chapter
Shirou brought a bowl of Soup into Yuno's room, "How are you feeling?"
Yuno grimaced, "I'll be fine in the morning. I am a Servant, remember? How about you - your neck didn't look so good." She was lying propped up on her futon. Rin had bound the gash in her side (Shirou had volunteered to help, but Rin had chased him away, calling him a pervert).
"My neck is fine, I'm a fast healer" scowled Shirou.
"Than why are you so upset? We won today."
Flashback
Shirou and Rin were helping support Yuno when Saber materialized and scooped up the injured Servant. "Some Hero of Justice you are, Emya. If your servant hadn't lucked out, all of the people in school would have died"
end flashback
"I wasn't able to save everybody"
Yuno looked at him sternly, "I don't understand why you feel the need to help people who don't care about you. You should save your efforts for those that love you." She sighed, "be that as it may, you got some of the students out of the bounded field. You should feel proud of that"
"Some is not enough" Shirou replied morosely, sitting down next to Yuno's futon.
"You still did more than anybody else. That's all that you can hope for, sometimes."
Shirou thought on that for several minutes, "I guess that's true", 'But next time, I'll do better'. "I need to talk to Saber. Feel better."
FSD*FSD
"Saber, I want you to train me in how to fight" Shirou walked out into the dining room, where Rin and Saber were eating their dinner.
Saber took a sip of his soup, "And why should I? So that you can get yourself killed trying to save others? Seems like a waste of my time. I could just kill you right now, and save you the effort."
"Not funny" smirked Rin.
"No, I mean, yes, I would like to help people, but that's not why I am asking you to train me - I want you to train me so that the next time I am in a dangerous situation like tonight, I'll do a better job. I was pathetic out there!"
Saber nodded agreement, "yes you were. But no matter how skilled you are, there will always be situations that are too dangerous for you, where you will die."
"I'm not an idiot," Shirou countered, "But if I could defend myself, there would be more situations where I could help, without endangering myself. I.. I understand I can't save everybody, but I need to be able to save SOME people."
Saber quirked his eyebrow in amusement before turning to Rin, "What say you, little Master? Is this worth the effort?"
"Don't call me 'little' master, you impudent thug" Snarled Rin, "And yes, go ahead and train him. What could it hurt?"
'You would be surprised. But this Shirou is different from the way I was' Saber sighed in annoyance and stood up and said, "follow me."
FSD*FSD
"This would be a lot easier if I could scout the city from the air" Murmur complained. She was back to her usual size.
"No flying!" scolded Yuno. The pair were in Yuno's room at Shirou's house, and Murmur was reporting her success (or lack there of) in finding other Master's bases. "I am concerned that if we use divine magic, that the local Deux Ex Machina will find and expell us." 'besides, my reserves are not unlimited, and Murmur has no concept of conservation.'
"FINE!" pouted the small purple woman, "But then don't get all annoyed if I can't find anything. I don't understand how you humans manage to accomplish anything, walking around on two stubby legs."
"Not everybody is as stubby as you." replied Yuno. An image of Rin flashed into her mind. Followed by that of Sakura. A scowl slowly settled onto her features. "That reminds me - what have you found out at the Matou residence?"
"There is something unnatural about that house. I don't know if it has magical protections, or if it is haunted, but it calls for caution." Murmur frowned, "though I don't understand why you are so concerned about that Sakura girl. She seems friendly"
"Nobody is that friendly without an ulterior motive" Yuno replied, "She's hiding something."
FSD*FSD
That weekend was filled with pain. Saber pushed Shirou to his limit, attacking him over and over. They trained with paired bocken, which Shirou found a very comfortable style. Despite all the beatings Shirou endured, he enjoyed the lessons. Unlike some martial arts classes he had had, Saber's style made intuitive sense. 'This is so much better than when Fuji-nee tried to teach me Kendo. All those formal stances, and rules for when you can attack...' Shirou guzzled down a bottle of water, "Why don't more people use this style? it feels very... organic?" Shirou asked Saber, who was perched on a stump, peering down at the supine Magus.
"Because you have to be willing to get stabbed to use it. It relies on speed and offense to cover openings that you leave available for your enemy."
