FicWad

Endless Dream

By Pata Hikari

Chapter 2: Life as it is

The town was black.

A blackness spread, a sick ooze. People were running. Running, because
if the blackness touched them, they would die.

People ran, and cried, and begged for hope.

...and in the middle of it all, a young girl stood.

...why? Why did this happen? Was the thoughts in her head.

She was the only one standing, standing in the center of it all. Atop
the massive pile of twisted flesh, leaking the blackness.

...a light formed in front of her.

And Sakura woke up.

----

"...nnngggg"

Emiya Shirou opened his eyes.

"Mornin." He said to nobody in particular. He had slept well last night.

Granted, the dream had been odd, the usual endless swords had appeared,
but with it dreams of someone else...

How weird.

Shirou got dressed, washed his face, and shaved. The usual morning
routine. Completely ordinary.

He walked out to the dining room, as his routine always did. He was up
early enough to make breakfast.

Yup, totally normal day.

"Good morning, Shirou." The quiet, blond haired woman said.

"Morning." Shirou nodded.

....wait.

"Whahaahaha!?" Shirou jumped back.

"Hmm?" The girl frowned, "Is something wrong?"

"Oh, um." Shirou regained his composure, the events of the previous
night coming back to him. "Sorry, Saber. I'm just not used to you yet."
He bowed in apology.

"..." Saber shook her head, "It is alright. I understand that you'll
need to adjust yourself."

"Thanks Saber." He nodded, "I think I'll make breakfast, then train in
the Dojo until Sakura comes."

Saber's eyes lit up at the word "Dojo." "Shirou, you practice martial arts?"

"Well, not really. Well, I know basic sword play and archery... but I
don't study any style. I just train to keep my body strong."

A faint smile formed over Saber. "I see, that is good. Perhaps I could
join you? I need to keep my body strong too."

Shirou felt his face flush, "Sure, once I prepare breakfast we'll go..."

----

The sun shone through Sakura's window.

The girl was already awake, getting dressed.

Caster, however, was still asleep. The Servant lazily rested on her bed.
Her hair was sticking out at odd angles and her clothing was crumpled up.

"Caster?" Sakura shook her, "Caster, wake up?"

"nnn...ggg..." Caster sat up, somehow not opening her eyes. "...is it
mornin...?"

"Yes it is." Sakura smiled.

"God damn it. Somebody make the night longer." Caster mumbled, "Well...
I'd better get dressed..."

"Um, Caster, you only have that one outfit. Isn't it part of you?"

"..." Caster stared at Sakura, her dazed sleep craving eyes showing an
utter lack of understanding. Finally, realization dawned upon her. "Oh,
right. I'm a Spirit now. Guess this'll do."

She walked, zombie like, out of the room.

"I guess Caster's not a morning person." Sakura giggled.

-----

"..." Shinji stared at the sight.

Caster, that demon woman who clearly desired to kill him in many painful
ways, was staring at him.

A glazed look in her eyes.

She repeated the request.

"You. Make me breakfast. And Coffee."

It was downright surreal.

"You. Make me breakfast. And Coffee."

It was clear that Caster needed this to function properly. At the moment
she was a robot, requesting refueling.

Shinji decided to obey her rather then risk her deciding to eat him. He
had gotten decent at cooking, since Sakura was rarely around to cook
meals anymore.

-----

"Ow..."

Shirou was on his back, in the middle of the dojo.

Saber was standing over him, her face covered with worry.

A broken shinai sat off in the corner.

"I'm so sorry Shirou." Saber said quickly, "It's just that training with
you reminded me of sparring with my brother and well we usually sparred
in full armor so..."

"I'll... be fine, Saber." Shirou wheezed, "Just give me a minute for my
broken bones to heal."

"...Oh no." Saber thought about it. She had gone to far, her Master was
injured, and company was coming over.

"Shirou, stay here. I'll go serve breakfast to your guests." Saber left
the dojo.

"Wait! Saber!" Shirou struggled to get up, his body protesting every
movement, "How can I explain you to Sakura and Fuji-nee?"

...she was gone.

