Shirou was on another one of his trips. He was currently on the road to the Tohsaka Mansion. Compared to what he was able to obtain through his voyages, the effort required was not much at all. It was a short walk from the Emiya Residence to the Tohsaka Mansion. While the architecture was vastly different, with the dwellings surrounding the Emiya Residence being traditional houses styled and constructed with a Japanese theme and the dwellings around the Tohsaka Mansion being styled and constructed with a theme of European Nobility, both the places rested within the confines of the same side of Miyama Town within the greater Fuyuki City. It did not take Shirou long to trek to the Tohsaka Mansion. While the infrastructure wasn't as developed and modern as the Shinto district within Fuyuki, and public transport lacking, it had still been worth it for Shirou to make the trips.

Shirou entered the Tohsaka Mansion, getting around the main bounded fields by exploiting a flaw in the anchors that had allowed for the boundaries of the bounded field to be expended to include all of the residence. Another aspect that had allowed him to bypass the bounded fields were due to the bounded fields not being completely active. Shirou deduced that during the periods of the Holy Grail Wars, the full extent of the barriers would be unleashed but due to the role of the Tohsaka's as the second owner of the city, they had to be kept in a semi-active state on regular instances in order to be accessible to visitors. Granted, Shirou wasn't exactly an honored guest but rather an intruder, but he wasn't going to complain about the flaws if it allowed him access.

Shirou strode into the study, he had not bothered to check the rest of the residence, making a beeline to this location. There was not a need to. He had observed that the Tohsaka had left her abode at the same time every day to purchase daily necessities and resources for her magecraft. He supposed that she could simply buy more of what she needed on every trip but a reasonable assumption was made that the female magus had not wanted to stay cooped up within the mildly foreboding and cold atmosphere of the Tohsaka Mansion.

Shirou had not an agenda for his trip today, he had not finished the previous books yet and he was not here to return more of the books he had pilfered. He had simply gone here just to have an idle check on what books had interested him and what he had missed on his previous expeditions. As much as Shirou had an idea of the organization manner of the bookshelves, there was still a massive selection and he doubted that he had even browsed a percentage of what the library contained.

There was always a nagging feeling in Shirou's mind that what he was doing was extremely discourteous and devious but he dismissed it as usual. There was a reason why he had not paid a visit when the owner was in after all. He had his reservations about a confrontation with her but there was surely a need for contact in order to be able to obtain the advanced materials as to be able to accomplish his quest to aid his father. It was not something he looked forward to however, and he needn't have to rush into it immediately. Besides, it was better for him to have a better understanding and foundation in magecraft before rushing into researching advanced curses and darker aspects of magecraft without any knowledge.

Through the quick browse of the shelves, Shirou had not found anything that had struck his fancy. It was fine, he thought, it was not what he had set out here to affirm after all. The main reason that Shirou had made his daily trips over to the Tohsaka Mansion was to check for any loopholes of the bounded fields guarding the workshop. While he technically had permission to enter, he had not exactly undergone a second meeting with the Magus in residence yet to officiate that 'permission'. Besides, it was far simpler to get what he wanted without any fuss if he could bypass this set of bounded fields too. While it would still be breaking in, he supposed he did have some form of approval even if the individual was not aware of his comings and goings.

Shirou had reached the basement workshop. Carefully, he took a few steps forward and awaited the warning from his senses about the danger of the bounded fields. He was surprised that he had gotten a few steps more than he would have usually without anything setting of his sense of danger. He doubted that his instincts were off. Could the Tohsaka have altered or modified the barriers? Could he take advantage of this lull in protections and obtain what he needed without contact with the female Magus? He closed his eyes and focused, feeling out the next few steps warily.

"What are you doing, Emiya?" a sweet sarcastic tone rung out. This alarmed Shirou enough to fall backwards into a sitting position onto the steps that he had walked down. It appeared that he had been too overconfident in his ability to be stealthy. The female Tohsaka was sitting on a stool with her legs and arms crossed, folded. Her hair was tied up in twin tails and she was looking at him as though a predator would look at a juicy lamb. This was the exactly what he had hoped to avoid…

Rin would not describe herself as a cunning individual but she was currently in the midst of plotting a scheme. It was her right to do so. The dastardly male had ambushed her and had pressed her into loaning away the resources of her family by binding Rin into a Geis. What was worse however was that after providing her with what was supposed to be the 'carrot' for Rin to agree to the Geis, he had not shown his face since. Sure, he had provided what only could be described as an 'alarming' revelation. It was a poor attempt to get Rin to provide what he required however. Even if what he said was completely true and the promises he made were carried out, with only pride befitting a first-rate Magus, Rin would not normally allow herself to be unwillingly coerced as to bind herself into a Geis. The only reason Rin had even considered it, much less agreed to it was due to the threat to her life.

