Behind The Layers Of Deceit...

Chapter 5 - Behind The Layers Of Deceit...

Emiya Shirou was a person who slept very little. Yet his sleep was never void of dreams. In fact, it could be said that every time he simply closed his eyes for a period of time longer that what is required to blink, there was something reaching out to him.

Swords.

They were always there, just beneath the layer of conscious thought. Every time he slept images of swords filled his mind. They were mostly a blur and once awake he couldn't recall many details but he was nonetheless aware of the contents of his dreams.

Swords.

For the longest time he wondered why he dreamed of such things. It didn't bother him at all, just made him curious. In the end he simply accepted that oddity as a part of him. Another trait that made Emiya Shirou who he was.

Swords.

He dreamed of them almost every night.

Almost.

He was back in that infernal scenario. The world was ablaze. Flames reached to the sky, howling their rage to an uncaring god.

The earth was alight and in contrast to the darkened sky. A black sun shone upon that Hell, cursing everything that bathed in its light.

_It Hurts!

Everything turned to ashes as the fire consumed everything in its path.

_It Hurts!

Pain and anguish filled the air even though there was no longer anybody to perceive those feeling.

_It Hurts!

Or was there?

_Scream!

He could feel it: a presence, all around him. It was basking in the feeling of despair, savoring it like wine, chewing at it like the most delicious slice of raw meat, inhaling it like it was a floral scent.

_ Suffer!

Everything about this… existence… was sufferance and despair. It screamed its hatred to the world. Cursing and being cursed in return.

_ Die!

And yet among all of those curses….

_***e *e!

Shirou bolted upright, a silent scream dying in his throat and his forehead was drenched in sweat. It had happened again. It wasn't a common occurrence for Shirou, but every once in awhile he returned to that time. He wasn't scared by the memory per se but the feeling of guilt never failed to upset him.

He survived where countless others did not. That was the sin he had to live with.

Even thought he was nothing more than a child when it happened, his conscience was tormented by his powerlessness and cursed his cowardice. He hadn't helped anyone. Selfishly, he had wished for only his salvation, and that wish had been granted.

Even if, rationally, he knew that he wasn't at fault he couldn't help but feel responsible, if not outright guilty, for all of those lives that hadn't been saved.

He wiped away the sweat with the back of his back and shook away the remnants of the dream. There was no use in wallowing in pointless self-loathing. If there was anything he could do, it was make sure that such things never happened again.

He glanced at the small watch on the nightstand. 3:30 in the morning. It was an ungodly hour even by his standards, but there was no way he could go back to sleep again. He could just feel the silent taint of the nightmare calling out to him, goading him into closing his eyes again.

Nope. He'd definitely had enough sleep for that night.

With nothing better to do he decided to take a bath and get a little more progress in his Thaumaturgy. For a change he went to the dojo instead than his workshop. The underground structure had a gloomy atmosphere that wouldn't help him get rid of the remnants of his dreams. The dojo was definitely more pleasant and there was no way any of his usual guests would stubble upon him doing magic that late in the night… or was it early morning?

He sat cross-legged in the middle of the room, on the polished wooden floor. With practiced ease he opened his circuit and let his Od trickle. His body began to warm as the energy changed from its raw state to a more the elaborate one called Prana.

He let the power flow through him like water, circulating through his body with no specific purpose. Once he finally cleared his mind he began the 'activation sequence'.

Normally, since his abilities were based on an extremely refined micromanagement of his energies, he only needed to active one of his circuits. However, since there was always the chance that he might needed to use more at a moment's notice, he made sure to exercise them regularly.

One. Two. Three…. Ten… Twenty…. Twenty-seven.

Twenty-seven channels for his magic to express itself and give shape to his mysteries. More than the average number that could be found in most Magi even if the quality wasn't the best.

Using them together for an extended period of time was tiring but relatively easy. What he wanted to accomplish, however, was a little more difficult.

Magic circuits were a wondrous thing, but for all the power they could channel they were also extremely weak against specific attacks. Kiritsugu's 'Origin Bullets' for instance, specifically targeted active circuits and through the ability of Severing and Binding destroyed them beyond recovery, forever crippling the abilities of any Magus unfortunate enough to be hit.

