Neon Genesis Evangelion Fan Fiction ❯ Power of comitment ❯ Power of Commitment part one: The Reluctant Truth ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Authors Notes: O.K. look, I know that nobody ever wants to read the part at the beginning. The dreaded authors notes. But in this particular case it is very important that you do read them. Paying attention? Good. This fiction "Power of Commitment" is based on two other fics written by one Corey Holmes. Since I am finishing his work I feel obligated to give him some credit at least. Anyway to recap the previous fics.

In the first story "Power Of Pain" Asuka is being attacked by the 15th angel as it is raping her mind. Commander Ikari won't let Shinji go save her and he is to say the least royally pissed off! Anyway Shinji fights his way to the surface and saves Asuka in a rather unique way.

In the second story "Power Of Love" Shinji attacks the rescue crew as they try to pull him out of his entry plug in his efforts to get to Asuka. They finally sedate him and he is admitted to the infirmary. Which is where I will be starting my story.

I would thank Sage777, who came up with the title for this chapter.

Power Of Commitment part one: Reluctant Truth.

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Shinji woke up screaming. He jerked to a sitting position on the bed and looked around in a panic, trying to figure out where he was. Then he realized, he was in the infirmary.....again.

"I really hate this ceiling." he moaned to himself as he laid back to stare up at the ceiling. He wiped a film of sweat off of his forehead with one hand, and slowly let his memories come back to him. He dimly remembered the fight with the angel he could hear Asukas screams, echoing in his mind.

Off to his side a door opened and he weakly turned his head to see who it was. Misato was standing in the doorway. She had a huge grin plastered on her face and she slowly walked over too him. But he could tell that the smile was a forced one.

"What's wrong Misato?" he asked. The grin vanished and she stumbled to the bed collapsing against him, her entire body shaking. She grabbed him roughly and began to sob into his chest.

"Oh Shinji," she cried, "I thought that I had lost you this time." Shinji awkwardly wrapped one arm around her shoulders and did his best to console the crying woman.

"How long have I been out?"

"A little over two days, I think." she said, her voice cracking badly. "As they were pulling you out of the entry plug you went mad and attacked the rescue crew. The ended up giving you an un-measured dosage of a pretty strong sedative. You almost died from the shock to your body." She looked up into his eyes and her voice trailed off in shock.

His face was a cold mask of rage. But it was his eyes that she would later have nightmares about. They momentarily reminded her of the eyes of Unit 01, they seemed to be glowing with an internal fire that sent a cold shiver down her spine. She had never seen such hatred in him before and she instinctively knew in what direction that hatred would lash out at. Right then and there she prayed that she would never see that fire in his eyes again. She would not get her wish.

"How is Asuka?" He asked. His voice had an edge to it that sounded almost exactly like Commander Ikari. It was not so much a question as an order. He wanted information and he expected her to give it to him.

"She is fine. She was just a little distraught after that angels attack."

"And my Father?" Shinji asked, biting on the words as if they were the most vile thing on the face of the planet. "Where is he Misato?"

"I think that he might be in his office." With that Shinji roughly pushed her to the side and proceeded to rip the IV out of his arm, not even pausing to stem the blood that instantly flowed from the wound. "Shinji stop." Misato cried trying to hold him in the bed. But he was surprisingly strong.

"Misato!" Shinji barked, rage filling his voice. "I love you very much. But he must pay for what he's done, and if you try to stop me I will be forced to take action that I do not want to have to do." She nodded silently and let him go. He stood and ran out of the hospital room in search of his father. Misato pulled her phone out of her pocket and dialed in the number for the security division.

"Misato here. The Third Child has just left his room and is currently in search of Commander Ikari. He is not currently armed but he is to be considered extremely dangerous. You are to locate him and return him to the infirmary, but he is not to be harmed. Use of the tranquilizer guns are authorized."

"Yes ma'am." came the voice on the other end. She hung up the phone.

"Shinji. Dont do anything stupid."
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Sub-Commander Fuyutski was walking down one of the many hallways in Nerv Headquarters. He had a lunch box in one hand and was heading for Commander Ikaris' office where the two usually ate lunch together. He dropped his lunch when he felt a strong hand grab his wrist and twist his arm painfuly behind his back until his hand was between his shoulder blades. He felt hot breath on the back of his neck as his attacker leaned in to whisper into his ear.

