Chapter 4.2
Before The Storm
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"Pilot Soryu, in this incident, do you believe what you experienced was the Angel trying to contact a human being?" The Committee member's voice, whiny and nasal with a noticeable French accent to his Japanese, queried at her like she was a curious new species of bug on his plate.
Asuka kept her face as mask-like as possible. She and Misato stood in the center of a beam of light from overhead in an empty holographic-capable conference room. She couldn't even see their interrogators in the dark, just hear their voices, but they all sounded ancient. These old men gave her the serious creeps , and she hated people poking their noses into her business as it was. She would almost have preferred she was still wearing her plugsuit rather than the school uniform Doctor Akagi had let her change into to make the physical easier. At least then her familiar identity as a Pilot could have felt like armor against these weird old men. "I don't think so, sir. When it swallowed Unit-02 it seemed more like its basic attack. I saw nothing at all inside until the life support was failing. I believe what I saw was just my brain suffering under the failing environmental conditions, not any outside attempt at contact."
"If, and only if, you are remembering it correctly," another member said.
"No external tampering with her memory was detected, according to Doctor Akagi's examination and tests," Misato said firmly.
"Unit-02's AC recorder was not functioning, so there's no way to confirm that," a third member pointed out. "Explain what you recall, Pilot."
Asuka hesitated, trying to conduct a rapid mental edit. "I... it was like I had eaten too much spicy food and fallen asleep reading Satre or something. Just a weird conversation with myself about... the self, and loneliness. It didn't make much sense."
"Was the Angel interested in the human spirit? The human mind?" the first questioner asked.
"We cannot answer that question," Misato said. "Do the Angels even have a concept of 'mind'? Do they understand human thoughts? These are utterly unknown."
A fourth voice spoke up. "This incident reveals a new aspect; that the Angel tried to take an Eva into itself. What of the possibility of this aspect of this aspect being a factor in the predicted 13th Angel, and all Angels to follow?"
Misato gave a slight shake of her head. "Considering the pattern so far, there is no sign of any systematic organization among the Angels.
"That's right," the second voice said. "It is obvious they have all acted independently so far."
Misato narrowed her eyes and turned towards the voice. "What does that mean?"
"You are not permitted to ask questions here," stated a much older, colder voice. Asuka did her best to conceal a shiver. This voice was harsh, dry, deep, and put Asuka in mind of dead leaves scratching and rattling around a graveyard. It also ordered Misato to silence without any sense that it could even possibly be disobeyed.
Misato did not appear to react beyond a flat "Understood."
"That is all," the same voice grated. "Leave us."
"Sir." Misato tapped Asuka on the shoulder, executed a parade-ground perfect about-face, and led the way to the door.
"What do you think, Ikari-kun?" the cold voice rumbled in the darkness.
Illumination snapped on to reveal Commander Ikari sitting near the head of the table. "The Angels are getting more and more intelligent. There is not much time left..."
"Left for us, you mean?"
.
"I'm home..." came a tired voice from the front door.
Asuka sprang up off the couch like she'd been fired from a cannon. "Welcome back!" she said loudly as she shot across the dining area and crashed into Shinji as he emerged from the entrance hallway.
"Oof!" Shinji barely had time to drop his book bag and open his arms to receive her. His smile said he didn't mind at all. The intense kiss that followed confirmed it. "I guess this means Misato-san isn't home?" he whispered when they finally pulled back. He still craned his neck to look behind Asuka, searching for their guardian.
"Yeah, she went to go get us 'victory pizza' in celebration for beating the Angel. I'd rather have your cooking, but it buys us twenty minutes alone," Asuka grinned before going in for another kiss. "And after an entire day of being poked and interrogated by Doctor Akagi and her Igor, I can really use the cuddles to wash that away. What took you so long to get home? I thought you'd be here before we were!"
