+++++ Tokyo-3 Intercontinental. +3

Waiting patiently for instructions, Shinji watched as Minaho set various things in motion. She summoned the concierge and duty officer of the hotel, giving each a list of rapid-fire instructions. She then picked up the hotel's phone and began calling people outside of the hotel to give even more instructions. From where he sat, on the edge of the bed where he'd been put, Shinji gained a new understanding and appreciation for how out of touch with his own world he'd been.

After her last outbound call, Minaho turned and saw her mistake. "You should be asleep!"

"I-I…uhm, I wanted to take a shower." Gesturing to himself, he pointed out the plugsuit. "I don't know how to take this off, and the LCL is very uncomfortable when it dries."

"Ah…." Striding over, she offered her hands and helped him stand up. "I'm sorry. There's a lot of people that just sunk their forks into this situation. I didn't mean to forget about you, ok?" With him on his feet, she looked along the suit quickly, then took his wrist bearing the controls in her hands. "Hmmm…. Perhaps, this." Pushing the largest button on the bangle, she grinned in triumph as the suit released. Letting it fall slack to the floor, she once more saw the web of scars along his skin and clenched her jaw to stop from swearing. Replacing the smile on her face, she tipped her head towards the baths and stated happily, "Let's go take a shower, then."

Blushing so hard that his neck colored pink, Shinji tried to demure. The woman before him was achingly attractive, and surely wouldn't want to display herself to him in that manner. He didn't deserve the honor, he'd never hope to earn the honor! The only thing that he could choke out, not wishing to embarrass her with his amateur assessment, was, "I-I-I'm ugly!"

"According to whom?"

The calm manner in which she asked the question short-circuited his language processes. How did he answer? He'd never been directly told he was ugly, he just assumed he was because of all the other males walking around with healthy bodies that didn't look like semi-sentient skeletons bound in a tight-fitting net of flesh.

"You are a darling man, Shinji of the Ikari Clan…perhaps it's time that you start hearing that more often."

+++++ Sasami's home. +3

Just after Shinji and Minaho had left, Washu turned and looked at her sister with a mixture of concern and frustration. "Ok, what shifted between this morning and this evening? I was getting every indication from you that I'd soon have to go find Tokimi and get her to agree to a marriage for the three of us, if things continued on the path they were on. Suddenly, you want to just weigh anchor and sail on out of here? Please tell me you're not turning into your mother. One Masaki unable to control their emotional extremes is one too many for the universe."

Slumping down onto her bed and flopping back, Sasami groaned her own frustrations out to the uncaring ceiling. "What changed is that I realized that if we didn't leave quickly, poor Shinji was going to be sucked into the insanity of Juraian politics." Throwing both hands dramatically over her head, she began to rant, "The number of people killed today is less than one one-millionth of a percentage of the number of people the Empire has killed within the same time period. These…these barbarians they sent after him had no honor, no morals, nothing that would stop them from doing whatever they pleased! Yet despite them all but throwing themselves on the knife, Shinji looks at their deaths as a tragedy beyond description. Look me in the eye and tell me that we shouldn't be doing everything possible to keep him well away from politics and the ruling of intergalactic empires."

"Ah."

"Yes, 'ah'," Sasami snarked back. "If we embrace him, if we encourage him to reach for the greatness he's capable of, we're probably going to be killing the very thing that makes him so…so damn attractive!"

"And what would come of him if we left?"

"He'd marry some human woman, have some lovely children, be a wonderful father, and hopefully never once be at risk of dealing with royal politics?" Sasami sat up, bracing herself with her hands behind her. "If we can figure out what happened with that abomination tonight, we could fix it and let him defend this world. If he failed, he would fail as a…."

"He's not normal," Washu disagreed gently. She understood where her sister was coming from, the thought process of leaving a wounded animal in nature alone because it was ultimately what was best for the entire system was ingrained in the Juraian Royal Family psyche to stop them from picking and choosing favorites. But that kind of blinkered thinking was what had led them to catastrophe, and they needed to adapt to the changing tides to survive. "He never was, if I'm reading things right."

