-AN-

No thoughts, only chaos. Can't seem to nail down anything lately.

-Story Start-

Shinji gave thanks once more that the vents down into the bowels of Nerv were always clean. Probably helped that the facility was always so sterile. He didn't want to think about the laundry he'd have to do if they were trudging through dust and dirt. Never mind the complaining Asuka would get up to. Having taken point and gotten ahead of the girls as they made their way to the EVA cages, he still couldn't help but feel like he made a mistake. Sure this saved him from getting flashed by the pair, but now they were behind him, and thus, out of sight.

"Mmm, Shinji's firm butt, such a wonderful view." Asuka's voice floated up from behind him as they shuffled along, forcing a sigh out of the only boy of the team.

Rei's voice wasn't far behind, "Just because you won ja-ken-po…I demand a rematch. I want to watch Shinji-kun as we traverse the Nerv air ducts."

"Get good." Asuka voice was full of smug satisfaction.

"You cheat."

"Ladies!" Shinji's voice echoed in the small space, but he knew he had their attention. "We're almost to the cages, anyone know a way out from here?"

Asuka considered that, having spent the most time in the Nerv air ducts for one reason or another over their various loops. "Well, if we dropped down now, we'd be just shy of the main offices. From there it's a pretty easy walk to the bridge."

Shinji sighed, "It's so weird that you know that."

"God forbid a girl has hobbies." Asuka's smirk grew as Shinji sighed heavily. For sure he was most likely thinking that her hobbies were nothing like normal people's hobbies.

Rei chimed in, trying to look past the red head blocking her view, "We'll need to break through the next vent."

Shinji nodded, looking ahead to a shaft of red light coming from said next vent. Must be an office or hallway then. "Perfect, I'll knock it loose."

Asuka shimmed forward, squeezing her way until she sandwiched herself between Shinji and the air duct wall, "Saay, we've got time. What's the rush?" They hadn't made the detour back to the surface to check on the status of the Angel, which also meant they'd have nothing to do if they dropped in now. The Nerv crew wouldn't have readied the EVAs just yet. "We could canoodle a bit?"

Rolling his eyes and doing his best to ignore the feminine form pressed against him, Shinji wasn't going to give her the satisfaction today. "You and Rei are up to something, aren't you?"

"Us? Never." Asuka and Rei had determined that they needed to do a better job of distracting Shinji lately. He had seemed more down than usual and that was a no go as far as they were concerned. She pressed herself more firmly into him, lips just barely brushing against his own, "You know you wanna."

Rei was already scrambling to join in, "Don't start without me you tart."

Shinji sighed as the girls started to bicker back and forth. Just his luck, and were the walls starting to groan around them? He was further distracted as Rei was beginning to worm her way up his back, "I'd like to remind you both that there really isn't room in here for this." Someone's hand started exploring a bit far south, "Oi, watch the hands." Any other time he would happily give in, when he actually had some room to move.

Rei giggled, "But how else will I make sure everything is in working order beloved?"

Asuka rolled her eyes, "Might as well help me get his shirt off Rei, if you're going to interrupt and all."

"Can do."

"Don't I get any say in this?" Shinji's pleas went unanswered as again the metal around them groaned. "This won't end well."

Below them and just walking back into her office, Ritsuko sighed as she tossed a set of folders onto her desk as she loosen her collar. Minimal power meant little to no work for her to do. What with the commander deciding to be manly and help manually prep the EVAs for launch, she was left alone to wonder at just how the facility could lose power like this. Never mind the myriad of backups that should have kicked in by now, from the emergency generators to the city's own power supply and the backup batteries to boot. But no, it was dead silent. Doubtful an Angel could pull this off, which left mankind's most notorious enemy. Itself. She didn't even want to start thinking about who could be behind this case of sabotage, the commander alone had enough personal enemies. NERV itself? Hah. She'd be up all night tabulating that list. The ceiling creaked above her and she only had a moment of warning to pull her from her thoughts. "Wuhzzat?" The vent above her tore through the thin ceiling, raining children upon her.

