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Title: Full Metal Evangelion Book 1 Chapter 3
Author: Dead^Meat ( deadmeat@bhlegend.com )
ICQ: 7790861 (Auth. req – state who you are when you ask)
Dates of revision: 2002-12-01 v 0.05 (Started)
2003-03-25 ch3 publish version 1.0
* Disclaimer: Characters from Neon Genesis Evangelion have been used without permission. All characters contained in this work are copyright GAINAX, Project EVA, Movic, AD Vision and Manga Entertainment.
* Quick-list of various Japanese words/phrases used, and it's translation.
Baka = idiot
Hai = yes
Hentai = perverted, pervert, someone perverted
* Reading:
"d" - Denotes speaking
'd' - Denotes thinking
_d_ - Denotes punctuation
|d| - Denotes sound effects
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Chapter three: Don't leave me******************************************************************
They shared the silence, neither wanting to break it. He was carrying her on his back, and she hugged him, her head resting on his shoulder, deep in thought.
"I'm sorry." Shinji finally mumbled, sighing.
"What for, Shinji?" Asuka asked, confused.
"I should have gotten to you much earlier, before they even had time to get you. It's all my fault."
"No it isn't, it's mine. For pushing you into the canal." Asuka admitted and raised her head to look at him, casually rubbing away a smudge on his chin.
"Oh, right, there was that, too. Well, I should have been prepared for anything, so it's still my fault." Shinji stubbornly pointed out.
Asuka sighed, and dropped her head back onto his shoulder.
A silence passed between them for a few, bleak minutes, as the setting sun cast it's shadow over the teenagers.
"Shinji?" Asuka mumbled quietly.
"What is it, Asuka?"
Asuka hesitated at first, wondering if it would be wise to ask him, but decided to blurt it out.
"Why are you carrying a gun?"
Once hearing her question, Shinji tensed up and stubbornly held his mouth shut, not saying anything.
"Come on, tell me! Are you some kind of police? Soldier? … or perhaps, a bodyguard? Don't think that I haven't noticed you keeping a tight surveillance on me! So tell me already!"
Shinji took a deep breath, with Asuka still on his back, and started to walk faster, with nothing remotely resembling an answer coming out of his lips.
Asuka pouted, but soon had to give up. "Oh, all right. I guess you won't tell me, no matter how many times I ask."
"I'm sorry." Shinji conceded and slowed down, feeling that he could relax again.
The silence continued, this time acting as a wall between them.
"But I can tell you this." Shinji suddenly offered.
"Yes? Yes?" Asuka queried, hopeful.
"No matter what happens, I will protect you."
"Oh …" Clearly disappointed, Asuka tensed and pushed
herself away from his warm back, as she felt a sudden urge to manage by
herself, not wanting any more of his help.
"Let me guess, it's out of duty, right? It's just a job for you, isn't it?"
Shinji held his breath for awhile, hesitating, before quietly breathing out his reply.
"No, not anymore. Not since the day we met."
Wide-eyed, Asuka waited for an explanation that never came. Sighing, Asuka dropped back down on his back, sleepily closed her eyes and hugged him closer, finally letting herself relax and dosed off.
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"Don't leave me."
Her request was softly spoken, but her eyes told him a different story.
The two of them were standing outside her apartment, still reluctant to separate.
He smiled at her. "Are you sure you want a hentai like me to stay?"
"Hrmp! Baka!" Asuka growled, but Shinji just smiled.
"But sure, if that's what you want, I will stay with you."
"Good!" Searching for her keys, she finally noticed how dirty she was, from tumbling around and fighting with those ruffians.
"Guess I need to take a shower, and …" Pointedly wrinkling her nose at him, she made him agree that he did too.
"Hrm …" Asuka narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "I just thought of something … you're going to peek, I'm sure you will!"
"Only if you want me to," Shinji teased, laughing softly as she lightly punched his shoulder.
"I know," Shinji suggested, "I can sing or hum something, while you're bathing. Then you'll know where I am, all the time."
"That's actually a good idea … or no, wait, here's an
even better idea!
How about playing that cello for me?"
Shinji stared at her oddly, then hesitantly nodded.
"Oh, okay. I'll need to go get it, though."
"Hurry up then, don't keep me waiting!"
"Hai."
As Shinji unlocked his door, Asuka entered her apartment, quickly looking around after embarrassing items she needed to dispose of. Finding only a discarded panty, which she quickly tossed into a basket, she got some towels ready and greeted Shinji as he brought in his cello and some clean clothes.
"Set it up there, by the sofa. I'll head into the bathroom now, and if I don't hear anything within five minutes …!"
She left him in her living room, and locked herself in the bathroom.
In there, she took her clothes off, and examined the bruises she got on her arms and legs, then examined her ankle.
'Nothing serious, nothing that won't heal very quickly, I believe.'
