-1Lite Up

Chapter 6: Secrets Revealed -part 1-

By: shinjitheassassin

"So, they sent you here too?" Akane asked as she looked over the city under the fading light as nightfall began to descend on Tokyo 3, from atop her apartment building.

"Yep." Mana answered as she took another drag off the blunt they were smoking and passed it back to Akane. The other three had left just over an hour ago.

"Does he know yet?" Mana asked as she stole a glance over to her friend.

"No, not yet. I want to tell him but I just don't know how.

"So your interest in him is beyond professional." Mana teased, causing Akane to blush.

"Like yours is?" she quickly shot back, causing Mana to blush as well. The two laughed. Earlier they acted as if this was their first time meeting, but in reality they had nearly grown up together, and were roommates while in America.

"So where are you staying at?" Akane asked.

"Actually I havnt found a place yet, I was ordered to report to Nerv as soon as I got here and of course I was brought here after the tests."

"Well then, its settled."

"What is?"
"You'll live here." Akane smiled "We'll be roomies again."

Mana smiled at this. "Sounds fun."

The two continued to talk for another hour before heading back down to the apartment.

Shinji and Asuka got home around 7:30 that evening, in a good mood until they were greeted by a very unhappy Misato.

"You two have a lot of explaining to do." she began to scold them, having read the report of what happened at school.

"About what?" Shinji asked.

"Why your class mate, Touji had to be taken to the emergency room today."

"Well…." Asuka started but couldn't find the words to continue.

"He tried to attack me, so I defended myself." Shinji started "What was I supposed to do, just let him beat me to a pulp?" he continued, with defiance in his voice. This somewhat caught Misato off guard.

"No, no I suppose not." Misato said "I just don't understand why you guys are fighting now after being such good friends."

"I'm not sure why either" shinji said, going back to his usual tone of voice.

"He's just jealous" Asuka put in, with her usual boastfulness

"Of what?" Misato asked, confused.

"That Shinji has four beautiful girlfriends." she continued, forgetting Misato didn't know that Shinji was dating all of them.

"WHAT! FOUR!?" Misato yelled in surprise as she looked at him. All Shinji could do was laugh nervously. 'And I thought Kaji was bad' Misato thought to herself.

"Nice going Asuka" Shinji said to her, who had just realized what she had done.

"Heh heh, sorry."

Misato then asked "Ok, so how did this all happen?"

Shinji let out a sigh "Can we at least eat first?" he said, looking for an excuse to put it off just a little longer.

"Yeah, I'm hungry." Asuka put in.

"Ok, but I want to hear it all after dinner"

"Yes ma'am" Shinji relented and made his way to the kitchen followed closely by Asuka.

"Why did you have to tell her?" Shinji asked Asuka

"It kinda slipped." Asuka nervously smiled, as she had forgotten that Misato wasn't in on their little group.

Shinji opened up the freezer and grabbed two of the dinners that were in there, handing one to Asuka. The two then set to work preparing theirs. After a few moments they sat down at the table to eat while Misato went to her room.

Finally after the two had finished eating, Misato sat down at the table with a can of beer, as normal.

"So?"

Shinji sighed, he had hoped that she had forgotten about it, but apparently she did not. "Well as you already knew, Akane and I started dating first, and well few days later Asuka confessed her feelings to me, which put me in a tight spot. I didn't want to hurt either of them so the three of us talked it over and Akane suggested that I date her also." Shinji began. He was careful to leave out anything to do with the smoking. "And well, I've also had a thing for Rei, ever since the first day I got here.."

"Wait, your dating Rei too?" Misato interrupted him. Though after she asked it she mentally kicked herself for it not being obvious to her, Recently Rei was always with them.

"Yes." Shinji answered with another sigh.

"Ok, so that's three, so who's the fourth?"

"Mana" Shinji blushed.

"What? She just got here, and your already dating her?" Misato exclaimed, then laughed. "Your not really giving any of the other guys a chance." she smiled.

"Like I would want to date any of those other idiots!" Asuka stated.

Misato looked over the other two. It was weird to her still that Shinji and Asuka were dating, and even more so with the knowledge that Shinji, they once shy and reserved boy she first took in, was now dating four girls at once.

"Well, I am going to bed, they called me in for work tomorrow to look over some paper work." Misato said as she got up from the table and left the kitchen entering her own room and closing the door behind her.

"Well that went better then I was expecting." Shinji said as he stared at Misatos door, he had expected her to make a bigger scene out of it then what she did. He then looked at Asuka. "Well I think I will head to bed too, I'm exhausted."

Asuka smiled at this, she knew exactly why he was exhausted, and she couldn't blame him really. She then leaned down and kissed him "Good night, third child" she said and headed off to her own room. Shinji sat there for a few more seconds before getting up and wandering into his room, crashing on the bed.

Morning came far to quickly for the two pilots as they dragged themselves out of bed. Going through their usual morning routine before heading off to school. As usual they met up with Akane and Rei half way there. Akane informed them that Mana had already left because she had to turn in paper work to the schools office to complete her transfer. As soon as the four reached school they saw Mana, who happened to be talking to Touji, Kensuke and Hikari.

