Chapter 20 - Apologise To Him!

The first sign Asuka saw of something going wrong was when the crane's boom suddenly shifted while Shinji was still grappling with the Angel. She couldn't see what was going on down there, but it couldn't be good if the crane was now bending like it was. Fortunately, nothing seemed to actually break, but she kept an eye on the boom anyway.

When word came that the Angel was dead, Asuka refused to let herself relax. Shinji was still down there, so the mission was not yet complete. Only when both of them were out of their Evangelions would she consider everything wrapped up.

The second sign was when, somehow, the idiots in the command centre forgot to redirect the dive suit's coolant away from the broken pipe after the Angel's death, until Shinji mentioned it. It didn't matter that they had been fussing over the crane; somebody should have remembered.

Since she was now outright expecting something to go wrong, Asuka shifted position so that she was standing right underneath the boom. If it ended up snapping, she could at least try and keep it in place until Shinji made it back to dry land.

Asuka had been practically waiting for the shriek of tortured metal that soon followed, but what she wasn't expecting was for the hoist to suddenly reverse direction, sending Unit-02 hurtling downwards. Quicker than even she thought possible, Unit-01's hands latched onto the cable and pulled tight.

The sheer force almost ripped the cable out of the purple Evangelion's hands; Asuka had to dig her feet in as she was dragged towards the edge of the volcano. She knew that she wouldn't even need to reach the edge before she'd fall in, as there wasn't much support around the lip. Just the weight of her own Evangelion would break the ground and send her falling after Shinji.

To her great relief, Unit-01 and the cable came to a stop well short of the precarious edge. Asuka hauled back on the cable, slowly stepping away from the volcano's rim as she struggled to support the weight of several thousand tons in just one Evangelion's hands.

"What are you waiting for?!" she growled at the command centre. "Reel him back in!"

"We can't, the reel's not reacting!" Doctor Akagi shouted back. "You're the only thing stopping Shinji and Unit-02 from falling!"

"Oh, lovely," Asuka grimly retorted, taking another step back. "Don't suppose you could get Wondergirl out here in the next minute or so to lend a hand?"

"Afraid not. She would either get here too late or be out of power before she did."

Finally at what she considered a safe distance, Asuka began pulling on the cable hand-over-hand, taking the place of the broken piece of junk that was supposed to be getting Shinji out of danger. It was torturously slow going, and already she could feel the muscles of Unit-01 straining under the weight.

"Asuka...?" Shinji spoke up, his comm window flashing to life out of the corner of her eye. "You... caught me?"

"Damn right I did," Asuka grunted. "Just sit tight, I'll get you out of there."

"Okay... please hurry..."

Asuka could hear the weakness in Shinji's voice. The heat was clearly starting to get to him, and she mentally cursed the NERV staff for forgetting about his coolant.

Hand forward, grab, pull. The seconds stretched out as Asuka focused entirely on Unit-01's arms, Shinji's heavy breathing rasping in her ears.

Hand forward, grab, pull. Even if she could spare the time and effort, she didn't want to shut the comm system off. To silence Shinji. As distracting as it was, it was a sign that he was still alive down there.

Hand forward, grab, pull. "How much further?!" she demanded of the command centre.

"You're at six hundred met-" The crunch of metal cut Misato off. "Shit! The dive suit's starting to give out!"

Somehow, Asuka found it within herself to push Unit-01 faster. The cable piled up in a heap at the Evangelion's feet as its hands went faster and faster. She felt some of the strain disappear from her arms; whether it was her second wind or something else, she didn't care. All that mattered was rescuing Shinji.

"Four hundred metres!"

Grab, pull, grab, pull, grab, pull.

"Three hundred!"

The strain returned to Asuka's arms, but she powered through it.

"Two hundred!"

A low growl began at the back of Asuka's throat. She spared half a second to glance at Shinji's comm window to see that his head was slumped sideways and his eyes were closed. The LCL around him was starting to bubble. Just like it had when she had almost been boiled alive by Ramiel's attack.