"Vice-Commander Fuyutski." Shinji hissed through clenched teeth. "It is good to see you again, however this is not the time for pleasantries. I am well aware of the fact that you have a side arm in your jacket pocket. Would you be so good as to give it to me?

"Shinji!" Fuyutski gasped in pain. "What are you doing?"

"I am in control of this situation," Shinji hissed. "And unless you want me to break your arm I would suggest that you hand over your weapon right now." Fuyutski slowly reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a loaded revolver that he handed over his shoulder. "Thank you very much." Shinji said, then he hit the man in the back of his head with the butt of the revolver.

The elderly man fell unconscious to the floor at Shinjis feet. Shinji took little notice of him now that he was no longer a threat, and raced down the hallway to his fathers office.

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Inside the office Commander Gendo Ikari sat at his desk patiently waiting for his former sensei to arrive. He was in his trademark position, elbows on the desk fingers laced in front of his mouth and the light reflecting off his dark mirrored glasses.

Suddenly his door burst open and Shinji, clad in nothing but his hospital gown, strode into the large office as if he owned it.

"Father! You son of a bitch!" he screamed at the top of his lungs. As usual Gendo Ikari was completely unruffled by the events taking place around him.

"What do you wan't?" he asked, his voice betraying no emotion despite seeing the gun that Shinji was now gripping so hard that his knuckles were white.

"What do I want?" Shinji screamed. "I want you to pay for what you did to Asuka." With that he raised the gun, pointed it at those hated glasses, and pulled the trigger.

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Outside in the hall, Misato was slowly approaching the office doors. She stopped momentarily to check the pulse of the still unconscious Fuytski. Suddenly she heard a gun shot from inside the office.

"Oh no." She breathed out. "I hope Shinji didn't kill him." She rushed forward and kicked open the door. She ran inside and skidded to a halt when she saw Shinji standing in the middle of the room staring at the still alive, yet, obviously shaken Commander Ikari.

The Commander was still sitting at his desk. But now he was holding his shoulder in one, white gloved hand that was already looking more red than white. Shinji still had the gun pointed at him. And he was screaming.

"You wouldn't let me save her. You were just going to let that angel tear apart her mind. You were going to let her die. I wont let you do that." He was slowly advancing on the frightened man. "If you ever put Asuka into that kind of danger ever again, I swear to god that I will kill you with my bare hands." By this time he had reached the man and, almost as if to emphasize his point he dropped the gun pulled back his arm and punched the Commander in the face.

"Shinji stop!" They all jumped as the words rang out in the room and they turned to see Asuka standing in the doorway. The wild insane fire in Shinjis eyes died away as he saw her standing there.

"Asuka?" he said, dumbfounded. "Y-You-You're okay?" he asked as he started to stumble towards her. She smiled at him reassuringly.

"Yeah, I'm fine." she said.

"Asuka I...I lo...." he never finished what he was saying because at that moment his eyes rolled back in his head and he slumped to the floor.

"Shinji!" Asuka screamed, running forward to catch him. His weight carried her to the floor and she sat there with his head cradled in her lap, until the medical staff arrived. They injected Shinji with another sedative and carried him back to the infirmary while someone else helped the Commander to the operating room for the bullet that was currently lodged into his shoulder.

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Shinij was dreaming. He was standing on a barren wasteland that he recognized as once having been the proud city of Toyo-3. He looked around him in the dark. All of the building were destroyed. All that was left were the skeletal remains of a few of the larger ones. Then he heard it. It started as a whisper.

"Shinji..." he looked around him fearfully. "Shinji... You failed us." There was a shadow off to his right. It slowly moved towards him resolving itself into the figure of a person.

"Asuka!" he shouted in joy. He began to run towards her. When he came within twenty feet of her he got a good look at her and screeched to a halt. She was dead. Her skin was pale and her hair was filthy and ragged. Her once vibrant eyes were now dead and lifeless but what was perhaps the most horrifying part was the fact the she had slashes across both of her wrist.

