Chapter 150

Sakura, fully clothed and fresh from the bath, started packing her clothes into a small suitcase, getting ready to head over to Ryuudou Temple in the next few days. Gingerly, she placed several vials of medicine that she would need to inhibit the worms inside her, making sure to pack them securely so they didn't break, with fabric wrapping around them in several layers to protect the fragile containers.

If her grandfather ordered her to do so, there was little she could do to resist.

In that bathroom, while she was taking a bath, he had come to visit her. She had received no warning at all, and Rider wasn't there to face him either.

"I trust you're doing well, Sakura?"

Sakura made no response, only staring at him as she pressed her back against the wall.

"I see that your 'knight' is currently indisposed of for now. In that case, why don't we have a chat while she isn't here, hmm? It's difficult to find a chance to talk with you while she's around."

He seemed out of place, standing there on the white bathroom tiles and surrounded by mist from the hot water, almost like a creepy old man who had been caught peeping on a teenage girl. His black eyes showed no emotion though, and Sakura wasn't going to be calling the police on him anytime soon.

Seeing her unwillingness to talk to him, he sighed and continued speaking.

"Let me be frank. I want you to go to Ryuudou Temple and stay there with Shirou Emiya and the Master of Caster. I don't care how you do it, so long as you manage to secure a place to stay there for the duration of this War."

After seeing her still frozen place there, he spoke up again.

"Do you understand?"

Slowly, Sakura came to her senses, realizing he was here to command her. She peeled herself away from the wall, his words finally registering in her mind. Bowing her head, she accepted it, her silky, wet hair hanging down in loose strands as they hid her face.

"I understand."

A skittering sound followed her meek voice, though nothing in the bathroom moved, with only a slight ripple under the fabric of Zouken's robes.

His mouth moved once more, rubbery skin and lips forming shapes, proper words coming out even though there were no teeth in the oral cavity, darkness shadowing the insides of the throat.

"Good. I will see you some time later then."

His cane tapped on the floor as he walked to the door, the door unlocking by itself and swinging open, letting the cooler air flow into the bathroom, the wind caressing Sakura's skin and making her shiver again.

"Ah, I'll also leave a gift for you to bring to them."

With that, the door closed behind him, his form already beginning to lose shape as the door hid him from sight. The last thing Sakura saw was his neck bending to a ridiculous angle, the robes fluttering and shaking wildly, then the door closed.

A full minute passed before she sank into the bathtub, the water once more embracing her, though it was cooler than before now, giving her little warmth as she buried her face in her knees in a fetal position.

Resisting him was futile. All she could do was obey his wishes. Kariya, Shinji even Rider. None of them would be able to protect her when it truly mattered. The memory of the man with bleached hair sinking into the pit of worms, his face wearing a look of satisfaction that was utterly out of place as he became food for the familiars infesting every corner of that underground room. The old man standing next to her only laughed at the sight, his appearance unchanged, a monster of longevity.

*kok*

"Sakura, I've brought the medicine for you, you can take it after you get out of the bath. It's on the dressing table."

Shinji's voice shook her out of her reverie, making her lift her head out of the bath, her hair dripping water as streams of it flowed back into the bath.

"T-thank you, onii-san."

He grunted in acknowledgement, then she heard his steps leave, growing more distant until they ceased entirely.

Lying back down in the bath, it was a while before she came out.

Shinji walked back down the stairs, all the while wondering if he should have said something to Sakura. He was about to inform her about the medicine when he had heard voices coming out of the bathroom. It didn't take long for him to recognize the voices in the bathroom, and he was frozen in place as he eavesdropped onto their conversation, silently listening to what they said. As they talked, he tried to command his feet to move, to just knock on the door, but his body refused to budge an inch. When Zouken came out, he automatically took a step back, but Zouken didn't even give him a single glance.

Instead, the old man only dissolved into the disgusting familiars that made him what he was, the stream of insects flowing past his feet as they exited the room and left for unknown whereabouts. Feeling the slimy bodies brush past his toes, something kept him locked in place, his spine rigid and his face taut, but to his credit he didn't make any further reactions. He waited until it was over, then went over to Sakura's door, knocking and talking to her like nothing had happened.

While he didn't exactly like Sakura, there was no love lost between him and Zouken as well, and if he could kill the old man, he would. Unfortunately, deep down he knew it was far beyond him, and he was powerless in front of the patriarch of the family that had existed since its founding. All he could do was perhaps console Sakura, but even that, he was unable to do. The words stuck in his throat, and he simply left without another word. Would she really want to hear the empty words of someone who used to rape her weekly, if not daily?