"I can't believe it's over," Asuka said devasted while at the same time, also banging her head against the couch. She was hoping to recieve a more painful response but because she was lying on the couch, her skull wasn't recieving any damage. "He dumped me. Shinji dumped me!"
Hikari and Rei looked at each other, both uncertain on what to say to their depressed friend before looking at her in a sympathetic manner. The brunette decided to speak first, hoping her words would comfort the red head. "Cheer up Asuka, you're still living together so there's plenty of time to make amends. And besides, it wasn't like he said that it was over between you two."
The German groaned, draping her arm over her eyes to prevent the other two women from seeing the tears building up. Why did she ask them to come over?
I hadn't, Hikari found out on her own.
Half an hour after Shinji left, Hikari arrived at the apartment telling the red head that she heard the news about their argument from Touji which shouldn't of surprised her as much as it had. Of course he was going to tell her, she is his wife! Asuka reminded to herself the moment she saw Hikari standing in front of the entrace.
"Don't feel too downhearted, Asuka," Rei added with her renowned gentle voice. "I know my brother tends to blow things out of porportion at the best of times, but he does love you and he would never try to hurt you on purpose."
Brother...
It still seemed surreal to hear the undeniable fact that Rei Ayanami was indeed Shinji's younger sister and instead was known as Rei Ikari. The blue-haired woman discovered the truth about her genetic family after becoming seriously ill at the age of sixeen, she ended up being in the hospital for five months before she was finally told by the doctors that the cure to her mysterious illness would be a blood transfusion. Shinji volunteered to get his blood tested to see if it was a match as he couldn't bear the thought of Rei dying and when the results came out everybody was shocked to hear that not only was there a match and that the young woman would live, but they also had the same DNA. Ergo, making them officially brother & sister.
I had been such a idiot thinking that there was something romantic between them. Asuka thought to herself, remembering the pointless jealousy her fourteen year old self held towards the two everytime she saw them together.
Hearing the news of their family relationship had been a great burden lifted off of the German's shoulders giving her the chance to finally be with Shinji, yet she was still too afraid to take the risk. It was actually Shinji himself who dared to take the chance and asked her out, even though it took six years for them to collect the courage to admit their feelings for one another since they first met.
And now it's all been in vain because my damn pride got in the way! She thought, continuing to drown herself in the vicious ocean of misery otherwise known as heartache.
"No, you should've seen him. I could see that he was tired of this relationship, that being with me was only bringing him down. If Shinji wants to break up then that's fine with me," Asuka said while shrugging her shoulders as if it were nothing. "Good riddance to that man for using Kaji's name like that. What he said about him sickens me."
Once again the two friends looked at each other with uncertainty, both knowing that it would be better to simply not discuss it any further. This time blue-haired woman decided to speak first, knowing that words would definitely brighten the German's attitude. "We knew that you would be like this so I've brought over some ice-cream and every action, sci-fi, drama, horror & comedy DVD I own," she hadn't bothered bringing any romantic comedies as she recalled Asuka once mentioning how she hated that genre of film because all the plotlines were horribly cliche.
"While I brought over all your favourite video games to belt out your anger on. Also, the biggest box of chocolates I could find at the store and you're going to love me for this; three four-packs of vodka cruisers. Although I've noticed that you've got quite a bit of liquor in your cupboards," Hikari said with a bit of a disapproval, yet she still smiled.
"I also called the office and told them that none of us will be going to work tomorrow due to private matters. So that means we'll be able stay up all night and have a movie marathon or something else if you want. We'll do whatever you want to, just as long as we can get you to smile again," Rei finished with a warm smile painted into her features, Asuka couldn't help herself from following her friends' actions. She was truly grateful for their kindness, but she felt too undeserving of it.
"Thanks guys. I appreciate this, really I do, but I'm fine, honestly. Seriously guys, you both should really go. Hikari, I know money's getting a bit tight since that idiot quit his job. And Rei, you're behind in car-mortage payments. Go," she insisted, her smile becoming small & meek. "Do your own things. I'll be fine."
Rei stood and was about to walk away when Hikari grabbed her wrist. "What do you think you're doing?" the brunette demanded, standing up herself while looking at her friend in disbelief. "We should be here for Asuka and here you are walking away! I can't believe you."
"Hikari please..." Asuka pleaded gently, desparate to avoid another argument from occurring today.
