I have read many reviews criticising my portrayal of Shirou. Honestly, I just wish that you all would be more polite about it. I don't mind criticism, welcome it even. But please, try not to be rude about it.

As for Shirou being OOC, as some of you wrote, I have no excuse other than the fact that it was probably poorly written, but I am too far along to correct that. Future chapters will be done more carefully, especially now that I have found a Beta.

Betaed by Danga

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 6

Whenever Rin left the Hyuuga compound, her grandfather mandated that she had an escort for her protection. Said escort had been waiting outside of the Toko compound for the better part of an hour, and she intended for it to be kept that way. There was no point for her to inconvenience herself for some old fart.

And even if those members wanted to enter the compound, they physically couldn't, as the Bounded Field that encompassed the area prevented those with the Caged Bird Seal from entering. Simply done by reverse engineering the seal through structural analysis and keying the bounded field to the trigger seal of the Caged Bird Seal.

Its effects weren't enough to kill them, with small doses of lightning chakra forced throughout their body to start and a very, very forceful ejection if one got too persistent in their attempts to grab the "unruly" heiress. If they persisted even then, a host of terrifying illusions that they could not break out of awaited them.

This usually meant a clump of traumatized Branch Members muttering fearfully about a white-eyed witch would be left in the wake of the Hyuuga Heiress's visits to the Toko compound.

This usually meant that a member of the Main House had to get her, a task many of the Main branch deemed beneath them. Honestly, some of her Main House cousins acted as if they were the ones destined to save the world from the incineration of humanity. Their arrogance was at times baffling as they believed they were far above the "rabble and mongrels" of Konoha's streets. Coming from a girl who played host to two goddesses and met hundreds of legendary figures, it was certainly something.

Considering the fact that one of her grandfather's flunkies had tried to force his way through the Bounded Field so hard he actually managed to quite literally reshape his face, it was a wonder how the Hyuuga managed to get to the point they are at now. She discussed at length about the terminal illness of stupidity that Hyuuga Clan suffered from to the medics attending to the comatose man, much to their amusement.

All of this was just one of the ways that she used to piss off her grandfather. Her father and mother always came to pick her up themselves when they wanted something, or her uncle who she liked and keyed to let pass her Bounded Field, but her grandfather would only send the little people. He could have sent a Main House clansman, he did have the respect of most of the Main House, who were not sealed, but that was beneath the Main House apparently.

The seal's main purpose supposedly was to ensure that should the bearer die in battle, their eyes could not be taken to be used by the enemy. Rin thought that the system was fundamentally flawed since it could easily be bypassed by simply capturing a Hyuuga alive then extracting their eyes, and if that was the purpose of the seal, why don't all members wear it?

And on that train of thought, what was the main purpose of the seal?

To Rin it was simple, to keep the Branch House subservient to the Main House under threat of pain. All of the Branch House's shinobi were sealed since they outnumbered the Main House by a significant margin and the odds would not be favourable without some control measure. But there were members of the Branch House who did not have the seal. Civilians who lived in the village full time and were not trained in the shinobi arts, and therefore not a threat to the Main House's authority, were not sealed barring specific circumstances.

Many of the clan's girls were like this and went through bridal training rather than shinobi training. The old clan heads saw the need to keep several baby-makers around to make up for mortality rates, and the stress caused by the seals was for the babies in the womb. Not a difficult observation to make even without Byakugan eyes.

As she was being taken back home, she thought back to her short meeting with the possessed child, Naruto. Though perhaps the more technically accurate term should be demon host, the boy seemed to be the one in control, for now at least.

If one approached the issue of the boy from a utilitarian model of ethics, then what they should do was clear. You kill one loveless orphan to prevent the deaths of hundreds, even thousands.

Rin didn't know what kind of seal was being used in order to seal away something as powerful as the Nine-Tailed Fox, but it wasn't powerful enough. That fact was as plain as the whiskers on the boy's face. The demon's energies were mixing in with the boy's, slowly changing him. Even without a trigger, it was only a matter of time.

It would start with small physical changes on the body, like the whiskers, then progress unto personality issues or uncanny tendencies. His nails would most likely lengthen, and his teeth would sharpen. He would become increasingly violent and rebellious. The last hint would be that his eyes would turn red, his hair might also turn red too, depending on the type of demon. After that he would lose control all together and the demon would take over.

