I feel it wrapping around me. Like a snake, like the vise grip of death, it crushes me and I cannot see anything out of its bounds. It is like a burning ring, constricting my abdomen, and connected to a chain pulling me forward. On my path. Where does my path lead?

I do not know.

Who pulls me?

I wish I knew.

I can only go forward, pulled by these chains of madness, and pray that I obtain relief someday.

Servant, do you still wish to torment me? Do you not see that my cause is just? Why do you push me further and further, I, who am nothing but dust and ashes, a worm crawling in the dirt?

So Kariya thought to himself, as he lay on his back on the floor of his childhood bedroom, in the Matou manor. There was a bed, and bedding, after the Western stye, but there was no way he was going to accept any of Zouken's pretended generosity. To do so would be to acknowledge his weakness, and satisfy the old man's assertion, made for as long as Kariya could remember, that he was nothing but a soft child, unfit for the trying path of Magecraft. Eventually, Kariya had learned to believe it. He had felt that Magecraft was a path he could not follow, for that was something given only to the strong in this world. The strong, those whose souls had, he supposed, been chosen by the Root or some such cosmic process - Kariya had no notion of all-powerful beings such as gods; he looked upon the very idea with derision, as he could imagine nothing more powerful than the imposing decay that filled his house every day throughout his childhood, choking him - for its own purposes. He had always known that in the world of Magecraft, there would be no way that he could possibly find his own path. No, he would forever be a pawn to Zouken's ambitions, and so he forsook it, determined to succeed independently in the world. Was that not what the proverb said? 'The best revenge is a life well lived'?

Well, look how that turned out! Fired from every job he had managed to secure, reduced to begging from distant, non-magical relatives of his mother's for the barest necessities of life. No amount of effort on his part could compensate for the fact that, as someone brought up in the ways of Magecraft, by a father who simply did not care if he succeeded in school or not - and the notion that Kariya had any personal ambition greater than to avoid another night of beatings by that gnarled cane was absurd - left him entirely without any qualifications to perform any skilled work. Hell, he didn't even graduate secondary school!

More than that, he was simply being selfish when he left. He knew that Byakuya was even less able than he was, and he hoped that Zouken would be merciful and simply ignore him. Not like there was any point in torturing the poor boy with Magecraft training when he had no talent for it anyway. Not that Byakuya was foremost on his mind, anyway.

Aoi.

He hated himself for what he did to Aoi. He remembered, the day before he left to join the regular world, visiting her one last time at the Zenjou residence. They sat, Kariya thanked his hosts, who were cousins of Aoi's, and were tacitly aware of the nature of Aoi and Kariya's relationship - if it could even be called that; Kariya often thought that they assumed far more than was actually happening, unfortunately - and sat on the couch next to her. At first, they merely sipped tea and munched on some excellent chocolate cakes, which Kariya knew were Aoi's favourites.

He didn't care what he ate and drank, for nothing warmed his heart like her smile, and nothing slaked his thirst like her beautiful voice, melodic and making the entire air move to her perfect music.

He was, one might say, entirely in love with her.

He could see no flaw in her, and in fact thought of her as the polar opposite of the great evil force in his live, whose name need not even be mentioned at this point.

He then did what any other young man would have done in that situation.

He sat with her, talked, and the topic came up as to why he had requested to see her so urgently.

Aoi's lovely hair had been tied back into a lovely chignon, as if she were affecting the fashions of old European aristocracy. Kariya adored her femininity, so different from the austere suffering he was accustomed to.

While there were times, later, when he thought of such things as silly, and in no way relevant to living a happy, fulfilled life, he understood still that it was something that gave Aoi joy. And if it gave Aoi joy, then it was of unrivalled importance to Kariya, at least at the time.

Softly, as if worried that her breath would upset a leaf hanging precariously on her full lips, Aoi asked Kariya if he had anything of import to tell her. If he did, she said, she was prepared to hear it.

She mentioned that she was already fielding marriage offers, but that she could not bring herself to accept any of them, not yet.

Not while she stil had something she needed to sort out for herself.

