Didn't get as far as I wanted to today. The current scene is one that is starting to substantially diverge from canon, so it's tougher going. But I did get the first 2500 words of Chapter 4 done for you all.
Chapter 4.1
Before The Storm
+++++++++++++++++++
Shinji felt like dancing. So he did.
He hummed happily to himself, tripping lightly around the apartment's small kitchen as he prepared everyone's breakfasts, plus lunches for himself and Asuka. 'I wish I had time to play a little before we leave for school. I've never felt so... this.' He closed his eyes for a second and replayed the memory again, of the words he never thought he'd hear, especially from her.
'I love you, Shinji. I want to be yours.'
He forced back yet another round of joyful tears. He'd already done that twice this morning.
He'd never felt like this. He wasn't alone. She loved him back!
He started humming Ode to Joy a little louder. Today was going to be wonderful. He felt like the whole world was new. He spun around again, exuberantly flipping Pen Pen's fish up out of the frying pan as he went.
Misato clapped lightly in approval. "Not bad, Shin-chan! Impressive!"
'OhholyshitMisatowhendidshegetthere?!' "AAAAA!" he yelped. Pen Pen's fish missed his suddenly disrupted attempt at a catch, but managed to land right in the penguin's bowl on the floor. Pen Pen didn't seem to mind the sudden delivery and dove right in.
"And you hit his bowl too! Good aim!" Misato continued cheerfully. His still sleep-rumpled guardian scratched idly at her stomach as she walked into the dining area and took a seat at the table. "Good morning," she yawned.
"Misato-san! Um, good morning!" Shinji tried to get his heart rate back down. 'Did she see-'
"Feeling pretty good this morning, Shin-chan?" Misato's expression turned sly. "Really? Singing and dancing around the kitchen at this hour? If you don't cool your jets, Asuka's going to wake up and see you, and I bet she'll guess why~..." she teased with a wink.
'Oh shit, she knows she knows she knows...'
"I mean, you might as well tell her you're happy she's back, Shin-chan. What's the worst that could happen? She'll call you a baka again? Maybe this time your sweet words will sweep her off her feet, and she'll suddenly confess how cute she finds you!" Misato chuckled.
"Please don't tell anyone I was doing this, Misato-san!" Shinji said, panicked. "I... I don't want her to..." 'Move out? Leave? Ever be away again? Nope, can't say any of those...'
Misato gave him a calming wave. "Easy, Shinji-kun. I won't tell her. But you don't want her to know you like her? I can tell you do." She grinned at him.
"I... I like things the way they are right now," he managed to stutter.
"Alright, but remember, nothing will change unless you take that first step forward! But seriously, Shinji, I can tell you're happy about it. I bet Asuka is happy to be back here too, though she may not say so to you. You won't have to duck her yelling at you at school today, anyway."
Shinji locked his knees to keep from collapsing in relief. 'Oh gods, we're safe. She doesn't know.' "Um, why not?"
"You'll be going to school alone, I'm afraid. Asuka has to come in to NERV with me for a full day of debriefs and checks. The data recorders in Unit Zero-Two were a low-priority system, so they died after just a few hours into that as the batteries ran down. So she'll need to fill us in the old fashioned way about what she saw inside that Angel, and anything she can tell us about why Unit Zero-Two was acting like it did when she returned."
Shinji smothered the disappointed look that wanted to wash across his face. Not seeing her all day? But... It wasn't just the not being close to her. She'd mentioned before he fell asleep that she wanted to talk with him about what she'd seen, something strange right before she'd passed out. She'd been pretty intent about it. Something about... her mother's voice? They'd been planning to talk about it at lunch, if they could find a place they wouldn't be seen by their friends having a close, perfectly civil conversation. That would blow their 'cover'.
"So... will you be back in time for dinner?" he asked tentatively. "I'd like to make a nice 'welcome home' meal, at least."
Misato laughed again. "Yes, we'll be back in time for that. Going to make a feast for your sweetie, hmm?"
"Misato..." he whined, blushing. 'My sweetie, my girlfriend, my lover oh holy crap oh gods she loves me she loves me she loves me!' He blushed harder.
