Betrayal/I must not run away
'It's very quiet' thought Kheldar as he stared at the sky, 'and very beautiful too.' As he gazed in wonder at the stars that shone in the dark expanse of space, he felt the girl beside him move ever so slightly. "What do you think Rei? The sky look nice tonight?"
Rei looked at him with what could pass as an amused expression on her face, for her anyway. "It looks the same as it always does." A small smile, concealed from Kheldar, hovered on her lips.
Kheldar sat up, and looked at the center of his new life. The smile that she hid from him was all too apparent in her eyes, and he smiled back. "Very funny, very very funny." He lay back down, shoulders just touching, and both continued to just enjoy each other's presence.
***
Gendo Ikari sat, his hands interlaced in front of his face, as his translucently covered eyes stared at his son. "So you see, Shinji, that this Kheldar is a threat to our security at NERV. He represents a danger to Rei and is even now unscrupulously attempting to pry our secrets out of her. You understand that he must be eliminated... Do you hear me?"
Shinji stood, head well bowed, staring at his wrist. The bandages were gone, but the line still showed. Drops of fury slowly fell on the straight red line as Shinji angrily contemplated his betrayal.
"Yes father, I do. What do you want me to do?"
***
"Did I ever tell you how I came here?"
They were still there, lying on the leeward side of the hill, staring out of the small clearing of trees that Kheldar had found during one of his explorations during school.
"No, you didn't" answered Rei. "Just why you stayed." Hearing that Kheldar smiled at the length of her reply, at how the old Rei would never have said more then a no.
After a bit of discussion with Shinji, he learned the full oddity of Rei showing as much emotion to him as she did. Ever since that night when they had found a new home, she had steadily been changing, talking more, even showing her temper and joking around. As if a dam had held her back, and his love for her had somehow broken it. He sighed inwardly, 'conceited thoughts again Khel?'
"It's a very long story." He warned her.
"I don't have anywhere else I'd rather be," she replied.
"I was born 3 years before 2nd impact, on January the 22nd..."
Kheldar continued, telling how his parents had died during 2nd impact, while on a cruise vacation. How he had been adopted and attended school at an island in Malaysia, even his failure at school to maintain many friendships.
"You see Rei, I was a lot like you around your age. When I was 14, I didn't talk much to anyone, I let life happen to me, I didn't really live it. It was about then that I realized that I wasn't happy, that I wanted to see if there were other things out there that I could enjoy. So that's why I became a wanderer. To see the world, trying to find my meaning in life."
"And have you found it?" She asked, a small lift in her voice, like she was hopeful of something, something that he knew was true.
"Yes, I have, and you know what it is?" he asked, with a playful lilt to his voice sitting up to face her.
"What?"
"Pen-Pen." Kheldar replied with an absolutely straight face, which he kept for 3 seconds before bursting out in laughter. He blinked when he realized that she wasn't laughing with him. 'Well, I guess everyone has only so far they can go in such a short time' he thought. "I'm just kidding Rei. You know it's you right?"
"Yeah, but the fact that you would even joke about such a thing is pretty insensitive." Kheldar froze, his mind locking up at those words. Rei noticed his suddenly glazing expression as asked with great concern. "What's wrong my love?" Worried that she had inadvertently hurt him, she quickly embraced him.
"Those were the last things I said to him." His tone was that of a sleep talker, yet far more so, as if he was totally surrounded in a memory, a very painful memory.
"Who?" Rei was now wavering between puzzlement and worry. She tightened her arms, trying to pull him back from whatever universe he was in. Her efforts were rewarded as his eyes cleared, and looked down on her, smiling at the relief on her face, though he still wore a far away look in his eyes.
"Once, in my travels, I came across a place that I thought I would stay. I found a girl there, her name was Khrisine." Rei tensed, not knowing that she was reacting. Her Kheldar, with another girl? "She was beautiful, kind, intelligent and most of all charismatic, I really loved her, and I think she loved me too."
Rei, was now both very worried and very jealous. Her logical side attempted to remind her that he was here now, but her newly found emotions quickly swamped that part of her and she clung just a touch harder.
Kheldar felt this, then realized what he had said. "Oh, I'm sorry, Rei, I didn't mean it like that. We were really close friends, that's all, nothing like us." He laughed as she heaved a sigh of relief, but then his eyes darkened again.
"There was a guy there that thought like you did, that she loved me more then just a friend, that we were too close. Khris and me were like far deeper then brother and sister, somewhere between that and best friends. Yet, none other than the man she loved broke our bond, the other sort of love, her boyfriend. I guess I don't blame him, now that I know what it feels like, but he forced me to leave. He loved to joke, and he was often kidding, but at the end he said that if he hadn't stepped in, Khris and I would have sinned. That's when I said those words."
He fell silent for a few moments, then stood up, offering his hand to Rei. "After that, I vowed that I would never joke about such things again, that things said like that have the most potential to hurt people, words spoken by you in jest, can haunt someone for the whole of their lives. You never know if they meant it, and you never will."
Rei was just a tad bit scared by the resolve and despair that she could feel in Kheldar, and she didn't really understand his problems with jokes. From what she had learnt in the past two weeks, jokes were widespread in the community, that even friends bagged each other, and that they all didn't care. Maybe Kheldar was taking this just a tad too far, or maybe he was just over-dramatizing stuff. She knew he liked to do that after he had almost beaten up a guy that she told him had tried to hit on her. Poor Kensuke was still trembling after the throwing knife had sailed just a centimeter past his ears. They began to walk towards their home.
"Um, Kheldar." She asked, trying to get his mind on other, different things.
"Yes love?" he replied, still deep in thought, not noticing the slight shiver she felt at that word.
"Why do you always have knives around you? I don't believe you included that in your story."
Kheldar looked positively stunned, before realizing that indeed he hadn't mentioned anything about it. He smiled, then started a new story, all traces of morbidity gone. "When I was younger, about ten, I loved to read. All the way until I was fourteen in fact, I read quite a lot. My favorite series had in it, a man by the name of Kheldar."
Rei started, and then looked at her companion. "So that's..." she got out, before he interrupted her.
"Where I got the name? Yes, my real name is Dave, David Loke Yan Yee, however when I decided to wander, part of that was because Kheldar himself was a wanderer, or perhaps an adventurer. At any rate, Kheldar loved his knives, and was pretty good with a sword as well. Due to my lack of social outgoingness, I had quite a bit of time on my hands, and took up swordsmanship as a sort of hobby. This quickly branched into knife throwing, fighting, and eventually I was as proficient as my name sake in most things deadly." Kheldar's face flushed with pride, and a sense of achievement as well. He winked at her. "Just about the only thing I've ever done right, apart from graduate when I was 14, but that was just academics."
"So you're a semi-genius?" she asked, stunned that she hadn't heard all this before.
"Well," he replied evasively, "I wouldn't say that. It's not that hard to finish just the bare minimum of schooling, and after Second Impact, most governments had other things to do than make sure children went to school."
"What about your parents? The adoptive ones, surely they objected." Rei was puzzled at the seeming freedom of this precocious boy that she believed she loved.
Kheldar laughed, a sound that slowly rippled through the evening sky. "They knew I was fine, in fact, they were the ones that gave me my backpack, complete with kudachi. My dad was an archaic history fanatic, and my mum, well she didn't exactly support all the things we did, but she didn't mind most of them. Though the rule 'no fighting in the house' had a very different meaning in my family."
