A/N: Okay, first thing's first. I don't own Evangelion and I never will. Secondly, this work is very, very old. I made this when I was a sophomore in high school, and I'm now a junior in college, that's five years ago. I found this today and decided to post it to see what people thought about it. I only did some minor editing, but left most of it the way it was originally written. I hope at least a few people enjoy this. I actually enjoy reading this over every once in a while, when I want to read a cliché romance story. lol I'll say now that I know the characters are OOC to at least some extent. But like I said I'm leaving this as close to how it was originally written as possible. Well onto the story, enjoy!
It was just after Shinji got back from the sphere of death that was the twelfth angel. Shinji had been back for about a week so everything was getting back to normal, well at least as close to normal at it gets at Misato's place.
"What do you mean it was an accident? I watched you move it off the edge on purpose!" Asuka exclaimed.
"No I didn't! Why would I push ice-cream off the table and on to my lap for no reason?" Misato yelled back.
"Probably so you could get Kaji to lick it off of you or something else that you adults think is so good," Asuka replied, obviously disgusted.
Shinji was sitting in-between the girls and was hearing every bit of the argument, but not listening to it. As he finished his food he picked up his plate and the plates of the girls and put them in the sink.
Neither of the two women noticed that he even moved. They just kept going until Asuka got fed up with Misato and stormed into her room, trying to hide something more than anger.
"Good night, Misato," he said as he left the kitchen.
"Good night, Shinji," she replied as she sat down on the couch.
As he walked by Asuka's room, he heard something he was definitely not accustomed to. He listened closer just to hear Asuka sobbing faintly for some reason.
Inside her room she was sobbing faintly. "Why? Why the hell do I feel this way? I promised to never let any one in but he just somehow slipped right past. I don't want to be hurt again, like what mama did. I don't want to be hurt, I don't want to be hurt," she repeated the last part again and again, until Shinji heard her start to snore lightly.
'What did she mean she didn't want to be hurt again? Was she talking about me? Does she feel the same way about me as I do about her? If she does she has a weird way of showing it, or is this just wishful thinking. Yeah, that's it. She's talking about some other guy,' Shinji thought as he went to his room and went to bed.
Shinji was startled awake a couple hours later when Misato ran in and yanked him out of bed. Shinji pulled his arm out of her grasp and glared at her.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" he yelled at as he started to get some clothes on.
"There's been another angel detected. We need to go, now!" Misato said running out of the room.
"Shit!" Shinji exclaimed as he finished getting dressed and rushed out of his room.
Misato had just pulled Asuka out of bed as Shinji was coming out. The two of them ran right into each other in the hallway, both falling to the ground. As they both stood up they both glared at each.
"Watch where you're going Third!" Asuka said as she glared at him.
"Well if you wouldn't be such a bitch I might actually watch!" Shinji yelled back, immediately regretting what he said. He braced himself for the oncoming assault, but he looked up when it never came.
When he did look up he noticed two things: one being Misato's face, her mouth was hanging open and her eyes were a big as dinner plates. The second thing was Asuka. She looked deeply hurt and was on the verge of tears when Misato stepped in after recovering from her surprise.
"Let's get to NERV; we have an angel to worry about." Both kids looked at her and nodded.
The car ride was made in silence, except for the squealing of tires as they drove to NERV. Shinji looked at Asuka several times and couldn't help but feel really bad for what he said, even though she did worse to him almost every day.
When they reached NERV they all went to the command center and waited for their orders. "You are to intercept the angel outside of the city," Gendo ordered emotionlessly as Rei walked in, her face as still as it had always been, never showing any emotion.
"Go get ready for combat," Misato ordered as she walked up to Ritsuko. The three pilots left and went to their respective changing rooms.
Back on the bridge Misato was questioning Ritsuko about the angel, "What do we know about it?"
"Not much, the only thing I have is that it has an AT field and looks almost exactly like the Evas," Ritsuko responded.
"Great now how do we fight it? The Evas are almost invincible," Misato stated as she turned to the main view to look at the new angel.
In the changing room Shinji was berating himself for what he said to Asuka. "Why the did you have to go and screw up like that you dumb ass? You found out last night that she might have some kind of feelings toward you and turn around and snap at her. What's wrong with you?" he yelled at himself, his voice dripping with venom.
In the girl's changing room Rei noticed that Asuka was uncharacteristically quiet. "Pilot Sohryu, may I ask what is wrong with you?" she asked monotonously.
"It's none of fucking your business Wondergirl!" Asuka snapped back with more venom than ever. Rei was unaffected by the comment and went back to getting her plug suit on.
