What's this, a story of mine that isn't a Yo-Kai Watch story, has the world gone mad! No, I'm just stepping out of my comfort zone for a bit while also doing something for a friend. So you guys may not know this but I enjoy watching Sword Art Online, I say enjoy not love because there are some things that I don't like about it, I'm looking at you Sugou!

Regardless, I do like the anime and I wanted to do a story on it for a while, I was just having trouble on what to do. But then my good pal Pikatwig, who you should check out he's a good writer, requested a story for his birthday, which happens to be the day this one-shot is posted.

So the concept, what if Kirito was able to save Sachi. Now this story took some time since I had to rewatch SAO cause it's been awhile since I last saw it. But yeah that's all I have to say so without further ado, enjoy.

Kazuto Kirigaya was currently on his laptop and was working on some important programs. His work was soon interrupted when a voice was heard from his laptop, "Daddy, you've been working for hours, you need to take a break."

Kazuto sighed at the recognition of the voice, "Yui I thought I told you not to interrupt when I'm working on this, it could mess everything up."

"I know but you've been at it for most of the day, it's not good to be on a laptop for so long," Yui said frustratingly.

"But I'm doing this so that you'll be with us, don't you want to be with me and mommy?" he asked.

"I do but not if it turns you into a workaholic, I can wait," she said.

"If you're so worried about me then I'll stop for today," he said saving everything, "I swear you take a lot from her."

Yui giggled softly from his comment, "Hey when's mommy coming home?"

"She should be on her way back," Kazuto answered.

"That's good to know," she said.

Kazuto laid back on his chair and was looking at a picture on his desk. It was a picture of him alongside a woman with a webcam on her shoulder.

"You know Yui, it's been almost seven years since I met mommy," Kirito commented.

"Really that long, wow," she said amazed.

"Yeah, kind of hard to believe we've been together that long," he said.

"Hey you never told me how you and mommy met," Yui stated, "Come on tell me."

"Well it'll certainly pass the time," he said, "Alright I'll tell you the story."

"Oh good," she said excited.

"Now it was about seven years ago, back in SAO…"

*7 years ago*

"Cheers for Kirito!" a group of five cheered as they toasted their drinks.

"C-Cheers," Kirito said weakly as he was shocked by the amount of praise he was getting.

He was at a ale house/inn in Taft, where he was currently being treated with a drink from this group.

"We can't thank you enough for your help," their leader, Keita, thanked, "You totally saved us back there."

"Yes thank you, I was so scared back there," Sachi, the only girl in the group, said, "But I was so happy when you came and saved us."

"I-It was nothing really," Kirito said.

While Kirito was exploring a dungeon on the lower levels, he encountered the group being pushed back by monsters. He went in and saved them and led them out of the dungeon. After they invited him to the ale house to thank him, they explained how they were all friends in the real world and were part of their school's computer club. They also mentioned how they were all in a guild called the Moonlit BLack Cats.

"Hey Kirito," Keita said getting his attention, "I hope I'm not out of line asking this, but I was wondering what level you're at?"

Kirito looked at his level status which read level 40. However, Kirito knew that if he told his true level, then he would probably rejected from them, "I'm level 20."

"Really you're at our level and still a solo player that's amazing," Keita praised.

"Keita, being a solo player isn't all great," Kirito informed, "I have to keep on hunting enemies out in the boonies, it's not very efficient."

"Oh right, well in that case I was wondering if you wanted to join our guild," Keita offered.

Kirito was shocked from his offer, he barely knew him and he was requesting for Kirito to join his guild. Kirito looked at the others and saw that they nodded in agreement.

"You see our mace wielder, Tetsuo, is the only one we can put out front right now," he explained, "And there's Sachi over here, I was thinking about her switching to sword and shield so she can go out front, but she says she's not sure she can handle it, maybe you can teach her a thing or two."

"Oh come on, I'm not that useless," Sachi said disapprovingly, "You can't just put me up front like that I'd be terrified."

"Just hide behind your shield, it's no big deal," one of them, Ducker, said.

"You've always been a scaredy-cat Sachi," another one, Tetsuo, said, making everyone except for Sachi and Kirito laughed.

