Fate/Stay Night Fan Fiction ❯ Escaping Fate ❯ Altered Life ( Chapter 4 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

AN: I know that the chapters are slow-going and short right now.  I promise that there will be some action soon.  I do hope the little themes I’m laying in now will resonate more later and you can forgive me for the slow start.


Escaping Fate
Chapter 4
Altered Life


April.
The cherry blossoms were in full bloom and Sakura positively glowed with excitement as we walked down the street toward Homurabara.  I had to admit to some understanding: the odd nostalgia of walking toward school conflicting with the knowledge of being an adult and growing out of that daily routine made one feel excited.
We walked Yumi to her first day of high school.  The girl was silent between us, wearing one of Tohsaka’s uniforms; Yumi had grown since moving in with us, and though her skin still had an unhealthy pallor to it, it was readily apparent that she had a growth spurt somewhere along the line.  She fit Tohsaka’s uniform fairly well, and when we had brought up the option of buying a completely new one, she had refused.
“I like Rin’s feeling in it,” she had said.
I do believe the bashful look Tohsaka had produced was once-in-a-lifetime-only.  Damn my hands not being fast enough at grabbing my phone and taking a picture of her for future blackmail.  Doubly, because Tohsaka was a dunce with technology and would never be able to delete it.
A few students would wave to Sakura as we neared school grounds, and amusingly some boys would make to wave or call out only to stop when they realized I was with her.  It was something I had grown accustomed to: in our senior year, few people really knew who I was other than Issei’s friend, but they all whispered regularly when it became clear that Tohsaka and I had something of a relationship.  The fact that it was non-romantic never managed to reach their imagination, so I was just “the enemy.”  Considering Sakura’s own popularity in her senior year, I wasn’t at all surprised to see a number of admirers.
Yumi watched everything with a sort of quiet suspicion.  It wasn’t outright distrust in everyone, but there was definitely a sense that she understood that everyone could potentially have private sides to themselves that they did not show the world under the full sun.
I just hoped she learned that some of those people’s private sides were still outright harmless.
Sakura seemed to be in tune with that as well, as she had a specific reason to accompany Yumi to the school grounds.  A few paces from the main gate, she caught sight of her intended.  “Hoshino-san!”
A boy not much taller than Sakura stopped at the gates and looked around.  He spotted Sakura and smiled, and while I could tell he was one of her admirers, the understated body language he kept to meant he was a little more comfortable around her.  Huh.
“Senpai, good morning,” he said, bowing slightly.
“I’m not your senpai anymore,” Sakura said.  “You don’t have to call me that.
Wait, what?
I probably didn’t quite manage it, but, I tried to give Sakura the same you hypocrite look that Tohsaka shot my way frequently.
Sakura didn’t notice—or was ignoring me—and instead put her hands on Yumi’s shoulders.  “Hoshino-san, this is Yumi Emiya.  She’s new to town and just beginning classes here, so could you help show her around and watch out for her?”
The boy smiled again and nodded, and he bowed to Yumi as well.  “I’m Takumi Hoshino.  Good to meet you.”
Yumi did that thing again where her eyes moved and various options seemed to present themselves to her.  She nodded slightly and said, “You too.”
If Sakura was glowing before, she was suffering supernova now.
“Thank you, Hoshino-kun!” Sakura said, and I’m not even sure she noticed the switch in address she gave him.  “Yumi, be sure to ask him for anything.  You know the way home, right?”
Yumi nodded.
I finally decided to pitch in.  “Call me if you need anything.”
Yumi nodded again.
Hoshino gave a tilt of his head and, without any further communication, Yumi followed after him into the school.  We watched silently until they passed through the entry doors before turning back.
“Nice boy,” I said.
Sakura smiled.  “He’s a second year now and joined the Archery Club last year.”  She paused, and her voice fell a little, not quite to a sad register.  “He makes me think of everything I wished nii-san would have been.”
I nodded, quiet.  I had never gotten around to telling Sakura how Shinji met his demise, though I think she had come to the conclusion herself.  She was aware that both Tohsaka and I would have given him every chance, but after meeting Illya, I think she had understood the full weight of what the other Masters could have been like.  Illya, for all her apparent innocence, had a straightforward sense about her that was dangerous.  Sakura had probably figured if not Illya, one of the other Masters had done Shinji in.
I don’t think she has decided whether she was happy or sad about the revelation.   
“Well then, should I walk you to your work?  I know it’s still early, but we could grab a snack on the way or something.”
Sakura’s smile returned, and I hoped it would stay that way for at least the rest of the day.


