Neon Genesis Evangelion Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Tenchi Muyo Fan Fiction ❯ One-Winged Angel ❯ Chapter Two: Arrival ( Chapter 3 )

One Winged Angel

(Or 1/2 The Heavens)

Chapter Two: Arrival

By Dr. Suekeiichi Kaiton

With additional material and revisions by Eric Freedman

---Japan, several days later---

"Good afternoon, Dr. Saotome; I'm Dr. Akagi." The tallish dyed-blonde polymath genius stepped off the dock and grasped Ranma's hand as he and Asuka stepped off the rubber raft they'd taken from the severely damaged 'Over the Rainbow'. The older man looked her up and down, his eyes catching the slight dryness in her hair and the slight bit of restrained admiration in her eyes.

"It's nice to see you again, doctor." Ranma shook her hand and stepped off the dinghy.

"You as well Dr. Saotome." Ritsuko helped Asuka off the raft and quickly followed the pigtailed man down the pier towards the waiting VTOL. "You're much more handsome in person."

"Ha, ha! Flattery will get you everywhere, Dr. Akagi." Ranma turned quickly around and looked her in the eye, his hands clasped tightly behind his back. As they continued down the wooden planks she was aware of his eyes on her.

"What is it?"

"Forgive me, it's just that I remember you with brown hair." Ranma looked wistfully out beyond her to the smoking ruin of the UN's Pacific fleet. "I was…sorry to hear about your mother…it was a great loss to us all."

"Thank you, Dr. Saotome, but that was a long time ago and we all must get on with our lives." Ritsuko masked her sadness and anger with a cheerful smile. "My mother always spoke very highly of you, Dr. Saotome, and your work in LCL research…well, I'm not exaggerating when I say that half of our achievements here wouldn't have been possible without your unique theories on the uses and properties of LCL."

"What is with this 'Doctor Saotome' nonsense? I've known you since you were in high school; please call me Ranma." Ranma wrapped his arm in hers, to her complete astonishment, and lead her down the pier once more. "So, I have heard many things about the First and Third since I left the Arctic research centre, how are they holding up?"

"Well, Ranma, the Children are doing as well as can be expected under the circumstances. I'm surprised you didn't hear more about the battle against the Third Angel even in the Arctic, it was the biggest news NERV has had since the activation tests for the EVA units." They both continued their walk down the dock, Asuka lingering behind watching the NERV teams tug EVA Unit-02 towards the transport plane.

"Asuka! Don't dawdle, we should get some rest!" She was shocked when Ranma grasped her shoulder in a solid grip and lightly pinched her neck.

"Yeah…whatever…"

She would have rather had Kaji at her side…

---Terminal Dogma---

"So, this is it?" Kaji was leaning on the edge of Gendo's desk.

"Yes." White-gloved hands lovingly caressed the slippery surface of the Bakelite encasing the fetus creature. Gendo was standing behind the desk with the duranium case open before him like the Ark of a New Covenant.

"Thanks for arranging the escort, as soon as the Sixth appeared I knew that it was after this." Kaji loosed his tie a bit and waited for Gendo to dismiss him but the Supreme Commander of NERV was too busy gazing down at the misshapen, discolored creature.

"The first human, ADAM."

---NERV Headquarters, Tokyo-3---

Two individuals sat in a darkened room as light flickered off them, illuminating their faces. They were Rei Ayanami and Shinji Ikari - the First and Third Children respectively- and they were currently watching as an enormous whale shaped angel was neatly filleted by a red EVA. The progressive knife cut cleanly through the skin of the beast and gore gushed out from the wound into the open sea.

"After this occurred the angel was shot at point blank range by two battleships and expired. The fastest angel defeat yet." Dr. Ritsuko Akagi stopped the footage and flipped on the lights.

"Wow! She may be the best pilot so far! Maybe she'll be more normal than these two." Misato gestured to the couple. Shinji gave her the evil eye while Rei didn't seem to give any reaction at all.

"She outperformed our latest projections! She's incredible…" Ritsuko sipped at her NERV mug.

"And I'll be her guardian I suppose?" Misato raised an eyebrow in the direction of Shinji.

