TOKYO-3 BABY-SITTERS
 
Written by Alain Gravel 

http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Teahouse/2236/

Based on characters created by and copyright GAINAX
Started on November 16th 1999
First pre-reader draft finished on April 3rd 2000
Second pre-reader draft finished on April 10th 2000
Final draft finished on June 13th 2000

=======================================================================

Chapter 2 - Trials of Motherhood


    "I'm home."
    There was, of course, no one to answer her in the empty apartment. 
Not even half of the morning had gone by, so Asuka was still in school. 
And she was currently holding Shinji in her arms.
    "Wark!"
    The penguin was giving her a quizzical look. He wasn't used to 
seeing his mistress back this early. And what was she holding in her 
arms? It looked like... a mini-human, like those he had seen on TV. He 
suddenly had a feeling of impending doom.
    "Hi! Pen-pen! Missed me already?"
    "Wark!"
    "Listen Pen-pen. This baby is actually Shinji. Since he's a baby 
now, he's very weak and fragile. So, whatever he does, don't do anything 
that could hurt him, understand?"
    The penguin nodded and let out another 'wark'. Even after all the 
time she had owned him, she still marveled at how intelligent he was.
    "Good."
    Letting Ritsuko's duffel bag fall on the floor, she held Shinji in 
one hand and pet the bird's head with the other.
    Through force of habit, Misato removed her shoes and walked toward 
the kitchen. Without much thought, Misato put Shinji on the kitchen 
table and opened the fridge, taking out a beer from what people called 
her 'unlimited supply' (little did they know that such quantity actually 
only barely lasted over a week). With a swift flick of a finger the can 
was opened, and it would have made its way to her lips had she not 
suddenly noticed that Shinji was awake again and how intently he looked 
at her. His eyes no longer had an innocent look, but were rather stern, 
his gaze fixed toward her, as if he was looking right through her and 
directly into her soul. The kind of gaze that was more characteristic of 
Shinji's co-worker and fellow pilot, Ayanami Rei. It took her a moment 
to realize that because of the way she was holding her can, all its 
contents was slowly pouring over her chest and onto the floor.
    "Eek! Oh, dammit!"
    Misato calmed down, however, as the situation suddenly dawned on 
her. She had been handled the responsibility of a child, a baby whose 
survival depended on her, and here she was about to get herself drunk 
even before lunch time. As the realization hit her, the beer slipped 
from her suddenly nerveless fingers, hitting the floor and spilling out 
the remainder of its contents. Misato almost fell herself, her knees 
feeling weak, but she struggled to stay up.
    Was she this bad? Had she reached a point where she couldn't even 
face life without alcohol? When was the last time she actually skipped 
drinking for just one day.
    She couldn't remember.
    This, along with the fact that she had almost failed Shinji, scared 
her to the very core of her being.
    "Shinji!"
    The purple-haired woman picked up the baby and finally let herself 
slowly slump on the floor.
    "I'm sorry Shinji! I'm so sorry..."
    And she cried.

                              - - -

    Unknowingly, Shinji and Pen-pen did their best to cheer up Misato. 
Misato's sobs were abruptly interrupted as Shinji, who had slowly 
crawled up her chest, grabbed one of her cheeks in one of those small 
vice-grip holds that only babies can manage. Misato's following yelp 
alarmed Pen-pen, who bolted (as fast a penguin can) to the rescue of his 
mistress... only to slip on spilled beer. Misato yelped again, this time 
even louder, as Pen-pen's beak hit one of her legs. The yelp upset 
Shinji, who in turn started crying. Misato helped Pen-pen to get back on 
his feet, then tried to calm Shinji down.
    "It's okay Shinji. See, Misato is all right..."
    Pen-pen stared at the beer on the floor. For a moment, he regretted 
not being a dog. It was a shame to waste good beer. Pen-pen then looked 
at the two humans. His mistress smiled widely, and then stuck her tongue 
out towards the baby, as she called it, which she was holding in the air 
just in front of her face. A pretty dumb move, as the little human 
suddenly grabbed a fist full of tongue.
    "Hesh! Donsh do tash!"
    The baby giggled at the sound Misato was making and grabbed her 
tongue with both hands.
    "Eshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
    Pen-pen sighed, as he watched the woman squirm and try to pull the 
baby off, only managing to inflict more pain to herself.
    "WARK!"
    That caught the baby's attention. Turning toward the warm water 
bird, the baby's eyes lit up with delight.
    "Gaaaaahh!
    His little hands let go of Misato's tongue and tried to reach toward 
the penguin. Seeing that his job was done, Pen-pen waddled towards his 
refrigerator for a well deserved rest.
    Soon followed by more noise from the two humans.
    "Waaaaaahhhhhh!"
    "Shinji... please... Ark! Don't do that! Let go!"
    This time, the penguin decided to ignore them.
    
