Changing Relationships /A New Face By The English Shinji Project Start: 27 August 1998, 20:33:10 Project End: 12 September 1998, Evangelion is the property of Gainax (thank you, you wonderful people). ADV Films has the rights to the English translation. Those absolutely brilliant people at Orbit Productions, creators of the perfect second series own all the Characters Aoi Tamashi, Seyoko Okazaki, Lyn Anouilh and Tenkei for NGE, Neon Genesis Evangelion: R, used with their permission. The Character John Peter Riley, is my own creation, and so is owned by me. Hahahaaa, I return, and with the continuation of 'Love Changes Everything', 'Changing Relationships /A New Face'. I now have decided to continue this into a little series. There's no certainty I'll end it, but once I see the end of Eva, I'll make my mind up on what the ending will be. Great, that's a good couple of months to fill in with more fan fics. Well, I'll make this bit shorter for now, as I don't know what to say (ok, write), but I am working on a piece of writing about Eva:R, so look out for that somewhere, when I get it done. ------------------------------------------------- ver. 1.0 ------------------------------------------------- "Hey, Granddad, why were there lots of strange men stopping us from going near the airport to look at the planes? Why Granddad?" a small kid asked his grandfather as he starts up the car. "I don't know Timmy, the airports been closed off to everyone today. I heard they got a big secret plane in there, their hiding from us?" "Cool, do you think we could wait till it takes off? Can we Granddad? Can we?" the little child was gleefully asking his Grandfather. "Well..." he looks at his watch, "I suppose we can wait a for a little while, your Mums not expecting you back till three, so I guess we can." "Yeah, cool." "Seeing as we're gonna be waiting, why don't we go get a drive-through." "Yeah, I'm hungry Granddad, can I have one of those toys that come with them too? Can I?" The old man smiles as he looks at his grandson, "Yes, you can Timmy." then he looks back behind them and starts the car reversing. In New-Gatwick Airport, there wasn't a single ordinary civilian about. The usually chaotic building that consisted of Terminal-2 was in a different kind of chaos. There were soldiers running around the building, checking that the building was empty and secure. The same thing had been done with the other Terminal, with two squads left behind to make sure it stayed empty of unauthorised personnel. Once the airport had been secured, and the nearby area surrounding the airport had been checked, the large container-like lorries were moved onto the airfield and the contents prepared for loading onto the massive triangular plane also on the airfield. Above could be heard the sound of many aircraft. This was the task force that had been assigned to make sure that the cargo for that plane reached its destination. Soon, the contents of the large container vehicle emerged as it was slowly removed and attached to the large aircraft. It wasn't long before the word -EVA 08- could be seen on the long black humanoid form appearing from within. As Tim and his Grandfather waited in the cue for their food, a loud roar start to build up from the distance. Everyone started to look in the direction of the sound. As suddenly as the noise had started, it died away. "What the hell was that?" exclaimed Tim's grandfather. Meanwhile, back in Tokyo-3, Japan, the local population was starting to stir, preparing to face the day ahead. In one apartment in the Tokai district, Shinji Ikari had just woken up. He wiped the sleep from his eyes, as he prepared to get up. He made sure he made as little sound as possible as he put on a T-shirt and some shorts, and opened the door to go have a wash. ' As usual, I'm the first up. Those two are so lazy.' Shinji thought as he stepped out of his room and made his way to the bathroom. As he lay in the bath, Shinji remembered the night before. For once he wasn't thinking of bad memories in here. As he remembered, images flash past his eyes of what had happened. Strangely, they mostly consisted of Asuka. Then he remembered the touch of her lips against his as she gave him a goodnight kiss. He sunk farther into the warm bath water at the memory of that, and smiled to himself. 'Now that was nice.' As he remembered more he thought back to only a moment before that, when she had held him, the smile she'd given him, the feel of her warm hands on the back of his neck. Suddenly, the bathroom door slid back and a sleepy faced Asuka wandered in. Shinji didn't notice, because his ears were under the water and he'd dosed off. Asuka closed the door, and turned towards the bath to start the water running. She froze as she noticed there was already someone in the bath. She looked at the Shinji's serene face, noticing that he was smiling slightly. Her eyes uncontrollably strolled down Shinji's naked body, stopping at a certain point between his legs. Her eyes suddenly bulged. "SHINJI, YOU DISGUSTING LITTLE PERVERT!!!" Shinji snapped awake at the sound of that voice, even though slightly distorted by the water, he knew that voice very well and what it usually meant. He sat bolt upright, well, at least tried to sit upright. His body slipped down into the water, and as he tried to use his hands they just slipped too. As Shinji tried to stop himself from drowning, Asuka was not the slightest bit amused, well, at first. But as she watched Shinji struggle to not drown, cover himself up and apologise at the same time, she couldn't help but loose her angry composure. "Oh, I give up with you sometimes, Shinji, I really do," she grabbed his arm and yanked him upright, trying not to let her eyes wonder, "you shouldn't fall asleep in the bath, Shinji, you could kill yourself." she got out in between slapping Shinji's back to help get the water out. "Shinji, you really should remember to lock the door you know." "Sorry Asuka, but.....shit!" Shinji hurriedly covered up, but still holding onto the side of the bath with one hand, so not to slip again, "Asuka, could you please...well, er..leave...I'm kinda..." "Oh yeah, forgot, hehe." She purposely did it as slow as possible so to make Shinji as uncomfortable as possible, 'Serves that pervert right, he shouldn't do that in the bath, other people use it too...eeuuuuggghhh, that's gross.' Asuka let go of Shinji's arm and started walking off towards the door. As she was halfway out, she heard Shinji getting out the bath, probably to lock the door, so she playfully bent back to peep, Shinji saw this and quickly moved to cover himself again. Unluckily because of this, he lost his balance and slipped up, falling with a bang and a loud "AAAGGGHHH.... OUCH!" Asuka closed the door behind her and moved off to wait for Shinji to finish. Shinji was in a bad mood by breakfast. He hadn't enjoyed half drowning in the bath then hitting his head on the hard bathroom floor afterwards, add to that the embarrassment of Asuka finding him in that certain situation. 