Shirou the Aozaki (Plus Emiya)

Kiritsugu and Shirou were speaking. The older male said, "Shirou, tell me. Do you remember anyone from your previous life? Anyone at all? This is important," seriousness radiating from him.

The eight-year-old Shirou started his story. He reluctantly said, "it's painful to even think of them. I had a mother but no father, I think."

Static

Shirou kept trying to remember. He said, "I remember a redhead with blue eyes. Ao- something? I remember thinking her appearance strange, because she didn't grow older." Kiritsugu forgotten, the boy kept speaking. Shirou said, "she must have been my mother. I remember asking her about my father, and she said that he was a hero and a killer. How can someone be both, though?"

A strange noise escaped Kiritsugu, bringing Shirou back to reality. A new question entered Shirou's mind: what was that 'meep' sound the old man made just now?

Kiritsugu ruffled up Shirou's hair and said, "all right, Shirou. That's enough - I can see remembering has strained you. We can revisit this topic some other time, all right?" Though he seemed more strained himself, somehow.

"Okay!" Shirou said, ignoring the strangeness of his father's behavior. 'I must have imagined things,' he thought.

Kiritsugu was on an outing with Raiga, but not to talk business. He simply wanted someone to drown his sorrows -or, rather, the insanity that surrounded his life, this time- with.

After an indeterminate amount of time, Raiga's booming voice echoed, saying, "all right, Kiritsugu. Out with it."

Kiritsugu started, looking at the older man in surprise. Still, he said, "What do you mean?" Stubbornly setting his jaw.

"Kiritsugu," Raiga said, an impish smirk on his face, "my life has depended on my observation skills more than once. I've also raised a daughter who was much more stubborn in her teenage years than you are now, I assure you. You've met her daughter; imagine Taiga with a more serious personality and multiply the stubbornness by a factor of three, and you've got Saiga. You aren't going to manage to fool me or overcome my patience, so don't even try."

Kiritsugu sighed. He seldom could get anything past the irritating old Mafioso. Still, should he- oh, to hell with it; though it might be the alcohol talking. He said, "Shirou remembered his biological mother."

Raiga raised an eyebrow, indicating that he knew there was more to the story.

Kiritsugu sighed, then kept speaking. He said, "the thing is, I had met his mother before. As a one-night-stand."

"I see," Raiga said, though Kiritsugu doubted he truly saw.

After all, Aoko wasn't exactly a one-night-stand, she was a friend that Iri dragged into their bedroom.

"I got him to take a DNA test, and it's a match. With me. It turns out that I'm not his adoptive father, but his actual dad," Kiritsugu said, hiccupping a bit; realizing that he had had enough whiskey, he put the glass down.

Raiga studied him for a bit, then said, "Kiritsugu, do his origins actually change anything between the two of you?"

Kiritsugu thought for a moment, then said, "hnn," not sure himself of what he meant by that grunt. Then, he suddenly devolved into an anger-filled monologue. He said, "what I don't understand is why she never told me. Fuck! What the hell was she thinking?! She's too irresponsible to raise a child on her own! That woman... I was father to a second child, and she didn't even see it fit to tell me!"

Raiga ignored Kiritsugu's rant, put down his glass and did not touch the bottle of whiskey from that moment on, complaining in a low voice that whiskey did not agree with him, and that he much preferred sake to that foreign crap.

It only made Kiritsugu giggle, but he ended up breaking out sobbing immediately afterwards.

The next morning (afternoon, really), the horrible headache and the dryness of his tongue belied the fact that Kiritsugu, in fact, felt better than before. 'That Raiga,' he thought, 'he was a real help, I've got to admit. Conniving old man, he got a promise to sell him one of the rarer guns in my possession out of me, too.'

Shirou had just asked Kiritsugu to teach him Magecraft, for the umpteenth time.

"All right," Kiritsugu said.

Shirou was about to ask him why not, when what Kiritsugu said registered. He said, "wa- wait, what?" Surprised to the point of stuttering.

