Disclaimer: I do not own the Fate franchise it belongs to Kinoko Nasu and Type-Moon.

Transposition

Chapter 11

"Let me get this straight," Taiga loudly began, pounding a fist against the dinner table for emphasis. "You're letting another girl board at your house?"

Sakura sat beside Shirou, dressed in a collarless, short-sleeved shirt of white over comfortable, dark-blue shorts, head resting on an elbow as she watched Taiga tear into the older boy. Said boy was also looking rather contrite, head bowed as his guardian thundered at him. On his other side sat Saber, dressed in the clothes Sakura gave her, looking stoic and cool as she sat with hands folded on the table.

And in the background, one could hear Rin bustling around in the kitchen preparing dinner.

"…and now you bring home a schoolmate of all people!" Taiga continued, steadily building up steam as she went on. "Is this supposed to be some kind of TV drama-themed joke? If it is, well now, you've got something else coming to you because I did not raise you to be some kind of…"

Sakura sighed as Taiga finally exploded and grabbing Shirou's collar began to manhandle him over the table. Sitting up, Sakura pinched the bridge of her nose. "Um, excuse me, but can I just say one thing?" she asked.

"Huh?" Taiga asked belligerently, roughly (but not too roughly) shoving Shirou back before throwing a glare in Sakura's direction. "What is it, go ahead. Not that it'll really matter, as a teacher I won't…"

"Here you go." Sakura interrupted, holding up and towards Taiga a folded sheet of paper. Taiga bit back what she was going to say, the abrupt interruption grounding much of her temper, before she quickly grabbed the sheet of paper and began to quickly read it.

"What's that?" Shirou asked, rubbing at his neck.

"A letter from Kirei." Sakura answered. Shirou made to say something, but was preempted by Taiga.

"Your house collapsed?" she asked incredulously.

Sakura made a small sound of consternation. "What…no, of course not!" she said, scandalized. "Only a part of the roof caved-in on the second floor, the house is old after all, as in just after World War II old. It would have happened sooner or later, thankfully no one and nothing important was in the room when it did…"

Sakura trailed off as she realized she was rambling, and coughed to regain her composure. "Anyway," she continued. "The damage to the house needs to be fixed, and the rest of the house looked over for anything that could cause any more accidents like what just happened. In the meantime, I was planning on staying over at a hotel, but Emiya-sempai here found out…somehow…"

Sakura paused and thought it over for a few moments, and then shrugged before throwing a smile at Shirou. "The rumor mill, I guess." She said, and Shirou laughed nervously while rubbing at the back of his neck.

"Oh…so Shirou pays attention to rumors too, does he?" Taiga remarked before turning back to Sakura. "And? Shirou found out and then what?"

Sakura shrugged again. "He said it was inappropriate for a student to live in a hotel for a…lengthy, period of time." She said. "He then offered me to board in his house."

"Hmm…" Taiga hummed, clearly no longer angry, and crossed her arms over her chest. "Well, that does sound like Shirou alright, and he does have a point when he said it was inappropriate for a student to live in a hotel, no matter the circumstances. Even so though, this seems rather suspicious, even with this letter and all…"

"Kirei put his contact number in the letter." Sakura added cheerfully. "You can check whenever it's convenient, sensei."

Taiga made a face, and then sighed. "I might…later…" she muttered. "But anyway, it's still inappropriate for a young man and woman to live unchaperoned in a house, especially when they're still minors at your age!"

Sakura blinked, and this time it was her turn to frown. "Hey now, sensei," she said. "I'm not that kind of girl, and you know that. And also, Emiya-sempai's quite the gentleman. Sure, the snobs and others at school might look down on him for it, along with his other traits, but I'm sure there's plenty of proof about his character and that I can trust him to respect me as his guest."

"Well yes, that's true." Taiga admitted after a moment. "More students could be like you among others, and I – and his father before he died – made sure to raise Shirou to be a proper and respectable member of society."

"Then there should be no problems with me boarding here until my house is fixed, is there, sensei?" Sakura asked with a grin. "If it makes you feel better, I've offered to help out in household chores during my stay here, and of course, to contribute as I'm willing to the household expenses."

