Chapter 7: BOOGIE
A/N: Here it is, the sync training! There's also a scene at the end which ties into another fic called In Doubt Where To Go. Enjoy!
Due to their failure to cooperate on the battlefield, Shinji and Asuka had to learn how to dance with each other.
"You two will dance a routine and be in perfect sync! That will mean you also have to eat together, sit together, cook together, even sleep together!" said Misato.
Asuka gasped in disgust. "With this pervert!? No way!"
"Hey!" said the pervert in question.
Misato looked her in the eye. "It's either this, or that angel tramples us all."
Asuka held her gaze silently for a moment before sighing. "Fine, whatever..."
"Good!" said Misato. "Let's get home so we can get things set up!"
Misato laid out the dance mats, which each had 9 spots on them.
"Okay! So, you'll have this routine to follow," she held up two pieces of paper. "You have to do the steps at the same time, and the closer you are, the higher sync score you'll get! It goes up to 100, so you'll have to get to that by the end of these 6 days. That angel won't sleep forever!"
"Okay..." said Shinji and Asuka.
"Oh! One more thing!" said Misato as she reached into a bag. "You'll be wearing these!" She held up two tacky-looking leotards with music notes on them.
"What the hell is that!? No way I'll be seen in such garbage!" Asuka protested.
"Yeah, Misato, do we really have to...?" Shinji added.
"Yup! Now suit up, dancers!"
Asuka snatched her dance-wear and stormed into the bathroom to change. Shinji followed, waiting at the table so he could change after.
After less than a minute, Shinji heard a scream, and whipped around as the door opened.
Asuka stood there, holding one warm-water penguin out as far away from her as possible. "Misato, what the hell is this!?"
Misato smiled. "Oh, that's Pen-Pen. He lives with us too!"
"Well, he's just as much of a pervert as the other male in this damn place!" she said, punctuating her point by drop-kicking poor Pen-Pen across the kitchen.
She soon realized she was clad in next-to-nothing, and that Shinji was looking at her exposed self.
"YOU!" she screamed as she kicked Shinji in the chest, knocking him off his chair before slamming the door and returning to changing.
Misato came into the kitchen to see Shinji lying on his back, the chair knocked over and away from him. He had just fallen victim to the Soryu Leg Hammers for the first time, presumably of many.
She sighed. "This is gonna be the longest 6 days of my life..."
Starting tomorrow morning, Shinji and Asuka had 6 days to get synchronized in order to defeat the angel, classified Israfel.
On Day 0, the night Misato introduced the plan, they really had no idea what they were doing.
It was like watching a band attempt to play a song but they were all at different tempos and keys.
"Alright!" Misato said, trying her hardest not to sound stern or annoyed. "You guys are doing... yeah, you guys are doing, but it's gonna be a long week, so how about you two call it now and help me move the futon into the room?"
Asuka glared at Shinji. "Christ, Third Child, I see you with those damn headphones, and you're telling me you have no rhythm!?"
Shinji furrowed his brow. "What!? How am I supposed to get a rhythm going when you keep changing it!?"
"Oh yeah!?"
"Oh-kay!" Misato interrupted, lest a showdown in Tokyo 3 take place in her apartment. "How about we save this energy for tomorrow, 'kay?"
Shinji and Asuka gave each other dirty looks before stepping away from each other, with Asuka storming to the bathroom.
Shinji helped Misato move the futons, which Asuka took issue with. She complained about 'sleeping so close to a pervert,' which Misato shut down by reminding her that she was the one who brought up sex during the meeting. She also explained that she'd be sleeping between them, which eased the young girl's mind.
Complaints filed away, the three slept somewhat peacefully, with Shinji feeling like he was lying on a bed of nails, for fear he ended up in a bad position during in his sleep.
Day 1 started with some Katsuragi-style fanfare to wake up the Second and Third Children.
"It's tiiiiiiiime to waaaaake uuuuuup~!" She sang loudly with zero technique, which Shinji had been subject to on a number of karaoke-related occasions. Her inexperience in singing worked to her favour, as Shinji and Asuka popped out of bed fast to make it stop.
Misato reminded them that they had to be doing everything together, save for using the toilet, which meant sharing a sink.
The first battle in the Six-Day War started in the bathroom, when the two combatants kept elbowing each other.
Asuka stood on the left, using her right hand to brush. This left Shinji standing on the right and using his left, which meant a number of accidental digs in the ribs very early in the morning.
"Ow! Watch it, Third!" Asuka complained while brushing.
Shinji wasn't sure why he didn't just switch hands. He could use either. Maybe Misato had finally wormed her way into his subconscious and was now tugging on his brain to get a rise out of Asuka.
He grunted a little and continued, elbowing her again. Not too hard, as he didn't want to leave the bathroom with a toe-tag.
Instead of shouting at him, Asuka decided to respond with an elbow of her own.
