Chapter 2: wheel of fate

Shirou and kiritsugu were walking in the streets of Fyuuki after kiritsugu filled out the legal documents for adopting Shirou, Hence Shirou is now "Shirou Emiya".

they walked across the shops and hustle and bustle in the noon market and walked across a strange Chinese restaurant named "koushuuensaikan: taizan". It was like an ominous dungeon in the shopping district, lacking windows and no way of seeing what's inside.

They entered the shop as if drawn by a mysterious charm, it was deserted compared to the other restaurants around. As soon as they entered they saw a group of teenagers leaving the restaurant with flushed and teary eyes, their tongues were out and they were breathing through the mouth and they were sweating profurously. They left after talking strange little Chinese man whom they called as "small manager".

 When the manager's eyes fell upon the father and son duo the manager walked up the them with a smile and handed them a menu saying 

"Please have a seat aru".

Kiritsugu looked at the menu and then passed it to Shirou and said "Order whatever you want."

 Shirou as if on of whim or guided by the guiding hand of fate chooses mapo tofu. Looking at the ominous smile of the manager when taking their order Shirou felt that the whim to eat mapo tofu was a bad decision.

It was a bad decision the food was hot, really hot. It felt like being stabbed in the tongue and then having salt rubbed into it, after taking a single bite of the food kiritsugu`s face started twitching and his forehead started being covered in sweat then he put down the spoon whereas Shirou after eating one spoon had his face covered in tears and snot. they promptly left the restaurant after paying the manager and thanking him.

They went to a normal restaurant after this and also took a takeout for dinner. While heading home they passed through empty suburban streets and Shirou suddenly asked

" kiritsugu where are we going now?" to which he curtly replied "Home".

Shirou continued to ask 

"What work do you do for a living kiritsugu?"

He stopped and looked at Shirou and began considering what to say and with a sigh replied

 "I am a businessman Shirou, I have business abroad all across the world."

Looking at the admiring expression on Shirou`s face the man that considering himself a weapon was at a loss and dint know what to feel. So he simply ruffled Shirou`s hair and held his hand while they walked home

. it was night by the time they reached what kiritsugu said was home, it was a Japanese-style mansion with low walls and looked quite small from the entrance but was so huge inside that it made Shirou wonder how many new family members he was going to have. He was met with disappointment when he learned that it was only him and kiritsugu and he didn't continue to ask when he saw the downcast and hollow expression on Kiritsugu`s face at that question.

After kiritsugu showed Shirou a room for him to live in they prepared the bath. They bathed in order with Shirou going 1st and then set up and had dinner. After roaming around all day and talking with kiritsugu Shiro silently went to sleep in a futon given by kiritsugu and easily drifted off to sleep.

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...

"*cough* HA ! HA! "

 coughing and gulding down air Shirou suddenly woke up and looked around. All he saw were red and yellow fire, the sounds of screams and cries for help echoed around him. He looked around and started panicking and suddenly ran in a direction with the least flames.

He kept running and dodging the falling ruble of collapsing buildings until he saw a shadow of a man made of flames and turned around. Looking around he realized somehow he was surrounded by flaming figures of different heights and attributes, from kids to adults, men to women and some had twisted limbs and even heads as if they were crushed. The shadows suddenly lunged at him and all he heard were shouts saying 

"why was it you, not me!!"

 "why are you alive and we had to die"

 "you don't deserve to live, give us your place"

 " come join us!!!!".

Sometime after Shirou was caught by the shadows he was pulled in a different direction by each hand that caught him and he fainted after getting dragged into the blaze.

"Ahh!!! I am sorry, it's not my fault please leave me alone" Shirou started screaming in sleep and twisting and turning in the bed until kiritsugu barged into the room waking him up. Kiritsugu caught the heaving Shirou and hugged him, holding Shirou in his lap kiritsugu started 

stroking Shirou's hair and asked 

"What happened Shirou, did you have a nightmare?"

After listening to Shirou describe his dream looked contemplative but kept gently stroking the boy's head. After making up his mind he picked up the boy and the futon and took them to his room, where he gently laid down Shirou and kept stroking his head till the child succumbed to sleep.

Kiritsugu then gently covered Shirou and took a strand of hair from Shirou which he put in a test tube he brought from his study. looking at his adopted son he kept pondering the cause of nightmares, he decided to give Shirou drugs made with magecraft to neutralize the chances of Shirou being contaminated by the curses that flood out of the grail.

He went into the room where he had kept most of his mystic codes and material rich in prana and magical energy. So the night passed with the father in his workshop and the son in his bed now free of nightmares.

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….

The next morning Shirou woke up to the morning sunlight and calm winds coming from the lawn through the open door. Kiritsugu was sitting at the Egawa and drinking tea from a ceramic cup. Waking up Shirou greeted him

"Good morning kiritsugu", and he also greeted back 

"Good morning to you too Shirou."

After doing his morning routine and taking a bath Shirou found kiritsugu in the kitchen, walking up to him he expressed 

"I want to help in cooking too"

Seeing the expectant look kiritsugu didn't deny him but started to teach him the basics of cooking that he knew. So the breakfast that was to be eaten was delayed and they finally came out to eat hours later. After talking more about food as well as cooking during breakfast and helping kiritsugu clean the dishes and table he left the room.

Shirou went around exploring the house from the dining room, passing through his room along the hallways. He went to the attic to take a look and was greeted by a thick layer of dust which made him sneeze and cough for a good amount of time.

 Deciding to do something that would help kiritsugu, he went around searching for cleaning equipment till he reached the shed.

 Opening the shaded shed which was half in the dark even with the door open, he started rummaging the area to find boom and floor cloth until he suddenly paused. Inside a drawer, he found something wrapped in white cloth, and giving in to curiosity the contents were unwrapped and found to be a Thompson Contender and a plastic bag containing 17 bullets.

 Picking up the gun for some reason Shirou felt the handle to be of his liking, it invoked the image of a sheathed sword in his mind making him feel as if some missing part of him was slightly mended.

Coming out of his trance and casting a perplexed look at the gun Shirou proceeded to wrap it back up and put it back in its place. Going further into the dark region of the shed he came across a table filled with test tubes and papers in a haphazard manner. 

On the ground, he stood there was graffiti in the shape of a half circle drawn which he completely missed as he abruptly turned back and came across a strict-faced kiritsugu with a frown on his face.

"What are you doing here Shirou?" said kiritsugu in a flat tone

"I was searching for brooms and floor cloth to clean the dusty attic," replied Shirou feeling that he might have made a mistake.

"They are here." said kiritsugu pointing towards the corner beside the door and continued

"You shouldn't come to the shed, now go and don't come here without me.".

Looking at his father going back to his normal flat expression, Shirou released a breath of relief and left the shed after taking the cleaning supplies and bucket.

Gazing at the fading back of his son, kiritsugu thought to himself 

`I have to strengthen the bounded field, it was a mistake making it crude when living with a child`. 

He closed the door and activated his circuits, his arm became covered in blue lines while he started moving to the discrete corners of the walls and carving sigils on them with his fingers.