Disclaimer: I still don't own any of the characters. But i'm working on it! I'm saving money to get at least my favorites from Type-Moon. And there's really no way i'll ever be able to own Someday, not even if i marry Chad Kroeger. -sad face-

Recap: While Sakura, Fuji-nee and Illya went off shopping, Shirou found himself for the first time in a long time by himself. After he went to Tohsaka's for research, since Fuji-nee volunteered to take Illya at her house over night, he didn't have to go home straight away. After he finished work, he went on a detour and found himself facing two drunk men harassing a woman. His inner desire for justice took over and saved the woman, thinking of Kiritsugu at the end of the day.

Chapter 6

- Someday –

Sunday was gone as soon as it came. Sunday was always the only day when I could sleep in, because neither Fuji-nee nor Sakura came in the morning. I made my point loud and clear that at least Sunday mornings, Sakura should stay at home and catch up on her sleep. Even Fuji-nee – who was the biggest fan of Sakura's cooking – agreed with me. Therefore, Sundays I only got to see them at dinner, which I usually provided.

I thought Illya would stay until dinner to come along with Fuji-nee, but she came home around lunch by herself.

"You walked from Fuji-nee's to here all by yourself?" I asked her, not helping to feel slightly worried. She lived pretty far from my house.

She nodded, looking very proud. "Illya knows her way around town!"

"I thought you would wait until dinner to come back," I said and smiled down at her.

She shook her head vehemently, her snow-white locks dancing merrily around her face. "I missed you, Onii-chan!" she said and went ahead to hug me around my waist, since her head barely reached my chest.

I rubbed her upper back and patted her head. "I missed you too, Illya. The house is really empty without you here."

I felt her body shake slightly and I guessed she giggled, but she didn't say anything. We stayed like that for quite a while until she raised her pretty red eyes to meet mine and asked me in her sweetest voice, "What's for dinner, Onii-chan?"

"I don't know for sure..." I trailed off and had an idea, "but I have an idea."

"What are you going to make?" she asked me, still holding onto my waist.

I gave her a knowing smile. "It's a surprise," I said vaguely.

Ilya tilted her head to the side slightly in confusion. "Can Ilya know what the surprise is?"

"No," I said, mock scolding her for her nosiness, "what if the surprise is for Ilya?"

She jumped up slightly in surprise and her eyes widened. She let go of my waist and used her now-free hands to cover her ears. "Then Ilya shouldn't know what it is!" she said and literally ran in the other room.

I bit the inside of my cheek so that I wouldn't laugh out loud at her. I made her favorite dish for dinner with some other options for Sakura and Fuji-nee, since neither were a big fan of the Japanese influenced German cuisine Ilya liked.

Even though Sakura loved to cook, I could tell she enjoyed it when I did it too, though I wasn't sure if it was because she liked the food, or she liked the fact that she doesn't have to bother with this chore once a week, or both. Either way, I was happy as long as these three people around me were happy, particularly Sakura and Ilya. Fuji-nee was content with a nice, warm meal, especially that she couldn't provide one for herself.

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Three weeks have passed in the same routine that we've established. Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays I worked until late, so we couldn't have dinner together. More so, Wednesday morning – along with Friday morning – Sakura had archery club, so that was my cue to make breakfast for me and Ilya. Wednesdays were particularly long days, since I couldn't see Sakura or Fuji-nee and I hardly spent time with Ilya at all because I worked. The days I could do research on were Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays before I went off to work.

One of the good parts about this was that because Fuji-nee understood the importance of this research project I was working so hard on, she offered to take Ilya home with her on Saturdays – she couldn't do it any other day because she was at school for a good part of the day every weekday. Ilya said she didn't mind, but I felt guilty for neglecting her.

Every time I would come back home and she would take me in her embrace I could feel that she really missed me and I was wondering if it was because she felt lonely without me. The third Sunday after this routine started, I prompted this subject. It was late, close to bedtime, but I felt I couldn't ignore this matter any further.

"Ilya, are you all right being some much time by yourself?"

"I miss you a lot when you're not home," she pouted, though it looked cute.

