Berserker knew that they had to come up with a plan and fast. All of the Servants had been uniting against Gilgamesh just as they had against Berserker what felt like a lifetime ago, but even then it still wasn't enough. Now that he had been absorbed into the crazy shadow lady's side, Berserker wasn't entirely sure how the hell they were supposed to take all of them on in this enclosed area, especially since the crazy shadow lady was apparently able to devour whatever Servant appeared in her reach. He felt that that really put a damper on things.

There was a flash of yellow and his father appeared to stare down the other four Servants along with Berserker and Saber, but the odds were not stacked in their favor. With a glance at his father, Berserker knew that he was thinking along the same lines. While four Servants in and of themselves were problematic, the fact of the matter was that if they fought anywhere near that shadow wielding girl then they had as good as lost. He really hated the fact that he always had to fight with odds constantly stacked against him.

They stood there for a heartbeat as all of the Servants merely stared one another down. No one was making the first move, but Berserker was sure that that would be changing soon. With a small glance towards his dad, the summoned Assassin gave a small almost imperceptible nod. It looked like they were on the same page after all. Divide and conquer it was then.

There was a sudden flurry of movement as Assassin flung kunai at the various Servants, but Itachi was able to counter the attack with kunai of his own while the King of Heroes had Noble Phantasms begin to come into existence behind him.

There was a flash of yellow that took up the entire courtyard and Assassin was almost leaving after images with how he suddenly appeared near all the Servants and kicked them all away from the freaky shadow girl.

Berserker grinned as he grabbed Itachi from the attack. A second later both he and the Servant had disappeared in a flash from the others, settling into a much less destroyed clearing within the forest.

The two Servants stared one another down with Berserker wondering how the hell the shadow lady had been able to capture Itachi in the first place. She was obviously already dangerous, but with the Caster of his caliber on her side the fight just got that much harder.

"Well, this sucks."

Berserker?

Berserker jolted at the sound of his Master's voice flitting through his thoughts. He had been in quite the struggle recently, so the fact that he had some downtime must have been a shock to her system.

How's the homefront going Ilya-hime?

He felt his Master's incredulity at the question, but felt it was a fair one to make.

Well at the moment I'm wondering how best to deal with that shadow user that popped up in my courtyard. It would have been nice if you had been able to stop her.

Berserker gave the equivalent of a mental shrug at that. He and his father had developed a pretty on the fly plan to divide the Servants up so that they were going one on one rather than having a free for all brawl within the courtyard. Not only would that have most likely completely destroyed the Einzbern home, but there was also too great a chance of one of them being caught by the shadows that the girl was using. If even one more Servant was converted to her side then they would have been in deep shit.

He was sure that a fight of magi on magi was preferable for everyone involved in any case. He had full faith in his little Master and she would have other magi there to help her out of self preservation if nothing else. Not to mention he was sure that his father's Master would be able to help her if push came to shove.

With that thought in mind he turned his attention back to Itachi.

The Uchiha was definitely looking worse for wear compared to the last time he had seen him. One of the biggest changes looked as if he only had one eye now compared to before, so Berserker figured he had utilized one of his more powerful techniques to get out of a sticky situation. It made him wonder how the man had been caught by the shadow bitch.

The other biggest change was the fact that he seemed almost purple in hue now and that there seemed to be some sort of miasma that was roiling off the former Caster. It felt as though a giant source of negativity had taken root within the Uchiha and it was almost choking compared to what Berserker had felt when they had first fought.

"What the hell happened to you, Itachi?"

It looked as though the Servant had no desire to talk, but it also seemed as though he wasn't quite as autonomous as a Servant that was not taken into the shadows. Well if that was how it was going to be, then Berserker would just have to make sure that he put his old friend's brother down for good this time. With that thought in mind Berserker got into a loose stance, narrowing his eyes as Itachi did the same.

It seemed as though the Caster was not going to initiate their conflict unless Berserker did so first. Well, he would just have to oblige the man then. He blurred into action and appeared right in front of Itachi, his fist pulled back for a devastating haymaker. The man merely redirected his punch and flipped Berserker over his shoulder.

