A/N: Here is the fair. Expect all sorts of crazy things to happen. Some things may not make sense. That is okay. Now on with the story!
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Everyone expected to have a great time at the fair. Zack, Ivana and Rei went off towards the events the fair had going on. Toji, Shinji, Asuka, and Hikari went off towards the games that were going on. Misato, who had run into Kaji, went off towards the beer tent.
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"Hey that looks like a neat event." Zack was pointing at something that looked like a gunfight challenge.
It was called "Starlight Shootout". Ivana seemed interested in this game. Zack was interested in this game too. Rei just kept her usual blank stare.
"So Ivana. Are you game?" Zack asked.
"I love a good gunfight. I will play this game," replied Ivana.
After reading the rules they then realized it was 3-on-3. They would need a third person. And the only person around they could trust was Rei. Ivana decided to ask if she wanted to join.
"So Rei. Do you want to be out third person?"
Rei gave a monotone response. "Understood. I will be your third person. It is likely that our opponents will be very efficient. And I doubt Pilots Ikari or Sohryu would be very good with a weapon."
"Then it's settled!" said a very excited Zack. "Let's see how well these goofs stand up to NERV, the KGB, and the RCMP!"
The host of the event was pleased that he would get three more challengers to take on his team of skilled shooters. He handed them each a strange looking vest with sensors on it and a strange device that looked like a simple handgun.
It seemed simple. Aim for the sensors on your opponents' vest. If you get hit, you are out of the game. Seemed simple enough for the First, Fifth, and Sixth Children.
Before they started, if they were to encounter each other, they'd have to recite the password. (I'm not telling because you will tell their opponents!) Once all three understood the password, they entered the maze.
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Starlight Shootout Maze (Stealth is key)
Rei took her time. It was obvious the others were making footsteps, therefore disrupting her sense of who was where. She took cautious looks at her surroundings, checking for anything that did not look right, or any place that could be used as an ambush. She came to a fork in the maze. Right or left? She took one look behind her, and then proceeded onto the left path.
She heard footsteps again. They seemed to echo off all the surrounding walls. She kept her laser gun ready to zap anyone who dared to cross her path. She was not trained for gunfights like Pilots Harper and Kharlamov. She would have to keep an extra guard up.
At the end of a corridor, Rei sighted what appeared to be a mirror. There were fragments of it on the floor. This gave her an idea. She picked up a fragment of the mirror and rounded the corner. This place, she decided would be her ambush spot.
Suddenly, as she peeked out to see who it was, a laser blast singed right by her head. It was one of her opponents!
"Haha! You're cornered little girl!" came the cocky statement. "I got you now!"
Rei knew that now was the time to put her plan into action. She took the fragment of the mirror she had. She placed it out into the corridor on a 45-degree angle with her other hand. She then used the laser gun to shoot into the mirror.
Everything went to plan. The laser bounced off the mirror, went down the corridor, and impacted her opponent's sensor vest.
"Aww shit! Looks like you got me! But ya gotta get the others too to win!"
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Zack wondered what exactly he was up against. One would be surprised what could go through an agent's mind when he was on a mission. Sometimes, when he would get the chance, he would let his mind drift elsewhere, as a temporary escape from the fact that you would be shedding blood today. But he remembered this was a laser tag game. The only thing on the line was your pride, not your life. But still, who was he up against? And what was the prize? Was one of his opponents a pretty girl? And where the hell was he?
He had been pursuing and shooting at his assailant for some time now. His opponent was also firing a vicious volley of laser fire. He ducked behind a wall and used it to fortify himself as he shot back. Suddenly, no shots were being fired back. He looked up. The attacker was gone. So he moved silently down another corridor.
Zack came upon some stairs. To climb or not to climb? He figured he would get nowhere if he didn't keep advancing. He climbed the stairs; all the while remaining conscious of the fact his opponent was preparing an ambush. But where? Suddenly he heard some more footsteps! He rounded a corner and saw the source of the recent set of footsteps. It was a girl with familiarly pale skin and blue hair. Rei!
After making sure he knew the password, Rei told Zack that she was able to beat her opponent. Zack told Rei that he was still chasing his opponent and he had probably set up an ambush somewhere. So now the pair had to be cautious of their surroundings. It would be easier though. Zack would watch whatever was in front of them, and Rei would watch whatever was behind them. More footsteps could be heard. Above?
Rei was also conscious of the attacker's movements. It was obviously very sloppy if he was so easily detected. While they looked up, they saw an open hole in the wall where an enemy could stick out their weapon and fire! This gave Zack an idea.
The attacker knew he was above two of the contestants. He saw the window where he could ambush them both and have only the black-haired girl left over. He slowly inched over to the wall preparing to strike. He was a good two-and-a-half metres off the ground. He was within almost two metres of the window.
