"Hyap!"

"Guh!"

"Chah!"

Shirou grunted, taking the full force of one of Miu's kicks. He really couldn't get a hit in on her, no matter how hard he tried. He swung around, trying to keep track of Miu as she darted over him with her signature leaps. A leg came in from above, and Shirou barely took the blow with his palm. He tried to grab, but she had already completed her spin and settled into another stance before him.

Master Ma stood to the side and watched the match to give Shirou advice, even while going through his own katas. "What's the matter, Shirou? You have to attack more!"

Shirou tried to block a straight heel palm strike, but took the blow to the side of his head instead and got rattled. "I-I'm trying, but there's just no opening..."

Ma huffed in exasperation, straightening his hat in a practiced motion. "No opening? Look at your opponent a little closer."

Shirou nodded as he got his bearings back, a few blows from Miu pounding against his defensive blocks. Miu spoke up as well, "What're you doing?! If you don't attack, you'll never win!"

Without warning, her knee came lancing forward, and Shirou was forced to cross his arms and take the blow. If only I knew where she was going to attack from!

As Miu rebounded from the attack, Shirou took his only chance and struck forwards. Miu spun aside, forcing his arm away as he struck, but as she blocked, her elbow raised and left a wide open spot on her side that Shirou could aim for.

He glanced at it, realizing what it meant. If I can strike there, then she'll take the hit...

He pulled back his extended fist, getting ready for another jab straight to the opening, So that's a blind spot.

But even as he struck forwards, Miu brought up her forward leg and kicked him straight in the chin, knocking him back and negating the attack.

Ma sighed, hand on his hat, as Shirou tried to regain his equilibrium. "What're you doing?! Miu went through all of that effort to purposely make a blind spot!"

Shirou gaped at Miu, who gasped at being outed. As Shirou thought, It was on purpose? Miu thought, Why did you have to say that!

Shirou got a shrewd look in his eyes an instant later. "You made that opening on purpose? So you knew I would go for it..."

Miu cocked an eyebrow in confusion but nodded slowly. Ma reacted similarly, "What are you thinking about, Shirou?"

Shirou was too deep in thought to answer, so he got a knock to the head from Ma.

Sakura followed Taiga through the open gate of Ryozanpaku. She glanced around, trying to find Shirou, but all she saw was a few training dummies in the front yard of the dojo. Taiga snagged her hand and tugged Sakura towards the dojo, "Come on, Sakura-chan! Shirou is in here!"

"O-okay Fujimura-sensei."

The two found Shirou in the dojo, getting trained by Akisame. Trained, however, was the operative word. The descriptive word, words, would be "beat to hell."

Sakura gasped as she watched Shirou cartwheel through the air from a throw. "Sempai!" She ran over to check on him, but Akisame held out a hand to stop her. Unusually forceful, Sakura turned a narrow eyed glare at him, "What are you doing to Shirou!"

Akisame shook his head at her and pointed to Shirou, who stood up from the ground and got back into a stance, ready to go. He didn't even seem to notice Sakura standing there, all of his attention focused on Akisame. Sakura backed off, ushered gently away by Kensei, who stood nearby. Quietly, she watched as Shirou got up again and again, facing his Master down and learning whatever he possibly could despite the numerous bruises and sore muscles that piled up under the haze of endless exertion.

A small smile grew on Sakura's lips, a nostalgic and faintly proud smile. After Shirou staggered off to do some more training with Ma, Sakura walked up to Akisame and bowed. "Please take good care of Shirou-sempai, he has a bad habit of pushing himself too far."

Akisame smiled at her. "I will be sure to do that. Are you going to be visiting him often?"

Sakura straightened and smiled back, "Yes, I plan to come by and help with dinner. Sempai was teaching me how to cook while he was injured, and I want to repay him by helping out here, too."

Takeda leaned down, placing his hand on the 17 year old's shoulder. He smiled. "So, are you going to tell us about this 'Shirou Emiya' or will Ukita have to throw you at the wall again?"

Shaking, the teen's eyes darted to his friend, unconscious on the ground next to the brick wall Ukita had bounced the two of them off of: he blurted his answer at the sight. "He's just some kid in Miyamachou whose been talking big. Apparently he hospitalized a bunch of boys from my gang and then disappeared. A few groups tried going after him again but most can't do anything to him and just give up."

Standing, Takeda sighed. "That really isn't enough." He patted the jacketed shoulder of the terrified teen, "But that's alright.". He gave the shaking teen a kindly smile. "You should really act a little tougher if you want to run around on the streets."

"Hey," a voice interrupted, "you said you're looking for Shirou Emiya?"

Takeda turned at the name, eyeing the purple-haired rich kid who stood at the other end of the alley. Ukita stepped forward aggressively, prompting Takeda to roll his eyes at the big teen's response. "What's it to ya?"

A smirk, all charming with just a hint of disdain, "Nothing, I just saw your fight and figured I might help you so you don't cause any problems for me. My name's Shinji, and if you want to find Shirou Emiya you just have to follow me."

Takeda broke out laughing, doubling over when Shinji gritted his teeth. He couldn't believe some rich punk was trying to play him, it was hilarious how trasparent he was. Wiping his eyes, Takeda straightened and shook his head. "Alright then, kid, we'll follow you."

The weights on his legs dragged on the ground as Shirou made to get back to the dojo. The massive pack and bags he carried must have weighed fifty or seventy pounds, but Shirou had gotten so used to the pack that only the shackles affected him anymore. That and the stares, he didn't think he would ever get over the stares.

So when three new thugs walked out of an alley in front of him, Shirou just sighed and reached down, dropping the packs and unclasping the iron chains. As he unlimbered himself, Shirou spoke casually. "So I take it you three want to fight me or something stupid like that?"

One of them, just a bit taller than Shirou himself and standing at the front, chuckled. "Well aren't you the confident one."

Shaking his head, Shirou finished standing and stretched his back a little. "Not confident, I'm just getting used to it."

The front one stepped forward and smiled, "Is that so, Shirou Emiya? My name is Takeda the Fist, would you like to fight?"

Shirou got into a guard stance, "Not really, but you guys never take a 'no' very well."

"Hahaha! I like you, Shirou!" Takeda got into his own stance, left hand still in his pocket and right held up ready to punch, "Tell you what, for being such a good sport, I'll fight you only with my right fist."

Shirou shrugged, "No difference to me."

Takeda smirked, and lunged. Shirou watched him come in, surprised at the speed. Not a single one of the thugs from before had managed anything like that. The punch lanced out, and Shirou reacted, but even as he blocked that first strike, the fist darted out and in before he could set up for his own strike, blowing past his parted guard and hitting him right in the chin.

Shirou staggered backwards, shaking his head slightly, but Takeda didn't let up. Another hit got Shirou in the gut, thanks to his reflexively raised guard, and a second and third got him in the face again when he tried to get space. Shirou fell to the ground, a little dazed.

Takeda shook his fist, blowing on it. "Whoo! What the hell are you made of!?" He got back into his stance, shooting a grin at Shirou. "Your guard is good, but you don't seem to be able to handle a fast jab, kid."

