Disclaimer: I do not own any aspect of Neon Genesis: Evangelion. That belongs to GAINAX and Mr. Anno.
(August 20th, 2015, Tokyo-3: 7:41 a.m.)
The early morning fog had disappeared, giving Shinji and Asuka a clear view of the blue sky above them. Everything would have seemed as normal as it could get in Tokyo-3 had it not been for the baby Shinji was carrying.
"You know," Asuka said, trying to make some conversation, "you could just use the stroller we bought."
"I know," Shinji replied, "but I figured it'd be easier to carry her once we get to the school."
'This is going to be interesting.' Asuka thought as they approached Tokyo-3 Municipal Junior High School. She grinned at the thought of her friends' faces when they saw that Shinji was holding a baby. The grin abruptly faded when Asuka began to think about the rumors it would create. Though she liked being the center of attention, she didn't want half the school to think she had a baby with Shinji.
"Shinji," Asuka called, "as soon as we get to class you give the teacher the note Misato gave us. I'm going to let the class know why you're carrying around a baby."
"Okay." Shinji replied absently.
'Speaking of the note…' Shinji thought as he took it out of his pocket and opened it up to read, 'I wonder what Misato wrote.'
As he suspected, it made for an interesting read.
To Who it May Concern,
Shinji Ikari and Asuka Langley Sohryu are going to be bringing my baby niece, Kiku, to class for the next few weeks. I trust that this shouldn't be an issue. I request that you keep a close eye on these two while they are in possession of the baby. Though Shinji isn't much of a threat, Asuka can be dangerous and unstable at times. If she demonstrates any behavior that may put the baby at risk, do not hesitate to handle the situation in any way you see fit.
Misato Katsuragi
Nerv Chief of Operations
As Shinji finished reading it through, Asuka snatched it out of his hand.
'Uh oh.' Shinji thought.
"Is this the note Misato gave you?" Asuka asked before reading it for herself.
After a few seconds, Asuka wordlessly handed the paper back to Shinji. Her face was a bit somber but other than that, Shinji could see no reaction to the letter. He continued to stare at her for a few minutes but she seemed adamant to keep her face unreadable. Shinji decided it would be safer not to say anything so they continued to school in silence.
(August 20, 2015, Tokyo-3 Municipal High School: 7:51 a.m.)
Asuka and Shinji managed to get past the gate into the school grounds with out too much attention. Shinji hunched over a bit to block people from getting a good view at the baby in his arms.
"Asuka!"
Shinji and Asuka turned towards to the direction of the voice and saw a brown haired girl waving and making her way towards them. Unfortunately, the blanket wrapping Kiku decided at that time to slip off, revealing her head. Hikari stopped dead in her tracks when she saw what was in Shinji's arms.
"Wait, Hikari, I can explai-." Asuka began before she was cut off.
"How could you two!!!!?!" Hikari screamed, "This is so wrong!!!!"
At this point a small crowd had gathered around the screaming girl. They looked curiously over at the two Eva pilots in the middle of their circle. Shinji slowly turned red from the attention and Asuka was growing uneasy.
"What's she yelling about?" asked a clueless classmate named Yoshi.
Asuka opened her mouth and started to say something but the school bell drowned her words out. Hikari calmed down enough to start sprinting to class.
"Hurry up baka," Asuka said, grabbing Shinji by the hand and dragging him off to class, "we got to get to class before Hikari starts telling everyone that we have a kid."
As the school bell signaling for class to begin rang, Shinji was dragged through the door of his classroom. The class stared at them until Asuka shoved Shinji towards the teacher's desk. Wordlessly, he scurried over to the principal with Misato's note as Asuka began talking to the class.
"Ok, so here's the deal-" She began before being cut off.
"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU AND SHINJI HAVE A BABY!!!" Hikari screamed from her seat in the front.
Several jaws dropped and the teacher raised his eyebrows. Shinji froze then slowly looked towards where his friends sat in the back. He saw that Toji and Kensuke wore expressions of utter shock. Toji managed to snap out of his stupor first.
"What!?!? That can't be true, can it? Shinji, how could you!!?!" He yelled across the room.
"It's not true!" Asuka shouted.
"Then what's Shinji carrying in his arm?!?!" Hikari argued.
Asuka glared daggers into her best friend. Shinji just turned around and tried to hide both Kiku and his blush. Unfortunately, Kiku chose this moment to start crying. As the wail erupted from the blankets in Shinji's arms, Kensuke fainted and slumped out of his chair. Toji's eyes grew to enormous proportions. Hikari looked like she was about to start screaming again.
