I don't own Evangelion, so nyeh-nyeh.
Well, I'm finally posting the rest of Chapter 9! Remember, this is not the last chapter as was originally planned, since I ended up breaking chapter 9 into two parts. This chapter will be a lot shorter than Chapter 9, but I hope you'll excuse it, since I also needed a bit more time to polish things up and re-write the parts I wasn't quite satisfied with. Now please, enjoy!
Humans weren't meant to float
By GeekViking86
Chapter 10 – Unwrapped
A little kid in a candy store; that's how Misato felt as she gazed at all of the gorgeously restored and maintained classic cars surrounding her and Makoto inside the exhibition center. She hadn't been to an auto show in years, and the sensation now was almost overwhelming.
"Hey, check out the engine on this puppy." Misato said as she gazed at a '68 Mustang, which had a large chrome air vent and exhaust pipes protruding from the hood. "So shiny…" She joked as made a trance-like face.
"Yeah, too bad it's mostly for show. In a drag race I think the wind resistance would cancel out any advantage that thing would give." Makoto said with his arms crossed.
"Aw, but it looks so cool! I guess you have a point though." Misato frowned, and they went on to examine another couple muscle cars. Makoto had turned out to be quite a motor head, although his knowledge of cars was largley in the technical arena, whereas Misato's was more rooted in the historic aspects. It was making for some interesting conversations, since they were both able to benefit from the other's knowledge.
"So Misato, how have things been going with the kids? You mentioned something about Asuka's birthday when I called."
"Oh yeah, Shinji and their friends took her to see a movie and then dinner. I actually got a picture of them right before they left!"
Mistato pulled out her digital camera, and soon began clicking through the library on the LCD screen until she found the image. Shinji and Asuka were both dressed up for a night on the town with a slick suit and elegant red dress, respectively, and oddly enough Asuka actually had her arm around Shinji's back while was leaning against him.
"Wow, they sure have gotten friendlier. If I didn't know better, I'd think they were a couple…" Makoto said as he examined the photo.
"Hah. I actually had to put up a bit of a fight to convince Asuka to pose like that." Misato snickered.
"So, are you still trying to get them together?" Makoto asked.
"Yeah, they're still my little pet project, but tonight I've recruited some external help."
Makoto raised his eyebrow, unsure what she meant.
"You remember their friends, Hikari and Toji from the barbeque?" she asked, to which Makoto nodded. "Well, Hikari called me up about a week ago to ask me if I could help her find a romantic restaurant. Now I haven't been on a date in ages, but it wasn't hard to figure out what she was planning."
"So what did you tell her?"
"Well, first I told her that I didn't know what kinds of date locations New Yokohama has, but that I'd help her find one. And then, said I knew what she was up to, and that I was happy to help." Misato chuckled as she recalled the awkward conversation.
"So what place did you find?"
"Cucina del Giardino; it's an Italian place, and according to the website they have live music, dancing, and a retractable roof for a sky view."
"Ah, that's a classy one. Shigeru and Maya swear by it."
"Really? Well then I guess that it was a good choice." Misato smiled. "But if it works that well for those two, I hope I don't come home and find Asuka pregnant."
They both laughed mischievously at Misato's devious comment. Then suddenly, a shiny black sports car in the corner of convention hall caught Misato's attention, and her face lit up like a little girls' on Christmas morning.
"Ooh! Look at that one over there!" she exclaimed as she ran to the vehicle. Makoto merely scratched his head for a moment.
"It looks familiar, but I can't quite place it." He said.
"Aw come on, don't tell me you don't recognize it!"
"Well, it's an '82 Pontiac Trans AM…" Makoto began.
"And?"
"…And it's been customized…" Makoto said as he adjusted his glasses, and finally Misato gave up on her little guessing game.
"It's a replica of the Knight Rider car!" she blurted as she ran to the sleek machine, and pointed to the glowing red 'sensor grid' in front.
"Oh yeah, that's the one." Said Makoto as his memory came back.
"I've always wanted to see an '82 Trans AM up close, but I never would have expected to see one here, let alone one like this!" Misato joyously announced, and looked like she could almost burst with excitement.
"So, I take it you're a fan of the show?" Makoto asked teasingly.
