"Normal Talking"
"Thoughts"
Shirou's running through the streets.
Saber's tightly in his arms, her condition is wavering too much, it's not bad but definitely not good either. She's sweating heavily, and her body feels hot, too hot for any person, let alone a Servant of her caliber.
He grit his teeth and started to run faster than before, his stomping feet were beginning to crack the ground, his growing speed would be a red and blue streak to a normal human.
Shirou soon reaches his house and immediately goes to wakes Rin. He gently lowers Saber to the ground, and quickly barges down the door to Rin's room, and... his face goes completely red.
She's sleeping in frilly, black and white undergarments, her legs and arms are wrapped around a large pillow, and a bit of drool was leaking out of her mouth.
He'a frozen in place, his body is shaking in fear and embarrassment. His eyes couldn't help but wander to her open shirt... revealing her flawless stomach... smooth leg-
No! No! Bad thoughts! Bad thoughts!
He shook his head of the very lewd thoughts that entered his brain. He quickly resolves himself and shakes her quickly. "Tohsaka! Tohsaka! Wake up!" He feels like his decision is going to get him hurt, again.
And... boy, did she wake up.
Her sleepy eyes, were still looking at Shirou's panicking face, and she grumbled something under her breathe, and laid her head back onto her pillow.
For about 5 seconds, or so. It seems she finally realized what was occuring.
"KYAAAA!" She grabbed the nearest pillow, the one she was hugging, and used it as a makeshift weapon, striking Shirou across the head. He's sent to the ground, somehow cracking the ground from the sheer force.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING, YOU PERVERT?!" She starts kicking Shirou's downed form.
"Ow! Wait, Toh-!" Her foot slams into his face, sending him right back to the ground.
"I don't want to hear it, Emiya!" Her voice, clearly laced with enough venom to melt a car. She was going to beat him up some more, but a slight groan outside the open door made her pause. She saw the familiar blonde-hair, being deathly still. Meaning something was wrong, or worse...
She looked and glared between the door, and Shirou. Who still hasn't moved, only slightly shaking in fear.
Using a bit of common sense, she finally calmed down enough to speak. "You have a lot of explaining to do, Emiya-kun..." Her voice still as cold as ice.
After her initial shock and embarrassment went away, she helped put Saber in his room.
"Tohsaka, could you... come outside?" They get up and close the door behind them.
"Can you tell me if her injuries are serious? She's been asleep for quite a while." Shirou said with concern.
She shakes her head slightly. "Don't worry, a Servant can heal from any injury in time, it's something else that made her lose consciousness. When a Servant cancels out their Noble Phantasm, it's not an easy task. It's like switching off something that wants to desperately come out, in this case it's her mana. Still that shouldn't hurt her much. Just let her rest and she'll be fine." She looks at Shirou's injury.
"Are you sure you're alright, Emiya-kun?" Shirou looks down at his bloody shirt, also noticing, no major injury is present.
"I'm fine, you don't worry about it. I think it's fully healed anyway."
She hums in acknowledgement. "Well Emiya, I hope you learned from this incident, you need to take better control of Saber. It won't be good if she keeps using her Noble Phantasm, especially if she runs out of mana. The worst case that could happen is she disappears on the spot."
"Hmm..." Shirou hears slow movement and turns around, noticing Saber approach.
"Saber, are you okay now?" He goes to help her, but she puts a hand up to stop him.
"Yes." She continues talking. "There's no need to worry, I'll know when to use my Phantasm, there's no need for you to tell me that. Assassin is an enemy worth using a Noble Phantasm against." She looks down to her hand, slowly closing it into a fist.
"Besides, I'm confident I can defeat him with it. That's something I'm not wrong on, if you have any doubts I'll go and fight him again." Her legs suddenly give out and she's forced to lean against the wall.
"You idiot! Don't push yourself too hard!"
"What?! I know Caster and Assassin like the back of my hand, now is the perfect time to attack!"
"Didn't I say it already?! We still need more information on those two!"
"Stop speaking nonsense! If we keep avoiding battles like you do, than we'll lose no matter what!"
"Even in your current situation? Can't you just listen to me for just once?! Besides, don't Servants need to listen to their Master! Unlike you who ran off without me, you who was losing against Assassin!"
She grits her teeth. "I did not LOSE! I would have defeated Assassin with my Noble Phantasm, had you not come barging in out of nowhere! Besides, the reason I went there was because of you Shirou! A kid who has no experience in battle at all!"
"ENOUGH!" Saber and Rin flinch from his voice, he takes a couple calming breaths.
"If I could fight, then you'll listen to me, right? The encounters with Lancer, Berserker, Rider, Caster and Assassin showed me how much more I need to improve on, so if I could fight better I'll take over for you in battle!"
"Huh...?" She asked dumbly, she couldn't think of anything else to say.
Shirou starts running outside. "Go to bed and sleep now! I'll fight you're battles from now on!"
"Wait Shirou! Are you serious?! Shirou!"
Rin sighs and she rubs her head, already feeling a growing headache. "Jeez..."
Shirou is outside, and training with his swords he swings them around and uses the fighting style of Archer. "Damn it! I need to get stronger!" He swings them against a tree and only leaves deep gashes, he reinforces his arm out of frustration and punches the tree causing it to break, continuing his frustration, he lifts the broken tree over his head and throws it across the area.
Shirou is panting heavily, he feels a presence behind him. "Geez, for once I'm applauding you for your idiocy."
"Tohsaka..." He looks back and looks at a slightly annoyed Rin, her gaze drifts to the broken tree, slight approval in her eyes.
"Saying you'll take over for Saber and, what did you say? "Fight her battles." huh?"
Shirou sharply turns his head away, his cheeks redden a bit from embarrassment. "Shut up, I mean it..." He said quietly, almost too quiet for Rin to hear.
She gains an "are you serious" look. "What did you say...? Do really think that you have the power to match a Servant? Even with your... abilities, do you also think the Servants ever took you seriously?" She starts to tick off fingers.
"With Rider, she just toyed with you in the forest. Do you think she used any of her abilities? Archer, was still injured from Saber so when you two fought he wasn't at full strength, and don't even get me started on Lancer..." She mumbled the last part, she almost shivered when she remembered seeing Shirou's unmoving body, a large pool of blood under the hole in his chest.
"...W-Well, I mean..."
"Jeez, it's too late to take that back now, but... what's wrong with that?"
"Tohsaka...?" Shirou tilts his head in confusion.
She turns and smiles. "I like the way you are now. Try your best... I'll help you if necessary. I want my partner to be stronger after all. But, you'll still never beat me in a fight."
Shirou sweat drops. "Really, Tohsaka...?"
"He, he, he... work hard, Shirou I want to see an even bigger improvement from you." She returns inside.
Shirou goes inside and lays next to Saber, he closes his eyes, but he hears rustling and opens his eyes. Saber's calm green eyes bore into his. "Shirou are you awake?"
"Yeah... what reason?"
"I need you to go to the Dojo in the morning, it's important." She said.
"Ah, yeah that sound fine..." He doesn't hear anymore talking so he lays down and drifts back to sleep.
Shirou wakes up and is met with an empty space, he remembers last night and what Saber told him to do, so he freshened up and heads to the dojo.
He opens the door and sees she is relaxing in a seiza position. "So, Saber what do you want to talk about?"
She opens her eyes. "Shirou... I thought about what you said yesterday... and I find it very hard to let you do the fighting, but I know you won't give up on it, so..." She throws one of the wooden swords she has at Shirou, he catches it calmly.
"I challenge you to a fight, Shirou! Even if you beat me once, that counts as a victory for me." She points her wooden sword at him.
