"Aaaahhhh." Shirou exhaled audibly in relief. He and Artoria had just arrived at the beach and finally got to sit down after unpacking. A pair of lounge chairs were set up for them, one for each.
"Shirou, you seem exhausted. Is everything alright?" Artoria questioned as she lay down beside him.
"Huh? Oh, yeah I'm fine. Just a little bit… sore." He answers her, noticeably quieter at that last part. His entire body still aches from their "busy night". Not that he was complaining in any way, it was more than worth it as far as he was concerned.
"Do you need anything?" She asked as she leaned in closer, pulling her sunglasses down just a bit to look at him directly. Whether it was her intention or not, the proximity had quite the effect on the redhead.
This was far from the first time he saw Artoria in a swimsuit yet he still struggled to control himself when seeing it. It was a black one-piece with several cut-outs. Styled specifically like the leotard she wore under her armor. A part of her usual battle armor that only he ever laid eyes on.
As for him, a simple pair of swim trunks and a summer jacket, both of which were colored like the black and white jacket he used to wear back during the 5th Grail War.
"Well I do hope you aren't too sore, as I have a favor to ask of you." That grabbed Shirou's attention enough to look back at her, just in time to see her bring out a bottle of sunscreen. "Would you help me out with this?"
Mustering every bit of his willpower, Shirou did indeed help her out. Not that Artoria made it easy for him as she kept advising him how to properly apply the sunscreen. Well, more like scolding him. He ended up taking probably twice as long just to appease her instructions. Although, she seemed to be secretly quite enjoying the extension of his treatment.
If he weren't so focused on his task maybe he would have caught the several jealous looks thrown his way by random passerby. Whether those feelings of jealousy became stronger once Artoria demanded she return the favor was a question that would be very hard to answer.
Unlike him, she had no reservations in getting rather touchy with him. Not that he didn't enjoy the feeling of her soft hands gliding across his body. And she did even go a step further by turning it into a pseudo massage, eliminating the soreness in his body with deadly efficiency.
Once she was finished and Shirou was allowed to recline back to his lounge chair, the feeling of relaxation truly washed over him. "We definitely owe Mordred and the knights a big one for this." He chuckled.
"Do not forget Irisviel, if not for her help their plan would have failed." She chuckled to herself while he agreed with her. Although he was still unsure how to feel about his mother and Lancelot going on an illegal racing spree, he did have to admit he did enjoy the results.
They spent a good while longer like that, enjoying the sun as they made smalltalk about anything that came to their minds. Their little chat did at one point come to an end once Artoria had decided to drag Shirou out into the water.
Keen to show off to Shirou how much she has improved since that time he had to teach her how to swim in a pool at chaldea. Thankfully, this time he did manage to avoid her competitive nature and not get himself into an endless swimming race.
Although they may have gotten a bit too playful at times resulting in a bit too much time spent underwater for Shirou's comfort.
As fun as it was, they did end up having to leave the water sooner or later. As such they returned to land to dry themselves. As they got out, Artoria grabbed his summer jacket before he could and put it on herself whilst wearing a small and completely innocent smile like she did not just commit grand larceny. The Hero of justice would have protested this thievery, but unfortunately he quite liked the way she looked with it. As such he acted as if everything was normal.
As for the King of Thieves, she also quite liked her Sheath's jacket, she may just keep it.
The sun beating down on them certainly helped, perhaps a bit too much. "Haaaahh, It really is hot today. Is this even normal?" He said with a deep sigh.
A moment later, an idea popped into his mind. "I think I saw an ice cream stand on our way here. Do you want me to go get us something to cool off?" He proposed, piquing Artoria's interest.
"Yes, I would like that. Thank you, Shirou." She replied.
He left their spot on the beach (without his jacket), leaving her on her own to watch over their things. And as time passed on, her lone figure caught the attention of two individuals.
"Hey, dude, take a look." One of them said as he nudged his friend and prompted in the direction of Artoria as she laid back on her beach chair.
"Holy shit! She's hot." His friend grinned. Without saying another word, they made their way over to her. "Hello, beautiful." He said to her, Artoria hardly acknowledged their existence. Merely lowering her sunglasses slightly and looking up at them.
'Ohhh? The cold silent type. Those are always fun.' The two of them were not discouraged by her demeanor. "Hey, how about you join us for a drink?"
"Not interested." She replied immediately, shooting their offer down.
"Awww, come on. I promise you won't regret it." The other man spoke as they both remained unperturbed.
Finding her patience thinning, Artoria steeled her features and spoke with more sharpness in her words. "I am already here with someone." Reigning in her annoyance was becoming less appealing to her by the second.
"Ahhh, who cares about him? I'm sure he won't mind if we take his girl for a bit of fun. Trust me we can show ya a way better time tha-..." He tried to put his hand on her shoulder as he spoke. But instead, he found his wrist in her grip, a very tight grip.
Not a second later, he was on his knees from the pain. "I would strongly advise against speaking any ill words of my partner. Now leave." Her voice was laced with venom and held such authority that the two men did not know what to do but obey.
