AN: Updating quick because my university will start this week and I've got a lot of stuff to do even besides that, so I'm not sure I'll have another update within the seven day max I usually aim for.

Fate/Far Side: Healing Hands

Chapter 5

Sick Days

I spent the next day again looking around town at various local doctors, though none of them had heard of Kiritsugu Emiya or ever met with a person matching the photo I carried.

The thing about the Japanese health care system was that there were quite a few clinics especially in a smaller city like Misaki. Fortunate for the average person, unfortunate for me.

Still, the town was a nice place and nothing in it had the same eerie feeling as walking into the park at Fuyuki, or even into Tohsaka's house. It was pretty quiet, even within the downtown area, and with students all done with exams and getting to the end of their school year, it had an air of good-natured liveliness.

It struck me then that I didn't know whether Kohaku and Hisui had an education. They looked like they were roughly the same age as Tohno-san, though I guess it could be they are a bit older or younger.

But if Hisui has not left the mansion in years…

Just, somewhat odd.

After visiting four clinics and a local acupuncture practitioner, it was getting late, so I decided to head back to the mansion. It only belatedly occurred to me to get a ticket for the train, but I decided that I could just do that tomorrow anyway; it wasn't a busy season for travelers quite yet.

Curiously, Hisui was waiting at the gate, and she bowed as I approached. "My apologies, Emiya-sama."

"What's up?"

"Nee-san is feeling unwell, so she could not go shopping today. I was wondering if…you would show me to the nearest store so I may make dinner."

It took me a moment to process everything that had happened just then.

I noticed the hesitation before the request, and had to wonder if she had planned on saying something else first, like, "if you would go shopping for us" but had changed at the last moment. She was obviously still trying to overcome this lock-in fear she had.

I wondered at the situation. Kohaku could not have gone years without being sick, so I had to question who had done the shopping when that occurred. Tohno-san? Or Tohno-san's brother?

I thought of the shopping I had done before in Kohaku's name, and how reluctant Hisui had been to delegate such a thing to me. To outright request it of me…I wondered if maybe I had bridged some of this distance she tried to put between herself and others.

Ultimately, though, I also had to feel honored that, if this was the first time she had left the mansion grounds in years, that I would be the one to get to accompany her.

"Yeah, that's easy enough," I said. "You have a list?"

"I was going to make decisions based upon what I found at the store," Hisui said.

I nodded, though something about that set off a warning bell in my head. Hisui was normally a very well-thought out person, and the various things she had been doing before leaving had been thoroughly planned and mapped out. I would have expected someone like her to have a list as long as both my arms, really. "Then, let's get going."

So, two observations.

One, if I was expecting Hisui to give me an attack of expressiveness when we ventured into town for food, I was soundly defeated in that respect.

Two, my danger sense went off with regards to food for a very good reason.

Hisui spent the majority of time in the grocery with the same controlled expression, but choosing the most inane and odd ingredients to a meal I had ever seen anyone assemble. They weren't bad, per se, but…strange. Very strange.

I mean, for dessert, she had grabbed a pumpkin and some mint-chocolate chip ice cream. I…don't think those flavors mix together. At all.

On the excuse that I was getting food to take along when I left town, I made sure to get a backup meal plan just in case.

And upon returning to the mansion, well…

I loitered in the kitchen, trying to get Hisui to open up about the experience of wandering around outside, surreptitiously watching what she was doing for the meal. Browning rice in a broth, just fine. Some cuts of beef, also fine. Her processes were also perfectly workable, but…

I grabbed Hisui's hands as she went to cut a grapefruit. The girl flinched slightly from my touch, but I kept firm. "Hisui, where is that going?"

"Ah…" the maid looked a little unnerved, and I realized I probably should not have pushed so far into her personal space. But I refused to let a good grapefruit go to waste if I could help it. "In with the fried rice. I am making pilaf."

Pilaf. Usually made with savory spices or a broth and mixed with things like onion, potatoes, and various meats.

Grapefruit. Into a pilaf.

Now, let me qualify this. If you go with sweet rice and fruit, you can make something pretty good, like a plate version of daifuku. And with pilaf, certain hard fruits like apples could actually accentuate the dish pretty well, if you have the right spices. But super-sweet and soft grapefruit pulp is going to give you a mix of tastes, and you need the sweet from the fruit to be clearly separate…

I over-exaggeratedly lifted Hisui's hands away from the cutting board until they were safely clear from harms way. "Hisui, why don't you let me make dinner? I kept saying I would anyway."

