At the best of times, Narusegawa Naru was a bomb with a very short fuse, ready to explode at the slightest provocation. Shirou's unexpected arrival at the Hinata-sou altered the tenuous balance she had built for herself and made her even more volatile. With the passing of time, as he proved that he was completely harmless unless provoked to absurd extremes, she quieted down and started to become more friendly and easygoing, to the point that she had offered to tutor Shirou in preparation of the entrance exams.

It all changed once more when Noriyasu Seta came crashing (literally) at the dorm.

Shirou didn't know what bone she had to pick with the archeologist but it seemed that it wasn't a simple matter. For one thing, Seta was a likeable enough person that got along with just about anyone except Shirou. Or at least that's what he thought until he met Narusegawa.

Also, he was a certified master of Jeet Kune Do. For him to take a beating laying down was as close to an admission of guilt as it could get. The conclusion was that Seta had done something to anger Narusegawa in the past, something big enough for her to hold a grudge for months, if not years after the fact.

What it was, Shirou didn't know or care. Unless there was a threat to someone's safety he respected people's privacy.

However, he found Narusegawa watching him from afar more often than usual since that day. She wasn't quite spying on him, but she looked like she had something on her mind but didn't know how to ask.

Knowing better than trying to force the issue, he decided to wait until she came to him of her own volition. As he expected, he didn't have to wait long for her to approach him, but he certainly couldn't have predicted the circumstance of that encounter, much less her choice of words.

"Do you want to fuck?"

It was this way that Emiya Shirou knew that a new age of troubles was upon him once again.

That day had been an unremarkable one, just like most days tend to be right until disaster strikes.

After a hard day of work, Shirou emerged from his Workshop late in the evening with every intention of taking a dip in the hot springs before calling it a day and going to bed.

After making sure that no one was inside, he put outside the door a sign that the bath was currently in use by him. He proceeded to disrobe and after cleaning his body as was custom, he eased himself into the beneficial thermal waters with a content sigh.

Life at the Hinata-sou wasn't exactly simple for him. Even with everything finally in working order, just keeping the place as expected by the Japanese standards of cleanliness was almost a full-time job.

Shinobu's help had been invaluable and was worth more than discount she's got on the rent for her troubles.

She was a good person. They all were, one way or another. Once the curtain of doubt and distrust among them had been removed it was obvious.

They all had their issues and quirks, some more apparent than others; not to mentions secrets. They all had a reason for being at the Hinata-sou and other than Konno's he doubted any of them was entirely pleasant.

Motoko's was a self-imposed exile. He gathered through snippets of conversations that Shinobu's parents were fighting and she wanted to distance herself from that drama.

He didn't know about Suu's. Even though she was the epitome of extraversion she didn't really talk about herself. She seemed the less troubled of the lot, but sometimes he caught her staring into the distance with a sad look in her eyes. It could have been just nostalgia for her homeland and family, and it was easily solved by asking her to play.

Still, he worried about her. After realizing that he had completely missed the signs of Sakura's abuse, he developed the habit of looking for them in other people.

Then there was Konno, whose only problems were excessive drinking and compulsive gambling. It said a lot about him that such issues were ranked as very minor in his mind. Being aware that it didn't provide him any measure of comfort. It went to show how messed up the world was.

Then there was Narusegawa. Of the entire group, she had been the most reluctant to accept him. Even though her hostility for him had been less intense than Motoko's, she held onto it long after the swordswoman had switched sides, so to speak.

Only recently she had warmed up to him some, stopped analyzing everything he did in her vicinity in search of an ulterior motive. At last they were on neutral terms but Shirou didn't see them becoming friendlier anytime soon. Chances were that their relationship was bound to be stand-offish for the foreseeable future.

So, imagine his surprise when her figure emerged from the vapors of the hot-springs, clad only in a loosely wrapped towel that held on her body only because her generous curves gave it something to cling on.

"Narusegawa-san!" he yelped, immediately averting his gaze and putting a hand in front of his eyes for good measure. As he was submerged in water up to the neck he wasn't worried that she could see anything of him. "There was a sign," he justified himself preemptively.

"There sure was."

"You saw it and you came in all the same?" he asked, his voice an octave higher than he would have preferred. This was 'twilight zone' material.

"Yup." she agreed as she plopped herself down next to him with a splash.

Shirou swiftly moved from surprise to confusion. This wasn't like her. Konno, he could accept as being able to share the hot spring with a member of the opposite gender without a batting an eye, but Narusegawa? No way in hell.

