Disclaimer:
Studio Gainax animation is the
sole owner to the rights of Evangelion.
I own no privileges to anything currently, (probably never will) and
will understandably remove, edit, or delete my writings if needed, rather than
getting into a mess dealing with copyright infringement. Everyone has enough of
their own troubles as it is.
Walking up the stairs towards the apartment,
Shinji was still replaying in his mind the conversation he had with Rei just a
short while ago. His knees were shaking with nervousness during that time, and
it was no better then than it was now. Afraid that he might hurt her feelings,
Shinji had admitted that he liked her, but that wasn’t what was really
bothering him. The fact that she hadn’t talked to him the rest of the time they
had been in the classroom together was however. Granted, Rei wasn’t the most
active conversationalist, but for Shinji to admit that he liked her and to not
receive any type of reply, he thought was rather embarrassing.
Sighing once again, he opened the
door to the apartment, just wanting to go to bed and try to sleep this off.
He’d just bought a new cassette for his SDAT player, so what better time to use
it than now?
“Hey Shinji!”
Slightly cringing, Shinji turned
around to face the one factor that was keeping him from his miniscule amount of
relaxation.
“Hello Asuka.” Shinji replied
flatly.
“So how was school today? Exciting
as usual?”
He tensed a little.
“Umm… as usual …I guess.”
Not seeming to pick up on his
mood, she just grinned.
“Oh wait, I wasn’t there today,”
She began, a look of feigned innocence on her face. “I was terribly sick this
morning, but I know that the whole class missed me though. Too bad you didn’t
decide to be sick also Shinji. Then again you wouldn’t want to miss out on
Sensei’s ‘essential lectures’ now would you?”
Guessing that was a rhetorical
question he just stayed silent. He was not in the mood to talk about school
right now. Especially with …
“Was Ayanami there today?”
Shinji paused, his face immediately
started to feel warm; the thoughts of the events earlier that he was trying to
block out, flooding right back into his mind.
“Hmm, why are you blushing
Shinji?” She taunted. “You wouldn’t happen to be thinking something perverted
about Wondergirl would you?”
His legs were starting to give out
again.
“I’m home!”
Looking towards the new voice,
Shinji immediately took the opportunity to leave the conversation.
“Hey Misato.” Asuka replied,
walking towards the door.
Taking her shoes off, Misato waved
to the red haired pilot then turned to Shinji, noticing his silent attempt to
head for his room.
“Shinji?”
He froze, his back still turned
from her.
“Umm…Ye…Yes Misato?”
‘Does she know what happened
yet?’ He nervously thought. ‘How am I
going to explain this to her???…’
“Can I talk to you for a minute?
It’s about school today…”
Shinji gulped.
Letting go of the door handle to
his room, his feet reluctantly turned to face her.
“Wh … what about …school?” Shinji
said, his voice wavering.
Misato raised an eyebrow at him,
touching her fingers to her lips as she did so.
He just turned his gaze downward,
too embarrassed to look at her straight.
“What happened?” Asuka asked, her
view shifting between Misato and Shinji.
Shinji looked back at Misato
again, a sense of pleading in his eyes.
‘Don’t tell her!’ He
thought fearfully. ‘Please don’t!’.
Thankfully, the purple haired
woman seemed to notice his expression and gave him a slight wink. However,
Shinji had a bad feeling he was still going to have to talk to Misato about it
later.
“In the report that I received,”
Misato began. “it said that Shinji …slept through the entire class today,
missing even lunch.”
Shinji let out a small sigh of
relief.
“Oh really?” Asuka replied, trying
extremely hard to hold back a smile.
“Yes really.” Misato said, her
voice stern this time. Turning away from Shinji, Misato’s face became serious
as she looked at Asuka.
“But at least he went to
school today, unlike some other Eva pilot…”
Asuka’s smile faded, but she
wouldn’t be defeated so easily. Flipping her hair across her shoulders, the
redhead placed her hands on her hips and gave Misato her usual arrogant look.
“Statistics say that teenagers who
sleep 10 hours a day grow taller and are healthier than children who sleep less
than that. Since I went to bed at two in the morning, it’s only right for me to
wake up at noon today, so that’s what I did.”
