Level Four: Connection

Level Twenty Seven: Seaside Town

Kirito got outside just as the rain started to come down, glancing around to see if Black Fox was anywhere in sight. He caught a glimpse of her turning a corner and followed after her as she headed closer to the edge of town. The rain kept coming down but Kirito was determined to get answers, and Black Fox didn't seem to care about the rain at all. He went to her as she stopped at the end of the cobblestone path, putting a hand on her arm. She jumped a little and whipped around, seeing Kirito and hastily trying to wipe away the tears and rain streaming down her face. Kirito was a little shocked but he didn't let go. "Are you okay?"

"I-I'll be fine…" she mumbled, knowing that her tears were obvious, even in the rain. Her voice showed it too, how upset she was. She pulled herself together and managed to smile a little. "Sorry about running out like that…" Kirito just stared at her for a minute before reaching up, swiftly removing the Black Fox mask from her face, her eyes full of loneliness… sadness… a little shock from the sudden loss of the barrier that kept her emotions under wraps. "K-kirito…?"

"You may not want to tell me everything, but still… You hide behind a generic name, a mask… and you are scared to get close to too many people… you came here to get away from everything in the real world, right?" he kept staring at her, noticing her attempting to say something only to stop herself and sighing inwardly. "Only to find that people still want to connect with you…" he mumbled, watching her look right at him, practically staring into his soul.

"… you seem to feel a similar way about some things…" she mumbled, smiling weakly at him. "You didn't need to come out here to get me…" she said, looking up at the sky. "But you did anyway, though…" she looked back down at him, a small smile tugging at her expression. "Can I ask why?" she tilted her head sideways. He blushed, seeing her smile and look almost happy again so suddenly, and yet still so vulnerable did a number on his heart.

"I-i… um… I just…" he rubbed the back of his neck, feeling a little embarrassed. "Sh-should we get back?" he asked, trying to change the subject, still grasping her arm. But Black Fox shook her head, managing to get him to let go of her arm in exchange for grabbing onto his sleeve.

"Not yet…" she said softly, still smiling. "Please?" she leaned back against the tree and pulled him with her a little, Kirito ending up leaning on the same tree, shoulder to shoulder with Black Fox. "What do you think of the rain, Kirito?" she asked as she stared at the town, watching the rain keep coming down. "Is it good? Bad? A neutral party?"

"… I dunno." He mumbled, letting her hold onto his sleeve. "I guess… it's okay… sometimes." He glanced over at her, seeing her looking like she was remembering something, his heart thumping a little more. He forced himself to turn away, cheeks bright red. "A-are you going to keep hiding under that mask all the time?" he questioned, making her sigh.

"I don't mean to hide… but I show too much emotion through these eyes. If White Fox noticed, she'd use whatever emotions I show her against me…" she mumbled. "And unfortunately I can't do the same with her… she only wears the mask as a means of being noticed…" she glanced over at Kirito. "But that's fine… I've always liked stuff like Fox Masks and whatnot…" she took her mask back from him with her unoccupied hand, making contact for a few moments and almost seeming to linger before she put the mask back in her inventory.

"Always? Why's that?" he asked, trying not to let the situation get awkward with her by falling silent or fumbling for words.

"… my mother used to love this stuff… she'd always be making little charms of fox masks or dolls with fox masks… she'd take me out to festivals and the first thing we would always do was buy one from her friend's booth…" she stopped herself, smiling a little at the memories. "Ah, sorry… I'm going on about the real world when we still need to get out of here…"

"Don't be." He said, managing half a smile back at her. "Do you live with your parents?"

"… not really…" she mumbled, looking at him, her eyes sad despite the smile still there on her lips. "My mother passed away about 10 years ago… and my father's never home anymore…" she took a deep breath before she continued. "And my little brother's in the hospital… so I live mostly alone." Kirito paused, looking a little shocked, but not saying anything. This game was their reality for the time being… so telling people here about life in the real world was probably kind of normal…

"You must be worried…" he said. "About your brother, I mean."

"Yeah… I am…" she said, looking at him. "Sorry if this sounds weird… but you remind me of him a little bit… you both like computer games. He said he wanted to be a swordsman class if he ever made it into the game… and judging by appearances, you might be around the same age." she smiled a little more cheerfully. "Maybe I can introduce you two when we get out of here." Kirito nodded, having never seen her so excited about anything.

"Sure." He replied. "Wait, how old do you think I am?" he asked, not quite sure about what she meant by the age comment.

"I'm assuming around 14? Or maybe closer to 15?" she asked. "Just judging by appearances though, I can't say for sure…" she stated. "How old do you think I am?" she asked.

"H-how should I know?"

