The mountain range overlooking Fuyuki didn't see many visitors. Its proximity to the leyline nexus made it a gathering area for small spiritual entities. They were mostly harmless, but when they accumulated in sufficiently high density, they gave the place an impression that ranged from the eerie to the creepy.

For Taiga, it started with the former and slowly approached the latter as she proceeded through the thick forest looking for Saeko's house.

She was confident she could reach the place on her own, but half an hour later she still hadn't found it.

Worse yet, she wasn't sure where she was anymore.

"I'm not lost. I'm not lost. I'm not lost," she chanted like a mantra.

It would be an insult if she got lost in a forest and died of starvation when she had just sworn not to be outdone by Saeko and left behind by Shirou.

Fortunately, her perseverance and her instinct paid off, and she eventually emerged to a clearing where a couple of wooden buildings stood.

The sun had already disappeared past the horizon, and only the light that reflected on the atmosphere remained. In a few minutes, it would have been completely dark.

Letting out a relieved sigh, she took a couple of breaths to steady her mind and marched toward the closest building. There she loudly knocked on the door.

"Please, make yourself at home Fujimura-sensei," Saeko said from behind her.

"WAH!" Taiga shouted, whirling around to face her foe. "Don't do that! How long have you been standing behind me?"

"Hm? Why ever since you stepped into the woods of course."

"What are you? A frigging ninja?"

"You mean to tell me you didn't realize it?" Saeko asked rhetorically, tilting her head.

"No! Why didn't you say anything?"

"I was testing your awareness," Saeko replied. "When I did the same thing, Shirou noticed my presence immediately. I would have spoken if you had taken the wrong path, but you never turned wrong. It seems what you lack when it comes to awareness of your surroundings, but your sense of direction is on point. Either that or you have impossibly good luck."

"Feh!" Taiga scoffed. "I'm just that amazing! Now then, are we going to get this test started or what?"

"Of course. Please, follow me to the dojo."

Saeko motioned towards the other building, and they both made their way there. As they walked, Taiga examined her opponent.

Busujima Saeko was a beauty like few others. She embodied all the traits of the traditional Japanese beauty, with her long raven hair and her composed dignity. However, unlike the conventional Japanese women that were mostly slender, Saeko sported curves that even some westerner women would envy her.

She was also a national level kendoka who was secretly the heir of a clan of samurai exorcists.

Honestly, she sounded like the product of the imagination of a forty-year-old virgin otaku. How was Taiga supposed to compete with that?

Of course, Taiga knew the level of challenge she had chosen to face. She knew that she couldn't win if they fought fairly. Therefore, she would not fight fairly at all.

When they arrived at the dojo, Saeko quickly lighted up a few oil lanterns, casting dancing shadows inside the room.

"Don't you have electricity and running water up here?" Taiga asked looking around the place.

"For electricity, I have a diesel generator for the main building," she replied. "I get my water from a well behind the house."

"Sheesh! Talk about old-fashioned."

"I don't dislike this way of living," Saeko replied. "We take too many things for granted in this day and age."

"Now you sound like my grandpa," Taiga snorted."Nevermind. Are you ready to fight? What are the terms?"

"Terms?" Saeko asked. "There are no terms, Fujimura-sensei, This is not going to be a spar but a fight. The winner is the one who will remain standing."

With those words, Saeko grabbed her bokuto and put up her guard. Seeing that, Taiga grabbed the sword on her back.

"You know, I'm glad to hear that. If this were a spar, I would have felt bad about this."

Saeko tilted her head curiously, but her eyes widened when the satchel concealing Torashinai fell to the ground.

"That's..."

"Fuhuhuh!" Taiga laughed ominously, eyes darkening and mouth spreading into an all-too-wide smile. "You can tell, can't you?"

"That's a cursed weapon!"

"You can bet your sorry ass it is!" Taiga said in a voice that seemed to come from the depths of hell. "Now that I have released it, Torashinai won't rest until it has spilled blood."

Taiga's eyes had become completely black, save for two burning embers in place of her irises.

"Wait! That weapon is going to take you over!"

