Yeah guys sorry for the late update just that I had to work rather hard just to get this one done, hopefully the rest will be easier now that I have some of the harder parts done, still shit this is taking long, looks like this will at least take two to three more chapters, though if my E rank Luck (I roll far too many ones in DnD for it to be anything else)is feeling generous I may be able to get it done in one. Still thank you to all of you who reviewed I was nice thanks for that. Still I hope you enjoy.

"There is no such thing as "truth" or "lies" in this world; there never has been. There are only plain, hard facts. And yet, all beings who exist in this world acknowledge only those "facts" that are convenient to them, and take them to be the "truth". They do so because they know no other way of living. However, for those powerless beings who comprise the majority of this world's population, inconvenient facts that affirm their very existence, are their only truth." -Aizen Sousuke, Bleach

A regular child's mind is an immature one, the child does not possess a firm resolve nor does the child have the strength to turn their grief into anger or hatred. When a child is confronted with a cruel fate they ware not presented with the choice of having a will of iron. More importantly, since they have not yet lived through and been able to understand life, concepts such as honour and hope have yet to be completely nurtured in them. As a result, in moments of despair children are more prone than adults are to seal away their own mind and lock up their own heart. This is down because they had yet to taste the joys of life so they can afford to discard that which they do not know and they can do so with ease. This is due to the fact that they have not grasped the meaning of the future, that they can sink into despair.

Such was the case for Sakura, at a tender age she was given away by he father to another family, there was an agreement between her father and the head of that family that neither she nor her sister would speak or interact with each other after this had occurred. On her first day as a Matou their head an aged and wizened man who called himself Zouken had taken her to their cellar where he had placed her in the pits that contained his familiars known as the crest worms. Sakura for her part screamed for three whole days at the start as the crest worm crawled inside her through any possible entrance, it was by the third day that she had lost all feeling and was then completely silent. Over the first year what she was forced to go through changed the little girl. Not only in the mental sense but also in the physical. When she had been born her had been brown and her eyes blue like her sisters, now she had lavender coloured hair and eyes, though what unnerved some people about her eyes was the fact they lacked pupils and how blank and empty they were if one were to gazed into them.

Kindness was not a thing that she had been shown after she was given to the Matou's in fact the Sakura could barely remember anyone else beside Kariya her Ojisan, uncle and the girl had seen the crest worms eat him alive as a result for trying to defy Zouken's wishes. Sakura was used to being bullied her foster brother Shinji was rather abusive, he beat, insulted and raped her. Though the latter was done on the orders of their grandfather and Shinji had no spine at all, especially when it came to dealing with Zouken.. So what this boy, this Emiya Malekith had done and was doing for her was almost if not wholly alien to the girl, given the fact that Kariya had died almost five years prior which meant that it had been a rather long time since anyone had tried to help her, much less succeed with their first attempt.

As they walked Sakura took the chance to observe Mal as he liked to be called. At first there seemed to nothing out of the ordinary but Sakura despite what had happened to her or most likely because of it was able to tell that their was something more to him. Sakura herself was not sure what she was feeling but the sensation that came from him felt too mature for him to be a boy her age or just a year or two older, but that was no all oft it, there was something more to Mal, it was behind those amber eyes or in them, the merciless glare that made the gaze Zouken had feel kind. Eyes that did not belong to a child, similar to her own yet different, these eyes were not blank. Recalling the reaction Mal had when the youths had chosen to flee Sakura realised that he had wanted them to stay so he could face them. If she were a normal child or even an adult Sakura would have felt a cold chill run up her spine, but fortunately Sakura had closed herself off so she didn't feel it as she realised that Mal had wanted to kill those people. For what reason she did not know, but she knew it was true.

"Studying me are you?" the question was asked. Sakura did not realise that Mal was aware of the motive of her staring nor had she realised that he had been doing the same to here, though discreetly so she would not notice. "Did you see something I did not?" he asked.

Looking to the side Sakura found hat she did not have an answer to that and tried to come up with a reply "Ojiisan would be upset if I am late" she informed Mal "he does not like it if I am late to training and will punish me if he desires it" Sakura explained, it was the truth.

