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

Transposition

Chapter 16

The morning dawned bright and sunny, if cool and crisp despite winter already fast approaching its end. Humming softly to himself, Shirou approached Sakura's room and politely knocked three times. "Sakura, it's me." He said.

"Come in." Sakura replied.

Taking that as his cue, Shirou slid the doors open, and blinked. Sakura wasn't wearing her uniform, wearing casual clothes instead. For a moment, Shirou was wrong-footed, and then realizing something was up, stepped into the room and closed the doors behind him, knowing that Sakura had a bounded field up around her room. Well, he assumed she did.

"Did something happen?" he asked softly.

"Yes," Sakura nodded, looking very grim. "And it's alright. There's a bounded field around my room to keep people from eavesdropping or just walking in."

"I thought as much." Shirou said with a sigh before looking concerned himself. "So what happened?"

"Kirei contacted one of my familiars." Sakura replied. "Before sunrise this morning, policemen on patrol found plenty of bloodstains along part of the waterfront, and further investigation found more bloodstains across the entire length of the waterfront. What's more, they also discovered that a large number of the homeless who can usually be found there have gone missing. The police and Kirei both think there's foul play involved, but while the police have no real leads, Kirei though…"

Sakura trailed off as Shirou grit his teeth, and clenched his fists. "Caster?" he asked.

"It seems that way, doesn't it?" Sakura asked after a moment, but Shirou noticed the pause and with it, a strange hint to Sakura's voice.

"You don't think it's him or her?" he asked.

"It could be," Sakura conceded. "But something's not right here. Or rather, something's not adding up. Caster's method of gathering prana so far involves draining people of their life force to the brink of death itself, but without doing any real physical harm. And that's just it: logically-speaking, if Caster wanted to kill, they'd do so by completely draining their victims' life force, without physically harming their bodies."

Shirou blinked. "But," he said. "The police and Kotomine found lots of bloodstains, didn't they?"

"Yes." Sakura said with a nod. "And that's what worries me. There's a logical disconnect between Caster's methods so far and what happened last night. The evidence for it is rather circumstantial, but, it's possible someone's decided to aggressively gather prana by targeting innocent people, and pin the blame on Caster. If that's the case though, they're rather clumsy, to have left a logical disconnect between the methods."

"That's…"

"Don't get too worked up over it yet," Sakura said to Shirou. "It's also possible this is a trick on Caster's part, to make other Masters and Servants think that someone else is gathering prana aggressively, and turn attention away from Caster themselves."

Sakura paused and then sighed, unhappily crossing her arms over her chest. "But," she said. "It could be that this second…no, Caster hasn't actually killed anyone yet, this murderous bastard could also be trying to make us think this is some trick on Caster's part…damn it, I hate this cloak and dagger business…"

"So you'll be investigating." Shirou said as Sakura trailed off. It wasn't a question.

"Yes," Sakura said with a nod. "I'll try and finish things this morning, if so I should be at school around lunch. If that's the case, we should meet up on the roof to discuss things."

"And if that's not the case?"

Sakura smiled and half-turning, whistled. Shirou blinked as he saw a small swallow perched on the dresser and which he hadn't noticed until now fly over to Sakura and alighting on her arm. It preened itself a couple of times, and then spreading its wings bowed to Shirou, who grinned at the sight.

"You'll contact me by familiar then." He said, and Sakura nodded.

"Yes." She said. "As for our Servants, I'm taking Archer with me, he's largely recovered by now, enough to engage in a fighting retreat I think, or at least to hold out long enough for Saber to get there. As for Saber, well, since she can't enter astral form she'll have to stay here. But just in case something goes wrong before we can link up, don't hesitate to use a command spell."

"I won't." Shirou said with a glance at his arm. "I still don't really like these things, but…I don't plan on dying anytime soon. Especially not until we put a stop to these attacks."

Sakura nodded, and walked over to the doors. "Apart from that," she said, sliding the doors open. "Kirei also sent another cover letter so…"

Sakura trailed off, her expression turning alarmed as she stepped out, glancing side to side down the veranda outside. "What is it?" Shirou asked, walking up to Sakura.

