Neon Genesis Evangelion Fan Fiction ❯ The Nephilim Complex ❯ Piercing the Darkness ( Chapter 7 )

Chapter Seven: Piercing the Dark

The sounds of the siren died away as the pilots climbed into the entry plugs. The sound of the LCL liquid pouring into their Units sounded louder than usual in the darkness that surrounded them. The start up sequence seemed to fly by, until the first change arose.

"Release Primary Restraints."

Rather than the usual instantaneous effects, the pilots were startled to hear gears and pulleys being used. The effort of operating an Eva Unit without power was more than they had wanted to think about. They were just glad that there was a way to do it.

"Hydraulic locks Numbers 2 through 32, released."

"Zero Pressure." The hissing of gas caught their attention, even though their screens were shut off. They had to conserve all the power that they had in their internal batteries.

"The situation is free."

"Go ahead and remove the final restraints." Shinji looked down through the darkened screens as his father took a step away from the Units to watch. He felt the latches being removed from the shoulders and legs of his Unit-01, and took a deep breath as he closed his eyes. It was about to start. "Begin the attack!"

The red Unit-02 was in the lead of the group crawling through the escape hatches to reach the surface, while the purple Unit-01 was taking up the rear. Rei found herself tempted, without warning, to make some comment about this was how she had wanted to travel through the ducts, but she bit her tongue.

It was more painful than she had thought it would be.

"This is pathetic," Asuka's voice came over the comms. "We're meant to leapt forth to save the day, not crawl along on all fours!"

"We will do what we have to do," Rei said in her flat voice. She was finding herself disliking it more and more, and made a note to speak to Soryu or Ikari about it. Voice. A strange thing, as everyone sounded different, even to her ears. She noticed that they had started to climb upwards again, and could see the light from the surface through the grate far above them.

"Be careful, Asuka," Shinji's voice said suddenly. "It's right above us."

Asuka looked up, the four eyes of her Unit glowing in the dark tunnel. She couldn't see much at all, as the light was suddenly blocked out. Digging her feet into the tunnel walls, she pulled the rifle off her back to start to fire it.

She managed to get one shot off before she saw the yellow liquid dripping down. She tried to get out of the way of it, but felt it hit her arm. Biting back the urge to scream didn't work very well, and then she saw more of the acid pouring in from above.

The burning sensation in her arms was too much for her, and she dropped the rifle. She heard it bounce off the blue prototype before the pain intensified. Her feet slipped suddenly, and she crashed downwards.

"Asuka!" Shinji's voice was very loud in all their systems as he shouted out. "Ayanami!" he added when the two of them crashed into him. He knew that they were a long way up, and that they didn't have the time to climb again. The meter at the side of his Unit was reading 2:12, and counting down fast. With a terrific shout, he shot his hands and legs out, digging into the tunnel walls, carving great rents out to stop their fall.

He wasn't sure how it happened completely, but in the end, all three Evas were crouched in a small cavity in the side of the tunnel. As soon as they were inside, more acid started dripping down again.

"We can't get up there," he said slowly. "How can we fight that thing without weapons or a way to face it?"

Asuka looked over to Shinji's Unit, and saw a few traces of where a lot of the armour had been melted by the lava in the previous encounter. She narrowed her eyes as she looked down, and saw the rifle she had dropped at the bottom. "I have a plan," she offered. "We need someone to go retrieve the rifle, someone to fire it, and someone to block the attacker from the acid and neutralize the Angel's AT Field."

"Matarael..." Shinji whispered.

"Whatever," she said, waving the information aside. She flipped on the monitors so she could see each of them, and they could see her. "Any questions?" She was startled by the glowing that was coming from within Shinji's entry plug, but knew that they didn't have time to question it.

"I will take defense," Rei said, a little dejected. She was always on defense, she noted. She suddenly realized that she didn't mind being on defense, so long as it meant she could protect Ikari. 'And just why would that matter?'

"No, Wondergirl," Asuka corrected her, startling both Shinji and Rei. "You're getting that weapon back. Shinji, you're going to destroy that thing. I'm on defense."

"But..." Shinji started to argue with her, for he had seen the damage already done to the arms of her Unit by the acid. It had to be excruciatingly painful.

"But nothing," Asuka interrupted him. 29 seconds left on her counter. "Get going!" she added in a shout as she flipped out of the cavity suddenly and spread herself as wide as she could in the tunnel. She watched in a morbid sense of satisfaction as the acid poured down from above, and held her breath as she waited for it to hit her.

Rei was already at the bottom of the tunnel by the time she was in position. She leapt up as high as she could, and found Unit-01 reaching down to catch the weapon she was offering. He was digging into the tunnel with his back and feet, and holding the weapon when Asuka's scream echoed throughout.

