"Jocund Oblation" by Mereo Flere
Disclaimer: I don't own Fate/Stay Night or Tsukihime.
A/N: Written for the Beast's Lair Type Moon Fan Fiction Contest for 2007, the challenge was to write a crossover between two stories in the Type Moon Universe, under 2500 words.
Currently, a one shot, and likely to stay that way. Actually, it seemed too close to EMIYA for me to continue both at the same time.
---
The truth was, Matou Sakura never wanted to be part of the Holy Grail War. If she had a choice, she would have preferred to have been an ordinary girl, living an ordinary life going to school, spending days with her senpai in an ordinary relationship, and just go day to day innocently ordinary.
One could almost say she had an obsession with normalcy. Then again, it was only reasonable. For seven long years now, almost all of that was impossible, and what little she peace she could enjoy in her life had been snatched away, just like everything else had been.
Yet, that was her fate. Defying it would only bring more despair.
However, for the first time since she had been forced to become a master, she thought that it might not be so sad. Though, her (adopted) brother might not have agreed.
Speaking of Matou Shinji, the excuse of a man was cowering in the corner, one arm cradled in the other in pain. His eyes, in a mixture of shock and fear, gazed at the servant Sakura had summoned. When his attacker stepped forward to see if he was okay, he turned around and tried to run - right into the wall.
As Shinji fell backwards, already unconscious, Sakura turned to the girl to her side. Dressed in a school uniform from a nearby city, she looked no older than herself; it was hard to believe that she was really the person that had been called forth from the contract. Not that she was complaining; at the very least, Sakura felt that this girl was someone she could get along with.
"Oh-I'm sorry," the brown haired girl said frantically, believing she had done something bad. "It's just that, he touched me so suddenly, and I didn't know what to do!"
Sakura simply smiled.
"It's okay, really. It was his fault for trying to grab you. My name is Sakura; what's yours?"
"Ah," the girl said, bowing. "My name is Satsuki. It's a pleasure to meet you."
This wasn't going to be sad after all.
---
Soon, the night would pass, giving in to the morning's dawn. Sakura had school today, though she didn't mind that at all.
Shinji almost said he was sick, until he realized that Satsuki would be staying home. Once he found that out, he was out the door before anybody could say anything.
Either way, he didn't bother her, so everything turned out okay.
Happily, she too left early, to prepare a meal for her senpai.
The day went by quickly from that point. In an unusually good mood, there was not a single person didn't notice that she was acting strangely happy - a sincere joy that few of them had ever seen.
All, save for one person, also correctly guessed that it had something to do with the broken bones that Shinji now sported in his arm. Most, though, weren't stupid or brave enough to say anything.
Except, of course, her (and her brother's) Archery Club's Captain.
Mitsuzuri Ayako, like many people, did not particularly care for Shinji. To her, it was a mystery how the jerk was as popular as he was. However, as Captain, she wouldn't let her personal feelings cloud her judgement.
Even if she liked seeing Shinji in pain too.
"Sakura..."
"Yes, Mitsuzuri-senpai?"
It wasn't a question she was comfortable asking. Still, it was best to get it done quickly.
"Do you know what happened to your brother?"
Sakura simply nodded.
Of course she knew, not that it was exactly easy to explain. After all, as one of the ordinary people she envied, Sakura couldn't tell the truth of the situation to Ayako.
At least, not the whole truth.
"He groped one of my friends without any warning, and she sort of...overreacted."
Ayako sighed. "That sounds like Shinji, all right. It seems like he won't be able to come to the practices for a while either."
"I'm sorry for the inconvenience. It was my brother's day to clean up, wasn't it?"
"Oh, that?" Ayako waved her hand in front of herself, smiling weakly. "Don't worry, I've got that handled already. Really, it's okay."
---
Sakura had had a bad feeling from what Ayako had said, but there was nothing that she could do. Because she was now a participant in the Holy Grail War, she couldn't afford to ignore her enemies.
The fact that she could die was very real. More than anything about this competition, she understood that.
However, this was not something that she could forget about. Something was going on - and she intended to find out.
