AN: Don't get confused by the title. This scene is just so iconic to not write! But will be different from NGE, apparently, since there are no Angels here.

Disclaimer: I do not own Evangelion.

Chapter 4: Momentarily United Minds Pt1

Wednesday

Kensuke sat in the grass with stacks of photos next to him. He had a small sign next to him that read "Great Deal! ¥30 per photo!" Next to him on the ground were several numbered boxes, each containing different pictures of Asuka. Kensuke had spent the last few days taking the pictures wherever he could. Of her drinking water, walking around, swimming in gym class. He'd even snapped a few photos of the girls changing in the classroom by climbing surreptitiously up the tree next to the window. He was selling the photos he got of the girls in their bras and panties, but he was keeping the photos he shot that were less clothed to himself.

He had sold several dozen photos already, and Toji had declined to help him, but also wouldn't tell anyone what he was doing because he's no rat. Kensuke was just packing up when Mari wandered over. Kensuke went white as he tried to gather the pictures up quickly, but Mari stopped him.

"Why so nervous, pervert?" Mari asked with a devilish smile.

"No reason!" Kensuke said worriedly.

"Really, then why are you hiding all the photos of the princess?" A wink.

"P-princess?"

"Oh, you know, the exotic redhead who just transferred here this Monday," Mari explained, pushing her glasses up a bit, "why hide them? Hmm?"

"I don't get no photos." Kensuke panicked.

"Yeah, that's not what I heard." Mari looked around, making sure no one would see them, "I want the one where you have all the girls changing."

"Why? Are you into girls or something?" Kensuke asked perversely.

"No, I saw I looked pretty good in it, and I want a copy of each of the three for myself. Here's your ¥90 to prove I'm serious."

"How did you find out?"

"Well, I saw a bunch of guys all hard over something, and I took a peek," Mari said sheepishly. "Besides, I don't mind when people take pictures of me, I'm always flattered."

"You do realize you're not the subject of these photos?" Kensuke said, confused.

"Yes, the princess is." Mari said. "But I don't care about that. Just take my money and give me what I asked for!"

"Fine, fine, here you go." Kensuke handed Mari the pictures she wanted before continuing with a fearful tone, "Just keep this quiet, I don't want to die by Shikinami's hand! She's only been here for three days and has already put five separate guys into hospitals!"

"Really, and then explain how I knew about it?" Mari said sarcastically, "Not likely. Bye pervert!" Mari said as she walked away, leaving Kensuke in complete disbelief.

XXXXXX

Putting all the love letters she gathered from her locker into the incinerator, Asuka's sour mood finally improved a little as she watched those meaningless and hollow papers burnt into ashes. The Class Rep told her she could dispose of her trashes after school – and she did. She hated dealing with boys – they were all perverted and dumb, not worth her precious time at all. Before, she had Kaji to idolize, now in this new world, Kaji didn't even know her, and apparently, he wanted nothing to do with her as well. It's okay, though. The great Asuka Langley Soryu didn't need anybody.

For some reason the image of Shinji showed up in her mind. She shook it off violently, blaming it as the after-effect of that 'wet dream.' To her Shinji was simply another perverted little boy! Why would someone as brilliant as her would ever –

'But he was also an EVA pilot,' another voice in her mind said, 'and he fought the Angels by your side.'

'But I don't remember it!' Asuka retorted, 'and I bet he performed pathetically during the battles! I might have saved his life several times already!'

'Don't be silly, little girl. Have you ever thought about the reason you two are here? You were both EVA pilots, isn't that a bit coincidental?'

'I know that already! But…' the fact was Asuka had never thoroughly thought about the possible reasons. There were too many things to deal with, so it had slipped her mind. Now that things were more or less settled into a routine, she could do more thinking and less planning. The incinerator still needed several minutes or so to completely dispose of the hill of love letters, anyway.

'Well, I guess it had something to do with the EVAs,' Asuka reasoned to an apparent conclusion, 'but I really don't see how those robots could…' she paused her train of thought as she reached to a terrifying possibility, 'unless…it was the Angels?'

