...Wow. This chapter has… a lot of exposition. I really hope I've done it well enough that it doesn't suck on toast. Well… at least it's kinda early, right?
Chapter 5 - Wounds, new and old.
"Wait, so… there were four masters at your school?" Ranma asked, as he tugged gently on the temporary sling he'd made out of a few of Ryoga's bandannas.
"Yeah," the red haired boy, who had introduced himself as Shiro Emiya, replied. "That's why I was so surprised when you said Kuzuki-Sensei was responsible for the spell on the school, it was actually Rider and Shinji."
"But Rider got taken out by Kuzuki," Ranma filled in. "...somehow."
"Him or Caster, but Saber didn't sense her, so…" the other boy shrugged.
Ranma glanced back at where said Servant was walking, keeping a suspicious eye on Ryoga, who walked between her and Archer. "Wish I knew how he managed that."
"Caster was probably augmenting his strikes with magic," Archer chipped in. "It wouldn't surprise me if she were controlling him totally."
"That… is something I could see Caster doing," Archer's master, who hadn't given her name, but who Ranma knew as Tohsaka from the assassin teacher's words earlier, finally stopped glaring at either Ranma or Shiro long enough to speak up.
"Don't think so," Ranma shook his head as the group turned at an intersection. "Not sure about this magic you guys throw around, but that guy was definitely trained. Strange style, though, pretty much every strike was supposed to be lethal in one way or another. 'S why I called him a crazy assassin."
"Could he have infiltrated the school just for the war?" Shiro asked.
"No, that couldn't be it," Tohsaka disagreed. "There wasn't much notice before the start of this war. He's been here for longer than that."
"Then what…" Shiro trailed off. "Um, we're here." He gestured at a walled compound that actually looked fairly familiar to Ranma. It had been agreed at the school they couldn't treat the pigtailed boy's wounds in the school infirmary, given that the authorities would arrive quickly. Tohsaka had categorically refused the use of her own house, which left Shiro's. She hadn't liked that either, but had reluctantly agreed.
"Nice place," Ranma commented as the group walked through the front gate, a light tingling sensation seeming to run down his spine. Ryoga and Archer both vanished into mana at the same time, though Saber stayed where she was. "You got a Dojo?"
Shiro Followed the other boy's gaze to the smaller outbuilding that was connected to the house by a covered catwalk. "I didn't really use it for much other than morning exercises before the war, but now…" he gestured back at Saber, and Ranma nodded.
When the four had stepped into the house and exchanged their shoes, the red haired boy turned to Ranma. "You can go and sit in the living room, I'll go get the first aid kit."
Ranma was barely into the main room when he felt a sense of foreboding descend on his shoulders. The slamming door was a second clue as he turned to see that Tohsaka had followed him in, and was glaring holes in him.
Honestly it was a fairly good attempt at a murderous look, but he'd gotten worse. "What?" he asked, casually sitting at the table in the middle of the room, carefully starting to unwrap the bandanas around his shoulder.
He honestly didn't see her poking him in the shoulder coming, almost biting through his tongue strangling a yelp. "Shiro gave you his word that we'd trade information for helping with your wounds, and I'm his ally, so I have to abide by it, that doesn't mean I have to like it."
Ranma kept a wary eye on the girl as she leaned back, crossing her arms over her chest, but seeing that she didn't intend to go poking again, he continued examining his wound. "Yeah, kinda figured you weren't onboard with this whole thing," he looked back up to her. "I get this whole holy grail thing is supposed ta be a competition between masters, or whatever, but maybe we should can that 'till we make sure no one else's killin' people?"
The girl tossed her head, trying to look disinterested. "That doesn't much matter to me compared to getting the Grail."
"Ain't what you said before," Ranma disagreed, peeling off the shredded arm of his shirt. "Somethin' about not liking people killed on your land?"
She blinked. "Wait, you… Of course you work with that girl." Her eyes narrowed dangerously, and she leaned forward until she was eye to eye with the sitting martial artist. "Tell me what you know about her!"
"Tohsaka?" The black haired girl immediately leaned back, turning quickly and taking note of Shiro standing in the doorway holding a red cross marked container. "...started the interrogation already, huh? Maybe we should let him get a bit patched up first?"
The black haired girl backed off, but didn't look at all repentant. "You're way too soft about this, Shiro," she complained.
