I did apply some personal logic referring to the Medicuboids into this. That reasoning is that while the Sleeping Knights and the like do not exit the game often, if ever, they are able to due to the fact that they're not Nervegear and not part of the SAO disaster. I also moved the Konno sibling's move into ALO up by a couple of years, for reasoning that will become apparent.

Furthermore, I created the idea of all the SAO patients being in one mega-hospital, simply because that would have been the most logical thing to do, so they could all be monitored more easily and simultaneously.

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Sword Art Online: Shattered Chains

Chapter Nine

Blood

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One wonders who is really in charge these days. Yuuki Shouzou mused to himself in amusement as he watched Kirigaya Suguha holding court from her place in front of the Information Desk of the largest hospital in Japan, the newly constructed Sacred Hope Hospital for International Disasters.

Not long after the SAO disaster had begun, the Pope himself had made an international address, calling for all men and women of every nation to come together and help to care for the victims until they were freed from their virtual prison.

While the call had been responded to by every land, it had been the Catholic Church (naturally, as it was their leader who made the call) who had responded with the most vigour. Tens of billions of dollars had begun flowing to the SAOVRU in addition to their governmental funding, and they had been put to good use. Plans had quickly been drawn up for a massive hospital complex, capable of holding every single victim of the incident, or any other disaster that might occur in the Eastern Hemisphere. The complex was designed to sit upon a man-made island in Tokyo Bay, with a trio of bridges as well as ferry services running 24/7 to shuttle staff and visitors to the premises.

Workers, equipment, and designers had flooded into the island nation by the thousands, and the U.N. Security Council had sent large forces of their most elite military groups to help ensure the protection of first the workers, and then the victims and staff.

With the aid and skill of every major power and several minor ones, the complex had been completed in less than a year, a feat that had previously been thought utterly impossible. However, as the Pope was quick to point out in his follow-up address after the U.N. had issued a somewhat grudging thank you for the support of the world's Catholics, such was the power and beauty of the world working in concert for a single, righteous cause.

Now, the patients were beginning to arrive from across the world, though the majority was from Japan and America, and Suguha had quickly taken command of the situation. First using the head of the SAOVRU as a mouthpiece, then more directly, she had begun by dividing the victims up into categories. The children were in one section, their in-game caretakers split up amongst the rooms, while the other 'campers' (those who were not actively trying to clear the game) were placed in another section. The Clearing Force were in the most heavily staffed section, given the more extreme risks to their health. The last section was very different indeed. With reinforced doors, walls, and windows, it could only be entered or exited by checkpoints, staffed by armed guards provided by the military. It was in this section that the criminals of SAO were placed. People who had been convicted and imprisoned of a crime within the game. This had been done at the very strong urging of himself, with Suguha in full agreement, after they had discussed what to do with those individuals. They had come to agree that they could pose a risk to the safety of the non-criminal players, especially those who captured them, and that they needed to be contained until the real world police could take them into custody.

Asuna's father shuddered slightly as he remembered Suguha bringing him up to speed on the next hurdle their family faced. To think, a group of people in that world that were going to dedicate themselves to murdering others for profit, and under such flimsy and amoral reasoning, at that. He hated the scapegoat attitude of the modern world as much as Kirito and Suguha did. He just prayed that none of the decent people in that world perished in their efforts to stamp out such trash. He would not, however, shed any tears if certain monitors registered a flat-line in response to their efforts. Some might consider him cruel for thinking that, but any man or women who killed another for no better reason than money was not only scum, but no longer human.

"Yuuki-san, it looks like everything is all set here. You promised your wife we would be home in time for dinner, ne? If so, we might want to get going." The voice of the young miss Kirigaya brought him out of his musings, and he turned a warm smile to her.

"Hai, Hai. My dear wife does not appreciate it when people make her wait at the table. Something my dear daughter inherited from her, I dare say." He sighed a little wistfully before turning to escort the girl back to their transportation.

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Several hours later found Suguha logging back into ALO, eager to rejoin all of the friends she had made in the game, many of which were not even Slyphs.

There was Alicia Rue, a beautiful if short, dark skinned blonde with golden eyes and the frankly adorable ears and tail of the cat-race of ALO, the Cait Sith. Smart-talking and flirty, the only thing that moved faster than her wit were the twin claw gauntlets she wielded.

Sakuya, a fellow Slyph that was very popular with their people for both her beauty and her grace. With long hair and longer legs, she cut a figure that many women would be, and were, jealous of. Especially when she dressed in traditional Japanese clothing and ornamentation, with a katana hanging from the obi around her waist.

Incidentally, both of these young women were at the very top of the running for being the leaders of their respective factions, each hoping to achieve the Lordship in order to try and foster better relations between the two peoples.

