Title: As Fire Blazes on the Horizon

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn! or Sword Art Online.

Warnings: AU, WIDELY AU.

(AN at bottom.)

.

Initially, when the SAO server had first opened, the Town of Beginnings was awash in a bright, festive mood. Excitement was palpable and practically all but tangibly stringing through the air as players swarmed the streets, bustling about, eyes bright with enthusiasm as they went about the basics of starting the game.

Needless to say, this eagerness fell into a steep plummet downwards ever since Kayaba Akihiko made his announcement. Now, the cheer and merriness had been replaced with a dreary sort of gloom and despair lurking in the background.

Unease, apprehension, fear.

… Fear of death.

It certainly made sense, Tsuna conceded. And, as much as they needed every player out training and grinding levels in order to clear this game as fast as possible, it was perfectly natural that some would be shocked into inaction at this unexpected turn of events of being trapped in this virtual world. After all, for the vast majority of players, SAO was only a way to relax or have some fun.

The death game that the VRMMORPG had been forcibly turned into was something else entirely.

Yes, of course there was also the possibility that the people outside the game were busy trying to uncover a way to release those who had been trapped inside. More than simply a possibility, it was a given certainty. The government would definitely begin rescue efforts, but whether they would actually be successful in their endeavors…

(SAO was an intricately-designed game that had taken years' worth of research and investment to evolve into the stage that it was now at today, not to mention the earlier development that had gone into the creation of VR technology beforehand. So, even assuming that the government had the resources to end this 'hostage situation,' how long would it take for them to do so?

They really couldn't afford to be sitting around listlessly, waiting and hoping for a miracle to happen.)

"Tsuna?"

"Yeah?" the young Sky glanced up at the sound of his name, smiling lightly as he caught sight of his friend jogging over. "Done already?"

Takeshi gave an easy shrug to the offhand inquiry. "Eh, there wasn't much to choose from, anyways. I'm guessing that the equipment will probably get better later on in the game; for now, this will have to do."

At that comment, the taller teen made a vague sort of gesture towards the new weapon already hanging at his waist. Unlike the basic sword that all players started out with upon creating their avatars, the blade of this one was much thinner, and the shape of it –while not completely accurate and still left much to be desired– clearly resembled a katana much more than the standard weapon that was given to everyone. Which was probably what Takeshi had been aiming to change in the first place anyways, when he had gone into the weapons shop for new equipment.

(Tsuna himself wasn't much for fighting with swords; that was much more Takeshi's area of expertise, really.)

"I heard some other players talk about forming hunting groups together back there. Parties," Takeshi gave a small nod in the general direction of the shop he had just exited. "They're still looking for people to head out into Emerald Forest. Should we switch an area?"

There weren't too many people actively taking part in the game right now. That was something sure to change soon –and Tsuna, for one, held no wishes to get caught in a dispute over resources with any of the other players in the game. So far, he and Takeshi had been sticking to the less player-frequented areas even with the sparse number of people out and about, but there was no telling how much longer that would last.

It wasn't as if they were actively going out of their way to avoid other players –it was more of the simple matter of fact that they didn't want to attract attention.

Tsuna held no doubts that SAO was being closely monitored; VR technology was still a relatively new development, all things considered. And any game would be monitored to a certain extent for guaranteeing players' safety; even though this unexpected turn of events meant that there was nothing remotely safe about SAO anymore… the introduction of Dying Will Flames changed everything. In fact, by this point, Tsuna would be more surprised if the game wasn't being carefully monitored by Kayaba and his developers.

To be sure, Tsuna was well aware that the relative anonymity that he and Takeshi currently had wasn't something that would last forever. This wasn't pride or arrogance speaking mindlessly: Even just by looking at their FV gauges which were several times the length of their respective HP bars, it was blatantly obvious that whatever tenuous grasp they still retained on normalcy here was fragile at best; never mind the fact that both of them were… well acquainted with the underbelly of the darker world that ran parallel to what was dubbed as 'normal society.'

(Tsuna had the sneaking suspicion that they wouldn't be able to stay hidden even if they tried, not if they wanted to clear the game and return to reality.)

So far, the game had only introduced Dying Will Flames in the instructional manual as something that was 'part of the natural order of the world,' an 'intrinsic foundation upon which all life draws the strength to flourish and thrive.' Which was frustratingly vague as far as explanations went, but it wasn't wrong. And if what he suspected was true, if there would be more information on Dying Will Flames revealed to the player population as the game progressed…

…

Who in the world is Kayaba, really, if he is so willing to flaunt the laws of Omerta like this? What is his goal for doing so? What does he even hope to accomplish with this?

