It was early once the red headed girl woke from her far from peaceful slumber, a low groan slipping past her lips as she forced herself up in bed. As though force of habit, icy hues glanced towards the rough outline of another, scoffing to nobody but herself as an eye roll was given to the emptiness. Just as she expected, Mari was nowhere to be seen. Not lingering by the window, not creeping by the end of her bed, gone as though the previous night had never happened. There had been a few occasions where a hint or two would be dropped in the vicinity of classmates, earning a number of close calls as Asuka's hand would shoot out and dangerously miss the brunettes head by merely a hair, one day she wouldn't be so lucky.

The life they had so carefully built was far from stable, forced to take each day as it dawned upon them. If they weren't stuck at school, they were being dragged down to NERV headquarters to perform security tests and practice runs to ensure maximum synchronisation rates, though on top of that Mari had slowly begun to coax her red headed companion into an early sparring ritual. Sure, it was probably smarter to catch up on extra hours of sleep with the lifestyle they lead, but oh how she silently enjoyed those bruises, an offer like that was one she simply couldn't refuse.

A silent curse slipped as the icy cold air met her bare torso, shuddering as she discarded the warm garments that so comfortably clung to every inch of her smooth skin. Though the house was completely silent she knew Mari would be awake; she was always awake before Asuka, a trait she often envied and wondered about from time to time as she idly slipped into her red sports bra. Were it anyone else seeing her in such an outfit they would more than definitely be knocked flat on their ass, but Mari was somehow different, dismissing that irritation and ignoring the comments that always managed to follow

"Well you're certainly up bright and early, princess~" Asukas thoughts were no longer her own as her gaze snapped towards the taller woman, inwardly scowling as her peaceful morning was finally disturbed "four-eyes." She muttered, a slight crimson tainting her cheeks as she quickly yanked her shorts up and over her hips, "ever heard of knocking" she hissed, fixing the reddish tresses up before a chuckle broke the air "nothing I haven't seen before, hurry up before we run out of ti~iiiiiime." Mari could care less for her partner's constant attempts at banter, simply spurring her on further until her heart was content.

It was a mutual agreement, noting the morning exercise had left the two of them moving in near perfect sync which was something they could both appreciate. More often than not it went down the same path, Mari would taunt, Asuka would snap, and the both of them wound up like a pair of children fighting over a piece of candy as they rolled through the dirt below until one silently pleaded mercy. Of course it would have been a smarter plan to use the gym with the padded mats they had at their disposal, but what was sparring without a few nicks and cuts?

They ventured a small ways away from the house and the sleeping male as he remained completely oblivious to the world. Though the tape deck was attached to his head as it always was, there was no way Asuka would risk being seen in some of the awkward positions they would get into and especially not by idiot Shinji if she had anything to say about it.

The sun had barely began to touch upon the grass as the tiny droplets of dew sparkled ever so slightly beneath their feet, allowing the both of them a brief moment of bliss before returning to the task at hand. Crystal hues locked with Ice as Mari flexed her hands, coiling them into fists as it was made known she meant business. The past few days Asuka had beaten her and beaten her good, so payback was in order, or so she thought anyway.

"Ready to get beaten again, four eyes? If I didn't know any better you were losing on purpose!" a smirk crossed Asukas features, taking on the role of instigator for the morning as her stance mirrored her partners

"Maybe I am? I'll never tell~" a reply cooed so smoothly by the brunette, loving the way her opponents lips would curl so effortlessly up into a snarl before taking off and clashing into her with a large amount of force, so easy to taunt~. Limb for limb, breath for breath, they were so evenly matched it was anyone's game, twisting and slamming into each other so roughly any normal person would have retreated by this point. Asuka copped a rather hard slam to the face, a hiss erupting as Mari decided to ignore the first rule they had lay down

"No faces!"

Once again Mari found herself worse for wear as her spine collided with the soggy ground below, a grunt slipping as she tried to wriggle free "Whoops~ you got me" the care free attitude pissed Asuka off to no end, placing a rough backhand against Mari's cheek to level the playing field. Sure, it stung, but it was nothing compared to the embarrassment so easily bought to the surface "I like this angle, princess, really brings out your figure~" Mari gave a grin that exposed her canines, a slight twitch of her eyebrow given before her hips were roughly thrust upwards.

Asuka was never one to pay attention to such silly things, a fight was a fight, they had no innuendos, no suggestive positions, only raw power released in the only way she knew possible. Until now, of course.

"Shut up!" she yelped as the scenario was completely reversed, instead finding herself pinned rather skilfully into the ground below. It was hard. Everything was hard. Trying to keep her cool when another person, let alone this person, decided it was completely okay to enter her bubble space, when she could feel shallow breaths against her smooth skin and their slick torsos pressed flush against one another, it was much too personal for her liking.

"Do you plead... Mercy!?" the brunette couldn't help but husk playfully, her lips brushing against the throbbing pulse point that resided in the side of her neck

"What the fuck four-eyes get OFF—"it was near impossible to fight the blush over her cheeks as she wriggled beneath, a grunt slipping free as her assailant rolled her hips forwards before finally standing back up with an expression that shook her to the core, "I'd say this match is mine~" Mari winked, holding out a hand that was so carelessly slapped away as the younger of the two scrambled to her feet

"why can't you EVER just stick to the plan!" she huffed obnoxiously, storming back towards the house as she ignored the heat emanating from her skin "fucking four-eyes." She slammed the door behind her, ensuring it was loud enough to wake the dark haired boy no doubt still sleeping soundly in his bed.

Mari let out a chirp as she finally accepted her victory, not quite caring in the slightest what Asuka thought of the results. Sure, she didn't exactly follow the rules, but when had she ever? Playing by the rules was for dummies and she certainly didn't have time to waste studying books and listening to what she could and couldn't do.

Asuka quickly slipped into the bathroom to wash off the of the dirt that had stuck to her face and change into her regular outfit for the day, grumbling as she tried to ignore the fact their attitudes towards one another wouldn't help their performance together. Alone, Asuka was a prodigy. Her skills and abilities while inside EVA were nothing below perfection, never suffering even for a brief moment when it came to learning the ins and outs of her newly devoted lifestyle. The obvious however had been completely disregarded, the fact she now had to rely on another to even get the recognition she knew she deserved was ridiculous.

If Misato would just let them try to pilot, let them at least find out where their sync rate was at without the long winded speeches of companionship and teamwork they could just do whatever the hell it was they had to do in order for this stupid thing to just work. But no. They had to somehow prove they were actually friends before being allowed anywhere near their specific unit; this was definitely going to take some effort.

Hey ho lets go. My apologies this is like ages down the track h a h. Thankyou to the people who did review, I went to reply then just kinda brain farte didnt 8ll but I read them and I really really appreciate them If you have ANY ideas feel free to mention them (even for later on) and i'll more than likely incorporate all of them, since ideas are always welcome!

But yeah, same goes, R&R etcetc. Maybe next time the chapter won't take so long but dealing with finals does that uvu;;