CHAPTER TWO

After having stayed in Shirou's home for a bit over a month, it was fair to say she could make some complaints. While she loved Shirou's attention and care for her, she was always concerned he was missing out on some work he should be doing. But, every time she asked him about it, he would give her the same unreadable smile and shake his head, telling her that he'd already finished his work for the day.

She never questioned it, but at the same time she'd never seen him work working, like the jobs in the books would say. He never left home for work, only to get groceries or talk with someone, and he was never working in his room, either. Shirou would simply watch her, talk to her, and occasionally leave to cook their meals or use the bathroom.

Another issue she had was the sheer size of the house. It was larger than she had anticipated, since all Shirou had said to describe the building was, "It's much smaller than the hospital."

But no, it was almost as if he was lying - the building was massive. Definitely not as tall as the hospital, she'd give him that, but it was still quite large. She couldn't walk through four doors without getting lost. Her father found this rather amusing, so would ask her to get things from around the house, only for her to stare at him, bewildered before looking around, overwhelmed.

Hajime was well aware it would take her at least two or three months to get used to the house, but seeing she had that time, she would do fine. She wasn't particularly used to the outside world yet, but she would eventually. And that brings us to our next subject - school. The word meant nearly nothing to her, other than the strange descriptions that her father provided her with. A tall brick building with lots of windows, tables, chairs and a chalkboard in the front. But she was told she was going to be attending something called sogakko, wait, was that how you said it? Shogakku? Shokakku?

She shook her head, clearing her head of the useless ponderings, then gazed out at the courtyard. The sunset's warm tones shone in her eyes, but not brightly enough to force her to cover them out of fear she would go blind. Hajime felt a large warm hand on hers, and smiled, turning to her left to see Shirou, who returned her smile. She held onto his pointer finger with her petite hand, giggling softly. "Come on, sit on daddy's lap," Shirou chuckled, lifting her up and suspending her in the air, shaking her a little before laughing softly and placing her down on his legs.

Accustomed to this, she curled herself up slightly, leaning her head on her father's chest as she hugged her knees, staring at the setting sun.

"Daddy?" The man in question replied with a hum. "Are you a wizard?" He paused before chuckling again, though this time it was a mix of sadness and bitterness. Hajime looked up at him with a slight frown, did she say something wrong?

Shirou paused to think. A wizard? Well, he supposed he shouldn't be too surprised to hear her call him that. People who used magic in folklore and fairy tales weren't usually called "magus." He petted her head, feeling her smooth, freshly cleaned onyx locks against his calloused hand. "No, I'm not a wizard...I'm a much weaker version, called a magus. Wizards are very strong magic users and they're extremely rare. Does that make sense?"

Hajime stared up at him innocently, her dark brown eyes gazing into his silver ones. "So you're not a wizard?" Ah, he should've expected that response. Half of the words he'd just said, didn't make sense to her, not to mention there was no Korean word for magus, nor in any language other than English, something she didn't even know existed. Shirou hugged her small form with one of his arms as his free hand propped him up, humming in thought.

"No, I'm not a wizard, but I can use a type of magic that's made for people like me," he tried to explain simply and to his relief, she nodded sincerely this time - it seemed she had understood.

"Daddy, what type of magic do you use?" She adjusted her body slightly so she was facing him. Hajime found this interesting. Magic that wasn't for wizards? Was that what the book was talking about? What type of magic was it?

"It's a complicated word, I'm not sure if you'll be able to remember it." She pouted at this, giving him a huff and a frown. Seeing her reaction, Shirou felt a tad guilty, and he relented. "It's called magecraft, it's a very special ability. Only a few people can use it." He made sure to say the Korean word for sorcery instead, not quite knowing how to say "magecraft" in said language. Shirou made a mental note to tell her what the actual name was, the way he knew how to say it anyways, once she learned Japanese (something she hadn't achieved quite yet).

"So Daddy's special?" Her eyes were shining very brightly at this. Her father was truly someone amazing - much more so than she had though beforehand, and that was really saying something. Hajime held her father high in regards and respected him, looked up to him and hoped to be like him. Kind, generous and friendly. He had been in a war of some sort, she knew, and from what she read her father had endured a lot, and she was amazed he'd kept his sanity after all that.

"I suppose you could put it that way, yes," Shirou patted her head fondly. Hajime grinned widely before yawning softly. "Oh - that's right, it's almost time for bed, how silly of me to forget."