'Maybe, maybe not.' Her own mind said, 'that's for you to discover on your own.'

Asuka grumbled in frustration, turned off the incinerator as it's done the job, and hurriedly left the room. She went back to the gloomy classroom with a surprisingly tolerating mood – burning stuff to ashes had satisfied her destrudo. Walking into the doors, she saw an odd scene. The school was over, and Mari, apparently on duty that day, was alone in the classroom, sitting on her chair and leaning backward, her eyes appreciating something held in her hand.

"Makinami?" Asuka said, confused, "What are you doing here so late?"

Mari practically jumped from her seat, almost falling flat on the ground. "Ahhh!" She yelped in surprise, hastily shoving the stuff she was looking at into her pocket, "N-nothing!"

Asuka narrowed her eyes in suspicion, "Hm. What were you looking at?"

"I, I think I should leave now," Mari tried to diverge the subject, she stood up and walked towards the door, "s-see you later, Princess!"

Although Asuka was tempting to stop her and demand explanation, she quickly squashed the thought, thinking she was just paranoid. After all, it wasn't any of her business to care about other people's doings. She also wanted to go back to her apartment.

Just as she was about to turn around and leave as well, she found something on the floor. It looked like a small piece of paper; upon further inspection, she identified it as a photo. Mari turned around as well, seeing the photo lying on the floor, she paled and searched her pocket – and found nothing. "Oh crap…"

Asuka shot her an incredulous glare, walked over, and picked up the photo.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?!"

"Look, princess," seeing no way out of this, Mari decided to play cool for the moment, "I can explain…"

"Where. Did. You. Get. This?" Asuka hissed out word by word, her glare powerful enough to put Ramiel at shame. "Explain. Rapidly."

"So, err, don't think I'm into girls or something!" Mari summoned all her willpower to meet Asuka's gaze and still failed miserably, "I got this cuz I look good in that!" Asuka's glare softened from 'Ramiel's last shot at unit 01' to 'Ramiel's second-to-last shot at Unit 01', "And…I got this f-from…" Mari swallowed, internally apologizing to the poor boy she was sure whose body would never be found, "A-Aida."

"Aida?" Asuka pondered for a moment, realizing he was Shinji's friend, which seemed to add another item to the 'why I hate Shinji list'. "How did you get this? Did you…request him to take a shot of you? Because it looks like I am the one at the center of the photo!"

"Well…he, he took the pictures himself…" Asuka's glare intensified by an exponential, "and, he…sold it to me."

Mari could practically feel the room temperature rose by 10 degrees caused by the increase in entropy under Asuka's sheer fury. "I see. So he's selling pictures about me." Her voice oddly calm, contrary to the creaking and bending desk squeezed by her hand. She said none other words and pushed past Mari, who was suffocating under the intense atmosphere.

Seeing the redheaded devil went downstairs with ground-breaking steps, Mari let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. She could only wish good luck to the glass-wearing boy.

XXXXXX

Thursday morning

"Horaki-san, we have a problem." Asuka said, rushing up to her the moment she saw her. Last night and this morning had been hell for the poor Misato, who endured Asuka's wrath since she was the only one there. Asuka intended to resolve the problem as soon as possible, so she uncharacteristically got up early and came to school, around the same time Hikari arrived.

"Good morning! What's up Shikinami-san?" Hikari The Dutiful And Punctual Class Rep glanced at Asuka, surprised that someone came to school as early as she did.

"There is no 'good' morning, Horaki-san!" seeing no one else has come to class yet, Asuka raised her volume, pulling out the photo to show it to Hikari, "that fucking degenerated perverted hentai Aida is selling filthy photos of me he took!"

Hikari's face stiffened. "Asuka, how do you know exactly?"

"That's not important, Class Rep!" Asuka barked, "our top priority should be stopping him, don't you think?"

"Right," Hikari sighed, "let's wait for him to show up."