"Move, Asuka!" Shinji shouted to her, hoping that she could still hear him despite the obvious pain she was in. He saw the flash of red as she darted back into the cavity, and he unleashed the torrent of bullets from the weapon.

Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion for him as a single drop of acid fell down and struck the weapon he was holding. The bullets suddenly stopped, despite having pulled the trigger. All he found himself thinking of without warning was the pain that Asuka had just endured, relying on his abilities to destroy Matarael in the end. He could not fail... the Angel could not survive!

As he screamed and pulled the trigger again, energy exploded from the weapon, energy that seemed almost like a blast of lightning. It tore through the tunnel, burning the acid away as it fell and tearing at the walls, leaving crumbling rocks and dust in its wake. He continued to watch in slow motion as the energy made Asuka lose her footing in the cavity and come crashing down. He caught her deftly, not moving at all in the tunnel as he dropped the rifle to save her more pain. As the energy blasted out of the tunnel and tore through the Angel, Shinji closed his eyes slowly, and knew nothing more.

Nothing except the fact that the Angel Matarael was dead.
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"Shinji?" Asuka called through gritted teeth. No response. "Shinji?" she called a second time.

"Ikari?" Rei's voice suddenly sounded as well. "Is he injured?"

Asuka grimaced as she ran her hands across her back and chest. "No," she muttered. "I'm not peachy, but he's fine."

"You are in pain?" she asked. Asuka was surprised to hear almost a concerned sounding question. "Can you get out of your Unit?"

"We have no power, Wondergirl," Asuka said dully. "Remember?"

She looked up through the lifeless eyes of her Unit to see Rei standing on a ledge. Looking down again, she saw the blue prototype Unit-00 lying in a heap at the bottom of the tunnel. "Perhaps," Rei replied. "But there is the release value."

Once Asuka had made her way out of her Unit and into the access tunnel, she looked back to their Units. "Not much of a sight right now, are they?" she asked. With Rei's Unit crumpled at the bottom, and Shinji's arms and legs scratched up from the walls, they looked much better than her beautiful Unit-02. The front and back armour had been melted by the acid, and she could still feel the burns. She turned away from Rei as she lifted her shirt up just enough to see her stomach, and she found no evidence of the burns, as she knew she wouldn't. That fact didn't help with the pain, though.

"Are you still in pain?" Rei asked.

"No," Asuka lied. She didn't need help from the doll. Not ever. "I'm fine." She looked back to their Units again for a moment. "Think Shinji's alright?"

"I am sure that Ikari was simply exhausted by the effort he put forth to protect us," Rei explained calmly. 'At least, I hope that's all that is the matter.'

"I protected you, remember?" Asuka asked angrily. She was not about to let the pain she felt be ignored completely. "I took the acid fully to protect you two, not Shinji!"

"I simply meant that he was the one who finished off the Angel," Rei rephrased. "The Angel I believe he called Matarael."

Something about the way Rei said that made Asuka look back to her. "Aren't you curious about how he knew the Angel's name? Or any of the other Angels, for that matter?"

"I have been told not to be curious," Rei said flatly.

Asuka snorted. "Back to being a doll, are we?"

"I do not like the sound of my own voice," Rei replied rather than answer Asuka's question.

"What?"

"I do not like..."

"I heard what you said, Wondergirl, I wanted to know what you meant."

Rei almost smiled as she remembered Shinji's words to her. "You mean, come again?"

"I mean, what don't you like about your voice? Aside from the fact that it is you speaking, of course," Asuka added after a moment.

"I have noticed that your voice, Pilot Soryu, always has an edge to it," Rei explained slowly. "While Ikari's voice seems so full of pain most of the time. I am much happier when it sounds full of life, instead. Also, the Major's voice sounds concerned whenever we are within NERV, and..."

"So you have no emotions, big deal..." Asuka interrupted her.

Rei turned quickly, surprised by the sudden unpleasant feeling in her stomach, and the extra water in her eyes. Tears. She knew about them, but hadn't really experienced them out of emotion before, just from pain. "I... I have emotion..." Rei stumbled over the words as her voice cracked. "As I told you earlier. I just... can't express it." Another crack, and her voice sounded plaintiff suddenly.

"Mein gott, then put it in your voice!" Asuka said fiercely. "And like I said before, if you aren't a doll, then prove it. Don't do something that everyone tells you to do. Be your own person for once."

"I believe this is where I am supposed to thank you, correct, Pilot Soryu?"

"I'm not helping you for your sake, Wondergirl," Asuka countered. "I just can't stand working with a doll." Before she could add anything to her statement, the row of small emergency lights along the tunnel suddenly came on just as Shinji landed on the ground beside the two girls. "It's about time," Asuka said almost at once.