"One hundred!"

The growl became a wordless yell as the white shell of the dive suit came into Asuka's vision. Once it was high enough to clear the lip of the volcano, she finally stopped pulling on the cable and wrapped it several times around Unit-01's right arm. The crane began to rotate to bring Unit-02 over dry land, but it was going far too slow. A purple hand grabbed onto the frame of the crane and forcefully assisted its rotation.

Asuka heard something else break, but it didn't matter now. She unwrapped the cable, letting Unit-02 drop to the ground. Unit-01 bounded over to its stricken comrade, where the back of the dive suit was violently ripped off. The moment it was clear, Unit-02's entry plug ejection sequence activated. Asuka yanked the tube free and set it on the ground as it vented steaming LCL everywhere.

Remembering how long it had taken to force Rei's entry plug open after it had suffered heat warping, Asuka pulled out Unit-01's second Progressive knife and thumbed the activation switch, before bringing it down on the back end of Shinji's entry plug. Designed for much thicker targets, the knife barely even noticed the thin metal before digging into the ground. She then turned the knife off and set it aside before laying Unit-01 on the ground and activating her own ejection sequence.

Jumping down from the Evangelion, Asuka tucked and rolled as she hit the ground. Breaking a leg would only make rescuing Shinji harder, but she was in too much of a hurry to take the descent more carefully. She sprinted over to his entry plug and clambered in, ignoring the hot metal that was trying to melt her plugsuit to her feet. Shinji was unconscious, almost falling out of his seat as Asuka reached him. She jammed a finger on the switch that deactivated the inflated suit and picked him up in a fireman's carry before exiting the plug, his plugsuit painfully hot to the touch.

Laying him out on the ground well away from the steaming LCL and hot metal tube, Asuka pressed the button on Shinji's wrist that would re-pressurise the suit and pulled it down to his stomach to get some cool air onto his body. She placed an ear on the reddened skin of his chest -trying to ignore the close physical contact- and breathed a sigh of relief when she heard a steady heartbeat and felt his chest rise and fall.

"Ngh..."

And then Shinji groaned into wakefulness.

Asuka rapidly brought her head up, focusing on his bright red face as Shinji scrunched his eyes up before slowly opening them.

"Unfamiliar... sky?" he softly murmured.

"Shinji!" Asuka almost shouted. "How... how are you feeling?"

Blinking rapidly, Shinji raised his head slightly to look at her. "...Asuka?"

"Of course it's me. Who were you expecting, Pen-pen?"

Instead of an answer, Shinji stared at her for several seconds with his mouth opening and closing like a goldfish. Then quicker than Asuka expected for someone who had just woken up after a near-death experience, he wrapped his arms around her in an awkward hug. "...Thank you," he mumbled into her shoulder.

"I-I w-wasn't just gonna leave you down there!" Asuka stammered, blushing furiously. Her arms were wavering about to both sides, as if she couldn't decide whether to return the hug or not. Eventually, she decided on simply resting her hands on his shoulders. "Bloody hell, you're hot," she remarked, as the excessive heat from Shinji's body began leeching through her plugsuit.

An amused snort from nearby drew Asuka's attention to where Misato and Doctor Akagi were standing, along with several emergency crew members. She blinked at them, before trying to leap away from Shinji in embarrassment as she realised what she had just inadvertently said.

"T-that's not what I meant and you damn well know it, Misato!" Asuka yelled as the woman in question began laughing.

XXX

After getting checked out by the medics, having to endure a funny-smelling cream being slathered over his body and then laying on a bed in a tiny room to rest while the cream soaked into his skin, Shinji was rather glad when Misato burst through the door with Asuka in tow.