"I could have sworn…" Sakura murmured before shaking her head. "No, it's nothing."

Shirou just stayed silent as Sakura sent her familiar flying off, and then stepped back as she stepped inside the room and closed the doors. "As I was saying," she said, leaning lightly against the doors behind her. "Kirei's sent a cover letter. That should be enough Fujimura-sensei, seeing as she won't let skipping school go otherwise."

Shirou sighed. "Yeah, it should." He said, scratching the back of his head. "I don't like the idea of lying to her, but in hindsight that's a rather stupid thing to say and feel, seeing as she doesn't know I'm a magus and all, and you could say me and dad have been lying to her for years…no, it's not like we told lies we just didn't tell her the truth…but still, that's…!"

Sakura smiled sympathetically as Shirou made a sound of frustration, and then taking a deep breath glanced at Sakura. "Okay," he said. "I'm guessing that's all?"

"For now."

Shirou nodded and sighed again. "Alright," he said. "I'll wait for you at school then or wherever you plan to meet up at in case you can't finish things this morning."

Sakura nodded, and Shirou smiled, leading the way out of her room. "Well then," he said. "Shall we get going?"

Giggling as Shirou's statement was punctuated by a distant shout from Taiga, Sakura nodded her agreement. "Yes, we should." She said, following after him. "We don't want to keep the tiger waiting, do we?"

Shirou laughed and nodded in agreement. "No," he agreed. "We definitely don't."

Laughing to themselves, the two magi proceeded to the dining room.

"Hmm…" Taiga hummed as she read the note from Kirei over the breakfast table. "Family business huh? Well, I've talked to Father Kotomine over the phone before, about Sakura-chan staying over until her house is fixed, and I see no reason then and now about going against his word."

"Thanks for the understanding, sensei." Sakura said with a nod.

Taiga nodded back. "No problem." She said with a grin. "With that said though, Sakura-chan, I'm surprised your guardian is a priest, and of the Roman Church at that."

"Yes, well," Sakura said with a momentary pause for thought. "Dad was an old friend of Kirei's dad, Father Risei, and helped them out a while back. That's why Kirei became my guardian after my parents died."

Sakura fell silent and still for a moment after saying that, and then she sighed. "Well," she said with a sad smile. "He did his best."

Shirou glanced worriedly at Sakura, while Taiga nodded slowly. Saber looked sympathetic, while Rin's face was unreadable. "Sorry, Sakura-chan." Taiga said softly. "I shouldn't have brought it up."

Sakura shook her head. "No," she said. "It's fine. I…I've moved on…"

Taiga nodded and turned back to her breakfast. Sakura ate a spoonful of rice and then blinking, glanced at Shirou across the table. Seeing his worried expression, she smiled and nodded once at him, and after another moment he sighed and nodded as well.

The gathering ate in silence with the exception of the music from the TV in the corner, but after a few minutes Rin spoke up. "So," she began. "What's this family business of yours about? I don't really mean to pry, but, as an upperclassman and a student leader, I can't help but wonder what needs you skipping school for at least half a day."

"Rin…!" Taiga said chidingly, but Sakura waved it off.

"No, she's got a point." She said before looking at Rin. "Still, seeing as it's private, I can't give any details, though I could give the general idea."

"Oh?" Rin prompted.

"Let's just say," Sakura began. "That something related to the family properties or rather business has turned up, and I need to be present with my guardian to properly deal with it."

Taiga looked understanding, coming from a propertied family herself, and nodded after a moment. Rin narrowed her eyes, and slightly turned her face away with a small smile. "I see." She said. "I guess I can be fine with that."

Sakura narrowed her eyes slightly, while Shirou looked on with concern. He knew that Sakura and Rin weren't part of the same circles at school, even if they knew about each other. But now, it looked as though there could be more between them than he thought there was.

What's going on here?

Is there something between them? Between their families?

Something that might be trouble in the future?

Rin…Sakura…

"I was careless." Rin remarked.

"What?" Shinji said. The two of them were in Rin's office at school, Rin looking some Student Council business over before classes started for the day, and Shinji performing his duties as her deputy.

