Shirou whistled as he made his way to Claudette's office in the barracks to receive his duties for today. Surprisingly, instead of just going straight to the barracks lobby like always, he was ordered by a veteran knight to report to Claudette immediately. Shirou grimaced, the only times that Claudette ever asked to see him was to either scold him for something he did or to scold him for something he was probably going to do. How did she know that anyways? Regardless, the point was that being called by Claudette never meant anything good for Shirou.

"Scolding here I come." Shirou thought as he rounded a corner. "Damn, I'm the older brother. I should be the one scolding her."

"ONII-CHAN!" A shrill cry rang through the air.

Shirou's eyes widened and he managed to make a half turn before something small yet surprisingly strong slammed into his gut. The blow knocked the air right out his lungs and nearly sent him to the ground. Luckily, his training and past experiences allowed him to reduce the otherwise toppling blow to a mere stagger. He was thankful that he didn't slack off all of these years. If he did, he wouldn't be prepared for the numerous attempts on his life.

"Elina." Shirou said, his face twisting into a scowl. "Why do you keep trying to kill me?"

Elina, who had attached herself to his waist, puffed out her cheeks and pouted at her brother. "Why won't you fall down? Brothers are always supposed to fall down!"

Shirou's felt his eyebrow twitch at her explanation. It wasn't surprising though, Elina had always tried to do this, even from when she was really small. Elina would always say 'you were supposed to fall down' after every failed attempt to knock him down. He had no idea why she constantly tried to do that or why she got mad at him for failing to do so everytime. It seemed there was only one possible conclusion: little sisters are weird and not good at explanations.

"Is there a rule saying that I have to fall down?" Shirou asked, a victorious smirk creeping onto his face.

"No." Elina admitted, her head drooping before suddenly beaming right back up. "But, there should be!"

Shirou laughed and ruffled the little girl's hair before he continued on his way to the barracks. Shirou instantly noticed how hard and awkward it was to walk with a small child with a vice-like grip attached to your waist. It was sort of like walking with shoelaces that are tied together and with forty extra pounds attached to them. Needless to say, it was harder than it looked and it looked hard to begin with. It also looked just plain weird.

"Elina, please get off." Shirou said calmly but sternly. "I mean it."

Instantly, Elina released her grip and backed up a foot or two. Shirou paid her no mind after she let go and went on his way to the barracks. The advantage of being the older sibling to a clingy little one is that the little sibling were often obedient. Shirou only had to ask Elina to do something once and she would do it, and not many people had that kind of obedience from the Elina. It was probably a good thing though, Shirou probably wouldn't get use to the awkward way of walking that came with Elina clinging to him like a bad habit.

"So," Elina spoke up after catching up to her brother. "What'cha doin'?"

"Going to see Claudette." Shirou answered.

"Why?"

"Because she ordered me to." Shirou answered dryly. Oh boy, this again.

"Why?"

"I don't know why." Shirou said.

"Why?"

Shirou unleashed a loud sigh. Yeah, it was going to be one of those days. As much as life in this world was peaceful, that didn't mean that it didn't have moments were it was extremely annoying. Today for example: the wake up call earlier was tolerable, the scolding he knew he was going to get was a little depressing, the attempted murder by his little sister was pretty aggravating, but the endless streams of 'whys' was just down right obnoxious. Fortunately, the stream of questions would only last until Shirou made it to Claudette's office.

Claudette's office looked a lot like the one Count Vance had. The difference was that Count Vance's office was twice as big, had more useless junk in it, and had more expensive furniture. In comparison, Claudette's office was much more organized and had simple furniture, which just was a simple wooden desk, a few chairs from the dinning room, and a few bookcases. However, despite its simple and tidy interior, this room was the very center of despair and anxiety for everyone in the guard.

Shirou sighed and folded his arms as he sat on the dinning room chair. He had been sitting here for about five minutes and Claudette, who was busy stamping papers, hadn't even looked at him. She wasn't scolding him at least.

"So," Shirou started in attempt to break the silence. "what did you call me here for?"

Claudette looked up at him with green bloodshot eyes. She looked tired and her posture was pretty sluggish compared to what it was like normally. The way she looked reminded Shirou of Leina when she had that sickness two years ago. Although, in comparison, Claudette looked much healthier in the way that her hair didn't dull, her skin wasn't moist, nor was she coughing or sneezing. However, it was pretty obvious that she was still sick.

