Here's part eight... if you recognize the cameo, well and good. If you
don't, it's pretty sad...
---
�What do you mean, you meant tomorrow?�

Well, that was all well and good, from Ryoga�s point of view. Sure, he
had been ready to go when the call had first come through, on the way
back from stopping that Jet Alone thing� but, to be honest, was it
really a good idea for him to go on board a ship? In the middle of the
ocean?

Yeah, he�d be just as ready tomorrow as today. And just as reluctant,
probably.

�Well, tomorrow it is, then.� Misato put away her cellular phone. �Well,
Ryoga-kun, guess who�s turn it is to make dinner.� Maybe he should have
pressed her to go early. Navy makes a fine meal, he thought he
remembered somebody saying�
---
Paradise Lost, Part 8
Fan Fiction by Andy Kent
All characters copyright Gainax or Rumiko Takahashi
---
�Ryoga, how can you be so cheerful? It�s six in the morning!� Misato
crawled out of the remains of her bed. Oog. Nothing worse than waking up
early. No way out of it, though, they had to be ready to fly out to meet
the new Eva.

�Guess I just slept well last night.� The scent of frying sausage
brought her the rest of the way awake. Not for the first time, she gave
thanks that her youthful housemate happened to be able to cook.

�Be there in a second.� She staggered into the bathroom, attacked the
mass of tangles on top of her head. Shouldn�t have had THAT many beers
as a celebration, I suppose.

Ow! Hey! She stared down at her right index finger. She�d forgotten
about that� she�d sprained it pretty badly the day before. As if she
should have been able to shatter a steel water flow valve with one
fingertip. That Ryoga had the most stupid ideas imaginable, sometimes.
And the umbrella thing was getting old.

But, he did make breakfast. She finished up, stumbled into the kitchen.
He was already halfway through a meal fit for a dozen hungry Vikings.
The fridge was working well, though. Ah. Beer. Beer would make the
morning better. She grabbed two, another for Ryoga (you never know), and
sat at the table.

�Mmpf. Go ahead, Misato. Pretty tasty, this morning.� Did he have to rub
it in like that? He kept on making references to that Akane person
whenever he ate her cooking. The rest of the time, though, he talked
about her like he worshipped the ground that she floated over. It was
good sausage, though. She slugged the first beer, one gulp, and shouted,
�Yeah! Now this is the way to start the morning.�

�You say that� mmpf� every day.� He bolted another bite the size of her
fist. �What time do we leave?�

�I don�t know exactly, we just have to be at NERV by eight to catch the
helicopter flight. Not that it would leave without us, but your father
would kill me.� Gendo did NOT like having his schedule messed with, not
at all.

�Well, what�re we going to do about R� Ayanami?�

�Don�t be coy, Ryoga. We�ll give Rei the day off. Somebody�s got to mind
the store in case the Angels attack again.� As if he could hide that
from her. Just look at him blush! �You�ll have to dispose of your two
buddies yourself, though.�

She heard a knock on the front door. Speak of the devil, and should he
appear� �I�ll get it.� Ryoga finished the last bite, stood up and headed
for the door. �Mmpf morning, guys.�

�Good morning, Hibiki-kun!� The two managed to wedge their heads around
the doorway. �Good morning, Katsuragi-san!�

�Guys, I�m busy today, no school. See you around.�

�No, wait a second.� She had an idea. �Hey, you two want to come along
today? We�re going to go see a friend.� An evil idea.

�Really? Come with you? What do you say, Kensuke?�

�Anything beats listening to another Second Impact lecture, right?�

Ryoga slipped outside, between the two. Rei must be arriving. �Well, if
you guys will wait a second, we�ll get going.�

Kensuke�s eyes narrowed. �Early start. It�s in Japan, right?�

�Not really.� He was pretty perceptive, wasn�t he? �We�re catching a
ride on Eva 02�s escort. They�re about a day from New Yokohama.�

�Escort� day� navy. COOL. Eva and Navy. Very cool. We�re going, Touji.�

Touji twisted back his baseball cap. �Right.�

---
�Good morning, Hibiki-kun.� Rei thought that Ryoga seemed to be in a
good mood. At least, he was wide awake and smiling.

�Morning, Rei. Did Misato tell you?�

�Tell me what?�

�I�m going out for a couple of days. We�re going to visit the new Eva
coming in.�

Well, that sounded fine. �Sure.�

�Um� she wants you to stay here, in case the Angels attack or
something.� He scratched the back of his head.

�Understood.� No Ryoga duties today, then.

�Great. Have a good day at school, then.� Ryoga turned, walked back to
the apartment door, grabbed both Kensuke and Touji in a double
hammerlock. �Look, you two, no funny stuff today, got it? No pushing
people overboard or anything like that.� She still didn�t understand
humor. That sounded like a joke, and Kensuke and Touji were laughing,
but Ryoga wasn�t. Not even smiling.

Oh. If he fell off the ship, he�d turn into a pig. And they didn�t know
he would do that. Why didn�t he tell them? He could get into trouble if
he turned into a pig and they didn�t know how to turn him back.