Staring at Asuka for a second
longer, Misato just shook her head.
“I give up. It’s pointless to
argue with you.” Misato said dryly.
Asuka smiled again.
“But…”
Letting the sentence hang, she
waited for the female Eva pilot to reply.
“But what?”
Misato tried hard to hold back a
grin. “But in that case …you should be fine for tonight.”
Asuka frowned. “What do you mean?”
Misato gave her an exaggerated
expression of surprise. “Oh, since you
slept your full ten hours today, the sync test that you have to go to tonight
won’t be a problem now would it?”
Predicting correctly what the
redhead’s reaction would be, Misato just turned around and headed directly to
the refrigerator, hoping that her trusty beer would help her handle the
upcoming argument.
“But the next sync test isn’t
until next week though! I just checked the schedule this morning!”
Slamming her hands on the table,
Asuka wasn’t going to accept this until she presented her version of a ‘fair’
argument.
“Don’t ignore me Misato! Why are
we having a sync test today?”
Closing the fridge, Misato’s eyes
momentarily met Shinji’s before turning back to look at Asuka.
“I have my reasons.”
Judging that Shinji’s gaze
continuously avoided her, she knew that Shinji realized what ‘reasons’
she was talking about.
Asuka opened her mouth to reply
back, but Misato just held up a hand.
“Besides, as Nerv’s Operations
Director, I see it right to conduct some tests at random so that we know what
your progress it like before the actual sync tests. Think of it as a pop quiz.
Oh, but in case you don’t remember Asuka, a pop quiz is something that students
sometimes take during school…”
The German girl’s eyes narrowed -
the two women were seemingly involved in a glaring contest. If the day hadn’t
been so chaotic, Shinji would have probably watched in amusement at the scene
right now.
Tuning out the view in front of
him, he looked up at the ceiling, his thoughts drifting to Rei again.
His mind still busy, he failed to
notice that the argument had somehow quickly ended. Asuka had returned back to
her room and now it was Shinji’s turn to receive Misato’s undivided attention.
“Shinji?”
His thoughts abruptly interrupted,
he slightly jumped at hearing her voice.
“Yes Misato?”
“Can I talk to you for a minute?”
She asked, opening the apartment door.
Shinji’s instant refusal freezing
in his throat, he just nodded and dejectedly walked outside.
Taking a quick look around to make
sure no one was in earshot and also making sure that the door was closed
tightly, Misato turned around to face Shinji. Giving a quick overall look at
him, she could see that the boy seemed rather nervous ~ his whole body tense.
Softening her gaze a little, she leaned over, lowering herself to his eye
level.
“Shinji, is it true that you
kissed Rei today?”
He remained silent, his gaze
focused on his feet. Taking that as a yes, she continued.
“Shinji? Why did you?”
He slowly turned up to look at her.
“I…I sorta …lost a bet with Touji and Kensuke…”
Misato raised an eyebrow. “You
kissed her because you lost a bet?” Misato asked, her tone incredulous.
Shinji just nodded, sighing as he
did so.
Thinking about it a minute, Misato
wasn’t going to let it go quite at that.
“But Shinji, you’ve backed out of
your bets with Kensuke and Touji many times before. Considering that they’re
your best friends, I’m sure they would’ve not forced you to do it…”
Thinking back to her report, she
remembered something else.
“From what I read, they just
pushed you to the front of the room, not specifically to Rei’s desk. You had
plenty of time to return to your desk and sit down, but instead you chose to
walk over there yourself.”
Shinji’s eyebrow’s wrinkled in
surprise, as if realizing this fact for the first time.
She looked at him skeptically.
“Is the reason you did it …
because …you actually wanted …”
“…to kiss Rei?…” Shinji finished
for her, saying it more as a statement than a question.
An awkward silence followed.
Shinji looked up, a look of surprise and thought expressed on his face.
‘Is she right?’ He considered. ‘Did I honestly want to kiss her? I
could’ve just sat down if I wanted to, but instead I …’
“Shinji?”
