The Second Try
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The Second Try Jimmy Wolk Chapter I: The 12th Shinji Ikari, Third Children and designated pilot of Evangelion Unit-01, had just reached a new sync- ratio record. And as Rei Ayanami suspected, the former holder of this record, known as Asuka Langley Soryu, wasn't very pleased with this. So she didn't pay much attention to the rants of the Second Children, who made obviously ironical statements about the 'great, invincible Shinji' while holding herself; swaying in front of her locker. Instead, Rei finished changing from the plugsuit the pilots were supposed to wear during their time in the entry plugs of the EVAs or the test plugs, into her casual school uniform. As soon as she was done, she went silently for the door of the female pilots' changing room, whispered "Sayonara" and left. With the First Children gone, Asuka could finally release all the feelings that tensed up the last hours in a powerful... ...sigh. She still had problems to play this charade in front of everyone, and it seemed to only grow harder. She wasn't sure if she would be able to keep it up much longer at all. Not while these thoughts disturbed her mind; thoughts of all the things that happened... or will happen soon. Lost in her worries, she failed to notice someone entering the room, sneaking up to her and suddenly embracing her from behind; encircling her arms with his own. She tensed up noticeably as she felt the touch, even though (or maybe just because) she knew exactly who the stranger was. "Hey," the intruder whispered and gave her a small peck on the cheek. "You're alright? You're kinda..." "Shinji, what the heck are you doing here?" she fizzed nervously, not turning around. "Wha- what do you mean?" the surprised Third Children uttered dumbfounded, "I just wanted to see..." "What if someone sees us like this?" "Rei has already left and I doubt she has seen me," he assured, now more confident. "Besides, who would dare to enter the domain of the great Asuka Langley I..." He stopped, as they both tensed at his mistake. "...Soryu while she's changing." "Baka, this is NERV we're talking about," she scolded. "You know they have security cams everywhere." He raised an eyebrow at her somewhat exaggerated theory. "In the girls' locker room?" "I wouldn't be surprised," Asuka huffed in his embrace. "I bet these old perverts are ogling the screens every time we're getting dressed." "I think you're getting paranoid," he chuckled a bit before leaning forward again. "But I admit they can be kinda persisting. So...?" "So, to keep up our cover, I guess you give me no choice but to respond to this situation like I would have back then..." she declared calmly. Shinji gulped as his eyes widened in fear. "You... you don't mean..." Now Asuka turned her face around, showing a mischievous grin. "YOU BAKA HENTAI!!" she screamed in rage. The surprise of her sudden outburst send him backwards, what made him tripping over the bench and falling on the floor. However, Asuka didn't stop her assault. "HOW DARE YOU??" She kicked him, even though not too hard. "SNEAKING INTO MY LOCKER ROOM!!" She pulled him up and pressed him against the wall. "TRYING TO RAPE A HELPLESS LITTLE GIRL, HUH??" She raised her fist to strike. Shinji flinched, shut his eyes and prepared for the blow... ...that didn't come. After a few seconds, he dared to pry one eye open to find her grinning again. "At least wait till we get home," she whispered, gave him a small kiss and left, as if nothing had happened. Shinji slumped down the wall and sighed. "Five years and she still manages to scare me like that..." -x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x -x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x After the latest sync-tests, most of the staff was already gone; the happy ones heading for home; the not so happy ones working elsewhere on their nightshift in the NERV HQ. Only two were still working on the results of the tests. Well, actually only one. Major Misato Katsuragi just watched, while Dr. Ritsuko Akagi did the work. "So, anything new yet?" Misato asked bored, leaning against the wall as she sipped on a cup of coffee. Her face contorted into a grimace as long tepid liquid came in contact with the her tongue. A beer would have been much preferable now, but having witnessed Asuka's reaction to the day's results, she was somewhat reluctant to go home just yet.. She could only hope Shinji would survive long enough being alone with their hot-tempered roommate. "Besides Shinji surpassing