"Hmm…" Taiga began humming to herself as she thought it over, and after a few moments began to sway back and forth where she sat. Sakura blinked and glanced quizzically at Shirou who just shrugged at her. "…oh fine already…as you said, you're not that kind of girl, and Shirou's a responsible young man. I'll still have to check with your guardian, but given you're a responsible young woman yourself I'm sure it's just something that needs to be done."

Sakura smiled and bowed low. "Thank you for your understanding, sensei." She said, speaking unusually formally. "Rest assured, I understand your concerns, both as a teacher and as sempai's guardian."

Taiga nodded, her opinion and mood greatly improved by such a display of humility. "Alright, alright," she said. "That's good to hear…better than most kids these days…"

Sakura grinned at Shirou who smiled back at her, while Taiga glanced over at Rin. "Hey, Rin-chan," She said. "Do you need any help there? If you do…"

Rin paused cutting a carrot, and slowly turned her head to face the gathering at the table with a smile. "Hmm, what?" she asked, knife held firmly in one hand.

"Uh…it's nothing…"

"Alright then."

Taiga sat shell-shocked in place for a moment longer, and then turned to the perturbed Shirou and Sakura. "What was that all about?" she asked softly.

Shirou and Sakura traded glances, and then shrugged.

"Your guess is as good as ours, Fuji-nee."

"You're not going to be staying over like last night?" Shirou asked more than a bit shrewdly.

Taiga rolled her eyes, and then grinning, reached forward to ruffle a surprised Shirou's hair. "I trust Sakura-chan, and as I said this morning, we've managed to come to an understanding with Saber-san." She said. "As for you, well I'm pretty sure your dad and I managed to raise you properly…and that you know what's coming to you if you make Sakura-chan cry."

"Hey, Fuji-nee, I'm not…!"

Taiga laughed, and patted Shirou on a shoulder, causing his outraged protests to quiet down. "I know." She said. "You're not like that. Even so I still had to say it. Anyway, we have to get going now, so good night."

"Yes, good night." Shirou said with a nod, and as Taiga turned away, Shirou turned to Rin.

"Emiya-kun…I…" she began only to trail off.

"Hmm?" Shirou hummed with a questioning note. "What's wrong?"

"No, it's nothing." Rin said with a sigh. "Anyway, good night, and take care."

"Huh?"

Rin didn't say anything, simply giving a nod at Shirou before following Taiga out of the house and then the property. Shirou scratched his head in confusion at what Rin was trying to tell him, and then shrugging, went to lock up for the night. That done, he went off to find his ally in the Holy Grail War.

He found her in her room, sitting on her bed, reviewing her notes from their classes earlier during the day. For a few moments, Shirou just stood in the open doorway, staring at the girl just sitting there, looking for all the world like just another ordinary girl doing as she should at the end of the day, and nothing like the magus that she really was.

The moments passed, and then blinking, Sakura noticed Shirou and smiled at him. "What's wrong?" she asked.

Shirou blinked and coughed. "No, it's nothing." He said. "Well, not really, you just…"

"I just what?"

Shirou gave a short laugh. "I was just thinking," he said, entering the room fully and closing the door behind him. "When I walked in and saw you like you were just now, you looked nothing like a magus, someone with knowledge of and power over the rules of the World, and just another ordinary girl at the end of the day."

Shirou laughed again, a bit hesitantly this time. "Sorry if I said too much." He said.

Sakura laughed too, and shook her head. "No, it's alright." She said. "That's the idea, after all."

"Huh?"

Sakura coughed. "No, it's nothing." She said, gesturing for him to sit at a nearby chair, which he did. "Anyway, more importantly, I guess you want to go out now and look for wherever Caster's doing their mischief and put a stop to it, don't you?"

Shirou nodded. "I want to too." Sakura admitted. "Unfortunately, we can't really tell when and where Caster might strike next. They usually target apartments and such, but there's no pattern to it that I can see, if there even is."

"Random attacks…?" Shirou asked softly, and Sakura nodded.

"It looks that way." She said. "And it's probably deliberate on Caster's part too, to keep enemies from finding where they might strike next, and lay a trap for them in advance."

"So what can we do?" Shirou asked.