"I said 'all right', Shirou," Kiritsugu said, smiling for the first time in Shirou's memory, other than that time, "would you rather look a gift horse in the mouth, or shall we start with the training?"

The 'yeah! Let's go!' Shirou let out was deafening.

The first thing Kiritsugu taught him was how to open his Circuits and about the 'Switch' and 'Trigger', as he called them.

'The Switch is a concept that allows one to turn their Circuits on and off. Not everyone can manage it at all, even if they have Circuits; some can only do so imperfectly, and activate their Circuits only when they are angry, or aroused, or something else. The Trigger is an 'image' you 'picture' in your mind, preferably with more than one sense - as in, if it's a bee stinging you, you remember the pain, the sound of the buzzing AND its looks. Choose the image wisely; it has to be something you wouldn't normally do.'

Those were Kiritsugu's words.

Shirou saw his father's certainty that Shirou had Circuits as strange, because in the past, one of the man's arguments against teaching him Magecraft had been that 'most people have no Circuits', but the boy ignored that as unimportant.

Meditation was a strange way to start learning the mystic arts, but if his father said that it was important for learning Magecraft, who was Shirou to argue?

It took a few weeks, during which Kiritsugu started Shirou on firearms training (a disaster); then, when that failed, Kyudo (the Way of the Bow), for Shirou to realize what meditation was all about. When he did, he was a natural, according to Kiritsugu. Shirou only made himself enter the same state of mind he did for Kyudo whenever he meditated - simple.

It only took Shirou a few days after that to get his Trigger (the hammer of a gun hitting the bullet. Smelling the gunpowder, hearing the 'click', seeing the metal make contact; he would never again try shooting a gun, so it was a safe choice), and he ended up discovering twenty-seven Circuits of slightly above average Quality for his age; or so they both thought, at least.

The first spell Shirou was taught was the Structural Analysis. After Kiritsugu made sure that there would be no accidents with it, he disappeared… somewhere.

Shirou was often lonely, despite that freeloader's 'pleasant' company, so his refuges were books (mundane or otherwise) and Magecraft training. That continued until a confrontation he had with the Tiger.

"Ne, Shirou-chan! Why don't you like your neechan?!" Taiga shouted childishly.

"You're a freeloader, you're annoying, selfish, childish, violent… do I need to say more?" Shirou said, annoyed at her even more.

"I see," Taiga said, strangely serious. Then, she said, "but is any of those the reason you push me away?"

Shirou straightened up, all of a sudden. This new Taiga was creeping him out. He said, "what do you mean?" And if his voice quivered a bit, he doubted Taiga would catch on.

The sixteen-year-old smiled knowingly and said, "I mean that you seem to be under the impression you don't deserve to have any friends, Shirou. What you are doing is called 'moping', and it's not much better than the 'creepy emotionless kid' thing you had going last year."

"I-" Shirou said, cutting himself off. He tried again, only to stutter once again.

"Think about it," Taiga said and patted Shirou on the back, leaving him alone with his thoughts.

That night in his room, Shirou had a hard time falling asleep (and he didn't even stay in the shed, despite Kiritsugu not being there to remind him. He turned in early - or, rather, right in time). He could only think of Taiga's words, and if she was right about him moping and pushing people away.

By the time Kiritsugu was back, a few months later, Shirou had improved his Structural Analysis 'to an absurd degree', according to Kiritsugu. Shirou's reserve of Od was suspiciously slow to run out, as his father put it, which was why he was able to improve so quickly. Unfortunately, he was no closer to having an answer to Taiga's words.

He no longer saw the older girl as a freeloader though; in those few months, Shirou came to view Taiga as family; an annoying, somewhat violent older sister.

Kiritsugu took Shirou aside for a talk which was 'the opposite of what an adoptive child usually hears from their parent', whatever that meant.

"What do you mean, old man?" Shirou voiced out loud.

"Well, Shirou - I once knew your mother, so I had you give your blood that one time for a DNA test… and I'm your actual father," Kiritsugu said, a strange look on his face.

