Forward Unto Dawn

Chapter 5: An Unexpected Visitor

Despite remaining strong on the surface, sometimes I just can't deal with it, this impurity on my very own hands. Blood is hard to wash off, this guilt that comes with killing, this feeling of dirtiness, a phantom feeling of filth that just cannot be washed off. I don't know why, but I often find myself washing my hands, it's a subconscious habit, a constant scrubbing of my hard hands on each other. So I find myself scrubbing, ignoring the pain from both my palms, a burning sting of cold water running over my raw palms, raw from the friction that came from me trying to restore my innocence.

The bathroom door remained ajar, I did not close it, there was no need to. The urge to purify my hands overtook everything else, so I rushed to the sink, turned on the tap, and proceeded to wash, to try and regain my purity. It was still dark outside, the light from a nearly full moon entered from the glass panel window, illuminating the bathroom despite me not turning the lights on. I could see myself clearly, the eyes were red with tears gathering a the rims of my golden orbs, my face had lost its original sharpness, my facial features regressing due to the pain, regressing from my sobbing.

There was someone outside the door to the bathroom, I could feel her standing there. I could see from the mirror a slight shadow threatening to invade the room from the slightly opened door, the shadow of a person standing there, respectfully waiting for me to finish, giving me some privacy. She was the imposter, the one I mistook as Sakura, she looked just like my first love under the moonlight, her long violet hair, her aura of gentleness.

By now I finally had a semblance of control over my own actions, my subconscious obsession for washing my hands clean had been overcome. Slowly, I regained my composure, standing to my full height and splashing some water over my face to bring myself back into reality. "Asama-san?" I asked, taking note of the slight quivering that still exists within my voice. I coughed a few times to get my vocal chords back in working order before asking again, "Asama-san?"

The door creaked as she carefully opened the door to let herself in. She wore a white yukata with a purple obi which matched her hair.

I obviously noticed the not so subtle sheathed katana she held in her right hand with only its hilt and hand guard displayed since the edge was blocked by the door which was not completely opened. "Asama-san?"

"Are you alright Shirou-san?" She asked with a slight tension in her voice, I couldn't tell if she was angry or sympathetic, quite frankly she could be both at the moment. Immediately on guard seeing her blade I grabbed my own knife beside the sink, a ten-inch combat knife with a few runes inscribed upon it.

I looked her in the eyes trying to guess her intention; I could not find hostility, but at the same time I could determine if she was a friend. "I'd feel a lot better without that sword Asama-san." I gave her a dry chuckle hoping this will end without any conflict, she was my landlady after all, and I'm not even sure if I could beat her now.

She gave me a sad smile, "I'm afraid that's impossible Emiya-san." She gripped her blade a bit tighter and I mirrored the gesture ready to spring into action.

"I mean you no harm Asama-san, there's no need for this."

"Maybe, maybe not, but I cannot overlook this."

"So it comes down to this?" I let my od into the knife activating the runes placed upon it. "dagaz, gyufu, sowilo." I muttered the name of the runes to activate them. The three runes are 'the day, a gift, and the sun.' I forged this weapon to hunt vampires, it reduces the dead's power with the day well I ask for a gift in form of a sun. All three are Anglo-saxon or Norse runes, as a side note ancient runes work better when paired with runes from the same age.

She raised an eyebrow at my quiet chanting, no doubt she already noticed the energy emitting from my dagger, it was kind of hard to miss a knife lit in a dark room. "Disarm yourself Emiya-san, I don't wish to fight."

Instead of immediately letting go of my dagger I looked at her with distrust, "Then what was your purpose?"

"To ask a question, one that will determine the outcome of our meeting here. I do not wish for this meeting to be mentioned again." By now I've noticed Miya was missing her normally friendly demeanor. Her light crimson eyes now actively shown in the near darkness, they were almost slits, full of bloodlust. After a few moments watching her I noticed that it wasn't bloodlust she was filled with, she didn't desire to hurt, she wanted to protect, to protect her peace.

I didn't immediately comply to her earlier demands, instead I twirled my weapon into a reverse grip to show a slight sign of submission, reverse grip is generally used more for defense and countering rather than attacking. I nodded to her, "Ask away Asama-san, and let's put this moment of unpleasantness behind us."

She nodded in acceptance of my words, "Yes, let's put it behind us." He eyes were no longer the slits they were a few moments ago, her capability for violence seemed to have disappeared in the matter of seconds. She didn't completely let go of her blade but she did relax a grip, an action that I again mirrored. "What did you do before you came here, do you mean Izumo Inn any harm?"

