Neon Genesis Evangelion Fan Fiction ❯ I Dare You ❯ Chapter 1

I Dare You

By

Ret Nuh

 

(Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion and all its characters are owned by Gainax. If requested by them I will remove this story from publication.)

 

(UPDATE: I have finally finished the omake and attached it to this story. Along with that I have done a much needed proof to this story that I believe greatly improves the flow and sensuality of it. Sorry it took so long but I sort of forgot about this story and the omake as life was keeping me busy.)

 

A/N: Believe it or not I wrote an actual one shot. And considering how long winded I tend to be this feat of brevity is quite amazing. Wish I could say the same thing about this story. If you have read any of my other works you can pretty much skip the rest of the intro as you already know what it is about as I am pretty adamant about my pairings. For the rest of you, this is a lemon about Shinji and Asuka. The setting for this story is after third impact. People came back and the world is going on its usual way again. It's been some time since third impact and both Asuka and Shinji are sixteen and everything is, at least for them, normal. They are still living with Misato and they are still more or less outwardly acting the same way towards each other. But life has a funny little aspect to it. Change. In fact the only thing that never changes is that there is always change. Be it good or bad it will always happen. How it happens though can be the interesting part. Sometimes it happens with the most trivial of things while other times it is carefully orchestrated. Either way things end up being very different from what they used to be. So let's see what happens in the lives of Shinji and Asuka when change happens again.

 

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Shinji was sitting at the kitchen table trying desperately to do his homework. Misato was sitting across from him grumbling something about why she could never get a job that didn't involve a mountain of paperwork. PenPen was around too but he was just snoozing his life away in his comfortable little fridge. As for Asuka, she was sitting on the couch watching TV.

 

After pretty much vibing Shinji's agitation Misato looked up from her paperwork at him. “If the TV is too loud just go tell her to turn it down.”

 

He didn't even look up in response and said to her. “She won't listen to me. Can't you do it?”

 

Misato looked away from him and back at her paperwork. “Why should I? It's not bothering me.” She then heard a disgruntled little breath from the boy as he went back to trying to study. Then the TV got even louder as Asuka turned it up to clearly hear what some of the characters were saying.

 

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A half hour later of this disrupting noise Shinji finally got up enough nerve to go ask Asuka to turn the volume down a little. “Asuka? Could you please turn it down?”

 

Asuka glanced away from the TV screen for a microsecond and then her eyes darted back to it immediately. “No.”

 

“But I need to study” Shinji replied in a failing attempt to reason with the uncaring girl.

 

Asuka of course berated him for that. “If you weren't such a baka, you wouldn't need to study so much. I mean look at me. I never study and I'm the top student in the school.”

 

So with his ego completely deflated Shinji tried one last pathetic attempt at reasoning, which came out more as a whine than anything. It was a very quiet and mostly mumbled “Please?”

 

Asuka snapped at him for that. “I can't hear my show. Now shut up and go away!” and she turned the volume up even more.

 

Shinji tried to say something back to that, most likely an apology, but he was drowned out by the noise. Out of instinct he reached for the remote to turn the TV down so she could at least hear him.

 

Asuka noticed this and beat him to the remote. She growled out “I Dare You.”

 

Shinji pulled his hand back quickly in reaction to Asuka's violent outburst.

 

Asuka herself then turned down the volume but it was only to berate him. “I dare ya to Ikari. Grab this remote from me and turn down the volume.”

 

Shinji got wide-eyed, fearful, and took a nervous gulp. “I-I-I was just… I didn't mean to…. I- I'm sorry.”

 

Asuka was not impressed by Shinji's pitiful excuse at all. She took her hand off the remote and placed it on the edge of the couch. While she cracked her knuckles, making a fist with one hand, she re-iterated her challenge. “I dare you to. All you have to do is grab the remote and turn the TV down. But I know you're too big of a gutless chicken to do it. In fact I am so sure you won't accept my dare that I will…” Asuka stopped for a moment and looked like she was trying to think up something outlandish. She then got a very arrogant look on her face as she finished up her dare. “…Be friendly to you for a whole day if you do.” But as she said that she raised her closed fist and shook it at him.

 

Shinji stammered out something unintelligible as Asuka glared at him directly. “I Dare You!” And per normal, Shinji backed down and slunk away. Asuka yelled out “WUSS!” and turned the TV up even louder than before.

 

Shinji returned to the table and sat down. Misato didn't even look up at him as she shook her head in disappointment. Shinji then opened up one of his textbooks and let out a typical `The World Hates Me' sighs.

 

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An hour later Asuka's show was over and Shinji thought he could now have some peace and quiet but that thought was shattered by a “Yes! An action movie is on next… and it has gobs of explosions in it.”

 

Shinji's loud groan for mercy could have been heard if not for the incredibly loud explosion that rocked the room. Worse yet the loud noise didn't even seem to phase Misato as she paid absolutely no attention to it.

 

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Two more hours passed and Asuka was into yet another loud movie with the volume cranked up. And now it was even worse, Misato was sitting right next to her watching the movie. Enough was enough as Shinji put his textbook down and closed it. Not only was he not able to concentrate he was now tired. Tired of the noise. Tired of himself. And just plain tired. So he decided he might as well go to bed. He walked over to the couch and said goodnight to the girls. Neither of the girls heard him though so he picked up the remote and turned it down so he could repeat himself, this time being heard. “I'm going to bed now. Goodnight.”

 

Misato turned her head and smiled at him. “Night Night Shinji.” And then with a wink “And remember, you can do anything you want to me in your dreams. I don't mind.”

 

Shinji blushed at that but it faded quickly as Asuka continued to stare at the TV. She wasn't even acknowledging his existence. He turned the TV back up and depressingly schlepped his way towards his room. He changed into his night clothes, grabbed his S-DAT, and laid down on his bed. He didn't even turn any music on as he used the earphones as earplugs. The world went silent when he did this. He looked up at the ceiling and asked it “Why can't my life ever change?” He fell asleep soon afterwards as he knew no matter how many times he asked his ceiling that question he would never get an answer back.

 

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After Shinji left the living room and went over to his room Asuka picked up the remote, waited a minute or two, and then turned off the TV. Both Misato and Asuka took earplugs out of their ears after that. Having long hair helped them conceal this fact from Shinji.

 

Misato turned to look over at Asuka. “The rest is up to you.”

 

Asuka replied with a apprehensive “I know.”

 

“You better not be backing out of this” Misato warned.

 

“I'm not... I swear it.”

 

“Good. Because this is your last chance.” Misato told her. “I don't like the way his life is right now and I won't have it continue on like it any longer.”

 

“I think I'm ready to change his life” Asuka answered her tense guardian.

 

“And yours too” Misato added. “And remember the price for failure is a one way ticket back to Germany.”

 

Asuka placed a hand near her heart. “If I can't finally do this after all my thinking and all our talking… that's what I deserve.”

 

Misato softened up and smiled at Asuka again. “That's what I wanted to hear.” She then gave Asuka a peck on her forehead “Why don't you go to bed. You have a big day ahead of you tomorrow.”

 

Just thinking about tomorrow was enough to overwhelm Asuka and she only answered with a timid “Ok” as she left.

 

Misato could physically see the nervousness in Asuka as she walked over to her room but it was understandable. Tomorrow would be a day of decisions, and big ones at that. Good or bad everyone's life was going to be very different. Change would come with the rising sun.

 

When Asuka's door shut Misato got up and walked out onto the balcony. She looked up at the clear night sky and saw the moon was almost full. By tomorrow it would be. She then called out “God, Yahweh, Allah, Buda, Jehovah, Lilith, or even Yui. I don't care. Whoever or whatever is out there, Please let this happen. They don't deserve the lives they are living right now… I just want them to be happy.” The only answer Misato got in return was a twinkling of the stars. Yet she took calm in that and headed off towards her own bedroom to go to bed. She had a big day ahead of her tomorrow too.

 

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Shinji's alarm went off at 6:00 am, the same time as always. He hated getting up this early but he had to make breakfast, prepare his and Asuka's lunch, feed PenPen, clean up the mess afterwards, and then finally get a shower. To make this list of tasks even harder all this had to be done by 7:15 am as that is when Asuka wanted to leave for school. She always wanted to get there early so she could talk with Hikari about this and that before the school day started. After a good minute of beeping he finally sat up in his bed and turned off the incessant morning irritation. He then blinked a couple times as he slowly got out of his bed. “I hate mornings.”

 

As he trudged his way out his door and down the hallway towards the kitchen he thought he smelled food. He shook his head a bit to clear the cobwebs out of his brain but the smell was still there. This confused him as he thought `How can I be smelling breakfast if I haven't even made it yet?'

 

As he continued on his way a vision came into focus. He saw Asuka standing there in front of the stove making breakfast. That beautiful red hair of hers hung down her back as it delightfully contrasted with her yellow sundress. He loved seeing her dressed up in that. And that is when everything started to make sense to him. `I'm still dreaming. Now she will turn around with a tray of food, smile at me, and then I will wake up before she even says anything.' This was just another one of his hopeless dreams that would never come true. He hated having them as they were a horrible reminder of what he couldn't have. `Might as well get this over with then' he thought to himself as he pulled out his chair and sat down at the table. He then noticed for a dream this felt remarkably real. The table was set and the food was smelling really good. `Wait a second… I don't think I have ever smelled anything in a dream before. Is that even possible???'

 

His answer came to him in the form of a pretty girl turning around with a tray of food and saying “Good morning Shinji.”

 

Shinji only replied with a shocked “Ummmmm………” as that phrase was not only delivered sweetly but with a smile.

 

Asuka continued to walk over to him and set the tray of food down in front of him, while smiling the whole time none the less. Shinji just sat there staring at her dumbfounded. She giggled at him “You're such a little sleepyhead in the morning.”

 

“????? I am ?????” Shinji asked as he wasn't even sure if he was himself right now. This was too real to be a dream but then again it couldn't be anything else.

 

Asuka giggled at him again “You're being silly” and ruffled his hair with her hand. “Now why don't you eat your breakfast before it gets cold while I go and set out your clothes for today.”

 

“Huh?… Why??”

 

“Well because we have a very big day ahead of us” she smiled at him in all honesty and walked off towards his room.

 

When Asuka was out of his sight Misato came into view. She looked at his breakfast “Hey, that looks good” and went to get some. When she came back to the table with her tray of food she sat down on the opposite side of it from him. Shinji just sat there the whole time staring at her. Misato took a couple bites of her breakfast. “Pretty good isn't it?”

 

“Huh?” Shinji replied.

 

“The food” Misato answered the confused teenager. “Haven't you tried any yet?”

 

Shinji looked down at the tray of food in front of him. He hadn't even picked up his chopsticks yet, let alone tried some.

 

As he was now staring at his food Misato pointed a chopstick at him and with a mouthful of food she told him “You know if you don't at least try some, you're going to make her sad.”

 

Sad was the last emotion he was expecting to hear and he called Misato out on it. “Sad?… Mad maybe, but definitely not sad. More than anything she probably wouldn't give a damn.”

 

“You have a lot to learn about women Shinji” Misato said taking another bite of her breakfast. “If we go to all the trouble of making something nice for someone and that someone doesn't even try what we made them, it hurts our feelings. Big time.”

 

“She made this for me?” Shinji questioned. That couldn't have been right.

 

“Considering it's way too light on the spice …” Misato answered in explanation. “…And since she would rather have bacon and eggs in the morning than a tradition Japanese breakfast I doubt she made this for either me or herself.”

 

That was true. Shinji always did have to make two separate breakfasts in the morning. One for him and Misato and another for Asuka as she had a totally different idea of breakfast from them. This realization forced him to ask “WHY???”

 

Misato shook her head at him as she was getting really tired of explaining everything to him. “It's rather obvious Shinji. She's being friendly to you.”

 

Shinji didn't want to repeat himself but he knew he had to. “Why???”

 

“You sure you didn't get any permanent brain damage during the Angel Wars?” Misato chided him. “She's being nice to you because you turned down the volume last night.”

 

“No I didn't” Shinji answered quickly and then shifted into a very depressed manner as he said “I wussed out.”

 

“No. I clearly remember you turning down the volume last night.” Misato corrected him.

 

“When?”

 

“Near the end of that movie” Misato told him. “You came over, picked up the remote, turned the volume down, and said goodnight to us.”

 

“But I wasn't turning it down on her” Shinji argued for reasons he wasn't exactly clear of himself. “I just turned it down to say goodnight. Then I turned it back up right afterwards.”

 

Misato smiled at him “It doesn't matter why you did it, you did it. So now Asuka has to be nice to you today.”

 

“She doesn't have to be…”

 

Misato's smile disappeared and she stared directly back at the thick headed kid sitting across from her. “Why are you arguing this? You get a free pass today from her usual torture and mayhem. You should be happy and just accept it.” She then raised an eyebrow “Or do you like being abused? Because if you do I know a couple women who are into that sort of thing. You might be a little young for them but then again they might actually like that.”

 

Shinji's face turned a crimson red and he quickly began eating his breakfast in an effort to hide from that comment. As he ate though he slowed down and notice the food in actual fact was good. If Asuka really did make this she did a pretty good job. He then noticed a wink and a sly grin from his breakfast mate. “Told you it was good.”

 

Shinji laughed at himself a bit as he realized Misato just tricked him into trying the food. “You like tricking me, don't you?”

 

“Sort of” Misato answered him. “But I wouldn't have to if you accepted situations for what they are on a more regular basis.

 

Shinji let out a sigh and nodded his head at that. He knew Misato was just trying to teach him a lesson. That is when Asuka came back into the kitchen.

 

She saw Shinji eating his breakfast and she walked up behind him and put her hands on his shoulders. “So, you like it?”

 

Shinji jumped in his seat at first, eliciting laughter from Misato, but Asuka was just standing there smiling and waiting for an answer. Since Asuka was at the very least attempting to be nice Shinji let out a flustered “It-it's good.”

