AN: Merry Christmas to all of you! (BTW Sorry for my lateness in updating... its been hard to find time to write when highschools just been really hectic so far).

Eyes of Blood, Hair of Silver

"The Einzberns?" Kiritsugu asked quietly. The slightest narrowing of his eyes was the only hint that gave away his surprise.

"Why? They've cut themselves off from most of the known world for years." Kiritsugu said. The Einzberns were an ancient magus family, immensely skilled in creating homunculi and they were notorious for keeping their secrets. It made no sense why they would suddenly begin hiring mercenaries.

Bazett shrugged uncaringly, "I don't know, and I don't really care. All I know is that they offered a large sum of money to the enforcers for their best enforcers to act as bodyguards. And that's why I'm here. The two of you are part of the Quintus of the church, I wouldn't want anyone else to watch my back."

Kiritsugu processed the information, why would the Einzberns, one of the oldest Magus families in the world, pay large amounts of money for bodyguards when their own homunculi would suffice? There was some element he was missing. The reports the church had sent out flashed through his mind.

There had been unusually high amounts of magus activity in Germany, Japan, and Britain. Old families that had not been seen in centuries were suddenly making themselves known. Recruitment of bodyguards for some unknown cause, executors none the less. His earlier conclusion had been right, something big was happening and it was happening soon, at the very least with in the decade.

And now he had an opportunity to get to the bottom of it.

"I accept." Kiritsugu said simply, sliding a hand underneath his frock to finger the black keys he had stowed away.

Bazett raised an eyebrow at the quick acceptance, hiring any executor usually required good connections, money, and a whole lot of luck, when one tried to hire one of the Quintus.. you usually had to have god on your side.

None the less, Bazett glanced at Kirei, who shrugged and tiredly brushed his brown hair out of his eyes. "I accept." He said impassively. He glanced sideways at Kiritsugu, "Should Raven and Grace know about this?"

Kiritsugu shrugged, "Tell them or don't, so long as they keep their mouths shut, it won't matter."

Kirei nodded and glanced back over at Bazett, "It seems like our lessons shall continue." Kirei said with just a hint of amusement. He had after all trained Bazett for 3 years on hand to hand combat. He was curious just how far she had progressed in three years.

Bazett flexed her hands, "I look forward to it," She said, walking out of the room. "We'll leave at six." She said, closing the door behind her.

Kirei smirked and looked over at Kiritsugu. "Do you think she knows?" he asked.

"She knows us well enough. I don't think she'd be surprised if we vanished quietly into the night." Kiritsugu replied, quickly sweeping together bare bone essentials into a small travel pack. "Do you think we can get access to the Einzbern documents?"

"Oh? Do I detect a genuine hint of curiosity from Emiya Kiritsugu?" Kirei responded, gathering together his bible and his armory of black keys. "Once we gain access to their Library things will be clear." Kirei said, tossing in a coil of black rope.

"We're on break anyway," Kiritsugu said.

Kirei shrugged looking over at Kiritsugu as the black haired executor gathered clothes and an assortment of books. A particularly dusty and battered tome slipped unexpectedly out of Kiritsugu's grip and onto the ground. Kirei looked at the faded title curiously.

"I thought you finished this book a long time ago?" Kirei inquired, picking up the book and handing it back to Kiritsugu.

Kiritsugu accepted the tome, "It was a gift." Kiritsugu said quietly, and placed the book gently back into his travel pack. "And I was taught never to question a gift."

The Canterbury Tales was a personal subject for Kiritsugu. He had read the book cover to cover at least 5 times. Kirei had personally held no interest in the book, far too busy with meditation, Bai quan, or other subjects to care about reading.

Kirei shrugged and as an afterthought pocketed a pen from his nightstand along with a small note book. When he caught Kiritsugu's questioning look he simply replied, "Notes." And the conversation was left at that.

Kiritsugu didn't think much of it. Kirei was a private person by nature. In fact, he could count the number of time he had even bothered saying anything about his personal life on one hand. The few little tidbits he had gotten out of Kirei over the years were rather senseless information.