"Is your condition acceptable, Ikari?" Rei asked before he had a chance to reply to Asuka's comment. "You are not injured, are you?"

Shinji shook his head, surprised to hear the concern in her voice. "I'm fine. Just a little tired, that's all." He then looked to Asuka. "Why did you take defense?" he asked, looking back to her Unit again and seeing the damage that had been done.

Asuka smiled to herself, but scowled to the boy before her. "Now we're even, and I don't owe you a thing," she said with her usual air of determination back. "Can we get out of here now?" she suggested. "I need to get this gunk out of my bildschön hair."

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Even in the dark of night, lying in a bed of grass felt good. Shinji sighed as he leaned back into the hill overlooking Toyko-3. He had actually run ahead of the others to reach the top, and was looking down on the city. The empty, dark city.

He looked away from the city as he saw Rei sit down right next to him. Before he could even say one word to her, Asuka plopped down between the two of them, lying on her stomach and looking down at the city.

"I had hoped to be able to speak with Ikari," Rei said quietly to Asuka. "Which is why I sat next to him."

"You aren't sitting next to him, though," she pointed out. Before Rei could object again, she looked back to the city. "Pretty dark still. I guess they haven't gotten all the power back on just yet."

"The night sky is beautiful this way," Shinji replied, an odd hush to his voice as he looked up. "We can actually see the stars in the sky. See, along the bottom of the horizon, there's Phoenix and Sculptor..."

"I didn't know you knew anything about the stars..." Asuka muttered to herself more than anyone else.

"You'd be surprised how often you can find yourself looking at them when you have nothing else," Shinji's voice died down as he spoke. He then looked back up. "I used to imagine Taurus, you can see the bull there in the middle of the sky... I used to imagine him coming down to either carry me away, or trample me. Him, or maybe Pegasus, a little to the right there..." he pointed upwards, and both Rei and Asuka followed the direction until they saw the group of stars he was pointing out. "There's her wings, and her powerful legs, to carry us all away..."

"Well, this got depressing fast," Asuka said in a forced voice, cutting him off. "What did you want to show us, anyway, Shinji?" she asked him, trying to divert his attention away from the sky and back to the matter at hand. "Cause after today, all I really wanted to do was go home to sleep."

"I thought you'd want to see the city this way," Shinji said with a shrug. "Natural."

Asuka shook her head. "Nope. It feels dead to me. Humans created lights for one reason, to see in the dark. To exist where they couldn't before. Without the light, the city seems dead."

"Humans have always needed to scrap away at the darkness which surrounds them," Rei said in a logical tone. "They have to prove that they are alive. Prove their existence."

Nothing was said between the pilots for some time, until the first of the lights in the great city of Tokyo-3 started to come on again. "That's much better," Asuka sighed. "We can now see the city that we're trying to protect."

"Why do they only attack here, anyway?" Shinji asked suddenly. "Why Tokyo-3? Why the only place in the world that can defend against them?"

"Who cares?" Asuka asked, standing again and starting to make her way down the hill to where Misato had parked her car and was waiting for the three of them. "They won't get passed me, though."

Shinji stood to follow, but Rei caught his hand before he could take more than one step. Asuka seemed to notice that they weren't following, and turned back to yell for them to get moving. "You seem depressed again, Ikari," Rei said.

"Just thinking about the past..." He was suddenly cut off as Rei put her lips against his firmly. His eyes bulged out a bit as she pressed into the kiss and wrapped her arms around him. Almost as soon as it had started, it was over, and Rei was walking down the hill, leaving him standing in shock. All his mind could think about was his dream all over again, and that wasn't helping matters any.

He was brought back to reality by a hard slap to his cheek, and found himself looking at a furious Asuka. "Verdammt, baka! Are you going to stand there all night?" She slapped him again with more force, causing him to stumble backwards. 'How dare you kiss her?' she thought to herself as she turned away to go to the car quickly. 'How dare you, Shinji? How dare you... Wondergirl..."

The car ride home was mercifully fast. Letting sleep take her, however, was not.
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"I'm right here, you know," Hikari said gently, causing Asuka to look up from her lunch quickly at the brown haired pigtailed girl. "So you don't have to look so depressed."

"What?" Asuka asked, not following what she meant.

"You look like you've just lost your best friend," Hikari said with a grin. "And I wanted to remind you that I'm sitting right next to you."

Asuka couldn't help but smile at that comment. "It's not that, don't worry," she said before she could think about it. "Did you happen to bring an extra drink? I seem to have forgotten mine." Hikari picked up the can of juice that was next to Asuka and handed it to her. "Thanks."

Hikari shook her head. "No problem," she admitted. "But are you going to tell me what's wrong anytime soon, or do you want me to try and guess?"

"There's nothing wrong," Asuka snapped. "Everything's great."

