Disclaimer: I don't own Evangelion and all rights got to there respective owners. Also all OC's are the creation of JimmyWolk himself.
SPOILER WARNING: This contains spoilers for the fanfic "The 2nd Try" and it's sequel comic Aki-Chan's Life" which is all done by JimmyWolk. So If you haven't read that then you should definitely stop right here and check those out first before continuing.
Summary:
On her way home from school, Hikari begins to doubt her friendship with Asuka.
"Best Friends"
"So…um you sure you don't want me to walk you all the way home?" Toji asked with a bit of nervousness as both of them walked down the street holding each other's hand.
"Um...no, it's ok, I have to take a detour to the supermarket near mine get some ingredients for dinner tonight," Hikari replied just as shyly to her boyfriend, a statement that she was now both proud and embarrassed about. It was bad enough that their classmates had been teasing them on their relationship status since they openly announced it not long ago but at home Hikari didn't have any solace either, since her two sisters and even her own father wouldn't stop teasing as well about Toji.
"Oh…ok then I guess I'll see you tomorrow class re…Hikari," Toji's said looking away while rubbing his neck, himself still getting used to having a girlfriend and calling her by her name as well rather then her class representative title.
Hikari, seeing a golden opportunity to be more bold, gathered a bit of courage and promptly closed the distance between them and planted a soft and quick kiss on the boy's lips. An action that froze Toji on the spot and blushing up a storm for a moment before a happy and goofy smile brightened his face.
He wasn't the only one as Hikari, now with her courage having been used in such a daring move, was blushing even more than he was, before the embarrassment was too much and overtook her body. She detached her hand from his while turning in the opposite direction and sprinted down the road that would make any olympic track runner proud.
'I can't believe I actually did something so bold! I'm soo sinful!' Hikari erratically thought as she continued to run straight to the supermarket near her home.
Once there, she was able to calm herself and proceeded to get everything needed for her family's dinner tonight. On her way back her mind was still thinking on how bold she was earlier with Toji.
'Oh God I still can't believe I did something so bold! I mean how does Asuka and Ikari make it look so natural?' Hikari thought and upon thinking on the Ikari family she began wondering on her current relationship with them and more so with Asuka herself.
It was still a shock to her that Asuka and Ikari were time travellers. Both having come from an alternative timeline where the third impact actually occurred despite beating the angels and that the two had not only survived but settled down together and had a child together also. It was still hard to believe but the DNA test that Doctor Akagi took on Aki all but proved they were telling the truth.
It made Hikari wonder if Asuka was still her best friend. Asuka, while still physically a teenager is mentally an adult and on top of that she's also a mother too. Both her and Ikari seem to be in their own world at the moment and don't seem to show any intention of returning to school either. The thought further brought it home to her that Asuka was way more mature now and probably wouldn't want to be associated with a young naïve girl like herself.
Just as these dark and depressing thoughts we're building up, Hikari neared the local kids playground and saw a few families there with their children playing around the area.
"Hikari?…Hikari over here!" A familiar voice called out to her making Hikari stop and turn to see. To her surprise, there was Asuka along with Shinji and Aki. Furthermore, both of them were wearing the same "adult" clothing that she and Toji had seen them wear on the first day school started back up. Aki herself was still wearing her blue kindergarten uniform along with the "magic" hat that Toji had given her.
"Oh…hi you guys" Hikari said a bit sheepishly as the three walked over to her. At the moment Hikari wanted to avoid them and was not prepared to face them this soon.
"Hi Hikari!" Aki greeted her with a big smile.
"Hello there, Aki-Chan," Hikari gave her greeting back to the four year old along with a smile although the smile itself was kind of forced a little.
Aki was a sweet and cheerful kid no doubt about it, kind of like her own little sister Nozomi but she wished that Asuka and Ikari would install more manners into her. Especially after hearing some of the wild antics Aki got up to at kindergarten from her older sister Kodama, who still didn't know the secret that Aki was connected to her best friend yet. A part of her was dreading when Kodama would eventually figure it out and demand her sister to explain everything.
"Mama, Papa, can I go play on the playground now?" Aki's question broke Hikari out of her thoughts and saw that girl was looking back and up at her parents.
