“The beach!”
The words hung in the air for what felt like an eternity, bouncing off the white sand, gently roaring surf, and soft sunlight that blanketed it all. The girl who’d said them was looking proudly at the sight before her, coming the closest Saber had ever seen to tearing up.
“Rin, are you alright?” the blonde asked, slightly concerned. “This sight is agreeable, but I didn’t think you’d be so excited about it.” Rin, now a young woman, certainly hadn’t been as ecstatic during their visits to the local pool.
Rin raised one finger and rested that arm’s elbow on the other’s palm. “There is a world of difference,” she said proudly. “Between a pool and a beach, particularly this beach.”
“If you say so,” Saber replied happily. Both ladies were in their bathing suits, Rin’s a daring two-piece and Saber’s a blue one-piece that still showed much more skin than she was comfortable with, particularly around certain areas. If Saber had known it would end up like this, she would’ve stuck with the plain white bikini she was used to. Still, Rin had picked it out, so it couldn’t be that bad.
“Are you nervous?” Rin honed in on her friend’s embarrassment. “Relax. It’ll only be me and Shirou.”
“That,” Saber said weakly. “Is exactly why I’m nervous.”
“Saber!” the sounds of bare feet on sand alerted both girls to the third person’s arrival long before he greeted them, panting lightly in a pair of red swimming trunks. “Sorry I’m late - wow, you look… uh.” Shirou fumbled for words as he saw the risqué outfit. His cheeks turned red and he was forced to look away. “Nice,” he eventually said. “You look very nice.”
“T-thank you, Shirou.” Belatedly, Saber realized exactly why Rin had picked out this specific bathing suit. She was suddenly keenly aware of her body and how Shirou’s eyes had unconsciously roamed about it. She shot the other girl an accusing look, only to be greeted by barely repressed snickering. “Rin, we will have words about your choice of attire.”
“Later, later.” The brunette waved them off, turning away from her companions to look at the empty water. “First, the beach! Go on, enjoy! It’s beautiful, it’s empty, and it’s free!” Saber had a feeling that Rin’s happiness was derived more from the last one than the other two, particularly since the Clock Tower was funding the whole thing. “We have three days! Swim! Play! Get a tan!”
“They say the sun is healthy for you,” Shirou said, somehow managing to look at Rin without looking at her state of dress at the same time. “I think it might even help me with my magecraft-”
“Shirou.” Both girls went to say his name, but Saber was faster, having become more used to her Master’s occasional loss of common sense. “I don’t think you need any more sun.” She folded her arms and gave him a look, one of many. This one meant ‘don’t make me blow you up for your own good’.
Bemused, the man simply shrugged and rubbed one darkening hand through his paling hair. At length, he offered up an acceptable response to the two girls who were silently staring at him. “Want me to fetch drinks?”
““Please do.””
Though it had been a beautiful day, they hadn’t been able to take advantage of it. Despite her initial excitement, Rin spent most of her time lying back and reading a dusty tome between sips of coconut juice, and after fifteen minutes of painful chatting, Shirou had made a dozen excuses to disappear for hours on end before arriving at the end of the day no worse for the wear.
Saber, meanwhile, tried to swim. It was a painful thing to attempt most of the time, but without Shirou there to help her, she’d settled for starting at the surf and inching forward. In the space of a few hours she made it a few meters, and stopped when she could sit down and let the tide wash over her shoulders every so often while staring at the setting sun. Every tiny wave brought shudders, but Saber was nothing if not brave.
That night, just as Rin was beginning to pack up her bags while muttering about wasted opportunities, Shirou returned. He was panting even harder now, though he looked perfectly fine. Rin passed him, shook her head, and told him the house would be unlocked when he came back. It wasn’t as if there was anyone other than them on the island in the first place, so they didn’t have to worry about security nearly as much.
When Shirou reached the beach again, he saw Saber sitting in the surf, staring at the last sliver of sunlight as it slipped below the horizon. He sat down next to her, just close enough for her to reach out and touch his shoulder if she felt like it. “Hi,” he said.
“Hello,” she replied without looking at him.
