Disclaimer: I don't own Evangelion already, stop bothering me… I'm not making any money off this anyway
Thanks to my preareaders: Dennisud, James, and True Pride for prereading this chapter.
Confessions in the Rain
Chapter 3
Truth or Deception: Discoveries
Unknown - "All my friends and I are crazy. That's the only thing that keeps us sane."
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The room was poorly lit because the sun had yet to rise. However, the moonlight and pre-dawn glow were reflecting off a nearby skyscraper entering the room through a window. In the dim light, one could see that the walls were bare and the floor was clean. Next to the desk there was a green book bag with the zipper open and nothing inside it. On the desk were a red laptop computer, a pencil, and several neatly stacked sheets of paper. On the other side of the desk, there was a black metal wastebasket.
Abruptly, a loud beeping noise was heard in the room. Tiredly, a hand raised itself off of the bed and pressed the snooze button. Shortly after that, Shinji sat up in his futon and looked at the clock.
"6:30 in the morning..." Shinji yawned as he lifted himself out of the bed and walked over to his closet to get out one of his uniforms and a housecoat that Asuka had bought him the other day. Remembering who had bought the garment for him, Shinji began to recount the events of last night. Lost in his thoughts, Shinji exited his room and deposited his clothes in the bathroom before going into the kitchen to start breakfast.
About half an hour later, Asuka left her room and went into the bathroom. Forty minutes after that, she left the bathroom in her school uniform. Across the room, Misato entered the kitchen from the hallway.
As his roommates sat at the table, Shinji set out their breakfasts before heading into the bathroom to take his shower.
Noticing Shinji's new apparel, Misato wondered: "Hey Asuka, where'd Shinji get that robe?"
After swallowing a bite of her food, she answered not paying much attention to what she was saying:
"Me and Shinji went shopping the other day."
Misato was so surprised by what she heard, she actually spat out the food she was eating nearly spraying it all over the table in front of her. Luckily, for Shinji, she only managed to get food all over her placemat. After recomposing herself, she managed to get out: "When...why...where...?"
"What, all he ever wears is that stupid school uniform, even when we're not at school. I don't want to have to look at something that bland every day."
Misato was now certain there was more to this situation than the young redhead was letting on, because of this she went from being curious to her teasing mode almost instantly:
"And since when do you care about how Shinji looks?"
Asuka just ignored her guardian's teasing tone of voice and answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world and without completely thinking about what she was saying.
"Since I have to go to school with him every day."
The grin on Misato's face widened at that particular comment since there was NO WAY the young German girl would be able to get out of it:
"You wear your uniforms to school. Or did you forget that even after putting yours on this morning?"
Realizing her blunder, Asuka stopped eating and began staring at her food as she tried desperately to formulate a response to Misato's observation.
"Well... um..."
After trying many responses in her head, Asuka figures out that there is no way out of this situation, so she does what she usually does in any no-win argument... change the subject...
"And what do you think you're wearing…I mean really, that getup is fine to sleep in, but do you really have to walk around the apartment like that?"
Misato was wearing a VERY revealing set of shorts and a tank-top [You know the set I'm talking about, the one she wore in the first episode after bringing Shinji home]
"My dress is not the issue here. Besides, are you afraid that he may get more interested in me instead of you?"
"Are you saying that I'm jealous of you?!?! I just have to live with him. And I am NOT going to live with someone who has THAT LITTLE fashion sense."
"Sure, Asuka, whatever you say, but I still think you like him more than you're letting on."
"I DO NOT!!!"
After her last comment, Misato left the kitchen and her empty plate behind to let the redhead digest what had been said in their argument.
About twenty minutes later, Asuka had managed to calm herself enough to think about why she was going to surprise both her roommates with dinner...
'Why was I going to cook dinner for her again?' Asuka thought about why she had made that decision for a few minutes before coming to the conclusion that this time she really did have something to prove to her guardian and roommate. 'Heh heh heh, I'll show them…'
After steeling her resolve in this matter, Asuka began to devise her "War Plan":
'Okay, first off, I have to get Shinji out of the apartment. Then I need to find out how late Misato is working tonight. I also have to figure out WHAT to cook and what I need to make it, whatever it is. Okay, now that I know what to do I can start with step one...Get BAKA-SHINJI out of the apartment!!'
About this time, Shinji left the bathroom ready for school and sat down at the table after getting his own breakfast. After Shinji finished his breakfast, he and Asuka got their respective bags and headed off for school.
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After arriving at the outer doors to the elevator, Shinji pressed the call button to get the car up to their level. Shortly after the doors open, the two teens walked into the small elevator car and Shinji pressed the button for the ground floor.
As the elevator descends, Asuka moved closer to him and held onto his arm. Not expecting this action, Shinji tensed up for a moment but soon managed to relax. The doors finally opened onto the lobby of the apartment building and the two teens walked out arm in arm.
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It was a fine, sunny day that morning, the sound of cars and trucks moving up and down the streets as their occupants began another day of hard work in Tokyo-3.
While a lot people here drive to and from work, or even drive for a living, more people were forced to walk to where they need to go because of the traffic in this high-tech city. Two of these people were Shinji Ikari and Sohryu Asuka Langley. Of course, they didn't really have a choice in the matter; they're too young to drive anyway.
As the two teens made their way down the sidewalk, some people gave them disapproving looks because of how much affection they're showing in public [Don't tell me that people wouldn't do that seeing a couple walking like this, I know there are people in Japan who think that even holding hands is too much in public.]
"Shinji, what is our relationship now?"