"Sure you can, Schätzchen." Asuka gave her daughter the go ahead before she turned to Shinji. "Shinji can you go with her while I talk with Hikari please?" Asuka asked to which Shinji nodded.
"Sure," Shinji said before grabbing Aki's eagerly waiting hand before the child quickly pulled him in the direction of the swing set. "It was nice seeing you class rep!" Shinji quickly shouted out as they got further away.
Hikari saw Asuka look at her husband and daughter with content for a moment before turning back to her with a smile. "So shall we sit down over there?" Asuka asked, pointing at the bench at the park that was unoccupied. Upon Hikari nodding they both went and sat down.
"So Hikari, how have things been lately with you?" Asuka asked her.
"Um... yeah things have been ok," Hikari told her.
"Just ok? What about things going between you and the monkey boy? Normally you'd be gushing on and on about him by now on how much progress you made," Asuka said with a bit of mock glare, clearly not wanting to know too much of the details on her friend's relationship with the jock.
"Oh no, no, me and Toji are fine Asuka, in fact I made plenty of progress with him as of late," Hikari said with a small blush brightening her cheeks.
"Oh mein Gott, you two haven't started doing "that" yet right!?" Asuka said while giving her friend a look of pure horror and disgust.
Hikari's blush even deeply then before at the insinuation. "Noo! Of course not, me and Toji have only just started kissing. I don't think I'm ready for "that" yet."
'Even if I would be ok with that kind of stuff if Toji really wanted to do it.' a dark and naughty part of her mind thought before Hikari quickly locked that part of herself back in its sinful cage.
Asuka sighed in relief at her friends response. "That's good to know. Lord knows I didn't want to give you or the monkey boy any ideas in making babies and start a family anytime soon. That would totally make me a bad friend," Asuka added in.
"Am I still your best friend Asuka?" Hikari said before realising what she blurted out and begun to look down at her lap in an attempt to hid her face.
"Wait…what!?" Asuka clearly surprised at her friends question.
Knowing that she in too deep to back out now, Hikari continued. "I mean you and Ikari-kun have been so busy lately and you also don't seem to plan on coming back to school, plus you are mentally older then me anyway and you even have daughter to take care off now. So it wouldn't surprise me if staying friends with a schoolgirl like me would be completely pointless since you're already a grownup." Hikari finished while looking away at the side, not wanting to meet the redhead's eyes.
Asuka didn't say anything for a second, staring at Hikari for a moment before she sighed heavily, taking off her fake grownup glasses and undid her hair letting it flow down as normal.
"Hikari, look at me." Asuka said softly while reaching out and grasp her friend's hands in her own and kept holding them while Hikari eventually did turn back to look at her.
"You are my best friend, believe me Hikari. When it was only just me and Shinji living alone in that third impact world, you had no idea how much I missed you, wanting to desperately talk to you, especially on girl stuff that heaven forbid I could never directly talk to with Shinji about."
Asuka's smile faltered a little bit as she looked towards Aki sitting on the swing, demanding to be pushed by her Papa. "Especially when I found out I was pregnant and I just couldn't bring myself to tell Shinji. Sure, it ended up fine, but then I would have given everything to be able to talk with you – even though I'm sure you would have given me an earful for days." Asuka chuckled a little bit which Hikari also ended up doing too, making her smile a bit also.
Seeing this Asuka continued. "I mean, sure, I am somewhat more older, more wiser than I look due to the whole mental time travel thing, which is all confusing, I know. But I'm not that old that I would even think of completely dump you as a friend. I just have priorities right now that need sorting out, especially regarding where we're gonna live and getting Aki settled into normal society."
"Wait, you're going to move out of Katsuragi's apartment too?" Hikari asked.
"Eventually yes, me and Shinji are still sorting things out but my main point is that you don't have to worry about losing our friendship, ok?" Asuka asked while she let go of Hikari's hand briefly before she leaned over and wrapped her arms around her best friend in a warm hug which Hikari did the same after a second pause.
"Thanks you, Asuka. I'm sorry for doubting or friendship," Hikari whispered out as she continued to hold her friend.
"You're welcome, Hikari. And thank you for being my best friend too," Asuka whispered back with a smile.
End.