(A/N: This is another story I had someone commission for me. This was not made by me, but someone I paid to do it. I wanted to see what kinda EMIYA/Orihime story people could come up with in a Fate/Bleach crossover, and… Here it is! Let's all enjoy it together! Ownership belongs to their respective creators. This was clearly made purely for entertainment. To entertain me, I mean.)

Chapter 1

Archer stared down at the hundreds of windows before him slowly turning dark as night crept along. He stood atop a residential building, one he had visited often with Rin, and had many battles upon. Despite the clashing of blades and sharp flashes of light, he had found more discretion here than the open grounds.

To anyone who had not disappeared outside the bounds of space and time and actually witnessed the time pass by, that was all five years ago.

As far as he was concerned, he remembered fighting Gilgamesh, saying his goodbyes to Rin and now here he was, summoned by a new master, in Fuyuki City only half a decade after the fifth Holy Grail War.

He went to the edge of the building, glided off gently, and landed without a sound on the greying asphalt of the road. He had prefered staying off the ground, to keep watch, for the simple mechanics of weapon and although he wouldn't say it out loud, he had taken fondnesses to stretching cityscape

But now as he walked down the street, surrounded by the skyscrapers he had spent so long looking down at, it was almost surreal. The town was quiet, cars and distant commercial activity he heard only in muffled remnants as he passed by minimalistic billboards. Everything blended into neat and coherent suburbia.

Archer could walk the whole city like that and go unnoticed. Perhaps not by the people, he hardly bore any resemblance to the corporate types who likely lived here but by his new master.

They had a total of three exchanges and none had been very revealing. He knew her name. Orihime Nazuki. He knew she came from somewhere different. Different enough that it amused her. She came from a different world.

He had been summoned into many eras as far back in time as forward but never a different timeline. This was the first time he had even heard of the existence of different timelines. Were people there any better? Could there be worlds out there where good and bad were so fundamentally different that Shirou Emiya's ideals could be rendered entirely meaningless? And how did she even come here?

EMIYA had a dozen questions. Only it did not seem like his master was going to entertain many. He wondered if he should ask her what was wrong with her? He had practically babysat Rin at times but her personality was more engaging at least. Even if it was for the sole reason that she spoke at all.

Archer sighed and headed back to her home: An inexpensive apartment on top of a sushi restaurant. He walked in, the place was closed and the tables all stacked aside. Orihime cleaned the dishes to pay for the apartment. He had considered if he should offer help, considering he was her Servant after all. But he decided he would only do that after he got any information out of her.

Besides, he was in no hurry to wash dishes.

He walked up the stairs, careful on the wood board that was cracked or hollowed out in places. The door creaked loudly as he slid it back and once he walked in, he carefully slid it back holding it steady so that it didn't rattle in the frame.

He grimaced. It was about time he forgot about living in Rin's mansion.

He composed himself and turned around. Orihime sat at the table hugging her knees. Her face was calm but languid. She appeared lost in thought, striking orange hair framing her face such that he could barely make the look in eyes from that far.

"Do you want dinner?" She asked politely, standing up and heading to the kitchen.

"No, it is alright" Archer waited. "You are not going to ask me where I have been?"

That was uncharacteristic to how they usually interacted. She turned around, confused, waiting for him to explain.

"Masters are supposed to keep track of where their Servants are. There could be danger in the vicinity" He stated simply.

Or they should be plotting how to kill enough people to win a silly cup of curses. He could name a thousand things but a lot of it would be irrelevant at the moment.

"I can defend myself just fine, and I have not encountered anything dangerous so far" She replied, sounding like she was justifying herself but gave away that she was doing it out of courtesy.

They were strangers and she owed him no explanations. And they had never tried to be anything else.

Afterall, without the threat of war, there wasn't any need at all to create connections. And Orihime wasn't all that curious to know him. Or this completely new world she had found herself in.