Shinji shrugged. "Hibiki-san was absent again, so the Class Rep asked me to help Tanaka-san with the after school clean up." He squirmed awkwardly. "Tanaka-san... asked me to eat lunch with her tomorrow 'to thank me'."
Asuka growled. "And? You told her no, like all the others, right?"
"Er..." He suddenly couldn't meet her eyes.
"Shinji!"
"She wouldn't take no for an answer! I panicked!"
"Well, she's going to be in for a surprise when I come along! It's a good thing I trust you, baka." She freed one hand to flick him in the forehead. Her embrace on him hadn't wavered in the slightest, however. "You're mine."
"Um... how are we going to explain that? You coming along? She's going to notice, er, you staking a claim like that. I thought we couldn't let anyone suspect we're... we're..."
"Together. Boyfriend and girlfriend. Lovers. All that," Asuka said flatly. She then burst into a huge smile. "Yeah, it's been going through my head all day, too." Her smile faded away. "And explaining me will be easy. Wondergirl will be there, too."
"Ayanami? Why? She always eats alone."
Asuka sighed. "You're going to love this...." She quickly explained Doctor Akagi's decision, and that it was backed by his father's endorsement. "So we're going to have the First trailing us around like a shadow until we somehow figure out how to boost her Synch Rate up the way ours have lately. And I don't think our method is going to work on her." She leaned back in to nibble and suck at his throat by way of demonstration.
"I-eeeee! Well, ahhhh oooh.... we could invite her here and we all couldOW!" Shinji's keen of pleasure abruptly turned into a yowl of pain as Asuka's gentle nibbling suddenly became a bite.
She pulled back and gave him a flat glare. "Pervert. I could hear you thinking it. You are not getting an 'Israfel Special' with me and her!"
Shinji blushed furiously. "I wasn't thinking it! But now it's stuck in my head, thanks!" He pulled her back in for another kiss, to which she offered only token resistance. "But it wasn't um... that that caused our Synch Rates to go up, remember? It was..." He laid his head on her shoulder and just held her. "It was this. Just... opening up to each other. So we just need to teach Ayanami how to open up too."
Asuka let herself enjoy the embrace for a moment before pulling back again to give Shinji a raised eyebrow. "Fine, whatever it takes to get her off our tail so we can have privacy again. How?"
"I have no fucking idea."
Asuka rolled her eyes. "Dummkopf. Fine. She's supposed to show up here to join us on the walk to school in the morning, and Misato's going to be back soon. So let's make the best use of the last twenty minutes of alone time you and I are going to see outside of our bed for a while." She pulled him over to the couch in the living room and pushed him down onto it. He flopped back to lie flat along its length.
"Outside of bed?" Shinji asked, sighing happily as Asuka lowered herself down to lie on top of him. His arms automatically wrapped around her back and held her against him.
"Wondergirl goes back to wherever she lives after dinner each night, according to this stupid plan of Doctor Akagi's. After lights-out it's just you and me, and Wondergirl or no Wondergirl, from now on you are not allowed to let anything in the world keep you from my... our bed at night, understand? You promised."
"Jawhol, mein Schatz."
"I'm so glad I started teaching you proper German." Asuka grinned impishly. "Also, we've still got two condoms to use up. After that, I'm finally going to get something useful out of Doctor Dye-Job; a contraceptive implant."
Shinji blushed again at the reminder of what they'd shared last night. "Um... yeah... I... I was thinking about it all day too, Asuka. Even Touji and Kensuke noticed I was acting all smiley." He hugged her tighter. "Being with you is the best thing that's ever happened to me. Even if we weren't doing... that, I'd still be so happy. Doing that just makes it even better."
"Good, because we're not stopping. I've decided I like it. Now, you've got about seventeen more minutes to make me happy too, so let's not waste time." She kissed him again. "Mmm... and tonight, we're talking. I think I saw something... in that non-place I was stuck..."
"What?"
'I think I saw my mother...' "I'll tell you later. I don't want to kill the mood right now." She lowered her lips to his.
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