Disclaimer: I do not own the Fate franchise it belongs to Kinoko Nasu and Type-Moon.

Everything and Nothing

Chapter 4

The Clock Tower bells rang the time, Rin beginning to erase what she'd written on the chalkboard even as her students began putting their things away. "Let's wrap this up for the day." She said. "A reminder, though, that your practical presentations will be taking place the day after tomorrow. I have every expectation that each and every one of you will perform beyond the minimum called for, so I look forward to seeing the fruits of your talents and labors."

Putting the eraser down, Rin gathered her own things, and then glancing briefly at her wristwatch, hurried out of the classroom. She had another lecture in twenty minutes, so she needed to move fast if she wanted a quick break for tea and maybe something hot to eat before then. Once she was gone, though, the students immediately started gossiping about her.

"So," George Armstrong began. "What do you think of our new lecturer? It's been a month since she started holding lectures, which I think is a fair length of time to get a real feel for her."

"She's flat as a board, that's what she is." Brian MacDonald lecherously replied. "But I'd sure love to get a feel for those thighs of hers. Better yet, to get between them."

That got a laugh from his friend, only for both to wince as gloved hands walloped them one after the other on the back of the head.

"Lecherous pigs," Helene Vaugrenard scolded. "If you can't form a proper opinion about anyone, then how about keeping your mouths shut instead?"

"Fine, fine," MacDonald said with a roll of his eyes. "Lecturer Tohsaka does seem to know what she's talking about, but her focus on…practicality, seems to lean a little towards…unorthodoxy, if you know what I mean."

"Yes," Armstrong said with a nod of agreement. "It does seem like something you'd hear from a spell-caster, and not a magus. Or from those upstarts in Modern Magecraft Theories."

"That said," Otto Scheuermann chimed in. "She does make a good point about how important the basic principles of magecraft are. You mess them up, and it doesn't matter how profound the rest of your higher-level mysteries are. Once the foundation crumbles, everything built on top of them crumbles with them."

"You'd be lucky if they simply spluttered out." John Moss agreed. "More likely, they'd blow up, and you with them."

"It does seem a prudent way of thinking." Armstrong conceded. "And I suppose she can't be a spell-caster if the Wizard Marshal is vouching for her."

"Any unorthodox tendencies on her part could be a result of her association with the Wizard Marshal." Scheuermann said. "The Wizard Marshal does have an eccentric reputation."

"Eccentric?" MacDonald echoed. "Is that what we're calling it now?"

"Regardless," Vaugrenard said. "I do think that our new lecturer is worth listening to, and her lessons likewise deserving of serious consideration."

Then she paused, and narrowed her eyes. "Besides," she added. "You have noticed the resemblance, haven't you? Not just her appearance, but also the name she has."

That caused a somber silence to descend on the group. "Tohsaka…" Scheuermann mused. "…the renegade Oriental branch of House Edelfelt…whose current head holds the title of Murderer Blue…and is a master of Imaginary Numbers-based magecraft…"

"…Helene," Moss began. "Have you found anything more about our lecturer?"

"Only a little." Vaugrenard replied. "But what I've found has me deciding not to poke around any further. And for all your sakes, I suggest you follow my lead in this."

"Oh?" Armstrong began with a mocking note. "And what has gotten the Vaugrenard heiress backing away with her tail between her legs? Could it be that…"

SLAP

Armstrong reeled as Vaugrenard coolly backhanded him, only MacDonald looking sympathetic among his friends. The rest just looked at him with an air of annoyance, considering Helene Vaugrenard's seniority among them.

"I was just getting to that." She said. "First, upon unlocking her…mundane records, I noticed they…paralleled Murderer Blue's own records. No, more than that. They were…mostly contrary, and sometimes even contradictory, to every other record of their time. Whether education, financial, or just general historical records from Fuyuki City over the past two decades and then some."

"Could it be misinformation?" Scheuermann asked.

"Possible…" Vaugrenard conceded. "But unlikely, as these involve not just the Clock Tower records, but even those of the Japanese government, both national and local."

"Thorough," Moss said. "But what do you mean by contrary and contradictory? Some details would be nice, that's all."

"How about the fact that 'Rin Tohsaka' doesn't exist in Japanese records?" Vaugrenard asked. "Or at least, she hasn't for twenty years now."

"But…how…?" Moss asked in shock.