"Guilty as charged." Misato answered meekly while putting her hands up, as if being arrested. "I watched the re-runs when I was a kid, and when Asuka moved in she brought all of her discs of it with her, so I got hooked again."
"Eh, it was okay I guess, but I was never really into it. Maybe I kind of missed that generation." He shrugged.
Misato looked around briefly, and made sure that no one was watching. She then took her digital camera and stuffed it in Makoto's hand, and then ducked under the picket line.
"Um, what are you doing?" Makoto asked tensely as he saw Misato pull down the top of her dress's zipper part way, revealing a good view of her impressive cleavage.
"Something I've dreamed of for years." Misato said wistfully, and draped herself across the car's hood like a model in a tuner magazine. "Now hurry up and take a picture!"
Makoto crouched so he'd be positioned at the ideal angle and swallowed hard, then snapped the shot.
"Okay, now get off of there before someone sees you!" he exclaimed in a panic.
Misato just giggled as she slid off of the car while running her hand over it, before ducking under the picket line again.
"Seeya later, Kitt." She joked as she waved goodbye to the Pontiac, and then zipped her dress back up to avoid embarrassing Makoto any further.
"Weren't you at all worried about getting us kicked out?" Makoto asked.
"Yes, but it was worth it for the souvenir picture, wasn't it?" Misato laughed as she looked at the photo on her camera's screen, and Makoto simply sighed while lowering his head. "Hey, if we never took chances, life would be pretty boring."
Makoto let out a chuckle and raised his head again.
"That's what I like about you Misato. You're not afraid of taking risks to get what you want."
Misato recognized this personal compliment, and gave Makoto a warm look.
"Well, from what I can tell, you aren't either." She said with a smile, and Makoto's cheeks reddened profusely. As they strolled to another display, Misato made a glance at Makoto's bright, brown eyes, and put her hand on her chin.
"You know Makoto, you have really nice eyes. It's a shame that you're always covering them up with those thick glasses."
The flustered Makoto did what he could to say something intelligent.
"Maybe I should get contacts sometime …" he muttered out while scratching his head.
"Yeah, you should." Misato said before giggling again, and the two continued their journey through the sea of cars.
Shinji opened the front door to the Katsuragi household with Asuka right behind him, and let out a gleeful laugh as he went over the night's activities with her. He was relieved that they'd made Misato's curfew on time, and with a whole three minutes to spare.
"Well, I'm glad to see your appetite had increased. The look on Hikari's face when she saw Shinji 'eats like a bird' Ikari wolf down an entire plate of veal and still have room for a whole slice of cheesecake was priceless!" Asuka amusingly recalled.
"I think I'm finally starting to understand what you meant when you were talking about needing more food when you exercise. A month ago, there's no way I'd come home from a meal like that without a doggy bag." Shinji said cheerfully, and they made their way into the living room. "Well, I guess we'll check in with Misato now."
He picked up the phone and called her, and then after a quick exchange of words said goodbye and hung up. Asuka had a somewhat annoyed look about her, and was fanning her face. Shinji could feel it too, and quickly removed his jacket.
"Man, when the heck is Misato going to fix that stupid AC? It's like a steam room in here!" Asuka complained. "Maybe I'll go get some wooden benches and lava rocks so we can just sit around in our bath towels." She joked sarcastically.
"Hey, at least you're wearing an evening dress. Try wearing a suit jacket in here!" Shinji remarked, however he certainly didn't mind the idea of spending the rest of the evening with a sweaty, towel-clad Asuka in a makeshift sauna.
Or better yet, skip the towels… Gah! Not while she's right in front of you, baka! He shouted at himself silently before the fantasy got out of control."So, what now?" he asked.
Asuka's eyes went over to the TV, and she grinned.
"I feel trouncing you at the game Misato got me." She said while giving her knuckles a good cracking. Shinji simply rolled his eyes.
"Only because it's your birthday." He sighed. Asuka giggled excitedly and ran to the videogame console under the TV, and started turning everything on. She then plopped down on the couch next to Shinji, and handed him one of wireless controllers from a basket on the coffee table.
