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Arturia ended up participating not in just those two meetings, but many more from then on. She didn't always have much input to give, but she offered her thoughts whenever she believed it was opportune. Since that seemed to be in fact what her employer – and husband – wanted, things went remarkably well.
In truth, she was somewhat surprised by how well – although a bit hectically – things were proceeding, especially considering how busy she was with all her private engagements, those including and not including the man she had married.
After their wedding at the end of June, they had started off by seeing very little of each other. It was now only the middle of September, but they were now sharing all of their meals together, going to work together, and sometimes even returning home together – and lately they saw each other during work meetings as well.
What was most surprising of all, however, was the fact that it was not unpleasant. She didn't dislike spending so much time with him, as strange as it sounded.
She certainly could not say she enjoyed it, that was out of the question; but she did not mind it either. The relationship with the man she had married had somewhat changed, both subtly and rather radically.
There was certainly no friendship between them, although there was something close to reciprocal acceptance now. The sarcasm and the blunt remarks in their dialogues were not gone, but the unforgiving hostility from the very beginning was.
What had prompted that antagonism at the beginning had most certainly been his arrogance. Yet that had changed, and why had that happened?
Well, she herself had acknowledged the fact that there were actually valid reasons for him to be arrogant, and she had done so even on the day when he had reached the peak of it with that obnoxious proposal of his, making her feel disgusted at his behaviour. Even then, when she had been furious, she had still recognized that he did have reasons to be as he was.
Gilgamesh was handsome, rich, successful and exceptionally good at… well… everything. It was hardly surprising that his ego and self-confidence had little restraints, if any at all.
Then what exactly had changed?
She had not suddenly become blind to his arrogance; his arrogance had seemingly taken a few steps back.
Such a subject needed some reflection, and possibly a brief talk with someone about it, to organize her thoughts.
Arturia knew perfectly well that addressing her husband on the matter was not going to be useful. Her closest confidante, Iri, did not know him well enough and was still recovering from her illness while her pregnancy proceeded. Hence, Arturia's only logical decision was to talk with Enkidu.
He was friendly and nice, seemed to have taken up the role of being a sort of older brother figure to her, and on top of that, he was supposed to be Gilgamesh's best friend; who better than him could help her gain some insight?
As soon as a particularly long meeting was over, after which Gilgamesh needed to go to the airport to take a flight to Nagoya, she closed the door and approached Enkidu.
"Enkidu, do you have a few minutes?"
Curious yellow-grey stared at her and he smiled widely.
"Of course, Ria~! What made you so gloomy?"
She frowned as she sat down in front of him. Gloomy? What a strange thing to say, since she was not gloomy at all. She then took a deep but silent breath, not very comfortable around the subject she was going to tackle.
"I was wondering if you could tell me a little about… Gilgamesh's past."
The green-haired man inclined his head a little. His smile did not falter in the least.
"What would you like to know, Ria~? Do you need to blackmail him? Because I think I have some of the cutest baby pictures–…"
She stared at him in astonishment and quickly interrupted him, "No, Enkidu, that's not what I meant…– Wait, did you say baby pictures? Of Gilgamesh?" Her disbelief and incredulity grew. "And you are offering me baby pictures of your best friend so freely?"
He shook his head, disapproving.
"Ria, give me some credit! I would never hand out blackmailing material on Gil to just anyone! You're one of the only people capable of putting him in his place, therefore I know you'd use them with care!"
She raised an eyebrow.
"If I am capable of 'putting Gilgamesh in his place', as you say, then why would I need blackmailing material on him in the first place?"
Enkidu shrugged.
"I meant what I said, Ria, but there is always need for a little help sometimes~…"
Arturia didn't even attempt to stop herself from rolling her eyes. Enkidu was never going to change, was he? She sighed, almost imperceptibly.
"I'm not going to ask for baby pictures of Gilgamesh."
She did have some trouble in keeping a straight face as she said that, but she heroically maintained her expression neutral and continued, "I meant to ask about his past… and his family."
Enkidu seemed to sober up at that. He scrutinized her with a sharper look in his eyes.
Suddenly realizing something, Arturia rapidly said, "But I am aware of the fact that his past and yours are very closely connected, and I wouldn't want to pry into that."
She almost felt a stab of guilt and shame for herself. She had completely disregarded Enkidu's privacy by asking him such a question, even if he did not seem to mind.
"Ria~, that's not relevant. I do wonder though… why do you wish to know about Gil's past?"