"...this was not what I had in mind when I started training." Shirou
muttered.

-----

Caster munched on the breakfast Shinji made, quickly downing a whole pot
of coffee while she did it.

"...it is... edible." Caster said to him.

"...well I'm not trying to be a master chef here." Shinji muttered,
eating his own breakfast. "Sakura is the good cook, and she's always
running off in the mornings."

Caster gave Shinji a dull stare. "Oh gee, I wonder why she prefers to
spend as much time out of this house as possible?"

"..."

"Oh, Sakura!" She called out as Sakura walked past.

"Yes?"

"I'll be staying here today, I'll be preparing for what we talked about
yesterday."

"Oh, OK." Sakura nodded, "See you later Caster."

"Now then." Caster turned to Shinji, "You may not have a magic bone in
your body, but you can help me with the grunt work." She smiled as she
said this.

"Why should I help you?" Shinji demanded.

"Because if you don't I'll put you in a wheelchair the rest of your
life." Caster said so cheerfully.

"...fine, what do you need."

"A man to do the heavy lifting, though you'll do, and access to your
grandfather's bank account." Caster figured that she could gain some
backup power while she was at it. "So come on, we're going out shopping."

"But I have school!" Shinji protested.

"Which do you find more important, your attendance record or the use of
your legs?"

"...you make a convincing argument." Shinji sighed.

----

After forcing his body to work properly again (if his body complained,
he reminded it that he had been /stabbed in the heart /yesterday) Shirou
made it to the dining room. Breakfast had already been set up, and Saber
was sitting at the table. "Oh, Shirou? Are you sure you're all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I was just sore." Shirou said quickly, "Now Saber,
there's something-"

"Heeey! I smell breakfast!"

"...oh crap." Shirou pushed Saber out of the room, "Sorry, Saber, but
you really have to hide."

"..." saber sighed, "Very well." She ducked off to Shirou's bedroom,
she'd wait there for company to leave.

A moment later, Fujimura Taiga entered the room. "Morning Shirou!" She
was cheerful as usual. She looked around, "Where's Sakura-chan?"

"She's a little late today, I guess." Shirou shrugged, "I'm sure she'll
show up eventually."

"Oh I hope so, you better not have scared her off Shirou!" Taiga said
seriously, "If I have to lose Sakura-chan's cooking because of you I'll
get you."

"If you want to eat her food go to her house." Shirou grumbled.

-----

"A jewelry store?" Shinji nearly shouted, "You dragged me here to buy
jewelry!?"

"A-hem. I use gemstones as a component of my spells." Caster said, "So
come on, who's the Heroic Spirit of Magic here, and who's the worm
without an ounce of magic in his body?"

Shinji gritted his teeth. /This woman, she'll pay one day, she'll pay.
/As soon as he finds a way to attack her without her killing him.

-----

The church was on top of a hill, surrounded by nature. A simple stone
path was what connected it to the city.

Lancer sat on top of the church. He was resting, and waiting.

"Oy, what're you doing up here?"

Lancer turned around. What a strange man, a Heroic Spirit from the last
war, Gilgamesh. "I'm sitting." He answered.

"Oh I could have never guessed." Gilgamesh rolled his eyes. "What I mean
is why aren't you going off and searching for the other Servants?"

Lancer scoffed, "That's because I found all the ones there are." He
stood up from his perch, "As you know, my 'Master' is the Church
Supervisor. He can tell when each Servant is summoned. The order has
been: Berserker, myself, Archer, Caster, and finally Saber. Rider and
Assassin haven't been summoned yet."

Gilgamesh frowned, "That's not normal."

"No it isn't." Lancer looked out towards the city, "And I can't even
leave this church until another Servant is summoned."

"Heh." Gilgamesh chuckled, "When I had a Master, I was never bound in
such a way."

"Your Master must have been a saint. If I try and leave he'll just
Command Spell my ass." Lancer stretched, "By the way, what are you after
anyways? You're not a spirit anymore, the Grail clearly gave you a new
body. What else could you want?"

