Author's Notes: Well, that whole experience sure did suck! The last few weeks have basically sucked, leaving me damned little time to write. I'm getting behind on all the stuff I'm working on, including this story. And, when I thought I had a decent version done, and tried to upload it, the site's login system wasn't working. So, then I start rereading, and editing this, and rereading, and changing that...well, I hope this is better than my first pass through this chapter. Let me know what y'all think.

Disclaimer: If y'all think I own this, or am making any sort of profit, then, as Rob Halford sang, "You've got another thing coming!"

Ryouji Kaji sat across the table from the young redhead for whom he was, until very recently, guardian, eating lunch. 'Sometimes,' he thought, 'the natural luck I seem to have with women can be a real curse, rather than a blessing.'

It wasn't that he didn't like Asuka, or that he didn't care for her. It's that he didn't have the same kind of romantic interest in her that she had in him. At all. That, then, was the source of difficulty for him - he should have expected her to try something like this "shopping trip" for a swimsuit for her class trip, where her ulterior motive was so obvious. Asuka didn't want him to see her as a little girl anymore, and was eager to show him just how much she'd grown.

Outwardly, he was attentive to what Asuka was saying, but inwardly he frowned. How do you explain to a 14 year old girl, one of three people the fate of the world hinged upon, whose infatiuation with you bordered on idol worship that you saw her like the little sister he never had? Idly, he wondered if Misato had the same problem with Shinji.

'Enough of this!' he thought. After all, he might finally have a solution to the problem, someone else he could divert that infatuation towards. "So," Kaji asked, "how's life at the Katsuragi residence?"

Asuka shrugged, her demeanor rapidly changing from energetic to sullen. "OK, I guess..."

"What's wrong?"

The girl sighed. "I don't know where to start, Kaji! I mean, sometimes it's not so bad, but Shinji can be such a pushover sometimes. And he may not be as big a pervert as I first thought he was, and with friends like his who wouldn't think that, but Misato's worse!"

Kaji shrugged. "Oh, come on, she can't be that bad..." He started sipping his tea.

"She suggested we have a threesome!"

Fortunately, Kaji managed to keep from spraying the tea onto Asuka.

A couple seconds passed before he'd recovered, but once he had, he laughed. "Asuka, I'm sure she was kidding." Picking up his tea again, he tried diligently to actually drink it this time.

Asuka sighed. "I hope so, because if I was going to do that, I'd much rather you were involved, not Shinji!"

One day, Kaji would manage to actually drink some of his tea. Today, though, was evidently not that day.

"I still can't believe you're going along with this so easily, baka!" Asuka was livid - she'd been looking forward to going on this trip, to doing something actually approaching having a normal life for once, only to have it taken away. And here Shinji was, calmly accepting the Captain's decision!

Shinji, meanwhile, shrugged. "What choice do we have, Asuka? Misato's right - we need to be here in case of an attack, and the Angels don't give us much warning. It might take too long for us to get back to Tokyo-3 in the event of an attack. It's like Misato said, Asuka. We're pilots, and we've got responsibilities."

"You sound like her, Shinji."

He shrugged again. "She's right."

Asuka sighed, still angry and upset about not being able to go on the class trip, and she was more than willing to take it out on her fellow pilot. How could he be so passive about this? "Tell me, Shinji, are you going along with this because you'll do whatever your girlfriend tells you to do, or because you wouldn't want to go if she wasn't with you, anyway?"

Shinji just shook his head. "It's not that, Asuka. Going on the trip would be, well, normal, and there hasn't been anything in my life since I got here that anyone I know would consider normal." He paused for a moment before continuing, "And I told you already: Misato isn't my girlfriend. She's my friend, and my commanding officer."

"Right, Shinji. We've been over this before - friends don't sleep in the same bed and snuggle up the way you too have." She thought, idly, about how Shinji and Misato almost seemed the opposite of her and Kaji. Could he really be as naive as to think that he and Misato were just friends?

Wanting desperately to change the subject, Shinji's mind raced to find something to distract his fellow pilot...that's it! "Asuka, why don't we go see our friends off, then head to NERV? I've heard they have a really big pool. It's not as good as the beach, but..."

Asuka nodded. "Fine, Shinji. Don't think we're done talking about this, though." She would get to the bottom of what was really going on with Shinji and Misato, and how such an unassuming boy could garner the attention of someone like Misato Katsuragi. Figuring out how Misato had drawn Shinji to her, other than the obvious, was worth figuring out as well. 'Hmm, perhaps the pool will be a good opportunity. I'll have to keep my eyes open.'

