Hello out there Fanfiction world! On the slim chance you know who I am from my work from many years ago, you're probably wondering what the heck I'm doing back here on this site after disappearing for who knows how long or perhaps why I all of a sudden went silent. Though the majority of you probably won't care hahaha. For that reason, I'll keep it short. I ended up stopping because life kept getting in my way and I'm back again because I'm taking part in a fanfic writing competition hosted by Alex Kellar on deviant art. This son of a gun is a great artist and the prize for the top 3 fanfics will get a scene from the story drawn by him which is why I'm taking part besides being bored.

To briefly explain the contest, we take Mr. Shirou "People Die if they are Killed" Emiya (or any of his other versions like Archer) and throw him into another universe and have him meet a character from Alex's list before the event that would solidify their role in the story. Like Emerald from RWBY before she meets Cinder or Akeno from High School DxD before she meets Rias. The girl of my choice for this competition is Uzume from Sekirei starting from before she meets Chiho. As I am writing this, I am not sure whether I'll have Chiho still play a role in this or not. I may figure it out while I'm writing this chapter for all I know but I still have yet to decide.

I know that this author's note is dragging on a little and most of you probably skipped over it to start reading the story but I wanted to explain a little about this story's Shirou. This version of him is kind of a combination of him from the Heaven's Feel route and Unlimited Blade Works route. To briefly summarize him, he fought Archer, got Archer's arm at some point later on after losing his own, dealt with Sakura's darkness stuff, fought Gilgamesh, and ended up going to the Clock Tower with Rin and maybe Sakura after high school. While he has forsaken his ideal to be a hero for the most part, it's not entirely gone. Like he will almost always prioritize his loved ones but he still holds onto that sliver of his ideal that wanting to help somebody by itself is never wrong. Honestly, even if I just went full on Heaven's Feel, I would think Shirou wouldn't have fully gotten rid of the ideal as it's a core part of his being and he'd probably still help somebody in trouble right in front of him. I just wanted UBW in the mix mainly because HF Shirou has the least knowledge of magecraft of the three routes without Archer's arm. Well, that's the basic idea in my head for him anyway. It may or may not slightly change as I write this.

Anyway….I can't think of anything else to say though future me might think otherwise when I'm done with this chapter so let's get this started!

I don't own the Fate series or Sekirei. They are owned by TYPE-MOON and Sakurako Gokurakuin respectively.

A barren wasteland that used to be a lush grassland surrounded a man with tan skin and white hair. The cause of it all, a dead apostle lay decimated at his feet with black keys and several swords imbedded in its remains which were already beginning to turn to ash. This one had been using the citizens of a nearby city as lab rats for his experiments and he, Rin and Sakura were around at the time to find precious stones for Rin's magic. Shirou had sent the two women out of there so he could fight it without having to worry about them. It had been a long and hard battle as expected when dealing with the evil vampires and if he didn't have the powers of a heroic spirit, he probably would have lost his life. The sound of a person clapping broke him out of his thoughts about the fight.

"Not too bad, though you had to unseal that arm you managed to prevail over one of my kin. As expected of the apprentice of my apprentice." An old man walked up to the tan swordsman and looked him over. "Now that I see it again, you really do look like Archer, Shirou-kun." He said with a small smirk which only resulted with a sigh of annoyance from the swordsman.

"What do you want now Zelretch?" Shirou asked with Archer's voice. Not too long after, his body had begun to turn back to his regular self. His skin was pale once more and his hair had returned to its red color albeit with a few strands of silver. "I'm not exactly in the mood for any of your pranks."

"Disappointed that you didn't get to cap it all off with a kiss from the girls for your heroic deeds before you ride off into the sunset?" Zelretch's little joke was rewarded with a traced blade to the face that the wizard easily dodged. This had become a regular thing between them. Shirou using a blade to shoo him away and Zelretch simply evading it to annoy him. "Rin-chan had asked me to check on you because, and I quote 'That damn idiot will probably almost get himself killed and then use one of those seals again.'. It appears she was right from the looks of things" While Shirou didn't appear to have any serious injuries that needed to be attended to, he actually looked perfectly fine, one of the three black command spells on his right arm had faded from being used.

