Fate/Revenant Sword
By:
James D. Fawkes

Chapter IV: An Eerie Enemy
— o.0.O.O.0.o —

It happened suddenly and unexpectedly, without warning or mercy.

The moment he made to step through the school gates, there was a horrible sort of pain constricting around his heart. It was as though something had reached inside him and squeezed, squeezed, squeezed, trying to force out every drop of blood. The stench of ozone and blood and rotting meat invaded his nostrils.

The moment lasted an eternity. His vision went white. He couldn't breathe

And then it passed. He coughed and took in desperate gulps of air as his heart sped away in his chest and pounded a tattoo against his ribs. He clutched his hand over his heart, over the scar from Lancer's Gáe Bolg, and half-expected to find it soaked through with blood.

"So, I guess you noticed it, too," Rin said casually. Shirou looked up at her. She was frowning, and her brow was knitted together, but other than that, her expression was normal and disinterested.

And he remembered, and he couldn't believe that he had forgotten about it long enough to be caught by surprise.

"A bounded field," he choked out.

"Yes," she said, "and a pretty nasty one, too." She gave him an appraising look. "I guess it's only natural that you'd be so sensitive to the use of magecraft. After all, all that talent you lack in conventional magic had to have gone somewhere."

Ah, yes, that was comforting, Shirou thought as he regained his breath. Rin's usual manner of complimenting — back-handed and layered in an insult.

"You realize what this means, don't you?" she asked rhetorically. "There's a Master on campus, and by the way this thing feels, whoever it is happens to be a pretty nasty piece of work."

"It's cannibalistic," Shirou concluded. Rin gave him a half-amused look.

"I wouldn't call it cannibalistic, as it's a Bounded Field," she clarified. "But you've got the basic idea of what'll happen when it activates — everyone on campus will be broken down into Mana. Food for this Master's Servant, no doubt."

She plastered on her fake smile.

"Congratulations, Shirou!" she said with exaggerated cheer. "We've encountered one of the more twisted Masters in this Grail War only three days in!"

She couldn't have been more obvious if she'd screamed "I told you so!" at the top of her lungs.

"So then," Shirou began as he stood straight, "what are we gonna do about it?"

She shook her head. "Not now. We'll discuss it later today, on top of the roof during lunch. Meet me up there."

Then she walked off.

Shirou gave a helpless shrug to the air, then squared his shoulders into his usual casual posture and headed towards his own classroom.

Lunch rolled around quickly. The morning seemed to pass by in a blur, and he could only vaguely recollect what happened in each class — it hardly seemed important compared to the Grail War, so he didn't pay as much attention as he might have otherwise.

So, when the bell chimed for lunch, Shirou bought something to eat and headed up towards the roof.

Before that, though, he opened up the door to the student council room and looked inside. Issei sat at the table with his head resting on his arms.

"Issei," Shirou greeted. "Something wrong?"

As if he didn't already know. How had Rin explained it the first time? Normal people would be listless and tired. As Magi, he and she had a sort of natural resistance, so they didn't feel it, and they wouldn't be affected when the Bounded Field activated.

But guys like Issei and all the other students in the school, even the teachers, would be more and more tired as the Bloodfort drained their Prana.

"I dunno," Issei said tiredly. He lifted his head just enough to peer up at Shirou over his arms. "Lately, it just seems like I'm tired, no matter how much sleep I get, so if I get a chance to nap, I take it."

A shiver went down Shirou's spine, and suddenly there was a presence standing behind him, hovering, imposing, deathly cold. A hand came up — Shirou could see it out of the corner of his eye — and knocked once, twice on the wall beside the doorway.

"Ryûdô," Kuzuki Souichirou's cool voice called.

Issei bolted up in his chair. "Sensei!"

"Regarding the student from the Archery Club this morning," Kuzuki began, "apparently, she failed to return home, as well."

Issei jerked. "And what about Matou?"

"Absent," Kuzuki said succinctly. "At this point, we're not sure whether this is related to the other incidents happening in town, so I would appreciate it if you would keep this under wraps for now. As far as the other students know, those two are simply out sick."

"Yes, sir."

"That's all," Kuzuki intoned deeply. "Please excuse me."

The presence vanished. Shirou let out the breath he hadn't known he'd been holding.

He feigned ignorance — he remembered vaguely what Kuzuki had been talking about, but he'd paid it little mind in the grand scheme of things when the bigger concern was Rider and Shinji.

"The Archery Club?" he asked.

