"Are you certain we shouldn't wait a little longer?" Shirou asked for the third (or maybe twenty third) time.
"We waited all night. They aren't coming back." Yuno leaned on Shirou as they walked back from the Einzbern mansion. Her arm was in an improvised sling. "We need to move on".
"I know you don't care about them, but they were, are my friends" Shirou replied angrily. He was bruised, and his clothes were torn in a few places, but miraculously, nothing was broken.
"That's not true" countered Yuno. As she said it, she was surprised at the words.'I must be really tired' , "I.. They were nice to me, and that's something that.. It's... I liked it. But sometimes people, even good people die. You just have to accept it. Worry about those that are most important to you." Yuno suddenly had an image of her parents, lying dead in the cage. 'Did I do that?'
"Everybody is important!" countered Shirou.
"Well then, it sucks to be you, because you can't save everybody" Yuno replied, before her eyes got wide at what she had said.
Shirou pushed off from her and walked off ahead.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean that."
"Yes, you did" Shirou stalked off, with Yuno trailing behind.
FSD*FSD
"Hey, how are you doing?" Shirou came into Rin's room, carrying a breakfast tray. Tohsaka was sitting in bed, propped up with a couple of pillows.
"Not so good" She tried to look poised, but instead just appeared wan and tired. There were bags under her eyes, and she looked pale. She was still sleeping most of the day. It had been two days since Shirou was rescued from Illya and Berserker, and this was the first time that Rin was lucid enough to hold a conversation. "I can't feel my Magic circuits, and my eyes swim if I even turn my head too fast!"
Shirou set the tray down on her lap. "Sakura said that she had done as much as she could, and the rest will just take time", 'I hope. she also said that it may never heal'
"Where is Sakura? I seem to recall her being here when we first got back."
Shirou's face fell, and he looked down at the floor, "Sakura's dead. She died rescuing me when I got myself kidnapped by Illya. And Saber tried to save her, but I think he's gone too." Shirou waited for the explosion of anger to come from Rin. When nothing came, he looked up. Rin looked miserable. She was trying desperately to maintain her composure, but tears were leaking from her eyes.
Shirou pushed the breakfast tray aside and sat down on the futon next to her and enveloped her in a hug. He held her while she cried quietly.
FSD*FSD
Sleep wouldn't come. Shirou lay in bed, trying to fall asleep, but whenever he closed his eyes, he kept seeing Sakura lying in a pool of her own blood. Except it hadn't been blood - it was some sort of black ichor. She had been a younger sister to him. He was supposed to look out for her, not the other way around. And now she was gone.
Shirou sighed and rolled over. He felt it worst in the the mornings, when there was no Sakura to wake him and cook breakfast with. Except now Yuno cooked breakfast, which made everything that much weirder. Shirou flopped onto his back.
The door to his room slid open without any knock. "Will you go to SLEEP!" hissed Yuno. "You are keeping the whole house up!". That wasn't exactly true. Rin was fast asleep. But Rin's room was at the far end of the corridor, and she didn't have a mental bond with a guilt stricken Master. 'And I thought mental bleed over was supposed to go from the Servant to the Master, not the other way around. I guess Shirou's mind is stronger than most people's.' Yuno examined her master as he sat, sleep tousled, on his futon, before looking away in embarrassment.
"Sorry, I'm just still thinking about what happened at the mansion."
Yuno sighed, "Come on, I'll make you some hot chocolate and you can brood in the dining room"
"You don't have to..."
"You're my Master, and I have to keep you safe." Yuno replied with a bright smile hiding her frustration.
"Even from insomnia?"
"Whatever it takes."
FSD*FSD
Yuno sighed as she lay back down. She flipped open her Master Diary to check up on Shirou, 'Good, that dufus is asleep.' She had sat with him as he drank his hot coco and listened to him prattle on about the dead girl for HOURS. Or it had felt that way. It was a good thing that as a Servant, she didn't need more than an hour or two of sleep.
She was just rolling over to get comfortable when the image of Sakura dying popped into Yuno's head again. It had been doing that a lot, which was odd. She had seen, had personally killed, a surprising number of people. But this had bothered her. Last night she had been the one to lie awake, replaying the fight, trying to think of what she could have done differently. 'It's probably coming from Shirou. He's too sentimental. He needs to get past this. It's done.'