There had to be a reason for this kind of behavior and he was about to ask when she beat him to the punch.

"Do you want to fuck?"

In his life, Shirou had slain Demons and Demigods alike, without faltering. Yet, five words out of a pretty woman's mouth sent his mind for a loop.

"... ... what?" he asked after he found his wits and picked up his jaw. "Sorry. I'm flattered, but I must decline."

"WHY NOT?" Naru shouted as she leapt back to her feet. The towel that had been soaked with water when she sat didn't follow her movements and slid off her body, exposing every inch of skin from her thighs up. "What's wrong with me, uh? I'm not good enough for you? Is that it?"

The thought alone was preposterous. As far as humans went, Narusegawa was clearly a beautiful woman and she wasn't so far removed from society that she wasn't aware of it. So, where the hell did that come from?

Regardless, he just couldn't keep silent about it.

Gathering his courage, Shirou lowered his hands and turned his head in her direction, employing all of his inhuman willpower not to look anywhere but her eyes. Whatever he wanted to answer, however, died in his throat as she fell into his arms.

"N-Narusegawa-san?" he stuttered in shock. There was being forward and then there was this.

His reasonable embarrassment swiftly turned into concern when he felt her entire weight pushing against him.

She was unconscious.

Alarmed, he forgot everything else and immediately checked her condition. Her pulse was regular and her breathing slow but steady. However, it reeked heavily of sake.

He let out a sigh of relief. She was only drunk.

He could understand drunken shenanigans. He had to put up with some of Taiga's finest moments after all. Still, who knew that Narusegawa was the type of person to do a one-eighty under the effect of alcohol?

Still, he had quite a problem on his hands. He couldn't just leave her like that and simply carrying her to her room was not an option.

Even if he thought his tenants wouldn't believe that he was taking advantage of her, should they see him carry her unconscious body through the inn. the fact remained that he couldn't just drop her in her room like a wet towel without expecting her to be sick the next morning. Of course, he had not desire of pawing her body more than strictly necessary, not when there were alternatives available.

Looking toward the inn, he saw that all the lights in the rooms were turned off. Everyone was already sleeping.

It was a shame, but he had to wake her up. He wasn't looking forward to it, but she was the only person he could reasonably ask for this.

Kitsune woke up with a groan after that insistent sound refused to go away. Now partly conscious, she recognized it as knocking.

Someone was at her door, long past visiting hours.

"This better be important or there will be hell to pay," she mumbled. Pulling herself up, she made her way toward the door, tripping and nearly falling several times on all the junk that covered the floor of her room.

She slid the door open but whatever colorful word she had ready for this jackass was immediately forgotten.

There was only one thing she could think in front of her nightly visitor.

'Jackpot!'

Emiya Shirou stood at her door, with only a towel wrapped around his waist to protect his modesty. Drops of water were rolling down his chiseled chest. Kitsune's eyes roamed every inch of it, taking in every detail, from the shapes of his muscles to the many scars that riddled his body.

"You know, I had dreams that started like this," she purred, licking her lips.

Shirou was clearly not amused.

"Narusegawa-san passed out in the baths," he said as a way of reply. "I need a hand taking her back to her room."

"Naru? Oh shit!" she immediately followed after Shirou, her previous lecherous thoughts immediately forgotten.

"Has she been drinking with you?" he asked on the way there.

"What? No. I only gave her tea."

"It's not important right now. Let's just get her to her room. I can carry her no problem, but I need you to get her dry and dressed."

"Yeah, uh, thanks for coming to me with this. Naru would have been pretty upset if the others were to know. She didn't say or do anything stupid, did she?"

He didn't say anything and it was the reply Kitsune needed.

"Oh, shit. What did she do?"

"There was no harm done so let's just forget about it. No one likes having their embarrassing moment discussed behind their back."

"Yeah, no kidding."

They made it to the baths, where Shirou had laid Naru on the floor on top of a bed of towels and covered her body with more of those.

Kitsune dried her unconscious friend and dressed her with a spare yukata she found in the changing room. In the meantime, Shirou redressed himself as well.

When they were both decent, he picked her up bridal style and carried her to her room. Kitsune followed him closely with none of her usual cheer to be found on her face.

Where the hell did Naru find the alcohol? Kitsune certainly hadn't given it to her. Regardless of her age, she wasn't one who shared her booze. However, when they finally made it to her room, they found an empty bottle of sake laying on the floor.

