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I do not own Sword Art Online, Highschool of the DEAD or their characters.

Chapter 18

Tokonosu, Japan: Takagi Mansion. Two months 10 days since the end of Sword Art Online

Saya and the others stood just outside the entrance of the Takagi Mansion as they watched a car deliver a pair of dark-haired teens, one boy, one girl. The pair slowly climbed the entrance steps and stopped before the older group. The boy bowed politely and said, "Please excuse our intrusion."

Saya smiled as she stepped forward, "Welcome Kazuto-san; Suguha-san. Please make yourselves at home."

After everyone greeted each other, the group retired to the former medical ward that had been remodeled and turned back into a sitting and entertainment room.

"So what do you know?" Takashi asked after they sat down and had been served drinks.

Kazuto shrugged, "Not much. Once I found the hospital she is in, I've visited as much as I could. I met her father there and he seems like a nice guy. Told me to come as much as I wanted to, but…something just doesn't seem right."

"Nothing about this seems right," Saya said as she crossed her arms and frowned. "This whole issue with the '300' stinks of a cover-up."

"I agree," Yuriko said as she and the other adults entered the room. "But what the cover-up is we have yet to learn."

Kazuto and Suguha got up and bowed to the elders as Souichiro waved for them to sit down. "Please sit, young ones, we understand the survivors' have not gained their full strength back as of yet."

"I want to thank you and Lady Takagi for everything you have done for the survivors, Don Takagi," Kazuto said as he did as he was told.

"It was the only thing we could do, and I wish we could have done more," Yuriko said.

"Also, thank you, Busujima-sensei for taking Suguha into your dojo," the boy said looking to Kage.

"Not a problem," the older man said. "She is an excellent student and I look forward to seeing her and Saeko spar in the future. In fact I will want to see you in our dojo before too long as well Kazuto-kun. We cannot have the famous Black Swordsman laying down his weapon now, can we?"

Kazuto blushed and rubbed the back of his head, "Well I have to say Suguha and I practiced some and it was a surprising experience."

"Saya-chan! Saya-chan where are you!?" a child's voice called from the hallway.

"I think our last guest has arrived," Yuriko said with a smile as the pink-haired Alice ran into the room followed by her mother.

The girl stopped and pointed, "Kirito-san! You're here too!?"

Everyone laughed as the boy held out his arms to hug the surprised nine-year-old.

"How are you doing, Alice-chan?" the boy asked as she let go of him.

"I get tired easy, but I'm fine," she replied as she looked at the girl beside him.

"This is my sister, Suguha," the boy told her. "Suguha, this is Alice. She was a beast tamer like Silica was. Her pet was a wolf."

"It is a pleasure to meet you," Alice said as she bowed to the teen girl.

"Oh! So cute and polite!" Suguha said.

Alice grinned and ran over to hug Kohta's neck before settling on the couch beside Saya, who glanced at her boyfriend and nodded.

"Saya-chan? Where is Kohta going?" the child asked as the boy got up and left the room.

"Well he's going to get a friend we want you to meet," the pink-haired teen replied.

Before the child could say anything else Kohta was back with a little white puppy with black ears.

Alice gasped and knelt down on the floor as the dog ran over to her. "Who is this?" she asked.

"Well that will be up to you to decide," Kohta said. "We know you have been missing Zeke so we thought maybe you would like a new friend."

"Hey Alice-chan? You remember Pina don't you?" Kazuto asked.

"Uh huh," the child said as she rubbed the happy puppy's belly.

"Well in the real world Silica named her cat Pina, so if you want to you could name your new puppy Zeke. I'm sure the old Zeke would not mind."

The child though about this for a minute and then nodded, "Yep! Zeke it is!"

They all laughed as the new Zeke stood on his hind legs and barked.

"So what now?" Hisashi asked.

"Now I work to find a way to get Asuna and the others out of whatever world they are trapped in," Kazuto said. "Then it's back to school and pick up our lives."