… For now, Tsuna could only bite his tongue and put his questions aside. Thinking of these questions would lead to nothing but going around in circles in an exercise of futility; unless he had more information, any guesses and conjectures he could make on the possible motives and reasoning for changing SAO into a death game right now were inconclusive.

Better to put his mind on more pressing concerns at the moment.

"So, there are some people gathering a full party to go to Emerald Forest?" he turned his attention back to Takeshi, who gave a small nod in response. "In that case… well, since we still have to hunt some of the monsters there for quest items, let's just start heading over now and see if we can gather enough items before they finish organizing themselves. There's no guarantee that we'll run into each other at all, since the forest is pretty big, anyways. The spawn rate is pretty high in that area too, right?"

"The spawn rate might be high, yeah, but I think you're forgetting about the low drop rate," Takeshi laughed, casually slinging an arm over the shorter brunet's shoulder. "Well, whatever you say, Tsuna. It's not like there's too many people out fighting monsters right now, anyways; I'd give it a couple more days before we start seeing any mad scrambles for claiming 'hunting grounds'…"

Even though his laughter seemed carefree, there was still a glint of something sharp in his eyes, a sharpness that said he fully understood the possible consequences of being caught in such a 'mad scramble.'

Tsuna wholly approved.

…

It had been completely and utterly unexpected.

… No, he wasn't referring to how SAO had suddenly been turned into a death game trapping 10,000 players in a virtual reality world. Even if that announcement had been completely and utterly unexpected, it wasn't exactly what he was referring to at the moment.

Kirito stared at his hand.

The hand that had been clutching his sword a moment ago, looked far too perfectly smooth to be real skin, and was incapable of feeling pain. Not for the first time, he felt incredibly grateful for the fact that the pain settings in this game were fixed so that only mild discomfort would be felt even if one was gored through the stomach by a rampaging monster, though that really wasn't the point here.

…

… So he might've underestimated the Dying Will Flames a little from when Kayaba had implemented the system in the game. To be fair, he had been under the impression that it was only some kind of randomized attribute that might possibly give type-advantages or disadvantages over various monsters later on in the game –and not, y'know, actual flames that could spontaneously combust from his hands.

The sudden sound of shattering glass caught his attention, and Kirito very nearly felt his jaw drop as the sword he had been using –the sturdy sword with fairly nice stats for a beginner swordsman such as himself, mind you– break apart into a multitude of pixilated lights announcing the destruction of the item. Which, as far as he remembered, still had a ways to go until the durability was worn down low enough that it would break down like this.

Speechless, the young teenager silently gaped at the empty space where his sword had once sat after he dropped it, when he somehow became a pyromaniac with green flames and promptly set the entire length of his sword ablaze.

… How was something like this even possible in-game?

(No, he was not freaking out, thank you very much. Even if there should be an extent as to how much craziness could happen in such a short span of time. He was not freaking out because apparently this new Dying Will Flame System meant that he could shoot green flames from his hands.)

…

Congratulations on the First Usage of your Lightning Flames after activation! Accomplishment Reward: +20 FV.

Kirito stared blankly at the words that had appeared in front of him, letting the sheer bizarreness of the entire situation sink in for another moment more, before sighing and finally beginning to pull his composure together again. Honestly speaking, he wasn't quite sure what had sparked the green flames leaping from his fingers in the first place –no pun intended. He had only been grinding mobs like usual, the same as what he had been doing for the last few days…

Wait.

A chill ran down his spine –how could I have not noticed earlier; this is so stupid, so careless– as he caught sight of his HP gauge. His HP gauge that was nearly empty.

He… He had been about to use a potion when the mob in the area had respawned earlier than he thought it would; there hadn't been time. When the red-eyed monsters had snarled and charged, Kirito had been solely focused on cutting down as many of them as possible…

… Was there some sort of correlation here?

Dying Will Flames…

Dying Will Flames.

Dying. Will.

… Even though nearly everyone in the game had already activated their Dying Will Flames by this point, Kirito still had yet to see anyone actually use them for any practical purposes. Going by the name of it alone, though… did that mean in order to actually use the flames, one had to let monsters reduce their HP to dangerous levels in order to draw it out like this?