                              - - -

    Standing in front of her mirror, Misato went through the old ritual 
of removing her bra. Shinji was on her bed, trying to hide himself under 
her discarded skirt. Her chest now free of the restraining piece of 
lingerie, Misato slowly traced her scar with her finger. From the base 
of her left breast down to her stomach, one inch over her navel. A 
reminder of why she fought the Angels. So ugly. She couldn't understand 
why it didn't disgust men. But then again, only one man had seen this 
scar.
    Kaji... did he really love her, or was he just using her?
    And what were her feelings for him? Her head and her heart seemed to 
have different opinions on the matter. What they had done the night 
before only added to the confusion. But it had been so damn good! She 
chased the thought away. Now was not the time to think about that.
    Here she was, standing, only wearing her panties, and she was still 
reeking with the smell of beer. She had to take a bath. Looking in the 
mirror, she noticed that Shinji had lost interest in her skirt. Her 
heart leaped in her chest as she noticed he was crawling on all fours, 
right toward her gun. In a second, she had the baby in one hand and the 
gun in another. It was still in its holster and the safety was on, but 
still...
    "What do you think you were doing?"
    "Gaaah..."
    "These things are dangerous. Responsible people should store these 
away from small children."
    She pulled open one of the higher drawers, too high for a baby to 
reach, and then put the gun in.
    "There. Safe now. What do you know, maybe you'll make a responsible 
adult out of me..."
    "Gaaah..."
    Misato suddenly stiffened, as she felt the baby's small fingers 
touch her stomach. She felt his tiny palms on the smooth surface of her 
skin, to then move to the rougher scarred regions. The baby jerked his 
hands away, as if surprised by the change in sensation.
    "So, you think it's weird and ugly too, uh?"
    To her surprise, the baby giggled as he touched the scar again, 
letting his little hands roam over it. Shock appeared on Misato's face. 
She remembered how much will it had taken not to look disturbed by the 
way Asuka had looked at it, back at the hot springs near Mount Asama, a 
mixture of curiosity and disgust in her eyes. She remembered the 
expression on Kaji's face the first time he saw it. Oh, he told her 
afterward that she was very beautiful, and she felt he had meant it, but 
she could never forget that first look on his face. And yet... this 
little child didn't seem perturbed by it. In fact, judging by the way he 
was touching it, he seemed to like the way it felt. So she let him touch 
her, until his little hands wandered up to her breast.
    "That's far enough for you, little man. If I didn't know better, I'd 
think that Asuka was right about you being a pervert."
    The baby gave her a blank look, before giggling again, wiggling in 
her outstretched arms. Misato smiled at the sight of such blissful joy.
    "Come. Auntie Misato needs to take a bath and something tells me I 
can't leave you alone here."

                              - - -

    "Now, you'd better not look, okay?" said Misato as she put the baby 
on the floor, his head facing the opposite direction of where she was 
standing.
    Not wanting the only set of clothes she had for Shinji to get wet, 
she had undressed him, leaving him only in diapers. Having gotten rid of 
any objects she thought he could get hurt with, and making sure that the 
bathroom door was closed, she figured that Shinji should be safe from 
trouble for at least a few minutes.
    Quickly removing her panties, the purple haired woman slipped into 
the bath. With a sigh of delight, she closed her eyes and enjoyed the 
feel of the warm water on her skin. As she opened her eyes, she saw 
Shinji waddling toward her.
    "Didn't I tell you not to look?"
    As if he wanted to contradict her, Shinji sat down and stared at 
her.
    "You're just gonna sit there and stare at me, aren't you?"
    Though she half expected it, Shinji didn't answer. At some moments, 
she had been convinced that Shinji was more aware of his surroundings 
then a normal baby. But maybe she had been mistaken. Maybe some of his 
earlier actions, such as apparently recognizing her and Ritsuko, were 
just coincidence and in truth actions of a small infant, and not a 
manifestation of his "past self".
    "You know, you better not remember any of this," Misato finally said 
as she picked up a bar of soap and started scrubbing.

