Disclaimer: see chapter 1.

Folded Wings

By Random1377

Chapter 17

Heavy panting filled Kaji's bedroom, punctuated by the occasional sound of someone swallowing – the kind of noise one makes when one's throat is too dry. Maya stared at her right hand, watching the fingers twitch slightly as her breath burned in her lungs and wondering if what had just happened was some kind of dream.

"Th… that…" she gasped, shivering as she felt a hand running from the base of her spine all the way up to the back of her neck. "Kaji… God that was…"

"Horrible?" Kaji supplied quietly. "Gruesome? Disgusting?"

Maya closed her eyes, swallowing once more and finally getting her breathing under control. "Intense," she managed. "Way… intense." Licking her lips (they too, were rather dry) she softly whispered, "That was nothing like last time… what got into you…?"

She drew a sharp breath as Kaji leaned down, biting her on the top of the ear.

"Are you complaining…?"

"No, of course not," Maya said quickly, "it's just… wow…"

"Glad you approve," Kaji laughed.

Maya yelped in surprise, her eyes widening as Kaji rolled her onto her back. "A-again?"

Kaji grinned. "What, you're not up for it?" he winked. "No, I don't have the energy I had when I was a teenager… I just want to kiss you."

Closing her eyes, Maya welcomed his deep, sensual kiss, moaning in the back of her throat as he suckled lightly on the tip of her tongue. Ohhh I lied, she thought guiltily. I lied to you Rei… I KNOW I'm in love…

Was it really only three hours ago that she was cleaning up the last few details of the nightmare at Matsushiro? By all rights, she should be dog-tired… but forty minutes with Kaji had made her forget that she even needed sleep. He had been so persuasive when he had called… and so forceful when she arrived, that only the sheer magnitude of the disaster had kept her from forgetting that it took place at all.

"Well maybe," Maya managed between kisses, "I could be… persuaded… to go… another round…"

Kaji pulled back a bit. "Didn't I just say I didn't have the energy for it?" he asked, sliding over on top of her in spite of his words. "Better be quieter this time, though… you'll wake Rei, and she can be-"

"Rei's home?" Maya gasped, paling considerably. "When… I didn't know she was here!"

"You walked right past her when you came in," Kaji pointed out. "She's on the couch. Where did you think she'd be?"

Maya looked pained. "Well, you didn't… really give me a chance to look around," she stammered.

Kaji frowned. "What difference does it make?" he wondered. "She knows we do this."

"Well… well I know she knows," Maya babbled, "but I didn't really… want her to hear us, Kaji…"

Sitting up as Maya cast around for her bra, Kaji said, "Why are you getting all worked up about this?"

"Because it's private!" Maya exploded, blushing as Kaji's jaw fell open. "Sorry," she said quickly, "I just… you know stuff like that bothers me, Kaji – why didn't you tell me?"

Kaji grabbed her wrist, stopping her from fumbling her bra on. "Because it's none of her business," he said flatly, all traces of humor absent from his voice. "She wanted to live here, so if she has a problem with me bringing a woman home, she can damn well get out."

"That's, I mean-"

Cutting her off in mid-babble, Kaji said, "If she has a problem with hearing you scream… she can sleep somewhere else… got it?"

Maya swallowed, staring with wide eyes into Kaji's unsmiling face.

"You're hurting my arm."

Kaji released her.

Rubbing at her wrist, Maya covered herself with one arm as best she could and stared down at her toes. She flinched as Kaji cursed and swung his legs out of bed, tugging his boxers on and starting for the door.

"W-wait…!"

Kaji glanced over his shoulder, and in spite of her intentions, Maya cringed back.

"I umm… I'm sorry," she whispered, "I overreacted. I just… I don't want Rei to see me like that, ok?"

"Like what?" Kaji asked quietly.

"Well," Maya murmured, "you know, like… like that kind of woman – a woman who-"

"Has sex? Sleeps around? Screws? What are you going for here?"

Maya went dead white. Why? she thought desperately, Why is it turning out this way?