With her point made clear, she released his wrist. In their hurried getaway that quickly turned into a run, they ended up passing by a red head carrying two blue popsicles.
Shirou made his way over to Artoria while looking back confused. "What's up with them? They looked as if they saw a ghost." He asks as he hands her one of the popsicles. She takes it without a word and pops it into her mouth, suckling on it. The only answer she gives Shirou's question being a shrug of her shoulders.
As the next day arrived, the duo found themselves standing before the behemoth they were supposed to board.
It looked even bigger up close. A titan capable of carrying thousands of occupants at once. They did arrive early so they were lucky to board the ship rather quickly.
The ship wouldn't depart for at least the next hour or two so they were able to settle themselves into their room. It certainly did not disappoint. It was huge enough to be comparable to their room at the grand hotel casino.
"Shirou, Look! We have an outside pool all to ourselves!" Artoria's wonder and amazement only kept growing the more they explored. And it was indeed true, the deck that was connected to their room, acting as a very large balcony, held a large pool in the middle of it.
The rest of their quarters were no less impressive. They even had a king sized bed. As they settled in and time passed, the ship eventually set sail and moved out of the port.
As a few hours passed the ship had gotten far enough from shore for it to no longer be visible. Shirou was located in what was essentially their own private mini-bar, making himself and Artoria a drink. Once finished, he went off to look for her. Not that it took long as she was out on their balcony deck, although Shirou was unsure if its size even allowed it to be classified as a balcony.
As he approached, it became obvious Artoria was deep in thought. Her black sundress and matching sunhat were flowing in the wind freely while she stared out into the vast ocean that surrounded them. Even her usually vibrantly shining eyes had seemed dull in her contemplation. "Is everything alright, Artoria?" He asked her, with noticeable concern in his voice.
Snapping out of her contemplation, Artoria's gaze snapped to him, before quickly darting back and forth between him and the drinks he brought. Flashing a quick smile to quell his concerns as she accepted the drink, she answered. "Yes, Shirou, everything is quite alright. I had simply gotten lost in my own thoughts for a minute."
She stops for a moment to take a sip from her drink. And Shirou patiently waits for her, keen to know if something is troubling her. "For the longest time in my life, the sea had only ever brought enemies to my country.
So I suppose that simply exploring it like this, for the sake of enjoyment, is a bit unusual to me." As she speaks, Shirou listens intently. But then, with a more hopeful tone, she continues.
"And yet, I cannot deny it makes me happy. To share these experiences with you. And I have my friends and family to thank for this gift in particular. Even if our relationships may have been strained for a long time." She shows him a small smile, and he smiles back.
"I suppose I never really thought about simply enjoying myself like this. Far too focused on becoming a hero for Kiritsugu. But we both found our way here, to each other." He gently takes hold of her hand, smiling that bit wider at her.
She couldn't help but smile as well. "Yes. Yes we did." They meandered a bit longer in comfortable silence for a short while before they finally moved on with their day. Unknown to Emiya Shirou however, in those few short minutes, Artoria Pendragon had started to ponder on something else.
Sushi. For a while now, Artoria has wanted to try sushi. And despite being literally surrounded by fish, this cruise does not offer any sushi. It was preposterous. The King was immensely displeased.
But, her mind had come up with a solution. A brilliant one at that. She did not need those lousy cooks to make her the meal she wanted, she had the best cook in the world as her consort. There was however the issue of resources.
He can easily use the kitchens on the cruise, but they had no ingredients for sushi. The fish to be specific. And as she had noted earlier, they were surrounded by it for hundreds of kilometers in every direction. So the acquisition of the key ingredient was as simple as doing some fishing.
However, with the lack of equipment for the task, she was going to have to do it the old fashioned way. That was why she was currently standing at the edge of the ship in her swimsuit. Looking down she could see into the depths with her superhuman eyesight. Once a good collection of fishes were spotted, she simply jumped off into the sea below.
Some time later, Emiya Shirou would start looking for her. He was not informed of her little trip, and as such he started scouring every corner of the ship he could. Only to find nothing wherever he looked. If only he had thought to check out the ocean.
As for the missing King, she was not having the best of time. Despite being titled the leader of the Wild Hunt, she was struggling immensely to catch anything in these waters. Every fish she tried to catch either wiggled itself into some tight crawlspace she couldn't reach or somehow slipped its way out of her hand.
She was seething at the lack of progress. Not only was she failing as a legendary hero, but even more importantly, she was failing Shirou. He had spent hours teaching her how to swim in secret. And even after all that time and effort, she couldn't even catch some meager fish.
But, she couldn't allow herself to lose her cool now. 'Focus, Artoria. You just have to adapt your strategy.' And then it clicked. The reason she was having so much trouble is that she was going too small. If she catches a larger fish, it would be easier to keep a grip on and harder for it to hide from her. Not to mention there would be more for Shirou to cook.