In the shower, under the steady flow of warm, relaxing
water, she turned around and carefully examined herself. Suddenly hearing a
stroke from the cello, she stopped and listened intently. It began carefully,
tentatively, unsure.
But soon, it built power, speed, rhythm … and confidence.
Mesmerised, she listened intently as the music took her to heaven, and beyond. Soon realising that she had been showering for too long, she turned it off, and carefully dried herself off.
Shinji was still playing when she exited the bathroom. Numb to everything but the music, he sat with his eyes closed, playing the cello with the smooth, practised strokes of someone who had been playing for a long time.
'He looks so … tense.' Asuka thought, while looking at him. 'Tense, yet peaceful, in a way.'
Finally, the final strokes played, Shinji breathed out, smiling serenely to himself.
"That was … very nice."
Shinji quickly turned around, his eyes wide full of shock, then swiftly his confused face turned to one of understanding, only to immediately change into one of embarrassment.
"Oh, eh, thanks. It's been a long time since I played it, and I'm kind of not used to having audience … so it was okay, I guess."
"Not just okay, good. It was good." Asuka smiled at him, and he just stared at her, dumbstruck. Feeling her cheeks redden in a blush, she pulled him away from the cello and pushed him into the bathroom, along with a clean towel and his change of clothes.
"Take a shower! You stink! … And don't do anything I wouldn't do in my own shower, you hear!"
"Hai hai."
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Sighing, Shinji unbuttoned his shirt and carefully
pulled it off him, still hurting slightly from the bruises from yesterday.
Taking off all of his clothes, he dropped them in a pile on the floor, then
took off his gun-holster, and laid it on top of his change of clothes.
Examining his clock, he wondered why people didn't make these tracking devices
waterproof, then dropped it on the pile of clothes as well.
'At least the radio-transmitter still works.'
While showering, he then recalled how Asuka had smiled at him.
'That's the first time I've seen her smile, and boy,
can she smile.' Shinji thought dreamily, hoping, hoping to God that he would
see her smile to him again. Just once again would be enough, he lied to himself.
It would last for his entire life.
Then he thought realistically. 'This is still just a
mission. I shouldn't get too involved with her, because then it would hurt.
It would hurt, if I had to leave her right now. It would hurt even more, if we
got even closer together.'
Sighing, Shinji furiously rubbed his stinging eyes, not allowing the tears to flow, and shook his head from sad thoughts.
'No. Just live as Touji has taught me. One day at a time. And enjoy that time. Yes, I could do that. I know I can.' Having decided on his course of
action, he turned off the shower, and dried himself off. Rubbing his gun relatively clean, he concealed it again, and exited the bathroom with his dirty clothes in a bundle.
Noticing that Asuka was lying on the sofa, he cautiously approached her, careful not to wake her up. Looking at her lying there, completely relaxed, he smiled warmly, and turned to leave, but her hand shot out and grabbed his, stopping him.
"I told you not to leave."
Asuka quickly stood up and pushed him down on the sofa. She then lay herself down next to him, resting her head on his chest, tugging on his arms, wrapping Shinji around her.
With her head just below his chin, his nose was filled with the fragrance of her beautiful, red hair. Letting himself relax and enjoy this, he loosened up and embraced her, feeling comfortable with her warmth on top of him.
After several minutes, Asuka started to shiver, and sobbed softly.
"What is it, Asuka? Did I do something wrong?" Shinji worriedly ask her.
"I- … I … you must think of me as such a tramp! A slut, who goes to lie with a boy she's only known for a few weeks! It's just that, I feel so secure, so safe, when I'm with you. I know, it's so selfish of me." Asuka then weakly tried to pull herself away.
Shinji held on, though, not letting her go so easily, even if it might seem selfish of him. He carefully, but determinedly, pulled her head towards him, and stared into her beautiful, yet tear-filled blue eyes.
"No, Asuka-chan. I don't think so." Gently stroking her hair, he smiled warmly, and continued.
" I can't say I know you too well, either, since I've only known you since school started. But I would never believe that you were the kind to push any man down to lie with him, and I feel all the more honoured that you chose me."
Shinji then proceeded to blush, looking away from her inquisitive eyes, and up towards the neutral ceiling.
"Oh, I'm not good with this. I've never been close to a woman before, except for my sister, but she's totally different from you. So I don't have much experience with these things. I'm sorry."
"Baka." Asuka whispered, and Shinji stared back at her. Seeing her smile at him, he smiled back, and gently dried her tears off. She wrapped herself up in him again, and then closed her eyes.
"You're doing just fine, Shinji-kun."
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Lying silently next to Shinji, Asuka listened as the occasional noise from the Tokyo-3 nightlife slipped through a partly opened window. Soon enough, this was accompanied with the rhythmic, deep inhales and exhales of a sleeping boy.