"Unfortunately," Sakura said with a sigh. "We're stuck to reacting to Caster's attacks. We have to wait for one or another of my familiars over the city to report back if and where Caster attacks next, and respond. We won't be able to stop the attack from happening in the first place, but we can reduce how much damage Caster can do. At the very least, the victims won't have to stay hospitalized for too long."

Shirou nodded grimly, and sighed heavily. "I'm not too happy not being able to do more," he said. "But every little counts."

"Yes." Sakura agreed. Silence fell between them for several moments, and then Sakura leaned forward. "Also, there's one more thing I should have said during our talk earlier during our lunch."

"What is it?"

"It's about Berserker."

Shirou stiffened at the memory of the monstrous Servant that had nearly killed him and Saber, and would have killed Sakura afterward. Thankfully, the little girl who had been Berserker's Servant had somehow lost interest in continuing the battle after a certain point, and had retreated, and giving them a chance to retreat themselves.

With that said, it was clear that in the end, they'd been lucky in that battle.

"What about him?" Shirou finally asked.

"We should avoid engaging that monster and his Master at all costs." Sakura said. "Together, Archer and Saber should be capable of defeating Berserker, but it'll cost them. And individually…"

"They're no match." Shirou finished, and Sakura nodded.

"In a prolonged fight, I'd say yes." She said. "But they could probably stalemate him for a time, at least until they're worn down and Berserker simply overpowers them. Or they use Noble Phantasms, but let's try and avoid that as much as we can. Noble Phantasms cost a lot of prana to use, are rather flashy especially the more powerful ones, and can reveal identities."

"I see." Shirou agreed. And then he blinked in realization. "But, can Archer even use his Noble Phantasms right now?"

"Not sure, I'll ask."

"I heard the question." Archer replied. "In theory yes, but it's a pain in my current state, and not very advisable."

"He can." Sakura relayed to Shirou. "But apparently it's best he doesn't until he's fully recovered."

"I see. Thanks for the answer."

"He says thanks for the answer."

"Then give the proper response."

"Smartass," Sakura replied before relaying Archer's response, and causing Shirou to nod in acknowledgement.

"Saber though," he began. "Do you think she can defeat Berserker with her Noble Phantasm, whatever it is?"

"…I think she can." Sakura said after a moment's thought. "But it's probably for the best she doesn't."

"Why not?"

"As I said, using Noble Phantasms cost a lot of prana to use, and right now, you can't really support her." Sakura said. "What would you or we do if Saber uses her Noble Phantasm, and drains her reserves so much that she either gets crippled or worse, simply vanishes?"

"It's going to be a problem."

"Talk about understatement," Sakura said with a laugh. Shirou made as if to say something but thought better of it.

Not being able to properly support Saber is something I should fix, but, I don't really know how.

Sakura might know, but she's already working so hard trying to find wherever Caster is. I can't really dump more work on her, it'd be unreasonable.

It'll have to wait I guess, fixing my connection with Saber. Right now, we should focus on stopping Caster's attacks and eventually, even Caster as well. After everything they've done, I won't hesitate to say they can't be trusted with the Grail.

And after that…

"…sempai…sempai…sempai…"

Shirou blinked, and then coughed. "Sorry about that!" he said loudly, clearly embarrassed. "I spaced out for a bit."

"I noticed." Sakura said with a cheeky grin, and Shirou laughed weakly. "My, my, first my Servant and now you, sempai, people keep spacing out around me, I wonder if I can't keep their attention."

"That's not it." Shirou said reassuringly, though he knew Sakura was just teasing. "I was just thinking, that's all."

"About what?"

"About Saber, and fixing my connection with her." Shirou said. "Though, that'll have to wait until later, when we have the time."

Sakura nodded, but didn't say anything for a couple of moments. "Anyway, moving on," she eventually said. "Seeing as we have a little time to ourselves and I did say I'd help bring your magecraft up to speed, you being an amateur and all…no offense…"

"It's alright." Shirou said with a reassuring smile. "It's true after all, despite all the effort my dad put into teaching me as much magic as he could."

"Oh?" Sakura asked with a clear touch of curiosity. "It sounds like there's a story there, but I wouldn't mind if you don't want to tell, family secrets and all."

