One of my shorter writings for a story...and I figured out how long this is going to be. But I'll ask you anyway, how long do you think this should be? Well, to RahXephon, thanks for telling me to not overuse Italics, this is as much as I will use along with a little for the chapter, but still hope you enjoy! As for the rest of my reviewers, glad you find this story interesting, I won't be able to update this story for at least a while since I'll be gone forsix days, but I'll come back and work on it! I promise...it might take another week then. But other than that, enjoy!

Movement 2: Retaining

She walked over to Misato's place to visit her, a refuge for Asuka when she felt the pang she had been feeling the last few days. She had not found anything to help figure out who this boy in the picture was, this smiling blue-eyed brown haired fourteen year old boy that seemed to give this shine of happiness, something that she had always wished to be able to feel. The peaceful sky of blue that bore no clouds or any sun, the place that seemed to resembled Misato's place. She put the picture back into her pocket and sighed, lying in her bed of her days in school, the memories intoxicating her and causing her to smile. She remembered the times when she would have friends staying the night, like Hikari and all the fun times they had. Even Rei and her got on good terms, and in the end they were the best of friends, even like sisters. She had changed in many good ways and yet she had changed in many instances.

For starters, she had felt this pang inside, as if someone had been missing from her that made her feel happy at times or sadness to where when guys asked her out, something told her that she should say no. She would still go on the dates though, only feeling proud that she could lead a guy like that, but felt disgusted at the same time. She was changing during those times, and she could feel it. She didn't want to, but she felt so vulnerable at times, and she still didn't want to open up her heart to anyone, but there was one person she had considered to and that was still highly unlikely…or rather she thought she did. Still, by laying on her old bed, looking around the room, she could feel the memories soak in and it made her semi-happy once again.

"I could never admit this but…I was glad to be away from my dad," thought Asuka while she sat herself up and looked around the room smiling at every precious item in there, "sure Germany is my home, but I was allowed refuge from the storm….from my dad…and I started to feel as if maybe I'm not alone. But now, I still feel it…"

"Asuka…what do you want for dinner?" said a voice from outside the door. Asuka then felt all of her concentration turn to that.

"Anything's fine, your cooking has gotten a lot better than it used to be." said Asuka, getting up towards the door to leave. When she got out, she looked at the room next to her old room and something in her mind puzzled her.

"Hey Misato." said Asuka while still staring at the door that had a sign hung on it that said "Lovely Suite". Why would there be a sign that was up that would say that? Who used to live in that room?

"Yes Asuka? What is it?" asked Misato while you could hear some vegetables being stir-fried. Asuka stepping closer to the door that made her curiosity run wild for the moment.

"Who used to live in this room next to me?" asked Asuka while she saw a head pop out from behind a wall giving a puzzled look.

"Don't go in there, I locked the room after I got back, fearing that I don't remember why it was there. I don't anyone to ruin it in case if I remember anything about that place…" said Misato while Asuka felt her head droop. Something was calling her to go look inside and snoop, finding possible answers about the boy who had haunted her dreams, nightmares, everything. The boy in the picture was the top priority to her, but she would have to find out later.

Dinner came quickly at Misato's place, both Asuka and Misato eating in an awkward silence. Something was bugging both of them, both having different problems that night. Finally, to break the silence, Misato asked a question about what had happened earlier.

"Asuka, why did you want to go into that room?" asked Misato while grabbing her can of beer, taking a quick gulp and putting it back down, Asuka hesitant in answering right away.

"I don't know what to do, say, do I tell her the truth this time? Or lie like last time?" thought Asuka while she took another bite to eat, finally deciding to tell the truth. After all, there might be a possibility that Misato would know who it was or know some things about him.

"Misato, you remember that day I woke up from a coma ten years ago?" asked Asuka while Misato looked up at her, locking eyes with Asuka. She nodded firmly and Asuka put down her chopsticks.

"Misato, that day, a picture dropped from your jacket, and I picked it up from the floor. I wanted to give it back to you but you walked off already…and ever since then I've felt something about it," began Asuka with Misato now listening intently, trying to remember a picture that she carried with her that day, "and you see, at first I thought it would be of Kaji, so I was happy in anticipation only to find that it was actually this," she hands Misato the picture, Misato's eyes opening in shock, "and ever since then I've wanted to figure out who he is but can't. I know he's real! And no one else remembers him. However, no matter what I try and do I can't figure out for the life of me --,"

"Shinji…" came off of the lips of Misato while she continued to stare at the picture, not focusing on what Asuka was now saying.

"Who he—wait, what did you just say?" asked Asuka while Misato still sat there in a trance, staring at the photo in front of her.

"For some reason, when I see this picture, I think of the name Shinji, it feels as if I've known him, but I'm not sure…" began Misato while she continued to stare at the picture with a puzzled look. Why was he so familiar to her all of a sudden? One second, he seemed just like a normal picture taken of somebody else for the hell of it, the next moment he reminds her of a name "Shinji".

"So you think that --," began Asuka, only to be cut off by Misato getting up and interrupting Asuka while she walked to her room.

