Since someone did ask about why her hair keeps changing, I'll let you all in early on a secret. She DOES have some talent as a metamorph, though it's not exactly what you think. She's quickly becoming the next person to gain a Sorcery, specifically the Heaven's Feel. As a result, the closer she gets to obtaining that particular magic, the more her hair changes to blond. The original red was a signal or a warning if you will that her potential had been unlocked. And the faerie left her a gift when they gave her that armor...it just won't be showing up until after Medea mistakes her for Saber.
The ball was elegant, impressive...and dead boring for those who had to wait several hours for the girls to get ready.
Kaede and Rin had been all but kidnapped by the girls of Gryffindor as an apology for what Ron tried to pull, and hadn't been seen in four hours. Gil would have been worried, but Kaede had more amusement than anything from her end of their odd link.
Finally the boys heard the girls coming down.
Shiro stared, before he held out an arm for Rin. She looked absolutely gorgeous, like a noblewoman out of a fairy tale, or perhaps the trusted adviser to a queen. They went in and waited for Gil's date to show up.
Fluer, Cho and Hermione were already with their dates, and thought that they were adequately dressed for the occasion. When everyone saw what Kaede was wearing...well, they felt underdressed and outclassed.
If Rin looked like a noble out for an evening's enjoyment, Kaede looked like a regal Queen straight out of a storybook.
She even had a tiara for crying out loud!
Every boy stopped and stared at her in shock...and many with lust.
Gil took her arm, acting like it wasn't any different from the rare times a song had come on the radio at home and Kaede actually danced to it in the yard while they watched in amusement.
Gil extended his arm, probably acting more mature than most of the boys would have in his situation.
"May I have this dance my queen?" he asked half-joking.
To be honest, he had been considering turning her into his partner in more ways than one before seeing her dressed up like that. Perhaps after whatever power she had fully awakened. This just cemented that idea.
When he had been alive, he had many lovers, but he had never married. Who could possibly be good enough to be the wife of the Golden King? He had thought Saber, King Arturia, might have been a decent match, but that had gone down the drain when he realized what a tomboy she was.
Her descendant, however...that was another story. Saber had been fiercely independent, and her pride was often stronger than her common sense.
Kaede was meek, but had a real sense of steel behind her timid nature. She had beauty, but she was practical. Subservient, but not about to follow all his commands. The fact she had managed to summon him at such a young age with no idea of what a Servant was...well that was icing on the cake. Plus with a known noble lineage, she was practically perfect to be his opposite.
Now if only he could hunt down the idiots trying to hurt her and make them understand what a very, very bad idea that was...
Kiritsugu choked as he watched Gil and Kaede outshine the other couples. He had to admit, despite his better judgment, the two made a very good pair. Kaede had most of Saber's good traits without the pride of the King and the need to serve her Master. She also had a better grasp on human nature than Saber ever had as well.
Still, they did look good. Gil and Kaede were more than outshining the other three couples. For one thing, they were moving properly as a team, Kaede allowing Gil to lead her into an intricate waltz.
The French girl looked properly annoyed with her date, as he was torn between drooling over her allure, and staring at Kaede whenever she came within visual range.
The Bulgarian pair, including the bookworm, were doing a passable job, but he could see the girl wince occasionally as he stepped on her toes.
The English couple, who made the only chance at comparing to Gil and Kaede, were decent enough, but they just didn't have the synchronicity that Gil had with Kaede. At least they didn't look like idiots while being outclassed like the other two.
But really, everyone was more interested in watching Gil and Kaede dance like a well oiled machine. When the rest of the dancers were allowed onto the floor, it was clear that they still wanted to watch the two.
It made most of those watching extremely jealous.
McGonagall was just happy that the poor girl had found such a reliable boyfriend, even if he was technically her familiar.
Kaede sat on the stone bench, relieved to be off her feet. This was the most fun she had in a long time, and the first time she had ever danced with someone else. It felt like a dream.
Gil chuckled as he handed her a drink. It wasn't that awful pumpkin juice the other children seemed to enjoy...it was far too sweet for her taste. Sipping it carefully, she realized it was a light wine, probably from his little storage area.
"Are they still dosing the food?" she had to ask.
