Disclaimer: I do not own Fate/Stay Night or any of its variations, nor do I own Ambition of Oda Nobuna. I'm to tired to remember who owns them so blahh.

He was in a field of green. The tall grass waved gracefully in the wind. It was almost surreal to him. His last memories before his awakening was sacrificing himself to destroy the grail. He should be dead. Was this land perhaps Avalon? It fit what he thought it would look like and what Saber had described to him. The vast green plains with the forest just resting on the edge.

The scenery fit. Well, what he could see with his blurred vision. He wasn't much concerned with his vision currently, Archer's arm had been uncovered and he could feel it encroaching on his soul and threatening to destroy him. He fumbled with his right arm for the Shroud of Martin. The red cloth on his arm was splayed about and so it took some work to wrap his arm.

Just as he finished and pulled himself into a sitting position, a yell caught him. There were two men standing above him in red samurai armor with their swords drawn. Fool, Shirou called himself. Where had his instincts forged in the dangers of the Holy Grail War go? Pain was no object that he shouldn't have been able to push through. While his hands were open ready to trace some blades, he wouldn't be able to finish them in time to stop the already descending blades.

Luck was on his side however as another person yelled and jumped from the high grass, tackling the two swordsman to the ground. The surprise attack gave Shirou the time to leap to his feet and let the hammer in his mind drop to trigger the tracing of two swords. They were nameless weapons, simple long swords that Archer at some point in his life had laid his eyes on. They weren't even Noble Phantasms, just plain swords and so required little prana to trace. Besides, at the moment he could feel his circuits protest heatedly under making these simple swords.

The man in front of him had recovered from the other man's tackle. Thus Shirou faced him with his dual swords in his hands. The sword the samurai in front of him was a plain blade, nothing magical and with little history. Its owner hadn't even used it enough for it to be recognized as 'his' sword. Despite this, the samurai had some skill and observed Shirou's stance before charging with his katana leading. The man had his katana ready to strike at an opening in Shirou's stance, just as Shirou had planned. It was Archer's style, his style, developed to fight those who were stronger and faster than him. There was no trouble in blocking the katana with his left sword before moving in with his right sword. The enemy samurai was skilled, and his initial attack was a testing strike, little more than a feint, making it easy to pull back and block. Their fight followed in much the same process, the samurai would strike at an opening where Shirou would block and launch his own attack and then be blocked in return. Shirou was still exhausted, from what, he didn't know, but it would have something to do with his exhausted circuits. In addition to his exhaustion, the stress of the Shroud and Archer's arm was still present, burning, cutting and stabbing him. He wasn't sure himself if he could hold out long, the long swords being weak prana constructs and his current physical state both factoring in.

It happened in an instant, the left long sword went to block an overhead strike but shattered into prana under the stress, with the Samurai's katana hindered only for a moment before continuing on down to cut off Shirou's arm. However, Shirou's arm was wrapped in the Shroud of Martin, a Holy Shroud. It was a powerful, both physically and conceptually, and so had no trouble stopping a mundane katana, no matter how sharp. The man's surprise was evident on his face, allowing for Shirou to seize the moment and strike back. His remaining sword shot forward and ran through the man's chest.

For Shirou, even though he had given up slightly on his ideal to save everyone by saving Sakura, he still wished to save people, and killing someone went against that wish. He allowed himself a moment of silence for the dead man. He turned to his left to see his savior had finished off the second man just then. The remaining long sword, still slick with blood, pointed downward at the ground. Shirou didn't let it fade into prana just yet. "My thanks for saving me…"

"Kinoshita Toukichiro" The man replied. Unlike the other samurai, he wore black armor with no helmet, revealing an average sort of face, brown hair, brown eyes, but it did have a strong rectangular set to it. His name was familiar to Shirou.

"Well, thank you for saving me again Kinoshita-san. I am Emiya Shirou."

"It was nothing Emiya-san, but I thought I was saving a fellow soldier. But never mind, you seem like a good sort, we need to run, it's not safe out here." Kinoshita had a friendly smile. It was then that Shirou noticed the thick mists and the loud noise around him. It was filled with the sounds of battle, horses charging, swords clashing and the bang of rifles. Shirou let Kinoshita lead him as they dashed through the tall grass and morning mist.