"Huh?"
"But if I win, then you take back everything you said yesterday. This is how you would battle a Servant."
"Umm, Saber-"
"Any objections, Shirou?"
"..." He doesn't speak he only gets into a stance, she notices this and gets ready as well.
"Then... let the battle begin!"
No one moves, everything is silent. "Does she really expect me to just jump into a match like this? She's a Servant of the sword! It's like putting a match next to a torch! I'll just have to go all out in the beginning!" Shirou reinforces his body to the max and charges at Saber, she instantly side-steps his charge and attempts to smack him in the head, but he narrowly dodges.
"Holy crap! I barely saw her!" Shirou turns around and attempts to strike Saber's side but she easily deflects it. She calmly looks with a slight hint of surprise in her gaze. Shirou speeds toward her again and slashes at her attempting to get at least one hit. She dodges each attempt smoothly. Shirou is panting slightly while she didn't even break a sweat.
She smiles. "My turn, Shirou. Prepare yourself!" Her moves are lightning fast, Shirou can't even keep up with most of them, only his reinforced body prevented him from a knock-out. Saber does an over-head strike that Shirou narrowly blocks, breaking his Shinai in two, Saber doesn't stop.
She keeps charging, forcing Shirou into a corner, she thinks she has the final strike until he rolls under her strike and picks up two new swords, he utilizes Archer's style of fighting next. Shirou smiles, he at least has a better chance. He also uses slight reinforcement so they don't break like before. He charges again and she is actually forced to step back with Shirou's strike. He purposely leaves openings so she goes for them, he then predicts and takes that opportunity to use his other sword to attack her, it still doesn't work.
"Hmph, so you purposely leave opening so the enemy thinks you're a clumsy idiot with a sword, and then you deal damage to them with a sneak attack... this is a suicidal type of style Shirou! You won't live long with that!" She charges again and Shirou is forced to block a strike that sends him slamming into the wall. He gets up and waits for her to move as well. They both charge until...
"Good morning, Shirou!" She waves, not noticing what's happening.
"Fuji-nee?!" Shirou trips and falls onto Saber, where she 'eeps' and they fall in a tangle of limbs.
"Ow, ow... huh?" His eyes are closed and he feels a warm sensation on his lips, he opens his eyes and sees he's on Saber again... and their lips are touching! Shirou's face lights up like a furnace and Saber also gains a red blush as well. Everything is silent until a Tiger's roar is heard.
"SHIROU! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?! YOU'RE TAKING ADVANTAGE OF POOR SABER-CHAN, AREN'T YOU?!" She readies her shinai and her eyes are on fire. "DIE, SHIROU!"
Shirou sighs, he rubs a fresh bruise on his cheek. He starts to cook until he hears a dreary groan behind him.
"Morning..." She shuffles across the floor, her hair is uncombed and messy, she looks like a zombie.
"Good morning..." She ignores that and goes to the fridge.
"Milk..." She grabs the carton and chugs it.
"At least use a cup..." She finishes and looks at Shirou.
"Oh right, sorry, I'm no good in the morning, so you'll have to get used to it." Shirou sweat drops.
"Well... I guess it's alright." He hears the front door open.
"Good morning, Emiya-senpai."
"Good morning, Sakura! Do you want to help me with breakfast?"
She smiles. "That sounds good." She said, another voice suddenly makes herself known.
"Shirou~! You make breakfast yet~?" She asks loudly.
He sighs, already used to the ball of energy he calls a big sister. "Yes, yes, just wait a bit Fuji-nee, me and Sakura are preparing it now." She gives him a thumbs up and runs to the dining room.
"It's going to be one of those mornings, huh...?" He asked no one in particular. He begins to cook breakfast, already knowing this will be a hectic day.
Everyone is soon finished with breakfast. "Thanks for the meal!" Fuji-nee said.
"Thanks for the meal." Rin gets up and cleans the dishes. "Sakura don't you have club activities in the morning? I'm just freeloading so I'll clean up."
"Huh? But..."
"Don't worry Sakura, you helped enough already and Tohsaka didn't do anything to help."
"Alright..." She looks a little sad. She turns to leave, but a warm hand rests on her shoulder. She turns around and her cheeks burn, Shirou's smiling softly.
"Come back soon, and we'll cook together again, okay Sakura?" He gives her shoulder a squeeze, wishing he could give her a warm hug and... ahem, maybe other affectionate... things... he shook his head, jeez, where did those thoughts come from?
"Y-Y-Yes, o-o-okay, S-S-Sen-n-npai..." She stuttered softly, Shirou only seems to smile brighter, making Sakura's face light up even more.
Tiger looks at the clock. "Jeez, I should get going..." She notices that Shirou isn't wearing his school uniform. "Huh? Shirou shouldn't you be heading out too?"
"Ah... Don't worry about me, I'm going to stay home today." Saber, Rin, Sakura and Tiger pause to look at him.
Rin and Tiger close in on Shirou. "What?! Have you lost your mind! What do you think you're doing, Shirou?!"
Shirou starts to rub his shoulder. "My old injuries are acting up, so I'm just going to rest."
Tiger instantly calms down, a slightly sad look in her eyes. "Old injuries...? You mean from ten years ago?"
Shirou scratches his cheek. "Something like that... but I really do have some important things to do, so could you overlook it this time? Please, Fuji-nee?" She closes her eyes, a look of concentration on her face.
"Well... when you put it that way..." She sighs. "Hmm, alright, alright."
"Fujimura?" Sakura said.
"I'll just turn a blind eye to this for now, but you better explain yourself when I get back!"
Shirou smiles, giving her a thumbs up. "I'm in your debt!"
Rin sweat drops. "Are you kidding me? Should a teacher really do this...?"
Everyone besides Shirou and Saber are leaving but, before Fuji-nee leaves she turns back to Shirou. "You better not do anything to Saber-chan when I'm gone, Shirou... she's lucky I caught you before anything else could happen..." Shirou's face becomes darker than his hair.
"Goodbye, Fuji-nee!" He quickly slams the door. He turns around to an equally red-faced Saber. Shirou immediately bows. "I'm sorry for what I did, Saber!"
She remembers when their lips were touching, how soft and warm his lips were. "D-Do not worry about it... accidents happen..." Her face flushes even more.
"Well I think we should continue where we left off, eh Saber?" She nods and they get up to go to the dojo, they soon are in there familiar stances, Shirou is in the two sworded stance and Saber in her own.
Shirou grins. "Here I come, Saber!" He charges with his reinforced body.
She also grins. "Very well!" Their swords clash again and again.
The scene goes to Rin. "Sheesh, wanting to fight against Saber for a whole day? I should've warned him or something. Well, maybe this will be a good experience for him, after this he should finally learn that he has no hope to fight against a Servant alone..." She notices Issei walking and he notices her as well.
"Urgh! Tohsaka?!" He looks as if he gotten a heart attack.
"Good morning, Ryuudou-san."
"Why did I have to meet her so early in the day? Truly, an ill omen..."
"Aren't you being kind of rude?" She crosses her arms in the background.
"Hmm... by the way has anything changed recently at the Ryuudou Temple? Maybe, a new monk arriving, something like that?" He looks at her strangely.
"Huh? I'm not sure how I feel about you suddenly inquiring about my home." She dismisses his growing suspicion.
"It's nothing important."
He puts his hand on his chin. "Hmm, now that you mention it... you know Kuzuki-sensei is staying at the temple?"
"Kuzuki-sensei that teaches here? I heard since he's like a big brother to you, so you offered him a room."
He pushes up his glasses. "Indeed, he's also getting married pretty soon. Until then, his fiancée is staying with his at the temple too." Rin is surprised with this information.
