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

Different Fates

Chapter 7

"There will be no training for the night."

Rin Matou paused in the very act of disrobing, and slowly turned her head to gaze at her grandfather's form. The old man smiled. "Why the suspicion?" he asked mockingly. "I would have thought that you'd welcome a rare break from your training. Or could it be that you've come to appreciate your education at long last?"

She gave no response, but her eyes narrowed ever so slightly. Zouken chuckled at the sight. The girl was so foolish, she might have accepted the futility of outward resistance early on, but on the inside she still sought to preserve a little 'bubble' of her own. The fool's death might have reinforced the lesson that overt resistance was meaningless, but she had yet to learn that passive resistance was just as useless.

To be fair it wasn't entirely her fault. In hindsight he'd been satisfied at her lack of active resistance, and had not realized or taken action against the passive resistance she unknowingly (at first) possessed until it had developed into a false belief that said resistance was something she could cling to in hopes that things would change for the better.

But it wasn't something to be lamented over. All he needed was the appropriate leverage and she would break, leaving him with the perfect tool with which to obtain the Grail and to secure the future of the family. After that…well that depended on how well she performed her duty. If good, then he was not an ungenerous man. If not, then the undeserving was undeserving.

After all, just because the 'Tohsaka material' wasn't defective it didn't mean that it didn't have an expiration date so to speak. Zouken chuckled again at the brutally true thought. "I have something else I wish for you to do instead." He said instead. "I care not what means you use, so long as results are obtained with minimal fuss. If you succeed satisfactorily then perhaps I can afford some leeway in your education. After all, it would only show that something has actually sunk in."

Rin's expression didn't change at the hidden meaning behind the last two words. "What do I need to do?" she asked.

"I do not know if you are aware…" Zouken began. "…however there is a certain vigilante running around the city."

"Do you actually believe in that urban legend?"

"It's perfectly true." Zouken said. "More importantly, said vigilante appears to be a spell-caster, residing in this very city. He's very good at his vigilantism, but for some reason he has a certain disregard for secrecy, hence the spread of rumors until it had become a full-blown urban legend."

"Is there any particular reason why you haven't acted yet?" Rin asked. "You are the acting Supervisor for the territory."

"You are aware of the priest, Kirei Kotomine?" Zouken asked, and continued after the girl gave an answering nod. "He and I…let's just say that we do not get along. The existence of this spell-caster was something we tolerated despite his blatant disregard for the rules, but only because we wait for the other to make the first move. Do you understand?"

"I do." Rin said. "You both wish for the other to make a mistake, which the other would then take advantage of."

"Clever girl…" Zouken said with a smirk. "…as a former Executor the priest is not someone to take lightly, but right now he and I are…balanced for lack of a better word. With that said he's been running around for years now, and I wish to test your…abilities all the while putting the little fool in his place."

"And as such you want me to deal with that spell-caster in your place." Rin said. "You will keep the priest occupied one way or another, while I deal with this spell-caster. Is that about it?"

"Yes."

"I see."

"There is no need to kill him." Zouken said. "Just obtain his intentions and impress upon him the importance of the rules, and then do as you see fit."

"And if he should prove…ahem less than cooperative, one way or the other?"

"Then I will be most disappointed." Zouken said slowly, and smiled at the flicker of fear that passed through her crimson eyes. "I hope for your sake that I will not have to finish something that you should be more than capable of taking care of on your own."

Good, at least she knows her place when it matters.

"I understand." Rin said after a moment. "I'll prepare a plan over the night, and then take care of it tomorrow. May I go?"

"You may."

Rin nodded and left, leaving Zouken alone in the darkness. And as the basement door ground shut behind her, he smiled. Now to see which direction the experiment would go with the variable of the Emiya boy being added to it.

"Thank you for the meal." Issei Ryuudo said as he levered a serving into his mouth, and Ayako Mitsuzuri glanced in his direction. "Is something wrong?"

"No…" she said. "…just marveling again at how frugal your lunches are."

"It's just my father's taste, as you well know."

"Well you got me there." Ayako said, scratching the back of her head. She glanced at the direction of the doors as they opened and closed, allowing Shirou Emiya to enter. "Hello Shirou."