That happening in the middle of a city as large as Konoha was bad. Like a hungry Dead Apostle in the middle of downtown Tokyo kind of bad. Kiss the village goodbye kind of bad.

Possessed people who reached this point were as strong as a Servant and were sometimes even harder to kill. You would rip off their arms, blast their hearts into pieces or even chop off their heads and the thing would just regenerate and keep on coming. The destructive power it could call on was comparable to an Anti-fortress Noble Phantasm. Even if the ninja of Konoha could deal with something of that magnitude, most likely hundreds would die. As far as Rin knew, there was no turning back once the demon fully took over, Naruto would die anyways, consumed by the demon.

It wouldn't even end there. Rin could only assume they sealed the demon in Naruto because they lacked the means to destroy it completely. So, a few years down the line, the demon would regenerate and continue its killing spree. The rumors of a crazed jinchuriki in Suna certainly are not helping.

Altogether, Shirou using his weapons to put an end to the beast once and for all would probably save thousands of people, all at the cost of one orphan boy that no one even seemed to care about.

Yes, a utilitarian would definitely say to just kill the boy. Fortunately for Naruto, Rin was not a utilitarian. She believed that some things were worth the possible deaths of thousands of people that she didn't care about. She could think of two reasons that were good enough for her to try to keep the boy alive.

The one that Shirou would guess was professional curiosity. Besides just being interested in the seal that was used on the boy, the demon itself was something to be looked at. A human possessed by a true demon, one born from nature rather than from the thoughts of man, was not something one could easily find. No magus had ever had the chance to fully examine one. The possible things that could be gleaned from merely a glimpse were unbelievable.

By their nature, True Demons converted the Mana or 'Natural Energy' in the air into Life Force or 'Physical Energy', which could then be used by its host, either refining it in their magic circuits to create Od or mixing it with 'Mental Energy' to make Chakra. Mana was normally toxic to humans, and yet through these true demons it could be turned into almost endless amounts of usable energy.

Not to mention the origin of this particular demon, if the stories were true. The Sage of the Six Paths had used his power, 'the Creation of All Things', in order to divide the power of the Ten Tailed Demon into the Nine Tailed Beasts, who had been non corrupted Spirits of Nature in the beginning, rather than Demons. They had only become twisted later on by the actions of humans.

Not only was this a case of converting a Demon back into a normal Nature Spirit, but it was also the equivalent to a True Magic. The Heaven's Feel, the power to create new souls. To have the actual product of such a power right in front of her almost made Rin drool.

With the decreased influence of Gaia in this new world, there had been a lot of things that looked like True Magic, but each time Rin looked closer, she would find that they weren't. For example, summoning didn't open a gateway into another world. It borrowed things, and those things had to go back. If something was taken, then something of equal value must be given to get it. Borrowed space took up the energy to maintain, and the energy would be worked on by Gaia to destroy it. It was only possible because of the weakened Gaia, but it still followed all the normal laws of logic, unlike with True Magic which could break the natural laws.

It had been the same with most space-time jutsu. They looked something like the real deal, but they never reached that point of being a True Magic. Finding anything that could lead her to rediscovering the Heaven's Feel was something she would be willing to risk lives over. Nearly every Magus would.

Then there was the seal that was used to imprison the demon in the boy. The Yondaime's seal was something she really wanted to take a look at, especially if the rumors about it being powered by the Shinigami himself were true. Oh, she was not suicidal enough to mess with it but even a look at the outer mechanisms of a seal powerful enough to trap a force of nature was worth the risk.

The second reason for letting the boy live was something much more personal. It had to do with a promise. She had promised Archer that she wouldn't let Shirou become him.

It was going to be hard, but if they could actually save the boy rather than following that stupid ideal and making a sacrifice out of him, then it would be a huge step to changing Shirou's bleak future. The fact that Shirou hadn't killed the boy the moment he had the chance was already a positive sign, despite it being Clock Tower policy to have people possessed by demons to be killed on sight, if they were able to.

Back in their old world, she and Sakura worried everyday as they could see Shirou begin to walk the path that would lead to his inevitable downfall. She had a vivid image of the path Archer took that resulted in him accepting a contract with Alaya thanks to the connection they once shared as Master and Servant. Shirou never gave up on his dream and it was all the two of them could do to keep him from with them.

If things were truly desperate, the two of them planned to make him the father of their children, thus forcing him to stay under his obligation as the father. Emotional blackmail basically. Yes, that was all it was and not because she thought he was husband and father material. She did not! Not at all!

