Sakura Matou approached consciousness as routinely as a clock approaches the hour. In fact it wasn't until she had gotten up and started heading towards her wardrobe to change that she realised that her wardrobe wasn't there; and she wasn't in her pyjama's and that this wasn't her room. She started racking her brain trying to find out how she got here when she noticed something unusual.

The worms in her body that had been her constant companions for her entire life were silent. They no longer writhed about causing her pain nor lust and she felt calm and in control over herself for the first time in her life. Even as she marvelled at their lack she felt sudden nervousness wash over her as she waited for the other shoe to drop.

"Awake I see," the voice came from her peripherals and caused her to jump and spin in place.

Turning she saw the image of a handsome man with both black hair and black irises. He had the features of a westerner and seemed to be only one or two years older than herself. He was dressed in an expensive looking suit and had a gentle smile upon his features.

"No need to panic," the man waved his hand at her in a disarming manner. "You're safe here, nobody in this house wishes you any harm." At seeing Sakura's still nervous look he continued. "If we were going to harm you then why would we treat you and bring you back into our house to rest." The man suddenly looked towards a watch on his wrist. "It's ten 'o clock and you have been asleep for the past fifteen hours, you must be hungry, there is food waiting for you downstairs. Just turn left and head forwards and down the stairs and follow your nose. There are clothes waiting for you on the desk behind you. If you have any further problems then just yell and I will appear."

With that the man turned on his heel and headed out of the room leaving behind an overwhelmed Sakura. Taking a few deep breaths to steady herself she decided to comply for now. She changed into the simple dress that she noticed with some unease fitted perfectly on her body. She broke into a sweat at the thought that somebody had seen her defiled body. Taking deep breaths she calmed herself. They might not know she thought, it would take a magus for them to identify the worms and there was no evidence that the person in front of her was anybody but a person who had found her collapsed and taken her in out of compassion.

Stepping out of the room clad in the given vestments she followed the man's instructions. Almost immediately upon heading downstairs she began to smell the breakfast that was promised to her. The smell was mouth-watering and Sakura's stomach grumbled as she quickened her pace. Stepping into the kitchen she was confronted by the sight of two people already in, one she recognized and one she did not.

The person she recognized was the man who had appeared when she woke up. He now wore an apron and a chef's hat and was frying bacon in a pan over the stove. The one she didn't recognize was a woman just a bit older than her age with brown hair and with bloodshot eyes that hovered over a cup of coffee like it was her lifeline occasionally taking sips from the strong substance like she was a drowning woman and the drink was her oxygen.

She hovered in the doorway not wanting to disturb the two when the woman at the table noticed her. "Nine, she's come down. You can dish up for her now."

"I am aware of that Lady Yumizuka," the man who Sakura now identified as Nine stated. "I need not remind you that my senses are sharper than yours, especially in your sleep-addled state. Now that I mention it I would like to reiterate my beliefs that you would better assist my master by going to sleep."

"Fine," the woman who was apparently called Yumizuka said and got up. Smiling at the purple headed visitor to the house despite the tired look in her eyes she spoke. "Welcome to this residence. I'm afraid the owner is currently asleep and being cuddled to death." Behind the girl Nine let out a snort of laughter as the image of a stationary Shirou being cuddled up to by a similarily unconscious Arcueid flitted through his mind. He had refrained from taking pictures because he had a feeling it would annoy his master but it was a mental image that he would carry for a while.

"If you have any problems ask Nine. He's both a butler and one of the few who are still awake and not currently working," the brown haired girl continued, Nine nodding in assent behind her. "I'm taking the far room on the ground floor Nine," she called out to the butler and he nodded his assent.

Sitting down at the table she started to eat the traditional western breakfast that was laid before her Sakura started to speak to the butler. "Excuse me , what exactly happened last night,"

The butler sighed making Sakura feel slightly bad, "Firstly Lady Matou," he said. "Call me Nine please, not . Nine was the designation I received when I was created to be a familiar."

Sakura reeled at this knowledge. Familiar implied that this was a magus family and then they would be aware of her abuse, but Nine looked like no familiar she had ever seen. Familiars to her knowledge were normal animals that were infused with spirits and donated magical circuits. However Nine showed more intelligence than a familiar was typically supposed to and was in the shape of a human.

Then the shape of Nine flickered revealing teeth and eyes and blackness before he was back to the form of the butler that was currently dishing food onto the plate. Looking at her the human looking familiar smiled at her shocked face. "I actually never said I was a familiar Lady Matou, only that I was created to be one. You could say that my master succeeded beyond what he thought possible or tremendously failed depending on your perspective." The being clapped his hands. "Now eat up you have a long and hard day ahead of you and it probably shouldn't be faced on an empty stomach.

With no more encouragement needed Sakura ate from her plate while still keeping an eye on Nine who busied around cleaning up the kitchen.

Suddenly while she was eating she heard the sounds of shuffling footsteps. "Ahh Master Inke you're up," Nine said as he laid another two plates of food. "Thank you for bringing him here Lady Arcueid."

