3,878Black Cat Luck (IX)
A few days after the surrender of the Urashima, the Einzbern begun to leave in the same orderly, almost robotic fashion they arrived with.
The tenants had gathered in the living room.
"So, you are going back?" asked Kitsune to the white haired woman trapped in the body of a teenager.
"Yes, this vacation has lasted more than expected already."
"In your place I'd need a vacation from this vacation," said Narusegawa.
"Trust me, being abducted for a day might be a traumatic experience, but it's still better than the endless drudgery of paperwork," Illya explained. "There's going to be a pile of it waiting on my desk back home."
Kitsune laughed. "And here I thought that being rich meant being free to slack off all day every day."
"Well, I guess you could but you aren't going to stay rich for long."
"There goes my childhood dream," she sighed. "Oh, well. At least I can still rely on booze."
"Please don't," begged Naru.
"I'm sorry you are going to leave so soon," said Shinobu. "I wished you could stay a bit longer."
"So do I, but being the head of a family comes with a lot of responsibilities. I'll make sure to come back when I have time again, if you'll have me."
"Of course. You are always welcome here, Illya," said Shirou. "I'm sorry you got caught up in this mess."
"Ah, it wasn't all bad. I got to spend some time with you, and it was nice to meet you all."
"All of us?" asked Kanako, who was standing next to the window, looking out at the forest outside.
"Yes, all of you. Even a half-baked thief like you."
Kanako snorted. "I'd take offence at those words, if they weren't coming from a washboard."
Before Illya could reply something scathing, there was a knock at the door. It was Rider. While at the inn, the Servant changed fro her battle dress to casual clothes.
"Illya, your car is waiting."
"I'll be right there," she replied, before turning back to Kanako. "This is what they call being saved by the bell, I take. Shirou, will you come with me all the way to the airport?."
"Of course," he said, picking up the last of her luggage. "Shall we?"
"Goodbye everyone. Be well. I hope to see you all again soon."
"Goodbye Illya-san," said Motoko, who still needed crutches to go by. "Take care of yourself."
"You as well, swordmaiden. Please, keep an eye on Shirou for me, will you? Make sure he won't do anything overly foolish."
"I will try my best," she promised, knowing full well that she wouldn't be able to stop him from doing anything he put his mind to. With a chorus of goodbyes Illya left the Hinata-sou, descending the stone stairs with Shirou following right behind.
"Thank you again for all the help, Illya," he said. "I wouldn't have been able to solve things so neatly without your support."
"You know it wasn't a bother," she said. "But if you absolutely want to pay me back, you know what I want."
"Illya…"
"I know, I know. I was only kidding."
"Give me a bit more time."
"... eh?"
She stopped in her track and turned to look at him, but he stepped past her, stopping only a few steps further down. He did not turn to face her.
"Just a few more years," he continued.
"Do you.. do you mean it?"
"I do love you, Illya, but I still see you as the little sister I must protect from everything. Give your body time to develop fully, then… If your wish is still the same, then I'll do everything I can to make it happen."
He resumed walking, not waiting for Illya to snap out of it.
"Ah! Wait for me! That was a promise, right? Tell me it was a promise!"
He firmly refused to say another word about the matter.
[br]
Hands in his pockets, Shirou watched as Illya's private jet sped along the runway and took off toward the sky.
He already missed her. He missed everyone when they weren't with him
Rin, Sakura, Rider, Illya and… Saber.
He took his hands out of his pockets and looked at them.
Things had been resolved for the best right? This was the best possible outcome.
it just wasn't possible to save everyone. Urashima Kyoko wasn't someone whose mind could be changed by him. In a way, they were far too similar. Obsessed with one goal of action regardless of consequences. If she was half as much stubborn as himself, even death would not change her mind. After all, it had taken his alternate future self an eternity of doing the opposite of his dream to finally give up on it.
Indeed, Kyoko was someone that would not change even in death.
He had done the right thing. Even Archer would not find fault with this conclusion.
Then why? Why did he feel like he was still fumbling like a fool?
Perhaps… this was how Saber felt? The reason why she thought that she was what needed to change for the equation to work out?
But the solution to his problem wouldn't be as simple as the one she sought. His wish was a selfish one. He didn't want to someone to fulfill his desire. He wanted to do so himself.
And as such he could only keep on fumbling. There was really no other way.
He turned around and left the gate, returning to the main part of the airport, crowded with people as usual.
He made his way through them on his way out.
