Hello! Sorry for the wait. I'd absolutely LOVE to blame it on all the prep work for 'Fools rush in,' but... that would be a filthy lie. It's mostly the fault of super robot wars and my great skill at procrastinating. Anyhow, on with the show!
Chapter 7: Punctuated equilibrium.
02/08.
Ryoga muttered curses to himself, leaning his head against a very familiar wall that he'd passed half a dozen times in the last four hours. Morning was approaching fast, again, and for another night he had failed. At least this time, he knew that Ranma was safe at the Emiya house, its wards and two other Servants protecting him.
They'd been there for the past day and a half, the only legitimate mage, Tohsaka, trying to give both Ranma and Shiro a crash course in the principles of magic that reminded the Hibiki just a bit of Elder Ku-lon. Tricking Emiya into swallowing a mana charged stone to force open his circuits had even been a bit Genma-ish, but she seemed trustworthy otherwise.
Unfortunately, even if his master was safer than he had been, Ryoga's own quest wasn't going anywhere. He thought, briefly, of asking Ranma to help him, but knew that would result in the boy insisting on coming with him, and that would probably end… badly.
Raising his head and straightening his back, the Assassin-class Servant turned to continue down the street, hoping it would lead to a destination he could use. He'd thought he'd spotted a subway entrance a few minutes previous. Just as he was about to turn a corner, he stopped, turning slowly back to the street in time to spot a tall, blue-clad figure walking casually down it as if the skin-tight bodysuit and blood-red spear over a shoulder were perfectly normal. "Lancer," He said, falling into a defensive stance.
The Servant in question rolled his eyes. "You and I both know that without your master here, you could fade into mana and leave any time you want," he stated, casually. "I'm not here to attack you."
"Then why are you here?" The lost one demanded, only relaxing slightly.
Lancer shrugged, lowering his weapon and leaning against it. "Curiosity, mostly," he admitted. "My master's been having me gather information on everyone in this war. Personally, I'd rather just have a good fight and get it over with, no skin off my nose if we lose, but I guess I can't blame them for being cautious. You, though," He shook his head.
"You've got all these distinguishing marks. The fangs, the bandannas, the umbrella for a weapon. You're not trying to hide anything, but I've got no idea who you could be. Not to mention that the way you fight is nothing like an Assassin, and you spend every night wandering in circles."
Ryoga felt the old shame welling up and mercilessly squashed it. He knew he hadn't been getting anywhere, someone else reminding him about it didn't much matter. "I'm not telling you who I am."
"Didn't think you would," Lancer answered, easily. "I was wondering if you'd tell me what you're doing, though."
"Looking for something," Ryoga grunted back, starting to walk again.
"I thought that," Lancer responded, following after him. "But what, exactly?"
The Assassin considered for a long moment, before responding. "A train station."
"A train-" The Servant behind him sounded astonished. "Why would you want a train station? And how could you fail to find it for three days?" Ryoga didn't answer, ignoring the other and turning down a sidestreet. "No, you want right here," Lancer interjected.
After several more minutes of walking, occasionally interrupted by the blue haired man's guidance, The lost one stood in front of a stairwell leading down to a subway line. Turning, he saw the the Lancer was giving him a speculative look. "So, on top of everything else, you've got no sense of direction."
"Shut up," Ryoga growled, bringing a chuckle from the taller man.
"You really are interesting," Lancer said, once again leaning on his spear. "Fighting you again should be fun, when my master finally gets around to it." As the lost one twitched, he continued. "Then again, that master of yours is pretty interesting too, glossy red hair, silky, pale skin, and great-"
"He's actually a guy," Ryoga interrupted.
Lancer shrugged. "She's not right now."
Ryoga just shook his head and turned to enter the station. As he exited easy sight, the blue haired servant nodded to himself. He hadn't been lying, really. The assassin was an anomaly. So was the archer, but getting near him for a casual chat probably wouldn't be as easy, as he never left his master's side for long. Of course, what he'd learned about the Assassin wasn't all that useful. He was looking for something, and got lost easily. Normally that would be a huge weakness, but the fact that any servant could find their master's location anywhere negated most of its drawbacks.
"Ah well, at least he found his train," Lancer muttered, before taking off into the city.
HR.
