-1Lite Up

Chapter 4: The Mark

By: shinjitheassassin

Shinji and Asuka returned home later that day, actually on time. Rei had joined them, all three still lost in thought of what happened the last few hours. Rei for one was completely in bliss , never had she felt the emotion that she just did, then her expression changed as she thought as to what Akagi or Gendo would think of this, she decided she wouldn't tell them.

"Whats up Rei?" Shinji asked

"The Commander." she replied.

"What about him?"

"He will not approve of this." her voice saddened now "So he will not be told"

Both Asuka and Shinji remained silent at this as they stood outside the door.

"I must go" Rei said, still unsure of how to show her new emotions she simply turned and left. Shinji could understand this, he had known Rei to be more than enigmatic and knew it would take her some time. With a sigh both him and Asuka entered the apartment, quickly met with an angry Misato.

"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TODAY!!" Misato yelled, having heard from Hikari of the days activities at school.

"About what?" Asuka asked.

"What do you mean about what? You slapping Hikari, your own best friend and then Shinji leaves behind his own friends for this Akane person."

"Hikari called me a slut! She needed to be slapped." Asuka stated.

"And I ditched Touji and Kensuke because they called my girlfriend a slut as well, so I……" Shinji didn't get to finish as Misato cut him off.

"Wait? Your girlfriend?" Misato was stunned to say the least.

Shinji sighed as he began to answer. "Yes, Akane and I started going out two days ago"
Asuka remained silent, not wanting to add more to the mix. She very much so wanted to proudly state that she was dating him as well. Afraid that if Misato found out what was really going on she would separate her and Shinji, taking away her advantage.

"Wait a minute, I thought you and Asuka were…..ok now I am confused." Misato said

'Shit' Shinji swore to himself and quickly began thinking of something to cover it up.

"I got called in tonight to cover for someone, so I wont be back till morning." Misato said as she made her way to the door "The phone lines are still down from the last attack so keep your cell phones on you." With that she was out the door. Both Shinji and Asuka looked at each other.

"Shes going out with Kaji" Shinji said with a sigh.

"Yep" Asuka agreed. "Well that close."
"Yeah, too close" Shinji agreed, "I'm going to take a shower, I'm surprised she didn't smell the pot on us"

Asuka smiled to herself as a thought crept into her mind. "I'll join you" she said with a bound as she walked over to him, giving him a deep kiss as she grabbed hold of his shirt, pulling him into the bathroom with her. Locking the door behind them before the went on to there own personal activities. After some time had passed the bathroom door opened, letting loose a bellow of steam the hot water had built up in the in closed space as Shinji and Asuka emerged, both fully dressed but out of breath. Sitting down on the couch Asuka flipped on the television. No sooner had they gotten comfortable in each others arms there was a knock on the door. With a sigh Shinji got off the couch and made his way towards the door. He was surprised when he opened the door to find Akane and Rei.

"Heya" Akane said in her usual cheerful tone. Rei just simply smiled.

"Hey, what are you guys up to?" Shinji asked.

"Oh nothing, I was on my way over to see if you two wanted to join me downtown, and I found Rei on the way over."

Shinji thought for a moment, Misato didn't say anything about them not leaving the apartment, and as long as they had their cell phones on them there shouldn't be any problem "Sure, let me go grab Asuka" he smiled.

"Alright"

Shinji then walked into the living room where Asuka was.

"HEY WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" the two heard Asuka yell in between giggles "That's my breast!"

Both Rei and Akane laughed at this, it seemed Shinji had literally grabbed her. Soon the two appeared from the living room with smiles on their faces.

"Ready?" Akane asked

"Yeah, lets go" Asuka answered. With that, the four of them left. After about thirty minutes of walking Akane stopped them in front of a small tattered building. Various neon lights lit up the windows advertising an assortment of things the shop performed.

"Come on guys, lets go inside"

The others shrugged and followed Akane into the shop. The inside looked a lot nicer then what the outside would have suggested.

"Hey Akane, how have you been?" a voice said from the back of the room.

"Hiya Kate, I'm doing ok, brought some friends this time to watch me." Akane answered.

"Oh, your finally going to get it done?" Kate teased as she came out from behind the counter. She was tall and slender with wavey black hair. Her dark brown eyes scanning over the small group before her.

"Yep." Akane answered with a smile.

"Alright, sit down over in that chair." Kate instructed. Akane did so and waited, she was still a little nervous. Kate then looked at the remaining three. "So you're the new friends Akane has spoken highly of." she smiled then rested her eyes on Shinji "Especially you" Shinji could only blush. "If you three want, I'll give you each the same as I am giving Akane, free of charge."

