Well, thanks for the feedback. Hopefully, you'll enjoy this next chapter. As of posting this, I'm four chapters into this story. Hopefully, this, and/or King of His Heart, will be posted as full stories come Christmas. Or sooner.
KNIGHT OF BETRAYAL AND TAIGA CUB
CHAPTER 2:
EYE OF THE TAIGA
Taiga Fujimura could not be said to be stupid. Ditzy, scatterbrained and impulsive, but not stupid. One couldn't be stupid and become an English teacher in Japan. Well, unless you were like her and had friends in high or low places…or a grandfather in charge of the local Yakuza gang. Then again, Taiga had very little involvement with her grandfather's organisation, and preferred to earn her way.
The only time she asked for her grandfather's help was in important matters that, while unrelated to criminal doings, sometimes needed some smoothing over. Like when it came to adopting Harry. That admittedly had been an impulse she followed when she found him on the streets. He'd run away from his relatives, who had been killed when their hotel burned down during the Fuyuki Fire. She didn't raise him full-time until after she graduated high school, and even then needed babysitters for the times when she did her English teaching degree. Well, babysitter, anyway. Until he died, as long as he wasn't on one of those trips overseas he did, Kiritsugu generally babysat Harry willingly. Plus, he was the one who helped her learn English in the first place.
It was only shortly before Kiritsugu died that Taiga learned the truth about Harry, Kiritsugu and Shirou: that they could use magic, that magic actually existed in this world. Of course, Kiritsugu never admitted he was infamous as the Magus Killer. That was something Taiga only learned much later.
That being said, she loved Harry with all her heart. When she first met him, she knew she couldn't bear to leave him on the streets. Discreet enquiries had been made about his family, aside from the relatives who perished in the Fuyuki Fire. His parents were apparently dead, and he had been left with his maternal aunt. His closest remaining relative was the sister of his uncle, a rather unpleasant bitch by the name of Marjorie Dursley, who had sneered at taking in the child. And Taiga, despite her ditziness, recognised signs of abuse on Harry.
Anyway, Taiga was surprised when some pompous POS from the Japanese Ministry of Magic turned up. Her adopted son was a wizard, and famous for surviving an instant death curse nobody else had. Then, a couple of old geezers turned up. One was some Merlin-wannabe with a beard called Dumbledore, and didn't she whack him over the head with the Tiger Shinai when she learned he was responsible for leaving Harry with those bastards? The other turned out to be a vampire, or Dead Apostle, or whatever the hell they called them, by the name of Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg. Oddly enough, Taiga liked him more than Dumbledore, though to give the old goat credit, Dumbledore didn't think the Dursleys would be abusive. However, Dumbledore did agree that he would not pressure Harry to attend Hogwarts.
Though that stupid Tri-Wizard Tournament threw a spanner into that particular works. Harry went as Clock Tower's representative, though, albeit on Zelretch's request: Harry liked Magi less than wizards, but he liked Zelretch, and liked to prank them.
Taiga had joked about Harry looking out for hussies looking to sink their claws into him because of his fame in Britain. To her surprise, he actually came back to Japan with a girl in tow…only, said girl was Mordred Pendragon, of all people! Then again, by this point, she had heard about the Holy Grail War, thanks to an offhand comment by Zelretch while they were discussing the Tri-Wizard Tournament. Taiga had grilled the vampire, and learned, to her astonishment and horror and, well, even delight, that Fuyuki had seen the presence of heroes from myth and history. She remembered meeting Waver (and apparently the weedy little brat was some magical lord now, Lord El-Melloi II, if she recalled correctly) and that big burly guy whom, she learned later, was actually Alexander the Great. She had met one of the most famous figures from history and didn't even know it. And now, she'd met another. Hell, she was living under the same roof.
Mordred was nothing like you expected from the infamous knight who rebelled against Arthur. Gender aside (and Taiga knew why she was so touchy: after the fall of the various Celtic tribes, warrior women went into a decline in Britain, and concealing her gender was probably wise to avoid censure, or worse), she didn't seem malicious. If anything, she seemed like a child starved of affection and affirmation and, most importantly, acceptance. Morgan le Fay used her as a living weapon, and Arthur was a cold, distant and aloof figure, inhuman in many regards.
Mordred certainly had a hot temper one might have expected from her legend, but she was surprisingly compassionate too. And certainly passionate. At times, she'd caught them making out, and even saw them start at times. Mordred was certainly the initiator of such things. She just hoped she wasn't going to be a grandmother yet.
Still, hearing Harry and Mordred explain the Holy Grail War, in brief, to Shirou was disturbing. Supposedly, just under two centuries ago, three Magus families collaborated to create a specialised ritual, designed to recreate one of the True Magics. The von Einzberns of Germany, the Makiris of Russia, and the Tohsakas of Japan wanted to find a way to reach the Root, aka Akasha, and also bring back the Third True Magic, Heaven's Feel. Taiga didn't quite understand the explanation Zelretch gave her, despite him being one of those who collaborated with those three families.