The last the was at his airport, he ran into Granny Hina. An accidental meeting. An impossible accidental meeting now that he thought about it.
He was suspicious of the circumstances from the start, and went every possible way to make sure he wasn't being duped. He had no doubt about his origins, but now he also had no doubt that there was more to the story than what he had been told.
Ichizo had painted Hina as someone who knew what she was doing all the time.
He had been willing to dismiss their reunion as purely happenstance because he wasn't able to find a single reason why it couldn't be that way.
However, after the recent crisis, he could no longer do so. Now he was almost completely sure that Hina met him at the airport because she knew he'd be there. That meant that she was tracking his whereabout.
The question now was, how far back did it go? How long ago did she manage to find out that Urashima Keitaro wasn't dead?
What if it was from the very beginning? How much did the old woman know about him?
The answer to the question could help him figure what she expected of him. Because it was not over. His guts told him it wasn't by a long shot.
He had the distinct feeling that the winning the battle for the inheritance was just scratching the surface of something much bigger.
He would have to look for answer, before answers came looking for him.
So lost he was in his thoughts, that he did not notice the figure coming in his direction from the side right until they collided.
"Ohh!"
Hitting against someone built like brick wall, the woman had no choice but being thrown aside. She would have hit the ground, if Shirou hadn't caught her, putting an arm around her shoulders.
"Sorry. I wasn't looking where I was going? Are you alright?"
"Ara?" said the woman, looking at her flowered straw hat that had fallen to the ground, before she seemed to register that
A. She had not fallen
B. Someone was talking to her.
"Oh, my. I'm very sorry I ran into you."
Black wavy hairs framed a gentle face with even gentler eyes. Shirou had held her only for a fraction of a second, but in that time he had the impression she was as fragile as glass.
"It's not a problem," he said, picking up the hat from the ground. "I should have been paying more attention. Here this is yours. You weren't hurt, were you."
"Oh, no," she said, putting her hat back on her head. "I'm completely fine."
Then she crumbled to the ground in a dead faint.
"What the-! Hey! What's wrong? Crap! I need a doctor here!"
[br]
The airport medical team responded promptly, but by the time they arrived on the scene the woman was already coming back to her sense. Shirou left her in their care after explaining the incident, and made its way home.
He dearly hoped that things would settle for while, with no major surprises.
[br]
"Kanako what?"
Shirou had barely returned to the inn, and found Rider waiting for him at the door.
"She left, right after you did," Rider explained.
Shirou sighed in frustration.
"Tell me what happened."
[br]
The girls returned inside after bidding goodbye to Illyasviel. Only then they noticed that Kanako had not followed them out, but had gone to her room instead and was now leaving the building with a bag on her shoulder.
"Kanako? Where are you going?" asked Kitsune.
"Back to Scotland. School will start again soon and I don't want to miss classes."
"What? Now? Shirou has just left for the airport with Illyal. Why didn't you go with them? Oh. He doesn't know about it, does he?"
Kanako shook her head.
"Why?" asked Narusegawa. "Why are you leaving like this?"
"Because he would try to stop me and I… I'm not sure I'd be able to leave if he did. I must go now."
"What about that promise? Didn't you want to marry him?"
She shrugged, like it didn't matter.
"It was a stupid thing between two children that didn't know any better. I clung to it like I clung to the belief that he wasn't dead. Now that I know for certain, it's time to let it go."
"Kanako-san, you know that he won't let this matter rest just like this, right?" asked Motoko. "He'll come looking for you."
"I've left a letter for him in his room. I'm not going away forever, but I need some distance from all of this. I want some normality and without Kyoko's shadow looming over me, maybe I'll finally have it. Please, don't stand in my way."
"Guys, let her pass," said Naru.
"Naru?"
"Look. we've all been running from something. That's how we got here. This is our sanctuary, but it's not hers. We don't have any right to hold her if she feels like going."
"Thank you, Narusegawa."
"Don't thank me. I think you are making a mistake. All the thing you should run from, your brother is not one of them. Still, I don't know what you really are going through. If you feel the need to do this, then I won't keep you."
Begrudgingly, they opened a path for her.
"Thank you, everyone. You are all good people. I'm sorry you were dragged into the mess that's my family."
"It's not your fault, Kanako-san," said Shinobu, with tears in her eyes. "You are good people too. Please don't go."
"Sorry, Shinobu. Even if I wanted to, I'd still have. I can't just drop out and transferring schools would take a lot of time. I would have had to return anyway.