Archer noticed the Command seals on her hand. And then looked back at her, the unease obvious in his face.

"Is there something wrong?" Orihime asked, clutching a coiled hand in the palm of the other.

Archer turned around. "No" He said and left the building before she could say anything else. Soon enough he was back on a different rooftop.

Something was off. Why was he summoned again and who was this woman? Could all of her disinterest be a facade?

He did not want to get betrayed or used even if another blow would feel practically meaningless to him. He had hoped he wouldn't be summoned for a while. Especially not as a heroic spirit in the middle of a war.

Ultimately though, humanities courses would add up and the grail would regenerate. Once again there would be retribution and indeed once again, many would suffer.

But this speed was terrifying, if this time around, it had only taken five years to regenerate. The time between the wars shortening would suggest that the world was quickly becoming a worse place.

Maybe he was in a timeline that was simply doomed to suffer. Orihime could maybe shed some light on that. Unless she herself was proof that her own world was just as bad.

He had to admit he was suspicious of her. He understood her powers and although remarkable, they could very well pose a threat. And then it occurred to him.

Could she have summoned him the way Caster had summoned Assassin?

His eyes shot wide at the possibility. The Command Seals on her hand suddenly didn't seem all that harmless.

That's when he noticed someone skip a rooftop and a blue spark followed. Archer lunged in its direction, at once alert. He caught up to the movement in an empty ground and intuitively hurled a projected sword at his side.

"Easy there now" A very familiar voice said.

Archer let the blade disintegrate. "Lancer?"

"Right on."

"What are you doing here?"

"In town?" He continued you casually and strolled over to a bench.

"In the world. Were you summoned again?"

"Yes by Rin."

"Rin's your master?" He let himself envy him for a moment, then the investigation continued.

"Yeah, Shirou is strong enough to supply Saber with enough Mana on his own now. She had a spot open."

"And she went with you?" Alright he definitely didn't have his priorities in order.

"Huh? Ya lady not treating you well?"

Archer scoffed. "So what, is there another war?"

Lancer blinked. His broad frame now turned towards him. "What would be the odds, two servants from the old war appearing again at the same time. Besides, no one knows if the grail is destroyed forever, there might never be another war."

Archer decided to sit next to him, on the very opposite end of the bench. "Then what are you doing here?" He asked quietly.

"Like I told ya, Rin. Since there might not be another war, the heroic spirits would have never come back again. Saber had already decided to stay and Rin decided on me.

As with you, Rin and some people from the mage association put a spell so that when a strong master appears, you get summoned for them.

Complicated stuff but since you are here they must have pulled it off. I came here all the way to check on you anyways, but you found me first."

"So Orihime isn't a servant herself" He said, processing the statement.

"What?"

"Like Caster, she isn't draining the entire city to stay anchored to the world?"

"EMIYA, you sure have seen a lot haven't ya"

Archer was caught off guard by the sudden use of his name. He stepped away from the bench.

"She's just some woman, new in town sure but you will get used to it. Things don't always gotta be the worst do they?"

"Where are Rin and Shirou?"

"London. Shirou didn't join the association and they figured it would be good for Saber." He explained. "They will visit once they get back. I gotta be on my way now."

Lancer stood up, casting a tall shadow under the streetlamp. "Don't overthink this too much eh?" He clasped down on Archer's shoulder and then leapt out of his sight.

Archer decided not to go back to the apartment and went back to his usual resting place on a 26th story.

So then she was not a witch. Maybe Rin had unknowingly brought her to town. He tried to put his mind to ease but he couldn't discard the thought that it might have been a bad decision.

Could he trust her?

Orihime wasn't home when he went back in the morning. Since she never had any tasks for him he could pretty much do as he liked.

Unsure what to do with all the free time, he went to the kitchen and set the skillet on the stovetop. He made himself a vegetable omelette and was about to pour out some milk when suddenly the communication channel with his Master went active.