Then of course there was Recon, who was almost perpetually flustered from being surrounded by such beauties, and often made a fool out of himself as he tried to be impressive and manly, only to bungle the entire situation. It was actually really rather amusing, all things considered.

Regardless, between the amount of fun that the game was, and her friends, she could see just why Kazuto loved these games so much, and spent so much time in them before the whole SAO disaster.

The world around her finished forming, resolving itself into the interior of the largest inn beneath Yggdrasil, the World Tree Inn. Given her friendship with a member of a rival faction, her group spent the vast majority of their time in the neutral territory where all the territories met, that being the massive, neutral capital city of Asgard, which surrounded the entire base of the world tree. While the city was technically divided into nine sections, one for each major race (in fact, this was decided because the point where all their territories met was the world tree itself, making the neutral city technically 9 small cities that blended together. Not that anyone cared to split such thin hairs) it was unlawful to attack or kill anyone within city limits without declaring a duel, or in response to an unprovoked attack. Those whose broke this rule usually found themselves attacked by the city guardians, stripped of their gear, and dumped into the wilderness outside the city limits with a cool-down preventing them from reentering the city for a month. Needless to say, it only took a few examples of this before the player-base at large decided to leave the factional squabbling for more appropriate venues.

"Heyyyy~! Leafaaaaaa~!"

Leafa's lung emptied themselves in a rush as Alicia glomped her from behind with a cheerful cry of her name. Stumbling slightly, Leafa looked over her shoulder to see the cat-like smirk on the other girl's face and huffed at her in wry amusement.

"Do I look like a climbing post, kitty?" she asked, raising one eyebrow, and Alicia's smirk broadened as she nodded, eyes sparkling with mischief and amusement.

"Nyaaaaan~, Leafa! Nyaaaaaaan~!" the blond purred playfully, and Leafa shook her head again with an exaggerated sigh of long suffering.

"Oh, my~!" Sakuya's gentle and musical voice came from her left, and she turned (Alicia giggling on her back as she swayed with the movement) to see the taller woman standing there, demurely giggling into the sleeve of her kimono. "You are as playful as ever, dear Alicia."

"And you are as formal and boring as ever, Sakuya!" the cat-girl taunted in return, the warmth and affection in her expression taking any potential insult from the words, and Leafa gave an unladylike snort at the huff and frown that the bluenette gave to the vertically challenged blonde.

"Regardless of certain people's immaturity," Sakuya ignored the resultant tongue that was aired in her direction by 'certain people' and smiled at Leafa. 'It is good to see you again, Leafa. I hope everything is alright with your love?"

"He's alright, all things considered." Leafa blushed faintly at Sakuya's words. She had told her friends the truth, that the boy she was in love with was one of the people trapped in SAO, and that she knew someone at the SAOVRU who gave her updates on his condition. His name and the finer details, however, were kept to herself. Frowning, her thoughts of Kirito were disrupted by the knowledge of the threat they were preparing to face. "Unfortunately, things seem to be getting alot worse in that world. There is a group that is hiring out their blades to kill for money. K-kun and his Coalition are planning on fighting with them, but I am afraid he and his friends will get hurt or killed doing it."

"Ha..? People will kill other for money, knowing that they will die in real life? Dispicable." Sakuya sneered hatefully, suprising Alicia and Leafa with the sudden show of negative emotion, something highly unusual for the kind and graceful young woman.

"Their excuse is that it isn't their fault, but Kayaba Akihiko's for putting them in such a situation." Leafa explained, her tone and body language making it clear what her opinion of that reasoning was.

"Well that's stupid! Kayaba-teme isn't making them take the money, isn't making them kill people! They could just do what K-kun is doing and try to clear the game that much faster!" Alicia growled, dropping onto her feet and padding around to stand beside Leafa. "Besides, don't they know what will happen to them once the game is cleared?"

'Well, they figure that if the game is cleared, the data will be destroyed, and they will be home free." Leafa shrugged, as the trio of girls exited the inn and started down the street towards the Flight Point that would take them to a neutral town in the wilderness, where they planned on using as the start point for the day's hunting trip.

"Excuse me?" a young, female voice none of them knew interrupted, causing them all to turn and look towards it's source. Standing there were two girls, both about their age, and both of them members of the Imp race.

The first, who looked to be slightly older than the second, had deep burgundy eyes, long plum-colored hair, and was wearing heavy plate armor, with a massive battle-axe hanging on her back. The way that she was standing and the general aura of unshakable confidence around her reminded Leafa a great deal of Agil, the massive former Marine that followed her Onii-chan. Of course, the aforementioned heavy armor and battle-axe helped to encourage the impression.

The second, however, reminded her far more of Asuna than anyone else. Slim, built for speed and agility, wearing light armor and wielding a rapier. She, like her companion, also had red eyes and purple hair, though her eyes were a brighter scarlet and her hair an interesting purplish-black whilst hanging nearly to the backs of her knees.

