aliesterus: MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! It's my specialty.

Wrought Iron Scarlet Devil

Marisa popped her head off Reimu's pillow, covered in cold sweat. She sat there, gasping for a few seconds before wiping her forehead and letting out a long sigh.

"The hell was that?" she asked herself.

Sitting there for a bit longer, she eventually let out a big sigh and swung herself off the bed and picked up her broom from the doorframe.

After the weird encounter with Tenshi the previous day, Marisa decided to stay around in the shrine for the night, if only because she didn't like the chances of Nasupil, the poor kid, going off without being forcibly enlisted into some youkai rebellion. Right now, he and Leonidas were lying on a mat that Reimu kept around for guests, the Servant making horse sounds that apparently qualified as snoring and the kid groping around in his sleep, tossing back and forth.

Seeing this, Marisa put her hands on her hips and sighed.

"What am I going to do about you?" she said, amused.

The moment those words left her lips, Nasupil's eyes snapped open and his pupils dilated, staring at her.

Putting her hands up, the witch murmured, "Okay, no staring, creepy."

His gaze relaxed, and he sat up, saying, "Sorry about that. I'm just..."

"On edge? Terrified? About to piss your pants?"

Nasupil gave her a withering look... well, it would have been if he didn't look so weak.

"Come on, hurry up," Marisa told him. "Imma go visit Remilia today. We gotta chat about something."

The Spectrum Operator's eyes brightened and a smile itched at his mouth. "Lady Remilia Scarlet?"

"Er-yeah."

He fist pumped, and Marisa decided not to press the question.

She waited out front as Nasupil fixed his hakama and Leonidas snapped out of his sleep. Then they both walked over to her, looking excited.

"Alright, ladies," Marisa said, grinning as both guys had a reaction. "Let's go!"

.

Girls do their best now and are preparing. Please wait warmly until it is ready.

.

Somehow, Marisa always ended up running into Shirou.

"Hey, is that...?" she started once he came into view, and Nasupil nodded in confirmation.

It was indeed Shirou, who was taking a small step back behind a woman who was standing next to him. She was tall, elegant, and wore a Chinese dress, orange hair billowing past her waist, and had a smile that wasn't wavered even by the people she was facing: Rumia and a large, black knight who had smoke surrounding his body.

Shirou looked a bit apprehensive as he said, "Hey, Mom...?"

The woman waved what he said away and replied, "It'll be fine, Shirou. Just let things come to pass."

The knight put his face right up to Shirou's, and the young man visibly gulped. Rumia, arms out as usual, just smiled as this happened.

"Oy!" Marisa shouted. "The heck's going on here?"

Rumia turned to her and put a finger to her lips. The black knight continued to observe Shirou and...

...he turned away and stomped past Marisa and co. Rumia shrugged and floated after him, leaving Shirou relieved as he let out a long sigh.

"That was close..." he said.

The woman patted him on the back, her smile not moving at all.

Marisa walked over and asked, "What was that all about?"

Gaining his composure back, Shirou told her, "Well, that girl and her Servant just passed by my mom and I, and then he just started... checking me out."

"What a perv. And he has poor taste, too."

"Hey!"

His mother smiled and offered a hand to Marisa in greeting. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Kirisame. My name's Junko."

The name rung a bell, but Marisa pushed that aside as she shook the woman's hand.

"Yeah, sure," she said.

Nasupil and Leonidas hung around in the back, both looking uncomfortable. Whether it was from Rumia or Junko, Marisa wasn't sure, but she had a sneaking suspicion it was the latter.

Junko patted Marisa's cheek in a motherly kind of way and said, "We'll be going now. It was a pleasure to meet you."

"Wait, mom," Shirou said.

The woman turned to her son and asked, "Yes, dear?"

"Can I go with them for today?"

Her mouth didn't move, but suddenly Junko's smile seemed to drop to sub-zero levels.

Finally, she said, "Oh, go ahead. Just be ready in time for supper."

Shirou nodded, and Junko walked away.

With an awkward pause, they all stood there for a few seconds before Nasupil asked Shirou, "You wanna come to the Scarlet Devil Mansion?"

Shrugging, the other boy replied, "Sure, why not?"

They began their trek to the home of Remilia Scarlet, and, conversationally, Leonidas asked Marisa, "How is your life?"

To the point. She liked that.

"My life is great," she remarked. "I mean, going out to exterminate youkai with my best buddy, hanging out with Alice and collecting stuff, and stealing books from Patchouli. Then, I finally get to mess with Kourin on the weekend."

With a chuckle, Shirou remarked, "That's an exciting life, I'd say."

Nasupil nodded, and Leonidas seemed to consider her answer.

Jabbing a finger at Shirou, Marisa asked, "So, anything exciting with your life?"

"Not really," Shirou admitted. "I mostly just stay at home with mom and Aunt Hecatia, play board games, cook, or clean."

Something about the name of Shirou's aunt made alarm gongs ring in Marisa's head, but she couldn't remember and ended up bagging it.

Turning to Nasupil, Shirou asked, "Well, what about you?"

The boy shrugged and replied, "I just stay home, get paid to color things, and buy food to eat."

Marisa laughed and said, "Wow, that's boring!"

Nasupil smiled and shrugged, like What can you do?

They began chatting and cracking jokes, mostly about each others' bad habits, and eventually Leonidas joined in. Unfortunately, this caused them to almost crash into the two old men.

"Watch your step."

