Disclaimer: I do not own Evangelion. All characters and other associated materials are the property of Gainax.

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            And just like that she was gone. Out of his life again. It was that simple. [Wow]. It sure had happened quickly. Shinji sighed, watching the area that his breath would have appeared had it been cold outside. When it came down to it Shinji Ikari believed that he simply did not understand other people. It was a clean cut, plain and simple excuse constructed solely, purposely, and conveniently for the third child to hide behind. However lying to himself had become something that Shinji had gotten used to over the years and it was simply easier to not think about it; to not agonize over other peoples feelings and complications. [damn it. I guess I'm just destined to be alone].

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            "Misato?"

            "Uhh…Yes, hello, Asuka?"

            "Yep, it's me."

            "Good to hear from you again. How was Shinji's?"

            "Oh it was fine."

            "Well good, anyway Asuka I would love to stay and talk for a while but I'm actually leaving on a business trip to America right now."

            "Ohh," Asuka said, here voice easily conveying how put out she was by her former room mate's response.

            "Okay. Goodbye then."

            With a click the conversation ended.

            "Shiess."

            That left Hikari Horaki as her only possible roommate option in the greater Tokyo-3 area. [stupid Shinji]. He had made her cry, though she wasn't entirely sure why. [why cant I just allow myself to be happy for once?] It had felt good, she admitted, to have someone warm next to her; to have seen Shinji again after so long. But why had she cried? Why did she cry so easily for Shinji, but when it came to him…why had she felt nothing?

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            "Hello?"

            "Yes, hi. Um, is Kensuke there?"

            "Rei?"

            "Yes."

            Kensuke Aida covered the receiver with his hand.

            "Shit! Okay. You're okay. Just play it cool. [I can't believe I actually left that message]. Kensuke pulled his hand off of the receiver and placed it to his ear once again.

            "Hello Rei."

            "Hello Kensuke. I um…got your message."

            "Ahh…"

            "Do you think that eight would be alright?"

            "What?"

            "Eight O'clock," she paused, sounding unsure of herself, "you did ask me to dinner correct?"

            "Oh ya! Haha, of course I did! Yes Eight would be perfect."

            "Alright then, I will see you at eight. Goodbye."

            "Goodbye, Rei."

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            "Oh my God Asuka I am so glad to see you!"

            Hikari Horaki clamped Asuka Langley Soryu into one of the tightest hugs she had had in a long time.

            "I can't believe you're here! How long have you been in Japan?"

            "I actually just flew in last night."

            "Really! That's great, Asuka."

            The brown haired girl simply stared at her old friend for a moment and smiled.

            "I never really thought I would see you again."

            Asuka smiled back.

            "Me either."

            "Well do you need a place to stay?"

            "Actually I do, you see-," Asuka found her words cut off suddenly by another voice.

            "Hikari!"

            "Yes?"

            "Are we out of milk?"

            "Yah. We finished the last carton yesterday night, remember?"

            "Oh, that's right. Sorry."

            "That's fine."

            "Do you want me to run to the store?"

            Toji Suzahara now became visible to the second child as he stepped around the corner from the kitchen. He looked mostly the same, but he was taller now and much more muscular.

            "Asuka?"

            "Jesus Toji put some clothes on," Hikari said with an annoyed tone.

            "Oh," Toji said, his expression changing as he realized that he was only wearing a pair of boxer shorts and socks, "Right, got yah."

            Asuka watched as the fourth child retreated back into the recesses of the apartment.

            "So I see you're living with Toji."

            "Yes."

            "And how many bedrooms did you say you had?"

            "Um, just one actually. Were looking around for something bigger."

            "I see."

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            "Shinji? You home?"

            "Misato? Yah I'm here. Come on in."

            The door opened quickly as Shinji's former purple haired guardian entered and sat on his couch.

            "So what brings you here?"

            "I'll get right to the point: What happened with Asuka?"

            Shinji groaned.

            "Nothing happened. She spent the night, and then left this morning."

            Misato looked extremely disappointed.

            "Shinji, you only have one bed."

            "Yah. And?"

            "So you spent the night together, right?"

            "Yes."

            "And nothing happened?"

            "Look Misato, I'm not like you, alright? I have more respect for Asuka than that. Besides, she wouldn't want me anyway."

            "Shinji, why do you think she showed up at your house?"

            "Because you told her you were busy."

            "Well true, but don't you think that she could've gone to Hikari's, or to a hotel?"

            "I suppose."

            "She obviously wanted to see you. I just gave her a little incentive."

            "So you're saying that she needed an excuse to see me?"

            "Well…Would you ever show up at Asuka's place in Germany?"

            "No."

            "What if you were ordered to by NERV? Would you go then?"