Sasami's brow knit together. One of the three goddesses that were responsible for the balance of powers in the entire universe was appearing worried about a mortal male from a backwater slum in a relatively empty sector with a relatively unimportant place in politics. Had she been blinded by a good, if wounded, spirit to the danger? "What do you mean?"

Placing two of her fingers together, she drew them apart slowly to reveal a latticework of polynucleotide chains. "What do you see here?"

"That looks like genetic code." Pressing herself off the bed, she walked closer and bent down to see better. "It's been modified, is this his code after your modifications?"

"No." Washu wiggled both of her pinkies, and a second set of chains grew between them. "This is what it looks like now. The first was before I did anything. I didn't see the modifications until an hour or so ago when I ran a check against the baseline I took pre-tub incident. If this was done purposefully, whoever managed this is either a virtuoso savant without precedent…or not from this planet."

"It's modifying his telomeres…."

"But it isn't preventing them from binding together entirely, just…enough."

Sasami's eyes flicked up to Washu's, "Your modification changed that modification."

"Yep."

"Oh…oh no."

"…Yep."

+++++ Tokyo-3 Intercontinental. +3

At Shinji's request, he had been blindfolded. At Minaho's request, he allowed her to wash him clean. While it had, at first, seemed like a logical way to stop himself from ogling and besmirching her, the longer he was left with nothing but his imagination and the physical sensations to go off of the more impossible it was becoming to ignore certain biological imperatives. The silken touch of her hair sliding across his skin, the lingering pressure as she worked the soap while massaging him, the featherlight brush of her breath.

"There it is," Minaho whispered playfully.

Her body shifted slightly, and what he had no chance of mistaking as her unclothed front was now snugly embracing him against his back. "M-M-M-M-"

"Shh, shh, shh," her hands began to work their magic, cleaning the only spot she'd 'neglected' before now, "I'm choosing to do this. You're not making me, and I'm not being forced to."

Pure electric bliss radiated outward from her touch. A physical euphoria washing across his entire body that he'd never known. Losing control of his neck, his head flopped backwards onto her shoulder as he gasped for air. His pulse was pounding, his jaw slackened, it was all he could do to not go completely boneless in her arms. "P-please…why?"

"Because I want to show you how badly you've been mistreated. Because I want to give you a reason to look for a brighter future." Rubbing her cheek against his, she breathed into his ear, "Because what I see in you is attractive to me. Because doing this makes me feel alive. Because I want to share in your joy as I show you a world you've never known."

He didn't want her to stop. He never wanted her to stop. "J-j-just m-met…."

"So?" Her giggle was seductively amused. "I like you, you like me, that's all that matters."

His hand moved of its own accord, gripping her knee spasmodically. "I…I want…."

As far as 'first times' go, the immaculately cleaned and meticulously designed shower floor of the most prestigious hotel chain in the world isn't the worst place to make a memory. What Shinji had believed couldn't possibly become 'better' improved dramatically once he'd given Minaho the verbal permission to proceed at full steam. For the next half hour he managed to summon a wellspring of energy that he couldn't explain afterwards, and once all was said and done he was left with just enough to 'help' Minaho drag him into bed for the two of them to fall asleep in one another's arms.

+++++ Tokyo-3 Intercontinental. +4, Saturday.

The smell of breakfast roused Shinji several hours later, at least enough for him to hear two women speaking with one another. He mentally tuned out the content, assuming that it wasn't for him to hear, and focused on processing what he'd just experienced the night before. It was glaringly obvious, even to his limited pack of social knowledge, that it wasn't a 'commitment' that had been made. The dynamic between him and Minaho hadn't necessarily changed in any tangible manner, and assuming it had would be a grievous error. What they had done with one another was special…wonderful, but treating it as life-changing would only set himself up for disappointment.

With his mindset prepared, he pushed himself upright in the bed so that he could start the physical act of preparing for the day. Off to the side of the bed, seated at the 'breakfast table', Washu and Minaho were speaking to one another over tea and toast. Both turned to him and smiled in good humor, prompting him to shyly return the gesture, "Good morning, Mina-chan. Good morning, sensei."