 

Asuka's smile grew even brighter. “Thank you Shinji.” She then let go of him and walked over to the stove while talking. “I was really worried it wouldn't be. I haven't cooked since I was in Germany and even then it wasn't this kind of food.” She fixed herself up a tray and brought it back to the table where she preceded to sit down with the other two. This was another unusual thing, usually she ate her breakfast in the kitchen. Asuka continued talking as she began eating. “But truthfully the cooking over here isn't super different from what I did in Germany. Mostly just different ingredients and flavors but the same techniques.”

 

Shinji's mind was racing at this point and he said something before thinking about it. “I didn't even know you could cook.” He regretted saying that the second it left his mouth though. `You are as big of a baka as she accuses. You couldn't just leave it well enough alone and let her be nice to you. You just had to say something to make her mad.' If Shinji could have he would have kicked himself squarely in the ass right now. But he was surprised as Asuka didn't even look the slightest bit peeved. In fact she even answered him.

 

“I'm not as good as you at it but I can. When I got sent off to college I lived too far away to commute back and forth from my home so I was put up in the dorms. After six months of the same old boring cafeteria food I was desperate for something good to eat. But the only way to get good food was to go out to eat at the bars surrounding campus or learn to cook. I was only 11 at the time so there was no way I was getting in the bars and that left me with only one option. Make my own food. So from the time I was 11 until I came over here I cooked for myself.”

 

“So why haven't you ever cooked over here?” Shinji asked while thinking to himself `Will you just shut the hell up already Shinji. Are you trying to get yourself hurt?'

 

“Because your food tastes better than mine” Asuka answered truthfully. “While I don't hate to cook, I don't love to either. And since you seemed to enjoy doing it and it comes out better I figured why bother messing around with a good thing?” Asuka then looked up from her breakfast at him. “But if you ever want a day off just ask me. As you can tell I'm better than the purple haired menace over here.”

 

Misato yelled “HEY!” at that comment while Asuka laughed. Shinji himself laughed a bit before he caught himself. He then watched as Asuka and Misato teased each other back and forth. Now that was something he was used to and recognized as reality. Ever since they came back Misato and Asuka had gotten much closer. It seemed Asuka had found someone she could confide in. Many times when he had come home from somewhere he found the two of them talking with each other. Asuka even referred to Misato as the big sister she never had but desperately needed. Shinji smiled a bit as he watched the two women verbally joust at each other, for once he was allowed in on this instead of being chased away by a pair of blue eyes that sneered “Do you mind?”

 

While watching the two he got surprised as Asuka turned her head in mid-conversation with Misato and instead of an evil glare she commented “Wow you ate that up quick, you must've been hungry. Do you want me to get you some more?”

 

“Umm… No thank you?” Shinji said in a way that was more like asking a question than answering one.

 

And as he began to get up to take his tray over to the sink Asuka stopped him “Don't worry about the dishes, I'll take care of them. Why don't you run along and get your shower.”

 

“Don't you want the bathroom first?” Shinji asked. But in his head `Will you just shut up already Shinji and do as you are told.'

 

Asuka answered him nicely though. “I got up early and already took mine. Plus I took down my stockings, I know it has to be annoying running into those damp old things every morning.” A pleasant smile was on her face as she added “So why don't you run along and I will finish up the chores.”

 

Shinji answered with a wide-eyed and skeptical “Okay…” And as he walked over to the bathroom he glanced behind himself several times to make sure this wasn't all just a big joke and he was about to be jumped and beaten to a pulp.

 

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When the bathroom door closed Asuka let out a loud sigh. Misato told her “If you're already tired of this and biting your tongue, that's not a good sign.”

 

“It's not that” Asuka answered. “When I got up this morning I told myself I wouldn't do anything I truly didn't want to… and I won't hold back either. If I can't go a whole day being happy with him or I have to show a ton of restraint and not be my true self then maybe I'm wrong about my feelings.”

 

“Then what's the problem?” Misato asked. “Because you seem to be doing well if you really aren't forcing anything.”

 

“He's acting all paranoid” Asuka pouted.

 

“Can you blame him?” Misato said directly at her. “I mean, look how you have treated him in the past.”

 

“But the last few months I have been a lot nicer to him” Asuka argued.

 

Misato quickly corrected her “No. You have been avoiding him for the past few months. And that is not being nicer.”

 

“That's because I was really confused and coming to the realization about how I felt about him.”

 

“That doesn't change the facts Asuka. He's still weary of you because he thinks he has to be.”

 

Asuka kept up her argument. “But you told him I have to be nice to him today, right?”

 

“Yup, I did. But that doesn't mean he believed me. Or more importantly that he thinks you can do it.” Misato told her.

 

“But I can” Asuka interrupted.

 

“You know, I really do believe you can” Misato said to her. “But the important part will be convincing Shinji you can. What you want from Shinji is something he won't give up freely. You're going to have to earn it.”

 

Asuka put her elbows on the table and held her face in her hands as she exhaled. “This is going to be really hard.”

 

“If it wasn't it wouldn't be worth it” Misato told her getting up from the table and carrying her tray over to the sink. “I'll go get the car and bring it around front.”

 

Asuka looked at Misato strangely “But you're still in your pj's.”

 

“Yeah, so?” Misato answered. “I'm only going over to Kaji's after I drop you two off so why bother getting dressed? He's just going to strip whatever I'm wearing off.”

 

Asuka could only roll her eyes at Misato for that as she started to clear the table. That woman's reasoning was really strange, not to mention slightly perverted, at times.

 

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When Shinji came out of the bathroom he took a cautious look around before heading towards his bedroom. And as he walked down the hallway he tried to sneak past the kitchen, but not before sneaking a peak into the kitchen. He saw the dishes were already in the drying rack and that Asuka was feeding PenPen. He shouldn't have stopped to peak as the penguin spotted him and warked a hello drawing Asuka's attention towards Shinji. “So did you have a good shower?”

 

“It was ok, I guess” Shinji answered simply trying not to show his confused state.

 

“Good” Asuka responded and flashed him another smile. She then ramped up her cuteness factor by putting her hands on her hips and falsely ordering “Now you be a good Shinji and get dressed quickly. We have some place very nice to go this morning.”

 

“We do?” Shinji asked as school wasn't the nicest place in the world to him and it was a lot earlier than normal to leave for it.

 

“Yup we do” Asuka answered in a chipper fashion and then went back to feeding PenPen.

 

As Shinji went to his room to go change he started talking to himself in his head. `This is weird.'

`Yes it is.'

`I wonder if I should sneak out of my room and hide out for the day.'

`Why in the hell would you do that?'

`Because this is a setup.'

`So?'

`So come tomorrow when the dare is over she is going to kill me.'

`Maybe. But then at least she would be acknowledging our presence again.'

`That's true. All she does is ignore me now.'

`God I hate that.'

`Lately it's like I don't even exist to her. Makes me wonder why I came back.'

`You know why you did.'

`Why does she have to be so beautiful?… and at the same time so untouchable.'

`She wouldn't be if you didn't back down so much. You know she hates that.'

`Why do I have to be such a wuss?'

`You know you could actually do something about it.'

`But I know I won't.'

`Why not?'

`Because I don't want to make her mad.'

`She is going to be mad tomorrow anyway. Why not make it worth it?'

`I do want to see her smile at me again.'

`That will make me happy.'

 

And so Shinji decided to go along with the dare, he had nothing to lose after all.

 

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When Shinji came out of his room he was wearing pretty much what he always wore except that Asuka had set out for him a powder blue oxford shirt. He was curious about it as he didn't remember owning a shirt like this but he easily figured Misato probably slipped it into his closet in an effort to get him to change his looks once in a while. She was always doing things like that.

 

Asuka was waiting for him in the living room. “That shirt looks nice on you Shinji. It really brings out the blue in your eyes.”

 

Shinji blushed in response to that and meekly told her “thank you.”

 

The next thing she told him though scared the crap out of him. “Do you like what I am wearing?”

 

She wasn't only asking for his opinion but it was an opinion on how she looked. This could be a dangerous area if he said something stupid and he ended up stuttering out a “y-y-yes” In his mind though he wanted to answer `God Yes! You look incredibly beautiful in your yellow dress and sunhat. I could stare at you all day in that outfit if you would only let me.'

 

Asuka responded to his compliment with a kind thank you and then grabbed him by his arm. “We better hurry, Misato's waiting for us.” While leading him out though Asuka could feel the nervousness in Shinji. His whole arm was trembling the entire time she had a hold of it. `Please Shinji, stop being so scared. I just want you to be comfortable around me. I know I have been a royal bitch to you in the past but that was because I was scared about how I felt about you. You have to know that… Please know that. Please just give me the chance to be nice to you and show you how I really feel. Just this one chance. That's all I really want from you.' Asuka wished she could have said that out loud to him as they rode down the elevator but she knew she couldn't. She had said too many false things in anger and cover up for him to believe her words now. She had to make Shinji believe she was being nice to him in earnest though her actions.

 

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When Shinji and Asuka got to the car Misato asked them “What took you guys so long? You weren't making out up there were you?”

 

Normally Asuka would have screamed bloody murder at this but instead she teased back “It's none of your business if we were Ms. I'm Too Lazy To Even Get Dressed For My Boyfriend.”

 

“I am not lazy!” Misato rebutted as she started the car. “I'm just efficient.”

 

“Whatever.”

 

“Well if you think I'm lying lets just ask Shinji.” Misato said switching over to a sultry voice that seemed to ooze sex. “Now Shin-kun. Would you rather have Asuka show up before you in her high school uniform where you would have to pain stakingly strip off each of her delicate white stockings, followed by untying that pretty red ribbon they make the girls wear. Then you would have to go to all the hassle of slowly taking off her pretty, pretty plaid skirt. And even after that you would have to unbutton each button on that white blouse the school makes her wear, slowly starting at the bottom and moving you way upwards. And even after all of that she would still be standing in front of you in her bra and panties. Which you would have to peel off her luscious body before you got to her goods… OR… would you like her to show up in her pj's where you would only have to strip off a flimsy pair of shorts and a flimsy top to see her in all her glory?”

 

After hearing no answer from him for a good couple minutes she looked in her rear-view mirror. He was exactly like she expected him to be. Frozen dead still except for one hand that was twitching rapidly and a bead of sweat on his forehead. Along with this his mouth was gaped open and he had eyes that didn't know whether to be excited, scared, embarrassed, weary, or lustful. She then looked over at the other person in the back seat with him. It was then that she realized she may have gone a little overboard. She was only supposed to make the suggestion of a naked Asuka, not ham it up. Plus she may have hit upon a hidden fantasy of the girl as Asuka had a wild look in her eyes and was trying to hide some very rosy cheeks behind her hair. Misato proceeded to clear her throat loudly to remind Asuka that she was on.

 

Asuka snapped out of her daze and nudged Shinji in the ribs lightly to get his attention. “Ignore the old broad Shinji. She's just using you to get under my skin.”

 

It was after this line that Shinji snapped to attention. It wasn't Asuka nudging him or what she said it was the sudden jerking of the car as it came to a screeching halt right in the middle of the road.

 

Misato whipped her head around and gave Asuka a look that would have killed an angel. “WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME?!!!”

 

“A beautiful young woman” Asuka quickly said shaking nervously. This time Asuka may have been the one that got carried away. Calling Misato a old broad was a little more than a light zing. Even Shinji noticed the bead of sweat on Asuka's brow as Misato glared at her while growling.

 

Eventually Misato took a couple breaths and said to herself `You can punish the girl for that later, just stick to the plan… And oh there will be punishment.' Misato then whipped her head back forward and took off like a shot. After some hairpin turns and some very aggressive driving she started to calm down. And that is when Shinji witnessed something special while pretending to look away. Asuka reached up front and placed her hand on Misato's shoulder. A couple seconds later Misato reached back and gave Asuka's hand a little squeeze and all was forgiven.

 

Asuka pulled her hand back after that and smiled once again. Shinji though let out a little sigh as he really did start to look out the window. He wished he had that kind of relationship with those two. But he always pulled back whenever Misato tried to reach out to him and he knew if by some miracle Asuka did, he would pull away from her too.

 

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o -o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

 

While traveling along and looking out the car window Shinji noticed they weren't traveling towards school as they were on a quiet mountain road. He kind of kicked himself for not noticing this sooner, especially since Asuka wasn't exactly wearing her school clothes and neither was he. “Where are we going?”

 

“Someplace” Misato answered him with a smirk.

 

“Won't we be late for school?” he then asked.

 

“No” Misato told him. “Both of you have been doing pretty well lately so I'm giving you a break from that prattle today.” Misato then let out a little laugh as she added “You didn't just notice that now, did you?”

 

“Ummm… yes” Shinji answered feeling a lot like the baka he was commonly called by the girl sitting next to him.

 

Misato shook her head disparagingly at him. “I love you and everything kiddo, but sometimes I really wish you would open your eyes to what is going on around you more often.”

 

Shinji answered with the only response he could think of. “Sorry.”

 

Misato shook her head again as that was a poor answer and the rest of the car trip was relatively quiet. Misato drove. Asuka was looking out the window but at the same time oblivious to her surroundings as she had a great many things running through her mind. And Shinji was sitting there trying to figure out what was going on in the first place.

 

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o -o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

 

Finally they arrived at the destination of this trip and Shinji recognized it right away. It was the grassy mountain overlook that Rei, Asuka, and himself sat upon after beating the 13th angel. It was December so it was still dark out and you could see the city just starting to wake up below as more and more lights came on. Up in the sky the stars were starting to fade away as the first little trickle of light could be seen rising above the eastern mountains far away from them. When Shinji and Asuka got out of the car Asuka led him over to the grassy area. Shinji noticed only Asuka was there with him as when he looked behind him he saw Misato point at her eye and then his guardian took off in the car. “Isn't she staying too?” he asked nervously.

 

“No” Asuka answered nicely. “It's just the two of us now.” And she had Shinji sit down on the grass. She then sat herself down close to him, but not too close. It was more like how close two good friends would sit from each other.

 

Despite his better judgment Shinji asked “Wh- Why are we here?”

