a hollow perception (Fate/Zero × Demon Slayer)

prologue: at first sight

This is a character study fanfic focusing on Kotomine Kirei and Tsuyuri Kanao. So expect this fic being very wordy.

And also, the fanfic is practically created on a whim because I thought Kirei and Kanao felt similar, and this story is an exploration of their relationship.

Anyways, happy reading and enjoy!

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prologue: at first sight

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When Kotomine Kirei first laid his eyes on her, it was supposed to be forgettable and ordinary. It was so brief and fleeting, not something he should've paid attention because of how unremarkable their meeting was.

It was her eyes, he realized as he and the woman in the garden continued to look at each other, she was looking at me. No, she was looking through me, he thought in a bit of discomfort. Kirei was standing over the window and had been aimlessly casting his glances outside as if assessing for unknown enemies until he caught the eyes looking up to him. The woman on the garden possessed a striking lilac eyes that seemed glow in unnatural pink and red under the sunlight and dark hair framing her delicate face that nearly reached her small shoulders. Another striking look on her appearance was the ornament on her hair in a shape of fluttering butterfly. In the distance, it could've been easily mistaken that a living butterfly had landed on the back of her head. But on a closer look, the upper half of her hair was gathered and held together by that almost-alive ornament. Kirei mused that, as he observed her overall appearance, the lilac-eyed woman being surrounded by the abundant flowers that gently swayed at the passing breeze was quite fitting for her.

But then in a split second, the lilac eyes that had landed on him disappeared, erasing the strange trance he was put under from that eyes.

Tohsaka Tokiomi, his soon-to-be master, approached the window beside him. "Has something caught your attention, Kirei?" he asked his would-be apprentice.

"The woman in the garden. Who is it?" If he was a to-be apprentice for this man beside him, there will no reason to hide the curiosity of the woman watering the flowers.

"I see," said his master in acknowledgement as he also landed his gaze to her. "I can't blame you for being curious. She was quite a strange one. She wouldn't have become part of the household if it wasn't for my girls."

"Rin?"

"And Sakura," His master added. "They quickly became attached to her like a magnet despite always keeping her mouth shut. Perhaps, it was her eyes that caught their attention. As I said, she was a strange one."

Kirei glossed over of his master's words 'his girls' knowing that one of his daughters—Sakura—will be (or was already) put into an adoption into another family. Matou, he remembered. One of the Founding Families. But that aside, certain words of his master piqued his interest. "Is she mute?" he asked.

"No. Her vocals chords appeared to fine. She can talk perfectly but choose not to." His master walked to the nearby couch and sat to rest his body. "I was told she lapsed into silence because of her past."

Tohsaka Tokiomi continued to speak as if immersed in his own words after that. Kirei had been subjected into his master's ramblings, justifying that as his apprentice he had aware to be of the existence of his family since they will be working together — in preparation for the Holy Grail War that will be held in three years. Kirei observed that his master didn't told him the entirety about his family, carefully choosing his words with enough information. After all, Kirei knew he won't be living together in the Tohsaka household. And as his master said, he had to be 'aware' not 'know'. There was a clear boundary between them.