Author's Note: A while back, I tried to work out a timeline for the first ten or so chapters of this fic. Assuming that the fic begins on a Monday, that means that this chapter would take place on a Saturday. That's not really an issue, since some Japanese schools have classes on Saturdays.

However, in the anime, the barrier is activated two days after Shirou refuses to ally with Shinji. Again, let's assume that Day 1 in the anime is on a Monday. Shirou turns down Shinji's offer of forming an alliance on Day 5, which would be Friday; Shinji and Rider activate the barrier on Day 7, which would be...Sunday. That can't be possible; schools in Japan are closed on Sundays, and choosing to activate a life-draining barrier around a school would be a waste of time if no one's there to use as fuel.

So that means, for this fic, there will be three days in between Shira refusing Shinji and the barrier's activation. Due to this, I've decided that a certain encounter (and it should be fairly obvious as to which encounter I'm referring to after you've read this chapter) won't happen until next chapter. It also gives me an excuse to wring out as much romantic/sexual tension between Saber and Shira as I can (the scene that triggers said tension should be obvious, too, though it won't play out as you probably expect). ;)

Chapter 10: The Mostly Calm Interlude

The next morning, Shira got up even earlier than usual to wash the dojo's floor in preparation for her first sword lesson with Saber. By the time she finished and returned to the main house, breakfast had already started.

Taiga looked up from her plate as Shira walked into the dining room. "Shira, why are you dressed like that?"

Shira figured that was a reasonable question to ask; it was a school day, and she was wearing her favorite white and blue shirt and a long, dark blue skirt instead of her uniform.

Luckily, she came prepared for such a question. "Because I'm not going to school today," the redhead answered easily, sitting down at the table.

"What do you mean, Senpai?" Sakura stared at Shira in confusion, and even Saber and Rin were looking on in mild curiosity. Well, Rin looked curious; Saber looked calm, almost detached from the conversation taking place.

"That's ridiculous!" Taiga protested. "You're in perfect health; there is no reason for you to miss school!"

"Actually, remember that injury I got a year ago? It's probably because of how cold it's gotten, but it's really been acting up lately," Shira fibbed.

Taiga tsked. "I'm not buying that, Shira. You're going to school and that's that!"

Shira sighed; that "my old injury's hurting" excuse sounded a bit less flimsy in her head. "Look, Fuji-nee, I just need you to cut me some slack. Don't worry, I'll make it up; I'll go to school on Sunday if you want me to."

"Ms. Fujimura," Rin spoke, "the truth is—"

"I've got this, Tohsaka," Shira interrupted. Looks like I'm going for another half-truth. "It's not that I want to play hooky or anything." She smiled at Taiga to show her sincerity. "But there's something really important I need to take care of."

Like figuring out how to use a sword well enough to go up against a Servant without getting slaughtered. For obvious reasons, Shira left that unsaid. She continued to smile sweetly as Taiga glared at her in suspicion.

Finally, the older woman huffed. "Whatever," Taiga said, stabbing at her food with more force than necessary. "You know, ever since you were a kid, the only time you wouldn't tell me what was going on was when what was going on was 'really important.'"

You're gonna have to take my word for it, Fuji-nee, Shira thought. I'd rather you didn't know what's really going on around here; it'll be safer for you.

In any case, Shira took Taiga's response as the latter's reluctant acceptance and busied herself with eating.

After Rin, Sakura, and Taiga left for school, Shira headed back to the dojo with Saber. When they got there, Shira half expected Saber to change into his armor, but he was still dressed in the civilian clothes he wore when outside of battle.

"You look as though you want to say something, Shira," Saber remarked as the pair walked to the center of the dojo.

Shira shook her head quickly. "It's nothing, really; I guess I just thought you'd be in your armor, since we'll be training."

"I can transition into my armor if you would prefer it," Saber offered.

"No, it's fine," Shira assured him. "You can train wearing whatever you want; don't feel like you need to change clothes because of me."

