Neon Genesis Evangelion Fan Fiction ❯ The Swim of Things ❯ Chapter 5 ( Chapter 5 )

The Swim of Things

By Ret Nuh

 

It was a month after that quiet night at dinner and things were going pretty well. Asuka's promise to the coach had come true and Rei was now the number three swimmer on the team. Mana though was still on the team as most of the other girls on the team couldn't beat her times on a consistent enough basis to replace her or the few that could turned down the offer. Shinji was still the much used and abused manager of the swim team but he didn't mind the torture too much. After spending most of his life by himself being surrounded by a bunch of girls was a welcoming experience.

 

The only downside of this was he wasn't able to cook dinner on the weekdays anymore. That job was left up to Asuka, Rei, and Misato. Asuka and Rei weren't all that bad as they were learning from Shinji quite well. Asuka still wouldn't cook fish but that was a minor issue that had to do with more psychological reasons than ability. As for Misato, well Kensuke's appearances at her door picked up to about twice a week now. She might have been a good mom in most aspects but when it came to the kitchen she just didn't have the knack.

 

Of course dinner wasn't the only change as what happened after it was a bit different too. When Asuka and Shinji went over to the couch to watch TV there was an added aspect, Shinji was now Asuka's personal masseur. This job started out very shaky in the beginning due to nervousness but after a few weeks or so things got better. Shinji and Asuka got more relaxed and comfortable in dealing with each other and now the massages didn't only happen on the weekdays as a good rubdown on the weekends was a nice little special bonus for Asuka too.

 

Granted there were still restrictions on where Shinji could touch and he used a very clinical technique, it was still very enjoyable for him too. And due to these massages Shinji ended up growing very familiar with Asuka's feet, legs up to her knees, hands and arms, her neck, and the broad side of her back down to about half way.

 

Asuka was very happy about this as these were her original limits and not once did Shinji ever argue them or try for more. He was proving to be a very trustful and respectable boyfriend when it came to her body. Although there was one offense that happened quite often, he would tickle her feet. Secretly that offense was more bluff and play and very much appreciated by Asuka.

 

The massages themselves took place in the open as the couch was judged the best place by Asuka. She chose this as the best place for two reasons. One, to prove to Misato that she took to heart what she had been told. And two, to prove to herself that her fears wear just that, fears. They weren't reality and she really could trust Shinji. There was also a bit of a third reason but it was more because of Shinji. He told her he would not be comfortable massaging her on her bed as that was a bit more private than he was secure with at this time. Asuka didn't argue that point one bit.

 

After the massage was over with Asuka and Shinji would usually go over to Rei's place to do homework and study. It was much easier to do it over there as their place had a habit of being noisy around a certain someone's bedtime. Plus while Rei and Shinji worked Asuka would occasionally take up Rei's generous offer and use the massage chair. But not nearly as much as Rei expected. More often than not Asuka would sit at the table with them and help Shinji with his homework. She offered to help Rei as well but Rei never needed any which made Asuka suspicious sometimes. If no one needed her help Asuka would simply read one of Rei's books, it was a guilty pleasure she would never admit to but she was learning to like them.

 

A side effect of all this closeness was Asuka had a very traditional new name for Shinji. She called him `Shin-kun.' This name just seemed very natural to her and it let him know how much she cared for him. It didn't take long for Shinji to grow comfortable with this name too. Of course that was because this name was only used in private.

 

Outside in the real world their relationship was still a big secret, well at least up to today it was. For today the class was working on art projects for a school art fair coming up. Asuka had decided to make a very elaborate house of cards, but she was having troubles. One side of the structure kept falling over before she could glue it together. To make this problem worse she couldn't hold it up because she needed one hand to do the gluing and the other hand was keeping the other side of the structure from falling down.

 

This was such a conundrum that she became frustrated and forgot where she was. Instead of ordering Shinji over and telling him what to do like always it came out more along the lines of a sweet and friendly “Shin-kun. Could you come over and give me a hand please?”

 

She didn't use Ikari-kun or even Shinji-kun like the rest of the class would when calling him but a shortened version of his name with the friendly postfix. That was very informal and indicated much more friendliness between the two than normal. Sort of boyfriend girlfriend'ish even.

 

Shinji might have grown a little too comfortable with this name as he didn't even notice she called him that or that the room had suddenly become silent. He just simply answered with a friendly “Sure Asuka. What do you want help with?” as he walked over to her desk.

 

“Ok Shin-kun I just need you to hold this side of my tower while I hold up the other and glue it all down.”

 

Shinji looked at the cards Asuka was using. “Aren't those Kaji's poker cards?”

 

“Yup” Asuka answered. “He said they were cursed and he couldn't give them to me fast enough.”

 

Shinji let out a little chuckle. “I think the cards have less to do with his luck than Professor Fuyutsuki's abilities.”

 

“Misato says the same thing” Asuka smirked. “He just has a really good poker face and Kaji falls for it every time.”

 

Shinji and Asuka then let go of the house of cards and it stayed together. Asuka looked up at him and smiled brightly “Thanks Shin-kun.”

 

Shinji smiled back “You're welcome” and he turned around to go back to his seat. He froze after he did though. There were many faces staring at him and Asuka. The one belonging to the class rep had a mouth wide open and a pricelessly happy look to it. The faces of his two friends were both laughing and they said together “Busted.” The blue haired friend near the window had a slight but very warm smile to it. The rest of the class's faces were a combination of `What the fuck???', `Did I just hear what I thought I heard?', and `That skank did not just call him that!'

 

A mortified Shinji tapped Asuka's shoulder. “Yes Shin-kun……..” Asuka trailed off when she finally saw the faces looking at her. Her jaw dropped almost to her desk as she squeaked out a high-pitched “Scheisse.”

 

“I.. I th-think these cards really are cursed.”

 

A high-pitched “Uh huh” was Shinji's only answer from Asuka. The two were sacred beyond reason right now.

 

This situation could have turned into an all out interrogation of the two on the spot if it wasn't for the teacher. A very well timed swat of Mr. Ohta's pointer to the black board and a “Get back to work class” was music to Shinji and Asuka's ears.

 

Very curious eyes followed Shinji back to his seat and the second he sat down a barrage of instant messages flooded his screen. The same thing happened to Asuka and both of them closed their laptops simultaneously. The only saving grace of all this was lunch was already over and there was only about an hour of class time left.

 

Both of them very much wished that the teacher would go into a long, boring, and drawn out second impact lecture that would lull the class into a trancelike state so they could make an escape, but there was no such luck. Those kinds of teachers were a thing of the past and this one had the rest of the day already scheduled for his student's art projects. And he saw no reason to change his itinerary. He already suspected there was something going on between those two and if the rest of his students didn't that was their fault, not his so there was no reason to allow them to waste his class time.

 

Neither of the two teens could escape the gaze of the classroom. The IM chirps were constant, the looking never stopped, and the whispering was everywhere. The only thing they could do was bury themselves into their projects.

 

Shinji just sat there with a coal pencil in his hand trying to finish the sketch he was working on. It may have started out as a drawing of Mt. Fuji but it ended up being something best described as a drawing of the insides of a pitch-black cave at midnight during a new moon due to the twitching of his hand with the coal pencil in it.