Shirou processed the words, blinked a few times and said, "that does explain why you reacted in a weird way when I told you about my mother," not bothered at all by the information.

Shirou also took in Kiritsugu's features; the two of them had similar jaw lines and a similar eye color, though the man's irises were a very deep brown, while Shirou's were more of a golden brown. Otherwise, Shirou took after his mother, though he had auburn hair whereas his mother had bright red, from what he remembered.

Kiritsugu relaxed a bit, saying, "I'm glad you took this so well. I thought you might be angry."

Shirou was puzzled. He said, "why would I be angry? Mom didn't even tell you about me, right? So I don't blame you for not being around before - and you're around now, aren't you? There's something I was curious about, though."

"What is it?" Kiritsugu asked.

"What did my mother mean when she called you a hero and a killer?" Shirou said, making Kiritsugu's shoulders slump.

The man sighed and said, "that's a talk for another time," effectively killing the conversation.

...After a week or so of avoiding the topic, Kiritsugu started explaining what Aoko (that was his mother's actual name) had meant by 'hero and killer'.

He said, "Shirou. Listen carefully; this story is very important. It concerns my life. You see, when I was a kid, I wanted to be an ally of justice. Unfortunately, as I grew up, I realized that some people actively wanted to hurt and kill others, and nothing I did or said could change their minds. I also believed in the good of the many, so to save some people, I sacrificed others."

Shirou couldn't believe what he was hearing. He said, "but, wouldn't you prefer to save everyone?"

Kiritsugu scoffed. He said, "of course I would! There's nothing I would like more. Unfortunately, it's not possible. In war, you have to pick a side, otherwise you will only make the war last longer, killing more people; when facing a Dead Apostle, you sometimes arrive too late, and most of the town have become members of the Dead; sometimes, it's too risky to save some people, and trying anyway may well lead to way more people dying. I believed in weighing the number of people I would save with my actions; save the most I could, while killing the fewest."

Shirou thought over what his father said, and realized something. Shirou said, "so, you have killed innocents just to save more lives?!" Incredulous.

"Yes," Kiritsugu said, evenly.

Shirou tried to wrap his mind around the idea. After a bit of time, he said, "I need to think about this," and went off to his shed, all but sprinting there.

Kiritsugu covered his face with his hands. 'That could have gone better,' he thought, fear clenching his heart. He couldn't help feeling proud of Shirou's speed and stamina, showcased by how fast he ran away, though; the exercise regimen he had put Shirou on only a week before had paid dividends already. 'Avalon might be accelerating Shirou's body's natural processes,' Kiritsugu thought, knowing that only a week of training shouldn't have been enough for such a huge improvement.

Apparently, Avalon had acquired some level of compatibility with Shirou somehow.*

Of course, Kiritsugu was far more strict in training Shirou than he would have been, had the young boy not been the actual child of such infamous parents; Shirou would have a lot of people after him as the son of the Blue and the Magus Killer, way more than he would as an adopted son who wouldn't even inherit Kiritsugu's Mysteries.

That brought along another question: should Kiritsugu let Shirou inherit the Emiya Crest? That would give the young boy more options for defending himself, but it would also bring more problems. The man had already had his Magic Crest removed in order not to risk it being affected by the Curse before he set out for Germany - he couldn't use it well at all anymore anyway.

The next question involved donating a few of his own Circuits to put in the Crest, but that would mean the possible loss of his ability to use Magecraft, especially if he gave multiple Circuits, and he definitely didn't want to give up on Illyasviel. He would need to think on it more. Though there was also the Curse of Angra Mainyu to consider; he would need to decide quickly, before it infected all of his Circuits.

Suddenly, the bell of the Emiya residence rang, and Kiritsugu was on alert. His senses had seriously dulled if he wasn't able to tell someone was outside before they rang the bell. Knowing that Taiga had a key, Raiga was busy at this hour and not able to think of anyone else who would actually ring the bell, he proceeded cautiously, palming a gun.

