Neon Genesis Evangelion Fan Fiction ❯ Mandate Of Hell ❯ Trust Who Do You ( Chapter 14 )

The Mandate Of Hell

Part 14

Trust Who Do You

 

 

****** The House ******

 

When Misato and Drake returned to the house with the take out they had picked up in town they saw that Gwen and Asuka where in the living room watch some talk show on the tv.

" Asuka is Shinji home? " Misato asked as Drake took the take food into the kitchen, " Shinji is up in his room. " Asuka said with a low snarl in her voice that peaked Misato's interest but she decided to hold of on asking the fiery greman eva pilot what was bothering her until she could get Asuka alone for she knew by the look in Asuka's eyes that she was royally pissed off about something.

" Drake would you go upstairs and get Shinji and Rei for dinner? " Misato said to Drake as she entered the kitchen to start serving out the take out food, " Sure no problem. " Drake said as he ran his hands though his short crew cut hair and Misato gave him a smile.

 

A few minutes later the children where gathered around the table where Misato had placed the take out chinese food as they ate Misato saw the evil looks that Asuka was giving Shinji as well as the cold disdainful looks that Gwen was giving Shinji and Misato knew that there was going to be another blow up between the three of them, * Damn it why do they always wait until supper time to have there little tiffs * Misato thought to herself as the children begain to eat.

Asuka was eating some of her chow main as she found herself staring at Shinji who was eating some kind of beef and shrimp noddle dish and her thoughts became darker and darker * That fucking swine, sitting there like there's nothing wrong! * she thought to herself as she continued to eat her supper as the metal images of Shinji sneaking into her room in the middle of the night replayed themselves in her troubled mind, so wrapped up in her thoughts Asuka failed to notice when Shinji asked her to pass the soya sauce to him.

 

" Asuka could you pass the soya sauce? " Shinji asked once more before he took notice of the death head's look that Asuka was giving him and he felt himself recoil slightly under her gaze as the rest of the children and Misato watched the interaction between the two of them.

" Get it yourself you fucking perverted panty thief! " Asuka growled as she watched Shinji's face turn as white as the belly of a dead fish before she continued to tear another strip off of Shinji," Then you bragged about it to your fucking stooge friends at lunch your fucking worthless perverted son of bitch, asshole, cock sucker......! " Asuka raved before she had to take a deep breath and out the corner of her eyes she

saw the look of surprise and shock on Misato's face as well as the sight of Drake choking on a mouthful of coffee to Rei's dead pan face and saw that her left eyebrow was raised.

" Y-Y-You mean you where awake! " Shinji sputtered in surprise as he saw Asuka's face become a lifeless make that would have put Rei to shame.

 

" A-A-Asuka I-I-I..... " Shinji stuttered as he watched as Asuka got up from the table and ran from the dinning room and he had seen the look of rage and hurtful betrayal in her tear filled eyes as she made her way to her bedroom, Gwen opened her mouth to say something but one word of Misato and she shut her mouth and then got up of the table to go and check on Asuka," Shinji I want to talk to you..now! " Misato said in a tone of voice that told Shinji he was in some deep shit and got up from his seat and fallowed a very furious Misato into her room leaving Rei and Drake sitting at the table in shock.

 

****** Asuka's Room ******

 

Gwen was standing in front of the door to Asuka's bedroom and though the thick door she could hear the low sobbing of her friend, " Asuka can I come in? " Gwen called out as she opened the bedroom door and stuck her head into Asuka's bedroom and saw her friend laying face down on her bed as her ears where filled with the low, mournful cries as Asuka begain to pound on her pillow with a raised fist.

" Asuka..Asuka it's me Gwen, can I talk to you? " Gwen said as she stepped into Asuka's bedroom as a deep stab of pity welled up in her heart at the sight of Asuka, " GO AWAY! " Asuka shouted in between her sobs as she continued to beat her pillow with such force that the sounds of her fist impacting on the pillow could barely be heard over he racking as she panted for breath as her crying became more and more vocal.

 

Gwen stood there for a moment, torn between respiting Asuka's wish to be alone with her suffering and the need to help her friend though her torment.

Slowly Gwen walked into Asuka's room and pulled up the chair beside Asuka's desk and sat down in from of the bed for Gwen knew that Asuka was in a bad off way, she had no idea of how bad off Asuka really was.

" Asuka,Asuka look at me. " Gwen said as she reached out and laid a hand on Asuka's arm and watched as Asuka looked up at her with red, puffy eyes and the look of utter revulsion and hurt greeted Gwen.

" I...knew...he.....was....a....pervert.....but....I......never....thought... ...never...thought...he...would..do..something..like..that...to..me! " Asuka said in between her sobs as Gwen gave Asuka a soft and kindly smile.

 

" Misato is very anger with Shinji, she's giving him the third degree right now I'm sure she will punish him severely for this. " Gwen said as she watched Asuka try to stop her crying, " No she won't Shinji is everyone favorite he always gets treated like a prince because he's the commander's son and he always does better with his sync ratio then me and..and..and..." Asuka blurted out as she went into another crying fit, causing Gwen to hold Asuka and let her cry on her shoulder as she came to realize that there was more to Asuka's tears then just the simple betrayal of trust due to the theft of her panties.

 

****** The Kitchen ******

 

Rei was picking at her dinner as she considered what she knew about Shinji, she had seen him as a caring, kind boy who had a lot of troubles that cast him into a depressed state of mind most of the time but she never pictured Shinji as a pervert as Asuka so vehemently called him for he had always been respectful towards her and never once did he say any thing rude or crass to her, but with this incident Rei found herself reevaluating everything she knew about Shinji and this filled her mind and heart with a strange discontent.

 

" Drake did Shinji brag about stealing Asuka's panties at lunch time today? " Rei asked Drake who seemed surprised at her question let alone that she was addressing him, " No he didn't, I'm just as surprised by this as you are Rei. " Drake said with a deeply thoughtful look on his face that peaked Rei's interest for some odd reason.

" Has Shinji ever done anything like this before? " Drake asked as he found himself reconsidering what he knew about Shinji, " No he has never done anything like this before that I am aware of, Shinji as always acted like a gentlemen towards me and Asuka so I am deep troubled by his actions. " Rei said to Drake who nodded his head slightly and she asked him another question, " Do you think that what Shinji did was right? " and watched as Drake gave her a weary look as if the question she had just asked him was an insult to him.

" No Rei I don't think that what he did was right at all, in fact I am kind of disappointed in him from what little I know about Shinji he seemed to be an ok kind of guy. " Drake as he took another drink from his coffee and found that it was cold so he got up to make a fresh cup as Rei watched him as she begain to reconsider what she knew about Drake for she had certain that Drake was the type of boy that would have been at lest been amused by what Shinji had done to Asuka for she knew that Drake hated or at the very lest disliked Asuka and would have enjoyed her misfortune.

 

" Drake why do you think that what Shinji had done to Asuka was wrong, you do not seem to like Asuka at all so why would you defend her? " Rei asked as Drake sat back down at the table as the water in the kettle was starting to boil.

Drake ran his hand though his hair and thought about Rei's question for a moment as he looked into Rei's ruby eyes and found himself felling like he was under a microscope.

" As much as I.....dislike Asuka I can't condone what Shinji did to her, he betrayed her trust if she ever trusted him in the first place and if you can't trust some one not to go sneaking around and stealing stuff from you then how can you trust them in a life or death situation? " Drake asked Rei as he felt his skin crawl slight at Rei's piercing gaze and wondered what was really on Rei's mind because to his way of thinking she should have been talking to Shinji about this matter for Drake was fairly certain that Shinji was a truthful kind of guy despite what had been said at the dinner table ten minutes or so ago.

 

" So you would say that because of Shinji's actions he can no longer be trusted in a battle? " Rei asked Drake as she found out a bit more about him from there conversation, " I would not go so far as to say that but one must consider his actions, as for trusting him on the battlefield I'd trust him, Shinji seems like a level headed kind of guy despite what happened here tonight. " Drake said as the kettle begain to wistle and got up to make himself a cup of coffee, when he was done he turned around to ask Rei about Asuka and found that she was gone.

 

****** Misato's Room ******

 

Misato looked down at Shinji who was sitting in the chair by her desk for a moment as she considered what she was going to say to Shinji, " Shinji what ever possessed you to steal Asuka's underwear? " she said as she sat down on the edge of her bed facing Shinji who was looking down at his feet and she could see the shame on his face.

" M-M-Misato I took them because I had to. " Shinji said with a slight shudder in his words and for a moment Misato was ready to blow her top when she heard that after all she never thought of Shinji as the pervert that Asuka claimed him to be and she was very disappointed in him, " What do you mean by that Mister! " Misato said with a sharp tone of voice as she watched the look of shame and self loathing become more pronounced on Shinji's face and she ordered him to look at her.

" You won't understand, but I had to get them back it was for her own good that I did take them. " Shinji said as he felt about three inches tall and like shit to boot for he knew that there was no way that he was going to be able to get out of this scolding without telling Misato what he had done to the panties and once he did that he knew in his heart that Misato was going to be even more disappointed in him then she already was, " Shinji you not making any sense I mean why would it be for Asuka's own good that you have stolen her panties? " Misato said as she felt her anger grow ever more as she listened to Shinji speak.

 

Shinji did his best to look Misato in the eyes as he put on a pleading look on his face as forced himself to speak, " Remember when I got hurt at school? " he said to Misato who gave him a fish eyed look and nodded her head and told him to continue as she saw the look of extreme discomfort flash across Shinji's face, " Well I was mad, really mad and so I thought it was Asuka who had hurt me so I wanted revenge so I spiked a pair of her panties with liquid heat rub to get back at her. " Shinji said as he looked away from Misato so she would not see the tears of shame that where starting to from in his eyes.

Misato went though the roof when she heard that, " Shinji how could you do something like that, do have any idea on how badly you could have hurt Asuka with that kind of a stunt?!?! " Misato shouted as she watched Shinji recoil at the sound of her voice and watched as Shinji started to cry.

" I-I-I-I couldn't help it I was hurt and I was so mad and upset at what had happened to me that I was not thinking straight. " Shinji sobbed and he had such a look of sorrow and guilt on his face that Misato found her anger starting to waver, " Shinji why didn't you come and tell me, I told you that if you where having a problem with what happened to you, you knew that you could come and talk to me about it. " Misato said with a neutral tone of voice for she knew that she would have to punish Shinji for what he did but she also did not want to push him away because she knew that Shinji was sorry for what he did and she did not want to seem heartless to Shinji.

 

" Then when I found out it was Hikari who had hurt me I knew I had to get the panties back so that Asuka would not get hurt that's why I snuck into her room and took them and threw them out in the trash and that was why I wanted to take the trash out so that she would not find them but I did not know she was awake when I took them. " Shinji said as he wiped a few tears from his eyes and Misato just bit her upper lip as she sat there trying to figure out on how she was going to handle this mess, " Come with me Shinji. " Misato said and the two of them left her room.

 

****** Asuka's Room ******

 

Misato and Shinji where standing outside of Asuka's bedroom, Misato knocked on the bedroom door.

" GO AWAY! " she heard Asuka call out and opened the door to Asuka's room and saw Gwen holding a sobbing Asuka, " Gwen would you leave us I have got to talk with Asuka alone. " Misato said and from the tone of her voice Gwen knew this was more of an order then a request, slowly Gwen let go of Asuka and made her way out of Asuka's room and she stopped for a moment when she saw Shinji standing there looking down at his feet.

" Stay the hell away from me of you'll be sorry. " Gwen said with an icy voice then made her way to her room leaving Shinji standing there feeling like shit.

Misato sat down on the chair that Gwen had been sitting on earlier and watched as Asuka forced herself to stop crying and face her, " I thought I told you to go away! " Asuka said with a slight snarl in her voice as she wiped the tears away from her eyes, Misato let her words roll of her back and gave Asuka a warm smile as she spoke to the upset German eva pilot, " I talked with Shinji about him stealing your panties and-" Misato's words where cut off by Asuka who started to swear and curse at the sound of Shinji's name.

" That useless fucktard is nothing more then a pervert and if he comes near me I'll kick his ass! " Asuka said as she gave Misato a hard look that did nothing to phase Misato for she knew that Asuka was running off at the mouth because of her anger and hurt at having her trust betrayed by Shinji and she let Asuka blow off some steam before she picked up where she had left off.

