Sword and Bond Dreams

by Reushy

The corrupted flames of Fuyuki had destroyed and killed anything and everything within it's reach, except for a single boy who's soul was forged into that of a sword. But what if there was another who escaped the fires along with him?

4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Making Friends

A few months has passed since the boys settled down in their new living arrangements. They attended school just as every normal kids their age should be.

Shirou entered his second year of elementary without too much of a hitch, or anything too eventful for that matter. The boy is a relatively calm and level headed individual... well at first anyway. He constantly displays a helpful deposition to his classmates by commencing arbitrary tasks like cleaning up the classroom even when he wasn't asked to or assisting the teachers to carry around their teaching materials when given the chance. He wasn't too shy in announcing to the world about wanting to be a hero either when he wrote a report on what he wants to be in his future.

Heroism is a common passion for boys his age, so everyone found his vehement declaration to be a lively addition to their classroom. Though his temper against bullying has a very different tale to tell.

His little brother on the other hand, had a rocky start, but also showed some impressive capabilities in his learning and creative ability.

On his first day of elementary, the kids of his class found him to be somewhat unusual to say the least, what with the neutral look he wore as a standard expression.

These kids were hesitant on how to approach him with that hard to read vibe he emulates in his deposition, not to mention how he would fit in the disinterested and quiet category when his introduction turned out rather sleepy for him.

So they proceeded to act like typical children, chatting with their friends and playing around when breaks started while the black haired child was left on his dazed lonesome.

Then their assumptions of his character to on a 180 when he started recreational courses, like the art & crafts for example.

Imagine a boy of his age creating an intricate replica of the leaning tower of Pisa made out of wooden sticks.

Admittedly, the build crumbled on him for a total of three attempts, but afterwards, it got to a point where he grasp what he was doing wrong. He is quick with his dexterous hands, and adaptively feeling out where the weight of the structure would be unstable and reinforce the right spot to build on without the whole thing collapsing.

Three days worth of effort (and kindly asking the teacher for permission) to complete it on his free time. Not only did it make the kids bright eyed at his finished creation, but even his teacher did a double take to what they were seeing, recapping if they were hallucinating a complex build of about half a meter tall, made by a six year old for that matter. As of now, it's been put on display for the school to see like a trophy.

As for where he gained such inspiration was apparently the influence from a discovery channel on the TV. Noticing his son's fascination for the pictures of historic monuments and landmarks, the ex-mercenary thought of ordered a thick historical encyclopedia on his laptop as a gift to Hisashi. The pages displayed a gallery of the general to famous monuments and landmarks on the planet, such as the Eiffel tower, Mt. Everest, Celtic Stonehenge's, and lo behold, Italy's leaning tower the the boy recreated with sticks and glue. An odd gift all things considering, but nonetheless, little Hisashi was happy to receive it and even hugged the back of his father for a perceivable amount of time as if he was a baby koala.

Strange behaviour aside, this led to his brother's and father's recent discovery of Hisashi's passionate nature for possessions unlike Shirou who only wants the bare minimum. Hisashi's personal belongs mostly consists in the forms of books, drawing utensils and other miscellaneous objects that peeked his curiosity.

His literary education has improved drastically. He's quick to learn Hiragana character sets after some help from Shirou, then when left to his own devices, he practicing a wider variety of kanji at an unheard of pace. He even practice a little bit of calligraphy for fun.

Most of the strokes pertained to meanings like "Tranquility", "Serenity", "Harmony", "Dreams", "Affection", some words that seems a bit advance for a boy of his age group and grade; yet admitting along the lines that he understands their meaning because he is drawn by their concept with childish glee.

Hisashi even made a calligraphic letter for his teacher as a gift one time. The poem itself stated "Happiness within your Heart is Hope for another." while the boy said to his teacher "everyone deserves to be happy" and threw in that gentle smile of his.

So yeah, the instructors grew a soft spot for him.

Shirou wasn't quite sure how to respond when Hisashi started hanging a bunch of his drawings and writing on the walls of their room, but he didn't have the heart to tell his brother to take them down and found it kind of endearing for the most part.

Another unusual trait about him is not only is he learning everything at an accelerated pace such as math, science, and social studies, but he also took liberty of transforming the education subjects into games he comes up with on the fly. His reasons stem from how the kids in his class let out groans or complains about studies and homework as if they were suffering torment. So in response he lightheartedly suggested word games with point values where they would exercise their memory or made use of everyday objects like cue cards, sticks, or balls and wrote numbers, kanji, or even English on them to concoct whatever game that everybody could enjoy and alter the rules at any moment to make things interesting.

It subsequently lighten the teacher's workload in a way, and the class was getting better marks as a result.

There was even one time he took a peek at what Shirou would learn in his notes, not only did the young boy figure out what the topic was about by himself, he also turn them into games for Shirou to use. While at first reluctant, the red headed boy found his grades decently improving which Hisashi felt very pleased about.

Though as appreciative as Shirou should have been, he felt that he was actually taking the work from his younger brother instead of improving under his own efforts. So he sidelined Hisashi's assistance, stating how he will accomplishing his own work within his own power while his little brother should focus on his own studies... although Hisashi was not really content with the verdict judging from the pouty face he made.

What could they do though? While one was headstrong about being able to accomplish his own achievements without needing anything in return, another is capable of helping others in an entertaining fashion while anticipating how far his little support can manage to take somebody. When the youngest desired to help the oldest, it ends up creating conflict of emotions even with the best of intentions. For now, they will probably have to iron out the issue over time.

To this day, many individuals had grown to adore the older sibling who is perceived as a responsible and determined child with a good head on his shoulders, and to the youngest child who has the qualities of a ray of tranquil sunshine to everyone he comes across.

In Shirou's opinion, his brother's very presence filled the space around him in an illogical serendipity with a considerate nature to those around him. Metaphorically or literally, Hisashi is the type of person who would take you to a bright floral field if he begins to take notice of you. It started to make others wonder if the boy was an angel in disguise.

Then there were time when random animals started following him like cats, dogs and even birds perched on his head or shoulders, much to the shock of those close to him. A time when a flocks of birds surround him for breadcrumbs was definitely an eye opener since it actually happened just outside of their veranda of all places.

Overall, Hisashi is a boy that can form bonds with just about anyone with ease. His skill set has been increasing at an exponential rate that it motivated Shirou to bump up his own skill proficiency so he doesn't fall behind in competency (such as exhibit A: Cooking).

Here's a recent skill Hisashi has been learning for a while to which he happily takes pride in.

"Nii-chan Nii-chan." He whimsically waved his hand. "I have a new trick for you~"

Shirou huffed in amusement and gave his full attention to his little brother from the kitchen entrance. "Sure. Let's see what you've got."

Lately Hisashi has become more expressive these days with a soft or almost lazy smile being the standard expression, which is nice to to see in terms of emotional development.

Currently the boys are at home by themselves, just the two of them.

Apparently Kiritsugu is away on an important business trip he needed to attend to. They had a feel that there was more to it then just being a trip, it was a vague feeling at most which they did not have any valid argument for, but he did promise them stories about his trip once he returns.

So in the meantime, Taiga and her men regularly visits them to make sure the boys are doing well by themselves, though they have proved to be way more independent than most kids in their age group.

Anyway, Hisashi walked up to Shirou while holding a deck of cards. He spread the cards out like a fan and held them out in front of the older sibling.

"Pick a card, any card." He spoke a familiar set of words.

With a shrug, Shirou plucked out a card which is read as the Ace of diamonds.

"Now fold it two times and hold it in your hand."

While the instructions made his golden-eyes raise a brow, he folded the card without question and kept it in his right palm.

Hisashi rolled up the sleeves of his white and violet hoodie and took a jack of spades from the deck, place the said deck onto the ground, then he folded the card he held onto in a similar manner as Shirou's. What made the redhead eyes grew wide was Hisashi throwing the card into his mouth, and swallowed it.

"H-Hisashi!?" Shirou freaked out.

But before he could reprimand his little brother, the black haired child taped Shirou's right palm three times. Then when he pulled back his hand, he reached into his own pocket and pulled out a folded card. Hisashi unfolded it, and what do you know, it was the Ace of diamonds.

"Is this your card?" He said playfully with a small grin.

Blinking for about three times, Shirou opened up the card he has been holding the whole time... only to find the jack of spades.

"..." He looked back and forth from the playing card in his hand to the one in his brother's hand. "How?"

Here's a pieces of trivia. Shirou has being hounding his father to teach him Magecraft who apologizes and adamantly refuse to teach to either of his sons. Hisashi sensed that the topic itself cause Kiritsugu to be silently unhappy, and as much as the blue eyed boy was curious about real magic, the consideration for his adoptive father won out in the end.

As an alternative, he was made aware of showman magicians that appeared on TV and found out that anyone can learn it if they practiced enough.

The cat like smile of the younger boy seemed more cheerful then mocking. "Did you think I swallowed it?" He asked playfully.

This is the trick that Hisashi had managed to execute in short of 2 to 3 months of practice, and he should have only learned two tricks so far. The first one was a simple card trick where you make a person pick a card and then shuffle the deck in a calculated method to pull out what they had in the first place, which didn't take him long to learn and use. The second trick is the classic sleight of hands. It took at least two to three weeks for him to get the basics down in order to not be caught by at least one person from seeing how the trick is done, and Shirou is usually the guinea pig for these practices.

So far, the current trick performed to his brother is an improved version of the beginners quick fingers trick he has executed so far. It worked well much to his joy, basking in the confusion and surprise of the red headed boy.

"Fuji-nee has been rubbing off on you." Shirou deadpanned with a minuscules frown. As of late, he is afraid of how much Taiga's sense of humor has infected his little brother.

"Eh hehe, I can't wait try this trick on her." Hisashi only heard Fuji-nee and just giggled with a bubbly smile.

Right on cue, there was the sound of the front door being abruptly opened.

"Shirou! Hisashi! I'm here~" A familiar voice announced cheerfully.