They had long since bled dry and were now nothing more than open flaps of flesh.

"You didn't save me. That angel raped my mind and drove me to kill myself. You failed me. You failed everybody. We are all dead!" She ended it with a shout and suddenly the darkness lifted revealing a huge field littered with dead bodies, and as he watched in increasing horror they started to move. They got up and began to creep towards him.

Misato, there was a bullet hole in her head and he could see through it to the other side. Kensuke was carrying his camera in one hand and his severed head in the other. Toji was dragging himself along the ground with a knife sticking out of his back, still missing one arm and one leg from his fight in the doomed Evangelion Unit 03.

They all began to chant that he had failed them and that is why they were dead. They grabbed him and began to pull his body apart piece by piece, all the while ignoring his screams.

Behind the lot of them, floating in the air he could see Unit 01. It was surrounded by nine white evas and it had been impaled by nine weird looking spears. (Come to think of it they looked like that spear Rei had tried to use on the 15th angel.) The floating group slowly approached a gigantic naked Rei Ayanami.

He saw Unit 01 be absorbed into the giant Rei and then everything exploded. A huge shock wave was slowly approaching him. Then his attention was returned to the walking corpses that surrounded him.

"Shinji!" The voice intruded on his nightmare. "Shinji you have to wake up."

"No." he moaned, looking at the ghastly faces around him. "I didn't fail you. There was nothing I could do. No. No. NOOO!!!!!" He screamed and sat up in bed. Suddenly strong arms were wrapped around him. He looked to see a very pale Asuka sitting next to him and the memory of the dream came back. "No!" he screamed and scrambled away from her as fast as he could. He crashed into the wall and finally got out the door before he ran straight into Misato.

"Shinji what's wrong?" Asuka yelled. He had collapsed to the floor.

"No," he mumbled. "No, please, you're dead, but I didn't fail you. I didn't." Asuka and Misato looked at each other over the shivering boy. Asuka crouched down and reached for him. He tried to jerk away from her but she grabbed his head in both hands and pulled him to her. She pressed his ear against her chest.

"Do you hear that Shinji?" she asked him. "That's my heart beating. I'm not dead. See? I am very much alive." He slowly pulled back from her. As the shock wore off he realized that it had all been a dream.

"I was standing in the city. You were dead. You were all dead but you were talking to me telling me I failed you. Then they all started to rip me apart ." he collapsed against her sobbing uncontrollably. Even though he was currently beyond the capability of rational thought, something stopped him from mentioning the giant Rei, and within a few minutes he had forgotten all about it.

"Shinji it's OK it was just a nightmare." Asuka said as she held him close to her. Misato turned and went into the kitchen to get a beer. He looked around and realized he was at the apartment. He thought to himself. Then he remembered. They had moved him here to weeks ago. His father had not had him put in prison for shooting him because Shinji claimed to have no memory of the attack. Ritsuko said it may have been due to stress caused by the angels attack. "It's OK, my Shinji." Asuka said soothingly, rocking him gently and stroking his hair. she asked herself. She mentally shook herself.

"I'm going to go take my shower." Shinji said as he slowly stood up. Asuka smiled at him. He nodded his head to her and slowly made his way to the bathroom. Looking at her watch Asuka realized that it was only 4:30 in the morning.

"He is so gentle." Asuka murmured to herself. "But he fought his way out of the cage, and to the surface just to help me. Why? Why did you do that Shinji?" A shadow fell over her and Asuka looked up at Misato.

"We need to talk Asuka." she said. She helped the girl to her feet and the two of them sat down at the kitchen table. Misato looked at Asuka for a few minutes and then finally spoke. "Asuka I want you to know that Shinji and I are both very grateful for the change in your behavior towards him these past weeks.."

"Thank you Misato..."

"I'm not finished yet!" Misato shouted cutting the red head off. "We are both grateful for it, but I want to make one thing perfectly clear to you. Shinji put himself through hell to save you. You know what that angels attack did, he told you what he had to do to counter it. Right now he is an emotional wreck." Misato glared at the young pilot. "I have to ask you something but first I want to make sure you understand something. Shinji means a great deal to me, and so do you. But if I discover that this change in you is just for a while, and that as soon as he is better you are going to go right back to ridiculing him and torturing him, then I swear right now to god that I will make you curse the day you were born!" Misato was glaring at her and Asuka shrank back under that glare.

