Chapter 5

Shinji heaved a deep breath as hard as his heavy chest would take one. Then, Misato jumped into the middle section of the pool. Here, the water was about twelve feet deep. Shinji felt the cool water shock his skin as it opened itself and drew him down. Shinji realized just how hot his body was as he sank to the bottom. He could feel the heat being drawn out of him in waves and torrents, but he didn't feel like he was getting cold.

The air in his lungs felt stale. Shinji kicked off of the bottom of the pool and broke for the surface. Once his head was through, Shinji sucked in a reflexive lungful of air. He noticed that his chest didn't feel like it was being crushed by lead weights anymore. Shinji's tired arms and legs began to tread water, but he realized that he couldn't keep that up forever, so he struck out for the shallower end of the pool. Here, the water was five feet deep, and Shinji could stand, comfortably and completely supported in the water, and still be mostly submerged.

"How are you feeling?" Misato asked, swimming over to Shinji.

"Better now," Shinji replied, "Thanks, Misato. I would've died if you hadn't found me."

"You know, this wasn't the first time someone's passed out in my hot tub," Misato remarked, "But the other times all involved booze of some kind. You're the first someone to pass out from just the heat."

"I don't understand," Shinji said, puzzled, "Extreme heat and cold don't usually bother me that much. I just felt out of it when I climbed into the thing, I guess. I thought that relaxing in there would be the thing to take my mind off of—,"

Shinji stopped himself, fearing that he would say too much. He had already said enough to get Misato's attention, though. She slid up in front of Shinji and pulled him into a gentle hug.

"You don't have to tell me anything if you don't want to," Misato whispered gently, "I'm just glad you're okay."

Then, she pulled him out to arm's length and eyed him with mock seriousness.

"That's two reckless things you've done this afternoon," she said, "I guess you don't want to stay here too long, then."

"No!" Shinji protested immediately, "No, Misato! I really like it here! I do! I'll behave from now on, I promise. I—,"

"Chill out, Shin-chan," Misato said, hugging him close again, "I was only picking. I like having you here. It's nice having a cute guy living with me."

"It's nice living with a…beautiful woman like you…Misato," Shinji said, feeling like a school boy with a crush.

"That's not the heat talking, is it?" Misato asked.

"No, I'm…pretty sure it's me," Shinji replied.

"So how are things with Rei?" Misato asked, moving away from Shinji a little bit.

"What things with me and Rei?" Shinji asked, "There's nothing between us."

"You mean you two didn't do it when you were upstairs alone this afternoon?" Misato asked suspiciously, "Come on, Shinji, fess up. I've been around adults long enough to recognize the glow that a woman and a man have after they've just got done doing it. You and Rei were glowing, and I know that you two had a hot time."

"Okay, you caught me. I did her," Shinji admitted sheepishly, "But there's still nothing between us. It was a one-time thing. She and I agreed that we aren't supposed to be together right now. She was good, but she's not the one for me."

Then I was right, Misato thought, they weren't happy together. Maybe this means I can get him to…No…he still wouldn't go for it. I want Shinji to love me, but it doesn't seem right for me to fall in love with the boy that I've been given charge of to care for. That makes me feel like I'm trying to jump my own son, even though I don't have any kids yet. I know that he's not my real kid, but I still don't want to try to figure out the whole "Is it incest?" trip.

Shinji looked quizzically at Misato as she tumbled through her thoughts. He didn't know whether what he was feeling was dementia from his heat stroke, or what, but he decided to take a chance. While Misato's guard was down, Shinji swept up close to her, put his arms around her and kissed her squarely on the lips. Misato gasped initially, but then sighed gently into Shinji's mouth as she returned the kiss passionately. After a long moment, the two of them broke apart, but kept their arms around each other.

"Do you do this with all of the women who adopt you?" Misato purred.

"No," Shinji responded, his voice low, "You're special. Out of all of my guardians, past or present, you're the first one who ever showed that she cared enough to try to save my life. I appreciate that. Thank you."

"No," Misato said, "Thank you, Shinji. You just helped to make up my mind."

"About what?"

"You," Misato answered, "I knew that something was off with you and Rei after you came downstairs today. I can sort of read people. If they're going to be happy together, I can see it. But I didn't see anything with you and Rei, so I shouldn't have been so surprised when you told me that there wasn't anything between you two."