I returned her question with a serious gaze I wish expressed my sincerity, "No, I do not mean Izumo Inn any harm," I didn't want to answer her first question and I knew she knew I didn't want to, but she waited for me to answer. "And I was a hunter." I let that sink in a bit, I was sure she'd ask me to leave. There was a moment of uncomfortable silence, deathly almost, I decided to continue, "I hun…"

Instead of hearing my elaboration of my previous occupation she held up a palm to stop me, instead of a scowl I had expected to be on her face there was a graceful smile that could have melted my heart if I had one. "It matters not Emiya-san, it was my husband Takehito's policy to not turn away those in need, you do not mean us any harm; I see no reason to break my beloved husband's tradition."

I bowed lowly to her for her kindness, "Thank you, Asama-san. You have no idea what this means to me."

She smiled again as she held me upright, "Don't thank me Shirou-san, you did nothing wrong, I do however hope your heart comes to rest."

What she doesn't know that it wasn't just her action of keeping me here that I was thankful of, it was her heart. To her I was not a monster, I rather strange thought to tell you the truth, I have always been a monster to the eyes of another. But maybe it was because she is more of a monster than I was.

I almost felt moved by her, just for a split moment I felt my heart sway from her kindness, I have to remind myself I cannot afford to change, no. As I walked out of the restroom behind the violet haired landlady named Miya Asama I repeated a line from my aria, "fire is my blood, glass is my heart."

She paused for a slight moment as if she could hear me in this distance. Then she continued walking forward without any indication of hearing my mantra.

My face was perspiring with sweat, little streams of salty liquid running not only down my bronze toned face, but my whole body as well. For exercises like this I wore a white sleeveless shirt and khaki shorts. Since my return from slumbering I've been working out day to day in order to retain my strength from the past, personally I don't think it's really working since a good majority of my strength comes from the 'artificial phantasm' AKA my left arm. The overload of information and experiences from my future part's arm seemed to have passively given me a watered down version of his physical parameters.

I'd probably never match a servant without resorting to my trump card even if I maximize my parameters with magecraft, but I do give dead apostles a run for their money every time I hunt. My future self was strong, despite the compatibility it had taken me months to slowly remove the Shroud of Martin and numerous runes to regulate the amount of energy it gave me so to not kill me and to trick the earth in not treating the arm as a "foreign entity", but I persevered. It gave me physical parameters akin to an assassin, in terms of servants it would be weak, but for a human it would be strong and too much for my body to handle.

It was because of that fact I had to actively train my body to the limits, have runes, and reinforce myself when I fight for real. Imagine an 8 liters W16 engine of a Bugatti Veyron, fastest street-legal sports car, stuck inside an old Toyota Camry. I'm not saying Toyotas are bad or anything, but with an engine that spits out a top speed of 431 kilometers per hour, a Toyota Camry's frame would simply collapse. Similarly EMIYA's arm was like an engine of a racecar, and my very normal human body, albeit a bit sturdier with the help of Avalon, was not as compatible as I originally thought. True the operation didn't outright kill me, but the power level of the arm along with its natural or unnatural rejection of another spiritual body slowly devoured me.

Even though the 'artificial phantasm' had been quite a hassle in the earlier days of acquiring it, it saved my ass on more than one occasion. It made me stronger, more deadly, and most of all it allowed me to uphold my ideals with an iron hand, or body if I want to be literal.

A smell of honey and a feeling of dread brought me back to reality. Stopping immediately I had my hands on my knife's handle and my center of gravity lowered to create a smaller target. It was an instinctive reflex to stay low, a sort of 'duck and cover' taught to the American schoolchildren during the Cold War.

I turned my head from side to side with reinforced sight in order to see who was it that smelled of magic and had such an intent. Then I felt it again, 'on the rooftop,' I immediately looked up only to find nothing there. The feeling of dread was uncomfortable, not only the feeling itself, but also what it meant. It was a strong killing intent, from an seemingly invisible foe. This told me two things about my assailant: the first was that this person was strong, the second was that this person was a 'hunter' no different then myself.

Scanning my surroundings one last time I knew my actions were probably useless. This person knew they were spotted and probably left immediately. It was useless to try and stalk my hunter, the best course of action was simply to keep going on with my life albeit with a higher guard than before now that my life may be in danger.

