The Ultimate Angel: Changing Time Itself

Chapter 13: Shadows of the Heart

Disclaimer: I Do not own Neon Genesis Evangelion, i only own this fanfic which i make no money off of at all...how sad. But if i did...well let's just say Shinji would get a lot more...'fun'

A/N: The pairing is at a confusing state...as of this minute it will be a Shinji/Maya permanent(Of course i said the same thing about asuka...)...but others could be poping up...doesn't mean Asuka wont come back at some point, who knows. Yeah...and sorry for the long update...do you want an excuse? I seriously doubt it so just blame me and yell if you must,as long as it's in a review!

November 16th

That morning as Shinji woke from his sleep he found himself staring at the ceiling 'Why do i always wake up to different ceilings? It's some sort of cruel joke...' The past day finally returned to him, his body forcing itself to sit up 'that's right...i stayed at Rei's...'

"Good morning Ikari" That calm and emotionless tone could belong to no one but ayanami, well maybe his father...but he was gone "Oh! Rei...i hope you didn't mind me staying..." She simply gave him a shake of the head for an answer, moving into the bathroom.

"Oh wait, i still need my spare uniform and bag for school...maybe i can...run to Misato's...it's still pretty early." Deciding he couldn't go to school without those he wrote Rei a quick note...not that she would care he left, and then promptly left the apartment he so eagerly cleaned the night before.

By the time the young commander arrived at the katsuragi home, and his own by circumstance he was completely out of breath, gasping for air while he walked towards the apartment door. Before he could open it, the door opened rather violently, an already steamed Asuka staring at him for only a moment before shoving him out of the way "Get out of my way third!" She stormed off, her bag grasped tightly in one hand.

For someone else he may have found that rude behavior strange, but this was Asuka. Walking in slowly he looked around the empty apartment...well empty except for the penguin going towards the fridge. "Misato are you here?"

After a sickening thud the door to her room opened slightly, his guardians head showing up, her purple hair still wet from her shower "Huh? Oh Shinji! Where have you been, i was worried sick!" In truth she hadn't even noticed...figured he got in late and decided to catch a little more sleep...yes being the model guardian she was misato found it best to let him skip school for the day if he didn't wake on his own.

"Oh, i spent the night at ayanami's...my clothes were soaked from the rain and her place was closer" Misato's head disappeared for a few moments before she erupted from the room pulling on her attires coat "Oh that's my Shinji, i hope she isn't to sore today..." In all reality even her own teasing was beginning to spark jealousy. "W-what? it wasn't like that!"

Katsuragi gave a slight chuckle before looking at the clock...a small amount of time to spare "If you get ready real quick I will give you a ride Shinji" His face went from embarrassed to excited almost instantly, to worried about being late to remember he was putting his life on the line being in a car with her.

He rushed off into his room quickly changing clothes, since kensuke had started helping them prepare a defense he was beginning to stay at Nerv instead of in his closet, they had even faked his death to fool the goverment. Grabbing his bag he rushed out of his room to an impatient misato "Good, now let's get going!"

Shinji almost hurled when he stepped out of his guardian's car, who after a wave good bye took off with a screech of tires. "How can anyone drive...that bad" He walked into the large building on wobbly legs which didn't seem to want to hold him up as if it was some sort of revenge on putting them through such an experience.

Thankfully he made it to class on time, dropping into his seat he let out a long sigh. When there teacher came in Hikari went into her usual duties before the old man placed his things down "Were going to do something a little different today..." The entire class perked up at this andAsuka couldn't help but speak "You mean we aren't leaning about second impact today?"

The teacher waved his hand dismissively "Of course we are, we will just be taking a different approach..." The entire class sulked back into there usual positions when the man went on "You will all be assigned to a group of three, your task will be to interview three people who were alive during the time of second impact, and document there experiences...it can be written or taped"

He went on to assigning groups, in which he was placed with Rei and Hikari thankfully enough...it would be a pain to try and make a project with people he never met or worst of all asuka.

When school was finally over the pigtailed Hikari cornered him before he could escape "So Shinji when do you want the group to meet?" After several drawn out blinks he sighed "Shouldn't you ask Rei this..."

He only received a frown before she continued "How about Saturday night at your place? Tell ayanami for me ok?" He gave a slow nod forit was pointless trying to get out of it, thefreckled girl caring as much about homework as his guardian cared about beer.

He went through the same old process at Nerv, greeted by the guards, annual reports, some fun with Maya before she reminded him of her making dinner tonight and ran off to meet Ritsuko. Fuyutsuki sighed slightly as Miss Ibuki flew by 'There at it again huh? Just like his father...well in some ways' Making his way into the office he gave a slight smile "Well good afternoon Commander"

The old man almost laughed as Shinji groaned "Please don't call me that...it sounds weird" The aging adviser simply nodded, a smile crossing his lips...of course it always looked like a smirk to him "Can i ask you a question...theres no one else i can really ask"

Kouzou gave another nod before Shinji continued "Well...i was wondering if you could tell me about my father" As expected fuyutsuki remained calm just like Gendo always would "Now why would you wish to know that?"

"Well...i never really knew much about him...and with him being gone, i just wish...i knew a bit more about him i guess..." Taking a seat in one of the chairs opposite Shinji the older man smiled "Ah, well i guess that's natural...well if you want to know, he was a lot like you..."