Actually, now that she thought of it, Saber wearing normal clothing instead of his armor did make some sense. Shira was a human, and while she had sparred with Kiritsugu a few times, she never had any formal swordsmanship classes. As such, even if she landed a few blows on Saber, she doubted she could cause him any real harm; Saber must have figured that wearing armor would be unnecessary.

"Okay!" Shira said at present after a brief silence, clapping her hands once. "So I guess we should begin, huh?"

She went over to a wall and took down two shinais, tossing one to Saber as she walked back to him.

"Shall we?" Shira asked, raising her shinai.

"Very well." Saber did the same. "I expressed to you last night that I want you to experience combat at least once, so we will be sparring as if we are trying to kill each other."

"Fine," Shira agreed, determination settling into her features. "Ready whenever you are."

And with that, Saber rushed at Shira, his shinai colliding with her stomach. The sudden blow was enough to knock her shinai out of her hand and send her to her knees. Shira grabbed her shinai and sprung up, aiming a strike at Saber. He parried the blow and struck her in the stomach a second time. Once again, Shira was sent crashing to the floor.

She grunted painfully despite herself, rubbing her stomach. "Sheesh, you weren't kidding, were you? Tohsaka might just be right about the training killing me."

"It's only a bruise," Saber said calmly as Shira grabbed her shinai, got up again, and pointed it at him. "In a few minutes, you will forget about it completely."

"Hey, I'm the one who has to feel it, you know," Shira complained.

Saber's shinai batted Shira's aside. "If that is the case, then I think it's best if you take time to recover yourself before we continue."

"I never said I wanted to stop." Shira pointed her weapon at the blond again. "In fact, I'm not stopping until I land a hit."

Saber raised an eyebrow. "I already knew you could be stubborn, but I did not know the extent of it."

"You don't think I can do it?"

"I know from experience not to underestimate a woman, but even so—"

"Are you making fun of me?" Shira cut Saber off, eyes narrowing.

"How did you come to that conclusion?" he asked rhetorically. "My point is, Shira, that we could spar all day and it would not matter if your body is not prepared for the training."

Shira sighed in resignation, laying herself down on the cool floor and letting her eyes close. But it wasn't long before she was back on her feet.

The minutes ticked by as the sparring went on. No matter what Shira did, however, she wasn't able to land a single hit on Saber, nor even knock his shinai out of his hand. Whenever she tried to rush at him, he would always be ready, whether he attacked her mercilessly or simply disarmed her. Once, when Shira had been disarmed for the umpteenth time, she didn't even bother with grabbing her shinai and just tried tackling Saber, but he easily dodged her.

Just to add another blow to her pride, the training had left Shira sore, flushed, sweaty, and breathing raggedly, while Saber was as even-tempered as ever, not having broken a sweat.

Two hours of training, and he still looks good, Shira found herself thinking as she caught her breath while being face first on the floor.

"That will do for now," she heard Saber say decidedly.

Shira slowly sat up, leaning against a wall. "I don't think I could've gone on for much longer anyway," she admitted, more to herself than to Saber. She sighed. "Man, that sounds pathetic."

Saber sat down next to her. "There is nothing for you to be ashamed of. You may not have landed a blow on me, but every strike you aimed had an excellent intensity. It's been a while since I have sparred with such an enthusiastic opponent."

The small, kind smile on his face, so different from the cool, expressionless demeanor he displayed while they sparred, was enough for Shira to flush even more, though she grinned a little herself.

"Want me to get some water for us?" she asked after a slight pause.

"I can take care of that; stay here and rest," Saber said, standing up and walking out of the dojo.

Several minutes later, Saber returned with a pitcher of cold water and two paper cups. He didn't get any water for himself, but Shira eagerly filled her cup with water and drank, savoring the taste.

As she drank a second cup of water, Shira let her mind wander. It suddenly occurred to her that, while she knew Saber's goal was to win the Holy Grail, she had no idea why he wanted to win it. In fact, even though they'd been living in very close proximity to each other for the past three days, she didn't really know much about him. He was strong, levelheaded, protective, and had a stubborn streak that clashed with her own, but what was his motive to fight in the Grail War? What wish did he want fulfilled?