 

" - he told me why he took your panties and I think you should hear why he did for yourself from him. " Misato said and saw the weary look in Asuka's rage narrowed blue eyes and she could see past Asuka's rage and knew from the look that was behind her rage that Asuka wanted to know why Shinji had did this terrible thing to her, Misato took Asuka's silence as permission to continue with what she had planned and she got up from the chair and walked over to the slightly closed bedroom door and opened it and told Shinji to get into the room once Shinji had shuffled his way into Asuka's room Misato wisely stood off to one side between the two children in case Asuka decided to try and beat the ever living shit out of Shinji.

" Shinji tell Asuka what you told me. " Misato said with a firm tone of voice and watched as Shinji lifted his head and forced himself to look at the fuming Asuka who was giving him a hateful stare and begain to slowly speak to her.

 

Ten long minutes later Shinji finished telling her why he had stolen her panties and when Asuka heard why he had taken them she was shocked into a silence for a few minutes because she would have never guessed that Shinji had the guts to do something so cruel to another person let alone her.

Asuka then snaped out of her silence as she gave Shinji the most hateful look she could muster, " Stay the hell away from me you asshole or you will wake up a girl, GOT THAT! " Asuka said with such a caustic voice that made Shinji shake with fear, " Yes Asuka. " Shinji said in a demure voice as he looked back down at his feet.

Misato looked from Shinji to Asuka and saw that Asuka was close to losing her cool and then she looked back at Shinji, " For the rest of this month you will do Asuka's chores is that understood? " she said to Shinji who just nodded his head and Misato dismissed him, once Shinji was gone Misato looked over to Asuka who looked like she was about to explode in unholy rage, " Asuka if you need to talk about this I'll be around for you. " Misato said knowing full well that Asuka was not going to talk to her about this matter but she made the offer none the less just in case by some off chance that Asuka would take her up on her offer then she got up from the chair and walked out of Asuka's bedroom to leave her with her dark thoughts and Misato knew that she would have to keep a close eye on both Asuka and Shinji.

 

****** Shinji's Room ******

 

Shinji was laying on his bed and was feeling like shit for having done what he did to Asuka and try as he might to convince himself that if he had not stolen Asuka's panties and she had gotten hurt things would have been all the worse for him but he just could not convince himself of that fact when there was a knock on his door.

" Who is it? " Shinji said as he reached for his SDAT player and was debating if he wanted to talk to anyone at the moment, " It is me Shinji. " came Rei's voice from the other side of his door and for a moment Shinji was surprised for he had not idea of why on earth Rei wanted to talk to him for, " Come in. " he said and watched as Rei opened the door to his bedroom and walked in with her trade mark dead pan look on her pale face and when she entered his room she closed the bedroom door.

" What do you want? " Shinji asked as he sat up on his bed and he felt uncomfortable by the strange look that Rei was giving him as she walked over to the chair by his desk and sat down, " Why did you steal Asuka's panties for? " Rei asked as she gave Shinji a puzzled look for she had no idea of why his actions towards Asuka had disturbed her so and watched as a look of shame flashed across Shinji's face that only served to confuse her all the more.

" Look Rei I have my reasons for doing what I did so can we drop it. " Shinji said as he felt his guts churn slightly under the piercing look of Rei's blood red eyes and added " Why do you want to know about why I did it for? " he asked Rei and saw the look of confusion on her normally placid face.

" I do not know why I wish to know about the reason for you stealing Asuka's panties. " Rei said with a wispier of a voice as she felt the confusion within her continue to grow and saw the stunned look on Shinji's face when he heard her words.

 

Shinji looked at Rei for a moment and was torn between telling Rei the reason he had taken Asuka's panties so that he could help clear up Rei's confusion and the need to deal with this matter on his own by keeping quiet on this matter as he looked into Rei's eyes and saw the look in them that was begging him to tell her what she wanted to know and found that he could not refuse her and begain to slowly and truthfully tell her of the reason why he had taken Asuka's panties and when he was done Shinji found himself feeling better about the whole matter for some odd reason.

Rei blinked once as she listened to Shinji speak and was unable to say a thing because of her shock at Shinji's actions towards Asuka over the matter of her panties, * How could you have done this? * Rei thought to herself for she could not understand how Shinji could have done such a diabolical thing for he had always been a kind and just person who cared about her and others as well, to hear him admit to doing such and evil thing towards Asuka had given her a fright.

 

" Shinji would you have hurt me as well in your quest for revenge for what had happened to you" Rei asked Shinji with a nervous tone in her voices as her mind was hoping like hell that Shinji would say no but when Shinji looked at her she saw shame and self loathing in his eyes she knew that he would have indeed hurt her in order to get his revenge for having been so badly hurt juring the fight at school and part of her soul wailed in dispair at the loss of the unspoken trust and budding caring that both she and Shinji had once shared.

Slowly without a word being said Rei got up from the chair and walked out of Shinji's room for there was nothing more to be said between them and Shinji flung himself onto his bed and begain to cry for the loss of the friendship and trust that he had with Rei as bitter tears flowed from his eyes for he was now coming to understand how hate would rob a person of the things that they cherished, known and unknown to the one in the grips of hate and such understanding left him desolate inside.

 

****** The Game's Room ******

 

Rei was sitting at the * Death Derby 5000 * game lost in her thoughts for she was not longer sure she could trust Shinji any longer and this filled her with a deep sadness and sense of loss that she had never experienced before as she considered the ramifications of what she had learned from Shinji and she found herself wondering if Shinji was still worth her protection that she had freely given him in there battles with the angels, so wrapped up in her thoughts Rei was not doing well in the game as she usually did nor did she noticed when the door to the games room opened and in walked Drake.

 

Drake saw Rei sitting at the * Death Derby 5000 * game the same game he was thinking of playing to relax before he went to bed and called out to her but when he got no answer he stood there for a moment to watched Rei as she played the game then he walked over and seated himself at one of the mock driver's seats for the game and looked over at Rei and saw a strange and slightly disturbed look on Rei's face.

* What eating her? * Drake thought to himself as he continued to watched Rei who was completely unaware of his presence as he felt slightly uptight around Rei from some reason that he could not understand and sat there for a moment to consider his feelings towards Rei then after a few minutes of soul searching he put this feelings to the back of his mind and stepped on the gas pedal.

 

The words * New Player Has Joined * flashed across Rei's screen and this snapped her out of her thoughts about Shinji and she quickly looked around the games room and saw Drake sitting at one of the driver's seats and got up from her seat and was starting to walk away when Drake called out to her and for some reason she stopped and turned to face Drake, " Hey Rei let's have a game, it'll be fun. " Drake said to Rei and he hoped that the shy girl would take him up on his offer, " I'm sorry Drake I do not wish to disturb you while you are playing the game. " she said to Drake who surprised by her words.

" Now hang on a moment Rei if anyone should be leaving it's me, you where playing the game first, I just thought you would like the company. " Drake said as he found himself slightly disturbed by Rei's unwillingness to join him in a game as she stood there looking at him, " Come on it will be fun besides a good game will help take you mind off of your troubles. " he said and Rei found herself considering his words and she found a strange comfort in the thought of playing Drake a game and she walked back over to the driver's seat she had been sitting at and they restarted the game, " I'll go easy on you Rei. " Drake said with a macho tone of voice as he picked his car out from the line up of computer generated cars and picked a smokey gray and red pin striped car as Rei picked a metallic blue and chrome colored car and she smiled to herself at the sound of Drake's words as she felt a strange feeling of wanting to kick Drake's ass at the game and she let out a chuckle as the game begain.

 

Rei felt her mock driver's seat shake as Drake's gray and red car slammed into her's forcing her to fall behind him as he raced forwards to take out one of the computer controlled drone cars and she stomped down on the gas pedal and rammed Drake's car from behind causing to spin out of control and slammed into a mess of spectators before exploding on impact with a rock.

* Beginner's luck * Drake thought as his car respawned and he put the pedal to the metal to catch up with Rei as her car was taking out computer controlled cars left and right and when he came up beside her Drake yanked his steering wheel hard to the left to slam into Rei's car but met only air as Rei sped up and shot past him and he turned the steering wheel hard to the right and took out a computer controlled car that had been sneaking up on him as he pushed his car faster to catch up with Rei who saw his car coming up behind her and she dropped her speed and when her car was lined up with Drake's car she slammed into his car with a grim look on her face as both cars where fighting to stay on the race track as they parted then slammed into one another and then parted once more, Drake stole a quick look at Rei and saw the grim look of determination on her face.

* Wow she's really getting into this game * Drake thought to himself as he and Rei where forced to defend themselves as the computer controlled car begain to attack them, Rei looked out of the corner of her eyes and saw Drake biting on his lower lip and with a snarl as he took out two of the computer controlled cars that had been tag teaming him and took note of the predatory look in his eyes and felt a surge of excitement race though her body, * Come little man let's see how good you are! * Rei thought to herself as she begain to squirm in her driver's seat as Drake's car came closer to her's and she felt a flash of anger as there two cars where locked together in mortal combat as the heavy metal music of the game filled there ears leaving each of them vowing to undo the other as there teeth where ground together in mock blood lust.

 

Drake looked over to where Rei was sitting and saw her wriggling in her seat and he felt a flush race though his body and he watched the curves of Rei's body as she squirmed in her seat and he felt his mouth become dry as he felt a stirring between his legs as his mind became filled with the images of Rei sitting there nude before him, " Damn! " Drake muttered to himself as he forced himself to concentrate on the game as Rei's car slammed into his car once more in a shower of computer generated sparks as his ears where filled with the sounds of metal on metal and with a force of will he made himself concentrate on the game as he renewed his vow to defeat Rei.

Rei watched as her car was slammed into a tree by Drake's car and burst into flames and she quickly looked over at him and saw him sitting stock steady and with such a grim and determined look on his face to dominate all before him that she found herself becoming aroused by that look of power in Drake's eyes that she felt her breath catch for a moment before she stomped down on the gas pedal to catch up to Drake's car as she felt the need to dominate Drake in the game which by this time was no longer just a game to the two of them as they poured there hearts and souls into the contest as they battled across the computer generated wasteland with grim smiles and such a hungry look in there eyes that anyone who would have seen those looks would have cringed in fear.

 

Rei and Drake where so locked in battle that they failed to notice Bad Max's car before them as they came up to a long tunnel that they both let out a snarl of surprise as Bad Max's car slammed into Rei then Drake's car sending the two of them crashing into the sides of the tunnel's entry way, they quickly looked at one another and saw the challenging looks in the other's eyes that they both stepped on there gas pedals and begain to battle with one another with renewed vigor as they set about destroying one another and any computer controlled cars that happened to get in there way as there excitement mounted.

Drake and Rei where neck in neck for the finish line with Bad Max between them and knew that there could only be one winner in this race and they slammed into Bad Max and wiped him out, Rei felt her body become tense as she and Drake raced for the finish line and she slammed into Drake's car and watched as he wiped out into the finish line pole.

" YES! " Rei gasped as her car crossed the finish line and she felt a wave of pleasure wash over her as the screen in front of her flashed her a victory sign as she seemed to melt into the driver's seat.

 

Drake sat there and looked over at Rei and saw the look of pleasure on her face as his ego took a bit of a beating for having been beaten by a girl and for some reason he did not feel upset about it as Rei looked over at him with the look of a cat that got the cream, " Oh the shame, how will I live with the agony of defeat! " Drake cried out and Rei saw a look of sadness in his eyes but there was a smile on his face that sent her into confusion * Is his ego so fragile that he is going to kill himself because I beat him at this game? * Rei wondered in horror and got up from the driver's seat unsure as what to do in this situation.

 

" Drake do not kill yourself, it was just a stupid game! " Rei said in fear as she watched the look on Drake's face change to one of confusion as she stood there with a look of fear in her ruby eyes.

" Who slow down Rei I was kidding, I would not kill myself because I lost a game to you, in fact this is the first time I have gotten worked up at a game in a long time you gave me a run for my money. " Drake said as he got out of the driver's seat he was sitting in and saw that his words where not calming Rei down and he found himself fighting to keep from laughing in Rei's face because she had take his words so seriously.

