There Is (No) Hope

by BardInTheForest

Shinji Ikari was not a young man that lived an easy life. Each good that the universe teased him with was typically met with a greater evil. Now the only pilot capable of fielding an Evangelion against a series of reborn Angels, he will have to adapt to new allies and new foes. The world has changed, and there is no running away from it anymore.

37. Chapter 37

+++++ Hikawa Shrine, Azabu-Juban, Japan. (Tuesday + 10)

The sun was setting by the time Shinji managed to haul the wagons back to the base of the stairs leading up to the Shrine. Looking at the options he had available to get everything into the main entrance, a number of 'problems' came to the fore. Once again, it was Yukiko that put words to his impressions.

"We must expand. The defenses at the top must not become the limit of our domain." On the shoulder she preferred to sit upon, with her elbow leaning atop his helmet, she drummed her fingers against his armor. "Perhaps I might ask the Mujina to come down? They may have an idea for how to provide for that expansion, to enable us to bring these wagons upwards without exposing everyone to risk."

He liked that plan. For tonight, the people on the wagon would have to mount the stairs themselves. In the future, though, they needed the ability to manage entrance without creating an opportunity for another ambush. Crafting chocks out of the ground behind the wheels on the wagons, he moved out of the way of the staircase and allowed Yukiko to direct traffic.

"All right, ladies and gentlemen, we have reached the end of today's carnival ride. Please exit up the staircase, mind the ice!" Standing up, she clapped her hands to get everyone moving. "Don't mind the men with guns, though. They're friendly, and know better than to risk irritating the Silent One by being disagreeable."

One of those 'men with guns' came hurrying down the stairs as quickly as was safe to do so with the frozen surface. He started calling out before reaching socially acceptable distance, mostly in an effort to be seen as helping, "Welcome back, Silver Actual! Sergeant Hakawa wanted to know if you needed a bucket brigade to get your cargo up the stairs."

"What we would prefer, sir, is for one or two of the Mujina to step down and discuss the matter. Please have your teammates assist the civilians up the stairs. We have a number of elderly, and more than a few injured." Yukiko pointed out one of the older women who was accepting help from two Nyojizai that were only half of her already stooped height. "We will guard the wagons until the Mujina can arrive."

"Right away, ma'am!" Using the sling of his rifle to hold the weapon on his back, the private hurried over to two of the smaller youkai that were having trouble navigating the stairs, and offered his help for the first trip up to get his fellows. The way that he didn't make a fuss over the two apparent field mice that were carrying small bags themselves showed exactly how fast everyone in the shrine had become accustomed to the oddities that life had in store for them.

At the feet of the stairs, his gaze sweeping along the length of the problem, Shinji appeared to be an attentive guardian to the people that were reaching the limited safety above. He didn't know he was doing such, nor did he note the gratitude, awe, or veneration that they offered him. They were no longer his concern. He'd done his part, and now he needed the Mujina to help him fashion a method of completing the other tasks he'd given himself.

"Ah," Yukiko dropped her voice to a whisper, "I believe the Moon Princess and her coterie wish to have words with you." After Shinji looked up at her, she pointed out how Usagi, Rei, and Minako were descending the stairs towards him. She could feel his shoulders tensing, and the way his breathing became terse. Even if she was unable to read his emotions, she'd know from that alone that this wasn't a welcome intrusion. "If you wish me to send them away, I'm more than willing to do so. None should be forced to speak with any they do not wish to."

His first thought was to take her up on that offer. To simply avoid having to deal with whatever obligations they'd drop on his shoulders. He was helping. He was going out, finding survivors, finding food, killing zombies. Someone else could deal with whatever it was they needed, or it could just happen for all he cared. His second thought, on seeing Rei's eyes, was that he wouldn't mind speaking to her so long as she remained the same woman he'd listened to the night before. His promise to Usagi was next in line, which bounced off the fact that Minako looked exceedingly angry and led to him simply turning his head away to watch the wagons. He would say nothing. Whatever happened, would happen without his input.

Before anyone could intervene, Usagi planted herself before him where he had no choice but to look past her if he was to continue looking in that direction. "I'm going to remind you of your promise to not keep anything from me, Shin-Shin. You're bottling up your pain, you're not talking to anyone, and you're risking your life going out alone when you know we'd happily go out with you to help."

The conversation he'd had with her in Elysium, the first time he visited, replayed in his mind. She was right, he'd promised not to keep anything from her. That put him in a bind, as he'd promised himself that he wouldn't speak outside of the room he'd created. His body stiffened further as he attempted to find a course of action that upheld both promises, lacking the capacity to tell Usagi that he would speak with her in his room if she would be willing to wait for him to work with the Mujina.

Rei rescued him from the increasingly painful dilemma, stepping between Shinji and Usagi, pressing her older friend back from her more recent friend. "I believe that we would be better served having this discussion in private, Usagi-chan. Out here, in the snow, is probably not the best place for a heart-to-heart. We're not characters in some romance manga; it's cold, wet, and far too public."

Minako pushed both other women back from Shinji, standing with her rear end perilously close to Unit-01's codpiece. "What do you mean 'promise', Tsukino?"

"A declaration or assurance that one will do a particular thing, or that a particular thing will happen." Moon glared hard at where Venus had positioned herself. "I didn't think you would have such a hard time with that particular vocabulary word, considering how freely you throw it around to every male college student you can find."

Grateful for the fact that the helmet blocked anyone from seeing his face, Shinji closed his eyes and sought to strangle his anger down again as a new squabble erupted before him. He didn't tolerate people arguing around him at the best of times, and if it weren't for the fact that he had to ensure the wagons made it into the shrine, he would already have been moving to somewhere private to avoid any further interaction with other people. The sound of someone else approaching gave him a reason to be somewhere else, and with a quick backstep to clear away from Minako, he moved up the stairs to meet the Mujina halfway.

The elder Mujina, the woman that had gifted him the coin he wore, gave him a kind smile and polite bow of greeting. "Good evening, Silent One. I think I see your predicament." Leaning to the side, to see past him, she 'accidentally' looked straight at the Sailors while assessing the wagons. "Something of a roadblock on the path home, yes?"

Yukiko restrained a giggle. "Indeed, Mother Stone. We hope to have this be the first of many such shipments returned home, and thought that perhaps we should expand the shrine to include a safe means to sort and recover what is brought here."