"His fiancée? Could it be..." She feels Archer about to speak. "Hmm... Looks like he was pretending to be normal. Then that would make the woman he's staying with Caster..."
Issei notices someone behind Rin. "Ah! Kuzuki-sensei!" She tenses ever so slightly, she didn't even hear him! Let alone sense him!
He speaks with his usual monotone voice. "Ryuudou, I would like to talk about this years budget allocation. Could you come with me to the staff room?"
Issei smile. "Certainly, I'll head there now." Kuzuki nods his head slowly and walks away without making a noise. Issei turns back to her. "Okay, Tohsaka I'll be going now."
"Okay." He walks away, oblivious to the dangers around him.
She also begins to walk, while she's walking, she thinks about her gained knowledge. "Could Kuzuki be her Master? If so then out next plan of action is simple, we defeat that teacher, then Caster will be dealt with." She feels Archer talk again. "Yeah... let's confirm his identity soon."
"Hey, Tohsaka!"
"Oh, good morning, Ayako."
"I didn't know you were so close with the student council president." She teases. Rin nearly snorts.
"Don't make me laugh, we only met by chance."
After many hours Rin is on the roof.
"At any rate, all Seven Servants have made their appearance, excluding me and Emiya, that leaves five... out of those five, we don't know the Masters of Lancer and Assassin, we at least know Lancer's identity so he's nothing to worry about besides his Noble Phantasm."
"Assassin seems to be allied with Caster, what we need to worry about right now is the one absorbing mana." Archer said.
"Of course the most dangerous pair is Illyasviel and Berserker, to be honest I don't think we can stand up to him as we are now." Rin said.
"Then our next target is the one targeting the school, Rider. Apparently, the boy said he has no intention of using the barrier, but... the number of magic circles is increasing, he's gathering mana even faster than before."
Rin frowns. "Hmm... I don't believe Shinji for a second. Let's go Archer, we'll destroy a few magic circles to slow the barrier down. Geez, Emiya could have warned me sooner that he'd skip school today. I wonder how he's doing? Saber's probably filling him with holes by now."
Shirou blocks another superhuman strike from Saber, they both fight for dominance pushing against each others blades until they both jump back. Shirou sees Saber is sweating slightly after a near full day of fighting. Shirou is panting heavily, he feels multiple bruises and welts under his shirt. He waits for Saber to strike, she begins to talk, her voice mixed with approval and annoyance. Probably from Shirou being so persistent.
"You're much better than I though Shirou, but... you can never hope to match me!" She goes faster than before, it seems she is now getting a little serious, she's already upon him and smacks Shirou on the head, his vision flickers black.
"Ow!" He rubs his head furiously, trying to ease the pain. "Shirou, don't you think you should take a break soon?" She doesn't relax her stance, she has to be ready for anything, he's proven that before.
"Are you kidding? This is the most fun I've had in a while! I think it's time for me to get serious as well..." Now Shirou knows this might be a bit much, but he has to prove he can fight for her, to protect the ones he loves...
He closes his eyes and 'Loosens the Shroud' he is met with pain, pain much, much worse than creating new circuits out of his nervous system. He boosts toward Saber with his two swords, pumping his arms with prana past their limit. His shinai's slam into hers, forcing her to step back a few times. She grits her teeth.
"He's gotten stronger!" She's forced to release more of her power to push him back, he also releases more to match her, their strength on the two shinai's causes them to break.
Shirou is reaching his limit for the 'Shroud' so he tightens it and looks calmly at Saber. "Do you believe me now, Saber? That I'll be able to fight for you?... but it seems you still won't accept that so I'll repeat myself... we'll fight together, okay?" She doesn't speak for a moment, then she sighs.
"Fine, Shirou if you're going to be that stubborn then I'll follow this rule as well."
Shirou notices the broken remains of the shinai's they used, he though of a way to land a hit on Saber.
"Well I think it's time to stop, we've been fighting since this morning and it's noon so how about lunch? Here, I'll throw these away." He reaches for Saber's outstretched hand for her broken sword, but Shirou falls to one knee and hisses in pain.
"Shirou! Are you alright?!"
"Yeah, just need a little rest is all... just kidding!" He swings the two broken swords at her, she narrowly dodges the sneak attack, feeling the wind rush past her face. She gives him a mock glare.
"That was dirty Shirou, though you did nearly get me. You should be more subtle..." A loud growl is heard and Saber gains a slight blush on her calm face. "It seems that I'm hungry as well, shall we adjourn to eat?"
"Ha ha, yeah, I think it's time to take a break." Shirou and Saber are relaxing in the dojo eating some Onigiri, Shirou made beforehand.
"At any rate, you've been taking care of your body haven't you? It also seems like you had some sword training, did you have a good teacher?"
"Yeah, I couldn't really call him a teacher though, I learned how to use a sword for Kiritsugu."
"Kiritsugu...?" Her eyes light up a slightly, as if remembering something pleasant or... unpleasant. Oh, yeah... he almost forgot what Kotomine told him before...
"My old man, he's dead now. Kiritsugu was always overseas for something, so he wasn't home very often. But when he was, we'd spend most our time in the dojo. No matter how recklessly I charged, I could never land a single hit."
"Is that so..." Saber mumbles.
"Kiritsugu was an amazing person, he was strong, strong with a sword and magic. You could say I'm indebted to him. He was the superhero that I wanted to become. Even if our paths differ now, we still want to protect something we hold dear to. I'm trying to become as strong as I can, as fast as I can to become more like him. So that's why I can't be made to give up so easily."
"In that case, I'll stop going easy on you." Saber picks up a new Shinai and Shirou traces two, he can't have broken shinai's every time he uses them.
"All right, this time I'll land a hit for sure! No tricks, just until one of use makes a mistake." Shirou enters his two sworded stance.
"How interesting, let's see if you can turn the tables on me." Saber enters hers as well.
Tiger and Sakura enter the Emiya household. "We sure bought a lot today, do you think it's too much?" Sakura said.
"Nah, it's fine, Shirou should be starving by now."
"Still, I wonder why he didn't go to school?" Sakura asks worryingly.
"Hmm... maybe he was just sick." She then remembers what happened in the morning. "...Wait Sakura, follow me and try to be as quiet as possible." They reach the dojo and Taiga puts her ear to the door, she hears Saber speak.
"You have to go faster than that, Shirou!" She then hears him as well. "Don't worry about that! I'm just getting started!" She hears a series of grunts and shouts behind the door, her mind instantly went to the dirtiest thing she could think of and her face glows red.
She immediately opens the door. "WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?!" What she saw was completely different.
"Fuji-nee?!" Shirou is distracted enough where Saber takes the opportunity to smack him in the face, causing him to tumble to the floor.
"Ah! Senpai!" Sakura runs over to Shirou, no one notices his swords fade away.
"That's not fair, Saber! Using that distraction to hit me!" Shirou takes Sakura's helping hand.
"Hmm... you should worry more about you losing than complaining, Shirou." He starts to brood slightly.
"What were you two doing anyway?" Taiga asks.
"We were just training a bit, Fuji-nee... why? What were you thinking we were doing?" He narrows his eyes, he begins to look at her suspiciously.
She thinks back to her inappropriate thoughts and her face flushes. "No-Nothing important!" She waves her hand frantically in front of her.
"...Well okay, I'm gonna go outside, you can join me if you want." He leaves and the cold air hits his face, he hears footsteps behind him and sees Saber.
"Shirou, shall we hold off on deciding the results of our duel?"
"Okay..."
"We'll keep practicing everyday from now on, and from the level you're already at you might be able to land a hit on me before you know it."
