Akane stared at the ceiling. "Ukyou, are you still awake?" "Yeah." Ukyou shifted slightly, moving the heap of blankets on the floor of Akane’s room. "How about you?" "Yeah." What happened? Nerima used to be peaceful. Well, not peaceful... in fact it was chaos. But nobody ever died from it. Even after getting hammered through layers of concrete, hit with multiple-kiloton explosions, and beat within an inch of their life, people always got up, dragged themselves off, and got better. Not anymore. Kodachi died a few weeks ago... no, she was killed a few weeks ago. And now Tsubasa was dead. Neither of them had been her friend, not by any stretch of the imagination, but they didn’t deserve to die. Of course, whatever... whoever had killed them was still out there, too. None of that included the giant robots that kept on showing up, of course. Not that Akane could do anything about it; Ryoga and the others would have to do. "Who do you think did it, Ukyou?" Ukyou started coughing, whatever she had been about to say disappearing in the noise. "Who? Do you think that we know... whoever did it?" "I don’t know... shouldn’t we?" "Um... no! I don’t know anybody who would have done... that." Ukyou’s voice was weak... whatever she had seen last night, it must not have been pleasant. "Ah." "Could it have been Tarou?" Akane almost giggled. "Thought that you didn’t know... no, I don’t think so. It’s not his style... if it was Happosai, I might think it was him." "If it was Happosai, we wouldn’t care." "Well, yeah. Besides, he’s been hanging around Ryoga a lot." Ukyou gasped. "You don’t think it was Ryoga?" "NO! I... it couldn’t have been him!" Ryoga kill people? That was... stupid. Even if he wanted to, he wouldn’t! Probably wouldn’t. "Oh." Neither of them spoke for a minute. "Somebody we don’t know, then?" "Guess so..." Shadows played across the ceiling as the tree outside Akane’s window blew in the wind. Akane pulled the coverlet up to her chin... she was scared, a little, and not afraid to admit it. Even though it was nobody that she cared for, so far... Thank goodness it hadn’t been Ranma. "Thank goodness it wasn’t Ranma..." Ukyou turned over. "I don’t know what I would have done." "Ukyou..." Akane hesitated to finish. After all, it really hadn’t been fair, what had happened to Ukyou. She didn’t deserve to get caught between Akane and Ranma. "I’m sorry." "It’s not your fault." Ukyou’s cough sounded suspiciously like a sob, now. "It’s not even his fault, really..." "It’s always Ranma’s fault, or Genma’s. That idiot." "Hm? No, I was talking about Ryoga... he kind of pushed you two together, right at the end, you know." Akane swallowed past the lump in her throat. Ryoga had loved her for... how long? A year? More? And she’d never seen a thing. Well, not much of one, anyhow. How could she have been so blind? "Oh... um, yeah, I guess so." "It still hurts a little, though." Ukyou sat up, looking straight at Akane’s half-open eyes. "Are you two going to be okay? Please... it’s important to me." Akane reached out, hugging Ukyou to her. "We’ll be okay. I promise. I’ll keep him from doing anything stupid." "Good luck with that..." Ukyou’s half-laugh, half-sob had a bitter quality to it, like something Ryoga would have said in one on his depressed periods. "Heh." Akane’s thoughts drifted... what Ukyou really needed was a guy that wasn’t an idiot. As if there were any of those around... --- Paradise Lost, part 18 Fan Fiction by Andy Kent All characters copyright Gainax or Rumiko Takahashi --- Ritsuko raised a palm to her face. The mess that they’d managed to make... Was a lot less than it could have been, of course. However nasty the replacement of armor was, it couldn’t match trying to piece limbs back on. And the damage wasn’t that bad, really. 00 needed a new chest plate, of course. The old one had a twenty-foot-wide horizontal dent in it, from shoulder to shoulder. They’d finish ripping it off of the Eva in another half an hour, at which point they’d store it in an empty hangar somewhere. Who knows... it might end up modified into another shield unit, in case any of the other Angels had large energy weapons. They’d spent fourteen hours working on 00’s foot unit. Most of the armor from the back and sides had been... eroded? Transitioned into another reality? Whatever... by the Angel’s shadow. A lot of the organic material needed to be removed, as well. Hibiki’s orders, but damn good sense as well. If they needed to, they’d take the whole foot off to prevent the Eva from being contaminated. Of course, the left shoulder had to go, as well. The pauldron had been mutilated in Rei’s fall, and a lot of the armor had been torn away, as well. That, and the broken elbow (and wasn’t THAT going to be fun!), and they could call it a day. Literally. Eight hours ago, they’d brought in Ryoga’s Evangelion. Somehow, despite getting completely subsumed by the Angel, it was intact. A quick spray job to get off all the blood, and it was as good as new. The entry plug, however... it’d take days to get all of the contaminated LCL out of the thing. Better to toss it and use another one. Entry plugs were relatively cheap, anyway. Her thoughts started to slide... Ritsuko quickly removed her face from her hand, realizing that she’d almost drifted off to sleep on her impromptu pillow. More coffee, that’s what she needed. --- Gendo blew on his bowl of ramen. It was still steaming hot, and it’d take another minute or two before he could eat it, most likely. Leaning back in his chair, he decided to spend that minute looking around. The first time he’d been in here, his attention had been focused on the occupants: all three pilots, and the wizened little Amazon elder. Now, though, said elder was out back with said pilots, putting Asuka and Rei through some basic combat maneuvers and making sure that his son didn’t manage to run off. It wasn’t like the décor was distracting, anyway. Plain wood tables, plain wood chairs, plain wood walls. Nicely cut, nicely varnished, but lacking in decoration. In fact, the only thing breaking the monotony of the place was the duck. Gendo supposed that it had some sort of decorative value. Maybe it had cultural significance as well? Eh. Probably, it was just next week’s menu item. The crone bounced in