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Chapter 17 - The Long Haul

Neutral POV:

Shirou, after having confessed to Rin that he was a magus and with her acceptance, he now thinks it's time to tell her about Sakura and what Zouken is doing to her. Unfortunately, he can't tell her right now though, he doesn't know if Zouken is monitoring their conversation right now, and even if he knew, he would get suspicious if his bugs were destroyed. Shirou takes another look around, just to make it seem like he's looking for anyone around him so Zouken doesn't question how calm he is right now.

"Tohsaka" Shirou speaks

Tohsaka looks up, "Yes Emiya?"

"Thank you so much for believing in me, I would have been heartbroken if I lost you in my life" Shirou finishes with a smile.

Tohsaka looked at his smile and then his words registered in her brain, causing her to blush, she looked away in embarrassment, "where do you get off saying such things?"

Shirou smiles in happiness, "I'm not lying Tohsaka, I really would be sad" he finished by holding her hand in his.

Tohsaka looks back at him, the blush still present and even deeper, "well of course you would be sad, anyone would be when presented with me in their life" she tries and fails to school her expression but doesn't let go of his hand either.

180 minutes later

School has finally let out and Shirou's now waiting at the front entrance for Tohsaka, so he can walk to her home with her, where he can then let her know of Sakura's condition without prying eyes. Shirou saw Sakura and let her know he'd be hanging out with Tohsaka today.

A dark look crossed her face, but Shirou promised to give her a treat if she did. Like a puppy starving for affection, she quickly became happier at the promise and said goodbye, letting him know she would explain to Taiga about his absence.

'That was rude' Shirou thought, he shouldn't have called her puppy in his head but while he had absorbed Shirou's memories and emotions towards the people around him, a part of him just wanted to kill her and be done with it all, damn the consequences instead of taking this longer route. Oh well, it was only a small part of him so unless something drastic happened he won't be killing her, but the moment it does then Rin would have to bury another family member.

Speaking of, Tohsaka appears at the front entrance and walks right by Shirou, he falls into step with her and they don't exchange any words, the reason most likely being to keep her reputation as an Ice Queen at school up.

Once they've cleared the school however, Tohsaka turned to him and asked what else it is that he needed to tell her, and Shirou implored her to be patient as her house had the defenses to keep what he'd be saying secret, mollifying her.

After a bit of a walk, they arrived at the Tohsaka residence and it was a beauty of architecture to look at, so much more of a difference when looking at it through a screen than in first person. 'Although, it could use a bit of a clean up, especially with that overgrowth of green on the walls and windows.' Shirou thought.

Once inside, Tohsaka confronts Shirou, "Alright Emiya, I stayed quiet and listened to your request for us to talk here, now what exactly do you have to tell me, that you couldn't at school" Shirou grimaced, and let her know.

Over the course of his explanation Tohsaka's face morphed from confusion, to anger, to shock, back to anger, which turned into rage, and finally blank. Once he finishes, she just stands there, the blank look on her face remaining, as the minutes pass and that look stays, Shirou starts getting scared of what he doesn't know, but afraid he remains.

At last, she responds, "Why did you tell me this, Emiya? What made you think I would do anything with this kind of knowledge? Sakura isn't anything to me on any personal level, and while her circumstances are tragic, as a mage, I have no right to interfere with the work of another."

Shirou knew that she was trying to put up a wall to hide her anger and sadness, yet even so, he found himself angry, because why would she put up this front even after everything he'd told her.

It infuriated him, it seems he was disillusioned by the version of Rin he'd seen on screen with the version of her in his life. Which is why he won't feel bad for the plot he's about to use so he can get the real response he wants to hear from her.

Shirou schools his expression and says, "You're right, Tohsaka, why am I telling you this? Maybe it's because I thought you were a good person, it seems like I was wrong." Tohsaka winced, 'it seemed my words hurt, good.'

"Since I can't count on your aid, I was wondering if you could listen to my plan and let me know of its shortcomings, if that's okay." Tohsaka deliberates for a second, she thought Emiya would have tried convincing her to help him, she did not expect him to have a plan if she didn't help, at least not this fast, oh well, she would humor him.

Tohsaka nodded her head in assent, and with that he unfolded his plan, "Thank you, throughout my time as a magus, I have made particular inroads with the Japanese military, this has allowed me certain favors in the form of firepower. With this firepower I intend to–"

Tohsaka interrupts, "Skipping over the fact that you have military contacts, which itself is an entire can of worms, you can't possibly be thinking of–"

Shirou continued, "Precisely, without your aid, there would be no reason for finesse and brute force would be my only option. I would have the entire mansion bombed to hell and back, we can call it a gas explosion." At that he starts to laugh and smiles a cruel smile, "and Sakura, well she'll have the honor of dying by my hands, the hands of the senpai she cherishes, something I know she won't refuse."

Tohsaka was flabbergasted, when she initially accepted to hear his plan out, she was not expecting it to be so insane, especially with his casual admission of being okay with a bombing in a commercial area and his plan to murder Sakura with his own hands, knowing how she feels about him. Rin can't help but feel both disgusted and impressed, which shocks her.

Shirou watched as confusion and disgust appeared on Tohsaka, he inwardly smirked at that and looked at her expectantly, waiting for her thoughts on his plan, she did not disappoint. "Are you out of your mind Emiya! Sakura cares about and trusts you, yet you speak so casually about killing her! What kind of monster are you?!" At those words Shirou uncharacteristically responded with anger of his own.

"I'm the monster?! Why the hell do you care?! I thought Sakura was nothing to you and her situation was of none of your concern! The way you're talking to me doesn't speak like someone who doesn't give a shit about Sakura."

