Prologue
Satsuki huddled in the corner of the silent warehouse once again, as she had countless days beforehand. She was freezing cold, but that was nothing new to her. Not now, after she had followed the man she had thought was the one she loved into that damnable alley... She held herself tightly, breathing heavily on the cold concrete floor. The thirst, the need for nourishment, for warm, succulent blood was so overwhelming it hurt. It was taking everything she had just to stay on the ground and not rise to her feet, to not walk into the night to find a sack of meat and fle- someone to drain just so she could make it go away for a short time.
For a place that had been crawling with monsters just days before, Forest felt that this Japanese town was quiet. Maybe a bit too quiet. She figured she'd do a few more sweeps before getting out leaving. There were too many factors that could kick her ass that she didn't want to deal with. Like some teenage boy who could kill with his eyes or something, from the little information she had managed to gather. She headed to the more abandoned, industrial end of town, knowing that from past examples a lot of miscreant elements usually hung around such places. She started to walk around when thoughts of sheer need and agony hit her like a bolt. It was enough to almost make her stagger, but instead she focused and headed to where she could sense them the strongest. She looked around and came upon a bolted warehouse door. She grabbed and twisted the lock, the rusted metal easily giving away to her supernatural strength. She kept one hand on her gun as she searched cautiously in the darkness until she saw a young girl in a tattered school uniform huddled in the back corner. Without a word she ran over to her.
Satsuki’s ears picked up the sound of scrapping metal, and she gazed hazily in the direction of the now open door. She couldn't tell who was there, other than the fact that it wasn't human...or at least a normal one, considering she couldn't sense any warm blood from the figure. She struggled to view beyond the blood haze, and soon she was able to distinguish the blond-haired young woman that was standing an arm’s length away. "Who...are you...?" she asked through clenched teeth.
Feverish bright crimson eyes met Forest and she stared. Then she cursed as she saw the condition she was in. "Oh bugger…” she muttered under her breath. With a sigh she knelt down in front of the girl and answered, "A giant idiot, but a one who's going to try to help you."
The woman's words confused Satsuki. Help? What could this unknown woman possibly do to 'help' her? "There's no helping me…not anymore…" she whispered miserably.
"Well, I'm sort of special. Okay, I got lost. I blame Wynn, but that's neither here nor there. First thing I'm going to do is get you to feed on something that's not going to become like you," Forest said as she pulled off her duster. She wrapped it around the girl, gritted her teeth and then lifted her wrist to her mouth. There was a flash of pain as teeth tore into flesh. She almost gagged on the taste of her own blood, but she extended her wrist to the girl curled up on the floor.
Satsuki lunged towards the extended wrist and sank her fangs into it before she even knew that she was doing it. She sucked and laved at it for a few seconds before she pulled back out of horror.
"Oh my god! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to...I mean, I didn't......" She was mortified. If she took blood like this, she was violating her promise to Ciel-Sempai and Tohno-kun...
"I'm already dead so I can't become like you," Forest said, "And I offered freely. It was my choice, not yours." She flexed her now aching wrist as it began to heal. "Feeling better though?"
"Even so, that still-" She stopped. The thirst was...gone. For the first time in a long while she felt truly satisfied and in control of herself. She didn't know how or why, but she realized that the cause had to have been the blood of this mysterious woman.
"So, I'm Forest and I have this really bad habit of rescuing people. Want to come with me and help rescue others, and perhaps yourself?" the blond asked with a grin.
"Um...Eh?" Satsuki was dumbfounded. Did she just hear what she thought she heard? This woman liked to rescue people...and she wanted her to help rescue others? Maybe even…her?
"Yes, I did say that because I'm a blathering idiot," Forest said with a chuckle, "Anyhow, you can either continue to sit on the cold floor and brood about your existence, or you can come with me and see if we can't make it worthwhile for you."
"......" Satsuki was speechless. This…Forest helped her for no reason other than she could and wanted to, and was proposing that Satsuki to leave with her.
"Um...I appreciate you helping me with...you know, but...why do you want me to go with you? What could I do to help you with...rescuing people?" Satsuki asked meekly.
"Because a long time ago a girl needed help and there was no one there to help her. So she had to help herself and now wants to make sure that people don't go through the same hell she did," Forest said, "And there's plenty of evil forces you can learn to beat the shit out of."
