A/N: Yes. I know. This is strange. It's only the plot summary. But the thing is, it's been sitting there in my com for months now, and I still don't have any time to write the actual story. So, if you're a talented NGE fanfiction writer and you've got absolutely nothing to do, go ahead and write my fic for me. I don't really care if you take the exact storyline because this is just an idea I had for a fic since I haven't read any fics written like this. I'd be really happy to see someone try their hand at an NGE fic like this. Just make sure that if you DO feel like writing this fic, tell me first, and give a little credit to me (I mean, it took a while to place the story pieces together, you know).
My email (Lina):
IMPORTANT: The next two chapters are the first two chapters of this story that I wrote during the summer. If you choose to write this fic, you can either continue my version or just take ideas.
Disclaimer: None of the original NGE characters belong to the lunatic author (or her Beta-reading sidekick). They obviously belong to GAINAX, who deserve to own them, too.
Untitled NGE Fanfiction
Plot Summary
By LINA of Sunlit Wings
Asuka Sohryu Langley is the daughter of a wealthy man in Germany. She has many friends, but only two best friends – Hikari, a girl who helps operate the orphanage, and a peasant boy named Hatori. In reality, he is Shinji Ikari, the son of the commander of a top-secret organization, Nerv. Shinji doesn't know what his father is like, only the fact that Gendo is the commander, and that he has to keep his Eva-piloting duties a secret. Asuka pilots an Eva as well, but they never see each other, nor go on the same missions together. Asuka only knows Shinji as a cold, cruel boy like his father.
But Asuka, like Shinji, gave her secret friend the wrong name. Shinji knows Asuka to be a peasant girl named Nakuru. Ever since they were young, Asuka would borrow a sooty, labour-worn dress from one of her closest maids, and sneak out to visit him. In the same fashion, Shinji dresses in rags and sneaks out once in a while to meet her.
Unfortunately, Shinji is one day forced to leave, because his guardian has a new command from his father: Shinji is to court a rich girl, named Asuka Langley, the daughter of a rich man. Shinji sneaks off at once to inform the girl he knows as Nakuru, but before he can tell her the name of the girl he is to court with, he is discovered by his guardian, and whisked away.
As for Asuka, her 18th birthday nears, and her father urges her to meet suitors and find a man that she likes, but Asuka refuses to submit to this idea. She rejects more and more suitors, but they keep coming, drawn to her by her beauty, wealth, and the offers her father advertises publicly. Finally, she makes a deal with her father: a week before her birthday, there will be a ball for all suitors from every place in the world. Asuka can do whatever she likes to drive them away, but at midnight, she must choose a husband from the remaining suitors. If she succeeds in driving every single man away, her father will buy her a nice beach bungalow far from Germany, where she can spend the rest of her life doing whatever she wishes. When, at last, it is the night of the ball, Asuka, along with the help of a select few of her servants, is able to drive away every single suitor. However, her father has hidden away a single boy in a secret room that he alone knows exists. By the time the clock strikes midnight, Asuka is exhausted, and is sure that there is not a single suitor left in her father's great mansion. Her father then reveals the hidden boy. The boy is Shinji.
For Asuka's father had made a deal with Shinji's father: In exchange for Asuka's hand in marriage, her father would be able to access the secrets of Nerv, and serve as an advisor to the commander and sub-commander. Asuka's father agreed to this, because he wanted to know more about what Asuka was doing on those mysterious trips to the Nerv base. So he had hid Shinji in a secret room. This, he explains to Asuka when she complains about his actions.
Asuka and Shinji spend a week together, and during that week, suspicions arise. Neither of them knows that they are actually Nakuru and Hatori. For, in their secret meetings, they are both covered in soot and grime, therefore cannot recognize each other when well dressed and clean.
Finally, it is Asuka's birthday. Shinji remembers a deal that he had made with Nakuru to meet her on this day – back then, he had not known that it was Asuka's birthday. It is difficult for him, but he manages to escape the heavy security in Asuka's home, and waits for Nakuru in their secret meeting place. However, Asuka, being accompanied by her father, are waiting for Shinji to join them for Asuka's birthday feast, so Asuka is unable to leave and sneak off to Hatori. She is impatient, and cannot wait for 'that bastard' Shinji to arrive, so she angrily breaks into his room to find that no one is there.