"Arthur." She was here again, how absolutely perfect. She got me off guard yesterday leaving with no choice but ignore her due to my lack of response. I had never been a eloquent guy preferring to stick to blood and violence, when she appeared yesterday I sort of panicked, and when I panicked I shut myself down and hoped she'd just leave. It was strange, normally when people are ignored for a while they get the message and leave, but this PANDORA was just too damned stubborn.

Yamato-san trying his hardest to concentrate on his cell phone, but I could tell he was laughing in his mind. It might had been because he was using his hand to cover his snickering, or the fact that his hand was doing a poor job of hiding the sound of his chuckles.

I turned to my visitor, if I remembered the manual had a policy against visitors, but I think that was just my mind being delusional, after all Yamato-san has had a few visitors drop by and chat with him every now and then. I nodded to her acknowledging her greeting despite her getting my name wrong, "Aoi-san." I could tell she was slightly surprised at my sudden change of attitude.

But she rebounded fast, her slightly widened eyes immediately snapping back to their original sharpness. "Arthur." She stated her name for me a second time, why I did not know.

"Aoi-san." I nodded to her again.

"Arthur." It was quite confusing why she kept repeating that word, every time she said it a slight uncomfortable feeling would run through me making me shudder a bit. Maybe this was why she kept saying that word?

"Aoi-san." I nodded to her a third time, "May I remind you that my name happens to be Emiya Shirou. You can call me Emiya." I had a polite tone, a socially acceptable pleasant tone I normally use against troublesome people that I had to be polite to. This girl was strong, I was sure of it, maybe not stronger than me but she was a PANDORA fighting NOVAs, I needed to know more about her 'organization' if I was to keep protecting mankind.

She grinned, "Hahahahaha…I finally got a reaction out of you Arthur." I shuddered once more, "And I never forgot your name, I just choose not to use it." She was slightly infuriating, just slightly.

"Very funny."

She smiled again, "It is."

"Okay?" It was more of a question than a statement, to tell the impression she gave me now was more on the childish side, then again she was like this yesterday excluding the times she was angry with me.

"Hehehe."

I looked at the strange girl with long black hair and brown eyes, she wore a white blouse today opposed to her t-shirt yesterday, and instead of denim shorts she wore a red miniskirt paired with the same high heels she had worn before. "So?" I raised an eyebrow in a questioning manner, I probably knew what she was here for, no, I definitely knew what she what she was here for, but I just wanted to make sure. "So why you here?"

She looked at me then lifted her hands to straighten her hair, inside I screamed, 'there's nothing wrong with it, just get to the point' but she was no mind reader. Then she straightened her red hair band, I concluded that she was nervous from the excessive movements she is exhibiting. "You know why I am here."

"And you know I can't answer your questions."

She looked at me, completely serious as opposed to her earlier bashfulness, this must mean a lot to her. "Can't or won't."

She was sharp, a general, a guardian of mankind. She was a PANDORA, no, she was much more than 'just' a PANDORA, she was like 'The PANDORA', the herald of mankind, the shield between humankind and extinction. She deserves my respect, much more than just my respect, but I cannot answer her, I do not know the state of the magical society after fifty years of hibernation but I know if they existed the statute of secrecy would still have prevailed.

I smiled at her sadly, "I can't Aoi-san, the same reason you cannot go around spilling state secrets." I had been described as cynical my whole life, but there are times when the personality of my old self won out, pangs of generosity, slight instances of my nonexistent kindness.

"Whaa…?" Her eyes were widened and I knew why, I just implied I worked for some bigger organization, that I was just a clog in a bigger wheel, a wheel with confidentiality not different from that of a country's. It was not a slip of tongue for me to imply that, I know there will be consequences to my words, her assumptions will lead to her superior's assumptions, which will lead to a whole world of complications. Complications I cannot afford.

I looked at the time, the long hand almost hitting the twelve well the shorter hand almost overlapped the five. "Why don't we take this outside Aoi-san?" I have a chance to buy her silence, I need to intrigue her enough to keep it a secret well at the time making sure nothing of importance is spilled.

I gave a lax wave to Yamato in the chair a distance from us, he looked up from his cellphone and nodded with an added wave. With his approval I led the black haired PANDORA to the back door, to where we were yesterday, but this time I have to be intent. "Is there anything you need to know?"