"So you left home, at fourteen years of age, wandered around the world, without any external support, and arrived here, three years later?" Rei was incredulous, only knowing that Kheldar wouldn't lie to her was keeping her from out rightly slapping him.
"I think that pretty much sums it up."
"So where in the world have you been to?" asked Rei, curious, because she herself had never left Tokyo-3.
"Well, I was born in Malaysia, the capital, then I moved to Penang. When I left home, my dad's plane ticket sent me to the US. From there, I traveled most of the eastern states, and been to LA and Las Vegas. I stayed at Las Vegas and preformed there, with my knives, to earn enough to travel to Europe, I walked around Spain, Germany, UK, France, well, hitchhiked and stuff, not just walked, and then I won a vacation to Australia in a raffle that I didn't even enter, that was weird." Kheldar paused to take a breath, "That was where I met Khris, and I stayed there for over eight months. Just before I left, a friend told me about Tokyo-3 and the attack that happened here, I decided that living on the edge might be fun, as I knew that soon I would have to leave. Khris gave me the cash to fly here, and now here I am, right in front of you."
Rei stared at him, doubt written all over her visage, faced with the idea that one underage boy, had traveled around the world. Ok, one very special underage boy, but still, a boy, and an under aged one at that. He glanced at her. "You don't believe me?" he asked, faking a hurt expression.
Rei relented. "If it was ANYONE else, no I wouldn't, but I trust what you said when you promised never to lie to me."
"Good, cause it's almost all true, though I've told the story so many times now, I forgot which bits I've embellished and which bits I left out. Though I have been to all those places." He finished with a wink. "So, had fun tonight?"
"Well what do you mean by fun, as in was I happy and did I like spending the evening with you, then yes. I did have fun." She said, impishly smiling at him. No matter how much she did, he still loved that smile. As they both walked into the elevator she looked just a bit puzzled.
"So you said you didn't talk much in your old school?" she asked.
"Yeah, I believe I said something like that," he answered, leaning with his back to the right wall.
"You seem a very experienced conversationalist, and you didn't hesitate much to introduce yourself when I first met you."
Kheldar blinked, then sighed. "Damn, I thought only old people forgot stuff, well, in Las Vegas I didn't have a place to stay. So I ended up living with one of my work mates, a guy called Jamie."
"Annnd...?" Rei prompted.
"Well, after the first week of him going out everyday and me staying at home, he decided to bring me out and introduce me to a few of his friends." Kheldar thought back to that day. "Now that I think about it, a disproportionate amount of those were girls, but anyway." He hurried on catching her icy glance. "He showed me, more though example then anything, how to talk, and how other people would react to what you said. He was kinda weird, and he believed that everything you said had a direct input into what people thought of you. He was killer at manipulating people." He finished with a wink.
"So that's how you learned to socialize?" she asked, once again amazed at the strange circumstances this wanderer had experienced.
"I guess, so, though I only stayed there for three months, you can learn quite a bit studying ten hours a day."
The elevator door dinged and slid open. The couple walked towards their door, Kheldar swiped his ID and held the door open for Rei. She thanked him and stepped lightly inside, putting her shoes by the cabinet and then heading for the kitchen.
Washing her hands, she tied an apron around her waist, and then began to cook. Kheldar, being the easily bored person he is, was torn between reading the latest Children of an Elder God chapter, or helping his housemate with the food, knowing that Rei didn't mind either way, he nonetheless decided that four hands make lighter work than two.
"Need help with that?" He asked, as he came around the workbench.
"Well since you eat it, you can cook the beef and fish," she said, with just a slight frown at the thought.
*Note from prereader- You're killing me with the punctuation of your dialog! LOL The proper form is this: "Well since you eat it, you can cook the beef and fish," she said, with just a slight frown at the thought. Notice how it goes fish, COMMA" she said. You keep putting a period and then capitalizing the next word. You do this: "Well since you eat it, you can cook the beef and fish." She said, with just a slight frown at the thought. That is wrong. I'm just going to fix them all from now on and not note them.
"Hey, just because you don't' like meat, doesn't mean I don't ok?" he admonished her, quick to defend his eating habits.
"Yes Khel," replied Rei, in the air of a girl who had heard this before.
The two busied themselves with the chores of cooking, Rei began to hum as she worked, and soon Kheldar joined her. The continued this duet till Rei's cell phone rang. A frown crossed her face, but quickly disappeared when she heard the voice on the other end.
"Rei, come to headquarters now." Spoke Gendo Ikari, "we have some tests we need to run."
"Yes sir," she replied, though Kheldar could see the frown on her face. She ended the call.
"You gotta go?" he asked, already guessing from the look on her face.
"Yes, I'm sorry, I'll cook you dinner tomorrow," she answered, head bowed.
"Don't worry about it, good luck on whatever top secret thing you're gonna do," he told her with a wink. "I'll go see if Shinji is going, and if not, I'll go eat with him."
"I'll see you later then," Rei said as she walked out the door, her shoes making soft taps on the floor as she walked to the lift.
The front door closed, and Kheldar debated his next course of action, 'well I guess I should call Shinji like I said I would.' He reached for the phone, picked it up, and dialed Shinji's number, immediately picked up the phone, like they had been waiting with it in their hands.
Shinji: Hello?
Kheldar: [cheerfully] Hey Shinji, I was wondering if you had any plans for dinner.
Shinji: Umm, yes I think I'm free, why?
Kheldar: Well Rei got called in for some tests, so I thought you might like to go eat some dinner.
Shinji: [Nervous] I don't think we should go out for dinner...
Kheldar: [Curious] And why not?
Shinji: [Getting flustered] Um, I just don't think we should. Why don't you come down, and I'll cook you something?
Kheldar: [Suspiciously] You're not telling me something... What's going on?
Shinji: Come on Khel, just come down ok? Please?
Kheldar: Fine fine, but if this is some sort of joke or something, I'll make sure you pay ok?
Shinji: Yeah, don't worry, I'll see ya soon.
*hang up*
Kheldar put down the phone and headed for the door, picking up his wallet, sunglasses and butterfly knife from the bookshelf that stood in the corridor. He started towards the entrance, but paused in mid-step, as was his habit, trying to remember what he forgot. Nothing sprang to mind, so he continued on and took the stairs down to Shinji's floor. He pushed the button, and then waited, hands in his pockets, without a hint of a slouch.
The door slid open with a soft 'whoosh' and a timid Shinji peeked out. Catching sight of only Kheldar, he motioned for his friend to follow him as he went back inside. By now Kheldar was starting to get a vague image that something wasn't totally normal, but being the lazy person he was he didn't dig too deep.
The house was silent, and only two lights were shining, one in the kitchen and one streaming down from above him. The light reflected shining into his eyes, coupled with his astigmatism caused the rest of the apartment to darken and blur. He could vaguely make out Shinji's retreating back, and so chose to follow him.
"So why'd you like beg me to come down?" asked a slightly confused Kheldar, as he settled down into a corner seat of a couch. He glanced at Shinji, "You ok man? You don't look so good." He didn't, Shinji looked very torn between something, as he sat staring at his wrist.
Kheldar speculated as to what he was thinking before realizing that Shinji was staring at his emblem cut. Something was definitely up.
