Chapter 7: Bonding Time
A/N: Another long chapter guys, sorry. Kinori's living with Jason and Shinji and Asuka got some action, well I guess not enough, but don't worry. Big thanks goes out to YoungBoch for proof reading this really long chapter.
Disclaimer: I don't own Evangelion.
"Speaking"
'Thoughts'
"Speaking in another language or flashback"
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The next morning
The newest member of Jason's apartment had gotten up early that morning. She wanted to thank Jason for letting her sleep there by making him breakfast.
She knew he was from the States so she decided to make something he would probably eat there to help remind him of home. She was making him some bacon and eggs with some toast off to the side. When she was done she took a plate out the table and set it there.
"Dang I forgot the OJ," Kinori said leaving the table to go get a cup of it for him.
The older teen had been lying there awake almost the entire time she was cooking, watching her with a small smile on his face. He didn't expect her to be the type to be able to cook, he actually expected her to burn the bacon and fry the eggs. He was pleased to find that she didn't burn a thing. When she went back into the kitchen after laying out his food he got up and sat down at the table.
"Oh… I didn't know you were awake," Kinori said as she found him sitting at the table when she came back in.
"Well good morning to you too," Jason joked as he took a bite out of his eggs. "Good job," he said as he swallowed the food.
"Thanks and good morning. I just wanted to thank you for last night," Kinori blushed as she handed him the glass of orange juice, thinking what else that could mean.
He took the glass and discarded the blush. "Hey, I guess we all miss our parents, don't we?"
"Yeah, I guess."
It was then that Jason noticed that she didn't make any food for herself. "Hey aren't you going to eat?" he asked finishing his eggs and starting the bacon.
"Well… I had to use the last of your food to make your breakfast," Kinori said as her stomach growled.
"Alright, then we're going down to the cafeteria and I'm going to buy you breakfast," Jason said as he finished his food.
"You don't have too, Jason. I wouldn't want to be any more of a burden," Kinori looked down at the floor.
"Hey, it's the least I could do since you made me breakfast. Come on, let's go," Jason said as he stood up in his pajama shorts and loose tank-top.
"Ok," Kinori followed him out the door in a better mood.
The two walked down some halls and into the cafeteria where a couple of the NERV employees were eating. All of them (women) looked at the two teens but went back to their food.
Jason and Kinori walked up to the concession stand. "What'll you have?" asked a woman from behind the desk.
"I'll have the chicken ramen please," she said to the cook. "And could I have a cup of orange juice with that?"
The two walked to a table and waited for their food to be brought to them. "How'd you sleep?" Jason asked as they waited.
"Pretty good actually; the best I've slept since I joined NERV," she responded happily.
"Really? Lucky you, I haven't had one good nights sleep for almost as long as I can remember."
"Oh my god, are you serious?" Kinori couldn't believe her ears.
"Yep, I either don't sleep well, or it's down right horrid," Jason said remembering several of his nightmares, the one with the red man being the most vivid.
"That must suck. Wait you said horrid, are you talking about nightmares?"
"Yeah, I haven't had a pleasant dream since I was ten, and ever since I joined Eva my nightmares have been getting worse," Jason responded sadly.
"Oh, that's sad. Do you want to talk about them? It might help," she suggested.
"I don't think it will, I've already talked to Asuka and Shinji about some of them. Luckily they don't come that often," Jason said looking to the bright side of things.
"Oh… ok," she decided to change the subject. "So where did you learn to fight?"
"Depends on which time I learned. Before or after NERV?"
"Before," she said wisely.
"Well, I was taught in a private dojo that opened in my home town. I trained everyday including weekends. The old man who trained me didn't have anything else to do. He had no family. He ended up teaching me everything he knew, but one thing. The only problem was that the day he was going to teach me that last thing, he ended up dying from a car crash," Jason looked down. "He left one thing to me in his will, and gave the rest to charity," he finished bringing up his head back up with a small smile.
"That's too sad. If you don't mind me asking, what did he leave you?" When she finished she looked over to the counter to see her food coming to them. The lady set the food in-front of Kinori before Jason continued.
"He left me a pendant that I keep on my sword at all times," Jason said watching as she spit some food back out because it was still too hot. He laughed a bit at the look on her face.
"Thanks," she said sarcastically. "So when did you start to train with your sword?"
"About a month before he died, I started to train with a friend of his. I never really got to know the guy. He was really secretive. He would give me the lesson for the day and push me to the extreme to know it, then usher me back home at the end of the day," Jason responded.
"Hmm…. Ok. So you learned to fight from guys who were friends?" Jason nodded. "So who taught you more when you joined NERV?"
Jason's hand balled into a fist and shook slightly as he remembered the monk. "I was trained by a monk from a temple in the northern portion of Japan," he said with anger and venom dripping off of his words.
"Oh, I didn't mean to bring up anything bad. Sorry," Kinori said looking down.
Jason lightened up quite a bit. "Hey don't worry about it. You're lucky you didn't know the guy," Jason said smiling at Kinori, she returned the gesture.
"Let's get back to the room. I need a shower and you probably want to head back and get some clothes from your place," Jason said as they both stood up and walked out of the cafeteria.
"Thank you, Jason. You really are like a bigger brother to me," Kinori said grabbing Jason's arm and hugging it tight.
Jason laughed a little, "Hey no big deal," Jason said as they got back to his room. "I'm going to take a shower, so I suggest you do the same. After that how about we go skating?"
"Ok, I haven't done that in a while," Kinori said as she took off for her apartment.
Jason walked in and grabbed some clothes from his room and took a good long shower.
In the other pilots apartment they were both lying there sleeping like babies. Asuka had her left arm and leg swung over Shinji and he was sprawled out on the bed. Some red hair was on the boys face and his rhythmic breathing made it tickle his nose. After a minute or so his nose twitched a little and then he sat up and sneezed.
The redhead woke up slowly and looked up drowsily at the young male who just woke her up. "What was that?" she asked as he looked down at her.
"I think your hair tickled my nose or something," he replied rubbing his nose.
"Oh… let's go back to sleep," she said looking at the clock. "Its only 8:00."
"Ok," the two lay down and fell back asleep in a matter of seconds.
In Misato's place Kaji and Misato was sound asleep lying the same way Shinji and Asuka was. The only difference was neither of them was dressed at all. The only thing that covered them was a thin sheet. Kaji had woke up when Misato passed out inside the door. He carried her into the bed room and she insisted that they have sex. Why should Kaji refuse such a suggestion? Anyway they were both asleep until a bird waddled in and warked up a storm.
"Hey one of you better feed me or else," the little avian warked as the two woke up from their peaceful sleep.
"What ya need Pen?" Kaji asked as he sat up.
"Some damn food! That's what," he warked with anger lacing his features.
"Looks like you're hungry. I'll get you some food then," Kaji said as he stood up.
