A/N: Hey guys! Happy Valentine's Day! This essentially is just a Kazuto X Asuna romance fic, nothing else really happens. So before you start criticising any clichés or sappiness, just remember it's a Valentine's Day fic, the one day of the year that you can allow these things. So please enjoy and away we go.
Disclaimer: I do not in any way own Sword Art Online. (I can't look myself in the mirror any more because of this.)
Until The End Of Time.
Kazuto woke up to the sound of birds singing outside his window. He jumped out of bed and flung the curtains open. He stared out at the sky. It was an extremely sunny Saturday morning with a deep-azure sky. He quickly had a shower and got changed. He bolted down the stairs and devoured his breakfast at lightning pace. He tore off out the door shouting "See you later!" through a mouthful of food. Suguha, confused by how much of a hurry her cousin was in to get out of the house, turned to look at the calendar and a small smile curled on her lips. It read February 14th. 'He can be so forgetful at times.' she thought while leaving a small giggle escape her.
The extremely energetic boy hopped on his bicycle and raced into town. He wasn't particularly late for anything or in a hurry but he didn't know how long it would take before he found the perfect present for Asuna. He looked through many shops but couldn't find anything. 'Everything is probably gone because I waited until the last minute.' he beat himself up on the inside. 'What am I going to do now?' This question remained in his head until he was passing a jewellery shop, where something caught the corner of his eye with an exceptional glint. He walked inside the shop and looked at the locket that had caught his eye and he knew immediately that it was perfect. He left for home with the locket safely packaged in his pocket. He went upstairs to his room and locked the door. He didn't wish to be disturbed as he set about to making a few of his own adjustments to the locket.
Meanwhile, across town, Asuna too was fretting about what Valentine's Day gift she would give to Kazuto. 'Oh, this is so difficult,' she thought to herself, 'I cannot think of anything to give him.' Just as she began thinking about all the things that her boyfriend loved, an idea hit her and she ran to the store to get some supplies.
That night, Kazuto had invited Asuna over to his house to spend some time together. Sugu and his aunt had gone out to visit some relatives, thus leaving the two teens alone. Kazuto heard a knock at the door and rushed to open it. Standing there was Asuna, dressed in a long, beige trenchcoat with matching gloves and a hat. It had gotten particularly cold that night as the lack of cloud cover during the day allowed much of the heat to escape.
"Happy Valentine's Day Kirito-kun!" the enthusiastic Asuna proclaimed.
"Happy Valentine's Day to you too Asuna." came the Black Swordsman's reply as he pulled Asuna into a hug. "You must be freezing, please come in." With that, Asuna stepped inside, removed her shoes and warm gear and followed Kazuto into the sitting room. "Wait here, I'll be back in just a moment."
He didn't leave Asuna alone long as he came back in immediately with two cups of steaming-hot hot chocolate which he had made just before she arrived. "Thank you, Kirito-kun, this is exactly what I needed." she stated happily before moving over on the couch so that she could rest her head on his shoulder. Kazuto smiled at this and gently laid his head on top of Asuna's. They stayed this way for a couple of minutes, sipping their cocoa until they had both completely drained their mugs. Then Kazuto piped up.
"Hey Asuna, would you like to go up onto the balcony and go stargazing with me for a while?" He got a nod in response so they both wrapped up warmly and made their way to Kazuto's room. He opened the window and helped Asuna out onto the balcony before hauling himself through the window. As Asuna was being helped out the window, she noticed a small box out of the corner of her eye on Kazuto's desk and wondered what it was all about. They cuddled together up on the balcony for a few minutes, staring at all the illuminating stars and the full moon before Kazuto got up.
"I'll be back in just a moment." he said as he slid in through the window. He picked up the box that Asuna had taken notice of and slipped it into his pocket. He hoped with all his heart that she would like it.
At the same time, out on the balcony, Asuna was checking the contents of a box that she had kept hidden inside her coat. 'Yup, everything's fine, no damage has been done.' she thought and she too began to hope that her beloved Kirito-kun would like his present. As Kazuto slid back out onto the balcony, Asuna quickly hid the box and turned to smile at him.
