Shinji Ikari sat alone on the Nihon fast transit, having chosen not to ride the transport plane back to Tokyo 3. Whether it was fear or apprehension, did not matter in his mind, but he was never going back to that…that place. At least he could tell himself that until his father told him otherwise, which Shinji hoped would never happen. Lost as he was in the depths of his mind, he all but missed the sudden announcement over the train's intercom of an unscheduled stop in the small mountain village of Yamanose. Yamanose was to put it plainly, little more than an old dojo and some run down huts, hardly a normal stopping local for the bullet train. So it was not surprising that Shinji's attention was soon riveted on the car's door. He knew that to make the bullet do a service stop at an unused terminal took a substantial amount of money

He did not have to wait long, until two figures appeared in the doorway. Both where men, whom Shinji guessed to be around thirty years of age. One of the two was dressed in a catholic priest's garb; the normal linen coat however had been conspicuously replaced with a black, leather flight-jacket. The man had a large bag in one hand and a long narrow cloth bundle in the other. Shinji watched as the man walked in a few feet and then turned around to face the man still standing in the door, revealing a long braid running down his back. The braided priest tossed an apparently snide remark at his fellow, and then very quickly went to the back of the car.

The other man stepped slowly into the lights of the car, and gazed slowly around the small cabin. His gaze stopped on Shinji, his Prussian blue eyes narrowing as if he was staring into the boy's soul. Shinji got an immeasurable unnerving feeling from the man's commanding stare, which Shinji noted was far more intimidating than his father's. The man made a noise like someone contemplating a math problem and proceeded down the aisle to the seat of his friend. Shinji, recovering from the stare, examined the man in more detail. Dark brown hair that seemed as wild as could be humanly imagined. He wore a dark green tank top; a pair of black pants of an apparent military origin, but the thing that Shinji most noticed was the trench coat. White as snow, it was, undoubtedly, the purest thing Shinji had seen in years. The large majority of the backside of the coat was covered by an emblazoned set of four angel wings, woven into the white leather with silver thread. The effect of it all, silver wings on a white backdrop, had a profound effect on Shinji. Putting away his digital music device, he, quite against his normal behavior, listened intently to the two men's conversation.

"Did Zechs find anything"

"No"

"Strange, the scanners said that the target was heading for Tokyo."

"Still Zechs didn't see any place large enough to hold and service whatever that was"

"What did he find?"

"That the city is underground"

"Great, and how do you suppose we get in?"

"We don't"

"WA?"

"Duo, there's a good chance, that that thing was sent as a defense."

"Meaning they thought the fire-sword was their enemy"

"Yeah, that's what ZERO was able determine"

"So what is this enemy they're fighting?"

"I don't know"

"Well that's great…"

"When we get to Tokyo, I want you to get deathscythe ready"

"Why?"

"Surveillance"

"I got ya"

"So what is that thing Duo"

"Don't know, some old man at the dojo gave it to me"

"The dojo?"

"Yeah, he said 'give this to the one called Michael'"

"Michael?"

"I think he meant you"

"Hmm…it's a katana"

"Hey! This thing is ancient! just look at those strange Sanskrit markings"

"These aren't Japanese…looks Hebrew…"

"Can ya read it?"

"No…I'll have Quatre see if he can."

"Right"

*ATTENTION PLEASE, NOW ARRIVEING AT SOUTH TOKYO 3 STATION, AGAIN, NOW ARRIVEING AT SOUTH TOKYO 3 STATION, THANK YOU*

"Duo, lets go"

"Yeah sure, just a sec"

Shinji watched as the two men stood and made their way back towards him and the door. The one in the trench coat, whose name Shinji still could not discover passed quickly by and out to the street. No sooner had he thought on that then the sudden realization hit him that the other one "Duo" was standing right in front of him looking at him

"Hey, kid"

"Y-y-y-yes"

"Here, get yourself some better music, that stuff kills the brain!"

The man's smile, was, it was genuine, the first simple pure smile, forged from a simple jest, Shinji had ever seen. The effect it had was astounding! His fear disappeared, and he accepted the small white envelope that this "Duo" offered.

"Thanks"

"Sure…Chao"

After a few minutes had passed he opened the envelope to find the equivalent of five hundred thousand dollars of U.S. currency. Shinji raced out of the car to return this massive sum just in time to see the two climb into a black Ferrari, and drive of at horrendous speed. As Shinji stared after the black bolt, Asuka, his fellow Eva pilot and in his own opinion, friend, and simultaneously scourge, took his stagnant gaze as an opportunity to strike.

"Hey Baka, never seen a car before"

"Asuka, I…"

"Don't start that apology thing this time!"

"Asuka I meant…"

"So now hero boy's going to call me a liar"

"No, I wasn't going…"

"You Damn Jerk"

*At least she didn't slap me*

SLAP

*I asked for that, didn't I*

"I was going to say that one of those guys gave me this, to go buy new music"

"Well, Shinji, someone finally had the nerve to tell you…What in the…There's five hundred thousand dollars in here! You could buy out a whole music store!"

"Asuka I'm not sure…"

"Hey! even better we could buy our own apartment!"

"WE! OUR!"

"What are you yelling about Baka"

"Err…"

"Your so dense it amazes me"

"Sorry"

"GRRRRRRR"

SLAP SLAP SLAP