AN: I know, I know. It's been a few months but unfortunately my little vacation didn't give me the inspiration that I wanted. Well anyway the typing of this chapter has been incredibly slow and painful, and it shows. I'm not gonna lie. I hate how this chapter turned out and I wish I could change it, but I'm too lazy to. However on the plus side, this chapter has finally given me not only my first fanfic to reach the forty thousand word market, but also the high status of being on one of the two pages of forty thousand word plus stories under the Asuka/Shinji romance section. Yay me!


Mitsumoto and Shizune considered themselves adequate teachers, while Mitsumoto was stern and strict, Shizune was lenient yet well composed though scary when pissed, thus creating a good combination between the two which was why they were chosen as the chaperones for the school trip. They were one of the few teachers who were allowed the choice of teaching what year of students they wanted, which meant they were able to follow their students through the years and get to know them very well.

It was well known that out of all the girls in her class, Shizune-sensei favored Asuka out of all the others, mainly for the young girls individuality and fiery spirit. The redhead was a born leader, as demonstrated when she singlehandedly convinced the student body as well as staff of the school to abolish the mandatory school uniform just last year. More often than not Asuka was brought up as an exceptional student during meetings, although her attendance had dropped a bit since the arrival of the new student Shinji Ikari.

Thus it was a great surprise to both teachers when they entered the resort, finding a large crowd of rowdy students gathered by the room in which Shinji Ikari and his two make friends were staying. Both teachers knew exactly what was occurring when the cheers turned to hisses of sympathetic pain and cries of betting... a fight was occurring between two of their students. What they did not expect however, was the two people fighting when they approached the circled crowd.

Asuka tackled Mana to the ground after being scratched by the girl's nails for the umpteenth time. "Bitch!" Asuka cried out as Mana stood back up again, the mahogany haired girl wiping her lips as a bit of blood trickled from the corner of her mouth, a small wound, (As well as a very nice black eye) given to her courtesy of Asuka's fist.

About that time Mitsumoto moved behind Mana, pulling her away while Shizune went to restrain Asuka. Both teachers found it surprisingly difficult to keep the girls held in place as they struggled to try and claw at each other once more. "Nng, Ikari! You're obviously involved in all of this, come help me, everyone else OUT!!" Shizune barked, loosing her grip on the pissed off redhead.

Shinji, who had been standing off to the side to watch the fight along with everyone else nodded, making his way over towards Asuka, who was panting heavily as she glared at the object of her anger for the past few weeks. "You okay Asuka?" He asked, running his fingers at the base of her neck, where a series of diagonal slices from Mana's nails was prominent.

"There she goes again! You hussy, how dare you draw Shinji-kun in like that!" Mana screamed, fury obviously burning behind her eyes as she attempted to lash out at the redhead again.

Darting her eyes away from Mana for only the briefest of moments, the redhead nodded towards her new boyfriend, blue eyes softer than they were just a few moments ago, before she returned right back to giving the evil eye to the girl opposite of her. "Fine... unlike some little bitch who I'm going to rip apart, think you can call me a hussy and get away with it?!" She yelled, struggling against Shizune's grip once more.

"HEY! Cut it out!" Shizune ordered, pulling the young girl back roughly. "Mitsumoto take Mana and Asuka to the health commissioner, meanwhile I think Ikari here will be able to answer a few questions for me!" The elder woman commented with a jerk on the back of Shinji's shirt.

"ACK!" Shinji let out a choked cry as his collar was tugged back, watching as Mitsumoto hauled the two girls out of the room and into the hallway, albeit kicking and screaming. Not a moment later, he was forcefully put in place on a small sitting mat.

"Now... Shinji Ikari..." The way the elder woman hissed out his name as if it were a curse upon her lips made the young boy gulp and shiver. Shinji knew of course, that the female teacher was very much displeased with the way he had supposedly been 'corrupting' her favorite student, and although on school grounds she had treated him with the same courtesy she gave to all her students, out in Kyoto was not on school grounds and therefore... "Just what kind of a sick twisted game are you playing with Asuka?"

The brown haired boy blinked in shock, of all the questions and statements he had been prepared to be berated with, he had not expected that. "What?" He questioned, giving her a confused look.