(Too risky. Much too risky. If this was really the method, that meant players had to purposely–)

Kirito quickly downed a potion before he could finish the thought.

…

Argo was frustrated.

In general, she made it a point to be informed. The whole 'being trapped in SAO with a real prospect of death hanging over our heads' issue was somewhat akin to a getting whacked with a sledgehammer over the head.

Scratch that, it was the equivalent of a sledgehammer over the head, and she didn't like it.

At.

All.

… And then Kayaba had gone and introduced the Dying Will Flames System.

It didn't make sense. As far as she knew, these 'flames' didn't really do anything aside from separating everyone into different classes of flame types according to some random order. It was possible, then, that the flames were meant to act as attribute advantages or disadvantages against the monsters in-game, but so far none of the monsters here on the First Floor had shown themselves to be aligned with any flame type. So, if this was really the main purpose of the flames –which she highly doubted– why in the world hadn't Kayaba integrated the First Floor monsters into this Dying Will Flame System during his impromptu update, if he had already done so for 10,000 players?

That meant there must be something more to the Dying Will Flames than what there seemed to be on the surface. As to what that 'something' was, though…

Idly swinging her feet from where she sat perched upon the wall, Argo's lips curved into a thoughtful frown.

What little info there was for Dying Will Flames under the description on the page was as good as nothing: 'Dying Will Flames have existed ever since Creation and are part of the natural order of the world. It is the intrinsic foundation upon which all life draws the strength to flourish and thrive. Dying Will Flames are measured in Fiamma Volts.'

There was absolutely no explanation whatsoever about the special characteristics of the six different flame types that players found themselves matched with. Absolutely nothing. And that was more than enough to set off the alarm bells in her mind, because, honestly? This was downright suspicious, this new system that had been hastily introduced to SAO on the day of the opening launch.

Even just by looking at the simple abbreviations in the 'Character Stats' page –Hit Points were shown as 'HP,' Attack Power was 'AP,' Luck was shortened as 'LK;' so on and so forth. According to the usual trend, Dying Will Flames should have been abbreviated as 'DW.' But instead, in the single slot separate from the other number stats on the page, the measure of Dying Will Flames was innocuously recorded under 'FV.'

FV.

Fiamma Volts.

… It was entirely possible that she was over-thinking things here and just nitpicking in general, but it didn't make sense, that Dying Will Flames would stand out like this on its own. And that aside, Argo also had a growing hunch that these Dying Will Flames were far, far more complicated than what she suspected them to be.

Kayaba had specifically stated during his so-called 'tutorial' that, "I recommend that you all adapt quickly and learn to harness your Flames –this skill will prove both indispensible and invaluable to you in clearing the game." So that meant there must be something special to the flames, something which made them important to the game, and therefore important to their survival, which meant that she had to get to the bottom of this.

Preferably sometime before the next century.

…

There was also the glaring fact that the Dying Will Flames hadn't been introduced during the beta, which was why they were all so horribly clueless on the workings of these flames right now. But, struggles of even beta-players in regards to practical use of Dying Will Flames aside…

The gameplay itself between the closed beta and the official launch was very similar. Argo had no doubt that there would be minor changes to what beta players knew, updates and changes to make the game more 'exciting' and unpredictable later on, but the overall template didn't seem to be too different so far.

In that case, right now the main difference between the beta-SAO and current-SAO was Kayaba's ultimatum.

You have no choice but to clear the game if you want to return to the real world.

In other words: You have no way to log out anymore; you are trapped here.

…

Current-SAO effectively cut off all communication between players and the real world. They would not be able to contact anyone on the outside for help, yes, but looking at it in another way –they would not be able to convey to anyone outside about anything that was going on in the game.

Considering that, then…

There was the undeniable implication that Kayaba didn't want anyone to know about Dying Will Flames.

Why?

And… the threat of death in SAO, Dying Will Flames… was there any connection between the two?

…

Huffing out a small breath, Argo drew up her 'Friends' list and started scrolling through her contacts again, firing off quick messages to various players.

[Have you discovered anything new about Dying Will Flames?]

"… Well, this is new."

Blinking, Tsuna tried reaching out to the small brook with his fingertips again. The result was the same –there was some sort of invisible wall floating several inches above the water's surface that prevented him from getting any nearer to the water itself. And while this sensation felt utterly strange and perplexing and completely out of place, it also didn't take long for him to realize that this was probably one of the 'out of bounds' areas that wasn't meant to be accessed by players in a game. Mere background scenery meant more for aesthetic effects than any sort of practical use.