"Well, we don't know yet. She came here with a temporary guardian while her permanent guardian was on assignment but in the end it will all be up to Commander Ikari. They stayed at a hotel last night and the Commander will make a decision today, so they'll probably be hanging around here until then." Ritsuko tried to suppress her smirk, she knew full well who Asuka's guardian was but wasn't about to let the cat out of the bag. Sliding her chair back, she gestured to Maya at the door. "If you'll excuse me I have to give Ranma a tour of the facility, he hasn't been in headquarters since before we were called NERV."

"It's a man?" Misato prodded relentlessly. Ritsuko hadn't had a steady boyfriend for the past ten years and here she was leading a new man across the base? And treating it as if it were run of the mill? "Is he cute?"

"Yes, it's a man and yes, he is cute; now if you'll excuse me." Ritsu and Maya left through the right doorway and Misato was left with the Children still staring at the viewscreen.

"Uh guys? The films over…"

"We are aware of that fact Captain Katsuragi." Rei deadpanned.

"Well then come on! We're going to go meet the new arrival!" Misato grinned deviously and rubbed her hands together in anticipation. She was dying to see the look on Ritsuko's face when she popped out of nowhere and put the serious kibosh on the blonde's ambitions. If anyone was going to nab a cute eligible bachelor it was going to be her!

"Captain Katsuragi, I believe that Dr. Akagi wishes to greet the guest alone." Rei was standing next to Shinji, the boy simply staring off into space. Sometimes Misato worried about the boy, he had a nasty habit of phasing out of reality, literally becoming entangled in his thoughts.

"That's half the fun, Rei! C'mon, Shinji, let's go meet the newcomer." With that the purple haired woman set down her coffee cup and walked out the door with renewed purpose.

"Pilot Ikari." Shinji pulled himself away from introspection and turned to look at his fellow pilot, Rei's eyes turned to gaze at him.

"Uh…yes Ayanami?"

"We should go now, the briefing is over." Rei clutched her school bag in both hands and followed Misato out into the myriad corridors of NERV HQ.

"Uh…right." Shinji grabbed his school bag and SDAT from one of the chairs in the media lab and followed the two women down the halls towards the medical wing - first cranial nerve. The medical wing was usually quiet unless one of the pilots was injured, then it became a bustle of action, but the ward was on edge that day - almost as if it were trying to digest some new component of itself. The brooding young man finally caught up to Misato and Rei in front of the information desk. Ritsuko was standing with Maya off to the side, watching a taller man in a white lab coat rifle through files and clipboards.

"Ah! Here he is!" The tall man looked down at Shinji, setting the Third Child's medical records on the counter beside him. Maya was holding a clutch of yellow envelopes over her mouth but her blush still peeked from the edges of the folder. "Shinji Ikari, the Third Child! It's nice to see you again!"

Said Child backed away slightly, gripping the handle to his schoolbag tightly and trying to resist the urge to run away. "I'm sorry but do I know you?"

"You probably don't remember me, you were too young." Ranma tapped the files spread before him with a finger wistfully before clapping the shorter boy on the shoulder. "The last time I saw you was eleven years ago. You couldn't have been older than four at the time."

"I'm sorry, I don't remember." He flashed Misato a panicked look but found her gaze focused on his obvious agitation, he really should have known better.

"Of course you don't, I apologize." Ranma straightened from his lean and took his hand off the Third. His gray-blue eyes shifted to Rei. "You remember me, don't you, Rei?"

"Yes."

"Ha! You have a wonderful memory Rei, I remember how you could use the computer systems just from watching how the technicians typed on the consoles." He ruffled her unruly hair a bit before stroking it back down. "You were a smart little girl back then."

Ritsuko cleared her throat to get all of their attention before gesturing to the stranger. "Everyone, this is Doctor Ranma Saotome, Chief of NERV Medical. He's just returned from Germany with the Second Child."

"It's very nice to meet you." Ranma took out a little leather pouch of tobacco and his pipe. "If it's alright with everybody why don't we continue this in the cafeteria, hmm?"

Together they withdrew from the Medical wing and passed through a maze of corridors to the cafeteria/lounge area. Against the enormous glass windows water droplets caused by condensation twinkled with the light of a passing monorail tram. Rei and Shinji took up the rear, the brown-haired boy casting worried glances between his fellow pilot and the new arrival.

"Ayanami?"

"What is it Ikari?" They had all stopped in the line for drinks.

"How do you remember Ranma, Ayanami?"

"I do not know, I simply do." She filled a large waxed cup full of water and placed a plastic cover on top, moving further down the line.