"Waagh!"

"Help me!"

"Tally Ho!"

There was a crash and an explosion of dust, leaving several people coughing and cloud of debris leaving the open office door. When the smoke cleared, Asuka and Rei were treated to the sight of Shinji, barely clothed, sandwiched between Ritsuko's thighs and face down in her cleavage. Rei had the presence of mind to snap a picture or three in quick succession.

"Oh my."

Asuka on the other hand was smirking, "How scandalous. The doctor seduces the Third Child."

Ritsuko shook her head, taking in the warm body on top of her and the two girls looking at her. Asuka's grin was almost to be expected, but the blank look from Rei was more than a little unnerving, especially with her camera still out. "Wha-what are you children doing?" Head still a little fuzzy, the scientist attempted to sit up, only barely registering the extra weight on her.

Shinji groaned from his landing place and sighed, "Whoever is moving please stop." The girls had just about gotten his shirt completely off, and his pants were well and truly open. At least he still had his underwear. Thankfully his fall had been cushioned. Hands came up to grab the person under him by the waist. The gasp that elicited was most certainly not Asuka or Rei.

Asuka put a hand to her mouth as she chuckled, "What would the commander think Doctor Akagi, seeing you go after the younger version like this?" Not that Asuka really cared at all. There had been a few loops where Shinji had pursued the good Doctor especially because of her link with his father. Something about seeing his old man's face twist in rage when he told him made him happy, his words, not hers.

Nodding along, Rei continued to snap pictures, "The better version I say."

Realizing quickly that something was amiss, Ritsuko sat up completely, pushing Shinji away and out of her bosom while ignoring the heat between her legs. He certainly was a bit of an upgrade over his father, "Where have you three been? The power's out, there may be an Angel on the way. You need to get to the EVA cages immediately." An extra second answered one question of hers, eyes trailing up to the ceiling and coming to the conclusion that the kids used the vents to make it down into the facility with the power out. Either Asuka or Rei came up with that plan, Rei most likely.

Smirking as she stood, Asuka nodded in agreement, "Oh we're on our way. Let's go lover boy." Reaching down to help Shinji up, Asuka hoped that was enough for Rei. "Com'on, I won't let the big bad Doctor assault you."

Smirking as she nodded and watched the other two leave, Rei eyed Ritsuko quietly, "I think these'll be useful for later." Skipping away and leaving the disheveled woman alone, she scored herself another point towards her plan this time around.

Looking down at herself and noting that somehow her shirt had come undone, Ritsuko tired to make sense of what happened. The children were in the vents, well that made some sense. It was an easy way to get around the facility with the power out. But why was Shinji mostly naked? Rei taking pictures? Was Rei attempting to blackmail her? Was Asuka in on it?

"Just what the hell is going on?"

-b-

Misato could think of dozens of different places she would rather be right now, other than here. Stuck in an elevator she could probably put up with, even with the air conditioning down and the power out. She could strip down and wait it out. Her current cell mate however was making things, difficult. No. Difficult wasn't word. Unbearable was closer to what she was feeling at the moment.

Kaji was smirking, attempting again to lean towards the frosty woman, "Don't be like that Misato. You know how I feel about you. Let's bury the hatchet and-" Suddenly there was a gun in his face. Even with the safety on, he wasn't daring enough to push it. Maybe things had changed a little more than he had expected.

"You can keep all your venereal diseases to yourself thank you very much." Misato was rather happy with her life lately. She had a good home life, work was going swell, and the world wasn't on track to end anytime soon. She had no reason to dredge up a flame from the past that might derail any of that. "Go share with the rest of the Nerv staff, I'm good."

Barely put off by being thwarted, Kaji tried to switch gears, "You know, such a powerful rebuttal could mean you're trying to hold yourself back from me. You remember how well we, fit, together."

