Chapter 3 – The first Blood

Tokiomi

This evening Tokiomi Tohsaka sat in his solar and stared silently at the glass of red wine in front of him. He somehow had lost the taste for it. All his hopes for an easy victory in this Grail War had vanished together with Gilgamesh. Instead he and Kirei had been reduced to guardians of two kids. Kids who hated each other with a loathing. It had cost the whole day and lots and lots of compromises to not let them abandon the alliance where it was. Shortly after Aoi and Rin left Kirei had managed to get a breakthrough with the girl. She refused the apology, but at least she agreed to stay for the night instead of fleeing from him. Kirei grudgingly admitted that this change of mind was not due to any of his arguments, but from an initiative of the girl herself, but Tokiomi was happy with it all the same. It bought him one more day to reconcile these two stubborn children.

"What the-", he gasped.

He felt a sudden sting in his chest, a sensation caused by the outward defenses of his house. It should have been just a tickle for him to sense a trespassing, but the way he felt it the whole mechanism must have been completely erased with a brutality no Magus known to him would have been able to cause. He rose from his chair and at the very same moment Archer materialized next to him, his usual smug look on his face.

"It seems your pitiful defense has been thoroughly wrecked, Tohsaka", he said mockingly. "My first kill is on its way to me."

"Impossible", Tokiomi heard himself say. "Who would be foolish enough to be so open about it all?"

Not to mention all the traps I have set. Even the most powerful Magus should be thrice dead the second he steps onto the grass.

"A Servant who is able to simply wade through your pathetic little firecrackers with ease, as it seems", Joffrey chuckled. "But don't worry. I will intercept him in the foyer."

With these words the young king vanished in a golden mist and Tokiomi darted outside. He rejoined with his Servant atop the steps to the first floor. He had already buckled his crossbow and aimed at the entrance door.

"Just step back and watch how a true king handles such a situation!", Joffrey boasted.

Tokiomi had no choice but to obey. He stood there and looked down into the foyer. For a second it seemed as peaceful as ever. Nothing made it look like they were under siege, but he could feel how his layered defenses were cut like an onion. And fast…

"Stoooooorm's Eeeeend!", a deep voice called out from the outside, rough and loud and brutally.

The door of the entrance was not smashed in, as Tokiomi would have expected. Not only. It basically exploded and took a large chunk of the surrounding wall with it. Splinters and shrapnel were thrown into the foyer while a tall knight on a giant black warhorse galloped through dust clouds and debris, warhammer and yellow shield in his hands. He had an antlered helmet and a black stag on yellow was depicted on shield and surcoat. A truly terrifying warrior, one of a caliber Tokiomi had hoped to get himself. It took him a few precious seconds until he saw the Master of that impressive Servant, a young boy sitting behind the knight, desperately clutching at the man's chest with closed eyes. Joffrey reacted soon thereafter. He shot his crossbow and a golden beam of energy bolted towards the enemy. The knight however simply raised his shield and the resulting explosion when it was struck left him pretty much completely unharmed.

Who is pathetic now…, Tokiomi thought grumbling.

The knight below wasted no time. He drove his spurs into the side of his horse, the animal whinnied and tensed and jumped. It was so powerful its hind legs dug deeply into the ground below before the animal leapt into the air. Tokiomi just stared at them in disbelieve. How all three, horse, rider and pitifully screaming boy arrived at their floor and came crashing through the banister. Joffrey was so focused on frantically knocking a second bolt into his crossbow, he completely forgot to escape from their path of destruction. When the boy finally looked up, he looked directly into a hoof aiming at his face. Tokiomi heard a sickening crunch and the very next moment his Servant was ridden down, screaming in pain and rolling on the ground, holding his face with the horse coming to a trot above him.

So much for my participation in the fourth Grail War…

The knight disentangled himself from the grip of his shivering young Master who exchanged clutching to his Servant with clutching to the back of the horse he was sitting on after Rider had dismounted. Archer meanwhile struggled to his feet, drawing Widow's Wail in fury.