In addition, Magic Circuits are part of a Magus' soul and are a foreign element inside the human body. Their prolonged use would cause overheating, and eventually damage themselves and the body of the user.

To prevent overextended damage from a specialized attack and to minimize those effects, Shirou decided to gain a better control over his circuits in order to be capable of using only the exact amount needed to perform a certain feat. It was both a safety measure and energy savvy.

Of course, much like everything else he did, it was extremely simple in concept and a lot more difficult in practice. It wasn't unlike learning how to use each finger of both hands and feet separately.

And he royally sucked at it.

Still, he put himself to it. As a secondary form of training, it was good and not nearly as dangerous as most of the other things he did. The perfect exercise if one wanted to focus his mind away from other less than pleasant thoughts.

He spent two hours doing just that with little result. Well, it wasn't like he expected any sudden improvement. Things like that required years of continuous practice. At the very least he had managed to shrug off the unpleasant feeling left behind by his nightmares.

The sun was just peeking over the horizon when he left the Dojo for the kitchen to get breakfast ready. For once he could let Sakura sit back and enjoy the first meal of the day without having to work for it.

Matou Sakura. That was another reason for Shirou to get caught by thoughts.

When he first met the purple haired girl, he didn't know that the Matou used to be a family of Magi. Initially he was happy when he found out because that meant that he could probably talk about Thaumaturgy with her if she was aware of her ancestry.

Luckily, he never had the chance to do that before seeing the old Zouken.

Never before he had been so glad that the Makiri's predisposition for Magic had run dry. He saw him –it, only from afar but that was nearly enough to make him vomit. He wasn't sure just what Matou Zouken had turned himself into, but Shirou's high sensitivity caught up with his unnaturalness right away. If that was the apex of what the Matou Thaumaturgy was capable of, then he was all the more glad Sakura and Shinji would never have anything to do with it.

Matou Shinji: yet another subject of worry for the red haired Magus. He had befriended him when they were in middle school and by that time the boy could be already be defined an arrogant prick. Still, a bad friend was still a friend to Shirou, and for that reason he had weathered Shinji's oppressive nature, if only to curb his more aggressive behavior, spare others from his worse outbursts and himself from potential repercussions.

What made it worse was Shinji's obvious dislike for Sakura. Initially, Shirou didn't pay it too much attention. Being siblings isn't necessary synonymous of having a good relationship, but in the last couple of year things had obviously taken a downward curve. In fact, just the previous week he had to step between Shinji and Sakura when he felt that the male Matou was about to resort to physical violence.

Neither sibling ever explained just what was wrong between them. Shinji, being his usual charming self, just told him bluntly to mind his own business, and Sakura just blamed herself for upsetting her brother in one way or another.

It could very possibly be that Sakura's passive behavior rubbed Shinji wrong and made her an easy outlet for his pent up rage, but Shirou wasn't convinced it was only that. Not that he had any reason to think so besides his wish to believe that siblings couldn't be so much at odds with each other without a concrete reason behind it.

However, Shirou felt he had no right to intrude in their relationship and couldn't force either of them to come clean and tell him just what was going on. Nonetheless, he made sure to be nearby one of them whenever he could so that he could prevent any situation from escalating. It wasn't much, but as an outsider it was all that he could do until one of them (Shinji) crossed the line of acceptability.

He also made sure to check on Sakura for visible bruises or suspicious stiffness but so far nothing indicated that Shinji had ever actually hit her, and Sakura always wore a relaxed and peaceful smile.

Perhaps he was just worrying over nothing. Yeah, that was probably the case. What could be wrong with a girl that always smiled that serenely?

…

_/Interlude: Façade

A damp, dimly lit room. Stench of rotten flesh saturated the air. A sound of wriggling things echoed among the humid walls.

The Material laid naked on her back in the damp, worm filled basement of the Matou house. Her body was being assaulted by countless viscid bugs that feasted on her like a lump of rotten meat. Her eyes were empty, void of any emotion, as if what was happening wasn't matter of concern.

And how could it be otherwise?

She was just a vessel for the dying house of Matou to pass on their magical heritage to the next generations.

