Ah, back again with a new chapter! Thanks for the reviews you all sent for the prologue, it means a lot to me. I don't know how well I'll be able to keep with my personal deadlines since time has been kind of tight lately, but I'm still gonna try to keep working on it. The way I see it, it's not worth seriously altering a creative vision for the sake of a deadline, so if the Christmas chapter ends up coming in January, so be it! Not that I'm plannign to be late, but pelase bear with me if I am. Now without further ado, chapter 2!
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My mother's cello
By GeekViking86
Chapter 2: Reunions and unions
"Asuka, can't you hurry up? I really need to brush my teeth and shave, and I don't want to be late for class!" Shinji called impatiently as he knocked on the bathroom door, over the sound of running water and Asuka's muffled singing.
"Then go ahead, it's not like the door is locked." Asuka chimed from the other side.
"What!? You want me to come in there while you're… Gah!" Shinji shrieked with embarrassment.
"Come on! You don't have to be shy, we've got a shower curtain! Besides, it's noting you haven't already seen."
Shinji shouted at himself internally, questioning what he was doing as he reluctantly turned the doorknob. Remember, if you see anything, you're going to look away immediately, right?
As the door opened, Shinji felt the hot and steamy air from the shower as it touched his skin and face, and could now clearly hear an American pop song playing on Asuka's radio as she sang along with it. Once he was inside, his eyes unsurprisingly gravitated to the semi-transparent shower curtain. When he saw the lovely silhouette of Asuka's naked body, some random, naughty suggestion managed to pop itself into his head, but he kicked his senses back into gear as quickly as he could. He hurried over to the sink to grab his toothbrush, and concentrated on the mundane task of brushing his teeth while trying with all his willpower to ignore his naked girlfriend who was only a few feet away.
Once he rinsed out his mouth, he got a chance to more thoroughly observe the new haircut he'd gotten in the mirror. His eyes were much more visible now, just like Asuka had wanted. But he couldn't help but feel a little overexposed now that his bangs only came to halfway down his forehead.
If Asuka thinks it looks good, I guess I should learn to like it. He thought as he opened the medicine cabinet to retrieve his razor, which for some reason wasn't there.
"Asuka, where's my razor?"
"Oh, hang on a sec."
A wet arm reached out from behind the plastic curtain, holding the utensil in question. With a sour look on his face, Shinji took it.
"You borrowed my razor!?" He gasped.
"Yeah, isn't that hot?"
"No! This thing is for my face! Now I'm gonna feel weird when I use it!"
"Well once it's unpacked, you can borrow my razor anytime you want." Asuka teased. "And you can't imagine what I've used that one for!"
"No thanks!"
Shinji decided to just shut up and shave before Asuka's comments could go any further. As her pleasant singing that began to fill the bathroom again, it almost helped Shinji to forget about just how nervous he was. Just as he'd finished wiping the last bit of leftover shaving cream from his face, he heard the water stop running, and would have bolted from the room if he hadn't been stopped by Asuka's voice.
"Oh Shinji… Would you mind handing me my towel?" Asuka sang as she peeked her face out from the shower, just barely concealing her body with the curtain.
Shinji swallowed hard and did as he was told, trying his best to keep his eyes pointed at the far wall. Mere seconds after Asuka had taken the fluffy pink cloth from him, she'd wrapped it around her torso and was stepping out of the tub.
"Thanks for not peeking." She said just before giving Shinji a quick peck on the lips. The poor boy looked like he was about to melt, and fumbled to strike up a casual sounding conversation to distract himself with.
"So, uh… What's your first class today? I forgot." Shinji asked nervously while trying not to look down.
"Physiology."
"Is that the one that commander—I mean, professor Fuyutski is teaching?"
"No, that's biochem on Tuesday."
"Oh, yeah …" Shinji mumbled as they walked out of the room. "Don't you think it's going to be weird having him as your teacher?"
"Of course! I'm terrified that I'm going to call him 'commander' like you just did, but in front of the whole class! I'd be a laughing stock!"
They both let out a chuckle at that last comment. It had been a good while since either of them had seen the former NERV sub-commander, but then again wasn't really as if they had known him all that well anyway.
Still, it's going to be interesting to have him around again. Asuka pondered. And it's not like I know anyone else in Kyoto except for Shinji.
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Asuka tapped her desk lightly with a pencil as she awaited the arrival their professor, and nervously checked her paper once again just to make sure she was in the right room, even though she already knew she was. In the college Asuka had previously attended, her professors made a healthy habit of arriving early, but clearly 'Dr. Kurosawa' preferred to be precisely on time, which made Asuka slightly uncomfortable.