"Hey man, what's wrong?" he asked, concern suddenly showing on his face.
Shinji was quiet, but then softly he spoke. "My dad wants to eliminate you." As he spoke his head drooped a bit more and he slouched forward. His listener was stunned.
"Eliminate as in kill me?" he asked, shocked and suddenly very much afraid. "Your father meaning Commander Ikari?" Finally realizing that they WERE related.
"Yes, and yes," Shinji said adding a bit of force into his voice. He lifted his head, having come to a decision, resolution written on his face. "You've got to leave Tokyo-3."
After Kheldar didn't think he could get any more surprised this took the cake. "LEAVE Tokyo-3, as in run away?" His mind slowly kicked into gear as he realized that Shinji was probably right, he didn't stand a chance against the might and resources of NERV. Leaving was his only option. Now his head slumped.
"Rei," he uttered, the name like honey on his lips, as he remembered the time they had shared just in the last two weeks. His thoughts were interrupted by Shinji.
"Has been called to HQ right?" he asked, then continued in response to Kheldar's nod. "She's either being ordered to help with your termination or to be held so that you would co-operate, I believe that the former is more likely."
Kheldar just stared open-mouthed at him. "Rei betray me? NEVER!!" he cried springing up and almost punching Shinji. Just as contact was about to become made he stopped, trying to calm down.
"What ever makes you think Rei will betray me?"
***
Gendo Ikari sat, his hands interlaced in front of his face, as his translucently covered eyes stared at his son. "So you see, Rei, that this Kheldar is a threat to our security at NERV. He represents a danger to Shinji and is even now unscrupulously attempting to pry our secrets out of him. You understand that he must be eliminated... Do you hear me?"
Rei was reeling inwardly, HER Kheldar? A threat? To Shinji? It wasn't possible, yet the commander was telling her it was true, no, he loved Shinji, he would never hurt him, just like he could never hurt her. Yet, the commander was telling her that Kheldar wished to hurt Shinji, that he was a threat. The commander, who had raised her himself, who she owed everything to, that she lived to serve. How long had she actually known Kheldar for anyway?
With a last despairing cry, the newly awakened emotions of Rei swiftly fell to the old mask of indifference and coldness. With a wrench she realigned her world, and once again set Eva and the commander was her center.
"What do you want me to do?"
***
"Commander Ikari raised HER? What about you? I thought you were sent away when you were... Oh, I see," uttered a thrice stunned and now embarrassed Kheldar. "I'm sorry."
"It wasn't your fault, you have nothing to be sorry for," replied Shinji. "If anything I would be saying sorry for having to bear such bad news, but it is almost a certainty that Rei will obey the Commander's orders."
Kheldar regarded him with one eye. "So where does that leave you and Asuka?" he queried hesitantly. "I mean by helping me you risk your life and perhaps hers, so what are you going to do?"
Shinji's mouth twisted into a frown before replying. "I can help you escape without risking too much, so that is what I suggest." I can get you train tickets out of here, and you can leave from an airport in another part of the country. Apart from that you're right, it would be dangerous."
The black haired wanderer sighed loudly, almost sickened that things had turned out like this. Everywhere he went, friends he found, yet more people he found to chase him away. 'Maybe I should have just stuck with being a hermit.' He got up and walked to the balcony, staring out at the black sky and the bright stars. Looking up he could just make out the Big Dipper over the ambient light of the city; he followed his course and found the North Star, Polaris, and stared intently at it, his direction finder in times of need. Yet again he sighed.
"Well, I can't go man, I know what you're saying and all but I can't go," he said softly, continuing to stare at the stars. "Did I ever tell you about where I came from?"
"No, I don't think you ever told me or Asuka," replied Shinji as he came to stand next to his friend.
"Before this place, I came from a country called Australia, you know where that is right?"
"Some where below us, it's an island, right?"
"Yeah, anyway, when I was there, I knew a girl, we were really close friends, her name was Khris." He turned to Shinji then, and Shinji stared back, listening, trying to see where this was leading.
"We were really good friends, or at least we were until her boyfriend decided that we were too close." Kheldar paused, and pulled out his butterfly knife. He began to flip it as he finished his story. "He told me to leave, and well I listened, even though I realize now I should have stayed and talked it out. I took the easy way out, which is why I resolved never to run away again."
With a snap of his wrist the knife sailed into the air, blade and handles seeming to fly in totally random patterns as it arced from his right hand to his left. As the knife began to descend, Kheldar lifted his left hand with a victory V, closing his two fingers together he delicately caught the blade perfectly between them. With a curl and a flick of his fingers the knife sailed end over end until it buried itself into a post where it quivered next to Asuka's head.
She yelped, and then belatedly dived to the side, even though the knife wasn't going anywhere. Her hair streamed out behind her like a banner as the world slowed down for Shinji. He moved towards her as fast as he possibly could and caught her just as she was about to hit the table.
The flame haired German girl lay stunned, for a second before pushing Shinji out of the way and advancing on the cause of her recent stress. Grabbing the collar of the sheepishly smiling Kheldar, she pulled him in close.
"And what was that for might I ask?" she inquired in a deceptively calm and quiet tone.
Kheldar, not fooled at all, quickly reviewed his options before coming up with a brilliant rejoinder. "I thought you were an intruder coming to hurt Shinji. Sorry about that most glorious Asuka." he said, as humbly as he could.
Asuka stared hard at him, trying to see if he was teasing her before reluctantly letting him go. She spun around and stared at Shinji who was doing his best to look inconspicuous.
"And what were two doing all alone here anyway? Nothing perverted I hope?" she ribbed Shinji as both the males obliquely sighed. When Asuka could tease people, it normally meant she wasn't too mad.
"No, nothing like that." Shinji weakly protested, "I was listening to Kheldar talk about his life before Japan. It was very enlightening." He glanced at her, then decided that she hadn't been told what he knew from his father. "So where you were you just now?" Inspiration came to him as he continued, "not doing anything perverted I hope."
Asuka flushed, and for a second Shinji was afraid that she HAD been doing something bad, and without him no less, then he blushed at the thought. She stammered an answer. "I w-was out shopping." Then she turned and started for the safety of her room.
Kheldar, always on the look out for his friends, stopped her. "With who? Not some guy I hope."
He peered at her, speculatively. She flushed again. "I was shopping with... with Hikari." Then suddenly she flared, "And what's it to you! You attempted murderer!" She stamped her foot, glanced at the knife, then back at him. With an almost frightened look she dashed into her room.
Staring at the door, Shinji thought about what he had just seen. She had seemed almost afraid of Kheldar, though that was only natural, as he HAD almost killed her. Still...
"She has orders too."
"What?" Shinji looked at his friend, somewhat confused by this ambiguous statement. He turned to look at Kheldar and almost jumped back, totally startled at the change of the man he beheld.
Gone were the friendly yet lazy eyes that so marked his appearance, gone too was his jacket, or so Shinji assumed. Kheldar stood, in a loose white T-shirt with his traditional black jeans. Without his jacket, blue eyes now beheld what Kheldar had been concealing. Strapped to his forearms were large black sheaths, both of which contained combat knives. Crossing his arms, he drew them then flipped both to catch them in a dagger grip. One he thrust into his belt, the other he held in his left hand.