She nodded at this, and was going to hop off his lap to go to her bed, but Shirou scooped her up into his arms and walked there himself. Looking up at him, he seemed strangely tense, apprehensive, if you will. "...Daddy? Is something gonna happen to you?"

He seemed surprised by this before quickly shaking it off and offering her a reassuring smile as he opened the door to their room, walking to the bed he'd bought for her and laying her down. Hajime wasn't in dire need to change her clothes, seeing as she hadn't gone outside at all today, so he didn't request for her to do so and simply tucked her in, kissed her goodnight and turned off the lights.

The black haired girl stared at where her father had stood just a moment ago. She felt a tad dumbfounded, confused and perhaps flustered as well. This was the first time he hadn't answered her questions at all. And to make matters worse, this was the first time he'd ever left her alone in their bedroom. Usually he would tuck her in, turn off the lights before dozing off himself.

But why wasn't he doing that today? And come to think of it, it was extremely strange that he of all people hadn't been keeping track of the time. He almost always knew what time it was, rounding to the nearest multiple of five, at least, so today shouldn't have been any different.

And to add onto that, Shirou's eyes had been a bit distant since around breakfast when he was eating with her. Was he remembering something? Lost in thought? She doubted it, though, Shirou wasn't really the type to do those sorts of things.

Admittedly the former sounded more likely than the latter. Should she go investigate? Hajime frowned - no, probably not. Her father wasn't all that subtle but he was fast so by now he could be a mile away if he'd ran. Maybe she'd call for him? Yes, that would be a start at least. Shirou always responded when she called for him, so if he didn't that would mean he'd left the house.

"Daddy? Where are you?" Hajime's loud voice echoed in the room, but she was only met with silence. That confirmed that he had left, and it scared her a little. She'd never been alone without him at night, every time she woke up when he moon was in the sky he would be there, either resting peacefully or writing an email, or letter. And come to think of it, she never knew who those were for either. "Daddy?" She called again, sitting up this time. Her small hands gripped onto the covers as she hugged it to her chest, glancing around nervously.

Once again, there was no response from the silver haired man. Hajime climbed out of her bed, landing a little roughly on the ground and letting out a small whine as she rubbed her feet, before standing and looking around. The room was dark, but her eyes were slowly getting adjusted to the severe lack of light. After a moment or two, she was able to make out the bed, desk and door to the hallway. Walking over to it, she attempted to open it, only to budge it a vet short distance before she realized this was to be a bit more difficult than anticipated. Gathering her strength, she tried again, this time managing to open it just enough to squeeze through and into the cold length of wood, extending from one side of the house to the other. It felt rather strange without any sounds other than the trees rustling outside and her own breathing but her largest concern was the fact that there was less light in here than in the bedroom, making it hard to see anything.

Hajime felt a small chill run down her spine, starting to feel a little scared. The things she had read in the sketchbook rushed back into her mind, about assassinations and killing people against the law. What if someone had killed Shirou? What if someone wanted to kill her? It was unlikely, she knew, but if her father was special that would make him stand out and people don't like those who stand out. They didn't like them because they were too different and she knew her father was like that, if the silver hair, eyes and magecraft told her anything.

Gathering her courage, she took a deep breath and frowned, closing her eyes. "Hmmmmm..." she tended as she tried to ignore the fear creeping up on her. She knew she was young and vulnerable, but like her father said, "if you can't defeat yourself then you can't defeat others."

She didn't know where he got that from but she would try listen to him either way. Hajime opened her eyes and sucked in a large gulp of air. "DADDY!"

Her voice rang throughout the house and she paused for a moment, once again taunted by the silence that surrounded her. Hajime's shoulders slumped before she carefully walked down the hall, then breaking into a mad dash to the dining room, where she jumped onto the small box of dolls Shirou had gotten her and curled up inside of it, feeling safe. Safer than before, at least. A small whimper left her as she hugged one of the stuffed animals and covered herself with as many as she could get her hands on - of her back was in physical contact with as many as she could get her hands on, she would feel secure.

No, she couldn't defeat her fear. She wanted to either confirm it or be able to deny it confidently. In a state of uncertainty, she felt scared. Hajime hugged one of the dolls to her chest.

"Daddy where are you...?"

