Chapter 12

"Unexpected."

"Traitorous!"

"This is not part of the scenario……"

The brown hair demon sat quietly in her chair as 11 monoliths of SEELE circled about her, discussing the current situation.

One of their own had betrayed them by starting their own scenario, much like Gendo Ikari had years before.

"They were never meant to be restored!" shouted SEELE 4, "They were only to be used as source material!"

"And where did acquire the funds to rebuild them?" asked SEELE 8, "No funds have been diverted to……"

"It does not matter." replied SEELE 1, silencing the other 10, "6 will pay for his treachery. This meeting is over."

One by one the monoliths vanished. Then the monolith labeled SEELE 1 vanished and was replaced by the image of Keel.

"You know what needs to be done?" he asked.

The demon nodded. "Lucy and I will handle it."

"And what of Ceres? Will she remain with the others?"

The demon frowned. "Ceres has gone missing. None have seen her since Lucy went after the woman."

Keel frowned. "Could she join with the children?"

The demon shook her head. "No. They will either kill her outright, or deliver her to Hild. Either way, she will not last long in this world."

"Very well." replied Keel, "Proceed with your mission."

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Several days later.

From the base in Nevada, a UN jet roared off the runway and into the darkened sky. On board, Kensuke Aida worked on his laptop, looking over several last minute items.

After the attack on the DC building, he and the survivors of his division had moved out to the UN base in Nevada. Once a NERV base, it still held the large hanger where Units 03 and 04 had been built. In fact, several pieces of silver armor for Unit 04 still lay on the floor.

Kensuke frowned as he stared at the report that was currently displayed on his screen.

[…..Analysis of the blood has shown it to be human, with several strange crystal like objects floating within. The blood could not be matched with any known person currently in the UN database, the presence of the crystals hampering several attempts. Further study will continue, but at this time there is no possible chance of finding a match…..]

Kensuke sighed shut his laptop. He then looked around the cabin. The plane could easily hold 100 or so passengers. It only held 3 right now. Kensuke smiled as he looked at his fellow passengers. Both had paled at the idea of wearing 'mortal' clothes, but finally had agreed to wear them to look less 'conspicuous'. One was currently moving from one side of the plane to the other, trying to look out the windows and get a good view of the earth far below. The other had her eyes closed, apparently asleep. Kensuke sat back and glanced out his window, thinking about what had lead him to fly this night.

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Earlier in the day.

"Sir?"

Kensuke looked up from his laptop in his temporary office at his secretary. "Yes?"

"There's a phone call for you. From England."

Kensuke frowned. "England? Very well. I'll take it."

The secretary nodded and left the room, closing the door behind her. Kensuke lifted up the phone and placed it to his ear.

"Aida."

"Hello Director Aida." came an accented voice.

"Who am I speaking with?" asked Kensuke.

"My name is Harris." replied the voice, "I work for an………Intelligence agency in Britain."

"MI-6?" asked Kensuke.

"I'm not at liberty to say." replied Harris.

Kensuke sighed, "What do you want?"

"Oh it's not what I want. It's what you want."

"Explain."

"We have found a base on English soil. A base that doesn't belong to us or the UN."

"Who does it belong to?" asked Kensuke.

"We believe it belongs to a certain infamous organization of your acquaintance." replied Harris.

"SEELE?"

"I cannot say. Only that you should come and see what we have found. A soon as possible."

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Kensuke had called for a plane to be readied. He had then placed a call to Japan. Considering that he was going into a SEELE base, he felt he needed another set of eyes and ears to help him. He had hoped to get Asuka to come along with (not exactly a choice he felt comfortable with, but she was European and knew the area), but then he heard about the attack on Hikari. Asuka promised to try and get him some help.

The help arrived, and he was rather surprised at who Asuka had sent.