Kirei glanced at Kiritsugu, "You ready?"

Kiritsugu quietly picked up a small white rose that was set on his dresser. The rose almost seemed artificial. The petals were pristine and the stem was as green as ever. However, this rose was very much alive, one of the more aesthetic parts to Kiritsugu's time magic.

He could quite literally, freeze things in place indefinitely.

Very few things were allowed that honor, to be sheltered from the ravages of time.

He regarded the petals for a moment and quietly took in their shade of exquisite snow white.

A memory of a small French girl asking him to pick a bouquet of flowers for her flashed through his mind.

Kiritsugu placed the rose clipping inside his luggage and nodded.

"Let's go."

"ID sir?" The security guard asked politely, extending one gloved hand toward Kiritsugu.

A small plastic card was nonchalantly placed in the awaiting palm. After a cursory glance, the guard nodded approvingly and moved over to luggage inspection. He looked intently at the scans, nothing remotely dangerous, just traveling essentials and it seemed like a couple books. He handed Kiritsugu who was staring uncaringly at a large wall sized advertisement, his pack and motioned to the next person in line.

"Next."

Kotomine Kirei stepped forward and handed over his own ID. It didn't take long before he was cleared as well. Kirei joined Kiritsugu and both of them moved toward the waiting area for Bazett, who had arrived several days in advance to rendezvous with her employers. Kirei quietly pulled out his sizeable bible and produced several burgundy red sword hilts from the pages. He nodded quietly and slipped the black keys back into the bible, the keys turning seamlessly into pages as they did so.

"Everything clear?" Kiritsugu asked quietly, himself checking his equipment. His stash of black keys had escaped the security guard's notice. Similar to Kirei, he had hidden the blades inside the pages of a bible. A simple surge of prana would convert the blades into pages and back without any other indication.

His wakizashi however, had required a bit more finesse to smuggle in. He had first acquired a martial arts license from the bureau in Germany, and then he had slipped the actual blade into a map tube, while a wooden practice sword sat unused in his brief case.

Kirei nodded and the two proceeded to the gift shop, their informal rendezvous point with Bazett. When they got there, both of them purchased two boxes of chocolate from the shop keeper and they sank quietly onto a bench to wait.

No conversation occurred between the two of them, they both knew exactly what was going to happen.

They didn't need to wait long.

A woman who was probably the very definition of beauty strode unassumingly into the shop. Everything about her would have caused most men's jaws to drop the ground. There was only one exception, the smile on her face, while immaculately beautiful, looked manufactured.

She walked fluidly, almost too fluidly, the movements looking like the perfect economy of movement and grace. Her silvery hair flew past her as she swept by the awestricken shopkeeper and she came to a perfect halt in front of the two executors.

Kiritsugu quietly looked up from his book, looking like he hadn't a care in the world. He didn't say a word and returned to his book. There were two reasons why an immaculately beautiful woman would come to him. He had spent enough time in the seedy underbellies of various cities to know that the best course of action was to keep quiet.

Kirei response was similar, while he was sure that Raven or Grace would of have had trouble picking their jaws off the floor and stumbling over their own words, Kirei's brain was ambivalent to the person in front of him. He simply raised an eyebrow and stared off into space.

"Irisveil!" An unusually panicked voice yelled.

Kiritsugu looked up at that, Bazett flew into the shop like a homing missile. Her usually immaculate suit was rumpled and her eyes were quickly evaluating the situation.

The magenta haired woman glanced at the white haired woman, "Irisviel, stop running off to places without me, I can't keep you safe unless you do that." She gasped.

Irisviel stared fixedly at a point on the wall. "My apologies." She said flatly. "Are these the two men you're looking for?"

Bazett nodded, smoothing down her dress shirt and brushing off a bit of dust that had flown on her as she pelted through the airport.

"Yes these are the men were looking for Irisviel. Although next time give me a warning before you break of like that alright?"

Irisviel nodded quietly, "My apologies, I was under the assumption we needed to find them as soon as possible."

