You Wish! Productions presents...
Neon Genesis Evangelion: Cross
By: Blue Taboo
Chapter 10: Love is Like a Violin
"Where'd Misato go?" Asuka asked as her and Rei's shared body stepped into the room, drying her long blue hair with a towel.
"Work," Shinji replied simply as he set down a plate for them.
"Don't you have to go to school?"
Shinji bit his lip, afraid to tell her of his concern for fear of many different,
and mostly violent reactions. "Uh...Misato told me not to go..."
"That's not very convincing..."
"I-I don't feel well?" It was more of a question than a statement.
"Wrong..." she sneered, and then switched over to Rei's control,
"Why is it that you lie, Ikari? Even I can detect your deception..."
He had to be a really bad liar then. "N-no reason. I just didn't want
to go..."
"Whatever," Asuka took over again and scoffed, "I just hope
you made some decent breakfast. I'm eating for two you know..." she
looked down at the plate as she sat, "What?! No meat? How many times
have I told you--"
"Rei doesn't eat meat, remember? After all...you are eating for two,"
Shinji told her, twisting the German's words against her with a smile.
There was a brief growl that was interrupted by Rei's "Thank you for
taking that into consideration, Ikari."
"You're welcome, Rei. I'm sure Asuka can handle a few meals without
meat."
"At least it's better than ramen day after day..." Asuka sighed
begrudgingly. Misato had had the sense enough to round up some groceries
the other night.
Breakfast went by without any more incidents. Shinji just sat across the
table and drank a second cup of tea while the being with ice blue eyes and
hair, the tiny cuts on her body that were once so prevalent now almost totally
gone, ate her vegetarian breakfast. It was quiet, too quiet in the eerie
sense. Shinji, with his newfound urge to do something, anything to help
the current situation, tried at some conversation and ended up failing on
his first few attempts. He had to think of something better and soon...
The process can be reversed only by the will of the subjects through the power of the Evangelion that has also melded as they have. She contains two souls that are housed in one body. Observations made on the Evangelion have proven the possibility of a reversal process. Preparations are being made and the experiment can be conducted within two days. However, if it is delayed to more than a week from now, it is my belief that the two souls will no longer have the will to separate and will seek their eventual merging instead. This cannot come to pass. The soul of Lilith is not ready to become one with her children...
Ritsuko leaned back in her chair and sighed. She began to encrypt the file she had just created, hoping to hide it from the Commander's eyes. That fool...he had no idea what he was doing. For him, this was just a test to see if his instrumentality could come to pass, but he knew not of the dangers. If Rei and Asuka became one, instrumentality would fall into their hands. The timing was wrong and it would mean a true end to everything. The blonde scientist would've prayed had she been more religious. She wished she was like Misato, who believed in miracles, or better yet, Gendo who believed he could create them.
"Just hold out a little longer and be safe," she said instead
to the dark void of an office that she never bothered to leave, "Then
it'll all be better..." She said it more for herself than she did for
the Children.
Shinji was still thinking as the dishes were left to him and Asuka guided herself and Rei over to the couch to watch some quality daytime television. After a few minutes...Asuka obviously got disinterested. Rei probably wasn't even interested in the first place. Shinji finished loading up the dishwasher as fast as he could...not wanting to miss the opportunity for conversation, though he still had no idea what to say.
"Nothing on?" he asked as he observed the disappointed look on
the girl's face.
"There never is. Japanese television is a bunch of slop...besides all
the old mecha anime." Asuka informed him.
"I have never understood why others view it as such an essential to
life..." Rei added.
"At times like this, I agree with you."
Shinji had to admit that it was rather odd to watch someone supposedly have
a serious conversation with herself, even if he knew the circumstances.
"I guess so..." he muttered.
"I'm bored."
Ah, the phrase that would strike fear into the hearts of many men, mainly
one boy named Shinji. His eyes bugged out, though he tried to show no reaction,
as he remembered what happened last time Asuka uttered those fateful words.
It would be just a tiny bit creepy to have Rei looking on if the same results
ensued, so he devised to avoid that at all costs.
"Your face is beginning to turn red, Ikari," Rei observed.
He swallowed. "It's just hot in here...I-I'll open a window..."
"You do that," Asuka said curtly and then her eyes went distant.
What is this? Embarrassment?
Let it be, Rei.
I wish to understand...
Just leave it alone!
But I wish to understand...
I said cut it out!