One hour later

Hikari and Asuka found Kensuke under a tree, far from the school building. They decided to sneak up behind him and scare him, while Asuka could hide and wait for Hikari to interrogate him first. "KENSUKE!" Hikari shouted. Kensuke jumped so severely, he knocked over several of his boxes, spreading photos all over the ground. He tried to get up, but he slid on the loose photos and fell back to the ground quite hard. "What the hell do you think you're doing, Aida?!" Hikari asked.

"I'm not sure what you're talking about…" Kensuke retreated.

"Bullshit!" Hikari I Do Not Swear Horaki swore, "You're selling pictures of Asuka! Pictures you took, like a pervert! Sneaking around and catching her unawares!"

"I did not!" Kensuke lied.

Hikari opened several of the boxes on the ground. "Really? You're a bad liar Kensuke." Hikari glared at him disbelievingly, "So, what are all these publicity photos? You can't do this to your classmates!"

"No, they're just a hobby of mine." Kensuke improvised.

Asuka couldn't stand his bull crap anymore. She came out from the ambush, eliciting a fearful yelp from the boy as he set his eyes on her. "How do you explain this, Arschloch?" She said, taking out the photo, slamming it in front of Kensuke.

Kensuke was about to have a panic attack. During her first several days at school, Asuka had already earned several nicknames, such as 'irritable Red bitch', 'the bloodthirsty Red Devil', and 'Menstruating Permanente'. He had seen what happened to boys who dared to cross her boundaries - now he was at the center of her crosshair.

Seeing no reaction coming out from the frozen boy, Asuka turned her attention to the boxes on the ground. She opened several more boxes until she found the ones she was looking for, the ones of the classroom with the girls changing for gym. "And what about these?!" Asuka shouted, showing them to Hikari.

"You fucking pervert!" Hikari yelled as well, "You climbed the fucking tree to spy on the girls changing?! You're sick!"

"I am not!" Kensuke dropped his innocent pretense. "I did it to get a good shot of everything! People want to see the hot foreign girl, and If I make a bit of cash off the deal, who cares?! No one's getting hurt, are they?!" The biggest false statement he could make that time, both literally and metaphorically.

He was hit square in the face by Asuka – who was determined to prove his statement wrong. With all the combat training she received, she delivered a perfect hit using her fist, causing moderate lasting damage but making it as painful as possible, while causing minimal damage to her fist. Kensuke stumbled backward, his glasses bent inward.

Asuka moved to kick him, Hikari held her back. "Hokari, let go!" Asuka barked as she struggled against her. "Let go!" Not that she wasn't strong enough to break out of Hikari's futile attempt of restraining her, she simply didn't want to hurt Horaki as well, who was siding with her at that time.

"Asuka, you're going to get in trouble for hitting him." Hikari said worriedly, "As much as he deserved it, you'll be receiving more punishments! That hit is already enough to put you in a suspension! You're going to expose him for whatever secret you know about him, remember?"

Asuka glared at Kensuke with a gaze that would make Gendo flinch. "Fine, Horaki, you win." Asuka huffed, "But I want to talk to him alone for a minute. I promise not to hurt him."

"Sure, I'll go watch from over there." Hikari said, pointing to where she was walking.

"Ok, listen, you hentai!" Asuka spatted angrily, "I really do want to crush you with my feet right now, but I won't, for Hikari's sake. You owe her for that bigtime." Asuka paused and glared at Kensuke some more. "Now, if you ever want me to put you off my murder list, you will buy back all those pictures. If it takes more money than you've earned, then that's your problem. I'll ask Hikari to go with you to each pervert you sold them to scare them into selling them back to you. As for the naked pictures… I'll take and burn them and all in the rest, with all the negatives and any copies you have stashed in the incinerator, got it?"

The quick and continuous nods were the only confirmation she got.

XXXXXX

"Er ist so ein Arschloch! Ich kann es nicht glauben! Ich werde ihn in Stücke reißen!" It was about the tenth time that day Asuka cursed about the photo incident at Shinji, yet she still hadn't used the same line more than once, "Look what kinds of friends you make, Baka!" She poked Shinji's ribs using her elbow, eliciting a pained groan from the aforementioned boy.

