Standard Disclaimers Apply: Evangelion is not mine.
Sorry this took so long. First I was stuck. Now I'm unstuck. I enjoyed writing the chapter even if it took a while and I do so hope you also enjoy reading it.
Thank you for the wonderful reviews. I truly hope you enjoy this.
Evangelion: Nigeru
Chapter Nine - Ties
01.21.2006
Asuka's words echoed in Shinji's brain. He was lying on his back, hands anchored firmly around Asuka's waist, looking to the entire world as if something he had hoped for but never in his wildest dreams expected just got handed to him on a silver platter.
I must be dreaming, he thought, staring at Asuka in dazed wonder. Then Asuka smiled softly at Shinji, all the tenderness in her gaze raising considerable doubt in the boy. Is she serious?
Hastily sitting up, Shinji gently pushed the redhead away.
"What's wrong?" Asuka asked, a small catch in her voice. She had seen his face before he so quickly thrust her away.
"I-I'm sorry… for a second there… you just scared me," Shinji said quietly.
"Scared you…?" Asuka whispered softly, ominously.
"A-asuka… please say you're not messing with me. I don't think I can…"
"ANTA BAKA!" Asuka shrieked, interrupting Shinji and scaring him even more. Hurt and rage warred for control on her face and then, very quickly it seemed to Shinji, rage won. Asuka raised her clenched hand, prepared to let the dummkopf feel her wrath, and aimed for his other eye.
Shinji was frozen for only a split-second before he realized he had done a really stupid thing. To duck or not to duck? Either way, he was a dead man.
Still, some instinct told him that it wouldn't do to get punched twice, once in each eye. Imagine how that would look. Adroitly evading Asuka's fist, Shinji caught her wrist and pulled her to him.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" He said to the struggling girl, mouth running away and becoming quite detached from his brain. "I deserve a good beating. But… please don't hit me again. Well, just not in the eye. Or I'll never hear the end of it from the others. You don't know how irritating those two can get when they gang up on me."
Asuka stopped struggling and suddenly went limp, "Shinji, you moron, you are so stupid sometimes," she sniffed, not wanting to look at him.
"I know, I know. I'm so sorry…"
"Do you have any idea how hard that was for me?" Not waiting for an answer, Asuka punched him full in the gut. She heard him gasp and wince but he didn't complain and simply held her in mute apology.
Shinji released her after a while and sat cross-legged on the ground, knees bent and ankles crossed. No good, he decided, he still had to do it. Gulping hard and readying for another strike, Shinji asked, "A-asuka, please, you're not…?"
"Don't say it!" Asuka hissed. Stubborn idiot. Why can't you believe me? She scowled. Apparently violence wasn't working. More drastic measures were in order. Then her face brightened. More drastic measures were in order!
Asuka eyed the small patch of grass between his legs that had her name on it, hesitating for all of two seconds, and then with startling alacrity, she crawled onto the boy's lap and made herself comfortable.
Shinji's look of uncertainty was immediately replaced by a brilliant red color and a pole-axed expression. Happily for Asuka, his instincts remained intact. He held her immediately, shoulders and chest curving protectively against the girl's back and both arms coming around to embrace her loosely.
A warm feeling, that had nothing to do with Asuka's confession, spread through Shinji as the redhead settled herself against him. She wriggled one last time in his lap before nestling solidly against him, making the already blushing boy slightly light-headed as blood in his head was shunted elsewhere.
"Unreal…"
"Baka! Are you complaining?" she flicked the idiot on the forearm.
"No."
"Then why don't you want to believe me?"
"Sorry. I wasn't trying to offend you or anything. It's just that… it'll take time…" he finished lamely and tried to give her a reassuring smile.
"Shinji… you really are stupid."
"I know…" the boy muttered sounding crestfallen.
"Listen," Asuka twisted around to face him, "I may call you an idiot most of the time… but Shinji… you are… you can be…" Asuka could feel herself turning red.
"I don't think I can change, Asuka."
"That's not what I meant! You shouldn't have to change, I don't wish for you to change! I want you the way you are, stupid Shinji so gloomy so early in the morning!" She gripped his hand and squeezed it.
"Gloomy and stupid, huh? And still...?" he smiled silently at her choice of words. "Thanks, Asuka."
The redhead turned away and leant back down against him, sighing dramatically.
"Okay, now your turn," she ordered seriously.
"What's that?"
"Your turn. I want you to tell me why you love me."
"A-asuka…" Shinji protested, slightly panicked, "I can't! I'll just say the wrong thing and you'll hit me again." Then he felt her shoulders heaving and he realized she was laughing.
"Ohhh, this is going to be so much fun," Asuka sniggered for a good five minutes.
"Feh! That's it, no more evening soaps for you. I'm telling the bird to hide the remote."