"It just seems like I should remember him, too." Shinji filled his own cup with orange soda and grabbed a vegetable sticks side order from the steam table before trailing the rest of the group through the haphazard maze of circular tables.

"Hey! Over her!" As soon as his voice carried over the din of the other officers, Ritsuko smirked, knowing how Misato would react to _his_ presence. "C'mon over and sit down, beautiful, we have a lot to catch up on!" Kaji waved his cigarette and motioned to the bevy of empty chairs at his table. Asuka giggled annoyingly from her place clinging to his arm.

"Oh God no! Not him…not Kaji!" Misato's face drained of color and she dropped her (thankfully unopened) cans of beer. "When the hell did he get here?!"

"He's Asuka's guardian. He arrived early this morning." Ritsuko walked ahead of the stunned and disgusted captain.

Misato angrily followed her friend, stepping in toe with the blonde after picking up her beer. "And when did you plan on telling me, Ritsu?"

"I thought you'd like it better as a surprise." The blonde pulled out a chair, set down her black coffee, and sat down next to the unshaved lothario.

"You owe me so big for this!" Misato sat down across the wide white table from Kaji, Shinji sitting next to her on the left, Rei next to him, and Ranma taking the empty seat between Rei and Asuka. The auburn-haired pilot cooled considerably when the older man sat down and shot glares that were downright hostile when he lit his small pipe. Ritsuko was sandwiched between Kaji and Maya, her erstwhile assistant sipping slowly at a cup of coffee.

"Why do you have to sit next to me? Are you coming on to me, you lecher?!" Asuka let go of Kaji's arm and slammed her palms on the table. She pointed at Maya's seat. "Why not go and get all chummy with your new admirer over there? You and the doctor were sure getting real friendly on the ride here!"

Misato paused in her glaring across the table to look at her fiend with astonished eyes. The sheer fact that her normally unflappable friend was blushing fit to burst convinced Misato of the truth in the redhead's statement.

"That's enough Asuka!" Kaji intoned sternly. The irate girl sat back down in a huff, crossing her arms underneath her breasts. Asuka scanned the table with half-lidded eyes looking for an easier target for her wrath…

Meanwhile, Shinji was lifelessly sipping his drink trying not to notice the way Misato's breasts bounced as she leaned over the table to insult her ex.

"Hey Shinji." Kaji leaned over the table with his cigarette clamped between his first and second fingers. "I hear you're living with Katsuragi."

"That's right." He didn't like where the conversation was going.

"Tell me, is she still as messy in bed?"

"What the hell do you think you're doing asking a question like that with children present!? Don't you have any shame?!" Misato spilled her can of beer across the table as she slammed both hands down on the table and bellowed in Kaji's face.

"Yeah, she just leaves her clothing everywhere and she's just so untidy."

Asuka rolled her eyes at the captain's display and saw Shinji smiling stupidly as he let Misato's dirty laundry out into the open. At the exact moment she looked at his face, he opened his eyes and came face tot face with fear.

"It's you, that psycho girl from the arcade!"

"Who the hell are you calling 'psycho' you spineless little worm! If I hadn't taken care of those thugs you and your perverted little friends would've gotten the crap beaten out of yourselves!" The red-head looked away and thrust her nose in the air.

Shinji was wrapped up in a wholly new experience, that of being angry. That was not to say that he'd never been angry before, it was just that at the table with the people he'd gotten to know well in the past few months he felt he could indulge the anger. His brow furrowing, he opened his mouth and said the first thing that came to mind…

"We aren't perverts! If you weren't flashing your panties all the time-" Shinji was silenced by a forceful slap that sent him sprawling onto the floor.

Misato was still ranting at Kaji when Shinji capsized but Ranma briefly tore his attention away from her tirade long enough to chuckle at Shinji's misfortune. Kaji was trying to avoid listening to Misato's wrath and was talking to Ritsuko. During all the commotion, Rei managed to take Shinji's order of vegetable sticks and silently munched on the tempura-fried delicacies.

---Later---

Misato was speeding down the slick streets, making hairy turns in her frustration as Rei and Shinji jostled back and forth in the back seat. Cars were frantically swerving out of the blue vehicle's path, driving up onto the sidewalks and into alleys as the pissed captain strangled her steering wheel in lieu of Kaji's throat.

"So…uh, Ayanami, what did you think of Dr. Saotome?"