Ranma shook his head, prodding at his shoulder, and then carefully running a few fingers across the front of his chest under his shirt. The swelling hadn't quite gotten going yet, but when he pressed down in a spot near the shoulder joint, a white hot flash of pain went through his upper chest. "Damn," he grumbled, drawing the two others' attention.
"What is it?" Shiro asked, concerned.
"That last hit got my upper arm and part of my collarbone," Ranma explained.
"Wait, as in broken?" Shiro asked.
"Or a bad crack," Ranma nodded.
"Should you be going to the hospital for that? It has to hurt," Shiro started, but was interrupted by Tohsaka before Ranma could speak.
"Idiot, if he goes there, he'll be easy pickings for Caster. Not to mention all of the other patients it'd put at risk."
"Oh, yeah…." Shiro looked sheepish. "That does make sense."
"It's not that big a deal," Ranma said casually. "Gunna have to strap it just to make sure, though. Hope there aren't any chips..." He grimaced, and then reluctantly asked, "can I get some cold water?"
Shiro set down and opened the box he was holding. "There's disinfectant in the first aid kit."
"Nah, not for that," Ranma shook his head. "I just need it, okay?"
"I will get it." The three looked over as Saber straightened from where she leaned against a wall, and Ranma had to resist the urge to jump. For someone who stuck out as much as she did with her blonde hair and non-japanese features, even after she'd banished that strange blue dress-armor, she was disturbingly good at fading into the background. Had she been there when Tohsaka had… It didn't matter, he supposed.
As the Servant left the room, the black haired girl put her hands to her hips. "I still want answers. Why are you working with that Servant and how do you know that girl?"
"I summoned him," Ranma answered. "Kinda surprised me too, since I wasn't trying."
"You… weren't trying?" Tohsaka asked, incredulously.
"Well, that is how it happened with me," Shiro chipped in.
"Yeah, but you just happened to use your ridiculous luck to land in a summoning circle," the girl snapped. "I doubt that could happen twice.
"No, there was no circle," Ranma shook his head. "He just sorta… showed up while I was training in a vacant lot around here. I mean, there was a serious lightshow, but I didn't cast a spell or anything."
"That… that just doesn't happen!" Tohsaka yelled, angrily. "For best summoning you need a proper circle and a ritual, or at least a catalyst of some kind. You don't just get a Servant handed to you!"
"A… catalyst?" Ranma asked, staring at her blankly as Saber entered the room holding a ceramic cup filled with water.
"You… don't know what a catalyst is…" Tohsaka's shoulders slumped, and she muttered something that Ranma was barely unable to catch.
She raised her head just as Ranma reached out for the cup of water. "Thanks, Saber," he said, and then glared at the liquid for a moment before splashing his face with over half of it.
"What was tha-" she was cut off as the boy in front of her melted into a shorter, red haired girl.
The mage immediately leapt backwards, blue-green lines flaring to life on her arms and legs as she narrowed her eyes. "You!"
"Crap, here we go…" Ranma muttered, leaping up herself and bringing her one working arm up in a defensive stance. "Look, before ya start shooting, I still don't intend to attack unless you do it first."
"You say that after disguising yourself like that!" Tohsaka yelled, angrily.
"It ain't a disguise, it's a curse," Ranma shot back. "I'm a guy, it's just that I need to bind my shoulder, and the stuff that turns me into a girl shows up way more often than the stuff that turns me back."
"A curse?" The girl's limbs stopped glowing, though she still looked suspicious. "Well, it isn't an illusion, I would've dispelled that, and normal magecraft couldn't change you that fast… fine," she said, reluctantly. "But you're pushing your luck, especially since now I know you were the one who attacked me two days ago."
"To be fair, you were just as eager to fight me," Ranma returned, but was only met with a continued glare. Shrugging, and immediately regretting it as a lance of pain shot down her arm, she turned her attention away from the slightly less homicidal mage, noting that Saber looked as unbothered as before, though Shiro's eyes were slightly wide and his mouth was half open, as if he were in the middle of saying something.
Sitting back down, Ranma grabbed several rolls of bandages and some disinfectant from the open first-aid kit, starting to work on the cuts on her shoulder. "Y-you just accept that so casually?!" Shiro asked, and Ranma wasn't sure if he was talking to Tohsaka or herself.