from the side door and came to a rest across the bar from Gendo. She looked... well, he wasn’t going to be able to read the expression of somebody with that many wrinkles very well, now was he? Even so, it was a lot closer to exasperation than to contentment. "What, are you just going to let it sit there and get cold? Eat it! I don’t let my cooking go to waste." Gendo lifted an eyebrow. "I don’t let my taste buds get third-degree burns. Where are they?" "If you mean the kids, they’re all out picking up." Cologne sighed. "It went quite differently than what I expected." The ramen tasted nice, if a tad shy on salt for Gendo’s tastes. Of course, he didn’t need the salt, like he used to... he continued to eat, half-gesturing with one of his chopsticks for her to continue. After a second, she complied. "Ryoga is Ryoga. It would take a complete reworking of his standard style for me to give him any improvements there, and you don’t have weeks for the learning. Most of the special techniques, same thing. But you’re not really worried about him, anyway." Gendo mumbled around a mouthful of ramen. "If his martial arts prove insufficient, then they prove insufficient. What about the other two?" "Asuka is normal for her age, although lacking quite a bit in training." Cologne’s eyes narrowed. What, did she expect every culture to train its girls in combat as thoroughly as her own? "She’s not nearly skilled enough to have a style, although she’s vicious enough for all three of them." "And Rei?" "I don’t know what to think about her. She’s as centered as I am, or close enough, and has an incredible ability to mimic what I’m doing... but she’s got no fire!" Cologne’s puzzled expression matched her tone. "She has no creativity, no variance, no... she just doesn’t WANT to fight. Sure, if I tell her to do something, she’ll do it, but she’s not really participating." That sounded exactly like his Rei, all right. "It was to be expected. If you can, concentrate on reflexive moves, defenses. I don’t need martial arts death machines, I just need pilots that know how to defend themselves." "I can do that, certainly. It’s better than banging my head against a wall." Gendo stood up. "Well and good, then. If anything happens, you’ll figure out how to get in touch, I’m sure." "SIT BACK DOWN, BOY!" Cologne’s hair lifted from the back of her neck as her pupils vanished in a wash of yellow power. "Finish eating that ramen! I don’t cook it to waste!" "Okay, okay, I’ll eat the ramen." Gendo sat back down, remarking to himself that, sometimes, it just wasn’t worth the effort to argue. --- Misato had been waiting for an hour now. It wasn’t that much of a problem. She enjoyed the view of the Tendo’s koi pond from their dining room, and the tea that the oldest daughter brought her. Truth be told, she wasn’t keen on making this request of her son in the first place. It had to be done, though. Ranma vaulted over the wall, back from his morning workout, and paused at the door. "Mom? What’re..." "Come in and sit down, Ranma." He complied, lowering himself across from her at the table. "You don’t HAVE to hang around, mom." "I need to..." Misato blinked. "What do you MEAN, I don’t have to hang around?" "Um... This isn’t easy, but I was thinking... I’m glad you’re okay. Really, I am. But I can get along just fine without ya, I did for years and stuff." Oh, now, THIS was rich. "So you’d prefer that I didn’t come around? Just what kind of crap did that bastard Genma fill your head with, son?" "You... you embarrass me, mom. I mean... you don’t act like a mom at all! It’s half a big sister that I never had and half Shampoo!" Ranma looked away from her. "It’s not that I don’t like ya, but it’s hard!" Misato bit back her reply. He did have something of a point; she certainly didn’t have a handle on the whole mother business. Playing guardian for Ryoga, Asuka, and Rei wasn’t even in it. Nevertheless... she stuck her arm across the table, catching the front of Ranma’s shirt. He flinched. He MORE than flinched... his arm jerked halfway towards hers, the shift faster than Misato could follow. As if he’d tried to intercept her hand and changed his mind. Well, it was good that he was hesitant to hit his mother, she supposed. Putting as much ice in her voice as she could, she said, "Look, I didn’t come here to talk about how you feel being seen in public with me! I’ve got a question." "Okay." She had Ranma’s full attention, now. Misato took a deep breath, and let go of Ranma’s shirt. "It’s more of a request." "What, a favor? No sweat. What is it?" "No, it’s not a favor!" That came out sharp, more sharp than she’d intended. Have to even the tone out a little... here goes nothing. "They sent me here today to ask you if you’d pilot an Evangelion." "Pilot... the robot? The purple one?" Ranma’s eyes crinkled, as if he was about to laugh. "Well, no, I don’t think you’d get Unit 01, it works best with Ryoga, but you never..." She cut off as Ranma DID start laughing. Very loud laughter. Loud and a touch mocking. "Um... no offense, mom, but I’d have to be an idiot to climb in one of those things. Ryoga’s told me about them. Why me, anyway?" "I don’t know, I’m not the one that picks potential pilots. My guess, it’s something about that... curse... of yours. After all, you’re not fourteen like Rei or Asuka..." She’d have to get more casual about that. It was a part of his life, no matter how she thought of it. She almost told him that she would talk with Tarou later, then changed her mind. To hear Ryoga talk, they had a certain history. "That, and they’ve seen you fight. Remember that little party with Ryoga down the highway a couple weeks back?" "Ah, um, okay, I guess that makes sense. Um... sorry about that, by the way." Ranma’s hand scratched idly at the base of his braid. Misato waved the apology away with her hand. "Ranma, we could use you out there." Her voice dropped in volume as she continued. "Ryoga, and Rei, they almost died yesterday." "No way. I knew it took you forever, but... really?" "Well, Rei wasn’t all that close, actually. But Ryoga... if he hadn’t killed the Angel when he did, if he’d waited five more minutes, he would have suffocated." Ranma rocked back on his heels. "Man... are they okay?" Misato coughed. "Yeah, although Ryoga