That would explain why she was drunk, but not why one of Kitsune's bottles made its way to Naru's room. When exactly had she pilfered it?

Once she woke up, they would have words about touching her stash and getting drunk without her.

Shirou delicately put Narusegawa on the futon and was about to leave when he felt a tug on his chest. The sleeping woman's hand was firmly grasping his shirt.

"Don't... leave me." she murmured. A lone tear trickling from her eye down the side of her face.

Konno saw this and came to his rescue, freeing him of Narusegawa's hold, finger by finger.

"I'll take it from here," she told him with an uncharacteristic somber look on her face.

"Thank you," he nodded. "I'll see you in the morning."

"Goodnight and thank you for taking care of Naru."

"Don't mention it. Goodnight."

He closed the door behind him making as little noise as possible and made his way back to his room, only for him to stop in front of Motoko's.

"You should go back to sleep," he told her. "Tomorrow's training is early as usual."

The door slid open a bit and a sheepish-looking Motoko peeked from the gap.

"Yes, sensei. I apologize for eavesdropping."

"Don't worry. Protecting this place and its people is part of your training too, since you are my apprentice. Well done."

"Thank you," she replied bashfully, a hint of blush on her face that went completely unnoticed in the shadow of her room. "I'm going back to sleep now. Goodnight, sensei."

"Goodnight Motoko," he replied in kind and resumed his journey back to his own room, where he quickly changed into his pajama and went to bed without further surprises.

The next morning

The sun shone above the Hinata-sou, casting golden rays of light inside the building.

Naru stirred awake when the light became too much to bear.

The first thing she noticed was the headache pounding fiercely at her skull. The second was the dryness of her throat.

Groaning, she forced herself out of the futon, stumbling out of her room and toward the bathrooms, which were always communal in a building like this.

She quickly splashed her face with cold water and cupped her hands together to drink some as well. The thirst was easily dealt with, but the headache was still very much there.

Looking up in the mirror, she saw that she looked just as good as she was feeling. That was, not at all.

Only a moment later she realized that she was wearing something that didn't belong to her. Frowning, she tried to recall when she had put it on yet nothing came to mind.

Thinking back, what was the last thing she recalled at all?

She went back to her room after having a couple of drinks with Kitsune before leaving for her room. Her thoughts wouldn't let her sleep though so she came back only to find Kitsune sleeping like a log.

She decided to borrow one of her bottles of sake as a sleeping aid and went back to her room. She drank and drank, but sleep never came to her.

At that point, she was already addled and her memories were very fuzzy.

She did recall thinking that maybe a hot bath would help her. A dumb decision by some who had already too much booze but was too drunk to realize.

Her memories got increasingly disjointed. She recalled standing in front of the sign warning that Emiya was using the facilities and then... what had she done then?

"Do you want to fuck?"

Her vision swam and she had to hold herself against the sink to avoid falling.

Those words, said by her own voice, were the last thing she recalled with certainty. There was nothing past that. What did she do? What did he do?

What a stupid question. There was just one thing a man, any man, would have done when being propositioned in such a shameless way.

She felt overwhelming nausea sweep her that had nothing to do with the residues of alcohol in her bloodstream.

"Naru?" Kitsune called, stepping into the bathroom, looking like she hadn't slept all night. "There you are. I go back to my room for a minute and you disappear on me."

"Kits...?" she muttered. What was she talking about?

"Honey, are you alright?" her friend asked, rushing to her side. "You look way too much like crap even for a colossal hangover."

"I...," she swallowed. "Last night. Emiya and I... we..."

"Ah, you remember what happened then? Shirou didn't say."

Naru blinked. Why did Kitsune know anything had happened at all? Naru didn't think that anyone short of a dumbass would let anyone known they had taken advantage of a drunken woman and Emiya was many things but not that. She allowed a small spark of hope to blossom in her heart.

"Why do you know about it then?" she dared to ask.

"Uh? Well, he came looking for me, to help him get you back to your room after you passed out in the baths. I'm the one who got you dressed. You're welcome, by the way."

Naru felt unadulterated relief wash over her, so much that even her headache evaporated. Nothing had happened. Nothing at all.

Well, besides managing to pass herself for a slut with him, that is.

She bit her lip. 'That's all I'm good for in the end anyway,' she thought bitterly.

"Thank goodness," she said instead. "Thank you, Kits."