"I'm sure, his name is Shinji. I don't know who he is, but I'm sure he did exist. It doesn't make sense, are you sure this is all you have and you don't know who this is?" snapped Misato while she stood there, waiting for Asuka's reply.

"Yes Misato, I'm sure of it…" said Asuka while she sat there, her eyes full of sadness and wonder. This was hurting, seeing and sensing that not only was she in pain from the picture, but so was Misato. She watched as Misato walked to her room and got in.

"Asuka," began Misato while she took another step into her room, "stay here for the night, it's pretty late and I'll try and see if I can do some research and come up with anything. After that, we'll check out some places to see if we can find anything…" she closed the door behind her, leaving a silent Asuka sitting there alone and hurt along with confused.

-------Misato's Room-------

"I'm sure of it, that is Shinji…Shinji what though? Or rather who though? He seems so close to me…so far at the same time to. It was as if I was close to him, as if he practically lived with me or something…but that wouldn't make sense…" thought Misato while she turned on her computer, instantly finding the computer turn on with the desktop ready.

"He should be in NERV records, he should be…" thought Misato while she instantly opened the NERV program, looking into every record possible, anything to find out who this "Shinji" is.

"Damn it! He's not in any records!" snapped Misato while slamming a silent fist onto the desk, the anger pending up inside of her. He had to be there, that was the only way she would know him. She continued to work on looking into any EVA battles, any EVA Unit information, anything. What she did find interesting though was that there was an EVA Unit 00, and an EVA Unit 02, but shouldn't there have been an EVA Unit 01? She remembered that when Fuyutski was being dragged away for his "crimes against humanity", he simply mouthed something out. They questioned him about the giant explosion that happened in the GeoFront, the purpose and the people of the attack, but she couldn't tell what he was mouthing out.

"I need to continue looking, this is starting to get interesting again…" thought Misato with a smirk, taking a swig of beer and begin typing away and continuously looking, as if for anything else that was out of place…

---------Asuka's Room-----------

She sat there on the bed in silence, pondering the name and why it stuck out there where as any other name she could shrug off. It wasn't the name of any of her friends, not even sounding like a name of a person that would even live in that area.

"Why can't I let go of this name?" asked Asuka to herself, continuing to sit there and hug her knees in the darkness.

It seemed like the perfect name for the boy in the picture. Nothing else would seem to fit, not even the names she wanted to be for him.

"I'll try and figure out all of this in the morning, for now, I need sleep." thought Asuka with a yawn, laying herself down onto her bed, her head meeting with a soft pillow that brought back even more nostalgia to her. She slowly let herself relax, falling to sleep peacefully…

-----Misato's Apartment-------

The morning came with Asuka waking up on her own, shooting upward and her eyes drooped instantly, wondering why the hell she shot up all of a sudden. She rubbed her eyes to get the gunk out, letting her eyes focus slowly in the darkness. She gave out a quick yawn, her eyes focusing after that.

"Well, I'm sure Misato is asleep still…so I guess I'll go make breakfast…" thought Asuka, slugglishly getting up from the bed. She walked out of the door without a stress of having to change, since she had slept in the same clothes she wore yesterday.

"I'll just go and change when I get home…" thought Asuka to herself while she closed her bedroom door behind her, suddenly smelling pancakes cooking.

"What the--?" thought Asuka, checking the kitchen to see Misato cooking and wide awake, Asuka shocked at the sight she was seeing. Before she could even say anything, Misato turned around and gave a smile.

"Well good morning sleepy head! You finally woke up!" said Misato while Asuka sat down at the table and resting her head on her hand.

"What time is it?" asked Asuka while she saw Misato move her right hand up to where she could look at the watch.

"It's 9: 30 in the morning, so you're good." said Misato while she turned off the stove fire, putting the pancakes on a plate and bringing what seemed both plates of breakfast to the table.

"Well, eat up." said Misato while Asuka took a glance at the food in front of her. It was a simple ordinary breakfast with an unordinary side; pancakes, toast and some fish to go along. She looked down at Pen-pen, who was happily eating his food. She shrugged off any doubt, taking a bite and being happy that she let the doubt go away.

"Oh and Asuka…I found out some interesting stuff…" began Misato, waiting for Asuka to take a few bites. When she said this, Asuka ceased to move, freezing as if stuck in time, looking up at Misato.

"You see, I found out some interesting things about NERV…and for some reason they help towards the boy in the picture there…" continued Misato, luring in Asuka with every word that she spoke.

"But why do you want to find out so much about this boy? What makes him so special to you for this?" asked Misato while Asuka felt some tint in her cheeks, not knowing why but still it was feeling natural.

"I don't know, I feel as if he's someone that I wanted to be close to…but didn't want to get close to…it was as if…" began Asuka with her head looking down a little bit, Misato cutting her off.

"Because you were afraid of pain, rejection, and the touch; you didn't want to get so close to someone so in they end they would hurt you…" continued Misato, Asuka looking at her with a confused look.

"How the hell did you figure that out?" asked Asuka with a perplexed tone, Mistao giving a conceited smile.

"Woman's intuition…" smirked Misato while Asuka sat there and replied with a "hmph". Misato giggled a little.