"IT'S NOT OUR BABY!!!!" Asuka screamed at the top of her lungs, "IT'S MISATO'S!!!!"
Toji's eyes grew even bigger and had Kensuke been conscience, he would have started crying. Hikari was dumbstruck. Silence fell over the entire class and Asuka realized that her words probably weren't clear enough. She opened her mouth to explain but was surprised when Shinji spoke up first.
"What she meant to say was that we're taking care of Misato's niece." Shinji said.
The tension in the room lifted and looks of relief replace the astonished expressions worn by the class. Hikari turned red from embarrassment. Asuka was looking at Shinji trying to decide whether to yell at him for cutting her off, or to thank him for saving them both.
"Thank you mister Ikari," The teacher said, "you and miss Sohryu can go to your seats now."
Hikari gave Asuka an apologetic look as she walked to her seat. Shinji just sighed and sat down in his desk with Kiku in his lap. He looked around the class until his eyes catch a hint of blue hair. Rei was sitting at her desk looking out the window as usual, seemingly undisturbed by the commotion. Glancing around the room once more, Shinji saw Asuka staring at him. Asuka stuck out her tongue and turn around to avoid his gaze. Soon, the class was back to normal.
The teacher's about to say something,' he thought to himself, 'if he says anything about second impact I can relax for the rest of the day, otherwise I have should pay attention and take notes.'
"Very interesting that Mr. Ikari happened to be in possession of a baby today. Before the second impact, I once had a job as a baby sitter. I remember that I once baby sat for a household in China…"
Shinji sighed and slumped up against the desk. Several students immediately busied themselves by opening up their laptops to use the Internet or chat with friends. Upon opening his school issued laptop to take notes, he was immediately besieged by a text message from Asuka.
PilotEva02: hey baka, your friends look like they ate Misato's cooking
Shinji turned around and looked behind him. He saw that Kensuke was still on the floor passed out. Next to him, Toji looked like something was bothering him. Shinji turned back to his laptop and replied to Asuka.
ShinjiIkari: yea they do look a little out of it. But imagine what went through Toji's head when you said it was Misato's baby.
Shinji heard a snicker come from the other side of the room.
PilotEva02: anyways, I'm going to take a nap so wake me when it's lunch.
As Asuka closed her laptop, she propped up a book in front of her to hide her face from the teacher and proceeded to fall asleep. Shinji was about to break out his SDAT player when he got a message from Toji.
TheBigSuzahara900: hey Shinji, sorry about the misunderstanding. I should've figured you and the red devil didn't do anything
ShinjiIkari: it's no problem. How's Kensuke doing?
TheBigSuzuhara900: he's coming around. So why are you taking care of the baby?
ShinjiIkari: Misato can't take bring it to Nerv so Asuka and me have to watch over it while she's at work.
TheBigSuzahara900: oh, so that's why. So, what's its name?
ShinjiIkari: Kiku.
TheBigSuzahara900: Kiku Katsuragi?
ShinjiIkari: yea.
TheBigSuzuhara900: I like that name.
Shinji paused for a second and wondered whether he should ask Toji why he looked so bothered. He decided it'd be better to let Toji bring it up.
TheBigSuzuhara: You know, Rei's looking at you.
Shinji turned and saw that the blue haired girl was indeed staring at him. Feeling slightly disturbed by this, Shinji looked back towards his laptop and talked to Toji for the remainder of class.
(August 20, 2015, Tokyo-3 Municipal High School: 11:59 a.m.)
Asuka counted the seconds until the lunch bell rang. She had woken up in time to find out that the teacher had spent the last four hours talking about his experiences in China. Sighing, Asuka glanced over at Shinji who was entertaining Kiku by waving a pencil in front of her face.
'That baka's been holding Kiku the whole day,' Asuka thought to herself, 'maybe I should take her off his hands for a little while.'
BRIING!!
The bell sounded and the classroom erupted with students getting up and heading towards the door. The teacher was still lecturing until he noticed half the classroom was empty. Making a note to continue his story about Peking Duck after lunch, he sat down at his desk and began to eat a sandwich.
Shinji was putting away his laptop when he saw Asuka coming to get her lunch from him. Surprisingly, she was smiling at him. She opened her mouth to say something but someone behind him began saying something.
"Ikari, what is that in your hands?" the person inquired in a monotonous but feminine voice.
Turning around, Shinji saw Rei looking at Kiku. Turning back, he saw Asuka still approaching him but with her smile replaced with a territorial glare.
