Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is the creation of Anno and Gainax. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from this fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

Disclaimer: I do not own DC comics or anything associated with it, and am making no profit off this fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.


Chapter Eleven: Date Night

Asuka really hated it when she got stuck with cleaning duty at school.

So far as she could tell, the purpose of it was supposed to be for the students to learn respect for the place, or at the very least to discourage them from vandalizing it. So far as she was concerned, this failed on both counts. Students still vandalized the school. They just made certain to time it so someone else would have to clean it up, or they did it in places they weren't responsible for. As for respect, well, it certainly didn't make her respect the place.

Honestly, it's all probably because some bureaucrat figured the government could save money this way, she thought with a scowl as she swept the floor. I could be out saving people, but instead I'm stuck here.

Well, there was at least one thing she could still do while cleaning up. Looking around to make sure that Hikari wasn't in the immediate area, she reached into her pocket and withdrew her cell phone, hitting the button to speed dial Kaji.

A few moments later, she found her call being transferred to his voicemail, again.

Damn, this calls for desperate measures, she decided as she waited for the beep.

"Kaji, help me! There's this pervert and—oh, Gott, get off of me!" she yelled into the phone, then immediately ended the call.

There, if that doesn't get a call back, nothing will, she thought.

Unfortunately for her, all her shouting had drawn the attention of the class rep, who emerged from a nearby classroom. "Is everything all right out here? I heard yelling," Hikari said.

"Everything's just fine," the redhead replied, acting as though she didn't know what the pig-tailed girl was talking about.

"Oh, all right then," Hikari agreed a little too easily. "Hey, Asuka, I was wondering if you could do a favor for me?"

The redhead frowned slightly. "Like what?" she asked.

"Well, my older sister Kodama sort of told one of her college friends that she could get him a date with you," Hikari admittedly sheepishly.

"What? How did that happen?" Asuka asked.

Hikari shrugged. "I don't know. I can't seem to pry the whole story out of my sister, no matter how hard I try, but I do know that she'll be really embarrassed if you don't do it," she confessed. "Please, Asuka? Kodama tells me he's really nice."

"I don't know…" the redhead said slowly, finding the whole situation more than a little weird.

"Why not?" Hikari pressed. "Is it because you're getting involved with someone else? Ikari, maybe?"

"I am not getting involved with Shinji!" Asuka snapped immediately, turning a bright shade of crimson.

"Okay, good, so you can go!" Hikari said, sounding relieved. "Your date's all set up for this Saturday afternoon. He'll pick you up at three."

With that, the class rep disappeared back into one of the classrooms, leaving a somewhat dazed redhead in her wake.

"What just happened?" she wondered aloud.

Eventually, she shrugged and returned to the task of sweeping the floor. Going out on a blind date wouldn't be so bad; she always had liked older men, and if the guy tried anything untoward with her, well, he'd get much more than he'd bargained for.

Heh, maybe it'll even make Shinji jealous, she thought.

Yeah, going out on a date might be just what the doctor ordered to remind him that she had plenty of other men looking for her attention, as though that wasn't obvious enough already, and…

…wait a minute.

"I meant Kaji!" she exclaimed. "Not Shinji! Kaji!"

Her shout caused Hikari to poke her head out of the classroom again. "Everything all right out here?" she asked.

"Just fine!" Asuka snapped.

The class rep's expression made it clear that she was rather dubious about that, but she apparently didn't want to give the redhead a chance to rescind her "agreement" to go on the blind date. Hikari wordlessly disappeared back into the room.

"Okay, time to forget that ever happened," she muttered to herself.

Honestly, it had been no big deal. Just a little slip of the…brain. It had meant absolutely nothing whatsoever.

Really.


Misato was standing in front of the door to Asuka's bedroom.

Misato had been standing in front of the door to Asuka's bedroom for the last ten minutes.

She had recently gotten over her cold, returning to good health with unusual abruptness, even for her. She'd always been pretty hearty (if not as impervious to illness as Asuka usually was), but still, she'd never completely recovered from a cold overnight like that before.

Interestingly, Asuka had also bounced back at almost exactly the same time that she had.

Misato wasn't an idiot. The Parasite had shown up at her door, asking for Asuka. Then, upon discovering that she wasn't home, he had proceeded to take her hostage and hole up inside a lab, then demand to speak to Supergirl. Asuka had been going out a lot lately, offering only vague explanations of where she'd been when Misato asked.

The logical conclusion was obvious, but still…

Could Asuka really be Supergirl? She thought.

On its face, the idea that the redhead, who tended to be bristly at best and an outright arrogant brat at worst could be the Girl of Steel, the great heroine of Tokyo-3, seemed preposterous.

Really, would the Asuka she knew use such incredible powers for so many acts of benevolence and seemingly nothing else? Wouldn't Asuka, upon discovering that she really was superior to everyone around her, want to shout the news of her greatness to the heavens? And anyone who would listen?

