Disclaimer: I do not own the Fate franchise it belongs to Kinoko Nasu and Type-Moon.

Jewels and Crows

Chapter 20

In the suburbs of Fuyuki City, a matronly woman was softly humming to herself as she tended her garden. Dressed in a grey-belted dress of white with a yellow, wide-brimmed hat to protect her from the Sun, she was on her knees working on her flowerbeds with gloved hands.

Completely-engrossed in her task, she didn't notice a pair of ravens flying down to the ground behind her, and while she noticed their caws, she didn't think much of it. The ravens glanced at each other, and had any been watching they'd been stumped to see one of them give what looked like a shrug.

The other raven then stepped forward, and taking the edge of the woman's dress in its beak, tugged. Aoi Tohsaka jolted in surprise, and looked over her shoulder at the two birds. They cawed at her, and she sighed.

"Go away." She said, making a shooing gesture. They cawed at her again, and she made more shooing gestures before turning back to her flowers. They cawed again, and when she didn't respond the two birds grabbed her dress in their beaks and tugged.

"Stop that!" she snapped over her shoulder and causing the birds to jump back. They cawed at her, and she turned back to her flowers. Again, they took her dress' edge and tugged, and this time, the thoroughly-annoyed Aoi jumped to her feet. "That's enough! Go…!"

"Mother?" Rin said with an alarmed note in her voice as she rushed out of the house. She wore a worried expression on her face. "What's going on? I felt an intrusion so I…"

She trailed off as the ravens flew at her, cawing loudly. One of them flew in circles around her while the other alighted on her arm, raised instinctively to protect her face as the birds flew at her. And then before she could react, it pressed its beak against her forehead.

"Mom doesn't have magic circuits, and I'd rather not risk telepathy on someone who doesn't have them." A familiar-sounding voice echoed in her head, Rin instinctively opening her mental barriers to her sister's mind.

"Sakura?" Rin asked incredulously, and causing Aoi to slump with pink cheeks.

"Oh right," the older woman said. "Sakura uses ravens and crows as familiars. Still…"

Aoi paused to draw herself up, glaring down at the other raven which was now standing on the ground in front of her. "Don't pull my – or any other people's – dress like that." She admonished with a raised finger. "That's very rude."

The raven looked suitably-chastised, but then it raised its head and cawed. Rin tilted her head as though listening to something only she could hear – which wasn't far from the truth – and then glanced at her mother. "Sakura says she's sorry, but she needed to catch your attention." She said. "Apparently she needed to see me quickly, but while her familiars can slip through the outer bounded fields – so long as they're fully-active – she doesn't want to risk the ones protecting the house."

"Alright, but why couldn't she come in person?" Aoi conceded before an uncomfortable expression appeared on her face. "She lives just a few minutes' walk or so from here."

Rin glanced at the bird, and after a moment raised an eyebrow. "Apparently it'll take too long to get here." She said. "Sakura's at a birthday party somewhere else in the city."

"Well," Aoi said after a moment's thought. "That's a valid excuse I suppose. It would be rude too to leave in the middle of festivities."

The raven cawed in agreement, and Rin sighed. "Okay," she began. "So what's so important that you needed to see me?"

In response the raven pressed its beak against Rin's forehead again, and after a moment Rin's eyes went wide.

"WHAT?"


Shirou was used to pain, even more than most magi were.

They never had to walk through a sea of fire as a child after all. They never had to breathe air searing-hot and choked with ash and embers on the wind. And they most certainly never had had to kill their own Humanity, to consciously ignore and walk past the pleas of people burning alive in a literal hell-scape.

The worst they likely knew as pain was the fire of magic circuits filling with prana, which dulled in time to become mere numbness as their bodies attuned themselves to the alien sensation of prana filling their circuits. Compared to what Shirou had gone through, it was barely worth commenting on.

Indeed, he didn't even feel pain when his circuits had been opened for the first time. He had gotten dizzy for a minute or two, and that was it.

Walking through hell as a child, having your mind and soul alike scoured clean, rendered a blank slate by the experience, even as his body was cooked alive in a literal hell-scape, did wonders for one's perspective. What was the old saying? There was pain, and then there was pain.