She decided it couldn't hurt to ask him.

"Hey, Saber," Shira began after draining her cup, "can I ask you a question?"

"What is it?" Saber wanted to know.

"It's about the Grail," Shira explained. "If we win it, what sort of wish do you want granted?"

Saber paused. "That is...quite personal, Shira," he said, dodging her inquiry. "As my Master, are you ordering me to answer such a question?"

"Hey, it's fine if you don't want to answer. I know as much as the next person that not all wishes ought to be said out loud." Shira looked away, feeling slightly guilty for bringing it up. "I was just curious, that's all. Sorry if I offended you."

Now it was Saber's turn to feel a little guilt. "No; forgive me for being evasive." I may not have even told her my true name, but I should at least share some of my motivation with her. "The reason I seek the Holy Grail is quite simple. I wish to carry out a certain obligation I have that went unfulfilled when I was alive."

Shira's gaze went back to Saber, her interest piqued. "When you were alive? You mean, from before you became a Servant?"

The blond nodded, his expression solemn, even sad. "I suppose what I mean to say is that the Grail will allow me to do things over again."

Shira was curious as to why doing things over should make Saber look so melancholy, but she decided he likely would be too uncomfortable if she asked that. Instead, she grinned and joked, "Well, that's a relief. I don't know what I'd do if you pulled a Tohsaka and said, 'I want the Grail so I can take over the universe!'" She adopted a haughty tone in imitation of Rin.

To her surprise, Saber chuckled softly. Shira's lighthearted grin was soon replaced with a warm smile as she gazed at him, hugging her knees to her chest.

"Rin would be furious if she heard you say that," Saber informed her. "She's rough around the edges, certainly, but I do not believe she would use the Grail to throw the world into turmoil." He paused. "...Why are you smiling at me like that?"

"Oh, well...it's just..." Shira shrugged, a bit sheepish. "This is the first time I've heard you laugh."

"Is it, now?" She smiles because I laughed? What an interesting Master I have. Saber's expression became a bit rueful. "The life I have led has not given me too many opportunities for laughter."

Before Shira could say anything else, her stomach chose that moment to growl.

"Are you hungry?" Saber asked.

Shira blushed a little in embarrassment. "Sounds like I am. Training really works up an appetite." She stood up, Saber following suit. "It's not quite noon, but I guess we can have an early lunch."

"Hunger is the enemy," Saber informed her sagely. "An early lunch it is, then."

A giggle escaped Shira's throat as the pair walked out of the dojo. "Hunger is the enemy? Really? I would think it wouldn't be as bad as the Servants we've encountered."

"You would be surprised, Shira," Saber replied. "You would be surprised."

As they continued walking to the main house, Shira found her gaze drawn to Saber again. Maybe it wouldn't last long, but to have even so short a time where there was no awkwardness, no arguing, no worrying about what their next move should be—it was...nice. For just a few minutes, they weren't Master and Servant, two participants in the fifth Holy Grail War, but a girl and a boy enjoying each other's company.

If there were more moments like this, Shira would be far from complaining.

And if she could see Saber smile and hear him laugh again...well, she wouldn't complain about that, either.

Rin returned to the estate that evening.

"Anything unusual happen today?" she asked Shira as she got started on making dinner.

"Nope," Shira replied, "everything's been quiet around here. What about at school?"

"No new developments on the barrier front," Rin said, "but on the completely absurd front, Shinji asked me to join forces with him."

"You're kidding." Shira momentarily paused. "So, what did you say?"

"I told him he could forget it, but unfortunately, that guy doesn't know when to quit. He started getting pushy, so I punched him and said that you and I were already teamed up." Rin smirked slightly. "I also said no boys were allowed and went on my way."

Shira blinked. "Wow." Tohsaka sure has little restraint when it comes to Matou. Or maybe I have too much. After all, even if she could justify punching or slapping Shinji—and to say it wouldn't be difficult was an understatement—she had yet to actually do it. As much of a creep as he was, why drag herself down to his level?

