AN: Hello everyone! A new chapter at last. I can safely say that this has been amongst the top 10 hardest things I have ever done, damn writers block... I want to take the time to say that I will never abandon the story, I know myself how annoying abandoned stories are. My biggest inspiration has been my most favorite fanfic of all time, From Fake Dreams by Third Fang.
I do hope you enjoy and I want to thank all my reviewers. Thank you, you are awesome!
Story rating changed to M! Mainly for future chapters and freedom.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything. The works used are the properties of their respective owners.
As Shirou approached Tohsaka's residence he could not help but feel apprehension. Like he had felt before meeting with Kotomine. Now that was an encounter he wasn't intent on repeating. His very presence just rubbed Shirou the wrong way. It didn't help that Archer hadn't given him much in the way of advice, only that he should "act like you normally would and it will be fine".
But regardless of the lacklustre advice Shirou thought that the encounter had gone well. He had presented himself as a Master, and managed to act civilly during the encounter. Quite a feat in his own opinion considering he had inclinations of man's depravity.
Though that gave him little confidence in succeeding in the upcoming task of gaining Tohsaka Rin's allegiance. Not to mention Archer's plan to achieve this. Truly, what was he thinking? Still he had no better plan himself at the moment, so reluctant though he was he went up to the gate and pressed the call button on the console.
After almost half a minute, just when he was about to press the button again he heard a voice from the speaker. "Yes, who is it?" She sounded tired and annoyed. It was admittedly 11 o'clock Sunday morning, but still shouldn't most students have woken up hours ago? In any case he would stick to the script Archer had provided for now, for better or worse.
"It's Emiya Shirou. Can I come inside, I have something to confess to you." Silence ensued. Archer would have to pay for this later if it didn't work out as well as he had assured him beforehand. Shirou could feel the amusement practically radiating from his Servant behind him.
After what felt like an eternity, but was really only about 2 minutes, Tohsaka appeared. She wore a red long-sleeved shirt, a short black skirt and black knee socks. She also apparently hadn't had the time to put up her hair in her usual pigtails. A light blush adorned her cheeks, that grew more pronounced as she noticed Shirou taking in her appearance. Shirou's own face grew heated as he now noticed how cute girl in front of him really was. He'd never really contemplated it before, but now he felt he could understand very well why she had her own unofficial fan club.
"Yo, Tohsaka," greeted Shirou.
"Good morning Emiya-kun. I hope you have a good reason to disturb me this morning..." Tohsaka let the threat hang for a moment to make sure it sunk in. "So what did you have to tell me?" said Tohsaka.
"It really is something that should be discussed... privately," said Shirou, while once again cursing Archer.
Tohsaka looked curiously at Shirou for a moment then unlocked the gate and let him in. Shirou could not quite make out if she was annoyed with him or not after the exchange. He hoped not in any case. He followed he quietly as they made their way into the house, but what Tohsaka didn't know was that she had just let a Servant in as well.
Archer had stayed in spirit form close to Shirou. As Tohsaka had opened the gate, she had to temporarily take down the defences, if only for the gate. Also because he was behind Shirou, Tohsaka would hopefully be unable to sense him, or if she sensed anything she would assume it was from Shirou. Now if worse came to worst he could just overpower her and force her to sign a contract ensuring her cooperation, underhanded though it may be.
Tohsaka was having a nice morning just enjoying her day off, which meant she was drowsing while still in the comfort of her bed in a half-woken state, having daydreams about a certain redhead. But those dreams where all she probably have since she'd never deny Sakura whatever happiness she had managed to find. Shirou brought joy into Sakura's life, that much was certain, and that was also why Tohsaka Rin first noticed the existence of Emiya Shirou.
Her first impressions of him had not been very flattering, 'ordinary annoying goody two shoes with mental disorder to help everyone that asks,' not flattering at all. She had been curious though why Sakura of all people would chose to spend most of her free time at the moron's home, often cooking together of all things. Really couldn't they do something interesting that didn't leave her starving, like kissing or some groping or... something! Anything would have been better that to have to sit all those nights smelling the delicious food while knowing she couldn't have any of it.