Shirou felt it before it happened. Archer had called it the Eye of the Mind, a sort of heightened sense of observation. Shirou had inherited his from Archer through their soul resonance and through the presence of his Arm. It split the air behind it, a single musket ball that whizzed from over his shoulder and into the back and out the chest of Kinoshita. Shirou watched the man fall in slow motion, blood falling from the wound. It was lethal, but not instantly. Shirou rolled him over on to his back and grabbed the man's hand in his. The man would die, but he could give him some comfort before his death.

"Shirou. You're a good man. I can tell. Can you grant a dying man his wish?"

"Of course, you saved me after all." Why not anyway, a man who had saved him and Shirou had been unable to repay the favor. It was no question.

"I have a dream. A dream to have a country and a castle… and all the girls. You fulfill it for me!" Despite Shirou's addled mind, he could tell in some corner of it that this man was a bit of an idiot. But he had agreed to the man's request, it wouldn't do to back out now.

"I will Toukichiro." Shirou gave him a reassuring smile.

"I know. You can do it Shirou." The man's eyes closed and he drifted away. Then it struck Shirou, the man's name, Kinoshita Toukichiro. He stood up as it did so. The man was Hideyoshi Toyotomi, famed for ended the Sengoku period of Japan. Did that mean Shirou was in the past? He would be sometime in the 16th century. It wasn't impossible, he had heard that the Fifth Magic was capable of doing so. Then he had destroyed the Holy Grail and who knew what could that magical wish granting device could do when finally destroyed and all its energies gone.

Shirou was interrupted in his thoughts as a horse crashed through the grass next to him. He only got a quick glance as it rode past. The horse was an elegant white, and its rider was a female with blond hair. From the way she carried herself on the horse, for a second, memories of Saber arose in his mind, of a blond girl wielding a golden sword. But they were quickly extinguished when he took another look at the girl. Girl wasn't so accurate, she was more of a young woman, wearing a cloak of brilliant red trimmed in gold and dark black armor under.

The woman was followed by another rider on a black horse, wielding a long naginata. The two clashed and both managed to strike down each other's horse. The woman landed gracefully, sword at the ready. She was followed by the red armored rider, who descended with a mighty downward slash, which the woman blocked with her sword. Luck was not on her side, as her blade cracked and split in half. The fragment spun through the air and stuck in ground in front of Shirou. She managed to move out of the way, still presenting a brave front with her half a sword to the advancing samurai.

Attacking a near-defenseless woman? That wouldn't do. While Shirou didn't have much knowledge of the situation, what he saw in front of him still struck him as wrong. So he leaped in front of the girl, the blooded long sword held in front of himself threateningly.

"Stop right there! One doesn't just strike down a defenseless woman!" He yelled out at him.

The soldier paused, "Are you a soldier of Oda as well?"

Another soldier on horseback rode up beside the man, "Of course he is, look who he's protecting you dolt. Just finish them already!"

"Alright, alright," His fellow replied, annoyed, before launching himself at Shirou. The already weak sword broke under the first blow and vanished in specks of prana.

"Trace On" Shirou spoke and the trademark hammer sparked again as his circuits burned once more. The long sword remaining faded to be replaced with twin long swords, different from the others, these actually had some legend to them, appearing again in his hands as he deflected a sideways slash before slashing downward with his other sword. The man he was facing was tired, obviously having faced a long battle and so Shirou took advantage by following up with another downward slash, again and again, each strike slowly moving higher and higher, before the man's sword was overextended into too high of a block. Shirou had seen this technique through the mind of Archer and the words he had traced. The two nameless long swords were nothing but tools for a man that had developed the technique that required dual-wielding blades. So he followed the technique and skill granted to him by the swords as he ended his last slash and pivoted on the balls of his feet with two simultaneous stabs into the man's gut. He announced the technique as it was finished, "Double Thrust Low!"

His opponent, with his arms high in the air, was in no position to parry or block and was thus subsequently dead. Shirou removed the twin swords to let the soldier drop to the ground. For a second, Shirou pondered how he had been able to do so, before he again erupted into pain from Archer's arm. Again it had caused him to draw too much on Archer's abilities, making him think he was on the level of a Heroic Spirit when he wasn't. Luckily he hadn't done anything too risky, only used more prana for the nameless Noble Phantasms in his hands. The pain in his circuits would pass, they had a knack for being able to work at and sometimes above their limits.

