With a great fiery force, his long black sword slashed the large Killer Mantis in half, disintegrating into thousands of light shards. Kirito let out a large sigh and scratched the back of his head as +352 EXP in large blue letters glowed in front of him.

For the past few days, Yuuki-sama had given him a variety of tasks which weren't hard but rather annoying. He was pretty sure at this point he had given him petty work and that he wasn't sure what he'd do with him either.

Now the last task of the day was over, he opened up the start menus but flicking his thumb and index finger and quickly pressed logout.

His eyelids slowly lifted adjusting to the bright white luminescent lights and the faint smell of disinfectants. As he removed the lightweight AmuSphere from his unruly head of hair, he sat himself upward, revealing the electrical wiring attached to his slim bare chest and torso.

It was still hard to adjust to this in laboratory testing unit hidden in one of Japan's top healthcare facilities. He still felt that it was a little eerie that all of his breaths, heartbeat, and physical movement were being analyzed as he ventured off to the virtual world and left his real body helpless.

"Can I come in?"

The sweet, tantalizing voice albeit so soft caught his attention as his eyes quickly focused on the girl leaning against the doorway. She was wearing red leggings accentuating her small frame and a white turtleneck. It was almost déjà vu as her outfit quickly reminded Kirito of her KoB uniform from in-game.

Kirito flinched as he realized his eyes had been wandering on her body too long, making her raise a brow. "You look great."

She glared intensely with her amber orbs, raising chills up his spine within a millisecond. He had forgotten how long it took for him to break through of Asuna's intimidating presence.

He coughed as he tried to keep it casual. "S-so what brings you here?"

"I'm on my last week for rehabilitation." She smiled with a gleam of pride her eyes. "Anyway, I just wanted to thank you and your friends from saving everyone from that game. I can't recall anything from when I was there but I'm surprised I didn't commit suicide or something."

Although she let out a giggle to herself, Kirito found nothing funny and gave a meek smile. He had remembered the countless times Asuna had desperately tried to seek suicide on their first encounters in an attempt to give up, test the afterlife waters, or when he was about to leave her for the final duel with Heathcliff. To hear her bring this up again was quite alarming.

She frowned as she noticed his solemn expression and poked his ribcage that was very visible. After years of comatose, Kirito hadn't had time to regain his weight as he was now scrawny and underweight. "Hey, you should eat more."

"Let's get something to eat then." Kirito flashed a reassuring smile but on the inside, he was cursing and thanking himself for wasting no time to take this opportunity.

With the extraordinary situations they were at right now, there would be very little time for them to be alone together. He wasn't sure where he was going with this, either. At first he wanted the best for her – without him by her side. No doubt, he wouldn't be the same as he was before SAO as Kirito vowed that he would be immensely part of the VRMMORPG world and that meant taking Asuna's safety along the ride. However, even if the Asuna now didn't realize it, she was even stronger than he was.

Alas, he knew his intentions. He selfishly wanted to be with her every step of the way and if that meant being just friends, he would be okay as long as she was happy and he was there to see it.

Asuna crossed her arms and jumped up to the hospital bed to take seat on the empty space Kirito had left over which had her leaning against his bare body. "Hmm…"

Caught by surprise, Kirito flustered in red and almost fell off the bed. 'She's so direct...'

What was teasing him even more was that her long locks grazed ever so slightly to his nose, giving him a whiff of a flowery scent so irreplaceable that no MMORPG could duplicate it. His hand slowly reached up to her small heart-shaped face but jolted it back down as if there were invisible chains stopping him.

"Sure, but if mother finds out I'm going to have to call you out." She flashed him a smile as he nervously unclasped the wires and put on his black t-shirt layered with a black bomber jacket.

"So much black…" She muttered as he shrugged in an embarrassed response.

"Y-you ride this?" Asuna hesitated as she gripped the bottom hem of her turtleneck.

Kirito nodded as he turned on his engine of his blue motorcycle, making a slight growling sound. "Hop on and hold on tight."

The more she thought about where this whole situation was going, she had probably overstepped the boundaries her parents had for her. Going to an all-girls school all her life, surprisingly enough to anyone who didn't know this – she had yet to be with a boy alone. To clarify, Asuna had gone through many suitors and arrangements, but this was first time in her seventeen years she had been with the opposite gender on her free will.

And it was a feeling she had never felt before.

The cold wind kissed her skin, igniting all the neurons in her body to move rapidly. The locks of her golden hair moved like ribbons across the sky. She squinted her eyes to see the fast moving collage of rundown to reconstructed buildings she had never seen before until she nuzzled her face within the nape of Kirito's neck to seek warmth.

'This is so nice…'

Kirito, on the other hand, no idea if the angelic figure behind him had any clue whatsoever of what she was doing to him. He was happy to be facing forward the whole time because she would've seen the redness on his face and probably had no fear to point it out.