Drake put a warm and reassuring smile on his face as he stood in front of Rei as he felt the same strange and some what disturbing feelings that he had felt before when Rei had come to his room to ask him about his scars, " Rei I want a rematch with you, this is the first time in a long time since I have had some fun. "

Drake said and watched as a look of relief flowed across Rei's face and for some odd reason this made Drake feel all warm and fuzzy like, Rei took a long look at Drake's smiling face and she not longer felt the fear at the thought of Drake killing himself had inspired and she felt that a rematch in the game would be a good thing as she no longer felt the feelings of worry that had plagued her when she had first starting playing the game in order to try and sort out her feelings towards Shinji, " I will have you a rematch you where an adequate opponent and that you will continue to offer me a challenge. " she said to Drake as she stood there looking at Drake who was not some much confused by her words but by there delivery.

 

Drake found his smile growing as he heard that Rei would give him a rematch and he could see that Rei had enjoyed there little duel as much as he did for he no longer saw the troubled look on her face.

" Well I told you that a good game would get your mind off of your worries. " Drake said as he found himself becoming slightly lost in Rei's blood red eyes for he could see that despite her cold manor there was some warmth in her eyes that made him feel funny and he just stood there as he tried to understand what he was feeling towards Rei for what he was feeling was both fighting and yet reassuring at the same time as it grew quiet in the game's room save for the sounds of the games that where playing there programmed demos to entice some one to play them but they went unheard by the two of them.

Rei found herself unable to look away from Drake cobalt blues eyes as she felt her heart skip a beat and her chest was growing tight with each slightly labored breath that she took as she found herself in a frame of mind that she had no prior experience with as she stood there looking into Drake's eyes and saw something in there that she could not understand and it made her feel dizzy.

 

* Who is she, what does she hide under that cold exterior? * Drake thought to himself as he felt his throat become as dry as sand and his body became tense as he continued to look into Rei's eyes.

* Why do I feel this way towards him when I look into his eyes? * Rei said in her mind as the sounds in the game's room faded to nothing save for the sound of the clock on the wall as it ticked then ticked slightly slower as she felt her heat beat with each tick of the clock as she continued to stare into the seemingly endless expanse of Drake's eyes as her mind came to realize that what she was experiencing what the same yet different from the time she had cried on his shoulder and this time she did not find the experience as frightening as it once had been.

Drake felt his heart beating to the tick of the clock on the wall and some how he knew that Rei's heart was also beating in sync to the clock as well and for some reason this whole freaky experience did not disturb him in fact he found it strangely comforting as he continued to gaze deeply into Rei's crimson eyes that seemed to reach to and beyond the realm of creation.

 

* Tick Beat Tick..Beat Tick..Beat Tick.....Beat Tick.........Beat Tick...........*

 

Drake and Rei suddenly found themselves standing on the edge of forever as the ticking of the clock came to a stop and as they stood there in a place that was not known to any other human being or god, gods and goddesses for that matter and there was a strange nebulous aura that was flowing around the bodies of the other that seemed to reach out and merge with each other, to Rei this merging of auras looked like two A.T. fields that where harmonizing with each other until they canceled one another out and then there was nothing between her and Drake.

To Drake the merging of auras looked like two flame, one black the other a white flame that where reaching out to each other until the combined to create a gray flame that seemed to grow and grow until it encompassed the two of them and there was nothing between him and Rei who where surrounded by a field of grayness.

 

* TICK *

 

Rei and Drake gasped suddenly as the strangeness of this tender moment passed them and slowly the sounds of time marching on filled there ears as the sounds of the clock ticking once more at it's normal pace then came the sounds of the video games that where playing there demos.

 

Both Rei and Drake looked up at the clock and saw that it was 10:53pm they had come up to the game's room at about 7:45 pm and they had finished playing there game at about 8:53 pm and with a shock they both realized they had just been standing there staring at one another for two hours straight and this caused them an even greater amount of confusion then the state of confusion they had just been in if what they had just gone though could be called a state of confusion.

" Well I guess we should call it a night eh? " Drake said as he saw a warm smile creep across Rei's face as she moved towards the door to the game's room, " Let me know when you want that rematch. " Rei said as she looked upon the smile on Drake's face as she quickly made her way to her room as she became aware that her panties where damp, Drake made his way to his room and as he laid down to go to sleep he realized that his boxers where slightly sticky for some odd reason and quickly changed into a fresh pair of boxers.

 

****** The Next Day ******

 

Shinji was making breakfast for the others when Misato came into the dinning room after getting her morning beer, shot gunned it down and let out her usual whoop and belch before she watched Shinji start serving out the food as the other children came down stairs to eat.

Asuka looked at her plate of fried eggs and sausages with a weary eye as Shinji served it to her and was about to make a comment about it but she had seen out of the corner of her eye Misato giving her a hard look and kept her mouth shut and begain to dig into her breakfast as Grew sat down beside her and waited for Shinji to serve her breakfast when Rei and Drake came into the dinning room and sat down beside each other with a hungry look on there faces, Misato watched Drake and Rei and was not to surprised by the sight of Rei flashing Drake a smile when he looked at her then switched back to her usual dead pan face for she had been watching the two children on the sly and saw that there was the beginning of some tender feelings towards the other even though they both acted like there was nothing between them and Misato gave Rei and Drake about a month before they recognized there feelings for one another and acted on them.

* Looks like I'll have to be giving the two of them THE TALK soon * Misato thought to herself as Shinji came to a stop in front of her and dished out her breakfast and watched as Drake with a smile on his face got up and went to make himself a cup of coffee.

 

Once they where done eating Misato looked at her wards and begain to speak.

" If you have any plans after school cancel them, the commander wants to see all of you. " and Misato watched as Gwen and Asuka begain to complain about that bit of news, saying that they had made plans to window shopping and hang out with Hikari for awhile, Shinji looked like he was going to be sick, Rei just sat there and told Misato that she understood then went back to drinking her glass of soya milk, Drake had a non plaused look on his face as he drank from his cup of coffee and then shrugged his shoulders as if to say *Whatever* and went back to drinking his coffee after Asuka and Gwen quit complaining Misato told the kids to get there school stuff together and meet her out in the mini-van/suv and within a few minutes they where on there way to school then Misato would head off to Nerv to deal with the seemingly endless paper work that awaited her each and pretty well every day since she joined Nerv.

 

****** The Lunchroom Of Tokyo-3 Number 1 Public Jr. High School ******

 

Touji, Kensuke, Shinji and Drake where sitting at there usual table eating and joking around when in walked Hikari, Asuka and Gwen and sat down at there usual table some fifty feet away and off to there right.

" Kensuke your drooling again. " Shinji said as he watched his friend who was scoping out Gwen as he usually did, " Come guys tell me something about her. " Kensuke pleaded as he tore his gaze away from Gwen and was busy giving his friends a sad puppy dog look.

Touji, Drake and Shinji felt bad for Kensuke for having to have fallen so badly for Gwen and despite there best attempt to convince Kensuke that there was no hope in hell of him hooking up with her he still continued to worship her from afar.

" Well maybe you could try and impress her with you intelligence? " Shinji offered as they continued to eat and watched as Kensuke seem to space out in some deep thought as Drake looked away in disgust and pity for Kensuke when he saw Rei walk into the lunchroom and all thoughts about poor Kensuke took a back seat in his mind as he continued to watch Rei as his mind was filled with thoughts about her.

 

" Hey Drake scoping out your new girlfriend? " Touji said with a cruel mocking tone of voice that snapped Drake out of his thoughts and he quickly turned to see this three friends leering at him and he found him slightly flustered, " No way, like I said before my life to messed up to be entertaining the thoughts of a girlfriend. " Drake said in a huffy voice as he gave them an evil glare, " Ya sure sure then why where you looking at her for? " Kensuke said with a snicker in his voice.

" Because I want to ask her a question and I was not sure if I should ask her or not. " Drake said as he felt his cheeks heat up a bit, " What where you going to ask her, her three measurements you sly dog. " Touji said with a sick grin as he watched Drake blush slightly, " NO I was just wondering what she knew about the commander besides the fact that he's one hairy scary mother fucker because he wants to see all of us after school and I hoping to find out why he wants to see us. " Drake said as he sat down and begain to pick at his lunch.

Shinji looked at Drake with the look on his face that one would have when they are forced to deal with something unpleasant, " Drake if you have any questions about the commander you can ask me about him."

he said to Drake, " Well how well do you know the commander? " Drake asked as he took a sip from his can of cola, Shinji gave Drake and his other friends a downcast look, " He's my father. " he said with a deep sadness in his voice as Drake spued his mouthful of cola though his nose as Touji and Kensuke whipped there head around to face so fast that one could hear the cracking of there vertebrae.

" What!?! you never told us that before! " Touji said as Drake sat there holding his nose to try and stop the burning sensation that his nasally discharged soft drink had induced.

Shinji gave them a weak smile, " It never came up. " he said with an apologetic voice, " Wow that's hard core, so what's he like? " Drake asked as he found himself wishing he was asking Rei about the commander for some odd reason.

" W-We really don't talk a lot. " Shinji said and the three of them could see by the sad look in his eyes that the subject of his father was something unhappy and wisely they dropped the matter.

After a few minutes Drake gave Shinji a weak smile of his own, " At lest you have a father, I never knew my farther or mother for that matter. " Drake said and this time there was a deeply sad look in his eyes and for a moment none of them spoke as they begain to pick at there lunches.

 

Asuka, Gwen and Hikari where eating there lunch while they where watching the four stooges and felt a slight disgust at the way Kensuke had been looking at Gwen, well at lest two of the three of them had felt disgusted, " Gwen you should go over there and tell that stooge to quit looking like that at you. " Asuka said to Gwen as she ate her lunch and was slightly confused when Gwen failed to respond to her statement.

" Gwen what's with you, you seem distracted? " Hikari said as she finished off her lunch and found herself watch the stooges, well two of them at lest and forced herself to look away from them as her mind became lost in her deep thoughts.

" He's not worth the time. " Gwen said as she stopped eating her lunch for a moment to try and get her thoughts in order because she was still unsettled by the dream she had about Kensuke and she knew that her two friends knew that something was bothering her but she would be damned if she was going to tell them what was bothering her, " That's true but still it's kind of a piss off to have him drooling over you. " Asuka said with a cruel tone of voice for she had mistaken the troubled look on Gwen's face to be one of annoyance with the four eyed stooge then she looked over to Hikari and saw the troubled look on her face and wondered if she was still upset with that had happened to Shinji not that she cared about the perverted panty thief because as far as she was concerned he could rot in hell but she was kind of worried about Hikari for she knew or so she thought that Hikari was having trouble putting the past behind her and she would do her best to help her friend out.

 

" Hikari are you still upset over what had happened to Shinji, that low down pile of pond scum? " Asuka asked Hikari who told her that she was pretty well over her guilt for having hurt Shinji but what she could not tell Asuka was what Shinji had wispiered to her after he had forgiven her for having hurt him for what he had said to her was playing on her mind night and day and she knew that she would have to make a decision on what he had told her but she was scared because of the possible rejection that she might face if she choose to act on Shinji's wispiered words.

" No Asuka it's just I have a lot of other stuff on my mind. " Hikari said as she saw the questioning look on Asuka's face, " Well you can tell us about what's on your mind, we're your friends after all. " Asuka said with a warm smile as Gwen also stated that she could tell her what was on her mind.

 

Hikari knew that she would have to chose her words carefully and took a moment to get her wits about her.

" Well there's this boy I know and I like him-" Hikari put her hand up to tell Asuka and Gwen to let her finish speaking before they started asking questions and then continued to talk " - he's kind and caring despite his macho shell and well I don't know how to approach him. " Hikari added as she felt herself becoming slightly agitated by the thoughts of the boy in question because she knew that both Gwen and Asuka would tell her to have her head examined if she told them who the boy was.

Gwen and Asuka looked at Hikari for a moment and they could see that Hikari had it bad for the boy in question, " Well has he asked you out? " Asuka asked as she picked at her lunch as Gwen and her waited for the answer with interest, Hikari flushed slightly as she spoke to them, " No he has not, I think he's not sure if I like him or not and that's why he has not asked me out. " she said with a weak smile.

" Well then how do you know if he likes you or not? " Gwen asked as she took a drink from her carton of milk " That's the thing I don't know if he likes me or not and I don't want to seem interested in him in case he does not like me, I would be embarrassed if I made a fool out of myself by asking him if he liked me or not and have him tell me that he does not like me. " Hikari said as she looked down at her empty lunch tray.

 

Asuka let out a slight snicker at her friend's words, " Look Hikari if you really like him be bold and ask him out, never let the man have power over you by letting him make the first move, besides if he does not like you there are plenty of other boys to be had. " Asuka said with a big grin on her face that made Hikari blush slightly, * Only if it was that easy * Hikari thought to herself even though she was outspoken on most things but when it came to boys she was to shy to consider making the first move.

