Hello everyone.
This chapter isn't actually the one for today.
My proper length chapter is going to be a little late.
However... this is a random little something that popped into my head and I finally got around to writing earlier this week.
It's probably going to be closer to Projected Denial than any of my other fics... as in, a short skit style fic lacking in seriousness.
Now... the most important part to clear up first...
I know that The Power Rangers is a localised version of the Japanese Super Sentai series that just takes the action scenes and creates a completely different show around it.
However, I have not seen the original Japanese series and was more inspired by nostalgia here than anything else.
So you don't need to tell me.
This is just a bit of fun where Shirou gets inspired by Power Rangers.
Because it sounds fun to write.
Anyway... now that the authors note is probably longer than the chapter itself...
Let's just get on with it.
XXX Chapter Start XXX
Emiya Kiritsugu felt exhausted.
It hadn't been that long since the Grail War had ended and he had adopted the child he had managed to find still alive in the rubble of the Grail's destruction.
Getting used to the constant dull ache that now plagued him was proving difficult; the corruption of the Grail was too strong to just shrug off after all. But at least it wasn't as strong when he didn't try to use magecraft.
Walking into the living room of the house he had used Einzbern funds to purchase, he was greeted by a sight that helped him push that ache from his mind.
Shirou. The young boy who had managed to survive the fire was sitting in front of the Television, completely engrossed in whatever he was watching.
It was relieving to see.
The child had been trying to get him to teach him magecraft ever since he had let the boy know that he was a magus. However, teaching the boy was the last thing he wanted to do.
Magecraft brought only suffering with it and the boy had lost enough as it was.
"What are you watching?" he asked the child as he looked at what was on the screen.
A group of people wearing brightly coloured spandex and strangely designed biker helmets fighting some 'monster' that looked like it was made to sell toys.
"Power Rangers," Shirou responded as he turned to face him, "they're superheroes who beat the monsters and save everyone."
Kiritsugu felt a sense of longing well up inside him before it was replaced by despair.
He had wanted nothing more than to become what the boy had just described but reality wasn't so clear cut and tidy.
"Are you okay?" the child asked and he shook his head clear.
"It's nothing," he replied, pushing those thoughts out of his mind before he took a seat next to the boy.
He was too tired to keep standing all day.
"Why don't you tell me what's happening in this show?" it wouldn't hurt to bond with the child; they hadn't exactly had much time to do so yet after all.
Shirou offered him a smile and nodded before going into an explanation of the show he was watching.
XXX
The weeks passed by slowly for Kiritsugu as he continued trying to look after the child.
He was definitely not an expert in the art of raising a child and he was certain it showed if Taiga constantly showing up and trying to help out was anything to go by.
But at the very least he was managing to bond with Shirou because of that strange show he kept watching.
Of course, the child still tried to get him to teach him about magecraft but he wasn't willing to let the boy destroy himself by living that sort of life.
That wasn't even including the fact that he didn't even know what the boy wanted to learn it for.
But yet again, he found himself sitting in front of the television, watching that show with the boy.
It was when it ended that Shirou asked him something slightly different to what he had done previously.
"Dad… is there anything like the Power Rangers in real life?"
Kiritsugu froze.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, a group of superheroes who go around saving the world from monsters," the boy explained and Kiritsugu felt a hollow emptiness in response.
"... there are groups who hunt down monsters… but they're not heroes," he said, remembering some of the magi and executors he had met over his career.
"But you were," the child said.
Rubbing his forehead he decided it was time to drop the truth on the boy.
"No… I tried to be… but all I did was cause more misery," he explained.
"What do you mean?"
"... in order to save someone means not saving another," he explained, "and even then, there are times when you must kill someone in order to save someone else… the world isn't black and white."
The child lowered his head and silence filled the room.
He felt guilt rise up within him. Had he just destroyed the child's dreams?
After several minutes of awkward silence Shirou lifted his head, his face showing nothing but resolution.
"If there aren't any heroes out there, then I will just have to make heroes like that," Shirou declared.
Kiritsugu blinked.
"What?"
He didn't understand what the child was saying.
"If there aren't any heroes out there, then I'll make my own Power Rangers team," Shirou stated with a resolute nod.
"And how do you plan on doing that?" he asked the child, his feelings a cross between disbelief and amusement.
"I'll just have to find someone to teach me magic and then I'll figure it out," the boy said.
Kiritsugu flinched.
"I'm not teaching you," he said and Shirou frowned.
"... then I'll just have to find someone else."
"And how do you plan on doing that?" he asked the boy who rubbed his chin for a few seconds before nodding.
"I'll ask at the church," Kiritsugu felt his heart race, "I mean, if anyone in town would know where to start, then the church will probably know."
"No," he declared, "you are not going to the church."
"Why not?" the boy asked, his eyes narrowing.
"Because going there is a bad idea," he tried to reason with the child who frowned.
"You don't want me to learn," Shirou said, "and you don't want me going to the church… so that means that the church can teach me."
Dammit!
Why couldn't the boy just agree to not go there?
It would have been one thing if it was just a normal church but he had come to learn that somehow Kotomine had survived their fight and was now the priest there.
Shirou wouldn't survive coming across that man.
But… but Shirou had already shown he wasn't going to trust his words about the church. The worst part was that he could easily understand why the kid wouldn't.
After all, the kid knew he didn't want him learning magecraft, so every excuse he could come up with would simply be another attempt at stopping him.
What could he do?
In the end… there was only one thing he could do.
"... fine," he relented, "I'll teach you magecraft… just stay away from the church."
Shirou's eyes widened.
"Promise?"
"Yes," he said.
It seemed he was going to start teaching the kid after all.
He just hoped the boy's life wasn't ruined by it.
XXX Chapter End XXX
And that's all for right now.
I don't know how often I'll update this.
But... given some of the shit I have pictured in my head concerning this...
Well...
I'm probably going to write something every now and then.