AN: This is the prologue for a series I'm currently writing. There isn't much set in stone at the moment, so I have plenty of room to go wherever I feel it needs to go. This story will be an Asuka/Shinji Romance/Drama, but it hasn't gone that far yet. While this is my first attempt at writing a public piece, I've read quite a good deal of Eva fiction. I'm hoping to create something different from the every day story, but I am aware that my writing skills are rather weak. Well, enough of my rambling. On with the show!

Disclaimer: I don't claim ownership of Neon Genesis Evangelion, or any of its characters.

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Sudden Loss

Morning came too soon for a young man lying in his room staring at the ceiling. The previous night had not granted him much rest, as he had spent most of it wracked by nightmares. He laid there letting his mind mull over the events in his dream that had led to a rather abrupt ending to his night's sleep. He didn't remember many of the details, but images of his father, Eva unit 01, and his horrific encounters with the Angels still plagued his mind. As disturbing as these images were to the young Ikari, it was another set of images that haunted him this morning. Toward the end of his nightmare he relived all the hatred and anger he had received from his roommate, Asuka.

Noticing it was time to start his day, he rose out of bed and headed for the shower. He sighed as the water cascaded down his back. This was truly one of the only simple pleasures he could regularly enjoy, as his fellow roommates seldom awoke this early. While he enjoyed the comfort of the shower, he let his mind wander to his previous train of thought.

He didn't know what he really felt for anyone, but his confusion with her was easily the most pronounced. She was beautiful, smart, strong, and he could only admire her constant drive to succeed in everything she did. His problem, however, was her constant insults and the dislike that was almost always present when she talked with him.

If this were the whole story, he would be satisfied with letting go and concluding that they could never be friends, but there was more to this twisted puzzle than just the negative parts. There were moments where he felt he could see something behind the anger, behind the arrogance. Suddenly images came to mind. Asuka calling for her mother in her sleep as a tear ran down her face. Asuka smiling at him when he saved her from falling to her death in the volcano. Then there was the kiss. He hadn't known what to make of it at the time, and he was still confused. That moment ended like every other moment where he seemed to be able to see a different part of her; she immediately closed herself off again and insulted him. Did she like him? Did she feel he was a friend? Maybe she thought of him as a colleague?

'No,' he thought bitterly, 'she hates me. Why would she care at all anyway?'

His contemplation ground to a halt at the sound of pounding at the door.

"Shinji hurry up! How long are you going to stay in there anyway? I need to shower and you need to cook breakfast!"

Frowning, Shinji turned off the water and started to dry off. 'I guess I was in here longer than I realized,' he thought to himself. As he was wrapping a towel around his waist, he was subjected to more berating comments.

"I'm sorry Asuka, I'll be out in a second," he said, grabbing his stuff.

He opened the door to see her standing on the other side tapping her foot with her hands on her hips, "Well, it's about time! You better not have been doing anything perverted in there!"

He tried to defend himself, but he just couldn't speak the words the way his mind was preparing them, "W-what! No I…I was just…but…"

With a wave of her hand, she put an end to his stuttering. "Oh whatever!" was all he heard her say as the fiery redhead marched into the bathroom and slammed the door shut. He sighed and went to his room to get dressed.

Shinji was just about finished with breakfast when Asuka left the bathroom to get dressed in her room. Before Shinji had come to the kitchen to cook, Misato had managed to drag herself out of bed and was now sitting at the table drinking her 'breakfast'.

As she watched him make the meal, she was a little worried. Normally he would comment on her state of dress, or lack thereof or at least complain about her drinking, but lately he just seemed to keep to himself even more than usual. She wasn't sure how to label her relationship with the young boy. She was responsible for him both as his superior officer and as his guardian, but he felt like real family to her. She hated to see him in pain, and with the way he had been acting lately something must be troubling him. She had to see what was going on.

"So, Shinji, how's school been?"

Shinji replied without even breaking his concentration, "Fine."

'Well that went nowhere…' she thought trying to come up with her next move. "Oh, by the way, Ritsuko called to say you aren't going to have any sync tests for the next few days, something about working on the Magi."

Once again, he replied without any real enthusiasm, "That's good."

He finished setting up the dishes and started placing breakfast on the table. 'Damn! What's with him? What IS it!' Misato was just about to try again when Asuka stormed into the kitchen drawing everyone's attention as always.

"Well, it's about time! I don't know why I put up with you. First you're in the shower for an hour, then I have to put up with another boring breakfast. Why do I even bother!" With that, she sat down and started eating her breakfast.

Misato saw him flinch when Asuka entered, then watched as he frowned and left to get his things ready for school. 'So that's what's bothering him. He didn't even eat breakfast.' She felt her anger rising as Asuka just sat there eating, oblivious of the explosion that was sure to come.

Shinji entered his room and started to get his things ready for school. 'Why is she always like this? Can't she even have a conversation without resorting to some sort of violence?' Shinji realized the errors in his thoughts after a moment. 'No, she can be nice when she wants to. I've never seen her hit or yell at Kaji. I've never seen her get like that with Hikari either. No, it's just me. Of course she hates me, who could like someone like me anyway.' His thoughts came to an abrupt end as the source of his torture let out a scream.

"Mein Gott! Hurry up Shinji, we're late!"

Asuka ran to grab her things before the two children ran out the door. Misato took a long drink of her beer. The fact that the person responsible for her frustration left before she was able to confront her only made her more upset.

"I'll just have to talk with her when she gets back."

With that, she went to take a shower.

Outside, Shinji and Asuka were headed to school. Shinji was falling behind, but his mind just wasn't on school. His thoughts were still spiraling out of control when he realized Asuka had stopped and was facing him waiting for him to catch up.

"Will you hurry up! I swear Shinji, you must want us to be late."

He finally caught up to her and tried to say something, but all that came out was, "I'm sorry."

She looked at him for a moment before clenching her fists and grinding her teeth. "ARGH!! Enough already! All you ever do is apologize! Whatever, you can be late if you want, but I'm not waiting anymore." She then turned to cross the street and continue on to school.

'I'm pathetic. I can't even talk to her without her getting mad. Why do I even bother? No one cares anyway.' Shinji let his mind wander deeper into depression as he continued on his way to school. As he was crossing the street, His train of thought was torn loose by a high pitched shriek. Jerking his head to the side he saw the black and chrome pattern of a car's grill coming toward him at an unheard of speed. He threw his arms in front of his face by instinct, as he had no time to think.

Asuka had crossed the street and was heading off to school when she heard a loud shriek followed by a crashing sound. As she turned around looking back toward the street she had just crossed, it took a moment for reality to sink in. "My god, no…"

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Final notes:

This is just the opening for what I hope to be a large series. I had intended to make this part a full sized chapter and add much more characterization, but I felt the ending just fit too well and couldn't add to it yet. Don't worry, I plan to show events from and before the time of this piece from multiple perspectives, as the focus of the series will be on the emotions of the characters.

A special thanks goes to Crimson Goddess for pre-reading this piece. She fixed some punctuation errors, but what I'm really grateful for is the format. When I first wrote it out it didn't have any breaks, so it looked like an essay or something. Even I had trouble reading it. Thanks again CG, I owe you one!

Last revision edit: Thanks again to Crimson Goddess for pointing out a timeline error.

First draft: 4/25/02

Revised: 8/12/02

Second revision: 8/13/02

Last revisions: 8/15/02