Standard disclaimer!
Whow kinda been awhile since I wrote a chapter, sorry bout that, but I'm having a large surge in the time required at work and on campus. Gomen! I'll still try to write as much as time allows but.have you SEEN the games that game out?
.hack//infection! Played it-beat it!- loved it Xenosaga.words don't come close to describing how much I like that game ^_^
Well I'm not playing now! Or maybe I am and this is just a different form of play, either way its time to write.
Oh fyi I'm going to take a msting break from CoaEG and mst "Should a Chance be Taken"
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Out of Disaster Chapter 8 - Forms of Battle
The few minutes that have passed since Rei had stated her intents for him and her announcement of the power failure resulted in a few things. One Shinji had finally calmed down a bit from his previous state of shock, and second his shock was replaced with confusion.
"What does the power being off mean?" he asked the girl that he was following.
While mentally Rei was overjoyed that Shinji had started to talk again, she showed no external sign of it. She simply stated, "It is theoretically impossible for the power to be off."
Her statement leaving Shinji even more confused he asked again, "But it is off, so what does it mean?"
Slowing to a trot so Shinji could catch up and walk beside her, "It means that NERV is under attack by either an angel or an other faction. Either way we must reach the command bridge."
Allowing himself to slowly digest the info he was just provided with, Shinji realized he didn't like either possibility. "What about Asuka?"
"The second would have been sent for at the onset of the power outage," the light blue haired girl stated, again staring forward.
Nodding at her logic, the pair settled into a silence. For Rei being in the boy's presence offered a sort of peace, for Shinji being with Rei was confusing. He had so many questions to ask her in light of her revelations. After reaching an impace in his thinking he realized he needed to act.
His voice shaky and unsure, "What.what made you say those things earlier?"
"I read about the actions of relationships within text, it clearly stated those facts."
'She thinks I meant.' shaking off the oncoming frustration, "I meant that you wanted to be with me."
A slight blush again spread across her face, "It took a large amount of thought. I was uncertain as to why your presence caused a difference in my mental routine."
Not having an easy time understanding her rather cryptic responses, he asked for clarification.
After resting her voice for some time, she continued. "I found myself anticipating your presence, thoughts of you were usually on my mind, and after some consultation and reading I came to this conclusion. I like you."
There it was, it was nothing extraordinary, no cupid with an arrow, it was simply time spent together, reading, and mental debate. Regardless of how she arrived to her conclusion, with prompting from her consoler, Shinji blushed at her straightforwardness.
'She said she.nobody has ever.not even Shinobu.' While he tried to finish processing her last sentence he noticed she'd stopped walking. "Rei?"
"I will need your assistance opening the door."
"What." his voice fell short as he gracefully walked into said door.
With almost a smile on her face, "With the power off the automatic sensors don't work, we must open doors manually."
--------------------
Su was happy, as usual. She had just arrived home from her new school in Hokkaido, and was eager to see Shinobu. Bonding up the stairs she raced towards her friend's room.
"Oyi SHINOBU," Kaolla bellowed as she through open the door. Su found Shinobu frantically waving her arms in a trademark showing of her panicky nature.
"Kaolla-san! Don't scare me like that!" Shinobu cried as she calmed down and put her sketchpad away.
Throwing herself into the room by swinging off the doorframe, Su settled on her friend's bed. "What ya doing? How was school? Drawing more dirty pictures?"
Shinobu's face burst into flames, "They are not dirty!"
Su simply smiled and grabbed the sketchpad and started thumbing through it. Shinobu didn't really mind if Su looked at it, she was one of her better friends as it was.
Opting to talk, "School was fine, and I'm just thinking about Shinji."
Dropping the pad on the bed, Su tilted her head, "What's a Shinji? Does it taste good?"
About that time, Kitsune announced her arrival, "I doubt their relationship progressed far enough for Shinobu to know that yet."
Shinobu's face increased another couple degrees, "KITSUNE-SAN!"
Su didn't understand what Kitsune meant, but after seeing Shinobu's face rubbed hers against Shinobu's. "AHA! Shinobu's face is so warm!"
This was about as much as Shinobu could take. Here she was having a nice little daydream about Shinji when Su came in and asked how Shinji tasted. Then Kitsune arrived.then Su was rubbing off her.Shinobu's brain simply shut down.
Smiling at Shinobu's rather interesting condition, that being eyes swirling and head lolling about, Kitsune pride Su off, offered to get her a banana, and left the poor girl to recover.
---------------------
'How is this getting us to the command bridge?' Shinji thought as followed Rei in an airshaft.
"How much further?" He asked and took an accidental look up and at the exterior portion of his companion.
As she couldn't turn around, she couldn't see the rather red complexion of the boy, "The duct will lead directly to the bridge we should be there shortly."
To himself he asked, "How does she know this?"