"Is this the same Ojiisan that left you to fend for yourself instead of caring for you when you were being attacked?" he asked though it was more akin to statement. "If he values you so highly then he should at least ensure that you are not left alone" Mal stated looking at her.

Sakura felt there was almost a calculative edge to those amber eyes for a moment but it was gone as quickly as it came. "He" Sakura began unsure if she should be saying this or not "he let Niisan take me out today, but Niisan left saying he had something urgent to do" she stated. In truth this was a form of training which Zouken had take to using, for some reason he wanted to keep her docile and not anything else, most likely that she would continue to obey him. Though Sakura would not tell Mal that, he shouldn't know about such a thing.

Mal's gazed hardened as she said this and Sakura realised that she had made a mistake, it seemed that Mal was taking offence to this for some reason "and where is this worthless piece of trash that you refer to as your brother?" he asked his voice level but with an edge.

Sakura's eyes widened as she believed that Mal would go to hurt her brother Shinji she was only partially correct, Mal was going to do a whole lot more than just hurt the Matou, if he discovered the other things that Shinji did, well Mal had invented knew ways fr people to suffer for such crimes and if he ever found out about Shinji's crimes he would be making the Matou howl for a long time before he gave him the release of death, that was if he didn't have some other plans for what to do with Shinji's soul as Emiya Malekith was rarely the kind of person to forgive and he was not one to ever forget. Sakura did not know these things about him, she did not know how easily cruelty to ones foes came to him nor did she know of how easily he had no regard human life and had to actively try and have some at times.

Not knowing a thing about Mal, except what she had seen from his brief interaction with the youths and her small if not tiny study of him Sakura opened her mouth "why?" was all that came out as she did not have much else to ask nor did she know what else she could ask.

Mal turned to regard her his eyes holding concern and care that Sakura recognised was for meant her but there was a rage and anger that was aimed most likely at her 'family' in general for what had occurred here. "Why you ask" the red haired boy replied his eyes now for a brief moment showing something akin to amusement at her "why not?" he asked. Sakura had no answer and could not think of a reason as to why he shouldn't hurt them, in fact it was the opposite "strange" Mal spoke "no one has an answer to that question" he informed her.

Touko Aozaki, the Sealing Designate known as the infamous Puppet Master and the 'Red' sighed as Mal entered the house with the girl. If this was Mikiya who had done this she would just scold him on being too nice like Shiki would and ask him what he planned to do, in most cases her employee rarely had made anything that resembled a plan when he did this more so doing it on impulse. The real problem was that it was Mal who had helped this girl and had brought her here, now while Mal could fool others into thinking that he was a sweet and kind boy, her pupil was anything but too nice. Sure he may have just saved a girl from a group of bullies but Touko knew that this was more of a selfish desire to imitate the results of what he saw when the Magus Killer saved him, more to the point Mal was aware of it as well, he just didn't care about it. The boy was not Mikiya who would help someone without a plan nor was he Shiki who relied solely on on her instincts, Mal had come here and had some design or a sort for this girl, though hopefully they weren't too dark even for herself.

While some would have viewed some of Mal's habits as eight grader syndrome as it was now called, a phase most children go through when they become teen, the problem with Mal was that the boy was in fact genuine. Shiki was not a wholly good influence on him, though many of these traits he had were there before he knew Shiki, meeting her and being like a younger sibling to the woman only made them seem to be more pronounced. That and if he had brought her here Emiya must intend to aid here in some way that requires his magecraft.

The 'Red' had to suppress a sigh, said magecraft was at times borderline True Magic which gave her no ends of headaches. It was unique if one were to describe it, though it would be highly coveted in the Moonlit World, the possibilities he could add to the Magic Crest were near endless. Though most of the Mage's Association would consider him a heretic the boy's skills would make him highly sought after if only to produce and heir to see if it is an inherited trait. That aside unlike Mikiya her pupil was 'never too nice'. Mal may be pleasant enough or even rather welcoming at times, but never too nice, the boy was far too clever for that. As such Touko finally decided that she needed to know the exact motive as to why he had chosen to help this girl, it may be pure but his methods will be anything but pure.