"Huh? Are you sure? I mean this is something that I wanted to continue, but is it okay with you?" Shirou asks.
"Yes, look at this from a strategic standpoint, it's an advantage for you to get stronger."
Shirou clenches his fist, he grins at her. "Just you wait Saber! Sooner or later, I'll make you admit defeat!"
"I'll stop going easy on you Shirou, so you better keep you're promise and not give up, okay?"
"Senpai! Saber-san! Dinners ready!"
"Ah! We'll be right there! Let's go and finish this later, Saber!"
"Yes, let's." They hurry inside, renewed vigor welling up inside them.
It's morning time and Shirou is rubbing his sore arms. "Jeez, when Saber said she'll stop going easy she meant it. Now I'm all sweaty... I guess I'll take a quick bath before making breakfast..." Shirou takes off his shirt and enters the bathroom.
"Eh?" Shirou hears the voice and turns to see a very naked Saber.
Sabers face blushes but she keeps her calm demeanor, he sees she is trying her best to keep her eyes from wandering to his bare chest. "You also want to wash yourself after training?"
"Ah... umm... ah..." Shirou can't speak.
"My apologies but this bathroom is currently in use. Would it be alright for you to wait afterwards, before using it?" She asks calmly.
"..." Blood begins to rush to his face, and... other areas...
"Shirou...?" She askes again.
Shirou sprints as fast as he can. "I'm sooorrrryyyy!" He screams out as his voice fades away, Saber only tilts her head in confusion.
While Shirou runs he didn't notice a body shuffle by and he slams into it, they fall and Shirou grabs onto whatever it is to protect it. He hears a loud 'eep' and they crash to the ground, Shirou groans and opens his eyes to a red-faced, Rin.
Luckily his hands aren't on her body but they managed to pin her arms and he notices he has no shirt on as well... "Why does this keep happening to me!"
"N-Now Tohsaka I-I can explain..."
"Y-Y-Yo..." She started to shake.
"Tohsaka?" Something's telling him to run now!
"YOU PERVERT!" She immediately pushes him off and her magical energy spikes, she raises her sleeves and her arms start to glow.
"Wa-Wait, be reasonable, Tohsaka! It was an accident!" Shirou starts running, and explosions of magic destroy the hallway.
"DIE!" His pleas for help are unheard.
After the very hectic morning and many repairs to the Emiya house, everyone sits down and enjoys breakfast.
"Hmm? Why's your face red, Shirou?" He immediately tenses.
"N-N-No reason! Whoa!" He nearly drops the plates. She gives him a funny look, but continues her conversation.
"...Anyway, Sakura didn't come over at all, right?"
"Hmm... you're right. She didn't say anything last night either."
"Well, I'll see you later Shirou! I'll tell you if anything comes up!" She runs out the door. He hears footsteps behind him.
"Hey, Emiya." He turns to an angry red-faced Rin.
"...Tohsaka..." He tries to inch away.
"Stop moving idiot, I'm not going to attack you. Besides that, why are you wearing your school uniform? Aren't you training with Saber?"
Shirou waits a few moments, he just wanted to make sure. "...Ah, I'm going to school today, besides that we still have to deal with Rider's barrier, since I didn't go yesterday. We have to work together to make up for it today!"
"Hmm? You actually thought this through? I'm shocked." He gives her a rather annoyed look that makes her almost laugh. "That's the plan, so today Saber will be standing guard at the house."
"Is that your plan? Very well, please be safe, both of you." Shirou starts to panic, he couldn't help but remember before, her body...
"S-Saber?!"
"What's wrong, Shirou?
"It's nothing... it's just that I want to say I'm sorry for what happened earlier, I was careless so from now on I'll knock!" He puts his hands together and bows.
Saber frowns slightly. "I don't know what you're so flustered about Shirou, but there's no worry for you seeing my body, like I said before I'm a Servant before I'm a woman."
"Eh, But Saber...?" He tries to protest.
"Let's go Emiya-kun." She grabs his arm and drags him out.
"If you're wondering a Servants primary duty is to fight, are you trying to deny that when you treat her like a girl? You should be more careful. You have a tendency to see her as a girl only, you may not realize it but that's just going to upset her."
"R-Right..."
Rin sighs. "Anyway, what we should really worry about is, Rider. For starters, when Archer and I checked the school for the barriers progress, there are even more magic circles for activation than before. "
"...So he's trying to speed up the process?"
Rin nods. "Yes, Shinji's story seems to get more and more far-fetched every passing minute. That's why we need to keep interfering with the barrier, got it?"
"Got it..." He looks to the sky, he could almost see that smug face. "I'm coming for you, Shinji... and when I do, you'll wish for something sweet like death..." He shook his head, that's strange, where did those thoughts come from?
They soon reach the school.
"Tohsaka, I'm gonna stop by the Archery Club, Shinji's probably there, and Sakura didn't come this morning so I'm a little worried."
"Yeah, I'll go on ahead." Shirou reached the Archery Range and sees Mitsuzuri get a direct bulls-eye with her shot.
"Looks like you're doing pretty good today, Mitsuzuri." She turns to see Shirou.
"Oh! Hey, Emiya! Did you decide to come back to the Archery Club?"
"No, sorry it's not about that, has Shinji..."
"Morning, Senpai." She seems to brighten up after seeing him.
"Good Morning, Sakura! Thank goodness, you were just at the club."
"Yes, I'm sorry for not coming to help this morning. It's just... Shinji is just getting more and more opposed to me coming to your house..."
"That's not very nice of him..." Mitsuzuri said.
"...Did he hit you...? Shirou asked.
"Ah, no Nii-san didn't do that..." Shirou could tell she's lying. It was hard to see but a well hidden bruise is on her neck.
"Okay, well I hope everything works out for you, Sakura."
"Thank you Emiya-senpai, I should be going now."
"See you later, Sakura!" He waits for her to leave, he turns back to Ayako, his cheerful smile, turns into a serious frown.
"So I wanted to talk to Shinji, do you know where he is?"
"Nope, sorry he's skipping like usual, he's been vice-captain for so long and he's still slacking... someone should really talk to him about this..."
"I see... well thanks anyway, Mitsuzuri. I'll see you later, maybe I'll do some archery next time." He begins to walk away.
"You better keep that promise, Emiya. See you later!" She waves to him, and he gives a back-handed wave to her.
"Now to find, Tohsaka..." He mumbles.
Rin and Shirou are wandering the school looking for magic circles, Shirou smells the familiar sweet scent. "Alright, I think it's about right here." He points to the ground.
"Huh, go figure. Okay, step back." She lifts her sleeve and points her hand to the ground, she chants a few words and a small magic circle appears, it glows for a second then disappears.
"You're on a roll today, Tohsaka."
"Yes, it's going a lot faster with you here. We're going a lot faster than I thought, if we keep this up we should be able to stop him until the end of the war and then Shinji's entire plan will end in futility."
"That would be good."
"All right, shall we go to the next one?" They leave the area, they don't notice a lone figure hiding in the corner.
"God damn you!" Shinji growls.
Shirou and Rin finish destroying as many magic circles as they could and go home. They sit around the table and discuss their next course of action.
Rin begins to speak. "So far, interference with the school barrier, is going fine. From Shinji's perspective it's getting worse and worse. So in the worst case scenario we should prepare for a direct confrontation."
Saber shakes her head. "I don't think Rider is an opponent we should be afraid of, under the right circumstances, it would be impossible for me to lose against her."
"I see... then that leaves only Shinji, but since he's not a proper magus he's not a problem to begin with..." She attempts to speak more but the phone rings.