Shirou brought the swords to his side and looked about for the second soldier he had seen on horseback. Instead he saw another woman warrior wearing shiny silver armor over blue cloth. She was astride a brown horse and held a long halberd in her hands, a strange weapon for sure to be found in japan. But of most interest, embarrassingly to Shirou, was the woman's large chest. Somehow her breastplate seemed to bounce as if it were just a piece of clothing.

She gave Shirou a look for a second then shifted her face to the blond haired beauty behind him. "The enemy is beginning to run, shall we give chase?"

"Yes, finish the battle." The woman replied and her counterpart gave a curt nod before dashing off toward the sounds of battle. Shirou felt a hand grip his shoulder and turn him to look into the face of the blond woman. "As for you, what is your name?"

Her face was authoritative, and it reminded Shirou so well of Saber that if she had the same piercing green eyes he would have found himself lost in his memories. Well enough that she had brownish gold eyes, eyes that, strangely enough, resembled his own.

"Emiya. Emiya Shirou."

"Well then Emiya-san, I must thank you for saving my life, unneeded it may have been. But," Her eyes narrowed suspiciously at him, "I don't think you would mind if you came with me to answer some questions, would you?"

He understood her meaning well enough he was the suspicious one, strange clothes, strange outfit, strange weapons, and so on. "Yes, it would be no... Ugh." The events before and after his waking had caught up to him. The exhaustion in his body and the pain in his circuits collectively caused him to pass out, swords fading into prana and body falling only to be caught by two strong but lithe arms.

She stared at the boy, or rather young man, in her arms. His body was hot and drenched with sweat. His hair was a strange red tinted with white. Most strange was his outfit. He had blue trousers made out of a strange material, a white and blue shirt that covered only his right arm with a strange red cloth only on his right. Then his eyes, like liquid gold they appeared to her. A handsome young man there was no doubt, and just like a knight out of the barbarian tales who came valiantly in to save the princess' life. Strange then, she thought, that it would be him to pass out in her arms.

Oh well, her questions and suspicions could wait for the time being. Besides, he seemed like the good sort anyway and was skilled with a blade. Perhaps she could recruit him to be a retainer for the Oda family, and from the way he made those swords and then they had disappeared, he had skill with magic as well, something that would be always useful. Oh, but she couldn't have him feeling to important, as good as he could be, as important, he was still in the whole of things, unneeded, so she could give him a nickname, something degrading, something like... Monkey. Yes monkey would do well.

He could be Oda Nobuna's monkey.

Once again he woke in an unknown place. At least this was more comfortable then waking up on the ground in a field of grass. This time he was in a room similar to the olden style Japanese rooms, complete with tatami mats, futon and a shoji, a sliding door.

He checked over his clothing, there was nothing wrong but for a couple holes he had received from before and after sacrificing himself to stop Avenger, and the shroud was still securely fastened to his arm. Shirou waited in the futon for a few minutes to see if anyone would be coming to see him. He didn't want to cause trouble by wandering off now did he? He used the time to focus on the arm. The barrier was in place, as was the one Rin had placed, back to being fully functioning, which it hadn't the last time he had awoke. Not that it made much difference, her interference had been set to maybe last up to a week and it was nearing that deadline. Soon it would be gone and then he would have to deal with all the troubles of the arm.

No one came so he opened the shoji to see a young girl standing guard outside his door. She was very small, couldn't be any more than 12 years old, and her outfit was rather flamboyant, being composed of a large tigers head atop her head and long violet tresses falling on the sides of her face to her shoulders, the rest of it followed the trend of bright colors enhanced by few dark colors. He did obviously notice on her right side was a spear fit to her height, or rather named, a yari. For a second he analyzed it and he gleaned that it was mundane in nature but its owner was extremely skilled.

His opening of the door caused her to stare at him and so they watched each other for a couple seconds. Shirou decided to take the first step, "Hello, I am Emiya Shirou, what's your name?"

"Maeda Toshiie." Her voice was quiet but firm. "Are you well Emiya-san?"

Shirou would have to say her quiet voice with the oversized tiger head made seem very cute, so it was easy for him to give a nice smile to the girl. "Yes, as far as I can tell."

"Good. You are to meet with Nobuna-sama." The girl turned and began walking down the hallway. Maeda was a quiet girl who didn't speak more than what was needed, Shifou thought and quickly followed the girl down the hall.

