The docks were like the chapel of the Brethren…not inside Nakhodka itself, but close enough to say that they were part of the township. The path that led there was dirt-packed and well-trod, as much of the Brethren's supplies came from waterborne craft. It was just easier than carrying it overland, even with horses or gas-powered vehicles. And while the chapel complex was self-sufficient, there were some things they just needed that couldn't be replicated there.

At the head of the dock was a tree, a small and said thing with just enough height to provide a man shade if he drooped a bit. It was a good tree to sit under, and Shinji had spent many a day using it as a place to think and ponder…and to gaze back towards Japan, waiting for his path to catch up to him. Wondering if his past there would do the same…and somehow knowing it would, all the same.

"So this is what you plan to do? Sit here all day and just…wait." Grigory shook his head, sighing.

"If you don't like it, you don't have to follow me," Shinji mumbled.

"Of course I do. Who else would there be to tell you how foolish you're acting? Stop meeting her until you meet her." Shinji scrunched his nose in confusion at that, and then understood. Don't pick the scab until you actually have a cut. And don't play out the future until it's here. Foresight had made him lazy, and Shinji was paying the price for that…uncertainty and nerves. Small price to pay.

Grigory sidled down against the tree, and drifted into sleep. In time, three Brothers passed by to the dock, nodding greetings as they carried tools. They were there to do maintenance work on the dock, and would probably be there whenever Semyan arrived. He watched as they began their work, feeling himself drawn into a sense of calm at their purpose and focus. The calm broke as something seemed to draw his eye up, to where red ocean met blue sky.

"Hmm," Shinji murmured, Grigory stirring awake, "There they are." On the horizon, barely a speck, was a boat…a boat that had arrived with his Seeing it, blank and denied to him. If he hadn't Seen it, it must be the Rusalka, which meant Semyan was on his way back with precious cargo. He wasn't supposed to have that cargo, but Semyan was Semyan. He did as he willed. It was why he had sent him to deliver his message. Out of all the Brethren whom Shinji could call friends, he was the only with with a possible chance of succeeding in turning the girls back. His wily nature was his main advantage in that. Still…Shinji knew that he would be standing on this dock, watching the boat pull in with his past.

Though it took many hours for the Rusalka to make the distance, Shinji stood under the tree, unwilling to move. Grigory watched idly, and the Brothers on the dock continued their work, pausing only to make note of the boat before continuing on with their maintenance. Soon, the boat was close enough to make out the man on the bridge…and a glimmer of red and blue on the forecastle, the unmistakable frames of women.

Asuka. And the girl who claimed to be Rei. He felt a lump in his throat, and fidgeted for a moment. Dive into it. Don't run, just go. You've wanted this, you want it now, and to run is to deny yourself again…and you just can't do that. He didn't have the ability anymore.

The boat drifted up to the dock, the Brothers abandoning their maintenance to help pull the boat in. As it closed with the dock, Asuka hopped down onto the wooden planks, and Shinji got his first real sight of her, beyond dreams.

She was shorter, now…then again, he was actually taller. He had reached Gendo's height not too long ago, and Asuka was at least a head shorter than him. She seemed stockier, too, but not large. It was more…lithe. Her muscles were fluid, and trim. It looked like a fighter's frame, but leaned more towards a dancer's as well. It was, undeniably, Asuka…

Her hair was shorter, too. Starting to gain some length, again, but it was much shorter than he remembered it. And her face seemed…drawn. It was because she was older. She was older than he remembered, of course. He was older, too…but it struck you when those you knew aged without your being aware of it. She was no longer a girl, she was a woman. She had grown into a woman in the time he had been gone.

She was, to him, the most desirable woman on the face of the earth.

Next to her, walked an image, a ghost…unreal, in a way. He saw Rei frequently, of course, in his dreams of the old days. The bad times…and some of the good ones, too. This pixie that stepped onto the dock was not from his dreams, however. Semyan had said something, and she turned to laugh. It was a beautiful sound, and it moved him, with a sense of both longing and great unease. He had never heard Rei laugh…not once. Who was this…girl who took the shape of his friend, but was so unlike her? He had desperately wanted to see Rei as she was on that dock, free and happy and unburdened. Now that he did…it made his skin crawl, slightly.

Be careful what you wish for, he told himself, and shifted. It was unfair to have that opinion of the girl without meeting her. Withhold your judgment…float along a bit. Let things play out…the answers will come in time.

In time.

He stepped down to the dock, as she began to walk forward. She was purposely studying the Brothers, who had noticeably halted their work to watch the meeting. They detected the fundamental profoundness of what was happening, and their human interest overwhelmed them too much. They had to watch. To gawk.

