Hey guys! Firestorm40 here. Okay, the chapter that so many of you have been eagerly awaiting is already here! I hope that the reactions recorded here are what you were hoping for, because personally, I find them pretty funny.

Oh, one last thing! I recommend watching Crossing Field by NateWantsToBattle on Youtube before you read each chapter, because I do, and it really helps set the mood.

Enjoy!

(Opening Theme)

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XXX

Floor 22

After hearing that Kirito and Asuna have found a little girl in the forest, Shoto rushed to their house to check it out. Once he got there, the duo told him what happened early that day and how they found the girl in the forest.

Right now the trio are watching the girl lying unconscious on the bed. She had long flowing black hair and a adorable face.

"So you saying that this girl isn't a player?" Shoto asked, as he crossed his arms and looked at the girl.

"Well, one thing's for sure. Since we were able to move her here, she can't be an NPC" Kirito said, looking at the girl.

"That's true....We didn't have any trouble moving her here." Asuna said "She would've giving off a warning when Kirito picked her up."

"And she isn't a quest giver, either. If she were, our quest log would have updated. Which means she's a player. At least, a player is the most scenario." Kirito said.

"But what was she doing out there?" Shoto asked, leaning on the edge of the bed.

"I don't know what's going on, but maybe she has a parent or guardian?" Kirito said, crossing his arms.

"Yeah, she must've logged in with her family, right? I hope they're safe." Asuna said, before looking at the two boys. "Hey, she'll wake up, right?"

"Yeah, if her body hasn't disappeared, than signals are being transmitted to and from her NerveGear. I think it's a state similar to sleep. So I'm sure she'll wake up eventually." Kirito said.

"Yeah." Asuna nodded, leaning on his shoulder.

"Well, when she does wake up, call me. I'll be on the couch." Shoto said, as he stood up and walked towards the door. "Night guys."

"Night." Kirito and Asuna told him before Shoto walked out the room and closed the door.

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XXX

Night Time

Kirito and Asuna were sleeping with each other in the same bed. Shoto was asleep downstairs, but the little girl still hasn't woke up yet. The only person was wide awake was Asuna.

"Hey, Kirito?" Asuna said, as she turned her head to see he was still asleep. Asuna got up and looked at Kirito. "Honestly." She sighed.

Looking over at the girl, Asuna got up from the bed and sat next to the little girl. She then reached down and touched the girl's cheek.

'If...if she entered SAO all alone...if she's been alone in this world this long...' Asuna thought, as she got into the little girl's bed.

"Goodnight. I hope you wake up tomorrow." Asuna said, closing her eyes as she went to sleep and touching her cheek with the girl's.

Little did Asuna know, a small smile appeared on the little girl's face.

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XXX

The Next Morning

When Asuna woke up to check up on the girl, she saw that the girl had opened her eyes. Seeing this, she hurriedly shook Kirito to wake him up.

"K-Kirito! Wake up!" Asuna said. "Shoto! Get in here!"

As Kirito got up slowly, the sound of movement could be heard downstairs before rapid footsteps approached the door. The door flung open to show a messy-haired Shoto, who looked like he literally just got out of bed.

"Morning..." Kirito said, rubbing his eyes before looking over at Asuna."Something wrong?"

"Yea, I was having a dream about being in a cheeseburger field." Shoto groaned, fixing his hair.

"Get over here!" Asuna said, ignoring Shoto's cheeseburger comment

Shoto and Kirito both walked towards Asuna. What both of them saw was surpising. They saw the little girl's eyes were opened.

"Whoa..." Kirito said in awe.

"So, Sleeping Beauty finally woke up." Shoto grinned.

"I'm glad you woke up. Do you remeber what happened to you out there?" Asuna said, helping the girl sit up.

The little girl shook her head.

"I see... What's your name? Can you tell me?" Asuna asked.

"N-Name... My name...Yui? Yui... That's my name." Yui said, looking at the trio.

Asuna smiled. "Yui, huh? That's a nice name. I'm Asuna. This is Kirito and Shoto." Asuna introducing them to Yui.

"Auna? Kito? Sodo?" Yui said, trying to pronounce their name but getting them wrong.

"Hey, Yui, what were you doing in the forest? Do you have a mom and dad somewhere?" Asuna asked.

"I don't know... I don't know anything." Yui said, shaking her head.

"That's awful." Asuna said, looking down sadly.

"Hello, Yui." Kirito said, sitting down on the bed.

"Hey there." Shoto said, kneeling down beside the bed.