 

Asuka's project only had the finishing touches left to do and it took her fifteen minutes to put one of the final two cards in place and forty-five to put the other. Both cards were slightly skewed as her hands were shaking the whole time. The funniest thing about all this was the trembling in Asuka's hand perfectly matched the rate of Shinji's nervous twitch. The two were so dead and they knew it.

 

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When the final bell rang Asuka grabbed her book bag and bolted out of the room even before the chime ended. Shinji at least waited till Hikari dismissed the class to take off. And unless you were as fast as hell and could keep up with a cheetah in a dead sprint you weren't going to catch either one of them. But at least both of them were headed in the same direction, the locker rooms.

 

Several girls from Asuka and Shinji's classroom were also on the swim team and they were the first to get to the locker rooms, but all they saw was the tail end of Asuka exiting towards the pool.

 

Of course this story spread quickly when other girls arrived as it was incredibly juicy gossip, and depending on your source the story varied slightly. Not only was this momentous gossip but there were some serious implications about this as well. There was a rule about dating the team manager and it was grounds for dismissal from the team if you did. This made several girls very happy and one girl was constantly bringing it up as she gave her own twisted account of what happened in the classroom. Of course two other more trustworthy sources gave the truer version of it.

 

When the coach walked into the locker room she was expecting the usual buzz of girls talking. The odd thing is that there wasn't any buzz along with no girls. That of course meant that something was up and she didn't even bother to change into her coach's clothes first before she walked out to the pool. She saw her team of girls surrounding the pool watching Asuka swim laps, and Asuka wasn't stopping either. She was just going back and forth as no matter where she ended up there was someone standing there waiting for her with questions. The coach then noticed two girls standing to the side of all this. She walked up to Hikari and Rei. “Mind telling me what is going on?”

 

“Asuka and Shinji ratted themselves out accidentally during class today” Hikari answered.

 

“I was wondering when that was going to happen” the coach responded. “So where is my team manager?”

 

“Shinji's retrieving more water” Rei replied.

 

The coach looked over at the cooler and noticed it was already overflowing with water bottles. “They are both scared out of their wits right now, aren't they?”

 

Hikari and Rei both nodded their heads yes.

 

The coach let out a little sigh and said “Thank you girls, why don't you start practice for me. I need to talk to those two.”

 

“Yes coach.”

 

Coach Kumara then went to go stop Asuka before she wore herself out entirely, but before she could three senior girls and Mana stepped in front of her. One of the seniors began with “Sohryu broke the golden rule.” With another saying “Yeah. She's dating the manager.” And the third using the same bratty tone “And that is strictly not allowed.” Finally it was Mana's turn to chime in and she had a smug look on her face as she said “According to the rules, Sohryu has to be kicked off the team.”

 

Coach Kumara was not impressed by this display of cattiness and told them “That rule does not apply to Asuka.”

 

“And why not?” Mana demanded in a snotty tone.

 

“Because she was dating Shinji before I made the rule. And I can't punish her for doing something that wasn't against a rule at the time. And I can't tell her to break up with him as I don't have that right” The coach explained. “So the rule does not apply to her.”

 

“That's not fair!” Mana yelled.

 

“Too Bad!” the coach snapped back sternly at her as she had enough of this. “Now get back to practice.” The four girls stomped away grumbling and the coach went over to where Asuka was. All it took was a single look for the other girls in that area to scatter. The coach wasn't looking happy right now so it was best not to be around her.

 

When Asuka got to the end of the pool she was ordered out. She was hesitant at first until the coach raised her voice. Asuka really didn't want any kind of confrontation at this point. All she wanted to do was disappear and hide. She wasn't sure what to do or even what to say.

 

When the coach finally convinced Asuka to get out of the pool she saw that Asuka had already worn herself out and was near collapse. The coach guided her over to a bench away from everyone else and told her to sit down and rest for a second.

 

A minute later Shinji came out with an arm full of water bottles. He dumped them on top of the already overflowing pile and was heading back for more. Classic avoidance was how he was going to handle this crisis. And it was doing a good job of it until the coach grabbed him along with a couple water bottles. She dragged him over to the bench and had him sit down next to Asuka.

 

She then gave both of them a water bottle and said “Asuka drink some water, settle down, and catch your breath. Shinji take a drink and stop hyperventilating. And for heavens sake knock off that hand thing too. The last thing I need is my team manager and my team captain having heart attacks on me.” The coach then noticed a lot of girls were hedging closer to them in an attempt to overhear something. This was a really bad idea by the girls as a coach can always think up ways to keep a team busy. The coach stood up and faced the girls while declaring “Since you girls seem to have excess energy to burn and nothing to do, let's start off practice with some conditioning drills. Horaki, Ayanami, you're in charge.”

 

A collective groan was then heard from all the girls.

 

As anyone who has played sports knows, conditioning drills have less to do with conditioning than they do with letting you know who is in charge. Most of the time it involves some form of four by four sprint. In swimming it is going from one side of the pool to the other and swimming back twice so you ended up where you began. Plus the whole expenditure of energy in this exercise was timed. That's where the evil genius part of this comes in, everyone needs to be back by a certain time. Of course the time picked is impossible to achieve as it is purposely set so low that half the team will continually fail.

 

So as Rei stood at one edge of the pool with a stopwatch in her hand, Hikari barked out motivation to speed the girls up. When done with the sprint Hikari would look over at Rei . Rei would look up from the stopwatch and with that famous icy stare of hers she would look at the girls in the pool and say “No.” Hikari would then shake her head in disappointment and say “Again!”

 

While the coach's message was being delivered she was talking to Asuka and Shinji, who were finally starting to calm down. “I was kind of hoping that you two would have kept quiet about this till after the season was over with…”

 

“That's what we wanted too” Asuka interrupted.

 

“It's ok” the coach told her. “You are still my captain and Shinji is still my manager. But I don't want this to be a distraction. How you two handle this outside is your business, how you handle it in here is mine though. And all I want is for things to be normal. Which means no special treatment, no flirting, and absolutely no hanky panky, understand?”

 

“Yes ma'am” both of them replied.

 

“Good, now let's get back to practice. We have a meet tomorrow.” And with that practice went back to semi-normal. The other girls were still curious but they were also weary of more conditioning drills so they backed off for now.

 

As for the crowd of people in the stands, well they were all keeping their mouths shut right now. One person had foolishly smarted off and tried to razz Asuka and Shinji while their coach was talking to them. She got the look of death aimed at her from Mrs. Kumara and also told to report to the principle's office for a lecture on common courtesy. Obviously Mrs. Kumara wasn't playing around and all the other students in the stands kept quiet.

 

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Near the end of practice the curiosity level was getting high enough again that they would risk asking a question. The girls were staying away from Asuka though because she wasn't talking and also she could order conditioning drills too because she was the captain, so it was risky to bug her. So a small group of girls decided to try their luck with Shinji. He was just sitting on a bench folding towels like he usually did near the end of practice and they walked up to him pretending like they needed one. When he handed the towels out the normal response of “Thank you Ikari” was replaced by “How did you get together?” “So how long have you been a couple?” “Have you kissed yet?” “Are you guys doing it?” “Mana said you were her boyfriend.”

