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"Hey, Isaac?"
 Author
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Pennsylvania. It's sort of like a real state.
Age: 39
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RadiantBeam
So I should be working on my math homework, but no, I had the idea for this and couldn't quit until I'd finished it. Ugh. I hate plotbunnies sometimes.
Spoiler for Into the Rain: The Contradiction of Tohsaka Rin:
Chapter 2: The Contradiction of Tohsaka Rin
Reaching the door of her house, it crossed Rin’s mind then that even though she had found Sakura, Shirou hadn’t; and as a result, he was probably still looking for her. She paused, her fingers gently clasping the knob. Maybe he was smart, and would go home when he got too cold and wet to keep looking…?
Remember who we’re talking about, here.
She groaned, gently thumping her head against the door before she spoke. “Archer.”
Her Servant materialized at her side instantly, making Sakura jolt and back up a few steps. “Yes?”
“Track down Emiya-kun, would you? Let him know Sakura’s safe and spending the night with me so he doesn’t look for her until the crack of dawn. If he has any questions, tell him he can come by the mansion in the morning for breakfast.”
Archer grumbled at this, but she felt his presence fade from her side and knew he had obeyed her order, as he always did; even if he didn’t agree with it personally. Sighing, she lifted her forehead from the door, unlocked it, and pushed it open, stepping inside. She paused when she realized Sakura wasn’t coming and turned, looking at her. “Are you coming?” she called into the rain.
Sakura hesitated and bit her lip; taking a deep breath, she hastily hurried up the stairs before she gave herself time to think, entering the house she hadn’t set foot in for almost eleven years.
The door closed behind them with a soft click.
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Shirou ran.
He’d looked everywhere he could think of; the park, the train station, even around school. Sakura was nowhere to be found. Desperation and exhaustion had driven him back to his house in the vain hope that perhaps she had returned and would be sipping tea in the living room, but when he saw it was dark and empty he immediately headed back outside.
Where is she?
He tried to ignore the possible truth that Rin had found her before he had and had already killed her, possibly disposing of the body. Not only was it simply far too painful to consider, but he still believed that for her words and actions, Rin didn’t have it in her to kill Sakura. They were sisters, after all; sisters weren’t supposed to kill each other.
But still—
“Watch where you’re running.”
Yelping, Shirou skidded and frantically dug in his feet, trying to slow his momentum as Archer suddenly materialized in front of him, the Servant’s scowl deepening as he saw the boy wasn’t slowing down. The fact that it was still wet and slippery even though it had stopped raining didn’t help. Sighing, Archer stepped outside.
There was a shout from Shirou, then a heavy, loud thud. Archer turned back around as the boy groaned, lying facedown on the ground. Grimacing, he slowly rolled over and sat up, hastily getting to his feet. “What do you want?” he growled, glaring at the man in red.
Archer lifted a brow; briefly, he wished Rin would stop associating with such stubborn company. “Rin sent me to tell you that she found Sakura.” He held up a hand before Shirou could continue, his face pale and his eyes wide. “She’s fine. Still alive, if a little shaken up. She’s spending the night at the mansion, so go home and rest. Rin said you could come over for breakfast if you have any questions.”
Shirou blinked and did an amazingly accurate imitation of a goldfish before he snapped his mouth shut and nodded, wiping his hands on his pants. “Tell Tohsaka to expect me tomorrow morning,” he finally managed.
Archer sighed and nodded before he once more vanished. Shirou blinked dumbly for several minutes, his brain still trying to process what had just happened and what the older man had told him. Sakura was safe. She was safe, and spending the night with Rin.
“Tohsaka… wasn’t able to kill her.”
As he shook his head and scratched the back of his neck in wonder before starting home (limping slightly from his fall), he wondered at how thoroughly Rin could contradict herself.
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Without even knowing that her Senpai was having the exact same thoughts, Sakura was also pondering the contradiction that was her older sister. She leaned back against the massive red couch in the living room, listening to the sounds of her sister making tea in the kitchen, and gently brought a hand up to brush the bandage now covering the cut on her neck.
“… Nee-san is a confusing person,” she murmured.