Striding to the embedded butterfly knife, Kheldar quickly removed it and placed it in his pocket once it was closed. Running his hands over his calves and shoulders he turned back to the very shaken Shinji.
"You're right, I can't stay, but I can't run away either, I mustn't run away!" He finished with an exclamation. Suddenly he closed his eyes, a grimace on his face. Slowly it receded, slipping into an expression of despair. Slipping the knife back into its sheath he dejectedly fell back onto the couch.
"Who am I kidding?" cried Kheldar as he stared at the wall. "This isn't some bad action flick, where some dude takes on a whole army and wins. I can't do anything." He slumped forward and curled into a small ball. "I'm such an idiot, making a fool of myself like that, shisamake! These things always come back to haunt me later."
Shinji paused, looking at his previously terrifying now sulking best friend. Sitting down on the couch he tried to think of some words of comfort he could offer. "You looked scary to me." He rolled his eyes 'Damn, was that all I could come up with?' and tried again. "I thought you looked very impressive, with those two knives."
Kheldar uncurled slightly, and slowly raised his head, "Really?" he asked, hopefulness evident on his face. "You're not just saying that to make me feel better?" Shinji blinked and sat down on the couch opposite is distraught friend.
"Yeah, I really did feel impressed, and quite a bit scared. Though you shouldn't do that too much, some people might take you for some psycho killer and like call the police or something."
Both men chuckled at the thought before lapsing back into silence. The situation was grave, and as of yet neither had any idea whatsoever as to what could be down to change it. Shinji didn't want to put himself or his new found love in danger, Kheldar didn't want to expose any of his friends to something that he himself should deal with. Both were worried more for someone else's benefit more then their own, and thus neither knew what to do. Finally, after much thought and consideration, Kheldar decided that something had to be done. Them sitting staring at the wall would accomplish nothing, so he decided to talk to Asuka.
He got up, and started walking towards her room. He paused, remembering that last time that he went in there, and wavered slightly in his decision.
"Khel, what are you doing?" asked a subdued yet slightly suspicious Shinji. He too remembered that night, though with slightly more emphasis then Kheldar did. He blushed at the thought before hearing 'I just need to find out what are the orders are pertaining to me.'
Kheldar turned back to the door before quietly knocking.
"Yeah? What you want?" came Asuka's muffled voice. Kheldar slid the door open and walked in.
Asuka's room was impeccably tidy, but almost overflowing with every sort of 'stuff' known to man. Along the numerous bookshelves sat manga, magazines, photos, toys and even a CD player. Her two closets were filled with clothes and her desk was littered with stacked paper. Kheldar wondered how anyone could find anything in this mess, then realized that his room hadn't been this neat, yet had almost definitely as much stuff. He turned his eyes to the sole occupant of the room, and then almost wished he hadn't.
Asuka was staring at him like he was some creature from the Black Lagoon. Her mouth opened to let out a scream but nothing came out. As Kheldar watched, she backed away from him as far as she could, pulling off his blanket and holding it before her. "GO AWAY YOU PERVERT!!" she screamed and Kheldar almost did. He understood her distress, or thought he did, scared that he had come into her room to catch her naked or something. He half turned, but the sheer fear in her voice caused him to stop.
"What makes you think I'm a pervert?" he asked, now curious as to what exactly Gendo had said about him.
Shaking with either rage or fear Asuka stood, her expression terrified and both her hands hold up her blanket. As Shinji raced in after hearing her scream he felt another burst of rage coming, directed at Kheldar, what had he done this time?
The object of everyone's fury stood, impassive as he stared at Asuka's face. He sensed the movement that announced Shinji's arrival and held up his hand, forestalling any comments.
"Exactly WHAT did the commander tell you about me?" The strangeness of the statement momentarily shocked Asuka out of her terror.
"Commander?" she asked, confused, but still scared, "Misato told me you were a convicted Child Molester and that she was going to raid your apartment as soon as Rei was gone." She looked away and muttered, "though I don't think she knew that you would be down here, leaving us two pilots unprotected, Mein Gott."
Kheldar stared at Asuka, then turned to face Shinji, his eyes wide and very much shocked. He glanced at Asuka, and exchanged nods with Shinji before leaving the room. The sounds of an explosion filtered down and he involuntarily flinched. He headed for the balcony and took a quick look at the myriad of cars parked below. Looking around he spotted an older model car that he believed he could hijack. Turning back to the house, and the emerging couple to saluted.
"I've got to go, can't use the front door, I'll keep in touch." He spoke rapidly, as he turned back to the balcony and prepared to climb over it. His movement was arrested by their voices.
"I'm sorry, I should have realized that bastard Commander would try something like this." apologized Asuka.
Then Shinji spoke up. "She understands now, we'll see you around some time, take care Kheldar." He exchanged nods with his friend then grunted as he caught what Kheldar had thrown. Glancing down at the small velvet covered box in his hand, he heard the sound of a body falling. Looking up, he realized that Kheldar had dropped, and moved to the edge with Asuka to follow his friend's progress.
Kheldar ran, crouched low, as he headed for the last place he had seen the car he intended to steal. Briefly considering the moral implications of his actions, his doubt was erased after seeing a NERV Section 2 agent walk out from the lobby. The agent glanced around before retreating back inside. Breathing a sight of relief Kheldar opened the car door, thankful that the older European models still used conventional key locks. Hot-wiring the ignition, he glanced over the dashboard before slowly sneaking out of the car park.
Shinji and Asuka watched his progress from atop the balcony, when Shinji realized his hand was getting sweaty from holding the case. Carefully opening up the box he found a pair of earrings with heart shaped stones emplaced in them. Looking closer, he realized that the stones were real rubies and almost dropped the box right there. Catching sight of the lid, he read the words, "To center of my life, from the heart, Kheldar" out loud.
"Gimme that," demanded Asuka as she snatched the box out of his hands. Glancing at the gift, and at the note, she slowly closed the box and handed it back. Shinji just as solemnly accepted the gift before noticing that Asuka was trembling. Immediately concerned he placed his hand on her shoulder.
"What's wrong?" he asked, believing that she was sad Kheldar had gone. Jealousy briefly flared in him but died just as swiftly with her words.
"He really loved her, and I believed he had it in for us," she breathed so quietly Shinji had to step forward to hear. With his chest pressed to her back, she turned around and threw her hands around his neck.
Shinji was stunned at first, but slowly relaxed as Asuka cried out her fear, shame and anger all at once. They stood there for a long time, so that when Misato arrived home, disappointed at her lack of success, she noticed the pair of them, standing in the exact center of the balcony, Asuka's head on Shinji's shoulder and his head tilted to rest his chin on her back.
Misato sniffed a bit before heading to the kitchen to drain a beer. She noticed Pen-Pen as she emerged from the iced room and offered him one too. Simultaneously popping their tops, they both clashed their cans thinking the same thing.
"Isn't love grand?"
*Author's final farewell*
Well, it's been fun, what started out as an SI for Foxboy's comp, became my first ever fanfic, well, sadly this will be the last chapter that comes out. Due to the fact that many people have criticized my Mary suedness, and cause I realized I didn't do that well on it, I'm going to stop this particular series. I haven't forgotten it, I might come back to it, or even rewrite chaps 1-5 and start a new series, but for now, it's going on hold. However I haven't stopped writing, so look out for my next fic "Bittersweet Symphony" (or something else, cause I haven't finalized the title.)