Dismissing all thoughts of Shinji from her mind, Shira left the kitchen to let Rin continue with dinner, deciding that a shower was a good idea after her training session with Saber. She went to the bathroom and shut the door behind her, quickly stripping off all her clothes and placing them neatly on the counter.

She was just about to get into the shower when she heard the door open, followed by a very undignified, unmistakably masculine yelp. Shira turned her head, and her jaw nearly hit the floor.

Standing at the door—body frozen, eyes impossibly wide, and face as red as a tomato—was Saber.

And Shira was currently naked.

One second of ringing silence passed, Shira's face burning red—no, white—hot. The next second, she let out a scream loud enough for the neighbors to hear...in Turkey.

"SABER, YOU PERVERT!"

Saber broke out of his stupor long enough to back away out into the hall and shut the door as fast as he could.

"I—I am so sorry," he stammered, his voice at least an octave higher than usual and sounding quite unlike himself. "I did not realize you would be in here, I swear."

"You damn right you're sorry! Would it have killed you to knock?!" Shira instinctively tried to cover herself even though Saber could no longer see her.

"Shira, all I wanted to do was bathe," Saber insisted through the door. "It was not my intention to...to see you—"

"Just leave already! Or I'll use a Command Seal to make you forget you saw anything!"

"I'm sorry!" Shira heard rushing footsteps after that yelled apology. Once she figured that Saber was gone, she stepped away from the shower, staring at her reflection in the bathroom mirror. Her face was still red, but the anger she initially expressed was gone; sheer mortification had taken its place. And despite the heat radiating from her face, the rest of her body had erupted in goose bumps.

Oh, God, why? Shira thought, trembling. Why did Saber have to see me naked? She knew he hadn't walked in on purpose—for that, he was better than most guys—but...good grief, what a way to end the day. And hadn't she thought just before they'd eaten lunch that it'd been nice to spent time together in relative normalcy?

I'm never gonna be able to look him in the eye after this. How embarrassing.

With this rather depressing thought, Shira went back to the shower and turned the water on, making sure it was as hot as possible. Maybe the scalding temperature would take her mind off what would happen the next time she saw Saber.

Meanwhile, Saber had run—yes, run—to his room, roughly closed the door as though the Devil himself were on his heels, and practically slumped to his knees, his breath coming out in pants. The heat in his face had yet to subside, and his heart was still racing. Blood had pounded in his ears the second he realized Shira was standing in the bathroom without...without...

Without any clothes on. Saber forced himself to complete the thought, but it was difficult to do even that. Lord above, could someone just stab him repeatedly with his own sword? He would have been quite happy to believe that the encounter had not been real, but he doubted very much that he was capable of hallucinating about Shira in such a way.

Very well, then. He would simply have to accept that he had seen Shira naked, however accidental it was. He would also have to accept that Shira probably wanted to kill him right about now, which would be quite unfortunate for him.

Saber's breath hitched as the image of his Master naked appeared in his head. For those few seconds, before she'd started screaming at him, he had gotten an actual look at the shape of her body. She was small and very slender, not as curvaceous as some women he'd known, but she was still...still...

No.

No, no, no.

What the hell was he even thinking?!

You are a Servant of the Saber class, the blond scolded himself. You are a knight—said to be one of the greatest knights who ever lived—and you are bound by the code of chivalry. You are here to obtain the Holy Grail, not look upon your Master like some lecherous cur!

Saber looked down, and he suddenly felt as if a bucket of ice water had been dumped on him.

With no small amount of shame, he realized he would need a cold shower in the very near future.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Shira.

Dinner was an awkward affair for Saber and Shira that night. Shira forced herself to focus on the meal, but she barely registered the taste of the Chinese food Rin had prepared; she was too busy trying not to look in Saber's direction, certain she would end up blushing if she did. Saber was just as determined to avoid Shira's gaze, preoccupying himself by eating much more than his fair share of food. Either Rin, Sakura, and Taiga were polite enough to not remark on how tense and quiet the pair were being, or they simply didn't notice.