Meanwhile, Shinji is suspecting that something is wrong when his friend Nakuru had still not yet arrived. He calls frantically for her, but is discovered not by Nakuru, but by his two friends, Touji and Kensuke. They tell him that 'that bitch' Asuka is waiting for him to return so that they can have a birthday feast together. Shinji sadly returns to Asuka's mansion and retreats to his room to change. Asuka has long left his room, but in her anger, a charm tied to her wrist became undone, and landed on the floor. Shinji notices it, and recognizes it at once to be Nakuru's bracelet. He had given it to her when they were young, on one of their secret outings. Shinji becomes puzzled, but resignedly concludes that Nakuru must have sneaked into his carriage to put it in his luggage or something.
A few days later, Shinji and Asuka are told that their wedding will take place in three days' time. They are both separately worried, for they hate each other. Asuka is anxious to see Hatori, now fully convinced that he is the only one she loves, and Shinji is worrying about why Nakuru wasn't there to meet him a few days earlier, regretting that he had not told her that he loved her when he had the chance.
Just before the wedding starts, Asuka strips off her wedding gown and puts on her peasant outfit, determined to run away. Shinji catches a glimpse of her, and turns away, knowing that his father would not let him refuse Asuka Langley as a wife. Too afraid to go against his intimidating father, he decided not to speak to Nakuru, in case it brought back bad memories and made him do something stupid that he might regret. Asuka doesn't get far when she hears explosive booms and crashes behind her. The church is being bombed.
Everyone inside panics, but Shinji gets into his Eva, which, fortunately, was nearby for demonstrational and political purposes. He drives the offenders away, and rescues everyone inside the Church. Asuka watches from far away. This isn't the first time she watched Shinji fight. A long time ago, she had watched videos of his first times inside the Eva. But Asuka watches with raging fury, not with awe, because Shinji's combat skills were the cause of her fixed marriage. Angry and upset, Asuka runs to her secret meeting place, hoping that Hatori would be there, but of course, he isn't.
Asuka waits there, for three months, and for three months, her father was worried. Many search parties were sent out, but Asuka was too good for them, and they did not find her. Shinji was supposed to just wait until his runaway bride was discovered, and he had little to do for the duration of the time, but he refrained from venturing to the secret meeting place, afraid to see Nakuru after knowing that she had been at his supposed wedding. Meanwhile, Asuka's father spent loads of money trying to find his daughter. Finally, one day, the people who had invaded Shinji's and Asuka's wedding identified themselves. They were loan sharks, and they were there to collect a so-called debt that Asuka's father supposedly owed them. Unfortunately, because of some kind of forgery, the government found nothing wrong with this, and Asuka's father was forced to hand the money over. Because of the loan sharks and the monstrous amount of money he had spent on his daughter, Asuka's father lost his job, and could only lie in wait for Asuka's return. Only then would he get his promised job at Nerv.
Shinji was now torn in his newfound sympathy for Asuka's father, and his promise to Nakuru that they would grow up together. He found little ideas for how he could possibly convince his father to allow Nakuru in their home after he got married to Asuka, and yet, he wanted Asuka's father to be happy. Indeed, Shinji found Asuka's father to be such a kind man, much unlike Gendo Ikari, and if Shinji married Asuka, then he would become his father as well. Shinji shared this dilemma with Touji and Kensuke, who also knew Nakuru, and they said that Shinji should follow his heart and live with Nakuru. They had never really fancied Nakuru, but they both felt that she was much better than the red demon Asuka. Shinji considered this, and finally decided to run away. Not long after he left, Kensuke sent him news that Touji had been injured in another attack on Asuka's mansion that had been launched by the loan sharks. It turned out that they had come for more, and weren't satisfied with the money. They wanted Asuka as well.