Asuka's ratio? No," Ritsuko answered plainly while looking through some printouts, "Nothing that would explain that boost recently." "I don't understand why you're still making such a fuss about that anyway," Misato groaned rather childishly for a woman of her age and position. "I mean, something similar had happened while they were fighting the 6th." The head of Project-E gave the Major a glare that seemed to say: 'I'm the one with the lab coat, you want to tell ME something?' "That was something totally different," Ritsuko explained. "The fight had put them in a stress situation, and as far as we can tell, they synchronized with EVA-02 AND each other for a few seconds which caused that temporary boost of their sync-ratio. This time however, they had been separated in their respective EVAs and were under the usual test-conditions." Misato still couldn't see the point. "So?" Ritsuko sighed at the simple-minded Major. "So, it shouldn't have happened! And even if they managed to raise their ratios like that so suddenly, the immediate drop afterwards still wouldn't make sense. It's as though the synchronization had been suppressed at once." Misato blinked in surprise. "Suppressed? By the pilots?" That didn't seem to make much sense. Especially Asuka would never suppress something willingly she was so proud of. Then again, that mood she had been in lately... "Or the EVAs," Ritsuko added quietly, interrupting her friend's thoughts. 'Still hiding secrets from me, huh, Ritsuko?' the Major glanced to her old friend but decided to drop the conversation. Instead she took a look at the watch. She panicked. "Wah! It's that late already? Shit! I've got to get home!" she declared, threw her cup of coffee almost over the doctor's desk and made a rush towards the door. "Oh?" the other woman remarked grinning. "I had thought Kaji would pick you up from here." Misato stopped dead in her tracks. "How do you...?" "Or do you want to dress up for your 'date'? I thought it wasn't serious?" Ritsuko continued to tease, seeing her old friend paling even more. "Eh... No, it's not! The... the children, yeah. They... don't know yet. I've... forgotten to tell them..." she fumbled for a plausible excuse, praying that the blonde didn't know that they had heard Kaji's call on the answering machine. "Oh?" Ritsuko apparently didn't even think of stopping the teasing. "Why don't you just phone them?" Misato cursed silently. "Uhm... our phone is broken?" she tried. "They have cell phones, you know?" "I... eh..." she trailed off, obviously caught. "You know; I hate you, Ritsuko!" she muttered and went out. -x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x -x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x Rushing through the automatic door, she didn't pay much attention where she was going and thus almost ran straight into someone. A fuming redheaded someone, to be exact. "Asuka, what are you still doing here?" she asked, somewhat annoyed to be stopped by this raging girl in front of her. She was late enough as it was. " 'What am I doing here?' " Asuka repeated, growling impatiently. "I'm waiting for YOU to drive me home!" "Why haven't you gone with Shinji?" Wrong answer! The Second Children just gave her guardian a good ol' 'Glare of Death'; clenching her fists in fury. 'Ah, right, Shinji beat her – she doesn't like being beaten. Better not use the 'S-Word' for a while,' Misato thought, not knowing whether to be angry or to laugh at the behavior of the redhead. But remembering the time, she decided to do neither. "Alright, alright, come on then," she commanded, motioning her ward to follow as she went towards the direction of which she hoped to find the garage where she had parked her car. "Let's get out of here." -x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x -x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x "We're home!" Misato said as they entered the apartment. "Welcome home!" Shinji's voice greeted back from the living room. It had been a quiet ride home. Misato hadn't wanted to risk an argument so she stayed silent, while Asuka merely muttered something under her breath now and then. "Stupid Third..." Misato rolled her eyes. Just like now... EVA-02's pilot kicked her shoes off and rushed inside while her guardian advanced to her room to get changed. Nothing too special, of course! Kaji shouldn't think that she wanted him back or something! Which was of course not the case! Not at all! It didn't take long until the first shouting distracted the Major's denials, barely damped by the thin walls.