Oh well. �Good�� She�d almost said �goodbye�� again. Why did he react to
that one word? �day.� Perfect, he didn�t bristle at that one.

She started towards the classroom. It was only ten minutes away, and the
trip should go faster without her having to shepherd Ryoga. It was a lot
of work, getting him somewhere. If Rei had ever really understood pity,
she would have felt it for Misato right then.

---
Kensuke thanked his lucky stars that he�d brought his camera. Of course,
he always brought his camera. Unless he forgot it, which he hadn�t. And
lots of film and batteries, come to think of it. This day was turning
out to be a visual feast.

First, there was the helicopter. He�d never had a chance to see an A-55
transport up close� and now he was riding in one. He made a mental note
to tell the General that the seats in back were a bit crowded. These
things were supposed to accommodate four armed troopers, but somehow
Ryoga, Touji, and him (and Ryoga�s pack) had managed to eat up all of
the room.

And then� the fleet. Destroyers. Cruisers. FIVE battleships, huge guns
and all. And the centerpiece, the masterpiece, the aircraft carrier
�Over the Rainbow� was only a hundred feet below. He panned the camera.
Cool.

The trip over hadn�t been too bad. For some reason, Misato managed to
stay awake for the entire flight, while Ryoga had dozed off fairly
early. Not much conversation, except for some light teasing (Touji was
so easy to tweak, even Misato had figured it out) and jokes.

The helicopter touched down on the deck. Touji punched Ryoga�s arm.
�Wake up, man, we�re here.�

Cool. Cool. The one word appeared over and over in Kensuke�s mind as he
walked out of the helicopter. Real jets, American make, F-18. Flight
crews. Fighter pilots. Technicians. Fuel cars. He made sure to check
that the lens cap was off. Everybody had a slightly amused smile� well,
maybe he was showing too much enthusiasm. But hey! This stuff was SO
COOL.

He turned, caught one person by the rail. SHE didn�t fit in here. Maybe
sixteen, brown hair, two ponytails, yellow dress. NOT military
personnel. She had stepped on� hey, that was Touji�s cap. A quick check
told him that Touji had lost the cap� and was now, unsuccessfully,
attempting to grab his cap off of the deck.

�Long time no see, Asuka. You�ve grown up a little.� Misato was smiling.

�And how! I�m not just taller; my figure�s filled out as well.�

And then� man, these winds were killer sometimes on the Pacific� WOW!
Well, so much for showing this tape to the Admiral�

---
Those� those� those JERKS! Looking like that. Asuka was furious. Well,
time for some divine punishment. First, the one wearing the black shirt.
He�d been at point-blank range, so to speak.

SMACK

One down. The short, goofy-looking one� he had a CAMERA! A video camera!
And it was on! The indignity.

SMACK

Two down. The third one was big, yellow shirt, no fashion sense. Dumb
yellow headband, too. He was blushing beet red.

This time, it wasn�t the satisfying SMACK of slamming palm into cheek.
More like palm into steel. CRUNCH was more like it. Damn, but that hurt!
�Ouch! What are you, a robot?� He was still blushing. She resisted the
temptation to try again. An Eva pilot shouldn�t mangle her wrists over
things like that.

Misato (PURPLE hair? Really) piped up from the back row. �No, robot
pilot, just like you. Asuka Langley Soryu, meet Ryoga Hibiki. Ryoga��

NOW he was reacting. �How do you do.� He sketched a small bow. �Lovely
morning, isn�t it?� What was this crap?

�You mean THIS big lunk is the Third Child?� Come to think of it, he was
HUGE compared to the others. Maybe six feet, must be at least one
hundred eighty pounds, all muscle. �No way he�s only fourteen.�

�What? No, I�m seventeen. What does that matter?�

�Well, OBVIOUSLY, stupid, you�re supposed to know that only
fourteen-year-olds can pilot Eva. Not funny, Misato.�

�Really? Stupid NERV regulations. Oh well, too late now.�

�He really is an Eva pilot, Asuka. Killed all those Angels.�

Well, that didn�t make any sense� it�d keep. �Is that what I think it
is?�

�Yeah, a power plug for Unit 02. Just in case of emergencies, you know.�
Misato stepped behind the goofy kid, who�d recovered from his beating
and was looking around like a tourist. �Come on, people, we�ve got to
check in, you know.�

---
Justin looked over the motley group in front of him. One woman,
thirtysomething, stunning except for a ridiculous purple dye job. One
boy, black shirt, bruise on face, stupid white ball cap. Backwards, of
course. Another boy, glasses, freckles, and camcorder. He was about to
have a fit of some type, from how he kept looking around at everything.
Asuka, he knew too well for his liking. The last, a young man,
well-muscled and wearing a rucksack of all things. And he had some metal
widgets stuck in his bandana.