"Got some good news for you, Shinji!" she remarked, a big grin on her face that sent warning signals through Shinji's head as he sat up. He noticed that Asuka had changed back into her normal clothes just like him; courtesy of someone at NERV bringing out their stuff from the NERV pool's changing room.

Seemingly recognising his trepidation, Asuka stepped forward. "Relax, this is actually good news."

Misato gave the interrupting redhead a cool look before continuing. "As a reward for your hard work today-" A snort from Asuka cut her off for a second. "-I found us a nearby hot spring resort and booked it out just for us!"

"A... hot spring?" Shinji struggled to keep concern off his face. After what he had just been through, he was barely able to consider even taking a shower when they got home unless the water was a step above freezing temperature.

"Yep, it'll be a nice way for us to unwind after all the stress NERV's been putting us through."

Asuka broke away from Misato, moving to stand by Shinji. She folded her arms and glared at their guardian. "After what you put us through, you mean. Shinji in particular," she hotly retorted.

Misato faltered, the smile on her face looking to make a hasty getaway. She sighed, closing her eyes and putting a hand on her forehead. "We can talk about that later. I just want to get out of here, and I'm sure you two do as well. We'll talk about my actions later. Please?"

Out of the corner of his eye, Shinji saw Asuka glance at him for a moment before sighing and dropping her arms to her side. "Alright," she grunted, before pointing a finger at Misato. "But I'm not putting it off until we get home. We're going to 'talk about your actions' at the hot springs."

Misato sighed and waved her hand in vague agreement, "Yes, fine, let's just go."

Getting to his feet, followed the other two outside and over to Misato's car. Asuka let him take the front passenger seat, claiming he'd earned it, before pushing the seat forward so that she could reach the back seat. After buckling her seatbelt, she leaned forward to rest her elbows on the front seats as Shinji and Misato got in.

Misato had not been exaggerating when she had said the resort was nearby. Ignoring the minute or so it took to leave the research site, it only took ten minutes of uncomfortably silent driving to reach the village and the resort. Despite the close proximity to the volcano, and relative proximity to Tokyo-3, the tiny village seemed entirely isolated from the rest of Japan. To Shinji, it felt more quiet and peaceful than even Fujikawa.

As soon as the car came to a stop, its occupants got out and headed towards the resort. Misato and Asuka went straight in, but Shinji's attention was caught by a delivery van pulling up right next to Misato's car. A uniformed man got out, looking directly at him and waving, before opening the van's side door and rummaging around a bit before heading towards him carrying a box.

"Are you from NERV?" the man asked as he drew closer.

Shinji blinked. "Um... yes? Is this for Misato? I'll just go get-"

"It's fine, I just need a signature," the man interrupted, placing the box at Shinji's feet before holding out a small tablet. Shinji stared at it for a moment before taking it and signing his name with the attached stylus. The man thanked him and left as quickly as he came.

'Who the heck would know we're here?' Shinji thought to himself as he removed the tape holding the box closed. 'And get a delivery out to u-'

Something burst out of the box, causing Shinji to let out a cry of surprise and fall back on his rear end. Then he realised just what that something was. Or rather, who.

"WARK!"

"Pen-pen?!"

After the day he'd just had, Shinji decided he didn't want to know how Misato's genetically-engineered warm water penguin had managed to find a way to smuggle himself out to join them at a hot spring resort. He raised his hands in surrender and said, "Have fun," before turning around and heading up the stairs to finally enter the resort.

XXX

Asuka gave a groan of contentment as she closed her eyes and leaned against the smoothed rocks bordering the hot spring. Despite the fact that it was essentially just hot water, something about it felt much more relaxing than taking a bath. Perhaps it was the open-air nature of the hot spring, or the isolation of the resort. Maybe it was the fact that Misato had booked out the entire resort just for the three of them. Well... three and a half counting Pen-pen, who had wandered over to the male side with Shinji.

Whatever it was, she was in heaven.

Right up until Misato quietly cleared her throat.