Shirou stood up and got back into his own stance. "Crazy!" he muttered. His punch is way faster than mine.

Takeda narrowed his eyes, "But what the heck is this. You aren't even trying." He darted forwards, fist again lancing out, and Shirou met it with a crossed guard. Takeda lunged in for a low punch, but forewarned Shirou pushed it away and stood firm. The boxer backed up, glaring. "What the hell was that, you had a perfect opening!"

Shirou shrugged, getting back into his stance. "I don't really have any reason to fight you. To be honest, I'm just waiting for you to leave."

Takeda growled at him, "What kind of shit is that? I thought you were a cool guy, but instead you're a worthless pansy." He darted in again and began to hammer away. First one jab, then another, then another and another. Shirou blocked most of them, weathering the blows with solid arms or quick deflections, until Takeda got him to lower his guard just a bit to much and hammered forwards with a hook, slamming into Shirou's jaw and sending him tumbling down.

Takeda took a breath and glared down at Shirou one more time. "Che!" He spit at the sidewalk between Shirou's legs. "Won't even defend himself properly." He turned around to walk away, "Let's go guys, this is pointless."

Shirou stood up slowly and nursed his jaw with a palm. That last punch had really taken it out of him, which was a surprise because he regularly got hit by Apachai. Shrugging, he leaned down to grab the bags and continue on his route home, happy that the food was untouched and more would-be fighters had given up on chasing him around.

Takeda brushed past Shinji, ignoring the freshman. So far, he hadn't found anything interesting here. It was kind of sad, really, since Ragnarok had basically beat down all resistance in their area. There was no real challenge for them. The kid, Shirou, who was already there could have been a good fight, but he had no fire, no will for battle. It was pathetic, really. It would have been smarter to just run away, but the fool stood there for no reason whatsoever. Takeda gritted his teeth, remembering the way the kid's eyes had just watched his punches, uncaring of the blows as if they meant nothing to him. It was maddening, to be dismissed like that.

"Hey, listen to me dammit! Do you want to get a proper fight out of Emiya or not!?"

Takeda started, and whirled around. He grabbed Shinji by the lapels and stared him dead in the eyes. "What? You know a way to make him fight!"

Shinji grew a superior smirk and brushed Takeda's hand away. Takeda reluctantly let go as Shinji stepped back and brushed himself off. "Well, if you really want to know, then you'll just have to repay me for the disrespect."

Takeda growled and leaned forwards, "Look, kid, I really don't care who you think you are. Just tell me what I want to know and I'll walk away without hurting you."

Shinji scowled at him, but he relented a few moments later. "Bah! Look, if you want Emiya to actually fight back, you have to give him something to fight for."

Takeda raised an eyebrow, "So what is he, some kind of defender of justice?"

Shinji laughed, a cruel laugh. "Hahahah! Got it in one. If you want the best results, I can get you a good hostage. Come back in a few weeks, I'll have it all set up then."

Takeda looked away, annoyed, but finally nodded. "Fine."

Having run into each other, Sakura and Shirou walked into Ryozanpaku together. Sakura was silently impressed that he managed to push open the doors and carry the oversized pack and weights without any more visible strain than a gritting of his teeth and digging of his heels. She had managed to work up the courage to show up for dinner right now, but she wanted to come for breakfast as well. Last time, she'd left almost as soon as she saw the girl working in the kitchen.

If she wasn't careful, that blond milk cow would steal him away.

Sakura forced the thought away.

She would help out in the kitchen, to repay Shirou. That was the only reason she was here.

A loud yell of "Where's my disciple!" came from behind the dojo and broke her from her thoughts. Shirou rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, giving Sakura an apologetic smile. "Sorry Sakura, but Sakaki-sensei is calling for me."

Sakura forced out a light laugh, "Go on Sempai. I'll explore until it's time to make dinner."

Shirou ran off, waving. Sakura watched him go, wondering at just what drove him to work as hard as he did. She remembered one particular work out she saw him doing that involved flames and a pull up bar. Sakura still couldn't figure out what made Shirou subject himself willingly to training that doubled as torture.

"Hi! My name is Apachai!"

Sakura turned and sort of smiled at the giant standing not a foot away with one hand raised in the air. "Um, hi." She bowed formally, as she had been taught, "My name is Sakura Matou."

Apachai looked at her while she maintained her bow, then he scratched his head and looked a little confused. "Those kids are pretty mean, they won't even listen to Apachai."

Sakura stood up straight and looked at him in confusion, her head cocked to the side. Apachai suddenly crouched and leaned in to get right up next to her, peering intensely at her chest. All Sakura could do was freeze and control her heart rate. The crest worms, implanted so long ago by her grandfather and her lifelong bane, shifted inside her suddenly, a ripple through her body. While Sakura jerked involuntarily, Apachai nodded and stood up to beam a smile at her. "Those kids agreed that they wouldn't hurt you so much anymore."

If Sakura had been panicked before, now her heart pounded like a jackhammer. In her panic, she could only stare wide eyed at the smiling giant and it took a while to register what he had said. She paused, her heart skipping a beat, and then gaped at him. "Y-you...the worms didn't-What?"

An othello board popped up out of nowhere, held in Apachai's hand. "Do you want to play othello now?"

Sakura's mouth dropped even further, and she gave the only answer her scrambled brain could come up with. "Sure?"

Another voice came from Sakura's other side, "Can I...watch?"

Sakura turned around to see a woman standing there with a sword strapped to her back. But that wasn't the first thing she saw; the first thing Sakura saw was the woman's nearly expressionless face and empty eyes. Sakura wasn't sure why, but instead of being jealous that Shirou was hanging out with such a beautiful woman, she smiled hesitantly at Shigure, finally getting a handle on the situation. "Of course."

"Now what is our disciple doing coming back so beaten up?"

Shirou whirled, coming out of his jog around the dojo and into a stance. Then he realized what he was doing and bowed his head, laughing nervously. "Ahaha, sorry Ma-sensei. I just seem to need to get into a stance at every sound nowadays."

Ma jumped down from the rafters, rebounded off of Shirou's head, and sat against the wall, patting the ground. "Come, sit with me for a second Shirou."

Shirou rubbed his aching skull and sighed, coming over to sit next to Ma.

The two sat in silence for a second, to the background noise of an increasingly irate Sakaki, until Ma spoke up. "So tell me, my disciple, why you do not defend yourself."

Shirou looked down at the ground and picked at the floor sheepishly, not sure what he had been doing wrong but fairly sure that he was being reprimanded. "Do you mean when I was attacked on the street earlier?"

At Ma's nod, Shirou sat silent for a second to order his thoughts. "Well, I have no reason to fight them. It's more like I would rather run than fight them, since if I did people would just get hurt as the battle escalated. The first time any of those idiots showed up I beat them soundly, but they pulled knives and I was forced to send three to the hospital."