"But that's not really giving her enough credit, is it?" Misato commented to Pen-Pen, who had waddled over to his owner, apparently curious as to why she was just standing around.

Pen-Pen tilted his head, giving her an inquisitive look.

No, Misato decided, it wasn't.

Asuka wasn't stupid. Her immature behavior (often done, ironically, in the name of appearing to be an adult) made it easy to forget, but the redhead was incredibly smart.

Smart enough to know that NERV might want to use her outside of EVA if they knew she had super powers, the Ops Director thought. And Asuka would never want to lose Unit Two, that's for damn sure.

It also didn't hurt that Supergirl was always conspicuously absent when an Angel attacked, though, then again, so was Wonder Girl.

As for the various acts of heroism, well, Misato had always known that Asuka was far more than just a brat. She wouldn't have taken the girl in if she'd thought that was the case. Anyway, there was no doubt that the redhead would absolutely love to receive the amount of attention and praise Supergirl continually got.

"Either way, the answer to my question is almost certainly inside this room," Misato muttered. "What do you think, Pen-Pen, should I?"

"Wark!"

Misato sighed softly. "Yeah, that's about what I thought you'd say."

She really should find out if she had Supergirl living in her apartment. If there was a chance that NERV could field the Girl of Steel against the Angels, she felt obligated to take it.

Yet she still couldn't make herself open Asuka's door and go looking for the famous Supergirl costume. Instead, she continued to hesitate, recalling an exchange she'd had with her best friend some time back.


"So you have no idea at all?" Ritsuko asked.

"No, and before you ask, I don't intend to go snooping until I find out," Misato said.

"Why not?" Ritsuko asked.

Misato paused for a moment before answering. "I know that Asuka feels like we place adult responsibilities on her shoulders, while denying her adult freedoms and privileges, and to an extent she's right," she said. "We don't let the Children drive cars, we don't let them drink alcohol or smoke cigarettes, we wouldn't let them just sleep around if they were so inclined, I didn't let Shinji or Asuka live alone, and Asuka sure as hell won't be allowed to date the older men she seems so drawn to. Of course, we really can't let the Children do these things, but that doesn't make it fair to them."

"Yes, so?"

"So maybe I want to allow Asuka some adult privacy, so long as I don't have reason to believe that whatever she's up to is bad or harmful," Misato said.

"That's rather…sentimental," Ritsuko said. "Arguably rather foolish, too."

"Look, the minute I think there might be something rotten going on, I'll do something," Misato said. "We treat these kids like they're components too damn much as it is. I just want to do right by them whenever I can."


Misato sighed softly and turned away from the door, heading to the kitchen to get herself a beer.

I can't do it, she thought.

Much as she wanted to gain another weapon for use against the Angels, this was even bigger than that. It was about doing right by her charges and not treating them like they were nothing more than cogs in the war machine. It was about not losing their humanity while they defended humanity.

God, I'm getting overly dramatic here, Misato thought, cracking open a can of Yebisu. Clearly, this is long overdue. She took a long pull from her can.

"The way I see it, Pen-Pen," she said, "I told Rits I'd start investigating once I thought something rotten was going on. Well, I don't see Asuka potentially being Supergirl as something rotten. Simple as that."

"Wark!"

Misato smiled. It was always good to know that her faithful penguin agreed with her.


"What do you think?" Gendo Ikari asked Captain Chiron.

Both men stood in the Commander's cavernous office, staring at the monitor embedded in the far wall, which was usually hidden by a sliding panel. A live feed from a camera in Emil Hamilton's cell was currently on display.

To say that the man had seen better days would've been an understatement. Currently sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall, Hamilton looked like the most wretched person in the world. Not having been allowed to wash or offered a change of clothes since his arrival, he was utterly filthy. His hair and beard had both grown long and untamed, and it was obvious that there was much more gray in both than there had been before his internment inside NERV.

"I don't think he's going to crack any time soon," Chiron confessed.

Gendo's eyebrows rose a fraction of a centimeter. It was an unusually expressive gesture for him. "You're serious?" he asked, trying not to sound as incredulous as he felt.

"Much as I hate to admit it, he's been one tough nut to crack," Chiron said with a shrug. "Supergirl might as well be his own daughter, for how resistant he is to betraying her identity. What makes it worse is that he keeps feeding me random names to get me to go away for a little while. It's been a real pain in the ass having to track down all these girls, only to find out that there's nothing super about them."

Had he been prone to talking with his hands, the Commander would've responded to this with a dismissive wave. He frankly didn't care about what troubles the Chief of Section Two had had to go through lately. How exactly the man had gone about determining that the girls Hamilton had named were indeed not Supergirl—and, knowing Captain Chiron, he'd probably achieved this by sending an agent to injure them, to see if it was possible—concerned him even less.

"What would you advise?" Gendo asked instead.

"I think that putting Hamilton under more duress right now would just cause the guy to crack, and then he'd never be useful to us," Chiron said.