"Heh." Gilgamesh chuckled, "This world is rotten. I intend to fix it."
He raised his gaze towards the sky. "The world has gone so wrong. Ten
years of seeing the pettiness, the corruption, the cowardice, it makes
me sick." His face split into a grin, "I figure a King like myself,
armed with the Holy Grail, can fix things."

"Man whatever." Lancer shrugged, "The world doesn't seem that different
to me."

-----

Sakura knocked on the door. "Sempai?" She called out.

"Come in Sakura." Shirou called back.

Taiga and Shirou were both already at the table.

"I'm sorry for being late, I slept in." Sakura bowed in apology.

"Oh you don't have to apologize..." Shirou muttered, "You're a guest."

"But... you rely on me helping you Sempai." Sakura said, her face
blushing slightly, her hands clasped together.

"..." Shirou's face became red. Damn it Emiya! She's your junior! Yet
he couldn't help but notice how smooth and long her hair had gotten, how
soft her figure had become, how large her-

Damn it Emiya stop that train of thought right now! Shirou slammed his
head against the table.

"Sempai?! Are you allright?"

"I'm fine." Shirou muttered, "Just didn't get a lot of sleep."
Technically true.

"Poor Shirou. You need to spend less time in that dirty old shack."
Taiga added. "You sleep better in your room."

"I only fall asleep there because I'm working, often fixing the things
you break." Shirou countered.

"..." Taiga whimpered, "Sakura-chan! Shioru's being mean again!"

"I'm sure you can handle it Fujimura-sensei." Sakura said, having long
since gotten used to the dynamic of this house.

Yes. This is my wish. Sakura thought, To have this family.

"Hmm? Sakura? Are you alright?" Shirou looked worried.

"Huh?" Sakura noticed, there were tears in her eyes, "Oh, sorry Sempai,
some dust must have gotten in my eyes..." She quickly wiped them away.
"Come on, we need to head to school."

Shirou's eyes widened, "Um, I forgot something in my room, be right
back!" He needed to explain school to Saber.

-----

Lancer opened the fridge.

"..."

Kotomine Kirei stared at Lancer. For the past ten minutes he had been
looking through the pantry, cupboards, and now the fridge.

"..." Lancer turned and stared at him. "Hey, you." He pointed at Kirei,
"We're out of milk, bread, ham, and pocky."

"...why is the pocky important?"

"Hey, I've grown to like it." Lancer folded his arms.

"You're a Servant." Kirei growled, "You don't need to eat."

"But I like to, and if you didn't want to pay for my food costs you
shouldn't have taken my Master's command spells." Lancer's voice became
venomous at that.

"..."

"Give me your credit card, I'm going to get food."

Keiri sighed, "Fine." He reached into his pocket and shoved his wallet
into Lancer's hands, "Don't fight anything, got it."

"Sure, sure." Lancer grumbled.

----

"Shirou, I can not just let you be alone." Saber said, in a tone that
said it is final. "I understand that you need to go to school, but the
school is not a safe place."

"Saber." Shirou sighed, "I don't think Tohsaka will try anything."

"I'm not worried about Rin." Saber frowned, "I'm worried about Archer."

"..." Shirou remembered last night. Fighting against Berserker, Saber
had pinned him down, however Archer fired an arrow. An arrow that also
happened to be an exploding sword. If Shirou hadn't pulled Saber out of
the way, she would have been hit.

"While Rin is trustworthy, Archer most definitely isn't. Plus, out of
all the classes, Archer is the one most capable of acting
independently." Saber touched Shirou's head, "Just close your eyes."

Instantly what appeared to be a stat list in a video game, detailing
Archer, appeared in his head.

"Note the Independent Action ability." Saber explained. "Archer's can
make do with a lot less magical energy then other Servants, plus they
can move farther away from their Master's then most. Since the mana link
gets weaker the farther away you travel, we generally stay close, Archer
is the exception."

"But you'd attract stares, following me to school." Shirou muttered,
while Saber's arguments made sense, he still didn't want her to cause
such a ruckus.

"Tell you what, Shirou. How about I simply follow you, but wait outside.
I'll follow you home later." Saber suggested.