Damn! He thought when she struck him. How much milk does this girl freaking drink!? After being kicked in the chest, he just assumed she was strong from the combat training, but it turns out her elbow was like a small cannonball right in his side. Shinji would quickly learn that if it was on her body, Asuka was capable of using it to hit someone.
He decided to shrug off the elbowing, and moved onto washing his face, trying to keep in time with Asuka. Things were going well, until the two of them bumped heads. The small sink size really did not help.
"Idiot-Shinji, cut it out!" she said, smacking him on the back of his head.
Face wet and eyes closed, Shinji turned to the source of her voice and put his hands up in defence. "Hey! Not like I meant to-" his words were cut off when his hand hit something warm.
He snapped his eyes open, which hurt a little from the water, but what came next trampled that pain.
Asuka was looking him in the eyes, her face a little flushed. When he looked down, he noticed his hand placement. It was right on her chest.
"PERVERT!" Asuka smacked him across the face, actually knocking him onto his backside at the open door of the bathroom.
Defeated, he laid on his back for a moment. He turned his head to see Misato sitting at the table.
She took one look at him and cracked open what would be her second beer that day.
After the bathroom debacle, Misato made Shinji and Asuka cook breakfast together, which fared a little better. Despite all of her pride, Asuka quietly relinquished her bossiness and let Shinji take the lead. Despite the many grievances she had about living with a boy, especially with no locked doors and rooms that were about a metre apart, and the fact that he had groped her, no matter how accidental, Asuka had to admit to herself that Shinji was a pretty good cook.
This, of course, was limited by the sheer amount of fish and rice he made. Asuka was quarter-certain that if he took his efforts and put them into preparing something German, it might turn out alright.
One breakfast later, and the training truly began. The night before was a proto-run, perhaps even a test-run, but today was the official production run of the sync training. Misato was insistent on making sure that they were able to dance in sync, so they simply went along with it.
After a few hours of dancing, they were plateauing at sync scores around the low-to-mid 50s.
"Alright, you guys have made some decent progress today," Misato said. "Let's take a little break, sound good?"
They both nodded, and Shinji offered to get Asuka some water, which she somewhat desperately accepted.
Asuka watched Shinji as he walked to the kitchen, her eyes scrutinizing the back of his body. They eventually found themselves on his posterior, which Asuka felt looked just that much better with the training outfit.
She quickly realized that she wasn't the only one looking when a hand went onto her shoulder. "Well, well," Misato said, grinning. "The Ikari Ass got your attention?"
Asuka scowled at her. "I was not looking!" she hissed.
Misato chuckled. "Ahhh, you're a good liar, but nothing gets past me. So the kid's got a cute butt? No harm in that! Just don't jump his bones until you're a little older!" She added a wink for effect.
Asuka's scowl turned into a glare. "Okay, that's enough!" She growled quietly as Shinji returned with two cups of water.
Day 1 went by and ended with both of them exhausted, so that meant conserving the energy to argue for another time.
Day 2 didn't start with a physical altercation in the bathroom, largely thanks to Shinji's ambidexterity. Since he really wanted to avoid any more elbowing and accidental groping, he used his right hand as well, making for better synchronized teeth-brushing with Asuka.
Even the training seemed to go well, right up until dinner.
Misato made the mistake of poking the proverbial bear. "So," she said to her two dancers. "One of you keeps going at little too fast for the other."
"It's him," Asuka said with no hesitation.
Shinji's eyed widened. "What!? No way!"
"Absolutely is! It's like you have something in your brain that bring you out of time with me!" she said, glaring at him.
"I'm trying! It's like you have something in your brain that-"
"Alright, alright!" Misato said, cutting him off. "Who's fault is what is neither here nor there, but I'll focus on some positives instead! For starters, you guys are making some pretty good progress."
"Really?" They said simultaneously.
"You kinda answered your own question there," she said back, grinning.
The two of them looked at each other for a moment and blushed.
Day 3 started out pretty regular, but for every corrected mistake, it seemed that a new one popped up. It took a lot of defusing from Misato to save the noise, or Shinji getting punched in the jaw.
Outside of the dance routine, they were slowly getting into being somewhat synchronized. The morning routine wasn't as bad, and they were beginning to match up more and more.
"Yo, Ken," Toji said as the two of them were packing their bags to leave school for the day. "Have you heard from Shin-Man?"
"Come to think of it, I haven't... Wonder what's going on there?" Kensuke answered.
"Hm, ya figure the Red Devil ate him yet?" asked Toji.
Kensuke chuckled. "50/50 on that. How about we head to his place?"
"Sure!" Toji said before thinking of something else. "Oh, I got an idea. How about we pick up my sister on the way? She's been buggin' me for a while about meetin' him."
One trip to the elementary school later, Kensuke, Toji, and one Sakura Suzuhara were heading towards the Katsuragi apartment.