"I'm back." he stated the obvious before returning to his seated position next to her. They stared at the sky a bit longer before Asuna said,
"They're beautiful aren't they? The stars, the moon, it's all just so enthralling."
"Yeah." came Kazuto's meager reply as his mind was entrapped by the beauty of the sky. "You know," he began, "When we were trapped in SAO, there were times that I thought that we would never get out, but then I'd take a long look at the sky, and I'd see all of the virtual stars glistening like diamonds and I'd think that someday, I would see the same night sky back in the real world and then I'd find new courage to carry on and conquer Aincrad." Asuna smiled at hearing this as she never thought that she would hear her beloved say anything of that sort, ever.
"I remember being like that quite a few times aswell," she decided to speak, "But then I would think of you and the love we shared and our relationship with Yui and I'd find everything to be okay again." They turned and smiled widely at each other when Kazuto decided to give Asuna his gift to her.
As he sat up and pulled the box out of his pocket, he commented, "Here, I got you this. Happy Valentine's Day, my dear."
"Oh, Kirito-kun, you didn't have to get me anything."
"But I wanted to." And with that, Asuna finally accepted the box and when she opened it, her eyes, as noticed by Kazuto, lit up with that same glow they had the night he proposed to her in SAO. "Well, do you like it?" Kazuto was quite curious at this point as she had not uttered a word. It was then that he noticed she was crying.
"Ki...Kirito-ku...kun it's... it's beautiful, I love it, thank you so much." She was barely able to breathe out as she lifted her gift from the box. It was a silver heart-shaped locket, which Asuna knew would have been ferociously expensive.
"Open it." was all that she heard from her boyfriend. She pressed the button at the side of the locket to reveal Kazuto's handiwork. Inside, on one side of the locket, was a picture of the couple resting together on a park bench, snuggled closely together. Asuna thought back to the day that picture had been taken. It was back in the summer and all of their friends had met up in the park for a relaxing day out. She remembered sitting down on that bench with Kazuto as Klein snuck up and took the picture, causing both halves of the couple to turn as red as tomatoes and to both get extremely frustrated with Klein. This memory brought a tear of joy to her eye as she remembered how much fun she had had that day. On the other side of the locket, it was a different story. Unlike the first half, which contained only a picture, this half contained a video. There was a small icon that she pressed and the video came to life. It had her boyfriend standing side by side with their virtual daughter Yui. It was then that they spoke their message. We love you Asuna, we always have and always will, until the end of time. This caused Asuna to practically have an emotional breakdown as she burst into tears. Kazuto wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her into his embrace, taking her free hand in his.
"Kirito-kun," she finally managed to get out after she had regained her breath, "Thank you so much, for this wonderful gift, I've always loved you too and I always will." They smiled at each other as Kazuto took the locket from her hand and placed it around her neck.
"There, I think it complements you quite nicely."
"Oh, you." Asuna blushed. "Oh right, I almost forgot, Happy Valentine's Day Kirito-kun." she continued as she took the box from earlier out from inside her coat and gave it to him.
"Thank you." he said as he accepted the box, knowing that they would both feel extremely bad if he didn't. He opened it and you could see his eyes and mouth grow wide, like a child's on Christmas morning. Inside were some beautiful home-made heart-shaped cookies. Kazuto could not stop smiling or thanking his girlfriend for the next five minutes.
Asuna eventually spoke up. "Well, I guess we can call this the best Valentine's Day ever." she declared.
"You bet." Kazuto replied. With that he pulled her into a deep, long kiss and when they broke apart he kept his forehead gently pressed against hers and their eyes locked together, threatening to never break apart. He whispered to her, "I love you Asuna. Happy Valentine's Day."
"I love you too Kirito-kun. Happy Valentine's Day."
They spent the next few minutes snuggled together, sharing each other's warmth and eating Asuna's delicious cookies, staring at the enthralling scenery overhead.
The End.
A/N: So what did you guys think? Romantic enough? Please deposit your feelings towards this story in my review box. Thank you! And Happy Valentine's Day! Kazuto X Asuna forever!