Taiga worried for Shirou.
That wasn't a first. As his legal guardian, worrying about him was part of the job description.
Upgrading the relationship to lover hadn't really helped in the department, especially since it came with the revelation of what really went on in the dark shadows of the world.
Now he had left with a woman who had tried to harm him once already, to delve into a place teeming with deadly creatures. A place where she could not follow because she wasn't strong enough.
Despite sweating blood and tears, she was not yet at a point where she could stand by his side and she probably never would. The gap between twas only widening, not shrinking.
But Taiga wasn't one to give up easily, or ever, so she kept training. Every night she would hunt Wraiths on the sacred grounds of Saeko's family.
The girl had basically handed over the task to her, while she pursued her own path to strength. She only returned during the full moon, when the swarm manifested. That night, however, they were both at Shirou's place.
Shirou wasn't scheduled to return until the next evening, at the very least, but that was the closest they could be to him, given the circumstances.
There was no practical reason for them to be there, especially together. Taiga used to dislike Saeko something fierce, since she was the woman who had stolen Shirou from her.
That feeling had slowly mellowed out, since she both pushed Shirou to pursue a relationship with Taiga, as well as training her in her own family's style.
She still wasn't her favorite person in the world, considering that Saeko loved putting her through the gauntlet at any given chance and that they still competed for Shirou's affection.
However, it was precisely the latter that brought them together. Loving he same man would either put two women at each other's throat or bring them close together.
Shirou had somehow managed to to precisely the latter. Another incredible feat added to an ever growing list. Then again, if a woman accepted to share her man with other women there had to be something truly exceptional about him.
But still, they were still a far cry from being friends so they just sat together in the living room of Shirou's house, drinking tea without exchanging a word.
The ticking of the mechanical clock chipped away at the uncomfortable silence, but it only served to make it all the heavier.
It was already late into the wee hours of the night, and the sun would soon be rising. Neither one of them had much need for sleep, having long since gotten accustomed at staying up at night. However, boredom was a more nefarious eney than tiredness ever was. and it eventually became too much for Taiga to bear and made her break the silence.
"Hey, do you want to do something?" she asked.
Saeko looked up from her cup of tea and tilted her head.
"I should warn you that I'm not interested in women," she said. "And even if I were, Shirou is the only lover I want."
Taiga chocked on empty air.
"What the… What hell made you think I meant something like that, you deviant? Hold up, you are just trying to rile me."
"Yes," Saeko admitted, chuckling softly. "And I'm always surprised how easy a task it is."
"Ha ha!" Taiga laughed mockingly. "I'm so glad you are having fun at my expenses."
"What did you have in mind?" asked Saeko, stifling her own laugh.
"A spar, what else? Since there's a dojo and training swords, we might as well exchange blows."
"Hmm. Yes, why not? I don't mind the exercise and I want to see how much you improved since our last exchange."
"Ha! You are in for a surprise."
"Is that so?" Saeko mused. "Very well. Show me what progress you've made."
The two of them moved to the dojo, where they both borrowed one of Shirou's training swords and took position in front of each other.
"Come at me anytime," said Saeko, looking completely at ease.
"I don't have to tell me twice," replied Taiga. "HA!"
She stepped forward in a blur of stripes and misplaced air. Saeko's eyes widened briefly at the sudden burst of unexpected speed and immediately moved to intercept the attack.
Twack!
The two shinai collided loudy and there was a moment where the two opponents pushed one another in a contest of raw physical strength, but neither had an overwhelming advantage in that department.
They were both fighter who specialized in high speed movements, so that was where the confrontation was meant to take place.
From the outside, the sound of what followed might have been mistaken for a machine gun going off.
TwTwTwTwTwTwTwTWACK!
The sound of the two sword clashing had yet to dissipate that another clash took place. Two pair of feet moved around softly yet lightning fast. If one had been sitting inside the dojo at that moment, they would have their clothes ruffled by the whirlwind caused by their exchange.
-br-
Saeko was impressed. She already knew that Taiga had an enormous talent, but the progress she had made in the span of a few weeks was stunning.