"I hope it turns out to be that easy," Suguha said. "It's been a long two years without you here, onii-chan."

"It will be alright," Saya said as she took Kohta's hand. "We will have to take some time to adjust to the new school, but it will be alright in the end, though I have one more person to track down."

Kazuto smirked, knowing who she was speaking of.

000

Tokonosu, Japan: Takagi Mansion. Two months 16 days since the end of Sword Art Online Jan 23

"That is nuts! I cannot believe this happened again!" Saya ranted as she stormed about the sitting room.

"So how badly wounded is Kazuto-kun?" Saeko asked, having just learned of the boy's fight with Asuna's mad suitor in the parking lot of the hospital she was confined in.

"Not badly," Yuriko replied. "But he will bear a scar in the future, but I think it says a lot about him and his control, that he did not kill the man right then and there."

"I know I might have if it was regarding Saeko-chan," Takashi said as Kohta and the others nodded. "Main thing is Asuna-san and the others are awake now."

"Maybe this will finally end!" Saya said as she flopped down beside her boyfriend.

"I don't know," Kohta said. "I have a feeling now that the box has been opened we will be dealing with issues like this for a long time to come."

"I just want to get back to school!" Saya moaned as she leaned into Kohta's shoulder.

They others laughed as he patted her on the head and consoled her.

000

SAO Survivors School: Four months 6 days since the end of Sword Art Online

"Come on, you two; leave them alone," Saya said as she and Kohta watched Ayano Keiko (Silica) and Shinozaki Rika (Lisbeth), look out the cafeteria window as the Black Swordsman and The Flash sat in the garden and ate their lunch together.

"We should have never said we would give them a month before we go on the attack," Rika said as she sat down with the couple and slouched across the table.

"Yeah Asuna's gonna get a big jump on us!" Keiko said.

"Bemoaning your decision, Rika-chan?" Saeko asked as she and Takashi walked up with their meal trays.

"You're lucky, Senpai," Rika said. "You were able to catch your man while in the game. We didn't even get a chance to start!"

"Hmm, yes I was lucky," Saeko said as she looked at her boyfriend. "Oh, by the way, Kohta-kun, I heard there is a new VR game starting up. It is called Gun Gale Online."

"Eh? Really? Maybe I will look into it…ooorrr maybe I will wait for a while until they work the kinks out," he said as Saya glared at him.

Saeko laughed at the boy's change of direction. "Are we meeting this afternoon, Saya-chan?" she asked.

"Hmm, not today. Kohta and I have a capture mission to perform," the heiress said. "Thanks to Akasuki-san's help, I finally found the last person I was looking for."

"Ah I see, please give them our good wishes when you speak to them," the tall swordswoman said.

"Oh I will," Saya said as Rika and Keiko looked at her wondering who she was talking about.

000

Yokohama, Japan: That afternoon

The pink-haired girl and her boyfriend stood across the street from a slightly run down looking apartment complex.

"There! That's got to be her!" Saya said as she pointed to a figure coming down the sidewalk.

"Are you sure?" Kohta asked. "I guess she's about the right size, but you can't see her face real well."

They watched the short woman stop at the bottom of her stairs and glance around as if making sure no one was watching her. She was wearing a brown hoodie with sweat pants and carrying a couple of grocery bags.

"That's her, I'm sure of it!" Saya said as she started to jog across the street while the woman climbed the steps.

The couple reached the top of the stairs as their quarry reached her apartment door.

"Hold it right there!" Saya called out causing the short woman to spin around, eyes widening in fear.

"Uwah!" she cried out as Saya and Kohta walked closer. "What do you want!?"

"I'm looking for a rat!" Saya said with a grin as she reached out and pulled Argo's hood back. "And now I found her!"

Argo's eyes got wider as she recognized the couple. "Pinky!? Kohta!? How…how did you find me!? I thought I covered my tracks!?"

