9 Chapter Nine

Kirei set the phone receiver down with a soft click. Despite his usual self-control, he could feel a small smile forming on his lips. It seemed that he had greatly underestimated how interesting this Grail War was going to be. Perhaps he should have given Lancer more leeway to scout out the competition. "Well now," a haughty voice said from behind him, interrupting his train of thought. "You seem inordinately pleased," Gilgamesh said with a smirk, lounging on Kirei's couch. "What kind of phone call could excite you so, I wonder?"

"It seems that I underestimated the Emiya boy," Kirei said. "Zouken's little pawn has met an unfortunate end and I need to go clean up after him."

The blonde Servant burst out in uproarious laughter. "So the old man has already been knocked out of the competition? I expected more from him, given your descriptions. Perhaps he's not as clever as he thinks he is."

Kirei let out a single, dry chuckle. "The brat's Servant is still in the wind, so I have no doubt that the old worm has some kind of back-up plan. Unpleasant as he is, he might actually be as clever as he thinks and he has very little to lose. I doubt that we've heard the last of the Zouken Matou yet." He allows himself a small sigh and shakes his head. "But I will worry about that once I'm done cleaning up after Rin's mess."

Gilgamesh raised an eyebrow. "Oh? I thought that the Emiya boy killed him."

"Rin called it in, but, no matter what she might think of herself, she doesn't have the heart to kill a peer in cold blood. Not without some kind of reason to believe she had to. I have no doubt that Kiritsugu's heir did the dirty work for her." The priest smiled almost fondly. "But now I need to go invent a cover story and make sure that the body is found by someone that is easily… influenced."

"Humans are so easily toyed with," Gilgamesh said with a sigh, flicking a strand of stray hair out of his face. Then he broke out in another deep, full-bodied laugh. "It's so pathetic that I can't help but laugh!"

Kirei just stared at him with a shake of his head. "It only human foolishness didn't produce extra work for me in the middle of the night," he deadpanned. "I imagine that you'll have a quiet night, but don't destroy the church if something unexpected does come up. I need to go 'find' a body somewhere where no one will ask too many questions."

"Yes, yes, no need to be concerned." Gilgamesh waved him off with a casual flick of his wrist. "Ah, if you would be so kind as to pick me up a bottle of wine while you're out as well. It seems that we're running low again."

This time Kirei just sighed. "I'll see if I have time once I've dealt with our little situation."

--

Rider crossed the rooftops in spirit form, her footsteps entirely silent on the tiles. She didn't like leaving her Master, her real Master, alone for a moment longer than she had to. But running straight back to her would have risked leading the people who had just killed that idiot boy straight to Sakura and there was no way that she could allow that. She absolutely could not put her at risk like that.

So she had been forced to take the long way around, intentionally running away from her Master's presence and losing herself in the still brightly lit streets of Fuyuki's downtown. Thankfully, it seemed like the other teenagers hadn't bothered to follow her at all. Hopefully they were more concerned about being found with a freshly dead body than pursuing an opponent that would, in theory, fade away in to nothingness in short order. Thankfully, the thoroughly useless bond to Shinji was already faded away and she could feel the incredible well of magical power surging up to refill her pitiful reserves.

The moon was rising high in to the sky by the time she felt comfortable making her way back to her Master. The streetlights dimmed from bright white lighting shops and wide streets to a softer yellow glow illuminating family homes and sprawling historic estates. She was reluctant to describe it as anything other than pleasant, if perhaps a bit dull. No one would guess that sorcerers were secretly living among them. Which was certainly the point, but it was still a momentarily amusing thought. Not that she cared about any of those others unless they became a threat to Sakura.

The red-head was dangerous, no doubt, but Shinji's constant complaining had touched on him a few times. He shouldn't be a threat to Sakura's safety. But Shinji had also been certain that Shirou was both a normal high school student and no threat to him, and several feet of steel had proven him wrong quite succinctly. Not that she had tried that hard to actually protect him, especially with Saber proving to be a more than formidable enough opponent to keep her full attention. She came to a stop on top of a slightly sloped rooftop where she could sense her Master just across the street.

The house looked old and stately among the large, traditional style homes that made up the neighborhood, but it wasn't particularly notable to the passing glance. It was a very subtle sort of deception, but anyone who wasn't a Servant or a magus wasn't going to notice the Bounded Field surrounding the property. Which was a bit concerning when she was well aware that this was not Sakura's house. Having her Master tucked away into the home of an unknown magus in the middle of the Holy Grail War was just a little bit concerning.

The purple-haired Servant crossed the street with a single leap and kicked off the wall surrounding the house before she came to a gentle landing on the side of the house. Her footsteps were silent on the grass as she made her way around the side of the house, looking for any sign of life within. The windows were dark and even her ears couldn't pick up any movement inside, but the moonlight was more than enough to get a look at what was inside.