"...fine." Shirou sighed, "Just leave a while after me and Sakura."

Saber nodded, "If anything happens, I'll be right there." She smiled kindly.

Shirou's face flushed. "Ye-yeah, thanks Saber." /Honestly, you're such a
pervert/. Shirou scolded himself,/ First you think such thoughts about
Sakura, now Saber?/

"Come on Sempai!"

"Coming!" Shirou nodded towards Saber, "See you later then."

----

Rin marched to school, Archer trailing behind her.

"School isn't exactly interesting a second time." Archer muttered.

"Oh? You went to school?" Rin asked, "So do you remember anything about
yourself?"

"Oh um..." Archer cursed at himself for the verbal stumble, "Sorry, I
just vaguely remember going to school."

"I see." Rin accepted that, and Archer was once again grateful that Rin
had accepted his amnesia excuse. She stopped, "Hey, it's Emiya-kun."

Shirou and Sakura were walking through the gate.

"And Saber's behind him." Archer added.

Sure enough, a distance far enough away to make her not look like she
was following them, but close enough to still have a good look at him,
was Saber.

"Hmm... Archer, stay close to her."

"She'll detect me the moment I get any closer."

Rin shrugged, "Then appear, just say you're there to watch her."

Archer sighed, "You sure?"

"The Master isn't a threat." Rin pointed out, "The Servant is."

"Good point." Archer appeared in corporal form, "Though I kind of stand
out."

Rin shrugged, "If anyone asks, you're into cosplay." She grinned.

"..." Archer glared at her.

----

Saber spun around, a Servant was near.

"Hello." Archer said, waving.

"...hello." Saber narrowed her eyes.

"Rin told me to keep an eye on you." Archer sat down on a bench.

They were across the street from the school.

"Is that all?" Saber asked.

"Yes, that's all." Archer rolled his eyes, "Oh, wait, I'm secretly
planning to attack you. In broad daylight. In front of a school. While
sitting on a bench. You got me Saber, you're a sharp one."

Saber sighed, "Fine." She sat down next to him.

Several minutes of silence followed.

"Soooooo...." Archer said, "How're things with Shirou?"

"Oh, they're fine." Saber said, "And you with Rin?"

"Peachy."

"I see."

More silence.

Then Lancer walked past them, a McDonalds bag in his left hand.

"...what?" Archer asked.

"Huh?" Lancer looked to the side, "Oh, Hi Saber!" He waved. "...and
Archer." He said much more dourly.

"Um, Lancer, what are you doing?" Saber was beginning to wonder if the
entire Holy Grail War was showing up at this school.

"I wanted breakfast. So I got an Egg McMuffin." Lancer answered honestly.

"..." Saber stared.

"..." Archer stared

"What?"

Archer groaned, "You... your Master lets you run around like that?"

Lancer shrugged, "My Master isn't active right now. Rider and Assassin
haven't been summoned yet, he just wants me to scout out everyone. So
I'm free until they're summoned."

"Wait." Archer said suddenly, "Rider and Assassin aren't summoned!?"

"Yeah. My Master has a way to tell, and he says they aren't."

"What's so surprising about it Archer?" Saber asked

"...nothing, I just thought that they'd all be called by now." Archer
muttered.

Lancer sat down between them, "What's up?"

"Our Masters are at school. We're waiting for them to finish." Saber
answered, "It's... not exciting."

"Probably not." Lancer shrugged, "Battle is always like this. Hours upon
hours of boredom, and a few minutes of excitement. Then it's over."
Lancer sighed, "The rush makes it worth it though." He laughed.

The three sat there.

"So, I'm guessing there's no chance of us sharing old war stories? I
mean, since we have to hide our identities and all." Lancer said.

"I already know your identity." Saber pointed out.

"Yeah but Arch-"

"Cu Chulainn."

"Godammit." Lancer sighed, "Well then, I guess I can entertain you two
with my life." He glanced at Archer, "How'd you figure it out anyways?"

"I saw you use Gae Bolg against Saber."

"We're familiar with your legend Lancer." Saber shrugged, "It's not like
you could tell us anything new."