The alley was slightly dark despite the sun still hanging high in the sky. It was summer, and the sun sets later in the summer, sometimes as late as seven in the afternoon. I sat at the bench I had sat in the previous day; instead of standing in front of me like she did yesterday Kazuha chose to sit down next to me. There was a comfortable silence for a moment before she cleared her throat and started "You know I kept you a secret?"

To tell the truth I was slightly surprised although the possibility of my location being undisclosed to her superiors did occur to me yesterday when I thought about our eventual confrontation. I hadn't expected her to keep me a secret, but I should somehow use this to my advantage. "Oh really now." I paused a bit choosing my next few words carefully, "I was under the assumption I was a hunted man."

She shook her head to deny my statement, "You were a hot topic Emiya-san, but Chevalier simply doesn't have the resource to conduct a hunt right after a big NOVA clash." What she said made sense, it seemed that I'm not a major priority yet, which was good.

"Resources?" I asked with a questioning tone, I was genuinely surprised at this 'lack of resources,' I was under the assumption that Chevalier controlled most of the world. I voiced my confusion, "I thought Chevalier controls most of the resources in the world, how could they have a 'lack of resource.'"

She shook her head again, "No. Chevalier is simply like an international military organization funded by many nations and given authority, however, nations are still sovereign to themselves and Chevalier by no means control a majority of resources in the world."

"I see." It made sense in a way, almost like UN, just more belligerent.

"You don't know much about this do you."

I chuckled a bit, "Some would deem the lack of such information normal."

She frowned a bit at my joking remark, "But not you."

"I'm a bit different."

"How so?" I stole a glance at her finding her staring right back at me. Her brown eyes gazed at me with such intensity, such innocence. I've seen the eyes of many people, hers told me she had no ulterior motives, she genuinely wanted to know, it was unfortunate I cannot afford to give her the answers she sought.

I smiled, "Just a bit different, ya'know, here and there." My sudden cheerfulness broke the seriousness of our conversation, breaking the tension that had sprung from the topic we had talked about, no, not really talk, but the questions that had been thrown onto the metaphorical board.

"I most certainly do not."

I took out a pack of cigarettes and withdrew a white stick and stuffed it into my mouth, with practiced ease I took a lighter from my breast pocket and easily lit the cigarette in my mouth. My habit seemed to annoy her as she stared at the offending white stick in my mouth, glaring at it. "You know smoking doesn't really matter."

"But it kills you."

"Hahahahaaahaha…" I laughed out loud at her statement giving her a slight shock. "Really Kazuha? Smoking kills you."
Her cheeks were slightly red at embarrassment, as if she had said something wrong, like she did yesterday when she was embarrassed her cheeks puffed up like a puffer fish as she pouted at me. "It does Emiya-san, it gives you lung cancer."

I looked her in the eyes, the cheerful light that had been in my eyes a few moments beforehand completely gone. My sudden change of demeanor seemed to surprise her, but except from a slight widening of pupils she gave no other signs of being surprised. Then I spoke, my tone subconsciously changed to contain a certain feel of seriousness, "I'll assure you this Aoi-san, smoking is the least of my worries." It kind of surprised myself how deep and dark my tone was when I said that particular statement, it was partly because of the sudden flashes of violence that ran across my mind as I thought that, but at the same time I was cursing Root for all the problems that exist.

She looked down a bit well I looked away in slight embarrassment at my emotional outburst, "We live violent lives, PANDORA-san, unmei, this is the fate of those who live by the sword." I paused a bit before looking at the sky and reaching out. I curled my hand into a fist as if I was grabbing something, the sun's rays glowed around my fist, a burning fist. Then I looked at her and gave her a sad smile before completing my earlier statement, "In the end we die by the sword." I could tell she felt slightly distraught at my words, I was too, I never liked thinking about it, but it was the truth.

When I turned to her I could see a redness that bordered her chestnut eyes, "I know. I know…" there was a slight quivering in her voice, and a single drop of tear ran down her cheeks, "I know Emiya-san, but I…" Another drop, "I was so afraid." Her voice became tremble, "I was so afraid, so afraid, during the clash, I was so afraid." Tears continued to stream down her eyes, "It was so." She couldn't continue, "It was so. So. So violent. So."

