Ok, I wasn't planning to write this story. I have been working on some original fiction, and have been trying to focus on that instead of fanfiction. But this idea just kept showing up. And once I wrote the first part, it was even worse - whenever I opened my stories folder, it was sitting there, taunting me.

So I decided to write it.

this story will be pretty short (4-5 chapters) - I just want to get it finished so that I can get back to what I want to work on.

START

"Oh, shit, oh shit. He's going to kill me. Again!" Shirou stumbled into his workshop / shed and locked the door. He was just picking up a piece of pipe to use as a weapon when a circle on the floor glowed red. Shirou staggered backwards as he tried to get out of the glow. As he landed on his rear end a woman rose up out of the circle. She was a Japanese woman, dressed in a business woman's skirt and suit, her hair cut in a no-nonsense bob. She looked vaguely familiar, like he had seen her in a picture somewhere.

"I am Servant Caster. I ask you, are you my… Fuck, it's you!" She began, only to stop when she realized who she was speaking to. Before she could regain her composure, the window to the shed burst in to reveal Lancer perched in its place.

"What?" Shirou asked. Usually he was a quick thinker, but this was so far outside his field of experience that his brain had completely shut down.

"Just say 'yes'," Caster demanded.

"Yes?"

"Good" Caster turned and pointed her spread fingers at Lancer as he leaped in, shooting a barrage of lightning bolts from each fingertip.

Despite being in the air, Lancer managed to twist out of the way of most of the bolts, and deflected one with his spear. But when he landed, he looked much more wary than before. "Huh. So you're a magus. Why didn't you say so before I killed you? It would have saved you a lot of discomfort." Then he shrugged and smiled, "Though now that you are a master, we're back to square one." He leaped forward, striking at Caster with his spear. He twisted between the bolts of lightning she shot from her right hand, and he was almost at stabbing distance when he realized that he was going to miss. Somehow, he had stepped wrong, so that he would have to twist his body awkwardly to strike Caster.

Lancer leaped back and tried again. Shirou took up a ready stance, holding his reinforced steel pipe at the ready. He couldn't quite keep up with Lancer's attacks, but sooner or later he would have to pause, and he could strike then.

Again, lancer dodged Caster's attack, but now his position was even worse - not only would his lunge miss, but his back would be to that woman. "You're messing with reality, aren't you, lassie? That's why I hate witches. No good can come from them." Lancer grinned ferally. He loved a good fight, but this wasn't it. This was one of the most frustrating confrontations he had been in in a very long time, and he was starting to get angry. One eye squinted almost all the way shut, while the other opened to inhuman proportions. "Gae… " He raised his spear, to use it's magic power, to pierce all defenses when he froze. "My coward of a master demands that I return, He is concerned that you might have some trick up your sleeve that I haven't realized."

"Your master is a wise man," Caster smirked.

Lancer sighed, "I'll have to kill you later, witch." He turned to Shiro, "Ciao!" we saluted Shirou good naturedly and leaped out of the room.

Caster released a sigh, "That was close." She turned to Shirou "Without a chance to prepare my territory, I am at a severe disadvantage. Even an incredibly powerful and talented Magus like me is no match against a Knight class servant in a fair fight."

Shirou relaxed a little, and lowered his impromptu weapon, "Could you explain what is going on?"

"Sure," Caster smiled, "I forgot that you are a half trained incompetent. I am…" She froze as she sensed a presence trigger the Emya wards, "He's back!" she flew out the broken window.

Shirou followed, diving head first through the window and rolling to his feet outside. But while Caster flew over the roof of the main house, he had to make use of the doors, so he arrived several moments after she did, to see Caster confronting a surprised Rin Tohsaka.

"Wait! Don't hurt her!"

-FAR-FAR-

In spirit form, Archer watched as Shirou's servant froze momentarily. His left eyebrow went up towards his scalp as he took a closer look at Caster. 'Shit. Why does the world hate me?'. And he meant it quite literally. Gaia DID hate him, or so he believed.

