Neon Genesis Evangelion - A Gothic Romance

Chapter 1

I was surprised - to say the least - when a sword lopped off the head of the vampire I was just going to stake. My eyes traveled from the shiny silvery metal of the blade, to the gem-encrusted crosspiece, to the peach colored hand holding the leather-bound handle and finally up to the face of my 'savior'. The person was a girl - or woman I should say - of all people. Her chest heaved as she breathed deeply and I couldn't tear my eyes away from the site of those twin mounds rising up and down.

She followed my eyes and grinned, winking at me. "Like what you see?" She asked in a sultry tone, sheathing her sword and cupping the targets of my vision.

My eyes widened as I realized that I was staring at her breasts. I sputtered incoherently, tearing my eyes away from the sight and blushed a light red. I gathered what remained of my wits and dignity, and looked up to her face. She had long purple hair with bangs that hung in front of her forehead. She had brown eyes that twinkled in amusement at my predicament. My gaze swept down and back up again, taking in the rest of her image.

She had a pair of brown boots on and above that she wore a pair of non-descript black trousers held up by a leather belt. Various pouches and stakes lined her belt, a dagger rode each hip, a whip hung coiled from her hip, gently swaying by her thigh and a scabbard hung at her opposite hip. A high collared button-up black shirt, that showed a little of her toned stomach, graced her upper body and on top of that she wore a dark red jacket. Her entire outfit was finished by a brown cloak that was held together by a silver brooch in the shape of a cross.

She was no doubt a vampire hunter, though I was sure I was the only vampire hunter this far up north. She must have been very skilled too, for neither the now deceased vampire nor myself even sensed her approach.

She tapped her foot impatiently and I realized I was staring at her again, though this time it wasn't at an indecent place.

She winked at me again and must have guessed what I was thinking. "You can stare there," she stressed the word, "if you want. I don't mind." She laughed - and it wasn't unpleasant - as I blushed.

"Who are you?" Finally, I managed to say something that wasn't incoherent babbling.

"Misato Katsuragi at your service," she said grandly, bowing down somewhat mockingly. I didn't take her for one who was very formal. "Though, only if you're Shinji Ikari." She paused, and her brow furrowed in thought. "You are Shinji aren't you?" She asked, scowling darkly as if daring me to disagree.

I was and nodded an affirmative, though even if weren't, I would still have said yes considering her scowl was scary enough to render me wide eyed and frozen. Imagine that, me, a slayer of vampires, rooted to the spot by a woman's scowl.

"Good!" She chirped brightly. "I've been looking all over the Northlands for you. I've got a very important message for you."

I looked at her somewhat skeptically. It wasn't everyday someone so beautiful and so well endowed came looking for you through the Northlands just to deliver a message. "Really?"

"Yeah! Of course, I got it right here," she told me as she took off a pack that was previously hidden by the cloak. She fumbled around it for a few moments before looking at me, laughing sheepishly while scratching her head. "Heh, I must've left it at the inn..."

I glared at her in mild annoyance. "Did you now?"

"Yeah! I did, just come with me. I must've left it in my saddlebag back at the inn," she explained to me.

I'm not sure why I trusted her, but I did. Perhaps it was her cheerful nature, or perhaps I was lonely enough to seek company with a woman who claimed to have an important message for me.

I browsed through the vampire's things, finding nothing of value but a few coins - which Misato promptly snatched out of my hands claiming it was her kill - and followed Misato as she walked out of the small clearing we were in and into the forest, towards the direction of the village.

It was late at night by now, a sliver of the moon shone above the treetops, casting its silvery sheen upon the trees. Stars hung beside the moon, twinkling in the backdrop of the sky as they winked in and out. A few clouds loitered here and there, but the night was clear for the most part. I could hear the sounds of nightlife around me, their noise mingling with the rustling of leaves.

Misato skillfully picked her way through the woods, following a faint trail - the same one I had used earlier - and humming merrily along the way. It was pleasant. She had a nice humming voice. Her song was simple but melodic and I felt myself almost hypnotized by it. It reminded me of my mother, who would hum songs to my sister and I as we lay down to sleep.

Nothing assaulted us for which I was glad, I was pretty tired considering I had been out since nightfall hunting the few vampires that I knew were haunting this particular part of the woods.

We made good time through the woods, taking only about three quarters of an hour to leave the wooded area behind us and into an expanse of rolling hills and grasslands. The village sat not ten minutes away from us on top of a particularly tall hill.

We entered the village soon after, the guards not even batting an eyelash at our arrival. It seems as if they both knew our faces. Most of the village was asleep now and Misato led me to the only inn - which also served as a bar - in the small village.

The inn was mostly empty, save for a few unconscious drunks littered about the tables, and I assumed we would be going straight to her room, but Misato instead went right up to the counter, ordering in a loud voice for a mug of beer.

I grabbed the stool beside her, annoyed at her behavior. There were more important things than beer.

She took a swig and sighed in contentment. She looked at me out of the corner of her eye, her eyebrow raised in confusion. "You don't drink?"

"The message?"

Her face scrunched up as she tried to remember what I was talking about. "Oh!" She said in realization. "That message! Don't worry about it, it ain't going nowhere. Tonight, we celebrate!"

"For what?" I asked, annoyed at her immaturity.

"For the start of this friendship of course!" She told me as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. She then proceeded to put me in a headlock and force-fed me her beer, though most of it spilled out of the mug rather than go into my mouth.

I spluttered, almost choking on the substance while I wormed my way out of her grasp. Misato didn't seem to care though, as she ordered another beer and downed half of it in one breath.

Finishing the rest of the beer, she ordered another and turned to me. "So Shinji, you're nineteen right?"

I nodded, not sure where this was going.