He had insinuated that Kirei had betrayed her father during the last Holy Grail War. Rin had listened and had taken the possibility into account but he had not revealed much more. What he had done was instead to pass a stack of folders that had provided insight into what had happened in the last Holy Grail War. Rin had taken the initiative to analyze the documents and while they were extremely valuable for the scion of the Tohsaka, allowing her to prepare for a future Holy Grail War better by recognizing the probable events and the stakes involved, the documents were unclear in what exactly was the cause of her father's death and defeat in the war. The only thing even personally impactful for Rin was the fact that her father's servant was seen fighting after the death of her father.

There were plenty of suggestions about what Kirei had done in the war and what he had done to betray the Tohsaka's but there was nothing concrete. Most of what the folder contained was likely accurate about what had happened in the war but it seemed as though the individual recording down the events happening in the Holy Grail War was also not completely certain as to the fate of her father and what had led to it.

Rin had to admit however, that it indeed looked very suspicious and it was easy to draw the conclusion that Kirei had killed and betrayed her father. She was able to cast away her personal dislike for her guardian however and also acknowledge the reality that it was only but a circumstantial suspicion. Even if it was also one that perfectly matched up with what she thought of Kirei. After all, archers had the class ability of independent action that allowed them to persist even after the death of their masters.

Privately, Rin would be the first individual to acknowledge that she had a deep-seated dislike for her guardian even before this revelation. When Rin had first met Kirei at a young age, she felt that the priest had an untrustworthy and shifty deposition. The feeling only persisted and grown as she spent more time observing him as a child. The greatest factor contributing to her dislike of Kirei however was not due to her personal instincts warning her away from him. No, the reason she had what could even be described as a hatred towards Kirei was due to his failure to assist her father during the Holy Grail War. While he was not a capable Magus, as an Executor of the church, a first-class Executor even, he had to have the combat ability of an elite, a great advantage for a team with two servants. As an Executor, he would be expected to stand against dead apostles and all manner of creatures. Not only had he failed to protect her father, when a naïve seven-year-old Rin had pleaded for Kirei to assist in allowing her father to leave the Holy Grail War alive if not successful, Kirei had not even promised or shown a conviction that he would attempt so. He had instead emphasized the danger of the Holy Grail War in which Rin had already been perfectly aware of but the reality that Kirei had not shown even mentioned to try his best as a reassurance to a child was extremely telling.

While Rin felt that the implication that Kirei had killed her father or assisted in it should enrage her, the lack of evidence of the betrayal and the fact that she had already harboured an intense hatred for him had ironically helped her in keeping her emotions under control. If it was proven Rin felt that she would undoubtedly not be able to control her fury but for the moment she felt that she had to demand more answers from the Emiya before anything. Even if motivated by this incident, Rin was always intending to discover more about the happenings of the last Holy Grail War, for her benefit if nothing else.

It was to her greater annoyance that the folders that he had provided her weren't even the originals but rather a projected version from graduation air. She had only gotten progress more maddened by the impertinence of the Emiya by already taking his end of the deal without even the acknowledgement of her grace in allowing for the agreement.

Yesterday had been the last straw. What Rin was had now done was to set a magical tripwire that alerted her at the instance her books were once again pilfered. She would await his presence and carry out her comeuppance against him at an area where she would be in the undeniable advantage. She would await in a place of optimal danger for any foreign Magus. Her workshop in the basement of the Tohsaka Mansion.

Rin was sitting on a stool next to a table in the basement workshop. She had been in the midst of transferring magical energy to be stored into a jewel when she was alerted by a tingle at the back of her head. It appeared that the crook of a Magus was here. She got up to shift the bounded fields protecting the workshop into a secondary state and folded her arms, getting into a menacing position in order to observe the entrance stairway.

