All characters copyrighted by Gainax, not me.
SPOILERS AHEAD!
In this fic, Yui Ikari is NOT part of Unit 1. If you have a problem
with this, don't read.
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Misato put her hand to Ritsuko's shoulder, trying to stop the
bleeding. When the control center was first broken into, Ritsuko had
been shot by the UN forces. It was only an advance scout so when Kaji
and Misato opened up with their pistols, nobody was there to save the
young man's body from being riddled with bullets. Ritsuko whimpered
a little when some disinfectant was applied.
"Oh, be quiet you big baby; it's not that bad," Misato said.
Ritsuko only looked at her friend with venom in her eyes.
"It would if you were in my place...arggh! Stop that, I'm fine!"
Ritsuko said through clenched teeth, and she cast a glance around the
large room.
"How goes the fortifing?" She was referring to the attempt at
making to room inpenetrable. Misato followed her friend's gaze around
the room and didn't like what she saw. Pistols and automatic rifles
were being handed out to every staff member. As a policy, all
employee's of NERV had to be checked out on a firing range; though
none ever thought that they would need to use it. Guards now stood at
every door and possible entrance.
"It's going, but remember, this room was designed to withstand a
seige from all enemies. We've got guns, ammo, and all the needed
things," Misato said.
"Needed things? You mean food and beer?" Ritsuko tried for a joke
and winced a little when Misato tore off a strip of her lab coat to
tie around the injury. Misato laughed a little.
"Yup!" she said while looking around. Maya looked a little out of
place with a pistol, but she wore a grim face. Kaji was handing out
the rifles from an armoured cabinet. Misato briefly considered the
idea that he was not on their side; that he was still a spy, but
soon dismissed it.
Then she looked up at Commanders Fuyutsuki and Ikari, who looked like
they were bored, even through their heated discussion. 'Probably just a
facade
the put up to give confidance,' she thought. Fuyutsuki noticed Misato
looking at them and said as much to the commander.
"She's looking at us, Ikari. Who do you think ordered this?"
"The answer is obvious, it was Seele who did this. Who else has
the power to order such a thing?" Commander Ikari replied.
"Yes, but _why_ would they do such a thing?" Fuyutsuki asked, more
perplexed about the whole thing than ever.
"I suspect it has something to do with the development of the
project. They still refuse to understand that without Unit 1 in
operation, the project _can't_ go on. The old men are probably unhappy
at having to revamp their scenario so many times," the Commander
answered and Fuyutsuki laughed at their running joke.
"But, _what_ are we going to do about this? We can't hold out
forever."
"No, but we can hold out long enough to completely destroy the
project, if need be."
"You...your n...not serious, are you?!" But one look from the
Commander told Fuyutsuki all he needed to know about the Commander's
seriousness.
"The project, the Main LCL Plant, Terminal Dogma, everything. You
and I both know what will happen if Seele has it's way, and that
outcome must be stopped at all costs; you know that," Commander Ikari
said, gazing right into Fuyutsuki's eyes and in that moment of time
Fuyutsuki knew the Commander was right; Seele's ideas and plans for
the project must not be allowed to proceed.
"You're right, Commander. But what do they hope to accomplish by
attacking?"
"They may be hoping to remove the project from the Geofront, that
way they could monitor it's progress on their own. But you and I both
know that would only delay, perhaps destroy it. Unit 1 and all the
other items are here."
"What if that's not what they're planning? What if it's something
else?"
"Then I have no idea what it may be," Commander Ikari said. He
looked up to see Kaji proffer a pistol at him. He accepted it
wordlessly, even though he hadn't fired one in years. There was no
need. Fuyutsuki opened his mouth to ask something else, but was cut
off by Shigeru.
"Sir! Even though the main power's been cut off, the backup's are
functioning enough to power the external camera's and sensors. We're
detecting something," he said.
"Is there still enough power to put it up on the main screen?"
Commander Ikari said.
"Yes, sir," Maya replied while doing it. The image that was
projected was the open sky.