says that he can’t remember any of it. Could be that he’s got some brain damage, but we hope not." "No kidding, he doesn’t have much to lose..." He flashed a grin at Misato’s outraged expression. How could he joke about something like this? "It’s okay, mom, but I dunno. I gotta think about Akane, too. I mean, she’d hate it if I got killed out there." "Hey, I’d hate it if you got killed out there! Although I’d hate it a lot more if the world ended because you were too much of a wuss to help us out." Misato softened it with a touch of a smile, but she meant the implied insult. "I’m not a wuss. You know that." Ranma frowned. "I believe that. So, are you going to help us out?" Ranma started to shake his head, stopped, and then nodded. "Okay, but on one condition. I talk to Akane first. If she says no... oh, hell, I don’t know what I’ll do then. I’ll think of something." Misato glanced towards the stairs. "Where is she?" "She’s in her room... NO, I’m not going to go talk with her now." Ranma’s expression tightened, a mixture of worry and regret. "She’s up there, talking with Ukyou... you met her, right?" Misato nodded. "Some guy got killed in her place last night." "Oh, man..." "Yeah, oh man. He was kind of a fruit, really, but..." That statement tickled something at the back of Misato’s mind. "Didn’t somebody else get killed a while back?" "Yeah, although I don’t even think that Kodachi’s family misses her. She was nuts! Really, seriously loco. But yeah... it’s got Akane spooked, and Ukyou’s still in shock, kinda, and I sure as heck can’t help her out." No, that wouldn’t be too bright of her son, now would it? "Well, then..." Misato pulled out a small card and flipped it toward Ranma. One hand flew out, snagged it from the air, and held it in front of his face. "Welcome to the team, kid." Ranma shot her an accusing glare. "You knew that I’d say yes, didn’t ya, mom?" She smiled. "Pretty much. After all, you ARE a manly man... RIGHT?" They both laughed at her mock seriousness. Ranma stood up, and Misato followed suit, heading for the gate and her waiting car. After all, there was more to do in the day than just shoot the bull with her son. "Hey, mom... I went to check on Ucchan’s place when I was out, and there must have been fifty guys from your outfit there. You do police work, too?" Misato turned her head to look at her son. "Um, no, but I can find out why, if you want." "It’s not important, I was just curious." "Ucchan’s? Who’s that?" Ranma’s right eye twitched. "Um, I meant Ukyou." "Better watch it, or Akane will get jealous." "She IS jealous. ‘S a good thing I have a hard head." Well, he had a point... finally, something positive that he inherited from his father’s side of the family. --- Ryoga was in the middle of a slow argument. He sat on the floor of the apartment, back pushed up against a chair, and scowled at Rei. She sat on the couch, calmly reading through another volume of manga, looking for more clues to help her find a sense of humor. He couldn’t get properly angry at her, not when she interspersed her answers with questions about the contents of those books. Heck, she’d even been right once or twice. A very slow argument, indeed. In fact, it generally took her ten or fifteen minutes to respond to any of his questions. It was like she considered the whole thing of incredibly low importance, like he was being a total idiot for wasting her time with it... Rei shook her head, slightly. "No, I don’t need you to protect me." "Rei..." Ryoga sighed. They’d been arguing, if you could call it that, since the morning on the subject. Asuka had listened for a few minutes, decided that it was boring, and went with Tarou somewhere. Somehow, Rei had the idea stuck in her head that she should protect HIM, and that it didn’t matter if she died in the process. He didn’t understand the reasoning... Maybe she didn’t understand what she was talking about. That made more sense than anything else Ryoga could think of... "Um... Rei, when you die, that’s it. Period. End of sentence. No more NERV, no more talking with Gendo, no more nothing. Maybe there’s an afterlife or something, but you sure as heck can’t help us out here." It’d be just like her to misunderstand what death meant. After all, she didn’t know what humor meant, she didn’t know what love meant, she didn’t know what anger meant... come to think of it, Ryoga was a bit fuzzy on the love concept himself, but that didn’t matter. Then again, death was a bit simpler. Kind of a no-brainer, really. Of course, he could always take a page out of Ranma’s book and be sneaky about it. While Ryoga doubted he could get away with a dumb costume, it wouldn’t be too hard to "accidentally" throw something heavy at Rei’s entry plug before they scrambled for the next attack. He’d just have to make sure that she wasn’t in it, that’s all. And by the time they got a new one, she’d be out of danger... yeah, that would work. "No, that’s not true." Well, now, he had a plan that didn’t require him to convince Rei that she wasn’t expendable after all. That was good. He tried to pick up the thread of the conversation... she told him that she didn’t need protection, he told her about death, she said that it wasn’t true... back up the truck. "What?" "Death is not final. I would still be able to function." "Are you feeling all right, Rei?" Had the stress reached her, snapped some hidden working in her brain? Well, he could have said that, he supposed. "Yes." Rei blinked, surprised at the question. Ryoga sat up straighter. "How would you be still able to function after death? You’d be DEAD." "No, that’s not true. I died once." "It doesn’t count if they resuscitate you." A cloud of emotion passed over Rei’s face. True, it was a very small, fast-moving cloud, but Ryoga could see the change. "They didn’t. I died... there was an accident, a few years ago. They put me in another body, and here I am." "Another body?" Ryoga was over his head here. "Yes, I have several spare bodies. They are... fragile." "And you’re SURE that you died? How?" Rei nodded. "I do not remember how. Everything before... the memories aren’t clear. I know there are things which I do not remember, but not which things." "I see," Ryoga said, not seeing at all. "So it doesn’t matter if I am