"Right now?" Gendo asked, easily spotting the key words in that sentence.

"Yeah. If we let him rest and recuperate for a while, I can start again," Chiron answered. "Sometimes when you leave a guy alone long enough, he gets comfortable. Assumes that it's over. Then when you come back to begin the whole thing all over again, he just can't stand the thought of it and spills his guts immediately."

"Give the good doctor all the time you feel is appropriate," Gendo said, shutting off the monitor and sliding the panel back into place. "But remember how important it is that NERV gets this information as soon as possible."

"Yes, sir."

Gendo nodded and began to head for the door.

"Ah, sir, if you have a moment, I'd like to discuss—" Chiron began.

"Fuyutski can deal with it," Gendo said brusquely. "I have an appointment to keep."


Shinji absolutely hated the graveyard.

Of course, he knew that graveyards, pretty much by definition, were not happy places, nor were they supposed to be. However, he'd seen other graveyards before, and they had been far nicer places of rest, with green grass, various ornate headstones, and flowers planted by the loved ones of the dead.

Not this place. In the graveyard where Yui Ikari supposedly lay, the ground had always been a dry, brown dust, as though someone had salted the earth many years ago. The headstones were all exactly the same, save for the engravings upon them, like they had been churned out on an assembly line.

It was not, Shinji mused, the sort of place where he would want to spend eternity, and it all seemed so unlike what Yui Ikari meant to him. Nothing about the place invoked any of his blurry and nearly forgotten memories of having a family that was whole and happy.

Still, he could've tolerated the almost alien atmosphere of the place easily enough; that wasn't the thing that most bothered him.

All his memories of the graveyard unpleasant ones. When he came here with his father, things were awkward at best, and disastrous at worst. He still remembered running away from this place the last time he'd come here, three years ago.

This time, he'd hoped, would be different, but so far, it appeared to be playing out much the same as many of his previous visits. The awkward ones, anyway.

"It just hasn't sunk in that mother is resting here," he commented to his father as he placed a small bouquet of white flowers in front of the headstone. Part of him irrationally expected them to shrivel and die the instant they made contact with the acrid ground. "I don't even remember her face." He added in a guilty little whisper.

"Man survives by forgetting his memories," Gendo remarked, "but there are some things a man should never forget. Yui taught me about these things. I come here to reaffirm that."

This type of philosophizing was not at all what Shinji wanted out of his father at a time like this. Indeed, he suddenly felt like he would've done anything for one little anecdote about the all too brief period of time that they'd been together. One tiny story to help him remember.

Yet he knew from experience that asking his father for one would yield nothing.

"You don't have any pictures of her?" he asked instead.

"None. This grave as well is just a decoration," Gendo answered. "There is no body."

That surprised Shinji a little bit; he'd never known that the grave was empty before. He was somewhat glad to discover that his mother wasn't in this miserable place.

"So my old guardian was right. You threw them all away," he said, annoyed enough at the lack of pictures to take a tiny jab at his father.

"I keep everything in my heart. That is enough for now," Gendo said, with just a trace of sharpness in his voice. Apparently, he'd seen the barb for what it was.

Either that, or Shinji was just imagining it.

Before the Third Child could even think about venturing another remark, a VTOL abruptly descended from the sky, its powerful engines kicking up great clouds of dust as it landed on the nearest available patch of empty ground.

"It's time. I'm leaving now," Gendo announced.

Shinji hesitated only for a moment before calling out to his father. "Um, I'm glad that I got to talk to you today."

Gendo paused for a moment, turning back just long enough to say, "I see."

Then he climbed into the plane. A moment later, it took off with another great burst of noise and wind. Rapidly ascending, it soon disappeared into the clear blue sky.

Now alone, Shinji allowed a heavy sigh to release him, his shoulders slumping. As he'd expected, there had been no moment of bonding with his father, just a reminder that his mother was dead and his family broken. The most that could be said for the whole event was that it could've gone worse.

He loitered around for a few seconds longer, then shrugged and walked off.

I hope that Asuka and Misato are enjoying today more than I am, he thought as he made it to the sidewalk and began to head home.


Asuka was having a miserable day.

For one thing, her blind date had taken her to an amusement park, of all places. Asuka couldn't think of any venue that said "I think you're still a kid!" louder than an amusement park.

So the thrill of dating an older man had worn off the moment they'd arrived, but Asuka could have lived with that, even if it had ensured right from the start that there was no chance of a second date.

Unfortunately, there were other things about her date, a college student named Miyuki, that were grating on her.

"So what was your favorite Wonder Girl moment, Asuka-chan?" he asked her as he handed her a cotton candy. "Personally, I've always been partial to the time she stopped that bank robbery."

Asuka crushed the paper cone that her cotton candy was on as she reminded herself, over and over, that it wouldn't be very heroic to give this guy an up close and personal demonstration of her heat vision.

