Chapter Three: Of Asuka and Shinji's First Adventurous Episode

Shinji's father drove as the Shinji and Asuka sat in the back seat of his Renault Alpine. With any other father and son, the scene would have seemed normal. With Shinji and his father, however, Asuka felt the whole thing seemed a bit freakish.

That morning...


"You want to see my work?" He sounded almost surprised. It was not often that Shinji made a request of his father, so this reaction was to be expected. Shinji, having been reduced to mumbles, seemed fairly incapable of responding coherently. Asuka responded in his place to save time.

"Yes, sir. It's a common thing to do."

"I realize that, but I should warn you that my job is very boring," he said, his tone of voice making the comment sound almost like a threat.

-I'm sure it's really boring old man. You want to extract your wife's soul, with no regard for the rest of humanity, under the facade of saving the world. That sounds like your average boring job.-


Present...


Outwardly, Asuka maintained an emotionless expression, trying to gauge Gendou's every move. It was a little strange to see him driving. She had always assumed that someone else would drive him wherever he needed to go. Driving to work seemed too... normal.

It was also very unnerving to drive with him. Not that he was a bad driver, but she half expected him to deliberately run over a kitten or something. Fortunately, he didn't do anything of the kind.


He escorted the two of them through the building to his office, walking quickly, and said, "I have a meeting to go to, so I'm afraid you two will have to stay with my secretary, Ms. Seikou, for the time being."

"Oh, that'll be fine, sir!" said Asuka in a voice that was so chipper that it was almost insulting.

Shinji looked back and forth between the two nervously as Gendou stood there, looking at Asuka with his usual unreadable expression. After a moment of silence passed, Asuka wearing a grin that was countered by his stern expression, he turned and left the room.

The secretary smiled at them, "Are you two da-"

"We have to go to the bathroom, ma'am" interrupted Asuka. "It's urgent."

"Both of you?" asked the secretary suspiciously, giving Asuka a knowing smile.

Asuka nodded. "Yeah." She leaned in closer and whispered, "It's her period." She made a head movement to indicate Shinji, who was oblivious.

"Oh," said the woman, confused and embarrassed at the same time. "I thought the Commander had a son."

Asuka nodded sympathetically. "A lot of people think that. It's a common mistake."

"He told me I was going to be looking after 'his son' just a moment ago," she said, starting to become suspicious of Asuka's motives.

"He's a stubborn man. When he doesn't get his way..." Asuka trailed off, assuming that this woman, being the man's secretary, could easily imagine him raising his daughter as a boy out of spite.

"Oh my," she said, a little shocked, "Well, don't be gone too long."

"Let's go, Shinko," said Asuka, grabbing Shinji's arm as she walked towards a nearby bathroom.

-

The two of them silently followed Shinji's father, who seemed to continually look straight ahead as he walked, making him easy to follow.

"Couldn't you have thought of something less embarrassing?" complained Shinji.

"It worked, didn't it? It's not like I made you wear a dress or anything."

"My father probably would have been suspicious if you'd done that," Shinji pointed out.

Asuka shook her head firmly. "He probably would have said something like, 'Oh, that explains everything.'" With that, She started to walk more quickly, leaving him behind.

Shinji sighed noiselessly. She obviously had him outwitted. There was no point in trying to argue with her about anything.

"Where are we going?" he asked, quickly catching up to her.

"To listen in on the meeting, of course. You remember why we're here, right?"

-

Misato tried not to fall asleep as Mr. Fuyutsuki read off figures from the graph he had created. He acted as if people should find economics interesting.

"And so, as you can plainly see, we're floundering." She didn't need a bunch of graphs to tell her that. Everyone knew the studio was in trouble. And it seemed to be obvious to everyone but the old men that their time had simply passed. No amount of meetings could change the fact that no one wanted what they were making. Why had they called her in to this meeting in the first place? She didn't mind, she was getting paid, but her presence seemed a little strange at a financial meeting. She had no say whatsoever at the financial stage.