Confused, Shinji looked at her with wonder on his face: "What are you talking about?"
Asuka gently squeezed the arm that she was holding to emphasize her point: "This."
"Oh, um..." Shinji took a moment to think about what Asuka had asked him before continuing:
"I don't know..."
Slightly annoyed by his indecision, Asuka figured it was best to lead him through some logic: "Baka...Are we friends?"
"Well, yes and no... I mean, it feels like more than that."
"Well, is it like a brother and sister sort of thing?"
Shinji thought about that for a few seconds and came to a conclusion: "No, that doesn't sound quite right. I mean, I think of Rei as a sister, but it's not the same with you."
"Are we a couple now?"
At this suggestion by his red-headed companion, Shinji became slightly embarrassed, but still managed to answer her: "I'm not sure, I mean...I've never had any relationships like this before..."
Now grinning since her objective was sooo close, Asuka decided to 'put the final nail in the coffin' so to speak: "Hmmm...well, want to give it a try?"
Now blushing terribly, Shinji managed a somewhat stammered answer: "S…Sounds nice...sure, let's give it a try."
Now beaming, Asuka tightens her grip on Shinji's arm.
A time passed without either of them saying a word until Asuka thought of something.
"How are we going to handle this in class? What will they think?"
Shinji just turned his head to look at his redheaded girlfriend as she looked at him.
In a rare show of strength, Shinji smiled at her and said very resolutely: "Let'em think what they want. I'm done worrying about other people's opinions"
Asuka just stared at him for a few seconds trying to figure out what just happened with him. 'A second ago, he couldn't finish a sentence without tripping over his own words…' She then smiled as she figured out a possible explanation: "I'm rubbing off on you, Third Child."
Shinji thought about this for a moment, then: "Maybe you are, maybe you are…"
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Shinji and Asuka finally arrived at the gates to their school where they usually parted ways in the courtyard. However, today was different. As they walked through the gate, Asuka continued to hold onto Shinji's arm expecting their contact to cause quite an uproar amongst most of the male population of the school.
As they walked through the crowd of students arm-in-arm, they could hear hushed statements of disbelief such as several "No way"'s and some "I told you so"'s along with even more...shall we say arrays of colorful metaphors... However, the main reaction they received in the courtyard was plain out staring.
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The moment they walked into their classroom, they were met with a few screams and lots of fainting. Rei, however, just sat at her desk acting as though she wasn't interested, but she was happy inside that Shinji had apparently found that which makes him happy. If anyone had been looking at her, the shock of the newest couple's identity combined with the shock of seeing the slight smile on her face would probably have leveled the part of the class who had managed to stay conscious.
Touji was standing slack-jawed, wide eyed, stark white, and pointing just like the first time Asuka had walked into the classroom. He couldn't believe that of all people Shinji could've fallen for, it HAD to be Asuka. Asuka couldn't believe how many girls reacted to her being with Shinji. As far as she knew, most of the female student population wouldn't have given him the time of day...
After those in the class who had fainted had regained consciousness, Kensuke went up to the front of the class and started to read off names from a list he had stored in a little black book that he had produced from one of his pockets. As the names were read off, several students in the class approached Kensuke and laid wads of cash in his hand which he promptly sorted into a steadily growing stack of bills.
After he was through with his collection, Kensuke began reading off another, somewhat shorter list of names. Again, students in the class approached him. After looking up how much each person had bet, he then took a certain amount of money and gave it to each person.
During this whole process, Asuka was getting more and more angry. The only reason she hadn't exploded in a fit of rage as Kensuke began his collection was because as she got angry, she began to squeeze on Shinji's arm. The angrier she got, the tighter she gripped Shinji's arm.
In the beginning, Shinji didn't really mind Asuka squeezing his arm the way she was, until she started digging her nails into his upper arm. As her grip continues to tighten, Shinji begins to groan in pain, unwilling to risk setting off the redheaded powder keg that was developing beside him.
As Asuka watched those who were collecting their winnings, she noticed her friend Hikari in the line waiting to collect her money. On seeing this, her grip on Shinji's arm relaxed prompting a sigh from her companion. Looking up at him slightly, she asked:
"What's wrong?"
Shinji said nothing in response, but simply lifted up the sleeve of his shirt showing Asuka the imprints her nails had left in his arm. Even though she hadn't been squeezing hard enough to cause her nails to draw blood, the marks on his arm were still fairly deep. Seeing what she had unknowingly done to him, she simply ran her palm lightly over the marks she had left on his arm and said softly:
"I'm sorry, I didn't realize..."
[Don't get me wrong here, she's NOT getting all sappy over him, she'd only do that in private at this point. (if even then…)]
Smiling at her: "It's okay, I know you didn't mean to."
After saying this, the last few people in the line received their winnings and Kensuke pocketed the rest of the money. Before the new couple could react to it, they were surrounded by everyone in their class and eventually separated and interrogated about their relationship. Shinji was taken by the boys of the class, wanting to know how he did it so they could possibly use the same tactic to win over the girls they were interested in. Asuka was taken away by the girls wanting to know the same thing, but to keep from falling for it until the boys they were interested in tried it.
As the rest of the class wrung every drop of information out of the two former Eva pilots, Rei just looked out of the window, having lost interest in the activities of the rest of the class.
Eventually, the teacher walked into the room and when the class continued as it was, he cleared his throat to signal his arrival.
Hearing the teacher behind her, Hikari blushed deeply because she had forgotten about her daily duties. She hastily began to push people towards their desks alerting them to the presence of the teacher. As word spread through the class, the students all got back to their seats and Hikari finally performed the greeting ritual and class began.