 

Shinji was sitting there with his mouth hanging open. The only thing he was planning to say to the girls was “You're welcome” not answering questions. And even though he wasn't answering any they kept coming and coming and coming. These girls weren't going to give up until they got an answer.

 

Eventually they were interrupted by a “Will you just leave us alone?” from Asuka as she really had come over for a towel.

 

The other girls looked at her. “C'mon you have to give us something” one of them begged with another saying “Yeah. I mean this is like so totally huge.”

 

“I can't give you what we don't have” Asuka answered in truth. She certainly didn't know how to answer many of the questions herself yet. She needed to talk to Shinji first.

 

From behind her though someone did have some answers and they came out in the tone of a spoiled snot as Mana disparaged “The skank stole him from me because she let him have these right away.” Mana then grabbed the straps on Asuka's swimsuit and ripped the top down to her waist, leaving her chest bare to all.

 

Asuka froze and it was like time stood still. She didn't hear the other snide remarks from the trio of senior girls, she didn't hear the gasps from some of the other girls, and there were even some whistles and catcalls from the stands that she missed. Everything was null and void to her as she had gotten lost in her mind. She had never been so embarrassed in her life and she was so angry and so scared and so worried and so everything else her mind could cogitate. Her tits were hanging out for all to see and even worse Shinji was sitting right in front of her. His eyes were at the perfect level to see them.

 

Her mind was completely confused about this fact. Now that he had seen them would he always want to have access to them, because she didn't feel like she was ready for that level of intimacy yet. Or worse yet, what if he didn't like them? She knew she couldn't handle that. Like every other girl on this planet she was very self conscious about her body. And for girls it's the boy they like who they are most worried about liking their body. And that is exactly who was looking at it right now. All these thoughts and emotions happening all at the same time overwhelmed her and she began to feel herself slipping away from consciousness.

 

But a warm feeling came over her before she did. Then she heard a word spoken softly to her “Breathe” and she took a breath. She heard the word again and she took another breath. The word kept repeating itself until Asuka was breathing on her own again. Her senses started to come back to her and when she opened her eyes Shinji was standing in front of her. The warm feeling she had felt was him wrapping a towel around her front to cover her up. His hands were now on her shoulders holding the towel up and the voice she had heard helping her was his.

 

The sound of his voice was so compassionate and reassuring as he asked her “Are you alright?”

 

She closed her eyes again and nodded yes. She took a couple more deep breaths so she could regain some of her composure back before she re-opened her eyes. With a bit of trepidation she asked “Di- did you see them?”

 

Shinji wasn't going to lie to her. He had gotten a good five second thorough look at her mammaries before he snapped out of the surprise himself and covered her up. So he nodded his head yes at her.

 

Asuka then said something that made just about every girl there stop feeling sorry for her. “They… they weren't too small… were they?”

 

Shinji got taken back by that question and the fact that she sounded so genuinely worried. He could only ask out a confused “Small???”

 

Asuka heard that answer and let out a pout “I was right. They are too small.” It very much looked like Asuka was about to cry.

 

Shinji answered with even more confusion. “But they're bigger than the last time I saw them? And I thought they were pretty big back then.” For the life of him he couldn't understand why Asuka thought they were small.

 

Asuka did a major mood swing and got a incredibly big smile on her face. “You really mean that?” Shinji nodded his head yes and Asuka threw her arms around him and gave him a huge hug while saying “Thank You Shin-kun!”

 

Not far away Hikari was standing next to Rei. “I am so going to use that the next time she goes on one of her everyone is bigger than me rants.”

 

“So shall I” Rei answered.

 

Hikari looked over at Rei for a second. “I figured you got those too.”

 

“I don't know why” Rei said. “We wear the same bra size.”

 

“But you are a touch fuller than her and that's what bugs her.”

 

“But our bra size is the same” Rei repeated but with the slightest of grins.

 

Hikari noticed the grin and said “You are so lucky you can use that excuse.”

 

Rei looked back at Hikari for a second. “You're not that much bigger, can you not use it too?”

 

“I used to” Hikari answered. “I mean I'm not even a full cup size bigger than either of you. And I probably could fit into the same bra but it would just be a little too snug and it would get uncomfortable after a while.”

 

“But in Asuka's world that still makes you much bigger” Rei commented.

 

“Exactly” Hikari answered. “I wonder how Misato deals with it?”

 

“With that peculiar stare of hers” Hikari was told.

 

“Oh the mommy stare” Hikari giggled. She knew all about that sort of thing. And if push came to shove you might find out that she had a version of it of her own already.

 

“Yes that one. It's very… effective” Rei responded with a look that told Hikari the she herself was familiar with it. They both then let out sighs as they knew Shinji and Asuka's hug couldn't last forever and they knew what would come next. “Do we face a good school tomorrow?”

 

“They're alright” Hikari answered. “But with Asuka about to be suspended and Mana sent to the hospital, we might be in for a challenge.”

 

Asuka had pulled her suit back up and Mana was backing away while the other girls chanted “Fight! Fight! Fight!” Mana quickly found herself trapped between a wall of girls on her sides, the edge of the pool behind her, and a redhead with a vicious smile and an intent to demolish her closing in from in front of her. Like most of her glorious schemes Mana had failed to plan ahead to what she would do after she humiliated Asuka and to her foolish surprise the three girls who were egging her on to do it were no where to be seen.

 

Asuka had an answer to the aftereffect though. And it wasn't going to be pretty as she started of with a cracking of knuckles while she made a fist.

 

But luckily for Mana a wall by the name of Coach Kirika Kumara placed itself between the two teens. Coach Kumara choose to face Asuka first as she needed to stop the girl. And with a very authoritative voice she asked “Asuka who is the coach on this team?”

 

Asuka let out an aggravated sigh as she could already tell where this was leading to. “You are.”

 

“So who is in charge?”

 

“You.”

 

“So whose job is it to administer discipline?”

 

“But she…”

 

Asuka complaint was interrupted by a well placed “Miss Sohryu, are you not listening to me?” The raised eyebrows told Asuka the answer the coach wanted her to say and Asuka backed down. “Smart move Asuka. Now why don't you go sit down so you can settle yourself.”

 

“Yes ma'am” Asuka replied and made her way over to Shinji. She sat down next to him and laid her head on his shoulder. She then let out a little pout “How come I never get what I want?”

 

There were many, many girls that wanted to jump on that statement but Shinji issued a look that asked them to cut her a break, just this once.

 

The coach then turned her attention to Mana. “So do you have an explanation for what you did?”

 

“It's all her fault” Mana whined while pointing at Asuka.

 

“And just how pra-tell is you pulling down her top, her fault?”

 

Mana didn't really have an answer for that and just threw out some incoherent and jumbled words. “Well she…. But Shinji…. Mine!.... Me!.... It's all her fault.”

 

The coach had enough of this. What Mana did was inexcusable so she laid down the law on the girl in a more civilized way. “Mana, you are suspended from the team and school for two weeks. Plus since you have proven yourself unable to function properly with a team you're off the relay squads. All of them. If you're lucky I might let you compete in the individual events but you will have to prove yourself worthy of that. Now get into the locker room and get changed. We are going to have a little chat with the principal and your parents will be called.”