The sliding doors parted, and he stepped quickly off of the train. He'd planted himself right next to them as soon as he'd boarded, thankful that it was early enough that the crowds of salarymen hadn't really gotten started. Now, he was finally there. Nerima, Japan. He could still feel his master's presence pulling him in a certain direction, but did his best to ignore that as he stepped out onto the platform and after a few false starts, up the stairs to street level. Resolutely, he began searching.
Of course, he didn't find anything. He'd only gotten here with Lancer's help, after all. Where before, he couldn't find the train station, now he couldn't get away from the damned place. He'd see brief, tantalizing glimpses of streets he recognized, the school entrance, the arch marking the entrance to Furinkan's main shopping street, but in the end he always ended up back at the stairs down.
The glimpses he was getting weren't helping, either. Many years previous, he'd started running away from this place, and even with his mission, an uneasy sensation seemed to crawl through his guts every time he saw a mailbox Ukyo had mistaken for Tsubasa and tried to smash into next tuesday, or a wall that had seen recent battle damage.
He shook his head, ignoring those feelings and continuing on. When the sun began to rise, he considered heading back, but was sure that he wouldn't get this close again. Coming across the shopping district again, he spotted a flash of purple and heard the jingle of a bike bell.
His mouth was half open to call out to the amazon riding her bike down the street when the name caught in his throat. A tear-stained, rage filled face flashed into his mind, the amazon girl screaming accusations at him in mandarin. By the time he shook it off, Shampoo had leapt to the roof of a nearby building, not noticing him.
Turning away, he began to walk again, his shoulders slumping. "That was a miserable failure," he mumbled to himself. The worst part was that Shampoo had never done that. He hadn't seen her since running away, either, but the nightmares had come. Everyone he'd ever known hating him, screaming accusations and attacking.
He laughed bitterly. It'd actually been easier seeing Ranma himself than calling out to Shampoo. At least the pigtailed boy's inability to take anything seriously and maddening smirk kept the lost one's mind on task. Now, well, if he couldn't even talk to Shampoo, what would happen if he ran into Akane? There was a decent chance his younger self wouldn't even be in Nerima today, and all of the others were.
He was half way through turning around to head back to the train station when a familiar voice stopped him cold. "Oh Ryoga-kun, hello!"
He turned slowly to see a tall, brown haired woman smiling at him with one hand raised and a shopping basket in the other. "K-kasumi," he croaked, his mind going blank for a moment.
The girl blinked as she got a better look at him. "Oh, I'm sorry sir, I thought you were-"
"It's me!" The servant said hurriedly, his brain still trying to recover. "I'm Ryoga, it's just… complicated."
"Oh," The eldest Tendo sister tilted her head slightly. "Well, you look very dashing," She offered.
"I… uh… thanks," Ryoga said lamely, stepping towards the girl. She looked just as he remembered, which was natural, he supposed, since this was the Kasumi he remembered.
"Are you looking for Ranma and Akane to help you with… that?" Kasumi asked. "Ranma's off on a training trip, but Akane just left for school."
"No, no!" Ryoga said, laughing nervously. Fumbling at a pocket in his clothes, he produced a white envelope, smudged with a few blotches of grey, which he held forward. "Kasumi, could you give this to me?" Seeing that she looked even more confused now, he continued, "Next time I see you, I mean. I need you to give me this. It's very important."
The brown haired girl took the letter slowly and nodded. "I'll do that next time I see you," she tucked the envelope into a pocket on the apron she was wearing. "Are… you sure you're alright? I can lead you back to the dojo."
He shook his head rapidly. "The dojo… would probably be a bad idea right now," he admitted. "Just make sure I get that letter, thanks. Bye!" Turning on his heel, he ran off and took the first sidestreet he could see.
Kasumi looked after the Hibiki boy for a moment, a frown on her lips. Patting the letter in her apron, she turned back in the direction of the Tendo home. Suddenly the errands she'd come out for didn't seem that important, and she wondered if the place would need repairs again.
HR.
"Halt," Saber barked, the two figures in the middle of the Dojo stepping away from each other, the blonde looking at the redhead, troubled. "That's what you think Shiro's style should look like?"
"Well, with the exception of mirroring one side and doin' it all at once," Ranma said, dropping the crudely modified Bokken she'd been holding next to its twin on the ground. "It's way too risky and aggressive, but with those swords and the way he uses 'em, it's about all that makes sense."
"It's Archer's style," the knight looked even more troubled, now.
