Disclaimer: I do not own Neon Genesis Evangelion or any of the songs included in this fic or anything else that has copyright laws on it so please don't sue me.
They got home an hour later, they had to call for a second car to take them all, the driver at the time had said he could do two trips but nobody could decide who would go first.
Rei, Keitaro, Toji and Hikari shared one car and Shinji, Asuka and Kensuke shared the other, Shinji and Kensuke had argued good heartedly about various things, Bands, guitars and various other things that Asuka didn't understand, it wasn't that she wasn't included it was that she had nothing of significance to add.
But she wasn't that bothered especially with what was probably going on between the two couples in the other car, which was shown in their red and flustered faces when they got out of the car at the apartment.
When they got in the apartment, the four band members and one respective girlfriend seemed to go to their own respective spots in the place and by that I mean they rushed in and fought over the best seats in the place.
Asuka stood there quite dumbfounded at the sight of Shinji, Toji and Kensuke fighting over the single armchair facing the TV, she couldn't help but smile at the way they wrestled in a sibling manner, with the three of them all locked together on the floor just before the chair, one seeming to get away but then being pulled back into the fray by another.
On the couch the two girls were having what looked like a tickling match to win the seat on the left hand side of the couch, which also had a good view of the TV, Rei kept pocking Hikari in the sides, while Hikari kept on going for the neck, both were in fits of laughter, while both struggling to take the seat.
Asuka noticed that Keitaro was standing next to her, but he didn't seem at all surprised or concerned about what was happening, he just stood there smiling and shacking his head at the commotion.
"Sorry" Asuka said, feeling that she had to apologies for her friends actions at her house, Keitaro looked around at her a bit confused at first, then smiled and rubbed the back of his he while replying.
"Its ok, its kind of nice to think that they are already comfortable enough to act like complete idiots around me" he replied, Asuka smiled her self at this, he had hit something there, most of the night he had been quite and seemed like the idiot that Rei had described him as, he was like Shinji seeming so out of touch then coming up with something that had wisdom beyond his own age in it.
She turned back to the fray and watched as Kensuke got away from the tussle on the floor, quickly dodging Toji's hand that grabbed at him and then running and sitting down in the chair.
"YES!!" he shouted when he sat down "I'm the man" he said do a bit of a victory dance, while sitting down, the two on the floor got up laughing and congratulated Kensuke.
The girl's fight came to its end as Rei fell of the couch crying with laughter as Hikari tickled her under the arms and sides. Then Hikari did her own victory dance of sorts, then looked around and saw Asuka and Keitaro standing watching.
"Sorry, just something we do every now and then" she said blushing slightly, everyone else took there seats, Hikari got up to let Toji sit down so she could sit on his lap, Rei beckoned Keitaro over to do on the other side of the couch.
Asuka was wondering were she should sit until Shinji told her to sit in between the two couples, while he went and got a chair from the kitchen and placed it in between the couch and armchair. When everyone was situated, Asuka finally asked what the two wrestling matches had been all about.
The group of friends explained that one time when they were coming her to watch a movie, Kensuke went and sat in the armchair while Shinji wasn't looking, which went to them having an argument, then Toji joined in so now they fight over who gets the armchair when ever we come here, then Hikari went to explain that this part of the Couch was both the best position for the TV and the most comfy. Asuka recalled how that side had always felt comfier to her. So this led to Rei and her fighting over this side of the couch.
"Fighting is a bit of a strong word" Kensuke put in, now lying with his back against one armrest and his legs over the other looking very smug.
"Yeah its more like play wrestling like between brothers and sisters" Toji put in, he had Hikari across his legs with his left arm around her, while his right hand was stroking from her mid thigh to her knee.
Asuka had worked out that this must have been happening for a while because nobody seemed that bothered by it.
To her right Rei and Keitaro were pretty much paralleling Hikari and Toji, but instead of stroking her leg, he had his hand in her finger interlinked and instead of the complete look of confidence and comfort with the position that Toji had, he looked scared and slightly close to fainting and he seemed to keep moving his hand that was around Rei, as if worried that he would touch something he shouldn't, but he seemed to be getting hold of himself with the slight tightening that Asuka could see from Rei's hand.
They all stayed up for another hour talking about mundane things, like how the show had gone, how their days had been and such things that would most likely be forgotten in the morning.
Asuka watched Shinji out of the corner of her eye, he did join the conversation a bit, but he seemed withdrawn, but not like he was before more like he seemed to enjoy watching the other talk and how they got on, she thought this because he had a small smile at the edge of his lips through out as his eyes followed the conversation, like watching a ball being thrown from one person to the other.
"Well I'm pooped" Said Kensuke stretching on his armchair, "what time is it?" he asked.
"About three o'clock" Shinji replied looking at his wristwatch.
"Well I'm going to sleep, you five wanna get of my bed?" Kensuke asked the people on the couch.
"Bed?" Asuka asked slightly confused, watching as the two couples got up.