The two arrived in a large hall, used for meetings and major events. Already seated inside were three other woman, two on each side so as to sit in deference to the leader, the blond girl who was on an upraised part of the floor. Maeda moved to sit seiza next to the other woman he recognized from yesterday. The woman had foregone her heavy armor from yesterday or a solid blue kimono. Opposite her, was someone he did not recognize, a girl with light violet hair, blue, nearly grey eyes and scarlet bows in her hair. It was clear to Shirou that he was to sit opposite the blond, as if presenting himself for audience. Shirou almost sputtered at her outfit, with her green haori resting on a single shoulder revealing half of a lacy black bra to the world. All three girls were sitting seiza while his host was sat in a halfway attentive, but halfway laid back position by leaning forward ever so slightly, right arm rested on a circular cushion and left hand holding a olden style musket on her shoulders.

Shirou went forward with his own greetings, bowing his head to the floor, "Hello. I thank you for your hospitality in letting me use a room, please, let me introduce myself. I am -"

"Emiya Shirou" The blond interrupted him, "My retainers already know your name and how could I, Oda Nobuna, Head of the Oda Clan, forget the man who so valiantly defended me when my katana had broken in half."

He scratched the back of his head sheepishly in slight embarrassment, "Yea, sorry if I inconvenienced you in some way," then it occurred to him that she had called herself the Head of the Oda Clan. "Oda Nobuna, is there not an Oda Nobunaga?"

She looked back quizzically at him, "No, there is only me, Oda Nobuna."

A few days ago, Shirou would've been more surprised, but after facing legendary heroes and summoning up King Arthur, or rather Arturia, he wasn't that surprised that this figure of history was wrongly recorded as male. "It's nothing, now I remember you had questions to ask of me, but before then, could we do introductions, you all know me, but I do not know you."

"Very well, on your left closest to you is Nagahide Niwa, my tactical advisor." She gave him a playful smile. "You've met Inuchiyo," the tiger topped girl who simply looked at him. "And finally this is Katsuie Shibata, my cavalry leader." The woman gave an efficient nod.

Shirou nodded and smiled to each of them, "It is a pleasure to meet all of you."

"Now then, onto the questions." The air took on more tense air, not so much, but it was noticeable. "Emiya Shirou, while your name isn't so, your outfit is strange. Where are you from?"

Shirou expected this question, but hadn't given much thought to the answer. He could say he was from the future, but it was an outlandish answer and likely they wouldn't believe him. He could spin some tale, but he hadn't really come up with one, and he was never that good at lying, that was Rin's job. Oh well, he'd been called crazy and an idiot before, it's not like it would be much trouble to take it some more.

"I'm from the future." Shirou was expecting someone to laugh and wasn't disappointed. Niwa let out a loud guffaw, while the other leveled a serious glare at him that said, 'not amused.'

"I know it sounds weird, but it's true, somehow I've been launched about 400 years into the past."

Nobuna had a serious look on her face, "If you really are from the future, then tell me something that will prove so."

Shirou cradled his head in thought. While he hadn't been much of a history buff, but during the Holy Grail War he had taken it upon himself to learn more about history, simply to know about legendary heroes. He tried to recall what he remembered about Oda Nobunaga (or rather Nobuna) had done in her conquest to unify Japan.

"Have you met with Saitou Dousan yet?"

Nobuna looked at him with a raised eyebrow, her interest piqued. "No, but we are in talks."

For Shirou that was good, it gave him a good idea of when he was during the campaign to unify Japan. "Ok, eventually you two will have a face to face meeting. Its location will be at Shoutokuji Temple."

Nobuna's stared intensely at Shirou. Studying him to find fault with him or the answer. Niwa provided an answer for her, "We been trying to get together for a face to face meeting. As I recall, tomorrow or the next day we are supposed to be getting a response on such an event."

Nobuna followed her statement, "Very well. We'll have to confirm or deny this later. Now for other questions. Why did you fight to defend me? We don't know you, so there is no connection between us, unless you had… ulterior motives."

Shirou actually chortled at that bit. "Ah, well it's kind of a part of who I am. Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to save people. To be a hero."

It was Niwa who responded to his statement this time. "A hero! What a wondrous goal. He's a cute little guy too, eh Nobuna?"

"That kind of dream is rather idiotic though. But you can't fault his dedication. He collapsed in front of me." Nobuna said with a natural face. Then it shifted into a smile, "I like you though, you are funny and interesting. How would you like to work for the Oda family?"