Kariya, already blooming with the desire to get out of his cursed world of Magecraft, explained his feelings to her.

"Kariya," she said, downcast. "Will you be leaving, then?"

"Yes, Aoi, finally!" he said, almost shouted. His excitement showed in his eyes, as he drew near to her on the couch. "I will be free of that vampire, Zouken-"

She interrupted him with a hand on his shoulder. Her touch was always enough, even when his heart was exploding out of his chest, or conversely, when he could see no path but that carved out in his own blood with a razor, to bring his focus back to her, and only her.

"Kariya," she said. "I cannot leave this world. It is where I was born, and though I truly do sympathize with your plight, I must stay here."

"What are you saying, Aoi?" Kariya asked. "What does the one have to do with the other?"

She gripped his hand. He felt the bones of her fingers. Her hands were cold, but to him they brought life.

"I'm saying, Kariya, dear friend... Oh, do you not know how difficult this is for me?" She looked at him with pain in her eyes. "I'm saying that, while I understand that you cannot remain in your father's house any longer - though I wish I knew the reason, but even so, I believe you - I cannot leave the world of Magecraft. I would not survive outside; I have no skills that would allow me to. And I do not particularly want to; I love my family. They are good people. And I know they would love you too, and treat you as the son they have always wanted."

A strange smile appeared on Kariya's lips. "Well, now, Aoi, I really have no idea what you mean," he chuckled uncomfortably, a thin facade.

She laughed. He usually loved when she laughed, and felt like he was brought to happiness along with her, but this time, it brought his heart to the pit of hell. "You can be so deliberately dense sometimes, can't you," she said, a small tear of joy in her eye. "I'm saying my family would take you in."

Kariya's throat dried instantly. He had no idea why. "A-Aoi, I could never impose on you like that."

"It would be no imposition at all," she said. "We're friends, aren't we? Weren't you yourself just telling me how much you needed to get out of that house? We have so many empty rooms; it would be simple for you to take one. And don't worry; we have far too many maids as it is. Your moving in would give them something to do for the first time in years."

She leaned in closer, conspiratorially. He felt the warmth of her breath on his face, the smell of her perfume, and the tendrils of hair that had snuck out of the chignon and were now hanging off the side of her face brushed his shoulder.

He felt real fear, like a terror that grabs one in the night and cannot be assuaged, even by the healing rays of morning.

"Besides, with you there, maybe those suitors will finally stop bothering me. My parents mean well, only caring for my future, but even they weary of the constant flow. Especially that Tohsaka; respectable as a man of status, but utterly worthless as a husband. The thought of sharing a bed with that cold, honourable man robs me of any hopes of wedded bliss."

"I...I don't know what to say," Kariya stammered.

She smiled. "Why, 'yes', of course. Unless you can think of a reason why you should refuse?"

"I... I can't," Kariya said.

He moved away from her, startled himself by how quickly he stood up from the couch.

"I have a job already," he said, as he gathered his things. "I'm sorry to have bothered you, I didn't mean to put such ideas in your head."

"Are you sure?" Aoi asked, still sitting, the picture of elegance. "There's no reason you can't live at my house and work elsewhere, you know."

"The job is... overseas," he fumbled. He dropped his jacket, picked it back up. "I'm interning at the Clock Tower."

Aoi sighed. "Kariya, must you go?"

"I'm sorry, Aoi," he said. His jacket lay on his shoulders haphazardly, and he stood in the doorway, his faced turned somewhere between Aoi on the inside and the clouds on the outside. "I have to. I will miss you. Please make my apologies to the Zenjou."

"Goodbye, Kariya," Aoi said, but he had already turned and left.

The door shut, and Aoi found herself alone once again.

She looked down at her hands, and shook her head.

"What an idiot."

And she began to cry.

Ever since that day, Kariya had always felt a longing in his heart.

*What if I had accepted her offer? She knew I was lying, she must have known. It must have been written on my forehead: "This man is a coward who has to invent blatant falsehoods in order to escape anything he fears." And I know that because I left...

