Sorry for taking so long with updates. I'll try to continue this faster if I can. Not a huge chapter, but I'm resolving this battle once and for all.
Tokyo 3, Japan
Shinji Ikari ran down the streets of Tokyo 3 with widened and confused eyes, not paying any mind to Rukia as she ran behind him.
So…they're human souls…they…have as much a right to existence as we do, these so-called monsters…what am I doing…aren't I just doing what I did with Kaworu again and again?!
"Shinji! Focus! It's heading right for Misato!"
Always…always saving the day…is that really me, Kaworu?
"SHUT UP!"
Shinji Ikari stiffened as he heard Asuka's voice inside of him, berating and cruel but full of firm determination.
"You were always such a wuss, Third Child. I have no idea why SHE fell in love with you."
"But…they have a right to existence…Kaworu did…they're…they're human souls!"
"Shut up and do your duty! Or you'll never see her again…"
"Asuka…"
Rukia grimaced, clearly aware that Shinji was babbling with his mind elsewhere.
"Focus, Shinji! It's right there! We have no time to discuss the philosophies or rights of existence for these monsters. They must be destroyed, or else, Misato will die!"
Misato stiffened as she felt the ground around her shake. Maybe she HAD had too much liquor previously, Kaji had always warned her against such drunken tomfoolery. Or had that been Ritsuko?
Too mixed up…what's going on?!
She turned around just in time to see the impossible. A tall clawed beast in front of her, looming ominously with what seemed to be a grotesque caricature of Ryōji Kaji's face beneath a half-cleaved mask and his flowing ponytail.
"K-Kaji?!"
This…isn't possible…
She had no time to react as the monster's clawed fist slammed into her, batting her away like some toy.
Shinji's eyes widened in surprise.
"You mean…Hollows attack their own families?
Rukia nodded sternly as she replied.
"Yes, Shinji!"
"Why is that?! Aren't the hungry monsters indiscriminate? Don't they just eat souls when they're hungry?"
"The ones that do that…have already devoured their families…"
"What?!"
"That's why that last Hollow went after you…and that's why this one is going after Misato…One last thing, Hollows don't eat souls because they're hungry…they do it to ease their pain and suffering. A Hollow or 'Angel' is a fallen soul, a soul that wasn't brought to Soul Society by a Shinigami. Souls that escaped or weren't protected from Hollows. A soul like that just degenerates, loses its heart, and becomes a Hollow itself. These dark souls, they seek out their families and friends in their past lives, purely to fill their empty and hollow hearts. You often hear stories about a husband dying and then the wife dying a few years after, right? That's because the husband became a Hollow and ate the wife's soul…today, when we saw Misato, she had a bruise on her leg, a mark, right? That was a Hollow bite mark. That's why I asked if she had any family, and you said…Kaji was the closest thing she'd had, and he was dead…"
"You mean?!"
"If you were right, then that leaves no doubt, Shinji. Misato is the one being attacked!"
Misato gasped for air, finding herself on the pavement, a chain connecting her to…her own body?
What…what's going on?! What is this monster? My body is…over there? What the hell happened to me?!
She felt faint, grasping at the chain connected to her chest.
Did I die? My head is spinning…Kaji…Shinji…What's this chain? It really hurts…I want to break it…
"Have you forgotten me already, my Misato?"
Misato's eyes widened as she turned to gaze at the terrifying monster before her, taking in its vicious but…eerily familiar voice.
"W-Who are you? How do you know my name?!"
"You've already forgotten my voice? How sad, Misato…"
In an instant the beast brought its claw down hard towards Misato once more, intending to rend her apart.
However it was stopped, and there she saw Shinji Ikari with the largest sword she had ever seen in her life blocking the claw. Shinji grimaced, dressed in strange black robes as he tried his best to stop the claw, in between Misato and the beast.
"Sh-Shinji?!"
The beast let out a defiant roar, shaking its head from side to side.
"YOU INTERFERE?!"
"Sorry…but it's kinda my job now…if you want to kill Misato, you better kill me first!"
The beast stepped back, revealing that it did not have legs per se, rather a serpentine lower body in the form of a massive snake-like tail. Its upper body was highly muscular, up to its clawed arms and vicious-looking mask with a ponytail sprouting out of it.
It paused there, staring at Shinji, who found himself rather intimidated indeed.
Is it going to give up or run away? Maybe me blocking it surprised it…someone's on the ground over there too…who is that?
Shinji's eyes opened wide as he beheld…another Misato sprawled onto the floor, connected by a chain to the Misato he had just defended.
Misato?! It can't be? She's behind me right now!
