* Spirit Of Steel *

"She's... heavy ain't she..."

Rin's eyes twitched. "Emiya, there are words you just do not use on women," her gaze narrowed menacingly, "Understand?"

Shirou gulped, then sighed while keeping his eyes straight towards his destination. He was currently carrying the unconscious Yamato on his back, her arms draped over his shoulders, as he and Rin walked in the dead of night. Seeing Shirou's struggling and sweating face as he bore the Servant's weight really made Rin glad he was around to suffer the deed instead of her - having never attempted to weigh her Servant before, Rin had been surprised to realize that Yamato was in fact heavier than she appeared, and that was before taking into account her height unnatural for Japanese women. She wasn't literally as heavy as a battleship though thankfully, but Yamato was still not someone who can be lugged around with ease, especially unconscious.

Rin had insisted at first on having Yamato carried to her place for obvious reasons. That changed once Yamato's weight became apparent, and how even Shirou and Rin working together would not be able to carry her all the way to the Tohsaka residence without taking hours of suffering much back pain to do so, especially considering the undulating road geography to get home.

It was then that Shirou made the bold suggestion of taking Yamato to his place instead: not only was it closer to the school, it being mostly downhill would make the trek more bearable. Rin had been very, very uncomfortable with the idea of bringing Yamato to what basically amounted to an unaffiliated bystander's place without proper magic paraphernalia and such within reach. Then again, trying to carry Yamato back to her place would've been twice as uncomfortable and a lot more painful.

"So... what is she?" Shirou suddenly asked with a hint of suspicion.

"Whatever do you mean?" Rin deflected with a sing-song voice. She knew there wasn't much point in trying to hide what Shirou knew of Yamato's nature though, considering what he did for her.

"This woman is not normal. The first time I touched her, I was shocked to have her respond to me like one of those appliances I fix. I can use Reinforcement on her, and I glimpsed that her heart is made out of multiple parts like engines. Yet I'm holding her like this," he briefly glanced towards Yamato on his back, a strand of hair falling softly on her face, "and she feels completely like any other girl."

Rin couldn't resist a mischievous grin at that. "Eh, so you know what girls feel like Emiya?"

"Tohsaka, it's not like that." So he could be surprisingly perceptive on such matters, though seeing him blush in denial made Rin's night a little better. "So is she a cyborg? A robot?"

Rin shrugged. "Something like that." A noncommittal answer was best in this case Rin decided.

"That's not an answer." Shirou looked rather displeased.

"You'll get no more from me."

While Shirou may have meddled in this affair to help Yamato using magic, he still did not know about the Holy Grail War nor of Servants, and Rin thought it best to keep it that way. And since she had so summarily answered his question, it was time for hers. "Now for my question Emiya, just what did you do to Archer back there?" Her mind fixated on something Shirou had mentioned earlier. "Reinforcement was it?"

"Not... quite," Shirou replied uncertainly. "It felt the same, but I didn't strengthen her or anything. When I performed a structural analysis on her I saw some of her circuits going out of control. All I did was shut those circuits down."

"Like a painkiller," Rin mused with an analogy. Rin was familiar with Reinforcement, which was the basis of spells like her enhanced vision and the strengthening of her legs to escape Lancer. However, Reinforcement on another living being was a very difficult task even accomplished magi would have difficulty with... though in Yamato's case, she wasn't completely a living thing, judging from her odd abilities and her unusual physiology. What was it Shirou said about her heart, that it was 'made out of engines?'

She would certainly need to talk with Yamato when she woke up to clarify the nature of her Servant. Servants were simply the vessels in which Heroic Spirits resided in, but as the majority of Heroic Spirits tended to be human there really wasn't a precedent of them being any different from humans in an anatomical sense, apart from their magical powers and legendary prowess. Even when Yamato had revealed herself to be a battleship, and had shown off some of her powers Rin had simply believed that the Grail simply gave a human the abilities of a warship - because what kind of warship loves parfaits and cooks such divine food anyway? The recent revelations however put a spin on that nature, one that sounds so simple in retrospect, yet one that Rin had never thought before: that the woman with them really was the Battleship Yamato, with all the ship's characteristics reformed into a humanoid form.

The Yamato who would brighten up when praised, look down for her perceived failures, cooked such heavenly meals, who was gentle, polite and was an all around decent woman... could those really have been the characteristics of the mass of steel and oil she once originated as? Did the battleship originally have a personality like that, or was it the Holy Grail taking liberties with this entire process like a movie director? Did Yamato gain human traits upon becoming a Servant, or was she just emulating them?

Which part of Yamato was human, and which parts were those of a seafaring warship of steel?

A faint groan alerted Rin and Shirou to their unconscious companion, who slowly opened her eyes.

"Admiral... where?" Yamato drawled. Just the sight of her Servant finally waking up was enough to lift Rin's mood already.

"We're taking you to a place where you can rest Archer. Your injuries look rather bad." Much concern was evident in Rin's voice.

"Please worry not Admiral," Yamato reassured groggily, shaking her head, "As I mentioned earlier, I require only a dock facility to perform the necessary repairs."