"How dare you let your stinking horse touch me!", he demanded, his voice becoming a high-pitched shriek that made him sound like the boy he was. "You will pay for your impertinence!"

The enemy knight turned towards him, raising his hammer threatening to strike him down. Tokiomi had no delusions that this far superior Heroic Spirit would make short work out of his one. Archer himself looked scared out of his mind. But the knight hesitated in the middle of swinging his murderous weapon.

"Joff?", he asked back in confusion.

Archer was taken aback.

"How did you call me?", Archer seemed as startled as his opponent.

Rider ripped his antlered helmet from his head. A head with pitch-black hair and a striking beard of the same color appeared under it.

"It can't be, what in the seven hells are you doing here?"

Joffrey's eyes widened in recognition.

"Father!", he called out.

Before Tokiomi was able to properly process the implications of these words a black shadow rushed past him. It was Kirei's girl who jumped at the armored giant with her thin little rapier. Rider however reacted fast, whirled around and greeted her with a strike that shattered the floor beneath her. Assassin however evaded that one effortlessly and closed in, only to hesitate the same way Rider had hesitated shortly before.

"Gendry?", she asked aghast.

Rider frowned.

"Gendry?", he echoed absentmindedly while reeling in his giant hammer. "Huh, I haven't heard that name for quite a while. Who are you, little one?"

Joffrey behind him laughed out loud.

"I can't blame you for not remembering that ugly face of hers", he stated amused. "It's the stinking wolf girl!"

"You shut up!", the girl hissed.

Rider meanwhile went to his knees, gaping at the girl with an open mouth.

"Oh… you are Ned's little girl! You are Arya!"

"If you are not Gendry, where do you know me from?", Assassin asked with an irritated tone.

"Don't tell me you can't recognize your own king when he stands in front of you", Joffrey interjected derisively.

"I thought you are the king", she shot back mockingly. "You kept reminding me the whole bloody day."

Joffrey grimaced, seemingly trying to wrap his head around who was now of higher rank with his father also being summoned into the present day. But it seemed to have dawned to Assassin as well when she turned back to Rider.

"Now I recall! You are the fat king!", the girl blurted out.

Tokiomi was afraid how this antlered knight would react, but especially the golden prince was aghast.

"You speak with my father", he protested. "Mind your tongue!"

Rider however just blinked a few times in confusion before a broad grin appeared under his beard and the Tohsaka residence was soon filled with booming laughter. Joffrey was as irritated by that reaction as Tokiomi was.

"Father?"

"Hah, I can't help it. She is right, I was by all means not in my best shape, you simply have to admit."

Meanwhile Kirei had stepped next to Tokiomi and even though he spoke no word, being afraid to interrupt the talking Servants, he shot his mentor an exasperated glance. The Magus could not help it, the only reaction that could possibly convey what he felt in that moment was a resigned shrug of his shoulders. The attacking Rider had seated himself on the floor with the two children standing in front of him. Joffrey had sheathed his sword while the girl seemed still wary and just kept her weapon low. In the background Rider's young Master was still clutching onto the bored looking horse, completely ignoring what was happening below.

"Pray tell me, what are you two doing here?", Rider asked.

"What does it look like to you, father? Of course we are fighting for the Grail!", the young boy replied smugly.

The armored giant seemed torn apart by both joy and sorrow.

"So you two managed to become Heroic Spirits?", he said with wide eyes.

"Of course I did", Joffrey stated. "I saved my city at the Battle of Blackwater! It is beyond me how this girl managed to qualify though…"

"You won a battle?", Rider raised his black eyebrows. "Well, that's… good, I guess. Seems you're trying to be my son after all."

Even Tokiomi could feel the blow Archer must have felt. The boy's proud smile flickered and anger flared up in his eyes, an anger he had no way to get rid of. But he had no chance to reply, because the large knight was already raising again, a heavy and weary sigh on his lips.