"You heard me, I want to know why you're doing this to Asuka?" The older woman accused, her voice raising in anger as she stared down the young boy in front of her. "You're making her miss school, ditch classes, and now getting her into fights, what's your goal?!"

Instantly Shinji slammed his fist down on the floor, the wood beneath the tatami mat could be heard cracking and shattering from the force. "Now wait just a damn minute! You think I'm manipulating Asuka for my own needs?"

"Naturally." Came the simple and monotone reply.

"BULLSHIT!" He shouted, rising to his feet in anger and frustration. "Everything Asuka's done with me until now has been her own choice, who the hell are you to question why we're together!?"

The brown haired woman glowered at the confession. "So she's lowered herself to dating you now? What kind of dirt do you have on her?" She yelled back, standing up and taking on an authoritative pose.

That was it, the last straw. "FUCK YOU!" The dull blue eyed boy retorted, moving past his now least favorite teacher and toward the hallway door. "I don't need this shit from Mana and you Shizune-sensei." He spat out her title with the same tone she had used with his name just moments earlier, gripping the handle on the sliding door and throwing it open as he made to leave.

"You're beneath a girl like her... she was better off before you came along. She'll realize that one day." The words sliced through him like daggers at his heart, and Shinji, for some odd reason was almost compelled to look back. Was he really bringing Asuka down? What if he wasn't good enough for her, and she suddenly just decided to leave him?

Scoffing and turning his head to the side, the brown haired boy walked out into the hall, raising his middle finger over his shoulder without so much as looking back at the newly appointed bitch-sensei. Hell, he and Asuka hadn't even been officially going out for an hour and already problems had come up. 'What a damn foolish woman... as if I could force Asuka to do anything she didn't want.' So with that one act of defiance, he shoved his worries behind him, and out of his mind.

No sooner had he slammed the door, had Shizune whipped her cellphone out. "It's me... things aren't the way you told me they would be... this needs to be rectified."


Asuka let out a relaxed and pleasant sigh as she slid into the luke warm water of the resort's hot springs. Today, for all it's faults, had quickly and indefinitely become one of the best days of her life. She had gotten an expensive and incredibly beautiful kimono, been asked by the boy she was infatuated with to be his date to the festival in three days, and had all but fully consummated her relationship with him, and as a sweet extra bonus she had been able to beat the shit out of Mana (who was now transferred to another group for the remainder of the school trip and not aloud to be near Asuka). Yes, today had been a truly great and glorious day indeed.

However, in spite of all that had happened, several things were now worrying her. The first and foremost on her mind was Shinji's blackout earlier. 'It's not normal for people just to fall over like that... and his eyes when he got up and walked to the resort... they were so lifeless, he's always been in perfect health so what's wrong with him?' Sighing, the redheaded beauty dunked her head underwater and swimming around for a few moments before reemerging, deciding ultimately that she would just have to cast her worry about his health to the side for the time being.

As she rose up from the water, she began to ponder about her second problem. Just how was she going to style her hair for her date with Shinji, more importantly what seducing tactics was she going to use this time? 'Hmm, Shinji always did like them.' She though as she stared down at her prominent chest. With a smile she turned toward a medium sized mirror that had been placed on the dividing hot spring wall, covering the symmetrical and fleshy mounds with her hands. Putting on a small smile, the redheaded beauty folded her hands in her lap and leaned forward, her arms pressing her large breasts together, creating quite the sight for anyone who would have walked into the girl's hot springs right about now, and as luck would have it, someone did.

"What are you doing Asuka?" Hikari asked, standing above her best friend with a confused look on her face. The freckled girl watched in surprise as Asuka jumped up in shock from being spotted during her activities and fall back into the water, popping back up a moment later.

"H-hikari! What are you doing sneaking up on me like that, scared me half to death!" The blue eyed girl cried out, blushing with embarrassment as the other girl climbed into the water, giving her a knowing and slightly amused look.

"Practicing for Shinji?" The question was so straightforward and so unlike the normal shy, innocent, sweet Hikari that Asuka was used to that she could only stutter at her friends audacity.

"N-no! Just what the hell are you doing here anyway Hikari, I thought you were going to wait to take your bath!" Asuka accused, strategically deflecting the subject away from her and Shinji's newly formed relationship. While she was completely happy that they were finally together, and would gladly shout it out to the world, the redhead wasn't entirely prepared to discuss the terms of their relationship, even with her best friend.

