AN:Apologies for taking so much time again, this chapter is on the shorter side and something of a coda to the previous one. As ever major thanks to Cheerful Clatter and everyone else who helps me and motivates me to work on this fic, and that includes YOU if you happen to read it.
As for the next suite of chapters, I make no promise, there is another project I am working on, and I really want to finish that before committing to another big push at Strange Duet, but once I am done with it, hopefully in a week I'll get back to writing ASD, and maybe some Seques too. For now, I can give you the title Suite No. 7 Get Worse to Get Better.
Also I still do not own NGE.
Suite No.6,03 Consequeces Taken
-x-
Katsuragi household, Monday, 18:40
-x-
Misato was nursing a migraine as she looked at her two, no, her three charges over the dining table. They were all beaten up, Shinji and Asuka more so than Rei. Five minutes ago, Misato had told them to spill it, and they did… Misato finally glared at Asuka, who had done most of the talking.
"What got into you?! Running around, playing at some masked vigilante? You realize you put the NERV principal mission at risk? Your corpse cannot pilot the EVA! You in a coma cannot pilot the EVA! Even you alive but beat-up cannot pilot the EVA!"
Asuka just sat there and took it for once, not fighting back. Misato drew in a breath of much-needed air and went on: "And not only did you put yourself in that kind of risk, you also roped in Rei and Shinji?! If this adventure went south, they would all have their blood on your fucking hands!" She would have talked more, but Rei cut in.
"Pilot Sohryu did not order us to take part - I volunteered," she said in her best polite manner. Shinji nodded resolutely at that. Misato silenced her with a look and stared back at Asuka.
"And in case it escaped you, I would be the one to identify you, and I would be the one coming back to an empty flat, that is if I would not get locked in a prison or shot for losing all my subordinates!"
"But if we did not do it, Kensuke would have gotten beaten, possibly sent to hospital today! You were on a business trip to the capital. We had to do something!"
Misato was halfway to scolding Asuka for talking back when she realized two things: it was Shinji who had just cut in, and he had a point. Hate it though she might, she could not justify taking a plane back from the meeting she attended to help a bullied kid that had no relation to the NERV. Instead, she drew in a breath and looked at Shinji with a frown.
"Well, next time something dangerous needs doing when I am out of the city, you run it through Kaji, or you run it through Lieutenant Hyuga. If neither of them are available, you run it through Doctor Akagi, and if it's a truly extreme emergency, go straight to Professor Fuyutsuki. What you do not do is ignore the entire chain of command because you think you need to go on a heroic mission of some sort! If you ever do that again, I will take that very chain and hit you all with it!"
Misato waited for the point to well and truly sink in. They were all looking back at her with sorry expressions, even Asuka, although her muscles did not quite know how to form one properly. Or was that the swelling above her right eye and cut in her lip?
Anyway, a part of Misato felt bad for dressing them down so harshly for helping a friend… not bad enough to cut them any slack, but bad enough that she did not want to belabor the point beyond the necessary…
She looked each of the pilots in the eyes: "Since this is the first time you did something this stupid, and since getting official about it would put your 'helping Rei' plan in danger, we will solve this in-house. All of you are under three weeks' house arrest! You will go to school and to NERV as usual, but you will go straight to school and straight to NERV. You get me?"
As a reply, Misato got three nods in sync. "Runs with trash do not count, nor do grocery runs. But if you try to abuse that or take too long going to or from school, there will be additional punishments. But one last thing… during those three weeks, there will be no visitors here - and that includes Aida and Suzuhara!" Misato waited for another set of nods.
Then she looked at them and said, "If anyone has a problem with this, say it now! Any backtalk, complaints, or bitching about it later will result in additional days for all of you!"
Unsurprisingly, only Asuka chose to speak, albeit weakly: "This is not fair, and you know it…" Misato shot her a warning glare, but the redhead continued. "No way Rei and Shinji deserve the same punishment! I want to do a week for each of them!"
'OK, I did not expect this. In a way, it is self-centered of Asuka, claiming more authority over them than she really has. But if I have to deal with Asuka's self-centered nature, I'll take this over whining any day!' Misato realized she almost smiled. 'Working to take responsibility through selfishness? That is a first…' She looked at Asuka for a moment…
"OK, if Shinji and Rei agree to it, then I don't have a problem…" Misato drank some coffee as she watched the pilots. Both Rei and Shinji shook their heads and started protesting. She thought of cutting them out, but they were not challenging her authority, and since Asuka had no official authority, it was up to her to assert herself…
"I got you into trouble, guys. Neither of you would have come up with THAT solution, you know that…" said Asuka in a pretty worn-out voice after a while. Neither of the other teens countered her there. After a moment, Shinji protested once more: "But that's FIVE weeks, Asuka! That's way too much for a single fight…"
Asuka silenced him with a look. "Just let me do this, Baka!" Asuka kept Shinji under her glare for a moment.
'It is not fair. We went along voluntarily, but it clearly matters a lot to Asuka… It probably goes beyond her trying to be a leader, too…' In short, it felt as if Shinji would be making a big mistake if he pressed on. So he nodded and smiled a bit, careful to avoid pain from his bruised cheek. "Got it, Asuka," he said and looked at Misato. Their guardian nodded.
"I should read sentences now," she said with a shade of a smile. "That's the fun part of getting a non-judicial, when you get to really appreciate just what will happen to you. I'll spare you that. This once, remember! Now everyone understands the punishment? No more objections?"
Misato got three almost-in-sync nods. "Good - now get to your rooms, all of you. Get!" In ten seconds flat, she was alone in the kitchen. She found a more comfortable position to sit in and smiled. 'That went better than I thought it would. I thought Asuka would make me bring the law down full force on her, and she did… just not the way I imagined.'
