The Hound's Moon

Questionable Church

--Chapter 2--
Questionable Church

A few days later, the raven-haired female had a rather quick day of work. The requested flowers were engulfed in a dark red-colored wrapping. She glanced at the flowers in disdain—not because of the flowers themselves but rather the person that requested it and the meaning behind them. She stared at the purple hyacinths and a single yellow daffodil in the middle of it. 'I really don't like this feeling...'

"I'll see you tomorrow, manager." She picked up her handbag in one hand and the flowers in the other. She heard her manager shout from behind the counter. "Okay, be careful delivering those flowers to Kotomine-san, Yuu-chan!"

'Be careful indeed... What does this person want?' She left the flower shop and began following the directions on the piece of paper. As she walked toward the destination, the sun slowly descended below the horizon. Hues of dark orange, slight purple and multitudes of red mixed within the sky.

'Wait... a minute. Are these directions toward a church?' She stopped walking and swiftly glanced at her surroundings. What used to be city buildings became more forest-like with stone paths. 'Yes, it is... I hate my gut feeling.' She grabbed a pen from her handbag and wrote an Algiz symbol on her hand before infusing mana to it. A surge of magic surrounded her body. 'This... would do, I think.'

She placed the pen back into her handbag before continuing her walk toward the church. As she was getting closer, her anxiety rose. She wasn't fond of churches. It reminded her of the eerie quietness of those praying to these 'so-called' gods and their beliefs.

She stopped at the entrance of the church gates. She inwardly sighed. 'This is just an order for a customer. Don't mind it. Just complete the delivery and leave.' A jolt of electricity shot through her foot as she took a step into the church vicinity.

She bit the edge of her lip as she held her groan. 'Ugh... At least the shield magic lessened the damage. Whatever that was, it must have alerted him.' She continued walking toward the church doors, uneasiness began to settle into the pits of her stomach. Yuuki knocked on the doors, "Your delivery of flowers is here..."

She waited for a moment before opening the door. Rows of wooden benches were neatly placed in the middle of the church. Magnificent stained glass panes stood before her on the upper half of the church. At the row closest to the glass panes was a human figure sitting down. "Thank you for bringing the flowers here..." She was walking toward the front until the male spoke as he stood up. "...Satou Yuuki-kun."

She tensed up instinctively and dropped the flowers as she heard her name. "Now now, isn't that rather rude to suddenly dropped the flowers I requested?" He turned to face the female, grinning ominously as he walked towards her. "I do appreciate that you came here despite my message."

For every step he moved forward, she took a step back. 'Message my ass! You pretty much told me that I was going to have a difficult time! A handful of hyacinths and a single daffodil... You want to bestow a sorrowful misfortune on me, damn priest!' She continued to step back until her back hit the church door.

He stopped and picked up the bouquet of flowers, before glaring at the female. "You do know why I purposely called you here, no?" She shook her head furiously. "Not at all! I just want a peaceful life, Kotomine-san."

"Peaceful you say?" He scoffed. "You can obtain more than just that through the means of the holy grail." Her eyes flashed in anger as she heard the two words she disdained the most. "I don't care about the holy grail. Don't drag me into this."

"I know why you abhorred the Holy Grail. Yet you don't wish to take them back?" She held her finger out against him, a glow of red appeared at the tip of her index finger. "What's done is done. I don't need some wishful thinking to bring them back. Why do you even know of me in the first place?!"

"You don't need to be that frightened, Satou-kun." He was right about her being frightened. Her hand unconsciously shook as she tried to pull a brave front. "I heard rumors here and there about your rather small family. How sad... that they left you behind from a premature Lesser Holy Grail War..."

The female shot the Gandr spell at him, however missing his arm by an inch. "Shut up! I don't need to hear it!" His wicked smile expanded as he heard her anguished plea. "The incoming Holy Grail war will appear within a month's time. If you wish to participate, by all means, come back here and end your misery."

The female quickly turned as the church door that was behind her suddenly open. 'I...I need to get out. H-He knows too much.' She backed away, running away from the church as humanly possible. "Heh... Hahahahaha! Too bad she might not have a chance in it," the male turned back toward the stained glass panes and walked toward the front of the church.

She ran... ran toward the bridge, stopping within the middle to catch her breath. The sky turned dark, only the street lamps illuminated the place. She stared down at the water, shivering at the thought someone actually knew of her and that they specifically approached her in the most auspicious way. "Just... leave me alone!" She shouted into the air.

'Why am I being caught up in this? I just want a peaceful life. If the wind is pushing me to my death then okay, I'll accept it but not through this path!' Frustrated at the sudden stimulus, she punched the bridge structure... only for the recoil to bounce back and felt a scratch on her right hand. 'Tsk... I forgot I had Algiz rune active.'

She rubbed her right knuckles to dull the pain as she glanced up at the darkened sky. Surprisingly, not a cloud in sight. The moon and stars were quite visible despite the light pollution on both sides of the bridge. 'Mother... Father... What would you have done if you were in my shoes? Fight back or step away from this madness?'

She touched the earring once more. The more she touched the accessory, the more she felt at ease. Why was that? For she does not recall the reason. Unknowingly confused and somewhat distraught from all this, she eventually trudged herself back home with precaution.

Once home, she locked the front door, slipped out of her shoes, and dropped her handbag to the ground before dropping onto the navy blue loveseat couch. Today was too much for her. The flower meanings and the creepy priest at church were the utmost unusual that has happened to her. She turned her body so she was on her right side. 'Why me? I got nothing to do with Holy Grails, let alone be interested. So why? I lost my family because of the war. Is it because I'm a magic user?'

All these thoughts infuriated her... She just wanted to live normally with a decent number of benefits before she joins her parents. Is that wrong to just ask for? She eventually fell asleep on the couch with her body curled up.

As she slept, a slight burning sensation began to irritate her left ear. It irritated her for a moment before she scratched her ear for a bit and continued to sleep. The earring glowed for a quick second before returning back to its normal coloring.

———

AN: Well. You got to see a small part as to why Yuuki doesn't want to be in the holy grail war. There's more where these backstories came from... in the future chapters! And yes, I actually took some time into researching certain details for the runes and such. Stay tuned~

Algiz - a rune meaning protection, a shield. The protective urge to shelter oneself or others. Defense, warding off of evil, shield, guardian.

Preview Picture:

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/typemoon/images/7/77/Fuyuki_church.png/revision/latest?cb=20130623103333