Disclaimer: See Chapter 1.

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Dual/Eva Crossover: In the Hands of a Real Hero

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Chapter 27

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Kazuki ate his lunch with Kensuke, as he always did, now that he and Hikari were no longer dating. He thought about welcoming Asuka to the class but with all the excitement surrounding her already from the other students, he decided it was best to wait. Glancing over his shoulder he saw Rei sitting quietly and reading. He smiled and went back to his food.

“Why don’t you go talk to her?”

“Huh?” Kazuki looked up.

“You know you want to. Just go talk to her.” Kensuke grinned.

“It’s not like that. Beside, Rei-chan like her privacy during lunch.” He smirked. “Anyway, if I wanted to talk to her, all I have to do is wait till after school. We live in the same apartment, remember?”

“Not like that,” Kensuke replied sarcastically. “It’s never “like that”, least not that anyone would ever admit to it, including you.” The sandy-haired boy took a big bite out of his pork cutlet.

“What, jealous?” The older boy teased.

“Damn straight!” Kazuki’s friend slammed down his chopsticks. “You’re so lucky. You get to live with both Rei-san and Misato-san.”

Kazuki rolled his eyes and shock his head, then took another bite out of his sandwich.

“Hey!”

Kensuke’s eyes went wide. “Toji-kun!”

“Sup, Kensuke-kun?” The tall boy looked over at his friend’s lunch partner. “Ikari-san.”

“Suzuhara-san.” Kazuki nodded. “Care to join us?”

“Na, that’s okay. I gotta get goin’.”

“Leaving early, Toji-kun?” Kensuke gave his friend a curious look.

“Yeah.” He held up a letter. “But I got permission this time. See, ma’sister’s being moved to a bedder hospidal.” He looked over at the young pilot. “Shinji-kun, t’anks.”

Kazuki nodded. “You’re welcome.”

A confused Kensuke looked back and forth between the two boys.

“Well, see ya guys damarrow.” Toji turned and left the room.

Staring after his friend a moment longer, the shorter boy finally looked back at his lunch buddy and asked. “What was that all about?”

Kazuki hesitated. “Beats me.” Then went back to his food.

Still confused, Kensuke followed suit.

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(000)

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Kazuki made his way from the school building in search of Rei. Last period was gym and Rei always managed to be ready before he was. After weeks of insistence, the First Child had become accustom to waiting for the Third at the benches along the side of the building. As Kazuki made his way in that direction, he was met with an unfamiliar greeting.

“Guten Tag, Shinji.” The redhead smiled.

“Hmm?” His eyes went wide.

“I said, good afternoon, stupid.” Asuka roll her eyes.

“It’s not stupidity not to know a foreign language, and I don’t appreciate you calling me that.” Kazuki gave her a stern look.

Asuka just turned away. “Whatever. So where’s the other one?”

The tall boy paused a moment. “You mean the First Child, Rei Ayanami?”

“Well, who else?”

Kazuki clinched his teeth. “I’m going to meet her now.” He started walking again.

Asuka followed along. “Yeah, I heard you two were something of an item. You even told some big, stupid lie to Hikari just so you could break up with her and start dating Rei.”

“That’s not true. Rei-chan and I are not dating. We’re just friends and roommates, so we walk to and from school together. Nothing more then that.” He made his way down the stairs. He couldn’t help but crack a smile at the sight of Rei reading on the bench.

“Uh huh, just friends. Sure.” Asuka gave him a slanted smirk.

His smile disappeared when he made eye contact with the Second. “Believe whatever you want to believe. Everyone else does.” He sped up and reached the sidewalk first.

“Hi, Rei-chan!” He smiled.

The blue-haired girl looked up. “Hello…” She paused, seeing the redhead on his heels. “Shinji-kun.” She placed her book in her bag and rose from the bench. “Shall we go?”

“Hey, First Child.” Asuka pushed past Kazuki and extended her hand. “I’m Asuka, Asuka Langley Soryu. Let’s be good friends.”

Rei stared at Asuka’s hand for a moment then up at the girl’s face. “Why?”

“Because it –”

“Teamwork, remember Rei-chan?” Kazuki interjected.

“Huh?” Asuka gave him a crooked stare.

Rei looked up at the boy and understood his meaning. Looking back over at the redhead, she replied, “Very well.” She bowed. “I am Rei Ayanami, the designated pilot of Eva Unit Zero.”