"And that is why we need something original. Something that will put us above the mediocrity that has become the norm for this studio."

Easier said than done. Everyone knew that the way to make money was to go with safe productions. Risky ventures could pay off big time, but they usually didn't. Even productions of the highest quality could fail. Viewers could be very unpredictable in the planning room.

"You are probably all thinking that this is foolish, and the opposite of the way things really are. Let me remind you that we are not the only studio that is having trouble. So-called 'safe' projects aren't all that safe anymore. Animation in general is on the decline."

And it is at this point that the two children crept up to the door and started listening in on the fateful meeting. Since the door was open slightly, both of them could hear what was being said without being seen.

"I disagree. It is just that sort of risk that could be the final nail in the coffin," said one of the faceless executives. "We may be floundering, but we remain afloat. It is only a matter of time before we recover, along with the industry."

"It is not necessary for us to make an all or nothing venture," said Fuyutsuki, "The risk would not be overwhelming. We could recover. If we do not try, we will almost certainly go down with the rest. I think we all know that there is little chance of recovery at this point."

In Asuka's mind it seemed as if they were discussing the fate of the world, and she forced the conversation to fit into her story line. They would initiate Third Impact early? Why? This is completely different from what I know.-

"But this could spell the end of everything we have worked to achieve!"

Ikari spoke. "Remember that we all share the same objective. We are not enemies. We will do what is required."

-What is this 'objective'? He can only mean Third Impact.-

"Sir, I object to this strongly! It seems as if you are letting your personal feelings get in the way. In the end, all that matters is that we all profit."

"All that matters is the sale, eh?" said Fuyutsuki glibly.

-Seele! These men are part of Seele. Just as I thought. Which one is the chairman?-

"No. There are other ideals to uphold. Ideals that this studio was founded on."

-That must be him. He sounds old enough. But, what studio? Is he talking about Essenes? That doesn't make any sense...-

Ikari spoke again. "That is true. But we must not become mindless fanatics. We can uphold the ideals of the studio and still maintain our existence. That is a necessity."

-They are planning to survive somehow. They've changed the scenario entirely.-

"We should discuss this again later, Ikari-kun. In the meantime, we will keep out eyes open. As always."

Shinji and Asuka hurried back as the meeting adjourned. Asuka's head spun as she considered everything that she had heard. -This is worse than I thought. They're actually planning on initiating Third Impact early! They have all the components they need... except the angels. Maybe the angels don't have to be defeated in order to initiate their version of Third Impact after all.-

"Asuka?"

"What?" she replied tersely, not looking back.

"Is something wrong?" he asked, concerned by her strange behavior.

"Weren't you paying attention!? What do you think they were talking about?"

"Well, I'm not sure, but it sounded like they were discussing upcoming projects."

"They were talking about Third Impact you idiot!" she hissed, "We're all gonna die if I can't think of a way to stop it."

"Third Impact? Are you sure?"

"Yes I'm sure, now hurry up. If they find out we were listening in we're both dead. They don't even need us anymore."

The two of them hurried back to the office, with Shinji trailing a very upset Asuka.

-

-"What are you doing Asuka?"

It was the first time she had heard his voice in three weeks.

"What does it look like?" she said, too tired to sound annoyed.

"It looks like you're reading the same page over and over again. You won't learn anything if you don't pay attention to what you're reading."

Of course. He wouldn't waste his time talking to her unless he had something critical to say. Spending all of her 'free time' studying wasn't good enough for him, apparently. She had to do it his way if she wanted his approval.

"Maybe I was reviewing it."

"Review?" he said, pretending to laugh, "You don't know the meaning of the word."

"That's because I never forget anything," she snarled.-


-

"You two certainly were gone for a long time. Are you feeling all right Shinko? A little heavy this month?"