Shirou left their room, a worried expression growing on his face. He'd forgotten he was supposed to pick up Rin from the airport today - she had been in London for a month and wanted to visit him and Hajime when she returned, that return being now. He turned on the sitting room light, if Hajime needed to get herself some water, thought it wasn't likely since she was probably asleep at this point.

Hopefully.

Locking the gate behind him, he left the estate and got into his car, beginning the long drive to the airport. Starting the vehicle, he buckled himself in before pulling away from the curb and driving down the street, and taking a turn when the traffic light turned green. Shirou really hoped he would reach her in time - if he was late, she would be sure to give him an earful and a good smack upside the head, and neither of those sounded particularly appealing to him. Plus, if Hajime woke up and he was gone, she would panic.

What if she hadn't fallen asleep? A bit of dread crept onto him at the thought of that before shaking it off as he pulled onto the highway. If that was the case, he hoped she had remembered about the phone and would call him, something he had instructed her to do if he was gone and something went awry. But he'd never seen her panic or get upset, other than one time when he tripped and sprained his ankle, so he didn't know how she would react to not having him around.

"I'm going to have to get there and back quickly..."

Thankfully, luck seemed to be on his side for once in his life, as there were no accidents or major traffic jams on the way there. So, rather than the expected hour of travel, he only took forty-five minutes, managed to get a parking spot, and made a mad dash to the Terminal to wait for her. He may be early, but who knows, if his luck was so good today, maybe her plane would land earlier than anticipated.

Not that he was counting on that, though, seeing as his luck was horrible, and even if luck was on his side, it couldn't really effect how quickly the plane would take to arrive. Taking a seat on a bench, Shirou heaved out a sigh and took his phone out of his pocket. He stared at it for a moment, thinking over his options before averting his gaze.

Was it worth calling Hajime? What if she was asleep and the phone ringing just scared her? He felt conflicted, before simply resolving not to call her. He trusted her to figure out what she needed to do.

Glancing up at the LED screen, he checked for Rin's flight - as predicted, she'd just landed, meaning it would take her anywhere from ten to twenty minutes to reach where he was, near the carousel to help her with her luggage. Shirou's silver eyes shifted to the other people walking past him. Observing them, he scanned over each person's expression before switching to someone else.

This was something he'd began doing as a habit of sorts when he was a Japanese soldier during World War Three - it felt like just yesterday that he was in Pyongyang, charging to take Kim into custody and capture the capital of North Korea. They had so stupidly decided to bomb the United States of America, send ships into Japanese territory and anger several other countries. He'd been part of a small special force squad, seeing as he could use Magecraft. His companions in the squad could as well, and usually they would be on the front lines attacking first to widle down the opposition before the other forced arrived.

It wasn't the smartest technique but it was something. Unfortunately, as a result of the constant use of his Projection, some rebounds had taken effect, changing the color of his hair and his skin tone. Though he wouldn't doubt if some of the new tanned tone was partially due to being in the sun for long periods of time.

He was slowly becoming more like him...

Was there really no way he could have avoided this? Shirou looked at his hands, skimming over the calloused, from holding so many blades - too many blades. Yes, he could have. He could have been more calm about the war, and attempt to study different veins of Magecraft.

Of course, Shirou always could have left Japan and gone to England, but he wasn't the type to let the war be while he was still standing on his two legs. Besides, if he hadn't participated in the war, then he would have never encountered Hajime. The image of Hajime's battered, bloody body flashed through his mind and he furrowed his brows, lips twitching downwards. No, he didn't like that. Not at all.

Shirou would have loved to have rescued at least one other person from the flaming city, but he hadn't been able to. Only Hajime, his adoptive daughter whom he thought of as his own. She was pure, still innocent on the surface, but he knew that the fire she'd awaken to would stick with her forever. He knew from personal experience, after all.

Ah yes, the fire that had burned down his hometown, the Fuyuki fire. He still lived in Fuyuki City, albeit on he half of the city that wasn't completely roasted by the flames. Shirou had later found out that the fire had been a result of a Holy Grail War ten years prior to the one he took part in, through the Servant he had summoned, who had apparently fought in the previous War as well. His Servant, she kept blaming herself endlessly for what had happened; when the two of them were sitting alone, she would apologize seemingly out of nowhere. But the distant look in her eyes always told him what was wrong.

No matter how many times he told her that she was forgiven, his own forgiveness didn't seem to be enough if she couldn't forgive herself.

