Hello all, this is Hermitfold, here with another fic for your (I hope) reading pleasure. I hope all of you enjoy this fic, as much as I enjoy writing it.
Much thanks go to my co-writer and beat reader eddyak
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Starcrossed- A Fate/Stay Night Fanfiction
Prologue 1: The Star in the Left hand
Disclaimer: Fate/Stay Night belong to KInoko Nasu and Type-MOON. Though I so, so wish I owned it, but I don’t…
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“… “
Aozaki Aoko was currently pissed off at life in general. Something that anyone who knew her would say to be something that was not conducive to the well-being and safety of any person, animal or structure that was near her.
It was a windy Tuesday afternoon as a bus made an ambling way down a highway and the Aozaki magus was currently in a heated, yet quiet discussion with a magus belonging to a small organization that was ostensibly a part of the Sea of Estray, but was on it’s own for all intents and purposes. Her problem currently was with their non-existent payment methods.
“ Our sincerest apologies, Aozaki-sama.”, the magus, a small time functionary who handled the cabal’s finances said hurriedly. Aoko couldn’t decide what she found more irritating: the fawning manner of a man who she knew to be a petty jackass, who was acting respectful because he thought she was on the verge of hunting him down and disintegrating him, or the fact her bank account was missing $100,000 Euros, or how shitty her recent job had been, plus the fact the same man talking to her had left some crucial information which might have gotten her killed?
Deciding not to think about it, she tuned back in to listen to what the magus was saying “… And because of the recent change in the price of gold, the cabal has had problems…”
“Enough”, Aoko ground out. The man was giving her a headache.
“Aozaki-sama?”
‘Just listen”, she said quietly. “Make sure I get my money, or whatever you think I’ll do to you, I’ll do something even worse. For example, I’ll blast that building to kingdom come, with you inside it. Understand?” Aoko took the scared whimpering on the other side of the phone to say that he did understand and ended the call.
Looking outside at the clear blue sky, Aoko felt a small portion of her worries fade away. Heh, hard to be worried on such a nice day…
Life had been hectic recently, and this was only the latest in a string of shitty jobs. Maybe I need to take a break for a while. I have enough money saved, and no jobs for now. Benefits of being a freelancer.
She looked outside the window at the sign in the horizon. “Fuyuki City? Sounds cool."
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Ah, did you do the homework last night?
I want to go get the new BAREEEENNN CD tomorrow…
No, Sensei’s going to be so mad...
On an average day, at an average middle school, the noises of daily school life thrummed. Friends talked, words were exchanged, debts made, promises kept.
“See you tomorrow, Tohsaka-sempai!”
“I'll see you them, Aramaki-chan.”
Pushing her hair behind her head as the wind pushed against it, 13 year old Tohsaka Rin waved goodbye to her friends and walked off home.
Anyone who had been observing her as she walked would have been under the impression that she was a proper, demure Japanese schoolgirl. Thus, they would have been utterly surprised to find out that she was plotting murder as she walked.
That Kirei... I've had it with him, Rin seethed as she walked. Every single time, he just finds ways to make me suffer. He probably gets off on it, she thought with a dark chuckle.
Rin's issues with her teacher Kotomine Kirei had been hanging over their relationship practically since the time that they met, much to her annoyance and his amusement. While Rin could normally deal with Kirei's penchant for being annoying, and generally someone who screamed “Don't trust me' with every look, word and gesture, yesterday's lesson and some comments that Kirei casually made tested that mindset of hers more every passing second. Having to deal with her idiotic PE teacher today only pissed her off more.
As she walked, her thoughts of vengeance against her erstwhile teacher grew more and more complicated, moving from putting laxatives in his food to attempting murder.
So caught up was she that she didn't even notice when she bumped into something.
“Owww'', she said as she sprawled on the ground.
“Are you alright?” a voice said from above her. Rin looked up. Blue jeans with a white shirt met her vision. The developing 13 year old also could help but notice that the white shirt was quite...well filled. Going up further, she has a friendly, if quizzical face, framed by amazing red hair that went all the way down to her legs.
All in all, one thing went across young Tohsaka Rin's mind. Beautiful…
Chuckling slightly at the awestruck look on the girl's face, the vision moved her hand downward. “Ahh, do you want a hand?”
Blushing at her lack of manners, not to mention what she was thinking, Rin mumbled a quick apology and grabbed the pro-offered hand.
....
....
Both parties were silently stared at the other’s face.
Both knew what they had felt, and knew it to be true.
'The red haired magus chuckled slightly “Well, what have we here?” she said with a smile.
“What indeed” Rin ground out looking at the woman angrily and not without some fear. She did not have much contact with mages nowadays other than Kirei, and she well knew what some mages were like.
