My parents came to visit for a week and see their new granddaughter, which meant little writing time until tonight. And the scene just kept growing on me. Here's 2950 words, and Chapter 8 is still going. Boy... we still have one more scene for Sunday before we even get back to school!
Chapter 8.14
Advent
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Sunday
"Caught you. Again. And this time I don't even have to put my gun to your head."
Kaji stood up from hoeing the last batch of weeds out of the row of melons and grinned at the purple-haired beauty who'd come to his hidden cabin and crop. "You don't have to put a gun to my head to get me to do anything you want, Katsuragi."
Misato snorted at the unsubtle come-on and looked around at the rows of melons. "So this is the big secret you've been hiding from me? I thought my melons were the ones always on your mind." She crossed her arms under said assets and gave them a showy lift-and-squeeze.
He grinned wider. "It's true, I've been keeping this hidden. You've penetrated my deepest secret, Katsuragi. I am laid bare before you."
"That comes later," she deadpanned right back. "So... you have been a hard man. To find, that is. But now I've got you, and like I said in that message, I want some good, firm cutesy talk from you."
Kaji's sly grin didn't shift a hair. He even let his gaze drop to Misato's chest and linger a moment before he met her eyes again and winked. But the tiny nod he gave told her 'message received'. 'Cutesy talk' was the code phrase they'd agreed on weeks before for when they had important information to discuss on NERV's dark dealings, SEELE, and other dangerous matters.
He leaned the hoe up against the side of the small cabin next to the melon patch and opened the door. He waved for her to precede him inside. "Step into my office, Major, and let's have a nice little meeting."
Misato's face was set as she nodded and stepped inside, but she did trail a hand along his jaw and tap his lips as she passed.
He smiled a bit wider. 'Cutesy talk' was about to happen, but so was another 'little meeting' in what both of them knew was a rekindled relationship. He closed the door behind him as he followed her in.
Misato sat down on the bed, leaving Kaji to take the solitary chair at the tiny table that was the only other furniture in the small cabin. She locked eyes with him and carefully and silently mouthed 'we clear?'
He pulled an electronic sweeper out from a hidden spot above one of the rafters and did another sweep for bugs. He'd done so just an hour before when she'd texted him with the message that she needed to see him, anticipating this, but it didn't hurt to check again. The little device reported no bugs in the cabin. The screening trees around the building should make it impossible for anyone to be using an infrared laser to tap their conversation either. They were as secure as he could make them without employing more obvious active measures. He nodded to her and said, "We're clear."
She nodded. "Business first. Shinji and Asuka have concluded, and I think I believe them, that their mothers are somehow in the Cores of their Evangelions." Misato rapidly outlined their reasoning, including Hikari's encounter in the Core of Unit-03.
Kaji sucked in a deep breath through clenched teeth. "...well, shit. That... makes sense of a number of things, but gives us a whole new slate of questions."
"Rits has to know this. She knows more about how the Evas work than almost anyone alive, and she has very definitely not told us about this. So, why?"
"Ritsuko seems to know a lot of things she's not telling us," Kaji said. He scratched his stubbled chin thoughtfully. "She hasn't told us despite your position as Operations Commander, so this has to be related somehow to Commander Ikari's plan. Which also means she's still loyal to him if she's keeping that secret from you."
Misato nodded, her mouth a hard, flat line. She was already painfully aware that her oldest friend's loyalties appeared to lie with someone who they both were coming to suspect had intentions that did not quite match NERV's public mission of protecting humanity from the Angels. "The Children only just figured this out after the last battle. They intend to try communicating with their mothers directly the next time they're in their Evas."
"Even if that works, it's going to be a tricky thing no matter what with Ritsuko and the MAGI listening in and watching the whole time," Kaji said, his eyes flicking back and forth in thought.
"I'll keep my eyes on her when they try it, see if she reacts to anything unusual on the readings."
"I'll see if I can break into her files, in her office or her apartment. I've got the skills for that little bit of ninja sneaking." He ran his hand through his hair, wincing. "God, you know how many issues Asuka has about her mother. The chance to talk to her directly, after ten years? How's she going to take that?"
Misato grimaced. "That's the next thing... Shinji and Asuka are..." She waved her hands. "Together." She looked up at him. "And supposedly you knew about this?" Her tone was only slightly accusatory.
He raised his hands defensively. "I only figured that part out last week. I came by your place to see you. You weren't there, so I was waiting inside when they came in. They were talking about..." He shook his head. "Well, they sounded like you and I did in college. I was in the middle of talking to them about it when the Angel Alarm went off."
"So why didn't I hear about this right after?"