 

“That's not fair!” Mana whined.

 

“You're right it isn't” Mrs. Kumara quickly snapped. “I should kick you off the team permanently and if you don't get moving right this second I will.”

 

With that Mana screamed that this was all Asuka's fault again at the girl sitting next to her boyfriend and stormed off.

 

The coach just let out a troubled sigh. Every year there had to be a troublemaker. Once, just once, she wished she could go a year without an incident. But unfortunately life isn't that simple and now she had a unpleasant job to do. Plus she also had to replace Mana on the relay squad as well. Normally she would have an open competition and the girl with the best times would be the new number four but the meet was tomorrow so she didn't have time. And when she said she was just going to pick a temporary replacement three senior girls immediately volunteered. But the coach figured that they probably had a part in all this somehow even if she couldn't prove it so she rewarded a different senior. One which knew the meaning of teamwork and one that she knew deserved to be rewarded. Then she announced that on Friday they would have an open competition for the fourth spot.

 

Finally before she left to go deal with Mana she said something that scrambled Shinji's mind. “Shinji you're in charge till the end of practice. I doubt I will be back anytime soon.” Then the coach walked off towards the locker rooms to deal with her troublemaker.

 

When you are put in charge of a team of peers, especially one consisting entirely of the opposite sex, it's probably not best to start off with “Huh?... Me??....Ummm???...” But unfortunately for Shinji that is what he did.

 

“Well Mr. Manager” Asuka said getting up and looking directly at him. “What do you want us to do?”

 

When Shinji looked around he saw the rest of the girls were pretty much copying Asuka's look. He knew he was in trouble because teenage girls can detect fear in a boy like a shark can detect blood in the water. And if he didn't do something quick there was going to be a feeding frenzy.

 

Of course his two best friends chose this as the perfect time to give him a hand as Touji yelled out “C'mon Shinji, be a man. Show those girls who's the boss.” And if that wasn't enough to incite the girls, Kensuke's follow up statement was. “Yeah Shinji. Make them do stretching exercises in their bathing suits. And make sure they spread their legs very far apart.”

 

Much disdain from many girls was directed at Kensuke for that. But then again they were used to an occasional perverted comment from him, although that one was worse than normal, but that might have had more to do with messing with Shinji than them. Sort of like he was egging them on.

 

So now Shinji was stuck in a situation that he didn't know how to handle, had a bunch of pissed off girls around him, and he was the only boy within striking distance. Personally he couldn't see a way out of it, so he just reacted instinctively. It worked in the past, might as well give it a try. In a small voice “Ten laps?”

 

“What was that?” Asuka asked turning her attention back to him.

 

“Ten laps in the pool…” Shinji repeated but took a nervous swallow at the end and trailed off as he started to retreat away from his words.

 

“Side to side or lengthwise?” Asuka questioned. Shinji had just helped her out in a major way, she wasn't going to leave him hanging.

 

“Side to side??” Asuka gave him a little look and he quickly changed his answer “Lengthwise?”

 

Asuka smiled at him and surprised everybody by saying “Yes sir, Mr. Manager sir.” And she started walking towards the pool.

 

“What are you doing?” one of the girls asked. “We have him in the palm of our hands. We can do anything we want.”

 

“No” Asuka answered. “I have him in the palm of MY hand. The rest of you better keep your grubby little mitts off of him if you know what's good.” Asuka then dived into the water and when she came back up she finished “Now move your asses girls, we do have practice to finish after all.”

 

And with that the balance of power shifted to Shinji.

 

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Shinji had the girls swim the ten laps and after that he had them do a conditioning drill. He was going to make them do another but he noticed many of the girls looked tired. One in particular looked very tired. Asuka though was ready to go again. But all she had to do was see the look in Shinji's eyes to tell he was about to end practice. She lifted her eyes at him to protest but he looked back at her with caring eyes and shifted them to the right. She followed the look over to a more tired than usual Rei Ayanami. That's all she had to see to agree with him. As team captain she was to show favoritism to no one. But as a friend she protected the few real ones she had.

 

Shinji then blew his whistle and ended practice, much to the approval of the other girls as they got out of the pool.

 

As the girls made their way to the locker room Asuka walked up to Rei and put her hand on Rei's forehead. “Is there something wrong?” Rei asked.

 

“That's what I'm trying to figure out” Asuka answered and moved her hand around Rei's forehead.

 

Hikari walked up behind Asuka. “Do you even know what you're doing?”

 

“Yes” Asuka answered her friend and then informed her “Misato does this to me whenever I'm not feeling good.”

 

“Uh huh” Hikari remarked and pushed Asuka out of the way. She felt Rei's forehead for a second and said “You feel a little warm but you don't have a fever.”

 

“Like you can tell that any better than me?” Asuka question with a bit of attitude.

 

Hikari wasn't Asuka's best friend for nothing and she sassed back “Like I have a little sister and have done this a million times for her.”

 

As Asuka turned on the shower to wash the pool water off of her she backed down to the more experienced Hikari “Oh.” Hikari smirked back at her in response while Asuka moved back to questioning Rei. “So if you are not sick, what's wrong?”

 

“I'm just… tired” Rei answered as she let some cool water cascade down her body before turning the water to a more normal temperature. After a little sigh Rei continued “Don't worry, I will be ready for the meet tomorrow.”

 

“I couldn't give a shit about the meet” Asuka answered surprising her. “I'm more worried about you. It's not like you to get tired so quickly.”

 

“Everything is normal” Rei answered and turned the water back to cold for a second. Most people wouldn't have noticed the change in Rei's voice when she said normal but there was one. Her voice slightly dropped in pitch and there was a bit of frustration to it too. Hikari and Asuka looked at each other and figured it out simultaneously.

 

Asuka looked back at Rei and told her “Why don't you skip the weight room today and go home.”

 

She heard a very quiet and soft “Thank you” in reply.

 

Rei stayed in the shower for a while longer than the other two and when she finally got out she found Asuka standing by her locker waiting for her. She held out a hand that had two pills in it. “Now I know you hate pills but please listen to me before you say no” Asuka said before Rei could even open her mouth. “I use these pills all the time. They won't make that normal thing go away but they will help lessen the effects of it.”

 

“May I see the bottle?” Rei asked.

 

“Sure” and Asuka reached in her bag, took out the bottle of Midol, and handed it to Rei.

 

Rei read both the front and back of the bottle very carefully. She then took the pills while politely thanking her for her generosity. After several years of normalness Rei's dislike of medicine gave away to her just wanting to feel better thanks to the monthly reminder that she was in fact a real girl.

 

As Rei started to change back into her school clothes she heard Hikari begin to tease Asuka. “Those pills are about the only thing that keeps emo girl over here from ripping people's heads off during her period.”

 

“That's not true” Asuka shouted back.

 

“You're right it's not” Hikari answered back smugly. “They failed on two occasions last year.”

 

“Those two fights had absolutely nothing to do with my period” Asuka stressed strongly. “Those bitches just seriously chose the wrong girl to pick on.”

