Interview With a Survivor

By Bashfulglowfly

Inoichi Yamanaka stood quietly in the doorway and observed the boy in the hospital bed for a moment.

The boy was very thin, like most of the survivors of Sword Art Online, despite the IVs and feeding tubes that had been inserted into all of them. His blond hair was long but clearly had been freshly washed and it looked like it had been trimmed a little bit. He was surprised that the boy hadn't requested the shorter hair that he had worn in his last school picture.

Naruto Uzumaki turned his gaze away from the window and looked towards him. Inoichi gave him a small smile. "Hello, Naruto-kun, my name is Inoichi Yamanaka."

Naruto's eyes narrowed. "Yamanaka? I…knew…an Ino Yamanaka."

"Ino is…was…my daughter."

"You're here to find out what happened to her?"

Inoichi walked further into the room. "May I sit down?" At Naruto's nod, he pulled a chair close to the bed and sat down. "Yes. I'd like to know what exactly happened. As her father. But I'm also here to interview you about what happened to you and everyone else while they were trapped inside 'Sword Art Online.'"

"You look like a shrink."

Inoichi smiled "I am. And for some reason, the Powers That Be think it will be helpful in interviewing you and the other survivors."

"Do your bosses know about Ino?"

"Yes."

"Huh." Naruto looked out the window briefly then turned his head back to face Inoichi. Blue eyes met blue eyes. "What do you want to know?"

Inoichi pulled out a recording device and turned it on. "Why don't you start at the beginning."

Naruto took a deep breath then spoke "We had all heard the hype. The revolutionary new game 'Sword Art Online.' So, a bunch of us stood in line for it. Most of us were from the same school. Shikamaru, Choji, Rock Lee, Kiba, Neji and his cousin Hinata, Shino, Sasuke, Sakura, and myself. Then there were Ino and Tenten. You already know that Ino was Sakura's friend from elementary school. Tenten was Neji's girlfriend. We all managed to purchase the game. My cousin Nagato and his friends including Sakura's cousin, Sasori, and Itachi Uchiha, Sasuke's older brother, also got the game.

"So, on the day it went Live, my group met up and we formed a party and began working our way through the game. Learning how to use it, leveling up, making money, getting items. The usual. Then we noticed it was getting late. Neji was the first to say that he had to leave but the logout button was missing. We thought he just didn't see it. So, we all checked.

"It wasn't there.

"We were all starting to freak out when we were suddenly transported to the Town of Beginnings, and we were told that this fun game we had started playing was now a Game of Death." Naruto paused for a moment. "I think that's when all of us started going a little insane. Some more than others but…yeah."

Naruto took a deep breath and continued. "Pein, sorry, that's his game name, Nagato found us. One of their friends, Yahiko, had been one of those whose family pulled the NerveGear off and killed him. When the guy in the sky, said that people had died because of that, Nagato's group realized that was what happened to their friend, and they were pretty upset about it. Nagato suggested that his group and ours stick together. Most of us were leaning that way until Itachi told Sasuke that he wanted to keep him safe. That it was his duty as Sasuke's older brother Sasuke has…had…a HUGE stick up his ass about Itachi a lot of the time. He was always being told that Itachi was better at this, that and the other. He was better looking, had better grades. Sasuke just couldn't take the fact that Itachi was going to make sure that he was 'safe.' Sasuke freaked out on Itachi. He just went off. Said that we'd survive on our own. Sakura and Ino sided with him. I wanted to go with Nagato, but I also didn't want to abandon my friends. I remember Sasori arguing with Sakura and she told him that Sasuke would win the game.

"So, we stayed together. Just not with Nagato."

"Did you lose contact with your cousin?"

"No. He made sure that we were friends. And that his friends were my friends. And he would contact me pretty often to see if we were okay."

"Did Sasuke know you were talking?"

Naruto snorted. "I'm not the smartest person around but I wasn't dumb enough to let Sasuke know that I was talking to Nagato or Itachi."

Inoichi nodded. "So, what happened next?"

"We did our best to survive. We went floor by floor. We saw people die. We saw people commit suicide. We saw people go insane. But we just kept…surviving. Sasuke pushed us. He wanted to be better than Itachi. But Akatsuki, Nagato's Guild, became one of the top Guilds. Akatsuki was right behind the Knights of the Blood Oath in terms of powerful members. They were certainly on the front lines on a daily basis.

"It just pissed Sasuke off hearing people complement Akatsuki and when Itachi was determined to be 'The Sexiest Male Player'…yeah, those weren't a great few days."

"When did you realize that there was something really wrong with Sasuke?"

"I don't know. I think I may have known there was something wrong from the beginning but when it became obvious…that was around Floor 19. He told us that he didn't want anyone to talk to anyone other than our party unless he approved it. Shikamaru objected but Sasuke's reaction was so over the top, Shika backed down. We lost Rock Lee on Floor 21. Hinata wanted to stop for a day, but Sasuke insisted that we keep going. That we didn't have the time to mourn.

