Sword Art Online - Kirigaya Love Affair

Prologue

If you feel uncomfortable with the Kirito x Suguha ship in any way, now's your chance to turn away.

Inspired by: Nights With Onii-Chan by furrballnerd on FFN.

"Kazuto! Kazuto!"

The young girl stopped in front of the door to her beloved brother's room.

It had only been less than 2 hours ago...

***

Her family was sitting at the dinner table.

It was just Suguha, her mother and her father who had just come home for the holiday.

It would've been a normal Christmas...

But he was still gone.

Her parents tried to act like everything was normal and that they never had a son... but she couldn't even pretend the same.

She was moody and depressed as her parents tried to speak cheerfully and she could only put on a fake smile to assure them.

Then all of a sudden her mother's phone rang.

She grumbled that her work should leave her alone for at least this one day but as soon as she looked at her phone, she started to cry.

Suguha immediately knew that only one thing could produce such a reaction: the hospital.

Her mother excused herself as she ran into another room but her father followed as well.

Suguha feared the worst, as there was only one reason they would call her residence; something had happened to Kazuto.

She could only assume the worst as tears began to leak from her eyes...

But her mother ran into the room with her father hugging her and told her to get in the car.

"Why?" she could barely choke out before her mother smiled and interrupted her with a tearful reply.

"Kazuto woke up."

***

I'm ready! she assured herself.

She gently pushed the door open.

What she saw was a beautiful but heartbreaking sight.

She had visited him so many times, but for the first time in over a year, he was finally awake.

And yet still he laid there.

He was clutching the NerveGear which had been the door to his prison for so long.

Tears glittered down his face.

And in the silence that followed the sound of the opening door, the sound of someone humming a familiar song could be heard in the room.

It was a Christmas carol.

How appropriate.

She was about to call to him once he got to the end of the song but he stopped her by saying something.

"...Sachi..." he whispered in a voice that was almost drowned out by the running AC. "...I'm so sorry..."

Sachi? Suguha felt her heart shatter. That's a girl's name...

"...Brother..." she whispered, crying. Before she realized it, she was at his bed side with her legs against the bed. "...Kazuto..." she said a little louder.

At the sound of her voice, he slowly turned his head to her.

The moment his eyes saw her, they widened in sad recognition.

Suddenly, he shot up and wrapped his weak arms around her, his head coming to rest on her shoulder.

The moment he did this, all her worries were forgotten.

This was what she wanted ever since she learned the truth about their relationship.

But what he said next absolutely broke her heart. "Sachi..." he whispered, making her freeze. "I'm sorry... I won't let you die... I'll protect you... Nothing is your fault..."

Every word he was saying filled her with more distress.

He wasn't even speaking to her.

It was so obvious...

He loves someone else...

In spite of her broken heart, she unconsciously brought her arms up and gently hugged him back.

"Brother..." she whispered sadly into his ear.

For a moment, he continued to hug her, but his grip shifted. Slowly, he leaned back to look at her face.

He brought his hand to her face and cupped her cheek. Then rubbed his thumb under her right eye as he stared at her even longer.

"...Sugu...?" he whispered.

She couldn't respond, too emotional to say anything as she cried. Instead, she gave a simple nod against his palm.

"...Sugu... Sugu... Sugu..." he whimpered. "I missed you so much..."

As she hugged the crying boy, she felt weakness from him that she knew well.

He was so different, so vulnerable.

That death game must have been so harsh on him.

They stayed in their embrace as her parents ran into the room, finally catching up to her.

She didn't want to let him go, but she had to in order to let her parents have a chance to see their adopted son again.

As she stepped away, she took one last look at him.

He was weak. His body and mind had been damaged. His eyes seemed unable to focus and his mind seemed to be on something else.

In that moment, she made a promise that only she would hear;

I'll help you feel better, my dear brother Kazuto. No matter what it takes, I'll make sure you'll be happy once again.

One day I had an idea that I couldn't stop thinking about. Unfortunately, I had to scrap the idea from my main Midnight Shadow story, but since I didn't want to throw away the idea entirely, I reworked it into a different shipping story and this ship has always been a guilty pleasure of mine. Of course, I could also use it for other Kirito ships like Yuuki, Sinon, Alice or Eugeo or any other Post-SAO ship. By ending the game on December 25th, 2023, I can just say that Kirito and Asuna never got together while keeping Kirito's angst (very important) by emphasizing his guilt regarding what happened to Sachi which is already canon. Plus, I can keep out Liz and Silica from the running but I may not be able to include Yui which is unfortunate.

What was this idea? You'll just have to wait and find out!