A ray of white light pierced between the crack in the curtain and the window into the room. A small black box on the nightstand by the bed had bright green digits showing the time 7:11 AM. On the bed, a sleeping figure wrapped up in a bundle of sheets slept. A series of short grunts could be heard from the hard-working girl outside.

The day was quiet. The occasional birds would chirp, and the cars would pass by, but no one was filled up with any more excitement than usual. Today, nothing was wrong, and nothing special was going to happen; just another day of life.

The day was too quiet to know some terrible and wicked events had taken place last night after a young girl was left to walk home alone. A girl, who was hated, because she was the love of a swordsman, who was a good person, that saved lives and took away a murder's paradise. It is because of these unlikely and terrible events that someone innocent had been dearly wronged.

But all of this is unbeknownst to the sleeping figure, who should have woken up 11 minutes ago. Today was another day for him. He thinks he is going to wake up, get ready, head to school and see the love of his life. But the expectation of seeing his love, followed by the feeling of pure joy and happiness, would soon be replaced by overwhelming fear and dread.

But he didn't know that.

…

Asuna slowly stirred awake as she felt something prod her fur covered shoulder.

"S-stop it." she murmured.

A deep chuckle rang through her cat ears, and she winced, unused to her heightened senses. She couldn't tell who it was though, as both of the brothers had such similar mews.

"Well...I guess I'll go there without you then." the voice giggled.

At that line, she knew it was Smoke. Slowly, her bright amber eyes peeled open to meet the glossy blue ones.

"You wouldn't dare." she chided in response.

"Oh, yeah?" The tom turned away and started walking, leaving her.

"Oh, no you don't!" she sat up and crouched getting ready to pounce as she felt she had learned a lot more about being a cat and wouldn't make any of her previous mistakes.

She shifted her hind legs and pounced with her forepaws. Immediately she fell flat on her face. She got up to see Smoke mewing in laughter.

"Do you even know how to pounce?" he questioned, laughter still deep within his voice.

"Y-yeah! O-or no. Er-um...Not really." She shifted her gaze down, her ears flattened in embarrassment.

His head tilted in curiosity. "You never learned how?"

Asuna looked back up at his eyes, seeing confusion cloud his gaze.

"Oh um, yeah, I learned, I ju-just...um...got...in an accident! Yeah! It was really bad. I had to relearn how to walk and everything." she lied. Internally crossing her fingers that she didn't have anymore that he would believe it.

It was his turned to be embarrassed as he looked down. "Oh...I'm really sorry"

The she-cat quickly shook her head. "Oh no! It was nothing!"

Smoke flicked his tail. "Anyways. We gotta get going!"

…

Kazuto was brushing his teeth alongside Suguha when he heard the distinctive ring of the doorbell.

"You get it." Suguha demanded, though muffled by the froth of toothpaste in her mouth. "I got it all this week while you were busy clearing floors in New Aincrad."

He just nodded in agreement, not wanting to get into an argument with Suguha.

He quickly spat and then bounced downstairs skipping every other step as he made his way to the front door.

Neither Kazuto nor Suguha liked answering the door. It required social skills and charisma that one usually didn't have after just waking up. Even if it was late in the day, most conversations with people at the door were very awkward and uncomfortable. At best, there is a very formal and firm greeting, they do their business, and with a very formal goodbye, and at the end both go on about their day as though the other person didn't exist.

Kazuto hated it significantly more than Suguha did. Spending most of his life playing video games made him an awkward person. It was one of the reasons he enjoyed being alone and solo.

The doorbell rang again, and the raven-haired boy was snapped out of his thoughts.

He pulled the door open and was very surprised at the person he saw standing there.

Asuna's mother.

"M-Mrs Yuuki!" He stuttered in shock. "I wasn't expecting a visit!" At this moment he was very glad that he was all dressed in his school uniform, not wanting her to see him in his non-expensive regular clothing.

"Kirigaya." Her stern voice rang out, and her face filled with concern and worry.

He felt his back straighten up. He could not remember a moment when she was not carrying that intense expression of hers. But this time was different, usually, she didn't show any emotion at all, carrying a poker face at all times. The air was stiff, his gaze was locked with hers, his feet couldn't stop shifting.

"Where is Asuna?"

