Hi! I'm just reposting this so that the prologue of the
sequel, To Remember will make a little bit of sense to other
readers. ^_^ Please tell us what you think!
Author's notes: The story came to me when I was reading
Astro city, "The Nearness of You." So it is kind of based on
that comic book story. I personally find this story kind of
WAFFY, but all my prereaders and some of the guys from the
FFML said this was depressing. I dunno, what do you think? C
and C please, I would appreciate it. Send it to
lynch@surfshop.net.ph
<all characters belong to Gainax, they're not mine and never
will be. A pity, that.>
LeeKing Works Proudly Presents:
Memories
By Kelvin "Lynch" Lee
Her name is Asuka.
That much he remembers. She meant something to him, once,
long ago. She was more than just a dream, more than just a
wisp of his imagination. Or was she?
He remembers more, the way she would look at him with eyes
full of love, the way her head would tenderly lay on his
shoulder, and it would feel just right. The affectionate way
she would call him baka. The way she looked when the
sunlight shone on her face in the morning, after a night of
passionate love, her hair messed up, and her face serene and
peaceful, full of contentment.
She was everything to him, and nothing.
He has never met her.
Never.
So how does he know her favorite dishes? How she liked to
cuddle up to him before going to sleep at night, wrapped in
his arms, her head on his chest as she slept? How she liked
to sneak up behind him and nibble on his earlobe to surprise
him? How she had long, auburn hair and a smile that that
could light up the world? A smile that he has seen a million
times and more.
Could it be all in his imagination?
Yet, why does he remember everything so vividly? Why does
everything seem like a memory, and not just a fantasy? He
remembers too much about her, knows too much about her, for
her to be simply a dream.
She wasn't real. She can't be. How could she be?
Yet, he remembers her, she was something to him once, she
meant something to him, once.
He remembers her fiery temper, which matched her red hair
perfectly, the many fights and arguments they had, the
battles they fought, both against and with each other. And
the wonderful making up after each fight.
They had synchronized perfectly, they were one, body and
mind, heart and soul.
He loved her, yet, he doesn�t know her, much less met her,
she doesn�t even exist. What's going on?
"Ikari!"
Ikari Shinji was snapped away from his musing as he heard
his name being called. He raised his head from the paperwork
he was supposed to be doing. "Yes?"
"You're supposed to be working, Ikari!" Said his supervisor,
a cranky lady in her early forties. She had a reputation for
being an old sourpuss, a ball breaker, hard on everyone in
her department. When Shinji had been transferred to her
department in the company, it had not been a reward, but a
punishment, probably for all his daydreaming recently. The
old sourpuss did not like slackers.
"I'm sorry ma'am," said Shinji, as he got up and bowed, his
gaunt, lanky frame almost hitting her as he bowed to her. He
stayed bowed, the grimace on his lean face unseen by the
supervisor.
He needed this job, and he was on shaky ground with
management already, the last thing he needed was to get on
the sourpuss's bad side.
"Humph! Never mind the groveling!" Said the supervisor as
she ran a hand over her long blonde hair, which was streaked
with white. "Just get back to work! And don't let me catch
you daydreaming on company time again!"
"Ye�yes ma'am."
"Humph!" With that, she left in a huff.
Damn! He's been here in this department only a few days and
already she's on his case. Maybe it's time to start looking
for a new job. He sighed even as he thought about it. He
couldn't do that, he really needed this job, it had taken a
lot of wrangling from his dad to get him into this firm, if
he heard that he quit it or got fired, dad would go
ballistic.
Getting up from his bow, he sat down on his chair inside his
cubicle. He hated this job. All you did day in and day out
was look at figures all the time. Maybe that was why he got
bored so easily, daydreaming was his only escape, more often
than not. Yet the weird thing about all his daydreams at
work, and dreams when he was asleep, were that they didn't
seem like daydreams or dreams at all. They were like
memories. Of someone he had once loved. Asuka.
But, who was she?