FSD*FSD
The next few days passed quietly. Shirou and Yuno took turns cooking, and when Fujimura came by to cadge a meal, the household appeared normal, if somewhat subdued. The Tiger could tell that something was off, but she just chalked it up to the the gas leak at the school which had injured so many students. Dealing with that - getting new teaching materials, meeting with the reconstruction committee, visiting the students in the hospital - was also the reason she was never able to stay long.
Slowly, Rin regained her strength, to the point that she could walk around the house. Her magic, on the other hand, wasn't improving as quickly.
"This is so frustrating! I had more prana than this when I was a child!" Rin threw herself onto a couch. "I feel so useless!"
Yuno walked in from the kitchen - it was her turn to cook lunch, and Shirou was out in the dojo practicing, "Never give up. As long as you're alive, there is still hope." She wiped her hands on a towel and hung it up, "You just need to focus on something that will give your life meaning." 'Not that Shirou's life goals are so good - he's going to get himself killed, and for what? To help some people, who are probably jerks, out?'
"Like what? Magic was my purpose." Rin's response snapped Yuno out of her contemplation of her Master's flaws. 'Well, they are more foibles than flaws.'
Yuno shook off her paralysis, and plastered a plastic smile on her face "You could dedicate your life to helping others."
"Don't mock me, Assassin" Rin snarled.
"Or how about finding a person to love and dedicating your life to him?" Yuno asked.
"Me? a housewife? You have to be kidding me!" Rin laughed, "Or are you still trying to play matchmaker with Shirou and me?" she looked questioningly at Yuno. "You are, aren't you? What's in it for you?"
"I have no idea what you are talking about. I am most definitely am NOT playing matchmaker!"
"Hey, lunch smells good" Shirou came in, a towel wrapped around his shoulders.
Rin scowled, "Maybe I should learn to cook. According to your Servant, that's all I'm good for now!"
"What? Hey, what brought that on?" asked a befuddled Shirou.
"I'm The Second Owner of Fuyuki City, but how can I keep track of the magical goings on if I barely have any magic circuits to draw on? How am I supposed to keep the city safe from wandering Yoma or Dead Apostles?"
"I'll help: you got injured helping me, so I figure it's my responsibility to help fix this." Shirou replied with a shrug, as if it was the only logical answer.
"And how do you propose to do that? You have even fewer magic circuits, and absolutely no skill what so ever!" Rin was venomous: she really didn't handle weakness well.
"I guess I could open up a magical supply shop. That way, all the Magi in the area would end up coming by, and I could keep an eye on them, you know hear all the goings on and stuff."
"That's the stupidest thing I've hear! Magi don't gossip!" Rin took a deep breath and forced herself to relax. "Thank you for offering to help, but that's just ONE of the things bothering me. for another, I can pretty much kiss my chances of going to the Clocktower goodby now. And that you can't do anything to help with"
Shirou nodded morosely, 'This isn't how it's supposed to be. Everybody is getting injured helping me.'
There wasn't much conversation as the food was eaten. The atmosphere was depressed, as usual. The waves of guilt were almost palpably radiating off of Shirou. 'If I had stayed with Sakura instead of show-boating with Saber, I could have saved her'
Rin had moved from grief at Sakura's death, to anger that Shirou had let it happen, to guilt as well 'If I hadn't been an invalid, it would have been me rescuing Shirou instead of my sister. And she would be safe.'
Yuno glanced at the other two occupants of the room, their dead eyes not seeing anything around them, 'Oh, for goodness sake! Am I the only one who's not an emotional basket case here?' "Shirou, after lunch, I'd like it if you showed me around the city a little bit."
"Oh? Why"
Yuno shrugged nonchalantly, "we all could use a little change of scenery. I don't know about you, but I am going stir crazy."
"I guess that makes sense." Shirou agreed. 'A change of scenery would be a good idea. with no school, I've been sitting here, doing nothing but wallowing in misery. I need to DO something' "Actually, It's a really good idea!"
Despite it being Yuno's idea, it took her a surprisingly long time to get ready, and when she came out, she was wearing the staid blue and white dress that she had borrowed before, "All of my cloths are too worn" was all she said by way of explanation.