As expected Shinji immediately looked shocked, his eyes wanting to pop out "L-like me?...but...we never had anything in common...and i don't act...like him" In truth he had purposely made sure he never ended up like his good for nothing father.

Once again Kouzou let off a small smile "yes that's true, but that's only because you dealt with things different emotionally, you are afraid to be hurt, and so was he..but he would push everything away from him until he was completly detached from the world except his own work, you on the other hand kind of just travel with the flow of the world.

Although he was rather confused he nodded slowly looking like achild being taught advanced math'Am i...am i really like him? I don't...want to be' He sighed leaning back in the chair for a moment, the alarm going off causing him to jump, but it turned out to be a simple drill on how people should react to an alarm.

Later that night

The day had been long and boring, filled with briefings on many different topics and constant rantings about everything kensuke could set up around the base. He had gotten a brief chance to speak with rei, and thanked her..but she simply nodded again and took off, he had told her about there project meeting but from how she acted he couldn't tell if she would show up or not.

The walk home went slower than usual, listening only to the soft sounds his feet made on the damp ground, but he made it without another rainstorm. He jumped at the sound of the squawking penguin, unsure if he was being yelled at or greeted by it.

"Pen Pen you scared me!" Stretching he headed over to the couch "I wonder where Asuka went to...maybe shes just hiding in her room..." There was a loudcrash, a shuffling of feet and finally a door being thrown open.

"I'm not hiding you psychopathic monster!" Cringing visibly he rubbed his eyes to warn away the ears that attempted to release "Fine...whatever you say asuka" To tempered to catch the hint of sarcasm there heads whipped to the door as it opened, there so called guardian walking in with a smile "Hey good your both home! Look who i found on her way here" she wasfollowed inby Maya, who held a bag of groceries in her hands, a slight smile on her face "Hey Shinji, i told you i was making you dinner tonight"

Rubbing the back of his head Shinji gave a slow nod "Yeah...but i still don't agree with it..." the short haired technician frowned slightly "Well...i am your girlfriend, you shouldn't have to cook all the time, even if it is really good" Although misato had her suspicions...to hear it directly was more of a surprise then she thought..but Asuka went ballistic.

"You mean it's true! Your actually dating him? You have got to be kidding me, what are you like thirty!"During maya's frown and quiet mumbling of her actual age, the now pissed off shinji Balled his fist slightly and grabbed Asuka wrist "Stop it! Let's...talk about this in another room if you have such a problem"

Yanking her wrist away she glared daggers toward him "I bet she doesn't know about your little 'issue' does she? I think she has a right to know you monster" She smirked, looking over at Mayas curious face "Um..should i maybe come back tomorrow...?"

Patting her coworker on the shoulder misato grinned "Nah since Shinji got tougher they will just yell for a bit then things will cool down" She had to cover her ears when the yelling got louder, but finally Asuka broke away from the conversation and walked right up to Maya "Did you know your so called 'boyfriend' has an angel inside him? One of those little ricktin things possessed him! Sucks doesn't it? To know you've been dating a...a..a devil!"

Silenced washed over the entire room in one quick moment, the entire room gaining a strong feel of darkness. Maya stared blankly at asuka's furious face, misato's own expression twisting into a frown while stealing a glance at shinji. No matter how strong he had gotten she could already see the signs of his former self emerging, the very word 'devil' or anything close to it like a switch to bring out his old weaker self, but she was somewhat curious on if he would handle the situation diffrent than he would have before the incident with the angel. His eyes were downcast, but she knew they were already filling with tears as well as noticing his hands tightening into fists, all the blood draining from his hands.

To the surprise of everyone shinji was the first to speak, his face lifting to stare at asuka with a mix of fury, fear and sadness, tears falling from his eyes "What next asuka! What next? Want to call me a freak? Maybe a demon? Or how about we go with abomination!"

The red head stared at him, her anger slowly subsided into regret...if he truly was any of those things there was no way it would effect him that much, she didn't even need his words to realize the damage she had done it was written all over his face "Shinji...I..."

"It doesn't even matter! I don't...i don't care what you have to say!" His voice became shaky, almost distant. He could yell but there was no strength in his words, no confidence or security, simply pain and anguish. Silence once again overcame the room, even maya who wanted to comfort him with all her heart could not move. Without warning he bolted before anyone could stop him, not into his room but out the apartment door into the night air ignoring the screams of his name coming from his guardian and girlfriend, he even thought he may have heard asuka's voice but it didn't matter.

Gazing at the still open door maya whipped around, her hand connecting harshly with Asuka's cheek leaving a beat red hand print, tears already in her eyes "I..I can't believe you just did that! I heard you were mean to him...but thats beyond low!" She received a blank look from the stunned asuka "If anyone's a devil, it's you" she didn't miss the wide eyes or fear that crossed asuka's face, and she took a kind of twisted pleasure from it before heading for the door.

Sighing slightly Misato rubbed her forehead, never expecting such a common argument to escalate to this scale. "Maya wait, we can take my car...shinji may think i drive like a maniac but it can come in handy this time!" Her coworker gave a simple nod before the headed for her car, not noticing the once confident asuka fall to her knees in a sort of horror at her own behavior.

A/N: Hm...well there you go, review and tell me what you think whether it's up to the former chapters standards or not. Special thanks to anyone who helped with ideas during my writers block, you know who you are i hope...if not than im not the only one that needs help.