DISCLAIMER

The following is a fan-based

FICTION

F/SN, F/Z, F/KPI and other products related to the Fate Series are all owned by TYPE-MOON, Kinoko Nasu and Takashi Takeuchi.

Please support the official release.

Chapter 3: The School Nurse

Illyasviel von Einzbern was a curious but shy child.

One can say many things about her, either through her Fate Stay Night incarnation or the one she would take in the original timeline of this dimension, but right now she was neither the cursed heiress of a dying family or the clumsy girl that was close to embark to highschool. This little girl was the furthest thing from both.

Quite normal, terribly adorable and... friendless. Not lonely, she had a family supporting her and her brother was always around to check on her whenever he could. Her classmates seemed to be passively ignoring her, preferring to not be the ones to approach her, and almost expect her to do that. Sadly, she was too shy and thus unable to take the appropriate steps to solve this issue and... it was sad. After a week of being a teacher it became evident that there was no solution in sight without external help, and I decided to take the appropriate steps to handle it.

Luckily enough, I had a certain overly-friendly girl that I had the opportunity to chit-chat frequently due to how many times I had her sit by my desk. First, I had to convince Tatsuko that Illya wasn't a spooky little witch that would have stolen her soul. I don't know who the hell would actually tell this to a kid, or if this was her imagination creating such a bizarre scenario, but the blonde seemed to trust me enough to give it a shot. She promised to 'kick me until I was sorry' if I lied to her.

I didn't question the logic, and the tomboy had nothing to lament about as she actually bonded well with Illya. The development soon led to a chain of events that I couldn't help but smile at. If someone as Tatsuko could accept little Illya, surely the rest could. And soon... the little child was provided with a ton of friendship, but also questions about herself. A bit too pushy, and some glances and calls from yours truly seemed to stave off the worst of it.

All in all, it was progress. The first burden of early education thrown out of the way. A bond between the students of the classroom, to let them define friends, close and not, and then provide assistance whenever necessary to deal with the small issues tied to that process. Education was the foundation of an individual's growth into adulthood.

I was in charge of making sure these kids grew right and weren't influenced into accepting debauchery at this young age and beyond. High school was another story, but until I was in charge of how they handled part of their years in the Elementary section of Homurahara Academy, I was going to put my whole self into making sure they weren't touched by the kind of crazy shit that was going to happen in a few years.

Especially Illya considering how much of a trouble magnet she was going to become. With that in mind, I decided to cautiously introduce a little habit that, at the end of my lessons, I would provide ten minutes for the students to be at ease and not have to deal with my subject. Ten minutes for moderate talking, to rest, to plan the rest of the day and ask any questions of topics they didn't have the chance to understand.

It felt so difficult, and yet so 'fitting' in a way. It felt good doing something so monumentally important, and the weight of the job, the papers to grade and sign, were as dreadful as I thought those to be. Maybe it was because I finally managed to get my flat organized into something decent, leaving me with some free time to explore town. Fuyuki was not home, but it felt homely.

Some districts I might have yet to explore, but the few ones I checked, those that weren't surrounded by the few skyscrapers that were slowly taking over the small city, sure felt incredibly nice to wander into. The shops offered their products at an affordable price and... I was on a good path into getting a bigger house in a year or two. Not like I disliked living alone but... the flat was awfully small even for someone like me. Too 'compressed' in some essential rooms.

Nonetheless, things were going great at school as I prepared for the first parents' reception by the end of the month. That's where the most would be done when it came to understanding the home situation of each student through their parents. I was looking forward in some cases, and less in those that had special individuals to handle. Specifically Kiritsugu Emiya... or his wife.

Both were frightening in their own ways, with the former being a professional ex-mercenary that could kill me a hundred times with just a tiny spoon, while Irisviel had... she surely didn't have that minigun from the Fate/Zero non-canon moments. I refused to believe that.

But, as I had already learned many times through my own life, good things aren't meant to last long. It all started when I was about to finish putting the last of the papers I had to take with me in my satchel. The school day was mostly over, I felt incredibly tired and I knew that I was going to get some of that paperwork dealt with by the bed rather than the groaning and sturdy wooden chair my butt had grown accustomed to.

Just as I stepped outside of the staff's room with a calm posture, but I was instantly forced to adopt a tense one when I saw and heard two disconcerting things.

"S-Sensei!"

Little Illya, she was turning the corner, running in what looked to be in a panicking mood. Her eyes were wide, some tears already trailing off her cheeks. Her tiny hands grasped tightly at my right palm, stunning me with that sudden stern hold.

"Illya? What's wrong?"

"Tatsuko-chan! We were going to- to the nurse since she got a cut in her knee and- and- then the nurse, she started to say she needed an ane-ane-something about a needle!"

I frowned at the exaggerated reaction. Anaesthesia? Why the hell would a nurse do... Oh God.

It was that thought that reminded me of what could be going on. Until a few days ago, the position of school nurse had been vacant. The last one had retired without much of a warning, with the reasons being her old age. It took very little for the headmaster to find someone that could fit the requirements of the job and...

It had to be Caren. Caren Hortensia was here.

My eyes widened even more.

Caren was alone with Tatsuko.

Illya didn't even mind that I pulled her around a little as I started to march through the halls of the school, with her worry elsewhere while relief washed over her at my immediate reaction that led us both to the nurse's office. The trip was quick, but the nervousness was running pretty high, my mind running wild with how realistic Caren's gags could be here. A sadistic nurse with an interest in hurting people when she was in the mood, were they adults or kids. Eventually the climax of that crescendo came as we finally arrived and we found the two. Tatsuko was trembling, the child being held by her right arm by one of the nurse's hands while the other, the silver-haired woman's left hand, took care of a... scalpel?!

