AN: Vote still going on for a few more hours I think. Here's a short Sakura interlude/ mini-back story to those that stopped at UBW plus Shirou Sakura interactions. Heh... You know nothing, Sakura Matou.
Interlude: Cherry Blossoms in Winter
She woke up to an unfamiliar ceiling.
This situation had been both a blessing and a curse, she mused.
If it was eleven years ago it would certainly have been a great curse upon her being.
That unfamiliar ceiling of that worm's basement was the last place anyone could have wished to wake up in.
Although after those long years, an unfamiliar ceiling was a welcome relief to her.
Being thrown away by her own parents and left to that monster Zouken whims, her uncle who was likely the only person to have ever loved her had died, her brother was now using her body whenever he saw fit ever since he learnt he was not to be the Matou "heir", the things infesting her body causing her excruciating pain daily… and her sister didn't even give a damn about it, living a happy life carrying out whatever her abominable father had wanted her to have.
To say that she appreciated not waking up back in her "home" would sum it up nicely, if but, understating the feeling.
Even more so when she had begun stirring from her slumber, she saw the auburn-haired boy that she became familiar with looking at her with concern and a soft smile.
To her, her English Teacher Taiga Fujimura and this boy were more family to her than her official one.
The light and love of her life, Shirou Emiya.
Even now, she could still remembering that time in Middle-School where he tried to jump the bar. Trying, failing, and trying again… she drew strength from his persistence in the face of what seemed to be insurmountable odds. She joined the Archery club to watch him from afar.
A year ago when Shirou had been injured, she gathered the courage to approach and help him in his day to day tasks at his home. Even then, when he was hurting and sick, he would always treat her as a guest out of kindness, until she put her foot on the floor and make sure he would rest well.
Eventually, she visited him on a near daily basis.
Those moments were truly a dream-like time for her.
And she loved every moment of it, being in a place where she wouldn't be alone and in pain.
She loved Shirou Emiya.
But it was a doomed love, she believed. Also...
She was not worthy of him.
Her body had already been violated by worms all over, her brother, his father and by extension, even her soul had been defiled by her "grandfather" of a monster. She was humiliated with her disgusting body and that it was all that she had to offer to Shirou.
She wouldn't do that to him. Shirou didn't deserve a disgusting abomination like her.
He didn't need to entangle himself in the Matou's affairs.
As such, Sakura Matou had long resigned herself to be a silent admirer.
"Sen...pai...?" She called out in a slightly weak manner.
Warm.
Her hands felt warm as he took her hands into his own.
"Hey Sakura… are you feeling well?"
This was the part where she would brighten up, smile and answered firmly. Just like all the other times.
Her true self, that was best left during school hours. The silent, moody but polite unsociable girl.
But if it's for Shirou and Taiga when she's not making a nuisance of herself, she did her best to be cheerful.
The smiles, however, came naturally whenever she was with them.
Yet, as she answered him, she reflected on her words to find that there were no falsehoods at all.
"Yes…!"
That unnatural sensation of wanting to get out of her own body, away from the worms who were foreign substances that made up her nervous system, that painful sense of wrongness that made her want to kill herself to escape from this life were it not for the fact she was too scared to go through with it.
All of that were somehow gone.
She was feeling better than ever, yet she couldn't quite place what she was feeling.
Was… was this normal?
What is normal, even?
What happened?
She remembered that Shirou was walking around in some dark outfit thinking he was some hero from comic books or something until he said he "noticed" something about her.
That she was hurting.
No, nonono, could he have known about what she had gone through?!
But if he did then why would he even be holding her hands?
… Could it be that Shirou was just this kind?
Maybe he only noticed the emotional turmoil and the more mundane things.
That would be preferable that him knowing what Shinji had been doing to her.
It would fit more into his actions of grasping her shoulders and-
"Caster, do it." Those words of his rang through her mind.
Caster, one of the seven Servants.
Shirou was another Master.
She didn't want to fight him. This couldn't be happening! Why would the world-
"Aha...hahahaha…" She let out a laugh, wanting nothing more to do than just crawl under the blanket she had over her.
"Sakura, is something wrong?"
Ah, so that was it. He was just being kind until he needed to do what needed to be done.
"Okaaaay then. Ah, Sakura, can I ask why your hair turned black?"
…
"Huh?" She exclaimed.
He held up a mirror that seemed to come out from nowhere for her.
She looked at it, and saw her face.
Short black hair and aqua blue eyes.
The same eyes as her sister's.
"What…?"
"Well, when Caster fixed up your body and got rid of those things your hair and eye colour kind of changed. Should we be worried or…"
Should she be worried?
Did he actually mean what he said?
But if she looked like how she did back then… did it mean…
It certainly explained the lack of pain and how comfortable she was feeling.
"No! This is… this is good. Everything's okay!"
Jumping out of bed, she began waving her arms about feeling more energetic and how natural her body felt compared with before.
She felt as if there was a large part of the conversation that was missing.
"Thank goodness."
A relieved and kind smile settled on Shirou Emiya's face, she could see a small tear almost form as if… she didn't know how to place that actually.
"Ah! Um… sorry about that, Senpai."
She sat back down, embarrassed at her outburst.
"It's fine, Sakura."
"..."
"..."
She looked at the clock, not knowing what to say when she didn't know what he knew.
He too, kept silent.
"G-good evening." "Nice evening, huh?" Sakura and Shirou said at around the same time.
Silence settled once again.
"So um… Senpai knows about the Holy Grail War, huh…"
"Ah… so you caught that part, didn't you?"
He scratched the back of his head, before smiling lightly.
"Well, I sure hope you don't have a wish because I kind of had you disqualified before it even began." He pointed to her right hand, where the Command Seals were clearly absent.
Her eyes widened before she let out a giggle. "I wouldn't have wanted to fight you anyways, Senpai." She told him as such.
"Oh, whew!" He wiped the non-existent sweat off his forehead with his hand.
"So am I really…" Free, she wanted to say those words, yet she still felt scared of daring to hope.
Shirou smiled genuinely. "Yeah. If you want, I have pictures on my phone with worms on fire."
She was still worried and terrified about what her grandfather could do. Still, if Shirou had a Servant on his side and the Matou were deprived of their Command Seals then… she could allow herself this moment of peace to indulge.
Sakura grinned with anticipation. "Show me."
"Mmmm….ahhh… Black Keys…"
She turned around only to find a woman with magenta coloured hair murmuring in her sleep in a futon next to her.
"Oh, uh, that's Bazett. Former Master of Lancer." Shirou explained awkwardly.
"... This wouldn't happen to be a room where you keep former Master's, is it?" Sakura shot off a wild guess.
"Uhh… it's kind of a sick bay? To be fair, Kirei was the one who stole her command seals."
"The obviously shady fake priest?" Sakura asked for confirmation.
"The one and only. And for some reason, I checked the school files and found out he's Rin Tohsaka's guardian."
Somehow, Sakura felt that some measure of sympathy for her sister was deserved.
), and Assassin as an enemy is likely to be much less of a threat going forwards when you consider Shirou's skillset and Medea's healing/support abilities. As it is if we Summon an Assassin we are guaranteeing that our opponents will get someone from the heavier combat classes with either magic resistance or a hugely powerful NP (or both!), and I don't think we can assume the identities of the unsummoned Servants by this point...