                              - - -

    Feeling refreshed and somewhat more energetic, Misato walked toward 
her room, a towel around her body and another on her head. Putting 
Shinji back on her bed, she vigorously dried her head, then, after 
choosing a clean pair of undies, looked through the mess on her floor 
for her favorite T-shirt and shorts. The difficulty of the task made her 
realize something quite embarrassing: her room was a dump. In fact, as 
she picked up Shinji in her arm, she realized that the rest of the 
apartment wasn't any better. Empty beer cans and instant food packages 
could be seen everywhere in the kitchen: on the floor, on the fridge, on 
the table. Everywhere except in the trash. Dishes were piling up. The 
floor looked like it hadn't been swept in weeks. Entering the living 
room, she noticed the rather thick layer of dust on the TV and in the 
corners of the room. She also noticed a number or discarded empty food 
packages as well as... a pair of panties? A quick look confirmed that 
these were hers, which was very embarrassing as she had no idea how they 
ended up there. She could vaguely remember a movie, two weeks ago...
    "I can't even remember if Asuka was here at the time. Whatever 
happened, I hope she didn't see it..."
    Thinking of Asuka, she took a look in the girl's room. Better than 
hers, but only a bit.
    Each room she visited left her with the same impression: this place 
was a mess.
    With one exception. Shinji's room.
    Sure, there was a bit of dust here and there, but it was 
understandable since Shinji had been away for more than a month. The 
fact that it was so clean, especially if she considered what Shinji went 
through before the Fourteenth Angel attack... it was very humbling. 
Asuka had often called Shinji a wimp for doing everything around the 
apartment. A "house-broken male" she had said once, if her memory was 
correct. But looking at her apartment... there was no denying the amount 
of effort Shinji had to invest here. Cleaning. Washing their clothes. 
Taking the trash out. Cooking. Misato suddenly felt very small.
    "I'm sorry Shinji. I haven't been much of a guardian so far, have I? 
I gave you a home, but have I ever listened to your needs? All you 
wanted was a place where you could have some peace and quiet, as well as 
perhaps a friend. I couldn't help you when you were feeling depressed. I 
spent more time drinking myself into oblivion than trying to spend time 
with you. I've given almost all of the chores to you, without even 
trying to make your life any easier. Asuka and I imposed our life styles 
on you. I was supposed to be the responsible one here... but you 
probably were much more responsible than me."
    The baby hadn't apparently heard any of this. Or if he did, he 
didn't react to her words.
    "Well, that's gonna change! I swear that I'll make some efforts from 
now on. You'll see!"
    This new resolution taken, Misato started making plans.

                              - - -

    Getting a phone call in Central Command usually meant business. So 
Hyuuga Makoto didn't waste any time answering. He was quite surprised at 
the voice he heard on the other side of the phone.
    "Hello Makoto!"
    "Major?! What... what can I do for you?"
    Being one of the bridge officers, Makoto knew all about the 
'incident' Shinji had been involved in and how Misato had been ordered 
to take care of him until the situation could be resolved. So getting a 
call from her was a bit worrisome. The tone of her voice, however, 
seemed very joyful. This didn't fit well with the rumors of how badly 
she had taken this assignment.
    "Plenty actually. You see, I'm pretty much stuck here with Shinji 
and I'm lacking a few things. So I need you to do some shopping for me."
    "Shopping?"
    This was definitely not the help he expected her to need.
    She couldn't be out of beer yet, could she?
    "Yeah. Here's a list of what I need. A baby stroller. A crib. A 
playpen. I can't risk having Shinji wandering all around the apartment. 
And a baby car seat too. Speaking of cars, why don't you use mine? That 
way you can bring it back here. You'll find a key under the driver's 
seat. I'll probably need diapers too... and while you're at it, why 
don't you get me a few groceries?"
    Makoto gulped. She wanted him to buy *that*. He could already see 
the odd looks the cashiers would give him and he could hear the jokes 
Shigeru would make about all this.
    "But... but... I can't leave work like this!"
    "It's okay... I *order* you to get all those things for me."
    So much for that way to escape...
    "That'll cost a fortune!"
    "Just put it on NERV's credit. After all, it was the Commander who 
ordered me to take care of Shinji. And these are necessary accessories 
for this task."
    "But... I don't know a thing about babies!"
    It was a desperate attempt, Makoto knew it, but that didn't mean he 
couldn't try.
    "Just like me. Just ask those sales people, they'll help. Besides, I 
don't care about the look or style, just as long as it's safe and 
functional. I'm sure you can find that. I couldn't think of anyone I 
could trust more than you."
    For a moment, that comment eclipsed all previous thoughts. So he 
answered before he even realized he said it.
    "Yes Sir!"
    "Good boy! Later!"
    For some time, Makoto didn't move, not putting the phone down. How 
was he going to explain this without being unmercifully teased by 
Shigeru? At least Maya was with Doctor Akagi...
    Oh well. at least he would be humiliated helping Misato. It was 
worth it.
    Now to find someone to replace him for a few hours...