"Shirou, the phone." Saber said.
"Yeah, I'll be right back." He answers the phone.
"Oh! Hey Fuji-nee what's up? Aren't you still at school?... uh huh... yeah... w-what?! Mitsuzuri was what?!" Saber and Rin hear the commotion.
"What's wrong, Emiya-kun? I heard you mention Mitsuzuri."
Shirou turns to face her. "She was found passed out in an alleyway on the way home from school, the police are saying it looks like she was attacked!" Rin has a troubled look on her face.
"Is... is she okay?" Rin asked with concern.
"Luckily, nothing happened to her... physically.They say her life isn't in danger, but she hasn't regained consciousness."
Rin begins to think. "I see... could it be Ayako was... Emiya-kun I'm going to go see her."
Shirou immediately follows. "Wait, Tohsaka! If you're going then I'll go to the hospital too!"
Rin nods. "Hurry up then, I doubt what happened to her was an accident..."
They reach the hospital and run to the woman at the desk.
"Excuse me! Could you tell me which room Ayako Mitsuzuri is in?" She looks through her files.
"Mitsuzuri? Ah yes, she's in room 207 however, visiting hours are already over for today." She said.
"What?!" He tries to protest but Rin grabs his shoulder.
"Let's go Emiya-kun." She continues to pull him.
"But, Tohsaka!-" She drags him away.
"Just follow me, Okay? We don't have time to do something as stupid as asking for permission, we'll just sneak in when no one is looking."
"Then Master, I'll stand guard outside." Saber said.
"Yeah, we'll meet up again when we're done." Shirou and Rin look at each room until they find their destination. "Alright, room 207..." She opens the door to an unconscious Mitsuzuri.
"Ayako!" She runs up to her and checks for any problems, her eyes widen in horror. "This is..."
"What is it, Tohsaka?"
"Her life force is being gradually drained. Look at that wound on her neck, her soul was sucked out along with her blood!" There are two puncture marks on her neck.
"Her soul?! So this was the work of a Servant?"
"Yeah, Ayako was the target of a "Soul Harvesting" a nasty thing to do."
"...This is all my fault, sorry Mitsuzuri... I'll find whoever did this and make them pay! I swear!" He grabs her hand and gives it a soft squeeze, her pained expression seems to soften slightly.
"...Emiya-kun, there's something I have to do, we'll meet up with Saber and go home later."
"Wait, Tohsaka! Where's she going in such a hurry...?" He looks down to Ayako, her calm breathing, is the only thing he can hear, he brushes a few strands of hair from her face.
"Just who did this to you...?" He's about to turn away until he hears a giggling voice.
"I know something you don't know~..."
"Who's there?!" He sees something behind the curtain.
"Maybe I'll tell you... Onii-chan." Her appearance is revealed. Her silver hair and red eyes.
"Illya?!" She jumps down from the ledge.
"I'm happy that you're still alive! After all, how'd you get better after almost getting split in half?" She gets close, unreasonably close. Shirou backpedals to the wall.
She tilts her head in confusion. "Is something wrong?"
"Ah, n-nothing's wrong..." She brightens up, she grabs his left arm and drags him.
"Then come on! I've got lots of stuff to... talk... about...?" She looks at his arm and her face shows great confusion, she doesn't move for a couple of seconds then shrugs "Well, let's go!"
"H-Hey! Illya!" While she's dragging him, he's thinking about what he just happened "Why did she pause, the only reasons she would is... Don't tell me she figured out! No... she just ignored it... but she knew something was off... I'll have to be more careful..."
"Come on! You're too slow!"
"Oh, sorry." He sees her humming a small tune and skipping across the floor, he smiles at what he sees, it reminds him of his Illya.
"Hey Shirou! What's this?" She points to a vending machine.
"Huh? You don't know what a vending machine is? You put money in it, and drinks come out."
"Hmm... I want one!" She points to one of the drinks.
"Uh, sure." He puts a couple of coins into the machine and her drink comes out. "Here you go."
"Waah! Thank you! Hey, let's go to the roof! The stars are so pretty tonight!" They walk up the stairs and meet a peaceful sky and night. She twirls around, amazed at what she sees.
"Uwaah! The starry sky is even prettier in my home town, but this still isn't bad. Don't you agree, Shirou?"
Shirou smiles, she really is like before. "Yeah... yeah, it is..."
Her smile seems to get brighter, but it soon turns into a more serious one. "So Shirou, you want to know what happened with that girl from the hospital room, right? Since you bought me this drink in exchange, I'll tell you." She walks up to him and grabs his face to bring him down. "Okay, close your eyes Shirou!"
"H-Hey!"
"Just relax. I'm going to show you my cognizance. I'll show you the form of the Master who attacked someone in the street." She connects their heads together and everything fades to a multi-visioned area.
"What the heck is this?"
"You're now seeing through my eyes, when I was passing through the street..." The vision goes to Rider and a lone woman she's feeding on. "There can you see them? Look's like she just brought down her prey." He hears another voice speak.
"How's your condition, Rider?" She finishes feeding.
"Good. Everything is going well." His appearance is revealed.
"Perfect... well then shall we call it a night?" His smug smile ever present.
Illya releases his head. "Well? Did you see it?"
"Shinji..." Shirou clenches his fists tightly.
"Aren't you happy you know who did it? So if Shinji dies, won't Shirou be in a better mood?" She asks innocently.
"..." She notices a presence coming.
"It's too bad, but it looks like someone came to interrupt our fun." She turns and begins to walk to the railing. "What a shame, there's still lots of stuff I want to talk about. Bye, bye for now, Shirou! Next time let's have a longer conversation, okay?" She turns to leave but Shirou quickly moves forward and grabs her arm gently.
"Wait!" Shirou yells, she flinches slightly from his voice and slowly stops her movement. She looks at Shirou with curiosity and suspicion, he can see it's mostly suspicion. He gets down onto one knee and looks straight into her eyes, she felt as if he's looking straight into her soul.
If she had one that is.
Shirou slowly raises his hand, making Illya tense in alarm. "What's he doing? Is he planning to attack me? Trying to give me a false sense of security? Or-" The next thing that happens made her thoughts go into a sudden halt.
"Oh..."
He plants his hand on top of her head and ruffles her hair slightly, being careful to not mess it up too much. "Just... be safe, alright Illya?" He smiled softly and closes his eyes. He would rather hug her, but he feels that would only make him lose a limb or two...
Illya's eyes widened in shock and a surprising well of guilt, she didn't want to see it. She really didn't... but, for a single moment, she was sure she saw her Kiritsugu, her papa...
She shakes her head slightly and looks back to Shirou, she felt a feeling that grew in her chest that she only felt when she was with mama and papa, yet this felt... different. She soon did something that she never thought she would do in a lifetime and rushed forward and hugged Shirou tightly, wrapping her arms around Shirou's strong chest.
"You don't have to worry, Onii-chan~! I'm a lot stronger than I look!" She said proudly. Shirou only laughed slightly and hesitantly wrapped his arms around her small form. His happy smile soon turns into a sad one, he's sad that he wouldn't be able to see her for a while, but at least they are on good terms... he felt a sharp pain suddenly invade his thoughts.
"You said an older brother protects his little sister, right?... I'm the older sister so I have to protect my younger brother." He frowned slightly, hugging Illya a little closer to his body.
Never again...
He soon feels small arms push away from him, he looks up and sees that Illya is giggling soflty and is sporting a large amount of red on her face, is she getting a cold?
"Bye, bye Onii-chan~! It was fun!" She twirls into the air and glides over the railing.
"H-Hey, wait Illya!" He runs over and looks. "She's gone..."