Misato was by this point leaning over the table her face an inch from Asukas. She leaned back in her seat and took a swig of her beer. "Now you are going to answer a question for me." she said evenly. "Do you love him?" Asuka sat quietly for a few minutes, collecting her thoughts. Then when she did speak her voice was so quiet that Misato had to lean forward to catch the first few words.

"Power of Pain." Asuka whispered. She raised her head to look directly into Misato's eyes. Misato was shocked to see tears running freely down the girls cheeks. "You are right. Shinji did tell me what he had to do in order to save me. When he subjected himself to that angels attack, he discovered how to beat it. He said that he locked away all of his most painful memories so that the angel couldn't get at them.

"Then at the right moment he forced himself to recall all those memories, making the angel feel the pain that they caused, through Shinji. That resulted in the angels destruction. He was strong in the face of his own pain while all I could do was cry. He used his own pain to save my life, he almost sacrificed his own sanity for me. After all I did to him." She wiped her eyes with the backs of her hands.

"Then came his love. The power of love. When he woke in the entry plug he was in a rage, I could hear him screaming over the intercom. When I visited him in the infirmary he said that he had been worried about me. All he could think of was getting to me and seeing if I was all right. He attacked the rescue crew trying to get to me." Misato nodded. She remembered with a slight chill the rage that had filled his voice as it came over the speakers in the Command Center. He had been pissed.

"Yeah he was very angry." Misato said.

"Why? After all I did to him how could he possibly love me?" Asuka was beginning to cry again. "To answer your question I am not entirely sure if I love him or not. I mean one minute I want to scream at him for being a little wuss and always backing down from everything, even when I know he doesn't do that. Then the next minute I want to take him into my arms and kiss him. But I am trying to sort out my feelings. I am trying to be patient. Every time I hear him scream at night it's all I can do not to cry. Each time I hear him in pain, my heart seems to reach out to him and a little part of me dies." She slumped down in her chair and began to cry uncontrollably.

Asuka suddenly felt strong arms wrap around her and hold her tightly, and a soothing voice in her ear.

"It's OK Asuka." Misato said as she took the weeping girl into her arms.

"What's happening to me?" Asuka asked, her voice cracking. She felt Misato release her than felt arms around her again in a slightly more comfortable position. For the next few minutes Asuka cried quietly. She wiped her eyes and looked up to see Misato sitting across the table from her. "Huh?" She asked. Asuka slowly turned and found herself staring directly into a pair of dark blue eyes.

"Shinji!" Asuka yelled. She threw her arms around his neck and started to cry again. She buried her face into his chest and clung to him tightly. Shinji looked over her head at Misato.

"I don't think we'll be going to school today Misato." he said. Misato simply nodded.

"I'll go change and then I'll get out of here. It seems like the two of you have a lot to talk about." she turned to leave, then stopped. "Shinji just out of curiosity how long were you standing there listening to us?"

"For a while. I heard you yell at her and I ran out here to try to calm things down. I stopped just inside the hallway and I heard everything." She nodded and then went to her room. Shinji looked down at the sobbing girl he held in his arms and slowly managed to extricate himself from the death grip that she had on him. She looked at him uncertainly but relaxed when he smiled at her.

"What is it?" she asked him. He never stopped smiling.

"Nothing but if we are going to have this little talk don't you think that I should at least put some clothes on?" She blinked and then looked down at him, just realizing that he was naked except for a towel wrapped around his waist and he was still wet from his shower. She nodded and let him lead her to the couch then he went to his own room and quickly dressed.

Back in the living room he sat on the couch next to Asuka and they waited. A few minutes later Misato walked passed them. But she stopped at the door.

"Shinji." she said. "Be kind to her." he nodded. With that Misato left for work two and a half hours early.

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Shinji and Asuka sat in silence on the couch. For several minutes they continued to sit in silence, Asuka trying to stop her flood of tears and Shinji collecting his thoughts. Finally Shinji opened his mouth to speak, but Asuka beat him to it.