"Still Asuka, I got close to you, and I haven't hurt you right? So what's there to lose?" asked Misato while Asuka sat there without looking back.

"Still Misato, I mean a guy to do that to me, I'm okay with you, although I may have never said it, you became this somewhat sister to me. With him though…I feel as if there was some reason why I couldn't get near him, nor felt like something about him was keeping me away…but still…" said Asuka while Misato just gave a deep sigh.

"Enough with this mushy stuff…do you want to know about the stuff about NERV or not?" asked Misato while Asuka gave a nod immediately in response.

"NERV had another EVA known as "Unit 01", but it never appears in the database. I figured that out with the fact that there was Rei's Unit 00 and your Unit 02, so wouldn't there be a Unit 01?" began Misato, Asuka falling deep in contemplation, Misato was definitely on to something, "Not only that, but Rei hadn't saved you during the times you were in trouble when fighting angels. She wasn't around or she wasn't close enough to save you, something else had…" Asuka looked up and her eyes opened in shock, why was this a sudden realization now? "Lastly, during the SEELE attack, the nine EVAS that came to attack were decimated and were gone without remains…" Asuka but in immediately with that.

"But what about Rei? Couldn't she have been the one to destroy them?" asked Asuka, seeing Misato smile conceitedly still as Asuka gave a confused look again.

"You could think that is a possibility, but I remember in Fuyutski's comments in interrogation that this giant "Rei" person, born from Lillith, came out during the attack, but blew up. He even mouthed out something that no one could read or see and when I tried to read it, I couldn't figure it out…" said the observant Misato, Asuka looking at her with a shocked look and was scared because of Misato figuring out all of this.

"How long did you stay up Misato?" snapped Asuka while Misato took another swig of beer.

"All night, but hey I'm okay, I'm probably going to sleep in today and rest…" said Misato while Asuka gave a nod and continued eating.

"One more thing…"

"Yes Misato?"

"Commander Gendo did have a son, but he's never appeared after the SEELE attack, he was wiped out of existence it seemed…"

Asuka's eyes opened in dread once more, how was this possible? She didn't remember Gendo ever having a son around, although she did remember some things that Gendo would do, like as if he were looking at someone at times but gave a scoff soon after. It was someone, and it sure as hell that it wasn't her, but maybe Rei? No, he didn't because whenever he did, it was obvious as hell.

"Misato…"

"Yes?"

"Maybe his name is Shinji Ikari…"

"Could be Asuka, could be…you know, maybe you should check out NERV records to see if you can find out anymore, as in go to the headquarters itself…" said Misato while Asuka sat there and thought about it.

NERV had been considered closed that day after her awakening from the coma, but still it contained the records of the majority of the battles. No one knew of the recordings of them, no one expected it, everyone thought that when it was over there would be no more memory of it. However, under the commanding of that wretched man Gendo, nothing was to be forgotten, even after his death it seemed he wanted them to remember it all. Remember the torment, the suffering, the anxiety, the feelings of anger and frustration and the somewhat happy feeling of being able to live another day because they destroyed an Angel. However, for Asuka, majority of the battles were a loss but she somehow was saved.

"Wait a minute…" thought Asuka to herself. Something wasn't right about the battles, as if something went missing and terribly wrong in the picture. Whenever she was saved Rei wasn't there, or so it seemed. Rei couldn't have destroyed the Angel Liliel and destroyed it, nor could she have been the one who saved Asuka with her EVA going beserk on Zeruel, nor fought with her when she defeated Israfel with her. She had taken for granted that Rei was the one who had helped her defeat those angels and stopped them, but she began to realize that something was missing. She couldn't remember what it was or who it was, but there was another, because she could remember bits and pieces that spoke of the "Third Children", meaning that there had to be another pilot.

"Dammit, why didn't I think of it before?" snapped Asuka, smacking her head with her hand. She forgot that being that she was once with NERV, she could check the recordings of the fights with the Angels and especially SEELE's attack. She's allowed to see anything dealing with NERV and any NERV personel, but didn't want to look at anything so she could put the past behind her. She was happy that way, or so it seemed. Now, with Misato simply pointing this out to her, she felt idiotic about not checking it out.

"Misato, I'll go check it out, I promise you that…" said Asuka with Misato picking up her plate and putting it in the sink.

"You have to do it today, because something could happen to NERV tomorrow, the UN is threatening to destroy anything pertaining to NERV…" began Misato, getting cut off by Asuka.

"I'm going, thanks for everything Misato!" said Asuka, bringing her plate up to the sink and walking off with a wave of the hand.

"You can always come here when you need refuge, or if it helps you to figure all of this out." said Misato while she cupped her hands over her mouth to add volume to her voice.

"Thanks Misato, I might later on!" said Asuka as she opened the door and closed it behind her, heading towards NERV. Misato kept scrubbing the plates, her head drooping down with sadness.

"I wish I wouldn't have remembered you Shinji, I wish I hadn't…and Asuka will have to learn on her own…" thought Misato, a tear falling down from her face.

"The question that I have left from after reading all of the information I found is…"

"Why did you let yourself die?"