Taiga made constant arrivals to the boys' home after school since Kiritsugu is out of town. She "claims" that the brothers would be lonely without anyone's supervision. Shirou on the other hand suspected that she enjoyed being with them, or with Hisashi specifically, and she doesn't have to deal with the grownups nagging her at her own place. He also learned first hand of her ravenous appetite, partly due to her natural athleticism, spontaneous personality, and how she is the ace of the Kendo team at her school.

"Fuji-nee-chan."

Shirou had the privilege of witnessing his little brother run towards the front door at top speed.

"..." One moment of a flat stare then transmuted into a shrugging sigh. At least Hisashi will play with her while he can wholeheartedly focus on cooking.

"Well, I better get to the kitchen." Shirou breathed out. Good thing he cooked the rice earlier.

"Fuji-nee-chan~!" Hisashi said again in a higher octave

"Whoa, what a jump!" Sounded like Taiga had to catch him. "Oh how is my cute little brother?!"

She entered the living room while carrying the little boy who wrapped his arms around her neck affectionately. At the same time Shirou hunkered down on chopping ingredients for lunch and a small pot is on an active stove.

It always put a smile on his face how freely Hisashi expressed himself to others, innocent as can be yet caring like an saint. Shirou pondered how he had a little brother like him in his life.

"Hi Shirou, what are we having today?"

"I'm practicing with making miso soup, fried salmon, and the salad should be simple enough." The red head answered his surrogate sister.

"Oho you're challenging yourself today, I'm impressed." Taiga gave a thumbs up, and the boy in her arm mimicked her.

He gave her a flat look as he poured the tofu into the miso pot. "Ya ya, just wait in the living room until I'm done."

"Roger that!" She saluted and turned her full attention to a set of blue eyes. "Anything interesting going on?"

"I learned another magic trick." He raised both arms with a proud look in his eyes if she read him correctly.

The teen always enjoyed his adorable gestures. "Wow! So what can our little magician do this time?"

In response to her question he fiddled with the violet collar of his clothing and wore the hoody over his head, and at the same time Shirou was looking through the cabinet he remembered placing his pan in... well it should have been there.

"Huh? Where did it go?"

Hisashi pulled down his hoodie. There's a frying pan on his head and he wore it like a hat.

"Tada."

"...Wha?" Confusion riddled Taiga's thoughts back to when she held him in her arms, yet not recalling any extra baggage like a pan on him. "How? When?"

"You were only looking at me," he said whimsically. "And I had this for a while~" He held the pan with a cheeky smile and a small tongue sticking out.

"Hisashi." Groaned Shirou while face palming. He wished that his little brother could have used something else instead of his frying pan; and in the first place, how did he hide that without detection in the first place!?

Taiga wasn't doing any better, being speechless and all... though he will be getting lots of praises soon enough knowing her.

At least after this, Shirou managed to finish making dinner for everyone.

OOO

Today the boys are out shopping for groceries. Their fridge is running low on food, and some fault lies in Taiga's appetite, but then again it gave Shirou the opportunity to hone his culinary skills without wasting food so he isn't complaining.

Another case in point is with Hisashi's use of the kitchen. Lately, aside from helping Shirou with prepping meals, he's been enjoying the art of making sweets. The treats that their surrogate sister gave them definitely offered inspiration to the young boy.

Obviously his first attempts at baking were charred cookies, but like with every new subject he puts his hands on, he improves in the next attempt. Actually with Hisashi in particular, he has this talent where when he fails once, he does not make the same mistake twice.

Usually this is normal for everyone, but the boy has this drastic rate improvement where he's a beginner at one moment then in next moment is like he has a substantial amount of practice in terms of proficiency; which almost seems kind of unnatural all things considering.

More often then not people started calling him a prodigy, but in Hisashi's mind, he thought he was doing things normally like everyone else, on the other hand he is partially aware that he does progresses faster then others; mostly because he has an impassioned drive to engage in a plethora of activities.

Personally for Shirou, he was proud that his brother was talented since it indicates a bright future ahead of him. Yet at the same time he started to feel lacking in his capabilities as a person.

"Nii-chan, you're fine the way you are." Hisashi looked at Shirou with a lazy purse of his lips.

The boys were on their way home along with Taiga from the shopping district. While carrying some groceries in each of their hands, Shirou and Hisashi had a short banter for who should hold the larger portion of the ingredients, Taiga won the argument by a landslide when she crashed into their debate.

"I'm okay you know." Shirou retorted while turning his head towards his little brother with a frown to himself. "It just that I wonder how everything you do is always done perfectly." He contemplated.

"No true." Hisashi started protesting. "My first batch of cookies look like charcoal." He made an example.

"But your second attempted turned out really well, and it was tasty too." Taiga said her piece in the conversation.

"Fu fu~, I was proud of those ones." The boy giggled with a goofy smile, though his older brother gave him a deadpanned stare in exchange, but then it changed into a smirk.

"I bet you would be better at cooking them me." Shirou stated honestly. While Hisashi has helped him frequently in the kitchen, the only thing his little brother made by himself were sweets for most of the time rather then meals. "Maybe you could be the Chef from now on." He finished sarcastically.

"Eh?!" Hisashi let out softly with shock and a slight sense of personal dread. "What do mean? I'm fine with making sweets, and I'm happy to help with the meals, but I love your food Nii-chan." It almost looked like he was close to crying. "Did I do something wrong?"

While said in an exaggerated and childish manner by an equally childish kid, the genuinely forlorn look Hisashi given to Shirou caused him to feel flustered by the sudden change in mood. While he did let his own inadequacy be know, his brother was genuinely worried about him and even tried to cheer him up in his own innocent way.

Though a reaction like this from a blue eyed boy is kind of rare.

The red headed boy sighed as golden eyes contact with dejected blue eyes.

"Calm down Hisashi, I didn't mean it like that." He was forcing his thoughts out. "I guess... maybe I'm a little worried by how slow I am at improving compared to you." Shirou rubbed the back of his head. "I sometimes wonder if I can call myself an older brother."

By now Taiga was about to have a word with her younger brother for his insecurities, but what stop the girl in her tracks was the peaceful and serene smile Hisashi displayed in his expression.

"Nii-chan." His gentle and understanding tone probed Shirou's attention to look at him. "I think you are the best brother in the world. It's as simple as that. I do a lot of things because I have fun and enjoy it. So it does not matter if you are good or bad or how fast or slow at what you do, because we can get better at things if we just work at it... or something like that." The smile started to beam. "So if you like to do something, then do it and have fun."

The look in his eyes, they hold a comprehensive gleam that made Hisashi look more mature than what his real age tells you. "We are kids you know, so that means you can get better with practice; we have the time so we don't have to rush it. As they say, enjoy the moments you have in the present time." He ended on a light note.

A look of astonishment not only showed on Shirou's face but Taiga's as well, because apparently Hisashi said something pretty wise for a tender six year old.

"I guess you right, we still have time for now." The redhead scratched his cheeks in minuscule embarrassment.

Shirou still had some internal worries for which he'll keep to himself. It's nice that his little brother wants to make him feel better, but it didn't change the fact that he wanted to improve in some way before the future comes.

"I do want to become stronger, so no one will be hurt in front of me."

As for how he'll achieve such a goal, he still isn't sure how to go about it. Perhaps he could ask Taiga for some karate tips.

The said girl watched the boys reconcile with each other, she placed her hands on their heads and started rifling their hair.

"Hey?!"
"Mm?"

"Kids sure grow up fast these days." She giggled. "You two are close enough to even argue, and it's nice to see you two can make up just as quickly."

"Is that really praise worthy?" Shirou retorted. "And we weren't arguing in the first place."

Shirou didn't seem very convinced by her words, in the meantime, Hisashi seem to have the most relaxed expression on his face with the head rubbing... is he a kitten or something?

"I heard how siblings can fight like cats and dogs, but you two get along so well you are like two peas in the same pot." Taiga entered a state of a big sister bragging about her little brothers with great pride.

"Some siblings don't get along?" Hisashi was puzzled by the statement.

"How would you know that when you don't have any siblings related by blood?" Asked the red headed boy.

In truth, he never bothered to talked to the kids in his class about family related matters, which left him out of tune with common family mechanics. (Though this is a very broad spectrum in all honesty)

"It's common knowledge, and I have friends who have brothers and sisters, so I know what I'm talking about." She proclaim with confidence. "And Shirou, even if I don't have blood related siblings, to me, you two are my real brothers and nothing is going to change that."

She poured the content of her heart out to them as her eyes held a gentle and affectionate gaze that made the boys feel fuzzy on the inside. Shirou for one was feeling a small case of embarrassment judging from his reddish cheeks, though Hisashi on the other hand accepted the notion with feelings far beyond the terms of "taking it well".

"Fuji-nee-chan, I love you~"

There was something about his youthful charm that always leaves an impact on people, especially when Taiga instantly lifted him up without the weight of the grocery bags slowing her down and hugged him like there was no tomorrow.

"Dear god! What did I do to deserve this little angel?!" The teen literally shouted to the heavens while snuggly rubbing her cheek against him.

"Hey hehe! That tickles~."

A mixture of a free spirited personality, Dopamine and Oxytocin running through her veins, a tiger's awakened maternal instinct, and a pinch of an innocent little brother is how this display of affection will occur. Then again, Shirou is quite accustomed to this scenario in particular, and frankly he's just glad that he isn't subjected to such cuddling for the most part.

Don't get him wrong, he is glad to have a loving family after everything he had experienced in the past, in fact the nightmares which had constantly plague his dreams seem to have dwindled. It hasn't disappeared, but they reached point where he can have some undisturbed dreamless nights. A hunch told him that Hisashi's presence was healing him in some aspect, though he could not say for sure with such a flimsy explanation.

His blue eyed brother sticks to him like glue for the most part despite the fact that he has his own futon to sleep in, and Shirou is treated like a personal teddy bear or hugging pillow on frequent occasions. He especially keeps a vice like grip on him when Shirou goes through one of his traumatic episodes.