"Oh, right," Issei mumbled. "I guess you wouldn't have heard. Well, it does sort of concern you, so I might as well fill you in. The Captain of the Archery Club, Mitsuzuri Ayako, has been missing since yesterday. Then today, a student came forth who said they'd seen her talking to Matou Shinji before she vanished. Now, today, Shinji's absent, too."

"Shinji, huh," Shirou muttered. He didn't know how he'd been so blind before. He'd missed all the signs, had been too busy trying not to get too deeply involved in the War to notice the clues right in front of him. "Well, I've got an appointment to keep. I'll see you later."

"Yeah," Issei yawned, "see you…later."

A snore followed Shirou as he closed the door.

With that taken care of (and a better idea of what he needed to work on), he headed up the stairs and to the roof. In better weather, it would have been packed with students, but even with Fuyuki's rather mild winters, it was almost unbearably cold when he stepped out onto the rooftop. Rin was the only other one there.

"You're late!" she stuttered out. She was rubbing her arms and looked like she'd rather be anywhere else. "What kept you so long?"

"Sorry," Shirou said, "but I figured you might like this."

He offered her the extra coffee he'd bought. She took it with a sour expression on her face and shivered again.

"Well," she said dryly, "if you're not good for anything else, then at least you're thoughtful."

The tab snapped open with a pop. She took a sip and Shirou could see the delightful warmth travel down her spine. Well, it was winter, after all. Even a winter as mild as Fuyuki's was still cold.

"Thanks," she said sincerely, but it was ruined as she continued. "But get tea next time. I like milk teas. The worth of my gratitude goes down if it's anything else, so keep that in mind."

"Right," Shirou said with a smile, "I'll try to remember that next time. Besides that, though…the Bounded Field? That's what we're up here to talk about, right? So no one else can hear us?"

Her expression twisted into something resembling anger.

"You're awfully calm about this, aren't you?" she asked testily. "There's a Bounded Field around this school designed specifically to turn everyone here into a fine red paste, and yet you're discussing it like it's just the weather?"

Shirou frowned at her. "It's not like I'm not upset about it, but the longer we waste getting emotional about it, the longer it'll take to figure out what to do about it, and the more uncomfortable this spot will become. It's cold up here, so I just want to finish this quickly."

She crossed her arms and scowled.

"As if I didn't!" she declared. The anger melted. "Oh well. Fine, I'll be direct about it, then. What do you plan to do after school?"

"Nothing, really," Shirou admitted. It was a lie, but only half of one. He'd halfway started plans to deal with the War, but so far had only managed to get that he had to 'Stop Shinji and Rider.' They were the most immediate concern, because Illya wasn't due to interfere again yet (though how long he could count on his sketchy outline of the timeline remaining accurate was an issue he'd probably have to address later). "Why? What're you thinking of doing?"

She arched an eyebrow at him incredulously.

"Shirou," she began, "there's an enemy Master in this school who's set up a Bounded Field designed specifically to consume every living human being inside of it. Why do you think I'm asking what you're planning to do after school?"

"Well, you want my help dealing with it, I guess," Shirou said. "But you just got done telling me how useless I am the other day."

"Maybe so," she countered, "but this particular Master is a nasty piece of work, and even someone as inept as you would be helpful. This Master either isn't a proper Magus, or he isn't a Magus at all. There are only two actual Magi in Fuyuki. Any other Master must have come from somewhere else, or simply have been a weirdo who knows a little bit of magic."

Shirou did not need her to specify that he wasn't counted amongst Fuyuki's Magi. Her opinion of him was nowhere near that high.

"So if this Master isn't a proper Magus," Shirou concluded, "then he couldn't have put up this Bounded Field, right? Then it must've been—"

"His Servant," Rin finished with a smile. "Exactly. When a Servant is summoned by an incompetent Master, it's difficult for them to match up against other Servants who do have proper Masters. The only way for them to win is to do a lot of planning. That's what this Bounded Field is for, and this is a really complex one. If the Master could do something like that, then there's no way I wouldn't have noticed them."

"So it could only be the Servant," Shirou jumped in. "That makes sense. I guess it's too complex to just tear down, then, isn't it?"

He already knew the answer. They could weaken it, but it was just delaying the inevitable. The only thing to do was to defeat Rider before the Bloodfort could be activated.

"No," Rin answered, "I already tried, but it was useless. According to Archer, this thing should be ready in about eight days. After that, either the Master or the Servant could activate it anytime they want."

"Which means that we have to defeat him before then," Shirou added.

"That's right," Rin replied with a nod. "But he's practically won already, so if he's smart, then the only time he'll show up is when he's going to activate it. That'll be when we confront him."

