24Chapter One: Forward Thinking
"Shirō what's taking so long? You have been in there cooking for over an hour. I'm wasting away in here." The wining voice of one Taiga Fujimura came bursting forth from the dining room.
"Hold on Fuji-nee. I am just about finished, so try to be a little more patient. It's not like you are paying for your meals or anything." The young chef replied.
A few moments later the young chef came out of the kitchen carrying several of his specialty Japanese dishes. Taiga began to help herself to massive proportions the second the serving bowls hit the traditional low table. Just as he sat down to serve himself he felt a small pull on his mind alerting him that someone unfamiliar had just crossed the bounded field around the estate's property line. A few moments later sure enough someone started knocking at the front door, or trying to kick it down if the volume was anything to go by.
"I wonder who that could be at this hour. I told Gramps that I would be over here for a while tonight. Are you expecting anybody Shirō?" asked the spirited woman between bites. She somehow managed to remain able to speak clearly despite an almost constant stream of food entering her mouth.
"I don't think so but it could just be someone who got lost. I'll check it out; just try to leave something for me this time won't you?"
Shirō opened the door after the third round of increasingly loud knocking to reveal a tall blonde foreign looking woman standing with a slightly annoyed look on her face. It was the start of summer vacation and the nights were already getting warm so he was mildly surprised to see that the woman was wearing a long brown coat over the rest of her very casual looking and decidedly not Japanese clothes. He also noticed that she was carrying a large duffle bag over one shoulder.
"Is this the Emiya residence?" Her accent was rough and had a very minor drawl to it but was otherwise easy enough to understand.
"Yes this is. I am Emiya Shirō can I help you?"
"I sure hope you can. My name is Amelia Incantatorius; I have a package that I am supposed to give you." She fished around in her pockets for a moment before handing the younger boy a slightly crumpled manila envelope that felt like it contained several papers.
"You can look over the details later but the general point of what it says is that regardless of what we want, we will be living together for the next few years. Apparently your dad was friends with my old man and they worked out a contract to look after the other's kids should one of them die. Since your dad passed away recently, the contract got activated. Due to unforeseen circumstances my father couldn't come all the way out to Japan himself so as the next closest of age family member it became my duty to look after you. At least until you are eighteen that is. I am your new legal guardian"
To the boy's credit he didn't freak out like the woman more than half expected or slam the door in her face. Instead he nervously glanced over his back towards the dining room.
"That sounds like something dad would do." He said more to himself than to the person in front of him. "I guess that means that your first task as my guardian would be explaining this to Fuji-nee. She's eating right now so you might actually have a chance."
"I didn't think that Kiritsugu had any children other than you. I wasn't told that I would have to look out for your sister too."
"Well, she's not really my sister. She was friends with my dad for years before he died. She and her grandfather help look after the day to day matters of his estate until I am old enough to manage things myself. It's not official but for now she is my guardian when not off at the university."
"That actually works out pretty well then. I was worried that you had somehow been living alone for the last few months and would need some time to adjust to having someone around to tell you not to stay up all night, or get to school on time, or eat properly." Shirō sweat dropped.
"I guess it is me you will be helping out after all. Those are all things that Fuji-nee needs to work on though. Sometimes I wonder who is looking out for whom."
"Great, and here I was thinking that this was going to be a pretty cushy gig if you already had another guardian and all, but from what it sounds like you spend more time looking after her than you do just being a kid. Don't worry I am sure she and I can come to an agreement where we share helping you when needed and you can have a little more time to be a normal teenage boy." She gave the younger boy a nudge and a wink to punctuate her statement.
"Normal would be nice," Shirō deadpanned. 'My dad was a magus and I kinda am; My old guardian is a mildly childish freeloading kendo master with a tendency to attack first and ask later; and now I have a new guardian arranged by my now dead father who could be a pervert.'
With a mild sigh of resignation, Shirō lead the foreign woman into the house. He had to remind her to take off her boots and place them by his and Taiga's shoes but other than that she seemed to have Japanese manners down to a rough approximation. He showed her into the dining room and set her a place at the table across from his other guardian who had apparently not noticed the new arrivals in her quest to devour everything on the table.
Having already eaten but not wanting to be rude Amelia took a small helping of the various dished laid out on the table. It wasn't until she and Taiga tried to go for the same dumpling that the younger woman finally took notice to the unfamiliar presence.
"Shirō who is this lady, and why is she stealing my dumpling?" Taiga asked while giving the newcomer a look between curiosity and loathing, the deciding factor being who would wind up with the tasty morsel currently being held by two sets of chopsticks.
"I assume that you must be the sister figure that Shirō mentioned. My name is Amelia Incantatorius and I am Shirō's new legal guardian." Using the shock factor she had created Amelia popped the tasty morsel into her mouth with a slightly smug smile.