She was a tool: discarded by her father; forgotten by her mother; disregarded by her sister; hated by her brother; defiled by her grandfather.

She had nothing. No purpose beyond which was given to her. She should have just given in and allowed what little was left of her personality to crumble and be digested by the never-ending onslaught of worms that crawled over and into her body.

She should have…but she couldn't. She couldn't take the easy way out. Not until he was there. Even if she had to bear that burden; even if she, dirty and tainted as she was, could never be his; even if she had to lie to him and make him believe she was clean and pure. So long as he smiled for her she would keep up the façade and bear the life of a rotting human.

So long as she could return to him.

'Senpai….'

…

Interlude: end\_

The bell rang, signaling the end of the morning lessons. Students began leaving the classroom for lunch, a few rushing to the cafeteria hoping to beat the rest of the crowd that would undoubtedly gather there with similar hopes and identical hurry.

Shirou had fortunately prepared his own lunch as usual that morning, thanks not in small part to his reduced sleeping time. He made something for himself, Sakura and the constantly broke Fuji-nee. Seriously how that woman could deplete her allowance like that at her age was a mystery to him.

…

Wait a minute… Why did she still even receive an allowance at her age in the first place?

Shirou shook his head free of questions that couldn't possibly have an intelligent answer and made his way to the rooftop where he had to meet with Tohsaka.

He wasn't agitated. 'There's no reason to be agitated because I'm going to spend lunch with the school idol. Nope. None at all.' Doing his best to convince himself of that he reached the door to the rooftop and pushed it open.

His breath got caught in his throat.

Rin was already there. Her feminine features were set in a determined expression. One hand was holding the chain-link fence that surrounded the roof and her gaze was looking far away, toward the city.

It was no wonder she was the most sought after girl in school. She was stunning in a way that went beyond her appearance. The way she held herself, the way she drove herself toward her goals. Even from the little interaction he had with her at school he could tell that she was a woman a cut above the rest. She had her flaws, he knew as much, but that didn't hinder his admiration for her.

"Emiya-kun?" Her voice snapped him out of his thought. "What are you doing standing there?"

"Sorry," he apologized. "It looked like you were thinking very hard about something. I didn't want to interrupt."

"Don't worry about that. We agreed to meet here so it's not a problem. Now, shall we get to work?"

He emptied his bag, which contained two copies of Fuyuki city map, a couple of pens, and a block notes. Tohsaka elegantly arched an eyebrow. It looked like Shirou had actually thought things through.

They sat down and began hypothesizing the point where Yukiko could have been kidnapped, judging from the direction she should have taken to return home from the locale where she had spent the evening. From there they outlined the most likely zone and split it into two parts to investigate one each.

They were about to decide on a time to meet that evening when their discussion was disrupted by the most unexpected of sounds.

*Grooooowl*

He blinked and looked up from the maps to see Tohsaka frown as she tried her best to appear focused on what Shirou had been writing up until that moment. Only the slightest of blushes on her cheeks betrayed her as the source of that sound.

"Tohsaka you… haven't you eaten lunch yet?"

"Of course not. If I went to the cafeteria there was no way I could get here in time and I –what?" She looked at the bento Shirou just picked from his bag and offered her. She opened it and she was surprised to see a really appetizing lunch. Despite her hunger she was about to protest. She didn't like that he would go without lunch for her, but to her further surprise he just fished yet another bento from his bag.

"I figured something like this could happen so I came prepared," he explained.

Tohsaka blinked. Did he actually just prepare two lunch boxes in the eventuality that she couldn't get her own? That was way beyond being thoughtful. It was creepy in a stalkerish way. He also knew what her favorite drink was. Could he be that he was one of those creeps?

"Don't worry about it," he interrupted her train of thought as he had mistaken the reasons for her doubtfulness. "It's not like I cooked it specifically for you. I always prepare my own lunch and, more often than not, one for Fuji-nee and Sakura as well." She relaxed a little at his explanation.

Wait, did he just say-

"Sakura?"

"Oh. I suppose you wouldn't know her. She's Matou Shinji younger sister. She always comes by in the morning and evening to help around since I live alone and my house is very big."