It was a good counter, but Berserker was able plant his feet and try a rising upper cut which the other ninja dodged by merely swaying back. Unfortunately this left Berserkers side open and he was send skidding backwards with a devastating kick to his side. Grimacing at the kick, Itachi sure didn't pull his punches (even when not in control of his body anymore), Berserker's eyes widened as he ducked jumoing kick that sent Itachi sailing over him and landing behind him.

The two Servants met once more in a flurry of punches and kicks, but Berserker was frustrated to note that he wasn't really gaining the upper hand in their encounter. The Servant that he was fighting was just too good with the counters that he had perfected over his life and Berserker wasn't able to find any holes in the man's defenses. He always knew that fighting Itachi always sucked.

With a cry Berserker formed a Rasengan and tried to catch the Caster off guard, but the man merely grabbed Berserker's wrist and was able to send him flying once more. Berserker recovered quickly and was trying to keep his frustration to a minimum. He knew going in that fighting Itachi was going to be a pain in the ass. In fact he was rather surprised that he hadn't been put in a genjutsu yet.

Berserker blinked at that thought. He hadn't been put in a genjutsu yet. But that made no sense when he thought of how Itachi had fought with him whenever he had seen him.

Son of a bitch.

He hated freaking genjutsu users, especially with his trusty partner being locked in the thralls of madness. He swore he wasn't going to fight an illusion caster for as long as he could once this was over.

Gritting his teeth in annoyance, Berserker broke his index finger and watched on as the Itachi he was fighting blurred from existence and then faded away. With a glance to his left he noticed that the stoic Uchiha hadn't even moved from where they had first been transported to.

"I really hate fighting you."

His words just seemed to roll of the Servant's skin. Berserker was pretty sure there was nothing he could do to get under the normally stoic Uchiha's skin in any case and now he seemed to be even more wooden than he was before.

The Caster merely slowly shifted into his preferred fighting pose and Berserker knew that this was going to suck more than he had thought. He hoped the others were at the very least doing well against their opponents.

Saber had been somewhat indignant when Assassin had transported her and Rider out from the courtyard.

Scratch that, she had been horrified to learn that he had essentially been forced from her Master, especially when he needed her the most, but she was immediately set upon by the purple haired Servant. Those dagger chains that Rider utilized were much more of an annoyance when it was completely one on one, but Saber was valiantly deflecting the blows that were attempting to rain down on her.

She had planted her feet firmly nd had refused to budge from her defensive position. It had been a calculated move to be playing the long game against such a Servant, but so far she could say that the results spoke for themselves. She also had to remember that she was not entirely at one hundred percent and the better part of valor was to conserve energy for the inevitable fight with the Archer from the previous war.

She didn't care that the girl that had appeared as though out of thin air had taken over that Servant, she knew that he was most likely more dangerous than all of her other Servants combined. If there was once thing Saber was good at it was judging enemies (not ones more close to home, but ones that she didn't trust) and she knew that the Archer would appear and make any sort of victory to be had here a pyrrhic one.

In fact, she was wondering why she had not been paired against said Archer. She supposed that Assassin had some sort of plan, and she supposed that she was somewhat grateful to the Servant whisking away the others from the mad girl. She had no desire to be parted from the fight, but she knew that the miasma that was drifting off the converted Servants was almost making her retch it felt so foul.

Saber had no idea what was the cause for this other player to enter so abruptly into the War, but she had learned early on in this iteration to just roll with the punches lest she go insane, and not even in the dangerous way like the Servant she was fighting.

With a deft flick of her blade Saber finally drew the woman off balance and in that instant she pounced.

With a cry of defiance the Servant of the Sword lunged towards her opponent and led with an upwards slash. The woman was able to counter this with her other dagger, but the force of the blow was enough to smash the weapon out of her hand. Saber grasped her sword tightly and swung down with all her might in an overhead swing.

Unfortunately she underestimated just how nimble the other Servant was and Rider was able to dance out of harm's way. With a tug the Servant rocketed the dagger that she had thrown earlier towards Saber's undefended back and the King of Knights had to parry the attack from behind. With a growl she wrapped the chain around her blade and stabbed backwards feeling an intense amount of satisfaction as her blade finally met flesh.

