Is Shirou Emiya 'dead' in a biological sense? Yes.

Is he 'dead' in a mental sense? It depends whether you think a copy of an original with all the experiences, emotions, and characteristics of the original is a fake. Fate/Hollow Ataraxia vibes right there.

Anyways, a slice of life omake-ish chapter, right after the fire.

A month after the Fuyuki Fire

"While your Origin; the core of your magecraft affinity is 'Curse', it would do you well to learn a versatile form of magecraft to protect yourself from threats of the moon-lit world. After some careful consideration, I decided that you shall learn rune magic. Any questions?"

"No, Touko."

"Good. Then, let us begin."

In a secluded room of a workshop, there sat a red-headed teacher and her newly acquired red-headed pupil.

It was nonother than Touko Aozaki, the sealed designation Grand-class magus, and her adopted son, Shirou Aozaki.

Well, unofficially adopted, since she didn't want to endanger Shirou with the attention he would definitely gather if others knew she had a son. He had an Aozaki name, and that was enough for now.

A month had passed since she made a new body for him, and it took Shirou exactly that much time to regain consciousness. And as soon as he woke up, Touko gave him a choice.

Either go to an orphanage or get adopted by her as her son and learn some magecraft to keep him alive. Shirou immediately chose the latter.

The way Touko hinted at mad mages vying for his body as an experiment sample had definitely helped at pushing his decision.

Thus, there they were, in Touko's workshop as disciple and master.

With a snap, a small ball of fire appeared and hovered above Touko's finger, right under the tip of her cigarette.

Of course, she needn't snap her fingers, nor did she need to use magic to light her cigarette. That was her own way of showing off before her new son. Aoko would have died of laughter from her sister's uncharacteristic behavior.

Then again, Touko would've never done that if Aoko was here. Their rivalry went deep.

Touko took a deep drag and drew a smoky line in the air with her lit cigarette.

"This is a Celtic rune, a recreation of a primordial rune from the age of the gods.", she said. With another swipe of her cigarette in the air, she drew another rune, distinctively similar yet somehow different in nature.

"This is a Norse rune. I incorporated most of these in my primordial runes, so there's no actual need to distinguish them from each other. The classification is far from perfect anyway. Though, for education purposes, we shall."

Turning around, Touko looked at her disciple/adopted son and raised an eyebrow.

"Well, what differences do you feel, Shirou?"

Shirou squinted at the floating runes in front of him. He hummed for a few seconds, then shrugged.

"The Celtic one is more 'flashy'...charismatic. The Norse one is more...calmer."

Touko blinked, surprised that her son was able to discern the innate nature of the rune. It seemed that his intuition was one nothing to be scoffed at. She would be surprised if his instincts didn't carry some mystical qualities...especially after his experience with death.

"...Touko?", he asked. She quickly snapped out of her musings and smiled apologetically.

"No, no, you did very well. You see, the main difference between Norse and Celtic runes is that while both were considered sacred and engraved on wood at first, the Norse runes held more protective power, while their counterparts possessed more charm and persona."

Shirou cocked his head to the side and furrowed his brows in thought. In all honesty, he looked adorable and Touko had to spend effort at maintaining her steely expression.

"Each one of the Celtic runes is related to a God. In other words, the alphabets themselves are related to ancient perceptions of the highest form of divinity. Therefore, runes were engraved on weapons that warriors carried into war and personal items like rings to serve as protection against evil spirits and act as lucky charms. Some continue this practice to this day, like the Fraga family."

Shirou nodded along to his master's explanation. Seeing that her son understood, Touko continued.

"The best-known alphabets of the runes are Elder Futhark, Anglo-Saxon Futhorc, and Younger Futhark. These have further branched out. Such features are not prevalent in the Norse Runes. This is why my basis of primordial runes is rooted in Celtic ones, not Norse ones. Both in terms of mystic and variety, Celt was a more viable option."

Lowering down her cigarette, Touko blew away her thinly etched runes of smoke. It wouldn't do if Shirou activated them by accident. She had a baby-monitoring protocol for a damn reason!

Shirou raised a hand in the air.

"Yes, Shirou?"

"What about Kabbalah? The Notarikon. The Thaumaturgical system Aoko uses!"

A vein popped in Touko's head. She reached inside her front breast pocket and took out her glasses with trembling fingers, and put them on. Slowly, she turned around to face her boy.

"Oh? My, my. My dear Shirou, did I mishear? Did you suggest that, perhaps, Notarikon is better suited for you? A system that good-for-nothing sister who can only break things uses? Did I raise my student to be so...rash?"

Her words were gentle, her tone, soft. However, Shirou could feel the thorns that lurked just beneath the surface, and the rage that threatened to erupt from her skin.

The poor boy shook his head in denial so quick, that he nearly suffered a backlash. Touko smiled.

"Right. There's no way my pupil-"

"Did someone just mention NOTARIKON!?"

Touko slapped a hand over her face at the familiar voice which suddenly burst through her residence. Shirou's head snapped up at the arrival of his angel and savior. His face lit up with joy.

Touko's scowl deepened into a crevice. Her cigarette crumpled between her fingers.

"No.", she growled. "Shirou is my student, and I'm not letting you contaminate him with your sorry excuse of a magecraft!"

Aoko put a hand on her hip as she looked at her fuming sister with a cocky grin.

"Oh? And what makes you so sure that my 'sorry excuse of a magecraft' is not fit for my cutie-pie~?"

Touko cringed at the saccharine tone of her younger sister. Her grimace made little grimace babies, settled down, and raised an entire colony.

"Shirou does not have the capacity for your Notarikon. His magic circuit composition is not exceedingly simple as yours are. His is not fit for mindless destruction!"

Aoko raised an eyebrow as if mocking her shortsighted sister.

"There is no reason not to. Yes, he may not be able to efficiently use Notarikon to my extent, though it could act as an emergency method when he is in a tight spot. Besides, my high-speed incantation and Unlimited Rotation methods of magic bullet rapid firing are much more speedy than your runes."

Touko gritted her teeth. Several veins seemed to pop and snap. Shirou paled and started inching toward his aunt.

Aoko winked at Shirou and hugged him by the shoulder. She winked at her furious sister.

That seemed to be the last straw as Touko's fists let out a loud crack. Her face had an Archaic smile plastered onto it, like a mask. Shirou felt his heart dip into a pool of icy water.

"Shirou...since you seem to be so...enthusiastic at learning from my sister...why don't you spend some time with her...while I prepare for a training program. Tailor-made. Just. For. You."

Shirou squeaked. Aoko snickered.

Nasuverse Wiki:

Kabbalah is one of the Thaumaturgical Systems, the Hebrew word for "Receiving". It is centered around the belief that coded messages were left in holy scriptures such as the bible, that contain "light" from the swirl of the root, and can grant those who decipher and use their power. Kabbalists use different systems to find mystical meanings in arrangements of letters and numbers. They use those techniques to recreate miracles such as Golems, or other magical phenomena.

Notarikon is a branch of Kabbalah.

Touko does not pamper her close ones. Look after them, yes, but she does not wear kid gloves. Touko as the stern mother, and Aoko as the carefree aunt/father. They balance each other pretty well in my opinion.

Review for more wholesomeness and Aozaki madness! I posted this as a one-shot, and I'm not sure if I should continue. Review anyway!

X-kalibuuuur, over and out.