Take a wild guess which of those two Shirou could actually feel.

The scream of pain was purely by reflex, and in the next instant he pulled the arrow out of his arm, his body turning and presenting a thickly-armored section to the next salvo. The obsidian head shattered like the glass it was as it struck stone armor, Shirou discarding the previous arrow as he took to the rooftops again, jumping from house to house in the direction the arrows were coming from.

The boy narrowed his eyes behind his visor, briefly glancing at his arm. Despite the arrow punching through his left elbow, even if it hurt like hell to move it, his left arm was still functional, and the flow of blood was ebbing. The arrow must have missed something critical, for which he was thankful for.

Shirou might be right-handed, but the left hand (and arm) could still be useful. He certainly wouldn't be able to use two-handed weapons without it.

With a growl, Shirou noticed the trajectory of the arrows changing. His reinforced eyes also spotted a figure in the distance, much like him jumping from roof to roof. It was still too far away to discern exact features, but whoever it was it was facing him, and was holding what could only be a bow with which it shot the strange, obsidian-tipped arrows at him.

"Trace, on!" Shirou snapped, prana flaring in a hand in the form of a wakizashi. And with expert ease, he began cutting arrows out of the air as he picked up the pace.

There was one interesting aspect of his magecraft, his unique variant of Gradation Air – Tracing – possessed. He'd discovered it entirely by accident, and he'd never told anyone about it, not even Waver.

Just because he possessed different ideals to most of his fellow practitioners, it didn't mean he wasn't a magus. His personal mysteries had secrets which he would keep.

It wasn't just to keep them from being disassembled and potentially replicated (though that was extremely unlikely seeing as Shirou suspected it was a unique consequence of his aligned origin and affinity), though it was a reason. It was also because it was a trump, just in case he came up against someone trying to take advantage of him, believing that thanks to his specialization he could only use Tracing and the various variations of material analysis and transmutation, and use that limitation against him.

That aspect was his ability to 'read' the history of anything he analyzed structurally on the basis of his concept of 'sword'. And if he traced it as a 'sword' then he gained the ability to use whatever he had traced as well.

There was a limitation of course. Tracing was still a variant of Gradation Air, no matter how unique it was. In the end, it was just a tangible illusion, not truly real.

They were almost like the real thing. And that was the whole point: almost. And that limitation applied to copied skills. They would always be one level below the real thing. However, unlike the traced object, which would disappear in time, the skills would be kept. And he could hone those skills with further training, until it reached the level of the 'real' thing.

A part of Shirou felt guilty about copying skills, it felt like cheating, that he never truly earned those skills. But another part of him pointed out that he was a magus.

Magi were cheaters by their very nature.

Magecraft after all, was a matter of learning and then manipulating the secrets of the World, and taking advantage of loopholes and such, perform miracles.

And he still had to put in real effort to truly master his copied skills. So in the end, Shirou could uncomfortably accept the head-start he had gained with his copied skills.

Both the traced wakizashi and the skills he gained with it were enough to bolster Shirou's defenses as he closed the gap with his enemy. The enemy was moving in an arc, trying to maintain her distance while raining arrows down on him, but Shirou was slowly closing that distance.

As he approached the edge of another house's roof, Shirou abruptly froze and then jumped back, warned by instinct. An instant later, one of the chimeras from before jumped up in front of him, followed by two others.

The first leaped at him, Shirou tracing a katana and swinging it at the beast. His eyes widened as the traced blade shattered like glass against its scaled skin, the wakizashi following a moment later between the thing's fangs.

Snarling, Shirou allowed himself to fall on his back, taking advantage of the beast's momentum to kick it up and away behind him. As it fell off the roof and down to the ground, Shirou rolled out of the way, and jumping to his feet allowed a second beast to bite down on his left arm. Stone armor cracked but held, and in the next moment Shirou bashed the thing's head with his right elbow.

Tossing away the twitching corpse, he kicked the third beast away, sidestepped the first beast which had jumped back up on the roof, and then grabbing it by the tail, used it smash the second beast down on the roof. Shouting, Shirou body-slammed both beasts, crushing them with his heavily-armored form. Rolling off their bloody corpses, he got up onto a crouch, and narrowly avoided an arrow which streaked past.