"I remember us being nothing more than a physical relationship. Two poor sods stuck in toxic ways to appease each other's egos." Misato sighed, putting away her weapon to lean against the rear of the elevator. Jacket off and tied around her waist, she crossed her arms around her middle, "I remember you being too afraid to speak your mind, hopping from one woman to the next and leaving me behind. That's the Kaji I remember. The Kaji that has now returned to Tokyo-III." Misato gave him a cold look, "I've got a good life now, I don't wanna bring you into it."

Well, that was a lot of frank information from the normally guarded Misato. Kaji sat back, actually thinking about this. Would it be so hard, to just come out and say what he needed to say. To admit that it wasn't just for fun? That he really did, dare he say it aloud, lo-

A ceiling tile fell between them, startling them both from their thoughts. Eyes drawn up, they both take in a grinning Shinji poking his head through the opening. "There you are Misato, your man is here!"

"Shinji, my hero! What's going on?" She'd worry about how the talented young man accessed the roof hatch of the elevator another time. She did smirk at the twitch Kaji gave at their little inside joke though. That was delicious.

"Long story short, Angel coming. Father and the others are manually preparing the EVA's, and myself and the girls are going to suit up soon. But someone mentioned not finding you, and someone else mentioned you headed back to your office before the power went out. So I took a guess." A lie. A big one as well. But Shinji wasn't about to leave his guardian alone in this elevator with Kaji of all people. She might catch something. Leaning further in and locking his legs around the elevator's cables, he reached an arm down, "I can pull ya out." He kept his eyes fully on her own, even if the view was very tempting.

Misato smirked, shaking her head as she latched onto his grasping hand, "I'm a bit heavy for you Shinji-kun." While she considered herself still very trim and fit, she was still a bit much for a teenager to pull up and out of an elevator. Best to let him see for himself though.

Grinning and mentally crowing as Misato's eyes went wide as he pulled her up, Shinji winked at Kaji. "Light as a feather." Helping her out and up onto the top of the elevator, Shinji leaned back down to address Kaji. "Sorry Kaji-san, you're a little big for me. But I'll send someone back to get you soon!" And then they were gone, leaving the surprised man alone as they exited through the open doors of the previous floor.

Alone, fragile, and more than a bit irritated, Kaji sighed and collapsed onto the floor. "What just happened?" Things really had changed in the time that he was away. He didn't like it.

Walking alongside Misato, Shinji linked his hands behind his head as they walked along. He had a happy smile on his face, one that Misato herself was glad to see as she nudged him. "Thank you." Even she wasn't entirely clear on what she was thanking him for, but that was okay. She had a feeling he understood.

"All in a day's work." Shinji did understand what she was feeling. With the way things had been this loop, one of the last places she would have wanted to be was cooped up with Kaji.

Chuckling and shaking her head, Misato turned to face ahead, "You really are going to be dangerous Shinji-kun. You better be careful."

Shinji winked at her and made a show over giving her a once over, "Beautiful women deserve love and attention." Turning away, he started to jog ahead, "I'll always be there to save you Misato!" And then he was gone, disappearing around a corner and towards the pilot locker rooms.

Pausing and listening to his footsteps echo in the empty hallway, Misato blinked and pinched herself in the thigh. Yup, the pain registered. So this was real. Shinji really did just flirt with her. Huh. Miracle of miracles. Maybe she did need to have a real talk with him. Maybe Ritsuko first. Yeah. Let's go find Ritsuko.

-b-

Asuka relaxed in her EVA, mentally commanding the giant mechanical beast to crawl through the Geofront ventilation ducts towards the surface, "So where did you run off to Shinji? You looked to be in a hurry."

Shinji smiled and eyed the video feeds from the two girls, "Had to go save a princess."

Refusing to sigh as she just knew he finally was getting into the swing of things, Asuka grunted and eyed the open shaft ahead of them, "You could just say you went to drop a load, don't be so dramatic."