He blinked. "Oh god, what do I do now?" Orihime's voice was urgent. She was not aware that Archer could hear her.

Archer turned the stove off and quickly traced her down. She was in an empty back ally, on her knees hunched over a child who was bleeding profusely through his arm. There was no one else around any cars which did pass by, did not stop to notice.

"You have to help me, he-" She began to say but Archer cut her off.

"What did you do to him?" He asked. The last war had really changed him. "Are you trying to drain him, is that it?"

She had all but confusion and defensiveness in her eyes, then she shook her head. "I don't know what you are saying but we need to help him right now."

He turned back to the boy. He was lying on the ground, flinching as blood pool around him. A trail from the road implied that he had been dragged aside to the forest space.

"Did you hurt him or not?" He could have sworn that Shirou had possessed him at that moment.

"I did not!" Orihime replied, pained at the accusation. Her reserved demeanour had given away into frenzy.

"I don't know why you are asking me that but my powers aren't working and we need to help him." She continued and shut her eyes to focus. When nothing happened she looked up at Archer.

He could suddenly see it was a very inappropriate time to make baseless accusations. "Was it a hit and run?"He asked finally.

"A truck." She said, her voice barely audible. "And the ambulance number is not picking up. What kind of a city is this?"

An underfunded one.

Archer leaned down to pick up the boy, now barely conscious. He shrieked when his arm changed positions,

"You have to be careful," Orihime shouted at him.

"I will take him to the hospital." Archer responded, extremely out of habit for this sort of work. Orihime didn't mind being left there.

He contacted her through the channel. "I can get him there fast. You should get home."

They were finally engaging in the kind of conversation he was used to, focused on work entirely.

"You can listen to my thoughts?" She was so surprised that this became more important for a second.

"Only when you decide to."

"Hurry up, and be mindful of his arm."

"Right." Archer was a fighter, his job, since his life as Shirou Emiya had not included anything like this. The boy he was holding, in a position where he doubted his arm was completely comfortable, was too quiet. Perhaps passed out because of blood loss. He might not survive at all but Archer had to do what his master had ordered for now.

He realized, rather cynically, that he was concerned about Orihime's motives and not the boy. He located the hospital, walked inside and the nearest nurses quickly came over.

"What happened?" One asked as they lied him down on a stretcher.

"Hit and run."

"Sir, did you file a polic-"

Archer left the building and disappeared before they could bother him with long hours of paperwork.

"He is at the hospital." Archer said walking into the apartment. Orihime stood up and almost ran towards him. "He will be fine." he felt the need to say and walked past her.

"What was all that earlier?" She asked.

Archer stopped.

"Why did you think I wanted to hurt a child?" she pressed on.

Archer pursed his lips. "I had my reasons."

"What reasons?"

"I should not have been summoned at this time if there's no war. And I don't know why you brought me here so I have no reason to trust you."

He said, trying to be matter of fact but coming across frustrated.

Orihime backed down and downcast her gaze. "I am sorry." She whispered.

"What?"

"The people from the association-" She began, voice strained. "and Rin asked me to summon you because I could supply you with enough Mana and they said that was the only way you could stay in this world.

I told them I would take care of you but I am sorry I have been so absent."

To Archer's utter confusion and embarrassment, she had tears in her eyes.

"You...didn't have to." He trailed off. "And you don't have to take c-" he had to change topics before this got any more awkward. "You say you have been absent, why is that?"

She sniffed and then covered her face with an elbow.

Great work.

"Ichigo, my husband, and my children- We thought it was all over. Even he felt it was time to retire as a Shinigami. And then Grimmjow…"

She did not finish that sentence.

"I was supposed to be dead. But something happened, I have never used my power to only defend myself but in that moment. I don't know what happened but I woke up here, and Rin told me they didn't make it."

So she was probably not trying to kill the town. Archer, feeling lightened, closed his eyes and sat down.