It struck a house behind him, and blew a large section of the wall into rubble, the rest of the house following after. "Damn it!" Shirou said angrily, less angry about narrowly avoiding death and more at the collateral damage. Another arrow streaked in, Shirou jumping off the roof which exploded as the arrow struck it.

Landing next to the iron fence, Shirou grabbed it with his hands. "Trace on!" he shouted, prana flashing in glowing lines through the metal.

Paint ignited and burnt away as sparks flew, Shirou using alteration to re-forge the metal even as he reshaped it. Within moments the fence was gone, the boy holding a katana and wakizashi pair in his hands.

Shirou knew they wouldn't really match up against swords forged by real swordsmiths, but together with his copied skills they should be enough. Or so he hoped.

The beasts had negated his traced weapons, and there was a good chance their master could too. If so, then hopefully something real could work where they failed.

But why wasn't that big snake from earlier immune to my traced naginata?

Shirou didn't have more time to ponder the puzzle as another arrow streaked in. This time Shirou advanced, letting the arrow explode behind him as he followed in its wake. Again jumping back on the roof, he dodged arrow after arrow, gritting his teeth at the explosions behind him, reinforcing his legs further as he closed the distance.

I'm going to kick this bastard's butt for all the people he's hurt or killed! And then I'm going to hand him over to the Church for all the trouble he's started!

Eating up the intervening distance, it wasn't long before Shirou saw his enemy clearly. It was a young woman, probably ten or so years older than him, with dark skin and foreign features, her dark hair tied back into a crude bun at the back of her head. Leather armor reinforced with bronze plates over critical areas protected her torso and her limbs, the chest plate forged into the image of a leering, demonic face.

She carried a bow of bone, which she discarded with her quiver as Shirou charged in. "WHO ARE YOU?" Shirou demanded as he entered hearing range. "WHAT DO YOU WANT?"

The woman didn't answer, instead drawing a pair of black obsidian blades from behind her, crossed them and then leaped forward to engage Shirou. Growling, Shirou sheathed the wakizashi at his waist before holding his katana two-handed, and blocked the woman's first blow.

Uncrossing her blades, she rained down high-speed slashes alternately with her swords, sparks flying as she forced Shirou back step by step. As he reached the ledge, Shirou feinted and dodged past, launching a counterattack of his own that woman blocked and riposted.

Shirou jumped back, the woman moving quickly to press the attack. Again, they crossed blades, and then the woman sprang back, her face filled with alarm as she looked at the sky above. Shirou blinked, and cautiously looked up. His eyes widened, watching in shock, surprise, and awe as a translucent pyramid of magical energy descended down, until it had enclosed virtually the entire battlefield from the beginning of the battle until this point within.

"What the…?"


"Bounded field complete."

"Impressive," Rin said, floating in the air, gems glowing on bracelets and anklets and letting her fly. She lazily flew through the air around the translucent pyramid, a large raven flying beside her. "It's still a bit flashy though."

The raven beside her gave a silent snort. "Give me some credit here." Sakura shot back. "Only magi and other gifted can actually see it. Well the magic circle in the sky was visible, but you need to actually be looking for it and have good eyesight to see it. And the ones on the ground are masked."

Rin nodded, looking up at the pyramid's apex, where a trio of crows had flown along the edges of a glowing magic circle, the familiars allowing Sakura to remotely-deploy her bounded field. And though Rin couldn't see it, four other trios of crows had been at each corner of the pyramid's base, walking along the edges of their circles while a raven stood nearby to project a masking illusion as Sakura used the crows to remotely-deploy the bounded field.

"You owe me a favor for this." Sakura said to Rin's outrage.

"I'm your sister!" Rin protested.

"I'm doing your job for you." Sakura countered. "And no, you're not, at least not legally. And besides, this and that are two entirely different things."

"I could have deployed a bounded field myself you know." Rin grouched.

"I'm sure you could have." Sakura admitted to Rin's surprise. "And you'd probably do better than me depending on the circumstances. I don't have your level of versatility after all."

