SAO: The Legend Of The Black Swordsman

Chapter 5

"What?", Kirito asked, scrunching his eyebrows and Asuna took a deep breath.

"I said that I want to stay with you. I can see that we make a good team. Please....", she requested him, gently squeezing his bicep and Kirito sighed in response. "You are right, Asuna. We do make a good team, but I cannot take you with me. I'm really sorry"

"Am I annoying you?", Asuna asked him solemnly and braced for a frank response. To her surprise however, he simply shook his head with a chuckle.

"Come with me, Asuna. There's too much crowd here", he said, sneering at the others and grabbed her wrist. Together, they went up the stairs to the second floor of Aincrad and after a couple of minutes, Kirito noticed a bench near a small fountain. "There's a seat"

"Now, tell me, please. What is the problem?", Asuna asked with pleading eyes.

"I don't have any problem with you, Asuna. It's just that....there is a reason behind why I hide my face", he said, staring at her face. "Well, I'm listening, and it seems like we have some time in our hands"

"Look, in the beta version, I made lots of enemies, all right? So even during those days, I used to fight them a lot, and they used to attack me at least twice in a session of diving. I can still see a lot of familiar names and the last thing I want is a beta tester to look at my real face and haunt me in the real world as well" he said with a small smile which Asuna noticed by his cheek raising slightly.

"Well, I...I can defend myself. Plus, what are you going to do? Roam around on your own? Fend off your attackers alone?", Asuna asked incredulously and Kirito nodded his head with determination. She couldn't spot a single sign of doubt or insecurity.

"There is another reason, Asuna. I...I cannot say that. Please don't ask me why", he said, examining his new sword.

"So, we are done, aren't we? I understand, Kirito-kun. I...I got to learn a lot from you, even though we might have just spent a couple of hours together. But thank you, thank you very much. I wish you good luck", she said and got up to leave. "Wait!"

"I meant to say that I don't want to bring you any more danger, Asuna. You are not creating any problems for me and don't worry, you are not annoying me at all", he said with a chuckle, and Asuna responded with a smile. A second later, she opened her drop down menu and sent a friend request to Kirito.

"If you want to talk or party again, then we can....", she started shyly and Kirito nodded his head. "Of course. I will keep in touch, Asuna. That's a promise"

"In the meantime, join a strong guild. They could use someone strong like you on the frontlines", he said, walking away from her.

"I'll try to do that", she replied softly to his retreating form, as her hand involuntarily went close to her heart. "Please be safe, Kirito-kun"

3 Months Later

The clearing group had taken up their work in full swing and their first eighteen floor bosses of Aincrad had been cleared. Everyone was in a completely joyful mood, except for a select few. Kirito was one of them.

Being an ardent beta tester who breathed the air of Aincrad to exist, he knew that the difficulty of the bosses grew exponentially and he was too afraid to being everyone's morale down. After all, they did deserve some amount of happiness and satisfaction for their efforts, didn't they?

As he had expected, Asuna had joined a new guild - Knights of the Blood Oath. She was working her way up the ranks as quickly as possible and was a relentless fighter, dealing the killing blows for the third and fifth floor's boss with that amazing rapier of hers - The Lambent Light.