"Do you feel lonely when you're not home?" I frowned at her, wondering how I could switch my schedule around to be able to spend more time with her. I would have to give up some days researching…

Ilya surprised me by shaking her head, her snow-white locks dancing from side to side. "Ilya is used to staying home by myself. I don't mind that. I mind not seeing Onii-san," she said and I eased up a little.

I got on one knee to be on the same height with her and smiled. "Well then, how about we take a day off?"

"A day off?" she asked me, confused and titled her head to the side slightly as she always did when she felt that way.

"Yeah. How about this Saturday I don't go to Tohsaka's and I take the day off of work and we'll go do something fun. Maybe go to an amusement park?" I prompted and raised my eyebrows at her.

Ilya's face lit up and she smiled widely. "Can we do that, Onii-san?"

"Of course! We can even bring Sakura along, if you want," I said, feeling that she should be spending more time in a girl presence than she was.

She nodded vehemently and I felt a rush of affection toward her. She and Sakura have become very close since Fuji-nee and I adopted her. This made the feel of a family even more real to me. "And then, on Sunday, we'll have the whole day to ourselves until dinner," I said and she nodded, grinning.

"Then it's settled. Now, off to bed you go, it's close to your bedtime," I pushed her gently in the direction of the door.

"Okay. Good night, Onii-chan!" she skipped pleasantly toward out of the kitchen and toward her room. I smiled in her direction and thought how she filled my life after the Grail War ended and how very lucky I was that she accepted me as her brother.

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Tuesday morning I woke up with a start. The sun was beating down my window and onto my face in the habitual after-spring wake-up call. Just as I opened my eyes, my face broke into a grin and got up without any further ado, despite my going to bed late the other night. Today was new day for research.

The thought alone made me more energetic than I remember being in a long time. As I did my morning routine silently – not to wake up Ilya, because I got up earlier than I usually do – I thought about these three weeks of research that lead to nothing so far. That is, until Saturday. I recalled the conversation perfectly, letting it feed me with strength and hope for more today.

"Shirou," I looked up to meet Tohsaka's blue eyes. Unlike how they usually were, either expressionless or reserved, now they had a strange gleam of shock combined with excitement.

I was taken aback by that look, but recovered quickly. "What is it?" I asked, wanting to know the reason behind that look. Should I dare to hope? I remember thinking.

"Do you know what Third Magic is, Shirou?" she asked me, and I shook my head. That's wasn't exactly what I expected. When I told her that, she turned the book she was reading toward me and pointed where I should start reading. I read the paragraph about Third Magic that she pointed at, stopped to stare at the period sign and read again, in case I didn't see it right. Third Magic, also referred to as Heaven's Feel, is the miracle that allows the materialization of the soul.

"Materialization of the soul…" my voice was nothing but a mere whisper. I couldn't believe what I was reading. If there was a way to materialize the soul, then—

"Heaven's Feel is another name for the Holy Grail War," Tohsaka said, interrupting my internal celebration. "The War was started in the first place because the Einzbern family wanted to acquire the Third Magic after they long lost it." Her lips were curved into a small smile and I could've swore I saw a gleam of triumph there.

I frowned, not quite understanding. "I knew the Grail had the power to keep Saber in this world at that time, when she was still here. How would this help me now? The Grail Wars are over."

Tohsaka shook her head, her blue eyes ablaze as she tried to explain. "The Holy Grail is not the only way Third Magic shows itself. We will have to look more into it."

"But Tohsaka," I said, grinning despite myself, "if we can materialize a soul that isn't in this world anymore, then we can summon it back here to begin with." I waited for her to confirm my conclusion.

She allowed herself a shrug, but the smile was still in place. "We might, there is actually a chance. But remember, Shirou," her face be came serious again, "Third Magic has been lost for more than a 1000 years. I'm not certain we will be able to find anything. I don't even know if the Tohsaka family goes back that far…" she trailed off, but I shook my head, not letting anything to dampen my high spirits.

"No, but we'll keep looking," I said, confidently and she smiled her secret smile at me.

