Disclaimer: I do not own the Fate franchise it belongs to Kinoko Nasu and Type-Moon.

Peaceful Days

Chapter 1

"All done?" Rin asked as Sakura walked up to her.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah, at least for now, that is." Sakura replied, causing Rin to raise an eyebrow.

"Oh?" she asked as they fell into step next to each other.

Sakura shrugged. "Zouken's soul's with Spiritual Invocation," she said. "But they're holding off on anything beyond preliminary scans and tests. Lord El-Melloi's doing, apparently: she practically said, I caught it, so I'm responsible for it, and no, I'm not getting out of it just because I've taken some time off. Dissection and the like will take place after I get back."

"So that's how it is, eh?"

"Yup." Sakura said with a sigh before brightening up. "On the positive side of things, at least I'll be able to play around with a spiritron laser."

Rin's eyes went wide. "Seriously?" she asked.

Sakura nodded. "Even at first glance the extent of spiritual decay is just too great for anything less…delicate." She said. "The soul would fall apart in fractions of a second, costing us such a rare opportunity to study in depth the effects of such critical spiritual decay. So, the plan is to use a spiritron laser to slice up Zouken's soul into spiritron-thin slides which can then be analyzed individually, with the results being collated and cross-referenced for any findings that can be further studied and experimented on to draw up conclusions from."

Rin snorted. "So," she sneered. "The monster gets to be on the other side of the lens for a change? I have to say, that's what's called poetic justice."

"Yup." Sakura said with another nod before smiling at Rin. "But enough about that, we're off to have some time off. Shall we?"

Rin laughed and nodded. "Let's." she said. "I imagine all your things are in Imaginary Numbers Space?"

"Naturally."

"And…Little Rin? I don't sense her presence anywhere."

"She's in the commons waiting for us."

"…is it fine letting her wander?"

"She can take care of herself, besides, everyone knows about her by now, and no one really wants to see what happens if they mess with her. Murderer Blue's familiar, and all that."

"Good point."

It took the sisters only a few minutes to get to the Clock Tower Commons, and sure enough, Little Rin was there, waving a branch of catnip around, and causing a cat next to her to prance around chasing after the catnip. "Okay, what's with the…" Rin began, only to trail off as she remembered Sakura's long-term plans for Little Rin. "…seriously? A cat…? You think you're being funny, aren't you?"

"I like cats." Little Rin said, picking up her new cat and hugging it tightly, the little animal meowing nonchalantly in Rin's direction. "They're clean, smart, quick and agile…but most importantly, they're very cute."

Rin palmed her face, already imagining Little Rin as a Guardian Spirit, complete with cat ears and a tail…

…okay, that was more…pleasant, than expected.

"They also have a habit of sitting in boxes." Sakura chirped up, and pulling out a basket from Imaginary Numbers Space. She held it out, causing the cat to slip from Little Rin's arms into the basket, which the vengeful spirit immediately took from her big little sister. "So, how's the new familiar bond? Working out fine?"

Little Rin hummed in affirmation. "It feels a little weird, though." She said. "I…I'm a familiar already, so…so just the very idea of a familiar having a familiar…it's weird. Then there's that…strange feeling, of getting prana from you but then sending it to Mikasa here."

"That's the cat's name?" Rin asked. "Mikasa?"

Little Rin nodded before smirking in Sakura's direction. "Big little sister named her." She said. "I'm not sure why, but she wanted to name, well, Mikasa after Admiral Togo's ship from the war with the Russians."

"It's a strong name, that's why." Sakura unashamedly said. "Not to mention the Japanese Battleship Mikasa was originally built in Britain, just like Mikasa here is a British cat. So, it fits."

Little Rin shrugged. "I'm sure you didn't have any other names lined up." She said, still smirking like her cat, Mikasa meowing from her basket.

"Actually, I did." Sakura said with a shrug of her own. "Kongou, from the British-built Japanese battlecruiser of the same name. And her sisters, Hiei, Kirishima, and Haruna."

"…why not just use Yamato then?" Rin asked deadpan.

Sakura tutted. "That's a boy's name." she said. "Mikasa's a girl. Likewise for Fusou…huh, in hindsight, Yamashiro wouldn't have been a bad name. Or for that matter, Mutsu."

Rin sighed, pressing her fingers against her temples while mentally counting to ten. "Okay…anything else before we leave?" she asked.

"No, I'm good." Sakura said.

"Me too!" Little Rin said.

"Alright then, let's go look for a secluded spot..." Rin began, only for Sakura to give a cough.

"In the Clock Tower?" she asked. "There's no such place. Everywhere in the Clock Tower has varying levels of surveillance. I suggest we go to Hyde Park instead, get behind some bushes, and just jump from there."

"…okay, good point." Rin conceded. "Come on, then. It's a bit of a long walk to Hyde Park from here."

