Mirage Blade

Chapter One: Unique Skills

Okay, it's about time I wrote a story for this account! I hope it doesn't disappoint you, as I'm not exactly a pro writer.

That said, I hope you can forgive any mistakes, as this hasn't been checked over thoroughly. More importantly, however, I guess I should explain a bit of the background for this story before I actually let you read it.

There are three main differences from canon that shape this story into what it is. I'll list them below.

First, Kirito saved Sachi from the trap room. Everyone else still died, and Keita still committed suicide, but she survived.

Second, Kirito turned down the party invite from Asuna in episode eight of the anime. This, of course, meant that he never had to solo the Gleam Eyes, which would have been an impossible feat considering the third difference from canon, which I'll explain right below this.

The third – and most important – difference from canon is the fact that Kirito didn't get Dual-Wielding. This is because of the presence of another character, one who made an appearance in volume seven of the light novels, but wasn't in the original SAO. She was said by Kirito to have had a slightly faster reaction time than he did, and thus, would have gotten the Dual-Wielding skill if she had been in the original SAO.

Therefore and thusly, Kirito and the clearing party have passed the ninetieth floor without incident, and are now on the ninety-second floor. In this chapter, there will be a few flashbacks, so please bear with me as we catch up to the present. One last thing, though, is that because Kirito doesn't have Dual-Wielding skill, as such, has not battled Heathcliff, he didn't figure out that Heathcliff is Kayaba Akihiko. Because of this, Heathcliff is still in the clearing party at the moment.

Well, I think that's all you need to know.

Have a good read!

Unique.

Such a pretty little word. It's used to describe things unlike all else, things that are set apart from the norm. Something "unique" has no equal, nothing that can compare.

So then, in a world where there are supposedly an infinite amount of techniques revolving around weapons, why would there be so many that have the moniker? Why are there so many skills that have the honor of being Unique?

After the ninetieth floor, even more players with these skills started popping up. There are now five known users of these skills that are supposed to be so rare. To their credit, though, all of these players use different skills. It's not like any of the five have the same technique that sets them apart from the rest.

Heathcliff, with his «Divine Blade». He is considered to be the strongest player, and he is also the leader of the clearers.

Yami, with his «Darkness Blade». He happens to be a close friend of mine, though we haven't spoken since he got his skill on the ninetieth floor. He's kind of cynical and standoffish, but once you get to know him, he's actually a nice guy.

Klein, with his «Battoujutsu». He happened to be the first player I made friends with in this game. Needless to say, he has to be a good person to be able to put up with me.

Sachi, with her «Infinite Spear». I saved her from death by the skin of my teeth. Her former guild, the «Moonlit Black Cats»… well, they weren't so lucky. But because of their deaths, combined with my guidance, she was able to harden her heart, move on, and even attain one of the most powerful skills in the game.

Kuro, with her «Shurikenjutsu». I met her once; she seems to be a nice girl. Even so, you can never tell what someone's really like until you get close to them, and well… I don't plan to get truly close to anyone. Not anymore.

Though I said there are five known users, I know of a few others who hide their exceedingly rare skills, lest they be swarmed by jealous players. I won't give out their names. They've sworn me to secrecy. If any one of them found out, they'd kill me for sure.

But it doesn't really matter, does it? I'll be the one to beat this game, whether I get one of those overrated things or not.

You can count on it.

"Kirito!"

I bolted upright in bed, my head colliding with that of the very person who poked me and called my name. I put my hands to my head in an attempt to ward off the pain, to no avail.

I turned my body around so that I could see the person who called me, finding a young girl with violet hair and magenta eyes, sitting on her behind and rubbing her head. I sighed, narrowing my eyes at her.

"The hell was that for, Yuuki?" I asked her, an annoyed glint in my eyes.

"You think I was trying to get hit in the head?" she retorted, glowering at me.

I sighed, looking into her eyes for a second before looking away. "What do you want, Yuuki?"

"Let's go map out that new dungeon that was discovered!" the enthusiastic, violet-haired girl said jubilantly. She made it sound like she genuinely wanted to be with me, but I knew better.

No one wanted to be with me. Kirito, the «Beater» that can defeat «Unique Skill» users. I had defeated Sachi, Klein and Kuro, all while they were giving it everything they had. I was so powerful that no one dared to go near me.

Except for Yuuki.