Asuka’s eyes flashed a hint of anger at having her hand left hanging, but she smiled and nodded. “Good. So, where you heading?”

“We –”

“We were going to get some groceries on our way home,” Kazuki cut in. “But we could walk you back to the barracks first, if you like.” He grinned, flashing Rei a wink.

“Well, it’s not like I need you to walk me home or anything.” Asuka frowned.

“Of course not, but it would give us a chance to get to know each other.” Kazuki laughed.

Asuka looked the boy up and down, then looked over at the First Child. “Sure, why not?” To Kazuki’s shock, Asuka wrapped herself around his arm. “Come on, let’s go.”

He flashed a look over at Rei who immediately fell instep. “So-o-o, how do you like Japan so far, Asuka-san?” He gave the redhead a stupid grin.

“Everyone here is so formal, it’s really annoying. All the bowing, and san this, and kun that. It gets on my nerves.”

“Well, you know, when in Rome-” Kazuki replied.

“Yeah, yeah, do as the Romans do. But you don’t mind if I just call you Shinji, do you?” Asuka smiled up at him.

The boy paused for a moment, then answered, “No, no, I don’t mind.”

Looking around him, Asuka asked, “And you don’t mind if I just call you Rei, right?”

Without looking over the blue-haired girl replied, “Do as you wish.”

Asuka frowned. “What’s her problem?”

“No problem, that’s just Rei’s way. You’ll get used to it soon enough.” Kazuki smiled.

A wicked smirk played across Asuka face, “Sounds like you’ve spent a lot of time getting to know Rei’s way.”

Kazuki struggled to keep his breathing steady. “Thirsty? Have you tried ramune soda yet?” He guided them towards the nearby market. “Come on, my treat.”

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(000)

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“Well, thanks for the soda.” Asuka rattled the marble around in the bottle.

Kazuki imitated her actions and smiled. “Say, maybe tomorrow you can come home with us, you know have dinner together.”

Asuka did her best to throw him a seductive smile and a wink. “It’s a date.” Turning towards the First Child, she added, “See you tomorrow, Rei.” She swiped her ID card, gave Kazuki one last look and a small wave goodbye, then walked through the security doors, which quickly closed behind her.

Kazuki, who had been smiling the whole time, sighed in relief and let his shoulders slump low. “God, that was exhausting.”

“She seems taken by you,” Rei commented before taking another drink of her soda.

“Jealous?” Kazuki raised an eyebrow in her direction, but Rei simply stared back at him. The boy’s smirk melted away. “Didn’t think so. Actually, I think it was more for your benefit than mine.”

Rei tilted her head slightly. “What do you mean?”

“I think she was acting that way intentionally in order to make you jealous.” He checked his watch.

“Why would I be jealous?”

“I guess the rumor around school is that you and I got a thing going.” Kazuki looked around. “We should probably wait a little while to give Asuka a chance to get to the barracks before we go in… but there’s not much to do around here.”

“My apartment is not far.” Rei turned and started walking.

“Your apartment?” Kazuki stood confused for a moment, then ran to catch up. “You mean your old apartment?”

Rei nodded ever so slightly.

“But don’t you think someone else might be living there now?”

“I still maintain ownership of it… or rather, NERV retains ownership,” she answered.

“Hmm…. Why?”

“In case, I decide I no longer wish to reside at Captain Katsuragi’s.”

“But, I thought she was your guardian now?”

Rei looked over and simply stared at Kazuki for a moment.

“Right.”

They walked in comfortable silence all the way to the apartment.

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(000)

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“My God,” Kazuki whispered to himself. “Guess time hasn’t been kind to this place.” He closed the door behind him and immediately noticed that it did not lock. “What the…” He fiddled with it for a short time with no success. Looking over his shoulder, he realized Rei had already entered into the apartment. “Say, Rei! This door, it doesn’t lock!” He waited a moment to see if she would reappear or call out some trick needed to lock the door. Neither occurred. Shrugging, he turned and started to take off his shoes as Rei had, but seeing her footprints on the dusty floor, he decided to leave his shoes, and walked into the apartment.

While he was never a clean freak, Kauki wasn’t a slob like Misato, and apparently Rei. As he passed through the kitchen, he saw dirty dishes still sitting on the counter next to the sink, crumbs and other bits of what he suspected were food at one time, and a bag of what was once bread but was now well on its way to becoming penicillin, next to the refrigerator. “Good God,” he whispered. Walking into the main room, he saw Rei sitting on the far side of her bed, staring out the window.

