AN: Damn, do I owe you guys an apology. This update literally took forever... I'm truly sorry but I have been busy as hell, I've decided to join the Marines, and as such training for boot camp has taken up a lot of my time. Well anyway I hope you all enjoy this next installment of Evangelion: A Beautiful Lie.
The rest of the week had passed in the blink of an eye now that the work was done with and all that was left was free time. The final day of the school trip had approached, and many of the students, having had their fill of fun were satisfied and ready to relax at the festival and head home the next morning. Those particular students had frolicked around the city during their free time, enjoyed the wonderful sights of Kyoto, and even emptied their bank accounts to afford outrageously priced and useless souvenirs. Other students however, were more concerned with the festival itself, or rather, only one individual was truly worried about the festival, as it was to be his first date with his new girlfriend.
"What if I screw up! She'll think I'm an idiot and never speak to me again!" The frustrated cry came from none other than Toji Suzuhara, the jock of the group Asuka had jokingly named "The Three Stooges". Said boy was pacing back and forth in the lobby of the hot spring resort while a pair of deep blue eyes watched in exasperation.
Shinji Ikari frowned and stared with disdain and boredom as he was forced to watch his friend over-think the situation and go wild with scenarios of how he would ruin the entire day just by making one stupid move. "If you keep going on like this then Asuka really must be right, you are an idiot!" Before Touji even had time to react to his insult, Shinji continued. "Look, if Hikari gave a damn about you screwing up, or ever doing something stupid, well then she wouldn't be agreeing to go out with you in the first place." He finished, a small smirk upon his lips before standing up and waving a hand dismissively. "Don't sweat the small things Toji, there's no real point in worrying about something that might not even happen, so go out and have a good time with the Class Rep tonight.
The black haired jock winced a bit at the harsh truth of his friends statement, however it did manage to bring his confidence back for the moment. With a small grin, Toji gave a sharp nod towards his calm and collected friend. "You're right... Thanks Shinji, I owe you one. I need to go get ready anyway so I'll catch up with you in a bit alright?" He gave a light hearted thumbs up before turning and dashing down the hallway, no doubt headed towards his own room.
"Well, seems you're quite the 'go to guy' now aren't you baka-Shinji?" A pair of arms draped around Shinji's neck as he was suddenly pounced upon from behind, wisps of shining red locks brushed against his shoulders and cheeks. The the young man closed his eyes and peacefully basked in the scent of fresh strawberries as Asuka's hair seemed to drape around him. Her scent, just another way of knowing she was near, seemed to give him such a sense of peace that he could often lose himself in her essence. "When did you become the relationship expert?"
Her voice jarred him from the pleasant thoughts he had been entertained by just moments ago. With a small smirk, he hooked his arms underneath Asuka's legs, which had wrapped themselves around his waist from behind. "Probably when I managed to snag the red headed devil herself." He commented, beginning to walk down the hall as Asuka wriggled and kicked at his sides playfully.
"What are you doing! Put me down!" She cried out in a fit of giggles as her boyfriend proceeded to spin around and carry her through the halls with a wicked grin on his lips.
"Is that a hint of begging I hear, from the Great Asuka Langley Soryu?" Shinji asked bemusedly, cupping his hand against his ear as if listening to the wind. This action of course, resulted in a swift fist to the young mans head, courtesy of the beauty currently tossed over his shoulder. Not a moment later, said redhead was back on her own two feet, while her boyfriend rubbed his head with a grin. "You know, I bet this counts as boyfriend abuse."
"Hmph, serves you right for flinging me about like a rag doll." Asuka retorted with her arms crossed over her chest, though her upbeat voice obviously betrayed her words. A small smile replaced her frown soon after and she winked at the young man before her. "Anyway, I just wanted to see you before I went to get ready for the festival tonight." The words came out in a sultry whisper against Shinji's ear, as Asuka had closed the distance between them, wrapping her arms around his waist and brushing her lips against his in a chaste kiss.
Shinji barely had time to react before Asuka separated herself from him and bounded down the hallway towards the hot spring in a red blur. "Damn girl, she's gonna be the death of me..." He murmured under his breath as he stuffed his hands in his pockets. "I wonder what I should have for lunch?" He asked himself as he turned into the door that led to the dining hall, opening it and closing it swiftly behind him, blissfully unaware of the crumpled and misshapen door handle he had just destroyed.
Asuka hummed softly to herself as she stripped off her clothes in the hot springs changing rooms, a plain white towel clutched to her chest as she walked into the steamy hot springs. A pleasant sigh escaped her as she delved into the warm water that splashed up against her pale, creamy skin. "Ah there's nothing like a hot spring." She mused happily, sinking down further into the water, her hair beginning to float out every which way on the surface of the steaming liquid.