"Something bad was left behind actually."

On a hand radio and rolling her eyes, Misato shared a look with Ritsuko, "Can we focus on the task at hand. Give me a status update, anything yet? Have you made it to the emergency access shaft yet?"

Thumbing the controls to drop the dead battery packs, Asuka eyed the open air shaft before them. "Bingo on the air shaft. Commencing climb." Even saying that, she was already switching off the safety on her pallet rifle.

Rei pouted in her entry plug, but didn't say anything, something that Shinji made note of, "We'll call you if anything happens Misato-san."

"You better."

Asuka leaned out, spotting the putrid orange eye of the Angel staring back at them. "Ugly as ever."

From behind her, Shinji shook his head and keyed the radio, "Angel spotted."

Before Misato even had a chance to issue a command Asuka was already leaning out with Unit 2. Pallet rifled hefted in one hand while the other held onto Shinji's Unit 1 to keep from falling to the bottom of the tube, she unleashed the full magazine on the weak messenger from God. Pulling back into the vent as acid blood rained down in front of them, she gave Shinji a thumbs up through the camera. "Quick and painless."

"You could have waited for me to order you to engage." Misato's voice cut through Asuka's celebration, to which she shrugged even if none of the bridge crew could see her.

"Well now the Angel is dead and we can return to the cages before our batteries run out, isn't that a win win here?" Asuka was already turning around, Rei taking the lead now as Shinji was between them.

Back with the group of adults, Misato did breath a sigh of relief. At least this Angel was apparently weak if Asuka alone was able to kill it. "Well, good job you three, return to base and lets get home. Let the tech heads deal with this power outage." She still wasn't liking this. It should not have taken this long for emergency systems to come online. This stunk of sabotage. She turned to Ritsuko who had a frown on her face, "You alright Rits?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, fine. I'm just fine." Should she tell Misato what she thought the girls were up to? She wasn't sure that Shinji was in on whatever they were doing, but Rei certainly was. Was it just her though or was there some of Asuka's influence? Or something worse? Lilith's influence maybe? Did she need to up the girl's medications? "I'll get started on diagnostics of the MAGI computers once the EVA are back and stowed away.

Misato nodded as she handed the radio to Maya to direct the pilots back to their bays. "Good luck with that. I'm headed home. Today's been a stressful and eventful day. I need a beer."

Gendo watched on from his command chair, Fuyutsuki standing just behind him. The children had fought well this time, with no major damage or casualties. Something to be commended at the least. Standing and clearing his throat, Gendo caught Misato's attention. "If you're collecting the children, please, congratulate them on a job well done."

Actually being surprised, Misato saluted the commander promptly, "Yes sir!" Turning on her heel, she was quick to make her exit from the command deck.

Gendo was also quick to reassert control of the situation. "Dr. Akagi, grab anyone you need and see about this power outage. I want everything fully operational once more as soon as humanly possible.

Broken from her thoughts about just what Ayanami may want with her, Ritsuko looked up to her secret paramour and nodded, "I'll make it happen. Maya, with me." Guess she should focus, time to dive into the depths of the MAGI.

Away from the coming chaos and hopefully onto better times, Misato considered what to do for tonight. Another Angel was dead which meant they should celebrate! Everyone was in one piece and unhurt and that sure as well was a reason to party in her mind.

-b-

Hands linked behind his head, Shinji smiled as the evening air was just warm enough to be comfortable but not muggy. Unable to sleep after such a busy day, he instead had taken to the roof in order to try and clear his mind. Not that that was happening, what with Misato called back to NERV in order to finish out some work. Asuka had taken the opportunity to enjoy an evening cuddle session, now curled up into his side easily. Though the only sticking point of the night was the missing Rei. She had said something about her plans before walking off into the night. Something Shinji was still fretting about silently.

Asuka huffed and needled a finger into his side, "You're thinking too loud."