"It was necessary." Shirou replied curtly. Though he respected the man to some degree due to his status as a practitioner of true magic, he also didn't want to deal with him more than necessary lest risk his sanity.

"Even so, I would think Rin and Sakura would prefer having you rather than having Archer around." Zelretch said as he grabbed Shirou's right arm and replaced the used up command seal. "Though I can replace these artificial deadshift command spells, the seal on Archer's arm grows ever so slightly weaker each time. The strands of hair going white on your head are a testament to that."

"Even so, if it means I could protect those I care about, I don't care what happens to me." Shirou said with determination.

"You should be glad Rin wasn't here or she'd probably Gandr your ass and then she'd set Sakura on you." Zelretch said with a chuckle. Just because they couldn't summon reality marbles like Shirou could doesn't mean they didn't have their own ways of instilling fear in their man. Even Shirou couldn't help but shudder a little internally as he remembered the last time he did something stupid and ended up almost dead for them. "As long as you understand." Zelretch said with another smirk. It was then he remembered the other reason he came. "Ah, Shirou-kun, there was one more thing."

"What?" The moment after he asked that, he began to feel all queasy. "Oh for the love of the Root, again!?"

"Rin and Luvia needed some more practice so you'll be their target like usual. Enjoy the new universe!" Zelretch said almost cheerfully. "With luck, they'll probably figure it out and get you back before you die of old age."

"Fuck…. You….." Was all Shirou could muster before blacking out.

Just how did I end up in this mess? Oh yeah...Zelretch…. Shirou thought to himself in irritation as he remembered how he had been thrown into a random parallel universe (again, might he add) as a homework assignment for Rin and Luvia who were to locate and bring him back.

You know, a little warning would have been helpful before you send me off to who knows where. Shirou was probably one of the most patient people you could meet and yet said patience was beginning to wane when it came to the old bloodsucker who did as he pleased. It didn't matter if the vampire managed to keep Archer's arm from breaking down his body. "Speaking of which, just where am I this time?" He appeared to be in some sort of supply closet if the cleaning supplies were any indication but that didn't tell him anything about his current situation. This is where he would have to make use of his magecraft.

"Trace on" Shirou chanted the aria as he touched the floor and used Structural Analysis to scan the building he was in. The process admittedly took longer than usual because he was apparently in a skyscraper but at least he had some idea as to where he could escape from. He took the hood of his sweatshirt and used it to at least partially hide his face. His Structural Analysis had found that there were security cameras throughout the building and it'd be bad if they saw his face if things got ugly. After a quick peek outside the door to make sure nobody was coming his way, he began to run towards the nearest exit he could safely jump out from, avoiding as many cameras as he could.

*BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP*

It wasn't even five minutes after starting before the alarm blared throughout the building, making the magus tense up. At first, Shirou was sure that he would have to engage in combat but it never came. No humans, no robots, no hellspawn, nothing. He was almost put off by the lack of things trying to kill him.

"CAPTURE TARGETS ARE SEKIREI NUMBER 2 MATSU AND NUMBER 10 UZUME!"

Well, that explains some things though I don't know why an alarm was raised if they're just chasing after birds.* I suppose it's a code for something else. Shirou thought to himself with slight confusion. At this point, he decided to just run down the halls at full speed and not worry about the cameras. If these wagtails were as important as the announcement seemed to make them, they'd be paying close attention to the footage from the cameras and find him anyway. Even if he traced Carnwennan, Arturia's dagger that helped conceal his presence, it only worked on living things who weren't aware he was there in the first place so it was useless.

"They went this way!" Shirou heard voices and footsteps coming from the corridor up ahead, prompting him to duck behind the corner and into the shadows. They ended up running past where he was and didn't take notice of him.