"Ah," she said taken aback. "So, she's your girlfriend?"

If possible, Shirou would have choked on air.

"What? No! Why would you think that? She's just a childhood friend. What gave you that idea?"

"Why else would a girl come over at your house twice every day? Are you seriously that dumb?"

"It's not like that," he protested a little less hastily than before. "She's just a friend and a very nice person."

"Whatever you say, Emiya-kun," she smiled condescendingly like she was speaking to a retarded child. "Anyway, thank you for the lunch. Itadakimasu."

"Itadakimasu," he agreed, more than happy to change topic.

They ate while discussing the last details of "Operation: Rescue Yukiko", and agreed to meet that evening at the crossroad that connected the two residential areas where they lived. From there, they would proceed together to the town center.

With that settled Shirou left. as he had promised Issei to look at some malfunctioning appliances before lunch break ended.

Tohsaka watched the red haired boy leave the rooftop by himself. When he closed the door behind him she allowed a faint smile to form on her lips.

"You have a good friend, Matou Sakura. … I'm glad, little sister…"

A nightmare. It could only be described as such. There was no way that what Ryuudo Issei's brain was telling him could possibly be true.

Emiya Shirou was, in his eyes, the only other reliable human being under the age of twenty he had the privilege of knowing. Being himself mature beyond his age, he always had troubles relating to other students on a personal level. While that made it possible for him to become the president of the student council even though he was still a first year, it also marginalized him from the rest of the student's body.

Shirou was a positive exception to that rule. Issei figured that his upbringing forced him to grow faster than most, and while he wasn't happy about what his friend had to go through, he was glad that he came out a better man because of it. He was reliable, if a little naïve, and usually above the temptations of teenage hormones.

Oh, he didn't delude himself into thinking Shirou was a priest, but he was aware that he didn't think with his… lower head.

That's why he couldn't accept what was happening as reality. There was just no way.

He had no intention to eavesdrop or anything. He just needed to talk with him, which is why he went looking for him on the rooftop, where another classmate said he saw him heading. What he found there defied belief.

Tohsaka Rin. The name alone sent shivers down his spine. He knew something was wrong with that girl, and that wasn't limited to the façade she put up while he school. He could swear that she had an… aura, for lack of a better word, of unnaturalness around her that only he seemed capable of perceiving.

Lately, he had come to believe that Shirou too was able to sense it to a degree, as he kept his distance from her, and that brought Issei a great deal of reassurance.

But now that comfortable illusion had shattered. Tohsaka Rin and Emiya Shirou, two people who had had no previous interaction to the best of his knowledge, were having lunch together. A lunch that Shirou himself had prepared for her by the look of it.

What was the world coming to? Had the boy suddenly fallen to the witch's charms? What did the accursed woman want from his friend? How was he going to rescue him from the witch's clutches without coming out as a creep?

No, there was no way around it. The best solution was to voice his concerns about this situation directly. He would wait for Shirou to show up, as had promised, before the third period and then he would corner him and get the truth out of him.

Yes, that was the best course of action, and the Student's Council room was the best place to put that plan into motion. No one would disturb them there.

Without waiting he left the duo (he refused to use the word couple even in his mind) and went to set up the stage for the confrontation.

Shirou didn't know exactly what to think about the current situation. There were rumors, of course, about the President of the student body, but he never gave them too much credit. Just because a young man doesn't drool after every vaguely attractive girl in sight it didn't necessarily mean he played for the other team.

He was convinced of that.

Not that there would have been anything even remotely wrong if Issei had that type of interest for people of his own gender. A friend's a friend after all, and if that's how Issei was he could live with it.

Unless, of course, he was the object of said interest. That would make things between them seriously awkward.

"Uuum… Issei?" Shirou asked fearfully. He was currently pinned between the door he just closed behind him and a serious looking student body president, whose arm was preventing him from moving in the only direction not occluded by a wall. "Is something the matter?"

"Shirou do you… like girls?"

Oh no. By the Root, the Akasha and everything in between. No!

"I… I do…, " he stuttered, hoping that his admission would prevent the uncomfortable discussion to develop any further. Sadly, it wasn't to be.

