-1Lite Up 4:20 Edition
Chapter 2: Asukas Confessions
by: Midnight Lost
Authors Notes: I do apologize for the delay in this update, re-writing everything was a lot more challenging then I had originally thought it would have been, not to mention a few writers blocks along the way and several detours to make sure it looked good. Also I wanted to try and keep Asuka in her character a little as she explored her feelings towards Shinji, so without any further delay here is Chapter 2!
"Shinji," Asuka spoke softly, her eyes looking around as she searched her brain for the words to come next. "I.. I love you" she had finally said it, staring into the young boys eyes.
"Asuka?" Shinji asked in surprise. This was the last thing he had expected to hear coming from her of all people. More so he had expected Rei to say it if anyone else. Suddenly a pair of female arms wrapped around him, starting to pull him away from Asuka.
"Like Shinji would want a stuck up bitch like you" Akane spat at her. To Asukas horror Shinji laughed and began walking away with Akane. It seemed no matter how fast Asuka tried running after him, he slipped further and further away, forever staying out of her reach
"SHINJI! SHINJI! Don't leave me" she cried. Tears forming in her eyes."
"Shinji, Shinji" Asuka whispered, tears forming in her eyes as she began to wake up from the dream she had been having. Why, why was she having such a dream. She didn't care for that idiot. But, then why did this dream torment her, making her feel like she was loosing apart of herself. Wiping the tears from her eyes she silently cursed herself, she said she was never going to cry again, why did this dream make her cry? This only pushed her to hate the dream even more. The smell of breakfast wafted into her room, filling her senses made her quickly forget about her dream as she rushed to get dressed. This wasn't easily done, she rummaged through her entire closet trying to find something that would catch his eye. All the while cursing at herself out loud. Hearing this her other room mates just dismissed her curses as her typical morning routine. Nearly ten minutes later Asuka came out of her room, wearing her yellow sun dress, the very dress she first met Shinji in. Though Asuka was met with a great upset when she entered the kitchen. She had expected to see a frail boy standing over the stove cooking breakfast, instead she saw her guardian grabbing a plate of food out of the microwave. Misato looked up from the steaming plate of food to her female ward.
"And where are you going all dressed up?" she couldn't help but tease.
Asuka fumed with anger. 'Why the hell wasn't he the one cooking breakfast?' she thought angrily ignoring her guardians question as she stormed back into her room to change her cloths again, leaving Misato a little confused by the girls actions. She returned a few minutes later, dressed in her normal weekend cloths.
"So where did that idiot run off to?" the red head asked her guardian.
"I don't know, he made breakfast and left." Misato answered. She thought it unusual for Shinji to run out like that so early in the morning, but at the time had shrugged it off that he was going to meet up with one of his friends from school. For the most part she was right. Shinji had left the apartment to go to Akanes.
He had taken his time walking to her apartment, stopping and gazing at some of the small shop windows, but wasn't looking for anything in particular. It was nearly 10:00am by the time he reached her door. He knocked on the door and waited. He didn't have to wait long as Akane answered the door, though Shinji had not expected to see her in just a towel. Her body was still wet, making Shinji blush profusely. Akane reached out and pulled him inside her apartment, closing the door behind her.
"So um why did you want me to come over so early?" Shinji asked a little unsure.
Akane only smiled in answer as she wrapped her arms about his neck. Stepping up closer to him as she did so. Shinji had a good idea where she was going with this and was struggling with weather or not he was ready for what she had in mind, however his body answered that for him as it responded to her touch. Going off instinct as she pulled him over towards the couch.
"That idiot Shinji!" Asuka spat as she walked the streets of Tokyo 3. Seeing as her original plans had already been scratched she called up Hikari and had agreed to meet her friend at the tram, she half hoped she would run into the Third Child, more so to give him a good hit upside his head for ignoring her. After a half hour of walking she finally reached her destination, Hikari was already waiting for her.
"Good morning Asuka" Hikari greeted her friend with a smile, snapping the red head out of her train of thought. "Shinji's not with you?"
"No, that idiot took off early this morning to HER house." Asuka hissed, as she emphasized the word 'her'.
"He's still hanging out with Akane?"
"Actually, I think they may have started dating." Asuka replied, her voice mixed with anger and sadness. Hikari had noticed the change in her voice but said nothing of it, she had already suspected Asukas feelings for Shinji, but never did anything past mildly trying to get them together, though Asuka was too stubborn to admit her feelings to him, let alone herself.