His eyes returning to Misatos’, he
slightly nodded.
“I think … your … you may be right
…”
Blushing again, he turned away
from her. ‘I did have enough time to return to my desk, but…’
“Shinji?”
He turned back around to look at
her. Her face was expressionless, almost sedated.
“Umm… yes?” He worriedly
replied, just starting to find his voice again.
Pausing briefly, Misato’s face
suddenly lit up and her lips turned into a smile.
“My dear Shinji! I’m so happy! So
you actually are an average eechi teenage boy!”
Giving him what felt like a bear
hug, Shinji could hardly breath. This was not the reaction he was expecting at
all.
“Umm Misato …” He said, his voice
muffled from her jacket.
Looking at Shinji, she quickly let
him go.
“Oops, sorry about that.”
Shinji waited for the stars to
clear from his view before responding.
“It’s alrig...”
“So are you going to ask her out?”
She interrupted.
Shinji’s expression became
bewildered.
“Wh … what?”
Misato just continued to smile.
“You heard me, and I’m not going
to let you go back inside until you give me an answer.”
Unable to think of a retort,
Shinji just slumped his shoulders in defeat, not believing he was being asked
these kinds of questions from his so called ‘guardian’.
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The Nerv complex was always busy with
activity. Tonight was even more so, due to the surprise Sync test that Major
Katsuragi had requested. However, what was even more surprising was that
Commander Ikari had actually approved this change in schedule. Considering how
strict he was in adhering to his own timetable, a sync test now was quite an
irregularity. But then again, the commander always seemed to be prepared for
anything. As far as anyone was concerned, he had the answers and reasons for
anything that occurred and it’s from that almost daunting skill, that Nerv
depended on him to keep the organization together. But as of right now, the
elder Ikari was no where to be seen.
“Dr. Akagi?”
Putting down her cup of coffee,
Ritsuko turned to look at her younger assistant. “What is it Maya?”
“I think you should take a look at
this.”
Walking over to Maya’s Station,
she looked over the data scrolling on the screen.
Ritsuko slightly moved her head
back in surprise.
According to the displayed
information, Shinji’s sync ratio was now just two points under Asuka’s.
That was another 4-point jump in
less than a week.
“Check the diagnostics again. I
want to know for sure if this is correct.”
Maya looked up at Ritsuko.
“I already have done that twice;
both times have concluded with these same results.”
Her eyes still focused on the
screen, Ritsuko shook her head in amazement.
“At this rate, I think that by the
next sync test, Shinji’s score will be either equal to or higher than Asuka’s.”
Maya stated. “What do you think sempai?”
Ritsuko nodded mechanically.
“Yes… I have no doubt that it will
be …”
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Stretching his legs, Shinji
wondered for the umpteenth time whether or not he should talk to Rei. He had
been in the entry plug for about 3 hours now, his only thoughts being that of
her. Looking down, his hand was still resting right beside the private comm
button to talk with Unit Zero.
“Come on, talk to her.” Shinji
said, his voice reverberating in the empty plug.
Gathering up some confidence
again, he placed his finger on the button, hesitant to press it.
“Shinji?”
Jumping in his seat, he suddenly
jerked his hand back.
“Ah, … ye …yes?”
“Are you alright?” Ritsuko
started. “Your nerve patterns seem slightly more erratic today.”
Taking a deep breath, Shinji
attempted to calm himself.
“Yeah, I’m okay. Just a little
tired today, that’s all.”
Ritsuko smiled. Thinking back to
the Nerv security report of the children that she received earlier, she had a
good guess as to why he was ‘tired’.
“We’re almost done, just a few
minutes longer.”
Shinji looked up at Ritsuko’s
image.
“Okay.”
A second later, the display
disappeared and silence descended upon the plug once again. Leaning back in the
seat, Shinji decided that he might as well try to get a little sleep during the
remaining time he was in the plug.
Just about to close his eyes, he
suddenly heard a beep from the communication panel. Scanning the display, he
noticed that the signal was coming from unit zero.
His body froze.