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The teacher was droning on about Second Impact while some students tapped idly on their keyboards, others looking like they were taking notes, but most just put their heads down on their desks and went to sleep.
Among those was Asuka. Even though she had tried to stay awake in order to avoid the incident from the previous day happening again, she had still succumbed to the teacher's monotonous voice. Luckily, for Shinji, it wasn't a very deep sleep for when the bell finally rang for lunch Asuka awoke to find most of the class rushing the door in an attempt to escape the tedium of the dreaded Second Impact story.
Shaking the sleep from her head, Asuka got up and walked over to Hikari's desk to talk with her. As she approached the class rep's desk, she felt a hand on her shoulder. Knowing only one person would be able to survive such a gesture, she turned and planted a kiss on his lips.
After she breaks the kiss a short time later, Asuka hugs the person she kissed rather lovingly.
"Y'know, Shinji, you really need to learn to loosen up a bit around people…"
"Sorry, Barron von Demon… But I ain't Shinji."
Jumping back with a yelp, Asuka stares at the boy she kissed only to find out that it was Touji. With this new piece of information in her head, she begins to spit and gag trying to get his taste out of her mouth. After feeling like she had done a sufficient job of ridding her mouth of his taste, she glared at him and began yet another tirade focused on the jock.
"And just who do you think you are anyway? Walking up behind me and touching me without permission you verdrehte blödmann!!!(1)"
Before the first stooge had a chance to respond, Asuka sauntered away from him in the direction of Hikari's desk.
Just as she made it to her desk, Asuka heard Shinji speak up from behind her.
"Um, Asuka…"
Asuka sweetly turned and smiled at the boy before answering him: "Hmm? What is it Shin-chan?"
Shinji held out a bento box in front of Asuka: "You forgot your lunch this morning, so I put it in my bag with mine."
After a few moments of slight embarrassment over her forgetfulness this morning, Asuka smiled at Shinji and took the box from him: "Thank you Shinji." She then kissed him lightly on the cheek before speaking to him further: "I need to talk to Hikari for a little bit. You go and find a spot to eat with your f…f…friends." Asuka had great difficulty with the last word of her sentence since she was not used to referring to the other two stooges in such a friendly way. "We'll catch up in a few minutes."
Shinji just gave a slight nod and walked off with Kensuke and Touji.
Asuka turns her attention to the class rep: "Okay, Hikari, now this is what I wanted to talk to you about: I need Shinji out of the apartment until tonight"
Somewhat taken off-guard by this question, Hikari didn't know how to react: "Why?"
Grinning slightly, Asuka responds: "I want to surprise him with something."
Still confused about this whole situation, Hikari just gives Asuka a blank look that shows her complete lack of comprehension: "Surprise him with what?"
Asuka, seeing that her friend still hasn't caught on to what's going on, states flatly: "I'm going to cook dinner for the three of us tonight."
Hikari nearly faints. The shock of finding out that her best friend had gotten together with Shinji AND now finding out that Asuka could apparently cook was nearly too much for the girl.
After recovering from the initial shock, she shakes her head somewhat to clear it.
"What do I have to do with this?"
"You need to get Touji to get Shinji to do something with him."
"Like what?"
"I don't know, he's your boyfriend..."
As their conversation ends, the girls start walking in the direction they last saw the boys heading. Shortly thereafter, they found them sitting at a picnic table eating their lunches. Asuka and Hikari each sat next to their boyfriends and started eating their lunches as well.
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The group of teens were sitting at the picnic table chatting away their time since they had already finished their meals.
"…And then I tell 'im 'Well, why don't you go ahead and show me how it's done?' and you know what he did?"
The group had been sitting there listen to Touji ramble on about one of his experiences on the basketball team and basically just keeping quiet hoping he would end his story sometime soon.
Asuka leans over to Shinji and whispers: "I wish the guy had kicked him where the sun don't shine so we wouldn't have to be listening to this stupid story."
At this, Shinji starts to snicker slightly. Touji picks up on this, and asks: "Hey, what's so funny?"
"Nothing that concerns you stooge. Anyway, what did the guy do?"
Now back on track, Touji started recounting how when the other boy tried to do a slam dunk on on of the outdoor basketball goals, he didn't jump high enough and went straight into the support pole and managed to knock himself out and get a broken nose for his efforts.
As Touji's story was ending, the bell sounded announcing the end of lunch. As the students who were eating outside began filing back into the school, Hikari pulled Touji aside, and explained situation to Touji, leaving out the part about Asuka cooking
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The last bell of the day had rung and most of the students from class 3-A were leaving the classroom to go to club activities, home, the mall, and so on…
Asuka was standing by Shinji's desk waiting for him to pack up his laptop and books when Touji walked up.
"Hey Shinji, let's go to the arcade for a while."
Shinji has a rather torn look on his face as he tries to decide on what to do for the rest of the afternoon: "Hmmm...I don't know, I mean..."
Grinning slightly, Asuka nods in his direction as she begins to speak: "Go ahead baka, It's not like you have anything better to do."
Hearing the slight disinterest in Asuka's voice didn't help make him feel any better about going with his friends, but he went with the one strategy that would generally get the best results: just do what she tells you.
"Ok, but just for a while."
As Shinji walked away with Touji and Kensuke, Asuka could see a slightly downcast look on his face.
"What is it?"
Asuka turned to face her best friend "Hm? Oh, it's just that it looks like Shinji was hoping to spend some time with me today."
"Afraid you've hurt his feelings…AGAIN?"
