Neon Genesis Evangelion Fan Fiction ❯ masquerade ❯ masquerade ( One-Shot )

Disclaimer: I don't own Evangelion Gainax does, sue me and suffer the consequences of suing a poor, poor man.

Masquerade

By: Epyon Zero

"Prepare to be awed."

Shinji Ikari sat on the couch in the apartment of his guardian and roommate Misato Katsuragi. The voice that spoke to him belonged to his other roommate - and fellow Eva pilot - Asuka Langley Sohryu.

They had been getting ready to go to a Halloween party at NERV. One of the in-house psychologists had figured it out that the base personnel needed time through the year to let off some stress, or else they'd all have nervous breakdowns. Ergo, there were various sanctioned holidays NERV set aside for personnel. One was Halloween.

The whole concept of this Western holiday was confusing for Shinji. From what Asuka had told him. It basically involved dressing up in costumes and going door to door receiving candy treats. This was of course, out of the question inside of the Geo-Front, so the Commander had decreed that NERV would have an annual costume masquerade.

Therefore, both Children and a majority of the staff had purchased costumes. So Shinji waited for his roommate to emerge. Then again he didn't have much of a choice in the matter.

In her room, said individual straightened her costume. Peering into her mirror Asuka made sure that nothing on her outfit was out of place. She'd picked it for two reasons: One, to flaunt her figure and two, to catch Kaji's attention. She knew he'd be there so she'd dressed to wow. Unfortunately for her, Kaji was going with Misato to the party. That meant the first person she'd get to test the effect of her costume on was Shinji.

"Stupid baka" she muttered. "Probably wouldn't know beauty if it walked up and slapped him upside the head." Then again, it might be fun to see what he'd do. Anyway she wanted to see what his costume was, since both of them had agreed to not pry into what the other was wearing.

Shinji heard a soft sliding noise and then "Take a look Third Child" in a soft, soothing voice. Turning round the boy saw a figure of elegant, no radiant beauty.

Six floors down the fifty-five-year-old pensioner heard a dull thud as Shinji's jaw hit the floor. Shrugging he went back to watching television.

Blinking several times Shinji had to remember to swallow as he looked at the vision of beauty before him. Asuka was dressed in a 17th century sky-blue dress that accented her hair and eyes. At her wrists, hem and throat there was white lace. Her hair was done in a mass of curled ringlets. Around her throat was a sapphire choker and she wore pale blue slippers. Doing a little pirouette, Asuka grinned and asked "So, what do you think baka-Shinji?"

The still dumbstruck boy stammered before his face broke into a smile and he said "You look gorgeous Asuka."

This had a very positive effect on the Second Child. Seeing the usually timid boy smile and straight out call her gorgeous sent a warm feeling throughout her body. "Why should I care what he thinks?" Not getting an answer from her brain Asuka did what she normally did when confronted with a problem, she went on the attack.

"So, what about your costume baka-Shinji?" Seeing him squirm the German twisted the knife a little deeper. "What's wrong?" she said in a sickly sweet voice "Think it isn't good enough or are you just afraid to show your face with me?"

Shinji looked down, suddenly finding the floor incredibly interesting. Not getting an answer Asuka's face contorted into a mask of anger ill suited to the image of elegant grace she'd portrayed a few seconds before. "Answer me!"

Slumping as if struck Shinji answered in a near whisper "I . . . I don't know if . . . if your gonna like it."

With here eyebrows narrowed down to slits Asuka moved closer to Shinji. "Well, how am I supposed to get an opinion if you don't PUT IT ON!" The sheer force on the end of the sentence dropped the Third Child back a few steps. "F. . .Fine, wait a minute."

Shuffling into his room Shinji sat on his bed. Reaching out to the desk he pulled out the box from the tailors. Pulling of the top, he gazed at the dark fabric. He again pondered upon his choice. As soon as he'd heard of the costume party Shinji had a very good indication of what to wear. It had, in a sense, been tailor made for him. After he'd pulled on his costume, he noticed something was missing. Chuckling to himself, Shinji pulled on a set of white dress gloves and tinted sunglasses.

