Archer did not know what to expect when she told him they needed to talk.

He had unwillingly followed her to the couch because of her pleading look that he just could not ignore. Even if she didn't know it, she knew how to make him do what she wanted. He had wanted to speak with her, ask questions about what happened, curious about what she had figured out, but all he could think of was this morning, how she had walked away with Gilgamesh and then how Gilgamesh had apparently come to her rescue. He should have been there for her, not Gilgamesh. And that annoyed him most of all.

He knew that she was lying about Gilgamesh not doing anything to her and that just set his mood darker (it got even worse when she had touched her ear and argued against what Gilgamesh did). The question she asked though, about something she wanted to confirm, shocked him. Of all the things she could ask, she had to ask about her.

"I don't understand how this relates to anything," he began.

"No, it does!" Hikaru grabbed his hands like she thought he was going to run away from her(which was a tempting option at this point). She leaned forward slightly as she stared up at him. Her huge, brown doe-like eyes were pleading with him. "Please. I...I know this is selfish of me, I know that. But can you please tell me about her." She bit her lip, a nervous habit he noticed, as she leaned back and released his hands. "I need to know," she continued softly.

How was he supposed to tell her about a person that she herself knew well enough? Also what would happen when she found out the truth?

"Please Archer," she begged. "Please…"

He sighed. There was no way out of this situation was there? Even if he avoided it now, she would just bring it up later and annoy him until she got her answer in the end. "She was my Master from a different Grail War," he relented. "She was a rookie, a girl that was just thrown into the War with no warning. She would have died except her will to survive and live on saved her."

A small smile lit up his face as he thought of their first meeting. Her, lying on the ground, looking so pathetic but she still had the audacity to say she was his Master. Everything had started on that day. "We fought alongside each other for seven weeks-that War was different than this one, it played by different rules- and well…I grew to love her. She had been brave and stubborn and she never gave up on anyone."

He shook his head as he thought of the time that he ended up going through a projector to save Rin because she wanted to. Only she would want to save another Master at the risk of her own skin. She also had enough sass to fight back against the cynical abuse he had thrown at her after a while.

"She even almost went into a dangerous zone without me because of a bad incident that happened earlier in the week. She can be reckless but she meant well." He had dragged himself out of the private room just to go with her into the arena that day. She had given him apologetic looks the whole time but he had just continued to fight against the arena monsters to the best of his ability. Even in situations like that, they were still a team that fought together.

"She grew so fast as a magus and evolved with ridiculous speed. I wasn't even sure if I could keep up with her." Just every little thing she did made him happy. And that made the end,her trip into the Moon Cell core, ten times worse.

Hikaru swallowed the lump in her throat as Archer continued on about the great traits of this woman. She was courageous, kind, powerful, everything that Hikaru wasn't. Was her theory wrong? Did she not have the ability to sense about other versions of herself? Or was these feelings that were welling up inside of her from an unrequited love?

Archer paused in mid-sentence. "You're crying."

"Huh?" Hikaru touched her cheek. It was wet. "Oh, I am." She rubbed her eyes but the tears were not stopping. What the heck? Why was she crying? This wasn't something to cry about! It wasn't like she personally liked Archer that much to be affected like this right?

Or was it?

Even though the trust along with something more was there, there was something else, under the surface. Something that she was afraid of, that she didn't understand. Why did it bother her so much when Archer talked about this girl? Why was it that the look he got in his eyes when he spoke about her troubled Hikaru? It shouldn't! This made no sense at all. This was different than what she felt when Gilgamesh spoke about the version of her that he loved. She did not care as much about that. All she had focused on was finding the truth. Here though, it was different.

"What's wrong?" he asked softly, reaching out to touch her cheek. She winced and he hesitated a couple centimeters from her face and drew back his hand. "I'm sorry. This is troubling you isn't it? Maybe we should talk about something else?"

"No, no." She rubbed her eyes. She needed to know. She needed to confirm it. Her emotions be damned, she needed an answer to her questions. "Please Archer. Just…just answer me one more thing. Her name. What was her name?"

He stiffened. She bit her lip as she looked down at the carpet. She flexed her toes as she watched them poke at the fibers. She needed to know but at the same thing she didn't want to know. She held her breath and glanced up at her Servant. He seemed to be as conflicted as her about this whole thing.

