Chapter 28: Asuka's nightmare.
Asuka had never felt more grateful for anything in her life as she followed her friends into the luxurious white mansion Mari had welcomed them to share with her.
All the terrible things she had done, and her friends still wanted her in the same house with them to share in their company.
The young brown haired younger sister of Toji, Sakura was present to welcome the knackered pilots of the world's second biggest science corporation and biggest military corporation inside the big house.
Today she was clad in what appeared to be a military uniform of a brown and white jacket with dark pants. Her pleasant and welcoming grin quickly became a venomous frown upon seeing the red haired German nervously try to raise a smile.
"You aren't welcome in here, you bully." She snarled, sounding more like a grizzled warlord than a ten-year-old butler. "Get out before I throw you out.". She raised her almost stick like arms in an attempt to intimidate which came off as more comical than frightening but the sternness in her voice still made it clear she would not hesitate to throw down her life beating down the much taller and stronger red haired girl if she did not immediately comply.
Asuka briefly opened her mouth to respond with her own insult only to quickly shut it as the truly traumatic memory of her fist connecting with Shinji's face came back upon her as clear as a whistle.
Toji's younger sister from what Toji had said of her was known for her pacifism and incredible patience. She had every right to be angry, Asuka thought as she hung her head in shame.
"It's alright Sakura." Mari quickly intervened before her overzealous butler boiled over and followed up her threat with a vicious assault. "Asuka apologized and she's promised that she's going to be better now. She knows what she did was wrong and she's changed."
"I don't believe her. And you shouldn't either. She's spent so long beating down on poor Shinji now and she needs to learn her lesson." Sakura furiously snarled as she clenched her teeth further and took a menacing step forward with an expression that looked like she was going to run right through Asuka without mercy in the next second.
"Shinji doesn't need her in his life, and neither do any of you. Asuka's done nothing but cause harm to everyone around her and the world would be better off without her."
The events of the next few moments made Asuka's pitch black heart turn white with humility and appreciation. The world may have been a terrible place with terrible people, but at least she was surrounded by wonderful friends.
"Sakura please. Calm down" Shinji politely and gently requested as he walked up to the fuming brunette and placed a hand upon her shoulder, causing her rage to seemingly cool in an instant as she reluctantly lowered her fists and gave him a confused and sheepish frown of apology.
"I forgave Asuka. She really is sorry for everything and she's promised me that she won't beat me up anymore. Please, she's my friend. Give her a chance."
Sakura looked at Asuka once more as Asuka finally gathered the courage to look the honest and hardworking little sister of Toji with a trembling grin, only barely managing to meet her disapproving gaze. It was clear that this girl had not had it easy in her childhood either and that at least part of her apparent hard-heartedness came from Toji himself.
Knowing what Asuka knew about the roughness Toji was not ashamed to handle Shinji with despite apparently being "his friend", it was not a far stretch to assume that he must have driven his sister away with the same roughness.
An only ten-year-old girl wouldn't be working as a neatly dressed and overly formal butler otherwise. "You poor adorable little thing", Asuka could not help but mumble under her breath.
What was it these days with abusive families who did not appreciate each other anyway?
Sakura eventually turned back to Shinji once she had stared at Asuka pretty fixatedly for a few seconds.
"Are you sure she really repents her mistakes?"
Wow, she even had advanced language skills. And Asuka thought she was the one who had matured the most in the shortest time.
"I'm sure Sakura. She said so herself and I believe her." Shinji reassured.
"As do I." Rei added when the young butler still did not seem completely convinced. "I truly believe that Asuka really has turned over a new leaf."
"I believe her too" Kaworu confirmed, as Sakura looked at him finally defusing the last of her anger as she turned back to Asuka with a mildly more formal scowl.
"Since Shinji and his friends trust you, I'll allow you to enter. But don't think I won't be keeping an eye on you, Asuka. They might trust you now, but I don't."
"Thank you, Sakura." Asuka replied, complete modesty in her tone as she followed her friends into the dining room where a magnificent meal of pizza, steak, chips along with a banoffee desert, had already been prepared for each and every one of them.
They snapped it up ravenously like a pack of wolves after each complimenting Sakura. Being an EVA pilot was hard work.
It wasn't until after the meal that everyone had mostly left that Asuka stayed for a while to talk to Sakura. She needed to let the mistreated younger sibling know that she was on her side, no matter what hostilities Sakura held towards her.