Rei however heard him, "Until you arrived, my life consisted of nothing but Nerv and Eva."
"Nothing else.?"
On that Rei remained silent. The pair continued their rather embarrassing crawl deeper into the bowels of NERV.
-------------------
Misato was nervous, scratch that, she was beyond nervous. "What the hell are we going to do?"
Ritsuko was a bit calmer, "We wait and prepare the Eva's."
"Why we only have one pilot and she's sick!" Misato countered. Her eyes finding their way to Asuka's form sprawled on a chair on the bridge. The moment the power shut down, she had issued Makoto to get her, and to her shock, when he returned it was with news of an angel approaching.
Asuka sat up in her chair, "I'm not that bad, I can do this alone if I need to."
"Do I need to remind you that you have a fever of 105 degrees?" Ritsuko interjected, however she was interested to see how illness affected sync ratios.
Casting a nervous glance at her second ward, Misato didn't like the situation. Asuka's cold had escalated to the point were she shouldn't really be moving, Shinji and Rei's location were unknown, and with no power the Eva's had to be set by hand.
She cast a look at the floor, "I'm dreading the equipment report after this battle."
Smiling at her friend, Ritsuko tried to comfort her, "If we all die, there won't be a need for a damaged equipment report."
Misato wasn't laughing. Her upcoming verbal barrage was cut short as the sound of a grill moving caught her attention. The several seconds that transpired after the sound resulted in Misato pointing her berretta at the offending air duct.
Ritsuko smiled greatly as she saw a pale form being lowered from the vent. Asuka could only see Rei being lowered down by who she figured was Shinji. Once on the ground Rei guided Shinji to the ground. Again Ritsuko was overjoyed at how close Rei stood next to the boy, 'Everything is working out perfectly.'
"Sorry for being late.we got here as soon as we could."
------------------
"Thank you for the tea Motoko-sempai," Shinobu stated as she took a sip.
Setting the kettle down, "It is of no need for thanks."
Shinobu took a look around the room, this was the first time she had been in Motoko's room, but she thought it fit her well. Although the air in the room was one of tranquility, something felt off at the moment. 'Why did she want to talk to me?' Shinobu thought.
Drinking some tea herself, Motoko prepared herself for what was to come. "You are no doubt wondering why I asked you here."
Shinobu simply nodded.
"I overheard your conversation with Urashima and Narusagawa."
To that, Shinobu froze, 'Will she be mad? She doesn't like men after all. Will she forbid me to see him?'
Noticing the girls sudden apprehension, "Don't worry, I wished to give you my blessing."
Her jaw dropping, "You what?"
Smiling softly, "I spoke to that boy before. He is a testament to the male species. He should suit you well."
"Thank you so much Motoko-sempai!" the young girl squealed.
A bit taken aback by the sudden explosion in her companion, "I do however have a request."
Calming down again, "A request?"
Finishing her tea, "Yes, you more than likely don't realize the untapped power that dwells within that boy. I assume he doesn't know it himself."
'Shinji with untapped power? What does she mean?'
While Shinobu questioned the words, Motoko pressed on, "I inquired my sister about taking him on as a student. She consented and gave me this," reaching into a box at her side, she withdrew a bandanna and a letter. She handed both to Shinobu.
"What am I to do with these?"
"They symbolize that the Aoyama clan has accepted him into its teachings. Such a thing only occurs when one marries into the family or upon special request."
Now Shinobu wasn't a fool to realize what that meant. She heard the stories about Motoko and her clan being demon slayers. And to be accepted into their ranks for training was almost unheard of, but here she was with a letter and light blue bandana with the Aoyama family crest on it.
"Motoko-sempai.with what he does.is it even possible for this to happen?"
To that Motoko's head sunk, "We can only prompt the question to him and his superiors and hope." In her mind Motoko prayed that a favorable response was forthcoming, 'It would be a shame to let such power go untamed.'
"I'll give them to him tomorrow," the younger girl said as she finished her tea and bid her elder good-bye.
---------------
Shinji's situation did not improve after reaching the command deck. After Rei and he was briefed about the angel the were told about the plan of attack. It wasn't a very clever plan, but with the limited resources available at present, it was the only available option.
So that is how he found himself crawling again. This time he was crawling in an auxiliary missile silo. That was because, as Misato told him, the only way to get the Eva's into position.
As he crawled behind his lance mates he opened a channel to Asuka.
"How are you feeling?"
The sudden appearance in her unit causing a momentary start before she spoke, "I'm not doing that good, but I'm still more affective than you."
Smiling at her usual bravado he countered, "Just don't push yourself to hard ok, you just being here makes me worry a bit."
Trying not to fall into her usual habits of ridiculing the boy for his concern, she realized it was nice to have somebody to worry over you, but she couldn't let him know that. "Worry about yourself baka," she paused as her head began to swim, "just worry about the angel."