"Can we both call you Yui? You can call me Kirito." Kirito said.

"And you can call me Shoto." Shoto said with a grin.

"Kito? Sodo?" Yui said, pronouncing their names wrong again.

"Kirito and Sonic. Ki-ri-to." Kirito said, saying it slowly for her.

"Sho-to" Shoto said, doing the same as Kirito

"Kito. Sodo." Yui said, failing to prounce their name right for a third time.

Kirito just patted her head slightly. "Maybe it's a little hard. Whatever is easier, you can call us." Kirito said.

"Yea." Shoto nodded. "What do you have in mind?"

Yui narrowed her eyes in thought, then looked at Kirito "Daddy." She said and looked at Shoto "Uncle."

"M-Me?" Kirito said surprised, while Shoto looked a bit shocked before he grinned.

"I like it!" Shoto said.

Then Yui turned to Asuna and said, "Auna is Mommy..."

Hearing that, Asuna also looked surprised before she smiled softly. "That's right. I'm your mommy, Yui!" she said.

"Awww!" Shoto said as he hugged the child. "You're just the sweetest little thing! Where did these two ever find such an adorable thing like you?"

Yui closed her eyes and smiled. "Mommy! Daddy! Uncle!" She cheered before returning the hug.

Asuna got up on the bed and looked at Yui "You must be hungry! Let's eat."

"Breakfast!" Shoto cheered, punching the air.

"Yeah!" Yui said, doing the same.

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XXX

Breakfast

Shoto and Kirito were eating sandwiches while Kirito was looking at a paper and Shoto was near the window. Yui was looking at them eat.

"Here you go. This is yours, Yui!" Asuna said putting the food on the table for the little girl. She sat down at the other side. Yui looked at the food before looking back over at Shoto and Kirito eating the sandwiches. They both saw Yui looking the sandwiches at there hands.

"Yui, this is super spicy." Kirito said, smiling at her.

"It could make a fire dragon cringe." Shoto laughed.

Yui thought for a second before saying "I want the same ones as daddy and Uncle."

"Alright. If you think you're ready, we won't stop you. Everything in life is an experience!" Kirito said, giving the sandwich to Yui. She looked at it and took bite off it. The three of them were watching her eat, before she than swallowed it.

"It's good..." Yui said, though her eyes were a bit teary.

"Wow, she's got an iron stomach." Shoto said, acknowleding the girl's bravery.

"Tonight, we'll do a full course of extra-spicy." Kirito said, patting Yui's head.

Yui nodded. "Mhm."

"Don't tease her, guys. I'm not cooking that!" Asuna said, with her hands on her hips.

"Hmph. Party pooper." Shoto mumbled.

"You heard her." Kirito said, smiling a bit.

"You heard her?" Yui said, smiling too

Shoto, Kirito and Yui then started laughing. Asuna smiled at them.

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XXX

After breakfast

Later, when Yui was asleep after she was done eating, the Shoto and the others finally began to discuss what to do with the enigmatic child. "So..." Asuna sighed. "What do you guys think?"

Kirito rubbed his head. "She's a blank slate. No memories at all..."

"It must really suck, to not know who you are," Shoto said with pity as he looked over at the little girl. "Something like that would definitely drive me crazy."

"It's almost like she's a baby again," Asuna said, obviously trying not to cry. "I just... I'm sorry, guys... I just don't know what to do." Shoto looked on approvingly as Kirito moved over to clasp his wife's hand.

"I know how you feel," the Black Swordsman said quietly. "It's weird, seeing how we just met her and all... But somehow, having her here has made our little cabin feel like a real home." He smiled briefly, but then his face fell. "But it's a catch twenty-two. We have to get back to the front lines so we can work to clear the game for people like her. Otherwise, it just mean that much longer for her to be free from this death trap."

"So that's why you need my help in finding her family," Shoto said. "Your vacation is due to end in three weeks, and if she stays here for much longer, you know it'll be impossible to go back to fighting on the front lines. And as two of our best, me included, the assault team would be hurting pretty bad without you guys."

"Yeah," Kirito said sadly. "We... Uh..." He paused to wipe his eyes for a second before sniffing and saying, "I'm thinking that we should start at the Town of Beginnings."

"Good idea," Shoto nodded. "But those Army batards run that part of Aincrad, so we'd best go in armed." He grinned and cracked his knuckles as he said, "You know, when you guys called me down here, I was worried that you might have me go take care of a job fighting bandits for you. Now, I actually want to fight somebody- I think vacation has been making me lazy."