To postpone having to give Miyuki an answer, the redhead took a bit of her candy, then made a face. The pink gossamer was far, far too sweet for her tastes.

"I don't know," she finally told the guy. "It's hard to pick. There are just so many great moments to choose from."

Her tone made it obvious that she was both being sarcastic and on the verge of exploding. The vast majority of people would've realized that and backed away from the topic, even if they didn't understand why it was irritating her so much.

Miyuki, however, was sadly oblivious. "Yeah, good point."

"Why don't we talk about something else?" Asuka suggested. "What do you think about Power Girl and Supergirl?"

"Meh," was his eloquent reply. "Hey, want me to win you a stuffed animal?" he asked, pointing to a series of booths with carnival games.

"No." Asuka said, her tone frosty.

"…oh, all right," Miyuki said, finally seeming to realize that this date wasn't going swimmingly after all. "Um, how about a ride on the Ferris wheel?"

"Sure, fine," Asuka said. "I have to use the ladies' room, though."

"All right," Miyuki said. "You go ahead, and I'll go and get us tickets."

Asuka nodded and wordlessly headed off to one of the little buildings that contained a restroom, throwing away the cotton candy in a waste bin as she went. She didn't actually go into the ladies' room once she reached her destination, though; she didn't really have to go. She'd just wanted to get away from her date for a few minutes.

I should just ditch this guy now while I have the chance, she thought grumpily, crossing her arms and leaning against the side of the little building.

Severely tempted though she was, part of her was reluctant to just bolt. She had, after all, agreed to go on this date. Sort of.

She hesitated for long moment, perfectly caught between her sense of obligation and her desire to escape the miserable parody of a date she'd found herself in.

Finally, Asuka sighed, preparing to head back and meet Miyuki by the Ferris Wheel.

Before she had taken a single step in that direction, however, her superhumanly keen ears picked up the ominous sound of metal groaning. She immediately began to scan the area with her X-ray vision, quickly discovering the source of the sound.

The Ferris Wheel was starting to tilt to one side. In seconds, it would fall over, crushing dozens upon dozens of people beneath it. Several people on the ground and others on the ride were already starting to realize something was wrong; Asuka could clearly hear their cries and shouts of panic.

Thank you, she thought to whatever deity might've caused this, then quickly ducked behind the little building, unbuttoning her green dress and revealing the blue and red costume she had on underneath.

Seconds later, Supergirl was soaring through the air toward the Ferris Wheel, which was now tilting dangerously. With one last, loud groan of bending metal, the amusement park ride began to fall in earnest, threatening to crush dozens upon dozens of people, as well as kill everyone already inside the thing.

The Girl of Steel put on a burst of speed, grabbing the side of the Ferris Wheel and stopping its fall mere seconds before it hit the ground. Easily supporting the huge ride's weight, she looked around, making sure that no one had been hurt.

And almost laughed out loud when she saw her blind date. Miyuki was cowering almost directly below her; he was crouching on the ground with his arms over his head, as though that would've helped. Out of everyone in the area, he appeared to be the only person who hadn't yet realized that Supergirl had arrived to save the day.

"Are you all right, sir?" she couldn't resist asking him, carefully pitching her voice a little lower than usual to decrease the odds of him recognizing her.

Miyuki slowly uncurled himself, looking up at Supergirl with wide, surprised eyes. He smiled.

Guess that showed him that I deserve more than a "meh"! She thought.

"Wow, Supergirl," he said. "Do you know Wonder Girl?"

Or not.

"Haven't seen her since that mess with the Parasite," Supergirl said curtly, deciding that her date was most definitely over.

Then, without giving Miyuki a chance to reply, she slowly began to push the Ferris Wheel upwards again, until it was back in its proper position. After welding the base of the ride to the ground with a little heat vision, the Girl of Steel took off, heading for home and away from this sorry excuse for a date.


The sound of music from the cello filled the apartment.

Part of Shinji had thought that dragging the instrument out and starting to play had been a very bad idea. The cello had once belonged to his mother and was, in fact, his only real keepsake of her. The Third Child could, if he allowed himself to, work himself into quite the state of sadness and melancholy simply by looking at it on a normal day.

Shinji had a bad tendency to indulge in self-pity, but there was a point when even he tired of such emotions. Nevertheless, he'd taken the instrument out of its case and, seeing as how he had the apartment to himself, sat on a chair in the living room and began to play.

Fortunately, while he had mixed emotions about the cello itself, music had always had a calming effect on him. He could feel himself relaxing as he played, the tension he'd built up in anticipation of visiting the grave with his father gradually leaving him.

He was feeling almost like his normal self again when he heard someone clapping. Surprised, Shinji immediately stopped playing and looked up to see Asuka standing nearby. He'd been so focused on his music that he hadn't realized she'd come back.

"That was very nice, Shinji," the redhead said.

The Third Child blushed, embarrassed. "Aw, it wasn't anything," he said. "I was just messing around, really."