"Admiral?" Shirou asked with eager curiosity, now looking at Rin with discerning eyes that made her more uncomfortable with each second. "You?"

"She's been calling me that since we met." Rin sighed. Apart from one time when she deigned to call her something else, Yamato had always called her 'Admiral'. Since knowing that Yamato was a ship though made Rin begrudgingly accept the term and had promptly ignored its ubiquity. "Don't ask me why."

Yamato looked indignified at Rin's response. "It is only natural that I refer to Lady Rin as my Admiral, for I am a-"

"Archer," Rin cut her off with a sharp chide, gesturing at the person carrying her at the moment. The ship girl looked confused at first, then eyes widened in stark realization, causing color to drain from her face.

"M-m-my apologies Admiral, I failed to notice!" Some miniscule part of Rin's mind realized she really enjoyed watching Yamato apologize due to how utterly adorable she seemed doing it, before being stomped out by the rest of Rin's more logical thought processes. "S-Since this boy was with us I thought..."

Rin shook her head. "I'll introduce you. Archer, this is Emiya Shirou, that student who stumbled onto us earlier."

"Nice to meet you," Shirou greeted back quite amiably, though some strain leaked out of him, which didn't go unnoticed by the ship girl.

"Is anything the matter Sir Emiya?" Yamato questioned... then once more realization dawned on her exact situation. The guilt on her face stung Rin a bit more than she expected.

"Sir Emiya, my apologies for any inconvenience I have caused! I should be able to walk now." Yamato claimed apologetically, causing the boy to frown.

"You don't look like it to me."

"I simply do not wish to be a bother sir."

Rin decided to intervene. "Emiya, it'd be better for you to let her walk if she can, so there'll be no need for you to take her to your place."

To make Rin's point, Yamato gently tugged herself off Shirou while she found her footing, and imposed her full height. "As you can see- ah!"

She found herself kneeling down to a knee, blinking with a puzzled expression. "... that's strange, I do not feel unwell..." the ship girl inquisited, attempting to stand up again. She managed to stay upright for a second before she seemed to sway and then finally kneel down once more. "My legs... they feel numb..."

Shirou sighed as he faced the kneeling Yamato, sheepishly scratching the side of his chin. "You don't feel unwell because I shut down some of your errant circuits that were causing you pain. Unfortunately I may have turned off a few more things along the way..."

"YOU WHAT?!"

Rin's grave visage plunged the night into an inky black chill, murderous intent choking the air with malice and promises of terrible, terrible pain and suffering for the boy who spoke such idiocy before her. All contained in a smile as beautiful as it was deadly.

"Emiya... what did you do to my Servant?" Venom was her tone, and anger filled her voice. If this idiot did anything at all to jeopardize her chances at the War...

"T-Tohsaka calm down-" Shirou was sweating bullets now, backing away step by agonizing step from the incarnation of darkness encroaching towards him. Rin decided she loved seeing fear upon this boy's face, let his inevitable gory fate be dealt by her own two hands-

"Admiral, please stop."

A slight tug on her skirt stopped Rin in her tracks, making her turn towards her Servant who stared up at her with those pleading eyes of hers. Those deep, purple wells of mercy draining away all will and logical thought... No, Rin had won against those eyes before, she'll do so again!

"But Archer, your legs-"

"Do not worry Admiral," Yamato reassured, giving her an earnest stare. "If Sir Emiya's words are true, then only minor damage has been dealt to my person, and will only require basic repair at a dock facility. If not for his actions I would still be in much pain as of this moment..."

Yamato left her words hang in the air with a sad look, giving Rin time process their implication. The young magus finally sighed, letting her anger dissipate, leaving only a slight irritation.

"You get off lightly this time Emiya, for my Servant's sake."

"I can tell you care for her very well Tohsaka," Shirou replied with a smile which was quickly wiped out by Rin's glare. "Though it's Servant now huh..."

Rin ignored Shirou's inaudible muttering. "Never mind that, what was that about a dock facility?"

Thankfully for Rin, her Servant was still as quick to answer her questions. "Yes. Any small body of artificially-enclosed hot water large enough for my body to occupy will prove sufficient, as well as recognition by Admiral of this fact."

"Recognition you say?" Rin reiterated.

"Yes," Yamato nodded. "The Admiral must be willing to recognize the location as a dockyard in order for my repair abilities to take effect."

"...In other words, all you need is a hot bath?" Shirou surmised with much incredulity, a sentiment mirrored by Rin. Shirou recovered faster though with a grin. "My place has a good, large bath. You can wash up there as long as you need, as soon as we get you there."

With that, Shirou held out his hand to Yamato, who took it with a smile.

"My thanks for all you have done for me Sir Emiya, and sorry for any inconvenience."

"Ah, don't worry about it, we should help each other in times like these right?"

Rin coughed into her hand. "Emiya, please don't flirt with my Servant."

"Who's flirting with who?!"

As Shirou retorted against Rin's jab, the blush that colored Yamato's face made Rin very uncomfortable just then.

* Spirit Of Steel *