Warning: Yes, this is a Sinon X Kirito fic. If this makes you uncomfortable TURN BACK NOW!

The Archery Skill

Chapter 1: The Beginning

"Bye Kazuto," Suguah yelled to her brother as she rushed off to kendo practice, "Tell mom I'll be home for dinner"

Kazuto looked out the window at the rolling hills of sand, the broken streets and the burned out buildings. He saw his sister running hurriedly through the gate in the cracked cement wall of their front yard. There were only three minutes left until the official launch of the most anticipated game of the decade: Sword Art Online. SAO was the first non-demo game developed for the revolutionary virtual reality controller NerveGear, and best of all, it was an MMO. Kazuto put on the futuristic looking greyish-gold helmet and waited anxiously to return to Aincrad. Soon would be the end of the months of waiting; he could once again immerse himself in that virtual world and pretend he never had to return… 3…2…1…"LINK START!"

She stared at the helmet coldly. She hoped she had finally found the answer, a way to pretend, a way to travel to a place where no one knew what she had done, where no one would take advantage of her fear, where no one would fear her for what she had done, and where no one would know who she was. It was 12:59 she put on the NerveGear wishing for a new life… "LINK START!"

Kirito looked around. The scene was familiar. It was the main plaza of the Town of Beginnings. Players were everywhere, gawking at the VR they had never before experienced, and making conversation. He didn't particularly like people, all they did was get in his way and take his loot. They were annoying.

Kirito ran as fast as his AGI would let him, he wanted to get the good farming spots before they were all gone. He was suddenly stopped by another player, it was a man with pink hair, "Hey, can you help me? You look like you know where you're going; are you a beta tester?"

He looked nice enough, Kirito sighed he was probably going to be less of an annoyance if Kirito helped him rather than turning him down, and it seemed unlikely that one player could slow him down too much. He decided to help. "Kirito," He told the other player, "And you are?"

"The name's Klein," He said, extending a hand. Kirito shook it loosely.

"We should get going," Kirito said, "I know a good hunting spot just west of here." They jogged together, to the boar fields. The first boar came into view, Kirito motioned for Klein to slow down, "Okay, show me what you can do." Kirito said. The boar charged at Klein, who weakly batted at it with his sword, causing a single point of damage, but it continued its charge, unfazed by Klein's attempts to hurt it, rammed the man in the crotch. Klein fell to the ground clutching his groin and howling.

"Dude, you can't feel pain in this game," Kirito sighed.

The man looked into the distance for a second, then looked down, removing his hands. "Huh. You're right. I guess it's just a reflex."

Kirito planted his foot on the boar's head, preventing it from attacking him and said "You have to pause slightly before your swing and when you feel the skill start to activate just let it explode."

"Explode?" The man muttered to himself. Kirito released the boar which charged at Klein, he brought his sword over his shoulder and closed his eyes for a second. He felt it! Beginning a downward slash, he saw his sword glowing pink. Then he dashed forward and slashed through the boar, turning it into nothing more than a cloud of polygons. "YEAH!" He yelled excited at his first kill.

"Congrats," Kirito said sarcastically "That pig's about as tough as slimes are in other games"

"What? I thought it was a mid-level boss."

"Ha. No you wanna go hunt some more?"

"Heck yeah!"

After a few more hours of hunting they sat, looking at the sunset discussing how great it was to live in this time. Klein had to go, Kirito recalled that he had said something about a pizza. "Hey Kirito-san?" He asked

"Yeah,"

"There's no logout button"

"Sure there is it's right here…" He trailed off looking at the empty spot that it should be, "It's gone," A bell began tolled in the distance, "A force teleport," Kirito said, "Interesting."

Attention, players. Welcome to my world.

"My world?" Kirito asked to himself.

My name is Kayaba Akihiko. At the moment, I am the sole person who can control this world. I'm sure you've already noticed that the logout button is missing from the main menu.

Sinon stared at the game master in horror. Her hands were shaking, she swiped open the menu but the logoff button was gone; there was a place for it, but it was empty.

But this is not a defect in the game. I repeat… This is not a defect in the game. This is a feature of Sword Art Online

"A-a feature?" Klein asked, astonished.

You cannot log out of SAO yourselves and no one on the outside can shut down or remove the NerveGear. Should this be attempted, the transmitter inside the NerveGear will emit a powerful microwave, destroying your brain and ending your life.

Sinon felt her knees give out and she sank to the ground; it felt as if someone had a gun to her head.

Klein remarked to Kirito about how crazy this was, but everything Kayaba had just said was true.

Unfortunately, several players and their families have ignored this warning, and have attempted to remove the NerveGear. As a result, two hundred and thirteen players are gone forever, from both Aincrad and the real world.

Asuna heard exclamations of disbelief from the crowd around her but she just stared blankly forward trying to wake herself from this terrible nightmare - it didn't work. The GM pulled up several news feeds which hovered around him displaying covered bodies and crying families.

As you can see, news organizations across the world are reporting all of this, including the deaths.