"Ah… this is not good. Not good at all…", he grumbled and shuffled back to his horse.

The two children watched him retreating in silence.

"Is… is the fight already over?", Rider's equally confused Master squeaked.

"There won't be a fight", his Servant snapped. "Just look at them! Fuck the Grail, they are children!"

The boy looked at both of them warily, especially at the scrawny girl who had her sword still drawn. But he never said a word of reproach. Rider meanwhile looked at the two visibly distressed when he explained further.

"I came expecting a battle between mighty warriors from across time and space. Instead I've found my own son and the daughter of my best friend. Bloody hells, the Grail cannot expect me to kill them! You cannot ask such a thing from me! Nobody can…", he sighed again, long and close to despair. "Not even Lyanna… This bloody Grail of yours has one sick sense of humor. Move!"

He waved at his young Master and the boy climbed a bit away to make room for his Servant. And the tall knight easily swung himself back onto his saddle.

"Bloody hells, this kills all the fun", he grumbled, letting the horse turn around so that it was able to slowly climb the steps downwards.

He looked back and it seemed he only then realized Tokiomi and Kirei who had watched the whole scene.

"My pardons for the door by the way…", the knight said on his way out.

Tokiomi sighed to himself as soon as the intruders were outside. It definitely was not the start into the Grail War he had initially imagined. And he also had no idea how he would be able to use this newly gained information to his advantage.

The father of my own Servant… this is going to get complicated.

Only then he realized Kirei was still as tense as before, not daring to lower his guard. He frowned, wanting to ask what he was doing, but he got his answer when Kirei summoned a single Black Key, one of his magical throwing swords, and whirled around. Tokiomi did the same and watched how his apprentice targeted something near the ceiling behind them and threw his weapon at it in one superhumanly swift motion. Pinned and dying, it was a hideously creature twitching with its legs and wings. A pale white insect, grown to this size only through the help of strong magic.

"It seems we were not the only witnesses of what had happened here", Kirei stated matter-of-factly.

"This is Matou magic…", Tokiomi replied. "I hadn't expected Zouken to be that careless…"

And I thought it hadn't already become complicated enough…

Kariya

Somewhere in a distant alley Kariya's spirit returned to his aching body. Having watched the entire far too short brawl through the eyes of his familiar, he could not help but smile viciously.

"Fortune smiles upon us, Berserker", he told the giant who towered over him in his Spirit Form. "Tohsaka has drawn the shortest possible straw!"

We can do it. This cruel bastard Zouken gave me should be able to make short work of Tokiomi's Servant.

Taking out Tohsaka and rubbing into his face that the renowned Magus was defeated by an outsider without magic training was a sweet thought to Kariya. There was still something he didn't like about it though… Tohsaka was not alone. He was obviously in an alliance with that weird fake priest and this girl Servant of his. The Servant seemed not much of a threat, but the casual way the man had dispatched his familiar made him wary.

The competition in this Grail War likely will get more serious than Tokiomi. I will have to watch… for now… but I will be the one to defeat Tokiomi, that's for sure… I will come for him when the time is right.

Jaime

The knight of the Kingsuard watched the clouds beneath him in wonder. The airplane was soon going to arrive at Fuyuki city, so he knew his trip through the sky was soon going to end and he wanted to soak these pictures in as much as possible.

"You seem to really enjoy our ride", Irisviel next to him stated.

He turned back to her. The slender woman with the silver-white hair and red eyes still awfully reminded him of a certain someone. A person he had failed to protect.