Asuka would later wish she had commented on her true physical state. She was in no condition to pilot. Her fever caused her vision to blur, her mind to lose focus, and her hands to tremble, but her pride would not allow for others to know of her temporary weakness.
Shinji took her words to heart though and prepared for the battle. Rei simply thought about what she was going to say to Shinji after the battle. She was sure of her feelings and Shinji hadn't told her about his. She would find out, and if they were not what she wanted she would see what she could do to MAKE them be the way she wanted.
In unison, Misato appeared in all three entry plugs. "Ok, your external batteries have about twenty minutes of power left added with your internal batteries you have about twenty-five minutes to take this angel out."
"Hai," came the unified reply.
"Are meager recon shows the angel stationary over the silo's top. We don't know what its doing. You are to get to the connection gap and try to destroy it with your rifles, understood?"
Again the pilots responded that the understood. As the signaled that they had arrived at the vertical section, Misato wished them luck and they disconnected their audio feed.
Rei opened her channel to her fellow pilots, "Beginning mission."
Asuka scoffed at Rei's comment, "Who made you leader Wonder girl?"
Ayanami didn't respond vocally, she just started to climb up the fixtures. Asuka was quick to follow her on her assent, followed lastly by Shinji. As they were nearing the halfway point of the climb something began hitting them. Asuka was the first to feel the pain as the angel's acid secretion struck her unit's hand.
Pain coupled with her illness caused her to lose her coordination and she began to plummet. Rei, also distracted by the addition of pain, heard Asuka's cry over her audio feed and she too lost her footing.
The two units collided with Shinji's unit 01 which held it's ground and led the others back into the relative safety of the horizontal passage. That however was not before two of the three pallet rifles were liquidated.
Asuka was pissed; they had botched their only chance at winning. As she scanned the video link up to the other units, she saw the others contemplating their next move. She joined them.
After a few moments in powered down mode, she had an idea.
"Listen up guys, I have a plan. One, I'll run defense and cover you two as you descend the pipe, Wonder girl, you get the rifle and give it to Shinji who'll be in between us. Shinji once you get that gun you kill it!"
Asuka was shocked when Shinji replied with a no. "I'll take defense Asuka, you're to sick to be able to hold out to both illness and the angels attack."
Not knowing which to follow, the mission that agreed with Shinji, or her heart that cried for Asuka to take the damage, Rei remained silent.
Unfortunaly for Shinji, Asuka wasn't. "How dare you say I can't do handle it? I'm not going to let a silly thing like sickness." Her words died in her mouth as she saw the pleading face of her now official friend.
Her battle was lost after he said one more word, "Please?"
Grumbling slightly, "Fine, just don't wuss out on me and fall."
With their plan in mind, they powered up their units and prepared. Shinji leapt out of the shaft and buried his hands and feet into the lining of the vertical shaft. He tried to ignore the pain that ramming his fingers and toes into reinforced steel caused.
Rei was next, she flung her unit recklessly at the ground, and every moment she hesitated was another that Shinji would be forced to deal with the acid. She reached the weapon and threw it up the now in position unit 02.
Asuka caught the throw and took aim. Suddenly her vision went black. All the rushing and adrenalin added to her fever and her mind was trying to cope. As she fought to regain herself, she could hear Shinji's voice muffled with pain telling her to shoot.
Her vision began to clear; she could see a big purple thing and blackness above it. She aimed at the blackness. Mentally she thanked Shinji for his refusal, she knew now that she would have fallen by now. She pulled the trigger and let fly a volley of rounds.
As the rifle empted its lethal contents into the angel, defeating it, her hands began shaking. The last few rounds piercing Unit-01 in the legs and one in the midsection. Her horror was completed when she heard his pain filled shriek.
She didn't even have a chance to act before a blue blur rushed past her and caught the falling unit.
Asuka's mind was at a stand still. Somebody nice finally enters her life, somebody she feels like she can trust, and what does she do? She shoots him. He trusted her and she shot him. "What have I done?"
--------------
"I can't believe you offered to train that little spore!" Naru exclaimed.
Motoko for her part was sitting patiently on the couch as Naru vented. She knew that Naru wouldn't understand the way of the warrior. Shinji, to Motoko, was a prime candidate for a pupil, and she felt it a training exercise for herself as well. Training a student is not easy. So she tried to elude the subject.
"Why do you think it wrong of me to so thus?"
That stopped Naru, aside from Shinobu; she had no reason not to be against him. "I guess, because he works for NERV and that." Her voice died.
Looking directly into Naru's eyes, "Is it because Shinobu likes him that you are against my training him?"
Looking stunned Naru could only nod; she had been pegged from the start.
Motoko smiled to herself, while she didn't like manipulating people, she did know the benefits of it.