"Claudette, you don't look so well." Shirou stated, his voice concerned. "You feeling alright?"

"I'm fine. I'm just a little tired, that's all." Claudette wheezed. "Now, about your task for today."

Shirou sighed and folded his arms again. He expected that answer from her. Claudette wasn't one to slack off or take breaks. It wasn't like she had such a luxury though. It was no mystery that she was treated like a servant by Vance, and servants were...well...replaceable. It was doubtful that Vance could be that cruel, but it was still a possibility. It was the fear of being replaced that most likely made her take this job and what drove her to work so hard as well.

"What is my task for today, if you don't mind me asking?" Shirou asked, leaning back in his chair.

"We've received a letter from a local inn about people disappearing. Your job is to report there with Pathfinder and find the cause of these disappearances." Claudette explained, her voice scratchy. "The inn keeper, Jack, should be waiting for you there to brief you in."

An eyebrow was arched. "Is that all the letter said?"

"No." The auburn haired captain shook her head. "The letter also requested an immediate response, but that is it."

"I see." Shirou said getting out of his chair. "I'll report there immediately then."

Claudette went back to stamping papers. "Be careful."

"I'll try but no guarantees." Shirou responded with a smile before leaving the room.

The walk to the inn hadn't taken more than forty minutes, but they were forty long minutes filled with nothing but silence. It just seemed that Shirou and Pathfinder simply had nothing to talk about, not even on work. However, it just allowed the two to focus that much more on walking. The place of the disappearances, the Roadside Inn, was a two level building made of bricks and wood. As its name suggested, it was located on the side of the road and was built in front of small forest.

Pacing in front of the inn was a man. The man looked to be in his thirties, was balding, and dressed in a 'commoner' fashion: a simple wool shirt, dark brown pants, and leather shoes. He paced quickly and would jerk whenever he would change direction. The man was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't even seem to notice Pathfinder and Shirou walking up to him.

"Hey." Shirou called out to the man.

The man turned jumped and turned to the duo. "Who are you!?"

"Don't worry." Shirou said, putting his hands up to show that he meant no harm. "We're from the Vance Estate. I'm Shirou Emiya-Vance and the big guy next to me is Pathfinder. I take it that you are Jack, the inn keeper?"

The man cast a studying gaze at the two. "Yeah, I am Jack. It's good that you arrived so quickly, in the last two days three of my guests have gone missing."

"Did they have anything in common?" Shirou asked while looking around trying get a general feel for the area.

"Well, uh, they all disappeared into the forest." Jack responded and pointed towards the forest that bordered the very back of the inn. "Besides that I really can't think of anything else." Jack finished while scratching his head.

"I see." Shirou said looking over his shoulder at the forest. "It appears that starting looking in the forest would be the best course of action."

"We'll split up." Pathfinder suggest lazily. "Jack and me go into one direction and Shirou can go into another."

Shirou nodded and sets out towards his designated direction. "If we find anything we'll yell and if we don't find anything in fifteen minutes, we'll meet back up here."

"Rodger."

With that the three set out into the forest in search of the missing people.

The forest was silent, dead silent. The birds didn't sing, the insects didn't chirp, and not a single animal stirred. There was not a single sound or even a hint of any living being anywhere to be found. This, under normal circumstances, didn't happen unless something along the lines of a forest fire occurred. But a fire was unlikely, so it had to be something else.

But what?

Shirou walked through the forest carefully and slowly as not to miss any details that could lead to any of the missing people. So far there was nothing, not even a footprint.

"Not a single person has been through here." Shirou noted as he walked but still keeping an eye out. "This forest isn't that big so there aren't many places a person could have gone."

But before Shirou could ponder more on it, he caught a whiff of a very familiar yet foreign scent: the scent of magic. The scent was thick with water, dying vegetation and most importantly, the copper-like stench of blood. Shirou was no stranger to the scent of blood, after all, there was plenty of it to go around during the Fifth Holy Grail War. However, this combination of scents wasn't a familiar one.

"A monster in a forest with a scent of blood. Geez, I wonder who is behind the disappearances." Shirou sighed before taking another whiff. "Well, it seems this world does have magic or at least magical creatures in it."