"You don't have to supply me any Mana, if I have not been summoned for a purpose, then I need not stay." He offered, knowing she wouldn't let him die but as a way to offer a truce.

"No, I promised your friends I will." She insisted and sat down opposite him.

He nodded. "And I am sorry about the accusation. The war is not a prospect anyone looks forward to but I should have taken your situation into consideration too.

Just say you fucked up.

"Yeah, that's routine with me."

Archer bit his lip.

"I am sorry-" She blurted out. "It's alright. I will try to tend to you more often now."

Archer realized it was pointless telling her that she didn't have to. It was as though a version of Shirou had become his master.

He stood up and headed for his room. "Tomorrow." He said before leaving. "I can assist with the dishes."

He walked downstairs, peering through the narrow windows of the restaurant at the tables filled with people. Orihime already had a pile of plates on the sink. Her purple washing gloves slightly splashed the tap water and she scrubbed.

In spite of her less than entertaining job, she had dressed pleasantly, in a pastel yellow sweater and jeans shorts. Given his own heroic spirit attire, they were both dressed oddly for kitchen staff.

With one secretly unamazed look at the pile, the counter guardian of the universe found his own pair of gloves and diverted some of the plates to a station next to the girl.

She watched him come over but did not protest. "Thank you."

"I was summoned to be in service."

"Regardless."

Minutes passed by in silence, now that the debacle from yesterday was over, Orihime seemed to be falling back into quiet solemnity. Archer did not like that, at least yesterday she had broken out of her shell. If he was going to stay here for god knows how long, at least he could get more lively company.

"So Ichigo." He said, still attending to the dirty plate in his hands. "Do you miss him?"

Orihime turned to him for a second and then resumed. "I do." Her expression confirmed that.

"Have you been with someone else since?" He tried cautiously.

"I am his wife"

"Ex wife technically." He bit his tongue.

She seemed to have not taken offense.

"I should still stay faithful to him."

There was a hint of a question aimed at herself in that statement. Archer raised an eyebrow. "Right. Well, I understand mourning is difficult."

As his pile finished he took off his gloves deciding to take a break.

"It's not mourning. I am his wife and I should stay loyal to his memory." She said defensively.

Archer wanted to scoff but he shrugged instead.

Orihime turned back to work.

Later in the evening as they were both done, they left the owner to close shop.

Archer followed Orihime as she stretched her arms. "I should try to find a better job soon but then I would have to leave this apartment."

"Rin could have helped out. Her place is probably empty right now."

"No, she has been too nice already."

Rin? He doubted that.

"Thanks for today by the way." She smiled slightly. She seemed to be doing better, especially after the painfully long two months they had spent entirely formal.

It was now Archer noticed, the second time since they had first met, that she was very pretty. And a woman, unlike Rin who had become somewhat of a mentor to. He looked forward to having a Master he didn't have to look after at least even if he was doing minimum wage jobs now.

"It's alright. Besides, as I mentioned, I am here to be of service for you."

Orihime looked away and nodded. She seemed to be blushing ever so slightly.

Archer noticed her tense up and not entirely because of flattery. Maybe he was onto something.

Was he really this bored?

He turned away and smirked a little. If there wasn't going to be a war, he had to keep himself busy somehow.

"We should make lunch." He suggested. as monotonous as ever.

They headed to the kitchen and decided on tomato soup. Mainly because there was no meat in the house. 'I am vegetarian'. She had explained.

She decided to make the base and he headed out to bring canned tomatoes. The house wasn't the most well stocked since most days, he never ate in the house and she hadn't been very tentative to it either.

He handed her the grocery bag and she put it on the counter. "Hey can you pass me the turmeric, it's on the shelf." She pointed at the shelf next to here.

He walked over, letting her get out of his way and picked up the spice container. He tilted it to her slightly above her eye level and she took it out of his hand.

"Thanks." She said awkwardly.

The rest of the day went uneventfully. And so did the days that followed.