No, Shirou knew. If they waited that long, then things would be difficult. The better idea would be to confront Shinji and Rider when they went to kidnap another student —

"What about the missing students?" Shirou asked suddenly.

Rin arched an eyebrow. "Missing students? What missing students?"

"Shinji was absent today," Shirou told her. "And so was Mitsuzuri. Don't you think it's a little bit suspicious that they'd go missing just a day or two after this Bounded Field was put up when there's a Master in the school? I mean, what are the odds?"

Rin frowned.

"You're right," she admitted. "That is a bit suspicious. What're we supposed to do, then?"

"Ask around, maybe?" Last time, he'd done exactly that, but she had interrupted him and tried to tear his Command Seals out of his arm because he wasn't 'taking his role as Master seriously' or something like that. "I don't know…look around the school after everyone else has left, see if we can't find anything? You'd probably be better at that than I am."

She smirked. "Well, at least you're honest."

She took another small sip of her coffee.

"That's a good idea, though," she mused. "A bit risky, but if we look around the school, then we might find out what happened to Mitsuzuri. I could care less about Shinji." She paused. "If we're lucky, we might even find some clues about who this mysterious Master is."

"So you don't have any idea?"

"I just told you that there are only two actual Magi in Fuyuki," she said tersely. "This Master isn't one of them, which means it could be practically anyone, Shirou."

"Right, right, sorry I asked."

The first bell echoed over the cold rooftop. It was the signal that the lunch break was over.

"That's it, then," Rin said. "We'll do some looking around after classes are over, so we'll meet up and ask around, maybe search the school for other signs of magecraft."

It was a nice idea, but Shirou knew what would find them after school. The upside, he supposed, was that he was already capable of Projecting Kanshou and Bakuya, so there was no need to worry about Caliburn.

The only question was…was he capable of beating Rider?

— o.0.O.O.0.o —

The question of Shinji had always been a bit of a gray area for Shirou. He was aware, of course, that Shinji wasn't exactly the nicest example of a human being. It hadn't really been an issue — Shirou was Shirou and Shinji was Shinji. It was a bit of an awkward friendship, but a friendship nonetheless.

The problem was the Grail War, or more accurately, what the Grail War had turned Shinji into. It was easy to say that whoever had set up the Bloodfort was a horrible person, but it was harder to say that about someone who was your friend. There were too many signs that Shirou had ignored the first time around, signs that all pointed to Shinji as the Master who'd set up the Bloodfort. He'd let his friendship blind him to the facts, and hundreds of people had nearly died because of it.

The solution to the mental indecisiveness had come shortly after he'd forced Shinji to drop the Bloodfort — or rather, shortly after he had forced Shinji to have Rider drop it, but that was semantics. From that point on, he'd separated Shinji into two people. First, there was his longtime friend, a guy who was a little rough around the edges and maybe even a little bit of an asshole, but not a psychopath. Second, there was the Master in the Grail War, the mass-murderer who cared nothing for the innocent people who got hurt in his way and cherished only his own life and success. That Shinji was an enemy, a Master who needed to be eliminated.

The fact that there may not actually be a difference between the two was a fact that Shirou was still wrestling with.

The bell rang signaling the end of the school day, and Shirou felt as though he had not learned anything all day. He had been too focused on the Grail War, on the issue of Shinji, on Rider, Berserker, and Archer, on all the things that would happen over the course of the War.

Which was fine, he decided as he walked to the spot where he would meet Rin. The Grail War lasted about two weeks. He could afford not to worry about school for that long. The Grail War was far more important.

A pair of giggling girls walked out of a classroom a little ways down the hall. Shirou ignored them and kept walking.

"So," he muttered to himself, "if everything's going the way it should be, Rider will attack us later on. Then…what? I don't want to try creating another Caliburn — just the thought of what might happen when there're two of them makes my head hurt."

That didn't leave much. Since he didn't want to risk making another Caliburn, he had to Project something else, but there wasn't much in his arsenal. Just about the only other swords he had any experience Projecting were Kanshou and Bakuya.

That was a risk, he realized immediately. Rin…she didn't exactly know about his abilities, did she? He'd told her that his specialty was Projection, but Saber had told him that what he'd done wasn't proper Projection. As far as Rin knew, Shirou's Projection of Caliburn had to do with Saber (which was actually true, to a certain extent). What would happen if he Projected the two swords that Archer favored?

Ugh. It would be so much easier if he actually knew the specifics of what he was doing, instead of just winging it all the time.

"Shirou!"

