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I don't own anything related to Fate/stay night; this is a work of parody

Act One: Rebirth

Whirlpool of Fate 2 (Music) /3wXmgL-CuY0

"Huh!?" I squint my eyes at the white light. There is a soft ringing in my ears; it's the only sound there is. So bright... It was just light entering my eyes when I woke up, but I'm not used to it. "Huh? Wha...?" When my eyes focus, I'm surprised. I'm lying on an unfamiliar bed, in an unfamiliar room. '…Where am I?' I look around. It's a shady room.

There are many beds; a kid is in each bed, and everyone seems to be hurt. But nothing feels ill in this room. After all, everyone who's hurt is someone who was saved. "Ahhhhhh.." My muscles are tense.

I try to relax and let my eyes wander. The deep blue sky feels like an escape. When had I first seen it? The distant white clouds... when did I first notice you...? ... I'm not sure... The world didn't make much sense. I felt like a baby again.

Smell, taste, touch, vision, hearing. Each sense felt new; the world felt overwhelming to me. Although there was the sound of crying in the air, it was not mine. The cries didn't last long. The children who learned quickly that there was no point to it. No one came to stifle them.

Eventually, the doctor approached me, an older man with receding grey hair. I was sitting up the best I could.

"You're awake then. Tell me, boy, what is your name?" He had a forced calm voice.

Name...? What is... name...? It was...S... "My…..name?"

...What was it again? Something with an s... an s... s...s...sai... no... that's not it...

Sa, shi, su, se, so... I tried to combine the characters but it wasn't quite coming to me.

Apparently, I was silent long enough that the doctor was going to leave. "It's fine if you can't find it right now; you've been through a traumatic event. It can take time for your mind to catch up."

'No... don't go...' I wanted to say that, but I had no name to give him. 'I have to say something! I can't just be nameless!' So I just said what I could and forced my mouth to speak. "My name is... S-Shirou!" I yelled. I had to relearn the volume of my voice. It's not that I remembered my name. It's more than my mouth remembered how to say it.

"And your family name?" The doctor stopped and wrote on a clipboard.

A sharp pain pierced my head when I tried to think about that. A red world. With black muck flowing into me. Piles of corpses reaching out for my hand. Like being stabbed in the brain by a thin sword.

It all came to me... then disappeared. It was a short stabbing pain but painful enough that my brain decided to remove as much of it as it could before it ate me up. So I just forgot about it. "Ughhh, I don't know." I... I can't remember... That is right. I had no idea about that at all. I didn't want to think about that. I'm Shirou. If I'm just that, then the loss isn't so bad that it kills me.

He smiled and crossed his arms. "That's alright for now, Shirou-kun. Get some rest. Perhaps you will remember with that." Sounds good to me. I felt exhausted. "Oh, and Shirou-kun, please try to be a little quieter in the future. Others are trying to sleep."

It was a light admonishment. He held no hatred for me. He was a weak man, pathetic whelp... huh...? What am I thinking?

"Sorry." Now, my voice was as quiet as a mouse. I apologized for everything I did.

After that, I spent the remainder of the day relearning my voice. I was someone new, after all. The hours passed, and nothing much changed. Night and day and night again. Nobody came to visit but the cold and sad looks of the nurses and doctors.

It took a few days for me to understand. I could clearly recall what had happened the last couple of days. Sitting and waiting in a room of lost children. But before that…? Nothing. What was there was buried so far deep that it was empty. A black nothing was there to fill the gap.

Apparently, there had been a terrible fire. That's what they said, and it sounded about right in my mind. I could faintly connect it to memory, but I didn't feel good when I did. The sharp pain didn't come anymore, but it did make me nauseous. As much as you try to forget something, all it takes is one reminder to infect you again. For me, that was the burns across everyone's bodies.

I must be burned too, under all the bandages. I could feel it underneath the bandages. My body felt weird like it wasn't entirely connected to me. It didn't hurt, but it felt like my body was covered in something thick and wet. It wasn't sweating. I could just tell. I could see it in my mind's eye, 'It must be the burns. I must be completely burned.' I imagine that I must be. The more I believed it, the more I could feel the itchiness on my seared skin.

It was strangely peaceful. But... The ones that stopped hurting all died... so... did I die? Hmm... I guess I did... 'Without a family, you have nothing.' Someone said that once. Someone that made my head hurt to remember.