'I never fall asleep in the bath, especially thinking of Asuka.' Shinji thought to himself as he rubbed his throbbing head at the breakfast table. He'd managed to make some food after taking some aspirin. Strangely, the cooking didn't go quite as usual, with certain pieces of food burning slightly and his food going cold because he had forgotten about it. All these things didn't help to soothe his piece of mind. By the time it was ready, Shinji was not at all happy. Unusual behaviour in itself, seeing Shinji usually had an infinite amount of patience. But not this morning. "Shinji, these sausages are burnt." Asuka whined. "I'm sorry Asuka, but I didn't have time to cook some more, so you'll just have to have them." he took a sip of his tea, and spat it straight out. 'Oh great, cold Tea.'. Lyn arose groggily, shielding his eyes from the bright light which had disturbed his slumber. "Wakey, wakey, rise and shine little boy." his guardian chides to the boy in English. "Seyoko," the boy whines, complaining close those damn curtains, I've still got plenty of time," Lyn moans as he lies back down pulling the sheets back up round him, "I've still got plenty of time so let me rest will you, I've got sync tests today, so let me get a little extra rest, please Seyoko?" "Oh no you don't, that's no excuse for you to sleep in. You'll just end up having to rush to school." she moved towards the end of the bed, bent down, and grabbed the sheets. "Now, get up..." and she pulled hard on the sheets. The loose grip the boy had on his end of the sheets was never going to be enough to hold the sheets, and so they swiftly disappeared off of the boy, leaving him in his boxers. Unluckily, this didn't make him want to get up, it just made him curl up into a ball as he tried to doze. "Well Lyn Anouilh, you really have become the laziest boy I think I've had the pleasure to have known. Now get up or do you want me to drag you out?" The boy stirs, and stretches " Ok, ok, I get the idea. Just leave me so I can get dressed, unless you particularly want to see me naked?" Seyoko moves towards the door, "You forget Lyn, I already have, say about 11 years ago last, I think." a pillow narrowly misses her head. "Yeah, but now I like a bit of privacy, so could you please leave." "Well, breakfast wont be ready for about half-an-hour......." "Awwww, Seyoko, I knew it. Why'd you get me up so early then?" he turns over to look at his guardian. "Because I think your too lazy, so get off that lazy ass of yours and ready. Or I'll do it myself, I'm sure you wouldn't like that one bit, would you?" "Ohhh, ok, you win," Lyn groans, "I'll get you for this, Seyoko." When she was sure he wasn't going to fall back asleep, Seyoko, closed the door, and went to prepare breakfast. As Lyn exited his apartment he almost died as a pair of arms wound their way around his waist and someone's head rested itself on his shoulder, "Shit," he screamed, then relaxed as he realised who it was, "Christ, you frightened me Aoi." "Who did you think it was 6? I thought I'd surprise you, and..." "Lyn? Whose that your talking to out there?" Seyoko called from inside. 'Shit, forgot the door was still open.' he thought, as he hastily replied, "What are you talking about Seyoko? You must be hearing things, I haven't said a thing. Well, bye." "Whatever, now don't be late. And don't forget the Tests." "I'll try not too." and shuts the door, and turns to Aoi, who is looking at him sadly. "What?" "Are you embarrassed to be seen with me or something? Why'd you lie?" she said sadly. It nearly broke his heart to hear that from her. 'Oh, God, why do I deny the truth.' he held her hands in his and looked into those beautiful seas of blue, he could see she was truly hurt, not just playing around, 'Why do I hurt her? I can't keep denying her.' "I..I'm sorry, I suppose its just that Seyoko is like...well, family..I'd just find it embarrassing, I'm selfish like that..." "..So I'm -embarrassing- to be seen with then,." she said with spite in her voice as she looked away. "No, no," he put a hand on her chin and pulled her face back up gently to look back at those eyes "its not like that, its just in front of her. I've known her since as long as I could remember, so, its more embarrassing with her. Its not that I don't like to be seen with you, its just that...well...its like that. You understand?" "I..understand." she half whispered. She lowered her eyes. "Well, if you like...." she looked back up into his eyes, "...you can come for dinner if you like and meet her, how does that sound?" Aoi's reaction was instantaneous, her features brightened tremendously, even though there were obvious tears in her eyes. "Do you mean that?" "Yeah, I'm sure she'd love to meet you." Aoi hugged him. "Thanks." "That's ok." "Come on, or we'll be late again." and she was back to her usual self, as she grabbed Lyn's hand firmly and pulled him towards the elevator. Unknown to the two of them, a certain women was leaning against the other side of the door, roiling in fits of laughter. "I thought you said you didn't think about things like that?" Asuka taunted as the elevator doors opened and they stepped out. "What do you mean? I don't remember saying that." Shinji defends, not realising that he just stuck his foot in it. "So you admit that you do think about things like that. "Wh..I..oh will you just shut up. And what do you mean things like that. Things like what?" She smiled knowingly at him "Stop playing stupid Shinji, you know what I mean. What you were thinking about in the bath this morning." "I..I..I was not thinking about things like that in the bath. It was...er...well..." "Rei?" "What? No, no, nothing like that..it..it just happened." "Yeah right Shinji, boys don't get those out of the blue, their usually thinking of something...hmmm, maybe it was Misato?" "No it was not, now could we change the subject?" "Or was it me?" "..." He faltered, Asuka wasn't sure she liked what that suggested, "er," Shinji was not very comfortable with that question, "Asuka, I'm not a pervert like you think I am, its just....." Shinji's sentence was cut short by Asuka's hand, once again, coming in contact with himself. The thing that surprised him was that it didn't contact with his face, and that it didn't hurt. So it wasn't pain that didn't let him finish his sentence. It was the feel of Asuka's warm hand making contact with his. He kept staring forward, not sure of what was happening. "What's wrong Shinji? Not used to a girl holding your hand?" the way she said that just made Shinji melt inside, especially the way she half whispered it in his ear, almost purring like a cat, her breath gently caressing his ear, lulling his mind into quiet peace, making his body visibly relax. "Shinji," she said back in a more normal tone, "I think your acting a bit more normal today you know? Well, for a boy." "Wh..wh..wh.." Shinji snapped back to reality. He looked at Asuka holding his hand. "I think we've solved the problem of who you were thinking about Shinji." "Wh..I.." Shinji's brain was trying to re-boot. He wasn't used to this Asuka. Maybe she'd been taken over by a pod person from Venus or something. "Well, as long as it was me Shinji..." "Wh..wh..what do you mean, I wasn't thinking of you, I...I.." Shinji had lost it by now and had given up trying to make sense. "Oh just calm down Shinji, you go so ballistic when your embarrassed about something, you should try and calm down, I'm not going to kill you. Just admit you were thinking of me this morning." Asuka stopped both of them and turned to face him. 