Disclaimer: I only own the plot. That's it. No exceptions. The song belongs to Within Temptation.

Recap: The previous chapter was mainly focused on Rin and her story about Sakura.

A/N: I wanted to explain really briefly why i named the chapter Ouverture. I split it up in three parts, and all three introduce some sort of conflict, though not nearly as big as the previous chapter. I thought "Ouverture" was fitting because it is formally defined to be "in music is the instrumental introduction to a dramatic, choral or, occasionally, instrumental composition."

Chapter 8

- Ouverture -

I left Tohsaka's house feeling oddly sick to my stomach after I heard her story. I was so incredibly disgusted with human greed, I didn't think I could take it anymore, but then I'd remember Sakura and the nightmare she lived through for 12 years now. My stomach gave a painful lurch and resisted the urge to gag. How could she subject herself to such monstrosities? Why did she take it for so long? I knew Sakura's been always rather easily influenced, but this went above and beyond anything I have ever heard of before. Had she completely given up on life and stayed there, waiting for her end?

No. That can't be possible. When I see Sakura she always has a warm smile on her face, and her kindness toward others is virtually unlimited. Is there something I'm missing? Is that constantly smiling face a mere charade, a mask she puts on whenever she's at my house, around me, Fuji-nee and Illya? If that was so… I realized painfully. If that was so, I didn't actually know Sakura at all. I didn't know what laid underneath that mask, what she was truly feeling inside. The person I've known for so long as considered as close as any sister, I didn't know anything about.f

I frowned at the ridiculousness at that possibility, feeling like I was arguing with myself. That can't be right. I watched her so many times, I can tell when she's upset or put down or something is wrong. When she is with the three of us, I believe she is genuinely happy, I can see it in her eyes. If she wouldn't be, why would she bother to come over so often and offer to help me with chores and prepare meals for us?

I know that when I see her smile it isn't fake, or when she laughs, though she rarely laughs out loud, it isn't forced.

I sighed and decided to watch her more closely. Maybe I could find a way to help Tohsaka to reestablish her former relationship with Sakura. Keeping that thought in mind, I hurried back home, hoping she didn't get there before I did.

Fate was on my side today and I came just in time. I met Sakura just as I entered the grounds of my inherited domain from Kiritsugu.

"Sakura!" I called to her.

She seemed startled at first, but when she turned around and saw that it was only me, she smiled her familiar shy smile and blushed ever so slightly, but visible enough I could see it even in the fading light of dusk. "Senpai! You made it in time," she said, and sounded as if she was praising me.

I grinned sheepishly. "I tried." In the past few weeks I wasn't always as lucky as I was today. Many times I would lose track of time and usually Tohsaka would remind me it's time to go; sometimes even she would get lost in her thoughts and her reading and I would realize too late.

"Maybe Senpai can help me with dinner tonight?" she asked me, her plum eyes watching me as we got closer to my house.

"Of course!" I said, eager that she wanted me to help and I could give her a hand.

"Ayame-senpai called archery club at the last minute today after school," she said as if there was any need to explain herself. I, on the other hand, frowned at the information.

"Ayame?" I asked, looking sideways at her while I unlocked the door to let her in. "She's in the archery club?"

"Ayame-senpai is the new captain," she said, walked inside and went straight toward the kitchen. "She was in the archery club for a year now. Akito-senpai left the club few weeks ago and the club members voted on a new captain and Ayame-senpai won. Many people thought she was much more talented than Akito-senpai anyway," Sakura filled me in while she cutting up the vegetables needed.

While I listened to her I started on the rice, which we always made both white and fried.

"Why did Akito left the club?" I asked her, but more out of mere curiosity. I wasn't into archery club for quite a while now, but knowing how much Sakura enjoyed it, I kept the conversation on the topic going.

"No one knows," Sakura answered, then her tone returned to a cheerful note, "but I think that Ayame-senpai's talent could actually equal Mitsuzuri-senpai's!" she sounded excited and I smiled at the news.