 

Gwen gave Hikari a reassuring smile, " Asuka's right you have nothing to lose by asking this boy out, if you feel shy send him a privet message on the class room computers and ask him if he likes you and if he does ask him to meet you some where privet so you two and talk. " she said to Hikari who had a nervous smile on her face, " Ya Hikari don't be such a chicken! " Asuka said in a playfully scolding voice and for the next few minutes both Gwen and Asuka teased Hikari about hiving a crush of whoever had caught her eye.

" Ok ok I'll ask him out you brats! " Hikari said with mock anger in her voice and begain to wonder how she should ask the boy out as Asuka and Gwen went back to there lunches with a silly grin on there faces as they took a childish delight in there friend's discomfort.

 

Touji was about to open his locker when she saw a piece of paper sticking out of the corner of his locker and took out of his locker and opened it.

 

* Meet me at the sakura tree by the back exit after school. *

 

* A friend *

 

Touji looked at the letter for a few seconds before re-reading it to confirm what his eyes where seeing then with a smile on his face he carefully folded the letter and put it in his pocket as he opened his locker and got his things for the next class as his mind begain to wonder who had given him the letter.

 

****** Outside Of Tokyo-3 Number 1 Public Jr. High School ******

 

Drake and Shinji where standing off to one side of the school grounds waiting for Misato to show up to pick them and the girls up when Kensuke came up to them as Gwen Asuka and Rei where standing a few feet away from them.

" Hey guys have you seen Touji around, I was looking for him so that we could head off to the arcade to have some fun but I can't find here anywhere? " Kensuke said as Drake and Shinji looked at him, " The last time I saw Touji was at lunchtime. " Drake said and Shinji said as much to Kensuke who had a slightly troubled look on his face for he and Touji always hung around after school.

" Ok guys thanks I'll see you tomorrow and if you two aren't doing anything after school we'll all head out to the arcade? " Kensuke asked and both Shinji and Drake who said that if they could make it they would meet him and Touji after school tomorrow and watched as Kensuke headed off towards the downtown area of Tokyo-3.

 

" Hey Shinji I have been meaning to ask you why did you steal Asuka's panties for? " Drake asked as he gave Shinji a questioning look as they continued to wait for Misato to show up and saw the look of avoidance on Shinji's face, " Look Drake I had my reasons for stealing them so can we just drop it? " Shinji said to Drake who had look on his face that told Shinji that he was not going to get off as easy as he thought her would be able to form Drake's question.

" I mean we're friends right so you can tell me right? " Drake said with a small friendly smile that did little to put Shinji at ease, " Look Drake I think you're an ok guy but this is something I really don't want to talk about so if you respect me you'll let the matter drop ok? Shinji said with a little more back bone as he looked Drake in the eyes and watched as Drake held up his hands, " Ok no problem it just seems to me that you would not have taken them because you like Asuka so I was kind of confused as to why you stole them nothing more. " Drake said and there was a moment of silence as the two boy regarded one another then they went back to waiting for Misato to show up.

 

Touji was standing at the sakura tree and was waiting for whoever had slipped the letter into his locker to show up as the other students of his school walked by and he begain to feel nervous with anticipation as he saw other couples walk by him hand in hand.

Five minutes later Touji found himself alone in the school yard and he begain to wonder if this was not some sort of a joke when he saw Hikari walking towards him and felt his stomach churn slightly for he now knew that it was her that had left him the letter and all of his carefully thought out words towards who ever had left him the letter went out the window.

 

" Hello Touji. " Hikari said as she looked at him and felt about three inches tall as she found herself looking in his eyes and she nervously twirled some of her hair as she tried to get the words from her brain to her lips.

Touji felt his mouth go dry as he found himself looking in Hikari's warm brown eyes and forced himself to keep quiet because he did not trust himself not to make an ass of himself as the two of them stood there under the sakura tree as a gentle wind blew past them, " So it was you who left me the letter. " Touji said after he had forced his scattered mind to focus on the class rep who seemed to blush at his words with a slightly guilty look on her face, " Yes I did I wanted you to know that I like you! " Hikari said breathlessly as she had to force the words from her mouth as her heart raced in anticipation to what Touji's words where going to be now that she had came out and told him that she liked him.

 

* She likes me.....YES! * Touji thought to himself and was sorely tempted to do a little victory dance right then and there as he felt like he was on top of the world due to Hikari's admission but before he could reply Hikari spoke.

" I heard that you like me as well and I want to know if that's true. " Hikari said as she continued to fidget with her hair as she saw Touji give her a slightly shocked look, " Who told you this? " Touji said as he forced his face to remain neutral because he was unsure who had told Hikari about his feelings towards her and he wanted to know as he felt torn between wanting to clobber the motor mouth who had blabbed to Hikari and the feeling that he should thank whoever had told Hikari as he found himself wondering what else about himself had been told to Hikari.

 

Hikari felt her heart skip a beat as she saw the change on Touji's face and found that there was a lump of worry in her throat for she did not want Shinji to get int trouble with Touji for what he had wispiered to her after he had forgiven her for what she had done to him and she knew that there was not way she would be able to keep Shinji's name from being told as the one who had told her that he liked her so with a gulp Hikari forced herself to speak, " It was Shinji, he was the one who told me that you liked me, PLEASE don't be mad at him! " Hikari said as she begged Touji with her eyes that where wide with fear at what Touji would say or do to Shinji for telling her his feeling for her.

 

Touji realized that when Shinji had wispiered to Hikari he was not making a move on her but was telling her that he liked her and he made a mental note to thank Shinji for that as he continued to stare into Hikari's eyes, " Don't worry I'm not mad at him it's just that..well what I mean is that I should have been the one to tell you that I um well you know that I respect you and all and that umm well I like you. " Touji said as he felt a lump form in his throat as he mentally kicked himself for acting like a blushing school boy towards Hikari but felt his heart skip a beat as he saw the look of relief appear on Hikari's face.

Hikari felt her heart flutter as she heard that Touji liked her and she felt like she was on cloud nine as she saw Touji giving her a sheepish smile that was so endearing to her and for a moment they both stood there unable to say a thing as they found themselves looking deeply into each other's eyes.

 

* In for a penny in for a pound * Touji thought to himself as he suddenly felt bold for some odd reason.

" Hikari will you be my girlfriend? " he said and when he saw the look of surprise on her face he knew somehow that she would say yes or so he thought.

Hikari felt her heart stop when she heard Touji ask her to be his girlfriend and all she could do was stand there and stare at him as her mind did a few flip flops then she got her brain into gear as she saw the look of dispair form in Touji's eyes as she realized that he was taking her silence as a form of rejection.

" It's not that I don't want to be your girlfriend it's just that this is so sudden. " she said and felt relieved as she saw Touji relax, " Well I know it's sudden but think about it you like me and I like you so why not be boyfriend and girlfriend? " Touji said as he gave Hikari a warm smile that made her quiver in her shoes and that's when he turned on the charm, " Come on what have you got to lose, I think we'll hit it off. " he added as his smile grew.

 

Hikari was in a tizzy when she heard Touji ask her to be his girlfriend as she felt herself blush madly and it took her a few minutes to rein in her mind for she knew better then to blindly say yes to Touji.

" W-W-Well I'm flattered that you want me as your girlfriend but let's just take it slow ok? " she said to Touji and was hoping like hell that he would understand her concerns and she also knew that if he started to rise a fuss about her not wanting to be her girlfriend right away that he was most like only after one thing, her body.

Touji thought about what Hikari had said to him and did not blame her for wanting to take things slow and easy after all this was a big step for the two of them, " I understand why you do not want to rush into this and I respect that, to tell the truth I was kind of nervous about having you as a girlfriend but deep down in my heart I think we would be good together." he said to Hikari with a weak smile as the wind blew once more and he took a moment to look deeply into her eyes and saw that she was just as nervous if not more so then he was and for some reason this made him all the more nervous * Damn it quit being a pussy and be a man for fuck sakes! * he thought to himself and he took a deep breath held it and let it go as he saw Hikari twist a part of her skirt as they continued to look at one another.

 

" Hey Hikari would you like to see a movie with me? " Touji asked as he forced himself to quit acting like a chicken shit and saw the sparkle in Hikari's eyes at his words and took that as a good sign.

* He wants to take me on a date! * Hikari thought to herself and she thought about it for a few minutes as her heart raced with excitement, " Ok but no funny stuff! " she said to Touji and felt her heart skip a beat as she saw him smile like the cat that got the cream and she found herself smiling as well as she felt all warm and tingly inside.

Touji knew that she would be his and that he would be her's but he would have to take it slow but there was a part of him that was driving him on to push his luck and he decided to be bold as he spoke to her.

" How about tonight, I have some yen on me and I have nothing else to do tonight if that's ok with you? " he said and felt his heart skip a beat at the shy look that Hikari was giving him and mentally kicked himself for pushing the matter with her.

 

Hikari was wound up with excitement that she felt she had to pee and with an even bigger smile on her face she reached into her book bag and fetched out a pen and a piece of paper and quickly wrote her phone number down on it and handed it to Touji, " Call me at about seven O clock, I have to make supper for my two sister and then I have to get ready. " she said and watched as Touji put her phone number in his front pants pocket and for some reasons she found herself looking at his crotch for a moment and quickly looked away as she became even redder in the face as she wondered just how big he was and she felt herself becoming slightly hot between the legs.

 

* Did she just check me out? * Touji thought to himself as he saw Hikari look him over and quickly look away as her face grew redder and he had a goofy smile as his face as he fumbled with his book bag to get a pen and a piece of paper, when he had them he wrote down his phone number and gave it to Hikari who was smiling at him.

" Here's my number call me anytime you like, if I don't answer it's because I'm at the hospital with my little sister but most of the time I'm at home. " he said to Hikari who put his phone number in her book bag and then the two of them stood there in an awkward silence as they looked at one another, then Hikari broke the silence, " I have to go to now I'll be waiting for your call. " she said with a huge ass smile that made Touji want to take her into his arms and rain kisses all over her face, then she turned and begain to walk away from him and he felt himself becoming hard at the sight of the gentle sway in her hips.

" YES! " Touji said with a manic grin on his face then he turn and ran all the way home to grab some chow at home and then a shower to make himself presentable for his big date and all the while he was running for home he could only think of how good life was and he just knew that the night was going to go off without a hitch.

 

****** Kensuke's House *****

 

Kensuke was sitting in front of his computer and was watching as lines of data where scrolling across the screen as he was hacking into the Nerv data base or so he hoped as he activate another one of his anti-ICE programs as he made his way into the records of the low level personal at Nerv and took a moment to read the data on his screen before he tried to use the data node he was at to dig deeper into the MAGI system when suddenly a siren on his computer begain to blare telling him that the security programs where starting a trace on him and his fingers became a blur on his keyboard as he activated a scrambler program that would mislead the tracer program to another location and then he begain to deactivate his hacking programs as sweat begain to formed on his troubled brow as the tracer program was steadily tracing it's way to his computer and then he activated yet another scrambler program, " Come on you son of bitch take the bait!" Kensuke cursed as he watched the tracer program continue to home on his computer and he quickly typed a few more commands that would hopefully redirect the tracer to another IP number somewhere across the globe.

" Got you now! " Kensuke said as he saw the tracer program make it's way to a remote location in the Untied States after being routed though seventy IP numbers around the world and then quickly killed his connection to the net and then power down his computer, he would look at the data he had dumped to his computer before the tracer program he been tripped later but right now he was bushed.

 

" Damn that was close but at lest I got further into the Nerv data base then I ever had been. " Kensuke said to himself as he laid down on his bed then reached for an open can of Jolt cola and drank it down as he stared at his ceiling that was covered with posters of his favorite scantly clad anime and manga heroines then he chucked his empty can of cola into the waste basket in the corner of his room that was over flowing with empty cans as his mind found it'self thinking about Gwen.

" How do I tell her that I'm not a bad guy? " Kensuke said to himself as he felt a stirring in his groin and decided to take a hot bath, he got up from his bed and made his way into the bathroom, after the tub was filled Kensuke shucked out of his clothes and lowered himself into the tub as erotic images of Gwen danced in his mind slowly Kensuke reached out and griped his hard cock and begain to stroke it as he focused on the lustful images of him and Gwen making love.