And… okay, so maybe being in a forest like this reminded him a little of one of Reborn's spontaneous 'camping trips,' where the Italian basically just threw him headfirst into the wilderness and told him he would come back for him later. Which could last anywhere from three days to an entire month.

In a way, Tsuna was used to 'living off the land' and gathering needed resources for himself, which was a stark contrast against swiping the air to bring out an inventory panel. Not that the latter wasn't convenient, but it was… weird, really.

(Only another sharp reminder that they were trapped in this world of virtual reality.)

"What are you doing over there, Tsuna?"

"Sorry, Takeshi. Er… force of habit, I guess." the young Sky sheepishly scratched the back of his head, standing to his feet again. "Don't mind me over here…"

His Rain seemed to connect the dots in an instant as he looked from Tsuna to the happily-gurgling brook, and gave a small laugh. "Not exactly what you were expecting when you heard water in this direction, huh?"

"Yeah," Tsuna agreed softly with a faint twinge of embarrassment, raising his hand in the air and drawing it down in a sharp line. The stream of light trailing his fingertips from the sudden motion scrolled out into the menu screen with a swipe to the side, and Tsuna began navigating his way to the 'Use' tab in his inventory, where consumable items could be accessed.

A moment later, the air next to him shimmered, and a bottle of water fell into his hand.

"… This feels so weird." he made a small face before unscrewing the lid and drinking. One would think that things like hunger and thirst would be eliminated from the game entirely, but apparently the developers of SAO had decided to include it in order to 'enhance the game experience by adding a dose of reality.'

(Tsuna begged to differ on that point. Most of the foods they had eaten so far were bland and tasteless.)

To the side, Takeshi merely gave a hum of agreement as he checked on the status of his katana-like sword. On one hand, the whole maintenance issue with the equipment in SAO was realistic in that one always had to be careful with the upkeep of their weapons, but on the other hand, the durability of the weapons they had been using so far left much to be desired.

Takeshi clucked his tongue and let the sword in his hand fade into a storm of pixilated particles of light, before bringing out another copy of the same weapon. "Good thing I had the foresight to buy more than one of these back at the shop."

"Good thing we were forewarned about this whole 'durability' issues with weapons from the SAO forums," Tsuna supplied dryly, before starting a check of his own equipment. "You'd think that they would mention how easily the swords break apart here…"

"Actually, I think that might be because of the swords themselves." Takeshi drew up the item description for one of his swords to show to Tsuna. "See this section here? If 'Attribute' is what I think it is, it's probably meant to align with certain flame types for different flame users. Right now everything we're seeing is 'No Attribute,' but that might be changing later on in the game when the quality of weapons gets better."

"Huh," Tsuna blinked. "You're probably right about that."

Right now, Tsuna found himself using a short dagger. Although he didn't care much for practicing any type of bladework in general, he knew his way around using them well enough –courtesy of the tender mercies of a certain Spartan hitman– which was all he could ask for, really. Of course there were also other weapons available in the game –spears, hammers, axes; just to name a few– but in all honesty, he was probably better off with using a normal dagger. If it hadn't been for the simple fact that using weapons in SAO gave stat bonuses and increased overall attack power, Tsuna would've thrown away the dagger a long time ago.

(Yamamoto Tsuyoshi had once remarked that Tsuna looked much too harmless to be as skilled as he was in hand-to-hand combat as he was. Reborn had only smirked in response at the time, silently acknowledging the tacit compliment to the young brunet under his wing.)

"So, how many more of these 'Soft Wolf Pelts' do we need again?"

"Nine more, I think." Tsuna opened up his quest menu. Collecting Supplies to Make a Coat (1) -Item Required: Soft Wolf Pelt (16/20). "We need twenty each; I've got sixteen here, and you still need five more, right?"

"Mmhm."

"Okay," he gave a small nod. "In that case, since we're almost done, let's begin heading back. I remember passing a mob somewhere to the east when we were on our way here; it should've respawned by this point. We'll go to Southeast Village to turn in our quests after this."

"Alright," the Rain agreed to the plan amiably and they automatically fell in in line next to each other as they started out again.

Takeshi was a swordsman, which meant that the swordplay of SAO was something firmly in his element –though, he seemed to purposely avoid using the Sword Skills of the system.

