Neon Genesis Evangelion Higher Learning -Strike Fiss, 2000 Tenth Lesson: The end of the day The door opened quietly. Slowly and with finite momentum, echoing the mood and physical state of the imparter of that energy. As Kaji stepped into the dark room, he let a long, tired sigh escape his lips. "Sleep." he whispered to himself. However, he knew sleep would not come yet. Nothing ever came that easily to him. Be it information or personal comfort. Usually, one of these possibilities came at the expense of the other. Kaji had been losing a lot of sleep lately. Ever since Commander Ikari had given him this mission. Kaji cursed himself for agreeing to take it. What seemed like a simple job was now turning out to be quite an interesting little puzzle. Normally, such a puzzle would be a good thing...but it had become so in depth that it was distracting him from other 'puzzles'. Maybe the old bastard made this new one up to keep him busy. Kaji wouldn't have been surprised. Still...he doubt even the all-knowing Commander would have sacrificed the Second Branch just to keep little old Agent Kaji out of his hair. It would be much easier to put a bullet in his head. Less to cover up, too. A smile came across his lips as he upholstered his gun and popped out the clip. "It's safe to come out now." It was a little known fact that the Commander was very rarely unarmed. Tonight was no exception, as Kaji saw the dark, polished metal of a semi-automatic rested in Gendo's lap as he turned on the light. "Agent Ryuji." he said simply. His voice was somewhere between condescending and boredom. "You are late." "Turbulence." Kaji yawned, walking over to his fridge. "Can I get you a drink, Commander?" "No." "Ahh. Suit yourself." the younger man smirked. He never did trust a man who never drank. His only comfort came from knowing Gendo still found him useful. Until that changed, at least he could relax a bit. He returned with a bottle of beer and half of a sandwich he had been saving for a snack. Gendo betrayed no emotion, but Kaji could tell his patience was wearing. "I assume you know about the Second Branch." Gendo nodded. "The MAGI reported the event as soon as it happened." his glasses shimmered in the dim light. "I was curious to see if you got out in time." "Barely." Kaji nodded, taking a large bite out of his snack before tossing over a small folder of photographs on the bed next to Gendo. "But I did find out some rather...interesting...little tidbits the MAGI may have missed." "Go on." Gendo nodded, opening up the folder. Kaji let out a long sigh. "Well, you were right. One of SEELE's people had corrupted the data. Probably knew exactly how to trigger the Sea of Dirac too." "I expected this from the old men." Gendo let a small sigh past his normally impervious mood. "Still...it's a shame to lose all that data." Kaji grinned as he watched Gendo leaf through the reports. "It would have been nice to get rid of those annoying extension cords. One almost crushed me last time Asuka ejected her plug." A smile. "The Second Child is a bit reckless." "Anyway...as you'll notice on the next few pictures the crater that the Second Branch was kind enough to leave for us." "I did not send you to Nevada to take pictures." Gendo stated flatly. Kaji took a long drink of his beer before answering. "Look at the fifth photo from the top." Gendo blinked slowly, taking in the image. "Mmm..." It was of a footprint. Not unusual in itself...until one considered the size. A NERV SUV had been half-crushed by whatever made the footprint, indicating the mass to be quite extraordinaire as well. Finally, as Gendo observed the next two photographs, there were more of these giant footprints leading off to the horizon. "Evangelion Unit-04." Gendo hummed. "The strange thing is that nobody saw it leave, and the US has no sensor records of it due to most of the computer power in the area being at NERV." he took another sip of his beer. "They're already stating that the Eva was lost with the explosion." "Good." Gendo nodded. "It will give us time to find out if SEELE has completed their Dummy system." "It would seem interesting they would test it in such a way." Kaji shrugged. "I saw no indication of a Dummy Plug while I was in the facility. They may have found the Fourth Children." Gendo frowned. "That would be very...interesting." "My thoughts exactly." Kaji paused to eat the rest of his sandwich. "About that other matter." "What did you find?" Gendo looked up from the photos and held up a small data disk that had been added into the folder. "Nothing." Kaji admitted. "At least not while I was there. Whatever they did