"Nope," Washu mock-chided him. "If she gets to have you use her first name, so do I. The choice of whether to use a suffix or not is up to you, but you will call me 'Washu'." Sticking her tongue out playfully, she saw him swallow a laugh. Clapping happily, she jumped out of her chair and tackled him in a more-than-friendly less-than-romantic embrace. "I knew you had a sense of humor somewhere in there!"

The hug itself was simply too warm and open for him to not return the embrace. Carefully slipping his arms around her waist, Shinji closed his eyes again and soaked in the strength and joy she offered to him. His first true teacher, a woman that wasn't native to his own world, had fought to make sure that he knew that he wasn't worthless. When she remained atop him, her cheek laid gently against his, he took in a slow breath and released it slowly, "Hugs feel nice."

"Especially when they're given freely by someone with a good heart," Washu whispered fondly. Sliding back, she sat on her heels with her knees astride his waist. With his hands now in hers, she looked down on him with a rare serious expression on her youthful face. "If I promise you something, can I ask you to promise me something in return? A fair trade?"

Once more, instinct told him to promise anything she asked of him. Once more, something quietly told him that would be unacceptable. "I'll…uhm, I'll listen."

Washu nodded once, pleased with his growth. "I will promise to protect you against anything and everything, except for the Adamites attacking your planet. In exchange, I…we need you to keep an open mind about some cultural issues that you're about to be shown."

"Adamites?"

Minaho slipped up onto the bed, sitting sideways on her hip so that he could look at both her and Washu while she combed her fingers through his hair. "You fought one the other day. Their species name, translated into your language, is 'Adamite', or 'Spawn of Adam'. More will attack before long, and if you want to save your planet, you'll need to fight them."

The thought of Washu trying to protect him from something exponentially larger than her like that appalled him, and he understood why she wouldn't promise to protect him from that. "O-oh, ok, yes. Those have to be fought by me, I'm the only one who can." Testing the length of his leash, he lightly ran his thumbs over Washu's hands. "What…uhm, 'cultural issues'?"

"Misaki Masaki Jurai is, without question, one of the strongest beings I have ever seen." Washu allowed no trace of her typical devil-may-care attitude to show, impressing firmly in Shinji's mind the level of danger he was in. "Given the proper motivation she could very easily wipe this solar system from existence faster than the light from your sun could reach its furthest planet. I could not think of a greater enemy for you to create."

"Or," Minaho added reassuringly, "a better friend to make."

Shinji's gaze lost focus as he put the information in its proper context. They weren't warning him because she was going to kill him, they were warning him because he had to treat her with the same respect he would Unit-01. Powerful, deadly…and unpredictable. "I'll be on my best behavior, then." Returning to the present, he looked between the two women, "The other…uhm, Funaho-sama?"

"Just be honest," Washu answered with a shrug. "She'll see right through anything you try to hide, and she'll enjoy extracting the truth from you no matter how much you wish she wouldn't. She's not an unfair woman, not at all, but she does not abide liars."

He coughed out a brief laugh. "I…I kind of suck at lying. I'll just not say anything, if I don't think I should say anything." Several memories of beatings, of being starved, of being forced to perform serious physical labor for even misspeaking danced through his mind, causing him to wince and look away.

"Shh, shh, shh," Minaho ran the back of her fingers against his cheek, then slipped them around the other side of his face and turning his head to face them again, "you'll never, ever, see him again. Your body, your mind, your soul itself will never be touched by him again."

Washu waggled his arms like the reins of a horse, pushing levity back into the conversation. "That touching will now only be done by those of us with touching privileges! This is now declared as universal law by me, Washu the Great and Mighty!"

With how ridiculous the statement sounded, Shinji once again failed to restrain a laugh. This time, however, it was open and heartfelt. "I…I really like it when you…uhm…."