Lighting a cigarette Touko got up from the room she was currently sitting in and walked to the door as Mal arrived with the girl, the boy most likely knew that she was watching him because she worried about the boy, he most likely would ask for her opinion on this subject.

After all if Mal had not desired at least some of her insight and input he would have removed the familiar the 'Red' had in place or more likely obscured it's view as her pupil was not one to take to waste lightly, still Touko knew that she would have to see the girl herself first. And once again knowing Mal well enough having no small part in raising the boy, Touko knew that there must be more to this girl than a victim of bullying, her hair and eyes were and obvious indication of magecraft. So there must be more to her which Mal saw in person.

"Is this were you live?" Sakura asked looking at the traditional looking estate. The key word about the estate was that it looked like a Japanese estate, upon a closer look, Sakura noticed that it was not really made out of wood but well crafted stone. This meant that the house design was not open to the outside so mana could not be readily lost, which in turn made it ideal for a Magus to live here. Though the girl did think it strange as there were supposed to be no other Magi in Fuyuki, at least none were registered with the City's Second Owner to her knowledge and while the Matou head was rather secretive, he would have at least made a passing remark about their being new magi in the city as there would be no reason to conceal such a thing from the girl or her brother. Though there was no reason not to either.

Walking up to the big wooden gate of the residence Mal fished into his pocket for a key which he used to unlock the massive wooden gate. The gate creaked open, but not too loud that anyone else could hear it. Looking at Sakura, Mal extended his hand once more, though this time it seemed less of a gesture for her to take it and follow him, this one was more of a welcoming as well as a giving of aid, given this is where he was may live, the red haired boy may or may have may not have, Sakura for her part just nodded and stepped forward.

"Well" Mal finally spoke as the two of them walked into the estate and the gates creaked behind them as they were shut "home sweet home" the boy said, though Sakura felt as though the boy was more like quoting the words than actually saying them. "Lets get inside shall we" it was statement not a question. "It may not get dark for a while but I believe we should get inside and get something to eat." The Boy then lead her along the path to the house. Sakura took not of the building and saw that her earlier assumptions about it were correct.

The door was opened by a woman with red hair and dark brown eyes hat were almost red as well. "Well Mal" she spoke in a voice that told Sakura she was rather dangerous "it's not like you to pick up strays" the woman stated "you're the type to help the patch up the wound on the stray dog and then leave it" the red haired woman said revealing something about Mal's character. "Unlike a friend of ours you would never bring them home unless you were of the mind that they needed to be brought here, so is there something I should know?" she asked. While Sakura noted that from the way she spoke was a little similar to the way Zouken did, it was not the mannerisms or the voice or tone, but the feeling she gave off. Yet it seemed Mal was either oblivious to it or just ignoring it, though he could be not affected by it.

"Yes Touko san" the red haired boy answered in a matter of fact fashion "though I believe this is a subject that is best said when we are inside. perhaps over something to drink water, tea, coffee, lemonade, other than that I'm afraid we don't have much else" he said to them.

"I'll trust your judgement on that one" Touko said viewing Sakura with a critical eye that made the girl feel like she was scrutinising every surface of her. If Sakura was a normal child she would have been averse to being undressed by someone's eyes, but she was not normal. The fact that the girl only stared blankly back at her told Touko that there was something wrong with her, something that was by no means natural. "Well" the 'Red' began "at least you brought home a cute one" she said surprising Sakura at what had just been spoken then.

"Your hobbies aside" Mal said dryly clearly not approving of what she had said as they walked in "are you going to answer my question?" he asked. All he received was a knowing smile from Touko. Sighing the boy said "I'll go heat up the water, don't do anything just yet."