Several footsteps echoed into and around the basement, the enclosed nature of the workshop allowing Rin to have ample knowledge of the progress of the intruder. The footsteps stopped, creating an eerie silence of several seconds before a figure came into view. This was the second time Rin had encountered the male Magus. This time he had also borne the black trench coat too long for his body, however he was also wearing a long sky-blue scarf around his neck that had clashed horribly with the colour of the coat. It looked as if his eyes were closed and he was walking slowly and cautiously down the steps. Rin smirked and called out.

"What are you doing Emiya?"

Upon hearing her voice, her fellow magus immediately fell backwards into a sitting position on the steps, it appeared as though he was truly startled and not expecting her presence. It would be his undoing.

"Erm, hey Tohsaka, … I was just oh…." Emiya stammered.

"Encroaching into my home?" Rin cut in sharply before the male Magus stammered out an excuse.

"Well, … I was just checking the security of the wards…" the male Magus continued…

"And without conferring with me at all?" Rin cut in again, greatly vindicated by how flustered she had been able to make him with her surprise presence.

"You know Emiya, … it is highly suspicious for a male to be breaking and entering the house of an innocent young female every day… Some might even deem such behaviour to be extremely suspicious and the height of lechery…" Rin continued her analysis of her situation.

"You are ten!" Shirou refuted before she could make more statements.

"Exactly! How could such a young maiden to be caught in such a situation without a valiant gentleman for protection?"

Rin observed the male magus stammering and stuttering, completely thrown out his element. It was an interesting contrast to her previous meeting with him in which he held all the cards. After letting the Emiya Magus suffer for a while longer, Rin resumed with her agenda.

"But seriously, why have you been coming and going like a thief without even paying your respects to the magus you so kindly threatened into creating a Geis?" Rin demanded, switching her expression from an amused sadist into one that denoted her anger at the situation better.

"Are you afraid of this innocent girl?" Rin said while fluttering her eyelashes, switching her tone back into a teasing one.

"Or are you simply a fraud?" Rin changed her tone once again to an aggressive one upon noticing the male Magus looking at her as though she was bipolar.

"No! Of course not, what I told you is of the almost truth." Shirou replied, offended by the suggestion that he had faked information about the Holy Grail War in order to take advantage of her.

"Then could you tell me more, I'm afraid there is not much more I can draw other than from the circumstantial evidence given."

"I'm afraid not, my father has never mentioned much about the Holy Grail War to me and he dislikes the topic." Shirou replied, slightly chagrined about his inability to provide more.

"Hrmph! I guess that I shall have to find out more myself then, it is a bit annoying but what can I do… at least now you have to assist me in discovering more…"

"By the way, since you are bound to be my magical assistant, I will be sure to take advantage of that… On the other hand, I guess I'm also bound to allow you into my workshop in that case…"

"Well, no point dwelling too much more on what we have already agreed to, take what you want and scram back home then, I will expect you in two days' time… I won't wait and see you out."

Rin unfolded her arms and brushed past Shirou up the stairs while delivering her message.

Rin turned around suddenly however. "Oh! Remember to wear some clothing more suitable for magical experiments instead of the coat and scarf…" Having said suggested what seemed to be an idea conjured on impulse, Rin went on her way out of the basement workshop.

Shirou was relieved. That confrontation had gone a lot better than he could have ever hoped for. When he had first been startled at her presence, he was wary of how she would carry out her revenge for her humiliation at Shirou's hand by being threatened into a binding agreement. After all, the Geis that they had agreed to had mentioned nothing about agreeing to not conduct aggressive actions against each other. That had been part of the reason that Shirou had been avoiding meeting her.

It seemed that after a bit of teasing and what Shirou saw as a show of dominance, the Tohsaka Magus had backed off with only a legitimate demand that Shirou carry out his part of the deal. Shirou felt that the Tohsaka Magus could have done more to him giving the position he was caught in but it seemed that the female Magus had saw something that had led her not to do worse to Shirou.

Shirou looked backwards at the staircase. The Tohsaka Magus had just walked away leaving him to what he saw as a messy workshop. It was rather large for a basement room, it had a large table at the centre, many magical items around and scrolls and books laid haphazardly around the room on the floor, on the table and with many opened without any manner of organization.

Shirou not wanting to think too much on the encounter went and grabbed what looked like several books on magical Ailments and went on his way back. Meanwhile, he made a mental note to make some time to organize the materials in the room in the future. The messy manner in which the room was used had irked Shirou…

Shirou was amused…

It was the day of which Rin had stated in order to carry out his part of their agreement and he had arrived at the Tohsaka Mansion to carry out his end of the deal. He had discovered that Rin had also keyed his presence into the main bounded fields over the Tohsaka property.

