A man walked down the steps at a swift, graceful pace, the man walked with purpose, determination and conviction. He was dressed in an ensemble of darkness; his hair was coloured raven black akin to the dark fur of the blackest of crows.

It provided a sharp contrast to his tanned skin, with gaunt features and sombre black eyes, the man had a resolute look, with indomitable single mindedness for his objective. He wore a dark trench coat and black suit. It was well-worn, nevertheless the suit was of noble make of the highest quality, maintaining its refinement even through the years.

It was an experienced routine for Kiritsugu, he had gone on the yearly trips to Germany ever since the end of the Holy Grail War, he had started making more frequent trips to Europe once his adopted son was old enough.

He had at first been apprehensive of his decision to go on more frequent trips. He had assumed that his adopted son would have had an objection to being left alone at the Emiya residence. That a young boy would be worried of the solitude would be a given.

Contrary to his initial expectations, Shirou had not minded his travels, all he requested was a souvenir from the places he visited. He knew the young Emiya was different. While he had not an agenda by saving the boy and adopting him, he had felt that the boy was something special from the start.

It was not parental pride for his son that had sprouted such an intuition to arise in him, no… Kiritsugu was above such behaviour, his long-held discipline and coolness was part of a routine for him to be able to kill off any traces of a shred of decency in him, it would have been a hazard in his line of work.

His son was gifted in magecraft, scarily so in fact. He could see that his son was similar to him in a way. Both were empty. While the circumstances for the emptiness was different, his son had ways to fill the void that was left due to restarting life with no memories.

While Kiritsugu's personal hollowness was self-inflicted, there had been a point of time where someone had been able to draw forth long forgotten sensations from the Magus Killer. His son had not needed that. The sole survivor of the Fuyuki fire had flung himself whole heartily into his desires.

While children were accustomed to getting their desires fulfilled, doing as they wished, they did not possess a laser like focus that his ward possessed. The boy was obsessed in his curiosity at the expense of anything else. In that aspect, he had a frightening potential to become a powerful Magus.

It was not a goal, for Shirou did not work hard for the purpose of improving his magecraft. What the boy was doing could not be considered as working. The boy embodied the realisation of his interests. Whatever the boy had gained an interest in, he lived and breathed it, like it was his lifeblood.

Kiritsugu could see no other apparent path for the boy to take, Shirou was not aware, but he too possessed a void akin to the elder Emiya. It had just taken form in a trait of boundless curiosity and a yearning to discover more.

It was fascinating, Kiritsugu mused, rather than the vacuum in the boy making him 'less', the void in Shirou had seemed to benefit him, making him 'more'. The Magus Killer could picture dozens of circumstances in which the survivor had recovered to grow into a regular child or become traumatised and resistant to the confrontation of reality.

His son had rendered those situations null and void, instead he had confronted reality and converted his hollowness into a source of constant growth. Kiritsugu thought that it manifested as a result of a subconscious desire to understand every part of the world thus reducing the possibility of a situation catching him off guard.

The young Emiya would belong in the magical world, Kiritsugu saw that now. Under Kiritsugu's tutelage in Thaumaturgy, the boy had picked up concepts, progressing at an unprecedented level.

Kiritsugu would not describe his son as a typical genius, being able to pick up knowledge at a faster rate and compound more on the knowledge given. Rather his son had possessed a unique instinct in learning. He seemed to know what the next stage of something was before possession of the facts.

His son had been able to expend on data with a frightening level of accuracy. While a genius would research avenues in order to improve on a level of theory. Once Shirou had placed his mind on a subject, it was as if he already knew what avenues would lead to dead ends and what could be expended on.

Instead of just being able to advance his knowledge quicker, he possessed the ability to recognize the 'how' of advancing his knowledge. When Kiritsugu had taught his boy on bounded fields, he immediately predicted the guaranteed ways to remove a bounded field rather than just working out the most effective and probable ways to take the obstacle down.

With his own merits, the boy had even invented what could effectively be considered as a new and different aspect in Projection, advancing beyond the paltry and useless base form in the spell in Graduation Air.