Rin resigned herself to the fact that she was going to have to figure out how to remove the demon without killing the boy in a decade's time before the boy reached the point of no return. A job that no one in the history of her old world had accomplished after the first signs of physical changes started.

She didn't have to worry about him going over the limit though. Shirou wouldn't hold back if he saw red eyes. So, with the boy staying with Shirou, there was little danger of him killing a good percentage of the city. Shirou also had a good deal of experience with mental barriers from back when he needed to maintain them against his Reality Marble. If they were not as good as they were, Shirou's body would be more swords than flesh at this point. It might not be strong enough to stop the inevitable, but adding it to the existing seals would buy them more time.

Once she got back to the Hyuuga Clan compound, Rin was guided towards her grandfather. Well, that wasn't entirely accurate, she was the one walking at the front of the group, with the two Branch House members who had been sent to retrieve her following behind her. She walked with her arms crossed, her chin held high and a confident smile on her face. She was perhaps the only person in the entire village who would approach the Hyuuga elder in such a fashion.

Shirou probably would if told to, but he did put on an act to please others more than Rin did. Sakura would probably still be polite and respectful unless Rin's grandfather displeased her, and if he did she would let loose her darker side. Verbally, or not if he was foolish enough to escalate matters. Rin never hid her personality before, and she wasn't about to start. She didn't care that she was now a four-year-old again. She would never let anyone take advantage of her. She would never show weakness.

She found her grandfather in his study if it could be called that. It didn't have much research materials or any essential documents. Several of the books that lined the shelves were more of the recreational type. It was used as a showpiece rather than an actual study. Rin had been in several high ranking Magi's studies before, and none were as immaculate as her grandfather's.

"Good afternoon Oji-san. I hope you aren't tiring yourself out too much by seeing me. I've heard the elderly do need their bed rest," Rin said with a sickly sweet smile as she looked up towards her grandfather as he stood behind his desk, seeming to not care about the perfectly good chair behind him as he gazed down imposingly at his granddaughter. Rin ignored her grandfather's attempts at intimidating her as she just took a seat and made herself comfortable.

Rin wasn't actually sure what her grandfather's name even was. She didn't think she had ever heard of it throughout the pompous ceremonies that she went through on an almost monthly basis. Most in the clan called him the 'Honourable Elder'. So, she made fun of him for his age, even though he was in his early fifties at the latest. Like most nobles, he married young and had kids young. Still, his hair had some grey to it, and his face had that old man look to it as if worries of his time had worn him down.

"I understand that you went to that blacksmith boy's again, even though you were meant to accompany your father and mother to see the Daimyō," the man said with that grouchy voice of his.

"Hm... was I? I don't recall," Rin said, tapping a finger against her bottom lip. She had remembered very well, but she personally didn't like the flaky Lord, and she hated his 'clam basket' wife. Their heir was nice though, and they got along well enough. Honestly, if the heir was not visiting a friend, she might have gone with her parents.

Her grandfather glared at her. "Just like you don't recall your Taijutsu training again, and the fact that I had requested your presence at the clan meeting?" the older man said coldly.

"Oh, but Oji-san you did not offer me anything. If you request the service of someone, you need to offer something of equal value in return for that service. Or have you become so entitled in your old age that you feel yourself above the need for bartering. Sorry, but I'm not going to spoil you," Rin said in a chipper voice.

Rin would be the first one to admit that her father had a little bit of a stick up his ass, though he was a good man. Her grandfather, on the other hand, had more like an entire tree penetrating his butt hole. The two hadn't got along, and tension between them was always rising.

It stemmed from Rin's lack of interest in the clan. The very clan that he had bled for and seen the people close to him die for. When his wife had given birth to twins, he had marked one of his own sons as a baby with the Caged Bird Seal in order to prevent any question about the next Head of the clan that might form a divide in the clan and threaten it. Now his own granddaughter, the most talented Hyuuga to ever be born in the village, was brushing off her duties to the clan and the clan's stability."Rin, you have a duty to this clan. You will be the next head, and you must act accordingly. You do not get a choice in this matter," her grandfather said strictly.

"Is me becoming the next head of the clan worrying you? Maybe I should just step down then," Rin teased. "I'm sure Hinata-chan would be a much better Head than me anyways. She's so sweet and cute. I wouldn't mind following her."