"Anyone in particular?" He inquired. His face was getting uncomfortably close to Shirou's.

"There… are a few," he admitted.

"Is Tohsaka Rin one of them?"

"She… might be…," he conceded, although the evident blush on his cheeks wasn't as vague as an answer. "Issei I-"

"Shirou! You mustn't," he declared suddenly grabbing him by the collar of his uniform. "No matter how attractive a girl Tohsaka is she's no good for you. That woman is dangerous."

Oh. "Issei, what is this all about?" He asked, finally realizing, and hoping, that perhaps it wasn't how initially looked like. Which was a relief.

"I'm sorry," Issei apologized as he stepped back from the uncomfortable looking redhead. "I unwillingly saw the two of you having lunch together earlier. I had no idea the two of you were already so close. I'm sorry, Shirou. I have failed you."

"Issei, it isn't like that," Shirou protested vehemently. "We were just discussing something."

"I'm sorry," he quickly added. "It's not my place to question your relationships. If anyone knows what he's doing among the students here that would be you."

"I'm not sure if you are giving me too much credit of too little sometimes, Issei. Nevemind. It's not a problem if you were looking out for me. Now, the reason I met with Tohsaka is…."

Five minutes later….

"I see," Issei said with a nod of his head after hearing Shirou's explanation. "As I suspected! If it wasn't for the fact that you would help her in any case, she would have undoubtedly used her charms to lure you into doing her bidding."

"Issei, aren't you being unfair to Tohsaka-san? I mean, what did she ever do to warrant so much distrust?"

Issei blinked.

Twice.

Shirou raised a very good point. He was supposed to judge people by their actions. But his father also taught him to trust his instincts.

"You have a point there. Actually she never did anything wrong, unless you count faking her character at school. It's just that she gives me a strange…. vibe I think is the correct term. Yes, she gives me a bad vibe."

Shirou arched an eyebrow. Could it be…?

"Did anyone else ever give you that vibe?" He asked.

"Um! Matou Shinji gives me the same feeling although it's lot weaker. Actually he would be the reason for my opinion of Tohsaka. If such an openly unpleasant character has a fraction of that effect on me then I wonder just what kind of person hides behind Tohsaka's mask."

"I see," Shirou finally commented. He had a suspicion about Issei's issues with Tohsaka but he preferred not indulge in that line of thought without any substantial proof to back it up. "Although that's not much of a reason to distrust someone like that. Trusting your instinct his all good and fine, but shouldn't you judge people from their actions?"

"You do raise a very good point, Shirou. … Very well it's decided then," he firmly declared. "In order to discover Tohsaka's true nature and eventually protect you from her wiles, should she prove to have ill intentions, I, Ryuudo Issei, will join the two of you in your endeavor this evening."

"Really?" Shirou asked surprised. "I mean, it's okay if you want to help but are you sure you can put aside your dislike for Tohsaka? It would be disruptive if the two of you were at each other's neck all the time."

"Don't worry Shirou. I'm perfectly capable of getting along with Tohsaka for an entire evening if needed be."

Whatever objection Shirou could have raised was cut by the bell, signaling the beginning of the next period.

"Oh, is it so late already? We never got around doing those repairs. Nevermind. Shirou we should leave further discussions for this evening. I will come to your house around eight. Is that fine with you?"

"All right," he agreed. 'Let's just hope that Tohsaka will be fine with this as well.'

THAT EVENING

The quiet atmosphere inside Emiya's household was suddenly broken by the sound of clattering steel.

Shirou and Taiga turned around to see Sakura, a little pale in the face, picking up a few spoons she had been putting away after dinner from where they had fallen on the ground.

"Sakura, are you all right?" Shirou asked.

"Ah, yes Senpai. My hand just slipped," she quickly answered. Shirou nodded in response.

"What were you saying Shirou?" Taiga asked, returning the conversation to the point it was dropped moments before.

"Right. Like I said I'm going to meet with Tohsaka-san in around an hour."

"A date with the school idol? Shirou, I'm impressed."

To his credit Shirou didn't dignify her teasing at all.

