Chapter 53: Spine of my Blade

After committing murder in broad daylight the father and son hid their weapons and then passed them off to the guy who smuggles weapons for kiritsugu. They then boarded the plane and shirou fell asleep. Looking at his son the magus killer tried to awaken the boy and when he failed, he had the feeling of deja vu.

Kiritsugu`s fears proved to be futile as shirou didn't sprout swords like last time because instead of visions of cruel deaths he witnessed Artoria`s adventures, where Sir Kay talked about how he once carved a statue of a lion for her when she was sick and said she wanted to dream of a lion.

Artoria described how the knight carved a statue in his bid to carve an old and weak lion so that she would not be frightened by it in her dreams. Merlin claimed that it appeared to be a hybrid of a cat, a dog and a donkey. To prove this allegation false Sir Kay began to display his horrendous carving skills and instead proved the wizard's claim to be correct.

Shirou had woken up by the time they had reached Japan and as he was walking through the streets with his father he pondered about his project of forging a cursed blade, suddenly a thought crossed his mind

<If a person`s origin represents, then it should represent mysteries in their raw form as the is concept that escaped swirl of root. My "sword"(剣) so if I can use give magical properties to my blades like dad did with his bullets.>

Pondering this budding swordsmith walked home and the time went by after that. On February 3rd shirou invited Rin to his house for the evening but Rin strictly declined and after facing his precaution she stormed off blabbering about mages and secrecy.

Shirou`s plan to arrange a small feast for her birthday went down the drain and he told himself that he would at least make a gift for her and jumped into smithing with renewed vigour. he was scribing down something on paper while two books about common catalysts were open on the table.

He finally handed over the list to his father who can collect them when he visits Europe for a "business Trip" after this shirou went to get his regular beating from Taiga and practised meditation. When kiritsugu explained his concerns over the impact of his visions on his daily life shirou had already begun finding a solution.

Inspired by the self-hypnosis that kiritsugu uses and the normal defensive meditation method used by most mages of clocktowers to counter physic attacks he began searching old books. There he found out about how samurais of the old used to meditate with their weapons and the legends of cutting snowflakes.

He tried out his ideas and on reaching success informed his father who just smiled, shirou learnt about the practice of meditating with your blade from Taiga who happily described the arts of traditional sword performances but she also claimed

"They can offer you peace of mind but are really useless if you believe in the nonsense of getting superpowers from that." 

Rin`s mood was very bad for about a week after her birthday, she kept muttering about mils, frills and pink princesses and cussing priests. Shirou wisely avoided the boiling volcano of a girl after she threw a gem at him during a spar.

Rin later regretted wasting money in a spar and sulked for a while. This continued for a while and once when shirou and Rin were sitting side by side and eating lunch on the roof she passed an ebony box to the boy and said 

"Here! there are 3 topaz containing the curse, the 1st one has only 1 curse in it but the other two are crammed full of the curse."

"Thank you tohsaka, you are the best." said shirou with his critically damaging smile.

"Now I have done my part of the deal no need to thank me. Now pay up." Rin deflected the topic as she was slightly flustered. As they talked she composed herself and said with a 

"I will only help you with the gems in future if you let me watch you forge the sword."

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Shirou took time to improve his skills instead of rushing, he patiently polished his sword making skills and trained. One day kiritsugu told him to prepare and get ready for a mission, and shirou wore his attire that concealed his body completely and fingerless gloves.

The father and son dressed in black left the emiya residence fully armed and climbed into a prepared car. While the driver drove out of Fuyuki Kiritsugu explained to shirou that to test the effects of his training, he had taken an underground hit contract and would let shirou complete it as a test.

He handed the boy a paper containing information about a man named Toshiaki Kenzou. This man was the target of a black-haired man in his early 20s with a dark circle under his eyes and a hunched posture.

The information stated that the hit was organised by a yakuza family who identified the target as a traitor. The target was suspected to be having access to a Colt pistol and a heirloom katana of his grandfather. The car stopped at the city next to fuyuki where the emiya and Fujimura family came for the carnival.

Kiritsugu disembarked the car and stood aside, shirou took this as a sign for the beginning of his test. The duo searched the whole area where the man could be according to the info and the place he was last seen.

Finally, they saw the man moving towards a secluded hotel where he was last seen. This mission could have been a lot easier if shirou used a sniper but his father had only allowed him 3 bullets from his desert eagle and his magecraft.

They tailed the man and broke into the hotel room at night pretending to be room service after the man had ordered it. As soon as he kept the plate beside the table, the boy opened his circuits and lunged at the target.

With his body strengthened by the mana flowing through it, he wrapped himself around the man and closed his mouth muffling the scream he released. He pointed the wooden knife at the man's throat and whispered to his victims 

"Keep quiet."

Here kiritsugu demonstrated how to interrogate people and then were astounded to find that the man claimed to have no relation to the yakuza at all and he didn't commit any of the acts the client had blamed him for. Even under suggestion, the claim of the man stood corrected.

Without any option, shirou knocked out the man and used the knife to scrap the target`s skin a little to draw blood. He retrieved the blood-stained rag that the client had provided with the mission then pulled out the unmarked spray bottle.

As soon as he sprayed the mixture on the blood it took on an orange shade, and then he used the same on the fresh blood from the knife and it took on a different shade of orange. He patiently compared the two shades and asked his dad if his conclusion was correct.

"Yes, you are correct shirou. The source of this blood is the same only the time they left the body is different."

"This is the target we were searching for, as the succubus extract has proven it. He said that he had never been to Tokyo recently even when under suggestion, I suspect the client is not a simple yakuza family."

"Remember shirou, if you lack information then never poke around about your contracts in this line of work."

"Understood Dad." replied shirou in all seriousness, this attitude represented the minor success in his defensive meditation.

Shirou understood that the time to leave had come. The father and son picked up the unconscious man,sneaked out of the hotel and then peacefully waited at an intersection. The same car from the morning picked them up, and the drive back to fuyuki was filled with silence.

Shirou took this chance to meditate and rearrange his psyche as well as calm himself down. Kirtsugu dropped shirou at the emiya residence and left with the driver stating that he had to turn in the bounty at Tokyo and pick up the catalysts shirou had asked him to get delivered.

Making and eating breakfast shirou sat in silence until he suddenly stood up. Rushing into the shed which was renovated to be half the size of its previous condition, he rummaged through the drawers.

There he found a box filled with pieces of blades appearing black due to blood stains. Completely emptying the drawer he found out all the blades that were removed from his body due to rampaging origin. 

(A/N: Guess who offered the contract? And this time we will forge a successful full original sword, that will be upgraded throughout the story.

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THANKS FOR READING:)