Recognition dawned on Hikari's face as she suddenly recalled what she had sought Asuka out for in the first place. A sudden rush of blood to the shy girls cheeks made her friend instantly curious as to just what this was about. "Ah... I just, I wanted to ask you about... I mean-"

"She wants to ask you about how she can snag Toji Suzuhara." Both girls whipped their gazes toward the bamboo wall that separated the boys and girls bathing areas, only to find that a good portion of the bamboo sticks had been pulled back, revealing a smirking and completely nude Shinji submerged from the waist down. "Yo." Was the only word he could get out before a towel slapped him in the face, effectively covering his eyes and blocking his view of the two nude girls before him.

"Baka-Shinji! Just because we're dating doesn't mean you get to peek, what do you think you're doing popping up the wall!" Asuka berated her now wincing boyfriend, pounding her fist onto his head as he shrunk back under the wall and closed the opening that had been made in the wall. Hikari stood off to the side, blushing profusely at the sight of Shinji shirtless, obviously she understood the boy was off limits and she had feelings for someone else... but damn it all no one could deny that the brown haired boy was hot.

Cringing, Shinji rubbed the top of his head and whipped the towel off of his head. "I didn't make the opening damnit, one of the other guys mentioned to me that it was there and I thought that I'd put my two bits into the conversation." He defended, still rubbing his head as he spoke a little louder to compensate for the barrier separating them. "Besides I'm the one who told her to talk to you about this, I may know Toji pretty well but I'm not exactly the go-to-guy when it comes to making the first move..." He mumbled the last part, as Kensuke had made a crack about how Asuka had to have been the one to make the first move, claiming that when it came to the red haired girl, Shinji was just like a pathetic little puppy following her lead. The bespectacled boy was quickly 'knocked the fuck out'.

"So.. what do you expect me to do about it?" Asuka asked, leaning back against the bamboo wall and sighing as she washed her hair. "I don't exactly know what that idiot wants in a girl either." She sighed exasperatedly shaking her head and running her delicate fingers through her soft, silky hair. "We could go for the flashy look to get his attention, but somehow I don't think Hikari would be up for wearing a skimpy outfit."

Through the wall, Hikari blushed upon hearing Shinji's suggestion. "We could get her in the sailor school uniform, school girl outfits are always hot, maybe get her to not wear panties and have an 'accidental' breeze occur while it's just her and Toji." Immediately the young girl turned a shade of red that would have shamed a tomato.

"A-asuka." The timid girl gulped, trying to get the redheads attention as her best friend positively gleamed at the idea.

"Maybe a thong would work better than no panties though." Asuka suggested, snapping her fingers in a sudden burst of thought as she continued to grin about the endless possibilities.

"Sh-Shinji!" A squeak of embarrassment and fully flushed cheeks was the simple reaction this time, that and the fact that the idea had once crossed her mind was simply mortifying.

"That's true, and even without the uniform we could try just having him accidentally walk in on her while she's changing." The heavy undertone in the laugh that flowed from Shinji's side of the hot springs was just enough to make Hikari snapped.

"NO!" The tone used by the freckled girl in her outburst caused Asuka to widen her eyes in surprise, coming out of her side-tracked world, while Shinji on the other hand, opened up the panel in the wall again to make sure he had heard the right girl yell, after all... HIkari, under any circumstances EVER yelled. "I don't want to do things like that! All I wanted was for you two to help me confess to Toji that I like him and ask if he'd accompany me to the festival!"

"Hikari..." Shinji whispered out in awe as he stared (albeit at her face as all parties were still indeed bathing) at the young girl, before smirking and chuckling for a brief moment. "So all you wanted to do was let the idiot know that you have feelings for him huh?" At his friends nod he shrugged and shook his head. "Well then that's all taken care of."

"What do you mean?" Hikari asked, confused by Shinji's words and antics.

Catching Asuka's eye, the dull blue eyed boy nodded, reaching out of view of the two girls from behind the wall and as if pulling him out of thin air, an obviously tied up, and blushing Toji appeared in the small panel. "He's been here the entire time." Was all that was said before Shinji and Asuka slipped out of the hot springs via their respective exits, leaving two blushing teens to sort out their feelings alone.