"Mortal Kombat!" A voice shouted from the screen as the words 'MK: Obliteration' appeared in Romanji, and soon Asuka was flipping through menus to get to the versus mode. Shinji was glad she was handling the menus, because it was an imported game and all of the text was in English, which Shinji was not yet very proficient with. The player select screen appeared, and soon Asuka had chosen a beefy looking blue ninja, while Shinji fiddled around a little before finding a beast-like character with red eyes and silver claws.
"Round one, fight!" Shinji instantly began hammering away at the attack buttons trying to pull off a decent combo, but was clearly not much of a match for Asuka's experience. In all fairness he did put up a decent fight, but it wasn't long before his character's head had been separated from it's neck, and a shower of frozen limbs rained down upon Asuka's fighter."Sub-Zero wins! Fatality!" The announcer growled, and Shinji made a frown.
"Yes! Who's number one?" Asuka asked rhetorically while doing a small victory dance with her arms.
"That character is totally cheap!" Shinji said irately. "Mortal Kombat is proof that Americans can't make a balanced fighting game to save their grandmas."
Asuka's brow twitched.
"Is that so?" She asked blankly with annoyance lacing her voice, and then Shinji made the connection.
Uh-oh. I forgot that she's half American, didn't I? He scolded himself mentally."Looks like I'll just have to prove that you're wrong, and are just plain an in-experienced noob, by beating you with all fifty characters!" Asuka said with a bright smile, and Shinji's face went blank.
Over an hour later, Shinji was completely burnt out, and his thumbs were numb from his relentless button mashing. But he knew Asuka wasn't done yet... Finally, Asuka's last character performed a fatality, and sent the remains of Shinji's warrior splattering on the screen with a gooey red mess. Asuka's face darted in Shinji's direction as he sank into his seat, and gave him a devious grin.
"Say it." She demanded, and Shinji mumbled something that in Asuka's opinion wasn't nearly loud enough to be satisfying. "Say it louder!" she then tackled him, pinning his shoulders to the couch.
"Americans make good fighting games. I just suck at them." He said, trying to sound as sincere as possible, but couldn't help but groan in defeat as he rubbed his eyes. "Can I go to bed now?" He asked.
"Sure." Asuka nodded. Shinji placed his controller on the table before getting up, and then turned to the hallway. "Hey baka, aren't you forgetting something?" Asuka asked.
"What?" Shinji wondered, a little confused. Asuka just rolled her eyes, stood up, and pointed to her check.
"It's warm, wet, and it goes here."
Shinji's heart jumped and his body felt stiff, but he wouldn't dare deny Asuka now that she'd requested it. He sheepishly made his way over and moved his face towards Asuka's, then very cautiously moved his lips to her cheek. He finally made contact, and started to plant a friendly, but extremely careful kiss…
…When Asuka suddenly gave him a playful roughhouse squeeze with her arms, and momentarily lifted his feet an inch or two from the floor. Shinji almost jumped out of his skin, and Asuka fell back onto the couch laughing hysterically once she'd released him.
"Hehehe, pervert." She snickered as her laughter subsided.
"You're nuts, you know that?" Shinji said dizzily while trying to unwind from Asuka's teasing.
"I'll probably watch Conan for a few minutes before I crash, but I'll try to be quiet." Asuka said as she reached for the TV remote. "Goodnight, Shinji. And thank you so much for tonight." She playfully fiddled with the gemmed chain around her neck as she spoke. "And I love the necklace."
"Goodnight Asuka. And happy birthday."
They both sent each other one last friendly smile, and then Shinji went to his room.
Shinji groaned as he stared over at his clock. It was almost twelve fifteen, meaning he'd been rolling around awake for about an hour. The heat had been making sleep almost impossible, and for a while now Shinji could feel a thin film of sweat coating his entire body. He'd already ditched his pajamas and was down to just his shorts, and he was using nothing but a sheet to cover him—but the warm air and humidity were still nagging at him, making sure he'd be awake well into the night. A cold shower sounded appealing at the moment, but he didn't want to bother Asuka, especially after the evening had gone so smoothly.
You know what'd feel really good right now? A suggestion presented itself, but Shinji quickly brushed it aside as being a stupid, reckless, and potentially embarrassing idea.
But after another ten minutes, the idea had just kept coming back to nag him. It was becoming too difficult to resist, either because tonight he was feeling adventurous, or because he was too hot and too sweaty. He reached his hand up to his forehead to wipe some of the sweat from it, and finally gave in.