"He's and arrogant, egotistical jerk just like that good-for-nothing Kaji!" Misato growled through her teeth as her stomach protested to the vigorous forces of inertia she was forcing upon it; that would teach her to drink the café's cheap beer! "Can you believe how condescending he was to me!? It's like I'm a freaking Sergeant again! So what if he remembered Ritsuko mentioning my joining the 3rd Brand in Germany! I can't believe Commander Kunze said that to him, too! Argh!"

Shinji turned away from his guardian's continued rants and flattened hip lips in irritation. He motioned for Rei to speak.

"I do not understand your question, Ikari."

"I just wanted to know your thoughts on Dr. Saotome."

"…And that stinking weasel, Kaji, I can't believe…"

"He is perfectly suited to his position. I do not believe Commander Ikari would have allowed him to become a high-ranking officer if he was incapable."

"…And Ritsuko! That lying, backstabbing little…"

"So you're just willing to take whatever my father does as the right way?"

"…She's just a two-faced bitch! I can't believe…"

"Yes. Do you not feel the same way?"

"We've had this conversation before, of course I don't trust him! He abandoned me, left me with my uncle, then just expects me to do whatever he wants?"

"…What's that noise? Do you two hear anything pinging back there? They guy told me he fixed it…"

"Have you ever considered that Commander Ikari is asking you to do what is right?"

"…Why can't my life just be easy? I didn't ask…"

Shinji turned his head forward in time to see a pedestrian leap out of the way of the car's hood and leaned back into the seat. Could Ayanami be right? Could his father be planning everything because it was the right thing to do? No, his father was just using him like he used everybody - even Rei. Why else would he distance himself from his own kin?

In the front sear, Misato's diatribe on everything and anything finally degenerated into inaudible grumbling.

"No. If my father was doing everything for the right reasons he wouldn't be hiding everything. He's just manipulating us all for one of his sick agendas and the sooner you realize that, Ayanami, the sooner your life will improve." Shinji growled and balled his hands into fists. Somehow, talking about his father always made him so angry.

"Anger is always your first response to your father. You cannot separate the wrongs he has done to you from the possible good he could perform for this world."

"But that's not the point! Whether my feelings are irrational or not doesn't matter! He isn't doing anything good."

Rei pulled her red eyes from her fellow pilot's face and stared at the reflective shimmer of the street lights and fading sun on the black leather headrest in front of her. Ikari could not be correct, the commander was incapable of error. He had always treated her with respect and friendship - often when no on else would…until Ikari-kun arrived. Could Ikari be correct? The blue-haired girl decided to think further on the possibilities that night and bid adieus when the car pulled up to her apartment building. Ikari had been more forceful than she had ever witnessed. His combative nature and intense depth of feeling intrigued her.

"So, Shinji, what were you and Rei talking about back there?" Misato pulled off her sunglasses as the final rays of sunlight faded along the horizon like the dying embers of a legendary flame and threw them on the passenger's seat.

"Nothing. It was nothing." He plugged in his SDAT and looked out the window at the rapidly passing streets. Misato had lived with him enough to realize he wanted to be alone. She simply continued to drive hurriedly down the road towards their apartment, intent on getting very drunk when they arrived.

She parked the car in the parking garage across the street in NERV parking (on the first level) and together she and Shinji saw the first signs that a quiet night was not in their fortunes. Shinji dropped his schoolbag, spilling his DAT disks onto the sidewalk, and his jaw almost became unhinged as the moving truck pulled away from their home.

It couldn't be…

"Hey, Katsuragi! How about a nightcap?" Kaji waved his arms from the entryway, two satchels slung over his shoulders. Asuka was standing next to him holding a backpack.

Misato pinched the bridge of her nose in irritation and hung her head low, tapping her foot for good measure. "There is no way this day can get any worse…"

"Good evening captain, hello Shinji, do you two live in that apartment building?" Ranma appeared out of the shadows carrying a large cardboard box. Ritsuko arrived soon after carrying a large suitcase.

"What are you doing out here, Misato?" Ritsuko smiled and shook a plastic bag looped over her wrist. "I brought the snacks this time."

"This isn't happening…"

"Come on, captain! This is going to be fun!" Ranma folded the package under one arm and patted her lightly on the shoulder with the other. The purple-haired woman only groaned slightly and allowed herself to be dragged across the street. It appeared that Kaji, Asuka, and Ranma had all moved into the complex that day. Actually, Kaji and Asuka were only living in the complex temporarily until NERV could find appropriate housing for them, preferably in a place far, far away.