"Good lord man, get some clothes on! I'm a guy not a girl, come on!" Pen-Pen warked with his wings covering his eyes.
"Huh… oh you want me to get on some clothes?" Pen-Pen nodded furiously. "Ok," Kaji slid on some pants and walked out into the kitchen. Pen-Pen followed after he peeked out from behind his fins to see he was dressed or not. He didn't mind seeing Misato but to see Kaji was just wrong.
A/N: I couldn't agree more.
In the kitchen Kaji plopped some tuna into Pen-Pen's bowl and poured some beer into his water dish. Pen-Pen gobbled all of this down and went back to his fridge after waving. "Thanks millimeter peter."
Kaji just looked at him like he was crazy and went back to bed with Misato.
In Jason's apartment he was getting dressed after his shower. He put on a pair of baggy pants and a black sleeveless shirt. He put on his blades and grabbed his sword slinging it over his shoulder.
In Kinori's place she was still in the shower, washing herself. She had talked to Maya about what was going on and that she was moving in with Jason for a while. Maya didn't like the idea at first but when Kinori explained that Jason was like a brother to her and that he helped her out a lot just by being around, Maya gave in. She was sad that she was going to be living alone again but was happy that Kinori could finally have some happiness. She had basically been a dull child until Jason showed up that night a couple weeks back. After that Kinori couldn't stop talking about him.
Jason skated up to the door to the apartment and knocked on the door. Maya answered the door and let Jason in.
"Hi, Jason. How are you doing?" Maya greeted.
"Ok, I was going to take Kinori skating today if you're okay with it," Jason said looking around for Kinori.
"I'm fine with it. She's really not under my control anymore. You seem to have more of an influence on her then I do," Maya looked over to the teen that normally stood about eight inches taller but with the blades he stood a good ten inches taller than her.
"Well, you can trust me when I say that I ain't going to abuse that influence. I'm not that kind of person," Jason said looking down at Maya.
"I trust you, but just be careful, ok? She's still young."
"I know."
Kinori walked out in a towel and walked almost half way to her room before noticing Jason standing by Maya. Jason had his back to her, a blush on his face, and a small nose bleed. She hurried to her room, so Jason could relax. When she was inside she changed into a pair of jeans and a green t-shirt. She looked in her closet but couldn't find her blades anywhere. "Damn, I thought I brought them with me," she cursed as she walked back out to Jason and Maya in the living room.
"Uh… sorry to say this but can you buy me a pair Jason?" Kinori asked with her most innocent face.
"Sure I was already planning on that in the first place," Jason said with a smile.
"Oh, ok. Then let's go," Kinori said as she walked past Maya and Jason. "Bye Maya."
"Bye you two," Maya said with a small smile as Jason followed Kinori out the door, ducking to keep from hitting the top of it.
Jason and Kinori went to a nearby elevator to the surface. While they were inside Kinori looked at Jason. "How the hell did you get so tall?" she asked as she looked from Jason's face to the floor.
"One, I'm English, German, and Native American and two I'm wearing blades," Jason said looking down at her and pointing to his skates.
"Oh, ok. So where are we going to bye my blades at?" she asked looking at his blades.
"I was thinking the same place where I bought Shinji and Asuka theirs. Surprising as it is, they never touched their skates. They just blew up with the apartment," Jason said as the doors opened and they started down the hallway to the open air of Tokyo 3.
"Hey no skates in the building," someone called from behind.
"What do you mean 'no skates'? I'm a fucking pilot so leave me alone!" Jason shot back.
"Sorry, I didn't know," the person responded with fear laced through its voice.
"What was that for?" Kinori asked as she looked up at Jason.
"I don't know, weird. I didn't mean to blow up like that," he said as he rubbed his chin.
"What ever," she said as they exited the building.
Jason skated out a bit and did a couple of circles until Kinori caught up. "Where did you learn to skate like that?" she asked as she watched Jason.
"I had a lot of free time before I started my training. I'm surprised I'm still this good," Jason said as he started to skate backwards.
"Really? What else did you do before you started training?"
"It was back when I was having my depression, I trying stuff to get me out of it. I learned how to play the electric guitar, but I always played songs that reminded me of what I was going through. So then I tried skating. It helped but it wasn't enough. After that Jack and Alice told me about martial arts," Jason explained as he skated circles around Kinori.
"Oh, cool. Did you ever do any speed skating?" Kinori asked watching Jason skate around her backwards.
"No, I was going to, but that's when Alice and Jack brought up martial arts," Jason replied.
"Oh… Hey I took a look at that list you gave Maya for you computer. How do you know so much about what you want?"
"Well, when I joined NERV they immediately put me into my training with the monk. But when I was done they put me in simulators and taught me the controls. When I was doing that I basically became a normal kid. I would play my guitar, go skating with my friend, or hang out at NERV, talking with technicians at NERV about how the computers worked and so on. I guess I learned it there."
"Ok, cool. I heard that the techs over in the States knew what they were doing."
"Yeah, well at least that's what it seemed like to me. They never really screwed up."
"Yeah, we could probably use a couple of them here," Kinori joked.
Jason laughed for a bit before noticing they were at the store where Jason got the other pilots their skates. "We're here."
The two teens went in; Jason guided Kinori over to the skates that were there.
"Wow, there's a lot here," she said in surprise as she looked at the wall of skates.
"Pick out any pair you want, don't worry about the price."
"Can I help you two?" a woman asked as she walked up to the two teens.
"No, thanks though. I'm just here to get some skates for her," Jason replied as he pointed at Kinori.
"Oh, is she your little sister?" the woman asked kindly.
"Yeah, you can say that," Kinori replied with a small smile on her face.
"Well ok, I'll leave you two be then," the woman said as she walked back to the counter. When Jason and Kinori went back to looking at skates, the woman slipped into the back room.
When she was sure she was out of earshot from the pilot and tech bunny she picked up a cell phone and dialed a number.
"Speak," came the response on the other end of the phone.
"Sir, the Fifth Child is here," the woman said into the phone.
"Good, watch what direction he leaves in," replied the voice.
"Yes, sir," said the woman as she hung up.
Back in the store Jason and Kinori finally found a pair of skates for her. They were a light blue and had black wheels.
Jason walked up to the counter with the blades in hand. At the counter he rung the bell and the woman walked back out as she was putting her cell phone away.
"How my I help you?" she asked.
"I'd like to purchase these blades," Jason replied.
"Ok, that will be 5,669 yen," the woman said clicking some buttons on the cash register.
A/N: That's $51 in the U.S.
Jason handed her a card and she swiped it. She printed out a recipe and handed it to Jason along with his purchase. "Here you go."
"Thanks," Jason waved as he exited the store with Kinori.
The two teens turned left and went toward the park, with Jason skating and Kinori walking. The woman inside the store noted this and called the voice again. "Sir, they just left and are headed toward the park."
"Good, now wait there until further orders," the voice replied.