"After you, then." Sakura prompted, Little Rin nodding next to her, Mikasa meowing at Rin again. Feeling an eye twitch at the subtle mockery that seemed directed from the cat's eyes and lazily-waving tail, Rin sighed and walked off, her sisters and their cat following behind her.

Like she said, it took about fifteen minutes to get to Hyde Park, and then a few more minutes to find a secluded enough spot. Making things especially difficult was some sort of political demonstration taking place at the park, with a red-faced man standing on a soap box bellowing political slogans at an enthusiastically-cheering crowd.

"…grandparents fought and died to defeat Hitler and his Third Reich," the man shouted. "And here we are, bowing and scraping before Merkel and her Fourth Reich! Well, I say no! And what say you, fellow sons and daughters of Britain?"

The Tohsakas tuned out the political drivel, and discreetly creeping behind the trees and bushes, huddled together. "What is that?" Sakura asked, an eye twitching.

"I don't want to know about the strange ideas master has when it comes to designing his stuff." Rin replied sourly, fiddling with a heart-shaped watch of a mystic code, all pink with rose gold and sparkling with diamond dust. The small dials were also made from rose gold, as were the watch's hands, while its face was a smiley of all things. "Do you?"

"…no, I don't." Sakura just as sourly said.

"It looks cute, though." Little Rin chimed in, Mikasa meowing next to her.

"Uh-huh…" Rin sourly snorted. "…hold on to your butts…I mean, hold on to me. Temporospatial shift in three, two, one…"

There was a thunderclap of displaced air…

…and then they were gone.

"It's so hot." Sakura immediately complained, looking up at the Sun.

"It's summer, what did you expect?" Rin snapped in exasperation.

"It's never this hot in London."

"You've been spending too much time in London."

Grumbling to herself, Sakura pulled off her long coat before loosening her tie and unfastening her collar. Rin glanced at her, and then blinked in surprise. "What?" Sakura asked.

"Nothing…" Rin quickly said before relenting. "…well, no. It's just that…in hindsight, you look surprisingly…normal…not so imposing…or intimidating, without your coat."

"Well, why do you think I wear it?" Sakura asked back as they walked along. "I don't mind the cold, to be honest, besides, constantly supplying prana to my little big sister means my circuits are always active to some extent, so outside of winter or really wet nights, I never really feel cold. That said…yeah, people expect someone of my reputation to look, well, intimidating. Appearances can be deceiving, but they also have their uses."

"Why not just wear a cape, then?" Rin asked.

"I used to in middle school." Sakura said with a shrug. "But after graduating…I don't know. It looked…theatrical. Almost…chuuni, you could say."

"Did you just say chuuni?" Rin asked incredulously.

"If you have a better word for it, be my guest." Sakura said sourly. "It's not my fault I'm short even by Japanese standards. Making it worse is that my breasts are a little too big."

Rin ground her teeth at that, a bit of the old A-Cup angst rising to the surface. No, she wasn't an A-Cup. She was a proud B, thank you very much, now stop showing off your E-Cups, Sakura.

The older woman sighed. She was tall by Japanese standards, but she certainly wouldn't mind just being of average height, for an additional cup size…

…wait, why was she even thinking that?

"Something wrong?" Sakura asked curiously. "Your cheeks are red."

"It's nothing." Rin answered with a cough.

Little Rin sniffed. "Count your blessings." She said. "At least you got to grow up. I'm stuck like this unless I'm inside my reality marble."

"Wait, you grow up inside your reality marble?" Rin asked in surprise.

"Yes…" Little Rin began only trail off at a cough from Sakura.

"OOOOOOOOOKAAAAAAY!" she exaggeratedly said. "That's enough of that, we're still in public, you know."

"Good point." Rin conceded.

"Yeah, yeah." Little Rin snorted.

"Well, this is nostalgic." Sakura mused as they approached the Emiya property. "I remember walking down this road every weekend to check in on Emiya-senpai. He was…such a concern at the time."

"Oh?" Rin asked.

"Yeah…" Sakura absent-mindedly said as they passed a car sitting by the curb in front of the property, a man working at it from underneath. "…I remember when he used to…alter, his nerves into magic circuits…crazy bastard. He'd have killed himself or worse. I had to teach him right."

"Yeah, well, I didn't exactly have a normal childhood or training, what did you expect?" Shirou Emiya asked nonchalantly as he slid out from under the car, and causing Sakura to jump back with a yell, instinctively pulling out (but not igniting) a beam saber. "Anyway, thanks to Rin here I managed to figure it out before anything bad could happen. I'd say thanks on behalf of my counterpart…but I'm sure he's already said that if he's anything like me. So…enough about that. Welcome to Fuyuki, Sakura Tohsaka, I'm Shirou Emiya, it's nice to meet you."