"What's going on in here!?" I snapped angrily.

Caren paused, the sudden arrival seemed to be enough to stop her from going along with what she had in mind. As her golden gaze was aimed at me, her hold over Tatsuko relented as the girl bolted away from her proximity and towards us. She half-slammed onto my legs, instantly hugging me and sobbing.

"I had this under control. It's rude to interrupt a nurse at work."

I didn't listen to that, my attention aimed to something that mattered more. I carefully crouched and then knelt down, staring right at Tatsuko's tear-filled eyes.

"Tatsuko," I softly muttered. "Did she do something to you?"

At first the shaken blonde shook her head negatively, but as I shifted my hands by her arms, I heard her flinch. I paused instantly, my eyes looking over both limbs before pausing by a small bruise on the arm Caren had held until just a few seconds ago. She seemed to notice what got my attention and she used it as a pretext to speak up about it.

"As I was saying, I was about to deal with that if you hadn't-"

"QUIET!" I half-yelled, my voice going loud for the first time in months. Never once I felt so furious towards someone- not to the point of actually snapping into Italian. Caren noticed, her posture tensing up in surprise at the novelty, but I provided her no other reason to study me, to grow interested in my case. I had a duty to go through with. "I don't want to hear any of that!"

Silence, the stunning anger seemed to provide enough of a cover for me to pull the kids away as Caren looked taken aback by the reaction. So crude, so aggressive, but driven by a sense of protection through the situation at hand. I felt blessed, that reaction could have easily ended with Caren throwing the scalpel at me and getting me dead, but... that didn't happen.

As soon as I was out of that room, I zig-zagged away from the crazy nurse, carrying the two girls away and stopping by one of the unused classrooms to deal with the other urgent matters. The cut on Tatsuko's knee and the bruise she got from the silver-haired woman. Illya sat by the desk beside the one where I had placed Tatsuko on, the blonde blinking in surprise as I fished out my unused water bottle and the First Aid kit from my satchel.

I retrieved the small bottle of medical alcohol out of the box and used it on the tiny gash once I was done cleaning up the wound with the water and the small piece of cloth I had stored in the kit, and then I took care of the bruises. With her nervousness mellowing due to the lack of danger and the fact she was getting treated properly about her wounds, Tatsuko's reaction to the 'lion-themed' band aids I used on both injuries was one that I could quickly connect to her usual self.

"Woah! That is 'Roar' and that is 'I am super-strong'!" Childish, but still positive for a quick recovery from that traumatic situation.

I smiled and nodded. "After all, Tatsuko-chan managed to brave through quite the crazy situation."

Her smile twitched as some of the unease threatened to appear back on her mind... but it didn't get that chance as I diverted the attention elsewhere.

"Also, Illya-chan here is as brave as you were. After all, she was the one that came to me and told me what was going on."

The blonde grinned at the fellow girl, with the little Einzbern flushing red at the sudden spotlight but slowly nodding and smiling at my words.

With this situation dealt with, I felt priorities changing into something else. First, I asked the two girls why they were still there quite late. Normally they would be back home an hour or so before that time. Illya answered, mentioning that she and her friend had remained at school later than usual since her 'big brother' was taking care of some janitorial matters on his own and could get them both back to their respective homes once he was done with that.

I realized the two remained behind to play some more together, kind of troubling due to the homework, but I was told that 'they already did all of that for the week'. I doubted that was the truth, not when Illya looked really awkward when she was lying, and Tatsuko felt close to spill the beans about the lie for a moment before being stopped by the red-eyed child.

As I left the two to retreat back to where they had left Shirou, I decided it was time for me to leave, get to my flat and... plan out a solution about Caren. Caren wasn't necessarily a bad problem. But she was a problem. And one I couldn't deal with on my own. I had to think about it, to plan out a solution to this and... and then even worse happened. As I reached back home, sat down the satchel and the paperwork I got for today, I was interrupted in my school day's end ritual by the noise of the flat's door bell ringing.

...Surely I didn't get followed by Caren.

I hoped for a while that wasn't the case, but when I went to check by the peephole, I saw it was her. She had followed me. I opened the door, the girl stood there, staring blankly at me. I thought she was going to tell me something, to argue a reason to come inside and talk to me. Yet Caren stood there and looked at me, intensely and blankly. So, instead of risking it any further, I slowly closed the door. I locked it twice too. Then I went to the kitchen and put a chair against the handle. Finally I moved by the windows and closed them up. I lived on the third floor of the building, but I didn't want to know how much Parkour the girl knew and how good it was in these circumstances.

At this point the doorbell rang again and again, but I was on my merry way to bed, paperwork at hand. I was ready for a siege, for the worst but... Caren left. Her attempt to do something about what happened had... failed? I wasn't sure what was up to her, or why she let me do that with ease, but I was more worried about another notion.

I found Caren and Caren then found me as she looked interested to know more about me... That was the furthest from ideal.

AN

Okay, so this is important! Due to certain situations born with the mod staffs of these two sites, I am considering to stop writing in Space Battles and Sufficient Velocity forums. The 'in a nutshell' is: Kuro suggesting 'french-kissing' is too much for the rules… even though the rules don't say that.

REVIEW Q&A!

King0fP0wers: A bit of both, with a stronger leaning for the first option.