Neon Genesis Evangelion Fan Fiction ❯ So Happy Together ❯ chapter one ( Prologue )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
Author's notes: I think this probably the most important part of a fic ^_^ The info of part. Who's going to be paired right? Of course I am. So here's the answer so you donut have to waste your time and scroll to the middle or the end of the fic . ^_^ So you donut make a mistake and start reading a story about a couple that disgusts you ^_~ ... I mean only God knows how many times I read a fic and was grossed out because it turned out to be about Shinji and Asuka (ewww) ^.^ So there you have it. It's a Rei & Shinji fic!!!! Die hard Asuka fans are probably pushing the return arrow about..... now.
I would like to thank and give a thousand hugs to Midnight, who is the most wonderful person in the whole wide world ^____^ He edited this whole fic even though he didn't have to. ::glomps hugs hugs hugs::
Ok on with the story .......


So Happy Together





Year 2016

It was about 8 minutes after the class was supposed to start. Shinji sat at his desk and stared at the empty seat next to the window. He was barely acknowledging the rest of his peers as he sighed absently to himself. "I wonder if she'll come to school today?"

"You wonder if who'll come today?" Touji asked knowingly.

Shinji shot his gaze to his friend, then his eyes tripled their size as they shot toward Asuka. He hoped that she didn't hear his friend's loud and nosey question . Luckily she didn't. She was happily chatting to Hikari.

Touji laughed. "Don't even bother answering. I already know."

"It's not what you think."

"Sure it isn't." He chuckled.

Shinji sighed heavily. Touji was right , but it didn't matter because he was committed to Asuka. But more than that. Rei's past... he wished he never found out what.... who she was. And for those reasons she was forbidden... even though he felt like he was bonded to her, and not as her child. Shinji heard heavy footsteps in the hall, so did everyone else. All rushed to their respectively assigned seats and sat up straight. The professor walked in.

He was a man in his mid twenties but left much to be desired in the way of looks. Shinji looked at the time on his laptop. The teacher was ten minutes late. Not that it really mattered, practically the whole student body was in his classroom. The teacher put his briefcase on the desk in the front of the class and pulled out his role book and the assignment for that day. Shinji sighed and thought to himself <I guess she's really not coming>

Hikari Horaki - the class rep - did her duties commanding everyone to stand up and bow then sit back down. The teacher barely acknowledged the respect given and started with the role call.

"Aida?"

Kensuke quickly answered "Here!"

"Ayanami?"

"Present." Said a soft, sweet voice from the person coming through the doorway.

Shinji took in a deep breath. Suzuhara looked at his friend's happy reaction and laughed softly.

"You're late." The teacher growled. He glared at the person who had yet to come into the classroom.

"Doesn't matter, for I am not staying."

Hearing that she was going to miss yet another day, Shinji seemed to deflate. Suzuhara glanced at his friend again and laughed softly at his plight.

The teacher quirked and eyebrow. "Then why even show up. Miss Ayanami?"

With that question, Rei entered the classroom and walked over to the second child and handed her a disk.

"So they finally found a job for you, little puppet?" Asuka asked snidely as she snatched the disk from the first child's hand. "Since you're deemed incompetent to pilot your Eva."

Rei looked down at the red haired pilot with a passive glare then turned her attention to Ikari. She walked over to him and handed him a disk. Shinji nervously but gently took his disk. Although not on purpose, his fingers brushed against Ayanami's, thus causing a blush to appear on his face. A moment of curiosity flashed across Rei's cool and collected face, so quickly that even a person with a photographic memory would question if he really saw it.

"T..thank you" He whispered loud enough for her to hear but low enough so that Asuka didn't.

She didn't respond, she just turned and walked towards the door.

"And what will be the reason for your absence?" The teacher asked.

"That is none of your concern." She stated simply and walked out of the classroom.

The teacher rolled his eyes, he was used to a response such as that from her but it didn't mean he liked it. He only tolerated it because her grades were the highest in the class even though she barely went to school. However, he'd rather her not come to class then leave in the middle of lecture or come in late like she usually did. He decided to continue with the role. "Daitanna?"

"Here."

Kensuke turned around in his seat and faced Shinji. "Do you know why she's always out?"

Ikari shrugged his shoulder and shook his head no.

Kensuke looked skeptical. "Sure you don't. It's probably some NERV secret project she's working on."

"I wouldn't know" The third pilot admitted.

"She sure has been weird since she came back" Touji admitted.