She took light steps, closer…closer…she was in front of him, and her eyes were closed. She took a deep breath, and he could see it, see all the turmoil he himself felt, roiling through her. This was the moment…the moment that had been eight years in the making. She turned her head towards him, and opened her eyes, finally. He could see that familiar red and blue, and his mouth went dry. She stared at his feet, and slowly brought her gaze up. He felt a thrill of heat move through him as the eyes rose, until they were on his face. On his own eyes…

Wonder. Hope. Anticipation…all reflected in her eyes. Her perfect eyes.

"Hello, Asuka," he said quietly. Her face trembled, and a shy smile crossed her lips.

Then she punched him.

It was a clean left hook, one that connected sweet and sure against his jaw. His head whipped to the side, and he spun with the motion, falling to his knees and already tasting blood. His vision went gray for just a moment, and then he felt something heavy land on his back, and hands pulling at his hair.

"Eight…frigging…years!" she screamed as he tumbled forward under her weight. The Brothers stared, unsure of what to do. Grigory blinked in surprise, Rei had covered her mouth with her hands, and Semyan was laughing. Of course Semyan was laughing, Semyan would be laughing.

Shinji scrambled forward, squirming under Asuka and trying to face her as she tried to choke him. "Eight years! Eight years of being alone! Of wondering if you were dead or hurt or captured by some lunatic! Did I mention I met a lunatic? And that he killed me while I was coming up here? All to find you, you useless, idiotic, unthinking, selfish jackass! Eight years! EIGHT…YEARS!" She had given up trying to choke him, and was now trying to bash his head against the ground. "I go through Hell to get to you after getting a RUMOR you might need help, and I get some Russian ex-con telling me to go home, because you didn't want to see me! What do you think I'm supposed to do with that? Tell me, you blithering idiot! Tell me right now!"

"I…would…if you…would stop choking me!" he gasped, working his hands under her fingers. She had returned to tightening her grip on his windpipe during her rant, and his eyes were watering.

"After everything was right, after we had figured it out, you had to leave!" she continued. "You had to leave, and we…were…" Her grip relaxed. For a moment, her head drooped, and then she curled her fingers through his shirt front, hauling him roughly up to her face. There was no more anger there. Only hurt, so deep that it could have made Shinji bleed. The years of hurt and loneliness, the stress of the journey…all there. It had all been clamped down, and with his little half-smile and "Hello, Asuka," he had torn the sutures off, and she was going to work through every raw, painful emotion she had denied herself in his absence.

"We had it, you idiot. We had it after everything. After everything was stacked against us, we…had it. And you left. You left, and I don't know why! Was it me? Were you unhappy with me?" She was acting like a blubbering child now, but she didn't care. She didn't care how silly or undignified or even how needy she looked. She had him. Right here. All the questions, all the doubts, all the fears she had locked away were forcing themselves into the light, and she wanted explanation. Vindication. Anything to explain it, anything to tell her what the point was.

She just wanted those eight years back.

Shinji looked into her eyes, swallowing blood from the cut in his cheek. He did want to tell her, but not here. He didn't know how to say that, and all he could do was lay a hand against her cheek. She closed her eyes, shuddering, and then calming. She was exhausted. He himself had the temptation to give in and weep alongside her, but he had been grappling with his demons for a bit longer than Asuka had. What's more, he was the cause of her own misery. Again.

If he had been brought face to face with the thing that had hurt him most, would he behave with more dignity? He already knew the answer: he would have less. Because in spite of the embarrassment, the sheer loss of face and pride, Asuka had faced her pain. Shinji had run. He always ran.

She nuzzled into the hand, and opened her eyes. "I'm just…so happy to see you," she choked, her eyes still drizzling tears but her mouth quirking in a smile. It might seem that Shinji would survive this performance after all. "I'm sorry I almost broke your jaw."

"I'm sorry I left for eight years," he said.

"Apology not accepted, but I won't stay mad," she sniffed. He laughed, as Grigory turned and shooed the three other Brothers away. Asuka released Shinji's shirt front, dragging him into a tight embrace that had the equal threat of choking him. He didn't care. Her smell filled his nostrils, and her warmth filled his arms. He had missed her. He had convinced himself it was better to be apart, but he was wrong. "God, I hate crying," she mumbled. He laughed, despite himself, and she laughed, too.

He had missed her.

Rei watched her two friends laughing in a heap, after that…spectacle. After seeing Asuka practically burn her way up Japan, just to collapse into such antics…it was surreal in the truest sense of the word. She shook her head, and turned to Semyan. "Okay, this is getting weird."

"Adults are weird," he muttered. "I would know. I am-"

"A priest and fisherman, of course," Rei said, rolling her eyes. He snorted derisively at her, but smiled in amusement when she wasn't looking. The both of them were ignored by the two giddy adults at the end of the dock.

Notes from GobHobblin: Really now, what did you expect Asuka to do…