"I failed to take into account the difference between Caster and my methods." Rin said, looking out the window at the students crossing the grounds below. "Caster drains people of their prana without damaging their bodies. If she wanted to kill, she'd just drain them completely. The Children though…"

Rin trailed off, eyes narrowing but giving no further physical sign of displeasure. "Tokiomi's daughter is sharp." She said after several moments. "She caught onto my mistake just from the first reports."

Rin made a sound of disgust, and turned away from the windows. "Tokiomi did say we had equal potential, but still…" she murmured, walking over to and sitting on her chair. "I could do better than her."

Shinji was silent for several moments, and then briefly looked sideways in thought. "How'd you find out about all this?" he asked.

"How do you think?"

"You had a familiar spying on her."

"Quite," Rin said, sitting back in her chair. "It's harder than you might think though, pulling it off. Even her basic bounded fields are quite effective, so much so I can't just peer much less just walk into her field laboratory at Emiya's, much less her residence. Even just eavesdropping aroused her suspicions this morning."

"Do you think she suspects?"

"That we're behind the second wave of attacks on civilians, or that I've been eavesdropping on her?" Rin replied. "I think she has suspicions about the latter, but I also think we're still in the clear over the former."

"Don't you think it's strange though, that she found out about what happened last night so quickly, that she'd quickly arrange for herself to slip away and investigate today?"

"Not really," Rin said. "She has that damn priest Kotomine on her side, or so she thinks. Though, he might as well be, so long as it's in his interests to stay on her side."

"Kotomine…"

Rin chuckled. "He is a rather shifty character, isn't he?" she said. "Still, I do owe him a favor or a gift, after all, he did kill Tokiomi. And what a poetic death too, to be stabbed in the back by someone he trusted with his life and wellbeing…"

Rin broke off to laugh with murderous satisfaction, causing Shinji to look worried. It ended after only a few moments though, Rin gasping as she forced her emotions back under control, and pinched her nose. "My only regret is that I couldn't do it myself…" she whispered, but then she looked up at Shinji. "Enough about this, we have other, more important matters to attend to, such as the budget and plans for the spring activities."

Shinji lowered his face. "Rin," he said softly. "I understand why you want to change the topic, but this is serious."

Rin icily stared at her brother, but Shinji pressed on regardless. "Tohsaka is investigating alongside Kotomine," he said. "What if they find…"

"They will find nothing." Rin interrupted. "The nests are all too deep in the undercity, to the point that even if Sakura and Kotomine go into the undercity, it's past the point where either would consider safe. Any further and their line of retreat would be too vulnerable to being cut off."

Shinji was silent, and after a moment Rin swiveled her chair sideways, icily glaring at Shinji from the corner of her eyes. "Or perhaps," she said. "Do you want to stop? To abort this strategy?"

"Rin, I…"

"We could do that." Rin said, closing her eyes briefly. "But if we did…having come this far, then what will all the sacrifices have been for? Everyone we've killed last night. The children who could have been…"

Rin trailed off, and after a couple of moments Shinji grit his teeth, and closing his eyes clenched his fists so hard that they hurt. "I understand." He finally said.

"Then let us move on." Rin said, turning back to her desk and paperwork.

"Yes," Shinji said before a thought occurred to him. "But, just one last thing."

"What?" Rin asked irritably.

"Emiya," he said, Rin's eyes going wide with fear. "What if he finds out? Finds out what we've done?"

For a long moment, Rin sat silent and unmoving, and then swallowing dryly regained her composure. "Leave that to me." She said, and with a sigh Shinji nodded.

"Alright then,"

Kirei and Sakura leisurely walked alongside the waterfront, the combination of a tall, dour-looking priest in his austere, dark-colored habit clashing with the casually-dressed, relaxed-looking teenager beside him. Said teenager was currently holding a leash in one hand, tied to a small dog which was cheerfully sniffing the ground and leading them along the waterfront.

"Just how many familiars do you have?" Kirei asked.

"Enough," Sakura replied.

"Is that so?"

"Yes," Sakura said before giving a smile. "This one's something of a mercy case though."

"Oh?"

