Author's Note: Title of this chapter not matching what you saw when you read last chapter? Well... that's the bad side of putting in teases in the form of titles when you are writing on the fly. Sometimes plans change when the flow of the chapter takes it away from your intentions. Sorry.

Chapter Six: One Day Long Filler Bark

"Was it really necessary to give him one of my suits?" Kiritsugu complained.

Siting in the center of the sitting room was Marrok, apparently trapped in wolf form. Also, in a slightly baggy suit that naturally did not fit that man-sized wolf correctly. The well dressed wolf whined, hanging his head low as his master explained.

"Well apparently his shape changing ability in servant form is linked to clothing, so I thought it would help him turn back."

Saber sighed, "The tale has it that he needs to put back on the clothes he had on before turning. Given the situation though, that's not an option."

Kiritsugu groaned, "This guy is more trouble than he's worth."

Marrok whined.

"Hey, at least he's fully in control of himself now. Plus you saw him out there, he's still a servant even if he is in this form."

"Well he's not wearing my suit into battle!"

Irisviel suddenly brightened and smiled a big smile, "Don't they make cute shirts and hats for dogs? We could find him something at a pet store or something."

Kariya grumbled a bit as he spotted Marrok's flat cap on the ground. He went and picked it up, "Hey, he forgot his hat in the sitting room, maybe."

Placing it on the wolf's head, he urged his servant to try again. Sadly there was nothing.

"Dammit."

Emiya motioned to the man's hand, "Use a command seal."

"What if that doesn't work? I'll be down a command seal! Plus that's not something I can just call on every time he needs this form." he crouched beside his servant, "Is this form at least as good as your human one?"

Marrok barked positively.

"Is it stronger?"

Again, the wolf servant barked positively.

"Then there's no problem. He can just stay that way until we figure it out. I remember seeing a dog shirt with a tuxedo printed on the front. We can get that so he's still close to how he wanted to dress."

Artoria was not having any of that, growing angry, "There is a problem. Marrok doesn't want to be trapped as a wolf! How can you so easily dismiss your servant's plight like this?"

"Hey for all we know he could be stuck like this for seven years based on some twist on his legend!"

"I won't allow you to leave him like this! When he became a man again after that seven years he was ecstatic and did everything in is power to live as a noble and just human knight! He found peace with us as one of us. He prefers being a human! He deserves to be what he wants to be! Not stuck in one form!"

"Why are you getting so mad?"

Saber tensed, not having realized she had raised her voice so much. Taking a deep breath, apologized, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean raise my voice. I'm just worried for Sir Marrok."

Marrok whined, then moved between the two of them, bopping his head on his master and then Saber then he barked positively.

Kariya was at a loss, "What are you even saying?'

"He's trying to say we should get along."

"Right, you've known him longer than me." Kariya scratched the back of his head awkwardly, "Look, I'm worried about him too, I just think we can hold off on the temporary solution with a high cost. Let's ask him what he honestly thinks."

The pair looked at their dog, who poked Kariya with is nose.

"See, he's fine waiting."

Saber bit her lip, "I worry he might just be saying that so you don't have to use a command spell on something like this, but I will honor his wishes. Co-"

The Saber stopped her self, old habit almost making her call for Marrok to follow her. She had almost forgotten he wasn't her hound anymore. Not really. He should stay with his master she thought.

"Nevermind. I will retreat to the study for now if that is okay with you, Kiritsugu. Perhaps there is some sort of tome on creatures similar to him that can help."

"There isn't." Kiritsugu noted, "Maiya and I checked the catalog."

"Curses." Artoria muttered.

Marrok let out a noise.

"Yes, I know. You are immune to curses. This isn't the time for smug jokes."

Suddenly a small voice came from the door, "Uncle Kariya, I hear some loud noises and then yelli...Oh! Why is that doggie in a suit?"

Saber answered first, "Um, that is Sir Marrok."