Cracking one eye open, Asuka gave Misato, who was sitting on the rocks with her legs dangling in the water, a look cold enough to freeze Mount Asama.

"No sense putting it off any longer," Misato quietly remarked, her eyes flicking to the divider between the male and female sides of the spring.

Asuka held the stare for a long moment. Her open eye briefly trailed down Misato's body, noticing the large discolouration of a scar between her breasts and stomach, before she closed it and said, "How much did you actually think about Shinji during the operation, when you weren't talking to him?"

"...Hardly at all. I was more concerned with the Angel itself," came the meek response. Misato's voice hardened slightly as she continued. "I saw an opportunity to go on the offensive and I took it. The more we know about the Angels, the better we can kill them, the better the chance that humanity will survive. The goal of NERV is to defeat the Angels. Sometimes sacrifices may have to be made. You may not like it, Asuka, but that's the way it is."

Opening her eyes, Asuka fixed them squarely on Misato. "And if you have to throw your humanity away in the process?"

"Shinji understood the risks. He knew he was going into a volcano to capture an Angel. I'm told that he insisted he go instead of you."

"That's not the point!" Asuka slapped a hand down into the water. She glanced towards the male side of the hot spring before lowering her voice again. "The only reason you even remembered he was down there was because everyone else kicked up a fuss about you putting him in so much danger, sending him below the maximum safe limit without even discussing it. You became so focused on the job you forgot about the person actually doing that job."

Misato exhaled heavily. "I know. And I apologise for that."

"Don't apologise to me, apologise to him!"

Folding her arms, Misato glared at her. "I will. Later. But I will not apologise for our successful mission."

Asuka looked away with a huff.

Silence reigned for a few minutes, broken only by the contented splashing and squawking of Pen-pen on the other side of the wall. Asuka was curious about how he had managed to join them, but then remembered that the bird seemed to have a human-level intellect; she wondered if uplifting had been part of the experiments he had been through.

"Did I ever tell you how I got this scar?" Misato suddenly asked, breaking through Asuka's idle thoughts.

She turned her head to see Misato looking down at her own stomach, the fingers of one hand grazing against the scar. "No, I don't think so," she gruffly replied.

"My father was a researcher," said Misato, her eyes drifting up to the reddening sky. "Part of GEHIRN before it became NERV. I hardly ever saw him at home; he seemed to practically live at whatever lab he was working in. I hated whatever it was he was focused on to the exclusion of his family. My mother didn't like it either; she cried a lot when he wasn't around and eventually divorced him after having had enough.

"Somehow, he still managed to get joint custody of me during the divorce proceedings. Not that he ever really took advantage of it; I'd see him maybe once every few months for a day or so before he fobbed me back off onto mum with excuses of work commitments."

Brief thoughts of her own absent father flashed through Asuka's mind before she shook her head to clear them away. She held her tongue, letting Misato speak freely and sensing that she would soon get to the point.

"Anyway, one time he picked me up and told me to pack for cold weather," Misato continued. "I thought he meant it was going to get a little chilly and just put a few jumpers in my bag. He ended up getting another bag and stuffing my parkas and thick pants into it. At first I thought he was taking me skiing or something." She chuckled humourlessly. "Ending up in Antarctica, that felt like something of an understatement in hindsight."

"Why the hell did he take you there of all places?" Asuka incredulously asked.

"At the time I didn't really know," replied Misato. "I thought he was just bringing me along on one of his research trips. Of course, since I was just a kid at the time, a bit younger than you are now, I had to stay inside the boundaries of the base camp where there was hardly anything to do. I was practically bored senseless after a few days, but then things got... interesting. In a bad way.

"I woke up from a nap and heard alarms, there were people shouting and running around, then everything went white." Misato rubbed a hand down her face. "Next thing I know, I'm being carried by dad. There was blood on him, blood on me, and I had no idea how it got there. He put me in some kind of escape pod, gave me that Greek cross necklace you always see me wearing, and closed the hatch. That's the last thing I remember. I'm not sure how I got back to civilisation, but I was the only survivor. I spent the next two years mute from the trauma. Later I found out... I'd been at ground zero of Second Impact."