At the core of it, Shirou felt a sense of peace from Hisashi, even if he had a hard time finding the words to admitting it.

"You come here too!" Taiga took the opportunity to snatch Shirou in a grappling hug while he was in a daze.

"Wha—!?"

So much for not getting caught in the cuddling, and Taiga is displaying an impressive show of strength with holding both the boys and the bags all in one. And were those hearts floating around Taiga's head?

"Glad you could join us~." Chirped Hisashi giving his two cent.

A quick blank gaze at his little brother shifted to his loving and somewhat brutish surrogate sister. "Fuji-nee, can you put us down now please."

"Why?"

"We need to go home." He said in a no nonsense tone.

"Hmph, spoil sport." Taiga pouted while doing as he says.

"If we keep this up, we will never be able to go home and put away these bags." As Shirou lifted the plastic bags up in an emphasizing fashion.

That's right, they would need to stock up on food to prepare for Kiritsugu's return.

Apparently he gave them a house call a few days ago when he finished up his business overseas, and Taiga suggested a return home celebration on the day of his arrival.

Hisashi was more them happy to be on-board with the idea, Shirou on the other had reservations about the occasion because he was thinking about how tired his father would be from the trip; and a party didn't seem to be Kiritsugu's forte either.

"I'm going to bake him a cake~" Hisashi chimed in an airy manner.

"Hisashi, we already have enough sweets that you made at home, I don't think we need a cake on top of that." Sighed Shirou.

Normally the red haired boy would have been fine with cake for a celebration, the problem was that his little brother got into the habit of making sweets whenever he felt like it, which is almost all the time. Right now, the have three jars of cookies, a tube of ice cream in the freezer, and a dozen hazelnut muffins left in the fridge. Then there is a bag amongst the groceries that is filled with candy... take a wild guess who the culprits are.

"Eh! Why?!"

"Because eating too much sweets is bad for you, and you will get cavities if you keep it up." Shirou stated logically. Plus his concerns lied in one of them getting sick if they keep up this sweet tooth habit.

"But it's tasty." Defended the blue eyed boy in a wimpier.

Look like Taiga wants to join in on the conversation. "I think it fine though. The sweets he make are pretty good, and I'm curious to see what kind of cake he plans to make."

"I wanted to make a strawberry cake."

Well that explains the box of strawberries they bought.

At this point, Shirou face palmed himself out of exasperation. "Fuji-nee, you are not helping."

As their pace was proven to be a process on their way home, it is far from being dull with the usual banter and bonding these siblings had exchanged.

Arriving at a fork in the road where they would take the left path to head home, the location also has a playground where kids frolic around the park and can ride on the swings, slides and other known play sets.

The youngest of the siblings started falling behind as Shirou and Taiga notice how Hisashi eyed the playground with hardly contained excitement.

"Can I play?"

"Hisashi, we can visit another time. We have things that needs to go to the fridge." Shirou reasoned.

Normally, the young boy would have listened to his older brother for most of the time, but Hisashi also has a peculiar quirk of acting on momentary moods. At the moment, he likes the energy that the playground is giving off at this time.

"Please, I promise it'll be quick." Those blue eyes transitioned into the dreaded puppy dog eyes.

Shirou showed hesitation in stating another denial. Last time he said no to one of his little requests, Hisashi does resign to the decision, but the sad eyes he emulated afterwards looked like that of a kicked puppy; which quite frankly left Shirou feeling no shortage of guilt. What added an extra impact in his melancholic body language was the forced smile he put up, and he genuinely didn't want to cause trouble to Shirou, but he has a difficulty hiding it from those close to him, and Taiga definitely had a word or two about the situation while babying her "adorable baby brother".

Shirou thought for a bit. The meat and fish they bought shouldn't spoil that quickly if Hisashi wanted to play for a few minutes, at least he hoped it was a short duration. The only worry that he had in granting the little boy's request was the fear of him developing thoughts that he could do whatever he wants, but then again, Hisashi has proven to be a very gentle and giving child by nature, so perhaps it's an unwarranted worry.

"What's the harm in a little fun?" Taiga beats him to the punch before he could even respond.

"Fuji-nee?"

The young teen took the liberty of grabbing both of the boy's bags. "How about I watch over the goods while you two play."

"Me too?" He questioned since he didn't ask to play around, nor did he have a strong desire for it either.

"You should act your age before you grow up to be a stooge Shirou." She retorted in confidence. "Besides, the older brother should be able to play with the younger brother, it is YOUR obligation." Taiga finished with no room for argument.

"Where in the world is she making this up exactly?"

Deadpanned as a blank slate, the red headed child turned his attention to his black haired brother who greeting him with very radiant blue eyes filled with joy. Looks like Shirou isn't getting out of this one.

"Fuji-nee-chan."

"Hmm? Yes Hisashi?"

The little boy walked up to her, made a waving hand gesture that led Taiga to lean her head closer to him assuming that he wanted to whisper something in her ear. Before she knew it, there was a soft peck on her cheek.

"Thank you Nee-chan~❤️" With a small stride in his step, he tapped Shirou's shoulder "tag you're it" and quickly ran.

It took Shirou a second to realized what had happened before he let a soft sigh looked at the runaway boy.

"If that is how it's going to be, then fine by me!" He immediately began his chase in a sprint.

At least he was acting like a kid for once, but in the mean time, Taiga is left in a trance like state with the shade of her bangs obscuring her eyes. Currently she looked like a zombie holding a bunch of bags while swaying her way to one of the park benches in her closest proximity. It earned her a few strange stares from the adults and children who were pointing fingers at her, but she remained unaware and disconnected even after sitting down on the bench with plastic piles filling the rest of the seating space.

"He he~" A sort of delirious giggle seeped out of the girl's mouth, and ginning like an idiot.

She had the expression of bliss written all over her face as if she was drunk, then took a few deep breaths to at lease calm herself down from the blood pumping in her veins running as fast as an active race track. Though her smile still remained.

"That boy is too cute sometimes." She muttered to herself while leaning her head back. "I just want to spoil him to death."

As giddy as she was, Taiga worried in the back of her mind if it was possible to get diabetes from overly sweet little boys... Nah! That's just silly... right?

"Well since those boys are off playing," she rummage through one of the candy bags and fishes out a box of pocky. "I can snack in the mean time!"

Good thing Hisashi is always happy to share sweets, but here's to hoping his big sister doesn't scarf down all of it before they come back.

OOO

Shirou has lost sight of Hisashi. It was all too sudden when it happened.

When giving chase in their sudden game of tag, the red headed boy managed to catch up to the black haired youth in spite of the head start at the beginning of the game, though Shirou would admit that his younger siblings is quick on his feet.

His disappearance occurred right around the moment that Hisashi made a sharp turn around a tree with Shirou in hot pursuit, yet of all things the young boy decided to perform a vanishing act right before Shirou's eyes.

Perplexed as the older brother was, he concluded that this was one of Hisashi's magic tricks that completely worked on him, which made Shirou exasperated by why is he always the practice dummy.

To add extra humor into the mix, he noticed a sticky note on the tree which read [Catch me in hide-&-seek~ ^^ ❤️] With a heart drawing at the end.

"..."

When did he write this?

Shirou had the flattest look imaginable written all over his face before putting his hand on his face in frustration. Then a deep breath later, he gazed over the playground full of kids playing.

"I'm all for hide-&-seek, but could it not have been later." He let out once more and started walking. Seriously, Taiga has infected Hisashi. "Well, no use standing around here."

It was time to hunt down a brother.

Meanwhile, Hisashi made himself comfortable in a round dome with holes in it to allow kids to come in and out of the dim hollow structure.

He giggled to himself about how he managed to give Shirou the slip in the middle of running away from him. He picked up a little about people's blind spots when learning some kendo from Kiritsugu and Taiga, so applying the principle to a game of hide-&-seek surprised him by how well it worked. He could also help add to his tricks when he has the chance.

Getting back on topic, Hisashi needed a small breather since he sprinted as fast as he could to get as much distance from Shirou as possible. He also ran a short trip to the swings, slide and monkey bars on the way to find a hiding spot (while playing) until he found himself in his current hidey-hole.

Now here's the thing, he wasn't alone in his hiding place.

There is a girl who appeared to be the same age as him, or perhaps younger, sat in a Fidel position on her lonesome.

Hisashi wondered why she was by herself when she could be playing outside under the sun like the other children, but there was something different about her when he took a closer look.

Her dress fit the colour scheme of her hair, which is an unusual pigment of the colour violet, a little more then uncommon for hair colour that looked unnaturally natural, and a red ribbon tied on the left side of her hair.

Her presence, it was glooming. But more then that, it was a deep rooted sense of resignation that is difficult to describe.

Then there was those eyes.

They are as empty as a doll's, but are as deep as a void. It's like the very embodiment of what it means to accept an ill fate.

Right now, she took notice of Hisashi and stared at him, though that was it, nothing came to her mind when her eyes locked with his. Other kids that met her once found her either weird or creepy and just left as fast as possible. She didn't acknowledged or react to any of it when there was no point in the first place.

They just come and go as they please, while the girl remained in the dark.

She expected the same from this boy that popped seemingly out of nowhere, yet far from expectations, the reaction turned out quite differently from "normal".

"Hi, my name is Hisashi. What's your name?"

The girl blinked for the first time since looking at him. This boy... why was he talking to her?

He gently smiled at her as his voice was kept at soft tone as if trying to carefully catch her attention without startling her.

There was no response from the gloomy girl, but in a small state of confusion instead.

At first the young boy patiently expected a reply from her, but he notice that she seemed to be at a loss for word as her expression never altered. So pondering in his thoughts, he revised a different approach of interaction.

"Hey." He inched closer to the violet haired girl and held out his hands. "Watch this!"

