AN: Originally I wanted this out on Halloween, but events conspired to get me waaaaay too busy. Oh well.
Fate/Far Side: Origami Blades
Chapter 3
Pink Hibiscus
It rained death.
Steel meant to kill, blades meant to take life. They came down at him like rain, and each brought the threat of eternity.
"You now have two things that belong to me," the golden Servant said. "Even if you begged for mercy now, I would hear nothing but the dying throes of a mongrel."
Death.
It stood before him, guaranteed, this Servant somehow so exponentially stronger than all others. If a normal person could not hope to face a normal Servant, this extraordinary one was beyond anything, any kind of hope.
Yet…
"Understand that sacrifice, and maybe I won't have to worry."
The man in red had said that, had spoken it with the first words of sincerity that did not reek of scathing anger and cynicism.
It didn't matter. This time, any time. Be it the giant Servant who roared like a monster, the shadowy Servant that had nearly taken his heart, this golden Servant with his stores of Phantasms…
Every night, lancing the feeling of hot iron into his spine. Or fire raging through Fuyuki.
Death always stood before him.
Others continued to save him, keeping that death from ever reaching him.
Then—
If he could ever face it himself, with nothing else in the way—
I kept there, in bed, in that odd space between full consciousness and sleep, clearly aware of my surroundings but still prone to wandering thoughts, wandering dreams. My mind kept revolving around that moment, for some reason, a moment of both anger and sadness, pride and regret. The battle had been won, but…
At what cost? For what purpose?
What had I even accomplished in the end?
It wasn't long before I was just staring at the analog clock on the desk opposite the bed, watching the minutes pass by. Minutes turned to hours, and eventually, my body seemed ready to tell me that I would be getting no further rest, that my mind was just either too saturated or too scattered to settle.
The clock read 2:17 AM by the time I pulled myself out of bed. I fumbled around in the dark with my things until I had a clean set of clothing on, then crept out of my room. There was still some kitchen cleanup to do that I'd neglected in lieu of the impromptu party we had, and I think some of the furniture was still out of arrangement from Kohaku's drunken stumbling. Might as well be productive in my insomnia.
I had to admit that the mansion had a bit of a scary Western haunted house-like feeling to it in the middle of the night, partially because it was so large and vacant. It creaked in every conceivable way an old house like this would, and though the others had to be out in their drunken stupor, I was sure each step was somehow loud enough to wake them.
Passing the staircase and the foyer, I made it back to the living room where we had been drinking to find a light in the kitchen still on just beyond the gloom. I considered the possibility of having left it on, but the sound of faint footfalls led me the other direction instead: someone was awake and within.
As carefully as I could, I crept up to the entryway of the kitchen, sure to find Kohaku rummaging about—but instead spotted Tohno-san over the sink, running water spilling from the faucet. She was clutching the edge of the counter in a death grip, and I briefly considered the possibility that she was still recovering from her excess in drink.
Of course, I kind of doubted that, since it was both many hours since then and none of us had consumed hard liquor.
I rapped my knuckles on the doorframe to the kitchen to announce my presence. "Are you okay?" I asked.
Tohno-san still jumped, though, then slowly turned my way as if anxious at what she would see. It reminded me of a kid getting in trouble at school, or one of the times Fuji-nee had been caught stealing some cookies Sakura had baked before they were off the pan. It was overly exaggerated in its slowness, like she thought if she wished hard enough, I wouldn't be there when she fully turned around.
I did my best to look as nonthreatening as possible. I mean, this was her house after all, it's not like she could be guilty of, like, stealing candy from her own stores or something.
She looked faintly flushed, though again, it could not have been from the drinking hours ago. Unless she had been down here to sneak more. I saw no signs of further bottles having been opened, though. "What're you doing up?"
"Couldn't sleep, thought I'd clean up." I peered closer at her eyes, but the weird thing was that instead of dilated, they were tiny as the eye of a needle. "Tohno-san, can I help you get something?" It sounded a little odd, since I was the guest, but…
"J-Just fine," Tohno-san muttered. "I think—"
She had tried to completely turn and face me, then stumbled in the process. I slid up under and caught her before she ended up head-first into the floor. "Okay, let's sit you over here…"
I half carried her into the dining space next to the kitchen, the less formal space up next to a window overlooking the rear porch and gardens. I sat her down carefully, where she immediately wavered in place and gripped the side of the table to steady herself.
Back in the kitchen, I went about pulling out some of the tea Kohaku had mentioned was the favorite about the house, and quickly made up some. By the time I was back out to put the cup in front of her, Tohno-san looked a little more relaxed, her posture less stiff. She took a few deep, even breaths before reaching out and taking a sip.
"Sorry," she said, after taking a moment again. Whether it was savoring the tea or just catching her breath, I wasn't sure. "Thank you."
"Your stomach punishing you for underage drinking?"
