Old Friends, New enemies

Chap 6: One heart, one mind

Bucky: Yo peeps I'm back again, I love to be free!! Year ten Exams are now officially over and so is school, therefore giving me three months to work on my all time favourite thing….Fic writing…and sleep ^_^

Misato: Oh great three months of HIM!!

Bucky: Hey Misato, I'm BACK. Hey…wait a minute…that's my stock pile of beer hey give it back…come on give it back that's mine!! (Bucky starts chasing Misato around the room, Misato holding a box full of beer and spirits)

Shinji: Those two get along worse than us!

Asuka: Shinji, you're forgetting how well we get on now

Shinji: oh…err…well you know what I meant!

Asuka (giggling): Oh you are so cute when you blush

Shinji: Hey…quit that!

Misato: HAHA you'll never catch me ^_^

Bucky: GET BACK HERE, NOW

Asuka & Shinji: This is going to be a long night (both sweat drop)

Japan: Present

Asuka pushed aside her school books and sighed in frustration. Her room had slowly grown dark as the sun drifted out of sight leaving her in the lonely darkness. She had been home for the last few days because she refused to go to school, there was no way she would leave Shinji home alone with 'Wonder Girl'. Misato of course had argued that Asuka shouldn't let her grades slip, which begged the retort of I'm a collage graduate.

After living with Shinji for the four or so years Asuka was forced to move to Germany. She didn't want to but being that age she really didn't have any say in the matter. After her NERV training began she was sent to attend a school there where the principal piked up on her extremely high intellect. So she was skipped ahead a few grades, then a few more then they finally sent her to a local collage. There the young redhead was able to complete a minor in phycology and a major in physics and she also took a few side courses.

As she looked back on those days she remembered how hard they were in comparison to the time spent in Japan with Shinji and his uncle. She could remember nights like the one two nights ago except back then she didn't have her best friend to comfort her. Continuing to think on these lines soon brought her to the one nagging question, what does Shinji mean to her? She had tried over the last two days to answer these questions by herself but was very unsuccessful, more to the point she had failed miserably.

Asukas hard concentration was broken by a loud groan and a resulting door being closed loudly, she could even hear the dull thud as the boy dropped into his bed in the next room. "Break time" Asuka smiled as this had been the routine for the last three days. The angel would be regenerated by tomorrow night and ready to attack the next morning. This was not a good thing as Shinji and Rei had problems with their synch drills.

A moment later and the door to her room opened revealing a tired looking First Child though she hid her fatigue well. The young redhead groaned loudly and stood from her work table, "what do you want wonder girl?"

The blue haired girl looked over to Asuka then thought of her answer she selected the appropriate one in seconds. "Major Katsuragi has told me to update you on our progress" she stated in her monotonous voice. Asuka glared at her with her 'well tell me' look. Rei interpreted and answered, "We are at 39.95%."

"HA" Asuka laughed loudly "only one day left and you can't Synch with Shinji, you really are pathetic. I could have done it by now. Maybe I should go and try" Asuka placed her hands on her hips and initiated the Asuka Stance™ which she used often when defying authority figures, not that Rei was one.

"No" Rei answered quite fast and sternly her face shifted to that of a frown and she almost scowled at the redhead. Asuka did scowl at the first child but the blue haired pilot just ignored her, "it is my destiny to become one with Ikari. This is one way of achieving my purpose."

"What the hell did you just say?" Asuka yelled loudly her voice had suddenly become agitated and annoyed.

Rei looked the redhead over and repeated, "It is my destiny to become one with Ikari do you have a problem with this pilot Soryu?"     

"Hell YES" Asuka shouted at the top of her lungs undisturbed by the fact that Misato was probably sitting outside the door listening in. "You just sat there and calmly told me that you want to 'Become One' with my best friend, you sick bitch."

"What is wrong with becoming one with someone?" Rei asked confused and also wondering what a sick bitch is.