Left hand in a closed fist while the open right hand made an up and down motion in front of his the left hand. The young girl was unsure of what the blue eyed boy is doing with his hand movements until they suddenly stopped, and in his left hand was a pink lollipop that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.

"Tada~!" He said with positive energy.

There's a visible reaction from her this time. Well, more like her eyes hardly widened in curiosity if Hisashi had to guess, but gladly took as making progress with this quiet girl.

"It a hand trick that I learned after practicing a bit." He worded with pride and held the candy out. "Would you like a lollipop?" Somehow, there were stars in his eyes that metaphorically lightened up their area.

"..."

Unfortunately, it is met with silence where only the outside noise could be heard.

Well... this was awkward, but it didn't bother Hisashi and thought that maybe he should kick it up a notch with his trick.

"Oh! You don't want strawberry?" His left hand waved in front of her view once again. A few hand waves later, the pink candy turned orange. "Maybe orange flavour?" He wiggled the lollipop back and forth until a sudden jerk of the wrist switched the orange to yellow so fast it was like it transformed. "Or perhaps lemon?" Then he claps his hands together, showed the lollipop vanished and his hands being empty. "How about these?" The moment his opened palms collapsed into fist, six lollipops suddenly appeared and are now held between his fingers. "I also have lime, cherry, and grape. Take your pick." He beamed her a smile.

"..."

Ah... that was not what he hoped for... her face remained voided of expression.

Yes, he had fun in this little performance, technically he practiced so he could show it to Shirou and Taiga, yet the girl in front of him hardly changed in a literal physical sense. She just gazed at the candy without a word, blinking on occasion... maybe she saw through his performance? If that was the case, Hisashi pursed his lips and slump his shoulders in defeat. Much to the boy's melancholy, all he wanted was for her to at least crack a smile for him, though an actual response of some kind would have been nice too.

With a small sad sigh, he was going to put away the lollipops the way they appeared in the first place, yet the start of the motion abruptly halted when he noticed some movement from the violet haired child.

It was hesitant, but her hand made it's way ever so slowly to the strawberry lollipop that he offered in the first place. Caught in her hand and stayed still as if expecting something to occur only for nothing to happen. With the candy in her hand, she nodded which is suppose to be a bow in her case.

"Um.." she pondered for a proper response. "Thank you." She spoke barely above a whisper.

It wasn't a smile, but regardless it made Hisashi very happy judging by his wide joy filled grin.

"You're very welcome." There could have been flowers in the background from the happiness that radiated from him. "Your voice is pretty."

The girl looked confused, well more like she couldn't remember the last time she received anything like a praise or complement, aside from the remanent memories of her mother.

"So what's you name?" He ask again with expecting eyes.

This time her attention of him was not as stagnate as before. She regarded his question for a moment if she should give him her name, though she does at least have some common courtesy since he gave her his name, plus there aren't any reasons she could think of to refuse in the first place; or motivation to refuse either.

"Sakura." She fidgets momentarily. "Matou Sakura."

A pause of silence retained in their space as Sakura said her piece. Hisashi's shoulders twitched while his bangs covered his eyes. The girl internally wondered if she said too little since the boy in front of her appear to love conversation in the short time they had spoke.

His head lifted head up to reveal his eye... they radiated an insurmountable level of elation as his iris twinkled like blue stardust, and his childish smile contained such excitement that he couldn't hold back anymore. It was impactful but gentle at the same time.

"Yatta!" He flailed his arms in the air. "It's very nice to meet you Sakura-chan, let's be friends~." He almost shouted.

This is quite a new experience for Sakura, because never has she met a boy like Hisashi who emulates an excitable and larger than life attitude. Honestly, she found herself having a difficult time processing an event that hardly lasted five minute since there encounter.

Though at the moment, it was a mystery to her, because there's a sensation in her chest that she could not put her finger on. This feeling... it seems to be faint yet prevalent when she received Hisashi's rather warm smile.

And the excitement didn't end there.

"FOUND YOU!"

"AYE!"

Suddenly, a red headed boy popped his upper body through one of the dome opening right behind Hisashi, which quite frankly scared the pants out of the young kid, and candy came flying out of his sleeves and pockets that scattered all over the ground like a piñata.

"Games over Hisashi, hurry up so we can put everything in the fridge." Shirou commanded evenly in a monotonous expression.

"Ah haha, you found me..." The energy in his words died down while he picked up the candies he dropped.

When Shirou's eyes fully adjusted to the dim lighting of the dome, he finally notice the girl that was with his brother.

"Hey Hisashi, who's this with you?"

"Oh? Ah!" He started with introductions in order. "She's my new friend. Her name is Sakura-chan." After picking up the last of his candy he smile towards the girl. "Sakura-chan this is my big brother Shirou."

"... Good afternoon" she greeted politely in a small voice.

"Um... Hello."

Honestly it kind of looked like an awkward introduction between the two. While Sakura gave a short bow, Shirou offered of simple salutation before becoming quiet with no idea as to what else to say next.

It's endearing how Hisashi likes to make friends with everyone he meets, but the red headed boy sometimes worry if his brother is a little too willful in terms of being buddy-buddy with people without the acceptance of the other party. Looking at the girl in question, it was like her empty stare tuned out the world around her which added a layer to Shirou's worry.

Aside from his concerns, nothing else is going on at present, so he deduced that it was time to leave.

"We better hurry home before the things we bought spoils." Shirou let out a sigh and made a head start in Taiga's direction.

Hisashi replied with an "okey~" and followed close behind him.

Upon approaching their surrogate sister, they notice how there's a pile of wrapper beside her while a bag she was holding seemed to be on the deflated side while a contemplative expression is etched on her face with a chocolate cigarette in her mouth.

Once she noticed the boys approaching, the treat in her mouth was completely devoured and waved her hand in the air.

"Hey boys! Glad you finished your little game, I was starting to get bored here."

"Fuji-nee, you really had to eat so many sweets in one go?" Shirou's exasperated look couldn't describe just how deep his disappointment for her goes. "You'll spoil your lunch you know."

"Hey! Sweets goes to a completely different stomach, so it doesn't count!" The teenage girl passionately retorted.

"People only have one stomach, where did that dumb logic come from?" The red head would have non of it.

"Did you save me some." Hisashi's index finger is placed on his pursed lips coupled with blue puppy dog eyes, which dealt a devastating blow to Taiga's heart.

"Wah-! Don't worry Hisashi! I saved half the candy for you... I think..."

"That is too much sugar." Shirou just groan to this ridiculous charade.

She probably dug herself a hole at this point. But aside from all the melodrama, she sighted another individual that her "cute brother" was holding hands with. "Hey Hisashi, who's your new friend?"

"This is Sakura-chan."

This caused Shirou to look at his brother's direction, only to be surprised by the recent additions to the group. How did he miss her? Well actually, the girl's silence eluded the red head of her presence, not even making a peep when Hisashi took her by the hand without complaint... though he had other worries weighing on his mind.

"Hisashi, why did you drag her along? Scratch that, did you even get her consent first?"

The young boy started to look nervous by the acquisition. He sort of got carried away by the prospect of making a new friend that he forgot to consider Sakura's feelings about being pulled around in such a manner.

"Ah~ I wanted her to meet Fuji-nee-chan..." He mechanically craned his neck in Sakura's direction. Though his soft smile remain, there is a reminiscence of guilt he was feeling as if he did something uncalled for. "Sorry if I dragged you without asking Sakura-chan." He apologized with sincerity.

The young girl tilted her head in confusion, because she felt that an apology is unneeded for such reasons. So she shook her head in response.

"I'm okey..."

Hisashi let out a relieving sigh where as Sakura just stared at him with unreadable eyes. Shirou thought that maybe he was overreacting a little and shrugged his shoulders with a sigh of his own. There interaction is childish at best for the most part, though Taiga saw it as enduring in her opinion and took the opportunity to rub the boys' heads.

"Aw~ now aren't you guys just precious.❤️"

"Fuji-nee, quit that please." Shirou groaned with little resistance to her affection.

"Eh hehe." Hisashi giggled.

Satisfied, the teen let go of the their hair. Then making a beeline to Sakura, she crouched down to the young girl's height level and offered a friendly smile.

"Hi Sakura-chan, my name is Fujimura Taiga, it's nice to meet you." She introduced herself gently.

It was subtle, but Sakura held onto Hisashi's sleeve as an apparent source of comfort for meeting someone new so soon. She has been experiencing a rapid flow of events happening one after another, it's a given that there will be some discomfort on her part even though she hardly resist against it.

"It's alright, Taiga-chan is our big sister." Hisashi reinsured the girl when he notice that she might have been nervous.

Fujimura nearly squealed by how cute these kids were acting. Shirou on the other hand wanted to make a comment earlier which entitles "she's sort of our older sister, but not exactly", but made the wise choice of keeping it to himself unless he wanted to face the repercussions in the form of dojo training.

Not as hesitant as before, Sakura took a small step forward and bowed. "It's nice to meet you."

"Well isn't she adorable~!" Taiga announced in joy and pet the girls head much to Sakura's confusion. After retracting her hand, she looked at Hisashi with a feline grin. "Fu fu. Oh Hisashi~ for you to hold hands with a girl you just met, is she your girlfriend by any chance?"

In her own way, she tried to tease her oh so innocent little brother... the only issue is that he is too innocent at times. With thoughtful features, he only registered the "friend" in the word "girlfriend" and answered her without a second thought.

"Ya~ she's my girlfriend." There's something about the brightest in his smile that should not be possible.

"...Eh?" The teen made a sound while her reaction glitched for a brief second. "Ah haha! For a second there I thought you were serious about her being your girlfriend." She reasoned.

"But she is."

"..." Taiga subsequently froze by the instant response. Still as a statue with her bangs shading her eyes, but the only noticeable movements of her person is a twitch to her lip.

"Fuji-nee-chan?" Hisashi quirked at the sudden silence.

Then like an erupting volcano, she jolted her body straight up and screamed to the heavens. "DEAR GOD! HISASHI BECAME A PLAYBOY! AND HE STARTED DATING BEFORE ME!"