'It's very quiet' thought Kheldar as he stared at the sky, 'and very beautiful too.' As he gazed in wonder at the stars that shone in the dark expanse of space, he felt the girl beside him move ever so slightly. "What do you think Rei? The sky look nice tonight?"
Rei looked at him with what could pass as an amused expression on her face, for her anyway. "It looks the same as it always does." A small smile, concealed from Kheldar, hovered on her lips.
Kheldar sat up, and looked at the center of his new life. The smile that she hid from him was all too apparent in her eyes, and he smiled back. "Very funny, very very funny." He lay back down, shoulders just touching, and both continued to just enjoy each other's presence.
***
Gendo Ikari sat, his hands interlaced in front of his face, as his translucently covered eyes stared at his son. "So you see, Shinji, that this Kheldar is a threat to our security at NERV. He represents a danger to Rei and is even now unscrupulously attempting to pry our secrets out of her. You understand that he must be eliminated... Do you hear me?"
Shinji stood, head well bowed, staring at his wrist. The bandages were gone, but the line still showed. Drops of fury slowly fell on the straight red line as Shinji angrily contemplated his betrayal.
"Yes father, I do. What do you want me to do?"
***
"Did I ever tell you how I came here?"
They were still there, lying on the leeward side of the hill, staring out of the small clearing of trees that Kheldar had found during one of his explorations during school.
"No, you didn't" answered Rei. "Just why you stayed." Hearing that Kheldar smiled at the length of her reply, at how the old Rei would never have said more then a no.
After a bit of discussion with Shinji, he learned the full oddity of Rei showing as much emotion to him as she did. Ever since that night when they had found a new home, she had steadily been changing, talking more, even showing her temper and joking around. As if a dam had held her back, and his love for her had somehow broken it. He sighed inwardly, 'conceited thoughts again Khel?'
"It's a very long story." He warned her.
"I don't have anywhere else I'd rather be," she replied.
"I was born 3 years before 2nd impact, on January the 22nd..."
Kheldar continued, telling how his parents had died during 2nd impact, while on a cruise vacation. How he had been adopted and attended school at an island in Malaysia, even his failure at school to maintain many friendships.
"You see Rei, I was a lot like you around your age. When I was 14, I didn't talk much to anyone, I let life happen to me, I didn't really live it. It was about then that I realized that I wasn't happy, that I wanted to see if there were other things out there that I could enjoy. So that's why I became a wanderer. To see the world, trying to find my meaning in life."
"And have you found it?" She asked, a small lift in her voice, like she was hopeful of something, something that he knew was true.
"Yes, I have, and you know what it is?" he asked, with a playful lilt to his voice sitting up to face her.
"What?"
"Pen-Pen." Kheldar replied with an absolutely straight face, which he kept for 3 seconds before bursting out in laughter. He blinked when he realized that she wasn't laughing with him. 'Well, I guess everyone has only so far they can go in such a short time' he thought. "I'm just kidding Rei. You know it's you right?"
"Yeah, but the fact that you would even joke about such a thing is pretty insensitive." Kheldar froze, his mind locking up at those words. Rei noticed his suddenly glazing expression as asked with great concern. "What's wrong my love?" Worried that she had inadvertently hurt him, she quickly embraced him.
"Those were the last things I said to him." His tone was that of a sleep talker, yet far more so, as if he was totally surrounded in a memory, a very painful memory.
"Who?" Rei was now wavering between puzzlement and worry. She tightened her arms, trying to pull him back from whatever universe he was in. Her efforts were rewarded as his eyes cleared, and looked down on her, smiling at the relief on her face, though he still wore a far away look in his eyes.
"Once, in my travels, I came across a place that I thought I would stay. I found a girl there, her name was Khrisine." Rei tensed, not knowing that she was reacting. Her Kheldar, with another girl? "She was beautiful, kind, intelligent and most of all charismatic, I really loved her, and I think she loved me too."
Rei, was now both very worried and very jealous. Her logical side attempted to remind her that he was here now, but her newly found emotions quickly swamped that part of her and she clung just a touch harder.
Kheldar felt this, then realized what he had said. "Oh, I'm sorry, Rei, I didn't mean it like that. We were really close friends, that's all, nothing like us." He laughed as she heaved a sigh of relief, but then his eyes darkened again.
"There was a guy there that thought like you did, that she loved me more then just a friend, that we were too close. Khris and me were like far deeper then brother and sister, somewhere between that and best friends. Yet, none other than the man she loved broke our bond, the other sort of love, her boyfriend. I guess I don't blame him, now that I know what it feels like, but he forced me to leave. He loved to joke, and he was often kidding, but at the end he said that if he hadn't stepped in, Khris and I would have sinned. That's when I said those words."
He fell silent for a few moments, then stood up, offering his hand to Rei. "After that, I vowed that I would never joke about such things again, that things said like that have the most potential to hurt people, words spoken by you in jest, can haunt someone for the whole of their lives. You never know if they meant it, and you never will."
Rei was just a tad bit scared by the resolve and despair that she could feel in Kheldar, and she didn't really understand his problems with jokes. From what she had learnt in the past two weeks, jokes were widespread in the community, that even friends bagged each other, and that they all didn't care. Maybe Kheldar was taking this just a tad too far, or maybe he was just over-dramatizing stuff. She knew he liked to do that after he had almost beaten up a guy that she told him had tried to hit on her. Poor Kensuke was still trembling after the throwing knife had sailed just a centimeter past his ears. They began to walk towards their home.
"Um, Kheldar." She asked, trying to get his mind on other, different things.
"Yes love?" he replied, still deep in thought, not noticing the slight shiver she felt at that word.
"Why do you always have knives around you? I don't believe you included that in your story."
Kheldar looked positively stunned, before realizing that indeed he hadn't mentioned anything about it. He smiled, then started a new story, all traces of morbidity gone. "When I was younger, about ten, I loved to read. All the way until I was fourteen in fact, I read quite a lot. My favorite series had in it, a man by the name of Kheldar."
Rei started, and then looked at her companion. "So that's..." she got out, before he interrupted her.
"Where I got the name? Yes, my real name is Dave, David Loke Yan Yee, however when I decided to wander, part of that was because Kheldar himself was a wanderer, or perhaps an adventurer. At any rate, Kheldar loved his knives, and was pretty good with a sword as well. Due to my lack of social outgoingness, I had quite a bit of time on my hands, and took up swordsmanship as a sort of hobby. This quickly branched into knife throwing, fighting, and eventually I was as proficient as my name sake in most things deadly." Kheldar's face flushed with pride, and a sense of achievement as well. He winked at her. "Just about the only thing I've ever done right, apart from graduate when I was 14, but that was just academics."
"So you're a semi-genius?" she asked, stunned that she hadn't heard all this before.
"Well," he replied evasively, "I wouldn't say that. It's not that hard to finish just the bare minimum of schooling, and after Second Impact, most governments had other things to do than make sure children went to school."
"What about your parents? The adoptive ones, surely they objected." Rei was puzzled at the seeming freedom of this precocious boy that she believed she loved.
Kheldar laughed, a sound that slowly rippled through the evening sky. "They knew I was fine, in fact, they were the ones that gave me my backpack, complete with kudachi. My dad was an archaic history fanatic, and my mum, well she didn't exactly support all the things we did, but she didn't mind most of them. Though the rule 'no fighting in the house' had a very different meaning in my family."
