Second verse same as the first. I own nothing except the idea of the plot. please review. Also, I can be find on Primordial Vortex's channel if you want to talk, or if you want to find more writers with better works then mine! discord . gg / p4Jp4h4E
Yawning, the five year old redhead was awoken to the day, as always nowadays, by the cries of his little brother.
"Tsuna…" he spoke fondly, going out of his room and into the baby's. There, he sanitized his hands before grasping the one year old, gently rocking him as he wailed. "Oh what are we going to do about you…"
Within the next few minutes, their mom showed herself and was smiling brightly at the two most important people in her life, including their fathers. Taking the baby from him, Shirou hugs the woman before heading downstairs, staring enviously at the stove before merely getting the table set. "Soon…"
"Shi-chan, can you- oh, you already did. That's my sweet little man." Coming in, Nana, the woman who gave birth to him in this universe, sat little Tsuna in his highchair before ruffling Shirou's hair. "Come on, I'll let you stir the eggs."
With that offer, it isn't long before he loses himself in the mundane work of cooking, or rather helping to cook. Despite seemingly being truly reborn in this universe, Shirou hadn't actually gained his memories until late in his third year, allowing him to mercifully skip the nursing stage of his development. Also mercifully, by that time, his mother (and she was HIS mother) was single, allowing him to keep Kiritsugu as his true father.
It was a day after his fourth birthday that Nana met the shady man that was Iemitsu Sawada, and a half-year whirlwind romance that the neighbors still talk about (and talk about needing to get a life), Shirou got a new "role model" and nine months after that Shirou got a new baby brother that is apparently destined to become a hero worthy of the title… by becoming a mafioso… yeah, right. Not on his watch.
While he wasn't the type to put one life in front of any others (except for that couple [hundred] times he did) but neither is he one to sacrifice anyone else's life for the greater good.
It wasn't long before they finished breakfast, and so the mother and sons ate, before Shirou got ready for school. "Bye mom!"
"I'm home!" Walking in, Shirou took off his shoes before moving further into the abode.
"Oh? How was school, Shi-chan? Make any new friends?" Looking up from the laundry she was folding, she found her little man sporting a smile; along with a fresh bruise on his cheek. "Oh my!? What happened!?"
Dropping the pants she was working on, Nana quickly rushed over, taking his head in her hands and checking for any split skin. Noting that it's not even swelling that bad, she calms down just a little and takes the child to the bathroom, checking that Tsuna is still in his playpen.
"Well, are you going to answer?" Tone now sternly demanding as she grabs some cotton swabs and the rubbing alcohol.
"Well, some bullies were picking on another kid, so I decided to step in before it got worse." Twitching a bit as she cleans and bandages the bruise, his voice was still firm in conviction. Understanding his reasons, Nana let out a sigh.
Kneeling and pulling the boy into a hug, she spoke. "Shirou… while standing up for your peers is a noble thing to do… but, the smart thing to do would have been to get a teacher."
Pulling back, she started to get up and lead him back into the living room. "Now, how about my little soldier boy help me finish folding, and then we can make some udon, what do you think?"
Now shyly smiling, Shirou answers. "That sounds amazing Kaa-san."
And so, after an afternoon of entertaining Tsu-chan, helping cook and clean, and a quick few worksheets for homework, Shirou found himself in his room, ready for… 'extra-credit' work. Taking his notebook out from behind his desk, he got comfy.
"Now… Safety, Off!" closing his eyes, he flicked the mental switch, and felt that small flame, that had been with him ever since he remembered, sparked. Quickly now, that spark bloomed into a small fire before Shirou stopped it, making sure it didn't grow out of control. Opening his eyes, he saw that his mental fire had spread to the outside world as a small, flickering tongue that burns in his palm, the orange glow it produces giving his room a warm feeling. Studying it, Shirou began writing.
'So, this flame appears to have three limits:
One: the quality is limited by how strong your will is at the moment
Two: the overall pool is limited by how much you use the flame, similar to a muscle
Three: the quantity you can pull out both at once and overtime is determined by how fit you are.