If you were coming, you should have informed me as was proper, Rin said calmly.
At that, the amused look on the woman's face only grew wider. “Ah, I see. I heard rumours... You must be Tohsaka's daughter then. Well, shall I introduce myself now?” She said cheerfully.
“Eh?” Rin's protests were cut off as the woman caught her arm. What are you...?
“Don't worry” the woman said as she walked Rin over to a nearby vending machine. I won't do anything. Do you want something to drink?, she asked as he she held a 500 yen note to the machine.
At Rin's suspicious look, she sighed. “I can't poison you with a closed soda, can I?”
Rin narrowed her eyes. “Why?”
At the question, the magus shrugged. “Isn't it good to get in with the owner, kid? “ She quipped as she pulled out two fruit drinks.
Holding the cold beverage in her hands, Rin glanced up at the magus. “Alright, who are you?”
After a rather lengthy draught, the woman looked down at Rin. “My name's Aozaki Aoko. Nice to meet you.”
At that point Rin's mind shut down and she took an automatic step backwards.
“Aozaki Aoko?'
“Yeah”
“As in,” she whispered this part, “The Magic Gunner? Miss Blue? The Magician of the Fifth Magic? The 4th successor of the Aozaki family?”
“Again, yeah”
“The mage of absolute destruction?”
“...yeah”
“The human missile launcher?”
“...Yes”
“The advent of chaos?”
“OK, seriously, who comes up with these crappy nicknames?” Aoko burst out.
Rin sniffed. “Maybe you should stop blowing things up then.” she challenged.
“But I don't! Not really! I mean there was that church, but that was an Apostle hunt, and the bridge,
but I was looking for an artifact, and that mountain...”
At Rin's horrified look, she laughed lightly. “Joking, joking.”
She scowled. “What are you doing here?”
The magus in front of her shrugged. “This and that”
“This and that…what?”
Aoko bent her head down until she was looking Rin in the eye. “Is that really something that a brat should be asking?”
At the word ‘brat’, rationality left Rin’s mind. Barely suppressing herself from screaming, she directed the fiercest glare she could at the older mage. “I am the Owner here, it’s your responsibility to tell me what’s going on.”
Aoko’s easy grin left her face at Rin’s words. “You sure know how to talk, kid”, she said distantly.
“Think you can back it up?”
A chill descended on Rin’s bones. Throughout the world of mages, the name Aozaki Aoko was one that was known and feared by all. As the only human being that could use True Magic, she was already an oddity, but the fact that she was, as Rin had heard the story, a freelance magus was even more odd. Magicians tended to retire from the world at large, becoming recluses who did whatever they felt like, such as her great Teacher Kishua Zelretch Schweinorg. This was compounded by Aoko’s now legendary tendency to blow things up, and cause general mayhem and destruction.
“Hey kid”, Aoko’s voice cut into her thoughts and started at the magus . “Is it true that you’re related to Zelretch?”, she asked curiously.
“Whaa..”, Rin did a excellent impression a fish as her mouth opened and closed several times in succession. While it was something that had been making the rounds in the Association,not even a bastard like Kirei would ask her in such a bold fashion.
“None of your business.”
Aoko pouted, seemingly disappointed with the reply “Just curious”, she said.
Rin twitched.”You...need to be more aware of your position”, she muttered.
Hmm?
Rin continued talking, not having heard Aoko's reply. “You're the only human Wizard, not to mention the successor of the Aozaki family. You need to be more mature!”
Aoko smirked. “Rather than being a magus, a career as a comedian suits you better, kid. If Zelretch was here, he'd be laughing his ass off.”
“Zelretch? You've met him, I mean you've actually met him?”, Rin's eye were sparkling now.
“Sure, I saw him at the annual meeting.” Aoko answered casually.
“Meeting?”
“Yeah, Magicians have a meeting every year, you know, just to keep up to date.”
...
Aoko took one look at Rin's face and broke down laughing. “Wow, you're gullible, kid.”
“I mean, really, who would believe that? Are you an idiot?” Aoko sputtered as she continually slapped her fists on the wall behind her, overcome with mirth.
Rin twitched as she stared at the elder magus laughing at her.
At. Her.
Sometimes, there are times when you can just stop smell the roses and just have fun. Tohsaka Rin was normally speaking, a rational young woman. However, the magus in front of her had pissed her off beyond endurance.
“YOU!!!!!”
Rin's response was cut off as Aoko stopped laughing and got up from the floor. “Hey kid, you're really a barrel of laughs. What say, you show me around this town of yours?”
“Why the hell would I go around with you?”, Rin replied tersely.
“Hm, I suppose brats shouldn't go off with strangers, right?”, Aoko jokingly replied.
