A/N: Here is chapter seven of "Stranger in A Strange Land" and I will begin in the AU and try not to confuse you mixing the AU and canon universe too much.
Thanks to my pre-reader gunman
Disclaimer: I don't own Evangelion
As lunch rapidly approached, the kids finished their plan. The kids would leave class as normal then wait around the corner for Misato to leave to the bathroom like she did everyday. Hikari would follow her then kept her distracted long enough for the Kensuke to hack into her phone.
When the bell rang, it was time. The kids left and two minutes later Misato left.
"Okay Hikari, you're up." said Asuka.
"Why do I have to do this again?" asked the class rep, nervous about breaking the rules.
"Because you're innocent. If it was anybody else it'd look suspicious." answered the redhead and after a sigh the freckled girl was off.
The rest of the kids opened the door to classroom which was thankfully unlocked. Asuka went in first followed by Toji then Kensuke who headed over to Misato's jacket which she had left on her chair, then Mana and finally Rei who rolled into the classroom.
"What are you doing Ayanami?" asked Toji as the girl took a fighting stance and slowly moving around the classroom.
"I'm readying myself if we get attacked. Just call me James Bond!" declared the blue-haired girl as she jumped on Misato's desk.
"More like a girl who need a lot less sugar in her diet." laughed Kensuke.
"Get down from there Ayanami! Before you give us away!" demanded Asuka, "Mana, guard the door."
"Right." said Kirishima as she went to guard the door while Rei jumped down from the desk.
"Found it." said Aida as he found her phone and went to work hacking into the phone.
Meanwhile Misato had finished in the bathroom and Hikari knew she needed to buy time. While she didn't want to do it she knew exactly what to do.
"Miss Misato." said Hikari walking up to Misato while the teacher headed to the bathroom.
"Hello Hikari, what's up?" asked Misato.
"Well I just wanted to tell you there is an issue with classroom chores. This week the chalkboards were supposed to be cleaned by Shinji but..." began Hikari but couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence.
This made Misato pause. "I see. Who will take that over then?" asked Katsuragi.
"That's the problem. There is nobody else available." lied Hikari, though though part of her hated herself for doing so.
"That's not good. Keep talking and follow me, I want to get my food." said Misato as she headed to the classroom.
"Well..uh... Okay..." stammered Hikari knowing she was closed to being busted and freaking out at the idea of having her prefect record besmirched.
"Well we can figure something out. Ask somebody and if they can't then you might have to do it." replied Misato as she closed in on the classroom.
"Okay, I can do that." replied the class rep unable to think of a way to stall her teacher anymore.
"Great, now you better get going or you're miss lunch." said Misato who then opened the door while Hikari closed her eyes not wanting to look, "Is something wrong?" asked Misato and Hikari opened her eyes to find the classroom empty.
"No." answered Hikari who then bowed and left to find the others outside waiting for her.
"You could have told me you were gone." said Hikari upset.
"We'd have given ourselves away." replied Toji who was right for once.
"What did you find out?" asked the freckled girl.
"Her boyfriend met with with Dr. Akagi to try and dig up information on Shinji." began Kensuke, "Which is odd, Shinji's kind of an open book."
"He tried but she did give him much details." continued Mana.
"But she did tell him she had a theory and it was huge! The biggest discovery ever!" finished Rei as she jumped out of the tree was climbing on, startling Hikari.
"I told you not to do that Ayanami!" cried Hikari before calming down, "So that doesn't help."
"We're being kept in the dark and we're Shinji's friends. We have the right to know what is going on with your friend." snapped Toji upset.
"For once, I agree with this big idiot." said Asuka, "We need to find out what is going on with Shinji and if nobody else is going to tell us then we'll just have to find out ourselves."
The others nodded in agreement then the bell rang so they went back to the classroom.
At NERV, Fuyutsuki and Gendo were going over data gathered on Unit-01 while Yui and Naoko were still preforming tests. There visit to Shinji and seemed to cause him to come close to a mental breakdown so they were forced to stop with no new information so this was there only course of action for now.
"Any news on Shinji?" asked Yui while the two women ran over data collected from recent tests.
"I was going to ask the same thing since your daughter is his doctor." laughed Yui.
"I hope he gets well soon." replied Naoko but Yui didn't feel real sincerity in that. It was no secret to Yui that Naoko didn't like her so Yui watched her back not allowing Naoko the chance to stick a knife in it.
"Any new information?" asked Gendo as he and Fuyutsuki entered the lab.
"Unfortunately not." answered Naoko causing Yui to fight the urge to vomit.
"This machine is odd. It seems to contain material that seems otherworldly." said Yui.
"How bizarre. The more we dig into this the stranger it gets. I'm wondering if we'll ever reach the end of this puzzle." mused Fuyutsuki.
"If you keep talking like that then we never will." laughed Gendo.
"What we need to do is be certain SEELE doesn't try to steal this from us. God only knows what they would do with it." said Naoko.
"That's true the old men would have their first natural erections since Viagra was invented." laughed Fuyutsuki.
"Professor." giggled Yui and blanched at that.
"He's right, but what about Shinji" asked Yui worried, "SEELE might try to snatch him up."
"I doubt those old geezers could even go to the bathroom on there own." said Gendo but when he saw how concerned Yui still was he added, "We can always find people to protect him."
"Sir, we don't have a security team or the budget for one." reminded Naoko visibly upsetting Yui.