"So you left home, at fourteen years of age, wandered around the world, without any external support, and arrived here, three years later?" Rei was incredulous, only knowing that Kheldar wouldn't lie to her was keeping her from out rightly slapping him.
"I think that pretty much sums it up."
"So where in the world have you been to?" asked Rei, curious, because she herself had never left Tokyo-3.
"Well, I was born in Malaysia, the capital, then I moved to Penang. When I left home, my dad's plane ticket sent me to the US. From there, I traveled most of the eastern states, and been to LA and Las Vegas. I stayed at Las Vegas and preformed there, with my knives, to earn enough to travel to Europe, I walked around Spain, Germany, UK, France, well, hitchhiked and stuff, not just walked, and then I won a vacation to Australia in a raffle that I didn't even enter, that was weird." Kheldar paused to take a breath, "That was where I met Khris, and I stayed there for over eight months. Just before I left, a friend told me about Tokyo-3 and the attack that happened here, I decided that living on the edge might be fun, as I knew that soon I would have to leave. Khris gave me the cash to fly here, and now here I am, right in front of you."
Rei stared at him, doubt written all over her visage, faced with the idea that one underage boy, had traveled around the world. Ok, one very special underage boy, but still, a boy, and an under aged one at that. He glanced at her. "You don't believe me?" he asked, faking a hurt expression.
Rei relented. "If it was ANYONE else, no I wouldn't, but I trust what you said when you promised never to lie to me."
"Good, cause it's almost all true, though I've told the story so many times now, I forgot which bits I've embellished and which bits I left out. Though I have been to all those places." He finished with a wink. "So, had fun tonight?"
"Well what do you mean by fun, as in was I happy and did I like spending the evening with you, then yes. I did have fun." She said, impishly smiling at him. No matter how much she did, he still loved that smile. As they both walked into the elevator she looked just a bit puzzled.
"So you said you didn't talk much in your old school?" she asked.
"Yeah, I believe I said something like that," he answered, leaning with his back to the right wall.
"You seem a very experienced conversationalist, and you didn't hesitate much to introduce yourself when I first met you."
Kheldar blinked, then sighed. "Damn, I thought only old people forgot stuff, well, in Las Vegas I didn't have a place to stay. So I ended up living with one of my work mates, a guy called Jamie."
"Annnd...?" Rei prompted.
"Well, after the first week of him going out everyday and me staying at home, he decided to bring me out and introduce me to a few of his friends." Kheldar thought back to that day. "Now that I think about it, a disproportionate amount of those were girls, but anyway." He hurried on catching her icy glance. "He showed me, more though example then anything, how to talk, and how other people would react to what you said. He was kinda weird, and he believed that everything you said had a direct input into what people thought of you. He was killer at manipulating people." He finished with a wink.
"So that's how you learned to socialize?" she asked, once again amazed at the strange circumstances this wanderer had experienced.
"I guess, so, though I only stayed there for three months, you can learn quite a bit studying ten hours a day."
The elevator door dinged and slid open. The couple walked towards their door, Kheldar swiped his ID and held the door open for Rei. She thanked him and stepped lightly inside, putting her shoes by the cabinet and then heading for the kitchen.
Washing her hands, she tied an apron around her waist, and then began to cook. Kheldar, being the easily bored person he is, was torn between reading the latest Children of an Elder God chapter, or helping his housemate with the food, knowing that Rei didn't mind either way, he nonetheless decided that four hands make lighter work than two.
"Need help with that?" He asked, as he came around the workbench.
"Well since you eat it, you can cook the beef and fish," she said, with just a slight frown at the thought.
*Note from prereader- You're killing me with the punctuation of your dialog! LOL The proper form is this: "Well since you eat it, you can cook the beef and fish," she said, with just a slight frown at the thought. Notice how it goes fish, COMMA" she said. You keep putting a period and then capitalizing the next word. You do this: "Well since you eat it, you can cook the beef and fish." She said, with just a slight frown at the thought. That is wrong. I'm just going to fix them all from now on and not note them.
"Hey, just because you don't' like meat, doesn't mean I don't ok?" he admonished her, quick to defend his eating habits.
"Yes Khel," replied Rei, in the air of a girl who had heard this before.
The two busied themselves with the chores of cooking, Rei began to hum as she worked, and soon Kheldar joined her. The continued this duet till Rei's cell phone rang. A frown crossed her face, but quickly disappeared when she heard the voice on the other end.
"Rei, come to headquarters now." Spoke Gendo Ikari, "we have some tests we need to run."
"Yes sir," she replied, though Kheldar could see the frown on her face. She ended the call.
"You gotta go?" he asked, already guessing from the look on her face.
"Yes, I'm sorry, I'll cook you dinner tomorrow," she answered, head bowed.
"Don't worry about it, good luck on whatever top secret thing you're gonna do," he told her with a wink. "I'll go see if Shinji is going, and if not, I'll go eat with him."
"I'll see you later then," Rei said as she walked out the door, her shoes making soft taps on the floor as she walked to the lift.
The front door closed, and Kheldar debated his next course of action, 'well I guess I should call Shinji like I said I would.' He reached for the phone, picked it up, and dialed Shinji's number, immediately picked up the phone, like they had been waiting with it in their hands.
Shinji: Hello?
Kheldar: [cheerfully] Hey Shinji, I was wondering if you had any plans for dinner.
Shinji: Umm, yes I think I'm free, why?
Kheldar: Well Rei got called in for some tests, so I thought you might like to go eat some dinner.
Shinji: [Nervous] I don't think we should go out for dinner...
Kheldar: [Curious] And why not?
Shinji: [Getting flustered] Um, I just don't think we should. Why don't you come down, and I'll cook you something?
Kheldar: [Suspiciously] You're not telling me something... What's going on?
Shinji: Come on Khel, just come down ok? Please?
Kheldar: Fine fine, but if this is some sort of joke or something, I'll make sure you pay ok?
Shinji: Yeah, don't worry, I'll see ya soon.
*hang up*
Kheldar put down the phone and headed for the door, picking up his wallet, sunglasses and butterfly knife from the bookshelf that stood in the corridor. He started towards the entrance, but paused in mid-step, as was his habit, trying to remember what he forgot. Nothing sprang to mind, so he continued on and took the stairs down to Shinji's floor. He pushed the button, and then waited, hands in his pockets, without a hint of a slouch.
The door slid open with a soft 'whoosh' and a timid Shinji peeked out. Catching sight of only Kheldar, he motioned for his friend to follow him as he went back inside. By now Kheldar was starting to get a vague image that something wasn't totally normal, but being the lazy person he was he didn't dig too deep.
The house was silent, and only two lights were shining, one in the kitchen and one streaming down from above him. The light reflected shining into his eyes, coupled with his astigmatism caused the rest of the apartment to darken and blur. He could vaguely make out Shinji's retreating back, and so chose to follow him.
"So why'd you like beg me to come down?" asked a slightly confused Kheldar, as he settled down into a corner seat of a couch. He glanced at Shinji, "You ok man? You don't look so good." He didn't, Shinji looked very torn between something, as he sat staring at his wrist.
Kheldar speculated as to what he was thinking before realizing that Shinji was staring at his emblem cut. Something was definitely up.