"Mmm, yes." The youkai woman understood that he wasn't feeling loquacious anymore, and accepted that if he had a problem with what Yukiko said he would likely remedy it himself visibly. "Perhaps tomorrow, when there is more light, he might be willing to stand guard while my children work? We can work with the Jorōgumo and Kodama to create an elevator of sorts, as well as reposition exterior walls that would not double as weaknesses in our fortifications. I do not wish to seem meek, or cowardly-"

"We do not view your request as such, no we do not." She waved off the thought vigorously. "Right now, there are only a handful that do not need to fear what stalks the streets out there. I am certain that we can spend part of the day cooperating to make the days afterwards safer for everyone. This was an unexpected barrier to progress, but we should all work together to improve our home, yes?"

"I'll happily stand guard with him," Rei's voice was unexpectedly added from Shinji's side, far closer than the two other Sailors who were now face to face and nearly yelling at one another. "I think I need some help from him, finding calm at the moment. Perhaps I can at least try to offer him the same, while we make sure your tribe remains safe?"

There was no question she understood him. Understood how he thought, how he felt, how he reacted to things. Instead of trying to yell over the other two, she'd chosen to re-engage with him in a way that wasn't confrontational. Her first act was to try and stop Usagi from crowding him. Even now, she was standing just close enough to be friendly, and far enough away to not make him uncomfortable. Her actions…were normal.

"Then the three of us will keep watch. Could you ask your kin, both close and distant, to come help us carry everything in?" Yukiko ended the bargain so that Shinji didn't need to do so, sending the Mujina back up to the shrine in an effort to conscript assistants to haul everything upwards. "We will want to dispose of the bodies appropriately, they died violently and if I understand your culture they should be given funerary rights to help them pass on to less troubled realms." The supposition was posed to Rei, giving her an opportunity to speak more in the presence of the man that was interested in hearing from her, without wishing to speak to her at the moment.

"Unfortunately, I'm not very familiar with mass rites. It wasn't something that we had ever really discussed, as it wasn't something that we had ever needed." The pain behind Rei's mask was clear, and the cause obvious. Her grandfather's presence was once more sorely missed, and the wound was exceedingly fresh.

Shinji, without thinking it through, reached over and set one giant hand on the young shrine maiden's shoulder. There were no words in his mind, no messages beyond the simple wish for the pain she was experiencing to pass in its own time, but the communication of that desire held power all the same. When she smiled in response, a sorrowful joy that he could understand all too well, he felt his heart begin to echo her sentiments. When that smile shattered, replaced by the fires of determination and the steel of a woman prepared to suffer in the pursuit of victory, his comforting hand became a warding shield.

Unit-01 turned around in time to use that same hand to summon a portal to the realm it had created for Leliel to suffer for all eternity. A physical violation of spacetime that eagerly swallowed up the energy beam-based attack that an all-too familiar foe sent forth. Its first thought was to ensure that the shrine remained undamaged, which meant preventing any of the latest copy of the Third Angel's beams from contacting nearby. It remembered the cruciform explosions. The heat, the pain, and the victory it had eventually gained after the spindly Angel self-destructed. All were threats to be eliminated before they could ruin what it had set out to do. Banishing the portal, it hunched down to launch itself forward only to discover that it had more than one passenger upon it.

Rei had attached herself to Unit-01's back, urging it onward to battle, "Let's go! I'll provide fire support."

There were worse ideas to be found. Uncoiling itself violently, the Evangelion launched itself, Rei, and Yukiko towards the approaching form of the Third Angel. Unlike the second time it had fought the beast, when it had first met the Sailors on arrival to this world, this time the creature was the same enormous being it had faced back on its own world. Stomping through the ruins of the buildings and the forested areas surrounding the shrine, it appeared focused entirely on Unit-01. That gave the Eva and its passengers an advantage to be exploited. The silver weapon of war landed close enough to ensure that it had been seen by the enemy, then sprinted on a broad arc past the Angel to ensure that any fighting would be directed away from the shrine itself. It trusted that the archer would strike her targets, would take care to not harm her home, the Angel would show no such restraint.

At the point furthest from the shrine, Rei springboarded off Unit-01's shoulder high into the air and sent a barrage of flaming arrows at the Third Angel's facemask to blind it while Unit-01 itself charged in to do what it could. They were two near-human-sized creatures against a titan, and still she knew no fear. She was the defender of Mars, the daughter of war, the protector of mankind. She had been gifted power expressly to eliminate anything that would threaten 'Good', and now had been gifted a friend that needed her help. She would not fail. She could not fail.

Unit-01's red highlights grew brighter as it sprinted directly at Sachiel's leg. There was a dark joy in its mind that grew as it closed on the entire purpose for its existence. It knew it was an abomination. A misappropriation of the flesh of universal concepts, a parody of 'man', a freak that had once been kept on an incredibly short and limiting leash. It was now free. Free to find and erase the disgusting spawn of a mad tyrant. Free to crush the last traces of that which must never be. There was no buffer between it and the necessary spawn it surrounded. Nothing to prevent it from interfacing directly with the mind of the Ikari, from urging the Ikari to higher heights. It would show him. It would show them all.

By the time Sachiel was able to recover its vision, Unit-01 had come too close to do anything but attempt to stomp on the smaller creature. The sheer mass of its foot alone was more than three times that of the Evangelion, the size closer to five times from heel to toe. If it could understand emotions as humans did, if it could express thoughts in a manner capable of being rationalized by a mortal mind, contempt and disgust would be the closest parallels available to use. It was squashing a bug. An insignificant creature that served no justifiable purpose in the grander web of life. When its foot ceased moving downwards, it had a moment of something resembling satisfaction at having completed its task. Followed by a moment of genuine confusion.

A delicate balancing act took up most of Unit-01's attention for the moment. It had to increase the density of the ground beneath it, spreading the disruption of the weight it now bore out over a surface not prepared to hold hundreds of thousands of tons of pressure all directed down onto a roughly nine foot tall man-machine hybrid, while simultaneously preventing Sachiel from pulling its foot back up. Sending the Angel toppling backwards risked the shrine, and so Unit-01 intended to set it to falling sideways. That would allow access to the enormous red orb, and limit the offensive responses from the Angel. All that remained to prevent was the Angel from engaging in a final act of self-destruction that would likely damage the shrine as well.

"I wonder, does it know that he does not wish to be forever joined to it?" Yukiko's quiet question reminded Unit-01 that it was not alone on the field of battle. When Unit-01 looked down at her, still perched on its shoulder, she tilted her head curiously. "It would be far better advised to seek companionable balance, rather than dominion. Incoming."