It was so strange hearing someone talk about their first battle. Recognizing how different it was from my own. My own "first" had been fast, it had been bloody, and it had been brutal, a quick stab in the heart, that was my first battle. A conflict against something that was so different, so strong, it wasn't even a proper battle, I had no chance to retaliate. Maybe this was what chilled my heart, the fact that my first battle had been against an insurmountable foe; throughout my whole career as a freelancer I had never felt confident in my chances of victory. I believed in my skills, the skills I inherited from myself, but at the same time I accepted the fact that my enemies were faster, stronger, and better than myself, and I along with my future self had crafted a whole art being inferior than our enemies.

This was probably why I never really received this shock from my battles. At first I've always lost, or at least I had always lost, until I found this strength within myself, then I found victory, but my victory was hollow, no different from losing. Despite not having the same experiences as her and being unable to actively relate to her I knew what she was feeling. I've seen a lot of people go through their first battles, I've teamed with some first timers who went through the same thing they did, this fear, this agony, sometimes it made them stronger, other times it broke them. Because I understood her I sympathized with her, and because of that I foolishly withdrew a small pink handkerchief courtesy of Miya and handed it to her.

She looked up at me with tears in her eyes, at my outstretched hand that was holding a ridiculously pink handkerchief. One glance at her face and I looked away; before she had been beautiful, she had the aura of confidence, she had the strength of a general. Her crying face did her no credit, to preserve her image of an indomitable and strong woman I refused to look at her tears. Or maybe it was just because I was too embarrassed to look at a crying girl, or maybe it was because of my embarrassment regarding my pink handkerchief. All these were viable theories, I do prefer the first one but the third one seems to be the most possible.

I let her cry as she clutched onto my handkerchief, I gave her the privacy she needed, she probably hadn't let the events of the 8th NOVA clash four weeks ago catch up to her. Without a glance backwards I left through the 'employee only' door with the sound of a sobbing girl resounding deep within my mind. I couldn't help but utter a name, "Sakura."

Long brown hair fanned out from covering her back, she wore it untied and exposed letting it run the way he liked it. He had been important to her, not a lover, more of a friend and confidant. They led similar styles of life, instead of having a stable lifestyle they were both freelance mercenaries who fought for a living. They had paired up several times in jobs and she knew he was strong despite him not agreeing with her evaluation. Despite some friction that occurred almost daily due to conflicting personalities the two had enjoyed their time together and bantered on a daily basis.

She stood on top of a building in the shopping district of Tokyo City, overlooking a common Lawson store. More importantly she was glaring daggers at a certain white haired clerk with a dark haired girl. From an observer's viewpoint that man was not a typical Japanese, but that girl was an ideal Japanese beauty, not that she'd admit it of course. He seemed to be looking for something glancing out the paneled window at times despite the girl talking to him, it was interesting watching the woman reprimand him every once in a while for his inattentiveness. Any other observer would probably think that was a case of "love sickness" with a young girl visiting her lover on working hours but this watcher knew differently. She knew him, knew how he operated, and knew the mantra he lived his life by. Despite glaring at the young seemingly flirting couple she couldn't help but smile as she recited a familiar rhyme, "His body was made of swords, fire is his blood, and glass his is heart." She opened her blouse a bit to see a star shaped scar that ran over where her heart would have been. She ran her right hand over it, watching the pink discolored piece of skin that just wouldn't match the flesh beside it.

Smiling again she remembered how that man knew nothing about life.

I had been paddling my bike like I always did, heading towards Izumo Inn like I always did after work. But unfortunately it turned out this was not 'just another day' blasted root, why can't Alaya just give me a break and spare me from this crazy world.

At first there was nothing wrong, I paddled absentmindedly, talking with Kazuha had been fun and she hadn't pried much into my affairs after her emotional breakdown. We chatted, talked about normal stuff like the weather and Yamato-san. And she asked me to call her Kazuha without honorifics in return for her calling me Shirou, despite her being slightly forceful with her request it was definitely better than being called Arthur on a regular basis.

The conversation today had been a total victory for me, throughout the whole conversation I hinted on the importance of secrecy without prying into her own secrets, and in the end she promised not to tell. Of course I'm not naïve enough to believe this status quo will end but she is a honorable woman, and I choose to have faith in her.

'Shit.' There was a scent of sweetness in the air as I immediately brought my bike to a stop and dropped it in favor of ducking and scanning my surroundings. 'Someone's coming, and fast.' I loaded the blueprint of a certain spear into my metaphorical gun and held tightly onto my enchanted knife. The scent of honey and feeling of discomfort assaulted my senses, "dagaz, gyufu, sowilo" I felt the familiar hum of my own magic coursing into the knife in my hands as I continued scanning my surroundings.