She downed part of her beer, leaning closer to me. "Got a girlfriend?" She inquired, her alcohol breath filling my nostrils.

My eyes widened as I looked at her in surprise. "Are you hitting on me?!"

She smiled somewhat drunkenly. "Maaaaaaybe I am..."

"You're very immature," I told her. "And you're way too old for me."

Her face took on a pout and she grabbed my left cheek, pulling at the flesh. "You're not as cute as I thought you were..."

A faint blush appeared on my face at the comment. "Maybe you should show me the message." I told her.

By now, she was on her sixth beer and was thoroughly drunk. "Huh? A meshage?" She slurred and I sighed in exasperation. "Oh yesh... a meshage... veeeery important meshage..."

The bartender looked at me in sympathy as I resisted the urge to bang my head on the counter. "Very strong beer," he said to me; I had guessed as much.

I sighed as Misato's head hit the counter, fast asleep and snoring. I sighed again and looked to the bartender. "Up the stairs, third door on the left and your room is still available," he told me and I nodded my thanks, leaving some coins on the counter, paying for Misato's alcohol and my room.

I managed to get Misato out of her seat, draping one of her arms around my shoulders and practically dragging her up the stairs. She was heavier than I thought she was, and I attributed that to her obviously large assets.

As I half-carried her up the stairs, I tried my best to ignore the soft round thing bumping against my side at regular intervals. It was hard of course, but I managed somehow. Opening the door though, was another matter. I fumbled around Misato's pouches with my left hand for a key and managed to find the right one without much ado. I slipped the small bronze key into the keyhole and opened the door, dragging Misato in afterwards.

The room was dark and bare; a bed, a table, a chair and a few wooden hooks lined the walls, obviously for coats and such. I spotted her saddlebag under the table, the one she said held my message.

I managed to dump her onto the bed and was about to walk out of the room when I realized she still had all her weapons and such still on her person. I groaned as I walked back towards her. Sometimes I hated being a polite person.

Methodically I relieved her of all her weapons and pouches, putting them on the small wooden table and then unfastened her cloak. Unfortunately she chose at this time to wake up.

"Mmm, Shinji, takin' 'vantage ofsh me?" She asked me teasingly, still drunk.

I drew back in a hurry, blushing and muttering apologies even though I wasn't trying to take advantage of her.

She laughed and grabbed me, hugging me to her. "I dun mind atsh all," she whispered seductively.

I tried to say something, though it came out as a muffled yelp considering my face was pressed into her bosom. I flailed my arms around and managed to get her to let go of me. "Misato!" I said in a tone that parents use on kids.

She pouted, sticking out her lower lip. "Yoush no fun." I glared at her. "Meshage... I have meshage for Shinji..." she mumbled, rolling over onto her side in semi-consciousness.

I rolled my eyes at her antics, carefully taking off her cloak as not to wake her. I spotted some blankets at one end of her bed and carefully draped those over her. I hung her cloak on one of the hooks and thought about looking in her saddlebag, but decided not to.

I left her room and closed the door, and walked to mine, opening the door and slipping into the room - which was just as bare and dark as hers - and locked it. I took off my pack and threw it onto the chair, glad to be relieved of the thing. Instead of taking off every little thing I had on my belt, I simply undid the belt and hung it on the chair's back. I undid my cloak and threw it onto the table. I relieved myself of all hidden stakes and all daggers but one.

I learned the hard way that it was good to have some sort of weapon on you at all times.

I plopped onto the bed, glad to be able to finally relax after my excursion into the woods. I let out a breath and closed my eyes, willing myself to sleep.

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Morning came all too quickly for me, the sunlight spilling into my room, waking me up. I groaned in annoyance, turning over in my bed and tried to get back to sleep again. I would have succeeded too if a stupid bird didn't decide to start chirping.

I let out a sigh and climbed out of the bed, methodically putting on all my things and grabbing my pack before heading out of the room.

The common room downstairs was still pretty much empty but one sight caught my eye. It was Misato, chugging down a giant mug of beer. I groaned sleepily at her behavior and the bartender looked over at me, offering a sympathetic shrug.

I sat down beside her just as she finished. She let out an ear-splitting cry that nearly scared me out of my chair.

"There's nothing better than beer in the morning to get you awake!" She told me happily as she slammed the mug down onto the counter.

"C'mon! We're leaving," she told me, dragging me out of the inn and to the stable next door.

I was still half asleep then and had no idea what was going on until I was ten minutes away from the village, riding hard southeast on my chestnut colored horse, following Misato on her black mare.

I blinked a couple times, my head catching up with the past few minutes. "Huh?" I muttered dumbly. "Misato!" I yelled at her.

"What is it Shinji?" She yelled back at me.

"What the hell are we doing?"

"We're riding horses!" She told me smartly.

"I know that! But where are we going, and why am I coming along with you?"

"Huh?" I couldn't see her face, but I knew it probably had a confused look on it right now. "What are you talking about, didn't you read the message?"

"You never showed me!"

"You sure?" She asked skeptically.

"Of course I'm sure!"

"Oh..."

"Well, who's it from?"

If I had known beforehand what she was going to say, I never would have asked.

"It's from your father!"

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A/N: Hn, well, I got my first flame, but I'm not going to bother to reply. Well, I wasn't sure if Bakaman's was also a flame or not...

Those of you wanting to see Gendo die will just have to wait. Asuka and Shinji? Maybe, most likely no because I want Shinji to be with Rei before the end.

It's a little light right now, instead of having a darker theme, but it's supposed to be. If you watched the anime, I know at the beginning it was sort of light, but as it got into Asuka mind rape part, it got darker and darker. This fic'll be sort of similar to that.

Till next time.

Pre-read by lawless priest and DarkBlade the Damned. Thanks a lot!