"It's a little strange," the mage replied, "But I've heard of similar things." Her expression turned speculative. "I might want to examine it later, though, if this doesn't go south."
"Look, I don't want some random mage pokin' at my curse when they don't know what they're doing," Ranma shook her head. "I don't need it locked again or somethin'."
"Locked… again?" Shiro asked, raising one eyebrow.
"Long story," Ranma grumbled.
"That doesn't matter," Tohsaka dismissed. "So… if you're that girl, then that means… you use that Odic Energy fighting style, right?"
"Odic… what?" Ranma asked, starting to be irritated at how many times she'd been sounding like an idiot lately."
Tohsaka crossed her arms again. "The physical enhancement without magic."
"You mean Chi?" Ranma guessed. "Like this?" She held up one hand, a small orb of golden energy springing into existence there.
The other girl almost seemed to teleport as she moved across the room, peering at the ball of energy from mere inches away.
"Rin, are you certain that's wise?" Saber asked, stepping forward from her position against the wall nervously.
"Oh… um, right," the mage stammered, stepping back, Ranma allowing the ball of energy to dissipate. "But yes, I meant that."
"I'm a martial artist, I've been trained to use it since I was ten or so, maybe earlier." Ranma shrugged again, and then immediately made a mental note that she had to stop doing that. "Haven't really gotten a serious hang of it until the last year or two, though."
"Hmm," Rin nodded. "That would explain why you ended up getting hit every time you tried to cast spells, if you were only trained in using Odic energy."
"I, um, haven't tried to cast spells," Ranma said, shifting nervously.
"Yes, you have!" Rin snapped irritably. "I saw your magic circuits open, just before I hit you in our fight, and before Kuzuki-Sensei did."
"You saw what?" Ranma asked, her eyes widening slightly.
"I saw it too," Shiro chipped in, having apparently recovered from his shock. "Before you got hit, your body was covered in the same sort of glowing lines as Tohsaka's magic crest."
"Yeah, that's…" Rin trailed off. "Wait, what did you say?" She turned slowly back to Shiro.
He tilted his head. "I… was agreeing with you?"
"No, about my…" Rin grabbed the cup that had contained the water Ranma had used to change, shoving it into Shiro's hand. "Reinforce this."
Wh-what?" he stammered.
"Just do it! Like that table, when we fought in the school."
"R-right," Shiro nodded. "I'm probably going to break it, my reinforcement isn't all that successful, usually." At Rin's steady look, he frowned, sitting at the table himself and placing the cup in front of him, the fingers of one hand resting on it.
Ranma watched him curiously whenever she could take attention away from wrapping her wounds. She wrapped the brace for her collarbone over her shirt for the moment, since she was fairly sure Rin wasn't going to accept a request for privacy to do it properly. At least there had been a sling for her arm in the kit.
"Huh," she said, tilting her head as she observed Shiro concentrating on the cup. "I think she's got a point."
"I thought you said you didn't know anything about this?" the mage demanded.
"I don't," Ranma admitted, "but judging from when you used magic, I don't think it's supposed to hurt that much."
"Hurt?" Rin asked, looking sharply over at the martial artist for a moment, before returning her attention to Shiro.
When it became obvious that the boy wasn't going to respond himself, Ranma answered. "A lot, it looks like. He's trying to hide it, but there are some muscle responses you can't really stop."
"Shiro, that's enough," Rin said, flatly.
"No, I've almost… damn!" the cup burst apart into several pieces on the tabletop, and Shiro's shoulders slumped. "Failed again."
"I can't believe this…" Rin mumbled, rubbing at her forehead. "I think you might have been overly generous when you called yourself a magic user instead of a Mage."
"I know I'm not very good," Shiro said, "But you knew that already. What did I do?"
Rin opened and closed her mouth several times, before swallowing what she was about to say with great difficulty. "Just… I need to think about this," she finally said, letting out a deep breath. "Whatever you do, don't do THAT again until… ever."
"But… I usually practice with it every night," Shiro said, confused. "It's the only way I'll ever get better, right?"
"Every…" Rin's eye twitched. "You complete idiot! You've been trying to build a fresh magic circuit every time you cast a spell! You've been systematically destroying your nervous system. For the fourth time so far in this war, I have no idea how you aren't dead! So, don't do anything until I tell you to!"