Rin was silent for several moments, still flying with Sakura's familiar beside her, the latter also casting the illusion that would keep her from being noticed. "I sense a 'but' there." She eventually said.

"Yes." Sakura said.

There was a moment of silence, and then a vein began to throb on Rin's forehead. "And?" she prompted through clenched teeth.

The silence was profound for several more moments, and then Sakura replied. "Sorry about that." She said. "It was my turn popping balloons. Got myself a fox stuffed toy out of it too."

Again there was silence. "SAKURA!" Rin shouted.

"Snippy aren't we?" Sakura said with a laugh. "I'm surprised you haven't noticed it yet though."

"Enough games, just tell me already!"

"Fine, fine," Sakura said with a sigh. "You'd have cast the bounded field the normal way. And they'd have noticed and either could have escaped or taken hostile action. I mean, they noticed me too, but only towards the end when there was nothing they could do about it. That priest is moving fast, but he's still some time away."

"Can your bounded field hold them until he gets here?"

"And just who do you think my adopted family is?" Sakura replied with an offended tone. "We're not just masters at using familiars…"

"Yeah, I noticed that." Rin said with a note of envy. "To think you could cast a three-dimensional bounded field remotely through the use of familiars."

"We're also masters at absorbing energy. And Fuyuki has a lot of ambient prana. Unless they start throwing out A-rank High Thaumaturgy, there's no way they can overpower the field. They're trapped in there."

"Good," Rin said sternly. "Not only are they in my territory without permission, they started trouble. And they're going to tell me why, one way or another."

"As you wish, supervisor. And don't be so jealous. There are some things you can do that I can't do. You're athletic for one. You have all Five Elements for another. And you can fly, though I guess that falls under wind elemental magecraft too."

"Point taken," Rin said, scratching her head. She stopped flying to float in place instead, Sakura's raven flying in circles around her. "Now then, let's wait for Kirei to arrive, shall we?"


Sparks flew as steel ground against obsidian. Something about the blades didn't feel right to Shirou, and his attempts to 'read' their construction turned his stomach and made his head spin.

It was almost like he didn't want to read them, at least on a subconscious level.

The woman had recovered quickly from the shock of the bounded field sealing their battlefield, and had pressed with almost desperate fury. It seemed that that had not been part of her plan, that there were other magi out there, and they were closing in. And they were not friendly.

It was hard not to blame them really. Their battle had been rather visible, risking shattering the masquerade. And that was something no magus worth the title would dare risk.

The woman had been like a whirlwind, raining blows down on Shirou and forcing him back step by step while disorienting and wearing him down, until she managed to force his guard open and kick him away. That the woman was strong could be felt from her blows. It didn't surprise Shirou then that despite his stone armor, the woman's kick sent him back several steps, and gave an opening that she tried to use to finally cut him down.

Shirou, awkwardly balanced on the edge of a roof, knew he had no chance of stopping her. So he didn't try. Instead, he allowed gravity to get its way, falling backward and avoid a crisscrossing swing of obsidian that would have cut through the thin armor where his helmet met the rest of his armor, and into his neck.

Landing hard on his back, Shirou grit his teeth and held a hand flat against the ground. "Trace on!" he spat, and he felt the ground he was lying on distend downward as matter was altered into a giant fist that sprouted up beside him and shot upwards at the woman.

She dodged the blow, the stone fist smashing the section she'd been standing on to rubble. She ran along the edge for a few feet before jumping down, which gave Shirou time to roll over and looking down the street, plan out a strategy.

"Trace on!" he said, slamming his hand on the ground. Again, the ground distended as a wall rose up, cutting the enemy off. Moments later, and the dozens of spear-like formations sprouted around Shirou, which caught the enemy off-guard as she tried to jump on and off the roof, allowing Shirou to throw several traced shuriken at her. And like Shirou, she let gravity have its way and fell backwards to avoid the projectiles heading her way.

And then there was a sudden surge of prana, much like before when the giant snake had appeared. Shirou narrowed his eyes, unwilling to lose the initiative again.

"I won't let you!" he spat, placing his hands on the ground. "Trace on!"