"So, what are we going to do today?" Hikari asked, trying to shift the topic into another direction. Her plan worked, Asuka began to think of the immediate problem ahead of them.
"Well, lets start out at the mall, and then we can…." Asuka continued to plan out the pairs day. After nearly two hours of wandering around the mall, Asuka had her arms full of bags from various clothing stores. Hikari only had two bags. At this time the two decided to sit down in the food court to get some lunch, before heading back to the apartment. They both settled for noodles from one of the many vendors in the square.
"So, why do you think they started dating?" Hikari finally asked, breaking the awkward silence. She really didn't want to bring it up again, but she knew that it was on her friends mind as well. Asuka chewed slowly before swallowing what was in her mouth. Looking down at the table she took a deep breathe before answering .
"Well, it's obvious, that idiot took off early this morning just to go to her place." She answered, regaining her composure. Hikari sighed some, she had chanced to hope that she would have caught Asuka off guard. With that failed she opted for the more direct approach.
"Asuka, your jealous aren't you." Hikari began, a plan slowly beginning to form in her head. It was no secret she didn't like Akane much, and she didn't want to see Shinji hanging out with her anymore. She began to think she may be able to goad Asuka into stealing Shinji away from Akane.
"WHAT!" Asuka exclaimed, gathering the attention of some of the other patrons at her sudden out burst. "How could I be jealous of that pervert. I would…." she was cut off.
"Asuka, stop. Its written all over your face." Hikari pointed out, causing Asuka to snap her mouth shut.
"Alright, I guess I do like him a little. After all he has saved my life a few times so I suppose he's not totally useless." Asuka said, however still holding up her own defenses. She didn't want to openly admit that she was in love with him. She didn't know why, but she knew it was when he had jumped into the volcano to rescue her.
"So, what are you going to do?" Hikari asked. Asuka looked at her friend in question.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, are you just going to give up on him and let her lead him down a path of destruction?"
Asuka thought for a moment. Hikari did have a point, she had never given up on anything, why should she start now. "I don't know, a more unpredictable Shinji may be amusing." Asuka jested with a small laugh. Though she couldn't help but think how Shinji would be if he were more rebellious. The thought excited her just a little but she didn't let is show.
"ASUKA!"
"Alright, but seriously what can I do? If they are dating and I try and break them up he may hate me for it and it would push the two closer together." Asuka stated.
"Well you could always seduce him." Hikari chuckled.
"HIKARI! I will do no such thing!." Asuka exclaimed.
"Ok, well I guess for starters you should try being nicer to him instead of insulting him all the time."
"Alright, I will give it a try" Asuka relented. "I suppose we should head back to the apartment now, no way am I hauling all these bags around town." she commented as she looked at her watch. Hikari nodded but hid her grin, she knew why Asuka wanted to go back, and it had nothing to do with the bags.
Meanwhile, across Tokyo 3; Shinji and Akane lay next to one another on the couch, catching their breaths as they cuddled into each other. It was no secret what they had done. Shinji laid there in silence at a loss of words of what to say, still living in the memory of what had just happened. Akane was feeling the same. Slowly the realization came to him as to what time it was. He let out a long drawn out sigh.
"What's wrong Shinji?" Akane asked.
"I gotta go home." he replied sadly, he didn't want to go home, but if he didn't he knew Misato would have everyone looking for him. "If I don't at least check in Misato will have everyone looking for me, and if they find me here who knows what would happen."
"Your right" she smiled as she looked at him. "Will you be able to come back later?"
"Yeah" he smiled back and leaned in and kissed her one more time before getting up. Scrounging around the floor and putting back on his cloths. Still in a daze he wasn't fully paying attention to the cloths he was putting on until the sound of Akane giggling caused him to return to reality.
"What?"
"Nothing, you just put on my Metallica shirt." she giggled.
"Oh, sorry." he began and started to take off the shirt when Akane stopped him with a kiss on the lips. Breaking the kiss she smiled.
"Keep it, it looks good on you." she stated and proceeded to put on his normal dress shirt, which barely hid her naked body. Shinji only smiled at her before leaning in and kissing her softly before walking towards the door.
"I'll be back later" he turned to her, before disappearing out the door.
