All characters copyrighted by Gainax, not me.

SPOILERS AHEAD!

In this fic, Yui Ikari is NOT part of Unit 1. If you have a problem

with this, don't read.

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Misato put her hand to Ritsuko's shoulder, trying to stop the

bleeding. When the control center was first broken into, Ritsuko had

been shot by the UN forces. It was only an advance scout so when Kaji 

and Misato opened up with their pistols, nobody was there to save the

young man's body from being riddled with bullets. Ritsuko whimpered 

a little when some disinfectant was applied.

"Oh, be quiet you big baby; it's not that bad," Misato said.

Ritsuko only looked at her friend with venom in her eyes.

"It would if you were in my place...arggh! Stop that, I'm fine!"

Ritsuko said through clenched teeth, and she cast a glance around the

large room. 

"How goes the fortifing?" She was referring to the attempt at

making to room inpenetrable. Misato followed her friend's gaze around 

the room and didn't like what she saw. Pistols and automatic rifles 

were being handed out to every staff member. As a policy, all 

employee's of NERV had to be checked out on a firing range; though 

none ever thought that they would need to use it. Guards now stood at 

every door and possible entrance.

"It's going, but remember, this room was designed to withstand a

seige from all enemies. We've got guns, ammo, and all the needed

things," Misato said.

"Needed things? You mean food and beer?" Ritsuko tried for a joke

and winced a little when Misato tore off a strip of her lab coat to

tie around the injury. Misato laughed a little.

"Yup!" she said while looking around. Maya looked a little out of

place with a pistol, but she wore a grim face. Kaji was handing out

the rifles from an armoured cabinet. Misato briefly considered the 

idea that he was not on their side; that he was still a spy, but 

soon dismissed it.

Then she looked up at Commanders Fuyutsuki and Ikari, who looked like

they were bored, even through their heated discussion. 'Probably just a
facade

the put up to give confidance,' she thought. Fuyutsuki noticed Misato

looking at them and said as much to the commander.

"She's looking at us, Ikari. Who do you think ordered this?"

"The answer is obvious, it was Seele who did this. Who else has

the power to order such a thing?" Commander Ikari replied.

"Yes, but _why_ would they do such a thing?" Fuyutsuki asked, more

perplexed about the whole thing than ever.

"I suspect it has something to do with the development of the

project. They still refuse to understand that without Unit 1 in

operation, the project _can't_ go on. The old men are probably unhappy 

at having to revamp their scenario so many times," the Commander 

answered and Fuyutsuki laughed at their running joke.

"But, _what_ are we going to do about this? We can't hold out

forever."

"No, but we can hold out long enough to completely destroy the

project, if need be."

"You...your n...not serious, are you?!" But one look from the

Commander told Fuyutsuki all he needed to know about the Commander's

seriousness.

"The project, the Main LCL Plant, Terminal Dogma, everything. You

and I both know what will happen if Seele has it's way, and that

outcome must be stopped at all costs; you know that," Commander Ikari 

said, gazing right into Fuyutsuki's eyes and in that moment of time 

Fuyutsuki knew the Commander was right; Seele's ideas and plans for 

the project must not be allowed to proceed.

"You're right, Commander. But what do they hope to accomplish by

attacking?"

"They may be hoping to remove the project from the Geofront, that

way they could monitor it's progress on their own. But you and I both

know that would only delay, perhaps destroy it. Unit 1 and all the 

other items are here."

"What if that's not what they're planning? What if it's something

else?"

"Then I have no idea what it may be," Commander Ikari said. He

looked up to see Kaji proffer a pistol at him. He accepted it

wordlessly, even though he hadn't fired one in years. There was no 

need. Fuyutsuki opened his mouth to ask something else, but was cut 

off by Shigeru.

"Sir! Even though the main power's been cut off, the backup's are

functioning enough to power the external camera's and sensors. We're

detecting something," he said.

"Is there still enough power to put it up on the main screen?"

Commander Ikari said.

"Yes, sir," Maya replied while doing it. The image that was

projected was the open sky.