They pondered this for a moment, surprisingly enough, it was Rei who agreed first, Shinji and Asuka soon followed. Kate simply smiled and nodded. "Alright" With that she turned and walked over to where Akane was. "OK, your going to have to lay face down" Akane nodded as Kate lowed the table Akane was on. Akane rolled over so that her face was in the small hole at its end. Kate then set to work with her tattoo gun and black ink. Akane winced a little as it began, but after fifteen minutes the nerves in her neck had numbed themselves. Another fifteen minutes passed by before Akanes tattoo was done. The other three marveled at the fresh ink and all liked how it looked so there fore agreed to get the same done. Kate sent Akane over to join the others then pointed at Shinji "Your next" she smiled.

An hour and a half passed and eventually all three of them had gotten their tattoos, all of them the same as Akane . "Well, sorry I got to rush you all out but I have a date tonight." Kate informed them as she turned out the neon Open sign in the window. Shutting the blinds in the windows she turned to Akane "Before I forget, this is for you." she smiled as she handed her a small paper bag that was under the counter. The four of them said their thanks and headed out the door and towards Misatos, stopping in at various small stores along the way. Finally reaching the apartment Shinji and Asuka entered first, to see if Misato was home. Luckily she wasn't, Shinji invited the others in. They all headed into Shinjis room, while it was smaller then Asukas because she had taken his original room, his had a bigger window for better ventilation.

"So what now?" Asuka asked

"We could always have an orgy" Rei joked, though with her still somewhat mono tone voice it sounded like she was serious. The others laughed.

"Now we smoke" Akane said, reaching into the paper bag she had and pulled out a small plastic bag that contained the green herb.

"Hold on one second" Shinji said as he turned and reached into his top dresser drawer and pulled out three sticks of insence.

Akane smiled "Your learning." she teased as Shinji chuckled and lit them placing them in various palces in the room then open opening the window. While he did all this Akane loaded the bowl and was already taking the first hit from it, passing it to Rei who was sitting to her right, Rei took a long hit from the bowl, as if trying to out do Akane.

"Hey, puff, puff pass!" Asuka shot at her. The others laughed at this as Rei passed it to Asuka then to Shinji. The pattern continued to the bowl was about half empty. that's when Misato decided to return home. Shinji cursed to himself as he heard her enter the apartment and shoved the pipe under his mattress just before she opened Asukas door, seeing she wasn't in there she opened Shinji's door.

"Oh this is where you are, I just came to tell you that Akagi has a test for the three of you tomorrow after school." she said, then turned and walked out closing the door behind her. She stood in the hall way for a moment, her brain trying to register the small hint of a strange scent that was in Shinjis room. It was hard to tell with the inscent his was burning though, however him burning incence wasn't out of the ordinary, as he ahd been doing that for a few months now, ever since the plumbing backed up. She cringed at the memory of the horrid smell that lingered in the apartment. She shook the thoughts from her head for the time being and entered her own room, getting changed out of her uniform into her normal shorts and tank top combo. However the thoughts still remained. She didn't think Shinji would do anything illegal or bad, though since hanging around with his new girlfriend he has changed a lot, he wasn't shy anymore. She couldn't help but worry about this. With a sigh she made her way to the kitchen and pulled out the six microwave dinners she had bought the other day, assuming they would have guests over for dinner.

Meanwhile in Shinjis room the four decided to take off the bandages that was covering their tattoos, surprised that Misato hadn't noticed them, tossing the used bandages into the waste basket near the door. Admiring each others tattoos, though they were all the same.

"Think Hikari will get a kick out of this?" Asuka asked with a smirk. Knowing when her old friend would see this she would flip out, she didn't know why but she just wanted to piss off certain people. The thought then struck the three Eva pilots, Misato was bound to notice and with their tests tomorrow so would Akagi, but they shrugged it off, too late now. It wasn't long before Misato came back into the room to tell them the dinners were done. And that's when it happened.

"WHEN THE HELL DID YOU GET THOSE!!!!" she shouted, clearly outraged.

"Today" Shinji answered first. The other three didn't say anything. For a few moments there was an awkward silence, before Misato spoke again, this time in a more calmer voice.

"Why?"

"We thought it would be cool" Asuka answered this time.

"You do understand that those are not going to wash off, that your stuck with them for life, believe me I know." Misato said again, going into her mother mode. Though this time her words didn't carry any blame in them, she had gotten her tattoo for the same reason, and plus she was drunk. "I know I am going to hear about this tomorrow "she sighed, "By the way, dinners done." She finished and walked into the kitchen. The four followed and each choose a place to sit. Eating their dinner without a word, Shinji and Asuka had grown accustomed to Misatos cooking, however Akane and Rei where having a hard time trying to stomach it. After eating the four were about to leave when Misato spoke up. "Let me see them"

"Um, alright" Shinji said as he turned around so Misato could see the tattoo on the back of his neck. Misato smiled to herself, she actually liked the way it looked.

