"There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with him sir. It's advised that he rest for at least 1 week and then we could give him FVRCP and Rabies shots." The vet turned towards the old man in front of him while taking off his gloves.
"Thank you but I'm still not sure if he wants to stay with me." Maxwell took the case which the cat was sleeping in.
"Sir, if I have to say, the cat seems to be fond of you. Honestly the animals that come here always try to escape or not let anybody touch them. There is also the case of being extremely relaxed but your cat is only relaxed when you are near him." It was true. When they tried to pull the cat out of its box he came with, he would do everything to stay inside it but when Maxwell tried it, he allowed him to do whatever he wanted.
Maxwell only smiled at what the man said and went out after paying going to his house. He was not going to look after the boy today. He has other things to do.
He can't be together with the boy all the time, protecting him. He, no matter what, didn't want to prevent the boy's experience of the world. He had to see what an impossibility his dream is so maybe he would make it more realistic. No person can be truly alone and handle everything
Just making him realize not everything can be done just by himself was it through he decided to only help when he accepts his help. For now the priority for him was the cat.
Currently in the Emiya Residence Saber was talking with Shirou after her master came back from the school
"Saber, you were considered a hero right?"
"Yes Shirou." she was not sure where he was going with this question
"Could you tell me your name, Saber?" Saber wasn't sure how to answer this question. She trusted her master but was it the correct move? Her master was… lacking in the field of magic so any magus could easily learn her identity from him easily.
"I'm sorry Shirou but any magus can easily get this information through you which will make our chances of winning even lower." She did not really want to risk it.
Shirou wasn't hurt at all. Rin also said the same thing and he knew that he was lacking. What she said was understandable but what he wanted to learn was something else. Yesterday the man that saved them… he made him remember the conversation he had with the old man for some reason. Rin said that servants also fight because they have wishes but why is Saber fighting then.
"What is your wish, Saber?" Saber hearing this kept quiet. Her wish of not pulling the sword… Seeing she was not answering Shirou continued.
"Do you-" before he could continue, Sakura called out to him from the living room.
"Senpai, dinner is ready!" Hearing the call of Sakura, Shirou got up not pressuring Saber anymore.
When he was about to leave he stopped. He was thinking about the old man's words. He turned back to face Saber.
"Saber, why don't you come?" Saber was a little surprised at this
"But Shirou t-" Shirou came next to her and pulled her arm. "Come on, I will think of something." Saber did not pull herself back and went with him. Shirou did not see it but a little smile appeared on her face.
After dinner when time for sleep comes.
Saber was going to sleep together with Sakura and Taiga.
"As a teacher, I can't leave a girl together with a boy by themself. We will be spending tonight here" Taiga was giving reasons to Shirou about why they must stay.
"But saber-"
"It doesn't matter, she is also a girl." Cutting Shirou off she turned towards Saber "Saber, you sleep in the middle, okay?" she was refused instantly
"No, I have a mission to protect Shirou so I must stay together with him." Taiga did not look convinced and Sakura just smiled emptily. Shirou came next to her and whispered in her ears
"When she is like that there is no convincing her and also there is a field around the house. You don't need to worry about me." turning towards others "Goodnight then"
"Goodnight" x2
Shirou went out of the room, closing the door but after a few steps it was opened again.
"Sorry but i have something to ask" Saber came out of the room and also closed the door.
"Why did you introduce me to them?"
"Why? Well…" before Shirou could answer
"They did not need to know my existence, I could also just hide" Shirou furrowing his brows, just stared at her and then continued
"Someone told me that getting some people close to you could lessen your burden. I did not want to see you being burdened by my lack of skill as a magus. You may think it would have been better to stay anonymous but I just couldn't stay still and watch you be like that."
Not staying any longer Shirou went away without letting her speak any further.
On top of some buildings Rin and Archer were standing next to each other.
"Can you feel the one doing this?'' Rin and Archer encountered a place where people's souls were taken. Obviously done by a Servant and its master, she as the second owner of the city had a responsibility to protect its people from these types of situations.