Not knowing what to do, he just
stared at the panel, the beeping becoming rhythmic in his head. The seconds
seeming to pass by agonizingly slowly, Shinji took a deep breath and realized
that he was going to have to talk to her sooner or later. Preferably he would
want it to be more later than sooner, but judging from the events earlier
today, luck wasn’t exactly on his side.
Hesitating a little while longer,
Shinji finally accessed the communication link.
To the right of his viewing area,
a small display opened with Rei appearing on screen.
For a moment, none of them said
anything, their eyes gazing upon one another. Clearing his throat, Shinji was
the first one to break the silence.
“Yes Rei?”
Her gaze still locked on Shinji’s,
it seemed that her cheeks gave off a bit of red, which stood out against her
usual pale complexion. Noticing this, Shinji slightly narrowed his eyes,
examining her appearance more closely. Even though he was just looking at a
display, he could also almost positively say that he saw a look of what
appeared to be nervousness in her eyes.
Feeling uneasy at the continuous
silence, Shinji spoke again.
“Rei, about school…I just wanted
to te…”
“I like you too.” she interrupted.
His mouth frozen in mid-speech,
Shinji took a moment to digest what he just heard.
“Wh … What … what did …you say
again?” Shinji asked, his voice wavering.
Breaking eye contact, Rei looked
away from the display, a slight blush obvious now.
Both of them feeling tongue-tied,
the passing seconds of silence felt utterly slow.
“I … I like you too… Shinji…”
Before he could even think to
respond, Rei turned to look at him one more time and then the connection was
closed.
Still looking at the area where
the display was, Shinji was frozen in the exact same position as he was during
their conversation.
Rei had actually admitted that she
did like him.
Going through his mind, he could
never remember even once where she had called him any name other than ‘Pilot
Ikari’.
So engulfed in his thoughts, he
didn’t even realize that the sync test was over until the hatch to his entry
plug was finally opened.
‘She likes me … Rei actually
likes me …’ Shinji thought to himself, a
small smile creeping into his features.
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After the sync test was finished,
Misato had dropped Asuka off at the apartment, saying that she still had other
things to do tonight. Finally reaching the entrance after what felt like an
eternity, Asuka wiped the rain out of her eyes and walked in haphazardly
through the door. Even though she had been outside for just a minute, she was
thoroughly soaked. Heading to her room, she changed into some fresh clothes and
thought she might as well go to bed.
However, her stomach audibly
thought otherwise.
Sighing, she reluctantly walked to
the kitchen, praying that there was something other than Misato’s cooking or
Beer in the refrigerator.
She opened the door and oddly
enough found a small container with her name written on it. Curious as to see
what it was, she opened it and saw what would make almost anyone jump into
tears at the Katsuragi Residence.
Edible and actually appealing
looking food!
She quickly took the container,
sincerely hoping that it wasn’t just a mirage in front of her and placed it on
the table. Grabbing a pair of utensils from the pantry, she unexpectedly paused
in thought.
Asuka frowned as she realized the
only logical answer.
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“We’re going to begin now.”
Taking a deep breath, the blue
haired girl closed her eyes.
“I understand.”
In the center of the room, Rei
began to feel herself start to float as the circular tube began to fill with LCL.
The liquid rising over her head, she felt a brief tingle as she inhaled the
substance. Immediately after the sync test, Dr. Akagi had requested that Rei
meet with her. Asking as to what this was about, Ritsuko had just stated that
the commander wanted her to conduct a new test of the LCL refining system.
To state the obvious, Rei didn’t
believe a word the doctor had told her.
Usually informed about such
matters before hand, Rei was confused as to why she was not notified about this
change in agenda. However, knowing better than to further question such
details, Rei decided to keep quiet on the subject. Looking past the doctor, the
blue haired girl noticed the single door slide open.
“Dr. Akagi.”
Slightly jumping, Ritsuko turned
to face the new voice.
Walking silently into the dim
light emitting from the LCL tube, a dark figure came into view.
“Commander Ikari…” Ritsuko began,
a light tone of surprise evident. “I was not aware that you would be coming.”
He turned to face her.
“Leave us.”
As the words echoed across the
room, the doctor just stood there, her mind trying to think of a reply.