Sakura looked at the woman as the two of them sat down in the room together as Mal went to heat up water, presumably for either tea or coffer, the woman Touko had not been specific but it seemed that Mal knew what she was wanting in any case, deciding to speak up Sakura came to the decision that she wanted to know who this woman was and her relationship with Mal, if only to know what the woman was doing here and why she herself had been brought to the estate by Mal. "Are you his mother?" Sakura asked before she recalled the way Mal had greeted her, instead of referring to her as Ka san, mother or anything else related to the word mother. That or he had a bad relationship with her though given their interaction that did not seem to be the case. In any case she felt foolish about what she had asked, while Touko and Mal's hair was read, her hair was more like a dark brownish red while Mal's was an orange like one. That and the fact that upon a closer inspection the two of them looked nothing alike. Still it was not something that most would notice or care about really.

Touko for her part laughed in good humour "It' the hair isn't it?" she asked though the question was rhetorical. "Suffice to say I did not bring Mal into the world, that and I have never brought any child into the world" Touko stated. "Though if you were to ask as to the nature of our relationship, I would have to say that I am his mentor." This was a little surprising to Sakura as she instinctively thought that the two of them were Magi "Though I suppose in a way I am the only thing he has that is closest to a maternal figure" Touko informed her.

"Closest?" Sakura said quietly, was Touko saying that Mal did not know who his parents were, was he an orphan? These thoughts and more were going through the girls head when she heard that last part. Then it clicked for her Zouken may have been cruel in his training but even he saw the wisdom telling Sakura the types of people she should always attempt to avoid as a Magus. "Touko" the girl began as the woman's identity dawned on her "as in Touko Aozaki the Puppet Master?" she asked wondering if what she had just said was true or not.

"It seems that you have a rather good head on your shoulders girl" the 'Red' stated with a smile, there was nothing kind in that gesture though there was some measure of approval in it. "If you had called me by a few of my other titles I may have had to kill you" she informed Sakura. The story of the Aozaki sisters was well known enough in the moonlit world that the one who wielded the fifth magic was called 'the blue' while the older sister was known as 'the red' or if you wanted to be insulted, the dirty red or disgraced scarlet. Touko had just made it clear that calling her either of those two would result in her untimely demise, not that Sakura cared any more, or at least she believed that she didn't care. "In either case I'm sure you know that Mal being my pupil means" Touko stated as Mal walked into the room.

"I brought Sakura here so that I could help her" Mal stated bluntly "not so that you could attempt to scare her as you undress her with your eyes." This got an amused chuckle from Touko which confused Sakura as she thought that Mal was bad mouthing the 'Red' just then.

Seeing her confusion Touko decided to explain to Sakura "He was not insulting me" she told the purple haired girl "Mal here was just stating what I was actually doing" Touko informed her "though that was only part of it, the rest he knows does not need to be spoken aloud."

"I am not sure that makes it any better" Mal said as he sat down and handed Touko an orange mug that was filled with tea "in fact saying that would normally make things worse." Mal then gave Sakura a mug which the girl meekly accepted and began to sip the drink slowly.

"Familiars" Touko said suddenly causing Sakura to freeze up while Mal's eyes narrowed in in interest. "Sakura here already knows this since it did happen to her, but her body is infested with them, they are like a nerves now or even a set of Magic Circuits" the 'Red' stated.

For some reason Sakura felt a chill run through her normally cold body, these people knew about what Zouken had done to her. What were they going to do. Sakura was not too well versed in the laws of Magi other than the main one that is so she didn't know how to react.

"The question is not 'how we will react'" Mal stated as he placed his hand on her shoulder in a comforting way while he used his ability with structural grasp to see everything about her "but more akin to what the reaction of the Magus responsible for this will be" he informed her. Looking at the girl Mal retracted his arm from her shoulder "it seems that there is a rather powerful one next to your heart, they seem to serve as something of a restraint, devouring your mana and feeding off of it" Mal summarised causing Sakura to wince at this. He then glanced sideways at Touko who gave an amused smile and nodded "If" Mal began "if you so desire I could help by removing these familiars from your body and reverse the damage they have caused." Mal informed Sakura extending his hand out to her for the girl to take it.

Sakura stared at the outstretched hand not knowing how to react. Despite the concern that he had the boy's eyes were rather empty. Grandfather would not be too happy about this, but then again he was only pleased when others were in pain. Finally Sakra looked Mal in the eye "why?" she asked, unlike when the two of them were walking to this residence this time Sakura asked it because this was the right question to ask. "Why are you offering to help me" she asked "since Ojisan, defied Ojiisan and died, no one has been kind or even tried to."

