'Revelation can come to us in the oddest places,' Ritsuko
mused as she sat behind her desk in the city of Tokyo-3. For the cool
blonde it had come out on a crowded dance floor, swaying with Maya in
her arms. Looking down at that dark brown hair, holding the smaller
woman close, Ritsuko had finally admitted to herself that she loved
her.
"Now I just have to figure out how to tell her," Ritsuko
sighed softly.
The office that Ritsuko was sitting in was still pretty bare,
though a few personal touches had been added. There were her diplomas,
a few of her university photos with Misato, and a couple of other
items. Some of them had been salvaged from the destruction of NERV,
others coming out from her own personal storage.
A firm knock on the door jerked Ritsuko from her thoughts, and
she found herself hoping it might be Maya. But instead Misato pushed
her way in, and she thought, 'Drat.'
"What do you want to do for tomorrow's promotion ceremony for
Maya?" Misato asked as she dropped some papers on the top of the desk.
"She wouldn't want anything big," Ritsuko said with a slight
smile.
"We ought to haul her out to the locket and get her drunk,"
Misato smirked. It was at times like this that the commander of NERV
didn't look very much different from when she was just a Major. But if
you looked below the surface, you could see the changes. Mostly it was
in her expression and attitude, a serious intensity along with a
greater sense of responsibility.
"That's not a good idea," Ritsuko shook her head firmly, "you
see, I know that Maya is a serious and introspective drunk."
"And how do you know that?" Ritsuko sat up in surprise.
"From the last Christmas party," Ritsuko smiled fondly at the
memory. "A wobbly Maya came over to me, blinking owlishly, and tried
to have a conversation," she said, "it was cute." Ritsuko didn't add
that she now suspected that Maya had been trying to tell her that she
loved her.
Misato gave her an odd look, almost like she knew what Ritsuko
was holding back from her, but didn't comment. Instead she shrugged,
"OK, we'll keep it small. You, me, Rei and Asuka, and we'll give the
tech-boys that Maya's been working with the chance to come up, too."
"Yes, ma'am," Ritsuko smiled. The dynamic between them was an
odd thing, old friends on one hand, and the suddenly flip flopped
roles of commander and subordinate on the other. It didn't help that
Ritsuko had to occasionally remind Misato about her being in charge.
"Don't you start," Misato sighed. At Ritsuko's inquiring look
she elaborated, "We've had to bring in a lot of new recruits, and
they're all 'spit and polish' military types." She sighed, "Trying to
just get them to call me Misato is hopeless."
"Ah, the terrible price of command," Ritsuko smirked. Since
Misato had been promoted all the way to General, she rather suspected
that her friends attempts to be a casual commander were going to be
quite hopeless. Deciding to change the subject Ritsuko asked her,
"Have Rei and Asuka moved in with you yet?"
"The stuff Rei bought and Asuka's gear should all have been
shipped to the new suite today," Misato smiled, "and we'll be doing
the sorting of stuff tonight."
"You did clean up first, right?" Ritsuko asked suspiciously.
Misato looked surprised, "Why would I do that? It'll just give
them an unrealistic idea about what living with me will be like."
"Oh, god," Ritsuko muttered. "I hope Asuka warned Rei, at
least," she sighed.
In an shining new apartment building in another part of
Tokyo-3 Asuka lead Rei down the hallway as they talked together
softly. Outside of one of the apartments shipping boxes of various
kinds had been stacked up, some marked as Asuka's, a few for Rei.
"The place is going to be a total mess," Asuka warned Rei as
they reached the door.
"It can't be that bad," Rei innocently commented.
"Trust me, it can," Asuka swiped her card in the door's
reader.
The door swung open to reveal what could without much
exaggeration be called an disaster area. The layout wasn't bad, a tidy
kitchen, living room, and two bedrooms beyond, but junk of one kind or
another was scattered all around the room. Empty take out containers,
beer cans, cups, plates and bowls were cluttering every surface.
"Oh, my," Rei said weakly.
"Actually, it's not as bad as I remember," Asuka noted.
"It's not?" Rei looked at her disbelievingly.
"Less beer cans," Asuka shrugged. She smiled slightly as she
carefully navigated the mess, "Let's go check on Pen-pen."
"Pen-pen," Rei repeated, but it sounded like she recognized
the name. They made their way to the kitchen and opened up the fridge.
The penguin laying there in the fridge looked like it was
dozing, then one eye popped open suddenly. Pen-pen looked the two of
them over, quickly determining that they were not carrying any food,
then he managed to pull the door shut himself.
"Now if you were carrying beef jerky, he's be trying to mooch
it off of you right now," Asuka laughed as they began to collect the
boxes of stuff piled outside.
"This is a very interesting place," Rei murmured as she hefted
a box.
"Having second thoughts?" Asuka asked a bit nervously.
"No," Rei shook her head firmly. She looked over at Asuka, "I
seem to remember being alone a great deal." A sad smile, "I don't want
to be like that any more."
"I'm glad," Asuka smiled. She went into one of the bedrooms,
and blinked in surprise as Rei followed her inside, "Did you want this
room?"
Rei frowned slightly, "I thought that we would be sharing a
room."
Asuka paled slightly, "You want to?"
A gentle smile. "Yes, I would," Rei said softly.
"Ok," Asuka puffed out a breath, "we'll just move another bed
in here."
Rei looked at the single bed already in there with a slight
frown. Innocently she asked, "Couldn't we just share a bed?"
Asuka paused, trying to figure out how to explain to Rei what
problems sharing a bed would likely cause. "Two beds," she finally
decided to say, "I toss and turn when I sleep."
Rei nodded a bit doubtfully, "All right."
Misato smiled to herself slightly as she opened the front door
to her apartment and headed inside. Carefully sidestepping various
piles of junk she raised an eyebrow as both Rei and Asuka stepped out
of one of the bedrooms. Peeking inside she noticed some of both girls'
items in the room, and gave Asuka a wicked little smile. "Isn't this
interesting," she murmured.
Asuka waited until Rei was out of hearing range to whisper,
"She insisted, Misato."
"Uh huh," Misato smirked.
"Help me get the other bed in there," Asuka said with a sigh.
"You're not sharing a bed?" Misato actually looked a bit
disappointed.
Asuka sweatdropped.
Maya stood in the repair bays, the boyish brown haired woman
gazing down from a metal catwalk at the Unit 02. The red humanoid
robot had been a complete wreck when the tech teams had gotten it
weeks ago, ripped apart by the mass production EVAs. But all their
efforts had finally paid off, and it stood there fully repaired before
them.
'Or healed, maybe,' Maya mused. The EVAs were in many ways
living organisms, and like Asuka itself the 02 had a difficult time
restoring itself. Much of it's internal systems had to be rebuilt from
scratch, and testing it would likely require more weeks of work.
But at least it was whole once more.
"Maya?" a quiet voice came from behind her, echoing in the
massive repair bays.
Maya turned, her eyes widening as she saw the elegant blonde
walking towards her. "Ritsuko," she squeaked, wondering what her
sempai was doing here.
Ritsuko smiled gently, "I was wondering if I could talk to
you."
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