Only a few months later, I heard the news of Aoi and Tokiomi's engagement. She tracked me down, I still don't know how, to the hovel I was sleeping in - you could hardly call what I was doing then 'living' - and sent me an invitation. With it, she enclosed a neatly folded, handwritten letter.

Kariya, I hope you are doing well in your new path. I know it can't have been easy for you. Leaving everything you had, everything you knew, to make a future for yourself in a completely different world? I would never have had that courage. To tell you the truth, I have often felt that I am nothing but a caged bird, with clipped wings. I can't survive on the outside.

But you know? Even a caged bird can sing, and while I never would have thought it at the time, I think I've fallen in love with this man. Tokiomi. At best, I considered him an annoyance when he was courting me, but since then - though the marriage itself was decided by my parents, and I had no say in the matter - I have grown to appreciate him. True, he does not have the warmth that I have always hoped would be given to me by a husband, but he is strong, and dependable. He really does care for me, even if he has difficulty putting his feelings into words.

He's shy, I suppose. Forgive my girlish heart, but I would go so far as to say I find it cute.

I really shouldn't be telling you this, since he would be embarrassed, but you're a dear enough friend of mine that I feel I can share it with you, if with no one else. We've already been discussing what we would name our children.

Can you imagine? Tokiomi was reluctant to address the subject, but - and I think this must be normal for a woman engaged to be married - I... Well, I'm just so excited for our future. You know me, I've always wanted a daughter. Someone to care for, love, and as she matures, to while away my nights talking to her. Finding out all about her life. Her school, her friends, boys she likes.

Obviously, I know that while I enjoy this sort of life, it's not for everyone. It wasn't for you, and it might not be for my children either. I've accepted that. My children may have no interest in Magecraft, and I will support them however they want to live. I only want what is best for them.

Tokiomi really dislikes talking about the future. I think he doesn't want to count his eggs before they've hatched, as it were. He must be as scared of embarking on the new path of marriage as I am, but I suppose that while I cope with my fear by making plans for the beautiful life I want to build, he copes by burying himself in his work.

I've told him about the daughters I'd like to have - I would love a son too, of course, but I worry I wouldn't be able to relate to a boy as easily as a girl - and all I could really get him to say was, 'Of course, I will be happy as long as they are. But do you really think they could live fulfilled lives outside of the world of Mages? With our blood running through them?'

I laughed, and assured him that while he could not understand wanting to leave the aristocratic world he so loved, not everyone was like that. Of course I was thinking of you when I said it, but I said nothing about you at the time.

Tell me, Kariya: What do you think of the name 'Rin', for a girl? Isn't it lovely? Like a flower blossoming. And certainly its dignified air will please Tokiomi.

On the margins of the letter she wrote 「凛と咲く花」(Rin to saku hana, Flower blooming with dignity) in the grass style of calligraphy that Kariya remembered her practicing. Such a feminine skill, calligraphy.

He continued reading.

But on the other hand, I know it's way too common, but I've always had a soft spot for 'Sakura'. Delicate, pink cherry blossom petals, slowly floating to the ground. What a beautiful sight, isn't it?

It's rare in Magical families for a woman to bear more than one child, you know. I don't expect I'll be able to use both names. I've been reluctant to share my ideas for baby names with Tokiomi; I'm trying to get him to open up about it, and tell me what he thinks, but he refuses to suggest anything. I know that if I tell him my ideas first, there's no way he'll say anything, for fear of upsetting me. He tells me that he wants me to be the one to choose, since after all, I'll be the one carrying the child. Which is adorable, and certainly very proper of him to say, but he won't listen to me when I tell him that even if he doesn't carry our child, he will love her just as much as I do.

I can see it in his eyes. Though he has difficulty expressing his feelings, he has a lot of tenderness in his heart.

The one thing he has been willing to talk about with regard to our potential child, is how he will ensure that she has a perfect future. I think he doesn't know how to say he loves her except by providing for her as best he can. But every day I spend with him, I feel like I am getting closer and closer to breaking that wall of ice that surrounds his heart. And I'm sure that once a child is born, he will melt as soon as he sees her soft eyes that know no evil.