"Yeah. Mind explaining me how you ended up taking a power nap in there? If Shirou hadn't found you, you'd probably be sick to your bones right now."

"... he didn't find me. I'm the one who went in while he was already there."

"Damn," Kitsune whistled. "That must have been awkward. How wasted were you not to see the sign out of the door?

"..."

"Wait... you saw it? And you went inside anyway?" Kitsune palmed her face "Please, at least tell me that the worst of it."

Naru shook her head. "I... I asked him if he wanted to... to do it."

This time, it was Kitsune who had to support herself against the sink.

"Jesus, Naru. No wonder he didn't even bother getting dressed before looking for me. Damn it, Naru, you have to stop this, okay? That's not who you are. You were young and you made a mistake. You don't have to let it define the rest of your life."

"I know. I don't. I was drunk okay? I didn't do it on purpose."

"Honey, we both know that's not the alcohol that made you do it."

"You do stuff like that all the time when you're drunk," she protested, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I do stuff like that all the time when I'm sober too," Kitsune objected, then frowned. "The few times a year I happen to be anyway. Look, I'll be the first to tell you that I can be very loose with my body, but that happens to be my call every time. I never blamed it on the booze so don't you start doing it now, scrub."

"Fine. I fucked up. I'm sorry."

"You better be sorry," Kitsune agreed, nodding repeatedly, "and you better not do something this dumb ever again or I'll fuck you up for good myself. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes," Naru dropped her head. "Thank you, Kits."

"Yeah, yeah. Thank me by buying back my damn booze. At least you were lucky you pulled this stunt with Shirou and not a random guy out on the streets."

"You are kidding, right?" Naru asked, cradling her face in her hands. "I couldn't have found anyone worse. We live under the same roof. How am I ever going to show my face again? I'm going to be a laughing stock for the rest of my days here."

"Do you really have your head that far up your ass, Naru?" Kitsune sighed deeply. "Look, that guy is basically a Buddha. If he's ever going to bring up yesterday with you it will be out of concern for your well-being and you can damn well bet your ass that he won't let out a peep with anyone else."

"Maybe... maybe you're right," she nodded. Maybe Kitsune's estimation of him was a bit exaggerated but... no, she was right on the money.

Emiya - Shirou - was a good person. A good man. She had forgiven her for much worse. Even if this was the most embarrassing and shameful episode to date, the brunt of it was on her.

Of course, she'd have to apologize properly.

For the first time, she was grateful that Emiya Shirou was their dorm manager.

It would not be the last.

That afternoon.

Shirou was in his room, sitting at the table, that was covered by textbooks and notebooks. Weeks after the incident with the Aoyama, bits and pieces of what he had forgot in exchange for Archer's power started to get back to him.

He didn't know whether, or not Avalon had a hand in his recovery. In the past, the memories he had lost were gone completely. He never managed to get anything back.

This time however, it was different and he couldn't help but think it was because of that.

That encounter had changed everything, and set him on the path he had chosen to follow. He thought it a blessing at the time, but now he wasn't so sure.

He had been a fool to think, even for a moment, that it wouldn't have other consequences.

So far, everything seemed to be working in his favor, but that only made him dread how heavy the other shoe would be, when it finally decided to drop.

Was he being paranoid? Yes, of course he was. That's how you survived more than a week in the Moonlit World.

He was brought out of his musing by a knock on the door.

"Come in," he called.

The door opened slightly and he saw a an eye peering at him from under an mop of brown hair. There was only one person in the inn with that hair color.

Narusegawa.

Despite having tried his best to put the incident from the previous night out of his thoughts, the splendid figure of Narusegawa's naked body had been firmly burned into his mind.

Between that and the awkwardness of that situation he couldn't help but become slightly flustered.

"I won't bite," he promised after she hesitated to enter.

At last she walked inside, closing the door behind her. She was looking at her feet, firmly refusing to meet his eyes.

Then she did once more something he hadn't expected at all.

She kneeled on the tatami and prostrated herself, forehead touching the floor.

"I sincerely apologize from my behavior."

"Your apology is accepted, but you didn't have to go this far. Please raise your head."

She did as he requested, but she kept looking down into her lap.

"Look," he said after a moment when she didn't say anything, "we all have our embarrassing moments. I won't hold yours against you. Let's just put it behind us, yes?"

She nodded, but still didn't say anything. After a moment, she dared to look up and into his eyes.