"Yes ma'am," Shinji said meekly, after Asuka elbowed him.

-

"You Japanese people are a little rude."

Kyoko scowled at her husband. "Do you think you could say that a little louder?"

The two of them had been showing pictures of their daughter to people on the street, hoping that one of them might have seen a red-haired girl.

"It's not like we're doing something improper. Why do people keep giving us strange looks?"

"They probably think we should go to the police," said Kyoko wearily.

-

"Captain Katsuragi." His voice always made her shudder inside. She'd immediately disliked him from the moment she met him.

"Yes, Ikari-san?"

"You are probably wondering why I invited you to this meeting on such short notice," he said, his voice conveying the complete and utter certainty that he knew this to be the truth.

-Jesus Christ.-

"It did cross my mind."

"I thought you might have some input. You've worked with us quite a bit in the past. There is another reason though." He paused. "Usually when I go on business trips these days, I leave my son alone. He is old enough, after all. This time however..."

"You want me to baby-sit for you again?" she asked, pleasantly surprised.

"No. Shinji is too old for that. There is a girl rooming with him. I want you to be there to ensure that nothing... happens."

Misato quickly overcame her shock. "Why are you asking me? Surely there's someone better suited for that sort of thing." Halting sexual activities between young people wasn't exactly something she would consider herself skilled at. She'd always encouraged Shinji to try and flirt with girls, and wouldn't consider it a great tragedy if he actually managed to lose his virginity.

"I have no friends, Captain. I would ask Dr. Akagi, but she is busy enough with her own work. I certainly could not ask Vice President Fuyutsuki."

"Well, I'll do it of course," she said, "I've got nothing better to do, but it almost seems like a waste of time. The only real way to prevent anything from happening is to put them in separate rooms."

"You misunderstand me. I do not wish the girl to become pregnant, Captain. Also, I do not want her to injure my son. Any other outcome is acceptable."

"I... see."

That was a bit more realistic. It was definitely a possible task. But the way he had said it... it was as if Shinji as a person didn't matter to him.

Misato had always been unnerved by the man's cold attitude. And his demeanor. It was just creepy. She'd always had the vague impression that he was in phase one of a plot for world domination.

And his tendency to always call her "Captain" as if he were her superior officer was just annoying.



Chapter Four: In Which Rei Apparently Accepts Asuka's Account of Things


Asuka spoke calmly to Shinji, despite the gravity of the situation. Shinji seemed to be unaware or uncaring of the importance of what they had heard that afternoon. "Shinji, I need you to do something important for me quickly. We need to get First in here so that we can figure this out."

Shinji seemed puzzled. "Ayanami? What for?"

Asuka held her anger in check, despite the fact that Shinji didn't seem to be in much of a hurry to perform the important task that he'd been given. She promised herself that she would yell at him later at a more opportune time. "She's a pilot. She needs to be here for the briefing."

"Briefing?" he asked, not sure what she was intending. "Does that mean you have a plan to stop them? I thought you said that Seele was 'an immensely powerful and unstoppable organization'."

She closed her eyes and sighed shortly. "That's what makes this so important. We have to find a way to stop an unstoppable organization."

"How can we do it, though?" Shinji posed the question seriously, forgetting at that moment that none of the things they were talking about existed in reality.

"We have to remove the necessary elements. Lilith or Adam, and the Lance of Longinus. And that still leaves the Mass Production series."

Shinji frowned thoughtfully. "That sounds pretty impossible."

Asuka stood up straight and put her hands on his shoulders, looking into his eyes as she attempted to bolster his resolve.

"Yeah, it does sound impossible. But I'm not giving up. Are you?"

His voice didn't have the enthusiasm she had been hoping for. "Uh, no?"

Her temper finally broke and she started shoving him towards the door, her face furious. "Don't say it like a question, baka! Now, go get Ayanami!"

"Okay, okay. I even know where she lives. I'll be back in a little while."