"Okay, so how are you supposed to do it?" Ranma asked, something beginning to turn over at the back of her mind, and interrupting Shiro as he was about to open his mouth, with something that would probably turn this into an argument, based on his expression.
Rin turned to look at her, before the glowing pattern of blue-green lines appeared on her skin once again. "It's sort of like…" she seemed to grope for words for a moment. "It's like a switch in your head, Some mages call it a form of self-hypnosis. Opening and closing your magic circuits isn't supposed to be the hard part, it's awakening them in the first place. ...Which is what he," she jabbed a shaking thumb at Shiro, "Is doing every time… sort of."
"A switch?" Shiro asked, his expression now contemplating as well. "That's not how my father described any of this."
"Your father…" Rin bit her tongue, "I think," she started slowly, "he may have died at an important stage in your training." The next phrase uttered so low that Ranma barely caught it, "At least that's what I'm going to believe so I don't curse him out."
"...Alright," Shiro said, reluctantly. "I won't train tonight."
"With your magic," Saber cut in. "Physical training is still important."
"Y-yeah, right," Shiro nodded once more, this time a little more shakily.
"With that out of the way…" Rin let out a deep breath, turning to Ranma. "You're telling me that you aren't a trained mage, and you summoned your Servant by accident. I'm not really sure what information you can actually give us." She shot a glare over at Shiro before returning her gaze to the martial artist.
"Well, interrogating me wasn't exactly my idea," the redhead returned. "I've already told you the only major bit you seemed not to already know, about that teacher being an assassin. Seriously, you two shouldn't engage him hand to hand unless Shiro's a hell of a lot better fighter than you are."
"What was that?!" Rin demanded, angrily.
"By yourself, I could probably still beat you now if I really had to," Ranma gestured at her arm. "You're gunna want to send Saber or Archer against that guy."
"It's not really going to matter," Rin said, obviously trying not to grit her teeth. "We've discovered who he is, it wouldn't surprise me if Kuzuki never leaves the temple after today. They'll want us to fight on their home ground, or pick the rest of the Masters off while we're vulnerable."
Ranma nodded. "Already attacked me once. Some strange string spell, and a lot of purple lasers."
"Sounds about right," Shiro muttered, wincing.
"We'll need to check our bounded fields and…" Rin trailed off as she saw the confusion on Ranma's face. "...You don't know what a bounded field is."
The redhead nodded.
"Also, I apparently can't use magic," Shiro chipped in, looking at her dubiously.
Rin sighed, then raised her hand to her chin for a few moments, cupping the elbow in her other hand. Abruptly, her index finger sprang up, and she nodded resolutely. "Then everyone is going to have to stay here."
"Wh-what?!" Shiro asked, startled.
"If we're going to be allies, " the mage started, "staying together will make it easier to deal with any attacks Caster launches. I can also maintain the wards and barriers until I figure out a way to fix what's wrong with Shiro."
"There's nothing wrong with me," the red haired boy grumbled, but was summarily ignored.
"Wait, you're lumpin' me in as an ally?" Ranma asked, the situation having changed a bit too suddenly.
"Well, if you go out on your own at this point, with your wounds and lack of experience, Caster will take you down quickly," Rin replied. "Don't read anything into this, at the end of this war, we're going to be enemies and Archer will defeat your Servant, got it?"
"I don't even know if I've got enough room for everybody," Shiro objected.
"Well, if this ward field or whatever extends over the whole property, I could set up my tent outside," Ranma offered. "Have to go get it, though."
"Then it's decided," Rin nodded. "Meet back here before the sun goes down, I have things to get myself, and Caster probably won't attack before nightfall."
"Um, I-" Ranma started, but was cut off as the black haired girl stood up and headed for the door. When it slammed behind her, the martial artist looked oddly at Shiro. "Kinda… forceful, ain't she?"
"Yup, that's Tohsaka," the boy replied. "I think it's a good idea that you've got someone around while your arm heals, though. I've had an injury like that. It wasn't fun, and if I hadn't had Sakura around to help…" He shook his head.
"This really isn't that big a deal," Ranma laughed it off. "Be back to normal in a couple weeks, tops."
"That's kinda hard to believe, but I probably shouldn't be complaining about how fast someone else heals right now," the red haired boy laughed nervously.
Ranma looked at him oddly, but decided to dismiss the comment, heading for the door herself. "I should be back in about an hour."