Shirou looked up and realized suddenly that he'd been standing in the middle of the hallway just in front of the stairs. Rin was standing in front of him and frowning, probably at his lack of reaction to her presence.

How long had she been standing there?

"Tousaka," he greeted belatedly.

She pressed her lips together, but she didn't call him out on his inattentiveness.

"Anything new?" she asked directly.

"Nothing," he told her. "Well, something I didn't really mention earlier — Issei said that a student came forth earlier about Mitsuzuri. According to him, Mitsuzuri was last seen talking to Shinji sometime last night." He frowned. "Are you sure about what you said?"

"Hm? What do you mean?"

"About the Matou," Shirou clarified. "I mean, it's not possible Shinji could be a Master?"

"It's entirely possible," Rin said, "even if it's not very likely. The fact of the matter is that we simply don't have any proof either way. It's true that he could be a Master, but it's also true that he might not be. The long and short of it is that he could be a Master, given the right circumstances, but that it's not really something I'd be money on. Like I told you before: the Matou line has been dying out for the last few generations. They have so little magic left that it's hardly worth mentioning."

"You're probably right," he admitted, even though he knew otherwise. "Anyway, what about you? Have you had any luck, then?"

Rin shook her head.

"Nothing. Everyone I've talked to is under the impression that Matou and Mitsuzuri are simply out sick today. That might not help us at all, but it's definitely got its own uses. After all, the less they suspect, the less likely they are to believe something unnatural is happening around here."

"Right," Shirou said.

"Well, aside from that, I haven't found anything," she went on. "Nothing new, anyway. The only thing we can really do is wait for this Master to show himself, like I said before. I don't like it, but our options are rather limited. Right now, our best bet is to conserve our energy for the moment of confrontation —"

A scream cut her off, a very loud, very much feminine scream. It was coming from inside the building somewhere, maybe a classroom or a closet.

Shirou remembered quite clearly what had happened the first time. The first time, Rin had been trying to kill him and take his Command Seals, and it was this very scream that had pretty much saved his life.

The problem was…he couldn't remember exactly where the girl was supposed to be.

"There's no way we could be that lucky," Rin murmured. She looked down and reached into her bag, rummaging around for something. "I mean, what are the odds? How could this mysterious psychopathic Master be smart enough to have this Bounded Field set up, but stupid enough to risk kidnapping a student when there are two Masters?"

She gave a small "aha" and pulled whatever she'd been searching for from her bag, then thrust it forward and offered it to him. Shirou's heart lurched in his chest.

It was Caliburn.

Or, more accurately, it was Caliburn's hilt. Everything from the tip of the blade down to the guard was gone. Everything — the blade itself, the intricate langet, the riser and the strange letters written down the blade — it was all gone. In effect, what Rin held in her hand was nothing more than a handle wrapped in blue, an intricate golden guard, and a bejeweled pommel.

"Is that…?"

Rin let out a sigh, then the hilt glowed with a pale silvery light as the blade and langet slowly reformed molecule by molecule from the guard on up. It was like watching light gather in the air and piece together into a sword. In a few short moments, the entirety of Caliburn was held in her hand in all its magnificent golden glory.

"Here," she said. "I used a technique I learned from that fake priest to remove the burden of carrying around Caliburn. It's a fairly easy skill, and I'll teach it to you later, but for now, take it and let's get going."

"Uh — right," he said. He took Caliburn from her and hefted its newly familiar weight as she closed her bag back up and looked at him expectantly. He gave her a nod, and then, at some unseen unheard signal, they took off.

"It came from down here!" Rin called out behind her as she raced down the stairs.

"I know!" Shirou answered her. He put on an extra burst of speed and took the steps two at a time to overtake her. "And right now, I'm the one with the weapon, so I should probably go first, just in case there's a Servant involved!"

Vaguely, he realized the humor in what he was doing — the very first thing parents warned their children not to do was go running around with sharp objects, but here he was, dashing through the school hallways with a sword in his hands.

The irony did not escape him.

"Idiot!" she retorted as they made it to the first floor. "If there's a Servant involved, the only thing you going first will accomplish is getting you killed!"

They sprinted down the hallways as fast as their legs would carry them, and Shirou tried desperately to remember where exactly the girl had been the last time. There'd been an open door, no, two sets of open doors that lead outside into the forest, where he'd fought Rider, so she was definitely on the first floor.

"Well, unless you brought Archer along, I'm the best chance we've got!" he called behind him.

He pulled up a mental map of the school and considered the different exits — where they led to, where they were on the building, what features were nearby, the shape of the hallway leading up to them — eliminating each one by one until…there. The girl would be there, because it was the only place that fit.