"HA! Who the hell are you talking about? If you've got time to worry about me, you should use it to worry about yourself. Now either come at me or I'll come at YOU!"

The ground where Taiga stood cracked, and in the blink of an eye she had crossed the distance between her and Saeko, Torashinai already posed to strike.

Bokuto met Shinai with a loud thwack and Saeko had to use all of her strength to match her opponent's.

"Kh!" Saeko grunted. "Why do you have something like that? Where did you find it?"

"Ahhhh? What are you going on about? Found it? Torashinai is my sword. Do you know how many hours I trained with it? Do you know how many opponents I fought to reach the top?"

"Then this malice and bloodlust… it's yours, to begin with."

"Damn right it is! How about tasting SOME!"

Taiga pushed, and Saeko was forced to slide backward, towards the wall. If she got driven all the way there, she would be put even at a more significant disadvantage.

However, Saeko wasn't a newbie in a fight. Shifting her weight and her blade, she allowed Taiga's strength to slide against her bokuto while she stepped forward and past Taiga.

Saeko rapidly spun around, trying to land a hit against her opponent, but Taiga too had already turned and met the incoming strike head-on.

"To think that you would use all the negative feelings you had sealed in the past to win this fight… I underestimated you, Fujimura-san!"

"It's too late to regret it! Now DIE!"

Thus, a fierce battle began. Saeko found herself defending against a wild beast, not unlike a giant, hungry tiger. Saeko never thought that the happy-go-lucky teacher could harbor such a fighting spirit.

Perhaps they were similar in that regard, but whereas Saeko basked in her darkness, Taiga had cleansed herself through her swordsmanship. However now Taiga had chosen to wield that darkness to close the gap that separated a mundane kendoka from an extraordinary one like Saeko.

The two exchanged blows after blows. Under the flickering lights of the lanterns, their fight looked like a historical drama taking place.

They were both soaked in sweat and breathing raggedly. To an outside on-looker, both women could have seemed evenly matched.

There was, however, a fatal flaw in Taiga's course of action. Unlike an actual cursed sword, the malice contained within Torashinai was limited to what Taiga herself had filled it with. It was by its very nature a finite quantity. Even if they were now evenly matched, it was a temporary thing. Taiga was fighting on borrowed time.

Still, who would have thought she'd be both willing and able to go to these lengths for Shirou?

Saeko felt apologetic. She had been looking down on her opponent before they even crossed swords, thinking herself untouchable. This was Shirou's foster sister. If she possessed even one-tenth of his determination, she would naturally be a force to be reckoned with.

"I'm sorry, Fujimura-sensei. I should have known better than presume you wouldn't be a worthwhile opponent. As an apology, let me show you my true strength."

"Uh? What are you on about?"

"Busujima-ryu… Hiken!"

Saeko's sword flashed. The speed of this blow couldn't be compared to what she had shown before. However, Taiga was not caught with her guard down. She moved Torashinai and successfully intercepted Saeko's attack.

"Cough!

Taiga coughed. At the same time, her left eye briefly returned to normal. How had she been hit? She had parried that attack.

"What?"

"The Busujima style is meant to fight against spiritual entities, sensei," Saeko explained. "The malice of that sword is unusual, but not all that different from what I'm used to. Now then, let's finish this."

Saeko moved, and again, Taiga parried. However, she was still hit. Each time she dodged, the blow still connected with her.

With every attack that landed, a portion of the darkness inside her eyes was cleansed, until eventually it was all gone.

Taiga fell to her knees, and Torashinai clattered on the floor. Before she could reach for it, she saw Saeko's bokuto come into her vision. With a loud thwack, everything went dark, and she knew no more.

[EMIYA SHIROU]
[THE GAMER]
[LV 27- 3500/26000]
[HP: 2700][MP: 35][MC: 27][ST: 850][SP: 11]
[STR: 42][DEX: 43][INT: 50][WIS: 33][CHR: 102]

Having finished with dinner, Shirou started to put away the plates in the sink. Unusually, Yoruichi had shown up for dinner and was currently leaning back on her hands with a swollen stomach and a satisfied look on her face. At least she had started wearing clothes around the house. It was most likely because she didn't want Taiga to see her naked around him.