"What better way to see his character than to have him around Hinata? You could observe him and then make a solid stance on his relationship with Shinobu."
Now Naru smiled, 'Motoko is using this as a way of gauging his character, how clever of her.'
"Ok, if he consents you can train him here. IF you let me check up on him."
Bowing lightly, Motoko stood, "As you wish it."
----------------
Shinji opened his eyes to find himself in a darkened room, and a sickeningly familiar darkened room. "I hate that ceiling."
He didn't know why he was in the hospital again. His last memories before blanking out was the from the angel. 'Guess all that pain finally knocked me out.'
A subtle cough caught his attention. In the dark, sitting next to him was Rei. She was staring intently at him, almost as if trying to bore a hole into his soul.
"Rei.hello. Have, have I been here long?"
With a quick shake of her head she moved and sat on his bed. "You were placed here for a night of observation. After the 2nd shot you, you passed out."
'Asuka shot me?' he thought. He then wondered why Rei was inching her way closer to him.
"Rei?"
Still moving closer to his face, "After I told you my feelings regarding you, is it not fair to assume you should do the same for me?"
'She's asking me if I like her! What.what do I say?' his mind froze as he saw her leaning over.
"Is my presence a good feeling?"
He nodded.
"Do you enjoy being around me?"
Again he nodded she was his friend after all.
Rei's final question was, "Do you not wish to know me?"
He always did wish to know her better so he meekly said as much.
In her mind, Rei was overjoyed, by logical deduction that meant Shinji liked her as she liked him. "I see, so there is no reason we cannot."
She leaned the final few feet over and kissed him. Shinji's mind reeled, he didn't expect or even truly wish for this. Rei was wondering why he didn't respond so she increased her force upon his lips. Shinji could feel his resistance fleeting it was all he wanted. To be loved. Images of Shinobu entered his head as he tried to resist the urge to respond.
He lost such a will when he felt Rei's lips open ever so slightly and a warm slightly moist object prodded his own lips. He didn't know how she knew what she was doing, but it had worked. The stress from his life, the need to be loved, hormones, whatever it was, Shinji slowly started to respond in kind with Rei's actions.
As she felt him respond, she inwardly rejoiced. She had gotten what she wanted.
-------------------
In his office, Gendo Ikari viewed a monitor and was most displeased.
"Kozo, what is this?"
His right hand man simply looked on, "It appears that the 1st child has made a claim for the 3rd."
"Exactly, this was not supposed to happen. We put Akagi in charge of Rei's upbringing to insure this didn't happen. She is to remain totally faithful to my will."
Kozo nodded, this indeed was a strange blow to the instrumentality project. "What can we do?"
"Intelligence reports that the 3rd is somewhat involved with an outside party. We need to remove Rei's attachment to him, and if it means forcing him on the outside party it will need to be done."
"Why not just order Rei to avoid him?" Kozo asked, mainly because to go to such extremes felt odd.
Gendo pushed up his glasses, "Look at scope."
As he did his eyes dilated, a very small blue pattern was being emitted from the room. "She's."
Gendo finished, "Exactly, if we were to force a separation, she could rebel and we would be in no better situation."
Kozo didn't like his next idea but it was possible, "What about replacing her?"
Thinking about that for a few moments, she was a tool after all, he picked up his phone, "Get me Dr. Akagi now."
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Author's notes
Yes yes I'm sure many of you are asking, "Why have Rei kiss Shinji? Isn't that OOC?" In the light of her rather 'odd' view on life and believing wholly in logic, don't you think she'd have done the same?
Anyway I have a reason for her actions which will be reveled in later chapters so don't judge me to harshly yet.
Hope you liked this chapter and will continue to read it. Plus feedback, I crave feedback.
Oh and do you nonbelievers- Kos Mos RULZ! ^_^
Ja Mata
Zentrodie (zentrodie@secondimpact.com www.geocities.com/zentrodie.geo www.darkscribes.org)
Omake!
Asuka caught the throw and took aim. Suddenly her vision went black. All the rushing and adrenalin added to her fever and her mind was trying to cope. As she fought to regain herself, she could hear Shinji's voice muffled with pain telling her to shoot.
Her vision began to clear; she could see a big purple thing and blackness above it. She aimed at the blackness. Mentally she thanked Shinji for his refusal, she knew now that she would have fallen by now. She pulled the trigger and let fly a volley of rounds.
As the rifle empted its lethal contents into the angel, defeating it, her hands began shaking. The last few rounds striking Unit-01.
A high pitched shriek filled the commlink. As Asuka's vision cleared completely she saw a whole in Unit-01's crotch.
Rei appeared over her video channel, "You better pray that he is still functional after that or you will pay dearly."
Asuka had to try not to laugh, but in side she was thinking, "Hope Shinobu doesn't mind that I shot his."
