SAO: Untold - Prologue

''Yo, how's it going. My name is Satoru Narita, but you can call me Saito, mainly because that's the main name you'll be seeing throughout the duration of this series. Anyways, this is quite a big story I have for you. It'll be told by many others besides me due to the fact that I wasn't present at those times.''

''Whatever, excuse my rambling and what not. Hm, where should I start?''

Oh yeah, the beginning...

Prologue

As I said before my name is Satoru Narita, brother of three and son of two...well, one. I'm 16 years old and go to school...

Ugh.,,.school.

Anyways, I have two sisters and one brother.

Hayao is the eldest, happy go lucky and easy going describes him perfectly. He really isn't serious most times and loves to sleep. When I mean love, I mean if sleep was a girl he'd already have kids named Yawn and Drowsy, Yawn being the girl, obviously...duh.

What am I talking about?! That's besides the point. Anyways, he's been gone, a junior in college over in Iwate. The second oldest it my sister, Seya.

She's basically the reincarnate of our mother. Stern, stoic, and annoyingly obidient. She's always keeping us in line and it's quite annoying. Though, I know she just wants the best for us, so, what can you do?

Next comes me. I have brown hair, my mother says it's sepia, but I just go with brown, blame my laziness. My brown eyes almost painfully match my hair, just with a glint that makes them seem lighter. I tried contacts to make me look better, but ah...yeah, heh...no. People have called me calm, quiet, tired. But that's not actually true.

Well one out of three.

I have a really bad tendency to lack presence at times, like seriously, just vanish. I don't know why, it just happens. I could be in a group of people and they'd forget I was there if I didn't say anything.

Though I'm not a loner or anything of the sort. I'm a very approachable person! Hmph. But seriously, I'm a fairly kindhearted person. I don't judge or discriminate, I have a good head on my shoulders, and I'm pretty good at soccer...heh, *insert sneaky smile*. Oh yeah, I'm also a bit random at times. It's a like a fail safe when I'm nervous or uncomfortable.

Anyways, I'm a cooled and collected person who's easy to get along with really. At least I think so. I am, right? Yup, I totally am.

In any event, next!

My sister, Maiko. My family says she takes after me, and I agree. Though she's more book smart than she is street smart. She's even more goofy than Hayao, and takes after him well. She's upbeat, enthusiastic and hearty. It's an attitude I admire.

Though, it usually gets her and Seya into fights that I eventually break have to up, having to remind them that whether or not they hate each other, they're family and it'll stay that way until they die, so they'd be better off letting some fights go.

This works almost all of the time, so I keep at it. Anyways, that's Maiko.

My mother became a policewoman when I entered elementary school, and since I entered high school two years ago, she became a full on detective for the Chiba City Police. Being the son of a policewoman is in a way, scary.

I mean honestly, she pats Seya and I down almost every time we get home from school like we're on a one way trip from Supermax. Man she's scary...

She's a steeled woman who doesn't take nonsense from anybody, especially not her children. Seya calls her a tomboy, and I can't help but agree with that. My mom wears tank tops and shorts more than anything else! She watches football and sometimes lets out her Kansai dialect when she's angry. However, I know for a fact, that she loves her children. She cooks, helps out with homework, drives me to my games even if she'll be late for work, and makes sure she's the last person to head to sleep every night.

To me, she's like the perfect balance of mother and father, which is one of the reasons I don't feel the need for a one. Though, some part of me thinks that she was forced into this type of nature by dad leaving.

Oh yeah, forgot to tell you that part, though you probably already guessed it.

My father walked out on us when we were small. Because of this, I have no recollection of the dude. How he looked like, how he acted, who he was as a person, they're all just blank spaces I can't fill.

Of course I wasn't into those type of sentimental things, maybe my other siblings, but not me.

I just wanted to know why he left, what the real cause was. My mother's never said anything bad about him, just the fact that he left one day.

Why? That's all I wanted to know. I didn't need him to come back, I just needed him to tell me why.

Unfortunately, that question wouldn't be answered anytime soon... maybe...

Maybe it wi-

"Oy! Oyy, Satoru!" The voice seemed to get gradually louder, breaking through my train of thought.

Blinking my eyes, I owlishly looked up to see none other than my friend, Ichiru.

"Huh? Oh...what's up?" I asked continuing to blink as I slowly slipped from my internal conflicts, noting the gradual circular path his eyes took.

"Practice is over. Come on, servers open up soon. Do you want to be late?"

Ah, that's right. Today's the day. The day when the world took one step closer to the future. The day that changed my life, and many others.

Walking Home

"So where's Akane?" Ichiru asked, blowing some of his dirty blonde hair out of his face.

I sighed and adjusted my bag full of soccer stuff. "I told you she was leaving early. Remember? She's going on that trip to Hokkaido tomorrow."

A whistle could be heard beside me as my friend raised his hands behind his head looking to the sky. "Oh yeah, man that must be fun, and Ryuji stayed home... as usual."