"Yes, can we help you?" Leafa asked politely, if confusedly, as she and her group came to a halt and turned to them, their attention and willingness to listen inviting the pair to approach, an invitation that they took readily.

"I was wondering...are you Kirigaya Suguha-sama?" the elder of the two asked, and Leafa took an unconscious step back, hand falling onto the hilt of her sword as she tensed.

"How do you know my name?" she bit out harshly, her mind racing as she thought back over the last week. She didn't think anyone had been following her, and she was rarely anywhere other than the new hospital, the Yuuki House, and school. For someone to know her name in the game, they would have had to spend a great deal of time and effort spying on her.

"I promise you my sister and I mean you no harm. In fact, we dearly want to ask you for your help. It is quite literally a matter of life or death." Came the calm reply, as the girl held up her hands in a placating gesture, and Suguha relaxed slightly at the honesty and the pleading in her voice.

"Fine, I'll get us a private room." She sighed, unable to resist the oppurtunity to help someone. She was too much like her Kirito, she supposed, for as cold and stand-offish as he could be, he was always extending a helping hand. Turning around, she led the group back into the inn and began the chat-chain with the inn keep, acquiring a private room for the day in exchange for five gold pieces. Ascending the stairs and opening the door, she watched as the two strangers sat together on the bed, while Sakuya and Alicia both took up flanking positions beside the room's single chair, which Sakuya had turned to face the bed. Sitting down, the blond warrior sighed nad folded her hands under her chin. "So, what is all of this?"

"My name is Konno Aiko, and this is my younger sister Yuuki. We know that you are the cousin of Kazuto Kirigaya-sama, the Kuro no Kenshi of the Shattered Chains and Clearing Force Commander of Sword Art Online. We know that you have very powerful friends, and it is because of those friends we approach you now."

"If you have relatives in the game, then I am sorry but even my connections can't help..." Suguha started to respond with a sad frown, missing the looks she was getting from Sakuya and Alicia. "The head of the SAOVRU himself has told me that they know of no way to save anyone..."

"While we appreciate the thought, that is not what we are talking about. We were lucky enough not to have lost anyone to that madman's machinations." Aiko shook her head in denial with a small smile on her face at the concern and sympathy in the blonde's voice. Hopefully, her good nature would save the pair of them.

"Then I am afraid I'm confused. You know who I am, you know about my 'powerful friends', and you even know about Kazuto-kun. You even say it is a matter of life or death, and outside of SAO I am not sure what all of those things have in common." Suguha folded her arms under her bust, pushing them up slightly and causing a moment of distraction to the other occupants of the room. Shaking her head the tiniest fraction to refocus herself, Aiko nodded.

"I can understand your reasoning, but it is a little more convoluted than that. You see, while you were busy arranging all of the SAO victims at the new hospital, my sister and I, and those like us, were being transferred into a separate, smaller wing. Our parents overheard you talking to Yuuki-dono and Kikouka-san, and they told us about you."

"Well, that explains how you know all the things you mentioned earlier, but I still don't understand..." the other girl started, before Aiko answered the unfinished question.

"You see, my family and I were infected by a batch of bad blood a couple of years ago, with HIV/AIDS. My sister and I are even now lying in a wing of that hospital using something called the Medicuboid, and it is there we will remain until we die." Aiko explained, to the shock and sadness of her listeners.

"I cannot imagine..." Sakuya said sadly, shaking her head slowly as her eyes grew misty, while Alicia had a furious look on her face.

"What kind of piece of shit doctors did you have that you all got infected with bad blood, never mind at the same time!" she snarled, deeply upset by the incompetence or negligence that had led to such a horrifying fate.

"I have to agree with Alicia, this is horrible! How could that possibly happen?!" Suguha gasped, and the sisters shrugged together.

"We don't know. We didn't have the money to hire any lawyers, so we couldn't afford a lawsuit, never mind any treatments or experimental cures. My parents only have weeks to live, my sister and I another two years at the longest."

"So you came to me, knowing that I have influence enough to maybe save your family." Suguha leaned back in her chair, the pieces coming together, and both sister's looked regretful.

"I'm sorry to try and manipulate your emotions, to use you like this, but I am willing to do all that and more to save Yuuki-chan. I could never rest in peace knowing I didn't try to save her." Aiko's voice was heavy with regret and shame, but the love she held for her sister, and the determination to save her, was as clear as the sun in the sky, and Suguha felt her heart warm at the sight.

"I promise you that I will talk to Yuuki-san about helping your family. If there is anything that can be done, I will make sure it is." She promised firmly, and only her two friends quickly stabilizing the chair kept her from toppling over backwards as both sisters tackle-hugged her, tears streaming down their faces as they sobbed their thanks.