"I don't even want to know how that's a thing."

"Yeah yeah, what's got your mind in a twist?" Asuka tried to cuddle further into his side, "Something I can maybe distract you from with my womanly wiles?"

Shinji just knew what that would entail, but instead decided to head her off by bringing her in for a quick kiss. Savoring the moan from her as they separated, Shinji admitted to his thoughts. "Pretty sure Rei is out there plotting my demise or something."

Chuckling and getting comfortable once more, Asuka shook her head, "You worry to much, you'll live."

"You sure about that? Didn't Rei send my father into a rage once? That had been kinda a brutal death for me." Shinji remembered that one. Gendo's hands around his throat, choking the very life out of him. Yeah, a memory best forgotten. "At least tell me this'll be fun."

"You know it'll be fun. Speaking of, should I start bringing Hikari around more often? She's certainly got a thing for you, even if she won't admit it." Asuka grinned internally. Score one for her. Having the love of her life and one of her best friends all in one place would be literal perfection. She was still upset that she'd only been able to pull it off once before. Even if it lead to Rei going into a murder frenzy eventually.

Rolling his eyes and relaxing completely, Shinji shook his head, "I'm still going to find a way for Toji to win her heart." Not that he'd say no to the fun. This run was supposed to be fun after all.

Giggling and knowing that wasn't going to happen, Asuka's mind instead strayed to another topic. "Shinji?"

"Hmm?"

"Are you, feeling a bit better these days? Do you, wanna talk about our last run?" Asuka and Rei had done their best to tip toe around the issue, but things had been much better lately. Sure Shinji still seemed lost in his head sometimes, but maybe it was time to help him work through it. She and Rei had years to do so, he hadn't.

Silence passed between them while Shinji tried to word what he wanted to say. The last run had been one of the longer ones, something they had taken seriously. Breaking free from NERV had been a simple enough thing to do. Funding secured thanks to Rei and Asuka and copious amounts of hacking, they had traveled the world for years. From Southeast Asia, to Europe and America eventually. Only to end up of all places, the African continent. A quiet home in the middle of a Kenyan forest so they could relax, enjoy life together for a time, and forget about the war and the Angels and the plots of old dying men.

Their collective mistake, was thinking they had truly gotten away.

They had gotten complacent, Asuka had decided to have a child first, followed soon by Rei. After that, well, NERV had the resources of the entire world at their disposal, and the children had kept in contact with a few of their friends from their past. The girls weren't exactly sure who sold them out in the end, but Shinji had an idea. Sure Kaji was the one to pull the trigger, but he had orders from another smarter than he deserved to be old man.

Taking a deep sigh and coming back to the present, Shinji hugged Asuka a bit tighter, "Wanna have another kid?"

Left speechless and staring at her soulmate, Asuka sat up to stare down at the quiet young man, "Shinji…"

"Sorry, that was, sorry." Locking eyes with Asuka, Shinji took in her glassy eyes and mentally kicked himself. "Just, of all the people we thought we could trust, Kozo sells us out? Kaji, he…he killed Rei without a thought, and our kids…what they did to them…" Forced to stop as Asuka's lips found his, Shinji gave in and savored the love and affection she poured into him. It certainly helped settle his mind.

Pulling away with some effort, Asuka nodded firmly to him once, "Look we can't change the past. And we can't one hundred percent predict the future. BUT. So long as we stick together, we can do anything. Sure, we still haven't figured out how to break free of these loops, but it feels like we get closer every time. So long as we focus, we can have our future. A real one."

"Sure hope so Asuka."

"I know so baka. Don't doubt me."

"Wouldn't dream of it." Shinji accepted Asuka cuddling back into his side with a content sigh, wiggling and shuffling until she was comfortable once more. "Though, I wouldn't mind we maybe don't try to hard to break the loop this time around. The little harem you two are building wouldn't exactly be sustainable."