HR.
"Gaaaaaaaahhhh!" Rin Tohsaka yelled, pounding her fists against a stone wall and bringing her head to rest against them in the culmination of a long, angry rant to herself.
"Would this be a bad time to say 'I told you so?'" a condescending male voice came from behind her, as her Servant shimmered into existence. "Allying yourself with that Master is nothing but trouble."
"Aren't you going to complain about the other one too?" Rin mumbled into her arm.
"No," Archer replied evenly. "For one, helping him was Emiya's idea in the first place, and for another, he hasn't demonstrated self-destructive idiocy right in front of me yet."
"Normally I'd argue with that," Rin said, straightening, "But I just found out how he channels mana."
"Oh?" Archer asked. "This should be good."
"Just… be quiet and follow me home, I need to get some supplies."
"Yes, Master," the Servant said, as the two began walking again.
HR.
Thoughts whirled through Ranma's mind as she stepped out of the gate to the Emiya residence. She'd been missing a few crucial facts, but now that she had them connections were being formed, even if what they were saying sounded insane. Still, it all added up. The times Rin had mentioned magic circuits showing up directly matched the times her Chi had vanished in the middle of battle, and if it were a mental switch, if she didn't know it was there she could trigger it accidentally.
The only problem now was figuring out what to do about… Her train of thought was interrupted as her Servant materialized next to her. "So, how'd it go?" Ryoga asked, glancing back at the building.
"Tohsaka wants all of us to team up to try and deal with Caster," Ranma replied. "Said it'd be better if we were all in the same place to cover each other. ...Then she said Archer would still kill you at the end of the war."
"So, business as usual," the Servant nodded. "Are you going to do it?"
"Workin' with people who know what's goin' on around here would be helpful," Ranma answered. "Besides, Shiro seems fairly trustworthy… even if his Servant doesn't trust us that much."
"The Assassin class is sort of notorious for killing Masters," Ryoga said, bluntly.
"Yeah…" Ranma said, falling silent. Nothing was spoken between the two for a few more moments, Ranma trying to bring her mind back to what she'd been thinking of before, but her vision kept drifting back towards her Servant, his last comment certainly not helping. "Look…" she finally said, reluctantly, pausing slightly, trying to figure out the best way to word what she wanted to say.
"You know I suck at bein' diplomatic, so I'm asking this straight out," She turned around, staring her servant straight in the eyes.
"Did you kill me?"
Ryoga stopped immediately in his tracks, staring straight back. He didn't say 'of course not!' or even 'how did you know?" or any of the other outbursts she would have expected from the Ryoga she knew. Instead, his head just lowered, and he breathed a sigh. "Yes," he said simply, after a short silence.
"Congrats man, you actually did it!" Ranma exclaimed, smiling slightly. Ryoga could only frown, his fists shaking as his rage started to build.
"Are you kidding me? A congratulations?!" He yelled. "You died by my hand, and you're laughing about it?"
"And that's more like the Ryoga I know." Ranma stated, pointing at him with her index finger, her grin widening at gaining some familiar ground. "Something just felt off about you after I summoned you. Don't get me wrong, you're always kinda angry and depressed, but the Ryoga I know can be kinda… goofy sometimes, too. Giggling over how you figure Akane's gunna react when you give her a gift, or maniacal cackling about how you're going to beat me at last, or whatever."
"But it was different here." Ranma continued. "You are always serious, and honestly, way too overprotective of me. Trying to convince me to quit this war, trying to keep me out of trouble. It's like you were trying to make up for some great regret."
"I-" Ryoga started, but was interrupted.
"Lemme guess," she stepped to the side of the road, leaning against a wall. "You killed me, then ran. Ya left Nerima and never looked back. Beat yourself up for it constantly, got more lost than you ever have before, throwing yourself into stupid situations just 'cuz they were there until one of them finally killed you." Her smirk abruptly turned into a frown, and she glared at him. "How am I doin' so far?"
"How… how did you know?" Ryoga stammered, his anger momentarily derailed by the irritation he could hear in his master's voice.
Ranma was about to shrug, but managed to stop herself and just waved one hand. "P-chan, we've been trying to punch each other's faces in for over two years. Only person I know better than you's the old man." She then looked away. "'course, I guess I should've remembered that you ain't really a martial artist."