However, like before, his shoulders relaxed and he seemed resigned to his fate. "Her name was, Hikaru Kishinami."

Archer could see it in her face. Her eyes were wider than he ever thought possible, her body ridged to the point that she could be mistaken for a statue. She opened and closed her mouth but was unable to get a sound out. He looked away. He had admitted it. After almost two weeks, he had finally, admitted it.

"You had feelings for her...a girl that was me," she repeated softly.

Archer shut his eyes and nodded. He didn't want to look at her face right now. How would she react now that she knew the truth? Would she run away in disgust or slap him? Or would she just scream and yell?

Nothing happened.

He cracked open his eyes and saw she was staring down at the carpet, those tears in her eyes free-flowing.

"I thought so," she whispered. "I thought so."

"Master…" He reached out to her but he could not touch her. It was like she had erected an invisible barrier around herself through the power of her tears.

She turned to him, a huge sad smile plastered on her face. "I thought so. I had a theory." She rubbed her eyes but the tears were not stopping. "Gilgamesh told me something similar actually. He said he loved me but mentioned a bunch of events that I was never a part of, in a different place, a different world. He was in love with a girl that was me, but a different version of me. And you too. You are in love with a version of me as well."

She buried her face into her hands. "I'm stupid, so stupid. I was hoping it wasn't true. These feelings of mine-I can feel what other versions of me are feeling from different worlds when I meet someone that is important to them. I guess I can only feel pure love due to my ability being so underdeveloped."

So it was true after all. She was sensitive to the other versions of herself. "Master…" He reached for her again but physically moved away this time.

"No, don't touch me." She rubbed her eyes. "I'm stupid. So stupid. I'm pathetic compared to the other versions of me. They all did great things and here I am, unable to do anything myself. I'm pathetic. I wasn't even able to save Alice without help. I'm stupid. That version of me that you fell in love with, she could do everything without help, she could do it." She hit her forehead with her fists. "So stupid. So pathetic. I'm a worthless magus."

"Stop it!" Archer grabbed her wrists to prevent her from hitting herself again. She looked up at him with those tear-filled eyes. "Just stop it okay?" He wrapped his arms tight around her, crushing her against his body. "You are not pathetic, you are not worthless. You have strengths of your own." She was shivering as she quietly sobbed.

"You were comparing me this whole time," she whispered. "To her. Everything makes sense. You only wanted to protect me; you were willing to be my Servant because I am another version of her. I'm just the girl that resembles her. I'm nothing by myself. That's all."

She tried to pull away but Archer just held her tighter. "No. That's not it at all." He had to make her understand. He just had to. "At first, yes, I thought of you as her, as a replacement for her. However," he added quickly. "That's not it at all. Over time, I realized that you are different from her. You have different strengths. Yes, she was reckless but she would not jump into situations like you would to save someone, she could not ramble on like you, can't cook like you, she did not have magus abilities like you, heck, there was no way she could eat a crepe like you can."

He released her from his tight grip and put his hands on her shoulders as he looked her straight in the eye. "You are different from her. You are your own person, shaped by the events of your own life. That makes you different from her. You and her are not the same." He swallowed as he stared into her eyes, now bloodshot and puffy from her crying. "Honestly, those differences are your own quirks. You are not you, you are not unique without them. And that's what I like about you," he said softly.

Hikaru stared at her Servant, unable to comprehend what he had just said. Everything had happened so fast. As soon as he had said her name, it was like a floodgate had opened in her mind. The feelings that were simmering there, the passion had risen up and she had felt it full force. The love that, the other Hikaru felt hit her at full force and she realized that she herself was nothing compared to that Hikaru. Her own personal feelings for her Servant were nothing to what that Hikaru felt.

He had surprised her when he had hugged her tight and spoke to her. His final words had shocked her most of all. "You like the differences about me…" she murmured.

Archer nodded as he released her and looked away sheepishly. "Yes. Well ummm…"

Hikaru swallowed as she watched her Servant. Was his face slightly flushed? "That time, yesterday," she began. "What..." She swallowed again. "Who was that meant for?"