"Well, sorta…"
"Look, don't worry about it. I figured that he might feel that way and told Touji to make sure Shinji has a good time."
Asuka breathed a small sigh of relief and the two girls walked out of the classroom and school heading for their respective homes.
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The two had been walking in near silence for about ten minutes before Hikari decided to start up a conversation: "So, you want any help cooking?"
"No. This is to prove that I can cook for myself."
Remembering Asuka's frequent monologues about not needing anyone and not caring what others think of her, Hikari noticed that there was something wrong with what her friend had just said. "And others."
"What?"
"For yourself and others."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Well, you did say you wanted to prove that you could cook, but why would you care if other people knew you could cook?"
Embarrassed slightly at that comment, Asuka blushed slightly.
Seeing her friend blush at her last comment was all the confirmation she needed about her suspicions: "I knew it! You want to prove to SHINJI you can cook not Misato!"
"Yeah...I MEAN NO!...um..."
Hikari giggled at her friend's reaction to her discovery.
"It's okay... Anyway, this is my street, so I'll se you later. Hope the dinner goes well."
"Yeah, thanks"
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By the time Asuka arrives home, it's about two in the afternoon. She kicks off her shoes as she enters the apartment and proceeds into the living room.
Asuka starts pacing around the room as she tries to decide on what to cook. Drawing up a complete blank, she turns and enters the kitchen and walks up to the refrigerator and opens the door. Aside from the loads of beer stockpiled on the numerous racks inside the appliance, and the instant food, Asuka finds very little other than some lettuce, sandwich meat, and fish.
Seeing the more useful contents of the fridge, (or lack thereof) Asuka decided to go to the store to figure out what to cook for dinner.
--- Later ---
Asuka entered the apartment carrying two brown paper bags, one under each arm. A few of the bags' contents could be seen poking out their tops.
As Asuka walked into the living room after taking off her shoes, she notices a message on the answering machine. Ignoring the message for the time being, Asuka walked into the kitchen and began to set out the ingredients for the dishes she had chosen to prepare for her roommates. Figuring that it would be a good idea to get started on some of the simpler items on her list, Asuka became absorbed in her work and completely forgot about the answering machine.
At about 5 in the evening, Asuka decided to take a break from her work in the kitchen since the items that were on the stove wouldn't need her attention for a little while. As she walked back into the living room, she again noticed the little red light on the answering machine blinking.
She walked over to the machine and pressed the play button. The machine whirred as the tape inside was rewound until the beginning of the tape had been reached. Afterwards, the message recorded on the tape was replayed.
Misato's voice, although tinny from the playback, was heard coming from the speaker in the machine: "Shinji, Asuka… I'm sorry 'bout this… but I have to work late again tonight… lots of paperwork to do. Shinji, it's your turn to cook anyway, but you won't have to make anything for me, I'll just get something to eat here at NERV. Ja!"
'She's working late tonight?!?!?! Why that…that…BITCH!!! She just wants to avoid eating my food! She'd rather stay at NERV all night and eat the crap their cafeteria serves than come home and…'
Suddenly the realization dawns on her that if Misato isn't home, then Shinji and herself have the apartment all to themselves. As this realization sinks in, an evil-looking grin spread over her face as several new ideas occurred to her for inclusion into her original plan.
Now with a new objective in mind, Asuka walked back into the kitchen and finished the preparation of some of the dishes she was going to serve that evening.
---Katsuragi Residence 7:30---
As Shinji opened the door to the apartment, he could hear the sound of soft music emanating from deeper within his home. After kicking off his shoes, he walked toward the source of the music and found that someone had placed a CD in the player of the stereo. As the deep, calming notes of a cello played in the apartment, Shinji began to look for his roommate. Before he was able to walk towards her room, the smell of food wafted to his nose and instead of checking her room, Shinji went to look for Asuka in the kitchen.
Shinji walked into the kitchen and saw the table set for two with a pair of white candles burning in the center of it and various pots and dishes left on the stove to keep them warm. However, Asuka was nowhere to be seen. Figuring that since her shoes were in the entrance, that she was actually home, but had just left the kitchen for a little while.
Curious, Shinji Walked over to the stove and moved to lift one of the lids when:
"Don't you dare peek."
Turning, he saw Asuka standing in the entrance smiling and wearing a red dress cut at the knee, with short sleeves trimmed with red lace. The dress had a v-cut neck and wrapping over the left shoulder was an embroidered green vine with a blue flower.
"So, what do you think?"
She spun around once to give him a better view of the whole dress. As she turned, he was awarded a view that revealed the fact that the back of the dress was left open down to the small of her back.
By the time Asuka finished turning, Shinji was fighting back a nosebleed, but a small trickle got by anyway.
With his mouth hanging wide open, he simply stared at her as she walked over to him. As she neared, he could feel his knees go weak just before he collapsed into a sitting position on the floor.
As she passed the table, she grabbed a napkin. Gently, she used the piece of paper to wipe away the blood coming from his nose before kissing him tenderly on the lips. After a short time, she moved away from him grinning, and whispered in a tender voice: "Baka hentai..."
To be continued…
"Nothing spoils romance so much as a sense of humor in the woman."
- Oscar Fingall O'Flahertie Wills Wilde
Author's Notes
1. verdrehte blödmann: German for 'perverted idiot'
I decided to cut this one off here so that my faithful readers don't get too incredibly pissed at me for not updating in…what is it… almost 6 months? Anyway, I figured that the dinner would do for a good start for the next chapter. Anyway, until then, please R&R and as always, constructive comments and criticism only.