"That's ok, that dress looks good on you" Shirou replied. 'When she isn't being air headed or murderous, she's actually kind of pretty.'
Rin rolled her eyes 'Yup, she's trying to get me jealous' The surprising thing was that despite the obviousness of the plan, it was working, if only just a little, 'When I get better, I'll take Shirou into town.'
As Shirou and Yuno walked down to the bus stop, Yuno kept up a line of chatter, "I saw an advertisement for an aquarium we could start there" 'I like aquariums. or was it Yuki?' A pang of guilt went through Yuno that she couldn't even remember what Yuki liked to do. She absent mindedly took Shiurou's hand, just for a moment, just to reassure herself that he was still there.
Shirou smiled, "Thank you for looking after me so well" As Yuno took a seat at the bus stop, he went and got a pair of sodas, "I am sorry for being rude to you, back after the fight. What you said.. It was tough to hear, but I think you're right." He gave Yuno one of the sodas and sat down next to her. "You are a good friend."
Yuno smiled beatifically, "And I am sorry for hurting your feelings. I sometimes speak without thinking. I don't know why - I didn't used to be that way." She took a sip, "But with the Master-Servant bond, I think I can better understand who you are. It makes me very relaxed around you." Yuno realized with a bit of a shock that it was true. Despite the Holy Grail war and everything else, she was content. Despite her missing memories of the past 'Or maybe because of them...'
They didn't talk much as they got onto the bus, and with the rocking motion, Shirou dozed off. He woke up a few minutes later to find Yuno leaning against his shoulder.
After the aquarium, Shirou showed Yuno to the shopping district, and they wandered through several stores
"Oh, look!" Yuno held up a dangly thing. They were in a jewelry store catering to teen girls.
"What is that? An earring?" Shirou asked awkwardly. He had never been inside this gaudy shop before, and wasn't terribly happy to be there now.
"No, silly, it's a cellphone fob. Here. Buy it for me?" Yuno smiled winningly up at the redhead.
Shirou smiled, "I guess."
As they walked out of the store, he commented,"You know, the people around us probably think we're on a date."
Yuno froze.
"No!" and ran.
"What?" Shirou looked confused, then ran after her, 'what did I say?'
It was already sunset when Shirou finally caught up to his Servant at the top of the bridge over Fuyuki River. Yuno stood there, staring out over the water. "Are you ok? did I say something wrong?" He came up behind the pink haired girl. They stood that way for several moments, with Yuno shoulder's hunched up, not looking at Shirou, while Shirou stood next to her, waiting for her to say what was bothering her.
"No. No you didn't" Yuno took a deep breath and turned to face Shirou, "Shirou I think I am in love with you."
"But.. I thought... Yuki.." Shirou replied, confused.
"Yuki... died a long time ago. I am not certain if I really loved him or not, but It has been so long, that I don't even remember what he looked like. I just said that he was my goal because I was scared, I didn't know what else to do or who else I could be." Yuno looked unusually serious, and not her usual air headed public persona, "I have been trying to avoid it for a while, even trying to get Rin to go for you, but I love you. You take care of people, even people like me. I know that even though you don't approve of everything I am, you nevertheless won't abandon me. You're the first person I could really trust!"
Shirou nodded dumbly.
"Can I ask you something?" Asked Yuno.
"Yes?"
"Can you tell me that you love me too. It doesn't have to be the truth, but I would like to hear it." There was a desperate note in her voice that Shirou had never heard before.
"NO! I'm not going to lie about something like that". He turned away from Yuno, "If you lie about that, then it has no meaning." He and Yuno started walking. "You can't have a lasting relationship without trust."
"I'm a Servant. I'm not certain how lasting a relationship we're going to have" A small frown slipping past her mask was the only sign of her roiling anger, at the situation, at her weakness, and at Shirou's bullheaded insensitivity..
"I.. you're a friend, and I trust and rely on you, but I don't know if I love you." Shirou kept walking. 'What do I do? this is so... I'm no Shinji - I'm not the sort of guy who attracts girls. I have no idea what I should say to her!' They had just come off the bridge and into the industrial district on the other side when Yuno suddenly pushed Shirou off the sidewalk.
"What?"