"...good point." Lancer groaned, "I just don't want to go back to my
worthless Master."

"...you could get us some food." Archer suggested.

"Why should I buy you two food?"

"I wouldn't mind having some food." Saber looked at him, "Please Lancer?"

"...fine." Lancer sighed, "I'll just spend more of his money. Be right
back."

----

The room where she had been summoned.

Caster was refining and changing the circle, making it to her liking.

Meanwhile Shinji was moving large heavy stones around the room, grunting
and complaining every few minutes.

"Done." Caster stood up, "Oh? Shinji? You're not?"

"Shut... up... woman." Shinji grunted, "First you spend over a hundred
thousand yen on jewels, which by the way Gramps will likely kill me
over, and now you're making me move rocks around. Why?"

"Because what I want to do requires this environment." Caster said. In
truth, she had peeked into possibilities, and found that the one that
gave her the desired result had the room looking like this. Why it had
to look like that, she didn't know. But Zelretch had taught her not to
over think such things when dealing with Divining via the Second, it
just lead to headaches.

----

Shirou walked out of the school, the day had been ordinary. All that
remained was to see if Saber was...

"...what?" Shirou stared.

Saber, Archer, and Lancer were sitting on a bench across the street. A
literal pile of garbage; Bags, food wrappers, paper cups, bottles, sat
around them.

They were currently eating pizza.

"This is good!" Saber took a bite of it.

"I think I had something like this one time I was bumming around in
Rome." Lancer grinned.

"Pizza was invented in Italy, which is where the Roman Empire once
stood." Archer picked up a slice.

"I knew the bastards would be shut down one day!" Lancer laughed.

"..." Shirou decided he must be dreaming. That was the only logical
explanation for this.

"Archer..."

Rin stood behind him.

Yup, a dream.

"What the hell are you doing!?"

"..I'm eating pizza." Archer said.

No, wait, scratch that. Shirou remembered that he only dreams of swords,
fire, and the occasional weird flashback since getting Saber. So this is
real.

"Somehow that makes it worse." Shirou sighed.

"Oh hey, your Masters are here." Lancer waved, "Hey Miss, hey Kid,
what's up?"

"..." Rin's eye twitched, "Archer, why is Lancer here?"

"He was getting lunch."

"...and then?"

"Well, he started going off to buy us food. But then we got hungry
again, and so he went off to get more and eventually we just ended up
trying every food we could." Saber explained.

"It makes perfect sense." Shirou said. "Well, OK, not really."

"Why, God, did you curse me with this?" Rin asked the heavens. "Is it
because I practice magic while still going to church once in a while? Is
that it? Do I offend you?"

"Well, I'll be seeing you two, maybe next time we can actually fight."
Lancer stood up, picking up a two liter bottle of coke.

"I'm looking forward to it Lancer." Saber smiled at him.

"Yeah, you're doing it right so I like fighting you Saber." Lancer said,
and walked away.

"...doing it right?" Saber wondered.

"Come on Archer." Rin grabbed Archer by the ear, "I asked you to keep an
eye on Saber, not pig out with her."

"Ow, Rin, ow!" Archer, a Heroic Spirit, a Servant that had transcended
humanity to become something greater, was being dragged by sixteen year
old girl.

"..." Shirou stared at Saber, she stared right back.

"Um, Shirou, what is it?"

"There's some pizza sauce on your cheek." Shirou pointed out. "It um,
makes you look cute." His face turned red again.

To her surprise, Saber found herself blushing too. "Um, I see. Thank
you." She quickly wiped the sauce from her face.

"I'll be going home now, follow me in a few minutes."

"Of course."

-----

Zouken looked around the house.

Where was his worthless grandson?

He had checked most of the rooms in the house, and now he was looking in
the basement. He had received a call from the Archery club teacher,
Fujimura, asking if he was sick because he hadn't shown up for school..

The punk had skipped school.

Not that Zouken cared much about Shinji's education, but the appearance
of the oldest son of the Matoh family was very important.

He finally looked in the Summoning room.

There he rested, asleep.