Her discomfort momentarily ended when she noticed the other students quieting down, as a door near the front of the room opened. And when the professor stepped into sight, Asuka could tell that she was holding her breath as she rapidly realized who their professor really was.
The woman's eyes instantly traveled over to Asuka as well, but clearly not because she was the only person in the class who didn't have brown or black hair. The recognition was mutual, but the professor had obviously known full well that Asuka would be there, unless she hadn't even bothered looking at her student list… After all, just how many 'Asuka Langleys' could there be in all of Japan?
The professor did her best not to stare back, and instead stepped out in front of the class and began to give her introduction.
"Good morning. I am Doctor Ritsuko Kurosawa, and I'm going to be your instructor for Physiology this semester. I'm very proud to see that you have all taken an interest in the field of medicine, because it can be both challenging and rewarding for…"
How long Ritsuko's speech continued on for, Asuka did not notice. She was too preoccupied with wrapping her mind around the concept that not just one, but two of her former bosses from NERV were faculty members at Kyoto U, let alone as her own professors.
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As the class shuffled out of the room, Asuka remained seated; scarcely moving until the only people left in the room were her and Ritsuko. As the bottle blonde shuffled some papers into her briefcase, she began to speak.
"I didn't see you taking notes, young lady." The former Dr. Aikagi said, not averting her eyes from the task at hand. "That's not going to get you good grades."
"Dr. Aikagi, everyone thinks that you died three years ago!"
"I did die, just like you did. And I still have the scar from where Commander Ikari shot me."
That was one person Asuka did not want to think about right now, and just hearing his name made her wince.
"Asuka, please… Don't tell Misato that I'm here."
"Why?"
"It's just… We didn't part on the best of terms, and I'm not ready to face her yet."
Realizing that she was probably treading in a field of hornets' nests, Asuka decided to change topics.
"I promise won't tell her. But can you at least tell me how you ended up teaching here?"
Ritsuko sighed harshly, feeling like she was on an after school special.
"When I first decided I wanted to be a doctor, it was because I wanted to help people. But as an adult, I ended up letting my personal desires take over. One day I'd be patching up you and the other pilots after a battle, and the next I'd be helping the Commander create his tools for Armageddon. And now, hundreds of thousands of people have paid the price for my selfish wants."
Asuka knew fairly well what 'selfish wants' Ritsuko was referring to, through her conversations with Misato. Although she couldn't help but wonder what Ritsuko ever saw in a wretched man like Commander Ikari, Asuka did not want to torment her, and stayed silent.
"After 3I, I don't know how, but Professor Fuyutski managed to get me a teaching position here at Kyoto. Now I'm hoping that I can help young people like you learn to do what I wanted to when I was your age; to help sick people get better." Ritsuko reminisced.
"Why couldn't you have given a speech like that during class? The one you had was pretty boring." Asuka teased, getting a light laugh out of her former physician.
"Sorry, I'm still new at this whole teaching thing. I haven't been doing it for very long." The older woman chuckled.
The next good hour or so was spent catching up on what the two women had been up to for the last three years. Ritsuko was quite surprised to find out that Asuka and Shinji were now dating and sharing an apartment, and so was Asuka when she found out about Ritsuko's husband and two stepdaughters. The way they were talking, one could have easily thought them to be old friends who had just met again for the first time in years, even though when they worked at NERV they had been fairly distant.
Perhaps Ritsuko was a much more interesting person than Asuka once gave her credit for—or perhaps it was easy for Ritsuko to communicate, since in many ways Asuka reminder her of a younger version of Misato. But in all likeliness, they probably were both just happy to see a familiar face.
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Why did my first class have to be pre-calculus? I'm an artist, why am I taking it?
Shinji sighed with depression as he looked through the hefty textbook before him. Asuka was supposed to meet him in the cafeteria for lunch, and no doubt the assignment would make more sense once she went over it with him. But the brainy German fireball was now running twenty minutes late, and giving way to his grumbling stomach, Shinji decided to buy his food and eat while he waited for Asuka. He was sitting alone at a table in the corner of the room while the other students mingled and chatted with each other, his only companion for now being the fish on his plate.
"Excuse me." A feminine voice said from behind, making Shinji jump. When he turned around he saw a pretty girl looking him in the eyes, but it was not Asuka. "Oh, I'm sorry!" the girl said in regards to startling Shinji, and he knew well enough to be polite.
"Oh, it's okay." He said as he poked at his lunch with a chopstick.
"Forgive me if I'm being rude, but I couldn't help but notice that you've been sitting alone all this time. Are you studying?"