'Well …' Asuka thought, idly curling an errant strand of her hair around her finger. 'I guess I could say that that went well. He answered some of my questions, not all of them, but at least enough so that I know his purpose of staying so close to me. To be my bodyguard. And if my intuition tells me right, that loud-mouthed bloke is Hikari's bodyguard. But really, who would suddenly decide that I need a bodyguard, and why?
I will get to the bottom of this soon enough, that's for sure.
But that'll have to wait. Oh God, I'm so tired, think I'll doze off right here and now … since lying next to him like this wasn't half as bad as I thought it would be. He was actually kind of cute, when he tried to comfort me. Hehe, oh well. Gullible boy.'
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Whistling a catching tune he just heard on the radio, Touji smiled to himself while composing his daily report on his computer.
Filling the report with various pieces of unnecessary, but extremely well-described observations of the local coffee houses, Touji could just imagine the Chief's frowning face in front of him.
Touji cheerfully described his encounter with a lovely waitress, his long dialogue with her, and how much he would enjoy the promised free coffee next time he went by. And almost as a side-note, he added that nothing particularly interesting had happened to his subject, Hikari, today.
She had spent the day with the usual, normal stuff like studying and hanging out with Asuka. 'Speaking of Asuka, she seemed a bit colder than usual, completely ignoring Shinji for some reason. Have to ask Shinji about that later.'
Other than that, Hikari still seemed comfortable having him around, and didn't seem to mind Touji staring at her all the time. 'Truth to be told, I don't mind that, either.'
Leaning back on his chair and sighing contentedly, Touji noisily tapped the save button, and closed the report.
'Now then, I'll just check out Shinji's report, then I'll send em away … so, let's see here … yesterday's report … hmm … same stuff, same stuff … oh right, that's where we separated and … what? He lost her?! Man, that stupid … damn, some clean-up work to do, I bet … must be why she was cold to him today … I see, after that, he brought her home alright … then … Holy C-!!!"
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'Is he still following me?' Asuka looked over her shoulder, but spotted nothing out of the usual in the relatively empty streets on her way home.
'Is he there? Or not … oh heck, I don't need him! I should just forget about that guy, considering that I know his _real_, hentai persona now! That baka!'
Frowning intensely, Asuka kicked a conveniently placed trashcan, startling the other pedestrians, and stomped off away from the stares she received.
Reaching her apartment complex, Asuka cautiously looked around sneaked her way around the corners, trying to find any trace or glimpses of the little spy. Coming up to her floor, she heard a faint sound of someone playing a cello. Standing in front of Shinji's door, pressing her ear against it, she confirmed her suspicion that yes, it was Shinji playing.
'That … gah! What's he doing back here, when he should be protecting me?!' Staring angrily at his door, she considered breaking it down and demanding answers from him, blaming him for wasting her time by fooling her to walk home instead of taking the bus.
But she relented.
Sighing, she wondered about whom she was trying to fool, and stepped away to her own door instead. Unlocking it, she stepped inside, felt something under her foot.
'A note!'
Closing the door behind her, she bent down and picked it up, and examined it closely.
'A letter addressed to me … Shinji's handwriting … I bet he's apologising! That is so useless, maybe I should just throw this thing away!'
After taking off her shoes, she silently slipped towards the sofa … _the_ sofa … and sat down, staring at the letter in her hands.
She ripped it open.
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|Rrrrrring|
The sound of the telephone ringing startled Shinji, who stopped in mid-stroke. Having had his concentration broken, Shinji sighed and carefully laid his cello to rest on the chair. Then he picked up the phone.
"Hello?"
"Shinji, you damn buggar!" Touji's loud voice screamed
into his ear.
"Why didn't you tell me?!! Am I not your best friend! We should celebrate
this!"
"… I assume that you have read my report?" Shinji sighed, feeling himself sink deeper and deeper into despair.
"Of course! So tell me, how was she, huh? Huh? You messed up, right? That's why she's cold to you, right? Right?" Touji asked excitedly.
"It's not what you think it was! Yes, I messed up, but not in the way _you_ think, idiot! We were just sleeping on the couch through the whole night, with clothes _on_. That's all that happened!"
"Yeah, right. Sure. So why is she so damn mad at you, then?"
"I … I screwed up, that's all." Shinji sadly said.
"Oh come on, tell me!"
"… oh alright."
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"Dear Asuka." The letter began.
'Aww, what an uninspiring start of the letter. Can't he do any better than this?'
'I am deeply sorry," 'Here goes …' "I promise you that it was not in my intention to what I did. There are no excuses for what I did, except that I blame myself for being born male, and therefor having the reaction I had."
Asuka sighed deeply, rolling her eyes, but continued with the letter anyway.
"If you wish to never see me anymore, then I'm sure it
could be arranged. If so, please, forgive me, and I will never bother you
again.