                              - - -

    "Well... here goes I guess."
    Makoto had often visited Misato's apartment. After all, the Major 
was famous for her parties. This, however, would be the first time he 
would be there with her... alone. The thought was enough to make him 
nervous. Letting his mind wander, imagining all sorts of possibilities, 
even if most were improbable, made it even worse.
    And so, Makoto pushed the electronic doorbell.
    "I'll be there in a minute!" he heard Misato yell behind the door.
    He didn't know if he should have been happy or not for this little 
wait. Still, the wait was short and the door opened. Makoto almost 
dropped the grocery bags he was holding. Misato was standing there, 
wearing low cut shorts, which showed off her very nice legs, and holding 
a small baby in her arms, which was no doubt Shinji, which she was 
currently feeding a bottle of milk. Conflicting emotions ran through 
Makoto. Part of him found her extremely sexy, while another part felt 
somewhat touched by the maternal air Misato was showing.
    She smiled at him, a small and serene sort of smile. Not a sexy 
smile, but one that made it hard to stand nonetheless.
    "Beautiful..." thought Makoto.
    "Come in."
    The NERV officer nodded and followed Misato inside. The state of the 
apartment brought him somehow back to reality. "This place is messier 
then my own place," was the first thought that came to his mind.
    "Yeah, I know, it's terrible," admitted Misato, as if she had read 
his mind. "I wanted to work on it after the delivery guys brought all 
the stuff here, but Shinji was hungry, so I had to take care of him 
first. The kitchen is even worse, I messed up the first few times I 
tried to prepare his baby's bottle. But he seems to enjoy it now."
    True enough, Shinji had almost finished his bottle. They walked in 
the living room, where all the things Misato had asked for had 
apparently been put. It was all even set up. Knowing Misato, she had 
probably used her charm on the delivery guys to get them to do the job.
    "Thanks, by the way. You were most helpful."
    "Hah! It's all right, Major..."
    Picking up an opened book from the floor, Misato read a few 
passages, then put it back. Curious, Makoto took a look at the book. He 
almost laughed as he read the title: 'Babies for Dummies'.
    "Hey! Don't laugh! I'll have you know that this book is very handy!"
    Taking away the bottle from Shinji, Misato then held the baby the 
way it had been indicated in the book and tried to make him burp.
    "How cute!" she said as she achieved the expected result. "Guess 
you'll be able to get a good sleep now," she added as she delicately put 
the baby in her newly bought crib. The baby did seem tired, as he was 
soon fast asleep.
    "Wow... hard to believe it's Shinji," commented Makoto, as both of 
them watched the baby sleep peacefully.
    The situation was so strange. Today, Misato seemed completely 
different. He was seeing a side of her he never imagined could exist. 
And part of him longed to see it every day. Coming home from work every 
day, being greeted by his loving wife Misato and their children. An 
absurd fantasy, but a sweet one.
    "Yeah. Even now, I sometimes wonder if I won't wake up and realize 
that this is all a dream... or a nightmare. I'm not sure which."
    As she turned toward him, Makoto gulped. He hadn't noticed earlier, 
since she had been holding the baby in her arms, but Misato was wearing 
an old T-shirt that had probably seen better days... years ago. The worn 
out material was thin enough and showed enough cleavage to clearly 
indicate she wore no bra underneath. Makoto tried not to stare, and 
instead tried to remind himself that the woman before him was his 
superior officer.
    It worked more or less, as fantasies of a little family were 
replaced by others of a different kind. At least, Misato didn't seem to 
notice.
    "Is there anything else I can do for you Major?"
    The situation was perhaps uncomfortable, but it sure beat being at 
NERV. And... perhaps... if he had enough time... he could find the 
courage to tell her how he felt...
    "Well..." unconsciously, Makoto shivered as he noticed the 
increasing predatory grin on Misato's face. "There's so much cleaning to 
do here... I'll never manage to do it all by myself..."
    "I guess... I could help."
    He just hoped Misato wouldn't talk about that later.