Ja, ne!!!
Thanks to my preareaders: Dennisud, James, and True Pride for prereading this chapter.
Confessions in the Rain
Chapter 3
Truth or Deception: Discoveries
Unknown - "All my friends and I are crazy. That's the only thing that keeps us sane."
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The room was poorly lit because the sun had yet to rise. However, the moonlight and pre-dawn glow were reflecting off a nearby skyscraper entering the room through a window. In the dim light, one could see that the walls were bare and the floor was clean. Next to the desk there was a green book bag with the zipper open and nothing inside it. On the desk were a red laptop computer, a pencil, and several neatly stacked sheets of paper. On the other side of the desk, there was a black metal wastebasket.
Abruptly, a loud beeping noise was heard in the room. Tiredly, a hand raised itself off of the bed and pressed the snooze button. Shortly after that, Shinji sat up in his futon and looked at the clock.
"6:30 in the morning..." Shinji yawned as he lifted himself out of the bed and walked over to his closet to get out one of his uniforms and a housecoat that Asuka had bought him the other day. Remembering who had bought the garment for him, Shinji began to recount the events of last night. Lost in his thoughts, Shinji exited his room and deposited his clothes in the bathroom before going into the kitchen to start breakfast.
About half an hour later, Asuka left her room and went into the bathroom. Forty minutes after that, she left the bathroom in her school uniform. Across the room, Misato entered the kitchen from the hallway.
As his roommates sat at the table, Shinji set out their breakfasts before heading into the bathroom to take his shower.
Noticing Shinji's new apparel, Misato wondered: "Hey Asuka, where'd Shinji get that robe?"
After swallowing a bite of her food, she answered not paying much attention to what she was saying:
"Me and Shinji went shopping the other day."
Misato was so surprised by what she heard, she actually spat out the food she was eating nearly spraying it all over the table in front of her. Luckily, for Shinji, she only managed to get food all over her placemat. After recomposing herself, she managed to get out: "When...why...where...?"
"What, all he ever wears is that stupid school uniform, even when we're not at school. I don't want to have to look at something that bland every day."
Misato was now certain there was more to this situation than the young redhead was letting on, because of this she went from being curious to her teasing mode almost instantly:
"And since when do you care about how Shinji looks?"
Asuka just ignored her guardian's teasing tone of voice and answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world and without completely thinking about what she was saying.
"Since I have to go to school with him every day."
The grin on Misato's face widened at that particular comment since there was NO WAY the young German girl would be able to get out of it:
"You wear your uniforms to school. Or did you forget that even after putting yours on this morning?"
Realizing her blunder, Asuka stopped eating and began staring at her food as she tried desperately to formulate a response to Misato's observation.
"Well... um..."
After trying many responses in her head, Asuka figures out that there is no way out of this situation, so she does what she usually does in any no-win argument... change the subject...
"And what do you think you're wearing…I mean really, that getup is fine to sleep in, but do you really have to walk around the apartment like that?"
Misato was wearing a VERY revealing set of shorts and a tank-top [You know the set I'm talking about, the one she wore in the first episode after bringing Shinji home]
"My dress is not the issue here. Besides, are you afraid that he may get more interested in me instead of you?"
"Are you saying that I'm jealous of you?!?! I just have to live with him. And I am NOT going to live with someone who has THAT LITTLE fashion sense."
"Sure, Asuka, whatever you say, but I still think you like him more than you're letting on."
"I DO NOT!!!"
After her last comment, Misato left the kitchen and her empty plate behind to let the redhead digest what had been said in their argument.
About twenty minutes later, Asuka had managed to calm herself enough to think about why she was going to surprise both her roommates with dinner...
'Why was I going to cook dinner for her again?' Asuka thought about why she had made that decision for a few minutes before coming to the conclusion that this time she really did have something to prove to her guardian and roommate. 'Heh heh heh, I'll show them…'
After steeling her resolve in this matter, Asuka began to devise her "War Plan":
'Okay, first off, I have to get Shinji out of the apartment. Then I need to find out how late Misato is working tonight. I also have to figure out WHAT to cook and what I need to make it, whatever it is. Okay, now that I know what to do I can start with step one...Get BAKA-SHINJI out of the apartment!!'
About this time, Shinji left the bathroom ready for school and sat down at the table after getting his own breakfast. After Shinji finished his breakfast, he and Asuka got their respective bags and headed off for school.
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After arriving at the outer doors to the elevator, Shinji pressed the call button to get the car up to their level. Shortly after the doors open, the two teens walked into the small elevator car and Shinji pressed the button for the ground floor.
As the elevator descends, Asuka moved closer to him and held onto his arm. Not expecting this action, Shinji tensed up for a moment but soon managed to relax. The doors finally opened onto the lobby of the apartment building and the two teens walked out arm in arm.
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It was a fine, sunny day that morning, the sound of cars and trucks moving up and down the streets as their occupants began another day of hard work in Tokyo-3.
While a lot people here drive to and from work, or even drive for a living, more people were forced to walk to where they need to go because of the traffic in this high-tech city. Two of these people were Shinji Ikari and Sohryu Asuka Langley. Of course, they didn't really have a choice in the matter; they're too young to drive anyway.
As the two teens made their way down the sidewalk, some people gave them disapproving looks because of how much affection they're showing in public [Don't tell me that people wouldn't do that seeing a couple walking like this, I know there are people in Japan who think that even holding hands is too much in public.]
"Shinji, what is our relationship now?"
Confused, Shinji looked at her with wonder on his face: "What are you talking about?"