When Toji told his 9 year-old sister where they'd be going, she was practically bouncing off the sidewalk with every step, going on and on about meeting the 'hero in the big robot.' Shinji had become a small-scale idol for the young girl.
They reached the floor of the apartment, and noticed a familiar face in the form of one Hikari Horaki.
"Good afternoon, stooges-" she started, before noticing a familiar little girl. "Sakura! How are you, sweetie?" she said in an immediate switch of tone, rushing over to embrace the little girl who won the heart of every person she met.
"Hello, Miss Hikari! Big brother is taking me to see Shinji!" Sakura said, a lot of excitement in her voice.
"Whadda ya doin' here, Class Rep?" Toji asked.
"Funny that you mention, I'm here to see Asuka!"
Kensuke nudged Toji, whispering "She doesn't know..."
Toji stifled a laugh. The two of them had known Hikari since childhood. One way they always knew how to get under her skin was to take advantage of her excessive prudishness. They knew the moment she found out about a teenage boy and girl living under the same roof, she'd freak out.
"Boys? What are you two snickering about?" She asked with a hint of malice.
"Nothing, heh, nothing!" Kensuke quickly said.
Hikari waved it off. "Well, anyways, I haven't seen Asuka in a few days, and she gave me this address, saying her apartment number was 757. What are you two doing here?"
Toji grinned. "We're here to see the Shin-Man."
"Oh! Does he live on the same floor?"
The two boys looked at each other.
Hikari scowled. "What kind of joke are you two making, here?"
"Nothing! Nothing! Just knock on the door!" Toji quickly answered, stealing a glance at Kensuke who was practically pressing his mouth closed to keep from laughing.
Hikari knocked, and the door slid open, revealing Asuka, standing so she was above Shinji as they peaked out the doorway in a similar fashion.
"Hey guys." The two of them said in unison.
Toji and Kensuke were ready to laugh at Hikari's reaction until they saw what Shinji was wearing: A leotard, matching the Red Devil's.
"Sh-Shinji! You traitor!" Kensuke cried out.
Hikari's face went red. "You! Boy! Girl! Under the same roof!? SIN! You are living in SIN!"
"It's not like that!" They said at the same time. "It's Misato! She's making us do everything together! Dance, eat, sleep..."
"SLEEP!?" Hikari protested loudly.
"Not in that way!" they answered quickly.
Misato decided to come to the doorway in order to save her pilots from the clutches of one irate young girl. "This is all a part of their sync training! By the end of the week, they'll be able to defeat the angel together! Care to come in?"
This seemed to calm Hikari down a little, as she warily accepted, along with the boys.
As the six of them filed into the living room, where Rei and Pen-Pen were standing, there was one more person, rather small at that, who was bursting at the seams to meet her hero.
"SHINJI!" Sakura shouted as she barrelled towards him, tackling him in a hug.
Shinji, who had made it to the living room, almost fell over from the force of this young girl. "Ah, you must be Toji's sister!" He concluded as much when this 9 year-old girl hit him with that Suzuhara strength.
"Yup, I am!" She said cheerily. "Big brother and I saw you fight that huge monster! Are you gonna be fighting more? Oh man, that's so exciting!"
Shinji looked up at Toji, who just smiled sheepishly.
As Sakura asked Shinji a ton of questions, Asuka watched the scene with crossed arms, fighting down the jealousy and urge to yell as to not make herself look like a monster in front of this little girl.
Stupid jerk. Just wait until I kick this angel's ass. Then she'll be asking all about me, I guarantee-
"Asuka?"
Misato inadvertently snapped her out of her own thinking, which was unknowingly to her benefit.
"Yeah?" she answered.
"We're gonna continue."
Toji managed to break away his sister, who was content to watch Shinji train for another big fight.
Shinji and Asuka got into position, and began their routine.
They performed step-after-step, but eventually come to a crashing halt, with the machine making an irritating buzzing sound.
Attempt two, they got to about the same spot when one of them messed up.
Attempt five, and Asuka was at her limit. "That's it! I cannot dance with this animated turnip! He has zero sense of rhythm!"
Toji and Kensuke exchanged a glance, knowing that couldn't be farther from the truth.
"Hey! You keep going too fast!" Shinji snapped back.
"Well, keep up!"
Misato looked at the two of them knowingly. "Rei?" she asked, glancing at her. "Would you like to try it with Shinji?"
Rei nodded, and took Asuka's place
They went through the routine nearly flawlessly, reaching a sync score around the 90s.
Misato applauded to drive the point home to Asuka. "Wow! Well done, Rei!"
Shinji patted Rei on the shoulder. "Good job," he said, exasperated. Little did he know, that small touch broke the red-headed camel's back.
Asuka was fuming. "Well, if she's so damn good, switch it over to her!" she shouted before storming out of the apartment, loudly and forcefully sliding the front door closed.
"Shinji..." Misato started.