"…I found my answer when I unlocked her title." Vaugrenard said. "We all know she's a blue, which is worthy of consideration, but her title…"

"Spit it out, already." Armstrong said, only to draw back as Vaugrenard gave him a glare.

"…her title is Jewel Sword Blue." She said, causing gasps to go up from all around. "And it's a title the Clock Tower has never given to anyone. At least, our Clock Tower has never given it to anyone."

"I agree." Scheuermann said. "We should stop looking into her past. More than that, we should treat her with the utmost respect. If nothing else, it would only be prudent when our lecturer's records have been placed under temporal interdiction."

"I agree." Vaugrenard said with a nod.

"As do I." Moss did likewise.

"…what exactly is a temporal interdict?" MacDonald cautiously ventured after a moment.

"It's a special category that goes back nearly a thousand years." Scheuermann explained. "The Wizard Marshal set it up, after several incidents wherein his apprentices and associates from other timelines were taken advantage of. Henceforth, any records of time travelers are placed under interdict to prevent any further incidents."

"Of course," Vaugrenard began. "Things being what they are, it's not nearly as effective as it ought to be. That said, it does serve as an effective warning: the Wizard Marshal looks out for his own, and any…lingering, interference will result in harsh sanctions."

"It is a warning I will take to heart." Scheuermann said.

"Yeah…that's…probably a good idea." MacDonald agreed, and after a moment, Armstrong huffed, crossed his arms, and nodded in agreement.

"It looks that way." He grumbled.

Vaugrenard gave him an unhappy look, but said nothing more.

"I don't like this."

A trio of men stood around a single table in a dark room, lit only by a lone lightbulb hanging above the table. Maps, notes, and photos were strewn over the table, along with printed records, all marked with notes and circles.

"What don't you like about this?" a second man asked.

"The fact that we're going to try to abduct Murderer Blue's only known relative, and then immediately advertise that fact to her face." The first man replied. "And this assumes that Murderer Blue will even care that we've taken her cousin hostage. For all we know, she might just leave her cousin to die."

"That's one less monkey down." The third man said with a snort.

"How about the fact that if Murderer Blue does leave her cousin to die," the first man said. "She'll almost certainly kill the people we send to talk to her?"

"Then they die fulfilling their duty to Houses Icecolle and Forvedge." The third man said dismissively. "A great honor, wouldn't you agree?"

"Either way, we don't lose." The second man finally rejoined the conversation. "If taking Murderer Blue's cousin hostage works, then we can bring them both to a prepared battlefield, and end that upstart line once and for all. And even if it doesn't work, then all we lose are a few men."

"Murderer Blue must think herself mighty," the third man added. "Defying her betters for so long. It's past time someone taught that upstart her place."

"In the end," the second man continued. "Murderer Blue's just an ant trying to take on a mountain. No matter how many pebbles she breaks, nothing she does will matter."

"I certainly hope so, for all our sakes." The first man said with some heat. "This isn't the first time we've attempted to take her life. Six years of effort…what have we to show for it? Dozens of corpses…tens of thousands of dollars' worth of resources wasted…lost face in the eyes of the Clock Tower nobility…all the while Murderer Blue's reputation constantly gets reinforced with the blood of our men."

"Is that doubt I hear?" the third man slyly asked. "You would do well to remember that Lady Cecilia demands nothing less than completely loyalty and devotion, as is her right."

"And you would do well to remember your place." The first man growled. "House Icecolle comes second in the arrangement with House Forvedge. Furthermore, my and my family's oaths are not due to Lady Cecilia, but to Lord Caules."

"Enough!" the second man snapped while slamming a hand on the table. "This bickering among ourselves is pointless. Now, Lady Cecilia has given her command, and with all due respect to Lord Caules, unless he explicitly says otherwise, our orders stand."

"Not that Lord Caules would actually say otherwise." The third man smugly said, only to flinch as the second man turned in his direction.

"I said enough." He said, and the third man bowed. "As per the predetermined plan, Bruno Kuttner will lead the main force to Rin Tohsaka's residence, and take her into custody. In the meantime, the second force under Josef Birken will track Murderer Blue. Once Rin Tohsaka is in custody, the second force will deliver terms to Murderer Blue."

"Assuming she accepts the terms," the third man continued. "The main force will take the hostage to Site Z, and await Murderer Blue's arrival."

"And once Murderer Blue arrives," the second concluded. "We can end her, her wretched family, and restore our lady's honor, once and for all."

The third man nodded in approval, while the first man stayed silent, glaring in the dark at the map on the table.

