Disclaimer: I don't own Eva or anything like that. I do own my own created characters though, but why you would want them…eh, I don't even wanna think about it; nasty. Also, extreme thanks to Jabberwok for ridin' through my BS for so long. Kudos man.
--
Silence. That's all Shinji could hear at the moment - not the rumble of the train. Not the chattering of nearby passengers, nothing. The world flew past him outside the train, taking them to the station nearest to HQ. It was almost time for their harmonics tests, but that was the last thing on their mind. They…Shinji looked over to Asuka sitting not far from him, searching her features, lost in thought, for some sign of how she was feeling. Noting the third's gaze upon her, Asuka looked up to Shinji, raising a brow.
"What is it? Are you staring at me again you pervert?" A quick movement of her wrist and arm, and she flicked her hair back, folding her arms over her chest. Shinji quickly looked straight ahead, not apologizing, surprisingly…enough so that Asuka's attitude and posture were broken as she listened to what the boy was saying.
"Asuka…you saw her to, right? Rei?" Shinji placed his hands together, fingers nervously intertwining together as he conversed with the red-haired girl at his side.
"What? You wanted to bother me with crap about Wonder Girl? I saw her, so what?" Asuka huffed and leaned back against the seat, looking in the opposite direction of Shinji, finding the door to the next car of the train suddenly very interesting.
"She's not supposed to…I mean, I didn't think she'd be here…did you?" Shinji's fingers twiddled endlessly, moving over one another slowly.
"I don't care…why are you talking to me about stupid Wonder Girl?" Asuka narrowed her eyes, glaring at the door, seeing the image of Rei in her mind's eye. "I hate her."
Shinji's index fingers stopped their twiddling, breaking out of the interwove digits. "But…it is nice that she's back, isn't it? I didn't expect to see her -" Shinji was cut off by Asuka, who now turned to face the young boy, grabbing him by the nape of the neck.
"Rei, Rei, Rei! Is that all you can talk about? That's all you've been talking about since lunch!" She gave him a light shove and released his neck, growling and looking straight ahead, ignoring the stares the two got. "I don't care about her." She clenched her teeth as she fell silent, with only her thoughts. 'I wish she hadn't come back…because of her…' she glanced over to Shinji for a moment, then briskly turned her attention elsewhere.
--
A long, deep sigh escaped the lips of the black-haired young man as he stared at the ceiling, his hands resting behind his head. It wouldn't be long now before the synchro tests began. Yuu'd performed plenty of these before, but something was a little different this time around. Was it the addition of the Second and Third Child? He sat upright and looked towards his bedroom door, before moving off of his bed and walking slowly towards said door, pushing it open carefully and looking out into the hallway. "Nerv headquarters…it's rather depressing, don't you think?" He spoke, to no one in particular, an oddity of his.
Shutting the door behind him, Yuu began to walk slowly down the hallway, his eyes scanning the area. "Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever seen a single bit of greenery in this place." Yuu stopped at an intersection of hallways, looking down to his right. For just a brief moment, he could of swore he saw someone at the other end of the hallway. "Who was…" Letting the words trail off, he started down the hallway, cautiously.
For a time, it was like a game of cat and mouse for Yuu. He would round a corner and see just a glimpse of the figure. It was like whatever it was, was taunting him to keep following, but it would always be out of reach. Grumbling, the young man let curiosity get the best of him and started into a jog, pursuing the object of his curiosity slightly faster now. He rounded the corner, finally believing he'd get a glimpse of whatever it was he was chasing, and -
"Woah!" Yuu skidded to a stop, falling backwards and onto his backside, letting out a groan as he rubbed his now sore backside. "Arg…curiosity really killed the cat…hm?" He looked up, the person he had been chasing was standing before him now, looking down upon him. "Oh, Ayanami-chan…I see."
Yuu stood up slowly, watching her carefully. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in your room?" Rei stared for a moment at Yuu, before returning the gesture.
"What about you? Should you not be in your room as well?" Yuu cringed slightly at her words, chuckling as she pointed out the obvious fact that he was doing the same thing. "Oh, well, I…um…" He scratched his chin for a moment, looking aside before returning his eyes to Rei.
