Came up with a bunch of ways to write this one. This is the one I went with, though I'm not entirely satisfied. It just felt a little too repetitive to have Suguha/Midori crying their eyes out every time something bad happened to Kirito. At least this way it still affected them emotionally, but there wasn't such a desperate feel to it all.
I think next chapter is Yui, then the meeting between Kirigaya/Yuuki families.
Crimson Killing Intent
Suguha paced back and forth in the living room.
It was the evening of the second day since her brother had his mysterious duel with Heathcliff. She had been relieved that he and Asuna took a day off after the fight to relax, and felt like she was right that he would stop being put in so many threatening situations as he joined the Knights of Blood.
How wrong she had been.
It was one of the days she had classes, so she wasn't able to log in and watch the stream as she might have wanted. The first half of the day proceeded normally, and then before lunch was over she had decided to take a look at the internet to see how Kirito was settling in with the Knights.
Her surprise was palpable as she saw the chaotic mess of posts on the forums with titles written in all capital letters, all of which seemed to mention 'Kirito' and 'die'. Some of them said he almost died, others said that he was nearly murdered. It took her a few minutes to find a reputable poster to get the whole story, trying to keep calm until she knew what was really going on.
It turned out that the Knights wanted to evaluate Kirito's skills, which made little sense as he was clearly one of the top two players in the game. His superior had thought it would be a great idea for Kuradeel to come along as well, so the two could bury the hatchet from when Kirito had embarrassed him in front of a bunch of the high level players only a week before. Again, not such a bright idea. Just reading that beginning part was enough to erode her faith in the KoB management.
Kuradeel ended up poisoning the lunch that Kirito and the training officer, Godfree, had packed. He killed Godfree first, then went to kill Kirito. The summary didn't really explain it in much detail, but Asuna came in time to save Kirito, who would have died otherwise. She fought Kuradeel, and almost killed him. When she showed him mercy, he had tried to kill her as well, but Kirito had stepped in and killed him first.
Reading that was pretty depressing and worrying, but she was really grateful for how concise the summary was. There was only a period of a minute or two where she had to worry that her brother had died.
Even so, the knowledge had left her distracted for the entire rest of the afternoon. She called her mother after school to tell her what had happened, and her mother promised to come home right after dinner so that they could watch it together.
That brought her back to the present, as she continued to pace through the living room. Did she really want to watch the footage with her mother? She could feel the emotional drain she had begun to experience from watching her brother so close to death so often. Maybe this one time she should turn a blind eye...
But how could I ever face him...she realized. What was she going to say to him? Sorry bro, I know you had a hard time in SAO, but I was too scared to even watch it? No. No way in hell.
With that in mind, she sat down on the couch and tried to relax, reminding herself that no matter what happened, her brother was alright. There was no need to get too worked up about it.
Her mother arrived a few minutes later, and they quickly dove into the virtual world. Suguha opened up the control menu for the stream and set the time stamp to a few hours earlier. The summary she had read online included the time at which the incident occurred.
The sun was high in the sky as the footage loaded and they found themselves in a miniature canyon. It was a sharp contrast to the darkness that had engulfed the real world, as it was technically night time.
Her brother was sitting on a rock with Kuradeel as he opened a bag that contained his lunch. He seemed disappointed with the plain bread roll inside, but sighed and drank some of the water.
It didn't take him long to figure out that the water was poisoned, as Kuradeel was the only one who didn't reach for the drink. Suddenly, realizing what was going on, Kirito threw the flask onto the ground, shattering it into pieces, but it was too late. The paralysis status effect had already taken place, causing him to be immobilized as he laid upon the stone. Their other companion, the Knight named Godfree, was similarly immobilized.
Kuradeel broke into maniacal laughter as the two paralyzed players laid helpless before him. Godfree tried to get an antidote crystal out, but Kuradeel kicked it away, taunting the helpless man as he did so.
With no sign of hesitation or remorse, Kuradeel drew his sword and began hacking away at Godfree, doing significant damage to his health with every slash. As he killed the man, he outlined his ridiculous plan of how he was going to get away with murdering his two companions, which made no sense whatsoever.
"This guy is insane..." Midori said as Godfree was killed and he disappeared in an explosion of polygons.
Kuradeel turned his attention to Kirito then, suddenly seeming much more coherent as he said, "You know, I just killed an innocent bystander because of you. How am I going to live with myself?"
"From over here it looked like you were having a blast doing it. Why the hell would a guy like you join the Knights? You'd be more at home with one of the criminal guilds."
Suguha knew that her brother was just trying to stall for time. The paralysis potion Kuradeel had employed had a five minute duration. If he could stall for a little less than three more minutes, he'd be free to defend himself once again.
"An interesting observation. You have sharp eyes." Kuradeel removed his left bracer to reveal a tattoo that sent shivers down Suguha's spine.
"You're with Laughing Coffin!"
