First Movement.

When school let out, Asuka, still sulking, meandered her way to NERV headquarters, where another synch test had been scheduled for that afternoon. She was glad to walk alone for once, instead of being accompanied by Shinji's mild presence or Ayanami's stoic silence.

Cars passed by from time to time, neither machine nor driver paying any attention to the young girl on the sidewalk. I wonder if they have any idea that their collective life is in the palm of my giant, mechanical hand, Asuka thought dryly. Her mind reached ahead to the halls of the shining, sterile Geofront, the strange pyramidal building that housed the very brain and muscle of the world's last hope for salvation.

Asuka was glad she had finished her math, for she had been assigned no other homework and could look forward to a relatively easy evening after the synch test. Her mind wandered back to the teacher's speech on the Second Impact.

A comet struck Antarctica…half the population of the world was lost forever.

I can't believe he buys that stuff, Asuka thought, remembering how even Shinji had been ignorant of the truth of the matter. But even I don't know, she realized. It's just an "unknown explosion", that's all they ever call it…even I don't know what really happened…

The sun was still high in the sky when she arrived at NERV. She scanned her ID, thankful that the card reader seemed to be in working order that day, and slipped into the brightly-lit corridors of the headquarters building.

She was not immediately aware of anyone else, and she did not know if Rei and Shinji had arrived before her or were yet to come. Whatever, she thought. I just hope I don't run into Wondergirl in the locker room.

Asuka worked her way through the base, stopping at various maps and signs to figure out where she was headed. She wondered if even the most hardy staffers really knew this place by heart, and concluded that surely they could not.

As Asuka trekked down one particularly long and open hallway, she heard footsteps coming methodically in the other direction. She caught sight of a tall, imposing form, and realized it was Ikari Gendo walking down the hall toward her.

"Ah, Miss Sohryu," he said, nodding curtly.

"C—Commander Ikari," she said, bowing hesitantly. "I—I'm on my way to the synch test now, and…"

"Good." Commander Ikari cut her off mid-sentence. She kept her mouth closed and stood stock still, watching him. "I am afraid I will not be present for the test—I have business to take care of elsewhere. But I am certain you will not fail."

Without waiting for a reply he swept past her, his rhythmic, echoing footfalls never changing.

Sheesh, Asuka thought, looking over her shoulder at the departing Commander. He's worse than Wondergirl. At least he talks, anyway. When Commander Ikari's back had disappeared into the labyrinth Asuka turned and resumed walking. She was vaguely shaken from her encounter with the Commander, whose never-changing countenance and mien threw her off-balance.

In a daze she found her way to the locker rooms, where she was relieved to find that Rei either had already departed or had not yet arrived. She changed hurriedly out of her school uniform and into her plug suit, stuffing the clothes into her locker and slamming the door shut.

It bounced off the haphazardly-arranged garments and drifted back open, and Asuka pressed the uniform into the locker with one hand and shut the door more carefully with the other.

When the door had closed she found herself staring Rei straight in the face. Asuka's features contorted with contempt, and she held back a vile insult as she stalked past the other girl and out into the hallway.

Silently, Rei changed her clothes.

****

Asuka turned corners jerkily, the mere sight of Rei reminding her of the pain and embarrassment she had suffered that afternoon. As she passed the boys' locker room Shinji emerged.

"Asuka?" he asked timidly.

"Get out of my way!" she shouted, shoving him aside. Shinji caught himself on the doorframe but did not retaliate, only watched the girl storm toward the plug bay.

For her part, Asuka did not even entirely appreciate her own action. Her rage simply leapt from her onto any conductor she was near. Seething, she arrived in the plug bay, where three long, metal tubes awaited their pilots. They rested in a sea of thick, reddish liquid, the LCL that would enable measurement of the pilots' synching ability. The stench of the stuff was incredible, and Asuka strained not to breathe through her nose.

One of the techs nearby came over and double-checked her ID card. Asuka wondered why they would be so ambivalent as to her identity but wisely held her tongue. The two boarded a small watercraft and sped over to one of the dormant entry plugs.