"Can I trust you?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Hm? What did you say?" he asked back, not having heard her properly.

She shook her head. "No, it's nothing. Just... I want you to know I'm not like that. I know you must think I'm a hypocrite. I treated you like a pervert for weeks but then I came onto you out of the blue like... like a whore but I really didn't mean-"

"Stop," he said softly, grabbing her hand. While Naru ranted, he managed to move around the table and approach her. She had been so absorbed with her monologue that she almost didn't see him move. "I don't think of you like that, so please do me a favor and don't call yourself that either."

"Okay, thank you."

"You're welcome," he replied sincerely. Then he decided it was time to shift the conversation. "Now, since you're already here, would you mind helping me with a few exercises? I'm afraid I'm a bit stuck."

Narusegawa blinked. "What? Oh! Of course," she nodded, more than happy to move away from the uncomfortable topic. "Show me what you don't get and I'll see what I can do."

The next hour was spent on textbooks. No further mentions of the incident were made. There was still some awkwardness, but it wasn't unbearable for either of them.

Later that evening.

Shirou was sure that the entire incident with Narusegawa was completely behind them and the briefly disrupted status quo restored.

He didn't expect that Konno would approach him about the same matter later that day.

"Shirou, have you got a moment to talk?" she asked after dinner, once the other tenants went their own way. "Privately."

Shirou arched an eyebrow. Konno's requests to meet privately were usually the opening move of her attempt at seducing him.

However, her somber expression told him that it wasn't the case this time, even though she was holding a can of beer.

"Sure. Let's go to my room," he motioned for her to follow, and they quickly made way to his private quarters.

"I wanted to talk about the thing with Naru," she said once the door had been closed behind them.

"I cleared the air with Narusegawa-san already. I would have thought you'd be the first she'd tell."

"And you'd be right. Thank you for being such a gentleman with her, by the way."

"I don't think it's anything I should be thanked for. That's just common courtesy."

"Yeah, no. Look, I don't necessarily think that that every other guy would have taken advantage of the situation, but after what she's put you through in the past, it would have been the last straw to anyone else."

"Just so you know, I don't agree with that opinion. Still, was that all you wanted to say?"

"No," she shook her head. "Actually, I wanted to explain you what's up with Naru."

He immediately held up his hand. "I'm sorry, but I have no right to put my nose into her business and I'm not sure you have a right to discuss it either."

"Fine, be uptight all you want but hear me out. Sooner or later, she's going to come onto you again. I wish it was the booze that made her do it, but it's not. That part is all your fault."

At this point, Shirou rubbed the bridge of his nose wearily.

"Why would you think that? I never did anything that could be misconstrued as me having that kind of interest in her."

"Exactly. That's precisely the reason why she'll keep coming onto you. It won't make any sense unless I explain it from the start. Believe me, I'm not telling you because I want you to know her secrets. I need you to know so that you can help her."

"Couldn't you have said that right from the start?" he asked, slightly annoyed.

"I didn't want to make it look like she's a special case or something, alright? She wouldn't forgive me for that."

"Fine, fine," he gestured towards the table. "Take a seat and start from the beginning."

"Thank you," Konno sighed in relief doing just as he had instructed. He took a seat opposite to her.

"Naru always had extremely lousy luck when it comes to men," she began, cracking open her beer. "It started all the way back with her father. The deadbeat piece of shit run out on her mother when he found she was pregnant with Naru. Never seen or heard from him again. Her mom raised Naru all alone, working night and day to make ends meets."

"Didn't they have other relatives that could have helped them?" he asked, dreading the answer.

"No and to make things worse Naru was continuously ill when she was little. They burned through a lot of money to have her treated with no real result. Eventually, she got better on her own somehow, but by then she was old enough to understand how difficult it had been for her mother to raise her alone."

"Lots of kids grow up with a single parent," he observed. "I don't think that would be enough to make her distrust men the way she does."

"Yeah, but like I said, that was just the start. Eventually her mother married another man. Hardworking, head-on-his-shoulder kind of guy. Naru didn't really like him, but they were at least cool with each other. Her mother ended up having another daughter with him and everything was, more or less, fine. This was about the time the two of us became friends, by the way."

"I see. What happened next?"

"Nothing much, except that she started filling out real nicely and you know how it is. We live in a country running trains with women-only carriages from how bad we have with the pervs. Problem is, you don't always manage to find a place on one of those so eventually she ended up being targeted a few times."