Once Kiritsugu had seen the reality that there was no keeping Shirou out of the magical realm, he had done his utmost to prepare his son for the dangers. Shirou would be fine Kiritsugu thought, he would be able to adapt and keep himself on the right track with minimal guidance.

There was a sense of irony in that while Kiritsugu had enlisted partners with him for assistance, he had never specifically desired an heir to teach. While it was an occurrence of fate that he was able to save Shirou, there would undoubtably be many magical families who would give innumerable assets to be able to obtain a potential as great as the young Emiya as an heir.

Even with his body failing him, Kiritsugu had been assured that his son would be perfectly capable of surviving without him. Now, it was time to ensure the safety of the older spawn of the Emiya.

He absolutely had to get his daughter off the hands of that old man Acht, he knew the Ezinbern head would have absolutely no considerations to morality as long as it advanced his name. He just had to get his daughter to safety with on this trip.

Perhaps he could even smuggle some magical research away from the Ezinberns, he had to find something to placate Shirou with after all…

Rin Tohsaka was utterly riled up by her guardian…

That annoying…no…infuriating useless priest had once again wound the young Magus up. The priest had once again been lacking in his attempts to tutor the young Magus in Thaumaturgy.

He had in fact provoked her in that utterly smug and irritating manner by asking her to refer to her library for his superficial knowledge in the Tohsaka magecraft was insufficient. Rin had absolutely what possessed her father, the great Magus that he was to pick Kirei Kotomine as his apprentice in Thaumaturgy.

That man was often incompetent with regards to guiding Rin in her attempts to learn advanced magecraft. Rin had not needed much assistance in her ability to advance in magecraft, she was after all a first-rate Magus of the highest quality… But would it have killed that man to be adept in a single subject whenever the young Tohsaka had hit a block in her progress.

The man was an absolute hack, a fraud of the highest level, unfit to be a Magus… For the love of the root, the man hadn't even possessed the proper magical circuits. It would have been fine if he had revealed how the magic of the church worked, but nooo… it was supposed to be a 'secret'.

Rin did not have a speck of faith in the bane of her existence, that fake priest was obviously trying to taunt her by possessing unknown magic that would most likely under normal circumstances be impossible to access for a regular Magus.

It had been several years after the death of her parents and the last Tohsaka had missed the pair. She often thought of how life would be like if her parents had survived the Holy Grail War and its aftermath.

Thoughts of her parents had often possessed Rin with her hoping that her father especially would be pleased at her progress in magecraft. She had also missed her Sister, Sakura but confronted herself by the fact that she was most likely having a far better life in the Matou family, away from the presence of the annoying priest.

She folded her arms together, unfamiliar with the path she was heading. It had appeared that engrossed in thoughts of displeasure due to the priest, she had deviated from her usual path home from the church.

She released her stance, and gave her right tail of her hair a pull, her bright inquisitive cerulean blue eyes looking around. Had she gotten lost? That would be quite a humiliation, Rin thought inwardly, what kind of second owner would get lost in her own city?

Rin suddenly looked up, startled, she noticed the condition of her magical circuits, it had seemed that her body was subconsciously attempting to resist an effect of an illusional spell. Even with her body resisting the spell, it had seemed she was caught in the effects nonetheless.

She gathered some od and ran it briefly through her circuits, making sure to purge all effects of the spell. The spell broke, it seemed that it was a secondary effect made due to her location. It appeared that she had stepped into a bounded field.

The magical barrier did not seem hostile in nature, but the last Tohsaka did not place much confidence in that fact, she brought her arms up, looking around and getting into a fighting stance, a Grandr spell ready to fire at any indication of a hostile presence.

She was anxious, but alert. Her muscles were tensed up, her magical circuits were ready, with the availability to apply reinforcement on her muscles on any given time. She readied the Tohsaka crest, willing to unleash the generations of Tohsaka research gearing to fire, like a beast readied to pounce.

She was tense, she lamented her mentor into distracting her and putting her in this situation. He would pay for this, the Tohsaka heiress vowed. She first had to be able to get out of this confrontation unscathed, preferably with the culprit apprehended.

Rin was under no delusions as to how a conflict would go down, she was a magus of the highest quality, an average one, capable of unleashing magic of all elements on a valuable target.