Then, a familiar voice said, "Kiritsugu, if you don't open this damn door right now, I will shatter it into pieces!"

Kiritsugu recognized Aoko's voice and immediately paled, knowing that her threat was very much real, and that she had a propensity for overkill. He opened the door, gun still in his hand but ignored in his haste and greeted the woman who was on the other side. Aoko simply skipped the pleasantries and said, "where is he?"

Kiritsugu's mouth worked without his permission and said, "in the shed," not bothering to explain further or express his anger with his old friend.

The whirlwind called Aoko took less than two seconds to sprint to said building.

Shirou was carefully thinking over things. Not moping, as an inner voice that sounded suspiciously like Taiga told him.

(Crash)!

Shirou was startled out of his moping (thinking!) by the sound of a door being slammed open.

He prepared himself for a fight, only to see-

"Mom?" Shirou said, not really believing his eyes.

"…Shirou," Aoko said, "I came as soon as I got Kiritsugu's message," teary-eyed.

Shirou simply tackle-hugged his mother, tears of joy running from his eyes, ignoring the small voice that told him he didn't deserve to have her in his life.

After basking in each other's presence in silence, Aoko spoke. She said, "so, why were you in a shed?"

Shirou started getting scared by the aura of danger that came from Aoko. He braved the fear, though, and said, "this is my workshop - kind of."

"Workshop- Kiritsugu taught you Magecraft?!" Aoko said, shouting.

"Not so loudly, please," Shirou said, holding his ears, "yes, he did."

For a moment, Aoko looked sad, and made Shirou want to comfort her. But then, she grinned and said, "I wanted to be the one to teach you your first spell. Oh well - he hasn't taught you much, has he?"

"No," Shirou admitted, "he started a few months ago and showed me something called Structural Analysis."

"…You had to ask many times before he finally decided to get off his ass and teach you, didn't you?" Aoko said.

"How do you know?" Shirou asked, curious.

"I know Kiritsugu well enough to be able to tell," Aoko said, grinning like the cat that caught the canary.

Kiritsugu was waiting for Aoko in the living room with some tea ready; Shirou asked him how he managed to make tea without burning the water, which made Aoko snicker.

Kiritsugu said, "I'm not quite that bad, Shirou," covering his face in his hands, exasperated. "Now, isn't it time for you to go to bed?" He said afterwards, ready to have a talk with Aoko.

"It's still twenty three minutes and nine seconds -now six- to my bedtime, old man," Shirou says, without even looking at a timepiece.

Wait. "How do you know that, Shirou?" Kiritsugu said, scrutinizing his son.

"I can always tell exactly what time it is," Shirou admitted with a small shrug.

"Then how come you end up falling asleep in the shed if I don't come by to remind you?" Kiritsugu said, glaring at Shirou a bit.

"Ehehe," Shirou let out a nervous laugh, rubbing the back of his head, which told Kiritsugu that Shirou simply didn't care enough to even think of the time then. "I'll… go to bed now," Shirou said, obviously eager to avoid a scolding.

"You do that," Kiritsugu said, hiding a small smile.

After Shirou was gone, Aoko said, "you two get along really well, I see," tone neutral.

"Hmm," Kiritsugu said, eyes narrowed; he was still mad at her.

"I suppose you'd like an explanation…?" Aoko said, looking resigned.

"That would be very welcome, yes," Kiritsugu said, his tone making Aoko wince visibly, something he found as out of character for her.

Aoko took a deep breath and started talking. She said, "I knew how close a bond you and Iri shared. I didn't want to risk ruining that. If you and Irisviel ever separated, I intended to tell you immediately."

Kiritsugu took a moment to digest that. Afterwards, he said, "so, you didn't even let me know I had a son? That's-"

"I was aware that Iri was pregnant at the time," Aoko said, making Kiritsugu fall silent, "she must have been seventeen weeks along or so; I mean four months, if my estimation wasn't wrong anyway. I thought that her idea of a threesome was the product of hormones, or maybe she read something like that in a book or manga, so I went along with it, not expecting to get pregnant, myself. Of course, I never regretted having that threesome, let alone having Shirou; even if I had truly thought that the same Magic that made me not age also made me infertile," shuddering in what looked like arousal when she mentioned the threesome.