The Hyuuga elder didn't smile in the slightest. "That is not possible. Hinata is being made a member of the Branch House," the man said sharply.

Rin froze, her Byakugan eyes flaring to life. The elder watched quietly as Rin scanned the entire household for her little sister, her smile gone and a look of urgency replacing it. "Where is she?" Rin asked, her voice now dead serious as she glared at her grandfather.

"She has been taken to be given the Caged Bird Seal," the elder said calmly. "You should not concern yourself with this. She has her fate, and you have yours. The two of you were always destined to be separated."

Rin and her grandfather's eyes met, and they simply stared at each other for a few long seconds. Then Rin's head fell. "I suppose you are right. It is a cruel fate to have me as an onee-san," she said sadly. The two Branch House members' eyes widened in shock with the admission, though if the elder was surprised he didn't show it. She slowly got up out of her seat. "If you would excuse me, I need some time to think about things. I'll be returning to my room," she said, giving a half bow before leaving.

The elder glanced at the two who had been sent to retrieve her and gave them a signal to escort the girl, to make sure she really did go to her room rather than running off. Nodding, the two quickly obeyed their clan elder.

Rin walked quickly, though with her short legs, the two Branch House members hardly had to struggle to keep up. They were a little shocked at the type of response the girl had.

When the elder had decided to place the seal on the younger sister in an attempt to make young Rin understand her place in the clan and her fate, they had been almost sure that when they told her she would react... differently.

They had crossed nearly the entire compound before she stopped walking.

"Is something the matter Rin-sama?" one of the two escorts asked her when she didn't make any sign of moving.

"Yes. Something is most definitely wrong," she said coldly, holding out a hand. The two guards saw something inside of the closed fist, something that was overflowing with chakra. She dropped the small red gem, which bounced a little on the ground as the energy sealed within it exploded out in a flash of light, momentarily stunning the two and starting to form a barrier around the group.

Rin took that opening to stab two Black Keys, given to her by Shirou and made smaller to accommodate her smaller form and for easier concealment, into their shadows, immobilizing them.

"What?!"

"How! Only the Naras can..."

Rin turned to the two and had that smile on her face, the one that made them shiver. "Would either of you happen to know where the Caged Bird Sealing takes place?" she asked in a honeyed tone.

"Rin-sama, you know we can't tell you that," one of her escorts told her regrettably. It was not like they did not sympathise, getting sealed was a fate they did not wish upon the kind young Hyuuga.

"Wrong answer." Rin activated the magic circuits on her arm and blasted the man with a Gandr. The man spasmed, unable to move but was visibly suffering under the effects of the curse. Rin removed the Black Key holding him in place, letting him fall to the ground in the foetal position as he passed out. Oh, he would be just fine, but he was not getting up for a day or two.

Rin turned to the other guard, a woman in her late teens. She tensed, looking at her fallen partner then back at Rin.

Rin smiled. It was not a pleasant smile. "Now, let's try this again. Where is my sister?"

The woman thought about her options. "Can you ensure that I do not get punished for defying the Elder?"

"Oh, I'm sure that the old man won't do a thing. After all, he is but the elder, while my father is the clan head, the only one you should be listening to."

'We both know that is not strictly true,' the immobile woman thought, thinking about the factions in the clan that still followed the Elder as if he was still the clan head. Mostly from the Main House but there were a few Branch House members who followed the Elder, mostly out of fear that things would get worse for the Branch House. "I cannot answer that. However, it would not be inadvisable to take a leisurely walk around the field behind the clan armoury."

"Oh?" Rin was pleasantly surprised. She would have to make sure that she was not punished later, maybe even ask Sakura to bake her a cake later. For now, she had more pressing matters to attend to.

"Relax, you won't feel a thing," Rin put the woman under a subtle sleeping spell. Any magus, even Shirou, could break out of it in seconds. The kunoichi was no magus though, and she was not inclined to break it anyway. Seemed a less painful way to get taken out when compared to what her partner experienced. Besides, plausible deniability.

Rin gently placed her on the ground. Thankfully the method used to break out of a genjutsu did not work on magecraft otherwise this would be a bit more difficult. Now, where was the clan armoury again?

*Line Break*

It was a common mistake plenty of magi made while trying to build a secret workshop. They put so much time into perfecting their barriers to keep out prying eyes that they blind themselves in the process. Then they set up traps around the outside, not realizing that they might as well hang a giant neon sign over their heads.