Bazett sighed and ran a hand through her magenta hair, "It's fine. Just don't do it again." She said. After composing herself, Bazett walked toward Kirei and Kiritsugu.

"Our charge?" Kirei asked, gesturing toward the silver haired woman.

Bazett grimaced at that, "Unfortunately. She's a handful.", Bazetts face softened slightly, "Although she can be quite adorable when she wants to be."

Kirisugu glanced up at the silver haired woman, who was staring intently at the jars of candy like they were the most interesting thing in the world. He had to admit, the sight was as Bazett called it, adorable. "I wouldn't have guessed." He said dryly, rising from his position on the bench.

"I assume were to rendezvous with the other bodyguards?" He asked.

Bazett nodded, and walked over to Irisviel, grabbing her wrist and dragging her away from the jars of candy. "Come on Irisviel." She said, before turning back and saying, "There's a limo out front that'll take us there."

Kirei sighed and straightened himself from his chair, before marching after Bazett. Kiritsugu followed with only a hint of reluctance.

A couple hours and one extraordinarily awkward limo ride later, Kiritsugu found himself sitting in the center of a large atrium, similar to the one he had stood in years ago as a wide eyed young boy. Kirei stood next to him and they both resided in relative silence, only having to shut out any attempts at conversation every once and a while.

They both preferred it that way, they both were a little too stunted socially to feel comfortable aimlessly chattering like the couple dozen mercenaries and bodyguards also employed. Out of habit, Kiritsugu pulled out The Canterbury Tales, and began to read. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Bazett participating in a drinking contest.

He sighed and started back at page one.

Cheers of "Chug! Chug! Chug!" began to drift through the air. Beside him, he heard Kirei grumble about foolish humans and proceeded to stare at the large two story fountain in the center of the atrium. The chill of the castle was dispersed by large fireplaces and magecraft so that it only felt slightly chilly.

Another roar burst forth from the crowd as another round of beer was downed. Kiritsugu winced, he was going to kill whoever decided to supply the mercenaries with free alcohol he decided, only to duck as a wooden chair flew through the air toward his face.

The offending piece of furniture whistled over his head and with a ominous glare, he looked for who ever had thrown the object. His eyes immediately locked onto a brawling, heavy set man who was at the moment in a fist fight, around them a ring was forming.

He took a deep sigh and picked up his book from where he had dropped it and started reading again. Beside him, he could see Kirei jotting down notes in the small little note pad that he had taken to carry around with him. He rolled his eyes and resumed reading.

The hubbub died down for a moment, and then just as quickly started up again.

The sound of shattering glass cut through the air, and this time he looked up to see a fully fledged bar brawl break out. There were people slamming fists against each other, bawdy insults being bellowed in several different languages, and all the usual stereotypes that came to mind. He felt a vein pulse in his head.

Kiritsugu took a deep breath and looked back down at his book, attempting to tune out the clamor in the background while still trying to focus on his book. The clamor reached a crescendo and just as he was about to step outside so he could maybe read in peace, a mug of beer flew through the air and splattered over him and more importantly, the aged tome in his hands.

He stared uncomprehendingly at the liquid over the crisp white pages of his book. Reality sunk in a moment later.

Kirei took several steps back, already smirking. There was one reason why Kiritsugu dragged that book around with him everywhere. It was probably his most precious possession, for a number of reasons. Foremost being that it had been given to him by the man who had once again given him a purpose in his life.

It was like someone had suddenly turned oxygen into lead, the all out bar brawl that had been engulfing the masses slowed to a stop as the presence of the partial reality marble made itself known. They all stood there in a motionless heap, like insects trapped in a spider's web as time slowed every one of their bodies into still motion.

Bazett looked up weakly from under the motionless forms of two bodyguards. She managed to force enough air out of her lungs to gasp one word, "Sorry?"

The room temperature dropped another 20 degrees.

"Time Al-"

The sound of harsh applause broke through the room.

Kiritsugu turned around and found a aged old man clapping, somehow unaffected by the time alteration. "As expected from a member of the Quintus."

Kiritsugu turned around, Kirei automatically sliding in place next to him.

