Crane Flaps Wings (Fight)
(Emiya house)
(Shirou)
The doorbell rang. "It's unlocked!" Shirou called out, knowing it was probably Rin, since Taiga both knew and wouldn't bother checking. Rin entered and closed the door as Kuro appeared in front of her.
"Hey Sasaku, I've been wondering," the visiting magus asked casually, as the addressed Servant looked up from the book she had been reading. "What's up with your weird Bounded Field... Caster?"
From where he was in the kitchen, Shirou saw Sasaku jump to her feet as Kuro's twin swords flashed into her hands. The Archer darted forward.
"Master, get down!" A long polearm appeared in his Servant's hands as she rushed to intercept Kuro.
(Sasaku)
Kuro may have had the element of surprise but, probably expecting the longsword, was repelled by the reach and heft of the swordstaff facing her. "Gah." That said though, unlike Lancer, she was serious from the very start.
Rather than let up, the Archer immediately charged in again. Rather than her instinctual thrust, Sasaku shortened her grip and instead pulled back while slashing. A couple of fine needle-like beams shot out towards Kuro but simply dissipated due to her Magic Resistance.
From behind, Rin had shot several Gandr, taking advantage of the height difference between the two Servants to avoid hitting her own. A couple did hit, but of course, a human's curse is much easier to purge with ((Higher Law)).
"Stop playing around," Rin said while making towards the kitchen, which Sasaku noticed immediately. Damn, Shirou!
When she looked back, Kuro was holding two pairs of swords which were immediately flung towards her. Moving sideways and backwards to gain as much time as possible, Sasaku swiped at the two nearest to her and then on the return swing, the other two.
Wait, where did Kuro go?
(Shirou)
"Aggh!" Shirou felt the air painfully leaving his body as it was slammed against the wall. Despite her size, Rin had thrown him easily, was it some form of magecraft?
"I don't want to hurt you," Rin threatened him almost apologetically. Given that she had him at... spellpoint, he sincerely hoped she was telling the truth.
Just to the side, Kuro's thrown swords were repelled, but rather than just buying time for Rin's action, it seemed she had already been planning a serious attack from the start.
There was a brief moment where the Archer was standing empty-handed in front of Sasaku, while her swords closed in. But right as the weapons were parried, Kuro appeared behind her opponent.
"Behind!" The warning came too late.
Sasaku let go of her weapon and reached for a dagger, but before she could do so or turn, Kuro's low kick slammed into the back of her right knee, sending her to the ground.
(Sasaku)
Despite being able to track the four thrown swords with ease despite their unusual motions through the air, thanks to the nature of Shirou's house becoming her Realm, it was basically this usefulness that betrayed her.
Kuro's technique allowed a short-distance feat similar to teleportation - this was obvious when she disappeared from in front of Sasaku's eyes without leaving any discernible trail. This was, of course, because she didn't directly traverse any space, or take any time to do so. A more seasoned warrior would have immediately moved forward, as it was clearly empty of threats.
But I instinctively tried to widen my search area instead of dodging forward.
...
Reaching forward as Sasaku lost her balance and fell over, Kuro grabbed a fistful of her opponent's hair, dragging her head backwards while jamming a foot into the back of her knee to keep her down. "Sorry onee-chan, but this is your loss."
Kuro was just faster on the draw, with a new weapon appearing about as fast as the speed of thought, compared to the delay in triggering the Armory and then withdrawing a sidearm. The latter process also took an act of will to activate, hand motions aside.
It was this, faster, white shortsword that was pressed against Sasaku's neck.
(Shirou)
"O~nee~chan~?"
Kuro drew her weapon ever so gently across his Servant's neck, leaving behind a thin red line that also smudged on the blade's edge. "Yes, it's Kuro's victory," Sasaku hastily admitted after being thus prompted.
"What do you want?" Sasaku said hesitantly after a moment. Kuro grinned and scraped her sword across the kneeling girl's skin, which had no real purpose except to make her tremble. She's just rubbing it in he thought sourly.
"I was thinking it was time to negotiate the terms of our alliance," Rin said airily.
"What?- Argg-!" Shirou dropped to the ground as Rin's unleashed Gandr hit him. "Don't make sounds like you're dying, it can't do that."
She smiled sweetly before continuing, "Besides I know your Servant's Noble Phantasm will heal it away in a bit. Oh yes, I can tell this close - it's a terrible fit for her class by the way."
"Why?" he muttered into the ground. His body didn't seem able to respond in any way.
"This is a discussion between us two magi," she responded over her shoulder while walking towards the two Servants. "Just pipe down until we're finished. So..."
"What do you want?" Sasaku repeated herself in a somewhat fainter voice than before as Rin bent down to meet her at eye level.
"Hmm, for starter's, how about everything," the human magus said with a victorious tone. "Go on, beg me for it."
"I see." His Servant's flat, almost tired, response matched the thin filament of blood making its way down her collar. "So, I won't betray you for the entirety of the War, is what you want."
