Well as I said I'd get this done a lot earlier then the last four month wait time...and here it is. I think this is the shortest chapter I've done so far for Spawn of Adam, though they wont get shorter than this. Anyway I'm going to yellowstone for ten days and they've got internet there. So hopefully I'll get some typing done while there. Also something I forgot to mention in the last chapter, I made a ShinjiXAsuka amv and put it on youtube. I originally made it back in January but only got around to posting it last month. So if you like Breaking Benjamin (song is Diary of Jane) then you'll probably like this. Ja Ne
"Get up, and make our lunches," said an angry voice from his door.
Shinji rolled over and grumbled about it being to early before Asuka planted her bare foot directly on his face.
"Move it! You better not expect me to eat that shit they call food at school."
Pushing Asuka's foot off his face he glared at her briefly before resigning to her demands. Looked like she was still angry.
Standing up quickly he pushed passed her and walked into the kitchen to start making their bento's. Shinji was somewhat surprised though that she didn't wake him up earlier to make breakfast. Though judging from the bowl of half eaten cereal on the kitchen table she wasn't particularly hungry.
Sighing slightly, he turned towards the fridge and started assembling all the ingredients for the bento's.
Half an hour later, the two of them walked out the door with Asuka maintaing several yards in front Shinji. He didn't seem to mind it really though, if anything he was avoiding her as much as possible.
The day before, when Misato returned from Nerv, Shinji was told that if he continued to fight the angels then he would have to run tests while in the Eva. He wasn't thrilled by this but expected it nonetheless. Asuka seemed furious though and this seemed to just build on top of her new hate for Shinji. So after a hectic yelling match between the two she had hit him...hard, and stormed back to her room. So Shinji would only be more than happy to be able to ignore her for the rest of the day. Though that didn't seem to be the case as a sudden bout of nausea hit him and he felt his vision grow blurry until he passed out.
'Really this is starting to get annoying,' he thought to himself as he watched himself walking out the door of Misato's apartment with Asuka slightly in the lead. It was a replay of what had just happened to him. He watch from above as two of them walked, with her always slightly in the lead.
After several minutes of this he was starting to get bored when everything changed. It looked like he was watching an extremely sped up tape on a VCR. He watched as he entered school and spent most of the time slouching in his chair with his eyes half open, glancing out the window occasionally.
Next they were walking out of the doors to school and seemed to be on their way to the Nerv testing facilities. Except that somebody else was with them. Shinji couldn't tell who it was though and this puzzled him. It was like a gray human like shape was walking in between him and Asuka. Why bother showing the gray shape if he couldn't even see the person. At least he thought it was a person.
When they arrived at Nerv a security personal paused from a moment to check their idea and then let them through. After that Shinji got brief flashes of things that happened in the facilities. He saw as he changed in what Misato had called a plug suit. It seemed to be black, blue and white. He saw himself taking a deep breath before walking into the entry plug of Eva Unit 01. He saw all three of the Evas lined up, including the blue and orange one.
After that almost nothing. He saw a few brief flashes of things that happened afterwards. It looked like him and Asuka had another fight and he was left standing in the road with a red mark on his cheek. After this everything went blurry and he suddenly felt himself falling, and falling into nothingness.
"Wake up, damn it!"
Shinji felt somebody hitting him hard at the side of his head and opened his eyes slowly, just as Asuka was about the backhand him again.
It was curious how he reacted. Before her hand was about to strike him he caught it with surprising speed that he didn't even know he possessed. With a glazed look over his eyes as though he was stilling falling through the blackness he looked up at Asuka. It was hard to tell what her expression was, most of it seemed to be angry but Shinji thought he sensed a tiny bit of worry, though he didn't expect her to say it in words.
"Let go of me ass-hole."
Wrenching her hand out of his grip she glared at him slightly before snarling. "What the fuck was that about?"
Shinji would have dearly liked to retort back something similar but kept his cool and said. "Nothing, just anticipation for today's tests."
"No amount of tests will improve you, baka."
Shinji ignored her comment, stood up calmly, and grabbed his bag which lay discarded on the sidewalk. Turning around briefly he glanced at Asuka briefly who seemed somewhere torn between loathing and spite, which didn't make a difference in Shinji's opinion.