She had purple eyes, not red…

The colors were all wrong, he realized. She didn't wore the Targaryen black, he didn't wore the white of the Kingsguard. She had bought him a stylish black suit instead. He had argued against it, but she insisted white wouldn't do since in the country they were entering white suits were meaning death. People would get the wrong impression, she had said. He countered why she preferred white outfits then, whereas she just claimed it would likely not look as weird for a woman to wear white, especially since she wore a dress, not a suit. Jaime stopped arguing then and kept his mouth shut, even though he suspected Kiritsugu's innocent little flower simply had her fun fitting him out with clothing.

"The sky from above is indeed a rare sight for me to behold", he replied. "But may I ask whether this way of travel truly is in the interest of your spouse? I am less of a strain to his mana if I travel in Spirit Form."

"Ah, you don't need to worry about that, Ser Jaime", she replied with a warm smile. "Isn't it more fun this way? I am sure Kiritsugu has no objections."

"If you say so…"

He had to admit, travelling with her in his corporeal form was indeed more fun. Guarding his Master's wife while he arrived in the country on a separate way. He was a knight of the Kingsguard, she a lovely woman raised in a castle. A blind idiot could see the poetry in that. Jaime Lannister himself was doing what he had always expected a true knight to do. Protect, be chivalrous, be a shadow to his Master. Escorting Irisviel had proved to be a pleasant task. And Kiritsugu might have been a hard man, but at least he had clear-cut aims. A goal more noble than everything Jaime had ever heard from all his previous employers, even though a bit too desperate for his liking. If this 'Grail War' business would go on like this, Jaime was sure it could become a pleasant adventure for him.

"For me it is also the first flight", Irisviel said cheerfully. "So it is a new experience for us both."

"I admit, if flying would be so easy in my world, I would do it any time. Even the Targaryen dragonriders of old must have never experienced so comfortable a flight."

And airplanes also aren't prone to burn a man alive…

Even saying it made him feel weird. Sitting in this wonder of Earth technology cruising through the clouds made speaking of his own world sound antiquated. Talking about dragons also brought up a horrible memory of a black shadow over King's Landing. He didn't want to think about this day which was his last one. Not when he had to show himself from his best side. After a short glimpse out of the window he turned his attention back to his charge.

"I hope you also find your trip pleasant enough, your Grace."

"Your Grace?", she was obviously too polite to mock him for his choice of words, but her irritation was clear to see.

"My pardons… old habits don't die easily", Jaime explained grimacing.

"You have never called Kiritsugu 'your Grace'. I might not have all that much experience with human interactions, but I do see that you behave differently in my presence."

"Do I?"

She didn't reply to that, she only looked at him attentively. Jaime realized he was being cornered and she wouldn't let go of him easily. He gave a resigned sigh.

"It's just… you remind me of someone. It's nothing important, really."

Instead she leaned closer, in his attempt to evade the subject he had only further inflamed her curiosity.

"Someone of your past life? Who was she?"

"A queen…", he said reluctantly. "Please, it is an ugly story. Definitely not a story you tell a maiden."

A mischievous smile crept up on her face.

"You have met my daughter. You must know I am not exactly a maiden anymore, whatever that has to do with your story anyway."

"But you are innocent enough to pass for one", Jaime countered with sincere concern.

Her eyebrows raised, her red eyes staring at him in confusion. It seemed Iri was at loss for words then. She leaned back into her seat and silence swallowed the atmosphere between them. Jaime felt bad for making the conversation uncomfortable, but he thought it better for the moment. Though he wasn't entirely sure whether he was trying to spare Iri from a gruesome story or himself from remembering it. Sighing, he returned to the window and stared onto the clouds, wondering why they had lost a bit of color all of a sudden.

The rest of the flight went rather smoothly and soon enough the atmosphere cooled down enough so that Iri was able to pay no mind to the ugly topic he had accidentally brought forth. Jaime held his tongue from now on, much like a proper Kingsguard should do. He watched attentively when the steel dragon landed on the ground and he escorted his charge through the airport with all due courtesy. A job that could have been easier, if they hadn't drawn the attention of pretty much everyone onto them. Stares followed them through the entire building. Stares neither he nor Irisviel were responsible for, but rather the three homunculi-servants which were following them in archaic maid attire.