"Well, I was waiting for someone and she's running kind of late. She was going to help me with pre-calc over lunch." Shinji said as he tapped the textbook's cover.
The girl gave him a bright smile, and leaned down to his level.
"My name's Matsume Minda." She said.
"Ikari Shinji."
"I was just thinking… It must be a shame to be eating all alone like this."
It's the haircut. It has to be the haircut.
Misato had raised Shinji well, so he knew better than to let a girl fill her head with bubbly thoughts without knowing that he was taken. Not wanting to be rude, he tried to break it to her the best he could.
"Well you see… The person I'm waiting for is my girlfriend." Shinji said, trying not to sound too obvious.
"Oh no, I didn't mean it like that!" The girl explained with an embarrassed tone. "I just wanted to know if you'd like to sit with me and my friends over there."
Shinji looked over to where the girl was motioning, and saw a table populated with three other pretty girls.
"Maybe we can help you with that book for a few minutes while you wait. And when your girlfriend comes, you can introduce us to her." She smiled. Her offer seemed perfectly innocent, so Shinji decided to agree.
"Yeah, I guess that'd be okay."
"Great!" she giggled.
Shinji picked up his lunch tray and backpack after he'd placed the textbook inside, and then followed Minda over to the table where her friends were. Soon, they were all introduced properly.
"These are Yoko, Kira, and Mai." Minda said cheerfully as she gestured to her companions. "And girls, this is Ikari Shinji."
"Good afternoon." Shinji said politely. They girls responded with pleasant "hellos" in no particular order, and Shinji was seated. They were soon chatting and deciphering the early pages of the textbook, just as Minda had promised.
"So Shinji, you like math I take it? Calculus is a beast." Commented Kira.
"Well, I've always gotten pretty good grades, but I'm more into art."
"Really? Then why aren't you going to an art college?" asked Yoko.
"Actually I am, but I'm taking a few courses here since the UN is paying my tuition."
"Whoa, the UN!!?" Mai gasped.
"I knew I'd seen you somewhere before!" a wide-eyed Minda admonished. "You're the Shinji Ikari, the Eva pilot!"
"No way!" Squeaked Kira.
Aw crap. I should have known this was going to happen. Shinji laughed to himself.
With the textbook soon forgotten, the girls excitedly began asking Shinji questions about himself and his work as a pilot, with their level of enthusiasm seeming to increase each time he answered one. However, he made sure not to say too much, because much of what happened at NERV was still classified information.
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When Asuka entered the cafeteria, she knew she'd have some explaining to do in terms of being so late. Her conversation with Ritsuko had gone on longer than she could have anticipated, so she hoped that Shinji would understand.
To her surprise, she saw Shinji sitting at a table with three—no—four pretty girls, and they were giggling like mad, probably about something stupid. So Asuka decided to have a little fun, and maybe get a good jump out of Shinji. She walked up behind him quietly, and gave him a poke with her finger, making him flinch.
"Hah, I leave you alone for half an hour and you've already got groupies." Asuka ribbed from behind.
"Oh, Asuka!" Shinji said with a start. "Asuka, meet Minda, Yoko, Kira, and Mai. They were just helping me with my pre-calc book." Shinji tried to clarify, but the fact that the book was closed didn't help his case much. Not that Asuka cared, because she was actually pleased to see Shinji socializing without her help, even if it was with other girls. It wasn't like Asuka feared competition much, anyway.
"Girls, this is Asuka Langley, my girlfriend." Shinji said with a smile, and three of the girls gave her a polite wave. However, Minda simply gave her a strange, confused look. Asuka apparently didn't notice though, because she pleasantly pulled up a chair and seated herself.
"So Shinji, did you get me anything to eat?"
"Well, you were running kind of late, so…"
"Ooh, fried fish!" Asuka exclaimed brightly. She instantly leaned over and began picking at Shinji's tray, not bothering with any utensils. When she returned to her own seat however, she couldn't help but notice that Minda was staring at her.
"What?" asked Asuka with an eyebrow cocked, as she licked her fingers clean.
"Oh… It's just that when Shinji said he had a girlfriend, I assumed you were Japanese." Minda responded.
"Yeah, well what of it?" Asuka said nonchalantly.
"I just didn't think that someone as cool as Shinji would knock up a gaijin."
Asuka's eyebrows narrowed, and her jaw clenched. Poor Shinji was far too shocked to speak up on Asuka's behalf, let alone point out that their relationship had not been consummated… Not that it even mattered by this point.
"What did you call me?" The redhead demanded.