Then why am I still here? I didn't really understand. All I knew was that I was alone. The nurses were kind. They looked after us. We were the survivors, the ones who were saved, so they were always running in and out. They didn't stay, though. There were people worse than even us. I watched this lifelessly from my bed.

'Everyone has died. Everything was you.'

Their curses, from the moment I woke up whispered the blame in my head. I didn't have anything inside me, so I just watched the others. Their sickening lives, how they cling to their hope... I could only watch. My body may have been watching all that, but I was dead. I was just a ghost, somehow clinging on even after dying once.

'Return to us. Return to us. Return to us.' The voices kept me company, but eventually, I even became accustomed to them. I stopped hearing their cries in the wind. The week passed slowly, as the room didn't change much

Then things started happening quickly, and I was forced to exist.

It was after the doctor took off all my bandages that I was able to see the state of my body. "Huh?" It wasn't burned at all. Just a single small scar on my thigh that doesn't even look like a burn. The doctor thought it was miraculous considering where I was found. "...I should be burned in..." I should have been burned to point that I was just a shadow etched into the ground. So why...? Oh... I see.

I was burned. You just can't see them. It was phantom pain, the yearning for my body to reflect my injured soul. There are two truths: The saved body and the dead soul. Either could still become the full truth.

It's... It was easier to drift away, to become a nameless victim... and reunite with everyone else. But...

My mind raced to hear their screams. I was afraid.

'Please, Save me! Why!? No! Don't leave, just help me up! Ahhh! It burns! No...!' They wanted me to save them, but that would mean dying too. They wanted me to live so that they could at least glimpse something of the future. ...There were so many wishes then. They continued to taunt me, even as I tried to forget. And so I accepted it. Not for me, but so that the chain of sacrifices wouldn't mean nothing.

It took a few seconds, but when I accepted that, the pain left entirely. The smouldering burn became a scar in my heart, but that was just another sign of survival.

I was born again and felt better. Everything was fine. I could eat unassisted too; the food was nothing to praise, not like my…. 'Who?' Who was I thinking of? A woman? That... made food... Mom? 'What was her name again?' I recognized their existence, but it was a hollow memory.

The whole family was faceless and stared at me from past the edge of the horizon. They had no face, voice, or even name. It was like trying to remember the details of a stranger's family. All that remained were a small number of random facts: the Dad was always reading, the Mom loved to cook, and the sister had a dopey smile. Even if they still existed in this world, I would not be able to really call them family anymore. I knew nothing of them. I could not live under that name ever again.

All of that was taken away and cleansed in the great fire.

Then... I understood it. "I am really alone." A feeling of uncertainty formed in my chest for the first time. I may be alive, but what is there to do? Where would I go now? The orphanage? I was a little anxious. But right as I began to worry about the future, that man entered the room.

Wrinkled coat and uncombed hair. A bit younger than the doctor, he seems kind of like a big brother. He was... Yes, someone I knew. He was the man who gave me a second chance. He walked right up to my bed. "Hello. You must be Shirou-Kun." A smile that seems to melt into the white sunlight. A very kind voice, but a little suspicious too. "I'll ask you directly. Which would you prefer? To go to an orphanage or to be adopted by this man you've never seen before?" He said softly. That man was saying he could adopt me.

"You are related to me?" He would just do that...? I was uneasy.

"No, I'm just a stranger. But I wish to take care of you." He answered straight. That didn't feel like a lie. He looked unreliable, like someone with no future. But that didn't really matter to me. I knew nothing of him nor the orphanage.

So….I guess I'll go with him then. "Ok, I'll come with you." The bad feelings were there, but something in me was already looking at him with a sense of yearning. I want to follow this man.

"I see, that's good. Get ready quickly, then. You should get used to your new place as fast as you can." The guy quickly started packing my stuff. His packing was pretty bad, even to a kid like me. All I had with me was the black-tinged clothes I came in with. A sweater and that sort of stuff, nothing indicated anything about who I was.

Then, after making a big mess... "Oh, I forgot to mention something important. I have to tell you one thing before you come with me. Is that okay?" He turns to me lightheartedly and says, "Yeah, to start off with, I'm a sorcerer." He says in a serious, exaggerated tone.

He had a genuine smile on his face. I completely believed him. Someone who could smile like that could probably do anything.

"Wow, you're awesome," I said so with bright eyes. Maybe it was weird, but I trusted all he said.

