(Hello readers. I really wanted to create a more traditional Fate crossover so I decided to make one based on Hakuouki SSL! Enjoy your read!

EDIT: When I first uploaded this I forgot that this website doesn't carry over line breaks from microsoft word. Sorry for the confusion! The problem has been fixed now.)

Prologue

Cold winds blew heavy droplets of rain against the window panes of the Yukimura residence. The dreary weather of the night seemed almost fitting for what was taking place in the basement of the home of three. Down in the hidden floor under the house stood a father who only smiled at the sight of his children on either side of him. On one side of the basement stood his son Kaoru with a look of cold determination on his face and opposite to him was his twin sister Chizuru, who looked more than a little apprehensive about what was to come. The clock behind Kodo Yukimura struck midnight and he gave them the nod to go ahead with their rituals.

Chizuru and Kaoru simultaneously held their hands out to the summoning circles in front of them and began issuing the chant their father instructed them to. Each sibling had a set of red symbols etched onto their hands that showed their right to complete this ritual. The twins gave each other one last look as they neared the middle of their chants when their circles exploded with energy. The air kicked up around them to blow through their hair and scatter stray research papers across the room. Chizuru clutched her outstretched wrist with her other hand and her eyes screwed shut in pain from the strain this was putting on her body. She kept going though, kept issuing word after word of the incantation. She knew that Kaoru, without even seeing him, was pushing through this without any trouble. She needed to be strong like him.

"I announce."

"Yourself is under me, my fate is in your sword."

The furniture in the room slammed back into the walls with a loud bang, startling her, but she pressed on. Chizuru would make her family proud.

"In accordance with the resort of the Holy Grail, if you abide by this feeling, this reason, then answer."

With his blood still dripping from his outstretched hand, Toshizo Hijikata's strong voice echoed in the dark forest around him, where the trees swayed heavily in the conditions they were forced to withstand. Rain poured down around him but the barrier he set up to protect him from the elements did its job. His beautiful darkly colored hair remained dry, but was unable to keep its style from the chaotic nature of this ritual.

Behind him and also within the confines of the barrier stood a man who looked about ten years older than Hijikata. His face was laced with concern, not only for the success of the summoning, but the safety of his friend. He had been assured by Hijikata that there was no way he would fail in something so elementary, but Isami Kondou could not help but worry for his friend.

"Here is my oath. I am the one who becomes all the good of the world of the dead, I am the one who lays out all the evil of the world of the dead."

As Hijikata issued the final line of the incantation the circle exploded in a wave of light so brilliant Kondou was forced to cover his eyes.

"You, seven heavens clad in three words of power, arrive from the ring of deterrence, oh keeper of the balance!"

The swirling currents of air exploded in that instance around the blinding pulse of light emitting from the summoning circle. Heisuke Toudou stumbled back with a cry of surprise and narrowly avoided falling flat on his back side. Behind him, his parents slowly lowered their arms from their eyes and let out astonished gasps at the sight before them.

"He did it… the boy actually did it…" His mother's tone of disbelief would normally cut through him, but this situation was anything but normal.

Before him, standing proud and tall in the summoning circle, was a man clothed entirely in blue, skin tight apparel with matching blue hair, silver earrings , and perhaps most strikingly of all, blood red eyes. Those orbs of red eyed Heisuke first, then shifted to his parents, before settling back on him.

"Yo."

Heisuke's brows drew together. What kind of greeting was that from a Heroic Spirit? The man's lips curled upwards into a smirk, showing off a pair of two sharp canine teeth.

"You my Master, kid?"

A woman clad in a form fitting short dress stood quietly in the center of Chizuru's summoning circle. Long black boots stretched up her long legs and gloves of a similar style covered her arms. Her long purple hair flowed down to her ankles and a blinder of almost the same color as her hair was placed securely around her eyes.

Chizuru smiled upon seeing the woman before promptly collapsing to her knees. Her breaths came in short pants and her body suddenly felt sore after all the effort she put into pulling this off.

"I am Servant Rider. I ask you, are you my Master?"

The woman's sultry voice was so fitting for her appearance. If Chizuru was not so drained at that moment then she would have felt embarrassed for her Servant's appearance. Her father came over in that moment and helped her back up to her feet. She quietly thanked him and held onto his arm for support before hesitantly answering the woman's question.

"Y-Yes, I am. My name is Chizuru Yukimura." She bowed politely and then felt a little silly for doing so when the woman was wearing a blinder. "I hope I can meet your expectations."