Tsuna couldn't blame him for that; using Sword Skills felt wrong.

Perhaps for others, it would be something amazing, exhilarating –to be able to perform feats of athleticism impossible in reality with aid of the SAO system– but for him, these Sword Skills were only something that locked him into a set of predetermined movements, from where there was no changing things. Even if he tried to, say, target a different monster midway after having already activated the Sword Skill, it was impossible. The system wouldn't register the change in targets in order to carry out the ongoing Sword Skill.

Personally, Tsuna felt that the Sword Skills were too rigid and lacked adaptability and change. Which was why he understood Takeshi's reluctance to use the Sword Skills at all. Heck, if he felt this way about only using a dagger when he wasn't even much for swordplay in the first place, he could only imagine how Takeshi felt about the whole Sword Skills system offered here in SAO.

Besides, they had their own way of making up for the lack of usage of Sword Skills in their repertoire.

"Heads up, Tsuna, I think we've found a pack of Dire Wolves heading our way." Takeshi drew his sword as the telltale wolf howls came into hearing, accompanied by the dry crunch of grass underfoot.

The first wolf that burst forth from the underbrush in front of them found the tip of a sword cleanly slicing through its throat in a clear beheading motion. But whereas this strike would've proven fatal in reality, the dark brown wolf merely snarled as it stumbled backwards, the HP bar floating above its head moving downwards in a steady decrease. Takeshi wasn't one to overlook any openings; as soon as he saw it stumble, he quickly followed up with a veritable blur of slashes that swiftly finished off the crimson-eyed wolf in a blood-curling howl, and the monster burst into a mass of disintegrating red particles.

Then the Rain turned and they stood back to back with each other, as the rest of the wolf pack made their presence known, snarling viciously as they prowled forth in a circle enclosing them inside.

"Ready when you are, Tsuna."

"Do you even need to ask?" the brunet huffed lightly, and Takeshi laughed in response before a serious light entered his eyes again.

Unspoken, both of them reached for their flames at the same time, and moved.

The length of Takeshi's sword was engulfed in a flickering wave of pale blue just as orange flames wreathed themselves over the dagger in Tsuna's hand; both teens charged forward in a sudden, explosive burst of speed. The damage that would've taken a good while to dish out was dealt in a mere fraction of the time it would've taken. Though, the wolf mob that they ran into looked like it was probably meant for a full six-person party to fight; there seemed to be a near-endless number of wolves that kept pouring into the clearing no matter how many they cut down before them.

It was a good thing that they were starting to get slightly overleveled for this area –that, and the simple fact that they had access to their flames.

As suspicious and nerve-wracking as the prospect of Dying Will Flames being openly revealed in a VRMMORPG was, Tsuna couldn't deny that it was also certainly making things a lot easier on the combat end for him and Takeshi. Because no matter how much combat experience they had in reality, none of that directly translated over to a game in which strength was determined by numbers and data.

Tsuna was in the middle of cutting down another large wolf and whirling to take on the one that was trying to leap on Takeshi's back when–

"HyaaaaAAAAARGH!"

The mixed sounds of sharp howls and guttural snarls filling the air from the wolves surrounding them was expected. The piercing shout of the human voice that suddenly rang through the clearing was not, and it was for that reason that Takeshi experienced a clear moment of pure 'Huh?' midway through carving a hole into a wolf's stomach.

"HyaaaaAAAAARGH!"

His instincts screaming in his chest to dodge like hell the moment he heard the wild battle cry behind him, he immediately lunged to his left. The split-second decision wasn't made a moment too soon; even though he was already midway through the process of leaping out of the way, the glowing red streak indicative of a Sword Skill still clipped him on his leg in its mad charge towards the Dire Wolf he had been fighting.

(Sometimes, Takeshi still had that jarring moment of disconnection when there was no pain from any of the injuries he received while fighting. Cuts were only a crimson line on the body that faded in a heartbeat; also, there was no familiar resistance of steel on flesh. It was still something he was trying to familiarize himself to in combat right now, since the expectation of resistance against his blade was throwing off his balance slightly.)

"What in the world…?"

Takeshi frowned, glancing upwards at the crazy brown-haired man who had appeared out of nowhere and charged recklessly into the fray. A quick check on his HP gauge showed that the Sword Skill he'd nearly been caught in the middle of had sent it sliding downhill. Nothing too significant, thankfully, but it wasn't exactly what would qualify as a small dip, either, so Takeshi felt perfectly justified in the edge of irritation that was currently rising and coiling in his chest.