Deciding things would be okay, Asuka started to doze off, "Start working out more and bulk up, you'll be fine."

"I think there's more to it than just being fit Asuka." Silence greeted Shinji and he sighed in resignation. If they did finally figure out how to break the loop, he'd probably grab Asuka and Rei both and disappear into the American wilderness this time. America was a big place and relatively untouched by the ravages of Second Impact. They could buy some property out in the middle of the woods and enjoy years of peace and quiet. At least until Asuka finally started to get bored.

A door groaned as it opened, and Shinji looked up to find a smiling Rei strutting her way towards him and Asuka. She took her time coming to cuddle on his other side, but she was quick about getting comfortable, "This is what I needed."

"Wanna clue me in on what you were up too?" Shinji had enough ideas, but he wasn't in the mood to guess.

"You and I have a meeting with Akagi tomorrow after school." Rei wouldn't be giving up any more information than that, not that Shinji needed any. Though she did need him to make some preparations. "Also…" From her blouse she pulled the frozen embryo of Adam and held it out to Shinji, who automatically held out a hand before pausing as he saw what it was. "You'll need to fuse with it and begin practicing."

"Now? Really, you've got a lot of faith in me Rei." Shinji eyed the shrunken progenitor of Angel and Humankind with trepidation. They had never given this a try before. Sure they had stolen Adam before now, but never tried to fuse with it themselves. Well, Rei did it once with, odd results.

Placing the frozen Angel in Shinji's hand, Rei laid her head completely on his chest, "I have nothing but the utmost faith in you beloved. You can achieve anything so long as your mind is set on a goal."

Ignoring the cold in his hand, Shinji looked down at the head of blue hair on his chest, "And what is my goal this time?"

Red eyes turned to lock onto his own blue, "The same as always beloved, to live a happy and full life."

Enraptured as he was by Rei's striking eyes almost glowing in the low light, he barely noticed his fist closing around the already thawing Angel. He did notice the heat that was beginning to burn in his palm though, "Well that…hurts."

"It'll be over in a moment."

"Yeah, haaah, you say that." Shinji noted that even as he finished the sentence the burning sensation was already gone. Opening and closing his hand, he realized that unlike the grotesque mark that usually showed on his father's hand whenever the elder Ikari fused with Adam, his own hand was completely clean and normal. "Whoa." Was it getting darker somehow?

Rei smiled and cuddled closer to him, "Sleep beloved, we have a long day tomorrow." Was she perhaps rushing things? Maybe. But it was all for the ultimate goal of having endless cuddles, and that was always worth the risk.

-b-

"Sooo, is anyone going to point out that Shin-man has been out of it more than usual today? Cause it's startin' to get creepy." Toji leaned over his desk as Kensuke typed away at his laptop during their free period. The day had started the same as any other, the pilots had made their grand entrance after defeating an Angel the previous day, and more rumors spread about the trio while Hikari did her best to maintain order. Though today Shinji just could not seem to focus completely on the here and now. Rei they were used to, even if she was more open lately she would still be found staring listlessly out of the windows. Shinji at the least could have been counted on half paying attention to the lesson, but even he was ignoring the teacher today, somewhere between half asleep even with his eyes wide open. It was creepy, and gave Toji the creeps.

Kensuke was of the mind that Shinji probably had to stay up late training and it probably scrambled his brain, "Maybe I could pester him about becoming a backup pilot. They obviously need to give him a break."

Reaching around and cuffing the smaller boy on the head, receiving a rather girlish yelp in return, Toji smirked, "Yeah, real pilot material there. You wouldn't last a minute in Shinji's shoes."

"I so too would last a minute." Kensuke paused as voices around them snickered and giggled and it was much too late to realize just what he had said. Looking up in time to see several girls looking away from them hastily, Kensuke just knew his social cred just dropped a few hundred points. "I loath you."