Sakura gasped, "Oh wow! You really can turn into a dog! Can I ride you? The garden should be big enough. Nobody will see either!"

Kariya fought back a groan, "Sakura, this really isn't a good time."

Marrok wriggled out of the suit and trotted over to Sakura, using his snout to scoop her up on his back, "ARF!"

"Yay!"

The wolf grew to just shy of the size of a horse.

"Wow! You can turn into a magic dog! WOW!"

Kiritsugu really wanted to tell him not to do that in the sitting room, but Sakura was just too adorable. Not that he would let anyone know he thought so. Instead he just opened the door for them, "Go play outside while the rest of us talk. You should be getting back to bed, but after seeing this I doubt you could without playing around a bit."

Marrok pranced out of the room. None appreciated how he was trying to walk in a horse sort of style, but...

"Yay! This is so much cooler than a pony!"

Sakura was happy and that was enough for Marrok.

Once they were out and the door was closed, Kiritsugu continued the discussion, "So, any more theories? You two know the most about him here."

Kariya shrugged, "Well, if it helps his power to become a man came from a skinwalker."

"Skinwalker?!"

"Yeah, a demon that-"

"I know what they are!" Kiritsugu walked over to a desk and grabbed a newspaper, holding the front page up for everyone to see.

RASH OF KILLINGS ENDS WITH NEW KILLER AT LARGE

Kariya shrugged at the headline, "So?"

"They found the one doing those ritualistic murders shortly before the war started. He was skinned at his latest crime scene and the skin was taken. Now someone's killing people and collecting skins. Whoever is doing it is doing it with precision beyond human means."

"So wait, you're saying a servant is doing it?"

"Was doing it. They suddenly stopped the night of the shipyard battle." Kiritsugu threw the paper down on a nearby coffee table, "The night we met and haven't parted ways since."

"Now wait a minute! He was with me the entire time!"

"And?"

"I would never tell him to or let him do something like that!"

Saber stepped up, "Sir Marrok would never murder innocent people. He can't even if he wanted to!"

"If you're so sure, Saber, why don't you ask them what Sir Marrok did to the Matou Estate."

Saber paused, looking to Kariya, "I don't know.'

Emiya huffed at the idea, "Oh but you can guess can't you? You know the basic idea of what he did don't you? And you're fine with it."

"Listen, the Matous deserved to die. I'm sure Marrok didn't kill anyone that wasn't bad in that house. I trust him and so does Arthur."

"They were missing their skins, Kariya. Fifteen people! The mage's association thinks a master's gone rogue or something and drawing too much attention. Any more of this and they'll put a bounty on the killer."

"It's not Marrok! It can't be." Artoria reiterated, "Merlin himself confirmed his origin and limitations. He was trapped in wolf form for seven years because he wouldn't take anyone's skin. He physically couldn't!"

Kariya was silent.

"See? Even his master's unsure."

Kariya snapped out of his daze of doubt, "I am not! I trust him. Plus there's no way he had time to remove that many skins before we reunited."

"One, he's a servant. Two, you could be lying. You still haven't convinced me that you didn't tell him to do it. If his origin forbids it, who's to say a master's commands can't override it."

Saber interjected, stepping between the two and glaring at her master, "Kiritsugu, tell me to kill him."

"What?"

"Order me to kill him without a command seal."

The man grumbled, "Fine. Kill Kariya Matou."

"No." Saber yanked up Kariya's hand to remind the room that he still had every command seal, then stood there for a moment to let that sink in, "Do you understand my point?"

"Yes, point taken."

Irisviel stepped forward, "Kiri, I trust them on this. There's not an evil bone in Marrok's body."

Kiritsugu sighed.

Strangely, Maiya spoke up in their defense too, "He's either innocent or incredibly and maliciously cunning. He doesn't strike me as the latter."

Kiri thought back to the servant's prior exchange. Back when the man had mimicked his words to threaten him back, the magus killer had noted at the time there was pretty much no actual violence or killing intent behind the threat. It was just diplomacy.

