Rin sighed, releasing a breath she didn't realize was being held while walking through her new London apartment. It was a small affair, with a kitchen right off the entryway and a cozy living room and a dinette squeezed in between the two. But it had a balcony just big enough for a table and two chairs off of the kitchen and a wall of windows that gave Rin an enchanting view of the river across the street at sunset.

"Wow Tohsaka-san this place is amazing, leave it up to you to find somewhere with a view like this on a budget," gasped Shirou as he walked out of the bedroom in the back of the apartment.

"Hmph. I don't know why you would expect anything else but the best from me," huffed Rin, but inside she felt elated that Shirou was happy with the apartment that she had found. Rin had been looking forward to this move more than she realized, not because she was going to be able to learn at the clock tower, the prestigious institute of learning for prominent magi, that had been a given. Rin was excited because she finally had her own space to share with Shirou. A sudden blush appeared on Rin's face when she realized what had just crossed her mind, looking at the single bedroom that the apartment possessed.

"Tohsaka-san, what are you thinking about?" Shirou smiled.

"Nothing you idiot! Did you finish placing all of the boxes in the bedroom?" Rin snapped, more irritated in herself for her momentary slip than at that idiot for catching her. He was her idiot though, so she decided that it was ok.

Shrugging and walking over to her, Shirou said, "I think so, all we have left to do is unpack our clothes and I need to make a trip to the grocery store down the street." He wrapped his arms around her and kissed the crown of her head with a small smile on his face.

Rin smiled back as he wrapped his arms around her and nuzzled into his neck, "Then let's get started, I'm hungry and excited for what you have in mind for our first dinner in our new house."

Rin pulled away just in time to see Shirou's slightly red face, before he turned away and started unpacking his suitcase. Rin knew that his blush wasn't just from her compliment but from how affectionate she was acting. Rin rarely showed her affection for him so openly, even while alone and she knew that the man in front of her wished to see it more, even if he would never ask her to change anything about herself. Rin had resolved when he had moved to London with her that she would do her best to make sure that he knew how much she cared about him, even though she couldn't bring herself to say the words themselves yet.

An hour later the bedroom was mostly unpacked, with only a few piles of Rin's clothes left on the bed. Rin was concluding one of the most important tasks involved in their move to London, having Shirou hang up her clothes. Shirou had finished putting away his meager selection of clothes quickly, and all it had taken Rin to get his help was to stare at the mountain of clothing and sigh.

Once the bedroom was in order Rin moved to begin unpacking her boxes of books when Shirou reminded her that he was going on a trip to the grocery store to pick up supplies for dinner.

"Rin."

Rin quickly looked up from what she was doing and saw that he was standing by the door, keys in hand. She stopped and walked over to him, placing the box of books that she had been holding on the dinette table.

"What's wrong Shirou?" she said with concern in her eyes. He never used her first name unless it was something serious, no matter how much she had tried to break him of the habit.

"I know I could say this later, but I just wanted to say that I'm happy that you decided to bring me with you to London. There's not a place in the world that I would rather be."

Rin looked at the goofy smile on his face and as much as she wanted to be annoyed with him for interrupting her work, she just couldn't help but smile at the words.

Of course, now hurry up, I'm hungry," she said. Giving him a deep kiss as a reward for making her smile, she pushed the idiot towards the door and turned back to her box of books. The sooner he left the sooner he would come back she smiled to herself.

"One more thing."

She turned back with one eyebrow raised in mock annoyance, "Yes Shirou?"

He smiled at her as he turned the knob on the door, "I love you Rin Tohsaka."

Through the uncontrollable blush that spread through her cheeks she felt a pang of guilt in her heart that she didn't have the courage to say those wonderful words back to him yet. She managed to stutter out, "I-I-I know idiot, come back to me soon."

Rin watched Shirou walk out and as he was closing the door….

BANG BANG BANG!

Rin cursed as she was pulled out of her nostalgic dream of the first day Shirou and her had moved into the apartment that she was in. Shouting that she would be there in a minute, Rin pulled on the robe that he had always worn in the mornings to make her breakfast and shuffled to the door while she tried to process why that dream had come up now, five years after it had happened.

Rin yanked open the door and glared at the tall blonde smiling sweetly at her. "What do you want Luvia?"

Luvia's eye twitched slightly, but she kept the small smile on her face as she told her old rival, "Lord El-Melloi II has requested your presence for an urgent contract that was issued by the Mage's Association. He said to pack for a long trip and warm climates."

"What makes that man think that I have any interest in providing him with my services?" Asked a now seething Rin. Not only was she woken up before the sun had risen, which should be a crime, but her old teacher had the gall to summon her like she was one of his attendants. If she hadn't needed the money to purchase more supplies for her research, she would have slammed the door in Luvia's face and returned to her warm bed. However, she knew that while annoyed with his method, Lord El-Melloi II would not have sent Luvia to get her if the contract was not worth her time. To send a request so direct was enough to garner her attention, and to use Luvia to do so was even more intriguing. Sighing internally, Rin thought that she could use a distraction from the dream she had been pulled away from. Anything not to start thinking of him right now.

Luvia's smile slipped when she saw Rin go from palpable anger over her message to a sober silence. Something must have reminded her of Shirou. She knew that the other woman was still struggling to overcome what had happened with her lover two and a half years ago, but Luvia could not offer support to Rin in the spirit of their rivalry and knew her sympathy likely would not be well received regardless.