 

“Yeah and both fights just happened to be at the same time of the month when you get extra moody.”

 

“Oh pish” Asuka responded egotistically. “I am in complete control of my emotions at all times.”

 

“You weren't earlier today” Hikari said.

 

“That's no fair” Asuka declared getting frumpy almost instantaneously. “That was a totally different situation.”

 

“Well if you would tell me about the situation maybe I could understand or help you?”

 

“I was wondering when you were going to ask that” Asuka said quieting down.

 

“I am your best friend. You can trust m.” Hikari told her gently.

 

“I know I can” Asuka replied. “And I will tell you… soon. But this has all been so sudden that I haven't been able to talk to Shinji about it yet. I… I just want to make sure we're on the same page before I say anything. This is too important to me to screw up with one of my stupid rash impulsive decisions.”

 

“Okay” Hikari answered softly while being impressed with Asuka. “I can wait a little longer.” If Asuka was being this rational about it that meant this was a very important thing to her. Due to Hikari being in a long term relationship herself she knew this was a good thing.

 

Asuka then thought up a way for keeping her friend in the dark for so long. “How about I tell you the whole story on Friday? We can have a slumber party like we used to.”

 

Hikari immediately brightened up to that idea. “Your place or mine?”

 

Asuka looked over to the other side of her at Rei. “How about at Rei's place? You wouldn't mind that, would you?”

 

Rei thought about this for a minute before answering “No. I don't believe I would mind that at all.” In fact she was a touch intrigued by the idea. Sharing time with friends made her feel rather nice.

 

“Good” Asuka said. “We can have a good old fashion slumber party on Friday night.”

 

“Yes and this way Hikari will be able to hear the truth.”

 

“And what is that supposed to mean?” Asuka said narrowing her eyes at Rei.

 

Rei answered her “That you have a tendency to leave out crucial details.”

 

Asuka protested “I do not!” But from the other side of her came a mocking “The great Asuka Langley Sohryu leave things out of a story that could embarrass her. She would NEVER do that.”

 

Asuka let out an exasperated “Ah!” and then looked at both girls. She got a very frumpy look on her face again and declared “Oh hush up, both of you.”

 

Her reply was two giggles from either side of her.

 

Rei then got up and grabbed her book bag. “I shall be leaving now. I have a book I would like to get back to. Good bye.”

 

Both Asuka and Hikari said bye back and they headed off in the opposite direction towards the weight room.

 

****^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^****

 

The second Asuka got in the weight room she was accosted with questions. Word had already spread through the grapevine and anyone who didn't know about her and Shinji was either hearing it now or would by the time school started tomorrow. She kept calm for about a minute before she stomped her foot, plugged her ears, and issued out a general threat. “Leave me alone or ELSE!” She then began to grumble loudly in her native German tongue as she stomped off towards a treadmill.

 

A few of the other students in the room had taken some rudimentary German during their studies in high school but none were willing to translate what Asuka said. The few words they did pick up would have gotten them sent to the principal's office and likely got their mouths washed out with soap once they got home.

 

Shinji wasn't fairing much better. While his popularity stock drastically rose due to this news it did have some side effects, not all of them good. A lot of the guys were lightly teasing him about it but some were being a little more aggressive. Jealousy had set in. Not only was he manager of the girls swim team and got to be around a lot of hot girls in swimsuits, but he was now arguably dating the hottest girl on the team if not the school. Ripping on him or taking him down an imaginary peg or two might just raise their stocks. Basically just typical teenager popularity bullshit kind of stuff.

 

But there was an answer or two for those jerks. One was in the form of a friend who could handle himself quite well and was a regular in the weight due to him being on the varsity baseball and basketball teams. The other was a roomful of girls. Shinji was a pretty well liked manager and even though the girls swim team pretty much abused his generosity and willingness to help them with just about anything, they were protective of him. Like his shirt said, he was their property and they didn't like people messing with their property.

 

Another negative side effect was unwanted attention. To some girls a guy is only interesting when he is taken. By taking some guy away from a girl some girls thought that made them better than the other girl. That is a pretty sad way to make yourself look better but there were a few of those types of girls around. Shinji treated those girls the same way he did Mana in the past, he ignored them for the most part.

 

Plus it was almost impossible to keep up with Shinji to do anything to him. He was constantly moving thanks to his duties and a group of girls who wanted everything done for them.

 

After about fifteen minutes people started noticing a difference in the weight room. To be more precise the absence of a red headed girl. Somehow Asuka had disappeared without anyone noticing. One of the girls stopped Shinji and asked “Where's Asuka?” Shinji looked over at the treadmill where he had last seen her. She wasn't there anymore so he shrugged his shoulders and told her he didn't know and then went back to work.

 

Several girls reacted to this answer and headed for the exit. The easiest way to get answers from unwilling sources is to corner them in the hall and use the time proven method of pure pressure.

 

Those girls were stopped by a “Don't bother. She's already long gone.”

 

The girls turned to look at Hikari “When did she leave?”

 

“About five minutes ago.”

 

“Why didn't you say anything?”

 

Hikari answered plainly “Because she didn't want me to.”

 

“That was a mean trick Hikari” one of the girls commented.

 

“Well what did you expect? I am her best friend” Hikari answered and then waved at someone going out the door. Hikari was doing another friend a big favor, she was distracting the curious people from noticing Shinji leaving. When the girls realized that they went to give chase but Touji stood in the doorway and wouldn't budge until Shinji disappeared down the hall.

 

Shinji himself wasn't really running away so much as he was doing one of his duties. He had a load of towels in the wash that he needed to put in the dryer. This was one of Shinji's favorite tasks. Most kids didn't even know the school had a laundry room let alone where it was. Plus the only way to get into the room was with a key and the only other students with keys to the room were other team managers.

 

And that is who he found in there when he got to the room. Two senior girls were sitting at a table doing homework. One was manager of the girl's soccer team and the other was the manager of the boy's soccer team. While it is uncommon for a boy to be manager of a girl's team it is very common for a girl to be a manager of a boy's team.

 

Both of the girls looked up from their work for a second and said hi to him and he politely said hi back. He then walked over to the washing machines he had his towels in and transferred the loads to a couple dryers. When he was done he grabbed his ipod out of his backpack and leaned against the wall near the dryers to wait for the towels to finish. This was a safe and peaceful place to him.

 

Before he could put his earphones in his ears though he heard “You know Ikari, dating one of the people you are in charge of is a good way to lose your job.”

 

Unlike most of the girls who had talked to him today that was not said to him with query, spite, or aggression but was more along the lines of a friendly warning. Because of this he actually answered her. “Our coach knew we were dating before she hired me.”

 

“Hmmm” the other girl said. “She must really trust you then.”

 

Shinji smiled a bit as he said “I guess she does.” Shinji then began to listen to his music while the other two girls went back to their homework.

 

****^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^****

 

Shinji was doing his final task of the day, cleaning the locker room, when he felt a tap on his shoulder. Shinji said “Have a good night ma'am” as he thought it was just Coach Kumara saying good bye. He always wore his headphones while he cleaned so she usually had to tap him on his shoulder to get his attention at the end of the day.

