Author's Note: Alright, people, here's another Fate/stay night fic from me. And it's a multi-chapter fic this time.

The idea for this fic came from a gender-swapped Shirou/Saber fanart I saw on tumblr (which I've used as the fic's cover art). Ever since I saw it, the concept of what a relationship between a male Saber and a female Shirou would be like, how it would be similar or different from Canon!Shirou/Saber, would not leave me alone.

With that said, I'd like to stick as close to canon as I can manage. The basic plotline will be similar to the Fate route/anime, though I'll try not to recycle it word for word as far as the dialogue goes (because, after all, that would be pretty boring). The difference, I believe, will be in the details.

Archer is also gender-flipped in this fic, being a future Shirou and all.

Any similarities you may find with Fate/Prototype are purely coincidental. I'm well aware of the existence of F/P, but it wasn't the inspiration for this fic. Besides, I'm not sure if Ayaka can necessarily be called a female version of Shirou. Yes, she, like Shirou, is the protagonist and an amateur magus, but Ayaka also has quite a bit in common with Rin and Sakura: she comes from a magus family; she, like Sakura, doesn't want to participate in the Holy Grail War; she, like Rin, has blue eyes; and her hair is basically Rin's hair color with Sakura's hairstyle. And Proto!Saber seems like a combination of F/SN's Saber and Shirou to me, from what little I've seen of him (which makes the assertion that his relationship with Ayaka is like Archer and Rin's relationship a little odd, but okay).

Well, anyway, I hope you enjoy the first chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own Fate/stay night.

Fate/Gender Reversal

Chapter 1: An Almost Ordinary Day

Fire. That was all that could be seen: orange, hellish flames that greedily consumed everything and everyone in their path. The once lively, peaceful suburb of Fuyuki City was now nothing but a burning wasteland.

How many people were crying out for help? How many people knew their deaths were upon them?

How many people knew they wouldn't be saved?

A little girl heard these cries, but she kept running. Soot covered her face and clothes, and tears were streaming freely down her face. Whether she was crying because of the scorching, suffocating heat, because she was utterly terrified—of the fire, of the screams of the dying all around her, of the certainty of her own death—or because of both, she didn't know nor care.

Dawn arrived as the fire finally died out. The girl came to a halt and collapsed to the ground, desperately dragging what fresh air there was into her damaged lungs.

Her breathing slowed as it started to rain. She didn't try to get up; what was the point? Everyone—including the girl's parents—had died in that fire.

Everyone was dead.

Everyone was dead.

The girl didn't cry; she didn't have any more tears to shed. She merely closed her eyes and waited for death to claim her.

That was when a miracle occurred.

The girl's eyes opened to the sound of footsteps. A dark-haired man was standing over her. Her heartbeat suddenly quickened as hope filled her; was this man going to save her, just when she'd given up?

She closed her eyes again, too exhausted to stay conscious.

And within the darkness, a clear image of a sword appeared.

"Senpai? Emiya-senpai?"

Brown eyes slowly blinked awake at the sound of a soft, feminine voice. Shira Emiya looked up sleepily to find a violet-haired girl standing in the doorway of the storage shed.

"Good morning, Sakura," Shira greeted, smiling and stifling a yawn as she got up from the floor and stretched the stiffness out of her body. "Did I oversleep?"

Sakura shook her head. "No, there's still plenty of time. But you're usually already awake when I get here."

Shira spared a glance at a broken VCR player. "I must've dozed off while trying to fix that thing," she mused, brushing a strand of red hair away from her face. She chuckled slightly. "I've got to stop doing that."

She turned her gaze back to Sakura. "So, what should I do about breakfast?"

"I can take care of it," Sakura assured her.

"Sakura, you don't—"

The younger girl interrupted Shira's protests. "You don't have to rush around so much. I'll make breakfast while you get yourself ready." A small, amused smile appeared on Sakura's face. "Especially since Ms. Fujimura is about to arrive."

"Okay, you win," Shira relented, taking a few seconds to look over herself. She was wearing the oldest shirt she owned and a pair of equally old sweatpants, and she'd rather not have Taiga Fujimura, her high school English teacher as well as her unofficial guardian ever since her adopted father died five years ago, lecture her on her currently unkempt appearance this early in the morning.