She was different.
It didn’t take much to notice.  The people in class were each individualistic: some were loud, some were quiet, some had problems and others were carefree.  
Fujimura-sensei and Hoshino-san both checked in with her at lunch, and to keep them from worrying she said she had no problems.  It truly was an honest assessment, as nobody seemed interested in bullying her, nor did anyone seem put off by her odd appearance.
But she could sense it.
Akari and Nozomi were nervous, speaking in stutters when they introduced themselves to the class.  Natsuki was as well, though she covered it up by being boastful and energetic.  Seiji was rebellious, saying the least he could get away with in the most informal manner he could.  Tamaki and Eri were collected, always smiling to put others at ease.  Hiroshi was shy and hardly said a word.
Each one of them had varying emotions from time to time, as they were comfortable or surprised, disturbed or having fun.
Each one of them had these feelings and emotions one at a time.
Yumi was different.
It was something she had noticed before but had not been able to arrange clearly in her head.  Before the experiments, before the torture, she had felt as they did.  Sequences of thoughts and feelings, complex arrangements from one to the other.  She thought of that as “normal.”
It didn’t feel like that anymore.
It was something like herself she could detect in Rin, in Sakura, in Shirou, with varying intensity.  
Rin was like two “normals” put together, with the same sequence and arrangement of emotions and feelings, but sometimes in conflict with one another.  Yumi thought it was like putting a “Rin of the world” together with a “Rin of magic.”  They were similar, but occasionally rubbed each other the wrong way.
Sakura was like three “normals” put together.  Yumi thought it was the “Sakura of the world” with the “Sakura of danger” and “Sakura of determination.”  One was like everyone else.  The second seemed to view the world like a dangerous entity, one that had to be defended against.  The third tried to balance the two, protecting itself from the outside with the face of the first.
Shirou…was like none of that.  An absence.  Yumi wasn’t quite sure why she thought of it like that, but, it was something she had come to realize almost immediately.  Shirou hardly had any “normal” within him any longer.
Yumi thought she and Shirou were both the most alike.  But it was at the same time completely different.
She was not a lack of “normal.”  She was overflowing with it.
Too much.
At once.
So many emotions, so many thoughts and feelings…together.  Not balanced like Sakura, nor at odds like Rin.  Not lacking like Shirou.  But full.  So completely full, she couldn’t tell where one began and the other ended.
Angry, happy, scared, thrilled, sad, awed…all at once.  So much that it took her a moment to even decide on one.
Yumi could only recall once in which they all lined up.  She thought maybe, just maybe, if she could reach that again, she might understand.
It was why, still so full, she thought she was the most like Shirou.
His expression, that day.
The day she was saved.
One look.  It took one look from her, one look from him, and she had it.  One singular line, thread, direction.
Salvation.


I made sure that today, I was the one to cook.
Three days kept from it.  Tohsaka, Sakura, I will return this imprisonment a hundredfold!  You could not stop my advance today!
Well, really, Sakura was at work and Tohsaka was inspecting the boundary field up at Ryuudou Temple.  Win by default, I suppose.
As it was Yumi’s first day in high school and Fuji-nee’s first day fully back to work, I wanted to make a big, full meal and went with teppanyaki.  It also served as a counter to all of the Chinese and Western-styled food Tohsaka and Sakura had been making lately, what with the local Kobe beef* and fresh cabbage.  I spent the rest of the morning after walking Sakura to work on shopping, then did all the pre-preparation I could.
Then, training.
It was an almost perfect arrangement.  Tohsaka would teach me magic and Kenpo three days out of the week, and I would usually spend three more days trying to perfect what I had come to know those days.  It left one day in which I could try playing around with what little sword work I knew and practice with a few of the weapons in my arsenal.
The unfortunate thing, of course, was that I was never going to be a master swordsman.  It was readily apparent as I started switching between the different weapons I had.  The little I knew before the War had of course centered on Kendo, and the way one swung a Japanese sword was completely different to, say, how one used a European sword like Caliburn.  You swung with your left hand and guided right in Kendo, but swung right and balanced left with the heavier European blade.  And neither were at all similar to the short scimitars like Kanshou and Bakuya, nor the extremely heavy longsword like Moralltach.  I hadn’t even begun to try using non-swords.
And I was willing to bet, even if I dedicated years to mastering one, I’d never reach Fuji-nee’s level of expertise.  Much less someone like Saber or Lancer.
I spent the afternoon practicing footwork and swings for a Japanese-style weapon, but retired early to get dinner started.  I was just donning the apron when I heard the slide of the front door and the silent entry that had to be Yumi; Sakura, Tohsaka, and Fuji-nee all announced themselves regularly.  I poked my head out of the kitchen and caught Yumi as she entered.  “Hey.  Welcome home.  How was the first day?”
It was the expression of overwhelmed thoughts that came to Yumi’s face, the same one I had seen her regularly don when addressing Fuji-nee.  She looked both ready to burst from information overload and ready to just ignore everything and not even answer.  “It was…busy,” she said finally.
I didn’t want to be that kind of parent you see in manga or on television and ask something asinine like, “did you make any friends?” I figured if she had anything she really wanted to discuss, she would do so on her own time.  Considering the way Tohsaka demanded everyone speak up in this house, I don’t think Yumi had any issue with bringing something up with me or anyone else.
So, instead, I said, “We’ll have dinner once everyone is back.  And I promise it’ll be good enough that Fuji-nee will be too busy to get a word in edgewise this time around.”
This earned a slight smile from Yumi.  While uncommon, it did seem like she was doing it a little more often than when she first came here.
Without further comment, the girl went to turn the television on, politely dismissing me back to my work.  It was actually something I kind of liked that was different about everyone else in this house, but Yumi regularly watched television.  While Fuji-nee often zoned out in front of a variety show, nobody else in this house particularly used it—save when Sakura and I would trap Tohsaka into watching something and amusing ourselves with how she reacted to watching something like Star Wars or the latest Gundam anime.
I think we sufficiently scared her into believing robots would destroy the world…or at least come for her in the middle of the night.
Yumi though tended to watch various different things, from comedy gameshows to old yakuza films to Doraemon.  A part of me hoped that it was one of her own little ways of making up for the innocence she had lost, engaging in something mundane and amusing.
Hopefully, she would find something at school equally as everyday.


*The location of Fuyuki City in Japan is never given, though the visual basis is the city of Kobe.  Tohsaka’s house is in fact a fairly well-known location in Kobe’s Kitano-chou area, and there are a fair number of sites online where you can see the bridge, road to the church, Emiya household, and the like.  

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