Madder Red Town (Music) /pdPg8tYGEgM

They let us go without much complaint, and before I knew it, I was outside, moving to a new home.

All the firemen and army men running around were proof enough that the fire really did happen. I had been here before, I realized... but the view was different to what my mind expected it to be.

Though it was only midday, the winter sun was setting, leaving a world tinted in crimson. The sky was red again, but the fire was gone, yet the memory lingered. I could smell it in the air, an ashy aroma.

Finally, that man appeared, laughing, he said, "Haha, I'm glad you agreed to my proposal; I filled out all the paperwork beforehand." He rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment, but his face was still radiant In my eyes.

What would he have done if I had said no to him? ...I felt that I wouldn't have said no. There exists no world that I denied this man. He was very unreliable, but so was everything else. Despite just meeting him, I have a feeling that he is irresponsible like this a lot. Being so close, I could now smell the cigarette smoke and a faint trace of...ash? Or… is it mud?

It wasn't a particularly good smell, but it didn't bother me much. Guiding me along, we got on the bus. We could be going anywhere; I wouldn't have noticed.

I just stared at his smile. 'What kind of man can smile like that?' We didn't speak at all. He seemed too excited for some reason.

When we got off the bus, we were on the other side of town. We had crossed the bridge; houses here were old, and it was quiet. All I could remember about this area was that it had more families, it was also closer to the big school. I followed the man silently. He seemed giddy, like a kid on the playground about to show off his new toy. Just what is he going to show me? When we reached a gate to a walled area, he stopped. It was a large area enclosed by a wall. It must be some kind of garden or park, maybe a playground?

Why are we here?

"Shirou-Kun, this is where you will be living from now on." He answered as if to hear my thoughts.

"Huh?" I'm living in the park? We're homeless? I should have known that it would be something like this... 'Maybe I made a mistake here.' There was that thought, but...I also think that I'll follow him no matter what his circumstances are. Perhaps sensing my hesitation, he went and unlocked the gate, bringing me past the walls. What was there was not a park or garden but a house—a complex with multiple buildings.

"Huh!?" The place was huge. At my small height, it was like a castle. I mean...it kind of almost was.

"Whose house is this?" Is it someone rich?

"This is... my house. That makes it yours' too."

"Wow..." It was as big- no, even bigger than the playground...

Playground...? ...My heart buzzes at the thought of it. ...The playground was covered in red, and the metal of the swing was bent in a way that looked like a spear trying to reach me... How can such a pure wish turn so ugly?

"Hgnmm." I nearly throw up, but I keep it in. He doesn't seem to notice. He was busy looking into opening his own door. I hold my knees up. I do have one question. "Uhh, so what is your name?"

"Oh, I forgot to tell you, didn't I? My name is Emiya Kiritsugu." He said it as if it were an afterthought.

"I see. Does that make me... Emiya Shirou then?"

He stopped at the door, and the world seemed to freeze for a little while there. "...Yeah, I guess it does." I couldn't see his face, but I could imagine that he was smiling. Even from behind, it seemed like he was happy.

It is strange that he would be so fast to give me his name, but I guess I'm weird too to accept it so easily. He never asked about my family before this, not that I could answer anyway. "Do you want to rest?" He slid open the door.

"Well, a little." My muscles ache from the lack of movement. "Is... there a bed?" But he doesn't seem to hear me. Inside the house, it was cold, empty of anything but the most necessary items. It was a house but not a home. It was like no one actually lived here. "...We are alone here. There is no one else?" We have like 10 rooms, for only us? I didn't understand why the house was so big.

And with a halfhearted face, he answered, "Yeah, just us two now." His teeth crunched.

I didn't like seeing him like that. I won't ask then... if it makes you sad. I wanted him to keep smiling contently.

He brought me to one of the many bedrooms and placed me down on a futon, leaving me alone to lay in the dark.

(Music Stop)

I have been resting my body for a week now, but a new environment can be tiring. 'I was... adopted, just like that.'

My new room is normal for a Japanese home, but there are enough of them in this house to be classified as a mansion.

A new house, a new father, even a new name. All in one day, I'm starting a new life. Kiritsugu gave this to me; it's only right that I should follow him from now on. I really am tired, though. My eyes are heavy, and my thoughts begin to dissipate.

My breathing slows, and I fall into a red world.