Later that evening, Shira went to Rin's room for her first magic lesson. As it turned out, though, Rin spent more time lecturing about magic than actually trying to teach Shira anything. Tonight's lecture was about transferring magical energy from one source to another.

"Jewels are easy objects to transfer mana into," Rin was saying. "I've been stashing up gems and transferring any extra mana I have into them for years now. It's not something every magus does, though; that's what Magic Crests are for."

"Magic Crests?" Shira repeated, frowning; the term sounded a little familiar, though she couldn't say where she'd heard it before. From her father, maybe?

Rin nodded. "A Magic Crest is a series of circuits containing the entire magical knowledge of a magi family. It's passed down from one generation to the next and gets more and more powerful as the years go by."

Shira hummed thoughtfully. "That could explain why I'm only good at reinforcement."

"You mean you're not a legitimate successor of your family?" Rin questioned. "What, did your father die before he could pass his Crest onto you?"

"More or less," Shira admitted, "but I don't think Dad would've given me his Magic Crest anyway. He really didn't want me becoming a magus; heck, he was always saying I could give up my training whenever I wanted."

Rin stared at Shira as though she'd said that there was a race of tap-dancing rhinos living on the moon. "Are you joking?"

"Nope," Shira answered simply. "I think that was Dad's way of telling me not to get too caught up in all the rules and regulations of the magi." She then smiled a bit. "Or he just wanted his little girl to have a more normal life, now that I think about it."

"So, what you're trying to tell me," Rin said, her voice like acid, "is that your father didn't pass his Magic Crest onto you because he prioritized fatherhood over the more significant role of being a magus?"

Shira's smile faded. "You say that like it's a crime. What's it to you, anyway?"

Rin huffed, turning away. "Shut up."

A moment of silence followed that brief, angry retort. Shira couldn't see why Rin would have such a negative reaction over Kiritsugu's reasoning for not giving his adopted daughter his Crest. Was it because Rin most likely had a much more orthodox upbringing than Shira did when it came to learning magecraft? Or was it because—?

Shira suddenly recalled her conversation with Rin after they'd destroyed most of the barrier's sigils, how bland and impersonal the latter was when talking about her own father's death.

Did Tohsaka not have a good relationship with him? Granted, as Shira got older, she hadn't spent as much time with Kiritsugu as she would've liked (he frequently went on mysterious business trips and never really told her the reason for them), but she never doubted that he loved her. Was it possible that Rin was jealous of Shira for having a father who cared about her? It was a strange thought.

"Tohsaka—" Shira began.

"Sorry," Rin muttered, turning to face her. "Just forget about it. Anyway," her voice went back to normal, "I guess we're done for now. Since you don't have a Magic Crest, that changes my plans for how to teach you."

"Okay, then," Shira said, standing up and making her way to leave the room. Before she could open the door, Rin continued talking.

"Oh, by the way, Shira, what was with you screaming earlier?"

Shira grimaced, resisting the urge to groan. So it had been too much to hope for that Rin hadn't noticed the tension between her and Saber at dinner.

She turned around to face the other girl, laughing nervously. "You heard that, huh?"

"I think even a deaf person heard you screaming your head off," Rin deadpanned. "Something about Saber being a pervert, is that right?"

Shira scowled. "Well, if you must know, he walked into the bathroom just as I was getting in the shower. I'm sure it'll blow over quickly, though." I hope. Or pray.

Rin merely smirked. "And if it doesn't, you still have to train with him again tomorrow."

"Now it's your turn to shut up." Shira proceeded to exit Rin's room without waiting for a reply.

Author's Note: Hee! The shower scene and the ensuing introspection was very fun to write. Saber's just lucky that it's not that time of the month. :D

In summary, Shira and Saber have their first unofficial date, which ends in the latter seeing the former naked; Saber is hot and bothered, and Shira is just bothered; and Shira wants to see if she can watch The Young and the Restless: The Tohsaka Edition.