God help us all.

Glass and iron shattered outwards, men screaming as they were punched clean out of a townhouse's second floor, and sent flying to land with sickening crunches on the road outside. "TAKE HER DOWN!" Bruno Kuttner shouted, pointing at Rin Tohsaka.

Several of his men pulled up tranquillizer guns, and fired multiple volleys of tranquillizer darts in Rin's direction. Rin sidestepped the first volley, then the second, before bending over backward to avoid the third volley. As she swung back up to her full height, she swept an arm up, and plucked the fourth volley out of the air. Then again, with her other arm, and likewise plucked the fifth volley out of the air.

Then, sweeping out a leg, she dropped low, avoiding the final volley, which flashed through empty air above her.

Yelling, a man aimed a netgun in her direction, and fired off an electrified net. The metal mesh unraveled as it flew through the air, expanding to engulf her, only to fly through the air she'd been crouched in just a moment ago, skidding harmlessly against the floor.

Kuttner and his men glanced warily around them in shock, for Rin had seemingly disappeared. "Where did…" he began, only to trail off as he heard clattering noises behind him. He and his men turned, and found Rin standing behind them, having dropped the tranquilizer darts she'd caught onto the floor.

"In the world of kung fu," she began with an amused smile, even as she smoothly performed a kata. "Speed determines the winner."

Then she gestured with one hand, having stepped into a stance, one leg forward, her other arm cocked backwards, hand clenched into a fist.

Bring it.

"You impudent monkey!" Kuttner spat, as he simultaneously reinforced his body and pulled out a shock baton. Electricity arced along its length, Kuttner charging forward…

…his vision distorted, and he gasped as he barely caught Rin's kick on an arm. Even with reinforcement, he felt bone crack from the force behind the kick, and still Rin was on him. A backhand to the jaw knocked him back, and left him open to a kick to the side. It shattered a pair of ribs, and cracked three more, while broken bone tore into a lung, flooding it with blood and fluid.

Coughing up blood, Kuttner struggled to fight back, clumsily swinging his baton, only for Rin to block with her arms, and charging in close, landed a solid punch to his chest. His strength failed him then, as he felt his breastbone shatter, and something else.

Something…

…cold…

…cold and still…

…in the middle of his chest…

…and spreading outward…

Kuttner gasped, and then Rin's hand was clutching at his face, clenched into a claw. Then swinging him around, she simultaneously released while landing a palm strike into his back. It sent Kuttner flying, out through the broken windows, and down, with a sickening crunch, in the middle of the road.

The other men swarmed Rin, then, but the young woman took them on calmly. She caught and turned the first's attack, then punched him in the gut. A second found his arm caught, and then himself being thrown through a wall. The third met the same fate, only in the opposite direction. Then a fourth had his arm caught and pulled aside, before Rin broke his neck, and doing similarly to a fifth, crushed his throat with an elbow.

"Fighting enemies in slow motion started out novel," Rin lamented as she threw a sixth man out the window. "But it's gotten boring by now."

A seventh man had his lungs ruptured by a pair of palm strikes, before an eighth man had his face shattered by an elbow strike. A flurry of punches later, and two more men were down, gurgling and coughing up blood from broken bones and ruptured organs.

"More importantly," Rin thought as she tossed a man out the window, before catching the last man by the arm, and then backhanding him, crushed his throat. "Who the hell are these thugs? Who sent them? Why are they after me? No…wait…maybe…could it be…they're after me to get at Sakura?"

"They see nothing, and they hear nothing."

In an instant, a bounded field fell across the whole block, keeping normal Humans from seeing or hearing anything out of the ordinary. In the next instant, Sakura was jumping up, backflipping through the air, and pulling out a beam saber from Imaginary Numbers Space. Blazing white flashed through the air twice, and then she was landing in a crouch.

A moment later, two heads and two bodies fell lifelessly to the ground in front of her.

Sakura's eyes narrowed, and then she jumped forward, into Imaginary Numbers Space…

…and then out, back into reality. She landed in a crouch on the hood of a nondescript car, beam saber stabbing down, melting through the thin metal of the hood and into the engine below. Steam hissed in scalding jets, but of no effect against her reinforcement. Metal screamed and then spluttered as the engine died.

Then glass was cracking as Sakura opened fire with Finn shots at full auto, ripping through the bulletproof glass of the car's windshield like it wasn't even there. The two men inside shuddered as they were riddled with Sakura's Finn shots, and then opening her hand, Sakura shattered the windshield inward, and lacerating their dying bodies.