"I really like it when I touch you, too." Setting his hands on her hips, Washu slowly ran her fingers along his arms and chest, finishing with them framing his heart. "That's something else you're likely going to need to accept. If you want to accept our presence in your life…in your bed, then you'll need to understand that our ways are not yours. It is…fairly common, to the point of expected, that families not be limited to one-on-one pairings in Juraian society."

"Ok." It didn't make much sense to him, but it really didn't have to. It wasn't his culture, and it wasn't his place to demand that their culture change just for him. He fully expected that he wouldn't be able to keep them with him at all times, or that he'd be able to even compare to others that might offer themselves to Minaho. "I…I don't own anyone. When another, better, man comes-" Minaho flicking his nose hard caused him to grimace and blink rapidly to clear his eyes.

"Sakura was very specific that you shouldn't slander yourself anymore." Leaning closer, Minaho eyed him significantly. "It's very uncommon, to the point of scandalous, for two men to share the same family. There can only ever be one captain of the ship, or the entire crew is likely to fall into chaos."

"I-I-I…I'm not a captain," Shinji admitted hastily. "I don't know anything! I have no idea what I'm doing!"

"And any captain who thinks they always know everything is an idiot," Minaho agreed. "A good captain trusts his mates like he would trust his own hands. He encourages them to take ownership of issues, to make those short-term decisions that affect everything while leaving the long-term course in his hands. He lets them run the day to day, listens to their ideas and implements the good while coaxing better solutions from the bad. A great captain is only ever truly in charge during crises, because he's making better captains from those hands he's been given."

Washu smirked, watching Shinji's mind process the newest wrinkles in his life. "Juraians were once the most feared pirates in all known space." He glanced back to her, and she nodded. "It formed huge portions of their culture, and even today still informs much of their thinking. The two women you will be meeting today are the leaders of society because they demonstrated the skills that Juraian families honor the most. The death of the emperor could have destroyed the Empire, that it didn't is to their credit alone."

"So…they're empresses?" Shinji puzzled at the word, hoping it was the right one.

"Yes."

"I've never met an empress." He frowned. "Well, I've never met an emperor either."

Minaho's tone grew solemn, "You would have liked him." She looked over to Washu. "I think the emperor would have liked Shinji, too."

"It's hard not to like Shinji," Washu agreed. "He pushes through pain to do good, and that's a very admirable quality in a man."

A soft beep back on the table drew a groan from both women. Minaho was the first to move, slipping off the bed and kissing Shinji lightly in passing. Reaching a device that looked similar to a translucent orange cube, she read a message and scowled. "We'll have to feed him on the way to the landing site. The security detail has control of the park, so we're clear to get moving."

"Aw…but I was enjoying sitting here," Washu pouted. "I can feel him trying not to get hard, and that's just adorable."

Shinji turned thirteen shades of red in rapid succession. I need to learn to control that.

+++++ Kajishima Park. Saturday, +4.

The clothes Shinji wore felt both unnaturally light and fully capable of taking a bullet without allowing it to pass through. Walking between Washu and Minaho down the park trail towards their destination, having been firmly reminded that his place was now at their side and not behind them like some servant, he listened to them talk through what they would tell the empresses while he admired the greenery around them. A colorful array of bright and vibrant flowers had been cultivated into the shapes of animals that had gone extinct after Second Impact. Gardeners had clearly worked tirelessly to encourage nature to flow exactly the way they wished it to, and he hoped they were well compensated for sharing their talents with the world.

With floral arrangements already on the mind, his thoughts were expressed in a similar manner when he saw Hikari, Sakura, and Sasami standing near Nanako, Gen, and Toshiro. The latter two stood as the mighty trees giving the partial shade the former four blossoms would require, sheltering them while still allowing them to enjoy the sun's warmth. Hikari was the first to notice him, greeting him with a brilliant smile and cheery wave. That motion prompted Sakura to look over towards him, her smile one of demure welcome and her wave both sedate and open. Unlike the other two, Nanako greeted him by tapping her index and middle finger against her eyebrow in a mock salute then flashing him a peace sign with a knowing grin. Saying nothing to him, Sasami motioned for Minaho and Washu to join her away from the others.