Leaning back in his seat, Toji shrugged, "Your own fault for not watching what you say." Someone jerked on his chair, nearly sending him for a tumble with a yelp as he surged forward to save his life. "What gives!?"

Asuka smirked as she gave him the finger, "You're in the way meathead."

Mumbling about bossy redheads and needing to learn their place, Toji watched as she wandered over to tap Shinji on the shoulder. "Wonder what's going on with them lately?"

Kensuke shrugged as he tried to think of any way to salvage his reputation, "Think Asuka finally snagged Shinji from Rei for good?"

"No dice, someone caught them behind the gym shed the other day." Toji had heard that particular rumor, though the versions ranged from a simple lunch to a raunchy x rated event. Knowing Shinji, Toji banked on the lunch.

"Well I heard someone saw Asuka follow him into that unused guy's bathroom in the old building. Lot of noise from that area afterwards." Kensuke didn't fully believe it, but he did remember Asuka walking with a bit of a limp that day. But Shinji didn't have that kind of bravery did he? Certainly not at school.

Ignoring the idiot duo chatting about Shinji's rather busy week, Asuka leaned down to the out of it Shinji to whisper in his ear, "Getting the hang of it?"

"I'm connected to everything and to nothing. The world is mine to bend and twist as I please."

Well, that was unsettling. Time to knock him out of it, "How about you bend and twist me as you please?" Thankfully no one but Rei was close enough to hear her. And it did get a start out of Shinji finally.

Shaking himself and coming back to the present, Shinji locked eyes with Asuka, "Tease."

"You're weirding people out, get a grip." Sliding around to sit on Rei's desk though not blocking the sunlight from her book, Asuka scanned the classroom for a moment. "Sure is nice to have a free period. Should we ditch?"

Rei shook her head, "No trouble today. We have plans."

Asuka sighed as she did remember them mumbling about that last night before Shinji knocked out. "Riiight, guess I'll just entertain myself today."

Again shaking her head, Rei did finally look up from her book, "You are more than welcome to come along."

"Score." Watching Ritsuko get hers was always a great event. Certainly beat wandering around the mall and getting hit on by feckless boys.

Shinji sighed as the pair grinned at one another, though even he had to admit that today would be fun. "Guess it's a good thing that I am literally a human battery now."

Rei turn to look at him over her shoulder, red eyes shining to match his own shining blue, though no one would notice with how bright it was in the classroom. "You are much more than that beloved."

They all three missed Hikari joining Asuka's side to poke her with a grin, "You look like a delinquent."

Asuka chuckled and bumped shoulders with her friend, "Maybe I am. Say, what're you up to this weekend?"

Taking a moment to consider it, Hikari wasn't really in the mood to trawl the mall as Asuka most likely wanted, but it would be nice to get out of the house. "I guess I don't have any real plans." Plus who knew, maybe they'd get a chance to crash at Asuka's place later and she could chat with Shinji some.

Having an idea of where Hikari's mind was going as her attention drifted to the young man in their midst, Asuka winked at Shinji, "Good, we were going to throw a party for defeating the last Angel but didn't get the chance. So Saturday we're gonna have some fun, us girls that is."

That drew Shinji's attention, "Oh, guess I'll make myself scarce then." Which wouldn't be hard, he could hit the arcade with Toji and Kensuke, he was in dire need of damage control. It was time to drag Toji into reality kicking and screaming.

Rei was already shaking her head as she returned to her book, "You'll be busy."

And his hopes came crashing down in a ball of mental fire, "Don't I get a say in that?" He could literally feel the negative response that Rei shot his way mentally. Well, that was a new sensation to get used to. "Aw beans."

Asuka reached around and smacked him in the shoulder as Hikari giggled, "You'll be fine."

"Never said I wouldn't be." Sane at the end of it was a different question though. Oh well. Guess he'd have to ride the high of messing with Ritsuko today until then. The good doctor was always fun to mess with.

-AN-

Nothin is abandoned here, life has just been…life.