Rin was stunned by Shirou's words, but his accusation on her words pushes that aside to argue once more. "I couldn't give a single shit about Sakura, what I'm shocked about is how you can so easily decide to kill her after giving me that whole spiel on her circumstances, quite excitedly at that too."

"Are you sure you're even a magus? What magus would be shocked by my actions? Especially something minor like this? I thought as a magus yourself, you would praise my quick decision-making and hasty elimination of a threat. Turns out you were the wrong decision after all as the heir to the Tohsaka's."

With those words, Rin became blinded with rage and quickly fired a Gandr at Shirou, who tanked the shot straight on his chest but the force pushed him back, creating two furrows. Where Shirou's school uniform used to be is just tatters and the black chest piece of his armor, something he never takes off unless he washes. Unperturbed, Shirou quickly projects a multitude of knives and propels them at Rin, who reinforces her legs to dodge and quickly reaches Shirou.

She throws a punch that Shirou dodges to the side, where Rin awaits him with a kick, which Shirou blocks and counters with a reinforced elbow. Rin blocks with a reinforced arm and strikes with a knee, doubling Shirou over and using that moment to unload a 4-piece combo.

Shirou, caught in combo stun, desperately tries to fight back and throws a wild right haymaker, which he's immediately punished for with a debilitating strike to his triceps from Rin. Ignoring the pain, Shirou used that moment to unpin a flashbang and throw it straight at Rin's face, catching her off guard and temporarily disorientating her.

Shirou has only ever fought petty criminals and mercenaries, foes that he could use his raw strength to defeat. It is only now, in this fight against Rin that he realized his lack of technique had come back to bite his ass, his throbbing tricep being a painful reminder.

Unfortunately, Shirou isn't given any more time to ponder his lackluster fighting skills when he's suddenly hit in the chest by another Gandr, followed by a multitude more. He desperately projects two knives and tries to block them but they easily shatter and the shots impact his hands, hurting them.

Shirou POV

As more Gandr shots come at me, I hear Spiral Ladder by ZTS start playing in the background as I project two nameless swords and reinforce them. I cut one Gandr in half, then another, and another, until Rin realizes the futility of continuing. Wordlessly, Rin throws two gems at me, I rush and cut one in half, and my instincts scream at me, so I guard with my reinforced arms and block the explosion.

I kept my guard up, which blocked my vision and allowed Rin to get close and give me a brutal gut punch blasting me backward and into the wall. As I start to black out, Rin starts speaking, "It didn't have to come to this Emiya, but you brought this onto yourself the moment you threatened my sister. Now sleep." As Rin prepares to cast a sleeping spell on me, I project Miyamoto Iori's sword and lunge at her with the traced knowledge.

Rin quickly jumps back, but I'm relentless in my pursuit, forcing her to cast a cutting spell using the element of wind. I quickly reinforce my brain and eyes, using them both in conjunction to calculate which areas the cuts will hit so I know what to avoid and what to block, successfully maneuvering through them. Once I reach Rin, I project multiple swords around her and alter their size, performing the same EMIYA once did in UBW.

With Rin trapped, I jump to the roof and then leap down to deliver a sword swing with all my might, and, even when given seemingly no options, Rin displays remarkable adaptability, "Vier Stil Erschießung" and with those words she fires multiple magic attacks that hit me, the impact feels like getting shot by a high-caliber pistol. The impacts slowed me down just enough for her to shatter the swords around her and dodge, making the area I impacted a 6 feet deep crater.

Rin looks at me in anger, "YOU SON A BITCH! YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT!" she quickly incants, "Sechs, fünf, vier, Verzehren Sie den Schatz! Vernichten Sie den Schatten des Feindes!" and hits me with a ruby, engulfing me in a power explosion.

Neutral POV

Shirou howled in pain, enraged, he invoked "Trace On" and went all out, fully reinforcing his legs, he bursts forward with astonishing speed, dodging the volley of spells and lands a devastating dropkick on Rin, who was able to quickly place a weak shield upon herself, only diminishing the impact by 25%. She flies straight through multiple walls into the backyard and lands on her back. She quickly gets to her feet and reinforces her legs, shooting straight back, all while preparing her jewels for a counterattack.

As Shirou tries to leave, a bounded field stops him, and he's only given microseconds to respond as Rin bursts through the hole she came from and launches a pure beam of fire at him. Shirou barely dodges, but not without receiving third degree burns across the side of his left arm, Shirou doesn't realize it at first until he hears Rin's gasp. 

He looks and sees her with shock and disgust all over her face, tracking her eyes, he sees third degree burns across his forearm. Shirou freezes, he starts to go clammy, his knees go weak, and he falls to his knees as he keeps staring at his once unmarred forearm. He can't feel it, but he sees small blades poking from his burned forearm as they try to repair the damage and form a protective cover over the burned area. 

Just as Shirou's about to go into shock, he hears a creak and his mind goes into overdrive, he quickly reinforces his legs and projects a firing line of AK's and unleashes them on Rin, who jumps back and places a shield. Unsatisfied, Shirou projects a bow and sword, notching it and progressively filling it with magical energy until it's close to blowing.

Rin's eyes widen and she rushes forward past the guns, trying to stop Shirou, unfortunately for her, Shirou jumps up and yells "FUCK YOU!" releasing the arrow and causing an explosion. 

Shirou uses that distraction to escape through the hole the beam of fire created when Rin fired it, making sure to alter his appearance to that of the Silver-eyed Raven, just in case anyone notices. As Shirou retreated in pain and anger, he warred with himself, constantly wondering if it was even worth it to make personal connections and whether it would just be easier to take the Archer route and solely focus on his objective. After all, it's not like he even knew any of these people anyway.

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