Moo for Disclaimers again: I do not own Evangelion and the characters contained therein.

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"Baka! I swear you are so slow, Shinji." The red-headed female grumbled as she watched Shinji languidly walk towards the bus. Blue eyes trained on him every step of the way, Asuka tapped her foot impatiently. For some reason, the sound of her shoes slapping the sidewalk stood out to Shinji more than anything.

"Gomen Nasai, Soryu-san." Shinji offered his apology to the young woman, whom simply gave a slight 'humph' and turned her head away from him and started towards the bus.

"Just come on. You're lucky I even wait for you." Asuka let the biting comment fly, before stepping onto the bus, with Shinji close behind. 'I still wonder what made me leave Asuka so…cold' Shinji though, watching her as she walked.

"Hentai! Don't stare!" she called out, quickly sitting down in a seat and acting offended. Various others on the bus stared at Shinji with incredulous and questioning expressions, causing the young and now flustered boy to abruptly sit down as Asuka smiled triumphantly. He's kind of cute when he's embarrassed like that. It just makes torturing him all that much more enjoyable. Asuka's thoughts were interrupted by Shinji's voice.

"Soyru-san, what did you say that for?" Shinji asked in a hushed and embarrassed tone.

"Because you were staring, you idiot." She muttered, staring at him through narrowed eyes. "Don't you know not to stare at me like that? You're lucky I didn't hit you."

Shinji sighed, closing his eyes and sighing with mixed exasperation and relief that she wasn't going to harm him. You can stare as much as you want later, pervert. It's not like I can stop you. And who knows, depending on how I feel… Asuka kept her smile as the thought crept into her mind. I might just let you get away with it, for a little while. She sighed, reflecting, as Shinji did, on the period of time she had spent with him. At least, it was the time she was meant to believe she spent with him. She remembered the whole of her life, up until battle with the Eva series. The memories she had were of a victory. From there, everything returned to normal. NERV disbanded, the Evas were locked away…nothing bizarre…until Shinji informed her that these memories were fabricated. She asked him why she was made to forget the real events.

"It's because you seem to me to be at least a little happier now than before I changed it, Soryu-san. Now, let's not speak of this event again…let's just start over." Asuka sighed, back in reality. Nothing of that had actually happened, however…they never had that conversation…it was simply in her memories as if they had. She shook her head, wondering if she could trust anything in her memories. Something deep down inside her, though, told her that she could. She might not admit it, but she trusted Shinji as well. Not only that…but now that Wonder Girl wasn't around anymore, she only had Misato to deal with, and her being older than Shinji, not to mention Kaji's plaything, would make Shinji's attention fall on Asuka, and that was exactly what she'd wanted.

"Soryu-san." Shinji murmured her name. In truth, it was the third time he had. She seemed lost in a daze. Even her response to him wasn't committed

"Mmm?" She mumbled, not even looking at him. In fact, it wasn't even a conscious response. Shinji sighed and raised a hand to her shoulder, shaking her slightly.

"It's our stop…Katsuragi-sama is waiting for us." The mention of their superior and caretaker brought her around. Asuka looked over to Shinji then closed her eyes and gave him an annoyed sigh.

"Oh, fine, pervert, if you really want to see Misato-san that badly, I'll come along, if only to keep you from drooling all over yourself." Shinji felt the heat rising in his cheeks as it often did when home alone with the two women.

"Come on, that's not what I meant and you know it!" Shinji retorted as he stood and started towards the front of the bus, Asuka shrugged as she followed him. The pair stepped off the bus, Asuka stretching her legs and back, intentionally jutting her chest out before grumbling, noticing that Shinji wasn't looking in her general direction. 'Baka! Look at me!' Asuka repeated in her mind as she frowned and started past him, patting his shoulder with a light shove to get him moving.

"Let's go, Shinji. You said yourself we can't keep Misato-san waiting." Shinji stepped forward at the push, then hurried forward to catch up with Asuka, wondering why she was upset. Ignoring it for now, he followed slightly behind her until they reached their home. Shinji paused for a brief moment. He remembered bringing everyone back into this world. They were all given memories similar to Asuka's, with NERV disbanding after the foiled attempt to destroy it, and since NERV no longer existed, he had to create new lives for them. Fuyutsuki was a diplomat, and his ability to stay level-headed in intense situations was being put to excellent use. Akagi Ritsuko was still a doctor, however she no longer operated in Tokyo-3.