"That's where I got the skills to paralyze bastards like you."
"Bastards?" Suguha demanded, enraged. "Kirito is the bastard? What kind of ridiculous world does this guy live in?"
Midori put a hand on her shoulder. "Never try to understand a crazy person."
Kuradeel continued, obviously oblivious to the two people watching. "Where's my head? I better stop talking or the poison will wear off, and we wouldn't want that. Time to finish you off for good!"
He stabbed his sword into her brother's hand, causing her to wince as Kirito grunted in pain. One of his legs was Kuradeel's next target, dropping her brother's HP gauge into the yellow.
Suguha felt her mother tap her shoulder nervously. "Uh, Sugu, you said Kazuto got out of this just fine, right?"
"They said it was really close...but yeah. He's alive. The stream still had a live option when we logged in, so he is okay." She had to force the words out, though. Just watching the footage, she wouldn't have thought her brother had even the slightest chance, despite everything else he had done in the game.
Kuradeel began taunting his victim then. "How's it feel? C'mon, I wanna know how it feels knowing you're about to die like a dog. What? Is your tongue paralyzed too?"
Kirito was silent, except for his ragged breathing.
"Come on now! It's your last chance to say something. You really are going to die!"
Kuradeel stabbed his sword through Kirito's gut, dropping his HP into the deep red.
"He better kill this bastard," Midori said sharply, echoing the thoughts that she had already been having.
"A bit of suffering first wouldn't hurt," Suguha added.
Later, she would consider how unlike the both of them it was to say things like that. Perhaps seeing someone trying to murder a family member had that effect on them, though.
Kirito's hand suddenly reached up and grabbed the blade of the sword, almost managing to pull it out of himself. He appeared to have a new strength in him, or maybe the poison was starting to wear off.
Kuradeel found it amusing, of course. "Why do you keep struggling? Are you afraid of dying after all?"
"No. I'm just not ready yet." Kirito's voice was shaky as he tried to overcome the system's paralysis rules.
Kuradeel laughed. "Is that so? That's the way I like it!"
Kirito tried to fight back with all of his strength, but it wasn't enough as his hand fell back onto his stomach limply, letting the sword plunge back into his body and begin to drain his HP again.
"Die! Die! Dieeee!"
And he really would have, had a bright green blast of energy not blasted into Kuradeel, sending him soaring through the air, only to be stopped by the rock walls of the canyon.
Asuna came into view then as she used a healing crystal on Kirito, instantly restoring his HP to full.
Suguha and Midori let out a collective sigh. Despite knowing in advance that he had survived, it had still been physically draining to watch Kuradeel come so close to killing her brother.
Asuna was in tears as she told Kirito about how she was monitoring them on her map, and she rushed to his aid as soon as she saw Godfree disappear. That made Suguha realize something—if Kuradeel had just attacked Kirito instead of Godfree, her brother would be dead right now, and there wouldn't have been anything anyone could have done about it.
She quickly shook her head and tried to put that out of her mind. It wasn't the case, so it didn't matter. No need to get worked up about it.
The noise from Kuradeel struggling to his feet caught everyone's attention, causing Asuna's expression to sharpen. "I'll finish this."
She walked up to Kuradeel, who frantically tried to spin a lie about what had happened. Suguha took great pleasure in watching Asuna completely disregard everything he tried to say and go for an all-out offensive. She stabbed her rapier into the man with a level of rage and single-minded determination that far surpassed any mere desire for justice or personal hatred. It made Suguha wonder just how much Asuna cared about her brother.
It wasn't even a fight, as she knocked Kuradeel on his ass and into the red HP margin within a few seconds. As she lined up the killing blow, he begged her to spare him, promising to leave the guild and disappear.
She hesitated, but it was all that Kuradeel needed to grab his sword and knock her rapier from her hand. "The oldest trick in the book, and you fell for it, bitch!" He raised his sword and slashed at the defenseless girl with a killing blow.
Kirito stepped between them, catching the blow with his left arm. It cost him a tenth of his HP and his left hand, but he blocked the blow and save Asuna. With a wild battle cry, he activated a punching sword skill and drove his fist through Kuradeel's chest.
Suguha and her mother watched with silent awe as Kuradeel slumped over Kirito's shoulder, a position that almost made it look like the two were embracing—if not for the fact that Kirito's fist was literally lodged inside the other man's chest.
"God damn you, you murdered me," were Kuradeel's final words as his HP hit zero and he shattered into millions of polygons.
"Holy shit..." Suguha whispered, falling to her knees just as her brother did. Sure, she had agreed a minute ago that she wanted Kirito to kill Kuradeel, but she had never expected it to actually happen. She knew he had already killed two Laughing Coffin members during a terrible moment of rage when the clearing group had gone to apprehend the entire Laughing Coffin guild. There was a lot of debate on the internet at the time about how little the deaths seemed to affect him at the time. Some people wondered if it was even his first time killing, not that anyone really blamed him for killing the bastards.