Fine, I'll give it a try. God, what am I doing? He asked himself as he reached for his robe and put it on, and then slid his bedroom window open. He climbed out and landed softly on the grass outside, then looked over in the direction of the lake. Trying to be as silent and invisible as possible, he quickly snuck down the path to the beach.
When he got there, he glanced around skittishly to make sure that no one could possibly be around. He shed his robe onto the sand, and for a second almost chickened out.
I already came this far— can't run away now. He told himself, and finally, his shorts dropped to the ground.
Even though the moon was almost full, therefore allowing him to see clearly, he kept reminding himself that it would be nearly impossible for someone to catch him—it was the best way he could think of to not lose the nerve.
The part of the beach Misato owned was very secluded, and the other houses were all too far away for anyone potential neighbors to notice… Asuka was inside either sleeping like a baby or laughing at the jokes of her other favorite redhead… And knowing Misato, she wouldn't be home for another hour at the earliest… Not that he expected anyone else to be crazy enough to come down here this late.
But even so, it felt strange being naked outside, and if this had been two months ago, he never would have even considered doing it. But he felt more confident now-- maybe because Asuka had beaten some confidence into him through their lessons, or perhaps because he no longer felt like a scrawny twig when his clothes were off. His muscles were hardly the stuff of a weight lifter, but they were still noticeably more toned and than he remembered them being before the lessons had begun. He had a modest swimmer's body, and he felt it suited him well.
He waded into the water and was a little surprised when it was slightly cooler than he expected, but it was a massive relief after the heat he'd been trying to sleep through. Soon he was in deep enough that he could float comfortably.
Hmm… It feels sort of like a bath, I guess.
He was soon performing his various swimming techniques rather comfortably-- so comfortable in fact, that he'd actually been a fair distance from the shore without noticing for a while.
Wow…I must be pretty good by now if I can get that far this easily. He congratulated himself silently. Then, his eyes wandered to the island—the place that had been the goal of his swimming lessons and exercises from the very beginning, and tonight seemed barely more than half as distant as it did from the shore.
It's really not that far away at all, is it? Heck, I'll bet I could go over there right now if I wanted to.
And on that thought, he had to ask himself—Well, why don't you?
He grinned. While he was still very fond of the idea of going there with Asuka by his side, he figured that there was nothing wrong with checking out the territory a little bit before hand. And besides that, Asuka would probably be proud to know he now liked the water enough to swim on his own—although he'd make sure to leave out the part about being naked, if the conversation should occur.
He began stroking his way forward, determined to prove what he was capable of. It wasn't nearly as difficult as he'd originally expected, which boosted his confidence all the more. Within only a few minutes, he had reached his destination.
It seemed bigger up close than it looked from the land, but this didn't really surprise him. As he swam around the left side of the island, he saw a comfortable looking rock sticking out of the water, so he quietly swam over and pulled himself up to use it as a seat, a little surprised at how the smooth stone felt beneath him. He felt amazingly proud of his achievement, and technically he hadn't broken his silent promise to go there with Asuka, since he didn't actually set foot on the land.
But as the water cleared from his head, he heard something— It was almost like bells on the air, but he knew it couldn't be anything other than a singing female voice. Shinji didn't understand the language, but he knew the song—it was an oldie that he'd liked, but couldn't remember the name of. At this point however, that was the least of his concerns…
The only thing that mattered right now was that he was completely nude, and there was someone else around—and probably a girl for that matter. He quickly covered himself with his hands while his eyes moved to find the source of the voice. Then, he found it to his right, only a few yards away-- and strangely enough, at that moment he remembered what the song was.
Fly Me to the Moon.
Sitting restfully on a smooth stone, much like the one Shinji was using, was a beautiful young woman, gazing innocently at the moon above as it's light made her skin shimmer—She looked like a Siren luring in a shipwrecked sailor, the sultry music flowing from her lips further cemented this impression—a And Shinji instantly knew who she was.
Asuka? What the—what's she—where are her clothes?
Yes, it was true… Shinji was the sole witness while the great Asuka Langley Sohryu sang a classic of Sinatra, wearing nothing but the skin she was born in. Her feet were idly dipping in and out of the water while she sang as she gently rocked her head and shoulders back and forth, causing her wet hair to sway slowly behind her back—And Shinji found himself helpless against the urge to visually explore.