'I'm gonna make a man out of him, even if it kills me.....well, maybe not that far...' she pinned him with her eyes, waiting for an answer. By God, when he was under the spotlight, did Shinji squirm. After a minute or two of unsure -errs-, -ums- and -Is-, Shinji finally got it out. Actually, he got out a bit more than Asuka had expected. "...OK Asuka, fine," he said angrily, "yes I was thinking of you. But not in the way you probably thought. I'm not some pervert who likes to gawp at women, or think about what they look like naked. I'm just a -normal- average boy, if you remember what I said last night, then you should know what I mean. Come on Asuka, after all this time your saying you don't know me? Sometimes I feel like hitting you, the way you talk about me, the way you talk to me. Well Asuka, I've had about enough. If you can't just take me for who I am, then fucking piss off and leave me alone." Shinji was full of anger. Asuka could see it burning in his eyes. Maybe she had gone a bit too far. Maybe she shouldn't push him. Asuka was braking down inside. The way he'd said it. Her heart ached. Her mouth was quivering slightly, tears welling in her eyes she bowed her head, not wanting to look into that furnace of hate directed at her. "I..I..oh Shinji..." she turned and ran. Straining to hold the tears back as she ran. Leaving Shinji, whose anger was disappearing rapidly, to be replaced by confusion and regret. "What have I done?" Meanwhile, several hundred kilometres away, on an old Boeing-747 flying somewhere over Saudi Arabia, a young Englishman was trying to persuade the flight hostess that the old man sleeping next to him was indeed his father and that he had told him, his son, that he wanted a bottle of Martini sparkling wine from the Duty-free. "..I'm sorry Sir, I don't think I'm aloud to do that." "Oh, come on, it won't look that bad. Anyway, its for him, not me." "Look, why don't you just wake your dad and...." "Wake him?" he quickly lowers his voice so not to wake the old man, "do you know how angry he gets when he's wakened for no good reason?" the women looks at the old man worriedly, "So why don't you just take this money and give me what I want." The woman visibly gives up and seems to make a decision. "I'm sorry sir, but I'm afraid I can't do that." and hurriedly moves on to the person in front. 'Damn, why won't they believe me? Maybe I should just ask someone to buy it for me? Oh, I'll just try the next one.' And with that he puts the seat back, after asking the person behind if its ok, and lies closing his eyes and popping the earphones to his Discman in his ears. Back in Tokyo-3, the Nerv Head of Operations was about to be surprised. "Run that one past me again." said Major Misato Katsuragi. "You heard me Misato, Evangelion Unit-07 is being transported here from England, and you are to pick up the new pilot tonight from the airport." replied Dr. Ritsuko Akagi. "But...when was the pilot found?" "About a month ago. The Unit was completed a week or two before that." "So they've trained him already?" "Yes. If you want to know why you weren't told about this, it was because they, the English Government that is, wanted it to be kept quiet. They said they wanted to put the pilot through some special training, or so they said." "But we're just going to train him again, like we did with Lyn." "Yep...Oh yeah, the Unit should be arriving about now, the pilot was to be sent by commercial means." "So, once again, I am left in the dark about everything......" "Misato, you weren't the only one left in the dark on this one. I only found out yesterday. I decided to have you pick the boy up becau...." "Another boy? Well, that evens it out now..." "As I was saying," she looks at the computer screen, "the boy is English, born and lived in London..." "...Why another English pilot?" "...mainly because of the Eva being made in England, so they felt that the pilot be English as well." "And his name? I'd feel a bit stupid if I had to ask." "His name, is..." she looks down at her screen again, "...is John Peter Riley. " "Hmm, well, as long as I don't have to look after him, I'll go and pick him up. What time is he arriving?" "mmmm, about...00:15.." "What" "He's travelling all the way from England, he left this morning, but his plane was delayed at Delhi, India. I'm sorry, but you'll have to do it." "Great, at least I'm on late duty tonight, means I'll be up anyway. By the way, where's he staying?" "Well..." Misato looked at her worriedly, "we haven't been able to find anywhere for him yet, he'll only be in your hair for at least tonight and maybe tomorrow, no more." "Why can't you have Seyoko pick him up anyway?" "You know perfectly well she isn't Nerv personnel. So she can't go. Anyway, I have to get ready for the tests today." she logs off the computer and gets up, "I'll see you." "Yeah, I'll see you." "Ayanami?" the old teacher called as he read out the register. "Rei Ayanami?" He looks up at her desk. Noticing that it is empty, he notes her down as absent, and continues on. Shinji is sitting at his desk. He is staring blankly ahead, lost in thought, and doesn't hear his name being called out. He half jumps as he is nudged in the side from his right, and realises that he hadn't been paying attention. "Shinji Ikari, would you please answer to your name if you are present." "S..s..sorry sir." "Yes, yes, well...." he carries on with the register. Shinji returns to his mindless staring and thinking. "Hey, are you ok?" Shinji turns to Lyn, "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine, just got allot on my mind." "Its Asuka, isn't it?" Shinji looked at him surprised, "...yeah, among other things." It was Lyn's turn to look surprised, "Wow, I was right?" he sees the warning lights on Shinji's face, "Ok, that wasn't called for. I guessed it might be, seeing she hasn't turned up yet....Shinji? You don't mind talking about this?" He looks back at Toji and Kensuke, they quickly turn back forward, as if they hadn't heard a thing. He looks back at Lyn. "Maybe we can carry this on later," he indicates his other two friends. Lyn nods in agreement. 'Something serious has happened, I can tell. But what else is on his mind?' Lyn thinks as the two return their attention to the front of the classroom. Maya had phoned to say that she would be taking Tenkei to school, so not to worry. Which was quite lucky really, Rei didn't really feel like going to school at the moment. Rei lay on her bed, sobbing quietly in her hands. Flashes of what had happened the night before ran through her mind, the fear in Shinji's eyes and his horrified face. When she had come home, she'd suddenly started to cry. She had cries all night until her eyes stung. Somehow she'd got to sleep, but it was a restless one. She had awoken many times during the night. Now she just lay there sobbing. 