"Never really saw him fight," Ranma dismissed. "I mean, yeah, me 'n Ryoga tangled with him and Tohsaka before, but I was a bit too busy with her to watch the fight." Seeing that this had no real effect on the Servant's dark look, the redhead quickly changed the subject. "So, I did my best to show you that, you willing to put up your side of the deal?"
"We've only got half an hour before dinner," she said, making the comment sound extremely important.
"Yeah, well, I only got a couple things to try," Ranma responded. At Saber's nod, she closed her eyes, the glimmer of her magic circuits overtaking her skin. Stretching one hand forward, she concentrated as hard as she could, and pushed.
"It... soaked my face," the Servant reported, flatly.
"Yeah, 's why I figured trying any of this with P-chan would be a bad idea," Ranma muttered. Whichever Kami had thought it'd be a funny cosmic joke to make Ranma's mana 'water elemental,' as Tohsaka had called it, she really wanted to 'talk' to them.
"Okay, let's try... this." She closed her eyes again, her magic circuits blazing brightly this time before she lashed out with her good hand. There was a cracking and shattering sound as her eyes opened, a glimmering object falling away from Saber's upraised arm.
"That... definitely would have done a small amount of damage," the servant reported, "But that much casting time is..."
"Completely useless," Ranma nodded. "Great. It's lookin' like if I'm going to be fighting anyone, it'll be the Assassin guy."
"Three servants should be able to take care of any issues," Saber said, confidently.
"Should," Ranma agreed, "But I don't like not havin' a backup plan." She then sighed, explosively. "Unfortunately, right now that's all I got. Can't really do that sword strengthening trick Shiro's gotten so damned good at, and Tohsaka says that sick bolt thing is a lot more complicated than it looks, and she ain't sharing."
"Most mages are very secretive about their knowledge," Saber explained. "The amount Rin's been willing to share so far is... unusual."
"Think she's got a plan or something?" Ranma raised an eyebrow.
"I trust her as much as I trust you," Saber retorted.
"So she does, probably." Ranma turned. "Gunna see what Shiro's cookin'."
"Wait!"
Ranma turned back, startled at the exclamation. "I... had something to ask you."
"If my pops somehow managed to engage me to some historical ghost," the redhead started, unnerved at the Servant's sudden change in behavior.
"No, that isn't it," She glared. "It's about your curse."
"Oh, great." Ranma said, unenthusiastically. "What is it?"
"You were a man when we first met, and said that was your original form," Saber started. "Then you changed into your current one, and while I would hardly call you ladylike, you seem... comfortable, not at all anxious about it."
"Oh, thought it was gonna be one of those embarrassing questions I've gotta slug Hiroshi and Daisuke over," Ranma smiled. "I've had the curse for a couple years, gotten used to it. As for bein' comfortable... I really don't like bein' a girl full time, and if the curse was locked or somethin' I'd be crawling up the walls tryin' to fix it, but as it is, I hurt my shoulder. I know how long that'll take to heal, and I can change back when it's done, so it's not a big problem."
"I... see," Saber said, looking somehow disappointed.
"There a reason you're asking?"
N-no, there's no reason," the blonde said, hurriedly. "We should go see what Shiro's making." Turning, she walked out past the martial artist.
"...okay," Ranma said, slowly, before following.
HR.
"So where the heck were you today, P-chan?" Ranma asked, as she, Ryoga, the other two masters and their Servants gathered at the Emiya residence front gate, the last rays of the setting sun disappearing and the street lights flickering on.
The lost one didn't respond, but did smile slightly.
"P-chan?" The one who'd asked this was Archer, who had one eyebrow raised. "That's certainly… an unusual name."
"Never mind that," Ryoga snapped, rapidly changing the subject. "So what are we doing out here?"
"Sabotaging Caster," Rin answered. At the Assassin's puzzled look, she explained, "Before I got caught up with these two," gesturing dismissively at Ranma and Shiro, "Archer and I were tracking a series of carefully concealed energy syphoning spells through the city."
"Like the one at the school?" Shiro asked.
"Not… quite," Rin answered as she started walking down the street, Archer following behind, eventually joined by the others. "These were meant to be a bit less obvious, but I don't think she knew how much she could take from people without causing permanent damage. The only reason I noticed was because she was driving people into Comas."
"And now that you believe she can't move as freely, you want to destroy the rest of them," Saber guessed.