"How so?" Kensuke scoffed playfully. "She seems like the same introvert to me. Never talking to anyone. Always spacing out. Never laughing. Never smiling."

"She smiles." Shinji interrupted defensively. Both of his friends raised their eyebrow.

"To whom does she smile towards?" Suzuhara teased.

Shinji's eyes narrowed and he bitterly answered. "Him."

Knowing full well who he was talking about his friends started a new subject. "So did you get any last night?" Kensuke asked hopefully. He loved talking about sex even though he never got any himself.

"I did." Suzuhara bragged then looked at his girlfriend Hikari.

"You sly dog" Kensuke smirked and looked back at Shinji "How bout you?" Both boys leaned in closer so that only they could hear. They knew that Asuka didn't like for Ikari to brag about their night exploits, even though she did it all the time.

"I told you... Asuka and I have never had sex."

"That's not what Hikari told me" Touji teased.

Shinji looked confused. "Asuka told Hikari that we had sex?..." He looked over at his girlfriend then back to his friends. "But... but that's not true... I should know."

"Yeah right Shin-man" Aida whispered with complete interest. "I knew you were holding out on us!"

Shinji narrowed his eyes at him in an annoyed fashion and was about to retort but was interrupted by the teacher.

"So what's so interesting that you boys would disturb my class!"

The three culprits sat straight in their desks and answered practically in unison "Nothing sir. Sorry sir. Won't happen again sir."

"Of course it won't. " He smirked evilly. "You three know where the buckets are and you know the routine."

Inwardly groaning, the three slowly peeled themselves out of their seats and walked to retrieve the buckets.

Asuka watched them, particularly Shinji, and whispered to her friend "You would think they would learn."

Hikari giggled "I know, really!" She watched her love and winked when he looked at her. Suzuhara gave her a cocky wink back and followed his buddies out of the classroom.

"You know.." Asuka began, "those bakayaros get bucket punishment so often, I'm beginning to think that they're doing it on purpose."

"What.... you mean to get out of class?"

The two girls looked at the front of the class and began listening to the teacher's lecture about the Second Impact, then inwardly groaned.

"Sheesh, how many %*&ing years will we have to cover this?" Asuka growled.

"Until my Touji-chan gets an A, I suppose" She teased.

"Great. Then I expect to be going over this again next year." The two girls laughed.

"Would you two like to join them?" The teacher spat out in a very annoyed tone.

Asuka didn't respond but Hikari quickly said no for the both of them.

**********************

As Shinji and Asuka walked to NERV, the third child flexed and un-flexed his fist. The second noticed his discomfort...

"It's your own fault Shinji no Baka!"

"No. It was Kensuke's and Touji's. I was just unfortunate enough to be caught in between the two." He was now rubbing and massaging his sore palms and fingers.

"Why don't you tell those idiots to leave you alone?"

He glanced at her as he continued walking .

"If you don't I will!"

<that will just make them hate you even more> "No, please don't. It doesn't bother me really."

"Holding a bucket of water for the entire first half of the day, then getting in trouble again after lunch and holding it again for the second, doesn't bother you?!!" She gave him a very skeptical expression.

<it beats listening to the lecture, and you giving me evil glares every fifteen minutes.> Shinji didn't outwardly respond.

"I always knew you were stupid, Shinji no Baka!"

For the rest of the journey Shinji had to listen to his girlfriend telling him how stupid he was. So it was a typical walk to work.

************************

When they arrived at NERV the first person they ran into before getting to their lockers was the major.

"You two need to hurry up. You have harmonics test in less than 15 minutes." She looked at Asuka who was now at eye level with her and Shinji who had now gown a little bit taller than her. "What took you guys so long to get here?"

She second child pointed to the taller boy with her thumb. "The idiot wanted to take his sweet time."

Eyes always to the ground around her, Shinji mentally retorted. <I was walking slow because I wanted you to walk ahead of me and leave me the hell alone... too bad you didn't get the hint>

Misato looked at the boy and nodded knowingly to Shinji's plight. "Oh.. the reason I asked was because Rei had been here for a while now."

Shinji quickly looked up and at Misato at the mention of the blue haired beauty's name.

"That's because Wonder Girl didn't come to school today!"

"Oh... really?" That was news to the major.

Asuka took that opportunity to try and get the first child in even more trouble. "Actually the little doll hardly ever comes to school. I mean it more like not to see her in class than to see her!"