"Shinji you remember how I always teased you for no reason?" He nodded. "Well there was a reason to it." she paused to dab at her eyes with a tissue, then continued. "I think that the first time I realized that I was falling for you, was when I fought the Eighth angel. Do you remember? The one in the volcano? You jumped in against orders and with no armor to save me, and that's when it hit me.

"Asuka I-"

"Let me finish. I have to say this. That is why I always teased you. I loved the Shinji Ikari that strode into battle like a vengeful god. The one that leaped into an active volcano with no armor to save the life of his team mate. Whenever a plan started to fall apart you always appeared out of nowhere and saved the day. I hated seeing you suffer in the Eva. I hated your meek attitude whenever you weren't in the Eva. I wanted to hate your father for doing that to you."

"But I knew that if it wasn't for that bastard, than I probably never would have seen that side of you. I hated that he did it. I wanted to be the one to bring that Shinji out of you. The hero that lurks beneath the surface. When you were swallowed by the Twelfth angel I wanted to scream. Then when you broke free.... it was the most horrifying thing that I have ever seen in my life. All I could think of was that I was piloting something just like that. I was in a barely controlled monster. Then I was scared because I realized that my Shinji was inside that rampaging beast." During her long speech Asukas tears had begun to flow again.

"Asuka stop it." Shinji ordered firmly. He moved across the couch towards her and gently took her hand in his. He stared deeply into her eyes. "God you are beautiful." he murmured quietly. "Asuka listen to me. I don't need to know why you feel that you love me. All I needed to know today was if your feelings were real, or if it was just another joke to you." He reached out and gently pulled her into him, until she was leaning back against his chest. With his free hand he gently stroked her hair.

"Asuka I love you. With all my heart and soul. My body burns for your touch every day. Whenever I let my thoughts wander I am thinking of you. I took all your teasing because it was another way for me to hear your voice. It hurt me but I accepted it. I can't live without you." He paused and looked up at the ceiling for a few moments before continuing.

"Do you remember when we talked about why we pilot Eva?" he asked her.

"Yes." She had stopped crying and her voice had dropped to almost a whisper as she felt herself being calmed by his gentle touch.

"I said that I didn't know why I piloted the damn thing. Well now I know why. It was to have a reason to be around you. I did the one thing that I hated more than anything else in the world so I could be near you. Now I have a new purpose. After witnessing that last attack I have to pilot to protect you, and everyone else that I loved. But you most of all."

She turned in his arms. This boy felt that he had to protect her. He risked his life for her? He watched as her eyes slowly filled his vision. Such clear startlingly blue eyes. Then their lips made contact. She slowly melted into his embrace as his arms encircled her, and he returned the kiss.

It was a beautiful kiss. Not a hard or passionate one. But a soft, gentle kiss. There was a lightness to it that lifted their hearts to the heavens. The world disappeared around them as their two hearts began to beat in unison as one.

An eternity later they broke and gazed into each others eyes.

"Not bad Third Child." She murmured to him. He laughed softly.

"At least I could breath during that one." He said

Asuka laid her head down on his chest where she was soon lulled to sleep by the rhythmic beating of his heart. Her tears had ceased and Shinji soon followed her into the most restful and nightmare free sleep that he had enjoyed since his arrival in Tokyo-3

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Dr. Ritsuko Akagi entered NERV Central Command in the early morning hours to find Major Katsuragi asleep at one of the control panels.

"Misato, what are you doing here so early?" she asked after she had shaken her awake.

"I had to leave the house early." Misato said as she yawned and stretched. "Asuka admitted that she was in love with Shinji this morning and the two of them are talking at home. The deserved a little privacy so I left. This was the only place I could go, what time is it anyway?"

"About 7:00 a.m." Ritsuko said, looking at her watch.

"Damn, I've been here over two hours." Misato grumbled. She walked over to the coffee pot and poured herself a cup.

"Why were you up so early anyway Misato?" Ritsuko asked her.

