And here we are again, picking up right where we left off. I didn't expect this conversation to take as long as it did, so it appears that we will be having Misato around for at least another snippet.
Plans not surviving contact with the enemy and all that.
I feel like I should be throwing a few more descriptions during the conversations of this snippet, but I'll wait for your opinion on it before going into more detail.
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Chapter 3.2
Misato's eyes twinkled with amusement for the short time it took Asuka to recover. Wheezing and red faced (and also feeling a bit foolish), the redhead threw Katsuragi one of her usual death-glares.
"Couldn't you have warned me that it was strong?!"
Misato raised an eyebrow. "Don't go blaming this on me. You can take it as a lesson to learn too, that recklessness of yours is something we are going to be working on getting rid of."
"I'm not reckless!"
"I beg to differ, but enough of that." Misato filled her cup and made to fill Asuka's too, which the redhead grudgingly accepted. "I thought you imperials had a long lasting tradition of getting drunk at the smallest thing? It's surprising to find someone that can't handle something like shochu."
"I can handle it just fine, it just caught me by surprise!"
Asuka's claim might have sounded more believable if her face had not been as flushed as it was. The way it was, her posturing only served to fuel Misato's amusement.
"Suuure you can." teased Misato. Getting Asuka all riled up was quickly becoming one of her favorite hobbies, the redhead's over-reactions were just too fun to pass up.
"I do, dammit! Here, I'll show you!" Asuka squared her shoulders and, throwing her head backwards, drank all the shochu in her cup in one big gulp again and slammed the cup onto the bench immediately afterwards. Feeling the drink burn through her throat once again, Asuka put all of her efforts into not letting any signs of her internal struggle show on her face, expression blank, steady breathing and eyes locked straight ahead.
Even if the way Asuka was holding on was truly commendable, Misato could almost see the smoke coming out of the redhead's ears and had to fight hard a coming bout of laughter.
Asuka's over-reactions were indeed way too fun to pass up.
"How about that?!" challenged the redhead when she had control over her vocal cords once again, her face even more comically flushed than before.
...Asuka was making it really hard not to laugh.
Misato opted for clapping and congratulating Asuka on her achievement instead rather than risking the redhead's ire again, and that seemed to mollify her a bit.
The two of them fell into a comfortable silence after that, and Asuka had to admit that, if properly tasted and in small sips, this 'shochu' wasn't half bad. She had no intention of gulping it down without restraint in the way Misato did, but she wouldn't mind having some more sometime in the future. After her third cup of the liquor, Asuka left her cup on top of the bench, not to be used anymore. She didn't want to go beyond her limits; Misato kept on happily drinking by herself though, and she didn't seem kind on offering anymore conversation for now.
Letting the silence stretch for a few more minutes, there came a moment when Asuka had had enough. Not having something to focus on, be it conversation or physical activity, would often make the redhead's mind wander, usually into less than happy places. Feeling no desire to dwell on the past at this particular time, she rummaged her mind for a topic to bring up and remembered the Kaji-like quote Misato had brought up earlier.
That would do.
"So..." she started. "What happened to him?"
Misato stopped her drinking to look at Asuka quizzically. "What happened to who?"
"The guy you mentioned earlier. The one you 'used to know'. What happened to him?"
Misato's face went sour almost instantly. "Oh. Him." she finished the shochu that was in her cup and set it on the bench. "He accompanied Ikari on an important trip about... twelve or thirteen years ago and never came back."
'Twelve or thirteen years ago? With Ikari?' the numbers didn't add up to Asuka.
"Why was Ikari travelling so young? What would he have been? Five?"
Misato raised an eyebrow and smiled at Asuka's confusion. "Wrong Ikari? I'm talking about Yui Ikari here, Shinji and Rei's mom."
Asuka made a wry face and mentally chastised herself. 'Right. Normal people tend to have parents and all that.' composing herself, she continued. "So, what happened? Did they elope together or something?"
Misato couldn't help a few chuckles at that thought. "No, no! Nothing as scandalous as that. Yui came back fine but when I asked her, she told me that this guy never showed up at the return ship." Misato scoffed. "Probably found himself some floozy to take advantage of. He can just stay wherever it is he is for all I care though, see if I give a damn."
"Why do you think that? Maybe he just honestly missed the ship and got stranded."
"Trust me kiddo, I knew him very well. He was not one to miss an appointment like that for no reason, and I knew him for the womanizing, smooth-talking scumbag that he was. That line I mentioned earlier? One of the pick-up lines that he would spout to pretty much any woman within a fifty meter radius. He was the absolute worst and I can't imagine that he got better with age. So yeah, I'm pretty sure that I'm not too far off in my line of thinking." Katsuragi took a break from her tirade and shrugged. "Either that, or he's dead. In any case, not worth dwelling on too much."
Even if she herself would have probably used more colorful adjectives to describe them, Asuka mentally agreed with Misato: that kind of men were the absolute worst. It was a good thing then that Mr. Kaji, her measuring stick for all things masculine, was nothing like that.
Following on what Misato had said, this 'Yui Ikari' was someone Asuka had not heard of until now. Unless she was the famous 'Sensei' everyone kept mentioning, but Asuka seriously doubted that. Seeing an opportunity to dig up more information, she eagerly questioned Misato.