Kiritsugu Emiya had been the one who saved Shira after that fire a decade ago. He had taken her to the hospital, and once the doctors confirmed she would live, Kiritsugu had offered her a choice: either to stay at an orphanage or to live with him as his daughter. Needless to say, little Shira couldn't agree fast enough to be adopted by her rescuer, and the Emiya estate had been her home ever since.

At present, Shira went about her daily routine. She did twenty sit-ups in the dojo, then headed to the bathroom to take a shower, put on her school uniform, brush her teeth, and wash her face. By the time she left the bathroom for the dining room, brushing her long, still damp hair, she could hear a familiar voice shouting.

"SHIRA! HURRY UP! I'M STARVING!"

Sure enough, Shira entered the dining room to find an expectant-looking Taiga already sitting at the table. Sakura was also at the table, pouring tea for the three of them.

"About time," Taiga said. "I was gonna start eating without you."

"You know what they say about patience being a virtue, Fuji-nee," Shira teasingly informed her.

Breakfast passed normally enough, with Taiga (loudly) carrying most of the conversation; once the meal was over, she'd taken a glance at the clock and rushed out of the estate, shrieking something about having tests to grade. That left Shira and Sakura to take care of the breakfast dishes.

Shira was in the middle of washing her plate with a soapy rag when the news report on TV caught her attention.

"All those who were exposed to the gas leak remain unconscious and in critical condition," the female reporter was saying. "The cause of the gas leak remains unknown, but officials state..."

"It's weird how there have been so many gas leaks in New Town lately," Shira commented as the report continued. Gas equipment can't be that faulty... she thought.

Sakura hummed a bit, but otherwise made no reply as Shira handed her the plate for rinsing.

Several minutes later, the girls had left the estate and were on their way to school, walking in companionable silence. As they stopped at a street corner, waiting until it was safe to cross, three police cars sped by, sirens blaring.

"What do you think is going on, Senpai?" Sakura asked.

"I have no idea." Shira paused slightly, her brow furrowed in thought as she stared at the passing cars. "I'm sure it's nothing," she added, her face smoothing.

Shira hardly heard Sakura voicing her agreement; she wondered if she'd only said that because she was trying to convince herself that nothing was going on.

"Thanks for trying to help," Issei Ryudou said, looking up from a small stack of papers to address Shira.

Shira, who was rummaging around in her toolbox, looked up as well. "No problem, Issei."

"Academic clubs are at the bottom of the funding list," the student council president complained. "The athletic clubs seem to manage quite well, but we can't even get a heater to last us through the winter."

Shira half listened to her friend as she left her seat to closely inspect the aforementioned heater.

"Can you fix it?" Issei asked presently.

"Yeah," Shira replied. "It's probably an electric shortage. It should make it through the rest of the year if I switch it out."

"Thank you, Emiya." Issei smiled as he adjusted his glasses. "You're a woman both capable and reliable."

"Um, thanks. I think." Shira went on after a slight pause. "Well, anyway, I'll need to really concentrate in order to fix this. You mind leaving the room for a bit?"

"Ah, a delicate procedure." Issei stood up, gathering his papers. "I won't get in your way, then."

And with that, Issei left the council room, quietly shutting the door behind him.

Shira put her hand on the heater, unable to suppress a smile. Issei wasn't entirely wrong about the procedure being delicate.

After all, the way she fixed things wasn't exactly normal.

She closed her eyes, concentrating only on her sense of touch.

Trace, on.

With that simple, silent incantation, an image of the inside of the heater appeared in Shira's head. In seconds, she had deduced that there were two places where the wire was about to break. She figured that a little electrical tape could be used to patch up the power cord.

Her eyes opened, and the mental image disappeared.

Being able to visualize structures, to intuitively comprehend the makeup of an object, was quite useful when one was an unofficial janitor of the school. But as far as being a full-fledged magus went, Shira had very little magical talent.

If a magic school exists, she thought a bit sardonically, I'd be laughed out of it before the day was through.

Shira spent the next few minutes working on the old heater before leaving the council room to catch up with Issei and head on to class.

