No Hero

"Emiya, I need your help!"

The declaration stopped Shirou Emiya in his tracks - those were the words that he had always desperately wanted to hear. He turned around to face Ayako, "What do you need?"

Ayako Mitsuzuri walked a couple of paces closer down the school corridor so that she could talk without yelling, "It's the freshman in the Archery club - they are completely out of their depth. I need your help training them and instilling them with discipline. I need you to re-join the Archery club!" She declared, jabbing a finger at Shirou like a WWII era 'uncle Sam' poster.

"Uhmm..." This wasn't what he had been hoping for. He wanted to be a Hero of Justice (capital letters included), saving people and making them smile. That's why he had quit the archery club in the first place, to have more time to 'patrol' the city in the evenings, "Can't Shinji help with that?"

"No. He has his own skill set, but teaching is not one of them." Actually, as far as Ayako could tell, his only skill was being a prick (but she wasn't going to say that to Shirou - the two were sort-of friends). Rin had told her how he kept hitting on her and wouldn't take a hint (not that Rin did hints - she had straight up told him that she wouldn't go out with him until the sun went cold). And she had seen how he was always surrounded by freshman girls. The guy was a predator. She suspected that the only reason he didn't pull the same shit with the girls on the team was because he was scared of women with a little muscle.

"If you need me, I guess I'll help."

"What?" Ayako blinked as she refocused on the discussion, "Oh, right, great! I really appreciate it! I'll see you tomorrow morning at the dojo!" She ran off to her homeroom - class was starting in a few minutes. 'Actually, Sakura will really appreciate it.'

[[The day before]]

"I'll see you later, Sempai," Sakura waved from the steps of the Archery dojo as Shirou continued on to the school building proper. He had walked her to school, coming in early to do the repairs that he had promised Issei.

Ayako stood in the doorway, taking in the scene. Her Kohai stood watching Shirou's receding form until he disappeared into the building, 'she's got it bad.' Ayako prided herself as being one of the (few) sensible people in the school. She got along with everybody, and didn't get sucked into their drama. For instance, she knew that there was some sort of tension between Sakura and Rin, but that didn't stop her from being good friends with both.

"It's too bad that Emiya's quit the club," Ayako commented lightly. Sakura just gave a subdued nod. Given her typical cheerful nature, she must have been very glum. Sakura was nothing like her lazy-ass older brother - she was such a sweet person, always cheerful, always going out of her way to help, but at the same time painfully shy. Ayako felt bad for her. The Archery club captain looked around the the small wood building, hoping for inspiration. Everything was in order, as usual - she ran a tight ship. A couple of freshman stood by the bow racks, chatting (probably flirting), still in their street clothes. Slowly, an evil smile spread across her face.

[[The day after]]

It was the following day, and Shirou stood on the firing platform at the dojo as the junior club members watched. He raised his bow over his head before extending the arm holding it and at the same time pulling back the arrow with the other. It was a nice cosmetic flourish that made the process look even smoother than it already was. "Watch my feet - archery begins from the ground. And as I draw back, my hips rotate."

For Shirou, the action of drawing and firing a bow were so simple as to be boring. It was a purely mechanical action that posed no challenge. It was also a part of why he had quit the club (though it was not the main reason). But having to explain it to a group of freshman was more challenging. "Watch my chest - I am going to breath in as I draw." The girls in the group didn't need to be ordered to do that.

Ayako watched in bemusement as Sakura and the three other freshman hung on Shirou's every word. And they weren't alone. Several of the second years (of both genders) were also quietly emulating Shirou, off to one side.

Ayako frowned. One of the first years was so busy staring at Shirou's chest that she forgot to draw her own bow. 'Well, at least he's good for recruitment.' Ayako approved of getting more girls into the club - she loved athletics, and she thought it was a shame that so many girls were brought up to be 'delicate' and 'retiring'. A real woman could draw a 35 pound bow. And put an arrow within 5cm of the center at 100 yards.

But it would be better if they stopped ogling Shirou and actually got down to work, though.

Sakura adjusted her stance and emulated Shirou's draw. Ayako nodded in approval. 'See, you can have a crush and STILL perform.'

Shirou released the arrow.

As always, he was aiming at the most distant target. As always, he hit the bullseye dead center.

As the freshmen broke into polite applause, the door to the dojo banged shut, "So, what did I miss?" Shinji asked, swaggering over to Ayako still dressed in his (designer) street clothes. He paused as nobody responded. Typically, a couple of the girls would say hi to him whenever he walked in. Often, one of them would stop and flirt a little. But now.

They were at the far side of the dojo, where it faced the outdoor range. Clustered around...