'I thought he cared for me. But..but the look on his face was one of disgust and horror. He..he hates me, he loathes me....what should I do. Maybe I was wrong about him. The way he felt about me.....No. He trusted me when I lead him there, had concern in his voice, he thought maybe something was wrong. Maybe there is still a chance.' Asuka was in a similar state. 'Why that bastard. After last night, I thought he liked me. I thought he actually cared for me. But his eyes...his eyes...were so full of hate...' she keeps running, to no place in particular, '...I was a fool, a fool to think after all the horrible things I'v done and said that he'd actually not feel any hate towards me. Oh, you fool Asuka, you fool....but, he said he needed me. And..and..oh, why me....why did this have to happen to me? why? Does he really care? Or does he hate me?' As she thought, she slowly slowed down to a jog, then a brisk walk. Until finally, as she looks on through her tear blurred vision, she realises where she has run to. When the lunch bell finally went, Shinji felt like he'd been waiting for it forever. "At last, my favourite part of the day." exclaims Toji as he leans back in his chair. The four friends get up from their seats and head for the door. "Aren't you gonna have lunch with Aoi today Lyn?" teases Kensuke. "What a great idea, how about it 6?" comes an unexpected voice from behind. "errrr...." Lyn starts to look a bit uncomfortable as Aoi takes hold of his hand and leans on him from behind, with Kensuke and Toji chuckling to themselves. "Yeah, how about it, we don't mind." pops in Toji. "Well, that's sorted then, come on Lyn." the girl pulls Lyn by the arm towards the door. He holds himself in view by the side of the door, "Sorry Shinji, maybe late..aggghh" he yelps as he is yanked from the doorway by Aoi. The three remaining moved off for somewhere to have their lunches. "Those two really have hit it off, haven't they Shinji?" Toji mentioned to Shinji as they walked out of the main school building. Shinji just got out an uninterested "Yeah." as he stared blankly ahead. "Are you ok, you seem a bit....lost?" Toji asked looking at his friend. "I reckon he hit it off with Asu..." Kensuke was cut off by Toji. "Shut up will you, you really can be insensitive sometimes Kensuke." turning back to Shinji, "Are you ok Shinji? What's wrong?" Shinji looks back at his friend, seeming to come out of his daze, he bows his head "I'm sorry Toji, I was just...well...worried about..well, er, Asuka. She didn't turn up this morning." "Your worried about her?" Kensuke utters in surprise. Toji ignores the comment, "Why are you so worried about her all of a sudden? She doesn't seem to like you, does she?" "Well....last night, you see, we kind of..came to an understanding." "What sort of understanding?" Kensuke asks enthusiastically, "Will you cut it out and show some sympathy for the guy, he is our friend you know." "Ok, ok. I'm sorry. Its just, well, her. Why her?" "Look, you guys, I really appreciate what your trying to do, but...I'd really like to be alone for a little. Ok?" 'Something is really bothering him, but its probably better, if he wants it.' "Ok, Shinji, we'll seeya." And so he drags Kensuke off, before he could make anymore dirty remarks. Shinji was about to start walking again, having not realised he had stopped, was halted by a voice from behind. "He really is a good person...." ,it was Hikari. He turned towards her, she suddenly realised he had heard her, and reacted in the obvious way. Blushing slightly, "..I..I'm sorry, I really shouldn't have listened in, but... I was wondering whether you knew why Asuka didn't turn up?" "er..well..you see..er.." Shinji stuttered, not finding it particularly as easy to tell a girl, even if it was Hikari, what had happened. "She did it didn't she?" Hikari surprised him, "She told you." "What do you mean? Told me what?" "Well...that she, liked you." Shinji wasn't sure what to say. "How did you know?" "Well, I kinda pushed her to do it. I had my suspicions and she proved them right, and so..I told her she should tell you....how did it go? Well, last night at least." Now both were quite embarrassed. She couldn't believe she just spurted that out. "errr...look, I really need to go, maybe another time, ok." and with that he started running. He didn't know why, but he had to get away. Maybe he just wanted to find Asuka. He wasn't sure. So he ran. Shinji stopped running. He was completely whacked out, he hadn't stopped running since he'd left the school. 'Oh great. Now I'm going to be in trouble for missing school.' he thought as he tried to gather his thoughts. He was very out of breath, and he needed to wait a bit until he could recover. He looked around himself, to see where his legs had carried him. He instantly recognised the place. He had come to the hill overlooking Tokyo-3. The same one where, last night Rei had...had, he didn't want to remember that. Then something caught his eye. A figure standing at the crest of the hill, leaning on the railing, looking out over the city. He moved closer to see who it was, and froze as he saw who. Leaning on the railings, sniffing slightly, was Asuka. Shinji didn't know how he would have known that she would be here, but somehow...he just knew. He felt relieved now that he knew where she was, and that she was ok, he soon remembered why she was crying, and suddenly felt guilt for having caused her to cry. He walked softly up to her, and hesitantly put his hand on her shoulder. She span round, knocking his hand off. And was about to push him away, when she noticed who it was. Shinji almost lost it when he saw that tear stained face. Had he really hurt her that much. "Oh, its you." she spat, as she bowed her head and turned away. "Leave me alone." Shinji had to fight for words, "Asuka....I..I.." "I said leave me alone, you idiot." Shinji didn't know what to say or do, he felt the tears coming, and fought hard to stop them. Then he did something unexpected, to both him and Asuka. He grabbed her shoulder, turned her to him, looked into those beautiful blue eyes, and kissed her. He held her body, as she stood there limply. Then he slowly withdrew and looked back into her surprise filled eyes. "I..I..I'm sorry, I don'..." she stopped him as she drew him in again. She slipped her arms up and around his neck as he held her round her waist. This time, they kissed passionately. Their arms holding onto each other tightly, pushing their bodies together. Asuka leaned back slightly, to lean on the railings behind them as the kiss intensified. Both their minds were on each other, not on anything else, but the person they were holding onto at that moment. Asuka moaned slightly in Shinji's mouth, making his body shiver in pleasure as he held her tighter, caressing her back slightly as he held onto her. Shinji had never felt as calm as he did now. He felt calm, more than calm. At peace. The feeling running through him as he held her felt better than anything he had experienced. He wanted it to go on forever. He never wanted to stop holding her. All