In a bustling group they poured into the Katsuragi apartment and raided her fridge. Misato simply sat herself down in a chair and prepared to get thoroughly soused; it was probably the only thing that would save her sanity.

Asuka already had Shinji pinned against a wall, her arms powerful leverage against his shoulders. Struggle as he may, he was unable to break free of her pin.

"Oh, I'm sorry, am I hurting you?" Asuka smirked cruelly, bringing one of her legs up so her knee ground painfully against his crotch. "Would you like to apologize now or," she lifted her leg higher, "later?"

Shinji struggled a little more before stilling, his eyes latched onto hers with pure hatred. Between the redhead's treatment and Ayanami's behavior in the car, Shinji was not in the best of moods; thus he acted in a manner completely opposite to him norm.

"Let go of me now you bitch." His voice was the dry crackle of doom, his sunken eyes completing the effect. Asuka was so shocked by the transformation in the boy that she loosened her grip just enough so that Shinji was able to push her off him and out into the livingroom where she fell on her ass. Shinji didn't even look back at the fallen girl, he simply turned into his room and shut the door with an efficient clack of wood on wood.

The party pretty much ended after that, Kaji helping up his fallen charge and excusing himself, and Ritsuko leaving with the excuse of Asuka's synch tests in the morning. So it came down to Ranma and Misato staring blankly at each other across the low table.

"I'd better go check on him." The tall purple-haired woman stood up and started towards the bedrooms before a hand grasped her wrist and pulled her back.

"Shinji'll be alright, he's a tough kid." Ranma let go and Misato sat back down, slugging back a can of Yebisu in one go and belching loudly. "I think that coming here was probably the best thing that could happen; I think he'll learn to be more independent."

"You know you talk like a doctor all the time?" Misato was slightly tipsy but not enough to compromise her judgement. "How old are you anyway?"

"I'm forty-one."

"Bullshit."

"No, it's true." Ranma raised his glass mug of Sapporo and drank half the draught. "What's this about age? Would you like me to tell everyone your age?"

"Ah, ha, ha, ha! No, that's alright! We can have some secrets can't we?"

"Of course."

Misato pulled the tab on another beer. "So how'd NERV nab you?"

Ranma opened his tobacco pouch and found it empty. "I was a doctor helping refugees after Second Impact." The pigtailed man fumbled around a bit in his jacket pockets before pulling out a pack of Mild Sevens. Misato remembered that Kaji always used to smoke Mild Sevens. But those times were long gone. "I was one of the first physiologists the commander sniped for the UN Artificial Evolution Laboratories. I remember there were two others but neither of them worked out - I guess I was just lucky."

"Mmm, hmm." Through the amber haze of beer, Misato's mind knew there had to be more behind Ranma, someone wasn't just lucky. There was a reason Gendo chose Ranma to be head of NERV Medical - another mystery for her to unravel it seemed. "So yer gonna be down in the med'cal wing fer sure now?" Misato was wobbling heavily sitting down as she slurred which didn't exactly bode well for her when she decided to stand.

"Commander Ikari wants me on the command bridge for some strange reason. I'll also be in charge of the Pilot's training regimen." In truth it wasn't that strange for him to be on the bridge but he felt the drunk woman would hardly remember their conversation let alone any details therein.

"So yer gonna be under me from now on, huh?" Misato knocked aside Ranma's beer and crawled onto the table on all fours. "How's about a l'il practice?" Her hands gripped his shoulders and pulled him forward. Ranma smiled at her with bedroom eyes and stubbed out his cigarette. His hands came around her trim waist and slid her hindquarters across the lacquered surface of the table until she dropped into his lap with a short 'whuf' of air. Her lips seemed adhered to his, her hands roaming over his back while her thin thighs wrapped themselves around his tush, urging the swollen crotch of his slacks to the steaming junction of her legs.

They continued necking for a few minutes until Misato couldn't take the teasing any longer, she tore open his uniform jacket and dug her nails into his back. Ranma winced in pain but succeeded in lifting her up by the ass and carrying her into the room at the end of the hall. The door slammed shut with the sharp crack of metal on wood and stuck as the two adults began tearing each other's clothes off, throwing the offending articles in all directions in their mad quest for climax.

---To be continued---