"I could have brought my armor and we wouldn't get much more attention", Jaime whispered glumly to Iri.

"I somehow doubt that", she replied with an appeasing voice to which he found no better answer than to shrug.

At least they were safe when they reached the cars that waited in front of the airport. They got rid of the soulless handmaidens with the dull eyes which made the knight slightly uneasy and they were able to hide behind the tinted windscreen which seemed to be the earthen equivalent of a private litter. Of course Jaime felt it would have been more appropriate to escort that from the outside, but different times asked for different means. And so he found himself forced to sit on the backseat right next to Irisviel again. Soon enough the roles were reversed. Now it was him who watched her gazing out of the window. The trip from the airport to the city the Grail War would take place in didn't take them all that much time. They passed the idyllic countryside and entered Fuyuki from the east.

How many miles have we passed in just half an hour? I could find a liking to this kind of travel...

Jaime had already made himself familiar with the city since Kiritsugu gave him some maps to brood over. A useful gesture if the Grail War would have been an actual war and they would have been planning an assault, but alas without an army it was more an act of curiosity for them. Jaime knew that the district they had entered was called Shinto, but seeing it in three dimensions was a different experience. Shinto was the 'modern' part of town in every sense of the word. The tall business buildings made of steel, glass and concrete were lining up around the main street and young people were going after their businesses below.

I also could find a liking to cities you don't smell from miles away...

"What a lively place", Irisviel said after a while to break the silence.

"Lively? Well, I guess you may call it like that. But this town has the mood of a funeral compared to Fishmonger's Square on a market day", Jaime chuckled, only then realizing that his companion was in need of an explanation for the analogy. "Just imagine hundreds and hundreds of sweating angry peasants shoving each other through the muddy streets. You hear the foul shouts of the market criers... and smell the scent of their even fouler wares. Then there are the laughing little children bustling between your legs, half of them trying to pick your pocket... The sound of the smithies echoes down from the Street of Steel, you hear the gossip of the washerwomen, the bawdy shouts of the whores from upstairs and the cursing of the laborers. And all that accompanied by the stink of half a million unwashed people. That's King's Landing for you."

He smiled at her grimly. It was a weird feeling he had then. He always hated it in that cursed hive of scum and treachery, but reminiscing about it like this... it didn't make the memory better, but sitting in an air-conditioned car, talking to a lady who has likely never lived in a place lacking any kind of modern sanitation, King's Landing felt distant. Like something out of a dream. It was all the more weird for Jaime considering that from his point of view he had left that world and with it that city only a few days ago.

If I start to miss it, make sure to shoot me, Kiritsugu...

"Sounds like... a very interesting place...", Irisviel commented with a weak smile.

"Not really...", Jaime replied with a sigh.

She looked down after that dismissal, fidgeting nervously with her fingers in her lap.

"I... I guess I am not one to judge. I think that's what you meant before."

Jaime frowned.

"What do you mean?"

"What you said... about me being like a maiden. Yes... I do lack experience. And I have so little time left... Say, Saber, what about going for a walk? I may not be able to see your King's Landing, but at least I can enjoy this Fuyuki to the fullest."

The Kingsguard knight felt uneasy. There was pain in her voice and he could barely grasp what this pain was about.

"Time left...", Jaime echoed incredulously. "Are we talking about the war here?"

She hesitated, her expression wavering. For some reason the air felt as if it just went a few degrees colder.

"Yes... in a way", she finally replied.

"How so?", the knight asked. "It may be right that we just have a few days before the fighting starts, but..."

"Kiritsugu didn't tell you?", she then asked with a sad smile.

"Told what? You know how tight-lipped that bastard can be."

"Don't judge him so harshly, he likely thought it is easier for you this way."

Easier what?

