Sword and Bond Dreams (Fate Stay/Night)

Chapter 6 Wake Up

The night was eventful to say the least.

For one thing, the moment Kiritsugu greeted the boys at the entrance, his attention towards Sakura's arrival had... let's just call it an indecipherable reaction.

On the surface it appeared as a long distant stare when being introduced to the little girl, notably when the name Matou was brought up, but any further elaboration remained buried underneath the man cordial welcome.

Taiga welcomed the young girl with open arms while a couple of men from the Fujimura group accompanied her. While inadvertently, Sakura was made into a dress up doll by the teenager. It came as a surprise to the young girl when one of Taiga's men, who definitely looked like a scarred faced stereotype of a yakuza, did some fancy braids for her. In actuality, the guy had a soft spot for children and often came over to give the boys some gifts.

Nothing out of the ordinary happened that night. They had their dinner, hang around for a time until Taiga accompanied by her bodyguards escorted Sakura back home with a new dress and a package to what Hisashi would call a goodie bag filled with treats.

Much to everyone's delight, Sakura made regular visits on the weekends, and good old Fuji-nee made it her personal duty to pick her up and crash at the Emiya residence.

Aside from Hisashi being Sakura's playmate, she had also shown signs of interest in the housework that Shirou takes upon himself. With a little probing from the youngest boy and light suggestion from the oldest, cleaning and cooking was slowly being introduced to her.

But then at one point in time, when everyone was having lunch together, Sakura displayed hesitance to eat anything which naturally brought on everyone's concern.

She told them how she wasn't hungry and apparently snacked before arriving, but in there perspective it was like she was afraid of eating food.

They didn't know what was going on, with no clue as to what to do when she remained silent for what had happened to her. She even refused Hisashi's offering of candy much to his silent dejection.

So the trio of surrogate siblings had to brainstorm how to go about this problem, until the Tiger of Fuyuki had the bright idea of making strawberry smoothie for her under the pretext that it was a drink rather than a food.

Honestly, it was a very long shot attempt, but it was the only thing they could come up with currently so it was better than nothing.

They made the drink and decorated it with whip cream, cocoa powder, and sliced strawberries the best they could before presenting it to Sakura. It truly surprised her that they placed so much effort for her. They added how it would be easy on her stomach and was a perfect beverage for the sunny day, though they were still met with indecision.

As much as she vacillated at first, at least she didn't have the heart to outright reject it. They took the time to craft this, they thought about her favorite fruit to use in this drink, and most of all, they wanted to help her in any conceivable way possible.

In her fears, they came with gentle encouragement, one that regarded her as a cherished individual to them. Potently, She didn't want to waste their hard work because their effort is meaningful.

So, she finally took a sip. Her tongue met a delightfully smooth flavor. It brought a smile to their lips when she finally had something in her mouth to enjoy.

Afterwards, she apparently informed them that she had a stomachache earlier, but still, the fact she kept it to herself initially was odd to everyone, though it gave them relief that the yogurt might have helped with the indigestion. Eventually she was back to eating regularly as if nothing happened.