A/N: Thanks for the reviews guys. Since, somehow, you liked it. I decided to put up the next chapter. Enjoy!


A young man, with black hair and an athletic build, woke up on the beach and looked around. 'Where am I? Am I alive again?' he thought. He looked over his left shoulder and saw a beautiful sleeping woman about the age of fifteen. 'She's here too?' He thought. He sat up on the beach to take in what had happened. 'I remember sharing everyone's thoughts and Shinji…He saved us, I think' He was thinking but then quickly remembered his leg.

"My leg!" He exclaimed excitedly, "It's really here! My leg's back!"

All this startled the young girl and she woke up. "Suzahara?" She smiled. "Is that really you? It is!" She crawled across the grainy sand and sat next to him and gave him a big hug with a small tear falling down her face. "I'm really glad you're okay. And look! Your leg is back, it's healed!"

"Yeah," He smiled back at her, "It's really nice to see your pretty face when I came back from that…that world."

She blushed, "Umm. What do we do now? I remember being whole with everyone and Shinji…. He did something. I think he's here!"

"You think? Man I can't wait to see him!" He smiled and stood up, "I can't wait to tell him I can walk again! I bet he'll stop beating himself up after this." He picked Hikari up. "I'm sure they're around here somewhere."

"Maybe over there?" She pointed to this object in the distance that looked to be a house. "Let's go check it out."

Shinji woke up to the heavenly smell of breakfast being cooked. "Well it doesn't smell burnt…. So that must mean it's…. Asuka? Why would she, of all people, cook breakfast?" Shinji mumbled to himself as he got up out of the bed. He yawned and stretched his arms as he walked down the stairs. He walked into the kitchen to see a happy Asuka cooking breakfast. 'Weird….' He thought, "Good morning Asuka. Do you need any help with that?" He asked as he walked over to see what she was cooking, which happened to be waffles, sausages, and some milk.

"Guten Morgen," Asuka smiled, "Sure."

Shinji went to help her but realized she had absolutely nothing that needs his help, "Umm…. What exactly did you need help with?"

"Nothing, I guess…" She paused, "I guess I just wanted you to be here…here to check and see if I was doing this right."

"Oh okay," Shinji looked at the food, "Well it looks fantastic, probably better than anything I could ever make."

"You're a lousy liar Shinji," Asuka stated.

"What do you mean?" Shinji ask confused.

'Of course he doesn't realize he's a great cook, we never tell him he is,' Asuka thought. "Well Shinji, you're a good cook, I know we've never told you but your food is much better than this." She blushed realizing what she had just said, but she hid it so Shinji couldn't see it.

Shinji just blushed and at that time Misato stumbled as she came down the stairs. "Oh breakfast!" She said, "Good I'm hungry." She sat down at the kitchen table and then noticed the two children's pink lines on their faces. "Did I interrupt something?" She teased, "What were you two doing in here all alone? Hmmm?"

Shinji, whom was used to her teasing, just replied with a straightforward answer, "Asuka was cooking breakfast and I was trying to help."

Asuka however replied with a little bit of teasing anger of her own, "Shut up Misato! Do you want breakfast or not?" Asuka noticed that all the food was done cooking and she put it evenly onto three separate plates. Shinji decided that he needed to help, so he decided to pour everyone a glass of milk to drink. They sat down at the table and started eating.

"This is pretty good Asuka," Shinji said trying to get her attention, but he was actually impressed with her cooking.

"Well I did go to college and I took culinary arts class one year," She proudly stated.

"Oh yeah," Shinji went off about thinking about what his life was before Third Impact. 'Of course it's almost as if life is better now… I mean She's not always mad, Misato's not always drunk, and my father isn't here. But then again neither is Touji, Kensuke, or Hikari.'

"Shiiiinnnji," Misato purred, "Why are you staring at Asuka so intensely?"

"What!" Shinji didn't realize he was still looking at her. "I was just thinking nothing more!" His face turned a bright pink.

"And just what were you thinking about?" Asuka asked with some bite in her voice.

"It's not what you think," By now his face was a cherry red, "I was just thinking about how things used to be…."

The rest of them ate breakfast in silence. Misato and Asuka went off to separate bathrooms to take a shower to clean themselves. Meanwhile Shinji was cleaning the dishes when he heard this ringing noise. "What was that!" he said startled. It rang again, "Is that the…. Doorbell?" He ran too the door and opened it to find two of the last people he would've hoped to see.

"Hey Shin-man, how's it going?" Touji said to Shinji.

"Touji!" Shinji ran to him and gave him a hug. "I'm glad you're back."

"Hey Shinji," Hikari said and smiled.

"Hikari!" He bowed and she bowed back. Then he quickly gave her a hug. "I missed you guys. We were wondering when you guys would come back."