He had just stepped into the mansion and Rin was already looking at him, arms folded in an attempt to intimidate. Shirou was confused, what was Rin trying to achieve, haven't she already carried out her show of dominance and reaffirmed their agreement?

Besides, the twin tailed magus was too short and adorable to intimidate him when he was not trying to specially avoid her, especially considering her current age. While she was currently undergoing her growth spurt, Shirou was still a good several inches taller. For an individual of supposed Asian descent, Shirou had shot up like a weed every few months.

The twin tailed Magus had immediately put Shirou to work according to their agreement but bizarrely her first command was to excavate all the furniture out of an unused guest bedroom. Shirou had initially assumed that the room was emptied out for the purpose of conducting magical experiments but that was not in fact the case.

Once the room was emptied, Rin had proceeded to pull out a chalk and begin drawing a large square in the middle of the room. Once again Shirou had assumed that she was about to conduct an uncommon magical ritual beyond his knowledge but the Tohsaka had proceeded to command Shirou to spar with her in hand to hand combat. This had thrown Shirou off completely. Was this why she had asked him to dress in a more suitable manner? Shirou had even forgone his scarf for this although perhaps in retrospect it might be good to not let the female magus get an inkling about the nature of his scarf.

Shirou had known that the priest was a master in unarmed combat. He was a church Executor after all, and a first class one at that. Without much skills in magecraft, there was a large and obvious possibility that the priest was one of the best martial artists on the planet. Shirou was aware of the basics of the priest's manner of combat. He was able to blend what was a non-magical martial art with magecraft to greatly enhance the techniques power. It had seemed that the priest had passed down some his skills to his ward but not the particular brand of martial art that had allowed for the brutal lethality to Kirei Kotomine. It was a relief for Shirou did not fancy internal injuries happening to him anytime soon.

While Shirou had not delved in the realm of unarmed combat, he would consider himself a minor prodigy in swordplay. As such, some principles could be carried over. Rin was constantly nipping at his heels, punching and maneuvering herself in an attempt to deliver the most damage in the situation where a hit would be landed. She was attacking him in a brand of pseudo Karate without many definite stances but honed through what seemed like regular sparring.

Shirou was prepared however, planting himself firmly on the ground and using his instincts and reflexes to avoid the furious blows of the twin tailed Magus. As much as the skill Rin seemed to possess in unarmed combat was extremely formidable, Shirou was constantly managing to dodge her blows by a hair's breathe. It was at this moment that Shirou was glad for his greater agility.

The girl was extremely skilled in using her fists, she appeared to possess a decent perception in combat. Her other aspects were lacking however. Her skill as great as it was for her age, was not quite enough to overwhelm Shirou when taking into account his vastly superior reflexes, physique and his instinct.

As such, while initially Shirou was in danger of getting hit, he was steadily getting a grip of the girl's technique and dodging her blows more fluently. Shirou was aware of his own capabilities however and decided to not attempt to counterattack.

He doubted that he would be able to get a blow off without overexposing himself due to not having prior instruction in unarmed combat. He would even be willing to bet that the Tohsaka Magus may be counting on him to slip up in an attempt to counter.

Nevertheless, Shirou found that he was quite enjoying this encounter, he was even smirking at the furious expressions Rin was making as he got steadily better. She did not seem to be enjoying the encounter as much however. She was looking like she was getting more and more infuriated by the second as the Emiya continued avoiding her blows.

Shirou was puzzled, why was Rin getting angry if this spar was what she suggested? It was obviously her method of practice in order to determine the level of her future assistant. Shirou would place no blame on the girl for a rather unusual method of evaluating his skills. The girl was obviously quite isolated due to her focus on life as a Magi and living in seclusion.

Nonetheless, despite the baffling case of the increasingly bad mood for the Tohsaka, Shirou was enjoying this method of evaluation more and more, he felt that this was a good practice for developing his instincts. As much as he would regard his skills in swordplay, they would be redundant when not used in conjunction with good instincts and reflexes.

"WHY DON'T YOU STAND STILL?!"

The Tohsaka Magus shouted at the Emiya Magus. It had seemed that Rin's plan had not went to fruition… And it was such a good plan, Rin thought. She was still quite sore about getting threatened into an agreement with the Emiya. As such, now knowing that they were of a similar age, the gifted Magus had come up with a cunning plan to regain her pride.