"Aww man did you see Toji's face when he heard Hikari confess, I thought the poor kid was gonna pass out!" Shinji laughed heartedly as he walked alongside a still giggling Asuka, both dressed in the traditional yukatas worn after bathing.

"Think it was okay that we did that to them, I mean I'm pretty sure we could have come up with a better place to set them up than in the hot springs." Asuka voiced her thoughts as she gave a fleeting glance back towards the hot springs door.

The long brown haired boy rolled his eyes as he put his hair back into its normal ponytail, wincing a bit as the rubber band he had been using snapped his hair into place. "It was the only place we could get those two alone, save for locking them up alone in the plane bathroom... Hikari has no idea that we've been planning this for a month, she thinks it just came up on the plane ride." He smirked a bit as he recalled that it had been increasingly difficult to stop from blurting out to Toji just what he was up to when he had dragged the jock boy off to the hot springs. "Anyways, we'll let them figure it out, I don't think we're going to see them until sometime toward the end of dinner... speaking of which..."

Both teens paused in the hallway, taking in the pleasant aromas flowing from the main lobby and into the halls of the inn. With a small and amused grin, Shinji offered his arm to his beautiful girlfriend, winking as he spoke. "May I escort you milady?" He whispered against her ear, his hot breath sending shivers down her spine with every word.

Smiling brightly, the glamorous redhead tucked a strand of her still slightly damp hair behind her ear and brushed her lips across Shinji's. "Maybe just this once." She teased, as she accepted his arm, and both smiled as they slid open the door to the lobby, receiving looks from all of the students currently sitting on the floor with their food placed in front of them.

Neither missed the glares that Asuka was receiving from the female population of the students, and it didn't help when during the actual meal the fiery red head actually licked off a stray grain of rice that had supposedly been on Shinji's cheek. She didn't care though, it was her way of showing her claim on the attractive young man she had grown to L- care for...

The males on the other hand, gave a much different reaction, randomly throwing approving gestures toward Shinji and smirking knowingly. He had been widely accepted once he had proved himself in sports at the school, and besides, if he had been snagged by Asuka, then they no longer had to compete with 'the great Shinji Ikari' for the affections of every girl in school. Just as Toji and Hikari made their entrance, standing unusually close to each other, while not touching, one of the students actually had the audacity to yell out. "Heh, looks like Ikari's not the only one getting some tonight, way to go Suzuhara!"

Before Asuka had the chance to jump at the pervert for ruining a perfectly good moment for her friend, she was gripped around the waist by a pair of strong arms and forced into Shinji's lap as he whispered something softly in her ear. The reaction that ensued caused many of the students to raise an eyebrow. Asuka's temper immediately quelled, and she put on a delicate blush before snuggling into a more comfortable position in her boyfriend's lap, kissing his cheek softly.

Everyone heard the crunching sound of chopsticks snapping and watched as on the far corner of the room, a rather frustrated and upset Mana stood up abruptly, kicking several people out of her way as she made for her room, slamming the door behind her. The rest of dinner went smoothly, although more than once Shizune-sensei had come by and warned Shinji not to get 'fresh' in front of the entire class and that she better not catch him in Asuka's room later tonight.

Soon it was the declared time for all the students to head off to bed, and with a heavy sigh, all the children filed off towards their beds, intent on resting up for tomorrow's activities. Save for two flushed teenagers in the hallway before their rooms, currently engaged in one of the most passionate lip locks that their friends had ever seen.

Shinji growled possessively as his fingertips ran up the base of Asuka's legs, drawing small little circles on her inner thigh, which caused elated sighs to rise from the girls chest with each touch. Smirking at her reaction, the young brown haired boy ran his tongue up the crook of the redheaded girl's neck, grazing his teeth along her soft skin slowly. In reaction to Shinji's canines on her flesh, Asuka instinctively raised her leg higher, wrapping it around her boyfriend's waist as she tangled her fingertips in his hair, her eyes practically rolling to the back of her head from the pleasure. She would never admit it to anyone of course, but biting was a major turn on for Asuka. 'Mnn... if he doesn't stop that we're going to end up fucking right here in the hallway!' While her mind was still trying to be reasonable, the young girl didn't exactly find herself opposed to that idea, and apparently neither was Shinji, if the hardness pressing into her thigh was an indicator of that, just as she was about to reach for the sash on his yukata however...