Catching himself in the mirror the boy noticed that, but for height and lack of a beard, he was a near exact match for his father. That chilled him. Shinji's father was untrustworthy, ruthless and probably didn't give a damn about his son.

Just barely holding back the bile in his throat that the thought caused, Shinji muttered aloud "I'll never be like him, NEVER!" then he set his face into the characteristic mask his father wore, the one that could order the deaths of a continent, or watch his son nearly kill himself, and opened his door.

Asuka meantime, was fast losing patience. "What's taking him so long?" Her brain however never got the chance to give her an answer as she heard a voice right behind her ear whisper "Second Child."

Jumping a foot into the air Asuka spun, looked, and felt a cold chill hit her as she saw her roommate.

Once again the old pensioner heard a thudding sound. This time it was from when Asuka hit the floor. "What the hell is going on up there?" he wondered, then he noticed that his game show was back on.

Back in the apartment Asuka was stunned. He didn't even resemble Shinji. His transformation was nearly perfect. All he needed was a beard and he'd be the spitting image of his father. Even his face, usually so open and innocent was set, like some stone mask. "Y. . .Y . . .You decided to go dressed as. . . . him!" Was all the flustered girl could stammer.

With the mask dropping away Shinji let a smile cross his face. "Um . . . would you believe that's the reaction I was looking for."

Blinking away the remaining shocked haze in her mind Asuka could only ask "Why?" before Shinji could answer however the trilling of his cellular phone interrupted. Taking it out of his pocket, he listened to the call.

"Ohiyo Misato. Yes, yes we'll be there soon." Slipping the piece of metal and plastic back inside he turned to Asuka. "Misato was wondering when we were gonna leave for the party."

"Misato just wants to know how much longer she can hog Kaji!" Asuka exclaimed.

Sighing ever so slightly Shinji once again mentally chided his roommate for her stubbornness concerning the perennially unshaven NERV agent, who had no romantic interest in her whatsoever, no matter what she tried or thought, he'd always be solely fixated on a certain purple haired Major.

Ducking back into her room Asuka grabbed a blue silk wrap, then proceeded to drag the Third Child out the door bellowing "Come on, lets go already!"












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Inside the Geo-Front the party was in full sway. The main lounge had been decorated with black and orange streamers and several jack o' lanterns stood sentinel at various places. Arrayed around the room was the usual assortment of vampires, goblins, witches and executioners, each one of the many workers that kept the organization known as NERV running. Certain costumes however garnered more attention not for their style or type but for who was wearing them.

Kaji Ryouji - NERV's resident spook-had decided upon going as the epitome of a spy, James Bond. He looked surprisingly at ease, and devastatingly handsome, in a formal tuxedo with a white coat and black pants. Whether through coincidence, prescience, or because she'd known before hand Misato Katsuragi was the perfect feminine counterpart for Kaji, especially considering that she was hung on his left arm. Dressed in an ankle length red dress she would have looked stunning, however, given her fashion 'taste' the dress was slit three-quarters of the way up the leg so that when she moved the dress displayed a very good view of shapely leg. This had the effect of drawing both male and female attention.

The males were mostly murmuring appreciatively and trying not to drool everywhere and keep their eyes from bursting. They also were mentally cursing Kaji for having such a sensuous date.

The women had almost the same reaction, although it was slightly different due to the female mind set. The jealously came from Misato's dress, and her ability to flaunt it, but also for her date, who if he tried could have had 90% of the female staff at NERV merely by snapping his fingers.

Further off to one side sat Ritsuko Akagi, and her assistant Maya Ibuki. Dressed identically as she normally was on the job, anyone who inquired as to the Doctor's costume received the flat response of "I'm a mad scientist." The only reason that Ritsuko had come was because Maya had begged her to come, and she just couldn't say no to her fresh faced assistant.

"Damn sad puppy face."