"Of course not!" she fired back. "Archer's still recovering from that wound Saber inflicted upon him the other night! We can't all have regeneration magic, Shirou!"

"Well, that's just," he flung himself around the corner, and there she was, lying unconscious on the floor. Rin thudded to a stop behind him, and the sound of her panting filled his right ear. "That doesn't matter, right now."

"Move it," she muttered as she pushed past him. She kneeled beside the girl and lifted her up, then went about checking her vitals. Rin's frown deepened with every passing second. "It's as I suspected, then. Whoever was here a moment ago tried to drain the life out of this girl."

"A Servant?" Shirou asked quietly. Come to think of it, they never had found out whether it was Shinji or Rider who had drained Prana from this girl.

"Given the evidence we have so far, that seems to be most likely," Rin said. "In fact, it's probably the same Servant who set up this Bounded Field. And we were so close, too. If we'd been a few minutes faster, we would've caught them in the act."

She placed the girl on the floor back-down and pulled out a gem stone — an immaculate red ruby cut into a perfect rectangular shape.

"If we leave her like this, she'll die," Rin explained. "I can help her, though, but it'll take a moment."

"Right," Shirou said.

She let out another sigh, then held her hand out over the girl as red light spilled out between her fingers. Rin closed her eyes, then began to chant an incantation silently. Her lips moved without a sound, miming words slowly and deliberately. Her brow knitted together and her eyes were gently shut. Again, watching the same scene for a second time, Shirou marveled at the seriousness etched into every line and curve of her face, and wondered at the sense of nostalgia it filled him with.

"Ugh!" she groaned suddenly. "I can't concentrate! Emiya, shut that door!"

Shirou jolted out of his reverie as his body moved almost on its own to fulfill her command, and it was only the fact that he knew it was coming that allowed him to parry the nail-like dagger aimed for Rin's face with a shallow slash from Caliburn. There was a clang of steel on steel, and the dagger ricocheted back out into the courtyard.

Rin spun around at the noise. "Shirou, what —?"

Shirou settled Caliburn in front of him and waited in case a follow up attack came. "Looks like the Servant that attacked this girl wasn't quite as gone as we thought."

Shirou could imagine the look of understanding that must've flashed across her face, the way her mouth fell open just the slightest, the way her eyebrows slowly rose upwards, the way her eyes went just a little bit wide — it was a rare look for her, but the Grail War was full of rarities.

"You can't intend to go out there by yourself!" she told him angrily. "Shirou, that's a Servant out there!"

"I know," he said solemnly. "Take care of the girl first."

He made sure to close the door behind him.

The coppery scent of blood filled the air outside, mixing and coiling around a second, strangely serpentine scent, like visiting the reptile house at the zoo.

Any Magus with any sort of skill was sensitive to the usage of nearby magecraft, something Rin had all but directly told him last time when they'd discussed the presence of a Master at the school. How exactly a Magus' brain interpreted this sensitivity was unique to each Magus; Shirou, who enjoyed cooking and the smell of fine food, seemed to interpret it as scents.

It was something he'd become aware of just recently, an ability of sorts that had been evolving ever since he'd been shuttled back in time. It hadn't been too noticeable at first, and by the time it would have become conspicuous, he would already have gotten too used to Saber and Archer's presence to really pay it any mind.

He'd only really noticed it the night before, when he came home and started reading the books Rin had given him, but was distracted by the scent of burgundy and fresh water — Saber's scent, a sign, he figured, of her status as royalty and the "richness" of her power.

Archer was smoke and steel. What exactly that meant, Shirou didn't know, just that it was the scent of Archer's power.

Cúchulainn, he'd almost missed, as distracted as he'd been, but Lancer smelled like wet dog — which made sense, as he was the Hound of Culann.

So then, this smell of snakes and blood could only belong to Rider.

He walked slowly across the courtyard and kept his body reinforced and his senses sharp. Because her Master wasn't a proper Magus, Rider attacked from the shadows and leapt around with catlike grace, so she could come at him from any angle. If he wasn't prepared, he would be crushed.

He had no illusions about beating her if she used her Noble Phantasm.

The scent led to the forest behind the Archery Club, just as he remembered. If he was right, he thought as he walked through the trees, and it hadn't been a hallucination, then Shinji would be back here, too. If that was true, then all he'd have to do was corner Shinji and force him to drop the Bloodfort.