The honest answer was easy to think about, much less easy to say aloud – but Arturia would not back down.
"I… would like to understand him better."
Enkidu's eyes held a strange light and, for a second, Arturia got the distinct impression that he understood far more than he let on; but the next instant, the usual mischievous glint was back, and he resumed talking with just a minimal hint of unfamiliar gravity in his voice.
"Well then… there is not that much to say. Gilgamesh's father died before he was ten; there was never a real paternal figure in his life, as his father was quite absorbed by his work, but there was hardly any need for one, because there was Mother: Ninsun."
He smiled, understanding her implicit question about the way he had called Gilgamesh's mother. "I was very lucky. At a very young age, I was staying at an orphanage, and used to play outside often. That's where I met Gil; the other children were scared of him, even though he was a little less arrogant than today," – Arturia privately doubted it, but did not interrupt him – "and by the end of the day, he dragged me to his parents, demanding I go stay with them. Even as a child, he was imposing; Lugalbanda and Ninsun acquired legal guardianship of me a few days later."
Arturia returned his smile, in amazement. She had always been aware of the fact that he and Gilgamesh were very close, apparently as close as brothers, but she had not imagined that to be such an accurate legal description of their bond as well.
Enkidu was now smiling more softly. He had almost no memories of the time at the orphanage before having been adopted by Gilgamesh's family, but he did not mind that, because he had been very happy with them.
"I kept my surname, but the Uruk household became my own. I didn't get to know Father that much, but Mother – she's always been formidable. She has always been more than just a mother, for both Gil and I. She's probably the only person he has ever truly listened to… aside from me, and obviously you, of course."
Arturia gave him her most skeptical stare, as what he had just said was utter nonsense. She couldn't however pronounce a word, because Enkidu was giving her a wide grin.
"You see, Ria, Gil has indeed basically been almost always as arrogant as you know him to be, but that's not all there is to him. I'm sure you'll agree with me on the fact that he does have reasons to be arrogant," – she had to concede on that point – "but he is not an evil person, and you know that too. I won't go as far as saying that he considers politeness to be pointless, but it is quite true that he is not very considerate of other people's feelings… except of the people he cares about."
His expression was quite the curious one, and he smirked. "It's the same with his work. He is demanding with his employees, but he is also fair: once they prove they are hard-working people, he rewards them generously. He is fiercely protective of the people he cares about – and matters he cares about as well."
Arturia stared at him, a bit wary. What a conflicting amount of information she had just received.
Enkidu stood up, smiling happily. "I have to go now, Ria… a few phone calls to the airport for tomorrow morning require my attention. Let me know if you change your mind and get interested in those baby pics~!"
With a wink, he left the room, leaving a pensive Arturia behind.
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Gilgamesh was not extremely fond of the hospital, even though he was going there quite often because of his wife's relatives.
He also was not fond of the head medic, that Dirmund or something, who, while admittedly professional enough, still exchanged more than a few words with Arturia every time they met him.
Lately, the blond man was also getting irritated with his sister-in-law, Irisviel. After overhearing her conversation with the Matou nurse – and he had become fully certain of the fact that the woman had meant for him to listen – he had decided that, even if the white-haired woman lacked Arturia's spirit, she occasionally managed not to bore him.
That did not mean that she was anywhere close to her sister though. From what he had seen, she had much less practical sense than Arturia; it was no wonder that his wife had always had to be the grown-up between the two of them.
That consideration almost vexed him, and it made him conclude that Irisviel von Einzbern had better learn to stand on her own feet, and soon, because there was no way Arturia was always going to be around for her. Given her pregnancy and delicate health conditions, her relying on others was understandable to some degree, but there were limits to that. It irritated him to see Arturia always be other people's support and unable to be unburdened.
However, those considerations were distracting him too much from his work; therefore, he resolutely forced them out of his mind.
One morning, right after work, he went to his wife's office to go home with her. They had asked the Tohsaka girl to prepare lunch that day, because afterwards they were going to an art exhibition for charity purposes hosted by the Fraga McRemitz family, and before leaving Arturia meant to accompany the cook and her younger sister Rin to the hospital, where they were going to spend the afternoon with Shirou and Iri. With much reluctance, Gilgamesh agreed to go with them by limousine.
Kariya Matou was in Irisviel's room, changing her IV as they came in, since Doctor Diarmuid had just left after finishing his visit, as he did every other day.