"And the Yellow Fang's back," Kirito grinned slightly.

"Oh, but before we go down there," Shoto said as he opened his menu. "I had something made for each of you, as wedding presents." Before either one of them could protest, he handed Asuna a white bundle of clothes, and Kirito a small box.

Asuna unfolded her bundle to find an outfit similar to her KOB uniform, save for that instead of red and yellow being the secondary themes, the red lines were now black with the yellow colored as silver. "How did...?" she looked up at a grinning Shoto, dumbfounded.

"I managed to purchase one of the KOB uniforms from your rearguard commander the other day," he answered. "Then I took it to a tailor to get the colors changed a bit so that you could match your lone husband over there." The young couple blushed at his words, but Asuna thanked him for his gift nonetheless.

Kirito's gift was a thick ring that would raise his speed by twenty points. "Where'd you get this?" the Black swordsman asked suspiciously, remembering that Grimlock had at one point been in possession of a ring like this one.

"Relax, I got it off a monster drop," Shoto said with a wave of his hand. "I haven't seen Grimlock since the day he was thrown in prison. I decided to give you that so you can keep up with miss Lightning Flash in the field." Kirito relaxed visibly and thanked his friend for his gifts.

"Daddy...Mommy...Uncle." Yui mumbled still asleep, though with a smile.

The trio looked her with smiles on their faces.

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XXX

Floor 1: Town of Beginnings

Shoto, Kirito, Asuna and Yui teleported to Town of Beginnings, with Kirito carrying Yui on his back. As they started walking around, they slightly grimaced.

"I haven't been here in ages." Kirito said, looking at Asuna and Shoto.

"Me, neither." Asuna said, looking around.

"It's like revisting the past." Shoto nodded

They all looked up at the sky, remembering that fateful day clearly.

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Flashback

This marks the end of the tutorial, and the official start of Sword Art Online," Kayaba had said. "I wish you all the best of luck." Kirito and Shoto had grabbed Klein and made a run for it. Asuna had collapsed on the cobblestones, sobbing as the people around her erupted into panic.

End Of flashback

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"Still feels like yesterday, doesn't it?" Shoto asked.

"Yeah, that's when everything had changed. It was also the first time we met Klein before anyone else." Kirito said.

Shoto then narrowed his eyes. 'I know I heard that voice before...' he thought. 'I've heard Kayaba's voice in here in Aincrad... But when?! And where?!'

Before he could think on it too hard, Asuna turned to look at Yui, who was still on Kirito's back.

"Yui, do you remember any of these buildings?" Asuna asked.

Yui looked around the place for a second before shaking her head.

"I don't know." Yui said, burying her face in Kirito's back.

"Well, the Town of Beginnings is really big. Let's start at the central market." Kirito said.

"Right/ Sounds good!" Asuna and Shoto said, respectively.

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XXX

At The Central Market

The Central Market was all empty and all quiet, as if it was a ghost town.

"Wow, I don't remember this place being all empty and quiet when we last time came here." Shoto said, looking around the area.

"Hey, Kirito...How many players are here currently?" Asuna asked.

"Hmm, I wonder. About 6,000 players are still alive in SAO. Including the Army, around thirty percent are in the Town of Beginnings...Maybe a little fewer than two thousand?" Kirito replied.

"Then isn't the place a little empty?" Asuna asked.

"You're right." Kirito said.

Suddenly, they heard a woman screaming. "Leave those children alone!" she was shouting.

"Hey, it's that daycare bitch!" a man's voice echoed. "We've been waiting for you!"

Shoto shared a look with his teammates right before they all took off down the alleyway where the voice had come from.

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XXX

At The Location

"Return the children!" The woman said, as she stood in front of a squadron of Army troops who laughed among themselves. One of the men, who apparently was the leader stepped up.

"You make it sound like we're doing something bad. We're just teaching them how things work around here... This is an important part of the Army's mission." He said.

"That's right. Every citizens has a duty to pay taxes." Another soldier spoke up.

They all start laughing.

"Gin! Kain! Mina! Are you over there?" The woman said, before the Army blocked her view of the kids.

"Sasha! Save us!" One of the little kids said.

"Forget the money. Give it all to them!" Sasha said to them.

"We tried that. They said that's not good enough." another kid said.

"You guys owe a lot of back taxes. So you need to leave your equipment, along with your armor. Everything." One of the troops said.

Sasha reached for her sword. "Get...Get out of the way! Or..."

