Wandering Soul
Chapter 2: I'm Home. Welcome Home
By: Lord Deathscythe

Disclaimer: see part 1

She slowly walked towards the boy; still not quite sure he was real. This was getting Shinji very nervous.

"Are you related to Asuka? You look like you might be her older sister if she had one."

"No, I'm not Asuka's older sister. I'm Asuka." Said the stunned woman.

"Asuka's the same age I am." Shinji replied, getting more nervous by the moment. He had gotten home from school and had been preparing dinner for himself and his roommates when this woman claiming to be Asuka came in. And Asuka had said she wasn't going to be home until later because she was going shopping with Hikari.

"It's not possible, even if he did return after all this time, how is it that he hasn't aged a single day since then?" This was the thing really puzzling her. She had always expected if he returned to have aged as she had, it was only logical seeing as that's what happened with the passage of time. But he hadn't, and he was saying that she wasn't who she was because of her growth with age. "What the hell is going on?"

They stayed that way for another few seconds, just looking at each other. Asuka trying to reconcile that this was Shinji, and Shinji trying to figure out why this young attractive woman said that she was Asuka. As he thought about it though, this is what he thought Asuka might look like if she were in her early twenties. Then he stumbled along a way to be absolutely sure this wasn't her. "Okay, if you are Asuka then you'll know what she and I did the night after I visited my mothers grave." This was the best way to clear this up. He had never told anyone about their only kiss for fear of Asuka's wrath, and he knew she would never tell anyone because she didn't want anyone to think she liked him at all. Even now he was convinced that she did that only to hurt him.

"I teased you into kissing me… than held your nose closed because your breath was tickling me," she said, as she began to choke up on her words. "Afterwards I ran to the bathroom to wash me mouth out. I told you it was because you had kissed me, but it was really because I was starting to like it and I refused to believe that I could feel anything other then contempt towards you. " Asuka replied, tears beginning to stream from her eyes as she choked on her words. For ten years she had felt that if she had followed her heart and not her pride he may have never disappeared in the first place. Looking in her eyes, Shinji could see them begging for forgiveness for that day.

Shinji was stunned, that was something only they would of known. How did this woman know that, unless it was in fact Asuka? "It is Asuka, but how the hell did she age ten years in only a few hours? What's going on?" Shinji thought. "Asuka? Is that really you?"

"Yes, it is. Where have you been for all this time? We thought you were dead or worse." Asuka replied, approaching him slowly, afraid that he might vanish like some dream.

"Where have I been? School only ended a few hours ago, I just got home. How did you age 10 years in only an hour?" Shinji asked shocked at what he was seeing. Sure, piloting Eva was stressful, but this was ridiculous. He could understand two or three stray gray hairs, but Asuka was ten years older now. Asuka finally was right in front of him after her slow approach. Since she had grown almost half a foot in ten years she had to kneel down to look him in the eye. Shinji slowly raised his hand and touched her face, too shocked by what he was seeing to fear reprisal. He placed his hand on her cheek and felt the warmth of her skin, confirming that this beautiful young woman was in fact real. Asuka did the same, both happy and horrified that this was no stress-induced hallucination. After she had confirmed this she started checking him for sign of bodily harm, looking for any wound that may have been on him. Satisfied he was in one piece with no unnatural holes, she brought him into a hug and cried tears of joy. After ten years Shinji had finally returned. And just as suddenly as she had embraced him, she let him go. She ran to the phone quickly and called Misato at Nerv.

"Asuka, who are you calling?" Shinji was still trying to reconcile the data he had just been given.

"The commander, she's going to want to hear about this, then I'm taking you to Nerv medical for a check. I might have missed something, and Rei might be able to shed some light on this."

Shinji frowned slightly, sure that he had miss heard her, "She? Why did you call my father 'she'?"

"Your father isn't the commander anymore. He was forcibly removed from command five years ago."

"What?"

"Yes, a lot has changed."

The phone continued to ring, after the forth ring Misato picked up. "Katsuragi."

"Misato, it's Asuka. Drinking's off tonight, meet me at Nerv Medical ASAP."

"Why, has something happened?"

"You could say that, Shinji's back."

"That's good…. WHAT!!!" Misato's yell came through the phone so loud Shinji could hear it. Abruptly being thrown from the train of thought his mind was engrossed in trying to piece together what had happened, he noticed that dinner was burning and turned off the stove moving towards it and switching it off in almost a robotic motion.

"Yes, he's come home. But there is a big problem. Have Rei meet us at the entrance, I need her to run a full medical scan on him."

Misato was still in shock from the glorious news. Then she tuned into what Asuka was saying and immediately became worried. "Why, what's wrong? Is he hurt, bleeding, missing his arms what?!"

Asuka just chuckled mentally at that, "No, nothing like that, but something weird is going on. Just meet me at Nerv Medical and see for yourself."

"Alright, I'll meet you there with Rei. It'll be good to see him after all this time."

With that Asuka hung up, a thousand thoughts going through her head. Why had Shinji returned now, and why was he still fourteen? It made no sense, people aged, that's one of the constants of life. She took Shinji's hand, trying to be as reassuring as possible. Shinji had begun to tremble uncontrollably, shock beginning to take over his mind. No matter how confused she was, Asuka knew it was a thousand times worse for him. From Shinji's point of view, things had just jumped without his knowing. It was… disturbing, to say the least. A more accurate description of the situation was downright terrifying. He barely noticed as Asuka took his hand and led him to the garage. In a minute they were in her car, a yellow version of Misato's and were off. Shinji, no matter how shocked and out of it he was recognized the driving style.