However, it seemed that Rider was made of sterner stuff than she had anticipated and she was flung away from the other Servant with a deft kick to the back.

Her head slightly ringing from the blow, Saber skid to a halt as she observed her handiwork.

It was a fairly shallow wound all told, but it was still a step in the right direction. Rider had had Invisible Air bite into her side and there was blood trailing along the Servant's leg, dripping onto the ground. Saber adjusted her stance slightly, gripping the sword closer to the pommel and raising it in a more defensive stance once more.

Good. Her strategy was sound and her attacks were working. Before long the Servant before her would be returned to the Throne of Heroes and she would be that much closer to her goal. She thought that she might make a comment, but due to the vacant expression that Rider displayed, even with a wound in her side, Saber was fairly certain that the woman was not entirely aware of what was going on around her.

With that thought in mind, Saber once more began the deadly dance of parrying and redirecting the daggers and chains. She had not succumbed to the first volley and she wouldn't succumb to the next. In the back of her mind Saber vaguely wondered why the Servant wasn't utilizing her trump card in the form of the Noble Phantasm that had at the very least put Saber's own in check.

Perhaps the process was more taxing on the magi using it than she had first thought. With another deflection Saber once more went on the offensive. However, this time there were only blows exchanged and Saber's blade was caught within the chains.

With a determined grunt, the King of Knights stepped into the other Servant's guard and twisted her wrist just so. With a jolt Saber's blade was free from the chains once more and the knight lashed out with her blade. Unfortunately her opponent dodged and Saber was forced to once more put some distance between the two of them lest she be wounded with her limited mana supply.

If nothing else, Saber was at least somewhat impressed by the woman she was facing. It wasn't quite as powerful as when the two faced off before, but they were both depleted of their energy reserves she was sure and Saber was sure that she was the better technical fighter of the two. The fact that even as some sort of mindless miasma filled zombie, the other Servant was able to hold her off, told her of just how incredible the Servants that had been summoned for this War were.

"A pity that you have essentially become a mindless beast, only content to try and kill, I think we might have quite enjoyed this fight otherwise."

There was no response from the purple haired woman, but Saber had not been expecting one. Instead she was once more forced to deal with the attacks of the dagger and chain in the hands of her opponent. While the weapon could have eventually gotten the advantage of a lesser practitioner of the sword, Saber wasn't her class for no reason. The dance was deadly, but the blonde haired woman made it look almost elegant in all of the counters, parries, faints and blocks that she was achieving.

With a small frown Saber decided that enough was enough. With that in mind she once more launched into an attack towards her opponent. The chains and daggers were batted aside this time as Saber closed in the distance and began to attack with that much more ferocity.

However, it looked as though Rider had decided to respond in kind and Saber found that she was suddenly on the defensive once more. Logic dictated that Saber would be the better combatant in close quarters, but in a fight between Heroic Spirits, logic flew right out the window.

Saber was surprised to find that she was being put a bit more on the back foot and it was somewhat puzzling to her. If Rider had been able to fight at this level the entire time, why bother playing along and letting Saber set the pace of their battle?

The clearing that they had been in was a shambles and Saber was able to see the moon rising steadily over the forest where their fight was taking place as the two combatants once more paused to readjust themselves.

Saber was sure that Rider was holding back even though the King of Knights had scored a hit on the purple haired woman. However, even if the objective was to stall, Saber had no idea what the corrupted Servant could be stalling for. It was obvious that Assassin had sent them all much further away from the shadow girl that had dropped in on the fight with the previous Archer, but she was also uncertain as to the range that the girl could give orders.

She had at first thought that the sloppiness within her fellow Servant's attacks had been due to her mind being muddled, but now Saber wasn't so sure. If there had been some sort of order to stall them to some means, then Saber had definitely missed it, as had Assassin it would seem.