"Hey, Emiya. You're back." He said with false cheer.

"Yes, Mitsuzuri asked me to help with the teaching." Shirou replied, not looking at his (somewhat lapsed) friend as he fired another arrow, hitting the target within a centimeter of the previous arrow. There were awed muttering from the first years. The second years just smiled knowingly. This was their Sempai.

Shinji scowled. He hated the way Shirou got all the attention so effortlessly. Even his own sister doted more on the redhead than she did on him. 'That slut.' Unless he did something about it, it was going to be long year.

No Hero

Ayako scowled as she flopped onto the bench next to Rin. "I hate the way the boys ogle us." It was gym class, and the two had just finished running laps (they were, as usual, the fastest girls). "I swear, some of them hang back just to watch."

Rin shrugged. The attention didn't bother her. She was trained as a magus – meaning she was taught to subsume all her resources to her mage-craft - and this was just another resource available to her. "I hear you're doing the same sort of thing in archery club – you're enrollment has gone way up since the 'fake janitor' joined the club."

Ayako rolled her eyes. She was trying to get Shirou together with one specific girl. Having half the freshman class show up was annoying. On the other hand, if they stayed, and were serious that wouldn't be so bad - maybe some of them would grow up to become strong women. That was one of the things that she appreciated about Rin - despite her 'school idol' persona, she wasn't a shrinking violet. "I don't understand why everybody looks down on him for being helpful. Would they rather he was an ass like Shinji?

Rin shrugged. "In a word, yes." Ayako knew that Rin held most of the school population in disdain. "His attitude makes him come across as spineless. He rushes to do anything whenever anybody asks him for help. He's never going to be one of the cool guys that way."

"He's just a little insecure," Ayako defended her friend. "But you have to admit, he's a good person to be friends with."

Rin shrugged nonchalantly. "Wouldn't know. Come on, we need to go do the hurdles next."

"Speaking of guys, are you going to tell me who your crush is?" Last week, Rin had accidentally let slip that she had been watching (translation: ogling) some guy doing track and field.

"Not going to happen," Rin replied as they walked towards where the rest of their class was lining up on the starting line for the next gym activity. Which went to show how close of a friend Ayako was - if it had been anybody else asking, she wouldn't have even admitted to having a crush.

No Hero

"I'm really glad that you decided to continue with Archery," Sakura was helping Shirou clean up the dishes from breakfast. She usually came over to Shirou's house to walk to school with him, but since she'd started high school she had started coming a little earlier, so that they could eat breakfast together as well.

"What's that on your arm?" Shirou had just been about to make a noncommittal noise when he noticed the purple splotch.

"It's nothing, Sempai."

"It's not from Shinji, is it?" Shirou scowled. It didn't look like nothing. It looked like a bruise. Shinji used to be his best friend - that was actually how he first got to know Sakura - but ever since Shinji had discovered girls, he had become somebody that Shirou didn't want to be around. The way he talked to women, treating them as objects, bothered Shirou. To the would-be hero, all other people had great worth, and Shinji's attitude was the antithesis of his own.

But Shirou didn't give up so easily on his friends, so he held out hope that one day Shinji would grow out of this behavior.

Unless he was actually hurting girls. Then all bets were off.

"No, It's nothing like that," Sakura quickly pulled her arm back, tugging her sleave down. Shirou frowned, but he didn't feel it was his place to interrogate Sakura, so he just nodded and put the last dish away. "We should go, or we will be late for Archery."

No Hero

"Shinji, can I talk to you?" It was after school, and Shirou had gone looking for Shinji. They didn't share any classes today, so he was only able to find him at the lockers. As usual, Shinji was surrounded by a gaggle of first year girls as he held court, talking about all the fancy places that his family had been to for vacation, and all the money that he had spent there.

It was only the start of the year - the girls hadn't yet caught on that it was always the same two vacations, back from 5 years ago. And that the money was all in Shinji's imagination.

"Oh, it's Emiya-sempai." One of the girls said to her friend as she recognized him. "He's the co-captain of the Archery club. Miya says that he never misses!"

Shinji scowled as the girls' attention pivoted from him to the other boy. "I am sorry, Emiya. I do not have time to talk. We were just leaving. Enjoy cleaning the dojo!" He gave a distracted wave as he walked out the door. "Come along, girls." The girls looked momentarily conflicted before following after him.

Shirou considered going after Shinji and confronting him before shaking his head in exasperation. 'Shinji won't listen if he's surrounded by his groupies.' The would-be Hero of Justice sighed, stymied, before glancing down at his watch. He should get going for home if he wanted to have time to finish his homework and make dinner before going out on patrol.