"How did that go? Did she call the police?"

"Yeah right," she snorted. "This is Naru we're talking about. Even back then, her fists moved faster than her brain. Still, even if she knocked the shit out of them, it didn't leave her with a stellar impression of men in general as you can probably imagine."

He could, so he didn't say anything.

"At least at home everything was fine. Naru and her little sister were real close, no half-siblings' envy bullshit. It wasn't perfect but it was still family. Good enough, right?"

"Right," he nodded.

"Shame it all went south on her. One night her step-dad came back home, tipsy from drinking the evening out with his colleagues, like any other good salaryman is supposed to do, and forced himself on Naru."

"Did he -?"

"Nah," Konno shook her head, taking a sip from her beer. "Naru being Naru, she decked him before he could do anything serious, but the damage to their relationship was already done. Later he said he mistook her for her mother and that he had no intention to force anything in the first place. To be fair they look very much alike, even more so I'd suppose if you were drunk and in the dark."

"Was he telling the truth?" he asked.

"Fuck if I know," she admitted. "Besides, it doesn't matter if I believed him or not. What matters is that her mother did."

"Ah. That can't have gone well," he commented bitterly.

"Understatement of the century. Let's just say that Naru gets some of her temper from her mother. I don't know every detail, obviously, but I'm sure they all said something they later regretted. It still resulted in Naru moving out of the house and coming to stay with me. She was barely fifteen at the time."

"You had to be about seventeen, then. Did you already live by yourself?"

She snorted. "As a manner of speaking, I guess. Technically it was my parents' place but who the hell ever saw them? Naru lived there with me for an entire month before they noticed and kicked us both out."

"I'm sorry," he apologized, ducking his head. He didn't mean to bring up painful memories.

"Whatever for?" she waved her hand in dismissal. "They are two huge assholes. If they are still alive I mean. Haven't heard from them since they gave me the boot. Well, I suppose I wasn't a stellar daughter myself either, but... Hold up! We aren't supposed to be talking about me, Shirou."

"Err... I didn't really ask," he pointed out.

"Sly bastard," she huffed, "Anyway, Naru suggested we'd come here to the Hinata-sou. It's where she and her mother had lived for a while, back when she was always sick. Supposedly because of the hot-springs have healing properties or something. Granny Hina had taken a shine to little Naru and she let us share a room in exchange for helping out the staff, since it was still an actual inn back then."

"I see," he nodded. "That was pretty nice of her."

"Yeah. It seems like you have that in common with her. Sheltering young women in need, I mean."

"Huh. Never quite of it that way," he said shrugging.

"Yeah. I think that's why she decided to turn the Hinata-sou in a female dorm in the end. Making it sort of a women's shelter without the gloom of an actual one. I guess that she made the right call about having you take over as a manager too. You do have the experience, after all."

Shirou rubbed his chin thoughtfully. Putting it like that, Granny Hina's decision seemed a lot less whimsical than he had first thought. However, that only worried him even more, for he certainly hadn't shared that part of his past with a relative he had only just met.

It meant that she had looked into his life behind his back, which beget a series of new questions. Chief among them was: 'what else did she find out?'

"So, things were going fine for a while," she continued, unaware of his train of thoughts. "Eventually her mom and her husband split for unrelated reasons, but Naru still refused to go back home. Officially she had grown used to being independent, but the truth is that she hadn't forgiven her mother for choosing her husband over her daughter. Plus, she had already decided to get into Toudai and the Hinata-sou is way closer than her family's house. However, the most important reason was definitely Seta."

"Noriyasu-san?" he frowned. "How did he get into the picture?"

"Oh, we met him through Haruka shortly after we came here. Despite everything that had happened to her, Naru got a huge crush on him right away. He was serious and cool, you know? Very passionate about history. He always got excited like a kid when he got to talk about history and archeology. I suppose that's why Naru thought he was 'safe'."

"What happened between them?"

"For a long while, nothing. Naru's crush on him was obvious to everyone, but Seta didn't seem interested. That didn't deter Naru, though. In fact, the more he turned her down, the more she thought he was different from the rest. Then you changed that for them."

"I did?" he asked in disbelief.