"AHEM!"

Shinji pulled away from the beautiful redhead's neck at the interruption, and Asuka scowled and narrowed her eyes in anger as both turned their heads toward the source of the interruption. Shizune-sensei... Shinji ought to have known, they hadn't even been together for four hours yet and every few minutes the damn woman was up and checking on them as if they were toddlers.

"I believe it's almost time for lights out... while Mitsumoto and I have agreed not to separate you two as of yet... don't let things get out of hand or we will... understand!" Both teens nodded, although frowning with great displeasure at the woman and had still not detangled themselves from one another. "Very well then... I expect you two to be in your rooms within five minutes." The elder woman turned around, stomping off before tossing one last glare over her shoulder at Shinji and disappearing around the corner to make her rounds.

"Just what the heck happened when you two were talking!" Asuka asked, through small pants as she was still excited from Shinji's previous actions, though confused at her favorite teacher's behavior towards her newly formed relationship.

Sighing, the brown haired boy stepped away from his girlfriend, earning a small frown from said young woman. "It's not that big of a deal really... lets just say she's on Mana's side and doesn't think I should be with you... damn bitch." He muttered, glancing off in the direction the woman had disappeared in with a glare.

Asuka's eyes widened in shock, she couldn't believe that her favorite teacher, the one who would always excuse her rare tardies, offer extra help, and repeatedly pointed out Asuka as the most exceptional student she had the pleasure of teaching in a long time, to be against her dating, and worse was that she agreed with that bitch Mana. "What do you mean she agrees with Mana?"

Realization suddenly dawned on Shinji's face at the mentioning of the girl. "Damnit... I just realized... I am going to have to have a talk with Mana..." He cringed as Asuka gave him 'the look'.

Yes all men know of the dreaded 'look'. It's the same look that a woman gives a man when she does not approve of his actions, the same look that promises for a night of sleeping on the couch, or heaven forbid the same look that is given just before a rather thorough and painful kick to the goods is delivered. Shinji silently prayed it was neither of the last two options, especially the very last option, Asuka had very muscled legs, after all.

"Why do you have to explain anything to that bitch!" Shinji knew it, just as much as she did, that he really didn't owe anything to Mana. After all in the beginning he had been the one to save her life. Anything from their an in between had merely been common courtesy between the two, even if the brown haired girl had mistaken it for more. And after her explosion and attacking Asuka this evening, he felt even less inclined to explain to her, but to be honest, he really didn't feel like being glared at from behind for the rest of his life.

Sighing, the young teen ran his hand through his brown locks. "Look, it'll be quick... and after the trip, but I need to get her off my back and off of yours... why don't you come with me when I talk to her so that she doesn't try anything?" He offered, raising an eyebrow in question as she scowled, before giving a half nod. "Good... now let's forget all about that and enjoy the rest of the trip together." He winked at her and pressed his lips softly against her lips before turning away and heading towards his room, pausing just before the corner. "Besides... you should know I don't aim for anything other than the best, that includes when it comes to girls." He smirked when he saw the light blush on Asuka's cheeks and her rosy lips curve up into a happy smile as she turned around and headed to her own room.

Nodding, the young teen turned towards his door, opening it with a frown as Kensuke fell out, obviously having been leaning on the door to listen to the conversation. "Hehe, seems you aim for the most expensive girls as well." The bespectacled boy added with a grin as he pushed his glasses up to the bridge of his nose. "How can you afford Asuka's taste's anyway?"

Shrugging, Shinji moved past his friend and into the room, twirling a credit card in his hand. "Kaji keeps paying them off for some reason... not that I'm surprised, he has more credit cards than I can count but you'd think he'd notice the abundance of charges... anyway is everything ready?" He questioned turning his gaze back to his friend as he stood and walked towards the desk in the room.

Quirking his lips into a frown, the freckled boy nodded. "Yeah I set everything up." He pointed to the desk where three laptops, several modems, and numerous handheld devices were sprawled out and turned on. "Are you sure about this though, I mean I've checked em' out before and they're completely clean and legit... I think you're just being paranoid Shinji."