"Uhhh…"
Kanako stepped through them, but was halted as Motoko barred the way with her crutch.
"What is it?"
"Running won't do you any good. It never does."
"I would argue with that, but you needn't worry. I'm not running.. If anything, I've decided to face the music head on."
They stared at each other for seemingly a long time.
"For one last time in my life, I'll knowingly allow myself to be presumptuous. As someone who carries the name of Emiya, let me say that you will always find shelter with us."
"Are you speaking for him?" asked Kanako, narrowing her eyes.
"Yes. I'll submit myself to any punishment he may deem fit when he returns, but I don't believe he'll find fault in my actions.."
"I envy your self-confidence."
Motoko smiled sardonically. "It is not myself I'm confident about."
She lowered her crutch, and Kanako walked past her.
"Bye everyone. It was nice meeting you all," she said with one last look over her shoulder.
And with those last word, Urashima Kanako left the Hinata-sou as abruptly as she had arrived, disappearing along with the storm that rolled in with her.
From inside the Hinata-sou, Rider watched Shirou's other sister leave.. She did not intervene. Shirou had asked her to protect the girls, not to meddle with their lives.
There was no guarantee that stopping Kanako from leaving would be better that letting her go. Action was not inherently better than inaction, and Rider herself was the passive sort, so she naturally chose the former over the latter.
Shirou would not begrudge her. Further, even though he might want Kanako to stay, he would not want her to be kept against her will, not even for a second.
Shirou would decide how to deal with this, and she would help him in any amount he wanted her to. Not one bit less, and not one bit more.
[br]
"Should I have stopped her?"
"No. No, you did the right thing." He wasn't Kanako's keeper and he could understand that she needed to put some distance between her and what had happened.
She probably knew better than him whether it was safe for her to leave or not. She had been involved with this internal war for far longer than he did.
"Where is that letter?"
"She said she left it in your room."
"Alright. Thank you, Rider."
He went to his room, and found an envelope waiting for him.
He opened it and pulled out the letter that Kanoko wrote him.
Onii-sama,
by the time you read this letter, my flight will already have taken off. Forgive me for leaving behind your back, but I fear that if I had told you, I wouldn't have been able to through with this decision.
I know you'll worry for me, but I will be fine on my own
I needed to break off from the hatred and machinations of our family, even if that means being separated from you once more.
With the death of Kyoko, I have nothing left to fear, but I have been expecting her hand to reach so long that I don't know what to do with myself now that it's gone.
I need to find my footing again, with one being influenced by anyone. Please don't look for me. I am grateful for what you did. You freed me from a fate barely better than death. I will forever be in your debt, and I swear that one day I will pay it back.
Forever yours,
Kanako.
Kanako letter said a lot and nothing at the same time. She all but said that with Kyoko gone there was nothing left to worry about, but Shirou had an entirely different opinion.
So either he was mistaken, Kanako didn't know anything about it, or she was lying.
Unfortunately, even if he were to chase her, it would be no use. He had nothing except a gut feeling. Definitely nothing he could confront Kanako with.
Even if she did know something, she couldn't know about his suspicions, so her sudden departure couldn't be a way to subtract herself from his scrutiny. Or perhaps he just wanted to believe the best of her, like he would anybody else.
In any event, with Kanako gone there was no one he could ask. He might interrogate the Urashima elders but he didn't even know which questions to ask. He believed Ichizo when he said that they didn't know where Hina was, and if both them and the Einzbern couldn't find her with their vast means, he wouldn't fare any better with his own means.
It all came down to that woman in the end. He wondered if her disappearing act wasn't precisely to avoid answering him. Was he dancing to someone's tune all this time?
It looked like he would have to wait for this matter to come to head on its own. All he could do for the time being was preparing as best as he could for any eventuality.
[br]
A struggle more than three decades old had come to an end. Almost as if she had broken a spell, Kanako departure seemed to have hit a reset button of sorts, and everyone returned to their routine, seemingly trying to put the ordeal past them, maybe even forget it had ever happened.
Naru returned to her studies and Kitsune to her booze, from which she had uncharacteristically stayed away for the duration of the crisis. Shinobu busies herself with chores, which she never stopped doing, probably as a coping method for the madness around her. Kaolla, of course, had gone back to thinkering with her inventions, while Motoko was doing some light exercise as she couldn't yet put her weigh on her leg.