The roof door opens. "Ah, this is where you were, Shirou? You hadn't come back yet, so I was beginning to get worried. What is your reason for being on the roof?" Saber asked bluntly. Always straight to the point, huh?
"Ah, no reason, just... enjoying the stars is all, let's go home, Saber." They leave the roof in a comfortable silence.
"So tonight's incident wasn't Caster's doing? Then who could it be?"
"Yeah I wonder..." He looks ahead. "I don't think I should tell them I met Illya..."
"It was Shinji, he's the one who attacked Ayako, there's no doubt about it." They turn to see Rin standing at the front gate.
"What you were worried about is now happening, if you leave this alone the damage will continue to spread." They turn to see Archer as well on the opposite side.
"...We'll confront him tomorrow. Let's finish this now, before it gets any worse."
"What are you planning to do to, Shinji?" Archer immediately steps in front of Shirou, his increased height making him even more menacing.
"You still want to save his life, boy? A battle is determined with the death of the Master. That's the foundation of the Holy Grail War."
"I'm not-" He's interrupted.
"Seems like you still don't get it, so listen up. You're the reason that Mitsuzuri girl got involved, if you hadn't listened to that bastard then none of this would be happening." His glare seems to get colder.
"If you're so interested in justice, then the best course of action is to get rid of Shinji now. If you do anything else to get in my way, I'll cut you down myself!"
"That's enough, Archer. This incident is also my fault too, I should have attacked Shinji without saying anything." They turn away to go inside.
"...I know, Archer." Everyone turns to Shirou. "I wasn't asking to spare his life. I was asking if you were going to kill him or not, because if you don't then I will!" Archer's eyes widen slightly. "I can't allow someone like him to live, someone who endangers the lives of the people I care about, my loved ones. That is someone who doesn't deserve life!"
"..." Archer is surprised, he steel-gray eyes continue to stare at the brat. "The boy truly doesn't follow that idiotic goal to save everyone... but why? What compelled him to change...?"
"...Anyway, stop fighting you two. We're going to Shinji's house tomorrow, it's your choice if you want to follow." They slowly begin their walk home, Archer watches the boy for a bit and soon fades into the sky. "Interesting..."
It's morning time and Shirou is getting ready to go to school.
"So you're still going to school after all, Shirou?" Saber asked.
"Yeah, that way if something happened then I can do something about it."
"...Please be careful, the school could be considered an enemy encampment."
"Yeah, yeah I'll be careful... bye, Saber. I'll see you later." Shirou finishes and prepares to head out.
"I get the feeling that Rider's Master is in a hurry, if that's the case you should prepare for the worse, in the case of an emergency please don't hesitate to call me."
Shirou nods. "Yeah, got it. I'll be going now." He walks out the door. After a rather quiet walk to school, he reaches his class and sits down, he hears Fuji-nee begin to speak.
"Okay everyone sit down!" She begins to call out names, she reaches Shinji's name. "Huh? Is Matou absent? Does anyone know where he is?" She said.
Shirou sighs. "Of course he's not here, considering what he was doing yesterday..."
Meanwhile Shinji and Rider are on the roof and he's looking down at the other students.
Shinji shakes in anger. "Damn fools! Mocking me... they should all be bowing down to me!" He looks back at his Servant. "Rider! Activate the barrier, now!"
She nods, almost reluctantly. "Very well... let us begin." She slams her hand to the ground causing a large magical seal to appear, the sky starts to bleed to red. She raises her arms again and points them to the sky. "Human Seal..." She slams them down. "Blood Fort Andromeda!" A large eye opens in the sky with large red tendrils spreading across the area.
The heavy pressure hits Shirou again. "This feeling...!" He turns around. "Everyone!" He saw everyone is unconscious and that they are at the beginning stage of turning into mana, they would soon start to melt as well...
"..." He turns around and runs to the strongest scent in the air, it leads to the roof. While he's running he releases half of the 'Shrouds' power. "I'm coming for you, Shinji!"
Shinji is smiling at what he did. "Heh, heh, heh! Look at them, Rider! The're dropping like flies! Ha, ha, ha!" His laughter filled with insanity. Suddenly the door gets horribly mangled and shot straight of its hinges, a raised foot is seen.
"Shinji!" He traces his swords.
"If you stop this now, I MIGHT give you a chance to live!" No he wasn't. "Decide now!" Shinji starts to sweat slightly, but his expression goes neutral.
"Oh, it's just you Emiya, I thought someone came up here to stop me." His insane grin returns. "But this is perfect timing, as it turns out I've got some business with you too! I can't just leave you to die from the barrier! Don't worry, I'll make sure you suffer before you die! Kill him, Rider!" He extend his hand to aim at Shirou.
She hesitates slightly before she charges.
"Sir!" Shirou prepares for her insane speed and strength. He blocks her dagger and dodges her kick as well, they both start to speed up. Their movements are only blurs to the human eye, Rider attempts to cut him but all she meets is steel-like resistance.
"Stop playing around and kill him, Rider!"
She blocks another strike which makes her slide back. "But..." She dodges those twin blades, they cut through the concrete walls and floor like paper. "...I am going serious... where has this power come from...?"
While Shirou is blocking, striking and parrying, manages to make her slide back. He turns a lone eye to Shinji. "You're next, Shinji!" He turns his full attention back to Rider and starts to attack with full reinforcement.
"R-Rider! End this now!" Shinji reverts back to his pathetic self.
"Understood!" She goes into a hand stand and spins her legs too fast for Shirou to evade, her momentum channeled into one strong kick. He does the only thing he can do, he blocks. But from the force of the kick, he's sent flying, breaking the safety fence and sent flying straight to the ground.
"Damn it! I wasn't fast enough!" He sees he's getting closer and closer to the ground "I've only got one chance...!" He pumps his legs with prana and reinforces them to near breaking point, he positions his legs to take the fall. He slams into the ground causing it to crack and crater slightly from the force.
Shirou smiles then winces when he tries to move his legs. "It seems it wasn't as perfect as I thought..." He hobbles out and slowly makes his way back to Rider and Shinji. "Damn, I need help..." He looks at his command seals, he shakes his head.
"No, that would be a waste." He remembers that Rin said Servants and Masters are supposed to have a link to communicate, but his is fractured and the only proof of their bond is the symbol on his hand, a connection is still a connection. He closes his eyes and attempts to visualize their bond, he tries to grasp it as hard as he can. "Saber, I need your help." He really hopes this works.
Rider hesitantly looks down and sees the familiar red-hair enter the school, she smiles slightly. "He's alive..." She doesn't know why but she feels... really relieved he's okay.
"Is... is that it?" His smug grin comes back. "Heh! Fools, that's what happens when you stand in my way!" Rider immediately notices multiple projectiles headed for Shinji and defends him, swatting away the magic bullets.
"What?!" Shinji turns to see Rin and Archer.
"It's the end of the line, Shinji! You're out of chances, are you ready to die?! Archer!" Rin yells, he drops his bow and traces his twin swords and charges at Rider.
"Tch...! Rider!" She also charges, while they clash Rider notices something. "Their similar..." She notices his movements are the same, if not much more refined than Shirou's. "Interesting..."
Rin points her hand at Shinji. "It's over, Rider can't protect you, surrender now."
He smirks. "Heh, you think I can't take care of myself without that tool?" He slowly pulls out a book.
"Behold! The true power of the Matou heir!" Suddenly three black waves of magic glide against the ground.
"What?! A magic attack!" She immediately makes a magical shield to block the attack.
"Tch! That must be...!" Shinji is shown holding a simple book that glowed with unusual power. "The Book of False Servants!"
