)
Kiriko X Sinon: 10 + 10 (Kiriko comforted Sinon)
Let me answer some doubts again...
Q: Is this fiction AU?
A: A bit of AU, in terms of dragging every single character in the SAO universe. There would not be any OC- No Kiriko is not an OC, we even have her picture!
Q: Who is Satrizer and the rest?
A: For those that haven't read SAO novels, all the members in BoB are characters that played GGO in volume 5. Satrizer is the champoion of the forth(?) BoB mentioned in volume 9.
Q: Who is Kiriko? Why did she call Kirito 'Onii-san'?
A: Classified Information~ And I can't wait for Suguha to appear! Imouto Fight! XD!
Q: Why did you destroy Lambent Light?
A: My bad, my bad. I rushed the story too quick. That is the reason why I can't update fast. Even now I am struggling with the plot of next chapter. Read below for further details.
Route choosing!
Absolute Sword Route
-Kirito X Asuna route increase by 10
-Asuna gained Absolute Sword
Musketeer Girls Route
-Yuuki joined Kuroneko
-Yuuki X Asuna route open (basically little friendship moments and funny Yuuki vs Kirito jealousy route)
-Changes made back to chapter 3 to restore Lambent Light
Well a bit of pity since there is a drop of reviews (though there is significant increase in followers) I will choose the route with the most reviews! Place your choice of Routes everyone!
Please Read and Review!