 

“I wanted to share something I like with you Shinji.” Asuka answered looking off into the horizon. “Ever since third impact the sunrise has had a new meaning to me. I used to think of it as a sad reminder that I had to suffer through yet another miserable day full of problems, horrible memories, and hiding behind a false image of myself and the world around me.” She looked over at Shinji after she said that and asked him with compassion “You can understand that, right?”

 

Shinji nodded his head yes as that was how he still saw the world most days.

 

Asuka continued on “Shortly after I came back I realized I hadn't learned anything from my past. I was still the same lonely person I was before. I knew I had to change before it was too late so I started off with the most logical place to me, the beginning of the day. When I first started watching the sunrise it meant nothing to me, just a bunch of different colors in the sky and then it was light out. But somewhere along the way I realized there was so much more. The sun not only rises but also it ushers in a new day. It may be full of new chances and opportunities or it could be a day full of sorrow and wasted wishes. It was dependant on how I looked at it and what I did about it.” After trying to explain herself Asuka recited a poem about a sunrise she had come across that meant something to her.

 

Take, O take those lips away,
That so sweetly were forsworn;
And those eyes, the break of day,
Lights that do mislead the morn:
But my kisses bring again,
bring again,
Seals of love, but seal'd in vain,
seal'd in vain.

 

(A/N: credit for the poem goes to William Shakespeare)

 

When she was done she turned to look at Shinji. “Today is a new day. Lets both try to make it a good one.”

 

Shinji was speechless and didn't know how to answer Asuka. But it didn't look like she was expecting one anyway, Asuka was simply smiling and looking off into the distance as the sky started turning vivid shades of orange, red, and purple. The sun was now just peaking over the mountains and Shinji watched as it slowly lit up the land below. From their vantage point up high in the hills they could see the light traveling on the ground towards them at a slow but steady crawl.

 

He continued to watch as the sun's rays made its way up to them and bathed Asuka in its fresh and new light. She looked absolutely beautiful and all he wanted to do was stare at her. There was something about her that seemed inviting to him today. She appeared open and accepting and because of this Shinji sat there and gazed at her for about ten minutes before he realized what he was doing. Once he did though he quickly turned his head forward but out of the corner of his eye kept watching, he saw no movement from Asuka. He found it hard to believe that she didn't notice him looking at her. Usually even the slightest glance got him teased and tormented. His head slowly turned back towards the beautiful red haired girl. Was she allowing him to look at her? He knew she was supposed to be nice to him today but this was something else. He quickly shook that idea off though as he knew better than to get his hopes up. They were only going to come crashing down tomorrow and making it worse on him when she returned to ignoring him. But still his head continued to turn towards her despite this warning from his mind. What he eventually found when his head was turned all the way was a pair of sparkling blue eyes looking back at him.

 

“Beautiful, isn't it?”

 

“Huh? What??” Shinji said back in surprise as he was not ready for her to say anything to him.

 

“The sun rise silly” she giggled.

 

Shinji quickly turned his head back towards it and answered “I guess it's pretty.”

 

Asuka smiled and then laid down on the grass. “Sometimes I like to lie down and let it shine on me. It makes me warm and gives me hope that today might be a good day.”

 

Shinji took a quick glance over at Asuka again and saw she was now stretched out on the ground with her eyes closed. She kind of reminded him of a cat lying in the middle of the room, purring contently while it soaked up the sun's rays.

`God she is so beautiful.'

`And she looks so relaxed.'

That last thought confused him a bit. Asuka's guard was totally down. She was making herself very vulnerable to him and if he wanted to he could easily touch her. And boy did he want to. The only thing that was stopping him was that he knew he would get in deep trouble if he did. But still he couldn't shake the thought. There was a big difference between being nice and showing trust. He was nice to plenty of people at school but very few of them he would place any trust in.

 

While sitting there looking at Asuka his mind swirled around and around, trying to figure out what was going on. Did she trust him? Or maybe it was pure disrespect? Maybe she thought so little of him that he didn't even register as a threat to her. That was the most logical answer to him. That thought also made him wish he could be back in his Eva again so he could yell out at the agonizing world and let his mom take control. But all he had to do was look up in the sky at the last faint traces of the moon that had a bright spot in front of it to know that wasn't a possibility. He couldn't run from his problems and insecurities and rely on her to save the day anymore. He had to face those problems on his own now. But still he had one minor escape, his S-DAT. He reached for it in his pocket and panic set in. It wasn't there. He started searching his other pockets frantically but that proved to be a false effort, it wasn't anywhere on him. He grew petrified as he knew where it was now. It must have fallen out of his pocket when Misato slammed on the brakes. And if she really was going over to Kaji's now like he had been told that meant he would be without it not only today but tomorrow and the weekend as well. And that is when he figured he would need it the most. He let out a weak cry in his mind `Help me Mom.'

 

The answer he got back startled him “Hey Shinji. What time is it?”

 

Shinji looked at his watch and got a even bigger shock. “Ei-eight fifteen.” If this was the correct time that meant he had just spent the last half hour staring at Asuka while thinking. To him it had only felt like a couple minutes.

 

But to Asuka it was enough time as she sat up and brushed herself off. “Well that's enough of my girly, girly self time. Let's go have some fun.”

 

Considering they were in the middle of nowhere Shinji asked out “How?”

 

“There's a bus stop a couple miles down the road and we can catch the bus into town” Asuka explained. “The first bus won't arrive till 9:00 am so we can take our time walking there.”

 

Even Shinji could realize there was planning involved in all of this by now but he didn't have time to think about it as Asuka pulled him up and they started to go.

 

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Even while walking down the hill Shinji could not think about the situation. Asuka was too busy talking to him. And not only talking to him but talking to him like a good friend so he had to pay attention as it was a normal conversation, which demanded both sides to talk. And even when she got at the bus stop she didn't stop. It didn't seem like the other people there even mattered to her as she just kept going.

 

Shinji tried his best to keep up but eventually he got overwhelmed by the whole talking in public thing as they rode the bus and he ended up quieting down and listened to a story Asuka was telling him about something dim-witted that Touji did that Hikari had told her. He was amazed at this. The only other times he had ever seen Asuka talk so freely was around Misato or Hikari. A big part of Shinji was really enjoying this, it was a refreshing change of pace in his life. But also a false one the more he thought about it. Even if he wanted this it wasn't right.

 

He interrupted Asuka's story “Asuka, why are you doing this?”

 

“Doing what?” she asked.

 

“Being nice to me” he answered. “You don't have to go though with the dare if you don't want to.”

 

Asuka looked at him confused. “What dare?” She then let out a little laugh and told him “Sometimes Shinji you think too much.” Then Asuka returned to her story.

 

That is when everything became clear to Shinji. The way Asuka was acting towards him had nothing to do with him at all. The whole I dare you thing was a ruse. The real reason behind all of this was probably a stupid bet between Misato and her. He could see it now, Asuka and Misato were teasing each other and it escalated to the point where Misato dared Asuka to be nice to him for a whole day. She was just doing all of this for her own pride and mostly a big pay off tomorrow. This made Shinji absolutely furious. He didn't want to be a stupid pawn in the game of two twisted and cruel women who got joy out of toying with his emotions. He was so mad he was about to get up and storm off the bus at the very next stop.

 

That didn't happen though as at the next stop Asuka told him it was their stop and took him by the arm again. As she pulled him off the bus and down the street Shinji could see their reflection in the building's windows. It looked like an overly excited schoolgirl was pulling around a boy she had a crush on. This split his mind into two parts again. This may all be nothing more than an illusion, but it was an illusion he liked.

 

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Shinji didn't have time to make a decision one way or the other as Asuka pulled him into a familiar place. It was the arcade he frequented with Touji and Kensuke. He commonly saw Asuka there too but she only came near him when she needed more money. Shinji let out a loud sigh as he could easily imagine his wallet going empty once again. That was until he saw Asuka go up to the change machine herself and come back with a handful of coins. She then split her handful up equally between the two of them. For someone who only had to be nice to him she was sure going out of her way to do it. But that still didn't change the point that she was just using him so he decided to make a brake for the exit the first chance he got.

 

But that decision was proving hard to do as Asuka never let go of him. She was going from machine to machine with him in hand looking for a fun one to play. They were stopped though when they heard a “Hello Ikari. Hello Sohryu. Should you not be in school today?”

 

Asuka made her way over to a green four-player arcade machine. There was a lone blue haired girl playing it. “Nope. Misato gave us the day off. So I'm just bumming around the town with Shinji and having fun.” Asuka answered her. “Don't you have any classes either?”

 

“No” Rei answered plainly without taking her attention away from the game she was playing. “I do not have any classes till 1:00 pm today.”

 

“I used to love when my schedule was like that” Asuka replied. “It makes the day a little less hectic.”

 

“I agree” Rei said as her character sent a bunch of ninja's flying across the screen.

 

Asuka could see the confusion in Shinji's face and she asked “You do know why Rei is only at school one day a week now?” Shinji shook his head no. He had often wondered why but never got up enough nerve to ask her.

 

Rei sensing his confusion answered him. “I no longer miss school for the old reasons as I am perfectly human now. But in an effort to exceed the boundaries set forth in front of me and to achieve my true potential I have enrolled myself in the advanced education system at our school. I now go to the University for classes four out of the five days of the week.”

 

Asuka snickered at that answer. “Your psych professors must love you.”

 

Rei answered as matter of factly “Yes they do. I'm their best pupil.”

 

Asuka laughed at that and watched as Rei's character, wearing a blue bandana and brandishing a pair of katanas, ripped through a bunch of ninjas dressed in red and black. “This game looks really familiar” Asuka commented.

 

“Yes. I believe it is based off a cartoon that played when we were young.” Rei answered.

 

“Looks fun” and Asuka slipped in a coin.

 

Soon the blue character was joined by a red one that used two sai's. Shinji watched as the two women played the arcade game together. They were pretty good when they actually worked as a team. Much better than Kensuke and Touji when they played this game with him. As Shinji stood there he realized this was his best chance to take off. Asuka's back was to him so she wouldn't even notice until he was long gone.

 

Shinji just started to turn when he heard Asuka's voice again. “C'mon Shinji. Join the fun. We need some help here.” He looked back at the two girls playing the terrapin themed game. He really did like that one and it really would be fun. And maybe Asuka wasn't putting him on like he thought. The only proof he had of the twisted plan was what he thought up in his mind and even by his own admissions his mind was half his problems. Maybe he should give her a chance, but he was going to keep his guard up just in case.

 

Unfortunately by staying he was forced to make another decision. Rei and Asuka had both taken the central controls so that only left the outside controllers as his options. If he took the orange character he would be standing next to Rei, the purple one would put him next to Asuka. He usually did play as the purple terrapin but maybe he should switch over to the nunchakus wielding fighter this time.

 

All thoughts of that were quickly erased as Asuka cried out “That stupid rhino thing keeps hurting me.”

 

Two seconds later Donatello flew down from the top of the screen and launched into a vicious attack on Rocksteady, throwing the poor mutant rhino all over the screen. He heard a “Go Shinji! Teach that stupid horn head a lesson” as Asuka kept the other lesser ninja's at bay while Rei helped her.

 

While kicking the level boss's ass he realized how hopeless he really was. Even if the situation was as bad as he imagined he couldn't leave. However infinitesimal it was, there was a chance that Asuka was doing this because she wanted to. And that chance was too good for him to pass up. He decided to enjoy whatever happened today no matter why as it would always be something he could look back on. When he was a lonely old man in a mental institution for the severely depressed he could always say that he had at least one good day with the girl he loved.

 

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Asuka, Shinji, and Rei made a pretty good team and the three of them played that game for a long time. Shinji had only used a fraction of the coins it normally took to get to the final boss, and Shredder himself was no match for the three of them as the turtle trio tore him apart. With them all working together they had managed to beat the game easily.

 

And when the game was over with Shinji was smiling. Whether it mattered or not he had fun. And he wasn't the only one. Rei had a soft friendly expression on her face and was proud of herself for her accomplishment. Shinji's smile though turned to a blush when he looked over at Asuka and noticed she was jumping up and down excitedly in celebration. This wasn't as good of a thing for him to see as you would think as he didn't want to notice, because it would be wrong, but Shinji was more or less a typical guy and had typical guy thoughts as his eyes watched certain other parts of Asuka go up and down. He knew by watching this he was going to die but he didn't care as there was no way his eyes were going to pull away from the bouncy redheaded beauty. Sixteen-year-old Asuka was even prettier than fourteen-year-old Asuka. To not stare at some of the reasons why would have been a sin to his mind. And it only got worse as Asuka jumped particularly high and on the way down Shinji discovered that the girl was wearing a sexy pair of satin panties that was red like her hair. `I am going to die from a nosebleed. I just wonder who's going to cause it, my body or Asuka's fist? Well at least I will die happy.'

 

Asuka herself was unaware of him watching her. She really was happy and doing a victory celebration as she hadn't had this much fun in a long time. That was until she felt a cool breeze between her legs and she realized her transgression. She stopped immediately after that last big jump and her cheeks turned as red as Shinji's. Flashing him was not something she meant to do and the look in his eyes afterwards caught her attention. Due to her own typical girl type thoughts when a boy they very much like looks at them with lustful eyes she tripped over her words. “Oopps… ahhhh… I-I guess I got a little carried away Shinji. I… ummm… I'm sorry I flashed you.”

 

“I…. I… uhhhh… ummmm… sorr…. Ummm.. I-it-it's ok.”

 

Asuka got an embarrassed little grin on her face from Shinji's very flustered answer. She also felt something. The hand that she had placed back on the machine to steady herself got tapped by a coin and when she looked down she saw an outstretched finger pointing at a certain machine. There was a cost to Rei's cooperation and payment was due.

 

Asuka took the coin and looked back at Shinji, who was still a bit lost in his thoughts. “Hey Shinji. Lets get a picture taken of us so we can remember this” and she took him by the arm once again and pulled him into a picture booth. She slipped in three coins and a couple seconds later there was a flash.

 

When they came out of the booth Asuka waited for a minute for the pictures to pop out and then she gave one to Shinji. “I need to go powder my nose for a second. Why don't you go look around and pick the next game for us to play.”