"How come this Yui Ikari wasn't in the meeting if she's the mother of those two? Did she pass away? Is that why Shinji is the ruler around here?"
Her questioning must have seemed a bit too eager, because Misato raised her hands on a calming motion. "Whoa kid, slow down! What's with the barrage of questions?"
Asuka shrugged but didn't relent. "Information is power. It always pays off to be well informed."
The redhead saw Misato's face shift into a smirk and she instantly knew that she had made a serious misstep. "Oh? As well informed as you were in the meeting, I take it?"
That was really starting to get old, and Asuka hoped her annoyed expression would finally get the point across. "Will you let that go already?"
"Not for a while, I'm afraid. As for your questions, Yui Ikari is still very much alive and well. The reason you didn't meet her today is that she is on a trip to Tokyo to visit her husband. She should be back in one or two weeks."
"Tokyo? Isn't that like, your capital? Is Shinji's father someone important?" Asuka's face soured as a thought occurred to her. "Don't tell me he is related to some kind of royal family." Asuka's opinion of nobility would go way down if that indecisive and cheating shrimp was part of it.
"No, he's not. But his father has been doing important work over at the capital for a long time now." Misato's face grew serious once again in the same manner it had done back during the meeting. "And watch your tone Asuka, that's still our liege you are talking about."
"'Our' liege? Don't lump me in your same boat, I don't remember swearing any oaths." Protested the redhead.
"No you did not, but you are still his servant for as long as you make use of his generosity, with everything that entails. You'd do well to remember that, I'd rather not have to go into defusing any more arguments with Rei."
"Fine, whatever." It was clear that Misato's tone left no room for any arguments with her. "I'll make sure to be on my very best behavior around them. Happy?"
"I trust that you will. They are both good kids, I'm sure that you will get along fine if you give them a chance."
"If I give them a chance? I'll give you that on Shinji, but Blue was the one that went for the neck first. I don't owe her anything."
"Blue? Is that what you are calling Rei?"
"Fitting, right? What's with that anyway? Blue hair and red eyes are not normal on people, is she blessed by your dear Lady or something?" she scoffed. "That's not a blessing I'd want, that's for sure."
"Seriously, cut that out. You are trying my patience here, Sohryu." Misato's tone was becoming more hostile by the minute. "As for Rei, she's not blessed, she's diseased. She's looked like that all of her life for some reason no one can explain, even if she can lead a perfectly normal life on all other accounts. Folks around here are used to her so they don't bug her about it, and I'd rather you didn't bring her looks up in conversation. Are we clear?"
Clearly not a request, and Asuka didn't feel like pushing her luck anymore. "Crystal, I'll stay out of her way, no problem. BUT, if she is the first to bite me I am biting back. And I won't budge on that."
Even if she was clearly not happy about it, this seemed to be enough of an agreement to make Katsuragi relent. "Fair enough, but I expect you to keep your word on Shinji. The kid is taking a very big risk by offering you his hospitality, and I want you to at least be somewhat grateful for it."
There it was, the chance to question Misato about something that had been bugging Asuka for a while now. She stood up from the bench and turned to face Misato.
"That's another thing I don't get! Why am I allowed hospitality? I am grateful and I mean no disrespect, don't get me wrong, but Ikari's reasoning of no freaking reason is moronic on so many levels! I'm supposed to be your enemy for God's sake!"
Misato waited a bit for Asuka to calm down before starting to explain. "You are right on that, without the proper context Shinji's decision might seem senseless, but you can be sure that it is anything but that. Even if he has not directly told me, I can guess what one of the reasons why you are allowed to stay is, but I'll allow him to explain it to you when he feels like it." Misato stood up and headed for one of the wooden fences beside the training grounds that overlooked the farmlands and workshops below, motioning for Asuka to follow her. When the redhead was beside her, Misato pointed to one of the growing zones and continued. "I'll explain one of the other reasons to you, though. Tell me, what do you see over there?"
Asuka threw an odd look at Misato before responding with the obvious. "A farm."
Misato threw a small smile her way. "A little more in detail, please. What do you see in the farm?"
Even if she didn't have the slightest idea of where Katsuragi was going with this, Asuka decided to follow along for now. She had already pissed off the older woman enough for one day. "I see irrigation channels, a horse-drawn hoe, and..." The redhead looked at the plots neighboring the farmland she was looking at. "Is that a three field system?"
Misato nodded in agreement. "Good eye. You seem pretty knowledgeable about farming, you sure you don't want to help our people there?"
"I'll pass. But what's so important about this? It's just basic farming tools and techniques."
"The important thing is that you won't find anything like that" Misato pointed at the farmland they were watching. "anywhere else on Yamato. Only in Akuro." Katsuragi saw Asuka about to ask something, and she continued before the redhead had the chance to do so. "'And why is that?' I see you are about to ask. It's simple, really. Some years ago, a man in need of help ended up on Akuro. A man foreign to Yamato that taught the people of this province all kinds of wondrous things as a thanks for their help, and made their lives better in the process."
Misato turned to look at the redhead and saw her starting to link all of the dots in her head. She was sure that Asuka would momentarily figure everything out on her own, but... What would the fun in that be?
"You see, Asuka," Misato waited until she had the redhead's attention. "you are not the first Imperial to ever set foot on Akuro."