prior thoughts of her were thrown out the window as she emitted another low moan, it elicited one from him too. Causing her to shiver in pleasure and start moving her hands through the hair on the back of his head. Asuka felt the pain in her heart disappear, and found it replaced with a warm feeling she could not describe. As he held her, she felt like she had wanted this ever since she had met him. And now she didn't want it to stop. As her body elicited another moan into their mouths she felt his body shiver and his arms pull her closer to him. Then, as he moaned into her, she shivered in utter pleasure. All her prior thoughts of him flew out the window, as she felt his hands caress her back. If they were never to stop, she wouldn't care. She'd just keep holding him as he kept holding her. She didn't want it to end. But she knew, deep down that it had to. He obviously felt the same, as the two of them slowly, broke the kiss. As their mouths parted, strings of saliva kept them joined, until finally they stretched and broke. As their mouths parted, their eyes opened slowly, and soon, their eyes met. And both of them smiled. "I knew you didn't hate me, I just knew it." Asuka breathed out. They were so close, they just had to whisper to hear each other. "I never hated you Asuka..." "Liar." she chuckled softly, "are you trying to tell for all those times I said awful things about you, you never hated me?" "Ok, ok, maybe once or twice, but not forever." Shinji gave in. "Do you hate me now?" "hmm, let me just think about that.." "Ok, stupid question. So, do you like me?" "I think I could say something better than -I like you Asuka-" "And what might that be then?" "Asuka, I love you." She looked into those deep brown eyes, and seeing the sincerity in them, warmed her heart, "Well? Don't I deserve an answer in return?" Shinji joked. "I suppose you do don't you......I love you Shinji." and she kissed him lightly on the lips. Being so close, all they could see were each others faces. But that was all they wanted to see, as they held each other tightly, and drew each other in again. Back at the school, Lyn and Aoi sat under a tree in a clearing in the park. Aoi had decided that they should go there for lunch, and so they went there. Lyn didn't really have much say in the matter. "So, what do you think I should wear tonight 6?" "Anything really, its not as if you have to dress up or anything." "Oh, but I want to make a good impression." "Going as you are will be fine." "Well, I suppose, but I'd like to look good for you, so I might go home and change." Lyn turned a light shade of pink, "You don't have to do that for me. I'm not going to be dressing up." "Oh but I want to." she moves closer, so that she is sitting right by him. "What have you got to eat today 6?" "er..well, only some sandwiches, an apple and some drink. Not much." "Well, we better start eating or we'll be late for lessons." The two start eating their lunches, and soon, they are finished. "Well, we better be getting back now.." "Oh don't spoil the mood. We've got plenty of time. Its nice here, so why don't we just have a rest for a minute?" "Aoi, you know what happened last time you said we had plenty of time, we ended up late and now we have to stay behind every day for clearing. Why can't we just go?" then he saw the pleading face of Aoi. That got him every time. He really didn't have the willpower to say anything to that beautiful girl when she did that. She had him firmly twirled around her little finger. "Oh 6, don't you like being alone with me?" she said, a little seductively, making Lyn blush again, as she rested her head on his shoulder. He really was putty in her hands. "No, its not that, its just that I don't want to get into trouble again." "Don't worry, loosen up a little." "Ok, ok, I'll try to." he turned to look at her, and soon he was lost in those beautiful blue eyes. "Do you think I'm pretty 6?" Lyn, quickly jumped back to reality, and jolted, making Aoi loose her balance on his shoulder, but he quickly caught her in his arms, so that her face was right in front of his, maybe slightly lower, and she was lying in his arms. "Sorry, about that 6, did I startle you?" she whispered to him, as she put her arms around his neck to help him support her. Unluckily for Lyn, he was lost again. The feel of her body in his arms and her arms around him was making his heart race. "N..No, not at all." he half whispered as he gazed at that beautiful young face. "Well, do you think I'm pretty?" Lyn was feeling strange, but that strangeness also felt...nice. He looked at her as he thought about the question. "Yes, I think your very pretty." he again half whispered. Aoi's smiling face, smiled sweetly at him, as the two stared into each others eyes. And slowly Lyn leaned forward and kissed her gently on those soft lips, then moving back to see what she would say. "Why thank you, I think I quite liked that answer." and she moved up to kiss him back. This time, it lasted a little longer. When they broke, Lyn stared into those beautiful eyes, as they opened right in front of his.... <*BEEP*><*BEEP*><*BEEP*><*BEEP*> Lyn almost dropped Aoi on the floor as he jumped from surprise. He Looked annoyingly at his watch, which was beeping. Then he yelped "Shit, we're late." as Aoi moved off of him. He hurriedly picked up his things and stood, looking down at the girl looking up at him, a sweet smile on her face. "Look, I'm sorry, but we really have to go.....oh, if you want to be late you can be, but I'm not." he spurted out at top speed, obviously in a panic, 'But why not just stay here and lye with her. You wont get in too much trouble. It'll be...nice......NO' "I'm sorry." he apologised again, then rushed off in the direction of the school. Aoi just laid down on the grass, looking up at the sky, and sighed a happy sigh. It was evening by the time the Eva transport craft reached its destination. The cargo was unloaded onto a large transport vehicle for its journey to Nerv HQ in Tokyo-3. The whole of the control box above Eva containment cage 11 looked on with pure horror on their faces. Even the commander looked slightly surprised, as they looked on at the newly arrived Evangelion Unit-07. "Dr. Akagi?" the commander asked. "Y..yes sir?" she did not look away from the image in front of them. "Would you care to explain this?" "Er..er..Sir, I..I have only one possible explanation for this." "And that is?" "That the unit was re-designed by the English engineers, and that the extra time for training the pilot was used to finish the production of the unit....or maybe.." "....Very well. Prepare the unit for the tests tomorrow. I expect that will not be a problem?" "No sir." "Good." he takes one last lingering look at the unit, "I await your report Doctor." then he turns and exits, Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki following a moment afterwards. Another few seconds pass before the controllers and technicians in the room start to stir to life as they prepare the unit for the tests. Before them lay a monstrosity. The head was like an elongated squashed cylinder, rounding off and flattening