"Yes, sir."
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Park
The two teens went to the nearest bench when they arrived at the park. Kinori sat down and started to put on her new blades after she took off her shoes. When she had both on she stood up and wobbled a bit before getting used to the blades again.
"You ready?" Jason asked.
"Yeah, but where are we going?" Kinori asked as she skated over to him.
"Just to there and back," Jason replied pointing down a path that extended about an eighth of a mile.
"Ok," Kinori took off and went as fast as she could, trying to lose Jason.
Jason easily caught up to her and kept pace with her. When she looked over to him she noticed a man in a black suit walking up to them. "Jason, who's that?" Kinori pointed to the man.
"I don't know, but we need to get out of here. I don't like the way this looks," Jason said, his expression tuning very serious.
Kinori caught this and quickened her pace. Both she and Jason pulled out their cell phones. Kinori called Section 2 and Jason called Misato.
"Hey, we have some mysterious men down here… yeah… we're at the park… good… bye," Kinori spoke into the phone.
"Yo, Misato get your ass to the park quick… I have a feeling that SEELE's planning another attempt on me… yeah, leave them there, just tell them what's going on … ok… bye," Jason hung up as he spotted two men standing in-front of him.
"Kinori stay close to me, ok?" Jason said as he drew his sword.
"Ok, be careful," Kinori said with worry lacing every letter.
"Don't worry," Jason said glancing back at her with a smirk on his face.
The two men in-front of Jason started to run at him with every intent to kill him. Jason took off going really fast, too fast for Kinori to keep up, and cut the two men in half with one horizontal slash. They both stood their for a minute until their bodies fell to the ground in two pieces, showing their intestines and gushing blood onto the ground.
"AH! Jason, help me!" Kinori screamed as a man held a knife at her throat.
Before she even finished screaming Jason had already turned around and drawn a knife hidden on the back of his pants. When he saw the man holding Kinori holding a knife at her throat, he threw the knife at the head of the guy. The knife flew right past Kinori's head and hit the man right in-between the eyes. Cutting a few strands of her hair as it went by.
The man held onto Kinori for a bit as blood ran down his face and onto her shoulder. As he fell back the knife scraped her throat and she let out a small squeal. Jason skated up to her and looked her in the eyes.
"Are you ok?" he asked with a caring voice.
"NO! I just had a knife held at my throat and then had you throw a knife right next to my head! What do you think!" she yelled back.
"PILOT!" one of the men yelled from behind Jason.
"What the fuck do you want?" Jason yelled back as he turned toward the man.
"Give up and we won't kill you precious little girlfriend," the man responded back with a smirk.
"Just try it," Jason muttered as he looked at the man with a glare that could kill. "Let's go," he said as he turned back to Kinori. He pushed her ahead of him as they took off. She wobbled a bit as Jason noticed a man standing in-front of her.
He jumped up and over Kinori planting four of his five wheels in the face of the man. As the man fell you could see that dents in his skull from where Jason hit it with his blades, blood spewing from his nose and eyes. When the man landed he was noticeably dead.
As Jason had jumped over Kinori she fell to the ground, too stunned to move. Jason turned around after he landed and picked her up after he put his sword away. When he looked back he saw six men running at them; each with a gun out and pointing at them.
Jason took off skating as fast as he could with Kinori in his arms. As he was skating he heard several gun shots go off behind. He also heard several bullets bounce off the ground around him.
Kinori looked up at him with a blank stare. She noticed that Jason's face was really serious and like that of a warrior about to go down fighting, not the nice, kind guy she knew.
When they reached the edge of the park they could see Section 2 cars pulling up along with Misato's. The men were still firing at them, and one of them caught Jason in the back.
"AHHHHH!" he yelled as he fell, trapping Kinori under him in a protective barrier.
Misato rushed and got out of her car to go get Jason and Kinori as the Section 2 agents went after the men. Each one of the men who were shooting at Jason ended up being killed by gunshot.
Misato ran up to Jason and Kinori who was still under him. She was staring into Jason's eyes as he slowly lost consciousness. She moved to get him off of her just so she could put his head in her lap. "Get the car closer," Kinori ordered Misato.
"Misato hurry up, he's loosing blood fast," Kinori called.
When she got about two feet away from the two teens, she stopped and got out, opening the back right door as she went by.
"Ok, let's get him in there," Misato said as they slowly picked him up.
The two of them grunted as they picked up the sixteen-year-old. They got him into the backseat, facedown with some troubles. Kinori sat on the floor of the car keeping pressure on the wound as Misato drove them toward the emergency entrance to the NERV hospital for the second time in two weeks.
"How's he doin'," she called into the back seat.
"He's unconscious, but his breathing and heart rate are as steady as I can figure," Kinori replied. "Call Maya and get her ready for Jason. We're going to need the Sapphire Elixir again," Kinori finished as Misato was pulling out her phone.
Kinori turned back toward Jason, "Please, don't die on us Jason. I don't want to lose the closest thing I have to a brother," Kinori pleaded quietly with tears forming in her eyes. "No one's ever treated me the way you do, except father," she added.
As they reached the entrance Kinori noticed that Maya was already waiting just outside it with a stretcher. She flung the door open and helped get Jason out of the car. Her and Misato got Jason on to the stretcher and followed as a team of doctors pushed him down the hallway to emergency room.
"Stay out here. Family members shouldn't go in with the patient," Maya stated as Misato and Kinori tried to follow her into the emergency room.
Kinori and Misato both stopped in surprise at what Maya said.
"I am like his sister," Kinori spoke up as she sat down in a chair outside of the room.
"What am I though? His mom?" Misato asked as she sat next to Kinori.
"No, I don't think he sees you that way," Kinori went into deep thought for a moment. "I think he sees you as a big sister," Kinori finished her voice loosing volume as she talked.
"Oh…" Misato looked down for a moment before either heard shoes smacking the ground as Shinji and Asuka ran up to them, followed closely by Kaji, who was carrying Pen-Pen.
Kinori and Misato looked up to the rest of the people in the group.
"What happened? All we heard was that Jason was hurt again," Shinji asked as they finished running up to them.
"He was shot," Kinori said looking back to the floor.
"Mine Gott! How?" Asuka asked in surprise.
"I think SEELE tracked us to the park and tried to kill us there," Kinori replied still looking down to the ground.
"Is he ok?" Kaji asked.
"Yeah, is the butt hole ok?" Pen-Pen warked as Kaji set him on the ground.
"We don't know," Kinori looked up with teary eyes. "He was shot in the back just under his rib cage," Kinori finished. Asuka bent down next to the younger girl and gave her a reassuring hug.
"Everything's going to be okay. You know how strong he is, don't you?" Asuka said as she hugged Kinori.
"Yeah, but I can't help it," Kinori added breaking down into tears.
"Trust me everything will be okay," Asuka said hugging her close letting her cry it all out.