A soft splash resounded soon after, and the redhead merely opened her eyes to find the one and only person who could ruin her good mood at the moment. "Mana..." She growled out under her breath.
"You ruined everything..." The mahogany haired girl snapped in an irritant tone, fury in her eyes. "Shinji-kun was supposed to be mine, they told me so! Why are you here screwing everything up!"
The redheads brows furrowed in confusion at the young woman's words. "They who the hell are you talking abou- you know what it doesn't matter!" She shouted, standing up in the waist deep water, not bothering to cover herself up with the towel she had handy, instead merely looming over Mana with a sharp look in her eyes. "You've got no right intruding in mine and Shinji's lives! He wants me and not you so get used to it you two faced bitch!" Turning on her heels and wading through the water towards the exit.
Mana's scowl slowly began to change, forming a small smile, which soon was followed by a sadistic grin and a maniacal look in her eyes as she advanced upon her redheaded rival. "Shinji-kun is only blinded by your trashy clothing and your shamelessness you hussy... but I'll fix that."
Puzzled at her final words, Asuka turned around, her tongue just ready to lash out insult upon insult at the young woman... only to be struck in the side of her head by a large rock that Mana had managed to swing in what could only be a valiant show of strength. Instantly, the red headed beauty dropped back into the water, her eyes wide with surprise as she slid deeper and deeper down under the surface. Blood began to pour from her newly recieved wound, clouding the water and blocking Asuka's vision.
Without a moments waste, Mana lunged upon Asuka once more, her frail hands wrapping themselves around the young woman's throat while she pinned her body down to prevent her from emerging. "If you're not around... then Shinji-kun will be mine!" She shrieked with a wicked tone, her eyes gleaming with joy... joy of removing the only obstacle in her path.
Asuka screamed, or at least tried to, as she stared into the wicked brown eyes of her assaulter, the crushing weight upon her neck being too much to bare. Cringing as the air was forced out of her lungs, she watched as the bubbles escaped her, and rose to the surface gone from her forever. 'This girl... she's really gonna kill me... I'm gonna die... I'm gonna die... I DON'T WANT TO DIE!' She screamed in her mind, just before everything went black under the crushing weight of the water.
The young woman awoke with a start, jolting upwards into a sitting position in the water. Her lungs felt heavy, and she panted uncontrollably as her eyes darted from side to side, searching for her attacker amidst the steam. It was several silent, eye darting moments, before Asuka's senses returned to her, and she calmed down slightly falling into a relaxed stance with a breath of relief. "A nightmare, but it felt so real... I must have fallen asleep in the spring." She muttered under her breath, quickly exiting the pool of hot water and practically running across the stone floor to the changing rooms. However not before casting one last glance towards the springs. "I could have drowned... oh well, time to get ready."
Up upon the bamboo wall that ran across the perimeter of the spring, their lay several sharp and broken bamboo rods. And upon one of those rods was a small mark of a red tint, a blood stain... which had not been there before, along with several stray strands of mahogany colored hair.
Shinji ducked quickly, narrowly avoiding the large and knuckled fist of Tai Zamanza, the result being that the larger boys fist continued to soar, before connecting with a locker and instantly collapsing the thin sheet of metal. "Damn you hold still!"
The brown haired boy however, would do no such thing as without hesitation he delivered a harsh blow to the stomach of two other attackers. Without fail, the two teens went down to the ground, heaving their stomach contents from the pain onto the locker room floor.
The remaining eighteen young men crowded around the room watched with wide eyes as their friends fell, and cursed their plan to jump Shinji in the locker room. With so many of them, movement was limited but of course Shinji had free reign, and it didn't take long for three more to fall to the ground. "That all you idiots got!"
"I've had enough of this!" A burly voice yelled, causing Shinji to turn around... only to be met with a sharp pain in his side.
The room fell quiet then, as the remaining boys standing watched in awe and some with horror as the young man they had planned to merely rough up a little, staggered and fell back against a locker with a seven inch blade sticking out of his left side. Slowly, he slid down to the ground, blood flowing out of the corner of his mouth. "I... shit..." He coughed, hacking up blood before his head dropped and his body became limp.
A long paused followed, and no one dared to move until finally someone called out. "Tai what the hell was that for! You fucking killed him you idiot, that wasn't the plan!" Shouts of anger and agreement followed, and the locker room soon became noisier than ever as Zamanza stared down at his shaking hands.