 

“Ok” Shinji answered with a bigger smile than he knew he had plastered on his face as he looked at the picture of him and Asuka together.

 

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When Asuka got to the bathroom she looked around and was glad she was alone. She walked over to the sinks and turned one of the faucets on, splashing some water onto her face a couple times. Then she started talking to herself in the mirror.

 

“Ok, calm down girl. So you got a little overexcited and accidentally flashed him. It's nothing to lose you cool over.”

 

After a couple seconds of staring at herself in the mirror she did.

 

“Who am I kidding. I know that look he gave me. I get it a lot but that was the first time from him. …..”

 

“…. And it made me feel so good….”

 

Asuka then looked down at the two pictures in her hand.

 

“And this picture is so good. Well except for that stupid blush on your face girl. Why do you always have to be such and emotional freak around him?”

 

Asuka splashed herself a couple more times and took some deep cleansing breaths.

 

“Now remember Asuka, stick to the plan. You still have a long ways to go and try to forget those eyes. If we're lucky we can think about them later but not right now.”

 

Asuka then splashed herself one last time, dried herself off, smoothed out her dress, and left the bathroom

 

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Before Asuka went looking for Shinji she went back to the arcade game she was just playing. Rei was still standing there. Asuka reached into Rei's book bag and took out a pen. She wrote something on the back of one of the pictures and then gave it to her.

 

When Asuka left Rei looked at the picture and smiled. Shinji was seated in the chair and had a sheepishly pleasant schoolboy smile on his face, along with a twinge to his cheeks. Asuka was standing behind him, and also pressed up against him, supporting the schoolgirl version of that smile and the same twinge as Shinji. She had one arm wrapped around his shoulder and her hand placed on his chest. The other arm was stretched out over Shinji's other shoulder and holding a up “V: for victory” symbol. The best part of the whole picture was that one of Asuka's cheeks was pressed up against one of Shinji's.

 

When Rei turned the picture over she saw the words that Asuka had written there. “Thank You.” Rei smiled a touch more and carefully put it away in a protected part of her backpack where it wouldn't get damaged or bent up. This picture was worth value to her and she had future plans for it that no one else knew about.

 

Since her role in all of this was over it was time for Rei to leave. She had just enough time before her next class that she could go up to the school cafeteria and grab some lunch. But as she was leaving she noticed a group of her fellow college classmates around a Mortal Kombat machine. All of them were looking pretty low except for one who had a stack of money in front of him and his arms raised in victory while declaring “Me and Kano are invincible.”

 

Rei calmly walked up to the machine and looked at the so-called champion. She was not impressed.

 

“So the young wonder girl thinks she can play with the big boys, does she? Go back to your kiddy game over there before you lose your lunch money.”

 

Rei responded to the feeble attempt at intimidation by reaching into her book bag and taking out an equal amount of money to the one stacked in front of the boy. She then placed it on the machine in a direct challenge to his manhood. Next she put a coin into the machine and the challenge was officially issued. Sonya Blade was going to be the boy's executioner.

 

“Normally I would never take a sweet young thing like you's money, but if you insist…” he then winked at Rei as he added. “But don't worry, I might just let you earn it back afterwards if you know what I mean.”

 

Rei shook her head at that callous remark and determined she would not hold back like she had planned to. A minute later she had doubled her cash, put it in her school bag, and was walking out the door with the idea of `Screw the cafeteria. I have enough money to go eat at that nice little bistro down the street. Yay for good food.'

 

A dumbfounded boy was still looking at the screen though, where the words “Flawless Victory” flashed and Kano was impaled upon a collection of stakes at the bottom of a pit. One of the other boys let out a feeble whine. “It isn't bad enough that she sets the curve in class, but she has to kick our asses in video games too?”

 

Rei turned around just before shutting the door to leave and told them plainly and clearly “Yes.” And then she left with all their money.

 

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From across the room there was laughter. Originally Asuka had only stuck around to see Rei's reaction to the picture but she also saw the aforementioned event and couldn't help but laugh at it. After a good laugh she spotted Shinji over near a DDR machine. She walked up to him “A word to the wise, never play that girl in video games. You have no idea how much of my…” and with a sly grin “… and yours, money I have lost to that girl trying to beat her.”

 

Shinji didn't even respond to that though as he continued to look at the machine that was in front of him. He was giving it a very odd look.

 

Asuka gave him a friendly poke in the arm “Is everything ok?”

 

“Listen” Shinji told her.

 

“What?”

 

“To the song playing on the machine” Shinji said pointing at the DDR game.

 

It only took Asuka a couple seconds to recognize it. “NO WAY!” She actually started looking around a bit on the paranoid side herself now. Was Misato helping her from the shadows? But Asuka was told she wasn't going to by Misato herself. So why was this eerily familiar song playing? She had never heard it on that machine before. This was a little too strange to be a coincidence. There had to be an explanation. She saw that there was a clerk nearby so she flagged him down. “Where did this song come from?”

 

“It's one of the new ones” the clerk answered. “People were complaining about being bored with all the old ones so I added a bunch more. But I would avoid that song in particular, no one ever gets a good score with it.”

 

Fate, coincidence, a setup, or anything else this could be this was too good to pass up. And as the clerk walked off Asuka reached into her pocket and took out her last two coins. She then got a very sullen look on her face as the machine took four coins. But as she started to walk away another two coins dropped into her hand. “No Shinji” She told him. “That's very nice of you but it's your turn to pick what game we play.”

 

“And I did” Shinji answered.

 

“Really!” Asuka asked as her eyes grew very big and cute. Shinji nodded his head yes and Asuka responded by launching herself into him and giving him a big hug. Then she let go, grabbed his hand, and pulled him onto the machine. She quickly put the coins in the slot and selected the song.

 

As the countdown started Asuka asked happily (3) “Shall we dance?”

 

(2) “It would be an honor” Shinji answered with a smile.

 

(1) “Go!!”

 

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62 seconds later the two of them were being prompted for the high score. Asuka was jumping up and down again but calmed herself before she repeated her earlier faux pa. Shinji was of course looking at her again. But she acted like it didn't even bother her, mainly because it didn't, and she surprised him again as when she put in their initials she put SI+ALS.

 

She gave him top billing. Nice or not this was extremely unlike Asuka and once again Shinji's thoughts were a complete mess as he didn't know what to think. Other parts of his body did though, specifically his stomach. Shinji was a growing boy, proven by the fact he was now three inches taller than Asuka, and growing boys need food.

 

While the grumbling tummy elicited embarrassment it also got a friendly reply as Asuka looked at her watch. “It's almost noon already. Let's go get some lunch.”

 

Confused or not Shinji wasn't going to turn down this offer as he was hungry so the two of them left the arcade to go in search of somewhere to eat.

 

During this search along the streets Asuka's hand innocently found its way into Shinji's. He didn't even notice till five minutes later. Either he was getting dangerously used to being this close or Asuka was incredibly sly. It also could have been a combination of the two, he didn't really know. He also didn't let go and decided to test the situation. He didn't squeeze her hand so much as he clasped it back.

 

It was enough to alert Asuka though and she looked down and blushed. She didn't even know his hand was there and she didn't remember grabbing it. Either he grabbed her hand, which would have been a good thing, or she grabbed his without even noticing. That would have been a dangerous thing, especially if everything didn't work out like it was supposed to. And when she looked up she found a pair of blue eyes examining her. She quickly looked away and took her hand out of his “I-I'm sorry Shinji. I didn't mean to do that.”

 

By the look in her eyes Shinji found himself believing her. He had been around Asuka enough to know when she was truly embarrassed.

 

Trying to disrupt the nervous tension building around them Asuka picked the closest restaurant she could see. Across the road was a small beef bowl. “Let's eat there.”

 

Shinji seeking the same escape as her quickly agreed.

 

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Inside the restaurant things were able to return to normal and while waiting for their orders Asuka started talking to him like a good friend again. Shinji himself loosened up a bit and by the time their food came they were having a normal conversation.

 

“I wonder why Rei never told me about her being in college?”

 

“Because you never asked” Asuka answered him.

 

“I was kind of afraid to” Shinji admitted. “Despite everything that happened I still don't know her very well.”

 

“None of us do” Asuka said slurping up an udon noodle. With her mouth still half full she told him “I think she gets a kick out of being so mysterious. It's not like you ever get any clear answers out of her unless you are very direct.”

 

Shinji nodded his head in agreement to that while eating a piece of beef as that was Rei in a nutshell. “So how did you find out she was in college?”

 

“I caught her reading some college level books during lunch one day” Asuka answered. “She didn't want to tell me why at first but as you know I can be really annoying when I want to know something.” Shinji didn't respond to that at all so Asuka told him “You know Shinji you can agree to that. I'm well aware of most of my lesser liked traits.”

 

“I didn't want to make you mad” Shinji answered her.

 

“You wouldn't have” Asuka smiled back. “We've been around each other long enough to know each other pretty well. You know my faults and I know yours.”

 

Shinji looked down as he responded “But you have gotten better with some of yours while I still hide.”

 

“That's just because you hate confrontation.”

 

“While you love it” Shinji interrupted feeling lower. This was another thing that they were opposites on.

 

“Actually that's not true at all” Asuka stated. “In fact I hate confrontations. It's the attention I crave. When I get all snotty and uppity it's just me saying look at me. Acknowledge my existence. Tell me how smart and good I am.” Asuka then let out a sigh. “But it never makes me happy as it's not the right kind of attention or it's from the wrong person.”

 

As Asuka continued Shinji was surprised at how open she was being again. If this was an act she was going way too far. Or maybe, just maybe, she was telling him something right now. The way she said certain things seemed directly pointed at him. Was she honestly asking for his attention? That was completely backwards. He was the one that wanted her attention, not the other way around. I mean who could want a loser like him. He was a coward who backed down from all his problems. Even if he was given the chance he didn't stand up for himself. He was just a lost little boy afraid of the world who didn't deserve the attention he was given from anyone.

 

Shinji got so lost in his usual self depreciating thoughts that he didn't even notice that Asuka had stopped talking, and from across the table Asuka could easily tell what he was thinking due to his `I am the worst guy on this planet' face. So she did something about it.

 

Shinji was shaken from his thoughts by a pair of chopsticks teasingly pinching his nose. “I think we are both straying from our objective here.” Asuka told him holding his nose between her chopsticks. “We both have problems we need to work on but that's not what we're here for today. Today's goal is to have fun.” She then let go of his nose but poked the tip of it again with a chopstick. Her eyes got big, she put a cute smile on her face, and cocked her head to the side while adding on a demolishingly cute “Right?” at the end.

 

Shinji let out a little laugh as Asuka had just demonstrated she knew how to push the right buttons on him to get him out of a funk. She really did know him better than he thought.

 

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After the nice lunch Shinji easily noticed Asuka was leading him someplace. He had it pretty much figured out that most of what had happened and what would happen was planned out for today. But he was going to go along with it. It's not like he had a choice anyway as this time Asuka purposely had grabbed his hand and they were walking down the street like that. She had a pretty good grip on it too and there was no way he was going anywhere but with her. Shinji didn't mind though. The warmth of her hand against his was eliciting very pleasant thoughts.

 

In the distance Shinji could see a large Ferris Wheel that was getting closer and closer to them as they walked. Asuka smiled at him “Can you guess where we're going yet?”

 

Shinji answered “The zoo and amusement park?”

 

“Correct” Asuka said and beeped his nose. “You're such a smarty.”

 

“I am?????”

 

“Don't sell your self short so often Shinji” Asuka told him. “I may tease you but you are still near the top of the class.”

 

Shinji blushed at that. Getting a real compliment was still a rather embarrassing thing to him. “I didn't know you knew that.”

 

“Sure I do. I keep close tabs on anyone who can challenge me grade wise.” She then looked directly at him. “And you Shinji are someone I pay very close attention to.”

 

Shinji let out an astonished “Really?”

 

Asuka just kept smiling at him and nodded yes while leading him to their destination.

 

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When Shinji and Asuka got to the amusement park and zoo Asuka asked him “So Shinji, do you want to go straight to the amusement park first or should we visit the zoo and see all the cute animals?”

 

From the emphasis Asuka put on the words “cute animals” Shinji could easily tell what his answer should be and he opted for the second choice.

 

Before they went to look at any of the animals though Asuka told him she wanted to play a little game. It was a pretty simple one at that. All you had to do was pick the animal the other person liked the best and wanted to see. Well it was simple for Asuka to say at least, the actual game would be a test of how well they knew each other. And it wasn't only Shinji who was nervous about this, Asuka had been dreading it too from the very beginning of the day. This would prove to her just how well she really knew Shinji as opposed to how well she thought she knew Shinji.

 

They flipped a coin to go see who picked first and Shinji's typical luck shone through as he `Won.' Or at least that's what the coin said, whether he felt that way was a completely different answer. Asuka was as nervous about his pick as he was. Asuka didn't only want to know if she knew him but if he knew her.

 

Figuring he should by the way the day had been going so far he took Asuka by the hand and led her into the zoo. At first he didn't know which animal to go to. Maybe her favorite was one from back home, or maybe it was a brightly colored tropical one. Then again maybe it was one that not many people liked as Asuka had a very individualistic side of her. Or maybe it was the strongest animal there. Or maybe he should just stop over-thinking before he went nuts. Asuka was a very complex girl but his experiences with her gave him a unique perspective and understanding of the girl. He made his final decision and stuck with it leading her over to his choice.

 

Asuka herself had been quietly giggling the whole time as Shinji was pulling her in one direction only to abruptly stop and change paths as his mind wandered. Finally though he seemed to get a determined look on his face and was definitely heading in one particular direction. Better yet that somewhere was exactly where Asuka wanted him to go. She had to struggle not to smile too big and give it away.

 

Eventually Shinji stopped in front of a large enclosure marked Panthera Pardus.

 

Asuka looked at him and winked “See, I told you, you were a smarty.”

 

“You mean I'm right???” Shinji asked absolutely amazed.