They sat there for maybe fifteen minutes, watching the moon lazily make its way across the star-filled sky. It was bright and clear, illuminating the world just as well as its opposite. The constellations were strange and unknown, with the familiar stars buried under more lights in the sky than there was sand on the beach.
“I can smell the blood in your hair,” Saber said eventually. “And the sweat on your skin.”
Shirou smiled weakly. “I tripped earlier,” he said. “And it was a warm day.”
“I can also feel your expenditure. Even with Rin taking part of the load off, you are my primary source of prana. It isn’t difficult to see that you used your circuits recently.”
Shirou thought for a moment, and then let out a defeated sigh as he realized there was no excuse he could come up with. “This island’s not on any map,” he admitted. “Because it’s owned by a Lord of the Association. The Edelfelts won’t interfere as long as they get half of it to themselves to use as a private resort, but the other half is a village of natives ruled by a tyrant that-”
“Shh.” Saber took his hand in her own. Underwater, the contact felt different. Muted, somehow. “I understand. Did you… take care of it?”
He smiled. An honest smile with no lies behind it. “Yeah,” he said. “I saved them.”
Saber scooted closer and leaned her head on his shoulder, staring at the water. Gold became silver as the sun vanished and the moon’s light reflected off the waves. She could see schools of fish swimming in the distance, out of her reach. “Next time I will come with you.”
“I…”
“It’s cold,” she said, letting herself shiver the slightest bit. “You’re not.” Indeed, Shirou’s body was like a furnace, letting loose a comfortable warmth that didn’t fade away with the waves. She didn’t really feel cold enough to lean on Shirou, but Rin had told her to try acting more vulnerable, so Saber pretended to be a weak person who needed support. As Shirou wrapped his arms around her and she floated into his lap, she admitted that maybe Rin’s strange ideas weren’t so bad after all.
“He was raised on an island like this,” Shirou said suddenly, as if remembering a trivial fact. “Kiritsugu.”
“…” There was no answer she could give, no reply she could give for the man she knew next to nothing about, so Saber merely placed her own hands on top of Shirou’s. Even beneath the waves and coloured by moonlight, his were much darker than her own.
“Hidden away from the rest of the world, in an isolated bubble, he lived here as a child. And when that bubble burst…”
“Perhaps the world of a child and the world of an adult are different,” Saber murmured, squeezing Shirou’s hand.
“Yes.” His words carried some kind of resolution. As he came to an unknown conclusion, Shirou’s arms loosened and he pushed away from Saber, slowly standing. “Can you come with me?” he asked. “I have something to show you.”
The girl met his warm eyes and nodded, rising from the water. The fresh breeze on her wet skin caused a shiver, and Shirou put his hand on her shoulder out of habit, stroking it and feeling goosebumps alongside smooth flesh. She blushed without knowing why.
It took a handful of minutes to get to the inlet. They never left the water. Several times the ocean came up to Shirou’s neck, and he had to hold Saber’s hands as she nervously paddled her way around tall, smooth spires of rock that glistened in the moonlight. It was only his promising smile and her own pride that kept her from protesting.
Their destination was a small bay. A part of the beach that had long ago been cut off from the rest by a rock slide, it eventually developed into a solitary place that no one could see and would only fit a few people. As a place for many, it was unsuitable, but for two people, it was perfect.
“We can dry off there,” Shirou said as they approached, pointing to the large sheet spread out across the sand, as wide as a King-sized bed. “There’s a change of clothes and some towels, and I brought back food in case you were hungry.”
The water was shallow, so Saber stood on her own two feet as they approached dry land. But she stopped, then and there, holding onto Shirou’s hand with strength that no longer belonged to a young girl.
“Eh? Saber?”
“I am not hungry,” she said.
“S-sorry, I shouldn’t have assumed. I’ll put it away-”
“Hmph.” Saber looked at him with the haughty glare of a King. She looked ridiculous trying to exert authority while wearing a glistening bathing suit, but for Shirou, her words were heavier than lead. “I don’t know how you can keep saying that. After leaving me alone all day… how can you expect me to be hungry when I had nothing to do by myself? It’s already night time and because of you, I’m still restless.”