In the kitchen, I, Emiya Kiritsugu, am staring at the wall. "I went and did it. I took the boy in." I spent the whole week frantically writing up the paperwork to adopt a kid that I'd never even spoken to. And now he's sleeping in his new room. The war has left me weak, but I pushed myself to find him. It was worth it; I'd saved him. Being with him now is my greatest success... ever.

'I have a son...?' And he was happy to take on my name... I can't help but smile at that. It's a great feeling. it's the only thing easing this burden. I haven't cried since then because I cried all the remaining tears in this body.

'Ahh, it's a good feeling. This might be enough...' Still, I can't stop now or ever. I have provided him with a house and a name….but that's it. I don't know how to be a proper father. I need to give him what I lost, and I can't let him lose touch of it.

I'm only good at killing, that's it... I can provide for him monetarily and keep him safe, but I've never been a caretaker. The maids didn't let me anywhere near the cleaning supplies. As to the matter of food: I went and bought some convenience store food for dinner and tomorrow's breakfast. That seems good, for now. He may not wake up until tomorrow morning anyway.

I can cook fine, but for some reason, every time I tried, Irisviel would push me out of the kitchen. I didn't really get that.

"Ahh, Irisviel…" just the thought of her makes me sigh. I killed you... but I want you here. She was far better than I with children. She was in this house not a fortnight ago. A homunculus, technically only seven years old. Curse me if you will for falling in love with her, but I did... I... I am a very foolish man, who caused nothing but destruction. If I could just forget about her, I would, but I really do love her. I try to forget, but it's like an infected scab, unwilling to let me go. Maybe I loved her only because she was not human. I gave up on humanity long ago, so she was someone I could trust.

'I was always going to lose her…' is what I would like to tell myself. I could have saved her If I had tried harder. If I had found out the truth sooner…

'Suffer more! Drown in you tears and suffocate!' A whisper rings out and I close my eyes as my bones ache. It is hard to breathe like I am being strangled.

A curse.

...There's no point in thinking about it, but a part of me revels in the self-destruction. It pulls at my regrets, forbidding escape. It's a part of me that wants to see me suffer and die from that pain. "Irisviel, Meiya, Natalie, Shirley…" all the women I have loved have died, and I was involved in all of their deaths.

I gave them up for the dream, but… it's a dream that can never come true. All I know how to do is run after that... what else could I do?

I'm hurt forever... and Shirou... Shirou's hurt too. I can see it.

Many of my circuits are destroyed. When I removed Avalon, my body had only healed to the point where I could survive. I've used up everything. But I won't freeze anymore, even if all that remains is that crippling regret. If I can have him, then this regret will not kill me if I can move on. I feel that it will get me one day, but I still have work to do. I'm still healthy now.

There are still things that I can do.

Shirou and Ilya need me. But I can't just leave it like this. Maybe if I can have someone look after him for me, but who?

One day, I will save Illya, I can keep my promise to her, and she can meet her younger brother. Acht didn't send assassins, but he would know what happened. He probably sees preventing me from reaching Illya as a worse punishment. He's right about that.

Is a single miracle all I will ever achieve? A fleeting thing that exists only to laugh at my folly.

I'm so sorry, Ilya… I will come for you. Until then, Shirou needs me, and I need rest as much as him. Even if I can't save her myself, I already arranged for the Greater Grail to collapse in thirty years or so. This way, they'll just have to accept that she can't be used for their ritual. If I can save this one family, maybe that would be enough for me.

...Time passed, and I lost myself in these thoughts. I prepare to do whatever I can before I inevitably die, but I know I am only weakening from here on out.

Into the Sunlight (Music) /xm8uSnDW9pE

My eyes open to the peace and quiet of my room, I'm sweaty all over, and my head burns from the heat. This is how I've been waking up since I got here, but I manage. It's been two months since Dad came and adopted me.

I'm hurt, not physically but something deeper. Something that will take a long time to heal. Thus, Dad told me that I needed time to heal. Calling him dad feels more like a joke than reality, but he seems happy when I say it. Of course, to him, that means we play in the yard like school children. Sure, I am a kid, and it's tons of fun and all... but... Dad is supposed to be an adult. Be doesn't seem to have a job, but we always have food in the house.

My first impression of him was right: he's like a child. Sometimes, I think he's having more fun than I am. Of course, he's much bigger than me, he can catch me every time in tag, but I'm left just running after him. I don't think I can ever catch up to him at this rate. I'll be running after Kiritsugu until the day I die.

