AN: And here we are at the end of Hisui's arc, Healing Hands, the most Fate-ish parallel. Next is Akiha's route, Origami Blades, which has the most references to Unlimited Blade Works. I'll be pausing briefly for maybe a week or two to get a couple of other little things finished.

I always found it funny that Hisui almost swoons over the make of Nanatsu-Yoru. They make the same joke in the Carnival Phantasm OP with her adoring a sword. So, had to make the joke.

To SilverHyurinmaru: The tree is implied to be the one under which she gave Shiki her ribbon. Hisui sees her go out there frequently and made the hammock to give her something pleasant to use when she's there, just to be nice, mirroring Shirou's "I want the people around me to smile." Kohaku raging is her double-speak: she doesn't actually hate Shirou, she's angry that the world is coming apart to her, that her view of the dark and terrible side of life is being ripped down by Hisui and Shirou's kindness; she likewise tells Shiki this in the game for a kind of similar reason. What people say and what they actually feel and do being opposite and juxtaposed is the main theme of this route.

Fate/Far Side: Healing Hands

Epilogue

Faraway Reverie

Hisui climbed out of the taxi that had brought her back, handed the money to the driver after he had helped her pull her luggage from the trunk. She hefted the bag, then made her way past the gates to the Tohno estate and up to the front door.

Before she could put her things down to knock, the entryway creaked open and her sister stood beyond. Hisui's eyes darted about, trying to decide on what she was supposed to say.

Kohaku's brow furrowed. "Uh…hi? What's with the long face?"

Hisui sighed. It still took getting used to, the change between her stays in Fuyuki and her stays in Misaki. She had to remind herself constantly of the change in atmosphere, of the disparate feelings either evoked. She was still in Fuyuki-mode, so she had to remember to let her guard down.

After all, her sister was not so apt to glomp her upon a greeting like Taiga Fujimura was.

Hisui sighed. "Sorry, nee-san." She still had no clear way to explain herself, however, so she merely followed her sister back into the house. "How has the past month been?"

"Hard, to tell you the truth. Akiha-sama has been absolutely furious for about a week; she just received a letter from Shiki-sama."

"Oh?"

Kohaku gave a nervous smile. "It was along the lines of, 'Something came up, will be stopping off in Russia before coming home.'"

Hisui watched her sister carefully, saw the faint tug at the corners of her lips and the way her eyes fell faintly at Shiki's name. In the two years since her breakdown, they had found a kind of even level—Hisui tried harder to speak her mind, to do what she felt, while Kohaku had no longer been the bright bundle of energy she was before. Hisui had decided that she was overall satisfied with the change, though, because the sadness that had crept into Kohaku's actions had actually been much more intense for the first few months.

The older twin had moped about the house, had bowed her head every time Shirou or Akiha looked to her. Shirou had eventually returned home for a little while, forcing Kohaku to take up the cooking again, and something about that had caused the switch in her to slowly turn on. To expedite the process, Akiha had eventually just confronted her about it.

"I knew, alright?" The master of the house had huffed, her hair swaying behind her. "It's not like I couldn't call the police or the like, had I wanted to."

"So…what now?" Kohaku had asked, her voice small and childlike.

Akiha had toyed with the charm hanging from her wrist, a tiny sword the size of her pinky finger. Hisui, upon realizing that Shirou no longer carried it but Akiha did, smiled to herself with every touch Akiha had given the device. "Well, obviously, you're fired."

Hisui wished to every power-that-was, she had a camera for that moment, for the look on her sister's face.

"By which I mean, when Emiya-san returns, you've got two weeks. But you see, on the other hand, we have been talking about opening a restaurant…"

And so, two new maids had started working around the Tohno household. Kohaku and Hisui technically rented their rooms, though Akiha had shoved all of the technical paperwork on them. She had said, "Just make sure you're up on rent," while shoving all of the landlord responsibilities back onto Kohaku. And then the Tohno family opened a restaurant across town, and Shirou and Kohaku had dueled it out in the kitchen for the first month of its opening.

Hisui dragged her luggage into her room, a room now adorned with all manner of antiques. With her sister diving into work to try and remove her mind from darker thoughts, Hisui had turned to collecting such things for a variety of reasons; she liked the aesthetics, she always had a fondness for generational devices, she liked finding new uses for old things.

Also, it occasionally gave her something to surprise him with.

Pulling out a wrapped length from her suitcase, she moved to one empty mounting on the wall and untied her package. The cloth slipped between her fingers and the late Edo-period sword sipped up into the hooks. She had spent a good long while in pursuit of the private collector who had this, had spent nearly an equal amount of time bargaining a price to take it from him.

And now she had it.

"That reminds me," Kohaku said from the doorway, watching as Hisui double-checked the security of the mounting, "you have mail too. It just came in yesterday. I'll go get it."

Hisui allowed herself a pleased sigh. The hundred-and-fifty year age of the weapon would certainly defeat anything Shirou could have sent her from Afghanistan or wherever it was he had charged off to recently.

After helping with the restaurant idea for the first month, the magus had returned home for a while to visit with his family, bringing Hisui along on the trip. "I know guys make you extra nervous," he had told her, "so really, you should be okay for a visit. Fuji-nee and Tohsaka are both women, and…" he rolled his eyes, "I doubt Issei could make you nervous."

She had met his hyperactive guardian Taiga Fujimura, his it's-complicated Rin Tohsaka, his friends and former classmates Issei Ryuudou and Ayako Mitsuzuri.

The people he had mentioned before but that weren't present, she had remembered to give thanks to, even if they weren't there to hear it.

Hisui now regularly traveled between the two cities, helping to look after the Emiya household—though Rin demanded she would handle cooking duties—then returning to the Tohno estate for time with her—

She hesitated to call it family, but she had no other word to compare.

Shirou would wander, having convinced Taiga that an apparent investment in the Tohno restaurant had given him financial security. In truth, Akiha funneled him money—again, though, actually having Kohaku do it—so that records put him "on her payroll" and the Touzaki family would have something to sweat over if they looked into the Tohno records.

And while some of this money apparently went to Rin as a private joke between them, and some went to the maintaining of the Emiya land, he used the rest to fund trips to various countries for weeks at a time.

Looking for trouble.

Looking for people that he could make smile.

"Here it is," Kohaku said, returning with a padded envelope in hand. "That boy sure knows his timetables, even when he's probably in some forsaken places."

"He is very punctual," Hisui said.

She tore open the envelope, and a small box fell into her hands as she shook the contents out. The box was wrapped in a bow like a birthday gift, a note hanging from the ribbon holding the thing together.

"What does it say?" Kohaku asked.

Hisui flipped the note open. It was short; Shirou had never been the most verbose of people.

Almost finished, be back soon. Took this from a warlord in Sierra Leone. I'll ask properly when I get back.

Hisui pulled the ribbon tie from the box, flicked the package open with her fingertips. Within, a tiny ring. The band looked wrought of steel instead of gold, though it was adorned with a single tiny diamond, cut haphazardly but not without its beauty.

Around it, tied in a loop, was a small piece of paper with a single scribble on it.

Smile.

And she did.

Healing Hands, Fin