He frowned, furrowing his brows together as he put his thoughts into trying to make Saber happy, completely unaware of her hand still clutching his. Shirou could be smart on occasion, but he was rarely perceptive when it counted, even after years of practice.
“Shirou,” Saber said slowly, shortening his name the way only she could. “Perhaps I could do something to burn that extra energy before eating.” This much would be necessary to get through her Master’s thick skull, she knew. “Maybe you could help me.”
Shirou’s reply was tightening his grip and drawing the girl closer until the tips of her swimsuit-covered breasts were touching his chest. “That wasn’t subtle at all,” he chuckled.
Saber ducked her head to hide her reddening cheeks. “I - I could have been referring to some light sparring,” she muttered weakly, suddenly having doubts about the whole thing. Her eyes followed the lines of Shirou’s toned body, running over scars and lean muscle that glistened with drops of water.
“Were you?”
It was a rare occasion that her lover decided to tease her in such a way, so Saber had no answer prepared. The pride of a King was worth little in such a situation. A tactical retreat was in order.
Saber drew away from Shirou, feeling the cold air envelop her once more. It was partly to clear her head, and partly to stop him from realizing that her nipples had hardened under her bathing suit. “We should return to land,” she said, stalling for time. She saw him nod in her peripheral vision, unable to meet his eyes.
Exiting the water was an ordeal unto itself. Saber’s sensitivity was at its height. She felt every cool breeze acutely, and the cool air was a tickling breath that ran across her skin with all the restraint of a starving lion. Instead of calming her down, the air was merely reinforcing her need. For the first time in her life she actually wanted to stay in the water, but by the time she realized it, they’d already reached the shore and waves were lapping at her feet.
“Sorry,” Shirou said as they left the water. He smiled, a wry grin that he seemed to have picked up from Archer. “I know I was late, but I hope this will be enough to earn your forgiveness.”
It was. In terms of romance, he had outdone himself. The once awkward and direct teen had matured wonderfully, so much so that Saber frequently felt left behind to walk his ever larger footsteps. The set up, the location, everything was perfect. Even she could recognize that.
“I shouldn’t forgive you,” she said, but the façade of kingliness was a fragile one.
“Then I’ll do whatever you wish,” he said, bowing his head. “For tonight, I’m all yours.”
“You do this on purpose,” Saber realized. “Are you going to force me to say it?”
Shirou merely shrugged, the teasing smile playing about his lips. They both knew what would happen, and once the act was underway anything could happen, but it was usually him that started their trysts. As the one most willing to throw himself headlong into danger, it was no surprise that he’d developed a fondness for experimentation while Saber’s tastes were more grounded. Perhaps there was a certain appeal to reversing that rule. “I’ll do whatever you tell me to,” he said, knowing it meant nothing.
She bit her lip, cursing the fact that a life of training to fight for her life hadn’t prepared her for something like this. Yes, she knew how to please a man, but there was more to making love than carnal knowledge. Life hadn’t prepared her for the warmth in her chest and loins, or the urge to simultaneously kiss and throttle the wonderful, horrible person before her. All it had given her was the bravery needed to push forward regardless.
“Walk with me,” she suddenly decided, extending her hand. “That’s all.”
Shirou blinked. He opened his mouth to ask why, before remembering his facetious promise. Caught off guard and cornered, it was all he could do to swallow his own frustration and take Saber’s hand, following her with mounting confusion as they returned to the water.
But this time, instead of walking into the surf, Saber walked on it. Shirou descended, but Saber’s elevation didn’t change, courtesy of a certain blessing. A few meters in, when their difference in height had shrunk to nothing, Saber stopped and turned back to Shirou, examining his face from a new angle while keeping her own completely blank. He said nothing as she cupped her hands around his cheeks, nor when their foreheads met and eyes locked together before slowly sliding shut.
Neither knew who had started the kiss, only that their mouths were moving against each other and the space between their bodies had shrunk to almost nothing. The warmth Saber had sought was there, as was Shirou’s objective. Surrounded by a deceptively hostile wind, they took shelter in each other.