Shinji stood there watching this in surprise. Asuka had only done that for him, not anyone else. 'Where is this coming from?' he thought as he kneeled by Asuka and Kinori, storing the thought in the back of his mind for later. "She's right. Everything will be okay. He's a strong guy. He stood up to me and Asuka in the Evas. I'd say that's great, especially when it was his first time out," Shinji said rubbing Kinori on the back.
"I know, but I feel bad for being a burden to him. He carried me a long way," Kinori said in-between sobs. "I really wished I could have helped."
"Here's an idea. Instead of moping around about not being able to help, why don't you work on trying to find a way that you can. I know you can help here, but maybe you should learn to shoot a gun or something," Misato suggested with a small smirk.
"Well, I guess I can take some takedown classes and learn to shoot a gun," Kinori said trying to sound hopeful.
"That's more like it," Misato said giving Kinori a thumbs up.
Kinori smiled faintly up at Misato before looking to Shinji and Asuka. "Thanks guys, I appreciate it."
"No problem, that's what friends are for, right?" Shinji asked smiling at Kinori.
"Yeah, thanks," Kinori smiled more and stood up.
"Anytime," Asuka said with a smile as her and Shinji stood up next to Kinori. "I guess we have to wait till he comes out of surgery then. Shouldn't be too long, all they have to do is remove the bullet and put some of that Sapphire Elixir stuff on it," Asuka said looking at the door to the emergency room.
"Yeah, that's what they'll probably do," Kinori replied.
The group walked down to the cafeteria and took a table. "So what actually happened?" Misato asked
"Well, me and Jason had planned on going skating today. After we left we had to go get me some blades. I think he said that we went to the same place that he got your's at," Kinori said looking at the two pilots. "After that we went to the park and started skating. When we were about half way down the trail we were using I spotted a man walking toward us in a suit. Jason got really serious after that," Kinori continued.
"You mean you guys really don't know if it was SEELE or not?" Asuka interrupted.
"No, but I think that SEELE is the only people who want us dead," Kinori replied.
"Not exactly," Kaji stated coolly.
"What do you mean?" Shinji asked.
"Well… There are groups out there that think that us killing the angels gave humanity a one-way trip to hell, or that the Third Impact should have been continued," Misato stated taking a drink of a cup of coffee.
"You mean there are people who think what I did was wrong!" Shinji asked very surprised.
"Yep, and there's a lot of them. No where near as much as the people who praise you, but still a lot," Kaji replied.
"Hey, I want to hear what happened to Jason, not some thing about people not liking Shinji," Pen-Pen warked as he pointed to Kinori.
Pen-Pen went unnoticed. "Wait, people praise me?" Shinji asked surprised again.
"Yeah, you each have your own fan club, except Jason though," Kaji said.
"Really? Cool," Asuka said.
Kinori had her head down, silently whimpering to herself. She was still feeling bad for not being able to help Jason.
"Hey, sit up and stop crying would ya? You're makin' it look like I'm dead," someone said from behind Kinori.
Kinori snapped her head up as everyone looked toward the person. "Come on, I wasn't gone that long," he said with a smirk.
"Jason!" Kinori squealed as she hugged him tight after knocking down the chair she was in.
"Hey, it's good to see you too," he said with a small chuckle as he hugged her back.
"Jason, are you ok?" Misato asked as she also gave him a hug.
"Uh…" Jason said as he looked over to Kaji.
Kaji let out a chuckle as he nodded; reassuring that Jason wasn't doing anything wrong.
"I'm… fine Misato…" Jason said as he was being squeezed by both girls.
Shinji and Asuka both started to laugh as Jason's face turned red. "Come… on… I… can't… breathe…"
"Oh… sorry," Kinori and Misato said as they let go. Kinori looked up to him with a smile before picking her chair back up.
Jason sat down at the table with everyone else. "So… what exactly happened out there Jason?" Kaji asked.
"Well, we went skating today…" he started.
"We know that part already, skip to when Kinori noticed the guy in a suit," Asuka said cutting Jason off.
"Oh, ok. Well, when she spotted the guy I noticed that he was carrying something in his hand. I didn't like the look of it so I told Kinori to pick up the pace so we could get out of there. The only problem was when I looked back there were to men standing in our way," Jason explained as Kinori just sat there, with a sad look on her face.
"What happened next?" Shinji asked when Jason stopped for a bit.
Jason glanced over at Kinori then continued. "I ended up cutting both men in half," he almost spat out.
Kinori looked to the ground remembering the scene. It was the first time she watched somebody die.
"Hey, relax. It was either them or us," Jason said rubbing her back.
She looked up to him with a faint smile. "Thank you… for saving me," she said quietly.
"Anytime," he replied with a small smile.
"Well, what happened after you cut them in-half?" Shinji asked.
"I heard Kinori scream so I pulled out the knife I carry now, since the assassin incident, and turned to see that she had a knife held to her throat by one of the men. When I finished turning I threw the knife and hit him right in-between the eyes, killing him instantly," he continued as Kinori shuddered.
"After that I pushed Kinori forward to get her going, but I noticed a man in-front of her so I jumped over her and kicked the guy in the face with my blades. I swear I could see dents in his face from my wheels," he added.
"Whoa, you mean you jumped with your skates on and nailed the guy in the face?" Asuka asked, amazed.
"Yep, and if I might say so myself I'm pretty good at martial arts on blades," Jason said slightly showing off.
"Whatever, just get back to the story," Misato interrupted slightly annoyed.
"Well, after that I picked up Kinori and got away from some men who were behind us shooting. I saw you and the Section 2 car before I got shot. After that is all a blur," Jason said finishing the story.
"Hmm…" Kaji said rubbing his 5 o'clock shadow. "I would bet heavily toward that being SEELE," he said looking at Jason and Kinori.
"Yeah, that's what I think. I don't know of anyone else who would want us dead," Jason replied.
"Well there are other groups who want you dead, but I don't think that they would dare try to kill you, plus you're not public knowledge yet," Misato said looking at Jason with her sub-commander look.
"Really? Damn, well when I get out there I better make a good impression," Jason said smirking at Shinji and Asuka.
"Just wait till you get a fan club," Shinji said smirked.
"Hmm… I hope I get one. My teacher back at 'Pelier is in your fan club," he said pointing to Shinji. "And my principle is in yours," he continued pointing at Asuka.
"Almost all the guys back there are in Asuka's while all the girls are in Shinji's. I didn't join either, since I was going to be with the two of you soon enough as it was," Jason added leaning back in his chair.
"Hmm… looks like you got it better than anyone else huh?" Kinori said smiling at him.
"Yep, I get to hang with two of the most famous people on Earth," he said smirking.
"Why weren't we notified of this?" Asuka asked eyeing Misato suspiciously.
'Shit!' "Umm… I didn't want it to go to your heads," Misato replied sheepishly.