"Because right after the battle, Asuka promised me they'd come clean to you themselves within a week if I didn't tell on them, and if she hadn't told you by the end of the week that I could."
Misato bristled anyway. "Damn it, Kaji! I know they have been into each other pretty much since Asuka moved in, and that I've been encouraging them to ask each other out, but this is too much! They're not just 'together', they're sleeping together in one bed every night, literally and figuratively! They're too young for this!"
She blinked in surprise when the tall Inspector began laughing. He held up one hand when he noticed her glare sharpening. "Sorry, sorry! I can't help it. Look who's the model of adult responsibility now."
Misato stuck her tongue out at him. "Oh, shut up. It's not funny. They spent all of last week messing with me: strip chess matches against Pen Pen, foot massages on the couch, Asuka acting like Shinji and vice versa... they were trying to show me I didn't know them or things between them as well as I thought, that they were mature enough to handle this. I got them to promise to sleep separately and hold off on any fooling around until I had a chance to think things over and discuss it with you, but..." She rubbed at both her temples as if to ward off an impending headache. "Hell, Kaji. They mean this. When they came out of their rooms yesterday morning they greeted each other with a thorough kiss and linked hands before coming to the kitchen. They both looked like they hadn't slept a wink, but once they saw each other they just lit up, both of them. Not a word between them, just these warm damn looks. They spent half the day on a date, fully in public downtown. They spent the evening cuddling on the living room floor watching TV, just wrapped up in each other. And when they went to their rooms to sleep, it was like the morning in reverse: intense hug, a deep kiss, and trying to keep contact between their hands until the last possible second when they separated."
Kaji gave her a wistful half grin. "You sound almost envious," he said.
"I am!" Misato exclaimed. Her still-tightly bandaged arm came up to grab at the air, trying to seize something that wasn't there to hold. "Damn it, Kaji, now that they're not play-acting and trying to hide it at home, they practically glow when they look at each other! Since their little reveal, I don't think I've seen them apart for more than a few minutes or when I send them to sleep in their rooms separately. Which as far as I can tell they are keeping to. They're serious about this, totally in love with each other, and Hell yes I'm envious! Two screwed up teenagers have apparently got their heads on straight and their love lives figured out, why can't we?" she demanded, breathing hard.
'Was she just afraid of making the next step forward? You can really like someone and still be afraid of moving forward, because it's so intense. But when you do... it's worth everything you've risked and more,' Shinji's voice echoed in his head. "Katsuragi... this isn't a nice restaurant like I suggested, but it's a better place than next to your stretcher at Matsushiro..." he began hesitantly.
She stiffened. They'd both backed off a bit from their near-talk at the blast site, at least in terms of what they were willing to say out loud to each other. The same old fears still had them. But that hadn't stopped them from getting a lot closer. She slept at his apartment a couple times a week at least these days. They no longer invited Ritsuko out to drinks, but were out most nights together. They both pretended they were just using the cover of a rekindled relationship to give them an excuse to meet and collaborate on Kaji's anti-SEELE work, and digging into NERV's secrets.
But they spent at least as much time just... being together now. Laughing and bullshitting like they hadn't done since college. Screwing just as much too. Their cover wasn't so much a cover for anyone watching them now. It was to dodge admitting to each other it wasn't a lie anymore. But neither of them had yet dared say so out loud.
"I... want that. What they have. We... we're..." Misato tried. "....why's it so hard for us?"
"Us," Kaji said quietly. "...is there an... 'us', now? Again? Are... can we...?"
Misato tensed on the bed. "I... let you get away once, Kaji. And we're already 'together' in this... thing with NERV and SEELE. If you want to... make it...official that we're... really together like that... starting again... then... I...I want it too," she said haltingly. "I never should have lied to you like that. I... don't deserve you, Kaji..."
"That's not true," he objected.
Misato continued as if he hadn't spoken. "But I want you." She reached up to take his hand and pull him towards her. "I want 'us' again. I don't know if I can... say it, yet, but... I want 'us'." He thumped helplessly down to sit on the bed next to her. "If Shinji and Asuka can figure this out, how to get past the walls between them... we can too," she continued.
'Just words… have you said them to Misato-san?' Shinji's voice prodded at him again. 'No, I haven't, because I'm a coward and don't deserve her,' he thought. He still pulled her against him, mindful of her bandaged arm. "I'd... like that," he said quietly. "Us. Katsuragi...I..."
She pulled his face to hers. "Just... we'll talk about it after..."
There was no talking for a while. Little meetings usually didn't involve much of such.
