(A/N)- The prompt for this one was, "Shirou, Saber, and their first snow day." so this falls under the general "Saber returns" happy AU where nothing bad happens to Shirou or the girls ever and they can live their lives in peace dammit.
Dragonjek, Shirou summoning Mordred instead of Arturia sounds like great fun, buuuut I might not be the best person to write it, I don't really have much extensive Type-Moon know-how outside of Stay/Night. I'm not sure I'd get Mordred's personality down right. I'd have to research first. We'll see.
Disclaimer: Fateverse characters are not mine to own, only play with in my spare time. XD
Powder
"Shirou!" Saber's voice hissed excitedly above him. "Shirou! Wake up!"
"Nnnh?" Shirou blinked, the image of her face swimming into view. "Saber?" His brain slogged into awareness, first noticing the chill in the room that nipped at his exposed face. He shivered and tugged the blankets a fraction tighter around him. Jeez, why's it so cold? came his first confused thought.
"Shirou!" Saber called insistently, grabbing his arm and now outright pulling at him.
"Woah! Hey!" Bewildered and still shaking off the last vestiges of sleep Shirou could only be dragged along as she tugged him out from under the covers and to his feet, both hands clasped tight around his. "All right, all right, I'm up. What's this about, Saber?" he asked, rubbing his eyes.
"Come quickly!" Saber just told him, pulling him down the hallway as quickly as she could, her face alight with excitement.
"What is—"
Saber stopped abruptly once they came to the front hallway, and Shirou almost stumbled into her. He looked up. The door had been flung open and outside, carpeting the courtyard, was a layer of soft white powder, flakes of which were also falling softly from the sky.
"Wha—? Snow?" Shirou gawped, his eyes widening. "Is it… snowing?" The weather had been unusually cold the days prior but… surely this wasn't actually real?
The wind from the open door blew frigid on his face. Laughter drifted on it to his ears. It sounded like Rin and Sakura were already outside, and from the notable absence of her shoes in the hall he guessed that Illya was as well.
Saber had let go of his hand to clasp both of hers near her chest as she looked with delight upon the scene. Then she stooped to put on her shoes, lacing them in a rush.
"Hey, slow down," Shirou said, coming out of his stunned stupor. He reached for her but she was already up and heading towards the door. Shirou hastily shoved his socked feet into his own shoes as he tried to catch hold of her. "Wait, Saber! Put on a coat first!"
His fingers managed to pinch a corner of her sleeve, tugging her briefly to a halt as he got down a tan suede jacket from the rack by the door. Saber slid her arms into the sleeves at once as he held it out to her and in a flash had slipped away again and was outside, tromping towards the gate.
Shirou fumbled about the front hallway for several minutes, gathering his coat and a scarf and a wool hat, before joining her. (Though he, at least, remembered to close the door behind him.)
He blinked in the soft white light. His feet sank soundlessly into the snow piling underfoot, while flurries dropped quietly onto his head. Shirou marveled, twisting his head all around to see the courtyard in its full winter glory.
Rin and Sakura were building a snowman—or, rather, the lumpy uneven semblance of one. It was off-kilter and tilting but the sisters looked terribly proud of it nonetheless. They giggled to each other as they batted snow off its oblong sides, trying to smooth it out. Illya, meanwhile, was on her back, her legs and arms spread out, white hair pillowing on the white snow beneath her. She moved her limbs back and forth and then sat up, breathless, her cheeks and nose rosy. She looked up at Shirou and laughed at his expression.
"Don't tell me you've never seen snow before, Onii-chan!"
Shirou shook his head in wonder. "Not in person. It doesn't really snow in Fuyuki." He crossed his arms and leaned back with a smile. "Well, I guess it's no surprise that you've seen it."
"Of course." Illya got carefully to her feet, so as not to ruin her snow angel, and tossed the snow out of her hair with a casaul flip. "It snowed all the time at Einzbern Castle."
