The Slums

[Cherry Lover]

Rin

"I kidnapped you. That's reason enough for her. The Sakura you're describing is moat certainly not the Sakura I know." She answered curtly. "I'll draft up a geas for you to sign. We don't have time for this kind of prolonged debate."

Shirou

Shirou sighed.

"Well, the Sakura I know wouldn't knock me out and kidnap me. So, yes, it is very obvious that your version of Sakura isn't quite the same as mine. Whilst I'm sure she's upset at you for what you've done, as long as she knows that I am safe and that you have no intention of harming us, she's not going to hold a grudge", he said.

"As for the Geas, what terms do you have in mind?" he added, wondering if she had taken any of what he said on board.

[SINIB]

Rin

Rin ignored his first comment. This Sakura of his clearly hadn't been driven to desperation if he had such a rosy view of her. Sakura not holding grudges, absolutely hilarious.

"You cannot talk to anybody about me or my sister. You can't come near here and risk our safety. You can't fight against me, and neither me nor my sister will come after you." She answered curtly. "Nor will you be able to recall any specifics of the interior of this building."

[Cherry Lover]

Shirou

Shirou frowned.

"What about my wife? Will you guarantee not to come after her, either?" he said. "And what happens if she comes after you? Will you promise not to kill her? Surely you can't expect me to just stand by and watch you kill my wife."

"As for not talking about you, what do you mean by that, exactly?"

[SINIB]

Rin

"I won't come after her, no. And weren't you just a few seconds ago completely sure she wasn't going to come after me? Why are you even worrying about it?"

[Cherry Lover]

Shirou

Shirou sighed again, realising that she was right. If his wife had no intention of coming after them, then there was no problem with her terms. Yet, he was still worried. What if he was wrong, or if there was some loophole in the terms?

"Well, what if she shows up here just as I'm leaving, or before I find her?" he replied.

"But, yes, you're right, I don't believe she will come after you, but it's not something I can ever be certain about. I don't have any intention of helping her attack you and I will do everything I can to prevent it, I just want to be sure that she'll be safe no matter what."

[SINIB]

Rin

"You'd be perfectly free to subdue her and keep her away from me."

[Cherry Lover]

Shirou

"Of course, but that's difficult to do when someone is in the process of attacking her", he replied. "And it's not like I am with her all the time."

"In any case, what do you mean by 'fight'? If all you mean is that I don't attack you directly then that is fine, but I can't attempt to subdue or evacuate my wife if she's under attack by familiars and magic which I'm not allowed to protect her from. That would put her in too much danger."

[SINIB]

Rin

"But I can't attack her unless she starts it."

[Cherry Lover]

Shirou

"Yes, but what if she does start it? What if she makes a mistake, or reacts badly to what happened? I can't see why she would, but sometimes things happen that you do not expect. And, if it does happen, what am I supposed to do, stand by and watch her die?" he replied.

"If she does try to attack you, I would be happy to do my best to stop her attacks, but I cannot do that if you can just kill her whilst she's subdued, or use my attempts to stop her as a distraction."

[SINIB]

Rin

Rin's face turned ugly. Her brow furrowed and she scowled. "Do you think I'd want to kill her? If either of us did, you'd already be dead. Both of you. So stop this baseless accusation shit."

[Cherry Lover]

Shirou

Shirou sighed again, the girl's annoyance clear.

"Well, if that's the case, then what's the harm in adding a no-killing clause?" he replied. "I don't think that you will attempt to kill her, but I'd rather be safe than sorry."

[SINIB]

Shirou

Shirou sighed again, the girl's annoyance clear.

"Well, if that's the case, then what's the harm in adding a no-killing clause?" he replied. "I don't think that you will attempt to kill her, but I'd rather be safe than sorry."

Rin

Rin turned her head away from him. "Because. That's all I have to say about it. I promise I won't go after her or try to kill her, Emiya-kun."

[Cherry Lover]

Shirou

Shirou sighed, before going silent as he considered whether to accept her deal. Part of him was wary of being caught in a trap, of being forced to watch helplessly as his wife was murdered. But, at the same time, he knew that both Rin and Sakura were good people at heart, people he could trust. Besides, if he could convince his wife not to attack her, then it wouldn't be an issue.

"OK", he said, eventually, "I will accept those terms."

"I would, however, like some clarity on what, exactly, I can tell my wife. I presume I can relay the terms of this Geas to her, and explain how I was treated, but how much can I tell her about you?"

[Cherry Lover]

Shirou and Sakura

3:15 PM

Sakura was riding along on the horse provided to her by Justice as they travelled through the Slums, still desperately searching for her beloved husband when, to her relief, her phone began to make a familiar sound. The sound of the ringtone she had assigned to Shirou. Immediately, she took it out of her pocket and answered.

"Senpai!" she said, relieved but also concerned. "Is that you? Are you OK? Did that bitch hurt you? What does she want?"

"Yes, Sakura, It's me", he responded. "I'm fine. The alternate version of you released me unharmed, and I'm in the university district, heading back towards home. I'll see you soon."

"Wait, Senpai!" she replied. "I have some people helping me search for you, including Nanako. If you just wait near to the main clock tower, we'll come and find you as soon as we can."

"OK", Shirou replied, not wanting to argue with his clearly-worried wife. "I'll see you soon, then. Love you, bye."

"I love you too, Senpai. See you soon", she responded, before hanging up and letting out a sigh of relief as she turned to her companions.

"Senpai is OK!" she said, clearly overjoyed. "He said that the kidnapper released him unharmed, and he's in the university district now, so I told him to meet us by the clock tower. We need to get there as soon as possible!"

[YOLF]

Justice

The rider breathed out a sigh of relief. No matter how much ground they covered, no matter how many eyes he had crawling and overlooking these streets bereft of easy kindness and full of people who were either fearful, deservingly aggressive, or simply miserable, and their respective holes in the ground or broken-down homes, they were still looking for a needle in a haystack at best. This was a much quicker conclusion to their quest than he'd anticipated.

What to make of this couple? They were lucky, despite being the sort of folk who'd draw in misfortune by being unable to keep their noses out of trouble, Justice got the distinct impression. Their reunion would be a welcome change from the last few hours of uncomfortably sexual jabs between the two others with them that felt like they were writing themselves in fire on the back of his skull. It certainly beat walking into an underground war between ratfolk and mutant turtles as well.

The insects that might have been following them never did give themselves away. At one point, they simply vanished. Was it because their quarry had simply given up on the reason for this whole misadventure, after all?

"Alright," he said, pulling on Punishment's reins. "Don't fall, we can shortcut that direction."

Justice had seen the anthills of education from afar on his initial scouting of the city, and the roofs here were low. His steed could simply hop over most of them without slowing down. So they turned around, the equine beast rumbling, and dashed off.