"Maya?" Ritsuko asked her softly, then she winced as her voice
echoed all around the massive repair bays.
Maya swiftly turned, and Ritsuko saw the brown haired girl's
eyes widening as she walked towards the younger woman. "Ritsuko," Maya
squeaked out, at Ritsuko had to fight back a smile at how cute that
sounded.
Ritsuko smiled at her gently, "I was wondering if I could talk
to you."
"Sure," Maya looked down shyly.
Ritsuko moved up beside Maya, leaning up against the walkway
railing as she looked out at the restored EVAs. The two of them stood
there silently for a few moments, neither speaking, until Ritsuko
finally asked her, "Did you know about Gendo and I?"
The shorter woman's jaw clenched slightly, Maya's eyes
narrowing just a little. Softly she answered, "Yes."
Ritsuko pushed her blonde hair back from her face, "I knew
that it was a mistake. He wanted me for reasons that had nothing to do
with caring and all about his personal hang-ups and history." She
sighed softly, "But I got involved with him anyway."
A clearly uncomfortable Maya asked, "Why are you telling me
this?"
"Because I won't make the same mistakes he did," was Ritsuko's
best answer. She met Maya's eyes, "I'm your superior officer, and I
have a great deal of power over you." A fond smile, "Which is why I
tried to ignore all those signals you were sending."
Maya blushed, but she didn't actually deny it.
"I thought you just had a crush on me," Ritsuko quietly
admitted, "looking up to me as your boss. It wasn't until we all went
to that lesbian bar that I realized you were attracted to me as a
woman, not just a superior officer."
Still blushing fiercely Maya said, "I've always wanted
something... more from you, sempai."
"Ritsuko," she corrected her gently. Ritsuko had to smile at
the surprised look on Maya's face. "After your promotion comes through
tomorrow, you and I will be a lot more equal," she reminded her
gently, even though Ritsuko actually blushed a bit as she added, "even
though I do like the sound of you calling me sempai."
"Thank you, Ri... Ritsuko," Maya fumbled a bit, but managed.
Their hands were resting nearby on the railing, and hesitantly Maya's
hand covered Ritsuko's She looked up at the elegant scientist shyly,
"So what happens after I get promoted tomorrow?"
"Well, Misato has a party planned," Ritsuko teased.
Maya groaned softly.
"But afterwards," Ritsuko hesitated, "I was wondering if you
wanted to go out with me? Dinner some place nice, maybe even a bit of
dancing?"
Maya squeezed Ritsuko's hand gently, "I'd love to!"
"Good," Ritsuko looked down at Maya, not sure what to do next.
Maya took the decision right out of her hands, slipping her
hand free and standing in front of her. Going up on tiptoes Maya
pressed her lips to the startled Ritsuko's, only drawing back after a
few seconds. She smiled up at her, "I'll see you later, Ritsuko."
With that Maya walked off down the catwalk, leaving a fiercely
blushing Ritsuko standing there behind her.
Early the next day in her office many levels above the EVA
repair bays Misato saluted the image of her commanding officer over at
the United Nations. "General Kisaragi," the gray haired man smiled
slightly, "at ease."
"Thank you sir," Misato relaxed a bit. "I'm still not used to
receiving calls from the Secretary General of the UN," she admitted.
"You'll adapt," he smiled slightly. The leader of the UN
continued, "I've received your situation reports, but I wouldn't mind
a summary from you."
Misato smiled proudly as she said, "The EVA 00 and 02 have
been fully restored, and we've taken steps to prepare Tokyo-3 for any
unexpected alien assault. Our two pilots Rei and Asuka are training
well, and have exceeded any of the previous high scores for the
simulators. Finally, our repair staff and administrators at NERV have
really begun to pull together, and I feel confident that we're
prepared to handle whatever comes."
"Even a new alien assault?" he asked pointedly.
"If they're anything like the Angels," Misato answered
crisply, "we can take them. If it's something new, we'll improvise."
"Fair enough," he agreed. A bit of gray hair fell into his
eyes as he added, "Thankfully, the situation with the rogue EVAs is
less severe than we first thought."
"I know," Misato smiled slightly.