No matter. Even if this was some ploy, Saber was of the opinion that the easiest way to find a trap was to spring it. With that in mind, the Servant of the Sword once more readjusted her stance so that it was more optimal for quick strikes.

Breathing in and then out slowly, the King of Knights focused and she was able to see all of the individual chain's links as they flowed past her as she defended. There.

With a sudden thrust that was sure to have surprised the Rider, Saber plunged her sword through one of the links and then twisted in an almost ethereal move. She had found a weak link within the chains that she had been deflecting the entire time and with one more small tug, the chain was broken, sending the dagger spinning wildly away from Rider.

There was a beat of silence as the two stood across from each other, but Saber knew that the fight was far from over as evident by the way the other dagger was snaked back to Rider's hand.

For a moment the two combatants stared one another down and then the deadly dance began anew.

Assassin was having problems as soon as he had teleported his chose opponent to where they would have their battle. He had made sure that he had spread them out as much as possible, but the main goal was to make sure that they weren't near the container of the false Lesser Grail. He had suspected that things might come to this, his alliance with Gaara helped to reinforce that, but he was hoping that they would have a little more time beforehand.

The miasma that drifted from the corrupted Servants just felt wrong. It was something he hadn't considered when he was making plans of dealing with the Matou heir and due to Lancer's battle instincts Assassin had been fighting for his life as soon as they had come into the clearing.

Once more he was pitted against the man from legend and he couldn't help but be impressed. Assassin knew that objectively on paper he was faster than the Servant of the Lance, but the damn man had unbelievable reflexes. It almost seemed as though he had been holding back during their previous encounter.

Every time he was able to teleport and think he had the drop on the Servant, the man was able to deflect the incoming attack in a blur of speed that he could barely follow. Hell, Assassin had even scored a clean hit with a kunai stabbed into the man's kidney, but the man had simply ignored the blade in his vital and just kept on coming. It looked as if the hit hadn't even slowed him down.

What the hell is going on out there, Minato?

Assassin dodged a deadly thrust and deflected the man's red lance to the side before he landed a vicious high kick to the other Servant's head sending him flying through a tree.

I'm a bit busy at the moment. Suffice to say, Sakura has made her appearance. I would be much obliged if you helped my Gaara and my son's Master to keep her in check. We are currently dealing with the other Servants.

If that's the best idea you have, then I'll watch over the kids. Let's see how the Matou's deal with me.

Assassin felt a small sense of relief at his Master's reply. Now he would only have to focus on his own fight.

Assassin followed through with his kick by flashing to the other Servant and utilizing a Rasengan. However, Lancer was able to smack his wrist and made Assassin off balance. Lancer took advantage of that by lashing out with a kick and sending Assassin flying back into the clearing.

Assassin back flipped and landed on his feet, his eyes flashing in slight annoyance as the two combatants paused to get the measure of one another.

Assassin let out a small sigh of frustration. He knew he needed to finish this quickly, but every time he thought he had the other Servant in check, the man was able to counter him. He had thought he had gotten the measure of this particular Servant the last time they had fought, but it looked as though he was wrong.

Very well, he would just have to up his game. With a flick of his wrists two kunai fell into his hand. He then flung them towards the Lancer, who merely batted them both away.

As soon as they were spinning through the air Assassin flashed to one and flung a kunai at the Servant's feet while simultaneously attacking with a Rasengan. Once more he was deflected, but Assassin kept the technique going as he flashed to the kunai stabbed into the ground. He utilized his teleport to smash the Rasengan into the unsuspecting Servant's midriff and felt a vindictive satisfaction as he finally connected the technique sending Lancer once more flying through a tree.

Once more Assassin paused in his attack and watched as Lancer went tumbling through the forest before he came to a stop and lay still. Hopefully that was enough to put the bastard down. Lancer's Battle Continuation was more intense than even he had expected. He wouldn't be surprised if he bounced back from that last attack.

Sure enough the blue clad Servant was steadily getting to his feet, even though it looked as though his stomach had been put through a meat grinder. Assassin had to hand it to Lancer, the man could take a hit.