Suddenly a figure came up on the other side of the wall with a laser gun pointed through the hole. The figure shot at his sensor vest. The vest made some blips and beeps and shut down. He was out of the game! How did they do that?
Zack gave the answer he was looking for. "Simple. We knew you were above us. Then that hole in the wall we sawtwo-and-a-half metresup confirmed it. We then hatched a plan to ambush you since you would not be expecting it. I just simply cupped my hands and propelled Rei into the air and she shot you."
"Why can't my buds think of a tactic like that?"
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Ivana moved slowly through the maze. She heard some commotion here and there. Through the sounds she heard, she found out that Rei and Zack had beaten their opponents, but she was still not able to find hers.
She found covert operations quite exciting. She had done covert operations in Russia, when they were still fighting with Chechnya. She was the top child agent in all of Russia. And she was doing her homeland proud by fighting off attacker again and again. And she would win this game as well.
She had not detected any movement from her opponent for quite a while. If he thought he could outlast her he was sadly mistaken. On one mission in Russia, she was able to hold her position for 18 hours and not make any noise. She crept quietly through the narrow corridor she was in. This time she heard a two pairs of footsteps. She knew Zack and Rei were not to far off.
But where was the attacker? He had made no movements for about five minutes now. And if he was moving, he was doing a relatively good job of staying silent. She continued to advance.
She heard a creak in the floor. Wherever he was, the creak came from ahead ofher, and she knew Zack and Rei were ahead of her. So, by natural instinct, shequickly but stealthlyadvanced. Now she was in a wide, open area. She saw a shot a fired at her. So she ducked behind a barricade and began shooting back. As she looked around, she saw Zack and Rei both shooting at something. The third opponent. He seemed pretty nervous. Well who wouldn't be if you had three people shooting at you?
The exchange of gunfire continued for about a minute when Ivana got a plan.
Their opponent was very nervous. Somehow, these kids had taken down his two allies. And now all three of them were shooting at him. After exchanging gunfire for a minute, it suddenly stopped! He looked out where they were shooting. They were gone. But where did they go? So he decided to move away from this area.
Suddenly, he heard footsteps on both sides as he ran down the corridor. Suddenly, he ran into Zack! He turned to look behind him. Behind him was Ivana! And from above in an ambush position was Rei! Three simultaneous shots at his vest shut it down, thus ending the game.
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Outside the Starlight Shootout Event
The host was surprised. "Wow! I never thought my three best shooters could be beaten so easily. You three win the grand prizes because you won 3-0!"
Zack, Rei, and Ivana each won a paintball gun, and each got 5 full clips of paintballs.
The three handed their prizes to the Section-2 agents who always watched their every move and told them to look after their prizes.
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Midway
Shinji, Asuka, Toji, and Hikari were having loads of fun at the midway. Asuka and Hikari wanted the boys to win big prizes for them.
"Well Shinji. You know what we gotta do."
Shinji could only sigh. "Yeah. Let's find games we can easily win."
Toji then sighted a fun looking game. For 300 yen, they could throw 3 balls and try to break 3 plates. "Hey Shinji, let's play that game!"
"Alright then."
The boys then paid their fees to play. Shinji's first ball hit the plate, but it didn't break. He quickly felt fairly embarrassed.
Asuka was furious. "Come on Shinji! Pretend that plate is your father or something!"
Shinji decided to try Asuka's way of thinking. He visualized that plate being his father. He thought of all the times his father used him only because he had a use for him. He thought of all the times Gendo neglected him. He thought of the time Gendo made Unit 01 trash Toji while he was trapped in Unit 03 when an Angel possessed it.
Suddenly, Asuka noticed Shinji wind up and throw the ball like it was shot out of a cannon! The ball managed to break two plates in one throw! He quickly took his third ball and smashed two more plates in one throw! Four plates with three balls!
The game host was even a little scared. "Wow! You really must hate your old man! Now I'd really hate being your father! Here's your prize!"
Shinji won a giant red bulldog, which he gave to Asuka. Then Toji took his turn. Something about "If Shinji can do it, I can do it better!"
3 balls came with only 3 misses. The rest of them just laughed at a very embarrassed Toji.
Hikari chuckled. "What good is power if you can't aim?"
"Whatever. I'll bet there's another game where I can win!"
The four paced along to another game. This one was called "Ring the Bell". This one cost 200 yen for one hammer shot. Asuka made Shinji go first. Shinji sheepishly gave it his best shot. His hammer only made the bell ringer go 2/5 of the way up. The others laughed at him again.