But the truth was, no one knew where Asuka was. No one except for Hikari Horaki, one of Asuka's friends who served in the orphanage near Asuka's and Shinji's secret meeting place. She knew Asuka's secret, and when she saw Shinji, she recognized him at once as Hatori, and prepared some food for him. After Shinji told her his story about being engaged to Asuka, Hikari was about to explain who Nakuru really was, when the loan sharks came in, looking for Shinji and Asuka. They had Kensuke with them, and apparently, he was the one who leaked the information to them after they threatened to finish Touji off. Immediately, Kensuke realized that Nakuru was actually Asuka, and Asuka was really Nakuru, whichever way it went. But before he could share his thoughts, his captor let go of him and left, chasing after Shinji, who had fled. Kensuke stayed with Hikari, and they both confirmed each other's thoughts.
Meanwhile, Asuka was taking a walk in the woods – having stayed waiting for Hatori to come for three months, doing nothing but eating and drinking and sitting in a cramped spot that was their meeting place made her see fresh air and good space with new eyes. She spotted an abandoned cottage somewhere deep inside the woods. The cottage looked like it had been built just recently – there was even a horse tied to the stable at the back. Even the windows and roof looked as if they had just been installed. Asuka, after considering the fact that the owner must still be alive and would be returning soon, decided against staying. She ventured further into the woods, but soon, it started to rain, washing the soot and filth from Asuka's hair. Drenched and soaked to the skin, Asuka had no choice but to change into her more luxurious dress that she had flung into her bundle. She untied her hair, letting it fall onto her shoulders the way it did when she was at home, and ran back to the cottage that she had seen.
Shinji was lucky; he had managed to escape the loan sharks, and now that it started to rain, he decided to return the Asuka's mansion. But when he arrived, there were only remains of what used to be a beautiful home. Shinji searched and searched, but could not find Asuka's father, nor anyone else that had once lived in the mansion. He could only find a few of his clothes, unharmed. Since the rain ruined his peasant outfit, he changed into the clothes that he found. Then, finding no other option, he decided to retreat to his cottage that he had built in the woods only a few weeks ago, to avoid waiting for and thinking about Asuka.
On the way, he found Touji, his leg broken, and a few ribs fractured. Touji tells him that the loan sharks have taken Asuka's father, Hikari, Kensuke, and other people who lived in Asuka's mansion or were her friends, hostage. Miserable, Shinji takes Touji to his cottage in the woods to plan what to do next.
Asuka hears someone coming, and hides. When Shinji enters his cottage, she gasps and tries to run away, but when Shinji comes after her on his horse and gets knocked off by a branch, she sees her bracelet on his wrist. Furious, she helps him up and demands where he got the bracelet. Before he could explain, there is a cry coming from the cottage. They both return to find the place looking disastrous. Touji is gone; only a ransom note is left, demanding that Asuka come to rescue her father, at the right time and place. Shinji and Asuka decide to rest for the night, and do something about it the next day – but they find that the cottage only has one bed. Asuka demands that she have the bed, and Shinji tries vainly to tell her that it should be okay for them to sleep together since they were supposed to be married by now anyway. Asuka gives her usual retort (hentai!), and Shinji ends up sleeping in the stable. The next day, Shinji wakes early in the morning to bath in the lake near his cottage. Asuka takes this time to look through his stuff, and finds that he has taken her bracelet with him. She wonders about why he has it, and concludes that she must have dropped it in his room on her birthday, and that he was keeping it for hentai purposes. When Shinji returns with only a towel wrapped around his waist, Asuka realizes how much he resembles Hatori. This thought is shaken away when she remembers that it's impossible – Shinji is stinking rich like her while Hatori is a peasant with only rags to wear. However, she contemplates the fact that she, herself, had given Hatori the wrong name, and told him that she was an orphan. Asuka doesn't have enough time to decide what to do about this, because Shinji starts a conversation about how they are going to rescue her father. Asuka retorts that she could do it herself when Shinji said that Asuka ought to stay, because a rescue led by her would be what the loan sharks were expecting. In the end, Shinji takes off in his Eva, leaving Asuka sulking, and her mystery unsolved.
Shinji frees Hikari and Kensuke, who tell him that a girl already trapped by the loan sharks, is being raped in another room. Shinji tells them to run, and finds the girl in time to stop her violator. However, he finds that the man is none other than his father, Gendo Ikari. Shocked and angry, Shinji is captured by him, and Gendo explains that Shinji's engagement to Asuka was a diversion to get him off his back, so he could use Rei, who was the other girl he was about to rape. Disgusted and furious, Shinji rescues Rei, and they immediately realize that they are both Eva pilots. Gendo sends his men to trap Shinji's Eva, so Rei invites him to ride in her Eva instead. They escape, but barely.