As well as letting her know that she was not the only ignored and mistreated child in the world.
"Why don't you live with Toji and your parents?" Asuka delicately begun the conversation by asking as Sakura began to take a handful of plates to the kitchen.
"Because Toji hates me." Sakura replied, still completely focused on her chores despite the evident weariness in her disgruntled posture as she took a handful of plates to the kitchen with Asuka following her with another handful of plates in her own hands.
It felt odd for her to be the one doing the chores Shinji usually did for her especially not in her own house, yet strangely satisfying.
Better late than never. It was clear that Sakura was still a little sick from the evident soreness every time she spoke, indicating a hotness in her throat and head that had not completely gone away yet.
"He thinks its my fault that we don't have enough money and so does dad."
"What about your mum?" Asuka asked as she joined Sakura in rinsing and scrubbing a dish at a separate compartment of the sink in the kitchen, they took the dishes into.
A few ominous seconds of silence.
"She died." Sakura shrilly retorted, nearly dropping the dish she was cleaning still with her back turned to Asuka. "She was hit by a NERV escort truck when it swerved onto the pavement to get around traffic and it crashed right into her at full speed. When we couldn't afford the bill for her operation, the doctors switched off her life support machine and kicked my dad out of the hospital. And since then, he's never been the same ever again. Especially not to me."
"What do you mean?" Asuka had a feeling she already knew where this was going and though she didn't like it one bit, she had to get to the bottom of this if it killed her.
She had learned from her therapy session that until she understood each and everyone from the inside out, to say she liked or disliked them was nothing but a presumptuous and thoughtless insult.
She needed to understand Sakura and Sakura needed to understand her.
She had deep down always wanted to meet the incredibly nice sounding younger sister Toji spoke of, sometimes fondly in deep brotherly respect, sometimes with complete and utter contempt as if he were furious with the fact she had even been born.
And now that she had, she was not going to throw this chance away.
"Dad never wants to see me again." Sakura bitterly explained, a silent sob hidden obscurely amidst her bitter words. "He thinks it's my fault that mum died since she was on her way to buy me a present for my birthday when she got hit. So, I left him and got a job working for Mari. She's very nice to me and she pays me more than enough to feed me and my family."
"I'm so sorry." Asuka helplessly blurted out, unable to stop herself from slipping these words out but not at all regretful having spoken them.
Having been thrown away by her own mother in favour of a lifeless doll, she understood every bit of Sakura's pain and felt the complete same.
"No you're not." Sakura rebutted, as she put the cleaned dish onto a drying rack and took another dish with her shaking and tired arms. "You're not sorry. No one is. No one can understand the bull I've been through and neither can you. You don't know what it's like to be unloved by your parents when you've spent a lifetime trying to make them proud and happy. You don't. All you know is how to smash Shinji's face in when he doesn't do what you tell him to do and even when he does do what you want, you smash his face in anyway."
"That's not true" Asuka began. "I completely understand what you're going through right now."
"Convince me otherwise then." Sakura demanded; her face fortunately turned away so as not to reveal to Asuka the truly pitiable grimace in her gritted teeth.
"Convince me that you even remotely care about anyone but yourself after all the terrible things you've done to Shinji and the other pilots who've done nothing but try to be nice to you."
And so for the next few minutes as both girls continued to work on the dirty dishes, Asuka gave Sakura a shortened but still completely honest retelling of her own childhood and how a very violent man beat a very browbeaten woman into submission and how she then passed her suffering and pain onto her daughter when she turned her affections towards a lifeless doll assuming that to be her daughter instead of her real flesh and blood one.
"You're lying." Sakura insisted.
"It's the truth Sakura. I swear. I've gotten tired of lying and I'm not going to do it anymore."
Asuka told Sakura how on the day she was promoted to the rank of EVA pilot, her mother died in what was meant to be her daughter's finest hour of prominence.
And how if the explanation's her employer Mari gave her held any grain of fact to them, then it was NERV who murdered her mother and harvested her soul to power EVA unit 2, the very EVA unit Asuka was put in charge of piloting without any of Asuka's knowledge.
"We really aren't so different after all." Sakura eventually concluded after several minutes of silence in which she vehemently tried to deny any of what Asuka had just told her.