She placed her hands on her hips. "You know, when someone pays you a compliment, you should just say 'thank you', not do your best to explain why you don't deserve it," she said, but her tone was unusually gentle.

"Um…thank you," he said.

She nodded approvingly. "Better. Anyway, I play the violin myself, so you can't fool me. I know you weren't just 'messing around'."

"I didn't know that you played violin," Shinji said.

"Well, I haven't had much time for it since I came here, but I'm very good at it," Asuka said immodestly. "Maybe we can play together sometime."

"Maybe," Shinji replied noncommittally. While he enjoyed playing the cello, he'd always been uncomfortable doing it in front of others. "So how did your date go? I didn't expect you to be back so early." He added, hoping to change the subject.

Asuka made a face. "My blind date was about the most annoying guy I ever met," she grumbled.

"Oh, sorry to hear that," Shinji lied. He actually found himself feeling very relieved at this news, but he told himself he didn't understand why that was.

"Also, the damn Ferris Wheel nearly fell over," the redhead added in an almost offhand manner.

"…what?"

"Relax, nobody was hurt or anything," Asuka said. "Supergirl showed up and put the thing back in place. I decided to give my sorry excuse for a date the slip in all the chaos."

"I see."

Her eyes narrowed. "You have a problem with what I did?" she demanded.

"No, not at all!" Shinji put his hands up in a placating gesture.

"Hmph," Asuka grumped. "I'm going to my room to change. Don't you dare to try to peek."

She disappeared into her room, and Shinji took the opportunity to put away his cello, lest the redhead request a performance or even decide she wanted to do a duet right then. A few minutes later, she returned to the living room, snatched up the remote control, and started to watch TV. Shinji picked up a magazine from the coffee table and tried to read, but he found himself repeatedly losing his concentration. Without his music, he found himself thinking about the disaster that had befallen his family so many years ago.

Hours passed, and night fell. Still, Misato didn't return home.

"This is stupid!" Asuka abruptly declared, startling Shinji.

"What?" he asked.

"This whole situation!" she answered, turning off the television and carelessly tossing the remote to an empty spot on the couch. "I'm bored, you're gloomy, and Gott only knows when Misato the wonder-guardian will be back."

"Why do you think I'm gloomy?" he asked.

Asuka rolled her eyes. "You've been reading the same magazine for the past three hours or so," she said flatly. "And you haven't turned the page once."

"Oh," he said sheepishly.

"We should get out of this place. Go outside and do something," she proclaimed, getting up from the couch.

"Like what?" Shinji asked.

"We'll figure it out on the way," the redhead replied with a dismissive little wave.

"I don't know…" the Third Child hesitated, suddenly becoming very interested with a particular spot on the floor.

At least until he felt Asuka's fingers under his chin, gently lifting up his head so he had to look at her.

"Tell me, baka," she began in an usually soft voice, "do you think your mother would feel betrayed, knowing you didn't spend the entire anniversary of her death feeling miserable?"

"I…I don't know," he admitted.

"Well, would you feel betrayed, if you died, and the people you left behind didn't make a point of being depressed on the anniversary of your death?" she pressed. "Would you want them to be miserable?"

"Of course not," he frowned.

"Well, there you go then," Asuka said with a smug smile on her face.

Shinji paused for a moment, then finally relented. "All right, let's go."

The two departed from the apartment, soon hopping onto a bus that took them downtown. After getting there, however, it became clear that Asuka had no real plan in mind for them. They stopped at a noodle cart long enough to get something to eat, but after that, they seemed to be wandering aimlessly around the city.

Shinji didn't mind; he liked spending time with Asuka.

He smirked. Not too long ago, I would've laughed at anybody who told me I'd be spending time with Asuka by choice.

"What's so funny?" she asked with a frown, noticing his amusement.

"Nothing," he shook his head. "I was just thinking about how different things are from when I first came here." Which, he supposed, was technically the truth.

She gave him a look that said she didn't quite believe him but let it go. "Well, now we just have to find something to do," Asuka declared. "I swear, if we were back in Germany, we wouldn't know what to pick, we'd have so much to choose from. This place is so boring."

Shinji looked around, starting as he finally realized why this area looked so familiar to him. He had wandered into this section of the city when he had run away, after the Fourth Angel.

"What?" Asuka asked, noticing his sudden look of surprise.

"Nothing," he said. "Um, there's a movie theater around here somewhere." Shinji added, hoping to keep Asuka from pressing the issue further.

"Where? Oh, wait, I see it," Asuka said, noticing the sign outside the theater. "Oh, Gott! That's too perfect!" she laughed.

"What is?" he asked, squinting. He could see the billboard outside the theater well enough to observe that there was apparently only one movie playing that day, but he couldn't quite read the title. It seemed that the redhead's eyes were keener than his.

Asuka refused to answer him, though, and Shinji was forced to wait until they'd gotten a little closer before he could read it.