Asukas mouth dropped, 'does she even know what she is saying? Probably not from what I know of her she's a damn doll.' With that the redheaded German came up with her answer of a simple but firm "YES"

"Why?"

"Uh…because Shinji is…not like that"

"Why would Ikari not want to become one with me?"

"Are you stupid?! Shinji just doesn't go around having SEX with anyone"

Rei was in one word, shocked. This new word that the redheaded German used was strange yet sounded familiar. 'Perhaps another word for becoming one' she thought while staring off into space, 'what is this sex? And why would Ikari not do it with just anyone?'

"Hello" Asuka snapped her finger in front of Rei trying to get her attention, "anyone in there?" The first child's eyes regained their focus and she looked at the second child. Asuka taking this as a sign of her 'opponent' returning to reality decided to continue, "Shinji is not that kind of person, he would only do that sort of thing with someone he loves. And EVEN if he did do it with someone he would wait until he was of LEGAL age."

"Does age matter with this?" Rei asked still confused at the words the German girl was speaking.

Asuka rolled her eyes back and sighed loudly, 'I hope Shinji can't hear this.' She looked to the door then back to the dumb 'Blue haired girl' (as opposed to dumb blonds) "Yes age does matter. It's against the law to do…that when you're young, don't you know anything? Where have you been the last 12 years of your life, on a mountain?"

Rei looked puzzled even more, 'is this sarcasm? The second Child seems to be… mocking me. Why does she protest to me becoming one with Ikari?' Dismissing the redhead's last question, due to the fact that Commander Ikari didn't want anyone to know Rei was raised in a tube of LCL. She started her own line of questioning "why do you object to me becoming one with Ikari?"

The redhead was taken aback, but she wasn't going to let it show to this girl, "I think it isn't right to do that sort of thing at our age…and plus he's my best friend and I'd hate to see him get hurt by a little slut like you!" Asuka smiled to herself 'that should do it!'

"I do not believe that is correct" Rei answered, she made a mental note to ask Commander Ikari what sex and a slut are. The blue haired Eva pilot waited till she had full attention of the other girl, "I think that you do not want me to become one with Ikari because you yourself wish to become one with him. Is this correct?"

"What?! Of COURSE I DO……..not, I mean…ah….I…do….no….oh…uh" Asuka grabbed at her throat and started to rub it hard trying to drive away the lump that was mixing up her words. Of course it was a futile effort because her throat wasn't what was making her say the things she was, it was something else and it defiantly wasn't her brain.

"GET out WONDER GIRL!!!" the redhead not being able to control her mouth decided on the best and most effective solution to her problem, push Rei out the door! And it seemed to work to, Rei offered no resistance as she was pushed out into the hallway nearly colliding with an eavesdropping Misato. "MISATO!!!" Asuka slammed her door shut trying to stop herself from strangling both women and most importantly to hide her huge blush.

On the opposite side of the door the violet haired Misato Katsuragi took a gulp of her beer, looked at Rei, then at Shinjis door, then back to Asukas. "So…." She said in an innocent voice, "what did you two talk about?"

Rei turned to face the major and looked at her quizzically "you know what we were talking about you heard the whole conversation, did you not?"

Misato blushed a little then smiled, "you got me there Rei. So you both like my Shinji hey? Just don't hurt him or I'll have to kill you both, he's like the son I never had and I don't want him to get hurt."

The blue haired pilot nodded silently then started off towards the kitchen; she stopped about halfway down the hall then turned around. "Major" Misato looked up and smiled as her answer, "what is a slut?"

The family three doors down heard the loudest thump of the year as a certain Majors' jaw dropped through two floors of concrete.

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"Eva LAUNCH"

The two giant Mechas stood side by side in the launch bay just waiting to hear that one word. Shinji and Rei both pulled the lever that released the umbilical cords and launched their respective Evas. Unit-00 and 01 both blasted their way through the tunnels that led to the surface and one pissed off Angel.