Oh.

Oh man.

The pout she gave me might just be the cutest thing I've ever seen.

"I'm truly sorry, Hisui," I said, giving her a pleading look. "Perhaps it would work out fine, but, if it didn't…I would never forgive myself for not taking the opportunity to make you all a meal that was great in its stead. Please, let me do this for you."

Hisui regained her composed expression, and now it had a bit of a disappointed scowl about it. "If it is absolutely necessary—"

"Yes, I implore of you, let me do this."

"Then I will leave it to you. Please let go."

I carefully let go of her wrists and held out a hand for the knife. "We can save the grapefruit for something else, but if you want something sweet to go with the pilaf, I got some apples if you want to check that bag—"

The knife fumbled slightly in the handover and I tried to catch it before it clattered on the floor and had to be cleaned. Hisui went for it as well, and the hilt of the knife rebounded off of her knuckles and went blade-first into my wrist, cutting a swath before finally dropping flat to the ground.

"Oh, my apologies, I did not—" Hisui stared in horror at my arm.

I calmly picked the knife up and put it at the sink, then turned the faucet on to rinse the blood off my hand. "Don't worry," I said. "I'm a magician, remember?"

"But…um…" Hisui looked truly upset. "Did you not say something about producing bladed weaponry being the only thing you can do?"

I grinned over my shoulder at her. While I've not told anyone that wasn't already a magus about being one myself, I could not expect that it would be so smooth as it had been with Hisui. She not only seemed to accept it, but had even remembered facts about it; anyone else, I bet, would still be single-mindedly on the whole magic aspect that they didn't remember what my magic did. "Yeah. Well, it has to do with them indirectly. Hard to explain." I lifted my hand from the rinse and as I started washing the knife, held it out toward Hisui to show the now-unmarked skin. "See, fine now."

Hisui reached up and took my hand, turning it around to look for the wound. "You heal…very fast."

I rinsed the knife and put it back on the cutting board. "I guess you could say that." I glanced to the clock. "Tohno-san said she would be returning about now, right? I'll get this meal prepped and ready to go, so maybe you can go warn her who will be in the kitchen tonight."

Giving a faint sigh—in realization that she had been fully driven out from kitchen duties—Hisui nodded. "It seems I have no choice."

I jumped headlong at that choice of words. "We always have a choice, Hisui." I gave her a smile. "But fate sometimes has other things in store for us. Just roll with the punches and keep at it."

Her eyes almost seemed to cross at me. "Fate is not at work here. You are just being stubborn."

"Yeah," I said aloud, even after she had left the room, "I'm pretty good at that."

Dinner was a glorious affair.

Well, not really, but Tohno-san seemed to approve, anyway. She had been completely beaten by whatever end-of-school preparations she had been making—she gave no hints but I had a feeling they were something completely mundane and silly that if she admitted to, would embarrass her terribly—and had looked dubious when she poked her head into the kitchen and saw me working. Perhaps, though, her attitude was a little tempered by the fact that I had chased Hisui out of the kitchen, which she seemed to take as a good sign itself at least.

And with each bite of the dinner I had made, she would nod to herself and give a hum of appreciation; by half her plate, she was outright smiling and looking at me with an appraising eye.

"No chance I could hire you as a chef and open a restaurant is there?" she asked.

"I'm not that good," I said. "And at the same time I'd probably be a terror to work under, since I can be a perfectionist when it comes to cooking." I grinned. "Besides, you wouldn't want Kohaku to be jealous that you didn't ask her first, right?"

"I suppose."

When Tohno-san was finished, I said, "If it's alright, I can stay and cook until Kohaku is feeling better. Also, with her so out of it, you should be able to push back Hisui's move date, right?"

"That would be acceptable," Tohno-san said. "If it is not an inconvenience. I do not want to hold you."

"No, like I said, I don't have any definite plans or a job waiting on me or anything. Another day or two isn't going to change anything."

"Then I am in your debt." She glanced toward the kitchen, where we could hear Hisui cleaning up. "Truly."

I took Kohaku a tray of food as well, if nothing more than to challenge her cooking sensibilities.

The maid was sitting in bed, looking faintly paler than normal, though she brightened upon seeing the food. "So you chased Hisui-chan out, did you?"

"She was trying to make fried rice mix with grapefruit."