 

But he was wrong for the coach was still dealing with a pair of parents who wouldn't believe their perfect child would do something like that. It must have been the other girl's fault like Mana kept insisting. The only thing the coach got out of this meeting was a headache.

 

The person who was tapping on his shoulder though was none other than a precocious red head who pulled one of his earphones out and said “Wrong person Shin-kun.”

 

Shinji actually jumped a bit hearing that. The only girl allowed in the locker room when he was cleaning was the coach. And Shinji went as far as to lock the door to keep it, and his job, that way. “Wh-where did you come from?”

 

“I was sitting in the coach's office on the floor” Asuka answered. “No one goes in there if the coach isn't around.” Asuka then smiled at him and had him put down his mop. “I just needed someplace quiet so I could think.”

 

As Asuka took him by the hand Shinji noticed she had changed back into her swimsuit and was leading him out towards the pool “What are you doing?”

 

Asuka answered him with “I want to talk about what happened in a place I feel comfortable, and somewhere that it will just be the two of us.” And Asuka led him over to the steps going into the pool. She took off his shirt and walked him down the first couple of steps and had him float on his back. When he was perfectly still and balanced she sat down on one of the steps and turned his body so his head was floating just above her breasts and his face was looking up at hers. She studied the features of Shinji's face for a couple minutes before she began talking again. “Shinji are you scared or relieved that our relationship is out in the open now?”

 

“Both” Shinji answered truthfully. He was having a hard time himself reconciling everything that was happening. “On one hand I know you didn't want this. I know you wanted to keep it a secret till after the season was over. And after today I understand why better. But there have also been times when I have seen you sitting alone at lunch staring off. I wanted to go sit by you during those times. Not so much to talk or disturb you but just to be by you.”

 

“I would like that” Asuka answered. “But I'm still scared. I don't even really know why either. I love being around and close to you but when people were looking at us and asking questions I felt my world closing in on me.”

 

“That's ok” Shinji answered looking up at her.

 

Asuka got a troubled look on her face and looked down at him “But why is that ok?”

 

“Because I understand why?” Shinji answered.

 

“But you shouldn't have to” Asuka told him. “We have been dating for a month and I still won't recognize it. You should be mad at me, not understanding.”

 

“I understand because I know how we feel about each other” Shinji explained. “What others know and think isn't important to me. You are.” Shinji then smiled up at her to reinforce his message before adding “Plus Kaji once told me one of the reasons Misato and him broke up was that they moved too quickly and didn't truly get to know each other before they got intimate. I won't risk that with you because I really do want to be with you forever… so there's no good reason to rush anything.”

 

Asuka's face turned lighter and she shook her head slightly while combing a hand thru his hair. “You have grown up so much more than I have. I really wish I was at the same point as you.”

 

“I can wait” Shinji simply told her.

 

“And that's why I love you” Asuka said feeling better. “You are the only boy in this world that can put up with my bravado, stupid expectations, my rampant foolish insecurities, and my dual nature.”

 

“I'm not much better” Shinji admitted back with a little laugh. He may have been a touch more grown up than Asuka at this point but he was still Shinji. His act wasn't all that much together either.

 

Asuka smiled back at him “I think we are our own worst enemies.”

 

“I wish I could disagree with you” Shinji sighed as it was true. “So what are we going to do now?”

 

“Other than me admitting that I am so not ready for this, I don't know” Asuka answered. “And truthfully I don't want to say anything.”

 

“Then we won't” Shinji answered.

 

“I don't know if that plan is going to fly” Asuka said skeptically. “By tomorrow everyone in school will know and there will be even more questions.”

 

Shinji laid there for a couple minutes suspended by the water while Asuka gazed at him. Both were trying to think up a magical solution that would answer all the questions. But there just wasn't any and Asuka asked “What happened between us was very private, right?”

 

Shinji nodded his head causing ripple marks in the water.

 

“That's kinda how I wish I could keep it. I mean I don't mind our family and close friends knowing but other people don't need to.”

 

“Then that's what we will tell people” Shinji answered. “Something private happened and now we're together.”

 

“I like that answer” Asuka said and chuckled a bit as she knew no one else would. In fact they would probably hate it. She then reached down and gently caressed Shinji's cheek. And they stayed like that for a while longer simply enjoying the other's company. It was nice and quiet and only the sounds of the pool and their breathing could be heard. That was enough for them right now.

 

****^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^****

 

While walking home Asuka had one other question she wanted to ask Shinji. With a bit of tinge to her cheeks “How… how long were you looking at them?” She quickly followed up her question with a nervous “Because it felt like I was standing there naked for an eternity.”

 

“It was only about five seconds before I covered you up with that towel” Shinji said but turned red in the process.

 

Asuka noticed and she sort of knew why. “You saw those stupid freckles, didn't you?”

 

“They weren't stupid” Shinji quickly said. “I umm… they were very umm… pretty.”

 

Asuka kind of looked at him strangely for a couple seconds. She didn't know how to answer that. Yes it was a compliment but at the same time it was a bit perverted. Instead of trying to sum up her feelings into one big ball of an answer she gave him a couple. “Thank you. I love you but it's going to be a long while before you see them again. And also HENTAI!”

 

Shinji played along back at her. “You're welcome.” A bit sad “I know.” And of course “Sorry.”

 

“Apology not accepted” Asuka responded. “I will only forgive you if you carry me home on your back the rest of the way.”

 

“What???”

 

“I'm tired, emotionally exhausted, I had a really rough day, and I don't want to walk anymore” Asuka answered. “Gimme a piggyback ride.”

 

“But I…” Shinji began to argue before getting cut off.

 

“Oh hush and do what your bossy girlfriend tells you to do” Asuka ordered. “But if you make one remark about my weight I will hurt you.”

 

Shinji looked back at her “It's not your weight I'm worried about. It's that backpack of yours. What do you keep in there?”

 

“That's none of your business Shin-kun” Asuka blushed. “Now carry me!”

 

Like the spoiled, but very pretty, little brat she was Asuka got her wish. She was a fair brat though as Shinji got rewarded for his effort. He didn't get to find out what was in her school bag but Asuka did extend her massage limits. His hands now had free range of her entire back.

 

There was one small incident from this though. The first time he touched the small of her back his hands were trembling and he tickled her. The response he got though was a little giggle and a “Do that again.”

 

\\\\||||////

*********** OOO ***********

////||||\\\\

 

The day after Shinji and Asuka busted themselves accidentally was not a good one. The questions were incessant and the answer being given out was completely unacceptable. By lunch time Asuka was so incredibly short fused she was liable to go off on a seconds notice.

 

As for Shinji, he took a page out of his old book and stopped talking entirely. He was ignoring the world and he didn't care.

 

That didn't mean the questions stopped, in fact that just made people ask with more fervor. They wanted to know the “how?” “how far?” “when?” and “what's it like?” even more. And if the two weren't going to say anything more than confirm that they were dating the gossip vine would make things up for them.

 

The end result was by the end of the day Shinji and Asuka had an incredibly wild and active sex life. A second rumor was started to battle those ones though. In fact Asuka started it herself when she finally cracked after hearing that Shinji and her did a certain act in the doggy position while on the diving board.