"What is he..." He stopped.

Caster was sitting in the center of the room, a diamond held in her hands.

"Juwel, saugen meine Magie auf." She whispered, and light surrounded
her. The light flowed into the diamond. "...whew." She wiped her
forehead. "I remember when this much energy was ten years of my life."
She set the jewel down next to eleven others. "I hope Sakura's OK... I
had to drain a lot of mana from her to replenish myself."

"My granddaughter will be fine, she has a lot of mana." Zouken walked
into the room.

"Gah!" Caster nearly jumped.

"That's an interesting spell." Zouken walked over to the Servant. "It
reminds me of the Tohsaka technique."

Caster didn't even blink, "Who?"

"The family of Magi that's dominant in this region. Their heir, Tohsaka
Rin, is a Master in this war." Zouken explained.

"..." Caster stared at him.

"Is there something wrong Caster?" He asked.

"...why are you here?"

"Looking for my grandson, he skipped school today."

Caster shrugged, "As you can see, he's here. I made him stay to help me
out."

"...I see." So he was helping with the war. No need to punish him then.
"Why not ask your Master?"

"Because Sakura deserves to live as normal a life as possible." Her
voice was calm, but her eyes shone with hate.

Zouken cackled, a wheezing, gasping laugh. "You hate me, don't you?"

"..."

"There's no need to lie, I've been hated by many. My own son hated me."
He looked into the distance, "He was a Master in the pervious war, the
fool. He had little talent, yet he still fought." He chuckled, "It's
interesting, you both hate me for the same reason."

Caster dropped her mask, disgust showing on her face. "And that would be?"

"Sakura." Zouken sat down in front of her. "The Matou family has been in
decline for some time. I had no choice but to adopt a child to be the
heir to our magic."

"..." Caster didn't say anything.

"She was the younger daughter of the Tohsaka family. Heh, isn't it
ironic, sisters are fighting each other in the war."

"...but a magic crest can only be passed down to a blood relative,
otherwise the body rejects it."

"Ah, but you see, that's the trick. We Matou's have invented a... better
way to pass on the magic. Rather then use some artificial circuits to
impress the spell upon the body, we engrave the spells into the body."
Zouken had pride in his voice. "Of course, the problem with her not
being a Matou still is there. Normally by now the process would be
complete. But her body is still better suited for the Tohsaka magic."
Zouken coughed, a hacking cough of someone who had been alive far too
long. "Once she hit puberty, the process has... a side effect."

"..."

"Ah, can you guess? I guess not. The process grows upon her lust. You
see, if left unchecked, she'll eventually go mad with it."

"...is that why that bastard rapes her." Caster's fists were shaking.

"Ah, you understand now." Zouken's face split into an unnatural grin.
"By the way, I'm not happy about the Boundary Field you put around
Sakura's room. It's an impressive one, I'll admit. Targeting one persons
DNA, and when that person crosses it, killing them. Quite a feat, even I
can't remove it."

Caster stood up, "I will crush you, you worthless sack of meat." Her
hand lit up with mana.

"Oh ho, I really would not recommend that. You see, the process leaves a
connection between me and Sakura. If I will it, I can make her go mad."
Zouken said confidentially, "And my mind moves fast enough that if you
attack me, I'll send the trigger before I die."

"..." Caster gritted her teeth. "So that's it. I just, stand here, and
let this abomination continue on?"

"My girl, you are called here not to solve our family problems. You are
called here to win the Holy Grail." Zouken stood back up, "So, now that
we have made our positions perfectly clear, I shall be going to bed, and
old man like me needs his sleep." He laughed. "I'll leave you alone,
Caster. You're strong enough to win the war. But if I feel you're
going... astray, I have a few back up plans." He held up his left arm,
turning it so she could see his palm.

A Command Spell rested there.

"Well, good night Caster, oh, and wake Shinji up and send him to bed
properly."

----

Dinner was calm and relaxing.

"Hey, Sakura-chan." Taiga spoke up, "Is Shinji-kun sick? He wasn't here
today."

"Hmm?" Sakura frowned, "No, Nii-san was fine when I last saw him."

