I blinked a few times upon waking and proceeded to sit up, stretching and yawning as I did so. An unhappy murmuring and some grabby hands quickly brought me back down to the futon again, and I found myself once again lying next to my sleeping Nero. I briefly considered cuddling next to her for a few more minutes, but decided against it. That was a trap; if I let myself relax there would be no getting up for hours and breakfast would go unmade. Fortunately, I knew how to get out of my Servant's grip whenever she got clingy in her sleep.
I gently leaned over her and began whispering a number of sweet nothings in her ear, praising her beauty and magnificence. By the time I got to how her strength was greater than a lion, a happy smile crossed her face and she relaxed her grip, allowing me to get out of bed unimpeded. Nero was always vulnerable to flattery, even when she wasn't conscious. It was so effective that I almost felt bad whenever I used it, and tried to refrain from doing so unless I really had to. And in my book, cooking breakfast counted as one of those times.
Standing up, I looked back down at Nero's sleeping form. She rolled over to collect the rest of the blankets, covering up her bare body and a soft mutter of "Gao…" coming from her as she did so. I was unable to keep a smile off my face at the cute display. I could still perfectly remember the day my slightly misanthropic teenage self summoned her. At the time, I had no idea what I really wanted out of the Grail War, just that I wanted something more. And I certainly got that in spades when the scantily clad roman emperor appeared before me. Her inner fire and radiance were something I had never seen before.
Maybe I could- No, bad Shirou! No falling for the trap that is warm blankets and even warmer Nero. I had breakfast to make.
I slipped on a pair of pants before making my way to the kitchen. Normally, I wasn't comfortable showing my bare torso to most people, as the network of burns across my body raised some uncomfortable questions, but it was just me and the early morning hours at the moment. My apartment wasn't particularly big, but my position within the Church insured me a space that provided plenty of room for two of us, along with a fully stocked kitchen. As I turned on the stove and got out the ingredients, I went over my plans for the day.
It had been about 5 months since I had first come to Shin Tokyo and had reunited with my family. Things had been a bit awkward at first; As much as I had wondered what it was like, I had never really experienced a caring family before so I was at a loss at what to do sometimes, and my mother and sister hadn't been sure how to treat me either. Still, everyone involved was making an effort, so things had become more comfortable of late. I still wasn't sure why Takami was being so evasive on the subject of my father though. Whenever I asked, she simply said "that man isn't with us anymore." It was such that I wasn't sure if Sahashi was Takami's maiden name or not.
Though this hadn't really mattered to me when Takami asked me to change my name back to Minato Sahashi. No, I had been reluctant to change my name for a different reason. As odd as it was, I felt an attachment to that name, even though the legacy of the name Kotomine wasn't exactly one I cared to carry. Kirei Kotomine and I were never actually that close either, as I always had an innate distrust of the man. The intuition that proved to be spot on as I found out during the Grail War, as he was the man who fielded a Servant during the War even though he was supposed to be an impartial judge, the man who trapped countless orphans in his basement to feed Gilgamesh, the man who killed Ayako…
I shook my head, to rid myself of the memories. In the end, I had changed my name to Shirou Kotomine Sahashi, changing my surname into my middle one. It was a western thing to do, but it seemed appropriate. I had kept my first name as I felt that was more important to who I was. While my mother had disapproved, I told her that she could still call me Minato if she liked, and she found this an acceptable compromise.
As I thought about it, I remembered that I was meeting my family for lunch today, in between my actual assignments. Though there were certainly more reasons for coming to Shin Tokyo then I had let on, I was telling truth when I said that I was here to help set up new churches. This was a relatively new city, only coming into existence within the past 30 years or so, and as such did not have much relation to many of the older establishments in the world. The Church did not expect a very big following in the technologically advanced city (or for the rest of Japan for that matter), but it was always prudent to have safe havens wherever possible in the event that one of their people needed sanctuary.
I was going through my itinerary of people I needed to talk to when my thoughts were interrupted by the sensation of two warm, soft things pressing into my back and a pair of arms circled around my midsection. "You would think with all the creative things people have invented since my reign, they would have figured how to let someone cook breakfast without leaving bed." said a voice from behind me.