Asuka gently squeezed the arm that she was holding to emphasize her point: "This."
"Oh, um..." Shinji took a moment to think about what Asuka had asked him before continuing:
"I don't know..."
Slightly annoyed by his indecision, Asuka figured it was best to lead him through some logic: "Baka...Are we friends?"
"Well, yes and no... I mean, it feels like more than that."
"Well, is it like a brother and sister sort of thing?"
Shinji thought about that for a few seconds and came to a conclusion: "No, that doesn't sound quite right. I mean, I think of Rei as a sister, but it's not the same with you."
"Are we a couple now?"
At this suggestion by his red-headed companion, Shinji became slightly embarrassed, but still managed to answer her: "I'm not sure, I mean...I've never had any relationships like this before..."
Now grinning since her objective was sooo close, Asuka decided to 'put the final nail in the coffin' so to speak: "Hmmm...well, want to give it a try?"
Now blushing terribly, Shinji managed a somewhat stammered answer: "S…Sounds nice...sure, let's give it a try."
Now beaming, Asuka tightens her grip on Shinji's arm.
A time passed without either of them saying a word until Asuka thought of something.
"How are we going to handle this in class? What will they think?"
Shinji just turned his head to look at his redheaded girlfriend as she looked at him.
In a rare show of strength, Shinji smiled at her and said very resolutely: "Let'em think what they want. I'm done worrying about other people's opinions"
Asuka just stared at him for a few seconds trying to figure out what just happened with him. 'A second ago, he couldn't finish a sentence without tripping over his own words…' She then smiled as she figured out a possible explanation: "I'm rubbing off on you, Third Child."
Shinji thought about this for a moment, then: "Maybe you are, maybe you are…"
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Shinji and Asuka finally arrived at the gates to their school where they usually parted ways in the courtyard. However, today was different. As they walked through the gate, Asuka continued to hold onto Shinji's arm expecting their contact to cause quite an uproar amongst most of the male population of the school.
As they walked through the crowd of students arm-in-arm, they could hear hushed statements of disbelief such as several "No way"'s and some "I told you so"'s along with even more...shall we say arrays of colorful metaphors... However, the main reaction they received in the courtyard was plain out staring.
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The moment they walked into their classroom, they were met with a few screams and lots of fainting. Rei, however, just sat at her desk acting as though she wasn't interested, but she was happy inside that Shinji had apparently found that which makes him happy. If anyone had been looking at her, the shock of the newest couple's identity combined with the shock of seeing the slight smile on her face would probably have leveled the part of the class who had managed to stay conscious.
Touji was standing slack-jawed, wide eyed, stark white, and pointing just like the first time Asuka had walked into the classroom. He couldn't believe that of all people Shinji could've fallen for, it HAD to be Asuka. Asuka couldn't believe how many girls reacted to her being with Shinji. As far as she knew, most of the female student population wouldn't have given him the time of day...
After those in the class who had fainted had regained consciousness, Kensuke went up to the front of the class and started to read off names from a list he had stored in a little black book that he had produced from one of his pockets. As the names were read off, several students in the class approached Kensuke and laid wads of cash in his hand which he promptly sorted into a steadily growing stack of bills.
After he was through with his collection, Kensuke began reading off another, somewhat shorter list of names. Again, students in the class approached him. After looking up how much each person had bet, he then took a certain amount of money and gave it to each person.
During this whole process, Asuka was getting more and more angry. The only reason she hadn't exploded in a fit of rage as Kensuke began his collection was because as she got angry, she began to squeeze on Shinji's arm. The angrier she got, the tighter she gripped Shinji's arm.
In the beginning, Shinji didn't really mind Asuka squeezing his arm the way she was, until she started digging her nails into his upper arm. As her grip continues to tighten, Shinji begins to groan in pain, unwilling to risk setting off the redheaded powder keg that was developing beside him.
As Asuka watched those who were collecting their winnings, she noticed her friend Hikari in the line waiting to collect her money. On seeing this, her grip on Shinji's arm relaxed prompting a sigh from her companion. Looking up at him slightly, she asked:
"What's wrong?"
Shinji said nothing in response, but simply lifted up the sleeve of his shirt showing Asuka the imprints her nails had left in his arm. Even though she hadn't been squeezing hard enough to cause her nails to draw blood, the marks on his arm were still fairly deep. Seeing what she had unknowingly done to him, she simply ran her palm lightly over the marks she had left on his arm and said softly:
"I'm sorry, I didn't realize..."
[Don't get me wrong here, she's NOT getting all sappy over him, she'd only do that in private at this point. (if even then…)]
Smiling at her: "It's okay, I know you didn't mean to."
After saying this, the last few people in the line received their winnings and Kensuke pocketed the rest of the money. Before the new couple could react to it, they were surrounded by everyone in their class and eventually separated and interrogated about their relationship. Shinji was taken by the boys of the class, wanting to know how he did it so they could possibly use the same tactic to win over the girls they were interested in. Asuka was taken away by the girls wanting to know the same thing, but to keep from falling for it until the boys they were interested in tried it.
As the rest of the class wrung every drop of information out of the two former Eva pilots, Rei just looked out of the window, having lost interest in the activities of the rest of the class.
Eventually, the teacher walked into the room and when the class continued as it was, he cleared his throat to signal his arrival.
Hearing the teacher behind her, Hikari blushed deeply because she had forgotten about her daily duties. She hastily began to push people towards their desks alerting them to the presence of the teacher. As word spread through the class, the students all got back to their seats and Hikari finally performed the greeting ritual and class began.