Turning back around he started walking forward at a slow pace when he felt something hard hit his shoulder and a flash of red moved past him. Rubbing his shoulder where she had punched him he looked ahead and was unsurprised that she had widened the distance between them.
"Does she always have to act so superior to everyone?" He mumbled before walking at the same pace that he had been moving at moments before.
School was still a nightmare but one thing seemed to have changed. Kensuke seemed to respect Shinji a little because of what he said at the shelters. Even Touji didn't seem like a jerk as much, but he kept up with it mainly because everyone else did.
When Shinji walked into class that day he was unsurprised to see Asuka already sitting in front of his desk looking determinedly out the window. Ignoring this he walked over to his desk and was about to sit down when he stopped in the middle of sitting. Next to Asuka was a girl with blue hair, the same from the day before.
She gave no inclination that she recognized Shinji, in fact, from his view, she seemed to not even know where she was. A vague, blank expression was on her face as she continued staring at the chalk bored. Shinji noticed, without perverted intentions, that she seemed to be holding herself different, as though she was in discomfort. Then he remembered the large wound that she had suffered and was about to open his mouth when a slight snarl came from across the room.
"Shinji, are you going to stand there forever or can you sit so I can get on with teaching."
Several of the kids snickered as Shinji threw his teacher a scowl and sat behind Asuka who at that moment didn't know who she hated more: Shinji or the First Child.
While school was still something he loathed he found it easier to get through the day. He even started to attracted less unpleasant remarks from the other students, which he thought might have a lot to do with living with Asuka. Seemed many of the boys had finally found out what she was really like and lost interest in her, which seemed to annoy her. After all her complaining about every guy wanting to get in bed with her she was getting annoyed by the lack of attention. Shinji then snorted at the thought of this as he sat down up on the school roof. Classes had just been dismissed for lunch and Shinji didn't have an appetite right now. Last thing he needed was to hurl during his first test.
After several minutes of laying there Shinji thought that he could hear two distinct voices coming up the stairwell. Sitting up just in time he saw the door flung open and bounce off against the wall only to be kicked again. Touji walked disgruntled out into the open with a slight tense Kensuke behind him.
'So much for peace and quiet,' thought Shinji.
Surprisingly though they didn't seem to want to pick on him as Kensuke walked up to Shinji and said rather hurriedly.
"Hey...umm, I'm sorry for everything that I...we've ever done to you." Touji acted as though he wasn't listening. Kensuke continued.
"And I was just hoping that we could put our past differences aside and well..." Kensuke then put out his hand in front of Shinji and gave something close to a bow.
Shinji wasn't sure whether to laugh, rebuke him, or shake his hand. Never being good any stuff like this he scratched the back of his head and said, "Oh...yeah." Grabbing his hand rather uncertain of himself he shook Kensuke's hand who responded by sitting down next to Shinji and opening his lunch box.
"Want some?"
Shinji shook his head, "Best not to."
Kensuke shrugged and went back to eating. It appeared that even Touji's still apparent annoyance of Shinji could not even deter him from eating as he sat down next to Kensuke and plowed into his own lunch. Even though Shinji didn't want to admit it he was glad that he had finally made a friend, well there was Asuka, but that varied.
"Hey Shinji I was wondering," said Kensuke between bites.
"Hmm?"
"What happened to you after we left you at that shelter."
Its a good thing that Shinji wasn't eating anything or he would have just gone into a choking fit. This was the least thing that he expected Kensuke to ask. Stuttering slightly he said, "Oh I wandered around before I found a shelter."
"Did you here about the rumor that have been going around town lately?"
"Err what rumors?" Shinji had an idea but wasn't about to say it.
"That underneath Tokyo-3 is a secret military organization and that it conducted a test yesterday. Thats why the city had to be under isolation."
Shinji let out a sigh of relief.
"And that they supposedly tested some giant robot."
Shinji sigh seemed to be sucked back in as Kensuke's words hit his ears. "Err, know. I didn't hear that," he said sheepishly.
"It seems to be a big story, I just wonder how much is true. Oh what I would give to get a picture of one."