Then something occurred which neither of the inhabitants of the body of
Takahasi Aisu had experienced before. Rei, in her strangely cool persistence,
broke the barrier between her and Asuka's minds, only for a moment, and
found the image of the redhead and Shinji kissing. Thousands of sensations,
emotions, sounds, and smells came along with it, sending Rei reeling back
into her own mind.
WHAT DID YOU DO???!!!
I am not sure...but I understand...
YOU FREAK--
It was a pleasant experience, but you denied yourself that knowledge.
You are a truly complex existence, Asuka.
I don't need to hear that from you...
It is true...
Just don't do that EVER again!
She didn't respond, but instead took control to notice that Shinji was staring
at them. "Is anything wrong, Ikari?" she inquired.
"You've just been sitting there staring at the floor for a while..."
he explained.
"Asuka and I were having a discussion," she said simply.
"Um...okay..."
The German took over again. "So what do you want to do...?"
"We...could..." In truth, there really wasn't much to do. "Um...well..."
"I'm bored enough to do a puzzle even! Come on! There's got to be something!"
Shinji mentally inventoried the entertainment contents of the entire flat
--TV, SDAT, and various magazines-- and then wondered what Misato did to
amuse herself before he came. Another thought came to his mind. "I
could play my cello...though that would probably just be boring..."
he trailed off.
Asuka's fiery grip on the eyes of the body became distant as she seemed
to be trying to remember something, then she suddenly left the room without
warning for her own.
"Or not..." Shinji confided to the empty room.
The sound of rummaging came to his ears. Messy, careless rummaging that
he would probably have to clean up, but much to his relief, it ceased after
about a minute. Asuka returned to the room carrying a smallish box that
was covered in a thin layer of dust, obviously untouched since the day she'd
moved in.
Shinji shot her a curious look that was answered with, "I think it's
in here, or else I didn't bring it, but I think I did."
She sat down on the couch with the box upon he knees and proceeded to rip
the tape off and sift through the styrofoam packing peanuts. She pulled
out a violin case with a little grunt of satisfaction and started to undo
the locks. "I forgot about this thing..." she commented as she
pulled it out and gently plucked one of the strings that rang a sour note,
evidence of its neglect. "Ach...I need to change the strings. I think
there's some in the box too," she fished them out and then finally
looked up to meet Shinji's slightly shocked stare. "What?"
"I didn't know that you played."
"And I didn't know that you did until I found you playing."
"So what are you doing?" he asked out of curiosity at her sudden
interest with the old violin.
"What does it look like? I'm changing the strings so I can play it,
baka!" she snarled.
"What songs do you know?"
"A lot...why do you want to know?"
"Maybe I can play with you?"
The silence was deafening.
The response nearly sent him to the floor. "Why not?"
He blinked and then went to retrieve his instrument. He had expected her
to reject his proposal or say something along the lines of "You're
not worthy enough to play with me," but she had proven his image of
her wrong once again. He didn't understand girls...even more than he didn't
understand adults, but he wouldn't let that stop him. After all, it was
something to do. He returned with his cello and bow and then began to tune
it while she finished with her strings. "It's been a long time since
I've played with anyone," he observed. "Probably since about sixth
grade..."
"I was in my college's orchestra program for a while, but I lost first
chair to some little slut with the IQ of a banana. The director was just
a horny old man anyway..."
"Hmm...So what do you want to play?"
"Pachabel's Canon in G. That's got an easy cello part, do you know
it?"
Well, he couldn't totally escape her undermining of his intelligence, but
it was good enough. "Yeah. I remember most of it."
"Then let's go for it. I'm ready."
"So am I, unless Rei has any suggestions?"
Asuka growled, but Rei took over and cut her off. "I am not very familiar
with music, but I would enjoy any piece."
"All right then. Ready?"
"Yup."
The two children played. Shinji's mellow and repetitive cello line back
up Asuka's free-flowing ventures into the upper range of the violin. They
were going a bit slower than the piece called for, and both made their share
of mistakes, but they got through it all the same, and no one really noticed,
whether they were playing or observing.
"I find that a greater source of entertainment than television,"
Rei said, immediately taking over before Asuka could add anything. "I
should like to play with you, when I am in my own body again."
"You play too?" Shinji inquired in near wonderment. He had thought
he was the only person he knew who played an instrument.
"Yes. I own a viola. The commander thought it would be an entertaining
skill to learn and had the instrument bought for me."
"My father?"
"Yes."
"My father..." Images flashed through his head, memories long
forgotten, pushed back half by will and half by pure age. Mother had played
the viola...
Love is like a violin. The music may stop now and then, but the strings
remain forever.
-- June Masters Bacher
-Blue Taboo-