 

“Yup” Asuka answered. “I have always loved leopards. There's so much more to them than people think. They may appear to be solitary creatures but if you look closely and study them long enough you find out they're not. Moms and daughter will stick together for a very long time and will even share territories peacefully. And brothers tend to stick together for life as it is advantageous to outnumber your rivals. And the children never forget their mothers either as if they run into her they will share a nuzzle as if they were saying hi.” Asuka turned and looked at Shinji. “Plus there is even more hidden inside of them. They may not look it but they are incredibly strong and can take pray several times their size and weight down. And after they do that they actually drag it up a tree away from other predators that may try to steal it from them. And my absolute favorite thing about them is that they are thought to be the smartest of all the feline species.”

 

Shinji could easily understand why Asuka liked them so much. They were a perfect mix of grace, power, and brains. All those things were important to Asuka. And as the two of them stood there he looked down in the enclosure and saw a mother leopard snuggled up with two partially grown cubs sleeping under a tree. He then felt Asuka leaning into him and he took a chance. He wrapped one of his arms around her. Asuka responded to that by resting her head on his shoulder and asking “Can we watch them for a while? They always seem to relax me and make me feel happy.” Shinji nodded yes and held her while they watched the family sleeping peacefully below.

 

Shinji was fighting it but he couldn't help feeling very close to Asuka right now. She was being so nice and allowing of herself. And while watching the leopards several times he looked at her, and she noticed him doing that. But the only response was a smile. This was like a dream to him. Then a peculiar thought occurred to him. It was very weird but it would sure explain a lot. He was still inside third impact and this was another alternate reality. He knew it wasn't really true but if he was offered this particular one back then he may have chosen to get lost in it instead of coming back.

 

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After watching the leopards for a while he noticed Asuka was looking directly at him again. She wasn't scrutinizing him so much as she was studying him. She had a good idea of were she wanted to take him but she just wanted to make sure. Plus she liked looking at him. Before she was too much of an emotional tempest to really take a good look at him but now she could. She very much liked that he was taller than her now. He was growing from a little cutie into a handsome young man. He had stubble now and his voice was even lower and he looked stronger. Puberty was definitely making Shinji a man in her eyes. And deep down inside of him she knew he was one too. He may have tried to keep it buried and locked away, hidden from the real world, but she knew it was there. She was one of the few people to have seen it. You could push Shinji all you wanted to and he might bend but he would never break. And more importantly he would fight to save those he cared about even if he didn't believe it himself. The invincible part of him truly was there. Sometimes it just needed the right incentives to come out.

 

Shinji was getting nervous from Asuka's gazing. He was trying to look ahead and pretend he didn't notice but out of the corner of his eye he could see her looking at him. The thoughts in his head were going a mile a second and ranged from `Do I have a zit on my face?' to `Is she going to hit me?' to even `Is she going to kiss me?'

 

Asuka didn't do any of those things, though a big part of her did want to see how kissable those lips of his were, instead she delicately placed her hand on his cheek and turned his head so that their eyes met. Blue looked into blue and he got lost in the sea. Asuka told him in a whisper “It's my turn to see if I know you as well as you know me.”

 

Shinji didn't even pay attention to where Asuka finished taking him. The only thing he could concentrate on was her. He was falling harder and faster than ever for the girl and there was nothing he could do to stop it. Or more like nothing he would do. He was happy and that part of him that was convinced that this was all a trick was becoming easier and easier to ignore.

 

When Asuka finally stopped they were standing above the Gorilla enclosure. She pointed down at them and asked “Am I right?”

 

Shinji nodded his head yes at her and said “They are very strong and powerful, but they don't really use their strength. They are happier to just sit there and get along with each other than to constantly fight.”

 

“That's a lesson that takes some people a very long time to learn” Asuka told him. “And once they do they regret how they acted and are very sorry.”

 

That got a quick reaction out of Shinji. `Did she just apologize to me? It sounded like an apology. But at the same time it might not be. Or maybe she is talking about someone else.' The beautiful redhead with the sparkling blue eyes, wearing a pretty yellow sundress along with a summer hat that was now resting on her back as she took it off to let her hair flow freely in the breeze was really laying waste to the judgment sector of his brain. The fact that she leaned against him again only added to it. She was acting nothing like herself while at the same time she seemed very comfortable with what she was doing. Fantasy come true or not Shinji was starting to get to the point where he was going to flat out ask what in the world was going on. The answer didn't really matter as long as he could get his mind in order.

 

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He was never able to ask his question as before he could get a chance to say anything Asuka spoke up again. “Lets give each other another chance Shinji.”

 

“Huh?”

 

“We have been walking around for a while now and I'm getting thirsty” Asuka answered. “Lets buy each other drinks and see if we can get it right again.” And before Shinji could even answer Asuka was pulling him towards the concessions stand.

 

This time Shinji had no problems with the game. He knew exactly what she liked to drink. After all he had been living with her and serving her meals for over two years now.

 

Asuka ordered Shinji a tall glass of ice water with a wedge of lemon. She squeezed the lemon into his water to give it some zest and then put the lemon down on a napkin. Shinji like some flavor in his drink even if he didn't show it.

 

As for Asuka she was given some ice tea with four packets of sugar stirred inside. He went a step further as he took the lemon wedge and placed it on the rim of her glass giving the impression that the drink was very different from what it really was.

 

As they soothed their parched throats Asuka threw out a chuckled comment. “A psychiatrist would have a field day with us.”

 

Shinji chuckled back “Misato said she won't take me to one because she is afraid the doctor would be the one who came out of the room crazy.”

 

“Hmmm… she told me the same thing.” Asuka told him. “I guess that's just one more thing we have in common.” Shinji simply smiled back at her in reply to that.

 

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After their little refreshment break the two of them walked around the zoo a little bit more before they made their way over to the amusement park. When they got there Asuka got an unpleasant surprise. The park was supposed to be pretty empty due to it being a school day but there were tons of high school kids around. A bit of the malicious Asuka slipped to the surface as she marched up to the ticket booth a demanded to know why the park was so full of kids from the ticket taker. This was not part of the plan and she was seriously pissed that something was attempting to derail what she wanted so badly. A school field trip from one of the other high schools in Tokyo-3 was not something she wanted to hear.

 

“It's ok.”

 

“No it isn't” Asuka pouted. “Now we have to go somewhere else.”

 

“No we don't” Shinji answered her. “I don't mind the other people.”

 

“But all the lines for the rides will be really long” Asuka sulked. “And-and in a couple hours the other schools will be getting out, so it will get worse.”

 

Shinji could tell this was really affecting Asuka. After thinking for a minute he told her something that surprised her. “I guess we will have to spend our time waiting in line talking to each other.”

 

Asuka's eyes grew very large and for the second time today she hugged him. He was scoring some major points with her even if he didn't mean it.

 

And originally he didn't, he was having fun and just wanted to spend more time with the girl. But as time passed he could tell there was something bigger to this as Asuka kept choosing rides with longer and longer lines. And when they actually got up to the front of the line and got on the ride Asuka looked disappointed. But that look quickly disappeared when they would get off the ride and go to the next line where they would have to wait again and talk.

 

In fact Asuka really wasn't paying any attention to the ride they were getting in line for. She was picking lines, not rides. Shinji was now talking very freely and that was more important than anything else. After about an hour of doing this Asuka looked for the longest line possible. She found one that snaked around and would take at least thirty minutes of waiting to get through. It was perfect for more reasons than one. There was another less enjoyable line she had to wait in now. But before she left to go to the bathroom she looked him straight in the eye and promised she would be right back. Plus she told him she was going to get a treat for him for being so patient with her.

 

Fate must have been on her side because she found a short line at the bathrooms and another short line at the concession stand where she got some cotton candy. She had only been gone for about ten minutes when she started walking back to Shinji. Unfortunately three guys stepped in her way.

 

As the largest of the three boys stood directly in front of her he said “Well looky here. My new arm candy has brought me some candy.”

 

Asuka didn't have time for this crap and tried to blow by the creeps while telling them to “Fuck off.”

 

The biggest one though grabbed her by the wrist when she walked by. He pulled her back to him and started to say “Not so fast there sweetie…” but as you can guess Asuka was not the type of girl you can harass like that and she slapped him across the face, hard, even before he could finish speaking. The boy staggered backwards a bit from the slap and let go of her wrist but in the process he knocked the cotton candy from her hand.

 

As Asuka watched in horror the treat she was planning to share with Shinji fall to the ground she became very, very sad. That was going to be something special and now it was ruined. She looked back up at the three boys in front of her and that sadness turned into absolute rage as her eyes lit up and burned hot. Even before the biggest boy could react she dropped him to his knees with a hideously well placed kick to the nuts. The kid dropped like a rock in pain. The other two boys reacted to their fallen ally and tried to step forward to advance on this girl to teach her a lesson but some mysterious forces held them back.

 

And those mysterious forces started to hurt their shoulders as they squeezed hard. It seemed that the commotion created by all this did not go unnoticed by three security guards who were wandering around the premises. Unfortunately for the rude boys these three guards had a history with Asuka. They used to be security guards for Nerv. Truthfully though just about every security guard in the city was ex-Nerv. They already had the skill and training so it was quite easy for them to get jobs in the field after third impact.

 

Eric was holding one of the boys and squeezing the kid's shoulder hard with his giant hand while Carlos did the same to the other kid who was standing. Jimmy on the other hand was standing over the boy curled into the fetal position.

 

Asuka looked up at Jimmy and pouted “Mr. Hendrix. He made me drop my cotton candy. An-and I wanted to share it with someone special to me.” Asuka could have won an Oscar for that performance as Jimmy picked up the pained child with one hand and dragged him over to the concessions stand where he forced the delinquent, who could barely even speak due to the pain he was in, to buy Asuka another cotton candy. Jimmy grabbed the candy in his other hand from the clerk and brought it back to Asuka and gave it to her while dragging the kid behind him. In a final act of embarrassment he forced the kid to beg for forgiveness in front of his friends and anyone else who was attracted to the area by the commotion.

 

Asuka of course said “No” and walked off. The boys were then dragged off and thrown out of the park, warned never to come back. This wouldn't have been nearly as bad if it wasn't witnessed by a bunch of their fellow students and a teacher or two.

 

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When Asuka finally got back she was pleased to see Shinji waiting there patiently in line. And better yet he was only at the halfway point. That meant they had plenty of time to talk some more and enjoy their treat. She walked up to Shinji and stood right next to him. “Sorry it took so long Shinji. I stopped to say hi to some old friends.”

 

“That's ok” Shinji answered. He was just happy she was back. For a minute there some of those negative thoughts crept back into his mind and he thought maybe she ditched him. But she was back now and smiling while sharing some cotton candy with him. Before he knew it he cast off those bad thoughts and was talking to her again. Asuka even surprised him again as when he took a bite of the cotton candy she got up on her tippy toes and took a bite from the other side. The only thing that was separating their mouths was a thin layer of cottony candy.

 

The temptation to lick through that layer was greater than Asuka expected and she had to pull herself away. She then pulled the cotton candy away from Shinji's mouth before she succumbed to the temptation to go back for more. But as she did some of it stuck to the corner of his mouth. Asuka gulped as her first instincts said to lick it off but she restrained herself and instead reached up and wiped the candy off with her finger.

 

Shinji's eyes grew very big as he saw Asuka then put her finger in her mouth and suck the cotton candy off of it while saying “Yummy.” That had to be one of the most erotic indirect kisses he had ever seen in his life. And the best part was that it happened between Asuka and him. A definite flush came to his face as he stood there looking at her. What had just happened was unbelievable. That wasn't only an indirect kiss but it could have been construed as an invitation for a real one. Asuka would never do anything like that to him. But on the other hand so far today was unlike any other day that he had lived. This was too much for him to handle and he found himself asking before he even knew what he was saying “Are we on a date?” He slapped one of his hands over his mouth the second after he said that. Whatever today was he was sure he had just blown it with that question.

 

Asuka though looked back up at him strangely. She turned her head a little to the side and studied him for a second before saying with a smile “You're being a silly boy again.” She then turned her head back forward leaving him confused as all hell.

 

That was neither a yes or a no. And in his mind he could spin those words to mean either one. It was as if she was toying with his emotions but not necessarily in a bad way. After about a minute of silence he decided to stop thinking about it. He was having fun with Asuka so there was no reason to put labels on what they were doing. After a deep breath he began talking to her normally again and she cheerfully responded to him. So until they got to the front of the line they talked and ate cotton candy.

 

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o -o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

 

When they finally got to the front of the line Asuka wrapped up their cotton candy in its bag and shoved it into Shinji's pocket for later. But as she did that she heard one of the ride operators say “You will want to take your hat off miss, or you might lose it on that first drop.” Asuka looked at the operator with confusion and then noticed what ride they were in line for. She had picked this ride for the line not the actual ride itself. In fact if she had noticed what ride it was she would have never got in its line in the first place. This was the line for the biggest rollercoaster in the park. Asuka's eyes grew big and her hand unknowingly found its way into Shinji's as she watched the cars slowly make their way up the first giant hill.

 

Shinji could feel the trembling in Asuka's hand with is. She had to be faking it, Asuka wasn't afraid of anything. But as he looked at her he saw her lick her pursed lips and take a little gulp. He then looked into her eyes for a second. There was real fear in them. He looked up at what she was looking at. It was only the roller coaster cars going up the first hill. The scariest part of the ride wasn't even until they started to go down. But the closer to the top the cars got the more Asuka's hand trembled. This lasted until the cars were just seconds away from being at the climax of the ascent. He then felt Asuka's hand clamp down on his and Asuka took off down the exit ramp with him in tow.

 

Asuka nearly ripped Shinji's arm off as she made her way away from that dreadful contraption in a big hurry. Shinji asked her several times what was wrong but she couldn't answer him and she kept pulling him further and further away from the roller coaster until eventually they were on the other side of the park and couldn't see it anymore. In an act of exhaustion both of them collapsed down on a bench. After she caught her breath Asuka looked down at the ground as she told him “I'm sorry Shinji. I- I couldn't do it. I just can't go on rides like that anymore.”

 

“Why?” Shinji asked. “Heights never bothered you before.”

