I'm back already. Just had a killer idea. So I'm about to seal the deal you guys have been waiting for since chapter one. Just kidding, I'm gonna starve you away on the idea of that ship that you'll be desperate enough to write a fanfic about my fanfic just to ship them together. I'm evil.

Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online. Sword Art Online belongs to Reki Kawahara. I only own the OCs, weapons, towns, and skill names.

A Tempting Request

A few days later

"I'm gonna go check the mail, okay guys?" I called out from the door.

I heard all of them respond in some way.

I walked out to the mail box and picked up all of the letters and things. I looked through to see all the different letters for us. Just some fan mail for the weirdest party to ever be put together, but also some letters from some guilds asking us to join, if one of the others wanted to join a guild and leave us, I wouldn't hold it against them, it's their choice. I've never really thought about leaving this party, you can never befriend a whole guild, that's what's great about this party of 6, we're all friends. I went to the living room to sort out all of the mail(stuffing a love letter for me in my back pocket), I put the letters into their respective piles by who they are addressed to, Kyo got 2 letters, Tarou got none(as usual), Seiko got 6, Now that I think about it, I haven't seen Rikku in a while, where has she been, Aiko got 4, Gin got none(He's kind of an unknown), I got 10(Not including love letters), funny, nobody besides me or the girls get love letters.

I knocked on Seiko's door. "Hey Seiko, you've got mail."

"Coming!" I could hear her from the other side, there was a lot of movement like she was rushing to do something. Then she opened the door.

"Hello Yuusuke, I have mail?"

"Yeah, here you go, you're really popular with the guys these days."

"Yea...I am..." She seemed down about something.

"Sorry, did I say something wrong weird?"

"No! Nothing, just thinking about someone. No! Something. Yea, I was thinking about something."

"O...K then, I gotta give everyone else their mail to, it was nice talking to you."

"Likewise!" She closed the door in a rush and from what I heard, probably jumped back on her back yelling something like 'Soup Soup Soup'. How should I know.

I knocked on Kyo's door next."Kyo, you've got mail, and don't get too excited. You didn't get any love letters. Kyo opened the door.

"Shut up Yuusuke. Stop talking down to me like you're all high and mighty, it's not like you get any love letters."

I hesitated, how would he react if he knew? "W-well, you got me there, hehehe."

"You're weird." He closed the door.

I then went to Aiko's door. "Aiko, it's mail day! You in there?"

"Yeah, coming!" She opened the door only wearing her underwear. I looked away quickly and covered my eyes. I put the mail on the ground and walked away hoping I wasn't blushing.

I took my own mail to my room and flopped down on my bed. I sat up and opened my mail, a few invitations for smaller guilds, a few love letters that were actually really flattering. Finally, the last letter, I opened it up half expecting it to be from another small guild. I was wrong. The invitation was from the -Gold Dragons-. The top guild on the front lines, people dream of being in their guild. I guess they wanted the "Top Player" on their side, I was a little frustrated with myself. People would kill to be in this guild and I just got an invitation straight from the guild leader, Blaze.

I need to think rationally about this, my first priority is to keep my friends safe, if we all were joining, I could keep them safe, but just me. I can't imagine leaving all of them. I should tell them, I'll just send them all a message telling them to gather in the living room.

Once everyone was gathered

"Okay, everyone, I have an announcement to make, I got an invitation from the -Gold Dragons-, and I want your opinions on what you think I should do."

Seiko: I don't think you should join, they obviously only want you for your skills and rank as top player.

Kyo: I don't know, you would probably do more good being up there with them and we could clear the game faster.

Tarou: I think you should do what you want to do.

Aiko: No! Don't go! We need you here! I haven't finished my fan fiction about you yet! I mean, we wouldn't be the same without you, forget that other thing.

Gin: I think you should join, I wanna get out of this game as fast as possible, I think you could really help the Assault Team.

"So you're split completely in half? Tarou, you just couldn't make a decision huh?"

I sighed. "I'm going to the -Gold Dragons- Headquarters to file my answer, anyone wanna come?