It was about a week into my new life when I began to ask if he could teach me about Magic. But he was against it. He tells me it's not something to take on so 'frivolously' whatever that even means. I wanted to know what he knew, and I felt really mad not knowing.

I've asked once per day and received a brief "no," every time. But I know he'll have to accept me at some point. It's not something I can back down on. If I learn, then I can be like him. I can catch up. Anyway, it seems like things are about to change. At dinner yesterday, Dad told me he's taking on a job.

He's going to be an English tutor starting today, to someone he trusts enough to bring into our household almost every day. I didn't even know he knew English, and now we have a mysterious new guest coming to the house.

I finally open my eyes and get out of bed. Looking back and recollecting my thoughts every morning helps me recover my memories. That's what I was told, at least. It hasn't done much of anything, but it does serve as an excuse to stay in bed a little longer. I'm sweaty all over, and my eyes are full of tears. I had the dream again. The same one that I've had every day since I came here, sometimes it's long, but usually, it goes fast.

I walk through that red world; that is the only constant. Sometimes there is a pale lady in a black dress watching me from far away. Sometimes someone walks with me, but they look like they are just a black void. Sometimes I don't see anyone, and I just feel like someone is watching me. Sometimes I feel that when I'm awake too.

It will be a long time until these dreams recede. Even a year of playing with the Old Man won't make them go away. But without Dad, who knows what would have happened to me? After brushing my teeth and washing up, I start walking to the kitchen, thinking up what breakfast I'll make.

I'm eight years old, and yet I hold the responsibility for breakfast. The only reason I'm not making dinner every night is that Dad won't let me use the stove without supervision. 'I totally can do it!' It's not like he could do better; in fact, it's surprising he hasn't started a fire yet. He is abysmal at cooking, bad enough that I, through a single day of learning, was able to surpass him.

He really is a bit bad at some things… I go to the kitchen, pass the weird girl at the table and enter the pantry. I wrap my little apron around my back and start collecting the miso for a simple breakfast soup. Wait for a second...

"That's strange…" wasn't there someone there, just now...?

(Music stop)

...Dad always sleeps in, but there is someone in the kitchen. A girl with light brown hair in a ponytail. Wearing a yellow shirt with black stripes, it's kind of like she wants to look like a tiger. And she's eating the mandarins I put there last night for Dad. My breakfast plan was ruined. I looked at her head-on.

Well… now we're staring at each other, this intruder in my home. I didn't know what to do, maybe... push her out by myself...?

She was a lot bigger than me... Surprisingly, she's the first to speak, "Who are you? What are you doing in Kiritsugu's house? You are a thief...? A boy urchin thief like in the movies!?" She quickly made up a story about me.

"Uhh…" Her mania leaves me speechless.

"Why have you come here, boy urchin thief? To steal from the man here, I'll have you know that I am his pupil from now on! I will not allow it!" She declared loudly.

"...Wa... Wait..." I try to make her wait, but that doesn't seem to work as she starts throwing the mandarins at me. She has an unusual strength. As I try to dodge her volley of violent citrus, I try to find a peaceful solution, "Uhhhh, I live here," I said so dumbly. But my poor diplomacy makes it through to her as she stops her assault. 'Ouch...' Only two hit me, but they actually hurt, and now all these mandarins are rolling across the floor. "Hahh-" I sigh with relief; she's a scary person… But I don't hold it against her. If I can disarm her so easily, she must be a rational and noble person, right?

She stood up and pointed her finger at me like in a manga and declared, "Hah, little thief, not only are you an urchin who begs for scraps from a great man like Emiya Kiritsugu, but you are also living here as a freeloader. If there's anything I can't tolerate, it's a freeloader!"

Maybe not so rational...

She was done with the mandarins; she opened her bag and drew out a shinai in an exaggerated manner. It was a shinai, but it was different from the ones that we had in the dojo. Just by seeing it, I knew that it was no normal shinai. It exudes an aura of bloodlust, seeming to glow a dark red now that it has been uncovered. In her hands, it was something more than a normal bamboo sword. It was her attuned weapon.

Her face and eyes were emotionless, like a tiger ready to mercilessly end its prey. That prey being me… '...how did I end up in this mess again?' Yes... breakfast... Slowly stalking towards me, she seemed to be taking this a little too seriously. Even if I was a thief, I'm still a kid compared to her... was she really going to end me?