A low chuckle echoed through the air, coming, at once, from everywhere and nowhere. It was impossible to pinpoint the origin, identity, or the location of the one laughing. With Rider stalking through the branches and leaves, though, it could only be one person.

Shinji.

The sound of chains rattling slithered in his right ear, and it was only instinct that threw Shirou backwards to avoid the attack aimed for his throat. The nail-like dagger whistled harmlessly through the space in front of him, and a black blur hit a tree trunk and bounced effortlessly off, then landed on all fours in the dirt. Pinkish-red hair fell unceremoniously about its shoulders and haunches like a cloak.

Rider.

She smiled, an irritating, superior smile, like a spider about to feast on its prey or a snake that's trapped a rabbit and is about to squeeze its life away. Then, she leapt up and somersaulted over his head. He spun around just fast enough to see her push herself off another tree and rocket towards him with one of her nails

It took all of his strength to parry the blow, and it still pushed his feet into the dirt and nearly sent him tumbling. He didn't have the chance to return the blow — by the time his muscles could react to the sudden slack that followed her retreat, she had already flung herself backwards and ghosted away into the trees again.

She wasn't gone. He could still smell the bloody, reptilian scent that marked her presence.

The next attack came as swiftly as the first, and shot towards him from the side at an angle. It was too awkward to block the way he had before. The best he could do was swing Caliburn around and deflect the blow away from his body so that Rider and her nail flew harmlessly past his leg. Spiderlike, she landed sideways on another tree trunk and pushed herself off and away. She vanished again.

Guerilla tactics. Against a Servant of greater power, it might have been a good idea, but Shirou held no illusions about being Rider's better. It might be fair to say that he was a better fighter than her, but to say that he was stronger was a mistake. There was no reason for her to be so cautious about him.

Another of Shinji's chuckles echoed through the forest. Like the first, though, it seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere. Trying to pinpoint it would be difficult enough, but it was impossible if he wanted to avoid Rider's attacks.

The third attack came from his right. She rushed in like a speeding bullet, angled low so that her dagger could reach up under his guard. It didn't work. It couldn't have. Saber had been his teacher, and the only swordsman who had ever given her skills any trouble was Assassin. Shirou deflected the blow again, up and away this time instead of out and to the side. Rider skidded around him, then leapt backwards and back into the trees.

Like a ghost, she vanished once more.

There was a long pause as he waited for her, but no attack came. He couldn't tell where she'd gone — not by sight, nor by her "scent," as the coppery, serpentine stench filled the entire forest — only that she hadn't left.

"I'm surprised," her voice echoed sultrily. "Aren't you going to use one of those Command Seals to summon your Servant?"

A grin twisted its way onto Shirou's lips. Banter. He could play that game. It was Rin's favorite, after all.

"Hate to disappoint you," he called out to her, "but those are kind of precious. I wouldn't use it for something as trivial as this."

"Careful with that bravado," she teased from everywhere at once. "A girl might take offence."

"Like you're one to talk!" he retorted. "All this dancing around is pointless. The only thing you're doing is wasting time, and if you're not going to get it over with already, then I've got some better things to do!"

Her voice chuckled.

"I guess it's bad form to fight a Master seriously," she mused. "But since you don't want to play, I supposed the least I can do is make your death as quick as I can."

The clink of her chains came from behind, and he spun around to deflect one of her daggers with Caliburn. Her pink lips pulled backwards into a snarl as she grunted and leap back into the trees, then vanished again. It was ridiculous. She was a Servant. Was she so self-conscious of her skills that such a simple thing as him blocking her rattled her so?

He grunted too.

"Guess Tousaka was worried for nothing," Shirou prodded. "Compared to the other Servants in this War, you're not really anything to be threatened by!"

"Oh?" her voice taunted. "My, you sound so sure of yourself. If you're not careful, boy, you might just find yourself in more trouble than you bargained for. In fact…"

The chains clinked again, and the sound bounced endlessly off the narrow trunks around him. If he'd been more practiced at reinforcing his body, he might have been able to reinforce his ears and find out where she was, but no matter how hard he tried, his ordinary human ears weren't sensitive enough.

"You might just…"

Something big and heavy, like a human body, swooped through the air.

"DIE!"

Something long, thin, and metallic whistled through the air. The chain rattled as its length was pulled taut. The spike, the narrow steel instrument she wielded like a dagger, soared towards him.

"From behind!" he realized. He spun around. Caliburn followed the twist of his body and hissed as it arced up and out to parry the attack.

But it was unnecessary.