The major really looked surprised at that bit of info. Rei was not one of her charges but just as the other children were supposed to go to school, she was supposed to attend as well. It was so that the children could be able to function outside of NERV. Scholastically, none them really *needed* to be in high school. Asuka had already finished college. Rei was the ultimate genius and seemed to have god-like insight into things, and Shinji was a genius as well. They went to school to learn social skills.

Seeing that this news distressed the major, Asuka volunteered a suggestion. "Someone should really tell the commander about the first child's truancy!"

Ritsuko happened to be walking by and answered bitterly. "He already knows."

Asuka spun on her heals to face the doctor "What?! You mean that incompetent little fool has a secret job here, while I'm wasting away my precious time in high school learning the lie of the second impact!!!"

Shinji turned around too. The major looked at the doctor expectantly. It wouldn't be the first time she was left out of the loop.

"No. What I'm saying is, the commander already knows about her truancy..." She continued to walk to where she was going <and he doesn't care> She turned around to them. "Oh, will one of you retrieve the first child... I don't want time to escape her, and have her miss the harmonics test."

Now the doctor knew that Rei of all things was punctual. If Rei had to run across the entire Tokyo-3 and crawl through air passages, she would be at testing on time. Ritsuko's true reason behind this request was to cause trouble for the blue haired favorite of her beloved Gendo.

"Hell no!!!" Asuka screamed. "If she can't keep up with the time, then that's her own damn problem! I'm going to get ready so I don't be late" She spun around and stomped toward the lockers. "Come on, Baka Shinji!!!"

The doctor inwardly deflated. She was hoping that the second child would have volunteered < I should have rephrased the request> She was about to turn around when....

A sheepish "I'll do it" was heard.

Ohh this was going to be better than Ritsuko hoped. Not only was Ikari's son disobeying Asuka's orders, he was going to retrieve her most hated, self proclaimed, archenemy *and* find out about Rei's secret... The doctor smiled at the boy.

"Thank you, Shinji. Just go down the hall and she'll be in the sixth door to your right."

"Hai." The third child started on his way.

*********************************

Shinji walked to the door and knocked. No answer. Slowly he turned the handle (which was strange because this was probably the only door in NERV that actually had a handle and not a card swipe entry) and opened the door. More than being surprised, he was taken aback when he saw an Olympic sized pool.

"How long has this been here?" He wondered loudly to himself.

It was a legitimate question since the last time he went to a pool was at the rec-center when they couldn't go on the class trip. He stood there dumbfounded for a while, then he remembered why he came in here in the first place.

"Ayanami?"

As if she heard him, she emerged from the water. She noticed him but didn't react to his presence. Instead she swam calmly toward the opposite direction of the pool, as if finishing a silent race. He stood there and watched her.

<she is so beautiful>

He watched her skillfully do a tuck roll in the water and swim back towards him. This time when she swam to the edge, she pulled herself up and emerged out of the water completely. Seeing her perfect glistening wet figure, the third child struggled to keep his hormones in check. All was going well... until he had a clear view of her cleavage when she bent forward to pick her towel off the floor.

~Gulp~

He quickly spun around and faced the door as he wiped the trickle of blood from his nose. His face was as red as a tomato and his pants were now too snug for comfort.

The first child noticed the rise and fall of his shoulders, due to his heavy breathing. <why is he breathing like that?>

He heard her feet lightly slapping against the floor. She was walking toward him. <ok... why am I here... duh..... gawd I can't remember!!!... think ... think of something to say!!!!> He took another deep breath. "H...h...how long has this been here?" <YES.. brain's orders to mouth actually worked!!>

"It has always been here." She answered coolly as she dried the excess water from her hair.

"How come I didn't know about it?" He asked. ( his voice only cracked twice.)

"Why would you?" She asked gently as she dried off her body.

Feeling that he now had a check on his teenage urges, he slowly turned around to face her. "Ummm... I dunno it's just... how did you know about it?"

With her face of indifference she answered. "I have always known."

He narrowed his eyes as if trying to understand.

She recognized his misunderstanding. "It is mine. That is why I have always known about it."

"Yours?"

"Yes." She walked past him and out the door.

For a moment he stood there stunned. Part of him knew how she could acquire something like this in NERV. The other part of him didn't want to think about it because of the *person* who gave it to her. Instead he then quickly turned around and blurted out. "May I come and swim with you sometime?" His own eagerness surprised him. <why did I just ask that?!>

Rei paused for a moment "No." then started walking again.

"N.no?" he sputtered. He couldn't believe she actually said no.

She didn't repeat her answer.