"So you the new transfer student?" Kensuke asked excitedly.

"Yep"

"Do you have a boyfriend?" Kensuke asked, with the same excitement if not more.

"Yeah I do." Mana answered and smiled as she saw her friends approaching, "And here he comes now."

"That's great," Hikari said happily, but her voice trailed off as she follow Manas line of eye sight and saw Shinji and his group approaching. "We should get out of here." she then suggested.

"Why?" Mana asked, though she had already guessed that Akane had set up her normal reputation.

"To avoid any trouble." Hikari answered, and tried to pull Mana with them, but she brushed passed them and stood in front of the three.

"Took you long enough." Mana teased Akane. "I thought you weren't going to wake up this morning." Akane just shrugged.

"You know her?" Kensuke asked.

"Yep, she's my roommate" Mana turned and smiled at the three behind her.

"Great another one." Touji spat and entered the school building.

"Man, does she have to corrupt everyone she talks to." Kensuke added and followed. Hikari didn't say anything as she looked at Asuka, still hurt that she had lost her best friend, she just turned and walked into the school, leaving the group outside.

"I take it you already had problems with those three?" Mana asked.

"yeah, kind of a long story." Shinji answered as the five entered the school and made their way to class. Akane passed Mana a small piece of paper that held their groups room name and password for the in class chat room they usually chatted in. Then each took their seat, Mana stood at the front of the room for a moment as the teacher introduced her to the class then took a seat just to the right of Shinji. The teacher then took role call before beginning his normal lesson. The group proceeded with their normal routine, opening the chat room to silently chat amongst themselves.

Mana So whats the plan for lunch today?
Akane We'll probably do our usual thing and hang out by the old tree on the hill just off school grounds.

Asuka Yeah, it's a great spot

Hikari read on, this time she decided to snoop into their chat room. She knew they left school grounds but she didn't know where the went. But now that she had found out, maybe she could catch them in the act. Time crept by again as the teacher continued to drone on about the Second Impact until finally the lunch bell rang. As usual the group left the class and made their way off campus as planned, while they did this, Hikari approached Kensuke and Toji.

"Come on, I know where their going." she stated.

"What? Who?……oh" Toji said as it finally registered who she was talking about, honestly not to thrilled about the idea as his side still ached. "But why follow them?"

"To catch them and find out what they are up to." she said and lead the way, the other two reluctantly following. Meanwhile the gang reached the tree and where making themselves comfortable as Akane proceeded to with draw the item in question from her pocket. Lighting it up and taking a puff before passing it. Mana turned and positioned herself on the side of the tree, and just in time too as she saw the three heading up the hill where they were.

"We got incoming you guys." she warned her group, who immediately took heed and put away the joint, and began to talk amongst each other, more so focused on the band they wanted to create.

"I think Shinji should sing." Akane stated.

"I'll play lead guitar!" Asuka shouted excitedly.

"I'll be rythem." Akane put in.

"I guess I will take the keyboard." Mana stated as she turned away from the tree facing the group, just as Hikari, Toji, and Kensuke got there.

'Hey Hikari, fancy seeing you here." Asuka commeneted, a slight tone of saracasim in her voice. Hikari frowned in disappointment, she was hoping to catch them doing something more then just chatting.

"I just thought I would see whats so special about this place, you guys always leave school or skip class to come here."

"Its nice up here, good view of the town." Shinji commented. "besides, its like they teach us anything new, he just rambles on about his life before the Second Impact." Hikari couldn't really argue this, with the exception of the basic math matics, that was really all the teacher went on about. Asuka then looked at Hikari and smiled, Hikari didn't like the way she was smiling.

"You came here to check on us didn't you? Make sure we aint doing anything we're not supposed to, right?"

Hikari frowned, Asuka knew her too well, but decided to not say anything.

"I know you been in our chat rooms Hikari, we're not stupid." Asuka continued.

Silence hung in there air for a few moments until the school bell in the distance could be heard.

"We better get back to class" Hikari said, still looking at the group in front of her, though she knew the answer, she asked, "Are you guys coming back this afternoon?"

"We'll think about it." Akane teased, they had no intention of returning to school, they had more pressing matters to attend to.

"Well in that case I will let you know now that there is a school dance coming up, everyone is asked to bring something if they come." Hikari informed them. With that the three left Shinjis group, heading back to school.

"Dance huh?" Shinji asked.

No sooner had Toji and Kensuke got back to school, Toji was called into the office. For what reasons no one could tell, but when he got back he had an air of depression about him, looking at the small slip of paper that was given to him, telling him where to go and when.

Within thirty minutes the group found them back at Akanes apartment, resuming what they had started during lunch before they were interrupted. Passing it around as they discussed the schools upcoming dance, and what they could bring.

"I can bring brownies." Akane suggested, grinning at Mana, who had a good idea where she was going with this.

"You mean your 'special' brownies don't you."

"Of course!"

"Special brownies?" the other three asked, confused.

"Yes, Akane here is going to add a secret ingredient to the batch." Mana began to explain as Akane grinned mischievously.

