Kiritsugu wandered back to the house an hour before Shiro and Kaede had to go to school. Rider was the only one up to greet him. It could have gone better.
Rider tensed when she heard the door open. She went to the front door and found a large gun aimed at her head. The man blinked at her hair color and the odd marking before he asked "You're Kaede's Servant, aren't you?"
"And you are?" she asked, ready to attack.
"The one who owns this house. Where did Kaede put the hangover remedy?" he asked.
"Not that it's any of your business, but she left it in the cupboard for when her father returned from drinking all night with Black."
Kiritsugu snorted, before the sound made him wince.
"One does not go drinking with Sirius Black...they go to get a nasty hangover after getting drunk with Black," said Kiritsugu, holding his head in pain.
Rider dropped her stance. This had to be Kiritsugu, because Kaede had remarked that same thing before she left the hangover remedy out for her father.
Once Kiritsugu downed the potion, he waited for the teens to wake up.
"Morning dad," said Shiro, getting up to make breakfast. Saber walked in behind him, and she stiffened the second she saw Kiritsugu.
"Hello Saber," he said dryly. He tried not to yawn.
"So you're their father. Explains how Shiro was able to summon me," she said stiffly.
"If it's any consolation, I quit being a killer for hire and I'm no longer a Magus," he said.
"What?"
Shiro waved his spoon at Kiritsugu.
"Dad is a photographer. Apparently the skills he developed as a sniper work just as well behind a camera lens, and since he had to have his soul transferred to a new body he can brew the potion that allows pictures to move. He's fairly popular."
"I thought you said you weren't a magus anymore."
"I'm not. The body they transferred my soul into was a wizard body. Now instead of circuits I have a magic core," said Kiritsugu, accepting the coffee Kaede handed him. She then handed one to Rin who was yawning widely.
In order to cut down on the arguments, Rin shared a room with Kaede who had a second one next to hers. Archer and Rider could switch off who protected the two female Masters.
Kaede was quick to grab the camera on the counter when Archer got a good look at Kiritsugu sitting down drinking coffee. He blinked after he heard the camera shutter going off.
"What was that for?"
"Blackmail. Besides we needed to finish off this roll anyway," said Kaede.
Archer wondered how they managed to save Kiritsugu's life when he felt something being pressed into his hands. It was a cup of hot tea with just the right amount of sugar and temperature. He sat next to Rin and Saber and waited for Shiro and Kaede to finish cooking breakfast.
"So tell me, Archer was it? How exactly did you end up a hero?" asked Kiritsugu, his eyes narrowing at him.
Archer didn't know why he was asking such a thing, but he told him some of his tale. Unfortunately Kiritsugu happened to notice a commonality in his story.
"You're a Counter Guardian aren't you?" he asked calmly. Archer winced.
"And judging by those looks and that magical signature of his... Rin, what's the standard punishment for Shiro being an idiot?" asked Kaede.
Rin didn't answer, but Archer felt her slap on the back of his head well enough.
"What was that for?!" demanded Archer.
"We are not blind, nor are were idiots. We can clearly see you're a version of Shiro who went too far in the whole 'hero' ideal he has going on," said Kaede rolling her eyes.
"Breakfast is ready," said Shiro. He had trouble looking Archer in the eye knowing it was a future version of himself.
"Fine, if you know that much then would someone explain why the hell Kiritsugu is still alive?" asked Archer annoyed.
"Long story short, Kaede and Shiro attend the Japanese Magical Academy near Misaki city. They happened to notice the curse I had on me from the Grail, and when they told me that the wars would restart early I agreed to have my soul transferred to a new body so that they could study my original in the hopes of finding a way to reverse the damage done to the Holy Grail. So far they've had no luck of it," said Kiritsugu.
"When Dad knew that the Grail wars were going to start again within the next decade, he realized that there was a very high chance that the Einzbern family would send Illya as the next Master for their side since Irisviel was the lesser grail in the last one," said Kaede.
"So you decided to simply wait before you reclaimed Illya?" asked Archer. It was a sound plan, and was far more likely to succeed than trying to reclaim her from the Einzbern castle in Germany directly like had been.
"Which reminds me, Dad, Illya's going to be waiting for us in Fuyuki park after we leave school," said Kaede.
"Let me finish breakfast so I can get a nap in, and we'll go later," said Kiritsugu.
Shiro, Rin and Kaede all stiffened when they felt the bounded field over the school. Upon further investigation Rin discovered it to be the work of Caster.
Kaede felt sick whenever she got near one of the things holding the field together. Apparently whoever had been summoned as Caster during the war was someone who set Kaede's aura off. And she was particularly sensitive to magical auras, especially since she had left Hogwarts.
Apparently her heritage and being inside what was left of Camelot castle after it was moved was enough to awaken new powers.
Though she still wanted to know what the hell that faerie had meant when he said that the dress she had bought came with an added surprise once he knew of her past. All she knew was that they had given her something along with the armor, and that it needed only a little nudge for it to activate...and it was connected to the True Magic she stood to awaken.
Illyasviel was waiting in the park like Kaede told her, and Berserker was close by just in case. She wanted answers and she was going to get them one way or another.
Kaede, Shiro and Rin all showed up with their Servants.
"Is it just you and Berserker?" asked Kaede.
Illya sniffed in annoyance.
"Of course, I wouldn't bring Stella or Leysritt with me when I'm just dealing with you three," she said.
"In that case..." said Kaede.
Illyasviel stopped and stared as her father appeared from under a wizard's invisibility cloak... it was actually Kaede's that Lupin had retrieved when he found out Dumbledore still had it.
"D...daddy?" she said in shock. She had heard he died!
"Hello my little snowflake," said Kiritsugu.
"How...how is this possible? I was told you died years ago!" said Illya angrily.