Rei exited the women's locker room, leaving Pilot Sohryu, who was still changing into her swimsuit. She noted that Pilot Ikari...'No', she thought, 'I should refer to him as Ikari-kun. I believe our personal interactions since our actions against the Fifth Angel constitute a friendship.' Shinji seemed to be diligently try to ignore her, appearing to be engrossed in his laptop computer, sitting at a table. He was not wearing a swimsuit, instead wearing the white button-up shirt and black pants typical of his school uniform.

She stopped at the table, standing over him for a moment, before she spoke. "Ikari-kun, may I speak with you?"

Rei noted Shinji's hesitation, almost as if he was afraid to look at her. That was unusual. After all, he had never seemed to have trouble looking at her before. The only thing different was...'But Ikari-kun has seen me in a swimsuit before. Is being in such close proximity while I am wearing a swimsuit making him nervous?' That alone merely reinforced her decision to talk to him, to confirm if what she had heard was true. Finally, Ikari-kun looked up at her, and, hesitantly, said, "Um, sure, Rei? What's up?"

Rei was...concerned. "I wish to inquire regarding your relationship with Captain Katsuragi."

She noted Shinji's nervousness. 'Perhaps,' Rei thought, 'the information is correct.' She wasn't certain what she found more unsettling - the idea that what she heard might be true, or the fact that she could be unsettled by this. Finally, after what seemed like ages, but was really only a second or two, Shinji spoke up. "Um, OK. What did you want to know?"

"Have you engaged in sexual intercourse with Captain Katsuragi?"

Rei waited briefly, but Ikari-kun's jaw was still hanging open, his face flushing a bright scarlet. "Ikari-kun, are you all right?"

Finally recovering, Shinji said, "Yeah, Rei, you just caught me by surprise. And, no, Misato and I are not, um, you know..."

"Engaging in sexual relations?"

Shinji nodded vigourously, his face still bright red.

'Interesting. He seems embarassed to discuss sexual activities, or to even name them. That reinforces what he said, but what about Pilot Sorhyu's statement that..." It was possible that her fellow pilot had either fabricated the story, or exaggerated the situation, though she could not understand why. Could it be a misinterpretation?

"I am confused, then, Ikari-kun. Pilot Sohryu stated that you and Captain Katsuragi were sleeping together, and my understanding is that is usually used as a euphemism for sexual activity..."

He shook his head. "Um, that's true," Shinji said, "but it could also just mean sleeping, Rei, which is all that happened with Misato and I. There was one time after the Jet Alone Robot accident where Misato had too much to drink while celebrating, and I had to carry her off to bed. I kind of got my arm stuck under her, and just slept there that night, rather than disturb her. Then there was one time when Asuka and I were doing our synch training, and Misato and I evidently cuddled up to one another."

Rei, however, wasn't entirely satisfied. "And when she observed the two of you kissing?"

"She kissed me on the forehead, that's it, I swear! We're not having sex, Rei, and we're not dating. Misato and I are just friends, OK?"

Rei considered for a moment. "I understand. Thank you for your honesty, Ikari-kun, and for explaining the situation."

"Um, sure, Rei. No problem." As Rei tiurned to go swimming in the pool, Shinji tried, desperately, to get back to his physics homework. He was having trouble concentrating, though, in part because of the conversation he'd just had, in part trying not to think about the fact that Rei actually looked pretty good in a swimsuit, and that he couldn't help but feel the other shoe, so to speak, was about to drop.

Ignoring his fellow pilot swimming laps in the pool, he was finally starting to regain his concentration, when Asuka entered the room, calling out to him. "Hmm, what have you got there, Shinji?"

'That,' Shinji thought, 'would be the other shoe dropping, isn't it?' He tried to ignore her as much as possible, desperately trying to maintain his concentration. "Basic physics primer."

Asuka's tone was, as usual, dripping with sarcasm. "Oh, you're such an obedient student!"

Shinji didn't even bother looking up at first. "Well, I'll have to study it anyway..." Trying to concentrate was a losing battle. He looked up, finally actually looking at Asuka. Evidently Rei wasn't the only one who looked good in a swimsuit.

Asuka was smiling. "Well, if I can't go diving in Okinawa, let's do it here!"

"Diving? Here?"