No Hero

The following morning, as the Archery club put their bows away and headed to the locker rooms, Shirou swept an eye over the dojo. It was getting messy. Before he could say anything, his thoughts were interrupted by his co-captain.

"Arg! That guy! Shinji didn't clean the dojo last night!" Ayako snarled as she walked up to his side.

"I can ask him to do it after school today," Shirou volunteered.

"Don't bother. I'll just do it." She was the captain, it was her responsibility to make sure the dojo was presentable. And if that meant covering for some of the other members when they couldn't (didn't) do their chores, so be it.

"I can help." Shirou volunteered.

Ayako brightened, "That will be great!" She had known that he would agree to help if she asked, but she always felt guilty about asking him. "You're a great friend!" As Ayako rushed over to the girl's locker room, she plotted.'Now I just need to get Sakura to take my place. And then they can walk home together. Maybe I'll let slip how good the pizza is at the new American place down the street. Then they can maybe go to dinner there.' Ayako continued fantasizing (oblivious to the fact that both Sakura and Shirou disdained restaurant food. It wasn't up to their standards).

Sakura was just putting on her blouse as Ayako came up to her, "Hey, Sakura-chan, can you do me a favor - I was supposed to help Shirou clean the dojo after school today, but I have a math test tomorrow. Do you mind switching with me?"

Sakura looked dejected, "I would love to, but Grandfather wants me to come home right after school today - we have a family thing. Maybe you can ask somebody else?"

Ayako sighed in frustration. The locker room was empty except for the two of them - she had specifically waited for most of the other girls to leave before bringing up the topic. She didn't want to have one of them accidentally end up working with Shirou. That guy was pretty dense when it came to girls (like he was still oblivious to the fact that Sakura was head over heels for him, despite walking to school with her every day), but she didn't want to risk it. "Yeah, I guess I'll ask Kenji in class."

No Hero

"So which side of the dojo do you want?" Ayako asked cheerfully as she brought out two buckets.

Shirou dumped the rags into the middle of the floor, "I'll take the left, you take the right?"

Kenji had said no.

Which was frustrating – she really did have a math test tomorrow (well, a quiz). But at least Shirou would do his share (if not more), so it wouldn't take too long.

But instead they ended up spending the next two hour tidying up the bows, checking the arrows for damage and then mopping the floor. The work went fast, but Shirou was a perfectionist, especially when somebody else was watching him, and Ayako didn't want to be the first one to stop - it would feel like betraying her friend after he volunteered to help. So they ended up being extra thorough and taking twice as long as they usually would. But eventually Ayako plopped down onto the (newly clean) floor and pulled out a bottle of water. "Grab a seat - take a moment to appreciate your work before the first years track mud in tomorrow morning."

Shirou sat down next to her. The dojo was very traditional - all solid wood - so despite being a school building, it did look very nice. When there weren't baseball caps hanging off of the bows and arm guards all over the floor, that is. And Shirou had even repaired the broken railing on the stairs up to the storage room.

"So, you're pretty handy. Is that something you're planning to do? I mean after school?" As Ayako asked, she realized that she really didn't know much about Shirou, beyond archery.

"I don't know. I was thinking of traveling around, seeing what there is in the world that needs doing."

Ayako took another sip, "I'm going straight to college. My parents would freak if I took a year off to find myself."

"Why would you do that? You're right here." Shirou replied, half seriously.

Ayako rolled her eyes, "Don't be dense."

Shirou turned to give her an appraising look,"are you serious about that? I mean about wanting to take time off ?"

"Yeah. Why are you so surprised? I thought that was what you were planning to do." As she asked, there was some noise from outside. It sounded like one of the sports clubs was running some sort of drill on the athletic field. Ayako considered getting up to take a look, but she was more interested in what Shirou had to say.

"Not really," Shirou replied, atypically introspective. "I know who I am. I just want to find a problem that I can apply myself to." He paused in thought.

When no more information was forthcoming, Ayako prompted. "So? Who are you?"

"Erm," Shirou rubbed the back of his head, looking slightly embarrassed, "When I was younger, I wanted to be a 'Hero of Justice.' I know it's dorky, but.."

"No, it's not. It's cute!" Ayako interrupted, trying to visualize a seven year old Shirou. She didn't realize that when Shirou said 'younger', he meant just a year or two ago.

Shirou blushed slightly, "Well.. I guess I'm somebody who wants to help people. I want to do something where I'll make a difference. And not just that, but where I will be able to see the results of my work. That's why I want to travel, so I can find that sort of place."

"So you're not planning to go to college?"