Asuka stepped onto a mechanical lift in the back of the boat and she heard the whine of hydraulics as it began to lift her into the air. She was vaguely frightened; the slight swaying of the platform gave her the impression that at any moment the supports might give way and plunge her tens of feet into the liquid below.

Finally she was close enough, and she scuttled onto the entry plug, spinning the wheel that would open the hatch. With a hiss of depressurization a metal panel lifted off the plug's surface and Asuka climbed inside, sealing the hatch behind her.

A huge pane of glass looked out on the testing room, and behind it stood several familiar figures, among them Dr. Akagi Ritsuko and the pilots' commanding officer, Katsuragi Misato. Conspicuously absent was the presence of Commander Ikari, who had presumably already departed for whatever nether reaches held business for him.

Asuka sat in the dark and silence of her entry plug, listening to her own heart beat in her ears. She could hear her even breathing in the still air, felt as though she might never emerge from this metal womb.

From outside Asuka detected the sound of the boat's lift machine operating again, announcing the arrival of another pilot. She did not know who it was, but not long after the lift sounded again, signaling that all three were present. A voice crackled across the speakers in their plugs.

"We're going to flood the plugs with LCL now," Ritsuko informed them. Asuka braced herself as liquid began filling the tube she was in, and after one or two choking gasps she relaxed into breathing the strange stuff, feeling lighter as the liquid helped support her weight.

After the pilots had all had ample time to become accustomed to the LCL Ritsuko opened the radio channel again. "We'll be keeping the com and video channels off for most of the test," she said, "so just close your eyes and relax for a little while. This shouldn't take too long."

Asuka shut her eyes, completing the darkness around her. She could hear nothing of what happening beyond the plug, and simply lay still in the tube, letting her thoughts flow freely.

Far above them all a small group of people observed various computer screens. Ibuki Maya, Dr. Akagi's chief assistant, made nonstop keystrokes, switching the available views of the graphs and readouts.

"Huh, look at Shinji's scores," Misato said quietly. The line showing the boy's synch ratio spiked higher than the other two at several places. Ritsuko nodded, the orange glow of the computer screens reflecting off her glasses.

"Higher than usual," she said mildly. "He'll be glad to hear about that."

Ritsuko reached over Maya's shoulder and pressed several keys herself, and the screen switched displays rapidly, until Misato was terribly confused. "Alright," Ritsuko said into a small microphone, "the test is over."

A screen showing the pilots' faces revealed each one slowly opening their eyes, Shinji apprehensive, Rei emotionless, and Asuka…

She looks exhausted, Misato thought. For a brief moment she worried about the girl, but tossed her concerns aside and picked up Ritsuko's mic. "Shinji," she said, and the boy's eyes flickered on the screen. "You'll be happy to hear that your synch ratio was the highest of any of the pilots."

For the first time in some while, Shinji looked truly excited. "You mean—" he said.

"That's right," Misato told him. "You are number one!" Shinji looked elated, but Asuka appeared to have suddenly taken a poker face, staring blankly into the darkness of her entry plug.

"That will be all for today," Ritsuko said, taking the mic back and breaking the silence that followed Misato's remark. The video screen switched off and Maya closed the test programs.

In the plug bay the hatches hissed open again. Asuka sat motionless in her plug, listening to the boat retrieve the other two pilots. Even when she heard the craft approach she did not move, only sat and stared into the inky blackness.

You are number one.

Misato's voice rang in her head.

Shinji is number one, her own voice echoed tonelessly. Shinji's not number one at anything.

The mechanical whine of the lift drew closer and closer, until it ground to a halt just outside her plug. She summoned her strength and pulled herself from the plug, silently wishing that she could stay cradled in its darkness forever.

****

Asuka pulled the locker open viciously, pleasuring in its echoing slam as it struck the metal of the neighboring door. "That damn idiot!" she said loudly. "'You are number one!' Right!"

Rei stood impassively, changing back into her school uniform, unfazed by Asuka's shouting.

"We're going to have to work extra hard to catch up with him," she said sarcastically. "Now that everyone's all fawning over the incredible

Shinji-sama, yay!" She flailed her arms as though dancing in celebration.