"Yeah Kensuke always takes the couch" Hikari answered "Me and Toji will take Misato's room" she announced as she pulled Toji along to the room, Kensuke high fived him as he passed and gave him a wink.
Hikari slapped Toji on the arm but didn't drop the smile on her face and the slight blush, Toji just followed as if he was a sheep being led to the slaughter, a slaughter that Asuka believed he had been looking forward to all night.
Asuka was about to comment on this when suddenly she felt some one pull her to the other side of the room, she looked around and saw Rei, she was blushing and kept looking over in Shinji's directions, when she felt that she was far enough away so no one would listen she turned around.
"Hey Asuka do you think that Keitaro and me can have your bed for the night?" she asked, while going slightly redder, Asuka couldn't help but smile.
"What are you going to do?" Asuka asked, having trouble keeping hold of her mirth.
"We're not going to sleep together, just, you know spend the night together" Rei replied, she looked over at Keitaro with the last part with a slight smile.
Asuka looked over at Keitaro, he was sitting on the armchair and seemed to be having an interesting conversation with Shinji, Asuka thought about what she had seen of the boy today and thought that he wouldn't do anything anyway, so she said yes, which caused Rei to hug her and call her the best.
Then she ran of to Keitaro and whispered in his ear, which made him blush and cause a small trickle of blood come from his nose, he looked over at Asuka and nodded then followed Rei to Asuka's room.
Then something dawned on Auks, were was she going to sleep, Kensuke was settled on the couch, with a pillow and blanket, the pillow having some kind of anime character on it dressed in a red trench coat, with a large silver gun and yellow tinted sunglasses.
Shinji seemed to realize this as well and gestured for he to come with him "Hey you can sleep in my bed while I sleep on the spare futon in my room with you" he said.
"No that's ok I will sleep on the futon, out here" Auks replied, she didn't know what to think about staying in the same room as Shinji.
"No you don't want to sleep in the same room as Kensuke" Shinji said, Before Auks could ask why, a loud snore came from were Kensuke laid. They both laughed out loud at this, which caused Kensuke to wake up.
"What's so funny?" he asked drowsily, but before they could reply he fell back to sleep and let out and even louder snore.
They both made there way to Shinji's room, while trying to stifle their laughter.
Auks took in Shinji's room when she entered, she had been in here only a few time when they were younger, back then it had nothing in it, it had had a nothing on the walls, one desk with only a few paper on it and his cello stood in the same place every time.
Now it was completely different, the cello was still there but now there were a number of guitars in stands around the room, some acoustic but the most were electric.
The desk now had a computer on it which was a make that Auks didn't recognize, it looked like a normal flat screen monitor but that was all there was, no tower, no modem just the screen and the symbol of an apple on it just confused her even more.
But one of the most interesting thing that was different was that his wall had an array of different posters on the wall, she couldn't read the writing of the posters, because she had never really learnt to read kanji, but she had the idea that they were most likely of bands, she only spotted one poster that she could read, but that was because it was the basic lettering of ACDC, which had a picture of a shirtless man on it, with long hair and playing a guitar.
She took her eyes away from the posters and watched as Shinji set up the futon, she remembered watching him set it up once before, when they were trying to sync with each other to defeat the seventh angel, she had made him set out both his and her bed, she had recalled at the time at how he had seemed so precise in his work, so dedicated and exact even with something as simple as making up a bed.
When she looked now it was the same, he was still being exact and concentrating on what he is was doing in a manner that was not needed, this made her smile, even though it was nice to see all these differences and begin to except them, she still missed the other Shinji and seeing some of the old one made her glow inside.
Shinji turned around and saw that Auks was searing at him with a smile on her face, though her eyes showed that she was far away.
"Hey Auks you ok?" he asked, she seemed to come out of her trance and blushed slightly.
"Sorry just think about something" she replied while.
"About what?" Shinji asked smiling.
"Just about the old days" she replied, Shinji's face dropped a bit at that, he turned back to the bed and continued to set it up, Auks noticed this, but she decided to push it.
"You remember when we were training to fight the seventh angel?" she asked, while she made her way to sit on the bed.
"Yeah" Shinji replied, his voice sounded flat as if he didn't want to talk about it.
"I was just wondering why you didn't kiss me on the last night?" she asked with a big smile, Shinji's head turned around so fast that Auks was sure she heard something crack.
"You were awake?" he asked with some indignation in his tone.
"No but I got you didn't I?" she said with a big smile, Shinji looked like he was about to rant at her but then thought better of it and smiled.
"Yeah you got me" he replied, he went over to a set of draws and got himself a shirt, he looked over at Auks and asked her to look always while he changed, while her back was turned she thought of something else.
"What am I going to sleep in?" she asked, hearing the rustling from behind, she so wanted to look round for some reason, but she thought against it.
"You can borrow and old shirt if you want" Shinji replied, when he was done he went got an old button up shirt and put it on the bed beside Auks.