The only other noteworthy costume came from Sub-Commander Kouzou Fuyutsuki, who had dressed himself as Cicero, the famous senator from Ancient Rome. He mingled about, amicably chatting to various techs and personnel, most of whom he knew by name. The costume seemed to suit the old professor as he carried himself with an air of quiet dignity and learned wisdom.

Starting near the door and slowly moving inward, a hush fell over the assembled partygoers. The Second and Third Children had arrived. The reactions that they received were as different as their costumes.

High atop Mount Fuji the seismograph registered at a slight tremor of 2.0 on the Richter Scale as the jaws of five hundred partygoers hit the floor. Seeing that the epicenter was confined to the area of NERV headquarters, the duty technician paid no heed to it. Eight months on this detail had taught him that NERV and strange things went hand in hand.

Asuka got many words of praise and congratulations for picking out such a stunning costume, especially since it made her look much older than her fifteen years. This, of course had a very positive effect on the Second Child, whose face lit up with a dazzling smile. Shinji, on the other hand got the kind of reaction he'd expected. Many, many people thought his choice of costume to be a little too lifelike. Nearly everyone at NERV was afraid of Gendo Ikari on one level or another, and here was his son, dressed as a near picture perfect avatar of the man. Given the fact that Shinji and his father didn't have the best of relations this disturbed people even more.

From her chair in the rear at the rear of the room Ritsuko couldn't really tell what was going on. The party had gone from uproarious to deathly quiet in a manner of seconds. She then caught a flash of black and red out of the corner of her eye. Feeling her body begin to grow warm Ritsuko started to pass through the crowd toward the man she loved. Getting close enough to actually see who had caused the quiet, Akagi not Gendo but Shinji. After a few seconds of speechlessness she decided to see just how good the boys' imitation was . . .

Sidling next to Shinji, she whispered "Good evening Commander."

Not missing a beat, or showing the disquiet he would have normally shown, the boy replied "Good evening Doctor."

"Amazing, the boy has every nuance of his fathers voice, even the same tone. Remarkable." Now feeling slightly queasy, and deciding that she'd had enough for one night Ritsuko faded back into the crows just as another form melted out to speak.

"It seems that you've caused quite the stir here tonight Shinji." Turning around, the boy found the source of the voice, the smiling face of Kaji Ryouji.

"That's what I was looking for."

"Oh really." Kaji replied, grabbing a chair and motioning for Shinji to sit. "Do tell."

After slipping into the offered chair Shinji began to explain. "When I heard that there was going to be a costume party I started to think about what to wear." Drawing a breath, the boy continued. "I didn't want something corny or overdone. I wanted something original and frightening."

The unshaven man nodded. "So you chose to go as your father."

"That's right." Shinji murmured. "Everyone here is afraid of my father, whether they admit it or not, even Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki probably is. I. . . I guess I just wanted to see what it felt like," the Third Child said with a self-deprecating smile. "I'm not exactly fear-inspiring, you know."

"You'd be surprised how often you do scare people Shinji," Kaji thought. He could recall at least two occurrences where Shinji had done something that had terrified, or at least frightened people. His first battle against the Third Angel had terrified everyone on the command bridge, except for the Commanders. More recently his feat of catching the Tenth Angel alone had definitely frightened many people. "He is much stronger than he gives himself credit for." "So Shinji, this had nothing to do with showing up Asuka." Kaji asked with an impish grin. He knew that this wasn't the case, but he couldn't help himself.

"Actually I did this to get her attention." After thinking on what he'd just said the Third Child blushed. "Lemme explain that before you start assuming things. After living with Asuka for so long I know how much she likes attention and the spotlight so I thought she'd do something flashy for tonight . . .

"And so you decided to dress in such a manner that would guarantee her the most positive response." Kaji finished.