With her new plan, she kept swimming around with a new vigor. And then she finally spotted her target. It was a pretty sizable great white shark. What better to serve as her prey than one of the most feared hunters of the 7 seas.
'Finally, a worthy opponent. Our battle will be legendary!'
Hours passed and Shirou was growing more worried by the second. He has searched every part of the ship he could. And yet, Artoria was nowhere to be found. Not knowing where else to look, he made way back to their room. He hoped he could clear his head and figure something out.
Much to his surprise however, once he entered the room he could see a figure crouching next to their pool. That figure being the person he has been searching for for the last several hours. "Artoria!" He ran up to her.
She craned her neck around to look at him. Greeting him with a smile. "Hello, Shirou."
"Where have you been?! I've been looking all over for you!"
"I was on a fishing trip, that's where I got him." Artoria pointed to the pool. Shirou looked over and saw a shark fin sticking out of the water.
He could only stare in confusion at what he was seeing. "Is that a shark?"
"Indeed it is. I had wished for you to make me some sushi so I went out and fetched him. Although I have to admit, I have grown rather fond of him. I think I shall keep him."
"...What? Artoria, you do know that you can't make sushi out of sharks, right? And where exactly do you plan to keep it?!"
"Chaldea surely has enough space for him. He deserves a good home for being such a mighty beast."
"... You do know that sharks aren't nearly as ferocious as the media portrays them to be, right?" He asked her.
"Eh?"
This entire situation was so bizarre that it was starting to become hard to keep up with it. But something else took his attention anyways now that he was looking directly at Artoria's face. That something being her new skin tone. "A-Artoria!"
"Hm?" She faced him with a confused look, not understanding why he looked so worried.
"Your skin!" He exclaimed while gesturing to her body. She looked down at herself and noted that her skin was indeed different than before. Instead of her usual ghostly pale skin, it was bronze.
"Oh." She looked in mild wonder at the change to her appearance. A normal human spending as much time as she did in the sun would have caused severe sunburns. But for her, it was a simple suntan.
"Does it hurt?" Shirou asked with slight worry in his tone. Thankfully Artoria shook her head, easing his worries. And with that worry gone, he started to notice her new appearance in a different way altogether.
The dark parts of her skin contrasting with the still pale parts that were protected by her swimsuit was certainly a sight for sore eyes. He couldn't help but blush and try to avert his eyes. Something that Artoria did not miss.
"Is something the matter, Shirou~?" She asked him with a smug expression as she got as close as she could to him. His blush intensified in turn. 'This was an unexpected bonus to my trip. I suppose there is time to have some fun before we contact Da Vinci to prepare a fish tank.'
Without hesitation she tackled him and dragged him out of sight into their bedroom.
"I had expected many things out of you two, but catching a shark to keep as a pet was not one of them." Ishtar deadpanned as she watched the sea creature get wheeled away in a giant water tank.
Artoria and Shirou had just returned from their vacation and she came over to greet them.
"You wouldn't believe me how it happened even if I told you." Shirou told her.
"You got a name for him yet?"
"Caval. He reminds me of my dog." Artoria answered. And before Shirou or Ishtar could inquire further about that…
"Shirouu-chaaaaaaaaaaan~!" They all turned around to see Irisviel running at them before catching her son in a bone crushing hug. "My baby boy is back!"
"Aagh!" If it weren't for Avalon, he wouldn't be walking for a while. "Mom, please." He croaked out a plea for his life.
Ishtar sighed in exasperation at their antics, and tapped the white haired woman on the back. "Come on, Iri. He already gets himself hurt enough on his own."
Reluctantly, Irisviel did relent and let him go. "Thank you, Rin." He wheezed out. Another voice called out to them as he steadied his feet. Mordred had finally arrived.
"So, how was the trip?"
"It was most enjoyable, Mordred." Artoria answered her child. Earning a rather smug smile from the smaller blonde.
"Hmph. Of course it was. I chose it, after all."
"So, where are the others?" Shirou asked after he made sure his spine was still in place.
Mordred sighed before answering. "Lancelot and Mash are on a trip of their own or something. And Gawain is on a mission with Master."
"Sakura is with them too. Heh, you should have seen her, she was so cute while sulking about not being able to greet you two when you get back." Ishtar added in.
From there, the group made their way to one of Chaldea's many lounging rooms. Talking about the couple's vacation the entire way there. Of course, some details were kept out… at least, until Rin decided to dig into those details, teasing them both.
In the lounging area, they meandared with nothing specific to do until Irisviel decided to dig around looking for something to occupy their mind for a while. A vast array of board games and alike was discovered.
As they played, Artoria excused herself as she went to the bathroom. In there she pulled out something she got for herself in secret. A few minutes later, her eyes were wide in shock.
Moments later, she ran out of the bathroom. "SHIROU!" Everyone looked over to her. "I'M PREGNANT!" She yelled, her actions driven by pure panic.
At first, nobody reacted in any way. Complete stunned silence filled the room as both Artoria's and Shirou's cheeks reddened before the panic broke out. The ensuing chaos shook all of Chaldea.