"We?" Hikari and Touji said in unison.

"Yeah," Shinji said. "Me, Asuka, and Misato, we're all here." At this point Shinji realized that Hikari and Touji were holding hands with each other. "Umm…." He didn't know what to say, so he just pointed.

"Oh," Touji started to explain, "Well when we got back. We admitted that we liked each other, just now on the way up to this house, and now we're going out."

"Yeah," Hikari blushed, "Where's Asuka?"

"Oh," Shinji said, "She's upstairs in the shower. We just had breakfast, come inside and we'll sit down, okay?" He said as he walked them inside and they went into the living room. Touji and Hikari sat down on a loveseat while Shinji sat down on the opposite couch, which was big enough to fit at least five people on it.

Asuka came out of the shower. "Ah that was refreshing." She said as she walked over to her bedroom and grabbed some clothes. The clothes she decided to wear were brand new. (Her and Shinji went for a private walk yesterday while Misato was asleep and happened to find a delivery van stocked with clothes and they drove it to the house) She put on a yellow dress similar to the one she wore on the "Over the Rainbow." She heard some people talking downstairs and started to walk to see who it was. She heard Shinji's voice and someone else's voice which was very familiar to her, she started to run down the stairs and into the living room. "Hikari!" Asuka called from halfway across the house and ran up to Hikari and gave her a hug that made Hikari turn purple.

"Asuka!" Hikari managed to say. "Can't…. Breathe…."

"Oh sorry," Asuka smiled, "You're back!"

"Yeah!" Hikari answered and was about to say something when Touji interrupted.

"Aww man," He sighed, "The red devil lives."

"What's he doing here!" Asuka shouted and pointed her finger at Touji.

"Calm down guys," Shinji tried to be the peacemaker to get things settled before anything got out of hand. "We should be happy, let's not try to be mean right now, please?" He asked.

"Okay Shin-man," Touji said and relaxed but then suddenly got slapped by Hikari. "Oww! What was that for!"

"For being rude Touji," Hikari stated, "When you're a guest you need to be polite. Of course, now we'll have plenty of time to work on your manners." She blushed.

"Yeah," Touji smiled and gave Hikari a hug, "Sorry, I'll try harder."

Asuka was completely stunned by the whole situation. "Did I miss something?" She said.

Hikari and Touji didn't hear her, and Shinji decided it was up to him. "They're now boyfriend and girlfriend, Asuka." He whispered.

"What!" Asuka yelled.

In fact she was so loud, Misato came running down the stairs with the towel only covering her bottom half of her body. "What's wrong?"

This, of course, stunned everyone. Shinji, however, was quick to take off his shirt and cover her in it. "Umm" he blocked her from everyone's view, "Sorry Misato. There's no emergency, Touji and Hikari and here, but you should go put some clothes on first…."

"Sorry guys," Misato smiled, "I guess there's no freebies here." She smiled and started back up the stairs, balancing between holding Shinji's shirt and the towel. "Thank you," She whispered to Shinji.

He just smiled, "We're even now." He remembered the first time he met pen-pen and came out of the bathroom naked and stood in front of Misato.

Seeing even the slight flash of Misato's cleavage stunned Touji. Hikari quickly picked up on this and slapped him. "Oww, what was that for?" Touji said rubbing his cheek. "I was just…its Misato, Hikari you know you're a lot more important to me. I was just curious to see umm Shinji!"

"Touji was just curious to see what was going on and when he looked up Misato was right there," Shinji said trying to cover for Touji.

"Yeah," He agreed, "That's all it was, nothing more. I promise."

"Okay," Hikari smiled, "I'm sorry for slapping you then."

Touji sighed in relief; "It's okay. I'd rather get slapped by you then have to live with the red dev… I mean Asuka."

"And just what the hell does that mean?" Asuka growled at Touji.

"Nothing," Touji said trying to fix the mistake he let slip out of his big mouth.

"Asuka's really a nice person…." Shinji said. Although Shinji thought he thought that sentence, but instead he said it out loud and everyone heard him.

"Shinji are you two like going out or something?" Touji asked curiously.

"No…. Did I just say that out loud!" Shinji realized everyone had heard what he said.

Asuka, Hikari, and Touji all nodded their heads. "Well Shinji Ikari, we all already know I'm a nice person thank you very much," Asuka replied.

"Yeah right," Touji mumbled to himself.

Unfortunately Asuka heard him, "What was that! I am too nice!"

"No you're not," Touji decided he, not her, would win this battle. "You're always mean to Shinji, putting him down and making him do everything. You don't even appreciate what he does for you."

"Not true!" Asuka angrily, "I am always nice to him."

"Just recently," Touji shot back, "Before Third Impact you were the biggest bitch on the planet. And when you got angry you would just take all your anger out on Shinji." Touji was now on the edge of his seat glaring Asuka down.

