Work Text:
“Kirito! What do you think you’re doing?”
I blinked my eyes open as I heard a harsh but familiar voice break through my peaceful slumber. Couldn’t a guy get a break?
Reluctantly, I got up, supporting myself on my elbows, rubbing my eyes and glancing around for who’d interrupted my rest. Ah. Asuna.
The Vice-Commander of the Knights of the Blood. The deadliest swordswoman in Aincrad. A vision clad in the red and white leathers of a lady knight, armed with a rapier and unmatched ability to wield it.
She was also my former partner. The fact that we no longer worked together these days evidently didn’t stop her from trying to boss me around.
“Well, Kirito? What do you have to say for yourself?”
I sighed deeply, and looked up at the girl glaring down at me with her arms crossed and a severe expression upon her normally beautiful face. Well, it wasn’t the first time Asuna looked at me like that.
“It’s the nicest season in Aincrad, Asuna,” I said, “May as well enjoy it.”
“The weather’s the same everyday!” Asuna replied petulantly.
“What’s the last time you enjoyed it then?”
Asuna shook her head and looked away from me.
“That’s not the point, Kirito! We can’t laze around like this when everyone’s working hard to get out of here!”
“Asuna, does anyone else in your Knights of Blood have a higher level than you?”
She blinked at me for a second, thrown off, before responding. “No, but - “
“Not even the Commander?”
“I just beat him last week - “
I cut Asuna off. “And I’m pretty sure I’m a level or two higher than you too. As the two highest leveled players in the game, I think we both deserve a bit of time off.”
Asuna frowned but sat down besides me anyways.
“I don’t know Kirito, there’s still so much to do. And I’m the vice-commander, what sort of example would I be setting by slacking off?”
“Asuna, even you deserve to take a break every now and then. Everyone knows how hard you work, and if they give you shit, uh…”
Asuna giggled and smiled at me. God, she was pretty when she did that. “I can take care of myself, Kirito. But thank you.”
“So does that mean you’re gonna take a break?” I asked. If there was a hopeful tint to my voice, well, Asuna was still my best friend. We didn’t exactly see each other often outside of work - boss battles and strategy meetings, so it would be nice to have some time together.
Asuna nodded. “Just an hour! And if something happens, you let me know, okay Kirito?”
And with those words, Asuna lied down, resting her head in my lap, her chestnut hair splaying out and intertwining with the blades of grass underneath us.
“Asuna! What are you…?” I asked, startled. Sure, Asuna and I were close. But wasn’t this a bit too close?
In response, Asuna just sighed, shifting slightly and getting herself comfortable on my lap. I couldn’t help but let my gaze linger on her for a second too long.
“You can’t expect me to just lie down on the grass, you don’t know what’s in there.”
“There’s nothing! I’ve been here all day!”
Asuna just chuckled at me. “And thank you for your sacrifice, Kirito-kun. I appreciate it.”
I made to say something snarky, before holding my tongue. Why was I complaining? Getting Asuna to take a break and just enjoy the world for once was what I was trying to do. And the fact that a pretty girl - that Asuna, my best friend and partner - was lying on my lap just made it better. This was the sorta thing that Kazuto Kirigaya would never even have dreamed of.
So I took my own advice, and tried to relax. Key word tried .
What are you supposed to do when a girl’s lying in your lap? I could feel my heart pounding and palms sweating. I felt more aware of my virtual body than I ever did. Countless years of playing video games had not prepared me for something like this. There was a very big difference between a romance scene in an RPG and your best friend deciding your lap is a nice place to take a nap.
Asuna opened her eyes, glancing up at me. “Stop fidgeting, Kirito” she whined.
“Uh… okay?” I replied lamely.
She just rolled her eyes and grabbed my hands, bringing them down to rest on her head. Hesitantly, I stroked her head, drawing a pleasant sound of contentment from Asuna.
For a while, we just sat there together, me idly running my hair through Asuna’s silky smooth chestnut hair while she got the break she must’ve desperately needed. Heathcliff really ran her way too hard, and Asuna was the type to put all she had into everything she did.
Sometimes I was a little in awe that a girl as smart, as strong, as brilliant as Asuna would want to hang out with a lonely, antisocial guy like me. Even if I was a couple levels ahead of her, that was more because Asuna had so much more on her plate than I did. Pretty much running the Knights of Blood, training her guild members, leading strategy meetings, and so on. And on top of that, she was one of the best fighters in the game.
I did my best to stay awake, keeping an eye out. Even in a safe zone, there were ways to sneak around the game mechanics and do harm. If Asuna trusted me enough to rest, I’d do my best to make sure she was safe. Even a brilliant fencer like her was vulnerable sometimes.
Was it strange to say that I didn’t miss the real world too much sometimes? Of course I missed my mother and father, and my sister Suguha, but moments like this almost made it worth it. In the real world, I don’t think a girl like Asuna would give me a second glance.
No. That was being unkind to her. She was warm and caring and compassionate. I think if she were given the chance, we could’ve been friends there too. But in the real world, Kazuto Kirigaya would never have crossed paths with Asuna, would have never let her in.
When I first put on the Nerve-Gear and dived into Sword Art Online, I wasn’t sure why I was doing it. Maybe I was looking for a purpose. Maybe that’s why I came here, to this virtual world, this great castle of steel. So I could meet her.
An hour passed before I’d even noticed, and Asuna was still dozing off in my lap, a strangely peaceful expression on her face. For all Asuna was, she was still just a teenage girl at the end of the day, not much older than me. At least I figured she was a little older, she just had a sense of maturity to her that made her seem that way.
I figured I should wake her up. We did agree to just an hour, even if part of me wanted to find an excuse for her to stick around. So I prodded her face gently with a finger, and Asuna blinked her bleary eyes open.
“5 more minutes, Kirito,” she mumbled, and went back to sleep.
I went to prod her again before stopping myself. She clearly needed this, and I honestly didn’t have it in myself to wake her when she was slumbering so contentedly. I shot off a quick message to Argo - asking her to let me know if anything happened that might need Asuna’s attention in the short term. That naturally led to me having to explain myself to her and receiving an ungodly amount of teasing in turn.
I didn’t mind though. I was glad that I could support Asuna in this way. So I brought my hand back down to Asuna’s head, gently tangling it through her hair - wow, it was soft - and kept my eyes open just in case anyone tried to take advantage.
This was weirdly comforting in a way. As the Aincrad sun set hours later, casting the horizon in orange light, it was as if Asuna and I were the only two people in the world. I wouldn’t mind if that was the case.
Asuna wriggled in my lap, finally waking up and rubbing her eyes.
“Kirito? What– Kirito!” she yelped.
“Enjoy your nap?” I asked.
“Well, yes,” she started, “But you were supposed to wake me after an hour!”
I scratched the back of my neck nervously. “I did try to wake you up… Besides, you looked too comfortable.”
Asuna got up from my lap, making a point of not looking at me. “It was pretty nice,” she mumbled.
I raised an eyebrow. “Asuna?”
“Nothing! Anyways, I think you owe me for failing to wake me up on time.”
“I owe you?”
Asuna hummed in agreement and flicked through her menu, presumably checking her messages, before nodding.
“You can cover dinner for the both of us!”
While I could already feel the hole that we’d be making in my wallet, I happily followed Asuna to the nearby town, idly chatting and catching up and trying to figure out where we wanted to eat. And if we were walking a little closer to each other than would be appropriate, if the back of her hand would occasionally brush mine for the slightest fragment of a second - well, I wouldn’t be the first to complain.