To see him kill again was definitely a shock.
He also seemed much more affected by it this time, as he was kneeling down with his head downcast. Asuna had knelt behind him, reaching out a hand to take Kirito's single remaining one—his left hand would auto-regenerate after five minutes. She had hesitated, however, and instead broke into tears.
"I'm sorry...this was...all my fault, wasn't it?"
Kirito turned his head to look at the girl who was crying her heart out behind him, seeming a bit confused by her distress. "Asuna..."
"I'm sorry...but I...I should...stay away from you...for your sake."
Suguha didn't have time to process the words as her brother grasped Asuna's shoulder with his remaining hand and pulled her into a kiss that lasted for a long moment. When they broke apart, the look of surprised relief on her face was enough to tell anyone watching how much she cared for Kirito and that she thought she had lost him when she had forced him to kill on her behalf.
"Asuna, my life belongs to you. I'll give it up for you. I want to stay with you 'till the end."
"And I promise, I'll do anything to protect you too, forever, no matter what. I swear," was her reply.
"I'll do everything I can to make sure you get back to the real world." He hesitated. "Asuna, could I...stay with you for the night?"
Asuna nodded, a small, embarrassed smile on her face.
Suguha's own face had gone pure crimson at the heart to heart she was witnessing. When her mother noticed, she laughed lightly. "Hey, don't feel so embarrassed, Sugu. You should feel happy for him, right?"
"Well yeah..." The truth was, she wasn't sure what she thought of Asuna. Sure, the girl was extremely good looking, a complete bad ass, and was always there for Kirito...but...
But what? she asked herself. Was she jealous of Asuna? The thought was ridiculous. Why should she be jealous that Asuna was in a relationship with her brother...it's not like she wanted that.
She shook her head rapidly, trying to clear her mind. Her train of thought had taken a turn in a really weird direction.
"Let's see how their evening is going," her mother suggested, clearly noticing that Suguha was lost in her thoughts. "I, for one, would love to see them relaxing or having a meal instead of that ridiculousness we just watched."
Suguha couldn't help but agree. She needed to relax a bit. Maybe a few weeks without stress would be great, not like that was ever likely to happen with her brother around, but still, she could dream.
With a sigh, she opened the menu and clicked the 'Live' option, causing their surroundings to vanish into blackness and then suddenly be replaced by the inside of Asuna's player house.
What they saw, though, was slightly unexpected.
Asuna was standing by the window with the lights off, while Kirito was seated at the nearby table with a bunch of empty dishes. She pressed a button on her open menu and her clothing vanished, leaving her in only her underwear.
Kirito's shocked expression was pretty much identical to her own as they stared at Asuna. Suddenly self conscious, she covered her chest and said, "D-don't look...not yet anyway." When Kirito didn't reply, she added nervously, "What are you waiting for? Get undressed. Don't just sit there...it's embarrassing."
Midori burst into laughter as Kirito tried to come up with a reply.
Eventually, he said, "No wait, I didnt—I mean, all I wanted was to spent the night with you, and not the other thing."
It was so silent you could hear a pin drop.
Then, Asuna started stuttering out of pure rage. "You...you...you dummy!" She charged up a punching sword skill and, still covering her chest with her left hand, ran across the room and smacked Kirito right in the head.
He was sent flying across the room, but received no damage due to it being a safe zone. The immortal object tooltip appeared as he crashed into the wall.
"Aaah! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, forget that last part!" He was waving his arms around desperately. "I'm sorry! It was my fault! I-I mean, besides...can you even do...that? In SAO...?"
Asuna lowered her fist, though she still appeared angry. "Y-you didn't know?"
"I didn't know..."
"...If you...dig deep in the options...there's a 'Moral Code Removal' settings," she explained nervously.
"Does that mean...you've done this befo—"
She punched him in the face again.
"O-of course I haven't! I found out about it from someone in the guild."
There were an awkward couple of moments as Kirito tried to apologize frantically, but Asuna just plopped down on the bed and glared at him defiantly.
"...Kirito, hurry up and take your clothes off."
"What...w-we're continuing?"
"It would be stupid if we stopped here!"
As Kirito opened his menu to comply, the stream suddenly went black. It was as it the feed had been cut, which really wasn't surprising, given the situation. A minute later a holographic message appeared.
We apologize, but the stream will be offline for a short time. The purpose of this stream has always been to give people information about SAO, and not to invade Kirito's or anyone else's privacy. The stream will resume when it is once again safe to broadcast.
"Well," her mother said in amusement. "Good for Kazuto. He deserves some happiness after all he's been through."
"Uh...yeah," Suguha agreed awkwardly. That pretty much summed up the rest of her night—awkward.
When she finally went to bed, the last thing she remembered was wishing to herself, Big brother...can you just...not die—or come close to it—for an entire week? Please? I can't take this anymore...