Her vehement shouts of disbelief attracted the attention of several parents and children at the park, as some kids were pointing or adults herd their kids away from the loud and assumingly crazy teenager.

"Playboy? Well, I do like to play games." As per the boy's forte, Hisashi looked at the world with his head in the clouds.

Meanwhile, Sakura observed between the boy's flighty expression and the teen's comical shock with no real idea as to what is going on, and Shirou in the midst of this hilarious chaos didn't look all that different from Sakura in terms of expressions.

"Fuji-nee, that is not what Hisashi meant... please calm down."

The red head wanted to be saved from the embarrassment and just go home.

OOO

The boys somehow managed to straighten out the verbal misunderstanding to Taiga after much of Shirou's pleading, they finally made their way to the Emiya manner, and with an added additional to the group in the form of young girl.

The blue eyed boy took the initiative in inviting Sakura to come over to have lunch with them, and unsurprisingly Taiga is all in for the idea. Though Shirou wasn't quite sure if it was a good idea to suddenly bring a kid they just met into their house, or if the girl herself was comfortable with the idea. Then there was the issue if her folks were fine with the decision, but much to their surprise, she is by herself in the park without any form of supervision.

From what they were told by Sakura, she lives with her grandfather and an older brother that recently came back from overseas. Aside for an appointed curfew of nightfall, she is allowed much freedom for being in or outside of her family household.

What this entails for her is the independent decision of taking up Hisashi's invite. There isn't much reason for her to refuse since she does not have any other plans of her own, and even if she was kidnapped, she will eventually return to her grandfather's side whether she wants to or not.

But it was stranger, because on a whim of going to a kids playground alone with no real purpose, she suddenly encounters a boy who looked at her in curiosity and innocence unlike any other person she has met. Other children steered away from her in a vague sense of unease, yet the Hisashi gravitated towards her as if he made it a personal goal; but most of all, he approached her with an unfiltered kindness that looked past the shadows.

The girl named Sakura didn't know what to make of this, or how to respond except to be pushed around by this fairly warm flow of events. Well, not like she's got any resolve to go against anything in the first place.

"You sure you're okey coming with us?" Shirou directed his concerned question towards Sakura.

The girl in question blankly stared at him while pondering his inquiry. To Shirou she is kind of unusual, but at least it was nothing warranted to make a negative judgment about, well not like he knew much about her besides being his brother's new friend.

"Come now Shirou, we are just having her over for lunch." While walking, Fujimura smiled and leaned her head over at Shirou's direction.

"I'm just afraid if she is forcing herself in agreeing to come with us."

Taiga wore a tender smile in understanding to what Shirou meant. "It's good that you are being considerate of her Shirou." She then looked towards the two youngest walking behind them. The little boy performed magic tricks to the girl, which the acts usually end with the treats in his mouth. "But it should be okay. You know that Hisashi just wants to make other's smile without exception, and so far, she doesn't mind his presence at the very least."

Sakura in question had an attentive look in her dead fish gaze towards Hisashi as if she was trying to figure out something about the enthusiastic boy beside her.

One deductive look at the girl caused Taiga to frown. While she truly thought that Sakura is a cutie pie, empty eyes like her's is not normal. More like they shouldn't be normal at all for anyone, led alone a child.

Inwardly, the yakuza daughter hazard a guess that it's a family matter. Whatever it was, it's affecting Sakura in ways that is difficult to fully comprehend on the surface. Well it's a gut feeling on her part.

She also noted that Hisashi does seem to be a little more interactive than he would usually be to a point that it almost felt forced. He's probably feeling something too when he met her and opt to approach it with genuine positivity.

Shirou saw Taiga's expression and followed her line of sight. Turning his head to the two kids once more where the main focus is on Sakura. At most in the redhead's mind, he thought that the purple hair girl was just a reserved and shy kid who didn't have anyone to call a friend, which is not too far off from the truth. Yet the way Taiga looked at her indicated that she had other things on her mind.

"Is something up Fuji-nee?"

A jolt came to her senses as Shirou brought her out of her brooding.

"Eh? No, nothings wrong." She forced out.

"...You sure? You were oddly quiet Fuji-nee." The kid scrutinized. "Which is a first."

She imagined a slightly condescending tone from the red headed boy's last sentence. "And what is that suppose to mean young man?" Her eyes became sharper.

"Never mine..." Shirou shrugged his shoulders and face forward, satisfied that his so called older sister seems to be back in her usual spirits. Though now she was coming after him for answers to what he meant by that.

Not a moment too soon, the sight of the Emiya residence front gates was just ahead of them, which probably saved Shirou's butt for the time being.

OOO

It is a gathering of four individuals making themselves comfortable within the living room/kitchen, except for one who is quite reserved upon entry.

"Welcome to our house~" Hisashi chirped.

"Make yourself at home Sakura-san, I'll make preparation for lunch."

"What are we having Shirou?" Taiga asked as she laid down on the tatami mats.

The redhead scratched his cheek in contemplating his answer. "Well, I was thinking of attempting at making omurice."

"Oh~ last time you made that it became scrambled egg with rice!" Taiga began laughing at the memory.

Teasing her oldest little brother from time to time became an amusing undertaking when she manage to rile up a reaction from Shirou.

"I've got the fundamentals patted down this time," he retorted while crossing his arms with a huff, "plus that was also my first attempt Tiger."

Oh dear, looks like Shirou is biting back by pressing THAT button.

"HEY! I TOLD YOU I DON'T LIKE THAT NAME!" She cried in a passionate rage.

As the boy manage to barricade himself in the kitchen while threatening Taiga that she will have to cook for herself if she doesn't stop going after him like a wild beast, Hisashi and Sakura were sitting back to observe the spectacle.

The blue eyed boy had the most listless look on that smiling face of his and watch his siblings with his head on the table. Sakura inspected the scene in dim curiosity indicated by the small tilt of her head.

"Tiger?" She softly question.

To this, Hisashi place a finger over his lips in a shushing gesture. "It's just a nickname that she does not like, so make sure she doesn't hear you say it."

Sakura's empty guise gave a nod in reply. He gauges for any readable changes from her facial features as if trying to figure out a puzzle, but the same can be said for Sakura who observed Hisashi excitable air in silent pondering. In which case, this is what their interaction amounts to where one looked for a genuine reaction from the girl and the other would witness unpredictable reactions from the boy.

At least for Hisashi, he is content with gaining the purple haired girls attention.

The dark haired boy in question pressed an index finger on his chin in thoughtfulness, humming to himself until he jolted his body with an idea.

He reached his right hand into his left sleeve and pulled out what seemed to be a red piece of fabric with his name sown on it. Much to Sakura's mild bemusement, Hisashi unfolded the fabric with a whirl and laid in flat in the center of the table.

"Now watch this~." He cheerfully announced and snapped his finder in front of her face.

She blinked a few times, wondering what the purpose of his actions were for. Sakura's internal question is answered in the form of the boy dramatically pulling the red cloth off the table... to find a cookie jar in it's place?

Her eyes actually widened, like where did it come from? As fast as certain assumptions came to mind, Sakura shook out certain thoughts and looked at the boy in front of her. Still that same smile plastered on his face as if he didn't know any other expression, but how true is it in reality?

Off the the side they heard clapping from one individual in the peanut gallery, and her name sounds similar to Tiger.

"Wow Hisashi, you're getting better at that!" Her energetic presence nearly (but not quite) made Sakura jump.

"Eh heehee, thanks." Hisashi proceeded to open the lid of the jar gestured to the cookies which are either plain star shaped or round chocolate chips. "Would you two like some?"

A bright grin from Taiga should be an obvious answer, though Sakura seemed to just stare at the cookies.

"Well don't mind if I do-" Fuji-nee 'tried' to get a crunch treat, but it was swiped away from her grasp. "Hey!"

The culprit was Shirou, who so far looked pretty much done dealing with Hisashi's and Taiga's antics for today.

"I don't know how you got this off the cabinet without my notice, but can you guy not eat anymore sweets today before I even finish making lunch." Shirou sighed in frustration. "Please, I don't want either of you to get sick."

The string on Shirou's temper was close to snapping, Hisashi could see it which caused the little guy to feel kind of sheepish at lease when his eyes looked down at the table.

"Sorry Nii-chan, I got a little too excited with today." He really wanted to be hospitable to their guest and his newest friend. "But can Sakura have one of my cookies?"

Shirou thought on it and looked at the young girl. Now that he noticed, she does seem to be on the thin side, actually, thinner than what would be considered healthy for her age. Perhaps one cookie shouldn't hurt since they are small, and it should tie her over until lunch is ready without spoiling her appetite. So with a shrug of his shoulders, he held out the jar in front of Sakura.

"You want one?"

Her blank eyes looked between between the two brothers before looked at the jar Shirou was holding out. Initially, she would have told them that she would be fine without the treat, but there was something about the cookies appearance and fragrance that brought out a fragment of her inner child, and Hisashi's anticipated eyes definitely probed her further into it.

Slowly reaching into the glass container to pick out a star shaped cookie, it almost look like she was hiding her face behind the small sugary treat.

"Thank you."

"Your welcome." It was the first time she had clearly spoken directly to him, but in any case he closed the lid and head for the kitchen.

"Hey Shirou, can I-"

"No." He shut Taiga down quicker then she could retort. "And please don't give me the excuse of a second stomach."

Leaving no room for argument, Shirou placed the jar back in the cabinet and move on to frying the rice. Meanwhile Taiga flopped her chin into the table with a thump with a profound pouty face.

"Shirou can be so uncute sometimes." She sighed to herself dejectedly.

Normally she wouldn't take this kind of treatment without a fight, especially from a kid who is seven years younger than herself, but Shirou in her mind is technically family to whom she has affection for, and an added fact that she is getting a free meal out of him. There's also a small possibility that he would follow though with making her cook her own meal if she doesn't cease with her rumpus behaviour, which honestly wouldn't be good for anyone because the last time she cooked something, one of her grandfather's men tastebuds almost died from the taste testing.