All four of them looked up from their chatting to see a pair of old guys, both wearing traditional hakamas, one brown and black, the other green and white, katanas at their sides. None of them could tell which old man spoke. They considered the group, eyes attentive.

Without a word, the green and white one straightened out Nasupil's own hakama and walked past them. The other man followed him.

Watching them go, Nasupil asked, "What was that all about?"

"I'm not sure, Master," Leonidas informed him, "...but one of them was a Servant, and neither were hostile."

The gates of the Scarlet Devil Mansion came into view, and they could see the gateguard Hong Meiling snoring. They got closer, and Meiling's eyes snapped open and she got into a fighting pose.

"Yo, Meiling!" Marisa went as a greeting.

Meiling, clearly not recognizing the other three, scanned them, mouth in a straight line. It was clear she was gauging their auras. She frowned at Leonidas, her eyes widened at Nasupil, then she scowled at Shirou.

"Hey, when did you learn how to shapeshift?" she demanded.

Shirou looked confused as he repeated, "'Shapeshift'?"

Meiling nodded, and, trying to find a way out of this, Marisa kicked the gates open and called, "Come on, let's go already!"

Looking between Marisa and Meiling, all three guys eventually followed Marisa, leaving the gateguard glaring at them.

Inside the mansion, fairies cleaned any physical surface: floors, walls, windows, carpets... and all that made the mansion smell like cleaning fluid.

Usually Marisa would steal books from under Patchouli's nose, but she wanted to go meet the head honcho herself, Marisa began walking upstairs to Remilia's room, where she assumed the vampire would be. Leonidas, Nasupil, and Shirou began following her. At the top of the stairs, Sakuya was wiping the wall, humming and smiling.

"You look happy," Marisa remarked.

Sakuya turned to them, still smiling, and responded, "Yes."

"Well... got a story why?"

The Head Maid disappeared. She probably didn't want to chat.

Hearing a door open then slam closed, Marisa noted it and went over to the source. Funnily enough, it came from the direction of Remilia's room.

"Geez, how big is this place?" Nasupil muttered.

In front of the master bedroom, Marisa saw Remilia sitting down next to the door, her face between her knees.

"Oy, Remi!" Marisa greeted, not considering what might have happened.

Remilia's head snapped up, her eyes red. Seeing Marisa and co., she got up and brushed her dress off.

"Marisa Kirisame. C-Crass as ever," she greeted, hiccupping when she said 'crass.'

"Were you crying?" Marisa asked bluntly.

"No."

Marisa nodded sarcastically. The guys were eyeing Remilia warily. Seeing how Marisa clearly didn't believe her, Remilia raised an eyebrow at the Ordinary Magician. Marisa didn't back down and held her gaze.

Then the master bedroom door opened, and a young, tanned man with stark-white hair wearing a red cloak walked out.

"Master," he said to Remilia, "...while I am sorry about hurting you, I'm not taking back what I sai-"

He noticed the others, and looked past Marisa and saw Shirou. His face contorted to utter rage, and he shoved past Marisa and grabbed the boy by the collar.

"Ouch, ze!" Marisa cried, but nobody paid attention to her.

Lifting Shirou to eye level, the man shouted, "What the hell are you doing here?!"

Shirou was surprisingly calm as he replied, "I have no idea who you are."

"Stop lying!"

"I'm not!"

Leonidas grabbed the man by the shoulder and said, "Let him go."

Next to him, Nasupil looked a bit panicked but made no move to leave. Marisa herself was utterly bewildered at the scene.

Reluctantly, the man dropped Shirou, who landed on his feet and gave him a hard stare. The man gave him one last look of contempt before walking away.

Glaring at him as he went, Marisa turned to Remilia and asked, "Who was that?"

"My Servant."

Marisa rolled her eyes before asking again, "What's his name?"

"Mm. He said his name was... EMIYA."

Recognizing the name, not from Rinnosuke's books, Marisa whirled to Shirou and asked, "Do you know him?"

Shirou shook his head. "Never seen him before in my life."

Marisa frowned.

"Hey, when did you learn how to shapeshift?"

The gatekeeper's words echoed in Marisa's head. She had an idea of what was going on, but it sounded too weird.

"Hey, why isn't your Servant Vlad or something?" Marisa asked, remembering the vampire listed in Rinnosuke's book.

Remilia shrugged before replying, "I wanted a cook. EMIYA is an excellent one."

Marisa could tell that she was lying. But clearly the real answer hurt, but-

"You're lying," Marisa accused the Scarlet Devil.

Remilia glared at her. She then huffed and flew away.

Feeling annoyed, Marisa didn't notice the fairy servant tapping her shoulder right away. Once she did, the fairy just gave her a letter and flew away. Opening it, Marisa read what was contained within.

"Go find Yuyuko Saigyouji. Reimu will need your help."

"Sketchy," Marisa muttered. "But I got nothing better to do."

Nasupil stared at her and asked, "What is it?"

With a grin, happy to finally have something to do, Marisa turned to the guys and asked, "So, who wants to see the Saigyou Ayakashi?"

...

I'm sorry if this chapter is a bit weak. I had written it all out but I accidentally stored all tabs before it saved... and I couldn't exactly remember what I wrote so it came out like this.

Anyways, I always love getting reviews from you guys! I want to hear your thoughts! So please review!

Also, to find out what Sakuya was so happy about, read by Touhou/Dark Souls crossover, Strings. It won't be relevant in this story.