Her father looked down at her with a suddenly stern expression. "Chizuru, you are her Master. Don't act so meek about your status."

Chizuru tensed. "O-Oh, yes of course! I'm sorry father."

If the woman had any reaction to their short exchange she let none of it show on her features. The fact that Chizuru could not see the Servant's eyes only unsettled her further. Behind the darkly clad Servant, Kaoru watched his father and twin sister bask in the glory of her successful summoning. His eyes narrowed and shifted back to his own Servant in front of him who had yet to speak. He could tell it was a woman beyond that, nothing. Her features were covered in heavy robes from head to toe that clearly implied she was a spell caster. She seemed to be eyeing him up as well for a small smile tugged at the corners of her mouth upon seeing the look of jealousy in his eyes.

"Hmm, so are you the one I'll be addressing as Master?" Her voice was smooth and laced with amusement.

He crossed his arms and glared at her less than formal introduction. "Yes, I am. I'm guessing you're of the Caster class?"

"Correct." Her smooth voice sent shivers down his spine.

"I'm Kaoru Yukimura. Over there is my sister, Chizuru, and my father, Kodo. We'll be working together with them and her Servant to win the Grail War. Understand?"

"Of course, your wish is my command, Master." She bowed with that unsettling smile still playing at her lips.

Kondou slowly lowered his hands from his face and was about to call out to Hijikata when he stopped, his eyes widening upon seeing the man standing before his friend. The stranger's skin was tan and his hair was pure white. He was dressed mostly in black and wore a red jacket over his clothing. The man's eyes swept over Hijikata with mild interest then drifted to Kondou for a few seconds, before shifting back to the violet haired man in front of him.

"Are you my Master?" The question that slipped lazily out of the man's mouth was laced with disappointment at the sight of Hijikata.

Hijikata raised his brow at the tone of the man's voice. "Yes that I am. What Servant are you and what is your identity?"

The man closed his eyes and sighed regretfully at his Master's words, as if he had been hoping by some off chance this was simply a bad dream. "I am of the Archer class. As for my identity…" He opened his eyes after a moment and glanced to the trees behind Hijikata in thought. "That's odd."

Hijikata crossed his arms and glared at his Servant. "What's the issue here? Can't you remember your name?"

Archer met his Master's eyes and a sarcastic smirk spread across his lips. "No, I can't seem to recall it. It seems my Master made a mistake when he summoned me."

Hijikata's face twisted into a scowl as his fists tightened. "There was no mistake in your summoning, Servant. What the hell is going on here?"

Archer simply shrugged in response, a look of mock sorrow on his face. "Clearly you are an inexperienced magus. I am truly unfortunate to be paired with a novice like you."

"Shut the hell up. That's not how you talk to your Master."

"Well obviously that is how I talk to him so…"

The hand which his command seals were drawn on twitched slightly. It was so tempting to use one of these absolute commands to force this rebellious Servant to respect him but that would only fuel the man's insults further. "Are you being serious when you say that you can't remember your identity? Does nothing come to mind?"

"Would I lie to you, Master?" The sarcastic smirk that Hijikata was starting to hate was back.

"Not if you know what's good for you," Hijikata muttered darkly. He pressed his fingers against his chin and frowned at Archer. "We can deal with this mishap later on I guess. What's important is, can you still fight without even knowing who you are?"

Archer took a moment of consideration before responding. "Yes, your prana supply at least is exceptional. I will be able to fight for you at full strength. That's all that matters, really."

Hijikata nodded in agreement. "My name is Toshizo Hijikata and," he hooked his thumb to point behind him, "back there is Isami Kondou, who is my mentor and will be assisting us in the War."

Kondou came to stand beside Hijikata with a welcoming smile directed at Archer. "It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm sure we can sort out your memory issue eventually but for now please fight by our side."

"Not like I have much choice in the matter," Archer chided. Kondou grabbed Hijikata's arm to stop the man from trying to beat some respect into his Servant.

The Holy Grail War was well on its way to starting. All across the city, familiars known as Heroic Spirits were entering this world to do battle with each other for the Holy Grail. With the summoning of the four Servants that night there was only one final step for the War to get underway. Luckily for a certain young, sickly magus, the final key was in fact the last unsummoned Servant.