As I got dressed and made my bed, that sentence kept playing in my head over and over. Third Magic is the miracle that allows the materialization of the soul. Materialization of the soul. I was positive that even if the knowledge has been lost long ago, with the Holy Grail War it surely resurfaced back. The Einzbern family found a way to make Third Magic into something tangible. Even Tohsaka said that the Grail isn't the only way Third Magic is used.

Third Magic was the thing that I thought about the most yesterday until late in the night, the thing that made me forget even about sleep. Third Magic was the first trace of hope I had since Tohsaka and I started researching and just that small hope made me keep going. I was unusually anxious to get to Tohsaka's after school to look more into it.

I sighed, and told myself I should take things slowly. Right now it was morning, and Ilya wasn't up yet and because I had more than enough time for it, I decided to fix breakfast myself for the four of us. I was just about finish when the doorbell rang, signaling Sakura's arrival.

"Good morning, Senpai," she made the polite gesture to bow as it was custom when one met somebody older than they. I told Sakura it wasn't necessary to do this, but I couldn't break her of her habit around me. She couldn't help that she was extremely polite.

"Good morning, Sakura," I said, smiling at my not-sister. My tone sounded cheerful to my ears and I briefly wondered when was the last time it did.

Sakura noted immediately the change. "Senpai seems to be in a very good mood today," she cocked her head to the side inquiringly. I shrugged, trying to be nonchalant.

I flashed Sakura a grin, but didn't comment on her inquiry. "I hope you're hungry, I fixed breakfast."

I was hoping she would be happy, but instead her expression changed to confused and a little panicked. "Am I late? Is that why Senpai had to fix it by himself?" she checked her wrist watch, but I knew she would see that she was exactly on time, like every other morning.

I took her wrist away from her gaze and held it gently in my hands. "I fixed breakfast because I wanted to. Aren't you happy that you get to take a break? I was hoping you would be."

Her cheeks flushed the tiniest bit and she looked at her wrist where I held her. Sensing that maybe she was uncomfortable with the closeness, I let her go. "N-no, Senpai, I appreciate your help. Thank you," she flashed me a smile.

Fuji-nee arrived not much later, but late enough for her not to enjoy my breakfast as she would have liked to. She praised me for making breakfast this morning and on how good it was, but they were cut short when she looked at her watch.

"Sorry, Shirou, I have to go, my class it taking a test today and I have to be there early to get everything ready," she said, running through the words like the wind. She quickly finished the rest that was on her plate with a speed that I always thought was inhuman, took her bag and almost literally flew out the door in her haste.

Sakura, Ilya and I were left in the dining room, looking the door in wonder. I personally imagined her leaving a trail of fire behind her and I had to bite the inside of my check not to start laughing.

I checked the clock on my wall and mentally noted we had 15 minutes to finish and get ready. Soon enough we ate the last remains of breakfast, took all the dirty dishes to the sink – Ilya always did them in the morning, since I had to go to school – and we were on our way.

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We were close to the Tohsaka mansion now, and because of my excitement that has been building up since Saturday, I could hardly stand to walk calmly up the steps toward the front entrance and not run all the way up to the library and start reading. But it wouldn't be very polite, nor would it be necessary: we were there.

As I walked up the stairs, I went over the terms that I wanted to look more into, making sure I didn't miss any of the ones that caught my attention in the past three weeks: Third Magic, Akasha and Throne of Heroes, the only things that had any reference to my goal.

I looked at Tohsaka from the corner of my eye and saw that she still had that strange gleam from Saturday, when she told me about Third Magic. I wondered why that was, since she grudgily accepted to help me, now it almost seemed like she was eager to find the truth. I was sure that before, she only helped me to prove me that I was wrong in my assumptions quicker and have the satisfaction of telling me "I told you so" once she did. Now it seems she genuinely wanted to help me.

When we arrived at the library, and more specifically at our study table, I was surprised to find that there were a few books opened and scattered around it already.

"Have you been researching in your own time?" I raised my eyebrow at her.

Tohsaka nodded. "I looked more into Third Magic after you left Saturday and Sunday."