THUNK
A crossbow bolt bolt stuck into the concrete where Shirou had been a moment before. Yuno darted towards a warehouse overlooking the sidewalk.
Shirou darted for cover, prana pouring to his legs. 'Archer again? Where is she?'
He had just made it behind a forklift before another crossbow bolt struck it with unnatural force, knocking the heavy machinery into him. Shirou barely had time to push off of it, using his prana reinforced muscles to jump clear from under the vehicle.
Shirou ducked under the forklift's cab and looked around, 'I don't see her thuggish master. Maybe he decided his gun would attract the cops.' He peeked up at the roof of the warehouse, where the crossbow bolt had come from. Yuno was engaging in melee combat with Archer.
'She's going to get killed!' Yuno was again staggering under the effects of 'Holy Path to Victory'. Shirou took a deep breath and concentrated, he had never tried something like this before, but he HAD been on the archery team. He Traced a bow.
He lined up the shot and fired. As usual, his aim was perfect. The arrow raced through the air, on target for Archer's chest.
And she batted it aside easily with her rapier.
Yuno used the opportunity to get out of range of Archer's rapier and collect herself. Quick as he could, Shirou traced and fired another arrow. And another. Archer deflected each one easily, but she was distracted from fighting Yuno, who darted in and stabbed at Archer, giving her a light cut where two piece of armor met.
Archer retreated towards the middle of the roof, to put the edge of the building between her and Shioru's arrows, but Yuno darted in and slashed at her. The pink haired Servant always managed to be at just the right spot to prevent Archer form repositioning.
Shirou climbed up on top of the forklift's cab and continued shooting. 'I hope this is doing more to annoy Archer than it is distracting Yuno!' But he didn't stop - he had to do SOMETHING. He couldn't let his Servant fight all by herself.
Archer growled in frustration. Her opponents were like rats snapping a wolf. If she could just get a moment to take a clear shot at one of them! She turned and leaped off the building. As she fell through the air, she used her free hand to pull around her crossbow and yelled "Divine Retribution" as she fired a glowing bolt of white light at Shirou.
Shirou tried to dodge, but it was too fast. He barely managed to move before the quarrel struck him in the shoulder, throwing him off of the forklift, to the ground.
"Shirou!" Yuno yelled in a panic, leaping to attack Archer. Archer fought defensively, with a self satisfied half smile on her face, as she waited to Assassin to dissipate.
If she hadn't been wearing heavy armor, Shirou's falchion would have cleaved her from shoulder to waist.
The wound in his shoulder hurt, but Shirou was used to pain. It was an old friend. He wasn't going to let Yuno get killed for a trivial reason such as that.
"How? You should be dead!" Archer leaped back, blocking Shirou's next strike as she danced away from Yuno's attack, "Divine Retribution will slay any that oppress their fellow man. Only a true paladin can withstand it." Her eyes got big as she blocked Yuno and let Shirou's attack skitter across her armor, "But your Servant is Assassin! How?"
"Haven't you heard that opposites attract?' Quipped Yuno as she again darted in, but stumbled under the effect of Holy Path To Victory. As Assassin raised her sword to strike her down, Shirou leaped forward.
"You aren't going to hurt her unless you go through me!" He took a fighting stance, a falchion in each hand, though the one in his right arm quivered from the injury to his shoulder.
Archer stood facing off against him. Yuno got back up to her feet.
Archer concentrated, and her 'Holy Path to Victory' aura intensified, radiating out from her body like a bright light. Yuno staggered, looking confused and slightly ill, but Shirou stood resolutely in front of her to defend her, like a knight in some fairy tail. He was unaffected by the glow
Archer lowered her sword. "My name is Jeanne d'Arc." she pronounced haughtily. "I will not fight a true Paladin of God." she stared at Shirou. He stared back. Yuno started to circle for a better position, but Shirou waved her back.
"In that case, how about we make an alliance? We can work together to prevent any innocents from getting killed in this foolish war."
"That will not be possible. My Master has used a command seal to order me to kill all those he targets. And he has commanded me to kill you." She stood glaring at Shirou for a moment, before nodding once decisively, "It is unfortunate that Assassin received such a Master, while I am shackled to one who is himself an assassin. May God be with you" and dissolved into sparkles of light.