"We are going to search for clues on Kazama-san's disappearance. Besides, Issei will come with us too."

As they discussed the likelihood of it being a romantic outing, neither of them paid any attention the other person in the room.

Sakura's hands were clenched into fists and shaking badly. Then, judging from the look on her face it seemed like she went from utterly terrified to having suddenly had an epiphany.

"Senpai," she began, "can I come too? I'd really like to help."

In the years they had known each other Shirou and Sakura never seen each other much outside of the Emiya's household and the archery club. To tell the truth, neither of them had that many friends to begin with, and being a year apart they obviously didn't even share the same classes. Therefore, the concept of going out at night with her Senpai, although not being even remotely close to a date, was quite bold on her part. She was scared he would turn her offer down, but she was scared even more of not being with him while he was around Tohsaka. She knew very well that if the older girl set her eyes on her secret crush there was nothing she could do to keep her away from him, but there was no way she would just let that happen.

Shirou pondered her offer for a moment. On a principle she didn't like the idea of involving Sakura in anything even remotely dangerous, and while he had no intention to wander in a part of the town where she could have an unwanted encounter he still preferred to leave her where it was absolutely safe. Then again if he admitted out loud that there was a chance of something bad happening then Fuji-nee would ground him as well. Therefore the only thing he could answer was –

"Sure. I would appreciate it, Sakura."

The resulting smile form the purple haired girl illuminated the room as bright as daylight.

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

The foursome looked at each other in awkward silence although Tohsaka was sending inquisitive glances mostly in Shirou's direction. Sakura fidgeted, clearly feeling out of place but determined not to step back, while Issei simply adjusted his glasses on his nose with his usual detached coolness.

"They volunteered to help," Shirou said as if that could explain everything. … Which it did, right? "Tohsaka, this is Matou Sakura, Shinji's younger sister and a good friend of mine."

The girls looked at each other in a moment of awkward silence.

Shirou was perplexed. It almost felt like those two knew already each other and there was bad blood between them. His suspicion, however, was dispelled when Tohsaka spoke.

"Pleased to meet you Matou-san," Tohsaka said bowing her head a little.

"L-Likewise," Sakura answered timidly. It didn't strike Shirou as something odd since Sakura was naturally shy and soft-spoken around strangers. Issei on the other hand knew Sakura already, having met her when he first visited Shirou's place years before.

"Well then," Shirou said. "I suggest we proceed as planned and split in two groups."

"Wouldn't it be better if we divided in four and covered even more ground?" Tohsaka asked.

"Actually I'd feel better if we worked in pairs," Shirou explained. "Seeing as there's a kidnapper on the loose I think it's best if we don't leave any girl walking around at night by herself."

"Oh? You weren't concerned about that when I was supposed to be the only girl around, Emiya-kun," Tohsaka pointed out flatly.

To tell the truth she was right. Shirou wasn't worried for her since he knew that Tohsaka, being a Magus and all, could definitely watch after herself. The problem was that he couldn't tell it to her face. Unbeknownst to him, the purple haired girl behind him smiled a little. Knowing that her Senpai was concerned for her well being when he wasn't for the other girl's made her feel special and that made… something inside her feel … partially satisfied. For the moment.

"Well, I can understand that you reserve a special treatment for your girlfriend," she continued.

Two faces illuminated the night with their blush.

"T-Tohsaka! It's not like that," he protested but she simply smirked back at him.

Sakura didn't even think about trying to deny her allegation. She knew it was untrue but she didn't mind at all if other girls believed he was already spoken for. In fact it suited her just fine.

She could at the very least dream about it.

The awkward moment was fortunately broken by Issei clearing his throat loudly. "Yes, well. If we all agree about this arrangement then we should proceed. It's already quite late and if we delay any longer it might become too late to question enough people."

"Right," Shirou agreed hastily both wanting to put the current embarrassment behind and get things started as well.

The quartet made their way to the town center, still bustling with life and activities. Once on the spot they divided in two groups as agreed. Shirou went with Sakura, as it would have been awkward for her to go with Issei since he barely knew him. Therefore, much to his dismay, it fell on the student's representative the burden of keeping Tohsaka company in her endeavor.