"Your Eva's still fine, right?" Hikari asked.

"Of course. Why wouldn't it be?"

"Then it's not that..." Hikari mussed. "Did Shinji do something to tick you off again? Forgot to make breakfast? Was he the reason you two were late this morning?"

"That baka has nothing to do with anything," Asuka said with more heat than she intended to use against her friend. "Except us being late," she corrected in a kinder tone. In truth, it had been her own fault, as she had slept in again, still not having set her clock.

"Ok..." Hikari trailed off until Asuka looked back to her. "I'll stay away from that subject, then, if it's got you that upset."

Asuka sighed as she realized that her friend could read her fairly well. "You remember what I said last time you asked about Shinji?"

Hikari thought about it for a moment, thinking back to before the school trip, and the shopping. "Something about not being with Ayanami Rei, right?" When Asuka only nodded, Hikari gasped. "He didn't..."

"He kissed her last night," Asuka said in a fierce undertone. The fact that the two were sitting on the roof of the school meant that they wouldn't be disturbed, but she still couldn't bring herself to say it too loudly. "Right in front of me, too."

"Tell me about it," Hikari suggested. It was more of an order than a suggestion, but Asuka paid it little heed either way until her friend grabbed her by both shoulders. "If you don't tell me, then I'll go ask him."

"You wouldn't dare!"

"Try me!"

Asuka knew of only one place she had ever seen such a determined look before, and it was when she looked in the mirror before fighting an Angel. She knew she couldn't argue. "He took us both to the hillside last night, to watch the city lights come back on," she explained. "But when we got there, he started talking about the stars."

"He's a stargazer?" Hikari asked in surprise.

Asuka nodded. "I think he knows a lot about the night sky. More than he got into last night, anyway. I sort of stopped him after he mentioned how he got into it in the first place. He uses the stars as an escape from reality, from being alone."

"Sounds depressing."

"Why do you think I stopped him?" Asuka demanded. She sighed before going on. "Then then talked about the darkness a bit, just meaningless stuff, really, until the lights came on. Then we got up to leave, and Wondergirl took his hand, whispered something to him, and then kissed him."

"I thought you said he kissed her," Hikari pointed out.

"What's the difference?" Asuka snapped. "He didn't stop her, did he?"

"What did he say afterwards?"

"Nothing," Asuka said with a sigh. "Wouldn't say a single word at all, even after I slapped him a few times. Like he was in a trance."

"It was not meant to upset Ikari." Both the class rep and the Second Child turned in an instant to see Rei standing at the top of the stairs. "I was simply trying to help ease his sorrow."

"And just what do you care about Shinji's sorrow?" Asuka asked angrily, standing up to face the First Child.

"Apparently more than you do." Before Asuka could reply, Rei had turned and was gone again. Hikari caught her before she could follow, and she looked back to her friend.

"I don't think he wanted to kiss her like that," she offered. "Sounds like she just surprised him, and he was too shocked to respond."

"And that makes it all better, right?" Asuka asked sarcastically. "Gimme a break, Hikari..."

"I'm not defending him," she replied. "But I notice that he's wearing that necklace that you had a while ago now."

"And just when were you staring at Shinji?" Asuka demanded, grabbing her friend violently. "And for how long?"

"I wasn't," she admitted with a shrug. "And I had no idea. But I guess my instinct was right, anyway. You just told me he has it now."

Asuka sighed and slumped to the floor again. "I've got it bad, don't I?"

"Hey, you've got friends to help you through anything, remember?" Hikari said, leaning against her as she opened her lunch finally. When the bell rang to go back to class, she hesitated only for a moment. "And I don't think going to class would help right now."

"I'd rather just sit here," Asuka admitted. "But I don't think you can help."

"You'll get him for yourself, don't worry," Hikari said with a smile to her friend as she lifted her own can of juice up in a toast.

"Who said I even wanted him like that?" Asuka said, shaking her head as she raised her own can to the toast anyway. "He's just a spineless baka."

It wasn't long before the two finished their lunches, and Hikari stood up. "Well, sitting here isn't going to help anything. But I know what will..." Asuka stood as well and smiled upon seeing what was on her friend's mind. "Let's go shopping."

"Aren't you the little devil today, skipping class to go to the mall, Miss Class Representative..." Asuka said with a grin as she started down the stairs.

"Of course not," Hikari argued. "I'm not skipping to go buying things," she added. "I am hunting for a delinquent student, to report her. But she could be sick, so I have to check first..."

"I think I'm a bad influence on you, Hikari," Asuka laughed as they made their way over to the mall. Once there, they decided the best place to start would be a clothing store.

Just as they were about to enter, Hikari froze, looking ahead of them further down the mall. "What?" Asuka asked, following her gaze. "See something?"