"But seriously," Asuka continued after she got herself under control. "You should stop putting yourself down, dummkopf, very unhealthy habit. And you shouldn't ever let anyone do that to you, either. Okay, baka?"
"Yes, Asuka." Shinji answered dutifully. She makes 'baka' sound like... an endearment. Heeehhh! Did I actually get used to it?
"From now on nobody can insult my idiot! Not even you, baka Shinji, understand?"
"Yeah, but… um… you just did, Asuka…" Four times, I might add, though it sounded really sweet.
Shinji's lips twitched, wondering if he was doing the right thing pointing that out. He bent his head to hide a smile.
"That's different. I live with you. It's natural to squabble," she tossed her hair hitting Shinji in the face. "Oops, sorry. You're almost like my… like my… ahh… like my brother!" she flashed him a triumphant smile.
"Like your brother?"
"You know what I mean," Asuka said sharply. "Are you laughing at me?"
"N-no! I was er- smelling your hair. You smell nice."
"Hmph, are you making fun of me?" she accused.
"No, no! Um… Asuka…" he leaned forward to whisper to her.
"What?" Her back was to Shinji so she couldn't see his face but she shivered at his sudden closeness and felt his arms tighten securely around her in a hug.
"I love you too… very much…" Shinji couldn't help adding, "but not as a sister…" which earned him an elbow in the ribs.
It was cold with dawn still several hours away, but the teenagers, warmed by each other's presence, did not notice. They were excited by this newfound intimacy and sat on that dark windy hill for a long time, snuggling and talking, an age-old tableau of the young and in love.
x
x
Chirping birds, sizzling heat, and sweat-slicked itchy skin. Katsuragi Misato threw off the offending blankets cocooning her from head to toe and crawled doggedly to the bathroom seeking cool water and the toilet.
She hadn't eaten dinner the night before, and had taken the excuse of worrying about her charges to down more than a dozen cans of Yebisu (she was running low); even going so far as to wrestle the last can of the bitter concoction from an indignant penguin. It hadn't been a pretty sight.
Physical exhaustion (from work and her tussle with the bird), alcohol (her entire stock, Penpen's personal hoard, plus an old bottle of she didn't know what but it smelled alcoholic, that she found tucked away at the back of her cupboard), and trying to keep awake and sober enough so she could talk to her children when they got home, weren't really the best of combinations.
So after five hours of uneventful guzzling (the last of that done in the dark), Misato could prolong her agony no longer. She told herself there was nothing to be gained from waiting, and then staggered off to her room to keep her date with her pillow.
Now it was Sunday morning. And here she was in a love affair with the toilet. Hung-over, hot and itchy, still with a headache, and still worried about Shinji. It was really too early to get up but the smell of frying bacon was doing strange things to her stomach.
Misato gave a final non-productive heave into the receptacle in her arms then crept into the shower. She fumbled on the tap and then lay back on the tub to bask gloriously in the blessed cool of the gushing water.
Summer was just around the corner and the weather already promised to be stifling and humid. As the cute weatherman on tv who reminded Misato of Kaji had predicted, last month's cold spell and the weekend's rain showers had completely disappeared, giving way to the lazy, windless, sweat-sticking-to-your-skin-even-after-a-shower day the people of Tokyo-3 had learned to always expect.
"Ohayo, Misato-san!" Shinji greeted her cheerfully as soon as she stepped into the kitchen.
Wonder of wonders. She had been expecting him to be depressed, and here he was setting the table with a thoughtful expression and a lopsided grin. And just hold it one darn minute… the norm for Sunday morning was Shinji with the pan, whether or not it was his turn to cook. Why was Asuka, willingly it seemed, cooking breakfast?
"Baka-Shinji, the eggs just broke and they're running all over. Damn!" the said redhead looked up. "Well, you both have to eat it well done then. And I don't want to hear any complaints, understood?" she scowled at both the woman and the boy.
Sensitive to the undercurrents in her household despite her state of daily inebriation, Misato narrowed her eyes and thought… What the hell is going on?
x
Any time now, any time... Misato told herself, picking at her food and longing for a beer.
She watched as Asuka smacked Shinji on the back for daring to say she had burnt breakfast.
She waited and was rewarded by Shinji's foolish and slightly defiant, "Ow! I'm sorry! But you said to be honest!" to Asuka.
To this the girl responded, as expected, by sticking her nose in the air and retorting, "A true gentleman would have valiantly eaten everything up and assured the lady her cooking was perfect!"
Shinji snorted into his scorched eggs. "Then why did you give me your share?"
"Because a true gentleman should valiantly eat everything up and assure said lady that her cooking was perfect!" Asuka repeated herself, eyes slitting dangerously at the laughing boy.