The grey-haired man turned to greet them with his usual gentle smile, when suddenly, his expression shocked, he stared at Sakura with wide eyes.
"A-Aoi…?"
Sakura, in instinct, picked up her sister in her arms protectively and took an abrupt step back. When she observed him carefully, however, she seemed to recognize him.
"Uncle… uncle Kariya?"
The man seemed to tremble a bit as he smiled weakly at the two girls.
"Sakura… Rin… it's been a long time." Then he looked at Sakura, bowing slightly in apology. "Forgive me for my mistake. You have a different eye and hair colour, but you look exactly like your mother. It was… quite shocking to see you appear like this."
Iri, Arturia and Gilgamesh, who had witnessed the scene, all individually reached the same conclusion: the woman Kariya had loved dearly must have been Sakura and Rin's mother – Aoi Tohsaka.
Sakura put Rin back on the floor and took a few steps closer to the man.
"It's good to see you again, Uncle Kariya." Her smile was sincere, and little Rin repeated her respectful greeting, directing however a doubtful smile to a man she had no memory of meeting, probably because she had been too young.
The purple-haired girl's voice became a little more melancholic. "Our mother Aoi is no longer alive though."
Kariya nodded.
"I have recently heard about it. I am very sorry, Sakura, Rin."
Knowing that quite the long conversation was going to take place, Arturia gently grabbed her husband's arm as she nodded in her sister's direction.
"Gilgamesh and I will be going now. We are going to come pick you up later this evening, Sakura. And Rin, feel free to go to Shirou – he's in the room next to this, doing his homework."
Iri returned her nod and gave her a smile as Sakura and Kariya took two chairs to sit next to her bed.
It was going to be quite the afternoon for them, after all, since they had to reacquaint themselves and then had several years of their lives to talk about.
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It was certainly going to be a peculiar afternoon for Sakura and Kariya, but it was going to be weird for Arturia, too.
As soon as they arrived at the Fraga McRemitz household, she and Gilgamesh found a chaos of fashionable clothes and people scattered around the ample outdoor park. After giving their contribution to the charity cause – which was for children's care – they were approached by the lady of the house, Mrs. Fraga. She had given birth to a healthy baby girl named Bazett merely five months before, and was proudly holding her in her arms.
She greeted them, showed off her child and then addressed Arturia directly.
"We were told that you are interested in Katsushika Hokusai's art, Mrs. Uruk. My husband and I added some of his rare prints to this exhibition for your benefit."
Taken aback, Arturia thanked her with as much kindness as she could, for she had certainly not expected anything like that.
Mr. Fraga came to greet them a few seconds later and Mrs. Fraga, who very obviously did not seem to want to be in her husband's presence more than necessary, offered to show Mrs. Uruk the prints.
Before she could agree, Gilgamesh casually leaned down, next to her cheek, to whisper in her ear, "Don't let her fool you, Arturia. The prints are probably here merely by chance, yet they are most certainly trying to use them to gain your favour."
Catching his meaning, she met his eyes, letting him know she had understood the warning; then, leaving her husband's arm, Arturia walked over to the woman, who was still cuddling her child, and was engaged by her in small talk.
However, before she even realized how it had happened, Arturia and Mrs. Fraga met a group of high-class people who had just come back from their European fashion week, and the next instant, the other woman was gone, leaving her with the baby.
Arturia stared into her arms. Mrs. Fraga must have been completely mad.
She had just dumped her child – her baby daughter – into her arms to go off to talk about the newest fashionable hats with those other people. From Enkidu's explanations, months before, Arturia had heard about the strangeness and, well, air-headedness of the Fraga McRemitz family, but this was beyond what she had expected, even though Enkidu had certainly never been shy in his descriptions.
What – exactly – was she supposed to do right now?
Helpless, she stared at the violet-haired baby, whose large burgundy eyes returned the stare, innocently curious. She had no clear idea on how to proceed with the child. Sure, she had a young nephew, but he was already over five years of age. The baby in her arms was that – a five-month baby.
What was she supposed to do with such a young child? She thought she knew a few things, but what was the right way to hold it? And how could she–
A cordial voice came from behind her, and she almost let out a grateful sigh, feeling thankful for this small mercy, even though she controlled herself. It was the McRemitz matriarch, Mrs. Fraga's mother and the baby's grandmother.
"You are doing really well, Mrs. Uruk."
To Arturia's great yet well-hidden relief, she took the baby from her, cuddled it for a second and then – to her horror – shoved it right back into her arms, forcing her to catch the little girl or she would have fallen to the ground.
