"I hate her," Asuka stated calmly in the girl's bathroom where she had dragged the class president shortly after class started.

"But Asuka, are you sure she knew you were there," Hikari sounded doubtful. "I mean, we're talking about Rei here."

A cunning, aggressive Rei was as likely as Toji reading poetry in Hikari's mind.

"Oh the bitch definitely knew, you should have seen the look she gave me," Asuka grit her teeth. Fortunately there were no easily breakable things in the bathroom.

"It sounded more like Shinji assaulted her and she didn't understand..." began Hikari.

"Shinji wouldn't do that!" interrupted Asuka. What the hell am I saying? Of course he would, he's a pervert!

Hikari raised an eyebrow. "Why would you care anyway, you hate Shinji right?"

Asuka looked affronted. "Of course! But...I mean, I live with him, so I should decide who he gets to feel up, right?"

Hikari looked skeptical. Did that make sense to her, even in a twisted way?

"I still don't see why it matters. Unless you like him." She added the last bit offhandedly, but it was pointed.

"That's not what's important! It's a challenge. Do you get it? Wondergirl is challenging me. Me!" Asuka gesticulated wildly in the confines of the girl's restroom.

Hikari sighed. "So what are you going to do about it?"

"I don't know yet. But I won't lose." Asuka stormed out of the bathroom and back to class.

Hikari following in her wake, worried.

-

Shinji rubbed the bridge of his nose and tried to focus on his homework.

Asuka was wearing small, tight shorts with the name of her college emblazoned on the back. He had read it roughly five thousand times in the twenty minutes they had been doing homework together in the living room. She was lying on her stomach, focused on the textbook. Occasionally she squirmed as if trying to get comfortable, which caused her shorts to ride up every time. Between the current display and Rei's show earlier, he was only on problem three, and he had probably gotten the first two wrong.

The redhead sighed as if uncomfortable and brought her knees up slightly, which only emphasized, well, things better left unemphasized, if Shinji wanted to live through the night.

He had managed, through Herculean force of will, to tear his gaze away, when Asuka stood up and turned to face him. She was uncomfortably close, and loomed over him.

"I heard about you and Wondergirl," she said quietly. Shinji's mind desperately searched for what exactly she could have heard, while the rest of his body responded to the toned abs, long legs, and perky breasts just a foot away.

"Uhhhh," he managed. He could reach out and touch-

Asuka was breathing noisily, as if angry, or about to cry, or...

"It was before I came, right, when you guys did it?" she had stepped closer as she spoke.

"Errr, we never, I mean, we just..." Shinji tried.

Asuka had sat on his leg, one of her's to either side of his. He didn't want to wonder what was pressing against him, but could only think of how warm it was.

Her hands took his and brought it up to her chest. "Like this, right?" she said softly. His palm was feeling amazing things. With Rei it had been an accident, and he had mostly been panicked and feeling awkward. Asuka was actually participating. That definitely made up for the addition of a shirt.

"Real girls are better than dolls, right Shinji?" Asuka breathed. Her hair had fallen forward and had mostly hidden her face. He could feel the air brushing his face as her lips moved.

Shinji couldn't speak. Asuka stood abruptly, tearing the contact away. She spun around before he could see her face. "Understand?" she asked, then left for her room without waiting for a reply.

-

Agent Spalding walked down the cold halls of NERV, dreading what he was about to do. The gears of the machine had finally turned, and he was up for a review on the attempted kidnapping of one of the pilots. Every action he took would be analyzed and torn apart. 'You had to have been there' was not generally an accepted answer.

He came to the door and forced himself to pass through. Best to just rip the bandaid off in one go.

Major Katsuragi was waiting at the head of a table, looking far more serious than their last meeting.

"You were expecting Commander Ikari?" she asked.

He nodded and pulled out a seat.

"Don't worry about the review. Everyone knows you did as well as anyone could have in that situation." Misato tossed the file to the side of the table.

"That's not why we're here, is it?" he asked.

She favored him with a smile. "No, it's not." A familiar unshaven figure entered from a side door. He spun a chair around and sat on it backwards.

"Yo, Spalding."

"Ryoji." it was all a bit much to process.

"How much do you know?" asked Misato.

"Nothing." It was mostly true.

Misato and Kaji shared a look

"We were trying to keep as few people involved as possible. So far, just us two. Recent events have forced us to...reconsider," Misato explained.

"You need to understand, we are risking our lives, and yours, bringing you into it. This is your last chance to back out and never mention any of this," Kaji appeared serious for once.

That by itself was enough to make Kelly take them seriously. He nodded. The pilot's welfare was becoming more and more important to him. They were people to him now. Friends. If he was any judge of character, these two had similar priorities.

Misato let out a deep sigh, as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Kaji grinned.

"Great, lets go get drinks after this! How about a strip club?"

Misato made a face like she just found a cockroach in her beer.