Ever since Mitsuzuri was attacked and disappeared for a few weeks prolonged even after the Holy Grail ended, the club has been gathering search groups for her, the usual activity put on hold. Along with the people in the club, the authorities as well as many other people from the community were searching for her, including myself. After an entire month of search, she was finally found in an abandoned depository on the outskirts of Fuyuki, alive, but frightened half to death. Nobody knows who did what to her, but she was transported to the nearest hospital immediately. Although there were very few injuries found – the most serious one was a broken leg – it became obvious very quickly that there was a lot more damage inflicted on her psychologically. Even after her leg was completely healed, she still couldn't attend school because she was undergoing serious therapy. After about eight months she was allowed to come back to school, but I hardly saw her at all. She was studying hard to catch up with everybody in her grade and she didn't come back to archery club due to her work overload.

Mitsuzuri was one of the best archers in the club, aside from Sakura, and I assume her loss was a big hit for the club. Nevertheless, they tried appointing other captains, but that didn't seem to work. After just three months, Akito already quit the job. I just hoped that Ayame would be a better pick.

"That's great!" I said with as much enthusiasm as I could. Thinking of Mitsuzuri always dampened my mood, and after the past conversation I had with Tohsaka, it took a serious effort to keep my cheerful and excited charade for Sakura so she wouldn't get worried again.

Sakura nodded, her plum locks dancing merrily as she slid all the vegetables off the chopping block and into the boiling water. "And there's more to the news," she said, and I listened intently. "Ayame-senpai appointed me as co-captain!" she smiled at me one of the most radiant smiles I ever saw on her face. Just looking at that smile made me temporarily forget about Mitsuzuri and Tohsaka.

"It's about time too," I meet her curious eyes. "You're very talented, I saw you," I said and I genuinely meant it.

Sakura blushed a deep shade of crimson at my praise and looked at her hands that were now soiled red because of the tomatoes she was cutting to tiny pieces. "T-Thank you, Senpai," she stammered, but I just smiled and returned to my share of cooking.

"Sakura," I wanted to ask her one more thing. My stomach knotted painfully at the thought.

"Yes, Senpai?"

I opened my mouth to speak it, but I changed my mind at the last minute. "Are you busy this Saturday?" I said while I was putting away the rice to cool down. Because I was looking away, I didn't see the small blush that formed on her cheeks.

"N-no," she stammered slightly although she seemed to put an effort not to. "Why?"

I cursed my lack of action, but I decided it was better to pursue this subject when we weren't in danger of something interrupting us at any moment. "I was thinking that maybe you could come with me and Ilya to the amusement park, have some fun," I smiled and looked at her. For just a mere split second, I saw a quick flash of disappointment, but then it quickly faded as soon as it came and she put on a smile instead. I thought about it, and wondered why she would be disappointed. I was reluctant to shove away the thought. I wanted to think I was imagining things, but then I would be lying to myself.

"I would love to!" she said and sounded like she meant it. Her voice cut through my reverie, and my mind automatically put my previous thoughts to the side.

"Great, we'll meet you at the train station in down town at 10? It's the only train that goes so far," I said rather apologetically, knowing the amusement park was pretty far from Fuyuki.

Sakura nodded, looking excited at the prospect. I briefly wondered if she ever went to the amusement park with the childhood she's had so far, but I quickly shook it off. I didn't want to think about that now. "Thank you for inviting me, Senpai."

I smiled and went to see if there was anything that I needed to do. When I found nothing on my side, I went to Sakura's side of the kitchen and looked over to see if she needed any help, but she seemed to be in control. I was disappointed that I only got to do the rice, the easiest job at dinner. Because I didn't have anything else to do, I started setting the table, and just as I did so, somebody came through the door.

"Ilya, you're late," I scolded her, more because she would do the same if it was me. It was childish, but I loved teasing her.

She sniffed defiantly as her nose shot up in the air. "You're late all the time, Onii-san. You have no right to tell me off. Plus, I was taking an evening walk."

"Ah," I grinned at her, "ok then. Now help me set the table," I told her and she obliged. When the table was almost set, I was surprised to hear Sakura's voice calling me.

"Senpai," she said and her voice recovered its normal, quiet tone.