Arturia was flabbergasted; did this woman have no regard at all for her granddaughter's life?
Imperturbable, the elderly woman spoke again. "Just don't remain too stiff. Relax your arms, while at the same time making sure your hold is secure, especially for the head. She will appreciate it."
Not seeing any other option – since she was most certainly not going to let any harm befall the child – Arturia cautiously followed the elderly woman's instructions. And, to her great surprise, the baby's eyelids began to droop slowly as it drifted off to sleep.
The elderly woman smiled at her, knowingly.
"Very well done, Mrs. Uruk."
While she was relieved about the fact that she had not unintentionally harmed the child, Arturia was looking forward to returning the precious bundle in her arms to the woman, but the grandmother did not seem inclined to help her.
"Lull her to sleep a little more, Mrs. Uruk. It's a good practice for the future." Emerald green eyes rapidly went to her, with hidden wariness, and the woman's smile widened. "For your own children, of course."
It was with great difficulty that Arturia did not choke on her breath, but she knew she had turned pale, judging from the woman's now worried expression.
"Mrs. Uruk…? Is everything fine–?"
"Perhaps your brazenness was not welcome to her, Mrs. McRemitz," a coldly amused voice replied from behind them.
Arturia did not need to turn around to know that it was Gilgamesh. Of course it was him.
She refused to look at him, and instead addressed the woman with a pleasant tone, continuing to cradle the baby. After all, she knew that all she wanted was probably pry into her life to find out about her possible pregnancy.
"It's far too early to speak about such things, Mrs. McRemitz. As for now, I am perfectly content to enjoy married life with my family as it is." She leaned forward. "Thank you for your help. You truly have a beautifully sweet granddaughter."
The elderly woman finally took back the baby, a soft expression settling on her features, quite a contrast to her previous disregard of the child's wellbeing, before looking up at her again.
"There is nothing wrong with expanding your family though, Mrs. Uruk."
Arturia was beginning to get slightly irritated, but she managed a polite smile. She might as well continue to be civil.
"Indeed. A close relative of mine is about to have a child – the family will be expanded, as you said."
But the woman was evidently not easily deterred, especially since she had noticed, contrary to Arturia, that Gilgamesh was very much enjoying their exchange.
"You are a natural with children, Mrs. Uruk. I expect your home to be soon filled with even more babies – yours."
The green-eyed woman managed, with difficulty, to prevent herself from blushing at both the meaning of those words and the boldness of the elderly woman, and gave her a sufficiently calm look, even as some steel crept into her tone.
"Mrs. McRemitz, you certainly seem to be very forward."
However, to her great surprise, before she could say anything else, Gilgamesh seemed to decide that the scene had amused him enough. He took a step forward to be closer to his wife, his arm going to encircle her waist.
"I see that intrusiveness is still a dominant trait in the McRemitz household."
Arturia noticed that he did not include the Fraga name in it; she knew that the young baby was the child born from the – seemingly unhappy – union of the two families.
Gilgamesh was far from finished though. "Maybe it did not occur that in other families, having children is neither a priority nor a requirement. Or perhaps it's simply inconceivable that a couple actually wishes to believe itself ready for such a task before carelessly procreating, so that the offspring will not be thoughtlessly entrusted to a random person met for the first time while the parents busy themselves with the latest news of fashion. My wife is far too patient and polite to tell you all this, but remember that even the most inexhaustible patience can reach its limit."
With an icy nod, which likely frightened the woman more than the rest of his speech, he held his wife's waist a little more tightly and guided her towards another part of the park.
As soon as they were far enough, Arturia leaned closer to him.
"Gilgamesh, what was that?"
His grip around her waist tightened even more.
"I made sure our point came across. Now, before we leave, let us find the little amount of enjoyment there can be at this exhibition."
Deciding it was best not to insist on talking about what had just happened, Arturia therefore replied, "I have yet to see the Hokusai prints, and the rest of the exhibition is likely to be worth admiring as well."
As strange as it sounded, he seemed to relax at her words, and his arm left her waist to link with hers as they began their tour.
Gilgamesh was still trying to hide the very odd and unidentifiable emotions he had felt when he had seen Arturia cradling the little baby to her chest, because it had truly been a remarkable sight. However, he would never allow her to see his reaction, and neither was he willing to return on the subject; it was good that she had not questioned him about the specific words he had chosen to say.