Asuka had just finished and clicked the button on her right wrist, causing the suit to become skin tight, showing off her curves better than most clothes could. She stormed out of the changing room and made her way to her Eva. Once she was in she synched up and prepared herself for the oncoming battle. 'Invincible Shinji won't take all the credit this time,' she thought.
Shinji was already in his Eva, synching up with it, also preparing for the battle. He was still berating himself for his lack of control over his mouth earlier that morning. 'Damn you, Ikari. What's wrong with you?'
Rei got into her Eva and synched up with it, staying quiet both physically and mentally as she awaited her orders. Not too long after, an image of Gendo and an image of Misato showed up over the comm.
"You are to intercept the angel outside of Tokyo 3 and neutralize the target. Is that understood?" Gendo ordered.
The three pilots kept quiet as they waited for Misato to speak up. Gendo's visual disappeared and Misato spoke up. "Ok, this angel is a lot like your Evas, so you're going to have a hard time fighting it. I want Rei to go out first, then if by some chance she fails, Asuka and Shinji will be deployed together to finish the job. Understand?" Misato finished.
"Yes ma'am," the three chimed in.
'I can't believe I'm being put on backup.' Asuka thought as she waited for Unit 00 to be deployed.
'At least I won't have to fight this angel. Rei should be able to take care of this. Asuka's going to be pissed. This means it's going to be harder to talk to her. Damn!' he screamed the last part in his head.
Misato's image showed up over the comm. in Unit 01's plug. "Shinji are you okay?" she asked sounding like a mother.
"I'm fine, why?" Shinji replied a little annoyed.
"Your synch rate has dropped five points since you got into your Eva," Misato explained.
"Don't worry about it. I'm fine," Shinji said looking to the other side of the plug, turning off the comm.
On the bridge, Misato was watching the synch rates of the pilots. She was noticing the rates of her charges fluctuating. She had just finished talking to Shinji. 'What's wrong with him? I bet it has something to do with this morning. That may also explain why Asuka's score is changing too,' Misato thought.
"Asuka is something wrong?" she asked opening a channel to Unit 02. Asuka just sat there staring out into nothing blankly; it seemed that she didn't even hear Misato.
'I finally did it. I finally pushed him too far. I can't believe what he said to me. The look on his face said that he meant everything that he said. I've been a bitch to him and I don't disserve what I want from him. I disserve to burn in hell with all the angels that we're killing,' Asuka thought, berating herself for how she treated Shinji.
"Rei, are you ready?" Misato asked rhetorically, even though Rei nodded. "Launch Unit 00!" Misato ordered sending Unit 00 into battle.
When Unit 00 reached the surface it was released from its restraints and allowed to move freely. Rei willed Unit 00 toward a building that held the sniper rifle she was going to be using against the angel. She moved the Eva up on-top of a hill and set up the rifle. She waited silently and patiently for the angel to appear over the ridge that was in the direction of where the angel was spotted. She watched as the angel walked over the hill, walking just like an Eva would. She put the ridicule right on the angel's red core and slowly pulled the trigger.
Unit 00 slightly rocked a bit as the shot was fired. Rei watched in the split-second that it took to reach the angel as the bullet flew threw the air. Just before the bullet came into contact with the angel it looked right at her with glowing red eyes. As the bullet ripped through the flesh of the angel it let out a scream that could scare the shit out of Chuck Norris himself. After the bullet was imbedded into the chest of the angel it immediately turned its face right back to Rei, letting out another scream. Rei hurriedly reloaded the gun while the angel started to charge at her. It was about ten kilometers away, but that wasn't too far for the angel. Rei finished reloading it to look up to see that the angel had vanished. "Lost visual contact with the target," she stated monotonously.
"Rei look up!" Misato called out.
Rei did as she was told and looked up. She did so just in time to see the angel land right on her Eva's legs, shattering them instantly. Rei let out a small scream as she felt her legs shatter as the Eva's did.
"Shut down the Eva; cut off all nerve connections," Misato ordered as she watched Rei suffer. Surprisingly the angel left her there, not finishing her off. Several emergency crews immediately showed up at the site of the Eva.
Back at NERV Shinji and Asuka were getting ready to go. Both had heard Misato's order to shut down Rei's neural connections. "Launch Evangelion Units 01 and 02, NOW!" Misato ordered.
Both Units rocketed to the surface. When they reached the surface they were let out of their restraints and moved toward the nearest weapons rack for the Evas. Both picked out a rifle and moved quickly to the outside of the city, moving to intercept the angel. When they reached the outside of the city they took off running as fast as their Eva would carry them. They quickly covered the fifteen kilometers that separated the angel from Tokyo 3.