"Sunday?" I asked incredulously, wanting to know what has gotten into her. "I thought you said you don't want to spend your entire weekend locked up in the library," I reminded her, wondering if she even remembered telling me that.

"That was before I found out about this," I waved a thin book in leather binding in my face. The book seemed in much better condition than the others we looked into and I wondered if it was newer or it was just cared for a lot better. "Miracles of Magic. I read more about Third Magic in here."

"What did you find?" I asked her, my voice sounding overly eager in my ears, but I didn't care.

"Quite a bit," Tohsaka said and my heart leaped, "but still not enough. Even so, now that I know what I should be looking for, it wasn't so hard to get more information on what we need." I listened intently, thinking that after three weeks it was about time to come on some leads. Tohsaka locked eyes with me as she explained. "To perform Third Magic, I would have to become a True Magus, and to become one, I would have to have special training, as well as a considerable amount of prana—"

"Prana?" I asked, using the unfamiliar term.

She frowned slightly at the interruption. "The power source to make miracles happen."

"But you said mana—"

This time it was my turn to be interrupted. "I said that because back then you were a novice – and still are – and I didn't want to waste time explaining you something you didn't need to know," she snapped. "Normal humans have mana, normal energy. You and I, because we have Magic Circuits, have prana. As I was saying, to become a True Magus one would have to train and gain a lot more prana in the process than a normal magus."

"And…" I prompted eagerly.

Tohsaka actually grinned. "I thought that I would have to go through all the training, but it appears that I won't have to. Somebody already did it for me." I started at her, uncomprehending. She started explaining again, and I could trace excitement in her voice. "Remember when I told you that a magus' most important goal in life is to eventually transfer his knowledge and Magic Circuits onto his heir?"

I nodded slowly, still not sure where she was going with this. "Well," she said, "as far as I know one member of the Tohsaka family, and one member alone ever went through that training and became a True Magus. But that was enough," she said, still grinning. I continued to stare, feeling utterly lost. She sighed, frustrated that I didn't get the reason of her excitement. "Shirou," she said urgently, "since one of my ancestors became a True Magus, once his heir was born he had the responsibility of transferring his knowledge of what he had learned and his Magic Circuits onto his heir. And so on."

I finally caught on to what she was saying and I shared her grin exuberantly. "Because your ancestor did that, you technically already are a True Magus!"

Tohsaka nodded vehemently, her eyes shining. "I actually wanted to become one, to go to London at the Clock Tower, where the Mage's Association is to undergo the training."

"Do you know what the training entails?" I asked and she shook her head.

"There are absolutely no records on how to become a True Magus," she frowned, her eyes looking far away. "I suspect it is a complicated and maybe even rather dangerous process and the Association doesn't want people doing it on their own. Not to mention that becoming a true Magus is a great honor, there are only five in known history – two of them are of unknown identity – and they want to carefully watch every move of the process."

I thought about what she said and frowned, not exactly understanding but wanting to. Just as I was, I realized I was still on my feet so I took a seat on one of the wooden chairs by the table and placed my head in my palm, frowning. Out of the corner of my eye I saw that Tohsaka did the same and sat on the chair opposite from me. She crossed her legs under the table and folded her arms over her chest, waiting for the questions that she knew would come. "What do you get out of becoming one, though? What's the big deal?" I asked.

"Well, of course a novice like you wouldn't understand," Tohsaka said in her most sarcastic tone and waved me off. She smiled, but it was mocking. "If I wouldn't be a True Magus, I wouldn't be able to perform Third Magic, for one thing. Besides that, if you remember what I told you on our first research day, to perform magic is to perform a miracle. A real miracle," she emphasized importantly. "Magecraft is the artificial reenactment of a miracle."

I thought about what she said for the longest time and finally realized how very lucky we were. If becoming a True Magus is as dangerous and complicated as Tohsaka said it is – and considering that there were only five in known history, she's probably right – then most likely it taken years or training to become one, otherwise more people would be crowding outside of the Mage's Association's door to become one.

"What else did you find?" I asked again, assuming that wasn't all of it.