"And...?"
Shirou wanted to scream, pound his fist into the floor, anything but just watch as Sasaku added as though it were a mere afterthought, "And... if Kuro and I are the last Servants, I will kill myself so you can take the Grail."
"Yes, I think that'll do," Rin said, before Sasaku added "One thing. If-when I die, then you will take Shirou into your protection, as long as he wants it."
"Sure," Rin agreed easily, taking a piece of rolled up vellum from her skirt pocket and a pen. "One moment." She quickly wrote something on it before holding up the finished result in front of Sasaku's eyes.
"Do you know what this is?" Shirou didn't, but thanks to the Grail's information, his Servant did. She only replied with "Yes. I see you've planned this well in advance."
Rin reached out and ran a finger across Kuro's sword, dipping the end of the pen in her blood in order to sign the geas scroll. She then wiped the pen clean and handed it over to Sasaku.
"It won't count unless both sides sign, so do your part." Touching the pen to the blood staining the top of her dress, Sasaku did so without comment.
After confirming that the contract had taken hold properly, Rin turned to face Shirou. "Rejoice, new magus. I will guarantee your life." Damn it, damn it!-\
"Kuro, we're done here for n-?"
With the same smile looking as though it was fixed on her face, Kuro let her weapon disappear before grabbing Sasaku by the arm and slamming her into the wall behind where she had been standing.\\
Rin was taken off guard. "Kuro, what are you doing?"
"I just want a little bit~" Kuro practically sang while bringing her lips up to Sasaku's. Although taller, her target was slumped against the wall making it easy. Whether from shock or because it was pointless, Sasaku didn't even respond.
With some effort, Shirou turned his head rather than be forced to watch, but he couldn't prevent himself from -hearing- as Rin's Servant plundered the spoils of her victory.
(Kuro)
Ah, that was soo good~.
Kuro ran her tongue around the inside of her mouth then over her lips, savoring the taste of mana that went beyond the usual senses. After a moment, huh, it hasn't healed yet? she ran her finger up Sasaku's still-trickling stream of blood and licked it clean.
"Kuro?" She didn't hear Rin spluttering as a shimmering filament of her? Sasaku's? saliva caught her eye. Eh, might as well go for seconds.
Kuro leaned in again, but was stopped by a hand on her shoulder. Pausing, she turned to see that the interruption was a blushing and -furious- Rin.
"What. The. Hell. Are you doing?!" Rin ground out. "Just because we have a contract, does not mean it's fine to molest her!" Able to pull himself up by now, Shirou noted that Sasaku had not responded at all as Rin exploded in indignation.
She did as well. "For goodness sakes, what did you do, did you bloody break her?"
"I just took a bit of mana," Kuro grumbled to herself. "You'd go nuts too if you were breathing in all this amazing magical energy and couldn't actually get any of it."
"Eh?" Rin looked around in confusion. "Now that you mention it, I don't seem to be able to regenerate my prana anymore."
"It's as dense as before, how can that be?" The two of them thought about it for a moment before Rin suddenly added "Oh, I can again."
The magus frowned as the unsettling thought passed through her mind that she actually had no idea what Sasaku's Bounded Field even did, even if the Caster couldn't actually use it to harm her now.
"It hardly looks like a bit," she said after a moment. "Look, she's totally out of it."
"That shouldn't happen to a Servant though." Snapping her fingers in front of Sasaku's face, Kuro felt a bit guilty when the other girl just continued staring blankly at her. She thought about how much mana she had managed to pull from her earlier. It wasn't actually all that much. "You, you are a Caster, right?"
"Yes," came the reply in a dull tone.
"I see," Kuro replied after a moment, walking over and picking up Shirou. "Rin, basically it's a combination of her being much lower on mana than I had guessed, and-" she placed Shirou next to Sasaku so they were leaning on one another.
"And? That was a prana-draining skill?" Rin asked impatiently.
"Yes, and well, I guess I'm just a really good kisser?" Rin thonked her on the head, though it had no effect on a Servant of course.
(Shirou)
"Are you ok? Though, I don't know what I could do..."
"Yeah... just..." Was all she seemed capable of sending back. Shirou felt his hands clench into fists, though it was a beyond pointless gesture.
Rin cleared her throat, pointedly looking away from anyone else in the room. "Since the contract is sealed, er-"
"Leave." The words creaked out through his tight throat, though without losing any of their force. "You've abused my hospitality enough as is." It seemed to grow easier as he continued venting. "I won't be cooking for anyone tonight, not even myself."
Going by how Rin's eyes tightened and she grabbed Kuro by the arm, it hadn't gone without effect. "Of course. Will you two be alright?"
"We'll live."
...
Silently he watched as the pair disappeared into the courtyard outside in order to travel back to the Tohsaka house by rooftop. As the door closed behind them, Sasaku shook herself.
"I seriously never wanted to experience that again," she said in a heartbreaking tone.