killed; Hibiki will bring me back again." Rei cocked her head towards Ryoga. "You aren’t laughing." "Laughing?" Now he was completely confused. "Why would I be laughing? You just told me that you can come back from the dead!" Rei’s puzzled expression was very like her neutral expression, save for a tightness in the eyes. "When I learned your secret, it was funny, you laughed about it. You just learned my secret. Hibiki told me not to tell people... but you needed to know. Should I be laughing?" Ryoga didn’t say anything... he merely crossed his arms over his chest and rested his head on the side of the chair. It didn’t make any sense. She died once. She came back from death! And she could do it again! He barely noticed Rei stand up and leave the room. Back from the dead. Well, that could explain a few things... --- Rei sipped at a glass of water. She hoped that Ryoga understood now, that she wouldn’t have to keep him from trying to protect her. He could be killed, doing that, and HE didn’t have spare bodies. Probably. Hibiki could have hidden some, somewhere. But he hadn’t SAID that there were hidden spare bodies, so she couldn’t trust that. From the next room, she heard a noise from Ryoga. It started as a barking laugh, which then changed to the loudest laugh that she had ever heard, and then again changed to a laugh interspersed with a kind of wheezing sound. He had lied to her! Rei had guessed correctly about secrets. Now she would have to figure out why he’d try to help her learn humor and then lie about the important parts. Unless he had been mistaken. --- The young man closed the door to Gendo’s office as he came in. With any luck, he would have... "We didn’t find anything, sir. It wasn’t on him." ...found nothing at all. Gendo crossed his hands in front of his mouth, but did not smile. "It must be found." "Yes." The young man stood even straighter, if that was indeed possible. "This... we are fighting a holding action, here. Individual triumphs are meaningless unless you succeed in your task. You already know why." "Yes." Gendo inclined his head, angling the light off of his glasses. "Very good; continue the search. You will be informed if any other developments occur. Oh, and Kumon? Do try to find it before Seele does." Ryuu Kumon saluted, rather crisply, and left the office. The force of his pivot lifted the short flashlight off of his chest, tipped a few strands of hair over his white headband, and strained the buckles on his harness. Yes... with any luck, Kumon would succeed, and then Gendo could get on with his own mission. It galled him to have to rely on luck, but there really wasn’t an alternative. Gendo had made his choice; everything rested on him obtaining the scroll before his masters, now. --- Ranma hesitated, his hand freezing just short of the doorknob to Akane’s room. Here, he was on the horns of a dilemma; should he knock or barge in? He had to talk to Akane, keeping this kind of thing from her was out of the question, but... she’d just spent all night with Ukyou, and they’d both have Tsubasa on their minds. He flashed back a month earlier, remembering Akane’s reaction to another death. Heck, if this was the same, she’d still be a weeping mess. Of course, this time she hadn’t seen it, but... So, she wouldn’t appreciate him just coming in; she might need some time to compose herself, fix her hair, whatever. So, he should knock, and ask... But she could say no. It wouldn’t be the first time that she’d refused to see him when she was upset. And this couldn’t wait, could it? If he just opened the door and went in, she wouldn’t have the chance to say no. He could speak his piece, see how she was doing, right away. Yeah, that would be it. But if Akane got mad, she wouldn’t listen... and then he wouldn’t be able to tell how she was feeling. And then, when he dropped his own bombshell on her... oh, yeah, that wouldn’t go over very well. She’d clam up, and he’d get mad, and one or the other of them would storm off in a huff... So should he knock, or what? A stray thought entered Ranma’s mind... what if she wasn’t, um, decent? He flinched in conditioned reflex. How did anybody ever sort out this kind of mess, anyway? If his folks had gone through this sort of thing, it was a miracle that he’d ever been born. He rested his head against the wood of the door... Akane’s voice sounded from behind the door. "Who is it?" "Um... ah, heck. It’s me, Akane." "Okay, come in." Her voice seemed a bit brighter... And, just like that, he was in the room. Problem solved. You’re a genius, Ranma. Akane looked... well, she wasn’t happy, maybe she had been crying earlier or something, but it wasn’t showing now. Ranma took a quick peek around the room. No broken things, no wadded-up sheets... a tidy little pile in the corner, probably what Ukyou had used the night before. She was taking this well, he supposed. "Yes, Ranma?" Akane smiled at him, although it didn’t quite touch her eyes the way it sometimes did. "Er, um..." Damn, now that he was in here, what was he going to say? "I, uh, heard what happened... are you okay?" "I think so. It’s just... I’m not used to this kind of thing." Akane sat down on the edge of her bed, and Ranma perched himself on her desk’s chair. "Ukyou’s still a little torn up... you can guess why." "Yeah." If anybody in Nerima could sympathize with Ukyou right now, it would be Akane... man, Tsubasa didn’t deserve that. Sure, he was a cross- dressing perv, but he didn’t deserve that. Akane frowned. "Ranma, we’ve got to do something about this." "Do something? What, go around, look for the guy who did it?" Ranma snorted. "I’m not sure I would want to find whatever could do that, you know." "But we can’t just sit here..." Akane looked at Ranma... her expression was a lot of things, anxiety, fear, but mostly worry. Worry about him, maybe. Wait a minute... a little alarm bell went off in Ranma’s head. "You really mean that, Akane?" "What do you mean, do I mean that?" A touch of annoyance added itself to her face. "Did you think I meant something else?" Okay, crunch time... "Akane, my mom just came in to see me." "And?" "She, uh, asked me if I’d be an Eva pilot." There, it was out. Good. Akane blinked a few times, eyes slightly bloodshot... well, she probably had been awake