Preliminary tests show that I have some form of control in what it burns as well as overall temperature, although that seems to be much harder. With how hard to sustain it as is, mediums could possibly exist. More information needed. Now beginning search for possible abilities.
Slightly shaking his arm, as sustaining even something this small is beginning to drain himself, he folds both his legs and his arms so that he sits with his legs tucked in. With his hands cupping each other and facing up, he allows his flame to dance.
Once more retreating into himself, he begins to imagine the gun-hammer, slowly clicking back as he pulls, his body warming ever so slightly as he does so. It would seem that his Magic circuits had also followed him back, and were in better shape than ever. 'Possibly due to a new body? Circuits are an odd mix of physical and spiritual…'
With his Circuits open and his fire burning, the first thing Shirou begins to do is attempt to use Structural Grasp… only to see what appears to be a literal SUN's worth of the orange flame before having to cut the spell before he goes blind. Even without actually using his eyes, he feared for them…
'Note to self' he writes. 'Structural Grasping the flames appears to be impossible. Is it a representation of my own Will, or does it lead back to the Tri-ni-sette? Possibly attempt to Grasp other flames as a control? As is, proper Reinforcement or Enhancement also appear to be impossible, and might just be a waste of Prana anyway, depending on what the source I saw was.'
Now ready for the next step, Shirou took a nearby pen with the hand currently not on fire, and after Grasping it began to feed Prana into it, not with the intent to Reinforce it, but rather to Alter it. Optimizing the width of the ball while thinning the ink, he began to run the flame over the pen as well with the intent to help alter it further, and the results surprised the boy.
Before his eyes, the pen bagan drinking up both the fire and the Prana, forcing Shirou to cut it short. The end result leaving half the pen as it was but the other half shifted material, from a cheap plastic to a shiny metal, while also gaining a glow with flame and tribal-like etching all over the altered bits. More importantly, Shirou could feel the beginnings of a connection to the pen... almost as if it was trying to become something approaching what Shirou would think was a familiar.
…
Sighing, he continued his notes.
'Alteration of an outside material combined with the flame show signs of unthought of side effects. On top of Altering the object beyond what was wanted, there are signs of something I presume is a familiar connection being formed… perhaps the flame was attempting to harmonize the pen with me? Harmonize might be too strong of a word however, again, need more data for better hypotheses.' Now sweating, the boy flicked the safety back on, abruptly shutting off his flame before slowly setting the hammer down on his Circuits and leaving him feeling quite sore.
'Current body is too weak to attempt anything more than a mundane sword, let alone attempt to use flames with said Projection, let alone Trace. End of Experiments. Current goals:
Continue working on physical and spiritual fitness
Continue looking for information on flames, as well as the true mafia
Continue looking for information on my fellow travellers.'
After writing the last goal, Shirou has no choice but to sigh again before putting his notes back behind the desk. "Now then, time for a bath…"
"Aniki! Could you help me?" Walking into the room, Shirou can't help but laugh at the sight of the tiny five year old struggling with his shoes, shirt rumpled and pants with the fly down.
"Otouto, relax. We still have plenty of time before we go to school." Making his way to Tsuna, Shirou begins straightening the shirt before dealing with his pants, all while the boy blushes. "Now, why don't you put the shoes down and actually eat something, you'll need the energy."
"But Shirou! Kaa-san keeps wanting to take pictures forever! And I don't feel hungry…" Tsuna whined, drawing another chuckle from the older brother before quickly scooping the brand new elementary schooler up.
"Nope! If I had to deal with the picture ordeal, so do you! I'll make some toast to settle your stomach while you do that." Taking him to the overly excited mother, Shirou does as he said, enjoying the sound of the camera shutter constantly going off. With the toast buttered and jellied, he went to spare the little one any more 'pain'...
"Oh, Shirou! Let's get one with the both of you!"
...only to get put in the crosshairs as well. 'Dear kami, help me.'