The woman's eyes widened as the entire road suddenly sagged, and then with a thunderous roar the wall collapsed, a giant stone dragon with Shirou on its head roaring towards her. With a snarl of hate, she jumped back, and then again as they kept at her.

She jumped up a roof as the stone slammed into her summon, stone fangs biting into her serpent's body with a spray of bright blood. The serpent screamed as the dragon tore its throat out and crushed it to the ground, and then Shirou was closing, standing on a fist of stone as it shot out of the stone dragon's side.

Cursing, the woman dodged, only to realize Shirou had seen it coming. Jumping off the fist, he landed in front of the woman, his katana rising in a silver arc. The woman jumped back, crimson droplets flying through the air as Shirou cut a shallow but bleeding gash through the leather of her belly armor.

Grabbing his sword with both hands, Shirou raised it to head level and pointing it at his enemy, charged. The woman dodged the initial attack, and drawing her blades blocked Shirou's follow-up attack. Shirou refused to back down, pressing the attack with powerful overhead blows and side attacks that boxed his enemy in, allowing him to drive her back step by step, until in a reversal of a previous situation managed to kick her off the roof.

Jumping down, he brought sword his down in a two-handed swing, but the woman managed to roll away and to her feet before coming in to counterattack. Steel flashed as Shirou drew his wakizashi, and using it to parry the woman's first strike, used his katana to force her to abandon one of her blades.

Snarling, she leapt back, Shirou throwing the wakizashi after her. She knocked it aside with an armored forearm, and Shirou's eyes went wide as she cut her wrist open. And as blood sprayed out, she hurled her blade at Shirou.

To his shock and horror, saw her blood congeal into fleshy tendrils that wrapped around her blade's hilt, extending out from her wrist like a macabre chain. Shirou dodged the throw, and then dropped as she reeled it in in an arc. "What the hell?" he shouted as he jumped back to his feet.

Laughing, the woman charged at Shirou, sparks flying as she brought her sword up in a slash that staggered the boy. Two more slashes quickly followed one after another, and then Shirou was kicked back several steps before the woman grabbed her other blade with those same tendrils of solidified blood from before, and pulled it back into her hand.

Crossing both blades in front of her, she charged, uncrossing them at the last moment to launch a whirlwind-like series of blows that staggered Shirou. A series of powerful slashes followed before she feinted, dropping to kick out Shirou's legs instead.

As the boy fell, she rose up, her blades coming down at his shoulders to take his arms off. Sparks flew as Shirou brought his katana up in time, two pairs of golden eyes meeting as steel and obsidian ground at each other. And then Shirou brought a leg up, and kicked the woman away.

Skidding back, she crossed her blades again as Shirou jumped to his feet, his sword held two-handed before him.

Silence fell, the two combatants breathing heavily. Shirou's armor was covered in scratches and was cracked in places, while his left arm was covered in dry blood. The woman's armor was less damaged, though blood stained the leather of her belly.

Several moments passed, and then their bodies tensed, prepared to continue to battle. And then out of nowhere, several Black Keys rained on the intervening space, catching their attention.

Both combatants turned their heads in surprise, at a black-robed priest standing on a roof a good distance away. "My goodness," the priest said, running a hand through his hair. "You seem to be in something of a tight spot, aren't you Shirou Emiya?"

Kirei Kotomine smiled, flexing his hands in front of him. And clenching them into fists, materialized more Black Keys between his fingers.

"Shall I lend you a hand?"


A/N

Having living (familiars are usually made from dead animals) familiars is a two-way street. Even for someone as young – and thus not as mentally or spiritually-compromised by age like Zouken is in canon – as Sakura is. Something to keep in mind for what's to come.

Rin can fly. Why not? She's better-trained than in canon, so I figured a genius like her could pull something as simple as magically-sustained flight off, especially with the wind element at her disposal.

Besides, everyone's upgraded from their canon selves, so let's show them off shall we?

Thepkrmgc: no, it's just one of Kiri's old enemies on Shirou's tail.

DarkJackel: Shirou already knows tracing (as this chapter makes clear), it's just that you can't find Noble Phantasms in a convenience story.