Shirou waved her off. "It's nothing like that." He said. "It's just that, no matter how hard I tried and how many times dad explained how it should work, I could never get most spells to work. Actually, the only spells I can use are tracing and reinforcement."

Sakura blinked. "That's a rather…strange, limitation." She said. "And what's tracing?"

Shirou grinned and held out his hands. "Trace, on." He said, prana glowing between his hands as they coalesced and solidified into a physical object. At the sight, Sakura's eyes widened, and she half-rose to her feet. And then she blinked, fully getting up as she noticed something else, something that was just off, and narrowed her eyes at Shirou.

Shirou didn't notice this, focused as he was on completing his spell. Finally, the light died, and Shirou held up a pot ladle with a grin. "Well, that's tracing." He said cheerfully. "The one spell I'm really good at."

Sakura regarded the ladle for a moment, and then turned back to Shirou. Shirou just stared curiously at Sakura as she crossed her arms over her chest, eyes closed in thought. Finally, after several moments, she opened her eyes.

"What were you doing?" Sakura finally asked.

Shirou blinked. "Tracing, it's my…" he began only for Sakura to interrupt.

"No, no," she said. "Before that, when you said your aria, what were you doing?"

"Opening my magic circuits, of course. How else can I use magic without opening them first?"

Sakura stared at Shirou, and Shirou stared back. And then Sakura sighed, and walking over to her chest opened it to ruffle through the things inside. Shirou politely stayed where he was until Sakura got up, closing the chest while holding what looked like a jewel in one hand. Shirou then blinked as he saw shadows snaking over Sakura's arm to touch the gem, which flashed once before the shadows vanished.

What was that?

"Here, swallow this." Sakura said, tossing the jewel to Shirou. He held it up.

"What's this?" he asked.

"It's an opal." Sakura replied, and Shirou stared at her incredulously.

"And you want me to swallow it?" he asked.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Yes." She replied. "Don't worry, it's perfectly safe. Once the spell stored inside the jewel is spent, the jewel will crumble into powder which will be washed out of the body when you…well, go to the bathroom. As for the spell itself…"

Sakura paused to sigh. "Before that, I'm going to say sorry first since this might offend you," she said. "But your dad was really irresponsible."

"What?"

"You weren't opening your magic circuits, you were somehow…altering, your nerves into makeshift magic circuits for use in magecraft." Sakura said.

"But, isn't that…"

"No, it isn't." Sakura interrupted with a shake of her head. "Magic circuits while connected to the nervous system are a separate…system, or network. More importantly, I don't know how you pulled that off, only that you're really lucky you haven't suffered from nervous degeneration or worse from doing that for so long."

"I think…I see what you mean." Shirou said, looking rather sick. He'd been doing things wrong apparently, and had apparently risked frying his brain or crippling himself every time he did magic. Well, that was a risk – among others such as death – when it came to using magic, even when done properly, but still…

…to think he'd been doing things improperly for so long, and that he'd been risking his life more than he needed to…

…it was something that needed to be thought about.

"But what was that about dad being irresponsible?" Shirou asked.

"He was the one who taught you magecraft," Sakura said. "And somehow I get the feeling he wasn't an amateur like you, and was a proper magus. I doubt he was making the same mistake as you, and if he was a proper magus, he should have noticed and corrected what you were doing, since it seems you've been doing it wrong from the very beginning. So either he didn't notice, and he was really…unperceptive, or he didn't bother to correct you, which is very irresponsible."

"It's not that." Shirou answered quickly. "I see what you mean though, and yes, dad was a proper magus, it's just that…he was sick, you see. That's what killed him in the end, about seven or so years ago. So about what you said earlier, about dad not noticing my mistakes, yeah, I agree. But not because he was unperceptive or irresponsible, but…"

"…he was sick, and it was affecting his performance." Sakura finished, and Shirou nodded. Sakura sighed and gave an apologetic bow. "Sorry, I jumped to conclusions, and said some things I shouldn't about the dead and other people's relatives."

"No, it's alright." Shirou said with a small smile. "You didn't know about dad's circumstances, and made a wrong assumption because of it. But once you realized that, you owned up to it, so it's fine."