                              - - -

    Sohryu Asuka Langley was in a bad mood. Well, a good number of her 
classmates would say that Asuka was *always* in a bad mood, but this 
time, it was worse then usual. Nothing had gone right today. Sure, it 
had seemed like it would be a good day at first. After all, none of the 
Three Stooges had been at school. But things quickly turned downhill.
    Their regular teacher had been sick all week, and today their 
substitute teacher had the 'brilliant' idea to give them a surprise 
test. Unable to read most of the questions, Asuka had failed miserably.
    Then, at lunchtime, Asuka realized that she had forgotten her lunch 
back at the apartment, which forced her to buy food from the school 
cafeteria. Anybody who's eaten school cafeteria food knows how bad 
*that* is. To make matters worse, Hikari joined her for lunch and kept 
talking about Touji non-stop. While Asuka showed that she had a heart in 
letting Hikari express her worries about the boy she liked, hearing 
about him was the last thing she wanted. What Hikari saw in that dumb 
jock, she couldn't figure.
    Her day seemed to improve in the afternoon thanks to PE class. In 
swim class, she got the best time, which attracted her all her 
classmates' attention and admiration. That was, until everybody heard 
the teacher say that Rei had beaten her by a whole five seconds. As 
usual, nobody had paid attention to the blue haired girl, so no one 
except the teacher had noticed her. In a matter of seconds, all the 
attention switched from Asuka to Rei. And to add to the injury, Rei 
answered the girls' questions, as if she actually seemed to enjoy 
talking about swimming. But of course, that couldn't be true. This girl 
was, after all, emotionless. Still, the thought that this doll had 
bested her... it infuriated Asuka to no end.
    To add to an already rotten day, back in regular class, one of those 
stupid boys actually had the nerve to ask her out. Her anger having 
reached dangerous levels already, Asuka finally snapped and slapped him 
hard enough to send him on the floor. Because of that, she was forced to 
hold buckets in the hall for the rest of the day.
    And now, she would have to face Misato. Misato who hadn't slept at 
the apartment the night before. Asuka had no illusions of where her 
"guardian" had slept. A new surge of jealousy at the thought did not 
help her mood at all.
    At least, it had spared her from seeing her get drunk to drown her 
worries about her dear Shinji-kun.
    "I hate this place. I hate her. I hate him. I hate them all. I hate 
my life."
    As she entered the apartment, Asuka didn't bother with announcing 
her arrival. Stupid Japanese custom. This wasn't *her* home anyway.
    A number of things immediately struck her as odd. As far as she 
could remember, she had never seen the apartment look so clean. She 
could almost see her reflection on the floor. And the smell of cooking 
hit her. Which could only mean one thing. Shinji was back. She cringed 
at the thought of seeing him. Not only had he beaten an Angel which gave 
her a humiliating defeat, but he had gotten a synch ratio she could 
never hope to equal, much less beat. Sure, he had gotten himself sucked 
in his EVA as a result, but she was still envious of him, and that 
thought alone infuriated her. Her! Envious of *him*. She clenched her 
fists and stepped into the kitchen. That jerk was going to be so sorry 
for that...
    She stopped dead in her track at the sight before her. Misato was in 
the kitchen. Wearing an apron. Cooking. Something that didn't look like 
instant and which actually smelled edible.
    Hearing footsteps, Misato turned around and noticed her other ward. 
She gave the redhead a big, cheery smile.
    "I didn't hear you come in. Welcome back, Asuka-chan!"
    Asuka's jaw dropped and she stared at the purple haired woman as if 
lobsters were crawling out of her ears. Misato was cooking. She seemed 
to be enjoying it. And she didn't look drunk one bit. Being pulled into 
a hug just added to her state of shock. And the worse was... it actually 
felt good. All of the earlier events of the day seemed to be suddenly 
forgotten. Until she realized that she was returning the hug... and how 
intimate this all was. She quickly broke the embrace.
    "Don't you dare! Don't you dare ever do that again!"
    "Asuka... please... don't scream..."
    In her state of mind, Asuka didn't notice the slight panicked look 
on Misato's face.
    "The hell I won't!"
    "WWWAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
    "Oh shit! Look at what you've done! And it was going so well..."
    Asuka froze. That noise... this wasn't what she thought it was, was 
it? No, that couldn't be...
    In a semi daze, she followed Misato and finally took notice of all 
the baby utilities in the living room. "Mein Gott!" she thought, "When 
did this place become a nursery?" She watched Misato bend over a crib, 
which seemed the source of the noise, and pick up a baby in her arms. A 
real live baby.
    "Shushhh... it's okay... nothing's wrong. Asuka was just a bit 
excited. She won't do it again. Will you Asuka?"
    The girl just couldn't believe her eyes. Had aliens landed and taken 
over Tokyo-3?
    She just nodded dumbly.
    "See. You don't have to cry anymore."
    As if he had understood, the baby actually calmed down. This was too 
strange.
    "What... what's that?"
    "Well, a baby of course."
    "I know it's a baby! What is it doing here?!"
    "Now, Asuka... don't scream. If you don't calm down first, I won't 
tell you."
    The girl clutched her first and took heavy breaths.
    "I. Am. Calm."
    Misato didn't really seem to believe her, but there wasn't much she 
could do about that.
    "Maybe you're better sit down."
    "I'll be fine as I am."
    "Okay," said Misato with a shrug. "Well... how to say this? Hum... 
Asuka... this baby... this baby is really... Shinji."
    Asuka frowned.
    "What kind of crap are you trying to pull? This thing... Shinji! 
Gimme a break!"
    Misato just took the baby and showed him to Asuka.
    "It *is* Shinji. You see, there was an accident in the recovery 
attempt. You're seeing the end result."
    For a moment Asuka stared at the baby. It looked... somehow... 
familiar. And those dark blue eyes...
    "Shinji?"
    "Gaahh," answered the baby cheerfully, apparently recognizing his 
name.
    Asuka fainted and fell heavily on the floor.
    "Well, that went better than expected," commented Misato as she went 
to fetch some smelling salts.