If she had been this strong when they first fought, Saeko would have still won, but by a much slimmer margin. But talent played only a marginal factor. Taiga had squeezed herself dry trying to catch up, a testament to the intensity of her feeling to Shirou.
She wouldn't necessarily say it, but Saeko rather admired Taiga. The two of them were rather different, character wise. Taiga was an extrovert of the highest order, whereas Saeko was quite reserved. However, they were similar in other regards.
For one thing, they had the same preference in men, for another, they were both willing to put aside her pride and ask a woman they disliked to make them stronger.
Speaking of which, it would be discourteous on her part not to reciprocate her opponent and end this fight without showing her own progress. Saeko might have been a wicked woman, but that did not mean she was without manners.
-br-
Taiga grinned despite the exertion of the fight. Keeping up with Saeko required every ounce of her energy, but it was worthy.
Measuring her own progress was a difficult thing to do without something to compare herself to. As her rival, Saeko was that measuring stick and seeing how evenly matched they were filled her with gratification.
That is, until one of her blow was not parried but rather neatly dodged. Her shinai hissed past Saeko's face barely ruffling her hair. Taiga barely managed to recover from having overextended to parry a blow to her face that would have taken her out of the game had it connected.
She managed to regain her footing quickly enough to deflect two following blows, but she had the wind knocked out of her lungs when Saeko drove her knee into her stomach.
"Gh-!" she groaned, but despite the hit she still managed to keep her bearing and retaliate,
Once more, Saeko weaved around her attacks and then hit back every time Taiga let the slightest opening.
Saeko's entire footwork had changed, and she employed armed and unarmed attack interchangeably.
Her style was completely different from what it used to be. The Busujima-ryu employed direct but lightning fast strikes, in a manner that was almost surgical in nature. There was grace in it, but the user was every little bit a stalwart samurai. An immovable mountain, so to speak.
That changed now. Saeko's attacks hadn't diminished in precision, speed or intensity, but the way she held herself was completely different. The way her body twirled and twisted suggested a flexibility higher than ever. It was like fighting against a big cat.
It dawned on her then.
"Cough! Damn you," she cursed, putting distance between the two of them. "You have been taking lesson from the exhibitionist, haven't you?"
"Ah? You figured that out pretty fast. Did you see her fight before?" Saeko asked
"Didn't need to. You hold yourself like she does.2
Saeko made a conflicted expression. "I'm not turning into someone like her, am I?"
"You were a pervert like her from the start…" said Taiga.
"Aren't you much the same?" asked Saeko.
"... I don't have any right to deny it at this point, do I?"
"No, no you really don't have any ground for that," Saeko agreed with a nod.
"Oh, well," Taiga shrugged. "TAAAH!"
There was no pause between that and her sudden charge. Sakeo was caught nearly off guard but still managed to deflect the lunge aside.
That did not save her from being slugged across the face.
Saeko stumbled backward with a drop of blood dripping from her mouth. There had been no technique behind that punch. It was just as crude as one could expect.
"Really?" she asked.
"You are the one who changed the rules of engagement. Now deal with it.
"Fair enough," she nodded.
The two contestant stared at one another for a moment and then charged at each other.
"Yaah!"
"Taah!"
What followed was no longer a duel as much as it was all out fight without rules. Sword and punches. Kicks and headbutting.
At some point, the two of them fell to the floor in a tangle of limbs with Saeko pulling at Taiga's hair while Taiga bit on Saeko's leg.
"What the heck are you two doing at this hour?"
The voice, all too familiar and all too unexepected, stooped them in place. Standing at the entrance of the dojo was none other than the man they loved.
"SHIROU!"
[br]
[EMIYA SHIROU] [THE GAMER]
[LV 50 - 18.500/50.000] [HP: 5000[MP: 35[MC: 27[ST: 920[SP: 9]
[STR: 50[DEX: 50[INT: 50[WIS: 50[CHR: 102] [ATK: 100] [DEF:100]
Following their return from Onigashima. Shirou had no intention of trying again to access the Reverse side from Megijima. The factors which had caused them to be transported to that place were no longer in place, but after the narrow escape he had no intention of risking it and chose to call it quits.