"Yes, Sakura," I immediately rushed to her side, thinking that maybe she needed me. "Do you need any help?"

She smiled kindly at me as if she knew I would ask her that. "No, I'm fine. I was actually going to ask you if you ever considered rejoining archery club."

I raised my eyebrow at her. "Following Mitsuzuri's legacy still, I see," I said and she nodded. "Sorry, Sakura. I don't think I have enough time on my hands to train enough to get to be even close to the general level of performance in the club."

She looked a little sad, but our conversation was cut short by a loud knock at the loud followed by an equally loud voice. "I'm here!" Fuji-nee said as she entered the room as if her presence was of utmost importance for the meal. "What's for dinner?" she asked eagerly and I shook my head at her.

"Have patience, it's almost ready," I smiled indulgently at her.

——————————

The next morning, I had breakfast with only Ilya. Since the time I woke her up from her deep sleep up until I parted ways with her before I went off to school, she was all one big smile, excited for our upcoming weekend. I told her that Sakura agreed to come with us, and that seemed to brighten her mood even more.

"We'll have so much fun! Ilya and Onii-chan and Onee-chan will go in all the rides!" she spread out her arms wide and formed a circle in the air to emphasize the word 'all.' When I had to leave her side, she said "Bye, Onii-san!" and waved at me before she went off her separate way. She had one of the brightest smiles I have ever seen on her face. The only one I could associate it with was when she found out that Fuji-nee and I officially adopted her.

I walked in silence up until I got to the familiar meeting point with Tohsaka. For the first time, I was surprised to see that she wasn't there. I couldn't even remember the last time that happened. Either I was earlier than usual or Tohsaka, the always-punctual Tohsaka, was late. Just as a gleeful grin was beginning to form on my lips, I saw her coming from the left, her walk brisk and steady, though it was obvious she was slightly in a hurry. She was looking straight ahead, but her icy blue eyes didn't seem to actually see straight ahead. They looked far-away, dazed, as if she was lost in thought. I wondered if she was thinking of our conversation from the day before by any chance.

Finally, as she got closer to the stop light, her eyes seem to actually see me for the first time. A brief flash of annoyance crossed her features and her brows were slightly furrowed.

"Morning, Shirou," she said, her tone sounding rather crisp.

"Good morning," I greeted her easily, but I was confused by her attitude so early in the morning.

"I see you finally made it here on time," she noted, looking straight ahead as we walked.

"I see you didn't," I couldn't help not to say.

"I thought that you were walking with Sakura today. I forgot that she had archery club today so I hurried, but I didn't make it on time," she sounded apologetic, but still slightly annoyed.

I frowned at her. "You could walk with us," I stated what I hoped was the obvious. Apparently, Tohsaka didn't agree because she shook her head.

"I don't want to intrude," she said vaguely and my frown deepened as well as my smile disappeared.

"You have to start somewhere, Tohsaka. I think walking with us to school is a good way to go."

She laughed slightly, but it was neither warm nor sarcastic. It seemed rather…awkward for some reason. "No, you don't understand."

"Well, I'm obviously not really getting where you're trying to get across here. I see no problem with the three of us walking together."

"Of course you wouldn't," she agreed and I was completely lost. Why did she always have to be so vague and either belittling or patronizing?

"Care to enlighten me?" I asked her, starting to feel annoyed myself.

"If I enlighten you, then there will be absolutely no hope for me and Sakura," she said firmly. "You'll have to either figure this one out on your own or be forever oblivious."

"What in the world are you talking about?" I tried not to raise my voice, but it was pretty hard. We were close to school now, and I got some reproaching glances from my colleagues. I ignored all of them and focused on Tohsaka.

"Look, Shirou, there's something you need to understand before you badger me any more about spending time with Sakura," she said and I listened intently, hoping she wouldn't give me another vague explanation. "I can't really spend time with Sakura on my own, at least at the beginning, because it will be awkward. We haven't had a normal conversation in a long time. But," she put an extra emphasis on the word, "if I have you around, then I would be intruding on Sakura's relationship with you." I stared at her, uncomprehending. Her explanation, despite my brief flash of hope, didn't help at all. "I will try to find some other opportunities with Sakura."