Kiritsugu released the reality marble, and the other people in the hall collapsed to the ground, greedily sucking in oxygen to fuel their burning muscles and heart.

Kiritsugu ignored that, "Who are you?" he asked quietly.

The wizened old man smiled crookedly, "Why, Jubstacheit von Einzbern, your new employer. Pleased to make your acquaintance, Emiya Kiritsugu."

Kiritsugu shook the extended hand, hiding his shock under his usual inscrutable mask. "The pleasure's all mine." He replied softly, switching into the old man's native German.

Jubstacheit or rather, Act, smiled at that "As expected from a member of the Quintus" He repeated, shaking his head. "I'm rather impressed that the enforcers managed to convince not one but two of you to join our little entourage. May I ask how much they paid you?" He asked, keeping his voice friendly.

Kiritsugu shrugged nonchalantly, "I'm off duty at the moment. So I might as well do a favor for a friend." He said lightly.

"Was France too exciting for a person such as yourself?" Acht said curiously.

The barest stiffening of his back was the only hint that gave away Kiritsugu's unease. "It was a rather messy affair, the church decided it was best to pull us out." He said.

Acht smiled in return, "Until next time, Quintus." He rasped amused, walking away.

Kiritsugu turned sharply away and stalked toward the back end of the hall way. Bazett looked up at him curiously, "What was that all about?" She asked, walking over to him, shoving past two of her newly acquired "drinking buddies".

Kiritsugu shrugged absently, "Nothing. Nothing at all." He said simply, gesturing to Kirei.

The usually ambivalent executor's eyes were curiously alert now. His eyes locked with Kiritsugu's for just a moment before he fell into step and the two of them walked down the hall speaking in a blur of romantic languages that even accomplished linguistic professors would have had trouble following.

"How does he know?" Kiritsugu asked, switching between German and French without pause.

"They are the Einzeberns. We shouldn't underestimate their information network." Kirei said simply.

"I was under the impression that the Einzberns had been cut off from the outside world for years." Kiritsugu said in Italian as they rounded a corner and made way somewhere toward the center of the castle.

"That's false. Tou-sama makes regular trips to the brewery and to pick up tea leaves." A voice said softly.

Kiritsugu turned around "Irisviel." He greeted cautiously. "I didn't know you knew how to speak Italian."

The white haired homunculus bowed to both of them. She was dressed in a white and gold dress that seemed more like summer attire than anything else. In the heart of winter, the castle was freezing, even with the fire places and mage craft. "I was designed to not suffer from linguistic flaws." Irisviel said quietly.

"Tou-sama has told me to escort both of you to your rooms. He also warns that wandering around in the castle is not permitted." Irisviel said softly. "He also wants to inform you that we'll be leaving in a week's time to Great Britain."

After ushering them both into elegant adjoining rooms, she closed the door behind them.

Kiritsugu looked around the room, elegant though the décor maybe, he noticed the lack of windows In the room and that the instant Irisviel had closed the door behind them, there was no doorknob on their side of the room. Closer inspection revealed several magic fluxes which could only indicate monitoring familiars.

Kirei flopped down on one of the massive king side beds in the room, no doubt ready just to settle for a comfortable night of sleep on a mattress, a luxury that was more often than not missing.

Kiritsugu on the other hand, knew he wouldn't be getting much sleep tonight. Never before had he felt more like a prisoner. He closed his eyes and leaned tiredly back against the wall, one had touching the pages of his bible, ready to draw out a black key at a moment's notice, the other sat quietly atop the Canterbury Tales, taking solace in the ale soaked pages of the ancient text.

Left. Right. Pivot, uppercut, dodge. It was all Kotomine Kirei could do to keep his head on his shoulders as Bazett swung another rune enhanced fist at his neck. Kirei ducked and the fist whistled over his head and smashed a chunk out of the expensive stone pillars that lined the room.

Bazett pressed the momentary opening, the small hole in Kirei's defenses was akin to finding a four leaf clover. She swept her left leg up and out, like the tail of a vicious dragon, rocketing at Kirei's chest. Kirei leaned backwards, allowing the blow to slide delicately over his face as he leapt backwards, nudging Bazett's heel sideways as he did so, sending her into a awkward pirouette of sorts.