Shinji took the final step out the door, leaving Asuka alone.

Asuka collapsed onto his bed, staring at the ceiling as she considered what she had heard. Seele. Third Impact. She shuddered as she thought of the possible outcomes. Then she smiled slightly as she considered the fact that she was the only thing that stood between Seele and the extinction of the human race.

And she would win, somehow.

-That's just how it works. There are no bad endings, just confusing ones.-

-

Shinji knocked on the door, starting to feel very nervous. Ayanami was an attractive female, after all. One whom he had, in a way, actually kind of made an effort to try to court, sort of. A moment later, the girl opened the door.

"What."

As always, he was a little put off by her bluntness.

Shinji smiled weakly, making him feel like a grinning idiot in front of her, the unsmiling one. "Asuka, she sent me over here. She wants to talk about some secret stuff."

She immediately opened the door and stepped out, closing it behind her. She was apparently ready to leave right away, without question. He should have expected this, actually, but it surprised him. However, it would have surprised him more if she had gone in to grab a purse or change clothes. Because of this, nearly everything that Rei did seemed strange.

As they walked Shinji tried to start a conversation, something rare for him. It was even more rare to find someone that spoke less than him, however, and the silence wanted breaking.

"What do you think of Asuka?" he asked quietly.

"Asuka is... energetic," she whispered in her monotone. At first he had thought her voice cruel and uncaring. Later, he had decided that her voice was simply empty of emotions. Speaking with her now, he realized that he'd been wrong on both counts. There was real emotion in her voice, albeit strongly muted.

They continued walking and Shinji glanced at her expressionless face.

-If I didn't know that she was always like this, I'd think that she hated me.-

Shinji paused before speaking again, "Why did you agree to be a 'pilot'?"

She replied immediately, "I do not want humanity to be destroyed."

Shinji chuckled, stupidly thinking that she was making a joke. Rei glared at him, her eyes opened a bit wider and her face slightly drawn in anger.

"It is not funny," she said coldly.

He immediately stopped laughing, and didn't meet her eyes. "S-Sorry."

-

Gendou looked up from his newspaper as Shinji and another attractive girl entered the apartment.
"Does she want to live here also, Shinji?"

Ayanami gave Shinji's father, who had just gotten home, a slightly curious look. Shinji shook his head emphatically. "No, she's just here for homework."

His father nodded, muttering something about "euphemisms". Shinji tried not to blush as he led Rei to his room, where he was more embarrassed to see Asuka lying on his bed.

Shinji laughed nervously. "Asuka? I brought Ayanami."

Asuka sat up, yawning, and rolled off the bed. "Nice to see you finally arrived, First. I wish you'd been here before when I explained everything to Shinji. Oh well, here goes. Listen carefully..."

Asuka explained her fantasy in detail, much as she had done with Shinji. Rei simply listened as Asuka said countless unbelievable things.

"I understand," she said, giving the impression that she thought that everything that Asuka had just said was perfectly sensible.

"Really?" said Asuka, impressed, "You're better than Shinji. He's always asking stupid questions."

"They weren't stupid..." Shinji muttered.

She ignored him. "Shinji's just our secret weapon, really. He'll just go all psycho when it really counts."

"She calls me psycho..." muttered Shinji.

Asuka cleared her throat. "Me and you are the reliable pilots."

Rei nodded slightly. "I understand."

"So, that brings us up to date. What we have to do is steal Adam or Lilith, steal the Lance of Longinus, and destroy the Mass Production Eva Units. Without the aid of Nerv."

Rei nodded again.

"Adam is in the Commander's right hand, so that should be the easiest to get. We just have to chop it off."

Shinji grimaced. He wasn't liking the sound of this.

"The Lance of Longinus is embedded in Lilith. To get down there we need the right key card and code sequence. But the Lance is too big to take without an Eva anyway, so we'd have to actually hijack an Eva get it.