"Hehehe, suckers." A feminine voice laced with mischief broke the silence once the pursuers had left. Shirou immediately looked to his right and then to his left but found nobody on either. He only looked up when he heard rustling coming from the air vents. It opened up and out came two rather well-endowed women to his surprise. The surprise was more because of how scantily clad they were though rather than coming out of nowhere. One of them was wearing glasses and something resembling a rather revealing cheongsam. The other was only wearing the bare minimum to cover herself and a long white veil.

"Um, hi?" It appeared the surprise was mutual as shown from the voice of the veiled one and neither side moved for a bit. "Ehehe, you don't look like somebody from MBI so mind just keeping quiet about all this? Ah right, the escape. We gotta move Matsu!" They left as fast as they came, the veiled one dragging along the one dubbed Matsu. The mentioned name rang a bell for Shirou which got him following after the two women.

"Your name is Matsu, right? Does that mean you're the one these people after?" Shirou asked for confirmation. "And I suppose that makes you Uzume." He said, turning to the other girl. I thought as much. So these are the Sekirei. What are they? They look human and they even kinda smell like one. But there's just that slight difference that I can't put my finger on...

"Yeah, that'd be us." The veiled woman said briefly in response. "What about you then? You've been sneaking around here like us."

"Just call me Archer for now. I'm also just trying to get out of here." Shirou replied in a curt tone that suggested that they could continue this conversation later and not during their escape. He also didn't want to use his real name with the cameras possibly recording audio. Dealing with the magus community for at least two years made him at least this cautious."Strange that we haven't run into anyone yet though."

"I hacked into the security system and made them think we're in a different location. Though that probably won't last long as I'm no longer connected to it." Matsu said, paying more attention to the map shown on her tablet which had a rendezvous point marked on it. "Ah, Uzume-tan, turn right here." It was then the scent of blood and death reached Shirou's nose, making him instinctively grab Uzume by the shoulder and pull her back. At the same time, a sword swung down where Uzume had been previously standing.

"Trace on!" Shirou reached into the back of his sweatshirt and materialized his trusty pair of married blades to parry the next attack while giving the illusion of the blades being on his person. Me and my E rank luck… Shirou couldn't help but sigh in his mind as he found himself facing a woman with a grey ponytail and a nodachi that just emanated bloodlust. If the third rate magus had remained as his idealistic self, he'd probably be unable to handle what he saw as he added the sword to his reality marble. This woman had killed so many people...and she enjoyed it. While it didn't bother his current self, it still managed to leave a bad taste in his mouth and put him on guard with Kanshou and Bakuya raised in a defensive stance.

"Oh? I didn't realize those two had any other help." The woman said, more amusement than surprise in her tone. "Well, no matter. Not like one piece of trash will make any difference. At the very least, try not to die too quickly. That would be too boring." A sadistic smirk appeared on her face as she got into a stance. Shirou's mind immediately went into his battle state, his senses going into overdrive so he could fight the one before him.

"I, Number 10, Uzume will fight you!" The veiled Sekirei had stepped out in front of Shirou, throwing the magus off slightly. Before he could protest, the one with a blade seemed to agree albeit half-heartedly.

"Alright, this'll be a nice warm up. Number 4, Karasuba." The one dubbed Karasuba said this with her blade poised to cut down the Sekirei before her. Uzume shaped her veil into a spear and charged at Karasuba with it, only for the attack to be easily deflected by Karasuba's blade in an almost mocking fashion. It was as if she was merely playing with Uzume who was seriously trying to take her down. Shirou was about to go up front and join the fray himself but Matsu put a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

"You're a human right Archer-tan?" Matsu said in a hushed yet serious tone. "There aren't many male Sekirei in the first place and none of them have your appearance or name though I doubt that's your real name anyway."

Well, that confirms they're not human at least…. Shirou couldn't help but note despite the situation.

"Sekirei are way stronger than humans and that one, Karasuba is one of the strongest among us. There's no way you could take her on."

"If the sword lady is one of the strongest, isn't Uzume in trouble then?" Shirou pointed out. "Also, I don't think her cloth will have much in the way of blade defense." It doesn't help that her outfit exposes so much skin. That last bit was omitted as he got back into his stance and observed the battle for his chance to strike.