Sakura turned around and saw two people entering the doorway. One was familiar and the other unfamiliar. The male was leaning on the female's shoulder and with a start she realised that the man was her fellow student Shirou Inke. "No problem Nine," the blond woman in the white shirt and purple skirt said. "Just sit down Shirou I'll help you out today."

Shirou really did not look good. Sakura realised with a blush that he was only wearing pants but his torso was covered with bandages. His usually sharp eyes had clouded over and hosted a look of disorientation. His eyes sharpened a bit when he saw Sakura but that ended quickly as he slowly shuffled over to the table and plopped down into the chair wincing as he sat down.

"Nine," he said his voice barely more than a whisper. "Was Nolava retrieved?"

"Unfortunately it was broken in the impact master," the butler spoke up. "Crushed beyond any hope of repair, I would advise you to try again."

Shirou acknowledged this with a nod and then winced and clutched his head. Turning towards Sakura he addressed her for the first time since he entered the room. "I apologize but I'm not feeling very well at the moment," he said his voice dry and cracked. "I'm sure you have many questions but the facts boil down to this. Last night you were incapacitated due to an event that happened in the city. During the event I learned both of the horrors that Zouken inflicted on you and the future problems he presented. I immediately went over to the mansion and confronted him. During the confrontation he attacked me and I killed him. Your brother Shinji died in the crossfire, devoured by stray worms. Currently you are the head of the Matou family and a will has been found leaving the mansion and the rest of the Matou fortune to you."

He stopped after that series of worldshaking revelations and addressed his servant. "Nine can you start pouring me water. I've lost a simply absurd amount of liquids and I need to replenish."

At this point Sakura was panicking. In her world Zouken was a being that couldn't be defied or the person would suffer. For years she had suffered despair due to her situation and she had given up on ever finding a way out of her situation and satisfied herself with a life of anguish and did her best to minimize that suffering by never defying her grandfather. The thought of one of her classmates just killing the source of her problems was…

"You're lying!" she suddenly stood up slamming her hands against the table. "Grandfather would never die that easily. I need to go back before he takes his anger out on you also." She made to leave but was stopped by the girl named Arcueid who gripped on her shoulder with surprising strength leaving her stuck.

"Oww," Shirou said rubbing his head. "Please keep it down," he said his voice harsher but soft as ever. "I have a bitch of a migraine and yelling like that isn't helping."

"Sorry," Sakura replied apologetically keeping her voice deliberately low.

"Here," said Shirou handing her a book. To Sakura's inspection she realized it was a book on the Matou magecraft. Moreover she realized that it wasn't a book that was found in the Matou library or any other place she could have seen it. This meant that it could have only been gotten from Zouken's workshop. No living Magus would ever allow someone into their workshop unless it was an apprentice. The odds were starting to look better that he was dead and that Shirou had actually killed him.

"But how," she said her voice full of incredulity. "Zouken was a powerful Magus and he was inside his house. How could you win?"

"Something, Sakura," Shirou replied, "You might learn later in your life is that there is always a bigger fish."

"Master Inke," Nine piped up from beside him. "Didn't we have a talk about quoting movies? You're not even quoting a very good one."

"Shut up Nine," Shirou snapped and then winced due to his constant headache. "That was a great quote and the Phantom Menace was not that bad a movie," he continued softly.

Nine merely rolled his eyes as Shirou resumed his eating ignoring the bubbling thoughts of Sakura.

xxx

Sakura turned the key that was presented to her by Nine in the lock and entered the house in which she had suffered so many torments. Shirou had mentioned that there was a will that stated everything was left to her but he had also winked when he said it as if he was letting her in on a secret. The thought that they may have forged a will in her name left a slightly sour taste in her mouth that she didn't know what to feel about. This compounded with the fact that both of them had died due to her, although Shirou was quick to ensure that he would have gotten around to killing Zouken eventually.

That was another thing that had thrown her. Shirou, from the things he had said as well as what had been implied by the others around him, was incredibly powerful but before today she didn't have a clue that he was anything more than the eccentric, rebellious cheerful guy. He had explained that the reason he had kept it secret was so that he could both avoid the Magus association and so that he could annoy Rin. While she didn't know what she felt about him annoying her sister she decided not to do anything that would antagonize the powerful upperclassmen who had done so much for her.

Stepping into the atrium she was overcome by a sense of peace. Even without venturing further into the house she finally realized that Zouken was gone forever. The walls chittered less, the house was less full with dread and the bugs inside her body did still not alert her that she had his attention. She fell down to her knees and burst into tears. Whether it was from sadness that her brother who she had once loved was dead, the fact that the looming spectre of Zouken was gone or the fact that she had spent so much of her life in pain and only now could she mourn for it she could not tell.

Suddenly a handkerchief appeared in front of her and she took it almost unconsciously and had already blown her nose before she looked up at the two figures that stood in front of her. Neither of them was familiar. The woman on the right had blonde hair and blue eyes as well as a voluptuous figure that was very obvious from the orange bikini that she wore she stood at about six feet.