As Bazett fought to regain her balance, Kirei assumed the opening gate stance, and lunged, fist rotating forward and his whole body committed to one strike. It was the most lethal attack in his repertoire in terms of raw power, and he could tell, as his body flew through the air, that at this speed Bazett would not be able to dodge.

It was over.

The fist slammed into the wall an inch from Bazett's face, sending shards of stone flying through the air. Kirei breathed deeply as he pulled his bloodied hand from the wall, "Good round." He said with a deadpan expression on his face, wrapping his hand in a white towel.

Bazett slumped tiredly to the ground, a trickle of blood running down the side of her face from where a shard of stone had nicked her. "Even after all this time, I still can't beat you huh Kirei?" She commented, hauling herself onto her feet.

It had become a routine of sorts for the two of them. Every day Kirei would appear at her door at 6 in the morning with his usual blank expression, toss her out of bed (and into the freezing castle courtyard), regardless of her state of dress and proceed to beat the living daylights out of her.

She knew he meant well, but when it was snowing outside and the sun hadn't designed to peek its head out of the horizon, she was just a little peeved.

Bazett sighed and glared up at Kirei. "Why can't you be more like Kiritsugu?" She grumbled heading inside the castle to escape the cold. It didn't help much, in the dead of winter, the stone that the castle was made out of seemed to radiate cold instead of repelling it.

"You'd prefer to cross blades with Kiritsugu?" Kirei asked dryly, "I'm sure that can be arranged."

Bazett flinched, instead of being bruised and aching all over, with Kiritsugu she'd just be leaking blood on the floor while Kiritsugu read his damned book. "I was more referring to the fact that Kiritsugu's just a bit nicer than you are." She quipped.

Mind you, just a little bit. But it was still something.

As if on cue, the spiky black haired executor rounded the corner, looking over the two of them with no little amusement. "Who's nicer than whom?" Kiritsugu asked.

"Nothing." Bazett snapped, heading over to the large banquet hall. There a arrangement of foods had been laid out on a heavy mahogany table that could have easily seated a hundred men with room to spare. Bazett picked up a muffin and took a bite out of it before wincing. While there was nothing wrong with the muffin persay, it just tasted too bland for it to be any bit appetizing.

Beside her, Kirei and Kiritsugu mechanically ate slices of toast, although Kirei she noticed, had spread what appeared to be hot sauce over his toast. "Is that hot sauce…?" She asked cautiously.

"Yes." Kirei said bluntly, spreading more of the offending condiment onto his toast.

Kiritsugu rolled his eyes, contenting himself with plain butter, "Ever since Frace he's been obsessed with spicy food." He said, jabbing a finger irritably at Kirei. Said executor ignored him and dumped more hot sauce on his toast.

"Wonderful." Bazett muttered, looking up as several of the other hired mercenaries began to file into the banquet hall. Several of them had participated in the bar brawl that had erupted the first day at the castle. They all received frosty glares from Kiritsugu as they passed. Some of them called out greetings to Bazett as they passed.

Bazett stood up as they did so, saying as she rose from her seat, "Hey I'm gonna join the guy's over there. Catch you guys later." She said, bringing with her a mug of coffee and the rest of the muffins. Kiritsugu stared blankly up at the stained glass ceiling, noticing the specks of snow that seemed to swarm over the glass.

Just beyond it, he could spy another tower that loomed over the banquet hall like a massive monolith. He blinked his eyes tiredly. That was likely where Acht resided most of the time. He closed his eyes, hoping for a couple moments of peace.

Only to open them again as the unusual scent of wild flowers filled the air, and suddenly, his vision was filled with silver strands as Irisveil made her presence known. He straightened in his chair, focusing his gaze on the homunculi before him. "Yes?" He asked.

In the brief encounters he had with the silver haired homunculus, the only reason she would ever design to speak was to relay order from her "father", Acht Einzbern. Kiritsugu had no doubt that Irisveil was not born from normal means.