Shinji thought it was time to steer the conversation away from dangerous waters and said quiet bluntly without meaning to. "Who is that blue haired girl that just showed up today?"
Kensuke looked puzzled for a minute before snickering slightly and smiling at Shinji. "I thought I caught you looking at her, what outgrew Asuka already?"
Shinji was slightly annoyed, more for the fact of suggesting him and Asuka having sex then him interested in the blue haired girl.
Passing it off he said, "I'd never live through it. No I was just curious is all. I've been here for almost a month now and I just noticed her today. Has she been here always?"
Kensuke shrugged, "Yeah but she seems to disappear for a while and then just comes back one day. Sometimes she's injured, other times she's fine. No idea what's up with her. She keeps to herself and hardly talks to anyone."
"So what's her name then?"
"Err...Ayanami Rei, I think."
"Ayanami Rei?"
"Yeah, its the first time I can remember seeing her in a few months."
Shinji couldn't think of anything to say at this point and lapsed into silence. So her name was Ayanami Rei and she was also an Eva pilot. Chances are then that he'd see her later again.
Kensuke appeared to be done with his lunch and Touji had finished his in record time. Standing up Kensuke said, "I guess I'll see you in class then, Shinji."
"Yeah cya," said Shinji who was absorbed in his own thoughts.
After the two stooges left Shinji flung himself on his back as he looked up at the clouds. Reflecting back on what had happened the past week his life had definitely taken a turn, but in which direction. Compared to what it used to be he supposed that it was better. He had a decent home with a nice roommate...and a not so nice roommate, well usually. And he had started to get used to peoples company.
Though everything bad that he had seen, the Eva, angels, the visions, the damn visions. What in the hell we're they really? Premonitions about the future, or events that may or might not happen, and why him? What did he do to make this happen to himself? A book certainly couldn't tell Shinji what he wanted to know.
Then there was Eva Unit 01, his Eva he supposed, as it wouldn't let anyone else pilot it but him. It was obviously different then the other Eva's but in what way. Did the others hear a voice every time they got in that entry plug? Did they connect physically and mentally with the Eva every time they piloted it? Shinji rather doubted it.
"To many questions," he mumbled out loud to nobody but himself. Or at least he thought.
"Does it hurt," asked a calm voice?
Shinji almost had a heart attack as he bolted upright. Standing several feet in front of him was Ayanami Rei and once again she had a passive look on her face.
Shinji gaped openly for a second or to and then closed his mouth. He had an urge to say something funny but couldn't quite get his tongue to wrap around them.
"Hey what's up?" He asked in a feeble attempted at a conversation.
She continued to look passively back at him without any sign of emotion. Shinji was starting to get annoyed.
Sitting up he said, "Look, if you don't have anything to say then I'm heading back to class."
Shinji then pushed himself up and walked past her. At first he thought that she was going to stop him and he hesitated for a fraction of a second, but then continued walking past her. However when he was about to reach for the door nob to take him to the stairwell she finally opened up.
"Are you going to continued piloting Eva?"
Shinji wheeled around and was unsurprised to see that she still hadn't moved but was still standing in the same place, as though he had never moved. He was starting to get used to her weirdness.
Wrenching open the door he paused in front of it and said, "Yeah."
Glancing briefly at her he didn't see any sign of change and let out a sigh. Had he been expecting something? Ignoring the thought he started walking back towards class.
The minute that Shinji walked into class Asuka threw him a dirty scowl, which he saw but ignored it. She could be so childish sometimes. However several seconds later her scowl intensified, as Shinji was walking back towards his desk, when Rei walked into the classroom. Asuka's imagination started to buzz rapidly as she thought of reasons why they were mere moments apart from walking into the class room. None of the conclusions she came up with satisfied her.
Many hour later school ended and Shinji was almost grateful, or would have been if he didn't have to climb into an Eva.
The walk to Nerv was uneventful to say the least. He was right in assuming that Rei was a regular Eva pilot as she seemed to be going the same way as he and Asuka. Though it seemed that Asuka was determined that she was the leader as she continued to speed up every once in a while.