"Okay! It's my turn!" Toji stepped up to the hammer ringer. The Fourth Child brought the hammer back over his head, and brought in down with tremendous force. The bell ringer shot up and rang the bell. That won Toji a giant black cat, which he gave to Hikari. So after playing some more games and giving the prizes to the Section-2 agents to hold onto, they went to get something to eat.
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Beer Tent (Must be legal drinking age. Please show I.D. if you look under 25)
Misato and Kaji were drinking away their times in the beer tent. Misato always ready to drink until she threw up. While Kaji preferred one or two drinks. He always assumed he had a duty to make sure Misato got home safely because whenever they went drinking she ALWAYS got drunk.
"So how has my favourite woman been doing?" Kaji asked.
"Alright I guess. Now we have Ivana moved into our apartment. She shares the room with Rei."
Kaji grinned. "And Asuka?"
"You won't believe this. She's moved in with Shinji, and Zack has moved onto the couch," said Misato.
"So they really have gotten married. The rumours were true. So now it's Asuka Langley Ikari."
Misato got frustrated. "They're not married! In your dreams!"
Kaji could only smile at the disgruntled lady. "Well I guess my dream could one day become reality. I think they'd be great for each other. Then there will be little Shinjis or little Asukas running around one day."
"Oh get your mind out of the gutter! Oh waiter! Another beer please!"
Kaji sighed. 'Oh great. Hopefully she won't throw up too much tonight. I'll have to take her home again.'
Suddenly another guy came up to Misato. "Hey you were the woman who funneled all that beer at the Tokyo-3 ball!"
Misato shot this guy a big grin. "Yup. Misato Katsuragi. Champion Beer Funneler!"
The man shot just as big a grin back at her. "Would you care for a beer funnel battle against me?"
Misato got up out of chair. "You have no idea what you are up against!"
Kaji could only watch and sigh. "Here we go again!"
"CHUG! CHUG! CHUG! CHUG! CHUG! CHUG! CHUG! CHUG! CHUG! CHUG!"
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Some random picnic table (Very random!)
Zack, Ivana, and Rei sat down to some ice cream Zack had treated the girls to. Zack bought a waffle cone with a triple scoop of chocolate ice cream. Ivana had a waffle cone with a double scoop of butterscotch. And Rei had a waffle cone with a double scoop of vanilla ice cream. The trio was bragging somewhat about their victory.
"Man! The final tests in the RCMP training academy were easier than that! That was a joke!" Zack had said.
"Indeed. The agents at the KGB were a thousand times better than those fools were," said Ivana.
"The only real skill those men had was knowledge of the maze. Combat experience was very minimal," said Rei.
Zack had a big grin. "And to think, we got these awesome paintball guns! Now we can play paintball whenever we like! I would own you all hands down!"
"Zack. I would hit you ten times before you got me once," said Ivana. "I would prove so right now, but then risk ruining our kimonos."
"Yeah right. I'd make you beg for my mercy."
Rei interjected. "Excuse me Pilot Harper, but your ice cream is melting."
"Aww shit!"
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"You just had to take on two others eh?" Kaji was carrying Misato home. She won the first beer challenge rather easily. She was easily drunk by then. But then she just HAD to take on two others! And although she won both times, afterwards she threw up everywhere! And then the waiters asked them to leave.
"I… lllllovvvvvve… beeeeeeer," came Misato's slurred response. She had tried to walk home, but she was so drunk she couldn't keep her balance.
'What a woman,' Kaji thought. 'She skipped college for a week to sleep with me. She dumped me. We got back together. We go on-and-off. She kills me. And when I come back, she is happy to see me. I think things will stay the same though. But heck, that's why I love her.'
Misato's hands came around to his chin. "Yoooouuuu rreally need to s-s-shave tthhhaaaattt stuubbb…"
Misato had just passed out.
Kaji sighed once more and continued the walk back to her apartment. He planned to tuck her into bed, feed Pen-Pen, and go home.
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Somewhere on a hill overlooking the fair
Shinji and Asuka were sitting on a hill that overlooked the fair. Toji and Hikari had already gone their way to do who knows what, so that left Asuka and a very nervous Shinji. Asuka wanted a quiet place just so the two of them could talk. Shinji was very hesitant at first. But then Asuka assured him she wasn't teasing him, so he decided to follow her. He followed her until they sat down on top of a hill.
"It's a beautiful night isn't it?" asked Asuka.
"Yeah. It is. What brings you to have us come up here by ourselves?"
Asuka had a smile on her face. "Hey I think the two of us deserve some time together by ourselves."
She moved to snuggle closer to him. Shinji assumed Asuka was either cold or maybe she did like him. Shinji decided to focus the subject more on her, to see what her perspective was of this.