"To hijack an Eva we'll need a couple things. It will be easiest if we have the cooperation of someone in Nerv, someone that actually works with the Eva Units. We also need to obtain access to the secured areas, but that'll be easy compared to the first part. Once we have the spear we'll have to get rid of it somehow. The best thing to do is throw it right out of the Earth's atmosphere."

Shinji was dubious.

"That sounds difficult," said Rei, master of the obvious.

"Actually, it sounds impossible. It would be a masterwork of planning if we did pull it off, though. And think of what's at stake."

Shinji nodded thoughtfully. "I don't think Adam is in my dad's hand though."

Asuka slapped her forehead. "Oh, of course. How stupid of me. Seele must have it now. " She turned to Shinji and pointed a finger at him. "Do you know of anyone on the inside that could help us?"

"Maybe... Mrs. Akagi? She comes over here sometimes so I sort of know her."

"That's a start. The first thing we have to do is get access to Lilith, though. If we can't do that, there's no point in trying anything else. So, does she have access?"

Shinji thought about that for a second. "Maybe. I'm not really sure."

"What's her job?"

Shinji tried to remember, but he didn't often hear anything about his father's work. "I don't know."

Asuka heard the doorbell ring and was distracted. "Hold on a second." She walked out of Shinji's room, curious to see who was at the door. Shinji was left alone with Rei for the moment. Left alone with her in his bedroom.

Shinji coughed awkwardly after a few seconds of total silence. "So, did you believe everything Asuka said?" he asked awkwardly.

She ignored him.

-

The Commander stood facing inwards in the doorway to the apartment, a small black suitcase in one hand. He was talking to a woman, who had stepped inside.

"Make sure to watch all three of them Katsuragi. I won't be back until Saturday. I will not accept excuses."

"Yes sir." Misato said, almost biting her tongue. She hadn't meant to call him 'sir' like that.

-Why do I feel as if the world is at stake whenever he tells me to do something?-

"Shinji is important to me. Do not fail."

"Understood."

Gendou nodded and left.

Misato sighed.

-'Understood'? At least I didn't say 'Hai!' and salute him.-

-

Asuka slowly closed the door.

-That could only mean that... what use could he have for Shinji besides fighting the angels?-

If he planned on initiating Third Impact he wouldn't need Shinji for anything. Only Seele's version of Third Impact used Shinji.

"Who was that, Asuka?"

"Someone named Katsuragi," she muttered, still thinking.

"Misato-san?" Shinji exited his room, leaving Asuka and Rei behind.

Asuka pondered the extremely confusing conversation she had just overheard.

-Is he planning on betraying Seele? Or maybe I didn't understood what they were talking about. Could the 'all or nothing venture' be some kind of initiation for the third angel?-

If that was the case, Nerv and Seele were still on her side. That actually made more sense. She had been quick to assume that they meant to initiate Third Impact.

-

"So your father just told her to sleep in your room? "

Shinji nodded, embarrassed. "Yeah, but the weird thing is, she's insane. I even told him so."

"Insane?"

"Yeah, she thinks that she's a 'Pilot Errant' and that humanity is doomed if she doesn't save it. She's got all the details worked out too. I can almost believe her sometimes."

"Like a television show or something?" Misato said, not quite able to believe it.

"More like... an animation. Sort of like a really complicated mecha anime or something."

Misato gave him a doubtful look. "That's the weirdest thing I've ever heard."

"She's really smart though, as long as you don't mention anything about piloting or 'errantry'."

"That seems so strange. How did you get involved in this?"

Shinji took a deep breath, knowing what her response would be already. "She recruited me as a pilot."

Misato burst out laughing, as Shinji had predicted.

-

Asuka walked up to Rei and spoke to her in a business-like tone, "Change of plans Rei."

"Yes?"

"In light of new information, I think we need to do some surveillance before making any rash mistakes. Do you know anything about Nerv?"

"No."