 

" THAT'S IT! " Kensuke screamed with delight as he came ten minutes later for his mind had came up with such a wonderful idea on how to get Gwen to be his, he quickly got out of the tub drained and cleaned it once that was done he got dressed and ran into his room switched on his computer as his brain went into overdrive and begain to type away on his computer faster then a humming bird on speed for he knew that if his idea did not impress Gwen then he at the very lest stood to make a shit load of money if all went well with his idea.

Ten hours later Kensuke would have just enough energy to save his work as he passed out at his computer but Kensuke had a smile so wide that it threatened to split his face in two as exhaustion claimed him.

* Tomorrow, tomorrow will mark a new dawn in my life!* Kensuke's frazzled mind thought as darkness took him and he would know nothing more that night for nothing could wake him from his exhausted slumber not even if an angel stepped on his house.

 

****** Earlier That Day At Nerv ******

 

Shinji, Rei, Drake, Asuka and Gwen where being lead though Nerv by Misato to meet the commander as five minds where thinking about there meeting with the commander, the bastard king of the world.

* I wonder what father wants with us, it can't be nothing good, I just know it's going to be something bad! *

Shinji thought to himself as he felt his guts churn at the thought of seeing his father once more.

* If this is another sync test I'm going to be pissed! * Asuka thought to herself as his chewed on a finger nail as the continued to make there way deeper into Nerv but she could not help but wonder why the commander himself would want to see them personally if it was just a routine sync test after all Ritsuko usual handled such simple things like that, * I hope I don't make a fool out of myself when I see the commander! * Gwen thought to herself as she found herself in a similar state of mind about the commander as Shinji was, that is to say she was scared of the commander who she was coming to see as more of a demon then a scary old man.

* I wonder what the narly old goat dude wants with us, I hope we're not in shit if I am well fuck him!* Drake thought as he found himself staring at Rei's ass as she walked before him and he noticed the gentle sway of her hips, * So far this does not seem so bad* Drake added to his thoughts and begain to smile.

* I wonder what the commander's orders will be? * Rei thought to herself as the group continued with there seemly endless journey into the heart of Nerv and for some reason she could not shake the feeling that someone was watching her and for some reason she had a feeling it was not the security cameras that where giving her this slightly unsettling feeling.

* If that rat fucker is going to do anything to harm the children unnecessarily I'll blow his balls off! * Misato snarled to herself and was wishing for a beer as they made there way to the command center of Nerv.

 

" The commander will meet you at the eva cages. " Fuyutsuki said as he watched Misato and the pilots enter the commander center from his usual spot on Vulture's Row as the staff of the command center called the raised platform where he and the commander over saw the day to day running of Nerv.

" Why does the commander wish to see us there? " Misato called out to Fuyutsuki who told her that he had no idea why the commander wanted to see them at the eva cages even though he knew full well why the commander wanted them down there as he looked at Drake and Gwen, he had been informed that there where two new eva pilots he had never seen Gwen until now and he had met Drake when he wondered into the commander's office and from what he had seen of the boy he was none to pleased with him for he was certain that he and Gwen where going to be as much of a pain in the ass to him as Asuka and Shinji where.

 

Misato shrugged her shoulders and told the children to fallow her as she made her way to the eva cages.

Half and hour later they found the commander standing outside of the eva cage room with a blank look on his face with Ritsuko standing of to one side, " How good of you to join us come this way. " Gendo said as he turned and gave Ritsuko a nod and she typed in her access code and the doors to the eva cages opened as the commander walked into the eva cage room with Misato and the children trailing behind him.

 

Shinji Asuka and to a lesser degree Rei where surprised to see two new eva units in the cages where there evas, " This is unit 03 and it was brought from Canada, pilot Masters this will be your eva unit. " Gendo said as he turned and faced Gwen who was looking at her new eva and saw that it was a light lime green with white highlights and two light blue eyes and she felt a chill race up her spine as she got a good look at the biomechanical death machine then Gendo pointed to a black eva with smokey gray highlights, " This is unit 04 and it will be you unit to pilot is this understood pilot Frost? " Gendo said as he watched Drake smile as he looked at his eva unit and saw that it had three blood red eyes in a triangular formation in it's head, " Any questions? " the commander asked as he gave Drake and Gwen a cold look that told them if they had questions to ask him about there new evas they had better be good questions or he would be pissed if they wasted his time with trial questions as Misato stood there looking at the two eva units for she knew that one eva unit had arrived with Drake and Gwen from Canada but she did not know that another eva unit had been built in secret and if there was one thing she did not like it was surprises namely when they came from the commander and she looked over at Ritsuko who had a * Sorry to keep you in the dark * look on her face and made a note to have a long talk with her about the meaning of * Friends * as she felt the need for a beer.

 

* Toldly badass! * Drake thought to himself as he continued to almost drool at the sight of his eva unit that looked like it could kick angel ass with ease and shivered with glee as his mind showed him an image of him crushing the orphanage that he had been raised in when he was just a child under his eva's foot as the commander watched him with an evil smile on his face as he saw the look of mayhem on Drake's face.

* This is too easy * Gendo thought to himself as he knew that Drake would pilot his eva without any real complaints if just for the power trip of piloting the huge behemoth and in the back of his mind the commander knew that he would have to keep an eye on Drake lest he got to carried away with piloting his eva then looked over to Gwen who had a slightly disturbed look on her face but he was sure that with a little goading she could be made to pilot her eva without to much trouble.

 

" Go with Doctor Akagi she will run you though a synchro test with you eva units. " Gendo said with a tone of voice that made it clear they where going to be in for a long day of synchro tests and that he did not care if they liked it or not so long as the tests where done then he turned and walked out of the eva cage room.

Ritsuko drew in a deep breath and from the pained looks in four of the five children's faces that she was going to be in for a long shift of complaining and curses from the children that where now in an ill temper and as she looked at Rei she saw something in the albino's eyes, she blinked and then saw that Rei's eyes where back to there normal lifeless look * I could have sworn that Rei was annoyed for a moment * Ritsuko thought to herself.

" This is bullshit!, why do I have to go though another fucking synchro test for it's not like I have any problems with synchronizing with my eva! " Asuka grumbled as they made there way to the locker and shower rooms to get changed into there plug suits as they where fallowed by Ritsuko and Misato who had a * Why Me * look on there faces as they listened to Asuka complain.

" Maybe it's because the commander loves you? " Drake said with a cruel tone of voice as the excitement at the thought of syncing with his new eva raced though his veins and laughed as he heard Asuka let out a strangled gasp, " SHUT THE FUCK UP! " Asuka snarled as she spun around and got into Drake's smiling face and the sight of his smile only served to fuel her anger.

Drake who was feeling like a bastard at the moment grinned even wider as he saw the look of rage on Asuka's face and he felt good about it, " What's the matter can't handle a little synchro test maybe your not such a hot eva pilot after all. " Drake said and laughed as he saw Asuka's face become a red as her eva.

" Drake quit badgering Asuka! " Misato said as Asuka and Drake continued to stare at one another as Gwen, Shinji and Rei watched the showdown between Drake and Asuka while Ritsuko felt the need for a long smoke brake.

 

" I'll show you who the better eva pilot, my sync ratio will be higher then your you limp dick asshole! " Asuka snarled as Drake gave her a * Ya whatever * look " ASUKA DRAKE THAT'S ENOUGH! " Misato shouted and the two feuding eva pilots looked over at her and saw from the look on her face that she was not longer going to tolerate there fighting, Asuka gave Drake a dirty look and quickly made her way to the locker/shower room ahead of the others and smiled to herself as she heard Misato giving Drake shit for starting the fight between them.

 

Asuka looked over at Gwen who was standing there in the locker/shower room as Rei was stripping off her school uniform and saw the nervous look on Gwen's face.

" What's the matter? " she asked Gwen who told her that she was not comfortable with changing around other people, " Gwen it's not like you have nothing that I have not seen before, you'll have to get use to it you'll have to change into your PE outfit when we take gym at school so get over it. " Asuka said as she begain to get undressed and watched as Gwen looked away from her with a blush on her face and let out a sigh.

" Gwen it's not like you have anything different then I do. " Asuka added as she pulled her plug suit over her naked body the vacuum sealed the pug suit after she did it up and watched as Gwen slowly got undressed then stopped as she looked at Asuka, " Do you mind not looking at me! " Gwen said in an uptight voice as she felt her shame grow under Asuka's gaze as she stood there in her bra and panties as she wondered if Asuka was a dyke and begain to reconsider the nature of there friendship.

Asuka smiled at Gwen's discomfort and slowly turned around to give Gwen as much privacy as she could as she found Gwen's embracement amusing for some odd reason and saw that Rei was already gone and when she heard the hiss of Gwen's plug suit sealing it'self she looked over at Gwen, " Now that was not so bad now was it? " she asked Gwen who just nodded her head and then the two of them made there way to there eva's.

 

****** The Men's Locker/Shower Room ******

 

Shinji and Drake where standing in the shower/locker room as they felt uncomfortable with the idea of changing in the presence of the other for different reasons then Drake slowly begain to get undressed and when he heard Shinji gasp at the sight of his scared body Drake turned and gave Shinji a deadly look.

" If you tell anyone about this I swear I'll kick your ass! " Drake snarled as he felt shame because of his scared body and Shinji could see the shame and self loathing in Drake's hard eyes as he felt his discomfort grow to epic perportions, " Don't worry I will not tell anyone about your scars. " Shinji said to Drake who was naked from the waist up and Drake saw a strange look that made his skin crawl and wondered if Shinji was gay and if he was he would sever there friend ship right then and there even though she saw a strange and hurt look in Shinji's eyes as well.

" Look Shinji I'm kind of touchy about my scars ok so that's why I snaped at you, sorry about that. " Drake said as he realized that the look that Shinji was giving him was not a lustful look but he had to make sure that Shinji was not a prick puffer, " Shinji are you gay? " Drake asked as he felt uncomfortable at the look that Shinji was still giving him.

 

" WHAT! How could you ask that! " Shinji shouted as he felt anger towards Drake for asking him such an insulting question and this time he did not bother to hide his anger, " Drake I'm not a fag for fuck sakes, I like women god damn it! " he snarled as he looked Drake in the eyes and balled his hands into fists as he dimly wonder if Drake was gay and called him out on that and was shocked when Drake smiled and laughed at him.

" Sorry Shinji, but I'm into women just like you but I had to know because I have had a few guys hit on me before and I clobbered them for that and I did not want to deck you if you made a pass at me, you seem like a good guy and that's why I asked you instead of getting in your face and accuse you of being a homo. " Drake said to Shinji who was still giving him a fish eyed look then turned away and begain to strip down to get into his plug suit and Shinji forced down his anger and turned away to get undressed, once he was done he turned and saw Drake in his sealed plug suit walking out the door towards the marshaling area where Rein Gwen and Asuka where waiting for them along with Misato and Ritsuko and quickly sealed his plug suit and joined the rest of them.

 

" Well it took you long enough to join us what where you two doing, fagging off or something? " Asuka said with a venomous tone in her voice that caused both Shinji and Drake to glare at her as she laughed at them, " Fuck you Asuka being around you is enough to make anyone gay you fat cow! " Drake snarled as Shinji stood there with a sick look on his face but before the argument could go any further Misato jumped in and told the two of them to shut up with such a tone of voice that all Drake and Asuka could do was stand there and glare at one another as Ritsuko just shook her head in dismay.

 

" Ok Rei we'll start with you, get into your eva and we'll start the sync test. " Ritsuko said to Rei and nodded her head and made her way to unit-0 and climbed into the awaiting entry plug as Ritsuko walked over to a bunch of computers where Maya and a few other techs where sitting at.

" Inserting the entry plug now. " Maya called out as Rei's entry plug was worked into the back of unit-0 as Misato and the rest of the children stood of to one side of the control room.

" Beginning LCL insertion. " Maya called out as she pushed a button on the computer's keyboard and Drake, Shinji, Gwen, Asuka and Misato saw on a display screen the image of Rei in her entry plug as LCL begain to slowly fill the entry plug.

" Activate A-10 nerve connections now." Ritsuko called out to Maya and watched on the computer screen as Rei's synchro graph begain to align with her thought patterns, " Synchro rate is 8.5 three minutes to absolute borderline. " Maya called out as Rei's synchro rate begain to climb.