It was a brilliant plan concocted, it was so shrewd and subtle that even Rin felt that even her father would approve… She would utilize the only useful thing that the dastardly priest had taught her. The boy had obviously needed to learn a lesson about dealing with a Tohsaka, yet due to the Geis Rin would not want to lose what could be a useful slave assistant.

Never was it to be said that Rin was not intelligent however, she believed that she had enough control over her skill in unarmed combat to teach him a lesson while still retaining a useful assistant. She would need to both intimidate and teach the Emiya boy a lesson. Her intimidating expressions had seemed to not work so far, in fact it may have even backfired…

The Emiya had seemed to find her expressions amusing. He had even called her fearsome stance 'cute'. She was not cute… She was a fearsome Magus that would be feared by all Magi alike in the future. She would be known as powerful and all would bow down to her might. She would not demean her worth by having a description such as 'cute'.

In order to carry another display of dominance and show the Magus who was in charge, Rin had decided to use her rights to order the Emiya to empty out the furniture of a spare bedroom in the Tohsaka mansion, no one would be visiting anyway.

She had suggested a spar, she had hoped that this would allow her to overawe the Emiya into submission. She would use her supreme skill in unarmed combat and use it to achieve her goals. With her benevolence, she had decided to disallow the usage of magecraft in reinforcement or other enhancing techniques in the 'spar'. This would allow the Emiya Magus a semblance of a chance and to allow him to take advantage of his more combat orientated physique. Anyways, she was merciful, she would not harm the Emiya even if she were to get a hit in… well she wouldn't hurt him too much at least…

Her plan had not succeeded however, the boy was annoyingly quick at dodging her skilled blows, she would persevere however, he was obviously lucky and would eventually slip up. She knew that the Emiya would not be able to defend himself too well, he had no prior experience in unarmed combat, she could see it quite clearly in the way he moved.

He had some training, that much she could determine. It was not in unarmed combat however, yet he was still able to avoid her wrath gracefully. She was disabused with her previous notions of how the situation would go when rather than slipping up, the Emiya boy had seemed to get her rhythm and get steadily better at evasion, being able to read her and shirk her shots by more and more.

She was getting steadily more infuriated with this encounter than she had been, rather than be wary at her wrath. He targets had started to derive enjoyment out of the encounter. This was not a game… this was supposed to be the representation of the natural order. She was supposed to be the mighty predator! Her!

Yet it seemed like the encounter would end soon and without a scratch on her target. For all her previous confidence, the Tohsaka Magus would freely acknowledge that the boy exceeded her physically in every possible relevant manner, not only was he taller, he had also possessed a more powerful and agile physique. As such, she was steadily running out of stamina. Not that she would admit that of course, and not to the cocky bastard in front of her. He would see how lenient, humane and gracious she was by granting him a break…

Shirou was happy with how the arrangement was going. When he had first came up with his plan, he had hoped to be able to get a deal with Rin without threatening her. When he had resorted to that, he was dreading working with a Rin that had a grudge on him. It had seemed that his worries were unfounded. Rin was actually taking this arrangement surprisingly well.

Rather than being a typical cold-hearted Magus, Rin actually seemed to be quite compassionate and was not regularly abusing the terms of the agreement to achieve a form of revenge against him. When Rin had suggested a sparring match between the two of them yesterday, Shirou was quite baffled, she was a Magus wasn't she?

She did not seem to be willing to reveal her intentions for the sparring match yesterday so Shirou had refrained from asking. He had personally come up with a theory for her actions however, while Shirou had initially assumed it was her method of evaluation of his skills, he now believed that while that was her main objective, she had a secondary objective.

She was obviously worried for their relationship and how to better prepare him to work together with her. It was obviously a form of bonding. She was even concerned about him. She seemed like was trying her best to hit him which was to prepare him in an event of a confrontation with Kirei. She had even replicated what Shirou had perceived to be Kirei's fighting style. The encounter in the sparring match would contribute leads and bounds in ensuring Shirou's future safety. She was ramping up her attempts to keep him safe!

When Shirou had come over this morning, her first assignment was to work with her to cover up the loopholes as well as work in improving the security and reliability of the bounded fields of the Tohsaka Mansion. Shirou had done it without objections, it was one of the main selling points of their agreement after all.