Asuka was taking curves at speeds even God didn't care to go in an attempt to get to Nerv as fast as possible. As she parked the car in the train and they started their decent, Asuka realized she should probably call Hikari and tell her what's going on. She picked up her cell phone and hit the speed dial. "Hikari, it's Asuka. Something's come up at Nerv and I might be a little late tonight. Also I might have a surprise for everyone so just stay at the apartment. No I won't tell it's classified. All right, I'll see you and the Stooges later."

"Asuka, I know you'll probably call me a wimp for saying this, but I'm scared. What's going on?" Shinji asked her, his hands shaking horribly now.

"I don't think you're a wimp for being scared by this, I would be too if this happened to me. But I promise we'll do what ever we can to find out what happened. I just hope Rei can come up with something."

"Did she just say Rei, and not "Wondergirl"? This is a bit too much. Is this really Asuka? Of course this person's real, I could feel her when I touched her cheek. But Asuka isn't, correction "wasn't" anywhere near as nice as that. I just don't understand." His mind was beginning to overload from the situation. He felt warmth on his right hand all of the sudden, and saw that Asuka had taken his hand in hers. It helped calm Shinji down, but not by much.

Shinji continued trying to make sense out of everything as they continued their descent into the Geofront.

--

Outside Nerv Medical, Commander Misato Katsuragi and Dr. Rei Ayanami awaited the arrival of a boy they hadn't seen in ten years. As they waited Misato thought about what Asuka had told her about the situation. "I hope he's alright, Asuka wouldn't tell me anything other then he was uninjured."

As calm as ever, but without the coldness that had pervaded her manner back before Shinji's disappearance, Rei spoke, "That may be all she knows right now. She is not a medical doctor, nor would she be able to diagnose any internal injuries. She may simply not want us to become too excited if there is a problem, Commander."

"Rei, how many times do I have to tell you to call me Misato and not Commander?"

"You can keep asking, but as long as we are on duty it is only proper that I address you as such."

"The more things change the more they stay the same."

With that, a yellow streak approached. With a kick of the breaks and shifting into reverse, Asuka parked the car with the passenger side facing Misato and Rei. Both of the women were shocked to see a fourteen year old boy exit the vehicle. Misato immediately ran to the car, and as Shinji got out pulled him into a bone-crushing hug. When she pulled back to look at him, she saw why Asuka had been reluctant to speak over the phone. The commander had expected the boy to at least look like he had grown some. But he hadn't aged at all from when she watched Shinji leave for school that morning long ago. Shinji looked at his guardian, stunned to see that she had changed as well. Misato had developed some crows' feet at her eyes, and her hair had grayed slightly over time. She still had a figure that embarrassed him to no end, but that too was more subdued. She wore the all too familiar uniform he had seen his father, Gendo Ikari wear confirming what Asuka had told him. Unlike his father, who had looked so ominous in it, Misato filled it out nicely and still looked warmly upon him. He reached out and gently touched her cheek, mimicking the movements he had used only an hour before with Asuka trying to cement that this was real. He looked over her shoulder and saw another young woman approaching him, about the same age as Asuka. He could tell from the blue hair and red eyes that Rei had changed as well.

"Misato? Rei? What's going on here?" Shinji asked, fear laced in his voice. Misato could feel his body shake horribly as she held him

"We don't know yet, but we will find out so don't worry too much…" Misato never finished her thought. As she began her next sentence, the shock finally over came Shinji and he passed out in her arms. Rei ran over quickly and began a cursory examination.

"He's fine, just passed out. Ikari's mind must have overloaded from the shock of the situation." Rei motioned for the medics to come over, and as they placed the boy on a stretcher Misato moved over to Asuka. The Commander saw the fear and worry in the younger woman's eyes.

"At least he didn't have to see what happened at the end with the angels," Misato said, trying to get Asuka to talk back.

"Good point, he would have gotten so depressed that he would have finally decided to kill himself. We'll just have to watch him closely for a while."

Misato noticed the far and away look in Asuka's eyes almost immediately. She knew she was thinking of the past, and was concerned about the younger woman. She was more worried about Asuka slipping into another depression, especially with what Shinji would need in the coming days. Misato laid her hand on Asuka's shoulder and gave her a motherly smile, one she had become good at in the last ten years. This roused Asuka from he stroll down memory lane, as she turned her head to face her commanding officer.

"Come on, lets go see what Rei can come up with," Commander Katsuragi said to her subordinate and adopted daughter. They headed inside, not sure if they wanted to know what had happened to the boy they both considered family.

To Be Continued…

Authors Notes: Sorry for the delay on part 2. I've been working hard on the site constantly. Also I've been working on revisions for "A Soul Possessed" parts 1-5. I hope to have them as well as part 6 ready soon. I thank Matt Williams, Random1377, and Ryan T. Nelson for their assistance on this story. Also, Ryan has began his second arc for this story exclusively on And if you want a third arc, check out Zero Yuy's "A New Change." He is also on so you can se all three together.

As always C&C is welcome at or