I don't own Evangelion, you can Google to see who does.

Snow Drop

Kyo Tetsuei

The sun shines warmly over a small piece of secluded coastline. A few lazy, white clouds drift along in the summer sky. A small, sheltered beach is framed by rocky cliffs on three sides and a beautiful, clear ocean on the fourth. A soft, gentle breeze gently ruffles the clothes of the five people on that beach. The sounds of the waves meeting the shore mix with sounds of the breeze and seagulls calling overhead.

Right at the edge of the water, two small children run around, the shallow water splashing as they pass by. Their excited voices and shrieks carry to the adults resting a little further up on the beach. One, a male, is sitting on a chair under an opened umbrella listening to a radio. Two women are lying face down on towels, enjoying the warm sun.

"Ne, ne-tteba! Hayaku, hayaku!"

"Matte! Anta hayasugi da yo!"

"Osoi!"

"Uuuuu… hidoi…"

The child running out in front slows down, wanting to avoid almost certain disaster and yet another scolding. The child turns around, starting to return to the second, sniffling child. As the two get closer, the gentle breeze picks up a bit, lifting the sniffling child's hat up into the air and onto the wet sand, where the next wave covers it with seawater. The first child sighs and walks over to pick up the hat. Trying to shake off the water and the sand, the child returns it to the owner, who has now stopped sniffling.

"Bisho-bisho da na, kore… hora, boushi."

"… arigatou…"

Satisfied that everything was fine now, the two children continued to frolic on the sand, bringing smiles to the faces of the adults that looked over at the two every once in a while. The tide was slowly receding, exposing more of the beach for the children to explore and discover. Shells were found, crabs chased, and crude sand castles were created with their cute little hands. As the children played, they went closer and closer to one of the rocky outcroppings, determined to see what kind of sea creatures they could find in the tide pools contained there.

As the children played on the rocks, darker, more ominous clouds started to appear on the horizon. By now, the seagulls had flown further inland, wanting to avoid the coming rain. However, none of the five people on the beach noticed this, as each one of them were still enjoying the quiet, peaceful weekend at the beach. The breeze, playing its mischief again, picked up the same hat, and this time carried it further out onto the water.

"Aaa! Boushi!"

This time, however, it was out farther than the children could wade, and it was out of reach from the rocks. Because of the receding tide, each set of waves carried it further and further away from the shore. Determined to get the hat, however, the little boy began to clumsily paddle out to get it for the once-again sniffling girl. As the girl looked on, the boy got closer and closer to the hat. When he reached it, he held the item out of the water, waving it to show the girl that he had gotten the hat back. She clapped, and laughed as the boy put the hat on his own head before he began to swim back to shore.

The breeze was not the only thing that had picked up. With the storm coming closer, the waves had also grown in strength as well. As the boy attempted to swim back to shore, a wave knocked the hat off of his head. Noticing this, he swam closer to the rocks, once again grabbing the hat, this time keeping it in his hands. By now, the movement of the water had picked up in its intensity, making it hard for the child to keep his concentration. It was at this time that a particularly large wave crashed over the boy, causing the girl to momentarily lose sight of him. After the wave had passed by, she gasped as his head had popped out of the water again. He knew that the girl was prone to worry, so he waved to her again.

Hands clutched at her chest, the girl watched in shock as the boy once again was pulled under the water by the undertow. A moment passed, two, then three. The hat popped out of the water, but there was no sign of the boy. The hat drifted towards the shore, and the adults, attention now drawn to the screaming girl, raced towards her location, all four of them now screaming the little boy's name…

The idea for this story came to me about three years ago. At that time, there were a few of the AU fics floating around, as well as a few talking about how Shinji didn't know how to swim, and I thought to myself, 'well, if there isn't any excuse for why he can't swim' (which is as far as I am aware, a completely fan-created idea) 'I'll think of one myself, and go from there.

And from that little idea, this story was created. I have never really thought very far past the premise, and I don't think I will really plan for the course of this story beyond what comes to me at the time. I might merge another idea I had for a story into this one, which would give it a little more consideration in terms of plot direction, but aside from that, it's whatever goes.

This is more of a prologue chapter, the story proper will begin in the next chapter. Don't worry, I used Japanese for the dialogue on purpose for this chapter, but rest assured, all will be right in the world. If you don't understand what was said, fret not, you'll find out.

This story was not preread.

07/06/05