"Misato, I--,"

"Let me finish, please," Misato said, holding up a hand, "Like I said, you and Rei didn't look happy together, and that made me think. I'll admit I harbored selfish thoughts of making you my own, but I didn't think I could while I was still your legal guardian. That just felt too much like incest when I thought about it."

"I'll be 18 on Tuesday," Shinji said, "Then you can just think of me as your housemate."

"I'd like to think of you as more than that, Shinji," Misato said, looking meaningfully into Shinji's eyes, "But not yet. Not while you're still underage and my legal responsibility. It just doesn't feel right. But I like you, Shinji, I really do. And you've given me an idea for your birthday present. Now, I think it's time that we went inside and got to bed."

"My first night in my newest, largest house ever," Shinji said, "I can hardly wait."

"Well, if you need anything, just come on over to my room and wake me up," Misato said, "Now, come on. Let's get indoors; it's starting to get a little chilly."

Shinji's brain was coming back up to full operating capacity, and at the mention of the word "chilly" his eyes unconsciously shifted down to look at Misato's breasts. Sure enough, her nipples were pert and straining against the material of her bathing suit top. Shinji smiled, and then blushed a little, hoping that it was too dark for Misato to notice that he was staring at her chest. A few minutes later, Shinji and Misato were upstairs at the doorway of Shinji's room. Misato gave Shinji another hug and said:

"'Night, Shinji. Welcome to the neighborhood."

After she said this, Misato closed the door and left Shinji to his own devices to get ready for bed. Shinji's mind dwelled on the kiss that he and Misato had shared. He wondered why Misato had let him do it if she wasn't sure if it was right. He wondered whether he could sneak a peek at her gorgeous body. Shinji's mind swirled with all of these lecherous and somewhat confusing thoughts. He decided to go wash his face with a cold cloth and turn in for the night.

Shinji walked into the bathroom and grabbed a washcloth from his towel rack. Shinji turned on the cold water tap and ran the cloth under the water. After washing his face, Shinji felt calmer and more focused. He looked around him and noticed something that he hadn't during his earlier inspection of the bathroom.

There's another door in here, he observed, and I'll lay money that I know where it leads.

Shinji shut off the bathroom lights and crept over to the new door. He pressed his ear against the door and listened hard. He thought he heard what sounded like a door closing, but he wasn't sure. Shinji took a chance and gently opened the door a crack. He peeked inside and focused his eyes.

It was Misato's room. Shinji nodded to himself as he saw his theory confirmed. He also saw, to his great surprise, Misato standing in the middle of her room. Shinji couldn't see her as well as he would have liked; she was standing in a darker part of the room, instead of a moonlit square. But, Shinji could still make out her shape clearly enough to see that she was untying her bikini top.

Shinji saw the delicate garment flutter to the floor. Next, he saw Misato slide the bottom half of her bathing suit down her legs. Shinji felt his tongue wagging lustily as he took in Misato's silhouette.

I'd give my left kidney for some night vision goggles right about now, he thought, not caring how ridiculous he might sound, Oh, my god, yeah. Oh, please, Misato, walk into the moonlight! Oh, god, yeah. A little closer…A little more…Holy SHIT!

Misato stepped into a moonlit patch and Shinji saw, for the first time, his housemate in the full monty. Shinji's eyes took her in greedily, and he resisted the urge to go barging into her room and do perverted things to her. He stared hungrily at Misato's breasts, imagining his lips fastened over their hard nipples and sucking and licking them until she screamed with pleasure. As he watched, Misato climbed into bed, still in nothing but her birthday suit.

And she told me to come over and wake her up if I needed anything, Shinji thought, Does she want me to , or what?

Misato rolled over and seemed to be looking at the doorway where Shinji was peeking from. Shinji couldn't tell whether she could see him or not, but he decided not to risk getting caught. Getting branded a peeping tom wasn't really the ideal way Shinji envisioned his first night going. Shinji decided that discretion was the better part of valor and carefully and slowly pulled the door closed.

Once back in his own room, Shinji stripped down to his boxers and crawled into his gigantic bed. Once there, Shinji felt very alone. He wondered if he could convince Misato to let him bunk with her for the night. Shinji quickly dismissed that foolish idea, feeling like he'd be imposing on her.