"I'll go," he answered quickly and made his way out.
After he left, the rest of the group sat in silence for a moment, before Sakura broke the tension.
"She's loud."
Shinji, clad in his dancing leotard and some hastily thrown-on shoes, dashed out of the apartment building, thinking where Asuka would go.
He quickly recalled that on their way to school, Asuka pointed out this corner store she had been to on the day of her move, and how they supposedly 'had all the good drinks.' He figured she'd go there to cheer herself up.
Sure enough, the Ikari Instinct paid off, and he quickly noticed Asuka crouched at a fridge, looking for a drink to get.
Shinji approached her. "Asuka?"
"Go away, Third. Misato obviously wants Wondergirl over there to do the mission, and you clearly do as well," she bit back.
"Asuka, I don't wanna do this with Rei."
"Why not?" Asuka said, standing and facing him with crossed arms, drinks in hand. "She's practically all over you."
"Asuka, she's-"
Shinji was once again interrupted. "Even Misato seems to agree! So stop pitying me!" Asuka leaned a little closer as she said this.
He backed up, before taking a deep breath and formulating a point. "Asuka, you know Misato's bluffing, right? She wanted to get under your skin, so she used Rei for it. I like Rei, I've known her for years, but I don't think her and I can take this angel. Think about it, you and I have really close sync rates, and Rei just got back from being incapacitated, right before we met on the boat. Her sync rate and mine are at massive gaps, therefore, you and I would beat that angel way easier!"
Asuka looked past him. Expression not very telling. "And if I screw it up, Misato will have no problem sidelining me."
Shinji kept his gaze on her. "I really don't think so. Anybody with a pulse could point out that leaving the pilot with the most experience and combat training is a dumb move. She won't sideline you, I guarantee it."
She chewed on his words for a moment, before a familiar fire found its way back into her eyes. "Well," she said with a grin spreading across her face. "Looks like I'll have to show her! Come on Third!" With that, she grabbed Shinji by the wrist and lead him out the door, still holding the drinks.
"Wait, Asuka!" Shinji said. "We still have to pay for those!"
The rest of Day 3 went pretty well. Asuka was rather responsive to Shinji's pep talk, and he was starting to figure out what her moves would be so he could adjust his speed accordingly.
Day 4 also went rather smoothly. They did the morning routine with very few synchronicity hiccups. Even moments where they clashed seemed to be in sync, like someone arguing with a mirror.
All in all, their score by the end of the day had crawled up to the mid 70s. Misato was proud of the progress, especially after facing down Asuka's temper the day before, so she celebrated in true Katsuragi fashion: drinking.
Shinji and Asuka ran through the routine again, landing a score of 75.
Misato clapped and cheered to the point where she almost fell out of her seat. "Whooo! Yeah! Oh man, you kids'r killin' it! Y'know, ya look soooo cute when you dance like that," she ranted drunkenly.
Shinji smiled awkwardly, looking at a spot on the floor. "Uh, thanks?"
Misato grinned at him. "F'real! Asuka, isn't Shinji's butt cute?"
Asuka's eyes widened for a second. "Misato..."
"Ahhh, I know y'r lookin' at it, I see ya. Hey, it's cute! No shame in it!" She continued.
"Misato..."
"My butt is cute?"
"Hon'stly, If ya guys, like, kissed, I bet ya'd do even bett'r!"
"MISATO!" the two complained loudly.
Day 5 saw more great progress. Almost immediately they were up from yesterday's peak, going from 75 to 78 in the first couple of hours.
As a reward for hard work, Misato gave them a slightly longer break. They put together a couple sandwiches, and some soft drinks from the store that Asuka convinced Misato to buy more of.
They ate and drank, quietly enjoying the cool breeze of that day.
Shinji decided to break the ice, something he had been wanting to do more and more. "So... How do you feel about the training?"
Asuka smirked, tilting her head upwards. "Needless to say, you're not doing a terrible job at keeping up with my perfect moves, Third!" This was her weird, roundabout way of giving compliments, which Shinji was slowly becoming aware of.
He decided to give her a few of his own kind words. "Yeah. At first it was a little frustrating-"
"Ugh, don't remind me."
Shinji blushed, remembering the slap in the bathroom. "-But we've really been working well together. So, good job, Asuka. I think we have a good shot."
She looked sidelong at him. "Well, we aren't at 100 yet, so you better catch up to my impeccable footwork!" Asuka boasted with a hint of teasing.
Hours upon hours of focus later, and their sync score climbed up to 92.
Day 6 was somewhat of a deciding factor in whether or not Shinji and Asuka were ready to fight this angel.
Misato was determined that they'd clear that final 8, and so were they. The two of them were not even exchanging glances anymore, the only desynchronization was when one of them delayed by mere milliseconds.