Shinji wanted no more than vanishing from the air, however he figured listening to Asuka's rant was probably better than she ignoring him; at least she was willing to talk with him. "I'm sorry! I didn't know…"

"What are you sorry for?" Asuka interrupted him, "Gott, why you Japanese people always apologize when they did nothing wrong?"

Shinji squashed another automatic response with a considerable amount of will, "I, err, I remember being friends with them? I mean, I was friends with them, and they weren't so bad…"

Asuka huffed, "well, I'd say you really don't have good taste in friends," Shinji just looked down in response, "and I even got suspended from school for a week!"

"Well, I suppose he got what he deserved, right?" Shinji suddenly asked.

Asuka's face showed a turmoil of emotions at his words – surprise, anger, pride, and finally – reluctant joyfulness. "You better think so!" Asuka smiled a satisfied smile, "oh Gott, that punch was totally worth it…" She fake punched the tree beside her as she pouted, a fake frown on her face, trying to recall the satisfactory feeling. Shinji suddenly found her very cute acting like this…

He blushed, hastily turned around, hiding his face from the redhead. He was sure if she saw his reaction, he wouldn't be able to see tomorrow's sun. 'Think other stuff! Think other stuff!' Shinji thought, trying to think about anything other than the cute redhead…

His blushed deepened.

'No no no no!' he shook his head, 'what's my last night's dream? Oh right, Godzilla, explosion, EVAs…' he sighed in relief internally, 'I haven't seen the prophesier these days…I wonder where he is? Last time he told me Asuka and I…' he realized too late the final station of his train of thought.

His blush turned into an incandescent one.

He started to realize his efforts were doomed from the start.

As polite and well-mannered as he was, he was still a teenage boy.

"Huh? Third, what's gotten into you? You look…feverish," sarcastically it was Asuka's bemused voice that saved him from his indecent thoughts.

"S-sorry!" Autopilot running, check. "I…maybe it's the heat?" He improvised.

"Hm," Asuka pondered for a moment and decided to let it slip. It was a bit hot that day, after all. "Get into shadows, dumbass!"

A screech of brakes captured both of their attention, Misato's voice came from the rolled-down window, "Hello, kids! Sorry I'm late! Get in the car! We have a lot to do today!"

XXXXXX

Shinji and Asuka made another connection with the simulator and yielded wonderful results. Gendo Ikari was reading the report sent to him, while twelve monoliths emerged around him.

"We should move on to our next step, Ikari," SEELE 01 spoke, "let's see if they can connect with Lilith."

"So fast?" SEELE 03 questioned, "we still have plenty of time at our hands."

"The earlier we test it, the earlier we'll find problems," SEELE 01 retorted, "Ikari, arrange the contact experiment with Lilith as soon as possible."

"We still have plenty of time today," Gendo confirmed, "I'll ask Dr. Akagi to do the preparations for the contact experiment right now."

SEELE 01 pondered for a moment, "Go ahead. We shall see the results."

XXXXXX

"Okay, we're not quite done yet," Naoko's voice came through the comm channel, "we're going to do something new." For some reason, her tone was making Shinji nervous.

"Yeah, yeah, just get this over with," Asuka said impatiently, "I'm doing all the chores today!" Misato grumbled something inaudible.

Naoko ignored her comment and started working on her terminal. She switched the link from the simulator to Lilith – it was marked as another simulator since it's classified. After a thorough check and made sure everything was in order, she spoke to the kids, "we are about to start- you might see hallucinations, just ignore it. Just your brains playing tricks on you," Naoko explained with a tingle of nervousness. As a brilliant scientist as she was, she didn't know what exactly would happen if The Two were to connect with Lilith successfully. However, it was a risky step that must be taken. "Alright, starting initiation sequence. Shinji, we'll test you first, then Asuka."

"Roger," Shinji replied.

Inside the entry plugs, Shinji felt an odd sensation creeping up his body. At first, both of his hands felt numb, and then they started hurting. He felt something pierced through his hands, although the feelings were not strong enough to make him cry.