"But it works" Shirou was puzzled.
"Only if you are fast enough, which you are not."
"Well then, teach me to be faster!'
Saber's eyes narrowed, "There is a way, but it is very dangerous." Saber paused, to let Shirou take that concept in. Not that it would deter him, "You need to reinforce your muscles just like you do non-living material. If you do it just right, you will become faster and stronger. If you do it wrong, you will die, and save the other guy the hassle of killing you" Saber wasn't certain why he was teaching Shirou. Not that it would make any difference for him, seeing as this was an alternate reality, but still, Shirou was an idiot. 'I guess I still want to save people, and the only way to save this idiot is to teach him how to fight.'
"Let's call it a day"
As Shirou made his way into the main building, to start dinner, he saw Rin coming in, dragging a suitcase. "Uhm, Tohsaka? what are you doing?"
"I'm moving in, obviously" She stood her luggage up, "so why don't you show me which room I should take."
"Uhm, but why?" 'what will people think? what will Fuji-nee think?' Shirou was starting to panic.
"Because if we are going to be working together, it will be easier to coordinate if we are all living under the same roof. Besides, Saber is here for hours on end training you anyways."
"Uhm, ok? But what do we tell Fujimura?"
"That you and I are getting married and that I moved in so that we could have wild sex?" Rin asked.
"Aahrgmf!" Shirou's jaw fell off his face and he stood frozen, while his brain tried to reboot and failed. He blinked. Nope. Rin's words still didn't make any sense. Blink.
Rin collapsed in laughter at the horrified expression on Shirou's face. "No, I mean.." she tried to explain, but each time she glanced at Shirou, she cracked up again, "Oh, god. You should see the expression on your face." She wiped tears off her face, "I needed that. No seriously, we'll tell Fujimura-sensei that my house is undergoing repairs. With all the 'mysterious' property damage happening all over Fuyuki City, it will be fairly believable."
"Oh, ok." Shirou replied, "you know, you're not a lot like the persona that you project in school."
"And you, are JUST like your school persona, except more so." smirked Rin as she grabbed her luggage,
"What exactly does that mean?" Shirou scowled.
Rin just shrugged casually, ignoring Shirou's question. "So, which room?"
Shirou took the lead, "that one - the one furthest down the hall. That way we won't bother Yuno when we are having wild sex."
Rin almost tripped over herself, "ahm". She took another look at Shirou as the redhead walked calmly on. 'he's just joking, right?'
FSD*FSD
The following morning was very tense. In addition to Fujimura, the Emya breakfast table also hosted Sakura. Once Rin had let slip that she was staying at Maison d'Emya, Sakura's expression had hardened and for a moment she had actually looked like she would cry. Conversation, if it happened, was stilted. Taiga tried to fill the gaps with embarrassing stories about Shirou, but nobody was listening.
'What's going on? They are all nice girls - why are they just sitting there, smiling and not talking.' Shirou wasn't the most sensitive of people, but the atmosphere was getting to him, 'And there is no school today because many of the students are still in the hospital. There is NO escape!'' "I'm going to go for a short walk. You guys finish up breakfast - don't bother with the dishes, I'll take care of them when I get back."
"Where are you going?" Sakura asked suspiciously.
"I just need some fresh air. I think I ate too much."
Shirou waved and set off for town before any of the girls could get the idea of coming with him.
Half way down the hill to town, he felt himself relax. 'That's better. Maybe having so many girls under the same roof is just not physically possible. There must be some sort of physical limit, and if you exceed it, they explode.' Shirou mused as he walked.
He walked aimlessly for some time. Soon, he was in a neighborhood that he wasn't familiar with, not far from the river. It was a run down residential area, with nets and other fishing gear lying on the unkempt lawns of most of the homes. As he walked by, Shirou noticed a food store, 'hmm. I should buy some supplies, if I'm going to be hosting Rin and Saber.'
He was just coming out of the grocery store, one bag dangling from right arm, another in his left when he heard a voice say, "Hello Oni-san. Let me help you with that."
He turned to see the silver haired girl "oh, ahm. Hi?"