 

Asuka grumbled that this whole mess was a waste of time as she and the rest of the children alone with Misato continued to watch the synchro test, " Synchro rate is 12.67 two minutes to absolute borderline. " Maya said as the Rei's synchro graph climbed upwards.

Inside unit-0 Rei was forcing herself to relax as she continued to sync with unit-0 as she drew in lung fulls of LCL as she looked down at the holographic display of the control room and watched Ritsuko and Maya continued to work on there computer as the sync test went on.

* Drake who are you * Rei thought idle to herself as she continued to watch the holo display and saw that Drake was talking to Shinji and wondered what they where talking about as the test continued and the longer the test went on the more Rei found herself thinking about Drake and then she begain to wonder why her thoughts where turning towards him for and when her mind came up no answer to her thoughts Rei found herself becoming anxious for some odd reason.

 

" Synchro rate is 45.89 crossing absolute borderline now. " Maya called out and looked up at Ritsuko who was leaning over to check out the read outs on the computer and took a moment to take in an eyeful of Ritsuko's cleavage then looked back to the read outs with a slight blush.

"Activate nerve connections B-21 though C-56. " Ritsuko called out to another one of the techs and watched as he typed away on his computer, " Nerve connections established. " the tech called out a few seconds later

" Rei is fully synced with unit-0 and her synchro rate is 56.78 and holding steady. " Maya called out and watched as Ritsuko wrote something down on the clipboard she was holding, " Rei how are you feeling? " Ritsuko asked as she noticed that Rei's synchro rate was lower then it hand been juring the last test.

" I am well. " came Rei's deadpan reply and Ritsuko bit down on the tip of her pen as she watched as the albino's sync rate stayed where it was, " Is there something bothering your Rei, you sync rate is lower then the last time. " she said into the microphone at the computer station.

" No, I will improve my synchro rate now. " Rei said and she closed her eyes and begain to force all extraneous thoughts from her mind and she took a deep breath, held it then let it out and begain to slow her breathing down in order to relax.

 

" Synchro rate is 67.98 and climbing. " Maya said as she watched the display on the computer monitor, " Very good Rei, keep up the good work." Ritsuko said into the microphone, if Rei heard her she gave no indication as she continued to breath deeply as the synchro test continued.

 

Two hours later the test was over.

" Ejecting entry plug. Maya called out and once the entry plug was ejected Ritsuko called Rei into the control room, " Rei you did very good you had a higher synchro rate then last time. " Ritsuko said to Rei after she entered the control room and just stood there looking at her with a blank look in her blood red eyes that made Ritsuko squirm a bit, " I see am I done here? " Rei said with a flat lifeless tone of voice and Ritsuko told her to hit the showers and then come back to the control room. " Ritsuko said even thought she would have told her to wait for the rest of them somewhere else because she was feeling creeped out by the look that Rei was giving her, " Yes. " was Rei's reply and she turned and begain to walk out of the control room, unnoticed by everyone in the control Rei looked over to Drake for a split second then walked out of the control room lost in her deep thoughts.

 

" Ok Asuka your next. " Ritsuko said after Rei had left the control room, " About time!, Now watch and learn from the world's best eva pilot on how to sync with an eva! " Asuka said to Drake with a smirk on her face and then walked out of the control room leaving Drake standing there with a scowl on his face, " Blow hard!" Drake muttered under his breath as he found himself lost in his thoughts about a certain blue haired, red eyed albino.

" Synchro rate is 67.21 and holding steady. " Maya called out as Ritsuko compared this new synchro rate with Asuka's last synchro rate and saw that her synchro rate was a full 15% down from her last synchro test.

" Asuka is there anything bothering up? " Ritsuko said into the microphone as the image of a scowling Asuka filled the video screen in the control room " No there's nothing bothering me! " she said with a grumpy voice for there was indeed something bothering her for she found herself thinking about Shinji the pervert.

* Damn pervert sneaking into my room like that! * Asuka thought to herself

 

* You have to admit it was exciting for a split second to see him in your room. * a voice in her mind said

 

" If nothing is bothering you then why is your sync rate down for? "

 

* What the hell! that's bullshit! * Asuka raged as she bit her lower lip for there was nothing exciting what so ever about they way Shinji had snuck into her room to pilfer her panties.

 

" Asuka? "

 

* Sure Asuka that's why your little heart was going thumpty thump when you saw him in the moonlight in your bedroom. * the same voice said with a mocking tone in it's voice.

 

" Asuka did you hear what I said. "

 

* Of course my heart was racing your's would be too if you saw a pervert in your room in the dead of the night! * Asuka snarled at the voice in her head.

 

* Sure sure that's what they all say! * the voice with a sickingly sweet voice as it begain to giggle like a loony tune.

 

" ASUKA! "

 

" Shut up!" Asuka snarled as she tightened her grip around the control yokes in her entry plug.

" WHAT DID YOU SAY?!?! " Ritsuko shouted into the microphone as she held the clipboard in a death grip as her anger flared up like a sun and she and the rest of the people in the control room saw a confused look appear on Asuka's scowling face.

" I didn't say a damn thing! " Asuka snarled at Ritsuko who let out an exasperated groan before she spoke into the mike, " If nothing is bothering you then why is your sync ratio down by fifteen percent? "

Asuka knew she had to think of something fast before the old battle axe named Ritsuko continued to harp on her for the drop in her sync rate, " I'm on the rag!, are you happy now! " Asuka spat into the comm it in her eva as Rei walked into the control room as Shinji and Drake let out a groan for they knew that the next week or so was going to be a living hell for them.

 

* And you wish you had a tampon named Shinji inside you.*

 

Asuka let out a strangled snarl at the voice in her head as she blanched at the thought of Shinji screwing her into a screaming fit as Ritsuko gave her a weary look for she knew from Asuka's medical records that the greman eva pilot was a week away from her period, " Well Asuka get you head together because this drop in your sync rate is inexcusable. " Ritsuko said into the microphone and Asuka gave her a dirty look but kept her mouth shut as the test went on.

" Ok Asuka the test is over. " Ritsuko said into the microphone and hour and a half later, " About time! " Asuka snarled as the entry plug was ejected from her eva but when Ritsuko told her that her test scores with pitiful Asuka knew that the bleached blond was not going to give her brake and told her to fuck the hell off then she stormed off to the girls's shower/locker room for a long soak under a hot shower to hopefully relieve her of the tension she was under.

 

" Ok Gwen come with me. " Ritsuko said as she tried to put Asuka out of her mind as much as she could even though she would have loved to turn Asuka over her knee and spank her ass but good and then Gwen, Rei, Drake, Shinji and Misato fallowed Ritsuko to a room that held unit-03 for it's first activation test.

As they walked to the room with unit-03 in it they all could see that Gwen was wound up tighter then a long tailed cat in a room full old ladies in rocking chairs, " Gwen just relax and everything will be alright. " Misato said to Gwen who had such a nervous look her face that both Misato and Ritsuko felt a little pity towards her.

Drake looked at Gwen and even though he really really disliked her he felt sorry for her for some odd reason and was about to say something but Rei spoke up first, " Gwen the best thing you can do is clear you mind of all unnecessary thoughts as you sync with your eva. " she said to Gwen who was giving her a surprised look for she still found herself unsettled when ever she was close to Rei and from Rei's uncaring tone of voice Gwen could not help but to doubt the albino's words, " Mm thanks for the advice. " Gwen said to Rei who was looking at her with her freaky eyes that sent a shiver down her spine.

" Rei is right when you try and sync with your eva it's best to relax and empty your mind. " Ritsuko said with a reassuring voice even though she did not feel anywhere as near confident as Rei was for there where so many things that could go wrong with the activation test as she recalled how many times unit-0 went berserk, " Gwen I'm sure you'll pull this off without a hitch. " Drake said and watched as Gwen looked over at him with a questioning look for she was surprised that Drake would say anything helpful towards her given there strong dislike for one another then they came to the room with unit-03 in it and Ritsuko lead Gwen into the to room to help her get into her entry plug while Misato lead Rei Shinji and Drake into the control room off to one side of the vast room that held a restrained unit-03.

 

Ritsuko walked into the control room and sat down at a computer and begain to type at it when Maya entered the room and sat down at another computer and begain to type a few commands into it and then the image of Gwen in the entry plug filled a monitor in the control room.

" Are you ready Gwen? " Ritsuko asked and Gwen gave a nod of her head, " Ok then Gwen just relax and this will be over before you know it. " Ritsuko said with a forced smile, " Begain LCL insertion. " she said to Maya who pressed a few buttons on her computer, " LCL insertion complete. " Maya said a few minutes later as Gwen's entry plug was filled with the LCL, " How are you doing Gwen? " Ritsuko said into a microphone in front of her as they saw Gwen's pale face on the monitor.

" I'm fine I guess. " Gwen said as she felt a shiver race up her spine as she sat in the entry plug as she fought down her growing fear as she pictured a thousand and one things going so wrong with this test.

" Begain syncopation. " Ritsuko called to Maya who typed a few commands into her computer, " Sync rate is 0.21, five minutes to absolute borderline. " Maya called out as the long minutes ticked by.

 

Gwen took a deep breath of LCL, held it and let it go as she tried to empty her mind but found her thoughts revolving around her cat Muffy for some odd reason as she recalled the way Muffy would curl up beside her as she laid in her bed and would fall asleep to her purring and begain to feel drowsy.

* I'll just close my eyes that should help me relax * Gwen thought to herself and closed her eyes as she focused on her cat's purring as she felt the tension she was under at being inside her eva melt away into nothingness.

" Sync rate is 15.34, four minutes and thirty seconds to absolute borderline. " Maya called out and Ritsuko looked at the display on her computer and saw that Gwen was syncing with her eva at a far better rate then she expected, " Gwen you doing..." her words died off as she saw Gwen asleep in her entry plug.

* How cute, she looks as sung as a bug. * Ritsuko thought to herself as she looked on the peaceful look on Gwen's screen face and felt a slight tingle at the sight of the sleeping Gwen as her mind showed her an erotic image of her snuggled up beside Gwen while they where naked, Ritsuko shook on that pleasant mental image and walked over to Where Maya was sitting and looked over her shoulder at the readings on her computer then she gave Maya's right shoulder a squeeze and smiled when Maya looked up at her and gave her a lustful look and her smile grew even more as Maya blushed then Ritsuko walked over to her computer and sat down.

 

" Gwen, Gwen wake up. " Ritsuko said into the microphone and watched as Gwen opened her eyes and let out a yawn, " Sorry. " Gwen said with a sheepish smile on her face.

" That's ok Gwen, you are doing really well just keep yourself relaxed and this will be over shortly. " Ritsuko said with a smile as she looked over the reading the computer was displaying, " Sync rate is 35.67 two minutes and fifteen seconds to absolute borderline. " Maya said with a smile as she looked over at Ritsuko then looked over to see that Rei was standing in front of the thick Plexiglass windows the looked out into the room with unit-03 in it with a blank look on her face as Drake and Shinji where talking to one another.

 

" Activate the A-10 nerve connection." Ritsuko said as she watched Gwen's sync rate climb to 45.08 and Maya typed a few commands into her computer as Gwen crossed the absolute borderline as everyone looked at unit-03 that seemed to come alive even though it was not moving.

" Sync rate is 56.23 and holding. " Maya called out as Gwen sat there with a determined look on her face that had not been there before she crossed the borderline.

" Gwen are you ok? " Ritsuko asked as worry begain to creep up on her, " I feel funny, it's like there's a warm fuzzy itch in my brain is that normal? " Gwen asked with a worried tone in her voice as she became tense.

" That's ok you will experience a strange feeling as you sync with your eva, I'm sorry I should have told you earlier it will pass so don't worry. " Ritsuko said with a calm voice to keep Gwen from panicking and even though she had been told by the other pilots that they had felt strange things when they synced with there evas for the first time and nothing bad happened Ritsuko could not but help worry as she called out to Maya for Gwen's sync rate, " Gwen's sync rate is 61.02 and holding. " was the reply to her question and she looked back to the display of Gwen, " You doing very well just hang on for a little while longer ok? " she said to Gwen who just nodded her head as the strange feeling in her brain begain to subside.

 

Ten minutes later Gwen's entry plug was ejected and Gwen scrambled out of the entry plug and coughed up the lung full of LCL that was inside her and felt like she was going to puke but managed to keep her guts for bursting from her body as Ritsuko entered the room where she was standing with a bright smile on her face, " Gwen I am proud of you, your sync rate was exceptional for your first time. " and Gwen felt herself blush slightly at the praise she was resecving from the older woman.