Kaji leaned against the door, folding his arms over his chest. "I hate to break it to you, Ibuki," he said calmly, "but you are that kind of woman… and it's not a bad thing. So you enjoy your body, who cares? Do you think Rei won't, when she grows up?"

Bunching a fistful of the sheet in one hand, Maya whispered, "I doubt Rei thinks about that kind of stuff, but-"

Unable to contain himself, Kaji laughed out loud.

"God, you're more naïve than I thought…"

Blushing bright red, Maya threw the covers back and snatched her panties up off the floor. "I never knew you were this cruel," she sniffed, yanking her underclothes on and grabbing her shirt off the corner of the bed. "I'm leaving!"

Kaji sighed as the woman pulled her skirt up and shoved her arms into her shirtsleeves. "Ibuki," he said patiently, "it's been a hard day for everyone… don't make it harder."

"What?" Maya exclaimed. "Don't make it harder? Are you trying to tell me that your day has been worse than mine? Because I'll tell you-"

"Two friends I've known since college were nearly killed in a massive explosion," Kaji cut in deftly, "and I had to drive to Matsushurio and back to make sure they were alive before filing out huge stacks of reports… and to cap the day off, my girlfriend flew off the handle and got into a huge fight with me, almost ruining the memory of some truly fantastic sex." Twisting the doorknob, Kaji whispered, "How about you?"

Maya was red all the way to the tips of her ears. "S-sorry," she sobbed, "I just… I'm too tired to deal with this. I know… I know it was a hard day for everyone – so I think I should just go home so I can think, ok?"

"I'm not stopping you," Kaji said quietly, "but I think maybe you should just get back in bed and stay here with me so we can work this out."

Rubbing at her eyes, Maya said, "I don't think I can, Kaji – I'm too confused."

With a sigh, Kaji opened the door.

"Don't let this ruin us."

Maya nodded. "I'll… I don't know," she whispered, "I want to say I'll call you, but that's such a cliché… so… I'll come back when I've got everything figured out."

"Alright," Kaji nodded.

"I love you."

There was a moment of frozen time, wherein Maya's eyes widened with the realization of what she'd said, and Kaji's face showed every bit of the surprise he felt. Then Maya was bolting through the door, heading for the front of the apartment with nothing but escape on her mind.

She might have made it, too, had she not run headlong into Rei, who happened to be passing the bedroom on her way into the kitchen.

"Kya!"

Maya cried out as she tumbled to the floor, landing in a heap of tangled limbs and bedclothes. She groaned, rubbing her head as she tried to get her bearings.

"What… happened…?"

"Miss Ibuki."

"Hmm?"

Looking down, Maya found herself staring into Rei's eyes.

"Your leg," the First said quietly, "could you move it?"

When she finally figured out where her leg was and why its presence could be deemed uncomfortable, Maya's overworked mind could not compensate.

Softly, she began to cry.

Kaji rubbed his eyes. "Come on," he murmured, crouching down and slipping an arm around Maya's waist. "Come on, Ibuki…"

"M-Maya," the tech hiccupped.

"Come on, Maya," Kaji said soothingly. "I can't let you drive like this. If anything happened to you, I'd never forgive myself."

Maya leaned weakly against Kaji's side, unable to contain her tears as he led her back to bed, helped her undress, and tucked her in. "Sorry," she sobbed, clinging to his arm as he moved to leave. "I'm sorry I said that – don't… don't break up with me, ok?"

Kaji gently pulled his arm free, taking her hand and lightly kissing it before putting his hands on her shoulders and pushing her back down on the bed. "Sleep," he ordered, "don't get out of bed until I tell you to. Don't worry," he said, giving her his best smile, "the only way I'd break up with you wanted me to."

Closing her eyes, Maya whispered, "That would never happen…"

Kaji's smile faded.

"…never say never, Ibuki," he advised.

Maya was already sound asleep.

( 0 0 0 )

Shinji cursed, his plugsuit slipping out of his fingers as he tore it from the locker. "Come on," he growled, leaning down to pick it up, "it's almost here!"