Illya reached up and took one of the grocery bags from his arm before turning and walking towards a small park, "I thought I should get to know you, Oni-san, since you are nothing like I expected."
"I don't think so." Yuno grabbed Shirou's arm before he could take a step after Illya, "We're going home. You have to start making lunch."
Shirou looked surprised, 'where did she come from? Is it really that late?', "Would you like to join us for lunch?"
Yuno gritted her teeth and smiled, but Illya just shook her head, watching Yuno out of the corner of her eye, "We will spend time together some other time. But don't worry, Oni-san, I won't forget you" she handed the bag of groceries back to Yuno and walked off.
Yuno spun on Shirou and demanded 'You know that she's a Master, so why were you going off alone with her?"
"Just because she's a Master doesn't make her a bad person. She seems very nice."
"What are you a loli-con or something?"
"What?! No! But why should I assume that she's evil, just because she's a Master."
"Just because she acts all sweet and kind is no reason to assume that she's not evil" Yuno pointed out in a gentle voice.
"So are you saying that I should assume you're some kind of monster?" Shirou asked.
Yuno just grabbed his arm and walked off. After several moments, she muttered, "I didn't become servant Assassin by accident"
As Shirou mulled that over, they heard a scream for help. They were on a tree lined street that ran along a rock face. On the other side of the rocks was the Fuyuki River. It was a fairly empty spot, with almost no houses.
Shirou dropped his groceries and ran, followed by an exasperated Yuno. As they rounded the rocks, they saw a strange sight - Shinji's purple haired servant was holding a man in an embrace, but he appeared to be visibly wilting, like the life was being sucked out of him. Before Shirou could do anything, a crossbow bolt leaped down from the rock face, piercing through the man and into the Servant. She staggered away, trailing blood, as a blond woman, dressed in all white plate armor (but without a helmet) dropped down and attacked her with a rapier. A large crossbow was strapped to her back. The battle was short and brutal - the wounded servant didn't have time to draw her weapons before the armored woman ran her through. As the dying servant slumped to the ground, the white knight slash down, taking off her head, "Die, you abomination unto god!" she called out. She wiped her weapon on the grass before sheathing it. She appeared to be a teenager, though it was hard to tell, as her scowl added years to her face. Her blond hair was cut short, so it wouldn't get into her face as she fought.
Yuno threw Shirou to the ground as a gunshot rang out. From out of the trees stepped a huge mountain of a man, a pistol in his hands, "Archer, kill them! We can't have witnesses!" he rumbled. The Servant Archer darted forward, her sword raised. Yuno leaped to counter her, knife in one hand, Master Diary in the other. Shirou ducked behind a tree, reinforcing it, as the man-mountain fired another shot.
The two servants fought furiously but clumsily. Having trained with Saber, Shirou could tell that neither fighter was particularly skilled, but they were inhumanly fast. After a brief exchange, Yuno faked towards Archer and then darted for her Master, the gunman. Archer raised her sword and proclaimed "Holy Path to Victory." A soft white light filled the area. Yuno stumbled and looked confused for a moment, before darting to attack Archer again.
The Servants continued fighting, but now Yuno couldn't catch a break - everything she did seemed to work out poorly. Yuno would dodge attacks before Archer even started them, but something would go wrong each time - either she wouldn't complete the move, or her foot would slip, so that Archer was still able to score a glancing blow. And Archer's sword was a Noble Phantasm of some sort, as even a slight touch left a wound. But Yuno's own attacks were too tentative: if she had been a more skilled fighter, they might have done some damage, but she relied heavily on her foreknowledge, and her confused state made that useless.
"You can not stop my Divine Retribution" called out Archer pompously. At the same time, the gunman decided that Shirou was no threat and started shooting at Yuno. Yuno found herself being forced back towards the river. She glanced behind her nervously. When she did, a bullet struck her shoulder, knocking her off off her feet. As she scrambled to get back up, Archer plunged forward to deliver the coup de grace.
Shirou leaped from behind his tree, reinforcing his legs and hands. He smashed against Archer and pushed against the blade of her sword with his hand as it plunged towards Yuno.