 

With both middle fingers clearly extended she told the rumor mongers “I am a fucking virgin you assholes! Now shut the fuck up or I will kick your asses!” Asuka was so pissed that she didn't even get embarrassed by admitting that.

 

One slightly good thing from all this was Asuka was able to channel all that frustration into her swimming and the relay team swept all of the races they were in. And along with some other key people winning in their events the team easily won the meet.

 

The next day wasn't nearly as bad. In the morning there were millions of questions still but with no answers forthcoming it was getting boring. And due to the nature of gossip when things get boring it moves onto someplace else more interesting. And in high school there was always something more interesting than who is the latest couple. By the time lunch came around talking about Shinji and Asuka was passé and they were relegated to just another couple status. There was much more interesting gossip about who was giving it up to who even though they were going out with another person. It didn't matter if there was an ounce of truth to it, this was high school gossip.

 

The buzz on the swim team though was about who was going to replace Mana on the first squad. The favorites were the girls who made up the second relay squad but it wasn't guaranteed that they would win. That team was set up a month ago so there was bound to be a change or two plus there were some individual swimmers who had improved enough that they would challenge for the spot. And before the coach even got started she informed everyone very clearly the winner was going to be the girl who deserved it the most, not the ones who thought they deserved it.

 

So on Friday Asuka, Rei, and Hikari were sitting on the side of the pool dangling their feet in the water while waiting for everything to get started. All together there were eight girls competing for the spot. Seven they knew and one, a bit smaller girl, that they hadn't ever seen before. When the coach walked by them Asuka asked “Who's the new girl? I don't think I have even seen her around school.”

 

“That's because you don't go to the same school as her” the coach answered. “She's in 9th grade still.”

 

“What's a junior high girl doing here?”

 

“Because she broke a couple junior high records last year and then broke them again this year” Coach Kumara told the three girls. “Her junior high coach and I really think she has the talent to swim at this level so I invited her to the tryouts.”

 

Asuka smirked at her coach “And you accuse me of creating trouble.”

 

“That's because you do create trouble” the coach sassed back. “But that girl is a rare talent and I'm not going to pass up an opportunity like her just to make some catty girls happy.”

 

“So you already expect her to win?” Hikari asked.

 

“I wouldn't have invited her if I didn't” the coach answered. She then walked off and blew her whistle to get started with the tryouts. She lined up all eight girls and put her surprise guest at the end of the line. She wanted to prove just how good her discovery was to Asuka, Hikari, and Rei.

 

While the girls were watching the time trials another girl walked up besides them and sat down. Asuka looked over at her and asked “Why aren't you trying out?”

 

The girl, who was the replacement swimmer yesterday, answered “I can't do both sprints and long distance, it's too tiring. And since I have a couple colleges looking at me I told the coach I wanted to dedicate myself to my best area.”

 

“And here I thought you were all motivated yesterday by being put on the first relay team.” Asuka laughed.

 

“I get all the motivation I need from home” the girl answered back with a smile. “I'm the oldest of six siblings and mom and dad want all of us to go to college. If I can keep winning at the five and ten thousand meters and score a scholarship, it will make it easier on them.”

 

This surprised Asuka. It also answered a big question in her mind. Usually juniors weren't captains of a team, especially when there was a senior who was a national level swimmer on the team. She looked at her and said “Thanks for turning down the role of captain.”

 

“Anytime” the girl answered back with a little smile. “I get enough of running around taking care of snotty little brats at home, I don't need it at school.”

 

Hikari got the biggest laugh out of the three at that as being a class rep most of her life she knew exactly what the girl meant. “Still it's a shame as you're a pretty fast sprinter.”

 

The girl threw a glance over at the new girl in the pool while saying “I'm no match for that girl in sprints.”

 

“You know her?” Hikari questioned.

 

“Not directly” the girl answered. “But one of my sisters is in seventh grade and on the swim team. She told me there was a girl on her team who was just killing everyone in the sprint events.”

 

“I think I'm starting to like this girl” Asuka commented after hearing that. That pretty much got a roll of the eyes from the other girls. The last thing this team needed was another Asuka.

 

****^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^****

 

A while later Asuka and Hikari wandered over to the coach and Shinji. They were looking over his shoulder at the times. The girl had some impressive ones and Asuka was liking this situation more and more every time the new girl swam a lap. The tryouts were only half over but it was already clear who was going to win this thing.

 

The coach was doing her coach thing and proving to be a sly little devil as she wasn't telling the girls any of their times. She wanted to see how certain girls reacted under pressure of uncertainty. Plus she was going to rearrange some of the other relay squads based on these results and it was best not to let certain girls know about that till afterwards.

 

While Asuka and Hikari were making general pests of themselves, Rei was sitting on a bench watching everything. The only thing really going on was the tryouts as the coach had made this practice optional as a reward for winning the meet. Still half the team was there just milling around talking to each other, watching the tryouts, or horsing around in the half of the pool the coach wasn't using. As she sat there though she felt a presence looming over her. She looked up above her and saw a spectacled boy looking down at her.

 

He gave her a little wave and said “Hi.”

 

At first Rei gave him a cold stare and pulled the towel she had wrapped around her up as she figured he was trying to look down her swimsuit.

 

But as she did that Kensuke closed his eyes and she heard him say “Opps, Sorry Ayanami. I wasn't trying to look, I know you wouldn't like that.”

 

“Since when does that matter to you?” Rei challenged.

 

Kensuke opened his eyes back up and saw Rei had got up and backed away from the bench and was now standing there glaring at him. “Actually it matters to me a lot.” Rei continued to stare at him as she obviously didn't believe him. “Really it does” Kensuke responded.

 

“The things I have heard you say would indicate otherwise.”

 

“Yeah but I don't say those things to you.” Kensuke told her trying to defend himself. “I only say those things to the girls who expect it and don't mind.”

 

“We all expect it and I doubt there is a girl who doesn't mind it.” Rei was still challenging him. She was starting to gain confidence in herself and was no longer a girl who would be silent if she felt offended. Already since her discussion on the train with Asuka she had slapped two boys for suggesting a disgusting and perverted proposition when it came to her hair color. All her life she had heard perverted whispers about her and she was simply not going to stand for it anymore.

 

Kensuke did have an answer for Rei though. “Asuka doesn't. In fact she would probably be more pissed at me if I didn't give her a reason to rat tail me.”

 

Rei wanted to argue that point but she couldn't. And in truth a majority of the conflicts between Asuka and Kensuke were started by Asuka herself. Plus he had a point about Asuka getting supreme satisfaction out of whapping him one.

 

Kensuke added “It's just the type of friendship I have with her.” He then let out a little laugh as he said “Both Touji and I always figured that there was something between Asuka and Shinji when we came back just because she treated him so differently from all the other boys.” Rei then saw Kensuke look off towards those two for a second. “I'm happy that I was right. After everything that has happened those two deserve a chance at happiness.” Kensuke then looked back at Rei “And if you ever noticed I don't even say anything too perverted around her. Heck she isn't even the girl I argue with the most.”

 

The fact that there was a method and purpose behind his perversion confused Rei royally. It was almost as if he was treating certain people according to how they wanted to perceive him. That didn't make much sense and still she did catch him looking down at her. “Then if you knew I don't wish to be looked at in that way, why were you?”