"First level connection established," Maya reported, having absolutely zero idea of what Shinji was connected with, "begin second phase connection."

Suddenly Shinji's vision went white. It was nothing like the kaleidoscope of colors he saw every time he was connected to a simulator – it was more like a sensor overload. Soon the sensations became unbearable, his brain struggled to process all the information carried by electronic signals. Shinji clutched his head in agony – not physical pain, but mental suffering. "Arghhhh! What is this?! Stop! Make it stop!" He shouted to the comm channel.

Asuka, sitting in her plug impatiently and anxiously, heard his scream. She felt a cold knot forming in her stomach as Shinji's pleas for help intensified. She didn't know why she felt that – she didn't exactly care about him, did she? Then why was she…worried?

"Cut the connection! Abort the test!" Naoko order hastily, and Maya complied instantly. "Signal received! The connection is severed!"

"Ohhhh…" Shinji panted heavily, his sensations returning back to normal. "Baka! What happened?" Asuka's voice came through the channel.

Shinji raised an eyebrow. Asuka, of all people, was…worried about him? 'Maybe just like the prophesier said, we do have a chance after all.' He smiled internally, but too tired to show it on his face. "I…I don't know…but I think I'm okay, for now…" he replied in an almost whisper, but not unheard by the redhead.

Asuka felt a huge weight was lifted from her shoulder, but she still couldn't rationalize her behaviors. She shook it off, thinking it was only her sympathy towards another human being.

In the observation room, everyone let out a sigh of relief as Shinji's vitals stabilized. At the same time Naoko was in a hurry to find possible causes. She read through the readings and the synchrograph, as well as Shinji's brain waves. "Hmm…interesting," Naoko found out the problem instantly – the sinusoidal wave of Lilith wasn't in the same phase as Shinji's, and the amplitude of it was two times larger as well. In English, Shinji didn't have enough mental power to handle all of Lilith.

Naoko sighed – although Shinji had already surpassed all former test subjects, namely – Rei, and several other random civilian volunteers who either developed severe mental disorders or fell into a coma – Gehirn did compensate their families with a satisfactory amount of money, but that didn't make it morally right; therefore, Gehirn had stopped picking random people to participate such tests. Those people never made it to first-level connections.

Now, the prophecy of the Dead Sea Scrolls has come true – The Two certainly possessed unnatural powers. Naoko wasn't about to give up yet – nor would Commander Ikari allow her to. She needed a plan, and fast.

An idea clicked in her head. "Alright. Shinji, how are you feeling?"

"Dizzier than usual, but otherwise okay," came his reply.

"Good. We'll start another test-" "Are you crazy?!" Asuka cut in, "you saw what happened to him! And you just say 'start another test'?"

"Silence, Second Child, and let me finish," Naoko's appellation to Asuka elicited a wave of nostalgia in her heart, silencing the redhead in an instant, "I've already made alterations to the system. It shouldn't happen again."

"Well that's reassuring…" Asuka murmured.

Naoko sighed, "Listen, I know you're worried about him, just-"

"WHAT?!" Asuka blushed, "I-I'm not worried about him!"

Although Shinji remembered what the prophesier told him – 'she doesn't mean what she says for most of the time' – it still stung. He managed to suppress his feelings for now.

'Why The Two are fucking kids…' Naoko found no point in arguing with her, so she ignored her outburst and turned her attention to Shinji, "Shinji, do you feel ready for another test?"

Shinji swallowed. He was about to run away. He was about to say 'no'. But he remembered the prophesier's advice – don't run away. He closed his eyes, "Hmm, I'm okay, just make sure it won't happen again, alright?"

"Good." Naoko sighed in relief. 'At least one of them is reasonable enough,,,'

Naoko made some quick modifications to the linking system – she adjusted the connection route so that both Asuka and Shinji would be connected to Lilith simultaneously. "Alright. Are you guys ready?"

"Yeah." They answered in unison.