He sighed, "You're right. Part of my gut was telling me that too, but I have a lot to lose."

Saber relaxed, "I understand, master. I apologize for my curtness."

Kariya wasn't so swift to forgive, but knew when to drop it, "Maybe there's another skinwalker?"

Kiritsugu shrugged, "They're supposed to be extinct."

Maiya elaborated, "The Mages' Association used the cover of the Salem Witch Trails to weed them out in masses."

"Best of a bad situation."

Kariya tried to think of something else, "Is there a chance though that another skinwalker servant was summoned?"

"Even if there were a lot of famous skinwalkers or heroes with similar powers, the odds of two being summoned in the same war is ludicrous."

Saber posed a good point, "What if it is Caster? A mage could do such a thing. Perhaps trying to frame Marrok?"

"The timeline doesn't add up. Caster would have to know Marrok was in the war within the same day, and Caster was apparently summoned clear across town from him."

Kariya clapped his hands together, "Then that means if Marrok didn't skin the people in the Matou house it would have been at least a day after their death. Wouldn't forensic science or magic prove him innocent?"

Saber nodded, "Indeed, why would he go back for the skins later in only this case?"

Kiritsugu thought hard, but couldn't think of an answer to the big quandary, "Still... how would Caster even know to do that to frame him? Or where?"

The room fell silent, there was no answering that one, at least right now. Saber could only yield information.

"There are only three caster candidates from my era. Merlin, Morgan le Fay, and Viviane. All of them but Morgan would know of his nature. Though she might given her penchant for subterfuge."

"Viviane?"

Kiritsugu was the one to answer, "The Lady of the Lake. She wouldn't be a servant though. Apparently she's pretty much a divine being, which the Grail can't normally do."

Artoria interjected, "True, and the Grail normally cannot summon outright villains."

Kariya groaned, "Then it's Merlin, the most famous magus in history?"

Saber shook her head, "No, it can't be him either. He doesn't age and I can't see anything being able to ever kill the man. He also would have no reason to make an arrangement with the Grail to be recorded in the Throne of Heroes."

"Then who the heck could it be?"

Kiritsugu put his hands in his pockets, "Maybe someone skirted the rules again and summoned Morgan le Fay. That would be easier than breaking the rules to summon a demigod."

"We should go forward assuming that." Saber agreed, "Thankfully, the actions I would recommend remain the same regards of which of the three it might be."

"And those are?"

"We should treat them as an additional Assassin with magic. All three have trickster tenancies, though Viviane is mostly benevolent. I can't imagine her even hurting someone. Regardless, if they are enemies, the best way to deal with them is the same. I imagine you can surmise it, master. What would provoke you the most if your were bitter towards a target like Morgan would be, or a bit of a prankster like Merlin was?"

Kiritsugu did not have to ponder long, "If it is them, this is good. An extra assassin means we can manipulate them and the actual Assassin at the same time with the same actions. I know exactly what we should do. Maiya and I will make some preparations on our end, while the rest of you enact the main plan against them."

Irisviel was out of the loop thanks to her innocence, "What plan is that?"

Kiritsugu looked at her and gave her the closest thing he ever showed anyone to a smile.

The next afternoon heads turned as a large wolf/dog pranced down the street wearing a t-shirt that had a tuxedo printed on it. He was also wearing a small top hat made for dogs. Also on his back was a little girl, Sakura, in sparkly sunglasses, a sun hat, and a pink t-shirt that said "Princess". Behind them Irisviel was dressed similarly but with a "Queen of the Castle" shirt on, Saber bore the "King of the Castle", and Kariya was stuck with another tuxedo t-shirt.

He was the least happy by a large margin "Marrok is enjoying this way too much."

Saber let out a barely detectable chuckle, "Yes, he always did throw himself into everything with gusto, especially to boost the morale of the other knights."