I didn't turn, still busy finishing up the meal. "I don't think most people feel that's a problem that needs solving." I remarked dryly. "Besides, I like cooking this way just fine."
There was some grumbling into my back before she spoke again. "Don't forget that I'm presenting my designs to the contractors today."
I suppressed a wince. "I don't think that my superiors will like how costly the resulting architecture will be."
"But modern designs are so boring." Nero replied. "They are functional, but far too bland. A place of worship needs to be inspiring." She paused for a moment. "That reminds me, we're working later tonight, correct?"
I could tell by her tone that she wasn't talking about the more mundane aspects of my role within the Church. I set down the finished meal on the counter and said "Yes. The local handler told me that a Dead Apostle was tracked to this city, and a few people have gone missing as of late. He was weakened by a number of skirmishes with the Clock Tower before he got here, but we should nip it in the bud as soon as possible. How are your reserves?"
"Hmm…" Nero said as she nuzzled my back. "A little over half. It should be more than enough if what you said is true."
I gave a small frown as I looked at the tattoo on my left hand. "True, though I'll probably need to use the stronger method to replenish your prana soon."
The arms around my waist tightened and Nero's voice took on a sultry tone. "I prefer the other way more." she said, and swiftly kicked my legs out from under me. I managed to give small sigh and smirk before the two of us toppled to the ground.
Breakfast was cold by the time we got to it.
The building was on fire, and it wasn't Homura's fault.
He wasn't sure why that fact mattered to him that much. Seeing as how he had noticed the smoke from a few blocks away before moving to his current position on top of a building across the street from the growing inferno, there was no way it could possibly be considered his fault. Still, as foolish as it was, Homura had always felt a sort of personal responsibly for his element. Fire could be a terrible thing at times.
He had only really come out of curiosity, and to see how bad things truly were. At the moment, things didn't seem too bad; while he would never call any of the buildings in Shin Tokyo old, the 5 story apartment complex in question looked like it had been unused for some time, so it was probable that there wasn't anyone inside. Also, while the fire was steadily growing in size it wasn't too close to any of the building surrounding it, so the fire department would likely be able to arrive before it spread too far.
He was about to leave when a flash of movement caught his eye. He could only just make it out through a third floor balcony door, but he managed to see a blur of red pass before he heard a slam and what sounded like a wall collapsing. Looking more closely, he thought he saw a darker blur pass behind the adjacent two balcony doors (with another series of crashes) before disappearing again.
Homura furrowed his brow in concern at this. Was there really a battle between Sekirei going on inside of the burning building? It might explain why the building was on fire in the first place, and it certainly looked like someone was moving at super human speeds, but he thought that his kin would still have more sense than that. Sekirei were strong, but as far as he knew he was the only one among them who could withstand high temperatures.
He gave a worried sigh and proceeded to jump to the balcony were he last saw the commotion. He had no way of know if one of the Sekirei involved was unwinged or not unless he asked, and he couldn't just stand by if a bird needed help and he was the only one around that possibly could given the situation. He just hoped he could get in and out before the building took too much damage to support itself.
He opened the sliding door and was hit by a wave of heat, though he was able to shrug it off without much effort. Being glad he had the sense to wear fire resistant clothing, he carefully moved around the flame covered room looking for any sign of the two he saw before. He could see the holes in the walls that lead into the other rooms, but there was no sign of movement. He looked to where the other person should have landed, but only saw what he thought might have been blood stains and ash. He wasn't sure why, but something about this was really putting him on edge.
Wait, what is that? He thought to himself as he cocked his head to the side listening. It was hard to make out over the roar off the fire, but he could swear he heard… laughter? Not a pleasant laugh by any means, the sound was much closer to a mad cackle than anything else.
He didn't have much time to think about it though, as a second later a groaning above his head was the only warring he had before part off the room above him collapsed. Fortunately for him, he was fast enough to get out of the way before the various debris crushed him. This is bad. I need to find those two and get out of here now.
However, the pile of rubble in front of him started to shift, and he heard a low moan come from it. Panicking, Homura quickly began to dig through the pile. "Hold on! I'll get you out in a second!" He managed to clear enough away so that he could see the outline of a body, and it was at that point things went to hell. The person suddenly surged up, knocking aside the few pieces of junk that were still on him and causing the fire Sekirei to step back in surprise. The person continued his forward movement and jumped at Homura, causing both to tumble to the ground with other on top of him. That when he got a look at the things face.