"Guys…." Shinji said trying to get them to stop.

"I was not mean!" Asuka said not letting her guard down, "Who's the one who beat him up the first time they met? Answer that!" Asuka relaxed as she realized she had taken the lead.

"Guys…." Shinji said again.

"Oh yeah well who's the one who makes him do everything and let's not forget that one time you gave him a black eye." Touji replied neither of the two hearing Shinji.

"Guys…." Shinji tried to get them to stop and suddenly Hikari stood up.

"Guys just cut it out," She said, "We survived and we're alive, let's not fight okay?"

Asuka stuck out her tongue, "Okay but he started it," She pointed to Touji.

"Yeah right, you…" Touji was cut-off by Hikari's hand into his face.

Shinji sighed in relief. He stood up, "I'm sure everyone is thirsty. I'll go make some lemonade, I'm sorry that's all we really have, other than milk for breakfast." Shinji walked into the kitchen and met up with Misato, whom was now fully clothed. "Hey Misato," Shinji smiled, "I'm making some more lemonade for everyone and they're all talking in the living room." He poured the lemonade into separate cups, "I'm sure they're all be glad to see you."

At that same time Asuka walked into the kitchen. "What's taking so long?"

"Nothing Asuka," Shinji said calmly. "I was just telling Misato that it's good to see her in clothes and not seeing her walking around naked."

"Yeah right pervert," Asuka snarled. And then at the same time she grabbed two glasses of lemonade. "I'll help you carry some."

'I swear, sometimes it seems like she's bipolar. But somehow, she still looks beautiful no matter what.' Shinji thought to himself as he and her walked into the living room. He gave a glass to Touji, Hikari, and one to Misato as she sat down. Asuka gave one to him and her and sat down next to him on the couch.

"Scoot over," Asuka pushed Shinji aside. "And don't try anything just because I'm sitting next to you. I'm only doing this because there's no where else to sit."

Shinji looked at the floor, but smiled realizing that at least Asuka was next to him, "I know."

The friends talked for hours until about sundown and then they went and ate dinner. After dinner they talked even more, until finally their eyes got heavy and they decided it was time to go to bed. Touji and Hikari went to Shinji's bedroom, Misato went to her room, and Asuka went to her room. Shinji was supposed to make his bed in the floor in the living room. Misato offered to share a bed, but Shinji turned her down. He grabbed a blanket and his journal and went into the living room. After sitting in the living room he got bored and decided to go outside for a walk to clear his head. He grabbed a pen sitting on the counter and his journal and walked outside.

Asuka woke up to the sound of a door opening and closing. She got up and looked outside her window and saw Shinji walked outside. She quickly got dressed and then crept down the stairs, careful not to wake anyone up. Then she opened and closed the door silently. She saw him walking ahead of her and she ran to catch up with him.

Shinji had just closed the door and was walking to the beach and then he planned to go into the town. He heard some footsteps behind him and stopped to turn around and see who it was. As he turned around his foot got caught on a rock and he fell. He quickly got up, embarrassed, and brushed himself off to see Asuka standing there about to laugh, but just smiled. "Uhhh," He said with a bright red blush, "Hey Asuka."

"What are you doing out here all by yourself?" She demanded.

"I was just taking a walk," He said, "Oh and I kind of am by myself. I mean that I have you, Misato, Touji and Hikari. But that's all the people here in the world and it's my fault why everyone else is gone."

"It's not your fault Shinji," Asuka said softly, "You did the right thing, it's better this way. And I'm glad that I got to come back to see you and everyone else. It's like a new beginning for me. I was a stuck up egotistical bitch, but now I can be the person I always wanted to be." She smiled at him. "We all messed up at sometime in our life and all you can do is move on and don't think about the past. Shinji, I know you're thinking it's your fault about why everyone is gone, but you did the right thing. I'd rather live in a real place with real people than some fake place where I don't feel anything." She stated, "Wouldn't you?"

"Yeah…" He smiled, "Thanks Asuka."

"No problem," Asuka smiled. They then walked in silence for a few minutes until Asuka stopped the silence, "So, where are we going?"

"Well I planned to go to the cities ruins," He said, "But if you don't want to…"

"No no, that sounds fine," She smiled and noticed the notebook he was carrying in his hands. "What's that?"

Shinji blushed, "Oh, it's…umm…my journal."

"A journal?" Asuka asked, "When did you start this?"

"That first day I came back. I decided I should keep a record of what I do and what happens." Shinji said, "But it's not really that important."

"Okay," She said and kept walking.

They finally came to the town and they saw a lot of military vehicles, a few citizens' cars, and a few business trucks. Shinji spotted one truck in particular, it was the Yebisu delivery truck, he'd seen it a few times when Misato had to stock up on beer. "Asuka," Shinji started, "Should we bring that back for Misato?"