The Hyuuga's secret sealing grounds were little more than a stone throw away from the main compound, hidden away in the field behind the clan armoury, just like the woman said. Of course, if anyone asked, she always knew where the sealing grounds were and merely knocked out her escorts before making her way here. No need to implicate the one who helped her after all.

Her skills with Reinforcement were not on Shirou's level. She hadn't dedicated years to perfecting that single skill to the point where she could dance on the edge of total destruction, but she could still get by and increase her agility by a fair amount. She went from tree to tree, her eyes picking out every single trap that had been set up to keep people out.

If she had stopped to think, she might have gone to fetch Shirou. The boy's senses weren't as precise as her eyes but while her eyes could spot a fly from a few kilometres away behind her head, it wasn't as helpful at picking up a trail left behind by something that has long since moved on. For that, Shirou's nose was a lot better. It might have gotten her there sooner or removed the need to question her clan members for the location. He would have also been handy as back up. However, the girl wasn't going to stop and think. She couldn't waste any time. Hinata needed her, and she wasn't going to fail this time.

So, she was alone when she reached the large grey stone building.

The place had been made to look like a security centre, but Rin wasn't fooled for a second. There were so many barriers placed on the stone, concealing the building from human senses, preventing even her eyes from seeing into the building.

The door was a nondescript wooden thing, until Rin actually touched it. A quick Structural Analysis told her that the door was actually steel with a wooden layer over it and was being reinforced with Earth Chakra, several seals acting as a feed to maintain its strength even under heavy attack. She recognized the style of the seals from the clan's own scrolls. This was the place.

It would normally take nothing less than an A-rank jutsu created with the intention of penetrating barriers and walls to destroy it in a timely manner, or some out of the box thinking.

Rin placed one finger on the door, moving it along the surface, drawing a sequence of runes with its tip as she chanted. "Be the hammer which splits apart the earth."

The runes she had traced became visible as she fed them with Od. She took a few steps back as the force shook the door and electric sparks jumped from rune to rune. Then, with a loud crack, the wood exploded as if struck by lightning, leaving a veil of smoke behind. Rin walked through the smoke without a second thought, not wanting to waste a moment.

"Ri...Rin-sama." The five members of the Hyuuga Clan Main Family who had been placed in charge of sealing the second daughter of the clan head were partially in fighting stances as they stared openly at Rin.

Rin didn't even hear them, her eyes were trained on only one thing, a young girl on a table. Hinata was asleep, most likely drugged for the sealing process. Rin could feel herself shaking with uncontrolled fury at the sight.

She pulled out two kunai and threw them straight at the two closest to her. The kunai were dodged, but they hadn't been meant to hit anyways, they just needed to transport the tags that were attached to the bottom by a short length of string.

They weren't explosive tags; Rin would never use something so dangerous near her precious little sister. However, that did not mean that they were there for cosmetic reasons. So right after the kunai's tips sank into the far wall, the seals opened up and a flood of chakra infused water came pouring out of them like from two fire hydrants, slamming into the clan members and staggering all of them.

The moment the kunai were out of her hands, Rin was already forming hand signs. Snake. Ram. Horse. Hare. Ram. Horse. Hare. "Water Release: Water Prison!" She finished her jutsu, clapping her hands together as she commanded the water. All of the water that had been shot out began to gather together around the five clan members, pushing them into a group before forming into a sphere around them, suspending them all and leaving them next to helpless.

Rin couldn't keep up the prison for long. Even if it was only a C-rank jutsu, her child's body had not reached the level where it could support a constant strain like that. But her plans didn't involve keeping them suspended forever.

Keeping her hands together to maintain the jutsu, she traced a rune on the ground with her right foot, giving it a bit of Od. The lightning rune was weak, but it didn't need to be strong, not when its targets were suspended in water. Bubbles escaped from throats as each of the five trapped clansmen's bodies shook under the electric shock. It wasn't strong enough to kill them, shinobi were significantly tougher than the humans of her old world, but none of them would be moving any time soon.

Releasing the water prison, Rin performed a second jutsu on the stunned enemies. Horse. Snake. Dragon. "Wind Release: Gale Palms!" As the prison of water fell apart, the five victims were hit by the concussive blast of wind, throwing them against the wall hard and knocking them unconscious.

With the shinobi disposed of, Rin rushed over to Hinata's side, having to climb up onto the table so that she could get a proper look at her little sister. She breathed a sigh of relief after she brushed aside some of the little girl's hair to see that her forehead was still unblemished. "Thank goodness," she said as she quietly patted the girl's head.