"Aww, Asuka… do I have to? Let's just throw everything away and you can try again tonight."
"Are you stupid? It's your turn tonight."
"Yep," he gave her a playful grin.
"I see… okay, dummkopf, I'll try again tonight," Asuka relented, giving the boy an evil smile, "But you still have to eat everything on your plate."
Shinji wrinkled his nose, "Tell you what, I'll cook tonight as scheduled. We'll throw all of these away," he snatched all their plates, including Misato's and threw the rest of the food in the garbage, "and we'll call it quits."
Asuka glared at him, her fingers itching to feel the back of his head. "Hey! I worked hard on those," she stood up and gave him a soft wallop on the shoulder instead.
"Sorry, you'll get better at it." Shinji assured her, running out of the kitchen.
"I know that, baka!" Asuka screeched, hot on his tail.
Anytime now, anytime… Misato was left waiting, her fork still in the air, but an explanation didn't seem to be forthcoming. Damn it to bloody hell! WHAT WAS GOING ON?
x
"Shinji, do you get the feeling Misato doesn't trust us?" Asuka whispered to the boy sitting beside her after their guardian left the room.
"Uh-huh. That's the third time. She's been doing it every hour." Shinji grimaced at Asuka and scooted further away.
"What are you doing?"
"Maybe she suspects something."
"So?"
"I thought you didn't want her to know."
"Oh, yeah. Hmmph, how troublesome."
Whereupon the shoji skidded open again, making Shinji jump. Misato lingered at the doorway for a moment, looking thwarted, and then slowly she slunk out.
"She's giving me palpitations." Shinji blew out the air he was holding, left hand over his racing heart.
"Get used to it." Was the unsympathetic answer.
This behavior continued for a whole week and only succeeded in making Asuka unhappy. Because Shinji... well, Shinji, already jumpy, also became paranoid.
x
x
x
Two weeks and not counting. And Shinji and Asuka acted pretty much the same way they always did. Deciding not to broadcast their new relationship to the rest of the world, they had instead made bets on who would be the first to figure it out.
When Misato was called in for her first overnight work in a long time, Shinji and Asuka celebrated the lull by staying up together until the wee hours of the morning watching television. Unfortunately, the next day was Monday and Misato arrived home from work only to find the two still snoring in their beds.
Naturally, she raised a ruckus, and was giving them hell for several minutes before she realized that both Shinji and Asuka were rushing around like headless chickens, getting ready for school with nary a peep. It was unusual enough for Asuka not to complain and Shinji to not apologize that Misato stopped in the midst of her diatribe and raked keen eyes over her guilty charges.
I knew it, she congratulated herself, navigating to the fridge after they left. Misato got herself a beer and then leaned over to scratch Penpen affectionately under the ruff of fat around his neck.
The penguin stopped mid-waddle and let the human scratch his collar, wondering all the while what the commotion was all about. Wark! Did she finally catch those two? Wark, wark, wark! He kept his flipper steady trying hard not to make any of those undignified scratching motions. Honestly, humans are so dense. I knew it the moment they walked in that night... Hey you, woman! You owe me a beer…
Misato absently opened a can of beer for the bird and poured it into his dish. They've done it. I'm so proud of them! They've gotten together, and without any of my meddling. She shook her head worriedly. But this complicates things; I wonder what they'll do when they find out?
x
"She knows." Shinji told Asuka, taking advantage of the deserted school corridor and holding the redhead's hand.
"Yes. You lose, Shinji."
"No, I don't. I told you before, Asuka. Penpen knows. I swear that bird was giving me 'the eye' again last night."
"The eye?"
"Yeah. The one that says 'do anything funny and you die.'"
"There you go again. Penpen is just a bird, Shinji. Barring this," the redhead held up their clasped hands, "we haven't even held hands since that first night. You're being too paranoid."
"No I'm not."
"Speaking of which, your friends are such thick dolts. I think Hikari is beginning to suspect, but those two stooges have absolutely no idea. They actually dared to tell me that you, baka Shinji, were never ever going to fall for a de- er, beautiful, sexy, and intelligent woman like me."
"Really?" Shinji asked amused. Those two knew better.
"Geez, Shinji, they'll never figure it out. Let's just tell them! I can imagine the looks on their faces! HAH!" Asuka stopped, eyes closed and an ecstatic expression on her face.
"Must you gloat?" Shinji answered, pulling on Asuka's hand to get her going. "I don't see why you three can't get along," he told her lazily, too happy about being alone with her to bother to rise to her bait.
"Aww, you're no fun anymore. It's getting harder to needle you these days." She pulled him down for a quick peck on the lips and laughed gaily when he turned red. "Hah! But that will never fail," and sauntered off ahead of him.
"We'll get caught if you keep doing that," Shinji called out, shaking his head and hurrying after Asuka.