"Zooming in," Makoto said. The image slowly enlarged in size until

the nine dots became visible. Then the image jumped in size so the

leading dot became recognizable. It was gleaming white, humanoid, but 

with a pair of wings extending out of it's back. It had a long, wide 

blade, the weapon was longer than the thing itself. But most 

recognizable feature was the things head, long and serpentine and 

curved. Then the others came into veiw. Eight of the things had 
their's  curving up, while one had it curving down. Misato found her 

voice before anyone else.

"What the _hell_ are they?!" she asked. Commander Ikari replied,

almost loosing his composure.

"I'd say that they were the UN forces' backup and the insturment of

our destruction. Zoom in on one's shoulder," The Commander ordered.

Shigeru obeyed, and everybody suddenly felt cold as ice when the image

enlarged and focused on the writing of the shoulder. It had a large 9

on it, and below that "Mass Prod" was written. Everybody knew that 

Eva's 5-13 were being used against them. "Well, it seems that we are 

out numbered," Commander Ikari stated.

"Call the pilots!" Misato yelled.

Meanwhile, miles away from the base and conflict, one of the pilots

was having a discussion with himself. "You idiot! What were you

thinking?" Shinji was thinking back to his kissing Asuka. He

continued to berate himself out loud until he heard a mild clapping 

from behind him. He turned around to see Asuka standing there.

"You're finally getting the idea, Idiot Boy. I see that my

'hand'iwork is still present on your face," she said with a grin. It

got wider as red spred across his face, matching the pair of fading 

hand prints on his cheeks. He was sitting in one of the chairs in 

their living room, she sat down on the couch, facing him. "Why did 

you do that if the Commander didn't put you up to it?"

"I told you, it was repay-"

"No. You don't have the spine for something like that. So tell

me, why?"

"To get your attention," he replied after a moment of thinking.

"You could have done hundreds of other things, why did you kiss me?"

"It seemed like the best course of action."

"Or maybe you were waiting years to do that to me."

"Now why would I want to do that?"

"Who are you trying to convince, me or yourself?"

"Look, Asuka, stop with the third degree!"

"Why? This is just repayment for the kiss!" Shinji fought hard to

keep his anger down, then he thought of another question.

"Why did you take so long to slap me if you hated it?" he asked.

"I never said I hated i..." Asuka trailed off as she realized that

she just admitted to maybe liking him kissing her. Shinji's eyebrows

raised.

"Asuka, did you miss me when I left?" he asked after a few moments.

Toji's words came back to haunt Asuka, 'If you hated him so much, why

were you so broken up at having him leave? For that matter, why did 

you smile at him?'. Asuka reminded herself that she'd never answered 

him, she had told herself then that it wasn't worth the energy to 

answer. Now she thought that maybe she didn't answer because she 

didn't want to know the truth.

'Why did I smile at him?' she asked herself. 'Did I miss the jerk?

Nahhhhh, not possible. Then why did I take so long to hit him? Did I

want him to kiss me?' The last thought horrified her. It meant that

she wanted him! She hadn't wanted anyone other than Kaji...and her

parents.

She didn't want to think about her parents.

"Well, as you look like you don't want to answer my questions, I

shall leave you," Shinji said and he turned around, going for his

room.

Asuka made up her mind, disgusted by the way she was thinking, but

knew that it was the right course of action; that, and she wanted to 

do it.

She _had_ missed him.

"Ohhh, Shinji," she said in a sweet voice. She watched with

interest as he snapped straight and slowly turned around to face her.

He wore an expression of fear on his face. Before he left, Asuka had 

only used that tone of voice when she planned on tormenting him in 

some dispicable manner, and it didn't seem that she'd changed much in 

the last three years, other than by becoming _very_ pretty. Beautiful,

even.

"Y...y...yes, A...Asuka?" he asked in a shakey voice. She had an

odd look in her eyes just before she walked up to him. She stood eye

to eye with him and gazed with her vibrant blue eyes into his dark 

blue ones.

Shinji figured that, for some reason, she was gathering up her

courage.