"Sorry but no" Archer answered her
"Okay, how is your injures by the way?" a smile appeared on Archer face at his master's question
"Lets just say fine"
"Then we are following them" instantly the smile disappeared
"Are you serious, I may have recovered but fighting another servant like this is not logical"
"You're right but this man is just collecting souls without any worry"
"Oh how beautiful. Going for the hard target when the easy one is just standing there"
"Are you talking about Emiya? If so, don't worry. I can always deal with him"
"Then let me ask you this, what will you do if you come across him when he is totally unprepared?" Rin thinked a little
"Nothing for now." Archer was a little surprised. This was not the answer he expected
"May I ask why, Master?"
"You were in spirit form so you didn't see it clearly but yesterday Saber almost died. Especially that idiot went ahead to suicide but we survived" Archer continued to listen while burrowing his brows. He knew that his master did not talk about what happened so he was curious
"Someone saved us. By what Saber said it was the man she saw at the church. He defeated Berserker in a way I never saw before. He was just standing there but Berserker could not strike him, each time tried he got wounded."
"That man saved Shirou from dying and then asked me to look after him. Currently we don't have any information about him so getting on his bad side is not good for us." What Rin said made sense Archer taught. There was still something wrong with this situation. Even though he was in spirit form he can still use his senses just not greatly. He was always next to Rin as if she was in real danger he could come out even if wounded.
The problem was that he did not sense the guy. From his vision the man was never near Rin. He did not share this with Rin for now.
Inside Maxwell's house someone was standing still because a cat was sleeping on their lap.
Maxwell after he came back home with the cat played with it for a good while and then he wanted to lay back for a second. Right after he laid back the cat also came up to his lap and started to stare at him.
He ran his hands through the cat's upper body for a while and played with it while sitting. It was apparent the cat was not going to leave him so he wanted to name it.
The cat looked like a normal street cat, his fur mixed with the colors of brown, white and black paired with green eyes. He reminded him of something he was quite fond of. It is larger than average but not too big just like his sister's cat. He was also quite playful but also lazy, constantly near him. Şapşik was going to be its name just like his sister's old cat's name.
He remembers when she named her old cat this shitty name. He went against her "What kind of shitty name did you choose, even wood would have been a better name" his sister also knew it but it was too late to change it. No matter how dumb he found the name to be he grew attached to it mostly because the old cat was always near him even though he wasn't his owner in name.
It was a good feeling nonetheless, like meeting an old friend. He quite liked this feeling.
When the morning came inside Emiya residence
Shirou had a weird sleep. He would normally either see an old memory or nothing but today was quite different for him. It was quite similar to nothingness but he could also think. It did not last long so he didn't think too much into it.
Taiga and Sakura were already out and right now it was only Saber and him in the house.
He was currently cleaning from the breakfast they ate with Saber next to him
"You seem to get along well" he was the conversation starter
"Yes, they are nice people. Learning more about her also made me understand you"
"I'm not sure how to how to take it"
"It was a compliment" he gave a little smirk
"Okay, thanks"
The wishes were done. He still had school today. Closing the tap he took out his apron
"Well then i should also go now" he took his bag and before he went out he looked at Saber one last time
"I said it before but you don't need to worry about me. There are many people at school"
"But among these people there is also Archer's master."
"She would do anything and i would come home before the sun goes out" he did not believe she would attack him before it.
"Okay then but promise me one thing at least" Saber adorned a serious face
"Our connection is still weak. It may be too late by the time I feel that you are in danger so call me if you are in danger with your command seals." Shirou looked at the weird symbols on his left hand
"These?" Saber just nodded "Okay, i got it" and with that he went out to school
Saber could only hope he would keep his words
Time passed and it was now night. It's been a while since the sun went down and most people were going to sleep.
Saber was still waiting for her master. Miss Taiga already went to sleep long ago.
She was right now sitting, looking at the moon.
"Are you troubled little miss?" A voice she doesn't recognize. Instantly she got up and took on a defensive stance. When she looked at the owner of the voice she realized. It was the same man who saved her and his master.
"I appreciate you sir for saving my master's life before but it doesn't give you the right to sneak next to me" she did not attack as it would go against her beliefs. This man saved her life before and attacking him would be un-knightly.