However, judging by the look in his eyes, Ritsuko already knew that this
conversation was closed. Turning around, Ritsuko walked carefully towards the
exit, and with a touch of the keypad, she disappeared from the room.
“How was school today?”
A brief pause filled the chamber.
“There were no …difficulties…” she
replied quietly.
Opening her eyes to face the
commander, she observed his face turn into a frown.
Resisting the urge to look away,
Rei felt her muscles begin to tense.
‘That is the truth though…’ She thought to
herself with a confidence that she didn’t really feel. She knew that the
commander had already been informed about the incident at school yesterday, but
for some reason felt hesitant to give him a more ‘thorough’ answer. Pondering
on is question, a thought then occurred to her.
‘Why do I feel reluctant to
tell the commander about the events at school?’
‘Am I lying to him?’
Searching through her emotions,
she also felt that something was different within her.
‘What is this feeling that I’ve
been experiencing?’ Rei thought, her mind
racing.
So engulfed in thought, Rei had
almost begun to forget that the commander was still staring straight at her.
“Nothing involving the Third
Child?” He asked coldly.
Breaking out of her current line
of thought, images of Shinji now entered her mind. Formulating a reply, Rei was
barely able to hold back a blush.
“No … nothing of … importance.”
She responded cautiously.
His eyes feeling like they were
burning into the back of her head, a dead silence filled the room. Glaring at her
for a few moments longer, Gendo swiftly turned around and finally exited the
chamber.
Surprising herself, Rei let out a
sigh of relief. Never in all her conversations with the commander, even one’s
this short, had she been left feeling so drained. Thinking back to their brief
discussion, Rei could honestly say that she had felt nervous and possibly even
a little afraid of what would have happened if she had told her thoughts of the
third child to him. Even though her feelings for the Eva pilot weren’t that
serious yet, she somehow felt that the commander would disapprove of any
consideration she showed towards his son. Tonight’s talk with him was clear
evidence of that.
Pushing away her thoughts of the
conversation, Rei closed her eyes.
Pondering about Shinji again, her
mind seemed to instantly relax. Ever since the attack on the fifth angel, her
feelings for the Third Child started to grow. Unsure of how to approach her
emotions though, she had just attempted to ignore them. However, Rei could no longer
do that. She had known what a kiss was from hearing the other female students
at school talk about it, but until yesterday, she had no idea that such a
simple action could have triggered such intense feelings. The fact was that
Pilot Ikari was the one that initiated the kiss and also the one who admitted
he did actually have feelings for her. Rei had never been told such words by
anyone before, not even the commander, and the fact that Ikari was the first
one to say them … made her feel … special.
Smiling, she thought again about
seeing him at school tomorrow.
“Shinji…”
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Walking around the Nerv complex,
Shinji had been trying to find Rei for the past hour. Searching hallway after
hallway, he couldn’t find any trace of her. He had thought about calling her
apartment just in case she had already left, but he doubted that she would
answer the phone, if she even had one.
The fact that he also had no idea
what Rei’s phone number could also be a problem…
Telling them earlier that he would
walk home himself, Misato and Asuka had already left for the apartment. Misato
was a bit curious as to why he wanted to stay, but Shinji had just told her
that he wanted use the exercise room. Even though he could tell she didn’t
really believe him, the female guardian decided to let the topic go. Searching
a little while longer and seemingly unable find Rei anywhere, Shinji
reluctantly gave up and decided that he should return home.
‘Where could she have gone?’ He asked himself.
Just about to leave the building, he
looked out from the window and noticed that it seemed to be raining outside.
Opening the door to see how strong it really was, his hair was instantly
soaked. Retreating back in, he now wished that he had originally left when he
had the chance to.
Then again, he wasn’t expecting it
to rain…
Nor was he expecting to not find
Rei.
Sitting down by the door, Shinji
thought that he might as well wait for the rain to stop or for it at least to
lighten before he would head back.
‘It’s not like I would have
anything better to do…’ He thought dully.