"Kiritsugu the Magus died four years ago. Kiritsugu the wizard was born around the same time his magus body was killed," said Kaede.
"The Grail is corrupted, and when I had Saber destroy it something spilled out and infected my circuits. When I heard that the war was going to start again I knew that Jubstachiet would send you here as the Einzbern Master and possibly as the lesser grail. It was easier to wait until you left the Einzbern castle than to try and break in for the umpteenth time," said Kiritsugu.
"If your really my father then what was the last thing we did before you left for Fuyuki with my mother?" asked Illya.
"We were looking for walnut buds in the snow. You said I cheated because I pointed out a wingnut, which is a type of walnut," said Kiritsugu fondly.
Illyasviel could feel tears in her eyes. This had to be her father...no one else knew of that little game they had played, let alone the fact she had accused him of cheating right before he left.
She barreled into him crying.
"Daddy..."
"So does this mean she'll be staying in the house with us?" asked Shiro.
"Let's hope not... feeding Saber, Rider and Archer is hard enough on the budget...can you imagine trying to feed him as well?" asked Kaede sweatdropping, as she looked at Berserker.
Shiro winced.
Illyasviel returned to the smaller Einzbern castle, if only to keep her grandfather from becoming suspicious about Kiritsugu's survival. She found it funny that her father had become a magical photographer and had given up his former job as a mercenary for hire.
Kaede took solace in the fact that Illya no longer wanted to kill her for 'replacing' her as Kiritsugu's daughter. Now she looked at the girl as a little sister, since she was two years older than Kaede and a year older than Shiro.
So long as they weren't the ones feeding Berserker, Kaede didn't mind not sharing a house with Illya just yet...though they now had a standing invitation to the castle.
It had already been a week and Kaede was getting, well antsy. So far most of the Masters were laying low, if only because of the unofficial alliance between Illyasviel and the Emiya siblings plus Rin. And aside from the random hit and run attacks by Lancer, which made no sense at all, Caster and Assassin had yet to show up.
At least until Shinji cornered Kaede on the roof during lunch about an alliance.
"So which Servant do you have?" she asked with a sniff. She wouldn't deny she was channeling Gilgamesh at that moment.
"Assassin," said Shinji proudly.
"Which means Sakura summoned Assassin and you forced her to hand her Servant over," said Kaede flatly.
"Assassin is mine," growled Shinji.
"Then why does she look ready to kill you the first chance she has?" asked Kaede. Shinji turned to find his pissed off Servant ready to skewer him.
She wasn't Hassan-Il-Sabbah, and she wasn't the one Archer had mentioned. However something about the girl set off her maternal instincts.
"I told you to stay astralized you little bitch!" said Shinji, about to slap his Servant.
He found himself hanging by his throat as Rider had him pinned to the fence.
Kaede walked up to Assassin.
"Hi, I'm Kaede. What's your name?" she asked gently.
"Jack."
Kaede put the pieces together from that name alone. There was only one murderer in history she knew of that was named Jack who could fit the role of assassin, and that was Jack the Ripper.
"Well Jackie, how would you feel rescuing your true Master from that hellhole she calls home?" asked Kaede.
"What do I have to do?" asked Jack.
"Ignore the fact I'm burning Shinji's little book and having Rider feed him to something poisonous," said Kaede.
A quick fire spell and Shinji found himself without a defense against a pissed off Rider and protective Kaede.
All Rider had to hear was that the little bastard raped his sister, and she was more than happy to kill him.
Before Sakura left for home, Kaede had Rider kidnap her while Assassin followed. It took Kiritsugu an hour to explain to the terrified girl what they were doing and why.
"Ugh... it looks like you were infested with those damn worms..." said Kaede.
Sakura sat quietly while they tried to figure out how to free her from the Matou family since Shinji was officially dead.
"Is there any way to remove them?" asked Rin.
"Not without literally ripping her apart to get to them. One of them is firmly inside her heart, among other areas," said Kaede. She was using a basic healer spell to see where the worms were.
"Would using Avalon help?"
"We couldn't be sure that we've gotten rid of the worms entirely, and it would leave you vulnerable. No, there is a much simpler solution though it would mean that she would have to pretend to be dead until we hypnotize everyone into believing she's a transfer," said Kaede.
"And that would be?" asked Archer.
"Same thing we did with Dad when we found out his very circuits were turning against him. You don't have anything against being turned into a witch do you?" asked Kaede.
Sakura's eyes went wide.
"A witch?"
"You'd lose your circuits and any crest you have, but you'd get a core instead. And if we time it just right then we can keep Zouken from getting his hands on you again. He only has legal rights to you as long as you're a Magus...he can't keep you if we make you a witch, and the body you'd be in wouldn't show any of the signs of what Shinji or those Crest Worms did to you," said Kaede.
Sakura was overwhelmed.
"What exactly do I have to do?" she asked. She hated living in the Matou mansion, and that accursed worm pit.
"Let's call Sirius...he should be willing to adopt you as a Black. That will freeze out Zouken since we're turning you into a witch. And we'll need a piece of you to tie your soul so we can transfer it..." said Kaede.
"How about my hand? I don't want to lose Assassin," said Sakura.
"Perfect. It has your DNA and your signature since we killed Shinji earlier."
Two days later Sakura Matou's body was found torn to pieces near the church. Her hand was completely cut off. Her friends mourned her death while the teachers tried to calm the students down about the mystery deaths of Shinji and his sister.
Cassiopeia Natasha Black, the adopted daughter of Sirius Black and new student at the Japanese Magical Academy, slipped into Sakura's spot at the school. A few subtle spells and no one realized that she looked nearly identical to the recently 'deceased' girl.
Rin was just happy to have her sister back and safe away from Zouken's clutches.