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The teacher was droning on about Second Impact while some students tapped idly on their keyboards, others looking like they were taking notes, but most just put their heads down on their desks and went to sleep.
Among those was Asuka. Even though she had tried to stay awake in order to avoid the incident from the previous day happening again, she had still succumbed to the teacher's monotonous voice. Luckily, for Shinji, it wasn't a very deep sleep for when the bell finally rang for lunch Asuka awoke to find most of the class rushing the door in an attempt to escape the tedium of the dreaded Second Impact story.
Shaking the sleep from her head, Asuka got up and walked over to Hikari's desk to talk with her. As she approached the class rep's desk, she felt a hand on her shoulder. Knowing only one person would be able to survive such a gesture, she turned and planted a kiss on his lips.
After she breaks the kiss a short time later, Asuka hugs the person she kissed rather lovingly.
"Y'know, Shinji, you really need to learn to loosen up a bit around people…"
"Sorry, Barron von Demon… But I ain't Shinji."
Jumping back with a yelp, Asuka stares at the boy she kissed only to find out that it was Touji. With this new piece of information in her head, she begins to spit and gag trying to get his taste out of her mouth. After feeling like she had done a sufficient job of ridding her mouth of his taste, she glared at him and began yet another tirade focused on the jock.
"And just who do you think you are anyway? Walking up behind me and touching me without permission you verdrehte blödmann!!!(1)"
Before the first stooge had a chance to respond, Asuka sauntered away from him in the direction of Hikari's desk.
Just as she made it to her desk, Asuka heard Shinji speak up from behind her.
"Um, Asuka…"
Asuka sweetly turned and smiled at the boy before answering him: "Hmm? What is it Shin-chan?"
Shinji held out a bento box in front of Asuka: "You forgot your lunch this morning, so I put it in my bag with mine."
After a few moments of slight embarrassment over her forgetfulness this morning, Asuka smiled at Shinji and took the box from him: "Thank you Shinji." She then kissed him lightly on the cheek before speaking to him further: "I need to talk to Hikari for a little bit. You go and find a spot to eat with your f…f…friends." Asuka had great difficulty with the last word of her sentence since she was not used to referring to the other two stooges in such a friendly way. "We'll catch up in a few minutes."
Shinji just gave a slight nod and walked off with Kensuke and Touji.
Asuka turns her attention to the class rep: "Okay, Hikari, now this is what I wanted to talk to you about: I need Shinji out of the apartment until tonight"
Somewhat taken off-guard by this question, Hikari didn't know how to react: "Why?"
Grinning slightly, Asuka responds: "I want to surprise him with something."
Still confused about this whole situation, Hikari just gives Asuka a blank look that shows her complete lack of comprehension: "Surprise him with what?"
Asuka, seeing that her friend still hasn't caught on to what's going on, states flatly: "I'm going to cook dinner for the three of us tonight."
Hikari nearly faints. The shock of finding out that her best friend had gotten together with Shinji AND now finding out that Asuka could apparently cook was nearly too much for the girl.
After recovering from the initial shock, she shakes her head somewhat to clear it.
"What do I have to do with this?"
"You need to get Touji to get Shinji to do something with him."
"Like what?"
"I don't know, he's your boyfriend..."
As their conversation ends, the girls start walking in the direction they last saw the boys heading. Shortly thereafter, they found them sitting at a picnic table eating their lunches. Asuka and Hikari each sat next to their boyfriends and started eating their lunches as well.
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The group of teens were sitting at the picnic table chatting away their time since they had already finished their meals.
"…And then I tell 'im 'Well, why don't you go ahead and show me how it's done?' and you know what he did?"
The group had been sitting there listen to Touji ramble on about one of his experiences on the basketball team and basically just keeping quiet hoping he would end his story sometime soon.
Asuka leans over to Shinji and whispers: "I wish the guy had kicked him where the sun don't shine so we wouldn't have to be listening to this stupid story."
At this, Shinji starts to snicker slightly. Touji picks up on this, and asks: "Hey, what's so funny?"
"Nothing that concerns you stooge. Anyway, what did the guy do?"
Now back on track, Touji started recounting how when the other boy tried to do a slam dunk on on of the outdoor basketball goals, he didn't jump high enough and went straight into the support pole and managed to knock himself out and get a broken nose for his efforts.
As Touji's story was ending, the bell sounded announcing the end of lunch. As the students who were eating outside began filing back into the school, Hikari pulled Touji aside, and explained situation to Touji, leaving out the part about Asuka cooking
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The last bell of the day had rung and most of the students from class 3-A were leaving the classroom to go to club activities, home, the mall, and so on…
Asuka was standing by Shinji's desk waiting for him to pack up his laptop and books when Touji walked up.
"Hey Shinji, let's go to the arcade for a while."
Shinji has a rather torn look on his face as he tries to decide on what to do for the rest of the afternoon: "Hmmm...I don't know, I mean..."
Grinning slightly, Asuka nods in his direction as she begins to speak: "Go ahead baka, It's not like you have anything better to do."
Hearing the slight disinterest in Asuka's voice didn't help make him feel any better about going with his friends, but he went with the one strategy that would generally get the best results: just do what she tells you.
"Ok, but just for a while."
As Shinji walked away with Touji and Kensuke, Asuka could see a slightly downcast look on his face.
"What is it?"
Asuka turned to face her best friend "Hm? Oh, it's just that it looks like Shinji was hoping to spend some time with me today."
"Afraid you've hurt his feelings…AGAIN?"