 

“And they still don't” Asuka answered. “I'm fine with being up high. It's just that… well… I can't stand looking up at something above me and then knowing I will soon be up there too. I know that is really stupid sounding and you can't understand why but I just can't do it.”

 

Shinji grabbed Asuka by the hand and told her “I do understand.”

 

“No you can't” Asuka yelled back. “Nobody can.”

 

But Shinji looked at her seriously and without even looking pointed up at a faint glimmer of a star. “Even during the day I can see her. And I can't forget either.”

 

Asuka looked up at where he was pointing at. Eva-01's presence was always there. Reminding you of what happened and a permanent monument of not only human existence but of their foolishness as well. Asuka let out a sigh and leaned her head against Shinji's shoulder. “Sorry Shinji. If anyone can understand me, it's you.” She then squeezed his hand gently “It's just that sometimes it hurts so much.”

 

Shinji let out a sad breath. “I know. Every time I look up at her I get sad. I know she made her sacrifice to protect me but…” Shinji trailed off before finishing his thought. It was just too painful for him to say.

 

Asuka knew all too well anyway. She had always felt alone in her life, like no one could ever possibly understand her pain. She saw her mother die in front of her eyes and felt abandoned by her father. All this was while she was very young. But sitting next to her was a boy who went through the same thing as her. Asuka looked up at him and asked “Have you even seen your father since third impact?”

 

Shinji shook his head no. “I've tried to visit his prison several times but he refuses to speak to me. He believes I stole my mom from him.”

 

“My dad won't talk to me either” Asuka answered. “To him I am a bad reminder of the past. He has a new family now so he wants nothing to do with me.” At this point both children were horribly depressed. But there was one glimmer of hope as Asuka said “At least we have Misato.”

 

Shinji looked at her and smirked “For a caretaker we seem to be the ones doing all the taking care of.”

 

“Oh please” Asuka scoffed lightening up the mood. “We can take care of ourselves just fine. We've both been doing it for years. Misato is more our caretaker in an emotional sense than a physical.”

 

Shinji's response to that was a strange look. He wasn't sure what Asuka meant by that. “Shinji you know by now that Misato cares about the both of us a lot, right?” Asuka asked him.

 

“I guess so” Shinji said shrugging his shoulders.

 

Asuka replied raising an eyebrow at him. For the first time today she was crossed with him. There was no doubting that Misato cared about them in her mind. She had lived most of her life around people who didn't really care about her, she was well aware of the difference. Asuka continued to glare at Shinji until he finally said meekly “Ok, ok. I know she cares about me.”

 

“That's better” Asuka told him. “You should never doubt Misato.” Then she stared directly at him “And you should never doubt that there are other people in this world that care about you.”

 

Shinji did a rare thing when she said that. He looked directly back into the stare. Normally he would have backed down or shied away but there were too many questions in his mind right now. The desire for the truth outweighed his desire to simply concede.

 

As he did though Asuka's eyes seemed to soften and she tilted her head slightly as she looked deeper into his. He saw a smile grow on her face and then she looked away while saying “Has anyone ever told you, you have incredibly intense eyes?”

 

Shinji's cheeks tinged at the compliment and he stuttered out “N-n-no.”

 

Asuka let out a breath, slapped her hands down on the bench, and stood up. “Well they really should've. Now let's stop being all emo. We are like that enough as it is already. Today is supposed to be a fun day.” And with that she pulled Shinji up off the bench and they walked around the park some more. They avoided any more rides and basically just wandered around aimlessly while sharing a bag of popcorn and talking.

 

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o -o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

 

Eventually the sun was starting to set and Asuka suggested that maybe they should head home. Shinji let out a little sigh and agreed. He figured that as soon as they got home things might revert back to a normal state. He didn't want that at all. But his thinking was interrupted by a voice familiar to the both of them. It came from one of the ride workers.

 

“Ikari, Sohryu. Is that you?”

 

They both looked over towards the sound of the voice and saw a long haired man sitting at the controls of the Ferris Wheel. They walked up to the ex-techy and Asuka asked “Mr. Aoba, what are you doing here?”

 

“Just earning some extra cash between gigs” Shigeru answered. He got up out of his chair and stood in front of them, looking at the two. “Wow, you two have really grown since I last saw you.” He then looked over at Shinji “Another inch or two and you will be taller than me.”

 

Shinji sort of blushed in embarrassment at the compliment while Asuka commented “Yup ol' Shinji here is our family's growing boy.”

 

“So you two ended up together after all” Shigeru said but didn't seem surprised.

 

Asuka nodded her head yes to that. “We live with Misato.”

 

Shinji on the other hand got confused by that answer. The way Shigeru had phased that comment was like he had them romantically linked. Either Asuka missed that entirely when she answered yes or… Well he didn't want to think about that “or” part. That would be getting his hopes up too high. Plus Shigeru and Asuka were chatting away so he figured he should pay attention because he was probably supposed be part of the conversation.

 

“So how is the Major doing now days?”

 

“Pretty good” Asuka answered. “She's working for the city planning board now. She says it's not as exciting as her old job but has just as much paperwork.”

 

Shigeru let out a laugh. “I remember when we all came back and were talking about what we were going to do now, she specifically said she was going to get a job that involved absolutely no paperwork.”

 

The answer to that was simple. “The money was too good for her to pass up” Asuka told him.

 

“I figured she would land on her feet. That woman always amazed me like that.” Shigeru said and then asked “So is she still with Kaji?”

 

Asuka frowned out a “Yes.” … “But they act like they are having some sort of dirty affair. It's been almost two years now and any normal couple would have gotten hitched already.”

 

Shigeru got a good laugh out of that. “Those two are anything but normal.”

 

“Too true” Asuka whole heartedly agreed before asking “So have you heard from any of the others? Other than our friends from school Shinji and I haven't heard much.”

 

“Everyone pretty much went there own way” Shigeru answered. “Last I heard Makoto moved up to Hokkaido to be closer to his family. Dr. Akagi and Maya live on the north end of town I think. I don't see them much and the last time I did they seemed to be really busy doing something with the relief effort. And the only other person that I know about is sub-Commander Fuyutsuki. I hear he went back to being a professor.”

 

Asuka smiled a bit. It was good to know that people were able to get on with their lives.

 

Shigeru then reached over and pushed a button to stop the ride he was operating. He let each of the individual carts empty out and then loaded them back up with customers. That was until he got to the last cart. “How would you two like some VIP treatment?” Both kids looked at him strangely for that. He in return pushed them towards the last cart on the Ferris Wheel. Asuka was quick to tell he that he didn't need to do that but Shigeru insisted and before Asuka or Shinji could say anything he shut the door while winking at Shinji “Have fun up there big guy.” Shigeru then went back to the controls and started up the machine.

 

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o -o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

 

Asuka had the look of fright as the enclosed cart she was sitting in jerked to a start. She shut her eyes tightly. While sitting on the opposite side of the cart from Shinji she started chanting to herself “This is not real. The fear is only in your head.”

 

Shinji watched as this happened. His thoughts were very confused about this. `Go over there and help her you baka.'

`I can't help her.'

`You can try.'

`But I will only fail again.'

`What is wrong with you?'

`Nothing…. Everything.'

`What are you afraid of?'

`That this is all fake.'

`But it's real.'

`Maybe I am still dreaming.'

`NO.'

`Yes.'

`Are you really going to turn your back on her?'

`She doesn't want me.'

`Then explain today.'

`It's because of the dare.'

`It's because of her.'

`I don't understand.'

`She is finally reaching out to you. For once in your life reach back.'

`But what if she rejects me?'

The voice of reason in his head left him with one final thought though in response to that. `Is Asuka not worth the risk?'

 

That was difficult for him to answer. And as he thought about it he looked over at the red head sitting across from him. It was then that he realized only once had he seen Asuka look even remotely harsh at him today. Even then she had a good reason for it. She had been very open to him all day. She had said things he never thought he would have heard her say to him. She had shown him a side of her that he didn't really know about. And the vision in front of him right now was not of a brash egotistical woman but of a little girl with a scarred and hurt psyche who was in need of help. He answered his inner voice's question with an action. He got up and sat down beside Asuka and clasped her trembling hand in his.

 

Asuka leaned into him the second he was by her. “This world is too hard to live in by ourselves. Can we help each other?” Asuka's request was very soft spoken. She knew she needed help right now and that she was ready to ask for it. It was up to Shinji to give her an answer.

 

And he did as he wrapped his other arm around her and held her close to him for the whole ride.

 

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o -o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

 

Asuka kept her eyes shut for the whole time. And this wasn't just an act. She was truly scared. She had hid that horrible memory of her mother's death away in the deepest bowels of her mind for a reason. But the memory had come back and she could no longer ignore it. She could feel the movement of the ride taking her higher and higher up towards the top. The one place she never wanted to be. She wished she could turn this into some sort of romantic thing and maybe kiss Shinji at the top of the ride and chase away her fears but she couldn't do it. All she could do was hold on to Shinji until the ride was done. It didn't help matters any that Shigeru thought he was doing something romantic for the two and left them up there for a while as he unloaded them last.

 

But as bad of an experience for her as this was it did prove something to her. Shinji was there for her now. He was someone who could help her. If everything else had gone wrong today, this would have been enough to make it right. This was enough for Asuka to know. This was enough for Asuka to act on. And with her feet firmly planted on the ground and her back to that infernal machine she whispered gently to Shinji “thank you.” And then she did what she could not on the ride. She gave him a kiss.

 

It was just a nice little peck on the side of his cheek but it was enough to fluster Shinji. There was no doubt in his mind now that this was real. The star he had risked everything to reach for on that ride was now in his hand.

 

And that star's hand was slipped into his as she said “The sun is almost down, lets go home now.”

 

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o -o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

 

Asuka had them take the train home. Shinji wouldn't have minded if they had walked as that would have prolonged this day but Asuka seemed insistent about getting home quickly so he didn't argue it with her. And Asuka was still proving to be a fascination and wonder to him as they talked the whole way home on the train. It was just a good conversation that left you feeling happy when it was done. He learned some new things about her and she learned some new things about him. And the absolute best part of this was Asuka didn't stop talking to him when they got home.

 

Asuka just kept on gabbing away and even made some popcorn before asking Shinji if he wanted to watch a movie with her. Considering that Asuka made the popcorn before asking that she made the answer for him very easy. The next thing she asked wasn't as easy. She told him he could pick the movie and the only clue she gave him was she wanted to watch something that would make them laugh together.

 

Shinji went over to the DVD rack and in the area where the comedies were he noticed one sticking out a bit. While Shinji definitely thought what Asuka was showing him was real he also still had a hunch that things were a little more perfect than they should be. He could go against the setup and not pick that romantic comedy that was sticking out just to see what would happen but then a thought hit him. `Maybe you want to be a pawn this one time.'

 

He looked over at the couch and Asuka smiled back at him while patting the spot right next to her on the couch. “So you make your pick yet?”

 

Shinji nodded his head yes and said to himself `Definitely pawn.' And grabbed the DVD he was supposed to and put it in the player. He then walked over to the couch and sat down where he was supposed to and Asuka snuggled up right next to him. He knew he made the right choice then.

 

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o -o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

 

Despite the movie being one that he actually liked he was more concentrated on Asuka's actions than anything else. She was honestly enjoying herself. The smiles, the laughter, and the happiness were absolutely genuine. It was just a sight he couldn't take his eyes off of.

 

Just like the morning though Asuka didn't even react to him looking at her. But Asuka knew that he was and it was making her happy. And unlike this morning he didn't have a confused or nervous look about him. Instead he had a nice warm smile on his face that suited him perfectly and was making him look rather handsome. So handsome that she was thinking about turning off the movie and taking the next step a bit earlier than the plan called for. But she calmed her self internally, there was a bit of timing involved in all of this and the payoff would be better if she stuck to the plan.

 

So now as she was watching the movie with Shinji she was going over what to do next. And also thinking `I should have picked a shorter movie.' But a funny thing happened as the closer they got to the end of the movie the more nervous she got. Anxiety was setting in. In her heart she knew she was ready for this but was he? When that final credit rolled and she made her move was he going to turn into a statue again? Would he flat out say no? Would he cooperate? Oh she so wanted him to cooperate. She wanted him to let her do what she wanted to so bad it was affecting more than just her mind. Better yet, maybe he would do more than cooperate. That would be a dream come true. It wasn't like Shinji was a total introvert. Since he had come back he had slowly morphed into just one of the guys. Sure he was a bit shier than Kensuke or Touji but he still acted like a guy around them. And whether he noticed it or not, Asuka sure did, he had a female admirer or two. On the flip side of that she knew he had never gone out on a date before. This was the first one for him. Maybe her plan was flawed in that it moved too fast? Maybe it should have been strung out over a couple days? Or weeks? Or maybe even a year? What if what she was about to do was a huge mistake that would screw everything up? It had the potential to set back everything that had happened today to a point were things would be worse than before. There were so many `what if's?' flying around in her head during this anxiety attack that she missed an important one.

 

What if the movie had finished and Shinji was staring at her right now because she was major league spaced out? “Ummm… Asuka. Is everything ok?”

 

That snapped Asuka out of her daze and one final thought surged through her head `It's now or never.' “I sure hope so.”

 

Shinji didn't have time to question Asuka's cryptic answer as out of the blue she leaned into him and was kissing him squarely on the lips. Instinctively he tried to pull back so he could question this rash action but Asuka wasn't letting him get away. No matter how far back he leaned Asuka followed him.

 

She wasn't giving up on this kiss in the least and soon Shinji found himself unbalanced and he fell backwards onto the couch cushions. That didn't end the kiss though as Asuka fell with him and Shinji found himself lying on his back with Asuka on top locked in a deep kiss. The only way out for him was to push her off, but like hell he was going to do that. This was Asuka after all. The girl of his dreams. The girl of his fantasy. The girl he wanted the most. And also the girl he was in love with was fulfilling one of his greatest fantasies. He soon found himself relaxing and letting Asuka do whatever she wanted to.