"So, I see you are a master as well, Emya," Rin was saying, to fill the awkward pause. Almost dying unexpectedly has that effect on some people.

"I guess so, or at least that's what Caster said, but I am still not certain what that means. I take it you are a magus as well?" Shirou hazarded.

Rin sighed, "Let's go inside and we can talk."

'Are you certain that is wise?' Archer asked silently, 'He is an enemy Master, after all'

'He.. I owe a debt to him. So I will explain the Grail war to him, and tomorrow we will go back to being enemies. Besides, he doesn't even know what's going on. It is an unfair advantage.' Rin replied, awkwardly, "Shirou - we have a truce, but only for today, Understood?"

"There's no such thing as an 'unfair' advantage'', replied Archer.

'You will abide by the truce, Archer.'

'I suppose I will.' Came the slightly insolent reply.

As Shirou made tea and snacks for his impromptu guests, Caster glared at the spot next to Rin, "Archer, it's bad manners not to be corporeal. Please materialize yourself."

Archer fade into view, leaning against the doorway, his arms crossed, and a small smirk on his lips.

"And sit your ass down!" Caster pointed at the spot next to Rin, "That is simple manners."

Archer quirked an eyebrow again.

Rin sighed, "Sit down archer. And try to be polite."

Archer threw up his hands and joined Rin. The three sat silently. As Shirou brought out a collection of teas "Sorry I don't have anything made, but I wasn't expecting guests" He stated apologetically. Caster was watching Archer like a hawk. Archer just smiled back.

"This is fine, Shirou." Rin took a sip of her tea, "Though in the future you should know I prefer mine with a little more sugar." She sipped daintily, "So tell me what you know about the Holy Grail war"

As she began explaining the history and mechanics of the battle royal known as the Holy Grail War, Caster reached out mentally to Archer.

'I know why you are here, Archer.' She sent silently, 'And if you so much as hurt a hair on Shirou's head I will annihilate you so thoroughly that your existence will be wiped from the Throne of Heroes.' Caster took a sip of her tea.

Archer's lips twitched slightly up,. 'I love you too.'

The cup cracked in Caster's hand as she almost growled.

Rin stopped mid-lecture to look at the enemy servant, before glancing at her own, and then back again, "Honestly, Archer, can't I take you anywhere without you doing something to piss everybody off?"

"Not everybody." Archer finally picked up his tea cup and turned it around in his hands, as if to catch the light. "Just certain thin skinned individuals."

Shirou glanced around the table at his guests. He wasn't certain what had just happened. "Caster, Rin, please take it easy. Archer is also my guest, and I would hope that you treat him civilly."

Rin glanced at Archer and scowled, 'We better finish this fast and leave,' Archer did have a point - she and Shirou were supposed to be enemies. But he was her estranged sister's closest friend. Maybe even boyfriend, though she was scared to ask about that. She couldn't just abandon him to die. "Let's go register you as an official Master in the War."

"But I'm not certain if I even want to participate!"

"We should still go - the arbitrator will do a better job of explaining what is at stake, and you can make up your mind then. Come, the church is a bit of a walk so we should get going." Rin stood up.

Archer stretched, "It's a waste of time. I'm going to go scout out the city, see if I can find any unusual activity."

"You do that," Caster interrupted before Rin had a chance to say anything. The young magus squinted at the Heroic Spirit, 'Archer - go incorporeal and follow us just outside Caster's detection limit. I don't trust that bitch - there is something screwy with her.'

Archer faded from view, sending, 'You don't know the half of it.'

As the party of four made their way to Kotomine church, it began to drizzle. Caster produced an umbrella from somewhere, handing it to Shirou.

Rin glanced at the servant of the spell, "Have you got another one of those?"