"Yes, I remember," Kiritsugu said, referring to her certainty she was infertile, "and of course you haven't regretted -you were never the type to have regrets- but why didn't you tell me after Iri- after the Holy Grail War?"

Aoko sighed. She said, "I thought Shirou was dead along with my parents. I had left him to them to take care of important business, and they picked that time -of all times- to go to Fuyuki on vacation. Aware of the happenings of the Moonlit World, they were not. At least not much - the shitty old man had chosen my sister as heir, then me; his child never factored in, not least because of a lack of Circuits. And before you ask, I didn't check up on you because I wouldn't be able to stand the reminder of Shirou, both because of the place and you."

Kiritsugu nodded. He said, "I admit - I half hoped that your parents had pressured you to never tell me," pursing his lips.

Aoko shook her head. She said, "do you know me to have ever been the type to give in to pressure or care what others think of me?"

Kiritsugu managed a semblance of a smile. He said, "good point. Well, thank you for being honest with me - even if it's a bit late. But where do we go from here?"

He didn't ask for an apology, and knew Aoko wasn't the type to apologize anyway; even now, she didn't quite regret not telling him, but that was simply who Aoko was. It would take him a while to forgive and forget, but he would give her a chance - for Shirou, if nothing else.

"I want to be in Shirou's life," Aoko said firmly.

"That goes without saying," Kiritsugu said mildly, "I want to be in his life too, though."

Aoko nodded without hesitation, but did not speak. It was up to Kiritsugu to make the first step, apparently.

"Would you like to stay here? I mean permanently. My home has enough space," Kiritsugu said, his mind working in overdrive to figure out what he would tell people (especially Taiga) if Aoko accepted his offer. (Hopefully, Taiga wouldn't make a big deal of Aoko living with him and Shirou. Yes, he knew how unlikely that was, but he could only hope.)

Aoko mulled it over for a couple seconds at most, then said, "okay. Though I might leave for business at any time."

"Understandable," Kiritsugu said, "I have business and need to take prolonged trips of my own from time to time."

He was ready to shoot Aoko down (metaphorically) if she asked just what his business might be (the old Aoko would have), but she never did. Huh. She had changed indeed; she could read the mood much better.

Speaking of shooting down, Kiritsugu had better hide the firearm he had gotten out earlier more thoroughly, before someone (Taiga) saw it.

...The next day, Kiritsugu told Shirou about Aoko staying with them, and the smile wouldn't leave his son's face. His son. His biological son. Kiritsugu still couldn't believe it.

Aoko took over much of Shirou's Magecraft training. According to her, Shirou had Circuits similar to hers, though she doubted that Shirou had the same elements as she did.

After quite a few tests, conducted by Aoko and Shirou himself mainly, with Kiritsugu's guidance (Kiritsugu was way better than her at most Magecraft, but he was also affected by the Curse), they reaffirmed that Shirou had twenty-seven Circuits, and that their straightforward Quality was barely above average. His Circuits were also very simple, or maybe highly specialized, just like Aoko.

On the other hand, Shirou's Circuits were of much higher Quality than the obvious; according to Aoko, Shirou's Circuits were over thrice as efficient when processing Mana as the usual, and at least fifteen times better at converting Od to Prana than the usual (even prodigious) Magus. His Circuits were also faster with their conversion, and the spin they could impart the Prana with was way, way greater than the norm. Also according to Aoko, Shirou's Circuits would improve even further with age if he was anything like her.

Shirou's Elements were Sword and Fire, while his Origin- well, Origins, were Sword and Time. Kiritsugu was looking at the results without speaking, full of disbelief. "He has dual Origins?" He managed to say out loud eventually.

"Just like you!" Aoko said, smirking.