They chose to return to Fuyuki post haste. He didn't bother calling ahead to warn that he was returning earlier than intended. That would have only served to unduly worry Taiga and Saeko.
When he arrived, he did not expect to find the lights on inside the dojo, much less his girlfriend engaged into a catfight.
"What the heck are you two doing at this hour?" he asked coming upon the surreal scene.
The two women stopped immediately and raised their heads to look at him.
"SHIROU!" they cried, trying to standing up but failing and falling back to the floor.
Shirou sighed and shook his head at the display.
It took a few tries for them to disentangle from one another, but eventually they managed to stand up and rush at him.
"Shirou! I thought you wouldn't be coming back for a couple more days. Did something happen?" asked Taiga.
"You could say that. What are you both doing here at this hour?"
"Ah! We were… house-sitting, Yes, house-sitting" explained Taiga.
"We simply missed you and beng at your place made us feel less alone," said Saeko instead.
"Hey! You are not supposed to tell him that," protested the other, a bit red faced.
"And the fight just now?" he asked.
"Just a way to deal with boredom," she explained.
"You both need better hobbies," he sighed, rubbing his eyes wearily.
Although he did not get physical tired as long as he had even a single point of stamina left, he could still experience mental exhaustion.
"Anyway, it's good that you are here. There is a situation I need your help with."
"Trouble?" asked Saeko.
"Not the violent type. Come on, I'll show you."
He took them to the yard. Mikado, Matsumoto and the women from Onigashima were waiting for him to return from checking out what the ruckus in the dojo was about.
"...what?" asked Taiga upon seeing all these people.
"Shirou… isn't this a bit too much?" asked Saeko instead. "I know I said you could have other lovers, but these many all at once…"
"Haaah? What are you…" Until that moment, Shirou had not paid any mind to the fact that his entourage was made up entirely of women. "Are you both out of your minds? These are all people we rescued. Just what kind of person do you think I am?"
"Rescued?" Taiga blinked. "Rescued from where?"
"Before that, would you mind help setting them up for the night. They've got nowhere else to go."
"I can't wait to hear what went wrong this time," said Saeko.
"You better have a few hours then, because it's going to be a very long story," he said with a tired sigh.
Why was it that he never had an story that he was happy to retell?
-BR-
To the women of Onigashima, this world was a terrifying yet wondrous place. A world in which humanity was the dominating species, where they lived without fear of becoming something's meal.
She couldn't believe that such a place was real.
Surely enough, they were surrounded by things they didn't understand. On their way from Megijima they took a boat that moved without sails or rows, and they climbed into the belly of metal carriage that moved without being pulled by anything.
Shirou had guaranteed that everything was perfectly safe, and that none of it was Magecraft either, but rather the results of the accumulated advancement of mankind.
Throughout the travel they admired what humanity had been able to achieve. Colorful lights shone through the night, so bright that they drowned out even the stars..
There were people everywhere, living in cities that hosted numbers they didn't even know how to count. Finally, they arrived at his place. A mansion so big that it was easily the size of their entire village. They were to be his guests, until he found new accomodations for them.
Never in their wildest dreams did they think that something like this would have happened to them. Having slaved away under the heel of the Oni for years, they no longer had any hope of returning to their former lives, much less this.
"Shirou-sama… can we really stay in this place?" asked Mikoto when he came back with two other women in tow.
"Of course you can. How many times do I have to say it? It's going to be a bit cramped for a while but that's the best I can do on a short notice."
"No that's... That will be perfectly fine."
Cramped? What did he mean cramped? There was enough space to grow crops.
"Shirou, where to you plan of putting all these people?" asked the brown haired woman.
"I'll turn the dojo in a temporary dormitory. It's the only place big enough to house everyone. We'll have to take turns to use the facilities though. By the way, would you mind showing them how to operate the bath?"
"They do not know how?" asked the dark haired one.
"They are from the Reverse Side."
"They were living there?" she asked, wide eyed."
"Sort of. It's complicated. Assume they come from five hundred years in the past and don't have the first clue how to live in the modern world."
