AN: My second Fic! This might be different from my other story, but this idea has been floating around ever since the first episode! There is a lot of other 'Kirito leads guild' stories, and this is actually an altered version of my original idea, so, I will incorporate stuff that won't fit into canon. BTW if something like [this] happens, it means that the text inside is from the game pop ups.

Update: Wrote a better opening.

Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online.

Chapter One: The First Day

Kirito looked at his appearance. The comforting veil of anonymity the Internet has always provided, is gone. He looked for a certain headband on the group of people. Klein… changed. The ridiculously handsome face was replaced with a rugged one. They stare at each other.

"Klein, follow me!"

"What?!" Kirito shuffled through people, going right to a empty alley. Klein cluelessly watched Kirito checking his inventory, an maps.

"Klein, there's a village not far from the starting city. We have to go there and grind with the spawning points there."

"Kirito, what are you doing?" Kirito looked at him confused. "I'm telling what we're going to do next. Why?" Klein smiled sadly.

"I have friends in this game. I have to find them." Kirito leaned his back against a wall, head low. "Klein, I don't think I could take you, and your friends. I.. You know that, right?" Klein shrugged.

"Yeah, I sorta figured…" a silent moment passed. Klein looked at the downtrodden 14 year old. "Bye." Kirito walked away, to the abandoned streets.

Klein knows the basics, right? Kirito reasoned with himself. He'll be fine. A moment passed before another thought hit him. Wait, how many friends does he have?! This thought plagued him. They might stay, try to grind around here. He sat down, trying to sort out his guilt.

What's their skill level?

What if Klein doesn't find his friends?

His guilt haunted him, and he turned around. Sure enough, Klein was absent. He walked to a nearby inn.

I need more time.

On the way, a girl brushed him aside, covering her face with hands. Kirito looked at her with confusion.

What's up with her?

He walked along, and rented a room. It was small, with a single bed with a tucked in blanket, two end tables and lamps, with a window, showing the sun almost obscured by the horizon. He collapsed on the bed, staring at the ceiling, trying to convince himself.

Klein's gonna be fine. Klein's gonna be fine. He looked out the window again. The sky was dark blue. He sat up, opening a enlarged map of the starting floor, distracting himself by studying it, and checking possible gear upgrades. But when he finally rested, his last thought before sleeping lingered on his mind.

Klein's not gonna be fine.

On the opposite room to him, a girl crouched on the corner, still awake, and covered with blankets. She brushed tears away from reddish eyes, traumatized from the sudden death rule revelation.

The First Day came to an end.

"Oh, about time." Kirito stretched. Horunka Village was nearby. There wasn't a lot of buildings, but it could serve as a hunting base. There wasn't a lot of players around. He entered a two story house, causing an NPC to run to him.

"Excuse me, but would you like a cup of water? We don't have any food." The NPC offered. "Yes." Then he heard coughs from another room.

"Is there anything wrong with whoever's inside?"

"Yes, my daughter's sick, and whatever medicine I can find, doesn't affect her." Kirito knew the quest intro was on the right track.

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Yes! There's these creatures around the forest, Little Nepents, they're called, and they're big, with branches that can hit you. And some of them, has a flower on top. I need you to get that flower for me to make a tea with it to heal her. And as a reward, I can give you a long sword that was passed down from my ancestors. Are you up to the task?" A quest prompt appeared in front of him.

[Accept quest, "Secret Medicine of the Forest"]

[Accept]

He knew the challenges that would face him. The flower was extremely rare. He headed out to the fields, looking for the creatures.

"This is how you do it, 'kay?" A Sword Skill sound effect played. Kirito looked around, familiar with the voice.

"It's pretty hard…" A slightly deep but timid voice replied. Kirito looked around even more, heading to the sound of the voices.

"You'll get it, Dale." The casual sounding voice rang again in his head. Kirito went over a hill, to find about half a dozen people with starting weapons and armor. The man in front of them raised his Curved Sword against a Little Nepent. That one had a flower. Kirito unsheathed his sword and ran as fast as he can. But not only because of the quest objective. The man had a red headband.

"This seems to be a little too hard, Klein," a very elfish-like man called out, raising a spear. "Relax-" Klein was whipped aside by a branch, sending him to a nearby tree. Kirito suddenly appeared next to the Nepent, a long blue gash appearing at it's side. The creature turned around, trying to hit Kirito with a branch. He ducked, and his sword glowed, and he dashed through, disintegrating it to countless shards.

"Uh, who the hell are you?" a man with a long face and stubble asked the preteen. "He's Kirito." Klein groaned as he stood up.

"Klein, what are you doing here? I expected you to stay in the Starting City."

"I heard you say that you were going to grind here. I followed that advice."

"Klein, how do you know him?" A big, stocky man asked.

"Well, Dale, I asked him for help yesterday. He's a beta tester. That's why I know how to use Sword Skills." The beta tester revelation further boosted Kirito's reputation with the group.

"Can any of you actually use Sword Skills?" Kirito questioned the group. "Beside's Klein, not really. I did it once, though." A man with a bandana and thin moustache answered. "Yeah, we're sorta screwed." Another agreed. Kirito looked at the group as a whole.