"Oh, ok," Asuka said suspiciously calm.
Shinji just sat there wondering why the hell she was going through so many mood changes. 'First hugging Kinori, then this! What the hell?' he thought. "Well, what do we do now? I mean now that we know about the clubs, what do we do?"
"Well… I think I need to go kick some 'Evil' ass so I can get my own fan club," Jason said with a smirk.
Everyone laughed a bit at his statement. "Sorry, but I really don't want you to get a fan club, if it means you have to fight this 'Evil'," Misato said as she finished laughing.
"Well… yeah. I'm feeling a little tired so I'm going to go take a nap. I'll see you guys later," Jason said as he got up and walked down the hall.
"See ya Jason," everyone called at once.
"So, he seriously took a bullet in the back?" Shinji said turning back to Kinori.
"Yeah, he did," she nodded.
"Wow… how long was he conscious after he took the bullet?" Asuka asked.
"I'd say about two or so minutes. He was hit just under his rib cage on the right side, and I would guess he was exhausted from skating with me in his arms," Kinori replied.
"Wow… he is one tuff guy," Kaji said.
"At least he's ok now," said the only redhead.
"Yeah, he really had us worried," Misato added.
"Well, it's only ten so what do we do now?" Shinji asked looking at a clock on the wall.
"Hmm…" 'I was going to take Jason to get his license changed over, but that will have to wait till later. I think I'll check up on the house, see how it's comin' along,' Misato thought. "Hey, why don't we go check out the house? I bet they have it done by now."
"Hey, not a bad idea. Maybe we could get out of this dump quicker," Asuka said with glee.
"Can I come along?" Kinori asked.
"Sure."
-----------------------------------------------
Katsuragi house, yes the house.
They made the journey to the house safely, lucky them!
"Here it is," Misato stated as she got out of the car.
The group got out of the car and looked upon a very nice house. It was a two-story house, with a garage that could fit three cars connected to the side of it.
"Nice," Asuka stated as she looked up at it.
"Yeah, nice job Misato," Shinji said as he walked up to Asuka.
"Wow, wish I could live here," Kinori added as she walked up to a smirking Kaji and a smiling Misato.
"Well… I was thinking about asking you if you wanted to. I know you and Jason have a brother sister relationship and maybe you moving with us could help that," Misato said with a motherly smile.
"Do you mean it!" Kinori squealed.
"Yep, but I think you should talk to Maya about it though, ok?" Misato replied. 'I don't think Maya will mind, but I want to make sure,' she thought.
"Ok," Kinori said with a quick nod.
"Hey Misato, can we go in?" Shinji called from the other side of the car.
"Yeah, good idea," Misato replied as she pulled out the keys to the house.
They all walked up to the door and waited for the Vice-commander to open the door to their new home. With a click the door swung open. Asuka and Shinji were the first to walk in, looking around at all the walls. Kinori and Kaji followed with Misato bringing up the rear.
"Nice job, Misato," Asuka said as she came back in from the kitchen.
"Thank you. That kitchen is designed so Shinji can cook in there with out any problems," Misato replied.
"That's cool, thanks. But did you think about Jason. I mean he can cook too," Shinji said as he followed Asuka into the living room with Misato and the others following them.
"It won't matter. He can cook in there almost as easy as you can. He'll just have to bend over a little more than you that's all."
"Ok, so when is our stuff getting moved in?" Shinji asked again.
"Well, the stuff that isn't at NERV that you guys wanted is already in your rooms. Jason wasn't cheap to shop for though. His computer parts were really expensive. He ordered stuff that isn't even available to the public yet!" Misato complained.
Everyone just laughed at Misato's misfortune.
After a bit they all calmed down and the two lover birds went to find their bedroom.
They walked around the downstairs for a bit, before noticing a door that had a sign on it saying 'The Ikari's Room'.
"Hmm… I bet this is our room," Shinji said stating the obvious, trying to get Asuka's attention away from the sign.
"Just maybe…" Asuka joked back as she opened the door.
'Hold on… What the hell? I figured she'd go ballistic from that sign. What the hell is up with her?' Shinji thought as he followed her into the room. "Hey, nice…"
"Yeah, it is. I didn't expect it to be this good," Asuka added. The room was painted a dull dark red, with a dull blue carpet. Shinji watched as Asuka walked over to their queen-sized bed and plopped down on it, bouncing a bit. "Nice bed too. It doesn't squeak either," she added with a seductive smile.
Shinji stood there watching her for a second before getting what she meant. When he realized what she said he blushed a bit before sitting next to her on the bed.
She laid her head on his shoulders and leaned up against him, relaxing in their new house. She was startled for a second as the she started to fall back. She squeezed Shinji's arm as she fell, but relaxed when she landed on the bed, lying down next to Shinji, who had pulled her back.
The two laid there relaxing for a bit, basking in each other's comfort until Misato screamed. They both shot up and looked at each other before taking off to find out what she screamed about.
The two teens passed Kinori, who was coming down the stairs quickly, as they rushed to find out what happened. When they made it to the kitchen, they started to hear laughing and giggling. Using what was left of their momentum they made their way down to the basement to see Kaji tickling Misato in their room. All three teens looked at each other, looked to the floor, then stomped back up the stairs.
When they were in the kitchen Shinji stopped at the new fridge. "Hey, you guys want anything to drink?"
"Yeah, do they have any pop?" Kinori asked as she sat down at the table.
"Yep, here," he replied sliding one across the table to her. "You want anything Asuka?" she asked turning to his girlfriend.
"Is there any milk?"
"Yeah, and it's 2," he stated showing her the gallon jug.
"Can you get me a glass?"
"Sure, do you want to make that chocolate milk?" he asked also holding up a thing of Hershey's chocolate syrup.
"Why not? Go ahead," she said with a smile.
Shinji looked around for the cups for a second, before finding them in the cupboard right next to the fridge. He pulled two down and poured some milk in one. When it almost full, he added chocolate syrup and stirred with a spoon he found while he was looking for the cups.
He brought over the cup of chocolate milk to Asuka and handed it to her, getting a soft kiss in return.
Kinori giggled a bit when she watched Shinji blush a little. She continued to watch as Shinji opened the fridge back up and got out a pitcher of tea and poured himself a cup. As he sat down she noticed Asuka move her chair closer to Shinji and lay her head on his shoulders.
"I guess they stocked the place right when they finished," Kaji said as he and Misato walked out.
"Yeah, I asked them to do that," Misato said as the two adults sat down at the table with the teens. "So how do you like the place?"
"It's nice. I can't wait to move in," Asuka said snuggling closer to Shinji.
"Yeah, same here," Shinji added putting his arm around Asuka.
"I hope Maya let's me live here with you guys, this would be a great place," Kinori said taking a drink of her pop.
"Good. Hey, let's look at the yard," Misato stated as she stood up. Kaji followed her example as did everyone else.