" Thank you Dr.Akagi but it was nothing really. " Gwen said and Ritsuko could see the confidence on her face and that made her feel a bit better about Gwen being and eva pilot, " Call me Ritsuko, there's no need to be so formal. " she said to Gwen then she told her to hit the showers and watched as Gwen made her way to girl's shower/locker room then she walked back into the control room and told Drake to fallow her.

 

Drake found himself in a room that was the same as the one that Gwen's eva was in and he quickly climbed up the ladder that lead to his eva's entry plug with a grin on his face as excitement raced though his veins, once he was seated in his entry plug he forced himself to relax as the entry plug was inserted into unit-04.

" Drake how are you doing? " Ritsuko said into her microphone and watched as the image of Drake flashed her a thumbs up, " Let's do this thing. " Drake said and Ritsuko could not help but smile at the look on Drake's face that reminded her of a little boy set lose in a candy store with a fistful of yen.

" Ok Drake we'll begain now, insert the LCL " Ritsuko said and watched as Maya who had a smile on her face as well typed in the commands into her computer as Rei watched unit-04 as did Shinji.

" LCL insertion complete. " Maya said as she saw Drake suck in a lungful of the LCL, " I hate the taste of this shit. " Drake said over the comm channel to the control room as he look a shade green to them, " Sorry Drake these nothing that can't be done about that. " Ritsuko said as she checked her readings on the computer in front of her, " Begain synchronization. " she called out to Maya who typed a few more commands on her computer, " Synchro rate is 0.7, I'm getting an odd energy reading, it looks like an ID echo. " Maya said and Ritsuko walked over to her computer and looked at the readings and saw that they where clean, " Are you sure about that? " she asked Maya who told her that she was sure of the readings she had seen, " We'll check the logs later but let's continue on with the test. " Ritsuko said as she walked over to her computer and sat down, " Are you sure that is wise? " Maya asked as she felt a slight sense of apprehension fill her mind, " Yes if we don't get these tests done the commander will chew my ass off. " Ritsuko said and both women shuddered as they recalled the events that had taken place in the commander's office the last time the two of them had been there.

 

Drake could see on the holo display in his eva's cockpit that something was not right.

" Hey is everything ok there? " he called out as some of his excitement died off, " Yes Drake everything is fine we just got an odd reading on one of our computers that's all, how are you doing? " Ritsuko said and watched as Drake gave her a smile, " I'm fine here nothing out of the ordinary to report. " Drake said as he begain to relax and empty his mind.

" Sync rate is 10.23 five minutes and fifty-five seconds to absolute borderline. " Maya called out as she kept a close eye on her readings for any sign of the odd energy reads she had seen at the start of this test.

Rei stared at unit-04 and for some reasons she begain to feel very apprehensive as the test continued and she looked over at Shinji who was looking out at unit-04 and when he felt Rei's eyes on him he looked over at her and saw the look of worry on her face, " What's wrong Rei? " he asked and Rei looked away from him.

" I do not know, I feel odd." she said and Shinji told her there was nothing to worry about even though he did not feel so sure about his words for some odd reason and the two of them continued to watch unit-04 with a growing sense of dread.

 

" Sync rate is 35.78! " Maya said as she saw the sharp spike in Drake's synchro rate and that worried her and she looked over at Ritsuko who told her to keep steady as she felt her guts lurch slightly and she looked at the display of Drake who was sitting there with a smirk on his face.

" Sync rate is 36.02 three minutes to absolute borderline. " Maya called out as she bit her lower lips nervously, " Drake how are you feeling? " Ritsuko asked as she took a sip of her coffee and was wishing for a smoke for it had been a long day, " I'm ok, I have to take a piss but other then that I'm cool so don't worry about it. " Drake said with a confident voice even though from the looks on Ritsuko and Maya's faces he begain to feel uneasy.

 

" Something is worng! " Rei said as she felt a chill race up her spine as Drake crossed the borderline but before Shinji could say thing to comfort Rei May screamed, " THE SYNCHRO GRAPH IS REVERSING! " as unit-04 came to life and begain to tear at the restraints that where hold in place as it let out a blood curdling roar, " SEVER THE NERVE CONNECTIONS! "Ritsuko yelled and Maya yelled back it was no good as unit-04 ripped it's right arm free, " What the hell is going on ! " Came Drake's voice over the comm channel but before anyone could answer him the comm line went dead. " Eject the entry plug! " Ritsuko yelled as unit-04 tore it's way free of the restraints and begain to thrash around as it continued to let out it's bone chilling roar as Maya smashed her hand down on the emergency ejection handle, shattering the glass covering and then twist and pulled the leaver and nothing happened, " IT'S NO GOOD THE ENTRY PLUG IS NOT RESPONDING! " when suddenly unit-04 slammed it's right fist into the wall near the control room and the wall plating gave way under the hammering assault then it turned around and ran into the wall behind it where the wreckage of the restraints where and slammed it's body into that wall with such force that a spider's web of cracks was sent though out the wall as Ritsuko send the commands to cut the power from unit-04 and they watched breathlessly as the power cable was ejected from the back of unit-04.

" UNIT -04 HAS SWITCHED OVER TO BATTERIES! ESTIMATED TIME THREE MINUTES AND FIFTY SECONDS!" Maya shouted as unit-04 begain to slam it'self of the walls of the room like a demented pin ball and when it smashed into the plexiglass windows of the control room and sent shards of razor sharp glass flying though the air of the control room luckily for Rei who was just standing there with a look of fear on her face the shards missed her as Shinji dived off to one side of the control room to avoid becoming a pile of chunky red goo from the flying glass as unit-04 continued to rampage around the room tearing out chunks of the walls before it slammed it's head into the shattered windows of the control room and forcing it's head a few inches into the control room before it turned and ran into the back wall tearing it wide open.

 

" WHAT IS THE STATUS OF THE PILOT! " Ritsuko shouted at Maya as unit-04 continued it's mindless assault on the room it was in as it jump up into the air and slammed into the ceiling as it let out another mighty roar, " I'M NOT GETTING ANY READINGS FROM THE ENTRY PLUG! " Maya yelled as unti-04 fell to the floor them jumped up to it's feet as it clutched at it's head and shaking like a leaf in a tornado before it came to a stop as it's battery power ran out.

" EJECT THE ENTRY PLUG AND FLOOD TO ROOM WITH BAKELITE! " Ritsuko shouted and Maya tried to eject the entry plug this time it worked and the entry plug shot out of the back of unit-04 and creened off the shattered ceiling and then rocketed into the corner of the room before the entry plug's rocket motors gave out and it fell to floor with a resounding clang as the bakelite poured into the room and for a moment there was silences though out the control room.

 

" Scramble a recovery team now! " Ritsuko shouted as Rei ran from the control room as her heart raced in mindless fear for Drake as the recovery team surged into the ruined room and where working furiously to open the hatch on the entry plug and in less then five minutes they had a bloody Drake on a stretcher and where carting him off to the emergency operating room as Ritsuko and a dozen nurses raced past Rei who was doing her best to keep up with them as she saw Drake all laid out like fifty miles of bad road and when she tried to enter the operating room one of the medical staff had to restrain her until she calmed down as Misato who had been called away to the command center because of a hacker that had tried to penetrate the MAGI ran to the operating room with Shinji, Gwen and Asuka in tow they sat outside of the operating room for three hours until Ritsuko came out and told them that Drake was safe of the time being.

 

Drake opened his eyes and let out a hiss of pain as the bright lights of the recovery room seared his eyes balls, " What the fuck! " he gasped as he felt a dull throbbing though out his body as he looked around the stark white room he was in and when he saw Misato sitting in a chair off to one side of the room and she looked like she was half asleep with a worried look on her face.

 

" Misato. " Drake slurred as he called out to Misato due to the painkillers that he was hopped up on and at the sound of his voice Misato came fully awake, " Drake how are you feeling? " Misato said as she watched Drake try to sit up and saw the grimace of pain on his face, " Drake just lay back and relax you have been though a lot. " she added as she got off the chair and brought it over to the side of Drake's bed.

" What the hell happened to me? " Drake said as he forced himself to speak slowly so that he would not slur his words as he saw a relieved look appear on Misato's face, " Your eva went berserk as you synced with it." Misato said as she looked at Drake's pain filled face as he tried to recall what had happened to him.

Drake knew from the tone of Misato's voice that what ever had happened to him while he was syncing with his eva had been bad real bad and this filled him with worry as he half recalled the sight of Rei standing in the control room, " Did I kill anyone? " Drake asked with a deeply disturbed tone of voice as the pain continued to flare up in his bruised and battered body.

Misato felt her heart go out to Drake as she saw the look on his face as he asked the question and felt relieved when she saw him relax as she told him that he had not killed anyone when unit-04 went berserk.

Drake let out a slightly pain filled sigh of relief at Misato's words and did his best to relax as the IV in his left arm kept filling him up with heavy duty painkillers and for a few minutes nether one of them said a word.

 

" Misato how badly am I hurt? " Drake asked with a deeply worried tone of voice as his mind showed him images of himself being crippled for life and Misato saw the naked fear on Drake's face and laid a reassuring hand on Drake's right arm, " You where very lucky, you suffered a concussion, deep gash on your forehead, two broken ribs on your right side and three fractured ribs on your left side and your right shoulder was dislocated. " she said to Drake who let out a deep sigh of relief for his injuries where not as bad as he thought they where even though he felt like he had been force fed though a meat grinder.

Drake bit his swollen lower lip for a moment, " Where that blond bitch Ritsuko, she had some explaining to do!" he said with a snarl in his voice and before Misato could say anything to dispell Drake's anger towards her friend Drake spoke once more, " She never told me that this was dangerous and I want to know why my eva went nuts for. " he added with a grim tone of voice that told Misato Drake was royally pissed off not that she could blame him for that.

" She working on your eva unit and the synchro data from the activation test to see what went wrong. " Misato said as she did her best to put Drake's mind at ease but so far Drake was not excepting her answer to his question about Ritsuko for he wanted answers and he wanted them right then and there.

" Drake the other children want to see you do you feel up to having some visitors right now? " Misato asked Drake who let out a gasp of pain, " They all worried about you. " she added as Drake forced himself to relax as best as he could, " Even Asuka and Gwen, I find that hard to believe, they probably just want to enjoy at cruel laugh at my expense. " Drake said with a bitter tone of voice for he could not wrap his mind around the fact that the two harpies he lived with would be concerned about him.

 

" Drake despite the fact that you and them don't get along I don't think they would take any delight in your suffering, in fact Asuka was instant that she be allowed to see you as did the others. " Misato said to Drake with a reassuring tone of voice and when Drake looked at her he saw that Misato was not kidding around about what she had said about Asuka and Gwen and this surprised him for he had so certain that the two girls hated him, " Ok I'll see them but one at a time, I'm kind of tired and I don't want to push things because I feel like a mile high stack of dead shit. " Drake told Misato who asked him who he wanted to see first and was surprised when he told her that he wanted to see Shinji for she was so sure that he would have wanted to see Rei before he saw the others.

" Ok I'll send him in. " Misato said as she got up from the chair and walked out of the room.

 

Shinji, Gwen, Asuka and Rei where sitting on a bench outside of the recovery room and the mood was somber as each of them sat there lost in there own thoughts when Misato came out of the recovery room and they all looked up at her with a hopeful look on there faces, " Shinji Drake wants to see you first. " Misato said and Shinji got up from the bench and walked into the recovery room.

" So how is Drake? " Gwen asked Misato for she was now scared for her own safety after hearing about what happened to Drake and Misato gave her a slight smile for she knew that Gwen had been intimidated by her eva unit before Drake's had gone on a rampage and that she was now even more frightened of her eva unit, " He's resting and his injuries are not as bad as they could have been, so when you go to see him don't get him excited, he needs his rest. " she said to Gwen who nodded her head as Misato sat down on the bench and waited for Shinji to finish his visit with Drake when she looked over at Rei who's face was a lifeless as it usually was but she could see the concern in her blood red eyes and was about to say something to her but saw from the way Rei was sitting that she wanted to be left alone with her thoughts.

 

Shinji sat down on the chair by the bed that Drake was resting on and felt odd about being in the recovery room because each time he had been in the room he had always been the one on the bed to recover from his injuries that he had suffered at the hands of the angels, " Hey Shinster thanks for coming to see me. " Drake said and Shinji snaped out of his thoughts as he looked at the bandaged Drake who had a large bandage on his head just above his left eye and he could see that his right arm was in a sling and that there was a large bandage wrapped around his chest.