After an agonizing morning of pictures, clingy moms, and peanut butter (don't ask) the brothers managed to get to school on time, with Nana taking the tyke to the gathering happening a short ways away from the gates. Getting this year's classroom, Shirou enjoyed his day of 'learning' and when the final bell rang, made his way to pick up his brother.
"See you later, Tsuna-kun!" "Bye!"
Raising an eyebrow at the sight of his brother waving goodbye to another couple of tykes, he decided to interrogate the boy after getting his attention. "So, already making friends?"
"Yup! All my classmates are so cool! Yamamoto-kun is already playing full sized baseball with his parents, and- eep!"
Pausing mid-rant, Tsuna hid partially behind Shirou, causing him to look for a bully. Instead all he saw was a quite frankly absolutely adorable little girl being picked up by her parents and the most… extremely loud boy Shirou knew. 'good heavens, that boy might grow up to rival Berserker in lung capacity'
Shaking the terrifying thought away, he reacted by merely waving them goodbye. "See you later, Sasagawa-san!"
"Osu! What are you doing here, Sawada-Senpai!?" Now seeing the red head, the family unit followed their boy towards the duo.
"Eeeehhhhh! Aniki, what are you doing?" Tsuna whisper-shouted at the oldest boy, who merely smiled at him.
"As you can see, I'm just picking up my otouto; I'm guessing something similar with you, Sasagawa-san?" Bowing to the adults, he showed Tsuna, trying to do his best turtle impression.
"Ano, hi there?"
"Well hello there. And you are?" the mother spoke, while the father directed his attention to Shirou.
"Hello. How do you know my son, if I may ask? If I remember my school days properly, it's rare for an older boy to know someone so much younger."
And, of course, the adorable little girl was paying attention to Tsuna, much to his obvious discomfort.
"Osu! Sawada-senpai is often the one to get in between any of the fights he sees! He's like an Extreme Peacekeeper!"
"Oh, Mama, Sawada-kun here is in my class!" The parents trade a glance, obviously having a silent conversation, before the father spoke.
"Well, in that case, it is very nice to meet you two. I hope our children don't cause you too much trouble. That being said, we should probably be going; have a nice day." Bowing to each other, the adults follow suit before walking away. However, it wasn't until after they were out of sight that Tsuna relaxed, letting out a deep sigh… only to become cherry red at the question Shirou asked.
"So, having a crush already? My otouto is growing up so fast!" Chuckling while he sputtered, the two likewise moved on, soon arriving at home after much teasing from the older one.
"We're home!" The words had not so much as left their mouth that they were fiercely hugged by the attached mother, almost being tacked in the process.
"So, how were your two's first days!? Tsu-kun, did you make any friends? Anyone you want to be friends with? Shi-kun, you didn't get into any fights, did you?" Laughing, the two were eventually dropped, with the family moving into the living room.
"No mom, no one tried to start a fight on the first day, and I know someone that Tsuna wants to be friends with!" Shirou began, causing the youngest Sawada to blush again. "But, we never did finish that conversation from before, so I'll let you off the hook… for now. I remember you talking about a Yamamoto-san?"
Brightening, Tsuna began talking about his day, extending well into the meal, and only winding down as seconds were grabbed.
"So, that cutey was Kyoko Sasagawa, huh? I'll admit, while Sasagawa-san had talked alot about his precious imouto, I imagined someone… more like him, I suppose."
"By the way, does Sasagawa-senpai get into a lot of fights? He kinda looks like a delinquent."
"Oh my, you're hanging around delinquents Shi-kun? I had hoped that I taught you better!"
"No Kaa-san, Sasagawa-san might look like that, but he's actually kinda the opposite. While I don't get why his hair is white, the reason he's so tanned is because he spends hours practicing boxing outside, I've seen it. And though he does get into a fair amount of fights, that's more because of how… passionate, he is."
"Mmm, is that so? Well, I guess with how passionate my own little soldier boy is, it's only natural you would attract other like minded people. You are your own little Sky, after all." Now looking confused, the brothers look at each other before looking at Nana.