"No Sakura. We're not."
"And, you never had it easy either."
"No Sakura. I didn't. And Shinji didn't either. And neither did Mari, Rei or Kaworu. I know that now, and that's why I now know what I did was completely wrong on every level.
And while I know it's too late to say sorry, I'll say it anyway. I'm sorry. Really, I am."
Asuka turned to the pile of dishes Sakura still had remaining left unwashed.
"I'll take care of these ones. You go get some rest. I can see you're tired and not well."
"I'm fine" Sakura weakly tried to insist as a yawn then a cough choked her words.
"No really. You're not in good shape. You need to rest now for your own good. You're going to hurt yourself working so hard. And it's alright. I can do this."
Sakura looked at Asuka suspiciously for a few moments.
"Fine. But you'd better make sure you do a good job of everything." She reluctantly accepted as she droopily headed out of the kitchen and up the stairs.
It was only the thought of whether Asuka really wasn't talking trash when she claimed to have changed which kept her up on her way to her bedroom as her head begun to feel sore.
Mari had told her she should have been in bed for at least another few days on account of her illness but she had insisted that since she liked Mari, she was ready to start working again even when deep down she knew she was not.
Asuka was pretty beat up too by the time she had finally finished with the massive stack of dishes and cooking containers that Sakura had used to prepared the amazingly tasty meal from earlier and tidied the table before wiping it down, taking care not to miss any stains or grime.
Tough work, and Shinji and Sakura went through this every day. Now she really felt bad for them.
But at least it felt nice to do good, she thought to herself as she headed upstairs, took a quick shower before wrapping on a towel, and passed the room she saw Shinji and Mari cosily sharing a king sized bed in, to the next room where a shyly smiling Rei clad in a set of pyjamas the same colour as her hair was already sitting on the one of two beds closer to the floral curtained windows.
The blunette through a drowsy yawn, pointed at the empty bed in front of her where a set of red pyjamas were conveniently placed, before falling back onto her back with her eyes closed, very quietly snoring.
After quickly changing into the very soft red fabric, Asuka took out a sleeping pill from little cardboard box given to her by her psychologist and with the help of a small glass of water she had brought with her, gulped down the extremely beneficial medication.
She should have been taking these ages ago but between being surrounded by the psychotic hacks at NERV and her stupid childhood belief that admitting her insecurities and flaws to anyone meant weakness, she had never even considered seeing a psychologist let alone taking any medication.
For the first night in her lifetime, much needed sleep came in minutes rather than an hour.
This was truly so much better, Asuka thought as sleep overtook her.
Finally a chance to rest up properly. She planned to be first to awaken in the morning so that she could get breakfast ready, saving the still sick Sakura a lot of work.
…
For the next few hours, nothing disturbed the peace in the now completely dark and silent mansion.
Each and every one of the residents was in a deep and contented sleep, some of them snoring lightly.
It was at first the same way for Asuka as she lay on her side, cosily snuggled in her duvet and red pyjamas.
It was at midnight when the moonlight shone brightest, causing a brilliant ray of sinister white light to seep through the gap in the curtains bathing the room in an eerie aura of semi brightness, that the red haired girl began to twitch uncomfortably as she let out a light groan and began to roll around on her bed.
Even despite the soothing effects of her medications, she was having a nightmare.
And a terrifying one at that.
…
The dream seemed so clear, so vibrant, so alive.
Dream Asuka could clearly discern everything as she cautiously edged forward, metal clanging under her feet with every step she took. From the slightly smudged emblem on a nearby wall, she guessed she was in one of NERV's underground lab complexes.
A scream echoed from far away followed by the sound of shattered bones.
"No. No. Please, NOOOO!" the voice screamed as Asuka edged closer to where the screamer seemed to be, already freaking out over how much control she had over what was meant to be a mere illusion constructed by her own mind.
"STOP IT ASUKA. PLEASE STOP. I'll DO ANYTHING, ANYTHING!" The voice pleaded as the sounds of fists and kicks resounded across the chamber.
A voice devoid of any hope, happiness or sanity. Shinji's voice.
"Shinji?" Asuka somehow managed to say in her dream as she turned a corner, to find out too late that with her one word, she had asked the question that must not be asked.
There in front of her, stood a maniacally smiling tall girl beating down on a helpless boy whose face was covered almost completely in blood.