"Sorry, You will have to share" Caster made a shooing motion towards Shirou. Rin glared at her, and made a point of walking separately, though as the walk progressed, she slowly drifted closer and closer to Shirou, so that she was soon in the umbrella's shadow (and he held it out so that it was more over her than him).

-FAR-FAR-

The interior of the church was dark, with only a pair of dim lights lit at the front. "This is the place?" Asked Shirou, looking around nervously. There was something wrong with this place. The fact that Caster had to wait outside, since servants were not permitted into the sanctuary, made it that much more nerve wracking.

"Yeah. The fake priest is the one in charge of moderating the war. He's a bigger asshole than Archer, but he knows his stuff."

"Why thank you, Rin, for that glowing recommendation," Kirei stepped out from the shadows. "And you are here to register as a master?" he asked Shirou.

"Hold on! I am not certain I want to participate in this Holy Grail war. I don't see the point of fighting for something like that."

Kirei scowled, "And there is nothing your heart desires? No wish?"

"Nothing I am willing to kill for." Shirou replied.

"But other WILL kill for theirs. And they may not be terribly scrupulous about who they kill." Kirei leaned in close to Shirou and whispered with a leer, "And you don't know what evil lurks in the hearts of men, what dark wish they might make if they win the Grail."

Shirou drew back from the disturbing priest. "Fine, I'll enter, to keep others safe, and to defend against perverted dreams," He stared pointedly at Kirei.

Kotomine laughed, "That's wonderful. I shall record you as the seventh and final master. Now the War can truly begin!"

Rin glared at her mentor, 'I've never seen him this happy. I hope he's not into boys or something.' She took a protective step closer to Shirou. "Let's get out of here."

-FAR-FAR-

Outside, Caster hummed as she paced along the street in front of the church. Everything was going according to plan. She glanced up from the sidewalk and smiled as her young master came out of the church, sharing an umbrella with his girlfriend-to-be. 'Good - a couple more gentle nudges...'

Rin looked around. "We should leave. Something feels.. off"

"Very good, Tohsaka. I guess your sensitivity to this city comes from being being the Second Owner" Everybody's head whirled to see a very well dressed ten year old girl step out of the shadows, followed by a monolith of a man in a Greek kilt. "My name is Illyasviel von Einzbern," She turned to Shirou, "Onii-chan, I see that you finally summoned your Servant. Now we can see what you are made of." The way she said it implied that she was referring to his viscera more than to his character. She turned to her giant Servant, "Hercules, Kill them"

Caster stepped in front of Shirou.

The man-mountain drew back his sword and charged. As he covered the yards between them, Caster smirked, 'come to me, Berserker'. The intricate pattern that she had paced earlier flared with light as the Servant stepped into the spell she had traced there, enclosing Hercules in shimmering, glass-like walls. As the giant servant's charge faltered, the shimmering walls started to fold in on themselves, folding the trapped servant at the same time, appearing to warp reality itself.

The glowing glass walls folded in half again, reducing the space inside to a quarter of the original

And again, another fold.

But this time, the glass-ine wall bulged out and shattered, as Hercules burst out. "That was a worthy attempt, spawn of Hecate, but now you die." He raised his sword.

"The Saber class has A class magic resistance," Explained the little blond girl. "You have no defense against my Hercules."

'Archer, get over here quick!' Rin sent silently. But she knew that he would be too late - in the seconds it would take him to reach them, Saber would cut down first Caster and then Shirou. And then what would Sakura think? Rin cast Gander at the behemoth, but the spell just splashed across Hercules' biceps with no effect.

"Stay back, Master!" Caster desperately created a shimmering distortion in front of her. Saber's sword smashed through it, and would have sheared through Caster as well if it hadn't deflected up slightly at the last moment.

Saber turned to see Shirou facing him, a reinforced branch in his hands. "You're not hurting her!" he growled.

Caster's eyes got huge, 'stupid. he's always so stupid.' But Caster was a pragmatist. She cast a powerful reinforcement on her master, to give him superhuman speed and strength.