"I didn't plan on making it a familiar, you see." Sakura explained. "I think it was a few years ago, when I was walking home and some son of a bitch didn't even slow down and just ran over a poor stray crossing the street. I pitied the poor thing, and brought it home."

"There you repaired the body and replaced key organs and such with gemstones, giving it new life as one of your familiars." Kirei concluded. "I wouldn't call that mercy, more like a magus just salvaging some raw material she saw lying around, and putting it to use rather than have it waste away."

Sakura didn't reply at once. "Maybe," she admitted after a few moments, and then looking up moved her head from side to side a few times. "We're being watched."

"Yes, I know." Kirei admitted. "Some familiars perhaps, or a Servant. I doubt you're the only Master to know about Caster stepping up their game, they did feature the disappearances in the morning news. Even without me telling them what I told you, the other Masters would have suspicions if they are anywhere near competent, and would have probably sent familiars at least to look into things."

"Yikes," Sakura said with a grimace. "If things go badly, we might end up encountering a Master and or their Servant here. We might have to fight."

"Certainly," Kirei said with a nod. "We may encounter another set of participants here. But, I will not allow a battle in broad daylight, bounded fields or not. This is an official investigation by the Overseer's Office, with the Tohsaka Master assisting. Any and all interference will be considered as a violation of the conduct required from all participants of the contest."

He gave her a look at that, as though saying 'not even if you want to fight', but Sakura just smiled and shrugged it off. "Speaking of Caster though," Kirei said. "They're starting to go too far. I might have to temporarily stop the contest, and order all participants to focus on Caster, with a reward of…shall we say, an extra command spell, to whoever takes their head?"

Sakura looked at Kirei in surprise. "You can do that?" she asked.

"If my father could do it," Kirei replied. "I can as well. The Caster of the previous war was extremely aggressive."

Sakura chuckled. "I see." He said. "So that's the power of the Overseer."

"So it is."

Sakura frowned though, and Kirei raised an eyebrow in surprise. "What seems to be the problem?" he asked.

"About Caster and these recent attacks," Sakura said, before telling Kirei what she and Shirou had discussed earlier that morning, causing the priest to take a thoughtful expression.

"I see." He said. "Certainly, there's a logical disconnection between last night and Caster's actions so far. Of course, this could also be a ploy on their or another Master's part but still…"

"We need to know more before deciding on extreme measures like what your dad did." Sakura said.

"Indeed," Kirei said before giving Sakura a wry smile. "Well-perceived, and well-reasoned; your father would have been proud."

Sakura shrugged, and was about to say something when suddenly her familiar stopped, and then ears folding back and tail firmly straight with body tense as though to pounce, it growled at a storm drain to their right. Kirei narrowed his eyes, he and Sakura walking a few steps closer. The drain was closed off with a grill, but it was rusted and in some places had fallen through.

No, not quite: closer inspection on their parts indicated it had been chewed through, and recently at that.

"It looks like whoever our perp is, they're hiding in the undercity." Sakura said dryly.

"Perp? Really, Sakura?" Kirei echoed. "Have you been watching American police and detective shows? Those aren't good for you, you know. You're better off focusing on your studies, or trying to seduce that Emiya boy."

Sakura coughed loudly before glaring at Kirei who only smirked at her. "So," he began. "Should we investigate further?"

"Are you crazy?" Sakura said. "I'm not going into the undercity without knowing more of what we're up against."

"And how will we know more if we don't go into the undercity?"

"We don't have to do it in person." Sakura said. "I could send a few familiars in, though I'll need to tweak their eyes for operations in the dark. There's probably less light in there than under a New Moon."

Kirei nodded before smirking again. "Lancer," he said, speaking to the Servant – Archer (also in astral form) aside – who'd been watching them the whole time he and Sakura had been investigating this stretch of the waterfront. "I have a task just for you. And it seems a very fitting one, given your background. Tonight, you will enter these tunnels, follow the scent of last night's attackers back to their lair, test their capabilities, and withdraw. Understood?"

"I fucking hate you." Lancer snarled his thoughts, his hatred spiking further at Kirei's mental laughter.

