for those that read the plot bunny I posted a while ago, this is the beginning of the new stuff.
Chapter start
"Are you certain that you will be safe at school?" Yuno asked. She was helping Shirou cook breakfast, 'Why do we need so much food?' She whisked up some eggs.
"Yes. You said it yourself - servants don't fight during the day. The risk of being seen is too high." Shirou put the last dish on the stove, "Besides, why are you so worried today? Yesterday you were fine with it."
Yuno smiled sweetly 'yesterday, you were a backup plan' "I'm not worried. I just want to make sure that you don't forget to be careful. I can't disincorporate, so I won't be able to accompany you"
For some reason, the hairs on the back of Shirou's neck prickled when she smiled. "Uhm yeah. Speaking of being careful - you said you had a way of explaining why you're here?"
"Yes - I was going to..." Yuno was interrupted by the front door slamming open
"Shirou! feed me!" came the roar of the tiger, followed by a quieter "good morning Sempai. do you need any help?"
"Now would be a good time." said Shirou, grabbing a serving bowl of Miso soup and heading out to the dining room.
"Good morning, Fuji-nee, Sakura." Shirou set the soup onto the table, I would like you to meet..."
"Who is that?" demanded Fujimura suspiciously., as Yuno came into the dining room as well.
"And why was she in the kitchen?" asked Sakura in a hurt tone.
"That's Yuno, my daughter" came the reply from the doorway leading to the guest rooms. In it stood a corpulent, dark skinned woman with white hair. "I am Gasai-san". She stopped at the table to grab a roll. "Emya-san was an associate of mine, and I stopped by to pay my respects." she shoved the roll into her mouth and chewed noisily. "I am saddened at his passing." she then lumbered out the front door.
"Uh.." Fujimura and Sakura were obviously stunned by the gross woman, "where is she going?"
"Probably to pay her respects at father's grave" replied Shirou, improvising quickly.
"Oh" Fujimura turned to the strange girl, 'huh, she must be adopted' "so, will you be staying long?"
"We had planned to stay for a week - my mother has some business in town to conduct as well, so Shirou was kind enough to invite us to stay here."
"But aren't you missing school?" Asked Sakura. 'with a mother like that, she's going to be fat by the time she's 16' she thought with some relief.
"Oh, I go to a private school - our schedule is a little different"
The rest of the meal passed peacefully, with the four people enjoying the good food. Shirou, though was on tenterhooks - who or what had that woman been?
"Oh, sempai, let me help you clear the table" Sakura decided that since she didn't get a chance to cook with Shirou, this was the best she could do. It was what married people did. Working with Shirou in the kitchen made her feel like they were a couple.
Fujimura of course ran on ahead, as she had to be at school before the students, and Yuno retreated to her room.
As Shirou and Sakura were about to set out for school as well, he stopped, "Shoot - I forgot to pack my homework. I'll be right back" and ran back into the house and over to the guest room, "Yuno?" he knocked. "Who was that woman?"
"That was Murmur." replied Yuno, looking up from her phone, "She's my helper. She's usually quite useful, but because we are so low on prana, I don't know how much she can do."
"oh, ok. See you later then." and Shirou ran back out
'What a dork' Yuno lay back on the bed. "Murmur - go back to being small and see if you can find any other masters. Avoid the servant's - they seem dangerous" she texted to her familiar.
"Yeah, yeah. teach your grandmother to suck eggs" came the reply.
FSD-FSD
Shirou was just walking through the school gate when he felt like all the air was sucked out of his lungs. 'What the hell was that?' He staggered a few steps before righting himself, 'I'll ask Tohsaka this afternoon. She will know.'
FSD*FSD
At lunchtime, Rin was up on the roof, contemplating. "Things are getting too complicated. I have to lead the idiot to Kotomine church, then I have to get back to school and figure out who's setting up this bounded field and how to disassemble it. And after that I have to deal with the rest of the Masters in this war."
"Why not skip step one?" Saber's voice came an empty patch of air, as he was currently incorporeal. It would have been kind of weird, but since Rin was the only one who could hear him, it was fine - the only odd thing was that she appeared to be talking to herself. "Just kill Emya. That will save on travel time and simplify your to-do chart at the same time."