"Neji was killed on Floor 26. Tenten jumped off the floor the next day. Hinata didn't actively suicide, but she put herself into…situations. She died on Floor 32. Shino, Choji and Kiba died on Floor 34.

"But we didn't stop. Sasuke wanted to win the game, but he was so angry that we had lost half of our party. Shikamaru told him to go fuck himself and was walking away when…" Naruto stopped, picked up a cup and took a long drink of water. "Sasuke killed him."

"What happened next?" asked Inoichi quietly.

"I knew, then, that Sasuke was bat-shit crazy. No doubt. Ino was screaming. I remember slapping her and telling her to run. She was going to. She was going to run but Sakura…Sakura stood in front of her and told her that she had to stay and help Sasuke win. Ino told her where she could shove it. Sakura attacked her. Ino tried to defend herself, but Sakura was just so strong…" Tears rolled down Naruto's face. "I'm so sorry."

"Sakura killed Ino?"

"Yes. I…I couldn't, I.." The boy was sobbing.

Inoichi stood up and wrapped his arms around the traumatized boy. "It's all right. I understand. Shhhh…" He held the boy close and gently rocked him like a small child until the tears slowed.

Naruto took a shuddering breath, grabbed a handful of tissues, wiped his eyes, and blew his nose. "Do you want me to keep going?"

"Yes."

Naruto took another breath and continued talking. "I managed to send a message to my Friends List. All it said was 'help.' That was all I had time for because Sasuke attacked me. I knew he was trying to kill me. So, I knew that I had to kill him. And I almost had him, but Sakura jumped in between us. I stopped because my fight wasn't with her. Even if she had just killed Ino. But Sasuke didn't stop. He just cut through her and kicked her away. I managed to block him, but I tripped."

"What happened then?"

"By the Grace of the Gods, Nagato, Itachi and Sasori arrived. Sasori used healing crystal after healing crystal on Sakura while Nagato and Itachi fought Sasuke. Then Sasuke ran. Itachi went after him, but Sasuke used a transport crystal and disappeared. After that, we managed to Heal Sakura, but she was…gone. She was just broken." Naruto looked at Inoichi. "Do you know where Sakura is now?"

"She has been taken to a special facility with some of the other survivors like her. It is hoped that in time, she and the others will be able to rejoin Society."

Naruto looked into Inoichi's eyes once again and saw the Truth in them. He continued on with his story. "I don't remember much for a few hours. But Nagato and the others took us to the Akatsuki Guild House. Sasori somehow managed to lock Sakura down so she couldn't hurt herself. And I became a member of Akatsuki."

"What happened to Sasuke?"

"It was a few months before we even heard anything about him despite Itachi giving what money he could to information brokers. He had become a PKer."

"Player Killer."

"Yeah. He had found some others who liked doing the same thing."

"Do you think that they understood that they were actually killing people, or did they think that they were just killing people in the game and that they were still alive in the Real World."

Naruto shrugged. "I don't know. But the leaders of the various Guilds got tired of the PKers. There was a meeting, and it was decided that Something Had To Be Done. Nagato said that Akatsuki would go after the group Sasuke formed, Hebi. The rest would go after Laughing Coffin."

"Was it discussed if the Guilds were to capture or kill the PKers?"

"Yeah. Capture if you could. If you couldn't…" Naruto shrugged. His blue eyes were hard. "Well, they got what they deserved."

"So, what happened?"

"We set a trap. I was the bait. And Hebi went for it. The three people that had joined Sasuke were captured. But Sasuke…didn't surrender." Naruto sighed. "Itachi killed him."

"I see."

Naruto snorted. "I doubt it." He looked at Inoichi. "Are we going to go to jail?"

"For murder?"

"Yeah."

Inoichi hesitated. "You've only been out of the game for a couple of days. We're still conducting interviews with everyone."

Naruto bit his lip. "I'm sorry I couldn't save Ino."

Inoichi reached out and gently clasped his hand. Naruto could read the grief in the eyes of the Father before him. But the Psychiatrist reappeared. "I want you to promise me that you'll get past this and live your life. Promise."

Naruto gave him a small smile. "I promise."

Inoichi turned off the recorder, stood up and patted Naruto on the shoulder. "I'll leave you to rest now."

Naruto watched as Inoichi walked out of the room.

Almost immediately after the door slid shut, it opened again. A thin shadow came through. Dragging an IV pole with him.

"Itachi!"

The Uchiha smiled and walked slowly to Naruto's bedside. Itachi looked down at him for a moment, then leaned down and pulled Naruto into a deep kiss. "Naruto…" came the soft whisper.

"'Tachi…" came the equally soft answer. Naruto slid over and Itachi joined him on the bed. Naruto rested his head on his beloved's shoulder. "That was Ino's father."

"I know. He talked to me earlier."

"I told him the truth. And he told me that Sakura is in a 'special facility.'"

"That's what he told me as well."

"Have you talked with your parents? I'm not sure if I can tell my parents everything."

"I have. And they know. And…they understand. They're grieving but they understand. Your parents will understand too."

"What are we going to do next?"

"We're going to live."