She was however still in training, she had not yet mastered the Tohsaka jewelcraft, she was away from the formidable magic which had so established her predecessors as powerful mages.

Her goal was to identify the offender, she would despair if she was encircled by multiple targets. She believed that with carefully application of her wits, she would be able to surprise and take advantage of even a fully-fledged adult magus.

The female Magus analysed her situation, she was in a in a narrow passage, with high walls on both sides, the bounded field covered about a couple dozen meters in each direction. The bounded field had taken form in an active spell, it was static, made to contain the individuals within.

There was a possibility she would be able to disrupt the bounded field with a burst of magic but she kept the option at the back of her head, it was better to conserve what she had for combat.

If she was able to, she could even keep the strategy as a trump card to surprise her captor for a quick escape.

The bounded field was rather rudimentary, as far as the young Tohsaka could tell, it had two abilities. To keep the individuals contained as well as provide illusionary properties for the creator of the field.

Rin was observant, looking around. She was trying to spot irregular shadows. It was a sunny day, she hoped she would be able to exploit the fact to more easily spot any bending of light.

She kept her breathing patterns steady, straining her ears for traces of footsteps, ready to react at a confirmation in auditory form.

The alley she was trapped in was narrow, too narrow. She would not be able to slip past her attacker if she wanted. Neither was it the best location for any form of magical combat, she would not be able to dodge any magical attacks.

Now that Rin had noticed that fact, she was counting on the fact that her opponent would not be able to dodge as well. This denoted a different sort of confrontation. Her attacker may not have wished for a conflict.

Perhaps her attacker desired something else than her capture or death. Her captor had not gone through her guardian for a meeting with her. This signified that the culprit could have less than noble intentions. While she herself would prefer to spend as little time with Kirei as possible, it was still protocol after all.

Another possibility lied in the fact that perhaps the individual that had targeted her was an enemy of the church. However, the Tohsaka's had been allied with the church for generations, she doubted that an enemy of the church would be an ally for her. Her family had always provided regular donations to the burial agency.

Perhaps the individual after her was unaffiliated? That would make sense, however the young Tohsaka could only bring up a singular entity which would fit the description.

She doubted that it was the eccentric wizard marshal, she was still of a young age. She hadn't even achieved being a great Magus yet, it was not yet the time for the Kaleidoscope to acknowledge her prowess in magecraft…

A crackling sound was heard, Rin narrowed her eyes, looking around, there was still no one in the alley.

"Tokiomi Tohsaka was a magus of the highest quality, he was a powerful Magus…" the voice rang out. The statement was said in a monotone, giving no clue that would lead Rin to deduce the possible identity of the mysterious voice.

The sound echoed through the alleyway, it was ricocheting through each wall, suppressing the likelihood of locating the direction of the voice.

"I do not know the extent of your knowledge, but your father had summoned what could possibility be the most powerful servant in the fourth Holy Grail War… The servant was able to defeat Iskandar, the king of conquerors in his reality marble himself and emerge unscathed."

"The servant was present in the end of the Holy Grail War. Days after the death of your father. The servant had fought on behalf of another master…"

"So, I ask of you Tohsaka-san, … Do you know how and by who's hand did your father's death occur? …"

Rin was vigilant and focused, taking in every detail of the words she had heard from the mysterious voice. She did not possess much knowledge about the cause of her father's death as well as the details of the last Holy Grail War.

Rin had ran into master of Caster in the last war when she had snuck out, but her knowledge was superficial at best. She had no indication on the identity of her father's servant nor the abilities used. But what she did know was what Kotomine had told her.

She knew her uncle Kariya Matou, a childhood friend of her mother, was a master in the last war. Kotomine had told her that he was the master of berserker and that he was a factor in her father's death, but not much else.

She remembered meeting Kariya in the last war, when he had saved her against a monster made by caster but he had looked different. He had rather looked so different and repulsive from what she remembered that she recalled fainting upon her rescue.

She recalled that Kariya had visited her family often when she was younger but he had looked extremely different in the Holy Grail War.