When they arrived they watched the angel slowly turn its head a complete 180 degrees toward them, since its back was to them. Both pilots shivered, but quickly shook it off as they both let out several volleys toward the angel. As each bullet collided with the angel it was pushed back slightly until they both ran out of rounds. It stared at them briefly before letting out another scream. When it died down the angel dashed straight at the two of them. As it got closer it jumped straight up into the air. Both pilots rolled off to the side as the angel landed where they once stood.
Both Evas dropped their rifles and drew their progressive knives out of their holders on their shoulders. They then went into fighting stances as they waited for the angel to attack. The angel craned its neck and looked at Unit 02. She got ready for the attack, but was surprised when angel went after Shinji instead.
Shinji had been caught off guard by the angel's tactics. He barely dodged the grab that it tried to use on him. He continued to dodge attacks until he found his opening. The angel had tried to grab him again but had lost its balance in the process. Shinji took his knife and jammed it deep into the back of the angel, causing the angel to scream. It struggled to get away until it changed its arms into blades and tried to swipe at Shinji with them. Shinji yet again had to dodge more attacks while Asuka tried to attack the angel. Asuka was getting fed up with not being able to hit the angel so she lunged at it not thinking about what was on the other side.
The angel dodged her tackle so she went crashing into Unit 01. Both Evas lay on the ground as the angel saw this as the perfect time to attack. It jumped high into the air again, aiming its arms at the back of Unit 02 as it came back down. "Shit," Shinji exclaimed as he made Unit 01 push Unit 02 off of it.
Asuka was completely stunned. All she could do was watch as the angel came crashing down onto Unit 01. The arms of the angel became imbedded in the midsection of the Eva. "Ahhhhhhhhhh!" Shinji screamed as he felt his stomach get stabbed twice, once above the belly button area and the other right below it. In a last attempt to help beat the angel Shinji made Unit 01 latch its arms onto the angels so it couldn't move.
Asuka just sat in her Eva stunned to the marrow. She couldn't believe that Shinji just took two bladed arms in the gut and held them there. That's when she noticed the opportunity that Shinji gave her. She took her prog knife and stabbed straight at the red core of the angel. When it connected the angel screamed again. Asuka ignored this, as she continued to slam her knife into the core of the angel. After about five strikes it shattered.
The angel went limp, making its arms return to what they normally are, leaving Unit 01 with two holes in it. Asuka threw her Eva on top of Shinji's as she raised her AT field before the angel exploded. The explosion of the angel rocked both Evas a lot, rattling up the pilots. Shinji had lost consciousness not too long after he had Unit 01 grab onto the angel's arms. Asuka opened the comm. visual to talk to Shinji.
"Shinji?" she asked as she looked through the comm. Shinji stayed quiet. "Shinji? Misato get crews out here quick, Shinji's hurt!" she yelled through the comm.
Couple hours later in Katsuragi residence
"Why? Damn it, why? Why the hell do I feel like this? How did that dummkopf get to me?" Asuka yelled at herself. Misato wasn't home and Shinji was still in the hospital. The sun was just rising as she looked deep into herself for the answers.
"Because you let him," a voice from nowhere spoke.
"What do you mean I let him?" Asuka asked to the voice, thinking she had gone completely nuts.
"He has saved you twice now: once during the eighth angel and the other time just a couple of hours ago. You fell in love with him because he was the only one brave enough to do anything for you," the voice replied.
"I don't love him," Asuka tried to deny shaking her head.
"YES YOU DO AND YOU KNOW IT," the voice boomed getting tired of her stupidity.
Asuka fell silent, figuring out what the voice was saying. 'He did save me twice. In the volcano it had to be excruciatingly hot down there, and this morning he just took two blades in his stomach and held them there to protect me,' Asuka thought, getting a warm feeling inside.
'He really does act like he cares too. He takes all my shit, and still treats me nice. I've been a royal bitch to him, and for what reason? I don't have any good reasons. Even if he did look at my underwear on 'Over the Rainbow'.'
"Should I go tell him how I feel?" she asked to the voice, but all she got was silence. She decided there that she will tell him before he can get out of the hospital. She hurriedly got dressed and ran out of the apartment toward the hospital in the afternoon sun.
In the hospital, the pilot of Unit 01 was staring at the familiar but uncomfortable ceiling. Instead of thinking about the battle that he had been in, his thoughts were drifting to the girl that was running to him right now. 'How can I be so heartless? I called her a bitch, and she even looked hurt! How could I? I have no right to get near her,' he thought hanging his head low. He lay back down on his bed with a thump and tried to get some sleep.
Asuka was in the hospital but couldn't find Shinji's room. She ran up and down halls searching but she just couldn't find it. She finally gave up and walked up to one of the several nurse desks. "Ma'am," the nurse behind the counter looked up from her computer to her.