A moment before the collision, something else shot forward like a bullet and impacted against the nail. It was knocked off course and spun upwards like a baton. A second later, another ball of black energy slammed into it and sent it straight into the trunk of a tree. Caliburn completed its swing an instant later and cut only empty air.

Shirou knew immediately who had interrupted.

"Tousaka!"

After all, the Gandr Shot was her favorite attack — fast, cost efficient, and useful. It was practically her trademark.

"Tch!" Rider scoffed angrily and yanked her weapon free with a single hard tug. The moment her spike was back in her hand, she faded away and vanished like the morning mist. The scent of blood remained, courtesy of the Bloodfort, no doubt, but the reptilian smell of snakes was gone.

"Shirou!"

Rin was running through the forest, dodging and weaving through the trees with a strange grace. He waited until she had come to a halt in front of him and her breathing had returned to normal before speaking. She must have run the entire way.

"Is that girl okay?" he asked immediately.

"She'll be fine," Rin told him. "A few days of rest and she should be back to normal. More importantly, what about you? Are you hurt? Did you get injured?"

Shirou relaxed his grip on Caliburn and held it loosely in his right hand instead of with both.

"No, I'm fine," he reassured her. "Either that Servant wasn't very strong, or she wasn't interested in actually killing me. She didn't really get in close too much, and she didn't really go for a fatal blow, either. It was…kind of weird, actually."

Rin frowned.

"You shouldn't underestimate a Servant," she admonished. "With that said, though, it is a bit odd. Do you think maybe she was just…testing the waters, so to speak?"

Shirou frowned, too. Now that he thought about it, she might have been right. Servants were Heroic Spirits. They were supposed to be better, faster, and stronger than ordinary humans. For however easy it was to parry her attacks, if Rider had gotten up close and attacked him like she had at the beginning, he would've been hard pressed to keep up.

In a head on head fight, he might have been fast enough to keep up with her, but would he have been strong enough?

"You're probably right," he said. "If she'd really tried, she probably would've wiped the floor with me."

"Yeah," Rin agreed. She tilted her head a little thoughtfully. "You think she was the Servant who set up this Bounded Field? I didn't really get a good read on her earlier; I wasn't close enough."

Shirou weighed his options, but took only a moment to decide.

"Definitely," he said confidently. Rin arched an eyebrow at him and he tapped his nose with a finger. "She's got the same smell of blood as the Bounded Field does."

The other eyebrow joined its twin, and a moment later her face screwed up. She brought a hand to her mouth, and from behind it he could hear…a giggle.

"I'm sorry," she said between laughs. "I-It's just…Emiya Shirou: Bloodhound."

She broke down, clutching her arms around her stomach as she tried to stifle herself. He frowned at her and his brow knitted together as he glared, but it did nothing to stop her from laughing.

It wasn't that funny.

"I-In all seriousness," she said once she'd calmed down, "this is a bit of good news. We know who the Servant is behind this Bloodfort, now. It's just a matter of finding the Master and defeating him. If today is anything to go by, then whoever he is just doesn't have the patience to sit around and wait for the Bounded Field to run its course. That gives us an advantage."

"Because we know he'll try to attack again, and all we have to do is wait for him," Shirou concluded.

Rin's smile was absolutely predatory. "Exactly."

She let out a sigh, then tapped Caliburn's hilt. A few moments later, the blade and langet had disappeared like dust in the wind, leaving only the hilt, guard, and pummel.

"Anyway," she said, "you go ahead home. I have some business I need to take care of, so I'll be back later."

— o.0.O.O.0.o —

It wasn't quite dark when Shirou made it home, but the gate was still locked. He supposed it wasn't too unusual. After all, before the Grail War had started, he'd often been home much later in the evening. The gate would have been open and Sakura would have beeen inside preparing dinner.

He opened the front door.

"I'm home!" he called out.

He reached down and tugged off his shoes. Caliburn's hilt and his bag were still held in one hand, but the action was practiced and only a little more awkward than normal.

When he looked up, Saber was standing in front of him.

"Welcome home, Shirou," she said politely.

"Saber," he greeted with a nod. "Ah…did you sleep all day again?"

"There is little else to do during the day," she affirmed, "and it is wise to sleep when you are not in battle and the opportunity arises, but I did spend some time in the dojo earlier today."

"I see. Have your injuries healed? You know…from the fight with Berserker?"

"My injuries from Berserker have long since healed, Shirou," she told him. "I'm ready for combat whenever the moment arises. You may rest assured that I am at full strength."

That was right, he realized. She hadn't been injured by Gáe Bolg this time, so the cursed wound that had taken forever to heal didn't exist. In fact, she would've been completely healed by the time he got up the morning after.

