Ritsuko sat there looking at Misato, oddly feeling like
she'd been hit in the back of the head with a board. 'She knew?' she
thought weakly, 'I've been feeling guilty about reading her journal,
and she knew about it all along?'
"How did you know?" Ritsuko finally managed to ask, looking
over at the dark haired young woman standing there beside her.
"I know I'm a slob," Misato smiled slightly as she walked
over to one of the futons, sitting herself down in the middle of
it, "but I usually know where my stuff is. I could tell it had been
moved, so..." Misato shrugged slightly.
Ritsuko walked over to her own futon, sitting down so that
she was facing the smiling Misato. 'Well, at least she's not upset,'
she mused. "I'm sorry about reading it," she smiled slightly, "it
was open when I picked it up." Misato's eyes narrowed slightly as
she looked at her, and Ritsuko felt a sudden flutter of nervousness.
"And what bit did you read?" Misato asked softly.
Ritsuko hesitated, trying to read her expression. Finally
she sighed softly, "I don't remember it all exactly, but you were
obviously angry. About people calling you a lush, not understanding
what you were going through. And...." she trailed off.
Misato sat there, her eyes dark. "And?"
Ritsuko continued on reluctantly, "That your job was to send
the kids out to battle, and to watch them die if you weren't good
enough."
Misato flopped back on the futon, looking up at the old
fashioned roof of their room. "You set this trip up so that we could
talk, didn't you?" she asked.
Ritsuko smiled wryly, feeling a bit amused at being so
transparent to her old friend. "Pretty much," she conceded. With an
sinking feeling she realized that she had underestimated her friend
rather badly, both with the journal and after. 'I didn't even credit
her with that sort of intelligence,' she admitted to herself.
Misato turned on the futon, leaning on an elbow. She gave
Ritsuko a little smile, "Thanks for the thought, but it isn't really
necessary."
"I'm not so sure of that," Ritsuko answered softly. Misato
looked back at her, the younger woman's eyes dark, almost entirely
unreadable.
"Don't we need to start getting ready for bed?" Misato
asked, getting up off of the futon once again. She shrugged off her
red jacket smoothly, the black top that she usually wore underneath
clinging to her body.
With a soft sigh Ritsuko accepted the change in topic. "I'm
not letting it go that easily," she warned Misato quietly as she got
up to walk over to her bags. She rummaged around for her night
clothes, turning around only to stop cold.
Misato's top hit the floor, revealing that she wasn't
wearing a bra. Her breasts weren't overly large, but they were perky
and with out any signs of sag. Misato noticed her gaze and smiled
slightly, "They aren't all that different from when we were
roommates."
"I don't remember you running around our rooms topless that
often," Ritsuko replied.
Misato slid her black pants to the floor, wiggling her hips
a bit to get free. Thankfully she was wearing panties, though the
lacy, delicate underwear weren't all that much of a
concealment. "That's because of all the rumors that were going
around school that you were bisexual," Misato said casually as she
slipped into a nightie, "I didn't want to take any chances."
"What?" Ritsuko blurted, feeling the blood rushing from her
face.
"You didn't know?" Misato looked at her in surprise. She
smiled slightly, "I thought the rumor would have worked it's way
back to you eventually."
Ritsuko scowled, "No, I did not know!"
A blush settled across Ritsuko's cheeks as the blonde
remembered the house party that she had attended as a junior. The
beautiful orange haired senior with the knowing hands had gently
pulled her into a empty bedroom, laying her out onto the bed.
Ritsuko sighed softly, 'Obviously we didn't slip away unobserved.'
"Don't worry about it," Misato said quietly. She looked the
still fully clothed Ritsuko up and down, "Aren't you getting ready
for bed?"
"Uh, right," Ritsuko stammered. She pulled her own shirt off
over her head, then her pants hit the floor. She was just a bit
surprised to feel Misato's gaze resting on her, and she took her
time slipping her pajama top and bottom on.
"Little old fashioned," Misato noted with a little smile.
"They're comfortable," Ritsuko shrugged slightly. She walked
over to her futon, kneeling down there as Misato took a seat
opposite her.
"So has Maya seen those yet?" Misato teased her as she lay
down on her futon, just like they had dome back when they were both
a lot younger. Ritsuko found herself looking over at her blankly and
Misato shook her head in exasperation, "She's got such a crush on
you, Ritsuko! Haven't you done anything about it yet?"
Ritsuko felt her cheeks reddening as she thought, 'What
happened to my plan to grill her?' she wondered as she tried to
regain some of her tattered composure. "Just because she has a crush
on me," Ritsuko tried to maintain her dignity from where she was
laying there on her back, "doesn't mean I'm interested in her."
"Probably too butchy for you," Misato smirked.
Ritsuko restrained herself, barely, from giving her first
answer. "Maya's cute," she admitted, "but she's not my type."
Silently she added, 'And then there's Gendo.'
"And I suppose Gendo wouldn't much approve," Misato sighed,
rolling over on her side to look at Ritsuko impishly.
Ritsuko nearly sat up in surprise, groaning softly. "I'm not
even going to ask how you know about that," she sighed.
"When you're having a quickie in a control room," Misato's
smirk was obvious in her voice, "make sure ALL the security cameras
are off."
"Oh, god," Ritsuko muttered, covering her face with a pillow
while Misato laughed. The two of them finally settled into bed,
relaxing as they put the lights out.
The voice came out of the near darkness as Misato
asked, "What the hell am I going to do if one of them does die?"
'At last,' Ritsuko thought with some relief. "You'll know
that you did your very best to prepare them," she answered
softly, "and that it wasn't your fault."
A moment of silence, "Shin-chan nearly went home once, you
know. If I hadn't gone to see him off, he probably would have left
this craziness."
"His father would have brought him back," Ritsuko said it
firmly before quietly adding, "and with you, he's happier."
"Poor kid," Misato's voice was sad.
"If you weren't here," Ritsuko's voice was soft, "he, Asuka
and Rei wouldn't have anyone in their corner. There'd just be cold
scientists like me or bastards like Gendo around."
Misato actually sounded a bit surprised, "You're not that
bad."
Ritsuko smiled slightly, noting Misato hadn't contradicted
her about Gendo. 'If only you knew,' Ritsuko thought about some of
the things that were going on at Nerv. "Trust me, I am," she
answered Misato firmly. Bringing them back on topic she
said, "You've helped these kids a lot, and not just as their
commander."
There was such a long silence that Ritsuko thought that
Misato had fallen asleep. "Thank you," Misato finally said softly.
Ritsuko smiled, even though she knew her friend probably
couldn't see it. "You're welcome," she said softly, "now let's get
some sleep. We've got the hotsprings to do tomorrow."
"And tomorrow we get to hear Asuka complain about sharing a
room with Rei," Misato added dryly. "I can hardly wait."
To shared laughter they lay back down to sleep...
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