"Unfortunately. However tonight they seem to have let off, probably because of the increased scrutiny and the fact that they can't exactly hide the fact the food's dosed with bland flavoring. Even with the copies of the cook books I gave them, they still can't do anything other than that mockery they call food," said Gil with a grimace.
The house elves had been less than happy with the fact Gil refused to eat their hard work. To be fair, he disliked their cooking because they were so lazy about it. He had been so disgusted by their work that he had started monitoring what they put out each day and found that they had a set schedule for the food.
It was monotonous, and from what he could tell experimenting with spices had been discouraged.
Kaede made an identical face. She had tried it once and nearly hurled at how bad it was.
"If they try to serve that crap again at breakfast, I swear to Amaterasu I'm taking over that damn kitchen with Shiro and Rin and showing these bloody English how real cooking is supposed to taste like."
"I'll guard the door," said Gil flatly.
"And I'll distract the rest," said Kiritsugu.
When informed by the foreign students of their plan, they found an unsurprising number of volunteers who wanted to give these people a wake up call.
The next morning, Kaede, Shiro and Rin took one look at the food presented and immediately started their plot.
Several of the French girls had agreed to help cook, and the Bulgarians would assist in keeping the house elves occupied.
It took them an hour to capture all the elves and put them someplace where they wouldn't bother them, before they went to work.
By lunch the attack was complete.
The Hogwarts students stared in shock at the open variety of food for lunch.
It was Hermione who voiced the opinion of the mundane and some of the half-bloods.
"It's about bloody time!" she said loudly.
"Ms. Granger, may I ask what you mean by that?" asked McGonagall frostily. She was not happy by this.
Granger didn't back down for a change.
"Whoever does the cooking in this school needs to learn some new recipes! I am sick and tired of all the same bloody food every week! Do you people not realize that eating this much fat will give you a heart attack?" she said annoyed.
Several others voiced their agreement of her assessment.
"I like chicken and pumpkin juice as much as the next bloke, but eating the same thing week after week does tend to make you tired of the same old foods," said Fred.
"Our thanks to the chef!" said George eagerly biting into a perfectly cooked fish that had been baked instead of fried for once.
"You're welcome," said Kaede flatly, followed by the others.
"Am I to assume this is your doing Ms. Emiya?" she asked.
"Among others. We are sick and tired of eating bland, overcooked food that was dosed with three separate potions alone, so we decided to do something about it. You'll find your house elves on the seventh floor," she said bluntly.
"Wait, what do you mean dosed?" shrieked Hermione.
"The house elves have, under someone's orders, been using the bland taste of the rarely poorly done food to hide the fact they were putting potions into the meals. Specifically compulsion, obedience and one that I have been told tends to leave you open to mental invasions such as Legilmency which is an art that allows you to glimpse into the minds of others. Sometimes, a love potion is even added, though from what I've been told it's rather rare."
As one, most of the students immediately turned to look at Snape. He looked pissed for some reason.
"Before any of you start a mob, I can tell you with certainty that the potions added to the food was not the work of Severus Snape. For one thing, I cannot imagine someone of his rather...OCD...nature would make a less than perfect potion, let alone bother to dose a school full of children when anyone who's been around him can tell he hates being around anyone who is younger than twenty," she said clinically.
"What's OCD?" piped one of the younger students.
"Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. It's a condition that some people have that make them do certain things repeatedly. Like clean a room without noticing it or tapping their fingers in a certain pattern when nervous. Come to think of it, that would describe his nature around potions rather well," said Hermione automatically, looking at Snape closely.
"Or like you when we bring up something you don't recognize and you automatically go to the first books on the subject," chuckled Fred.
"In any case, whoever is doing this has open access to the kitchens and enough authority to keep the house elves from mentioning it. If you wish to avoid being dosed with these potions again, then start using bezoars or ask the house elves to let you cook your own meal," finished Kaede.
George however had a question.
"Quick question, Kaede... are you lot going to make dinner as well?" he asked.
Everyone looked at them in expectation.
Kaede sniffed in annoyance.
"Until these...house elves...are up to club standards, as high-tiered members of the Japanese Academy for Magic's Cooking club we cannot allow this atrocity that claims to be food to continue!" she said.
Seeing the agreement on the foreign student's faces, the teachers had no choice but to submit.