With a fierce determination he readied his kunai once more. A flash later and he and Lancer were exchanging a flurry of blows until the Servant of the Lance was able to twist in just the right place, grazing into Assassin's shoulder. Letting out a cry, the Yondaime traded a kick into the mute Servant's already damaged midsection and the pain was enough to stun even Lancer for a moment as Assassin retreated to catch his breath and contact his Master.

Are you able to help me out with this wound?

He felt his Master's annoyance at having been contacted again.

I'm a little busy here at the moment. The girl is more trouble than I had initially anticipated.

Assassin blinked at that. He knew that his Master was uncommonly powerful in this day and age, but to here that the Matou heir was actually giving her trouble was more troubling than Assassin really wanted to admit. Hopefully with the destruction of the Servants that she had they would be able to get her out from the clutches of madness that she seemed to be in.

IN any case you were hit with a cursed spear, dumbass. I tried healing you, but the wound isn't going away until the spear is gone.

Assassin sighed at that. He supposed that made his job a bit easier. All he had to do was take out the Servant that had the strongest Battle Continuation and could match his speed fairly well. No pressure he supposed.

Thank you for the try anyway. Good luck in your own fight.

He felt Aozaki snort through the connection. Obviously she was sure that she could handle herself, but Assassin was more concerned about the others that were with her.

Not to worry, all the little heirs are brawling at the moment. I'll only step in if I absolutely have to.

Assassin supposed he could live with that. With that thought in mind he once more went to engage the foe that he had chosen.

Archer was currently cursing the blond haired Assassin in every language that he could think of and he was pretty sure some that he was inventing as he went.

The man had appeared next to him in a flash and then had deposited him somewhere far too close to the controlled Gilgamesh for his comfort. He was a sniper, damn it. He was supposed to attack things from afar. He knew that he could get up and personal with his opponents, but he always preferred to be the killer that no one saw.

He hadn't even been able to go for his younger self again (just in case) before he had been whisked off. It had barely been a second before Gilgamesh had fired a round of Noble Phantasms at the red clad Servant of the Bow, but he had been able to match that with his own traced weapons. This caused him to be the perfect foil of the King of Heroes for the time being, but he was trying to figure out how the hell Assassin could have figured that out.

Now they were in some sort of demented standoff, one of them looking blankly on, while the other stared down his opponent.

He was somewhat confused as to how Sakura was able to even capture Gilgamesh, seeing as the man's sheer indomitable will was a core part of his legend. He supposed he would just have to be happy that Ea had been put away in favor of lesser know spoils from the Gates of Babylon.

"You know, now that you're not talking, I suppose it might be a bit easier to deal with you. Usually you're just shouting mongrel this or mongrel that. I'd say the silent treatment is a bit of an overall improvement."

Archer easily deflected the Phantasm that had shot out at him at that comment, but it caused his grey eyes to narrow in slight confusion. He was pretty sure that Gilgamesh was under the thrall of Sakura right now, but he could have sworn that that attack had been a direct result of his own snarkiness.

"Hmmm. It looks like you might still have a bit of your pride in there after all. Let's see if this old faker can manage to coax it out and make you make a mistake."

With that in mind, Archer traced dozens of weapons and had them blast towards the formerly golden Servant. The man easily matched his attacks blow for blow, but Archer had a feeling that he might be able to actually put the King of Heroes in check if this continued. After all, he could begin to trace things that were more complicated as they went on, while he was fairly certain that the other Servant was mostly operation off of autopilot.

"Lovely as this little date is, let's up the ante a little."

With that thought in mind, Archer started tracing more destructive Noble Phantasms and Gilgamesh responded in kind. There was a flurry of explosions within the clearing and Archer had to duck and dodge a few stray weapons, but ultimately their pissing contest of Noble Phantasms came to an end and now they were surrounded by what Archer was sure would be classified as a certifiable wasteland. He was fairly thankful for the bounded field that had been erected within the forest prior to their arrival.

He was about to figure out some way to get close to the King of Heroes when the man stumbled. Archer didn't even hesitate, while the formerly golden Servant had seemingly stumbled over nothing, Archer knew when to capitalize on an opening. With a swift trace he crossed the distance in a second and went for a slash to the throat for a sure fire kill.