Shinji arrived home a few moments after Asuka had, Hikari had already left to return home and to leave Asuka with her own task which included her fellow pilot and room mate. Her bags lay outside her doorway as she rummaged through her closet to find a place to put her newly purchased clothing. Misato had left sometime ago on an important call from the base, regarding some unfinished paper work. Shinji took the opportunity to duck into his own room quickly and shut the door, hoping to avoid getting yelled at. Asuka heard his door shut and let out a soft sigh. She wasn't sure how she was going to approach him.
'How are you going to do this Asuka Soryu Langly?' she began to wonder. 'I need to get him to notice me, in a way that he doesn't think I am trying to be mean to him'
Her thoughts began to wonder into the possible ways should could approach him without attracting their guardians attention as well, this would prove to be a challenge. While their purpled haired guardian may act like a ditz at times, she was sharp to pick up on sudden changes. She had to think of a way to do it subtly, no doubt if the two were to attempt any kind of relationship, the moment Misato got wind of it she would no doubt try to separate them from being room mates.
Asuka was broken from her line of thought when a strange scent wafted into her room. Sniffing curiously at it she began to follow where it was coming from, from Shinjis room. Stopping at his door, she paused a moment, her hand raised to knock on it; deciding weather or not she should knock or just walk in. After several seconds she decided on the later. Reaching down she slid open the door, shocked at what she saw. Shinji was laying back on his bed with what seemed to be a cigarette in his mouth, only smaller. At first it seemed Shinji didn't notice her standing there, until he took a drag from the small cigarette and removed it from his lips.
"What do you want Asuka" he asked cooly, not looking at her.
"What the hell are you doing?"
"What do you mean?" he asked innocently, though he had already gotten an idea of what she was talking about.
"Since when did you start smoking cigarettes?" Asuka was both furious and worried at the same time, opting to act out of anger.
"Its not a cigarette"
"Then what the hell is it?"
Shinji paused for a moment, before answering long enough to take another drag, letting the drag have its affect on him. "It's something that calms me down and helps me relax." he finally said. "In other words, it takes all my worries away."
"Baka, that's a lie!" Asuka shouted "How can you say something bad for you is good!"
"If you don't believe me, why don't you try it……or are you to scared to." Shinji taunted her a little. This caught Asuka off guard, she had never known Shinji to challenge her like this. Glancing back and forth at the small cigarette and him, she snatched it out of his hand.
"FINE!" she lifted it up to her lips, letting her pride take over; not one to allow herself to be scarred of anything.
"One more thing Asuka," Shinji smiled, "you have to hold it in before exhaling to get the full effect."
Asuka paused for a second then inhaled as deeply as she could, coughing some as she struggled to hold it in. The lack of oxygen to her brain began to make her light headed as she finally released it slowly. Sitting down as she did so. She couldn't help but to admit that he was right, she felt great right now as if she didn't care about anything. As she handed it back to Shinji she began to weigh her options, if she should confess her feelings towards Shinji now, though she began acting on it before she had finished thinking about it.
"Shinji, ther….there is something I want to tell you" she began, slowly crawling towards him as she gazed up at him. Shinji couldn't help but think how sexy it looked "I know you and Akane are….but I need to tell you that. I…I love you" she looked down afraid of what may happen next.
Shinji remained silent for a moment, needless to say this sudden confession had caught him off guard. He had always assumed that she hated him as she was always insulting him and calling him a pervert and such. He was about to reply to her confession when the apartment door slammed shut, causing the two to panic some. Shinji jumped up and discarded the joint out the window and grabbed a can of air freshener giving the room a quick spray as Misato poked her head into the room.
"Shinji, I need you to stay close to Asuka tonight until your new cell phone arrives tomorrow." she told him. Shinji had almost forgotten that in a fit of rage Asuka had smashed his cell phone. This memory also caused Asuka to look down at the floor in shame.
"Alright Misato" Shinji quickly answered.
"Um, what were you two doing?" Misato got an evil glint in her eyes at the possibilities of teasing her young wards.
"We were talking, is there something so odd about that Misato?" Asuka shot at their guardian.
"I suppose not, just stay close together in case we need to call you" the purple haired woman said as she turned and left the room, gathering an assortment of papers off the kitchen table and heading back out the door. "I am going to be working late again tonight so don't wait up for me" she called out before shutting the door.
"Well, what now?" Asuka asked, almost forgetting that she had just confessed her feelings towards him. Shinji hadn't though. He was beginning to wonder how to explain this to Akane, and now he would have to take Asuka with him when he went to see her in the next few hours. He was about to make a suggestion when the house phone rang. With a groan Shinji pushed himself off his bed and walked into the kitchen.