was completely erased by the time I got there." he smiled. "The Second Branch MAGI were not nearly as...sentimental...as ours seem to be. A memory flense had just been finished. Routine of course." "Of course." Gendo smirked. "But then what is on this disk?" "Personnel records for the last two months." Kaji explained. "Anyone who remotely had access to the MAGI, and more importantly, time enough to find the emergency Inter-MAGI links." "Do we know what was changed?" Gendo asked. "Still no way to find out." Kaji shrugged. "For all we know, the event has already happened. It could be as simple as someone at the other Branch wanting to move funds around before the accident. Maybe they were just checking the system. Maybe they changed traffic patterns in Berlin so they could get to work without running into red lights." he smiled. "God knows I would. "Either way...that disk will have the names in question." he yawned. "Of course, it's still a big list. But I'm sure you and the Doctor can narrow it down. I've done what I can to help, but I still gave you the complete list." Gendo nodded, pausing to collect the images and data. "Once again, you've proved useful, Agent Ryuji." he stood, walking past Kaji as he finished off his beer. "I trust you will keep on this case for the time being?" With a small smile, Kaji nodded. "It seems to be an interesting puzzle, sir. I'll see what else I can dig up." "Good." Gendo nodded, opening the apartment door. "Have a good night." Kaji nodded as the door shut. As he rolled his beer along his fingers, his other hand reached into his coat pocket and produced an identical optical disk. He eyed it as he drank. "Oops." he whispered. "I forgot to give him the addendum." He sighed, finishing off the rest of his beer quickly. Then, Kaji walked over his dresser drawer, opening it slowly...stopping to reach inside and press a switch on a hidden panel just above the seam. The sound of something metal scraped briefly along the sides, then the drawer opened by itself. Inside was a small book in a lead-lined case. Kaji lifted it up out of it's place and opened it to a blank page. A small pen was in the crook of the spine, and he pulled it free to write the date at the beginning of the first page. "Where to begin?" he whispered to himself and his book. "Mother." Shinji's voice was distant as he stared at the ceiling over his bed. The feeling of bloody LCL around him was replaced with a soft afterthought of a familiar memory. He felt almost as if Rei was by his side. That same kind of curious contentment. Where he could just close his eyes and feel safe...even after the horrors of the day. But this feeling now was so much stronger. So undeniably true. How could he be feeling this now? As he lay in messy covers, still smelling of blood and chemical waste...even after the many baths he had. After he had been probed and tested at the hospital for hours, leaving him exhausted, but restless at the same time. Such maddening thoughts were completely erased from his mind, however...replaced instead by a slow motion replay of those final few seconds. "Mother..." And he had wanted to see everyone again. Why did he choose that? When he had admitted he was sick of it all? All the pain...all the memories that he had been fooling himself into thinking gave him pleasure. But...when a simple shout of 'baka' made his day...? Shinji closed his eyes. He wanted it all to go away. He didn't want to think anymore... But... He had to. His mind refused to stop. He began to question himself. Wondering what he had been talking to. The Shinji inside his mind. Was that himself, or his 'true self'? And... Why was his teacher there? Sensei Kaoru? How did he fit into next to his father, Misato, Asuka, Rei and everyone else? Asuka. Poor Shinji almost fell out of bed as he heard the knock on his door. "AHHHH!" Asuka poked her head in suddenly, frowning up a storm. "Well FINE!" she whispered. "If you're going to be like that, I'll go!" "No!" Shinji recovered quickly, taking a deep breath. "You...you just startled me..." he whispered back. She looked him over. "You weren't spanking the monkey or anything, were you?" "NO! I WAS NOT!" he almost yelled. "Good." she smiled, her frown turning upside down as she walked into the room and shut the door behind herself. It was only then that Shinji realized she was in a pair of very silky, pink p.j.'s, and not her normal evening clothes. However, that fact was overran by the harder-to-ignore fact that she only had a few of the buttons along the front of it fastened. "A...a...a..." "The name's Asuka." she smirked as she sat down on the bed next