"Why would you do that?" Kohta asked.

"There are still a lot of people out there that are holding grudges against me," the former info broker said as she hunched in on herself. "But really, how did you find me?"

"Don't you remember what I told you?" Saya said. "My parents are powerful people in the government, but I will say, you gave me a merry chase. Is that why you have been hiding? Are you afraid of rouge players?"

"I've been th…threatened before, Sa…Saya-chan."

"Well that stops now!" the pink-haired teen said. "Rika-san and the VR Team will know about it before the end of the day! You don't have to worry about that anymore! We will make sure of that!"

A tear ran down The Rat's cheek as she hugged the girl and boy to her. "Thank you! I've never had friends like you before now!"

"You've got a lot of friends, Argo-san," Kohta said. "And we will be around to protect you."

In an alley across the street a hooded figure moved back into the shadows and opened their cell phone. "I found her," he said. "The Takagi bitch and her blacksmith boyfriend are with her now. What do you want me to do?"

"Nothing for now, XaXa," the voice on the phone said. "We have plenty of time. For now we will concentrate on our GGO plans."

"Come on PoH, I want to take out the boyfriend and teach that rich bitch some lessons. I hate rich bitches."

"Not now. The boyfriend will join GGO sooner or later. He's a known gun otaku and there is no way he will be able to resist playing. Chill out and leave it for now."

Red-Eyed XaXa growled, but listened to his master's voice. "Okay, okay, I'll back off but when the time comes I'm the one that gets to kill him!"

PoH didn't answer, he simply hung up. XaXa looked at the apartment one more time before snarling and jogging away as the trio went inside.

A/N: And that's it. Will I revisit the SAO-HotD world? I'm not sure but several people have already asked me to do at least the Gun Gale arc. Right now though I will be concentrating on In the Dead of the Night, a Living with the Dead sequel I have been writing with MarshalZhukov. I hope to start posting it in the next couple of weeks.

Thanks again everyone and please Review and Favorite!

OH I KNOW! How about a teaser for In the Dead of the Night?

Teaser:

"Come on, Miss Schweiger, you can do better than that!" Corporal Davis said as Alex threw Private Sharpe over her shoulder.

Sharpe grunted as he hit the ground and rolled back to his feet. "That's still better than she could do a few weeks ago," he said.

Alex nodded and looked over where Misa was working with Edmonds and Andrea. The Marine was in a fighting stance and holding a rubber practice knife, as Andrea showed the teenager pressure points to disarm him.

Looking the other way, she watched as White, Pegg, Nelson and Williamson went through dry fire exercises with the M700 rifle White was now using to snipe with.

As she turned her attention back to Sharpe she noticed a flash of white on the ocean horizon. She paused for a moment, puzzled, before a grin split across her face. Pointing to the distance she called out, "Sail ho! Ship to the southwest and coming fast!" she grinned at the others, "I always wanted to say that!"

"Say what?" Davis exclaimed with a frown on his face as he turned to look where Alex was pointing. He was surprised to find she was right, what seemed to be a set of white sails were drawing closer as he watched.

"Four-masted tall sailing ship," White called out as he looked at it through the scope on his rifle. "She's flying the Japanese flag."

"That would be the Kaiwo Maru," a voice said behind them. They turned to find Sergeant Kurita walking up. "She is going to tie up to the docks just to the south of us." Turning to Sergeant White, Kurita bowed slightly, "I must retrieve the ship's captain and bring him to the Emperor. Could I trouble your group to be honor guard and escort, Sergeant White?"

White nodded, "Certainly, Sergeant Kurita." Turning to his company, he shouted, "Alright you lot! Form up and try to look like Royal Marines for once!"

As the men fell into formation Alex stepped closer to Kurita and bowed slightly. "Excuse me, Kurita-gunso, but would it okay if Misa, Andrea and I go with you? Personally, I have never seen anything like that up close before."