Satsuki was stunned. She could tell by this woman’s - Forest - story that she herself had to have been the girl that she had just referred to. While she wasn't sure about many things these days, she did agree that her current situation was that was a living hell...and if she could, she would prefer that no one else have to experience it either and perhaps…find some way to make it more bearable. She thought to herself about everything that had happened to her over the past few months. She had a perfectly normal life, and it had completely vanished with one bite from...She could never be with Tohno-kun now...she couldn't be friends with anyone she knew from school anymore either...She no longer belonged in Misaki City.
"So, want to come with me? Get good shower, a change of clothes and away from here?" Forest offered.
She bit her lip and kept her hand extended. Personal experience told her that the best thing for the girl would be to just leave. To start over fresh and see where she could go from there, but sometimes starting over was too much.
Forest had presented Satsuki with a choice. She could either remain where she was and wallow in her self-loathing until she reached a point where she couldn't withstand the urge and break her promise to Ciel-Sempai and Tohno-kun while attacking people indiscriminately......Or she could follow this relative stranger who offered kindness and a place to belong for no reason at all. It didn't take her longer to reach a decision. She took a small breath, than looked up into the eyes of the woman before her.
"I want to go with you. There's nothing left for me here...not anymore..."
"Then, let's get out of here," Forest said in a soft voice, "And what's your name?"
"Yumizuka...Satsuki." She said with a small hint of hesitation.
"Well, come on Satsuki, let's get out of here," Forest said as she helped the girl up to her feet and adjusted the duster around her shoulders. "We shouldn't be buggering around in here."
Satsuki tilted her head in confusion at the unfamiliar word. "Bug-gering?"
"I'm a Brit, I use Britisms," Forest said with a chuckle.
Now she was even more confused. "Brit...? I know you're a foreigner because of your hair and facial features but..."
"I was born in Scotland a very long time ago. Like before toilets and stuff," Forest said with a grin.
"...Oh." That was all Satsuki could bring herself to say in the face of that kind of information.
"Like I'm older than that rock right there," Forest said as she pointed to a pebble on the ground with a grin.
"...Oh." She echoed again.
Forest said, "Now I'm just messing with you. So, to my hotel room for a bath then?"
"...Yes, Fore-Nee." Satsuki answered with the slightest hint of a smile. The first one that she had managed for a very long time.
Forest held out her hand and said, "Then come on, Sacchin."
She blinked at the oddly familiar nickname before slowly bringing her hand up and grasping the outstretched hand of her new friend. "Nn!"
Forest smiled and said, "Welcome to the fold."
Several Months Later...
Emiya Shirou was quietly lost in thought as he walked home after another afternoon's work at his job. There was a little more heavy lifting than usual and because of that he was pretty sore, but it was a soreness he welcomed as it proved that he did a good job. He walked the familiar route as he made for the bridge that would take him back to the older section of Fuyuki from Shinto. As he rounded a corner, he paused after hearing a stifled sound. He wasn't sure what it was, but...
"...Was that the sound of someone grunting in pain?" he murmured aloud.
Forest had gotten Sacchin to stay back and now was dealing with the miscreant with the razorblade. She nimbly dodged, sighed and said, "You know this is really pathetic." She debated on whether to just take the punk down or teach him a real lesson. The moment's deliberation got her raked across the stomach with said pathetic knife. Pain welled up and a grunt drew forth before she decided the hell with it and moved for the attack.
Shirou halted and turned back around, walking cautiously towards an out of the way alley that he had passed a few seconds ago. He was sure that the noise had come from that direction, and he halted and peeked around the corner to see a woman holding her abdomen and a man with a bloody knife in his hand. Rage and concern flooded through him and he flew around the corner and dashed at the man.
Forest cursed under her breath as she saw the bolt of red hair coming closer. The punk turned towards him with the knife out stretched and moved to attack. She took advantage of his loss of concentration towards her and swept out her leg to catch his ankle and sent him sprawling to the pavement.
Shirou saw the large mass of the man now flying towards him due to the quick thinking of the woman in front of him, and he dodged to the side to avoid the surprised man. He was too late in noticing the other person in the alley though until he was already hurtling into them. Satsuki yelped in surprise as the redhead pinned her against the wall. However, Forest was already in motion and moving to grab him. "Now, now, it’s not nice to attack the victim is it?" she asked.
"W-What? What do you mean...?" Shirou asked in confusion as he jerked his head from the startled brunette's face that was perhaps six inches from his face to the blonde that was behind him with a stiff hand on the back of his shirt.
"Those wankers were attacking her," Forest said with a smile.
Shirou looked further down the alley and saw three other motionless men on the ground. He couldn't see if they were badly injured from his current position, but if the man closest to him was any indication, they weren't going to be moving for some time. He glanced back at the blonde woman with the obvious question on his lips.