After Taiga found out that Yoruichi was living under his roof, Yoruichi seemed to be wary of his older sister. Shirou had nothing to complain. Although it was a shame, he'd rather not have embarrassing erections all the time.m

Besides, clothes did not detract from Yoruichi's beauty in the least.

"I gotta say, Shirou, your cooking gets better every day. Freeloading at your place is one of the best ideas I ever had."

"Thanks, I guess," Shirou replied sarcastically. He didn't mind having people over, and he had no financial limitations that made him worry about feeding a few extra mouths. Still, did she have to be so blunt about it?

"Are you planning on coming to the Reverse Side tonight?" she asked.

"That was the plan. I need to stock on Mana Cores."

"That pretty lady milked you dry?"

"Yeah, she's quite… how do you know that?"

Yoruichi wiggled her eyebrows. "You are getting better, but you still aren't good enough to detect me when I try."

"Does my privacy mean anything to you?" he asked rhetorically.

"By now you should know that it doesn't," she replied unapologetically.

"Yeah, sorry. What was I thinking?"

"So, how did it go?" she pressed on.

Shirou shrugged. "I got a little rundown on how the Grail War works, but nothing specific. The important thing is that I now have a contact in the Magus community. As long as I can pay I should be able to get most things."

"Good. I suppose I'm going to see more wizardry on your end from now on then."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Yoruichi sat up straight and gave him a meaningful glance.

"Well, the closest thing to Magecraft I saw you do what that bullshit regeneration you've got. I'm no expert, but to be entirely honest that didn't sound like Magecraft at all. Unless it's truly advanced stuff, but a first generation has no way of having that. I'm guessing you have a weird bloodline or something along that line."

"Huh… I that's a good eye you've got, Yoruichi-san. Sometimes I forget that with age comes wisdom."

Yoruichi's eyebrow twitched at the barb. "Are you implying that I'm old, brat?"

"No, of course not," he replied with a smile. "I would never imply something like that."

"That's better…. Wait, did you mean that you don't think I'm old or that you just weren't implying it?"

"I don't understand what you mean at all, Yoruichi-san," he replied, smiling beatifically.

"Why you little… I'll teach you not to give me lip like that!"

She leaped at him over the kitchen counter, but Shirou just laughed and rolled away, out of the kitchen and into the living room. He wasn't worried that she would hurt herself or damage the kitchen. Yoruichi was far too nimble for that.

As proof, she immediately jumped backward the way she came and cut off Shirou's retreat by pinning him down with a knee on his chest.

"You are a hundred years too early to run away from me, brat."

"You aren't helping your case if you keep saying things like that, you know?"

"That's it! I'm going to tickle you until you beg for mercy!"

"Wait, that's going too far Yoruichi-san!"

"I don't wanna hear excuses!"

Yoruichi held up her hands with her fingers curled like claws. However, before she could do good on her threat, noise from the kitchen drew both their attention.

Crack!

"What was that?" she asked, turning around on all fours and simultaneously freeing Shirou

Shirou got up from the floor and went to check out. After a moment, he found the source of the noise. Taiga's favorite mug had broken cleanly in half on its own.

"Something the matter?" Yoruichi asked.

"No, nothing," Shirou replied. Even though he was a Magus, he wasn't a superstitious person. Something like a mug breaking wasn't a bad omen any more than a shoelace breaking.

"Alright then, back where we were!" Yoruichi tackled him again, from behind this time, pinning him to the floor face down.

"Hold up! Yoruichi-saahahahahaha!"

"Beg for mercy!"

"Wa -ahahahaha -it!"

Although he would eventually beg for mercy, it would be a long time before Yoruichi would let him go.

Taiga's mug sat in its place, broken and forgotten.

"Hnrrrg..."

Taiga woke up with a groan and with a splitting headache. After a long time during which all she did was taking slow breaths and adjusted to the violent throbbing in her forehead.