However, one thing had Shirou very concerned: how come the scent was this strong if he just picked it up? Usually he would be able smell a magical creature form a distance away but this time he couldn't. Why was that? Had his ability to smell them diminished or were the creatures of this world just special and harder to pick up? Either way, it was a bad spot to be in right now.

"It's the same smell as before: water, dying vegetation, and blood." Shirou noted. "if I trust my nose then it should be right..."

Shirou suddenly spun on his heels and traced two long swords. What he saw -the creature- was like nothing he had seen before. The creature was humanoid, definitely female, and possessed a pink tinge to her curvaceous body. Her body looked moist and...jiggly? Yeah, jiggly. She had pink hair that went to her mid-back, blue eyes with strangely shaped pupils, and a pair of bunny ears on her head. Shirou would have taken more note of her features if he wasn't so distracted by her outfit.

Stripperfic.

That was the word that would best describe it. Her clothing was varying shades of pink and it looked like it was a part of her body, which it probably was, and it looked like a bathing suit...with a big part cut out that ran from the neck to the bellybutton. Oh, and not to mention that her breasts were covered by a pair of hands that were 'literally' formed from her hair. When coupled with her strange body, she had an eerie sort of appeal.

The entire time the creature was giving Shirou an innocent smile but Shirou wasn't fooled for one second. He narrowed his eyes and looked at the true meaning nature of the gaze: the predatory gaze of a beast sizing up its new plaything/meal.

"Well, well, if it isn't a Vance knight." The creature cheered playfully. "It's been a while since I've seen one of them."

Shirou's glared at the creature harder. Who did she think she was kidding? It was so obvious that she was trying to lure him in. She could hide her intentions behind a smile, but her eyes revealed the truth.

"I am Shirou Emiya." Shirou introduced himself politely. "Now, may I ask, who are you?"

The creature giggled childishly. "I am Melona."

"Well, Melona." Shirou said, still keeping a very close eye on her movements. "Recently, three people have gone missing in this forest. You wouldn't know anything about that...would you?"

She obviously did, but she didn't know that he knew that she did. Shirou knew it was a better idea to avoid conflict with any unknown creatures before he could collect more information on them. If he was luckly, he could avoid conflict completely and be on his marry way. However, that was just wishful thinking, luck was never on his side.

"Oh, you mean like her?" Melona asked pointing to the side.

Shirou glanced in that direction and true enough there was a person there. It was a young woman with long chestnut brown hair that went to her bellybutton. Her body was covered in small but still visible cuts and judging the blood these cuts were recent.

"Where did she come from?" Shirou arched an eyebrow before looking up at the tree. Several branches were broken off. "Oh, I see. She was hiding her in the tree."

"So, it was you." Shirou stated before glaring at the creature. "I figured. You reek of blood."

Melona shot the redhead an amused smile. "I smell huh? Well, I guess the ruse is up, eh? Oh well, it won't matter in the end anyways."

Shirou sighed and took a clumsy stance with his long swords. Melona smirked and held up her hand. Shirou's eyes widened when her hand started to morph into the blade of a sword. Ah, so her body was malleable

"Entertain me for as long as you can." Melona inquired viciously.

"And what makes you think I'm going to play your games?" Shirou questioned, still holding his stance.

The pink creature smirked. "You'll die if you don't." She said lowly. "Now show me what you got!"

Melona charged towards Shirou with surprising speed. Shirou held his ground firmly even as she struck at him. He raised one of the swords and blocked some of her blows then countered with a clumsy slash of his own. Melona blocked his blow easily and struck playfully at his arm and managed to cut into his bicep. Shirou winced and jumped away from the pink creature.

"What's the matter? Fight like you mean it!" Melona taunted, an arrogant smile on her face.

Shirou took a glance at his arm, it was bleeding but nothing too serious. His golden eyes shifted to his smirking opponent. Her posture was completely relaxed, not even a tinge of fear or concern. In simplest terms, she didn't think of him as an actual threat and didn't seem too concerned with being harmed. That was fine, it just made his job easier in the end, and the end was very near.

Suddenly, he brought the swords back and chucked them both at Melona. The pink skinned creature dodged the swords but barely had time to blink before Shirou was upon her. Melona's eyes widened as two steel blades came down on her. She managed to block one, but the other cut into her abdomen. Shirou then quickly struck again, this time loping off her arm.