After all, this wasn't a 'safe zone' like the towns were. This was an area in which one's HP dropping to zero meant death. There was no time to be entertaining careless incidents, not like this.

The brash man's sword began glowing purple with the activation of yet another Sword Skill as he shouted something utterly cliché along the lines of, 'Never fear, Superman is here!'

Takeshi could only shake his head and throw his hands up in helpless surrender at this point.

(Personally, he felt that the Sword Skills programmed into this game were stiff, awkward. He would know. Once a player shifted into position, their movements became completely locked into the path designed by the game developers. There was no altering directions or adjusting strength behind the blow afterwards; whatever the game decided on, it was what the player's body was forced to go through with.

… If being in the world of SAO hadn't meant putting their lives on the line, maybe Takeshi would've entertained the idea of going along with these sword skills programmed in the game, just for fun. But SAO wasn't a game to be played for fun anymore. It was a game to be played for survival and escape.)

"Takeshi!"

"'M fine, Tsuna." Takeshi tried to protest against the small red vial that his Sky all but shoved into his hands, but the stubborn look in the small brunet's eyes clearly conveyed that Tsuna wouldn't be taking 'no' for an answer from him. He sighed and uncorked the bottle, quickly downing the potion in a few gulps before re-assessing the situation around them as his HP bar went up again.

Apparently, the hotheaded idiot who'd nearly hit him with a Sword Skill was part of a six-man party. There were five more unfamiliar faces in the clearing now in addition to the man who had charged in earlier; currently, they were still in the process of killing off the remaining Dire Wolves. Which certainly explained how Tsuna had been able to come over and check up on him, since now it was no longer necessary for him to keep on fighting.

"Idiots," Tsuna muttered darkly as he looked out at the new arrivals, and Takeshi felt compelled to agree with his Sky on that.

Even though both of them were normally fairly amiable and well-tempered, that didn't mean they didn't have a bottom line not to be crossed. Takeshi himself certainly wasn't feeling very charitable towards these newcomers at this point, though he did acknowledge that they might've genuinely been trying to help. Two people against a whole pack of wolves meant for a full party wasn't exactly something considered to be good odds, after all.

It took a few more moments before the last wolf fell, letting out a pitiful snarl as it shattered into a multitude of fading lights.

… We would've been finished much earlier if they hadn't interrupted.

Takeshi didn't voice this thought aloud.

"Nice job, everyone!" the brazen brown-haired man who'd been the first to throw himself into the clearing straightened from where he had been frozen in the finishing pose of a fading Sword Skill, recovering normal movement now that the skill's cool-down time was over. He turned around to face the rest of his party with a lopsided smile on his face, "We're all still in one piece, right?"

"Yeah, we're good."

"A-Okay here, Kibaou!"

"… Fine."

Takeshi bit back the urge to frown again. This was the leader of the party? The same person who'd nearly hit him with a Sword Skill in his carelessness?

"Oi, you guys over there." The man –Kibaou– was looking at him and Tsuna now after having checked inn on the players with him, a scowl present on his lips and reprimand in his voice. "You're lucky we were swinging by; if we hadn't come in time–"

"We would still be perfectly fine, thank you very much." Tsuna said tartly, and Kibaou bristled angrily.

"Now, look here–" the man folded his arms across his chest. "What the hell were you thinking, taking on a whole pack of Dire Wolves like this with only two people? Are you guys purposely trying to get yourselves killed?"

Tsuna's eyes narrowed.

"What in the world did you think you were doing when you charged in recklessly?" Tsuna's voice was low and quiet, but the vehemence embedded in his tone had the man faltering and taking a small step backwards in face of the young Sky's rage. "Are you blind? You could've killed someone with that Sword Skill of yours!"

"H-Hey, he got out of the way, didn't he?" Kibaou shifted nervously (guiltily), holding up his hands in a placating manner that was not placating in the least. "Your friend is fast on his feet; I knew I wouldn't hit him. Besides, I shouted out to let him know I was going to be switching in, didn't I? It's not like I jumped in without any warning!"

"Because clearly, a garbled shout is the universal signal for switching in from a person's blind spot and they should get the hell out of your way or die."