The boy nodded. Unbeknownst to either one, the topic of their conversation was less than ten feet away. Asuka had planned on glomping Kaji but she'd thought the better of it when she'd seen him talking to Shinji. The only part of the conversation she'd heard was the section concerning her. Up to when she'd heard the words come out of Shinji, a part of her had ranted that the boy had dressed the way he had to steal some of her thunder. Now she heard that he'd done it to add to that thunder.

That almost makes sense, in a twisted kinda way." Since she'd arrived in Tokyo-3 Asuka had noticed that Shinji had a tendency to look out for her. In one case he'd disregarded direct orders, and almost killed himself, saving her. Asuka thought that this was one of Shinji's more endearing, if annoying character traits, even if she'd never publically admit to it.

At that exact moment Vice-Commander Fuyutsuki clapped his hands to call the general gaze of the room to himself. "Now that I have your attention, it is my pleasure to be the Master of Ceremonies for tonight's events. First we'll be having a pumpkin carving competition. Find yourselves a partner, select a pumpkin and begin. You have fifteen minutes."

The pairings were fairly predictable, Misato went with Kaji, Maya and Ritsuko and Shinji and Asuka. Oddly enough it was Shinji who'd gone looking for the fiery German rather than vice-versa. Asuka was pleased, slightly confused but pleased. She was pleased because her normally introverted roommate was acting so... so.. Normal. Not only was he acting normally he was actually confident of himself. "Must be the costume." she thought.

While Asuka was thinking Shinji had stripped off his jacket and gloves and had begun scooping out the pumpkin. Seeing that he'd started without her Asuka opened her mouth to complain. Before anything could issue forth however Shinji shot up an hand to silence her. "I have a design in mind that'll let us win." he stated. "You can either help me or hinder me, make your choice."

The Second Child blinked. "There has to be something about that costume." Letting the better angels of her nature reign she stood back and watched Ikari work periodically passing him styling knives and anything else he asked for.

When time was over Fuyutsuki went round and judged the various creations, picking out the top three. After asking for the lights to be dimmed he called for quiet. "Third place goes to technicians Kurosawa and Anno" A candle was then placed inside a dimmed husk revealing a ghoulish skeleton. "Second place" he continued "Goes to Major Katsuragi and Agent Ryouji." Yet another candle lit up yet another pumpkin. This time it revealed the bird-like mask/face of an Angel. Many people murmured appreciatively at the lifelikeness of the image. Motioning for quiet, the old professor announced the winner. "First place goes to Pilots Ikari and Sohryu." The assembled partygoers began to applaud, then watched as one last guttering candle was placed inside of a pumpkin revealing what the Children had created. What it revealed was the face of Evangelion Unit-01. At this point the applause began to die. Every detail of the purple behemoth was in perfect simulacrum on the pumpkin, which scared people. Seeing Shinji standing directly behind with the candle tossing light across his glasses, making him look even more like his father nearly caused some to lose control of certain bodily functions.

After once again calling for quiet Fuyutsuki read the next event, bobbing for apples. Once several basins of apples were brought in there was a scramble to get in line. Most of the scramble was from males trying to get behind Misato, although the smart ones got in front of her so they could watch the very well-endowed Major bend over.

Asuka was behind so that he, "wouldn't take advantage of her innocent body." The actual reason was that she wanted Kaji to get an eyeful of her backside. What surprised the redhead though thoguh was the fact that her body seemed more interested in reacting to Shinji's backside, rather than Kaji looking at hers. Her brain clicked in on another fact a few seconds later. "He has a really nice butt." After trying to figure out how that such a comment would reside in her brain, te German realized something else about her roommate. He was actually a nice guy. He was compassionate, loyal, courageous, to an extent, and he'd go out of his way to help someone if he thought that they needed it.

"What the hell is wrong with me tonight, I'm more interested in Shinji than I am in Kaji. What the fuck is going on!?!?!"

Asuka never figured out what was on her mind as she noticed that Shinji was done and it was her turn.