"Oh? How?' he sat up in surprise.
"I had Dr. Akagi check over the specifications that Gendo sold
his allies," Misato shrugged, "and she found some of the critical
pieces of data missing. Their EVAs may operate, but they'll be a lot
less efficient than ours are."
"And how is Dr. Akagi working out?" he asked pointedly.
"Her technical experience has been invaluable in restoring the
EVAs," Misato answered quickly. She hesitated, "There's something I
was wondering about... what happened to all of the mass production
EVAs?"
"They're missing and presumed destroyed," he admitted,
"whatever happened outside of Tokyo-2 seems to have taken them out,
too."
"At least they're not still being used against us," Misato
sighed.
"There's some news on you proposal for reopening Tokyo-3," he
mentioned casually. "Most of the UN members as well as the Japanese
government approves of renaming the city, but we still need
suggestions for a name. Any ideas?"
"Mega-Tokyo," Misato didn't even need a moment to think about
it.
The older man frowned, "It sounds like an amusement park
ride." He paused a second, "Or some sort of on-line comic strip."
"Reminding someone of a ride isn't so bad," Misato smiled a
bit wryly. "If we're going to get regular people to move to this city,
we need something to draw them here. Being known as the city of the
future isn't a bad idea."
The older man nodded slightly, "I'll put that name forward,
then." He looked down at her thoughtfully, "Anything else to report?"
"No, sir," Misato knew a dismissal when she heard one.
"I'll let you know any progress with the name," he added
before he disconnected.
Misato went around her desk and flopped down in her chair. "I
hate reporting in," she sighed softly. She made a face, "I'd kill for
a beer right now. Too bad I can't have one."
With another weary sigh Misato picked up a pen and got to work
on the paperwork that was covering the top of her desk and spilling
out her inbox.
With a soft hiss of pain Asuka finished doing her arm curls
before letting the weight thump to the carpet of the large exercise
room. She looked around and scowled once again at the overall pinkness
of the place, but it was well equipped for what she needed to do. She
had lost both her muscle tone and flexibility after her injuries, and
working out in here helped undo the damage.
And it also gave the orange haired young woman in white
T-shirt and black shorts some time alone to think.
Last night, she, Misato and Rei had eaten a quickly prepared
meal, then they had retired to their beds just like normal. Rei and
her had disrobed in the little bedroom together, and again Rei had
shown a utter lack of body modesty.
'Not that it should have mattered,' Asuka admitted, but she
had found herself hungrily looking at Rei undress through her right
eye. The round breasts, hips, and the small blue triangle of hair, she
had seen them all before Rei pulled the white nightshirt on.
'And it excited me,' Asuka had to admit.
Rei had seemed to drop off to sleep in her bed almost
instantly, but it took Asuka a bit of time to calm down before the
long day finally caught up to her. She slept soundly, though her sleep
was troubled by odd dreams, only awakening once in the night.
She still didn't know what caused it, but Asuka had slowly
drifted back to wakefulness. Rei lay snuggled safely in her arms,
obviously having gotten up out of her bed in the night and slipping
into Asuka's. Her face childlike in repose Rei slept there soundly,
and Asuka just couldn't bear to wake her up and send her back to her
own bed. Instead, Asuka gently tightened her arms around Rei and
returned to sleep.
The next morning had been a bit awkward for Asuka, but Rei had
seemed entirely unaffected. Asuka still couldn't tell if Rei was doing
all this intentionally, but whatever it was she was beginning to get
to her. When Rei had softly suggested they push the two beds together
Asuka hadn't even argued, just leant the muscle to help.
"Just wish I knew what was going to happen tonight," Asuka
muttered softly.
"Maya's party?" the soft voice surprised her.
Rei came walking in wearing a simple one-piece leotard, in her
typical dark blue, with a pair of black leggings underneath it. Her
red eyes were gentle as she smiled at Asuka happily.
Asuka gulped. "What are you doing here?" she asked weakly.
"It's nearly time for our training session in the simulator,"
Rei said with a gentle smile, "I didn't want you to be late."
"Oh, right," Asuka got up from her bench to follow Rei out.
Watching those hips sway she gulped again, 'I am in so much trouble.'
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