Kirei had informed her that Kariya had summoned a capable berserker but judging from the voice, it seemed as though berserker would not be able to defeat her father's servant and judging from his condition in the last war, He would not be able to defeat her father in combat.

This meant that someone else had been the killer of her father and that the killer was responsible for picking up the contract of her father's servant. This narrowed down the list of possible murderers.

Rin kept quiet, wanting to know more from the voice. She had been curious about the events of the fourth war but had obeyed her father's final wish, casting her desires away in order to become the most capable Magus that would be able to live up to the Tohsaka name.

"Tohsaka-san, you must have figured out by now that your father's killer was a surviving master of the fourth Holy Grail War… There is nothing more to it, one of the masters was Tokiomi's Killer…What you feel about the information is for you to figure out, I wish you the best in your endeavors. I will be in contact… Tohsaka-san."

The voice disappeared. It had ended with a crackling sound. Rin felt the bounded field go down. There was no one in both directions of the alleyway.

Rin spotted something, lying innocently under the shadow casted by the high walls around the alleyway was an electronic contraption. The Magus deduced that this contraption must have been what the illusion had hid.

The owner of the voice must have been able to transport his message through the unknown electronic contraption. While he must have been nearby in order to be able to provide a source of energy for the temporary bounded field to stay active, Rin was in an unfamiliar location and would be in a disadvantage.

Rin decided to take the safer option and not attempt to locate the owner of the voice. She picked up the electronic contraption and walked away. Besides, she had to think about the revelations that the voice had provided.

It was fortunate and most likely planned by the mysterious individual that she was approached today, she still had a week until her lessons with Kirei Kotomine. This would give her time to search for answers.

Rin made her way home, she walked with a slow contemplative gait. Slowly as she left the alleyway, she was observed holding her arms beside her stiffly and clenching her fists harder…

The figure watched from the rooftops a mile away. He smirked in a pleased manner. He had felt that the confrontation went better than he expected. Now it was time to wait for the decisions of the Tohsaka heiress.

Shirou sighed, what he had just did was extremely underhanded but he had felt that it was his only option that was able to succeed in swaying the Tohsaka heiress. It was distasteful but Shirou believed that it was necessary.

He supposed that he could have attempted to approach her normally but the presence of an additional Magus family in Fuyuki would have thrown her off. Additionally, Shirou had wanted to obtain an idea about the extent of her knowledge of the past Holy Grail Wars.

He needed to set the bait, to give the Tohsaka heiress a sense of curiosity and let her come to her own conclusions. If she was aware of the exploits of the Magus killer or had knowledge of his adopted name of Emiya, she would be doubtful of his intentions.

He wouldn't blame the female Magus to be more suspecting once he revealed himself but he felt that he would be able to get a more accurate read on the female Tohsaka with more interactions by that point.

What he had achieved today had served to give him a guide, the Tohsaka had looked unaware of most of the happenings of the Holy Grail War. The notes of the Magus Killer had a plan to kidnap the Tohsaka girl however from what he could deduce from the information, the Tohsaka had lived with her mother's regular family and it would have been too much of a trouble to arrange a kidnapping.

The plan was scrapped as it would also have served in revealing Kiritsugu's presence as a master in the fourth war, a fact that Shirou was uncertain how many knew. Kiritsugu had made use of a bait for his servant in the fourth war, however Tokiomi Tohsaka while possessing an attitude and mindset of a regular Magus was still an intelligent individual and would have guessed the possibility of the presence of the Magus Killer in the war if Kiritsugu had went ahead with the plan. This would have removed his advantage in anonymity in the fourth war.

From what he could tell, the Tohsaka was unaware of the Emiya name. He supposed that it would be safe to reveal himself in a few days. Kirei Kotomine obviously possessed some influence on the Tohsaka, the girl had possessed a profound disdain for her guardian for some reason. Could it be the same explanation for the wariness of Kiritsugu towards the priest?

Shirou would try to find out more about the war. His path had already been set. He needed to keep the girl distracted, she seemed bright. He would have to resort himself to more despicable measures, he would need to manipulate the girl into developing a strong hatred towards her guardian if he had to, it was the best way to distract her from his presence.