"Um…nice to meet you too…" Sakura uncertainly said. "…I'm sorry, but…you feel…strange…"

"Puppet body, remember?" Rin spoke up.

"Oh, right…sorry about that…"

Shirou just smiled and shook his head while wiping his hands on a cloth. "No, it's alright." He said before looking down at Little Rin, who was looking up at him curiously along with her cat. "Anyway, I'm guessing this is…um…okay this is going to be awkward…"

Little Rin giggled. "You're funny!" she said. "It's good to see you're no different from, well, you, Mister Superhero."

"Superhero?" Shirou echoed while scratching his head. "Well…not…really…I gave up on that a while back…"

Little Rin hummed while bouncing on the balls of her feet, and then smirked at her big little sister. "Actually," she began in a sing-song voice. "I've thought about this. Since we're the guests here, I guess that makes the Sakura from this timeline to be, well, Sakura. Or at least she's the one who gets to be called by that name."

"…go on." Rin prompted, Sakura and Shirou nodding in agreement.

"Well, we're about one-fourth Finnish," Little Rin continued. "So, my big little sister should use her Finnish name, which is…um, I think it was Kirsinkankukkia."

"…that's a mouthful." Sakura said after a moment before sighing. "But…it's not like I've got any better idea. Just…shorten it to Kirsikka, please?"

"Works for me." Little Rin said, and Shirou nodded.

"Likewise." He said, before holding out a hand. "So, let's start over. Welcome to Fuyuki, Miss Kirsikka. I'm Shirou Emiya, it's nice to meet you."

Sakura/Kirsikka smiled back, and taking Shirou's hand, shook it. "It's nice to meet you too, Mister Emiya." She said.

"Please, just call me Shirou."

"Okay, Shero."

Shirou laughed. "Okay, fair enough." He said with a wink, and causing Rin to give a groan.

"…Luvia is going to have fun with this." She said before looking around. "By the way, where's…um, Sakura?"

"Oh, she went to buy lunch for all of us." Shirou replied, already heading towards the property gate. "She took the kids with her, and of course, Rider to help manage them."

"…you make it sound as though kids…are like…um…handling them is like herding cats." Kirsikka remarked.

Shirou looked at her completely serious. "I am." He said before smiling. "But, it's totally worth it."

"…I'll take your word for it."

"Stop playing with your beam saber."

"Relax, it's perfectly safe." Kirsikka said. "This is a gift for…"

"…you're going to give beam sabers to kids?" Rin asked, horrified.

Kirsikka rolled her eyes, and ignited the beam saber. Then she took it by the blade…

…and nothing happened. "See?" Kirsikka said, holding the beam saber around by the blade, and then tossed it back right way into her hand. "It's just a simple modification to the containment system, turning the blade from plasma to hardlight."

Rin's eyes were wide and bloodshot. "HARDLIGHT?" she bellowed incredulously.

Shirou laughed as he brought tea and biscuits over. "Why so surprised?" he asked. "Your sister's as smart and talented as you, so it shouldn't be a surprise she managed to come up with something so…unbelievable. That said, are you sure it's safe?"

"So long as they don't hit each other too hard…" Kirsikka replied with a few practice swings. "…it's about as dangerous as a wooden practice sword. Just don't open it up. The power cells are…well, nuclear."

"…okay, you're going to have to explain that one." Shirou said.

Kirsikka sighed, and put away the hardlight saber. "The power source is a set of Pu-238 thermocouple," she began. "Similar to the kind used to power satellites, space telescopes, and space probes."

"…okay," Shirou said with a sigh. "I suppose that means that implies it has some form of government approval for safe use. But still…nuclear power? Was that really necessary, Sa…I mean, Kirsikka?"

Kirsikka looked unfazed. "It offered a steady and ample energy source with no need for refueling over extended periods of time." She said. "Pu-238 does have a half-life of 88 years, after all, and at the time of manufacture, the thermocouple would take at least thirty years before the exhaustion of the nuclear core meant there'd be any major fluctuations in the energy supply."

"Have you ever considered the danger of radiation?" Shirou pressed.

"Of course I have." Kirsikka said. "These sabers are meant for kids, after all. So, I placed a thin layer of lead on the insides of the external casing to absorb any radiation. And yes, I've sealed the saber. There's no way the kids could open it, unless you or…Sakura, and Rider, open it up for them. Please don't."

"Why did you even need to use nuclear power in the first place?" Shirou asked in exasperation.

"It's so I could have a weapon as, well, effective as a beam saber but without needing a constant supply of prana to keep working." Kirsikka replied. "The thermocouples in my beam sabers put out – depending on when I built them, and the available thermocouples at the time – between 800 to 1000 W of power."