"Aida and Suzuhara!" Hikari hissed loudly to her, hiding behind the German girl. "I can't let them see me skipping class!"

Asuka just shook her head. "What about your excuse? Can't you just use that with them?" she pointed out. Hikari stood up slowly and a grin spread across her face.

"If they ask me, then I guess I have no choice."

"Well, get ready," Asuka warned. "Cause they're coming this way."

Hikari stepped in front of Asuka as the two boys got closer. "Hey, class rep! Funny meetin ya here an all dat!" Toji said with a nervous laugh. "Ain'tcha suppos'ta be in class?"

"I believe the same goes to you, Suzuhara," Hikari said in a dangerous voice.

"I wuz just sayin hi!" he objected. He then noticed Asuka behind her, and he leapt back, leaving Kensuke closer to them both. "Ah! She-devil!" he shouted.

"Asuka is not a she-devil!" Hikari countered. "She's very nice."

"Guess y'ain't never seen her dark side before..."

"You two haven't seen Shinji, have you?" Kensuke asked, pointing his camcorder at them suddenly. "He said he had to take care of something quickly."

"What would drag the three stooges out of class together?" Asuka asked.

"Shinji said he had ta deal with sumthin, weren'tcha listenin?" Toji shook his head. "Sumthin bout some store called Itani's... sumthin er oder."

"Itani's Dresses for All Occasions?" Hikari asked in surprise.

"Dat's da one!" Toji said, pointing to her with a smile. "Guess ya know yer stuff outta class, too, don'tcha, class rep?"

"I have a name, you know," Hikari pointed out.

"I don't usually go by Suzuhara, neither."

"Toji, then."

"Hikari."

Asuka grabbed Hikari's arm and started dragging her away suddenly. "Hey, where are we going?" she asked, too surprised to really fight back. "I was just..."

"Making a fool of yourself," Asuka finished for her. "Come on." The two eventually stopped in front of a large store with several magnificent dresses displayed in the window. "This is Itani's Dresses?" she asked in her confusion. Some of the dresses were obviously meant for western style weddings, while others were more like kimonos for Japanese weddings. The rest of the store was filled with elegant dresses of all colours for other occassions.

"Yup," Hikari replied. "That's why I was so surprised that Shinji would go there."

The two walked into the store, and were immediately set upon by several workers. "Can we help you with something?" the first asked right away.

"Actually, yes," Hikari said before Asuka could turn them down. "A boy was in here a little while ago... a little taller than me, brown hair, kind of scrawny..."

"Ah, yes, Mister Ikari," the woman said with a smile. "Delightful young man. Impeccable taste, too. He seemed most impressed with his final selection from our fine store."

"He bought something here?" Asuka asked as her eye caught several price tags which were far too high for her to even consider.

"Oh yes, a luxurous white dress made by Carolina Herrera," the woman explained. "Though most of their dresses are meant for weddings, the one he selected is more of a gown. Made of the purest of silk satin fabrics with a scooped neck and back, and delicate small sleeves. It was just one of the most exquisite pieces of workmanship that I have ever had the honour of laying my eyes upon. The young lady he mentioned is sure to be thrilled with such a purchase. I so wish he had given me a name, so I could try to find her, just so I could see the dress one more time..."

"Out of curiousity, how much was it?" Hikari asked.

"Now, there are some things that we don't tell people," the woman objected.

"Oh, it's okay, I'm his sister," Hikari lied at once. "I sort of try to keep track of his finances for him. He's hopeless with a chequebook."

The woman smiled kindly. "Somehow I could have guessed that about him. He seemed a little over his head in here, but he knew what he wanted, without question." She walked over to the counter and rummaged around behind it until she pulled out a large book. Opening it, she flipped through a couple of pages. "Ah, here we are. Let's see now... looks like 473,707 yen..." She looked up at the gasp that escaped both of the girls' lips. "Like I said, it is one of the finest dresses I have ever seen."

"That... that was 473,707 yen, right?" Hikari asked, scribbling down a few meaningless lines in one of her books, not caring about what she actually wrote. When the woman nodded, she smiled. "Thanks."

"Not a problem. He was a most delightful customer," she explained as the two left the store. Hikari dragged Asuka to the food court and sat her down with a milkshake before she could do anything else.

"Wow," Hikari breathed as she took up the chair next to her. "Where did he get that kind of money?" Asuka just shrugged and sipped her drink. "You don't get paid as pilots, do you?"

Asuka smiled sadly. "Nope," she replied. "But it doesn't matter where that dress is going," she said with a false sense of security. "He doesn't mean anything anyway. He's just a spineless baka, right?"

"And you're a stuck up she-devil," Hikari reminded her.