"Even if you're…" Matsu didn't get to finish her sentence before Shirou threw the sword in his left hand like a boomerang, forcing the two combatants apart lest they get cut by the fast spinning projectile.

"Hey! What gives!?" Uzume exclaimed from shock and slight annoyance. However, Shirou ignored the outcry as he charged in. He lowered his stance as he ran, his body nearly scraping the floor as he glided in. Right before he reached his opponent, he twisted his body and swung the sword in his right hand upwards to the left. Karasuba had swung downward to block the attack and the clash let loose a burst of sparks. Shirou made use of the momentum of the attack to roll around, catching the sword he had thrown and attacked Karasuba with simultaneous vertical and diagonal slashes from opposite sides. Rather than land the hit or even be blocked by the woman's blade, he hit nothing but air.

"Eh?" Shirou couldn't help but let out a surprised sound due to the result of his assault before steeling himself once more and reanalyzing his situation. It appeared that he and the scantily clad woman fighting alongside him had the same idea. To try to keep the other out of danger, something that ironically made the situation worse for both of them as they kept getting in each other's way. All the while, Karasuba just found the situation amusing if anything as the pair tried and failed to land a hit on her due to them hindering the other.

"Archer, just get out of here!"

"Uzume, take Matsu and run!"

The two said that at the same time before looking at each other and then back to Karasuba.

"I'll draw her away so use the opening to take Matsu to the designated point!"

"She's a close-range fighter, I should be the one to hold her off! It'd be better for you to support me from mid-range before retreating!"

Once again the two had butt heads from their conflicting good intentions and they began to bicker. Karasuba was amused by this at first so she halted her attack to watch but it had gotten a little old as it went on.

"You two done with your lover's spat yet? As amusing as you two are, I have a job to do and that includes capturing you all if I remember to not kill you." Karasuba said with a smirk. Though her stance was relaxed, it still emanated blood lust which put Shirou and Uzume back on edge. Before any further arguments could be made, Shirou stepped in front of Uzume as if to shield her and began to ponder the situation.

With all the security cameras around, I'm a bit reluctant to use any magecraft beyond Reinforcement but I think I need to use some to get through this. Shirou thought to himself as he began to formulate the plan. He just needed a single moment where he didn't have to deal with Karasuba trying to decapitate or dismember him. "Uzume, I'll be needing your help. Can you keep her busy when her attention is on me?" Shirou whispered to the woman behind him.

"I could, if only for like half a second before she breaks free." Uzume said in response. Karasuba was one of the strongest Sekirei out there after all and on top of that, she had an Ashikabi while she didn't. She was surprised that weren't defeated yet, even if Karasuba was going easy on them.

"That'll be enough." Shirou said, walking forward before another word could be exchanged. Shirou and Karasuba slowly circled each other, eyes fixed on each other. Shirou held the married blades at his sides, arms seemingly lax. It was an illusion that feigned weakness when he was in actuality ready to strike. Karasuba had decided to strike first and quickly closed the distance between them. Shirou was forced to bring both blades up to block the powerful downward swing that had enough force to potentially break his arms if not for Reinforcement. The blow came as a shock to Shirou as the amount of power within reminded him more of a Servant.

What are these Sekirei? A type of homunculus? Altered humans? They're certainly nothing to scoff at if they can match a Servant. Shirou thought to himself as he parried another slash with Kanshou before striking back with Bakuya only for his own attack to be blocked. In time, he gradually became more proficient with Archer's almost suicidal style but hadn't reached the level of being able to effectively attack like this. Not that it would've helped much with the ease the swordswoman showed in blocking his attacks. It reminded him of the brief time he spent being beaten by his former Servant in the dojo. This lady could probably match Saber in swordsmanship… He couldn't help but think to himself.