As she lamented in her mind, the blue eyed boy notice how his surrogate sister was down in the dumps with comical angry fumes escaping out of her head. Hisashi looked at Sakura for a second before pulling out some paper and crayons from under the table and smiled.

"Go ahead and draw anything you want, I'll come back to you shortly~." He informed before taking a few short steps to Taiga at the other side of the table.

Since she's in a state where her sulking took the drivers seat of her mind, she didn't notice little Hisashi to actually sneak up behind her.

"Yoo-hoo~ Nee-chan." He spoked her shoulder.

"Nya!? Yes?!" Caught by surprise she wheeled her head to look behind in a near jerking motion.

"You can be really funny sometimes." Hisashi tittered good naturally.

Without a second thought, he closed the distance with Taiga to give her a hug.

"Fuji-nee-chan, please don't be mad. Nii-chan is just worried about our health." Hisashi continued nuzzling in her arms. "I hope you feeling better~."

Mentally and physically speaking, the tiger of Fuyuki felt like she was melting.

"Oh My God Hisashi! You're sweeter than anything this world has to offer!" With great elation she cuddled him back with fierce affection. "Don't you worry, I'm not mad anymore, in fact I wasn't mad at him in the first place!" Sure she wasn't... "Me and Shirou still love each other." Though that level of love might differ towards Hisashi.

"I'm glad."

As the hugging session was underway, Shirou watch in amusement while he put the finishing touches on the food. He swore that Hisashi is the only one that could make Taiga putty in his hands without a problem, but it does put a smile on his face to see them getting along in such a manner. Even when Shirou and Taiga can sometimes butt each other's heads about the small and trivial things, they still get along without any grudges... aside from the occasional pranks the teenage girl pulled on him in an act of vengeance, but that's a story for another time.

At the end of the day, they are a grateful bunch of makeshift siblings that care for each other in their own little ways.

Not even paying attention to the crayons and blank paper in front of her, Sakura monitored them with her desolate eyes. When she sees them getting along, enjoying each other's company, smiling at one another, a fading tug wrenched at her chest.

Feelings she buried deep within, memories that had been long since locked up, a mourning she dare not reach out to. This family has a warmth that she has long since forsaken in returning to because of a despairing fate she has been chained to. Just as fast as they nearly reached a certain point, the emotion vanished once again and replaced in the consensus of self-worthlessness.

What was the point in the first place?

"You don't want to draw anything?"

A voice brought her back to reality. Spotting those blue eyes attentively watching her once again, she was puzzled by his words at first until recalling the colouring set he had given her, to which the paper remained blank.

"Do you want to do something else instead?" He thought of offering her some toys instead.

A moment a silence fell on Sakura as she seemed undecided of what would be appropriate to say to Hisashi.

"I'm fine." The girl chose to remain static of the situation. "I just don't know what to draw."

At this point, Hisashi brows frowning and observed her with a strange sense of concentration. It felt like he was attempting to look past something in the purple haired girl.

"Um..." He started. "Are you okey?" Concern was written in his face.

Sakura's eyes dilated. How was she suppose to answer this question? The suffocating silence began to feel heavy, she wasn't okey in all essence of it's meaning, but it's not like she could even reveal that to normal people, let alone these kind individual that doted on her.

She can't go back to those she remembered and has succumb to a fate no one deserves to be subjected to. Being used and abused without a thought or even consideration.

She isn't worth anything, but then, why does this boy look at her with those bright eyes?
What could be gained from her attention?
What was the point in the first place?

It shouldn't matter.

Everything froze in it's mental tracks. An external warmth blanketed her body, wrapping around her suddenly, yet softly and delicately at the same time.

"It's alright if you don't want to say anything." The boy spoke tenderly in a calm and childish voice.

Yet it hurts to be alone.

Hisashi just hugged her, rather unexpected for the girl herself, though it wasn't unwelcome. Like the harsh rapids of a river, so many thoughts ran through her mine, and a number of emotions she couldn't keep track of, but the shaking of her body that she was unaware of slacked at the point of contact.

The warmth of another person.

It was strange, While not on her intended volition, Sakura unconsciously brought her own arms around Hisashi's body.

What was happening?

Such simple actions like this felt pleasant and warm, she could even feel his heartbeat that has a calming affect on her.

With a huff of satisfaction, Hisashi softly let go of her which signals her to do the same. He has his hand on her shoulders and looked her in the eyes with one big smile.

"Glad you are feeling better." He seemed kind of proud at the moment until his grin morphed into mixed look of curiosity and uncertainty. "We are friends... right?" He really hoped so.

While yes they had just met today, and the black haired boy himself can be pretty brazen when intruding on people's personal space, he still has the advantage of being a youth and has quite a gift in his way with people. If you want to meet others, if you want to make friends, just go up and talk to them; at least that is how Hisashi sees things.

Meanwhile, Sakura herself is aware of his question, though honestly her mind was still floating in the sensation of his hug. Her expression is still stone cold, but that didn't stop her in giving a reply with a nod of her head.

"If you are fine with me," She slowly said. "Then yes, we're friends." The words themselves felt nice.

All it took was these exact words to cause an indescribable amount of happiness to envelop Hisashi. It's like butterflies were fluttering in his stomach.

"That makes me happy~." A goofy yet cute smile is plastered on his face.

There's something about this bubbly boy that causes something strange to form in Sakura, while it could be illustrated a foreign sensation, the best way to put it to words was how it made her feel light somehow; but in what way wasn't determined yet.

"So cute~!"

The kids looked at Taiga's direction who squealed like a fan girl, and she has her cell phone out to taking pictures at the moment they started hugging each other.

"Don't mind me, I'm just taking shots for future memories." She elaborated.

The black haired boy pursed his lips and pondered to himself. After a few shot seconds, he wrapped one arm around Sakura's shoulders to hold her close while the other limb made a peace sign.

"Cheese~"

"Oh that is picture perfect!" Taiga practically shouted.

These strings of event made things perplexing for Sakura to keep up with.

"There he goes again with his hugging habits."

Within the doorstep of the kitchen, Shirou completed the omurice he was holding on a large round tray. He stopped himself when he saw how Hisashi was hugging their new female guest, and by some reason he had the feeling that the particular moments held of importance of some kind on an instinctual level. Then again, it might have been his imagination.

"Then again, his habits aren't so bad. There could have been worse." A foreboding thought passed through his mind until he decided to make himself known.

"Food's ready."

Catching their attention, it filled both Taiga and Hisashi with expected excitement to bite down on a Japanese omelette dish.

"Yay food!" The two cheered in synchrony.

Shirou set the dishes in-front of everyone. There were some small tears in then since the boy is still at the novice stage of cooking, but at least it wasn't a mess like last time, and at least one of the omurice turned out perfectly which so happens to be in front of Sakura.

"Looks like your technique has improved Shirou." The teen complements her surrogate brother, though her meal seems to be the most ripped up out of the others, it wasn't an issue for her since she would dig into it eventually; turns out all the same once it's in the mouth.

"Thanks, but I still have a long way to go until I deemed it satisfactory." He huffed while crossing his arms and sat down at the table.

Taiga snorted. "Quite the overachiever."

"How are you doing with your homework lately?" Shirou retorted coupled with a flat stare.

"Agh!"

Talk about a backfire on your own statement. Schoolwork isn't exactly the yakuza daughter's strong suit unless it pertains to whacking someone with a kendo sword or with her barehands, though English hasn't become an issue as of late since Kiritsugu started tutoring her in the particular subject.

"Guys, can I make the pictures?" Hisashi requested at the ready with a ketchup bottle in his hands.

"I would love that!" Taiga gave her thumbs up of approval.

Instead of agreeing, Shirou quirked a brow. "Couldn't you just put on the ketchup so we can eat."

Well, if they are going to eat it anyway, then drawing art on the omurice would be kind of pointless to Shirou when it ends up in the stomach.

"Oh come now Shirou, it's just a fun little presentation. It makes the meal more enjoyable." Taiga said her piece.

Okey, Shirou could agree that the appearance of food would affect how appetizing it would look to the ones consuming it.

"I should make messages too~"

Plus it is a two vs one vote at the presiding moment.

"Never mind." Shirou decided to agreed with them.

"Now what should I draw~"

Hisashi didn't waste any time to squeeze out the ketchup drawings for everyone. Taiga got an adorable chibi tiger face with the words "I love you" under it which unsurprisingly earned the the boy a lot of unsuppressed hugs. He draw a chef's hat with a knife and fork crossed behind it for his brother, and a message stating "My best brother in the world!". While it made Shirou scratch his head and fighting down a blush coming over his cheeks, he had to comments that Hisashi's artistic skills has gotten better lately. Then for Sakura he drew a rather self explanatory piece of art that has five petals on it.

"A Sakura for Sakura~." The boy gave a wide grin.

Taiga made it a priority to take pictures of this very moment while the blue eyed boys brother looked kind of incredulous.

"Really... because of her name?" Shirou had to ask.

"No." Hisashi answered and corrected the misunderstanding. "She reminds me of the pretty flower."

Under most circumstances, this would be an assumed confession made by a boy for the girl he likes, but it is the norm for Hisashi to throw around his gratitude and affection to others around him that Shirou could tell his intent is pure honesty. Taiga on the other hand gave a low scream a few octaves higher in pitch than normal.

A boys blunt acts left Sakura sort of speechless. Everything about Hisashi's behaviour is foreign to her where ninety percent of the time left her unable to react properly, yet the core aspect of his interaction with her is an unreasonable display of kindness.

But why?

What would he have to gain from knowing her let alone being nice to her?

"And the finishing touch." Hisashi's voice ranged.

Sakura blinked several times with her attention brought to what the boy had done to her food. Aside from the flower, there is a massage on the egg of her meal.

"A New Friend for life^-^!"