Ryoga bristled in spite of himself, but managed to keep from snapping at Ranma. "I... guess I deserve that," he admitted, taking another deep breath.
"And that," Ranma immediately turned her glare back on him, "is what I mean. You've been beating yourself up over this for how long?"
"Wait, you're acting like it was no big deal?" Ryoga asked, disbelieving. "You begged me not to fight you, and I didn't listen because I wanted some damned stress relief! You don't understand…"
"Idiot," Ranma cut him off. "I saw it! Been having some strange dreams lately, probably part of having a Servant. I know what happened."
"Then how can you be so casual about this! I murdered you!" The lost one roared, towering over his master.
"Hey, I never said I was happy about it," Ranma raised a hand as she stepped back. "I don't intend to let you kill me. I mean, man, that'd be humiliating." She laughed, smirking again as her Servant's anger seemed to redirect slightly. "Ever since the fight with Saffron, I've been having a strange problem with my Chi. Every once in a while, it just sorta… cuts out. Everything I'm doing with it just stops working. I can get it back in a second or so, but that's why your hit did so much damage."
"So that's why you didn't-" Ryoga started, but Ranma spoke up over him.
"But do you really think that if I was desperate to avoid fighting you, I couldn't do it?" The Servant blinked, confused. "I'm faster than you, and I can walk in a straight line. All I had to do was run," Ranma said, and then tossed up her working hand. "Hell, we were right next to the canal, I could've just jumped in and swam for it, you couldn't have followed me."
"Then why? Why did you stick around to fight instead of running if you had a problem like that?" Ryoga demanded.
Ranma snorted. "Well, it hasn't happened yet, so how would you think I'd know?" She joked. Seeing that the Servant's expression remained very unamused, she thought for a moment, and then nodded.
"I wasn't insulting you when I said you ain't a martial artist," she started. "There's somethin' the old man says. A lot of times, he uses it as an excuse to justify something stupid he's done, but he honestly believes it, too, and so do I. He says 'A Martial Artist's life is fraught with peril.' He doesn't just mean us and our training trip. Any martial artist who goes far enough pushes their body so far past human limits that if they screw up at the wrong time, they're dead. The danger was worse for me in that fight, but yeah, I might've figured out how to get past it, and I knew the risks."
"Th-that's the most idiotic, irresponsible, suicidal-"
"Except that it worked." Ranma cut Ryoga off mid-tirade. "I've been doin' it since the start of this grail war thing, right?" As the realization sunk in, Ryoga's face turned slightly pale, but Ranma didn't seem to notice. "Now I know what's wrong, and how to solve it. Trust me, I ain't gunna die like that."
The Servant opened and closed his mouth a couple of times, but couldn't think of anything to say. Eventually, after the silence got too oppressive, Ranma finally spoke again. "I… guess I forgot that you didn't look at it that way. Should've thought about how you'd have reacted if it happened, sorry."
"You're… apologizing," Ryoga started laughing. "You're apologizing for me killing you! After you congratulated me for killing you! Do you know how insane that sounds?!"
Ranma only laughed, and started walking again. "Ryoga, if we look at my life so far, it would be a miracle if I wasn't insane. Besides, I think you've probably gone through enough torture over this." She turned around again, walking backwards with her good hand behind her head. "If you gotta keep looking at it that way, Fine. I forgive you, alright?"
"Now let's just move on. We've got to get my stuff, and continue fighting this stupid war." Ranma spun on her heel without another word, and kept on walking towards their camp.
As his Master walked off, Ryoga looked after her uncertaintly. He'd often heard Ranma boasting that he'd die for his art. Only now was it brought home exactly how literal he'd been about it. "That… isn't normal," he muttered, disturbed, more than reassured.
END.
"Wait, so… Rin's moved in early, and there's another girl at Shiro's house? ...Which route is this, again?"
"This is fanfiction. Things are supposed to be different, right?"
"I don't like it, That new girl smells like one of those irritating extra love interest routes they always put in Remakes, and if she gets hers before I get mine…"
"Settle down, Illya-chan. I guarantee there is no Ranma/Shiro route in this fanfic… aside from that one Omake."
"Whaaaaat?!"
"Ahahaha, forget I said anything."
"I will not, what did you mean by that?!"
"Ahem… While I avoid Illya's desperate questioning, we hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please read, review, and tell us what you think!"