"Are you badly hurt?"
"Barely nicked," she said with a smile. Then she looked at Satsuki and asked, "What about you poppet?"
"You came in the nick of time again, Fore-nee," the other girl answered with a smile.
"Poppet? Fore…?" Shirou asked with a bewildered expression once again. The blonde was obviously a foreigner from her facial features, but the other girl in front of him was obviously Japanese, and he'd never heard of a name like ‘Poppet’ before...For that matter, what kind of name was 'Fore'?
Forest raised her eyebrow and said, "It's an English term."
"Ah, I see." Shirou said blankly. A couple seconds of silence passed before he broke it again.
"Um, can you please let me go? I...I'm sure Poppet-san isn't exactly comfortable with me being so close to her..."
Forest had a feeling that Sacchin would have blushed if she'd been able to. She let the kid go and said, "Well, you can run along home now."
Shirou quickly backed away from the women just enough to gather his thoughts and gulped now that he was able to see them properly. Both were of similar height and weight, but that was about where their similarities ended, as far as he could tell. Well, they were both very pretty too, but he forced his mind away from any further thoughts down that road. "I can't just go home with a woman injured like this." He said firmly. "I may not have a kit, but I know a little impromptu first aid. If it's something that I can't handle as it is though, you can come to my place and I'll fix you up properly."
"Trust me I'm okay," Forest said, feeling the wound already mostly healed. Satsuki shrugged.
"Wounds like that are not something you can take lightly. Even if it was shallow, you can't count on that man's knife being completely clean." He admitted to himself that her wound looked much smaller now, even though he could have sworn it was larger and deeper the first time he had seen it.
Forest said, "I'm pretty sure he didn't get me that badly, honestly."
Shirou was wondering why the blonde was being so persistent in turning down his aid. All he wanted to do was help however he could. "Please, just let me make sure. I couldn't do anything to prevent it from happening, but I can still make sure that nothing will happen to you in the future."
Forest bit her lip and looked at Sacchin. She was eying the redhead thoughtfully. Forest smiled and said, "We can take care of ourselves, but thank you. I mean that really."
Shirou was now unsure of what to do now. The only thing he could think of was to just smile and be on his way, but he knew that if he did the decision was going to eat at him for the rest of the night. "It's not like I'm not confident that you can't, but..." He looked from one of them to the other than sighed. "It's just that girls have to be careful out at night and all, and it'd really put my mind at ease if I knew that nothing else would happen to the two of you tonight."
Forest looked over at Satsuki and the younger girl blinked her large, crimson eyes. She sighed and asked, "You don't even know us and you're inviting us into your home?"
Shirou blinked at that. He didn't really see anything wrong with letting them stay just the one night...or however long it took Forest to heal from the wound. "It's no trouble for me. I mean, there's not exactly a lack of room at my home, and I can tell that you two are good people."
Before Forest could answer, Sacchin smiled and said, "Thank you. We're new here and haven't had a chance to even book a hotel room. Fore-nee's been so busy it's not funny. She needs to rest."
His face broke out into a bright smile as well. "I see." His eyes went wide as he realized he had forgotten to introduce himself. "My name's Emiya. Emiya Shirou. I'm happy to be of help.”
Satsuki bowed and said, "This is Forest, and I'm Yumizuka Satsuki. It is a pleasure to meet you."
Shirou lightly bowed to them before standing back up straight. "I was actually on my way home from work when I heard the situation here in the alley. It's still a bit of a walk though...I don't know if Forest-san should walk that kind of distance."
Satsuki said, "I'll make sure to take care of her when we get there. Thank you again, Emiya-san."
He felt his cheeks flush a little at both the praise and her cheerful smile and turned away in slight embarrassment. "W-Well then, I guess that settles it." he said sheepishly.
Forest raised her eyebrow at that and said, "Thank you very much, Little Shirou."
‘Little’? Shirou thought to himself as they walked together out of the alley. The three of them shared a few more words on the way to the Emiya compound, but for the most part the journey was silent. Shirou knew next to nothing about the women and vice versa, causing the tension between them to be so thick it could be cut with a knife. Things were still relatively quiet when they reached the compound too. Until Shirou remembered that the house wasn’t always empty this late at night…
“Shirou! What took you so long! I’m hun-“ Fujimura Taiga came running into the entry hall and froze as she saw the two women accompanying her younger charge. Silence reigned for about five seconds before…
“WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE??!!!”
Originally Posted by Elf
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