all night. "You... pilot... Ranma, what did you tell her?" Okay, it wasn’t quite out. "Um... I kinda said yeah." "Kinda?" Ranma shuddered as Akane’s eyebrow twitched. If he didn’t defuse her, fast, she was going to blow up at him... "Why in the world would you say yes?" "She told me about yesterday... Ryoga had some trouble out there. She said that he almost died, Akane. I dunno, maybe I can help out..." Ranma trailed off as he looked at her... He had intended for his explanation to cool her down a bit, especially given what had just happened... but it had the opposite effect, like throwing gasoline on a kitchen fire. Akane now stood, no, loomed over him, glowing faintly blue, and Ranma was sure that she would whip out a blunt object any minute now. The sound of her voice made Ranma jump a little... how could somebody that angry have such an icy tone? "So... piloting the robot was so dangerous, that Ryoga..." Okay, maybe not that icy after all. "the most durable, impossible-to-hurt person that either of us knows, almost gets himself killed... and you VOLUNTEER to do the same thing? You... you idiot!" Hey, now... "Idiot? What the hell am I supposed to say? ‘Sorry, Mom, can’t help, you’ll all just have to burn in hell’?" "But..." "Besides, if they screw up, we’re dead either way, right? Right?" Ranma caught himself; the last couple of words had been shouted, and Akane had flickered out in the meantime. "I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that..." "No, you’re right..." Akane sat back down. "I don’t like thinking like this. Kodachi’s dead. Tsubasa’s dead. Ryoga almost died. I... you’re not going to do anything stupid out there, right?" "Me? Do something stupid? Naww." They both smiled at that. "Okay, then you can be a pilot." "Gee, thanks. I don’t remember asking permission..." Ranma chuckled. If he hadn’t needed permission, he wouldn’t have come up here in the first place. Probably. After all, she still needed cheering up. --- Asuka covered her mouth to stifle a yawn. Mentally, she added "find social life" to her list of after-school activities. It would keep her out of things like this... "Tell me again why we’re here?" "Tactical review, Misato said." Rei kept her eyes on Ryoga, carefully making sure that he didn’t wander. Again. The idiot had already made three wrong turns today. It didn't help that he wasn’t doing it on purpose. Still an idiot. "And why is it at Kensuke’s house?" "Simple... I didn’t want to have to move all the tape." Kensuke bobbed along, a bit more bounce in his step than normal. "Right, Touji?" "As if you could pick up that much, you toothpick. I’d get stuck carrying them anyway." Ryoga pointed ahead. "Here, I think it’s over that hill... why is there a door in it?" "I live in that hill, thank you! Jeez." Asuka chuckled. It did look funny... a low mound of earth, with row houses to each side, and a circular wooden door set into the side. There was even a little window. Did they mow the roof? "I never knew you were a hobbit, Kensuke." "You can tell by the hairy feet." Kensuke snaked out an arm, snagging Touji’s neck, and dragged him into a headlock. A quick noogie later, he turned the taller boy loose and rapped on the door. A moment later, he changed... his back straightened from its slouch and presented itself ramrod-straight, and his right arm snapped off a crisper salute than any that Asuka had seen thrown at NERV. Kensuke bellowed, "Permission to come aboard, SIR!" From within the depths of the house, somebody called back, "Permission granted, Ensign. Come aboard." "Ensign?" Asuka shared an incredulous look with the other two pilots. "Who’s that?" Kensuke nodded. "It’s just my dad, that’s all. Him and Gramps are pretty strict." "Go ahead, tell ‘em, Kensuke." "Um, here, let’s go downstairs..." Touji snickered. "If you don’t tell them, I will..." "Okay, you win!" Kensuke started down a stairway, not even noticing the low ceilings inside the... house. Touji had to crouch to get through the door. "It’s simple... I call Dad ‘General’, and Gramps is ‘Admiral’, and I’m ‘Ensign’. We’re all kind of military fans, you see." "I’d have never guessed." After a bit of shifting of pillows and stacks of gun magazines, they all managed to situate themselves in Kensuke’s room. Exactly how she had pictured it, Asuka thought... unkempt and cluttered. At least he had a big TV. --- Kaji pulled the seat out, allowing Misato enough room to slide in. He chuckled... sometimes, he’d let himself slide, and forget that underneath all of the silliness and alcohol, there lurked a truly devious mind. Case in point; she’d packed off the kids to the gun freak’s house under the pretense of a "strategy session". Admittedly, a large dose of robot anime might teach them a thing or two... After wedging himself into one of the chairs, he motioned to a nearby waiter and quickly ordered two cups of coffee. Yes, now that she had a few free hours, they could spend some time together. Quality time. "I feel like such a manipulator." Misato frowned, gesturing to the waiter for two beers. So much for quality time. "Are you still worried about that?" "Of course I’m still worried about that! I just talked my own fucking kid into something that could get him killed! Hell, it would have been nicer if I’d held a gun to his head!" "I’ll take that as a yes." He stopped smiling. Misato’s expression... that face had been etched into his memory, not for this, but years ago. The same look of self-loathing that she’d given him when... Kaji ruthlessly crushed that line of thinking. No sense in ripping himself up over it, again. "Did you have a choice?" "No..." She barely glanced at the arriving drinks. "But..." Kaji spoke over her objection. "Was it even your idea?" "No! But..." "Well, then, what could possibly be the problem?" Misato picked up the mug of beer, lifted it, and drained a quarter of its contents. She slammed it back down to the table, sending the coaster spinning off into a corner of the bar, and shouted, "It’s because I’m too much like my god-damned father, that’s why!" The revelation sent a sip of beer down Kaji’s windpipe, as he felt his eyes bugging out in surprise. "I thought that you thought that I was..." "Don’t you see? We’re both the same! Him and his damned art and his damned