                              - - -

    "Why me?" Makoto moaned, as he tried to fight the fatigue that 
threatened to overcome him.
    Already, the absence of Maya had shown in the daily work. Enough for 
Shigeru and Makoto to barely manage to cover for it in regular working 
hours. This might not have been a problem on any other day; however, 
having spent most of the day at Misato's, Makoto had to catch up on what 
he had neglected to do, which meant an extra shift. And earlier events 
had drained him mentally and physically. Misato had asked him to help 
her clean her apartment, which he had found himself unable to refuse. He 
would never have imagined that house work could be that tiring. Or was 
it just because there was so much that needed to be done?
    If at least Shigeru had agreed to stay a while to help him. But he 
had only laughed at him for having been so easily manipulated by the 
Major.
    "Damn you, Shigeru!"
    And to add to his current problem, the Commander was on the bridge. 
Watching him. Didn't he have anything better to do?

                              - - -

    Up at his desk above the Command Center, Ikari Gendo grinned. 
Perhaps he would watch that poor Lieutenant squirm for another hour. 
After all, Supreme Commanders need leisure time, too...

                              - - -

    With Asuka having regained consciousness, both women sat at the 
kitchen table. Asuka was eating Misato's curry, which was surprisingly 
good, while clutching a cloth filled with a few ice cubes on her head; 
her fall had rewarded her with a nasty bump. She was eating rather 
slowly, not really feeling like enjoying her meal. Part of her was 
ashamed of herself. Fainting like that had been such a show of weakness! 
Only the fact that Misato had admitted that she had had the same 
reaction the previous day made it somewhat acceptable.
    Another part of her was rather confused at this turn of event. She 
hated Shinji. This was clear in her mind. He was weak, he was annoying, 
he was a wimp and he just kept outdoing her without trying. But to have 
this occur to him? She felt guilty for all the times she had wished to 
be rid of him.
    It would have been much more appropriate if it had been Ayanami.
    And while she would never admit it to anyone, this change of 
situation was scaring her. This was as close as dying as any of them had 
ever gotten. And... it was starting all over again. People around her... 
were leaving her.
    On the other side of the table, Misato was feeding Shinji a bottle 
of milk. She had decided to give priority to the infant, rather then her 
own stomach. She took this opportunity to explain everything to Asuka as 
well.
    "So... a four hundred percent synch ratio is that dangerous?" Asuka 
finally asked.
    "Yes. I don't know exactly what happened, but when the recovery 
failed, nothing should have been left of Shinji. And from what I managed 
to learn from Ritsuko, the first time someone reached four hundred 
percent... that person was never seen again."
    For a moment, Misato looked at the child cradled in her arms.
    "We were lucky to get him back, even in this state."
    "Can it... can it happen to me?"
    This questioned puzzled Misato. It wasn't usual to see Asuka 
worried.
    "I doubt it. Unit-02 never showed any signs of going berserk. 
Neither has Unit-00, except for both Rei's and Shinji's first activation 
tests. I think this is... something unique to Unit-01. Or perhaps 
Shinji. After all, he seems to be the only one who can use it now."
    Asuka seemed to think for a moment, chewing on some rice.
    "His EVA... it was much more powerful that way, right?"
    "Yeah," admitted Misato.
    "Then... what if it's necessary? What if Angels can't be beaten 
without an EVA going berserk? I mean, isn't that how Shinji beat the 
Third? As well as the Twelfth and the Fourteenth? And the Thirteenth... 
I've seen the videos... it wasn't the same, but Unit-01 looked just as 
wild. What if the Fifteenth is the same?"
    So that was what Asuka was afraid of. Afraid that the same thing 
would occur to her. She could understand; knowing what the girl went 
through in her childhood, no doubt the last thing she wanted was to have 
to grow up again. But there was probably something else. Asuka was 
likely also afraid of not being of any use anymore.
    "If he hadn't run out of power, Shinji would probably have defeated 
the last Angel." Asuka frowned at that comment. She had thought that 