The day began very early in the morning, and they just dance the routine over and over and over again. They were so focused that they barely had a lunch break, spending no more and no less than 10 minutes on feeding their growing bodies before going back to the dancing. By mid-afternoon, they were at 97.
"Come one, kids! Just 3 more points and this angel is a shoe-in!" Misato encouraged.
"We're trying!" they both said, their voices almost sounding like one. "It's just little things here and there, but we'll get it!"
She gave them a warm smile. "Well, duty calls, and since I like keeping the lights on, I have to go to work. If you guys reach 100, don't hesitate to pick up the phone. See you later!"
"Right! Bye!"
Three hours later, they finished the routine and heard a small tune being emitted from the machine.
At the same time, they both slowly looked over, seeing a big red '100' blinking on the monitor.
They both looked at each other, brimming with excitement over reaching their goal.
Misato was doing more Israfel-related paperwork when her cell phone rang.
Usually, she checks caller ID, but she was so focused that she answered without looking and put the phone to her ear. "Katsuragi."
"MISATO!" came two voices on the other line. "WE DID IT! WE-WE REACHED 100!" This was followed by excited, incoherent shouts of joy.
She held the phone a few inches from her ear as the call began to register in their mind: Shinji and Asuka managed to sync the day before the angel was scheduled to move again.
Misato quickly matched their energy. "AHHHH! OH MY GODS, GOOD JOB, KIDS! Listen, keep that score for a bit longer, and if you keep it by sundown, take the night off! We need you two rested, right?"
"Right!" They both said before hanging up.
Misato put her phone down, smiling knowingly at the brimming chemistry between her two wards, even if they didn't realize it yet.
The sun was down, and Shinji's muscles were begging him for mercy.
They had managed to get 8 more 100s, which were huge morale boosters, so once it got dark, they ate, then they went for their showers.
They were both showered when the phone rang. Asuka answered the call, and moments later she was off the line and back in the living room.
"Who was it?" he asked.
"Misato, she said she isn't gonna be here until morning," replied Asuka, pausing for a moment before a mischievous grin spread across her face. "You and I are alone, you know what that means..."
Shinji's face went red as he tried to form words. "You-uh, what do you wanna do?"
Jackpot. I tripped him up, she thought to herself.
"You know what I want~?" she asked, before scowling. "To sleep!" She dragged her futon into Misato's room, turning to face a dumbfounded Shinji. "This is the impenetrable wall of Jericho. Cross it, and you're a dead man, Third!" With that, she slammed the door shut, semi-intentionally giving him a look down her shirt in the process.
Shinji stared at the door, replaying her words.
The impenetrable wall of Jericho, Shinji thought to himself, staring at the slammed door. Have I heard that somewhere?
He sat down on his futon, keeping his eyes on the door as he combed through his thoughts. With all the weird names they gave the stuff at NERV, something like a Wall of Jericho sounds like it'd fit right in. He then recalled someone he could ask who'd have loads on knowledge on such things.
Shinji grabbed his phone, opening the text messages.
Ikari, Shinji: Rei.
Ikari, Shinji: Could you help me with something?
Ayanami, Rei: Good evening, Shinji. What do require assistance with?
Ikari, Shinji: Do you know what the Wall of Jericho is? It sounds familiar, and I feel like if anybody would know, it would be you.
Shinji was given an indication that Rei was typing for several minutes before her next message came through.
Ayanami, Rei: The Wall of Jericho refers to the Battle of Jericho from the Book of Joshua in the Bible. It is the story of how Israel conquered Canaan. Joshua, the leader of the Israelites, sent two spies to Jericho, the first city of Canaan that they decided to conquer, and discovered that the land was in fear of them and their God. The Israelites marched around the walls once every day for six days with the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant. On the seventh day they marched seven times around the walls, then the priests blew their ram's horns, the Israelites raised a great shout, and the walls of the city fell.
Shinji looked over the information given to him, his eyes widening at the last part.
The wall... fell? He thought about it some more. Asuka was a clever and cunning girl. There was no way she'd make a mistake like that.
Shinji weighed his options: He'd go in there and either die by Asuka's hand, or leave it, but leaving it felt like running away, or taking the easy way out. Mother, Father too, always said to never back down and to never run away. Remembering their words, Shinji made his decision. Taking a sharp breath, he stood from the futon and marched over to Misato's room, sliding the door open.
Asuka was sitting on her futon, looking at the floor. She snapped her head up at Shinji when she heard the door open. "Did you not hear what I said? Cross, and you're a dead man!"
Shinji got a grip on his heart rate. "Asuka, didn't the Wall of Jericho... f-fall?"
Her gaze softened out of mild shock. "You... Hm, you're not as much of an idiot as I thought, Third Child. Still gonna call you Idiot-Shinji, because it rolls nicely." Shinji just responded by looking at the ground sheepishly. "Well, Third? Just gonna stand there? You got this far, at the very least come in," Asuka said as she patted the seat next to her.