Ikari stood next to the basin calmly chewing on his apple as he waited for Asuka to finish her turn. From the position he was in however he was awarded a view of Asuka breasts, which resided just inside the bodice of her dress. "Just a bit low. . ." Ikari shut of his train of thought. It was complete foolishness to think about Asuka in that sense. Not only was it making her into an object instead of a person, it was also the way to an early grave as Asuka would gut, flay and hang Shinji on the wall for what he'd just begun to think. Besides she was utterly smitten with Kaji an no one else even registered on her radar. It was times like this that Shinji truly hated his life. Here he lived with an achingly beautiful girl who most of the guys he knew would kill to be two feet from, let alone live with and all she gave him was spite and venom.

When Asuka came up from her turn she noticed two things. First some of her ringlets were wet, and second she caught Shinji look away as soon as she looked up, blushing a fairly nice crimson. Her first impulse was to scream 'hentai' and use her apple as a deadly projectile. "Then again' she thought "Its only fair, I mean I got a load of his ass so he might as well even out the score." THAT was when it hit her. She actually didn't mind if Shinji had been sizing her up. Fact was he hardly ever tried to even look like he was looking at her, so him getting an eyeful of her wasn't so bad. Besides ninety-nine times out of a hundred that was all it would be looking, since Shinji didn't have the guts to go past that.

Shinji blinked. He was sure that he'd seen Asuka notice him looking at her. Strange thing was that she didn't do anything, whereas he'd by now be on the receiving end of a beating. Not looking a gift horse in he mouth and praising a large number of religious deities for keeping him from being beaten to a pulp. Once he was finished he remembered that he'd never told Asuka the reason why he'd picked out this particular costume. Walking over he tapped her very lightly on the shoulder. "Asuka do you remember when you asked me why I picked this out as a costume.?"

The redhead nodded "Yes baka, and I'm still waiting on my answer."

"Well' Shinji said as he slipped his jacket back on "Your answers await Second Child." With that the boy turned on his heel and headed for the elevator.

Five minutes later the elevator stopped at its destination. The entire way Asuka had pestered Shinji as to where they were going. Now that they were there she blinked. She knew exactly where they were. "The Eva cages, why. . ."

Shinji stuck up his hand. "We're not quite there yet so kindly shut up." This outburst had two effects. First it got the redhead to shut up. Second the way it rebounded off the cavernous walls caused her to shudder as Shinji once again imitated his father. The pair silently made their way along the gantries until Shinji finally stopped. He stood at the head level gantry access for Unit-01. Aside from the quiet hum of the machinery keeping the Eva primed in the coolant the only other sound was the low breathing of the pilots.

Shinji looked up at a darkened observation platform. "There, right there was where I'd first seen my father in almost three years.' Struggling to keep his composure the boy continued. "I'd only ben in the city maybe two hours and the first thing he did was ask me to pilot. When I said no Misato and Dr. Akagi were shocked. Father, he. . .even from that height I was sure that he was trying to stare me into the next level. Then he brought Rei in on a stretcher. She was really beat up, and she tried to get up, but she fell. She was covered in blood Asuka and my father wanted her to pilot! He. . . he just didn't care, and everyone they just danced to his tune, even me." With this statement in the air Ikari slumped against the railing.

Asuka was appalled. She knew that the Commander was cold, but not that cold. The first time he'd seen his own son in three years and the first thing he wanted him to do was go out and nearly have himself killed. One thing that Shinji's story also did was explain some of the reason why he treated Rei the way he did. It made sense he'd want to take care of her if she'd tried to substitute for him, and previous events only backed up this thought. Looking at the boy slumped near the railing Asuka tried to think of something to bring him out of the mood he was falling into. She felt partly guilty because in looking for an answer she had opened old wounds. Leaning down she whispered. "You forgot to mention something Shinji."

The boys head shot up from between his arms.

Asuka smiled. "You left out how you did this to get me more attention from everyone else than I deserve."

Shinji blinked "How...how did....how did you..."

"I heard you talking to Kaji."

Shinji's head slumped again. "The you probably think that this is the stupidest, most idiotic-"

Asuka cut Shinji off before he could pile more insults on himself. "One of the most considerate, if strangest things anyone has ever done for me."