"Stop attacking my fucking friends!" Minako arrived with a full-body twisting slice of the Sword of the Silver Crystal, snapping Unit-01's attention back towards the fight and away from the entity on its shoulder. The powerhouse blonde sent a split in the Angel's flesh racing up through the foot, along most of the calf, and into the center of its thigh.

Robbed of its balance point, Sachiel was unable to retain an upright posture, and with the momentum of the Sailor for Venus' strike added to the problem it began falling forward onto its face, and the more important red orb. Swiping at Rei as it fell, it forced the archer to reposition herself or be smashed by a hand the size of an oak tree. That didn't prevent further bursts of fire from blinding it, nor did it decrease the irritation it was beginning to feel at the ants that fought like they dared to be its equals.

Minako kept pace with Unit-01 effortlessly as the Eva ran to the closest point on the Angel that would lead to the core, her mind focused on building a strategy to win this latest fight instead of attempting to win the fight for Shinji's heart. "Are we still aiming for that red ball thing? The same place we were supposed to aim the first time?"

Unit-01 was, frankly, baffled. These creatures were not Trueborn. They weren't even pure members of the Hated. It understood the Archer, to an extent. She wished to attack in tandem, to join her spirit to Unit-01 in such a way that two would fight as one. The woman running along its side now did not wish that. She wished to lead. To direct the battle. To form it. To shape the outcome. Her words, however, were directly in contrast to that outward presentation. A leader would know the answer to that question. A leader would direct Unit-01, not question it regarding where it wished to go.

"That would likely be for the best, yes." Yukiko filled the silence before Minako could become frustrated further by Unit-01's silence. "To truly eliminate these creatures, this beast or the one I ride upon, you must eliminate the core. That houses what you would think of as the soul."

Retorting hotly, Minako attempted to defend the man she cared for, "Shinji is not a-"

Sachiel's attempt at using one of the energy constructs inside of its arms to stab Minako was prevented by Yukiko diving at her instead and throwing her forward out of the path of the strike. This meant that the lone remaining combatant was unable to avoid the lancing blow itself, which struck with the size and force of a runaway freight train, sending Unit-01 flailing in an uncontrolled tumble along the ground perpendicular to the main axis of the Angel on the ground. The damage to the exterior restraints would have been far worse than the rents and scrapes if yet another oddity hadn't stopped its motions with a mostly gentle tackle.

"I'd ask you why you hadn't been up to see Michi-chan," Haruka Tenou, the Sailor for Uranus, chastised who she believed to be Shinji playfully from her position laying atop Unit-01, "if it weren't for the fact that I saw everything you just brought back. Good job, kid. Now let's show the children how to fight, and then you and I are going to go take a bath." Gifting a kiss to the place that had once held Unit-01's horn, she winked at it and hoisted them both to their feet. "I'll carve a path under the shoulder, then bail out upwards. Try to build some momentum and smash through to the orb!" True to her words, she sprinted towards their foe without hesitation.

Unit-01, again, was flummoxed. This new woman loved the Ikari, but not in the manner that a woman would typically love a man. Nor, however, was it in the manner that a sister in battle would love a brother. Nor, yet still, was it that of a mother for a child. Her love was beyond understanding, beyond rationalizing. It existed as both offer and demand, delicate as falling snow and powerful as falling thunder. It, much as she, was a mass of contradictions and confusions. Unit-01 could not understand the woman, but at least understood the plan enough to run after her.

Minako and Rei had done what they could to keep the Angel pinned, the latter searing key sections of flesh and the former slicing where tendons and muscles would typically be found on a living being of similar shape to a human. The addition of two more combatants pressed the Angel harder, leading to an increasingly hard response from the enigmatic being. Gathering energy and focusing it on the ground below, Sachiel launched itself skyward, avoiding Unit-01's follow-on assault after Haruka nearly exposed the core from the side.

Not to be deterred, Unit-01 jumped up after it, aiming to latch onto the flesh dangling near the red orb to continue the assault. The plan, if it could be described as such, required only brute force and agility, things that Unit-01 possessed in ample quantities. Whether the plan would have succeeded or failed would remain a mystery, as contact with the enemy did what contact with the enemy is wont to do and murdered the plan before it could be completed.

Another blast of energy particles aimed directly at Unit-01 originated from an 'eye' on Sachiel's white mask, slamming into its target and igniting a cruciform explosion at the point of contact. Several hundred meters in the air, the shockwave created by the atmosphere being violently expelled from around Unit-01 did most of the damage to the surrounding area. Loose debris became ballistic projectiles, small shrubbery and weakly rooted trees were knocked over, and the walls of the shrine received their first true test of durability. Unnoticed by everyone in the brief moment of panic, the attack had also altered the trajectory of one of Rei's flame arrows directly into Unit-01's spine.

+++++ Hikawa Shrine, Azabu-Juban, Japan. (Tuesday + 10)

"We're going to need to account for that." Kyoko was an unshakable bastion of calm amongst the non-combatants, observing a fight she could not impact the result of and commenting on those matters that it informed her she would later need to act upon. Looking at the Mujina she'd been coordinating with, she gestured to the walls of the apartment. "Taller structures with glass are going to lose windows like that every time an explosion hits. If these creatures can do that at will, we're setting ourselves up for injuries to civilians."

"A fair point." The youkai badger nodded, leaning with her belly atop the wall where she could observe the scuffle. "Perhaps we should build down? Make our living quarters into shelters at the same time?"

"Some of us enjoy the sun, my friend." The Jorōgumo responsible for Shinji's clothes retorted, prodding the badger in the side with one of her legs. "Not all of us are nocturnal beasts that live in caves."

Kyoko had a brief flash of insight, leading to curiosity. "Is there a way to raise and lower the buildings reliably? Retract them into the ground when we're attacked, extrude them from the ground when we're not?" Turning back to the fight, she saw the Angel landing with a heavy thump near the impact site of Unit-01. "You've seemed to manage a great deal of other magic, I'd be interested to see your plans for that."

+++++ Hikawa Shrine, Azabu-Juban, Japan. (Tuesday + 10)

It wasn't difficult for Shinji to accept that fighting Sachiel was made much more difficult by the size disparity. At over nine feet while wearing Unit-01, he frequently had the advantage over everything around him. Weight classes, after all, existed for a reason in combat sports. What he was having difficulty with, at that particular moment, was how it was that women as talented and capable as the Sailors managed to make a mess of fights like rank amateurs. Pulling himself out of the crater he'd made on impact, bemused by the clarity and lack of urgency he was experiencing, he looked up at Sachiel with something resembling pity.