***********
Shinji took the Tokyo-3 transit home. Thank God it was a
Saturday, and he didn't have to go back to work till Monday.
Another minute in that office and he might have gone on a
berserker rampage, that was how frustrated he was.
He was standing and holding on to one of the rails, which he
had no trouble reaching, thanks to his height. He had his
portable SDAT player with him, and he was listening to some
old songs that he had liked even when he was still a gawky
14-year old kid, and nothing like the tall young man of
today.
His mind wasn't on the music, however, nor was it on the
wonderful view of Tokyo-3 that this transit route offered.
He was still thinking about the girl. He still couldn't
figure out who the girl was, she definitely wasn't his type
for if his memories were right, she was a very aggressive
and forceful person, someone who would always speak her
mind. She was vivacious, full of life, a party girl. He
didn't like that. Did he?
He had always preferred the shy, quiet, demure type of girl,
the traditional Japanese type, who was reserved and
conservative.
Further, he did not like fiery redheads, and his dad would
kill him if he ever went out with someone who wasn't
Japanese like this Asuka was. She was only half-Japanese,
and more Gaijin than Japanese.
In short, Asuka wasn't somebody he'd be attracted to, not
someone he'd pick, if he asked himself.
Why then does he keep dreaming about her? About her soft
pouting lips, her lustrous scarlet hair, her�.. STOP! Damn
it, there he went again, fantasizing about someone who
didn't even exist. Was he cracking up? Was he going insane?
He had to know who she was. He had to find out, he had to
know the truth.
*************
Shinji practically ran into his apartment, quickly locking
the door behind him. He was breathing heavily. He had to do
something, something to keep him busy, every time he had let
his thoughts wander, they had gone right back towards the
girl, and the few minutes that he had dozed off in the
transit, he had dreamed about her again. This was
ridiculous. He knows he has never met her. He knows.
He set to work making his dinner. He had to do something,
anything, so long as it kept him occupied. In the back of
his mind, however, he was of mixed emotions concerning later
that night, when he would have to go to sleep, and meet her
once more. He shuddered a bit at that, whether from
apprehension or expectation, he wasn't sure.
He knew that at 27, he was too young to be having memory
problems, besides, some of his friends would know about this
Asuka� Wait. That's it! Call his friends and ask them!
Running to his phone he quickly started dialing some
numbers.
Riinnnnggggggg!!!!
"Answer the phone!" pleaded Shinji.
Riinnnn�� click� "Hello?"
"Kensuke! Hi, it's Shinji, listen, I've gotta ask you
something�.."
*********
"You sure Toujii? Not even back when we were in high school?
Damn, thanks anyway, bye."
Dejected, Shinji put the receiver back on its cradle. He had
spent the last few minutes calling all of his old friends
from way way back. None of them remembered him chasing after
a red headed girl like the one he described. Heck, none of
them even recalled a red head in their lives. What was going
on?
Sitting down on his chair, the dinner he was fixing
forgotten, he looked dejectedly at nothing. Was he mad?
Going insane? He wanted to go to sleep now, to not have to
think anymore, and just let the oblivion of slumber overtake
him, but he didn't dare to, and he knew that any minute he
might start daydreaming again.
Maybe I should ask dad thought Shinji to himself, maybe he
knew something. His father was, after all, one of the
greatest scientists in the world, it had been his dad who
had created those robots called EVAs that had saved the
world from those weird monsters called Angels.
Those Angels had kept attacking the city, intent on
destroying it, if it hadn't been for his father and his
agency NERV, along with those EVAs�. wait a minute�. The
EVAs, what was it about the EVAs that seemed so familiar?
Asuka, EVAs, and himself, they were connected! But how? How?
He had to find out!
Getting off the chair he was about to go to his phone again
when his door suddenly burst open and several black-clad men
entered his room, all of them armed with guns, most of them
with laser-sight.
They were all pointed at him.
"Don't move!" shouted one of them at him. "Hands above your
head!"