Kurita smiled and nodded, "Certainly, Schweiger-san, it would be a pleasure for the three of you to join us."

A minute later the group had shaken out into a patrol formation with Sharpe, Nelson and Williamson in a triangle on point. Alex and Misa came next with White and Pegg behind them. Davis and Kurita followed with Edmonds and Andrea bringing up the rear. They spaced out three to four meters apart where there was room to fight if they happened to run into any of Them.

After walking a few minutes Sergeant Kurita glanced at Davis and asked quietly, "Corporal Davis, what is your assessment of how the young ladies are coming in their training?"

Davis thought for a moment and replied, "I think they are ready to progress to the more intense weapons training. They both have the basics down pretty well and really just need sparing practice to develop further skills."

Kurita nodded, "Good, my master is eager for them to be in the dojo with us. We have evaluated their knowledge and they are rough to say the least. The forms are there, but the finesse is not."

Davis nodded, "I have seen Ms. Schweiger as well as Ms. Busujima in action and can see the difference. The first time we saw Ms. Busujima in action she saved my life and then supported us in eliminating some soldiers that had been turned. She was most impressive, floating like a dancer as she killed the zeds."

Kurita smiled, "It has been several years since I saw Lady Busujima compete, but she was the same way then. To hear she was alive and how well she has done was a joy to my heart and lifted my master's spirits greatly."

Davis smiled, "When we saw her work Edmonds asked me then if I thought Ms. Schweiger could do what she did. Then we were all shocked when Alex…went off the reservation, so to speak on Ikei. I don't know how many she put down but it was…dozens. We were very worried about her frame of mind at the time, but she seems to have settled down and is a bit more level headed now."

Gazing ahead at the girl in question Kurita said, "The mindset of the samurai in battle can be a dark place. I have experienced this myself the first time I drew live steel with the intent of destroying the enemy in front of me. It was disquieting, after so many years of training to finally be released to kill with my bare blade with no restrictions. Yet…it was also liberating. I can easily see how she, or Lady Busujima for that matter, could slip into a battle rage and lose themselves."

Davis nodded, "The trick is to teach them how to pull back from that edge of darkness. Ms. Busujima has Komuro-san to draw her back; Ms. Schweiger may not have that limiter at this time."

"Lord Busujima will find some way to handle that I am quite sure," Kurita said as they rounded a corner to find the tall ship drawing itself into the dock with ropes. Several men with rifles and pikes already stood guard near the end of the pier.

Kurita went forward and answered the guards challenge with a countersign before the Marine group was allowed past.

The group stood looking up at the web of ropes and masts that seemed to reach to the sky, as Kurita and White went aboard to meet the captain.

"Wow! I would love to be able to climb up there and look across the ocean!" Alex said as she and Misa looked skyward to the mast tops.

"Ugh…too high for me!" Misa exclaimed as Andrea laughed.

Alex laughed as White, Kurita and an older man with gray hair and beard, dressed in a white peaked cap, a blue long coat with white pants and black shoes, came down the gangway.

"Attention on deck!" White shouted in English. The Royal Marines snapped to attention and presented arms. Alex, Misa and Andrea bowed in respect.

The older man smiled and bowed to the girls, "Well, well Sergeant Kurita, I see not all of your personnel consist of grizzled war dogs!"

Everyone laughed as Sharpe looked at Davis and asked, "I'm grizzled? I'm not even thirty yet!"

Kurita bowed and said, "Please allow me to introduce the master of the Kaiwo Maru, Captain Tsugumo Hanshiro."

The Captain nodded and bowed slightly, all the time smiling as everyone was introduced. Turning to Alex he said, "If you young ladies would like a tour of the ship at a later time I will be happy to oblige you."

Alex beamed, "Thank you, Captain! I would love to!"

He nodded, "Well for now I think we better get started, we don't want to keep the Emperor waiting now, do we?"

EN: 1st posted 3/13/15