Yours /Shinji"
Asuka stared dumbfounded at the letter for several more minutes, then stormed off.
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"And that's what happened." Shinji sighed into his phone, leaning tiredly against the wall."
"Oh man … bad luck, bro. Or maybe not, depending on how you look at it!" Touji laughed cheerily, making Shinji feel even more uncomfortable.
"So anyway, you apologised to her yet?"
"Well, not really …"
"What? You haven't apologised to her yet? What're you doing here, talking to me, then?"
"May I remind you that it was _you_ who called me. Besides, I've already written a letter … figured she'd rather read that than listening to me right now."
"Bro, you are _so_ wrong."
|DUNK DUNK DUNK|
"Open the door, you little twerp!"
"I … I'll call you back."
"Sure, bro. Call me later, if you can survive this!"
Shinji quickly broke the connection, effectively cutting off Touji's laugh. Then he turned to face his next threat.
"Crap."
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At last, Asuka heard a slight shuffling from behind the door, and then the click from the door-lock.
The door slowly opened up slightly, and through the gap Shinji's head popped out.
"Yes, Asuk-" Shinji started, but was suddenly pushed back as Asuka invaded his apartment.
"What is the meaning of this?!" Asuka growled, holding his letter in a threatening manner under his nose. "This … this garbage!"
"I'm sorry." Shinji wasn't fast enough to hold back his apology, and felt the swift retribution as Asuka pushed him roughly against the wall.
"Look. I forgive you, you understand me?" Asuka stared into his eyes, wanting to make certain that he got the message.
Which he did, at first, when his features smoothed out in relief, but then something else dawned on him, and he sadly looked away, having misunderstood her, as usual.
"No, I don't want you to move anywhere. Not right now anyway. So forget about that, okay?"
Shinji didn't look convinced, so Asuka leaned forward and pulled his head straight, looking into deeply into his eyes. Then she grinned.
"Like they say, better the devil you know, than the devil you don't, right?" Shinji closed his eyes and nodded, now truly feeling relived, and all his tension seemed to drain away.
Now that she had made herself clear, Asuka quickly backed away, and pressed the letter into his hands.
"Learn to write a better letter next time, baka." Asuka smiled, and started to walk out of his apartment.
"Asuka …" Shinji started, and Asuka turned around to hear him out.
"I'm truly really s- … uh, well … no I mean … good
night."
Shinji scratched the back of his head, in apparent embarrassment.
Standing at the doorway, with the purplish, darkening sky partly illuminating her features, Asuka smiled serenely while shaking her head.
"You know, even if you were half-asleep, as you said you were, you were still half-awake. So next time, remember, no fondling of my breasts without my permission. Okay?"
Shinji chuckled at that, and nodded, smiling faintly as he got caught in her deep, blue eyes.
"Okay."
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* Author's note:
Chapter 3 finally released! After a lot of hard work and pain, especially since I had to rewrite chapter 3 and scrap the following 5 chapters (which I loved!), it's finally out! Yay!
*dances a jitterbug*
Anyway, chapter 4 is out for pre-reading, still writing chapter 5, so it will slow down an Awful lot in the future. :/ But hey, better late than never ;)
Thanks goes to Weltall Elite, as usual, only I wish he was a bit faster with the new chapters, but I can't say that to him! Since I'm not paying him in any way, other than the privilegde of beeing the first person to read FME chapters, and the having the ability to make me see the truth, resulting in scrapped chapters. Ehum.
Thanks goes to you, for sticking with me, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter. The following chapter will be abit of a short break, in one way, but also thrust the story onwards. Please come back later!
Comments/Crusts to deadmeat@bhlegend.com
And oh, I always need more pre-readers, so if you feel up to it … :)
See you later!
/DeadMeat
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Preview of chapter 4:
"In here, you will find my prized collection." Kensuke said proudly, standing in front of his basement door.
'We came here to see junk?' Touji thought, but kept his mouth shut.
Shinji simply nodded, and waited expectantly.
"Oh well." Kensuke sighed disappointedly, and opened the door.
Stepping inside the unlit basement, Touji and Shinji couldn't see nor hear anything in particular. They did feel a cool draft blowing through their hair, and they heard a low echo when Kensuke started talking.
"I'll just close the door first, it gets awfully drafty down here otherwise."
The sound of the door shut echoed through the basement, and with it, their only source of light.
"Hey," Touji nervously whispered to Shinji. "What's going on?"
"I have absolutely no idea…" Shinji replied, looking around tensely.
"Guys, please keep whatever you see in here to
yourselves, okay?
Alright, I'm turning the lights on, here goes!"
The light suddenly came back on, blinding the two pilots for a second. Blinking, they tried to see through the fog in their eyes, and suddenly, they saw it. The massive collection.
"W- … wow!"
