Author's Notes: This is my first long!fic for the fandom. It is VERY SPOILERISH FOR UNLIMITED BLADE WORKS. DO NOT READ THIS UNLESS YOU HAVE FINISHED THE ROUTE, SPOILED YOURSELF ALREADY, OR JUST DON'T CARE.

No pairings. Well, okay, there's a brief mention of onesided Ayako/Issei.

"Issei," a younger monk said quietly. "There's a woman waiting for you outside the temple."

Issei rose, reminding himself to finish cleaning later. "Thank you."

Sakura Mato awaited him at the temple's entrance. She kept nervously glancing around, jumping at the slightest noise as if her being there was something wrong and forbidden. (From what Shirou had told him about her brother, he didn't blame her.) Upon seeing him, she clasped her hands together and bowed slightly.

"Sakura," he greeted her, not unfriendly, but with a tinge of surprise. Sakura wasn't religious, and he'd seen her only occasionally since he graduated. "Please come in."

She came in slowly, carefully removing her shoes. "Issei…" she started with a quavering voice. "I… I thought you should hear the news." She drew in a shaky breath. "It's Shirou."

Issei's eyes widened and he swallowed hard before asking, "Is he hurt?"

"He's… he's dead."

No.

Shirou Emiya, dead?

No, it couldn't be…

"He was executed, I don't know what for. Rin wouldn't tell me anything else…"

"No," he said slowly. "No, I… I understand."

Sakura left him then, with joined hands and apologies. Issei didn't blame her. How do you comfort someone you haven't really spoken to for years, if ever?

Shirou…

Eight years ago.

"You're really leaving?" he asked, watching the other boy pack.

Shirou nodded as he finished zipping up his suitcase. "I have to follow in my father's footsteps."

"The one thing I can't argue against…" Issei sighed, idly resting his hands on the back of his head. He was going to shave it in two years when he became a monk in his father's temple, he thought; he'd assumed since they first became friends that Shirou was going to be there to see it. "I know I can't convince you to stay here, so I won't try. But, Shirou?"

"Yes?"

"Take care of yourself. It's good to help other people, but one of them is going to take advantage of you one day," Issei intoned seriously. "Be careful."

"I'll be fine," Shirou assured him. "I'm not going to be wandering in the streets with a sign that says 'Will work for moral satisfaction'."

"I wouldn't be surprised if you were…" Issei mused.

"And it's not like I'm never coming back," Shirou added, breaking out into a wide smile. "I'll visit whenever I get the chance and stop by the temple. We'll talk over lunch; I'll fix up your heaters…"

Issei cracked a small smile, more at Shirou's infectious grin than anything else. "Just like old times?"

"Just like old times," Shirou agreed.

Four years ago.

"Shirou," Issei said as he greeted him at the temple's gateway. "I told you that if you didn't stop worrying about everyone, your hair would go white."

"And I told you that all your hair was going to fall out if you were always so serious. So you're not surprised?" Shirou asked as he stepped in and took off his shoes. "Fuji-nee said she didn't even recognize me."

"Shirou, if you turned your skin green, shrunk three feet, and became a woman, I would still recognize you," Issei replied, leading him through the hallways. "A hair color change, contacts, and a tan is nothing." He paused as they reached his private room. "…And Fujimura showed me the picture you sent her a few months back."

"I should have guessed - cheater," his friend answered, taking a seat. "You could probably hear her screaming from here…"

"Only faintly. It's sad, though. I hoped this day would never come," Issei continued.

Shirou raised an eyebrow.

"The only reason any man changes his appearance that much is to impress a woman. How the mighty have fallen…"

"We can't all become monks," Shirou reminded him with a small chuckle.

"I know, but still. I warned you that someone was going to take advantage of you one day." He paused, considering. "Do I know her?"

"How would you know my completely hypothetical foreign girlfriend?" Shirou asked him.

"You travel to a lot of places now. And you never said exactly where Saber returned to…"

At the mention of Saber, Shirou's face fell.

"…I'm sorry," Issei said eventually. "I shouldn't have brought her up."

"It's… fine," Shirou said, sounding unconvinced of his own words. "We've just lost touch." An awkward pause followed. "So how are things at the temple?"

"Peaceful, for the most part. Ayako - you remember Ayako, don't you? - stopped by a few weeks ago."

"That can't have ended well."

A small blush passed over Issei's features. He scowled in an attempt to hide it. "…It didn't, but I'm sure she knows that monks are celibate. She was only joking. …I hope."

One year ago.

Shirou never sent letters. He's inherited his father's wanderlust, if not by blood then in spirit. By the time Issei sent him a reply he'd be long gone.

When Shirou did finally send him a letter, it was short, written and stamped with obvious haste.

Hello to everyone at home, sent letters to Fuji-nee and Sakura already. Hope you're doing well. They need me here for a long time. (He never said who 'they' were. Issei didn't ask.) Hope to be finished here soon, but probably won't. (He never said what he did, either.) Plan to visit after that.

All is well over here - nothing's changed since you last came here. Hope you're doing well, hope everything goes well, hope you visit. Fujimura nearly cried when she read your letter - was there something in it I don't know about?

I know what I wrote in it, I'm not sure what she read in it. Stuck here for a long time. It's not a fun place to be - I wish I was home, even if it's the same as always. I'd say I hope something happens there to make it more interesting, but…

Fujimura is attempting to learn to ride a motorcycle. I blame you.

Suddenly, I'm very glad I'm over here. This is nothing compared to that.

(Issei disagreed. It's not an entire school collapsing of malnutrition, or even Kuzuki retiring unexpectedly and completely disappearing. One of these days, he really was going to have to ask what Shirou did and how long he's been doing it.)

When you come home after that finishes up, I'm making you pay for the temple's damages.

(One of these days.)

Quietly, Issei began to recite the sutras, praying that his friend's soul would be reborn.