Unfortunately, it seemed that whatever was affecting the Servant was not enough to stop him from summoning a Noble Phantasm to block Archer's blade.

With a tug Archer used that blade to trace another and sing his momentum to trying to get a hit in from a different angle with his second blade, but that one too was stopped.

Suddenly Archer became aware that the King of Heroes was clutching his head, as if he were in agony over something. With a swift jump, Archer put some space between himself and Gilgamesh once more.

The man let out a guttural cry that Archer was fairly certain no human was supposed to make and suddenly, there appeared cracks within the miasma that was surrounding him. Just as suddenly the miasma exploded outwards from the King of Heroes and the man was once more standing in his resplendent golden armor.

He was breathing hard, but Archer could tell that he was quickly gathering his wits about him and was gradually realizing where he was.

"That utter mongrel."

Well, even if it was soft, Archer was somewhat happy that the anger wasn't directed at him. Unfortunately Gilgamesh then decided to have a spear come out of the Gates of Babylon and it was aimed towards where his Master was. Well, that wouldn't do.

With a thought Archer traced another nameless blade and right as the Noble Phantasm began to shoot from the Gates, Archer hurled his own blade at the weapon, intercepting it. It had the satisfying side effect of causing an explosion right in Gilgamesh's face.

However, he knew that it was only wishful thinking in hoping that that had been enough to stop the Servant. He supposed he would now find out just how much he really wanted to go toe to toe with an angry King of Heroes.

"You dare…!?"

The Servant trailed off there, but Archer thought that having a bit of words was nothing to be ashamed of.

"Nice to see you, Gilgamesh. Even though I'm kinda pissed, I believe your opponent was me."

Gilgamesh merely glared at Archer as though if he thought hard enough he would be able to smite the red clad Servant. Thankfully for Archer, not even Gilgamesh had that kind of power.

"Very well, Faker. I'll deal with you first."

Sighing, Archer traced his beloved twin blades and got into a stance. He hated fighting the King of Heroes.

Rin was fairly certain that her days as a respectable magus were going to be completely shot after this damn War. She had been surprised far too often to be comfortable and she was sure that her father never really prepared her for what was actually going to happen during the Grail War, even if she had only a few scattered memories of the stern man.

She hadn't expected to begin falling for the Fake Janitor of her school and she definitely hadn't expected to encounter one of the five Magicians. She had honestly thought that this ritual was beneath the notice of someone who had trained with the user of the Second Magic and was considered one of the most dangerous beings alive in this day and age.

All of this paled in comparison to what she was seeing had been done to her sister. While she had always regretted what had happened to Sakura, she had always excused it with the notion that they were both magi from a respected magus family and something had to be done to appease the Matou family earlier in her life.

However, finally seeing the twisted being that Sakura had become had finally hammered home the idea that she had abandoned her sister to a fate more terrible than she had imagined and it was all down to her to try and make it right. At the moment that notion wasn't going so well.

While she and Shirou had made it to the courtyard just in time to see her father's former Servant be devoured by the abomination her sister had become, Assassin had acted quickly and now there were no Servants within at least the range of Archer's bow.

She was somewhat surprised by this outcome considering just how far Archer had the ability to snipe someone, but she could see the logic inherent in the strategy. If Sakura was able to get her hands on another Servant the tide would definitely be turned within her favor.

"How nice of you to join us tonight, Nee-san."

Rin winced at the tone that Sakura used and tried to ignore the flabbergasted look that Shirou was sending her way. She had told no one what her relationship with Sakura was and she was beginning to realize that it was because she was ashamed. Not ashamed of her sister, but ashamed of herself.

"Sakura, what are you talking about? You know Tohsaka?"

Rin flinched at the decidedly wicked smirk that crept onto her little sister's face at Shirou's question.

"Oh, you didn't tell him."

It was said as a statement and Rin was sure she saw a flash of deep hurt within her sister's eyes before the girl turned her attention to Shirou.