"Begin connection sequence," Naoko ordered.

Maya started typing on the keyboard, "first-level connection established," she reported, "should we continue?"

"Continue the test."

"Hai. Begin second phase."

In the entry plugs, both Asuka and Shinji felt something strange. There was no kaleidoscope of colors, nor was there sensor overload. They found themselves inside a huge chamber, above an orange sea – they thought they were floating at first, and Shinji wanted to look at his left, while Asuka wanted to look at her right.

And nothing happened.

"Hey!" Asuka struggled in moving her body, "something's fighting me!"

"Me too!" Shinji followed, "someone else is trying to move my body!"

Naoko looked at the reading on her terminal; at first, she couldn't help but grin widely. The interference of Asuka and Shinji's brain waves created a new wave, and it matched Lilith's perfectly. However, sometimes their waves showed a constructive interference, and everything worked fine. Other times they showed a destructive interference, and the combined wave became zero at those times. Seeing the evidence at hand and hearing the complaints coming from the Children, she put two and two together and figured it was caused by the discrepancies in their thoughts. "You two, focus on your thoughts!" She said into the channel.

But it was too late. Asuka, tired of playing the tug of war, decided to force her will on whatever she was willing that time. Shinji immediately felt a strong sense of detachment, and his connection severed, leaving Asuka solely connected to Lilith.

"Ahhhh!" Asuka started screaming. "What's happening?! Stop it!"

"Cut the connection…" Naoko said with a dejected face, her terminal showing the result of Asuka's actions, "conclude the tests for today…"

XXXXXX

"What's your thoughts on this, Doctor?" having finished the report, Gendo was more surprised than satisfied.

"Well, they certainly need to work together to achieve a perfect connection with Lilith," Naoko replied, "and fortunately, we have something at our hand to help them."

"That is?" Gendo raised an eyebrow.

"A specially designed equipment that can probe human brain waves – it can help them synchronize with their thoughts," Naoko explained, putting down a set of documents, "however, we still need outside influence – that is, although the equipment can force them to think about the same thing to a degree, they still need an external trigger on their thoughts."

"Assuming they are humans in the first place," Gendo snorted.

"Well, the biopsy told me their physical component is not so different from humans, and their brain waveforms also match perfectly with humans," Naoko reassured, "at least we should give it a try, right?"

"Your suggestion is acceptable," Gendo said with a wave of his hand, "dismissed."

XXXXXX

Shinji and Asuka sat side by side in the debriefing room, facing a cold-faced Dr. Akagi. Both Misato and Kaji were standing beside the door, Misato with her arms crossed, trying to ignore the Kaji's futile attempt of flirting. "Today's test results are…unacceptable," Naoko deadpanned, "I expected better of you two."

Asuka stood up, pointing the finger at Shinji while facing Naoko, "This is all his fault! If he wasn't trying to distract me, I would've succeeded!"

"How is this my fault?!" Shinji shot back, also standing up, "you were fighting against me!"

"I should be the dominant one, considering I am the genius, while you're just a jerk!" Asuka barked.

"I'm the jerk?" Shinji retorted, "I'm not the one who ruined the test by forcing her partner to disconnect!"

"ENOUGH!" Naoko roared, 'How in the world are The Two so CHILDISH?' "JUST WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR JOB HERE IS?"

"To…participate in your tests?" Asuka answered cautiously.

"Wrong! It's to make sure the human race has a brighter future!" Naoko exercised her technically true statement, "and we need you to work together!"

"Why should we?!" Shinji and Asuka shouted to each other in unison.

"Just enough already…" Naoko sighed, having her spirits exhausted, "Katsuragi, Ryoji, brief them about the plan, I'm gonna take a rest…" She picked up her documents and left the room.

"Just remind me why do we need kids for this job…" Misato grumbled in annoyance, "alright, I'll do it. Kaji, you can go and take the delivery."

Kaji smiled and nodded, leaving the room as well.

"Delivery?" Asuka shot a questioning look at Misato, "what do they need to deliver here for?"