"But it's so much fun…"
"I thought you decided we wouldn't let anyone know."
"Nooo, we agreed we wouldn't tell anyone but if they find out all on their own it's fine with me."
"Oh, is that how it is…? Okay then, come here," Shinji caught Asuka's hand and pulled her to him. Then he kissed her till she sagged against him.
Asuka hid behind Shinji as soon as he released her, weakly using him for support as they continued their walk to the classroom. "Baka! What if someone came?" she whispered still trying to catch her breath.
"Sorry… I've been dying to do that for the past two weeks." Shinji smirked at the girl at his back. She was still flushed and her lips looked slightly swollen. They turned a corner and he paused before their classroom door. "Ready to go in?"
"Yes. Try not to grin too much or I'm sure they'll know exactly what we were just doing." Asuka grunted when Shinji's smile only grew wider. "Pervert…" she said, turning up her nose at him and walking into the room.
x
"Hot damn, I think he's done it," the jock whispered in awe when Asuka and Shinji walked in.
They apologized to the teacher, promised not to be late next time, and shuffled off to their respective seats so the lecture could continue.
Touji caught Shinji's eye, the question in his own very clear. But the boy merely raised one eyebrow before breaking gazes and sitting down quickly.
Then Touji's notebook beeped softly, signaling the receipt of a message.
: hey it's me, did you get a load of that?
: yeah, did he do it?
: I guess so, if that's what I think it was
: what?
: looked like a smirk, yep definitely a smirk
: but Shinji doesn't smirk
: I guess he does now, feast your eyes on Sohryu!
: hot damn! yeah! he's done it
x
Hikari pulled Asuka to the corner of the classroom as soon as the teacher walked out the door.
"Asuka, the truth, tell me the truth! Are you and Ikari-kun…?"
"Since about two weeks now," Asuka answered trying to look bored.
"Eeek – I knew it, I knew it!" Hikari squealed in a very un-classrep manner and hugged Asuka. "It's about bloody time!"
"Eh? Hikari…!" Asuka burst out laughing at her swearing.
"Sorry, I'm just excited and so happy for you."
"So am I!" Asuka gave up her pretense and began squealing, infected by her friend's good humor.
"You're so lucky…" the class rep gave a wistful sigh.
"Hikari, let's go out later," Asuka glanced slyly at the tall jock trying to keep Shinji in a headlock.
Hikari only blushed.
"Come on. I've got to rescue the dummkopf and rub this in those stooges' faces. Let's go to the arcade again, or maybe get something to eat…" Asuka beamed, looking forward to some stooge torture. Then she pulled Hikari with her and went to join the boys.
x
x
The word was out. The Second and Third Child were off the market.
Unfortunately for Shinji's fangirls, there wasn't room anymore for accidental cozy run-ins and attempts at meaningful romantic conversation with the male Eva pilot. Only long distance sighing or friendly close encounter chats were now possible.
And that was because his girlfriend, now known far and wide as the 'red devil', was as sharp as an ultrasonic knife and just as deadly.
Although – they grudgingly admitted – she did give allowances for the innocent.
Going so far as to hold her acid tongue and to tease her jumpy boyfriend so he could loosen up a bit and properly say hello to a bunch of squealing grade school girls who had gone out of their way to meet the two Eva pilots by accosting them after the lunch hour.
He, on the other hand, was amazed at the half-pitying, half-respectful looks he got from the boys in his year. Not to mention his agitated surprise when Kensuke handed him an envelope full of the redhead's pictures taken in various unmentionable places in school.
"I should have known," Shinji muttered, shaking his head. "Asuka's going to kill me!"
"Hey, don't tell her. Ignorance is bliss. We don't want to muscle in on your territory, so we are – very unselfishly I might add – handing this over to you."
"Is there any way you could get back those other pictures? The one's I see quickly hidden away whenever I pass by? It's giving me a headache."
"Yeeaahh…" Kensuke drawled suspiciously, "I have a complete list of my customers, but it's going to be expensive getting those back…"
"Don't worry, I'll take care of the cost. My hide won't be worth anything if Asuka finds out about this. Besides, it's irritating the hell out of me."
"Sure thing, Shinji, you're the man!" Kensuke gave Shinji a thumbs up, thankful that he didn't have to return any of the money. "I'll get Touji to help."
And so the days went.
School was almost out.
Summer days were warm as usual.
And for once, everything was right in Ikari Shinji's world.
x
x
x
Evangelion Cage-05, 06
In the deep confines of Nerv HQ, two mammoth beings stood stark white against the gray gleam of steel struts and metal girders. Long jawed with red muscular lips drawn back to reveal metal-plated teeth, the behemoths waited, silent, unseeing, and formidable.
x
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