Jaime never liked it when people talked in riddles. Sure, he had his fair share of stories he wasn't so keen on telling, but at least he did his best not to bring them up in the first place. That's why Jaime raised his hands and gestured that he had no idea what she was talking about. Irisviel saw it, but averted his eyes then.

"It's just... I was born with one purpose in mind. To... to claim the grail. Grandfather never thought it necessary for me to learn about the world."

"So this is the first time you left the castle?", Jaime realized with slight irritation.

Irisviel nodded, a sad smile on her face.

Come to think of it, it isn't all that uncommon where I come from, is it? Many people die in the same tiny village they are born in without ever venturing as far as the next city. And highborn girls often leave their birthplace only at the time their parents are marrying them off into some other castle a couple of miles down the road where they are staying for the rest of their lives.

Therefore it was not something all that strange to him. It meant this Fuyuki was for her as much an adventure as it was for him. He would have gladly escorted her through the city if it was just this she was bothering about... but there was something else. Jaime sensed that there was something off about the whole affair. Being raised in a golden cage was nothing unusual, especially when the world outside was not all that of a nice place to explore. But being born with a purpose more specific than continuing a name...

"What's that about claiming the Grail? Kiritsugu is the Master. As far as I understand he doesn't need you to achieve victory."

"This is not quite correct. He can indeed win on his own, but he can't claim the Grail without me", she explained and all the while her nervous fidgeting further increased.

"I'm sorry, I can't really follow you. I thought I just cut my way through six poor fellows and that's it."

Irisviel shook her head and her grave expression sent a sense of dread through the knight. There was more to the Grail War than the dueling and the wish-fulfilling Jaime was invited with.

Let's just say she was part of the deal.

Kiritsugu's words rang threateningly in his head.

"What is it?", he urged sternly. "What is your role in this sick game?"

She hesitated again, she was looking as if she would have preferred to flee the car instead of answering.

"I... you must know that I am the Grail", she finally said.

"Nonsense", Jaime commented, further deepening his frown. "How can a person be a cup?"

"How can a cup grant wishes?", she shot back, her smile turning to bitter mockery.

Well played.

"Fine, your point. But my question remains."

"But it is all you need to know. You will have to prevail against your enemies and when the time comes, the Grail will manifest. And to manifest... it needs a vessel. Something to give it shape. Something to anchor it in our material world."

Her strained voice made no mystery out of it that there was more to it.

"So you are saying that you are this certain something? Let's say we manage to successfully anchor it... what happens to you then?"

"At this point... there is only the Grail then. The being you call Irisviel has stopped to exist then."

These words were followed by a long stretch of silence. Jaime swallowed. Jaime blinked. And Jaime finally realized what he got himself into. Irisviel spoke with conviction, but it was the conviction of a sheep blissfully walking towards the butcher. It was simply insane. And it was insane that Kiritsugu knew of it... and willfully accepted this fate for his dutiful wife.

And to think that this bastard is also using her as a decoy master... Come to think of it, he must have arrived a couple of hours ago.

"Stop the car!", he called out to their driver, barely containing the anger boiling up in his chest.

The servant of the Einzbern clan reacted immediately, leaving the road for the nearest place to park at the sidewalk. Irisviel was startled by his sudden action, sprouting excuses about this being the purpose of her life. Jaime didn't want to hear any of it. When he opened the door and stepped outside, his thoughts were already circling around his next moves.

It's a shame I don't know the hotel he is staying at, but I think there is another way.

He walked around the car onto the sidewalk, only to close his eyes before doing any step further away.

I'm now a bloody ghost, so I could make use of that, right?

He concentrated deeply, focusing his mind on... something inside of him. Jaime was unable to put it into words, but he knew that there was some kind of weird magical connection between him and the grumpy ex-hitman. This connection was supposed to keep him rooted in this world despite all evidence suggesting that he should be very much dead instead. Being a ghost does that to people. But luckily he was also able to use this connection to track down his Master... or at least to get a hang of the general direction he needed to look at.