We met halfway through the exploration of the ninetieth floor. I was wearing a cloak, as I always did when I went anywhere. As I was exploring a particular cave, I heard the sound of swords clashing. I followed the source of the sound, and when I found it, I stopped dead in my tracks.

There in front of me was a beautiful girl with long, violet hair, determined magenta eyes, a nice figure, and… two swords.

I watched in shocked silence as she took care of at least five surrounding mobs with ease. It was as if she were an elegant dancer, twirling about gracefully to entrance her enemies with her beauty before annihilating them with her two black one-handed longswords.

I instantly knew that she had yet another «Unique Skill». At the time, she was the third person whom I had seen use such a technique, with the first two being Heathcliff and Yami. However, I had never heard of a person wielding two swords at the time, so I thought she must have just got it.

Once she finished, she sheathed her swords and turned to leave, coming face to face with me. Almost immediately, I found myself tackled to the ground, the girl pinning me down and demanding that I tell her how much I saw. It took a while for me to compose myself enough to speak, what with her glare looking incredibly intimidating.

I told her that I saw her trashing several mobs with two swords, and her reaction… shocked me.

She looked desperate, pleading with me not to tell anyone about it. She said she didn't like attention, that she had kept it a secret since the fiftieth floor, that she couldn't handle it if she was found out now. She was actually in tears. I couldn't believe it.

So I reassured her that I wouldn't tell anyone. She was so grateful, and she kept reminding me of that over and over for the entire day, not leaving my side for a second. It was pretty easy to figure out why.

She didn't trust me.

Having her follow me around got very tiring after a couple of hours, so I decided to part ways with her. She was surprisingly compliant, given the way she emphasized not wanting me to tell anyone when we met. All she did was ask to friend me. I didn't think much of it, so I complied, and we parted ways soon after. What a mistake.

The next morning, a few minutes after I woke up at my house in «Algade», I heard someone knocking on my door. At first, I just ignored it, figuring that the only people who actually knocked on my door would give up and message me. After all, only people on my friends list knew where my house was.

The knocking continued, growing more and more frequent. This began to annoy me, so I opened my menu to look for messages. Maybe the person knocking at my door had already messaged me, I remember thinking. Then again, most of my friends knew me and the game well enough to know that if I didn't respond to a message, and when they knocked on my door, I didn't answer, I was asleep. When someone is asleep in SAO, they can't be woken up by someone else without direct physical contact, so merely knocking on my door while I was asleep would have no effect.

When I got to my PM Inbox, I was surprised to find at least ten messages from a certain someone whom I had just met. It didn't take long for me to put two and two together, and within thirty seconds, I had equipped some decent clothing and arrived at my front door. When I opened it up, my suspicions – and fears – were confirmed.

There stood Yuuki, an annoyed glare on her face.

It quickly changed to a bright smile, however, when she saw me through the open door. I stared at her through half-lidded eyes, still more asleep than awake. Even in my semi-comatose state, it didn't take long for me to register her beauty.

"Can I help you?" I remember asking in a slightly irritated tone.

As it turned out, she wanted to go map out the boss dungeon with me. Or at least, that's what she said. But I knew… she was lying. It was so obvious. She just wanted to be around me twenty-four seven to keep me from telling anyone about her secret.

Even with this knowledge, I decided to play along. So, we went on adventure after adventure, going out every day to grind and map out dungeons. All the while, she didn't leave my side for a minute. Even now, on the ninety-second floor, she sticks to me like glue.

"Are you serious?" I asked her. "Don't you have anything better to do than stick to me all the time?"

"You're the only friend I have in this game," she said, trying to garner sympathy. I had none.

She's totally lying. She has been this whole time. The entire time, she's just been pretending to like me. I'll admit, she could've fooled me if it weren't for the way we met.

In the end, she forced me to go with her and map out the new dungeon. I guess it wasn't too bad, considering that she was a really strong player. Probably stronger than I was at the time. Even so, after almost always playing solo for ninety floors, I still felt uncomfortable partying with another player.

And so, after a full day of dungeon-mapping, I decided to end it.

As we lay on the grass of the «Radiant Plains», just enjoying the gentle breeze as it caressed our skin, I tried to think of a way to tell her I didn't want her around without hurting her.