So, what do you think, Kariya? I fear I'm far too excited about our future, and worried about the realities of married life, to choose. So tell me. If she were your daughter, which name would you choose? Rin, or Sakura?

Love,

-Aoi

P.S. It would really make me happy if you came to the wedding. My parents will be inviting at least a hundred guests of influence from the local political parties, and Tokiomi has to - he has no choice - but to invite representatives from the Clock Tower, as well as regional heads of the Mages' Association from all over the world. Besides that, his family has a lot of contacts in East Asia, being that he is the regional head of Fuyuki City. Honestly, all this aristocratic business is exciting but I fear it won't really give me any joy. It'll just be a bunch of well-dressed people whose names I don't know, and who I'll have to greet as if I did.

So please come. It would be wonderful to have someone there I can talk to. My parents, and Tokiomi, will be far too busy to keep me company. I don't want to be lonely in a sea of people.

The food will certainly be good, I can promise you that! Tokiomi knows a family, the Amagi, that manage an inn in the area. I know you're more used to Western-style meals, but this is the best of Japanese cuisine!

Looking forward to your reply, oldest friend.

As if he could attend something like that. No, just seeing that Tohsaka bastard, representing everything he was trying to run away from, with his claws around Aoi, would kill him.

It would erase everything he was.

And yet he could not bring himself to tell Aoi that he couldn't come. He knew that she would see through any subterfuge he employed to excuse his absence, and so, though he kept telling himself that he would write her and explain his feelings, he never did.

He still felt, though, that it was his fault that Aoi had been condemned to suffer as the wife of such a cold, heartless man, as Tohsaka Tokiomi.

Kariya sat up in his bed. It was still dark, but he could sense his Servant, his Berserker, sleeping, curled up in the corner. He often felt like Berserker was the Master, and he the Servant; case in point, Berserker refused to dematerialize when told to. It wasn't something he was going to waste a Command Spell on, certainly, so he let him do as he wished.

He wiped the mucous from his eyes, and flipped on the light. There was no natural light in the Matou manor, so ever since the modernization of this part of the country, every room was equipped with electric lighting, despite the age of the house.

Well, not every room.

Kariya had slept in his clothes, too fatigued to change or even strip them off.

He walked out of his room, and went down the steps, his Servant following him. Apparently Kariya's movement had been enough to wake him up.

I can't... I can't, he thought as he walked. The pain... it's just too hard. I can't. Every step is agony, and I am still no closer to my goal. I have to save her.

Berserker crept up behind him, and reached for his arm.

"No, not now. You tormented me enough in my sleep last night. Leave me alone until I call for you."

Every syllable was like knives tearing into his throat, as the worms gurgled through his skin.

Berserker ignored him, if he could even understand him at all. Kariya pulled his arm away from the beast pawing at it.

He stood in front of the door to the basement, the cellar containing the curses.

He remembered lying there, next to Sakura, in too much pain even to think, but he could still feel. He saw her lifeless eyes, and his own pain disappeared as thoughts of her, of her salvation, consumed him.

He opened the door, and began the steps down.

Step.

Step.

crack

His joints protested, for they knew they had very little life left in them.

Step.

Step.

Then, the dark light of the worm pit revealed itself to him.

He looked down the final cliff separating him from that mass of writhing bugs beneath.

He saw Sakura there.

He fell to his knees, finally able to let himself rest.

"Sakura!" he called. It tore his tongue to be used but he didn't care. "I'm going to save you, just know that! Hang in there! Uncle Kariya will be there for you."

There was no response, as the girl he called Sakura, whose hair and eyes had been dyed with the purple of the worms, simply lay motionless in the sea of insects.

"Kariya," a voice that twittered as much as spoke appeared behind him. "Do not promise what you can't deliver. It's unbecoming of someone of your blood."

He had no strength to turn around to face the voice. Kariya coughed, and instead of mucous, blood mixed with worms came out.