"What about Shinji's father? Know anything personal about him?"

"He is a business executive."

Asuka sighed. It was going to take a lot of work. "That'll have to do. Listen carefully. In fact, write this down…"

-

"She actually spied on that meeting? What did she think of it?"

"She thought they wanted to kill off the human race early. She was pretty upset."

Misato continued laughing, tears streaming down her face. "She thinks your father is bent on destroying the human race?"

"Well, that's where it gets complicated..."

-

Asuka stopped her lecture for a moment and listened to Misato's uncontrolled laughter. "God, what is wrong with that woman? How can she laugh like that without rupturing something?"

"I don't know."

-

Shinji explained Asuka's fantasy to Misato, to the best of his ability. He made many mistakes, mispronouncing the foreign words and confusing the facts horribly. This made the story quite confusing to Misato.

"That made no sense at all Shinji," she reprimanded sternly.

"It's not my story!" he protested.

Rei exited Shinji's room and walked past the two of them, almost unnoticed.

"You leaving, Ayanami?" asked Misato.

She looked over her shoulder. "Yes. Goodbye."

Misato gave the girl a friendly smile. "Bye."

Misato remained silent until Rei had closed the door behind her. "It's hard to believe that even an insane person would pick the two of you to be saviors of humanity," she said, shaking her head in disbelief.

Shinji shrugged. "She says that I have repressed anger and an inferiority complex. Like I said, she's smart. I don't know why she picked Rei though, unless it was because of that staring contest..."

"You're not planning to do anything indecent to that girl, are you? The crazy one, I mean."

"Asuka?" Shinji blushed deeply, caught off guardby the question. "She wouldn't let me. She doesn't seem too happy that she has to sleep in my room."

Before Misato could respond, they heard Asuka's indignant voice behind them. "Well, of course!" The two of them snapped their attention to her. "It's not proper for two pilots to sleep in the same room. It goes again the rules of Pilot Errantry, which clearly state that a boy and a girl shouldn't sleep in the same room past the age of nine."

"I thought that was seven," said Shinji.

Asuka glared at him. "Then you obviously don't know much about Pilot Errantry you baka!"

"I think he's right," said Misato, knowing the proverb had nothing to do with 'Pilot Errantry'.

Asuka squinted her eyes at Misato. "Who are you? The Commander's lover? No, you're obviously the Ops Director. It must suck having such limited access to all the files and information regarding Second Impact, especially since you barely survived it. That scar below your breasts serves as a constant reminder, doesn't it? But regardless, I am the only one here qualified to discuss Pilot Errantry. The two of you could learn something if you just pay attention and don't argue."

Misato stared at her, open-mouthed. The girl had just created a fake persona for her to occupy in her fantasy world without even blinking. Not that what she had said was too far off. She was sort of like a "Director of Operations" in a way. And they never told her anything about the productions until they brought her in for "consultation". Consultation meant, of course, that she would assume responsibility.

She smiled warmly. "You're a good judge of character! I don't have a scar though."

Asuka frowned. If that part of the story was inaccurate, what other parts couldn't be trusted? Everything depended on absolute accuracy. Even the smallest detail-

"Hello?" Misato waved a hand in front of Asuka's face.

"Do you know someone named Kaji?" Asuka asked, a little irritated.

"Uh, no. Should I?"

-Damn, this is worse than I thought. If she doesn't even know who Kaji is...-

Maybe Seele was more involved than she thought. They could have been tampering with all kinds of things. They could have set up that meeting, knowing she would listen in and think that Third Impact was coming. "Those bastards! Are they just trying to mess with my head!?"

"Who... are you talking about, Asuka?" asked Shinji, hesitantly.

"Seele! They've erased her memory so that she doesn't remember anything about Kaji. On top of that, they've removed her scar somehow and erased her memory of that too!"

"Seele?" asked Misato.

"You don't remember Seele either? This is just too much! What are they after!?" Asuka ran back to Shinji's room, holding her head in her hands.