Inwardly, a guilty part of Shirou was rather excited about meeting the female Tohsaka, he had a disdain for other children of his age. It would be quite interesting to meet a fellow Magus of a similar age.

If he was able to recognise his own feelings, Shirou would identify that he wanted to develop a possible friendship with another member of the Shadow world. That part of Shirou however supressed could only hope for the possibility of developing a bond with the Tohsaka.

It was all for Kiritsugu, Shirou comforted himself, it was an obligation, the man had saved him from the fire after all. It would be tragic if he had lost his father this early in his life, not when even after all the trouble's that Kiritsugu had suffered from, he had done his best to raise Shirou especially when considering his mental state...

It had been three days since the meeting. Rin was pacing around, arms folded, she was in her basement workshop previously used by her father. Her father had left her a special inheritance.

Before her father's death, he had mentioned the inheritance left for her. Her father had told her it was to contain magical artefacts that would be of use to her for the next Holy Grail War.

It was secured by a puzzle that was meant to be solved with the usage of her wits and advanced Thaumaturgy. Rin had not planned on taking a crack on the puzzle yet but she had tried earlier nonetheless. While Rin was confident, she could solve most of the puzzle currently, it contained parts that had required the advanced mastery of the Tohsaka Jewelcraft.

The female Magus was disappointed, while she had expected this outcome, she had wanted to check if the inheritance contained something that would provide more insight into the situation.

She had deduced that judging from the information that she had been given, her guardian Kirei was responsible for the death of her father by means of betrayal. As much as she detested her guardian, she had some doubts about the situation.

As far as the Tohsaka Magus was aware, there was not a winner in the fourth Holy Grail War. Kirei was not an individual to desire the grail and while he was one of the surviving masters of the previous war, there was no actions that he made that had indicated he wanted to obtain the Holy Grail.

There was no logical reason for Kirei to betray her father as far as she knew, he was an apprentice of Tokiomi Tohsaka and by all means should be deeply indebted to Tokiomi for teaching him when he was barely a Magus and one that was lacking in potential.

What she was more conflicted towards was the message from the mysterious Magus, Rin had no idea what the agenda of the Magus was such that he would provide this information for her. Did he potentially have a grudge against the priest or the Tohsaka family, hoping for Rin to seek revenge and ending to Tohsaka line? Rin was unsure about the motivations but she had nonetheless retained the information revealed to her.

While logically Rin knew that the possibility of her father's death due to Kirei was unlikely, an instinct within her was telling her to not discard the possibility. She had observed Kirei's nature and had always felt uneasy around him. She had noted that there were always incidents where she spotted the priest with hints of sadism…

Shirou looked around the staircase, he had spotted the Tohsaka heiress walking to her workshop. He decided to wait outside the staircase leading to the basement. While he had managed to bypass the Tohsaka bounded fields outside the mansion, he dared not tempt his luck by trying to penetrate the bounded fields of the basement workshop.

The workshop of a Magus is the nexus of any research they have made. As such, most workshops are well protected with even more advanced bounded fields. In order to minimise the risk of their research being stolen, most Magi construct their workshop in a strategic position, reducing the possible entryways and have a bounded field constructed that is usually lethal.

Shirou supposed that this did not differ for the Tohsaka. He spotted some chairs surrounding a small table that was suitable for discussions outside the staircase leading to the basement. He sat down and placed some folders on the table.

Shirou had dressed as non-threateningly as possible in preparation for a discussion with the Tohsaka heiress. He had worn a plain white shirt and black jeans. He had also brought a grey trench coat in his size that he obtained from Kiritsugu's coat rack.

He had chosen this coat due to its linings, through the usage of structural analysis, Shirou had found out that this coat had a slight resistance to magecraft. It was not the best protection but its abilities would prove adequate against simple spells especially considering he was planning on catching the Tohsaka Magus off guard.

It was time to wait, Shirou closed his eyes, planning to meet another magus for the first time…

Rin walked up the steps from her workshop, she had come to a decision. The figure that had contacted her had not given details of how she would learn more. She supposed that she would wait for the figure to confront her. She was about to consider locating a pack of tarot cards to attempt to use divination to provide a clue as to the path that led to the resolution of the current issue.