Asuka quietly swore in German, both entranced and horrified by the story. An event that had killed half the population of Earth, and the woman sitting next to her had somehow survived being at the epicentre. If it wasn't for the fact that Misato wasn't the type to tell outrageous lies, at least not without more beer in her, she'd have had a hard time believing her.

"Anyway, after I went through college and the army, I got a job offer from NERV. I almost turned it down... but then the person offering me the job said it would let me get revenge against the Angels."

"...And that's why you're here now?" Asuka narrowed her eyes. "Revenge?"

"My dad saved my life. The Angels took his." Misato thought for a moment, and then shrugged. "I still don't quite know how I feel about him, but I want to... need to avenge him. To avenge the billions of dead."

Asuka breathed in and out several times before answering. "Is that why you're so obsessed with the Angels that you'd forget about one of your pilots?"

"It's the only explanation I have for you, Asuka." Misato stared at her for a moment before shaking her head. "Well, how about we try and enjoy the rest of our time here, instead of fixating on the past?"

"I guess." Asuka held her nose shut and closed her eyes, dunking her head underwater. She surfaced a few seconds later and looked at Misato through watery eyes. "Just don't forget to apologise."

Misato raised an open hand to the height of her shoulder. "I promise," she sighed, before pushing herself off the rock she was sitting on and sliding into the water.

Misato stayed under a little longer than Asuka had, presumably to counteract the slight chill in the air. After surfacing, she vigorously shook her head and wiped her eyes clear before getting out of the pool. "That should keep me going just long enough to duck over to the shower. Pass the shampoo?" Asuka looked around, spotting the bottle nearby, and handed it over. Misato took it and frowned, shaking it slightly. "Empty," she noted, squeezing the bottle and getting only a trickle. "Any others?"

A cursory glance of the area turned up no more bottles. Misato sighed and raised her voice. "Pen-pen, you still awake over there?"

"Wark?"

"You got shampoo on that side?"

"...Wark."

"Be a dear and bring it over please!"

"Wark."

Asuka blinked. "Wait, you're asking Pen-pen to... come over here? With us?!"

Misato looked at her unconcernedly. "Yeah. What's wrong with that?"

"He... he..." Asuka struggled to put it into words, instead resorting to pointing at herself and Misato. "...He!"

"Oooh!" Misato stifled a giggle. "You're worried about that. No need to worry. Pen-pen's a perfect gentleman. Gentlebird."

"He! Us!" Desperately, Asuka pointed at her own chest.

"Bird, Asuka," Misato said with an amused sigh. "I've had him with me for years. Besides him I've lived alone all that time, and occasionally the weather got too hot for me to bother with clothes unless I was going out that day."

"...He's seen you naked?!" Asuka gasped, her hands coming up to cover her mouth in shock.

"Yep. And trust me, he's not in the least bit interested. Birds might have breasts, but not in the same way we do."

Out of sheer instinct, Asuka still held her arms across her chest when Pen-pen appeared in the doorway to their side of the spring. He gave the two of them a wave before waddling up to Misato and handing her the shampoo bottle.

"Thanks dear," Misato said, scratching the top of Pen-pen's head, causing the bird to close his eyes and lean into her hand. She stopped after a few seconds, and the penguin shook his head before diving into the water.

Slowly, cautiously, Asuka lowered her arms. Pen-pen seemed to pay her no mind, lazily backstroking in circles nearby, and she eventually relaxed her guard when Misato passed her the shampoo bottle. She ducked under the water one last time before getting out and heading over to the shower cubicles where Misato was already beginning to wash her hair.

