CHAPTER SIX: A NEW ROOMMATE
DISCLAIMER: I own nothing that relates to Evangelion, except Kell, who is not worth mentioning.
'-------------' =thoughts
"------------"= speech
(-------------)= me interrupting your reading for a side note
"Shiiiin-kuuuun, we have somewhere, to go. Are you up?" Misato asked as she walked in to Shinji's room. Misato was told that his eye and hair color change was due to the accident. Shinji's eyes were now ice blue instead of their usual deep blue, and his hair was now a very dark brown with moderate blue highlights. "Shinji? Are you alright?" Misato asked as she waved a hand in front of his face.
"Huh? Oh, I am fine." Shinji said, obviously lying, but he could not tell anyone.
"Well, you and I have some things to do today. We have to pick up a new roommate. Her name is Asuka. She is also an Evangelion pilot." Misato said, looking eerily cheery this morning.
"Why am I needed?" Shinji asked. The presence hadn't gone away, but it wasn't bothering him anymore either.
"Because, I don't feel like leaving you alone. You have been acting more withdrawn than usual lately." Misato answered.
"I understand." Shinji answered. Shinji wanted to talk to Misato about what was going on, but remembered what Commander Ikari said to him.
On the way to the Train station, Shinji started to feel the presence get stronger. "An angel." Shinji whispered, causing Misato to look all around. Just then the pilots cell went off. He heard the automated message, and then he and Misato went to NERV to prepare for the upcoming battle. Once they got to the command HQ, they parted company for awhile. After Shinji got changed into his plug suit, he walked to the briefing room. On the way, he ran into Rei walking there as well.
"Excuse me, pilot Ayanami, may I talk to you?" Shinji asked.
"I know what you are feeling, I feel it to, although it has never been this strong." Rei said, answering his question, as they entered briefing room. After they were briefed on the situation, the two pilots got into their respective entry plugs and were inserted into the Evas. When the Evas were on the surface, they waited for the angel to attack. While they were waiting, Shinji opened a secure Comm link with Rei.
"The feeling is getting very intense, what should I do?" Shinji asked, looking a little out of breath.
"I am not sure, this has never happened to me." Rei said, also looking a little out of breath. Just then, the angel swooped down and rammed unit one. Unit one went through one building and into another. Before either Shinji or Rei could react, the angel grabbed unit one with one of its feelers, and threw it at Unit Zero.
"Both units have received minor damage to external armor, but are still fully operational." Makoto reported. Unit One got up and charged. The angel threw one of its feelers at Shinji and missed, but it cut his power cable. That knocked Shinji off balance with the sudden loss of weight. The angel took that moment to grab Shinji again and threw him towards the mountains, and turned on Rei.
Shinji was about to get up, when he noticed the two people that had been hanging around him. "Captain Katsuragi, there are civilians on the battleground. What do you want me to do?" Shinji asked. He didn't have time to get an answer as the angel threw a feeler at unit one. Shinji caught it in his hand, but didn't fight; he was still waiting on his orders. He looked at where it and unit zero were fighting and saw that unit zero was out of the battle. Shinji started to wince as the feelers started to burn his Eva's hand.
"Have Unit One hold with its current orders and eject the plug and let the boys in." Misato ordered.
"Captain, that will significantly decrease my synch ratio with unit one." Shinji informed.
"I know, you are to escape using route 35." Misato answered. Shinji did as ordered at first, he let the two civilians in the plug. When the Eva got back on it's feet it, instead of trying to get away, he got it's progressive knife out with it's free hand, and slashed the feeler in two. The angel reared back in pain and Shinji took the opportunity that presented itself and started slashing the red core and soon, about thirty seconds before his reserve power ran out he defeated the angel. 'What is this feeling? Am I sad because I took the life of something similar to myself?' Shinji thought as unit one's power finally ran out.
"Why did you disobey a direct order?" Misato questioned, as she tapped her finger on the table, waiting for an answer.
"I was ordered by you, to take any opportunity given to destroy the enemy I did so. You made no order to take the civilians safety into account." Shinji said.