"It's about your special training…" Misato waved her hand, gesturing Shinji and Asuka to follow her, "come with me, I'll explain once we get there…"

The trio walked in silence in the hallway as they approached the living quarters. Misato led the confused Children to the front of a door, using her keycard to slid it across the slot on the lock. The door hissed open, revealing a rather clean and big room with two single beds, and a DDR machine at the corner.

They Children exchanged a confused look. "So," Misato started with a grin that was too familiar to both Shinji and Asuka, "you two will be living here together for the next five days."

"WHAT?!" Shinji and Asuka shouted in unison, but for different yet similar reasons. "THERE IS NO WAY I'M LIVING WITH HIM!"

"Asuka!" Misato said forcefully, "not just living together, but also eating together, training together, sleeping together…in short, everything you do, both of you will participate! Well, except bathing, that is."

"WHY?"

"Because we need you guys synchronized!" Misato explained, "you need to synchronize your thoughts, or you will fail again in the next test! And Commander Ikari will not tolerate repeated failure!"

"But what if this pervert tries something during the night?!" Asuka took an involuntary step away.

"C'mon, I know you'll kill me if I try anything…" Shinji said dejectedly.

"Hmph, I suppose you know your place!"

"No objections? Not that I'll take them anyway," Misato started walking towards the door, "Kaji will explain the training to you after he comes back with the…stuff, before that, behave yourselves. Dinner serves from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m." Misato added, exiting the room, "don't kill each other!"

Asuka shot a threatening glare at Shinji, who immediately slumped and ready to escape. Seeing his reaction, Asuka initially felt content since she had power over him, but soon another feeling crept up in her mind – she felt sick at his submissiveness. Asuka liked it when he was pushing back – it was more interesting that way.

XXXXXX

"Here, put this on right now."

Asuka tried to look as menacing as she could at Kaji, but her age and height against someone masculine and broad-shouldered like Kaji… "No! I'm not like Shinji! I'm not wearing this stupid outfit!"

Shinji stared at Asuka. He was already wearing the ludicrous 'synch outfit', a clashing ensemble of black spandex shorts and a loose-fitting top that threatened to fall off the shoulders. Knowing Misato, Asuka could imagine her hysterical laughter once she sees them. She must've done this for revenge against the hell brought to her by Asuka.

"Asuka, you will put this on willingly, or do you want our lovely Shinji to put it on for you?" Kaji said with a sly grin.

Apparently Asuka was not used to Kaji acting like this to her. She recoiled and gave him a hateful look. Shinji even got to his feet and glared at his guardian. "N-now, Kaji-san, you can't mean such things!" He blushed helplessly as certain images crept up to his mind.

"So what's it going to be, Asuka?"

"You know, this has to be some form of child abuse!" Asuka insisted, "This is banned by Geneva Conventions! I'll have to report this to-"

"It was approved by the Commander himself." Kaji interrupted with a smug look.

"Fa-he did?" Shinji almost slip-tongued.

"Yes. Just give it up Asuka. You'll make the next five days unbearable if you act like this."

Asuka glanced at the clock. After Kaji briefed them about the training routines, they had been arguing for about half an hour on this subject alone. In total, Kaji took what seemed like hours to explain the special training to the Children. The time was now 00:07. In the morning.

Asuka cursed internally in frustration. She thought she could wear him down. She thought he'd be finished with her mouth after the first hour. Apparently, Kaji could last longer than she expected. Not that she wouldn't expect it with the Kaji she knew.

Asuka growled and snatched the outfit out of Kaji's outstretched hand. He smirked in triumph.

"Well, I'll leave you two to yourselves," Kaji flashed the Children a thumbs up and slid the door to the hallway open. "Don't do anything I wouldn't approve during the night, okay?"

"I would only dream of it…" Shinji murmured, but not unnoticed by Asuka. "What was that?!"

"I said I wouldn't even dream of it," he quickly corrected himself.

"Hmph, that's what I thought!"

"Don't forget, I'm living just next door. Don't hesitate to reach me if you get into any trouble. Alright?" Kaji reminded them once again, his body already out of the room.

