The Shadow Noir Nexus [Sword Art Online Fanfiction]

Tomodachi

"Again," Kazuta said quietly, stance firm.

Suguha panted before she swallowed and took a deep breath. She readied herself and then rushed forward, attempting to attack her sister and win a point.

Instead, in two moves, Kazuta had parried and then disarmed her.

"Your wrists get weak and bend," her sister told her patiently. "You need to keep them strong. When you block, weak wrists will fail you and your opponent will be able to push through."

"Y-yes, Kazuta-sensei," Suguha bowed.

Though Kazuta had never asked, much less ordered for the formality, Suguha thought it was appropriate for it. She knew Grandfather had demanded it from Kazuta, and Kazuta was a much better teacher than he was.

Suguha had never known the particulars, but she knew that their grandfather hadn't been kind to her sister. She knew that Kazuta had ended up suffering a lot from his treatment and had never fully recovered from it.

"It's time for school," Kazuta noted, though there wasn't any indication in her voice about her hesitancy.

"Ah, right! Let's get ready, Kazuta-sensei," Suguha said, though this time she sounded a little more teasing.

Grabbing hold of Kazuta's hand, she led the way out of the dojo and only mildly felt resistance at the threshold of the dojo's entrance. Not focusing on it, she kept going, making sure to have a firm grip on her.

"You take a shower first, okay?" Suguha said, smiling brightly at her.

Kazuta nodded distractedly, grabbing her uniform that she'd put aside near the bathroom, and headed in. Suguha sighed after and went to collect her own things, not nearly as easily organized as Kazuta was. Once she was done, Kazuta had already finished with her shower and had headed to her room.

Getting herself dressed and grabbing her bag, she stopped by Kazuta's door and knocked lightly.

"Kazuta-oneesan? You're ready to go?"

Hearing nothing, Suguha bit her lip and opened the door, peering inside to see her sister sitting on the edge of her bed and looking down at her hands on her lap. She headed over to her and grabbed the sunglasses on Kazuta's side-table, slipping them onto the other girl's face. She grabbed the headphones next and grabbed Kazuta's phone, playing today's playlist before slipping that into Kazuta's bag and putting the headphones onto Kazuta's head.

"Let's go," she murmured, though she knew Kazuta couldn't hear her.

Gently holding onto Kazuta's hands, she pulled her sister up and led the way out of the room slowly, with Kazuta grabbing her bag and slinging it over her shoulder.

~*~*~

Kazuta was well aware that she had problems. She rarely left the house, except to go to school. And as she walked behind Suguha, her eyes were shadowed and blocked by the shades she wore, while her ears were occupied to listening to her music and unable to hear anything else. She implicitly trusted her sister to guide her around, while her senses were mostly busy and unable to focus on the fact she was outside.

By the time they were at the school, her sister had patiently brought her to her classroom and sat her at her seat before hugging her and Suguha was gone, Kazuta counted to ten and shakily took off the shades, putting them away and keeping her ears plugged until she saw the teacher enter. Once she made eye contact with the teacher, she took a deep breath and put away her headphones and sat rigid in her seat.

The teacher started roll call and when her name was called, she answered to it. Haruna-sensei gave her an encouraging smile before continuing. Then class started for real and Kazuta shifted in her seat, feeling herself tensing. She kept glancing at the clock, clenching her hands on her lap, until finally she threw her hand up.