The angel had come so fast that they weren't even going to be able to get to the surface. Asuka, who had been on active duty, was already in the Geofront, waiting to snipe the angel as it broke through… and he was here, dropping his stupid plugsuit on the floor and fumbling around like an idiot.

"Come on!"

Finally getting his fingers wrapped around the suit, Shinji tugged it on, shoving his arms into the sleeves and pressurizing it before sprinting out into the hallway. Sadly, as with Maya before him, Shinji was in such a hurry that he did not see Rei until he was running into her.

"Ow," he groaned, rubbing his head as he quickly scooted off of the First's chest.

Tell me I didn't grope her again, he thought miserably, thinking back to the incident just before the fifth angel, please tell me that much!

"Wow," a strong male voice mused, "Shinji's hands are faster than mine."

Damn it!

"Kaji," he blurted, hurriedly getting to his feet and offering Rei a hand up. "Miss Ibuki, hi…"

It was only belatedly that he noticed the tech… but he was sure that her eyes looked a bit red around the edges as she gave him a half-hearted smile.

Rei leveraged herself up with Shinji's assistance, neglecting to brush off her skirt as she started for the locker room. "Will you wait for me?" she asked, pausing with her hand on the doorknob.

"Sure," Shinji said, thinking momentarily of Asuka's earlier interrogation as the First stepped into the locker room.

So am I the other guy, he thought suddenly, or is the other guy the other guy? And… and that thing with Hik-

"Door's closed, kid," Kaji interrupted his thoughts, "unless you have x-ray vision, you're not gonna see her butt until she comes out again… though in that plugsuit, it's a much better sight."

Shinji colored. "I wasn't looking at her b- oh never mind…"

His shoulders slumped as Kaji let out a short laugh.

Why do I even bother?

"Where did Miss Ibuki go?" he wondered, noticing that the woman was no longer at Kaji's side.

"Bridge," Kaji said simply. "Where did you think she'd go at a time like this – the break room?"

"Well, I just thought… she'd wait or something," Shinji mumbled awkwardly.

Why would I think that? he mused, letting silence fall as they waited for Rei. She's not my friend, or Rei's… and Misato's been spending a lot of time with Kaji, so she couldn't be-

"I am ready."

Shinji glanced up as Rei came out of the locker room.

One of these days, he thought as they all headed towards the EVA cages, I am going to get to finish a thought…

( 0 0 0 )

Sitting in the entry plug, Rei felt completely at peace. Things seemed to be stabilizing in her relationships – or at least, they were becoming more crystallized. Kaji had become more comfortable with her, Ikari had agreed to spend more time with her, and Hikari… well, Hikari had made her feelings perfectly clear, so Rei was no longer required to spend energy thinking about 'what ifs' and 'if onlys.'

I suppose it is for the best, she thought as the plug was inserted into Unit 00. Relationships of that nature are generally frowned upon.

Though this was the case, she still found nothing wrong with her feelings. Affection was affection, in her eyes… regardless of age, gender, or creed. Unfortunately for her, society (and more importantly, Hikari herself) did not seem to share this opinion.

"How… sad," she murmured.

"Rei," Misato's voice came over the tactical network, "are you ready?"

"Yes ma'am," Rei replied, using her years of training to remove herself from the emotions currently stirring within her. "What is my position?"

"Defense," Misato replied tersely, "or offense, I don't really give a damn at this point – just get your ass up there and back Asuka and Shinji… the angel's coming through now. Asuka will engage in less than twenty seconds… Shinji will be up in thirty."

"Understood."

Unit 00 shuddered as it was moved to the catapult.

They are cutting corners, Rei thought, moving us as fast as possible. This angel… must be powerful.

"Unit 00, go!"

Rei grunted softly as her mecha was launched to the surface, unprepared for the suddenness of the liftoff.

This was definitely not a good sign.

Nor was the panicked cry of, "Why won't you collapse, damn it?" that greeted her upon reaching the surface.

The angel, it seemed… was already there…

Continued…