Whow kinda been awhile since I wrote a chapter, sorry bout that, but I'm having a large surge in the time required at work and on campus. Gomen! I'll still try to write as much as time allows but.have you SEEN the games that game out?
.hack//infection! Played it-beat it!- loved it Xenosaga.words don't come close to describing how much I like that game ^_^
Well I'm not playing now! Or maybe I am and this is just a different form of play, either way its time to write.
Oh fyi I'm going to take a msting break from CoaEG and mst "Should a Chance be Taken"
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Out of Disaster Chapter 8 - Forms of Battle
The few minutes that have passed since Rei had stated her intents for him and her announcement of the power failure resulted in a few things. One Shinji had finally calmed down a bit from his previous state of shock, and second his shock was replaced with confusion.
"What does the power being off mean?" he asked the girl that he was following.
While mentally Rei was overjoyed that Shinji had started to talk again, she showed no external sign of it. She simply stated, "It is theoretically impossible for the power to be off."
Her statement leaving Shinji even more confused he asked again, "But it is off, so what does it mean?"
Slowing to a trot so Shinji could catch up and walk beside her, "It means that NERV is under attack by either an angel or an other faction. Either way we must reach the command bridge."
Allowing himself to slowly digest the info he was just provided with, Shinji realized he didn't like either possibility. "What about Asuka?"
"The second would have been sent for at the onset of the power outage," the light blue haired girl stated, again staring forward.
Nodding at her logic, the pair settled into a silence. For Rei being in the boy's presence offered a sort of peace, for Shinji being with Rei was confusing. He had so many questions to ask her in light of her revelations. After reaching an impace in his thinking he realized he needed to act.
His voice shaky and unsure, "What.what made you say those things earlier?"
"I read about the actions of relationships within text, it clearly stated those facts."
'She thinks I meant.' shaking off the oncoming frustration, "I meant that you wanted to be with me."
A slight blush again spread across her face, "It took a large amount of thought. I was uncertain as to why your presence caused a difference in my mental routine."
Not having an easy time understanding her rather cryptic responses, he asked for clarification.
After resting her voice for some time, she continued. "I found myself anticipating your presence, thoughts of you were usually on my mind, and after some consultation and reading I came to this conclusion. I like you."
There it was, it was nothing extraordinary, no cupid with an arrow, it was simply time spent together, reading, and mental debate. Regardless of how she arrived to her conclusion, with prompting from her consoler, Shinji blushed at her straightforwardness.
'She said she.nobody has ever.not even Shinobu.' While he tried to finish processing her last sentence he noticed she'd stopped walking. "Rei?"
"I will need your assistance opening the door."
"What." his voice fell short as he gracefully walked into said door.
With almost a smile on her face, "With the power off the automatic sensors don't work, we must open doors manually."
--------------------
Su was happy, as usual. She had just arrived home from her new school in Hokkaido, and was eager to see Shinobu. Bonding up the stairs she raced towards her friend's room.
"Oyi SHINOBU," Kaolla bellowed as she through open the door. Su found Shinobu frantically waving her arms in a trademark showing of her panicky nature.
"Kaolla-san! Don't scare me like that!" Shinobu cried as she calmed down and put her sketchpad away.
Throwing herself into the room by swinging off the doorframe, Su settled on her friend's bed. "What ya doing? How was school? Drawing more dirty pictures?"
Shinobu's face burst into flames, "They are not dirty!"
Su simply smiled and grabbed the sketchpad and started thumbing through it. Shinobu didn't really mind if Su looked at it, she was one of her better friends as it was.
Opting to talk, "School was fine, and I'm just thinking about Shinji."
Dropping the pad on the bed, Su tilted her head, "What's a Shinji? Does it taste good?"
About that time, Kitsune announced her arrival, "I doubt their relationship progressed far enough for Shinobu to know that yet."
Shinobu's face increased another couple degrees, "KITSUNE-SAN!"
Su didn't understand what Kitsune meant, but after seeing Shinobu's face rubbed hers against Shinobu's. "AHA! Shinobu's face is so warm!"
This was about as much as Shinobu could take. Here she was having a nice little daydream about Shinji when Su came in and asked how Shinji tasted. Then Kitsune arrived.then Su was rubbing off her.Shinobu's brain simply shut down.
Smiling at Shinobu's rather interesting condition, that being eyes swirling and head lolling about, Kitsune pride Su off, offered to get her a banana, and left the poor girl to recover.
---------------------
'How is this getting us to the command bridge?' Shinji thought as followed Rei in an airshaft.
"How much further?" He asked and took an accidental look up and at the exterior portion of his companion.
As she couldn't turn around, she couldn't see the rather red complexion of the boy, "The duct will lead directly to the bridge we should be there shortly."
To himself he asked, "How does she know this?"