It looked (and smelled) like a corpse, its gray skin winkled and torn with blood seeping from some of the wounds. Its teeth looked like they had been filed down into points, and the moan it had been emitting had turned into a feral snarl. As Homura's widening eyes stared into its, all he could see was hunger and madness.
Wh-what the hell is this?! He thought as he screamed in sheer surprise and terror. A zombie?! Parts of the creature were on fire, but it didn't seem to notice as it tried to close its mouth around his face. He followed his first instinct of trying to shove it off him, but found to his horror that thing was as strong as he was. He wasn't sure about using his fire power, as he wasn't sure if the thing was human or not.
Homura was saved from this dilemma as a moment later the thing was thrown off of him and slammed into a nearby wall. It landed upright, but only had a moment to growl in anger before a blur separated its head from its shoulders. Homura could only gape in surprise at the sight of the body turning into ash before his eyes, but his gaze was quickly drawn to the woman standing in front of the newly made ash pile.
She was somewhat short, with blond hair done up in a bun. Her dress was a bright crimson with gold embroidery, and had an open back that went so low that it showed off a generous portion of her behind. As she turned to face him, he saw that the dress parted in the front below her waist and her frilly underskirt was apparently see through, giving him a good look at her panties as well as the greaves that covered the lower part of her legs. In her right hand she held a massive sword, at least five feet in length, which had an erratic jagged look.
Let's see: super human abilities, a near fetishistic outfit, and a massive and improbable weapon? Oh yeah, Homura thought, she's definitely a Sekirei.
"What are you doing here?" She asked, her brilliant green eyes staring at him intently. "I would have thought anyone in the building would have had the sense to get out by now."
"Would have had…" Homura muttered before he angrily got to his feet. "That's what I should be telling you! What hell are you thinking having a battle in a building that's on fire?! No, never mind, what the hell was that thing?!" He yelled as he pointed to the ash pile.
The woman tilted her head to the side as arched an eyebrow. "A Ghoul. I was surprised as well, but it seems the Apostle managed to bring a few into the city with him." She paused before looking off to the side. "Oh wait, this is one of those things my Praetor told me to keep quiet about, isn't it?"
Homura blinked in confusion at her use of the old Roman title for the commander of an army. Given how she used it, he figured that that was just how she referred to her Ashikabi. He shook his head. "Ok, never mind. Let's get out of here first and then I can figure out what's going on. Where's the other Sekirei you were fighting with?"
The swordswoman's brow knit together in confusion. "What is this Sekirei you speak of?"
Homura just opened and closed his mouth at this. He was about to ask her what the hell she meant by that when another voice got his attention. "Ahahah! There you are!" Homura spun as he immediately recognized the voice as the same one that made the mad cackle. Dropping through hole which the 'ghoul' had come from, a man in what looked like a priest uniform and a dark red overcoat with a hood landed a short distance away from them. He had a mask on the lower half of his face just like Homura, and combined with the hood he couldn't make out any details. Most alarmingly, the man was holding 6 long thin blades, three in each hand, with arms spread out as he landed.
Under normal circumstances Homura was a generally calm and collected individual, prone to thinking things out before taking action. However, being in a burning building and having his face almost chewed off by a zombie had frayed his nerves somewhat. And in his defense, dropping out of the air while wearing suspicious clothes while laughing like a maniac and holding several swords in your hands is not the best way to introduce yourself. So, Homura could probably be forgiven for screaming in surprise before blasting the stranger with a moderately sized fire ball.
The blast took the man off his feet and sent him back into some more burning debris in the side of the room. Homura gave a small wince. That wasn't the best way to respond to things.
"Oh dear," The woman next to him said. "You should not have done that."
"Hey, he jumped at us with weapons draw. What was I supposed to-"
"He is very difficult to reason with in that state."
"Wait, what?"
That was as far as he got before the laughter reached his ears again. "Fire? I WAS BORN OF THIS! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!" With a great crash he leaped out of the corner, seemingly completely unharmed. With a quick shout of "Praeuro Laminas!", his blades erupted in fire and he hit the ground running at Homura, his blades dragging across the floor as he did so.