Ignoring the sight of Rin's hands making strangling motions, Aoko spun around twice and looked up at the sky. “You really need to calm down, kid. Just call it the act of a native showing around a tourist or something. If it really bothers you, then just say that as the Second Owner, you're escorting a visiting magus”
She turned around to Rin and smiled. “What do you say?”
Rin considered it. The person in front of her was informal, rude and annoying. Not only that, but she was one of the most dangerous people on the planet. Thinking about it, there could only be one logical answer she could give.
-------
“Man, that priest guy really sounds like an asshole.”, Aoko commented as she ate her nabe at the little hole in the wall restaurant Rin had led her to.
“I know!”, Rin paused from scarfing down her own bowl of nabe. “If it wasn't for the fact that my father taught him and asked him to take care of me, I would...”
As Rin started detailing exactly what she would do to Kirei, which included a rather interesting application of power tools, Aoko messily slurped at her nabe. After a rather rocky beginning, most of which was her fault, the two had got along rather well. The girl reminded Aoko of herself in a way.
“Aoko-san?”
Blinking back to reality after her musing, Aoko looked at Rin. “Yeah?”
“Ahh”, the twin-tailed girl looked embarrassed as she averted her eyes from Aoko's face. “I was wondering if you could tell me about your jobs?”
Aoko moved her bowl away from her. “What did you want to know?”, she replied in a neutral voice.
Rin chuckled nervously. “It's just… There are all these rumours about you, but could you tell me about the real you?"
Aoko groaned internally. For reasons that were both justified and completely stupid, she had built up quite a reputation in the supernatural community. It's only normal for a young magus like Rin to want to hear about the things that she did, the things people said she did, and the stuff she'd done that wasn't publicised.
“Being a freelancer... is something interesting, to say the least. It's not as if I go around fighting the 27 Dead Apostle Ancestors everyday. Most of the stuff I do is basic, really, but then I suppose you can figure that out for yourself. The interesting thing is how you react to stuff. I mean if you get involved with a situation, a pro like myself has to get all the relevant information and find the most efficient solution. I know you heard the rumours that all I do is go around blasting the shit out of everything I think is an enemy. Well, that's not true. Information gathering and analysis is important before engaging in any situation, you know. ”
Looking at Rin's rapt expression, Aoko smirked. “Then I blow things up.”, she said and Rin stifled a laugh.
Glancing at her cellphone, Aoko groaned. “It's getting late. We both ought to be heading back now, kiddo.”
Rin nodded. “How long are you going to be here?”, she asked as Aoko got up from her chair.
“Until tomorrow.” Aoko said as she paid the proprietor for her meal.
“OK”, Rin replied as she paid the proprietor.
The night was already on its way as the two of them made their way to the bus station., both of them quiet. Aoko was just in her normal post-meal relaxing stage, and Rin seemed like she was busy thinking of something.
“Well, it's been real, kiddo.” Aoko quipped as they sat down at the bus station.
Rin gave her a withering glance. “That phrase stopped being cool years ago, you know?”
Ignoring Aoko's flinch, Rin glanced up the ceiling and then back at Aoko. Nodding to herself, she turned back to the magician. “Aoko-san, I would like to formally register as your apprentice.”, she said, looking straight into the older woman's eyes.
Aoko nearly dropped the soda she was drinking in surprise at Rin's words. “Are you crazy, you already have a teacher, and I'm not the hanging around sort.”
Shaking her head, Rin huffed. “My teacher is an asshole, and in any case there's no rule against having two teachers. And for point number 2, teaching me from afar won't really be that much of a problem. Kirei's nearly almost always gone on some mission and I get along fine. In fact, I get along better when he isn't around.”
“You want me to be your teacher, why again.?Why should I even do it?”
Rin smirked. “You'd make a good teacher, that's all.”
Aoko looked at the girl. Even though she liked the kid, and they got along well, an apprentice was a hassle she didn't need. Especially one from a family such as the Tohsakas, and who already had a teacher who not only had connections in the Church but also the Mage's Association, but also, according to Rin at least, could't be trusted as far as you could throw him.
Really, a horrible idea, something she should just make a pithy comment at and laugh off. Thinking about it, there was only one answer she could give.
Grinning widely, she picked up a bit of paper and wrote down some numbers on it. “Here's my phone number, kidd- Rin”, she said, looking over her shoulder at the sight of the bus back to her hotel.
Rin accepted the paper with just as wide a grin. “I got the job?”
As the bus pulled over and opened it's doors, Aoko grinned back at her. “You got the job”
Looking the figure of the girl as the bus tuned the corner, there was one thought on Aoko's mind.
This is gonna be interesting...
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Originally Posted by ItsaRandomUsername
Nevertheless, I resolve to watch this from now on.