He groaned. "Oh, no."

The billboard read "The Three Stooges' Greatest Hits."

"We're not," he said to her, caught between amusement and disbelief.

"We are," she said, heading toward the theater. Shinji sighed and followed her.


Misato was not quite sure how she'd ended up on the dance floor with Kaji.

She had told herself, sternly and repeatedly, that she would not dance with her ex-boyfriend. She would not let going to a wedding turn her to thoughts of romance.

Yet here she was, twirling around the floor to a slow song with Kaji.

"You've been very quiet tonight," he commented, whispering in her ear.

"I've had a lot on my mind," she replied.

"The kids?" he asked.

"Certainly not you," she said, but she couldn't manage to put any heat into her voice. The words came out in an almost playful tone.

"No need to worry about them," he reassured her with an amused grin. "The two of them are more mature than they seem sometimes, and they've been getting along quite well lately."

"I've noticed that, too," Misato said softly, abruptly feeling like she was entering dangerous territory.

She didn't want to talk about the changes she'd noticed in Asuka's demeanor lately, or what she suspected were the reasons for them. Especially with Kaji, who knew the redhead about as well as she did.

Fortunately, Kaji didn't seem inclined to take the conversation in that direction. "If those two get much closer, Asuka may well forget all about me."

That got an amused smirk out of her. "And wouldn't that just be terrible for you?"

He smiled wryly. "More like a relief, and you know it," he said. "Besides, I'm a one-woman kind of man anyway."

"Ha! That'll be the day," Misato grumbled.

"Oh, I can be a one woman man," he said, as he twirled her, "so long as the woman is beautiful, smart, strong…and a complete animal in the sack." He added in an undertone.

Misato rolled her eyes.

"The problem is," Kaji continued, "I only ever met one woman like that."

He smiled at her, and he was a handsome bastard when he smiled.

"Damn it," she breathed, pulling out of his grip and heading off the dance floor.

Unsurprisingly, Kaji quickly followed her. "What's the matter?" he asked. "Did I do something wrong?"

Misato hesitated. Much as she might like to pretend otherwise, Kaji was making her feel things she hadn't experienced in years, things she'd told herself that she never wanted to feel again. Yet now that she was, she found she couldn't make herself believe that she wasn't enjoying it.

She could be setting herself up for another tragic end, but…

"No, you didn't do anything wrong," she told him. "I just need a drink. Gotta take advantage of the open bar, right?"


Shinji and Asuka were still laughing when they got back to the apartment building that evening.

"Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk," the Third Child said as they entered the lobby and headed for the elevator.

Asuka giggled. "You see? You might like to deny it, but the role of 'stooge' fits you like a glove, Third."

Shinji shook his head ruefully. "You know, it's funny. I'd heard of the Three Stooges before—I think everyone has. But I never actually watched them until tonight."

"I'm not surprised," Asuka said. "I mean, their shows are so ancient they're in black and white, and they're all in English, too. I'd seen a couple, back when I was still letting NERV keep me cooped up at the base, but only because one of my old guardians happened to like that kind of stuff."

"My point is that before I didn't really know who you were comparing me to, all those times you called me and my friends the Three Stooges," Shinji said. "Now that I do…"

Asuka smirked at him. "What are you gonna do about it?" she challenged him.

Shinji held her gaze for a moment, then he smiled ruefully and shook his head.

"Ha! I thought so," Asuka said triumphantly. "Look, if it makes you feel any better, though, you're a good class of stooge. Unlike your two friends, who are doomed to be Larry and Curly forever, you're definitely a Moe."

"Gee, thanks," he said sarcastically, getting a hearty laugh out of her.

"You're welcome, Moe," Asuka replied cheerfully.

A moment of awkward silence followed. They were both back in the apartment by this point, and it was late. They both should have headed off to bed, but the two teens hesitated, reluctant to part ways.

"Thanks," Shinji said finally.

"Huh? What for?" Asuka asked, tilting her head slightly to the side.

"For tonight," he answered, suddenly looking very bashful. "I thought for sure that I'd be feeling down for the rest of the week. If somebody had told me that I'd be feeling, well, good tonight, I would've told them they were crazy, but I had a great time. You…you made me feel happy."

Something about this frank admission made Asuka's heart start beating a little faster, and she could feel heat suddenly blooming in her cheeks.

"Well, what did you expect?" she asked, trying to cover up her reaction with braggadocio. "To spend time with the Great Asuka Langley Soryu is to know true joy."

He smiled wryly at her. "Well, I don't know about you, but I'll be useless tomorrow if I don't get to bed," he said. "Good night, Asuka."

He turned to head to his room. Asuka was going to let him go, she really was. However, she was suddenly seized by a sudden impulse (or perhaps it was an abrupt fit of conscience) and grabbed his shoulder.

"Wait a minute, Shinji," she said, and he turned back around to give her a curious look.

"Yes?"