Kyo: Nope, I finally got a date.

Tarou: I'm stopping by the local noodle shop.

Aiko: I'm going to go back to what I was doing, I didn't finish yet.

Gin: I'm going to the blacksmith to sharpen my blades and repair my armor.

Seiko: I-I'll go.

"I can always count on you Sai."

She nodded really quickly.

"Ok, lets's go. We can only get to the town fast enough via town teleportation portal, unless you wanna just walk through the 2 floors."

"Yea...No...we're taking the portal."

"That's what I thought."

"What else could you expect. I will take an hour because of walking there on foot on floor 25. I don't need to waste a whole week walking there."

"Okay, let's go, see you guys later!" Seiko and I walked out.

On the way to the -Gold Dragons- HQ

"We just follow this path all the way to the -Gold Dragons-. "

"Yuusuke, we seem to have found ourselves alone again."

"That's been happening a lot lately huh? But I enjoy it."

"Huh?"

"I said I enjoy being with you."

She blushed a light pink.

"I enjoy being with you too. I just...think we should stop talking about the past."

"Why is that?"

"Because I think we've been alone together almost as much as back then."

"I guess you're right. Then what do you wanna talk about."

"Right here and now."

"What do you mean."

"There's...something I've been meaning to tell you. For a while now actually."

"Really? What's that?"

"I-I really like-"

"Shhh!"

"Huh? What-"

"There's someone watching us from behind. Stay on guard."

She nods.

"On my mark, 3, 2, 1, Go. Who's there?"

Someone walked out from the shadows.

"Fancy meeting you here. I was on my way back to headquarters and found the top player in SAO."

"Blaze, I was just coming to see you, you look as yellow as ever."

"Mind my manners Yuu, but I am gold, implying to my guild name, are you familiar?"

"Of course I'm familiar. You sent me a letter begging me to join your precious guild on the front lines."

"Oh, but I wasn't begging you to join, I was commanding you to." Blaze said drawing his blade.

I activated -Passive Skill- =Item Identification=. His sword is Burning Blazer, barbed two-handed sword specializing in mutilating flesh. He also has hidden knifes underneath his sleeves that can be fired out at will. His speed stat matches mine, but his strength stat well surpasses my own with a superior weapon, his pet dragon is just waiting to be summoned, he has the upper hand while the sun is setting, perfect time for shadows, he chose this time and location underneath the trees for his own advantage, he has it all planned out.

"Correct me if I'm wrong. You're planning on defeating me and forcing me to join your petty guild. So, you planned out a time and location to intercept me, defeat me and prove yourself the top player all in one go."

"Oh, that's not all, if I flat out challenge you, you'll refuse, so I planned this out even further."

Rikku stepped out from the shadows and used a trap item, incasing Seiko in a cage.

I clenched my teeth, they know exactly how to tick me off, by harming my friends.

"You've done your research Blaze, you know exactly how to tick me off. So I'll accept your duel request, let's do a -Half Health- mode duel."

"Fine by me."

We both drew our swords, he sent the duel request and I accepted, I chose -Half Health- mode. The timer started, "So what did you plan for me if I were to join the guild?"

"I planned to see how good of a fighter you really are on the battlefield. Maybe put you higher on the ranks to work with me."

"This game has changed you Blaze, you used to be kind, gentle, inactive, but now, you're forcing people to help you survive, you're hiding behind other people's shields."

"Don't act like you're not the same way Kurosawa Yuusuke, you were the guy who was always sticking to the shadows and being beat into hell. Now what? You have all of your friends, but all they really are is your great wall of protection!"

3...2...1...GO

We both flew at each other swords flying, skills activating, until we locked swords.

"I don't hide behind my friends for protection! We fight together, and I wouldn't have it any other way!"

"Lies! I know you can't actually do anything! You hide behind a wall of people and take the last hit! I bet that rumor about you beating a boss alone wasn't even true was it?"