A number of the rooms appeared empty at a glance, which seemed unusual for a house of this size. Perhaps it was some kind of ancestral home for a family that had shrunk over the years. She ended up making her way half way around the house before she found a room that looked occupied. There wasn't much decoration in the room, but there was a slightly messy pile of blankets on the ground that clearly had someone currently sleeping within.

Rider felt her blood run cold as the figure rolled over and she caught sight of a familiar mess of blonde hair. Considering the cruelty the Fates had already saddled her with, she should have known that even her existence as a Servant couldn't be easy. She forcibly clamped down on any reaction, not wanting her presence to awaken the other Servant as she stepped silently away from the window. She had to find Sakura and make sure that she was alright before anything else.

She was both relieved and a bit surprised to find her Master inside the very next room. It was mildly concerning that she was only a single room over from an enemy Servant, but considering that said Servant seemed dead asleep and the room appeared to be a perfectly ordinary guest room. By all appearances, she was being treated as an ordinary guest. Rider hesitated for a moment as she examined the window. She didn't detect any further magical defenses, but she wasn't exactly a Caster. She was just going to have to risk it and be ready for Saber to respond if she was alerted somehow.

The Servant silently slipped through the window and assumed her physical form again as she knelt down next to Sakura's bed. "Master," she murmured softly, reaching out to touch the sleeping teenager's shoulder. "Master, can you hear me?"

Sakura stirred after only a moment, blinking her eyes blearily. "Rider?" She groaned softly as she pushed herself up to a half-sitting position as she forced herself awake. "Did Shinji send you? Or is grandfather looking for me?"

Rider pressed her lips together tightly. "Neither. I'm afraid that Shinji is no longer able to be my master. He was eliminated from the Grail War earlier this evening."

That woke Sakura up much faster. "Is he…"

Rider hated the sudden look of panic on Sakura's face. For as much of a piece of human garbage that Shinji had been, her Master still cared about him. For reasons that Rider did understand, no matter how much she wished she didn't. "I'm sorry," she said, more sorry that she couldn't say much to comfort the girl than actually sorry about Shinji's death. "I am at your command, whatever you desire."

Sakura fell silent again, her hands clutching her blankets tight enough that her knuckles went white and it took her several moments of deep breathing to compose herself. "Thank you, Rider," Sakura finally said, her voice soft and utterly devoid of emotion. "I'm sorry that I couldn't do more to help."

Through no fault of her own, at least in Rider's opinion. "If anyone is at fault, it's me," the Servant insisted. "Shinji's survival was my responsibility. I swear, I will not fail you a second time."

"I know." Sakura reached over and took Rider's hand gently, squeezing it reassuringly. "Thank you for being worried about me."

"Master, I do have to ask…" Rider paused to consider how to actually ask the question that she was considering. "You are not in danger now, correct? Considering this home belongs to…" She couldn't admit everything she knew, but surely Sakura wasn't entirely unaware of who was sleeping in the next room.

Sakura, of all things, blushed at Rider's words and looked down. "Senpai doesn't mean any harm. Saber sort of came out of nowhere. I'm not sure what's actually going on, but I know that I'm not in danger with him."

Rider wished that she shared her Master's confidence, but she wasn't going to contradict her Master now. She had a feeling that Sakura would not react well if she realized that it was Shirou who had put an end to Shinji. She hadn't gotten to spend as much time around Sakura as she would like, but Shinji's complaining had included plenty about how much his sister was mooning over the red-head. There had been an unpleasant sort of jealousy there. "Then I will stay out of sight when he's around to avoid… starting something." And possibly provoking that other Master to do something regrettable. She had to put Sakura's safety above anything else until she was certain that the Emiya boy wouldn't simply kill her to remove another threat.

"We'll be fine, Rider," Sakura said, patting her hand again. It sounded more like she was telling herself that, at least in Rider's opinion, but the Servant said nothing. "Tomorrow, we'll have to go see grandfather and see what he wants us to do next. It will work itself out."

Rider clenched her fist and forced herself not to comment on that. "You should get some sleep then," she said instead, moving her other hand to grip Sakura's shoulder reassuringly. "I didn't want to wake you, but I thought that it was better than surprising you in the morning. Just get some rest and I'll keep watch."

Sakura nodded and after a moment she laid back down and closed her eyes. Rider stayed sitting next to her in her physical form until the teen's breathing evened out and she was sure that she was asleep again. The purple-haired Servant let out a soft sigh and ran a hand over Sakura's hair, brushing it back from her face. "I'll protect you Sakura. I promise."