"Klein, um, I reconsidered my plan. Can I join you?" His face lit up. "Yeah, of course!"

"I'm only with you until you can handle yourselves, though."

"That's totally fine!" One person called out. "Okay, I'm Dynamm!" The guy with the bandana said. "This is Issin," the elfish man waved. "Dale," the large man shook his hand. "Harry One and Two; they're twins." Two young-faced people waved. One was calm, and the other was very excited. "Aaand, Kunimittz, the half-bastard," the long-faced man rolled his eyes. "Really?"

"Welcome to the team!"

Kirito can't help but chuckle.

"Weapons?"

"Curved Sword," Klein called out.

"Mace and shield," the twins raised hammers. Dynamm equipped a small round shield and sword.

"I have a greatsword," Dale informed. Issin and Kunimittz held out spears. Kirito nodded.

"Dale, Harry One and Two, you should equip heavy armor. You will handle the numerous, small enemies. Hit a lot of enemies with one strike. Issin, you will support Dale, watch his back, but have a bodyguard. Take one of the twins. Kunimittz, you too. You're the forwards, used to take the brunt of the load in the fight. Party up with each other." Kirito faced Klein. "Party up with me. We're similar in fighting styles."

"What about me?" Dynamm asked.

"You take anybody that passes through the forwards. You're not a forward, so use medium armor to be quicker."

"Kirito, what do we do?" Klein asked.

"We take down the stronger enemy types that might come with the weaker ones." Once everyone was prepared, they set out.

"I'm picking something up."

They later watched Kirito receive a sword with a gleaming whitish blade.

"This is the Anneal Blade. Who has One-Handed Sword as a skill?" Bandana guy raised his hand. "We'll get one for you. Meanwhile, we're doing another quest."

"What is it?"

"I'm sorry, we're fetching a jar of cream?!" Issin yelled. "Yeah," Kirito said smoothly. "Okay, I thought we were going to hunt!" Dynamm groaned.

"Textbook RPG filler. Help me, hero, my x is stolen by y. Can you get x for me? I would be sooo grateful." Kunimittz said in a falsetto voice.

"Look, this fetch quest is much harder than you think," Kirito responded to the complaints. "Now the old lady said it was north from her bakery. And this is north." Kirito pointed out an old cabin. Two NPC bandits in leather armor were sitting in front of the door.

"Right, let's get them." Klein went forward, but Kirito stopped him.

"Before we do this, I want you to promise me, that you will do exactly what I ask you."

"You're the boss." Dale responded.

"Alright then. I picked this quest because none of you know how to use Sword Skills, except Klein. The enemies are easy; level 1. Practice on them. Also, I want the cream jar." Kirito admitted on that last part.

"Really?"

"The food gets really boring in this floor," Klein raised his eyebrows on the rare emotional response. "Now go."

Dale charged, followed by the rest of the group, while Kirito and Klein watched on. They didn't really follow any formation, and glowing weapons were a rare, but increasingly common sight. The two bandits were disintegrated fairly quickly.

"Yes!" Dale yelled, flicking a thumbs up before opening the door. He was pushed aside when the door launched out.

"What?"

Dale stood up. The wooden door landed a few feet behind. A tall shirtless bandit walked out, hefting a greatsword.

[Lvl. 2 Bandit Chieftain]

"Oh, crap, that wasn't in the beta!" Kirito swore while taking Klein and running. "Get back!" The group stepped back, and Dale faced the miniboss. The Cheiftain roared, and clashed with Dale's greatsword, almost making him lose his footing.

"Dale, switch!" Kirito impulsively commanded.

The man didn't know what he exactly meant by that, but followed his instincts. He stepped back, while Kirito came in with a barrage of attacks and staggered the miniboss.

"Switch!" Dale activated a Sword Skill and cut right through the boss, the body disappearing in tiny pixels. The easy feat of defeating a miniboss confused Issin.

"Wait, why was the boss not doing anything?"

"The AI's confused who to attack, if we keep switching and attacking." Kirito explained. "That's what we would do to a powerful single enemy, but you have to hit it hard enough to start it."

"Hey, Dale!" Klein called from inside the cabin. "There's a greatsword from the loot." The man ran up and beheld it. The group followed.

The greatsword had a normal appearance, but it was more polished, and an emerald was in the crosspiece.

[Chieftain's Pride]

"I got the jar! Come on!" Kirito went outside.

"I'm gonna get one of those things someday," Harry Two grinned.

"We'll all get cool loot." Klein assured them. "Now come on, Kirito's waiting."

They went out of the old, rickety cabin, not looking back.

One week later...

The girl in the inn again considered her options for the billionth time. For the past week she was alone in the room, draining her funds paying the inn.

She can stay wrapped up in blankets, like the past week, crying about her troubles.

Or, do something about it. Go down fighting.

She let go of the blankets she tightly grasped, and stood up.

This was it! She stared at the door, determined to make it out alive. Crying never helps. She took the first step.

The room door was rimmed with light from the outside.

Second step.

She hardened, staving off any fear whatsoever.

Her hand reached for the doorknob, and twisted it. The orange lantern light bathed her, almost freeing her.

Asuna slammed the door closed.