This brought the boy's head up and as he saw the smiling figure he smiled back. Getting up he dusted himself off. When he did Asuka deftly moved in and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you Shinji." she whispered. Both of them blushed for a good minute. With a smile Shinji offered Asuka his arm. "Come on lets get back up to the party."

The Second Child nodded her consent. "Yeah if we aren't back soon people might start to think we were up to something."

With a laugh both children made their way out of the cage and back toward the party.

The End.













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Omake:

Sitting in his office Gendo Ikari was not a happy man. He had planned on making an appearance at the Halloween party but now he couldn't. "Damn Shinji' he muttered "Stole my costume."

Looking down at the pink tutu and wings that made up his replacement costume he grumbled. "I'm not going as a fairy." However after trying on the costume Gendo did however have a sudden urge to listen to some Tchaikovsky.

Omake 2: (Yes there's more!)

More adventures of Evangelions 00, 01 and 02 (Or Yui, Kyoko and Naoko get drunk yet again)

Down in Terminal Dogma a party of another sort was going on. After Shinji and Asuka had left all three Evangelions had snuck out of their cages and down to Dogma, where they had their own party going.

"You know the only problem we got here." Yui muttered as Eva -01 puttered around clutching a vat of coolant.

"What?" Kyoto retorted.

"We don't have any apples to bob for."

At that point Naoko came in clutching something.

"What the hell are those?" Kyoko called.

'Well' Naoko said, I figured since we can't bob for apples we can do the next best thing. Bobbing for Angel cores!"

"Score!" Yui and Kyoko shouted as they high-fived.

After the bobbing was done all three turned to family talk.

"Hey Kyo, is Asuka sweet on Shinji?" Yui asked.

Unit-02 grinned. "Hell yes, she likes him a helluva lot more than she lets on. Why?"

With that Yui told both of her friends about what had happened a little while ago.

"She kissed him!" Kyoko shouted.

"Not so loud' Naoko hissed. "You'll wake up Lillith."

Kyoko pouted and made a face at Naoko "Meany!"

Yui sweatdropped. Then she thought of something. "Hey Kyo, if they both like each other that means we might end up being IN LAWS!"

Both of the Evangelions did a happy little gig together as they thought of the idea of being related to each other.

Naoko merely shook her head and went back to drinking.

A few doors down Lillith moved on her cross. "Damn Women can't they party QUIETLY!"

Frustrated that she couldn't do anything the mother of all things merely tuned them out and returned to her musings of the universe.

All three Evas sneezed.

"Weird." Yui commented.

"Meh, hey didn't Shinji and Asuka look good together." Kyoko asked.

"Yeah they did, although Shinji might be getting more like his father if that costume is any indication." Yui mused this over for a few seconds, before Naoko tapped her shoulder.

"Yui if you think that Shinji is turning into Gendo watch this." The scene shifted to the Commanders office where 'Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies' was heard. Gendo was doing pirouettes around his office in his pink fairy costume.

Yui blinked then began to laugh. She laughed so hard she fell over clutching her sides. Kyoko came over to see what was so funny and promptly joined her.

Omake 3: (yes there's even MORE!)

Down in the Dummy Plug room something very odd was happening. Rei was there trying on costumes. This wouldn't have been odd if she had of done it herself. But since he had such a huge stack of costumes she had asked her 'sisters' to help her out. The Rei-quarium was now empty was Rei after Rei walked past as Ayanami tried to pick a costume. After all 500 had gone by Rei pouted. "I can't decide what to wear!" Looking at the clock on the wall she wailed. "Ahhh I missed the party. I'm going home!" The First Child then spun in her heel and walked out the door, leaving her sisters with 500 Halloween costumes.

Author's Notes: Well now that was my little Halloween tribute to Evangelion. I'd like to note that the majority of this was written while I was in Ontario. Still all in all I'm quite proud of myself.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Epyon Zero