In which Asuka prepares breakfast perfectly

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven...a time to love and a time to hate..." - Ecclesiastes, author disputed

Anita awoke to the clanging of pots and pans in the kitchen. Groggily, she pushed herself out of bed. It was only just barely after six, according to her alarm clock. 'Why is Asuka up so early? It's a Sunday…' Anita wondered.

She struggled into the kitchen. Asuka was angrily preparing a western breakfast. Much to Anita's surprise, everything looked delicious. The toast was a perfect golden brown; the eggs had been scrambled to perfect consistency; and the bacon smelled so good that it was all Anita could do not to just pick it right out of the pan.

Gendo struggled into the kitchen shortly after Anita, looking disgustedly at the food being prepared. Asuka kept forgetting that he was a vegetarian.

"What are you doing?" he asked disbelievingly. Anita thought he almost sounded like a normal teenage boy.

"Just making a little breakfast, Gendo-chan!"

"Don't call me that."

Asuka put some toast and bacon on a plate and handed it to Gendo. He glared at it, and then at her. "Vegetarian," he said.

"I know! That's not really meat!" Asuka grinned. "But it smells just like it!"

Gendo sat down at the table and picked at the bacon idly. Anita turned from him and back to Asuka, stepping forward before remembering (too late, for Asuka's attention was now fully devoted to her) that Asuka only ever went from angry to happy so quickly if she wasn't talking to the person who'd made her angry in the first place.

"Here *you* go, Anita," Asuka said, pushing a plate of food into her hands.

"Are you okay?" Anita asked.

"Of course I'm fine." Asuka served up some food for herself and sat down. Anita hesitated, not quite sure it was safe to be at the same table as Asuka.

"Really? You seem…"

Asuka glared. "Upset?"

"Y-"

"Maybe it's because I expected more from you, Anita." Asuka bit into her toast, ripping it in half. She continued eating, chewing in an almost dramatic way.

"I…" Anita sighed. "This is about the photographs, isn't it, Aka?"

"What else?"

Asuka wasn't the only one who was eating quickly. Gendo was shoveling food into his mouth with a speed Anita had never seen before. He hated them in the best of times, of course, so now that things were tense, he would desperately want to get away.

"Asuka-san, it was just photographs…" Anita gulped. "And Maya didn't think it was a big enough deal to report!"

"Maya's new at Nerv. Just because you say her mother was a competent professional doesn't mean that the daughter knows everything."

It was at this point that Gendo finished his food. He very nearly threw his dishes into the sink before fleeing back into his room. Anita flinched at the clattering sounds. Asuka remained glaring. What a wonderful morning.

"That doesn't mean she shouldn't know anything!" Anita protested. "Japan is different than Germany, Asuka! They expect different things! They expect me to be like a normal kid here, to go to school and care about TV or the internet or music and something! All that's weird enough! I'm sorry I did one thing wrong!"

She dumped her plate onto the counter and stormed into her room. She did not want to put up with this right now. Asuka was being completely unfair. Completely.

3473:45:18

Unfortunately, Asuka was in charge of synch tests. And with the extra training underway, Anita had to leave her room eventually, take a shower, and join Asuka and Gendo in the car. There was an uncomfortable silence. Anita had never yelled at Asuka before. She wasn't sure if she'd ever yelled at anyone before, except maybe Angels or simulations.

They weren't human. They didn't count.

Like always, they parked at an aboveground garage and took an elevator into the Geofront. It was cramped and awkward. Gendo was practically hiding in the corner, attempting to be as far away from either of them as possible. Asuka stood right by the exit, tapping her foot angrily, her arms crossed. Anita stood by the buttons, but looked up at the display counting down the floors until they got to leave this hell.

When the door opened, Asuka darted off first, following one set of winding corridors to the observation deck where their synchronization would be monitored. In Germany, only two people had ever paid attention to her during those periods. Here in Japan, a staff of fifty was on hand at all times. Anita wasn't sure why they took things so seriously.