"Well, you see…I don't' really like my room. It's bland and empty…I wanted to look around to see if there was even one potted plant or something around here…I don't even have a window in my room for crying out loud."
Rei stared in silence as Yuu spoke, listening. "I do not have a window either. At least, not in my room here at headquarters." Yuu raised a brow, somewhat shocked as Rei began to walk back towards her room, turning to keep up with her. "You have a room outside of headquarters? Aah. I'm jealous."
"Why is that?" Rei queried, keeping her gaze forward, while Yuu kept his on Rei. "Well, you have a place outside! Trees, sunlight, people, all the things I like." Rei kept silent, only once did she cast a glance over to Yuu. 'Things I like..?' She thought for a moment, what was it that she liked? Was there anything she had that she wanted of her own accord? Or did she only have that which was given to her? "I do not like my room."
Yuu stared at her for a moment, somewhat confused. She didn't like her room? Was this the same Rei Ayanami he met before? He knew full well of the capability of cloning Rei, but he also knew that they no longer possessed Lilith. Cloning Rei was currently impossible. So this must be the same Rei. "You don't like your room?"
"I dislike things that are fake." Yuu pondered what this could mean for a moment, watching as Rei stopped, seemingly in thought. 'Then you're a toy, just like I thought! You're an unthinking, emotionless doll!' Rei looked to Yuu, then stared walking forward again, leaving the puzzled boy to stagger behind her, trying to keep up with her brisk pace. 'I am not a doll'
"H-hey, wait!" Yuu tried to keep up with her, managing to get to her side and keep along with her. "Things that are fake? What do you mean by that?"
"Things that are not real. My room is not real." Yuu stopped for a moment, staring at his feet as Rei wandered off ahead of him, lost in his own thoughts now. 'Her room isn't real? What is she talking about? Doesn't she still stay at that apartment?' He looked up, watching Rei disappear down another corridor, his eyes softening slightly as she vanished from view.
"Ayanmi…Rei…what will you do to remedy that I wonder?" His eyes shifted from soft to serious as he placed his hands in his pockets, shaking his head. "It seems…I have some work to do, then." From his pockets, he retrieved a small slip of paper, reading over it carefully. "Yuu - Spend some time with Rei. It will do you well." A slight came from the boy as he shoved the paper back into his pocket, looking off to the side. "What's in your head, Sempai?"
--
"You remember the procedure, right Maya-chan?" Satoru queried, his hands resting in his pockets as he watched the young doctor. Maya stood a few inches taller now, and her hair had grown to her shoulders, being tied back behind her head for the time being. It seemed as if for Maya, more than just three months had passed. Of course, this was attributed to a bit of a bout of depression in being unable to see Ritsuko anymore - the two lost contact after the attack on NERV. Since, she'd stopped caring for her hair and appearance as much as before. Currently, she wore the same kind of white lab coat that her predecessor would wear, perhaps out of respect or simply necessity. "Yes, commander. Don't worry, I can handle it."
Satoru donned his usual smirk and turned away from Maya, waving his hand. "See that you do. I'm going to wake Yuu - Katsuragi and the others should arrive soon. Why don't you go greet them?" Maya stared for a moment as Satoru started to walk away, taking a few steps after him. "Commander, what about Rei?"
Satoru stopped, placing a hand on his chin for a moment before turning with a slightly abashed smile. "Could you maybe wake her for me, Maya-chan? I've never really bonded much with Rei, she seems to dislike me." Maya frowned, walking past him now. "Commander…alright. I'll take care of it, but don't forget I have work to do as well. I can't prepare the tests if I'm busy waking up Rei." Laughing Satoru nodded, waving his hand once more.
"I got ya, Maya-chan. By the way, could you analyze the old data on the MP Evangelion? I have a feeling SEELE will send those our way at some point or another. So I want to -" He stopped, staring at Maya, who was now grinding a varied assortment of sharp, pointy objects into him with her eyes. The nervous expression returned to his face as he turned away. "Scaary…I'll take care of the data on the Evangelion then." Maya raised the clipboard in her hand and lightly tapped it against Satoru's head, walking past him.