I shook my head. I was actually thinking that maybe I could invite Tohsaka along this Saturday, hoping she would get some bonding time with Sakura while I entertained Ilya, but since she didn't even walk with us, I doubted she would jump over a leap that high. And what in the world did she mean by "relationship?" I already told her that we were like siblings, but what did that got to do with anything?

"I'll see you at lunch, Shirou," she called to me as she went the other way. I didn't even realize until then that we were already at school. I sighed, threw one last look at Tohsaka's back and went to my class.

I'll talk to her at lunch, I thought.

——————————

Lunch soon arrived, and I was walking at a brisk pace, determined to get some answers out of Tohsaka. Just as I was about to sit in my usual chair across from her and re-open the conversation from this morning, I was suddenly and unfortunately interrupted by a familiar voice of an old friend of mine who was rushing to my side.

"Emiya!" Despite my original irritation at the interruption, I smiled to myself when I saw Issei's distraught face as he rushed toward me. His shaggy blue hair was ruffled – no doubt a result from the frustration it caused him to try to fix whatever he wanted me to fix by himself – and his blue eyes were apologetic behind his round spectacles. Out of the corner of my eye I saw that Tohsaka diplomatically started eating her food, not giving Issei her least bit of attention as she did so.

Before he got the chance to say what was on his mind, I beat him to it. "Issei, the Student Body should take better care of their stuff," I grinned at my old friend.

He shook his head and closed his eyes briefly, keeping them focused on me. He was always purposely trying to ignore Tohsaka, but this time I was surprised to see that his eyes averted to her a few times. "This time it wasn't the Student Body's fault! The computer in the library just…froze!" he widened his eyes at the preposterous idea.

"Issei, you know I'm not good at software, I can only fix—"

"No time to waste, Emiya, there's only 15 minutes left of our lunch period and I wouldn't be a very good friend if you would be late for your next class," he said and with an unusual pushiness, took me by the arm and almost dragged me out toward the library. Leaving my barely touched food on the table, I threw an apologetic look at Tohsaka which she returned with a shake of the head as I followed Issei.

I didn't know what the reason behind all this was; Issei knew that I can only fix mechanical stuff. If he expected me to fix a computer, I will be forced to disappoint him. I looked sideways at him and realized it's been quite a while since I talked with him. I wish he wouldn't be so adamant about his opinion of Tohsaka, because I was pretty sure if he would at least try to get to know her, they would get along. But Issei is very stubborn and very determined not to follow the footsteps of 99% of the male population of Homurabara.

He led me to the library and toward the computer he was talking about, which was turned off. I turned to Issei. "You know that I can't fix it unless it's a mechanical problem, right?" I reminded him just in case he forgot, since it's been quite a while since he asked me to fix anything.

He nodded. "I just wanted you to check to see if anything's wrong with it on the inside. If it's a software problem, I'll just get the guy who's the expert here around that."

I gave him a look. "You don't know who it is, do you?"

"No clue, but I'm not going to worry about that now," he said and looked at me expectantly.

"Can you—" I started telling him in what was my usual escape route to use Reinforcement to see what was wrong.

Issei, however, beat me to it this time. "I already got your toolbox," he said and sounded proud. He pulled it from an adjacent desk and handed it to me. I looked at it in dismay. I would have to be a lot more careful this time. I sighed and kneeled by the computer. I unplugged everything out of their slots, took the computer, and then I started unscrewing the screws that held the outside plate in place.

"So, Emiya, how have you been lately?" Issei said, and though I didn't see anything odd with his question, his tone seemed off to my ears.

I pretended not to notice as I unscrewed the second screw. "Not much, just waiting for the review season to be over."

He regarded my answer. "Yeah, I know what you mean," he paused briefly. "Do you mind if I ask you something?" he asked, sounded rather uncomfortable.

"Go right ahead," I said, only half paying attention. I kept my fingers on the wires to make the connection by Reinforcement possible, but I was looking around, pretending to be inspecting the computer for problems, when I was actually visualizing it in my head. I didn't realize how much harder it was if I didn't have my eyes closed.