Ouch. Takeshi knew that Tsuna had been picking up more and more of Reborn's mannerisms over time, but there were few moments when it really showed –and this cutting dry voice that could put a desert to shame was clearly one of them.

"Look, I'm not trying to PK anyone here!" the cactus-haired man shouted in frustration. "I… you ungrateful little brat; I was just worried that we were going to be too late! Show some gratitude, why don't you?"

Oh, this is going to hurt.

"Really?" Tsuna's voice was dangerously soft. "What if he hadn't gotten out of the way in time? Are you telling me that you want me to show you gratitude for almost killing my friend?"

Silence.

"Some might admire your… willingness, to 'play hero.' But if you're not careful, you might find yourself ending up as nothing but a villain, a thoughtless murderer instead." Tsuna spun around and began striding away without so much as a single glance backwards, "I suggest you actually use your head if you ever run into a situation like this again, instead of being so quick to jump the gun. Wouldn't want any… 'accidents' on your hands, ne? … Takeshi, we're leaving."

Wordlessly, Takeshi turned to follow his Sky.

Even if this incident was an honest accident on the hotheaded man's part, hearing these words… would definitely instill some caution in him, which, in retrospect, wasn't really a bad thing.

(Not everyone would be able to react as fast as he did in getting the hell out of Dodge, so to speak.)

…

[Have you discovered anything new about Dying Will Flames?]

"What'cha doin', Mr. U?"

"Checking my inbox. What do you think?" the silver-haired teen shot back to the inane question of his fellow party member, and the taller teen whistled suggestively.

"Ha, found yourself a girlfriend already?"

The teen grimaced at the thought.

"Ugh, no." He muttered, typing out a quick response.

[No luck with anyone else, Argo?]

"So… think Kibaou is going to cheer up again anytime soon?" the other boy asked, and he could clearly tell that the tall teen was merely trying to strike up conversation for the sake of conversation. Not something he was interested in doing; not something he needed to do –especially since he wasn't planning to stay in this party anymore. Once was more than enough. There was only so much arrogance and sheer bullheadedness that one could take before calling it quits, after all.

Kibaou wasn't a bad person per se. He had his heart in the right place, mostly –just, more often than not, the man went about the wrong way doing things with his rash tendencies. He himself was well aware that he also had quite the temper at times, but for the most part, he was capable of controlling himself. The same of which clearly couldn't be said for their self-proclaimed party leader.

[You think I'd be sending out messages left and right like this if I had some info on this already? This is driving me crazy.]

He paused for a moment.

[Tough luck, Argo.]

Then:

[… You sure that there were no news about Dying Will Flames in the beta?]

He received a response to this in record time.

[NO.]

… Well, it made sense. If any news of Dying Will Flames had gotten out in the beta, the Vindice would've came swooping down on Kayaba a long time ago, and the current situation of being trapped in SAO wouldn't even exist in the first place. He was well aware of the existence and usage of Dying Will Flames, but he was also hesitant to reveal any information about it –not because of something as silly as wanting to keep a hidden advantage, not when SAO needed as many people as possible actively playing and using Dying Will Flames in order to clear the game, but because of Omerta.

Kayaba clearly had no qualms about breaking Omerta. He was also clearly a madman.

(He did not envy Kayaba's position in the slightest when the Vindice would inevitably come for him.)

Although… at any rate, it seemed like he wasn't the only one experienced with Dying Will Flames in this game. The two that Kibaou had nearly bulldozed over earlier –Natsu and Kirisame– while the others might've taken the glow of their weapons to be the telltale activation of sword skills, he knew better. The way the lights flickered, the way they weren't so much lights encapsulating the length of a sword as they were tendrils of flames wreathing the blade in a fiery embrace–

He might not have seen the color of Natsu's flame, but he had caught a clear glimpse of Kirisame's flame before he had extinguished it. And there was no doubt in his mind that Kirisame was definitely one of the stronger Rains out there, going by the high purity of Rain flame that the color indicated. For someone like him to voluntarily follow Natsu… what flame-type was Natsu, then?

Cloud?

It was a possibility; the brunet hadn't exactly seemed to be keen on hanging around when their six-man party had shown up.

(… But then again, it might also be because of Kibaou's idiocy that had garnered Natsu's ire and subsequent coldness.)