"Zooming in," Makoto said. The image slowly enlarged in size until
the nine dots became visible. Then the image jumped in size so the
leading dot became recognizable. It was gleaming white, humanoid, but
with a pair of wings extending out of it's back. It had a long, wide
blade, the weapon was longer than the thing itself. But most
recognizable feature was the things head, long and serpentine and
curved. Then the others came into veiw. Eight of the things had
their's curving up, while one had it curving down. Misato found her
voice before anyone else.
"What the _hell_ are they?!" she asked. Commander Ikari replied,
almost loosing his composure.
"I'd say that they were the UN forces' backup and the insturment of
our destruction. Zoom in on one's shoulder," The Commander ordered.
Shigeru obeyed, and everybody suddenly felt cold as ice when the image
enlarged and focused on the writing of the shoulder. It had a large 9
on it, and below that "Mass Prod" was written. Everybody knew that
Eva's 5-13 were being used against them. "Well, it seems that we are
out numbered," Commander Ikari stated.
"Call the pilots!" Misato yelled.
Meanwhile, miles away from the base and conflict, one of the pilots
was having a discussion with himself. "You idiot! What were you
thinking?" Shinji was thinking back to his kissing Asuka. He
continued to berate himself out loud until he heard a mild clapping
from behind him. He turned around to see Asuka standing there.
"You're finally getting the idea, Idiot Boy. I see that my
'hand'iwork is still present on your face," she said with a grin. It
got wider as red spred across his face, matching the pair of fading
hand prints on his cheeks. He was sitting in one of the chairs in
their living room, she sat down on the couch, facing him. "Why did
you do that if the Commander didn't put you up to it?"
"I told you, it was repay-"
"No. You don't have the spine for something like that. So tell
me, why?"
"To get your attention," he replied after a moment of thinking.
"You could have done hundreds of other things, why did you kiss me?"
"It seemed like the best course of action."
"Or maybe you were waiting years to do that to me."
"Now why would I want to do that?"
"Who are you trying to convince, me or yourself?"
"Look, Asuka, stop with the third degree!"
"Why? This is just repayment for the kiss!" Shinji fought hard to
keep his anger down, then he thought of another question.
"Why did you take so long to slap me if you hated it?" he asked.
"I never said I hated i..." Asuka trailed off as she realized that
she just admitted to maybe liking him kissing her. Shinji's eyebrows
raised.
"Asuka, did you miss me when I left?" he asked after a few moments.
Toji's words came back to haunt Asuka, 'If you hated him so much, why
were you so broken up at having him leave? For that matter, why did
you smile at him?'. Asuka reminded herself that she'd never answered
him, she had told herself then that it wasn't worth the energy to
answer. Now she thought that maybe she didn't answer because she
didn't want to know the truth.
'Why did I smile at him?' she asked herself. 'Did I miss the jerk?
Nahhhhh, not possible. Then why did I take so long to hit him? Did I
want him to kiss me?' The last thought horrified her. It meant that
she wanted him! She hadn't wanted anyone other than Kaji...and her
parents.
She didn't want to think about her parents.
"Well, as you look like you don't want to answer my questions, I
shall leave you," Shinji said and he turned around, going for his
room.
Asuka made up her mind, disgusted by the way she was thinking, but
knew that it was the right course of action; that, and she wanted to
do it.
She _had_ missed him.
"Ohhh, Shinji," she said in a sweet voice. She watched with
interest as he snapped straight and slowly turned around to face her.
He wore an expression of fear on his face. Before he left, Asuka had
only used that tone of voice when she planned on tormenting him in
some dispicable manner, and it didn't seem that she'd changed much in
the last three years, other than by becoming _very_ pretty. Beautiful,
even.
"Y...y...yes, A...Asuka?" he asked in a shakey voice. She had an
odd look in her eyes just before she walked up to him. She stood eye
to eye with him and gazed with her vibrant blue eyes into his dark
blue ones.
Shinji figured that, for some reason, she was gathering up her
courage.
Then in a flash she covered his mouth with hers. Shinji's eyes slowly
got wider as he realized what was going on, then he did the
unexpected; he responded to her. It was as if three years of
reined-in feelings suddenly burst free of their bonds and ran amok!