"Daaaaamnn…" she moaned. "Did anyone get the plate of that truck?"

But her question was met with complete silence. She forced her eyes open slowly, and she found herself laying in a room she didn't recognize, with the only light coming from the moon outside.

It took a moment for her mind to recall the event that had brought her there and with the memories, a sense of failure joined her headache in tormenting her.

"Aw, crap," she moaned.

She had lost, after all. Even though she had gone as far as using Torashinai, she had lost anyway. Taiga couldn't know that other than Shirou, she was the person who gave Saeko the hardest time since she had achieved mastery of Busujima style.

Even if she knew it wouldn't assuage her any, a loss was still a loss.

Where was Saeko anyway? She had to have carried Taiga to this room, but where had she gone now?

Well, Taiga was in no condition of going to look for her, and besides, she wasn't in the mood either. Therefore she just laid there and waited for her headache to abate.

About an hour later, she started to feel better, but at the around the same time, she heard a door open and close. A few moments later, she heard footsteps approaching her room and with them dread started building up in her heart.

The door opened, and Saeko looked inside. The two women stared at each other for a moment.

Taiga was wearing her usual clothes, but Saeko had ditched her kimono and was now wearing a variant of her school uniform with an indecently short skirt and metal gauntlets on her arms.

"You're awake, I see. How are you feeling?" she asked.

"... what do you care?" Taiga shot back.

Saeko let out a soft sigh, stepped into the room and closed the door behind her. She sat seiza next to Taiga.

"You are determined to think of me as your enemy. I'm not. Do you understand that it was me who allowed Shirou to pursue you even though he was already in a relationship with me?"

"I know that," Taiga replied. "Wait, Shirou told you?"

"He confided in me, yes. He was distraught and sought counsel. I told him to follow his heart with you."

"I… didn't know that," Taiga admitted. "Shirou didn't mention it."

"I don't think he's very comfortable with the situation yet. Although I'm happy to see he chose to listen to me."

"Did… did he tell you about us?"

"No, there hasn't been the chance yet," Saeko smiled. "I figured that it was the case, seeing how fiercely you came after me."

"Fat lot of good it did in the end," Taiga bemoaned.

"No, I believe you did well. Even though I pushed Shirou in your direction, it was only for his sake. I did not think much of you as a person. If you weren't someone already dear to Shirou, I wouldn't have considered you at all."

"Ha! I guess I'm only that good," she replied in self-reproach.

"That's what I thought at first, but you proved me wrong. It's only natural for a woman to fall for a man like Shirou but that doesn't mean they are good enough for him. You have shown me that you care for him enough to put yourself on the line, even going as far as showing the parts of your that you had sealed away. It takes a lot of guts."

"It's nothing that great. I just didn't want to lose."

"Some people would rather keep on losing throughout life rather than putting themselves on the line. It's far too easy being mediocre than trying to be something more. I can safely say that you are not mediocre at all."

"Huh. Thanks, I'm sorry if I came across a bit harsh."

"A bit harsh indeed," Saeko snorted. "Don't worry. If you hadn't shown at least that much determination I don't think I would have approved you, either as a woman or as a warrior. I will be glad to take you on as my disciple."

"Really? Huh, now I feel awful about the way I treated you."

"You shouldn't. Shirou is worth at least that much. Besides, you are going to dislike me again soon enough."

Taiga smiled ruefully. "The training is that harsh?"

Saeko blinked not understanding. Then she smiled. "Well, yes. The training is indeed quite intense. However, that is not what I was talking about."

"What did you think I was talking about then?"

"Well," Saeko licked her lips. "Although we came to an understanding, that doesn't mean our wager is no longer valid, Fujimura-sensei."

Taiga too blinked, then her face turned bright red.

"Wait, you don't mean…"

"But of course. You are my plaything from now on. Let's get along nicely, Ta-i-ga-chan."

Taiga swallowed the knot in her throat. She had agreed to this, right? She couldn't chicken out of a deal, could she?

Although she wanted nothing more than running away from there, she had already lost her chance to retreat.

Her fate was already sealed.

XXX