Misato watched her as she ran down the hall, her easy smile melting away. "So it's true, then?" Misato suddenly didn't find the whole thing quite as funny.

"Uh huh."

"And now she thinks I'm involved."

"Looks like it," said Shinji apologetically.

Misato's tone became serious and sober, "Maybe we should take her to a shrink. She might be dangerous."

Shinji shook his head. "I don't think she's dangerous… she just has an overactive imagination."

"And you said she's a college graduate? And she ran away from home? Do you know where she lives?"

"She said she comes from Germany."

"She must have a passport then. Unless she hijacked a plane or something…" said Misato, jokingly.

Shinji thought about that for a second.

"Shinji?"

"No, I don't think she hijacked a plane. Probably not."

"Right. Well, are you sure she's not dangerous?"

"She just wants to save the world," Shinji said, and smiled slightly, "I don't think that could lead to anything bad."

"Okay then, I'm going to talk to some people about this. I think she'll need a psychiatrist at the very least. She's obviously deranged."


-Maybe Shinji and Rei would work as a couple… Argh! Concentrate! This is no time to be for that sort of thing!-

Misato wasn't necessarily the Operations Director. She could just be someone so minor that she was never mentioned. But Shinji seemed to know her very well. She couldn't be someone unimportant. But it was almost ridiculous to think that Seele would have gone to so much trouble over her. Maybe Seele discovered that Kaji had passed his information on to her? Then why didn't they just kill her like they planned to kill Kaji?

-Because she's cute?-


That certainly didn't seem like Seele logic. They must have still had a use for her.

Seele was obviously changing the scenario. The angels weren't attacking. Maybe they planned on forcing the angels to attack? Something similar to the Second Impact? But Asuka had no idea why the angels would attack in the first place…

-

"How does Rei fit into all this?" Misato asked suddenly.

"Asuka recruited her too. Asuka calls her the 'First Children' for some reason. Even though she was the last one."

"What I mean is, why did she accept?"

"I don't understand it either. I think maybe she actually believes Asuka."

"Really? Well at least she's doing something. She still live by herself?"

"As far as I know. Nobody really knows anything about her."

Misato smirked. "Maybe Asuka will make up a past for her. Those two should get along just fine."

Shinji giggled, causing Misato to give him a look. "What?"

"You're a man, right? Don't giggle."

Shinji looked at her suspiciously. "Are you drunk Misato?"

"A little. You know, it's getting a little late Shinji. I'm going to be up for a while so you might as well go to sleep."

He gave her a concerned look. "Is something wrong?"

"No. I've just been having trouble sleeping recently."

He saw through the lie easily. "A guy?"

Misato gave Shinji a threatening look. "You know, you're not as cute as you used to be."

-

Shinji crept into his darkened room with high and silent steps, tip-toeing into the room. He didn't want to wake Asuka.

"What are you doing?" said a voice from the darkness, belonging to Asuka.

Asuka's eyes had adjusted to the dark, apparently. Shinji felt mildly embarrassed at his tip-toeing movements, and assumed a normal posture. "I thought you were asleep."

Shinji heard a gasp. "You were sneaking in here because you thought I was asleep!?"

Shinji flushed in embarrassment. "I just didn't want to wake you!"

"Yeah right! I know what it means when a guy sneaks into a girl's room at night!" He couldn't see her face in the darkness, but he assumed she was livid.

"But this is my room! You said I was supposed to sleep here!" protested Shinji, whining.

She laughed. "Calm down Shinji. I was just joking. You sure are uptight. Can you turn on the light?"

Relieved, he turned on the light, and saw that she was lying on his bed again. It made him slightly uncomfortable, but she apparently thought that it was perfectly normal. Although, technically, it was her room also. It would be kind of unfair to ask her not to use his bed, no matter how strange it seemed to him.