The man next to her also stood at six feet and had blonde hair but that was where the resemblance ended. He had red eyes and was dressed in a black leather jacket and pants. In addition his very presence called for Sakura to submit and she felt an almost instinctive desire to kneel before him and prostrate herself.

Suddenly the blonde lady lashed out in a blow towards the man at such a speed that Sakura could only perceive the afterimage. The man merely stepped back avoiding the blow without even looking towards the woman.

"Turn down the mind-affecting mojo," she said. "She's already not having the best day. Please try not to make it worse."

"It's not an ability that I can just turn on and off," the man said looking at his companion lazily. "It's just people when confronted by my majesty naturally feel inferior. What do you want me to do put a bag over my head."

Looking at his companions assenting face the man sighed to himself. "Oh by all the gods," he swore. He reached into space and pulled out a brown hooded coat made of fine cloth that he immediately put on. Suddenly the oppressive need to bow and scrape before the man was gone.

"I'll put this on for now," the man said his voice lacking the power of his previous appearance and his features concealed by the hood. "But this will not become a recurring theme. I have no wish to overuse my treasure."

"Anyway," the woman said as she turned towards Sakura again. "I'm Sumire and this is Gilgamesh. We just came to fix up the house and stage the accident in which Zouken and Shinji were killed. So," she said. "Do you want to be visiting a friend while this occurred or do you want to have left to go to the shops?"

"What," said Sakura bewildered by the line of questioning that had had arisen. "Shops," she said after a bit of thinking. "I don't have enough friends."

Ignoring Sumire's pitying look she continued, "And what is this about staging an accident."

"Obviously we have to come up with a cover story as to how they died," the cloaked Gilgamesh said as if talking to somebody slow. "If we don't provide a cover story to a battle between supernatural beings Alaya will, and I assure you she's nowhere near as precise as we are. Don't worry about it," he stated dismissively towards her. "There is no need for you to know the cover story. We will sort it out. Just go and celebrate your freedom no matter how poorly you may go about it."

Suddenly Sakura found herself grow furious at the cloaked man. "What would you know," she said. "Do you think it's that easy to move on? To just celebrate the fact that I'm alone? That they're gone and now I'm fine as if it didn't happen?"

"You're scared," the man said bluntly. "You had lost hope for so long you became nothing but a corpse. Now when you're taking your first breath you are immediately terrified of it being your last. Hope is one of the scariest things in the world and despair is the most comforting. You manage to rise from the abyss and all you can think of is how scared you are of falling back in."

Sakura was staring wide-eyed at the man each of his words hitting her like a sledgehammer. For the first time since she was awake she acknowledged the kernel of hope that sat surrounded by the mire of fear.

"You forget two things," Gilgamesh continued. "One you're not alone. Shirou saved you. That means he has at least a nominal interest in your wellbeing. Many of his friends would also be glad to help you out. Plus you're tripping Sumire's maternal instincts pretty hard right now. If you're not careful you will find yourself in a swimsuit before too long."

"Second," he said ignoring Sumire's pout. "You have reached rock bottom. Take it from somebody who knows that it is only those who have reached that pit of despair who understand the true meaning of joy. Every memory that you make from now on exists separately from the memories you've had up until now. It is the bad times we endure so that we may appreciate when the good times appear and the good times we cherish so that they may carry us through the bad times." He reached out his arms and after a moment's hesitation Sakura took it and hugged the golden haired man tightly. "Go out and experience the world young woman. It is only by both experiencing pleasure and loss that you can live as a human. Be sure that when you do die you can look back at your life and smile."

With that speech by Gilgamesh done both of them spoke for a bit longer before left the house. As soon as they left the house Sumire turned towards her companion. "What was that?" she said. "You've never struck me as the kind of person to do that before."

Gilgamesh removed his cloak and smile ruefully. "I owed Shirou a favour, don't ask for what. He asked me to help Sakura and I agreed."

"So…," Sumire said awkwardly. "How much of that do you actually believe?"

"Every word," Gilgamesh said. "Just as you do?"

"What do you mean," Sumire said aggressively affixing Gilgamesh with a glare.

"Please," the golden king said rolling his eyes. "That won't work on me. Besides a person who has reached the abyss of despair will always recognize another."

"Your story sounds interesting," Sumire said changing the subject.

"Maybe I will tell you about it someday," Gilgamesh said politely as the two of them headed back to Shirou's house.

Author Note Next is the start of the grail war. Wow it felt like it took a long time to get there. Now is the last time for people to send servant recommendations that I will most probably ignore:). In all honesty I have selected most of them and I will probably take a week off just to plan the structure of the following chapters.

AnimeA55Kicker Soon but not at the moment

Hyperomegasonic26 Nope Zepia's not waking up.

Guest And I might write one after I've written a few fics for other series. Of course it would involve time-travel aliens and alternated realities if I was doing it.

Archleone Any plans for Satsuki and Rin will not currently be spoiled. While I don't like to self promote if you want to read a harem story my one shot has partially evolved into a full on story in which one half of the main character desires a harem. It's a Rosario to Vampire story is not what you're thinking of and I might publish the first chapter while I'm in the middle of planning out how the grail war will work.