"I…I had a good time with you, too," she said, surprised at how difficult it was to make even this little admission to him, to give him this. "It was a lot more pleasant than that sorry excuse for a date Hikari set me up on, that's for sure."

He smiled at that, one of his extremely rare, toothy grins, and Asuka felt her heartbeat accelerate a little further. Whatever the baka's failings, she couldn't deny (to herself, at least) that was he cute when he smiled like that.

She became acutely aware that she still had her hand on his shoulder; his flesh felt very warm through the thin cotton fabric of his shirt.

Then, and she honestly couldn't have said exactly how or when it happened, she found herself slowly leaning toward him. She realized a moment later that he was also leaning toward her, his eyes half-lidded.

Gott, what am I doing? She wondered, her mind racing even as her body seemed to move of its own accord.

This wasn't happening, the redhead told herself. This couldn't be happening. She wasn't mere seconds away from kissing baka-Shinji. She was just…lingering. She'd had a nice night, and she was sorry to see it come to an end. But any second now she would pull back, wish Shinji good night, and that would be that.

Reall—

No, not really.

Surrendering herself to what suddenly seemed inevitable, Asuka slid her eyes closed, her lips parting slightly.

Then the door to the apartment opened, and Shinji and Asuka practically leapt away from one another.

"Hey, kids," Kaji said as he entered, oblivious to what he'd interrupted. He was half-carrying a barely conscious Misato.

The two EVA pilots traded a glance, both of them blushing heavily. Neither said a thing until Kaji started looking suspicious, and Shinji forced himself to speak.

"Is Misato all right?"

"Oh, she's fine, she's just had a little too much to drink," the long-haired man said.

Neither teenager was fooled; they both knew that Misato had had a lot too much to drink that night, but they were far too preoccupied by what had almost happened to comment.

"Do you think you can get her to bed from here?" Kaji continued.

"Um, sure," Shinji said, and went to take Misato.

Their inebriated guardian practically lay across his back once they'd made the transfer, and it was obvious that the Third Child was only barely strong enough to support her weight.

Asuka couldn't be bothered with that at the moment. She quickly chased after Kaji, who'd started heading for the door the moment that he'd handed Misato off to Shinji.

"Kaji, wait," she said.

But the man of her dreams just gave her a happy yet tired smile. She knew that she wasn't the one who'd put it there.

"Good night, Asuka," he said, and then he was gone.

The redhead sighed heavily and leaned against the wall, a wild mess of emotions churning inside her. She was fairly certain that Kaji and Misato had done more than simply fulfill a social obligation that day; something about the look in the man's eyes had even made her think they'd rekindled something between them, and that upset Asuka. Yet not as much as it should have.

She felt strangely like she had just woken up from a dream. Part of her could barely believe that she and Shinji had come so close to doing…that, and she felt appalled at herself for allowing it to happen, as well as strangely disappointed that they'd been interrupted.

Gott, what the hell is with me lately? She wondered.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the apartment, Shinji was feeling less conflicted about the whole thing.

"Couldn't you have come home five minutes later?" he asked Misato.

"Eh?" was his guardian's less than eloquent response.

He sighed. "Never mind."


Halfway across the world from Japan, Hasan sighed deeply as he looked at the withered remains of one of his coffee bean plants. The life of a farmer was one of toil, but the life of an Ethiopian farmer was one of toil and misery.

"Sometimes I don't know why I bother trying any more," he muttered to himself as he surveyed the rest of his similarly unimpressive crop.

His country had been plagued by drought before the Second Impact. Now, with the climate changes that cataclysm had wrought, Hasan couldn't help but wonder if his homeland was doomed to eventually become one big desert.

"Not that it matters, I suppose," he muttered to himself.

He would remain as long as possible, continuing to eke out an existence until he simply couldn't any longer. Only once that happened would he leave his home. Until then, he would go on as he always had, and nothing exciting would happen.

Of course, the moment he had the thought, Hasan saw something twinkle in the sky.

"A star?" he muttered to himself.

But that was impossible; it was the middle of the day. He shouldn't be able to see any stars in the sky for hours yet, and in any case, stars were white.

The thing that was twinkling in the sky was green.

Hasan continued to stare at it for several seconds, a frown on his face as he tried to figure out what the green "star" was.

That it appeared to be getting bigger was something he realized only gradually. He wasn't sure of it at first, thinking that it was merely a trick of the light, or of his own mind. Eventually, though, he became certain that it did look like it was growing larger.

Which, he realized, meant that it was getting closer.

That knowledge kicked Hasan into action. The man began to run away as fast as his legs would carry him, but he didn't manage to get very far away before the green thing struck the ground with a thunderous crash, kicking up a huge cloud of dust and destroying any number of his withered coffee plants.

"What was that?" he wondered to himself, coughing as he tried to fan away some of the dust.

Eventually, the cloud dissipated and Hasan dared to approach the impact site. There was a deep crater where the…thing had hit, and he gingerly peered over the edge.