Night had already fallen, and darkness engulfed their school. At this time, there should have been nobody around on the grounds. Still, her suspicion remained.
"Master, is there any reason we're here?" her partner asked nervously.
"We're scouting," Sakura replied automatically, not exactly lying.
Satsuki didn't seem to be convinced. "Do you really think that the enemy is going to show up here?"
"Yes. I'm sure of it."
It just wasn't the kind of enemy that Satsuki was thinking of.
The school grounds were silent, just like they should have been. However, even from here, it was clear that there was someone at the dojo. If she squinted her eyes, Sakura could see that the door had been left open, and the only person careless enough to forget to close it after leaving was having his cast done at the moment.
Her heart began to beat faster. Clearly, her instincts had been correct. Before she could run over, though, a hand stopped her from even taking a step.
"Satsuki, what do you-"
"Shh," the other girl said urgently. "They're here!"
Slowly, Sakura turned around, her body shaking in fear, and just like her friend had said the enemy had appeared. Face to face with their opponents, she realized that there had been danger after all.
"I was wondering how long it would take you to notice us."
There were two of them, both of them female. The taller of the two, the one who had spoken, seemed to be a European with mid length red hair, dressed in a business suit. The other was a girl her age, dressed in another uniform, and though she seemed to be from the same city as Satsuki, she appeared to attend a different school.
For some reason, the latter was glaring at Sakura. Or rather, she was glaring at Sakura's breasts. It was a little uncomfortable.
"Umm, can I help you?"
She continued to glare. "I can't believe someone like you is a master. First Bazette, and now-"
"Bazette" coughed, her eyebrow twitching visibly. "What was that?"
The younger girl crossed her arms over her chest. "It's nothing."
Beside Sakura, Satsuki had noticeably tensed up. Though she had been prepared to fight, it was just so surprising that that person had shown up.
"Akiha...you're a servant too?"
Akiha glanced at Satsuki, surprised. "Yes, but...do I know you?"
Satsuki could almost feel an arrow pierce her heart.
"You forgot who I was?!"
"O-of course not!" Akiha said with a weak laugh. "Your name is Sakura, isn't it?"
That was the moment that the real Sakura learned that her servant's class was Berserker.
---
Whatever the girl's name was, Akiha was sure that she hadn't been this strong before.
Moving faster than Akiha, Satsuki kept pressuring her with a flurry of attacks. If it weren't for the fact that they were not at all polished, Akiha would have been in serious trouble.
However, even without relying on her powers, she could already tell that there was an opening she could take advantage of. Continuing her dodging, she kept the other girl focused on herself, while signaling to her partner.
Bazette understood, and took this chance to go after the master, closing the distance between them almost instantly.
Sakura prepared to defend herself. However, she had been too distracted, too inexperienced, too late. Bazette's fist was already flying at her.
Then suddenly, Bazette froze. A gunshot rang out, a bullet passing through where Bazette would have been had she not stopped herself in time.
Soon, the rest of them stopped, turning to the new pair that had appeared. Sakura's eyes widened, recognizing the face of Tohsaka Rin - her blood sister.
"Sakura, you shouldn't be here."
"Si-sister!"
This could be bad. She didn't know if Rin liked Shirou, but she couldn't take the risk of her finding out that he was here.
"No, you're the one that shouldn't be here!"
Rin raised a brow. "What are you talking about?"
Sakura coughed. "I mean, this is my battle, and you shouldn't interfere! I'm a master too."
"You shouldn't worry about such things," Rin said, sighing. "At the very least, trust me this once."
Sakura wasn't sure what to say.
When she thought about it, Rin was her sister, even if she wasn't legally recognized as such. Though their father had given Sakura away to the Matou, that didn't change the fact that they shared blood.
"Okay...but just this once."
"So, why were you here?"
"Ah...that's...I think Senpai is here."
"Senpai?" Rin's eyes widened. "Wait, you're talking about Shirou?"
"Y-yes."
"It seems that we'll have to be opponents after all."
"Sister?!"