 

It was then that Asuka pulled away from the kiss slightly. She had felt him loosen up in his features and took this as a sign of acceptance. But now she had something important to tell him. Her lips were less than a centimeter away from his as she whispered upon them “I'm not the type of girl who does things she doesn't want to. Remember that please.” Asuka then closed the distance and began to kiss him again.

 

She got proof of real acceptance as Shinji realized it was time for him to fully believe what was happening was the truth and he kissed her back.

 

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o -o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

 

In what felt like an instant a half hour passed as the two of them let their lips learn the feel of the others. Asuka was the one to interrupt this bliss though as she reached into Shinji's pocket. This surprised him a bit and he stopped kissing her. But he soon relaxed as Asuka wasn't going for a certain part of him that was very happy right now, she was just going after the left over cotton candy she had put in there. There wasn't much left and it was all matted up but it could still serve it's purpose.

 

Asuka pulled a little piece of the cotton candy off and gave it the slightest of licks causing it to get all sticky and gooey. She pressed the sugary sweet strands to the side of his mouth in the same spot where some had stuck to earlier in the day. This time she acted on her impulse and licked it off of him. When she finished licking the savory sweetness from that spot she repeated the process on a different part of his lips. She did this over and over again until she had licked and tasted every inch of Shinji's lips. She pulled away after tasting him completely and noticed she had just enough cotton candy for a very special kind of kiss. She took the last piece off the stick and threw it to the floor. The piece of candy though was placed into Shinji's open mouth but he wasn't allowed to eat it because she chased the candy into his mouth with her tongue. So many of her dreams were coming true right now as he allowed for the sweet sugar to dissolve between the play of their tongues.

 

And it was during this action that she knew it was time for the next step in the plan. Shinji was doing more than just cooperating as his tongue found its way into her mouth just as much as hers was in his. Plus his hands had come up from the sides of the couch and were now caressing her back. He needed to be rewarded for his cooperation and boldness so she changed her position from crouching over the top of his body while kissing him to lowering her hips on top of him. She separated from their kissing momentarily as she straddled his hips with her legs and pulled her dress out of the way so the only thing between her panties and his briefs was his trousers. He was exactly the way she figured him to be and she pressed herself against him. This felt even better than she imagined when she wrote this part down so long ago.

 

She also forgot what she was supposed to be doing until she heard Shinji let out a little pleasureful groan. It was apparent he was enjoying this too. Asuka continued to rub herself against Shinji as she lowered the rest of her against him. Even though they were both fully clothed she was sure Shinji could feel how much her breasts liked to be against his chest as even through her shirt and bra they were pointing into him. She then closed her eyes and opened her mouth so they could continue kissing.

 

As Asuka rubbed her body against his and they continued to kiss Shinji was loosing himself. This was a greater feeling than he could ever imagine. The only thing keeping him grounded in reality was Asuka's sweet moans as they dry humped each other. Even with her clothes on he could feel her. And Asuka's tongue, it was just so aggressive. It was like every ounce of her being wanted to be kissing him. This soon led to himself being conflicted, but more by Asuka's actions than his thoughts. How Asuka could be rubbing that wonderful feeling thing under that thin layer of fabric that was her panties up and down against his shaft in his pants while still kissing him ferociously was beyond his comprehension. It was taking every ounce of his willpower not to make a mess in his pants. His kissing, while honest, was not of the same tenacity as before.

 

Asuka could tell this too and a part of her was thinking about deviating from the plan and speeding up her rubbing pleasure to get him off but she knew that was a no-no. So she slowed down a bit so Shinji could concentrate more on his kissing again. But before she did that she separated her mouth from his so she could say “Thank you Shinji for growing in more places than just your height. You are going to make me a very happy girl.” She kept her eyes open this time when she kissed him so she could see him blush.

 

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o -o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

 

Shinji was proving to be every bit as desirable and kissable as she could imagine and then some. When she found that feeling between her legs start to be intense enough to distract her from her kissing she knew it was time for the next step. She pulled her lips away from his and sat up on him. She rubbed her pussy up and down his length a couple more times for good measure and then reached behind herself. She then unbuttoned the back of her dress and slipped it up over her body revealing that all she was wearing under her dress was a paper thin red satin bra that was a perfect match to her panties. She could tell Shinji liked what he saw as his eyes went almost as wide as his smile. She then reached behind herself again but stopped before she took off her bra. While the plans called for her to take off her own bra and let him stare at her breasts for a while she decided a slight deviation in the plan couldn't hurt. She looked down at him and with a temptress smile asked “You wouldn't perchance want to take my bra off of me, now would you?”

 

Shinji sat up so quickly that she almost fell off of him. And after repositioning herself so she could keep up her erotic treatment down below she leaned into him and let Shinji wrap his arms around her body. He surprised her a bit as he went to kiss her first. It was a very welcome and appreciated surprise and she found herself kissing him right back while she pressed her breasts, still clothed in satin, against his chest. As they kissed and rubbed against each other while Shinji fumbled with the snaps on her bra only one thought was running through her mind `Let him see how much you want him.'

 

So when Shinji finally got her bra undone she leaned back letting him keep a hold of it so it would come off in the process. She continued to lean back almost as far as she could and said “Look a little lower Shinji.”

 

It didn't take a second request to get the boy to do that. And when Shinji looked at her panties he noticed the crotch area was a darker red than the rest of her panties. It was also clinging to her like a second skin due to the slick moisture. She reached down and rubbed her finger between her panties and his trousers. “Notice the wetness on your pants too.” She then pulled her finger away and sat back up. She ran the wet finger along his lips for a second before sticking it inside his mouth so he could taste her. “That's proof that I want this just as much as you…” she leaned further forward to an open pair of hands that had dropped the bra they were holding and placed her breasts in them. “…You got me wet. Which means you made me feel very good. Which means they are all yours big boy.”

 

The feisty smile that followed that almost made him come in his pants again. This was beyond belief and as he pressed his hands against Asuka's breasts he could feel her nipples harden against his palms.

 

Asuka was bracing herself for this. She didn't know what exactly Shinji was going to do. She had heard several horror stories from friends about how bad guys were when they let them get to second base for the first time. She closed her eyes and prepared for a rough groping but instead let out a pleasant “Oooooo….” Shinji was being very gentle with them. In fact he was so gentle with them that it seemed like he was afraid of hurting them.

 

Which in truth he was. The last thing Shinji wanted to do was hurt Asuka. He knew she was not as strong and rough of a girl as she pretended to be so he was very gentle with her. And from the reaction he got he could tell she approved.

 

Asuka was very content at this point to let Shinji lean her back against the couch and let him touch, fondle, suck, lick, and massage her breasts. She was also happy that he was acting a little bolder now as he was on top and basically in charge. Best of all he didn't break the intimate contact down below and in fact he was now pushing that hardness in his pants against her panties. It was almost like he was trying to enter her through their clothes. She rewarded him by pushing back in synch with his thrusts creating an incredibly good feeling for the both of them.

 

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o -o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

 

After loosing herself in this erotic treatment for a while Asuka opened up her eyes slowly and looked at his chest. It was time for her to see some skin too so while Shinji continued to feel her tits up, eliciting a little squeal or two along the way, she started to unbutton his shirt. Shinji didn't fight her in any way and soon she had removed his t-shirt too. As she looked at his bare chest she found she was glad he was such good friends with Touji and Kensuke. For those two were huge baseball fans and since third impact they had roped him into the sport as well. The extra bit of muscle mass Shinji had acquired from playing the sport pleased her greatly and was very much appreciated.

 

It was now time for their bare chests to touch so she guided his hands so they embraced her and she moved her lips towards his. The feeling of her breasts pressed up against his chest while kissing was amazing. And his hands were so good feeling as they caressed her back, especially that one hand that was continuingly dropping lower and lower. It was allowed to go as far down as it wanted to. She even changed her position a little so he could get a better feel of her ass. The best part was when his other hand followed and both of them slipped under her panties feeling up her bare ass. At this point she couldn't resist a grab of her own and as one hand stayed up to ruffle through his hair while they kissed the other one went all the way down.

 

It was then that Asuka got lost in the feeling again. His hands on her ass and hers on his. The rubbing of her sensitive nipples against his chest exciting her. The feeling of his beating heart. The passionate kissing. And the gentle throbbing of his hardness into her softness. It was simply too much and her mind screamed at her. `SEX NOW!!!'

 

And she was about to act on it except Shinji pulled away his lips from hers before she could move her hand to unzip his fly and let him free. Shinji looked at her for a second and smiled even more. She looked so hot and wanting. He never believed he would truly see her like this. It was so beautiful and so were a pair of other things she was supporting. They were a pretty pink color that contrasted perfectly with her light skin. And the way they jutted out at him was out of this world. And speaking of worlds, her globes were fantastic. Far better and bigger than any of the other girls in his class. They looked like they were just begging to be sucked on again so he started kissing his way down to them.

 

This brief interruption gave Asuka just enough time to get a hold of herself and clear her head. Plus it put her back on the plan as Shinji was supposed to be kissing her pretty titties and sucking on her hard nipples. And as Shinji continued to explore her breasts with his mouth she couldn't help but giggle. He was tickling her but in a very good way. This was a feeling way better than Misato described it would be. Then again it wasn't really Misato's fault as she realized something like this was beyond a wordy description. This was something she just had to experience for herself to know how it felt and if the boy wanted to he could have spent the whole day like this and she wouldn't have minded. But then he did something that surprised her. It felt very good but something told her it could be better. She looked down into eyes looking back up at her while a pair of lips encircled a very happy pink nipple, gently pulling at it a bit. “The other way Shinji.” Shinji's look changed to confusion so she clarified. “Circle you tongue clockwise.” And demonstrated it with her tongue.

 

Shinji of course did this as since she was allowing him to suck on them the least he could do was accept her advice. Well this advice worked as when he reversed directions with his tongue Asuka bucked on him as she let out a squealed “Oh Fuck Yes!”

 

Asuka then looked back down at him with fiery eyes and put her breast right back where they were before she bucked on him and pulled her nipple out of his mouth. This was just getting better and better and her giggling turned over to moaning as Shinji continued with what he was told to do on each of her nipples. She even thrust her chest out at him to make it easier on him to perform the task. She was starting to believe the rumors that if a boy did all the right things he could get a girl to have a small orgasm just from breast play.

 

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o -o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

 

Shinji may have had a slightly different idea in his approach to making Asuka feel exceptionally good as during the awesome breast play Asuka couldn't help but notice one of Shinji's hands snaking its way down her body again. But this time it wasn't going down the back, it was going down the front in search of Asuka's glory spot. The boy must have been reading her mind as that was not only where his hand was supposed to go eventually but where she wanted it to go right now. Technically she was the one who was supposed to guide it there but as long as it got there who cared about the semantics. Shinji did make one minor faux pa as he rubbed the outside of her panties first. That action was quickly corrected by a helping hand that laid itself upon his and guided it through a curly patch of red hair in search of the ultimate prize.

 

What Asuka's pussy felt like to him was indescribable. And it was so juicy already that his fingers met zero resistance as Asuka's hand told his exactly what to rub and where to insert a finger or two.

 

This part of the plan was added less than a week ago. Originally Shinji was only supposed to get her hot and bothered before she moved onto one of the final steps but Misato thought it would be a good idea for Shinji to get Asuka off all the way. It would bolster his confidence and prove to him that he really could make Asuka happy. As you can guess Asuka didn't fight this last minute addition to the plan one bit. Which was a good thing as Misato didn't tell Asuka the second reason why she wanted Asuka to come by Shinji's hand. It would pretty much eliminate any negative thoughts that were still floating around in that jumbled head of hers.

 

And it would have if she had any. But Shinji sucking on her tits pretty much beat out her coming orgasm to that point. So as Shinji teased a tit with his tongue and rubbed her clit with his fingers he saw Asuka's eyes flutter back in their sockets and her moaning changed into hyperventilating as she tried to cry out “O…Ohhh…Fu….Got….. Gott….YE….EEEEE…..EEEEE….SSSSS.” Shinji's hand then got bathed in even more liquid as she squirmed around on him.

 

He actually did it. He got Asuka off. If it wasn't for the trembling and quivering body under him and the slick hand of his that was between her legs he wouldn't of believed it. He, Shinji Ikari, just got her, Asuka Langley Sohryu, off. And from the looks of it he got her off to a rather good and intense orgasm as it took her a while to recover.

 

She was still breathing hard when she forced his head away from her breasts as she started to kiss him aggressively. The boy had just earned everything that was coming to him and a lifetime more.

 

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o -o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

 

It wasn't long before Asuka's aggressiveness had them in the reverse position and now his back was to the couch. While she kissed him for everything he was worth one of her hands found its way into a drawer in the end table beside the couch. She fumbled around in there until she finally found what she was looking for. Once retrieved she ended up slipping a sleeping mask over Shinji's eyes so he couldn't see anymore. Due to her really wanting to show Shinji that she could make him feel as good as he had just made her feel she totally forgot a part of the plan. She was supposed to explain the mask away as a sexy little game.

 

And for a couple seconds Shinji was thinking `Why was Asuka's sleeping mask in the end drawer?' That was followed though by `Who the fuck cares? She is taking off my pants.'

 

As Asuka stripped Shinji's trousers off she noticed something. For a seductress she was doing a lousy job of disguising her wanting. It was a good thing Shinji had that mask on as she was blushing heavily as she noticed that not only had she soaked through her panties creating a cute little wet spot on his trousers but she had soaked through his trousers and the wet spot was on his briefs too. She sort of rolled her eyes at herself for being such a hornball. Then again too much pent up frustrations over love can do that to you. She was told that by Misato a long while ago. As for the mask's true purpose, well it was to hide the fact that Asuka needed some expert help for the next step. She was going to suck Shinji off but she had never given a guy a blowjob before so she really didn't know how. That's where the mask came in as while she was taking Shinji's socks off with one hand the other reached under the couch for some papers. Asuka had a cheat sheet.

 

With his socks gone now Shinji was down to just briefs, but not for long as Asuka stripped them off with no hindrance whatsoever. She cooed out loud “Very happy indeed” when she got them off. That caused a double blush to both teens. To Asuka because she didn't mean to say that out loud and for Shinji it was because he was Shinji and Asuka just said something very sexually good about his dick.