Karasuba couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at how the man was positioned. There were so many openings she could exploit, some even leading to his vitals. Her instincts as a swordswoman compelled her body to take advantage of them, only for her blade to be knocked aside. The standstill that arose from it began to irritate her. Sure, she couldn't go all out because they were indoors and she didn't want the building to collapse but she should've been able to handle a normal human. All the more reason for her surprise when he actually ended up taking first blood with a light cut to her arm.

"Uzume, now!" Shirou's shout prompted Uzume to charge in and take his place, her veil having taken the shape of a spear. As Karasuba had been almost completely focused on trying to break through Shirou's defense, she almost forgot about the other combat ready Sekirei and barely blocked the incoming attack. Shirou had stepped back, readying his next attack. "Trace….Overedge"

In the few seconds that she took her eyes off of him because of Uzume, he did something that caused Karasuba's instincts to kick in once she picked up on those words. After deflecting Uzume's attack one more time, she faced Shirou's attack head on, choosing to use more of her strength this time. The overhead cut from the katana met the cross slash of the dual blades and for a moment, she thought she saw the swords become a pair of sharp wings.

CRACK

Upon impact, all three blades had shattered, leaving only the handles. As well forged as Karasuba's sword was, it was no match for a Noble Phantasm overflowing to burst with magic power. With Karasuba effectively disarmed, Shirou couldn't waste the opening in front of him and he raised his left fist for a punch. He couldn't make full use of its power normally as it had been sealed. However, he could use a large portion of it in short bursts by channeling power to Archer's arm. And a punch to the face that was at least ten times stronger than a human's wasn't anything to sneeze at. Shirou had sent Karasuba flying a few feet before landing on her butt, the man immediately tracing two black keys and threw it at her shadow.

"Come on, we gotta move. That won't keep her there forever." Shirou said to the two Sekirei. Karasuba had already begun to get back on her feet albeit with great difficulty. Shirou had thought that two of the shadow pinning keys would have been enough to keep her down but he had apparently misjudged how strong the swordswoman and Sekirei in general were. It was still enough to keep her there long enough for them to escape.

"Archer….you got wounded." Uzume said with a worried expression on her face as she pointed to a cut going from his right shoulder to his chest. Shirou looked down and was shocked by the wound he had failed to notice in the heat of battle. The wound itself was not that big of a deal and was just slightly worse than a long paper cut that would heal by tomorrow at worst. It was the fact that Karasuba had managed to cut through his clothes which had been reinforced by runes with nothing more than a broken blade and presumably wind pressure.

What the heck is going on here? What are these Sekirei? Once again, Shirou had posed the question to himself before dismissing it as now was not the time. He could get his answers later from the Sekirei with him once they escaped. "Don't worry, I'll be fine. For now, we should probably head to that rendezvous point you mentioned earlier." The two Sekirei nodded in response before Matsu began to lead the way.

"By the way, Archer-tan, those blades that you threw. I don't know how they work but why didn't you use them in the first place? That would've saved us a ton of time!" Matsu asked. One couldn't blame her for asking. In an escape, being stuck in a fight increased their chances of getting surrounded and captured.

"Not like I had a choice." Shirou said in response. "I had to use both of my swords just to keep her at bay. Using only one to free up a hand would have cost me an arm if not my life and that was her holding back." Shirou had been holding back as well but he was only holding back on his magic usage. He had been giving it his all in terms of sword techniques while Karasuba had been facing him casually until the last moment where she got a little serious. And even without full strength or even a full weapon, she managed to land a cut on him. Without the use of his reality marble, he doubted he could have dealt with her at full strength.

The rest of the run there wasn't too eventful. Though armed guards occasionally popped up to capture or subdue them, Uzume and Shirou had easily dealt with them. They fortunately didn't have any other run ins with enemy Sekirei either, not that many of them were fully tuned yet. It wasn't long before they reached a hallway where a man wearing a sweater and a lab coat was waiting for them.

"Matsu, Uzume, glad that you could make it. And who's this?" The man said with a small smile. Shirou could have asked the same question but it seemed as though he was the girls' conspirator so he let them handle it. On a side note, he had let the black keys he traced earlier dissipate at this time so nobody could study them. They were at a safe enough distance from the woman known as Karasuba.