"I think I understand." Shinji smiled.

"But we should do something to really liven up the dance." Asuka stated.

"Well what can we do?"

There was a silence for a moment or two before Rei spoke up "Well I got an idea." she said, getting every ones attention as she began to tell them her plan.

"OH MY GOD REI! THAT'S HORRIBLE!" Asuka exclaimed then smiled "Lets do it! I can keep Hikari distracted long enough, Shinji its going to be your job to get the other two stooges away so we can pull this off."

"Yeah, but wont Akane get blamed?" Shinji pointed out.

"That's why she is going with you baka, that way they will see she had nothing to do with it." Asuka seemed to have already had this all planned out. Akane flipped on the TV and turned onto an old station that was showing late 90's sporting events, the program that just happened to be on was a wrestling match between a famous John Cena against a man called The Undertaker. The group watched with interest.

"We should do these moves against the next Angel we fight." Asuka commented with a laugh.

The next week seemed to fly by, there were no angel attacks or tedious testing required for the pilots. They had gotten all the items they needed to move forward with their plan at the school dance, chuckling amongst each other as they barely kept it under wraps at school, they knew it was a bad thing to do, but just imagining the results was to great to pass up. Finally the day of the dance arrived, many of the students had made a big deal about it bringing food and drinks. While most brought paper cups and plates, Hikari brought a rather large bowl of punch, setting it on the table she hurried to help the others finish the final set ups. She sneered when she saw Akane and her group enter the room, she had hoped they wouldn't have come. But at least they had brought something to contribute to the dance, so that was a good mark for her she mentally noted. It wasn't long before the dance got underway. As planned Asuka approached Hikari.

"Hikari, can I…..talk to you…in private?" Asuka asked, looking around to see if the others were ready.

"Um.. Ok" Hikari answered, a little confused, but followed Asuka to the girls rest room so that they could talk. "So whats on your mind?"

"I….I just wanted to ask you something."

"What?"

"Well, I was wondering why you don't like Akane."

Hikari was taken aback by this question. "Well I suppose its how she acts I guess." truth was Hikari didn't know why she didn't like her.

"Have you ever tried hanging out with her?"

"With the rumors that surround her? No way!"

"So you've based your judgment on her from rumors?"

Hikari saw where Asuka was going with this, she had based her decision on rumors. This made her feel guilty to say the least. "I know what your trying to say Asuka, and your right, I did base my decision of her on rumors." she lowered her head partly in shame.

During this time Shinji had approached his two old friends, Akane close behind him. Kensuke had a depressed look on his face, no one had asked him to the dance. This did give Shinji an idea that would do two things, help Kensuke and keep Akanes name clear for what was about to go down.

"Akane, why don't you dance with Aida while I talk with Toji." he said.

"Alright." Akane smiled, before Kensuke could voice his opinion, she had grabbed his hand and led him to the dance floor.

"So what was that all about Ikari?" Toji asked.

"He looked depressed, figured dancing with a girl would cheer him up."

"And it had to be Akane?"

"Why don't you guys like her? I mean shes not a bad person."

"You kidding? With the rumors that follow her around?"

Shinji frowned at this, he had heard the rumors, but found them for the most part to be false. Though she did have a knack for getting into trouble, but then again she was a normal teenager "You know, none of those rumors are true." he finally answered.

"Well she certainly changed you." Toji spat.

"I changed myself, people do change." he looked to his old friend.

"I guess your right." Toji sighed.

As planned, while Asuka kept Hikari busy, and Shinji distracting Toji, Rei had slipped up to the refreshment table while everyone was dancing. Opening a bottle she emptied its contents into the punch and slipped away, without no one noticing. She had spiked the punch with vodka. She gave the signal to Akane who was watching and slipped out the door to discard the bottle to remove all traces of her actions. It worked; as the night drew on, Hikari returned from the bathroom after talking with Asuka, between eating the brownies that Akane had brought and drinking the punch. It wasn't long before her and many of the other students started feeling the effects of the combination. Reluctantly she had to have Toji carry her to his house, hers was too far away and he didn't want to wake her sisters.

The next morning found the classroom very empty, many of the students had hang overs and where at home sleeping in, only Shinjis group, Toji, and Kensuke were in the room. Toji had a flushed look on his face. Hikari entered the class room, late for a change. Rubbing her temples as she battled the headache inside. Then she did something that caught everyone present in the room a surprise, she walked over to Toji and bent down, kissing him full on the lips. Even the teacher had stopped his lesson at this action and looked to be on the verge of a heart attack.

Authors notes: Well, chapter 6 is done. I guess part of the reason for this chapter was to show that dispite her actions, Akane is actually a good person, just misunderstood. Also the dance served for those who wanted the "special" brownies included as well as to get Hikari a little in on the actions, which brings me to this question.

Please Vote: Should I include Hikari into the mix? Please respond to this via email at please label the subject Hikari so I don't just trash it.

Disclaimer: As everyone knows, I do not own Evangelion nor any of its characters. Nor do I own the name John Cena or the Undertaker. Those belong to their respected holders.