Rei however heard him, "Until you arrived, my life consisted of nothing but Nerv and Eva."
"Nothing else.?"
On that Rei remained silent. The pair continued their rather embarrassing crawl deeper into the bowels of NERV.
-------------------
Misato was nervous, scratch that, she was beyond nervous. "What the hell are we going to do?"
Ritsuko was a bit calmer, "We wait and prepare the Eva's."
"Why we only have one pilot and she's sick!" Misato countered. Her eyes finding their way to Asuka's form sprawled on a chair on the bridge. The moment the power shut down, she had issued Makoto to get her, and to her shock, when he returned it was with news of an angel approaching.
Asuka sat up in her chair, "I'm not that bad, I can do this alone if I need to."
"Do I need to remind you that you have a fever of 105 degrees?" Ritsuko interjected, however she was interested to see how illness affected sync ratios.
Casting a nervous glance at her second ward, Misato didn't like the situation. Asuka's cold had escalated to the point were she shouldn't really be moving, Shinji and Rei's location were unknown, and with no power the Eva's had to be set by hand.
She cast a look at the floor, "I'm dreading the equipment report after this battle."
Smiling at her friend, Ritsuko tried to comfort her, "If we all die, there won't be a need for a damaged equipment report."
Misato wasn't laughing. Her upcoming verbal barrage was cut short as the sound of a grill moving caught her attention. The several seconds that transpired after the sound resulted in Misato pointing her berretta at the offending air duct.
Ritsuko smiled greatly as she saw a pale form being lowered from the vent. Asuka could only see Rei being lowered down by who she figured was Shinji. Once on the ground Rei guided Shinji to the ground. Again Ritsuko was overjoyed at how close Rei stood next to the boy, 'Everything is working out perfectly.'
"Sorry for being late.we got here as soon as we could."
------------------
"Thank you for the tea Motoko-sempai," Shinobu stated as she took a sip.
Setting the kettle down, "It is of no need for thanks."
Shinobu took a look around the room, this was the first time she had been in Motoko's room, but she thought it fit her well. Although the air in the room was one of tranquility, something felt off at the moment. 'Why did she want to talk to me?' Shinobu thought.
Drinking some tea herself, Motoko prepared herself for what was to come. "You are no doubt wondering why I asked you here."
Shinobu simply nodded.
"I overheard your conversation with Urashima and Narusagawa."
To that, Shinobu froze, 'Will she be mad? She doesn't like men after all. Will she forbid me to see him?'
Noticing the girls sudden apprehension, "Don't worry, I wished to give you my blessing."
Her jaw dropping, "You what?"
Smiling softly, "I spoke to that boy before. He is a testament to the male species. He should suit you well."
"Thank you so much Motoko-sempai!" the young girl squealed.
A bit taken aback by the sudden explosion in her companion, "I do however have a request."
Calming down again, "A request?"
Finishing her tea, "Yes, you more than likely don't realize the untapped power that dwells within that boy. I assume he doesn't know it himself."
'Shinji with untapped power? What does she mean?'
While Shinobu questioned the words, Motoko pressed on, "I inquired my sister about taking him on as a student. She consented and gave me this," reaching into a box at her side, she withdrew a bandanna and a letter. She handed both to Shinobu.
"What am I to do with these?"
"They symbolize that the Aoyama clan has accepted him into its teachings. Such a thing only occurs when one marries into the family or upon special request."
Now Shinobu wasn't a fool to realize what that meant. She heard the stories about Motoko and her clan being demon slayers. And to be accepted into their ranks for training was almost unheard of, but here she was with a letter and light blue bandana with the Aoyama family crest on it.
"Motoko-sempai.with what he does.is it even possible for this to happen?"
To that Motoko's head sunk, "We can only prompt the question to him and his superiors and hope." In her mind Motoko prayed that a favorable response was forthcoming, 'It would be a shame to let such power go untamed.'
"I'll give them to him tomorrow," the younger girl said as she finished her tea and bid her elder good-bye.
---------------
Shinji's situation did not improve after reaching the command deck. After Rei and he was briefed about the angel the were told about the plan of attack. It wasn't a very clever plan, but with the limited resources available at present, it was the only available option.
So that is how he found himself crawling again. This time he was crawling in an auxiliary missile silo. That was because, as Misato told him, the only way to get the Eva's into position.
As he crawled behind his lance mates he opened a channel to Asuka.
"How are you feeling?"
The sudden appearance in her unit causing a momentary start before she spoke, "I'm not doing that good, but I'm still more affective than you."
Smiling at her usual bravado he countered, "Just don't push yourself to hard ok, you just being here makes me worry a bit."
Trying not to fall into her usual habits of ridiculing the boy for his concern, she realized it was nice to have somebody to worry over you, but she couldn't let him know that. "Worry about yourself baka," she paused as her head began to swim, "just worry about the angel."