"Right," Shinji said as he took her up on that, sitting in his spot.
Asuka had almost given up on the Third Child, sitting in the same position at the door for a while, before she thought he'd never pick up on her hint. It must have been some fluke that he understood what she was referring to. "What's going on? Did you not have a plan for getting in?" she asked him.
He looked at her. "Honestly, not really? I was, like, half-sure I'd survive, so I don't really know what to do next."
Asuka grinned. "Not gonna do what you do with Wondergirl? I bet she's missing your touch right now." Truthfully, she didn't know what to do next either, so she was just as lost as him.
Shinji's eyes widened. "Um, Asuka, she's right next door. Besides, we're related. Cousins, actually."
Asuka blushed a little. Oh my God, they're related! You know, come to think of it, they do look pretty similar... Ugh, stupid, idiot-Asuka! She put her line of thinking aside for a moment. She felt a sense of relief about it, but couldn't pinpoint why. Wondergirl was such an odd individual, and she just sized her up as competition.
Competition for what!? Stupid, stupid!
"How about we rest a little? Don't know about you, but I'm exhausted," she said with a genuine smile.
"Ah, sure," Shinji said.
"Alright, lay on that side, but face away. I don't want any unwanted visitors, and all boys are perverts," she commanded.
Shinji laughed as he laid down. "Really?"
"Yup!" Asuka said proudly. "Not one boy who isn't! It's all relative, anyways. Every male has varying degrees of pervert in them, so it could be a little or a lot. In fact, I'm a little surprised by you. Sharing a bed with a girl, and your head hasn't exploded."
"Well, to be honest, I... I wanna learn more about you, Asuka."
Her eyes widened a little. From all the 'love' letters and notes from secret admirers, she had never heard that. It was always something about her beauty or some mildly objectifying comment about her body, but the words 'I want to learn more about you' never came up. She smiled a little. "Well, what do you want to know?"
Shinji paused. Questions about her mother were burning in his mind as they had been since the previous angel attack, but she seemed to relent on him tonight, so he wanted to stay in her good graces for as long as he could.
He decided on a question that felt cliché, but not too bad. "Why do you pilot Eva?"
"Really? That's what you came up with?" she said, amused.
"Sorry."
"No, no it's a fine question. I've just been asked it quite a bit. I pilot it for me. I'm the best at the job after all. I've been training for this most of my life," she said. It's pretty much all I know.
"Wow, really?" Shinji asked honestly.
"Well, duh. You think they call you the Third Child because they like the number?"
"Right."
"Whatever. But I wanna know, why do you pilot?" Asuka asked.
Because my freaking Mother is in there. "I... I made a promise a long time ago."
"To who?" she prodded.
"Someone very close to me," Shinji said with a twinge of sadness.
Asuka picked up on that. "Hey, that's not half bad a reason," she said, elbowing him playfully.
Shinji smiled at that. "Well, I can hardly keep my eyes open. G'night, Asuka. Thanks for talking to me."
"It's nothing Third. You're not bad company. Goodnight."
Shinji had fallen into a decent sleep. This was due in part to exhaustion, but also having a pretty girl who smelled nice next to him. He was broken from this slumber by the need to use the bathroom.
One empty bladder later, he carefully made his way back to the futon as to not interrupt Asuka's sleep.
He laid down next to her and got on his side, facing the door as she faced away.
Before his tired brain could register, he heard some movements behind him, and he felt a breathing on his neck. He slowly looked over his shoulder and saw that in her sleep, Asuka had rolled over to face him.
"Asuka?" he asked softly.
She responded with incoherent mumbling, but after a pause, she said something comprehensible.
"Mama..."
His eyes went wide as he listened.
"Mama... Why'd you have to...?"
Why'd you have to what? Shinji had a million questions, none of which could be answered at the moment.
Again, another sound caught his attention. The sound of sniffling. He looked back again to see a tear falling from Asuka's sleeping eye.
He badly wanted to help her out, but how?
"It's okay, Asuka..." he whispered, in vain hope that it would help.
Shinji didn't hear more sniffling, but another thing tripped him up. This time, he felt a very light weight come over his torso. He looked down to see that in her sleep, Asuka had wrapped an arm around him. He lightly put his hand over hers as he drifted back to sleep.
Asuka woke up the next morning feeling the most peace she had felt in a very long time. At first, her sleep was a bit restless, but at some point it had become very warm and calming. She was curious as to why, but more confused by the fact that she was facing the door of Misato's room, her arm draped over an empty spot where someone else should be.
Where the hell did that idiot go? She pondered before the sound of the toilet answered her question. A moment later, Shinji opened the door to the room, and they locked eyes.
"Hey," he said, a bit nervously. "Sleep okay?"
She scrutinized him with her gaze. "Yeah. Did something happen?" she asked with a bit of an accusatory tone.
He blushed. "Um, nope! None that I can think of, at least!"