She kicked at his chest with her feet, before grabbing him by the neck with one hand, and punching him in the face with her other.
She had long red hair further accented by two expensive crimson hairclips and a very fancy yellow dress which gave Asuka an almost completely unobstructed view of her cleavage along with red sandals.
A few more punches later, she squeezed the last of the life from the boy in the white shirt and blue pants that she had in her grip before dropping him to the ground like a hot potato.
"Stupid Shinji." The girl nonchalantly remarked in a distinctly German accent "To think anyone in the world would ever give a damn about you."
"Idiot" She turned away from the boy's lifeless corpse, not realizing the horrific effect that her insulting words were having on the nearby helplessly watching Asuka who was by now reduced to almost a puddle with how she was cowering with her trembling arms over her mouth.
Asuka's kicking intensified to the extent where she kicked her duvet from her body and began to shake as her body began to feel the effects of cold.
"A, Asuka. Wh, why?" she heard a faint call from behind her as she turned around to find in great shock, a badly knackered Rei splayed on the floor, her face also covered in blood and her hands still clutching her shallowly heaving chest, her short blue bob hair a mess. She coughed up a puddle of blood before she was silent once more, a drop of the red liquid of life splattering onto Asuka's shoes causing her to recoil back in great desperation, crying in alarm.
"W, what did we do to you Asuka. Y, you monster." Choked another voice and Asuka turned her head ever so slightly to behold the deformed form of Mari, her glasses with their lens broke and multiple stab wounds on her body as she lay in a puddle of her own blood, a big knife protruding from one of her wounds.
"N, no. I, I didn't do it." Asuka tried to protest as the red haired girl in the yellow dress finally acknowledged her with an incredibly creepy leer, her teeth bared in a truly monstrous fashion.
"You did this." The girl sneered as she took step after step forward while the now hysterical Asuka took step after step back, still shivering.
"all of this is your fault."
"What have you done to my friends?" Asuka managed to ask in spite of her fear. "You killed my friends." As she continued to back away only to find that she could go no further when her back touched a fence and a quick glance backwards showed that she was at the edge of a very tall fall. Behind her, separated by no more than a few steps was a huge, dark chasm.
A chasm which seemed to go down forever with no light at the bottom.
Asuka's primal terror in her dream had made her roll onto the very edge of her bed. She was mere inches from falling, as she continued to kick around and flail her arms, the sleeping pill keeping her asleep but not quelling her nightmare.
"Friends?" the other her in her dream snorted amusedly. "You certainly didn't treat them like friends."
"Please. Give me back my friends." Asuka grovelled pathetically, as the other her with the long hair and yellow dress from the day she arrived in Tokyo continued to edge closer, smiling like a madman. "I just want to see my friends again."
It was less than a millisecond later when she regretted every word.
"Oh, you'll be seeing them soon enough, don't you worry." Other Asuka agreed as without warning, she pounced forward and picked the short haired Asuka in her red pyjamas up by her neck with just one hand and dangled her over the edge of the steep, steep fall that was at least several floors high.
Asuka was panting heavily as sweat coated every part of her body, and she edged even closer to the edge of her bed. The sleeping pills were hardly able to keep their hold on her slumber any longer and her eyes were beginning to flicker open by a tiny fraction as her face contorted into a mask of shock and fright.
The last thing Asuka heard as she was quickly flung down the fall, was the sound of crazed laughter as the old Asuka relished in her misery and expense.
"Nooooo!" she managed to cry as she fell further into the all consuming blackness of loneliness and despair.
The next thing she knew, she had crashed onto the floor of the bedroom she was sharing with Rei. Fortunately, her bed was not too high and a conveniently placed rug on the floor made her fall more or less painless.
She took a few moments to pant in nervous anticipation as she squirmed uncomfortably from the sweat sealed in her now completely soggy pyjamas.
"No Shinji." She begged even as a very concerned Rei quickly jumped out of bed to check on her after flicking on a lamp, following the loud thud her fall had caused. "I didn't mean to. Please, forgive me."
"What's wrong, Asuka?" Rei asked with friendly concern, towering above her as she continued to pant nervously for a few more seconds to steady herself.
"Did you have a bad dream?"
It took a few seconds of looking into Rei's completely focused eyes and a few moments of soul searching for Asuka to finally formulate a reply. She still wasn't so used to telling others her insecurities quite yet.