to him. "Well?" "W...w...w..." "Aren't you going to invite me in?" Shinji's brain finally caught ground long enough for him to say "please...?" "Mmm." she winked. "With an invitation like that, who could resist?" Shinji shivered uncontrollably as Asuka lifted up the sheets a quarter and began to slide her legs into the covers. "A...Asuka...what are you doing?" "Sleeping with you, baka!" she frowned. "What does it look like?" Shinji's nose almost exploded in blood as she said that. Asuka frowned at his startled reaction...then smiled, rolling over on top of him and sitting on his stomach as he gasped, completely terrified. "Mein GOTT! Shinji, you DO know the difference between sleeping with someone and having sex, don't you?" "Ahh...yeah...but..." his mind registered what she was saying and he turned beet red. "Oh...yeah...I guess so..." he swallowed hard, looking up at her...and trying not to react too noticeably to the warm weight on his stomach. "Sorry..." She nodded stiffly, then grew a sly smile on her lips. "I could show you the difference..." she drew her mouth closer to his. "That is if you want me to." Shinji couldn't move. All of a sudden, thoughts of his mother were the furthest thing from his mind. "Asuka! Please don't tease me!" he squirmed under her. She was still grinning, though. "Who says I'm teasing you?" "Eep!" "Poor Shinji..." she whispered with a grin. "You look so helpless." she sighed and got off from on top of him. She settled back into the covers next to him. He blinked. "Asuka? Why are you here?" "Do I need a reason?" she tried to fane being angry. He nodded. "Well...yes..." Asuka glanced away from his gaze. "I was just making sure you were okay, baka." she turned back to him. "Everyone was going so crazy over what happened today...and I thought I might just see if you were REALLY okay." she turned her back to him. "Those doctors didn't say anything. I...well...I was worried about you." Shinji blinked. That was the only response he could muster. "But, you seem to be okay. If you want...I'll go..." "I saw you." Shinji whispered. Asuka turned around. "What?" "I saw you..." he blushed quickly. "I mean...in the angel...I...I started to see things." Her cheeks were turning red slightly. "What did you see?" "N...nothing much...but..." he swallowed hard. "...well, I saw the night that you...k...kissed me..." Asuka's eyes lit back up. "Really?" He nodded. The next thing he knew, her arms were wrapped around his torso, and he was being pulled into a rather nice embrace with their lips meeting somewhere in the process. This time, Shinji wasn't so completely caught off guard, and began to use a little of his knowledge gained from last time for this kiss. Asuka seemed to approve as she melted into him...on top, of course...but still at his mercy. Shinji was a little surprised when he tasted something salty at the corner of his mouth. Before he could ask what was wrong, Asuka broke from the kiss and was sobbing softly against his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Shinji..." she whimpered. "What for?" he asked, not sure what to say or do. There was a long pause as Asuka recomposed herself. Her sobbing stopped finally, and her tears were brushed away by a sleeve of her nightwear. "I..." she sighed. "I was just scared." she whispered...not sure what exactly she had been scared about. Shinji smiled weakly. "Me too." They lay there for a long time, looking at each other from across the distance of a single pillow. After the first few minutes, it became rather comfortable. So comfortable that Shinji didn't protest as Asuka wrapped her arms around him again, and he did the same. Their eyes never strayed so long as they were open...and it was only after an hour of their blinking becoming slower and slower Shinji fell asleep like that. Asuka stayed awake just a little longer. "I saw you too." she whispered against Shinji's mouth. Then, she joined him in sleep. End of part 1 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- YOSH! Okay, what do I need to say? First of all, I'm surprised I'm keeping up with the pace of the fic. ^_^ Hopefully, it will continue. Also, as you may have noticed, it's only just starting. A few new things have opened up in the plot, and a few others closed. Just WHO is Kaoru? Does Asuka like him? Does Asuka like Shinji? Does SHINJI like Kaoru? Will Rei get any nookie? Who's been hacking into the MAGI? And where did Unit 04 go? ^_^ Oh yes. It's only beginning. Homepage: http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/9110 E-Mail: strikef@bigfoot.com Strike Fiss, Ninja Crowbotics 2000. Khattam-Shud, EOF.