Shirou felt a shadow by his shoulder and shifted to find Saber there. He was glad to see that she'd put on the mittens from her coat pocket. She was holding a handful of snow in them, which she let fall with a smile as she looked up.
"In Britain, during winter… it would often snow," she said. "Sometimes it was higher than my knees." Her gaze drifted around the courtyard. "I've always liked the snow…" she murmured.
He might've made some smart quip in reply, about why she kept hogging the blankets if she liked the cold so much, but looking at her now—her cheeks flushed and pink, her eyes alight with happiness, white flakes settling into her golden hair, clinging to her bangs like a crown of tiny paper flowers—he found himself struck oddly… dumb.
Up until he felt something wet and cold smack the back of his head.
"Hey!" he protested, whirling around and frantically brushing the compacted snow off his neck. Sakura was giggling behind her hand and Rin was brushing snow off her palms. "What was that for, Tohsaka?" Shirou complained, glaring at her.
She crossed her arms with a smug look. "It's snowing, you dummy. Shouldn't we have a snowball fight?"
"Attacking while my back was turned wasn't exactly fair." Shirou smirked mischievously, reaching back to grab Saber's hand. "But if it's a fight you want, we'll give it to you. Saber's on my team of course."
Rin put her fists on her hips. "Well then Illya's on mine."
"Illya temporarily disqualifies herself in order to teach you two how to make a proper snowman," Illya sniffed, coming over and turning up her nose at the misshapen snowman, whose head Sakura was desperately trying to keep balanced on its body.
Saber looked amused. "We are doing battle in the snow?" she inquired.
"As soon as you're all experts on how to pack it," Illya told them, taking an authoritative teaching stance in front of them.
-FSN-
Once Illya had deemed their snowballs "sufficient" enough, the snowball fight began in earnest. Shirou and Saber ducked behind trees and corners of the house, laughing as they tossed the icy pellets out towards Rin's team.
Shirou barely even noticed the cold anymore. He was so caught up, strategizing different attack patterns and squashing snowballs into the perfect compact spheres, sneaking affectionate kisses with Saber in-between dodging Illya, Rin, and Sakura's hail of snowbombs.
They were pinned behind the corner of the Dojo now, craning their necks out for a glimpse of their adversaries.
"Where did they go?" wondered Shirou. He thought they'd been right behind them on their heels just a moment—
"Shirou, watch out!" Saber called, spotting the trio sneaking up from their blind spot. She darted in front of him to shield him with her body.
Rin's hard curveball was a little too enthusiastic and pinned Saber right in the gut. She fell back into Shirou, who slipped on the wet snow and toppled over with her.
They landed in a heap of limbs and fur and cold flakes, and their sides shook with chuckles. Saber blushed from their awkward position, and Shirou couldn't resist a quick peck on her cheek and a whispered exhortation in her ear.
As they attempted to disengage, Rin sauntered over, flanked by her sister and Illya, all wearing grins.
"Looks like you're defeated, Emiya," Rin crowed.
Shirou helped Saber up first before he attempted to rise, conceding defeat with a small nod. "Well, I don't really mind," he said. "That was fun." He rubbed the small of his back. "Ow."
"Sempai, are you all right?" Sakura asked, tiltling her head in concern.
He smiled at her reassuringly. "Just a little sore."
Saber pushed her snow-covered bangs out of her face. "Shall we go inside now?" she asked. "The battle seems to have worked up my appetite."
"Make me something too, Shirou!" Illya piped in.
"All right," he said. "Lunch will be on soon." Rin and Sakura were already running back to their snowman, to fix his sagging head. Shirou took Saber's hand. "Are you cold?" he asked her.
"Slightly," she replied. "I think a bit of snow may have become trapped under my collar."
"Well," he said, "don't worry. I'll make you something warm right away."
He turned them back towards the house, her hand tucked in his, utterly content as the snow fell silently around them.