Prior to the operation the Angel attacked a small town on the outskirts of Tokyo-3 so the UN had to intercept. They were able to drive it away from the town but ended up wasting nearly two platoons of tanks and scud missile launchers. Not to mention the five VTOLs that were shot down by the Angels particle beam.

As the two Evas neared the end of their vertical passage Shinji switched the com-link to the private channels. "I hope this works" he said unsure of wether the two pilots were ready to do the proposed task. The image of Rei stayed expressionless and her mood was unfazed. Shinji just sighed and cut the link, "89.9% Synch Ratio, this won't work."

Shinji concentrated hard as his purple Eva flew up into the air above the Angel. As the two units reached maximum hight allowed by their velocity they drew out their Progressive Spears and extended them. Both taking aim carefully they threw the spears almost simultaneously right into the centre of the enemy.

Both Evas landed with a loud crash and they jumped off in opposite direction towards their respective gun towers. Each pulled out their weapon of choice and started running towards the now cloned Angel. Both targets looked identical and were both as fast and manoeuvrable as the other.

Shinji pulled the trigger of his pallet gun sending numerous bolts of high powered bullets flying through the air. All of his shots hit directly on the Angel on the right which was his designated target. Rei was firing quick burst of her positron rifle at the other target blasting away chunks of the Angels' flesh.

Shinji and Rei both dropped their firearms as they clicked out of ammo and became obsolete. It was now the Angel's turn to return fire and they did, both using their powerful particle beams fired bolt after bolt of high powered yellow energy.

The Evas were already moving in step with the moves they had spent the last four days learning. They both back flipped over and over again dodging blow after blow from the Angels'. Shinji smiled thinking how well it was going so far, but fate as it would seem was not without a sense of humour, a very twisted one.

At that very moment Reis Eva slowed by no more then 2.3 seconds and she copped a rough blast to her torso. The blue Mecha went down with a loud crash taking with it half of the buildings beneath her. Shinji stopped flipping and jumped to the side dodging a blast aimed for his Evas head.

Shinji lifted his Eva up and looked towards Rei where the Angel known as Alpha was headed towards. The other, Beta, was headed straight for him. At that point a new com line came in, an image of Misato appeared "Shinji, the plan has failed we are sending Asuka up and we'll try for an all out assault."

Shinji sighed and bowed his head "I'm sorry Misato, I'm sorry it didn't work."

"Shinji it's not your fault" a new channel opened up and Asuka appeared in the corner of his screen. "It was Wonder Girl who fell out of step, don't worry now I can come up and we can ditch these assholes."

The brown haired pilot smiled at his friends' confidence, she was always so upbeat and ready for anything. He wished he could have her attitude, especially now.

A few metres away from the downed Unit-00 a hatch opened and the red giant Eva Unit-02 burst out holding two Pallet guns. As she pulled up to the surface Asuka let a barrage of machine gun fire rip through the air towards the Alpha target. The bullets seemed to lack the necessary power to penetrate the Angels hard skin but it did have the quantity to keep the Angel from advancing on the downed Eva.

This gave Rei enough time to pull her Unit-00 up to its feet and withdraw from the battle. Her Eva was badly damaged and was unable to continue fighting so she made for the nearest access shaft.

Shinji pulled his Prog knife out of his shoulder holster and then brought the purple Mecha up to the Beta target. He let out a loud cry as his Prog knife drove forward and punctured the Angels torso, sending green Angel blood flushing to the street below. The stabbing of the Angel was going quite well as Shinji had hoped, until something caught his attention from the corner of his eye.

Asuka dropped her two Pallet rifles as they were both spent; she withdrew a large spear and awaited the Angels counter attack. The large pillar of smoke that had resulted from her constant firing was showing no signs of disappearing. A minute passed and the smoke had still not cleared, but the Angel hadn't emerged "HA. That'll teach it not to mess with Asuka Langley Soryu!"