As Saber cut at Shirou, the red head lunged aside and deflected the sword, managing to avoid getting hit just by a hair's breadth. In the space of a second Saber attacked again and again, at a speed that was blinding for a regular human, but each time Shirou managed to deflect most of the blow, only taking grazing scratches that ripped across his chest and arms.

As he stumbled back into a guard stance, blood flowing down his arm, Hercules staggered - Archer raced in from behind, one sword sweeping across Saber's back and the other lashing out, hamstringing the giant. But as he turned to deal a finishing strike, he was caught unawares by Saber, who pivoted on his (now uninjured) legs and dealt Archer a powerful backhanded blow.

As Archer smashed into a lamp post, Illya turned from her observation of Shirou, "Enough Hercules. We are done here." She turned back to Shirou, who was gasping for breath as he held a hand to the wound on his chest. "Onii-chan. You are a very interesting person. I look forward to talking with you some more." She turned and left, quickly fading in to the shadows.

"Shirou!" Caster called out as her master toppled face first to the asphalt. "The reinforcement was too much for him! Quick, we have to get him back home."

"I'll carry him" Archer volunteered as he staggered up from where he had landed.

Caster looked at him suspiciously.

"Don't worry. I won't hurt him. My foolish master seems quite taken with the little moron."

Rin stuttered a protest, but her heart wasn't in it as she was distracted by Shirou's condition.

-FAR-FAR-

After the trio had carried the unconscious Shirou to the Emya residence, Caster started a healing ritual while Rin arranged Shirou comfortably on his futon.

"That's all for now." Caster examined her handiwork. Shirou already looked less faded. "He should be fine in the morning. You can bandage the gash now." She cast a wary glance over at Archer.

Rin frowned at her classmate as she grabbed the role of bandages. "Archer, why don't you act as a look-out on the roof. I am concerned one of the other Masters might have noted that Shirou is injured and might try to use this opportunity to finish him off."

Archer opened his mouth to say something, but then, after a quick glance at Caster's scowl, shrugged and disappeared from view.

Several minutes passed in silence as Rin delicately wrapped the bandages around Shirou's chest, adjust them to make sure they fit perfectly. Caster knelt by her side and helped prop Shirou up so that Rin could pass the bandages under his torso.

"You don't like my Archer much, do you?" Rin finally asked.

"No." Caster paused in thought, "I have a small amount of... precognition. And I have foreseen that Archer means to kill Shirou."

"Precognition? Does that even exist in this day?" Rin looked skeptically at Caster, who was dressed in modern clothes. "That is approaching True Magic!"

"And you think you get to be a Caster class Servant by pulling a prize out of a box of Cracker Jacks?" Caster huffed, "I am… was, the most powerful magus of my generation. I am the only person to kick Zeltrech's ass in a thousand years, after one of his little practical jokes almost ate the universe." Caster at this point was standing and bending over to wag her finger at Rin.

'High strung, isn't she?' Archer added silently. Rin had left their telepathic link open, so that he could listen in on Caster through her ears.

'Aren't you glad I'm your master and not her?' Rin replied, gently resting a hand on Shirou's bandaged chest. 'But she is right - I don't want you hurting Shirou.'

'He is a master.'

'I KNOW! I will deal with him when I am ready to.'

-FAR-FAR-

"Wha..?" Shirou swam up to consciousness, "Where am I? Is everybody ok?" Shirou groggily sat up, the pain in his chest a minor inconvenience.

"Baka! Lie back down!" Rin pushed Shirou back down onto his futon. "You're back home, Archer carried you here, and Caster and I have managed to fix you up. As a Servant of the Spell, she knows powerful healing magics."

Shirou glanced down at the bandage wrapping his torso. "That's great. Where is she now?"

"She's in your kitchen, making some broth. She asked me to keep an eye on you while..Hey!" Rin pushed Shirou back down onto his futon, "Where do you think you are going?"