"Tohsaka-san, have you decided?" A voice inquired.

Rin looked up; she saw the source of the voice. It was not what she expected; her first instinct was to identify the intruder. He was sitting in front of her.

It appeared that it was a boy of a similar age to her, he wore casual clothing. The first and most noticeable feature she had spotted was his hair, he had bright red hair that was spiky. She noticed his eyes; they were of a yellowish golden shade that shone brightly.

He looked strange in the eyes of the female Magus. Having spent her life in Japan, she was surprised to see that the boy's features were a strange mix of European and Asian. He had a rare hair colour with an even rarer shade of eyes.

He was tall for a boy of an age similar to Rin. The female Magus was not fooled however, she belonged in the magical world as a first-rate Magus, she would not be simply deceived by an appearance of youth.

She had an advanced level of knowledge considering her age, she could immediately come up with over a dozen supposed methods that one would be able to adjust their age. Nevertheless, an instinct told her that the individual in front of her was the age that his appearance implied, for his eyes shone with curiosity and a hint of mischievousness.

The female Magus was still wary, this individual had clearly broken into her mansion. He had not taken down the bounded fields and she had not gotten a warning of any form. He had to have bypassed her bounded fields instead of penetrating them.

Rather the possibility that he had the ability to take down the regular bounded fields of her house was secondary; he was clearly expecting her to not attack on sight. She would question him about his presence.

"Who are you? How had you entered my home? What are your intentions?"

"Emiya…Shirou Emiya. I am a fellow Magus, Tohsaka-san… I require your assistance, in return, I will return the favour by assisting you in your decision… however you chose to act."

The boy who had introduced himself as Emiya had disregarded her second question, his hands were held above his head in a non-threatening manner.

"Then the man who sent me the message…"

"Yes… It was me Tohsaka-san…"

"You're the same age as me… how could you have possibly known that about the Holy Grail War?"

"I was adopted… around the time of the end of the Holy Grail War there was a fire… Kiritsugu Emiya had saved me from the fire and adopted me... he was a surviving master of the Holy Grail War… He had written down the events of the war…in exchange for a request, I will provide you with more information on the war as well as assistance to correct this injustice made against you family…"

"Here, have a look…" He gestured towards the folders on her table, she believed his words… However, …what help would she, a magus not yet trained be able to provide that the presumably formidable magus parent of this boy couldn't?

"What, do you want?" Rin asked sternly, tightening up her features, hoping to intimidate the boy.

"You look cute…" Shirou said abruptly as he snorted, trying not to laugh at the angry expression that the female magus was trying to make.

"ANSWER ME!" The Female Magus demanded as she flushed, angry at the condescending answer that was made in reply.

"Okay, okay, Tohsaka-san…" Shirou placated.

"I require the use of your library, …my father may be of the Emiya name but the assets were seized by the clocktower due to the actions of his predecessors, as such I require more restrictive knowledge, knowledge that the Tohsaka might possess…"

"How will you assist me in return?... Emiya-kun?" Rin asked, curious for what help the Emiya had thought she would require.

"You require retaliation do you not? The priest has wronged your family, at the very least you would need him to confess his crimes… I would be able to assist you in doing that. You do not expect him to confess his crimes easily do you? … Besides, the priest is crafty, he survived the last war after all, he will be a formidable opponent, one that you would not be able to demand answers from currently regardless of your magical potential."

"And you think that is enough!? The Tohsaka library is worth more than the repositories of the typical magical family. It even contains research that if used correctly can lead one on the path of gaining a true magic… How do you expect me to loan out such valuable knowledge easily?"

Rin replied, enraged… She would not tolerate some unscrupulous untrained magus access to the valuable Tohsaka research gathered through centuries, her father would be most disappointed if she so dishonoured the Tohsaka name.

"No… what I offer is not sufficient. But it's all I can offer you, that and your life of course… killing you would be much simpler in achieving my goals…"

Shirou brought up his hand holding a gun at her, the conversation had gone as well as could be expected. He had hoped that should would accept his offer naively but this was the only way to achieve his demands.