The first was a young goddess named Cayla. Inexperienced, naive, She'd never before been on earth and she was curious about everything. The other one was a bit more mysterious. Kensuke had heard of Mist before, and knew she was the commander of the Valkyries, but he had not expected someone who was over 900 years old to look like she was 25. Mist also didn't speak much. When Kensuke had asked why she was here, Mist had replied: "The Guardian Asuka Ikari has asked me to watch over the Beloved of the Goddess Sayoko."

Kensuke had turned deep red and cut the conversation at that point.

It was now 2 hours into the flight. They were out over the Atlantic enroute to England. Cayla had finally settled down and was now reading what appeared to be an old book. Kensuke tried to read the title on the spine, but it was in the God's language. Kensuke leaned back into his chair and sighed.

"We could have just teleported."

Kensuke opened his eyes to see Mist sitting next to him.

"Yes we could have." replied Kensuke, "But then they would want to know how we got there. Few people know about the Gods and Goddesses you know. This way, we keep your identity hidden."

Mist frowned, "You mean lie?"

"No……Mislead."

Mist looked down at her outfit and tugged at the shirt. "Why must this shirt be so tight? How is one expected to fight in such an outfit?"

Kensuke chuckled. The outfits that Mist and Cayla were wearing were UN Intel Officer uniforms. "Those are meant to be office outfits, not fighting outfits."

Mist let out a sigh. "How long until our arrival?"

"Another hour or so." Kensuke leaned back in his chair, "Ever been to England before?"

"Yes." replied Mist, "I followed a ship full of warriors when they went ashore to sack and pillage a few villages."

Kensuke slowly turned his head and stared at Mist, "When was that?"

"Sometime in the 1200s by your calendar."

"Right." Kensuke turned his head back towards the front of the plane. "Just don't do any sacking or pillaging on this trip."

It was silent for several moments, with only the roar of the engines filling the cabin. Kensuke glanced back at Cayla.

"What is she reading?"

Mist glanced over. "She is studying to become a 1st Class Goddess."

"She's a trainee?"

Mist nodded, "She is a Goddess of the second rank."

"How old is she?"

"16 years."

"And she's never been on earth before?"

"No."

Kensuke let out a sigh. "Just make sure she doesn't do anything to give either of you away. The last thing I want to do is explain to this guy about who and what you are."

Mist nodded. "Agreed."

"Now if you don't mind. I'm going to nap for the final hour of the trip." Kensuke leaned back and closed his eyes.

He felt Mist's eyes on him for a few more seconds before he felt her stand up and move away from the seat. Kensuke listened to the roar of the engines and soon drifted off to sleep, dreaming of the past.

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2027

Osaka-2

Kensuke watched from the bar as the happy couple danced away on their wedding night. It had been like this for several years now. One by one, many of his friends from both middle school and high school had been getting married. Very few of his friends remained unattached.

Rei Ikari for example.

Many knew her as the quiet and solitary red eyed blue haired girl from Tokyo-3. The brown haired blue eyed Rei acted so differently from the one they knew, many questioned if there were two Reis. When asked, Rei replied it was just a phase she went through. She had dated several people, mostly exchange students. There was the one from Sweden, another from the United States, even one from France (nobody really liked the guy from France and all were glad when he and Rei broke up).

Kensuke looked over to see Rei laughing at a table with Shinji and Asuka, and Touji and Hikari. He knew he should be over there with them, but he always felt like the fifth wheel among them. Rei obviously had no issues about it. Kensuke downed his glass. As he did, he heard a familiar voice further down the bar.

"Glass of sake….and leave the bottle."

Kensuke glanced over and saw Sayoko leaning against the bar. He was surprised by that because she didn't usually drink. Even when she did, she didn't get drunk. Kensuke turned his head back towards the bar.

Sayoko. After Asuka and Shinji had gotten together, Sayoko had become the most sought after girl in middle school and later high school. Yet Sayoko didn't care. She had turned down date after date, preferring to keep up on her class work and goddess studies. Kensuke knew Sayoko was beautiful, but it seemed as if each time he came back to Tokyo-2, she had become even more beautiful. Even more so then her mother it that was possible.