Sakuya and Alicia exchanged long looks, a mutual agreement to interrogate Leafa-no, Suguha, at their next opportunity in their expressions. She had obviously kept a great deal from them, and they were rather sore about that. For now, however, perhaps it was best to help calm the two sisters before they choked the blonde in between them to death.

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"Yuuki-san, you have to understand what you are asking is less than simple..." the best HIV/AIDS doctor in the world told a somewhat unimpressed Yuuki Shouzou and a frowning Kirigaya Suguha. "Not only is there incredible expense involved, but the risk is massive. Her parents would never survive this procedure, and the two sisters have only a 75% of coming through it."

"Cost is of no object, but explain to me the procedure, and detail the risks." Shouzou instructed, shifting his weight slightly to be more comfortable. When Suguha-chan had brought the situation before him, he had of course been horrified and angry, much as any decent person would be. The sheer negligence that was resulting in an entire family, including two children in their teens, withering away was unfathomable, mostly because the situation should have been entirely preventable. He had been somewhat leery of attempting to cure them, knowing that there was no true cure yet, but Suguha had insisted he read an article from Germany, detailing the first case of curing HIV/AIDS. Ten hour later, the doctor who had written it had arrived in Japan.

"Do you know much of anything about HIV/AIDS, sir?" the doctor asked, and the other man grimaced, shaking his head in response. "Well, the reason it is so dangerous is that it is smart. We can, in fact, cure people of HIV/AIDS. However, the disease leaves part of itself dormant, inactive inside of the host body. There it waits until the active portions of the disease are eradicated, before waking up and re-infecting the subject, multiplying and sending fresh portions into dormancy. We have not yet determined a sure-fire way to locate and destroy these dormant portions, preventing us from truly curing someone."

"I think I understand. You're saying that you could cure someone a hundred times and never gain any headway." Asuna's father mused, and the doctor nodded in agreement, garnering another grimace. "Damn nature, sometimes its power and smarts are far more destructive than helpful."

"Indeed, sir. I can assure you that doctor's all over the world feel the same way everyday of our lives." The doctor said sympathetically, eyes darkening as he thought of all the people he had failed to save. He remembered every name, every funeral, every heart-broken family. And he would never allow himself to forget them, his inspiration and incentive. Shaking himself slightly, he rejoined. "However, my proposed cure, and it is barely worthy of being called a clinical trial, is to infect the patients with a controlled strain of leukemia, which would attach itself to all of the same cells as the HIV/AIDS virus. Then, using a full-body blood, bone marrow, and white blood-cell transfusion, we can completely eradicate both diseases."

"Yes, and that is where the danger comes in, I assume?" Shouzou asked, and the doctor nodded.

"Indeed, sir. Such a procedure is extremely risky and puts an incredible amount of strain on the patient's body. That is why only the children have any chance of survival. As teens, their bodies are reaching the peak of endurance and durability, while their parents are older and more...well, fragile, sir."

He shook his head a little sadly, looking at Suguha.

"I'm sorry, Miss Kirigaya, but the only options I can offer your friends are to die together as a family, or for them to risk their lives for the ability to watch their parents die years before their time." His voice seeped with regret and no small amount of resigned self-condemnation.

"Please, do not blame yourself. The fault lies in whatever idiotic trash gave them the bad blood. I'm going to go talk it over with them now, I will let you know what they decide." Suguha said with a bow, before sweeping away to do just that.

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Suguha sat silently to the side, tears in her eyes, as the family talked amongst themselves about who would live and who would die. Never in her worst nightmares would she have imagined that she would have to put such a situation before anyone, yet here she sat.

"Kirigaya-san?" the father of the family spoke up, and she looked up to see they had stopped talking and were looking at her. Seeing she had her attention, he continued. "My wife and I have decided that we want you to tell the doctor and Yuuki-sama that we accept their offer. Even if we cannot be cured, we will be able to rest in peace knowing that our beloved daughter's will live."

"I understand, and I promise you that, even if Yuuki-san cannot or won't help after you...after, than my family and I will do what we can, in addition to securing justice for you and your children." Suguha bowed low from her seated position, a bow that was returned in kind by the family, though the two children looked heartbroken. Not that she could blame them. Getting to her feet, she quietly slipped from the room to give them privacy and inform the two older men of their decision.

"Well?" the doctor asked softly as the teenage girl returned to stand beside Yuuki-san, and received a subdued nod in response.

"They will do it." Was all she said.

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Dat be a wrap, mon! For dos of ya who be worry'n dat SeerKing's story be a bit too much like me own, I be readin' it and seein' why you tink dat. But I not worried, SeerKing be good people, mon, not de type to steal uddar people's work!

For dose of ya dat got no idea wat i talkin' 'bout, don' be worry'n bout eet!

*coughs*

Right, enough of that! Make sure to review! See you next time!