Misato sighed as the door of the built-in freezer opened and Pen-Pen waddled out, passing her an ice-cold can. The penguin previously made himself scarce the moment Misato set about conducting her little improvised NJP hearing. Misato opened the can and took a few gulps before setting it on the table.
She propped her chin on her folded hand and sighed: "Honestly, I would probably have done something worse myself a few years back, Pen-Pen." Now that she had laid down proper punishment, she could finally afford to smile, proudly thinking about her charges.
-x-
Shinji lay in his bed, eyes closed, listening to the cassette player. He realized he felt very similar to the aftermath of an angel fight. But what they had done today was nowhere near saving the world: Shinji realized that, and he even realized that, seen rationally, they had made a very big mistake. Misato was clear enough on that count.
And the words "I would have to identify your bodies" came back a few times. They did their work well: Shinji knew that he would not do such a rash thing again, and guessed that neither Rei nor Asuka would do so quickly either.
'But we were not wrong to do it either…' The thought made him smile a bit. 'We did the right thing by the wrong means. That does not make it a wrong thing to do.' His thoughts turned to the final moment of that fight.
'Asuka was afraid for us, for me. She wanted to hurt that bastard from the beginning, but she went from hurt to kill when he threatened me. Would I do the same for her?' And he knew he would.
His phone rang with the incoming message tone, so he grabbed it and read the text: I am doing this to make up for stealing your room from you, so don't feel grateful or something like that, got me? A.
Shinji thought about it. Asuka had a point, and consciously, he agreed with her. And he was sure that if he had a normal childhood, he would begrudge her for forcing him to live in a spacious closet instead of a proper room.
But that was yesterday's snow now. I will not, if you can forgive yourself for taking Rei's room, S. Shinji hit "Send" before he realized what he wrote at the end.
Rereading the SMS, however, he smiled. It was truly more Rei's room ever since she had come to live with them. And it felt right that Rei, who suffered the worst at the Commander's hand, be given the better room now.
Shinji felt a jolt of satisfaction when he realized he had thought in terms of "Commander Ikari" and not "my father". Even Kaji had more claim to that title than Gendo Ikari did…
Another SMS cut his line of thought, and Shinji read: Rei's Room? Explain Third, A. Shinji stopped himself from typing the first thing that came to his mind and thought about it, then after a moment of contemplation he wrote the first thing that came to his mind anyway.
-x-
Asuka fought a deep blush as she read the message again, Asuka, you chose to room with me, so there is Rei's room and our room. S.
It was not that big a deal, Asuka logically knew that. And there was precious little to be happy about in her new rooming arrangements, Shinji's room was in every way possible inferior to any lodgings Asuka ever slept in… 'It has no natural lights, for Christ's sake!' Asuka balled a fist, taking momentary refuge in her well-worn hatred of Commander Ikari for mistreating Rei and Shinji.
Then she fought another blush when her mind supplied her with the one reason she willingly chose to live in an enlarged cupboard… 'It has Shinji…' It was not much, and it was not simply enough, but it might just be everything Asuka needed…
Asuka heard a suppressed sigh of pain and glared in Rei's direction. "Told you not to exert yourself, Wundergirl!" Rei looked up and frowned.
"But you got hurt worse than I did; I should be worried about you, Asuka." That was true enough, Asuka thought, but she was not battling constant pain… and she had to get back to Shinji's message.
-x-
Shinji had to keep himself from fretting somehow, so he tapped Beethoven's ninth on the bedpost. 'I was almost certainly too bold,' he thought as the phone rang again. Shinji picked it up and read hastily: You are pushing your luck, Baka; you made me blush in front of Wundergirl! I demand extra pampering tomorrow! But… You have a point… Just next time we move, we are getting a nice room with WINDOWS, and I do the decorating! A.
"When we get a new room?" Shinji said that aloud to make sure he understood it correctly. He then smiled widely and happily… and scowled with pain a mere moment later. Eventually, he settled for a small smile as he typed his answer.
-x-
Asuka was scowling at the pamphlet she held. According to it, Rei was already at her maximum dose of painkillers, but she was still clearly in pain. On the one hand, Rei might have built a tolerance already, but if she hadn't…
'Scheisse, I don't know! I could give her liver failure, I could give her heart arrhythmia, I could kill her! But this is not good, and I have to do something!' Asuka looked at the clock and then at Rei's pills schedule. 'Yes, it should be safe', Asuka thought as she took two more pills and a glass of water to Rei. "Take those, but no more," she instructed, and waited until Rei took her pills.
She looked for her phone, and sure enough, there was a response from Shinji. You are terrible; you know that? But I agree with the windows! S.
Asuka nodded with a smile. She typed another message and then turned to the door, ready to call it a night. She wished Rei goodnight in a tired voice and was about to leave…
"Asuka, could you sleep in my bed tonight?" There was a pause. Asuka thought about whether any of the myriad pills Rei was taking might be to blame. She was not given enough time to finish the thought before Rei added, "I would be in less pain if I could cuddle up to a friend, I think…."
Asuka cursed inwardly. She was planning to do the same with her… Hell, she might as well use the word boyfriend at this point.
Asuka turned back. What Rei said made some sense, and the redhead belatedly realized she was suppressing a bad conscience about leaving Rei alone for the night if she was in that much pain.
"Alright, but it's gonna be the other way round. Two of us would be like sardines on that field cot of yours," she said eventually as she climbed into her bed. She had not slept in it since that night she told Rei about the effects of her meds.
Asuka quickly texted Shinji once more, wishing him a good night. When Rei nestled herself next to Asuka, and wished the redhead a good night, Asuka realized she was happy to have Rei with her right then. A different kind of happy than if it was Shinji, but happiness still.