"It was true alright, and it was the most frightening thing I have ever experienced, it opened my eyes to what friendship really means, after facing that boss fight alone, I decided I wasn't going to go through life alone anymore, my friends and I will walk through life together! And we will meet again in the real world!" I smacked his sword aside and gave him 6 lightning quick slashes to the chest, both of our health bars now lay right above yellow.

We charged at each other again. I must fight with a calm mind, that is the true way to prove you are right, not with rage and power, with understanding and confidence. That is what sets me apart from him. At the last minute I activated -Passive Skill- =Illusionary Arts= and backed up while my clone went forward, Blaze slashed at my clone relentlessly, during the shock of my clone disappearing, I used that moment to hit him an uppercut slash, sending him flying, and sending his health bar into yellow.

"How? How did you beat me?" He sounded completely calm now.

"Your mind was clouded by killing intent and power instead of truth and understanding. It made you too easy to provoke and that sent you into a rage."

"I...see. I'm sorry, I guess this game really has changed me. The truth is, I don't want to die, I don't understand why something as harmless as a video game has become an event of mass murder."

"Nobody understands. That's why we're here. If we understood why this game has turned into our reality for the last year don't you think someone would accept that we have to beat this game, no matter what."

"I guess you're right. Then I guess I'll work on that. Beating SAO, is that even possible?"

"It's only possible if you believe it to be. The question is that if you think we can survive this, together."

"Um, Yuu, I'm...sorry I left the party without saying anything."

"It's no problem Rikku, I think you're happier here than you ever were with us."

"The battle I witnessed today has shown me you have real strength Yuu, when you defeated me easily when I recklessly challenged you, since then I kept trying to convince myself that in some way you cheated. Then I dismissed that thought and told myself your strength was but an illusion of the game. Now I see you have real strength too, not just the illusions of the game."

"Thanks Rikku, but I really don't think I'm strong. I just watch too much anime." I gave her an awkward smile.

"Now that's something I believe."

"Come on Sai, were going home."

"Coming Yuu!"

"Wow, I can't believe you got captured so easily."

"It wasn't my fault, she was hiding in the shadows!"

"Yeah Yeah Yeah."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, nothing at all."

That night

"Seiko, it's too dark to keep traveling, I'll send the others a message, you go find an Inn for us to stay at."

"Ok Yuusuke, what kind of Inn room do you want?"

"Single room, 2 beds." I said with a smile. She smiled back and ran off.

I quickly sent everyone a message and went to buy some food.

She messaged me the room number and I came back as soon as I was done buying the stuff we needed.

"Seiko, I'm here. You there?" I walked around the Inn. I heard water running, she must be in the bath.

I unequipped my armor and fell onto a bed. I put the back of my hand to my face, covering my eyes. I heard her come out of the bathroom, it kept my hand over my eyes just in case. I got up and cooked dinner, we both ate, talking about what our plans were, and what our lives were like, in the real world. When we finished we went to bed.

"Hey, Yuusuke, you awake?"

"Yeah Seiko, I'm awake."

"This reminds me of the first night we spent together, in an Inn, just like this."

"I thought you said you didn't want to take about the past."

"Well now I say we should talk about the past."

"What about here and now?"

"Maybe we should change something, so it's different from the past."

"Like what?"

"I don't know, maybe we can do something about the beds..."

"Like I can sleep on the right and you can sleep on the left!"

"Why do you have to be so dense?"

"What was that Seiko?"

"Nothing! I said great idea, yeah, let's switch."

So for that night, I slept on the right bed, and Seiko slept on the left bed.

I know you're virtually cursing me for building up a moment like that and letting it go to waste. Actually I think I'm starting to frustrate myself. It's not even like I'm writing, it's like I'm being told a story and then typing it at the same time. So leave a review or PM me any questions, leave a character if possible and I'll tell you again, I have too many male characters, so if you could send a female my way, that would be nice, if you send a male character anyways, I'll probably make them a side-character. For now, TheDemiGeek, Out!

P.S.: I changed the chapter a bit because I realized it was really cliché and it sounded like it came out of a Korean Drama. Trust me, I know. I have WAY too many aunts.