She decided to let it go as she got up to use the toilet as well. The Third Child seemed like an honest boy, and her body didn't feel off, so she assumed he didn't do anything indecent. In fact, she felt great when she woke up, but what did the Third Child have to do with that?
Misato stood in central dogma, watching the large screen nervously as the minutes slowly crawled to the time of the mission.
Beside her stood one special inspector that made her blood boil. The night before, she ended up kissing him. She recalled feeling disgusted, but unsure if such a sentiment was directed at him or herself.
She sighed, shaking the thoughts out of her head for now as two voices came on the comms, signalling the pilots being ready.
The screen showed the angel, mobile once again, being monitored by both NERV and the JSSDF.
"The target has breached the Gora absolute defence line," said a tech.
"Alright, this time we're ready. Shinji, Asuka, when the music starts, deploy your AT-Fields right away. After that, follow the steps. Got it?"
"Roger!"
"Target has breached the mountain!"
Asuka looked at Shinji through the comm. "Ready? We're going all out! You can be second best later, but for now, on my level!"
"Alright! Let's make the last 6 days worth it!" he said with enthusiasm. He had been too focused to talk to Mother, so when he got in the entry plug, she remained quiet, as she could sense his focus.
The power was jettisoned, and the Evas were launched, headed for the surface.
As soon as they got there, the music started. They flew into the air, splitting the angel into two before grabbing pallet rifles to wear down it's AT-Field. They artfully dodged shots from the angel(s). More shots from themselves and the support weakened the AT-Field more. In perfect synchronization, they gave each half of the angel a kick, as they fused back together. Leaping into the air and creating beautiful arcs as their Evas twirled, Shinji and Asuka got the angel right where they wanted it as the came down upon it for a combined kick in the cores. Their feet landed on the twin cores, sending the angel into the mountain as they continued to push. They both felt a feeling of exaltation when the cores began to crack, before they burst entirely.
The breaking of the angel's cores created a massive explosion, signifying that it had been defeated by the two young pilots. The six days of training had certainly paid off.
Unfortunately, the explosion knocked Shinji and Asuka off-balance. The smoke cleared, and both Evangelions were on top of each other.
"Ooof..." Shinji said as he shook his head.
You okay, Shinji? Asked his mother.
Yeah. Everything went fine, and we beat the angel. We just ended up on top of each other.
That's okay, hon. You did great, and so did- Oh my gods that is so cute!
Huh? What?
You and Asuka! Awww, you had a little slumber party!
Mother! Shinji spoke in his mind, embarrassment leaking out of him
Listen, it's cute and I encourage it. Just don't make grandkids until you're older. Anyways, you should touch base with your cute little co-pilot, okay?
Shinji sighed in exasperation Alright, alright, I'll see you later.
Goodbye for now, my son.
Shinji shut down Unit-01 and ejected his plug, he looked out onto the explosion site when the phone on his Eva rang.
He picked it up. "Hello?"
"What the hell was that!? We were this close! You clumsy idiot, you fell on me!" Asuka's voice boomed through the earpiece.
"Hey! Don't put it all on me! You're the one who thought my butt looked cute! M-Maybe you were looking at it," he blurted out in the heat of the moment.
"I DID NOT!"
The Acting Commander, Major, Special Inspector, and Bridge Crew watched the argument unfold as they all gave varying reactions.
Fuyutski put a palm to his forehead. "Argh, not again..."
Gendo Ikari got off of his private jet the day after the 8th Angel was defeated. The delay on NERV's end meant that he had been stuck in London-2 for some extra time. It was a nice city, but he had decided to pour all of his interest into caring for two children who were now teenagers, fighting a war against ungodly-looking beasts that threatened everything they knew.
He continuously promised himself that he'd see Yui again, and that the two children would see the woman they came from.
Sighing as his foot touched the tarmac of home soil, he pulled a small polaroid of himself and Yui out of his pocket. In the picture, they were on a balcony at a hotel in Geneva. They were enjoying each other's embrace on a warm, pre-Second Impact day on their honeymoon.
The hand he held the photo in had been a recent development as well; he embedded Kaji's gift to him in his right hand. That way, anyone who wanted it sould have to kill him first, and he knew SEELE wouldn't risk such a thing.
"Soon, my love," he said quietly as his eyes looked closely at Yui's smile.
A/N: Hey! Author's notes will be after this Omake. This is part of the story, but it's more of a casual scene. For context, it's a tie-in to my buddy Erik, AKA Asushin fan's fanfic In doubt where to go. Enjoy!
Omake: It was nice to meet you
Two days after the battle, Shinji went grocery shopping. He still hadn't bought the specialty food he wanted to get for Asuka, and was still scoping out places.
He told himself once again that he'd get around to it, but it wasn't too easy since he knew the stores around their old apartment much better. At least his sense of direction was better than Misato's.