With astonishingly great effort, he brought his thoughts under tight control again and paid more attention to their wanderings around the exhibition.
He did not seem very interested in the prints that made Arturia's eyes shine, nor did the rest of the artistic display catch his attention. One particular painting, however, managed to make him smirk.
"Arturia, I presume you may recall this one."
Millais's Ophelia Portrait was going to remain in Japan for two months, and it was in fact at the exhibition. It was of course heavily protected, and Arturia stared at it in amazement.
"Beautiful," she murmured, taking in the large painting.
She knew why Gilgamesh had stopped in front of this artwork. A few months before, they had talked about literary works, and from discussing Hamlet they had come to mention the famous portrait. Staring at the drowning girl, surrounded by green grass and colourful flowers, she privately decided that, in all fairness, her husband had been right: that specific moment in Ophelia's life had been captured perfectly, in all its tragic innocence and scenic despair.
The sudden feeling of his lips next to her ear was not entirely unanticipated, as she had expected him to make some kind of comment – but she had not expected his following teasing words.
"Don't you believe that, after all this time, you can finally admit that I was right?"
She held back a glare. As usual, they could not spend a moment in relative peace that he disrupted it right away.
However, she did not have the time to say anything before Mrs. Fraga appeared out of nowhere in front of them, looking frantic, and pointed a finger towards her, accusingly.
"You!" she screamed, in a voice so high that many of the guests turned to stare at her. "You took my precious baby, my Bazett, and you brought her away! Where is she!? What did you do to her!?"
Arturia's mood was not the best after Gilgamesh's remark, and such a baseless accusation was really testing her patience after Mrs. McRemitz had already thinned it quite a bit. She tore her eyes from the painting to stare at Mrs. Fraga, and there was so much coldness in them that the woman – who was only a few years her elder – seemed a little uncomfortable under that stern gaze.
She had not meant for things to become so public, but Mrs. Fraga had started it, and she could hardly quiet things down without making whispers start.
"It's very encouraging to see you again, Mrs. Fraga. The last I saw of you was more than an hour ago, after we had just been introduced, when you literally threw your supposedly 'precious' child into my arms before going to talk with a group of people about the latest fashion news. You didn't seem particularly concerned about your daughter's wellbeing in that moment."
Mrs. Fraga blushed scarlet at her accurate words, but Arturia was not done.
"Your daughter is safe and sound, and she is now with your own mother – Mrs. McRemitz."
She took a step forward, leaving Gilgamesh's arm for a moment as her green eyes flashed. "You have shown complete disregard for your child's life, Mrs. Fraga. Do not ever make the mistake of blaming me for your own lapses in judgement again."
Arturia gave her a last, brief glare before going back to link her arm with Gilgamesh, who had an undecipherable glint in his eyes, which were firmly fixated on her face.
"I believe we are done here, Gilgamesh."
His hold on her tightened slightly.
"Indeed we are, my dear Arturia."
His blood red eyes swept over the people who were watching them, with a smirk of superiority gracing his lips. As had just been proven, he had not been exaggerating when he had told Mrs. McRemitz that even his wife's polite patience had limits.
The Uruk couple left the exhibition, while Mrs. Fraga embarrassedly went to finally retrieve her daughter.
During the car ride, Arturia briefly reflected on what had happened. She was glad that the young baby girl was fine, but she was worried about her nonetheless, because having such a careless family was not bound to make her life easy.
She had however no power to intervene to change things– oh. Perhaps…
Maybe she did have the power to do something. She could denounce the Fraga McRemitz family for the thoughtless way in which they were treating their child. As she had slowly started to realize during the past weeks, being married to a very rich and influential man who was willing to give her the money she asked could give her the power to do good things.
Well then. The following morning, she was going to denounce – formally but anonymously to avoid the press – to the competent authorities the family that showed such blatant neglect of their child, to make sure that the matter was at least investigated.
There had been another unusual thing during the evening that had made her think. While Gilgamesh had been his usual arrogant self towards her when they had been on their own, enjoying teasing her and making her life more irritating, once Mrs. McRemitz had subtly tried to undermine her first and Mrs. Fraga had yelled at her later, he had immediately stopped, fully standing at her side and with her.
It was probably because of the contract, yes – but that wasn't entirely it.
It was more than just a strange form of honour; it seemed like he could truly be trustable when they were in front of other people.
It seemed – it seemed – that he could be trusted when they had to deal with other people together.
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