"Right," Rin nodded, as the group continued down the slowly curving road. "So keep an eye out, if we can take out enough of these, we'll have a much better chance of winning an assault on the temple."
"Makes sense, I guess," Ranma admitted, reluctantly.
"And you've got a better plan?" The mage snapped, taking exception to the redhead's uncertain tone.
"Nah," Ranma waved it off. "Just not a huge fan of this whole drawin' power out of a bunch of innocent people for a magical pissing contest thing,"
"Well, neither am I," Rin shot back, "but it's how a lot of mages operate. It's a miracle you've been wandering around with active magic circuits and a curse like that and haven't run afoul of something like this before now."
"I'm a bit more of a fan of just bein' straightforward and punchin' people in the face," Ranma argued.
"Yeah, sure," Ryoga was speaking before he could stop himself. "That would be why you tried to seduce special techniques out of me before."
"Hey, you weren't some random guy who had nothin' to do with it!" Ranma objected hotly, not noticing the strange look the Tohsaka girl and her Servant exchanged.
"Hey…" Shiro interrupted. "Does anyone else smell that?"
"Smell what?" Rin asked, but Shiro was already moving, taking off into the woods to the side of the road. Saber grunted quietly and followed.
The group broke out of the treeline closer to the center of old Fuyuki and Ranma shook her head. "Y'know, I think I know what Shiro's talkin' about," She said, speeding up to match Saber and her master's pace as they entered the parking lot for a small outdoor mall.
As Shiro slid to a stop in the middle of the lot, looking around in confusion, the rest of the group caught up to him. "A lot of people would be passing through here during the day," Archer offered.
Rin nodded, closing her eyes and concentrating. She eventually stepped over to a manhole cover nearby and stretched out a hand, a glowing red design springing into existence on the metallic surface. "When I start disassembling this thing, it's going to set off defenses."
"What kind of defenses?" Shiro asked, glancing around nervously.
"The last few times it was a horde of skeletal familiars, like the ones that attacked us at the school," the dark haired mage answered.
In response to her words, the three Servants spread out around their masters, falling into battle positions. Just as she was about to start her spell, Ranma spoke up. "Nah, wait a sec."
Rin looked up, glaring at the short redhead. "What?"
"I've fought those skeletons before," Ranma explained. "They're probably the weakest thing we're gonna have to deal with. How I see it, this is the best training we can get. Have the Servants watch out for anything big, and we handle these things."
"Of course," Ryoga muttered sourly.
"It… is a point," Archer admitted, his arms crossed.
"I'm not sure we should have our masters fighting in real battle anymore than necessary," Saber objected. "That is our job, after all."
"Don't worry, we'll be fine," Shiro said, drawing the pair of roughly modified practice blades he'd been carrying, soft blue lines tracing their length for a moment.
Reluctantly, Saber stepped away from the manhole, followed by the other two Servants. Assassin just looked a little bored, though Archer was studying the group curiously. A moment later, Rin touched the spell woven onto the manhole cover, channeling her magic to disrupt it, and the expected defenses tripped. A light fog seemed to surround the area, over a dozen shadowed, skeletal figures looming out of it.
Ranma grinned, clenching her free fist as her own magic circuits rose to life.
"It's going to take me a bit to finish this," Rin called."
"Don't worry, we've got you," Shiro said, taking up a stance with his blades. The world almost seemed to slow as the first of the headless creatures lunged out of the fog towards him. He easily deflected its dulled, rusty blade, smashing it with his own offhand weapon and stepping past it. This situation wasn't like the desperate fight with Lancer before he'd first summoned Saber, or even his spars with her.
These creatures he could actually read, their movements ridiculously awkward compared to the poetry in motion that was a Servant's attacks. He slid under the next one to charge him, one blade sliding between its ribs, its reinforced edge slicing the spinal column in half.
The next he went at with a hard overhead swing, but it managed to bring its much heavier blade up. Shiro's blow snapped the fragile metal, but it was slowed dramatically, and skittered off of the skeletal monster's shoulder. He drove his other blade into the thing's leg, knocking it down and away, but was now badly off balance.
The fourth creature loomed with its blade already raised, its non existent eyes having no trouble seeing through the fog that restricted his vision to only a couple of meters. He desperately tried to bring his weapons back in to block, but the hasty stance crumbled under the force of his opponent's blow, one of his swords flying off into the fog.