"No Asuka, we were there for Rei when she almost had her nervous breakdown and if I recall, it had been your idea. And this is how she repays you? You should be ashamed of yourself, Rei. You should be trying to help Asuka through her dilemnas. Pay her back," she hissed letting go of her friend's wrist, never feeling so much anger towards the blue-haired woman as she had in that single moment.
Rei gave Hikari a blank look, feeling tempted to tell the woman off for jumping to conclusions so quickly but decided that would be inappropriate option. "I was heading for the bathroom," she replied bluntly, quietly enjoying the brunette's embarrassed reaction who was now trying to choke out an apology. "It does not matter. Now if you'll excuse me; I have to go. Really badly," the she left, leaving behind a red-faced brunette and a laughing German.
Although Hikari was mortified and felt like the biggest idiot since the agent who sold his contract with Elvis for fifty dollars, she was grateful to hear her friend's laughter for the first time since the argument. "This never happened," she muttered, hoping that the red head wouldn't dare mention this during some time in the future.
Asuka wiped the tears from her eyes, trying to calm herself down but she still continued to giggle. "Of course Hikari, this never happened. It was simply a hallucination due from alcohol. Gotcha," she said with a wink before becoming serious again. "You do know that I am capable of taking care of myself."
"I'm aware that you are, Asuka. But seriously, I'm not kidding when I say that you're looking like crap," the brunette responded bluntly. She had been noticing for the past several weeks her friend becoming ill at the most random of times during work and being more emotional than usual, it was making her worried. "Has Shinji said anything about it?"
The former pilot shook her head, "Not really. He did one day tell me that I was eating more than usual and for that, I gave him a huge bruise on his arm. Asshole, so what if I've been eating more? It's my body and if he doesn't like it, than bad luck!" she growled, remembering that she had felt quite hurt when Shinji said that.
He said that he didn't care what I looked like, just as long as I was happy with myself. And I believed that lying bastard. Asuka knew that she should get over it if she wanted to move on and beginning tonight, she would.
"Now enough about that idiot, let's get this party started! Pass me a cruiser Hikari, we're going to party tonight as if it were your Hen's night all over again."
"There's the Asuka we all know and love," the brown-eyed woman said cheerfully, handing to her friend the bottle of flavoured vodka. "Cheers to tonight & tomorrow and here's hoping that we'll still have our jobs by the weekend," she declared as she held her own drink up in the air.
"Here! Here!" the German cheered, agreeing with her friend's toast. After opening the bottle, Asuka was about to take a huge gulpful of the alcoholic beverage when the two women were interrupted by the sound of Rei who was quite surprisingly, swearing so loudly and fluently at that precise moment, it would've made a sailor hang his head in shame.
Hikari & Asuka looked at each other with great concern knowing that the former pilot of Unit 00 disapproved of swearing; saying that she found it to be disgusting mannerisms. The two friends both stood up and ran to the bathroom, hoping that their friend was okay while still holding onto their drinks only to be greeted by a woman who was quite literally, panicking.
"What the fuck, Asuka?! I thought you believed in birth-control," Rei said in disbelief.
The red-haired woman looked at her in confusion, unsure what she was getting at. "What the hell are you talking about Rei? I do believe in..." however, Asuka was unable to finish her sentence because she finally realised what her friend was getting at from the moment she noticed the pregnancy test she had taken two days ago, now being held in Rei's hand.
Things would have been a lot simpler for Asuka to admit to both herself and her friends that it wasn't her test (even though she was the only female in the apartment) or that she went to the doctors to have it confirmed and it came out negative. It's a shame she couldn't use either one of those options because both moving on for Asuka or life itself, had now become a lot more complicated. The gates of hell were about to be opened for her and everyone else all from a little plastic stick which that although was now blue, it may as well have just stated in bold black print for the whole world to see:
POSITIVE.
"You're... PREGNANT?" Hikari asked astounded, she looked as though she were about to faint. How can this be? Asuka's always preached about safe-sex. Jeez, she nearly killed Touji when she found out that we hadn't used any protection during our first time. "I can't believe this! Does Shinji know?"
As the red head cringed, the brunette knew she had received her answer. Well this is a fucking fantastic time to break up! Real smooth Shinji, just break-up with her before you propose. She thought to herself sarcastically, remembering when Touji mentioned the news of Shinji planning to pop the question.