"Hey man, what's wrong?" he asked, concern suddenly showing on his face.
Shinji was quiet, but then softly he spoke. "My dad wants to eliminate you." As he spoke his head drooped a bit more and he slouched forward. His listener was stunned.
"Eliminate as in kill me?" he asked, shocked and suddenly very much afraid. "Your father meaning Commander Ikari?" Finally realizing that they WERE related.
"Yes, and yes," Shinji said adding a bit of force into his voice. He lifted his head, having come to a decision, resolution written on his face. "You've got to leave Tokyo-3."
After Kheldar didn't think he could get any more surprised this took the cake. "LEAVE Tokyo-3, as in run away?" His mind slowly kicked into gear as he realized that Shinji was probably right, he didn't stand a chance against the might and resources of NERV. Leaving was his only option. Now his head slumped.
"Rei," he uttered, the name like honey on his lips, as he remembered the time they had shared just in the last two weeks. His thoughts were interrupted by Shinji.
"Has been called to HQ right?" he asked, then continued in response to Kheldar's nod. "She's either being ordered to help with your termination or to be held so that you would co-operate, I believe that the former is more likely."
Kheldar just stared open-mouthed at him. "Rei betray me? NEVER!!" he cried springing up and almost punching Shinji. Just as contact was about to become made he stopped, trying to calm down.
"What ever makes you think Rei will betray me?"
***
Gendo Ikari sat, his hands interlaced in front of his face, as his translucently covered eyes stared at his son. "So you see, Rei, that this Kheldar is a threat to our security at NERV. He represents a danger to Shinji and is even now unscrupulously attempting to pry our secrets out of him. You understand that he must be eliminated... Do you hear me?"
Rei was reeling inwardly, HER Kheldar? A threat? To Shinji? It wasn't possible, yet the commander was telling her it was true, no, he loved Shinji, he would never hurt him, just like he could never hurt her. Yet, the commander was telling her that Kheldar wished to hurt Shinji, that he was a threat. The commander, who had raised her himself, who she owed everything to, that she lived to serve. How long had she actually known Kheldar for anyway?
With a last despairing cry, the newly awakened emotions of Rei swiftly fell to the old mask of indifference and coldness. With a wrench she realigned her world, and once again set Eva and the commander was her center.
"What do you want me to do?"
***
"Commander Ikari raised HER? What about you? I thought you were sent away when you were... Oh, I see," uttered a thrice stunned and now embarrassed Kheldar. "I'm sorry."
"It wasn't your fault, you have nothing to be sorry for," replied Shinji. "If anything I would be saying sorry for having to bear such bad news, but it is almost a certainty that Rei will obey the Commander's orders."
Kheldar regarded him with one eye. "So where does that leave you and Asuka?" he queried hesitantly. "I mean by helping me you risk your life and perhaps hers, so what are you going to do?"
Shinji's mouth twisted into a frown before replying. "I can help you escape without risking too much, so that is what I suggest." I can get you train tickets out of here, and you can leave from an airport in another part of the country. Apart from that you're right, it would be dangerous."
The black haired wanderer sighed loudly, almost sickened that things had turned out like this. Everywhere he went, friends he found, yet more people he found to chase him away. 'Maybe I should have just stuck with being a hermit.' He got up and walked to the balcony, staring out at the black sky and the bright stars. Looking up he could just make out the Big Dipper over the ambient light of the city; he followed his course and found the North Star, Polaris, and stared intently at it, his direction finder in times of need. Yet again he sighed.
"Well, I can't go man, I know what you're saying and all but I can't go," he said softly, continuing to stare at the stars. "Did I ever tell you about where I came from?"
"No, I don't think you ever told me or Asuka," replied Shinji as he came to stand next to his friend.
"Before this place, I came from a country called Australia, you know where that is right?"
"Some where below us, it's an island, right?"
"Yeah, anyway, when I was there, I knew a girl, we were really close friends, her name was Khris." He turned to Shinji then, and Shinji stared back, listening, trying to see where this was leading.
"We were really good friends, or at least we were until her boyfriend decided that we were too close." Kheldar paused, and pulled out his butterfly knife. He began to flip it as he finished his story. "He told me to leave, and well I listened, even though I realize now I should have stayed and talked it out. I took the easy way out, which is why I resolved never to run away again."
With a snap of his wrist the knife sailed into the air, blade and handles seeming to fly in totally random patterns as it arced from his right hand to his left. As the knife began to descend, Kheldar lifted his left hand with a victory V, closing his two fingers together he delicately caught the blade perfectly between them. With a curl and a flick of his fingers the knife sailed end over end until it buried itself into a post where it quivered next to Asuka's head.
She yelped, and then belatedly dived to the side, even though the knife wasn't going anywhere. Her hair streamed out behind her like a banner as the world slowed down for Shinji. He moved towards her as fast as he possibly could and caught her just as she was about to hit the table.
The flame haired German girl lay stunned, for a second before pushing Shinji out of the way and advancing on the cause of her recent stress. Grabbing the collar of the sheepishly smiling Kheldar, she pulled him in close.
"And what was that for might I ask?" she inquired in a deceptively calm and quiet tone.
Kheldar, not fooled at all, quickly reviewed his options before coming up with a brilliant rejoinder. "I thought you were an intruder coming to hurt Shinji. Sorry about that most glorious Asuka." he said, as humbly as he could.
Asuka stared hard at him, trying to see if he was teasing her before reluctantly letting him go. She spun around and stared at Shinji who was doing his best to look inconspicuous.
"And what were two doing all alone here anyway? Nothing perverted I hope?" she ribbed Shinji as both the males obliquely sighed. When Asuka could tease people, it normally meant she wasn't too mad.
"No, nothing like that." Shinji weakly protested, "I was listening to Kheldar talk about his life before Japan. It was very enlightening." He glanced at her, then decided that she hadn't been told what he knew from his father. "So where you were you just now?" Inspiration came to him as he continued, "not doing anything perverted I hope."
Asuka flushed, and for a second Shinji was afraid that she HAD been doing something bad, and without him no less, then he blushed at the thought. She stammered an answer. "I w-was out shopping." Then she turned and started for the safety of her room.
Kheldar, always on the look out for his friends, stopped her. "With who? Not some guy I hope."
He peered at her, speculatively. She flushed again. "I was shopping with... with Hikari." Then suddenly she flared, "And what's it to you! You attempted murderer!" She stamped her foot, glanced at the knife, then back at him. With an almost frightened look she dashed into her room.
Staring at the door, Shinji thought about what he had just seen. She had seemed almost afraid of Kheldar, though that was only natural, as he HAD almost killed her. Still...
"She has orders too."
"What?" Shinji looked at his friend, somewhat confused by this ambiguous statement. He turned to look at Kheldar and almost jumped back, totally startled at the change of the man he beheld.
Gone were the friendly yet lazy eyes that so marked his appearance, gone too was his jacket, or so Shinji assumed. Kheldar stood, in a loose white T-shirt with his traditional black jeans. Without his jacket, blue eyes now beheld what Kheldar had been concealing. Strapped to his forearms were large black sheaths, both of which contained combat knives. Crossing his arms, he drew them then flipped both to catch them in a dagger grip. One he thrust into his belt, the other he held in his left hand.