Needless to say, he didn't like it one bit, but thought better than voicing his opinion. For one, he too understood that he had no reason to be paired with the younger girl; and two, the reason for his presence in the first place was getting to understand the mysterious school idol better.

With that in mind he swallowed his distaste for the situation at hand and followed the witch-in-disguise through the populated streets of Fuyuki.

Matou Sakura was living a dream.

She was walking in town beside her Senpai. Granted, the occasion wasn't the most cheerful and they both had something else to do than focus on each other but she never really believed that she would one day share something with him beside the small, artificial family-like connection she had with him while in his house.

She knew it was transitory and bound not to last but for someone like her who never expected a single good thing in life it was like a dream come true.

Walking beside him, close enough to feel his body warmth was already giving her a feeling of happiness she never once thought she would experience.

She almost –almost- dared to link her arm with his.

Ryuudo Issei was living a nightmare.

Never once had he thought that one day he would be walking around town with Tohsaka Rin. If only the day before someone had told him such a thing he would have either laughed or called them crazy.

The latter was more probable, as he didn't find the slightest tinge of fun in the thought of spending time with that woman.

Rationally he knew that he had no reason to be so wary of her and he loathed himself for that. Not even the mask she wore at school justified such distrust on his part, but when he was in her presence he never failed to feel like he was about…. to be burned… or frozen… or buried… or drowned… or blown away.

Sometimes everything at the same time.

What worried him wasn't the sensation per se, but the fact that he couldn't pinpoint just what made him feel that way. As a result he trusted his instinct and kept his eyes open every time she was nearby.

Yes. No matter the reason, Ryuudo Issei was firmly convinced that, one way or another, Tohsaka Rin was dangerous on some level, and until he figured out how and why he wouldn't drop his guard around her in the slightest.

Sometimes he felt like that around other people too. Matou Shinji was just an example. That guy felt and acted like an arrogant worm.

There had also been a few visitors around the temple that gave a similar odd feeling, although it was different from person to person and with varying degrees of intensity.

Actually it also happened, once or twice, that Shirou too would make him feel uneasy in a similar manner, although it was very different from Tohsaka and several times weaker.

When it came to Shirou it felt like he was about… about to be cut to ribbons just by being in his presence. When that happened he made sure to be needed somewhere else until the following day, when things would be back to normal.

He figured it might have been something that got rubbed off on Shirou by someone he knew, since it was always a passing feeling that didn't suit his gentle friend's nature at all. After all, he frequented a lot of different people, even Yakuza and the like. It wasn't unthinkable that he got tainted by that mysterious aura when he got close to somebody else.

As he kept thinking those things he never once lost sight of Tohsaka. Even as they split to question more passerby and store owners he made sure the keep her in sight at all times.

What he saw left him positively perplexed. Tohsaka was worried sick, to the point that even her carefully crafted mask of superiority and aloofness couldn't hide it completely.

Well, if anything else it proved that even witches had a heart.

At the same time – Unknown Location

Kazama Yukiko stirred awake, or something along those lines. Her memories were blurred, unclear. She knew that she had been kidnapped. She remembered the damp cloth around her mouth before losing consciousness, she remembered strange men moving her around, and she remembered countless other girls locked in a cell alongside her, equally scared and confused.

She remembered it all, and she didn't care.

What had happened?

She remembered being scared out of their minds but now it felt like it didn't matter at all. Her confused mind realized that they could and probably would do very bad things to her but the part of her brain that ruled over fear refused to start up.

She knew she should be worried even about that but she just couldn't.

Had they drugged her? No, it didn't feel like it.

What had happened then? She remembered something, someone. A man. Or was it a woman? She couldn't tell. That person was dressed strangely, like he was a character from a fairy tale.

There was a woman with that person. She too was dressed in an odd purplish hooded robe, just like a witch from a western fairy tale she had read about when she was a kid.

She had said something to her, whispered words in her ear that she couldn't understand, and from that point onward things didn't matter anymore. From that moment, reality and dreams were indistinguishable to her and she couldn't remember much.

Only one word had stuck in her mind, perhaps because it was so foreign.

What was it again?

Ah, right.

'…Caster...'