Shinji was nervous and it showed. His eyebrows were sweating and he was starting to bite his lip. He had a sudden urge then to ask Asuka some things about the tests that he would be going through soon. Speeding up, he was still determined though to stand far enough back so that he would be able to avoid a punch from her if she got angry. Still unsure if this was even smart he opened his mouth and said, "Hey Asuka can I ask you something?"
She ignored him like he thought. It was worth a shot, but he still had an idea.
Laying the respect on a bit thick he said, "Asuka please, you've been doing this a lot longer than I have. I want to know what to expect from these tests since you've had much more experience than I have."
Shinji was counting on Asuka's pride as an Eva pilot that she would answer his questions. It seemed to work.
She glanced behind at him quickly with a frown on her face as though still unsure if she was angry at him or not. 'Oh what the hell. I do have the best combat record,' she thought.
"The tests are simple enough, at least most of them. Today will be nothing more than a synchronization test."
"And what does that mean?" Shinji didn't want to ask to much and anger her so he thought to ask the basics only.
"For an idiot like you it means nothing more than becoming used to being in the entry plug."
Shinji wanted to throw back a retort but thought better and bit his tongue, at least they were talking now.
"So we won't be doing any simulations?"
"No! You won't be for a while. You're barely able to synchronize with your Eva. It'll take you months to get to the level that I'm at."
"And what about Rei?"
Asuka's mood turned sour at her name and spun around and Shinji was glad that he had maintained a good distance between them as she looked like she was ready to hit him.
"What about her!"
"Nothing, I just wondered how long she had been a pilot is all."
Asuka glared at him before turning around and stomping off, "Ask her yourself you dumb ass!"
Shinji was left standing still on the sidewalk with a frown on his face. 'So much for the brief minutes of talking,' he thought before catching up to her slightly.
Shinji was thoroughly glad that he had Asuka and Rei with him, he would never be able to find his way in Nerv. All the crisscrossing hallways made him nauseous. Then he remembered that his father was somewhere in this mess and felt like puking even more.
After what seemed like an hour they walked into a room similar to the one that Shinji had been in previously. Except this one had a window that showed the three Eva's lined up next to each other waiting for there pilots. Shinji guess that this is where they would be syncing. Next second it was confirmed when he heard a familiar voice.
"Glad you could make it Shinji."
Shinji turned around to see a smiling Misato standing in front of him.
Shinji grinned, but it was rather strained. Misato seemed to notice this and said, "Don't worry you'll be fine."
"Yeah..."
"Everything is ready so just go change into your plug suits and we can get this over with."
Asuka and Rei seemed to understand her words because they left through a door to the left leaving Shinji standing there confused.
"Err Misato, what do you mean by plug suits?"
Misato let out a small oh as if she had forgotten something, which she did. "I completely forgot that you haven't even piloted in a plug suit before which is surprising. It shows your potential as a pilot."
Shinji wasn't sure that was a complement or not so just let her continue.
"Anyway take that door at your right in the far corner and find a locker that says Shinji on it. I think the number was 203, or something."
"But what is a plug suit?"
Misato frowned, "I knew that you and Asuka hadn't been getting along but I assumed that she'd explain some things to you."
"I really hadn't tried, its better to let her cool off instead of forcing her to."
"Well, anyway, in simple terms the plug suit synchronizes you with your Eva. However the fact that you are able to sync with your Eva...by other methods means that maybe you wont have to use one. This is still all just tests. Oh and there be some blue clips in their also, put those on your head."
Shinji tried to keep all this in his head, as he followed Misato's instructions.
After several annoying minutes of getting used to the fabric which was unbearably tight after pressing a button he found that Misato had failed to mention Shinji walked out of the boys locker room, clipping the nerve receptors onto his head.
Shinji had admit-tingly thought that Asuka was cute when he had first seen her, and had realized that she was even more attractive now that he got to know her, this however blew him away. He hadn't even thought about the fact that she would be wearing a plug suit also and it hit him like a piano when he saw her in the bright red plug suit. It complemented her curves precisely and there was no lack of anything. He considered himself not overly perverted but this pushed the limits.