"Well, canine nature I guess. But is this really a good idea?"

"It is. If Caster is Morgan I am shocked she hasn't charged straight at us screaming like a banshee at the sight of this."

"But what about Sakura? Technically we are trying to keep her hidden from that self-serving father of hers until we find out some things."

"To find those out you need to confront him, do you not?"

"True, but I'm not exactly eager to lure out Archer, especially with Marrok in a limited condition."

"You could always try fixing that with a command spell."

"We've been over that." Kariya grumbled, "By the way, why does Marrok have a top hat as part of his costume?"

Sakura raised her fist in celebration, "Hes the foreign dignitary!"

The man looked quizzically at Saber and Irisviel.

The latter shrugged, "She said she saw it on TV."

"What kind of shows has she been watching? Though now that I think about it, if he's a foreign dignitary what am I? I don't have a top hat."

"The butler!" Sakura joyfully declared, "Onward, Chancellor Marrok! We must attend the trade summit post haste!"

"Arf!"

Kariya facepalmed, "What even the heck is this Holy Grail War?"

Saber was, of course, taking the whole bizarre situation in stride, though she had been acting out her role as King of the Castle so seriously Kariya wasn't sure she even knew it was supposed to be a joke. Irisviel was just happy to mess around outside and see more of her husband's home country. Speaking of which...

"Oo! Oo! Isn't that a karaoke shop? We should do it! I've see these places so much in anime and TV shows from Japan! Let's do it! It evens says on the sign it has English songs so I might know a few!"

Kariya groaned, "Should we? I mean, do they even let dogs in?"

Irisviel grinned, "I'll bribe them!"

Sakura guided Chancellor Marrok back to Kariya, "Let's go! Let's go! I want to sing with everyone!"

Kariya had not seen Sakura so excited in years. She had always been a pretty quiet girl, "Well..."

Saber interjected, "Come now. The orders were to have as much fun as possible. If this 'karaoke' is fun for them, then we should have it."

"You don't have karaoke, Saber. It's singing."

"Oh." Saber seemed a little disappointed at first but then brightened, "We should still go if the want to. Orders are orders."

Kariya looked to Marrok, "What do you think?"

The knight barked positively.

"Like you'd ever disagree with her on something trivial." the master balked, "Fine. No promises that I'll sing though."

A few minutes later Sakura had wrapped a rousing rendition of the them song to her favorite show 'Sailor Moon", with a little dance number and all, to great applause from everyone in the little four person room they had reserved. Even Marrok clapped his paws together, albeit awkwardly. Irisviel then took the microphone and started to go up on the little stage, but had an idea. An idea that had her spin around and offer Marrok the microphone.

"Go on. I'll pick a song that won't be hard to fake your way through. I just really want to see a singing dog."

Sakura was far too excited at the idea, "Yes! Pretty please!"

Saber was pensive, "I'm not sure we should give Marrok a microphone."

Kariya nodded, "Right. Won't he get teeth marks in it? And how would he hold it and sing?"

Marrok carefully took the thing and handed it to Kariya, then mimed singing into it.

"Oh."

Artoria bit her lip, "That's not what I meant."

Irisviel was already picking a song, "Oh come on, I'm sure he wants to play too. It wouldn't be fair to leave him out."

"True..."

Kariya went up to the stage with Marrok, "Good thing these rooms are soundproofed. Anyway, hit it when he's ready."

"Arf."

Iri hit play, and immediately Tom Jones' "It's Not Unusual" started up. Marrok quickly darted off and snatched Sakura's sparkly sunglasses from her face and flipped them onto his own face before diving with a twirl onto the stage again. What followed was the most illogically well done canine rendition of that song that could possibly ever be done. It made no sense how well he managed with only dog noises. It could have sold records. He even did a little dance number too.

When it was over, Kariya was floored, "What even the hell is this Holy Grail War?"

"Arf!"