The Angel hadn't asked to be born into a world that was not its own. It hadn't asked to be given the impossible task of killing the Evas. It hadn't sought out conflict for conflict's sake. Sachiel, and those like it, had never communicated with humanity because they could never communicate with humanity. It was like a fish attempting to speak with a calculator, truly impossible. He had tried to get answers from Leliel before he set her on the path to eternal suffering, had discovered that the language barrier wasn't so much impermeable as it was all-consuming. These were not beings made to co-exist with humanity. There were no shades of grey, no degrees of acceptance, no method to weave them into the fabric of everyday life. Either there were humans, or there were Angels…and he was not going to allow the latter.

His helmet split at the jaw, the lower half hinging open with a subtle creaking caused by a deformation that had been created during his uncontrolled tumble earlier. Sachiel once more raised a foot to stamp down on him. The whirlwind that was Shinji's ever-burning rage swirled tighter in his chest. The terrible foot descended. A flash of crimson death was preceded by a chord that hollowed out the air around him, an 'empty fifth' urging everyone who heard it to hold their breath in preparation for tragedy. Noise beyond sound surged forth with an enormous blast of pure ire, streaking upwards and through the core of the Angel in a solid beam too bright to behold and too compelling to look away from.

The air itself ignited around the flesh of Sachiel as the Angel experienced pure agony, the core of its soul simultaneously both exploding into submicroscopic incoherent energy and freezing solid as the materials that made it were robbed of every scrap of potential energy. It had become unbound from the space around it, spaghettifying as it was pulled towards Shinji's rage and evaporating as it was diffused into the burning atmosphere.

Shinji's mouth closed, his helmet hermetically sealing around his head once again. At some point, he'd become infected with the powers of one of the Sailors. His gauntlets were now the same red as the highlights it had carried of late, the highlights themselves radiating the silvery glow instead. The color spread along his armor as far as he could see, and through process of elimination he determined that Rei was the most likely culprit. Minako had caused him to become invisible, Usagi gold, and Haruka didn't strike him as a 'red' so much as a green or blue.

Three of the Sailors stood in a loose cluster, cautiously observing what to their experience was an uncontrolled animal. When Unit-01 had become red in the past, Rei had always been in imminent danger of being torn to shreds. Haruka had sensed the other two warriors hesitation and remained back to not risk tripping over her sword, so to speak.

It was the Sailor that hadn't taken part in the fight that broke the ominous silence, Usagi walking over to him from the side with Yukiko on her shoulder, "Shin-Shin…you should let it die."

He knew what she was referencing, and his own opinion on the matter differed greatly. "I am not thusly inclined, even this fate is too kind." Another whirling portal appeared around Sachiel, dragging it into the same abyss that restrained Leliel. For miles around, screams of horrified anguish echoed off the stones of the Earth, light itself recoiling from the sight. Shinji closed the rip in reality, then slowly approached Rei to assure her that he was not hostile. "Powers plenty have I tasted, colors many have been painted. To say now I am relieved, that by you was not deceived."

Everyone, except for Rei, gasped as Shinji lifted his helmet free, tucking it under his arm. Those that remembered past cycles, and those that never would, all agreed that the best word to use to describe Shinji Ikari was 'meek'. Even at the height of anger, surrounded by enemies and facing death, he carried an aura of a man seeking nothing more than to not offend or hurt anyone around him. The man standing there, before them all, was anything but meek. The long-haired shrine maiden met him part way, placing the hand that held his ring against his chestplate. "I'm glad you weren't hurt, but I am worried you have a concussion. Are you feeling ok? The rhyming is a little odd."

"Not by choice I speak this way, your spell's effects now hold sway." Placing one gauntleted hand atop her own, he shook his head. "I feel my strength begin to drain, your powers have begun to wane. Inside my room we must go speak, your future now appears quite bleak. Just you, Yukiko, and Sarah, things you must become aware of."

Usagi intervened again, worry and anxiety evident in her bearing, "Shin-Shin, I need to talk to you too. You need to keep your promise, please!"

The bright, golden, bastion of joy he remembered first meeting wasn't there in her anymore. He could both feel and see the way the world had allowed her to suffer. "I promised you I would not hurt," a hint of sorrow colored the anger that consumed him, "I plead that my side you desert."

"Fat chance of that. You need me more than ever, and I've never stopped needing you." Taking another step closer, she wrapped her arm around Rei's shoulders and placed her hand atop Shinji's. "I am not interested in stopping you from doing what you think you need to, but just like Rei-chan the last thing I want to see happen is for you to get hurt because we didn't talk."

"We'll all go." Haruka approached next, confident that if Shinji was going to hurt someone that he would have started by now. "I think we all need to clear the air, and get a feel for what's going on with each other." Placing her hand on his shoulder, she grinned weakly. "When Michi-chan wakes up, she's going to have my ass if I don't have a good understanding of what's going on with you."

His eyes scanned each of the three women, then flicked over to Minako for a moment before he let out an irritated sigh and shook his head. "Of the many things I cannot understand, the first is why I give in to your demand." Recovering his hand firmly, he set his helmet back on his head and began the walk back to the shrine.

Yukiko floated off Usagi's shoulder, flying backwards and upside-down she urged the Sailors to follow her. "None of you are going to like what he has to say, but you've at least earned a one-time pass to enter his room. I'd hurry, unless you want to risk him changing his mind."

Shinji wasn't upset when Yukiko landed on his shoulder, though he did hurt inside that Rei wasn't touching him anymore. He tried to remember what it had felt like before the most recent changes, and could only conjure the incident on the bench when he delivered the branch to her that she had touched him. Her touch hadn't caused pain, or the strange sickly-sweet sensation, that he could remember. Her most recent touch, just now, had in fact brought the raging tempest in his chest back down to 'level any freestanding building' from 'tear the planet in half'. To a lesser degree, Haruka had the same effect, though that made some small amount of sense to him. The taller Sailor was simply an open person. If she felt something, she showed it, if she thought something, she told it. There wasn't any mystery, just playful teasing.

"It nearly won…didn't it," Yukiko's statement, for it was no question, was pitched for his ears alone.

He wasn't certain what 'it' was…but he was pretty sure she was right.