Shirou heaved out a sigh, looking up to check the time. Eight minutes had passed - it was time to carefully scan the crowd for a hot-headed girl with brown hair.

There was no way in Hell Rin was going to leave Shirou to his own devices, with a child amnesiac, a huge home, and a "my-life-doesn't-matter-as-long-as-she's-saved" attitude. That would be hectic, and despite his promising not to impose his ideals onto her, she highly doubted his daughter wouldn't pick them up even with him barely telling her about it.

Come to think of it, what was her name again? She'd completely forgotten...Rin knew for sure it was a rather masculine name, but that's all she could remember. Heaving a sigh, she hefted her carry-on bag onto her shoulder, walking from her first-class seat and to the door of the airplane. By now, Shirou's daughter, from what she got through him, was around five or six years old, much too young to have experienced something of that scale. The fire, that is.

Rin could only shiver at the thought of seeing bodies everywhere, blood on the ground with buildings falling down around her. That would surely be the end of her if she didn't have her jewels with her - she did use Jewel Magecraft after all. When she stepped out of the walkway and into the airport building, her blue eyes glanced over the various shops and stores around her. Feeling her stomach starting to throw profanities at her, she simply bought a bowl of (low quality) ramen, knowing that even after the white haired male picked her up, it would still be a long ride back. And since it was late, she shouldn't have him stay up later by cooking.

She finished eating in record time, before speed-walking down the halls as fast as she could, taking the fastest path possible to the carousel.

Rin, being the oh so considerate family friend, had brought gifts from England for Shirou, his daughter, and her friends who still lived in Fuyuki, or were passing through. She had been a resident of Fuyuki ever since she was very young - as long as she could remember, in fact. Until after she finished her non-magecraft educational career, that is, which was when she and Shirou had gone to England to study Magecraft in a place referred to as the Clock Tower. But in all those maybe eighteen or so years, she had made a few friends, met too many people for her to remember names or faces anymore, and was the school idol in high school.

Standing on the escalator, her fingertips brushed over the bracelet wrapped around her right wrist, shining as if it were gold or some type of precious metal. It was, in fact, made of silver, an easy to access and relatively cheap material usable to those who practiced Earth Magecraft. She herself had not studied this vein of Magecraft, so it would seem useless for a Magus such as herself to wear it, but this bracelet was one she received from an old friend of hers. That is, if Rin had the liberty to refer to them as such. She was never sure if they were friends, or simply allies for a short period of time, but she'd taken a liking to that friend despite their somewhat rough start.

Rin snapped herself from her own musings as she reached the bottom and stepped off, her backpack (something she would have preferred not to bring, but seeing as she would likely be running around a lot, this type of bag would likely come in handy - more so than a purse) securely fastened to her shoulders, with her hands holding onto the straps. Reading the signs, she walked off to her right, almost breaking into a wild dash. She needed to get to Shirou as soon as possible.

Once she reached her destination, she looked over the surprisingly large crowd of people for a stupidly obvious head of pure white hair sticking above the bunch of people. And, in a record time of two seconds, she saw him. Then again it was pretty much impossible to miss him, with his odd hair color, tanned skin tone and ridiculous height of one hundred eighty-five centimeters.

It seemed that only about half a minute passed before their eyes met, and Shirou smiled, waving to her. Rin let out a soft laugh before waving back and pushing through the crowd towards him. "Good to see you again, Old Man," she teased and he rolled his eyes with a chuckle.

"Good to see you too, Goblin." That only earned him a punch in the arm. "What was that for?!"

"Don't insult a woman," she huffed and Shirou shot her a look, making her laugh, before turning to the carousel. The suitcases from the airplane had been circling for a while, and the two of them waited in comfortable silence before picking up her suitcase and beginning their walk to his car.

Rin glanced up at Shirou every few minutes, always averting her eyes straight ahead whenever he almost caught her in the act.

She'd never quite gotten over her romantic interest in him, and she knew he was fully aware of this, but they never acted upon it, whether it to be to shoot it down or accept it. Rin couldn't forgive herself for this attraction either - Shirou had, after all, promised himself to someone else. She'd been very jealous, but it was his decision, and she would respect that. It was the least she could do after the amount of times he'd saved her life during the Fifth Holy Grail, which they both took part in as Masters.