"Shinji had another nightmare. I think he was affected more deeply by both the Twelfth and Fifteenth angels then he would care to admit, even to himself. He wakes up every night screaming." Misato picked up her cup and took a sip. "I should get to work." Misato said. She turned and went to her office and the waiting pile of reports that she was supposed to read.

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Shinji woke slowly. His right arm seemed numb and there was a weight on his chest. Slowly as his eyes came into focus he released that he was on the living room couch. He tried to move his right arm but it wouldn't respond, which led him to believe that the circulation had been cut off for quite some time.

"Hmmm....Shinji.." As these whispered words reach his ears Shinjis eyes widened he looked down only to find himself lost in a pair of dazzling blue eyes.

"Hey Asuka." he said she was leaning against his chest and has his arm pinned under her body. He stroked her hair with his free hand a gently tilted her head up for a kiss.

"I'm going to go take a bath." she said as she got up and unsteadily made her way towards the bathroom. Shinji slowly sat up working some of the feeling back into his arm.

he thought to himself.

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In the bathroom Asuka is relaxing in the tub. She sighs as she sinks down into the warm water. she thinks She finishes her bath and goes to her room to get dressed

The pleasant smells of breakfast soon reach her and she smiles happily. Despite her thin figure Asuka had a very healthy appetite. She leaves her room to find Shinji standing at the stove with a pan on the fire.

"Hey Shinji, what are you making?" she asks.

"Just some soup, and a little surprise." he says as he looks back at her. He winks at her and Asuka is momentarily startled. she thinks. Shinji turns from the stove bringing a bowl of soup to the table. Asuka sees that there is only enough soup there for one person.

Before she can voice this opinion however he turns back to the stove for a moment and then returns with a plate full of eggs, sausage, and fried potatoes. She looks at the plate in shock as he sets it down in front of her.

"What's this?" she asks.

"Well you kept complaining about Japanese food so I though that maybe you would appreciate a little taste of the west." he paused. "But if you don't want it then I guess I could always throw it out." He moves to take away the plate. Asuka holds up one arm to stop him,

"Don't you dare third child." She growls at him. "I never said I wasn't going to eat it." she glowered at him and Shinji burst into gales of laughter. Asuka is to say the least very confused. "What's so funny?" she asks.

"Oh.... I.. I'm sorry but you should have seen your face right then. It was priceless." Shinji laughed as he wiped a few tears from his eyes. "Now I see why you always liked to tease me so much. Ow!" he cried out in pain as Asuka punched him in the shoulder, but he kept laughing. Asuka couldn't help but smile at him. They sat down and continued their meal after Shinji had calmed down enough.

"WAARRKK!" Asuka jumped, and looked down to see Pen-Pen.

"Is he hungry?" Shinji asked. He went back into the kitchen for a moment and came out with a plate piled high with fish. Once set down on the floor Pen-Pen began to eagerly gobble down the fish.

"So what do you want to do today?" Asuka asked as they returned to their meal. He chewed thoughtfully for a few minutes before answering.

"Well since there's really not much else to do, why don't we just go for a walk and see what happens?" he suggested.

"Yeah. We can go to the park and have a picnic." The finished the rest of the meal in silence. Later, after Shinji had finished the dishes, he began to make a small lunch for them to take with them. Then as an afterthought he called out:

"Asuka, don't forget your swimsuit!"

"Okay!" she yelled from her room. She grabbed her suit and shoved it into her back pack.

Later as they were walking through the streets Asuka decided to try something. Since she and Shinji were sort of going out now she guessed that it was time for her to try and be a bit nicer. She wrapped one arm around his waist and leaned her head against his shoulder.

"Shinji?"

"Yeah?"

"Why didn't we ever do this before? I like it."

"I think it was because neither of us were ready to commit to our love for each other. My reason was because I was afraid of great bodily harm if I were to say anything to you about it. Did you know that it was you who gave me the strength to break free of the twelfth angel?" she shook her head silently.

"I was floating in that angel, and it was getting cold. I don't think I've aver felt that helpless in my life." She raised her head to look at him. There was a distant almost hollow look of fear in his eyes, that sent a shiver down her spine.