"Eh, Kirito-kun, where are you taking me?" She raised her head to take a glimpse of his face.

He smirked in response. "I have a friend who runs a café. He might look a bit threatening but he's like a teddy bear. You didn't here that from me."

Asuna shyly nodded in agreement and fiddled with her fingers while her arms were still wrapped around his slim waist.

'God, I'm so lame…'

And this was her lame attempt to rebel against her parents that were getting on her nerves about upcoming college entrance exams when she had just returned after two years. Because of this, she truly believed her only purpose in life was to obey her parents' projected dreams. Everything else – friends, happiness, and love meant nothing since she didn't have any of that in the first place. It seemed like the only aftermath of her SAO wake-up was a bad case of affluenza.

"Hey…"

"Hm?" Kirito stopped his tracks as he noticed a few feet away Asuna never walked away from his motorcycle just yet.

She gasped in a girlish squeal and pointed at the license plate that said 0930. "What a coincidence! That's my birthday."

Suddenly Kirito reacted with a horrified expression with his body freezing up in a shade of blue. He quickly waved his hands in front of him to shrug it off. "Y-y-yeah, coincidence!"

Asuna raised an eyebrow at him and crossed her arms as she began to follow him in this whole in the wall place called Dicey Café. She never knew why she hadn't thought about this until now but she did observe how unusual Kirito seemed to act around her. Every word that came out of his mouth and every action seemed like he took a lot of precaution and stamina.

'Or maybe he's just socially awkward'…She smiled to herself. Besides, it's not like any day you can hang out with the top one percent of Japan.

"Oishiii!" Asuna squealed as shoved a spoonful of the caramel colored baked beans wisping in smoke into her mouth. All the coldness left her body and was replaced with nothing but a homestyle warmth.

Kirito's eyes softened as he observed her reaction. Every time she changed into the bubbly spirited girl he was reminded of the Asuna he married in SAO and a bit of nostalgia would fog his grey orbs.

"My wife's recipe!" The bulky older man's voice boomed in pride. "You know what, I thank God every day that I was the one who got stuck in the death game instead of her. We were supposed to meet as a way of communication since she was working all the way in the US, but it's better this way."

Asuna's amber eyes sparkled in curiosity. "I guess I was the unlucky one then. I remember taking my brother's NerveGear instead to play on opening day and to this day I think he's still mad at me – but for other reasons, of course. I have no idea why I did it too…" She placed her slender index finger below her chin. "I just know I definitely had no experience playing video games so I'm not sure how I survived."

Andrew Mills, the name of the café owner, gawked as Kirito made no reaction having heard this story before. "You never played videogames, not even an RPG before SAO?!"

"Mmmm…" Asuna giggled, "I did have those app games where you would try to clear all the little Disney tsum tsums as fast as you can."

Andrew's jaw dropped even lower. "Incredible…One of the top two Assault Team members just happened to be a natural."

"Me?!" Asuna squeaked as she pointed her face. "I've never touched a sword my whole life!"

"That's hard to believe, young lady! You killed monsters with a rapier so fast you made it look like an art form." Andrew chuckled as he tried to reenact Asuna's agility skills with her butter knife while Kirito rolled his gray eyes.

"Hm…then who was the other top Assault Tea—" Asuna gasped as she put the puzzle pieces together. She remembered hearing on the news about the clearing group in SAO but never thought she would ever take part of it. Her bright eyes widened, turning straight to make direct eye contact with Kirito who froze in place.

"You have a lot of explaining to do, Kirito-kun!" She jabbed her slender finger on his chest so hard, he almost fell off his stool.

Before Kirito had a chance to ask, she tightly gripped the collar of his black leather jacket and pulled him barely an inch away from her face. "No wonder you've been acting so weird around me – you knew me from SAO! And if we really were the top two players, we were probably partners-in-crime or something!"

'Partners-in-crime…the understatement of the year.'

Kirito turned bright red and gestured the café owner for help. Just minutes before he drove her hear, he specifically warned his friend about the situation that he didn't want to bring much of SAO to her but cursed under his breath that just a slip-up would ruin everything.

Andrew coughed deeply enough for Asuna to turn to him. "Well if it makes you feel better, I was part of the Assault Team too."

"Huh?!" Asuna pushed Kirito off the stool who yelped in anguish. "I'm sorry, but I think I need to go."

She quickly got off the stool with her small red messenger bag on and rushed out with a heavy heart. Although she was miles away from her home, she saw something along along the way that caught her attention and quickly dashed her way to her destination.

"Asuna, wait!" Kirito yelled, slamming the café door open but there was no sight of her long chestnut hair.

That's it!

Sorry if Asuna seems a little bratty but if you read the Progressive manga, you definitely get that vibe from her.