Anyway, given that the three families were still somewhat wary of sharing, a system was proposed to fight in a tournament to determine who was most worthy of gaining the Grail. She personally thought that the Magi just wanted to do cool shit in the process, because why else would you have a system where long-dead heroes from myth and history were brought back as familiars to fight? Anyway, apparently, once six of the seven Servants fell in battle, the Grail would grant any wish the victorious Servant and their Master desired.
Now, while Taiga would love something like any wish, she also was a bit wary. She'd read stories where wishes could be perverted into something bad. Not to mention that killing the Masters, who anchored the Servants to the world with their magic, was an unspoken rule, though Masters who'd lost their Servants could apparently take sanctuary in a church.
And there was, of course, the collateral damage. Most people in the know believed that the Fuyuki Fire was caused by something going wrong with the Grail, though as there were no known eyewitnesses to it (that were still alive, anyway), nobody knew why. The only person who could have shed light on the matter was Kiritsugu himself, and he died five years ago. Apparently he was the Master of a Saber Servant. In fact, his Servant was none other than King Arthur. Who, apparently, was a woman, like Mordred. It was Waver who told them this. Taiga wasn't sure she wanted to know exactly how Mordred was conceived, or indeed any of Arthur's children.
She watched as Shirou absorbed this, while Sakura bustled about, quietly, not quite meeting anyone's eyes. "…This is heavy," Shirou said, with considerable understatement.
"Scared?" Mordred asked in a mocking tone, before her emerald eyes narrowed sharply. "You should be. I fought alongside and against the sort of people who'd become Heroic Spirits. Even without the boost the summoning and new body gives to Servants, many are beyond human limits today."
Oddly enough, her proclamation wasn't hampered by her apparel. Mordred, when dressing casually, favoured a small tube top and daisy duke jean shorts that only served to show off more of her figure than Taiga liked. Her main concession to modesty was a leather jacket over this. Even in winter, she preferred dressing like this. Actually, she wouldn't have looked out of place in Raiga's yakuza gang, Taiga reckoned, though the one time one of her grandfather's men tried to get fresh with Mordred…well, Raiga refused to pay the man's hospital bill.
"Waver told me of some of the Heroic Spirits in the last Grail War," Harry said. "He had Alexander the Great, aka Iskandar, as Rider. Your father apparently had King Arthur, or Arturia Pendragon as Saber. Waver's teacher and the Lord El-Melloi before him, Kayneth Archibald, had Diarmuid of the Love Spot as a Lancer. And apparently Tokiomi Tohsaka had Gilgamesh of Uruk as an Archer."
"…I know of King Arthur and Alexander the Great, but not the other two," Shirou said. "I mean, I've heard of Gilgamesh from the Final Fantasy games, but I'm guessing he's different."
"Diarmuid was an Irish hero," Taiga said, having read up on this. Indeed, she'd been doing some reading of famous myths and legends. "He famously had an affair with the wife of his liege lord, though to be fair to him, she had put a geas on him to run away with him. She'd been infatuated by his looks, including a love spot. Anyway, afterwards, his liege lord supposedly forgave him, but deliberately allowed him to die after Diarmuid was gored by a boar. As for Gilgamesh, many scholars believe his story to be the first ever story recorded by mankind, or at least the oldest surviving. He was a hero and king of Babylon, though he wasn't a particularly nice sort. Well, save to his friend, the beastman Enkidu."
"My Uncle Kariya summoned Berserker," Sakura said quietly, her admission sounding painful.
"I hope it doesn't choose you," Harry said, looking at Sakura. The gentle and shy girl didn't have it in her to be a fighter. She could endure, but she couldn't fight. The problem was, the Matou line were pumping out the Magi equivalent of Squibs, and apparently, the only ones with any magical ability were Sakura and her grandfather, though there may be others. Apparently the Grail invariably chose Masters from the three Founding Families…and Taiga was horrified at the thought that teenaged children might be chosen to participate.
Until a horrifying thought occurred to her. "…Harry, that girl…you said she was the von Einzbern Master, right? Did they really send a little girl to fight?"
"Maybe," Harry said, "but that's the scary thing. Homunculi have weird growth patterns. She could be an adult for all we know, and adult-looking Homunculi could be only a few years, even months, old. Anyway, Homunculi are to magecraft what a genetically-engineered human would be to science. If she is a Master, she probably has a lot of magic circuits. So just because she's a shrimp doesn't mean she's not dangerous. Plus…well, according to Waver, apparently Kiritsugu Emiya worked for the von Einzberns during the last Grail War. They probably took his failure personally, as I think that girl's warning was also a threat. Magi are petty, and stuff like the Grail War are used to settle old disputes."