A message that the black haired boy wanted to wholeheartedly covey to her.

"I hope you enjoy~." He gave his signature listless grin.

All Sakura did was slowly nod, but when she pick up her spoon and looked at her food, the pause movement emulated a sense of hesitation as if decided if she didn't want to dig into the omurice.

This failed to evade Hisashi's notice, but before he could asked about the girls indecisiveness, Taiga swooped in and suddenly took the ketchup off of his hands.

"Hey Hisashi, how about letting your big sis draw you something for decorating our meal." Offered the yakuza daughter while already getting to work with the sauce.

The suddenly distraction got the boy out of his train of thought. After observing her artwork, he could personally tell that she wasn't the most dexterous person in this specific field.

"And done!" She finished and spun the bottle in her hand. "Cute right?"

His blue eyes curiously scanned over Taiga's. Besides the written "CUTEST BROTHER IN THE WORLD!" message, he mentally scratched his head over what he is witnessing because the squiggly outlines vaguely resembles an animal, but he couldn't decide whether it was actually a dog with weird legs or a monkey with a disproportionate head.

Though it seemed like he didn't need to say anything when someone beat him to the punch.

"..." A bewildered expression made itself known on Shirou's face. "What in the world is that?" He bluntly questioned.

"What do you mean?" She asked in bemusement with a raised eyebrow. "It's a cat."

The boys glanced back at the omurice.

"That's a cat?!" No matter how Shirou looked at the picture, it looked like some kind of abominable hybrid of a failed experiment.

Hisashi reciprocated quite well to the image. "It's a silly kitty." He ended up giggled innocently. Although her ketchup art wasn't the greatest thing to lay your eyes on, he could tell how his surrogate sister poured out her heart for him, and for that he appreciates it.

"Oh! I can't get enough of you, you know that!" Taiga ruffled his hair in affection. Yet there's a slight concern if she'll start developing a pseudo brother's complex at this rate. After that, she lets go of him and looks toward her on food. "Anyways, thank you for the food!" She got to chowing down in a famished manner.

With a resigned sigh he also took a bite of his meal yet wore an expression that could be described as dull directed at Hisashi.

"You really know your way around Fuji-nee."

The youngest boy looked thoughtful for a moment, until he opted for a serene smile.

"Well, she's family. So of course I know her very well." Then his smile at Shirou knowingly. "Same goes for how well I know you."

"You don't say." Not too surprising in the redheads opinion since they are always seen together.

The noise died down into a tranquil meal at the Emiya residence. Sakura eventually manage to take a bite of the omurice which made her a little surprise by the slight widening of her eyes from how tasty the food was.

Hisashi was content with her reaction and announced how his brother's food is the best in the world. Shirou tried to exclaim how he still has a long way to go, but internally, he felt some pride well up in his chest that his cooking was well received; yet he wishes that Fuji-nee would actually savor his food instead than scarfing it down.

After they finished eating, Shirou had some dishwashing and cleaning to do. His little brother wanted to help, but Shirou asked him to spend some time with Sakura and Taiga to make sure their sister doesn't go to far with her activities. As childish as Hisashi may seem to be, he is quite levelheaded in reality despite appearances.

With that out of the way, the events of the day went by as stated. The black haired boy at first brought out a bunch of toys like a kadama, spinning tops, a daruma otoshi, and other trinkets and asked if Sakura would like to try them out. Taiga at first suggested that they could play tag, but Hisashi suggested that she could braid the girl's hair to which the teen quickly agreed.

The boy would have enjoyed tag, but he had the feeling that Sakura would prefer to not move too much even when she doesn't protest outright, because it was as if she movements slow and uncomfortable yet well concealed to others, though the reasons for her secretive behaviour eludes him for the time being. Overall, he isn't going to pry since she probably has her reasons.

As Sakura has a a kadama in her hand with Taiga braiding her hair, Hisashi attempted to balance an active top on his finger, but at most it manage to spin on his palm. He continued to show Sakura how to use the other toys as she and Taiga watched like a peanut gallery. Taiga enjoys how Hisashi is able to take pleasure in anything he gets his hand on and makes the most out of it in every possible way. Sakura found herself regarding the boy's performance with interest, because she wondered how this thought to be listless boy could be so full of energy and positivity at the same time.

Some part of the dead expressed girl grimly thought that she should go back to the house of her grandfather, but truthfully, meeting these people who were kind enough to invite her over to their home and partake in their lunch time was an alien experience for Sakura.

Dare she say it, it was even pleasant to have met them... but... did an empty shell of a girl like her have the right?

"Are you getting sleepy Hisashi?"

Brought out of her rumination by Fuji-nee's voice, Sakura notice the boy who called her a friend started to become drowsy with an unusually long yawn.

"Hm." He hummed with a nod.

"I was wondering when you were going to nap, you've really been pushing yourself today." The teen chuckles in thoughts of how cute he can be sometimes. "You do get overly excited when we have guests coming over to our place."

All things considering, Hisashi wasn't listening at all to her chatter. He walked in their direction in a wobbly motion, then as he climbed up to the porch, he made himself comfortable by laying his body on the wooden floor facing outside where the afternoon sun is still up.

Now here an extra detail, he caught Sakura off guard when the boy himself used her lap as a pillow unconsciously. Her mind became stunted all of a sudden.

"That is so precious!"

It was almost like Taiga teleported from the spot behind Sakura to being outside and facing the kids with multiple clicking noises from the her phone. Seriously, she has been taking pictures all day that it make you wonder if she still has any data memory left in that device.

Meanwhile, Sakura looks down at her lap, more specifically at the boy who occupied it. Fast asleep like a little baby, he let small little breaths escape with a peaceful look written on his features.

In the beginning, the girl with purple hair wondered if the boy was just taking pity on her, feeling sorry for a girl who was alone in a dark dome hiding from the light of the outdoors.

Far from the initial notion, the boy is genuine. He came off with a strong impression, but gentle in the approach. He can be sneaky at times but he wore his heart on his sleeves. These blue eyes are filled with wonder, yet they are insightful too as if he could see something though not quite in the same instance.

Sakura didn't know how, but she felt a mixture of emotions that she couldn't describe with words, nor would it be allowed to show on her face, but to say the least, it made her feel warm.

His defenseless state actually gave Sakura the chance to observed him more closely at a different angle, like for example, how his black hair seems to shimmer in the sunlight like obsidian. Much to her own surprise, she wanted to touch it. Ever so slowly and hesitantly, Sakura felt a softness she didn't expect at first glance.

"Un.. na..." the slumbering child made funny noises that make the girl retreat her hand back.

This boy, he has manage to give her comfort through kindness she hardly believe was possible. All so he could see a smile on her face

Yet how long would it last once she has to go back to that dark house designated as her home before dusk falls?

"He has really taken a liking to you."

Looking dumbly at the brown haired teen, Sakura didn't know how to respond to the statement. So what was she suppose to say instead of "Ah?"

"Sorry, seems like I confused you." Fujimura awkwardly laughed, scratching the back of her head in a deeper stage of thought. "I mean granted, Hisashi does have a talent in causing people to warm up to him once he works his magic." Aka now you see it, now you don't tricks; or being his kind hearted yet funny self. "But he has been pushing for your attention more than what he would usually do to others." The sides of her lips tilted downwards. "Then again, I wonder if you are alright yourself?"

Sakura blink a few times trying to comprehend the directions of Taiga's inquiry, she was surprised that the boy who quickly opened up to her was giving her that much attention, but why?

The teenage girl frowned to herself since she is about to ask Sakura something that could potentially be very personal, because it kept nagging that her something was up with the hollowed expression of this sweet little girl.

"How are you doing with you parents?"

Subtly the mood changed. Her head tilted downward with purple bangs covering her blank eyes, yet her answer came in a monotone.

"I don't have parents."

The yakuza daughter definitely became dead silent. She felt like she has stepped on the biggest landmine she has ever has ever stepped on in her years of being alive, because a young girl who has lost her mother and father in some kind of accident, of could she would shut off her emotions as a defensive mechanism.

Here she was she asking a bunch sensitive questions in an attempt to help the little girl in front of her, but there is a limit in how much she can help. At this point, she felt that her rashness has caught up her big time.

So in the unanimous decision of halting any further questions, Taiga's eyes were melancholic as she immediately went in to hug the purple haired girl while managing to not wake up the Hisashi below them.

"I'm so sorry. You don't have to say anything." Fujimura started in a rare occasion of maturity while holding back her tears. "I don't completely know your situation, but you don't have to say anything if you don't want to."

Much to Sakura's surprise, she wondered why a girl several years older than her was close to breaking down in tears. At the same time, she couldn't help but be overcome with guilt for causing some sort of trouble for Taiga's sadness.

"I'm sorry."

But the Fujimura didn't ask for an apology. The flood gates broke and started leaking from the teen's eyes. It earned the self-deprecating girl a vigorous head rub that made her hair look like bed head.

"You have nothing to apologize for Sakura-chan! It's my fault if I dug up some uncomfortable questions!" Letting go of her hair, Taiga started wiping the tears away from her eyes and started to calm down between sobs. "For what I put you through if it helps in anyway (sniffle), come visit us whenever you want."

A moment of a pregnant pause pervaded their conversation without leaving each other's sight between empty eyes and teary eyes. An invitation has been offered in sincerity, but the question stands within Sakura if she will actually take it.

"Are you sure?" The girl asked in uncertainty, because as much as she wanted to say yes, should she accept it?

"What are you taking about? I'm as sure as I can at kicking butt in kendo!" The teenager's cheerful attitude returned and loudly replied with a victory tone, much to Sakura's confusion as Taiga's spontaneous mood changed to a sudden calm. "Besides, wasn't Hisashi the one who talked to you first."

That he did, and there was something about Sakura's first impression of him reminding her of starlight in the night, maybe even a shooting star with how abrupt he was in their first encounter.

One nod from her was enough for Taiga to beam the young girl a satisfied grin. "Than that's more than enough reason to come over, Hisashi would agree too."