Archer's eyes widened as the sword did not leave a single mark on Shirou's hand.
The gunman swore and tried to circle to get a clear shot at Shirou.
As Archer recovered, Shirou grabbed Yuno and dived into the river, some thirty feet below.
FSD*FSD
"I'm sorry I lost the groceries, we will have to make do with what we have in the house" Shirou said glumly. He and Yuno had changed into dry clothing, though Yuno was forced to wear a plain blue and white dress that Shirou had found squirreled away in an unused room. It was almost night time - it had taken them a long time to return home after their misadventures, and they were the only ones present, Rin and Saber were doing who know what.
"Thank you for saving my life" Yuno replied. She appeared somewhat shocked at the turn of events.
"What happened? I could see she used some sort of Noble Phantasm, but all I could tell was that you started losing." Shirou brought out a pot of tea and the two teens sat down in the living room, trying to warm up (they had both gotten chilled by their immersion in the river). Shirou glanced at Yuno, 'she's looks pretty in that dress'. Yuno's usual clothes tended to the frilly & girly, while this was more severe.
Yuno nodded glumly, "She did something, and I got disoriented. Every move I made after that was wrong."
"Yuno - why did you try to kill that man. I thought we agreed that we would only attack the servants."
"I never agreed to that. That would be stupid! I am an Assassin class: That means my fighting skills are nowhere as good as the other Servants. How will we win if I don't target the Masters?"
Shirou shook his head, "If you can't win on your own, then I will help you. I'll train harder with Saber."
Yuno just sat there, staring at Shirou over her cup. Shirou started to get uncomfortable, with that prolonged stare. Finally, she looking away. "That is either the stupidest or the sweetest thing that anybody has ever said to me. Possibly both."
Shirou didn't have anything to say to that, so he topped off Yuno's tea. "Do you want a blanket?"
"No thank you. I am happy the way I am." Yuno smiled, and then looked surprised by something before hunching over her cup. Shirou put out a tin of crackers and sat down on the couch, exhausted. The two teens sat that way drinking their tea, lost in thought. They were still sitting like that when Rin came in.
FSD*FSD
After Shirou and Yuno made dinner, Rin, Saber and the two cooks talked strategy.
"So now we know about Saber, Assassin, Lancer and Archer," Rin lectured, "That leaves Rider, Berserker and Caster"
"Illya said that her Servant is Berserker" added Shirou as he chewed.
"Don't talk with your mouth full. It's disgusting. Ok, so that purple haired woman was probably Rider, Which is strange - Rider shouldn't have been able to survive so long without a master. I guess she went 'vampire' and was living off of the life energy that she drained"
"Well, she's dead now" added Yuno, "We need to deal with the others. It would help if we knew where they operated out of"
Rin smiled, "Well, Saber and I have been doing some research: the von Einzbern family is one of the original designers of the Grail System, and they have a property - a mansion, really, at the outskirts of Fuyuki City. So I had Saber check it out. It looks like it's occupied again, for the first time in years."
"So that's the Illyasviel brat. What about the others?" Yuno nodded.
"Hey, Illya seems like a sweet girl" Shirou protested
"Loli-con" muttered Rin.
"What? No! I like mature women!"
"Well, that leaves everybody present out" smirked Saber, "though Sakura might qualify".
"What?" sputtered Rin, "Sakura's a year younger than me!"
"I was talking about how she acts."
"That's beside the point" Shirou bulled on, blushing slightly,"Shinji mentioned that a Servant was operating out of Ryuudou temple."
"Hmm. Maybe I should have asked him some questions before slicing his throat" Yuno sighed in annoyance.
Shirou looked appalled, "Shinji used to be my friend. I know he became a jerk and had to be stopped, but can you not talk about killing him like that?"
"Oh, I am sorry" Yuno shrugged apologetically, "I wouldn't want to say anything that would offend my Master." She sounded completely serious, without a hint of sarcasm.
'That girl is creepy. Very, very creepy', Rin sent silently to Saber. "In that case, Shirou and I will go up there tomorrow and check it out"
"Why not go this evening?" Shirou demanded.
"Because you have training" Saber replied, wiping his mouth and standing up.