"And this 'Uncle Kariya' business? Are you more pathetic even than I thought? I had worried about your association with that Zenjou girl; though I certainly wanted an heir of mine produced who could be *worth* something, I was concerned. 'Maybe,' I thought, 'he might fall in love with her. Maybe they would be happy together.'" Zouken laughed. "But I see I had nothing to worry about! As if you would ever, you pathetic excuse for a man, ever love a woman. You could never allow yourself to be happy like that; and look! I've managed to acquire the Zenjou's daughter regardless of your uselessness. Oh, Kariya. I thank you; no matter what I hope for, you always manage to exceed my expectations of your inferiority. I would say I'm proud of you, but, well, that would rather defeat the purpose, don't you think?"

"Quiet, you monster," Kariya muttered.

"What was that? I couldn't hear you over your whining."

"Don't worry about him, Sakura," Kariya said. He lifted himself to his feet, and began the slow trot back upstairs. "I'll take care of everything. I love you."

"Oh, how touching! If only she cared."

"I told you to be quiet," Kariya said.

"Not exactly the picture of filial piety, are you? Ah, how the Matou name is disgraced."

Kariya stopped. "Berserker."

Lio stood up from his crouching position next to his Master, and lunged at the mass of worms that had shaped themselves into the form of a man. He tore through them, but they reformed when he had gone. He repeated this several times, howling as he did.

"Kariya, you annoy me. Begone."

Kariya began to move again. "Next time, old man."

"Yes, yes," Zouken replied. "Next time you will dispatch of me, right? Good luck, my dear child."

Zouken, alone in the chamber with his protegee, spoke to her.

"I apologize for my son's behaviour," he said. "He is far too reckless, and cares about nothing but what is directly in front of his own nose."

Worms crawled up from the pit to fill the form of the decrepit old man above it.

"Though every blow that he strikes against me necessitates that you lose more of your precious, virginal magical energy, he seems not to care. How callous! How cruel! Sakura, you must know that it is futile to resist me, and that it always causes pain."

A small, quiet voice emerged in the darkness.

It carried no emotion, but its deadness struck the heart.

"Then why does he do it, Grandfather?"

"Well, Sakura," Zouken replied, a wide grin on his face, whose skin was stretched thin like a mask. "He wishes only to bring himself to pain, and not only does he refuse to see the truth of his own nature, but he brings down others with him! Like yourself; he only intensifies your necessary training."

"Pathetic," Sakura said. "How pathetic of him to defy you, and even more pathetic to be so blind to himself."

"My thoughts exactly, precious heir. Now come, it is time for your training."

"Yes, Grandfather," said Sakura, as the smallest light still burning in her heart snuffed itself out.

Ciel stalked the corridors of the Tohsaka mansion. Her sweat ran down her back.

She could feel Archer following her, silently, like a slave's overseer.

"No chance you're letting me out of this, are you?" she whispered.

"Your head would be most attractive liberated of your pretty shoulders, I think," replied the Archer's disembodied voice.

"Didn't think so," Ciel said, and turned the corner. "Thanks for the compliment, though; wouldn't've thought you had it in you."

Tokiomi's workshop was in front of her. She knew that her Master and Tokiomi were going to be working in there right now, conferring about the current state of the Holy Grail War. She had seen Kirei preparing his reports - all handwritten; Kirei joked (with real *mirth* now, which was the really frightening thing) that Tokiomi's greatest sin was refusing to believe that the 20th century had happened at all - full of interesting information, most of it fabricated, though with a kernel of truth, regarding the enemy Masters. Particularly Emiya Kiritsugu, the Einzbern Master.

Ciel didn't know much about the other families of the Grail - Kirei had not found it necessary to tell her much, and she was sure he knew - but she felt they must be fortunate to not have a snake like Gilgamesh and an impulsive child of darkness like her Master in their midst.

Though she had at first found Kirei quite relatable and worthy of sympathy - and in truth, she still did; through all this, Ciel felt that Kirei's struggles mirrored her own in many respects, and if he was failing where she did not, well, that was more due to circumstance than anything else. Thinking about it, she had been an adolescent girl, and had practically fallen prey to her vampiric impulses almost as soon as they presented themselves, after but a short attempt to lock herself away from the world that he might not hurt it. She was only freed from that path by having been captured by the Church, after all. When you think about it, it was all luck. She could've ended up far worse than Kirei, and the fact that she didn't was in no way by her own efforts.