"Yup."

"Gah!?"

Taiga literally jumped from her awake little brother who was still on Sakura's lap.

"That took me by surprise. When did you wake up?"

The boy seemingly pondered momentarily before he answered with a lazy grin. "Around the time when you were crying." He he awkwardly laughed as well.

"My how embarrassing of me. Watching me brawl my eyes out without making a peep, you have become quite cheeky as of late." She amusingly said with a grin of her own.

Then much to her surprised, Hisashi wore a soft frown on his lips. The boy faced her with his features now showing genuine concern for his big sister, well the look in his eyes were compared to a sad puppy dog eyes.

"Are you okey Fuji-chan?"

Here he goes again being a sweetheart, whether he was doing this on purpose or not is up in the air, because now the Tiger of Fuyuki grabbed him and coddled with an active maternal instinct.

"Oh! I can't keep my hands off you, you know that?!" Hearts are flying while she rubbed him cheek to cheek.

While they embraced, Sakura looked at the display of family affection with nostalgia. The memory of arms wrapped around her with comfort and love that has been long since abandoned. As much as she tried to forget, as much as she buried her yearning for such a thing, even going as far as giving up on the prospect.

It still hurts.

It really does... but then out of nowhere, she was being carried away by another sensation of warmth.

"Let's not forget about you!"

As weird as the development of events has been arranged, a group hug has issued on the instigation of a teenager and the silent suggestion of a six year old.

Sudden is an understatement as it is unexpected to summarize Sakura's opinion. It's made her mind muddled, yet at the same time, why does it feel nice?

"You will come and play again, right?" Hisashi appeared expectant of her reply.

Why are they kind to her?

What reason is there to associate with a girl like her?

They accepted her?

Is it really okey?

She didn't know. She girl named Sakura didn't understand how they can be so friendly with a complete stranger they only know for less than half a day, yet here she is at a house that felt like a home.

She may not comprehend the swirl of emotions running through her heart, nor did she think she was making the right decisions, but right now understanding and acceptance are two different concepts at play.

Sakura response to Hisashi without words is through the soft nodding of her head, which made the boy quite elated nonetheless. Something was welling up in the purple haired girl's chest, though what ever it was, she unconsciously pressed her face up against Taiga's arm as if she was hiding.

Off to the side, their merry moment lasted for awhile since Shirou had check up on the three to witness them in such a state. Like seriously, he wondered why the people he know always end up in each others arms at every chance they get?

Though it wasn't a bad scene by any extent if his sincere smile has anything to say about it.

OOO

The sunset has imbued the skies in the beautiful hues of violet blue transitioning into a breathe taking orange and yellow colouration. At the gate of the Emiya residence, Hisashi and Shirou are present to send off Sakura with their best regards while Taiga voluntarily act as her escort back home.

"I hope you enjoyed your stay Sakura," Taiga said while her eyes fell onto the brotherly pair. "The boys are here to see you off."

She bobbed her head towards Taiga then bowed towards the boys with eyes remaining as hollow as the first time she met them.

"Thank you for having me over."

"Don't mention it. It's not bad having a visitor once in a while." The red headed boy said his input.

"Bye Sakura-chan~" Hisashi immediately came in to wrap his arms around the girl one last time.

"Do you always do this to every person you meet?"

"Yup~!" He quickly replied to his brother as if the answer was the most obvious thing in the world.

Shirou sighed in mirth since this is a habit Hisashi has gained partly due to a certain girl who has a certain track record of being Fuyuki's tiger.

Still a strange experience if Sakura had to be truthful since she didn't quite know if hugging would be considered normal, even if it is with a friend she had recently made. For a few reasons that she couldn't decipher, she didn't want him to let go, yet in reality she knew that wish was not meant to be.

She had to go back...or else-

"Remember Sakura-chan," the black hair boy's whisper resonated in her ear. "Come back and play sometime. I'll be waiting for you."

Hisashi let's go of her, the he beam the most tranquil and sincere expression he had to on this day.

There it was again. His smile that always felt so natural on his youthful features. That mesmerizing expression harmoniously meld with the sunset as if it's gentle light manifested his intent on an illusionary level, and it did funny things to Sakura's emotions.

In there moments of silence unable to be described, Taiga admired the children's unique display of what she would categories as bonding. It caused the teen to pat Sakura's head and ruffle Hisashi's hair.

"Look at you two, so adorable!" The enthusiasm made the teen's heart jump in inexplicable joy. "I can't wait to see you two together in the next few years. Who knows, maybe you might become more intimate in that time~."

Okey, looks like Taiga is playing match making all of a sudden.

The youngest duo tilted their heads in confusion, but Shirou deadpanned at her not so subtle shipping.

"Fuji-nee, why are you talking to them about this kind of stuff?"

"Because Shirou, they're cute together!" She exclaims with passion.

"How exactly does being friends become a topic of relationships?"

"Oh come now, they spent quality time together, hugging each other, they were so affectionate." As far as kids would go for.

"Well if we are going with that logic, then Hisashi would be dating everyone." Shirou voice and eyes were very hollow at this point.

"Ah Shirou, you are still a child through and through if that's your conclusion." She entered into a smug attitude towards the boys oblivious response.

"I was being sarcastic." He finally groaned at Fujimura's nonsense.

All things considering, this was Hisashi they were talking about.

Speaking of which, the said boy smiled at the witty conversation his family members were enacting where as Sakura as always stared at the interaction blankly yet not uninterested.

Eventually Taiga had to cut their conversation short and escort Sakura "home".

"Let's get going Sakura-chan!"

The girl nodded slowly as she holds onto the teens hand rather tightly. Taiga might have noticed something, but walked at Sakura pace and head in the direction to the address the purple haired girl gave her. As they moved farther away, the young female descended into an emotionless state far emptier than during the time she spent at the welcoming Emiya estate.

She turned her head back one last time to the direction of the gate, there she could still see the distant figures of the brothers as Hisashi is still waving to her. On look at her own hand had instigated herself to wave her hand back in quite a slow and soft way, but the boy in turn seem to have noticed her wave and his action became sporadic by jumping around, flailing his arms in the air and shouts that sounded like "hope to see you again!" while Shirou was making an effort in calming him down.

Come back and play sometime. I'll be waiting for you.

Such simple words were said at that time, yet the feeling conveyed behind it were well received by the tint of light barely visible in her hollowed eyes.

OOO

There's a foreboding atmosphere just before the light of the sun fully submerged in the horizon. The girls has arrived on the southern end of Miyama Town, located here is a structure that would be described as a dark blue western style mansion surrounded by metal bar fences and lush greenery with what sounded like many crickets producing noise all around.

In any given time the architecture would have been quite a sight to behold, but truthfully there was something of an ominous air lingering in the property on an underlined spiritual level.

The Matou Residence is where Sakura lives, but Taiga had other matters occupying her thoughts. Her Grandfather has info on a majority of the happenings that occurs within the city of Fuyuki, and most of the problems that came to the yakuza bosses way has never been able to scare away the fearless individual, but this exact location was the only place he has pressed actual trepidation to steer clear of.

She didn't know the details, nor would Raiga indulge her with the info. The only explanation she got from her old man was how it's being haunted and should be avoided by all cost. Kind of sounded like a tall tale in her opinion... but then again this places does have quite a creepy vibe coming off of it.

This was Sakura's home, yet as soon as Taiga gazed upon the girl herself, there was nothing but silence from her looking down on the concrete floor.

"Sakura-chan are you alright?"

Delayed as she was to Taiga's worried question, the purple haired child eventually nodded and let go of her hand.

The sequences of opening the metal gate, closing it, then walking on the stone path towards the main door left a bleak impression on her for some odd reason as she listen to the clicking steps of the little girl. It almost felt wrong to watch the girl walk towards that door, the disturbing aura of this place gives her shivers on an instinctual basis.

By the time the little girl was in front of the imposing entrance nearly three times taller than herself, she paused in her steps before entering the building.

Come visit us whenever you want.

She felt selfish, because what she currently wanted might have consequences. It shouldn't have mattered when these were people she hardly knew... yet they were generous to her.

Sakura turned around, looked at Taiga anxious expression with her usual blank stare, and almost in hesitation she lifted her arm and waved her hand in a sort of mute tenderness behind the gesture; as if she was trying mimic a certain little boy.

Just this once, she wanted to repay some of that kindness.

At least it was enough to cause the teen to smile and say her farewells in gusto. "See ya later Sakura-chan!"

Sakura acknowledged her by nodding one final time before disappearing behind the large wooden door of the mansion.

She surmised with no use in waiting around any longer, the Fujimura left the vicinity in a wondering pace. Something about Sakura's situation still bugged her if the young girl's sudden moments of tension had anything to go by, but as much as the spirited girl wanted to pry, she knew she couldn't get involved in family matters that she does not have a clue about, even if it is for the young girl she has grown attached to.

For now though, she hopes that the quiet but cute little Sakura would come to visit them someday so Taiga and her little brothers will show her how much fun life can be.

With the pleasant thought conjured in her mind, a spring in her heels made her hop to the Emiya household, pondering what will be for dinner tonight.

OOO

Anyway, sorry for the wait, I've been busy with helping to take care of some twins or constructing on home renovations... so yeah, I've been busy😓

Sigh, I feel like I'm tip toeing on landmines when writing about Sakura. You won't believe how many times I rewrote sections on this chapter just because it either felt too simple, incoherent, or out of character for me; hence the trials of writing decent fanfics.

Though I'm glad that my OC is well received by some of the readers and I'm trying my darnedest to make him fit in the magic world known as Fate (p.s. "Moonlit world" is not canon in Fate stay night or any of it's franchise), I would at least like some feedback so that in case I did something wrong with the characters I can go back to correct it later.

I'll try my best to update, and thankfully on my part I had completed a few chapters in the time I was away that I can immediately post on I give them a look over, so look forward to it.

Until next time, I hope you enjoyed my story.