The half-glare she managed came quite naturally to her face, so at least she was feeling good enough to not appear sickly. "It is nothing. A…preexisting condition." The way Tohno-san peered over her cup at me, I had the same sensation briefly that I had in meeting Jinan-sensei. There was something left here unsaid that made me feel like crawling out of my own skin.
"Huh." Unlike with Jinan-sensei, though, I had this sneaking suspicion there was also something Tohno-san was covering up for in her statement. I met her stare evenly, trying to run various possibilities through my head while keeping my game face. Maybe she had some kind of chronic illness—that might explain her annoyance at her brother not being present. Though at the same time, she certainly didn't seem from outward appearances to have any signs of such a thing. At least, one usually did not drink so strongly, as far as I knew, if you were sick in such a fashion.
"Emiya-san, I've been meaning to ask, why would your father have been in need of Jinan-sensei's practices? Is Fuyuki a small enough place to not have Chinese medicine practitioners?"
I shrugged. "No, it has some—"
"So then, it has to do specifically with the supernatural? Did Magus-Killer Kiritsugu Emiya get in over his head?"
The sort of stare-off we had going had me vaguely prepared for this kind of revelation, though I understood now that skin-crawling sensation. I couldn't recall the name Tohno from any talk about magus lineage I'd had with Tohsaka, though that wasn't really saying much. I also didn't detect boundary fields or anything around the house that would signify their connection to magecraft. So, then, what was the connection? "Nothing like that. Should I be concerned that you know such a title to my family name?"
Tohno-san relented, her stare softening. She looked away, out the window. "No. I did have to wonder at first if you had some sort of contract out on me for some reason when Kohaku first mentioned your name. Until I met you and saw how harmless you were, at least."
I wasn't sure whether to be insulted or pleased. "What if I'm just trying to lower your guard until I have a perfect time to strike?"
"Then you'd have done so when we were all drunk."
"Fair enough."
There was a certain amount of wincing I could see her holding back on—the bunching of muscles along her collar and throat resembled someone trying to hold down on coughing. Whatever it was that still had her bothered, it clearly was not physically pleasant.
To be honest, in hindsight, it kind of reminded me of the sort of things Kiritsugu did, shortly before his end.
"My old man already had a foot in his grave," I said, shrugging. "I suppose Jinan-sensei was someone that is good at caring for half-dead people."
"I suppose he does," Tohno-san said. "So that's really it? You just wanted to say hi to your father's doctor?"
"You might be able to guess that there was more to it than simple illness, so I thought following up and letting Jinan-sensei know what happened might be appropriate. I know I'd be curious in his shoes, at least." Well, if the man wears shoes. He looked more like the kind of person to wear more traditional geta instead. "I'm the only one that knows what he went through that is still alive, so, it fell on me."
"Still alive, huh?" She looked a little sad at that. "Following in his footsteps?"
"Nah." I wondered how far I should take this, but decided against further evasion. Maybe if I was free with my tongue, she'd tell me how it was she knew about that side of the world. "I'm pretty terrible at magic, and I don't like death, so any attempt at being a Magus-Killer would probably end with me messing it up horribly."
Tohno-san nodded, slowly, again like she was trying to hold back from a cough or some kind of internal pain. "I see."
The wisps of heat from the tea had disappeared from Tohno-san's drink. "I'll get some more hot tea." It seemed to me like her sense of propriety deemed it necessary that she not show her discomfort in front of me. The tea probably helped soothe her neck, so, I could get away with both at the same time.
From the kitchen, indeed, over the sound of pouring more hot water and getting the tea ready, I could hear Tohno-san hack and wheeze while my back was turned. I kept pretending I didn't hear anything until it was absolutely ready, then returned with the new cup and set it down in front of her. The girl had recovered by then, accepting the cup and sipping at it again, slowly, and this time I could tell that she was appreciating the gentle warmth it gave to overtired muscles.
"Anything else I can do?" I asked, settling back down.
I half-expected her to bring up the magic points further, but she seemed truly disinterested in it now that the cat was out of the bag, her gaze returning to the darkness beyond the window. "Not really," she said, sighing.
My eyes following hers out, I could make out the distorted moon off setting on the horizon, the white light paled by the glare from the light beaming in on us from the kitchen. A little bit of warmth flooded me from my necklace, and I absently reached up to brush at it through my shirt.
"You don't have to stay, you know," Tohno-san said. She sounded better, and a quick glance confirmed that she was calmer again, the tea doing its job.
"I know," I said. But, well, I could feel the odd need to be here in the air, that Tohno-san wanted company. I could tell it wasn't my company she wanted, but, that in this light, maybe it would do.
Maybe, a part of me felt the same.
Origami Blades: Pink Hibiscus, End
Geta are wooden sandals that are fairly distinctive. Kind of like clog-sandals. If you're familiar with Bleach, Kisuke Urahara wears some that Ichigo nicknames him for.