"May I ask why?" His voice rang with a hint of annoyance. Hanging around Asuka all these years he found his gentle personality wavered slightly at times.

"It will cause problems."

"Problems?" He asked flatly.

She turned to face him and gave him a blank yet knowing look. "Yes, problems."

Finally catching her hint he sighed "Asuka."

Rei turned again and started walking to the locker room "Yes, Asuka." She walked through the girls locker room door before he was able to say another word.

Shinji found himself standing still and sullenly watching the fleeting from. "Damn."

***************

Shinji walked into the male side of the locker room.

"Where the hell were you Shinji no Baka!!"

The boy almost jumped out of his skin. He was not expecting her to be in there. "Uhh.. I was talking to Ayanami.." he reluctantly admitted.

"Why?" she spat out with pure disgust.

<because I want to get to know her> "Ummm... I was going to < no I can't admit that I willing disobeyed her..> give her today's assignment." <yeah! that's ... oh gawd >

"If little ol' high and mighty wanted it, she should have gotten it herself!" Asuka growled. "Stay away from her, Shinji!"

Shinji narrowed his eyes at his fiery haired beauty. The command to stay away from Ayanami created a backbone in him. A small one, but a very stupid one, for he responded with "Why? Scared that she'll steal me away from you?"

Asuka looked at her boyfriend like she was going to tear him into shreds for that comment.

"Eeep!"

Seeing that with a single glare, he sufficiently learned not to open his stupid mouth, she retorted with. "Hardly" and hymphed as she crossed her arms and stared arrogantly at him.

Shinji tried to defuse the situation. "Asuka she has saved my life more than once, as well as yours..."

She cut him off and screamed. "I never asked that little b*tch to!!"

Shinji eye started to twitch. "Are you even listening to yourself, Asuka! There is nothing to be jealous of. She is my friend.."

"I'm not jealous! I hate her!!"

"Why?... What has she ever done to you?"

"Why are you taking up for her?" The fiery red vixen screamed.

"I'm not. I'm just trying to understand."

"I don't need you to understand Baka! I want you to take my side."

Shinji let out a deep breath,. He knew he was going to be in so much trouble for this. "I'm sorry Asuka, not this time."

Souyru's eyes tripled their size. She couldn't believe her ears. She did the second thing that came naturally to her when she didn't get her way; (first being screaming; second being...) she reached back then slapped her boyfriend across the face. (physical violence) "Fine, be that $&^%&ing way!! You're sleeping in your own room for now on!" She stomped out of the locker room.

Shinji had just brought his hand to his face to soothe his aching jaw when he heard a person being slammed *hard* against a wall. He shook his head dejectedly. His cheek was really sore and he rubbed it as he walked to tend to the poor person who just happened to be in Asuka's way. He was surprised to see who it was.

"Ayanami!"

She was sitting on the floor against the wall, one of her arms reaching across her body and her hand over her shoulder. She was rubbing it, trying to soothe her back and shoulder blades.

He ran to her and helped her up. "I'm so sorry. It's my fault. Are you ok?"

"How so Ikari-kun?"

"Huh?" He held her hand and pulled her up.

"How is this your fault?" She was now on her feet.

"I got Asuka mad.... I'm sorry she took it out on you."

"It seems she took it out on you too." Rei reached up and gently traced her fingers on the hand imprint on his face.

Because of her touch Shinji's body totally stiffened; his eyes tripled their size; and the temperature of his body rose so fast he felt like his skin was on fire.

"Are you okay Ikari-kun?

"...."

"You're all red?" She slowly put her hand on his forehead.

Shinji brought his hand to hers and pealed it off his head. "I'm okay Ayanami."

For a moment, Shinji held her hand. Both stared at each other not knowing what to do.

"Ikari-kun."

"Yes?" He sighed in an awed whisper.

"You can let go of my hand now."

"Okay." (he didn't let go)

They both stared at each other some more. This time it was Rei who was becoming red. Shinji smiled because it was the first time he had ever seen her blush. Rei smiled back because it felt right to do so.

Rei slowly slid her hand out of Shinji's grasp.

"Oh... sorry." He sheepishly grinned though not breaking the gaze.

Suddenly feeling uncomfortable, she turned around and started walking away. "Ikari-kun."

"Y..yes?"

"Can you keep a secret?"

"Yes Ayanami."

"Then tomorrow."

"Umm... tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow you may swim with me."

A huge grin spread across his face as he watched her walk away.

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I don't own any thing that deals with Evangelion... nope not one thing ^_~