His eyes widened immediately. Sometimes it only takes a few words to induce someone into a mild to a severe panic attack. This is one of the moments in Kazuto's life where he truly felt terrified. He felt helpless, weak. His mind filled with a thousand thoughts and questions as he slowly fell down a rabbit hole in his mind. He could imagine what's happening to her right now. To her.

Asuna.

He took in a few breaths and looked back up at the older woman. Maybe he was over exaggerating. Maybe she just ran away somewhere else. Maybe she decided to have a girls night. Maybe she is with Sinon, or Silica, or Lizbeth, or Agil, or even Klein for that matter. Maybe she is at her house right now and just got home late. Maybe if he keeps doing this one of them will actually come true. Maybe, just maybe, she can be safe.

"Um… I don't know where she is. Why?" He gulped, scared of the answer.

"She... is missing then." she choked out.

Fear crashed down on him like an anvil. His heart was beating so heavily. There was a weight on his chest that made breathing impossible. Everything happened so slowly. He was visibly shaking. He didn't want to pester Asuna's mother anymore, but he had to be sure.

"She might have gone over to her friend's house. Are you sure she is not at Shino's house or-"

She cut him off "Yeah, we checked there first." The way she spoke to him suppressed anger and bitterness. It was clear she blamed him, and he blamed himself.

It was all his fault. He shouldn't have let her walk home alone. He should have protected her. Once again, he failed her. She doesn't deserve someone like him. She deserves so much more than he could ever offer her. But he'll be damned if he doesn't at least offer every single thing he has, every single day. He will never stop looking for her. He truly meant what he said back in Alfheim to Suguha. Nothing would ever end, nothing would ever begin, he had to see her again.

Keep fighting Asuna. I swear on everything that you'll be safe, and maybe, if you'll have me, we can be together forever.

…

The stone pavement tapped underneath her padded paws. It was still unnerving to hear four steps come from her but she slowly got used to it. The sun was clearly shining down on the thin fur on the two cats as they moved down the street. The bigger cat was a few paces ahead of her as he lead her deeper into town. They walked on a sidewalk that seemed to be abandoned by humans as it appeared that they preferred to use their cars.

Asuna originally thought that they would be stared at or even chased as she thought this would be an out of ordinary sight. However, they hardly got any glances from humans.

She then turned her gaze up to the sky, seeing that the sun was just barely above the horizon. She sighed at this. Smoke had informed her that the earliest they would be able to arrive would be around sunhigh.\ She had no idea what she would even do once she found him. I mean, could she even communicate with him?

"Hey Smoke…" She trailed off.

"Yeah?" He raised his head a little bit to show he was listening but didn't stop.

"Can we um, communicate with humans?" She tilted her head just a little bit.

He stopped at this, a bit ahead of her, glancing back at her with a very confused expression.

"Humans?"

"Er. Um. Twolegs?" She felt a bit weird saying that, but then again, she felt a bit weird being a cat.

But what came next shocked her.

He started laughing. It was a very deep and hearty laugh like she had said something absolutely ridiculous.

"Okay. For real, where are you even from? Do you live under a rock?" He questioned, still laughing.

"Ummm, no?" she responded while chuckling nervously, not understanding what is so funny.

"Well, to answer your question, no. Not even the kittypets can communicate with their twolegs."

Damn it.

"So...in theory how would one get a message to them?" She questioned with a flick of her tail.

The gray tom paused and turned around, looking at her as if she had grown two heads.

"Why on earth would you want to do that? Look, if you want food, you beg, if you want them to go away, you hiss and claw. They are very simplistic beings that don't think too deeply into things. What's with all these questions anyway?"

The small ginger she-cat looked down in embarrassment and licked her chest fur. "Nevermind it's nothing….really."

He stared at her for a bit, not buying it, her fur burned under his gaze. She silently pleaded in her head that he wouldn't question her any further.

The tom blinked and then turned around to continue forward.

Asuna continued to trail after him. The question kept nagging at her. How was she supposed to convince Kirito that she was Asuna? There wasn't exactly an easy form of communication meant for humans and cats to talk to each other. There was no need to. Until now. Which made her think. How did the old members of Laughing Coffin manage to get their hands on such advanced technology? It had to be difficult to be able to transfer someone's consciousness into that of a cat.

