Hey everyone, Iron here. S&S9 is currently in the works and I figured I'd post a few things I've written in the past which were only posted on Beast's Lair. This is one of them, a two part short I think I wrote on a dare... Can't quite remember. It was well over a year ago and has never been beta'd. Still, I hope you enjoy it.
The usual disclaimers apply and I'd be glad to receive any comments and criticisms.
Hard Work: Part 1
It was another slow day at Copenhagen.
Such a pace was often the standard around this time of year. Autumn certainly didn't lend itself well to the same amount of business Winter or Spring did. Though Hotaruzuka Otoko didn't mind. Sure, the income was lessened, but it was nice to take it easy for a change. Her father disagreed though.
The clinking sound of glass on glass drew her attention to one who certainly didn't know how to do so. Emiya Shirou, part time employee and high school student, was currently stocking the shelves on his day off.
Why did he spend so much time working and helping others at the cost of his own being? It was a question which had plagued Otoko when she'd first met the young man. She'd found the answer rather quickly. It was endearing and worrisome at the same time. Shirou was simply that kind of man. He found happiness in such tasks. Particularly when it came to lending a hand.
As she went about her own duties, Otoko let her mind wander. Nobody was in the business and wiping down the counter wasn't exactly the most engaging of activities. The brunette thought of mindless things to pass the time. The rent to her apartment being due in a few days. The rather sour taste of a particular brand of sake she'd been offered by a potential vendor. The ridiculous antics of her close friend, Taiga.
Thinking of the excessively energetic woman brought a small frown to her features. Taiga was the one who helped watch over her employee at home. And from the tales she told, enjoyed the duty quite thoroughly. Otoko didn't like the idea of her Emi-yan being taken advantage of, even by Taiga. The teacher was a bad influence on the young man.
Otoko sighed, wanting to turn away from such thoughts. Taiga would be Taiga and further corrupt Shirou, much to her own irritation. It wasn't like she could do anything about it. She wasn't the one who watched out for the hard working lad.
A crash snapped the storekeeper out of her thoughts. It came from the corner where Shirou was working. "Emi-yan? What happened?" When no immediate response was forthcoming, Otoko stepped from behind the bar counter to investigate. "Emi-yan?"
"I'm... okay." Shirou's reply finally came about as Otoko came into view. She did not seem happy with what she saw, but appeared concerned regardless.
"You do not look okay. What happened?" There was indeed concern in her voice as she approached Shirou, who was leaning against the shelving while a splattered pool of spilled sake flowed around his feet.
As Otoko stepped into the mess of spilled alcohol, he tried to stand upright as though he were in better shape than he actually was. "No, really, I'm fine. You don't need to worry, Ot-"
He was cut off in mid complaint by the reflexive correction from Otoko, "Neko, Emi-yan. Neko." She wore an amused look as she spoke. It soon melted into one of irritation and concern as she grabbed the taller male by the shoulder with one hand and forced him to look at her.
Otoko was not pleased with what she saw. She knew he worked too hard for his own good, but this was ridiculous. He'd come in to work perfectly fine, save for a few rings under his eyes. It was rare, considering his normally absurdly healthy constitution, but not enough to raise eyebrows.
Right now, she was looking at an Emiya Shirou who was red in the face, breathing slightly heavily, and appeared like he'd collapse at any moment. With a scowl on her face, Otoko forced Shirou's head down and pressed her own forehead against his. Both felt a slight flush on their cheeks at the intimate motion, but Otoko brushed it off out of concern for Shirou.
"You're burning up!" Otoko's declaration came moments after they touched. She growled at the implications. Not only had Shirou come in on his day off, but he'd been sick of all things! She'd let him get away with a lot, but this was the final straw. "That's it. I'm calling a cab and sending you home to get some rest. I don't want to see one bit of you until you are completely healed and rested up! Got it?"
As Otoko began hauling Shirou away from the mess, ignoring the footprints they were leaving behind, the golden eyed young man tried to free himself from the shorter woman's grasp. By now, even he realized he should have gone home before it got this bad. "Neko, please, I can get home on my own. I..." He cuts off as a dizzy spell catches hold of him.