"What just happened?" Shirou asked, confused.
"I think she just returned to the Throne of Heroes or went into the Grail or something. All I know is that she is no longer a Servant." Yuno walked over to Shirou and started checking his injury, "Why would she do that?" she was clearly flummoxed.
"I guess she decided that there was something more important than winning." Shirou held still while Yuno cut a strip from the bottom of her skirt to use as a makeshift bandage.
"Maybe there is" sighed Yuno, looking up into Shirou's face from just inches away. They froze, staying like that, not certain what to do next. Shirou leaned forward slightly.
"Ah, how cute. Two love birds cooing to each other" Yuno leaped away from Shirou, and a knife appeared in her hand. Shirou traced a falchion. Standing in front of them was a man in ridiculous gold armor, "I just came to see how my King of Knights was getting on, when what do I see but her dissolve into nothingness! I demand to know what you did to my queen!" Gilgamesh sounded annoyed, a rare feat for him.
"Who are you?" asked Shirou.
A circle of light appeared and a sword shot out, narrowly missing Shirou as he threw himself to one side.
"I ask the questions, worm. How did you manage to defeat a Servant leagues beyond your ability level?"
Yuno was cautiously trying to circle behind the Golden Knight. She threw herself behind a stack of crates as another circle of light formed and shot a sword at her.
"Yuno says that she went back to the Throne of Heroes." Shirou replied, trying to distract the bling'ed out Servant.
"Don't lie to me. That's not possible. She would never give up. Her fighting spirit is what I love about her."
"I'm not. That's all I know" Shirou replied, tracing the sword that had been shot at him - Isten Kardja, Attila the Hun's sword.
"And what of the other one?"
"What other one?" Shirou had no clue what the gold plated maniac was talking about, but he figured that as long as he was talking, he wasn't attacking. Shirou shifted to a better position as Yuno climbed up on top of the stack of crates behind the golden knight.
"The other one that disappeared, idiot. Is he dead or not?" The knights eyes narrowed "return that at once! That does not belong to you!" He gestured at the sword in Shirou's hand. Multiple circles of light appeared, and swords projected from each one.
Shirou traced each one as it appeared.
Yuno glanced down at her Master Diary
'Shirou stands up to Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh opens the Gates of Babylon, Shirou dodges some, but is then skewered
BAD END'
'What if I stab him in the back while he is distracted with Shirou?' Her cell phone buzzed, and the entry now read the same, but now had added to it "Yuno dies"
'But if I use my full strength, then Deux ex Machina will realize that I am here, and he will expel me, or worse!'
Meanwhile, Shirou's mind buzzed as he tried to find some way out of his predicament. 'I need to call up that sword-world that Saber had' Shirou tried to recall how it felt to use the Reality Marble.
"I am the bone of my sword
Steel is my body and fire is my blood "
"I will not have an impudent whelp ignoring my commands!" Gilgamesh shot a barrage of of swords at Shirou, which were intercepted in the air by swords shooting out of the air above Shirou. Shirou gasped for breath at the massive amount of prana required. Shards of metal and broken swords littered the ground for a moment before fading away.
The King scowled, "So you want to play, little thief?" and another barrage shot out. Again Shirou blocked it, but he was now staggering, barely able to stand. "If you enjoy my treasures so much, I will give you the honor of being killed by the greatest one, Ea the Sword of Rupture." Gilgamesh pulled from the gate of Babylon the red and black drill-like sword. As he lifted it up, it began to spin, tearing at the very fabric of reality.
As he raised it to strike down the young magus before him, a small ball of energy, the size of a marble, shot out at him from the top of the crates. He spun, blocking with Ea.
The resulting explosion knocked him out of sight, and sprayed gravel in all directions, leaving a ten foot deep crater.
Before Gilgamesh could recover, Yuno dropped off the crates and clutched her stomach, 'Oh god. I'm going to throw up.' For an instant, her entire body felt like it was being sucked into her bellybutton.
She forced herself to stand and scooped up a stunned and groggy Shirou, running for she was worth.
END
Please do review - I really appreciate it, but please LOG in first, so that I can reply - you guys have raised some good points, and I want to respond (especially RE Yuno's falling in love with Shirou. Trust me, I have a plan (Yeah, I know - famous last words))