After working the shampoo in, Asuka closed her eyes and stuck her head directly under the shower head to rinse her hair out. She ran her hands along her long red mane, straightening it out as best as she could for the time being and pulling stray strands away from her face. After making sure her hair was clear of suds, she turned the shower off and headed back to the pool. Misato was lounging in the water already, and Pen-pen was now simply floating face up on the water, looking as if he were taking a nap. Asuka stared at him for a moment.

"...Hey Misato," she said, not taking her eyes off the penguin. "You said you rescued Pen-pen from being euthanised, right?"

"That's right," Misato replied as Pen-pen drifted near her. She gave his belly a gentle rub. "Why?"

"Well... why did you decide to keep him? Couldn't you have turned him over to some wildlife organisation afterwards?"

"I could have... but I didn't want to."

"Why? What made you decide to start looking after such an... exotic pet?"

Pen-pen was now floating past Asuka. He opened one eye, staring expectantly at her. With an amused huff, she rubbed his belly just as Misato did.

"Wark..."

Misato leaned back, looking up at the sky and back in time. "I had actually been thinking of getting a pet, since I was living on my own. I really wanted one after seeing some of the adorable animals they were working on in the genetic engineering program. I was taking a tour with the guy in charge, a man I knew well and was the reason I had heard about the program. We stopped in front of Pen-pen's enclosure, and he began talking so matter-of-factly about how the animals in the lab would end up euthanised."

Misato's face split into a wide grin, and in front of Asuka, Pen-pen's own beak tried to mimic the expression. "When he said that, he was standing between me and the enclosure. Pen-pen came right up to the glass, looked at me and then the head scientist, and started doing this." She raised both hands, middle fingers extended, and began alternately moving her arms up and down with an angry expression on her face.

And Pen-pen... sat up in the hot spring and began doing the exact same thing.

Asuka immediately exploded with laughter. "Hahahaaaa! Oh my god!" Tears wear already streaming down her face. It certainly helped that Pen-pen was putting everything into reenacting the scene along with Misato. "That is the best thing I think I've ever heard!"

It took a minute for Misato to get herself back under control. Pen-pen had resumed floating on his back, but now there was an aura of smugness wafting off of him. "Heh... after that, well." She shrugged. "How could I let something... someone like that just get killed off? Because he was a lab animal I didn't even need to get a license like I would have for a 'normal' pet penguin. And to be honest? Pen-pen is only technically a pet. Legally a pet. To me... he's a fellow housemate and my best friend."

"Wark!"

Asuka, still smiling at the story, glanced at the divider, frowning as she finally noticed something, or rather the lack of something.

"Huh, I just realised something," she quietly said to Misato, paddling through the water to get close to the woman. "I haven't heard anything from the other side, have you?"

"Finally noticed, huh?" Misato replied, her voice low. "Can you blame him though? He was almost cooked alive today."

"Perhaps, but..." Asuka stared at where she thought Shinji might be sitting. "He should still try and enjoy our time here. He deserves it the most out of all of us." She paddled over to the divider and raised her voice. "Shinji, you... uh... got some soap over there?"

"Huh?" Asuka grinned a little at the confusion in his voice. "Uh... yeah. You need that too?"

"Yeah, Misato's hogging it! Just chuck it over!" She turned to Misato and put a finger over her lips. Misato nodded, sitting back and grinning widely.

"...Okay."

Somehow, Asuka knew exactly where Shinji was going to throw it. She moved along the divider, then back a few feet and held her hand up over her head. A second later, a bar of soap slapped into her waiting palm.

"Thanks!" she called out. After waiting a few seconds, she then said, "Oh, never mind, Misato's finally decided to share! Have it back."

Asuka lobbed the soap over the wall. As she predicted, there was no splashing to indicate a body moving through water, only the plunk of the soap landing in the spring on the other side.

"Bone dry," she whispered as she returned to Misato. "Damn sure he's not in the water."