In a decrepit shed located on the old haunted temple grounds on the outskirts of town, this magus was having a more difficult time than the others did with this ritual. A familiar itch came to the back of his throat as he hurriedly croaked out line after line the incantation he had spent weeks reading over, memorizing every single word. He was not sure what would happen if the chant was interrupted and he did not care to find out. His blood continued to drip from his palm as the stale air kicked up around him. He brought his other arm up in front of him to shield his eyes from the dust when, at last, he was finished.

"…arrive from the ring of deterrence, oh keeper of the balance."

The circle in front of him exploded into pure light with enough force to knock him back against the shed wall. He rubbed his head and grunted in pain before he slowly raised his head.

"Did… did it work?" He mumbled to himself. His green eyes could barely see through all the clouds of dust and dirt the ritual had kicked up. He felt a prick of pain on his forearm and immediately he yanked his sleeve up to see that an intricate red symbol had formed there. A wide grin spread across his face despite the ever growing discomfort in the back of his throat.

When the dust began to settle he could at last pick out a shadowy figure standing in the center of his circle. Whoever it was stepped forward into the light the moonlight light coming in from the only window in the shed and he nearly gasped upon seeing her.It took all his effort not to let out a triumphant whoop of success. This was it; he beat all the odds and had entered the War.

The person before him was no more than a girl who looked a little younger than him and much shorter as well. She wore a blue dress that was encased in heavy steel armor with a blue design on the breastplate. Her blonde hair was tied back into an elegant bun by a ribbon of the same color as her dress. The girl's entire demeanor commanded respect just by her standing there silently. The best part of all, was that she was very easy on the eyes. He was a little worried he would wind up with some grouchy old geezer who smelled like old beans. Her piercing green eyes stared into his own, quietly regarding him with that mesmerizing stare before at last she broke the silence with her quiet, yet firm voice.

"I am Servant Saber. I have heeded your call and accepted your summonings. I ask of you, are you-"

Her introduction was unfortunately cut short. His body hunched over and he hacked out several ragged coughs onto his sleeve. She was at her side in an instant with a look of concern gracing her beautiful features. He tried to smile and wave this off as nothing important when his body was overtaken with another round of coughing and suddenly standing felt like such a chore. The strength in his legs gave out and he would have collapsed head first into the ground if the girl had not caught him in her arms. The steel gauntlets covering her hands and reaching up her forearms were cold to the touch, even though his layers of clothing. She gently set him down on the floor and rested his back against the wall as his coughing fit slowly subsided.

"Are you alright?"

His eyes, which had been previously screwed shut, slowly opened to meet hers. "Hmm, we just met and you already can't keep your hands off me." Her eyes only narrowed in response and her touch left him when she stiffly returned to her feet. He let out a small laugh at her reaction. "Yeah, I'm used to this, don't worry about it." She nodded though he could still see some worry left in her gaze. "So, what were you about to "ask of me"?"

"I simply wanted to complete our contract," she said, ignoring his obvious chide at her formal way of speaking. "Simply answer me this, are you my Master?"

He almost felt giddy upon hearing the question leave her lips. "Yeah, that I am."

"Then our contract is complete, Master. From here on I will serve as your sword in this war and I promise you, I will win us the Holy Grail."

His face twisted up for a moment as if he tasted something bad which made Saber step closer to him in case he started coughing again. "Hey, that's great and all, but don't call me Master. Sounds good, don't get me wrong, just not in this context."

He was a little disappointed to see that his remark was either ignored or went completely over her head. "Very well then. May I have your name, sir?"

Sir? That was even worse. Made him sound old. "It's Okita Souji."

She nodded and for the first time a smile spread across her lips, albeit a small one, but he would take what he could get. "I will address you as Souji, then."

"Souji? Hmm, we really are moving fast." He briefly relished the sight of his Servant's brow twitching at the sing song tone of his voice. "What about you? Got a name besides Saber?"

"I am sure you have many questions. However, that is hardly the conversation to be having in a toolshed that is not even protected in a barrier. I suggest we return to your base of operation before discussing such things. For now, please call me Saber."

"Saber it is then." He let out a quiet sigh, already imagining his impressive looking Servant's reaction to seeing their "base" in this war. She looked like a knight who was probably more accustomed to a castle than the tiny apartment that awaited her. Hell that would be nothing in comparison to when he revealed a bit about himself as well. He pushed his body up off the floor and once he knew he could keep himself up right he stepped toward the door of the shed. Saber fell in line behind him and together they stepped out into the blustering winds of the night with the stars watching over them from above.