"I'll go wake Rei then. Try not to overwork me, Satoru-kun." Satoru smiled, a playful one rather than embarrassed for once as she walked away.
--
Shinji, Asuka, and Misato stood on the slowly moving platform that was taking them ever deeper into the earth - into NERV. For the second time this week, the trio let the familiarity of their surroundings soak into their very being. Misato, apprehensive for the safety of the children, knowing full well that being in this place could very well lead to nothing more than suffering. Asuka, who saw the return of the Evangelion as a chance for her to shine once again, to claim her rightful place at the top once more after her insufferable defeat at the hands of one Shinji Ikari.
Finally, Shinji - who had a myriad of thoughts running through his mind - all of them, questions asking why, save for one thought: 'No more running away…I mustn't run away…' Satoru's words flashed into his mind. 'Running away are you? I don't have time to waste on children.' Shinji clenched his fist and gritted his teeth, for the first time in a long time, he felt the desire for challenge well up in his chest. 'I'm not a child anymore.' His eyes drifted to Asuka for a moment, before he looked away, briskly. Asuka, having felt the boy's gaze on her, turned around to look at him.
"What's wrong, Shinji? Scared to get back into the Eva?" Shinji looked to Asuka for a moment, the bitter high he'd been on after thinking about Satoru's words seeping through into his own. "I'm not scared! I'm more than willing to pilot Eva!" Asuka was slightly taken aback at this, but nevertheless saw it as Shinji challenging her, and took a step towards him.
"Oh yeah? Prove it, then! We'll see who's better when the tests start!" Shinji returned Asuka's now silent glare, standing with balled fists as the two squared off. Misato, fed up with this behavior, turned around and placed her hands on their shoulders, pulling them slightly apart.
"Knock it off! Both of you! This isn't the time for stuff like that! If you want to succeed then you have to learn to work together!" She released them and looked towards the floor indicator, as they grew closer and closer to their intended destination. "Don't forget when you two practiced to fight the Seventh Angel. That teamwork is still crucial, got it?" Asuka and Shinji huffed, ironically at the same time, their actions mirroring one another. Misato sighed, looking ahead once more. 'At least their actions are still together…'
The elevator gave it's signature ring as the doors opened, and the trio was greeted by a familiar yet unfamiliar face. It was the face of a woman they had seen before, yet, it was markedly different. Indeed, it elicited a shock from the group, causing them to stare with mouths agape and eyes wide as Maya greeted them.
"Ah, hello, Misato-chan. And to you two as well, Shinji-kun, Asuka-chan." Maya didn't miss a beat with the two of them reacting in such a way, turning slightly to allow them off of the elevator. "Please, come this way and we'll get straight to the test." She stopped, as if finally realizing they were in a state of shock. "What's wrong?"
"You…you've changed, Maya-chan." Misato began, looking over her new apperance. Maya chuckled at that, brushing stray strands of hair from her face. "Yeah, I have…but we'll have more time for catching up later - Right now, we're on a bit of a strict time schedule." Shinji looked to Maya for a moment, before nodding in silent compliance.
--
Shinji stepped into the locker room, the silhouette screen dividing the room in half as usual. On the other side, Asuka arrived at the same time, and both children were greeted by their two fellow pilots. Shinji and Yuu, and Asuka and Rei. Conversation on the ladies' side of the screen was nonexistent, as the two girl separated themselves from each other and dressed silently. Shinji, however, spotted Yuu, who was busy changing out of his clothes. Quickly, the boy looked away, though the motion attracted the attention of Yuu, who turned his head to look at Shinji, standing off to his left.
"Oh, Shinji-kun. I'll be finished here, shortly. You should be getting ready, too, you know." Yuu turned his attention once more to the plug suit lying before him, picking it up and holding it in his hands for a moment, studying it. Silver body, with gold on the back, forearms, and outside of the thighs as well as the shins. Shinji, who had looked for a place for his eyes to rest aside from Yuu, spotted his own plug suit and noted that the silver that normally adorned only the chest, was now in the same places as on Yuu's armor - the back, shins, and the like. "What? What's this?" The female shout from the other side of the divider confirmed Shinji's beliefs.