Anger, hatred and disgust flashed in Mal's amber eyes at hearing this, but not long enough for it to be noticed by anyone save Touko who just chuckled to herself amused at all of this. "Do you want to here just one of my reasons or all of them?" Sakura simply nodded. Taking this to be the latter than the former "you see" Mal began "a while back in Fuyuki there was a great fire" he explained "now in that fire was a boy who despite the flames, despite the destruction that was all around him, stubbornly moved forward with only a single intention. To survive." Mal spaused for brief moment to let Sakura digest this information and come to her own conclusion about it. If she to the conclusion that he was a survivor of the Fuyuki fire or if she didn't was of no consequence to him. "Now you see, no amount of willpower even if it is endless could help that boy, for you see at one point despite everything he fell down and was not able to rise." Seeing that Sakura was not fully grasping the story Mal decided to continue "It just so happened that as the boy lay there close to death's door, if not already being lead in by him in wake of the fire was found by a man who had been searching for survivors." It seemed that the girl finally understood that the story did not end there. "Just so you know the boy had awoken at that point with no memory of who he was, all of that was taken form him in the fire and the first thing that he saw was a man with dark hair smiling with relief at him as he picked the boy up and carried him to the hospital for medical treatment." Mal stopped for a moment as he took a deep breath and sighed "Now the smile was not the one a person who was saving people would give. No the smile was more like as if it had been the man who was saved and not the boy, As the boy drifted off to sleep he had a new thought 'could I smile like that?'" With that Mal finished explaining his first reason.

The boy waited for Sakura to fully digest the information he had given her, when she had the girl asked Mal "Did you ever smile like that?" It was an innocent question with no malice yet for Mal it might as well have been a slap in the face "Are you able to smile like that?"

Mal looked at Sakura before he gave her what appeared to be a sad and almost tied smile. "No" Mal replied shaking his head "not matter how many times I try, that one thing will always elude me" he explained "it is not in my nature to be empathetic, yet I try in any case."

"Then why?' Sakura began not understanding Mal, then again not even Touko fully know the boy that well and she had the best grasp on his nature. "Why do you try to help people when you know you will never get what you want from it" to Sakura it didn't make sense.

Mal smirked then at her "I could give you a rant about how I will take what I want even if it is not possible. That I would deny fate and the laws of the universe for what I desire, but I will not." Mal then looked at Sakura as he spoke once more "Why you say" he commented before Mal let out a dark chuckle "why not?" he asked her again like before when he has Sakura had no answer to this question "funny, no one ever seems to have an answer to that." After this had been said Sakura reached out shakily and then firmly clasped the outstretched hand.

Yeah I seem to be rather good at making ending scenes before I actually intend to end the chapter that made me think why the hell am I doing this is my life fucking with me? Turns out it is. But enough of that As you can see Sakura and Mal have met and he has offerred to rid her of Zouken's Crest worms which given his skills I say he is rather well equipped to deal with. IF worst comes to worst Mal will simply make her another body with Touko though he also adept at that just not to her level and then place Sakura inside it. Needless to say she is not going back to the Matou residence in a long time and Shinji, well I'll leave that up to your imagination, but if you have any suggestion on how to be creative in his torture, I mean punishment then please do tell. I have several ideas but that is spoilers. Though there is something to do with feeding Shinji his own balls or carving out one of his eyes and then eating it in front of the shit. But that is just two fish in the ocean.

Also that part with Touko flirting with Sakura, please not that one of Touko things to do when she gets into a knew body is hunt for cute looking girls. Also she had the trope Bi The Way (shivers)

So anyways if there is anything you would like to say, say like any ideas you want to share or any feedback you would like to give feel free to leave a review or PM me. Though I would rather prefer it if you left a review over PM me as it would be easier to reference ans sort that when I am writing the next chapter.

Anyways I hope you enjoyed this chapter until next time

Also I am thinking of posting up a quest on the Sufficient Velocity Forum that is loosely based of this. Let me know what you think of that idea as well.