He managed to shove his opponent backwards with all of his strength, but he stumbled back as well, landing painfully on his tailbone. Scrambling back to his feet, he saw a flash of blue light cut through the fog, a stocking-clad leg shattering the skeleton's collarbones and rib cage into dust.
"You've got me, huh?" Rin asked, her look dripping with scorn.
The red haired boy winced, making it the rest of the way to his feet and stretching out his empty hand. An exertion of will and magic left a familiar, comfortable hilt in his hand and he ran past Rin, not really taking notice of her widened eyes as he brought the curved silvery-white blade up against his next opponent.
It only took a minute or so after that for the three masters to clear up what was left of the skeletons, Rin then kneeling to finish dismantling the spell. "Well, that wasn't… horrible," Ranma muttered, flexing her arm and wincing, several bones scattered at her feet dissolving into sparkling blue light.
Shiro winced as well, unsure of that as one of the swords he was carrying vanished in the same way and he knelt down to pick up the now badly cracked wooden blade he'd been using.
"If you're going to fight like that, at least try and look like you know what you're doing." The snapped comment came from Archer, who was standing, a dark look on his face next to the other two servants.
"You saw any of that?" Assassin asked.
The white haired man shrugged. "I've got very good eyes."
"What did you mean by that?" Shiro demanded, but the white haired Servant refused to offer an explanation.
"We should probably try and find another one," he offered instead.
The red haired boy growled in frustration under his breath.
HR. - 02/09.
"Tea, now..."
"Well, you're cheerful this morning!" Taiga Fujimura's voice was like nails on a chalkboard as Rin staggered into the Emiya residence's main room, slumping down at the low table. "What happened, study too long last night, or are you guys getting up to something else?"
Rin didn't dignify this with a response, grabbing the kettle from the middle of the table and pouring a glass, gulping it down as quickly as she could.
"It wasn't actually something else, was it?!" The older woman demanded, her hands slamming down on the table as she leaned into the twin-ponytailed girl's personal space.
"Nothing like that," Rin waved the older woman off. ("Damned redhead.") She projected it to Archer, because she needed to complain about it to somebody.
("I agree, but I assume we're talking about different people,") The servant returned.
("She just… doesn't get tired,") the black haired girl complained. ("Are you absolutely sure she's human?") They had continued on to dismantle five more of Caster's spells the previous night. Though after a while Shiro had started to look a little worn down, the pigtailed girl had been as energetic when they'd returned at three in the morning as she'd been when they left.
("Hmm…. most likely, but possibly not.") Damn his deadpan delivery, she wasn't sure if he was joking or not. She was answered when he continued. ("You know she and Emiya likely would've stopped if you'd asked.")
("Wasn't going to happen,") Rin shot back. Ms. Fujimura had said something, but she'd missed it. "Hmm?" She asked.
"Wow, you really are tired," the older woman noted. "I wonder if it's some side-effects from that incident a few days ago?" As Shiro entered the room with a large platter of steamed rice and vegetables, she continued. "I don't think that could be it, though, even the most badly affected are recovering, they should be back in school next week."
"Well that's good," Shiro said, sitting down at the table. He looked wide awake, too. At least the redhead wasn't around, probably sleeping in after- Rin's train of thought was interrupted as the sliding door to the front hall slid open, Ranma and Saber walking through it, talking quietly.
Rin just let her head slam down on the table. ("At least it's a half day,") Archer offered.
HR.
Ranma rubbed her eyes and squinted back down at the book in her hand. She'd spent a good amount of the day continuing to try and get a handle on her new abilities, but had ended up having to give that up when it'd started snowing earlier in the afternoon. Ending up in the house, as Saber was using the Dojo, she'd reluctantly dug the school assignments her mother had insisted she bring on her training trip out, having no legitimate reason to ignore them.
She snorted. She was participating in a tournament with the spirits of heroes of legend, and still didn't have an excuse to ignore homework. Sometimes she missed the days when she and her father wandered the wilderness, at least until she thought about what the food had been like when the only places to get a meal he didn't have to kill or steal himself were buddhist monasteries and shinto shrines. As if in answer to that thought, something round and orange was shoved into her field of view.
"Want one?" Ms. Fujimura asked, brightly.