"What?! What have they done to my beautiful red plug suit?" Indeed, Asuka's plug suit now had reddish-orange additions in the same places, as did Rei's though the color was identical to that of Yuu's. Yuu, overhearing Asuka and Shinji's surprise looked toward Asuka's silhouette, chuckling.
"It's Senpai's idea. He thought that the plug suits needed a bit more protection from wear and tear, and in actual combat situations, so he added some extra armor to them." Asuka grumbled, muttering complaints under her breath.
"He treats us like we're babies…" She cast her eyes over to Rei, who dressed in silence, though she made a relatively odd gesture, one Asuka hadn't seen her make before. Her fingers traced lightly over the gold additions to the plug suit, and after a long moment, trace of a smile crept to her lips. Asuka couldn't hide her shock, so she turned to face Rei, smirking. "Oh? What's this? Is that a smile I see on your face there, Wonder Girl?"
At that, Rei turned away from Asuka, here eyes still resting on the plug suit, particularly the golden color of the new armor. After a time, she spoke, softly as she normally did. "I do not know what you're talking about."
Shinji, who had idly been listening in on the girls conversation for a time, turned his attention again to Yuu, finding an oddity about the boy he'd never paid close attention to before. There were scar marks along his left shoulder blade, circling around his shoulder across his ribs and collar bone, dividing his shoulder and arm from the rest of his body. Now paying closer attention to the detail, he was able to see just exactly what part of his skin tones were different. There was also a long scar down the front of his chest, passing over his sternum and left set of ribs.
Catching Shinji staring, Yuu shifted his weight onto one leg and chuckled. "Do the scars disturb you, Shinji-kun?" He asked, tapping his own left shoulder lightly. Shinji, blushing slightly in embarrassment of being caught, looked away. "N-no, it's not that…" Yuu chuckled once more, returning his focus to donning the plug suit.
"How…did you get the scars? And your arm -" He let his words trail off as he looked back over to Yuu, who shrugged his shoulders as if the question was just a passing thought.
"The one over my chest is a surgery scar. Nothing really major, just part of some early complications in life. After all, I was born a few months before second impact." Shinji seemed surprised at this, but didn't bother to make any statements on the matter - he'd never met anyone close to his age who had been alive before Second Impact. Of course, he doubted Yuu would be able to remember anything, having been so young. He was snapped to reality when Yuu continued, albeit it a brief continuation.
"And my arm…well, that's something for another time." Yuu pressed the button on his plug suit, causing it to fit itself to his body snugly. Turning to Shinji, he smiled briefly. "Well, then. You should get ready so we can get going. See you, Shinji-kun." He waved for a moment, then turned to enter the testing area, leaving Shinji to stare at his own plug suit in silence.
--
"Lower the plug depth. I want to check these results against their last recorded synch-ratios." His voice as calm as ever, Satoru sat at a desk inside the box overlooking the simulation entry-plugs. His fingers danced along a keyboard, pulling up various old records of the three prior pilots, as well as more recent records for Yuu. Not far from his desk, Misato stared through the observation window to the four plugs. A multitude of thoughts ran through the young woman's mind, and not a single one of them didn't have something to do with Evangelion or Nerv. Prying herself away from the glass, she turned towards Satoru at his desk, folding her arms over her waist and attempted to speak to him, but was interrupted by Maya nearby.
"Is that really wise, Commander? It's his first time in that kind of a simulation plug. Aren't you pushing him a little too far?" Maya looked up for a moment from her clipboard to speak directly to Satoru, eying the young man carefully. "There's no such thing as too much. Yuu can handle it." Satoru's brow twitched for a moment as a series of beeps came from the terminal nearby, signifying that the pilot's synch ratio was beginning to decline. "Hm…maybe it was too much. Fine, bring it back up." A slight scowl crawled onto Misato's face as she heard the words Satoru spoke, and she finally spoke up, seizing her chance.
"I had a few questions I wanted to ask you, Commander." Misato asked, a bit cynicism in her voice as she did so. Satoru, his eyes shifting to look at her only briefly, gave a curt reply. "Shoot." Misato stepped cautiously towards the younger man, looking over his shoulder to the screen, a screen she'd seen hundreds of times before. The only difference was the addition of a fourth set of data…and that's exactly what concerned her.