+++++ Hikawa Shrine, Azabu-Juban, Japan. (Tuesday + 10)

Unit-01 was once more silver with red piping by the time they reached the wagons at the foot of the shrine. Instead of the corpses and supplies being strewn all over the place, as he had feared, he saw a tangle of vines and branches sheltering everything. Shinji approached the carts, and laid a hand on the mass of vegetation before smiling inside of his helmet. He didn't know how he could, but he felt the difference between something a youkai did and the handiwork of the woman responsible for this. His head turned unerringly to where Daphne was hiding in the forest lining the base of the hill the shrine was on, her form invisible to anyone that would have looked for her save him. A single nod, same as the one he'd given to Sarah, and the one he'd given to Yukiko, expressed what he refused to use words to. She had done well, had done everyone a favor, and deserved to be recognized.

The dryad slipped out of the trees, hurrying over to Shinji and nimbly avoiding touching anyone else at all. Placing herself at his side, away from the other women, she whispered quietly, "Thank you. You could have torn the branches off, or withered them to nothing. Your restraint is as vast as your generosity. I have made quick friends of the akaname, as we share similar interests, and she showed me your work." As she spoke, she urged the foliage to retreat back to the forest, the entire mass moving as if a single organism. "My beloved is working tirelessly and is likely going to be none too pleased that I exposed myself to danger. If I could ask one small boon…or perhaps two?"

Yukiko asserted a fact that she knew to be true, "If you fail to ask, he cannot produce what you desire even if he were so inclined."

Listening cost him nothing, and he was a firm believer in rewarding people who took action to help others. Impassively looking at her, he awaited what she would do. If she asked, he'd think about it. If she didn't, he wouldn't push her to do so. Her fate now was up to her own drive, as it should be.

"Y-yes, of course. That makes sense, Snow Child." Daphne's smile lit up her whole face, making it obvious to any with eyes why Suzuhara had fallen for her. "If the Silent One would be so kind as to accept a list of goods that my beloved feels we need, things that he might find in his searches? I would be more than happy to deliver the list to him, or to that charming young woman that has taken up defense of his meals. Needs might shift daily, and such an arrangement might keep people from pestering the Silent One while still filling those needs."

The idea made sense and took into consideration his desire to be left alone. He couldn't see anything glaringly wrong with agreeing, but remained silent to avoid causing himself a problem. He'd find a way to agree without communicating his assent later.

"And the second?" Yukiko knew his mind, but held her tongue on the matter to respect his wishes.

"…The man who served as a teacher…he strays very close to forbidden knowledge. His pursuit must be halted, and none here will believe me…except perhaps the Divine Mother, and I do not wish to bother her with something she would insist I handle myself." Dry washing her hands, the greenery that decorated her body quivering with open anxiety, she lowered her voice further. "He will bring about our ruin…please, stop him from seeking out the Words." Taking his gauntleted hand, she kissed the knuckles near to where a signet ring would reside. "Thank you for hearing my pleas, Silent One," her words said, she vanished from sight again, leaving several perplexed women and a towering man wondering if he would have to murder someone.

As nature abhors a vacuum, the void of her presence was filled with Kyoko's. The steady voice and warm smile of the General soothed any possible irritation that might have bubbled to the surface easily, "Welcome back, Pilot. Perhaps not the cleanest fight I've seen, but I know that I couldn't have managed it more easily myself." A bulk of the Marines and sailors from her detachment began a bucket brigade to get everything up to the shrine, leading to her urging him up the stairs, "I've got this corner. We'll get everything upstairs, you take this chance to get some rest. We'll have a chance to catch up tomorrow while the Mujina start the latest construction project, ok?"

He wouldn't have to haul everything up himself. The elder Soryu was taking charge of the project, was managing interactions with other people, and was stopping him from having to hover over everyone in irritation to make sure it was done right. His responsive act was reflexive and contained no actual meaning that could be expressed in words to ruin things for him. Dropping to one knee, he pulled the smaller woman into a hug. Her arms quickly encircled his neck, her cheek pressed against his chest near his chin, and he knew that she understood his mind. Words didn't need to be used to express what he felt, and the feeling he received for expressing it made it easier for him to face what was coming next. Standing back up, breaking the hug, he kept one hand on her shoulder and nodded.

"I look forward to seeing you tomorrow. Now scoot, before the world decides it needs more heroism from you today." Turning purposefully away from him, Kyoko dismissed him without any rancor or prejudice to save him the need to respond in words that she knew he wasn't wishing to use anymore.

One of the loads of goods contained something he had grabbed specifically for Sarah, the item sticking out of the top of one of the bags as Shinji moved to walk up the stairs himself. Nervousness was evident in those humans present when he forced the bucket brigade to stop, shifting to curiosity when he plucked his intended gift free, then finally to relief after he went on his way. To Shinji's mind, they were upset that he stopped their work. That informed his brusque growl of irritation and determined march up the staircase to the shrine. He did not, and indeed could not, understand their emotional shifts owing to the lack of exaggerated displays on their faces and bodies. The subtle hitch of their shoulders, the way they tensed up, to him were anger and nothing more.

He covered ground far faster than anyone walking with him, except for Haruka who managed to keep up with him by moving at a near-jog. That meant that she was the only one to hear the first statement to him from Sarah when he entered the kitchen area of the tree he'd created.

"Oh for pity's sake," the blonde American groaned. "Are they bothering you?" When Shinji stopped at the table, setting down what he'd taken from the cart before removing his helmet and gauntlets and placing them next to it, she moved between him and everyone else that was entering behind him. "Ok, ladies, I want everyone to listen very carefully. There will be no shenanigans in this house. He has neither the time nor the patience to put up with it, and believe you me, I have far less than he does." Looking to her side at an unexpected motion, she noted that Yukiko was holding the canteen she'd given Shinji upside-down to indicate it had been properly emptied. The same smirk she'd given Shinji that morning adorned her face again as she looked further back up into the face of the man she'd protect from everyone else. "Thank you."

"He was most dutiful in drinking the contents," Yukiko reported. "Each hour on the hour he drained around twenty percent of the volume. Once it was empty, he entrusted it to me to keep safe." Depositing the canteen in Sarah's hands, she gestured to the assembled Sailors. "They have been given dispensation to enter his room this once, as have you. He wishes to speak with everyone for a few moments, and I will assist you in maintaining the peace while he does so."

Sarah's eyes moved up to Shinji's face, scanning his demeanor for signs that it seemed she knew all too well. "Fair enough. Dinner can wait, but only so long." Setting the canteen on the table, she picked up his helmet and gauntlets before tossing her head towards his room. "Let's get this over with. You need to eat, and you need sleep."