Pausing, Shirou struggled to articulate the idea behind his actions. Shaking his head in slight frustration, he continued "It's not that I wouldn't fight them...I want to learn martial arts to save people," he turned to Ma and raised both hands as if to encompass something, "and if I attack them I will be going against my beliefs and just causing unnecessary danger." Shirou grabbed his nose and rubbed it between his forefingers. Closing his eyes tightly, he blew out his exasperation.

A few seconds later he resumed slowly, "I really want to stop them by fighting back," he paused and looked at his Master, who watched him from under his hat, "But I want to be a hero like you guys, not some thug who fights anyone that annoys him even if it is their fault. And really, compared to Apachai-sensei their attacks are nothing."

Ma grew a little gloomy at that, mumbling, "...his enemies hurt him less than we do..." but he eventually sat back and sighed. He turned to face Shirou, one eye wide and shining through his bushy brows and the shadow cast by his hat. "Tell me, Shirou. How can you save people if you yourself are to hurt to help?"

Shirou cocked his head and looked at the sky, then turned back to Ma. "Um...I can't?"

Ma nodded, then patted him on the head and stood. "Exactly. So, Shirou, you should use your fists to defend yourself instead of waiting for the aggressor to go away. This way you can go save people the next day without fail. You never know when one of them might go to far even though you consider them a nuisance."

Shirou leaned against the wall as he too stood, grunting just a bit. "Okay, Ma-sensei. I'll make sure that your training doesn't go to waste."

Ma raised his other eyebrow and watched Shirou run off to get put through the ringer for making Sakaki wait. He shook his head and released a puff of air. "He's a good kid. Stupid, but good."

Shirou rubbed the bags under his eyes, rolling under a bush in the forest behind Ryozanpaku. He glanced around the heavy undergrowth, attempting to peer through the tangled vines and intertwined branches, but he couldn't see more than a dozen feet to any side. Failing that, he tried to listen, hoping that sound would give him some indication of where the hunter was.

Being stalked by Shigure was like having Death itself after you; it came from nowhere without warning and without hesitation. The Masters had apparently decided that his singular talent of archery had to be made use of, so a day had been given over to Shigure so that she could train him in archery.

To be honest, Shirou had been excited to get some training in archery from a proper weapons master, not to mention that it had always been relaxing.

Well, Ma's favorite phrase had become "Stupid Shirou" for a reason. He really should have expected the archery training to be as hellish as the rest. First, he'd been given some ridiculous bow that had been impossible to draw, even for his increased strength, and even worse there had been a small fire pot hanging down from the top of the bow, which forced him to pull back and release the bow string slowly or risk burning his fingers by upsetting it. After a thousand repititions of that, Shigure had made him fire a bow at targets in the trees for an hour, until she was satisfied that his accuracy was sufficiently improved for the day and that his blisters, which were in fact under the calluses he had developed from normal archery, would not hinder the next training exercise.

And now here he was, being hunted while hunting in turn. He had to survive in a forest straight from Vietnam while being chased down by Shigure, who would pop up whenever his attention wavered and hit him with various pointy objects.

Speaking of which, wasn't it a little to quiet? It was summer, so there should be birds and squirrels and other cute little furry creatures running about...

"Waaah!" Shirou jumped from the bush, narrowly avoiding three arrows that had somehow come right on each other's fletching. He landed next to a tree, and when he glanced at his feet he watched with despairing eyes as a tripline snapped backwards. Rather than try and identify whatever doom he faced, Shirou made another leap for a tree, but as he scrambled upwards he noticed the branch above was covered in sharp thorns, and the trunk of the tree had a big 'X' right where he clung to it.

He jumped backwards and upwards, hoping to avoid his next death, and a log slammed into the tree and cracked it in half.

Shirou landed on the ground and began to run, knowing that he had to keep moving or face more pointy death from the terrifying Weapons Mistress of Ryozanpaku.

Why him?

Tired, beat up, a few sharpened sticks protruding from his back, and covered in scratches, Shirou stumbled on through the forest after hours of attempting to find his way out. He really couldn't get past all of the traps here. Shigure had shown up at least a dozen times in the first hour, and Shirou had even gotten a single arrow off at her before she dissappeared into the foliage of the trees. The last time she appeared, she pinned him to a tree with four arrows and told him that he had to make it through the entire forest by the end of the day, or he would be getting double the physical training the next.

That was more than enough motivation for Shirou to struggle on.

The thing was, he kept noticing his Masters just relaxing in the forest. He even ran across Apachai digging a giant hole next to a hotspring that the Elder and Sakaki were bathing in. He didn't even want to think about how to explain that to a normal person.

He was honestly beginning to wonder if there wasn't some form of magecraft involved in the sheer wierdness and impossibility of this place. At least he could be sure that he wouldn't ever be flustered by an obscure spell or monstrous creature, since nothing could compare to his Masters. Although...maybe there was some sort of boundary field set up on the forest, because he could swear the wasn't this much space behind Ryozanpaku.

At any rate, Shirou had just waved at or ignored his Masters and continued on, wondering how exactly they just walked through the trapped forest like that.

Maybe he was acting like a minesweeper and clearing it out for them? Wasn't that a depressing thought.

It wasn't until Akisame stepped out from a tree in front of Shirou that he decided to stop and take a quick break. It was either that, or try and get past Akisame when his primary teacher was obviously in lecture mode. "Shirou, can you tell me what it is that you are doing wrong?"

Shirou panted, trying to catch his breath from his zig-zagging mad dash for survival, and shook his head. "N...no. I don't know...Ha ha...what I'm doing wrong."

Akisame sighed and walked up to Shirou, getting into his patented lecture stance with one finger raised and his upright arm's elbow supported by his other hand. "Shirou, you have a ready resource here at Ryozanpaku. As your Masters, it is our duty to correct your mistakes, but as our Disciple, it is your duty to recognize when you need help and come to us to ask for it. Simply bulling on through your problems yourself is certainly a necessity at times, but you must also learn to temper that attitude with a willingness to learn."

Akisame sighed again when Shirou simply continued panting and cocked his head in confusion. "Shirou. We are your teachers, and it is perfectly okay for you to come ask us for advice whenever you have a problem that you cannot solve."

Shirou stood up and leaned against a tree, trying to figure out what his Master was saying. "But isn't that what you are doing? I'm coming here to get stronger, and you guys are teaching me so that I can."

Shaking his head, Akisame got back into his lecture stance. "Shirou, there is a difference between being strong enough to overcome an obstacle, and actually overcoming it. Sometimes, you will try as hard as you possibly can, but because you are putting your effort into the wrong method or the wrong path, you will never get anywhere no matter how hard you struggle."

At that, Shirou nodded. He could understand that. "So then, are you telling me that I have to do things a certain way if I want to accomplish my goals?"

"No, Shirou." Akisame thought for a bit before going on. "It is not that there is a certain correct way, it is more akin to there being more efficient ways. Some ways of walking through this forest are easier than others, while yet others are far harder but contain fewer potentially lethal traps." Shirou gave him a flat stare at that, recalling a few spiked logs that not even a body trained by these insane Masters could survive. "There are many ways to go about defeating an opponent or, just as in this case, surviving a trapped forest, and it is your job to find out the quickest way. However, because you currently don't know how, you need to take the opportunity to ask those more experienced than yourself so that you can learn."

