Disclaimer: Again, I don't own Fate, as much as I wish it.
"Ohhhhh, poor Shirou!" Taiga lamented. "My poor ward! Why didn't you tell me that this was the case?"
Sakura was brutally, gloomily silent. Rin was smirking. Shirou was puzzled. Ilya was curled on the floor, clutching her belly and moaning about it eating too much rice.
He had just arrived home when Taiga had ambushed him and engulfed him into a crushing embrace. "Tell you what?" Shirou managed, pulling himself out of her octopus-like grip.
"That Saber had amnesia!" she wailed. "No wonder you two aren't talking!"
"Oh... Well... Um..." He turned to Rin. She was still grinning, and Shirou it was her who had said something. Something... Untruthful. He frowned. He didn't like lying.
Rin smiled, ignoring Shirou's knowing glare. "Yes, I told them about Saber's injury lat year," Rin lied. "The one that damaged her memory and forced her to go home! I know it upset you, but it wasn't really fair to keep it from Fujimura-sensei for so long." She was a snake, Shirou was sure.
"Mmm hmm!" Taiga said, obliviously agreeing with Rin. "You should have told me! It's not fair leaving me out of the loop."
Shirou began grinding his teeth. "I apologize..." he managed, clinging to Rin's lie. It made more sense then the truth, at least. "You know... how difficult it is..." he supplied, lamely.
"Well I know now, so it's okay!" Taiga chirped. "It's forgiven."
"I... I'm happy that Saber is back, Sempai," Sakura managed. Her tone betrayed her real feelings on the matter, leaving Shirou unable to meet her eyes. He wasn't totally oblivious to her affection, and couldn't help feel bad for her. He couldn't really return her affection, and he had hoped she had been oblivious to his closeness with Saber. Apparently not... If Fuji-nee could put two and two together, so could Sakura. "I'll be leaving now. I've put away a bento for you tomorrow, if you need it. Good night."
"I'm leaving as well!" Taiga announced. "Good night, Shirou, Rin!" The two exited together, leaving Rin, Shirou, and Ilya to themselves. Shirou immediately turned to Rin, and shot her another death-glare. Rin ignored it.
"I'm sorry about the lie, but this is less awkward then the confusion it will cause if they try talking to her."
"There will still be confusion if they try to talk to her," Shirou argued. "What if Fuji-nee wants to talk about the amnesia or something?"
"She might," Rin admitted, "but I think she's more likely to keep her distance with that topic."
He said nothing to say to that. Sakura and Fuji-nee might be less reluctant to confront Arturia about the past, knowing that she wouldn't remember them. He crossed his arms, and sighed. Might as well get down to business. "...So I spoke to Arturia. On my way home."
Rin grinned, arcing her eyebrow in a knowing look. "Oh? Such a player. You move quickly."
Shirou ignored her. "She seems..." he stopped, not quite sure how to phrase his feelings after his earlier encounter. "She doesn't just look like Saber," he managed. "She talks like her too. Same mannerisms! And after talking to her, I feel more of Saber in there. It's not a coincidence."
His hands gripped his knees hard. "So I guess my question is," he continued, "is it possible that this is Saber? Reincarnated? Is that possible"
"Baka," Rin mumbled. "Reincarnation. That has been my suspicion since she arrived two days ago... Shirou, she has the same prana-aura as Saber did. Well, not entirely the same, because she's human, and definitely not a servant. But the base patterns were the same, and that, you should know-"
"The Einzberns knew lots about reincarnation!" Ilya chirped suddenly, forcing herself into the conversation. Her snow white hair swished behind her, as she pulled her self from her incline on the floor. Up until now the girl had been listening quietly while nursing her 'tummy ache.' Rin huffed, upset that she was interrupted, but allowed Ilya to continue. "Lots of different things can happen to a soul when someone dies. Sometimes they linger, sometimes they ascend, like heroic souls do! A lot of souls get reborn into something else, though."
Ilya rocked back and forth, and let loose a small gasp of gas while clutching her belly before continuing. "The Einzberns used what they knew to track reborn souls of mages."