In the last few minutes alone, Rin had completely fussed over Sakura the moment Archer was gone and they were both in the house. The black-haired girl had wrapped her up in a blanket before drying her hair off with a towel, gruffly ordering her to sit and stay in the living room until she came back. Sakura was still rather dazed by the whole process, and quite frankly a little nervous about checking the condition of her hair; the way Rin had dried her off had felt like some strands were being pulled out by the roots. Wondering how she had gone from facing death at her sister’s hands to being cared for by said sister, Sakura simply drew the blanket tighter around herself and decided not to question it.
She heard a soft clink on the table and looked up just in time to see Rin settling in a chair beside the couch, curling up there as she cradled a cup of tea in her hands; another steaming cup sat on the table. “Drink,” the older girl said, gesturing with her hand before she picked up her own cup and drank. “That should warm you up a bit. Once you finish it, take a bath. It’ll chase away the chill.”
Sakura was half tempted to point out that Rin herself was doing nothing to handle the fact that she was also chilled, minus a cup of tea. The blue-eyed girl still wore her wet clothes and seemed, in fact, completely unaware of them and comfortable. However, she got the feeling her sister’s nerves were still raw, so she simply nodded and picked up the cup, taking a sip as her eyes slowly drifted around the living room.
She was amazed that it still looked the same. Eleven years after leaving the mansion behind, she had returned to find it virtually unchanged from her childhood memories, minus a few people. Her father she could understand, but that didn’t explain…
“Nee-san, what happened to Mother?”
The instant she asked, Sakura regretted it; Rin stiffened and seemed to freeze, going deathly still at the question. Surprising herself, though, she didn’t take it back. She honestly wanted to know, and now seemed to be the best time to ask.
Finally, Rin lowered her cup. “When Father died, I think she snapped,” she murmured. “She was sent away to a mental hospital not long after the War ended. I was still pretty young when I learned she’d committed suicide.”
Sakura felt something clench painfully in her chest, then slowly release at this. Somehow, it made sense to her; she had accepted a long time ago that both her parents were gone and would do nothing to save her, even if they wanted to. Even so, hearing the confirmation from Rin… hurt. Deep down in some untouched part of her, she had hoped that one day she could escape the Matou household and return to her family, to live the way she had always dreamed. Finally, she took another sip of her tea. “I’m sorry, Nee-san,” she murmured softly.
Rin blinked. “For what?”
“It hurts, doesn’t it? Talking about them.”
Rin was silent. Sakura found it incredibly telling that her sister had no response.
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“I appreciate what you did, Archer.”
The red Servant sighed and leaned back against the couch, taking a long gulp of tea from the fresh cup he’d brewed himself the instant he’d returned to the mansion. “He’s going to have questions,” he warned. “He was pretty calm because I caught him by surprise, but tomorrow he probably won’t shut up.”
“I figured.” It wasn’t as if this was news to her, Rin mused with a sigh as she finished drying her hair. Deep down she would have preferred taking a long, hot bath to wash away the chill, but Sakura was currently using it and needed it far more than she did. “I’ll deal with him when the moment comes.”
A silence fell between the two, broken only by Archer continuing to drink his tea and Rin still drying off her hair; finally, the older man sighed. “Can I say something?”
“Go ahead.”
“I’m not going to scold you, because that never works.” He glanced at his Master, and calm gray met tired blue. “But you’re taking a long road, Rin. You’ve chosen to follow a hard path.”
Rin was silent, finishing with her hair and shaking her head to let it loose, leaving her ribbons on the table.
“I already know that, Archer.”
And she left unspoken the one thing they both knew was true.
It wasn’t that I couldn’t kill her… it’s just that I didn’t want to.
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“Ah, here we are.” Nodding with pleasure, Rin opened the door and stepped aside so Sakura could peer through the door. “What do you think?”
It was late, and both girls had bathed and were ready for bed, all things considered. Upon noticing the hour, Rin had told Sakura that she had a room the girl could sleep in for the night, and had wasted no time in leading her to a room that was literally only a few doors down from her own room. Stepping into the room tentatively, Sakura could only stare.