Asuka sighed as she leaned onto the table. "I know," she whispered. She suddenly sat up straight again, looking passed her friend. Hikari turned around and gasped again. "Come on!" Asuka demanded, grabbing her friend. Hikari needed no encouragement to follow.

The two stopped directly before Shinji, who was holding a large package behind his back. "Hi!" he offered in a friendly voice. "I must admit, you two are the last ones I thought I would run into right now..."

"I'll bet," Asuka muttered. "What do you have there, baka?" she asked, reaching forward to try to grab the package. He took a step back to keep it out of her reach. "What, afraid of me seeing it?"

"It's not for you, Asuka," he replied with a shrug. "Though, if you want something to eat, I could treat you two to something from the food court," he offered. "I still have some money left, after all."

"I didn't think you had any money at all," Asuka accused him. "Stealing now, are we?"

Shinji shook his head. "I've been saving since..." he faltered, and looked away from her. "For a long time, now. Never had anything to buy, either. Except my SDAT Player," he admitted, patting his pocket that was bulging because of the music player. "I'm hoping this is as good an investment," he added, motioning to his bundle.

"Let's see!" Asuka said again, reaching for it. Hikari stopped her.

"He'll show us later, right Ikari?" she asked, looking straight at him. When he didn't reply right away, she smiled. "See? I knew he would show at least you, Asuka," Hikari muttered.

"Do you want something to eat, or should I just go home with this? I don't want to wreck it or anything..." he added, trailing off.

"Like I care," Asuka said fiercely. "Just go, if it's that precious to you."

He shook his head and walked passed her. "Thanks," he managed, though it sounded forced. Asuka watched him walk away, and then turned back to Hikari.

"I just wanted to see it!" Asuka pointed out to her friend.

"So did I," Hikari sighed. "But I think you've got a better chance than me. Ask him to show you tomorrow night," she suggested.

"Why tomorrow?"

"Because by then, he will have forgotten that you tried to take it, and he'll probably be bursting at the seams to show someone," Hikari explained.

"But who would he buy it for?" Asuka asked, not really wanting to know the answer. "There aren't really any girls in his life that could use a dress like that."

"There's you, Ayanami, me I guess, Misato, you said there's a Dr. Akagi," Hikari listed of any girl she could think of. "And any number at school that seem to want him."

"As a pilot," Asuka snapped back. "And he doesn't even have my measurements," she added. "Not that I'd give them to him if he asked, the perverted baka."

"Then you really can't complain if he gives it to someone else, now can you?"

Asuka didn't answer her friend, but knew the answer anyway. So long as it didn't go to Wondergirl, she didn't think it would matter.
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Asuka opened her blue eyes slowly the next morning. She knew it was early still, as there was no morning sun to greet her yet. She still hadn't set her clock yet, so she didn't know exactly what time it was, but it had to be early enough.

She snuck out of her room quickly and quietly, and made her way down the hall without making a sound. Hikari's plan sounded good and all, but if she asked him, then he might know that a small part of her - a very small part of her - cared about him. She had to see it without his knowing.

"You're up early," a voice said from the kitchen, making her freeze. She forced herself to relax and walked into the kitchen to find Shinji already up, standing over the stove with a frying pan and spatula. "I wasn't too loud for you, was I?"

He had woken up before she did again. "Why else do you think I'd be up at this hour?" she asked grumpily, sitting down at the table slowly. Her one chance was ruined. "Not of my own free will, that's for sure."

"I'm sorry," Shinji said quickly, turning back to the stove.

"For once when you say it, it matters," she muttered to him. "Usually you're just sorry about things that you have no control over..."

"I'm sorry I let Rei kiss me a couple of days ago, too," he offered quickly. "I made pancakes this morning, because I thought you might be getting tired of the Japanese breakfasts again."

Asuka's eyes narrowed a bit as he sat down, and she took several of the cakes off the stack. "Suddenly I'm not very hungry," she said harshly as she poured syrup over the five she had taken. He just raised an eyebrow at her, but said nothing. He noticed that she was already dressed in her school uniform, though. He blinked rapidly when he felt her hand slapping him again. "I thought I told you not to stare at me!"

"I... I wasn't!" he lied quickly. "Just lost in thought, sorry!"

"Again with the sorry!" Asuka sighed as she bit into the pancake and let the syrup dribble down her chin before wiping it up with her napkin. They were some of the best she had ever eaten, and she knew it. She just couldn't let him know, too. "You need more practice with these."

"I'll work on them for a while, then," he suggested, standing from the table having finished his own. "But I've got to try and finish up some homework before we leave."

"We are not going to be late today, baka Shinji!" she called after him.

The fact that they had to walk to school told her that either Misato hadn't returned last night and slept at NERV, or she was too drunk to get up. She wasn't sure which was more likely, unfortunately, but both cases left them on foot.

