Sakura let the smile grow on her face as she leaned down to pick up the bag sitting by her feet. "tadaima," she whispered as she stepped over the threshold. She knew of the mage custom of keeping only a single child from each generation - all too well given how profoundly it had affected her life - and it was a welcome surprise to see that Caster had been right about her sister's willingness to set it aside.
Rin was talking steadily as she led her into the house, pointing out this feature or that bit of family history as they went. It was actually reassuring - not so much because it was, so to speak, a visible sign of acceptance as because the way her being nervous enough to babble made it clear that this - whatever 'this' was - was as important to her sister as it was to her.
Knowing that, that the older girl still cared despite the way their parents had seperated them, was enough to make a decision for her. "Oneesan."
Rin stopped and turned, looking back at a face that - under the lighter hair and darker eyes - was all too much like her own. "Yes... Sakura-chan?"
"I... have absolutely no interest in acquiring the Holy Grail."
It was very disturbing to see the way the revelation made her eyes harden as the mind behind them suddenly switched from love and concern to the careful analysis of a threat, but Sakura bit lightly at her lower lip and forced herself to stay and meet that searching gaze squarely.
"you're not trained," Rin said softly to herself, "i'd see it. but how... have to be close... Masaka!" Her eyes widened and the calculating look dropped from her face as she stepped forward and siezed her sister's shoulders. "They tried to let Shinji use your mage circuits?!"
Involuntarily, her eyes dropped, and her body froze in place. She knew that that would be a giveaway to someone with her sister's perceptiveness and knowledge of magical theory, and something cringed inside her chest as she waited for Rin to recoil.
Sakura stiffened as she felt soft arms wrap around her shoulders and pull her close, and then the shock passed and she realized that she was crying in relief. "i'm sorry," she whispered, not quite sure what she was apologizing for. "i'm sorry i'm sorry i'm sorry..."
"Hush, Sister. It's all right. It's all right," Rin told her gently, and then she was just crying.
Eventually, rather later, she recovered her composure and sat back a little. "I'm sorry to-" she began, but Rin placed a single finger vertically across her lips to cut her off.
"You have nothing to apologize for," she told her firmly. "If anything I should be saying it, for not getting you out of that place myself."
Sakura didn't look convinced, but nodded anyway.
"Good!" she nodded, then changed the subject. "Now, why don't I show you your room and help you get squared away, and then we can be introduced to each other's Servants?"
"Each... how did... you know I was a Master?"
Rin winked. "Would you have said that about the Grail if you weren't? What I want to know is how you knew about me - did those people tell you, or...?"
"C-caster told me. We had to leave - I couldn't... let him get hurt protecting me when he didn't... have to, but I knew that the War... would follow anywhere I went. So..."
"You went somewhere it was already aimed at." The taller sister smiled as they came to the top of the stairs. "I'm pretty sure that this was actually your room when we were little, you know. Most of the house is in storage - with only me in here it's much too big, and it all wouldn't get used anyway, but I keep this one open, in case..." She snapped her mouth shut and looked away, concious of having revealed more than she meant to. "There's the guest room, too, and of course you can have any of the closed rooms if you want, but they'll take a while to air out-"
Sakura dropped her bag at the foot of the bed and turned back to where Rin was standing in the doorway and gave her a brilliant smile. "Uun! This is perfect!"
Maybe a little over the top, seeing as how Sakura hasn't had any sort of breakdown before this point, but I figure that having things go right for once would make for a different enough sort of stress to shake something loose.
Ja, -n
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"Puripuri puripuri... Bang!"