Shirou nodded slowly, holding his chin and looking a little wise. A blunt shuriken came out of the trees to whack Shirou on the head. "Don't try...and look cool." Shigure leapt down from the trees overhead and stepped up to Shirou, her eyes glinting. "I don't remember...seeing you walk out of the forest."

Shirou backed up, waving his hands. "W-w-wait Kousaka-sensei! Koetsuji-sensei was just giving me a lecture, and I'll be going right now so no more weapons!."

Akisame joined Shigure, his eyes projecting a beam of yellow light as he glared Shirou down. "A lecture, hmmm? Is that how you see this?"

Shirou tumbled over a log and scrabbled for a handhold to pull himself along the ground and away from his angry Masters. "I meant lesson! Lesson!"

He stood up and started sprinting haphazardly through the forest, trying to escape and dodging falling boulders and net traps all the while.

Akisame shook his head slowly. "And he still didn't learn his lesson. Well then, I guess we have much work to do...say Shigure?" Shigure turned to face him, eyebrow raised a millimeter in question and bow back in her hands. "What do you think of a trip to the beach?" An almost imperceptible raising of the lips was his only answer, then Shigure sprang back into the trees to chase Shirou down.

"To Horinji Island." The calm and stern expression, with just a hint of a smile, was somehow distinctly terrifying. But Akisame would never admit to that.

Sakura stood in the entryway of the kitchen, unsure how to proceed. Now that it came down to it, she had no idea how a person was supposed to go about offering to help with dinner in another person's home. Her eyes darted around the room, alighting on the various, well-maintained if cheap looking, cooking implements and signs of use, too nervous to stay on one thing for too long.

As she moved to take a step over the threshold, a bright voice chirped out behind her, "Oh, hello! You must be Sakura, Shirou's friend!"

Startled, Sakura whipped around while simultaneously jumping forward in fright, resulting in an awkward half turn-half tumble that ends with her on the floor, staring upwards at the girl she had both dreaded and wished to meet.

All fine blond hair and kind blue eyes, Miu knelt down in dismay, reaching out instinctively to help Sakura up, "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to surprise you. Are you alright?"

Not really noticing the sharp pain that accompanied her tail bone meeting the wooden floor, Sakura looked down at the ground between her legs shyly and stammered out a reply, "N-no, I'm fine. It was my fault f-for being clumsy." Her head spun in circles as she tried to shut down the surge of anger she had felt.

Miu gripped Sakura's hand and helped her to stand, all while apologizing. "I really do apologize for startling you. Is there anything I can get you? Maybe some tea?"

"Um...actually," started Sakura, pausing gather herself. "I was...wondering if I could...maybe sometimes, if you needed it...because you're helping Sempai" Her words were halting, unsure, but Miu was surprisingly patient. Taking a quick breath, Sakura belted out her question, "Can I help cook dinner?"

Miu blinked, then smiled enthusiastically, "That would be so fun! Of course you can help me with dinner." For a moment she went off into her own world, eyes sparkling, "Oh, it'll be just like having a little sister, and I can teach you everything I know and we can gossip about boys and trade tips and have food fights!"

Before she knew it Sakura was in an apron and feeling...confused. Miu was a ball of joyous energy. She talked about everything from school to clothes and was constantly showing Sakura new methods of cooking. The meal was complex, more complex than even most of what Shirou would make. Put it simply, Shirou only had to cook for three people, where Miu had eight, now ten mouths to feed.

Where Shirou always put maximum effort and resources into a handful of dishes, Miu cooked a wider variety, with an emphasis on time and money saving techniques. She never bought sauces, instead she made them from scratch. Her ingredients were only as good as Shirou's because she was an expert at haggling (and the shopkeepers took pity on Shirou), despite the amount of food she had to buy. Her supplies were limited, but her ability to mix and match was amazing.

And Miu seemed to love passing her knowledge on to Sakura. Just like Shirou had.

Sakura listened, and answered quietly, and worked, and learned, and was confused.

Taiga stood on the front rail of the Red Stone Rabbit Mark 2, pointing imperiously towards the horizon. "Helmsman, Full Steam Ahead!"

Apachai jumped up next to her and copied her stance, "Apa!"

Shigure fingered her bow and eyed the seagulls flying overhead, wondering if they would taste good.

Ma scooted up next to the railing, camera in hand, and tried to get a good look under Shigure's bathing suit while she was distracted, but got a sandal to the face for his effort.

The camera went off anyways.

As Ma got chased around the ship and Shigure liberally decorated the wood with arrows, Akisame walked up to where Taiga was attempting to get Apachai to stop copying her and spoke up. "Ah, Fujimura-san."

Taiga spun around and cocked her head at him, taking a moment to glare at Apachai when he did the same. Akisame ignored the byplay and spoke up. "Fujimura-san, I'm afraid that I must ask a favor of you so that we may train Shirou properly."

Taiga faced him seriously for a half a moment then stepped back and threw out her arm, thumb held high and one eye winking at Akisame. "Say it and I'll help! Anything for my cute little Shirou!"

Down below, Shirou labored on in the darkness, struggling mightily to keep the ship moving through the sea. Like the rowing decks of old pirate ships, like the slave holds of the infamous Middle Passage, the dank underbelly of the Red Stone Rabbit Mark 2 was a place of torture and inhumanity.

"What's going on, engine boy? Do you think we're going to get there sometime today going like this?"

Shirou tried to glare at Akisame in response, but he could only manage a second before he had to put his head down and struggle on. Honestly, he didn't mind doing this, but did they have to make the place so damn humid? And why did it smell like raw sewage? What the hell had happened here?

Sakaki walked into the engine room and held a hand to his nose, "What crawled in here and died?"

Akisame waved a hand, "The Elder found a bear hibernating here for the winter. We almost had a repeat of the Mark 1."

"Ah. So he would have totalled the ship?" Sakaki nodded sagely, then scowled at the air around himself. He got into a stance and settled low. "Damned if it isn't smelly in here. Let me take care of it." He punched the air, and the pressure from his blow formed a vacuum that sucked the stale and fetid air right out the door to the top of the ship. A handful of seagulls overhead froze and fell to the sea as the smelly air washed over them, saving their lives from the arrows shot by Shigure.

Shirou glared at Sakaki, "You could have done that at any time!?"

They finally arrived at the island around mid-morning. After they had put the camping supplies in a log cabin built by the Masters near the center, they headed down to the beach for some free time. Miu was the first to run down the white sands, splashing into the ocean and cartwheeling over a wave. Wearing nothing but her revealing bathing suit, she waved to Shirou. "Come on, Shirou! It's warm!"

Shirou felt a nosebleed coming on and turned quickly away, whispering furiously to himself. "Bad Shirou! Bad!"