Shinji exited the grocery store, arms full of two grocery bags.
Damn, he thought sighing aloud. I gotta make these last a couple blo-
His train of thought was interrupted when one of the bags started to fall from his arm. Before he had time to shout for it, something stopped the bag from falling and spilling onto the hot, dirty pavement.
Shinji looked up, clutching the other bag with both arms as his gaze met that of an older man. He was a peculiar looking individual, having eyes that mismatched in colour. One was grey, accented with a scar, and the other was a deep blue.
He looks kind of like that rockstar that Misato is into, Shinji thought to himself, remembering that musician's mismatched eyes from a documentary he watched with her.
What also stuck out was that the man was wearing a scarf that covered the lower half of his face. This stuck out to Shinji, given the constant heat, but he was not one to judge a book by his cover.
Still, he has a familiar look in his eyes...
"Hey, kid," said the man. "Here's your stuff," he held out the bag, smiling.
Shinji was a little flustered. "Oh! Um, thank you, sir!" He put the other bag down before procuring his almost-wasted groceries.
The man scrutinized him with his eyes for a moment, before smiling again. "No problem. A kid like you looks like he could use a couple favours to ease the stress."
Shinji cocked his head. "What do you mean?"
"Well, I was a lot like you at your age. In fact, you remind me quite a lot of myself, and if you are like me, you probably have quite a few people around you that you deem important."
"Well, I guess I do, yeah. I have some friends that have been pretty nice to me since I met them," Shinji responded.
The man grinned. "I bet there's a girl as well."
"W-what?" Shinji said with a blush.
The man looked him in the eye. "Believe me, my... wife and I, we were at each other's throats all the time. In fact, we met when we were your age, and man, was she ever pushy. Always wanted to be the best at everything. You follow?"
"Uhh..."
"Alright, I'll keep it short. Basically, we eventually figured things out, but we definitely cut it close. There were a handful of missed opportunities, kid. I'd hate to see you do the same with this girl."
Shinji narrowed his gaze. "What do you mean?"
"Did you not get all flustered when I mentioned a girl?" asked the man.
Shinji looked down, effectively giving him a 'yes.'
The man put a hand on his shoulder reassuringly. "Don't hesitate, kid. I have a feeling she likes you more than you think."
He thought of the night before the battle, when Asuka seemed to let her guard down just a little, enough to be comfortable with him.
"I won't," Shinji said, smiling confidently at the man.
He clapped him on the shoulder. "Good!" The man checked his watch. "Well, I gotta run or I'll miss the train. See ya, Sh... Kid!"
Shinji didn't notice the slip, but had a question anyways. "Oh, by the way, what's your name, sir?"
"Hendrickson. David Hendrickson."
"It was nice to meet you, Mr. Hendrickson! My name's Shinji Ikari."
The man gave him one more friendly look. "The pleasure's all mine, Shinji." He winked, then turned back around, turning the corner.
Shinji smiled as he recalled the advice Mr. Hendrickson gave him. The only downside was that he'd have to explain what the hold up was to Asuka.
'David' got away from the grocery store, and found an alleyway where nobody was around.
He double checked his surroundings before opening a portal.
'David,' real name Shinji Ikari, age 28, found himself back at the tree of Shinji, where he crossed another timeline off of his list.
"Alright," he said to himself. "If that kid's like me but better adjusted, he'll be okay. I know it."
A/N: Israfel's gone, bye bye fucker(s)! This was a fun chapter! At first I was a little unsure but then I started writing scenes that I really liked, and that left me satisfied with the end product! The wall of Jericho was a little tough at first, but I like the direction it took. I don't wanna move things too fast between Shinji and Asuka, so I didn't over do it, but gave just a little.
Shoutout to the Asushin Mega Empire Discord server for feedback and also corrections!
The chapter title is a reference to a BROCKHAMPTON song, which is nice and upbeat. Good for a fight scene, heh.
Reviews!
skyfox: I wanna gradually break away from following the episodes, but I'm glad it's still enjoyable to read.
TalonEmpire: You crazy bastard maybe my fic is a good counterweight for what ur doing.
ShotgunCaesar: I hope I keep improving quality-wise
YourBlandestNightmare: I think it was pretty in character for ol' Asuka. And hey, Yui wants grandkids, so she's gonna prod her son when he's got a crush.
somedude234: Thanks! I hope you stick around.
daseggs: One goal I had going in was to build a Shinji that was less sad, but I didn't just want ultra-chad Shinji that would make the girls swoon by looking at him, so I hope that I can keep it consistent.
tomdj1701: Hope ya get caught up soon!
Annk (guest): Hello Ms. Bringer, thanks for checking out my story! I'm glad you like it! There's more humour and wholesomeness to come, so stick around!
GoobusUbusMoobus: Glad to have you aboard!
Next time: Asuka takes angel-related matters into her own hands in Chapter 8: Jump In The Fire!