"We'll find a way honey, don't worry." said Gendo reassuringly.
"Thanks." said Yui feeling better as she kissed Gendo and could see Naoko vomiting in her mind.
In the canon universe school had ended and Asuka and Rei were headed to NERV for regular synch training and a routine checkup. Commander Ikari wouldn't let his own son's disappearance throw them off in case of an Angel attack and Rei knew for Instrumentality as well.
"Wondergirl, why did you help me at school?" asked Asuka breaking the silence that had hung over the duo like a specter. It was no secret the First Child and Second Child didn't get along so without Shinji to yell at Asuka had nothing to say and silence was Rei's nature. Despite this Rei had helped to shoo away Toji and Kensuke when they got to nosy.
"Mr. Suzuhara and Mr. Aida were digging into NERV business, which was undesirable." answered Rei.
"I could have handled it myself." retorted Asuka leading to another ten minutes of silence until Rei spoke up.
"Did the class representative question you about the Third Child?" asked Ayanami.
"She asked if I was being honest about Shinji and I told her it was NERV business so I couldn't say anything." answered Asuka.
"I understand." replied Rei, "Why did you ask me about the well being of Pilot Ikari before school today?"
"Well...I..." stammered Asuka who couldn't give up her facade, "I..just want him to get home quick so he can cook again. Misato has been cooking since he's been gone and I don't know how I'm not dead yet."
"I understand." replied Rei who was familiar about Misato's bad cooking. However, she also knew Asuka was lying but was unsure if she should call her out on it. Rei had never anticipated anything like this before.
The girls arrived at NERV and changed in silence then went into their Evas. The test began with an awkward silence that had hung around since the battle with the Twelfth Angel.
("Look girls I understand you must be worried about Shinji but you need to focus. You're scores are pitiful.") said Akagi over the radio to the two girls.
"I don't give a damn about that stupid baka!" yelled Asuka defensively.
("You don't sound it.") replied the blonde doctor.
"Says you." retorted Soryu.
"Asuka, can you focus please." said an exhausted Misato. She hadn't got much sleep since Shinji vanished.
"Look just because you miss molesting baka, doesn't mean everyone does!" snapped the redhead.
"Asuka you know I haven't done anything indecent with Shinji." replied the Major.
"He was with you before I arrived. You probably stopped only because I showed up!" retorted Asuka channeling her own jealousy.
"Pilot Soryu, I highly doubt Major Katsuragi would preform anything indecent with Pilot Ikari." interjected Rei, though she didn't know why.
"Shut it Wondergirl!" snapped Soryu.
"Alright." responded the blue-haired girl not really wanting to talk anymore anyway.
The test concluded shortly after with both girls scoring below average results then after the girls had their checkups. Asuka's was quick and quiet because she refused to talk to Akagi. Rei's however was different.
"Dr. Akagi, do you have an update Pilot Ikari?" asked Rei surprising the doctor.
"No." answered Akagi after quickly regaining her composer.
The tests lasted for several more silent and awkward minutes before finally ending. As she got dressed, Rei, saw Lt. Ibuki leave to insert Rei's data into the Magi. At this point the First Child couldn't wait anymore.
"Dr. Akagi, I overheard you mention Ikari is being held in a detainment cell to Commander Ikari. Is that accurate?" asked Rei stunning Akagi.
"Rei, you know it's not appropriate to eavesdrop." replied the doctor trying to stay calm.
"I understand Dr. Akagi and I am sorry but is the Third Child being detained?" asked the pilot.
"No, I said that he might need to be for disobeying the direct orders of Major Katsuragi. Insubordination cannot be tolerated." answered Akagi lying and though she knew, Rei decided not to call her out because she was certain Akagi would mention this to Commander Ikari.
"I understand." replied Rei and she left.
Akagi breathed a sigh of relief and lit up a cigarette wondering how much Rei knew. After a few minutes she put out her cigarette and headed to Commander Ikari's office. She found him at his desk in his trademark pose with Fuyutsuki standing next to him. She gave her the report with the usual report then after careful consideration mentioned what Rei had asked her.
"Commander, Rei apparently overheard our conversation about the Shinji being held in the detainment cell." informed Akagi.
"Is that so?" asked the Commander.
"Yes. She asked me if it was true." continued the faux blonde.
"What did you tell her?" asked Fuyutsuki.
"I lied and told her I said we might need to detain Shinji." answered Ritsuko.
"Does anybody else know of this?" asked the Sub-Commander.
"I can't tell but Rei waited until Maya had left so she must have know it was sensitive information." answered the doctor.
"I trained her well." said Gendo.
"What should we do, Commander?" asked Fuyutsuki.
"For the time being things will remain and I'll talk to Rei." said the older Ikari.
"Frankly, I think we need to be firm with her so she won't tell others." said Akagi.
"I'll deal with Rei the way I see fit." replied Gendo.
"You coddle her." mumbled Akagi as she left.
"What do you think?" asked Fuyutsuki after she had left.
"Like mother, like daughter." answered Gendo.
A/N: Well there's chapter seven and as for the last part I figured Ritsuko would have to know what happened to her mother and despite her disdain for her mother must have harbored some resentment. Anyway, I won't be getting back to this until mid-January but in the meantime I hope you all check out the next two stories I have coming out: A romance/hurt/comfort for Asuka's birthday entitled "Wounds can heal" and a Christmas story entitled "Spirit of the Season". Please review!