They spoke a little, she told him about her world, about her brother, the hollows and her life ever since.

And it was quite an eventful life. He realized he had misjudged her drastically. Afterall the woman who convinced the very embodiment of emptiness of human kindness couldn't be all that ill intentioned.

They also figured that her powers were adjusting to supplying him with Mana and would be back soon enough.

Despite them settling into routine, he had only grown more curious. Every night before she slept, she still prayed for her husband. He found it almost odd that she missed him more than her children. She hadn't sought anyone out or showed any interest in the restaurant owner who, for one, was a good looking guy and second probably had better living spaces than what she had right now.

He had started to think that her excessive devotion to her husband was never going to go away. She was entirely hopeless. And then one night, he was shown otherwise.

He had not planned on looking but then he had not made much effort to stop. She had turned on her light and Archer realized that his door never closed all the way.

Orihime was sitting against her closet, knees drawn up as usual but slightly falling open. She probably couldn't see him as her hand clutched at thighs, fingers somewhat trembling and she grasped at the cloth of her silk night suit and her skin and let it fall out of her grip.

She seemed to be holding herself back, licking her lips and uncertainty moving her hand closer to the inside of her thigh. Her legs stretched away just a little. And then she pulled it back and squeezed her hand into a fist.

Archer snorted and turned around. Maybe not entirely hopeless then. Of course she was growing frustrated. Dedicated or not, everyone had needs after all. Maybe eventually, he could be of some help but since she could barely touch herself right now, it would be a while.

But once he does get a chance…

He did not sleep the easiest that night.

"Were you okay last night?" He asked her casually, loading dishes in the sink. The restaurant was loud and bustling and the rounds of crockery made its way to them every few minutes.

Orihime's eyes blew wide. "Y-yes, why?"

"The lights were on."

"I couldn't sleep." She said vigorously scrubbing a glass and thrusting it under the sink.

"Are you okay?"

She nodded her head.

They spent the next hours standing, taking only fifteen minute breaks every now and then. Even Archer, who was only a good fighter or strategist, found the repetitiveness wearing him out.

"You should really get a different job." He said as they finally went back upstairs. For once, Archer was glad at the squeaky sound of their apartment door. He took off his blazer. "Can you take care of dinner tonight?"

"Oh, okay."

Archer sat at the table as she prepared food and brought it over.

"Here" He watched her as she bent over beside him to place the rice bowl down and look away purposefully a little late.

He noticed the blush crawl up to cheeks. She dashed over to the other side and they started to eat.

"I think Kazama likes you," He said, referring to the restaurant owner.

"Well, I will try not to give him the wrong idea." She replied curtly.

"Is he not your type?"

"I told you, I am not going to be with anyone but Ichigo."

"You can't be with anyone."

"Yeah."

"So you just won't be with anyone ever again?" Orihime looked down at that, seeming to realize how that sounded. "Do you want to live alone for the next ten, twenty, who knows how many years while you are here, have no one to talk to, no one to rely on if things go wrong again?"

"You can deal with dangers right?" She reasoned, her voice ghostly.

"But that is all I do, you need someone who can do more for you." Archer got up.

"What do you mean?" It came across more as a statement than a question. If the crimson of her cheeks was anything to go by, she looked like she wanted Archer to elaborate.

But if he made a move too fast, it might not go over well. Besides he wanted her to become needy first, tease her enough and then have his way with her.

Instead of answering her question, he collected some of the dishes from his side, walked over to hers and leaned over. "You know." He said, drawing her bowl to him. "You should probably keep the lights off at night"

And with that he went to the kitchen.

(A/N: This story was not bad. Honestly, I had this story commissioned because there are some people out there who want to see Archer and Orihime become a pairing. So, out of curiosity, I had paid a few people to wrote short, romantic stories of Archer EMIYA and Orihime getting together. And this- so far- is kinda good. It was an interesting concept to say the least. What do you guys think? Leave a review telling me your thoughts.)