When they got to the back door, the teens were amazed by what they saw.
"Holy shit! You didn't tell us we were going to be living by a lake!" Asuka exclaimed as she looked at one of the lakes created from the fights with the angels.
"Yep, it's one of the ones created by the tenth angel. This one was when you guys caught it," she explained. Shinji and Asuka remembered that day quite well.
"Wow…" was all Kinori could say as she looked out across the lake.
"Well that's not the entire yard," Misato said as she pushed everyone out the sliding doors.
The crew looked at what seemed to be about a twenty acre field that was covered by a thick layer of grass.
"Well, I guess I'll have to mow this," Shinji said figuring that he would take care of the yard work just like the house work.
"Hell no! That will either be Asuka's job or Jason's job. The chores at this house will be split up differently than they were at the apartment," Misato stated with her hands on her hips, looking out over the field.
"I'm not doing the yard work! Jason can do it," Asuka said with a 'humph'.
"Well the house chores will be rotated so I guess you, me, Shinji, Kaji, and Kinori will have to rotate chores," Misato replied with a shrug.
"That's better, but you better not cook. Your cooking could kill a pig!"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. I guess the cooking will be left to the guys then?" Misato asked as she looked at Kinori and Asuka.
"Hey, I can cook! And Jason said I'm pretty good too," Kinori shot back.
"Ok, so I guess cooking will go to the guys and Kinori. So me and Asuka will have to find something else to do," Misato paused giving Asuka a wide evil smile. "Or, me and Asuka will do nothing while you guys do all the work." The redhead smiled widely at the idea.
"No, you and Asuka can make sure the house stays clean, or we'll stop cooking good meals," Shinji threatened.
Misato and Asuka both lost their smiles instantly. "Ok, ok. Since that's taken care of why don't we head back to NERV?"
"Alright sounds good," Kaji replied.
---------------------------------------------
In the Car on the way back to NERV
"We told you to slow down Misato," Kinori almost yelled at Misato.
"Yeah, yeah, I know," Misato replied waving her hands in-front of her.
"Ma'am, I'm going to need your license, registration, and proof of insurance, again," the officer said standing by Misato's car.
"Ok, here you go," she said as she handed the required documents over to the officer.
"You know, I think you do this on purpose," Asuka said eyeing Misato. "This is the fifth one this month. If it wasn't for your Vice-commander position you wouldn't have your license."
"Umm… I wouldn't do that…" Misato said sheepishly.
"Whatever."
"Well… I wonder if Jason's up right now," Shinji said looking out into the sky.
"Probably something more fun than this!" Asuka responded.
-----------------------------------------------
NERV
"So what all did Gendo hide from everybody?"
"Instrumentality, Lilith, what really happened to Shinji's mom, Rei Ayanami's way of creation, and Adam," Maya listed.
"Damn, that much, and SEELE knew all of this?"
"Well only Instrumentality, Lilith, and Rei," she replied.
"So he knew what happened to Shinji's mom and wanted to use Instrumentality to get her out?"
"Yep, that bastard was also using Rei and Adam to get her back too."
"Okay, so how did those come into the equation?" a tall young man asked.
"Gendo wanted to use Rei and Adam to make Third Impact go the way he wanted it to go. He was going to have Rei combine with Adam and start the Third Impact but Rei instead merged with Lilith and gave Shinji the choice whether or not to let this world live in a twisted reality with no sorrow or happiness or put them all back on this hell we call home," Maya explained.
"Oh, so Shinji played God huh?"
"Yeah, didn't you get a briefing on this?"
"No, I was supposed to get one, but the damn American branch didn't want me to have it, for some reason."
"Hmm…"
"Hey, thanks for explaining that to me. I want to go do some more training so I'll talk to you later Maya," the young man said as he stood up from the table they were sitting at.
"Ok, I'll see you later," Maya waved as he walked off.
"Bye," he tossed over his shoulder with a wave.
'I wonder what Aoba's up to right now,' she thought as she got up and left the cafeteria.
--------------------------------------------
Moving along on the way back to NERV
"How many times have you used your position to get you out of something like that?" Kinori asked as they drove back.
"Too many times to count," Asuka spoke with annoyance as she was leaning on Shinji.
"Hey, it hasn't been that many, only twenty-two times and I've started to slow down a bit here lately," Misato shot back.
"That's still way too much Misato," Shinji said putting his arm around Asuka again.
"I know… I'll slow down, I promise," Misato said with her head held low.
"Good, I don't like being late to school," Asuka huffed as she nestled her head into Shinji's chest.
"MISATO! Keep your eyes on the road!" Shinji yelled as they veered away from an incoming car, scaring the shit out of Asuka.
"Sorry," she muttered as she brought the car back into the right lane.
"Does she always drive like this?" Kinori asked as she pried her hands off the door besides her.
"Unfortunately, yes," Kaji nodded from the front.
After that last encounter with death the rest of the trip was made in silence. This silence lasted till they reached NERV when Kinori raced out of the car and down the halls of NERV to find Maya.
Asuka and Shinji went to find their fellow, pilot who was currently in the gym, while Misato went to the bridge and Kaji went to their apartment to hang out with his avian companion.
In the gym Jason was punching away at the hanging punching bag being careful of his surroundings so he didn't get decked by the bag again. He stepped back from the bag, letting it swing, as Shinji and Asuka entered the gym.
"What's up guys?" he greeted.
"Not much, just went and seen the new house," Shinji replied coolly.
"Cool, what's it like?"
"It's really nice. It's also right by one of the lakes we created," Asuka answered.
"Really? Cool. Can't wait to move in there. This place is starting to get to me, not enough sun," he said looking around the gym.
"Yeah, I know what you mean. I really need a tan, and so do both of you," she said pointing at the two boys, both with pale skin.
"You're right," Jason chuckled a bit.
Asuka turned to Shinji who was looking at some weights. "What are you looking at?" she followed his gaze. "Oh, you want to work out? Hmm… you would look even hotter that way," she said with a small seductive smile.
Shinji just stood their looking at the weights. 'Yeah, I want to work out, but not to look good. I want to get stronger, that way I can defend myself better,' Shinji thought, remembering when he got mugged not too long after Third Impact.
Flashback
Shinji had just left to go get groceries for dinner. He was walking down the road to the store when some of his old classmates walked out into the road looking at him mischievously.
"Hey, Ikari," one of them called.
Shinji just kept walking and went right by them.
"Ikari! Look at me!" the one yelled at him.
Shinji just kept going. That was until the one kid reached out and grabbed Shinji's shoulder, and spun him around.
"You look at me when I talk to you!" he spat in Shinji's face.
Shinji just looked back at him with an emotionless stare.
"Damn you!" the kid let go of him and brought his fist hard into Shinji's stomach.
"Ugh…" Shinji spat out as he fell to the ground on his back, landing a piece of shattered glass. "Ahhh!" he yelled when it cut his back deeply.