"No!" She yelled and then saw his sadness, "Well I guess we'll take a few and just tell her to save them for special times."

"Okay," Shinji smiled, "That will make her happy."

They kept walking around the side of town that was nearest to the ocean, which was east, until they found a big store. "Asuka?" Shinji asked.

"Yeah?" She replied.

"What's a…. Wal-Mart?" He finished.

"Wal-Mart is a store where you can buy food, clothes, and other items." She stated, "Why?"

Shinji pointed a little ways out to a big building with a broken blue neon light. "That says 'Wal-Mart."

Asuka quickly grabbed Shinji's hand and ran to the store. Shinji was too busy paying attention to his hand touching Asuka's soft skin to even notice what was going on. When they finally stopped they looked around and found a few other stores were still intact there. They went to Wal-Mart to get food and some items. Asuka wanted a television set, a new bed, and new sheets for her bed, lots of new clothes, and some other lesser items. Shinji however grabbed a SDAT player and got some clothes and items for Misato, Touji, and Hikari. When they got out of there they had 3 carts full and the bed that Asuka wanted. She decided not to get the bed until they could get Misato to get out of the house and drive them over there.

"I'm going to go look at that other clothing store really quick," Asuka said as she ran off and left Shinji there.

Shinji took this time to go into a jewelry place that was still somewhat intact. He grabbed a nice golden watch for Touji, a nice necklace with an emerald on it for Hikari, an even bigger necklace and bracelet that had diamonds and sapphires embedded into it for Misato, and finally the best looking item in the store for Asuka. It was this fancy bracelet that was embedded with diamonds in the middle and rubies surrounding them, it was made out of gold and silver too.

Shinji walked back outside and quickly hid Asuka's bracelet in his pocket and put the other jewelry with the items he got from Wal-Mart. He saw Asuka running back from the clothing store with more items. She threw them into the cart and they started back towards the house.

Shinji yawned, "You must be tired," Asuka said. "I know I am."

Shinji smiled, "Well it is about one o' clock in the morning."

They laughed and kept walking until they came back to the house. They put the three carts full of items on the front porch and they crept inside. "Good night Asuka," Shinji said as he walked over to the living room, still with his journal in hand.

"Where do you think you're going?" Asuka said angrily.

"Umm to bed?" Shinji replied not knowing what she meant.

"Shiiiiinji," Asuka purred, "Why don't you come sleep in my room? It's too dark and I need someone else there."

Shinji blushed, "Umm…well… okay."

She smiled and took him by the hand and led him up the stairs and into her bedroom. "Shut you're eyes," She demanded, "I have to undress and I don't want you peeking."

Shinji closed his eyes, covered them with his hands, and looked in the opposite direction. She told him he could open his eyes and he what he saw was Asuka in bed and already underneath the sheets. He lay down on the ground and looked up at the ceiling. "Shinji?" Asuka asked as he was just about to open up his journal, "Can you come sleep with me? I feel lonely and cold."

"Uhhh what?" Shinji said not believing his ears.

"I said 'can you come sleep with me?' but no underneath the same sheets of course." She smiled.

"I umm suppose I could," Shinji said trying to hide his bright blush. He got up and sat on the very edge of her bed.

"Thank you," She replied, 'How come he doesn't like me? What am I doing wrong?' she asked herself and then fell quickly asleep.

Four Days After Third Impact

Today Touji and Hikari came back from the LCL Ocean. I'm beginning to think other people will start coming back, but one thing that puzzles me is how come only people who I know are coming back? Anyways we talked forever and had a lot of fun today. I went out for a 'walk' tonight and I planned on just staying in the ruins of Tokyo 3 for a few days, but Asuka followed me so I couldn't. Also I'm begging to think Asuka knows I have a crush on her, because she's been teasing me lately. We went to a place called 'Wal-Mart' and we got a lot of supplies. I went to a jewelry place and I got Touji, Hikari, Misato, and especially Asuka something nice from there. When we came home, since there were no beds I was supposed to sleep in the living room on the couch, but Asuka wanted me to sleep in her room. I was so happy…. And embarrassed. But then she wanted me to sleep with her in the bed and not on the floor. I'm sitting on the edge of her bed right now looking at her beautiful red hair and her angelic face. Well Journal, I think that's all for tonight, I'll write again soon. Maybe by then I'll be able to tell Asuka…

Exit Journal

Shinji put down his journal, turned off the dim light, and crawled on the far side of the bed and went to sleep.


A/N: Yeah I know that was a bit sudden. I really don't know where that idea came from. But thanks for reading. If you have any suggestions I'll take them. I'm about to start writing the 6th chapter. Till Next Time,

Bota Kun