"Wait, are you guys talking about Emiya Shirou? Son of Kiritsugu?" Bazette asked, suddenly breaking into their conversation. Pulling out a picture from her pocket, she held it up to the light for them to see. Sure enough, it was their Shirou. "I have some business with him. You two know him, right?"
Rin and Sakura looked at each other, before facing Bazette together. After a silent measurement of her power level, they both came up with a single reply.
"No, not at all."
"You guys are lying to me, aren't you?"
"No, not at all."
---
There seemed to be something going on with the masters. Akiha, however, was more concerned about the person to Rin's right. An alchemist of Atlas, if that person was that girl's servant, then this battle could prove to be troublesome.
"Sion."
"Akiha."
"It seems that there are a lot of familiar faces here, doesn't it?"
Sion simply smiled, readying her weapon. The two of them prepared to engage each other, until...
"Wait, why did you remember her name?!"
That was, of course, Satsuki.
"Oh, that. It's nothing of importance."
"In other words, I'm not important enough to be remembered?"
"More or less."
---
Once again, Satsuki tried to attack Akiha.
And, once again, there was an interruption.
From the archery club's dojo, a person appeared.
"I thought I heard a gunshot. What's going on here?"
Then, the worst case scenario had been realized.
Everybody noticed the young man that was known as Emiya Shirou. As one, the servants all looked to each other, unsure who was going to make the first move.
Then...
"Dibs."
Unexpectedly, yet another challenger had appeared.
"Arcuied!" Akiha said. "What are you doing here as well?"
"More importantly," Sion said. "You can't call dibs. You already got the last one!"
"So?"
"What they said!" Satsuki said, wanting to get a line in.
A second figure appeared beside Arcuied; her master, whose clothes seemed slightly disheveled. "You know, they're right. You can't call dibs, because I already did."
"Wait, Ayako, you're a master?!"
"Not you too..."
"Rin? Sakura? What are you two doing here?"
In the middle (and as the subject) of this conversation, Emiya Shirou had no idea what was going on.
That, however, was mostly because he was already getting carried away by the not as easily distracted Bazette.
It was in this way that the Fifth Holy Grail War began.
Or, rather, was forgotten.
---
The End.
---
Omake:
It was in Shiki that he faced his greatest enemy.
Even if -that world- had been shattered, Emiya Shirou would still fight on.
A man who wielded relics of the past.
Symbols greater than themselves, power placed within the concepts themselves.
Though if they were only copies...
No, because they were copies, Shirou would continue to struggle.
For all that he believed in.
For all that he had to protect.
He would rush against death itself.
Had he thought about it a little more, he would have found that was exactly what he was doing now.
There was no room for stray thoughts, though.
Victory was his only concern.
Philosophy could be saved for later.
At this moment, at this instant.
Before even a second was lost.
He would find a way to win.
Swords and spears alike fell to Shiki's mysterious power.
And so, Shirou resorted to other arsenals.
Calling forth anything he could think of.
Pots and pans.
Spoons and forks.
He thought of something, anything that could resist that knife of his.
And yet, he was being pushed back.
From the beginning, he should have sniped at a distance.
Attack outside of his range.
But, he had to be sure that it would have defeated his opponent.
That folly was the reason for being cornered now.
Still...
He would win!
He sought out an image in his mind.
Creating an image of Shiki's certain death.
Taking a form, he raised his hands over his head, clutching its edges as it appeared.
"With this chair...
"I'll finish you!"
Logically, it should have never hit Shiki.
The other boy should have been too fast.
Even if he couldn't dodge, that blade of his...
Surely it could have cut up the chair like the rest of them.
Instead, he froze up, muttering only "This chair."
Over and over, the words were repeated.
Already unconscious, like a mantra it continued.
And Shirou had no idea why.
Somehow, it felt anticlimactic.
Still, no matter what the reason, he was the victor.
...or at least he thought he was.
Wait, why had they been fighting in the first place?
"Oh Shiki! Shirou! Where did the two of you go?"
Oh, right.
"Sorry man, it's better you than me."
And, like that, he left his fellow main character as a sacrifice to the crazy girls that had been after them.