Disclaimer: First Chapter
Story Start!
"Are the chains needed?"
"... I'm... I'm just nervous, I killed your other servant... please don't hate me." Serenity hadn't yet introduced herself, but considering she kidnapped Naruto and implanted her previous Master's Command Spells on his hand she was officially his servant now. It somewhat worked, in that she managed to restore 2 of his Command Spells, so he was back to 3, since one of the Command Spells from her previous master had been used on her already.
'Well, Atalanta is still alive, so there really isn't anything to be really mad about.' Naruto had crafted that on the fly plan.
Using a combination of her shifting to Spirit Form, and him using a Command Spell to teleport her back to their home base, they managed to genuinely fake her death. Now she would be able to freely move about the city, investigate to her hearts content, and relay information back to him. Since he and Assassin were now paired as a Master and Servant, he would be able to use that information she gathered to attack targets with Assassin.
"Gotta name?" Naruto asked her.
The chains on him were kind of tight, but he grabbed the chain around his wrist and broke it with a burst of raw mana. He managed to free himself, and just rubbed at his wrists.
"... I am Ha... I am Hassan of Serenity, please, call me that." Serenity poured a bottled water over the red marks on his wrists to soothe them. She touched his wrist with the tips of her fingertips, and smiled when nothing at all happened to Naruto. "Master... I can touch you." Serenity was glad it wasn't just a fluke.
She could touch him.
She allowed her previous master to touch her, and order her to touch him, knowing he would die. She was a beautiful but toxic flower that wilted life around her. She yearned for somebody, anybody, that could touch her. It was what she would have liked to wish for on the grail, but now she didn't need to wish for it.
"Yeah, I guess you can... I'm not angry at you by the way, but you didn't need to use chains. So, do you have a wish for the grail?" Naruto asked her, standing up under his own power again and walking around where she brought him. It was an abandoned sewer system, a perfect spot for magecraft it would seem. There were even traces that some dark magic had been used at this location in the past, the somewhat recent past.
The blackest of powers left a powerful taint behind, powerful enough that even he could tell that the feel of the flow of nature in this area was forever rotten.
Serenity removed her mask.
"... Damn..." Naruto's jaw dropped when he saw her face, and if one would think that Atalanta was beautiful, then Serenity was twice as beautiful.
Without her mask, all of her gentle, loving, and stunning features were revealed. She had a gentle face above all else. Atalanta had a face that was always somewhat sour, and while she smiled, it was more rare and not her natural face. Atalanta typically had her face resting in somewhat of a frown, while this woman had her face with a gentle sorrow, but she seemed to have a sorrowful happiness.
Her face oozed feminine charm.
"... Master... let us run away. I no longer have a wish for the grail to grant... so please, run away with me... let us live together in peace." Serenity got her wish when she found somebody that wouldn't die to her poison. As long as she had his mana, which he could easily provide, she could stay by his side forever. If they worked hard, she was sure that they could find some way to incarnate her back to true life.
Then, once she was truly alive again, she could become a good wife, and a loving mother to his future children.
Naruto smiled.
She smiled in excitement at his smile.
"Sorry, but I still want to fight. I have a wish for the grail... I want a world where no child will suffer the same way I did. So please, Serenity... will you fight by my side, so we can make a better world?" Naruto offered his hand to her.
Serenity took his hand.
"Yes, I will fight by your side, and obey your every order. Master, I have but a humble request for you... if we manage to win, may..." Serenity took his hand, but then she took a knee and shifted nervously.
Naruto took a deep breath.
"... Serenity, you can be honest." Naruto could see that she was nervous.
"... I have a selfish wish, I wish to use the grail... so that I may incarnate, and so I may be with you... if we win this war... will you start a life with me?" Serenity had a selfish desire. She had so many desires, and she could use her wish to grant great things that would save a great many lives. She knew that she was using her wish for somebody especially selfish, compared to the grand and selfless thing that Naruto was wishing for.
Naruto, for all of his bluster and guts, was stunned by her desire.
He grinned.
"... Huh?" Naruto might be grinning, but he was confused. "... me... and you... but we barely know each other, shouldn't you want to do something like that with somebody you love?" Naruto asked her, and she smiled at him.
Her eyes were hurt.
"Master... I am a broken, disgusting, murderer... I manipulated my own heart, time and time again to fall in love with those who I knew I would kill... please, let me love you... one who will not die to my touch." Serenity knew she was a broken woman. She had vague memories of falling in love countless times purely for the sake of murder.
She could fall in love with anyone, at the drop of a hat, as easily as breathing. For the first time though, she was falling in love with somebody that she could touch like she was now. Serenity moved Naruto's hand so that it was touching her cheek, and she kissed the top of his fingers.
"But..."
"All those who I have ever touched before, had died to less than this. Please, Master... let me fight for this love... I will fight and support your dreams, but please... can you let me fall more in love with you? Let me support you in all that you dream... please promise me that once all of this is over, that I have a place by your side." Serenity wanted just that.