I stayed silent watching every movement with my reinforced senses, whatever that was coming was close, closer than I'm comfortable with. Still crouched on the ground and tensed up for a fight I broke the silent between my assailant and myself. "Come out now whoever you are." There were no replies, "I know you're there." Still empty. The eerie surrounding of a park after dark left a certain uneasy feeling deep within me. The streetlamp flickered extending the bushes' shadows making it hard for me to perceive the environment. It was summer, but even at night during the summer the wind still contained a certain chill to it, striking against my exposed arms and brining my hair vertical.

'There', a small movement, a rustle of leaves beneath a nearby tree was all it took for me to spring into action, I saw the shadow of my assailant, one that was the property of a somewhat busty girl with long straight hair. I couldn't make out her face in the darkness as I pounced on her with my blade in a forward grip ready to stab into the soft flesh of my enemy.

But I never reached my enemy since she hopped backwards to avoid my frontal blow, only by an inch which put her right in front of me outside my reach. "Bam." I felt an impact on my waist which through me back.

'Fuck that hurts.' My enemy was strong, whatever she did broke through my guard. She caught me with perfect timing dodging my stab with a step backwards but retaliating with a roundhouse kick since I was right in her range. My back hurts from impacting a nearby stone wall, I should have reinforced but I was careless, I thought I could win.

Without a second thought I ran my od through my body reinforcing my muscles and bones to the maximum efficiency. At the same time as my reinforcement a few runes also illuminated itself as my od ran through it. Within a moment my body had the strength of a servant, albeit a very weak one at that but it was something, probably more than enough against my unknown assailant considering the fact I wrestled an Apostle to the ground once empty handed.

With my new speed I was behind my stalker in one stride which I followed with a horizontal slash, I never expected this to hit and as if I could see the future she ducked in response to my aggression.

But that was not the main attack. Using the momentum of my purposely strong swing I twisted my whole body and let my legs go doing a backwards roundhouse kick. I definitely caught her off guard to a degree since I gained a clean strike feeling the softness of human flesh against my reinforced shoe sole.

"Offf…" She cried in what I assumed to be pain as she was flung backwards from the strength of my kick, I didn't let her recover as I dashed forward with my knife to perform a few more attacks at my debilitated enemy. "Shirou."

Hearing that voice I froze immediately. Her voice was familiar, but where had I heard it before? I recognized this voice, an image of red running through my brain as I tried to remember who it was that I had encountered. "Shirou." I looked up at her, finally under the illumination of the faltering streetlight, a shocked expression ran across my face as I saw who it was.

"What the?"

"Yes Shirou, it's me."

The hell? Why is she here, "Aoko-san?"

"Yup."

"The hell?"

"That's a greeting?" Her pale face scrunched up a bit at my question?

I looked at her with my mouth agape, "What the, shouldn't you be a granny?"

Right after I said that I received a knee in the groin which I instinctively protected. Her normally blue eyes were red now, her normally short frame a bit taller, no towering, "What was that Shi-ro-u-kun?" For a moment she towered over me. "A granny?"

Shaking my head profusely I had no interest in fighting "The Blue." Sweat dropped from my neck as I looked at her with a forced smile, "You probably heard wrong Aoko-chan, how lovely, nice to see you."

"Hmpff, as unflattering as always."

"I didn't recount you being anything that'd put you in a good light." I nodded sagely. "By the way, what's with the age?" She looked at me as if I asked a stupid question which I probably did, she was the master of the Fifth Magic-time. "My bad."

"Anyways Shirou-san, fancy seeing you here when I heard you d-ed."

"It's a strange city with all those leylines lying dormant. You do know where we are don't you?"

She looked at me with a raised eyebrow, "I've been casting before your dad's been in diapers, of course I know where we are." She paused a bit, "Fuyuki city, the best place for large scale rituals due to the exceptional amount of natural leylines."

"Yes, and they are truly exceptional, before you ask I don't know how I'm back. Alaya can do strange things."

"Alaya? You'd go as far as to blame the world?"

I laughed a bit a her statement, "Who else is there to blame?"

She nodded in acceptance of my statement in form of a question, "True dat."

Then her eyes became serious but at the same time gentle and warm. Closing the distance between us in a few strides with her long legs she approached with apparent ease. Looking me in the eyes meeting my golden orbs with her baby blue ones she put her arms around me, holding me close.