Ma sidled up next to him, chuckling evily. "Ho ho ho ho ho! So you have finally discovered the dark power of echi! Yes, now you are truly ready to be my Disciple, Shirou!"

Taiga pounced on Shirou as he tried to back away from the glowy eyed Ma. "Don't try and resist, Shirou-kun! You are a growing boy, and you must quickly choose! Today we will evaluate Miu!"

Shirou dropped to his knee to break the hold and sprinted down the beach to escape. "I have no idea what you two are talking aboooouuuttt!"

His escape didn't last long, though his captors had plans other than humiliation: pain, exhaustion, and humiliation through training.

Shirou, Taiga, Miu, and Apachai sat around a bonfire on the beach, gathered around the circle of light alone in the dark of the night. Shirou, as usual, was dead tired from training with his Masters, but as soon as Miu had tried to get him to sit down and relax instead of cooking, he had turned into some sort of animal and started defending the fire with all of his might. Strangely, he actually beat Miu off despite her usual victories in the spars and went right back to humming as he turned fish over the fire. Taiga started laughing and told Miu that Shirou needed stress relief.

"Shirou-kun, I think I have a good idea for you." Shirou turned to Taiga, who pointed at Miu, "You should get your stress relief from Miu!"

Shirou fell backwards, poleaxed by the blunt comment and forgetting, momentarily, about the food while Miu tried to guess exactly what Taiga was talking about. Apachai cocked his head in curiousity, "Apachai wants to know how Shirou would get stress relief from Miu? By sparring?"

Taiga cackled, "Oh no! There is a much better way for a man and a wo-Gah!" Shirou struggled with Taiga, shoving a bowl of rice and fish into her face.

"I thought you loved my cooking Fuji-nee!" He roared. Taiga tried to grab a branch to whack him with, but Shirou kicked any debris away and grabbed a bottle of water from nearby. He began to force the water down her throat as well. "You should be careful to wash that food down! You might choke!"

Miu looked rather aghast at Shirou acting so violently with his surrogate sister, and Apachai laughed at the entertainment. "I like seeing Shirou act out! Shirou is always to serious."

Taiga managed to get ahold of a branch and set about beating Shirou over the head. She swung as fast and as hard as she could, using all of the skill that made her the Tiger of Fuyuki, but Shirou blocked all of her attacks. After a few minutes of furious battle, she paused, wiping her arm on her forehead. "Fuu...you really have gotten strong Shirou." She stood back and put her hand on her hip, cocking her head at him and smiling. "So stupid, Shirou-kun, always chasing after your Father and trying to do everything by yourself. I guess this really has been a good thing for you."

Shirou lowered his arms, which had been waiting for a surprise attack, and smiled back. "Don't worry Fuji-nee, I'll make sure to always stay in contact with you."

*Thwack!* "Ha! You lowered your guard!" Taiga danced away, waving her branch in victory as Shirou rubbed the side of his head. She whipped around and pointed her branch sword at Shirou. "Don't think you're so grown up that you can do anything without your big sister there to guide you, Shirou-kun!"

Shirou stopped rubbing his head, pausing in his grumbling (like a child I swear...), and his smile returned. He really couldn't think of what he would've done without Fuji-nee. It was really terrifying, actually, to remember the time right after his Father died in the light of Taiga not being there. He wasn't sure he could keep going if Taiga wasn't around to brighten up breakfasts and dinners.

Out of nowhere, a giant shadow landed directly behind Taiga. Before anyone could react, a massive, hairy hand lanced out to snatch her up. As everyone tried to make sense of a piece of darkness detaching from the trees to attack Taiga, the shadow leapt off into the trees of the island and dissappeared as if it had never been there at all.

Shirou stared at where Taiga had been for all of a split second before he sprinted off into the forest, screaming her name. "Fuji-neeeeeee!"

Miu leapt up and called for him. "Wait Shirou! We should get the others to help out!" She gritted her teeth as Shirou also faded into the shadows, but Apachai stood up and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Apachai will go get the rest of the Masters, you go after Shirou!"

Miu nodded at him and sprinted off into the forest after Shirou. Apachai stood there for a moment, then fell to the ground and grew an air of depression. "Lying feels so bad!"

Shigure came from the water and patted Apachai on the shoulder, nodding in sympathy.

Shirou panted heavily, somehow stumbling through the pitch black forest. He had to catch up to Fuji-nee, he had to save her! He didn't care if he wasn't strong enough, he didn't care if he burned his life away, he didn't care if this whole island burned, but he had to save Fuji-nee!

"Ha...Guh!" He tripped on a log and fell into a ravine. Only his training with Koetsuji-sensei let him roll upright and get right back to running. This was nothing, he could easily plow through this damn island. The darkness parted before him, and Shirou saw a cliff. He looked down and saw only darkness, but just across the way he could see the forest start up again, only eight meters. He couldn't jump it, but Shirou didn't care. He would make it no matter what.

"Wait, Shirou!" Shirou glanced at Miu but ignored her. He backed up and put his foot on a buried rock, ready to push off and sprint up to the lip of the cliff. "Wait!" Shirou tensed and took his first step, only a dozen more to the edge. He had to build up enough speed to hopefully make it to the other side. He would climb up the rocks after he caught a vine or something. "I said WAIT!" Shirou collapsed to the ground, head ringing from the fury powered kick.

Miu stood over him, her upraised fist shaking and eyebrows twitching. "You IDIOT! I told you to wait!" She heaved a sigh and lowered her hand. "I know you're worried, but you can't just run blindly across the island trying to find her." She reached down to Shirou, giving him a half-smile. "Don't worry, Apachai already went and got the Masters, and they're searching the island for her as well. They will surely save Taiga-sensei."

Shirou batted the hand away and stood up as fast as he could. "That's not good enough! I have to find her; I have to save her! Why else would I be going through all of this training, dammit!" He punched a nearby tree as hard as he could, shattering the dry bark and making his fist bleed. He turned around and went further back, making to leap across the chasm again. "I know it took her this way, I just know! Now don't get in my way!" Sprinting full speed, he went right past Miu and jumped as far and hard as he could.

The darkness rushed up to meet him, a strange rushing silence filling his ears that was so different from the crackling flames of hell, but no less terrifying. Shirou grunted, and threw out his hand. It caught on a protruding branch with a mighty tug and he nearly dislocated his shoulder. Growling, Shirou clawed his way up the cliff, hand over hand and foot over foot.

Even his inability to see handholds wouldn't stop him, he simply shoved his fingers into the slim cracks in the rock and soft dirt, ignoring the blood and struggling still higher. He cursed himself for his weakness, knowing that every second made the trail colder. All of that time in the forest with Kousaka-sensei had paid off, his ability to spot the small signs of disturbance his only way to survive the hundreds of prepared traps. There was little evidence, but a big footprint here and there made the trail clear. He was surprised that whatever it was could leave so little indication of its passage, because it was huge and heavy enough to crack a tree in half at one point.

But Shirou would not fail here, he couldn't and he wouldn't.