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Kaji rubbed his face and reached over Misato for the pack of cigarettes on the table beside the bed. He put one in his mouth, handed her one as well, and lit them both. He stared meditatively at the ceiling, listening to Misato's breathing beside him, the creak of the bedframe as he changed position, and the tiny hiss-crinkle of the cigarette's tip flaring as she took a drag. 'Do it, you coward. What are you waiting for, her to really die next time?' he lashed himself.
"Shinji-kun... he seems serious about it. And more than that, Asuka believes he is. She... ah... said he's told her he loves her, and she believes him," he began.
Misato sighed. "Christ, Kaji... what are we going to do with them? I mean, if you'd asked me two weeks ago about them admitting they like each other and dating, I'd have been all for it. Hell, I'd have thrown them a party. But... sex? Sleeping together? They're too young! And the worst part is everything else they pointed out about how they're going is right! Their synch rates are constantly rising, they've never gotten along so well before, and they're utterly unstoppable as a pair in battle because of this! They're so damn happy together I'd feel like a gigantic bitch if I kept them apart, but what if it goes wrong? I've seen too many couples..." She rolled onto her side to look directly at him. "Do something stupid and cause a breakup or fight that didn't need to happen because they had an attack of fear or stupidity."
"We can't afford them taking eight years to stop it, either," he agreed wryly.
She snorted at him. "Not just like us. I... you know how volatile a mix sex, passionate emotion, and teenage hormones can be. Even if nothing goes wrong between them, I'm terrified one of them will... break ranks or do something desperate and suicidal in battle because the other is in danger or something."
"Like jumping into a volcano?" he asked. "Face it, Katsuragi, they've already done that kind of thing for each other. And... watching them when that Angel appeared... I've never seen a couple that, mmm... well, 'in-synch' is the word for it. They can have entire conversations with just a few looks. They're very, very close. If they are more effective and potent like this, and they've been doing it successfully for months now, why not let them keep going?"
Misato almost scowled at her ex-ex-boyfriend. "Are you really saying I should turn a blind eye to my two teenage wards sleeping together?"
"Why not?"
"The teenage part! And the fact that the safety of the whole world against the Angels depends on me being able to count on them as Pilots! If something goes wrong, and assuming we're not all subsequently killed by the Angel, the first damn question Commander Ikari is going to ask me is, 'Did you know about them? And if you did, why did you let it continue?'" She sighed and let her head flop onto his shoulder. "If I say, 'ok, sure, move in together and screw each other's brains out every night,' and then it blows up in our faces, I'll be at fault."
"If they're this good together, forcing them to separate will make their effectiveness crash. You could be just as at fault on that side," he pointed out.
"Gaaaaaah!" Misato rubbed her forehead with her free hand. "What are we going to do? These are our kids messing around like this!"
Kaji couldn't restrain a burst of laughter. Misato's eyes narrowed. "What's so damn funny?"
He grinned at her, the same sly, sloppy grin as ever, but with new warmth behind it. "'Our' kids, huh? I like being back together, but I didn't know we'd have kids that fast."
She poked him in the side hard enough to make him jump. "Quit laughing! Or I'll suddenly have one of those headaches before round two, mister!"
"Alright, alright!" he surrendered. "Well... they're better fighters and happier together, and they've spent a week playing with your perceptions of them to show you they're stable enough to handle it... I can't say making them unhappy by forcing them to sleep in separate rooms is what we want to do."
She frowned. "I thought you'd be with me on this, Kaji. Asuka said you argued with them too when you caught them."
"And I've had a week to think about it, and..." He shook his head. "You should have seen them when that Angel attacked, Katsuragi. They were shouting for Ayanami to take it down, cheering her on, Shinji coming up with the idea for them to sortie in Unit-03... and they never let go of each other's hand the entire time. And they couldn't have dual-synched to an unfamiliar Eva if they weren't that close. Commander Ikari won't ask about his son, I'm pretty sure. If anyone says anything, point them at that, but for now... let them be happy, and keep it quiet, I think. They've earned the chance to grasp what happiness they can in a war like this."
'And asking them to wait when we could all die in a blink is... more than we can ask of Children we send to fight for us,' he didn't say out loud. He could tell Misato heard it, though.
"They're just like us, huh?" Misato asked. She shrugged. "I don't know. They're doing better than we are, if they're that close and Shinji's... said those words to her. I'd almost say they're too young to know how much that means, but... They are that serious about it. They do know. They live too close to dying too often not to know."
"So we're going to let 'our kids' be happy?" he prodded.
"I'll think about it." She stubbed the cigarette out in the ashtray after one last drag. "In the meantime, Mister Kaji, you should convince your ex-ex-girlfriend that you mean to fulfill your boyfriendly duties in a proper manner going forward."
He grinned that way again, and reached for her.
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(not that having goods stuffs to go through is a bad thing).