Everything was finally back to normal, even though it was only skin deep. In time, everyone would be fine again. Of course, that didn't mean that nothing had changed. Shirou saw Motoko questioning gazes. She had seen more from him than any of the other tenants, and as member of a clan of exorcists with demon blood in them, she definitely had to feel that Rider was not human. He wondered how long she would resist from asking, but he knew the time was near.
When evening came, he decided to go for a stroll to clear his head. There were many paths in the woods surrounding the inn and Shirou had taken the time to familiarize himself with most of them.
He knew he was being followed. She wasn't being subtle about it.
Eventually, he the path he took led him to a small clearing that overlooked the city beneath. Lit by artificial lighting, it sparkled like a tapestry of jewels. That's when she caught up with him.
"Hey, Rider," he greeted.
"Hello, Shirou," she said as she joined him.
Together they watched the view for a while without saying anything.
"I called Sakura. I let her know that I'll be going back tomorrow," she said.
"You know, I don't think I have thanked you enough for the help you gave me. I couldn't have done much without your assistance. I'm really grateful."
"You don't have to thank me. It was my pleasure. I don't get to stretch my legs very much lately."
"Is that so?"
"Hmm. Things are peaceful most of the time and I like it that way, but a woman needs a bit of excitement every now and then."
"Well, I'm glad I was able to provide it for you then."
"Problem is, I don't believe I've had enough of it just yet," she whispered, pushing herself closer to him. "Surely you wouldn't want me to go back… unsatisfied."
Shirou was expecting something like this. Heck, Shirou was anticipating it.
Despite that, his throat went as dry as the desert all the same when her hot breath blew into his ear.
"That's… I guess… That would be bad."
"Very much so," she purred. "You'll make sure that won't' happen, right?"
Looking into those hungry eyes, Shirou wouldn't have been able to say even if his tongue still worked properly. Although to be fair, that wasn't the only part of his anatomy that had turned to stone.
[br]
Motoko left the building shortly after Shirou had. She wanted to talk to him, away from prying ears. Unfortunately, her wound didn't really make it easy for her to follow anyone, especially in the woods.
However, she really didn't want to postpone this conversation, because she didn't know when she'd have both the opportunity and the courage to talk.
But there were several paths he could have taken and Motoko was no tracker. She was about to give up and go back when she noticed two things.
The first was Rider's unmistakable presence. That woman was like a bonfire to her sense. That's how Motoko knew she wasn't human. As an exorcist, she was naturally attuned to spirits and Rider put them all to shame without doing a thing.
The second thing she noticed were voices. Two of them, to be precise. She couldn't make out what they were saying, almost as if they were talking in hushed whispers. Motoko had no desire to spy on them. She had learned her lessons.
She started to go back to the inn when the wind turned, and the smell of blood reached her nose.
Her head whipped back in an instant. it lasted only for a second but she knew she hadn't imagined it.
Why would she be smelling blood? Did something happen? Was someone hurt? Were they being attacked?
Thousand possibilities went through Motoko's mind as she went deeper inside the forest. The most dreadful scenario was that Rider had hurt Shirou. Motoko had no idea how Shirou could make a being like that follow his command, but if she turned hostile for whatever reason, it would be terrible beyond reckoning.
As she advanced through the trees, the smell of blood returned, now stronger. The voices too were louder, but it didn't sound they were saying anything intelligible. They were more like gasps and grunts.
There was definitely a fight going.
Motoko sped up despite her leg, clutching her sword with the hand not holding the crutch.
She didn't know how much she could do in a fight in this state, much less against Rider, but she had to do something.
In her hurry, she nearly passed them by without seeing them, but she caught a glimpse of purple hair against the trees and she stopped in her tracks. Fortunately, she realized what she was seeing before she let out a sound.
She froze in place, eyes widening. Her face turned so red she felt like it was about to explode from the excess blood.
Her assumption had been wrong. They weren't fighting, although there was a certain amount of vigorous stabbing involved. The biting and scratching also accounted for the smell of blood, and there was a lot of both going on.
Eventually, Motoko managed to recover enough of her wits to turn around and leave without making any noise. She dearly hoped they hadn't noticed her. If they had, they didn't think it reason enough to stop what they were doing.
She returned to the inn, glad that there was no one out of their rooms to ask her why her face was making the impression of a tomato. She closed herself inside and hid inside her futon.
The things she had seen wouldn't let her sleep at all that night.
[XXX]
For more chapters (up to chapter 43) join my free Discord Server: szgT8ksqTP