In the end all she got for those months of making sure Sakura was okay was an urge to eat their food... And all those fantasies of what they could have done instead of cooking and eating. What he could have done to her. Damn how she wanted to run her hands all over that lean manly body until he couldn't take it any more, then he'd overpower her and ravish her all night...
'Another pair of panties to wash...' she thought as she began to run her hands down her body. Then the bell rang. "Of course, they had to come now, not ten minutes prior or after but now," she grumbled. "This better be important or somebody dies."
"Yes, who is it?"
"It's Emiya Shirou. Can I come inside, I have something to confess to you."
Now she was really confused. She wondered briefly if she was still asleep, but discarded the notion. Why was he of all people be here of all places now of all times? She knew of course that there was more to him than met the eye. He had a bounded field surrounding his property and she had found traces of recent magecraft around the shed, which indicated that it was perhaps his workshop but a cursory look showed nothing interesting. She'd let it go partially because of Sakura and partially because she could barely feel his magical presence even when she concentrated on it. He likely wasn't even aware of proper procedures and as long as he caused no problem and kept Sakura smiling she'd let it go.
While she got dressed she couldn't help a nagging feeling in the back of her head. The War was upon them and now an alleged magus was visiting her for the first time, coincidence? Not likely. Still what if he came to confess his love to her? The things that could happen from there began to fill her mind as she walked out the door.
When she saw him she couldn't help running her eyes hungrily over him she saw him eyeing her as well. Her face got heated and she felt her nipples rub against the fabric of her shirt when she breathed. 'Wait, I forgot to put on a bra, and my tights feel slightly damp... Forgot to change panties as well, the great Tohsaka foiled by hormones, how much more embarrassing can this get?' she asked herself. 'I've got the act natural so he doesn't notice'
Little did she know that this was what Archer had hoped for. If Rin was embarrassed and her head filled with fantasies of Shirou, Archer himself had a much greater chance of getting inside without notice, and they consequentiality had a better chance of achieving their objective. That and it was fun seeing the teens flustered, there was no reason not to amuse himself while he could after all.
Shirou had been led to the living room and told to stay there while Tohsaka made them some tea. She'd then almost run to what he assumed her room, emerged a minute later with a satisfied expression and gone to the kitchen. He really hoped she didn't drug his tea or something, Issei's concerns about Tohsaka were surely exaggerated, but perhaps there were something to them. After all she was a magus.
After about an eternity and a half she appeared, carrying a tray with fine porcelain teacups in western style, and a plater with a few cookies.
After serving themselves, and Shirou having checked to make sure he wasn't being drugged, Tohsaka looked expectantly at him, clearly an indication for him to begin the discussion.
He sipped the last of his tea, swallowed the last of his cookie and finally sighed heavily. He'd thought hard about the best way to do this, Archer's plan had really been about getting the both of the inside in a peaceful matter, the rest was up to Shirou.
Finally he decided to just get straight to the point. He took a serviette, wet it slightly with saliva and began scrubbing the back of his right hand to reveal his Command Seals. He'd hidden them with make up from Fujimura-sensei and used his magic to reinforce it to make sure it didn't come of, unless he wanted it to.
Tohsaka didn't really understand what he was doing until he held up her hand and showed her. She knew there was a possibility of course but to have it shown to her so casually surprised her.
"You know of course what this means. I've been chosen to participate in the War, same as you. As for why I'm here, well... I want to team up with you," said Shirou. 'Subtlety was never my strong suit anyway.' "I have it on good authority that several other Servants are cooperating already, therefore if feel that I must form some sort of alliance with another Master to have a chance. You were my first choice," he said with a nervous smile.
'This complicates things,' thought Tohsaka. 'Though if I have to be with someone to have a chance in the War it might as well be someone I know about and don't dislike.' To get some more time to think she slow brought her cup to her lips and sipped while inspecting Shirou. She couldn't appear too eager, and there was no reason not to grill him for more information before taking such a big decision.