First, there were her long, lusty legs, which Shinji had been familiar with for a long time now—and fortunately for the veins inside his nose, Asuka had them close enough together that she wasn't fully exposed. As his eyes moved up, he took in the sight of her silky, strong thighs, and then her tight, sexy stomach near her slender waist… Finally, he came to her perfect, firm breasts.
She looked like a goddess, and Shinji was almost certain he'd go blind any second now—which at the moment, seemed like a very small price to pay for what he was seeing.
She's… Amazing.
He was soon aware that the way he was staring would almost certainly fall under the category of ogling, but he couldn't help it. It was true that Shinji had already seen most of Asuka during their time at NERV; particularly, the ridiculous tests that required all three pilots naked, during one of which he'd gotten a glimpse of her rear while they were walking through the clean room... But that was completely by accident-- or at least that's what he'd always told himself. Then, there was also the 'mishap' when Shinji visited her in the hospital, not to mention the revealing swimsuits she'd worn as long as Shinji had known her… But this was the first time Shinji had ever seen it all at once, and there was also the fact that she had 'matured' noticeably since their NERV days.
The way Asuka sang was beautiful. Shinji had never even known that she sang before tonight, and wouldn't have guessed she had such an amazing voice. The way she articulated the words sounded so heartfelt, and so sincere… Not to mention far more accurate to the actual lyrics than Shinji could even hope to perform.
When Asuka's song came to its finish, Shinji knew better than to wait for an encore. But what was he supposed to do now? Escaping in silence would be almost impossible, as well as incredibly low seeing as he'd already helped himself to an eyeful of her body… But in the short run, the action he ended up taking could have been considered attempted suicide.
His mouth slid open, and despite his last second effort to stop it, his voice escaped.
"Asuka?"
Asuka's eyes instantly bolted over to Shinji, and began observing him rapidly with shock written all over her face—particularly when her gaze came to his lap, and noticed how 'happy' he was to see her—and Shinji then remembered that he was naked too, and had clearly forgotten about covering himself long ago.
"What the hölle are you doing here?" she screamed in a pitch that would wake the dead. She covered her bare breasts defensively with her arms, and pulled her knees in close before letting out another ear-shattering wail while trying to hide her embarrassed face.
It did not take long for Shinji to take a hint, as a look of horror came over his own face. He simply let himself fall over into the lake with a splash, and started swimming as fast as he could, once again thankful that the water was cool. And even though he had only taken up swimming less than two months ago, he was already wondering how well he'd fare at the tryouts for Japan's Olympic swim team. From what he could tell, it'd taken him less than half the time to swim to shore than it did for him to get to the island in the first place.
He finally reached beach and after stumbling through the sand, grabbed for his shorts and robe, not even attempting to put them on as he ran for the house. He climbed into his window as fast as he could before he could let something else embarrassing happen, and dropped his belongings to the floor before falling onto his bed. He quickly wrapped the sheet around himself, and it clung tightly to his still-damp skin. His heart was pounding, and he could still feel the pulse beating in his ears for minutes after he was tucked in.
It was ironic that Shinji had gone swimming in hopes to make sleep come easier, but now, it was even more difficult. It was like every time his eyes closed, he would see Asuka staring back at him, causing him to shiver all over. He changed positions several times, and finally found himself drifting to sleep. But when the dreams came, he knew that he'd be doing laundry the next day.
I still manage screw everything up, don't I? He moped pitifully into his pillow as he rolled over, still un-able to fathom what had happened.
End chapter
Author's notes:
Well, ten down, one to go! And before I submit this chapter, I'd like to address some potential technical questions some people might be asking. First of all, Asuka's father was in fact an American, with her mother being an un-specified mix of German and Japanese. Also, it's worth noting that in 2009 Conan O'Brien is slated to replace Jay Leno as host of The Tonight Show, and so I'm going under the assumption that Second Impact would not have affected that decision.
So, looks like I can take me a break for now. Next week I've got a load of free time, so I'll hopefully be writing Chapter 11 soon!
Thanks for reading, please keep sending your reviews, keep an eye out for the last chapter, and God bless!