"Keep your hands off her." Asuka growled at Rei.
Rei simply repeated her question to Shinji, ignoring the redhead's words. Shinji knew he was trapped. He couldn't be rude to Rei, but at the same time, he didn't want to piss off Asuka.
"Well, it's a baby," Shinji said avoiding eye contact with either female, "it's Misato's niece."
"I see." Rei replied apparently oblivious to Asuka's murderous glare, "May I hold it?"
Now Shinji was in deep trouble. A fly began buzzing around Shinji as if it were a buzzard circling a dying animal.
"Shinji! Don't you dare give her our baby!" Asuka screamed, progressively getting angrier.
"Huh?" asked a confused and increasingly alarmed Shinji, "Our baby? I thought it was Misato's. Anyways, Rei just wants to hold her. Right?"
"Correct." Rei answered, "Is there a problem pilot Sohryu?"
"Damn right there's a problem Wondergirl! No way in hell am I going to let touch Kiku!"
Rei decided not to answer and looked at Kiku. Rei's eyes became fixed upon the baby. For some reason she felt a certain bond between them. Not knowing why, she felt her hand being drawn towards the infant. She became oblivious to everything else. She didn't even see the hand that hit her.
SLAP!
"Ms. Sohryu!"
Shinji looked towards the location of the voice and saw that the teacher was still in the classroom and saw everything. Rei took her eyes off Kiku and stared at Asuka who glared back furiously. Shinji gasped when he saw tears beginning to form in her eyes. Without another word, Asuka headed for the exit.
"Ms. Sohryu, you have clean up duties for the next three weeks!" The teacher yelled as she left the room.
Shinji was at a complete loss for words. Slowly standing up, he looked at Rei with an apologetic look.
"Sorry about that." He mumbled, "You still want to hold Kiku?"
"It is okay Ikari." Rei replied in her same monotonous tone, "I understand pilot Sohryu does not want me to make contact with the child. I will attempt to get her permission before making further actions towards the child."
Shinji was still confused even as he watched Rei leave the classroom. Looking down, he was puzzled to see Kiku staring after her. He sighed and left towards the roof of the school where he could find his friends and spend a few minutes thinking about what just happened.
When he did get onto the rooftop he saw something that got him worried. Toji was swearing at thin air. Kensuke had apparently recovered and was trying to console Toji. Walking over to his friends, Shinji managed to catch snippets of Toji's ranting.
"…And he knows he's not welcomed! I swear if they make us share rooms, I'm going to crack him in the face…"
"What's going on?" a confused Shinji asked Kensuke.
"Toji's cousin is moving in with him." Kensuke replied.
"…If that little ingrate's expecting me to show him around town, he's got another thing coming!" Toji continued yelling at the air.
"So I take it that they don't get along?" Shinji asked.
"You weren't here two years ago," Kensuke replied with a frown, "all those two ever do is fight."
"Sounds bad."
"You don't know the half of it. Anyways, Toji told me about the baby. You got to be careful, you guys almost gave me a heart attack."
"Sorry."
Toji was letting out a string of curses in a manner very similar to the cursing method utilized Asuka, when the bell rang signaling the end of lunch. Dragging a grumpy Toji behind them, Kensuke and Shinji made their way back to class.
Upon entering the classroom, Shinji saw that Asuka had apparently calmed down and was talking to Hikari. At the back of the room, Rei looked like she had completely forgotten about the earlier confrontation.
'I wonder what got into Asuka,' Shinji thought, 'I know she doesn't like Rei but I've never seen her hit another girl before.'
He sat down at his desk and looked at the baby in his arms. As the teacher resumed his story about Chinese street vendors, Shinji sighed and thought about what his next move should be.
(August 20, 2015, Tokyo-3 Municipal High School: 3:00 p.m.)
The bell rang, signaling the end of class. Asuka was furiously underneath her placid expression. While her classmates rose from their seats and began filing out of the classroom, she contemplated why she was so enraged.
'What the hell is wrong with me?' She thought to herself angrily, 'Why am I so worked up that Wondergirl tried to touch my baby… wait a minute… my baby? It's supposed to be Misato's baby… Wait, it's not even her baby….'
Asuka's thoughts were interrupted when Hikari shoved a broom in her face. Looking up, she could she her friend didn't really want to make her clean up the classroom. In fact, if she didn't know any better, she would think that her friend was giving someone the death penalty. However, as class representative, it was Hikari's obligation to enforce the teacher's punishments.