"Good morning!" Distracting Shinji from their friend's actions, Hikari shuffled over and gave Shinji the type of hug typically reserved for a boyfriend. Setting him out at arm's length after a few seconds, she grinned happily up at him. "I'm really glad you're 'in the know' now." The freckle-faced beauty slipped her arm in his and slowly walked him over to Sakura and Nanako. "It's going to be so much easier to make your life better now. I had written up three or four different plans on how to get you healthier without tipping our hand, all kind of relying on how unassuming you are, but now I can just give you stuff."

"It is not such a bad thing to eschew grand displays of prowess," Sakura agreed, holding her arms towards him, slightly apart, to ask for a hug. When he carefully freed himself from Hikari and stooped down to gently embrace her, her voice warmed, "But I do agree that you deserve more than you're getting from that terrible man."

Shinji stood back up, only to be knocked stumbling to the side some by Nanako jumping up on his back and latching her arms around his shoulders. "Look at you, giving hugs like a normal guy." She laughed as he fumbled with where to set his own arms to stop her from falling. "Under my knees, you goon," she teased happily. When he secured her position, she used her knees to nudge him like a horse into his position in the group. "Strength training is just as important as cardio, and my job is going to be to get you to the point where training with Horaki-san doesn't risk breaking you."

The man mountain that was Toshiro Horaki snorted quietly in amusement at the antics. "Every journey must begin somewhere, and I trust Seven to guide your feet properly."

Approaching Shinji himself, Gen felt around his midsection before patting him on the chest roughly. "Good. When I was told that Hakubi-sensei had given you some support, I worried that it might not be enough. Your bones are mending well, and you already have more muscle than before."

With the display of open camaraderie flowing through the group, Shinji ventured a question with typical hesitance, "A-are…uhm, are all…."

"You wouldn't expect an Imperial Princess to be sent to a foreign world without support, would you?" Nanako set her chin between his shoulder and throat, laying her head down along his shoulder. "We're Juraian…does that bother you?"

"N-no." He carefully shook his head, to avoid striking the woman on his back. "I…I don't really know what to think."

"That is good," Sakura asserted firmly. "The circumstances of one's birth should never impact your perception of their character. My idiot brother is also a Juraian, which is why he's so ineffably surly and demanding all the time. He thinks we're 'better', and I think he's an idiot."

Hikari shook her head, a sad frown pulling at her lips. "I tried to help him." She looked at Shinji with a helpless shrug. "For a couple of years in middle school, I spent time after class with him several times a week. I tried to help him see the students around him as the unique people they were, not really any different than we are. He just couldn't accept it, and eventually Sakura asked me to stop."

"I asked her to ask you," Gen corrected mildly. "He was veering too close to extremes, and I would not let that tarnish you by proximity."

With a scowl, Hikari looked to her father. The big man nodded, adding, "Your uncle presented his case to me, and I approved of his reasoning. You are destined for greater things, child."

Hikari rolled her eyes, looking at Shinji with an eyebrow arched. "They're making it sound like I was going to marry him. I assure you, that would not have happened."

"Arranged marriages are common with our culture," Nanako stated helpfully. "The negotiations for those marriages are typically pretty intense. Anyone vying for a Horaki daughter would have to convince their father that he wouldn't bring dishonor on their name by proxy."

"Oh." Shinji nodded amicably. "I have no clue how marriages work on Earth, so I can't really say anything one way or another. I am glad that Horaki-san isn't going to let someone hurt Hikari, though. She definitely deserves someone great."

"Don't I though," Hikari murmured with a tiny grin. A shadow materializing around them brought her eyes heavenward. "Ah, they're here."

When Shinji tilted his head back to look up, he found that Nanako's face was directly against his on that side. "How do they stop people from seeing a giant alien ship landing?"

"Technological superiority." The protective agent leaned her head against his comfortably. "Do you understand what anamorphosis is?"

"…Something to do with animals?"

"Nope, but reasonable guess with limited information. It has to do with forcing perspective in order to see something clearly, put very plainly. Ask Washu about it, I'm sure she'll love to teach you the stuff you need to know before anything I say would make sense."