Hearing someone coughing up water, Rin turned her head back to the five clan members. One of them was trying to push himself, back up onto his hands and knees.

She recognized him. A third or fourth cousin from her father's side. And more importantly, one of her grandfather's followers.

Rin's anger returned in a flash. Rin gave the struggling man a kick to the chest, unable to dodge since he was still disoriented and stunned, knocking him to the ground.

Snake. Ram. Hare. Dragon. Tiger. Snake. "Earth Release: Earth Shackles!"

Earthen shackles formed on the downed man's hands and feet. Rin further Reinforced the shackles to make sure that the man would not escape by sending his chakra to disrupt her jutsu. She put a foot down on the man's chest, pressing down with strength that no four-year-old should have and causing the man to cough out water.

"I'm impressed. I did not think that anyone could stay conscious after all that."

"Rin...sama... why?" the man gasped.

"I think I will be the one asking the questions here," Rin said, putting a bit more pressure on the man. "Tell me, who was it that ordered you to put the seal on my Hinata."

"The... elder. Your grandfather," the man said. Rin was not surprised.

"I see. Now tell me, who are you loyal to?"

"To... to the clan."

"Hm... alright then, between me, my father and the old man, who has your loyalty?"

"...I am loyal to the elder... ARRRGGGHHH!" the man screamed as Rin put a hand on his chest, sending out a pain curse.

"That was not what I wanted to hear," Rin said, her voice was completely void of emotion. "But if you are so loyal to that old fart, then deliver a message for me. Tell him that I will be the next head of this clan, and that if anyone lays a finger of my sister, I will use that power to end this clan. Do you understand?"

"Yes! Rin-sama!" the man cried as he struggled, trying to get out from underneath Rin's hand.

"Very good!" Rin said in a false cheer, before slamming the man's head against the ground, hard enough to knock him out. She ignored the blood coming from the back of the man's head as she returned to her little sister. Even if she had killed the others, it wouldn't matter to her. Nothing was more important than Hinata.

*Line Break*

Hinata felt more than a little numb as she slowly woke up. The small girl found herself back in her room, her older sister's arm draped over her as they shared a bed and blankets together.

"Onee-san..?" she said, her head hurting as she tried to organize her thoughts. A hand came up to her head as she tried to stop the room from spinning, but as her fingers touched her forehead she remembered what had happened. Her eyes started to tear up and she began to sob softly.

"Hinata-chan, what's the matter?" Rin asked, pushing herself up and rubbing at her eyes and giving an overly dramatic yawn.

"Onee-san... They... They were going to... And Oji-san... he said... that we weren't going to be sisters anymore," Hinata struggled to speak through her sobs.

"There, there, it's okay," Rin said, pulling the three-year-old girl into a hug. "You were just having a bad dream. That's all it was." She gently patted her sister's back as she gave her words of assurance. She would ensure that a bad dream was all it ever would be. Rin had decided to try to let Hinata believe that it had never happened. She wanted her sister to be unmarred by the events that had transpired.

Looking back over the day, there were so many things that Rin could have done differently. While the Caged Bird Seal was designed to kill the bearer if the seal was removed, it wasn't beyond Rin's skill to undo it without harming Hinata. Or she could have used Shirou's Rule Breaker to remove the seal.

Rin had always prided herself on her rationality. However, rationality had always gone out the window when her little sisters were involved. Throughout the Holy Grail War, Rin had acted irrationally countless times for the sake of sister, Sakura.

She had revived Shirou not out of some sort of guilt for the death of the innocent, or because she had anything for him at the time. She had spent valuable resources and revived him because he had been someone precious to Sakura. Then, when he turned out to be a master, she had allied herself with him to keep him alive for her.

She had tried to fight a Caster Servant by herself in order to protect her sister. She would have let herself be killed to keep her safe. All sorts of things that were simply irrational, but she did them.

Then a year later, she found out what the Matous were doing to Sakura and she lost it. Shirou had to calm her down so that they could plan rationally on how to save Sakura. Her retribution ended the Matou line, for good. The two of them ensured that every last one of Zouken's Crest Worms was incinerated and that no stone was left unturned.