And now Asuka's pregnant. I hope you're satisfied with yourself, jerk. Hikari took deep breath and exhaled knowing that she needed to calm down, but when she realised that it wasn't working, the woman took a huge gulp from her bottle and was almost tempted to scull the whole thing.
Ahhh sweet alcohol, take me now and kill my brain cells... Hikari thought deliriously, reading the bottle's label after finishing her drink. Speaking of alcohol... she froze at her quick realisation.
"And you should not be drinking, you lady!" she scolded before snatching the cruiser from Asuka's hand and taking a ridiously huge gulp. "I think I'll be needing this more than you tonight," she muttered mostly to herself before continuing with her binge drinking while Rei & Asuka looked each other with deep concern stained deeply into their features.
"Five thousand yen, Touji. Pay up, man." Kensuke said smirking, quietly gloating to himself as Touji grumbled to himself about how his friend's team had cheated.
"Here," Touji muttered. "Hikari's gonna kill me when she finds out."
"That's what you get for betting on teams that suck," the sandy-blonde man retorted, placing his winnings into his wallet.
During this time, Shinji sat by himself quietly and was thinking to himself. He was seemed so still, one would almost say that he was sleeping, yet his mind told a different story. I wonder how Asuka's doing... he pondered to himself, feeling an aching in his chest. I hope she's okay, I shouldn't have used Kaji against her. He's been dead for ten years now and I still see him as competition! God, I'm such an idiot.
"You okay, Shinji?"
"What?" Shinji asked. He hadn't realised that Kensuke was trying to talk to him until the computer genius waved his hand in front of the distracted blue-eyed man.
"I said; Are you okay? You seem kinda out of it tonight," the man repeated with concern appearing on his features.
"Yeah," Touji added. "Usually when you have an argument with Asuka, you come over here and have a few beers. Not become seriously depressed and act as though someone ran over your Sdat player," the raven-haired man's attempt at lighten the mood was not seen by the depressed man and Touji's expression became more serious. "Seriously, what happened?"
"Look guys," Shinji started before grabbing another can of beer.
"I'd rather not talk about it," he continued flatly and opened his can. "I know you think that keeping it all in isn't good for my health, but what happened between Asuka & I is our business and our business ownly. So don't get involved and I mean it guys," he finished coldly after drinking the alcoholic beverage in just one shot. Crushing his now-empty beer can, the man gently placed it on the coffee table which was heavily littered with other beer cans and stood up.
"Thanks for the company," Shinji said with genuine gratitude, making his way to the door before pausing only momentarily. "By the way Kensuke, I agree with Touji; you're team cheats," and then he left.
His two friends looked at each other with sad expressions before witnessing the door be slammed shut, they both knew that Shinji was hurting badly and although they wanted to help him in some way, they knew that it wouldn't offer him any closure. There was only person who could solve his heartache and it was Asuka herself, that or...
"Hey Touji, how about it? Should we proceed with Operation F.A.G. and help Shinji move on?" Kensuke asked, grinning at the idea while his friend simply nodded in response.
The first thing that Shinji noticed as he entered the apartment was the overwhelming stench of alcohol before realising that it was coming from the living room. As much as he wanted to avoid what he feared to be his drunk German flatmate, the curiousity of the amount of damage she created through out their home was just too much for the young man to ignore.
Walking quietly to the living room, Shinji was surprised to discover that there was not only one woman, but two more were also present and all three were fast asleep on both the sofa beds. Surprise quickly turned into irritation when he found to his estimation, at least a dozen empty glass bottles littered across the area as well as several ice-cream containers (which much to his relief) were also empty, meaning that the carpet wouldn't need cleaning and DVDs scattered all across on the floor.
I am not cleaning this. Even if he liked to keep the apartment neat & organised, Shinji was most certainly not going to pick clean after Asuka.
Let her deal with it. It's her problem, not mine. He thought to himself before going into his bedroom, feeling too tired to be bothered with moving his stuff into the guest room. Stripping out his clothes and slipping into his sleeping clothes, Shinji was about to climb into bed before he heard someone softly knocking on the door.
"Hey Shinji," a gentle feminine voice spoke.
Definitely not Asuka's, he realised. "It's me, Rei. Can I come in?"