several tens of meters away from the neck, the eyes were smaller than the other Eva's, and were only visible as black sockets just below the rounded forehead. There was no visible nose-like feature, but the mouth was wholly in-human. The mouth looked more like the jaws of a monster, quite visible were the large sharp -teeth- that existed in the mouth. The -limbs- were rounded and human looking, like the other Evas, but the hands and feet were different. They were slightly more elongated, and looked more powerful. The fingertips gleamed, and their ends looked sharp. But the most surprising feature of the monstrosity, was the long deadly looking tail that extended from the lower half of the-monster-. It truly was horrific compared with the other Eva Units. More -organic- looking, with most things being curved off, rather than have corners. As Asuka and Shinji make their way towards Nerv HQ, they freeze when they hear a familiar English voice, "Hey, Shinji, Asuka, wait up." As Lyn catches up with them, he smiles, "So, where were you two then?" "None of your business, 6th child." Asuka sneered at him, pinning him with a death stare. "Ok, ok, you don't have to answer that question. Well, at least you two are fine." "And why wouldn't we be?" "Well....I don't know, it's just that Shinji seemed rather worried about you today, so I suppose I thought something bad had happened or something. Is it bad to worry about fellow pilots?" "May I remind you that I am perfectly capable of looking after myself." "Well, Shinji," he turns to Shinji as they carry on walking, "where did you disappear to?" "Errr...erm, I felt ill and, erm, had to go home, but I'm much better now." Lyn looks at Shinji quizzically, obviously not quite believing him. When Asuka was definitely not looking, Shinji mouthed the words -later-, and smiled happily, then quickly loosing the smile to a face of fear as Asuka looks back at him. "Will you two stop talking behind my back, it very rude you know." "Sorry Asuka.." "But that doesn't mean you have to apologise Shinji you idiot, humph I really don't know why I put up with you." Lyn chuckles quietly to himself, then Shinji smiles back at his friend "So, how was your lunch with Aoi?" "...Nice." Lyn smiles dreamily to himself. "Sounds like it. Where did you go?" "Oh, we went to the park. Found a little clearing and....." he turns a bright shade of pink as he realises just what he's said. Shinji chuckles, "Don't worry, your secrets safe with me." "N..N..nothing happened, nothing at all, we just had our lunches then left, thats all." "Hey, calm down, I was only joking." "What about Asuka?" "Don't think she heard a word of it." Asuka smiles to herself. Then Lyn mouths to Shinji the same that he did, -later-. And so the three pilots carried on towards Nerv. "Commencing third stage connection." On the screens in the test centre sat the four pilots, in heat sensitive vision. In front of the screens sat Maya Ibuki, trusted assistant of Dr. Ritsuko Akagi, who was also standing in the test centre, watching the information on the pilots on the screens in front of her. Also in the room stood Misato. "This is good, all four pilots seem fine, even Lyn isn't feeling slightly nervous like he usually is. Add to that both Rei and Asuka's synch-ratios are up. This is truly the best I've seen them at." says Ritsuko. "hmm, maybe its because all the pressure's off. There hasn't been an Angel attack since...well, you know when." replies Misato. "Yes, I have to agree with you there. They have been under allot less stress lately." "How's Shinji doing?" Maya looks up, "About the same as last time, no major improvement I'm afraid." "Well, at least Asuka will be pleased. How long left." "About 4 minutes." "Good, these things are a boor " Ritsuko's face turned slightly annoyed. "I have to congratulate all of you today, all of you improved scores, especially Asuka, who improved by 5.8%, and Rei, by 5.9%..." "What?" interrupted Asuka, "Wonde..I mean, Rei beat me?" "Aha. She hasn't improved that much ever before. Its quite amazing," Rei's pale face visibly lightens, and a small embarrassed smile forms on the girls features. This catches Ritsuko's attention, but she does not bring it up, but makes a note of it, 'Rei has never blushed, smiled or shown any sort of visible emotion, except I front of Ge..Commander Ikari. Something has happened.' Quickly, before Asuka can go on, Misato dismisses the four pilots. "I just knew she'd react like that." says Misato. "Yeah..." murmurs Ritsuko, not trying to hide her thoughtfulness. Dr. Akagi stood before Commander Ikari's desk in his rather -spacious- domicile in Nerv. "Ahhh, Dr. Akagi," Ikari greets, as he looks up from his thoughts, "So, what about our rather -interesting- new unit from England?" "On the obvious structural differences on the outside, we have found that little has been affected internally.." "You say little has been affected, please expand." "Well, the structure of the Eva, both externally and internally, has for some reason -mutated- to form...for lack of better words, what we now have." "So, can we determine when the mutation took place?" "Actually, we can." "So when did it occur?" "...about one month ago. Maybe longer." "And the extent of the external mutation?" "The exoskeleton still has the properties we originally wanted developed for it, that is the Type A armour, allowing the unit to perform both on land and in water up to a depth of 350 kilometres. What has happened is actually quite beneficial, as the armour is now tougher, meaning that it can withstand much greater pressures than originally anticipated. The structure of the armour is actually now much more streamlined, as you might have noticed, meaning perhaps increased speed under and above water." "And the internal mutations?" "The mouth, or jaws might me more appropriate, now contain -teeth- like extrusions, which have proven so far, to be able to cut through most materials, but further testing will be needed." "Carry on." "The -jaws- now also contain...an inner jaw. This, through experimentation, has been able to be extended outside the -outer- jaw at incredible speeds. This new jaw also contains -teeth- of the same strength and makeup of those found in the outer jaws. Even more fascinating, is the -growth- of something...of a slightly different nature..." "-different nature-?" "In short, the unit has grown a tail." That got some kind of visible emotion on the commanders face. Well, not enough for Ritsuko to notice. And so she carries on. "The -Tail- also seems to be a weapon in nature, having a sharp tip, as well as the rest of it being well armoured, but still very versatile. How the pilot is supposed to use such apparatus, we have no idea. I think that maybe the English Government demanded more time for training for this reason. Whether they found a solution, we have no idea. Lastly, the -hands- and -fingers- have become more elongated, we think maybe stronger, more testing will be required, but again, there have been weapon-like mutations on the fingers, in the form of -claws- which seem to have the same capabilities as the teeth-like extrusions, but