"Aww, you won't guess?" she asked, grinning a little again, making Kirito's heart rate go up a little. "Come on, please~? I won't get mad, I promise~" she said, leaning in closer to him, looking like she REALLY wanted him to take a guess.

"… I-I guess around 18? 19?" he mumbled, cheeks tinting reddish from her proximity to him. She smiled, nodding at him.

"Going to be 19 in about 5 months~" she said with a smile. "You're pretty good at guessing~" she said cheerfully. He just stood there with her in the rain, cheeks pink, even after she pulled away. "So… did you want to go back now? She asked.

"I guess…" he replied, moving away from the tree and waiting for her to move towards town before he began to walk with her.

That night, Kirito and Black Fox were in their room. Since it was a small lodge, there was only one bed in the room. Some of the people from earlier had made comments about it, though Black Fox didn't seem bothered by them this time around. Kirito got into the bed first, looking over at Black Fox as she sat in front of the window, staring at the sky. "Are you coming to bed?"

"I will… you can go to sleep." She replied, not moving or turning to him as she spoke. He sighed and lay down, making himself comfortable.

"Suit yourself." He said, keeping an eye on her as she sat there. But despite his attempts to keep an eye on her, he found himself falling asleep. Black Fox hardly moved at all in the entire time. He finally passed out, unable to keep his eyes open any more. And once he was asleep, Black Fox turned to look at him, smiling softly. She got up from her seat silently and went to get into bed, careful not to wake Kirito. She lay down and watched him sleep for a while, wondering about things. Kirito opened his eyes and turned to look over his shoulder, seeing her just lying there with a thoughtful look on her face. "Something wrong?"

"No… not really…" she smiled. "Sorry, did I wake you?" she asked, Kirito shaking his head in response. He turned over to face her, staring at her for a moment. "What is it?"

"Are you really okay with sleeping in the same bed as me?" he asked her, making her chuckle. "Wh-what?"

"Sorry… my brother's asked me that before. It's not a big deal." She said. "It's not like we're doing anything. Just… sleeping." She said cheerfully. "So go to sleep, Kirito." She said, petting his head like she did for her brother, withdrawing her hand after a little bit and curling up to sleep. He nodded, finding himself too sleepy to keep his eyes open.

Level Thirty Three: Orchard Village

It had been a month since Black Fox and Kirito split off from Asuna and the others. They were in Orchard Village looking for someone from the beta that contacted Black Fox about information on White Fox. But somehow Black Fox seemed on edge about the meeting. "I still don't think you should come with me." She said to him as they sat in the café eating their lunch. "It's dangerous… especially if it's a trap that she set-"

"Even more reason for me to go with you." He stated to Black Fox as he placed his tea cup on the table. "I can't let you go alone. If she is setting a trap, then at least we have a better chance of getting out of it, right?" Black Fox sighed, looking bothered still. But she nodded, looking up at him. "Good." He smiled at her. But he looked down at her plate and she hardly ate her main dish, but her dessert was completely gone. "You like sweets, huh?"

"Yes~" she smiled. "I always like good sweets~" she said. He blushed a little, pushing his dessert plate to her, his cake only half eaten. "Eh…?"

"You can have it… it's a little too sweet for me…" he said, blushing. Her eyes were a little wide in surprise, but she looked ecstatic about receiving the dessert.

"Thank you, Kirito~" she said cheerfully, her smile not wavering one bit. He just sat there, watching as she ate the cake, finding himself staring at her a little, snapping himself out of it quickly and trying to think about something else. Once she was done, they paid out their tab and left for the orchards where they were supposed to meet the beta tester.

Level Thirty Three: Apple Orchard

Black Fox had taken a seat on a bench under one of the larger apple trees, Kirito leaning against the trunk of said tree as they waited. Black Fox had put her mask back on, not trusting the beta tester coming to meet them. As he approached, Kirito stood up straight and stood behind Black Fox like a body guard in a way. The person who approached was wearing dark red armor and black under-clothes, wearing a helmet and carrying a broad sword on his back. He removed his helmet and smiled. "Long time no see, Black Fox."

"Mabashi…" she stood up, offering her hand to him. "It's been too long, my friend." He took her hand and got to one knee, bowing to touch his forehead to her hand. "I apologize for calling you from the front lines. I know you're busy."

"Not at all. I wanted to make sure you were alright." He stated, glancing at Kirito, who seemed to be glaring. "I'll assume this is the infamous Kirito, then?" he asked, letting go of Black Fox's hand and going to offer his hand to Kirito as a friendly gesture. "It's nice to meet you. Black Fox has told me a lot about you."