"Unit 00 was completely obliterated, wasn't it?" She placed her hand on the back of his chair, turning it so that the man would have no way to avoid her by simply brushing off her comments as distracting from his work. "If that's the case, than what's the use of having four pilots if we only have three Eva?"
Satoru grumbled for a moment, the thought of how much he disliked explaining things to belligerent people. "True, we only have three Evangelion. However, there is something you must remember, Katsuragi." Satoru stood, slowly from his chair, causing Misato to step back away from him, though this motion allowed him the freedom to move, and thus freed him from her attempt at intimidating an answer out of him. Despite that, he delivered said answer to her. "Our enemy is SEELE. We are no longer fighting against the Angels, an unknown enemy with unknown potential." Idly adjusting the glasses upon his nose, he turned his head to face the simulation bay. "This time, we know who our enemy is, and more importantly, what they can do. This is no longer a fight for survival against said unknown enemy. This is a war against our fellow man. You could say that having more pilots than Evangelion is like having more soldiers than guns - guns can be picked up by anyone trained to use them, but soldiers have to be replaced."
Misato was taken aback at his callousness and stepped forward, reaching out to grab the collar of his shirt. This wasn't Ikari Gendou - this wasn't a man she had to fear. "These are children! They aren't trained soldiers! How can you treat them like they are!?" Satoru's hands clasped around her wrists, pulling her hands from his shirt. He pushed her back, gently, releasing her wrists as he spoke, his eyes narrowing behind the jet black lenses. Misato could still feel his gaze, despite not being able to see his eyes.
"Can you pilot the Eva? No one else can do it. Not you, not I, only them." Smoothing out the new wrinkles in his shirt, Satoru strode over to the window, placing his hand upon the glass. "Do not forget, Katsuragi, that these children also recognize that. And it was of their own free will that they came here." He scanned his eyes over each individual simulation plug, slowly beginning a list. "Asuka, the pride of being the best drives her to pilot the Evangelion to her fullest. Shinji, seeking the praise of others and validation of his existence. Rei, who knows nothing else. And Yuu…who simply wishes to protect all that he sees, or so he claims." Those last few words hung in Misato's mind for a moment. 'So he claims? What's that supposed to mean?' Donning his usual smirk, Satoru returned his attention to Misato, turning his back to the plugs. "Make no mistake, Katsuragi. I do not view these children as tools for war. I respect them, which is why I asked if they were willing to fight of their own accord. I was only making an analogy in the crudest sense."
"You're awfully well informed for someone who's just started out as the commander of NERV." Misato snapped, no longer gracing Satoru with her gaze, instead turning it to the bay that he had been looking at only moments before. "You have Kaji to thank for that, he is the one who recovered all the data on those children." Misato's brow twitched at the mention of the name. She'd suspected Kaji had a hand in this, though she'd rather he not given the information to someone like Satoru. "I suppose that if you look at it that way, it begins to make a bit more sense." Misato murmured, more to herself than to Satoru, who had now come up to her side.
"Katsuragi, don't think for a second that I'm lying when I say I care for these children. Their safety is top priority." One again, he adjusted the glasses upon his face, despite the fact that they did not need to be adjusted. It seemed to be just an odd quirk of his, one that was quickly starting to drive Misato up the wall.
"So then…how are their synch ratios doing?" Misato moved over to Maya, standing just behind her and reading the screen. "Hey…this is-" Maya briskly interrupted Misato, though not trying to interrupt to be rude, simply wishing to speak to make Misato understand.
"Yes - the synch ratios are paired up. I ran a few diagnostics checks and ran their ratios against each other. Through these methods, I was able to discern that Shinji's ratios rise and fall quite similar to Asuka's. Sometimes it's a direct relationship, where Shinji's will rise the same amount as Asuka's." A few beeps and rapid keystrokes, and a new set of data was displayed. "Other times it's inversely related - Shinji's will rise as much as Asuka's falls, or vice a versa."
Misato ran the thoughts through her mind, a question burning within it. "What about Rei? And Yuu?"