Meanwhile, Asuka is waiting in Shinji's cottage, wondering what could be happening. She was still furious that she couldn't do anything about her father's capture, so in her rage, she rode Shinji's horse to Nerv's HQ. She finds that everyone is trying to locate Shinji and Gendo, but no one is successful. It seems that wherever they are, is highly protected by technology more high-tech than the Magi itself.
Shinji and Rei stay at a hotel in a nearby village, and Shinji explains his situation to Rei. Rei seems eager to help, but in her mind, she is truly in love with Shinji and doesn't him to meet Asuka again. She doesn't know what to do when she finds some of Gendo's men looking for Shinji. Knowing that Gendo would let her have Shinji, she called for the guards to capture him. Gendo is happy to let Rei have Shinji, as long as he gets to do what he wants with him first. Shinji is locked in dungeons where Rei can't find him, and behind Rei's back, Gendo makes Shinji endure immense pain and torture. As each whip touches his bloody back, Shinji thinks longingly of Nakuru and her sweet smile.
At Nerv, Asuka is not permitted to simply ride her Eva to the rescue. Asuka insists that she knows the exact location of the place where her father is being held captive, but Misato Katsuragi, the temporary commander, says what Shinji had told Asuka about the loan sharks expecting that kind of a rescue.
Shinji is whipped and verbally harassed everyday by Gendo and his men. One day, two weeks since Shinji's capture, Gendo mentions how Asuka, Shinji's wife-to-be, was taking a bit long to rescue her love. Shinji thinks wryly about how Asuka was probably enjoying his absence, but then realizes how closely Asuka resembled Nakuru. He wondered, could Nakuru possibly have a twin? Or maybe they were sisters, but her father could only afford to raise one of them? Nakuru had never told the whole story about how she had been abandoned, so Shinji felt excited. But then Gendo switched to another topic, about how careless and stupid Shinji was, so Shinji slumped and thought that maybe he was just hallucinating. He hadn't seen Nakuru for a long time anyway.
Hikari and Kensuke have successfully escaped, though it was thanks to Shinji's own capture that the guards didn't notice them. The first thing Hikari decides to do is to find Asuka and tell her about Shinji being the same person they knew as Hatori. But Kensuke and her are unable to find Asuka anywhere, and finally decide to go to Nerv, which they knew Asuka had to be. But the guards don't let them in – thinking that they could be spies, or even Angels. Asuka is too busy sneaking off to her Eva to see the commotion on the surveillance screens. Happy that everyone else was occupied by whatever it was at the front gate, she got into her Eva and heads toward the place that had been written on the ransom note.
Rei finds Shinji in his room one day, gently stroking a bracelet. Rei asks about it, and Shinji tells her about his love for Nakuru. Rei is immediately angered, and that night, she takes the bracelet and throws it into the lake.
Gendo's guards track down Asuka before she could enter the portal that was the entrance to Gendo's hideout, but she quickly ejects from the plug, and runs off to Shinji's cottage. To get rid of all the stress of not being able to find her father, she takes a dip in the lake to find Hatori's bracelet floating downstream. Asuka quickly retrieves it, and puts it on her wrist, remembering about Hatori. She now wondered where he could possibly be, if he wasn't at the secret meeting place. She knew he had left to court a girl. Suddenly, she had a thought. Hatori seemed as if his courting with a girl was important and strict, but he was a peasant. Weren't peasants allowed to choose whom they wanted to marry? And when did peasants use the word court? It seemed to Asuka that Hatori might not be who he seemed to be at all. There was every chance that Hatori might even be – Asuka scowled – Shinji! Asuka decides that it's all too complicated, and that she was probably missing Hatori too much. She decides to get to the bottom of the mystery the next day. Asuka is unable to have a good night's sleep, though. Something is making loud, thudding noises outside the cottage.