"Don't worry, I'll show them how," said Matsumoto. "Just point me to the bathroom. I need to get cleaned up too."
"Right. It's next to the entrance, you can't miss it. Mikado-oneesan, please follow Matsumoto-san. She'll take care of you. I'm going to fix something to eat for everyone. You didn't pillage the fridge, did you, Fuji-nee?"
"Of course not!" huffed the woman in question, stomping her foot.
"Good, because I'm about to do exactly that. Mikado-san… do you need help with anything?"
The woman named Mikado shook her head. She look tired, more so than everyone else.
"I'll be fine. I'll… I'll just go to my room and rest," she said.
Shirou scratched his head and looked away. "If that's what you prefer, then by all means. I'll leave a portion for you in the fridge if you get hungry later."
She nodded and left, disappearing within the mansion.
"Did something happen with her?" asked the dark haired woman.
"It's complicated. Come with me. I'll explain while I cook."
[br]
The sounds and smell of Shirou's renown cooking had filled the air. He handled pots and pans like an experienced master, all the while he stood on a stool to reach the counter. It was an amusing scene, but none of the gathered was having a good time.
"So, that's what happened," said Saeko once Shirou had finished telling his story.
He had left out some of the details, such as Mikado taking the cup without his permission. Mikado might have been unwittingly responsible for the entire debacle, but she had suffered for it enough already. Taiga and Saeko would chew her out if they know.
He did tell them about Lilith's blessing (curse) and what he did with Matsumoto in order to survive.
Taiga was uncharacteristically silent. She was clearly quite upset, but it seemed like she didn't know what to say.
"And this Lilith? What do you know of her?" she eventually asked.
"Very little. She did help me once, in the Reverse Side, but I don't know what she really wants from me. I assume that she's not really trying to harm me, otherwise she could have done so at any time. I suspect she's much more powerful than I am. I guess she wants me to do something for her, and she had me go through this trial. Either to prove or strengthen myself. Maybe both. I don't know."
"What about the other Magus and the Oni?"
"We split once we got back in Fuyuki. He must still be around, since he can't go back until I'm dead, but right now he's got other things to worry about."
"Serves him right for what he tried to do," huffed Taiga.
"That being said," continued Saeko, "what do you plan on doing now?"
Shirou sighed. "The expedition was a huge failure. I didn't get a single piece of spiritual ore and I don't fancy going looking for it again anytime soon. There's the the women from the island that need being taken care of. They don't know the first thing about the modern world, so they need to be taught. Also, they are going to need proper paperwork if they are to stay."
"I can take care of that," said Matsumoto, walking in the kitchen with a towel wrapped around her chest. It barely reached her legs and only just covered her breasts.
"What do you mean?" asked Shirou, immediately averting his gaze.
"I have my contacts. I can have proper identification papers done. Not all at once, but over the course of a few months they could be regular citizens in the eye of the law
"That's not going to be free, is it?"
"Hmm, no, but we can figure a way for you to settle the tab another time."
"That's great. Thank you."
"Hold up!" intervened Taiga. "Why does he have to settle anything? Didn't he help you get off the island already? And don't you have any modesty? Get something that actually covers you."
Matsumoto snorted.
"I wouldn't have been dragged to the island if it wasn't for him either. And what's the point of hiding anything? We are all women here except for Shirou, and he's already seen all there is to see."
"Grrr!"
"Matsumoto-san, please don't hackle Fuji-nee and please, do put on something decent."
They had all left the island in a hurry, barely stopping by the inn to gather their belonging before getting a boat and then a bus back home. Hanging around the island with several unknown women without ID would have been a recipe for trouble, while the end of the festival provided a decent excuse for people dressed like they were to be leaving the island.
However, Matsumoto had her luggage with her, so she had to have a change of clothes.
"Hmm. Fine," she said. "I swear you are the first man that tries to get me into my clothes rather than out of them."
"That's because he's a decent guy!" protested Taiga.
"A decent guy with two girlfriends?" she asked, looking at them from behind her shoulder on her way out of the room. "That's another first."