"They only have one kind of relationship. Never inverse, always direct. Almost exact, to be honest." Another set of keystrokes and the data was displayed. "We're thinking from now on, we'll run the harmonics tests on multiple days, using these pairs. But, I want to run a cross test, to see how well Yuu would do with Asuka or Shinji. I know how well the other three do." Misato stood upright, placing her hand on Maya's shoulder.
"Wow, Maya-chan. You've come a long way since we last met, it's like I'm looking at another Ritsuko." Maya's brow twitched at that, and her fingers stopped their typing for a moment, causing her to look off to the side, her gaze falling on Satoru. "Please, Misato-chan…don't mention her, okay?" Misato was confused at Maya's sudden change of attitude, following her gaze to Satoru.
"Yes…they've lost contact with each other… a falling out it seems…" He sighed, adjusting those classes, causing Misato to grit her teeth. "It happened around the same time Ritsuko disappeared …when we were in Fukuoka."
Misato slowly began to piece together what this had meant, and turned to face the man at her side briskly. "No…you don't possibly mean-!" Satoru shook his head, placing his hands in his pockets.
"We don't know what it means. All we know, is we can't find her. Not even Kaji was able to find a trace. So let's drop it for now, okay?" Satoru stepped towards Maya, placing a hand on her shoulder as he leaned down to speak so only she could hear him.
"Don't worry, Maya-chan. Kaji's doing what he can." Maya shook her head quietly, returning to her work as she did so. "Don't worry yourself, Satoru-kun. I've moved on from that…I've had to. Thank you, though…it is appreciated. Hm?" She paused, looking at the screen, a window popping up displaying the time and beeping. "Oh, Satoru-kun -" She stopped, looking up to the man.
"Yes, I know Maya-chan. It's time." He turned to Misato, smirking slightly. "Well, Misato, it's time for the next part of their training. They're going to have to learn to defend themselves. It is why I had them clear their schedules after all." Misato turned to him with a glare, her arms folded over her waist.
"And what do you intend to put them through now, commander?" This elicited a chuckle from Satoru, shaking his head slightly. "Physical training. Nothing to excessive, just some basic self defense courses and exercise. I want them to be able to handle themselves and get to a safe place should we be attacked."
--
"Physical training? What, like running and push up's and stuff?" Shinji queried, watching as Satoru stood in the briefing room, the projector down and the lights off, casting and eerie darkness over the room, despite there being a dull light coming from the projector itself. A brief nod came from Satoru, who took a seat in the front row beside Maya and Misato.
"Senpai…" Yuu began, leaning forward so that Satoru would be able to hear. "You know I'm not exactly fit for stuff like this…plus, I know a lot about this already." Satoru looked over his shoulder to the boy, flicking him lightly in the forehead. "Ah, stop. You're fit enough for it - we've already been through a few drills. Just sit and recap the basics." Yuu shrugged his shoulders and moved to the back row, taking a seat beside Rei, who was now in between Shinji and Yuu. Asuka say to Shinji's left, leaning forward to look to the end of the row to Yuu.
"What's the matter, rookie? Too scrawny to hold your own?" Yuu looked to Asuka with slightly narrowed eyes, smiling. "As a matter of fact, I can do it, just not for long. I'm physically weaker than someone my age and build should be, according to Doctor Ibuki. Probably because I'm a premature birth." Shinji looked surprised, turning to Yuu now.
"What? You were born premature?" Asuka, too, was slightly taken aback by this remark. "Shouldn't you be dead? You don't hear of many premature births surviving after Second Impact." Yuu shrugged his shoulders, brushing his hair back and out of his eyes.
"Maybe. I got a few transplants here and there…" He chuckled for a moment, unable to keep a straight face at those words, causing a bit of confusion between the two children listening. "So I was lucky…but, I still have to take medication now and again." Interrupting the conversation, a quiet voice spoke up between them.
"The movie is starting." Rei stated simply, staring at the screen. Shinji and Asuka both looked, while Yuu turned his attention to Rei. "Nothing really phases you, does it, Ayanami-chan?" Rei let her eyes drift over to Yuu slowly, before looking ahead once more.