"And in case you haven't heard, there are some new campus hours you'll have to follow," Taiga was saying towards the end of homeroom. "They'll be closing the campus at six o'clock, so if you're in a club, be sure to wrap it up early!"

"What?!" a male student exclaimed, standing up. "Ms. Taiga, the archery club never finishes by six!"

"Mr. Gotou," Taiga began, all previous cheerfulness out of her voice.

The boy flinched under her glare.

"If you call me by my first name one more time, it's really gonna make me mad!"

And now the Tiger awakens. Again, Shira thought nervously as the boy stammered out an apology.

Once he looked sufficiently cowed, Taiga abruptly went back to her cheery, perky mood.

"Alrighty, class, that wraps it up for homeroom today! I'll see you all for third-period English!"

Taiga left the classroom just as the next teacher, Souichirou Kuzuki, arrived.

The next couple of periods seemed to go by in a blur for Shira. Before long, it was time for lunch, which she often spent with Issei in the council room. Today was no different.

"Hey, did you happen to hear about the incident at Second Avenue this morning?" Issei asked after a moment of silence.

Shira nearly choked on her rice ball. Well, that was an interesting conversation starter.

"I just saw some police cars on the way to school," she suddenly remembered. "What was it all about?"

"There was a murder," Issei said simply.

A slight gasp escaped from Shira's throat, and she felt her stomach drop.

"I don't know all the details, but it sounds as though it may have been a robbery. The victims were a family of four, but what's odd about it is the weapon that was used to kill them. They believe it was some kind of long blade."

Shira stared out into space as Issei spoke. Someone had killed four people? Four innocent people?

What sick lunatic would...? she thought, grabbing a fistful of her skirt.

"First we have gas leaks plaguing the city," Issei was now saying, "and now we have to deal with random homicides. I suppose closing the school up early does make sense."

He had barely finished when Shira shoved her lunch away and stood up.

"So have they caught the guy who did it?" she asked angrily. "Or is he still out there?"

"No, they haven't caught him," Issei replied. "Apparently, they don't have a single clue to go off of."

Shira looked down. Four people, dead. Wasn't there anything anyone could've done? That I could've—

"Emiya." Issei's calm voice interrupted her from her thoughts. "You look a little pale."

Do I? Shira tried to smile.

"I'm fine," she said. "This news just has me a little rattled, that's all."

"I guess this isn't really a proper conversation for a meal, is it?" Issei asked rhetorically, sounding apologetic.

But even as they went on to another topic, Shira found that she'd lost her appetite.

A few hours later, school was over, and Shira wasted no time in going to Copenhagen, the liquor store where she worked part-time. According to the owner, other people were supposed to come help restock the wine supply, but Shira was the only one who showed up. She insisted on staying longer to do more than her share of work, and by the time she left Copenhagen, night had fallen.

As Shira walked home, she couldn't help noticing how empty and silent the streets were. There were usually people walking or driving about at this time, going home from either work or school, but tonight, she seemed to be the only one outside.

Honestly, it was kind of eerie, but Shira supposed it was to be expected, what with the gas leaks, robberies, and homicides that had been happening lately.

Without warning, an image of a sword appeared in Shira's mind.

She abruptly stopped walking, startled. She'd been seeing that same sword in her dreams for about a month now, a shining white blade with a blue and gold hilt. If there was a reason why she kept dreaming about a sword, she didn't know it.

Shira shook her head to rid herself of her thoughts. She was about to continue on when she saw someone walking towards her. It was a young girl, looking to be about twelve years old, with long white hair and softly giggling as if she didn't have a care in the world.

As the girl got closer, Shira was tempted to call out to her, to ask what she was doing out this late. And without any adult supervision.

Shira couldn't help wondering where this little girl's parents were.

But before she could even open her mouth to say anything, the white-haired girl spoke.

"You'd better hurry up and summon somebody, miss, or you're gonna die."

What?! Shira thought, turning around sharply to stare at the girl as the latter proceeded down the street. To hear a statement like that from a young girl was shocking enough, but what was perhaps even more shocking was how the girl had said it. She didn't sound cautious, afraid, angry, or even serious.

She sounded completely pleasant.