Kensuke sighed. What was he thinking. He had no chance with Sayoko. She was a friend. A close friend. A very attractive beautiful friend, with a really nice set of………"

"COUGH!"

Kensuke sat up and looked down the bar along with everyone else. Sayoko was having a coughing fit as she had coked on some vodka. When she had finally stopped coughing, her face went bright red. Kensuke froze as Sayoko looked at him from the corner of her eye. Then he realized why she was starring at him.

'Oh man……I forgot she can read minds…..' Kensuke placed his head on the table and groaned.

The sound of chuckling caused him to raise his head slightly. Sayoko had moved from her spot at the bar and was now sitting next to him.

"I have a nice set of what Kensuke?" she asked with a straight face.

Kensuke turned bright red. "You…uhh…I….uhhh…..ummm." Kensuke sighed. "Sorry."

"Don't be." replied Sayoko as she refilled her glass, "You're a guy. It's expected that you think that way."

They were quiet for several moments.

"You here with someone?" Kensuke finally asked.

"No." was the reply.

"Why not?"

Sayoko sipped her drink and remained quiet for several moments. Kensuke was about to change the subject when she spoke up.

"Everyone I went out with typically had two things on their mind." She said softly, "First they proud that they had finally gotten the beautiful girl from school on a date, and decided to take me somewhere to show me off, like a trophy. The second thing on their minds…….was typically what they hoped would happen after the date." Sayoko downed her glass. "None of them got that far. I usually left before the date was over." Sayoko poured more sake into her glass. "So I've decided  not to date anyone for awhile." She smiled at Kensuke. "Maybe I'll get lucky like mom did."

They went silent again. On the dance floor, the music had changed to another slow song. Other couples were now out on the dance floor. Kensuke glanced over to see Touji leading Hikari to the floor, and Asuka leading Shinji to the floor. He noticed someone waving at him from the table. Rei. Rei kept motioning to him. Kensuke frowned trying to figure out what Rei wanted him to do, when it hit him. He pointed at Sayoko who was trying to finish off the bottle of sake. Rei nodded and pointed to the dance floor. Kensuke gulped.

'Oh man…..' He summoned up all the courage he had and turned Sayoko. "Would you like to dance?"

Sayoko's head snapped towards him. "What?"

"I am asking you if you would like to dance."

Sayoko frowned slightly. "This wouldn't have anything to do with what I just said?"

"No." replied Kensuke, "I am asking an old classmate to dance with me." He carefully took hold of Sayoko's arm. "And I'm not taking no for an answer."

Sayoko stared into his eyes for several seconds. Finally she relented.

"Alright."

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A few hours later.

Kensuke walked down the hotel hallway supporting a very happy, and intoxicated goddess. After dancing, Sayoko had surprised him by ordering a rum and coke, knowing that coke was the one thing that she got intoxicated from. He was a bit tipsy himself, but not as bad as Sayoko. Kensuke finally arrived at the door to Sayoko's room. He carefully leaned her up against the wall and worked the lock on the door. As he opened the door, arms wrapped themselves around him and he felt Sayoko's breathe on his ear.

"Anyone tell you you're really sweet?" she whispered.

"No." he replied. He turned and helped her into the room.

"Yep." She said, "Really sweet. You're still a hentai, but a sweet hentai."

"Now you sound like Asuka." muttered Kensuke.

He walked Sayoko over to her bed and sat her down.

"You need anything?" he asked.

Sayoko shook her head. Kensuke smiled and started towards the door.

"Then I'll be going. You should get some sleep and……"

"Wait."

Kensuke turned and looked back at Sayoko. She had slowly wobbled to her feet.

"I ….want to thank you for being with me tonight." She said, "I felt……really happy for the first time in a while."

Kensuke smiled. "I had fun too."

"It doesn't have to end….." Sayoko said. She started to reach back for the zipper to her dress.

"Woah! Hold on!" Kensuke ran back and grabbed her hand, stopping her from zipping it all the way down. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Thanking you."