For many, a chance to serve the Oda family would be an honor, Oda Nobuna was well known among the populace for being kind and honest. However, Shirou knew that Nobuna, Nobunaga in the future, was remembered as being one of the more brutal of the warlords during the Sengoku period. But, this young lady in front of him didn't seem so mean, as bloodthirsty as was remembered. So that meant something happened, something had changed her to the harsh person she would be remembered as. For Shirou this was the chance to change that. While he had given up the chance to sacrifice one for the many, forsaking the path that his Father had taken, that his alternate self had taken, he still held onto that ideal of saving. It was ironic to him, if he could save this one, he could save many. That thought brought a wide smile to his face. "Yes, it would be an honor to serve you."

Nobuna smiled a smile that reminded Shirou of Rin too much, it sent a shiver down his spine. It was that sweet looking smile that hid some sinister intention. "But, we can't just put you as a general can we, so right now, I have decided that you are Monkey. Spouting that nonsense about saving people and being from the people makes you the weird and idiotic one. As for your duties… Ladies, any suggestions?"

It was Katsuie who asked something this time. "Do you have any other skills than fighting?"

Shirou liked this question, being able to fight was all good and well, but he took a large amount of pride in his other abilities as well. "Well as a matter of fact, I am pretty good at repairing things and cooking."

"Monkey, you are a weird person, fighting, cooking, repair and heroism?"

Shirou turned to Nobuna to answer her, "Well, I prefer the term distorted. But yes, I am."

The odd way Shirou referred to himself caught her for a bit, but Nobuna caught herself quickly enough and made a decision, "Very well, we don't have many good cooks, so we will test your abilty to cook and if it is satisfactory you shall the cook for the army. Understood Monkey?"

Shirou gave a swift bow, "Yes, Nobuna-sama."

With all those troubles out of the way, Shirou quickly found himself moved out to a new home. It was a small little hut, but for Shirou, who had found the large home he had inherited from his father to be rather distracting and lonely with its size, thought it was rather homely. It turned out to be part of an inn and the innkeeper had an adorable little daughter named Nene that Shirou took an immediate liking to her. Nene resembled his adoptive sister, Ilya, not in looks but more in personality. The adorable little girl had even taken to calling him 'Onii-chan.'

Shirou also had his own personal ninja now, a cute little thing called Hachisuka Goemon. The girl had made a pact with Kinoshita Toukichiro that the two of them would use each other's skills to advance in the world. Shirou took over his role and now Goemon was partnered with him. She even had a large group of faithful workman ready to listen to whatever she said.

All in all, the last day had been very eventful and full of things to do. Today would be the day he was tested for his cooking skill. Cooking in olden Japanese style wouldn't be too hard. He had experimented with it once or twice and found a couple of dishes that he liked to make.

He was lead in by Inuchiyo to an open air kitchen and he had two assistants to help him. One was a young man name Sanzoku and an older woman name Miho. Now, he had his workspace, and his team. His mission, make a meal for Nobuna-sama and her retainers.

After a long few hours in the space the meal had been finished. It was a set of a few dishes, mostly japanese, but Shirou had introduced some other dishes he knew well. For an appetizer course he had done gyoza and miso soup. He had done a form of Pho for a noodle dish, tempura and other fried goodies, rice and for dessert, daifuku.

While the dishes may have been simple, it was with Shirou's skill in cooking that they transcended such simplicity. Shirou had learned to cook in order to avoid his father's horrific adventures into the kitchen and plain take out. Being the good man he is, he took pride in this skill and endeavored to master it, and when he faced competition in this skill from Rin in the Grail War only drove him further. His skill grew great enough that the King of Knights, Arturia Pendragon herself would proclaim his cooking, delicious. So it is without a doubt that once the first bite was taken by Nobuna and her retainers, that it began an all-out war for the rest of the food.

Shirou watched them eat from the sidelines while assisting the servants with serving the food. That bright look Nobuna had on her face when she took her first bite warmed his heart. Making people happy through food was easy, if only he could do so with his other skills in life. He noted that even those stoic and proper members of Nobuna's council like Inuchiyo had their facades broken slightly by the good food. The small girl was eating with a fun fierceness over her portions.

One of the old cooks, an elderly matron that was tasting his food approached him. "Sir, Your cuisine is stupendous, I request of you, take me as a student so I can learn to cook as well as you."