She and Gendo walked side by side for a little while. Anita didn't say anything, because she didn't want to help Asuka with the stupid pet plan of bringing Gendo out of his shell. Gendo didn't say anything because he was an antisocial idiot.

They separated at the locker rooms. Maya was already inside the girl's one, and she smiled at Anita. Anita didn't have the heart to smile back.

"Are you okay?" Maya asked politely.

"I'm just not looking forward to the test," Anita said. That was semi-true. She couldn't concentrate right now, and concentration was the key to piloting. What if her synch ratio didn't go up as far as it could have? What if it didn't get up as high as the record she'd broken yesterday? Neither of these prospects was very appealing, and it would be all Asuka's fault for messing her up like this.

"Oh…" Maya sighed. "That's weird for you…" She sat down and began removing her clothes. Anita had noticed that Maya was generally hesitant about this, facing herself away from Anita, or sometimes even finding a way to hold off on changing until Anita was already going to leave.

"So, the pictures," Anita whispered.

"Yeah," Maya agreed. "I guess we did screw up a little there, didn't we?"

"Asuka sure thinks so…" Anita sighed. How was she supposed to have known that it was such a huge deal? They were just photographs, photographs of her, Anita Griffith, piloting Eva-02 and defeating the Angel with skill and confidence. It would show the world that they were being taken care of; that the girl who had been born for this project was succeeding immensely in what was the most important thing in the world. Keeping everything a secret was stupid.

"I hope you're not in too much trouble," Maya said.

"Of course not," Anita lied. "Asuka's… a bit upset with me, but… I think she'll live."

"For your sake, I hope so." Maya finished changing into her plugsuit and stood up. "Well, I guess we should go now," she said. "Hopefully tomorrow they'll have fixed my Eva so they can stop worrying about things like that."

Anita hoped so too. The last two Angels had attacked six days apart. Things weren't even "monster of the week" at that sort of rate. Who could say when the next one would arrive?

Who could say when Anita would be called upon to face death for mankind again? Her, and yes, Gendo and Maya too. The world demanded a lot from them, even Anita saw that. She didn't mind. She'd meet the demand and then some. Two Angels had been defeated handily, and if she just stayed calm and focused, she could defeat any other Angel that would be coming.

Anita stood up, her plugsuit properly on, and followed Maya through the doors at the far end of the locker room. Maya was routed to the simulation room, but Anita walked calmly into Eva-02's cage and was assisted into an Entry Plug. No one spoke to her, no one used her name. She didn't mind so much, but in Germany at least the workers always tried to act like they cared. She was piloting for them, after all.

Soon the Entry Plug was inserted, the radio was properly disconnected so she couldn't hear a word that was being said in the observation deck, and the LCL was humming around her. She took in a deep breath of it. Even after so six years of training, she still felt her gag reflex trying to spit all the water out, to not let it into her lungs.

She shut her eyes and tried to ignore the feeling.

In response, images of Asuka from this morning conjured themselves in her mind's eye. She tried to think different thoughts; remembering the deaths of the Angels, the happier moments with Asuka, the few times she'd met Maya's mother.

"Anita?" It was Doctor Ayanami's voice. She sounded concerned.

"Yes ma'am?"

"Your synch ratio stopped rising suddenly. Are you feeling all right?"

Anita nodded. "Of course, ma'am."

"Oh, there we go. It's jumping up again. Must have been a momentary jitter… Never seen-" The radio turned off again.

So her synch ratio wasn't affected. That was great news and Anita clung to that thought as best she could, trying to envision Eva Unit 02 and herself becoming one entity, one giant robot that would tear any Angel limb from limb. Or whatever they had instead of limbs. It didn't matter.

This was what she was born for, and this was what she was going to do, and she didn't care if she got in a few scraps with Asuka along the way.

3472:52:55