He jumped slightly like he had been thinking of that himself. "I…I wasn't exactly thinking of her when I did it…but at the same time I was...I noticed how similar you two looked...but that was all." he murmured in an incredibly soft voice. "But I'm sorry for that, it was out of line, my own feelings were getting the best of me. Something like that won't happen again, so don't you worry about that. I know that it was probably incredibly awkward for you, don't worry, something like that will never happen again. Everything can go back to way it was before."

It was like he had taken on her rambling trait. She giggled to herself and softly smiled as she leaned over and gently kissed her Servant on the lips. Before he could react, she had leaned back, her face red.

"Master…" he said slowly, his eyes wide with shock. His face was turning red to the point that she could clearly see it.

"Uh, I…" She twirled a finger around some of her hair. What was she supposed to do next? She looked up at him through her bangs sheepishly.

"Master…you…"

"I…I like you," she admitted. She knew her own face was probably burning at that confession. "I really do. And now I know that these are my own emotions and not being affected by hers. She and I are connected but since I know now what yours and her connection is, I can finally break separate between what she feels and what I do..." She poked her pointer fingers against each other. "You've always been there for me and took care of me and stuff so umm yeah."

She shut her eyes. Did that work? Was her confession good enough? Heck, that wasn't really much of a confession was it? That ending was so wishy-washy! When he didn't respond she continued, "I know this is weird, I know. I know you can see her in me and well that bothers me but at the same time it's you and…" She trailed off before she said something she regretted. Her mouth was dangerous when she rambled.

"Sorry," she whispered after another long moment of silence. She was too afraid to look at him, to gauge his reaction to the whole thing. So stupid of her. Why did she think this was a good idea? "I'll go now." She got up from the couch but Archer's arm shot out and wrapped around her wrist before she could walk away. She yelped as Archer pulled her close to him and pressed his lips against hers.

He kissed her with the same passion he had done to break her from Alice's spell. She didn't know how she ended up with her back pressed against the couch. All she knew was that Archer was kissing her, giving her a prompt answer to her confession.

He separated his lips from hers as he looked down at her, his hands on either side of her head. Her lips throbbed and she was panting slightly from the kiss. "Damn it Hikaru. You can't say stuff like that and expect me not to react." He gently pressed his forehead against hers.

"You said my name," she whispered. "My actual name."

He seemed surprised himself. "Yes I did," he murmured. He gently rubbed the tears from her eyes.

She lifted a hand ran it through his hair. So soft like before. "I'm new to this whole thing in case you haven't noticed." She batted her eyelashes at him.

He shook his head but he was smiling. "You really have no idea how you look to me right now do you?"

"What does that mean?"

He kissed her again, so feverishly and intently that it left her breathless. She let out a small cry in protest when broke away and he looked down at her in amusement. Her breath hitched in her throat as his lips touched her neck.

"I should get started on dinner." Archer got up from the couch as she scrambled to sit up. Her face was flushed and she tried to tame her hair.

"Ummm yeah," she stammered as she poked her pointer fingers against each other.

He had been a good boy, despite all of his intentions; he stayed above her shoulders the entire time. He had also been careful to not leave any tell-tale signs on her neck. "Hikaru," he began. "There is one problem with this. I'm a Servant and once the War is over…"

"I…I know that," she whispered. She looked up suddenly. "What about my wish? I could wish on the Grail right?"

Archer shook his head. "The Grail, if it is like the one from when I was a participant…"

She swallowed and he thought she was going to cry again but instead she gave him a huge smile. "Well then, I guess we'll just have to make due until then right? Plus there might be another way! And this Grail might be fine to make a wish like that!"

He didn't want to dash the small hope she had so he just nodded. "Maybe," he said softly.

She seemed happy with just that and she twirled a lock of hair around a finger. "Well then, if there is still hope, I'm not going to give up." She got up and put her hands behind her back. "Are you going to need some help with dinner?"

"No, I…" He sighed as she gave him that pleading look again. "Fine, fine. You can help me."

"Yay!" She grinned and slipped her hand into his before she began dragging him into the kitchen.

He smiled at his Master. Even with his best intentions she had snared him and drawn him in. He could have pushed her away, he could have ignored the kiss she had given him. No, he had wanted it as much as she did, heck probably more than she did. I will protect her this time, no matter what.