She had then proceeded to drag him to her workshop and began to pull out some books and passed them to him. She had started lecturing him about the history of the Tohsaka, from conception to now and begun to explain the rough details regarding the Tohsaka Jewelcraft. After explaining her family's art, she continued to inform him about her personal progress about her magecraft. She had started to look annoyed halfway through her explanations. Was she expecting something from him?

Regardless, Shirou wholeheartedly approved of her decision to inform him about her progress and potential in Thaumaturgy. As an assistant, he should know the capabilities of what she could do in order to better assist her and work better together. This seemed like yet another attempt at helping each other to develop a bond.

Shirou was interested in her explanations, his father while formidable in combat was quite significantly lacking in magical knowledge. Shirou had felt this encounter as short as it was had already gone quite a way to helping him build up a foundation in learning Thaumaturgy further beyond the realms of what he already knew.

He was also rather impressed at her skills in magecraft but was more interested in the specific's instead. This had seemed to increase the level of annoyance in her. He had some questions but refrained from asking for the moment. As much as Rin was being extremely helpful and concerned about him, he felt that bad things would happen to him if he were to voice any of his inquiries about his interest in her magecraft…

"… In conclusion, I am a first-rate Magus that with the ability to conduct magecraft of all elements as well as use powerful spells with and without the aid of my magical crest…" Concluded Rin, with her arms folded in a lecture pose.

The Emiya magus had looked impressed and interested at her knowledge magecraft throughout her lecture which had appeased her somewhat, but that was not the effect she was aiming for… She was still waiting for it... She was still waiting for the Emiya to be shocked in a state of awe and fear over her power and potential in Thaumaturgy.

It had seemed that her attempt had not worked quite as well as she wanted. No doubt, the Emiya now had an idea of her skills and capabilities but he not yet intimidated. This was not a desired result for Rin. She had wanted to express her superiority over the mage that had threatened her by showing the gulf and gap in their abilities and how he was lucky that she was benevolent enough to accept his deal. Rin conveniently ignored that she was threatened into the agreement with the Emiya magus.

The plan was not yet a complete failure however… Rin decided to try to recuperate her failure of her plan by inquiring about the abilities and progress of the Emiya about his magecraft. He must have been a knowledgeable magus for his age to be able to bypass the Tohsaka bounded fields if not as great as her…

"Wait! You don't even know what your element is?"

"What spells do you know?"

"What about Runes?"

"Alchemy?"

"Healing?"

"Why do you only know such strange aspects of magecraft?" Rin shrieked, placing her arms bent behind her head and looking devastated.

"…"

It had seemed that her situation was worse than she feared. She may have gotten an assistant to assist her in her progress in magecraft, but she doubted that he would be able to help much. She expected his aptitude in magecraft to be relatively lower than hers, but she had not expected this…

She had not expected her 'assistant' to be so lacking in knowledge in Thaumaturgy. It had seemed the sum total of his talents were regarding bounded fields and Material Transmutation. He was lacking in most of the basic knowledge that should be the foundation of even a third-rate Magus. The Emiya was apparently currently an overly specialised magus and while Rin had no issues with him being an overly specialized magus, Rin had an issue with him being an overly specialized Magus that was her 'assistant'.

Rin could not have possibility had a large headache at that moment. She had initially been looking forward to the arrangement through the Geis for she desired an aid who would be able to help accelerate the progress in her magecraft. It seemed that she had hopes too high for would was instead be the cause of possible hinderance of her progress in magecraft.

It would be fine if he had other specializations but Rin had no use for knowledge of bounded fields beyond improving the Tohsaka bounded fields. And material transmutation was widely considered as a useless area to possess a specialization in. While it was different for the Tohsaka, requiring structural analysis in their Jewelcraft, she would not allow her 'assistant' to assist her in her family's specializations while he had not yet gained her trust. This meant that the areas in which she would require assistance would not receive the benefit from the assistance.

While Rin was displeased with this turn of events, there was a silver lining. From the lack of knowledge that the Emiya Magus possessed in Thaumaturgy, she was relieved that her agreement made was not an elaborate plot conducted to steal knowledge of the Tohsaka magecraft.