Kohaku shuddered. "Please, I'm trying to feel better." She then hurriedly glanced around, as if just realizing she said that aloud. "Oh, don't tell Hisui-chan that I said such a thing!"

"My lips are sealed. Though they might grin a lot."

Pouting, Kohaku took the offered tray and settled it over her lap, then dove in with a quick prayer. She then immediately pouted again. "Wah, I've loooost."

"Well, it perhaps matches the oden from the other day, but I still must figure out something to challenge your egg dish with." I shrugged. "How are you feeling, anyway?"

"Not so great," she admitted. "Don't really know what it is. I'm usually so healthy!" She sighed. "I felt a little better after a nap earlier, but that went away and now I just feel really weak." Admittedly, I could see her hand wavering a tiny bit as she took bites from the dish.

I nodded. "Tohno-san is going to let me stay and cook until you're feeling stronger, and it also gives an excuse to keep Hisui here a little longer."

I watched Kohaku carefully at that, trying to again figure out what all was going on behind those eyes of hers. She seemed to be a lot more complex than one might initially see from the outside, and I think her relationship with her sister was also more than just that of the average older sister. Even twin. "I'm glad you're so concerned."

"I'm concerned about you too, you know. For all it was said as a joke, Tohno-san and I were talking earlier about restaurants and jobs and all, and really, I get the impression your work as a maid isn't really as important to her as she lets on. I bet she would work to get you and Hisui different jobs and set you up on your own if you so desired, really. None of this live-in stuff, or moving Hisui away from you."

I'm not really sure when this became an attempt to convince Kohaku as well that they should not be separating her and Hisui, but I didn't regret the direction it was going. For all her show at being energetic, I think Kohaku was probably the outright more cynical of the two; whenever I thought that, the glimpses of her in my memory seemed to fit a lot more.

Not everything had fit, but, well, I was used to working on a lot less even.

"Shirou-san," Kohaku said, giving me a frank look, "we might as well be adopted by this family, to tell you the truth. Hisui and I are both orphans and we have been raised here alongside Akiha-sama and Shiki-sama since we were very little. As much as we may be servants, we really cannot break ourselves from the connections we have here, no matter how much we may desire it. It is not that easy."

"I'm glad…you…were my Master, Shirou."

"No," I said, "no it isn't. But maybe it's still the best thing to do, even if it isn't the easiest."

I'm not sure why I said that. I had a feeling I shouldn't be saying it. The look on Kohaku's face was one of concern now. "Are you…talking from experience?"

I shook my head. "Just ignore me." I made for the door, for escape. "Just…" I couldn't help but say it, "it's your life, Kohaku. Be proud of your service, but follow your heart if it desires to leave something behind."

"Shirou-san…"

"Please, enjoy your meal, and feel better, Kohaku-san," I said, closing the door behind me.

Idiot.

Just…stop.

Don't make me watch this all over again.

Ever again.

The Tohno grounds were large, large enough to forget that they were even located near a town of any size.

That night, I crept out through the window of my room and went the furthest into the wooded area that I could, away from everything, away from the messy lives that existed in the mansion.

It wasn't really a purification, really, or even a release. But all of these emotions got to me, and sometimes…

I just had to remind myself…

Had to put myself back on that path.

"Trace, on."

It was not mine.

Never mine.

Yet…

It was the only thing I could make so perfectly.

It was hers alone, yet something now only I could wield. It was tainted by my hand to even touch it, and yet it would only come to me.

Golden light converged, and I clutched at my collar, at the deep and warm sensation I felt beneath my shirt.

An imitation, yet perfect.

Still, no battle to fight, no enemy to face.

"EX—"

Except the feelings I kept within.

"—CALIBUR!"

For a brief moment in time, golden light streaked through the skies of Misaki.

Healing Hands: Sick Days, End

The Japanese take illness very seriously, and even the slightest of colds can be cause for the average Japanese to check in to a local clinic. Also, there are a greater number of clinics and physicians available to people in smaller locals and rural places than in major cities.

Even beyond Hisui's no-man-may-touch-me issues, the Japanese in general are not a touchy-feely type of society. Even married couples sometimes have trouble physically showing signs of affection toward one another. That's changing, obviously, with the influx of influence from other cultures, but in general they're just a bit more shy than say the average American.

Yes, I'm aware Shirou can't reproduce Excalibur. Plot point. Keep reading.

Bonus points to anyone who can figure out the anime/manga reference I made in Hisui's food choices.