" So how are you holding up? " Shinji asked Drake for he was unsure as what to say to Drake who had a tried out look on his bruised face, Drake looked at Shinji and he could see that he was very uncomfortable with being around him and for some reason this did not upset him, " Hey Shinji can I ask you a question? " Drake said and Shinji felt a lump in his throat, " Umm sure. " was his reply as Drake tried to sit up but found that he was to wiped out and in pain to continue on with the effort to get himself into a sitting position.

" Has your eva ever gone berserk? " Drake asked Shinji as he settled back down on the bed and let out a deep sigh.

Shinji asked Drake if he wanted him to raise his bed for him as he thought about Drake's question for he was not very comfortable with talking about his expectance in his eva and when Drake asked him to raise the head of his bed he walked over to the crank at the foot of the bed and turned it a few times until Drake was in a sitting postion, " Yes Drake my eva has gone berserk before. " Shinji said as he sat back down on the chair and for some reason he found himself telling Drake about the time his eva had cone berserk when he fought the third angel and Drake could see the deeply troubled look on Shinji's face as he spoke to him.

" So how do you deal with the fear of you eva going out of control? " Drake asked Shinji who looked at Drake and saw the fear in his eyes and let out a sigh as he summoned his courage to continue speaking to Drake about the hell that piloting his eva has left him in.

 

" Drake you never get over the fear of your eva going berserk, I know I haven't. " Shinji said and Drake could see that Shinji had suffered greatly at the hands of his eva, " So why do you pilot you eva then? " Drake asked and saw the deeply troubled look that appeared on the boy's face and wanted for a few minutes before Shinji spoke, " I don't why I pilot my eva for, I just don't know. " Shinji said with a troubled voice and Drake took that as hint to drop the matter.

" Ok Shinji I understand if you don't want to talk about this, could you do me a favor?, before you send Asuka in could you have the nurse come and pull me full of painkillers so I can sleep though Asuka's visit. " Drake said with a smirk and Shinji took that as a hint that there visit was over and made his way to the door of the recovery room when Drake called out to him and he turned to face him, " Hey Shinji thanks for talking with me it has been a big help if you ever need someone to talk to come and see me. " Drake said and Shinji nodded his head, " Thanks Drake. " was his reply before he left the recovery room.

 

Misato saw Shinji come out of the recovery room and asked how Drake was doing as she fought down the worry that had been eating her alive since Drake had gotten hurt, the same fear that she felt when Shinji had gotten hurt piloting his eva or the time she nearly lost Asuka in the volcano or whenever Rei risked her life to defend Shinji from the angels and as much as she hated to admit it she had grown attached to the children as if they where her own offspring, " Drake is rest well. he wants to see you now Asuka. " Shinji said as he took a seat on the bench as Asuka got to her feet and made her way into the recovery room as Rei felt an unreasonable annoyance at the fact that Drake wanted to see Asuka now instead of her as well as annoyance that he had seen Shinji first but bit her lip as she sat there and begain to try and understand why she was feeling the way she was as she continued to wait for her turn to see Drake as the growing tension she was under grew more and more pronounced.

 

Asuka sat down in the chair by the bed as she got over her shock at seeing Drake in the condition he was in and for a moment nether of them said a word.

" Asuka why did you come and see me for? " Drake asked as he did his best to make himself as comfortable as he could and watched Asuka eyes for an hint as to why she had wanted to see him, Asuka thought about why she had wanted to see Drake for she was unsure as to why she had wanted to see him for in the first place after he was only a stooge and she did not like him at all, " Well Drake I guess it's because you're and eva pilot like me and...well we have got to stick together. " Asuka said as she continued to look at Drake and was feeling strange about seeing him laying there all busted up like he was and felt a slight chill race down her spine, Drake looked at Asuka for a moment as he was tempted to make a crack about how her concern for him was so underwhelming but he held his peace for he knew that saying such a thing would only serve to to start a fight and he was in no mood for a shouting match.

" Asuka you know I don't like you and I know you don't like me but here's some advice, take a good look at me and be thankful your eva has never gone berserk on you. " Drake said as he sat up a little more so Asuka could see his bruised and battered body all the better as he forced his face to become as lifeless as stone and put a grim tone in his voice as he spoke to her.

Asuka felt a lump from in her throat as she looked Drake over as she fought down the urge to tell Drake to take his advice and shove it up his ass for she did not need his advice since she was the best eva pilot in the world but the hard look in his eyes put an abrupt end to her outrage at the advice that Drake had given her as she saw the pain that he was in and she knew deep down in her heart that she had been damn lucky that he eva had not gone berserk on her.

 

" Well you just take it easy and rest up, but don't think for one instant that I'm concerned about you because I like you. " Asuka said with mock anger in her voice that made it clear to Drake that while she did not like him she did not wish him ill fortune, " Ok course we can't have that now can we you demoness. " Drake said with mock insult and for a moment the two of them regarded one another then with a nod of there heads they came to an understanding that while they disliked one another nether of them would go out of there way to start a fight with the other, then Drake asked Asuka to send Gwen in to see him.

 

Rei clenched her hands into fists at her sides as Asuka came out of the recovery room and told Gwen that she was next,* Why does he not see me, have I done something to offend him ? * Rei thought to herself and was tempted to tell Gwen to sit down and that it was her turn to see Drake but in her heart she knew that Misato would put an end to that idea and so Rei found herself biting her lower lip once more as she sat there and waited for her turn to see Drake as Misato looked over and saw that Rei was tense with worry and confusion and chuckled to herself.

 

" Are you all right? " Gwen asked as she sat down in the chair by Drake's bed as she saw all the bandages on him and she felt sick to her stomach with fear for her safety knowing full well that it could have been her that was laying in the bed.

Drake looked at Gwen and saw the fear in her eyes and for some reason he felt a small amount of pity towards her, " Why did you come and see me for? " Drake asked as he looked into Gwen's eyes " I don't know why, maybe it was to see if you where still alive. " she said to Drake who was surprised that Gwen would actually care for him and he could see the fear in her eyes, " Gwen are you sacred of your eva? " Drake asked and saw the look of outrage on Gwen's face, " No I'm not sacred of my eva what ever gave you that ridiculous idea! " Gwen said to Drake but she could not hide the fear that was in her voice despite her best attempts to do so, Drake took a deep breath held it then let it go, " Gwen I'll tell something, I'm sacred of my eva and who would not be after what I went though, sometimes fear can be a good thing it keeps you from doing something stupid but you have to rule your fears and not let then rule you. " Drake said as he wondered why he was helping Gwen out for and his mind came up blank on that matter.

 

Gwen looked at Drake was surprised to hear him admit that he was scared for she figured that he had to much pride to allow himself to admit to such a thing and she looked at him with a questioning look on her face that was not lost on Drake and this spurred him on to continue talking to Gwen.

" Gwen I know we have not seen eye to eye on a lot of things and sometimes you piss me off...I guess what I'm trying to say is that I have been though a lot of scary things before I met you and that what I'm trying to tell about fear is to help you after all we're eva pilots and we should stick together though the good time and the bad. " Drake said as he let out a yawn and he could see that Gwen was thinking about what he had told her, " Perhaps I have judged you to hastily. " Gwen said as she saw Drake in a new light for some odd reason and was completely floored by what he said to her, " You know Gwen I have been to harsh with you, I should have taken into account that you have lived a different life then I have and well I'm sorry for being a bastard to you, friends? " Drake said and watched as Gwen thought about his offer of being friends.

" Well I still thing your a low life but I am willing to try and be friends. " Gwen said and found her smiling as she saw Drake give her a smile, " Sure Gwen even though I think you an uptight spoiled brat I think I could get to like you as a friend. " Drake said as he let out another yawn.

" Gwen I don't mean to be rude but could you leave and send Rei in I would like to talk to her before I fall sleep. " Drake said and watched as Gwen got up from her seat and left the recovery room.

 

 

When Gwen came out of the recovery room Rei felt a surge of unreasoning fear that Drake was to exhausted to see her as Gwen walked up to her, " Rei he wants to see you now. " Gwen said to Rei and she felt uncomfortable with the piercing looked that she was being given but for one moment Gwen could have sworn that she had see the look of relief in Rei's eyes as she sat back down on the bench as Rei made her way into the recovery room.

 

Rei felt a lump in her throat when she saw the badly bruised and battered Drake sitting up in the bed he was in then she sat down in the chair by his bed and for a moment nether of them said a word.

" Rei I'm glad you came to see me. " Drake said as he felt strange at the sight of the worry that was in Rei's eyes as he looked at her and for a moment he did not know what to say next for he was not use to being around people who where concerned about him, Somehow Rei knew that Drake was badly frightened by what had happened to him as she recalled the first time that she and Shinji had met when he saved her from having to pilot unit-01 after she had been injured when her eva had gone berserk juring an activation test and decided to tell him about that, " Drake I know what you are going though, I was injured much in the same way you have been injured when my eva went berserk. " she said to Drake who look at her surprised look on his face.

Drake looked at her and saw the look of sorrow in her red eyes and something sparked in his mind as well as his troubled soul as he felt a deep concern for Rei spring to life in his heart and for some reason that he could not understand he felt the deep need to protect her at all costs.

 

" Rei I'm glad to see you are all right, do you know why I saved you to last? " he said to Rei was looking at him with a deep fear and said that she did not now why he had saved her for last.

Drake smiled at the so trusting look that Rei was giving him and he felt very nervous but he had to say what was in his heart," Rei the reason I saved you for last was because I wanted to talk to you in privet after the other had seen me was because I have something I want to tell you that the first time I saw you I knew there was something special about you and I only just now realized what it was and it's the fact that I'm in love with you. " Drake said with great fear as Rei just sat there and looked at him with a stunned deer look on her face and realized that she had not idea on how to respond to his words and she felt such a fear as her heart come to a stop and she looked into his eyes and saw that he was dead serious.

" I-I-I-I-I-I don't know what to say. " Rei said in such a timid voice for that look in his eyes sent off a shock wave of feelings that she never knew before in her life that flared up like a supernova.

Drake could see that Rei was clearly freaked out big time and he had not idea on what to do next and he called out to her in the calmest voice that he could muster. " Rei if you not sure on what to do or say next let's just call it off for now, you don't have to answer me right away I just had to say what was in my heart."

Drake said as he laid back as he felt himself becoming drowsy and he fought to keep contuse but found he had no strength left and the last thing he could think of was * Goddamn it not now! * as darkness claimed him.

 

Rei watched as Drake suddenly slumped his head as the pain killers put him under and she sat there for a moment and looked at him in shock and she was unsure as what to do for she had never been told that some one loved her and she knew from the of fear on his face and the strange look in his eyes that she had determined that look to be the utter truth of his soul to her.

Rei stood up and looked at Drake who was passed out and was dead to the world like a cold stone on a winter's stormy day and saw as the look of fear faded from his face and become a mask of peaceful slumber and she felt her heart go out to him in such a way that she could not understand her feelings towards him.

* Rest well Drake-kun. * Rei thought to herself as she walked out of the recovery room unsure of herself and she did not know who to turn to get help in sorting out this strange new feelings that blossomed though out her mind body and soul like a fire storm of confusion though out her entire mind body and soul and she ran out of the recovery room to maintain a calm and stoic face.

 

Misato and the others saw Rei race out of the recovery room with such a stone cold look on her face that the others did not think to question that look on her face save for when they saw the tears in her eyes but before anyone could say a thing Rei just walked on by with such a haunted look on her face and slightly freaked out look in her eyes that it took Misato five tries to get her attention as the others got to there feet and watched as Rei took a few steps before she collapsed to her knees in the middle of the hall way and begain to sob with such a honorably tortured shriek of blood laced misery in her voice that all they could do was stand there and Misato raced to Rei's side and clutched the crying child to her chest and asked what the hell was wrong with her as she looked down at Rei who had grabbed her and begain to sob uncontrollably as she threw her arms around her and cling to her with all the surprising strength in her arms that shocked Misato and all she could do was cry as the others finally got there scattered wits about them and walked over to where Misato and Rei where with shocked looks on there faces at this all to human display for a girl that could look down an angel without batting an eye and was so cold and isolated from the rest of the world that all they could do was stand there and wonder.

 

 

The End Of Part Fourteen