"Shinji! It's you!"
How can Misato see me in my Shinigami form?!
"You can see me?"
"Um…yes, I can Shinji…what are you talking about?"
The beast's voice and steamy breath suddenly came from right behind Shinji's face as it replied and assessed the situation both Misato and Shinji were in.
"ISN'T IT OBVIOUS? IT'S BECAUSE THAT'S HER SOUL! TOO BAD FOR YOU, MISATO IS ALREADY DEAD!"
In an instant the beast sent its tail swinging at Shinji, who just barely managed to block it…but found himself overcome from the strength behind the blow and unable to cut the skin of the tail.
Scales? My blade can't cut through this thing?!
Shinji let out a gasp as the tail sent him flying up into the air, just barely managing to stop himself by slamming his hand into the pavement and skidding to a halt.
"Damn it!"
The beast let out a wild laugh, shaking its head.
"What's wrong?! For a guy spouting off big words, your movements sure are slow. Aren't you supposed to be a Shinigami? The Third Child himself? Is it that much of a shock that Misato's soul has been removed from her body, huh, SHINJI IKARI!"
Letting out that final part as a roar, the beast opened up its maw and sent out a stream of unknown liquid flying out towards Shinji. Shinji's eyes widened as the stream slammed against the hand holding his sword and began to painfully burn and seer his flesh.
Dropping his sword, he gasped in surprised and held his burnt hand.
"What?!"
He had no time to say anything else as the monster's tail slammed him hard into the pavement, leaving his body limp. Rukia ran towards him in surprise and terror, while Misato found herself paralyzed on the floor in terror just as the beast reached out and grasped her with one massive clawed hand.
"Shinii! Let me go! Shinji!"
The beast stared down at her, and it was only then that Misato realized it was almost gently holding her in its claws.
"HAVE YOU REALLY FORGOTTEN ME, MISATO? IT'S ME."
The beast brushed away part of its hair to reveal the section of its mask that had been torn apart earlier by Shinji's sword, revealing an eye that was eerily familiar to Misato Katsuragi.
"K-Kaji?!"
Meanwhile, Rukia was shaking the unconscious Shinji as best she could, though it only took him a few seconds to come to, grasping the bruises on his head and groaning.
"Wake up Ichigo!"
"Ugh…what…what happened…"
"What do you mean? Why did you get slapped around like that?!"
"…I don't know…this is different from before…"
"How is it different from any other battle? Your friends have always been in danger from these beasts. You have to destroy them!"
"But…it's…Kaji!"
"I see, well then…don't forget…if you lose, that beast you call 'Kaji' will devour Misato's soul!"
Misato gazed up at the beast, overcome with emotion, trembling in its claw.
"Is…is that really you, Kaji?"
"Yes…it is me Misato. So…you haven't forgotten me completely then."
"Then why are you doing this?! You attacked Shinji!"
"WHY!? ISN'T IT OBVIOUS!? They're trying to tear you and I apart! Trying to separate our love!"
"Huh?"
"After I died…you would pray for me everyday, I know…I was always watching, it always made me feel so happy…I had died, but I felt that everything would be alright just because of your prayers. But years have gone by and I've seen you doing nothing but care for Shinji! Since then I watched as the days you thought and prayed for me diminished…then…Shinji Ikari finally woke up…and you stopped praying for me entirely! You'd do nothing but talk about him and Asuka! I was seeing myself disappear more and more from your thoughts…"
"Th-That's not true…I still miss you…I always think about you!"
"I was sad, so lonely…so lonely I just couldn't ignore the feeling anymore…the hunger…TO KILL!"
The beast let out a vicious roar, but just then it perked up and glanced backwards just in time to see Shinji Ikari rushing towards its back with his sword raised.
Moving with consummate speed, the beast slammed Shinji with its tail and pinned him to the ground firmly and painfully.
"No! Shinji!"
"Enough of this! Let's be together, Misato. Together with me, like that whole week we spent in love…together with me like we used to be…let's be together forever!"
"If you were sad…you should have told me Kaji…why hurt Shinji like this? You always used to like him as much as I did! You BELIEVED in him! My lover…wasn't a person who did things like this!"
Inside the beast that was Kaji, those words made the final snap. The beast let out a pained roar, gripping Misato painfully in its claws until she screamed and gasped for air.
"WHO DO YOU THINK TURNED ME INTO THIS?! IT WAS YOU, MISATO! YOU AND NERV! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU ALL!"
Suddenly, the beast gasped in pain and suffocation even worse than Misato had been when he had been squeezing the life out of her. The beast's tail had suddenly been sliced into dozens of pieces!
