Chapter 6

Shinji walked though the fields where he first ran away and saw Kensuke. This time Kensuke wasn't there. He then proceeded into the forest to see if he could ease his mind. Walking for about twenty minutes he encountered an AS. Looking closely at it, Shinji realized that this was the AS Andrew piloted. He then started looking for Andrew. Shinji found Andrew lying on a large tree branch with his eyes closed and a straw sticking out of his mouth. He climbed up and approached Andrew. It seemed as if Andrew was asleep so Shinji decided that he would wait and began to sit down. His foot slipped and he went over the edge, but he managed to grab a piece of the branch before he fell all the way down.

Shinji's yell had awoken Andrew. Andrew quickly went over and pulled Shinji back up.

"What brings you here Shinji?"

"I ran away..." Shinji tried to cover up some things, but his voice gave it away.

"But Asuka didn't want to go with you."

"Yeah...she can't leave Eva. It's probably because she trained most of her life for it."

"I assume you didn't bring anything to eat, or have a place to stay."

"No, I haven't thought of that."

"Don't worry, you can stay here, I have plenty of food."

"Might as well, we do have around the same problems too."

"Yeah, I didn't think that things were working out with me and Kaname anyway. I just couldn't keep up the act of being so militaristically hardcore."

"I hope you don't mind, but I think Sousuke is a better match, he just doesn't know anything about the normal school boy life."

"I don't mind, I had a few hours to think about it."

Shinji and Andrew stayed in the forest sharing jokes and just having a good time.

Nerv HQ

"I hope those others from Mithril get here soon, I'm getting tired." said Misato.

"Don't worry, they'll get here. I heard you lost Andrew and Shinji." replied Ritsuko.

"Shinji?!?!"

"Yeah, Asuka wouldn't let go of Eva when Shinji asked her to run away with him."

"He ran again..."

"I wouldn't worry about it; he always comes back after he's thought things through."

"We just lost two good pilots. I hope Sergeant Weber and Sergeant Major Mao are as good as their files say they are."

"Sergeant Major Mao reporting for transfer."

"Weber here."

"Welcome to Nerv, here are your living arrangements. Separate apartments as requested."

"Wait a minute, I didn't request for separate apartments." said Kurz.

"You didn't, but I did." replied Melissa.

"Yes, you must be tired; we'll talk more about this tomorrow. Oh, and if you find Andrew or Shinji, could you try and get them back here." After that, Misato left in a hurry.

"These Andrew and Shinji, do they drink beer?" asked Melissa.

"Come on Mel, they're just kids."

"Actually, Andrew's eighteen and yes, he does drink." said Ritsuko.

"Eighteen? But he's in..."

"Yes, he's in a grade full of fourteen year olds, but that's only because he comes from Canada and doesn't really understand Kanji."

Looking for a way to get away from Kurz and knowing that he was dead tired, Melissa said "I'm not really tired, I'll go look for them now. See you in the morning." She waved.

Melissa had no intention of finding the two runaways; given her understanding of the situation, they needed some time off. She began to head towards the outskirts of town looking for a good bar to get some beer.

Meanwhile in the Woods

Andrew and Shinji had exhausted their complements of food for quite some time.

Grumble. Growl.

"Jeez, I'm still hungry?" said Shinji.

"Hmm, looks like your stomach doesn't like military rations or MRE's." replied Andrew.

"Yeah, they're not very appetizing."

"Well, I guess we can go down town and get something to eat."

"Alright, but it looks like you're not very hungry."

"You're right, but I could use a good drink."

"Umm... I left all my cards back at the house so I don't have any money with me."

"That's alright; I have some emergency cash for situations like this. Let's go."

Restaurant/Bar (Of which I do not have a name)

Glug, Glug, Glug. Most of the males in the bar had all their attention on one person. A female drinker who seems to have an extreme tolerance to alcohol.

"Wow, look at her go!"

"Five bucks says that she'll beat Misato's record."

Shinji and Andrew walk in.

"What's all this racket?" asked Andrew.

"There's a new girl in town, and she's probably going to beat Misato's beer record." replied the Bar tender.

"You know, I think Misato mentioned that she could have continued if you didn't run out of beer." stated Shinji.

"Well..."

"It doesn't matter; as long as you still have some beer for me, it's all good." said Andrew.

"Can we have a table?" asked Shinji.

"Sure, Sure!"

"Can I have a can of Yebisu to start?" asked Andrew.

"Yeah, can I have the Chicken Club Sandwich?" asked Shinji.

"It'll just be a moment; I'm sure you can find something entertaining to watch." the Bartender smirked with a glance at the table surrounded by men.