Well, know I know who started the fire, he thought grimly.
It was a bit odd to see someone else using his own element, but it wasn't completely unexpected. He knew that some of the weapon user Sekirei had secondary elemental powers in addition to their combat skill. He had heard of one girl with a scythe that could make wind blasts, although they were nowhere near as strong as the ones the No. 03 could make. Still, at finding another fire user (and a male at that), Homura felt that the gods were mocking him somehow.
The charge was faster than Homura expected, closing the distance between them before Homura had a chance to realize it. However, before he could receive some undoubtedly painful wounds, the woman next to him put her sword between them just before the other man reached him, causing him to crash into the blade and fall flat on the ground. Homura, while surprised by the sudden turn of events, was also impressed that woman didn't seem to budge in the slightest from this.
The man gave a small groan before he shot a glare at the woman. "What did you do that for?"
"You were going to do something you would have regretted later." She said imperiously, like a school teacher scolding a child. "This man is neither dead nor dying, and furthermore is clearly magus. We would get in trouble with the Clock Tower if you killed him."
The man gave a small grunt as he got up. "As a matter of fact, he isn't magus. I can tell that he's one of those things I've been smelling around the city lately." The woman's eyebrow shot up at that and she gave Homura an inquisitive look. The man continued, this time addressing Homura directly. "In any case, what exactly are you and what are you intentions to humanity? I'm afraid that I'm not familiar with your species."
Homura looked at the two of them in bafflement, both at the priest's sudden shift in attitude and what they were saying "…What the hell are you two talking about?! How do you not know that I'm a Sekirei like you?! Did your adjuster drop you on your heads when you were young or something?!"
The two looked at him quizzically before looking at each other. "Do you know what he's talking about?" The woman asked.
"Not really. But we should probably bring him to my handler in the city before we ask questions. The Apostle is dead and I've swept the building; there's no more dead to be found here. We can leave-" He was cut off as a loud groaning came from the foundation. "-Although now would be a good bring you back up to full." He gestured to the burning building around him.
The woman brightened. "It is convenient that you usually can refill my prana after you do battle, though sometime I wish it didn't cause so much damage."
"Can we please leave the building before we all die-" Homura started.
"Quiet fool." The woman said in a tone that left no argument. "Do not interrupt my Praetor while he works."
Wait, he's her Praetor? Homura thought in confusion while the man raised his left hand in the air. But I thought-
Whatever other thoughts he might have had died when the man began to chant.
"Igne animam meam ego praecipio tibi,"
The movement of the fire around the room slowed it's dancing before becoming completely still. The roar of the flames which had once permeated the air had become silent.
"Sumpsimus, Domine, ut mihi,"
The fire began to slowly dance again, but this time leaning towards the incanting priest. Homura could swear he saw an emblem of some kind glowing red on the back of his hand.
"Ut continuet maxima flamma!"
With the last syllable, the flames in the room rushed at the man's left hand, where they seemed to be absorbed and disappear. It wasn't just the fire in the room though; more flames came rushing into the room from the hall the balcony and the holes in the walls and floor, all converging on the man. The priest stood firm in the center of the pyroclasm, seemingly untouched by the fire that was being absorbed into his hand.
It was unreal. Homura had considered himself to be fairly proficient in wielding fire, but he had never even though about doing something like this. How the hell can he possibly be doing this? Homura was the single digit!
After a few more moments, the streams of fire tapered off and an all was still. The room was still oppressively hot, but all traces of the blaze which had been consuming the building had disappeared. The emblem continued to glow for a few moments before fading to black. As Homura gaped at the man, he swept back his hood and lowered his face mask. He was a fairly young man, with longish auburn hair and a number of burn scars on his face. "So, what say you come with me so we can get this sorted?"
It was at that moment Homura felt his chest tighten and his face blush violently. A strong emotion welled up in him which he could only describe as a pull.
What. No. No no no no! This isn't… that can't be possible!He thought frantically as the man looked at him in confusion. He was reacting to him! How that doesn't even make sense! He was a Sekirei, wasn't he?
This meant one of two things: One, he was somehow reacting to another Sekirei, or two, he was reacting to a human who could somehow control fire. And in either case, he was reacting to a man despite the fact he was heterosexual.
The gods were most definitely mocking him.