"That's a shame, but what can you do?" Misato asked. "We can't exactly force him to enjoy the spring."

Asuka froze in the act of returning to her spot at the edge of the spring. She slowly turned to face Misato. "Is that a challenge?"

Misato raised an eyebrow, then her hands. "Fine. Good luck." After a second's thought, she added, "You... might want to put something on before going over there though."

"Of course I will," Asuka retorted, her face reddening in a way that had nothing to do with the heat of the water. "No way am I giving him a free show!"

Whatever Misato muttered under her breath, Asuka ignored it as she got out of the spring and threw a towel around herself to ward off the cool evening breeze. She headed for the change room, where she put on a certain bikini from her bag -thanking whatever staff member had brought their clothes- before heading over to the male change room. With the resort empty aside from them and the staff, she had no problems with slipping in.

Passing Shinji's pile of clothes, smelling faintly of whatever the medics had used on his skin, she made her way to the sliding door between the change room and the spring itself. Inching it open just enough to glance through, she saw that the water on the male side of the spring was completely devoid of brown-haired boys.

However there was a certain young man clad in purple boxer shorts, poking at the water with a broom he'd grabbed from somewhere with his back to the door.

Asuka fixed the towel around herself by tucking a corner of it in at the top, making sure it wouldn't slip when she took her hands away. Hands now free, she quietly slid the door open enough for her to sneak through and closed it behind her. Silent as a prowling lioness, she padded over to Shinji, grinning when he completely failed to hear to.

She thought of how to get his attention. The first idea that came to mind involved shoving him into the water. That was soon rejected, as Asuka didn't want to risk hurting him just for a prank, and it would be preferable for Shinji to make the decision himself. The second idea involved simply poking him, but it was immediately discarded as boring. Besides, in his shock it was entirely likely he could fall in. Shouting right next to his ear would likely do the same.

Finally, she settled for slipping back into the change room and grabbing a spare towel before returning to Shinji, still moving the broom handle around in the water. Peering over his shoulder, Asuka saw that he was trying to reach the bar of soap she'd lobbed back to his side. She held the towel above his head for a few seconds, checking to make sure it would land dead on target, before letting it drop.

"Gah!"

Asuka laughed as Shinji shot to his feet, struggling valiantly to slay the foe that had somehow managed to wrap itself around his head. After a few amusement filled seconds, Shinji came to a stop and slowly brought his hands up to untangle the towel. As he pulled it away, Shinji's eyes locked onto her and he froze.

"Asuka?"

She gave him an innocent look. "Yes?"

"What did you do that for?!"

"Just felt like it."

Shinji stared at her for a moment before giving a rueful sigh. Clearly he had already given up on that front. "Well... why are you over here on the male side?"

Asuka stepped up close to him and poked him in the chest. "Because you are not enjoying this free resort trip and I know why. Oh, and before you say anything else, understand that it doesn't matter what you say, you are going to end up in the hot spring even if I have to drag you in myself."

"How would you-" Shinji cut himself off, looking away for a second before returning his gaze to her. "Oh. Ramiel's beam attack, right?"

"Yeah. Took a bath afterwards and I was uncomfortable for a while." Asuka pointed a thumb at her chest. "But I toughed it out. You went through almost the same thing I did, in a way, so you can do the same." She gave him a cursory sniff. "Besides, you still smell of whatever stuff they slopped on you. I'd rather not have you stink out the car on our way home."

"Alright, alright," Shinji groaned. "Just... let me get the soap so I can clean myself off first." He went back to the fruitless task of using the broom handle to get the soap.

Asuka sighed and dropped the towel she had wrapped around her. When Shinji turned to see what she was doing, his eyes bugged out of his head. Before he had time to react, she hopped into the water and quickly retrieved the soap, tossing it back towards him. In his surprise, Shinji barely managed to hold onto the slippery bar. Asuka pointed sternly at the shower cubicles, and he made his way over and into one.