Just then, Sergeant Major Melissa Mao noticed two individuals enter the bar and sit down giving their orders. She remembered reading the files on most Nerv personnel, and one of them reminded her of it. One of those two might be Shinji Ikari, and the other would most likely be Andrew Chong. Melissa decided to get up and head over to their table. Unfortunately this is when some of the men thought that she was interested in them and tried to take her hand or arm. SLAM. The men flew through the door and never came back in.

"Hello, what might your names be?" asked Melissa.

The men who were still staring at Melissa suddenly dropped their mouths to the floor and went bug eyed at the question.

"Uh..." came a reply from Shinji.

"Captain Chong; well...not for long. Who might you be?" asked Andrew.

"Captain heh? What kind of ship do you command?"

"Not a ship, an AS." replied Andrew.

The mention of an AS confirmed that these two were the boys that ran off.

"My name is Melissa, can I join you?"

"I don't see why not."

The three talked for awhile. Shinji enjoyed his club sandwich, Andrew and Melissa drank some beer. They were just getting comfortable with each other when Melissa asked them when they would return to their jobs.

SILENCE. Things began to click in Andrew and Shinji's minds.

"You're not a civilian." stated Andrew.

"Yo...You work for Nerv?" asked Shinji.

"Well...there goes my cover. No Shinji, I don't work for Nerv. Well sort of anyway." replied Melissa.

"What do you mean sort of?" asked Andrew.

"I KNEW IT! FATHER SENT YOU AFTER ME DIDN'T HE?!?" Shinji bursted.

"No, I came here on my own. I was just having some drinks. I sort of work for Nerv because our organization, Mithril, is doing some cooperation work and we got sent over to help out the situation."

"We?" asked Shinji.

"There are three of us. Me, Sergeant Kurz Weber and Sergeant Sousuke Sagara."

At the mention of Sousuke's name, Andrew turned away.

"What's wrong?" asked Melissa.

"Andrew and Mana...I mean Kaname just split up and Kaname went after Sousuke." replied Shinji for Andrew.

"Hmm...don't worry Andrew; it's not that big a loss. From what I've heard, she likes military types. The more idiotically clueless, the more she likes them. Anyways, I'm sure you've never really seen her paper fan."

"What's that got to do with anything?" asked Andrew.

"During under cover missions, Kaname changes her personality a lot to be able to fit in. You probably fell in love with her soft and understanding of military technology personalities. My guess is that once she's done with those personalities, she dumps everything, even the cloths. She's actually very violent."

"... So...I fell for someone called Mana Kirishima; not Kaname Chidori."

"That's right! So are you gonna come back?"

"That depends whether Shinji wants to or not."

"I don't know, it's been relaxing and fun, but I don't think I can miss more school than I already do."

"Umm...do you have a place where we can stay? I have a feeling that Misato's apartment can't fit that many people."

"Now that you mentioned it, I think that Sousuke was staying there."

Andrew stiffened, and then seemed to relax.

"But, sure, you can stay with me or with Kurz. We each have separate apartments."

"Thanks!" they both said in unison.

"Just let me make a phone call, and we can go." said Melissa as she headed for the phone.

Katsuragi Household

RING, RING!

"Misato, it's for you!" shouted Asuka. She was still feeling down that Shinji ran away. She hurt him, but he hurt her just the same.

"Hello?" Misato answered the phone.

"Hi, this is Sergeant Major Mao. I have located the two boys." came Melissa's voice over the phone.

"Are they alright?"

"They're fine, but I think that they shouldn't go and live at your place."

"Why not? We have room."

"It's not that. It's the people living in that space."

"Oh..."

"Shinji might be ok, but for Andrew, he fell for a covert profile, and now that profile has changed names and personalities; I don't think he can watch someone he loved go with someone else, especially since she doesn't act the same way as she used to."

"Lot's of people don't act the same after a few years."

"No, this time Kaname acts completely different from her Mana Kirishima profile. If you don't mind, they'll be living with me or Sergeant Weber. They will of course go to school."

"I guess it's alright."

Back at the Bar (Which has no name)

Melissa hung up and headed for Shinji and Andrew.

"Ok, we can go."

"Who did you call?" asked Shinji.

"Uh...Kurz, I asked if he would mind having you guys staying over."

"What did he say?" asked Andrew.

"I think he's sleeping."

The three went back to Melissa's living quarters. Melissa of course slept in her bad; Shinji got the couch and Andrew slept on the floor.

End of Chapter 6

A/N: I know it's kind of boring at this point, but I've got to get some complications that I made out of the way.