Minako bristled at the way yet another woman was seeming to dominate Shinji's time and schedule, "What he needs-"

Her long twin-tails whipping outwards with the snap of her head back towards the Sailor for Venus, Sarah's own anger quickly filled the entire kitchen. "Is food, rest, and water. He does not need a bunch of catty children in women's bodies trying to tug him in dozens of different directions. He doesn't need arguments over who loves him more, or who he belongs to, or who he should or should not be making moon eyes at. I'm almost positive that my Japanese is better than yours, but in case you're having a hard time understanding me in this language, let's try English. Blonde to blonde, sweetie, you aren't worth a tenth of him. The world is resting on his shoulders, and your pointless fetishization of romance needs to come to a screeching halt before it gets all of us killed."

Shinji ignored the byplay, walking over with the item he'd picked up from the ruins of the city to open the door to his bedroom. Standing aside, and remaining outside, he waited for what everyone else would do.

It was Haruka that made the next move, walking past Sarah into the bedroom without further need for invitations. As an aside to him, loud enough for everyone else to hear, she announced, "I like her. Feisty."

Sarah turned next, stalking into the bedroom with Shinji's gauntlets and helm clutched tightly to her gut. "How is Kaiou-san doing? Has she woken up yet?" She'd made her point, clearly, and had no anger for Haruka. She knew the woman was taken whole by Michiru, and posed no threat of distracting Shinji with her playful flirtations. They were a part of who she was, nothing more.

Rei followed behind, shaking her head and sighing. The shrine maiden wouldn't have put it the way that Sarah had, but agreed on the broad strokes. Shinji shouldn't be distracted, since his death would condemn them all, but living just to live wasn't what she would call 'life'…just a slower death.

Usagi wasn't far behind her, pain and sorrow radiating from her as she avoided looking at Shinji. Minako's eyes remained on Shinji's face, her jaw clenched harder as each second passed without him looking at her in return. After another few heartbeats, she stomped past him into the bedroom with the rest of the women, only then joined by Yukiko who settled herself on a cushion of air in the corner to observe.

The silence in the bedroom, including the lack of any response to Sarah's question to Haruka, was explained adequately as Shinji shut the door behind himself and saw every woman looking up at the wall of naturally-developed portraits of those women that had been killed for daring to be near him. His voice showed his physical fatigue, "Sarah-san," he extended the gift he'd found for her, "this is for you." He wasn't able to understand the emotions in her eyes as she looked back at him, though he did pick up on the curiosity as she looked down at the pink stuffed panda he'd offered. "The day you came to ask me about Aoyama-san and Narusegawa-san, you were wearing a shirt under your overalls that had a panda on it. The shirt was pink. I found this in a drying machine that survived a house collapsing…I thought you might like something to decorate your space with."

Every pair of eyes in the room was now on that panda, shifting to Sarah as she approached it. The young woman set down the helm and gauntlets on the overlarge bed Shinji had allowed in the room for when he'd believed the Triplets would understand him, then took the panda in both hands carefully. "I'm certain that she misses her friend. I'll make sure to keep her company, while she's grieving for her loss."

Shinji nodded slowly, grateful that his gift had been accepted without any major issues. It wasn't often that he had been given the opportunity to give one to someone, and the proprieties for giving such confused him still. "I hope she helps with your grief too. Anger only carries us so far, and I haven't figured out how to do that myself yet. If I do, I'll let you know."

It was the dull, disaffected, tone he used when speaking of himself that stung most of the women in the room. Rei, however, had been studying what might be needed ever since Usagi shook her core understanding of the world. "Shinji…can I ask you an honest question?" He turned to look at her, the anger that had become a mainstay still present beneath the open acceptance of her desire to learn. He didn't mind her asking, he didn't mind her being honest. He welcomed both, and his anger wasn't for her. "What do you think…what do you feel about Sarah-san?" Inwardly, she smiled when Shinji's eyes narrowed ever so slightly. She knew that everyone else would mistake it for anger, or irritation. That they would think he was about to explode. She knew, now, that he was processing her request in much the same way that a computer would. Unknown input, categorize probable rationale for the query, output what would be most likely expected response. He didn't understand. Not her, not her question, not even his own response. This was what he needed help with. With bone-deep fatigue dulling his 'executive brain', he was now showing her the bare metal beneath the years of trained reactions. This was him, undiluted. Inhuman…and yet so very, very human.

"She's a good person. She has problems with anger, but she knows how to harness it to achieve her goals. She'll jump to defend a friend, but expect that friend to learn to defend themselves so that she doesn't have to. Her cooking is abysmal, but has become better each time she's read my recipes. Anything, or anyone, that hurts her is going to suffer a fate worse than death." His head bobbed, the summation accurate as far as he could see. "I'm sorry that she's chosen to dedicate herself to helping me."

"I'm not," Sarah replied without rancor or surprise at his statements. "I learned at a young age how to take care of myself for the most part. I never had to learn how to cook complicated meals because there was rarely anything on dad's digs that was worth doing more to than bringing to a boil to sanitize it. You have no idea how to take care of yourself. You know how to take care of everyone else, sure, but not yourself. So that's now my job." Her head slowly rotated to the other women present. "And I'm going to do that job with the same fervor I do everything else with."

"So you think that you're just going to drop in out of nowhere, claim him, and kick anyone else out?" Minako had her arms crossed, glaring daggers at Sarah.

"Claim him?" Her left eyebrow raised, her face sent in incredulity. "Claim him?! Are you really that stupid?"

"Anyone with eyes can see you're attracted to him!"

"No shit, Sherlock. He's tall, in good shape, has fantastically blue eyes, and even in desperate need of a haircut and a shave he still manages to look presentable. He cares about the people around him, he worries that he can't protect anyone, he works ten times harder than everyone, and he listens to me." Sarah waggled the stuffed panda gently. "He's observant, and he uses what he observes to improve his reactions to people and places around him. He wouldn't know kindness if it hit him with a Howitzer point-blank, but he does everything he does with kindness as the motivating factor. The difference between me and you, the reason he hasn't kicked my ass out while he's stiff-arming you away from him, is that I'm not stupid enough to think that he's looking for a relationship. He has a world to save. He has enemies to fight, all day, all night, and especially every time he even thinks about letting his guard down. He doesn't need another burden hefted on his shoulders by someone who's only thinking about the empty spaces in their own heart, and he doesn't need to feel like a burden to someone else because he's not giving a relationship the kind of care he thinks it needs. I'm not claiming him, because he doesn't want to be claimed!"