the -claws- seem to have a different make up." The doctor concludes her report and waits for a response from the commander. There is silence for perhaps a minute before the commander breaks it. "Will the unit be safe for activation?" "We expect so, yes." "And for your new -combat simulation- test you have developed?" "We haven't tested it, but I would say, if it is fine for full activation, it should be fine for the simulation." "Good. I would like the test scheduled for tomorrow to include Unit-08..." "..But Sir.." she interrupts." Ikari carries on, "..and I would like the scenario changed. Unit-08 shall be the target, and all the other units will be told to find and destroy the target. The pilots shall not know what the target is, and neither will they have any prior knowledge of Unit-08. I would like to see whether they have found out how to implement these weapons, as it is obvious it was safe for the unit to be activated. It will also, if the Seventh has access to all Unit-08s abilities, show us how useful it may be, and also give the other pilots a good test of their abilities." "...Very well sir." "Good. That is all doctor." and with that, Dr. Akagi turns and exits the room. The commander sits silent and motionless, thinking. Then, suddenly, the corners of his mouth turn up slightly. "A guest?" Seyoko tries to keep herself from laughing, "for dinner as well?" Lyn nods, the apprehension on his face very evident. "I hope you don't mind, I know its short notice and that, but...." "No, don't worry, it's ok. So, who is it? Anyone I know?" "Well, erm, its, well," "Yes?" Seyoko presses on. "Well, her names Aoi Tamashi, and...there's nothing going on, we're just friends, nothing else.." Lyn looks up at his guardian, having lowered his head in embarrassment. She is obviously trying to, with little success, not to laugh. This aggravates Lyn, even though he was expecting it. "W.. what's so funny?" "Don't worry, what were you saying?" Seyoko tried to look innocent, but failed miserably. Then she saw his face, 'he's obviously serious about this girl' she thought. "Don't worry I'll try not to embarrass you in front of her, ok? And don't worry, you're in capable hands." Lyn didn't like the -capable hands- bit, "Your sure it's ok?" "Yes it is. Now, when's she coming over?" "Well, I said it would be fine about half-an-hour or so after the tests, so.." "Well, we better get ready. Luckily I went shopping before the tests and the fridge is full. So you go and make yourself look presentable.." "..I'm not dressing up Seyoko, it's just dinner, I told her we wouldn'..." "Well, you can help with the cooking then, go put your casuals on and then come to the kitchen." "b..wh..oh, I give up." And so he started off for his room. 'That boy has grown a lot since I was here last. Maybe it was a good thing I left him by himself.' Seyoko thought as she headed for the kitchen. The doorbell rang. "I'll get it." Lyn quickly checked himself, it was automatic really, from his previous lifestyle. He got to the door, and took a deep breath, then opened it. The image before him made his heart miss a beat. "Hi 6. " "H..h..hi." Lyn stuttered out. "Whats wrong? Is the dress to fancy?" "N..no, you look simply wonderful." Lyn replied. Aoi's face brightened considerably, "You really think so?" "Yeah." The two stood there staring at each other. Their eyes locked on each other. "Well, Lyn, aren't you going to let her in?" asked Seyoko from behind, kickstarting Lyn's brain. "Oh, yeah, do come in." "Thankyou." 'Mmmm, young love.' Seyoko chuckled to herself. 'Hmmm, where is he? I can't see him anywhere.' Misato looks at the photo Ritsuko gave her then back at the small crowd of passengers coming out from the baggage collection area. At the start of the planes flight, starting in New York (well, what had been rebuilt after the 2nd Impact) and ending in Tokyo-3, the plane had been full, but due to the recent happenings in the third Tokyo, the popularity of it being a holiday destination had shrunk. So the only passengers tended to be families returning from holiday, or back to the homes they left only a month or two ago. Suddenly, something caught her eye. A young boy in a black rain jacket, soaked hair, two small suitcases a rack-sac and holding a small plastic bag stood looking continuously from his watch to the surrounding area. 'Hmm, slightly older looking than in the picture, but that's him.' Misato quickly gave herself a once-over to check she looked ok, and started for the kid. The boy notices her walking towards him, and smiles as he realises who it must be. "Hello, you must be John, right?" Misato asks. "Yeah, and you are.." John quickly picks a small notepad out of his jacket pocket flips it open, "..erm, Major Katsuragi?" there is obvious surprise in his voice as he says the name. "Yep, why do you seem surprised?" "Oh, nothing. I suppose I was expecting a man I guess." Misato suppresses a frown, and continues with the welcome, "Well, of course. I hope the flight was good?" "Yes, thank you. It was most enjoyable. But I seem to have brought the weather with me." he indicates the heavy storm blowing outside, "I thought it was usually warm and sunny over here?." "Well, it is, usually, but we do have the occasional storm. I see you know Japanese quite well." "Yeah, they made me learn it as part of the training." "So, shall we get going?" "I guess that would be a good idea. Oh, could you hold this for me?" he holds out the plastic bag. "Sure. What is it?" she asks taking the bag. "Just some duty-free from the plane, and souvenirs." Misato notices the obvious sound of a bottle in the bag. 'I wonder what that is? Oh well, maybe in the car.' John picks up the suitcases and the two exit the airport. They hurriedly shove the suitcases in the back and get in. Soon, they are on their way back to Tokyo-3. The two sit in silence for a few minutes, until Misato speaks up. "So, why were you expecting a man?" "Well you see, over in old Blighty, the higher-ups in the armed forces tend to be men, there's still very few women, so I guess that it would be the same here, and I didn't know your first name." "Good point. Well, I suppose I better tell you now." John turns to Misato, "I'm afraid you'll be sleeping at my place for tonight. Your accommodation hasn't been sorted out yet you see." John gave Misato a curious look. "I'll be sleeping at your place? I have to admit, I'v never had the pleasure to stay at a Majors house before, but actually, I don't think I'v even heard of it before." "Don't worry," Misato smirked, "two of the pilots actually live with me anyway. And I'm afraid its a flat, not a house." "Wait, let me get this straight, your a Major, and you only have a flat? And you have to look after two fourteen-year-olds?" "Yup." "At least I'll get to meet the other pilots. Actually, talking about pilots, has Unit-08 arrived yet?" "Yes. Out of interest, who the hell designed that monster?" "What do you mean monster? Its a work art. You haven't seen it in action yet." "Well, the British engineers have allot to answer for. What it looks like is not what it was meant to look like. For one, it