Asuka would later wish she had commented on her true physical state. She was in no condition to pilot. Her fever caused her vision to blur, her mind to lose focus, and her hands to tremble, but her pride would not allow for others to know of her temporary weakness.
Shinji took her words to heart though and prepared for the battle. Rei simply thought about what she was going to say to Shinji after the battle. She was sure of her feelings and Shinji hadn't told her about his. She would find out, and if they were not what she wanted she would see what she could do to MAKE them be the way she wanted.
In unison, Misato appeared in all three entry plugs. "Ok, your external batteries have about twenty minutes of power left added with your internal batteries you have about twenty-five minutes to take this angel out."
"Hai," came the unified reply.
"Are meager recon shows the angel stationary over the silo's top. We don't know what its doing. You are to get to the connection gap and try to destroy it with your rifles, understood?"
Again the pilots responded that the understood. As the signaled that they had arrived at the vertical section, Misato wished them luck and they disconnected their audio feed.
Rei opened her channel to her fellow pilots, "Beginning mission."
Asuka scoffed at Rei's comment, "Who made you leader Wonder girl?"
Ayanami didn't respond vocally, she just started to climb up the fixtures. Asuka was quick to follow her on her assent, followed lastly by Shinji. As they were nearing the halfway point of the climb something began hitting them. Asuka was the first to feel the pain as the angel's acid secretion struck her unit's hand.
Pain coupled with her illness caused her to lose her coordination and she began to plummet. Rei, also distracted by the addition of pain, heard Asuka's cry over her audio feed and she too lost her footing.
The two units collided with Shinji's unit 01 which held it's ground and led the others back into the relative safety of the horizontal passage. That however was not before two of the three pallet rifles were liquidated.
Asuka was pissed; they had botched their only chance at winning. As she scanned the video link up to the other units, she saw the others contemplating their next move. She joined them.
After a few moments in powered down mode, she had an idea.
"Listen up guys, I have a plan. One, I'll run defense and cover you two as you descend the pipe, Wonder girl, you get the rifle and give it to Shinji who'll be in between us. Shinji once you get that gun you kill it!"
Asuka was shocked when Shinji replied with a no. "I'll take defense Asuka, you're to sick to be able to hold out to both illness and the angels attack."
Not knowing which to follow, the mission that agreed with Shinji, or her heart that cried for Asuka to take the damage, Rei remained silent.
Unfortunaly for Shinji, Asuka wasn't. "How dare you say I can't do handle it? I'm not going to let a silly thing like sickness." Her words died in her mouth as she saw the pleading face of her now official friend.
Her battle was lost after he said one more word, "Please?"
Grumbling slightly, "Fine, just don't wuss out on me and fall."
With their plan in mind, they powered up their units and prepared. Shinji leapt out of the shaft and buried his hands and feet into the lining of the vertical shaft. He tried to ignore the pain that ramming his fingers and toes into reinforced steel caused.
Rei was next, she flung her unit recklessly at the ground, and every moment she hesitated was another that Shinji would be forced to deal with the acid. She reached the weapon and threw it up the now in position unit 02.
Asuka caught the throw and took aim. Suddenly her vision went black. All the rushing and adrenalin added to her fever and her mind was trying to cope. As she fought to regain herself, she could hear Shinji's voice muffled with pain telling her to shoot.
Her vision began to clear; she could see a big purple thing and blackness above it. She aimed at the blackness. Mentally she thanked Shinji for his refusal, she knew now that she would have fallen by now. She pulled the trigger and let fly a volley of rounds.
As the rifle empted its lethal contents into the angel, defeating it, her hands began shaking. The last few rounds piercing Unit-01 in the legs and one in the midsection. Her horror was completed when she heard his pain filled shriek.
She didn't even have a chance to act before a blue blur rushed past her and caught the falling unit.
Asuka's mind was at a stand still. Somebody nice finally enters her life, somebody she feels like she can trust, and what does she do? She shoots him. He trusted her and she shot him. "What have I done?"
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"I can't believe you offered to train that little spore!" Naru exclaimed.
Motoko for her part was sitting patiently on the couch as Naru vented. She knew that Naru wouldn't understand the way of the warrior. Shinji, to Motoko, was a prime candidate for a pupil, and she felt it a training exercise for herself as well. Training a student is not easy. So she tried to elude the subject.
"Why do you think it wrong of me to so thus?"
That stopped Naru, aside from Shinobu; she had no reason not to be against him. "I guess, because he works for NERV and that." Her voice died.
Looking directly into Naru's eyes, "Is it because Shinobu likes him that you are against my training him?"
Looking stunned Naru could only nod; she had been pegged from the start.
Motoko smiled to herself, while she didn't like manipulating people, she did know the benefits of it.