Asuka must have caught him gaping openly because she tossed her hair behind her head and seemed to give a seducing smile towards him. This pulled Shinji out of his stupor and he had to curse himself slightly for his stupidity. It was obvious that she had been expecting this kind of reaction from him and was throughly enjoying it.
Determinedly wrenching his eyes away from her they instead settled on Rei. Her plug suit was more or less the same as his except more white while his was largely blue.
Misato appeared to witness this whole ordeal and let it continue until things seemed to pass.
"Now then you know what to do...Shinji just follow the girls and ask if you have any questions."
'Not like I'll get them answered if I ask,' he thought bitterly as he stared at Asuka's back.
'So far so good,' Shinji thought as he finished strapping himself in to Eva Unit 01. Looking at the monitor he saw that Asuka and Rei had done likewise. Suddenly Misato's voice came over on the loud speaker.
"OK everything is ready on our end. Go ahead and start concentrating you guys. I want to get this done as quickly as possible."
Shinji assumed that she was worried about him and rather thankful at that. Gathering everything that he could remember during his past fights in the Eva he closed his eyes and solely concentrated on something he never thought he would, syncing with the voice that had plagued his dreams.
Almost immediately he heard a small whisper and soon it developed into a strong voice.
"Glad your finally getting the time to get to know me better."
Shinji was quiet as he didn't want anything to interfere with his thought process.
"Thats rather rude, ignoring me like that. What, did your parents never teach you any manners?"
Something sparked in Shinji's mind, but he was quickly able to pass it off. However it was noticed in the command room.
"Anomaly detected in Unit 01."
Misato immediately spun in the direction of the voice and barked. "What is it?"
"Wait...nothing, it disappeared."
Misato frowned worriedly and said, "Keep an eye on Unit 01 and let me know if anything changes."
"Yes ma'am!"
Back in Unit 01 Shinji was starting to sweat from concentrating, that and the voice was really starting to get on his nerves.
"So ready for the next angel attack? I know I am. Just let me know and I'll rip it to shreds. What I wouldn't give for a good blood bath right now."
"Shut...it," whispered Shinji.
"Here I am trying to strike up a conversation with you and thats all you can say, phish, ass."
Shinji then started to talk to the voice deep in his subconscious. "Okay fine, we'll talk."
"Good, because its boring if you don't."
"What or who are you?"
"The thing that lives inside of the Eva."
Shinji was startled by this new streak of information and it showed with his sync ratio.
Gaining control of his thoughts he said, "What do you mean the thing that lives inside the Eva?"
"Those humans don't tell you much do they."
Shinji didn't want to admit it but the voice was right. "I never asked, but what are you."
"An entity, thats good enough for now."
"Fine, why me?"
"You intrigue me, simple enough. You're different then all the other humans that have ever piloted me. At first I thought about killing you but after looking inside of your soul I learned a few things about you that made me curious."
"And those things are?"
"Stuff that you wouldn't want to know. Put it this way, your better of not knowing."
"And if I still want to know?"
"Most likely you'll go insane from it and thats not happening anytime soon. I need you sane, so don't even ask."
"Fine then do you have anything to do with the visions that I am having. Ever since I pilot you the first time I've been having visions of people that I know or events that may or not happen. I damn sick of them."
"I can't control things that happen outside of this small space, so I have no idea what your babbling about."
"Fine, thanks for nothing."
"Anytime."
Shinji lapsed into silence as he felt his conscious slide back to where he currently was. Opening one of his eyes he glanced at a screen to his right and saw Asuka with her eyes closed doing the same thing that he was doing. Unable to hold back the smirk after getting another look at her red plug suit he turned away quickly so as to not interrupt his concentration.
Then, the pain hit him. Shinji felt like his mind was going to split down the middle as reality was torn from him. Flashes passed him as he saw a dark room with the walls lit up in red, a sea the color of blood, his mother who he could barely remember smiling back at him before she turned into a creature with no face. Nothing was real and everyone was gone. It was just Shinji inside the entry plug of Eva Unit 01 screaming like he was wounded.
Misato reacted quickly at the first sound of Shinji's screams. "Disengage the umbilical cords for all three Eva's, and get Rei and Asuka out of there as quickly as possible. Status of Eva Unit 01?"