The kiss grew deeper and deeper, until neither of them expected to
get out of it. But all too soon the kiss broke and they looked at
each other with silly grins.
"Those are my answers," she said, still grinning ear-to-ear.
Shinji had no idea what she was talking about.
"Huh? What?" he managed to get out as he was still trying to
digest what had just happened.
"If I missed you and why I took so long to slap you; yes I did miss
you, and I liked you kissing me. Those are my answers," she said,
finally able to get it out. For three years, maybe more, she'd denied
herself the truth. She liked Shinji.
It took a minute for Shinji to realize that now he'd twice called
her beautiful. Then he realized something, he _liked_ Asuka, far more
than he liked any friend that he had. He stepped back for few moments,
just looking at the girl standing in front of him, with a silly grin
to match his own. Then he laughed out loud. It started as a small
chuckle and turned into full-blown mirth.
"What? What's so funny?" Asuka demanded, though not as forcefully
as she would have a few weeks ago. Shinji waved a hand and tried to
catch his breath. "Shinji..." she said dangeously low. Then he
sobered up and looked her square in the eye.
"At least this time I could breathe, as I didn't have a hand
holding my nose shut!" Asuka blushed at the memory, as it was she, not
he, that initiated the contact that time, even though it was only to
waste time.
'Did I want him to kiss me back then?' She closed her eyes, trying
to remember the feeling of having his lips touching hers like they did
a few moments ago. She heard a grunt of pain from in front of her
and opened her eyes just in time to see Shinji fall to his knees,
clutching at his head.
Shinji was enjoying himself by watching Asuka's face take on a hue
close to her plug suit when his head suddenly started throbbing
painfully.
The throb got worse and worse until it felt like his head was
swelling. He could feel a small drop of blood trickle out of his nose,
and for a moment he thought that he could see the dark cloud from the
entry plug. He could feel...something. It wasn't human, whatever it
was. Then he heard a voice calling.
"Shinji...Shinji...Shinji...come to me...we must be together," the
inhuman voice chanted over and over again In that moment Shinji knew
that he and his father were right about Unit 1.
"Stop it! Stop it! Stop calling me! I don't want to fight! I
don't want to hurt anyone! Please, stop!" he yelled. The voice
stopped.
For a moment he thought that it was his imagination, but then he heard
Asuka's voice shouting at him.
"Shinji! Shinji what's going on?" Asuka yelled, worried about him,
and she momentarily thought about that feeling in regards to young man
in front of her. Then she ran to him, and grabbed on to his shirt.
"Stop what?" she asked, perplexed. Then he stopped shouting and rose
from his knees.
"I'm fine," he said, trying to sound calm.
"No, you're not. You just don't collapse to your knees in pain,
yelling at someone to stop, and still be fine. Tell me what's wrong,"
she asked, deciding that even though she's revised her opinion about
him, he was still an idiot.
Shinji, for his part started open his mouth to tell her that he was
fine again, but then he looked into her eyes and he started to loose
himself in those deep orbs, and suddenly didn't have the heart to lie
to her. But he couldn't bring himself to tell the truth, for fear that
it would make her worry. Already his thoughts about her, and what he
would do to her, were changing with his feelings. Unable to decided to
lie or tell the truth, he settled on a compromise.
"I don't know," he said sadly, wiping the drop of blood away from
his face. "You surprised me, you know. I didn't think you'd show such
concern for me," he admitted. Asuka was silent for a moment,
considering her answers.
"I'm surprising myself these days," she responded. Shinji's
response was cut off by two cellular phones ringing.
end part 11
Cory Holmes
gholmes@rodeo.sd27.bc.ca
K Yee and Joshua Stanczak.
Special thanks to:
Anthony Woo, Shachihoko, Brian Yaple, JLee100441, Micah Potasnik, and
Curtiss R. Nelson for answering my pesky questions.
Cory Holmes
gholmes@rodeo.sd27.bc.ca
(
geocities.com/tokyo/shrine/3281) (
geocities.com/tokyo/shrine) (
geocities.com/tokyo)