"He is right, Captain Katsuragi, you did order us to take any steps necessary to take out the enemy. Do you not remember the briefing?" Rei asked, with an arm in a sling.
"What ever, Shinji, I want you to meet me at the car in thirty minutes, we still have an errand to take care of." Misato said as she left the two young pilots to themselves.
"I will see you later then, to continue our conversations." Shinji said as he left the room also. Shinji made it to the car and was waiting for Misato.
"Sorry I'm late, I had some last minute things to do." Misato said as she unlocked her door.
"It is of no concern to me." Shinji said, as he got in the car. They actually made it to the train station without any problems this time, and on time to boot. Misato had planned on getting there early.
"Is this the platform she is supposed to come on?" Shinji asked as he stared off in space.
"Yes, why do you ask?" Misato asked as she looked on at the oncoming train, only to be ignored by her charge. The train itself was slow, as it looked as if it had a heavy load on one of its cars. The car behind the freight car looked like a fancy looking passenger car. When the train stopped, the passenger car was a little ways of from where Misato and Shinji were standing. The duo walked over the car, and were met by a middle aged man, about the same age as Misato, and a girl with long red hair, held up by what seemed to be the A-10 connectors to a plugsuit.
"I am pilot Ikari, Shinji. Myself and Captain Katsuragi are to escort you to NERV headquarters." Shinji said, still void of emotion.
"Wow, a real firecracker isn't he?" the girl said, smirking. "I am the great Asuka Langley Soryu, third children, and you are the famous second child, I know who you are, I'm surprised you do not know who I am." the girl exclaimed.
"Hey, Asuka, you aren't going to say hey to me? Not even a hug?" Misato asked, tapping her foot.
"I'm too old for that now, isn't that right Kaji." Asuka said as she crossed her arms.
"I do not mean to interrupt, but may we please hurry, I have a prior engagement to attend to." Shinji said, remembering that Dr. Akagi-san wanted him to come in to the office to run some tests to see how he was doing with the new implant.
"And what is this prior engagement?" Misato-san asked. "It is classified, and you do not have the clearance for me to tell you." Shinji answered.
"As your commanding officer, I demand you to tell me." Misato-san said, starting to get annoyed, added that to the fact that her stock of hidden beer had run out, and you have one very irritated woman.
"If you have any objections, take it up with Commander Ikari, not me." Shinji said, becoming even more monotonous than before.
"I think he acts like a doll." Asuka said, making a disgusted face.
"Well, Asuka, I guess someone from NERV will have to bring your things over, seeing that we have to leave." Misato said, shooting an evil look that would make the fiercest animal shudder, but didn't affect the second children.
"Captain, we really have to go, I am needed at NERV." Shinji said as he sat down in the back of Misato's car.
"Oh well, I guess we can talk while we wait on him." Misato-san said as she shrugged and walked to the car, with Asuka following closely, asking what was going on. The man known as Kaji, was just standing there, looking confused, then realized he was being left, quickly started chasing after the car.
After they finally got to the NERV HQ, Shinji informed them that he would be home after while and for them to go on.
"You wanted to see me after Captain Katsuragi-san got through with her errands?" Shinji asked after he entered Dr. Akagi-san's office.
"Yes, please lay on that gunnery." Ritsuko ordered.
"Hai." Shinji said as he laid down on the gunnery. Well it was not an actual gunnery, because it had a headrest that revealed his neck. Ritsuko attached the necessary instruments to the implant that they had put in him, during the last operation, after he laid on the gunnery. It was barely noticeable, but there were two small plug interfaces right at the edge of his hairline, and one about a quarter of an inch above the other two. The three jacks looked like a triangle. She inserted three plugs, to download his memories and data that the implant had taken.
"In just a minute you will have completed your first memory download. You will be rendered unconscious during this time, so do not be alarmed." Ritsuko said as she typed on her keyboard. A few seconds later, Shinji's vision started to blur, and he had trouble comprehending his surrounding, and soon phased into a deep sleep. About two hours later, he woke up.