"I'm sure you have your own techniques, maybe we can exchange sometime," Shirou replied happily.

"While not as good as directly learning, it is still good, thank you young man, I look forward to doing so." The woman then promptly returned to the delicious food in front of him.

Soon enough, the meal had ended and the dishes cleared, Shirou found himself sitting before Nobuna and her retainers like the day before.

"Monkey, you downplayed your cooking abilities yesterday, who knew you could've crafted such a masterpiece out of simple things." Nobuna said.

"For an outstanding meal, ninety points." That was Niwa.

"I wasn't expecting much from the Monkey, but it seems he has some skill." Katsuie added in her own remarks.

Inuchiyo gave a simple nod and shortly spoken, "Good."

Shirou accepted their praise with a smile and a nod.

A small silence passed as they studied Shirou until Nobuna called for their attention, "Alright, I've made my decision. Monkey is going to be my personal cook, while also teaching the other cooks to cook like himself."

"A good idea, eighty points. Now, onto other matters, the men have been" As Niwa began her reporting, Shirou took the time to move from the center to the side, next to Niwa.

The sound of rapidly approaching feet from outside interrupted Niwa. They stopped and at the open shoji door was blue haired girl in a short pink kimono tied with a violet cloth in an obi on her back. "Reporting."

Everyone looked to the girl and Nobuna acknowledged her by with, "Go ahead."

"Mino Province has just sent a message confirming and setting a location for a conference. The location is, Shoukitouji Temple." Both Katsuie and Nobuna startled a bit at the declaration, remembering what Shirou had said the day before.

"How impressive Monkey-san, ninety points," Niwa said to fill the silence that followed.

Nobuna glanced to Shirou with a slight bit of flush from embarrassment, thinking on how she had disbelieved him the day before. She still managed to get out though, "Monkey, how did you know?"

Shirou took a slight teaching stance, reminiscent of how Rin would explain to him magecraft, "Well, historically, the meeting between you and Saitou Dousan is a meeting that begins your path to unifying Japan. Some records say differently, but most, and what is taught, say you two had a meeting at Shoukitouji Temple. And," Shirou paused in his speech for a second, recalling some of the more obscure information on the meeting, "Dousan is said to have been lying in ambush for you, however, you made a show of arms and he canceled the ambush."

The new information drew Nobuna deep in thought, "An ambush you say? And a show of arms…"

Niwa added, "Well the obvious choice would be to bring more troops, but in the thin paths and tight forests of the valley, more would be unwise."

"Well, I am planning on bringing at least 500 rifleman, and since the enemy is planning an ambush... If they are driven off by a show of arms then its doubtful that Dousan is serious about the ambush. We'll have to show our fighting spirit somehow. We have to send a message saying that we are ready for anything and we can do that by marching with our guns' fuses lit." Nobuna said.

"That poses the danger of the rifle blowing up in the soldier's face." Niwa interjected.

To Shirou, such a danger was minor. He knew gunpowder weapons of the era had some malfunction errors, but as long as the weapons in question were well taken care of and properly handled the chance of such a thing happening was minor. He stated as such. ". Guns aren't that prone to misfires, and any experienced or adequately trained user can avoid them easily enough."

"The soldiers of the Oda clan are of the best. It will be no trouble then." Nobuna decided before asking, "Now, who will accompany me to the meeting?"

In the end, Niwa and Katsuie were to be staying back in Owori to ensure its affairs ran smoothly. Attending the meet with Nobuna would be Shirou and Inuchiyo. The three found themselves riding through the valley along to the meeting, the fuses of the riflemen having been lit a few minutes earlier. For Shirou, it was most interesting, he had lived in Fuyuki for his whole life. While not lacking in the wilderness aspect, what wild areas there were held strong disturbing feelings in them, reminiscent of the strong magecraft that had been performed in them over the years. In his time in Fuyuki, Shirou had spent more time wandering the streets then going out into the woods. But in this era, with industrialization a couple centuries away, Japan was in its natural state. So while keeping a watchful eye on his surroundings, he found the lush woodlands to be enjoyable.

Nobuna however was in thoughts of meeting Dousan and the man to her side. "Monkey, beyond your skills and your strange saving people thing, I don't know much about you. Do you mind telling me something along those lines?"