"Uh huh! So, what are you working on? Let's see..." Asuka leaned over, looking at Shinji's laptop, and giving Shinji an excellent view of her cleavage - her red and white two-piece almost seemed tailor-made to provide it.

"That's it for that," Shinji thought. "There's no way I'll be able to concentrate now. It's almost like she's doing it on purpose...hmm..."

Asuka seemed amused at Shinji's predicament."You can't solve an easy problem like this? There! All done - it's easy when you know how."

Shinji was surprised. "OK, if you can solve a difficult problem like that so easily, why are your grades so low?"

Asuka pouted. "It's because I'm having too much trouble figuring out what the questions are!"

"You mean you can't read the questions in Japanese?"

"That's right. I still haven't learned all the kanji yet." Her pout turned into something else, and her voice took on the tone it often did when bragging about herself. "I didn't have to study it in college."

While he'd realized she was incredibly confident in her abilities, Shinji hadn't realized that Asuka really had accomplished quite a bit. "You went to college?"

Asuka beamed with pride. "Yeah, I graduated last year. So, what does this one say?" She gestured to the laptop's screen with a slight turn of her head.

Shinji, still surprised by his fellow pilot, managed to state, "It's a question about thermal expansion."

"Thermal expansion? Oh man, that's kid's stuff! To put it in terms you'd understand, most things expand when they get hot, and contract when they get cold."

He only pondered that briefly, before he agreed, "Well, that sounds simple enough..."

Clutching her chest, Asuka asked, "Look, if I were to warm up my breasts with my hands, do you think they'd get bigger or smaller?"

"Oh yeah," he thought, "she's definitely doing this on purpose - Misato's teased me like this often enough. Fine, two can play at this game!"

"Well, probably bigger. I suggest you get started, though."

"WHAT!"

Shinji smiled. "Well, Misato still has quite a head start on you, and if you're trying to get Kaji's attention..."

SMACK!

Asuka's face was starting to match her hair. "How dare you make perverted, snide comments about my Kaji like that!"

Shinji shrugged, trying not to rub his cheek, where Asuka had slapped him. "So you're not interested in Kaji?"

Fuming, she answered him. "Of course I am, just like there's obviously more going on with you and Misato than you let on!"

"What the hell do you mean by that!"

"Well, Shinji, you seem to have paid an awful lot of attention to Misato's breasts!"

Standing up, Shinji was trying hard to keep his temper in check. "Dammit, what is it with everyone? There's nothing going on with me and Misato!"

"Then how do you know so much about her breasts, Shinji?"

By this time, Rei had exited the pool and was drying off. Hearing the commotion between her fellow pilots, she walked over to the two. "Pilot Sohryu has a valid question, Ikari-kun. How do you know so much about Captain Katsuragi's anatomical details?"

Falling back into his chair, Shinji just groaned. "And I thought fighting Angels was tough...I'd almost rather be doing that right now!"

Diving into the volcano, as Asuka finished her struggle with an Angel down below, Shinji couldn't help but think to himself that he'd have to be more circumspect in his thoughts in the future.

He had just reached the end of the cables and hoses that had run to Unit-02's "Type D" cooling gear, as he watched Asuka's EVA start to slip downward. He reached out, trying desperately to ignore the pain his EVA felt as it roasted. There...he had her.

His radio briefly crackled to life. "Idiot...you showoff!"

He keyed his in response. "Good to see you too, Asuka. I've got her, Misato, haul us up!"

The trip to the surface was excrutiating - even with the synch level dialed down as low as they dared go, Shinji felt like he was being boiled alive. "All I want when I get back up to the surface is to get into some nice, cool water," he thought.

"Cool water, Kami-sama. Cool. As in not hot. As in devoid of excess heat. I mean, really, would that be so hard to arrange? Who wants to go to a hot spring after sitting inside a volcano, anyway?"

Shinji was sitting in the men's side of the hot springs with Pen-Pen. Admittedly, the warm water was loosening up his muscles, and it was pretty relaxing, but, still, it just seemed...well, wrong.

Meanwhile, on the women's side of the springs, Asuka and Misato were preparing to put into motion their nefarious plan: Operation Tease Ikari.

Smiling, Misato shouted, "Shinji, can you hear me!"

"Yes, ma'am!"

Misato, still shouting, asked, "Could you be a dear and throw me the body shampoo?" as Asuka chimed in, explaining how the two had run out of theirs.