"Hello?" he answered.
"Hey Shinji, um do you think you can come back over earlier?" the voice on the other end asked shyly. It was Akane.
"Um sure…" he paused for a moment as Asuka entered the kitchen, "But I have to bring Asuka, Misatos orders." he explained.
"That's ok I guess, but she will have to join in with us." Akane teased.
"Alright. See you soon." Shinji said as he hung up the phone and looked over to where Asuka stood at the door way.
"That was Akane, wasn't it?" she knew what the answer was already before she even thought of asking.
"Yes," Shinji paused for a moment "We're going over to her apartment"
"Yeah, well in case you forgotten her and I didn't exactly hit it off" Asuka sneered.
"This time will be different." Shinji assured her as he put on his shoes to leave the apartment. When he finished that he stood up and made his way towards the door. Asuka regaining her senses quickly followed after him. She really didn't want to go to Akanes apartment but she really had no other choice, she wanted to be close to Shinji, and not to mention Misato had ordered them to stay close together in case of another Angel attack. What only seemed like a few seconds to Asuka had been minutes, as she was snapped out of her thoughts by Shinji knocking on a door.
"Coming" a cheery voice called out from behind the door. Seconds later the door opened, exposing Akane, dressed in tight fitting black jeans and a sleeveless black shirt. Her hair was tied up in a pony tail like it always was. "Come on in guys"
Shinji smiled and walked passed her, shyly followed by Asuka. Asuka was already beginning to feel the butterflies in her stomach, avoiding eye contact. She was stopped suddenly as Akane grabbed her arm, not hard, but just enough to get her attention.
"Look, forget about what happened in the past. I don't hold a grudge over small things like that." she smiled. This took a lot of weight of Asukas chest. She had been worried the entire time how her and Akane would get along this evening. She was relieved to know the Akane held no grudge against her. Nodding, Asuka continued into the living room and sat down in a chair beside the couch that Shinji had sat on. Akane shut the door and joined the two.
"So you guys thirsty?" Akane offered.
"Sure." Shinji answered.
Asuka said nothing at first, but piped in with a shy "Yes please." She was still a little uncomfortable being here.
Akane nodded and disappeared into the kitchen for a moment, returning with three brown bottles, handing one to Shinji and one to Asuka before taking her seat in a chair on the other side of the couch.
Shinji glanced at the two girls. He had to talk to Akane about what Asuka had confessed to him but he was unsure how to approach the situation. Opening the brown bottle he took a drink of the liquid inside, making a slight face, not being used to the taste of American beer. Asuka followed suit, but without the face. She had drunk beer before in Germany while she attended college. There was an awkward silence that hung over the three for a few moments until Akane spoke up.
"You two seem you got something on your mind, want to share it?" she offered as she glanced from Asuka to Shinji. This had caused the two to unconsciously blush some.
"Um its nothing its just that…" Shinji began before Asuka jumped in.
"I….I..I'm in love with Shinji." she said as she looked down at the floor. Somehow Akane had tore down her wall she had put up around herself. Taking another big drink of her beer. Beginning to get a small buzz going on. Shinji looked over to Akane to see what her reaction to this would be.
"Its about time you admitted the truth." Akane smiled. This caught Shinji off guard.
"What?" Asuka looked up.
"I said its about time you admitted the truth, instead of hiding behind that wall of yours. It's been written all over your face." Akane continued.
"I guess, but it's too late now" Asuka sighed depressingly. She knew there was no way Akane would let her have Shinji.
"Why do you think that?" Akane smiled. Shinji at this point was confused about all this. He wasn't sure what Akane had in mind.
"Well because your with him" Asuka pointed out.
"That's true, I wont give him up." Akane paused with a smile. "But that doesn't mean I can't share him." At this time Shinji had just taken another drink, which he had nearly choked on. Asuka was speechless at this as well. This had come as a big surprise to her.
"But.." she didn't get a chance to finish as Akane had gotten up from her chair and pulled her and Shinji into the bedroom, closing the door behind them.
Additional Notes: I know, I left the ending open, which is what I meant to do. Those who have read the originals know about the side story between chapters 2 and 3. This one wasn't as long as I would have hoped but, not really sure what more I could do with it.
Disclaimer: I do not claim any owner ship of the characters of Neon Genesis Evangelion. At no time during the series will these events happen. However Akane Sato is my own creation.