"Of course you didn't tell him. You always were too proud for your own good. The perfect little magus, having everything handed to you on a silver platter: looks, smarts, gifted in Thaumaturgy. No wonder our father chose you in the end to carry on the line while abandoning me like a piece of trash to the Matou."

Rin was fairly certain that her sister could be wailing on them right now and it would cut less deep than the words that she was spewing. Sakura was taking some of Rin's own insecurities and warping them into something that she had never wanted. She felt as though she needed to say something to defend herself.

"It wasn't like that, Sakura. I was devastated when you left, but I had my own duty to perform and once both father and mother were gone, I needed to continue on the research. It's all culminated here, the grail is within our grasp."

Sakura let loose a bitter laugh that sent chills down Rin's spine. This was not the meek sister that she had known before. No, what was in front of her was something that had twisted and twisted and twisted until something had finally broken and Rin swallowed at the thought that she might have to sacrifice her sister to stop the girl from doing something terrible.

"Your duty was a joke. What did you even discover during this war? I now know things that are so far beyond your comprehension that you can't even fathom them, Nee-san. In that regard I've achieved more than you ever could to further the Tohsaka name."

Rin had no response to that, but apparently her partner in crime for the War did.

"Sakura, this isn't you. You're not this cruel. You're not a monster."

Rin agreed whole heartedly with the red headed idiot, but Sakura's small broken smile delineated that the girl was not going to be swayed easily from her set path.

"I loved you, I think, Senpai."

Rin's breath caught in her throat at that declaration and she was sure that Shirou's utterly dumbfounded expression would have been hilarious in any other situation.

"But I finally realized you were never going to love me back. I admired you. Trusted you! You're dream of being a hero of justice was something that I never thought you couldn't do! I supported it wholeheartedly, if there were people in need of saving you would save them! It didn't matter how you did so, you would get the job done!"

Shirou was looking uncomfortable at the emotions that were playing across her little sister's face and Rin knew that she was right there with him. This felt almost like Sakura's deepest most private thoughts. Perhaps whatever had been done to her had let those emotions boil into the surface after being suppressed for so long.

"But you never saved me."

Sakura's soft statement did more to both Shirou and Rin than anything else the girl had said so far. They had both lost someone they cared about to the monster that was now wearing her skin, and that monster knew just the right things to say to stop them in their tracks.

"Day after day, week after week, month after month, and finally year after year, I hoped that you would turn your eyes towards me. Just give me a little bit of that heroism that you so vaunted, something to defeat the encroaching darkness in my life. But like everything else that I've encountered, I've found that it's amazingly pointless to hold onto hope. I stared too long into the abyss, Nee-san. Senpai. It stared back."

Rin was sure that both she and Shirou were wearing complicated expression in the face of Sakura's impassioned speech. She was certain that she could have done more for her sister. She should have fought harder. She should have known that something was wrong. She should have acknowledged her existence once their parents were gone and be damned the consequences.

Maybe if she had done that they wouldn't be here in this state, desperately fighting against the monster that was now wearing her little sister's skin. With a heart that was breaking in half, Rin prepared herself for what she was going to have to do. She wasn't entirely sure what those shadows could accomplish besides turning a Servant, but she knew that she had to stop her sister.

Unfortunately, it looked as though the red headed idiot had different ideas from her.

"Bullshit."

Rin blinked. Sakura blinked.

They had both not expected the raw determination that entered the boy they both loved eyes', but he was filled with a certainty that Rin had never seen in anyone before. He also was apparently not done yet.

"I know that I should have seen something now, but I was a pretty stupid person, Sakura. If things didn't fall right in front of me, I just wasn't able to understand what was going on. I didn't even know that you or Tohsaka were magi until this War! However, as long as you're alive there's still a chance to be saved! People die when they are killed, but that doesn't mean they have to stay dead. It also means that you don't have to stay the way you are there's still time to change.

I'm sorry that I couldn't save you from your family, or Shinji, I failed in that regard as a hero of justice. But right now, I swear, with all of my being…"

Here Shirou kept eye contact with Sakura as he clenched a fist in determination and Rin felt a shiver at the fire that Shirou had in his eyes, something that brought forth the distortion within him to the forefront.