After warning them, and Shinji tossed the bottle over. Asuka caught the bottle in mid-air. The two then splashed around, running through their semi-improvised script, one, they hoped, would drive Shinji batty.

Eventually, after the fun and games were over, the two sat down at the edge of the springs to watch the sunset. Misato saw Asuka's eyes glance over at her midsection. She smiled, "Oh, the scar? It's something that happened during the second impact."

Asuka was quiet for a moment. "You know my past? About everything, don't you?"

"Well, it's part of my job." She paused for a moment, unsure of what to say. "It's all ancient history now. We really ought to let it go."

Neither said anything for nearly a minute. Asuka finally broke the silence. "How can I, Misato?"

Misato shrugged. "I guess you try not to let your past define you. You can't let your past, and your pain, define who you are as a person. It's up to us to define who we are, and to focus on finding happiness, instead of dwelling in our pain."

The girl seemed lost in thought for a moment. "Does it work?"

"Sometimes. Some days it's easier than others. Sometimes, it's harder than hell." Misato didn't say anything else for a few moments. "I still get nightmares sometimes."

Asuka seemed startled. "What do you do?"

"I take comfort where I can find it. Usually it's in beer. Other times..."

Finally smiling again, Asuka finished her sentence, "...it's Shinji."

The purple-haired woman nodded. "Sometimes, yeah. I'll be honest, Asuka, that week where we all shared a room while you two were synch-training? That's probably the best I've slept in a while. I'm pretty sure the same is true for Shinji, too."

"Really?"

"Yeah. It's funny, Asuka, but all three of us have had crappy pasts. Honestly, as bad as what happened to you was, I'd be hard pressed to say whose had it worst."

That caught Asuka by surprise. "What the hell could have happened to Shinji that's a match for..." She had to know. "What happened to him, Misato?"

Misato shook her head. "That's really for him to say. You've noticed that he and his father don't really get along, though, right?" Asuka nodded. "Well, there's more to it than that. Let's just say the two of you are more alike than you think."

"And you, Misato?"

She shook her head again. "I don't think I'm quite ready to talk about that right now, Asuka. Another time, OK?"

The red-haired pilot nodded. "So...what is going on with you and Shinji, Misato? I mean, I know you both say you're just friends, but..."

"But friends don't cuddle up to one another like Shinji and I did?" Misato chuckled. "I don't know, Asuka. I mean, no, we're not having sex, but these days I feel closer to Shinji than I do to Ritsuko, and we've been friends since college. Hell, I probably feel closer to Shinji these days to anyone else."

Frowning, Asuka asked, "Even me?"

Misato exhaled slowly. "Well, he and I have been living together for a while, and Shinji's arrival kind of broke me out of the state I was in. Besides, we've got that big sister / little sister thing going on, complete with the arguments. Oh, and then there's the whole thing with Kaji."

If Asuka could crawl into a hole and hide, she would. Unfortunately, none seemed handy just then. Trying to sound innocent, she asked, "Why, whatever do you mean, Misato-san?"

The older woman just laughed. "Relax, Asuka, I'm not competition for Kaji's affections. I made that mistake once already, and I won't make it again. No, I'll work with him, and I'll keep it friendly for the sake of the mission, but I'm not going to hop into bed with him again."

Watching her companion relax visibly, Misato continued. "And, I'd recommend you be careful, too. I don't think he feels the same way about you that you do about him, but even if he did, Kaji's really only out for a quick lay right now, Asuka."

Misato sighed. "He may be a scoundrel, but he does care about you, Asuka, and since you want love and romance, and since that's the last thing he's looking for, I don't think you're going to have a whole lot of luck. Besides, there's the whole age difference."

Asuka was floored. She wasn't at all sure what to say back, finally settling on the quick, easy response. "And the age difference between you and Shinji isn't an issue for you two?"

Shrugging, Misato smiled. "Asuka, he's sweet, he's caring, he puts up with my crap, he somehow got through the shell I built up around my heart, and he's the first guy in I don't know how long who sees more than my body when he looks at me. If age wasn't an issue, not only would I have had sex with him, I'd make sure he'd never want anyone else."

While she didn't say anything else, the gears were turning in Asuka's head. She'd seen the key, finally. If she wanted Kaji, she had to convince him that she was as mature as any adult. Considering, everything she'd done, such as how she'd graduated college, or how she kept the world safe by piloting an EVA, how could she not?