"I don't... I didn't mean to!" He cried out, a horrified expression taking over his face. "He just... He wouldn't stop... I HAD TO! IF I DIDN"T HE WOULD'VE-" No one knows what the next words that Tai Zamanza would have spoken, as his sentenced was interrupted... by the hand that had pierced through his back, and out his chest. Another series of gasps spread through the room, as the bullies body was thrown clear across the room and struck a wall with a sickening series of cracks.
All eyes followed the corpse as it flew through the air, before returning back to where Tai once stood. Though now, all that stood was a bloodstained young man, gone were the dull blue eyes of Shinji Ikari... replaced by the bright glowing blood red eyes of a monster. "This..." Shinji spoke out, with a darker, and simply demonic, evil tone "Is gonna be fun." Before he charged.
"I've seen enough." Gendo Ikari commanded for the video feed to be stopped, and instantly the enormous screen that took up almost the entire wall of the observatory room went black, before the lights returned revealing that several oddly shaped rectangular screens occupied the remaining chairs of the meeting table. Upon each of these screens, was someone in a military uniform or a business suit.
"He's unstable..." The comment came from the black screen with Member 03 in glowing red letters across it. A gleam flew across Gendo's orange sunglasses at that, and the ever present scowl on his face seemed to tighten even more.
"If this continues, we will have to abandon the project, we can't afford any uncontrolled variables in this experiment." These words came from the only other person actually in the room, other than Gendo himself, and all gazes turned towards him. "I won't have her exposed to such danger, and power... especially when he's not in control. Do you understand..." His voice trailed off, before he turned around and began walking out of the dark room, the mechanical swish of the doors opening and closing again being the only indication that he had left.
Not soon after, the screens went blank and Gendo found himself alone. He spoke to no one in particular... simply to the wind. "Of course I know what this means Aldus... but I wonder... is he the only one unstable? Commander Soryu?"
On Gendo's PDA the flashing image continued to appear on the screen, and he was simply glad that no one was around to find out the message.
Scenario Two Abandoned Subject Perished
A soft, joyous, and melodic tune filled the air of the medium sized bedroom that belonged to Asuka and Hikari. Said girls were sitting in front of the two vanity sized mirrors that were placed in every room, putting the finishing touches on their appearance, which each one was truly proud of the outcome.
Hikari's trademark pigtails had been forgone for the night, and her curly brown locks fell down to her shoulders. A sky blue kimono, with splashes of white and sea green dawned the young woman's body bringing out the shy beauty that lurked beneath the surface of the uptight class-rep. "You think Suzuhara-san will like it?" She questioned with a soft blush, motioning to her attire.
Asuka's humming ceased, and she turned to her friend with a playful wink. "Of course he will, that boy drools over you, and with all the effort we put in... well I think you may just get pretty far with him tonight." She chuckled as Hikari turned scarlet, then turned back towards the mirror, admiring her look.
The vibrant, fire red hair normally held up by her trademark hair clips, had been straightened out, framing her face beautifully and reaching well down to the small of her back. The silk red cherry blossom tree kimono that Shinji had purchased for her several days before complimented her rather nicely. Her large breasts showing off prominently in the hem of the kimono, although not so much that anyone would be getting a peak... well anyone other than Shinji that is. The young woman's creamy, smooth legs showed between the slit of the elegant robe with each step she took. Last but not least, a single bright blue butterfly clip was placed in the corner of her hair to prevent her bangs from falling in front of her eyes.
"Now come on, we best not keep the boys waiting any longer." Asuka mused, glancing up at the clock on the wall and finding it to be just past eight, she snickered a bit as all the other couples and anyone else who had decided to join the festival had left around seven. "Those two are probably the only ones down in the entry hall still waiting."
The brown haired girl gave her best friend a skeptical look at that comment. "Why did we make them wait an extra hour anyway Asuka?" She questioned with a small quirk in her lips.
The answer was simple. "Because we can."
It was still another fifteen minutes before the girls rounded the corner of the hallway and appeared in the entry hall of the inn. At that instant, Shinji and Toji both stood up from their place at the small table in the hall, their card game which laid spread out on the table long forgotten. Looks of bewilderment and amusement were shared upon seeing the fruits of their respective dates effort in their looks.
"Shinji..." Asuka spoke softly with her head tilted to the side, as if just noticing something. "Did you cut your hair?" With a small smile, she lifted her hand up to his dark brown locks, running her fingers through them as if to examine the change herself. The once untamed and long flowing hair had been clipped, down to the point where his bangs no longer fell past his eyes, and the ponytail had been abandoned as well, replaced by a clean cut style which she had to admire despite the fact that he no longer looked like her old crush... although perhaps that was a good thing.