"…that doesn't sound like much." Shirou said after a moment's thought. "Both in terms of electrical power, and the equivalent in prana. I mean…even without…uh, my wife's history, you should still have as much prana as Rin here does."

"You never know when it comes to a fight." Kirsikka said.

"I'm still not so sure about this…" Shirou began, only for Rin to interrupt.

"Shirou," she began. "You and Sakura are training your kids in magecraft, right? I mean, sure, you're using normal methods, and it's only the basics until they get older, but still. It's magecraft. A single mistake could cripple or kill them. So, letting Sakura…I mean, Kirsikka here, give them her planned gifts wouldn't mean any more danger than they're already in."

"That's…surprising, coming from you." Shirou said.

"And it should be coming from you too." Rin teased. "I seem to remember a boy charging at Berserker with his bare hands."

Kirsikka choked on her tea. "Wait, you also did that?" she asked. "Wow, Shirou…that's…I guess some things are universal between timelines, huh?"

Shirou was palming his face. "Look." He said. "I…I'm a father now. I've…I've got to think about more than myself. See the big picture, and not in the twisted way our fathers did. In short, I'm just trying to be responsible here."

"Fair enough." Rin conceded. "But let's wait and see what Sakura has to say first, alright?"

"I…oh, fine." Shirou said with a sigh. "I suppose she should have a say in this, shouldn't she?"

Kirsikka nodded in agreement. "Moving on," she said. "So, tell me about yourself, Mister Superhero?"

Shirou gave her an unimpressed look, but relented at the Rin-like teasing expression on her face. "What's there to say about me?" he asked. "I'm a simple guy, so I'm probably not all that different from the me you know over there."

"Oh, so you're a lawyer too?"

"I…no…he became a lawyer?" Shirou asked in surprise. "Wow…that's…wow. I'm…impressed. Just a bit jealous too…but, I'm fine where I am now. Okay, fair enough, there are differences between us. Anyway, I'm a mechanic, and I actually own an auto shop in Downtown Fuyuki. Naturally, we mostly do repair work for cars, trucks, bikes, motorbikes, vans, and the like. But we also do engine tuning, oil changing, painting services…things like that."

Shirou shrugged and smiled. "It was a bit expensive to start things up." He said. "But it's not like I was poor, and dad left quite a bit of money for me in a trust account. The really hard part was right after opening up, when we had to start a reputation and with it get regular customers. Old Man Raiga was really helpful there, giving us recommendations to people he knew, and after a while things began looking up. They still are, actually."

Shirou paused, and looked at Kirsikka with a raised eyebrow. "You don't have a problem with me having ties with the local yakuza, do you?" he asked.

"Seeing as I'm friends with my Shirou, and he also has ties with the local yakuza, no, I've got no problems." Kirsikka cheerfully said. "Besides, a lot of my income also comes from shady real estate, so I'm not really one to judge."

Shirou laughed. "Okay, good point." He said. "Anyway, aside from that…well, actually I'm a partner in some of the Fujimura-owned used car and scrap dealers in the city. I've got the experience to see if we're getting our money's worth one way or another, and I wanted to repay them for all the help they've given in the past, so…why not?"

"No regrets, huh?"

"With my current lifestyle, no." Shirou said with a smile. "Besides, after everything I've been through in nearly thirty years of life, I think that…yes, I think that it's better for children to have imperfect parents. That way, they can use them as examples, not just to do better, but to also have…realistic expectations of life. The world doesn't owe us anything, after all."

"We shouldn't be so entitled either way, huh?" Rin asked.

"Yes." Shirou simply said.

Rin nodded. "I completely agree." She said, with a wistful look on her face, and Kirsikka nodded in her turn.

"Yeah, I do too."

A/N

Yes, satellites are nuclear-powered. What, did you think solar panels could provide them all the power they need? Of course not, there's a reason the now-decommissioned American Space Shuttle, or the still-active Soviet/Russian Soyuz Program, to say nothing of the SSTO craft being developed today have fuel cells. However, fuel cells need regular refueling, which is impractical for long-term unmanned craft like satellites, space telescopes, and space probes. So they have nuclear thermocouples instead.

Don't listen to Greenpeace. Nuclear power is the way of the future.

Anyway…so we finally meet HF Shirou, who's settled into an ordinary upper middle-class lifestyle. Granted, he still works for a living, and it's not office work, but I doubt he really minds. This is the guy who cheerfully took over Shinji's cleaning duties just so the latter could waste time with his posse of shallow and empty-headed teenage girls.

One last thing: before anyone gets worked up over the notion of Shirou working with the yakuza, don't forget, he always knew the Fujimura were yakuza. He's never had a problem with them before, especially when Taiga regularly comes to his house to eat dinner (a very big thing in East Asian societies), and she's the boss' granddaughter, so why would he have a problem with it now?