Even so, she had always felt that she hadn't done enough for Sakura. She should have done more. She should have found a way to prevent all those horrible things that happened to her. Again, irrational thoughts, but she still felt that way. She would never let anything happen to Hinata, nor would she allow anything to separate them. She didn't care if her grandfather did run the clan like a cult, she wouldn't let him touch Hinata.

"Don't worry, your onee-san will never let anything happen to you. I'll make sure you are always safe. I promise," Rin whispered, as she rocked Hinata back to sleep.

*Line Break*

Hiashi was not happy. He had just returned home from a meeting with the Daimyo and was hoping to unwind after the usual politics involved when visiting the court of the nation's capital. And to hand a letter written by their heir for his own eldest daughter. How his rebellious daughter managed to strike up a friendship with the next Fire Daimyo was beyond him but potentially very beneficial to the clan.

He had been home for a few hours before he finally found out what had happened, and it had not been from one of his clan. He had gotten a report from the hospital about the condition of the clan members his four-year-old daughter had half-drowned, electrocuted and given concussions. Then there were the two members who physically appeared unharmed but would not wake up no matter what the medics did.

After getting the full story, he had nearly gone down to the hospital to finish the bastards off for what they had tried while he was away. Only the gentle words of his wife, Hailyn, had dissuaded him from taking such extreme actions. That, and the knowledge that they were only just pawns.

"Otou-sama, would you care explaining to me why you felt the need to arrange for my daughter to be given the seal in my absence?" Hiashi asked his father. An entire lifetime of subservience was being strained by parental instinct, he and his wife cornered the elder in order to demand answers.

To his credit, or maybe against all reason, the elder was not showing any signs of remorse or embarrassment. He just stood with the exact same look on his face that he always had. "Do not act like this was a dramatic action. Sooner or later, Hinata would have been removed from the main family. That is simply her fate."

"Removed, maybe, but it has never been the tradition to give the daughters of the main family the Caged Bird Seal," Hailyn said with an uncommon frown on her face.

It was true, as the blood of the main family was purer, it was considered too important to squander with the seal. Usually, the daughters of the Main House would be made to marry in order to help keep the clan alive.

"Even if her fate was to be separated, you chose to act far too early, and without my permission. Do remember that you passed the headship of the clan to me on my thirtieth birthday, or is your memory going?" Hiashi said, reminding his father who was the clan's head. "So, explain yourself."

"What is there to explain that you don't already know? Your eldest daughter is out of control. We need to have a way to bring her into line. I am sure you are familiar with the concept of a 'whipping boy'." The elder's words made both parents tense up.

The meaning was clear. With the Caged Bird Seal, the head of the clan, or anyone who was a member of the Main House, could induce horrible pain with just a thought. The elder was planning on controlling the rebellious Rin by inflicting pain on Hinata every time the girl disobeyed.

"How could you even think of doing that to your own granddaughters!?" Hailyn half-shouted in her shock.

The elder closed his eyes. "I do not do so joyously, but I have resigned myself to my fate. As one who was once head of the clan, I must do whatever it takes in order to protect the clan. Do not curse me for the role that Hinata was born into."

Hiashi frowned, something about what he had said felt off. Then, a sudden thought popped into his head. A thought that had never accrued to him ever before. It seemed so simple now that he had thought of it. 'Can fate be changed?' It was something that went against all of the clan's teachings. They said that one was born into a position in the world, and that position would guide them till their eventual end.

According to the elder, Hinata had been born to act as a tool for the Main House. But with Rin's ultimatum, any action to use Hinata in such a manner would cause the end of the clan. And he believed her, Rin was smart enough to plan their demise and her friend could no doubt forge any tools that she required to do so. Her friendship with the Jounin Commander's niece would also ensure that any plan she came up with could be looked over and improved by the best strategist in the village. That man was feared, not for his combat prowess, which was still nothing to scoff at, but the fact that his plans often led to maximum destruction for his enemies with minimal casualties for Konoha.

Fate. That one word that could sum up the clan's entire mindset. The reason he became estranged with his own twin until his daughter managed to bring them both closer again. That one word that almost had his younger daughter sealed. Suddenly, all the things that Hiashi had followed blindly in his life were called into question.

The things that his father had said were fate had always happened before, but was that because they were fate, or because his father had made them happen. Had the events which he had seen as the acts of fate all been just a way of rationalizing their actions. Were they just telling themselves that they were not to blame because they were only the instruments of fate?