"So… so she knows?" asked Saeko.
"Yeah, sorry. It kinda came up during… you know."
Saeko nodded stiffly. She wasn't really upset that Shirou had sex with yet another woman. She had given him carte blanche. But Matsumoto had already gotten them in trouble once and as such she wasn't really her favorite person.
It didn't help that her stunning figure made even Saeko feel a bit inferior, though she wouldn't be admitting that anytime soon, even to herself. It all flowed into an unpleasant feeling of profound dislike.
The appearance of Matsumoto signaled that at least some of the women were done getting cleaned up and they started trickling to the living room clad in towels one by one, drawn by the alluring smell of Shirou's cooking.
They were obviously very timid and wide eyed, but they were also extremely hungry and that gave them enough courage to follow the trail of food even if they didn't have the rest of their companions with them.
Shirou turned back to the stove and started dishing out one plate after another. He had never cooked for so many people at the same time, but it was a decent distraction and it kept his eyes away from the barely clad form of all the women.
If there was one thing he never expected was having several, half naked women roaming his living room and eating his food. Truly, there were more things in heaven and on earth….
It wasn't until well after dawn that everyone had finally eaten to their heart content. Thanks to the combined efforts of Taiga and Saeko, they managed to provide enough sleepwear for everyone.
Matsumoto left at some point, but promised to return later and help sort out the women. It wasn't going to be quick thing, but the sooner they got started the sooner it would be finished.
Now with everyone tucked away in bed. Shirou could finally have his own, well deserved rest.
He didn't even set up a Time Altering field. For once, he was under no pressure to make good on every last second of time.
Taiga and Saeko opted to sleep over as well, laying down a futon for themselves at each of his sides. There would not be any more shenanigans that night. No one was really in the mood for it.
However, before falling asleep, Shirou spared one last thought for Mikado. Would she be alright after what had happened to her?
Magi were intrinsically more resilient to trauma due to a severe mental conditioning since young, but Shirou wasn't sure that would prove to be enough to keep her from being emotionally scarred.
Unfortunately, at present there was nothing he could do for her except hoping she would be fine.
[br]
Not too far away, inside of the only western-style room in the entire mansion, Mikado Ryouko laid curled in her bed under the cover of a blanket.
Her arms were wrapped around her chest trying to keep the tremors in her body at bay.
It had taken all of her self control to keep her composure on the way back. She didn't want to who how badly the experience had affected her. A Magus was not supposed to show weakness.
But the experience had affected her, more than one could possibly put into words.
Imprisoned in her own body, at the mercy of a creature that enjoyed humiliating her was not exactly a pleasant experience. That the same creature than used her body to force itself on someone was young as Emiya Shirou horrified her.
But that wasn't why her body trembled. It wasn't the humiliation or the horror that caused her body not to quiet down.
It was the echo of their intercourse. Even now, hours after the fact, her flesh still burned in the places where he had touched her.
Shuten Doji was at the helm at the time, and her sensitivity was much different from a human, but Mikado did not enjoy those benefits. She was acutely aware of everything that Shirou did to her body, and it was seared into her.
She did not even have the option of passing out, or tune it out. She was forced to witness it all with her eyes wide open.
Mikado wasn't a stranger to carnal pleasure, but all of her experience came from self exploration or from other women.
She wasn't attracted to men in the least. She was a hundred percent lesbian. Hence she never had sex with anyone other than women, nor she had planned to.
Now the experience planted the seed of doubt in her mind. Was that how sex with men felt? She had of course tried toys in the shape of male genitalia, but it got nowhere close to what she experience with a real live specimen.
The question now was, whether it applied to all males or to Emiya Shirou alone. But it was a question that would have to go unanswered no matter how she would itch to find out.
Mind-blowing sex or not, she was in love with Tearju and she would not be cheating on her. Her only course of action was ride it out and forget about it. She only had to hold out long enough.
Surely, she told herself, it would not prove too difficult and she was much stronger than that
There was that thing to be said about Magi. They were often enough far too arrogant for their own good and end up biting more than they could chew.
[XXX]