            "Probably."

"And you wouldn't be happy to have an excuse to see the woman you've loved since your were fourteen?"

            "That's not true."

            "Bullshit. We both know it. Jesus Shinji everyone knows it. You don't think Asuka knew what she was doing when she came here last night? Why do you think that she stayed in Japan a whole two years after the Angels were defeated? Shinji sometimes I think you are the densest person I have ever met."

            "So you're trying to tell me that I love Asuka, a woman who has been a total bitch to me my entire life, and that she, one of the most beautiful women I have ever met, in turn love's a worthless loser like me, and has simply been waiting for me to make a move my entire life?"

            Shinji laughed.

            "Wow, Misato, I can't wait to sell the movie rights."

            "Shinji, do you remember what I said to you when Asuka left all those years ago?"

            Shinji nodded, his expression growing solemn.

            "Well guess what Shinji, if you don't do something right now, you will probably never see her again."

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            "Why did I come here?" the second child said to no one, "What did is expect would happen? Did I just think that somehow nothing would have changed? That I could just stroll back into the lives of people I haven't even communicated with in years?"

            Asuka Langley Soryu found that she didn't blame them though. She knew what kind of person she was, how she acted and the way she treated others. She found herself trying to analyze how she felt towards Shinji Ikari, but she would always come up blank. This was one of the reasons that she had come back to Japan after the death of her husband. Perhaps it had just been a defense mechanism, running back to the people that had been abandoned.

            Asuka sighed as she watched the waves roll onto the sand lake shore. It had been the happiest time of her life. She was young, she was still young she reminded herself, and she had been free, and rich too. It was a lonely life, too much money and nothing, no one to spend it on or with. They had met at an awards ceremony.

That day Asuka had received a medal of honor from NERV Germany, and he had been there. He was an American named Damon Robinson. She had found him very attractive, with his dark hair and features and well built frame. He had been "hung out to dry," as he had put it at the time. He had been participating in an experimental Evangelion project for the American government, but the project had been abandoned after the defeat of the Angels. As a good will gesture the government had offered him a position as a sort of traveling emissary for NERV USA, and he had accepted.

They had immediately hit it off once they had met and proceeded upon a tour of Europe with the assistance of Asuka's sizable, though no longer incoming (a law of the Japanese government stated that a pension cannot continue for a sustained period outside of Japan itself), Japanese government money. She had fallen in love, fully, completely, and dangerously, in love. He had proposed to her on the back of a train running through France, and she had accepted without a moment's hesitation. The wedding came a month afterward. The ceremony had been simple, for neither that any living family left to impress, and they had gone on honeymoon in Hawaii.

They purchased two homes, one in California and one in Germany. Damon had come up with an idea soon after that. He had told her that it had something to do with cellular growth technology. He had founded a company: DNAlied. They had invested, or, in truth, she had invested in his company, as well as in other funds and corporations. Later that year Damon had gone in for a routine physical and the doctors discovered that he had cancer.

She had watched him waste slowly away over a few short months, and then he was gone. Asuka had not been able to cry. She had sat with him through all the long days, and the sleepless, bedridden nights. She could not shed a tear. Soon afterwards his company faulted and went bankrupt, taking Asuka's invested funds with it. She was forced to sell both homes and move into a small apartment in Germany; to begin work at a 9 to 5. Six days earlier Asuka had abandoned her life in Germany and used the last of her savings to board a plane to Japan. And here she was, sitting alone on a lakeshore that she had helped to create when she was a child.

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[God she is beautiful], Kensuke Aida thought as he slowly walked with Rei Ayanami to the bottom floor of her apartment; walked her down to his Porsche Boxter 2021 turbo.

"Is that your car?"

"Indeed it is."

"Its…nice."

            "Yah. It was either a nice car or a decent apartment. So I of course took the car."

            [A joke. I just made a joke, right?] Kensuke waited for a show of emotion on Rei's face.

            [Was that a joke? Yes…yes that was humor. I should smile].

            Rei Ayanami allowed her lips to curl slightly.

            Kensuke Aida took note of this action and opened the passenger door to allow his date to get in.

            [This is gonna be an interesting night].

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            Misato Katsuragi made the drive back to her old apartment in the highest of spirits. She had left Shinji departing to save his tragic heroine from the fate of broken dreams and pondered questions. Having Asuka return to Japan filled her with s remarkable hope, and living her own lost life through Shinji Ikari would at least keep her thoughts off her own loneliness for the time being.

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            "Is it strange being famous?"

            "I'm hardly famous Rei."

            "I've seen you on television several times."

            Kensuke shrugged.

            "I'd rather still be in the service."

            "But you're a hero. I saw a biography on you. You saved the lives of three people."