I could feel the warmth of her body as she put her face into my chest, I could feel her stroking my back slowly and gently, like a mother would. "How have you been Shirou?" Her speech was wavering, it was as if she would cry.

"Nothing, I'm fine, I'm…"

She stopped me putting a finger to my mouth. By now she had stepped backwards so a small rift existed between us, "Don't." Her normally cheerful demeanor had been dropped, replaced with trembling lips and distraught eyes. "Before you say anything." She put a hand on my chest. "I have to say this. I promised to say it, I wanted to, but I couldn't."

"What? Aoko-san? What's wrong?" She was on the verge of tears, I had a little bit more of experience regarding crying girls since I just met one before, but this was Aoko, "The Blue" we're talking about.

She looked into me, eyes to eyes, gazing into me. "I'm sorry." She put her let her head fall onto my chest looking downwards, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." She kept muttering her apologies but I did not want them.

I put a hand on her hair slowly stroking her long brown hair, despite being maybe nearly three times my age she still acted like a young girl sometimes, the product of near immortality I guess? "It's okay Aoko. It's okay. I told you to go, it was for the sake of mankind. I told you…"

She put a hand on my mouth covering it, stopping my ability to talk. "I should have stayed, maybe you wouldn't have." Aoko never cries, it was a rule Aoko Aozaki never cries, but her tears fell down her eyes anyways, "Maybe you wouldn't have died."

We stayed like that for a while, Aoko connected to me through her forehead on my chest, my hand running through her silky brown hair. We stood like this under the night sky, under the bright moon, enjoying the chilly wind of summer and reminiscing about the past.

'He had been nice today.' Kazuha thought to herself. Emiya Shirou had indeed been nice today, contrary to how he had acted the day before. 'He probably just wasn't ready.' She finally concluded as she stayed up again thinking about a certain white haired swords man. He was sarcastic at times with a few axioms he liked to state at random moments, but most of the time he was nice and gentle. He made some jokes, some darker but others light, and he talked about his past like his time in school and his hobbies, who could have figured he'd been a good repairman during his high school career. The day had been rewarding just chatting with him, Kazuha rarely talked with the guys at school bar her friend's limiters, the guys were generally scared of her and the rest of numbers, and Kazuha had never been interested in being with male outside her relatives and her best friend's friends.

It was a strange notion to want to know more about someone. The black haired PANDORA had taken it for granted that she knew everything about her friends. They were comrades in arms, they had almost no secrets with each other. Her family she definitely knew a lot about, it was this entrance of a completely new character that shook her seemingly perfect world. If one were to describe Kazuha a prime word would be sheltered. Sure she had been in a military academy since early in her life but she had a decent life before that. She lived with her uncle, her mother hadn't liked her but that was a minor problem. Her aunts had taken very good care of her and Kazuya, and her uncle Gengo Aoi had been supportive of her ever since day one. But this Emiya Shirou was so different and mysterious it prompted her to learn more.

Just like last night she watched Emily sleep soundly from the bed on the other side of the room. She herself was lying on her own bed looking out the paned window. 'I should tell my friends,' She concluded, she promised not to tell Chevalier about him but her friends are okay right? Right?

With her last thoughts on Shirou Emiya Kazuha closed her eyes and entered the realms of Morpheus.

"So why are you here?"

She looked at him this time in a look he discerned as 'businesslike', then she spoke. "A hunt had been called."

At that his mouth split into a grin, "A hunt you say? Now tell me more."

A/N:

So chapter 5?

It was a fast update, don't get used to it

Again this is an interlude with promises of action in the next chapter or the one after

I think I explained it a bit but Shirou had an one eighty attitude change since he prepared. He's never been eloquent

As for fight with Miya, or absence of it I'm not sure if that's believable, but yeah suck it up?

Nothing much to say on this chapter, it's pretty light hearted

ANd no, AOko is not in love with Shirou

NO Kazuha is not in love with shirou

No Miya is not in love with shirou

There's no pairings right now, Kazuha's fixation is like when you had ur first crush, you feel obsessed, but your'e not in love, I explained, she's pretty sheltered.

R&R, I'll edit over a few days, and if things come up that's important I'll add to A/N

Till Next time, do read and review

-Wiltheavatar

PS: About EMIYA Arm, I'm ready to change it any time if there are glaring problems with how it was explained, don't get mad, I'm not that good with mechanics but if you point out the faults I'll change it, It wasn't plot constructive, just like a backstory explanation