On the other hand, Kotomine Kirei had spent his entire life fighting his impulses. Always a losing battle, but he never once lost faith in his religion and his God until the very end of his struggle. Until this Holy Grail War.

So it was hard for Ciel to truly hate the man, when he was so much better than her, in a sense.

This did not, of course, mean that she trusted him.

But part of her still wanted to help him. Though it was no longer possible to do so, for he was already beyond repair, she felt she owed it to the World that had saved her from her own impulses, to do *something*.

So she decided to adopt a policy of damage control.

She stood in front of the door.

"Assassin, I await your performance. Try not to disappoint my nonexistent hopes," said Archer.

(Ciel may not have been one of the Hassans, but the Assassin class container alone was enough to grant her some amount of Presence Concealment. She used it, and pressed herself against the wall.)

The door opened.

Kirei held it, and Tokiomi exited. Ciel could hear Kirei explaining that Emiya Kiritsugu was the greatest danger to the victory of the Tohsaka clan in the entire War, for Emiya's reputation as the Magus Killer was such that the more traditional, honourable the magus, the greater chance that he would fall to Emiya's base trickery.

Thus, it was necessary to have their Servants patrolling the mansion regularly for traps and bombs, as well as more conventional threats like exploding familiars and leyline-dams (objects which, when placed into the earth, cut off the flow of mana from a leyline. They were incredibly dangerous, for not only were they exceedingly difficult to create, but due to the sheer amount of energy flowing through leylines in general, and especially those near the workshop of a Magus - let alone the Tohsaka mansion, which had access to not much less magical energy than that which supplied the Holy Grail itself - meant that the Magus who set the leyline-dam was in danger of being immolated on the spot by a mana leak. Even then, the mana would build up over time, continually accumulating, until it exploded. These made such dams serve double duty as damaging the enemy's mana flow as well as a literal time bomb, if one was unorthodox and willing to accept the fatal risk of miscalculation of the mana flow, the capacity of the leyline-dam, or the application of the device). He explained that Ciel had just returned from checking the upper floors.

Gilgamesh remained dematerialized, though Tokiomi could of course sense him, and seemed glad to have him there.

Meanwhile, Kirei asked Tokiomi if his wife and daughter had already been evacuated, to protect them against the Magus Killer's known pechant for using family members as hostages against his targets.

Apparently, they had not yet. Aoi was still preparing the Zenjou house, but she had left Rin at home. Tokiomi did not want to allow it, but Aoi had convinced him that she would be safer, as long as Archer was watching over the household (safest there, where Tokiomi could protect her).

He didn't seem like it, but it seemed that Tokiomi was the sort of man who was weak to his wife's opinion. Maybe he loved her.

He certainly cared for his daughter, and was confident in Archer's ability to protect her.

Ciel hated this.

Kirei and Tokiomi walked, while Ciel followed, and Archer's presence filled the surrounding aether.

"Master, while I understand your reluctance to upset your wife, and your desire to keep your heir close, you must understand that despite your presence here, this is hardly the safest place for her to be," said Kirei.

"Kirei, I appreciate your concern. However, I simply cannot bring myself to think of the possible consequences that might come about as a result of moving Rin elsewhere. What if the enemy should discover her route? It would be all too easy for a Caster - who is still unaccounted for, by the way - to lay a trap for her. No, there is no way I will let her out of the protection offered by the Tohsaka mansion. No enemy Master with any intellect would dare attack us head-on, and as far as sneak attacks are concerned, we can simply have Assassin patrol the grounds. Archer can stay with me, and conduct offensive action against enemy Masters; and he can return here if necessary to aid Assassin in dispatching of intruders."

"But, Master-"

"Enough, Kirei." Tokiomi opened a door, and the group entered a front hall, where Rin stood in her pyjamas. They were yellow, with little pictures of cats on them. Though she was not usually one for aesthetics, Ciel found them very cute.

She was rubbing her eyes, and her hair was uncombed (for the first time that Ciel had seen, not tied up in its customary ribbons). She must have just woken up.