Kiritsugu put a hand on his temple to massage it. He said, "yes, just like me, but that's NOT a good thing," seriously.

Aoko shook her head and said, "don't be like that; he doesn't even have the same Origins as you, so there's no need to worry so much."

Kiritsugu sighed out loud. She wasn't getting it. He said, "Aoko. His Origins aren't much better than mine. 'Sword' means he might think of himself as a weapon, while 'Time'- well, I'm not sure. According to the tests, that might mean he will be more possessive of the people he cares about, but whether that will tone down the effect of the Sword Origin or worsen it, only time will tell... no pun intended."

Aoko simply shrugged and said, "then, we will have to teach him that he himself has value, too."

"Aoko, it might not be that easy-"

"I'm not one to worry about things I cannot affect," Aoko said, interrupting Kiritsugu, "either we can get him to have more self-esteem, or we can't. Either way, there's no need to fret further."

Kiritsugu closed his eyes for a few seconds. He got Aoko's point, but he couldn't help worrying. Even when he forgot his worry, that only lasted for a few seconds. "Those fledgling ideals of his," he said, "they are very worrisome."

"Whose fault is that?" Aoko said, though there was no hint of reproach in her voice.

"Mine," Kiritsugu admitted with no hesitation, "though the survivor's guilt certainly didn't help matters."

"So, I have two Origins and two Elements? What does that mean?" Shirou asked, trying to make sense of the information. He knew that most of those who had two Elements tended to combine them, but little else.

His dad fielded that question. Kiritsugu said, "well, it seems like the Sword Origin is more prominent- I mean, a bit stronger than the Time Origin, since it's linked to the Sword Elemental alignment. I believe that you will be really good at any Magecraft that is related to swords. I don't know how good you might be at Fire Magecraft, how it relates to its linked Origin of Time, nor if there is a combination element. How would you like to learn swordsmanship?"

'Yes please,' was the only thing Shirou could say. He did have another question, though. Shirou said, "what are yours and Mom's elements and Origins?"

This time, it was Aoko's turn. She said, "my Elements are Fire and Ether - unlike the usual for my family, which is Wind. Kiritsugu's are Fire and Earth, though he doesn't use them often. You shouldn't ask people their Origins, it's rather personal."

"Okay," Shirou said. Then, he asked, "what is the combined element of Fire and Earth?"

"You know," Kiritsugu said, thoughtful, "I never tried to find it. I know that Water and Wind is liquids manipulation, and that Fire and Water make H2O manipulation -that is, steam AND ice, strangely enough- but I never bothered combining my Elements. I am decent at orthodox Magecraft, but I simply... don't use it often."

Aoko changed the subject after that. She said, "speaking of not using Magecraft, what's wrong with your health, Kiritsugu?"

His dad had a strange look on his face, but Shirou quickly forgot about that when he realized just what his mother said. Shirou said, "you're sick?! Is that why you leave Fuyuki so much, Old Man- uh, Dad?"

Kiritsugu said, "yes. No. Well, it's complicated." He glared at Aoko and said, "because someone jumped the gun, I will have to say a few things early."

Shirou's mother had a serious look on her face. She said, "you're dying, aren't you?"

Kiritsugu had an even more sour look on his face, but Shirou couldn't bring himself to care. He said, "it's not true, is it Dad? You're not dying?!" Panicking.

Kiritsugu sighed and lifted a hand, saying, "let me finish."

He said something about a curse that was slowly killing him, making Shirou shiver. "Can't you do anything? Or maybe Mom could?"

Before Shirou's dad could say anything, his mom stopped the man and said, "I might be able to do something about that."

Shirou sighed in relief. He said, "please do it, then, Mom! Dad, did you hear? Mom can probably do something!"

*This is not quite like that in canon IIRC (only when Saber is around, has been around recently or has any form of contract with Shirou does Avalon work at all), but I changed it - obviously.

Please tell me if I've contradicted canon otherwise without noticing. It's been a while since I played/read the VN, and I've stayed far away from most spin-offs.