"Pilot live signs are fluctuating abnormally. The LCL fluid inside the entry plug is heating up, passing normal temperatures...critical reached."
"Entry plug removal for Unit 00 and Unit 02 have been confirmed, pilots safe."
"Get them the hell out of there! Try removing the entry plug for Unit 01."
"Negative it will not recognize the signature."
Misato bit her nail in fear. When someone alerted her of something important.
"Commander Misato you might want to look at this."
"What," she snapped.
"Its Unit 01's sync rate."
Misato was over there in a flash and froze when she saw the synchronization between the pilot and the Eva. It was fluctuating from plus one hundred to negative one hundred something that had never been seen before.
In a shaky voice Misato managed to get the words out, "Record this...for future reference."
"Yes ma'am."
Getting a hold of her feelings for Shinji who's screams had subsided she looked back at the screen where his life signs were unknown.
"Does Unit 01 appear to be going berserk."
"It does not appear to be so."
Misato bit her nail again and said, "Get a team down there to restrain the Eva, and if you see any signs of movement get the hell back here. I don't want anyones life in danger."
At this moment Asuka came bursting into the command room with Rei behind her with a somewhat passive look.
"What the hell is going on, why did you call of the tests!"
Misato did not want to deal with this right now and ignored Asuka who was not happy about it.
"Misato what is going on!"
"Shinji's life is currently in danger and we are trying to recover him, that is the current situation!"
Asuka was slightly taken back as Misato had never snapped at her like that before. Her mood changed from one to anger to one of slight worry. "Is he okay?"
"I don't know but the last reading we got the temperature in Unit 01 was well over one hundred twenty degrees Fahrenheit. Since then its most likely climbed. Then...then there's his syncro rate. At times it was in the negatives which is supposed to be impossible and then it would jump up to a hundred which is equally impossible. Its like the Eva wants to kill him but is having second thoughts."
All Asuka could mange was a slight, "Oh." Finding a nearby chair she let herself sink into it and look up at the monitor which was fuzzy.
Turning back towards the problem Misato said on the loud speaker, "How does it look down there?"
"Nothing's wrong, Unit 01 is showing no signs of moving, proceeding with containment and the rescuing of the pilot."
Misato let out a strangled sigh and sank into a seat near her. Soon it would be all over and they'd be able to brush it off as a minor incident. But she knew it wasn't the case this time. If the Eva continued to do this to Shinji then she wouldn't be able to sit by and watch it.
After several tense minutes of praying that nothing would go wrong the team on the floor managed to manually extract the entry plug from the Eva. LCL fluid poured from the open entry plug and Misato stood up and almost rushed down to the floor.
"We've got him, he's unconscious but miraculously alive."
Misato let out a strangled sigh and suddenly felt like having several beers. It had been to close.
"There's something though, while the LCL was close to two hundred degrees in there his body is oddly cold. The only thing the LCL fluid seemed to destroy was his plug suit."
"So what he's naked?"
"...Well, yeah."
Misato could have almost laughed. "Take him to the emergency room. I'll have doctor Akagi be ready for you when you get there."
Slouching deeper in her chair she spun around in her chair to see Asuka sitting there with her legs drawn up to her chest.
"Well he's okay," smiled Misato.
Asuka nodded in a forlorn sort of way. Misato had an idea though that might perk her up a little.
"Though I have no idea why, but he was for some reason naked in the entry plug when they found him. The LCL fluid burned off just the plug suit but his body was quite cold."
Asuka's face turned a small shade of pink before she stood up and said, "Why the hell are you telling me something as disgusting as that. As if I'd want to know...how he was."
Misato let out the first smile since since the whole ordeal and stood up. "Well, lets at least be sure that he is completely okay before we start celebrating."
Asuka snorted but followed her all the same.
"This is...familiar."
Shinji sat up in his hospital bed and felt his temples sear with pain. Whatever had happened it he couldn't remember anything. He remembered he had just taken a peek at Asuka before he blacked out. Now he was in a hospital room, naked, with a few chairs around his bed and his sheets bearing signs that someone had been sitting on them.
"Looks like you finally woke up Shinji."