"No." Kensuke sat Sayoko back down, "You don't need to do that."

Sayoko looked at him confused. "Don't…..don't you want to……with me?"

"You're drunk." replied Kensuke, "You don't mean it."

Sayoko started to get mad. "What do you mean I don't mean it?! I'm a Goddess 1st Class! I don't LIE!" She started punching Kensuke. "How dare you suggest I'm lying!"

Kensuke easily blocked her punches. "It wouldn't be right. You're not in your right frame of mind."

"You don't want me?!" asked Sayoko now starting to get very upset, "I'm offering myself to you and you don't want me?!?"

"No it's not that I……"

"LIAR!!!" shouted Sayoko wobbling to her feet, tears falling from her eyes. "LIIIIIARRRRRRRR!!" She started towards the door, but stumbled and fell. Kensuke was at her side in a second.

"nobody….wants…" muttered Sayoko as she cried.

Kensuke sat of the floor and pulled Sayoko into a sitting position and held her from behind. Sayoko continued to cry, the only sign she gave that she knew Kensuke was holding her was that she grabbed hold of his arm. After several minutes, Sayoko's sobs stop, replaced by soft snoring. Kensuke smiled and carefully lifted Sayoko in to his arms. He carried her over to the bed and set her down in it. But when he tried to pull himself away, he found Sayoko still had a grip on his arm. He attempted to remove her hand, but she held on even tighter.

"Don't go…."

Kensuke looked over to see Sayoko staring at him with pleading eyes.

"Please…..don't go……stay."

Kensuke laid down on the bed next to Sayoko. She immediately wrapped her arms around him and lay her head on his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and held her. Within minutes she was asleep again. Kensuke let out a sigh.

"I sure hope your Grandfather is watching us right now." He muttered softly. Sayoko's only response was to hold him tighter.

"Oh well." Kensuke closed his eyes and tried to sleep.

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Next morning.

Kensuke opened his eyes and blinked. Then he blinked again. Slowly the events of the night before returned to him.

Only something felt……wrong.

It felt like there were two pairs of arms around him. He looked down to his right to see the top of Sayoko's head. She was still asleep. He looked to his left, and was surprised to see Morning Bell, Sayoko's Angel, clinging to him as well, her wings folded over him like a blanket.

"Where did you come from?" Kensuke asked the Angel softly.

Morning Bell opened her eyes and looked up at Kensuke. She then smiled, leaned forward and planted a kiss on Kensuke's cheek before vanishing into Sayoko. Sayoko's eyes then fluttered open.

"Good morning."

Sayoko turned her head up and looked at Kensuke. Confusion appeared on her face.

"Why are you here?" she asked quietly.

"You told me not to." replied Kensuke.

"But why are you still here?"

"I was comfortable?" Kensuke said with a weak smile. "Look, I couldn't have left even if I wanted to. You did and still have a death hug on me (Sayoko blushed) and then your Angel was holding me down on the other side."

Sayoko frowned slightly. "Morning Bell?"

Morning Bell instantly appeared out of Sayoko's back. She floated just off to the side of the bed.

"You were hugging Kensuke?"

Morning Bell nodded.

"Traitor." muttered Sayoko, "Go make coffee. Strong coffee."

The angel flew off to carry out her mistress' commands. Sayoko then turned and looked at Kensuke.

"Why did you stay?" she asked softly, "You didn't have to."

"Because you're my friend," replied Kensuke, "and I didn't want to see you unhappy."

Sayoko stared at him a moment longer, then stood up. She quickly grabbed the top of her dress as it started to slide down, her face turning red. Kensuke held up his hands.

"I didn't do a thing to you. My hands stayed exactly where you saw them this morning. I didn't do a……."

"I know you didn't." said Sayoko, "I'm…..going to…..go….change." She vanished quickly into the bathroom and shut the door.

Kensuke sighed and walked over to the window. Osaka-2 was slowly waking up. A tap on his shoulder brought him back from his thoughts. He turned to see Morning Bell hovering beside him with a cup of coffee.