"Hello to you too." He returned the greeting, and took a seat beside her. The three of them ate in silence for a while, and then Issei broke the silence.

"By the way…" he began. "…Emiya, are you free this afternoon?"

Shirou raised an eyebrow. "Why are you asking?" he asked.

"Well sorry to bother you…" Issei said while jerking his thumb in the direction of a small television set in an alcove. "…but the TV's acting up again. I understand if you have something planned, but would you mind having a look at it? I suppose it could wait until the end of the week, but it would be nice if you could get it up and running before then."

"Hmm…" Shirou mused and then he glanced at Ayako. She paused in the act of eating, and lowering her chopsticks and bento looked back at him.

"Hey it's a Tuesday." She said. "We usually go out on Friday nights, remember?"

"Yeah, but sometimes you like to go even when it's not a Friday night." He pointed out, and she shrugged.

"True…" she said with a smile. "…and I wouldn't let you skip out just to do some favors for Ryuudo-kun here. But not today…unless you wanted to go out?"

"No…" Shirou said, turning back to his lunch. "…allowance isn't until next week so I can't afford it right now."

Ayako gave a laugh at that, as did Issei. "Normally one shouldn't admit that one is incapable of affording for his girlfriend." Issei said while pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Most girls would see it as being 'cheap' you know what I mean?"

"Yeah, but Ayako's not like most girls."

"Aw, you say the sweetest things." Ayako said while beaming, and giving him a kiss on the cheek. Shirou spluttered and blushed in surprise while Ayako's grin grew wider and Issei gave a cough.

"Please refrain from public displays of affection." He said stiffly, though the effect was spoiled by his own small smile. "Normally I would be obliged to tell you off, but considering our friendship I'm willing to overlook it."

"Thanks a lot Ryuudo-kun." She said, her grin not fading in any way. "And I would really hate to drop a ton of paperwork into your lap and into the lap of the rest of the Student Council for our 'public display of affection' isn't that right?"

"Well there's that too." Issei replied, and the three of them shared a laugh.

"Oh yeah…" Shirou said as the laughter died down. "…I suppose I could do it this afternoon, but I might end up getting late for club and…"

"Ah don't sweat it…" Ayako interrupted. "…I'll just tell the captain and the teacher that the Student Council here conscripted you for the afternoon."

"Since when did you use words like 'conscripted'?" Issei asked, and Ayako shrugged.

"No idea." she said. "It seemed to fit. And you know what they say: if the shoe fits…"

"Conscripted isn't the same as volunteering." Issei countered. "Emiya here agreed to help out of his own free will. Isn't that right Emiya?"

Shirou waited until he finished chewing before giving an answer. "Yeah…" he said. "…but if Ayako says I volunteered, then we might get into trouble with the captain."

"Conscripted it is then." Ayako said cheerfully, and Issei rolled his eyes.

"That captain of yours will probably complain to the chairman about it." He muttered. "Oh well that's his problem not mine."

"Yeah but you're planning to be chairman a couple of years from now, aren't you?" Shirou asked while winking at Ayako who grinned.

"Yeah, that's your plan isn't it?" she asked in her turn. "That means once you're chairman you can't conscript Shirou here anymore out of club time, because it means that you'll be the one dealing with the captain's griping."

"You two are a very dangerous pair." Issei said in all seriousness, and then adjusting his glasses smiled. "Of course by then you'll probably be kyuudo captain, so I don't suppose you would mind lending him to us every now and then would you?"

"Tsk…I suppose not." She conceded, arranging her utensils as she closed her empty bento. "On the other hand Shirou here has about as much chance to become captain as I am. In that case I don't think it's particularly appropriate for the captain to be skipping out on club, do you?"

"No." Issei agreed. "But knowing Shirou he'd pass over the chance to be captain to let you have it."

Ayako glanced at her boyfriend who pointedly kept from looking at her. His cheeks were flushed though, and Ayako smiled slightly while taking and squeezing his hand. He squeezed it back, and her smile grew wider. "Speaking of potential captains…" Issei continued after the moment had passed. "…that boy from mine and Shirou's class, Shinji Matou. He's pretty good from what I hear."