It's not like I can just say, "I don't like you, please get out of my life…" Gah! This is so frustrating! Wait a second… that's it! She probably doesn't want me around either, so all I have to say is—

"Hey, Kirito?" Yuuki said softly, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Yeah?" I responded.

"Do you… have anyone you like?" she queried, turning to look at me with an apprehensive expression.

What's she getting at?

"Well, yeah," I replied, looking up at the sky with a smile. "I have a couple of friends, though I'm only close with a few of them."

You not included…

"No, I mean… romantically."

I literally choked on my own spit at her words. I started coughing violently, not stopping for a whole minute, after which I gasped for air for another thirty seconds. Eventually, I remembered that I had to answer her.

"I… I used to have someone. She's still alive, I think. I haven't seen her since the last boss raid, but I'm assuming that she's still fine. After all, she does have a «Unique Skill» now."

Why am I telling her so much?

"Used to?"

"Yeah," I replied, looking over to her with a sad expression. "Her name is Sachi. She has the «Infinite Spear» skill. She still doesn't know how to use it that well, but I guess that's a given. She only got it one floor ago, after all.

"To be honest, I'm pretty sure she loved me back. But… something kept me from pursuing a relationship with her. I guess… I didn't want to take advantage of her. When I still loved her, she was fragile. We were in a guild together, but everyone else died in a trap room. I could only save her, but in the end, I really didn't even do that. She was traumatized. So I guess I didn't want to take advantage of her when she was so weak."

Yuuki gaped at me, eyes nearly bulging out of their virtual sockets. "But Sachi is so strong now!"

I began reminiscing about my time with the «Moonlit Black Cats», a sorrowful expression marring my features. "She used to be afraid of dying to an unhealthy extent. When I found out, I tried my best to comfort her. It really worked, too. That is, before the rest of our guild mates died. After that, her fear of dying came back tenfold. Eventually, she was able to move on, but… after that, I left her. I didn't want to endanger her by keeping her around, since she was still low-leveled at the time.

"She quickly rose up to the top tier, becoming one of the most powerful solo players by the time the fifty-first floor was cleared. She joined the front lines soon after. By that time, we were both different people. I'm pretty sure she still hates me for leaving her, so I've kept my distance this whole time. Even so, for a long time… it hurt. But I'm over it now."

Once Yuuki realized that I wasn't going to continue, she said, "But… you don't have anyone now?"

I sighed deeply, looking at the sky. "Nope. Not a one."

When I turned to face her, Yuuki looked into my eyes with one of the most serious expressions I had ever seen on her. This, of course, reminded me of my reason for wanting to talk with her. Just as I saw her open her mouth to speak, I did the same. She noticed this, and closed her mouth to hear what I had to say.

"You don't have to keep pretending to like me, you know. Don't worry, you can trust me with your secret. So you don't need to be hanging around me all the time."

Upon hearing those words, Yuuki's eyes widened. A few moments later, I saw something I hadn't seen in them since we first met.

Tears.

She was crying.

"Is that… really what you think?" Yuuki asked me, her voice shaking ever so slightly as more tears came to her eyes. "That I hate you?"

Taken aback by the tone of her voice, I could do nothing but watch as she prepared to spill her heart out. She looked as if she would break down at any moment. All the pieces, all of the gestures of kindness that I thought were sickeningly false, everything… everything was clicking into place. It was then that I realized…

She… she didn't hate me… she loved me!

"Yuuki…" I whispered, sitting up and looking at her with wide, regretful eyes.

She didn't see my expression, for her face was hidden by her long, violet hair. I could still see tears running down her face, and all I could do was watch helplessly as she cried.

"Well, you're wrong!" the violet-haired girl shouted, looking up to meet my eyes. I could see desperation, sorrow, anger, but most of all… I saw betrayal in her eyes. "I… I could never hate you! I love you! You're the first person to make me feel this way! But if you hate me…"

Yuuki got up, looking into my eyes one last time before looking away, tears streaming down her face. "Then I'll leave! You'll never have to deal with me again!"

With that, she ran off. I wanted to go after her. Hell, I knew I had to go after her…

So why did I just watch her leave?

Wow, that was heavy, wasn't it? A little short, but that can definitely be worked on.

So, what do you guys and gals think? Be sure to leave a review giving me your thoughts.

Well, I guess I only need to say one more thing…

I don't own the Sword Art Online light novel series.

See you in the next chapter!