"Since you are asking me to join you, I do hope you don't mind some questions,"Tohsaka said slowly and she put her cup down. After a nod from Shirou she continued. "For starters, you mentioned Servants working together, what Servants exactly?"
Shirou closed his eyes for a few moments to think how to best put it. "Caster and Assassin for sure. There is another team of two, but I'm not sure who, or what kind of Servants at the moment." One day and Archer already had him twisting the truth, he knew what Servants worked together since Archer had told him, but he didn't know what kind of people (Servants) they were.
"And how would you know this? The War hasn't even officially started yet, also I'm confused as to how you know I'm a magus. You've never given any indication of being aware of it until you came here."
"The easiest answer would be that my Servant is privy to an incredible amount of information," Shirou said in response.
Tohsaka looked startled. 'How could I be so stupid?' She berated herself. 'He'd never seek me out unless he knew he had a Servant to protect him unless he was absolutely certain I did not have one. Thankfully he seems to genuinely want to work with me, he could just as easily have killed me already in my carelessness.' "I'm sure. Just out of curiosity, where is you Servant right now?"
"Right here," chirped Archer happily as he materialized beside Shirou on the couch. He tried to keep his posture as non-threatening as possible so as to not have things become violent.
He locked eyes with Rin and gave a smile before speaking again. "Now to speed things along as me and my Master haven't got all day. We will provide you with the relic to summon Servant Saber. Our goals in this war are several that we will go over in detail later should you accept, but the main one is to destroy the corrupted Grail. To sweeten the deal I also have information about your fathers demise that I think you would be very interested in."
Tohsaka's eyes grew wide. 'They offer me a relic to summon the strongest of the classes, but want to destroy the Grail? And what was this corruption he talked about? And how the hell could he know anything about my father. It does not seem to be a bad deal either, I sincerely doubt they would go to these lengths to deceive me. They don't stand to gain anything from it at this point, still I have to know what I'm getting into before committing to anything.'
She sat in silence for a moment to formulate her questions before asking them. "You offer me a relic to summon Saber, but how come you didn't use it?" she looked at Shirou as she said this. "Also this corruption you talk about, what is it exactly? How could you've found out anything about my father that I don't already know?" she asked and took a deep breath to continue her tirade of questions. "How long do I have to decide? What do you expect from me?"
Archer held up a hand to stop her from adding any more questions for the moment, she did so he began answering.
"For starters, Shirou here messed up the ritual a bit and used another relic by mistake, thus he got me, Archer, instead of Saber." Shirou grumbled as Archer continued. "As for the Grail's corruption it happened during the 3rd War. As Servant baring the name Angra Mainyu was summoned. He is a being of pure evil, and symbolise all of mankind's sins and he currently resides in the Grail. His very presence corrupts it to only grant wishes through destruction," Archer felt quite pleased with the stunned look of incredulity on Rin's face.
"What we wish from you is simple. Cooperation for the sake of minimizing the loss of life in Fuyuki and to destroy the Holy Grail. I can assure you that how I know things will become clear if you chose to join us. As for time, you have three days, as I and Shirou have a lot to take care of in preparation for the War. It's also for that reason we'd like to ask you to not summon your Servant before that time. Regardless, we offer a ceasefire as long as you do not attack us for the duration of the War. Should you decide to join us, or want to talk more our base of operations will be Shirou's house." With that Archer and Shirou stood to leave.
Tohsaka struggled with something to say. "That sounds acceptable," she managed at last when she followed them to the door.
After she'd let them out the gate and gone back inside, she threw herself on her bed and began to weigh her options. It wasn't really any question, she wanted to support Shirou. After a while she fell asleep. While asleep she saw herself and Shirou, side by side making their way through hordes of enemies, never even close to faltering because of their perfect teamwork. After the gruesome battle they came home to put their children to bed, before sharing a shower and going to bed themselves.
Little did anyone know she was actually seeing visions from another dimension, made possible by the enhanced soul resonance between Shirou and Archer that affected her. In any case it would be safe to say that she had another pair of damp panties when she woke up.