It must be my day. He is closer than expected... somewhere here in Shinto.

With these thoughts on his mind Jaime Lannister opened his eyes again, knowing where he needed to go. He opened the door of the car with a dramatic gesture. Irisviel inside stared at him with wide eyes.

"What are you doing, Saber?", she asked incredulously.

"Milady wanted to see the city", he held out his hand with his most mischievous smile. "Let's go out for a little walk then."

Arya

Arya Stark watched with a worried expression how Kirei Kotomine was packing his traveling bag. With them all living in the same mansion and especially with Joffrey roaming the house, there were not many places Arya could go to and so she was spending the morning with her weird summoner. Watching him like this made her remembering the previous day when she had sent off the girl who used to live in the mansion as well. The mood with Rin wasn't quite so gloomy though.

"You don't have to go, you know", she said to break the silence.

Kotomine stopped packing and instead glanced at her, his expression seemed thoughtful.

"How ironic for you to say that, girl. I'm just heeding your advice after all."

Arya nodded, a sad smile on her lips.

"Well, I told you how useless Joffrey is."

"You did indeed. And I saw the truth of your words yesterday with Rider's assault."

"So you do intend to break your alliance with Tohsaka?"

Kotomine looked back into his bag, but did not continue with his packing. He sighed.

"I don't know what I intend."

"You're strange", Arya commented.

"Tokiomi is my mentor", Kotomine said strongly. "I am not supposed break my alliance, but I cannot sit idly here and wait for the enemy to strike again. I cannot fight like that. And you cannot fight like this as well."

Arya saw his point. But she didn't like it. And it was all the more startling since she wasn't even quite sure why she cared in the first place. Kotomine must have read her thoughts, since he turned back to her.

"You never told me why you changed your mind", it was more a statement than in inquiry, but Arya still felt like it was aimed at her.

She didn't answer. The reason was simple: She herself wasn't quite sure why she cared for Tokiomi in the first place. The only thing that had changed was that she met his daughter. And the moment she realized that the girl was caught up in this war which was not hers, she felt pity. It was just unfair that she had to suffer for the selfish games her father was playing. She could have told that to Kotomine, but for some reason she assumed he would not be able to understand.

"You already know where to go?", Arya asked after a moment of silence. "Since your initial plan failed, the church is out of the question."

The fake priest sighed and went back to his packing.

"There is a small hostel at the edge of Miyama I can use", Kirei explained icily. "We can meet up there today evening for further planning."

Arya realized there was something he wanted her to do.

"What is my task?"

Kotomine went straight to the matter.

"There were three familiars watching the fight. Adding the Master of Rider to it, we have four witnesses of Tokiomi's pathetic Servant. There may have been a fifth that is still unaware, but not for long I suspect. I want you to patrol the city, gather information about their intentions. I want to know whether they plan to attack right away or not."

He finished packing and stared at the closed bag. before taking seat at the edge of his bed. Arya knew this job was something she could do, but she still wasn't very keen to leave. Tokiomi's cause was lost and she suspected Kotomine wanted to use him as bait, which would make keeping him alive much more difficult.

It would be easier if I could reduce the number of combatants.

"If I see an opportunity, do I have your leave to strike?", she asked after some consideration.

"No. Keep your head down. I just want you to scout for me", the priest replied immediately. "And focus especially on the Matou Master. Zouken's pawn was unexpectedly bold. Something is telling me there is more to it than mere curiosity."

"Don't worry, I can focus on all Masters for you", Arya replied with some measure of pride.

Kirei frowned about her notion.

"How?"

Arya couldn't help but smirk. Being paired off together with the priest might have reminded her of the House of Black and White, but it not only reminded her of the dread, it reminded her of her small victories as well.

"You have your mysteries, I have mine", she answered truthfully. "Let's just say I have more eyes than those two in my head."