"Yes?"
"Can you tell me which room Shinji Ikari is in?" Asuka looked down to the ground with her hands on her knees trying to get her breath back.
"May I ask who you are?"
"I'm Asuka Langley Sohryu," she replied.
"Oh, he's in room 304. Just go down the hall, he's the fifth room on the left," the nurse said pointing down the hall.
"Thank you," Asuka said as she quickly bowed and ran down the hall. Inside room 304, Shinji heard the footsteps of someone running up to his door. He decided to play opossum and wait to see what this person wanted.
Asuka slowly opened the door after looking both ways down the hall to make sure no one saw her enter. She slipped in and quietly closed the door behind her. She turned and looked at the only other person in the room, the person who held her heart. She slowly walked up to him noticing that he was asleep or at least thought he was asleep. She took a chair and placed near his bed, sitting down on it. She looked over his body and stared at his face. 'He looks so peaceful when he's asleep,' she thought.
Shinji was peaceful at the moment but he wasn't asleep. Asuka's presence was calming and soothing him. The pain he had been feeling in his stomach was gone as soon as she stepped into the room.
'Well, how do I do it? Do I wake him up or wait till he wakes up? But if I do wait will I be able to tell him how I feel? Maybe I should say it to him while he is asleep,' she thought mentally cheering that she found a way to admit her feelings to him.
"Umm… I don't know how… to say this… I mean, I've never said this to anyone…" she started. "All I know… is that… well… I don't know," she tried to explain, failing miserably. "Why don't you just wake up already so I can tell you I care for…" she went on before noticing something on the Third child's face. There was something sparkling in the corner of his eye from the light that was coming in the window. She watched surprised as a single tear slid down his face, falling off his cheek and onto his neck.
As Asuka was watching this Shinji opened his eyes and looked straight at Asuka's more tears forming in his eyes. "Asuka…"
Asuka looked back up to the other teen looking into his eyes, those eyes showing every bit of emotion that he felt. She noticed that they were filled with love, compassion, and loneliness. Things she too felt. "Shinji…" she said before throwing herself at the boy. "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry," she repeated as she hugged him really tight, starting to cry on his chest.
Shinji hugged her back showing almost every bit of emotion he had for the girl as he could. "Its ok, its ok, I forgive you," he cooed to calm her down.
When she heard him say that she looked up at him with her puffy red tear filled eyes. "How can you forgive me? I've called you horrible names, hit you, and… and…" she said as she started to sob again.
"I can't stay mad at you Asuka. Yes, some of those things hurt, but I never held a grudge. I'm sorry I called you a bitch," he said lowering his head.
"Don't be sorry, I dissevered it. I don't disserve this though. I don't disserve you, or your love," she said realizing he never said that he loved her.
"How did you know?" he asked in confusion.
"I didn't, I just guessed," she replied looking up to him.
"Well now that you know, I love you Asuka," he said looking into her eyes.
"I don't disserve it, I don't disserve your love," she said looking down toward his chest.
"I don't care if you disserve it or not, you're still going to get it," he said moving her chin back up so he could look her in the eyes.
"Shinji…" she whispered as they slowly moved toward each other.
"Yes, Asuka?" he asked when their faces were merely an inch apart.
"I love you too," she replied quietly as she moved the rest of the way, meeting her lips with his.
They shared a simple but passionate kiss for what seemed like forever. When they separated they stared into each others eyes, basking in the heat they gave to each other.
"Shinji…" Asuka said as she lay down next to him on the hospital bed.
"Yes Asuka?" Shinji replied as he did the same next to her.
"Don't leave me."
"Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere," he said as he stroked her hair gently.
"Thank you, Shinji-kun," she said as she fell asleep, slightly snoring a bit.
"Any time Asuka, anytime," he said looking up to the door way. "How long have you been there?" he asked quietly so he didn't wake Asuka.
"Not long, but you know, I should have brought a camera. This would be the best picture ever. Sleep well Shinji," Misato responded as she left the room.
"Thanks Misato," Shinji said as he lay back down next to her and fell asleep.
Back in the hallway Misato was leaning against the wall. Tears were slowly flowing down her face, but she didn't look sad. She was happy for the two pilots. She couldn't believe that they finally got over each other's barriers and finally got together. "Well it's about time. I was going to try to hook them up if they didn't do anything soon," she said with a small smirk as she wiped her tears away and started down the hallway to get back to work.
The two lay in the room sleeping peacefully as two silhouettes appeared above them. They glanced at each other then looked back at the teens with small smiles caressing their lips.
"Sleep well Shinji," one said.
"Sleep well Asuka," the other added.
They looked back at each other and smiled as they faded from existence.