"Huh? What does that mean?"
"Oh, it's just something both of your father's used to talk about. How a Sky is supposed to take his little weathers under their wings. OH! Speaking of your father, Tsu-kun, guess what!? Tou-kun is supposed to be coming this week! Aren't you happy?" Nana questioned, only for Tsuna to appear even more lost.
"Otou-kun? We have one?" Wincing at the question, Shirou began… while it seemed like Nana's world cracked a bit in shock.
"Yes, you do Tsuna. And if Iemitsu-ji is coming…" 'That'll be trouble. Although, that might be the time to try and put my plan into motion.
"Well, we might as well go ahead and get ready… what?"
Blinking, it looked as if Nana had come to her senses and was currently hugging the air out of Tsuna, apologizing to him for 'failing to let him know about Tou-kun'. Getting up to work on the clean up, the family was soon done with the chore and after an hour together Shirou excused himself to prepare for tomorrow.
An hour later found Shirou with his notebook closed, and his school books all put up, ready to be taken to school again in the morning. Stretching, the boy began to clear a space in the middle of the room before standing, arms out similar to when one grasps a sword. And so, with a deep breath and a muttered "Trace, On" figurative became literal as a simple, yet well made katana faded into his hold, tip pointing upwards. Still holding the position, Shirou shifted his grip slightly, closing his eyes.
"Ok" he breathed. And with that simple word, he dived into the sword, Grasping it, and then changing it. Within a moment, the metal shifted from the shiny and wavy silver into a deep, lustful red, and in another, the finely honed edge rounded, until it couldn't even be considered "dull" but rather "edgeless". Nodding, he smirked. And with that, he began his modified kata, swinging downward. Throughout his practice, he made sure to also keep a firm Grasp of his sword, monitoring any changes specifically to the color and the lack of edge, up until another hour later, where he stopped, panting.
"No change, huh?" and so, rather than dismissing the blade, he put it by his desk, away from the line of sight from the door, already turning his thoughts to the incoming problem of Iematsu. 'Then again, he might be just the factor I need to push for what I want…'
Swoosh. Swoosh. Swoosh.
The blade cut through the air, light from the moon dancing along the edge; appearing as if the wielder was attempting to fling the light off and as its own separate attack. Dressed in a priestesses garb, her long blue hair was pulled into a high ponytail, with the bottom nearly reaching the top of her butt. The figure was obviously femine in nature, although not likely to grow to the same limit that his previous master was.
"Saeko. Enjoying yourself?" An older and more mature priestess spoke up, standing at the edge of the courtyard.
"Not in the way you would think." Not once pausing, Saeko, formerly Sasaki, continued to swing her nodachi. "Refining my arts is something that has no equal; one swing, one strike, holds a balance that can't be denied. Why?"
"Just wanting to better know you…" Stopping, the now sword maiden turned toward the older woman.
"Kaede-san, I understand that this is new to you, and indeed, you have my deepest thanks for adopting me. That being said, you should hold no fear; I have heard not the heart of a wicked woman, but the heart of an earnest flower wanting to help the meadow. I am sure that we will get along, if with a little friction, but that is to be expected."
Surprised, Kaede couldn't help but smile, the tightness in her heart loosening. "I see… in that case, how about we go inside? I have a few movies you might be interested in…"
Tilting her head to think, Saeko eventually decided to turn in for the night, following her newly adopted mother, thinking about a certain bull headed master (sometimes, rarely even, his bull headed master).
"Come on Enma! Just five more!" Rin, and it was definitely Rin, commanded the struggling five year old attempting push ups.
"Yeah, go Enma!" His little sister, Mami, cheered. The boy was currently surrounded by the largest gathering of other-worlders.
Rin was training Enma.
Sakura was standing next to her previous sister, looking at the boy in pity, ready to grab him and let him rest.
Illya was ignoring the boy in favor of a cookie.
Standing a bit separated from the group, two figures also stood training on their own, the haze of desert mirage surrounding them.