"I was just, I mean I don't want…" He wilted under Tohsaka's glare, "The kitchen."

"Baka! Caster is perfectly able to make some Miso soup. Your job is to rest and recover!" Rin sighed, 'Honestly, it's like everybody else takes precedence over him. I thought Caster was being foolish asking me to sit and watch over him, but now I see that she was right.' She glared at Shirou, "You need a babysitter, not a Servant. It's a wonder you didn't get yourself killed when you faced off against Hercules. If your Servant hadn't been an enormously powerful Magus, able to reinforce you to your breaking point, you would have died!"

"And if I hadn't stepped in Caster would have died."

"Shirou, she's already dead. didn't you get that from my previous explanation? She's the spirit of some long dead hero. The worst that can happen to her is that she is sent back to the Throne of Heroes."

"She's alive right now. So as far as I am concerned she deserves the same protection as anybody else."

"And what about you? Do you deserve protection?"

Shirou didn't answer, looking at the floor instead.

"Baka. If you get killed, Matou-chan will be heartbroken!"

"What… What do you mean by that?"

Now it was Rin's turn to look away, "You figure it out." she finally muttered.

Shirou pondered for a moment before… "Wait - Sakura! Morning!"" He flung his covers off and pulled on a loose shirt over his bandaged torso.

"This again?" Rin stood up to block his path.

"Sakura and Fuji-nee will be here for breakfast any moment. I need to.." At that moment there was the sound of the front door opening.

"Shirou!"

"Sempai."

Echoed through the house. Shirou almost ran down the hall, 'I don't feel too bad. Either I wasn't too badly injured or Caster's healing magic is really powerful', "Oh, Hi Sakura, Fuji-nee. I'm sorry I overslept…"

"Who's that?" Taiga demanded pointing to Caster.

"I'm Maiya Hisau, a friend of Kiritsugu Emya. I was in the area, so I thought I'd stop by." Caster replied

"And ah, she arrived late last night, so I didn't feel it was right to turn her away. She didn't have any hotel reservations or anything." Added Shirou, smiling sheepishly.

Taiga squinted at Caster, "Maiya Hisau is dead. Kiritsugu had a shrine for her."

"The reports of my death were greatly exaggerated. But given how out of touch I was, I am not surprised my former lover thought I was dead."

"Wait, What?" Fujimura demanded as Rin walked into the room as well. "And oh, hello, Tohsaka. How long have you been here?"

"I just came by a few minutes ago. I missed school yesterday, so I was hoping to go over Emya-kun's notes before class."

While Fujimura was trying to figure out who was here and why, Sakura glanced between Rin and Shirou with a sinking heart., 'Nee-chan always takes the good things in my life.'

"Well, I guess there's nothing wrong with that. Let's eat!" Fujimora sat down as Shirou and Sakura repaired to the kitchen, to make a few odds and ends to go with the Miso soup.

The atmosphere in the kitchen was very awkward. Sakura acted pleasant and sweet as always, but was oddly tentative. And Shirou kept watching her out of the corner of his eye 'Rin is just imagining things. Sakura is just a friend.' But now that he thought about it, he began to wonder.

Finally, the food was served and eaten, and Fujimura had rushed off to school, followed by Sakura, who had archery practice.

Rin and Shirou walked to school together. "So, you're pretty good friends with Matou?" Rin finally ventured, fishing.

"Yeah, she's been coming over to help me cook since I got really sick in middle school." Shirou paused for a moment before continuing on, "She's a good friend, but that's all she is. We both just happen to like cooking."

"Hmm," Rin nodded. As the two got to the entrance to the school grounds, Rin turned to Shirou. "Remember, we're back to being enemies. If I meet you again, I will try to kill you." She watched to see if Shirou comprehended the seriousness of the situation.

"I understand."

Rin entered and turned right, while Shirou walked off to the left..

nb: in Japanese, 'Second Owner' means manager, but with a stronger personal investment.

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