"Father?"

"Yes, Rin," Tokiomi said. He crouched down so his face was level with hers. He caressed her cheek, tenderly. "Why are you awake? It is undignified for a lady to come downstairs in the middle of the night."

She looked uncomfortable. "Father, I couldn't sleep. I came down because I heard voices, and..."

"You were curious to know what we were talking about?" he asked.

"Y...Yes, I was," she said.

He smiled. "Don't worry, Rin. It's nothing important."

She looked at him for a moment. She seemed to be thinking about something. Then her expression relaxed into the fatigue she surely was feeling. "Ok."

Tokiomi patted her head. "Will you go back to sleep, then?"

"Not yet," she pouted.

"What does the illustrious Lady Tohsaka require before bed, then?" Tokiomi said, without a trace of mockery or sarcasm in his voice.

He really does love her, Ciel thought.

She pointed at Ciel.

"Who is she?"

She looked at Ciel carefully. Ciel wasn't sure if it was mistrust or curiosity the girl felt.

Tokiomi turned around to face Ciel, as if he had no idea she was even there, until Rin pointed her out. Then he turned back to Rin, and said, "Oh, she is a bodyguard hired by Kirei to protect us in this War. I told him it was unnecessary, but you see, your *anideshi* worries too much."

Kirei cleared his throat. "Don't you agree, Rin, that the more precautions we take, the better?"

Rin was quiet for a moment, then looked at Kirei with contempt. "You must not have learned much here, then, if you think my Father needs any help protecting himself."

"Rin, speaking so candidly of your true feelings is unbecoming," Kirei said.

Tokiomi kissed her forehead. "Come, Rin, you must be tired. Go back to sleep. In the morning, I will formally introduce you and Ciel. I'm sure the two of you will get along splendidly."

Rin eyed Ciel warily. "Maybe," she said. "But I still hate Kirei."

Without giving her father a chance to rebuke her again, she turned around, and with a "Good night, Father. Pleasant to meet you, Mysterious Bodyguard-san. Get lost, Kirei," she turned to go upstairs.

She ascended the first step.

"Good night, Rin," Tokiomi called.

The second step.

"It was a pleasure to meet you too, Rin," a woman's voice said. Probably the bodyguard.

Honestly, Rin thought, Where did that idiot Kirei get these ideas? Why did he have to come here in the first place? It's bad enough Sakura's gone... but to lose first my mother, having her sent back to the Zenjou, and now my Father's constantly occupied with Kirei? All I hear, every day, is 'Kirei this,' and 'Kirei that.' He doesn't even belong here!

I wish he would just go away, forever.

If I can't have my sister, or my mother.

Don't take my father away from me too.

She felt tears coming on. She shook her head and fought them off. A Tohsaka must always be dignified, she reminded herself. And besides, there was no way she could show weakness in front of Kirei.

Another step.

"I'm sorry," the bodyguard said.

Rin had no idea what she meant, but before she could take another step upstairs, she heard her father make a strange noise. She knew it was he who made it; she knew his voice better than any other voice in the world, with the possible exceptions of her mother's, and Sakura's.

But the sound itself was like nothing she had ever heard before. It was a gurgling, then a whistle, slowly fading to silence.

She thought she heard the syllable "Rin" in it, but no matter how many times she reexamined her memories of the incident later on, she could never be sure whether that was just her imagination or not.

She found, curiously, as if observing an anatomical model, or a science experiment on a dissected frog, that her legs refused to work. The stairs were in front of her, the same stairs that had always been in her house, leading her upstairs to bedtime stories, late-night talks with Sakura, and dreams of a new day with her family.

But now those stairs were foreboding. The formerly welcoming red was now dark like blood, and Rin felt like that blood was flowing out of her heart.

She, whose body refused to function, could only turn her head.

And then, she found that even the tears refused to flow.

I think this is the sort of chapter - as is the next - that most people will either like a lot or dislike a lot. Polarizing, I guess. Please let me know what you think.

Also, anideshi means more senior pupil. So if pupils of the same teacher are siblings, the anideshi is like the older brother.