"Ok." Shinji felt she could have stopped at 'technological superiority', and he would have been perfectly content. When the ship settled into position a few meters above the ground, he asked, "Shouldn't I set you down? We're supposed to bow, aren't we?"

"We have some time yet before they'll come out." With a heavy sigh, she pointed to where Sasami was approaching the odd ship with Washu and Minaho behind her. "They need to talk royalty with one another, then they'll come down here with a more unified front."

He nodded again, the explanation as good as any. The sleek lines of the ship, radial points jutting sharply outward in beautiful symmetry with both nature and mechanics, impressed him greatly. "It looks like it's made of wood. The designer must have been very talented."

"It is made of wood."

"…Oh. I guess that was a silly comment, then."

"It's wood that can survive flying in space! That was supposed to be impressive, not derogatory."

"Why wouldn't wood survive space? Isn't space just emptiness?"

A heavy 'thump' drew their attention over to Toshiro's general area, where they saw Yasuji Suzuhara sitting atop an opaque glass box the size of a very small car. The stern-faced man nodded in greeting to Shinji and Nanako, then eyed Toshiro for information. "Sorry I'm late, but the visit required a bit more investigative work before I was satisfied. What'd I miss?"

"Nothing, as of yet," Toshiro replied laconically. "Her Highness is on board, along with the two Imperial Agents. Did you find anything I should know about right away?"

"Only that it appears there was a fund that had been set up. His father, it seems, actually did make something of an effort."

Gen's eyes narrowed. "And how much was in the fund?"

"Hundred million, give or take." Yasuji kicked his heel against the crate, hard. "We're going over the transaction records now. My initial estimate is that there had been more than enough to have chosen to be a better man without sacrificing quality of life for himself. He chose this, boss…I'm going to insist now."

Toshiro nodded twice. "I will raise your claim to Their Majesties. I believe you are correct, but the decision will be Theirs to make."

Blowing out a harsh huff, Yasuji spat on the ground nearby. "That's all I can ask, boss. Don't expect me to be a happy camper if it doesn't happen."

The click of the spaceship's doors opening was followed by the protracted hiss of the ramp sliding outward again. Nanako squeezed Shinji with another hug, then hopped down and moved back to stand with her peers. For the first time, it felt, in a long time Shinji was left to stand 'alone'. Hikari stood to Sakura's right, and Nanako's movements in climbing from his shoulders had shifted him two steps to their left. The sudden loneliness tickled his mind, the lack of touch all too familiar.

The first to walk down the ramp was Her Imperial Majesty Funaho Masaki Jurai. The regal raiment she wore barely fluttered as she flowed towards the waiting group. Without hesitation, or receiving any queue, Shinji once more prostrated himself on the ground. He was an ant blessed with the presence of a titan, and his only hope of not being crushed summarily was to demonstrate trust and fealty. A quiet sigh from Hikari was all he heard for several moments, his forehead touching the ground between his hands and his eyes closed. He could feel more and more eyes upon him. The weight of their judgement driving him further and further into the ground. Long minutes passed without any leave to rise, long minutes that passed without any complaint or quavering of his body. His place was there, in the dirt.

Unheard by him, Misaki Masaki Jurai asked her followers and wife telepathically, If what I have just learned is true, and I have no reason to doubt what I have been told, I would pass judgement on this planet right now were it not for his desire to save it. Sweeping her gaze around the area, she clicked her tongue in displeasure. This planet was vibrant, when I was here last. It is criminal what has been allowed to happen.

If I touch him, will he react poorly? Funaho looked to Minaho for guidance. It will not be acceptable to frighten an already injured soul. Minaho shook her head subtly, clearing the way for Shinji to experience some of the cultural differences she'd been trying to explain. Lowering herself to her knees, Funaho laid her dress out around her properly before reaching forward and lightly setting her fingers against Shinji's cheeks.

Opening his eyes, Shinji kept them averted as he allowed his head to be lifted from the ground.