At least now Rin knew that while she didn't trust him, it was unlikely that he wished her harm and had a devious plot up his sleeves. Her evaluation of him was that while he seemed generally astute, he was also not too much of a threat to her now. Furthermore, this situation could be better salvaged. She was hitting a block in her progress in magecraft and she was feeling rather bored recently. She supposed that she could devote some resources in educating a competent assistant in magecraft, she was still young and full of youth after all…

"Fine… It seems that I will have no choice but to be a teacher and educate you in the foundations of magecraft after all… Shirou…"

Shirou was confused at what had occurred. The Tohsaka Magus had just finished her lecture on her abilities of magecraft when she had then turned around and started vigorously questioning him about the depth of his knowledge in magecraft.

He had informed her that he was a specialized Magus due to both his and his father's lack of education within the foundations of magecraft and while in the beginning she was fine, once he had informed her about the subjects of his specializations, she had begun developing a twitch.

She had seemed to suddenly gained a desperation and had started manically question him about different aspects of magecraft and his knowledge. After her questioning had stopped, her expression had turned into one of severe displeasure. She had begun throwing a minor silent fit in which she begun stomping around the room and she had ended the fit with offering to educate him in magecraft out of the blue. Wasn't he supposed to help her instead of the reverse?

He was extremely surprised at the offer for while she had seemed to be quite a good person thus far, he still expected some anger about being threatened into such an arrangement. While she looked angry, she had offered him an education in magecraft. She must inwardly be a caring individual, Shirou thought.

"Well?" Rin once again inquired, eyes twitching at her generous offer of studying under a first-rate magus such as her not being immediately accepted.

"err… Yes, I would like that" shirou replied.

"Don't mistake this for me being kind… I am only doing this so that you would be a competent assistant to help me in my magecraft in the future…"

Shirou was skeptical at her words. While it was likely she was speaking the truth for she had no motive to lie, her actions had been to the contrary. Once the arrangement had started, she had treated him cordially while acting in his interests and this had seemed like another attempt at doing just that. Shirou resolved not to think too much on the offer. He was pleased with the offer as there was only so much that he could obtain regarding books on magecraft and Kiritsugu was also severely lacking in knowledge in Thaumaturgy. Shirou looked forward to undergoing his future lessons in magecraft regardless of the intentions of the female Tohsaka…

Authors Notes:

More of Shirou's motivations and why he was avoiding a confrontation with Rin.

We see more of Rin's internal thought and how she plans out a confrontation with Shirou as well as her thoughts on the fact that Kirei may have killed her father as well as the initial confrontations between the pair. Basically Rin hates Kirei and accepts the possibility but does not full embrace it and remains objective in the face of not knowing more especially even with her own acknowledged hatred of him. We discover the roots of her hatred of Kirei. We also revisit her main misgivings about the deal with Shirou which is basically the fact that she was threatened into it, ignoring the fact that she wouldn't have agreed in any other situation.

Due to Rin's humiliation and anger over being threatened, this is a form of revenge and show of dominance. She vindictively teases Shirou but her main objective is to show dominance as well as reaffirm that what she now knows about the Holy Grail War is completely true. We also see her thoughts on what she thinks is an miniaturist attempt by Shirou in order to get a deal with her and Rin's attempt to throw Shirou off is mostly to get an insight into his character. She basically discovers that Shirou is basically harmless in nature and the satisfaction from many instances of petty revenge is enough.

Her idea to spar with Shirou was basically thought up on impulse but as a part of the many instances of petty revenge. It's also another show of dominance. The way in which Shirou had caught her off guard in order to force her into a Geis really bugs her and that's why she keeps having these shows of dominance.

Poor Shirou with effectively only three years of seclusion with strange adults as a form of social contact after the fire completely misunderstands Rin's intentions. He believes that She is only trying to evaluate his level and the on instead believes that she is also trying to bond with him which is indirectly happening, but not Rin's intentions at all.

Having failed in her attempt to show Shirou who's 'boss', Rin instead tries a different approach by revealing her progress in magecraft. Instead, Shirou is more interested about the magecraft itself and what Rin knows of magecraft rather then being afraid about her prodigious talent. Rin, thinking that Shirou is looking down on her instead seeks to compare their levels of magecraft in which she discovers that what Shirou knows is disjointed and weird aspects of magecraft. Due to Kiritsugu, and Shirou never getting an actual education in magecraft, he has no idea whatsoever about the basics.

Rin gets worried that she has gotten out many times worse from their agreement but instead tries to turn the situation into a positive as another show of superiority as well as a revision of what she knows. Due to her hitting a slight roadblock in her magecraft recently and her refusal to turn to Kirei for help, this is what she hopes to achieve in the meantime.