"Arg. I can't do that. I promised to take him to the church. Besides, it wouldn't be fair." Rin prevaricated. The fact that Emya seemed like a very nice guy had nothing to do with it. At all.
"Since when has 'fair' factored into the Grail war?" Saber asked, "We are here to win."
Rin, surprisingly, had little experience with peer pressure, so she buckled "Fine, fine. I'll take care of the idiot. but I'm not killing him."
FSD*FSD
By the time the school day was over, Shirou was more than ready to get going. Not only had class been tedious, but the something in the air was making him nauseous. Plus, he was anxious about getting involved with the magical community. His father had never said anything bad about them (honestly, had hadn't said much of ANYTHING about them), but the impression that Shirou had picked up was that they were very strict and demanding.
Shirou was just packing up his books when he got a text message: "Rin is going to kill you in about 5 minutes. run -Yuno" He looked up in confusion - Rin was nowhere in sight, and almost all of the other students had also cleared out - Shirou had had clean up duty (he volunteered for it at least twice a week), so he was running a little late. Shirou shrugged off the message as Yuno being an alarmist. He put the bucket away and glanced at the clock. 'Shoot - I was supposed to meet with Tohsaka 15 minutes ago - she's going to kill me!'.
Shirou grabbed his book bag and had just stepped out the classroom door when a voice called out from the stairwell opposite "Are you the last one out, as usual?" It was Rin, but her tone of voice was oddly hesitant.
"Oh, hi, Rin! I am so sorry for making you wait, especially since you are being so kind as to help me learn the ropes." Shirou smiled, "You're a good person."
"I.. I.." Rin looked away from Shirou, "Come, on, you idiot. I'll show you to the overseer. But then you are fair game, got it?" She had started out speaking softly, but by the end she was almost yelling in Shirou's face.
"Um, ok?"
'Wimp' a quiet voice whispered in Rin's mind.
'I made a promise! And Tohsakas don't not break their promises!' Rin countered.
As they walked out of the school, Shirou breathed a sigh of relief, "thank goodness - something in there stank!"
Rin quirked an eyebrow, "You felt that?"
Shirou nodded
"It's a bounded field. somebody, probably one of the other masters, set it up around the whole school. It's still charging up, so it's pretty weak. I am surprised that a no-talent magus like you could detect it."Rin lectured with a mixture of condescension and praise.
"What does it do? Is it dangerous?" Shirou ignored the mild insult. Little things like insults (or pain) didn't distract him from his purpose.
"Probably. It looks like a draining field, to suck life energy from the students. I figure a Master set it up to charge up their Servant faster." Rin Frowned, "I'm going to have to take it down after I'm done with you"
Shirou nodded emphatically, "You can't let something like that kill students."
"I doubt the Master was stupid enough to set it so high that it will kill people" Rin scowled at Shirou's naiveté, "but I can't let whoever set it up get such an advantage."
As the two walked down the street, Yuno stepped out from behind a bus stop to join them. She stared intently at Rin for a moment, as if deciding where the best place would be to stick a knife before her face cleared, "Oh, hello. Nice to see you"
"Is it going to be a long walk?" asked Shirou.
"The Church is on the edge of town - it's a half hour walk." Rin replied in annoyance 'is he going to wimp out on me?'
Shirou nodded, "in that case..." He walked up to a street cart and purchased three ice cream cones, "On a hot day like today, this will help keep you cool" He handed one to each of the two girls.
The two girls exchanged surprised looks, but well, it was ice cream, so they took it.
As the trio walked along, eating their ice cream, a silent voice pronounced sardonically, 'You know, you look like you're on a date.'
Rin almost choked on her ice cream "AM NOT!"
"Excuse me?" asked Shirou. Yuno looked down at her Master Diary.
Rin glanced around quickly, to check if any of her classmates were within sight. Thankfully, the street was clear of teenagers, "Nothing, it's nothing. Saber just made an inappropriate joke."
As they walked, Shirou tried to make conversation with the two girls, but Rin just scowled at him, and Yuno smiled and nodded, but kept her eyes on her cell phone.