Asuka squinted as the room brightened, and gradually opened her eyes again. "We're going to put off any plans for now, Shinji."

"Plans?"

"You know, cutting off your father's hand and everything. I need more information. I'm leaving that up to First though."

"Ayanami?"

"Yeah. She seems like a good fly on the wall to me. All except for the blue hair red eyes thing. It makes her stand out. So I told her to dye it brown and get some contacts."

"You don't think that's dangerous?"

"Not any more dangerous than what we did," she answered, a little defensively. "She has to take some risks too, you know."

He nodded, not really caring. It wasn't like it was really dangerous to snoop around his dad's work. "Why the change in plans?"

"Some things that your father told that Katsuragi woman. Apparently, he wants her to make sure you don't get killed before the angels start attacking. If that's true, they aren't planning to start Third Impact early, so we still need them for the Evas. In any case, I need to know what's going on."

"Okay," he said, not understanding but not really caring either. "So what do you want me to do?"

"For now, get some sleep. We've got school tomorrow." She gestured toward his bed.

He blushed. "You want me to sleep with you?"

She smacked him. "Of course not! I'm sleeping on the floor!"

"I think you should sleep on the bed," Shinji said, rubbing his injured cheek.

"I'm not some pathetic little girl that needs to sleep on a soft bed." She narrowed her eyes. "I don't need special treatment."

"Well, I'm sleeping on the floor," Shinji said in a tone that could almost be described as 'firm' if his voice was capable of becoming so, which it theoretically should have been. Nonetheless, Asuka simply shrugged and let him sleep on the floor. She slept there too, of course. On the opposite side of the room, naturally.

-

Asuka was only slightly annoyed with Shinji for insistence on sleeping on the floor. He probably just wanted did it because it was polite, but at least he hadn't just done as she'd told him without question. But then again, the reason Shinji was sleeping on the floor was probably just because he didn't have enough of a sense of self worth to take the bed. He was just being pathetic, as he was wont to do.

After a short while she heard Shinji start to snore.

-

The two of them were sleeping on opposite sides of the room, but Asuka was next to the door. Because of this, Shinji almost stepped on her on his way to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Luckily for him, he stepped over her.

"What are you doing you idiot? You almost stepped on me!" said Asuka, amazed at his rudeness.

He didn't answer as he listlessly left the room. As he turned she noticed that his eyes were closed. He was sleepwalking. This confused her.

-Aren't I the one that's supposed to sleepwalk?-


A moment later he returned and plopped down next to her. This confused her even more.

-I'm supposed to be the one that does that, too.-


"Ma… mama…" he whispered, and she stared at his enticing lips.

Now she was extremely confused. -Am I the third children?- She shook her head. The idea was ridiculous. There was no way the facts could have gotten mixed up that badly. Besides, she was obviously the Second.

In any case, she had some idea of what she was supposed to do. She had to improvise.

-The boy feigned sleep as the girl plopped down next to him, sending a whoosh of air over him. He opened his eyes, staring at her breasts. Enticed by her lips, he leaned forward, stopping only when he heard her whisper, "...mama...".

The girl pinched the boy's nose closed and leaned forward kissing him until he ran out of air and disengaged himself. Obviously embarrassed, she ran away, only to gargle with mouthwash while complaining loudly.-

She nodded firmly, took a deep breath, pinched his nose shut, and kissed him. His eyes opened gradually. Realizing he couldn't easily escape from the position he was in, she let him go before he ran out of breath.

"Uhh…" He was confused beyond belief. Her lips had woken him up immediately, but it had taken a moment for him to realize that he wasn't dreaming.

"What?" Asuka wasn't sure if she was supposed to run into the other room and wash her mouth out or not. It was probably a bad idea to mix the two scenes together in the first place.

Shinji was at a loss for words. He just stared at her, not knowing what to do.

"This is my sleeping bag. Your bag is over there," she said helpfully.

End Chapter Four