"Was the memory dump a success?" Shinji asked as he looked around for Dr. Akagi-san.
"It was." she answered from behind his gunnery, as she looked at him, removing the plugs from his interface objects.
"I see." Shinji said as he looked at his watch, that Misato had recently bought him. "Captain Katsuragi-san, will be angry at me." Shinji stated.
"What about?" Ritsuko-san asked, as she helped him up.
"It is past my designated time to be at her apartment." Shinji said, still disoriented from the memory dump.
"What? Just tell her that I kept you here, for further tests." the doctor. suggested.
"Understood." Shinji said as he finally stayed standing without help.
"I have to do this two times a week?" Shinji asked as he turned, to look at his physician.
"Yes, I am afraid so, although you will get used to it." Ritsuko-san stated coolly.
"One more thing, I am having unsure feelings about this new girl that is to live with us, she may be...troublesome." Shinji said, still as expressionless as ever.
To his and Ritsuko-san's surprise Gendo answered, from the door to the lab. "We can try increasing your dosage, to see if that will work for you, Shinji."
"Yes, that will be sufficient." Shinji said as he cautiously walked over there, still feeling a little woozy from his first dump.
"If this doesn't work, I will assign you to live at Dr. Akagi's place of residence. Give it two weeks, then report directly to me." Gendo ordered, causing Ritsuko-san to jerk her head up.
"Excuse me?" Ritsuko-san asked, visibly flabbergasted. (Couldn't find a better word.)
"Yes, Ritsuko?" Gendo asked, waving for Shinji to leave.
"What in the name of Kami are you doing?" Ritsuko-san asked after she was sure that Shinji was gone.
"I am making sure that neither of you slip up, as soon as he reports to me, if need be, I will send him to you and have him report anything you do that he thinks is suspicious behavior." Gendo said as he started walking out the door.
"What makes you think I am acting suspicious?" Ritsuko-san asked.
"Let's just say, I've got my reasons." Gendo said,
"Oh, and I'll be expecting you at my office after you finish up. 'That is the only thing I enjoy from you.' Ritsuko-san thought as she sort of brightened a little, at the thought.
On the way to Misato's apartment, he stopped at one of the grassy hills and sat down, deciding to take advantage of Ritsuko-san's excuse. "Excuse me, may I sit here too?" asked a voice that sounded familiar to him. He turned to look at the person and found the German girl that he and Misato picked up earlier.
"Yes, you may." Shinji answered, in his usual emotionless voice.
"I have a question, if you don't mind answering." the German girl known as Asuka said.
"I don't." Shinji answered, still in his unattached voice.
"Why weren't you impressed by me at the train station? Most males flock around me when they see me. All you did was introduce your self." Asuka said as she stared at him. Shinji turned to her, causing her to make eye contact. She was mesmerized and frightened at the same time. On the one hand he had the most unusual and beautiful eyes she had ever seen, and yet they were lifeless.
"You are just another pilot. I do not know how other males act around you, or why they act as they do, all I know, is what commander Ikari tells me." Shinji said as he looked away, suddenly going pale. 'What is this feeling? Could there be something wrong with me? There couldn't be, I just left from Dr. Akagi-san's office, and she mentioned nothing.' Shinji thought. "I-I must leave, n-now." Shinji said, slowly getting up, sort of stumbling off the hill, gasping like he was out of breath. 'What is this?' Shinji thought as he started having trouble staying conscious. A few seconds later the feeling slowly went away.
"Hey! Wait for me!" Asuka shouted, chasing Shinji, after watching him.
END CHAPTER SIX: A NEW ROOMMATE
Author's notes: well I still haven't figured out whom to pair together. I think I might go with a Shinji/Asuka, but I might surprise you with something else. Well I got to go, it's two in the morning again, and I have to get up at 5:30 to watch Zoids: chaotic century. I'm 10-7 for now.
update: 11/17/02 Thanks to Raziel the damned for prereading all of my chapters so far, and for being co author.