"Ah, this is Archer-tan. He's been helping us escape. Archer-tan, this is Takehito, a scientist here in charge of tuning us. He's also our ticket out of here." Matsu introduced the two men.

"Soon to be former scientist. Though the cameras are disabled here so they can't see me, I plan on quitting soon after this anyway." The one dubbed as Takehito said in response. "Well, it's nice to meet you. As much as I'd like to continue the pleasantries, we should probably escape before anyone unsavory shows up. We can continue with our introductions later." With that out of the way, he led them to a nearby elevator that Takehito had to unlock with his ID card. Once they all got in, the scientist took out a phone and dialed a number. "Ah, Kaoru-kun? Are you almost here?"

"Yeah, just give me a little under 5 minutes. Sneaking and circling around MBI with a car, even a small one is hard to do without raising suspicion." A gruff voice said from the other side of the line.

"Fair enough, we'll meet you down there." Takehito said in response. "By the way, did you set up that room in the inn like I asked you to?"

"..." The silence was all that was needed to confirm his suspicions. The man hadn't done it.

"What, you forgot!? Kaoru-kun…." As he said that, the space behind him began to twist and gave the illusion that a hannya was right behind him. It frightened the two women who fought the urge to scream in fear. It even managed to unnerve Shirou a little and he was used to dealing with the Wizard Marshall Zelretch who frightened most everyone out of their wits just by being in the room.

"I'm sorry! Just stop doing whatever that is! I can somehow sense it through a phone line!" The man on the other side almost screamed in panic to the satisfaction of Takehito who let the hannya dissipate to everyone's relief.

"As long as you understand. Well, I'll see you later." After ending the call, Takehito put away the phone and began to explain the situation. "That was a friend of mine from my school days and he'll be picking us up. This elevator will take us to the bottom floor and then it's just a hop and a skip away to a certain blind spot in our security." As he said this, the elevator made a 'ding' noise and opened up to what appeared to be a basement with machinery strewn about. Takehito led the group in stride towards a staircase leading to the outside. Not long after a man who appeared a few years older than Shirou had arrived in a small car.

"Sorry I'm late Takehito!" The man said, opening the window. He then noted the extra person. "This is one more than what you told me man. Looks like it'll be a tight squeeze in the back. Hurry up though, a car just sitting here is pretty conspicuous."

"I'll go lead them away then. I wasn't part of this originally so it's only right for me to remove myself from the equation for convenience." Shirou said to the others surprise. "Somebody needs to buy you guys some time after all."

"Oh no you're not! You're injured!" Uzume said as she pointed to the wound Shirou had received just recently.

"It's a light cut, it'll heal really quickly. Besides, they haven't seen my face yet with this hood on so after I keep their attention long enough, I can blend into the crowd and slip away." With Carnwennan, sneaking off through a crowd would be a breeze, with or without the hood but he couldn't exactly say that. "Why do you care anyway? We're just strangers that met today after all."

"The same could be said for you. You could have left us to fight Karasuba ourselves but you still chose to intervene. You helped us so we're gonna help you whether you want it or not Emo Boy." As she said this, she had used her veil to capture Shirou in a vice grip and pulled him into the car.

"Just give it up Archer-tan. Uzume-tan can get really stubborn when she wants to." Matsu said with a slight shrug before following after the two into the back seat. Once Takehito settled down in the shotgun seat, they were off.

C'mon Emiya, think pure thoughts! Don't focus on what's at your sides! Shirou kept repeating this to himself as if it were a mantra. He wasn't a horny man by any means but he still couldn't help but be somewhat embarrassed being squished between two admittedly attractive women. It did not help at all that both of them were barely wearing anything, Uzume especially. He almost sighed in relief when the man introduced as Kaoru Seo pointed out something else he could focus his attention on.