            Kensuke put a piece of the steak he had been cutting into his mouth. [ya I sure did. From a situation that I caused].

            "Yes. I suppose I did."

            "And they gave you a Medal of Honor, is that correct?"

            "Yes." 

            "I would think that that would be something to be proud of."

            "Maybe someday I'll tell you a bit more about that," Kensuke said, ending the topic of conversation.

            Rei decided not to continue in that direction and instead allowed Kensuke to talk about other aspects of his life, especially since Rei believed her own to be astronomically boring. Throughout the meal Rei found herself to be smiling more and more often, and once, though missed by Kensuke, a small laugh had issued from her lips. When dinner came to an end Kensuke drove Rei back to her apartment, and walked her back up the stairs to her room, where an awkward array of "I had a good time"'s and "Goodnight";s followed.

            Silence. Rei found herself slightly confused about what was supposed to happen next. They were both simply standing outside of her doorway. She had read about situations like this, but she found that she could not quite recall what exactly the proper action was. [Do not kiss on the first date? Or…Do not have sex on the first date? hmm…do not get married on the first date?] Rei found that her normally reliable logic had, to some extent, deserted her.

            "Well…" Kensuke started.

            Rei approached him, leaned upwards and planted a quick kiss on the brown haired boy's cheek.

            "Goodnight Kensuke."

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            Shinji Ikari sat in the driver's seat of his car looking down onto the lakeshore from the ridge where he had parked his car. He could see Asuka Langley Soryu plainly, sitting a few feet back from the small lake waves.

            "I have to go down there. I should do down there."

            [Why can't I go down there? Why do I do this to myself? I hate this. I hate being afraid of her; of everyone. Father…no don't blame him. He is gone now. He's gone].

            Shinji opened the door of his car and began to walk the bumpy path down to the beach. Moments later he found himself standing next a red headed woman sitting on the beach. Silence, and then she spoke:

            "How did you know I was here?"

            "Hikari told me you might be."

            Asuka nodded.

            "I'm sorry about just coming out of nowhere and staying at your place."

            "Please don't apologize to me. I don't deserve apologies," there was silence for several moments before Shinji spoke again, "What did you mean when you said that you had no other place to go?"

            "I don't really want to talk about it."

            "Oh," Again silence followed, and then: "Last night, were you acting nice to me because you needed a place to stay?"

            Asuka immediately felt ashamed of herself. [was it really so strange for me to act nice to him?]

            "At first."

            "At first?"

            "Um…I mean," [sheiss].

            Shinji watched as Asuka began to blush slightly.

            "Anyway. I think that I'm going to head back to Germany. It was nice to see everyone again, but I don't think that this is the place for me. I hate to ask you this, but do you think that you could loan me some money for a plane ticket?"

            "What? Asuka, you don't have any money?"

            He watched her turn her head away.

            "I've…I've had some troubles as of late."

            "Oh. I see."

            "I mean its not, like, y'know…" her words faded into the twilight, lacking the truth to allow them to continue. Asuka knew she was broke, and Shinji had guessed the same after her comment.

            "Asuka?"

            "Yes?"

            "I'm glad that you came to stay with me last night."

            "Yah spending the night in a bed with me tends to do that to men."

            Shinji ignored the obvious attempt to lighten the emotion involved in what he was trying to say just as Asuka had said it to avoid putting her own feelings on the line.

            "I…I want you to stay. I, I mean…I don't," [goddamnit].

            Asuka could see the strain on the features of the third child. He was obviously trying to say something, but couldn't find the words.

            In Shinji's mind, however, the image from his childhood of Asuka Langley Soryu boarding her plane home was replaying continuously. [don't let her go again].

            "Asuka. I would really like it if you would stay around for a while. I mean, It's not a problem if you stay at my apartment, especially if your having money trouble. It can be like an all expense paid vacation. You can just hang out until you get your life back in order again."

            Asuka could sense a deeper, hidden passion to his words. But at the same time she could see that this was as close as either of them would get to reaching out to the other person. Asuka knew that she didn't really want to go back to Germany, and being close to her old friends again was part of her original intent in returning to Japan anyway; shoulders to lean on (as much as she hated to admit it).

            "I…I'd like that."

            Shinji nodded. He knew that what he had said to her had fallen far short of what he had come to the lake hoping to confess, but at the same time he could feel happiness begin to surface within himself at the prospect of Asuka staying, if only for a little while, with him.

            Human beings are awkward creatures, made to walk on two legs and contend with emotions, thoughts, and the feelings of others. However, as the third child walked Asuka Langley Soryu back to his car, the world to him already seemed to be a much less painful place. A hope was burning within him, and, for now at least, that was all that really mattered to Shinji Ikari.