Her blue eyes faced me once again. "Some side information that will be useful to us in the near future. For example, I found out there are four gates in Fuyuki City where the Grail descends. Because the Grail is a manifestation of Third Magic, I think it is safe to assume that they are magically powerful and if we find out a way to summon Saber back, we should do it at one of those four locations, as well as performing Third Magic once we do."

"What are the four locations?" I asked, leaning in on my seat, eager to find some new information.

"This mansion, Ryuudou temple, Kotomine Church and the fourth is the field where your house used to be but is now burnt. However, I don't suspect that diminished its magical qualities, which cannot be damaged by physical means."

"Once we find a way how, we could start here," I suggested and she nodded.

"That would we wise. The Mage's Association is very strict with that. They won't bother us at all, unless we endanger revealing our world to the outside public. The Mage's Association puts a lot of emphasis on secrecy," she said seriously.

This was a lot of information to take in. I sighed rather heavily and thought about everything we talked about, feeling utterly overwhelmed and slightly dazed, almost as when I summoned Saber unknowingly and I found out about the Holy Grail War.

As I was pondering, Tohsaka continued. "If there is any way to summon Saber back," she said, leaning in and I automatically stopped my mental ranting to listen, "we would have to perform Third Magic immediately after. A soul cannot stay on this world without a body for long. If we cannot supply her with a body due time, she will go back to Akasha and all our efforts would be for nothing," she said and I nodded vigorously.

Then, surprising even myself, I smiled widely at Tohsaka. As she was looking at me, she was taken aback by the sudden display of warmth and her brows furrowed in confusion. "Why are you smiling at me as if it's Christmas and I just gave you Saber wrapped up in a pretty box?" she asked me, her eyes wary.

"Because you've been a great help to me, and still are. I still don't know if this is going to work or not, but the fact that you're helping me means a lot to me," I told her honestly and this time I was the one slightly taken aback as she blushed and looked away, frowning.

"We still don't know almost anything, Shirou, despite everything that I told you tonight. I'm mainly finding bits and pieces of what we need from the puzzle. We're still missing the core. There is still a very big chance this will never work," Tohsaka said and slammed her palm against one of the open books for emphasis, watching me from under her lashes.

"I know," I said easily, still smiling, "but at least we're trying. And still, considering how you handled the whole situation and explained it to me, it almost sounded like you have more hope than you originally had," I pointed out and I had to hold back a grin as she looked away again looking affronted.

She gave me a very authentic scoff. "I was just giving you all the possibilities. I could've very well said all this is useless because chances are it will never work, but what good will that do? You won't listen to me anyway."

I laughed and had to hand it to her. She was right. "I won't listen until I have proof."

Tohsaka sighed heavily, but it was a more knowing sigh than resigned or annoyed. "Let's continue where we left off, shall we? We don't have that much time left," she said and when I looked at the clock it was twenty after four. I would have to go in about a half an hour.

"Right," I agreed and went to the columns in the library to select a book and start reading. Process has been slow, but with all the new information I felt we were getting somewhere, finally. I felt a surge of fresh excitement as I opened a new, foreign book. I quietly slipped back in my seat and started reading, hoping for the best.

While I did that, my thoughts constantly went to Saber and I kept thinking, Wait for me. It won't be long now…

A/N: Ok, things are starting to get a move on now that they're finally finding out more stuff about what they need. If you think it's going a little slow, to be honest, i don't blame you. I was so afraid of taking it too fast - like i would like to - that i unconsciously slowed it down maybe a little too much. But not to worry, i'm ahead in my writing with two-three chapters, and there are some interesting stuff coming.

As for this chapter alone, i hope you guys will like it. I love finding out new stuff about Magic and Shirou does too. (as you can very well see)

Aside from that, here's something i didn't mention before (or, at least i don't remember mentioning) so i'm gonna do it now. I don't have a beta-reader, and while i'm doing over a chapter a few times before i post it here, because i'm exceptionally unobservant, i miss out on things. Feel free to point them out to me if you find any.

Last, but not least, thank you very much for your reviews and comments! It makes me really happy to read what you guys think about my story so far.

Read and review, please!