Although she couldn't see what was happening, her face pinked up slightly as her mind suddenly happened to note that he would have taken his shorts off. She hurriedly turned away from the cubicles, trying to force her brain off that mental track. It was a quiet few minutes, filled only by the sounds of the -likely ice-cold- shower, before Shinji stepped out.

Hearing a sigh, Asuka turned to see Shinji staring at the hot spring as he rubbed his arm. "Are you sure about this? My skin already feels like it wants to jump off me and run away."

"It's just hot water, Shinji," Asuka reasoned. "Misato and I have been in here for ages without any problems. You are not going to get scalded. Unless you get so relaxed you fall asleep, you'll be fine. Look..."

She jumped out of the water and grabbed him by his left wrist, pulling him along to the edge of the pool where she knelt down. Slowly and gently, she pushed his hand into the pool. Shinji gave a hiss of pain, instinctively trying to pull his hand away, but Asuka's grip was too strong. After a few seconds, Shinji seemed to settle a little.

"See?" said Asuka, letting go of his hand. "Just like a regular pool, you'll adapt to the temperature. And just like a regular pool, it's better if you get it over with all at once." She shifted position, moving behind him and holding her hands out near his back. "Now, are you going to get in or are you going to let me do that for you?"

"...Do it for me?" Shinji frowned in puzzlement.

Asuka grinned. "You've got five seconds."

Shinji's head twisted sharply around to stare at her. "What?"

"Three seconds!"

His eyes widened as he saw her raised hands. "Oh, hell!"

"One!"

"Okay okay I'm getting in!"

Shinji awkwardly pushed himself off the rocks and into the pool. His whole body tensed up upon contact with the water, and his eyes shut as he let out a long hiss. After a few seconds, he opened his eyes and took several large, rapid breaths. Eventually, his breathing slowed down as he allowed his body to gradually sink until only his head was above water, and he let out a sigh.

"See? What did I tell you?" Asuka enthusiastically asked.

"Yeah yeah, you've made your point," Shinji grumbled. He then blinked and looked down at the water. "Oh right, I'm still wearing my shorts..."

"I'd damn well hope so," said Asuka. "We might be good friends but I'm not going to skinny dip with you."

"...With me?"

Asuka smirked and hopped back into the water, the resulting wave ending up splashing his face. "Yeah," she replied after wiping her eyes clear. "I don't feel like traipsing all the way back to the other side just to sit around. Besides..." She narrowed her eyes at the divider and lowered her voice. "Pen-pen's over there and I don't really trust him."

Shinji glanced at the divider, then back at Asuka. "But... he's a bird," he lamely replied.

Asuka growled in frustration. "Until I see him looking at... I dunno, Playvian, I'm gonna stay suspicious."

"What's 'Playvian' supposed to be?" His attempt at the non-existent English word was almost amusing.

"...Never you mind. Probably don't have what I'm referring to over here anyway."

Shinji blinked at her a few times, before sitting down in the water against the rock wall opposite Asuka's position. She immediately got up and moved to sit only a couple feet away from him. At his confused look, she said, "So, tell me how things went from your perspective. Not every day you get dunked into a volcano to snatch an egg and end up stabbing a monster."

XXX

Eventually, all good things had to come to an end. Asuka was unhappy to have to leave the resort, asking if they could stay the night. Misato hemmed and hawed for a bit, claiming that they were rather far away from the Geofront, but acquiesced after making sure that a VTOL would be able to collect them in case of emergency. A look at the inn's breakfast menu certainly helped her decide.

As Asuka opened the door to her assigned room, out of the corner of her eye she saw Misato put a hand on Shinji's shoulder just as he was head into his own room. Their guardian was talking in a low voice, so Asuka couldn't hear what they were saying, but she was pretty sure she knew what was happening. The way Shinji shook his head and smiled at Misato told Asuka everything she needed to know.

There was a smile on her face as well when she closed her door.