Misato, fortunately, misinterpreted his nearly incandescent flush. "Aww, did I blow your mind with that one, Shin-chan? Can't handle that idea yet? I'll let you off this time, but you should tell her someday, you know."
"Yes, Misato-san." 'Every day from now on, I will.'
.
"Yo, Shin-man. What are you lookin' so happy about?"
Shinji blinked back to the present. He'd been miles away, reliving the memory again. "I'm sorry?" he asked Touji.
"You're just staring into space and smiling all funny. What's up? You're usually not so spaced out, man," his friend asked.
"I'm sorry. Um... We... we beat that Angel yesterday, and everyone is safe. I'm happy about that." 'And she loves me. I still can't believe it.'
"Yeah, we saw a whole bunch of weapon buildings were just gone downtown this morning!" Kensuke put in eagerly. "That must have been some fight! Tell us everything, Shinji!"
'Asuka almost died because I messed up, I nearly went crazy because of that, and then the Evas went rabid....' "Um... I'm not supposed to talk about it. But Asuka almost got hurt, and I'm really glad she's okay."
Touji snorted. "So the Red Demon's okay, great, the devil's probably too scared to take her to Hell or she'll take over the place," he mocked. "But some on, Shin-man, that doesn't explain why you're acting all goofy. Wait... She almost got hurt?" An evil grin spread across the jock's face. "You got to see her in one of those short hospital gowns, didn't ya?" He whistled. "Man, she may have the friendly personality of a porcupine, but mmmm does she have nice legs! So what'd ya see, man?"
"Touji! It wasn't anything like that!" Shinji tried to stop reddening. 'Oh, I saw more than her legs!'
Touji smiled wider. "Ah ha! You look like a tomato! So you did see something! Tell us!"
"I did not peep on Asuka in a hospital gown!"
"Well you must have seen something that's got you all smiling and blushing!" Touji pressed. "Didya see her in just a towel after a shower or somethin'? Man, you musta seen somethin'! You're so lucky, living with a hot babe like Misato and one of the hottest girls in school, even if she is a demon."
"I'm going to tell her you said that," Shinji muttered. "And Horaki-san."
Touji blinked at the sudden riposte. "Er... yeah, um, like, why would I care if you tell the Class Rep?" he said nervously. "O-or the Red Demon?"
"Soryu might kill you on general principles for even looking at her, dude," Kensuke said. "And the Class Rep... well, come on." He rolled his eyes at Touji.
Touji launched into another loud declaration of how he didn't have anything to do with the 'pigtailed dictator', and Shinji sighed in relief. Saved, for now. He tried to suppress the smile that wanted to grow again. 'She loves me. There's someone who wants me to hold them. I'll see her after school.' The smile won.
.
"How long is this going to take, doc?" Asuka grumbled. She made herself sit still. For the first time in years, the walls of the Test Plug felt uncomfortably confining. "I think I've spent enough time in Entry Plugs the last twenty-four hours to last me all week."
Doctor Akagi just stared at the readouts in the observation room. "Just a few more hours, Asuka. Then we can get on to the neuro-physical exam and the debriefing."
"A few more hours? And then more crap?" Asuka complained.
"You spent sixteen hours inside an Angel yesterday, Asuka. This is a unique event, and we want to make sure there was no mental contamination or other effects."
"Mental contamination?" Asuka asked, worry rising.
"Your readings were all over the map when you... broke out of the Angel." The lab-coated woman paused like she wanted to say something else. "We want to be sure it didn't affect you negatively. Now go through exercise eight again, from step three."
.
"No."
"Yes, you are."
"No."
"Asuka, you had a four point rise in Synch Rate in the last test over your baseline from the week before. Four points and steady. Shinji-kun had a six point rise. And you and he both spiked higher than that against the Angel. He hit eighty-three percent at peak, and you had..." Doctor Akagi shuffled her notes. "The monitors recorded up to one hundred and eight-seven percent for you, but that can't be right. You did have an average five points higher than your norm for what parts of the readings we can rely on. Rei has gone up only one point three percent in the last four months, no matter what we do to the equipment. So whatever it is that you and Shinji have had happen from the synchronization training you did or from living together, we need to see if we can get it to work for Rei as well. So yes, we are ordering her to spend all her time with you and the Third Child. And you will follow that order. She will stay with you and Shinji on the way to school, at school, and as much time after school as possible, plus weekends, all of it." She fixed Asuka with an implacable stare.