The brunette continued railing on him. "That means taking it easy. I'll be making sure Tai-ga!" So wrapped up was Otoko in her rant, she never noticed Shirou's shift in stance. Next she knew, a barely conscious Shirou had pinned her to the ground.
"S-sorry, I..." Shirou attempted to apologize and stand under his own power, but it was plain to see he couldn't.
For her part, Otoko was doing her best to not blush beneath Shirou's larger frame. "Don't worry about it. Its not your fault." Well, it was, but she wasn't going to hold it against him in this state. It took some doing, but eventually Otoko managed to help Shirou up and off of her. She took in his haggard visage and sighed. "There's no way you can get home like this."
Shirou attempted a small smile. "Maybe Fuji-nee could-" Again, he was cut off. It seemed to be happening a lot lately.
"No way. Taiga's a bad enough influence as it is. I won't have her taking advantage of you in this state." She knew Taiga probably wouldn't, but right now she was more concerned with the redhead's well being than making sense of the teacher's moral fiber.
"She wouldn't do that. ... I think." Emiya Shirou is not completely naive, it seems. Though it may be the fever talking.
Otoko shook her head. "I'm taking you home and I'm going to make sure you get some rest. Do you understand? I'm not taking no for an answer." Her cheeks burned slightly at the declaration before pulling Shirou's arm over her shoulder to steady the ill redhead. Said redhead gave no response beyond a resigned nod.
Twenty minutes later, consisting of two phone calls and a glass of water for the sick lad, Otoko was shoving Shirou into the back seat of a taxi. She gave the driver the address and told him to step on it. As they drove in silence towards the Emiya household, the head of said house nodded off and his head lolled onto the brunette's shoulder.
Hotaruzuka Otoko didn't bother to move him away.
Hard Work: Part 2
By the time Emiya Shirou began to regain his senses, it was well into evening.
He had vague recollections of being pulled out of a vehicle of some sort. However beyond hazy memories of events an unknown time ago, there existed only the black pall of sickness induced slumber. Blinking his golden eyes, he took in the scenery around him. It was familiar even to his bleary state of mind. How could he not recognize his own room?
The question remained of how he had actually arrived home. A trickle of the past few hours snaked its way to his consciousness. The lightheadedness. The lack of motor control. The general feeling of weakness which had pervaded his body. Illness was not something he was truly familiar with. Barring the apocalypse which had granted him a truly wonderful and amazing father and had made him into who he was today, Shirou had rarely needed to seek the services of medicines and doctors.
The few exceptions being the occasional broken limb or bad scrape which healed at a bafflingly rapid pace, and the annual checkup. Perhaps once, when he was a small child and Kiritsugu still drew breath in the world, did the redhead fall victim to sickness of the body. He could confidently say he was an absurdly healthy individual.
Heroes didn't lose to a case of the sniffles, now did they?
With a groan of effort, he further began readjusting his befuddled senses to the world around him as more recollections returned to his mind. Ah, yes. He had been at work. There was a holiday today and classes cancelled. Not wanting to laze about home and having hit a rather stellar roadblock in his already limited magecraft, he had opted to put in some extra hours at Copenhagen.
Otoko hadn't minded, at least not so far as he could tell. The slight frown he could have sworn he saw grace her features for a moment was passed off as a trick of the light. As the remainder of the events played out, filled with holes, Shirou figured it was his boss who had brought him home. At the very least, she had arranged for him to be taken home.
He'd have to do something nice for her in repayment for helping him.
As he sat up with another grunt, his mind began wandering to Hotaruzuka Otoko. Shirou would admit he didn't know terribly much about his boss, but he could honestly say she seemed like a good person. She was also diligent, a hard worker who did her job to the fullest.
It was something he could appreciate.
Shirou had known the woman for a few years now. It sounded longer than it actually was and he could trace it back to one of Taiga's drunken escapades. His self-declared guardian had come stumbling in one evening looking far more smashed than was the norm for her usual bouts of courting someone she referred to as "The Captain". A reference he had failed to grasp more than once. Hauling in the drunken tiger was a brunette of slightly shorter stature. She was pink in the cheeks, showing she had imbibed of her own share of liquor. However, she was far more sober than her charge.