The redhead nodded and plucked the orange out of the older woman's hand. They hadn't really interacted much since the first morning they'd met, Ranma spending a lot of time out in the yard, Dojo or her tent, while the orange haired teacher preferred spending her time indoors teasing Shiro.
"I was worried you weren't studying while you were traveling," the teacher said, gesturing at the textbook Ranma had put down to take the orange.
"Mom'd kill me if I didn't do some," The martial artist answered, before biting into the fruit.
"As she should," the older woman said, wagging her finger in an exaggerated fashion before grabbing the box she'd taken Ranma's orange out of. "I'm going to see if Saber or Shiro want any."
"...right," Ranma said, quietly, as the older woman left the kitchen for the living room. She seemed really excitable and full of energy. A point proven when she heard raised voices from the other room, one being a flustered Shiro. A moment later two sliding doors were heard opening and closing. The pigtailed martial artist finished her orange, disposing of the peal and picking up her book.
"Nope, still don't get it," she muttered after a few minutes more of reading. Springing to her feet, she headed for the door. Just one lap around the compound, and she'd get right back to it… probably.
As she rounded the side of the house, however, she was caught off guard by a yell. "-just caring for others and not caring for yourself at all!"
Rin was standing on the walkway, glaring down and pointing at a thoroughly baffled looking Shiro who was sitting and looking up at her.
"Um, Tohsaka, your finger…" The red haired boy said, nervously, shuffling back slightly from where she was poking him in the nose with her nail.
"Shut up! Don't talk back to me!" The black haired girl yelled, obviously furious. Ranma tried to get while the getting was good, stepping slowly backwards, but the flooring below her gave a traitorous creak which the angry mage heard.
Tohsaka whirled, spotting her, and her eyes widened for a moment, before narrowing speculatively. "Hey, are you having fun?"
"Am I… what?" Ranma asked, blinking.
"You're obsessed with martial arts," Tohsaka explained. "Do you find it fun?"
"Uh… yes?" Ranma asked, uncertainly.
"And if it weren't fun, would you keep doing it? If you hated doing it, or just didn't care?" This time she looked back at Shiro.
"...yes," Ranma replied.
"See what I-" the black haired girl stopped in her tracks, whirling back to the martial artist. "What?"
"I… said I'd keep practicing the art even if I hated it," Ranma answered, and then tilted her head. "What's this about, anyways?"
"Why?" Rin demanded, angrily. "If it made you miserable, if you got no joy at all out of it, why would you want to keep doing it?"
Several answers leapt to mind. To preserve the heritage, to defend the weak, to keep fit, but none of them really seemed to be the right answer, and the way Tohsaka was acting, it seemed very important to give the right one. "...because it's important, I guess."
"But why is it important?" The mage kept pushing.
"It's important because…" Ranma started, and then blinked. The scent of rot. Acidic odors that made his nose burn. A dull throbbing all over his body… She shook her head. "It just is," She exploded, frustrated. Rin was now looking at her oddly, and so was Shiro.
Looking down, she shifted uncomfortably, changing the subject. "I didn't always find the art fun," she offered. "It was just that I had ta do it, and always bein' sad or angry about how hard stuff was or gettin' hurt didn't really do anything. There was no point making myself miserable, right?"
"That's…. Something," Rin started, uncertainly.
"You gonna tell me what's goin' on over here?" Ranma asked, looking between the two curiously.
"It's… nothing," Tohsaka shook her head. "Sorry for bugging you."
"No problem," Ranma said, turning to go back into the house.
"That… wasn't good, was it?" Shiro said, looking after the departing girl worriedly.
This was apparently the wrong thing to say, as Tohsaka whirled on him. "What, you notice that, but have no idea why any of the stuff you said to me before was wrong?"
"No?" The red haired boy answered, tilting his head.
Rin huffed, then crossed her arms. She stayed silent for a moment, and Shiro was quietly weighing the probable result of speaking up, remaining silent or just leaving, when she abruptly uncrossed her arms. "All right, I've decided!" She announced, pointing at him again, but this time from slightly farther away. "I may not be able to do anything about… that," She gestured in at the house, "but I'll make you admit defeat tomorrow!" With that, she turned on her heel and trotted back inside.
Shiro looked after her for a long moment, before shrugging and turning towards his shed. He wasn't sure what that meant, and really hoped it didn't mean she was planning to start attacking him the next morning, but he supposed he'd just have to deal with whatever it was when it came up.
