Asuka looked down at Rei, the two of them walking down the
long hallway of NERV headquarters together. The shorter blue haired
girl walked on, seemingly unshaken by what she had told Asuka only a
few moments before.
'Rei said she loves me,' Asuka thought, 'but she must have
misunderstood. There's no way that she could have meant what she
said..'
"Asuka?" Rei murmured softly.
"Yes?" Asuka was jerked out of her thoughts.
"You're thinking too hard again," the gently smiling Rei
said to her softly as they stepped into the empty elevator. They
descended towards street level, "Did what I said... offend you?"
"No, it didn't," and Asuka realized she wasn't bothered,
even by the idea that Rei might be in love with her. She looked at
her, "Do you realize what you said?"
"I think so," Rei answered softly. They stepped out of the
elevator, "The way I feel about you is different than the way I feel
about Misato, or Maya, or Ritsuko. When I'm around you, I'm happy,
and I want to make you happy, too."
Asuka opened her mouth to say something, then the orange
haired girl closed it. Did she even understand what love really was?
They walked down the street, Asuka trying to work out what she was
feeling. "I've never been in love before," she finally admitted.
"This ... is a new thing for me, as well," Rei agreed.
"I don't want to take advantage of you, Rei," Asuka finally
said softly. "You've only been awake for a month or so, and I'm not
sure if you understand..."
"Maybe I don't," Rei agreed with her softly, "but maybe I
do. I know what my heart is telling me, and that is that I love you."
Asuka sighed softly, wrestling with her own inner
conflicts. 'You're scared,' she admitted to herself, 'scared that if
you care for her, you'll be hurt.' She met those trusting eyes and
thought, 'But I can't hurt her, I just can't.'
"Asuka?" Rei prompted her.
"All right," Asuka reached out, gently taking Rei's hand as
they walked on together, "but let's take it slow, please? I'm going
to need some time to get used to this."
"All right," Rei beamed, squeezing Asuka's hand.
They took the rest of the trip home hand in hand. Somehow,
Asuka just didn't want to let go of that smaller hand, and the few
questioning looks they got were met with a deadly glare from her.
They reached the apartment block, riding the elevator up to their
level.
"I'm glad we're here," Asuka sighed as the door shut behind
them, the two standing in the entrance way. She released Rei's hand
reluctantly as she surveyed the general mess and smiled
wryly, "Home, sweet home."
Rei also surveyed the mess, a little smile on her face. "And
you said she's less messy than she used to be?" she asked, referring
to Misato.
"Yep," Asuka answered firmly.
Rei shook her head, her dark blue hair flowing around her
face, "I can't imagine what living like that was like."
"Pretty lonely," Asuka surprised herself by admitting. She
slipped her shoes off, pulling on slippers, and wasn't too surprised
to see Rei gazing at her thoughtfully.
Rei had removed her own shoes, a set of blue slippers on her
feet. She reached out, sliding her fingers in with Asuka's own, "I
hope you're not now."
"Not with you around," Asuka agreed.
Their hands clasped again the two of them headed into the
kitchen together, only moving apart as they began to prepare dinner.
Asuka opened up the fridge, giving the suspicious Pen Pen a slight
smile, reaching around the penguin for some of the frozen dinners.
"Does Misato ever cook?" Rei asked mildly.
"Not in my experience," Asuka shrugged good-naturedly. She
peered into the fridge, digging around until she pulled out several
of the dinners and showed them to her companion, "See anything you
like?" Rei looked down at the dinners, then up at Asuka, a slight
smile on her face as she gave her a lingering glance. Asuka
blushed, "I didn't mean it like that!"
Rei's expression was entirely innocent as she answered
her, "Like what?"
"Uh huh," Asuka gave her a suspicious look, but finally
decided to just drop it.
They put the dinners in the microwave, working together to
clear off a large enough corner of the dinner table so they could
eat there. As they cleaned up, their hands would brush, and
occasionally they would find themselves gazing deeply into the
other's eyes.
The ring of the microwave drew their attention away from
each other, and the two sat down to eat. "Now if Misato was here,"
Asuka forked some sausages and put them in her mouth, "she'd be
having a can of beer with this."
"Should we?" Rei asked softly.
"Nah," Asuka smiled slightly, "good food and good company
are fine by me." She felt pleasantly surprised to see Rei blush.
"Thank you," Rei had a sausage.
Asuka watched her eat for a moment, those delicate lips and
flashing white teeth, and quickly decided it might be a good idea to
concentrate on her own food. But as she ate her eyes tended upwards,
and occasionally they'd share a smile.
"That was good," Asuka finally sighed, pushing the little
tray away.
Rei finished up her own, an odd look on her face. "It is
good," she said softly. Rei looked up at Asuka, "Do you know how to
cook?"
Asuka blinked, "Not very well."
"Me, too," Rei sighed softly. She finished off the dinner,
toying with her fork. "I wouldn't mind having some real cooked food
occasionally, though," she said, "I suppose I could learn, or we'll
never neat real food."
'We?' Asuka found herself wondering, but didn't ask aloud.
Instead she helped clean up the kitchen, feeling a rush when she and
Rei occasionally bumped together accidentally. "Do you want to watch
some television until Misato gets back?" she finally asked.
"Hm," Rei shook her head, no. She looked over at Asuka, "I'm
tired, do you think we could go to bed early?"
Asuka gulped. "All right," she managed.
The two girls walked back to the bedroom, dimming the lights
in the rest of the apartment as they went. Rei undressed so easily,
pulling off then neatly folding up her pieces of clothes. Blouse,
skirt, socks, then her bra and panties all were set neatly aside.
Rei looked up, her gentle smile lighting up her
face, "Aren't you going to get undressed?"
'God she's cute,' Asuka thought. She slipped her pants and T-
shirt off, only hesitating once she hit her own bra and panties, but
she pulled in a breath and continued on. As soon as she could Asuka
grabbed her pajamas, slipping the cool cloth over feverish skin.
Rei pulled out an almost transparent bundle off cloth,
shaking it out to reveal a nightie. She looked at it curiously, then
pulled it on, only then noticing Asuka's eyes nearly bugging
out. "Do you like it?" Rei asked tentatively.
Asuka tried to swallow, but it was hard. "It's very nice,"
she croaked. A bit of a cough, "Where did you get that from?"
"Misato," Rei said simply. She smiled just slightly, "She
said something odd too; that it might help things along?"
Asuka shook her head slightly, "Guess Misato's sharper than
I thought."
Rei didn't answer that, just pulled back the covers on their
pressed together beds. She laid down first, then Asuka climbed in
beside her. Despite the fact that there was a lot of room on the
bed, they found themselves close together, slim bodies touching.
"Good night, Asuka," Rei said softly, and the girl gently
kissed her.
Asuka savored that kiss, her arms coming up around the other
girl. They separated, finally, and Asuka rather breathlessly
said, "Good night, Rei." And they kissed once again.
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