"You're good friends with Rin Tohsaka, right?" He asked and the question made me freeze momentarily before I continued as usually. He never brought up the subject of Rin before; he was usually the one avoiding it.

"Yeah, we're good friends. Enough to tell you that you're being ridiculous about her," I said and tried to concentrate during the brief silence. I closed my eyes for just a second longer than I normally would and I saw what the problem was, a mere loose wire that could easily be fixed. I didn't even need my toolbox for this.

"Yeah," I heard Issei trail off. "I—" he paused abruptly, then continued, "She got to me, Emiya," he said the words so quickly, I didn't think I heard them. Since I wasn't paying him much attention, I didn't even understand what he meant.

"Got to you how?" I asked distractedly and tried to put the wire back in its place, and trying to be delicate with the rest of the stuff at the same time.

"Used her witchcraft on me, no doubt!" his voice sounded a lot more like how I knew it, but his words still didn't make sense. I put the wire in its place and started putting the plate back.

"Witchcraft," I repeated, not even trying to sway him again, I tried too many times and it didn't work.

"Yes, well, how else would this happen?" I saw him throw his hands in the air in exasperation.

I started screwing the plate back while trying to pay attention to what he was saying and make sense of it at the same time. "What happened?"

"She took my heart out and turned it into mush!" he cried and I bet some people around us looked his way rather uncertainly because of the fuss.

I let a moment of silence fall between us while I finished my task. After that, I plugged everything back in, placed the computer back in its slot and turned it on – it worked. Only after I finished did I turn to Issei, whose expression was anguished. "What are you talking about?" I asked him feeling more than just a little confused and frustrated at him being so vague. Two people in the course of a few hours were too much.

"Rin Tohsaka! She bewitched me to fall into her web like the rest of school's male population!"

I stared at him, but not because I didn't understand. I stared because it was all so incredibly strange. After all he said about her, he… I didn't know if I should grin at how things turned out or slap my forehead for the exact same reason. "You like her?" I asked, making sure I understood right. Issei nodded. That's when I allowed myself to grin. "What are you going to do?" I asked. Although I was never the one to talk about stuff such as this, this case proved to be an exception. I knew Issei since we were in middle school, and as long as I've known him, he has never shown any interest in any girl before. At least, as far as I knew.

"There's nothing I can do, now is there? After all the things I've said to her, I can't just—It's a mere infatuation, I will get over it," he said confidently.

"How about you have lunch with us for a change?" I proposed and while he seemed eager, he was equally scared.

"What if she figures out? Remember what happened to Shinji, she utterly destroyed him!" he exaggerated.

I sighed, not wanting to hear about Shinji. "Shinji had an ego bigger than this school. You're not like that. Although, as your friend, I have to warn you." Issei leaned in just as I heard the bell ring. I wanted to make this quick. "Tohsaka is not your average high school girl, she might not be interested," I said, being pretty sure that no guy in this school ever crossed her notice except me, though that happened for different reasons and we were just friends.

His shoulders slumped then rose from his chair. His long, midnight blue bangs covered half his face. "What am I going to do?"

I shrugged, not knowing the answer to that myself. I took my toolbox and made a mental note to stop at my locker really quick before I went to class. I would have to run back though… "Talk with her, get to know her, and then see what happens," I said in what I thought was the best answer. Issei nodded and I smiled encouragingly at him. "Have lunch with us tomorrow," I told him before I gave him a parting pat on the back and ran to my locker.

I made it back to class few second after the bell rang. Even so, Sayuri-sensei still scolded me, though it was rather half-hearted because I was almost never late to class.

"Try not to let it happen again, Shirou," she told me, her eyes focusing on me intently.

"Yes, Sayuri-sensei," I said automatically and went to my seat, thinking today was simply too odd for words.

A/N: No, not as exciting as the previous, i missed it too. But still, i think it's going well. Things are starting to speed up. I'm a chapter ahead in writing it and it already is, i can tell you that.

Thanks to all those who reviewed and favorited and/or alerted on my story. It makes me really happy that you guys took your time to read it so far and i hope you will enjoy the rest too!

Read and review, please!