The minutes passing by, he felt
his eyes start to close, the rain producing a rather calming rhythm in the
background. Starting to drift off, his thoughts turned back to Rei. He couldn’t
help but smile again; the words that she said earlier still vivid in his mind
as if he heard it again just a second ago.
The weariness of the day’s events
seeping through him, his breathing became shallow and before he even realized
it, he’d fallen asleep.
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It was about one in the morning
now, and Asuka had been laying in bed for the past 2
hours, unable to fall asleep.
Earlier, while in the shower, Misato had called and left a message saying that
she wouldn’t be able to come back to the apartment tonight because of an
appointment. What really irritated
Asuka though was that she could have sworn that Kaji’s voice was in the
background. Putting two and two together, she had a pretty good idea what
Misato’s appointment was really about.
Sighing, Asuka adjusted her bed covers
once again, trying to find a comfortable position.
Turning to rest on her side and
hoping that she could finally get some sleep, a faint noise in the background
caught her attention.
It was the click of the door lock
being opened.
Opening her eyes, she quietly rose
from her bed and put her ear up next to the wall to listen more closely. She of
course already knew that it was Shinji.
‘who else would it be at this
hour’
After a few seconds, realizing
that she couldn’t really hear anything, she pushed her fushuma open just enough
so that she could she through to the next room. Shinji was sitting on the couch
with a drink in his hand, appearing to be watching some random tv program that
was on.
What really attracted her
attention though …
…was that she was positive that
there was a slight smile on his face.
Rather puzzled by this and also
quite irritated as to why he came back so late, she forcefully slid open the
fushuma so that it produced a loud smack as it connected with the side of the
wall
Startled, Shinji nearly choked on
his drink, coughing as he put the beverage down.
“Where were you?! It’s one in the
morning already!!!”
Shinji cleared his throat to
speak.
“I was out.”
Asuka rolled her eyes.
“Baka!!! I know that! Where
did you go?!”
Hoping that she would deter from
her question he gave a simply reply.
“It’s not important.”
Asuka’s eyes narrowed as
she waved a fist at him.
“Well,” Shinji began quickly, “after
our sync tests, I felt really tense, so …I decided that I should maybe go … to
the exercise room … but, when I was about to leave, it started to rain, so I
waited for it to stop…”
“So, you didn’t come home with us
because you wanted to go to the exercise room?”
Asuka asked skeptically.
“Yeah … of course …why else would
I have stayed?…”
Hoping she wouldn’t question him
any further, he held his breath.
Asuka looked at him for another
moment, and with a rather dramatic flip of her hair, turned around to head back
to her room.
‘Whew…’
Before she reached there however,
the redhead remembered a thought she had earlier. Turning sideways to glance at
Shinji, she waited until he turned to look at her before she spoke.
“Thanks for the dinner baka. It was
the only edible thing in this place.”
Closing the door, she walked back
to her bed and tried to get some sleep.
Letting out a sigh of relief, he
let himself sink into the sofa. His thoughts then started wandering to Asuka.
Thinking back just a few seconds, he replayed his conversation with her in his
mind. Even though her words might have been harsh, he could swear that her
voice had suggested a feeling of actual concern.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Feeling rather tired, Hikari had decided that she
would go to bed early today. Having to give her periodic class update to the
sensei tomorrow followed also by a student council meeting, she knew that she
needed the rest. Touji had called earlier to ask if she wanted to do anything,
but she had reluctantly declined.
Persistent on the subject though, he hadn’t let it go
quite at that. So eventually coming to a compromise, she agreed to let Touji
take her out to watch a movie tomorrow.
Letting out a slight chuckle, she had to admit that
stubborn as Touji was, that was one of the qualities she liked best about him.
Interrupting her thoughts, the phone suddenly rang.
Deciding to ignore it though, Hikari adjusted her
pillow so that it covered her ears.
“Hikari?”
She opened her eyes.
“What is it Kodoma?”
“There’s a call for you.”
Sighing, she rose from her bed. Rather irritated, she
wondered who could be calling at this time of night.
“I’ll take it in my room.” Hikari announced
Letting out a yawn, she picked up the phone. “Hello?”
There was a brief pause.