"Such eyes, as blue as the skies above, should not be focused on the dirt." Funaho kept her tone serene, inwardly pleased as his eyes flicked to hers as had been requested the night before. He is being spoken to, and is forcing himself to make eye contact. I presume that animal is properly caged?

He is, Your Majesty, Toshiro replied evenly.

"My daughter tells me that you are the pilot of a war machine." The statement was not a question, but it also wasn't an accusation. "You know nothing of it?"

"N-no ma'am." He could feel his heart settling, the simple touch of her fingers beneath his jaw reminding him that he wasn't there anymore. "I-I…just arrived f-four days ago."

"I see." Nodding amicably, Funaho continued soothing the wounded creature with an all-too familiar soul. "Are you familiar with the word SEELE?" She received her answer as his gaze grew distant in an effort to dredge through memories that she knew he didn't have. "What about instrumentality?"

"Like…like musical instruments?"

"Not quite." Lowering her hands and taking his up, she'd found what she'd needed. "It is your intent to defend this planet?"

He nodded enthusiastically. "Y-yes ma'am. I'm the only one who can use Unit-01. I'm the only person who can keep everyone safe." I mustn't fail them. I mustn't fail them. I mustn't fail them.

The vehemence of the thought made it quite audible to those with the training to hear it. Funaho already knew the answer, but asked in order to help him find the same, "So you fight to defend, and not to destroy?"

"I-I don't want to hurt anyone!"

"But you realize you must?"

Shinji's eyes dropped down and away again, the shame of the need weighing heavily on him. "Y-yes ma'am. Sometimes…sometimes I'll have to break things to stop the enemy from breaking everything. Sometimes I'll have to hurt myself, so others aren't."

"The goal is to not allow yourself to be hurt in the first place, Shinji," Misaki added drolly from nearby. She crouched down in a most unladylike manner and touched her knuckles to his chin. "That's why we practice fighting, so that we don't let them hurt us."

"O-oh, n-no ma'am." Shinji swallowed, not wanting to inadvertently lie to anyone. "Whatever Unit-01 feels, so do I." The news that the pain was sympathetic in nature smashed down on the entire group, the temperature of the gathering dropping precipitously. "I-I-I'm s-sorry."

Funaho glared harshly at everyone before returning to her tranquility with Shinji. "Could you explain what you mean, perhaps?"

Racing his own mind to get the words out, Shinji tried to comply, "D-during the fight, the…uhm, the Adamite?" He looked to Washu and Minaho to be certain he used the right word and was rewarded with twin nods. "The Adamite grabbed Unit-01's arm. It then…it bent it the wrong way. I…uh, I felt…it felt like my arm…it…my muscles strained, like…like I was fighting to stop it myself. I felt it break." He remembered standing inside the inferno after the creature self-destructed. "I felt myself burning alive."

"Even in their inhumanity, they devise ways to punish their allies for daring to save them." Misaki looked at her wife, uncertain of what to do with the information they'd just gained.

The sound of a siren spooling up, familiar to those who had lived in Tokyo-3 longer, ended the plans that had been made for the moment. "Your Majesties," Hikari stepped up and took charge as she would on a school day, "that is an evacuation warning. Another is attacking, and everyone is to head to the nearest shelter."

Shinji shot to his feet, looking back towards the car that they'd driven to the park, "I need to go! I have to get to Unit-01!" His hands, still held firmly by Funaho, only partly followed his body upwards. "P-please, ma'am, you have to-"

"Misaki will be joining you, as will Minaho," Funaho declared, leaving no room for argument. "Child," she looked directly at Nanako, "you will drive them and serve as their hands for the duration of conflict."

Saluting sharply, Nanako barked out, "As you command, Your Majesty."

"Go with my blessing." Kissing Shinji on both cheeks, she released his hands. "Return to me in victory, or in death."

He had no idea how to salute. He knew that bowing again would just be a waste of time. The motion he chose to use flowed naturally from the concept that he was promising her his heart in service. Slapping his fist against his chest where his heart would be, he took up his charge. "Yes ma'am!"