She stopped herself.

No time for that. I'll worry about communication later. Right now I need to find him.

…

Kazuto was escorted to a pale grey room with a table and two chairs occupying the center. The police had just finished interviewing Asuna's mother and father, Lisbeth, Sinon, Suguha, and Silica. He figured they saved his interview for last as an attempt to intimidate him because he very well could be a suspect. He was the last one to see her, so he didn't blame them for doubting them.

He pulled out one of the chairs and took a seat. It was not very comfortable but it did its job of providing him a seat. The officer who escorted him told him to wait patiently until the detective arrived and then left him to his thoughts.

The teenage male leaned forward propping his elbows on the table as he let his head rest in his hands. Thoughts of what his beloved could be going through invaded his mind. It had been mere hours since he had been told the horrible news and he had been unable to relax and likely wouldn't be able to until Asuna was safe. He briefly wondered if they would allow him to assist in the investigation. Helping to track her down would slightly ease the ever-growing tension in his chest. However, he doubted they would let him. Not only might he be considered a suspect but he was also only a teenage boy with no experience with police work. He would be lucky to even be updated about the case 24/7.

The loud creaking of the door signaled its opening. Kazuto raised his head from his hands and turned to see a rather tall sturdy man with a very intimidating aura. He looked on the older side as if the stress from this line of work had aged him many years. He slowly stepped across the room and took the seat opposite from the much younger boy.

"So you are Ms. Yuuki's lover?" He didn't hesitate to immediately start with the questioning.

The teenager nodded.

The old man just continued his cold, intimidating stare. "Okay, tell the story from the beginning."

"Well," Kazuto began,"We were hanging out at the park, but it got dark so we decided to call it a night. I offered to escort her home but she insisted that she was fine." As he said that statement he felt so stupid. Why on earth had he let her walk home alone? He should have forced her to let him walk her home. She might have been angry at the time but at least then she would have been safe.

Apparently, the regret had been evident on his face because the detective then spoke.

"It wasn't your fault. The worst thing you can do in this situation is to blame yourself. How could you have known this would happen to her?"

Kazuto was silent. His onyx eyes were fixed onto the floor.

"...But this isn't the first time it has happened to her, is it?"

That statement finally made him snap out of his trance. Kazuto lifted his head and met the older man's gaze.

"No," he informed,"She is not only an SAO survivor but she was also a victim of the experiments that went down in ALO when the server was under the control of Sugou Noboyuki."

The detective nodded his head, taking in all the new information and drawing out new theories in his head.

"Listen, I know that you will likely say no, but I have to ask, is it possible for me to join the case? I know that-"

The raven-haired boy was cut off by the older male. "Listen, kid, I know you want to find your girlfriend but this isn't an easy job and it's not for the faint of heart. You shouldn't have to worry about this stuff."

"I know that but I can handle it! It would actually put me more at ease to know that I was doing something to help find Asun- I mean Ms. Yuuki."

The detective sighed and put a hand to his forehead. "Do you even have any experience in this field?"

"Actually, I do. I am also an SAO survivor. I not only solved a murder where you weren't supposed to be able to be killed, but I also sent a guild to jail and finished off a huge murderous guild." He stated confidently.

"Solving a case here and solving a case in a game are two different things," he stated matter-of-factly.

"I also figured out everything that was happening under wraps within the ALO server." He added in.

The older man's brown eyes widened. "That was you? I had heard that it was a single man that did it without any resources, but for him to also be a teenager?" His eyes raked his face looking for any signs of deception, but instead of worry or fear like he expected, he saw only determination and love.

"Please," the love-struck teenager begged, "I love her."

The detective sighed. "We can't pay you."

"You couldn't pay me enough to keep away from this case." the raven-haired boy answered.

"So you admit that even if I turned you down, you would still follow this case?" He questioned and saw the teenager nod. "That's illegal you know."

"I don't care." He responded simply as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Fine," the older man gave in, "From now on, you will be my intern."

The two men stood up and lifted their hands to shake one another.

"Ok, my name is Kirigaya Kazuto. I want to get started immediately."

The older man chuckled though the raven-haired boy was serious.

"Ok intern, I am Detective Amano Haruto. Let's bring you up to speed, then we will head to the scene. Let us go, shall we?"