Shinji had only been able to defeat the Angel because his EVA had gone 
berserk. "I'm sure that we'll be able to handle the next Angel, even if 
we have to do it without Unit-01 and Shinji. I'm sure you can do it, 
Asuka."
    "I don't know, Misato. After all, I'm not as good as our great 
Shinji-sama!"
    "Asuka... I didn't mean..."
    Misato couldn't say more, as the doorbell made itself heard.
    "I guess I should answer," said Asuka, as she got up.
    "Asuka..."
    Asuka was glad for the distraction. The last thing she wanted was 
for Misato to try and cheer her up. She felt utterly humiliated. Would 
Shinji really have beaten the Fourteenth Angel if he hadn't run out of 
power? Was that coward really that much better than her?
    "What do you want?!" she yelled as the door opened.
    She was surprised to see Hikari behind the door, a stunned look on 
her face.
    "A... Asuka? Am I... coming at a bad time?"
    Realizing the effect she just had on her friend, Asuka's expression 
softened. For a moment, she forgot all about EVAs and stupid boys.
    "Hikari? What are you doing here?"
    Hikari smiled, but still seemed a bit uneasy. Asuka noted that the 
girl wasn't wearing her school uniform, but rather a black skirt and 
lavender shirt.
    "Well... I gave Kensuke his printouts after school. And he told 
me..." The girl paused and suddenly, her eyes lit up in delight. "Oh! 
He's so cute!!!"
    Asuka blinked as the girl ran passed her to joined Misato who had 
just exited the kitchen. Hikari hadn't... no, she couldn't have come 
just for... this?
    "He is, isn't he?" said Misato with pride.
    "Oh, he's so precious," beamed Hikari. "I love babies! I used to 
baby-sit at least twice a week before. But now with all those Angels 
attacks... Can I... can I hold him?"
    "Sure," said Misato with a smile, as she handed carefully the baby 
to Hikari. The purple-haired woman nodded in satisfaction as she 
realized that Hikari knew exactly the right way to hold the baby.
    "I feel sick," thought Asuka.
    She was now frowning deeply, her gaze moving from Misato, to Hikari, 
to the baby and back, in repeated cycles. Here she thought that *her 
friend* had come to visit her, only to realized that she was only 
interested in Shinji. Or rather the baby. How did she know about this 
anyway? Hikari had mentioned something about Kensuke. Was that it? Her 
temper flared up even more. How dare Misato tell that stupid otaku about 
Shinji *before* telling *her*!
    "Oh... you're such a cute little boy you!" said Hikari, while 
tickling the boy's stomach, eliciting a few giggles from him, a fact 
that Misato noted for future use. "You are just so cute! Yes you are! 
Yes you are!" Asuka let out a groan upon hearing Hikari's now 
sickeningly sweet voice. "What's his name?"
    "Well..."
    "Shinji," answered Asuka, her voice dripping acid at the mention of 
the name. "He's called Shinji."
    If Hikari noticed Asuka's attitude, she didn't show it.
    "Shinji? Wow, what a coincidence!" Asuka groaned at how clueless her 
friend was. "Hello, Shin-chan!"
    As she shook her head and made funny faces, the baby caught one of 
the girl's pigtails that flew within reach of Shinji's grasp. Asuka 
smiled wickedly as Hikari let out a little yelp.
    "She gets what she deserved," thought the red-head sourly.
    "Shinji! Don't do that!" said Misato, as she tried to get the 
pigtail out of the baby's grasp.
    "It's okay," said Hikari, letting the baby play with her pigtails. 
"He just surprised me. Babies all love to do that. It didn't really 
hurt."
    "Oh... You know, you seem to know a lot about babies," noted Misato. 
"Care to give me some tips? Oh, and did you eat? I think I made far too 
much food. Want some?"
    "Yeah, sure!" Then Hikari remembered some of the things Asuka had 
said about Misato's cooking. "Although I'm not sure I'm that hungry..."
    "You'll see, it's good! Wasn't it, Asuka?"
    "I'm not lying on the floor in agony from food poisoning, if that's 
what you mean."
    For a moment, Hikari pondered the question, then thought of a way to 
perhaps do Asuka a favor.
    "Okay, I can try some. And perhaps we can also exchange cooking tips 
as well?"
    "You've got yourself a deal!"
    So Misato and Hikari, still holding Shinji, headed toward the 
kitchen, leaving a fuming Asuka behind.
    "How... how can they ignore me like that!"
    There was, however, no one left to answer that question.