The two certainly hadn't seemed like they were in trouble. If he hadn't already been aware of Kibaou's personality, he might've thought that the man was someone after 'easy pickings,' trying to take out the rest of the Dire Wolves mob after Natsu and Kirisame had done most of the heavy work. That Natsu and Kirisame maintained mostly-level attitudes even with Kibaou's aggressive attitude towards them in the aftermath instead of letting the volatile situation escalate into a fight could only mean good things for their respective tempers.

When Kibaou had recklessly charged in with an active Sword Skill –he had fully expected that Kirisame would be caught in the attack once he realized where the Rain stood: Directly in front of Kibaou and his mad rush to 'save' the duo.

Except Kirisame had managed to escape.

Even if he hadn't escaped from the full brunt of the damage, he had managed to get out of the line of fire. In other words, he had reacted quick enough that the system hadn't managed to lock onto him as the target of Kibaou's attack.

Which was utterly insane, but somehow the crazy Rain had pulled it off.

So, for him to be clearly secured at side of that young brunet… just how strong would Natsu's flame have to be?

"Hey, you listenin' at all?"

"No, and you're welcome to stop your jabbering at any time," the silver-haired Storm drawled, and drew out his message inbox again when he received the notification of another message from the Rat.

[Ki-bou found something on Dying Will Flames, Uragano. Get over here to the Town of Beginnings ASAP!]

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…

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EDIT 6/14: Fixed the accidental misnaming of Lightning Flames in Kirito's congratulatory message. Thanks to everyone who pointed that out!

The mention of there only being six different flame types from Argo is not an error, though. Sky flames are very rare, and right now there is little information in the game on Dying Will Flames anyways. Argo only knows about the six other flame types from a quick survey of her network of contacts, none of whom have Sky alignments.

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EDIT 6/18: On the topic of why Gokudera doesn't recognize Tsuna and Yamamoto, since I've been asked about it multiple times by now: Gokudera doesn't recognize them because he has never met them yet prior to this point. Remember the warnings of 'AU, WIDELY AU?' Yeah, this is part of that AU-ness in the story.

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Author's Notes:

Apologies for the long wait in posting this next chapter –I totally did not expect to take so long in getting done with this update… but I won't make any promises as to when the next chapter after this will be up, either. I've realized by this point that I'm pretty terrible at predicting my update schedule; rest assured that I will be working my way through this, though –even at a snail's crawl, if I must– since I've got a lot planned for this story by now and I really want to be able to get around to writing everything. And eventually finishing it someday, if I can. :D

Next chapter will probably include the battle with Illfang, I think. Probably. Can't really say anything for sure since I've only got three sentences typed up so far, but we should be getting to it next time.

Kibaou typically gets a lot of hate. Mostly, I'm thinking it's because of how he was basically like, 'beta-testers are evil!' Although, even though the guy is pretty unlikable, I still have a headcanon that he himself isn't 'evil.' Even if he has a tendency to keep blaming other people for his own mistakes or inadequacies. And. Stuff.

Also, please note that I might be making up some things in regards to the gameplay of SAO itself (such as monsters or equips, locations or NPCs, etc.). I am well aware that Sword Skills have names; however, since Tsuna and Yamamoto don't really use Sword Skills all that often, they're a little clueless on which Sword Skill is which at the moment, which is why they're referring to all Sword Skills as just 'Sword Skill' in their narratives.

Three guesses as to who Uragano is in the last section, and the first two don't count. xD Hint: 'Uragano'=Italian for 'Hurricane' (courtesy of Google Translate).

Thank you very much to everyone who left comments in the last chapter! Glad to see that there are people out there interested in what's been set up here so far. :D I'll do my best to keep the story moving along.

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NOTE: For anyone who might happen to be keeping an eye out for Incandescent, the Tokyo Ghoul/KHR crossover that I'm working on, it has been recently updated. Check it out if you're interested!

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QUESTION(1): Which characters are you looking forward to appearing in this story? Any character interactions that you're excited for in particular? (Requests here will be taken into note while writing the next chapter and planning out future plot points.)

QUESTION(2): Yes, I gave Kirito Lightning Flames. Any guesses on/suggestions for flame types of other SAO characters? (Again, responses here will be considered in future chapters.)

QUESTION(3): … Any thoughts on seeing the perspectives of people outside SAO at the moment? (Ex. Reborn, Yamamoto Tsuyoshi, Hibari…)

Again, please feel free to ask me any questions you might have about As Fire Blazes on the Horizon. ;3 Note that I may not respond to some if they contain spoilers.

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-XxZuiliu