"…go?" Sakura was asking, and Kirei returned to reality with a blink of his eyes.

"Yes," he said. "If we're not going any further than here, then we should go."

Sakura nodded and walked back the way they came. "I want to see the other areas where attacks were made." She said. "Just to cross-reference with the scents here, to see if it's the same perp or perps."

"Again with that American word," Kirei said disapprovingly before giving a sigh. "Very well, if that's what you want."

Sakura nodded, and walked in silence for several more minutes. "What seems to be on your mind, Sakura?" Kirei finally asked.

"It's strange, isn't it?" Sakura asked back.

"What is?"

"Not the bodies being taken away, bodies can be useful after all, one way or another," Sakura said with a dark expression on her face. "But, the blood…given the stains on the surroundings, there should have been more, and there hasn't been enough time for it to dry, and there's no sign they drained into the river either. In fact, plenty of them shouldn't have drained away. And yet…"

Sakura trailed off, but Kirei understood what she was trying to say. "The attackers made certain to avoid…wasting, or leaving behind even spilled blood. Meticulous, aren't they?" he asked.

"Yes, and that's what worries me."

Kirei looked at Sakura curiously. "Why is that?" he asked.

"I don't know." Sakura replied. "And that only makes my worries worse."

Kirei didn't say anything, though he too frowned in thought at Sakura's worries.

Killing the victims for their prana makes sense, but their bodies and even the blood which was already spilled, why take them as well? Well, it's clear there's use for them, but what?

What are we missing here? And what is our enemy planning?

Silence hung heavy over the classroom, broken only by the teacher's lecture on Japanese literature from the Heian Era, as well as the sound of pens and pencils scribbling on notebooks and sheets of paper. A gentle breeze blew through the windows, the curtains gently stirring with the wind.

That silence was now broken as a sparrow chirped almost as though in greeting, flying through the windows to the surprise of everyone present. It landed on one girl's desk, and after chirping a few times flew to the middle of Shirou's desk.

Shirou stared. The bird stared back. Students seated next to Shirou leaned in, and the bird tilted its head. Shirou blinked as he felt his circuits heat up in instinctive resistance to the flow of prana from the bird entering his body, and allowed Sakura's prana entry.

"Things are more complicated than expected." Shirou heard Sakura's voice in his head. "I won't be coming to school today. Meet me after school here. Bring Saber with you, just in case."

The image of a café came to mind, followed by landmarks that allowed Shirou to place it. "Got it." He thought in reply. "See you later then, and take care."

"Thanks."

The bird chirped a few times, and then spreading its wings flew once around the classroom and then back out the windows. "What was that?" one of Shirou's classmates asked.

"A sparrow?" Shirou asked skeptically.

"Oh, so you can do sarcasm too, can you Emiya?" the other boy said with a grin.

Shirou just smiled and shrugged, and the teacher coughed before tapping a finger against her desk. "Settle down, everyone." She said. "Anyway, Gotou-kun, please read the passage on page 83, and interpret the author's meaning as best you can."

"Yes, sensei." The tanned boy with dyed blonde hair said before getting up, his textbook in hand and doing as the teacher said. Meanwhile, Shirou's mind was on what Sakura had told him.

"More complicated than expected, huh?" he thought. "How? I wish you could have told me the details. But…"

Shirou narrowed his eyes before glancing out the window, and at the surprisingly clear blue sky visible beyond. "It can't be anything good," he thought. "If it's more complicated than just people going missing with plenty of blood left behind."

Beneath his desk, Shirou clenched his fists. "No matter what it takes," he thought. "Whether it's Caster or someone else, they won't get away with hurting or worse, killing innocent people. I won't let them get away with it, much less actually winning the Holy Grail."

The rest of the day passed uneventfully.

At school, Shirou ate lunch with Issei, Shinji busy with his sister in her office. Classes passed one after another with nothing further out of the ordinary, and despite being accosted by Ayako Mitsuzuri yet again for Shirou to rejoin the Kyuudo Team, Shirou left without incident to pick up Saber before rendezvousing with Sakura and Archer.

