Evangelion: The Next Generation

By: Byakko of the West

I own the characters-or at least some of them- and the plot but the other stuff goes to GAINAX and those people.

Author's Notes: Well, here's the sequel to my story 'What if' Kaji Hadn't Died. Hope you all enjoy!

~*~

"Hey, Sake-chan, guess what I got?" Suzuhara Kagome sang while waving a magazine around, skipping over to her best friend since they were born, Ikari Sayuki.

The fourteen-year-old redhead turned to her friend glaring for two reasons. 1) She called her the nickname she dreaded and 2) She was with her crush, Kaji Akai and, of course, her friend just had to come along and ruin her chance at being noticed. But that wasn't totally true. Akai had also been one of her best friends since she could remember but she also wanted him to be more than just a friend to her since she noticed guys.

The purple-haired elite turned to look at the girl and smiled. "Hey there, Suzu-san. It's nice to see you again."

Kagome turned to him, smiling. "Yeah, you too." She then turned back to her impatient friend. "Want to see what's in my hand?" she waved it in front of her face and when Sayuki went to grab it out of her friend's hand, the freckle-face friend put it behind her back.

Sighing, Sayuki nodded. "Okay, you got me now. What do you have?" she crossed her arms and glanced over to make sure Akai hadn't left.

Smirking, she thrusted the paper into her friend's face. "There's a dance at the school this weekend! Are you going to go?" her friend reached her hand up and took the orange-colored paper from her hand, examining it.

After a few seconds of reading the paper carefully, she handed it back to Kagome. "No, I don't think I will. Akai-kun is here for the weekend and then he's got to go back to Kyoto." She smiled at the man next to her. You see, Akai had been in cadets ever since he was in high school and when he began College, they military decided it would be best to go to their finest College in Japan, the University of Kyoto-2 (A/N: No idea if there's an actual place but oh well.). "He doesn't get to come down often so I want to spend some time with him."

Smiling back at her, Akai wrapped his arm around her shoulders and squeezed them in a loose, friendly embrace, grinning when he saw her blush. Though he hadn't been able to figure out his feelings for his long-time friend, he knew there was something and that's all that mattered for the moment.

Kagome smirked at the cute little unofficial couple. "Why don't the both of you go?"

The man gulped and turned to her, blushing. "Erm, I don't think that's a good idea, Suzu-san." He said, taking his arm off Sayuki's shoulders.

She frowned at the loose of weight and turned to Kagome too. "Akai-kun's been to many dances before. What makes this one any different?"

The annoying one smirked. "Well, you'd be there, ne?" she had known about Akai's secret and confusing feelings for Sayuki for a long time now and it was painfully clear that Sayuki was hopelessly in love with him. So, being the caring friend she is, decided to help them out a little.

The man brought a hand up to scratch the back of his head, laughing nervously. "You should go Sayuki-chan. Maybe you'd meet your dream-hunk there." He winked at her and nudged her side teasingly. 'I hope not...'

'I highly doubt that.' She sweatdropped. "But I wanted to spend my time with you." She whined, using her ultimate weapon on him.

The dangerous puppy eyes.

Oddly enough, it was his own mother, Kaji Misato, who taught her that. And even though his father, Kaji Ryouji, had giving him quite a few tricks to reel in the opposite sex, he had no defense against those. He backed away from her as her eyes became tearier by the moment. "W-well, what if I came with you to the dance?" everything was silent, 'That came out wrong...' "W- what I mean is, I could be your escort. I'm sure Commander Ikari wouldn't mind then if you wanted to go." Commander Ikari was none-other than Sayuki's father, Ikari Shinji. After years of studying the rules and regulations-not including the years to actually understand them- and working with the government, he finally got promoted to Commander, a few weeks after his former-Commander, Fuyutski Kozo, died from double pneumonia.

Sayuki brought a finger to her lips, tapping the bottom one in thought. "Yeah, I guess Outo-san would agree if someone like you went with me and not someone like Tora-san." She glanced at him. "You wouldn't mind hanging out with a bunch of high school girls all night?" she asked innocently.

He smiled at her, his pearly whites showing. "Of course not." He said smoothly. 'Especially if it's you.'

She smiled at him, promptly glomping him around the waist. "Thank you, Akai- kun!" she pulled away after a few minutes of self-satisfaction. "Now to get Daddy's permission..."

~*~

"Tadaima!" (A/N: I think that's it. What is it that they say when they enter the house?) Sayuki exclaimed as she and Akai walked through the doorway into the large house (A/N: me again. Not quite a mansion but a really big house.). She slipped her shoes off and into a pair of fluffy orange slippers then handed the man next to her an extra pair.

The head of Ikari Asuka popped out around the corner from the living room. "Hey, sweetie. How was your day?" she looked at the person next to her and squealed happily, jumping off the couch that she sat on and ran to Akai. "Mein Gott! I haven't seen you in so long!" she pulled him away from her, gripping his shoulders. "And why haven't you called or written?" she demanded, glowering at him.

He sweatdropped and laughed nervously. "I've tried to, Ikari-san. But it's been really hard at school lately and I haven't had much time to call anyone not even-"

He was cut off by a voice from the living room. "Not even his own mother." Misato stepped into the hallway, frowning but slowly losing to a smile. "Why aren't you at home?"

He smiled back stepping away from Asuka to hug his mother. "I offered to pick Sayuki up from school. I already saw dad during the day at lunch." They walked into the living room to sit down on the leather couches; Sayuki and Akai sharing the loveseat while Misato and Asuka sat on the larger one. "How have you been, mother?" he asked, picking up the tea kettle that was already on the table and filling two empty cups for him and the girl that sat next to him.

Misato rolled her eyes at her son. "Yeah sure, you'll call Kaji dad but you won't call me mom, it's always mother." She mumbled, sipping her tea. "I guess I can't complain. Except for the fact that your little sister is teething and gnawing at anything near her, including my clothes, everything is fine." Only a year after he'd left for college in Kyoto, he'd received a phone call from his mother, explaining that he would be having a brother or sister soon. It turned out to be the little girl that Misato always wanted, naming her Kaji Aya (A/N: Damn, I must be annoying today. That has to be the worst name I've come up with so far.). Her hair was a light brown, raggedy and unruly like her father and had dark brown-almost black- eyes. It was strange how he was the living image of his mother yet his sister looked amazingly like his father.

"Where is she anyway?" he asked, looking around, expecting to see her in a little playpen not far off.

Misato placed her cup back onto the table and leaned back, crossing her legs. "I dropped her off at Ritsu's for a little check up earlier today so Asuka and I could do a little shopping. If I'd known you were here already, I would have giving her to you."

He laughed. Akagi Ritsuko had been their pediatrician for very long now. After NERV was no more, she took her Dr. title to greater heights and became a real doctor, looking after sick children to which she loved dearly. She was also the most official baby-sitter their little group had. "I could go pick her up if you want." He volunteered.

Sayuki perked up at this. "Oh, can I come too? I just love Aya-chan, she's so cute." She poked the man next to her's cheek, grinning. "Just like her big brother, ne?"

He smirked back at her. "I'm not cute, I'm drop dead gorgeous." He struck a pose, his hands on his hips and his nose high.

She laughed and stood up, taking his arm and pulling him up along with her. "Ok, sexy-man. Let's go."

~*~

Author's Notes: Well, not much fun in there. It's pretty much a summary of what happened to everyone's lives but I didn't want to put it in point form so I made a little prologue chappie. In the later chapters will be more action. If anyone has ideas for bad guys, please tell me, I'm not very good at that sort of thing.

R&R PLZ!