Then in a flash she covered his mouth with hers. Shinji's eyes slowly

got wider as he realized what was going on, then he did the 

unexpected; he responded to her. It was as if three years of 

reined-in feelings suddenly burst free of their bonds and ran amok! 

The kiss grew deeper and deeper, until neither of them expected to 

get out of it. But all too soon the kiss broke and they looked at 

each other with silly grins.

"Those are my answers," she said, still grinning ear-to-ear.

Shinji had no idea what she was talking about.

"Huh? What?" he managed to get out as he was still trying to

digest what had just happened.

"If I missed you and why I took so long to slap you; yes I did miss

you, and I liked you kissing me. Those are my answers," she said,

finally able to get it out. For three years, maybe more, she'd denied 

herself the truth. She liked Shinji.

It took a minute for Shinji to realize that now he'd twice called

her beautiful. Then he realized something, he _liked_ Asuka, far more

than he liked any friend that he had. He stepped back for few moments, 

just looking at the girl standing in front of him, with a silly grin 

to match his own. Then he laughed out loud. It started as a small 

chuckle and turned into full-blown mirth.

"What? What's so funny?" Asuka demanded, though not as forcefully

as she would have a few weeks ago. Shinji waved a hand and tried to

catch his breath. "Shinji..." she said dangeously low. Then he 

sobered up and looked her square in the eye.

"At least this time I could breathe, as I didn't have a hand

holding my nose shut!" Asuka blushed at the memory, as it was she, not

he, that initiated the contact that time, even though it was only to 

waste time.

'Did I want him to kiss me back then?' She closed her eyes, trying

to remember the feeling of having his lips touching hers like they did

a few moments ago. She heard a grunt of pain from in front of her 

and opened her eyes just in time to see Shinji fall to his knees, 

clutching at his head.

Shinji was enjoying himself by watching Asuka's face take on a hue

close to her plug suit when his head suddenly started throbbing

painfully.

The throb got worse and worse until it felt like his head was

swelling. He could feel a small drop of blood trickle out of his nose, 

and for a moment he thought that he could see the dark cloud from the 

entry plug. He could feel...something. It wasn't human, whatever it 

was. Then he heard a voice calling.

"Shinji...Shinji...Shinji...come to me...we must be together," the

inhuman voice chanted over and over again In that moment Shinji knew

that he and his father were right about Unit 1.

"Stop it! Stop it! Stop calling me! I don't want to fight! I

don't want to hurt anyone! Please, stop!" he yelled. The voice

stopped.

For a moment he thought that it was his imagination, but then he heard

Asuka's voice shouting at him.

"Shinji! Shinji what's going on?" Asuka yelled, worried about him,

and she momentarily thought about that feeling in regards to young man

in front of her. Then she ran to him, and grabbed on to his shirt. 

"Stop what?" she asked, perplexed. Then he stopped shouting and rose 

from his knees.

"I'm fine," he said, trying to sound calm.

"No, you're not. You just don't collapse to your knees in pain,

yelling at someone to stop, and still be fine. Tell me what's wrong,"

she asked, deciding that even though she's revised her opinion about 

him, he was still an idiot.

Shinji, for his part started open his mouth to tell her that he was

fine again, but then he looked into her eyes and he started to loose

himself in those deep orbs, and suddenly didn't have the heart to lie

to her. But he couldn't bring himself to tell the truth, for fear that

it would make her worry. Already his thoughts about her, and what he

would do to her, were changing with his feelings. Unable to decided to 

lie or tell the truth, he settled on a compromise.

"I don't know," he said sadly, wiping the drop of blood away from

his face. "You surprised me, you know. I didn't think you'd show such

concern for me," he admitted. Asuka was silent for a moment,

considering her answers.

"I'm surprising myself these days," she responded. Shinji's

response was cut off by two cellular phones ringing.

end part 11

Cory Holmes

gholmes@rodeo.sd27.bc.ca

K Yee and Joshua Stanczak.

Special thanks to:

Anthony Woo, Shachihoko, Brian Yaple, JLee100441, Micah Potasnik, and

Curtiss R. Nelson for answering my pesky questions.

Cory Holmes

gholmes@rodeo.sd27.bc.ca