The taller boy cast a glare at Kensuke, instantly frightening the young boy and reminding him who's in charge... well who's in charge when Asuka isn't around at least. "I'm not being paranoid... all this is too coincidental." He remarked, moving to his duffle bag and pulling out several manilla folders, throwing them onto the desk and pulling out numerous files. "The day of my 'crash' twenty one students, including Tai Zamanza were transferred out of the region supposedly for scholarship purposes but no files in the schools records show where they were transferred to." He paused as he pulled out several photos. "Not thirty minutes after I went to the locker rooms, which is the last thing I can remember of that day, fourteen black vans with the NERV logo were seen outside the school and left promptly after throwing several bags into the back of said vans. The very next day and for the rest of the week, the locker rooms are closed due to 'maintenance issues.' Not to mention the blackouts I've been having since those days. I haven't slept in twenty four days Kensuke, today's black out was the most rest I've gotten in a month!" The young teen cried out in frustration, gripping his hair in anger.

Kensuke for his part, went over the file with great interest. "Geez... you went through a lot just to get the photos didn't you, they're from the street cameras that only the police have access to... what made you go all this way Shinji?"

Returning to his seat opposite of Kensuke on the desk, Shinji spoke with graveness in his voice. "I've said it before, I'll say it again... I never crash, now come on, get to work, I'll help as much as possible, all that looking at Kaji's files is about to be put to use."


Not thirty minutes later, deep in the underground command center of Nerv in Tokyo-3, Ritsuko Akagi jumped up with great surprise at the alarm that had arisen, bright flashing red lights caused her to spill her coffee onto her lab coat, though she paid it no mind. Something much bigger and of much greater importance had her attention now. The Magi were being hacked.

"Ibuki! Reinforce the coding system and have it set to twenty two second changes!" The blonde woman cried out, and her subordinate immediately nodded, typing furiously at her keyboard, beads of sweat rolling down her face as she worked.

Very shortly after, the locking mechanisms on the door to the Magi room opened and Commander Ikari walked in, whipping his sunglasses from his face with a fever. "What's going on Ritsuko!" He barked out as Kaji and Misato stumbled into the room a moment later, both looking rather flushed and their clothing a mess, mumbling something about the elevator getting stuck.

"Balthasar is being hacked sir! The intruder's already taken control of over sixty-three percent of its data grid!" The doctor panted heavily as she stared wide eyed at the screen in front of her.

"Well stop it! Get the entire team on this and find out just who the hell is doing this!" Gendo yelled, his voice echoing as his eyes narrowed and a vein appeared on his forehead.

Gasping, Maya cried out. "Not possible, the defense mechanism has already been disabled, and the tracking system had been malfunctioning all week... EIGHTY-THREE PERCENT OF THE DATA GRID HAS BEEN TAKEN UNDER CONTROL!" The young girl practically screamed as their data was about to be recovered by an unknown party.

Clenching his fist, the commander ordered the only thing he could. He would not lose... he would simply not allow the enemy to win. "DESTROY IT!" When his crew gave him a questioning look, he roared. "NOW!"


Shinji typed furiously at the keyboard, Kensuke going at a much faster speed, so fast in fact, that the bespectacled boy's fingers seemed to be nothing but a blur. All of a sudden, the loading screen that had been present of the corner of the screen ceased it's progress, then flickered out of existence, a screen of pure black green numbers appearing.

"What happened!" Shinji cried out in a hushed whisper, as not to disturb the other residents of the hotel and alert them of their activities.

Gritting his teeth, Kensuke slammed his fist on the table. "No way! They fried their own system!" He typed away quickly and sighed, running his fingertips through his messy hair, before a beeping sound alerted him, and he returned his attention to the screen. "Yes! We got some photo and video files, as well as a few data documents that I auto-saved... this is classified stuff Shinji, you were right!"

Grinning in anticipation, the young teen nodded enthusiastically. "Open it up!" He cried, moving over to get a better look at Kensuke's screen, only to stop and stare wide eyed at the images on the screen. "N...no way... he didn't... BASTARD!"


AN: Finally, man that took forever, well I'm still not satisfied with how it turned out, and I'm sure I could do much better... but this is a filler chapter after all, and soon the mystery of NERV will be unveiled. Well, till next time my friends!

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