A grin worked its way onto the young mans lips, and he nodded with a small shrug. "I figured it was time for a change... besides I like the idea of a look all my own. This is way easier to work with anyway..." He smirked then and threw a glance at her, taking his time to take in her beauty. "Looks like I'm not the only one who decided to clean up... you look gorgeous." He whispered under his breath before brushing his lips against hers.
Asuka moved to follow into him, only for the two to break away when Toji called out to them from the doorway. "Hey you two! We're gonna go on ahead and do our own thing. We'll meet up with you later alright!"
The two nodded in return, while Shinji cupped his hands in front of his mouth, shouting out to the couple now descending down the steps. "Don't do anything we haven't done yet!" He cried out with a mirthful smirk, only to be promptly hit over the head by a rather sharp blow.
Beside him, Asuka blushed furiously and her eye twitched in anger. "Baka! Don't say such embarrassing things!" She growled out, turning her head in a pout as she walked out of the Inn, with Shinji following behind her and rubbing his head.
"Tch... Feeling the love already Red."
The festival itself had run late into the night, and all the students had returned to the inn for their final night to get some well deserved rest and to finish packing for their departure in the morning. The fireworks ceremony had held up most of the couples, as the romantic atmosphere had been ideal for any "activities" that the couples wished to carry out, as everyones focus was on the sky during such a time.
And so all was still in the old inn, all was peaceful... except for the two sitting at the table in the meeting hall, worrisome expressions on their faces. "What do we tell the other students?" Mitsumoto asked to no one in particular, rubbing his temples with an exasperated sigh.
Shizune scowled at the question and nearly raised her voice before remembering that the students were sleeping and she could not afford to make a ruckus... nor did she want to meet any of their eyes at the moment. "How do you tell them that one of their own has killed themselves... I mean suicide? Mana hardly seemed the type for it... I know she was upset over that Ikari boy..." She spoke Shinji's last name as if it were acid on her tongue, before shaking her head quickly and regaining her composure. "But I doubt that such a little thing as that could drive her to kill herself."
The middle aged sensei across from Shizune sighed once more, polishing his glasses before placing the frames back on the bridge of his nose. "I've informed the emergency contact we were given... how did she do it?" The words came out just above a whisper, he meant no offense, he was simply curious... it had been Shizune who had wound up finding the body as soon as she had begun her routine rounds around the grounds and the police had quickly defined it a routine suicide, cleared the area and taken the body to the morgue for transportation back to Tokyo 3. A customary procedure especially on the night of the festival, she had to ensure that the students weren't engaging in any inappropriate activities upon the grounds.
A long silence followed before the woman answered, biting her lip every few seconds as she did so. "I found her on the outskirts of the grounds, in the bamboo forest... she impaled herself upon a broken bamboo tree... there was so much blood. She looked so peaceful... like she'd been tormented and her death released the pain." Finally the tears fell from the teachers eyes, and she whimpered softly as Mitsumoto moved to rub her back, in an attempt to soothe her, and shelter her from the horror she had witnessed.
Out in the hallway, two figures stood deathly still, low chuckles escaping their lips as they overheard the conversation the two adults were having. Their faces shrouded by the shadowed blinds, they began to walk slowly down the hall, their footsteps oddly silent on the oak floors.
It wasn't until they stepped outside through the back entrance of the inn that one of the figures burst into laughter before quickly regaining it's silent composure. "Hahaha, suicide! Really of all things, thats what they deduced from the situation... fools." The figure spoke in a lower tone, obviously male.
The other spoke then, a lighter more feminine tone ringing through the night at her voice. "Well... her fingerprints were the only ones on the bamboo tree she was impaled with, so it's natural that would be their conclusion. Either way it's another mess we no longer have to deal with." The shadowed woman shrugged then, and ran her fingers through her hair as if it were of no consequence at all.
The male nodded at her words, glancing up at the moon with a seemingly blank stature. "Yes, just another obstacle removed... I suppose though that is enough for tonight, don't you gather?" He questioned with the slightest inclination of his head.
The female grinned then, turning on her heels and swishing her hips as she reopened the door in which they had come out of. "Yes, you're quite right..." She whispered sultrily, and looked back at her companion with glowing yellow eyes. "Now... come to bed... Adam."
The figure turned around just then, advancing upon her with a lustful grin, bright red eyes shining in the moonlight. "I come... my dear."
HA! I finally finished this stupid chapter... granted it was all pretty much written in the last twelve hours but I have it done! It may be a bit short but there isn't much more I can add without completely revealing the plot, and I'm not ready for that. Now as always my dear readers READ, REVIEW, AND BE MERRY!