"I'm really sorry about this Asuka." Hikari said timidly, her eyes pleading for forgiveness.
"It's alright, I screwed up." Asuka said shortly.
Hikari gave her one last apologetic look before leaving the classroom to head home. Asuka sighed and began sweeping the floor around her desk. Not bothering to raise her eyes from the floor, she continued sweeping around random areas of the classroom for nearly an hour. She wasn't paying much attention to her task anyways. Abruptly shaking herself from her thoughts, she looked around and saw that the sun was at an angle that cast golden shafts of light throughout the classroom.
Asuka jolted in surprise when she heard something behind her. Swiftly turning around and raising her broom to be used as a weapon, she saw Shinji staring at her from across the room with Kiku in his arms. For a second they just stood there.
"What do you want?" Asuka asked with a hint of venom in her voice.
"Nothing," Shinji replied with a hint of uncertainty, "just figured that you might want to walk home together."
Asuka looked like she was going to lecture him about not needing his pity but stopped. Shinji felt extremely nervous when Asuka began laughing.
"What makes you think I would want to walk home with you?!"
'I knew it,' Shinji thought to himself, 'it'd probably make her happier if I just left.'
Shinji looked at the ground and turned around to leave. He made it to the door before looking back at Asuka and giving a fake.
"It's okay if you don't want to, I understand."
'Crap,' Asuka thought, 'why do I always have to do that to him.'
Asuka was about to call him back inside the classroom when Kiku started crying. Shinji stopped dead in his tracks. He gave Kiku a strange look took a few more steps out the door. Kiku's wailing increased in volume and intensity. Asuka stood still and looked at the door. As Shinji walked back into the classroom, Kiku's eyes fell on Asuka and her crying stopped almost instantly.
'I wonder…' Asuka thought for a moment before walking over to Shinji's position by the door.
Wordlessly, Asuka stepped outside the classroom and walked halfway down the hall. A cry could be heard from inside the classroom. Asuka turned around and stepped back into the classroom. Kiku's crying stopped as Asuka entered her vision. Shinji was beginning to piece together the puzzle before him.
"I guess she likes you." He said blatantly.
"Maybe…" Asuka said using every ounce of will to restrain the joy she felt from entering her voice, "Shinji, let's go home."
As Asuka walked across the room to get her book bag, Shinji couldn't help but notice that the shafts of light from the window made Asuka look more attractive than usual.
(August 21, 2015, Misato Residence: 12:39 a.m.)
Asuka stared at the baby sleeping next to her. She didn't want to admit it but it felt nice having someone to sleep next to. She was glad that she offered to let Kiku sleep in her room for the night. Misato was working all night and Shinji wouldn't feel comfortable sleeping next to a baby. Asuka sighed and remember the events that took place during the day. She had gone grocery shopping with Shinji, slapped Rei in the face, and volunteered to make dinner after she left the school with Shinji.
'What are you doing to me?' Asuka wondered as she continued to stare at Kiku.
'The question is,' said a voice inside her head, 'what are you doing to yourself?'
'What do you mean? I was perfectly fine until Kiku showed up.'
'Yes, but Kiku is merely a baby. She cannot do anything to harm you or make you act different. Those are things only you can do to yourself.'
'I can't do this…' Asuka thought to herself as images of a doll ran across her mind, 'I'll only end up hurting her and hurting myself.'
'Why is that?'
'It happened to me, it'll happen to her. I can't let it happen again.' Asuka thought as she recalled the day she had been chosen to pilot Eva.
'Like I said, that is something only you can do. You will only hurt her if you wish to hurt her.'
'How will I know if I hurt her?' Asuka asked as visions of her mother ran through her mind.
'You will know if you hurt her, because you yourself have been hurt. Your past will be the key to your role in her future.'
'I understand.' Asuka thought slowly as a final image of her mother hanging from the hospital roof haunted her mind.
'So you will do it?'
'Yes… for both our sakes.' Asuka thought as slowly the visions faded and all she could see was a tiny face basked in sleep.
Asuka stared solemnly at the baby by her side. She knew that it would be up to her to protect the baby. She couldn't let the same tragedy befall Kiku. At that point Asuka made a vow. She would never let anyone harm Kiku. She would give her the type of childhood that she never had.
(August 21, 2015, Tokyo-1 Docks: 1:45 a.m.)