Striding to the embedded butterfly knife, Kheldar quickly removed it and placed it in his pocket once it was closed. Running his hands over his calves and shoulders he turned back to the very shaken Shinji.
"You're right, I can't stay, but I can't run away either, I mustn't run away!" He finished with an exclamation. Suddenly he closed his eyes, a grimace on his face. Slowly it receded, slipping into an expression of despair. Slipping the knife back into its sheath he dejectedly fell back onto the couch.
"Who am I kidding?" cried Kheldar as he stared at the wall. "This isn't some bad action flick, where some dude takes on a whole army and wins. I can't do anything." He slumped forward and curled into a small ball. "I'm such an idiot, making a fool of myself like that, shisamake! These things always come back to haunt me later."
Shinji paused, looking at his previously terrifying now sulking best friend. Sitting down on the couch he tried to think of some words of comfort he could offer. "You looked scary to me." He rolled his eyes 'Damn, was that all I could come up with?' and tried again. "I thought you looked very impressive, with those two knives."
Kheldar uncurled slightly, and slowly raised his head, "Really?" he asked, hopefulness evident on his face. "You're not just saying that to make me feel better?" Shinji blinked and sat down on the couch opposite is distraught friend.
"Yeah, I really did feel impressed, and quite a bit scared. Though you shouldn't do that too much, some people might take you for some psycho killer and like call the police or something."
Both men chuckled at the thought before lapsing back into silence. The situation was grave, and as of yet neither had any idea whatsoever as to what could be down to change it. Shinji didn't want to put himself or his new found love in danger, Kheldar didn't want to expose any of his friends to something that he himself should deal with. Both were worried more for someone else's benefit more then their own, and thus neither knew what to do. Finally, after much thought and consideration, Kheldar decided that something had to be done. Them sitting staring at the wall would accomplish nothing, so he decided to talk to Asuka.
He got up, and started walking towards her room. He paused, remembering that last time that he went in there, and wavered slightly in his decision.
"Khel, what are you doing?" asked a subdued yet slightly suspicious Shinji. He too remembered that night, though with slightly more emphasis then Kheldar did. He blushed at the thought before hearing 'I just need to find out what are the orders are pertaining to me.'
Kheldar turned back to the door before quietly knocking.
"Yeah? What you want?" came Asuka's muffled voice. Kheldar slid the door open and walked in.
Asuka's room was impeccably tidy, but almost overflowing with every sort of 'stuff' known to man. Along the numerous bookshelves sat manga, magazines, photos, toys and even a CD player. Her two closets were filled with clothes and her desk was littered with stacked paper. Kheldar wondered how anyone could find anything in this mess, then realized that his room hadn't been this neat, yet had almost definitely as much stuff. He turned his eyes to the sole occupant of the room, and then almost wished he hadn't.
Asuka was staring at him like he was some creature from the Black Lagoon. Her mouth opened to let out a scream but nothing came out. As Kheldar watched, she backed away from him as far as she could, pulling off his blanket and holding it before her. "GO AWAY YOU PERVERT!!" she screamed and Kheldar almost did. He understood her distress, or thought he did, scared that he had come into her room to catch her naked or something. He half turned, but the sheer fear in her voice caused him to stop.
"What makes you think I'm a pervert?" he asked, now curious as to what exactly Gendo had said about him.
Shaking with either rage or fear Asuka stood, her expression terrified and both her hands hold up her blanket. As Shinji raced in after hearing her scream he felt another burst of rage coming, directed at Kheldar, what had he done this time?
The object of everyone's fury stood, impassive as he stared at Asuka's face. He sensed the movement that announced Shinji's arrival and held up his hand, forestalling any comments.
"Exactly WHAT did the commander tell you about me?" The strangeness of the statement momentarily shocked Asuka out of her terror.
"Commander?" she asked, confused, but still scared, "Misato told me you were a convicted Child Molester and that she was going to raid your apartment as soon as Rei was gone." She looked away and muttered, "though I don't think she knew that you would be down here, leaving us two pilots unprotected, Mein Gott."
Kheldar stared at Asuka, then turned to face Shinji, his eyes wide and very much shocked. He glanced at Asuka, and exchanged nods with Shinji before leaving the room. The sounds of an explosion filtered down and he involuntarily flinched. He headed for the balcony and took a quick look at the myriad of cars parked below. Looking around he spotted an older model car that he believed he could hijack. Turning back to the house, and the emerging couple to saluted.
"I've got to go, can't use the front door, I'll keep in touch." He spoke rapidly, as he turned back to the balcony and prepared to climb over it. His movement was arrested by their voices.
"I'm sorry, I should have realized that bastard Commander would try something like this." apologized Asuka.
Then Shinji spoke up. "She understands now, we'll see you around some time, take care Kheldar." He exchanged nods with his friend then grunted as he caught what Kheldar had thrown. Glancing down at the small velvet covered box in his hand, he heard the sound of a body falling. Looking up, he realized that Kheldar had dropped, and moved to the edge with Asuka to follow his friend's progress.
Kheldar ran, crouched low, as he headed for the last place he had seen the car he intended to steal. Briefly considering the moral implications of his actions, his doubt was erased after seeing a NERV Section 2 agent walk out from the lobby. The agent glanced around before retreating back inside. Breathing a sight of relief Kheldar opened the car door, thankful that the older European models still used conventional key locks. Hot-wiring the ignition, he glanced over the dashboard before slowly sneaking out of the car park.
Shinji and Asuka watched his progress from atop the balcony, when Shinji realized his hand was getting sweaty from holding the case. Carefully opening up the box he found a pair of earrings with heart shaped stones emplaced in them. Looking closer, he realized that the stones were real rubies and almost dropped the box right there. Catching sight of the lid, he read the words, "To center of my life, from the heart, Kheldar" out loud.
"Gimme that," demanded Asuka as she snatched the box out of his hands. Glancing at the gift, and at the note, she slowly closed the box and handed it back. Shinji just as solemnly accepted the gift before noticing that Asuka was trembling. Immediately concerned he placed his hand on her shoulder.
"What's wrong?" he asked, believing that she was sad Kheldar had gone. Jealousy briefly flared in him but died just as swiftly with her words.
"He really loved her, and I believed he had it in for us," she breathed so quietly Shinji had to step forward to hear. With his chest pressed to her back, she turned around and threw her hands around his neck.
Shinji was stunned at first, but slowly relaxed as Asuka cried out her fear, shame and anger all at once. They stood there for a long time, so that when Misato arrived home, disappointed at her lack of success, she noticed the pair of them, standing in the exact center of the balcony, Asuka's head on Shinji's shoulder and his head tilted to rest his chin on her back.
Misato sniffed a bit before heading to the kitchen to drain a beer. She noticed Pen-Pen as she emerged from the iced room and offered him one too. Simultaneously popping their tops, they both clashed their cans thinking the same thing.
"Isn't love grand?"
*Author's final farewell*
Well, it's been fun, what started out as an SI for Foxboy's comp, became my first ever fanfic, well, sadly this will be the last chapter that comes out. Due to the fact that many people have criticized my Mary suedness, and cause I realized I didn't do that well on it, I'm going to stop this particular series. I haven't forgotten it, I might come back to it, or even rewrite chaps 1-5 and start a new series, but for now, it's going on hold. However I haven't stopped writing, so look out for my next fic "Bittersweet Symphony" (or something else, cause I haven't finalized the title.)