"You bastard!" Melona roared and swung at Shirou with her remaining arm.

Shirou ducked under the blow, stabbed his blade into her stomach and with a forceful motion pulled up. Globs of pink substance flew through the air only to spat down onto the ground. There was a few seconds of silence before another, but louder, spat followed. Shirou looked down at his nearly bisected opponent and sighed.

"I guess that is that." Shirou said before glance at the young woman from earlier. "I should probably take her back to the inn."

But Shirou suddenly stopped, something was amiss. The red head slowly looked over his shoulder and eyes widened at what they saw. Melona laying on the ground in a sultry pose, a smirk on her face, and in one piece. Her body showed no signs of ever being cut, it was almost like everything Shirou did never happened. Shirou still had no idea what manner of creature she was, but whatever she was it sure was troublesome.

"Well, then," Shirou sighed while using the pommel of his sword to scratch the back of his head. "I didn't see that coming."

"That's a neat trick. I thought only angels could make swords appear out of thin air like that." Melona said, her voice filled with amusement. "But, I won't be fooled by the same thing twice."

Shirou slid back into his stance and examined his opponent. She wouldn't be careless as to make the same mistake twice, so her guard would be up a little bit. However, she still had the same smirk on her face and her body was till relaxed, so she still didn't see him as a threat. In her mind it was just beginner's luck but she wasn't thinking much of him anyways. Well, he still had a few tricks up his sleeves if push comes to shove.

Shirou and Melona dashed towards each other with the intent for a real duel. Shirou slashed at her head but Melona easily sidestepped and countered. Shirou ducked and slashed at her ankles.

"Too slow~" Melona sang as she span away. "You'll have to be quicker than that cherry top."

Melona swung at Shirou's side but he rolled out of the way. From his kneeling position he slashed at the pink creature's knees. The blade sunk in, but just as soon as it passed through, the wound healed. Melona laughed and lashed out with a kick. Shirou grit his teeth and ducked under the kick before getting up and shoving the pink creature away.

Melona placed a hand on her cheek and frowned. "You're starting to really annoy me, you know?" She said like it was Shirou's problem. "You keep this up and the Swamp Witch is gonna get really mad at me for being late."

"Who is this Swamp Witch?"

The pink creature smirked. "Wouldn't you like to know."

However, before anything could happen Melona sniffed the air and looked angrily over her shoulder. She turned back to Shirou and smiled before her body slowly started to change into a slime or ooze of some kind.

"Well, playtime is over." She said. "I won't forget your face and we'll definitely meet again soon...Shir~ou."

Said man just watched as the pink creature turned completely into slime and disappeared from sight. He sighed and let the swords he traced during the battle dissipate. Whatever creature Melona was, she sure was a nuisance. Her body was made of a pink slime so that explained why she was able to pull herself back together and why cutting her was ineffective. It would also explain her rapid regeneration.

Shirou stroked his chin as he pondered on a solution to this Melona problem. "Cutting her is irrelevant if I can't cause lasting damage. I'll problem need a Noble Phantasm like Gae Bolg or a direct hit from Caladbolg II to destroy her."

A moment later Pathfinder came walking out of a bush. He was looking as indifferent as ever and was holding a basket filled with what looked like herbs. The white haired male looked over Shirou's shoulder, where the girl was, before turning his attention to the red head himself.

"I see you found one." Pathfinder said, bored. "Drop the girl off at the inn and we can leave."

"No need." A new voice said. Shirou and Pathfinder both turned to the side to see Jack coming out of the bushes. "I'll take care of her. Your pay is that basket." He said pointing to the one Pathfinder was carrying.

"The herbs are for my own use." Pathfinder said as he started to walk away. "Well, I'm going home."

"It was nice meeting you Jack. Have a good day." Shirou shook Jack's hand before attempting to catch up with Pathfinder.

Jack looked at the retreating figures of the two Vance knights and smiled."They're good kids."

A nest of candles rested next to journal and provided adequate light for the writer. The writer's hand moved diligently in the candlelight and left black signatures on the pages of the journal. The writer, Shirou Emiya, concentrated as he wrote everything that he observed today down on the page. He found out this world did have magic or at least magical creatures. The creature, Melona, was the only one that he had encountered so far and by far one of the most testing opponents.