The boys all leaned over him and started to pummel him, forcing the glass deeper into his back. One of them reached into his pocket and took all the money he had on him.
The pilot just lay there as he bled to death. As he started to loose consciousness he watched as two men in black uniforms attacked the kids from school and picked him up from the ground.
He heard them say something but he couldn't understand it as he passed into unconsciousness.
End Flashback
"Hello…" Asuka waved her hand in-front of his face, looking at him strangely.
"Huh… what?" Shinji stuttered as his thoughts returned to reality.
"You zoned out man. You just stared at the weights," Jason said as he looked at Shinji with a slightly worried look.
"Oh… just thinking about something," he said rubbing his back a little bit.
"You're thinking about when you got mugged, aren't you?" Asuka asked after a small pause and with a caring voice.
"Yeah," he replied looking over to the weights again. "Jason, can you help me get stronger?" he asked looking at him with serious eyes.
"Sure," Jason replied in the same type of tone. 'This isn't some normal work out he wants. He wants to become stronger so he can protect Asuka and his friends instead of them protect him. This is a matter of pride for him,' Jason thought knowing what Shinji was going through.
"Wait… you're going to train Shinji? Why?" Asuka exclaimed looking from Shinji to Jason.
"You should know Asuka. Shinji wants to become stronger to protect you and his friends, instead of the other way around," Jason replied looking from her to Shinji. "It's a matter of pride," he finished, repeating his thought.
"Oh…" 'I mean that much to him? I guess I should train too,' she thought getting what Shinji wanted. "Can you train me too?" she said looking at Jason seriously.
Jason looked to Shinji for the answer. Shinji, knowing that Asuka wouldn't back down if told 'no', nodded. "Ok, I'll train both of you, but not in martial arts, just in physical endurance." The two other pilots nodded. "Ok…"
Jason started off their training and got both of them working hard to improve their bodies.
In Misato's apartment though the very opposite was happening.
"Hey Pen, how long have we been sitting here?" Kaji asked drunkenly.
"Why are you asking me? I can't read human, you dumb ass," Pen-Pen hiccupped/warked back.
"I thought so, I knew we had been here for awhile," Kaji replied dumbly. He lazily looked over to a clock conveniently located on top of the TV. "Wow, it's almost 10:00 pm. When is Misato getting back?" he asked to no one.
"No clue," Pen-Pen responded to the rhetorical question.
In Maya's apartment Kinori was waiting impatiently for her to get back.
"Damn it! When is she going to get back?" she asked to nothing in particular. "Fine, I'll go looking for her," she said walking out of the apartment, taking a left walking down the hall and taking another left at the intersection.
Just after she turned down the next hall Maya showed up at the door to her apartment from the right. When she looked inside she noticed that the lights were still on.
"Kinori, are you here?" she asked getting nothing in return. She took off her shoes and walked farther into the apartment, looking around for her companion.
She searched the apartment from top to bottom, looking everywhere for the young tech bunny. 'Where is she? She should be back from Misato's new house by now,' she thought, looking in the bathroom.
Kinori herself was walking toward the bridge wondering if Maya was working the late shift tonight.
"Hey, is Maya working the late shift tonight?" she asked Misato when she got to the bridge.
"No, she just went back to your apartment. Have you asked her yet?" Misato stated referring to Kinori living with her at the new house.
"No, she wasn't there when I got back. I'm heading there right now to ask her," Kinori replied leaving the bridge as fast as she arrived.
"Ok."
When Kinori made it back to the apartment Maya was there, looking for her. "Where have you been?" she asked the young teen.
"Looking for you," she replied as she kicked off her shoes at the door.
"Oh, ok. What's Misato's new house like?" Maya asked sitting down on the couch.
Kinori sat down on the other end of the couch, bringing her feet up next to her. "It's really nice. It's also near a lake that Shinji, Asuka, and Rei made against the tenth angel," she explained.
"Yeah, Misato told me about that. She also mentioned something to me about you going to live with them their," Maya stated eyeing Kinori.
"Umm… yeah. I was going to ask you about that hear in a minute," Kinori replied sheepishly.
"Well… I'm sorry to say this but…" Maya stopped right there as the phone went off. She answered it to find that it was Aoba. She immediately started acting like a schoolgirl.
Maya talked for a bit with Aoba before hanging up, turning back to Kinori. "Now what were we talking about?"
"You was going to let me go stay with Misato at her new house," Kinori lied trying to trick Maya into letting her go.
"Hey, you can't trick me that easily. I was going to let you go anyway. I was going to say that I was sorry to say that you was keeping me from having a relationship with Aoba," Maya said with a giggle.
"Oh… That's it? Ok, so I can go with Shinji and Asuka to their new home?"
"Don't you mean Jason?" Maya said giving Kinori a playful smile.
"Umm… no."
"Yeah right. Well, I'm going to bed," Maya said getting up.
"Ok, good night Maya."
"Good night Kinori."
Kinori got up and walked out of the apartment and down to Jason's, while Maya went into her bedroom. The apartment became dark and quiet with only one person in it.
The same quiet was in Asuka and Shinji's apartment too, but that was because no one was in it. Asuka and Shinji were still at the gym training with Jason.
Misato's apartment on the other hand was louder. Kaji and Pen-Pen were so trashed that they decided to play a little Karaoke. Neither knew what they were singing and neither cared. They were having fun.
Misato herself was watching this from the bridge. She was slowly shaking her head back and forth. "I really need to watch how much beer I put in that fridge," she said looking back to some of the techs.
"Vice-commander Katsuragi, I believe we can handle it from here. You should go back to your apartment and get those two boys under control," one of the technician said from behind her terminal.
"Ok, but if there are any problems, you notify me immediately. Understood?" Misato said sternly, making sure to get her point across.
"Yes ma'am. Good night," the tech responded.
"Good night," Misato waved as she walked away.
She made her way down the hallways of NERV until she arrived at her door.
"Why don't I hear anything?" she wondered as she opened the door. "Hello?"
"Hey sweet cheeks, what's up?" Kaji asked slightly slurring his words as he sat up from the couch.
"Not you, that's for sure. Come on, let's get you to bed," Misato walked up to Kaji and helped him up. She walked him into their room and laid him down on the bed, moving the covers over him.
"Night, love," he whispered playfully as she covered him with blankets.
"Good night, Kaji. I love you too," she said pecking him on the lips. The two had confessed their love for each other the day Kaji got back.
As Misato left she turned off the light and walked out into the living room to find her other companion: the bird.
"Pen-Pen, where are you?" she asked stepping around the beer cans that littered the floor. There was something sticking out from underneath her table that she didn't notice and stepped on it.
"YOUCH!" the penguin warked loudly as he shot off the ground and rocketed into the bottom of the table.
"What the… Oh sorry Pen-Pen," Misato said taking her foot off his wing and quickly moving the table to get to her buddy.