“Ms. Horaki?” A girl asked.
Hikari recognized the voice, but couldn’t quite put a
finger on exactly who it was. “Yes?”
“May I talk with you before school begins tomorrow?”
The voice clicked into place.
“Sure Rei,” She began, “but … may I ask what you’d
want to talk about?”
There was an almost audible blush from the other end.
“It is about Student Ikari…”
Hikari’s eyes widened in surprise.
“About Shinji? Well, I guess that’ll be okay.” She
responded slowly, puzzlement quite evident in her voice, “Yeah, tomorrow before
school will be fine.”
Hearing the dial tone suddenly click on the other
end, Hikari turned to look at the receiver.
‘Doesn’t she ever say goodbye?’
Hanging up the phone, she groggily walked back
towards her bed. Pulling the covers back on, she thought about what Rei had
just told her.
‘What about Shinji does she want to talk about?’
She asked herself.
‘Better yet, why would she want to talk with me about
Shinji?’
Rather perplexed by the situation, she tried to push
those thoughts aside.
Giving a quick glance towards the clock, the brown
haired girl sighed in slight frustration.
‘Tomorrow’s going to be a long day…’
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To most people, nightmares were
things that seldomly happened and even when they did, they usually left little,
if any affect.
However, this was not the case for
the pilot of Eva-Unit 2.
In fact, nightmares for her were
just the opposite. They were frequent and disturbing ~ and always … dealing
with her mother.
Eyes snapping open, Asuka bolted
up in her bed, barely stifling a scream. Still not realizing that she was just
dreaming, she frantically looked around the room, scared of that horrid image
that kept on haunting her mind – an image
of her mother hanging from a rope with that … doll…
Seeing nothing but the dim
moonlight filtering through the window, she gradually started to calm down,
laying back on the bed as she tried to clear her mind.
‘I hate when I have that nightmare
… I absolutely hate it...’
Almost afraid to go back to sleep,
Asuka just laid in her bed trying to relax, listening to the air conditioning
whirr. After a few moments though, another sound caught her interest. Although
faint, she could swear that it was coming from the apartment. Her breathing
more even now, Asuka rose from her bed and thought that she might as well find
out where the noise was coming from. Coming to the conclusion that she wouldn’t
be able to sleep anyway, she needed something to take her mind off her dream.
Pushing open the sliding door, she
quickly noticed that a dim light was emitting from Shinji’s room. Looking at
the kitchen clock, she wondered why he would still be awake. It was past three
already. Her thoughts sinking in, she concentrated on listening again, and sure
enough, it was the deep tone of his cello. As to why he was deciding to play
the instrument right now was beyond her, but knowing Shinji’s character, she
guessed that she shouldn’t really be that surprised by this. Silently walking
closer to his room, she made a mental note to avoid a beer can that was in her
path.
Putting an ear next to Shinji’s
door, she listened as he played. The music flowed so smoothly, the notes
sounding so beautiful to her ears. Asuka closed her eyes, absorbing every sound
that sang from Shinji’s cello. There was one thing that was peculiar about his
playing tonight though. When she had heard him play about a week ago, he
sounded as if he was … sad …
now however…
the tone coming from his room
sounded almost … cheerful.
Smiling as she continued to listen
to Shinji, her eyes suddenly went wide as she let out a sneeze.
The playing stopped.
Cursing herself, Asuka dashed back
to her room …
…or rather tried to.
She had forgotten about the beer
can and in the process, a sharp pain stung at her foot and with a loud thud,
she fell to the floor.
“Scheiße!”
Shinji opened the sliding door and
was greeted with a scene that would have made him laugh. The only reason he
held back was the fact that if he did show any kind of amusement, he’d probably
wouldn’t wake up the next morning ~ intact anyway…
“Asuka, are you alright?”
She turned to glare at him. “What
do you think Baka?!”
“I don’t know.” he said trying to hold
back a grin, “I just heard a sneeze followed by a crashing sound outside my
door.”
Holding her glare on him a few
more moments, she pushed herself off the floor and stood up. As she did so
however, the pain in her foot registered again and she fell back to the ground.