Asuka sent one right back. "I am not spending all of my miniscule free time with fricking Wondergirl."
"Until we can get the same sort of Synch Rate boost that you two are showing, yes, you are. Commander Ikari has already confirmed my proposal. You think you're going to go argue with him?" the Project E head bluntly replied. She put the notes down and picked up an alcohol wipe and syringe. "Now stick out your arm so I can get a blood sample. This physical is the last step before the debriefing."
Asuka ground her teeth. 'Fucking great! Shinji and I finally go all the way once, and now we're going to get cockblocked every waking minute by Wondergirl?! How the Hell are we supposed to find time to be together? Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! At least this isn't a full physical. Even doctor dye-job here would notice I'm suddenly missing a little something since last check! Hmm, on that thought...' "Fine! And you're a doctor, so can I get some damn medicine, then?"
Doctor Akagi drew the blood sample and wiped away the tiny bead of blood left behind when she withdrew the needle. "What do you need, Asuka? You're not ill, as far as I can tell."
"I have really bad cramps and stuff every time I get my period. I want you to get me on the Pill so I can smooth that out. I'm tired of feeling like I've been punched in the ovaries every month." Plus, Shinji's only got two condoms left and I don't like leaving physical evidence for Misato to find anyway.'
The blond scientist sighed. "Fine, we can get you a contraceptive implant. That will totally block your periods for about a year. It's what I use. Now come on. Major Katsuragi is waiting for us in the briefing theater to go other the battle with us."
.
"...and then you opened the hatch. I don't really remember the landing or anything. It's all pretty blurry towards the end, anyway," Asuka finished. She stared at the still image of Unit-02 standing amid the shredded bits of the Angel, covered in blood. It truly looked like a demon.
Misato looked at her notes and frowned. Asuka's memories were pretty fuzzy towards the last part of her imprisonment in the Angel, after the batteries for the recorders had died. Unfortunately, that was exactly the part they had the most questions about, especially how Unit-02 had been so violently active after it should have been effectively out of power entirely. Asuka had confessed to vague memories of talking to herself, but said she couldn't really recall what she'd said.
Asuka tried not to squirm when Misato looked at her. She could tell Misato thought her statements about not remembering what had been said weren't entirely forthcoming. Misato had too much time as Asuka's guardian and roommate in the past to be fully fooled by her poker face. 'I really, really hope she doesn't press on that. Telling her it was mostly little me asking about Shinji and I, and what we believe about each other isn't the kind of thing I want to see put down in an official NERV report where everyone can see it.'
She concentrated on looking tired and annoyed, which wasn't hard. Despite the fantastic night with Shinji, she still felt wrung out and unsettled from yesterday, and really wanted some downtime. Preferably with Shinji. Not just for getting him horizontal again; she really needed to talk to him. She'd withheld mentioning anything about possibly hearing her mother's voice. That felt... private. Personal. To be shared only with those she truly trusted. And as much as she might trust Misato, she wasn't sure she could trust Major Katsuragi to keep something like this from her chain of command.
But Shinji... She knew he would understand why she'd held this piece back. They'd promised they'd share their stories of losing their mothers tonight. The prospect of finally sharing that story with anyone still frightened Asuka, but... with Shinji it somehow didn't feel as bad. And if she was going to share that tale, she was damn well going to do it while holding him close enough she could feel his heartbeat and... catch the tears she knew she wouldn't be able to restrain. She hadn't let herself cry in ten years, not since she made that promise at her mother's graveside. But now... Shinji wouldn't tell. It was safe to tell him things like that. 'Gott... I really do love him, if I can think like that.'
"Asuka, pay attention!" Misato snapped, breaking her wandering thoughts.
"Sorry, I... I'm a little tired." 'Great, now I sound like him, too.' "You were saying?"
Misato pressed her lips together. "The Human Instrumentality Committee, the UN body that oversees NERV, wants to interview you about this attack. I tried to put them off by telling them you were not in shape for it, but they're insistent. I've told them to keep it short."
Asuka widened her eyes a little. "When?"
"Right now. They're waiting for us in the teleconference room upstairs. Come on."