"Oh, Rei. I just had a terrible nightmare. I dreamt you were dead."
"Well that's alright then, because I'm fine. I appreciate your concern for me, but as you can see, I'm safe and here with you." Rei smiled gratefully.
"But that's not all." Asuka put her hand to her head to steady herself. "In my dream, I was all alone. I dreamed that I had lost all of you and that it was just me by myself again. It was horrible."
"That would never happen Asuka. We would never just leave you like that. You're our friend now." Rei put a hand onto Asuka's shoulder, to find to her surprise that Asuka accepted the gesture with no resistance. This really wasn't the same Asuka who would go around beating up innocent bystanders for no good reason.
"But the worst part of it all." Asuka had to steel herself to avoid making a complete fool of herself through another sappy tantrum. She had had enough of those for a while. "Is that it was all because of me. It was because I beat you all down until you were all dead."
Asuka closed her eyes briefly in tragic denial.
"Rei. Do you think that I could still do that? That I could still hurt Shinji and the rest of you?"
To her great surprise, Rei nearly let out a laugh but didn't out of respect.
"Of course not Asuka. Like we said earlier. We believe you when you promised to change and if this is how you honestly feel, then for me all it does is further prove that you really are different now."
"What do you mean?"
"You wouldn't be having this nightmare if you didn't truly feel at least some guilt over your past mistakes."
Asuka looked at Rei for a few seconds as Rei looked at Asuka for a few seconds.
The two of them were demonstrating through respectful silent eye contact, their newfound mutual respect for one another.
"I suppose" Asuka sheepishly admitted after a little while.
A few more seconds of silent eye contact.
"Asuka, you want to know something?"
"What is it, Rei?"
"You're not the only one with nightmares of your past mistakes?"
"I'm not?"
"I had one too. In my nightmare, Ritsuko's mum jumped off a balcony before Ritsuko pushed me off as well, saying it was my fault that she was an orphan with no love from anyone."
"But that was ages ago, Rei. And surely, you couldn't have had anything to do with the previous Doctor's death, could you? I mean, look at you, you're such a polite and mellow little cinnamon roll and that doctor was a very sick woman."
"It was completely my fault." Rei quickly interjected, looking deathly ashamed as she spoke. "I called her an old hag just because I was in a bad mood that day and I heard Gendo say it, and that pushed her off the edge. And I didn't just say it once, I said it multiple times even when I saw how it hurt her the first time. I did it purely to spite her, because I liked being the one in control for once."
Rei raised a fist and very nearly hit herself as she closed her eyes in deep regret for a few seconds.
"I try not to remember these things now. But perhaps I should be grateful that I still do. At least now I know how much something as minor as an insult can really hurt someone in the lowest point of their life, and I watch myself more carefully when I speak. Then again, I didn't really have a choice since after that, Ritsuko's mother killed me and when NERV put me into this body, they made it so that I would be less of a talker and more of an observer."
"What?"
"I used to be as talkative as you and Mari in my original body. It wasn't until I started being rude and unpleasant to everyone with my thoughtlessness that they started to try and make me quieter and more passive." Rei looked sullen.
"Well I for one like it more when you talk, and I would really like it if you keep saying more." Asuka politely requested. She had at first found conversing with the blue haired artificial human distasteful, but that was only because they weren't on the best of terms back then at the apartment. But now that she thought about it, she liked the way that Rei was a very good listener who never butted in nor took the words out of context in a conversation. It made talking with her a smooth and pleasurable affair, and an easy conversation partner for an antisocial narcissist such as herself.
"Then that's what I'll do, as long as it's alright with you." Rei said with a slight bow.
"And Rei?"
"Yes."
"I know this is going to sound odd coming from me, but…" Asuka chose every word carefully as she said them, making her next sentence extremely slow and cautious. "But, do you think that I should just leave since Shinji no longer needs me."
"Why would you think that Asuka?" Rei appeared almost frightened at this sudden suggestion.
"I mean, he has Mari now. And she's probably going to be a better lover for him than I ever could. And even if that doesn't work out, he still has you. And don't take this in an offensive way, please, but you've always managed to get through to Shinji in a way I never could. He feels at ease around you while he always gets scared around me. And you've always been much nicer to him in these years than me.