It was not the most ideal of first meetings, made even less so when Taiga emptied the contents of her stomach onto his person. Covered in alcohol and vomit, with a thoroughly pissed Taiga on his back, was how Shirou first met Otoko.
He met her again a few weeks later under similar, but far more... pleasant circumstances. It seemed Taiga had learned the benefits of not drinking to such excess.
Their third meeting was when he learned of Otoko's dislike of her name, preferring to be addressed as Neko instead. He had received the nickname "Emi-yan" upon the same evening. He had been slightly irked by the new form of address at the time, but let it began to grow on him.
The fourth meeting had Shirou questioning Taiga's reasoning for such absurd levels of liquor consumption. At the rate she was going, the kendoist either had a liver of the gods or was intending to test the theory of whether or not she could develop one. Otoko seemed irritated at the time, which seemed to stem from the rather unwanted poking and prodding she was receiving from her friend.
It was also at this meeting when Otoko had offered him a job. The offer was nothing special or fancy, merely a position as a stock boy at the bar she and her father ran. Shirou had accepted the offer almost immediately. The chance to be useful, and even earn some money of his own, was far too good to pass up. He recalled she seemed pleased at his acceptance and they had shared a brief laugh about getting him away from Taiga for a bit.
As his mind returned to the more immediate timeframe, he began to detect the faint aroma of something cooking. Had Sakura come over, likely at Otoko's request, to help him out? She didn't need to do so much. Still, he wouldn't complain considering his current state.
Against his better judgement, which was already rather lacking according to the few friends he had, he rose to his feet and exited his room. There was a slight chill on his body which didn't sit well with him. Something he attributed to the Autumn weather.
Tentatively, he called out as he entered visual range of the kitchen, "Saku-ra...?" Whatever he had been expecting had not been what he laid eyes upon. For there in his kitchen, her long brown hair pulled into a ponytail and wearing one of his aprons, was none other than Otoko herself. From his viewpoint, Shirou could see her working on some manner of dish. Likely soup if his guess was correct.
His voice had apparently carried far enough for the woman to hear him and she turned to lay her gaze upon his form. Her tone was reprimanding, but not harsh, as she greeted him, "Oh, you're up, Emi-yan. You should get back in bed and get some more rest. I'll bring you something to eat soon."
Shirou's mind tried to process the scene further as his boss spoke and he tilted his head to the side in confusion. "Neko... Why... are you cooking?" It was plain to hear, even in his own struggling mind, he was not quite collected yet.
A frown graced Otoko's features as she placed her hands on her hips. "Because someone decided to come to work sick as a dog. You didn't think I'd just dump you here and leave, did you?"
Shaking his head slowly, the redhead looked a little sheepish. "No, I just wasn't expecting this. I thought you'd have called Sakura or Fuji-nee."
"I wouldn't let Taiga within a mile of you in your current state," she replied with a look of amusement, "I have trouble enough when you're at your best. And I don't know anything about Sakura aside from what you've told me, much less how to contact her. Besides, you don't seem like the kind of man who would make a girl walk home in the dark after taking care of you, now do you." The last bit had been a bit of a rib, which seemed to have penetrated the fog of Shirou's mind.
"Of course I wouldn't!" he replied hotly, not entirely appreciating the teasing jab. With slightly wobbly steps, he entered the dining room and sat down slowly at the table. "But what about you? You don't have a car."
Otoko waved him off with a grin. "Don't worry yourself, I'm a tough girl. Besides, I called my old man and he'll be here to pick me up in an hour or so." She turned to continue stirring the bubbling pot of soup. "I'm making potato soup. It'll help you get back on your feet. Always helped me at least." Her smile remained unseen to the redheaded infirm.
"I..." Shirou shook his head, not having the will or reason to argue. "Thanks, Neko. I really appreciate you doing this."
The steaming mixture of hot food bubbled away as Otoko stirred it slowly. "Any time, Emi-yan. Any time."
-End-