Tanako had a thoughtful, albeit insane, smile on his face as his two cronies rolled a crate up a ramp and unto a large ship. Hitaku pushed the crate across the deck and onto the side of the ship facing away from the dock. Looking over the railing, he could barely make out the shore on the other side of the bay. A full moon illuminated the fog that was slowly descending over the surface of the water, masking the gentle waves. Had they come for a less sinister purpose, Hitaku would find the view to be quite nice.
"Open it up." Tanako demanded as he motioned towards the crate.
Hitaku stepped back as Kiyashi materialized a crowbar and began opening up the side of the crate.
"Are you sure this is necessary?" Hitaku asked Tanako.
Kiyashi gasped and jumped back when the side of the crate fell open and a medium sized mass rolled out. The moonlight revealed it to be a man covered in bruises and bound by rope. Blood was oozing from his various cuts.
"We got all we could out of him." Tanako said while shrugging, "He's nothing but a loose end now. That is unless he tells us what we want to hear."
A bone could be heard cracking as Tanako caught the man in the ribs with a kick. Tanako reached into his pockets and pulled out the wallet he had taken from the man earlier. Flipping through the contents, he began making idly conversation with the brutalized man.
"Well, seeing as how we kept you alive all this time, you can at least show some gratitude by telling me what I want to know Mr…" Tanako trailed off as he found the poor man's driver's license and read the name, "Tom Gruden. Perhaps you'd be more eager to talk if we paid a visit to your family."
Tom said nothing as Tanako took a photo from his wallet. Kneeling down to face his hostage, the crazed man help up a picture of middle-aged woman holding a child. Looking from the picture to his captive, Tanako flashed a cruel smile.
"What about it Tom? You can see these people again if you tell me why you were at the park."
Tom cried silent tears but said nothing. Section 2 Agents were trained never to reveal anything. In fact, it was by chance that he happened to have his wallet on him. He silently cursed himself for his stupidity. Tanako, however, was not amused by the agent's silence. His smile faded and was replaced by an ugly frown.
"I see how it is." Tanako said as he turned to Hitaku, "Take care of him, I'll go burn his ID."
With that, Kiyashi reached into the opened crate and produced an enormous cinderblock. Hitaku went to work tying a rope around the cinderblock and then proceeded to tie the other end around Tom's ankles. Picking up the cinderblock, Hitaku carried it over to the edge of the ship, dragging Tom with it.
"One more chance to give us what we want." Kiyashi offered with a looked of pity on his face.
The question was returned with a blank stare. Kiyashi shrugged and left, leaving Hitaku to finish the job. Giving the man a silent apology, he threw the cinderblock overboard. The rope became taught and yanked Tom off the ship and into the water.
A murky green surrounded his vision and a heavy feeling began to make its presence known within his lungs. Beginning to panic, he thrashed around, trying to scream but only producing an orchestra of bubbles. As his vision faded, a single image burned into his mind. The man died looking into the eyes of his wife.
Omake:
"AAAIIEE!!"
"Damn it Shinji!" Asuka screamed across the class at Shinji, "Don't make Kiku cry during class!"
"How the hell am I supposed to do that?!" He yelled back, "At least I didn't poke it in the eyes like you did!"
"You asshole!" Asuka screamed, "I didn't poke it in the eye!"
"Both of you shut up!" Screamed Hikari as she stood up in her desk, "You sound like third graders!"
"Yea! Listen to Hikari!" Toji interjected.
"Shut up stooge!" Asuka yelled at him, "You can go suck up to her later!"
"That was unnecessary!" Shinji yelled trying to defend his friend.
"Don't talk to Asuka like that!" Hikari raged.
As the four students continued to yell at each other, a student in the back of the room sighed. Rei stood up her desk and proceed to make her way to Shinji's desk. Taking the baby from Shinji's hands, she left the classroom and sat down on the floor, cradling Kiku in her lap. Apparently oblivious to the fact that a blue haired girl took a baby from the hands of a fourteen year old and left the class, the students inside continued to fire insults and threats at each other.
"Lilim…" Rei sighed as she looked thoughtfully at Kiku, "Such interesting creatures don't you think?"
Author's Notes: This chapter took a bit longer to write than I would've liked. I don't really like it too much but the next chapter's shaping up nicely. I'm a bit confused as to what's going on with the site. I'm pretty sure I didn't do anything to violate the Terms of Service but for some reason, I can't seem to access my own story. Apparently it doesn't exist. Anyway, thanks for the reviews, they're very valuable to me.
P.S. Be sure to check out neutralizer's fic Happier Days. Not only is it a great fic, there's a pleasant surprise in chapter 12.