But now, she was just worried about Shirou. She was sure he had noticed it as well, that he was becoming more like the man he didn't want to be.

'Kill the few to save the many,' he'd said that to her once when she asked him why he was fighting in the War. He held a slight point, seeing as the military Japan and its allies were facing against was considerably smaller than them (despite their military ability, seeing the war went on for nearly eight years), but that wasn't the Shirou she'd grown up with. That wasn't exactly the Shirou she'd fallen in love with initially, but it didn't make her love him any less. It simply saddened her that he was becoming more and more like the person he didn't want to be.

Hopefully, they would be able to fix this before it happened and Shirou disrupted some major events.

"Here we are," Shirou's voice snapped Rin from her thoughts, and she noticed him holding the car door open for her. She thanked him, and he simply nodded, before closing the door behind her and getting into the driver's seat and starting the car. Her blue eyes watched his movements, studying the way his clothes wrinkled and straightened as he fiddled with the windows and began to drive out of the parking lot.

He was worried about something.

"How's your daughter?" She figured she would try to help him a little. His daughter seemed like something he'd be worrying his white head off about. And, seeing his brows twitch, she knew she'd hit the nail on the head.

"Hajime, she's doing well, and learning really fast. She's already picked up a decent amount of Japanese and has been asking a lot of questions about everything outside the house." He paused. "To be expected, I suppose, seeing that she hadn't really been outside the estate since I brought her there. And Rin, before you demand me why, I want to make sure she knows how to speak Japanese before she goes into town. That way it'll be less intimidating for her."

Rin nodded slowly - what he said made some sense, but still! You can't keep a child walled in forever, that wouldn't do her much good, if any. But she had to trust Shirou that he would go outside with her at some point. "By the way, I never got to ask you - " Rin turned to look at the road again, " - why did you name her Hajime? Isn't that a boys' name?"

Shirou was sent for a moment before humming softly, almost contemplating. "Because, she is the cause of a new beginning - the first step, foundation and reason for a new part of our lives. And frankly, I don't care if it's a boys' name. She likes her name and that's all that matters. If she doesn't like it or decides it doesn't fit her anymore, I'll allow her to legally change her name."

Rin felt her brow twitch. Shirou was seriously spoiling this child. Was that good or bad?

"...the reason I'm concerned is that I'm not sure if she was asleep before I left."

Alright, definitely bad.

"You what?!" Shirou flinched at the tone she was using, but he completely understood why. He'd been irresponsible and forgetful, two things he as a father should not do. Rin's blue eyes were on fire as they bored into the side of his head - he felt like he was going to melt under her gaze any minute now from the heat she was letting off. "Shirou you idiot! She's probably panicking right now!"

"I know," he replied softly. He felt severely ashamed of himself for not taking better care of Hajime, he felt he didn't deserve to be called her father anymore. His friend's eyes were still ablaze but they shifted elsewhere, making a wave of relief wash over him - but in no way was he at ease. Shirou had been nervous ever since the possibility of her being lonely came to mind on the drive to the airport, but now he was practically begging the traffic to go faster so he could reach home, hold her close and reassure her. Hajime would be angry at him, and he wouldn't be able to forgive himself for that. "When we get to my place, the first thing I'm going to do is make sure she is going to be alright."

Rin nodded at this, approving his decision. She didn't know Hajime, heck, she'd never even seen her, but she still cared for the child nonetheless. Hajime was Shirou's daughter after all, and therefore someone she had to help take care of.

She tightened the grip on her backpack, which now held its place on her lap, and fumbled with the zipper. She hoped that after Shirou helped Hajime calm down, or go back to her room, that she would like her. If Hajime didn't like her, that would only complicate things. And on top of that, she hoped the young girl would like the gifts she'd gotten her.

After all, not only had she spent a long time thinking about what to get her, and spent a lot of money, from what Shirou had told her through calls and letters, Hajime was a sweet and happy child. Usually, children annoyed her, but he had reassured her that she would like his daughter, so Rin was trusting him on that. Realizing the car had come to a stop, Rin hefted up her bag and exited the car, shutting the door behind her before looping one of the straps over her arms and going to the trunk to help Shirou with her luggage.

"Here, let me help out," she reached out to take her bag, but he grabbed it before she could reach it. Rin felt her eye twitch in irritation and she glared up at him heavily as he smirked at her. "Shirou..." He inwardly gulped, before shutting the trunk and making a run for it. "Get back here!"