"He is confident that this contract will hold your interest, however even I do not know the details, just that he appeared excited and told me to fetch you. Lord El-Melloi has scheduled transportation for you and I leaving in two hours. That is all I know right now." Luvia stated with such sincerity in her eyes that Rin knew that she was telling the truth.

Rolling her eyes Rin snapped, "He's even giving me extra baggage? This Contract better pay extremely well, I will present myself at his office in one hour to see what he has to say," as she slammed the door in Luvia's face, not waiting on her response.

Rin walked into the kitchen and started to prepare herself some tea and toast, missing the days when she would have been woken up with a kiss and a smile, breakfast already prepared with love. She sat down at the table of the dinette and realized how worn it looked compared to her dream of the past. She sighed, missing that idiot that had left to fulfill his dream of becoming a hero of justice.

She remembered the argument that had happened the day that he left, Shirou had walked into the living room after a wonderful lunch and told her that even though he was happy he felt that he had stalled in the name of self-enjoyment with her for so long and it was time for him to leave and fulfill his destiny. Rin had of course refused, saying that they only had six more months left at the clock tower and that they could decide what to do afterwards. She had seen the pain in Shirou's eyes when she had told him that she wanted more time with him, even though she knew it was selfish. After an hour of her trying her best they both had tears in their eyes. She thought she had won, or at least earned herself a reprieve. Shirou had kissed her and held her until she had fallen asleep that evening. However, when Rin woke up the next morning the man that she loved with all of her heart was gone. All he had left was a note that was stained with tears. The note was short, only saying….

My dearest Rin,

I know when you find this note you will probably hate me, but I knew that you would try to stop me when I left. I wish I could stay with you longer but if I do, I do not think I would have had the strength to do this, even now it hurts worse than being stabbed through the heart. Please do not come looking for me, I do not want this kind of life for you. I hope that you will find it in you some day to forgive me, but if you cannot, that is just one more regret that I will have to bear.

I love you Rin Tohsaka, more than anything.

Emiya

Rin was startled out of her memories when she felt a drop of water hit her hand. Looking up at the ceiling she realized that it was blurry, and touching her face, realized where the drop had come from.

"Stupid Idiot, he's been gone for almost three years and is still making me cry, I guess I never did end up getting over my fear of telling him that I loved him," she smiled sadly. She got up and poured herself a cup of tea and put a liberal helping of strawberry jam on her toast.

After Rin finished breakfast, she went into her bedroom and took a quick shower, cursing Lord El-Melloi II for imposing such a tight timeline on her that she couldn't afford to take a bath before her trip. Rin began to pack her bag and then stopped, pondering on what her rival had said when she had stopped by to deliver her message. Luvia had said to pack for warm climates, so Rin assumed that since it was likely a high paying contract that the target would be located in a desert, no mage would pay good money to send another somewhere nice to fetch something when they could do it themselves. After she finished packing her bags Rin prepared to leave when she had a sudden thought.

"Well, Luvia did say that it was going to be a long trip… I guess I will bring that." She murmured as she quickly walked back into her room and came out with a green sweater. As much as she hated it when she was feeling especially lonely at night, she would seek out the favorite sweater that he used to wear. She didn't know if he had left it on purpose but even after 3 years it still smelled of him, and gave her a sense of comfort, however brief.

As Rin walked out of the apartment, she wondered to herself, "What could the target of this contract possibly be to get Lord El-Melloi II so worked up?"

Rin arrived at the office exactly one hour after her conversation with Luvia. Entering after a quick knock Rin walked directly to the desk and sat down in one of the offered chairs, with Luvia having already arrived and sitting in the adjacent seat.

"What is so important that you felt the need to send this witch to wake me? Could it have not waited until our appointment tomorrow?" asked Rin, all while glaring at the man that sat behind the desk with an amused look on his face.

"Rin, is that any way to speak to your old teacher? Here I am offering you a very lucrative contract, all for a surveillance mission on a potential mage that may require a sealing designation in the future." Lord El-Melloi II face lost the amusement it had held before to be replaced briefly by annoyance before he recovered his composure.

Rin didn't miss the look of annoyance and she decided to ease up, if just slightly, because she knew that the man in front of her did likely have her best interests at heart. "Fine, where do you wish for me to go and what exactly do you wish for me to do? And why must I have a travel companion, specifically this one? Our issues aside, is where we are going so dangerous that the both of us are required?"

Taking a deep breath Lord El-Melloi II started to explain the contract that he had summoned the two women for, "This contract will indeed require two of the strongest mages of your generation to work together to offset the risk of the location you shall be searching. The information on the target is vague which is the cause of the contract in the first place. The fighting in the region is so heavy that all of the familiars that have been sent as observers have been destroyed in the fighting. The contract is for you to go to the location and use your magic to locate the target, identify them, and record any magic use that you see over forty-eight hours. It should not be hard for you to locate the target once you arrive. The contract does not forbid interaction with the target if needed. This is a personal addition but if you feel the need to engage the target for your own safety then do so. I will not be able accept you two not returning from this contract since I am bringing it to you, and I am willing to cover the breach of contract fees to ensure you do so. Any questions?"

Luvia gave a polite no, having already likely heard this before Rin had arrived. Rin just simply said, "When do we leave?"

A/N: Hi everyone! I hope you enjoyed my first attempt at writing fanfiction, I've been wanting to do something like this for a long time and I finally decided to give it a shot. Fate is an amazing universe, and I hope you'll come along with me for this ride. Originally I intended for this to be a one-shot off a random idea I had but once I started writing I felt like I could do it more justice. Positive comments and constructive criticism are both greatly appreciated!

See y'all next time! :)