"Hai." "Yeah, yeah."

The door clicked shut. "So what do we do now?" Asuka asked dryly.

Shinji stood between the beds with his arms crossed. "You put on that…thing, and then we go to sleep." They stood there and looked at each other for a moment. They both couldn't believe the situation they were in. They felt lost. For completely different reasons, this time.

However, there was an unspoken familiarity to all of this.

"Stop staring at me like that, it makes me uncomfortable," Asuka said, half to herself. Shinji averted his eyes to the ground and headed towards his bed.

"You can go to sleep for all I care, but I'm going to take a shower first." Asuka stated with an unreadable expression, "don't try to peek!"

"It's not something worth my life…" Shinji just couldn't help but retort.

"What did you say?!" Asuka was more surprised than angry – one thing she knew too well was her charm. No male could resist her charms ever before – well, except Kaji – the perverted looks they gave her made her cringe. Although it was flattering at first, it quickly started making her feel sick.

"N-nothing!" Shinji hastily said, "just…do whatever you want to do and be quick! I really want to sleep right now…"

Asuka looked at him with an incredulous glare. 'He's not being...irritated, just...tired.' she thought. "Fine," Asuka muttered, entering the bathroom.

The warm flow of water did little to soothe her thoughts. She was forced to live with a boy. For five days. Although it could act as a distraction since she was suspended from school - and a quick explanation to Misato avoided a tongue-lash, she still thought better ways to spend her spare time.

Thinking back to Shinji - well, she had to admit, he was probably the best choice if she was given a choice. They knew each other, they work together - hell, they were both EVA pilots! And he wasn't as much a pervert as she initially thought.

Only with the prerequisite that there was no rejecting the idea of living with a boy in the first place.

If she had to live with him, then she might as well test his boundaries and manners.

Having devised a perfect plan, Asuka grinning devilishly and picked up her pace of showering. If he went asleep because of her prolonged bathing session, then her plan wouldn't have any purpose.

Asuka dried her body but left the hair wet, put on a sleeveless vest that wipes her chest and short shorts, and wrapped herself with a dry towel, completely blocking her clothes. She walked out of the bathroom seductively, happy to find Shinji still reading manga, paying zero attention to her presence. Asuka composed herself, questioning again why she was doing this. She wanted to test him - if he failed the first one, then she would know how to treat him for the rest of their training session.

"So Shinji," Asuka grinning internally as she captured his attention and saw his eyes were about to bulge out in surprise, "what do you think of my body?"

"A-A-Asuka, p-p-put some clothes on!" Shinji stammered, his face blushing, his hands raised in front of him in a futile attempt to block his vision.

"What?" Asuka said, half-dejected, half-surprised. She decided to push further. "Don't you like it? My chest is very big..." She started to slid the towel down.

"A-Asuka! Please!" Shinji pleaded, already falling down from the bed, "D-don't-"

"Hahahahahaha!" Asuka took off the towel, revealing her clothes under it, and started laughing helplessly. "The look on your face...hahahaha!" She was rolling on the floor.

Shinji let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, "Asuka...Misato has a camera installed in the room...she might be watching for all I know..."

"WHAT?!" Asuka jumped up and turned into a defensive posture. She scanned around the room, and located the security camera mounted on the ceiling. "Scheisse! Baka, why didn't you tell me?!"

"I thought a genius like you would've figured it out yourself, don't you think?" Shinji retorted in both tiredness and amusement - it was the first time he was getting under Asuka's skin. Well, the first time he could remember.

Asuka huffed and turned around, trying to hide her unreasonable blush. She turned off the lights and climbed up her bed. Although her plan backfired, it still yielded satisfactory results - Shinji was not a pervert she thought he was, and that single trait had already put him one level above all other boys at his age. Asuka decided he was at the tire of 'tolerable'. "It's going to be a long five days..."

"You're telling me..." Shinji muttered, drifting to sleep.

XXXXXX

AN: Part II will come out sooner than later. Stay tuned!