Sakura smiled and nodded, sitting back down on the bed before gesturing at the opal in Shirou's hand. "You should drink that, so the spell stored inside the gem can properly open your circuits." She said. "Every time you use magic afterwards, you just need to visualize a mental trigger which can open and close your magic circuits at will."

"I already know how to do the last bit, I just have to…practice, I guess, so I won't be wrecking my nerves every time I use my magic from here on." Shirou reassured Sakura, deciding to just go with her changing the topic of their discussion. "Alright, here we go."

"Brace yourself," Sakura said as Shirou swallowed the opal. "You might feel a bit dizzy afterwards."

"Got it." Shirou said, sitting in his seat after swallowing the jewel. For a few moments there was nothing, and then suddenly the world seemed to spin and lurch around him.

Sakura blinked as Shirou began to sway in his seat, and then she lunged forward to catch him as he fell forward, off the chair. There was a soft thud as Sakura fell back on the floor, her back against the side of the bed, Shirou lying slack against her. "Um," Sakura began, her cheeks pink as Shirou's head rested against her breasts. "Are you alright?"

"I don't feel so good." Shirou mumbled, eyes heavy and unfocused. "It feels very warm…and soft…"

Sakura sighed. "Well," she thought to herself. "It's not like it was deliberate so…it's alright, isn't it? I mean, he's just resting against me, there's nothing malicious about it, is there?"

"Alright," Sakura said aloud. "You just lie there and rest until your body's back to normal."

"Yes, yes."

"What happened?"

Rin glanced at Rider as they met up at the rendezvous point. She didn't say anything, and after several moments of silence and those amethyst eyes staring at her Rider shrugged. "I was just curious, that's all." She said. "You don't seem to be in a very good mood. Though as I recall, you were quite relaxed earlier when we were at the market and just before we parted…"

Rider trailed off as Rin walked away, towards a tree standing in one corner of the playground that was their rendezvous point. It was an evergreen, and so despite the season, leaves still hung dark and heavy on the tree.

And then behind her visor, Rider's eyes widened as Rin punched the trunk hard enough to cause the lowermost leaves to rustle. "One after another," she snarled. "My family…my innocence…my dignity…and now my sanctuary and maybe even my heart…just how much more will that girl's existence take from me? My life…? My triumph…? If only she'd never been born!"

Rin's eyes widened in realization of what she'd just said, and she staggered back a couple of steps. Strangled chuckles forced their way out of her throat, and then slowly but steadily, the laughter built, and Rin nearly doubled-over laughing, high-pitched and not completely sane, the girl covering her eyes as she took darkly-comic amusement at what she had become.

Abruptly the laughter stopped, Rin gasping hard before she clenched her fists, and forced herself upright. "I…I've become like them…like him." She whispered, sadly looking up at the cloudy skies of winter. "It's inevitable, I suppose…the core concept of the Matou is absorption…and I am the greatest magus they have ever produced."

Rin laughed some more before whirling on Rider with a frantic expression on her face and a strange light in her eyes. Something about that was unsettling even for Rider, who took a step back. Finally, Rin took a deep breath, closing her eyes for a few moments, and when she opened them, the madness had gone, replaced by iron control once more.

"By the power of the command spell," Rin began to Rider's surprise, one of Rin's command spells flaring before vanishing. "Heal yourself, Rider!"

A magic circle flashed to life around Rider's feet, and with a powerful burst of wind and a blinding flash of light, Rider felt the lingering injuries and debilitation from her recent battle with Lancer vanish. "Off to stake your claim?" Rider asked with a grin.

"Not yet," Rin replied to Rider's surprise. "We'll wait until Archer has fully recovered. That way, we can take out two birds with one stone. Well, we can still do that now, but…you won't be satisfied with killing a cripple, would you?"

Rider shrugged but gave an echo of agreement through their link. "No, I don't." she said.

Rin nodded, and as Rider vanished into astral form, walked out into the night.

It's better this way.

Because I fell into the darkness, she remains pure and noble.

So, won't you return the favor, my dear, sweet, little sister…

…and end the nightmare?

A/N

Familiar settings, but different dialogue to account for the changes in the characters. Some things never change though, like Rin still terrifying people with a smile, and the sibling sacrificed to the Matou may be unbroken but definitely not unaffected/undamaged/unchanged by what's been done to them.