Saber’s already uneven breathing hitched as Shirou’s hand lifted up one of the straps of her swimsuit. “Leave it,” she said weakly, between kisses. “The wind is too strong- mph!”
The suit stayed on, but in exchange his hand snaked around her back and pulled her forward, within reach of a more powerful attack. The gates of her mouth were breached by his tongue, and her own sallied forth to mount a charge of its own. And exchange of troops was made, and the two armies mingled and fought in hot, sticky chaos.
As they wrestled with all the urgency of a melting ice cube, Shirou’s hands chose to slip beneath Saber’s only article of clothing again, reaching skin that had been alternately shielded and rubbed raw by her movements. When they reached a stiff protrusion that would’ve easily been visible through the fabric given slightly more light, he seized the advantage.
Saber’s high ground was useless as two fingers pinched and kneaded her nipple gently enough to be bearable, and with just enough force to bring forth gasps and weakly suppressed moans through the kiss. Her hands tangled in Shirou’s hair and squeezed, but couldn’t distract the lustful beast he’d become. When the number of fingers doubled to four and the sound of the waves faded out to white noise, she was faced with a crossroads. Given the chance, he would maneuver back to shore and taker her there. It was time for a bold new strategy.
One of Saber’s feet left the surface of the water and nudged Shirou’s belly with a single toe, leaving him giggling and off balance, and her with only one limb separating her from another impromptu bath. Her toes curled as Saber recognized the geography by touch, and with Shirou’s hands taken they couldn’t stop the new attacker from finding his own throbbing weak point and pushing against it.
That got a reaction. Shirou broke the kiss first. “Saber,” he said, half moaning and half pleading. His need was so great that even the muted sensation was enough to drive away all thoughts of teasing.
She allowed herself a victorious grin. “Didn’t I teach you to be wary of attacks from unexpected angles?” To punctuate her words, she hooked one toe around the hem of Shirou’s swimming trunks, and pulled down, exposing him to crisp air and sea spray.
He hissed, more from the unexpected sensation than pain.
She capitalized on her opponent’s distraction by pushing her advantage, stimulating Shirou’s hardening organ with a foot that could kick down a door just as easily as it could twist in a dance. Saber felt it between her first and second toes, and pushed down before retreating upwards, revelling in how even her improvised actions brought undeniable pleasure to her overexposed partner. And while he was distracted, she slipped out of his grasp, dancing towards deeper waters.
Saber bent down, giving Shirou an even better view as she curled one finger and beckoned him to give chase.
With a determined growl, he sauntered forward after slipping off the last of his confining clothing.
It was a short game of tag, with a rather abrupt conclusion. Saber easily kept herself just out of Shirou’s reach, and with the water slowing him down he stood next to no chance of catching her. Yet such a fool couldn’t be held back so easily. As the water passed his waist, Shirou found what he needed. He kicked off a stable column of rock, shooting forward with unexpected speed and wrapping his arms around Saber’s delicate feet.
“Ah!” She almost slipped and fell, but preserved her balance at the last moment. She’d been caught, but it didn’t matter. At this point, Shirou’s face barely came up to her stomach. That was a perfect height…
…for him.
“Enough is enough,” Shirou panted, holding on to his captive’s ankle with one hand as he raised the other. “Time for me to claim the spoils of war.”
“A little early,” only shaking slightly, Saber awaited his next move. He couldn’t pull her down, and she wouldn’t pull him up, so it was a clear impasse. “You’ve yet to breach my defenses. You’ll starve while besieging my castle.”
She was playing up the metaphors for all they were worth. Not that Shirou objected. “Then I’ll just have to raze the fields.” Fingers travelled down the girl’s stomach until they reached hips, and then went lower. She shuddered. “Take the crops.” He licked his lips. “Plumb the wells.”
It was the last thing he said before he made good on his promise. Shirou’s free hand hooked around the lowest point of Saber’s bathing suit and pulled it aside, while he dove in to assault Saber’s other lips personally.
“Mm!” Her hands found Shirou’s hair, but instead of pulling him away she pushed him down, bringing him even closer to her core. His swordplay had improved considerably. His tongue darted around her gate, reaching the honey within while making sure to leave its mark on her walls.