Shinji Ikari rose, a painful fury in his eyes.
"This isn't love…this isn't love…You protect your lover…you live for them…you never say things like that…Asuka taught me that…and she's still with me…protecting me…"
"WHY DO YOU KEEP INTERFERING, SHINJI IKARI!"
"Because…Misato means as much to me as she did once to you…and I won't let you hurt her."
Kaji grinned grimly and spoke, the smoke from his cigarette wafting to the gray ceiling above
"You know what, Shinji? I found out I was afraid of dying. There's never been a moment when I was more afraid, not in all my life."
Shinji stared at Kaji, stricken with terror.
"Did…Did you tell them?"
Kaji looked down, the shadows absorbing his handsome face, his eyes drooping as if to answer in affirmative.
"What…What happened?"
"They left after they found out…they were going to kill me anyway, but I managed to get past the guard and sprinted towards where my friends were, to warn them…When…When I got back to our building...I saw soldiers burning rubber, looking like they were making a getaway. All of them…All of them…"
Kaji looked Shinji in the face as Shinji's eyes widened even more.
"I lived to tell this story…by taking the lives of my friends…and my brother. So yeah, it was simple. I had traded them for me."
Kaji's hands shook imperceptivity as he continued.
"But…I started to think about it this way…What in the hell were we all doing in that situation, anyway? It was because of the Second Impact. It was…something to go on, something to go on for. It was around that time that the U.N. published the official explanation for that event. A meteor had hit Antarctica they said. I didn't buy it. If there were people behind this, then they should be punished, or they would only make more victims…I thought I could atone for my brother…by uncovering the truth of what happened."
Kaji pulled out a cigarette and calmly lighted it.
"I was lucky, I eventually found relatives who took me back in. Got back in school, and they sent me to college. Learned a lot there…"
"To become a spy?"
"Hah…You could say that…It was then that I met Katsuragi…We fell in love right away. We were so happy. But…we were consumed by our happiness. That suddenly, one day, some fear stuck me down. I wondered…if I deserved this, when I killed my own brother."
"What!" Is that why you broke up?"
"I just couldn't spend my time being in love anymore…"
"I feel sorry for Misato…I think…she still loves you. She…She said that there are something you can't help, even if you're in love."
Kaji took a puff of his cigarette and looked intently at the floor.
"It's the same…with her, Shinji."
"What do you mean?"
"She's the sole survivor of the Katsuragi Expedition that was there when Second Impact happened. There was never any meteor. She's the only living soul who actually saw it up close. Her father was heading the investigation of the object called "Adam" that they had discovered…buried in Antarctica. And then, it happened. They were both wounded, with only one escape vessel. He put her in. She survived…he died."
Shinji's eyes widened once more as he heard Misato's past.
"It runs down her body you know…The scar, it runs deep inside. I know it's why she joined NERV, just like it's why I'm spying on it. Neither of us…deserve to be happy. And...Shinji…Neither do you."
Kaji stared Shinji intently in the eyes, Kaji's eyes now gaining a harder less casual look to them.
"What do you mean...I'm not the same as you…Are…you…You're talking about Toji! That wasn't my fault. Dad did it!"
Shinji roared with all his weak voice.
"Toji died because of dad!"
Kaji slowly held the cigarette in his fingers, the smoke billowing around.
"And you, Shinji. You just watched…You could've stopped it if you tried. If you had fought before they switched over to the dummy system you might have been able to defeat the angel, and save Suzuhara's life. But…you didn't. Suzuhara died…and you survived. Just like how I survived."
"We always deserved happiness together…it was the only place we could find it…Just the two of us…I won't let you have her in the living world anymore, Shinji Ikari."
"What?!"
"You're no less of a monster than me…you know that, Third Child. I will not be the final messenger to come! There are even more of us!"
The beast let out a vicious roar, flying forward with its mouth opened wide to swallow Shinji whole, only to have him block the massive fangs with his sword and stop it from closing entirely.
"Misato…isn't an object…she doesn't…belong to anyone…"
"SHE'S MINE! ALL OF HER! I LIVED MY LIFE FOR HER! FOR THE LOVE WE SHOULD HAVE HAD TOGETHER! THE LIFE WE SHOULD HAVE HAD! SHE MUST DIE FOR ME!"
The monster suddenly swerved away, flying straight towards Misato with the intent to swallow her whole. To Shinji's surprise, she didn't move at all, letting it bite onto her arm and shoulder and then grasping its fanged mouth with a sad look in her eyes.