"So you even know the Matou family's secret tomes... I'd expect no less from a Tohsaka. That's right, using this book I can temporarily command countless slaves, even a Servant can come under my command! This is my substitute for a command seal." Magical energy shoots out around him. "With this book, I can even use Rider's mana as my own! That way... I can even fight on your level in a magic battle!" He send's another blast of magic.
Shirou is still slowly making his way back, he nearly there to the roof until he hears a voice he's been hoping to hear. "Shirou!" He turns to see a fully armored Saber.
"Ah! Saber I didn't think that would work..."
She nods. "I was very surprised to hear your voice Shirou, but I didn't question it, and I came here as fast as I could." She notices he's limping, and he has a couple of cuts on his body. "Are you injured, Shirou?"
"Ah, don't worry about it, we still need to stop the barrier, so we need to hurry!" He once again releases the 'Shroud' and speed ahead, Saber is surprised to see him move that fast but doesn't comment, each step gets them closer and closer to the roof. He sees the light of the opening.
"Shinji!"
Rin and Shinji turn to see Shirou and Saber as well. "How are you still alive after that fall, Emiya?!"
"Emiya-kun?!"
"I already gave you my one and only chance and you blew it. Now it's time for you to leave this earth..." Shirou traces Gáe Bolg, and copy's the familiar stance of Lancer.
"H-Hey, Emiya just wait a moment!"
"GÁE...!" He readies the spear, it begins to glow crimson red, unparalleled blood-lust begins to permeate the air. He didn't notice it, but a blood thirsty grin began to spread across his face. Even Saber shivered from seeing such and unusual expression on his face.
"Help me, Rider!" He tries to run.
"BOLG!" He throws the crimson spear, it jagged tip speeds toward Shinji, aiming for his twisted heart. Just as it was about to hit, Rider appears and attempts to deflects it but it twists around her, still trying to go for Shinji.
She growls in annoyance, she brings her arm back. Due to it being an imperfect copy, Rider is able to destroy it with a fully powered slash of her dagger, but that took quite a bit of energy. Shirou notices a deep gash on her leg, it probably came from Archer. She grabs Shinji and drags him to the other side of the roof.
"Rider?!" Saber said.
"What do you think you're doing?!" Shinji yells.
"This is over Shinji. We can't defeat them as we as now. Let's abandon this place."
"Are you trying to run away?!" Rin said.
"...I suppose if you intend to stop me, then I have no choice." She takes of her blind-fold.
Rin's surprised. "She took it off...?"
"I'll have to show you... these cursed eyes of mine!" Her mystic eyes are revealed, Shirou looks away too late.
"No, Shirou! You mustn't look into her eyes!" Shirou feels like his limbs are lead. He struggles, but he's felt worse, compared to his body quite literally becoming a living sword, this was nothing. He begins to move his constricted muscles, albeit slowly. He traces his twin swords and prepares for the worst.
"Rin!" Archer shields her and she covers her eyes.
"I know! Those are the cursed eyes of petrification! Anything in its field of vision is paralyzed, it fatal to resist!"
"If possible, I would have preferred to not use these. But since I can't defeat you with strength, I am forced to release these cursed eyes." If only she wasn't with this idiot for a Master, her eyes of petrification would turn them slowly to stone, but with the minimal mana she had, all she could do was constrict their movements. She notices Shirou. "He's able to move...?" Shirou slowly raise his arms, ready for anything.
"I see... but, do you think it's strong enough to stop me?" Archer slowly raises his arms with a bit of difficulty, and he traces his bow and aims a sword-arrow at her.
"I am aware it has a very small effect on other Servants but if it can slow you down to buy me a few seconds then it will work." She does something almost all are surprised to see, she stabs her own neck causing a large amount of blood to spray out.
"Wha..." Archer said.
"Did... did she use her own blood to create the magic circle?!" A large magical circle soon forms in front of Rider, and an eye slowly opens until a bright light shines, blinding everyone. Rider takes the opportunity to grab Shinji and shoot off, annihilating anything and everything in its path.
"Shirou, look out!" Saber grabs him and tackles him to the ground, Archer does the same with Rin. The ground has a large area completely destroyed from the Rider's power.
"Hmph, that's some ridiculous power." Archer said, he looks to Shirou. "He was serious... he really was going to kill that Matou boy..."
"Tch, they got away." Rin said with annoyance.
"Tohsaka, we should split up and search the city, he couldn't have gone far!"
She nods. "Yeah, Archer let's go!" They soon disappear, Saber and Shirou also go.
"Shirou, do you know where they are?"
"No, but I have a guess, since we destroyed the barrier at the school, he has to be desperate. I don't think he'll go very far from the school. With all that power he gained, he has to be planning to do a counter-attack. He has to be in a place where many people gather!" Shirou and Saber search the city until night, they finally reach the tallest building in Fuyuki City.
"Shirou I sense a hostile presence nearby, please be on guard. Shirou, if she release that magic again, even I could not survive. If I use my Noble Phantasm, it could easily defeat her, but in such a heavily populated area..."
"No, sorry Saber but it would cause meaningless deaths to achieve our goal. I'll leave Rider to you, Saber."
"Understood." From a distance Rider is watching.
"Saber and her Master are approaching, I will intercept them!" Shinji nods silently, she jumps down and begins to fall like a comet, her path straight to Shirou and Saber.
"Shirou, watch out!" He jumps back and a large object smashed into the ground.
"Rider!" She charges her and their weapons clash. They move at speed no man can follow, Rider and Saber soon jumps to the building to battle.
Shirou reinforces his eyes and looks up to see Shinji staring down at him as well, he goes inside and runs up the stairs, he opens the roof door and sees Shinji.
"So you're finally here, Emiya." He opens his book. Black tendrils of magic swirl around him.
"Shinji... when I used Gáe Bolg, it was a mistake... I'll only use my fists to make you suffer. I'll make you suffer for all the lives you've endangered." He slowly begins to walk. "Especially Sakura's...!" He thought bitterly.
Shirou moves his arms and legs into a familiar stance. He adopt the style which nearly destroyed his body, the style which was used by a dying man, the style he watched with his fractured mind.
Super Bajiquan, It's an ultimate technique born from the miraculous fusion of Bajiquan and magic craft, having become an Internal Art that transcends the External Art. It is a style that takes the shortest route without any initial movement to damage the inside instead of the outside. A custom fighting stlye created by Kotomine Kirei. But, it's actually perfect for himself as well.
"What do you think you are? Some sort of martial artist?!" He sends multiple lashes of magical energy at Shirou.
He doesn't move, he waits for the perfect moment and uses the "moving stance" with a single hard step he shortens the distance, easily speeding past the black tendrils of magic. Without warning he's already in-front of Shinji, his eyes slowly widen, his brain can't register what's happening right now.
"What!" That's all he can say before he's punched straight in the chest, he's sent tumbling to the ground. His first sounds are his screams of pain, he tries to crawl away.
"Oh stop crying, only a couple of your ribs broke, if it was perfect you'd be dead." He slowly walks toward, Shinji.
"Wh-What are you!" He backpedals to the roof door, he send's another wave of magic, Shirou just raises his arm, he waits and swiftly moves his arm, the magic disappears with a single swipe.
"...Sometimes I wonder that myself..." He mussed. He immediately starts to walk again, Shinji sends wave after wave at Shirou, he just ignores the pitiful magic and keeps walking. Shirou suddenly boosts and grabs his outstretched arm.
"Six grand opening elbow thrust!" Shirou lifts his arm from below and then slams his left elbow into his chest, he then immediately flips and slams him to the ground.