"Better hope it doesn't go to his head!" she announced, exchanging her plug suit for her school uniform and slamming the locker shut. "Guess we're just second-class pilots, aren't we!"

Rei silently finished changing and left the room, showing not the least reaction to Asuka's tirade. The other girl watched her go, nearly shaking with rage. She turned back and stared down the blue steel of her locker.

You are number one!

Afraid he will not care about you?

About you?

About you?

Asuka's fist struck the locker with all the force she could muster, the sound echoing through the halls.

****

When Shinji and Asuka arrived, Misato still had not returned to the apartment, so Asuka began to fix various forms of instant-noodle for dinner. From the other room came the low, vibrating bass of Shinji's cello, as he played the slow, deliberate arpeggios of the Pachelbel Canon.

For a moment she considered shouting at him, but secretly knew she enjoyed the sound of his playing, the haunting, lonely notes that he summoned from his instrument. As the noodles heated in the microwave she leaned back against the wall and listened to the music, closing her eyes and simply hearing.

In the other room the sounds changed: from the long, measured notes of the Canon Shinji began to play Bach's Suiten in G, the bow sliding quickly across the strings.

He even manages to make that sound sad, Asuka reflected silently, staring into the blackness at the back of her eyelids.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the piercing cry of the microwave, announcing the noodles finished. She reached up and jammed the STOP button, angry at being so thoroughly distracted.

In the other room the sounds had stopped; Shinji appeared in the doorway and asked if dinner was ready.

"It will be in a minute," Asuka said, striving to sound as disgruntled as she could. Shinji nodded and returned to the other room, and Asuka could hear him pack his cello into its case and move it back to his room. She opened the little cups of noodles and poured them out onto two plates, thinking in the back of her mind that she wished she could have something other than noodles and fish for every meal.

Shinji arrived just as she was setting down the plates; he seated himself on one side of the table and Asuka took the other. Shinji still seemed unnaturally proud of himself, and Asuka focused all her concentration on her meal to keep from snapping at him.

From the front of the apartment the door rattled and they heard Misato announce herself.

"Welcome home," they said in unison. Misato came into the kitchen and sat down at one end of the table.

"Glad to see you can fend for yourselves," she said. "Sorry I wasn't home earlier, but we had to do some clean-up after the synch tests."

"Oh, it's all right, we're fine," Asuka said pointedly. Shinji merely nodded his assent.

"Good," Misato said, smiling. She got up and began heating another cup of noodles.

It was annoying to cook, but at least she didn't do it for us, Asuka thought. Misato was notorious for her ability to botch the preparation of TV dinners.

They ate their meal in relative silence, Misato concentrated on her dinner, Shinji relieving his synch test, and Asuka remembering the lonely timbre of the boy's cello, echoing in her thoughts.

Night drew on with precious little conversation. The sound of running water could be heard as Misato showered; Shinji was lying on the floor in his pajamas, listening to his Walkman, and Asuka was sprawled across a chair, reading a book she had brought from Germany, glad to have something in her native tongue.

For lengthy moments the scene did not change, save for Asuka turning a page or Shinji pressing the buttons on the cassette player. The sound of the water cut off abruptly, and for several minutes more there was no real sound. Then Misato emerged, dressed in her own pajamas.

"It's getting late," she said. "We should all go to bed soon." The children nodded, and Asuka, the last one left in the day's clothing, went to her room and changed into pajamas.

The three of them exchanged "good night"s and then, one by one, their lights winked out. Asuka lay for several minutes in the darkness, until some divinity took mercy, and sweet sleep cast upon her eyes.

****

She reclined into Shinji's arms, cradled in his gentle grip. He smiled softly, and, unbeknownst to him, so did she.

"What would you do if I abandoned you?" she asked quietly, not looking at the boy.

"That wouldn't be nice," he said simply.

"What would you do if I hated you?"

"That wouldn't be nice, either,"

"What would be nice?"

"This is nice," he said guilelessly.

"Yes," she agreed, "It is."