"So what do you say Kirito?" Keita asked.

Kirito looked around at the others who were smiling in agreement. But out of all of them, Sachi's smile was the brightest. Just looking at her smile made Kirito feel strange. Kirito just sat there while thinking of his options. Back when he saved them, he saw that they could barely handle the monsters in the dungeon, meaning that they wouldn't last a chance against other monsters. Seeing as they wouldn't last, Kirito wanted to help them, so that they can survive in this death game. He wanted to defend them… he wanted to defend her.

"Thanks for the offer, I'll do it," he said looking at Keita and Sachi.

They both smiled brightly and everyone was thanking him and welcoming him to the guild.

*Present time*

"That was when we met, after I joined the guild we started to get close," Kazuto said.

"Did anything happen when you joined?" Yui asked.

"Well back then Sachi was afraid of dying and one night she ran away," he informed, "I tracked her down and I comforted her."

Suddenly Kazuto looked down in sorrow, "And then…"

*7 years ago*

Kirito had joined the rest of the guild in a dungeon exploration while Keita was out searching for a house for the guild.

"See guys, I told you this would be a piece of cake," Ducker said.

"We might be able to reach the front lines sooner while we're here," Sasamaru said.

"That's what I'm talking about," Ducker agreed.

While everyone was excited about exploring this dungeon, Kirito still felt uneasy. The level they were at wasn't meant to be reached by players with their level, they were only able to have access to it because he was a much higher level, and they were able to access areas like these.

"Hey guys look," Ducker said pointing to a light on a wall.

He went up to it and placed his hand on it, which caused it to move back and open revealing a small room.

"No way, a hidden door?" Kirito thought.

Ducker went in and saw the chest in the center of the room, "Ah sweet a treasure chest!"

He went up to it, intending to open it, when Kirito realized what was going on, "No don't!"

However, it was too late. Ducker had already opened the chest and as soon as he did, an alarm started to sound and the room went red. The door had shut behind them and sealed itself. Everyone was starting to look worried from what's going on.

The walls then opened up, revealing a horde of Granite Elementals and Dark Dwarf Miners, with dark looks intending to kill the group of players.

"It's a trap!" Kirito exclaimed as they were surrounded, "Everyone, let's get out of here!"

They all pulled out their crystals and Ducker was the first to act, "Teleport, Taft!" But nothing happened, he tried again only to get the same result.

Everyone else tried their crystals, only to get the same results. "Our crystals aren't working," Sachi said in a frail voice.

"Damn it, an Anti-Crystal Area," Kirito thought, "We just have to take them down!"

As the first monsters got near Kirito, he slashed at them, killing some while knocking others away. While everyone else was holding the rest off, they were starting to easily get overwhelmed. Due to his higher level, Kirito was able to take down any monsters attacking him, but these monsters were too strong for the rest.

Ducker was knocked down to the ground and a pair of Dwarves were raising their picks, getting ready to finish him. Tetsuo and Sasamaru were having difficulty with a group of golems, and Sachi was struggling to hold off one golem.

"They're not going to survive," Kirito thought as realization struck him, "They're going to die, it's all my fault."

As these thoughts came to him, he was attacking less which lead to easy hits from the monsters. He saw as his health bar went down, which went slow because of his high level. That was when he realized it, his level. It was at level 50, enough to take on all these monster by himself. However, it meant that everyone will know his true level.

"I still got to do it, I promised to protect them all," he thought, "I don't care if they hate me for lying, I don't care if they label me as a beater, I will not watch them die."

With determination in his eyes, Kirito screamed as he tore through the monster near him. He then set his eyes towards Ducker and dashed towards him at immense speed. He slaughtered every monster near him before moving on to the ones near Tetsuo and Sasamaru. Once he finished them off, he saw as Sachi was knocked down and a Golem was about to strike her. He dashed towards her and used his sword to block the Golem's arm, "Don't you dare hurt her!"

He cut the golem in two before easily finishing off the rest of the monsters. There was nothing but silence as Kirito breathed heavily, before the room returned to it's normal color and the door opened again. Everyone just stared at him, shocked from what had transpired.

"Kirito, what was that just now?" Ducker asked.