A loud crack erupted and Asuka was sent flying to the ground, a burst of agonizing pain shot through her back as the Eva registered the attack. The smoke ahead of her finally cleared revealing nothing but air. Alpha had somehow managed to sneak up behind her using the smoke as a screen to disguise its escape. Then it had blasted her from long range with its particle beam.

"ASUKA" Shinji immediately withdrew his Prog knife from Beta then pulled his Evas right foot up to the Angels stomach. With one mighty thrust he sent the Angel flying threw buildings and crashing to the ground. The purple Mecha was already off before its enemy hit the ground. Shinji willed his Eva to jump into the air and kicked at the Alpha Angel.

His Evas foot landed true to his aim and sent the Angel crashing forward. Once Shinji had steadied his Eva once again he grabbed the Angel by the head and lifted it up off the ground. "DIE" Shinji screamed as he rammed one time and time again into the Angels red core, though it was useless because he had to hit both cores at the same time.

Suddenly the Purple Eva fell to the ground and a loud beep echoed through the entry-plug. "NO" Shinji turned his head to the side as the world around him disappeared. To his left was the screen he hate most of all, Internal Batteries 00.00 "Shit." He looked back ahead of himself and pounded on the butterfly controls, tears streaked down his face as he prepared for the worst. "I'm…sorry…Misato, Rei…Asuka."

"NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Shinji bolted up straight, his head and bedding drenched in sweat. Panting he looked around the darkness still reeling from the terrible images stuck in his head. His breathing started to settle slightly as his brain latched onto where he really was, "dream, more like a nightmare."

He leaned forward trying to catch his breath and keep himself from reliving the nightmare. A moment later his door almost flew off the hinges and a figure ran inside, Shinji felt a pair of arms wrap tightly around him and he looked up to see Asuka standing next o his bed.

"Shinji, what is it?" the redhead asked frantically her voice was dripping with concern for her friend. "Are you ok?"

Shinjis eyes went wide and he started feeling Asukas face making sure it was there, not wanting it to be a dream. Once he deducted she was real he pulled her into a tighter embrace and began to sob against her shoulder, "I'm sorry…I'm so sorry."

"Sorry for what? Shinji…what…what was it?" Asuka asked even more concerned now seeing that her presence triggered his reason to cry.

"You…they…they…oh god" he held her even more tightly and she tried her best to hold him back. "I thought you were…I mean, they…they killed you, and I couldn't do anything"

Asuka found herself fighting back her own tears, she held Shinji tighter to show him that she was there. "Shinji, it was a nightmare. I'm still here, I'm still with you and you know I'll never leave you. Just quieten down and try to sleep." With those words whispered softly she lowered the sobbing boy back into the bed. Once he was lying on his back she slipped in under the covers next to him and held him tightly "see I'm not going anywhere."

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A/N:

YES another chapter done HEHE I'm getting better at this I think….I don't know could be my imagination. Well at least it's getting easier to write now that I don't have school in the way. Amazing how school saps your creativity sticks it in a blender and hits smoothy! Oh well anyway school is gone and my imagination is back so you can expect more fics from me over the next two or more months.

YES, on that line I have officially obliterated my writers block on 'Memories' and 'The end or beginning?' so that means you can keep an eye out for the final chapter of Memories and some more from 'The end' also my Asukas POV 'A stolen Kiss' will have it's second chapter posted soon, based on Asukas thoughts during the 17 hours Shinji was sucked into the 12th Angel, with a new ending ^_^

Anyway, what is the significance of Shinjis dream? Does this mean the plan Is doomed to fail or will he be able to avoid it? And also what is with Rei and Becoming one? ALSO what will Asuka do about her conflicting feelings towards Shinji? All coming up next in 'Time for Battle!'

Started on Friday at 12:30pm Finished Saturday at 2:19am (After watching three eps of Zoids and Aliens Resurrection)

Seya on da other side…………………..