For Shinji's Eva had escaped that day – and Gendo had been furious. He put most of the blame on his men, but Shinji felt his anger as well. His daily whipping was increased, and Shinji got no lunch or dinner. Rei tried to make Shinji comfortable and pampered him in her room that night, but he insisted that he stay in his own room. Rei pondered about how he could possibly still not be in love with her, and wondered where his Eva could have gone to.
The answer was right at Asuka's door. Somehow, the Eva knew that Shinji would want Asuka to come and rescue him, even though he knew her as Nakuru. Asuka, wanting to be ready to escape, dressed up in her peasant outfit, and got inside the Entry plug.
In the middle of the night, Shinji awoke to Gendo's frantic commands. He sees Rei trying to get him to go back to sleep, but he hears the voice of his own Eva. Wanting to avoid thinking about why Rei was next to him naked, he ran outside in only a thin, white pair of pants, which got dirty and filthy as soon as he stepped into the garden, where Unit 01 was causing havoc. Inside, Asuka saw him and recognized him as Hatori. She lifted him and exited out the portal, driven away by Rei's Eva.
Asuka got out of the Entry Plug, and ran down to meet Hatori. He smiled and they embraced, both happy to see each other. But deep inside, there were still many questions to be answered, and Shinji didn't want to be the first one to ask them, nor did he want to answer anything. He just held Nakuru close, and wondered who was inside his Eva, for he had not seen Asuka come out of it. He saw Nakuru's bracelet on her, and wondered how she had gotten it back. He didn't ask about it though. They stayed in a nearby village, where a kind old lady gave them food and space to rest. This time, with only one bed, Nakuru agreed to sleep with Hatori.
Meanwhile, Gendo was not happy. He ordered for Asuka's father to be tortured the way Shinji had. Though the whip stung him horribly, Asuka's father couldn't help but smile at Shinji's escape. He somehow had the feeling that Asuka had been the one to save him.
Gendo wasn't the only one there that was angered at Shinji's escape. Rei is devastated that Shinji had left her. Hadn't she been the one who had healed his wounds and scars so intimately and lovingly? She was determined to find that Nakuru girl and teach her a lesson.
Asuka and Shinji decide to head back to the orphanage, since Shinji thinks that it's best for Nakuru to go home. Secretly, he wants to run off and marry her as a peasant, but he can't leave the fact that Asuka's father is still captured by his father. Shinji angrily thinks also about his own father, and decides that he couldn't leave a man like Gendo unpunished. Shinji also considers that Asuka is probably still waiting for news of his attempt to rescue her father. So after admitting his love for Nakuru, and promising to see her again, Shinji runs off to the woods.
Asuka, as Nakuru, watches Hatori as he leaves, suddenly wondering about the girl that Hatori had said he was courting. Where was she? And Asuka, in her relief, had forgotten to ask about his being where her father was captured. Sorely confused, Asuka asks Hikari for a change of clothes, but the only ones Hikari has left are the ceremonial robes that Asuka had lovingly given to her on her birthday. Hikari willingly offers the robes to Asuka, who, though she dislikes the way they aren't comfortable and easily manoeuvrable like the peasant clothes, reluctantly dons them. Resentfully, Asuka returns to Shinji's cottage.
Asuka arrives to find Shinji in a half-panic. He explains that he was looking for her. Asuka then yells about going to Nerv after Shinji had been missing for such a long time, and that she had gone to rescue her father herself in Unit 02. They both don't say anything about their secret friend, though, thinking that the other probably wouldn't have anything nice to say about having a peasant friend. Shinji is about to say that he now realized that it had been her inside the Eva, but then, someone knocks at the door of the cottage. Shinji recognizes the person immediately. The girl is Rei.
Asuka is curious to why Rei, the pilot of Unit 00, had followed them to Shinji's cottage. Rei hid the fact that she herself had sent guards looking for Shinji, and that at the very moment, Gendo's men were surrounding the cottage. Secretly, she loathed the way Asuka kept insulting and calling Shinji names. She especially hated the way Shinji just let her go on, and still treated her kindly. Suddenly, a thought came to her; Shinji had once told her that he especially loved Nakuru's deep sea-blue eyes and her flaming red hair. Rei compared this to Asuka, and couldn't resist the thought that Asuka might be Nakuru. This only gave Rei more reason to hate Asuka. In the end, Rei resolved to kill Asuka that night.