"... let's head back to Taft," Kirito said, "It's best I explain with Keita as well."

Everyone nodded as they headed out of the room and were starting to leave the dungeon. However, when Sachi passed Kirito, she whispered something to him, "Thank you."

*Taft*

They met up with Keita who was excited to show them the new house he had bought, but was cut short from Kirito, "There's something I need to explain, to all of you."

They were all silent, waiting for Kirito to explain, "Back when we first met, I lied about my level." Everyone except Sachi gasped, but still Kirito continued, "Right now, my level is 51. I lied to you all because you were all treating me as a friend, which no one else has and I was afraid if you knew the truth, it would all stop.

"So I lied, I was being selfish and because of that… I almost killed you guys." Keita was shocked when he said this and turned to the others for confirmation. They nodded and gave him a look saying they'll explain later. "I won't lie when I say that I enjoyed being around all of you, but I understand if you want me to leave the guild."

They were all silent and Kirito was waiting for a response from them. When a minute passed, Sachi was the first to speak, "Why would you think we want you to leave?"

Kirito looked at her and was shocked from what she had said, "What?"

"Kirito that's ridiculous of you to think, we want you to stay," she continued.

"Yeah man, why would we be mad at you?" Ducker added on.

"That's the second time you saved us, why would we be mad at that?" Tetsuo continued.

"As if we want you to leave," Sasamaru said.

"While it is shocking that you lied about your level, that doesn't make you any less our friend," Keita said, "We still want you as a member of the Moonlit Black Cats."

Kirito was shocked from their responses, he thought they would hate him and wanted him to leave, but he was wrong. They wanted him to stay.

"I-I don't believe it, thank you," he said.

"Now come on guys, you need to see the house I bought for us," Keita said.

Everyone cheered as they followed Keita, with Sachi staying close to Kirito.

*Present Time*

"It was then when I knew that me and her would be with each other for the rest of SAO," Kirito explained.

"But that didn't stop you from meeting other girls huh daddy," Yui said in frustration.

"Yui I already told you, I just helped Silica and Lizbeth when I met them, it didn't go to anything beyond that," he said, annoyed by his daughter's conclusions.

"So that's it," she said.

"That's it, sometime later we got together, got married, and moved to the log cabin and met you," he said.

"You two sure had a nice life together," Yui commented.

"It wasn't all good, there was the time she was trapped in Alfheim," he said with a frustrated look.

"Oh right, that was when you flirted with more girls," she said annoyed.

"We've been over this, Leafa was actually my sister-slash-cousin, besides she's with Shinichi remember," he said.

"Well what about that other girl who was trapped in a cage," Yui said.

"Asuna, she's just a friend Yui, although I wish I didn't see what happened to her," he said with a disgusted look. "But after all that, Sachi and I found each other and here we are now."

"Yes, here we are indeed," he heard a woman's voice say.

"Mommy your home," Yui said in Kazuto's laptop.

Kazuto smiled as he turned around and saw Sachi standing at the doorway.

"Welcome back," he said.

She smiled as she walked over to him, "Working hard again I see."

"Yep, I had to stop him from overdoing it," Yui said.

"Way to rat me out Yui," Kirito said.

"Hehe, well you said I take a lot from mommy," Yui said.

"Really you said that," Sachi said looking at Kirito.

"Yui if you were here I would pinch your cheeks for being a tattletale," Kirito said.

"You can't see it but I'm playfully sticking my tongue out at you," she said.

"So Yui takes a lot from me huh?" Sachi said.

"Well uh," Kirito said nervously.

"Well in my opinion, I'm glad you think that," she said, "It means that you pay close attention to me."

"Of course I would, why wouldn't I," Kirito smiled.

Sachi smiled before she started to lean closer to him, with Kirito doing the same. It was only a matter of time before their lips met. There are some things that Kirito regretted in his life, but when he lied about his level, he didn't regret that. And while it did endanger his friends, he was able to be together with her, and that he'll never regret.

And done, well my first SAO story, hope people like it.

So to my friend Pikatwig, really hope you this gift of yours and happy birthday. And to any other people reading this, hope you enjoyed reading my first SAO story. That's all I have to say.

Sain'ofu.