Figures. Rolling his eyes at his misfortune. Here I am about to go to bed when my sister decides that she needs to talk to me about Asuka & I! Why can't everyone let us settle it on our own? Shinji really didn't feel like talking to anyone else tonight, but at the same time he also didn't want to upset his sister.
God, I'm such a people pleaser. It's pathetic.
"Yeah," he answered.
Carefully sliding open the door, Rei entered the room with a serious expression on her face, making Shinji quietly groan to himself. So much a good night's sleep. Knowing very well that his sister meant business.
"What happened between you and Asuka?" she asked straight-up. "I know what you both said to each other, but what's actually going to happen now? Asuka doesn't have a single clue what you guys are to each other and you didn't hear it from me when I say that it's turning her into a total wreck."
Any other time, the twenty-four year old would've felt a pang of guilt at the thought of the one he loved was now hurting horribly because of him. However, Shinji quickly reminded himself that unless Asuka realised that not everyone in this world would serve her on hand and foot, then there would be no future for them.
Please God, he prayed. Please let her have this epihany. I know that we killed your messengers but please, let there be a chance for us. Please forgive us so we can finally be happy.
"Yeah, I noticed with the way she trashed the apartment," he said after his silent plea to God, while also trying to ignore the longing within his heart of sleeping by Asuka's side again. "I'm sorry you had to put up with it."
The blue-haired woman frowned at to what her brother was implying. "Actually Shinji, it was Hikari and me who are responsible for the mess, not Asuka. Actually, she didn't drink once at all tonight."
Rei couldn't help herself from enjoying the surprise & slightly embarrased expression flushed into the brown-haired man's features, satisfied that she was able to defend Asuka's honour even if she'd never find out about it.
Not that she can drink considering she's carrying your child. She added to herself, wondering just how her friend will be able to break the news to Shinji. I wonder how he's going react. Please don't be afraid of what he'll say when you tell him, Asuka. I know Shinji that loves you and would want to be there for both you & your child, even if you two are going through some problems at the moment...
"Whatever," her brother muttered as he slipped into the comfort of his bed. "It's not my problem."
"Shinji..." his sister began but was no longer sure what she could say to comfort the man.
"Rei, you're my sister and I love you very dearly, but please leave this alone. I appreciate that you and everyone else wants to help us kiss & make up, but this is something between Asuka & I. Let us deal with it on our own and if we can't solve our differences..." Shinji stopped, unsure if he wanted to continue with his sentence. In honest truth, he was terrified at the thought of losing Asuka, yet he also knew that he had to accept it as a possibility.
No matter how painful it sounded.
"...then we'll go our separate ways. Besides, it's not like we've got anything that's keeping us together. Right?" he asked rhetorically, not bothering to comprehend about why Rei slightly flinched from his statement. "So if we break-up, then that's it; no strings attached. We can both walk away and look at our time together as simple memories and nothing more."
Glancing at the clock, the former pilot of Unit 01 was surprised to discover that it was almost 3:30 in the morning. "Wow it's really late," he said mostly to himself. "Listen Rei, I've got work tomorrow and I'm absolutely exhausted." Running his long fingers through his dark-brown hair, Shinji looked at his sister and silently pleaded to her to let him some sleep.
Getting the message, the red-eyed woman nodded her understanding. "We've all had a long night. Good night, Shinji," she said softly, walking out the room but soon paused in the door way and looking up at the ceiling. "Hikari & I will clean up the mess. Sweet dreams big brother," and closed the door behind her.
If only you knew, Rei sadly thought to herself before drapping a blanket over Asuka's sleeping form which slipped to the floor. A small smile crept onto the corner of her lips as she watched the sleeping German mumbled something to herself as nuzzle herself against the panda plush toy Shinji had won for her a few years ago. Smiling to herself, Rei walked over to the second sofa bed and also draped another blanket over her other friend, and finally went back to bed again.
Thinking over today's events and the could-be's for the future, the woman couldn't help herself from smiling at the thought of one inevitable occurring out of all of this before sleep consumed her.
Auntie Rei... it has a nice ring to it.
AN: I had done this chapter several weeks ago but I had been so focused on updating "To forgive, to let go and to say I'm sorry" that I completely forgot to update this one! I know that Hikari & Touji weren't married in the original or that Rei wasn't Shinji's sister, but I always wanted to a fic where they're related, so sue me!
Anyway, thanks to everyone for the reviews and I'll try to update again soon.