"So whose idea was it?"

"Mine" Akane answered.

"Well she got hers first, we decided we wanted one too" Shinji quickly put in so Akane wouldn't have to hold the full blame, if any were to come.

"I see, well I suppose I shouldn't get to upset about it" Misato said with a smile "After all I have one too, you guys have fun, I'll see you later" she said.

With that the four nodded and walked out of the apartment, it was already dark outside. Both Shinji and Asuka were confused as to why Misato was being so calm about it. Did she know about what they were doing? However it was no surprise to them that she had a tattoo herself, with her lifestyle. Shinji had actually seen it once when he accidently walked in on her in the shower.

Not long after the four had left the apartment, Misato got up from her spot at the table and walked to Shinjis room. She felt a little guilty about doing this, but as his guardian she had to check. Her first thought was to check his top dresser drawer, but the only thing she found was a lighter and some inscence, nothing out of the ordinary there. Closing the drawer she sighed and walked over to his bed, looking under the mattress, but again found nothing as Akane had already grabbed the pipe before dinner. Letting his bed back down she exited the room. Maybe she was just being paranoid about the kids. Shinji wouldn't do anything like that, he was too good natured and shy to do something like that. But then again, ever since he had started dating Akane he has changed, a lot. Even the way he dressed, his attitude, and him ignoring his 2 best friends, though she could understand him being upset with them for what they called his girlfriend, but she only knew Shinji to ever hold a grudge against one person, and that was his father. Her mind then drifted to Asuka, she had always teased and berate Shinji, but she hadn't heard the two argue for sometime now. Though peaceful, it felt strange to her. It also seemed like Asuka had traded one friend for another. Not to mention Asuka had also slapped Hikari across the face. The school had informed her that Hikari had a large bruise on the side of her face where Asuka had slapped her, she couldn't help but think if Asuka could have held back at least just a little. Misato sighed, she still thought that there was something that would have caused the change in her pilots. Her thoughts then when to Rei, one who was always quiet, and secluded but tonight she was sitting there with the others laughing and talking much like a normal child her age would. Turning off the kitchen light she retired to her room, trying to shake the thoughts from her mind again. She chuckled some to herself as she imagined how both Akagi and Gendo would take to the pilots new style, especially Rei, their own pride and joy perfect child, how she had been tarnished. It will be amusing to see how Nerv would react to this change in the pilots. She actually liked the change that was going on for the most part, the three were a lot closer now, this would greatly aid them on the battle field. To her it meant they would look out for each other far better then if they were merely ordered to. She wasn't sure why, but she felt she would back them up no matter what. Laying down she closed her eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep.

Reaching Akanes apartment they all crashed on the couch.

"Remind me never to eat her cooking ever again" Akane groaned "How on earth can anyone make a microwavable dinner taste so bad, and how the hell can you to eat that?"

"We've adapted to it" Asuka said "I prefer when Shinji is cooking"

"So whats the deal with Misato, she was acting a little weird" Shinji asked Asuka

"I don't know, she didn't make as big of deal out of the tattoos as I thought she would have." Asuka replied.

"So does she really have a tattoo?" Akane asked.

"I don't know" Asuka replied.

"Y-yeah, she does." Shinji blushed

"Where?" Asuka asked.

"Umm, on her left breast."

"And how the hell do you know that?" Asuka and Akane both glared at him, even Rei shot a look of curiosity at him.

"I,.I accidently walked in on her while she was taking a shower." he quickly explained. All three girls let out a sigh of relief. They didn't mind sharing him amongst each other but they didn't want him looking at other naked women.. Akane then pulled the pipe out of her pocket and lit it up again. Taking a deep hit she said in a strange voice as she held it in "Lets finish what we started". The others smiled and finished off the bowl. After about another half hour Shinji and Asuka decided it was time to head back home They all said their good byes to each and went their separate ways for the night, for tomorrow some fun would surely await them.

Authors Notes:

Yay chapter 4 is done, I just had to throw in the whole "Puff puff pass " line, it's a classic. Anyways I hope everyone enjoyed reading this as I did writing it. So how many people are our pilots going to piss off at school I wonder? And for those who have asked, the next chapter will have Mana in it. As for the character Kate, she was actually my first creation before Akane, originally making her debut in a Sailormoon/DBZ fic I was writing, however I decided not to post that fic.

Disclaimer:

No, I do not own Neon Genesis Evangelion, or any of its characters (however Akane and Kate are of my own creation) all credit goes to their respected owners, for if it wasn't for them making such a cult like anime, none of this would be possible.