"... I will save you!"

There was only silence in the courtyard as the other two girls looked on incredulously at the boy that they had fallen for. Rin felt herself begin to feel a small hope within her chest and she found that she had a small smile.

Of course.

Here she was planning for the worst case scenario, but the idiot wasn't going to be content with that. He was someone who had tried to interfere in fights of Heroic Spirits and idiot that if you said he couldn't do something then he would just question why he couldn't do it.

It was rather simple and for once she found that she agreed wholeheartedly with the declarati0on that Shirou had made. If Sakura was lost in the darkness, then she would just have to be found. If she was in trouble, then instead of disposing of her she would just have to be saved.

It seemed as though Sakura herself was slightly taken aback by Shirou's words, for the girl was staring at the boy with an unreadable expression.

"It's too late for that."

The words were said softly, but it was the only warning that she and Shirou had before Sakura was lashing out with the shadows that she had surrounded herself with.

Rin cursed herself, even as she prepared a Gandr, for becoming a bit too compliant during their conversation, but it looked as though she need not have worried as all of the ones that were sent with lethal intent were blocked by what looked to be small glass birds.

"I would thank you not to cause any more trouble while you are a guest to my estate, Matou-san."

Those words preceded a small girl walking out of the ruined door to the castle, her red eyes flashing as a small breeze tussled her white hair. Standing a bit behind her was someone that Rin was hoping to never have to actually fight, but she was glad had decided to make an appearance. However, it seemed that the Einzbern heir was the one who was leading the charge, so to speak if the way she had intercepted the shadows were anything to go by.

The smallest master looked about her yard and Rin's eyes followed her, noticing a red head for the first time that had been comatose the entire time they had been speaking. How had she missed that?

"I've been quite thoroughly pissed off tonight so I have only one thing to say to you."

With that, Ilya sent forth one of her constructs that Sakura's shadow easily intercepted, but suddenly Aozaki had appeared in the girl's personal bubble with a cheery grin, her hair turning red as she delivered a haymaker that sent the crashing into one of the undamaged walls in the courtyard.

"Get off my damn lawn."

Time to crack open a cold one with the boys.

Come on, did you really think this one wouldn't be part of the Big Update? If you haven't seen any of my other fics then you're probably a bit confused at the moment. As a promotion of my P a treon page, I've selected five fics that I consider to be active. At least one of these five fics will be updated monthly, but a few of the goals within the P a treon will make it so they will be all updated monthly at the very least.

Now I won't be blocking any sort of access on the fanfiction site to my stories or gating them, this is simply a way for me to push myself into updating faster and gaining revenue to launch an anime review site. I had had a review site before, but it is now defunct due to struggling funds. If you're feeling generous go on over to p a treon .com (slash) RedhathackerSin, just take out the spaces and make the slash a symbol. I've already posted two anime reviews there, one for patrons and one for the general public. I've also put a poll purely for patrons on which of the five active stories that I've just updated I should do once more before the month of June is out.

I'm gonna be going back and editing the chapters of this fic, but because it is my biggest one and I want to write at least one more chapter for one of the active fics, I might not be done until the end of the month. However, I intend to up my game in all aspects of my writing, so good luck to me I guess.

I've been somewhat getting a fluctuation of people not really understanding exactly why Naruto is not able to use Kurama mode and what not and the main reason is that Kurama is the technical Berserker of the story and Naruto is essentially a vessel. Coupled with the fact that all Servants are supposed to be copies of the original heroic Spirit (Saber notwithstanding) hence the class system that they fall under.

Anyway, I felt a little bit written out in the beginning of this story, but then I got my second wind and feel that I finished strong. It should be interesting to see the reactions on here to what's going on and hopefully I met your standards.

If you're feeling generous, please leave a fav, follow, or review. If you're feeling even more generous please check out the P a treon. I've said all I wanted to say so onto the disclaimer!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Fate/Stay Night. They belong to Kishimoto Masashi and Type-Moon respectively. Please support the official release!

P a treon .com (slash) RedhathackerSin