Genuine love, affection, and loyalty was in her eyes when she spoke. She had only an honest desire to be with him, and that was the most touching part of her proposal. All she needed to fall in love was for him to be able to touch her, because that alone was more magical to her than any great deeds of romance he could manage.
She just wanted warmth.
"... You will always have a place by my side if you want. Lets win this war..." Naruto didn't know if having 2 servants would increase the number of wishes, but he would think about it much later. "... how much information have you managed to collect when you were searching for me?" Naruto asked with a tilted head.
She was smiling from happiness.
"I know the common locations of all of the Master's of Black and their Servants. I killed Rider of Black already, and Berserker of White has been killed. Caster of White offered me a place by her side, and I'm to meet her with an answer in 2 days." Serenity didn't have much to offer about the other servants of white, other than what she had gathered by Caster approaching her.
Everyone knew about Berserker of White being killed, it was common knowledge.
"Medea... lets kill her next. Archer said that she was really dangerous, do you think we can kill her together?" Naruto asked Serenity for her opinion on if she could win. If she didn't believe she could win, he could send a telepathic order to Archer in order to get her to help out from a distance with the fight.
Naruto closed his eyes and focused his mind on Atalanta.
'Atalanta, in 2 days we are launching an attack on Medea. She seems to be gathering forces, keep an eye on her if you get the chance. Get a message to Gaara somehow, and see if he and Jing Ke will assist us. I'll send you more information later.' Naruto gave mental orders to Atalanta.
"Yes, if I try hard enough, I should be able to win. My Noble Phantasm should be enough to finish the job." Serenity was sure that she could win by herself. She grabbed both of Naruto's hands. "... Master, I would like to be in the bed with you as you sleep tonight. If it isn't troubling to you, I would like to be with you at all times..." Serenity was genuinely happy with his words.
You will always have a place by my side.
She didn't want to let go of his hands, for the fear that he would escape or disappear. She didn't want him to turn out to be a delusion of her broken mind. She wanted to keep feeling his warmth with every part of her soul.
He felt Atalanta recieved his message.
'Master, I am currently stalking King Arthur, and they haven't noticed me yet. If I drop Spirit Form to attack, it will reveal my survival... I need you to come up with a plan to get her in a position where I can finish her off with a single shot.' Atalanta sent a message back. '... but I will abandon Saber for now, in favor of killing Medea. She is a much more pressing concern.'
'Keep watching Saber, if you ever think you have a kill shot, go for it... but in 2 days, meet us so that we can take down Medea. I'll think of a way to get Saber in front of one of your arrows.' Naruto didn't just have a single servant to work with.
He had two.
He needed to step up his game as a master, and work with both of his servants in order to get them in positions where they could take out the enemy.
He had the hopes and dreams of 2 servants riding on his shoulders, so he needed to be more proactive than before, to do right by them. Now that two servants had died in the war, things were stepping up and he needed to take a more active role.
The time for being passive and getting a feel for the land was over.
'Her Master is never on his guard, and is constantly wandering off on his own... I can take him out right now, and she wouldn't be able to save him in time.' Atalanta pointed out that she could get a kill shot if she really wanted.
Naruto frowned.
'No innocent deaths... as long as no master tries to kill us, we don't kill them.' Naruto send that as a final message. "... Serenity... we're going to play by a rule... unless we absolutely have to, we aren't going to kill any other masters... only servants." Naruto didn't count killing those who had died long ago, and were given temporary life to be really killing. It was just returning them back to the state where they came from.
Serenity nodded her head.
"I promise, I will not ever kill a master who is not targetting your life, starting now." Serenity didn't bring up the master she already killed, because it happened before Naruto gave her the order. Serenity purposely worded her statement in a way that she could kill any master who was going after Naruto. "Master... Caster of White is planning to capture a Master and Servant, and use them... to create something outside of the rules."
"Is she now... what is she making?"
"I don't know, but she asked me to capture a master and servant pair." Serenity stated.
"... Well, whatever her plans are don't matter if we stop them. I mean, when you think about it, who cares what an enemy is planning... our plan is to defeat them anyway, so their plans don't change our plans." Naruto was getting himself pumped up for the fight.
Time to spend 2 days doing some prep work, and getting an ally that he could convince to help him against Medea just so that he could improve his chances.
Who could he form a temporary truce with unless Medea was defeated though?
Chapter End!
Please Leave Me Lots of Nice Long Reviews, But No Flames Please!
To the person who is upset that Naruto isn't going around fighting everyone at all times, and is throwing a fit that Naruto is sitting back and seeing how things go.
Naruto was being SMART by observing the situation, finding information about other enemies, and trying to get himself into a good position.
Remember, Naruto is purposely distancing himself from his Masters of Black teammates because he knows eventually THEY will also be his enemies.
During the beginning of the war, showing off all of your abilities is a death sentence since all your other enemies will be able to get information on you and plan to take you down.
Illya for example thought "I have the strongest servant" so she went off half-cocked into a battle, thinking she had the absolutely advantage despite not knowing any information about her enemies... and now her Servant is gone. She had one of the strongest servants, and still lost due to how little information she collected.
Sometimes the action, is not taking any action at all.