"What in the world is that?" he breathed as he gazed down at the softly glowing green boulder below him.


Author's Notes: A slow chapter. After dealing with the Parasite for two chapters, I thought Asuka could use one.

Not much else to say here, so, as always, thanks to my readers and reviewers, and thanks to my beta reader as well.

Now for some fun.

Omakes!


"Misato the Wonder Guardian"

It was an average morning in the Katsuragi apartment, completely normal in every respect.

Which was to say, Asuka and Misato were bickering over breakfast, while Shinji was just trying to eat and be away before either of them noticed him and tried to get him to pick a side.

"Damn it, Misato, I just want to go and hang out with Hikari after school!" the redhead exclaimed. "I don't see why that's such a big deal!"

"It's a big deal because your grades aren't as good as they could be," Misato replied sternly. "You can do better in school than you are, Asuka, and you're going to stay home tonight and study."

"Oh, come on! I already have a college degree. You're only sending me to junior high so you can tell yourself I'm living a normal life when I'm not piloting a giant death machine!" Asuka said. "Besides, the only reason I'm not acing everything is because I'm still having trouble with the kanji."

"Then work on the kanji," Misato retorted. "You're not going out tonight, and that's that."

Asuka ground her teeth. "All right, I didn't want to do this, but you've left me no choice!" grabbing her shirt with both hands, the redhead tugged, instantly reducing it to shreds and revealing the Supergirl costume she had on underneath. "I'm Supergirl. I'm about a million times stronger than you, and I say I'm going out tonight, and there's nothing you can do about it." She said smugly.

Misato smirked, then took hold of her black top, ripping it off and revealing the Amazonian leotard she had underneath. It was exactly like Wonder Girl's, only larger and with a "G" instead of a "W."

"I have super strength, too," Misato said. "Wonder Guardian says you're not going out tonight."

"Well…damn," Asuka grumbled, then happened to glance toward Shinji. The boy was wiping at his bleeding nose with a napkin. "Ack! You pervert!"

Surprisingly, Shinji didn't just stammer out an apology. "Oh, gee, I'm so sorry," he said sarcastically. "I don't know why I'm reacting like this. It's not like I'm surrounded by beautiful women who are tearing their own clothes off or anything."

"…you know, he's got a point," Misato said.

"Yeah, I guess he does," Asuka agreed reluctantly.


Five Minutes Later, Take One

"Honestly, Misato, drinking until you get sick? I would have thought you were too mature for that by now," Kaji grumbled as he half carried Misato toward the door to her apartment.

"Kaji…there are some things a woman just can't say to her ex when she's sober," Misato said, clearly going a for a tone of sagely wisdom. She might've succeeded, too, if she wasn't slurring so badly.

"Fine, but couldn't you have waited until we got a little closer to your place to get this badly bombed?" Kaji asked.

Misato just grunted wordlessly by way of reply. Sighing, Kaji completed the journey to Misato's front door, opening it and stepping inside.

What they found sobered up Misato instantly.

"Oh god! Shinji! Asuka! Not in my apartment!" she exclaimed. "Not until you're sixteen, at the youngest! And not on the kitchen floor!"

Shinji and Asuka, of course, cheerfully ignored her.

"Damn it, Kaji! Say something!" Misato snapped.

Kaji was only too happy to comply. "Well done, Shinji! I knew you had it in you!" he said. "Now, you'll want to make sure to use your—"

"Don't encourage them!" Misato shrieked.


Five Minutes Later, Take Two

"Honestly, Misato, drinking until you get sick? I would have thought you were too mature for that by now," Kaji grumbled as he half carried Misato toward the door to her apartment.

"Kaji…there are some things a woman just can't say to her ex when she's sober," Misato said, clearly going a for a tone of sagely wisdom. She might've succeeded, too, if she wasn't slurring so badly.

"Fine, but couldn't you have waited until we got a little closer to your place to get this badly bombed?" Kaji asked.

Misato just grunted wordlessly by way of reply. Sighing, Kaji completed the journey to Misato's front door, opening it and stepping inside.

"Hello?" he called, not seeing anyone. Nobody answered.

"Where are the kids?" Misato managed to mumble.

"I don't…wait, here's a note," he said, grabbing a piece of paper that had been attached to the fridge by a magnet.

"What's it say?" Misato asked.

"'Going to Vegas to get hitched. Be back in time for breakfast.'" Kaji read. "It's signed by both Shinji and Asuka."

"Wha?" Misato gasped, alarmed.

"Oh, calm down. It's just a joke." Kaji chuckled. "Never knew Shinji had a sense of humor."

"He doesn't," Misato said anxiously, clearly still thinking that the message was for real.

"He must," Kaji said. "I mean, even assuming that they wanted to do this, how on earth could they get from Tokyo-3 to Vegas and back in one night?"

Misato frowned for a moment, then her eyes widened. "Uh-oh…"