"Well, sorta…"
"Look, don't worry about it. I figured that he might feel that way and told Touji to make sure Shinji has a good time."
Asuka breathed a small sigh of relief and the two girls walked out of the classroom and school heading for their respective homes.
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The two had been walking in near silence for about ten minutes before Hikari decided to start up a conversation: "So, you want any help cooking?"
"No. This is to prove that I can cook for myself."
Remembering Asuka's frequent monologues about not needing anyone and not caring what others think of her, Hikari noticed that there was something wrong with what her friend had just said. "And others."
"What?"
"For yourself and others."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Well, you did say you wanted to prove that you could cook, but why would you care if other people knew you could cook?"
Embarrassed slightly at that comment, Asuka blushed slightly.
Seeing her friend blush at her last comment was all the confirmation she needed about her suspicions: "I knew it! You want to prove to SHINJI you can cook not Misato!"
"Yeah...I MEAN NO!...um..."
Hikari giggled at her friend's reaction to her discovery.
"It's okay... Anyway, this is my street, so I'll se you later. Hope the dinner goes well."
"Yeah, thanks"
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By the time Asuka arrives home, it's about two in the afternoon. She kicks off her shoes as she enters the apartment and proceeds into the living room.
Asuka starts pacing around the room as she tries to decide on what to cook. Drawing up a complete blank, she turns and enters the kitchen and walks up to the refrigerator and opens the door. Aside from the loads of beer stockpiled on the numerous racks inside the appliance, and the instant food, Asuka finds very little other than some lettuce, sandwich meat, and fish.
Seeing the more useful contents of the fridge, (or lack thereof) Asuka decided to go to the store to figure out what to cook for dinner.
--- Later ---
Asuka entered the apartment carrying two brown paper bags, one under each arm. A few of the bags' contents could be seen poking out their tops.
As Asuka walked into the living room after taking off her shoes, she notices a message on the answering machine. Ignoring the message for the time being, Asuka walked into the kitchen and began to set out the ingredients for the dishes she had chosen to prepare for her roommates. Figuring that it would be a good idea to get started on some of the simpler items on her list, Asuka became absorbed in her work and completely forgot about the answering machine.
At about 5 in the evening, Asuka decided to take a break from her work in the kitchen since the items that were on the stove wouldn't need her attention for a little while. As she walked back into the living room, she again noticed the little red light on the answering machine blinking.
She walked over to the machine and pressed the play button. The machine whirred as the tape inside was rewound until the beginning of the tape had been reached. Afterwards, the message recorded on the tape was replayed.
Misato's voice, although tinny from the playback, was heard coming from the speaker in the machine: "Shinji, Asuka… I'm sorry 'bout this… but I have to work late again tonight… lots of paperwork to do. Shinji, it's your turn to cook anyway, but you won't have to make anything for me, I'll just get something to eat here at NERV. Ja!"
'She's working late tonight?!?!?! Why that…that…BITCH!!! She just wants to avoid eating my food! She'd rather stay at NERV all night and eat the crap their cafeteria serves than come home and…'
Suddenly the realization dawns on her that if Misato isn't home, then Shinji and herself have the apartment all to themselves. As this realization sinks in, an evil-looking grin spread over her face as several new ideas occurred to her for inclusion into her original plan.
Now with a new objective in mind, Asuka walked back into the kitchen and finished the preparation of some of the dishes she was going to serve that evening.
---Katsuragi Residence 7:30---
As Shinji opened the door to the apartment, he could hear the sound of soft music emanating from deeper within his home. After kicking off his shoes, he walked toward the source of the music and found that someone had placed a CD in the player of the stereo. As the deep, calming notes of a cello played in the apartment, Shinji began to look for his roommate. Before he was able to walk towards her room, the smell of food wafted to his nose and instead of checking her room, Shinji went to look for Asuka in the kitchen.
Shinji walked into the kitchen and saw the table set for two with a pair of white candles burning in the center of it and various pots and dishes left on the stove to keep them warm. However, Asuka was nowhere to be seen. Figuring that since her shoes were in the entrance, that she was actually home, but had just left the kitchen for a little while.
Curious, Shinji Walked over to the stove and moved to lift one of the lids when:
"Don't you dare peek."
Turning, he saw Asuka standing in the entrance smiling and wearing a red dress cut at the knee, with short sleeves trimmed with red lace. The dress had a v-cut neck and wrapping over the left shoulder was an embroidered green vine with a blue flower.
"So, what do you think?"
She spun around once to give him a better view of the whole dress. As she turned, he was awarded a view that revealed the fact that the back of the dress was left open down to the small of her back.
By the time Asuka finished turning, Shinji was fighting back a nosebleed, but a small trickle got by anyway.
With his mouth hanging wide open, he simply stared at her as she walked over to him. As she neared, he could feel his knees go weak just before he collapsed into a sitting position on the floor.
As she passed the table, she grabbed a napkin. Gently, she used the piece of paper to wipe away the blood coming from his nose before kissing him tenderly on the lips. After a short time, she moved away from him grinning, and whispered in a tender voice: "Baka hentai..."
To be continued…
"Nothing spoils romance so much as a sense of humor in the woman."
- Oscar Fingall O'Flahertie Wills Wilde
Author's Notes
1. verdrehte blödmann: German for 'perverted idiot'
I decided to cut this one off here so that my faithful readers don't get too incredibly pissed at me for not updating in…what is it… almost 6 months? Anyway, I figured that the dinner would do for a good start for the next chapter. Anyway, until then, please R&R and as always, constructive comments and criticism only.
Ja, ne!!!