She looked him over and her eyes latched onto Caliburn. Her brow furrowed.

"And what of you, Shirou?" she asked pointedly. "Did something happen at the school?"

Oh, right. Yeah, she'd definitely be upset with him. He hadn't called her to his side in the scuffle with Rider, so she'd be angry at him for not summoning her with a Command Seal.

"Let's get to the living room first," he said. "I'll explain everything then."

He made a quick stop to his room to drop off his bag and Caliburn, then went back and sat next to Saber at the table. From there, he explained everything — the Bounded Field, the discussion with Rin during lunch, the missing students, the girl who'd been attacked, and then the Servant who attacked them.

"She didn't really seem like she wanted to kill me," he told her. "She didn't seem to be taking the fight seriously — I mean, if she'd just come at me and kept attacking again and again, there's no way I would have been able to keep up. The strange thing was, it seemed more like she was just…testing me, you know? Maybe trying to get information about my skills, or trying to get me to summon you, so that her Master could figure out who my Servant was."

"And that is why you did not summon me?" Saber asked dangerously. "Because you didn't think she was a threat? Shirou, no ordinary Magus could stand up to a Servant, not even someone as powerful as Rin. If you keep risking your life needlessly like this, then there will come a time when your luck runs out and the only thing your stubborn recklessness will accomplish is to get you killed —"

She broke off.

"Someone has entered the gate," she announced quietly.

"Probably Tousaka," Shirou told her. "Or maybe Sakura. Look, I understand what you're saying, Saber, but you have to trust me. If all I do is rely on you, then what happens when you can't be there? What happens when an enemy Master has me cornered and you're fighting their Servant? I can handle myself. If I need you, and I'll know when I do, then I'll call for you. I promise."

Her lips pressed into a frown, but before she could say anything, the front door opened and Rin's voice called out. "I'm home!"

"Welcome home," he called back to her reflexively.

When she came into the living room, however, Sakura was standing next to her, and both were carrying bags of groceries.

"I know it's supposed to be your turn to cook, Shirou," Rin began with a smile, "but Sakura insisted that she take a turn, so she'll be cooking for us tonight."

Sakura gave a short bow, said, "Excuse me, Senpai," then moved immediately for the kitchen.

"Why don't you go ahead and rest for a while, Shirou," Rin said kindly. It was a weird sort of thing to be hearing from her mouth, because her usual attitude was condescending and superior. "I'll have Saber come and get you when dinner is ready."

But it was convenient. He might not have been tired from his fight with Rider, but there was still something that he needed to work on, something that would take him more than one day or afternoon to finish.

"Alright." Shirou stood. "I'll leave everything in your hands, Sakura."

"Thank you, Senpai," her voice called out as he left.

He made immediately for his room, but made sure not to run. He walked calmly down the hall and forced himself to go slow. He slid the door to his room open, then closed it behind him and pulled out the book he'd been reading the night before. He flipped it to the page he had stopped on and continued where he'd left off.

This was his secret weapon, he knew. If he could figure out how to do it, then he might just find a weapon good enough to fight Gilgamesh.

And if he could do that, then everything else would be so much the easier.

— o.0.O.O.0.o —

To be continued

Disclaimer: I don't own Fate/Stay Night.

For those of you Fate fans out there (who am I kidding? You wouldn't be here if you weren't), there's an RP called "Fate Ultra" in the Fate/Stay Night forums section on this site. I welcome you to join. You can RP a Master, a Servant, a regular Magus, or basically anything Nasu-verse, within limits. It's fun, most of the time (trolls are EVIL), but it goes a bit slow because we're missing the required number of characters. If you want to join, make sure to read the Rules section first.

Second, I plan to be a chapter ahead from now on. That means that I'll write all of chapter six before I post chapter five. That way, in emergencies, I can post the already-written chapter closer to schedule. Whether or not this works out, though, is up in the air for the moment.

The technique Rin used for Caliburn is used by Kirei and the Burial Agency to make it easier to carry and conceal their weapons of choice, the sword-knives known as "Black Keys." It's a fairly easy Single Action spell, or so I've been told, so Rin knows it, and she'd naturally teach Shirou.

I borrowed Shirou's "bloodhound" abilities from Gabriel Blessing, because it was too good an idea to ignore. And, well, I noticed hints of it in the VN, too, as I was looking up the necessary parts for this chapter.

Unaware of loss.

James Daniel Godric Alan Fawkes
James Daniel Godric Alan Fawkes(Signature best viewed in Wendy Medium font style)