She looked around and saw him dressed in boxers and a dark green T shirt, h e turned around and allowed her some privacy, while she got dressed, she removed all her cloths, throwing them on the floor and picked the shirt up, she noticed it was one of the plain old white shirts that he use to wear she kept her panties on and put the shirt on over her naked torso.
"Done" she announced and sat down on the bed, with her legs tucked in under her; he turned around and sat down cross-legged on his bed.
"Comfy?" he asked.
"Yeah thanks" she replied, she couldn't believe how easy this was just talking to him, a week ago and they would have been shouting, a week ago she was just feeling sorry for herself, the thought of this put a downer on the high that had been taking her through most of the day.
"Hey what wrong?" Shinji asked, noticing a change in Asuka's features.
"It's just…" she started but she couldn't finish her sentence.
"Its just what?" Shinji asked again.
"Its just why is everyone being so nice to me?" Asuka kind of blurted out, she had been wondering about this to herself all night, why were all these people who she use to ridicule and humiliate.
"We missed you that's why" Shinji explained, this didn't seem to work as Azusa's face then turned into a scowl.
"Miss me, yeah right," she said, while fixing Shinji with a hard stare "you all seem to have done fine without me" Shinji looked perplexed.
"You all grew up without me, you all formed this band without me and you all lived your lives without me," Auks said, but it wasn't shouting, it wasn't on the verge of tears and it didn't sound hateful at all. No what her voice sounded like was far worse than these feelings, it sounded like someone she had lost all hope.
"I bet none of you even realized I was even gone" she said while looking away, I wish I had died, she thought to herself.
"That's not true" came a reply from Shinji, his voice sounded hurt "Not a day went by that I didn't think about you" he said looking up, he wasn't crying but like his voice his eyes look like he was hurting inside.
"I spent most of my time at your bedside, just hoping for you to wake up and then you go and say that I didn't even think about you" his voice raised slightly at the end, though the hurt in it remained.
"Shinji I…" but she couldn't finish as Shinji continued, his voice definitely rising now, though not so much to wake everyone up.
"Everyday I spent thinking, when is Auks going to wake up, I hope Auks wakes up today, everyday" he looked down at his lap and kept on repeating these last words, his voice getting lower and lower.
Auks didn't know what to think, He thought of me everyday, She thought to herself, she thought back to night she had, she thought back to the two months spent in apartment, she then thought of the time in the coma and the time before, when she was an EVA pilot, he has always loved me hasn't he, she thought, then it dawned on her, even with all the changes in the world, no more EVA, no more NERV OR SEELE, Hikari and Toji getting together, Rei, everything had changed, except one thing.
For once in a long time Auks genuinely smiled, it was a heartfelt smile that made her glow, a single tear came from her right eye a tear of joy, she got up and made her way to Shinji and sat on his right hand side.
Shinji felt the weight of the mattress shift as she sat next to him, he didn't look up though, then he felt a soft had touch his left cheek and move his face so it was looking at her, he didn't notice that she was crying all he saw was the amazing smile being directed at him, he was having trouble of keeping track of his thoughts because of it.
"I love you too idiot" She said, her voice seeming content, then she lent forwards and kissed Shinji on the lips, the kiss released both of there pent up emotions at once into each other, both of them felt each others emotion flowing through the kiss, the force of the kiss was so overbearing that both of them thought they would die, but if they did it would be done happily and when they separated there were still traces of the feeling flowing between them still.
They both fell asleep on that spare futon that night, both of them locked in a tight embrace, Shinji with his head rested on Azusa's, looking like he had gone to sleep smelling her hair, while Auks slept with her head against his chest listening to his heart beat, which with like a sweet lullaby that sang her to sleep.
That one thing had been Shinji's love. She only saw now that he had always loved her by what he had just said, like the finale piece of a puzzle making, with the piece now in place everything else finally made sense or a better way of describing it would be the finale stroke of a brush to turn an ordinary painting into a master piece of beauty and culture.
Whatever metaphor you want to use, it all comes down to the fact that he loved her, and she loved him and he could go through every day with the hope that she would wake up, because of that love. It was at this point that Auks realized something, she did have a place in the world and she was needed.
But it wasn't just by Shinji, it was all of them, she finally had something that she didn't realize she wanted, no something she didn't realize she needed, it was a family, she was part of a family of people who cared about each other and are there for each other and she would be there for them, because that was her place in the world now.
Authors Notes: I hope you enjoyed it, the idea just came to me one day and I just had to write it, it was something I needed to do. The initial idea was a rock band using the EVA cast, but my mind wandered and expanded, which led to this story.
Songs used:
You Know my Name
By Chris Cornell
/watch?vPU7J5MSIr6U&featurerelated
Every Breath you Take
By The Police
/watch?vWwqhhZnl8G4
Bring me to Life
By Evanescence
/watch?vxj5tvbtj0do
These are links to the songs on YouTube.
Coming soon the next Chapter to Hitokiri Keitaro