Suddenly, they all heard running and saw Shoto, Kirito and Asuna running at them. The trio leaped high over the Army men, landing clear behind their backs in front of the trio of small kids. Kirito and Asuna immediately attended to the children, who looked as though they didn't know whether to be relieved or frightened by the appearance of the three teenagers. Shoto stared down the Army, who definitely didn't know what to do.

"Sup, ass-wipes!" Shoto grinned.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" One of them protested. "What's goin' on here?!"

"Hang on, I got this," the leader said as he stepped forward. Drawing his sword, he raised it high over his head as he said, "You all must be new in town, so I'm gonna make this really clear for you: we're with the Aincrad Liberation Army, and you do not mess with us!"

Shoto looked back at his friends, and Kirito nodded. "I think we're gonna let you have this one, Sho," he said as he smiled. "We'll just stay here and watch over the kids. Make them feel it."

"Oh, I plan to." Shoto grinned savagely as he pulled his sword out of his inventory. "Just watch Yui and the others." He then walked towards the troops.

The commanding officer laughed as the slight muscular teenager in a red shirt and black jeans approached him with a knight-looking blade. He was about to bring the sword down on his head to teach him a lesson when he felt an explosive force smash into his face and slam on his back before he could even blink.

"You threaten children," Shoto said, his green eyes blazing like thunderstorm clouds. "You act like you're doing them a favor. I've seen your kind before. And you know what?" He stabbed at the commander as he tried to crawl away, the explosive force send him sprawling again. "I made sure that they'd never do it again. So why don't pick on someone who can fight back?"

"You..." the man growled as Shoto advanced on him again, and his men began to retreat. "You'll pay for this... The Army will- Argh!" Again, he went flying down the street. Even though he wasn't losing health points, the sense of being knocked down over and over again wasn't a pleasant one.

"Face down with a teenager beating your ass," Shoto retorted as he advance on them all again. "I'm Shoto, the Yellow Fang from the Assault Team- and you are all about to be introduced to a new world of fear and pain. Don't worry, I'll make it nice and slow."

"Oh, crap," Kirito said as he sighed.

"What's wrong, Kirito?" Asuna asked her husband.

"Nothing major- I just think Sho might take a little while longer to finish this up than if you or I had taken care of this." Kirito shook his head with a smile.

"What do you mean?" Asuna asked. In response, Kirito pointed at the Army, who were now in full retreat. Before Asuna could ask what she was supposed to look for, Shoto leapt high over the group and landed in front of them, cutting off their escape. "Oh," Asuna said.

Kirito just laughed as his best friend began knocking them all over like bowling pins, almost too fast for the eye to follow. "Another strike!" Shoto exclaimed.

"Well, Yui, looks like we might be here for a while," Asuna grinned at the girl. "But hey, your uncle is one tough cookie, isn't he? Uh... Yui?" The last part was drawn out of Yui as the little girl reached up to the sky.

"Everybody's hearts are..." she seemed to whisper. "Everybody's hearts..." Her eyes widened briefly before she shut them tight and she seemed to try and shrink into a little ball on Kirito's back, much to the duo's concern. Before they could ask what was happening, she squeaked out, "I was never here... in this place... I was always alone... in the dark..." She gasped as if she was in pain and then screamed to the heavens as she flailed on Kirito's back. The sound of her cry seemed to warp the very world in which they stood, riddling the air with the high-pitched whine of static.

The children standing near the teenagers cringed and covered their ears. The teacher that had been watching the whole thing in shock ran over tried her best to comfort her charges amidst the terrible noise. Asuna covered her own ears in an attempt to shut out the painful sound.

Shoto seemed to be the only one that wasn't pained by the sound, though it definitely caught his attention. Instead he simply cocked his head and looked up at the sky as the world around him seemed to vibrate and shudder ever so slightly. He ignored the Army men that he had just been pummeling a moment ago as they escaped and fixed his gaze on Yui, who began to fall off of Kirito's back.

"Asuna!" he called, snapping the girl out of her trance. She quickly caught the child up before she hit the ground, cradling her in her arms. The blonde dashed over, his gaze fixed with concern.

"What's happening to her!?" he asked as the girl looked up at Asuna, bleary-eyed. "Yui, are you okay?

"Mommy..." she cried softly. "I'm scared..." And she passed out.

"Yui..." Kirito said in shock. "My God..."

'What was that?' Shoto thought, as he looked at the little girl.

To be continued...

(Ending theme)

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Finally done. Sorry if this chapter felt pretty short guys. I'll make it up to you in the next one!

As always, please leave a review and/or message me