Rin nodded. "The soul of a mage would be able to take their magical talent from one life to the next. By finding a mages rebirth, they could bring their magical talent to the fold."
"Yep!" Ilya chirped, her grin blossoming arrogantly. "Though they don't do it much anymore. Soul tracking is hard, and today, there are easier ways of finding people who can do magic."
"But... You're saying this thing with Saber could be something natural," Shirou offered, somewhat hopeful. He liked the idea that heaven or destiny or whatever was tossing him a bone, and wanted to cling to it.
"Maybe," replied Ilya, her tone uncertain. "But she looks the same, and sounds the same, and even has close name! That's WEIRD, Shirou. Tracking a reborn soul is supposed to be hard because the reborn person is completely different from who they were before. Saber's all the same and that's not right."
"Ilya is right, Shirou," agreed Rin. "If this is a reincarnation, I don't think it's a natural one. For so many qualities of a person's last life to be retained here, there must be powerful magics at work. Maybe another mage. Or worse..." Rin trailed off, thinking of what sort of magical entity or force would be needed to do something like that. She recalled a Church story told to her by Kirei, of a murderous Vampire Apostle that would reincarnate itself in a new host every time it was slain, and couldn't help but shiver.
"But Saber was a Heroic Soul," Shirou protested, part of him unwilling to admit something sinister might be at play. "Maybe the rules for that sort of things are different."
"That could be it," Rin nodded. "But it used to be the only way to summon a heroic soul into the world was during the Holy Grail War." She watched Shirou's eyes fall into his lap disappointed. She felt rotten, like she had kicked a puppy. "I'm not saying something evil is going on here. It could be nothing, but we should be on our guard just in case."
Shirou growled, a bit discouraged with that news. Nothing could come easy, could it? "You're right, Tohsaka," he sighed. He stood up, and crossed his arms, looking out the window sternly. "Still... You've convinced me that I can't stay away. That's really Saber there, and if there's something bad going on..." He trailed off, but his eyes were as stern as steel. Saber...
Taiga hummed happily as she left for the night. She was pleased to finally have some answers.
While she didn't initially approve of the girl when she had met her, nor the strange living arrangements Saber had arranged with Shirou at the time, she grew to like the strange foreigner and the effect she had an Shirou. Her disappearance worried Taiga immensely. The worst part was nobody would tell her anything about what happened (not even the little brat Ilya would betray the secret, even for candy).
Also, Saber had become a close part of what Taiga called the 'meal circle,' the little impromptu family Shirou had assembled for himself that met during the morning and evening to eat. Even if it wasn't a real family, she couldn't help but have it feel like one. Her absence seemed to affect Shirou, and Shirou's muddy moods infected everyone else in return. Their 'family' felt fractured, as a result.
But now she finally had some clarity into what happened. Saber was injured, and had suffered a head injury and had to go home - wherever that was - and receive treatment. And now she was back, but couldn't remember anyone. That's why Shirou was so heartbroken - Saber couldn't remember him. It all made sense.
It was nice to even know the girl had a real name - she had thought Saber was a strange name, even for a foreigner. Arturia felt strange as well, but it seemed a bit more down to earth.
So the girl had no memory of any of them anymore? No memory of Shirou? Well, that just wouldn't do. Saber made Shirou happy, and he was going to be happy again, damn it.
She'd have to take matters to his own hand and get them back together. It had been awhile since she had played matchmaker, but Saber's heart will remember the true way, all with Fujimura-sensei's help!
She couldn't help herself, and let loose a booming, merry laugh into the evening sky.
Author's notes: In which I establish some long range plans with this story.
I started delving into the rules of the Nasuverse with the reincarnation discussion, and mostly decided to say 'fuck it, i be making this shit up.' Too complicated to stay perfectly canon. I think I'm going to not touch that stuff too much, but at least it helps me with story planning. I did make a reference to Roa, though, who is from Tsukihime.
also,
ohohoho, Taiga is so unbelievably fun to write. I don't know why I decided she'd become such a romantic. Hopefully it doesn't seem like an unnatural progression of her character after the anime, but I like the idea that she approved of Saber over time and wants to help.