"Oh he's good." Ayako agreed, and then she grimaced. "But I don't think he can be captain. He's…cold…not very friendly when you get down to it."

"Well if the rumors about the Matou siblings are true, then we can't exactly blame him as then the Matou family wouldn't exactly be the most harmonious one." Shirou said uncomfortably. "I don't think we really should talk about this, it's unfair to either of them, and we don't exactly know the truth."

"Fair enough…" Ayako agreed with a nod. "…gossip's not something I relish anyhow. It makes me like some of those…ugh…"

Issei smirked. "I think that's what Emiya likes about you." He said, and Shirou coughed.

"I won't deny that." He said. "But I won't admit it either."

Ayako laughed and kissed him again. "Thanks for the complement." She said. "And I like you too."

"That's…good to hear."

The afternoon Sun burned gold as Rin Matou stood outside a police precinct, her thoughts going over her plan to draw out the spell-caster vigilante. "The vigilante usually responds whenever a major crisis turns up…" She thought. "…such as big time robberies, hostage scenarios, and the like. It doesn't mean that he doesn't intervene in low-level crime (which are the primary source of the stories about him), but the cases he usually involves himself in are ones that require a large police response, which likely means that he uses the police themselves to identify situations that he needs "

Rin narrowed her eyes as she leaned against the wall. "Is he listening in to the police somehow?" she thought. "I wouldn't put it past a spell-caster to use some kind of machine to do so, though it wouldn't exactly be unexpected either. Well that's all academic anyway. If I need a police emergency to draw him out, then I'll just have to make one."

Crimson eyes narrowed as prana surged through stone, metal, plaster, paint and wood and all the components of the police building. It took only a matter of moments to identify the building's dimensions, and a few whispered words had a bounded field in place.

She sighed. "Let's do this." She said to herself, and entered the building. Inside policemen, civilians, and even a few criminals being herded to lockup bustled around, ignoring her as she made her way to the help desk.

"May I help you ma'am?" the policeman on duty asked.

"Yes, I'll need to see a register of individuals on lockup here."

"Of course…"

Rin briefly waited for the register to arrive, her bounded field meant to keep everyone inside cooperative to her and inserting a directive into their minds to forget about her once the bounded field was removed. The register arrived, and she flipped through it, selecting a number of criminals waiting for bail or a hearing (whichever came first) and heading off to lockup herself.

She did however take the time to order the policemen to erase the last five minutes on the CCTVs. She was breaking criminals out after all, and didn't want to start 'a fuss' as her grandfather called it by getting implicated in the aftermath. She also destroyed the cameras in the lockup with small bursts of lightning to make it look as though they broke out on their own, and escorted her group of thugs out the back.

They were just thugs really, with their worst crime being armed assault (with a knife). She would not work with serial killers or rapists, even if they would be under her complete control. She still had some pride after all.

After placing the thugs under mind control, she had a policeman had over the keys to a police van along with some firearms (even if they would ultimately be just for show) and rode off with her thugs, her bounded field dispelling thirty minutes later. As the uproar exploded over the escape of fifteen thugs and the theft of a police van, Rin and her thugs were at their destination.

As the bounded fields fell into place around the bank and the thugs moved in to disarm the guards and take everyone hostage, Rin (masked by a spell 'encouraging' onlookers to ignore and forget about her) looked out over the streets. "I'll be waiting for you my friend." She said, and a frown crossed her face as she entered the bank.

I may deal fit with the vigilante within the bounds set by my grandfather. Just what is he planning?

Shirou had only just arrived home when Taiga Fujimura came up to him. "Take a wild guess." She prompted, and Shirou sighed.

"Something's up, isn't it?" he asked.

Taiga nodded and held out a featureless mask apart from the eye-slits. Shirou took it with a nod, and went off to his room to change before heading back out. Dressed nondescriptly, Taiga noted with approval as she reentered the house after taking a quick look outside for any bystanders. After telling him where the bank robbery was taking place, Shirou took off into the night.

It took less than thirty minutes to get where he needed to be, and the young 'hero' muttered a series of unflattering curses as the criminals were too well-covered for a good shot through the windows. And the police were as expected thick as fleas on a dog around the bank building. Getting in would be a pain.

For someone who couldn't use magic, that is.