When they reached Kotomine Church, Yuno frowned, "I will wait outside". The church was located on a quiet residential street, but with the nice weather, there were a number of people bicycling or walking in the area, so Yuno would not look out of place sitting at the bus stop bench outside the church.
Rin lead the fake janitor into the cool of the small building, "Kirei, you in here?"
"What is it that you require, child?" came the phlegmatic reply. A tall man strode out from the shadows. He was trying to appear serene, but to Shirou he just came across as arrogant.
"This is Shirou Emya. He is a master in the Grail war." Rin pushed Shirou forwards.
"Ah, Hello, sir. Tohsaka says I need to inform you if I am going to compete in this war."
"Hmm. And do you plan to do so?' asked the the priest, being overly proper. He lead the two teenagers to a nook off to one side, which served as his office, complete with a desk and several chairs.
"Yes" Shirou nodded forcefully.
"So you have a wish that is worth fighting for? Maybe even dying for?" asked Kirei, curious about what motivated the young man. Motivations fascinated him, maybe because he wanted to convince himself that his own was not so aberrant.
"No. But Tohsaka-san has explained to me the lengths some of the other masters will go to to win, and so I will join this absurd contest in order to can keep people safe." His eyes burned with a passion that seldom showed on his face, "There is no justification for hurting people just for your selfish reasons."
"So the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one, hmm?" smirked Kirei as he took a seat.
"Is that a Christian thing?" asked Shirou.
"No, Star Trek" replied the priest. "Very well. I will record you as the seventh master. The contest begin in earnest now. Go, and try not to die right away" Kotomine smirked 'a prolonged death is more amusing, after all' This last part Kirei kept to himself.
As the two teens exited the church, Shirou whispered to Rin, "that guy is creepy."
"Tell me about it" Rin muttered back. Kirei had technically been her guardian for the past 10 years, but all he really cared about was that she didn't neglect her education.
As they walked back out into the sunlight, Shirou saw Yuno quickly slip a cell phone into her pocket with a guilty look. "All done?" she asked easily.
Shirou was about to answer when a child's voice called out, "so you are contestant as well, Oni-san." it was the silver haired preteen girl that he had seen a couple of days ago. "But it doesn't matter - you won't last long." she smiled.
Shirou caught a glimpse of Yuno as she blurred into action. She had her knife raised, and murder in her eye
He just had time to throw himself in her way. As she collided with him, her knife ripped a gash in his shoulder.
"What are you doing!" she demanded.
"Are you insane? You can't just attack people like that" Shirou almost yelled as he staggered up, holding his arm. "She's just a little girl!"
Illya looked on in bemusement, "Oni-san is correct. you shouldn't do anything with so many witnesses around. Otherwise, my Berserker would have come out and smashed you into a thin pink paste" she giggled. "He's Hercules, the mightiest hero."
The pink haired girl glared at her opponent for a moment before a bicyclist rode by, giving the teens an incurious glance. "You're right, Shirou-sama!" she said in a perky tone, visibly relaxing.
Rin stood in the background, watching. "he's a complete idiot"
'Yes, but that servant of his... there is something wrong with her. It's like she's two different people.' Saber said quietly, not at all happy with the way things were going.
'So she hides her competence behind a saccharine sweet persona. There's nothing wrong with that' replied Rin. Though personally, she preferred a more aloof mask to hide behind.
Yuno stood there watching Illya, Illya stood watching Yuno. Both were smiling. Despite being physically smaller, Ilya somehow managed to look like the more mature of the two. Neither seemed inclined to move. "So, how was your trip to Japan? not too unpleasant I hope?" Yuno fingered the knife she was holding behind her back.
"Oh, it was fine. I expect it will be a rewarding trip" Ilya eyed Shirou speculatively.
"Ah" Shirou scratched the back of his head before stepping forward, "My name is Shirou Emya. Nice to meet you.." he trailed off
"Illyasviel von Einzbern" she was just about to say something else when Yuno grabbed Shirou by his wounded arm and pulled him away, "Don't talk to the enemy, Master."
As Shirou floundered, Illya waved good by, "you are an interesting person, Oni-san"