He started heading towards her but stopped and looked around. “Rei, mind if I use your bathroom?”

He waited a few moments then added, “I’ll take that as a no.” He disappeared into the small room. A second later a scream could be heard echoing in the small apartment, and the young man came half-running out of the bathroom. “It can wait till we get back to NERV.” And he quickly made his way over next to his blue-haired friend and sat down.

A small bellow of dust rose from the bed throwing him into a coughing fit. A few minutes later, he cleared his throat one last time, fanning the dust away from his face with his hand. “Sorry about that.” He glanced over to see Rei still sitting motionless, staring out the window.

“Hmm.” He stared out the window as well. “What are you looking at?” He searched the skyline for anything that might have caught the girl’s attention. Again, she gave no reply.

“Rei?” He turned and looked pensively at the girl’s profile.

“Yes, Kazuki-kun,” she answered without turning from the window.

The boy cracked a faint smile. “Nothing… it’s nothing.” He turned and looked out the window as well.

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(000)

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Sitting at a console in a small dark room in Terminal Dogma, Rei utilized a little known backdoor to access Caspar. “What are the names you wish to search?”

“Lets start with Ken Sanada,” Kazuki replied.

Rei typed in the name and in a matter of seconds, the answer came back. “Negative. There is no one in Japan by that name.”

“How about Hiroshi Rara?”

“Negative.”

“Hmm, AkaneYamano?”

A few seconds later, she replied, “Negative.”

“Yayoi Schwael?”

“Again, negative.”

The male pilot walked in a tight circle and scratched the back of his head. Coming to a stop, he suggested, “Try Kazuki Yotsuga.”

Rei nodded and entered the name. A second later, “Negative. There is no Kazuki Yotsuga. Not in Japan…” she paused for a moment. “Or anywhere else in the world.”

“Well, I guess, that answers it.”

She turned to face him. “Answers what?”

“This isn’t a parallel world I’ve entered but a completely different reality. Nothing like my world at all.” He crouched low, then allowed himself to fall back and plop on the floor. “Which means…”

Rei stood up and walked over, gracefully kneeling down in front of him. “Means what?”

“This may have been a one way ticket.” He looked up at her. “There may not be a way for me to get back home.”

The two pilots stared at each other for several long minutes. Finally, Rei replied. “You should not give up so easily. There may yet be a way.”

Kazuki wrinkled his brow and tilted his head, “How?”

Rei stared at him a few moments longer. “It may be revealed in time.”

Is there something you’re not telling me, Rei? He thought to ask, but decided against it at this time. When you’re ready, I’ll be ready too. He gave her a half grin. “Okay, Rei.” He stood up and offered her a hand. “Lets go home.”

The girl nodded and took his hand.

Kazuki took a quick glance up and down the hallway before opening the door all the way and letting Rei out first. Closing the door securely, they walked down the hall and around the corner to the elevators. They failed to notice the young redhead who hid around the corner back down the same hallway.

Stealing a peek to make sure the coast was clear, she turned the corning and hustled her way to the door the other two pilots just came out of. She looked up and down the hall before trying to open it. “Locked.” She pulled out her ID card and swiped it through the electronic lock, but it flashed red. Despite this, she tried the door once more, but still it did not open. “Hmm, just friends my ass. Bet you’ve got all sorts of kinky, perverted stuff in there, and here at NERV Headquarters, of all places. You’re both perverts.” She turned and headed back towards the barracks.

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(To be Continued)

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AN: Well, I had intended on having the next Angel battle take place in this chapter, but that would have made this chapter much longer and would have taken much more time to write. I figured I’ve made everyone wait way too long for this chapter already. Instead, I decided to use this chapter to show the direction the various relationships between the characters were heading and do a little setup for future events. Hope I was able to keep it interesting even though there’s a serious lack of action. The next chapter will definitely have another Angel battle, and some Dual action as well.

This chapter is being posted prior to it being beta-read. I’m still waiting for my beta-reader to return a chapter from another story so I figured it’s best to just go ahead and post this now and repost with her corrections later. I did edit it myself, but I’m sure I’ve missed stuff. I always do.

Thanks for reading, and a big thanks for taking the time to review. I really love the feedback.

A. Amishi