As there were no beds for both Rei and Shinji, Shinji offered the stable to Rei, and slept on the veranda that night. When all was quiet, Rei snuck up, and revealed a silver blade tucked in her sleeve. She crept inside, but before she set foot into the cottage, Shinji awoke to find himself surrounded by Gendo's men. They had chosen to attack at the same time Rei had. Before Rei could do anything, Shinji let out a warning shout to Rei and Asuka, and Asuka woke inside. She jumped out the window, landed on Shinji's horse, and rode off into the woods, calling over her shoulder that she would send reinforcements.
Gendo, though angry that his grand prize Asuka had gotten away, happily brought Shinji back into the same dungeon that Shinji had stayed for a month last time he had been captured. This time, Gendo made sure that Shinji would stay for much, much longer.
Asuka arrives at Nerv, and tells all about the portal, Rei's arrival, and Shinji's capture. Misato immediately thinks that Rei might be part of the problem, though she misundersood why Rei would do such a thing so willingly. She absentmindedly voices the thought that Rei was never programmed for this, and Asuka, confused, hears this comment.
Meanwhile, Hikari and Kensuke plan a rescue mission of their own. They are determined to rescue Shinji and Touji, and break it to Shinji that Nakuru is actually Asuka. Then they realize that it would be much easier to break it to Asuka first, and let her do the rescuing. They go to Nerv at once. This time, Nerv lets them in, and they speak to Asuka. Asuka doesn't believe them, convinced that this is only an attempt to get her to rescue Shinji. Hikari asks if Asuka was planning to rescue him anyway. They talk girl to girl in a secret room, and Asuka admits that she might be falling for Shinji, and that she's scared that this might pull her and Hatori farther apart. Hikari is exasperated, and tries to tell Asuka that Shinji is Hatori again, but then Misato tells them that they have an emergency: Gendo is threatening to kill Asuka's father.
The threat is put on the TV satellites, so Misato rewinds it for Asuka to see. She wonders why Gendo isn't threatening to kill Shinji, but that question is answered when, farther along the tape, Rei shows up, caressing an unconscious Shinji's face. Gendo's voice explains that Rei will have Shinji if Asuka doesn't come to claim him. Hikari moans that it's a terrible thing, and that Asuka must go and rescue them both, but Asuka solidly refuses to care about Shinji's supposed fate. Inside, though, Asuka's heart makes a funny jump of anger when Rei places a long, hard kiss on Shinji's lips, and then smiles wickedly at the TV recorder. Asuka denies her feelings, thinking that she is betraying her true love Hatori. She looks longingly at her bracelet, and wishes that all of this had never started...
Shinji awakes to find himself in Rei's room. Realizing now that Rei would do anything to be with him, he explains to her that true love means wanting your love to be happy, not to force them to always be with you against their own will. He tells her that she is a very kind girl inside, and that maybe someday, she will meet her true love. Shinji thoughtfully adds that he is not in love with Asuka, rather, he is in love with the peasant Nakuru, and that he'll wait for the day when he can be with her. Rei is sad, but is touched by Shinji's words. She immediately goes to Gendo, and asks if he can help her find a peasant girl named Nakuru, who has blue eyes and red hair. Furious, Gendo explodes that the only girl in Germany with that description was Asuka Sohryu Langley. He angrily demands if Rei was teasing him, but Rei insists that there has to be another girl. Gendo finally submits, and gets one of his men to hack into the Magi system, which has all the data on all the peasants that were ever born or live in Germany. He only finds two girls; one who has been living on the farthest place in Germany from them, and is too old to be the girl, and the other is brown-eyed, golden-haired, and a bit too young. Sad that she is unable to find Shinji's love, she returns to her room, but doesn't tell Shinji the news. She is too shocked to find that there is not a single girl registered named Nakuru. Did that mean that Nakuru was an outcast? Or maybe she was murdered, and all her files were erased...Rei decided not to cause any more worry in Shinji's life. Rei offered to help him escape, as long as he took her with him. He agreed.