What does he even need me for? He has the two of you."
Rei seemed to take these complaints remarkably calmly. Her opinion of Asuka seemed not to drop one bit as she replied in a completely respectful tone that indicated no hostility.
"Asuka. When you saw Shinji in bed with Mari as you passed them by and came to this room, what did you do?"
"Huh?"
"You could have rushed in guns blazing, demanding that Mari unhand Shinji this instant and give him back to you, but you didn't. You could have thrown a hissy fit and kicked the walls down, but you didn't. Why?"
"Well because…" Asuka thought for a while as Rei patiently awaited her answer. "Because, Shinji seemed really happy in her arms. And since Shinji was really happy for a change, I thought, what kind of cruel, heartless jerk would I be if I took that away from him?"
She took a breath as she struggled to keep her head held up through the shame she still felt for herself despite Rei's soothing reassurances.
"Shinji has a right to pick who he wants. And I want him to pick someone who will make him the best that he can be. Even if that someone isn't me."
She looked up from the floor to see Rei beaming proudly at her, almost like she had just won a fight against an Angel.
"And that's what really shows me that you've changed, Asuka. You really are Shinji's friend now."
"I don't understand. Shinji didn't pick me. He picked Mari."
"But by letting Shinji decide for himself, and not forcing him to make a decision against his will and supporting his choice, you've proven that you respect his free will and that really is a kind thing to do. Believe me when I say, I've seen too many love triangles in my lifetime. None of them ended well. But thankfully Asuka, you are not one of them. And that's a wonderful thing."
"Rei" Asuka asked as the last bad memories of the nightmare begun to fade away and her sleepiness began to return. "Can I ask you just one more thing before we go back to sleep?"
"Sure Asuka." Rei stifled a little yawn of her own. "Fire away."
"Are you upset that Shinji didn't pick you? I mean, you went through an entire makeover just to try and get him to notice you and all, so, are you?"
Asuka fidgeted a little, worrying if she had been a little too brusque with this line of questioning. But to her great relief, Rei's demeanour stayed upbeat and she seemed more pleased than impatient to be asked this question.
"Asuka. Just because Shinji's found a girlfriend, doesn't mean he doesn't need the two of us. He wouldn't have come back to fetch us if he wasn't serious about that."
Rei explained, in soothing tones which seemed to quell stress with every syllable.
"Huh?" Asuka was very confused. So many of the subtle cues in each and every brief conversation she had had with the chief of NERV's little miss perfect seemed to imply that there was nothing she wouldn't do to get at Shinji. Even if they were all friends now, it seemed a little too nonchalant that Rei would just let Shinji be taken by Mari with no resentment or envy whatsoever.
"To put things into context better for you Asuka, let me ask this of you. Have you ever watched sword art online? I mean, the good episodes, before it got bad."
"Well yes. I vaguely remember it. Wasn't the main character really in love with that woman, wait what's her name. Wait I remember. Asuna. Wasn't his entire goal in that show to keep Asuna safe for when they eventually got out of that virtual world together?"
Asuka remembered the name of that one character from how they both had very similar names and how Asuna's great fighting skills were a joy to watch.
"But was Asuna,his only friend?" Rei asked, eyebrow raised with a satisfied smirk.
"Well no. Of course not. He had a lot of other friends as well. Wasn't he like, really close with his sister at one point."
"And that's the point I'm trying to make." Rei clarified. "Asuna was his romantic interest, but she certainly wasn't his only friend or his only teammate. And he certainly couldn't have got through what he did without the help of his other friends as well."
Asuka began to regain her usual fire as Rei continued her explanation. She had not lost her purpose in Shinji's life after all. On the contrary, her role in his long journey was only just beginning. She had become more important to him than ever.
"And to further put things into perspective for you, Asuka. The main character, Kirito, couldn't have saved Asuka without the help of his adorably awesome little sister who also loved him very much.
If it were just Kirito and Asuna, they'd have both been killed a long time ago. They needed their other teammates and friends as much as they needed each other."
Rei smiled coyly.
"Do you know why I chose to grow out my hair longer?"
"No Rei, why?"
"Because Shinji often cut short a lot of his sessions with me to go and spend more time with you, Asuka. Because that one time I saw you in the school playground, all the boys were going nuts over you and how pretty you looked with your long and beautiful hair. Including Shinji."