The beast for its own part stopped its attack, staring at her tenderness with shocked and widening eyes as blood dripped from the bite marks on her body.
"At the beginning…Kaji…all I did was pray for you…but I realized then, I didn't want you just seeing me being sad, I thought that would worry you…I wanted you to know what was going on in my life, to know that I was okay now and that I would always love you…to know that Shinji and Asuka were okay…That's why I wanted to show you that I was happy now! That you wouldn't have to worry for me anymore!"
The beast fell to its knees as Misato continued.
"I'm sorry…I didn't realize I was making you lonely and sad, Kaji…"
Shinji's eyes widened as Misato spoke.
"Misato!"
However, Rukia grasped him by the shoulder, strengthening his resolve and speaking in a commanding voice.
"Rukia?!"
"The chain of fate on her chest isn't broken yet. As long as she is still connected to her body with it, there's still hope, she's not yet dead. I can fix her with my Shinigami arts!"
Rukia rushed forward to heal Misato while the beast that was Kaji fell to its hands and knees and stared at Shinji, muttering under its steamy breath.
"Yeah…in truth I knew that you had stopped praying for me because you didn't want me to see you sad. But I…actually wanted you to keep praying, because only during the time that you were praying for me was your heart still completely mine, Misato…"
Shinji grimaced, glancing at the beast.
"What are you talking about? She still sees you in her dreams every night…She's always talking about you, Kaji. She never stopped wearing that crucifix because of YOU."
Kaji's eyes widened in surprise.
"You told me you two were survivors who never deserved happiness because you traded your lives away. You said I was like that too…but you know what Kaji? That's bullshit. Asuka taught me that."
"I…never noticed…"
The beast began to grasp its own mask and rip it off, shattering it into pieces as blood streamed down its face.
"What are you doing?! Kaji?
"It's fine…I told you before, I don't deserve happiness. If I stay like this, I might lose myself and come back and attack her again one day. That's why, now that I have regained a small piece of myself and my sanity…I wish to finally disappear."
"But…"
Rukia interrupted, shaking her head sternly.
"His decision is correct. Once you become a Hollow, you can never revert back…allow him to disappear."
"But…Rukia!"
"Don't worry…Cutting a Hollow isn't the same thing as killing them, it isn't the same thing as 'destroying an Angel' as you humans thought. It is to wash away their sins! By cutting them with the zanpakutou, their sins are washed away and they can go to Soul Society. That's why we Shinigami exist!"
Shinji's eyes widened and he fell to his knees.
"Then that means...Kaworu?"
Kawuro turned as he heard a large crash behind him, just in time to see Evangelion Unit 01 stalk into the chamber, a dozen or more feet away.
Kawuro smiled serenely as the large Evangelion hand grasped him, tight enough to stop escape, but not too tight as to break his skeleton.
"Ah Shinji…I am glad. Thank you Shinji."
"Kawuro!"
"I wished you to take Unit 02 from me, otherwise I may have survived much longer"
"Kawuro…Why?"
"It is my destiny to live forever, though it will destroy the Lillim. However it is possible for me to be killed, and whether I live or die makes no great difference. The one thing you Lillim have never been able to grasp, is death maybe the only absolute freedom there ever was."
"What are you talking about Kawuro! I don't understand this!"
"This is my last wish, Shinji. Destroy me. Otherwise you will be destroyed. The life that escapes the time of annihilation, and that obtains the future, is only one and, you are not the one who must die."
Shinji looked down, his entire body shivering.
"Shinji? Why do you hesitate? You need the future. It is what you live for."
"Kawuro…."
"Thank you. My life was meaningful because of you…Goodbye"
Kaji gave a sad smile, feeling his body slowly beginning to disintegrate as he began to kneel over Misato's wounded form.
"There's something…I always wanted to tell you…Misato…"
"I know…I always loved you too, Kaji."
Ryōji Kaji's form disappeared finally, with a single stream of tears flowing down its face as it returned to oblivion.
Enough
Sometimes when I feel the life
At the brink of my throat
Overwhelming
I feel my vision blur
As I curse the curs
Deep within, that in the guise
Of love as wealth
Tore my soul
From myself
And crumble my mumbling health
Turned sober from life?
I beg to differ
Life rammed itself into
My stomach
Teeter
Makes me feel like an
Old drunk
These days you don't need a bottle
To vomit
Or a syringe
To feel withdrawal
Sometimes life
Is more than
Enough
Copyright Sanbud Tehrani
Not a bad chapter, hopefully. I tried to make the crossover fluid and interesting to fans of both series. By the way, please don't hesitate to review, it tells me people are actually reading!