Shinji shifted so that he was facing the door and saw Ritsuko leaning against the wall with a cigarette in her hand.
Shinji's first intentions where to ask what happened but Ritsuko beat him to it.
"Don't worry about what happened, your safe and everybody's fine. You've been through a lot and are lucky to be alive. I'm keeping you here for two days at least to be sure. But I suppose I shouldn't badger you anymore, someone's been bothering me every few minutes to see if your awak-"
With that Ritsuko was pushed to the side as Misato darted into the room with a rather reluctant looking Asuka and a passive Rei in tow.
"Shinji! Oh thank God you're okay. I knew it was a bad idea to have you do the tests."
"Misato calm down, I'm fine."
"But you almost weren't, everyone was worried."
Shinji raised an eyebrow and looked over at Asuka who glared at him as though daring him to ask if she had been worried.
"Glad that everyone was worried."
"Yes, well, I'm going to go ahead and have the commander pull you off of Unit 01. Its apparent that no one is able to handle it."
"No, I'm going to continue piloting it."
A long silence filled the room at Shinji's words. Misato was dumbfounded, even Asuka seemed to be surprised. Only Rei showed signs of knowing about his decision all along.
"But Shinji after what almost happened to you...I can't possibly put you inside that thing. What if something similar happens while in a battle."
Shaking his head Shinji said, "And what happens if you need help. I'm the only person who's ever been able to pilot it, besides I'm supposed to be dead now so for the fact that I survived I should be the pilot."
Misato opened her mouth to argue again but Shinji cut her off. "I'm sorry Misato but I don't want it any other way. I want to help all I can and if piloting an Eva is what I can do I'll do it.
"Enough with the sympathy already," said an irritated Asuka. "He's healed and stubborn once again, can we leave now?"
"Don't act like you weren't worried Asuka," smirked Misato.
Asuka blinked, "Not a chance. Why would I worry about him?"
Shinji frowned at Asuka but ignored it. She'd always be the same, well he'd open up if she ever did.
Misato sighed and said, "Fine we'll head home for now, but be back later with some fresh cooking. Hospital food can get sickening quickly."
Asuka suddenly realized that she'd have to survive two days without Shinji to cook for her. Glaring at him in an annoyed sort of way as though it was his fault he was injured she mouthed, "Get well soon, or I'll be dead of food poisoning before you get back."
Shinji smiled and mouthed, "Will do," back.
Asuka's face seemed to twitch slightly as she appeared to be working up the power for a smile. Though halfway through it turned into more of a grimace at which point she turned around quickly and stormed out of the room.
Misato and Shinji frowned at her but both started laughing silently. Regaining control of herself Misato said, "Don't pay to much attention to what Asuka says Shinji, she was worried, just didn't want to show it."
"I've long since realized that."
"Well, you seem fine so no point in taking anymore time. I'm sure Ritsuko will want to run some more tests on you so I won't get in her way anymore."
"Thanks, Misato."
"Don't worry about it. I am your guardian after all."
That ment a lot to Shinji but he wasn't about to say that. He still had trouble expressing his feelings sometimes.
"I'll see you later today then, with dinner."
Shinji tried to not look sick, "Okay I'll be waiting."
When Misato left the room Shinji was about to roll onto his side and fall back asleep when he realized that not everyone had left the room.
"Why did you decide to continue piloting it," asked Rei?
Shinji sat up slowly and looked at her curiously. Since he had met Ayanami Rei he had only ever seen her talk to himself. Shrugging Shinji said, "I don't know. I feel like I'll regret it if I don't do something I guess."
"So you're doing because you want to, not because other people have told you to."
Shinji replied slowly, "Yes other people have asked me to but its still my decision to pilot it."
"Are you sure about that?"
"I'm me. How can I not be sure about the things that I decide?"
Rei then lapsed into silence as though not sure how to continue.
"If your done with questioning me I'd be thankful if you left so I can get some sleep."
Rei looked at him curiously for a second and then quietly excused herself from his room.
Shinji then rolled over onto his side and closed his eyes. However whenever he would he saw the horrible things that were shown to him in the entry plug. He ended up not sleeping that night.