Asuka finally decides that she had never felt anything for the stupid Shinji, and returns to her home village, gathering friends to rebuild her mansion. Then, one night, Asuka thinks about Hatori, and how she hadn't seen him for such a long time. She starts to realize that maybe Hatori wouldn't care that much about her being with someone else once he found out who Nakuru really was. Determined to tell him, she runs out in her nightclothes to the orphanage, hoping that Hatori is there. It is, after all, supposed to be Hatori's birthday that day. But before she gets there, Unit-01 suddenly stops her. Asuka is flooded with happiness, thinking that Shinji had escaped. But it turns out that no one is inside the Entry Plug.
Because, in Rei and Shinji's attempt to escape, they found out that Gendo had been updating Unit-01 into a super model, one that Shinji couldn't control. But in the middle of the mess, Yui's spirit awoke, and ran off to find Asuka. Somehow, in Gendo's miscalculations, Yui's spirit now had more power over the Eva. Since Yui had sensing her son's feelings all this time, she knew she had to get Asuka.
Asuka stands outside the Entry Plug, about to go in. Yui tells her to rescue Shinji. Asuka goes without hesitating.
Gendo, in his rage, can't find Rei and Shinji after the Unit crashed it's way through the walls of the void that his hideout is built inside. It had created another porthole, one that led directly to Asuka's mansion that was being rebuilt. Rei and Shinji hide, trying to plot a way to get to the portal, since they overhear where it is connected. But Gendo knows that they will try to use it, so it is heavily guarded under his orders. Rei and Shinji have no choice but to keep hiding.
Finally, one day, Shinji starts thinking that he is falling for Rei, now that she is no longer trying to seduce him. But he tries to shake this thought away, thinking that it would be evil to love three girls at once.
Finally, Asuka comes. She catches Shinji and Rei kissing, but it is one of those accident ones, where neither of them saw it coming. After rescuing them, Asuka starts thinking that she was wrong about loving Shinji, and that Hatori wouldn't do a thing like that to her. Rei and Shinji never clear it to Asuka, and Asuka gets detached from them, giving more space for Shinji to bond with Rei. Asuka starts thinking that she has no one anymore, not Shinji nor Hatori.
Shinji, Asuka, and Rei report for duty to rescue Asuka's father, but then, on the mission, Asuka's Eva is attacked by one of Gendo's creations, a deadly unmanned robot created from remains of the last Angel. Asuka ejects the Entry Plug before getting injured, and since her Plug suit is badly damaged, she quickly changes into her peasant outfit that she had brought in her Entry Plug in case Gendo captured her. Shinji destroys the robot, and Misato, already knowing about Shinji and Asuka's secret friendship (thanks to Hikari and Kensuke) calls Rei back, and tells Shinji to retrieve Asuka. Shinji, however, suddenly loses all connection to the base, and his Eva goes berserk.
Yui safely transports him and Asuka to a far deserted place. Shinji is the first to regain consciousness, so he gets out of the Eva, and hugs Asuka (in her peasant form) after seeing her. But holding her so close, Shinji easily catches the smell of LCL coming from her. Thinking that Nakuru and Asuka couldn't possibly be the same person, and that the smell was probably coming from himself, he takes a dip in the river nearby, and comes back, but Asuka still smells like LCL. Shinji finally realizes that Asuka was Nakuru all this time. Not wanting to let Asuka know that he was Hatori, he changed into his peasant outfit, and told his mother to leave and hide.
Asuka awakes to Hatori's warm embrace. It turns out that Shinji found a kind old man who spared them a bed in his home. They were out in the countryside, near the mountains. Asuka and Shinji help the man out in his farm, and stay for another night. While in bed, Asuka is thinking that Shinji fell asleep, so she pours out all her past thoughts about loving Shinji and then realizing that Shinji must have been in love in Rei, but not knowing where Hatori was, didn't know if there was anyone else out there who loved her. Shinji is awake all this time, and while listening to her, he is very sure that he is in love with Asuka, and had never enjoyed that kiss that he shared with Rei.
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WOW! It's not finished! Well...you COULD make that the ending...it is quite beautiful...sorta. K, before I scare anyone away, I just wanna say (you guessed it): REVIEW! Yea, yea, it's old, but we say it for a reason. If we suck, we wanna get betta, right? Anypoo...flames are always welcome! We've got our garden hoses ready!
..: Lina :..