"I called you a gaijin. What of it?" Minda said, with her latter words spoken as if to parrot Asuka's previous reaction. Asuka almost had to clench her teeth to say what came next without raising her voice.
"Look prissy pants… I'll assume that you don't have any manners because your parents forgot to teach you some, so I'll let it slide this one time. But if you think that I'm going to put up with being insulted, then—"
"You expect me to be lectured about manners from you? Just who's putting up with what?" Minda asked accusingly.
Both of Asuka's fists clenched into balls, and with the way her face reddened, Shinji could have sworn a vein was about to pop. And unfortunately, Minda's verbal assault was hardly over.
"So, you want to get physical, huh? Well don't worry. If you get in trouble, I'll bet you've got a rich daddy somewhere to bail you out." Minda mocked.
"You rotten, smug-faced little brat!" Asuka screamed in a tone loud enough for the entire cafeteria to hear, drawing a significant number of eyes to the commotion.
Shinji began reaching for his phone. If he timed it right, the paramedics should have arrived before any teeth were lost.
"You think you're so cool, huh? I suppose that once you're finished defiling our culture, you'll just marry into it and pollute our country with your ape-faced babies, right? That's what you rich crackers do, isn't it?"
There was no more screaming. And no punches were thrown, either. Instead, Asuka ran from the building with tears streaming from her eyes, trying as hard as she could not to let anyone see or hear her.
"Thanks a lot bitch!" Shinji shouted angrily at Minda as he grabbed his backpack and textbook, and then went to run after Asuka.
"Hmph. It takes one to know one." Minda sneered, but Shinji ignored her. Minda's friends merely stared at her with disappointed eyes as they picked up their things.
"What, you mean you're on her side!?"
They didn't answer. They let the silence speak for them, and left Minda to sort through her thoughts alone.
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"It's just not fair!" Asuka sobbed through her hands, while she sat on a wooden outdoor bench.
Asuka hated crying, because it always reminded her of just how fragile she really was. Feeling weak was something that she had always feared, and letting people see that weakness only fueled her upset emotions even further. But sometimes, when things had built up for too long, the only escape was for Asuka to cry it out. When she was younger, sometimes she would find stupid things to cry about in private, just as an excuse to release emotional pain from something else that she didn't want to think about. But whatever the case, she always felt undignified from it, and her only consolation now was that there weren't too many people around to see her.
As she continued, she felt a warm hand touch her shoulder, and when she looked up, she saw the one person that she wanted to see the most at the moment.
"Asuka… It's okay."
Asuka pulled Shinji into a tight embrace, and the boy began to caress her in a gentle, comforting manner. He then tried to offer some words of support.
"That girl was just a racist jerk, and decided to lash out at you. It has nothing to do with you as a person."
"I know, but… Ever since I came to Japan, everyone's been so nice to me. I thought that everything I'd heard back home about people like her was a myth…" Asuka sniffled.
"I guess… Maybe there really are some people who can't accept us. But honestly, I don't give a crap. We don't owe them anything, especially not you."
Shinji kissed Asuka on the cheek, and they continued to hold each other for a few moments, while Shinji waited for Asuka's crying to slow down.
"Asuka, you know how much I love you, right?"
"Yeah. And I love you too." Asuka said, her sniffling having come to a stop.
"Well I want everyone to know it. Permanently."
Asuka's eyes went wide and her jaw slack, as Shinji nervously got up from the bench and kneeled down in front of her.
"I… I know I don't have a ring yet, but…" Shinji said, grasping for words.
"Shinji, aren't we… Kind of young for this?" Asuka asked in a voice mixed with both reluctance and excitement.
"Asuka please, this is hard enough for me as it is!"
Shinji wasn't kidding, because by now, they had attracted the attention of a small audience.
"Are you feeling sorry for me about what happened today? Because I do not want you to do this out of sympathy." Asuka informed him quietly, trying her best to sound serious.
"No. I've wanted to ask you for a long time, but today made me realize that I don't want to wait anymore."
Shinji took Asuka's hands in his, and gazed deeply into her still wet eyes. Even though there were now well over a dozen spectators circled around them, they suddenly felt as though they had been taken to a world where they were the sole inhabitants.
"Asuka… Will you marry me?"
Everything around them seemed to fade out, leaving them alone in their own, private paradise.
"Of course I will."
Before Shinji knew what hit him, Asuka's lips were firmly pressed against his own, while the group of onlookers clapped and cheered.
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Chapter end
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I'll be working on the next chapter as soon as I can. Don't worry, it's on it's way!
Thanks for reading, please send your reviews, keep an eye out for the next chapter, and God bless!