"That's weird, Shinji isn't the type to ditch class." Shirou realized
that he hadn't run into him all day.

"How odd." Taiga shrugged, "Oh well, he's had a good attendance record
so far, so I can let this one slide."

Shirou was remembering to pack some food away. Because, amazingly, Saber
was still hungry after gorging herself on all that junk food. "Oh hey,
Sakura, speaking of school, how're you doing in archery?"

"Oh, I'm doing well." Sakura smiled at Shirou, and Shirou found himself
thinking those thoughts again. "Though I'm still not as good as the 'God
of Archery.'"

Shirou rolled his eyes, "Are they calling me that now? Honestly, it's
just a hobby of mine, yet they treat it as my calling."

"Well, Sempai, it's just that they tell stories of you. That you only
missed once."

"It's true!" Taiga butted in, "In the entire time Shirou was at the
club, I only saw him miss once."

"...oh come on, you're just having selective memory, I probably missed a
bunch of times."

"Nope, it became a bit of a betting pool. Every day we'd bet on whether
you would miss." Taiga sounded proud, "Every day I bet on you missing.
In that one day my winnings became so great that the losses I had from
losing every day previously vanished! And I gained a profit!"

"...congratulations Fuji-nee. You encouraged gambling among the students."

"..." Taiga realized what that meant. "...oh shut up you."

"Sensei, shouldn't you have had more faith in Sempai then to bet on him
losing?"

"Oh I know. I always bet on the long odds though! It makes the winning
even greater!" Taiga made a "V" sign.

"And you lose so much more often." And Shirou deflated her ego again.

"Shirou, you're meeeeaaannn." Taiga whined. "Being mean like that means
you'll never get a wife. You hear me? Sakura-chan won't marry you!"

"!!!" Sakura froze.

"Urk!" Shirou's face flushed, "Fuji-nee! I don't... Sakura's my junior!
To say such things-"

"Fufufu, yet you didn't deny you wanted to marry her." Taiga folded her
arms in victory.

Shirou sighed. "Whatever..."

...

"Damn it!" Now Shirou couldn't get the image of Sakura in an apron,
calling him "Anata" out of his head. /OK Emiya, think of something else.
/
...Saber in an apron, calling him "Anata."

Damn it all.

----

"I'm home!" Sakura entered the house.

She was in high spirits.

Shirou had reacted strangely when Taiga had teased him about her. His
face had turned red and everything.

/Sempai, is he finally noticing me as a woman? /Her face flushed with
joy at the thought.

"I see you're home." Caster was standing in the entry way, "It's all
finished Sakura."

"...I see." Sakura sighed, "So, do we go down and do it now?"

"I don't see why not." Caster nodded, "It's in the room you summoned me."

----

"Wow..." Sakura looked around, the room had totally changed. "Huh?
What's Nii-san doing here?"

"He helped me."

"Ah." Sakura smiled, "Thank you Nii-san." She whispered to the sleeping
Shinji.

"..." Caster sighed, "Anyways, I need you to stand at this spot in the
circle, I'm going to channel the spell through you."

"Right." Sakura walked over to the correct spot.

"OK." Caster held up her hand.

The Command Spell upon it lit up.

Two Absolute Orders.

They marked her as a Master in life.

The spell activated.

The magic circle began to glow.

"I call upon thee, the Holy Grail." Caster whispered. "By the right of
this Holy Mark upon my hand, I ask of thee, grant me a Servant."

Wind began to circle around the room, lightning crackled in the air.

"I call upon the greatest Heroes of mankind. Grant me their strengths.
Give me the right of Master over them."

The lightning condensed down to the center of the circle.

"I..." Caster called out a name, yet Sakura could not hear it,
"...command it!"

The lightning burst into blackness.

Energy swirled around both of them. Spiraling into nothingness that none
the less existed.

The void faded, and a woman stood there.

Tall, beautiful.

Her long violet hair dropped down to the ground.

Her eyes were covered by a strange mask. Yet, she turned towards them,
and spoke.

"I am Servant Rider. What is your command, Master?"