"That's not entirely accurate." Haruka, counter to what others might have expected, motioned with one hand to indicate that everyone needed to keep their tempers chained. "He wants to be claimed, but only by someone who is doing it for the right reasons. He doesn't feel he has value to offer anyone, and he knows that he is one bad fight from a grave, so when someone approaches him with hearts and flowers in mind, they're misunderstanding the nature of the beast. Michi-chan and I get a pass because he understands what we want from him. Cuddles when we can, laughter when we can, baths together when we can. He knows we'll be there in the muck with him. Knows that when the world is collapsing, we'll be right next to him holding the sky up. Knows that we don't think it will be his fault, even if he blames himself first. We love him, and all we expect from him in return is that he keeps being the man we love." Her hand tipped towards Sarah. "It's the same reason he hasn't chased her off. He understands that she 'gets' him, and if what she wants is to help him by cooking and forcing him to keep hydrated, then he has no problem giving that to her."

His nod of agreement didn't go unnoticed, and so Rei seized on the agreement to push forward, "Shinji, can I have a hug?" Dropping to one knee, Shinji set his arms slightly out to allow the shrine maiden to approach. Wordlessly, he accepted her embrace. Without flinching, he accepted her kiss on his forehead. Leaning back, but not breaking contact completely, she read his face again. "He doesn't understand love, Minako. He has never been shown it, not before he came here. He doesn't know how it blossoms, how it can strike like lightning or creep up on you like the tides. In his mind, all he sees is a tangle of causes and effects. Each act is predicated on those acts that came before it, not on the randomness of emotional give and take. Relationships…in his mind, they're a transaction. To him, he'd forever be in debt to the woman he joined with." Looking back at her friends, she let them see her feelings on the matter. "Imagine how terrible it is to live like that. Imagine a bunch of people you only kind of understand asking you for payment constantly. We need to give him time to understand everything, and that starts with focusing on winning this war."

"…You can stay," Sarah announced approvingly at Rei.

The statement of approval sparked Minako once again. "You are not his keeper!"

"Yes, I am." Sarah moved over to place one hand on Shinji's shoulder, facing a woman she knew to be a serious threat to his emotional balance. "I am his chef, his nurse, his maid, his shoulder to cry on, his gatekeeper, and, if he needs, his sexual outlet. He is not mine. He is not a possession. He is, however, someone I will protect with every ounce of ferocity I am capable of. He keeps me safe, I keep him as safe as he'll let me."

Shinji blushed, far deeper than would indicate simple embarrassment. "I…I wouldn't use you like that."

"Why not?" She ran her fingers through his hair, tugging on it lightly to get him to look up at her. "It's just sex. We both have fun, we both get something out of it, and we both know that we're safe with one another. It's natural to have urges, it's natural to want to have companionship, and it's natural to share your attraction with a willing partner. It's healthy. It's normal."

"And you're fifteen." Haruka spoke up for Shinji, intending to help him avoid conflict with someone he had accepted. "He's a little old for you right now, which is why he's not going to take you up on your offer. He doesn't view you as a child, nobody with eyes would, but he also can't yet see you as adult enough to take that step. I know you're smart enough to understand his hesitation there."

"Psh. The law kinda stopped mattering so much recently, don't you think?"

"Morality did not." Usagi hadn't wanted the conversation to take this track, and needed to get everyone away from arguing over love. "Shin-Shin's morals are-"

"Why do you insist on infantilizing him?" The slight growl in Sarah's voice combined with an increased defensive posture next to Shinji. "Blondie there sexualizes him, you infantilize him, and those triplets fetishize him! The only people I haven't seen mistreating him lately are that General, Tenou-san, and the miko here. That's why I'm ok with them staying around him, and not you-" She stopped short, once again, when Shinji set one hand on her foot from his position on his knee. Glaring down at the ground, she kept herself from looking at anyone.

"She's not wrong, Sarah. I…don't disagree that you're far more mature than I was at your age, not…not that it's a terribly high bar to clear, but all the same…." Shinji shook his head. "I'm not the type of person that would look approvingly on a nearly eighteen-year-old doing that sort of thing with a fifteen-year-old. Even if…." Despite the protections of the room he'd created, he chose to not vocalize the end of that thought. "Besides…I wouldn't use anyone like that. Those, uhm…those urges should probably just be ignored for now."

"I'm not infantilizing him, McDougal-san." Usagi knew she wouldn't get anywhere if she riled up someone Shinji trusted as much as he apparently trusted Sarah. "I'm also not wanting to complicate his life further. I asked to speak with him today so that he could keep his promise, and so that I could keep mine."

The American looked doubtfully at Shinji. "Promise?"

His eyes remained somewhere around Rei's thigh, avoiding everyone. "That I wouldn't keep anything from her. I promised her that because I saw no reason not to. So long as she's honest with me, there's no reason for me to not reciprocate."

Usagi hurriedly added, "I won't lie to him. That's me keeping my promise. He needs to know what I've learned, and I need to know where he stands."

Shinji slowly found his feet, breaking contact with both Sarah and Rei. Even here, in this place, he couldn't afford to allow himself to be weak enough to luxuriate in their touch. "What is it you need from me, then?"

The shift from friendly to hard as steel was jarring to everyone present and reminded them all that beneath the calm exterior lie a terrible violence that needed little reason to release itself. "I need you to not be quite so reckless in battle. I need you to accept our help in going out in search of supplies. I need you to remember that we are a team, and that a team stands stronger united."

"No. No. And I'm well aware that your team stands stronger the more of you there are." Usagi and Minako both blinked, not expecting that as his answer at all. "To my knowledge, there are two beings that can't be infected by this virus. Me, and Yukiko. I accept her help because I know she's safe…and because I don't know that I could stop her anyway."

"You could, with a simple request." The tiny woman shrugged, surprised that Shinji had remembered she was there.

"I don't speak outside of this room, and I'm not stupid enough to believe I know everything that might happen." Much like Sarah, or Rei, he kept his tone free of anger towards the latest woman to enter his life. "Everything I say out there runs afoul of those fucking Laws. These…Words, the ones that Seta-sensei is searching for? I'm almost positive that I've been abusing the hell out of them each time I open my stupid mouth outside of this room."

"You have, yes."

"Whoa, wait, what?" Haruka waved her hands to call attention to herself. "What laws? What words?"

