Prologue

"What is she to you, Emiya?" Issei asked as though he were a detective investigating a crime.

"She's a friend's sister, and a friend herself," Shirou responded before taking another bite of the leftovers he had packed for lunch.

"It doesn't make sense, Emiya. She's so different from you. She doesn't seem your type at all." Issei stated matter of factly.

"She isn't as bad or as frightening as everyone thinks that she is." Shirou retorted, though his tone signaled that he wasn't entirely sure he believed what he said.

"Everyone thinks of her that way because she is so cold and harsh to them. She's abrasive and abusive without fail and the fact that you can't seem to see that only proves that she has you in her thrall."

Shirou wasn't sure how to respond, because he did have feelings for the girl beyond those of friendship. He knew it was wrong to feel the way he felt about the girl that so mercilessly bullied one of his close friends and feuded with his other, but he couldn't help the way he felt. Before he could acknowledge his feelings Issei started his line of questioning again.

"So what do you see in her that others don't, Emiya? What makes you feel the way you do about her?"

"She's strong, stronger than most, b-but she's cute and she has a shy side that few see. She builds walls between herself and the outside world and pretends to be this frightening force, but she's still lonely and vulnerable. She is like a cat caught out in a storm, feigning independence but craving someone to take it in from the rain."

"So that's it."

"What's it?"

"You, Emiya. You and your attempt to help everyone is it. I've told you before that you need to be more selective in whom you try and help or you'll only end up getting taken advantage of. She's a dangerous woman, Emiya, and you're going to get hurt if you keep at this. Let her fix her own problems."

...

...

Darkness surrounded the girl, concealing the thousands of writhing things in the shadows. Silently, she lay there as the unseen horrors violated her body as they had done on many occasions prior. As was normally the case, she retreated deep into her mind rather than face the monsters in the dark, but this time she didn't go to a place where she was all powerful and where no one could hurt her anymore. No, instead she retreated to a memory from earlier in the day, a memory of when she felt more vulnerable than she ever had before.

Atop the roof of the school she sat eating her lunch quietly beside a boy who wouldn't stop inserting himself into her life. He was her pathetic worm of a step-brother's friend and for some reason he had felt the need to try and help her.

The boy was looking at her and smiling, a disarming smile that only fueled her annoyance with him even further. Her gaze sharpened and without raising her voice she asked, "Why do you care?"

"huh?"

"Why does the way I treat my brother matter to you? Why do you pester me about how I'm feeling? Why do you stand up for me when others talk ill of me? Why do you think there is more to me than what everyone believes?"

"Because I believe in you."

It was a quick retort that caught the girl off-guard. There was no reason for the boy to believe in her, she'd never consciously done anything to make him think anymore of her than anyone else did, but still he believed in her.

"Why?" she asked angrily, demanding an answer from the ridiculous boy.

There was a pause and for a moment the girl thought that he wouldn't answer. His face contorted slightly as through he was struggling to breath and a faint blush began to become evident around his cheeks until he finally spoke.

"I care about you"-the weight of the words felt as though they were going to crush the girl upon their impact-"and because I care, I want to believe in you."

It was the girl's turn to blush, but she wouldn't let the boy she her weakness, she wouldn't let anyone see her weakness.

Turned away from him she refused to look at his face while she spoke. "Idiot"-she angrily responded-"you shouldn't care about me. All I care about is hurting others"

"I-I don't understand?"

"Exactly. No one understands the suffering I have been through. No one knows what it's like to be as powerless as I have been. People make promises that they can't possibly keep, they betray the trust of people who believed in them and then leave them to be consumed by the shadows. If you're strong then you don't need the false promises of failing words, so I want to be strong. To be strong you need to be cruel, so I want to be cruel. I want to make sure that everyone feels as weak as I do, even if only for a moment. That's all I care about, Emiya. It's all I want; it's all I've ever wanted!"

Shirou was silent for a long while and in his silence the girl began to wonder whether or not he was disgusted by what she had said. It felt as though they sat there for hours in silence, even though it could only have been a few moments. Finally, Shirou broke the silence.

"My father was a hero, and not just because he saved me. He was a man dedicated to saving everyone, but in the end he was unable to achieve his goal. He told me that to be a hero you had to choose who to save and who to leave behind. I have an ideal, a dream I strive towards. That ideal is to succeed where my father failed. I want to be a hero, someone who saves everyone. Because of that, I couldn't possibly ignore what's going on right in front of me. Because of it, I'm going to do everything I possibly can to save you, Matou-san."

When she turned around a warm smile greeted her and even in the face of recalling her birth father's betrayal, Kariya's failure to save her, and her horrendous treatment at the hands of Zouken, she couldn't help but trust Shirou.

"Idiot" she mumbled, trying to conceal her blushing face behind her long purple hair. Her comment half directed towards Shirou and half directed at herself for feeling so open and unprotected.

"Don't call me Matou-san." She said finally regaining her composure and looking at him.

"If I can't call you Matou-san, what am I supposed to call you?"

"Rin."

It was Shirou's turn to shy away again. He cared for this lonely and angry girl he's known since junior high, but he wasn't sure he was ready for that level of familiarity and he was caught off guard by the suddenness of the request.

"A-Are you sure, Matou-san."

"Yes, if you insist on sticking around, I insist that you use my name, Emiya-kun."

"Alright." he finally said while smiling back at her.

In the darkness, as unspeakable things writhed across her body, she quietly mumbled "Idiot" and smiled for a brief moment at the remembrance of Shirou's smile and the warmth it gave her.