"You are no longer the clan head, I am. Matters involving the good of the clan will not be decided by you alone, and you are not to involve yourself with my daughters without my consent," Hiashi said, turning to leave. "You are no longer welcome in my home. I will have the servants move your belongings to one of the spare houses in the compound and cater to your needs. After recent events, consider yourself on thin ice, otou-san," he added, purposely changing the honorific right before leaving. His wife threw a cold look at the older man as she followed her husband out.

"The nerve of that man!" Hailyn said when they were in their bedroom, brisling with a mother's righteous anger. "How dare he think of doing that to any child, let alone his own granddaughters..!"

Hiashi only nodded along, half-listening to his wife's rant. He was still thinking, thinking hard about all the times he had made a discussion in his life. Thinking about what would have happened if he had chosen something he felt was more right rather than following 'fate'. How different would the world be?

Finally, he decided something. "Hailyn," he said quietly, causing his wife to stop talking. "I am going to try to do it. I am going to try to change our fate."

The woman's eyes widened. She looked at her husband as if he had just sprouted another head. Hiashi wasn't surprised. Even he hardly believed the words that had come out of his mouth. But he would do it. For his daughters, for the entire clan, he would fight their fate.

Suddenly, life felt as if it had more meaning.

<Omake>

Sakura looked over her work and bit down on the back of her pen. A nervous habit and something she should really stop doing. The cause of her stress? The notebook in her hand that she was using to write in.

'Should I publish this? What would senpai think? Oh, he will think that I'm some kind of loose girl!' Sakura panicked in the sanctity of her own mind. Well, not really.

'What do you mean? It's just a book? Besides, I'm sure he won't think any less of us,' BB said.

'I know, but why did Kama have to leave this behind in my head?'

Kama and Parvati, two Hindu gods, still worshipped by millions and two gods with whom she shared her body to save humanity. Both of whom have left behind quite a bit of knowledge and skills that she could use.

She could not invoke their divine based abilities, but there was still plenty that she could use. That, and knowledge on how certain Indian magecraft worked along with... knowledge that she really wished they took with them when they left.

'What's so bad about it? It's just a guide to living life well,' BB asked.

'You know as well as I do about the part where most people focus on when thinking about this book,' Sakura replied.

'OK, so it's a guide to living life well that includes sex. Lots of sex along with positions that I'm not sure are physically possible unless you're really flexible.'

Sakura's traitorous mind filled her head with images of what she could use that knowledge for. Scenes of an adult her and Shirou re-enacting what was in the book. Her face burned.

'Oh, yeah. I can't wait for us to grow up! Stupid child body and second puberty...'

'Still, should I publish this?'

'Why not? It's not like we couldn't use the cash. Want to bet that we sell over a million copies within a month?'

'Ah, why not. Besides, I'm sure that it won't sell that well. I mean, the whole world can't be filled with perverts after all?'

"Line Break*

And so, Sakura published her book. Within a month of its release, the publisher had to print out even more copies to meet demand. Within a year, the Kama Sutra had sold more copies than the entire Icha Icha Series combined. Divorce statistics went down and married couples led much happier marriages after buying a copy of the book.

As for the author of the book? Well, she was so mortified by her book's success that she never revealed who she really was and never attended book signings despite her publisher's urging.

What did her friends think? Well, Shirou did not really see what the fuss was all about while Rin focused more on the millions that Sakura had made with just one book. She absolutely did not want to think about what went on in her sister's head.

Nara Shikaku drank himself into a stupor and somehow managed to convince himself that Sakura was not the author of the widely popular book. He had found the original manuscript in his house that even had his niece's name on it. He was still in denial a year later, even as the royalties kept coming in.

Jiraiya cried to himself when he first read the book. "I am not worthy! I must find the author of this holy text and learn their ways! On my honour as a Super Pervert, I will not rest until I have mastered everything that they have to teach!"

Safe to say, he never did find out who the author was, but his writing skills improved greatly, much to the delight of his fans.

I would like to remind everyone that the omakes are not necessarily canon. Still fun to write though. If anyone is offended by my using that book, I apologize. But you have to admit, it's plausible especially since Sakura was the host of not one, but two Hindu gods of love.

Also, I left who the Fire Daimyo's heir was vague on purpose. Said heir will show up later in the story, after I finish using up all of the original story, which should not be too long now.

I hope you all enjoyed reading this. Leave a review if you did or have criticism. Do try not to be overtly rude about it though.

Stay safe, It's a crazy world out there after all.