As he finally reached the top of the cliff, he almost faltered when his hand didn't catch anything, finally above the line of the rock wall. Flailing for a grip, he felt something strong grasp his arm and pull. Still panting, Shirou looked up to see Miu smiling hesitantly at him and holding his hand. "I'm sorry that I told you to sit back and wait while your big sister was in trouble, Shirou. How about we search for her together."

Shirou caught his breath and nodded, shooting her a half smile and focusing on finding the trail. He spotted a couple of broken branches and confirmed that something heavy had snapped them off as it landed from a gigantic leap. He ran on, determined to find Taiga.

Miu watched him run and, even in the midst of the dark night searching desperately for a missing friend, tried to puzzle out Shirou. 'He really is a strong guy, he probably would have found his own way even without Ryozanpaku.' At the same time, she was worried about his single-mindedness. 'Can the Masters teach him to think in a situation like this?'

Shirou held up a hand, the signs he had noticed becoming more frequent. Deciding to give it a go, he found one of the broken branches and breathed deeply. Again, just like whenever he had a chance in his training with the Masters, he constructed his circuit as quickly as possible. The intense burn, like a flaming sword cutting down his back, made him hiss in pain, but Shirou ignored it and opened his eyes. Focusing on the branch, he reached down and touched it. "Trace. On." He whispered. Miu was overhead, trying to find her own evidence to follow.

The Structural Grasp reeled off information in his mind's eye, drawing the shape of the branch. But that wasn't enough for Shirou. It rarely happened when he practiced his magecraft over the years, almost never in fact, but sometimes he got a little bit more than just the basic structure. Sometimes, he managed to get things to fill that hollow form, things like history. Right now, that was what he focused on. He found nothing of interest, as only the image of a broken branch appeared in his mind. Shirou felt a simmering anger rise up.

Even now! Even after all of that work it wasn't enough! I'm WEAK!

The branch creaked under the weight of his grip, but Shirou wasn't done. He didn't care if he fried his spine, he didn't care if he was paralyzed, he just wanted to find his Fuji-nee! The image in his mind changed, information scrolling down it, new images flashing and strange feelings. Shirou grasped that with all of his willpower, searching for the history of the branch.

There!

He jumped up, calling to Miu. "We're close! This branch broke maybe three minutes ago!"

Miu landed next to him in a crouch, eyeing the surroundings. "Are you sure?"

Shirou was happy that she didn't ask him how he knew, and just nodded, "Positive."

Slowly, the two crept out, cautious now that their quarry was near. They didn't want it to run off again with Taiga.

After padding softly through the thick forest, Miu and Shirou froze. Miu from long honed instincts gained by travelling with her grandfather and constantly training at Ryozanpaku. Shirou from his recent spat of near death experiences courtesy of insane Masters.

"Groooaaaarrr!" The roar resounded through the forest, and something truly massive smashed aside a tree, stepping into a clearing across from Miu and Shirou. Taiga was dropped, unconscious, to the ground near the monster. Far taller than either of them, covered in shaggy fur and with a long, grimy mane of dark hair down its back, the beast appeared ape-like in its hunched over yet bipedal stance. A great aura, one of unbridled ferocity and uncontrolled anger pressed down on them both, Shirou practically falling to the ground at the feeling while Miu fell back a step, her experience failing her.

At seeing Taiga, though, something firmed up in Shirou. He straightened, getting into the stance that had been taught to him by his Masters. Yes, this is what he had trained for, to have the strength to save others. The fact that it was Fuji-nee merely increased his focus. "Miu, you get Fuji-nee out of here as fast as you can, I'll distract that thing."

Miu had felt aura's like this before, weighty ki's so great that even well trained mercenaries used to being surrounded by death would faint in fear. If she had to compare it, it would easily equal and maybe even exceed the Masters of Ryozanpaku. Her surprise at finding something so dangerous on the island was only matched by her surprise that Shirou was still standing. Even she was feeling weak at the knees. Wierdly, the aura felt familiar, but she couldn't quite place it. Before she could tell Shirou that he should run with Taiga while she distracted this thing, Shirou sprinted straight ahead, throwing himself at the foe.

It was swift, and it was brutal. Shirou was beaten to the ground with only a few hits, each so fast that Miu saw nothing whatsoever. The hits were not controlled, and they had no style whatsoever: they were attacks from a wild beast, some creature with such natural power that it could pound through anything without worry about technique. "Shirou!"

Miu ran over to Shirou, more worried about him than Taiga now. She reached him, still keeping an eye on where the creature growled threateningly over Taiga. Before she reached him, however, Shirou's hand shot up to grab a branch, breaking it in his efforts to stand. He struggled upright, staggering drunkenly but refusing to back down, still gripping the branch. She heard him murmur something, much like he had earlier while tracking, but she ignored that to reach out and grab his shoulder. "Shirou! You need to stay back! I'll try and get through to escape with Taiga, but I can't run with the both of you!" Honestly, she wasn't sure of her chances against that thing, but that wouldn't stop her. She would find some way to succeed.

Shirou ignored her completely, standin hunched over and glaring challengingly at the beast. A low growl rumbled in his throat, and for a second, Miu didn't recognize this animalistic, dangerous person before her. He was bloody, and beaten, but that wasn't what had changed. Normally, he had nothing but a steely determination in his eyes, a will to go on strong enough that it didn't even bend in the face of the hellish training at Ryozanpaku. Now there was something else, a burning fire and smoky skies and charred death, a hellscape that seemed to find a home in those eyes.

Miu froze, unable to get the momentary image out of her mind. The eyes just burned into her soul, an image so alien that she couldn't get rid of it.

Shirou stalked past her, his growl growing into a roar. "Give! Back! FUJI-NEE!" He charged, running as fast as he possibly could and crashing through the underbrush. He raised the thick branch he had snapped from a tree and reinforced with magecraft, swinging with all of his might at the shaggy dark form that towered over him without moving.

The monster opened its mouth, releasing a steamy breath that curled around its eyes. With lightning like swiftness, it struck, shattering the branch with a sound like a wrecking ball and continuing on to Shirou. But Shirou took the blow solidly on his arms and slammed backwards into a tree, still standing. The monster cocked its head, glancing at its hand, before it released a rumbling growl that rose and fell. Shirou charged again, and Miu shook herself free of the stunned stupor that had taken hold of her. "Stop, Shirou!" she cried. Realizing her cry would have no effect before she voiced it, Miu leaped into action. In his blind rush, filled with anger or simple protective panic, Shirou moved through the forest without grace, falling back on whatever natural skill had been instilled within him by the Masters but otherwise running through and over any obstacles.

Miu was far more levelheaded in her efforts, going above the entangling choke of branches and taking to higher and clearer routes. She was, however, to late to catch Shirou before he got within reach of the monster. Angling herself accordingly, Miu maneuvered such that when Shirou got thrown back by a snap kick, she caught him and bled off most of the momentum in a tumble. By that time, Shirou was so blind to his surroundings that he treated her like just another tree trunk, pushing away and renewing his assault immediately. Miu muttered something rather shocking that she had picked up from the mercenaries that her Grandfather regularly crushed on their travels, and got up quickly. This time, she caught Shirou before he could get more than a few paces away from her.