"Isn't that hers?" he asked.

Morning Bell shook her head and offered the cup again. Kensuke took it, then looked back at her questioningly.

"She won't be mad?"

Morning Bell shook her head again. She then floated back to where the coffee maker was hidden. A minute later, Sayoko stepped out of the bathroom now in a t-shirt and jeans. Morning Bell quickly flew over and handed her another cup of coffee before vanishing. Sayoko sipped at her coffee but did not meet Kensuke's face.

Kensuke took a deep breath.

"Look….." he began, "I uh….umm….well…..wondered if you'd like to spend the day with me?"

Sayoko's head slowly moved up as she stared at him. Kensuke began to get more nervous.


"With the wedding over, there's a lot of things to see here in Osaka and……."

"I'd love to." replied Sayoko quietly.

"Really?" asked Kensuke, "Well..uhh…Let me go get changed and I'll meet you in the lobby alright?"

"Alright."

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A few hours later.

Kensuke and Sayoko had been all over the town, going to the history museum, the art museum, they were now walking through one of the parks. They seemed to be enjoying themselves, yet, Kensuke thought Sayoko was hiding something.

"Thank you."

Kensuke glanced over to see Sayoko staring at him.

"What?"

"Thank you." repeated Sayoko, "for not leaving me."

Kensuke smiled at her. "I didn't really have a choice, you having a death grip on me and all. So you want to talk about it?"

"Talk about…..?"

"Last night." Kensuke maneuvered Sayoko to a bench and sat her down before sitting beside her. "Look, believe it or not, I still know a lot about what's been happening in Tokyo-2, thanks to Shinji and Touji. I know you've never been a drinker, hell Shinji has been drunk more often then you. So what made you decide to go all out last night?"

Sayoko was quiet for several moments, staring at the sky while she collected her thoughts.

"Have you ever wondered why I've never dated?"

"You said it was because they had two things on their mind: showing you off and then sex."

Sayoko nodded. "All throughout school and college, guys have always asked me out." Sayoko turned and looked at Kensuke, "All they wanted was to be seen with me, the beautiful girl in school."

"How do you know that they……"

Sayoko pointed at her head. "I can read minds remember. It was pretty clear to me what they were hoping for. The few dates I actually agreed to, they weren't thinking about it at first. It wasn't until later in the date that I caught on." Sayoko sighed. "I even accepted a few from the ones I knew wanted sex, just in case they decided to have a change of heart, like in the movies. But it never happened."

"But what happened last night?" asked Kensuke.

Sayoko now looked at the ground. "I'm tired of being alone. Aunt Megumi got married, Aunt Skuld has been spending time in heaven with Sentaro, Asuka and Shinji, Hikari and Touji………everyone has someone but me."

"What about Rei?"

Sayoko shrugged, "Rei has told me she's happy the way she is. But I'm not happy. So I decided last night…….I'd meet someone in the bar…….take a page out of Aunt Urd's book……..and let loose."

Kensuke stared at Sayoko, but she wasn't finished.

"So there I was sitting at the bar, reading the minds of a few of the people there when……."

"You read my mind."

Sayoko nodded. "After I saw you I couldn't go through with it. So I sat down next to you. Misery loves company after all. But then you asked me to dance. Yeah Rei told to do it and don't deny it. I was all set to turn you down, but the way you asked……you asked honestly, like Rei hadn't told you to." Sayoko smiled. "And I enjoyed it. For once I was dancing with someone who didn't have a hidden agenda. When we got back to the bar, I just decided to throw caution to the wind……whatever happened, happened." The smile vanished from Sayoko's face when she turned to look at him. "When you told me I didn't mean to do what I was doing last night…..you were wrong. I really did want that. At the time. But you surprised me, you turned me down. Of all the things that could have happened, I didn't expect that. Then I felt you carry me to the bed, and try to leave. I asked you to stay, and you did, even though we weren't going to……" Sayoko looked down at the ground. "You stayed the whole night, even though you didn't have to." She looked back at Kensuke. "Last night was the most peaceful rest I've had in a long time. I felt safe in your arms. Can you forgive me for thinking you were a pervert all these years?"