He gave her a firm look, he would be able to carry out this threat, if he could he would have offered more but this was the only way he could obtain what he wanted.

"If its any consolation, I would only require research on curses and magical ailments, I'll even offer being your assistant for your magical research. We'll promise not to harm each other, directly or indirectly and to always provide help in the future to the best of my abilities…"

"Here, lets settle this with a geis, what do you say?"

Rin looked at the Emiya threatening her, she would concede that she found his offer now more alluring, the fact that he would only require a specific section of the library had played a part in convincing her, an assistant would be helpful too.

However, Rin was spiteful, she felt unpleasant that she was effectively threatened into such an offer. She couldn't see any way out of this; he had pulled out a gun which Magus or not would be able to harm her.

If she was older, her reinforcement might allow for her to dodge such shot but as she was now, in the confinements of the room, she had been caught off guard, allowing this boy the initiative, the only thing she could do was accept, she would hold a grudge against him however.

She inwardly questioned herself, why would he go to such lengths for such information? It didn't seem as though he wanted it for his personal advancement in Thaumaturgy, his intentions towards her had also not seemed malicious. It would be simple for him to just kill her as he claimed, but it seemed he was refraining from such an eventuality, even offering better terms to sweeten the deal.

She vowed to herself that she would solve this mystery and discover his motivations, aside from that, he would be helpful for her objectives, having this glaring flaw in her bounded fields could be a major hazard in the future after all.

"Fine, it's not as if I have any other choice! But you will accede to all my future demands!" Rin shouted at him, folding her arms annoyed at the situation.

"Sure, that is fine." Shirou chuckled to himself under his breath, relieved at the situation…

To the heiress and current head of the house of Tohsaka, Rin, daughter of Tokiomi: regarding…

Authors Notes:

Kiritsugu goes to try to release illya from the Ezinberns once more and we get his detailed thoughts on Shirou. His internal thoughts revolve around Shirou as his current and only source of light in his life.

He reflects on what he knows about Shirou in his few years of adoption. He also reaffirms and reassures himself about his decision to integrate Shirou into Magus society. He prepares him as best he can, and catches the parallels between himself and Shirou. We see his cold but fatherly side as he worries at what his trips will do to Shirou.

Shirou finally gets some tutelage in Thaumaturgy and we see how his origin gives him and boost in learning as well as changing his personality in a way that Shirou could be perceived as smart.

Shirou is still not a genius but he gets a leg up on everything he wants to learn, when studying something he effectively knows the end point so that instead of studying all the steps from 1 to 5 he only needs to discover the possible steps to get to 5, as long as he has a possible solution, his instinct will inform him effectively the best path while compared to others like Rin, she has to study 1 to 5 but she gets a leg up on her intellect in determining more and better paths to get from 1 to 5 so she could get there faster than Shirou but she might chose the wrong or less effective steps thereby still learning as fast as Shirou with a superior intellect.

The instinct of Shirou combined with his boundless curiosity effectively advances his learning in Thaumaturgy such that he will effectively fit better as a caster compared to even the counter guardian version of Emiya, starting out from the holy grail war, even before anything happens he will already be rin level or better due to his origin.

We see him get into contact with Rin as well as her internal thoughts. Keep in mind that this is the 10 year old version of Rin and she hasn't developed a facade yet, this is a Rin before entering Homhamura which allows me to be able to potray her with childish traits without the Tsundere aspect, well at least not yet.

Basically this arc is centered around the fact that I want my Shirou to be more of a caster and not just in projection. In order for me to be able to achieve that, Shirou needs to have more knowledge in Thaumaturgy and the only way to do that without involving outside characters is to be in contact with Rin and in the meantime he squeezes all of Kiritsugu's knowledge on magecraft that he can get.

I have to admit that this took quite a bit of thought since I didn't want to create an Original Character yet and I also don't want to involve Waver since I don't want to involve the clocktower until at least the Holy Grail War. And since Shirou needs to effectively create his own brand of magecraft due to his origin, he doesn't really need a teacher but rather just guidance. I just felt that Rin fit best for this role.

Basically he threatens her into helping him and he helps her too, of course this will make the relationship start out with more animosity but isn't that just more interesting?