"I already knew that information about you. I know much about you already." Yuu's brow twitched slightly, the idea of that not exactly comforting him any. "You know a lot, eh? Then…" he looked ahead, sitting upright in his chair and speaking in quiet whispers to her. "Keep it under wraps. A lot of that stuff is…I'd just rather it not be known, okay? A secret between us."
'A secret..?' Those words mulled over in Rei's mind for a moment, wondering if it really was a secret. Satoru knew about it, Kaji knew about it, Rei knew about it…but they knew everything anyway. "I will keep it a secret." Yuu was surprised by this, and he let that surprise stun him slightly, before smiling to her, looking over to Shinji now. "So, Shinji-kun…what's piloting an Evangelion really like?" Shinji seemed to snap back to reality, looking over to Yuu, before falling quiet.
"It's…something difficult to describe." Asuka butted in, hearing Shinji's apprehension in describing what she did best. "Oh come on, Shinji, it's not that hard to describe. It's like…well, when you get into a fight it's that adrenaline and…" It seemed that even Asuka had difficulty explaining it in words Yuu could understand, causing the boy to sit back in his seat and sigh, shrugging his shoulders.
"It is different for every pilot." Rei chimed in, offering a glare from Asuka and Shinji's approval. "Yeah, that's probably the best way to put it, like Ayanami-chan said." Yuu opened one eye, looking over to Rei for a moment, contemplating her words. 'I wonder…what it will be like for me?'
Satoru sighed, adjusting his glasses, letting Misato garner his attention for the time being. "They sure do like to chatter, don't they, Katsuragi-chan?" Misato, who could have ground coffee beans in her teeth, though not at Satoru's irritating habit, but at the children behind them, grumbled bitterly.
"They ought to be paying attention. Maybe we can throw them into a headlock or two and that will set 'em straight." Satoru laughed, though he tried to bury it in his arm as a chuckle, bringing Misato's ire upon him now. "You're no better, Satoru." Satoru raised a brow at this, looking over to Misato only until Maya spoke.
"She has a point. You're just as much as a trouble maker as Asuka." Satoru whined, slightly, the double-teaming onslaught of teasing, though one was serious and the other joking, somewhat much for him. "Hey, I am not…I just know how to have a good time." His brows perked as a slight beeping came from his watch, and he slowly stood up. "Excuse me, ladies…I have an appointment to keep." Misato looked up as Satoru started to leave, her thoughts and worries getting the best of her. 'Is he going to meet Kaji-kun?' Her thoughts were broken as Maya shifted a seat closer to her.
"Don't let him rub you the wrong way, Misato-chan. He's really not that bad, you just have to get to know him. He's got a dry sense of humor." Maya idly fiddled with her now long hair, watching Misato's reactions to her statement - a mixture of exasperation and understanding. "He's a lot like Kaji-kun…the bastard."
Maya seemed surprised at Misato's revelation, looking at her like the last horse that crossed the finish line. "You mean you don't know, Misato-chan?" Maya leaned over and whispered to the older woman, causing her to stand up and shout, interrupting the movie.
"What did you say?!"
--
Sunlight shined fiercely onto the small bus stop benches, a somewhat older, black haired man sat upon them, his face hidden behind a newspaper as he read in silence. The sound of birds chirping from a nearby wire and the crumple of paper echoed against the concrete and steel concoctions that made up the city of Tokyo-3. An occasional breeze would blow through, causing the wires to shake and the birds to fly away in an uproar. Slowly, a younger man made his way to the benches, a newspaper under his arm as he sat down opposite the older male, brushing his longer black hair out of his eyes and opening up his own paper, letting out a long sigh. A silence passed between the two, a breeze passed over them, before the younger man spoke.
"Nice day out, today, isn't it?" Satoru murmured, idly, not taking his eyes once off of the paper in his hands. The older gentleman said nothing for a time, turning the page. He finally spoke, however, addressing the male behind him.
"Isn't it a little dangerous to be meeting in public like this?" This time, it was the younger man's turn to be silent, mirroring his earlier actions of simply reading the paper. "How are things?"
"They're going along well…that being said…" Satoru lowered his paper slightly, turning his head to look over his shoulder to the older man. "You're a hard man to follow after…Ikari."
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Author's…uh…notes?: BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA coughhackweeze Ahem. S'cuse me.