I shrugged slipping my hands into my pockets. "What's new? He's been like that since the start of junior high."

'Though, who could blame him?'

After a few minutes, we stopped at a light. I watched as the various cars passed by and could guess how I looked like right about now. My eyes were probably lazed and my hair was a mess. I could feel it.

I mean we just came from practice, and I slipped that hair band through the front to keep my bangs out of the way, so it usually got like this after a practice.

Suddenly, a memory flashed by me for some odd reason. It was from a long time ago...I remember my mother telling me something. Something I still remember up till now.

Bringing me into a warm embrace, she caressed my head of hair, while mumbling to me soothingly.

"Live for you Satoru…Don't ever try to please or follow someone so much that you forget yourself. You're your own person, never forget that.."

"...mom..."

"Satoru!"

I suddenly jolted out of my thoughts, shaking my head quickly. Looking to the light I saw it had changed, letting us cross.

I sighed as Ichiru raised an eyebrow. "You alright? You seem distant today."

"Nah, I'm fine dude, just remembering things is all." I said, walking with him to the other end of the walkway.

"Mhm." He muttered, the disbelief evident in his voice.

As got to the other side, he then bid me farewell.

"Gotta drop off Ryuji's homework before heading home, make sure you don't phase out and fall into a garbage can or something."

"Oh shut up." I rolled my eyes at his antics, hearing him chuckle as he waved goodbye, heading left.

"Tell me how it was alright?! Like everything!" He called out finally.

I nodded and waved. "I will tomorrow! Just focus on getting it yourself!"

"Yeah yeah!"

I sighed, letting an exasperated but happy smile slip onto my features. As soon as Ichiru was out of sight, I then turned on my way home.

Along the way, I found myself going from a walk, to a saunter, then to a jog, and finally into an all out run. I didn't even know how anxious I really was until I finally appeared at my house.

Opening the small gate and getting the mail all in one go, I then closed it behind me and rushed into the house. I quickly slipped my shoes off and tossed the bundle of mail on the table, screaming out to anyone in the house.

"I'm home!"

I could see my mom frowning at me from the kitchen, her short brown hair trailing down sides of her face.

"Satoru! Inside voice please!" She said curtly.

I cupped my hand over my mouth and nodded as I was greeted by our German Shepherd puppy, Hokuto.

I forgot to mention our dog! He was a gift from the police station three years ago. He was only a pup when we got him and he grew up with the family ever since. He's much bigger now, though he's still a pup in my eyes.

"Hey boy." I muttered, scratching behind his ears before looking to back to my mother. "Sorry mom. Where's Seya and Maiko?"

"Seya has a performance though she should be home anytime now, and Maiko's at Hana's house." She said, seeming to have just finished cooking. "And I have to head back to the station."

"Right..." I sighed knowingly. My mom was a police detective. She didn't really come home until 8 or so, though she passed by the house once or twice before she actually came home to check on us. She worked hard.

"Going to try it out now?" She asked, wiping her hands with a knowing smirk up to me. I was already halfway up the steps. I sighed to myself at how predictable I was. Either that or she was just really good at being my mom.

"Yeah, the servers finally open today and it's...12:53. I want to get on, I'll do my homework right after I test it out. Promise."

My mom looked at me for a few moments, her hazel eyes staring at me intently. I stared back,dead set on winning this battle of silence.

After a few seconds, she then sighed and nodded. "Fine, I trust you Satoru. Make sure you're homework is done by the time I get back alright?"

I then blinked twice before nodding, a happy grin bursting onto my face as I shot up the remaining steps and into my room. "I will!"

Hokuto barked as if thanking her as well before following me.

"Oh yeah, there's some food in the fridge! Curry and Omurice! Don't touch Seya's or Maiko's! I'm leaving!"

"Right! Thanks!" I called downstairs, not really listening to most of what she'd said. I was too busy setting up my NerveGear.

The NerveGear is a helmet-shaped game console that fits perfectly around your head. It has a visor that goes down to the start of your nose and a thick wire that is plugged into the wall just like any other game system, though that's the only wire really. The rest of its battery is internal, which is why it's so heavy.

Hokuto's tail wagged back and forth while it panted happily, yipping in delight. I set up the headgear before inserting the only game I'd bought for console into it's game cartridge.

I then slipped the headgear on my head before shifting onto my bed and nuzzling into a comfortable position. I then closed my eyes, about to say the initiating words, before re-opening them and turning my now heavy head over to Hokuto.

"Don't touch." I said, pointing to the NerveGear and the wire. "Okay?"

Hokuto barked and sat down, continuing to wag his tail. I saw this as a yes and sighed, returning myself to the task at hand. My eyes looked to the right of my visor to see it was now 1:00.

I could barely hear the sound of the door opening with the familiar voice of my sister calling out to the house that she was home. Though, I wasn't focused on it. I wanted to try this game now.

I then took in a deep breath, closing my eyes. Breathing out, I finally spoke the words that would unknowingly change my life..

"Link Start!"