"Hmm... it seems I broke 3 more ribs, and your sternum cracked." Shinji can no longer scream, he's all out of breath to scream with. Just as Shirou was about to deal the finishing blow, Rider appear. "Where's Saber...?" He's immediately frozen in place, and she kicks him away.
"I won't let you take another step toward, Shinji!" She helps him up. "Are you alright?"
"R-Rider?" His voice full of pain, she looks at him from the corner of her eye. "I'm going to finish this now, please stay back."
"Ri-Right." She puts him down so he can rest.
"Rider don't make me do this, stop now and we can figure everything out, I don't want to kill you..." He forces more prana to his body, making his body feel less constricted.
She releases even more power for her cursed eyes, preventing him from moving again. "I can't, I must follow his orders until he dies or I die. If you keep pumping your body with prana you'll destroy your magical circuits."
"...Heh, it doesn't matter, most of these aren't mine anyway." She's curious and confused by this answer. But before she can do anything, a silver and blue blur appears and stands guard in front of Shirou.
"Saber!"
"Hmph, It seems I've run out of time." Rider jumps back and stabs her neck, causing the bloody magical circle to appear, the white comet shoots out and flies toward Shirou and Saber.
"Shirou, watch out!" She grabs him and jumps away. When they look to the sky, they see a beautiful winged horse.
"Allow me to introduce my friend here, her name is Pegasus, a mythical beast from the age of the gods, who commands the heavens!" She charges at Shirou, Saber immediately uses her sword to deflect the blinding comet, one comes too fast and she's forced to block, she's slowly pushed back by the blinding comet, she manages to off set her, but Rider immediately comes back and with each hit Saber's forced back causing more and more damage to appear on her form.
"Saber, you're pushing yourself too hard!"
"I-I'm fine, I just need to find the right moment to counter!" She readies her sword again.
"I think it's time to end this." Rein's appear on the Pegasus and her magical power raises even more.
"BELLEROPHON!" She waits in the air, ready to erase them off the face of the earth.
"The only way for, Saber to defeat that is..." He turns around and sees her raise her sword, the wind picks up and her golden sword is revealed.
"I'll use every ounce of my power... to defeat Rider!" Rider sees this attempt and speeds toward them. Saber's mind flashes toward the dream she had, she grimaces slighty.
"Rider! I'll answer your Noble Phantasm with my own! I'll open a path straight through your charge with a single strike!"
"Saber, stop! We'll figure out another way!" She turns her head to look at him. "I'm sorry, Shirou... this is the only way to beat her!" He knows if they clash, Rider will lose and she'll die, he would lose someone precious to him. He couldn't let that happen.
Shirou once again releases the 'Shroud' and focuses on one move that was able to block it. He raises his left arm and point it in the center of the air waiting for the right moment.
"EX..." She raises her sword, golden light flows out.
"...CALIBUR!" She brings it down, a wave of holy light speeds toward Rider, and as soon as she was about to be consumed by the energy, a voice is heard.
"RHO AIAS!" The seven pedals appear in the sky, not used to help Rider's or Saber's Noble Phantasms, just used to block. Getting hit by two fully powered Noble Phantasm's is not a good feeling at all.
Not. At. All.
Instantly 5 pedals are destroyed, he felt his spine crack apart, his stomach rupture, his bones break, one of his eyes went blind. He's pretty sure his heart stopped, the 6th pedal breaks.
*CRACK*
"..." What was that? He doesn't remember, he can't remember. Another memory disappears... was that what happened? The 7th pedal breaks and Rider is consumed by the holy light, as it clears she is gone. Shirou falls to the ground, unmoving.
Rin and Archer are making their way to the last building until they see the two Noble Phantasms about to clash.
"Those are..." Rin said.
Just as they were about to clash the 7 layered shield appears and blocks each hit. Archer nearly trips. "Rho Aias?! That's not possible!"
"Looks like they finished without us... let's go."
Shirou is suddenly jolted awake, the blood leaking from the cut on his head leaked into his mouth, making him cough it up. Saber is quiet, too shocked to speak. They hear Shinji fall to his knees.
"R-Rider w-was defeated... w-without a trace..." The book slowly burns away, what he didn't notice is a small bit not burn away. He looks to Shirou. "Stay away!" He attempts to drag his pain ridden body to the roof door.
"..." Shirou slowly and painfully walks to him until Shinji is cornered against the wall, Shirou grabs him by his throat and lifts him to the air.
"Shinji..." He spat his name out.
"You have endangered too many lives, so I cannot, no... will not allow you to live. Your twisted heart will never change and you will only abuse any power you achieve, for this you must die, so no lives will ever be in danger again, especially Sakura's..." Shirou closes his eyes and concentrates, this one will be incredibly difficult.
His entire right arm began to glow.
Suddenly the air became cloaked in a feeling of death, something vile was being formed. Soon enough a black cloth soon began to slowly materialize over his right arm, it smelled of blood and sand.
The cloth loosens and falls, as if it had a mind of it's own, showing the glowing, cursed arm. Shinji became even paler, he felt like he was staring at the grim reaper himself, but that isn't what scared him, it's his eyes. They are blank, lifeless, like a dead body. They looked exactly like the priest's eyes when he was visited by him.
Shirou grit his teeth, he felt a curse begin to spread across his body. "Damn it! Focus!" He closed his eyes and began to breathe slowly, an ether copy of Shinji's heart soon appeared in his hand. He reopened his eyes, giving Shinji one last glare.
"Zabaniya..."
"W-Wait, Emiya!" Fear and pain in his eyes.
"Delusional Heartbeat." He crushes Shinji's blackened heart, he could hear it collapse and explode in his chest.
Shinji screams until he can't scream anymore, his mouth spews blood and the light leaves his eyes, Shirou drops his lifeless body with a heavy thud.
Kill...
A white skull mask blinked into his vision, becoming more and more visible by the second.
Kill more...
MORE!
His hand twitched, he suddenly wanted to stab Shinji's body with the cruelest weapons in his arsenal, twist his head until it popped off his neck, one hard snap at a time. See how far he could pull his arms and listen for them to pop out of their sockets, then pull some more until they ripped off his body. Cut his chest open and rip out his orga-
He shook his head from the alien thoughts and quickly wrapped up the arm and made it disappear into the air. "Never! Ever! Doing that again..."
"Sh-Shirou..." She falls and her breathing becomes heavy, she begins to sweat profusely and she slowly falls unconscious.
"Saber! Hang on!" Shirou picks her up and runs down the stairs to home.
Meanwhile Rider appears before her True Master.
"Are you okay, Rider?" She asks worryingly, her appearance is rather bad. A part of her face is burned off, she has multiple gashed on her body and her right arm is a bloody mess.
"Yes, I just need to rest for a bit, in time my wounds will heal. If Shirou didn't use that strange shield I would have died."
"...and Shinji?"
"He... he killed him..."
"...Let's go home, Rider."
"As you wish, Sakura."
Author's Notes:
Hello everyone! Sorry for the very long wait but here you go! I want to clear a couple of things. One, I'm not 100% sure if Shirou even saw True Assassin use that Noble Phantasm or even if he can copy something like that, but I wanted to give that to Shirou and it seemed like an appropriate death for Shinji... Also I'm making Shirou's tracing ability able to see the history in the moves of Kotomine and copy them, he's not able to do it perfectly maybe up to 70% to 80%, possibly more with training. Anyway next chapter is the Illya Arc, Bye!
P.S Some of you say that Shirou's tracing ability only works on swords and other weaponry and stuff, which is true, but I want to make it go a step further. I want it to be able to trace fighting styles as well and for Shirou to utilize those to his advantage.
