Neon Senshi Evangelion

Fourteen

The jeep bumped along the road as Misato drove with her usual casual aka slightly insane style. "Do we HAVE to go meet the ship?" Rei complained while keeping a white knuckled grip on the seat in front of her.

"Well, we're all going to be working closely together," Misato shrugged, looking away from the road at them, "and it's important to get off on the right foot."

"Eyes on the road!" Shinji yelped.

Misato casually turned back, thankfully NOT having to dodge anything coming at them. "Thanks for coming along too, Mana," she added.

"Thanks for inviting me," Mana smiled back, the tall slightly gangly girl sitting in the back seat with Rei. The two girls got along well, despite being near physical and emotional opposites. Rei was the thoughtful one, while Mana was the more quiet, yet athletic girl. But Rei seemed to be drawing her out of her shell, somewhat.

Shinji, on the other hand, wasn't warming to Mana, which worried Misato a bit. They were going to have to work together in the future, and that meant getting along. Well, unless the military decided to kill them all with Jet Alone, anyway...

Of course, they still had Asuka to deal with. 'Fire-y' was the word most often used to describe the young woman, along with 'hell on wheels.' Integrating her into a team was gonna be tough, especially if she got cranky.

"Looks like we're nearly there," Shinji reminded her, the young man rather nervusly sitting in the passenger's side.

"Got it," Misato started to slow down, the jeep eventually coming to a halt not far from where the massive aircraft carrier was docked. "Oh, one thing: Do not mention Asuka's mother around her," she added seriously.

"Why?" Shinji wondered. "I hadn't heard..."

"After her father died in the Impact Wars Asuka's mother kind of checked out," Misato explained to them, "mentally anyway. She did her job and that's about it. It's a touchy subject with Asuka, so don't bring it up."

"Got it," Mana agreed willingly.

"Wow," Rei muttered as they took in the massive prow of the ship. Or she was in awe of Unit-02, the massive red-orange colored Evangelion crouched on the deck, partially covered in tarps. It was hard to say which was more impressive.

"Is that thing going to be okay, with the salty air and all?" Mana asked practically, shading her eyes with her hand as she looked it over.

"Long term exposure wouldn't be good," Rei conceded, "but a few days should be fine." She looked over at Misato, "Is a team coming out to move it?"

"I'm pretty sure they're already here," Misato smiled wryly. Ritsuko was out bright and early to supervise moving the beast, along with a engineering team.

Just then they saw a figure break away from the crown by the gangplank and rush towards them, red hair streaming behind her. "Misato!" she yelled, scowling, "Why didn't you call?"

"It's been a bit hectic, Asuka," Misato said as Asuka screeched to a halt, hands on hips as she scowled up at the taller woman.

"Not a good excuse, dummy," Asuka scowled. Then she threw her arms around the taller woman as she added, "I missed you."

"You too," Misato sighed, hugging her back.

"I take it they met?" Mana said wryly.

Shinji chuckled as he explained, "Misato did a training period in Germany, they met then."

"Well, well, it's the Doll and Gendo Jr," Asuka broke away from Misato to drawl at the two Ikari siblings.

"I am NOT a doll," Rei smirked suddenly as she said, "I am a action figure."

Asuka blinked then burst into laughter at THAT. She looked at Shinji, "I don't hear you protesting the nickname."

Shinji looked back at her levelly and replied, "I could think of worse things to grow up to be than my father."

Asuka nodded, acknowleding the point. She looked over at the third person and nodded, "Hi, I'm Asuka Soryu Langley. I may act like a raging bitch, but most days I'm not THAT bad."

"Mana Kirishima," she shook her hand, "well, at least you're honest."

"That's one way to put it," Asuka smiled.

"All right," Misato said to Asuka briskly, "do you want to stay and supervise, or come back to town with us?"

"I talked to Ritsuko earlier, I think she can handle it," Asuka started to explain before a male voice cut her off.

"Hey, Misato!" the slightly scruffy man hurried up to them.

Rei knew Misato pretty well, and was very good at reading her. One of the interesting things about her was that she liked nearly everyone. YES, there were one or two people she actually didn't like, but most of the time she liked people. So it was rather startling to see a flash of irritation on her face before she mustered a fake smile.

"Kaji," Misato said coolly, "I see you accompanied Asuka?"

"Yeah, we took the trip from Germany together," Kaji said, trying for a charming smile. Sadly, Misato appeared mostly unmoved.

Asuka appeared confused by the instant chill in the air. "Yeah, and he was a perfect gentleman. Well, except for keeping me from beating up on sailors."

"Beating up on sailors?" Shinji blinked.

Kaji sighed. "A few young men got frisky, I asked Asuka to limit herself to breaking arms," he explained a bit tiredly.

Rei gave Asuka a admiring look, "I'm impressed."

Misato smiled reluctantly then nodded to Kaji. "You should have let her go all out," she noted dryly, "I bet no one else would have tried anything." She took a breath, "Anyway, we need to get going. Are you staying with the recovery team?"

Kaji looked faintly disappointed as he nodded. "Sure, I'll keep an eye on things. Meet you back in town?" he asked.

"If you're lucky," Misato said as she herded the kids back to the jeep.

Once they were on the road Rei leaned forward from where she, Mana and Shinji were in the back. "Okay, what was THAT about?" she asked.

"That, what?" Misato pretended not to understand as she drove.

Mana drawled, "You did not seem all that happy to see him."

Misato puffed out a breath. Teenagers and gossip, they were relentless. "We had a thing back in college," Misato said shortly, "it didn't work out."

"And that's it?" Rei had to ask.

"That's all I'm telling you now, anyway," Misato smiled wryly as she continued, "ask me again when you're older."

"Awww," Asuka pouted.

In all honestly, Misato hadn't been ready for a relationship, and choosing Kaji had been a bad move too. They had a lot of good sex, but that wasn't enough to build a relationship on. Add in that he was sleeping around, and...

"Have you got a place set up with NERV housing?" Rei asked Asuka curiously, deciding a subject change was a good idea.

"Supposedly I'm boarding with someone," Asuka made a face, "Why can't I just have my own apartment?"

"Because we're minors?" Mana shrugged, "Or NERV figures we'll have wild parties if left to our own devices?"

"Probably number two," Rei noted, amused.

Asuka laughed at that. "Probably," she agreed.

Misato puffed out a breath. "I mean to suggest this earlier," she said, "but I've got a spare room, if you want to use it."

Rei and Shinji exchanged a look, mildly surprised by this turn of events. While Misato was friendly, almost frighteningly so, she also maintained a degree of privacy. It was a bit surprising that she would offer to let the girl into her personal space.

Asuka smiled suddenly, "Seriously?"

"Yeah, I'll shovel out the junk and put your stuff in," Misato winked, teasing.

"Works for me," Asuka nodded.

To be continued...

Notes: Yeah. I've only been a so/so fan of Misato and Kaji, and I honestly don't think it would work in this version of Evangelion. That said, I AM leaving the door open to use him later.