When she picked him up he was already out. "Oh, man. Well at least I won't get yelled at till tomorrow, when he wakes up with a big hang-over and hurting flipper. Oh well…" she sighed as she picked up her little buddy and carried him over to his fridge in the kitchen. She opened the door and placed him in his make-shift bed. "Good thing I had a small ice box installed for him in the new house. I even gave him enough room to have his own TV," she said with a small chuckle.
"Well time for bed," she yawned and stretched and then went back into her room with Kaji and undressed before getting into bed with her boyfriend. She was asleep in a matter of moments.
Back in the gym the teens were just finishing up their training for the day.
"Man you can run people rough," Shinji said soaking in sweat.
"That's the only way to train for an Eva pilot," Jason replied with a smile.
"Yeah, brings back some memories of me and Shinji training together," Asuka said with a small smile.
Shinji blushed a little bit. "Yeah, it does," he replied with a small chuckle.
"Well it's getting late so I think we should all get a good night's sleep. You guys did good today. I have a feeling you two are natural athletes," Jason said as he picked up his shirt.
"Thanks and you two both need showers bad…" Asuka said holding her nose and waving her hand in-front of her.
"Yeah, but you do too. Perfume and sweat don't mix," Jason joked back.
"Ha ha, very funny," Asuka said smacking Jason on the shoulder playfully.
"You know he's right don't you?" Shinji asked keeping the joke going.
"Why you…" Asuka took off after Shinji in mock anger as he ran away laughing. Jason followed and they ended up at their apartments not too long after.
"Hey, I'll see you guys later, I'm going to wash off this inch thick layer of sweat," Jason called from in-front of his apartment.
"Alright good night Jason," Shinji called with a smile from the strangle hold Asuka had him in.
"Guten Nacht, Jason," Asuka also called with a smile.
"Good night guys," Jason replied as he entered his apartment. "Hey Kinori," he said noticing her sitting on the couch.
"Hi Jason. How was your day?" she looked back at him from the couch.
"Pretty good, actually. I finally found out what happened during Third Impact, and a lot of old secrets about NERV. I heard you guys went and seen the new house," he said sitting down next to her.
"Yeah, it's really cool. And guess what," she said using every bit of control she could to keep the school girl in her down.
"What? You're going to live with us out there or something?" he said joking around.
"Yep," she said with a big smile.
"Holy shit, no kidding?" he asked surprised.
"No kidding. I'm going to be staying in the room across the hall from yours," she replied giggling.
"That's for the agent though. So are you going to bunk with her?"
"Yep, Misato's getting a bunk bed for the room. So until she shows up we have to come up with something to explain what the top bunks for."
"Say you brought it from here. Asuka and Shinji haven't been to Maya apartment so they wouldn't know."
"Yeah, good idea."
"Well if you can't already tell I've been training for at least the last three hours, so I'm taking a shower then going to bed," Jason said getting up and going into his room.
"Ok and yeah. I could tell," she said following him into the room holding her nose.
"Very funny. Well… you should get to bed, so I'll leave you alone so you can sleep good night," Jason said after he picked up some clothes and stood in the entrance.
"Good night Jason. And thank you again," Kinori said getting under the covers of his bed. She was already in her pajamas when Jason got there.
"Anytime Kinori, and good night," he said closing the door and walking to the bathroom.
In the bathroom he undressed and looked at all of his scars: the one on his stomach, from Roger, and the one on the back of his thigh, from the monk. He turned to he could see the latest two additions to his scar collection in the mirror; the bullet wound, and the eight inch gash; both from SEELE.
"Man, what am I? Everyone's punching bag. Who's going to give me the next one?" he asked to no one.
He turned toward the shower and started the water, getting in when it was the right temperature.
In the love birds apartment Shinji was just getting out of the shower.
"Asuka, it's all yours," he called as he walked out of the bathroom in his boxers and a towel over his head.
"Ok," she said walking into the bathroom carrying her clothes with her. Shinji noticed that she didn't give her usual warning of not peeking at her.
"Asuka? Aren't you going to warn me to not peek?" he asked as she started to close the door.
"Why? You've already seen my breasts," she replied calmly.
"Well… umm…" he stuttered as he blushed.
"Come on, lighten up. It's just skin after all."
"Well… still…"
"It's ok with me if you see me nude. Strangely enough, I'm comfortable with it," she said leaning on the side of the doorway.
"Good… I think. I'm not to sure about it though," he stated as he fiddled with his fingers.
"Well then… don't worry about it," she said as she turned and walked into the bathroom, closing the door behind her.
"Ok," he replied as he walked toward the couch. 'She's changed. Ever since Jason got here she's acted more open. I'm going to have to thank him for it. I wonder if it's because he speaks German too. Well what ever it is, I still need to thank him. Now the only problem is me opening up more,' he thought as watched some TV.
He watched TV for almost an hour before Asuka came back out of the bathroom.
"Hey, let's get to bed. If Jason's going to run us that rough, we're going to need our sleep."
"Yeah, alright," Shinji replied walking with her into their bedroom.
Inside the two of them went straight to their bed and got under the covers. She cuddled up to him when they both were covered and hugged him softly.
"Shinji…"
"Yeah?"
"Thank you."
"For what?" he asked looking down at her.
"Being here with me," she replied looking up to him with loving eyes.
"You're welcome and thank you too; you've stayed with me just like I've stayed with you."
"You're welcome my Shinji baka," she whispered softly as she leaned up to him and gave him a soft kiss.
He returned the gesture and kissed her back, hugging her close to his body. They slowly parted after a bit, looking into each other's eyes finding the love they have always wanted.
"Good night my Shinji," Asuka said as she laid her head on his chest.
"Good night Asuka," he replied running his hand through her hair softly, feeling how soft the hair actually was.
Both lay down and slowly fell asleep, loving the comfort they gave each other.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Jason's apartment
The last person still awake from the Eva gang was just getting out of his hot shower. He reached out and grabbed a towel off of a rack near the shower and began to dry off.
"SHIT!" he yelled when he stepped on the edge of the shower and slipped, falling on his butt. "Damn, I need to watch that a little more," he complained standing back up.
"Jason, are you ok?" Kinori called through the door.
"Yeah, just fell on my ass, that's all," he replied as he dried off.
"Oh, ok. I'm going back to bed then."
"Ok thanks for caring."
"Anytime, as you would say," she replied coolly walking back into Jason's room.
Jason finished drying off and got dressed in some gym shorts and a loose t-shirt.
He left the bathroom and walked over to his couch, lying down on it and covering himself up.
'Well today was fun. I went skating, got shot, had surgery, trained, learned what really happened, and took on two trainees. Man I've had one busy day,' he thought as he drifted to sleep.
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A/N: Damn, another really long chapter. I couldn't stop writing and I couldn't break it. Hoped you guys liked it. Please review. Keep it frosty.