As Shirou’s ministrations intensified, so too did Saber’s control over her ‘trick’ wither. A blessing was a blessing, but when concentration was necessary to call upon it, a disruption of such magnitude threatened to dissolve her will completely. She couldn’t hold back the gasps and moans that escaped from her lips, and as her muscles body went wild, she slowly began to sink below the waves.
It happened with little warning. So engrossed was Shirou with his target that he only realized he’d brought Saber over the edge when her walls spasmed and she sank like a stone, losing her supernatural buoyancy and falling neatly into his arms.
For a moment, he was confused, and his lover stared at the starry sky with empty eyes and flushed cheeks. But eventually those eyes came to meet Shirou’s own, and Saber smiled weakly. “That was… wonderful,” she admitted. “But you aren’t satisfied with that much.”
“Hah. Neither are you.”
For once, Saber’s habitual fear of water wasn’t there. She allowed herself to be held, relaxing in someone else’s arms. It was a rare treat for someone who was used to relying only on herself. Her questioning gaze was answered with a kiss as passionate as the first.
When they met, finally, beneath the water, both shuddered. It was different, somehow. Elaborate? Enhanced? Exotic? A proper word didn’t exist to describe the sensation of their union, but it was still as electrifying as ever, if not more so. Saber threw her arms around his neck, but it was barely necessary. With the water handling gravity, all she needed to focus on was her hips. And she did.
“Mm-!” With an excess of lubrication, movement came easily.
Too easily, in fact. It wasn’t right. That shifting an inch was all he needed to do to make her shudder and moan felt fundamentally unfair, as if they had exceeded a certain satisfaction allowance. When Saber wrapped her hips around Shirou’s waist and allowed him to support her diminished weight, she became sure of it.
The sound of breathing and flesh meeting flesh was dulled by the roar of the tide, something Saber was thankful for even as her lover’s hands slipped under her bathing suit again. No one would be able to hear them, even if that ‘no one’ was limited to a snoring magus miles away. No one would be able to see her surrender to desire. No one would know what transpired that night.
No one except her and…
“Shirou-!”
"Saber!"
He held her tightly, and she held him in return. His warm eyes burned like the fire within.
Except that fire was in both of them now, and they burned together.
“It’s ruined.”
“It’s not.”
“I can see the stains,” Saber insisted. “I can smell them.”
Shirou shook his head. “I’m the one with the good nose, remember? Your swimsuit’s fine. She won’t notice a thing. That kind of… stuff washes off easily.”
Saber was unconvinced. “She notices everything.”
“I notice what?” They almost leapt out of their clothes. Shirou and Saber turned around in a panic, only to see Rin smirking at them knowingly, looking perfectly rested.
“Um.”
The girl shook her head, but the smile stayed. “Idiot. You’re going back to the estate and fetching lunch. And breakfast.”
“D-Dinner would be nice as well,” Saber piped up. After a moment, she quickly added on to the statement. “To eliminate the need for multiple trips, of course.”
Shirou nodded frantically, desperate to escape before Rin saw through his poor acting. “I’ll be right back!” He dashed off in the direction Rin had arrived from. Both girls watched under the comfortable sun as he shrank and vanished into the distance.
“Idiot,” Rin repeated as she sank into a lounging chair and untied the front of her two-piece, exposing her entire upper half of the sun. “He really is an idiot.”
Saber took the chair next to Rin’s, debating whether to try for a tan that probably wouldn’t stick in the first place. “Shirou hasn’t done anything foolish,” she ventured weakly. “At least, not that I’m aware of.”
Rin cocked an eyebrow and sighed. “Fair enough: You’re both idiots.”
“Eh?”
The younger woman pointed in the direction of the small bay. “That thing’s shaped perfectly to deliver sound, and the house is literally right on top of it. Also, Emiya flunked Geography.”
Saber blushed, mortified. “You mean…”
“All night,” Rin grumbled. “I had to put up a spell after the first few hours just to get some sleep. How about next time you try the one on the right instead?”
Saber looked down and allowed herself to smile. “I… I think I will.”
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by Kinoko Nasu