"You can relax, miss. I just came for a little talk and also i was sitting here long ago, you just didn't realize it" It was a lie that he was sitting for a long time but it was true that he was here. He patted the place next to him, previously where Saber sat down, telling her to sit again.
Saber, after seeing the man is not going to do anything, relaxed her muscles and sat down again. She later realized there was something on his lap.
"A cat?"
"Ah yes, he came near me recently and he has been with me ever since. Quite a troublesome cat I must say." He patted its head while talking.
"Say little miss, are you worried?" Saber was a bit silent at that.
"Being worried is not a bad thing. Your Master is still alive and coming in the end" Saber was still silent.
"Do you want to know what he went through today?" This gained her attention. She was still silent but he understood her.
"Well then miss let me start from the moment you guys parted. Shirou today got into a little fight with Rin but it was just a test by the girl. They found a person lying, attacked. When they were checking the said person an attack came towards Rin but Shirou blocked it ending with a wounded arm" Saber clenched her fist a little. Waiting for her to calm down first he continued.
"He fought against a servant and survived with the help of Rin" Saber was angry. Really angry. She even made him promise that he would call her.
"Do you want to pet him?"
"huh?"
"The cat, do you want to pet him, miss?" Saber did not understand why he was proposing such a thing but did it anyway. He did this to relax her so she could think more clearly. Saber petted the sleeping cat for a little while but then pulled her hands back
"If you want to, you can continue. I say this is the perfect chance since you won't be able to when he wakes up"
"No thank you. I calmed down already" the man said nothing. His face was unreadable as there was no mouth nor brows.
"Well then miss, I should get going now then. He is almost here." without making up the cat he lifted it but saber called out to him
"Wait, why did you even come here, just to inform me about what happened?" Saber was really confused now. This man, likely servant Assassin, first saved them and then gave information about her master.
He stayed still saying nothing for a while.
"Honestly? for no particular reason." and then he disappeared.
Saber could not understand his reason at all.
Soon Shirou came home but Saber did not say anything to him, she just went to bed as she was still wounded.
So the moon went away leaving its position to the sun.
Today Shirou and Rin were trying to find the runes around the school and destroy them. Shirou in particular was also thinking about something else.
Saber in the morning felt different like something was wrong but he did not ask about it. She only said that he still did not understand what it meant to be master and became silent after that.
Sakura was acting awkward too. He didn't understand them.
With the last rune found, Rin went away to Emiya's residence. She was planning to stay with him since they were now a team.
Shirou after Rin went away stayed in School a bit more but when he was going home he realized something. A part of the school they did not check. The Archery Club.
He had a bad feeling but still went with it. After that he learned the master of rider and went to Matou Residence.
He learned something that was shocking to him today. It was not about the caster in the Temple nor the Shinji being a magus.
It was Sakura being a magus. He was startled at that. Did she also know he was a magus? From when? and many more questions.
He shaked his head and stopped thinking about them. She was still Sakura in the end.
He was asked to attack the caster in the temple but he did not accept it as it was likely a trap and he needed to talk it out with Rin.
While he was going back he encountered someone he met not long ago.
"Oh boy, how are you?" the old man in front of him asked. How was he? He was not sure.
"I'm good, thank you for asking sir. How about you?" the man smiled at that
"Good, good. These days were quite interesting, I also got a pet. I " he was lightly hitting Shirou's back while talking but then stopped,put his hand on his shoulder and looked at him seriously "Boy, is everything really alright? I was worried about you when I saw that you were wounded."
"It's really okay, sir. Just a little incident" Shirou just smiled towards him. His lie is easily being seen through.
"..." the man only gave a look towards him. Shirou did not want to be late so he continued his way "It was nice to see you again sir but i need to go now." and he disappeared.
Maxwell just stood there staring at the place the boy disappeared. Inside he was thinking what to do. 'Childs these days. I asked him twice but he is not accepting my help. *sigh* let's just forget about it for now.' he turned away his head now looking at the moon. It was shining beautifully today. 'I wonder if Şapşik likes fish'