"Also, two people visiting Ryuudou during the day would be a lot less suspicious." Rin added, "and it will have to be us - If there is a Servant up there, he will be able to sense another Heroic Spirit"
"I will come too - I am not detectable" added Yuno, "And somebody needs to keep Shirou safe."
"I guess" Rin said grudgingly.
Saber just frowned.
FSD*FSD
"Hey, kid - I want to show you something new" Saber and Shirou were in the dojo, preparing to train. "Put the boken away. I want you to try copying what I do." Saber stood still, feet shoulder width apart, hands at his sides. All of a sudden, two falchions appeared in his hands, from thin air.
"Take a good look at these swords. Now try creating your own pair."
"I can't do that sort of magic! All I can do is reinforcement!" Shirou protested.
"I didn't ask if you could. I told you to try." Saber replied, annoyed.
Shirou studied the swords. He didn't understand what Saber was getting at. What was there to study? They weren't some fancy piece of machinery, like a vacuum cleaner or a space heater. They were just swords: 0.91 kg in weight, 95.25 centimeters long, of which 80.01 cm was the blade. The steel had been folded 4 times, and quenched in such a way that it formed micro crystals along the surface, but left the core flexible. They had the property of seeking and returning, with the goal of each other, and, oddly, love.
But how could he create them? "I can't do that."
Saber sighed and released the projections, letting them fade."Kid, anything I can do, you can do." at Shirou's puzzled look, he continued, "I'm not a Heroic Spirit, like the other Servant's. I am a Counter Guardian from another reality. That means it was my job to find people that presented a clear and present danger to humanity and kill them."
"But you said you're not from our reality?"
"That's right. I don't know how I ended up here, and honestly, I'm kind of pissed, because I was hoping to kill you, but now there's no point"
Shirou's eyes got really big and he looked to see if he could make it to the door before Saber took off his head.
"Relax kid. I'm not going to hurt you. Like I said, there's no point, not anymore." Saber scratched the back of his head, "You see, you're an alternate, younger version of me. You're the me in this reality, or you could say I am the older you in my reality"
Shirou frowned in confusion, "What does this have to do with you killing me?"
"If you were the me in my reality, I would kill you before you became me, because being a Counter Guardian sucks."
"If it's so bad, then why would I do it? or is the me in your reality stupid?"
"Hey, that's me you're insulting" Saber replied.
"Oh, sorry" Shirou bowed in apology.
"The reality is, we are both that stupid. Being a Counter Guardian is a natural outgrowth of our need to rescue everybody."
Shirou sat and processed that for a moment, "I need to think about the 'Hero of Justice' thing. Watching Yuno... What she is willing to do in the name of rescuing Yuki is disturbing. I don't know how she ended up where she is, but I bet she started out with the best intentions. I need to think about it."
"Yeah I figured. That's why I am talking to you about this. The younger me wouldn't have listened, but the younger me didn't have somebody as twisted as Yuno." Saber scratched the back of his head again. 'You know, this is the weirdest conversation that I've ever had. And the oddest part - no matter how crazy I sound, I know my audience understands what I'm saying.'
"So you also fought in the Holy Grail war?"
"Yeah, but mine was completely different. There was no Assassin, and I was partnered with Arturia Pendragon, who was Saber. She was a true hero - a defender of the weak and clueless." Saber's expression softened.
"Sounds like you fell in love with her."
"Yeah. Which didn't help me any with my career choice. Ok, get up, and try tracing those falchions. I know you have them memorized."
The rest of the evening passed with Shirou practicing tracing and training with real weapons.
As Shirou staggered back towards the main building, dripping with sweat, he turned to Saber, "So can you tell me anything about the grail war?"
"Sorry, no - My memories got all jumbled, I guess from jumping dimensions. And what I do remember doesn't apply. I remember getting smashed by Berserker as I rescued Saber. I remember standing by her side as we defeated some idiot in gold armor. Mostly I remember the fights, with Saber doing most of the fighting." Saber shrugged. 'Well, that and having sex with Arturia. That was definitely memorable. But I can't mention that: he's still a kid - he'll go into shock'