"You'd gut me!" was his reply, his laughter filling the chilly night air as he opened the gate and dashed to the front door, Rin hot on his heels.

The Holy Grail was most definitely bored. It had nothing to do, and it could feel the Einzberns plotting something again. Honestly, those Magus were insufferable - they kept trying and trying again, to win the war, through any means possible, and though that usually wouldn't bother it, it was simply the amount of times they tried over the span of a century that frustrated it. That family honestly would not stop.

Thankfully, after that (bastard) Kiritsugu Emiya had been thrown out of the Einzbern family, in effect, he'd taken in a boy, a most interesting boy, as his own (during the aftermath of the first part of the Fifth Holy Grail War), and maybe accidentally, maybe not, caused that boy to become one of the next Masters (during the second part of the Fifth Holy Grail War). And, this is "thankfully," because that boy, despite having attempted to destroy it, and that made it rather angry with him as well, aided in the killing of the youngest Einzbern. And that made the Grail hope it would lead to the family stopping altogether, but it seemed it was wrong.

They were trying again.

But it wasn't anything particularly out of the ordinary, which was why the Grail was bored. It was supposed to wait maybe another half a century before starting the next War, but it was seriously considering starting the next one sooner since it simply had nothing better to do. One would think this would have happened a bit sooner, but there hadn't been any Wars nearly as fascinating as the Fifth one and it wanted another one just like that. It was figuratively jumping out of its skin just waiting for the forty-some years to pass, for the next War.

Maybe, but it didn't quite have the patience for that.

Maybe it would start one earlier just to kill its boredom, and flip the Einzbern family the birdie by starting it sooner than anticipated.

Maybe it shouldn't.

But maybe it should.

Maybe.

Maybe.

Hajime, after having stood perfectly still for what must have been an hour, decided to peak out from under the stuffed animals. Seeing nothing was moving, other than the shadows cast by the trees outside, she slowly straightened her back so she could get a better view of the room. The small separator between the dining area and the kitchen remained, as always, with the table in the middle of the room just as she remembered. Nothing had changed, save the color of the light and the amount of it present.

She felt her stomach gurgle, hungry, and willing to eat her if she didn't fill it. The thought made her shiver, but for some reason the feeling didn't seem particularly foreign to her - as if it was normal. Carefully, she climbed out of the box, taking quick glances around the room before tip-toeing to the kitchen. Stopping before the doorway, she hesitantly looked around the corner, before, to her relief, confirming that there was no one and, or, nothing there that could hurt her. Relaxing considerably, she walked over to the refrigerator and, after a bit of struggling, heaved open the door and felt a wave of cold, icy air wash over her. The light from the small bulbs at the top of the bottom compartment almost blinded her with the sudden white hitting her eyes, but Hajime simply squinted, scanning the shelves for anything she could eat.

Spotting a clementine, her chocolate orbs lit up and she snatched it off the shelves, before studying it. How was she supposed to peel this? She frowned lightly as she turned the fruit around in her hands - she knew from her father that you were supposed to peel it, but how would one peel it? The skin was thick and strong, two things about fruits that Hajime didn't know how to handle.

Her hands were small, weak and frail, definitely not things that would come in particularly handy when peeling a clementine. Or any citrus, for that matter.

Huffing irritably, Hajime closed the refrigerator before turning away to walk back to the safety of the toy crate. She felt safer now, knowing that the chances of her being killed, kidnapped or worse was low. If something was after her, surely it would have gotten her by now.

With these thoughts in mind, she could sit down in peace and enjoy the silence. Well, not enjoy, more like barely tolerate it and not rush back to her and her father's room, where it was probably colder and more lonely. At least in this room, she had access to food and water, and could sleep in her little pile of dolls. Hajime climbed back into the box in question, before attempting to stab the fruit with her fingers.

It was, for the most part, unsuccessful. "For the most part" meaning that while she had made a small mark in the fruit, she hadn't done a lot of damage. Mumbling in annoyance, she jabbed it again and whined when some juice squirted into her eye.

Hajime felt tears well up and she sniffed before dropping the clementine to the bottom of the box and trying to rub the juice out of her eyes, but to no avail - she simply made it worse, because there was juice on her hands. A whimper escaped her and she curled up into a ball again. Everything seemed to want her hurt or dead. She didn't want to leave the box again.