Kirito's mind flashed to his aunt and 'sister' he had to find a way to get out, for Suguha.

Thus, you can assume the danger of a NerveGear being removed is now minimal. I hope you will relax and attempt to clear the game. But I want you to remember this clearly: there is no longer a method to revive someone within the game. If your HP drops to zero, your avatar will be lost forever. And simultaneously, the NerveGear will destroy your brain.

This last sentence was burned into all the players' minds: there were no respawns.

There is only one means of escape: to complete the game. Currently on Aincrad you are on the lowest floor, floor one. If you make your way through the dungeon and defeat the Floor Boss, you may advance to the next level. Defeat the final boss on floor 100, and you will clear the game.

There were more cries of disbelief and anger from the crowd.

Finally, I've added a present from me to your item storage. Please see for yourselves.

All the players slid open their menus and into their inventories, only to find a [Mirror], everyone began inspecting them to see what was so special about a mirror.

The entire plaza started to glow in a white light. Sinon was about to take out her own mirror until several shrieks from some of the other players made her stop and look around; she saw that the other player's avatars were changing to what she could only assume was what they looked like in real life. She didn't use it. After all, as Sinon she was fearless and strong, but as herself she was scared and weak; plus she liked her blue hair.

Right now, you're probably wondering, "Why? Why would Akihiko Kayaba, developer of Sword Art Online and the NerveGear, do all this?" My goal has already been achieved. I created sword art online for one reason… To create this world and intervene in it. And now, it is complete.

Kirito looked in disdain at the avatar of the man he had once praised.

This ends the tutorial for the official launch of Sword Art Online. Good luck players.

There was chaos in the plaza. Kirito knew what he had to, he grabbed Klein's wrist and ran he ran as if his life depended on it "What are you doing?" Klein asked, stopping them in an alley.

"We need to leave, we need to get ahead of everyone else, so we can survive." Klein's look alone told Kirito he couldn't come with him; he probably had friends. Kirito understood and was gone.

She had to get away, as far from this place as possible. She was on the verge of crying and throwing up, but the game only allowed one of those actions. Her vision was blurry with unfallen tears but she ran through the alleys towards the fields. She wiped her eyes and at that moment something got in her way and she ran into it. She fell to the ground and felt a searing pain in her head as it made contact with the ground; apparently Kayaba had turned off the pain inhibitors. The thing she had run into was a person but she couldn't tell if it was a boy or girl. She let out a few more sobs the urge to cry becoming too hard to restrain. The person crawled over to her, "Are you okay?" They asked. It was a boy she thought. She wiped her eyes and tried to compose herself, "Yes I'm fine." She said coldly, not looking whoever it was in the eyes.

"I'm sorry I should've looked where I was going, I didn't mean to run into you..." She peered at the person with one eye and looked him over, he was about her age, with a somewhat feminine face, black hair, and deep purple eyes. He was wearing a blue shirt and leather armor, like everyone, and he had a short sword strapped to his back; he had a hand extended in an attempt to help her up. With some effort and pain she managed to stand up on her own.

"Well I think you owe me for being so oblivious and running into me," she said "show me where the best hunting spots are and we'll be even. I'm Sinon by the way; I thought I ought to tell you since it seems we'll be working together."

"Oh, I'm Kirito, Pleased to meet you Sinon-san."

They were walking along a path out of the city; there was no one else around. Most of the other players were probably still in the town of beginnings panicking. She had light blue hair with black ribbons tied on either side: she was wearing a white shirt and black leather armor with a green jacket and very short black shorts. She didn't have a sword instead she had a dagger on each side of her waist sheaths attached to a grey belt, a couple throwing needles in a band strapped to her thigh. She stopped and turned around; Kirito quickly looked off into the distance. She giggled slightly, it was kind of cute.

"If you're done checking me out it would be good if you could either start leading or tell me where to go."

Kirito felt his face heat up a little, "Uhh, yeah. Sure thing," He stammered, jogging up beside her, "I was just wondering what your main weapon is" He covered expertly.

"Sure." She said, not at all convinced, "I guess I just haven't found it yet, but I like range so I got these." she pulled out a throwing needle

"Oh ok. I guess that makes sense."

She grabbed his wrist and started running, "LET'S GO KILL SOME BOARS!"

Asuna stood motionless staring at the spot where Kayaba had been, not wanting to believe but knowing all was true. She checked into the nearest inn with space available, and she cried herself to sleep thinking that maybe she would wake up in her room, instead of this dreadful nightmare.

A/N: Okay, first end note… not a whole lot today. Please R&R it's so helpful and really makes me want to write that much more, feel free to tell me I suck just back it up with evidence and show how your writing is superior. Don't just say: "You're a fag, stop writing, and kill yourself" or something equally ignorant.

Sinoto: it's a community… check it out… it's good.

I went back and revised this chapter so I hope it's better now.

Hope you guys like it, I've wanted to do something like this for some time but was just too lazy so I just read and didn't write.

I may not do this pairing justice but I'll sure as hell try my best…

Peace off ^_^