Kaede and Shiro ended up returning home a month late because of how stubborn the elves were. But it was entirely worth it if the atrocity they called cooking was abolished and real food put into its place.
Kiritsugu had the three children in his 'classroom' dedicated to fighting Magi without actually following their rules. Rin was only there because she had the feeling it would come back to bite her in the ass if she didn't show up.
"Today we are going to talk about Servants. According to Gil, the Heaven's Feel Tournament will be restarting in less than two years, so you three will need to be very aware of what is going to happen, and if necessary, how to summon a Servant you can actually use. For now we'll start on how this war started."
Kiritsugu went up to the projector screen and the three watched him intently.
"In the beginning, there were three families who agreed to try and regain a lost sorcery known as the Third True Magic. This was primarily the goal of the first family, the alchemy and homunculi specialists known as the Von Einzbern clan. They agreed to supply the physical aspect of the Grail and the ability for Servants to take corporeal form once summoned."
He brought up a picture of a typical homunculus, and the original Justica model which served as the main body for the grail itself.
"Next is the Makiri clan, now known as the Matou. Today the only true Magus of that clan is Zouken Matou, the head of the Matou clan," said Kiritsugu. He saw Kaede holding up her hand.
"Yes?"
"I thought Sakura-chan was a Matou," she said.
"Sakura is an adopted member. She is mostly a replacement since Shinji is the Magus equivalent of a Squib and unlikely to have any heirs which will have proper circuits."
Rin flinched at the reminder. Kaede looked at her oddly, as if comparing something in her head before she said something.
"Rin...is Sakura by any chance your younger sister?"
Rin choked in surprise.
"Why do you ask?" she said faintly.
"She looks nothing like Shinji, and he just said that the only Matou magus is Zouken, who's a known parasite. And your reaction is a dead giveaway that something is up. So what happened?" asked Kaede.
Shiro looked at Rin curiously.
"My family only needed one heir, and my father decided I would be chosen as the one to be the next head because I'm an Average One. Sakura was handed over to the Matou clan about a year or two before the Fourth Grail War started," said Rin.
Kiritsugu's eyes widened before he thought about something and winced.
"What's wrong dad?" asked Shiro.
"Among other things, the Matou clan is known for specializing in the use of certain types of familiars. Specifically Crest and Blood worms," he said not looking happy one bit.
"What are..."
"How well known is this?" hissed Rin.
"Fairly well known," said Kiritsugu.
"That...that bastard!" snapped Rin.
"What is it?"
"I bet my father knew about them and handed her over anyway!" said Rin in disgust. Any lingering sadness over the death of her father vanished in an instant upon hearing what he had condemned her sister to.
Any magus worth their salt knew of crest worms...they were the lowest of the low familiar wise and considered the worst familiar around. It wasn't because of their looks or anything, but because of what happened when one was infested in them.
Crest worms could destroy a man in a few days, mostly through damage to the spinal column, among other things. However when a girl was infested...well. They had more than one reason to hate the things.
"What's a crest worm?" asked Shiro.
"Shiro-nii... remember how I said Sakura was a lot like me in some ways, only no one saved her in time?" said Kaede slowly.
Shiro processed that statement before he blanched.
"Unfortunately we can't exactly storm the place and retrieve her. And knowing that leech Zouken he has contingency plans in place if we were to kidnap her. However that doesn't mean we can't plan accordingly," said Kiritsugu regretful.
"What did you have in mind?" said Rin. No way in hell was she letting something like this go without a fight.
"We know the Grail War is due to start in another two years at least. It's also impossible for us to attack Zouken head on to rescue Sakura. However, we can plan to summon Servants adept at this sort of thing so that we can rescue her once the war starts and kill Zouken off. Preferably before he forces her to summon one of her own," said Kiritsugu.
"It's more likely he'll make her summon one then force her to hand it over to Shinji," spat Rin.
"In any case, it's times like these that I specialize in. The most I can do to help you is to deal with the bounded fields...rescuing her would be entirely up to you three," said Kiritsugu. Then he shook his head.
"Anyway we seem to have gotten far off topic. The Makiri clan is responsible for the Command sigils that appear on the hand of every Master..."
And so went the lesson.