As for Sakura, she spent the whole morning and most of the afternoon roaming the waterfront with Kirei, finding no real difference between the scent of the attackers from the first site they investigated in the morning with the others they investigated during the day. Tracing the scent trails all led to drains and other egress points leading in and out of the undercity, and which neither the priest nor the magus were willing to enter at the time.

In the end, the two broke off the investigation as the skies began to turn gold and red, Kirei hurrying back to his church to hold his evening service, and Sakura making for Ahnenerbe for a late lunch before meeting up with Shirou and Saber in the same café.

Deep beneath Fuyuki City, nests festered in the darkness, fleshy sacs of tough, plastic-like bio-matter pulsing gently in a measured pattern, filled with a translucent, gelatinous fluid in which a monster curled and grew in sleep. The nests sweltered with heat, the growth of the monsters – the Children as their maker, their mother called them – within releasing plenty of heat from the process.

Flesh and bone grew and were reshaped to better suit the Children's matured forms, skin hardening to form armored scales, fangs and claws lengthened and sharpened, while magic circuits flickered as mysteries were engraved onto the Children's very being. Sacs bloated and throbbed like obscene boils in the dark as the Children within grew, though not all proceeded at the same pace.

Most grew at a more leisurely rate, but a few others grew at an insane rate, their mother risking mutation and genetic catastrophe resulting from such accelerated growth to prepare to strike her first real blow of the war. Though, even there Rin was planning to salvage lessons from the genetic and physiological flaws of the Children, to be corrected or improved, and applied to those still in their growth sacs.

Night fell. The stars and the Moon shone down from the sky, Fuyuki City's nightlife booming as might be expected of a city with a population of over a million. In Ahnenerbe Sakura, Shirou, Saber, and Archer sat in a secluded booth, protected from prying eyes and ears by a bounded field while they discussed Sakura's findings during the day.

Night deepened. An albino of a child wandered out of her castle, accompanied by a swarthy giant, with no real target in particular and just to take any opportunity that might turn up along the way.

Sakura, Shirou, and their Servants marched out in response to Dragon Tooth Warriors arriving at another apartment complex. Caster stood in her sanctum, overseeing her operations through a glowing sphere of magic.

Sacs erupted with pale, translucent fluid, harsh screams splitting the darkness as the Children clawed their way out of their growth sacs. Some were humanoid in shape, standing on two legs. Other were like insects, with multiple lags and pincer-tipped arms and fanged mouths, backs bristling with armored stingers or sporting tails tipped with a stinger dripping with venom.

What light there was in the hatched nests gleamed off armored plates, and unlike their larval states, eyes of various forms blinked and stared out at the world around them.

A few of the Children collapsed soon after emerging from their sacs, their genetic flaws consigning them to quick and painful deaths. Their siblings pounced on their dying forms, ripping dripping gobbets of flesh to devouring, or even fighting amongst themselves over the right to scavenge their dying siblings.

More often than not, such squabbles ended in death, the loser being consumed by the victor, or where the victor was too injured, taken advantage of and devoured in their turn. And as they culled and consumed the weaker among them, a second wave of mutations occurred, armor growing thicker, stronger, taking on new forms to protect themselves. Venom grew even more potent, and weapon-forms evolved as flesh twisted and grew unnaturally.

Matured and hot-blooded broods howled in the darkness, and as Rin stared out from her office windows in the deserted school, she closed her eyes to give the word. "Rider," she said. "It's time to fight."

A/N

Hey, no one made an issue when it was an open secret that Kirei was Tokiomi's apprentice just before or even during the 4th war, so why would they make an issue when Sakura and Kirei are going around investigating together? And they do have an official excuse i.e. '…an official investigation by the Overseer's Office, with the Tohsaka Master assisting.'

(shrugs)

Moving on, so what if Rin's unsuitable to be a Lesser Grail, all that means is she's a 'trained' magus under Zouken's thumb…and a genius with massive potential. She might not be able to use or make Shadow Giants, and has no connection to Angra Mainyu, but her own talents plus having an actual magus for a teacher and greater resources than in canon (Rin Tohsaka was always short on cash remember) makes for a dangerous combination.