Yeah, maybe it was a better idea to just stay in the box and not move.

Rin finally caught up to Shirou, though she knew he'd slowed down on purpose, and tackled him from behind. He stumbled, almost falling over, but managed to catch himself just before his nose made contact with the door. The two laughed, before Shirou's chuckles died down and he grabbed his keys, unlocking and opening the door as quickly as he could. Kicking off his shoes, he took Rin's bags and put them in the hallway before rushing to the next room.

Knowing he was looking for Hajime, Rin took her time when removing her coat and footwear, turning on the lights Shirou had forgotten to activate and followed after him.

"Hajime! Hajime?"

Oh dear, he was making a ruckus. Rin shook her head in disdain, but looked around as well, to see if she could spot a small girl. She didn't need to look long, however - a young child came sprinting down the hallway and ran into Shirou's legs, hugging them tightly. From the looks of it, and sounds, she was crying.

"Daddy! Daddy I was so scared!" The girl's voice was cracking, her shoulders trembling as she held onto Shirou for dear life. Her father's eyes saddened as he gazed at her, crouching down and gently taking her into his arms. Tenderly, he brushed the hair from her face and held her close, rocking her back and forth slowly.

"Daddy's really sorry - he won't do it again...he didn't mean to make you cry, Daddy's a bad man," he murmured. Rin almost felt guilty, seeing this, but shook it off quickly as she watched them. Clearly, the two were very close; she felt severely out of place as she watched them interact.

The girl, Hajime, Rin assumed, cried softly into his chest, grabbing small fistfuls of Shirou's black shirt and containing her wails the best she could - a commendable feat for a girl who was maybe six years old. Shirou shushed her, still rocking her back and forth before letting out a deep breath and petting Hajime's hair as he leaned his chin on the top of her head. "Shh, shh, everything's going to be okay. Daddy's here now..."

The young girl in his arms relaxed a bit, breaths evening out, but it was clear she was still shedding tears, crying, and trying not to hyperventilate. She had to admit, it felt strange, seeing this side of Shirou. Rin had always known it existed, but seeing it like this was a little "off," so to speak. Especially since Shirou looked so much like...the person he didn't want to be. Not immensely, anyways.

"Daddy's mean..." Hajime's sobbing stopped, but tears were still staining her face as she sniffed, leaning her head on Shirou's shoulder. Rin felt her lips twist upwards a little; the two of them, despite this being their first exchange she had witnessed, were quite cute. She thought that Shirou would be a pretty bad father, but she seemed to be being proved quite wrong. She watched him hum softly before glancing at her and subtly nodding down the hallway, indicating that she should follow.

"Daddy won't do it again, he promises. Daddy won't leave you alone," Shirou murmured, walking down the hallway. He showed Rin to her room, one rather close to his own, and was silently offering to help her settle in, but she shook her head and waved him off.

"Take care of your daughter first," she explained, and he nodded gratefully before leaving her to her thoughts as he entered his own room with the crying girl.

Rin stared after them before looking around the room - it was very familiar to her, the bed was still where she remembered, as was the furniture. She had stayed in this room before, during the Fifth Holy Grail War, and she remembered this room quite vividly. It was a relief, though, that the mess of clothes, personal belongings and notebooks she'd left all those years back had found its way to the trash, charity, or to the homeless. And also noticed an addition to the bedside table, a picture frame. Curious, she stepped a bit closer to get a better look. Turning on the lamp, she sat on the bed (which bounced her up and down slightly before settling once more) and picked up the frame, holding it closer so she could see it.

The picture was one of her, Shirou, and their Servants from the Holy Grail War. It had been surprising when her own Servant had agreed to be in the photo, but then again, the Servant seemed to know that the picture was going to be important. To be expected, she assumed, seeing who he was. Shirou's Servant seemed rather happy to be standing with all three of them, seeming to be practically glowing, even in the image captured by the camera. Her smile was wide, get gentle, with either of her hands on Shirou and Rin's Servant, as she stood very close to Rin.

The brown haired Magus chuckled, a bit bitterly. She missed Shirou's Servant; she was a kind soul with pure intentions, yet a formidable rival and hard Servant to overcome.

Placing the framed photo back on the bedside table, she got up to unpack her things, change into pyjamas, and go to bed. It was nearly one in the morning and she didn't want to be jetlagged the next day.