"Uhh, Tiger-san, What are you going to do with that?" I don't know her name, so I just called her by what she looked like, she must like it if she wears that, right?

...Her eyes darken even more and she looks at me as if I were scum.

'Uh oh' my back up to the wall, I had nowhere to run. Forget what I said before about this being a noble girl. She was more like a demon, a tiger-striped demon!

Now she had a rabid smile on her face. She was right in front of me now, "Hahahaha, you've done it now, thief, first you insult this honourable household, and now you dare insult me! I am not a tiger!" Her eyes condensed into those of a cat's. Maybe she shouldn't dress like a tiger then...

She gripped the weapon in a high stance, preparing her entire body for a devastating strike. "Prepare yourself, fiend. I call on your full powers, Tora-Shinai!", My eyes were shut tight as my body prepared for the downward slash...

…But it never comes.

And after opening my eyes, I can see why. My saviour came once again to my rescue. Kiritsugu is behind her, holding the bamboo sword by its end, stopping the attack before it could even start. With a hint of exasperation at what he is seeing, he says, "Tell me, Taiga-chan, what is it you are doing?"

Her demeanour changes drastically next to Kiritsugu, and her cheeks are pink with embarrassment. "Ohh, Emiya-sensei, I found this thief in your kitchen. I am protecting your honour, of course." She said it like we were the crazy ones.

Shaking his head, he replies, "Thief? No, this is my son: Shirou."

"...Wuh, wahh!? Emiya-sensei you have a son?"

"Indeed I do. In fact, I told you this myself just yesterday, didn't I? Don't you remember?"

"Ahh, well, it's just that uhh, yeah, you don't really look alike is all. Hahaha…" she looked to me, her victim, for support.

"...As for why we don't really look alike... well, I'm adopted. I would have said so if I had a little time to..." It's not such a big deal to admit.

"I see… Then you are not a thief?" if anyone's a thief, that would be you for taking my mandarins.

"Nope, my name is Emiya Shirou, seven years old." I bowed. She was still my elder, even if she didn't act like it. I may even be eight by now, but I have no birthday, so I don't know.

"Well, I'm Fujimura Taiga, fourteen years old. It's good to meet you." she bowed, still holding her shinai.

The situation seemed to have been resolved. But when Dad took the sword from her hands and looked over it, he seemed not so satisfied. "Hmmm, from what I know, Taiga-Chan, you only just started your kendo lessons. Yet this is a weapon that should be used on only fellow users of the art, and you were going to use it on Shirou?"

In a rare moment of seriousness, he gave her an evil eye. Now that the sword was in his hands, it almost seemed like he would use it himself. She melted under his gaze, "no! of course not! Kiritsugu-san, no- Emiya-San, no-Emiya-Sama! I just wanted to show off for once! I mean- I was doing it for you! Wahhhh!" She was… weeping.

Where had the tiger-striped demon gone? Replaced with a sobbing blob. I had barely cried since coming here, yet she could come to tears so easily. She seemed like a person who would be normally invincible then break from the strangest things.

'What a troublesome girl...' ...a troublesome girl that was now holding on to me for dear life, using me as a shield from Dad's ire.

"It's alright, Old Man, she must be a good person, she thought she was protecting the house, so I can't blame her." I somehow summon the spirit to defend her, despite the pressure that the sword gives off.

For a second, his eyes seemed to glow red, but then his body deflated. He was frustrated but sighed it all out. "If you forgive her, then there's no harm done, well, except for the mandarins all around the room now. I will be holding this shinai in the dojo from now on. It's not a toy for kids." He walked off to deposit that shinai in a safe place for the future. I can't help but feel that had that weapon been used even once, it wouldn't have accepted anything less than murder.

Scary...

After that fiasco, I was the one that ended up having to console Taiga as she complained about all sorts of things. First, it was her apologizing to me. Then she went on about looking bad in front of Dad, but why did she care about that? Finally, she ended it off by explaining her entire life situation, from the fact that she was the granddaughter of a yakuza boss to her worries about finding love. It's kind of my role now to be the responsible child for these irresponsible adults. Fourteen was twice my age, yet she was holding me, looking for support.

"There there..." I patted her head.

"I'm a good person, right Shirou-Kun?"