The bedroom she had called her own as a child, before being sent away to the Matou family, was just as she remembered it; there was new wallpaper, the carpet had been changed, and the bed was a little bigger, but the room was still incredibly close to her memory of it from before she had left home. Stunned, she inhaled deeply. “You kept it the same,” she whispered shakily.
Standing in the doorway, Rin shrugged and pretended not to notice how Sakura’s heart had come into her eyes. “I never saw a reason to change it too much. It’s pretty easy to keep clean, and it just needed some minor changes.” She hesitated for a moment, waiting, before she spoke again. “Will it work for tonight?”
There was a moment of silence as Sakura seemed to drink in everything before she nodded, turning back to her sister with the first true, genuine smile Rin had seen on her face in a long while.
“It’s perfect, Nee-san.”
Seeing this, Rin relaxed. Maybe at this rate, they could both make it until morning. “Well, then, I’m heading to bed,” she said, and stepped out. “I’m just down the hall if you need me.”
“Mm!”
Rin paused, then turned back around to face her sister. “Sakura.”
“Hm?”
And she smiled. “Good night.”
Before Sakura could respond, Rin closed the door and headed to the safety of her room.
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Hot.
It was the surge of heat that woke Sakura at midnight; she gasped and bit down hard on her lip to keep from crying out as pain and desire swept through her body, making her curl tightly into herself. Her hand tightly gripped the sheets of the bed as she desperately fought the urge to lower her fingers.
It’s too hot.
She was trembling all over and panting, practically blinded by waves of need that bordered on painful. She knew what it meant; her body needed magical energy to survive, and she didn’t have much left to provide. The core of her being was throbbing, begging, please, please, there’s a powerful magus right down the hall, she won’t even know—
A flash of red across her eyes brought her back to her senses.
Still panting, bathed in sweat, she slowly relaxed under the bed sheets, blowing out a long, ragged breath. Her hand was bleeding, the skin broken; in her last desperate attempt to keep her sanity so she wouldn’t do something she’d regret, she’d bitten herself hard enough to draw blood.
She knew the warning sign. She had spent a lot of magical energy today, no thanks to her brother, and needed to make up the difference; her body would only continue to haunt her and drive her mad until she did.
Not yet. I still have enough energy to last on my own. Please, not yet.
“Sakura.”
She didn’t even jolt at the soft voice, simply opened her eyes and smiled weakly up at the black Servant standing over her. “I’m sorry, Rider,” she whispered. “Did I spook you?”
“No.” She paused. “A little bit. Are you all right?”
“Mm.” She nodded and pulled the covers back up to her chin, taking care to hide her bitten hand. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“You are my Master. It’s my job to protect you.”
Sakura’s smile softened; Rider always said that, no matter what she did. “I know.” She sighed and shifted, settling back into bed. “I’m fine, now. You can go back to patrolling.”
“If that is what you wish.” But Rider’s presence didn’t fade. It was clear she had more to say. After a few seconds of debate, she asked, “What Rin said to you before… is that some kind of farewell?”
“Hm? Yeah. It’s normal to say good night to someone. It’s a way of wishing that they’ll sleep without trouble.”
“I see.” Sakura opened her eyes as Rider pondered this, and after a moment the tall Servant nodded to herself, causing her light purple hair to swish gently before she spoke again, a small smile on her face. “Then, good night, Sakura. I hope you sleep peacefully.”
Sakura couldn’t help but return the smile. “Good night, Rider. I’ll see you in the morning, okay?”
The taller woman nodded before her presence faded from the room entirely, signaling that she had finally left. Sighing softly, Sakura closed her eyes and curled back around her pillow, deciding she would do something about her hand in the morning.
The moment she closed her eyes and breathed out softly, relaxing her body, she was out like a light. She didn’t stir again for the rest of the night.
As A Result of Bad Planning |
Well, no complaints here. A good follow up to a good start. It's pretty obvious that you're just setting the stage for the actual plot still to come, but the character interactions are solid enough that it's worth sticking around during the set-up phase. Very interested in seeing where you take this (and considering I sorta know, already, that's saying something. You do have a habit of surprising me...  )
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