Kensuke smiled, "Well to be honest, you and Asuka were right during school."

"Still, I feel I owe you an apology."

"It's accepted, even though it was not needed." Kensuke stood up and held out his hand. "Shall we continue our tour of town?"

Sayoko smiled and took hold of his hand, pulling herself up. "Of course."

They had walked out of the park by the time Kensuke had registered something.

Sayoko had not let go of his hand.

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That night.

Kensuke sat on his hotel bed that night thinking. He had had a wonderful day with Sayoko. She seemed to enjoy it as well. When they parted for the night, he had almost gone after her. He did not want this day to end. Kensuke sighed and lay back on his bed. What was he thinking? Sayoko wasn't that kind of girl. And could he even think of doing that with her? After all, she was a Goddess, a pure hearted being, grand-daughter of Kami-sama. Sure she was the daughter of a mortal and a goddess, so it could happen, but they were also married when they had her. She was also a friend, an old friend. He didn't want to chance losing her as a friend should something happen down the road, yet……should he take a chance? Could he live with himself if he did do something with her? Hikari would say they were living in sin.

Sin…….

Would Sayoko suffer the lose of her divinity if he and she………

"Hey."

Kensuke sat up and looked in the direction the voice had come from. Sayoko looked back at him from the mirror on the wall. He stood up and walked over to the mirror.

"What's up?" he asked.

Sayoko looked downward where her feet were inside the mirror. "Can I come in?"

"Sure." Kensuke held out his hand and helped her through the mirror. He was a little surprised to see her wearing a robe.

Sayoko looked down at her feet. "Look. I had a wonderful day and all."

"So did I." replied Kensuke.

Sayoko looked up at his face. "I just……..I……." She moved in and wrapped her arms around Kensuke. "I didn't want to be alone."

Kensuke lifted her chin up and looked down at her face. "Neither did I."

Sayoko smiled and moved towards him and their lips met. Kensuke was surprised, but slowly relaxed into the kiss, closing his eyes. Sayoko started to push him back towards the bed, never removing her lips from his. He bumped into the bed with his legs and fell back, pulling Sayoko with him. He looked at her to see her eyes sparkling.

"Are you sure we should be…." Sayoko pressed a finger against his lips, preventing him from speaking further.

"You don't have to worry about a thing." She said softly.

"But what about your parents and..…" Kensuke's voice was slightly muffled by the finger.

"I'm a grown goddess." she said softly, "I can make my own choices." She sat up and removed her robe. Kensuke stared in awe at her. She smiled. "And I have made my choice Kensuke……."

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"KENSUKE!!!!"

Kensuke jumped up and then grabbed his waist as the seat belt dug into his gut.

"Ow…" he muttered. He took a quick look around. He was still on the plane. Mist was standing over him. A quick look behind him showed that Cayla was still there, but her face was completely red and she was staring at him with eyes as wide as dinner plates. He looked back at Mist.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"We'll be landing shortly." replied Mist, a hint of embarrassment in her voice.

Kensuke frowned, "What's wrong with you two?"

Mist began to blush slightly. "You were dreaming."

Now it was Kensuke's turn to blush. "You mean I was talking in my sleep?"

"No." replied Mist, her face getting a bit redder.

Now Kensuke was confused. "Then how do you……."

"Cayla is still an inexperienced goddess. She has much to learn still."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"It means that she…..sometimes….doesn't always use discretion with her powers….."

"Meaning…."

"She….was reading your mind while you slept."

Kensuke's face grew extremely hot from embarrassment. "How much did she see?"

Mist's face grew red as well. "WE…uhh….saw….everything….."

"We?" Kensuke stared at Mist.

'oh man…….Sayoko's going to kill me……'