"Um. I see." Asuka was trying very hard to keep a straight face but this entire ordeal was getting almost too funny not to laugh over.
"Do you know why I cut my hair shorter, Rei?"
"Go on, tell me."
"Shinji often cut short a lot of the time he had with me because he said he was worried about you and needed to check up on you. And the one time I saw you in NERV at a dinner party, everyone was looking at you so much they were not eating their food or talking to each other. And Shinji had his eye on you the whole way through so hard, he dropped his food and spilled his drink."
And after that, the two girls had a good long hearty laugh.
They rolled around on the rug, giggling, guffawing, snickering and simpering, unable to hold it in any longer. And what made the laughing session all the more enjoyable was that this time, they were laughing with each other and not at anyone's expense.
This laugh, was a well earned one, unlike the empty and hollow laughs they had had before which held no meaning and only served as cheap imitations which failed to fool even themselves that they were not horribly depressed.
"Ah well that's funny." Rei eventually concluded after several minutes of rolling on the floor in constant laughter. "I'm going to go back to sleep now, Asuka, if you're fine now."
"You do that, Rei. And thank you."
"But Asuka. Make sure you come to me again if you're having problems. You don't have to suffer in silence. We're friends now." Rei asked as she turned off the lamp, jumped back into bed and pulled her duvet over her head.
"I will Rei. I will" Asuka promised as she headed back to her own bed. "Don't ever go back to being the silent way you used to be. You're adorable when you talk more."
…
The other members of the residence, sans the still sickly sleeping Sakura would head downstairs the next morning to find a delightful smelling black forest gateau cut into equal pieces for each of them, prepared by a proudly grinning Asuka with an apron and oven mitts.
She would explain that since Sakura was still not particularly recovered from her cold, she would be taking over for the chores in the house for a while.
"It's about time someone else did the work in this house." As she would put it.
She should have been doing this years ago, but better late than never.
Being a native German, her version of her country's national dessert put Sakura's improvised version to great shame with its full authenticity.
It was the perfect start to the perfect day.
"You're wrong, dad. You're wrong" Asuka said to herself under her breath as she passed the plates around the table. "People can change if they just try. These people may not be perfect, but they're the only friends I've got. And from now on, they are under my protection."
Shinji's smile as he received his portion of the extremely well-made breakfast, she had woken up two hours early to prepare to an exact science, made the ache in her eyes in her muscles from waking up so early to work so hard, completely worth it.
She smiled back at him with a wink as the table fell silent for her to do the honours of blessing the meal,
The one reward she could ask for as recompense for all the effort she had gone through to obsessively tweak every little detail of her handmade dish to nothing less than absolute perfection only so it could be chomped away in a few tiny bites, was that she could be allowed to do this every morning, and on that note every day.
…
Gendo sat anxiously twiddling his thumbs in a top floor suite of a seven star hotel in central park, reserved specifically for him.
He had ordered the local branch of NERV in America as well as the local police to immediately lock down the entire country in search of a silly little whiny brown-haired runt and a mentally challenged, disabled blue-haired little girl who had quite lost her way.
"I want every building in every city checked for any sign of either of them." He had demanded.
"I'll offer one trillion dollars to anyone who can find either of them, and bring them to me."
He took out a little photo he had of his useless little runt of a son.
"So you think your old man's gone crazy, haven't you?" he sneered. "You think your old man's gone soft. Well Shinji, when I get to you, we really are going to reassess how the overly nice and lenient way I've been treating you over these years, is going to have to come to an end."
He cracked his knuckles as his gaze fell across a long and shiny belt he had on a chair next to his bed.
"I regret to have to do this. But it looks like I really am going to have to remind you of the meaning of the word "discipline." Hah. In these namby-pamby modern times, most kids can't even spell discipline."
He picked up the belt and begun to play with it, occasionally whipping it hard through the air causing a whoosh sound.
"Well maybe when I'm done teaching my disobedient little son and daughter, discipline, I'll make it a global national course that everyone will have to take. That'll show them."
He sighed in blissful wistfulness as he lashed the belt across a wall hard enough to leave behind a small but sharp mark of damage, causing a piece of slightly old timber to fall from the wall leaving a small hole.
"Discipline is such a beautiful word."
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Since Asuka was the meanest person in the show, she'll have to work the hardest to redeem herself.