"I think I started to hallucinate. I saw you and Rei lying on a beach, dead. Out in the ocean were a half-dozen white Evas. I could feel that I was dying but I had to see you. All of you, one more time before I died." he looked deeply into her eyes and stopped walking, pulling her into a tight embrace.

"I am ready to die." he said. "I don't want to die, but I am no longer afraid of it. I mustn't run away. No. I will not run away, ever again." He tilted her head up and kissed her with a passion that neither had ever before experienced in their lives.

Asuka could feel her body burning for him. She held him tighter as if she were trying to merge her body with his. His touch on her body left her gasping and breathless with her need for him. She moaned softly into the kiss and he held her even tighter, pressing the length of her body into him.

Eventually they came up for air. Shinji was immediately embarrassed by his reaction to such a simple thing as a kiss.

"I...I'm sorry Asuka." He stammered, taking a step away from her. "I didn't mean to..."

"There you go with the apologies again. Do you actually think that that kiss bothered me?" She was back in full Asuka mode, one hand on her hip, her head cocked slightly to one side. "I kissed you back remember. And besides it was....very.....pleasant." she said groping for the right words.

"It was definitely intense." Shinji agreed. Asuka smiled and took his hand.

"It was at that." With that they continued their walk and soon came to a beautiful secluded lake out in the woods, near the outskirts of the city.

"Oh wow! Shinji it's wonderful! How did you ever find this place?" she asked as she laid out a blanket on the ground.

"Well before you got here, right after the fourth angel attack, I ran away for a couple of days. I think I always planned on going back but I just had to think and get out for a while, you know clear my head. On the second day I came across this lake and I stopped here for a while. It was very peaceful and at the time that was exactly what I needed."

He laid back on the blanket and looked up at the clouds drifting by above him. Asuka sat down next to him and laid her head down on his chest. He could smell the L.C.L from the entry plug and the shampoo in her hair. The two scents mingled and he took a deep breath. He sighed as he let it out and closed his eyes.

Asuka listened to his heart beating and the slow rhythm of his breathing and realized that he had fallen asleep. she thought.

She sat up and stared down at him. She decided not to dwell on such gloomy matters. Digging her swimsuit out of her bag she quickly slipped off the yellow sundress and put the suit on. After one last lingering glance at his sleeping face she turned and went down to the lake for a swim.

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The room is quite large. At one end of the room sits a rather large desk. Behind that desk sits Gendo Ikari, Commander of NERV.

"Rei." he says. Rei Ayanami is standing behind him.

"Yes." she says in a small monotone.

"The third child is changing is he not?" The commanders voice is cold and devoid of any emotion. He gently touches the bandages on his left shoulder where Shinji had shot him two weeks before.

"Yes." she said agian.

"He must not know happiness. I regret having to do this but we need him to be in a certain frame of mind for the tasks that are before him. We may need to eliminate the second child." He smiled a frightening enough occurrence on a normal day but considering the direction the conversation had turned to it was now near to terrifying.

"Yes." Rei whispered. A single tear rolled down her cheek, and Rei felt her heart break within her.



End.

Well I think that about wraps it up. This is my first fic so I would appreciate any comments you might have. Now you may have noticed that this was a VERY WAFFy fic. There is a reason for that. The next installment has a slightly smaller amount of WAFF in it. All others after words go straight down the toilet. So this was just to fatten you up for the lean times ahead.

Also all you Shinji/Rei fans, will probably be mad at me and all ready are since this is obviously not a Shinji/Rei fic. All you Shinji/Asuka fans. Even though you are probably right now thinking 'Oh cool. We got a good Shinji and Asuka love fic goin here.' Well you're partially right. It is about their love but I can guarantee that by part four (which I have all ready written) you will all be screaming for my head on a pike.

In the next installment. What does the commander have planned for Asuka? Will Shinji stop him? Will we ever actually see any of Shinjis friends? You'll have to wait for the next installment Rei's Warning, to find out.

Until next time......
See you on the other side.

I can be reached at shinjikatsuragi@hotmail.com. Please title the subject as power of commitment so I don't accidentally delete it. thank you.




Power of Commitment.
written by
Ryan T. Nelson



Thanks to my pre-readers.

Kwame. (That's my girlfriend. ^_^)

Elsa

Joanna