"Nice to meet you too." He said, shaking hands with Mabashi. Black Fox walked over to Kirito and stood next to him.

"So, what do you have for me, Mabashi?" she asked.

"White Fox finished gathering recruits on a large scale." He said. "The ones she has recruited are fighting against us on the front lines… a lot of them are strong… I'm certain quite a few are hackers or stronger beta testers… and there's something else."

"Something else?" Kirito asked him.

"… I think she might be coming after the players who are closest to you." Mabashi said to Black Fox. "So… be careful. I don't know exactly what she's trying to do, but if she's going after you it's gotta mean trouble."

"Right… Thanks, Mabashi." She said, handing him a payment for the information before she turned to leave. Kirito glanced back at Mabashi before he followed Black Fox. "Come on, Kirito... we should head to the next floor…"

"Hang on." He said, stopping her from walking. "What's going on?"

"..." she shook her head, and even without removing her mask Kirito could tell she was upset. He sighed and grasped her wrist gently, looking up at her.

"You will be fine… I promise." He said, making her look towards him and much to his surprise, she laughed. "What?"He watched her move her mask to the side of her head.

"You're… so optimistic…" she leaned over and wrapped her arms around his shoulders gently. "Thanks… Kirito… I'm sorry about getting worked up over this… I just don't want to see you get hurt too… like so many others…"

"I'm not so easy to kill." He said, blushing but not trying to make her let go. This was a sibling-like embrace… he was fine with it. "Don't worry about me…" his heart dropped a little as he thought about it… was he just a little brother-figure to her?

"And yet I do worry, Kirito…" he felt her arms tighten around his shoulders a little. "… is it… weird? That I like you so much?"

"Wh-what?" he asked, not sure if he heard her right. Kirito felt Black Fox let go and ended up looking her right in the eyes, feeling his cheeks coloring.

"I-I just asked you if it was weird that I like you so much." She stated, cheeks pink, eyes showing both insecurity and affection that Kirito was very unused to, but he felt drawn closer as she stared at him. He shook his head, removing her fox mask for her and taking her hand hesitantly.

"It's not weird…" he mumbled. "C-can we talk more about this later?" he asked, earning a nod of Black Fox's head as she put her mask away. He tugged on her hand a little, leading her back to the town. If this was leading somewhere, he didn't want anyone who wasn't supposed to hear to listen in. And he could tell she was worried about being heard too, so talking this out in their lodging was probably the best idea. But as they headed into town, they noticed a couple of white and red clad people walking by them, a plain white mask with red marks on each of their faces. But because Black Fox wasn't wearing her mask, they walked right past them. "Were those…?"

"They were…" She said, heading quickly back to their room with Kirito. If White Fox's followers were wandering around through town, it meant they were confident that they could take out anyone who challenged them… most likely they were of higher level than many of the players on this level. As they got to their room, they each took a breath, as though they'd been holding it from the orchards. "They're out looking for someone… probably me." She mumbled as she took a glance outside. "We shouldn't stay in this level past tonight… it'll be dangerous."

"Right…" he watched her close the curtains and sit down on the bed, changing out her black corset and lacey dress for a black shirt and skirt in an instant. "You should rest." He said softly, sitting on the other side of the bed she was on. He found that she seemed to sleep better with him nearer to her, so he kind of got used to staying in the bed with her.

"Thanks…" she mumbled, turning to look at him with a smile before she closed her eyes. "… Kirito?"

"Hm?"

"… You can lay down If you want… You should rest too…" He laid down next to her and turned towards her, blushing. "You're much farther away than usual…" she mumbled, not opening her eyes. "Can you come over here? If it doesn't make you uncomfortable that is…" she opened her eyes half way, obviously tired. He got closer and he saw Black Fox smile a little. "Thanks…"

"Don't thank me…" he mumbled, cheeks even redder than before. "J-just sleep…" he said, taking her hand and holding it the way that Mabashi had when they were in the orchard. "Your friend… was a knight-class, right?"

"That's right." She nodded slowly. "Why?"

"… I'm a knight too… so… don't go relying on other knights…" he mumbled, sounding like a jealous child who wanted to be the only one she saw. Her eyes widened a little and she laughed a little.

"Alright, alright… I promise…" she said, petting his head gently. And on an impulse, she leaned over a little, giving him a soft kiss on the cheek, blushing a bit. "G-goodnight…"

"Goodnight…" he replied, still a little shocked with the kiss, watching her fall asleep quickly. It wasn't much, but… well… for now, it was more than enough for them both.

((St-still only one review... ; u ;'' *sigh*
Is everyone happy with the way I'm writing this? I was in more of a lovey-dovey mood when I wrote this chapter... sorry if it's not all that great...))