Shinji complied and froze. He was in shock, especially
seeing as how several red dots were on his forehead now.
"Wha� What's going on?!" Shinji managed to blurt out.
None of them answered him. One of the men clad in black went
behind him and whacked him hard on the head with the butt of
his gun.
Shinji crumpled to the floor.
"You'll find out soon enough." was the last thing Shinji
heard before the swirling blackness swallowed him up.
**********
Ikari Gendou looked at his unconscious son as he was once
again prepped for the mindwipe program. He hated himself for
having to do this, to have his son live a lie. But he had no
choice. It was either this or to kill him. And he would be
damned if he would lose another of his blood. He had lost
Yui and Rei already. He would not lose Shinji.
Once, he cared not a bit about his son, but things change.
Things change.
He hadn't thought that the mindwipe program would lose its
potency so quickly, it was a good thing that he had decided
to tap Shinji's phone, just in case.
A pity that Shinji had to start remembering about his wife
all of a sudden. His former wife, anyway.
Soryuu Asuka Langley and Ikari Shinji had been married when
they were in their late teens. The situation at the time had
been so bad that marriage at such an early age had been
required, or they might never have been married at all.
Back then, Gendou had still nurtured an unhealthy hope to
bring back Yui. He had since then, learned the folly of his
ways. But the manipulator in him did not die so easily.
Shinji hated him in the past, when he was younger, with an
almost evil zeal, but it had been tempered somewhat by his
marriage to Asuka. But ever since her�.
"Sir, we are ready to begin the mindwipe program." Said one
of the technicians behind him, interrupting his train of
thought.
Gendou didn't bother to turn around. "Proceed."
The vibrant whir of machinery could be heard as the mindwipe
program was activated. The program awakened the unconscious
Shinji; shocks of electricity began to course through his
body, concentrating in his brain.
There was pain.
Shinji screamed.
"AAAASSSUKKKKAAA!!!!!!!"
Gendou continued to just look on, impassively.
****************
Shinji arrived to work on time on Monday; he punched in his
card, went to his desk and began to leaf through all the
assorted paperwork, doing his job with such impressive
fervor and dedication that the old sourpuss was even
impressed by his diligence.
And so Shinji continued to go on with his life, going to
work, taking the transit to work and back. Going out with
his friends sometimes, spending time with his father at
others.
He even started dating a bit again.
But every girl he did date, every single one, no matter how
beautiful, or smart or cute, none of them seemed to be
interesting enough to Shinji. It was as if he was comparing
them all to this unmatchable paragon of womanhood. Someone
whom he doesn't remember, yet seemed to know.
One day, after having odd dreams for most of the past few
nights concerning huge monsters and a purple savior that
defeated them, he returns home from work, his mind troubled.
He is exhausted, and goes to bed without bothering to change
his clothes. He goes to sleep, and the dreams come. He
dreams of her. Of Asuka.
Of a beautiful red-haired girl who meant the world to him,
of someone whose soft blue eyes could enthrall him, of
someone who was so hard, yet so tender and vulnerable at the
same time. Of someone he was once married to, someone he
once loved.
He doesn't remember her.
He doesn't know her.
But he loved her.
And that's all that matters.
THE END?
ENDNOTES: Well! That was a heady ride, wasn't it? Of all the
fics I have written, I personally think this is one of my
better ones! I'm damn proud of this one. All the feedback I
got was positive! Thanks to Jurai Knight, Shunsuke, Chris
Burke, Lord Talon, Jolfre and anyone else I might have
forgotten for sending in c and c about Memories. One last
thing let me recommend Astro city again. They are the only
comic book series I can say that shouldn't be called comic
books, but rather epics! Each issue is an epic in itself.
The author, Kurt Busiek, is amazing, he manages to churn out
this type of stuff monthly! If you can, pick up a copy or a
graphic novel of it, or anything! You won't be disappointed,
I assure you! That's all folks, stay safe and God Bless.
kelvin
==
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