"Skript: Explosion." Sakura softly said, as she tossed a silver cylinder filled iron filings into the car interior. Then she fell back, rolling into Imaginary Numbers Space, and then back out into reality a safe distance away, as the car exploded. "Only four men? No…that can't be right…"

Trailing off, Sakura rushed back to where she left the first two assassins. Sinking down next to one decapitated head, she pulled out her Azoth Dagger – and not the one Kirei had given her, this one was one she'd made herself, after she'd been promoted from Flame to Cause – and stabbed it deep into the dead man's brain. Then in her free hand, she crushed another silver cylinder, iron filings spilling out and releasing the prana they'd stored.

"Skript: Frage." She cast her spell. Instantly, images flooded her mind, memories and thoughts from the dead man, but Sakura ignored most of them, filtering and discarding the vast majority while looking for what she sought. She needed to move quickly, the man's brain quickly liquifying as her spell tore his neurons apart to get at the imprints they'd held in life.

And there it was.

The dead man stood with others in a line before their superiors receiving their orders.

Maps and files lay on the table, along with pictures of Rin and Sakura.

There was a signature on the orders, large and loopy letters written with a strong hand.

Cecilia Icecolle-Forvedge

"Icecolle bitch!" Sakura spat in rage as she pulled her Azoth Dagger out, and then getting to her feet, stamped down hard, crushing the dead man's head into mush. "Romanian whore!"

Pointing a finger, she riddled the corpses with Finn rounds until her rage cooled, turning icy and focused. Then she turned, and running into a portal vanished into Imaginary Numbers Space.

Rin sighed as she surveyed the ruined second floor of her rented townhouse. "There goes the security deposit on this place." She mentally lamented.

Then she blinked, as she felt…something, outside. Heading for the windows, she came to an abrupt halt as Sakura jumped in through the window, holding…

"…a laser sword? No…" Rin thought, before thinking back to the last time she'd babysat her nephew, and when she had to watch a Gundom or something anime with him. "…I can't remember…"

Then her thoughts went still as Sakura immediately started patting her down, and then sighing in relief pulled Rin into a hug. "Oh, thank any gods who might be listening you're safe." Sakura said.

"Um…yeah, I'm safe." Rin said, surprised at Sakura's reaction, and hugging her back.

Huh…

…so she really does care…

…maybe…maybe she does regret what she did?

And she only pretends not to?

Then again, we are sisters.

I used to feel the same way about my Sakura.

"Wait…how did you…?" Rin began.

"More of these thugs went after me." Sakura said, kicking at one of the corpses strewn around Rin's house. "Come to think of it…why'd they send so many after you, and only a few against me? No offense, but they'd have known better…"

"I think they were trying to take me hostage." Rin said, nudging at the tranquilizer darts on the floor with a foot, and then gesturing at the net on the far side of the room. "Those men they sent after you would probably have delivered terms had this bunch here succeeded."

"Oh, that Icecolle bitch." Sakura hissed. "I should have killed her when I had the chance, and damn the consequences."

"Icecolle?" Rin echoed. "Sakura, what the hell's going on?"

Sakura briefly regarded her, and then nodded, as though coming to a decision. "I'll tell you everything." She said. "But first, we need to get someplace safe. Pack your things, and come over to my place."

"Your place?" Rin echoed. "Uh…is it really any safer there…"

"My apartment is in a residential area designated a neutral sanctuary by Lords Animusphere, Beckenstein, Edelfelt, and El-Melloi." Sakura interrupted. "Even Icecolle isn't so stupid to piss off four lords at the same time. Edelfelt alone would leave her and her wretched husband's estates a smoking wasteland. All four of them would see the Icecolle and Forvedge's names subjected to damnatio memoriae."

Sakura paused, and then looked away. "Well, I can hope." She said. "But a sealing designation or two would be exactly what those two deserve."

Rin stared, confusion and curiosity openly warring on her face. Then Sakura turned back to her, the rage fading and being replaced by concern. "Please." She said simply, and Rin made her decision.

"Help me pack, then." She said, deciding to take a chance on her sister. Sakura nodded, and put away her mystic code.

"What do you need me to do?"

A/N

Time-skip, one month!

Things blow up in everyone's faces…well, more the bad guy's faces. They really should have known done more background checks, it might have stopped them from getting their asses kicked by a kung fu master.

Up next, Rin meets [REDACTED]!