Shinji to say the least was starting to smile about now - that is until he saw
a light blood stain on the carpet. His grin instantly dropping, he rushed over
to Asuka.
"You’re bleeding."
Asuka rolled her eyes.
"Always there to state the obvious third child. Go back to bed. I'll
handle this myself."
Standing up again, she was
surprised as Shinji came up and grabbed her wrist. "Baka! What the hell
are you doing?"
"Just sit down on the
couch." Shinji stated, his voice unusually calm. "Let me help take
care of your foot first, then you can go to bed."
"I can care take care of it
myself - I don't need your help." She stated.
Slapping his hand away, Asuka
started to walk back to her room.
After just a few steps however,
she suddenly felt herself being lifted into the air and being carried to the
couch.
"Dammit, are you deaf?! I
said I'll take care of this myself!"
Shinji put her down and sternly
looked into her eyes.
"Stop acting like a child.
I'll get some bandages, so just stay sit for a while okay?"
Asuka's eyes flared. "I'm not
acting like a child!!!"
Ignoring her, Shinji walked to the
bathroom and picked up the first aid kit located in the cabinet.
'Why does she always need to be
so difficult?' Shinji wondered.
Walking back to the living room
now, he saw Asuka sitting on the couch with her arms crossed, a very irritated
look on her face. Sighing to himself, he sat down on the floor and picked up
her foot so that it rested on a pillow.
"I said that I don't need your
..."
"This may sting a
little." Shinji interrupted.
Applying disinfectant to a few
cotton balls, he rubbed them over the wound. Letting out a small whine, Asuka
just sat back in the chair, letting Shinji take care of her foot.
Looking at him, she had to admit
that his touch did feel gentle and comforting to her, and complain as she
might, she honestly liked the fact that Shinji was trying to help. It actually
was refreshing to see her roommate take charge for once. Of course, she would
never admit that to him - she was the glorious Asuka Langley Sohryu, pilot of
Eva Unit 2.
Smiling at herself again, a
thought occurred to her.
‘Why exactly is Shinji helping
me?’
If anything, she would have
expected Shinji to apologize and then return to his room. That’s what the
spineless wimpy Shinji would do, but something about him tonight was different.
Finishing wrap the bandage around
her foot, he turned to look up at her. Realizing that she was staring at him,
she quickly turned her face away, trying to conceal a blush. Luckily for the
redhead, it seemed that Shinji was oblivious to this.
"Your foot should be fine in
the morning - you can go to bed now. "
Gathering up the first aid kit,
Shinji stood up and headed towards the bathroom.
"What’s going on with you
tonight Shinji?"
He turned around, seeing Asuka
still seated on the couch. "What do you mean?"
She tilted her head slightly
forward. “You know what I mean. Why are you actually acting … I don’t know …
‘guy’ like?”
There was a slight pause.
“I don’t know what you’re talking
about.” Shinji responded defensively, his cheeks betraying his words.
Noticing this, Asuka thought about
teasing him again, but decided against it. ‘He’s just too easy.’ She
thought in amusement. ‘Besides… he’s
actually been …‘nice’ …tonight…’
“Whatever Shinji.” She said
sarcastically. “Well, I’ll be generous and let you off the hook this time… but
I hope you realize the great deed I doing for you third child.”
Shinji eyes turned up.
“Of course.” He replied dryly.
Getting slowly up from the couch,
Asuka stood up straight, trying to shift most of her weight to her uninjured
foot. Looking around her to make sure nothing would obstruct her walking space,
she cautiously turned and headed back towards her room. Eying the now flattened
bear can, she mentally visualized how Misato would feel had she stepped on it.
“Goodnight Asuka.”
Pausing in mid-step, she thought
about Shinji again for a moment.
Her back still turned away from
him, she quietly giggled to herself.
"Thanks for helping me
Shinji. It looks like your not that useless after all…”
Letting the sentence hand a bit
longer, she looked back and gave him one of her radiant smiles. “See ya in the morning.
Goodnight."
With that said, she closed the
door of her room and headed towards the bed.
'Who would've thought that that
baka could be so sweet...'