Shira slowly shook her head again, then decided to put the strange girl out of her mind.

When Shira finally got home and joined Taiga and Sakura for dinner, she was greeted with Taiga's scolding.

"You shouldn't be coming home so late. You're still a student, you know!"

"You make it sound like I went to a party," Shira said as she filled her plate with food. "I was working."

"And was this just your work, or someone else's, too?" Taiga asked.

"So what if it was?" Shira snapped, knowing where this conversation was going. "It helps someone else out, doesn't it?"

Taiga sighed as if trying to reason with a particularly stubborn child. "Always living for others, huh? Did your dad put these notions in your head?"

Sakura chose this moment to speak. "Ms. Fujimura, is it true that she's always been like this?"

Shira busied herself with eating her salad as Taiga answered.

"Yep; she's had a hero complex for as long as I've known her, always trying to save someone. She once told me about how she was gonna be 'a Champion of Justice' when she grew up. I keep telling her she needs to give up on that and go find a boyfriend, but—"

"Oh, no," Shira cut Taiga off firmly, setting down her chopsticks, "we are not going there."

"Now, Shira, don't be like that," Taiga chided. "You're a perfectly lovely girl; I'm sure boys would love to go out with you."

And she says I'm naïve, Shira thought. Aloud, she let out a short, dry laugh. "No guy in his right mind would fall for me when Tohsaka's going to the same school."

Rin Tohsaka—classically good-looking, star student, and every teenage boy's fantasy. She had all the boys at school practically eating out of the palm of her hand (every boy except Issei, for a reason that he never got around to really explaining to Shira).

"It is true that a lot of boys like Tohsaka-senpai," Sakura admitted.

"What about Mr. Ryudou?" Taiga suggested. "You do spend a lot of time with him."

Shira made a face at that. "Fuji-nee, please. Issei's like a brother. Besides, he's training to be a monk. Mention the word 'date' to him and I bet he'd break out into hives or something."

"Well, that doesn't mean you have to be single forever!"

"Sakura, would you please pass the soy sauce?" Shira asked, pointedly ignoring Taiga.

After dinner, Taiga had left to walk Sakura home, and Shira went to the storage shed. There was one last thing she needed to do before going to bed for the night: magic training.

First things first. Shira took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and tried to empty her mind of every thought, solely concentrating on creating a magic circuit within her body.

"Trace, on."

At once, it felt as though a hot metal rod was slowly being inserted into her spine. Shira let out a few painful grunts, struggling to maintain the connection. Eventually—and she didn't know exactly how long—the process of creating an artificial magic circuit was complete.

With that done, Shira knelt on the floor and picked up a metal pipe.

"Trace, on." The magic circuit activated, mana flowing through.

"Basic structure, established. Components, determined. Basic structure, altered."

The mana began to flow into the pipe.

"Components, reinfor—ahh!"

The magic circuit disappeared, and with it the mana Shira was using to strengthen the pipe. Said pipe fell to the ground with a clatter as she doubled over, gasping for air.

I failed. As usual, she thought once she'd caught her breath. I'll never be like Dad at this rate.

Two years after she'd been adopted, Kiritsugu had revealed to her that he was a magus, and it was only after a lot of begging and pleading that he agreed to teach her magic. Her lack of talent meant that she was only capable of learning basic spells, namely structural grasping and reinforcement magic. Her father always told her that he didn't mind if she gave up her training, but Shira persisted, no matter how frustrating it got.

"Magic should never be used for your own benefit," Kiritsugu once said. "It should only be used to help others."

Yes, it should. Shira had made a promise to her father that she would save lives just as he had saved hers. And if she could just get better at magecraft, then maybe someday, she could be a hero like he had been.

As she wiped the sweat off her brow, she failed to notice a carved circle glowing faintly on the floor.

Author's Note: And that's all for chapter one!

In summary, Shirou is now a girl named Shira, Taiga is trying and failing to get Shira to go on a dating game, and Shira shows signs of being a Type B Tsundere.

Please read and review; any feedback is appreciated, whether it's praise, constructive criticism, pointing out if I've screwed up on Nasuverse lore, or telling me I suck and should never write again (just kidding on the last one).