"What better way to see his character than to have him around Hinata? You could observe him and then make a solid stance on his relationship with Shinobu."
Now Naru smiled, 'Motoko is using this as a way of gauging his character, how clever of her.'
"Ok, if he consents you can train him here. IF you let me check up on him."
Bowing lightly, Motoko stood, "As you wish it."
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Shinji opened his eyes to find himself in a darkened room, and a sickeningly familiar darkened room. "I hate that ceiling."
He didn't know why he was in the hospital again. His last memories before blanking out was the from the angel. 'Guess all that pain finally knocked me out.'
A subtle cough caught his attention. In the dark, sitting next to him was Rei. She was staring intently at him, almost as if trying to bore a hole into his soul.
"Rei.hello. Have, have I been here long?"
With a quick shake of her head she moved and sat on his bed. "You were placed here for a night of observation. After the 2nd shot you, you passed out."
'Asuka shot me?' he thought. He then wondered why Rei was inching her way closer to him.
"Rei?"
Still moving closer to his face, "After I told you my feelings regarding you, is it not fair to assume you should do the same for me?"
'She's asking me if I like her! What.what do I say?' his mind froze as he saw her leaning over.
"Is my presence a good feeling?"
He nodded.
"Do you enjoy being around me?"
Again he nodded she was his friend after all.
Rei's final question was, "Do you not wish to know me?"
He always did wish to know her better so he meekly said as much.
In her mind, Rei was overjoyed, by logical deduction that meant Shinji liked her as she liked him. "I see, so there is no reason we cannot."
She leaned the final few feet over and kissed him. Shinji's mind reeled, he didn't expect or even truly wish for this. Rei was wondering why he didn't respond so she increased her force upon his lips. Shinji could feel his resistance fleeting it was all he wanted. To be loved. Images of Shinobu entered his head as he tried to resist the urge to respond.
He lost such a will when he felt Rei's lips open ever so slightly and a warm slightly moist object prodded his own lips. He didn't know how she knew what she was doing, but it had worked. The stress from his life, the need to be loved, hormones, whatever it was, Shinji slowly started to respond in kind with Rei's actions.
As she felt him respond, she inwardly rejoiced. She had gotten what she wanted.
-------------------
In his office, Gendo Ikari viewed a monitor and was most displeased.
"Kozo, what is this?"
His right hand man simply looked on, "It appears that the 1st child has made a claim for the 3rd."
"Exactly, this was not supposed to happen. We put Akagi in charge of Rei's upbringing to insure this didn't happen. She is to remain totally faithful to my will."
Kozo nodded, this indeed was a strange blow to the instrumentality project. "What can we do?"
"Intelligence reports that the 3rd is somewhat involved with an outside party. We need to remove Rei's attachment to him, and if it means forcing him on the outside party it will need to be done."
"Why not just order Rei to avoid him?" Kozo asked, mainly because to go to such extremes felt odd.
Gendo pushed up his glasses, "Look at scope."
As he did his eyes dilated, a very small blue pattern was being emitted from the room. "She's."
Gendo finished, "Exactly, if we were to force a separation, she could rebel and we would be in no better situation."
Kozo didn't like his next idea but it was possible, "What about replacing her?"
Thinking about that for a few moments, she was a tool after all, he picked up his phone, "Get me Dr. Akagi now."
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Author's notes
Yes yes I'm sure many of you are asking, "Why have Rei kiss Shinji? Isn't that OOC?" In the light of her rather 'odd' view on life and believing wholly in logic, don't you think she'd have done the same?
Anyway I have a reason for her actions which will be reveled in later chapters so don't judge me to harshly yet.
Hope you liked this chapter and will continue to read it. Plus feedback, I crave feedback.
Oh and do you nonbelievers- Kos Mos RULZ! ^_^
Ja Mata
Zentrodie (zentrodie@secondimpact.com www.geocities.com/zentrodie.geo www.darkscribes.org)
Omake!
Asuka caught the throw and took aim. Suddenly her vision went black. All the rushing and adrenalin added to her fever and her mind was trying to cope. As she fought to regain herself, she could hear Shinji's voice muffled with pain telling her to shoot.
Her vision began to clear; she could see a big purple thing and blackness above it. She aimed at the blackness. Mentally she thanked Shinji for his refusal, she knew now that she would have fallen by now. She pulled the trigger and let fly a volley of rounds.
As the rifle empted its lethal contents into the angel, defeating it, her hands began shaking. The last few rounds striking Unit-01.
A high pitched shriek filled the commlink. As Asuka's vision cleared completely she saw a whole in Unit-01's crotch.
Rei appeared over her video channel, "You better pray that he is still functional after that or you will pay dearly."
Asuka had to try not to laugh, but in side she was thinking, "Hope Shinobu doesn't mind that I shot his."