marriages, and me and my damned job! Exactly the same way." She took another slug of beer and continued. "All these years... I told you off because you were just like him, but I’m just like him too. Damn." Kaji smiled. "I guess that means we’re both the same, then." The effect on her was almost comic... her face turned red, her eyes opened all the way, and she started to stammer something... "Sorry... I didn’t mean that." "You... you, I can’t believe that you said that!" Misato snorted into her beer. "This is great. We always end up doing this." "Perhaps because we can?" Kaji’s smile took in his ears, and he knew that he looked like an idiot, but he couldn’t help himself. Misato shrugged. "I can’t handle this sober. Get some more beers, would you, Kaji?" --- Tofu spat his coffee back into the cup. Not only was it cold, perfectly room temperature, but that sip had revealed little fuzzy bits that would be perfect for the treatment of certain diseases but less suited to keeping him awake, which was what he needed now. It had been days since he had last slept, for that matter. He looked around, surveying the dusty and infrequently-visited Tokyo-3 University library stacks. For weeks, now, he’d neglected his practice, instead searching through every reference book he could find. It was just like his college days, the same feeling of being on the verge of a realization without knowing exactly what it was. He laid his head down on the table, on the only spot not covered with books. Books on many subjects, some of which he was surprised that he’d needed... the books on modern applications of medical chiropractic methods, of course, but he’d never dreamed he’d need translations of the Kabbalah, or articles on theoretical cloning techniques, or fragments of manuals detailing lost martial arts styles. The technical journals for personality-transfer protocols in next-generation computer systems and abnormal psychology manuals were important, as well; he’d had to essentially teach himself the basics of the disciplines just to understand the theory he was busy assembling. She had been different, that girl... not just albino or blue hair, but fundamentally different. And Tofu wasn’t going to rest until he found out how... well, in fact he was rather comfortable, and he was soooo sleepy... why thank you, Kasumi, I would like another... The doctor drifted off into sleep, still clutching the mug of coffee. --- Asuka pressed the "close door" button on the elevator. Those two could just walk up or wait for the next car. She couldn’t believe that she’d been dragged off to watch hours and hours of robot anime. Boring, stupid, boring, childish, boring, infantile... had she mentioned boring? And she didn’t dare fall asleep, not while she was in that Kensuke’s bedroom. He sure as heck wasn’t getting any elsewhere. The whole afternoon had been a waste of time. None of those things were anything like an Eva, none of the enemies were anything like an Angel, and there weren’t enough cute guys to go around, except in that one. She was so busy working up righteous anger and thinking of cutting remarks to use on Misato that she barely noticed that Tarou had been stretched out on the couch before flopping down there herself. "And now YOU’RE in the way! Shouldn’t you be chasing perverts, freeloader?" Tarou cocked one eye open. "You’re pissed. What happened, your red wagon break down?" "NO, I just had to spend hours in close quarters with Wonder Girl and the three Stooges. Wouldn’t you be ticked? HEY! What do you mean by that?" Asuka stood over Tarou’s recumbent form, looking him straight in the (slightly lidded) eye. "Ah. I’ll chalk all this up to ‘extenuating circumstances’, then, and forget it. Thank me later." Tarou’s eye closed again, and he half turned away from her. Asuka seethed. "Hey, I’m yelling at you! At least have the decency to get mad!" "G’way, I’m sleeping." Tarou made a snore-like noise. "Look, if I’ve got to go through all kinds of hell, I’m taking the rest of you with me!" Faster than she could see, Tarou had sat up, turned around, and placed his nose precisely two centimeters from hers. "You want going through hell, little girl? I’ve been hunting the same damn guy for over a decade. He’s a loathsome, twisted pervert, and I’d be doing humanity a favor if I killed him, but first I’ve got to get him to change my twice-damned name, or I’ll be called Pantyhose for the rest of my life. I’m even willing to stay in this technological pile of waste you call a city, with a drunkard and one of my other least favorite people. So can it about your rotten day!" "Well, aren’t you special!" Asuka was gratified at the look of surprise on the older boy’s face. "All you have to deal with is a bit of teasing, and you can’t even take that! I would KILL to have your problem!" "Really? What makes you think you’ve had it that much worse than me?" Asuka closed her eyes, not thinking about it, she remembered the pain always the pain and the loss but not why not what don’t remember don’t remember... ha. She couldn’t remember. Something must have changed in her face, though, because Tarou had pulled back a bit. "Uh... okay, sure. I don’t want to hear your sob story anyway." "Good." Asuka smiled slyly at him. "You didn’t say it was bad, living here with Rei." "It’s not." Tarou shrugged his shoulders. "Heck, if I was blind, I would never know she was here. She knows how to stay quiet." Her smile was distinctly less shy, now. "And... you didn’t say anything about me, either." "Must have been an oversight." Tarou chuckled to himself. "Yeah, must have." Asuka decided to go to her room and nap until dinner. After all, even if she was having a nightmare, it would be better than remembering... what? She didn’t think that she wanted to know. --- As soon as Tarou heard the sound of Asuka’s door closing, he smacked his forehead with his palm. "Damn, I am an idiot sometimes..." She had been right there, and so close, and even reminding her of his name hadn’t turned her away. This was one of the things that the pervert had denied him, that his name had sealed off: conversation with a woman. Almost a woman, anyway. One that knew who he was and couldn’t care less, who wasn’t intimidated every time he sneezed, who had some strength in