"Looks like we got a tail. Better lose them before reinforcements come to surround us." Seo said as he looked at the mirror. There were three MBI cars following after them. "You'd think they'd be a little more discreet. They're practically screaming to the whole damn world that they're chasing after us. That Jinki you stole must be real important."

Shirou didn't know what he was talking about but he decided to file it away for later in favor of dealing with the pursuers first. "Trace on." He barely whispered his aria and traced three common daggers, keeping them hidden in the shadow under the car. With a mental command, he sent them off at high speed and punctured through a tire each. It was right then that Seo had turned the corner and then another one to throw them off, not knowing that they had been dealt with, albeit temporarily.

"Alright! Kaoru does it again whoo! And they say playing Grand Theft Auto was a waste of time." He said with a smug expression.

"Sure thing, Mr. NEET who can't keep a job. Mind getting us to our destination first though?" Takehito said in response to his friend's cockiness. Seo had grumbled something along the lines of 'party pooper' but obliged, taking a turn towards his friend's home. Now that they seemingly didn't need to tear through the road to escape their pursuers, Shirou noticed the signs and billboards, giving him an idea of where he was.

So I'm back in Japan huh? He thought to himself with a sense of nostalgia. He along with Sakura had followed after Rin to London for her studies at the Clocktower and he had been there for the most part up until Zelretch zapped him here. It made him a little homesick, especially when they arrived at their destination, a traditional looking Japanese home which reminded him of his old house in Fuyuki though this one was smaller.

"Welcome to my home, Izumo Inn." Takehito said as they got out of the car. Seo had gone off to return the car as it was a rental. He'd be back soon though if Takehito and his hannya face had anything to say about it. "Miya, I'm home!" As if it were waiting for that call, the door opened to reveal a young woman with purple hair.

"Takehito-san, I'm glad you came home safely." The woman said with relief evident in her voice.

"Hey, I told you it'd all work out." Takehito said with a carefree smile as he gave her a kiss. "Ah, let me introduce you. Uzume, Archer, this is my wife Miya." Said wife greeted them with a graceful smile.

"It's nice to meet you ma'am." Shirou said politely. Uzume followed suit with her own greeting.

"She's also Sekirei number 1, the strongest Sekirei." Matsu said as she walked up to Miya. "Nice to see you again Miya. Sorry for all the trouble."

"Well, it was Takehito-san's decision and you know how he is, he can't ever resist lending a helping hand to those who need it. I remember that shopping trip last week where he helped an old lady cross the street and then almost immediately after get a cat out of a tree. Which was then followed by him helping a child find his parents. He's such a busy body." Miya replied with a light chuckle.

"Glad to see you two being lovey dovey like usual." Matsu said with a teasing tone, noting the blush that appeared on Miya's face despite what she said.

Beside them, Shirou had his head lowered slightly as the woman's words struck a chord. It reminded him of how he was up until the Holy Grail War. While he doubted the scientist was as innocent as his old self since he worked with the Servant-like Sekirei, the man appeared to have a similar outlook on helping others.

"Hey Emo Boy, you gonna take your hood off anytime soon? We've gotten away from MBI already." Uzume said from Shirou's side, stopping him from brooding any further.

"You're still calling me that?" Shirou said as he slowly removed his hood, revealing his face and red hair. Uzume had to admit, it didn't look bad.

"I'm sticking with that till you tell me your real name." Uzume said with an unapologetic grin.

"Ah right, we still have yet to hear your name Archer." Takehito said having overheard the conversation.

"My name is Emiya, Shirou Emiya." He said in response.

"Nice to officially meet you, Shirou!" Uzume gave him a wide grin once he had finally introduced himself properly and Shirou couldn't help but smile back a little.

"Yeah, same here."

Alright, I think I'll just end that there. Well, I think I'm screwed, I gotta write like 15,000 more words in these next 4 days for this competition. XD I brought this hell upon myself by procrastinating so much. So many sleepless nights… Ah well, tell me what you thought of this first chapter. Any feedback or constructive criticism is welcome. And if I get any facts wrong about either series, please let me know.

Till tomorrow most likely, see ya!