"One thing I've noticed Asuka is that you've changed a lot in the past week. Ever since we left the hospital."
"Yeah. Let's say I learned a lot in that hospital bed."
Shinji was curious. "What did you learn?"
Asuka bowed her head down. "Let's say I kinda took a look at myself. I found out the painful way what a bitch I was to everybody."
"You're not a bitch…"
"Yes I was! Don't you remember how I acted? I was so cruel to you! Cruel to everyone!" Tears began to form in the German's blue eyes. "I didn't realize everyone wanted to be nice to me! I just pushed them out of the way like they were nothing!"
She began to cry. She wrapped her arms around Shinji. Shinji could only think to hug her back as she cried into his shoulder.
"I'm sorry Shinji! I'm so sorry!" she said as she continued to sob. "I'm so sorry I was so cruel to you! I know you have every reason in the world and beyond to just tell me to fuck off! I've been such a fucking bitch!"
Shinji chose to be sympathetic. "Asuka. It's okay. I'm not angry with you."
"You're just saying that! You just want me to stop crying!"
"I'm not just saying that," replied Shinji. "Asuka. I forgive you. For all the things you've done, I forgive you. I can see past who you are pretending to be and see you for who you really are."
Shinji was even surprised at his use of words. Asuka stopped crying and looked into his eyes. Shinji continued. "You're just like me. We crave the love of those around us but are afraid to get close to anyone because we fear they may hurt us."
"How d-did you know?"
Shinji replied. "Your actions made it clear what you wanted. Your wanting to be close to be despite your resentment. Your wanting me to pay attention to you, and well, your subconscious actions."
Asuka gave a muffled laugh. "Yeah. You wanted me to snuggle with you like how I did with the plush doll."
"Simply put Asuka. As long as you don't go out of your way to hurt me, although the times you had was just part of your personality and your inner pain, I will never push you away."
Asuka eyes began to glow. "Thank you Shinji. I think I can say this without a doubt in my mind."
"Say what?"
Asuka looked directly into Shinji's eyes. "Shinji. I love you."
Shinji smiled directly back into her eyes. "I know Asuka. I do too."
They looked into each other's eyes. They moved closer. Asuka parted her lips and hoped he could read what she wanted him to do. Shinji obviously read the signal and closed the distance that had separated their lips.
It was a long kiss. Except that this time, Asuka wasn't plugging his nose, nor was just to pass time. This time they kissed for the right reasons. It was a rather long kiss too. Asuka wrapped her arms around his neck and Shinji wrapped his arms around her waist.
They kissed for about a minute before they broke off for oxygen. They looked into each other's eyes and kissed again. This kiss once again lasted a minute.
After sitting there for about ten minutes just enjoying each other's warmth, they got up and walked home, hand in hand.
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Misato's apartment
Finally, after ten minutes of walking, the newfound lovers made it home. They entered inside.
"Mein gott, I'm tired," said Asuka.
Shinji seemed preoccupied. "Hey Kaji left a note. I'll read it."
To Zack, Rei, Ivana, and the Ikaris,
Misato has passed out and she is in bed. You can be as loud as you like as I doubt anything will wake her up. Don't worry, I already took the initiative and fed Pen-Pen. I'll just say goodnight and good luck dealing with Her Highness' hangover tomorrow.
Kaji
The pair sighed. The Ikaris? Was that his idea of a joke? Regardless, they got ready for bed. Shinji decided to sleep in his boxer shorts. While Asuka chose just her bra and panties. They were about to got to sleep when Asuka spoke up.
"Hey Shinji."
"What is it Asuka?"
"Can I sleep with you tonight?"
"WHAT?"
"Not in that sense baka!" said Asuka. "I meant just sleeping together."
"If you are okay with it, then so am I," replied Shinji.
So Asuka left her futon and crawled into bed with Shinji. The two looked so peaceful together. Shinji quickly fell asleep.
Asuka quickly kissed once more. "Goodnight Shinji. I love you," she said before falling asleep half way on his chest.
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20 minutes later
"Well that was a great time we had at the fair," said Zack. Zack, Ivana and Rei
"It is late and we should retire for the night," said Rei. "I believe Pilots Ikari and Sohryu have already retired for the night as their shoes are here."
Ivana agreed. "Yes. Otherwise we will never be able to get up for tomorrow."
Rei and Ivana went to their room to go to sleep. This left just Zack.
"Well, I'll get my stuff and crash for the night," he said as he went to open the door to where Shinji and Asuka were sleeping. But then he didn't want to wake Asuka, as it would mean nothing but disaster.
"Guess I'll just sleep in my boxers on the couch."
A/N: And would you look at that! How cute eh? R&R readers. Until Chapter 13, be cool!