"…She wants to kill Shirou?" Taiga said with a flat, dangerous tone. Most of the time, when Taiga got angry, she got loud and boisterous. But when she truly got angry, she got quiet.
"Maybe," Harry said. "But she's not the only problem. If the Holy Grail War really is happening earlier than anyone thought…then that puts recent events into a scary context. Remember, there have been recent killings with either a spear or a sword, meaning a Saber or a Lancer, or even an Assassin. In addition, those gas leaks…they could be magecraft. Magecraft that saps a person's essence to fuel a Servant."
Shirou frowned. "I thought those gas leaks seemed to be happening too often. But…I don't even want the Grail. I don't even know how to summon a Heroic Spirit!"
"And I don't want you getting drawn into this, Shirou!" Taiga snapped. "Kids shouldn't be fighting a damn war! It was hard enough watching Harry face down a dragon of all things, going diving in an ice-cold lake, and then he got kidnapped! All in one tournament! Ugh, that snake-faced bastard should be glad my Harry got the drop on him, or else I would have made him wish for death once I was through with him!" Taiga frowned. "Actually, what happened to Voldemort, anyway?"
"…Well, let's just say that I'm glad that Zelretch made a Mystic Code like the ghost trap from Ghostbusters and gave it to me shortly before the Third Task," Harry said(1).
Mordred snorted in amusement. "Apparently the damned vampire is torturing Voldemort's shade with cheesy children's songs whenever he ain't experimenting upon him and the Horcruxes. According to Zelretch, Voldemort is actually begging for death. Quite a change from a guy who was afraid of death. Anyway, Shirou, if you and/or Sakura get roped into this, we'll do what we can to protect you."
"Thanks, Art," Shirou said quietly. "What if you or Harry get chosen by the Grail?"
"Oi, we're friends," Mordred said sharply. "Even if it's an unspoken rule for Masters to off each other, I wouldn't do that. Besides, Taiga'd never forgive me. Not to mention the both of you are as good cooks as Harry here. One thing you never did back home was go for the cooks…"
The discussion, thankfully, went into less heavy subject matter, and after dinner was finished, they intended to head back home. Sakura accepted the offer of being Apparated to close to the Matou manor, given how late it was. However, tomorrow morning, Harry was going to cook for his mother and Mordred, while Sakura and Shirou would have their own breakfast at Shirou's place.
When Harry used Apparition to bring them back to their home, a young woman in a white jumper and a long skirt leapt into the air at the noise. "Harry! Don't do that!" snapped the woman.
"Sorry, Arc. Actually, what are you doing in Fuyuki?"
"Grandfather sent me. I was in Japan for other reasons, but he decided to have me act as a courier," the young woman said, rubbing at her head.
Taiga knew this young woman was actually far older than she looked. Blonde hair framed beautiful, regal but gentle features, with only her crimson eyes and slitted pupils betraying her true inhuman nature. Arcueid Brunestud, the White Princess of the True Ancestors. Or, with less of the Magi's weird names, she was basically a centuries-old super-vampire, one of those descended, so to speak, from the original vampire, Type Moon, aka Crimson Moon Brunestud. Though unlike many vampires, Arc not only didn't drink blood, but wasn't a misanthrope. A few vampires were like that, like Zelretch, or Merem Solomon. They were helpful to people. Others, though, were every bit as monstrous as the vampires of myth and legend.
"And when was he going to tell me that the Holy Grail War was about to happen?" Harry asked.
"Hey, you try telling him to do something. Don't forget, when he was at his prime, he managed to defeat my forefather. Besides, I didn't know until I saw Grandfather at Clock Tower. Anyway, he said, even if you don't get a Servant, these might help if you get caught up in the crossfire." She handed a box over to Harry.
"What are they?"
"Rings. They give you some basic protection, like a form of permanent Reinforcement combined with protection from some magical attacks. Not only that, but apparently, Mordred's can use her latent magic and yours to boost her power to that approaching a Heroic Spirit's. Not as strong as a Heroic Spirit, of course, but not far from it."
"…What's the catch?" Harry asked, and Taiga understood his suspicion. Zelretch had a habit of being a prankster.
"If there is one, he didn't tell me. Anyway, do you mind if I stay here for the night? I don't intend to stick around for the Grail War to get going, but I thought I'd say hello to the others."
Taiga nodded. "Sure. You're always welcome, Arc, unless you decide to act like something out of a horror movie."
"Believe me, Miss Fujimura, be glad you don't see me at work," Arc said ominously. "There's a rather irritating Dead Apostle in the next town over who seems to think he is Nero Chaos reborn. Between that and the Grail War, Clock Tower's agents here, to say nothing of the Church, are going to be busy…"
CHAPTER 2 ANNOTATIONS:
Arc's got it in one. Seriously, why haven't we got a Harry/Arc story out there? Plus, foreshadowing.
1. I did pretty much the same thing for my Portal crossover Is Your Great-Aunt an AI?!