her own right. Even if it was piloting one of those damned contraptions. He’d said something, though, something that had completely changed the whole mood. Something had caught in her eyes, and for a second they’d looked straight through him... what had he said? Something about her having it worse than him. Which wasn’t possible, of course, but maybe she thought so? Could be. Tarou knew that he didn’t really understand women. Who did understand women, for that matter? He’d seen fem-boy mire himself in so deeply, what with his fiancées and all, that he was screwed no matter what he did. Pig-boy was just a babbling idiot around girls. Who else, who else... most of the Nerima crowd were idiots, he couldn’t trust them for advice. Happosai? Tarou’s lip curled in a sneer. He’d die first. Damn it, didn’t he know anybody who knew about women? Inspiration came to him. That guy, the one that the drunk likes. Stubble-guy. Yeah, he might know something. He wasn’t putting his foot in his mouth every time he opened it, that was for sure. Damn, this would be easier if he had a nice, normal name. Then he wouldn’t have been in this situation in the first place, where he was attracted to somebody little better than a girl, somebody that would think he was a complete fool if she found out. Tarou sure felt like a complete fool. --- Ryoga would have crossed his arms and snorted in disgust, if he had vocal cords and arms. As it was, traveling while suspended from his bandana as Rei headed home was embarrassing enough. He wasn’t about to oink and provoke –another- bout of laughter. It had to have been Asuka’s fault. She’d closed the elevator door, and he’d taken off towards the stairwell. Ryoga could move faster than any elevator in existence, right? He’d even managed to avoid the broken water main three blocks away. If that truck hadn’t gone through the puddle, he’d already be upstairs. At least they were back in the apartment building now. Rei had almost reached the elevator. In fact, he guessed that she had pressed the button, because she was turning away from it, and leaning up against the wall... "Ryoga, your backpack is too heavy," Rei said as she eased back against the wall. It wasn’t bad, really, now that she could rest the weight up against the wall... but he hadn’t packed it straight. Where was that sound coming from? Kind of a grunting... Ryoga gasped as Rei stopped crushing him against the wall and brought him around to look her in the face. For a second, her expression was worried. He preferred that to what followed, which was an ear-splitting grin interspersed with laughter. Insensitive jerk, he thought. She didn’t have to laugh that hard. It wasn’t even really funny. --- "Kaji, ‘re you ash drunk ash I am?" Misato stumbled, half-pitching forward before she was stopped by her arm around him, and his arm around her. "Caush I haven’t been thish drunk in... in... lon’ time." He laughed, and nodded, his head bobbing down to his chest. "I dunno... you drove home okay. I mus’ be more drunk." Well, maybe he was more drunk. Probably. Misato couldn’t make herself care too much. She was too worried about not falling down as they went up the front steps to the apartment building. "Hey! Hol’ up your end." The two staggered down the hallway, trying to find the elevator. They found the manager’s office, a closet full of cleaning supplies, and the stairwell before Misato remembered which hall she had to take. As they walked – sort of – down the hallway, Kaji’s head came up. "Mi... Mi... hon?" "Yeah?" "I’m not gonna go home t’night... I’m seeing t’ings." "Izzat Rei laughing? Sounds like Rei laughing." Misato took her eyes off her feet and looked toward the door. "Yep, it’s Rei laughing at Ryoga." "Oh, good, I’m not seeing t’ings. I’m just crazy." --- Akane rolled over, twisting her coverlet into a snarled configuration. She couldn’t sleep. How could she sleep? Just when things were maybe starting to work out... well, if you didn’t count people you knew getting killed, and that was –another- worry... her idiot fiancé decided that life wasn’t dangerous enough and signed up with NERV. It really didn’t help matters that he was right, and probably doing the right thing for once in his idiot life. She couldn’t even get angry at him, really. And getting angry at reality wasn’t all that satisfying... where can you hit it to make it hurt? Well, maybe she did have to let Ranma do it, but she sure as heck didn’t have to like it. Why him, anyway? Couldn’t they find somebody else to do it? Preferably somebody that Akane didn’t know, of course. Must be hard to find Jusenkyo-cursed combat personnel. Wait a minute... NERV didn’t –have- any Jusenkyo-cursed combat personnel. They had Ryoga, and Rei, and Asuka. Ranma said that they got away with it because they were fourteen, and that he didn’t know why... No –way- Ryoga was fourteen. Heck, he was Ranma’s age. Akane felt a sneaking suspicion form in the back of her mind, and she didn’t like it at all. If Ryoga wasn’t fourteen, then that meant... for some odd reason she kept seeing an image of him standing at the mouth of a cave, during a rainstorm, and... changing. Into what? But that was ridiculous. She’d –seen- Ryoga get drenched with cold water before. It was, um, in the middle of a fight with Ranma? No... it was the time when he was chasing after her at the water park. The time when Ranma had been fooling around, trying to get that hussy Shampoo’s waterproof soap. Waterproof, Jusenkyo-curse-blocking soap. Once she started wondering, it didn’t take long to figure out what Ryoga’s curse was. And here Akane had thought, all this time, that Ranma called him P-chan just to tick him off. Which was correct, really, just for a different reason than she’d thought. Why the hell hadn’t Ranma told her?! She nearly bit her lip in two when she thought of it. It would be just like that jerk to hide something like that. Heck, the two of them probably thought it was funny, Ryoga sneaking into her bedroom and cuddling up with her every night. But Ranma –told- her about how Ryoga felt, a while back. And he had been serious, and Ryoga had been too, and neither of them had mentioned a word about little black pigs. Besides, Ryoga wouldn’t do something like that. He was too shy for his own