Sword Art Online - Kirigaya Love Affair

Chapter 1

It's been 2 months.

It's been 2 months ever since she got her brother back.

It's been 2 months ever since SAO had been completed.

It's been 2 months ever since the questions began.

Suguha Kirigaya lay in her bed, staring at the ceiling.

She kept thinking of her brother - no, her cousin - Kazuto.

Within the last year where he was trapped in SAO, she had learned the truth regarding their relationship - that he was adopted before she was even born.

According to their - no, her mother - he had found out years ago.

It was probably why he had avoided her for all these years.

There was a part of her that wanted to resent him for treating her like a stranger despite everything they've been through...

But she couldn't, especially not after seeing him when he first woke up.

He was so frail and he had greeted her so lovingly... Both before and after he had recognized her.

At first, he had recognized her as someone else, someone with the name of a girl - Sachi.

She wanted to pretend that that girl was just a friend he had made... but he was crying so deeply for her.

Who was she exactly?

The thought of someone else being close to Kazuto brought pain to her.

She didn't want to think about it right now!

Swinging her body up, she reached to her bedside table to get a drink of water, only to find her water bottle empty.

"Figures," she mumbled as she got up.

As she walked down the hall to get to the kitchen, she passed by Kazuto's room.

Strangely, he had left the door open.

She could've ignored it and kept walking...

But how could she pass up an opportunity to see his adorable sleeping face?!

Slowly, and stealthily she stepped into his room and approached his bed.

"...rry..." She could hear him whimper as he slept.

She got on to her knees to get a better look at him.

But he wasn't just sleeping, he was crying!

She didn't know what to do.

He whimpered something a little louder, making her worry that she was caught in the act of sneaking in!

If only it were that simple.

"Sorry... sorry..." he mumbled as he slept.

'Sorry?' Are you dreaming about her again?

Without knowing why she was doing it, she started caressing his cheek.

It was so soft, but so skinny...

Before she knew it, she was leaning over his bed again, her face a bit too close to his.

"Nothing is your fault," she whispered hollowly. After all, she didn't know if he did anything wrong in SAO.

As she stroked his cheek, a small smile formed on his lips, comforted by the gentle touch. "You won't die," he mumbled before he turned over. "I'll protect you..."

Stealthily, she walked over to the other side of the bed.

He had wiped off the tears as he turned and he was no longer crying.

Smiling to herself, she slowly stepped out of the room and retrieved her water bottle.

She got her water and went back to her room, feeling more fulfilled than she had in a long time.

And yet as she drifted off to sleep, she couldn't help but feel a bit empty.

To the person who left the reviews on FFN and anyone who is curious. First of all thank you for reading this story.

I'm glad to know that at least one person is reading this despite not particularly liking the Kirito x Suguha ship and is interested in what I'm doing about the continuity. HOW SAO was ended early will be answered, maybe not in the best, most coherent way, but it will be answered regardless. What happens to Asuna will be revealed but the specifics may not be explained in-story so it'll at least be in an AN, unless I can figure out a way to incorporate explanations of timeline divergences despite the MCs not knowing about the original timeline. I will say that aside from one thing, the timeline only diverges at December 25th, 2023, a few hours after the end of the "Red-Nosed Reindeer" chapter/episode. Events that happened before then and any characters who died before that date are still dead here.