"There's a set of…rules, for lack of a better term, that control everything out there." Shinji gestured to his door, wagging his hand indistinctly. "Those rules can't be broken, not without serious repercussions after monumental effort. Problem is, I'm just as positive that nobody really understands them. The bigger ones? The ones against using names, or the ones that prohibit lies, those are broadly understood because they're run into a lot. But the problem I had with saying 'no' didn't make any sense until I stopped speaking at all."

"Yet you call yourself an idiot," Yukiko sniggered. "You've reasoned out the fact that when someone prays to you for something, that you can't ignore the prayer. You either provide, or smite them. That's why you're very careful about demonstrating that you're listening, or not."

Rei visibly recoiled. "Wait…when I asked him for a hug…."

"I would have given that regardless." The last thing Shinji wanted was to hurt a woman who understood his mind. "I don't know why you want affection from me, but…I'm not going to avoid the chance if it's offered to me."

"He speaks the truth," Yukiko agreed easily, "however his status does not extend to this place he has crafted. Much like the Laws, or the Words, the Devotion has no power here. Here, he may speak to his own desires. Here, he may be safe from external powers. His invitation to you, Rei Hino, and to you, Sarah McDougal, was given with pure and honest trust in your spirit. He wanted you here, out of respect and desperate need to tell you what he's learned."

"…And if I asked for a hug?" Minako's question was posed with more than a hint of danger.

Shinji looked at her, his eyes hard. "Rei is trying to come to understand me. To see how I see the world, so that she can help me understand how she sees the world. She wants to help me learn. I know that she doesn't want to be my girlfriend-"

"Yet," Yukiko murmured.

"-because she doesn't know if we're compatible. She admits that she doesn't know anything about me!" His anger began to overflow. "What's my favorite musical style?" He waited for a beat, giving her a chance to say anything. "My favorite food? Color?! What was the worst day of my life?! The best?! What did I want to study in university?! Who was the first person to draw my eye? What's the thing I'm most ashamed of?! WHAT IS MY FUCKING BIRTHDAY?!" It was Sarah's turn to stem the rising tide of his anger, slipping her much smaller hand in his and squeezing in understanding. The cords in his neck standing taut, he forced his jaw closed and glared holes in the floor instead of continuing on.

"Classical, though to a lesser degree you also prefer Baroque and Romantic." Haruka spoke into the sudden silence, her hands behind her head, her fingers intertwined and straining against one another to stop her from kicking a number of people out of the room. "Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, Haydn, Schubert. You and Michi disagree on that last one. You really like soy sauce katsudon, but you prefer chicken cutlets to pork. You're partial to greys and blues, but only in muted tones. The worst day in your life was the day that your father left you at a train station with a complete stranger who proceeded to make your life a living hell. The best day in your life was when you received praise from your father for successfully piloting the Eva during the defense against the Angel that fell from the sky. You wanted to study civil engineering while continuing to perfect your cooking skills. Misato Katsuragi, though you absolutely refused to tell anyone that because you felt it demeaned her generosity in trying to give you a home. You're most ashamed of tripping and falling on Rei Ayanami, because you had entered her apartment to give her the badge Ritsuko Akagi had given to you after Ayanami-san left the door unlocked. She had been taking a shower, and walked out completely nude. You had found a pair of your father's glasses, picked them up, and she grabbed them back, slipped, fell, dragging you down with her. Your hand wound up on her tit, and you panicked. June sixth, the same day as the Normandy landings during World War II."

Shinji blinked, caught completely off guard by the accuracy and nuance of her answers to his questions. His temper lost all traction in the face of someone challenging him calmly, and slowly his eyes sank down again in embarrassment. "I…I wish I could remember our time together better."

"Not important." Dropping her hands to her sides, she took two long steps over and hugged him tight. "I remember, kid. You're doing the right thing by keeping your eyes on the ball…but you've got to put the armor down from time to time."

"It is kind of all dented and dirty." Sarah clanged one knuckle against his backplate. "You need to let me work on it, so that it doesn't fail you in the middle of a fight. I'll even work with the Marines and the Mujina to ensure that I don't get hurt doing it."

His voice felt so small, even in his own ears, "They're just waiting for me to do that. Waiting to attack." His hands found Haruka's hips, trembling as they sought stability in her strength. "They're going to kill you all. They're going to kill you, and all I'll be able to do is kill them back. I'm…I'm going to lose everyone."

The world continued to conspire against everyone present, mocking the sympathy they all felt for him in that moment, the humanity he was displaying after the Sailor for Uranus pierced the balloon of his anger enough to remind him that they were all friends. A heavy knock on the door, followed by an all-too familiar voice, shattered the scene completely, "Shinji? Shinji, we seriously need to talk."

Both gauntlets and helmet leapt from the bed and smashed into place on Shinji's body, the wall that was Unit-01 between him and the world intact and whole once more. Over the objections of many of the women present, it turned about angrily and flung the door open, intending to drive its fist through Maria's face repeatedly until death stuck. Those plans changed quickly as he spotted both Inari and…a much less healthy seeming Naoko Akagi.

The younger sister of Lilith scowled at her inability to sense anything through Unit-01's defenses, and the urgency of her plea for his attention lost some of its strength, "We've got some serious problems."

Rei huffed out in frustration, "Understatement of the millennium."

Naoko slipped past Maria, the elder succubus too distracted by the oddities before her to stop the woman from acting. Everyone was shocked, afterwards, that Shinji hadn't reacted with the violence he'd shown seconds before which also allowed her to place her hand against Unit-01's chestplate. The ringing echo of a bell the size of the universe being struck by a hammer equally as large rocked everyone backwards but her and him. "By the Laws of Reality, through the Words of Magic, I now forevermore belong to Shinji Ikari, the Silent One, the Grey Elder, the Infinite Titan, the All-As-One. Every piece of my being is his to command, my life's thread no longer or shorter than his own, my health and happiness in all things equal to his own, my will wholly subservient to his…my soul to scream in torment for all time should I in any way speak falsely to him." Her eyes looked up into Unit-01's faceplate, determination and drive daring it to respond in any way, shape, or form. "You will not win…he does not belong to you alone."

"Come in and close the door," Yukiko sighed out in exasperation. "He'll need a few minutes to process what's just been done." When Inari launched herself at Naoko, the alien woman slapped her to the floor with a half-hearted gesture that came nowhere near the kitsune matriarch. "Since you and the Third Sister have not yet met me, I'll refrain from creating a stain on the floor with your innards, just this one time. Now," her voice grew far darker, the joie de vivre that was her typical demeanor gone as if it had never existed, "come in, and close the door."