 

Asuka quickly got over her embarrassment though and guided one of her hands through the curly mat of black pubic hair for a while before she wrapped her tantalizing fingers around the base of his cock so she could redirect the angle of it, and with her other hand she started to fondle Shinji's balls gently. The shiver that ran through Shinji's body when she did that pleased her and she gave the tip of his dick a little kiss and a lick before she got started on her blowjob in earnest.

 

Asuka then lifted his dick up a little more and started to lick the balls that one of her hands had been playing with. She sucked one of them into her mouth and fondled the precious seed with her tongue eliciting a stuttered breath from Shinji. When she switched balls in her mouth she got the same reaction from him. He must have really liked what she was doing to him. The plan said for her to move on after this but she decided to play around for a touch longer. Part of her was really getting a kick out of hearing Shinji's labored breathing due to the pleasure she was giving him.

 

After some nice little sucking of his balls with her mouth eventually her hand went back to pleasuring that area as she slowly ran the tip of her tongue up along the underside of his dick. She started at the very base of his cock and ran that sensuous tongue of hers all the way up to the tip where she circled it around a couple times before Shinji felt a pair of lips envelop the head of his penis.

 

Shinji almost came right then and there and it took everything he had not to. He couldn't believe how good this felt, what Asuka's hands were doing with their gentle stroking was nothing compared to what her lips were doing as they glided up and down his shaft. Oh and that tongue of hers, that wonderful magical miraculous tongue. She was easily sucking him for all his worth while at the same time that tongue was doing amazing things. He didn't even know a girl's tongue could do some of those things let alone do them on and around his dick. And the sounds she was making, they were incredible. The fact she was being so vocal in what she was doing more than made up for him not being able to see it. How in the world that girl knew how to do what she was doing was beyond his comprehension. The only thing he could think was that all girls were naturals at this sort of thing. But he couldn't think about it for long as that aforementioned tongue just did a dancing maneuver around the head of his shaft and pushed his body beyond his control. He was nice enough to give her a little warning though as he grunted out “I- I'm… gonna...cu…cu…”

 

He was interrupted by a sweet “You don't need to hold back for me” followed by Asuka re-enveloping him with those luscious lips of hers and taking even more of him in this time. She also ran her tongue down his shaft and stroked it in the process causing Shinji to come deep within her mouth. Asuka kept on sucking though, accepting everything he spurted into her. And even after he was finished she kept on sucking while she used her hands to stroke the last little bit out of him. Asuka then performed a very audible gulp to signify she had swallowed it all and took his dick out of her mouth.

 

She watched as that beautiful stick of his relaxed back down to its normal size and she knew she had satisfied him just like he had satisfied her. After giving his dick one more playful squeeze she began to kiss her way up his body. She stopped along the way to do some sucking on his chest. She knew he wouldn't get the same kind of pleasure out of it that she had but that hicky she left behind on his upper right pec would earn him some serious bragging rights if anyone in the locker room saw it.

 

When she got up to his lips he tried to pull away a little. She had a pretty good idea why so she told him “The reason I took you so deeply when you came was so that most of you was shot down my throat. And any that wasn't I have already swished out of my mouth with spit.” That explanation must have been good enough for him as he then allowed her to give him a very deep passionate open-mouthed kiss. Complete with heavy tongue action.

 

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o -o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

 

While they kissed some more Asuka pushed him down onto his back again and put his hands around the waistband of her panties. She gave him an option she already knew the answer to. “You can remove one of two things. Your mask or my panties?” It felt very good for that damp thing to be stripped off of her and now they were both naked. She didn't even need to fluff him up to rub their private parts against each other as he was ready and willing the second he blindly got her panties off. Asuka looked at the clock after that and noticed they were a little ahead of schedule so for the next ten minutes she kissed him and made sure he stayed ready for the next step in the plan as she slowly rubbed her pussy against his hardness.

 

Finally Asuka got up off him and helped him up while telling him “As much fun as it would be for us to go all the way here, I want to lose my virginity in someplace I feel more comfortable.” She then slipped her hand into his and led him over to her room.

 

Shinji was lain down on Asuka's bed and he heard a drawer open and close quickly before he felt Asuka crawl on top of him. Asuka then placed her hand on his dick again and raised it up so it was placed at the entrance to her womanhood. She lowered herself down just a fraction of the way so his head could be held in place but at the same time he was not yet in her. She then took off his mask and let him look at her from below. With her exquisite red hair hanging down from above, slightly tickling him as it caressed his face, she whispered to him softly “Just wait a little bit more.” And then she stayed in the position letting their eyes melt into one sea of blue while they were on the very brink of having sex for the very first time.

 

The waiting was interrupted by a beeping noise from Asuka's alarm clock. “It's now past midnight Shinji. Our bet is officially over with. We can stop being friends now and admit to each other how we really feel.” Asuka then rolled off of him and onto her back. “We can't go any further till we do.”

 

Shinji knew how fragile Asuka really was. She didn't want to take Shinji, she wanted him to lovingly take her. All that brashness, lustfulness, and aggression had washed away leaving behind a scared and lonely girl who only wanted love. On the inside the two of them were almost identical.

 

Shinji crawled between Asuka's spread apart legs and placed his penis at the entrance to her vagina. Before pushing in he stared into her eyes and said “I love you.” A warm loving smile appeared on Asuka's face as she whispered back gently “And I love you.” That was followed by a gasp as Shinji pushed himself into her and they both lost their virginities to each other.

 

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o -o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

 

An hour later both of them were lying on their backs, staring up at the ceiling with overly blissful smiles on their faces. The `WOW!' factor could be clearly seen in their eyes and the only way they could describe what had just happened was… well they couldn't, they just couldn't.

 

After a very happy breath Asuka said out loud “I am so happy that Misato was wrong about me maybe not having an orgasm my first time.”

 

Shinji looked over at her “So I did make you happy then?”

 

“A girl doesn't call out a boys name like I did if he didn't.”

 

Shinji blushed at that news and Asuka gave him a kiss on those rosy red cheeks to reward him for a very enjoyable experience overall. Asuka then let out a sad sigh and said “There's one more thing I need to do” and she reached over and opened drawer in a stand by her bed, pulling out a stack of papers. “You may have figured out that things seemed a little more ummm…. Orchestrated… than they should have been. And there's a reason for that.” She handed Shinji the packet of papers and finished. “Please don't be mad at me.”

 

Shinji looked at the front page of what he already figured existed. `I Dare You: The Plan.' He then began to read it and Asuka began to fret as she didn't know what his reaction would be. But Shinji didn't mind and what Asuka had said about Misato caring for him was driven home as he saw her handwriting on the pages too. He smiled over at Asuka to relieve any anxiety. He didn't care as long as they were together, and truthfully any plan that got him laid by Asuka would have definitely met his full approval from the get go. As he kept reading he smiled again as he noticed a third style of handwriting. “It was Rei who picked out Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?”

 

“Go figure” Asuka answered. “I had no clue what she was going to do when I came up with this plan and asked her for help. But she surprised me as she quickly agreed as long as we played that game and she got a memento of our date.”

 

“That's kind of strange.” Shinji commented.

 

“Tell me about it” Asuka replied. “But I stopped trying to figure that girl out long ago.”

 

Shinji let out a little chuckle at that and then went back to reading. He quickly noted that while a lot of the things that had happened were scripted out even more hadn't been. And a lot of those things were what they would cherish the most about their date. They were what drew them closer together. He smiled again “I think our date was better than this one.”

 

“Way better” Asuka said in agreement.

 

This was a pretty intricate plan so it took him a while to get to the good parts. Shinji's eyes bugged out when he did though and got to a certain set of pages.

 

Asuka saw what page he was on and blushed. There were several very graphic drawings with even more graphic instructions on how to give a blowjob. It was all in Misato's handwriting too. No wonder Asuka was so good at it her first time, she had a step-by-step guide on how to please him. While he laid there looking at the pages he didn't know if he should freak out or be excited. On one hand it was Misato describing how to give him a blowjob and that was just plain weird to him. Misato's role in his life was different than that. It just wasn't that kind of love. On the flip side, it might have been Misato's writing but it was Asuka who performed it. The idea of Asuka going down on him though was enough to make it an exciting thing and he didn't care where the girl learned her blowjob skills from as long as he was the one she performed them on. He looked over at the red faced girl and gave her a kiss.

 

“You better have loved that Shinji. You have no idea how embarrassing it was.” Asuka told him after the kiss.

 

“You didn't like doing that?” Shinji asked almost heartbroken.

 

Asuka giggled at him and then clarified. “I had no problem going down on you and giving you the blow. It was learning how to do it that was horrible.” Her cheeks turned even redder as she muttered out quietly “Misato made me practice.”

 

“Practice?” Shinji questioned as he didn't understand how you could practice something like that without actually doing it.”

 

“Yeah” Asuka answered and then pouted out “On a Banana!”

 

Shinji just laid there with his mouth slightly agape, staring at her. “…..????…. a Banana….????…..”

 

Asuka nodded and embarrassed yes. “Most of the times you came home these past few months and I was instantly pissed at you was because you walked in during the middle of one of my lessons. How I didn't die of embarrassment I'll never know.”

 

Asuka looked really sad and pouty at this point. That experience must have been very humbling for her. Shinji did what he figured he should do and he put down the plan and hugged her while saying “You did a very good job and I love you.”

 

That made her feel so much better. A little recognition of a job well done and letting her know you cared for her was something that would go a long way with her. That's all she ever really wanted. And after a nice little snuggle fest she had Shinji return to reading the plan.

 

But before Shinji turned the page he asked hesitantly “Our sex wasn't scripted out too, was it?”

 

Asuka shook her head no while turning the page for him. The next to the last step simply said `Have sex with Shinji after midnight.' Everything they had just done was them and only them. That was a very important thing to him. He then read the last step `Tell Shinji the truth and show him the plan.' And what a sweet truth it was. He loved her and she loved him. And they could both make each other very happy.

 

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o -o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

 

Technically that was supposed to be the end to the plan but there was still a half dozen or so pages stapled on behind it. Asuka was a bit confused about this as well as Misato had just attached them yesterday morning so she hadn't even seen them yet either. It was worth investigating so Shinji turned to the next page. It was marked `The Plan: part 2, for Shinji's eyes only'

 

Asuka let out a little “Hey!” in protest but did turn her head.

 

Shinji then turned to the next page and there was a note for him on it. `If you are reading this Shinji then everything went as planned. Congratulations you big stud! But it also means she has given you an excellent blowjob and let you pluck the flower of her youth. You owe her big time kiddo! Usually after a girl goes down on a guy it is considered good manners for him to return the favor. Now just because you had sex (really good sex I hope) does not mean it's too late. A little post-cotial cunnilingus can be a very pleasurable thing and a good way to get a girl back in the mood. Now I believe in treating you two as equals so I have written down a 27 step guide in how you should return the favor. Please pay particular attention to steps 5, 11, and 18 as they are very important. (Trust me on this stud, I know what I am talking about.) You will know you are doing a good job if at step 22 her back is arched. Now go do your duty and make that girl come. (And if you follow my direction very closely and not rush through it she will come hard.)

 

Shinji turned the page and his eyes bugged out again. The drawings and explanations were even more graphic and descriptive than the ones Misato had given Asuka concerning the blowjob.

 

A couple seconds later Asuka noticed Shinji searching around the bed. “What are you doing?”

 

“Looking for your sleeping mask” he answered.

 

“Why?”

 

“Because I need it before I can start step 1” Shinji said and then found it at the foot of the bed. He placed the mask over Asuka's eyes and crawled down so his face was between her legs. Twenty-two steps later Asuka's back was arched and she was screaming out his name in absolute pleasure.

 

The actual cunnilingus guide stopped at step 25 and now Asuka was panting hard and trying to catch her breath when Shinji read step 26. `Girls like to be kissed after they come, it's a closeness thing. But before you go do that please show her the same courtesy she showed you in not making you taste yourself. Wipe your mouth (and chin, hehehe) off with the sheet and swish some spit around in your mouth and swallow it a couple times. (A good boy will do this a half dozen times real quickly) Go to the last step.'

 

Step 27 was relatively easy. “I'm proud of you both. Now go have a good and happy life.' Shinji cast the plan aside after that and crawled up to kiss Asuka. She was very appreciative of what he had just done. The appreciation factor rose through the roof as Shinji took the initiative and stuck himself in her halfway through their kiss. After all just because he had gotten her off orally was no excuse for them not to follow it up with the more traditional method. And apparently Asuka agreed as she bucked her hips up to meet him so she could get him in her further……..

 

(A/N: Well that's the end of the main story. There is a little more to this story but I have written it as a comical omake about the next day and such. I didn't think it belonged with the main story as it was written in a different tone. Thanks for reading the story and I hope you enjoyed it.)

 

(Additional A/N: I guessed I erred when I wrote this as I thought I explained something when I wrote the lines- But before Shinji turned the page he asked hesitantly “Our sex wasn't scripted out too, was it?”

Asuka shook her head no while turning the page for him. The next to the last step simply said `Have sex with Shinji after midnight.' Everything they had just done was them and only them.- That was supposed to be describe the decision I made in not writing out the actual sex part. I realize I failed miserably so here is a better description. When I wrote this story I never intended on scripting out the final act between Shinji and Asuka due to me wanting it to be a very intimate act between only the two of them. And I figured stopping at Shinji taking Asuka's virginity would show that. This was between only them and nothing that happened would be known by anyone else, including Misato who helped orchestrate the whole plan. Just a touch of privacy in a world that has become more and more public. I can understand if some of you don't like that but when I wrote this story that's what I was thinking. And as I go over it again I find myself still thinking that way. I will sort of make it up to you in the omake as there will be a sexy scene or two in that but I am not going to right out the intercourse scene for this chapter. I guess that means I am pulling the same rabbit out of the hat that Anno did with his ending in making the viewer/reader figure out what happens in the end. I'm sure your imaginations are up to the task though.)