Title: Chess and Cinema
Rating: PG
Characters: Shirou, Saber, Shirou x Saber
Word Count: 408
Warnings: Zero. Now that's a first.
Dedication: To Fuji-nee. I liked the Shirou x Saber drabbles I wrote for you so much, I decided to post them just for the heck of it. I wish you'd do the same for the Archer x Rin drabble you wrote-it's too good to just disappear in the post.
A/N: Just two little Shirou x Saber drabbles, as stated above. Enjoy, please.
Cross-posted to fsn(underscore)fiction and my personal lj.
Chess-PG-Shirou x Saber
To while away the time between Shirou's arrival home from school to nightfall, Saber and Shirou go to great lengths, from shogi to go to hanafuda before finally finding a respite in chess. It is a good game for Saber, who read the modern rule book once, then proceeded to soundly beat Shirou at every single match. He doesn't mind though. The glint in Saber's eyes as she thinks up dozens of different strategies, the subtle curl of her lips right before checkmate, even the way she handles the knight pieces with an odd sort of care. Rewarded with treasures like those, in the end he feels he is the real winner.
Crushing loss in twelve moves or not.
"Try castling, Shirou." Saber says, serious as a general in a war room. "You lose the game if you do not protect the king."
He couldn't agree with her more.
Cinemaphile-PG-Shirou x Saber
There are some things in Shirou's modern day world Saber has taken to better than others. At first, the consequences of letting her near the stove were disastrous; even now Saber is not allowed to touch the computer ("They're so expensive to replace, Emiya-kun, especially on a regular basis." Rin had said without malice). But there are things Saber loves: hot baths, chocolate, stuffed animals.
It was all stuff of a charming nature, until a Japanese-dubbed version of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon played on the TV one night. Shirou had encouraged Saber to try it, in the spirit of relaxation. Her initial reluctance had quickly melted away, and towards the end Saber was all but pressing her face against the screen, drawn in by a tale of honor and love and martial arts.
It was then Shirou made the mistake of telling her there were two more such movies made in a similar vein. One hopeful look later, he found himself at the local rental store, trying to explain to the clerk why he desperately needed copies of House of Flying Daggers and Hero three minutes before closing.
I've created a monster, Shirou thinks to himself as Saber looks on in wonder. And I don't care at all.
He returns his attention to the phone. With any luck, the copy of Enter the Dragon he has just finished ordering should be there in two days. When Saber offers him the popcorn with that little smile of hers, it is worth all the effort.