Shirou gave her a calculating look, trying to understand what she wanted. She appeared to be only interested on the basis of getting to know each other better. "Well, I am adopted actually."

Nobuna quirked an eyebrow at that. The way he said it implied a story behind it. "Really? The subject sounds to be interesting for you."

He gave a bittersweet smile at that. "Actually it is. It is from my adoptive father that I have that 'strange saving people thing' as you say. You see, I lost my parents in a fire when I was five. It… was a terrible fire. It destroyed everything within a block and I was the only survivor. While I can't remember anything from before it I can remember that day clearly. Everything around me died, everything but me. I pushed on passed the dieing, ignoring their cries for help. The fire continued to rage and ashes filled my nose and eventually the sounds of the dieing stopped and I couldn't push any longer. In the end I gave up."

Nobuna interjected at this point, "Giving up? I would not take you as such a person."

"Oh? At that time I was not as I am. Continuing the story however, while I was at the moment, half between life and death, he came. Emiya Kiritsugu. I heard him give thanks to being able to save me and I saw his pure smile as he did so. I asked myself, what could make him smile so? I would do what I could so I could bear that same smile. Later on I learned that he had smiled like that because at the time, he had gone into the fire looking for someone to save. Anyone. And he had found me. It was a part of his wish to be a hero. He was an inspiration to me that lead me to swear to become a hero and fulfill his dream where he had failed. That is part of the story of how I became who I am today."

"A fine man then. It would have been an honor to meet him. It is sad that I wouldn't get the chance."

"It is, but what about you Nobuna-sama, what is your family like?"

Immediately upon asking the question did Shirou know he had said something wrong. Nobuna had turned away from him sharply, looking downward. While unskilled with woman, helping someone was something that came instinctively. He reached out a hand to her, "Sorry about asking. I can understand if family is a harsh subject."

Nobuna steeled herself and pushed his hand away before she looked back to him. "No, it's alright. My family isn't ideal. But it is ok, because I have my friends and retainers, Inuchiyo, Machiyo and Riku with me."

"I understand. How about we move onto a different subject?" Shirou said with a smile and a nod.

Nobuna chuckled at his attempt change the conversation. He was such an honest person. "What a shameless attempt to change the mood. But if you want to, why don't you come up with something?"

Shirou paused for thought before finally saying, "Well in that case, what, do you know of western civilization?"

"Actually, there was this one barbarian that came here and taught me many things. He was a good man and someone I'm glad to have known." A smile had crept onto her face and her response was filled with energy.

"That's good then, did he tell you any folk tales, fairy tales or the like?"

"Ah! Yea, there was this one I really liked. It's been a long time since I last heard it though. It was a really good story about a king uniting his country."

That detail caught Shirou's attention. "I may know that story, do you remember anything else about it?"

"Hmm…" Nobuna's face shifted into a cute little pout as she tapped her head in thought. "The king was called Aster or, Arbor or… or Arthur! Arthur was his name!"

Shirou smiled when she recalled the name and silently patted himself on the back. "Ah, I do know that story actually. I know it very well, you could say, almost personally."

"Oh really, well then, you'll have to tell me some other time. It would appear that we are here. And with no trouble either." They had arrived.

This is something that I came up with after watching Ambition of Oda Nobuna a few months ago. I came back to it and gave it a little edit to fix some details about Shirou. I'm not sure if I got all the things correct so if you want to point them out go ahead. This is likely to be continued. But later, a lot later. I like to think how Shirou would do in place of Yoshiharu. And when I do I think of how wildly Shirou would change history beyond what Yoshiharu does already. While the two's ideals are different, they both have the thing about 'saving' going on. With Shirou in his place, he wouldn't be as ineffective as Yoshiharu was, as he would have some power, but that would also lead to different solutions because Yoshiharu relied on his knowledge from the game and had to come up with intuitive solutions. Shirou in this comes from the 'Normal' Heaven's Feel ending I believe. I can't remember exactly since its been forever since I played the visual novel. I'm not sure how I would pull of a pairing in this, because Shirou from Heaven's Feel is devoted to Sakura, and with him being romantically dense, if he developed any bit of feeling for the characters of Ambition, he would be doubtful as to what they were and would the ignore any romantic feelings they had for him. Which would be further harder to see in the case of the two Tsunderes of the series, Juubei and Nobuna herself.

So, thanks for reading and please leave a review on your way out.