"Probably not. It would be hard for me anyways - my dad left me a trust, but it's not enough to pay for university unless I get a really good scolarship." Though he could sell the Emiya estate. But he was strangely reluctant to do so. It was his only connection to his adoptive father. Without it, he would be completely adrift in the world. No family, no home. He wasn't quite ready to take that step, though he suspected that one day he would, once he found something to dedicate himself to.

"Well, that doesn't matter. You're good people." Ayako pushed herself up off the floor, "But I have a quiz tomorrow, and I need to do well on it." Ayako was half expecting Shirou tease her over it – a couple of the other guys in Archery club were also not going to college, and felt self conscious about it. But Shirou just nodded in approval 'Huh. I guess he is actually pretty comfortable with himself.'

As they walked out onto the school grounds, Shirou frowned. The archery dojo was towards the back of the athletic area, right at the edge of the forest, so they had to walk the length of the soccer field to get to the front gate.

"What happened here?" Ayako pointed to the area that had caught Shirou's attention - it was covered in what looked like skid marks that had torn through the turf until they ended at the chain link fence that delineated the field. The fence that was now ripped out of the ground for twenty feet.

And there were cracks in the sidewalk as well, like a bulldozer or some other heavy machinery had driven over it, shattering the concrete with its weight.

"Why don't I walk you home." Shirou replied, "There's been weird stuff going on in the city lately." He had been planning to go fix the heaters for Issei, but those could wait until tomorrow.

No Hero

Ayako shifted uncomfortably as Shirou walked with her. It was extremely awkward. Partly because a boy was walking her home - that wasn't something she had a lot of experience with. Ok, she had NO experience with. She wasn't planning to start dating until she got to university - she had too much to do (and her parents would kill her. They never said as much, but she knew they expected her to succeed at whatever she tried, and a boyfriend would be a distraction.)

And it was Shirou. Who was SUPPOSED to be walking home with Sakura, so that the two of them could become closer. (Just because she wasn't planning on dating didn't mean she didn't have a romantic streak). And even though he wasn't paying attention to her (he was keeping his eyes up, in case of trouble) but he WAS walking very close to her. And that shouldn't bother her - they were friends, after all. But Sakura was supposed to be walking here in her place.

And then there were all those crazy stories on the news lately. Maybe it was a serial killer or a gang or something. She hadn't really paid attention to the details. So walking together was safer. Except... she glanced over at Shirou.

"Hey, Emiya. What about you? After you walk me to my home, you're going to have to your house alone. Are you going to be ok?"

"Actually, I'm going to the Copenhagen - it's a pub." Seeing Ayako's scandalized expression, He quickly added, "I work there, washing dishes and stuff." Though there was that one time when everybody else was out sick, and he effectively ran the bar himself. But despite her tough, tom-boy persona, Ayako was surprisingly sheltered. He didn't want to scandalize her too badly.

"Oh." Well, it was probably safe. A big guy like Shirou was a lot less likely to be attacked than a woman, no matter how strong she was. Though if something did happen.. "Hey, I appreciate you walking with me, but if somebody jumps us or something crazy like that, we both run. No playing hero, got it?"

Shirou nodded seriously, "of course." Shirou was always serious.

Ayako rolled her eyes, 'Liar.' She could already tell that Shirou was the sort that ran towards danger, not away, 'I should have walked home by myself.' The closer they got to her apartment building, the worse of an idea this seemed. Her neighborhood was totally safe, and if her parents got home early, or that gossipy Mrs. Tanaka was out at her usual bench... She was doomed. "Hey, that's my building right there," she pointed to a high rise apartment building - her parents owned a fancy flat near the top. "I'll be fine for the rest of the way - it's all gated."

Shirou nodded, "Ok. In that case, I'll see you tomorrow!"

"Definitely!" Ayako grinned. She keyed herself into the little garden by the back entrance and almost skipped on her way to the elevators. That had been exhilarating. Not that she was doing anything wrong, but the danger of being discovered had gotten her heart rate up.

And Shirou was nice. 'I see why Sakura likes him."

No Hero

Epilogue

Captain Asfour glanced down at the purple symbol that had appeared on his arm and smiled. He had spent an extra week docked at Fuyuki after he got word from his contact at the Clock Tower that the Heaven Feel ritual was starting.

It appeared the his time hadn't been wasted. He walked down to the now-empty cargo hold and placed a pair of knives into a ritual circle. The large space was poorly lit by a pair of florescent bulbs at either end.

They did nothing to mask the light that same from the circle.

As Asfour pronounced his mantra, a figure rose from the glowing circle.

"I an Galvarino, Servant Saber. You will be my master."