At the end of this chapter, another major person will make an appearance. Can you guess who?
*****
Chapter 11.2
Asuka was almost beginning to fall asleep again as she sat next to the bed. The scan had been mildly interesting for a short time but her college degree did not cover anything like this, and so the readouts were useless to her. She tried to keep her mind occupied by thinking about the mystery of her perfect lunch, made by a boy who had never even seen anything German before meeting the redhead.
'The meal that I loved, and the chocolate that always cheered me up. Once is happen-stance, twice is coincidental,' Asuka thought. 'If I go back to the apartment and find a packet of German biscuits hiding in a cupboard, there's going to be a problem.'
While Asuka had spoken to Shinji about German meals, mostly about how she would much prefer one to a Japanese dish, as far as she could remember those two precious memories of her mother had never been mentioned.
"Maybe you're just incredibly lucky, dummkopf," she muttered to the unconscious boy. "It certainly wasn't pure skill that got you to this point alive."
A hand on her shoulder almost made her shriek in surprise.
"I don't really care about what got him this far, Asuka," Misato said from behind, ignoring the glare Asuka shot her way. "We're all here. We survived the worst life had to throw at us, and that's what matters."
The scans had apparently finished. The waldos started to retract into the ceiling, and a soft chime emanated from the console nearby. Almost at the same time, Shinji's eyes began to open. While it looked like he was naturally waking up from a long sleep, the still-vacant look in his eyes showed that nothing had changed, to the disappointment of both females.
"Is this really surviving, Misato? The idiot here is almost mentally dead, and you and I both actually died."
The woman gently began stroking Shinji's hair, and tried to avoid looking into his eyes. She didn't know how to answer the girl.
"So are you going to let me know what was so important that you all ran off and left me here?" Asuka asked.
Misato told her, without looking away from Shinji. The lack of response from Asuka finally made her look up, to see that the redhead was white as a sheet.
"They're... they're back?!" she stammered. "Mein gott. And here I thought we'd finally get to have normal lives."
'Told you, Rits,' Misato thought to herself. Out loud she said, "Ritsuko thought you'd be happy about it."
Asuka stood up so fast her chair nearly fell over. A mixture of emotions swirled over her face as she paced the room. "I thought I would be too, not that long ago. It's just... You know my mother was in Unit-02. Now I only want to see if she's still there. If she managed to escape the Sea like we did."
Once again, Misato put her hand on Asuka's shoulder as the girl walked past her. Asuka stopped and took a deep breath, looking down at the ground and clenching her fists.
"I didn't want to get my hopes up that she would return. Mama said that even she didn't think it was possible. But Unit-02, the thing that housed her soul for a decade, what if she managed to get out of the Sea and is back in there somehow?"
She was dragged back towards the bed as Misato wrapped her in a hug. "You feel that you have to see if your mother is in Unit-02," the woman said. Asuka nodded as best as she could against Misato's chest, but didn't speak. "Look, for now there's nothing you can do about it. There is too much strangeness about the Evangelions, so you won't even be able to get near an entry plug for a while. Even if we decide to activate the Evas, Rits will want to run thousands of tests on them just to be sure that they're safe."
"Where the hell is she anyway?" Asuka asked as they broke the hug. "Shinji's tests are finally done."
Misato pointed towards the communication panel, and Asuka immediately went over to contact the control room. Ritsuko answered, and acknowledged the completion of the tests.
"I can look over the results from up here once I transfer them. Right now we're setting up automated messages to the outside world. This will give me something to do while waiting for a response."
The scanner beeped as the transfer began, and Asuka closed the channel before returning to the bed. Misato was now holding Shinji's left hand and stroking the back of it with her thumb. Her other hand was once more going through the boy's hair. She idly commented that Shinji could do with a haircut, to which Asuka nodded.
"He needs a wash, more than anything," she said. "The idiot's been wearing those same clothes since I saw him on the beach."
"Are you offering, Asuka?" Misato slyly asked, trying to lighten the sombre mood that had fallen over the room. It appeared to work, as the girl's face almost turned the same shade as her hair.
"What the hell is wrong with you?! Don't you know how inappropriate that is?"
"The same could be said about any of us doing that though, but we can't simply ignore the problem. He needs fresh clothing, a bath, and a haircut." Misato removed her hand from Shinji's hand and wiped the dirt and grime off on the bed. "And I can only do one of those things without you calling me an old pervert."
"Why can't we just make him do it himself?"
"Because it doesn't feel right ordering him around like we've been doing. He's a scared, sick boy, not a... a puppet with strings for us to yank on. Shinji deserves better treatment than that."
"Yeah... I suppose you're right. Alright, fine. I won't call you a pervert, Misato," Asuka groaned. "You did say he's pretty much your son, so I guess it's kind of like helping a disabled family member."
The two began chatting for a while about what they would do upon their return to the apartment. Asuka realised that she would need some more clothes, considering that her rampage had destroyed much of what was in her closet. She decided to try and find something for Shinji at the same time. Misato was starting to respond with what she would have to do to assist with the relief efforts when a slight pressure on her hand stopped her.
Shinji's left hand had clenched ever so slightly tight around Misato's. It was barely noticeable, but it was there. Both females looked expectantly into Shinji's eyes and saw...
"Nothing..."
"Schiesse... Gott verDAMMTE!!"
The explosion of anger shocked Misato, and she backed away from the bed as Asuka pounded on it with her fists and began swearing in German.
"I am so sick of this! I'm tired of being worried about him every time I see him twitch in his sleep! I hate getting my hopes up whenever it looks like he's finally waking up!" She latched both hands onto Shinji's shirt and lifted him up. "Come back to us, damnit!"
For one brief moment it seemed as if Shinji was looking at her before his eyes unfocused, but the lack of response caused her anger to dissipate as fast as it had risen. Asuka dropped him back down to the bed and slouched forward on the chair, hair now completely covering her face. Misato's first instinct was to drag Asuka out of the room for the outburst, but she could feel the girl's pain. That tiny amount of pressure on her hand had almost been too much for her as well.
Shinji's mouth parted slightly, unnoticed by the two of them.
"S'ry..."
That one mumbled word, despite the lack of any further response, was all it took. Asuka looked up, and then collapsed onto Shinji's chest. With all thoughts of punishment gone, Misato quietly walked up behind the girl and gently stroked the girl's back as the girl sobbed.
"D-damnit... How did you do this to me?" Asuka choked out. "Why the hell am I crying about you?"
There was only one thing Misato could answer that with. "Because you care about him, Asuka. It's as simple as that. Shinji's hurt, and you feel like there's nothing you can do to help him."
"I... I care about him? About Stupid Shinji?" Asuka lifted her head, vision hazy as she looked back at her guardian through blurry eyes. "Is that really what it is? This... pain I feel?"
Misato nodded, unwilling at the moment to speculate on what else the girl may feel for him, and Asuka buried her head in Shinji's chest again. She dragged another chair over to the bed and sat down next to the girl. One hand resumed stroking Asuka's back, and the other grabbed hold of Shinji's hand again.
She completely ignored the communication panel when it began beeping.
Or Matariel (angels could go by different rules).