good, really. Then again, P-chan had a horrible sense of direction, too. Aargh. The whole thing is silly, Akane thought. I’ll just ask Ryoga straight out, the next time I see him, and he’ll say no and we’ll both laugh at what a moron I am. Or he’ll say yes, and I’ll crush his skull in. But he wouldn’t say yes, right? It was silly. Akane just wished she could get that picture out of her head. Briefly, she imagined the NERV people asking Saotome-san to become a pilot. She drifted off asleep, still chuckling. --- Tarou inhaled, sucking sweet night air into his nostrils. Sure, it had a bunch of car exhaust and other things that he really didn’t feel like thinking about, and smelled slightly better (but not much) than an open midden, but it was fresher than the air in the daytime. Some kind of weather pattern thing, likely. And it was certainly a lot more pleasant outside at night. The door to the stairwell opened, and Tarou heard somebody walk out onto the roof. Shuffle, really. "Hello..." "Hiya, kid. C’mon, let’s talk for a bit." Misato leaned up against the railing, putting most of her weight against it. Tarou rolled his eyes. He really didn’t need this kind of thing tonight, he wasn’t in the mood... "You’re too drunk. Come back later." "Naw, I’m mostly sober by now. I’ll have a hell of a hangover in an hour, and I gotta ask you a question." From the expression on her face, Misato wasn’t going to leave him alone until he gave her an answer... "Ask, then." She nodded. "Tarou, y’wanna pilot an Evangelion?" For a second, he thought that she was joking. She wasn’t laughing, though, or even smiling or even looking like she’d like to be smiling for that matter. Tarou took a deep breath, closed his hanging jaw, and snorted once for effect. "You –are- drunk. What makes you even think that it’s worth asking?" "I’m not drunk. Seriously." Misato shrugged. "Gendo told me to ask. Can you help us out?" "No." Tarou sat down, his back to the railing, and folded his hands. "I would think that I’d made it quite clear that I don’t much like those things, you know." "I had to ask, though. Ah, I figured you’d say as much. Wimp." "Do I look like an idiot? You’re not going to insult me into doing it, after all. Besides, a guy can get killed in one of those things. It’s not my fight." Misato looked up, fixing her eyes on a half moon, and responded. "It’s everybody’s fight. We screw up, everybody dies. It’s that simple." "I don’t screw up." Tarou almost chortled. "But I’ve got another problem, and I don’t think you can help me out. I’d just get tied up in all the stuff that you do, and the old perv would go along his merry way. I’m here for Happosai, and that’s all." Misato’s face screwed into a frown. "That’s awful small of you, Tarou." "Yeah, I know. I have to do this, though, before I worry about other things. You know that." Tarou rose to his feet and stretched. "I suppose this is good-bye?" He could almost –hear- her blinking. "What the heck are you talking about? I thought you were here for the perv." Well, now, this was unexpected... "You mean, you’re still going to let me live at your place, even though I’m not going to pilot your toy?" "Yeah, sure. What the hell. Who knows, maybe you’ll change your mind or something." Misato gestured behind her. "We’ve been okay so far." Both of them sat for a minute, wordlessly enjoying the night’s breeze and sky. Tarou’s thoughts drifted from her proposition back to his other worry, the one that drove him out here in the first place. "Hey, Misato?" "Yeah?" "What’s wrong with Asuka? Something happened to her." Misato chuckled. "Worried about her?" Tarou felt his face redden. Damned if he was going to lie to her, though. "I think so." "There was something ugly in her file, way back when she was a kid." "Really?" "Yeah." Misato exhaled, sighing deeply. "Her mom was one of our test pilots, back then. Heck, it was before I signed up myself... something went wrong, and she came out of Unit 02 without her marbles. Crazy, you know?" When Tarou didn’t respond, she continued. "Eventually, she killed herself, and Asuka found the body. That’s all I know." "Rough." Tarou winced. He’d had a lonely life, thanks to Happosai’s cursed whim, and there were a lot of things that he hadn’t been fond of, but he’d never lost anybody that he’d cared about. Except his own mom, he supposed. He was still pretty young at that point, and he couldn’t remember that well. Not that he wanted to remember; the Impact had been hard for everybody. "Yeah, real rough. I wouldn’t ask her about it, though." Misato smiled. "You’ve really got it bad, don’t you?" "Shut up. I wouldn’t know." --- Aoba bolted straight up out of his bed, nearly hitting his head against the headboard. "It’s three AM! What in hell..." Somebody was pounding at his front door, as if they intended to tear it down with their bare hands. He threw on a shirt and shorts and went to see who it was, ready to kick the offender a new orifice. "SHIGERU! Thank goodness! I, I can’t get it off! Help!" Aoba’s mouth fell open at the sight on his doorstep. A haggard Hyuuga stood there, still dressed in his work clothes, and bowed under the weight of... wow, how did he rate a piece like that? She was nice, round in all the right... oh, she was that girl that had crashed the party, the one that Hyuuga had flipped out the window. "What are you talking about, Makoto? Just ask her nicely." Privately, he asked himself why Hyuuga was upset. It wasn’t like he was getting any from Misato... "I TRIED that! She just won’t take no for an answer! She even went after me in the shower!" Hyuuga frantically pried at the girl’s grip, with as much affect as somebody digging at a concrete wall with a spoon. "Oh, here, lemme introduce her. Shigeru, this is Shampoo. Shampoo, this is Shigeru Aoba, a friend from work. Now can you let go, please?" Shampoo took the opportunity to nuzzle her new fiancé again. He really was entertaining, and so much like Ranma! Perhaps fate had done her a favor in finding him. "Wo ai ni," she murmured into his shoulder. "I’ve got a crowbar in the back. Gimme a second." Aoba turned around and walked into his kitchen, flipping on the coffeemaker. It was going to be another long night... --- End of part 18 Questions and comments go to akent@pdq.net