HR.
Ranma tensed as the sound of quick footsteps, and then rustling fabric came to her. She wasn't too surprised when the entrance to her tent was abruptly thrown open, but had to blink at who was there. "Tohsaka?" She asked, sleepily, peering out from her sleeping bag.
"I need to talk to you." The dark haired girl seemed much less angry now, though there was a determined gleam in her eye.
"About what?" Ranma asked, sitting up.
"It's…" the other girl seemed to hesitate, as if she weren't sure how to explain herself. Making up her mind, she continued, "Something's wrong with Shiro, and I'm trying to do something about it."
"What, is he hurt or somethin'?" the pigtailed martial artist asked.
"No, it's nothing physical," Rin waved that possibility off. "It's in how he thinks. It's like…. His goal is the only thing that's important. He's all about helping everyone else, but doesn't think about himself, to him magic is a thing he has to do even if it's painful and he doesn't enjoy it, and all that doesn't matter!"
Half way through her explanation, it'd become a bit of a rant. Ranma winced. "I… don't see the problem with him wantin' to help people," she admitted slowly. "If it's what he has to do, then-"
"At least you understand that it's important to enjoy what you're doing!" Rin cut her off, angrily. "I may not like what you said either, but I can understand it, sort of. This…" She shook her head.
"So you think I've got this 'problem' too," Ranma guessed, her eyes narrowed.
"Not… exactly," Rin disagreed. "I just…" She huffed in frustration. "I thought maybe you thought enough like him that you could help me figure out what to do tomorrow."
"So… you're trying to get him to stop practicing magic?" Ranma asked, confused. "Ain't that a really bad idea in the middle of this war?"
"No, if he wants to practice magic that's fine," Rin disagreed. "But he should do it because he wants to, not because he has to!"
"Well," Ranma started slowly, moving deeper into the tent and gesturing for Rin to stop leaning through the door and take a seat, "If you're right about him thinkin' like me, I dunno if now's the best time to try this."
"What? Why?" The twin-ponytailed girl demanded.
"Tohsaka," Ranma started. "He's been practicin' to use his magic for ten years straight. I mean, that's the first difference between him and me, I wouldn't have kept bashing my head against the same thing for a decade. I'd have accepted that I sucked at using magic properly and tried to find a workaround way before that point." She gestured with one hand. "Those runes, or evocations, or… whatever that other stuff you mentioned was all about."
Rin nodded slowly. "I still don't see what me trying to do it now has to do with that."
"Well," Ranma said, eyes closing slightly in concentration. "Y'know that feeling when you've been workin' on something for a few hours, and it hasn't been working? You're gettin' frustrated, and suddenly something clicks, you figure out what you're doin' wrong, and you're done in a couple minutes?" As Rin nodded again, Ranma continued, "Shiro's been workin' on this for a decade, and three days ago, you showed him what he was doin' wrong. He's made more progress since you showed up than he had for that whole time before."
The redhead's eyes closed the rest of the way, a smile spreading across her face. "For me, I've only felt like that after workin' on a new technique for a few weeks. I… honestly can't imagine what it'd be like after so long trying. Right now, if he thinks like me, he's more confident and excited about the possibilities than he's ever been before. He's got hundreds of things he's thought of in his downtime that he can actually try now… and you're asking him to stop.
Rin considered for a few moments, and then nodded slowly. "That's actually… fairly plausible," she admitted.
"But you're still gonna do it," Ranma sighed.
The black haired girl nodded, backing out of the tent. "I'm going to educate that idiot if it's the last thing I do!" She proclaimed, the flap falling behind her retreating form.
Ranma looked after her for a long moment, and then sighed, rearranging her sleeping bag. "Better him than me."
END.
Taiga Dojo!
"Rin forced Shiro to do what?"
"Oh, the rock eating? Yeah, that was from the Fate route. Just stuck one on top of a jar of candies and asked if he wanted one."
"That... that... that... Why didn't I know about that?"
"Well, you weren't around yet in that route, that's all."
"And she's the love interest for the UBW route? That settles it! I really have to get my own route someday soon!"
"Eheheheh... sure thing..."
Illya's sprite fades from the screen.
"Ahem... While she's off chasing the dream, I guess I should say thanks for reading so far, and please R&R! Maybe it'll motivate our new lazy author... but probably not.