"Yes. I like you. You're a good person." Dad wouldn't bring anyone badly in, I think so, at least.

Hugging my small body like a stuffed animal, she establishes our relationship as one she is in control over. "Oh, Shirou, I'm going to come here basically every day! Therefore, I am officially declaring you my younger brother, and you shall now address me as Fuji-nee!" She said earnestly.

"Uhh, you'll have to ask dad to adopt you, but... I'll support you." Her hug intensifies to the point that my head starts to feel light. Is Dad just adopting anyone he sees?

"Aww, you're sweet Shirou, but you don't need to have the same name to be family, you know. My father was adopted into grandfather's family, you know?" You will be my otouto, right?" ...How would I know that? I hadn't accepted her yet, but looking at her, her eyes were red from crying, and they seemed to say, 'I will not stop crying until you accept.'

"Okay, I can accept that... Fuji-nee." My cheeks were red saying something so familiar.

"You are perfect...! Hahaha, So cute!" thankfully, her hug loosened, but she was now pulling my cheeks. She really was looking at me like a stuffed animal, wasn't she?

She whispers. "It's a secret, but your father told me that I'd be looking after you from now on."

"If it's a secret, why tell me?" Didn't that just destroy the whole point of a secret?

She pouts, "Shirou, siblings don't hold secrets from each other; I hope you wouldn't hold any from me in the future." ...Sibling... I have none...

"Hah, okay, Fuji-nee." She had some wisdom, I guess.

She finally detached from me and sat back at the table. After that, Dad returned from the dojo. He had taken a long time. They started their English lesson, so I decided to take a walk. Dad said it was fine, so I started to explore the local area.

Witching hour (Music) /EQC0DcXFxvE

There was a smell, a muddy and ashy smell. I hadn't noticed it before; why today? It was a poor smell, not one any normal person would ever like, but for me, it was different. I realized that Dad smelled like this, and I think I did too. I didn't know what it meant, but I'm happy to be similar to him in any way.

Like a moth to a flame, I walked blindly to where this smell was coming from. I walked and walked. Time didn't seem to matter; every second was an eternity, but every time I blinked, the scenery changed, and the world shifted from white to orange.

It took a long time, but I made it. When I came to, I was in a park, but it was not just any park. It was that park. I realized that I had walked all the way across the bridge to the remains of what the fire left.

No one wanted to build anything there, so the city made a big park from it. It was still more of a memorial and landfill than anything. Here is the source of that smell. There's a harsh aura in the air as if the fire burned still. The fire is far away now, not in the distance, but in time. Yet it feels like it won't let any who comes here forget what had happened.

I hadn't come here before, but I unconsciously walked all the way here, but why? Why did my body desire to come here? But there it was, in the middle of the park. Somehow my mind is comfortable here. No one comes here; people avoid it in general.

It was my house, not the one with dad but the one before. Where the old me lived. I walked up the steps. I opened the door and told everyone I was home. I roamed the hallway and looked through dad's study. People were smiling, and some gifts were shared. Mom and dad kissed, making us all cringe.

I lay in bed and closed my eyes; it was early spring. In bed, it should be warm, but the cold wind was undeniable, even if I wanted to deny the truth. It seemed so real, but I knew it was not, kind of like watching a movie. My eyes saw a bench and some grass, but my mind understood it to be my old bed and my house.

It's like my old life was trying to come back through the efforts of my own mind. But... it fades away; I can't help but cry a little. Maybe it's from being here remembering what I have lost, or it could be that Taiga's crying eared me for it. I haven't cried at all since I woke up; to be honest, I haven't felt much of anything until today.

Though I didn't know who it was crying, was it the boy from then or the boy who lived now? I don't want to look weak to dad; if I did, I feel like I would be admitting that I could never make it to where he is one day. "Ohhhha", I yawn; I really am sleepy. My legs ached.

The debacle earlier left me tired, and I just walked for easily seven kilometres. I guess I can just lay here for a little ...When I fall into sleep, I see an unfamiliar dream, the story of a good-natured boy marked as pure evil.

Author's notes:

I ask that you be considerate about these early chapters, these were my first attempts at writing fiction after all... I've come back and changed them few times but I'm mostly focus on pushing the story.

If you want to be my beta reader then pm me, then I will accept your complaining. If you're complaint is about the story then read everything before doing so.

Reviews are always welcome, of course!