wasn't supposed to have a tail, how do they expect the pilot, you, to use it?" "Oh, you'll see." Misato wasn't quite expecting that, but gave up trying to get anything from the kid. "So, which pilots are they?" "...oh yeah. Shinji Ikari, pilot of Unit-01 and Asuka Sory..." "Asuka Soryu?" John excitedly interrupted, "Asuka Langley Soryu? Pilot of Unit-02?" "Er, yeah, why?" The boys excited face goes red with embarrassment, "oh...its just that I..well, really would like to meet her. She has the highest synch-ratio at the moment, doesn't she?" "Yes?" Misato says curiously. "Hehehe. Well, I've read all the pilots records so far, and out of all of them, Asuka seems the best, so I've been striving to better her records. She's, you could say, my hero." Misato couldn't help herself from giggling at that, "Your hero?" "Yeah, yeah. I know its stupid, but I needed something to aim for. A target to beat. And she's it. Do you really mean it Major.." "Call me Misato." "..Misato, your not joking are you? That I'm gonna meet her tonight?" "Actually, in about a few minutes, if their still awake, 'cos here we are." John hopped out the car, and was telling Misato to hurry up, as she got out the car, shielding her face from the rain with a hand. As they reached the door, John was obviously ecstatic about meeting Asuka as he stood there, trying to tidy himself up. Finally he took off his rain jacket. Underneath, he was wearing a pair of light blue jeans, a white T-shirt and a jean-jacket. Misato smiled as she took in the sight of the excited teenager. 'Hehehe, this ought to be fun. I wonder what he'll think of Asuka?' "Are you about ready yet?" "oh, sorry, just don't want to look a complete mess for my appearance." Misato opens the door, and enters, with John hot on her tracks wealing in his two suitcases, and shutting the door behind him. "Shinji, Asuka, are you two awake?" "Yes Misato." replies Shinji from the kitchen, and Asuka from the lounge. Misato beckons John to the Kitchen. He puts the suitcases down, hangs up his coat and follows Misato to the kitchen. "Shinji, I've got someone for you to meet." "hmmm, what Misato?" "I'd like you to meet the new pilot." "...new pilot? What do you mean?" "She means me." John speaks up as he moves from behind Misato into view." Shinji stares wide eyed at John. "Hi." John speaks up nervously, as he looks back at Shinji. "er..Hi." "Well Shinji. You really shouldn't be so rude. That is no way to treat a guest." "er..er..sorry Misato but, well, I was kind of surprised, that's all. Hi, I'm Shinji." John relaxes and puts out his hand, "Hi, I'm John. John Riley. Nice to meet you." Shinji looks at the outstretched hand, then remembers what it is he is supposed to do, and shakes it. "Sorry, I'm not used to shaking hands." "That's all right, understandable. I suppose you knew from the other English pilot?" "Oh, Lyn. Yeah. Well, do you want something to eat? I made something for Misato, but it'll only serve one, and guess your hungry." "Yeah, that'll be fine. Anything will do. That stuff they call food on the planes doesn't really fill you up." They both laugh, and both relax." "Hey, Shinji, is that Lyn? Or have you caught his accent?" calls Asuka from the lounge. "And where have you been Misa..." Asuka suddenly notices the smiling stranger standing by Misato. "And who the hell is that?" John moves towards her, "The names John Riley, the seventh child." and shakes her hand enthusiastically. This hits Asuka just as bad as Shinji, but she recovers sooner, and acts predictably. "Get of my hand you Pervert." She screams as she shakes his hand off of hers. "I'm sorry..." he doesn't have time to finish his apology as a hand moves rapidly towards his face. But it does not make contact. It stops inches away from John's face. His hand holding it away. "Now that's no way to greet someone." "Get off of me." Asuka rips her hand out of his light grip. "I think I deserve an apology little girl." "And who do you think your calling a little girl?" Asuka was not happy, as she stared lasers at the boy in front of her, not noticing that he was at least an inch or two taller than she was, and she obviously hadn't heard the bit about him being the seventh child. "I will begin again," John said sternly, Misato and Shinji were frozen in surprise at seeing how fast Johns hand and moved to intercept Asuka's, "My name," he takes a step backwards, "is John Peter Riley, and I am the Eighth Child, designated pilot of Evangelion Unit-08. And I am extremely pleased to meet you at last, Asuka Langley Soryu. I am a great admirer of yours." Asuka didn't know how to reply, she wasn't used to being spoken to, or complemented, like that by someone the same age. She looked at him with narrowed eyes, "What do you mean, admirer?" "Well, when I was picked, I decided to look up the records of all the other pilots. When I came to yours I was impressed. A flawless combat record, amazing synch-ratios, extremely intelligent and stunningly beautiful. I couldn't believe that there could be someone so amazing. I couldn't wait to meet you, and now I have. The great Asuka Soryu." Asuka was taken aback, "Well, at last someone who truly sees how brilliant I am." "But Asuka..." Shinji tried to speak, but was cut short by Asuka. "So John, I suppose you haven't managed to beat my amazing synch-ratios?" "Well...I'll leave that for you to find out tomorrow. I guess we will have tests tomorrow?" "I see. You think you can beat me do you? Well I've recently got even better. And anyway, my Unit-02 is probably far superior to your Unit-08. From my experience with the English made Evas, they're not as good, especially the pilots." "That's where I will prove you wrong, my dear. Unit-08 is slightly.... different, shall we say to the previous Eva models." "Well, I can see you two are going to get on just fine." Misato cut the two off, before this could carry on, "Why don't we eat, and then get some sleep? It is getting late you know." She ushered the two of them off to the lounge. "Well, I never thought I see the day but there is someone who can get along with Asuka." Suddenly a thump is heard from the lounge, "I was only joking Asuka." "I'll give you joking, how dare you insult my nationality..." "Ok, maybe not." To be continued -------------------------------- As usual, all comments and so on go to theenglishshinji@hotmail.com Whether their good or bad, I want to hear them, it helps me a great deal, and its nice to know there are people who read it. -------------------------------- I am a big Asuka fan, and am a member of the Asuka Fan Club, if you like Asuka, go join it. http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Ginza/7453/ This FanFic, and all my next work will be able to be found at Addison Godel's Eva FanFic Archive at http://www.ummagurau.com and at SDAT Eva FanFic Archive http://members.xoom.com/superdat/ Eva:R Original Illustrated FanFiction can be found at http://www.eva-r.com it is very highly recommended. Another highly recommended FanFic is At The End Of The World, written by Oni Ayanami, and can be found at her web site at http://members.tripod.com/~Oni_Ayanami/index.htm