Nobody ever looked up, least of all at night.

One reinforced jump, and he was on the bank's roof.

And he was swearing again.

The brief hint of copper in the air and tingle of electricity on his skin as he landed meant that he'd breached an active bounded field. The thieves or at least one of them was a magus like him. And more than likely he'd be expected now.

For a moment he considered retreating, but decided against it. He'd come this far, and the right thing to do was to see it through to the end. And the police would be at a huge disadvantage against anyone with magic. Taking a deep breath, Shirou traced a smaller crossbow to use as opposed to the large longbow strapped to his back, and then slipped into the building.

He quietly made his way down the service passageway, and entering the bank proper decided to check out the back first. To his surprise, he found it unguarded. Oh the door was locked and barricaded, but it was still unguarded for all that.

Wondering if the thieves were overconfident or short on hands, he checked the security room and then the vault. The former was empty, and the latter untouched.

"What's going on here?" he thought to himself as he made his way to the lobby. "What kind of thieves leaves themselves unguarded – okay magic-using thieves would probably use magic to guard themselves – but what about the vault? If they didn't come here for the money, then what did they come here for?"

Shirou's musings came to an abrupt halt as he entered the lobby. The guards, the employees, and even the thieves were all sitting on the chairs in a relaxed fashion, the only sign that anything was wrong being their glassy and empty eyes. And seated behind the counter was an albino girl that Shirou could only gape at as he slowly removed his mask.

And she gaped at him just at much.

"Emiya…?"

"Matou…?"

"You're the spell-caster vigilante…?"

"You're a magus…?"

Silence fell, and after a moment Rin sighed and ran a hand over her face and through her hair. "Yes, I'm a magus." She finally said, and sighed again. "And now that you're here, we need to talk. And considering that we already know each other this might actually go better than I had hoped."

Shirou pulled himself together and gestured at the glassy-eyed people in the lobby. "Before any of that, what did you do to them?" he demanded darkly. "And what are you doing here?"

"Good questions…" Rin agreed with a nod. "…and I'll answer them since they're part of why I'm here. For your first question, they're all under my control. Don't worry, I didn't hurt them. Once this is over, their memories will be altered. They won't remember any of this, and will only remember getting taken hostage only to be rescued by the police when this is all over."

Rin smiled uncharacteristically sweet at Shirou before continuing. "You noticed the bounded fields over the place right?" she asked, and continued after Shirou gave a nod. "Anyone who looks from the outside will see hostages at gunpoint and the doorways barricaded. They also 'encourage' the police from going on, at least until I let them. And when they do, they'll ignore me and anyone with me, and change the police's memories. You with me so far…?"

"I think I do." Shirou said. "The police and the criminals will remember getting a brief fight in which they'll be arrested, and the hostages rescued, when in truth they'll just be quietly rounded up while you and I walk out of here without getting noticed."

"Exactly…!" Rin said with a nod.

"Fine…" Shirou conceded, still unhappy about the idea of ordinary people having their minds getting compromised by means of magic. It didn't feel right, no, it wasn't right at all.

Says a vigilante…

"…now the last question: why go this far?" Shirou asked. "Was it necessary to…bring all these people into whatever business you had with me?"

"As a matter of fact, yes…" Rin said. "…I needed to draw you out, and since you're drawn to wherever there are major emergencies involving cops and robbers, they had to be involved. I take no pleasure in it, but I will do what I must."

"Why?"

"Emiya…" Rin began. "…do you know what a Supervisor is?"

Shirou blinked at the question, and then his eyes grew wide. "You're the Supervisor…? No wait, Fuyuki has a Supervisor?" he asked in surprise.

Rin blinked in her turn, and coughed. "No, I'm not the Supervisor." She said. "The Supervisor is a girl named Sakura Tohsaka, but she's currently at the Clock Tower. My grandfather was on good terms with her father, and as such holds the post until she returns."

Shirou looked very uncomfortable, and Rin actually laughed at the sight, dispelling the brief burst of resentment she'd felt at the reminder of what could have been. "Relax Emiya…" she said with a reassuring smile. "…you're not in any trouble. My grandfather only wanted me to remind you of the rules, specifically the part about the need for secrecy. And you have been rather lax in covering your tracks. There might be no eye-witness accounts or solid evidence that you've been using magic openly, but there is enough to start a whole urban legend over you."