Saber rolled her eyes, but couldn't help smiling, "That's what I was warning you about. This is the result of telling Sir Marrok to have as much fun as possible. That and given that one of his few noted deeds was charming a king with his nobility despite a language barrier, Marrok's Charisma skill is likely fairly high."

Kariya looked at the display of servant information that all masters could see, "One rank below yours."

"I am not shocked."

Irisviel chimed in, "Speaking of which, Kiri was saying he couldn't see the rank of Marrok's Madness Enhancement. Can you?"

"Nope. I thought it was concealed due to him being in a form that suppresses it, but I couldn't see the rank when he was gong wild either."

"That's weird." she then changed the subject, pointing at the mic, "Anyway, since you have the mic already..."

Kariya paused and looked at it, "You know what? What the hell? Let's do this."

The man then did a rendition of Micheal Jackson's "Thriller" that was as bad as you would expect, though it was made better by Marrok serving as backup dancer, which he also did for Irisviel's strange song choice of "Living la Vida Loca".

Kariya sighed, "I may never take Marrok seriously ever again. He's even still wearing the sunglasses."

Everything was fine until she pulled Saber onto the stage.

"Your turn Saber! Sing! Sing! I bet you song amazing!"

"I'm not so sure I should, Irisviel. Singing is not really my sort of activity."

Kariya immediately grew fearful when he saw Marrok behind Saber on his hind legs, waving his paws frantically while trying to mouth "NO! NO!"

"If she doesn't want to sing, Iri, maybe we shouldn't make her."

Iri gave Saber the puppy dog eyes, "Please?"

Sakura followed suit, "I want to hear Saber sing too!"

Saber took the microphone, "Very well. I shall give it a try."

Irisviel jogged over to the machine, "I'll pick you something cute."

Kariya grew more terrified as he saw Marrok almost deflate, the life going out of his eyes into the canine version of a thousand yard stare. This dog must have descended into some ungodly hell on some prior festival occasion when Arthur had sung. That was what Kariya was thinking then.

And he wasn't wrong. The potential was there, but Artoria was not prone to showing emotions much. She didn't really seem to understand them like a normal person sometimes. So when a peppy pop song about dancing the night away with the love of your life was the song selection, it just didn't work. The inflections were all wrong, Saber seemed to think loud was the right volume, and while she managed to hold the notes...

Kariya grabbed his ears, his cries inaudible under the weight of the King's voice, "What is this forbidden Noble Phantasm we have unleashed?!"

It wasn't long before they were thrown out, somehow causing a noise disturbance to the point that someone was hospitalized. Later they would learn someone's pacemaker had somehow been made to malfunction. Such was the power of Saber's forbidden anti-infantry Noble Phantasm.

Iri however, was delighted, "That was so much fun!"

"Well... up to the point Saber nearly killed someone."

Saber was deeply offended, "That man's condition could have been caused by anything."

"I'm talking about Marrok!"

The group all glanced sympathetically at Marrok, who had shrunk down to about the size of a very big cat and was being carried by Sakura. Only weak whines came from the poor thing.

Saber frowned, "I'm sorry. I always have a problem with singing too loudly. I should have taken the time for lessons in life."

Irisviel grabbed her arm, "I can teach you while you're here."

Marrok whined at the thought of the practices. Thankfully, Irisviel's next idea was a much better received suggestion to go for ramen as the sun began to set on their brief respite. Perhaps their joy and suffering had drawn the kind of attention they wanted, but for the next few hours at least, they could relax.

Next Chapter: Call of the Wild

Author's Note: Yes, I do know Artoria's Japanese voice actress is a good singer, but does Saber really strike you as someone that can sing well? She probably would with lessons, but give me this. I really wanted to lighten things up a little. Anyway, next chapter we get some clues on Avenger's possible nature, why he's trapped as a wolf, and a flashback of when Marrok's origin was awakened. No promises on a release date though. It will be a beefy chapter.