"Why are you looking at the sky?" Irisveil asked expressionlessly, though her red eyes seemed to burn with curiosity.

Kiritsugu blinked at that, giving the homunculus a strange look. "To watch the snow." He finally designed to reply. Irisveil tilted her head upwards before returning her red eyes back to watch him intently. "Tou-sama is interested in you." She said after a pause.

Kiritsugu shrugged, after his initial encounter with the old man, he had been called in numerous times to have "pleasant chats" which almost all ended with him deflecting prying questions about the executors or himself personally. "I know. And?" He asked.

Irisveil looked at him blankly. "Why?" She asked.

"Why what?" Kiritsugu responded, taking a long draught from the piping hot mug of coffee in front of him.

"Why would Tou-sama find someone like you interesting?" Irisveil asked.

Kiritsugu blinked. If he had been any other man he would have been offended. "I don't know" He lied easily. There was a multitude of reasons why Jubstacheit von Einzbern would find him interesting, whether it be his association to the church, the reason why he was here, or even the make of his black keys.

Irisveil stared at him intently as though she could discern the reason just by staring at him intently. "Why are your eyes black?" She asked finally.

Kiritsugu blinked. "Because my mother's eyes were black." He said cautiously.

"But Tou-sama's eyes aren't red, and his hair isn't silver." Irisveil countered looking at him with wide eyes.

Kiritsugu sighed, "Because he isn't your real father." He said.

Irisveil blinked at him. Twice. Then she opened her mouth and asked the one question that Kiritsugu did not ever expect to answer.

"Then how are babies made?"

Irisveil stared at him with innocent red eyes, awaiting an answer.

Kiritsugu looked at Irisveil, then got out of his seat. Kirei would later account that it was the fastest he had ever seen Kiritsugu run.

Kiritsugu would later deny that the event had ever happened.

"I'm not one to question ideas." Kirei said cautiously, as he handed Kiritsugu one of his black keys. "But most people would ask how exactly you plan to get us inside that tower without alerting Acht."

Kiritsugu shrugged, taking the black key and channeling his prana through it. The tip of the blade grew red hot. With a practiced stroke, the blade cut through one of the massive stained glass windows like butter. He handed the black key back to Kirei. "Rope."

Kirei shrugged and handed over the coil of thick rope, nonchalantly tossing up at Kiritsugu. On the outside, he looked as cool as a cucumber. However, he doubted that anyone would be relaxed when they were hanging a thousand feet in the air in the dead of winter.

Kiritsugu tossed the coil through the opening hauled himself through the window. "Coming?" He asked Kirei. Kotomine Kirei blinked and with the grace of a panther, flung himself through the hole and onto the cold stone of the tower without a sound.

He blinked smugly at Kiritsugu. "Done." He muttered.

Kiritsugu rolled his eyes and dropped through the opening soundlessly. In a instant both of them assumed their roles as Quintus. There was a reason why no one could afford to hire a Quintus. No sum of money could compare with the ruthless efficiency of the group that had single handedly taken down empires in the past.

The current group of Quintus was nowhere that skilled. But they were still the best.

With steps that sounded more ethereal than human, the two executors ghosted through the elaborately decorated tower, searching for the inevitable library that was in every great castle. Kiritsugu passed several bottles of fine red and white wine, off handedly recognizing the brands of Pinot and Toulon as he did so.

Several elaborately stuffed lion heads sat in the room, and a series of what appeared to be immense test tubes were in another chamber as they combed through the tower. Dawn was about to break before they finally found it, a unassuming oaken door that seemed more appropriate for a storage closet than a library.

Kiritsugu quietly signaled Kirei who had been shuffling through the upper rooms. Kirei nodded and with a hop, landed next to Kiritsugu. Kiritsugu breathed and keeping note of the magical sentries stationed around the room, allowed an ebb of prana to flood the crest on his back.

Like always, knowledge filled him, titles of books that he had not read, obscure alchemical recipes flitted through his head. Ignoring them, he found the spell he was looking for. Originally developed in Ancient Rome, it merely allowed the caster to send a magnetic pulse that would move only the smallest bits of metal.