Despite the many tasks they were focusing on, one thought, one person took up the majority of their minds.
She stood on the hill, looking towards the sunset, and remembered another time, another place…
"Shirou… I love you."
Blushing, she turned away from the scenery. "Geez, could I think of nothing better to say to him!?"
Walking to the cove of trees nearby, she grabbed the wooden practice blade and moved back towards the house, or rather mansion, that she lived in this life. ''No matter what time period, the aristocrats have to show their privilege somehow.'
Reaching the walkway, she was greeted by both an older and younger girl, along with a butler.
"There you are Alex. Ready to head inside? The guests are eagerly awaiting for the scion of the Pendragon Family!" Talking, the older girl, still in her early teens, grabs the wooden blade and ushered Arturia into the door with the butler following; the girls going to put the blade up and then find the library for the younger one to stay in for the duration of the party.
As she moved to the door that was the entrance of the ballroom, Arturia couldn't help but look back to the girls' smiles and smile back.
There at the bow of the ship, one could see a duo of girls. Girls that despite not even being in their preteens, everyone knew would grow up to be true knockouts.
One had a light blue head of hair, braided in the back and showing her slightly pointed ears, the only blemish on her face being the almost scowl she wore. Even then it merely turned her beauty into a cold type, one meant to be captured in a sculpture, enhanced even further by the almost robe-like dress she wore.
The other had loose pink hair down to her knees and was wearing a tight t-shirt and shorts. Her eyes were hidden by the purple leather blindfold she wore, but she wore a smirk on her face as if she didn't even need her eyes to know what one was thinking, and indeed, despite the girls having been on the ship for a week, not either one needed an instance of help.
He stood, unbothered by the blistering winds or the swirling snow, despite going shirtless, the nuclear ten year old as still as a statue. Standing on the mountain top, he didn't think about the red head that is the reason he got a second life, nor even the albino girl he swore himself to. Instead, he kept his thoughts to the green lightning he held within his hand, clad in and mixed with an explosive pale yellow, almost white flaring fire.
Cynically chuckling, he couldn't help but shake his head as he drew more of the energy forth, creating a bolt that he held in a manner similar to a lance. Tossing the weapon, he caused an avalanche in the weak snow layer a couple of meters below his spot, thinking all the while. 'Lightning. Of Course it is. Alas, even with the gods no longer dictating my life, I feel they indeed got the last laugh…'
Jumping down now that he can get a stable foothold, he moved ever downward, moving to about where he assumed Germany would be. 'Be calm, Illya. I'm coming'
The woods were silent, the silver-haired boy noted, even as he ran from the mansion, and more importantly, his sister's cooking.
'Ha, she won't be able to kill me this time around!' Thinking too much about his escape, the young boy forgot that the only reason for a forest to go quiet would be because of a storm… or a predator. Before Hayato could notice, he was thrown, then pinned in rapid succession, and had something sharp resting on his throat. 'Shit!'
"Well now, I go hunting for deer, and I caught a little puppy instead." Looking beyond the blade, which he notes is shaped like a spear, he sees his attacker, someone slightly older than Hayato himself, with a blue rat tail and red eyes, a savage grin on his face. "What are you doing out here, don't you know it's dangerous?"
Letting him up, Hayato finds his voice to answer. "Didn't know you were out here, and it's generally less dangerous here than with my sister's poison!"
"Poison? Now why would your sister be trying to poison you?" Sitting down, the blue boy gestured for Hayato to sit as well, now projecting a 'listening' aura rather than the blood-thirsty aura of before.
While cautious, Hayato has been wanting to talk his problems out for a while now, not being able to do so with his piano teacher when she shows that amazing smile. And so, he sat, unknowing of the hurricane he was about to introduce to his life.
Going to make the next chapter Rin and Co. centric, then probably Cu Chulainn, followed by Herakles, Medea and Medusa, Arturia, and Sasaki's (Saeko) chapter will likely be them meeting up with Shirou. Alsot, you (might) get a cookie if you can guess all everyone's flames!