"Alright missy you had better start explaining yourself really quick. If you are playing some trick to take advantage of Shirō's naivety and kindness you had best run while you can," the Tiger of Fuyuki practically growled.
"It's a pretty complicated story and my Japanese isn't all that great with the technical terms but I can at least explain the basic situation." The foreigner took a sip of tea to was down the dumpling and drag out the other woman's aggravation just a bit further.
***BREAK***
"Let me see if I understand everything you just said," Taiga said with uncharacteristic calm. "Kiritsugu made a deal with your father to raise each other's kids if anything happened to them. Unfortunately your father got called away on an unavoidable and prolonged business assignment leaving their agreement to be fulfilled by someone else related to and trusted by at least one of them." Amelia nodded. "And now due to the wording of the contract you have to look after Shirō unless you want to pay something like 100 million Yen to the Emiya estate."
"That pretty much sums up the basics of our situation here. There are a few more details that Shirō and I are going to have to work out over the next few days like living arrangements and other minor issues. For instance if this was a typical meal I will happily leave the kitchen to you, but I am a passable cook and wouldn't mind helping out as needed." The blonde noticeably relaxed at what she thought was a peaceful coming to terms.
"Hold on a minute! Do you really think that I am going to let some foreigner waltz in here and take over Shirō's life without a fight? If you do then you are sadly mistaken," yelled the raging tiger.
Amelia set down the teacup she had been sipping from allowing a small frown to grace her features. "I am afraid that my family cannot afford to back out of this contract Miss Fujimura so we are going to have to come to an agreement one way or another." All emotion had left the foreigner's voice.
"In that case I challenge you to a duel! The winner gets to be Shirō's guardian while the other has to leave in shame." Taiga adopted a very smug look and somehow produced her favorite weapon out of thin air. The sword let a small amount of blood-lust leak out towards its next target. Taiga half hoped that the stranger would turn out to be a coward much like many of the others she had challenged with her favorite weapon.
"This is acceptable to me. As the challenged party it is my honor to pick the terms of this duel. As such I believe that with practice weapons we shall engage one another to either surrender or unconsciousness."
Finally shaken out of the stupor that Fuji-nee's outburst had caused Shirō made himself know again.
"Hold on a second. Are you sure that there isn't any way to resolve this issue peacefully? I read the copy of the contract she gave me and as far as I can tell this really is what dad wanted," Shirō pleaded.
"Be quiet Shirō you don't know what you are talking about. Just let your big sister get rid of this interloper, and then we can have desert." Taiga gave the younger boy a light rap on the head with her weapon when he tried to get up.
Taiga was long past the point of reason as she focused in on the rush of an oncoming match. Amelia on the other hand calmly went over to the corner where she had set down her bag and started taking out a number of items until she finally pulled out three long narrow bundles of cloth, one crimson, one white and a final cobalt one. With almost the same care as a mother with a new-born child she set aside two of the bundles and carefully unwrapped the white one.
As the last fold of cloth dropped away, both Shirō and Taiga stopped what they were doing to get a better look at the object in her hands. In her hands was the most beautiful sword either of them had ever laid eyes on. The scabbard was made of white gold inlaid with a number of fine symbols and runes made of tiny rubies and sapphires. The cross-guard and pommel were much simpler made of the same material as the scabbard with a dark chocolate brown wrapping over the hilt making simple easy flowing curves. Something about that blade called out to an otherwise dormant part of Shirō's innermost being.
"This is the only blunted weapon that I currently have in my possession so I guess it will have to do. If you would like to step outside Miss Fujimura we can begin at your leisure." Sword in hand she started walking towards the front door.
"Hang on now you can't use a real sword against her. That wouldn't be fair at all." Shirō yelled at the foreign woman as she was leaving.
"I said it isn't sharp, that makes it a practice weapon. The worst thing that will happen is a broken bone or two. If she was worried about being injured she should not have challenged a complete stranger to a fight."
"I said no! I get that Fuji-nee can be a bit stubborn at times but she is the closest thing I have left to family so I won't let you hurt her." Both of the older women had the dignity to at least look ashamed of how they had acted. The sincerity may be questionable but at least an effort was made. Taiga made a token effort to hide her shinai behind her back while Amelia casually leaned on her sword while reevaluating her opinion of the boy in front of her.
"It is not every day that I get out argued by a middle school kid. Miss Fujimura, Mister Emiya, I think that we have gotten off to a bad start. I would rather not make meaningless excuses for my actions when I am the one mostly in the wrong, so instead please accept my sincere apologies for my lapse in manners. You let me into your home and fed me the best Japanese styled meal I have ever tasted and all I have done is cause trouble."
"I am not willing to go away at this point but if you want Shirō I can easily go get a hotel room and come back in a few days. Whatever you decide pleas take some time to look over the rest of those papers with Miss Fujimura tonight."
