A girl walked through the flower fields near Tokyo-3.

(A Jester Fanfiction Co, Inc. - Eva Fanfiction Department Production)

A tree stood far in the distance.

(Written Produced and Directed by: Steven Jester)

She walked up to that tree and sat underneath its grand shade.

(ヒカリの愛– HIKARI no Ai, Hikari's Love)

Her thoughts rested on the city that basked in the rising sun below.

(Original concept Neon Genesis Evangelion by Gainax and Hideki Anno)

And on the people of which she cared for.

(Steven Jester disclaims any copyright infringement and reminds readers that this is for entertainment purposes only. No money will or should be made from this document or any chapters following)

And one person in particular, the one she loved.

Episode 1: Confusion (Execute File: Hayashibara Megumi – Give a Reason.MP3)

A long blissful silence fell upon the young girl's ears. She smiled as the serenity of this spot drew her to near sleep. Then the silence was rudely interrupted when the girl realized what the time was. "Man! I'll be late!!!" she said as she ran from her spot down to the city.

At Tokyo-3 Junior High School the girl still was the first in the classroom. "Whew, made it!" she said. She sat down and waited for the rest of the students to file into class. At first it was just her and the wall. Then Ayanami Rei came in, always silent and always second to the girl who entered earlier. It was only a few minuets more and then more students walked in, knowing that the girl looked on dazedly. It was like that until a certain red-haired German had shown up, "Hikari!"

The girl, Hikari, finally awoke from her stupor, "Asuka! I didn't see you come in."

"That's because it looked like you were going to eat your laptop," the redhead said, "What are you thinking about this time?"

Hikari immediately blushed, "What made you think that I was thinking of someone? Opps…"

Asuka smirked, "So, you admit that…"

It was at that moment the teacher walked in "Stand! Bow! Sit!" mechanically came from the mouth of the usually quiet Hikari as she fulfilled her class representative duties. As the teacher began his 4,576th installment of the "Second Impact" lecture most of the students logged on to the class chat room, Hikari included. After a few minutes of idle chatter a private message popped up on Hikari's screen. "So who was it that you liked?"

Hikari didn't need to look at the senders address, she knew it was Asuka. She quickly typed her reply of something to the tune of "None of your business." Asuka made a sound of mild annoyance but didn't press the subject. With the reprieve from the questioning demeanor of the Second Child, Hikari looked upon the boy sitting in front of Asuka. A quiet, shy, timid boy sat in front of the 'Red Demon' as Touji and Kensuke called Asuka. That boy was known as the Third Child, Ikari Shinji. A reluctant fighter was this boy. That was one thing that he and Hikari both had in common, reluctantly fighting against the challenges ahead of them. But where Shinji was facing challenges that were meant for the whole of mankind to solve, Hikari faced the challenges of a normal teenager. Her gaze upon the boy was cut short as the said boy lifted his sorrowful eyes from the screen on his school laptop. Shortly, almost within the span of a fraction of a second later, a siren went off in the distance. "Showtime!" Asuka yelled as she ran from her seat and out the door. Rei and Shinji, not as enthusiastically, left right behind her. The remainder of the class, led by the old decrepit teacher, was directed to the school's shelter. Hikari followed her procedure, but felt that she should follow the quiet boy into the battle, that he shouldn't have to face this alone. What am I thinking? Shinji has Asuka and Rei with him, he's not fighting alone! But her heart, as it seems with so many heroines, disagreed with her mind.

Meanwhile, on the run for the safety of NERV, one Ikari Shinji was deciphering his own feelings concerning the three teenage girls in his acquaintance. The first subject of his thoughts is the one he lives with, Asuka. Mentally unstable, hatred, self-loathing, and psychotic were the words that the Third used in his mind to describe the Second. Rei, motherly, unemotional, loyal, shy, are synonyms for the First in this male's mind. Both of the previous girls were remarkably beautiful, as Shinji had well noted. But for each of them, a small draw back in their personality kept them from attaining any personal relationship with the Third. However a certain brunette has seemed to catch the Third's mind. Horaki Hikari, class representative, female, nice, pretty, normal, civilian, caring, beautiful, words that are synonymous with the one who has 'light' as their namesake. The hero, the one who has saved this girl and many others many times over, did not know what would happen, or just exactly what he felt towards the girl of short pigtails. But he knew one thing was certain, that if he lived through this encounter he would try to spend more time with the one called Hikari.

(Execute file: sweetbox – 1000 words.MP3)

Author's Notes: Well that's the beginning. Kinda introspective at this point, but there will be more soon (I hope). As always please leave a review!

Oh and if you didn't notice the theme songs for this fic are "Give a Reason" by Megumi Hayashibara, also known as the opening theme to Slayers NEXT. The second one is "1000 Words" by Jade from sweetbox. "1000 Words" is one of the songs from Final Fantasy X-2, and I can picture Hikari singing the song. I don't know why…