Once in the classroom, Asuka froze in the doorway, causing Shinji to run into her from behind. Hikari was sitting at her desk, not willing to meet her friend's eye, but that went completely unnoticed by the red head. In the far side of the room in the corner where Rei Ayanami usually sat was the blue haired girl. But she was not wearing her usual blue and white school uniform.

Instead, she was wearing a flowing white silk dress with short sleeves.

Asuka turned at once and pushed Shinji into the wall behind them. "Get out of my way, baka!" she screamed at him. He cringed back in surprise. She had never yelled or screamed so loudly at him before, and he just sat on the ground and watched her storm off before he managed to get to his feet to enter the class.

He leaned next to Hikari's desk as he passed. "Any idea what that was about?" he hissed at her.

"As if you don't know?" she replied coolly.

"What?"

"Rei's new dress," Hikari pointed out. Shinji looked over and saw her wearing the white dress, and then looked back to her.

"What about it?"

"You really are as clueless as she said you were, aren't you?" Hikari said angrily. "We knew that you had bought a dress, a white one. And then you go ahead and give it to Rei before you even show it to Asuka? How could you?"

"What?" Shinji said again. "But I didn't give that dress to Rei."

He took a seat behind Hikari quickly, the seat that Asuka usually took as the teacher walked in. Hikari missed her queues for once, but the teacher barely even noticed. He did notice the white dress, though.

"Ayanami Rei," he called. The crimson eyed girl looked up slowly to him. "That is not the school uniform," he explained.

"I know," she replied with a small smile, catching him, and everyone else, off guard.

"Then you should also know that not wearing the uniform merits a detention," the teacher explained. "After school today, and for the rest of the week."

"I have NERV tests on Friday," she pointed out.

"Then make up the time on Saturday," the teacher said. "Now everyone pull out your history books..."

Hikari leaned back as soon as he was done. "You mean that dress isn't the one you spent a fortune on yesterday?"

"Just how do you know so much about it? Asuka, too?"

"I sort of told them I was your sister," Hikari explained quickly. "About the same height, brown hair... I gave it a shot, and it worked." She saw his face darken almost at once, which surprised her. "What? I just wanted to find out for Asuka."

"You aren't my sister," he said flatly. "She's dead," he explained, standing up. When the teacher looked to him, he bowed. "I'm sorry, sensai, but I am not feeling well suddenly. I will get the notes from Suzuhara," he added, looking back to his friend, who nodded to him before he left the room.

He looked back, and saw Hikari holding up a piece of paper to him. "Stop Asuka."

"Stop Asuka?" he question as he started down the hallway. "Stop her from what?" He was not surprised when no one answered him, and so he sighed and continued walking. He didn't need to be reminded of his sister by someone who didn't mean to hurt him. She had no idea. That fact lightened his heart somehow. Asuka hadn't told anyone else about Nephilim. She hadn't betrayed him again.

Shinji froze suddenly, his heart caught in his throat. He knew what Hikari was talking about. Asuka knew about the white dress, and she probably thought exactly what Hikari had. It didn't completely explain the anger, but it was a start. He slung his pack over his shoulder and took off in a run down the streets to get home.

He arrived to find the door to the apartment already open, and a pile of boxes sitting outside. He pushed the door open a bit further, and heard a string of curses coming from inside. Taking a deep breath, he set his bag down and took a step inside. As another string of curses met his ears, curses that he couldn't understand, he stepped back again, and took his SDAT Player out of his pocket and put it with his bag. No sense in risking it while he risked his life.

"Hello?" As soon as he said it, the cursing stopped for a moment.

The door at the end of the hall slammed open suddenly, and he was met with a very angry looking Asuka. "Dieses verfluchte Arschloch!" she cried before she even noticed him. As she saw him, her eyes focused in in a rage. "Oh look, it's baka Third Child Shinji Ikari, the spineless invincible one, come back to bother me again!" She pushed passed him with another box. "Get out of my way!"

"What are you doing?" he asked quietly, looking at the boxes. He knew what she was doing, but he didn't want to say it.

"What do you think, Third?" she demanded, pushing him out of the way as she passed again. He landed hard on the ground and sat there as she passed his twice more. "Getting out of this hellhole you call home! I've had enough of the drunk, of that blasted penguin stealing all the hot water, and far too much of a spineless, sniveling little baka!" She kicked him as she passed again, and he wasn't sure how he managed to avoid the pain.

He watched her for a moment, and then built up his courage to speak again. "You're crying, Asuka," he said softly.

She whirled on him and bent down before him, putting her face in his. The tears on her cheeks were obvious, as were the ones in her eyes. "I would never cry over something like this!" she screamed, slapping him harder than she ever had before, knocking him backwards. "How could you give that dress to that doll like that?"