"If you are supposed to be my new guardian it wouldn't be right to make you waste money on a hotel room. There is a small western styled guest house out back that you are welcome to stay in. Just follow the hallway to the back door and it is off to the left."
"You are every bit as kind and forgiving as your father used to say. Hopefully we can get off to a better start in the morning." With the same level of care that she had previously employed, Amelia replaced all of the items back into her bag and disappeared down the hallway.
"Shirō, I know you are possibly the world's nicest kid but do you really think that we can trust some strange woman with a sword to have free reign of this place? Your dad left you a lot of valuable items. What if she is here to rob you or even kill you while you sleep? You are only thirteen after all." Taiga said after she heard the sliding back door open and close.
"I don't know why but I have a pretty good feeling that she isn't here to hurt us in any way. Other than to get on your nerves that is." Shirō didn't like having to keep secrets from his big sister figure but he could hardly just tell her that the magical barrier around his house told him that the strange new woman was at least peaceful.
"Poo Shirō is so mean to me after such a traumatic encounter."
"Weren't you the one that challenged her to a fight in the first place Fuji-nee?"
"That's not important right now. What is important is finding out what is in that envelope she gave you. Go on and open it up!"
With another small sigh of resignation Shirō decided to not try and fight her on this issue. Picking the thick envelope up from the counter he carefully tore the seal off and removed a small stack of papers. He set the papers on the table and went to set the original envelope aside when a much smaller envelope slid out of it. Trading the larger for the smaller he noticed that it had his name and the words "read first" on the front.
"What's that Shirō?" the overly curious young woman asked from her spot over the boy's shoulder.
"I don't know it looks like a letter from my dad."
Dear Shirō,
If you are reading this letter then I am no longer with you. You have been my single greatest redemption over these last five years. I am not sure how much you may have picked up recently but I have been dying since before I adopted you. At the end of something called the Grail War, which I regretfully never told you about, I was cursed by a presence that had corrupted the grail sometime during the war before mine. I left you my note over what the Grail War was and how I was involved in the package that should be with this letter. I had a chance to obtain the grail but rejected it when I discovered the darkness within that could only cause pain and misery. In a final attempt to spare the world the terror of such evil I destroyed the grail instead. The rejection lead to my being cursed and my destroying the grail lead to the fire that destroyed a large part of the city. I know that you may never forgive me for what I have done and I wouldn't deserve it if you did.
Something that I have never told you is exactly what I did in my pursuit of becoming an ally of justice. I killed a great number of people so that more could live. One to save ten, ten for a hundred and so on, many of which I was forced to write off as collateral damage in order to take out the other monsters of the world. I was once known as the Magus Killer by a large number of the other magi in the world, especially those associated with the Clock Tower. Unfortunately I made a great deal of enemies in doing this and some of them could conceivably try to get back at me through you even though I will already be long dead. With that all being said I have set some things in motion that should help you to have the best life possible. One of the few friendly alliances I have made in my travels is with an American clan of enchanters who have their own list of complaints with most magi associated with the Clock Tower. One of these men has agreed to take over raising you after I pass. The exact details are not important but there should be a copy of the contract enclosed in the same envelope that the Grail notes are in. There is a geis on the contract to make sure that it is upheld on both ends.
I am sure that Taiga is nearby if not reading this over your shoulder. Do not worry about her finding out about magic. There is a mild hypnosis spell on this paper that displays a similar message without any mention of magic to those without any magic circuits. The same goes for all my notes related to magic. I understand that she has by now taken on the role of stand in guardian in my absences and will probably be doing the same after I am gone. The agreement that I have with the Incantatorius family will not force her out of your life. She will continue to be a welcome part of your life. Unfortunately I do not know exactly which member of the family will be looking after you since all of my dealings have been with Theodore Incantatorius the current head of the family. Ideally he would be the one to look after you but since I requested that you stay in Japan he may delegate the duty to someone else in the clan that he can trust with his life. I say life because one of the constituencies in the contract states that there is a death penalty if he or one of his family members causes you intentional lasting harm. As long as he doesn't send his eldest daughter you will be in good hands. If she is the one to take up your guardianship be sure to keep your guard up she can be a bit …energetic…
A/N: I have been out of the swing of things for a while but this plot bunny latched on to my brain and would not let go until I typed out a prologue/ teaser. There seems to be a popular trend going around changing some little thing with Shirō's life before the grail war and following the butterfly's flap until the tsunami hits somewhere around the actual war. My preferred view on how magic works is very different from the Fate system. I am partially writing this in an attempt to blend my ideas into Nasuverse without pissing off those who are a bit less forgiving of tweaking an already great set of magical parameters. Could be fun and could be a horrible idea, only time will tell.