In the midst of struggling to control him, she growled, "Snap out of it Shirou!" Twisting, she threw him to the ground. The impact barely phased Shirou, who glared at her and moved to get up. "Nuh-uh!" she snarled. Swiftly, Miu brought her foot down on one of Shirou's shoulders and forced him to the ground. "You need to calm down and think! I'll-"

The creature had stalked forward as the two struggled, and took advantage of Miu's distraction with completely unexpected stealth. All Shirou saw was another black blur and Miu disappeared mid-word, to be replaced with the nightmare visage of whatever he was fighting. Without pause, Shirou roared wordlessly and swung another reinforced stick upwards. It collided almost as an afterthought with a massive arm, which swept Shirou up and threw him across the clearing and further from Taiga.

Now twice as fearful, and thus twice as angry, Shirou shot up and spat blood. Yet another charge met with zero success.

Again and again, Shirou charged at the monolithic shadow, grabbing random branches and charging in, finding a new one after each shattered ineffectually. After a while, he stopped using the branches and limited skill he had with weapons and simply moved in with the Martial Arts taught to him by the Masters at Ryozanpaku. Throws, karate strikes, elbows, knees, kicks. He tried it all, but nothing got through.

Still, he got up to charge blindly in again, roaring every time he stood.

His skin began to open, his body started to break, and his blood stained the clearing, but still Shirou attacked. Nearby, unable to move with her body inexplicably paralyzed, Miu couldn't tear her eyes away. She hated it, to watch Shirou tear himself apart, smashing his body against an immovable wall without stopping. And she couldn't manage anything to stop it: not even a scream.

Finally, after a countless number of attacks, Shirou paused, panting. He stumbled against a tree, doing his best to keep standing and relying on the solid wood to stay up. At least one of his arms was broken, and maybe even a rib, but he ignored it. One of his legs was undoubtedly cracked somewhere along its length, but the pain had become to prevalent for him to pinpoint the source. He glared at the monster, unable to find a way to get past, but refusing to give up.

He made to stagger forwards, pain shooting through his whole body but his mouth roaring a defiant challenge. "Goddamit you bastaaaard!" But even as he moved forwards into a jerky run, the monster reached down and grabbed Taiga. Eyes widening, Shirou reached forwards, run getting steadier despite his cracked bones and mind-numbing pain. His nerves burned from the force of his haphazard Reinforcements, his joints creaked from the abuse, and he could barely see out of one eye, but still his legs regained their equilibrium and moved faster than they ever had before.

It wasn't enough, and the monster leapt back into the darkness, dissappearing like it was never there. "No! NO!" Shirou collapsed to one knee, hand reaching outwards. The last push by his legs had been to much, consuming the last of his energy that had already been burnt by a day of training and the endless sprint through the forest. "no..." He pitched forwards, mouth colliding with the dirt and leaves and making it hard to breath.

Shirou tried to struggle back to his knees, but he couldn't manage it. Despite his body and mind struggling in unison, he couldn't do it. Tears gathered in his eyes, hot tears of helpless rage and fury. A furious self-hatred burned.

'I'm still helpless, still unable to save anyone. I might as well have died in that fire, for all the good I've done. Is this all that my efforts amount too?'

"Damn, kid. You look like shit." Shirou looked up, vision blurry and unfocused. He could just make out the form of Sakaki, standing over him with a look of extreme concern, and maybe just a hint of pain.

Shirou gasped, forcing out words. He couldn't do this, he still wasn't strong enough, but maybe his Masters could. "Sa-...Sakaki...p-please. Save Fuji-nee..! Please...!"

Sakaki knelt, patting Shirou on the shoulder. "You done good, kid. You just sit back, this one's for the Masters to take care of."

Shirou closed his eyes, his body finally giving out, and he knew no more.

"What the hell Elder! Did you have to go that hard on the kid!" Sakaki raged, eyes wide and glaring and shirt slowly tearing under the force of his clenching and unclenching muscles. Sakaki looked a second away from ripping into the Elder with everything he had.

The old man held up a hand, face not quite grim but close enough. "Wait, Sakaki. You must hear the explanation from Akisame. It was not my idea, but I find myself agreeing with his reasoning."

Sakaki grit his teeth, the grinding audible, but finally grunted and backed down. "Fine, but if I don't like the reason we might just find out who the strongest in the dojo is." Though Sakaki was no longer chomping at the bit, his stance was still tense and about to burst.

"Ho ho! Are you worried about our Disciple, Sakaki?" Sakaki blinked and then looked away from the Elder.

He roared out a hasty response. "N-no! I just don't think it's right for a Master to beat on his Disciple for no reason is all!"

Miu blinked, then finally put together the pieces. When the Elder had first jumped into the clearing, carrying Taiga, she had merely watched in confusion as he tapped in a couple of places. When she found herself able to move, she stood and rushed over to check on Shirou. Now, she stood up sharply as it all came together. She blinked again, then marched right up to her grandfather. She glared and released her anger at him. "Grandfatheeerr. If you don't have a reeeaaaallly good explanation for this I will never forgive you. I might not forgive you even if you do have a good explanation."

Hayato Furinji, the Invincible Superman, died a little on the inside, but he couldn't let his granddaughter know that. "O-oh. Just wait a second Miu, I was just following Akisame on this."

The aforementioned man walked into the clearing, sighing. "My my, it seems that I will be facing the inquisition on my own."

Sakaki immediately forgot all awkwardness and bristled again. "Alright, Akisame, now why did we really need to do this? And don't give me any bullshit about training the kid to face his fears, he obviously didn't need that."

Apachai poked Shirou off to the side while Shigure worked to bandage him. "Apapapapa. Not even I beat him up this badly." Shigure slowly nodded in agreement.

Akisame sighed again, but nodded in acquiesence. Ma jumped down from a tree and walked over to Shirou, helping to check him over. Akisame glanced over but quickly turned back. "Well, I'm sure you have all noticed Shirou's tendency to take on all of his problems on his own, right?"

Ma nodded over Shirou and Sakaki grunted an affirmative. The Elder watched everyone and Miu thought a bit before nodding. Apachai put a finger to his mouth and looked confused, before finally hitting his fist in his palm and nodding vigorously. Shigure slowly nodded as well. Taiga snored in a corner of the clearing, fast asleep.

Akisame waited for everyone to think it over then got on with his reasoning. "It's more than that, really. Shirou has, for what reason I am not sure, a deep seated aversion to saddling others with his problems. That actually extends over to us Masters. I am slightly surprised that he joined our dojo and asked for our help in the first place." Ma finished pouring something down Shirou's throat, and Shirou twitched a bit before settling down and letting out his own loud snore. The tension in the clearing dropped another notch at that.