"I-is that so…?" Shirou stammered out with a worried smile, and rubbed the back of his head. Rin tilted her head.

"Yes, that's all there is to it." She said. "My grandfather doesn't appear to have any issues with your vigilantism, illegal though it might be, and while I have a bit of an issue with your actions, I too don't have any real objections to it. Criminal scum will be criminal scum."

"There's just…one…problem with that." Shirou began hesitantly, and refusing to meet her eyes.

"Excuse me?"

"I…I don't know how to use mental interference."

There was a moment of silence, and then Rin's eye twitched. "Let me get this straight." She growled, rising from her seat and walking around the counter to stand in front of him. "You've been running around all this time not covering your tracks not because you're lax, but because you're ignorant?"

Shirou bristled at her tone. "That's right." He said more than a bit stubbornly.

Rin pinched the bridge of her nose. "Didn't your parents ever teach you anything?" she asked.

"My parents are dead." Shirou said coldly. "And my dad couldn't really teach me much anyway. He was sick, and died when I was young."

Rin looked taken aback at his cold tone of voice and then she looked away. "Sorry…" she said softly. "…I shouldn't have attacked your parents like that. I…I don't have good memories of my parents, and I might have projected that on your parents, and for that I apologize."

Shirou blinked and sighed. Apparently there might be a grain of truth in the rumors about one of the Matou siblings being born out of wedlock, if Rin's words were to be believed. "Look it's getting late…" he said in a conciliatory fashion. "…why don't we talk about this tomorrow at school?"

Rin smiled softly. "What about your girlfriend?" she asked, and Shirou rubbed his temples worriedly. Rin laughed at the sight. "After school then…" she said. "…I'll drop by your house. I don't think we have much to talk about over this, as I think we can both agree that ignorance is no excuse no matter how you look at it. Or am I wrong?"

"No, you're right." Shirou said with a sigh. "I suppose it was irresponsible of me, wasn't it?"

"Yes it was." Rin said with a smile. "At the very least I'll teach you the basics of mental interference. By all means continue your vigilantism if that's your hobby, but please do cover your tracks. I'd hate to have to censure you more…forcefully if my grandfather deems it necessary."

"Yeah, I'd hate to make you go through all that effort." Shirou replied with a small smile, and Rin laughed again as the tension went out of the air.

"Come on…" she said, gesturing to the front door with her head. "…now that we've come to an understanding, let's get out of here."

Shirou nodded, and followed Rin out. As she'd said earlier, as they left the police swept in ignoring them, focusing only on the would-be thieves and their 'hostages', all the while letting Shirou and Rin walk unhindered all the way to the intersection. "Hey Matou…" Shirou began before they parted for the night.

"Hmm…?"

"Sorry for making you go all the way out here…" he said. "…and thanks for the offered help tomorrow. I really appreciate it."

Rin smiled at him. "You're a nice guy." She said. "Mitsuzuri is a very lucky girl you know?"

"Well I wouldn't know about that."

Rin laughed and patted him on the arm. "Humble too…" she said. "…don't worry about being the reason why I had to go out here I'm just doing what I had to do. And you're welcome. Goodnight Emiya."

"Goodnight Matou."

A/N

DarkJackel: Rin can't go Dark Rin she doesn't have the affinity to connect with Angra Mainyu. The experiment to turn her into a Lesser Grail has failed, so Zouken instead made her into a 'perfect' Master.

Suzululu4moe: Sakura will be shocked alright, and rest assured I already have Zouken's death planned out. In canon he was only formidable because he was up against victims weaker than he was or because he had Dark Sakura under his control (up until she tore out the crest worm on her own), but not this time. He's a Glass Cannon pure and simple, and against superior German engineering (lol) he won't stand a chance.

Now onto the chapter annotations…some fluff between Shirou, Issei, and Ayako, plus Zouken scheming and Rin and Shirou meet as magi. Next chapter will still be focused on the people in Fuyuki, and then we go back to Europe (plus another time-skip). Just so you know, Rin and Shirou are still fourteen here (this chapter pretty much follows the previous chapter).