It was enough. With a small click, the door slid open and Kiritsugu and Kirei slipped inside. Mindful of the quickly brightening skyline, Kiritsugu went straight for the cluttered study that seemed to be Acht's preferred place for studying. After tossing aside several pointless manuscripts on homunculi construction, he found several thickly bound volumes.

Kiritsugu tossed one to Kirei and they both started reading. Within a hour, they had committed most of the book to memory. Kiritsugu frowned as combed through what he had just read. Why would Acht Einzbern be interested in ancient artifacts? The old man had a collection rivaling that of several world class museums.

Kiritsugu placed his book quietly back on the study. "Stonehenge in Great Britain." Kirei said quietly, stating the information of his book. Kiritsugu frowned it made absolutely no sense why Acht of all people would be interested in ancient tourist destinations.

He moved for the last book, knowing that the morning sun was high in the sky and within the hour they would be departing for Great Britain. He just had enough time to read the title of the book before he heard steps echoing across the chamber.

Silently placing the book back where he had found it, Kritsugu and Kirei crawled up onto the elaborate stained glass windows. Looking down, Kiritsugu saw the unmistakable white robes and severe face that belonged to Acht Einzbern. The old man removed a book and was quietly reading it, all the while scribbling several notes down.

Kiritsugu glanced over at Kirei who was silently removing a black key from his pocket. Kiritsugu shook his head adamantly and placed his palm quietly against the window. "Ready?" He mouthed to Kirei. Kirei shrugged.

Knowing that was probably the best answer he was going to get, he braced his palm against the window and with his prana, turned the glass back into sand for a millisecond. It was enough and they both flew through the air like falling stones.

His training took over and both of them spread their arms and legs into sky diving X's and just as Kiritsugu was able to make out the contours of the massive walnut trees that made up the Einzbern garden, he brought the remainder of his prana forth.

Reinforcing every cell in his body, he braced himself for impact, knowing that Kirei would likely do the same. He closed his eyes.

It did nothing to mitigate the raw agony and he impacted against the ground of the frozen orchard. He had broken at least two of his ribs and while reinforcement had prevented him from dying, it wasn't enough to keep him from shattering several of his bones.

He breathed slowly through his nose, and with the barest muttering of the word, "Accel." He felt his body's heart rate quadruple, feeling the cells in his body working a million times their normal speed. It was agony. He had enough time to cast the same spell on Kirei before he blanked out.

When he awoke, the first thing he was aware of was that he was lying against crisp white sheets and for once, the temperature was warm. The next thing he noticed were the stares of Bazett and Kirei from their positions around the door. He pulled himself up, ignoring his bodie's screams of protest.

"How long?" He asked quietly.

Kirei shrugged "Two hours. I told you not to over stress yourself during training."

Kiritsugu blinked, before accepting the proposed scenario. "Of course. Although I'm afraid we may have torn up the Einzbern gardens in our sparring." It was standard executor procedure, make a believable cover story, then elaborate, and then pretending that nothing had happened.

Bazett rolled her eyes "That's what it was?" She grumbled annoyed. "Old Acht was raising up a storm demanding who had destroyed his prized walnut trees at breakfast."

She rolled her eyes. "Either way, we're heading for Britain in an hour. Get ready for a long plane ride." She said calmly, moving out of the room.

Kirei waited until the door had clicked shut, before scanning the room quickly for any sentries. After confirming their privacy, he immediately moved to Kiritusugu's side. "You have no broken bones and tissue damage is minimal. Can you walk?" He asked.

Kiritsugu grimaced as he hauled himself upwards. "Even if I can't , I don't really have a choice now do I?" he asked, before looking seriously at Kirei. "I think I have something." He said quietly.

Kirei blinked at him before nodding, ready to analyze and process the next sentence that Kiritsugu would tell him.

"The title of that last book," Kiritsugu began. "It was called, The Holy Grail War."

AN: Well? What do you think?

Tell me your opinions and thoughts in a review! I'd really appreciate it!