"I didn't give Rei anything!" he objected at once. She slapped him again, hard, and he winced as he felt the burning in his cheek.

"Liar!" she screamed, rearing back to hit him again. "Maybe you aren't so spineless if you can lie to me to my face like this!"

He cursed to himself as his head hit the wall when he brought it back to avoid the impact of another assault, and when she came in for another slap, he caught her hand deftly. "That's it!" he said harshly. "I've been beaten by you before. I've been yelled at by you more times than I can count. But I will not let you call me a liar."

He pushed her backwards, causing her to stumble and land hard on her rear. He hauled her to her feet again as he pulled himself up, and started dragging her towards his room. "Du volltrottel! Let go of me, baka! Let go!" She hit him hard in the back of the head and kicked the back of his legs, but his grip only got tighter.

She cried out despite herself as he flung her onto his bed. She winced, expecting him to do something else to her, but he just let go and walked over to the closet and tore it open. "There! Happy now?" he demanded.

The closet was empty except for one article of clothing. A white dress was hanging there, alone. Made of pure silk and satin, it hung so delicately that Asuka could have sworn that a single bit of wind would have knocked it to the floor. It was beautiful with its simplistic design, but the shimmering white was just dazzling. The dress was definitely too small for Asuka.

"That's..." Asuka started, but then trailed off. She pushed on again after a moment in her native tongue. "Ist das das kleid?"

"That's for Nephilim," Shinji whispered. "In case she ever comes back."

Asuka swallowed deeply as she stood up and walked over to the closet. She wanted to run her hand along the side of the dress, but somehow she felt that that would taint the purity. Instead, she turned towards Shinji slowly, and ran a hand along his cheek before hugging him tightly as she broke down completely. He just held her in return, not sure what else he could do, until she squeezed him a little too tightly, and he felt the injuries that he had just sustained from her.

She let go of him as he winced, and took a step back. "I'm... I'm sorry, Shinji," she whispered. "I don't know what... I mean, it's not like I was..."

"Asuka," Shinji said softly, making her stop. When she finally looked to him, he shook his head. "I'm fine now. You're fine now. Let's get your boxes back inside, before someone tries to steal them. Unless you are still planning on moving out..."

She shook her head quickly, and turned to the door. He actually helped her move some of the boxes, but she stopped him after the second one. Without anything else to do, he retrieved his pack and returned to his room. He still had a lot of homework to do.

He looked up after a couple of hours of getting nowhere to find Asuka standing at his door. He had thought he had heard a knock, but he wasn't sure. He removed his headphones and looked to her.

"I thought you might want supper," she offered, holding out a plate to him.

"You cooked?" he asked in surprise. "But it's my night."

"Think of it as pay back," she said with a weak smile. "Es tut mir Leid, dass ich dich geschlagen habe." She then grinned fully. "Or maybe this is just a bribe."

"For what?"

She hit him in the back of the head as she sat on his bed. "For not telling anyone about anything that happened in this house today," she explained. She then noticed the books on his desk. "Still not getting it, are you?"

"Skipping school can do that to a guy," he said with a grin as he looked down to his plate. "What is this, anyway?" he asked, poking it with one of the chopsticks she had brought out.

"It's called sausages," she said as she shook her head. "And I only brought those because I thought you would like them. If not, then I have a knife and fork you could use."

The two ate in relative silence until close to the end of the meal. "Misato's not coming back tonight either, by the way," Asuka volunteered. "Still at work, I guess."

"Or out with someone," Shinji pointed out.

"Work it is," Asuka said quickly, not wanting to think about who she would have been going out with.

"You still don't know the kanji, do you?" Shinji asked after a moment.

"No need, either," Asuka reassured him. "Remember, I already have a college degree."

"If you would teach me about this stuff, then I'll teach you the kanji," Shinji offered. "That way, we could get Misato off our backs about school."

"But I'd be stuck working with you," she said, shaking her head. "And I don't need your help. But since you'd be lost without me, I'll try to drill into your small brain just what you need to know about physics."

"I understand thermal expansion now," he said, but then covered his mouth and looked away from her. "Sorry. That just slipped out."

"You saying you enjoyed the show?" she asked with a smile as she stood slowly, bending down a little as she did so, making sure she was giving him a good look down her dress if he happened to glance up. "I hope you did, because you aren't getting another one," she warned, standing up and walking to the door. "Let me know when you want to learn from me."

Shinji watched the door close slowly, and then sighed once it was completely shut. The day hadn't gone exactly as he had planned, but he did manage to ask her for help with his homework. At least that part had gone as he had hoped. And not having to cook for a change was nice too, but that only reminded him of how upset Asuka had been earlier.

He decided that he didn't like seeing her upset any more than he liked seeing Rei upset.

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