Then there was Misato. Shinji ultimately decided that Misato had been so kind to him that he wished her to remain with him and Asuka, so he kept her on as his permanent caregiver until she got sick of them or he finally wished to strike out on his own. But if there was one thing Asuka was right about, it was that he had no desire to leave the two women. There were only two people he did not return to this world. The first was Rei, and the reason was simply because he was unable to. Something kept him from bringing her back. The second was Ikari Gendou…Shinji had enough of his father the first time around. Before he had even realized it, the constant thinking had blinding him to the fact that Asuka was opening the door to his home right in front of him.

"Tadaima!" Asuka called, stepping into their apartment. Shinji, in a daze, said nothing, and so the older woman called out to Asuka alone.

"Okaeri nasai! Is Shinji-kun not with you?" The woman asked over the familiar crack and soft hissing sound of a beer can opening. It was then that Asuka realized Shinji hadn't said anything. Turning to him, she nudged him and whispered harshly. "Shinji! Announce yourself." Shinji blinked a few times then cleared his throat.

"He'll be along any minute now, he was right behind me. But you know how Shinji is, always so slow and daydreaming, probably about how lucky he is to live here with two beautiful women like us." This brought a mild laugh from Misato, who shook her head from her seat in the kitchen as she worked through a crossword.

"I don't think so. Our Shinji-kun has never been the most keen of-" she stopped mid-sentence as Shinji saw this as his only opportunity to announce his presence as well as avoid being teased.

"Tadaima!" He called out, huffing slightly. Misato held her tongue for a moment, glancing towards the kitchen door. 'Oops. Almost let that one slip.'

"Okaeri nasai!" She called out to him, smiling sheepishly to Asuka who had since walked into the kitchen. "How was school today, Shinji-kun?" The older woman asked, to which Shinji sighed, shrugging his shoulders.

"The same as usual. Boring…" He sat down with the others at the kitchen table, looking at the same crossword Misato was working through. Asuka raised a brow at his choice for the object of his attention, then wrote it off as just another one of his quirks.

"Like the rest of us find it terribly interesting." Asuka stated, remembering suddenly that she had homework and dug out her textbook, brushing her hair behind her ear and tucking the pencil there as well as she searched.

"These damn kanji…" she muttered. Shinji smiled at that, remembering that while he had changed her common speech, he never did deal with her difficulty grasping the written form.

"You know, Asuka-chan, you could simply ask me for some help. It wouldn't hurt you, you know." Misato set her crossword down on the table close to Asuka's textbook, as if to further her point. Asuka scoffed, turning her head away defiantly.

"I don't need your help." She refused to look at the crossword, biting her pencil a moment, letting it rest on her bottom lip. This did get Shinji's attention as he stared for a moment. Misato picked up on this, and instantly brought out her best flirtatious smile.

"Oh, I see. You'd rather have Shinji-kun help you, isn't that right?" It was Asuka's turn to share in the blushes, as both she and Shinji's gazes shot straight to Misato, and they spoke in unison.

"That's not what I meant!" Asuka exclaimed, while Shinji shouted a slightly varied "That's not what she meant!" Misato found great humor in this and laughed, shaking her head and waving the crossword, which was now back in her hand.

"I'm just teasing you both." She stated, sighing as she got her laughter under control. "Shinji-kun," she said in sultry tones so as to get his attention. "Why don't you be a good boy and cook us up something special?" Shinji blinked, his eyes somewhat hopeful as he heard her tone of voice, before he sighed at the request. He was prepaing to speak when Asuka got to it first.

"Yeah, I can't think on an empty stomach. Hayaku!" Shinji glanced to Asuka, slightly annoyed but his face masked it as guilt.

"Gomen nasai, Soryu-san. I'll have it ready shortly." He groaned, standing and walking to the kitchen. 'I'm so tortured…' he thought for a moment, shifting uncomfortably from the previous onslaught of both women's teasing as he prepared their food.

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Meow (HA, you thought I'd say moo) for Author's Notes: Slight knowledge of the Japanese language is my friend. As are various websites that give me the information I don't know (Okaeri Nasai for instance.). I'm debating on bringing Maya back into this place! I never knew she had such a large fan base o.o sure she's cute and all, but without Ritsuko to pine over, what does that leave her with other than taking Ritsuko's place in the new NERV that somehow returns?