"I did this because Shirou needed to realize that he cannot triumph over every obstacle on his own. It is good that he wishes to do so, but we are his Masters for a reason. Our duty is to train him so that he can solve his own problems one day, but we cannot do that if he refuses to ask for help. If he had not learned this lesson now, then it is possible that we would be too late to teach him. We at Ryozanpaku have many powerful enemies, and it would be just like Shirou to try and fight them on his own to help us, even though he would not be able too."

Sakaki rocked back on his feet after the silence had stretched on for half a minute. He whistled. "So that's the reason you had the Elder kidnap his adopted sister, race off through the forest, beat him half to death, and then escape and ultimately make our Disciple fail?"

At Akisame's nod, Sakaki rushed forward with blinding speed, his punch meeting Akisame's own block. The two crashed off through the forest, trees shattering and bushes losing all of their leaves in an instant under the flurry of blows. Everyone else in the clearing turned to the Elder, who watched the two Master martial artists smash their way across the island. Miu glared at him, and he sighed. "Sometimes, Miu, when two men disagree they have to fight it out. They will be done by morning."

Miu kicked him in the shin, then 'hmphed' and turned away to go help take care of Shirou. She called back over her shoulder, "Well, Grandfather, when a grandaughter disagrees with her grandfather she gives him the cold shoulder."

Ma stood on a tree branch and gently patted the Elder's shoulder as the 80+ year old martial artist dropped his head and quietly cried.

Couldn't save anyone, wouldn't save anyone, to afraid, to weak, to helpless, didn't save anyone.

Shirou gasped, drawing in a breath so quickly he choked on the air.

"Easy there, Shirou, just slow down and breath." Ma pushed Shirou back down, checking to make sure the bandages hadn't been loosened. Shirou took a second to calm down, then the pain lanced through his body again.

"Guh!" Shirou grunted, his body reflexively tensing at the phantom stabbing but only increasing the pain. A needle darted into his neck and Shirou felt his body instantly relax back against the wooden floor. The lessening of the pain was a little like going from freezing snow to a warm bath, simultaneously shocking and calming.

He let his body settle for a while, trying to catalogue the damage and recall what had happened the night before. His right arm was incredibly stiff, apparently in a cast of some sort, and he had trouble breathing with the wrappings on his chest. Even his jaw was hard to move under all of the dressings. He wasn't entirely sure, but he felt like he might have broken an ankle stumbling around after the giant shadow...

Giant shadow! "Fuji-nee!" Shirou tried to sit up again, but Ma placed another hand on his chest.

Sakaki leaned against the wall nearby, sporting a black eye and one of his many replacement jackets. "She's just fine, Shirou."

A loud shout rang through the little wooden house, "Shirou-kun is awake!" Rapid thumping approached the room Shirou lay in, accompanied by a slowly increasing yell, "Shhhiiiiiirrrrooooouuuuu-kkkuuuuuuunnnnn!" The sliding door slammed open with a wall shattering bang, and Taiga zoomed through the opening to hug Shirou.

"Gwaaahh! F-Fuji-nee, that hurts!" Shirou flailed uselessly in her grip, unable to move for the pain yet unable to stop struggling for the same reason. "Get off Fuji-nee!"

Taiga ignored him, sweeping him back and forth in her exuberance. "I was so worried when I saw you! It was even worse than when Apachai spars with you, it was so horrible!" She shot a heated glare over Shirou's shoulder at the Masters in her view, then went back to smothering Shirou with her hug.

Shirou was reduced to shouting incoherently from the pain. "Gyaaaa!"

After a while, Taiga sat back and wiped her eyes. Shirou stopped yelling and sighed, glancing away from her and lifting a hand to cover his face. "Fuji-nee, do you always have to act so childishly?"

Taiga smiled and bopped him on the head, then stood up proudly and nodded sharply. "Hmph. Of course I do, Shirou-kun! You're always so busy working and trying to be responsible that if I didn't do that you'd end up all gloomy and boring!"

Shirou faced her and smiled, but it slowly turned into something more serious, something ironclad. "Fuji-nee, I swear that I will become strong enough to protect you no matter what. I won't ever let you get into a situation like that again."

Taiga scowled and kicked him in the side. "Hey now, that's exactly what I'm talking about. You need to laugh more!"

Shirou rubbed his smarting stomach and grumbled. "Stupid Fuji-nee. I try to be serious and she kicks me."

*Whack* Taiga sniffed imperiously and walked out. "And don't you forget it."

Sighing and rubbing his head, which had a new ache on top of all the others, Shirou fell back against the pillow and stared resolutely at the ceiling. He knew, somehow, that all of his Masters were listening from around the room. Probably all the times they eavesdropped on him during training. He huffed a laugh and pushed down the pain of his broken ribs and stretched cuts. Reinforced splinters really were like shrapnel. "Masters, you have way to much free time."

He smiled and turned his head to face Sakaki, who sported a few bruises in addition to his black eye. He struggled upright, shrugging off Ma's protests, and got in a position where he could give a half bow. "Thank you, Sakaki-sensei, for saving Fuji-nee." He paused, and blinked. "I...I really don't know what I would do without her."

Breathing deeply, he turned to Akisame, who was sitting at one of the doors that opened to the outside, quietly observing the mountainous island. "I am sorry that I could not understand your lesson from the other day, Koetsuji-sensei. But I would like to thank you for what you tried to teach me and say that I finally understand what you wanted me to learn."

He continued to face Akisame, but he pitched his voice to address the whole room and all of his Masters. "I want to thank you all for going to so much trouble to train me in Martial Arts, and I want to say that I will be sure to come to you all for help whenever I cannot solve a problem on my own."

Akisame imperceptibly relaxed, and Sakaki let out a slow breath, looking away from his Disciple. He spoke up, "Hey now, brat, don't give me all the credit. Akisame worked pretty hard to get your big sister back as well."

The doorway that Taiga had left through slid open and the Elder loomed through it. "Ho ho. Sakaki don't tell me-"

A beer bottle shot through the air and cut the Elder off, while Sakaki stalked away in the opposite direction. "Don't even think about it old man."

Shirou made a quiet vow as he watched his Masters get back to their usual antics. 'I will get as strong as they are,' he silently vowed to himself. 'I will work until I can save everyone with my own hands. That is all I can do.'

Akisame turned to face Shirou, his eyes small lasers of yellow light. "Shirou, I believe that you are ready for technique training."

The whites of his eyes showing clearly, Shirou gulped. That couldn't be good.

A/N: So...how do beta's work? I would really like one, because I have about 30k words written beyond this point, but I'm unsatisfied. I'm putting up this chapter even though the Sakura and Miu scene, which is crazy important, isn't...getting the point across maybe. Or maybe it's to blunt. And sorry for taking so long, but that Sakura and Miu scene was a bitch to get down on paper.

Anyways, here comes the plot train. It should hit hard and fast, and mostly differently from Kenichi's story. Same characters, different settings and ideals, lead to different paths for people.

Writing a crossover is a lot like playing different routes for a visual novel, except that whatever I say goes.

Comments, questions? R/R and all that. Thanks for the previous ones, they always make me think.

Oh yeah, and this title isn't a reference to Kanye's song, cause I titled it before his album came out.