"She'll definitely be a nuisance later." Shirou thought as he scribbled some more observations down. "Her ability to pull herself back together and her ability to regenerate makes her almost like my counter in this world."

Shirou's grip on the pen tightened. "She could probably be destroyed by a Noble Phantasm like Gae Bolg or Broken Phantasm like Caladbolg II. She may be strong, but she isn't invulnerable. I've seen better."

The redhead's eyes narrowed when he remembered something very important. He remembered...that he still couldn't trace any of the Noble Phantasms. If he could, he likely would have used Bakuya and Kanshou in his battle against Melona. Along with the inability to trace them Shirou also found out today that he couldn't sense magical creatures until they were literally right on top of him.

"Maybe there is an issue with my circuits." Shirou pondered. "I can't think of anything else wrong so I have to assume that is the problem. Now the question is...how do I fix that?"

With a sudden motion Shirou's hand accidentally knocked over the ink bottle he was using for his journal and spilled it onto the floor. The black ink quickly spread across the wooden ground and drenched the journal while it was at it.

"..." Shirou palmed his face at this. "I really need a desk in here."

"You're late."

Melona pinched the bridge of her nose and inhaled sharply before glaring at her the boss, who was appearing as a flame in front of her. She was not happy. A few hours ago, her battle with that red haired brat was interrupted. It was so much fun fooling with that idiot boy that she had completely forgotten what she was even supposed to do in the first place. After that, well, it took her few hours to remember her task and another hour or so to actually do it. In short, she was late.

"Yeah, well, I got distracted." Melona answered while looking around at the swampland around her.

"Is that your idea of an excuse?"The flame flared."How pathetic. I expected more from an expert liar like you."

Melona puffed her cheeks out childishly. "I'm not lying! I got distracted fighting this Vance knight! He did some pretty amusing things."

The flame shrunk like it wasn't interested. "Like?"

"He pulled swords out of thin air." Melona said, amused. "Oh, he could smell me as well. He knew I wasn't human from the very beginning."

"Interesting, but irrelevant."The flame flickered. "While he may become a danger in the future, he is not a current threat. Keep your eyes on the prey not the horizon.

Melona waved her off. "Yeah, yeah. I get it. "

"He is to be left alone until I decide how to deal with him." The flame disappeared.

With the flame gone, Melona felt a smile creep onto her face. She would obey orders for now but if she ever happened upon that red haired brat again, then being late would be well worth it. She promised to herself that next time would be much more pleasurable. Next time, he wouldn't get away. And next time she would figure out what that golden thing around him was.

A/N (Now with titles)

Story Related:

Long Update Periods:

As you may know, it has taken more than a month get the last two chapters out. This is due to the fact that this story is very difficult to write at the moment because the canon has started yet. It will gradually get easier as time goes by and as it starts to move towards the canon. The next update likely won't take a month to write.

Melona v.s Shirou:

In a way, Melona is like his natural enemy in this world. If Shirou could only trace normal weapons than Melona would be a counter to him as most of his methods would be ineffective against her. That being said, the Noble Phantasms that can either destroy her with one shot, designate her, or halt her ability to regenerate would the best ones to use against her. So, this time around Melona had the advantage.

Nyx is in this story but she will appear later.

Other Things:

More FSN stories?:

Maybe, it all depends on how this story goes. So, far everything seems to by fine so I'm leaning towards yes. I actually have two ideas, but I don't think either one of them will go well with other people. I'll share one of them with you: FSN x Yuusha ni Narenakatta Ore wa Shibushibu Shuushoku wo Ketsui Shimashita.

Yuusha ni Narenakatta Ore wa Shibushibu Shuushoku wo Ketsui Shimashita (I Couldn't Become a Hero, So I Reluctantly Decided to Get a Job) was an anime during the Fall 2013 Anime season. I was thinking of writing a story with the Heroic Spirits having a job, like Gilgamesh being a janitor (Sanitation Engineer). It could possibly turn out to be hilarious...but I have several doubts.

Story Requests:

I do take story requests AND story ideas. I have that on my profile as well. If you have either I will carefully consider every request.

Questions, comments, or concerns?