"Indirectly. Well, I figured the last details these past few days, mind you, but Seta was grief-stricken about Julia's death. Really out of his mind about it. Not that we knew what got him so down at the time. Naru saw this as her chance to show him how much she cared and decided to comfort him. Problem is, they ended up taking it way too far. It was a bad decision on both parts, I'll give him that, but Seta made it even worse. Next morning, he had pulled a Houdini on her. Booked a flight straight to South America because his girlfriend had died and he had to fetch their daughter. We weren't told that Sarah wasn't his kid until much later by Haruka, but it no longer mattered by then. Not to Naru, anyway."

At this point Shirou was rubbing his eyes wearily.

"I don't even know what to say."

"Yeah. To be honest, he must have realized that he had fucked up big time and bailed out. Naru is certainly responsible for half of it, too, but you get it now why Naru isn't an all-time fan of your gender. I've had better luck betting on horse races and I'm dead broke, just to give you a frame of reference."

Shirou got what she meant, though he didn't think it was an appropriate comparison.

"And how does this relate to Narusegawa-san propositioning me in the future?" he asked. "Sounds to me like she'd want to stay as far away from me as she possibly can."

"I get where you are coming from, but you don't really get Naru. She isn't stupid, you know? She knows that most men aren't like that, but that doesn't make it any better for her."

"Why not?"

"Because after everything that's happened to her, if it's not you guys who are the problem, then it has to be her. It took me a while to figure, lots and lots of late night talking, but deep down she's afraid that she's just not good enough. That the best she can hope to be is a sexual object."

"That's..."

"Completely fucked up? Yeah, no shit. Do you see the problem you've got on your hands? I think she's starting to come around and trust you, but you need to understand that she's going to be testing you without even knowing it herself. You wouldn't be the first she does it to."

"And how do you think I should handle her?"

"Be honest with her, is all I ask. And if by any chance you decide you like, don't treat her just like a side chick. Yeah, I know you aren't a cheater. I figure that the women you've been with knew from the start that you wouldn't hang around for long and maybe they were fine with that, but not Naru. She needs someone who'd give his hundred percent to her and her only. Anything less than that and she'd break for good."

"Thank you for the vote of confidence, I guess," he said frowning, not completely sure if what she said about him constituted praise or not. "However, I have no such intentions toward Narusegawa at all."

"I know. I'm just putting it out there. If you'll end up being just friends that's even better. All I'm saying is don't hurt her. Cause if you do, I'll come for you and one-man-army or not, I'm gonna find a way to put you six feet under."

"Of course," he replied smiling. "Narusegawa-san is lucky to have a friend like you."

"Psh," she scoffed. "Girls gotta look out for each other. Nothing to praise here."

"Then we'll agree to disagree about this. Thank you for bringing it up with me. I'll do what I can to help."

"Yeah. I'm counting on you to do that. Naru hasn't had enough people in her corner for a long while," she gulped down the last of her beer. "Anyway, I said my piece. It's about time I go back to my own room before someone notices I've been here this long. They might get the wrong idea about us."

"Yes, let's not have that," Shirou deadpanned. He just barely got to the point where they didn't automatically assume he was up to no good, he'd rather keep it that way.

"Oh, one last thing, Shirou," she said right after she had opened the door to leave.

"Hm? What is it?"

"I'm game if you decide to show up half naked at my door in the middle of the night again," she grinned.

Before he could give her a proper comeback, there was a loud crash coming from the corridor.

They both looked out of the door and of course Shinobu was standing right there. The tray which had been holding the tea she was most likely bringing him had fallen on the floor, making a mess.

"K-K-Kitsune-san and Emiya-san... Uh…. UHWAAAAAAaaaaaa!" she cried as she run away. Soon after the other tenants poked their heads out of their room to see what the ruckus was about

He glared at a sheepishly grinning Kitsune.

"Oops. My bad," she laughed.

Shirou could only palm his face.

Back to square one it was.

XXX

AN: Slight mishap with the previous upload. I hope this is legible now. Thanks to all t he thirty or so people that sent me a message to inform me of the issue. I love you guys.

That said, here's the new the chapter. I know that his seem like a huge infodump, with Naru's backstory served conveniently on a silver platter (which sucks, narratively speaking). However, trust me when I say that Naru's situation is much deeper than that and that her role in the story is much bigger than being just a troubled chick for our dashing hero to rescue.

As usual, read and review. Also, if you feel like supporting me, you can make a pledge at: "p atreon [dotCOM] / neoalfa"

A huge thank you to all those who have already decided to do so. You guys are the best.

See you soon people. Path of the King is next on the roster and the chapter will be up in about a week. Until then.