                              - - -

    "WWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
    "Want... sleep... more..." groaned Misato, as she struggled to find 
her alarm clock. After a few long seconds, her fingers finally found the 
familiar shape of the dreaded object and pushed the snooze bottom.
    Nothing happened.
    The oddity of that fact caught the attention of some of her brain 
cells. Slowly, a chain reaction brought the rational part of her brain 
to awareness.
    Some loud noise woke her up.
    Pushing the snooze bottom of her alarm clock didn't stop the sound.
    Therefore, the sound didn't come from the alarm clock.
    "Shut up, you moron! Shut up! Shut up! SHUT UP!"
    Additional input was then added to the equation.
    The sound had woken Asuka as well.
    Asuka yelled at Shinji.
    Therefore Shinji is the source of the noise.
    That's when Misato's eyes snapped opened, as most of her brain came 
online. Shinji was crying. Correction, baby Shinji was crying. And 
whatever the reason, he probably wouldn't stop unless someone did 
something.
    Still half in a daze, Misato got up and looked at her clock. Barely 
two in the morning. Hikari had left around eleven the previous night, so 
she had only slept for three hours.
    "Urg..."
    More steady on her feet, Misato went to see what was wrong.
    Realizing that it would be closer to her room and that he would be 
easier to hear in case of problems, Misato had left Shinji's crib in the 
living room instead of his room. Misato congratulated herself for that 
idea. Reaching the baby, she picked him up and tried to assess the 
situation.
    That's when she noticed all the noise that was coming from Asuka's 
room. Then the girl emerged from her room, a suitcase in hand, her 
school bag in the other.
    "Asuka, what are you doing?" asked Misato as she followed the girl 
toward the door, where she put her shoes on.
    "Ain't it obvious?! I'm leaving! No way I'm gonna put up with this 
every night! If there's an Angel attack, I'll be at Hikari's."
    "You can't be serious..."
    "You have no idea how serious I am!"
    Misato couldn't believe it. How could Asuka do that?
    "But Asuka... I was hoping I could count on you..."
    "Forget it! You're the one here who's Shinji's guardian! This is 
your problem, not mine! It's enough that I had to stand him whining as a 
boy, I won't stand for him crying in the middle of the night as a baby 
and you certainly won't stick the chores of changing his diapers on me! 
That thing has been poisoning my life ever since I got back from school! 
I won't take more of that crap!"
    "Asuka!"
    It was however too late, as the girl was already gone.
    "You're still wearing your sleeping clothes..."
    For a moment, Misato stood in front of the door, hoping that the 
teenage girl would come back. She didn't. Misato couldn't help but feel 
deeply disappointed in her.
    "It's okay Shinji... we'll manage without her."
    "WWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!"
    Misato groaned. Something was telling her that the next two weeks 
would be *very* long.


[To be continued...]


Author's notes:

While "in-character" (or so I believe), some people could think that I 
was overly rash over my portrayal of Asuka. Do not be mistaken, I love 
Asuka very much. However, as we all know, Asuka's attitude worsened 
after the Fourteenth Angel attack. And as she expressed in episode 22, 
she has no intention of having children. This is something I'll try to 
develop more in the next part.

Also, in this particular context, Asuka represents in a way the older 
child that sees it's family change with the arrival of a new member. 
It's a common thing. Older siblings often get jealous of the extra 
attention their parents get from the new baby. For Asuka who craves the 
attention of others, this is unacceptable.

    Source: geocities.com/tokyo/teahouse/2236/myfics

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