 

“I wasn't” Kensuke answered. “Well I was and I wasn't. I was looking at you but I wasn't looking down your swimsuit.” From the look he was getting from Rei Kensuke knew that explanation wasn't good enough so he elaborated. “Ok, when stooge number 2 over there stopped being fun” Kensuke pointed over to Touji who was taking a snooze on the bleachers “I came over here to watch the action. I didn't even know you were sitting below me at first but when some of the other girls walked by I noticed you there. I wasn't meaning to stare at you but a question that I have thought about many times popped into my head. That's when you looked up and caught me in mid thought.”

 

“So what were you looking at?” Rei questioned.

 

“Your hair” Kensuke answered.

 

Rei let out an aggravated sigh. She was getting sick and tired of the incessant stupidity of boys. Why couldn't they just let it be. Why couldn't they just take her word for it without having to resort to typical boorish behavior. She was about to warn him if he proceeded to ask the question she would slap him.

 

But before she could he asked “Why is your hair blue?”

 

She took one step and froze as she realized he had just asked `why' not `is.' By asking that he was implying that he really did believe it was blue and more confusing to her yet that was the first time anyone had ever asked why. While these thoughts swirled around in her head she heard him continue.

 

“I mean I have known you for a long time now so I know everything about you is real. But I have always been curious why?” Rei only responded with a questioning expression and when Kensuke saw the look and figured he had pushed her boundaries and he apologized to her.

 

Rei's expression lightened up a bit at that and she told him “There is no reason to apologize. I was merely thrown off by your question.”

 

“What were you expecting me to ask?” Kensuke responded but no sooner than he said that did he realize the answer. “C'mon Ayanami, I'm not that big of a jerk in your eyes am I?”

 

Rei looked at him for a couple seconds. “I do not know the answer to that question right now.” If Kensuke didn't know any better he could have sworn it sounded like Rei was teasing him. “But as for your other question, curiosity is a dangerous thing.”

 

Kensuke laughed “Don't I know it.” He then asked her “Being part of Nerv, did you ever hear about what happened to me after the 16th angel?”

 

“I assume you were evacuated like everyone else” Rei answered.

 

“Nope, not me” Kensuke smirked. “I wanted to find out what was going on so I hid out and stayed behind. But not for long as when I got home two days later I ran into a bunch of Nerv goons. One was taking all the computers out of my house, another one snatched my camera, and a third grabbed me from behind. Then he dragged me out to a van and drove me to the train station. Right before the train took off he told me if I ever came back I would be executed.” Kensuke snickered out this last part. “In hindsight I guess I shouldn't of tried to hack my way into the Magi system.”

 

Rei gave him a look that displayed and absolute lack of being impressed. “For someone who is regularly near the top of the students list your decision making skills are remarkably poor…” Rei then noticed something so she explained things even more. “But since you have displayed some restraint in your true nature, and you are the first person to actually question why instead of is, I shall answer your question. One of the reasons I look the way I do has to do with the genetic impacts of my involvement with the Evangelion Project at a very young age.”

 

“I figured the answer had something to do with the Eva's” Kensuke said. “Thank you very much for answering my question Ayanami.”

 

“You are welcome” Rei responded while getting a slight smirk on her face and stepped away as a third party spoke up.

 

“Remember Kensuke, all information comes at a heavy price.”

 

This was followed by a loud snap and an even louder “Owww” as a red head bragged “And the great Asuka Langley Sohryu strikes again with a mighty rat tail of justice upside the hentai boy's head.” And while Kensuke rubbed his forehead Asuka continued to laugh at him. “Come Rei, you shouldn't be talking to vulgar boys like him.”

 

But as the two girls walked off and Kensuke noticed most of the girls in the area laughing at him now a thought occurred to Kensuke. “Ayanami, did you just set me up?”

 

Rei turned around “No. Asuka merely saw and opportunity and took advantage of it.” While she didn't necessarily set Kensuke up she also didn't warn him like she could have.

 

“And considering how big of a perv you are I knew your sole focus would be on her chest, so it was child's play to sneak up on you.” Asuka then flipped her hair indignantly at him and the two girls walked away.

 

As Asuka and Rei made their way over to where the coach was Rei remarked “I did not get the impression that is where he was looking when I was talking to him.”

 

“I was just teasing the stooge” Asuka snickered. “He wasn't really doing that.”

 

“Oh” Rei responded. “Then he is one of the few boys that I have talked to that haven't.”

 

“Ain't that the truth” Asuka said with a roll of her eyes.

 

****^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^****

 

A little while later the coach saw Kensuke get up and leave. She looked at her watch and said “Is it 4:30pm already?” and she saw it was. That was the thing about Kensuke, he always left practice at the same time everyday whether practice was over with or not. The coach looked over at the three girls standing beside her “So, have you seen enough?”

 

All three girls nodded their heads yes. There was a very clear favorite for the open spot.

 

The coach then blew her whistle and the four of them walked up to the new girl, who even though was doing very good, looked like she was a nervous wreck. The coach held out her hand and said “Yuma, you made the team. Congratulations.”

 

Yuma stood there for a couple seconds staring at the coach in mid shake. Truthfully she wanted to jump up and down and scream at the top of her lungs but she was also terrified because she was now on a team of high school girls. They were all so much older and bigger than her.

 

Asuka could tell this right away. She had lived most of her life like this and knew how intimidating situations like this were. Many times in her life she had simply wanted to act like a child but couldn't because of her surroundings. So it wasn't surprising that Asuka was the first to reach out to Yuma and introduce herself. Hikari and Rei followed lead and then they took her around and introduced Yuma to all her new teammates that were there. Well except for three seniors as they had already stormed off after the coach refused to listen to their complaining.

 

The final introduction was to the team manager. Asuka did this while holding Shinji's hand and declaring that he was the best team manager ever. Asuka smiled proudly, Shinji blushed, Hikari and Rei rolled their eyes, and Yuma giggled at the reaction.

 

Yuma was starting to feel better about her situation. Despite what she had been told by her own classmates, the high school girls weren't all big bullies that wanted to push her around. Many of them congratulated her and were really nice. Plus the team she was on now had girls that were just as good, or even better, as her. One thing she did notice though was how many times Asuka called the manager Shin-kun. Almost like she was going out of her way to make a very obvious point. Yuma wasn't a dumb girl and she quickly caught the less than subtle message. She also caught another message when Asuka showed her around the weight room, she had the right to bug Shinji if she needed something. Every other girl on the swim team that was in the room was.

 

So the end result of all these changes ended up being positive and most of the fears Asuka and Shinji had proved to be false. Of course Misato told them this a dozen times over the month they were hiding but as with most teenagers they didn't listen. Life would be so much easier for the two of them if they just listened to the advice of people who had more experience in this sort of thing but if they did then they wouldn't be real teenagers now would they?

 

(A/N: And that is the end to chapter five. I have no clue where this story is going right now, just thought you should know… I Re-re-edited. Changed a few words around. Fixed some grammar. Broke up some of the bigger blocks of text. And expounded on some parts to make them clearer. Basically gave this a good once over to improve its quality.)