These guys could be fun. �Welcome to the �Over the Rainbow�, everybody.
What�s up?�

�Captain?� The purple-haired one spoke up. �I�m Misato Katsuragi, NERV
Operations Command. These are pilot Ryoga Hibiki and two friends, Touji
Suzuhara and Kensuke Aida. You know Soryu already.�

�Charmed, of course. I�m Captain Tylor. Justin Wakefield Tylor. What
brings you guys by? We�ll make port tomorrow anyway.�

�Just think of it as added security, Captain. We also brought the power
adapter for Unit 02.�

�Hey, that�s neat. Just plugs in the back, right? I don�t see why we
need one here, though. Can Eva fight underwater, too?�

�Well, no.� Oh, well. It would have LOOKED fun. �But it�s always best to
be prepared in case of emergencies, you know.�

�Yeah, I get a lot of that from my lieutenant commander, too.�

Another voice came from the doorway. �Just about everything you get from
Star, I suspect, Tylor.�

Heh. Misato really had gone into shock, just like Kaji had said she
would. �That just might be your friend Kaji, you know. Let�s find out.�
He creeped to the door, opened it and bolted through, looking down the
hallway. �No, nobody�s here. A ghost?�

�Not yet.� Hey! Justin turned around as Kaji grabbed his captain�s hat.
�Hello, Captain, Captain, everybody.�

---
Ryoga looked over at the man in the doorway. �Kaji-san!� Asuka launched
herself that way. From what he could see� Kaji was about Misato�s age,
maybe a bit younger. Dark hair. Lots of stubble, like he hadn�t shaved
in a week. He was smiling. For some reason, Ryoga immediately liked this
man.

Of course, not everybody reacted like that. Kensuke was still going
crazy about getting actual footage of the bridge, while Touji was
staring at Asuka and rubbing his cheek. The Tylor fellow had grabbed his
hat and promptly put it on backwards. Misato, on the other hand� she had
flinched like his voice was a whip. Still tense, battle tense, too.
Obviously something going on here.

�Captain!� They all turned to look at the other door, which framed the
lieutenant commander. Her name badge read �Star� and her face meant
trouble� she was angry. �What are all of these people doing on the
bridge?�

�Well, you know, I was getting to know the new guys, and then Kaji
turned up and grabbed my hat�� He cut off as Star walked over and
twisted his cap back into position, turning his head in the process.

�You can�t run a warship with a half dozen children on the bridge!� Hey,
that was rude. �Sorry, people, but you�re not supposed to be here.
Captain�s orders.�

�I don�t remember giving those orders.�

�You�re about to.� For a second, Star�s fist flared red.

�I suddenly remember. I�ll see you for dinner then, everybody.�

�Well, well. You two are hopeless. Shall we go?� Kaji turned, extended
his arm to Misato.

She made a point of ignoring it as she headed for the door. �Oh, make
sure to get the power plug hooked up, Captain Tyler.�

�No problem.� The door closed on an irate comment from Star.

Well, that�s one way to run a ship. For some reason, he felt right at
home here.

The entire party crammed itself into a service elevator. �The cafeteria
food isn�t quite as good as what you�d expect, but it�s palatable.� Kaji
was grinning. Misato was NOT grinning, and moved as far from him as the
elevator allowed. Of course, it was a tight fit. Ryoga didn�t move a
muscle� any twitch would probably be considered lewd, improper, or gay
and lewd or improper.

The door opened one thirty-second eternity later. Kensuke smiled evilly
and said, �Don�t worry about Ryoga. He�s been living with Misato.�

�I commend you and your iron stomach, Ryoga-kun.�

Well, it was an effort. �I can honestly say, Kaji-san, that Misato�s
cooking is not the worst that I eat on a regular basis.�

Kaji seemed stunned. �I wasn�t aware that such a thing was possible.�

�Would you guys please lay off my cooking habits?� Misato stormed over
to the coffee machine, grabbed a cup. Touji started feeding change into
the vending machine on the wall.

�Dr. Pepper all right for everybody?�

Hey, if he was buying� �Sure.�

A chorus of �fine� and �all right� answered Touji. He brought the drinks
over to the table.

�So, you�re the famous Third Child.� Kaji leaned over the table. �Killed
an Angel, with no combat training or synch practice.�

That was perilously close to an insult. �No practice, lots of training.
I AM a martial artist first, you know.�

�I had not known, although I can believe it. I don�t believe some of the
other things that I�ve heard, though��

Kensuke paused in the middle of changing the battery on his camcorder.
�Believe it. I wouldn�t have either, until I saw him in gym class.�

�So, can he really break concrete blocks?�

�Yeah, with his hands, feet, and head, too.� Well, gosh, even Akane
could do that�

�That would account for his face, then.�

�Asuka, that�s rude.�

�It was just a joke, Misato, you know that.�

�It�s all right. I really can�t afford to worry about how I look.� How
did they get on this topic?

�So, Ryoga-kun, you�re living with Misato. Tell me� is she still an
animal in bed?�

Hmm� it�s been a while since this many people face faulted at the same
time� and he said� and meant� oh, man. He could feel his face turning
red. Misato had spit coffee all over Touji�s cap, and Touji hadn�t even
noticed. If looks could kill, Asuka wouldn�t need an Eva to fight a
Kaji-shaped Angel. Even Kensuke had looked up for a second.

�I�ll have you know�� �That�s SICK!� �No way!� Come to think of it, the
thought was pretty repulsive. Why didn�t he feel attracted to Misato?
Who knew. �I don�t really want to know, Kaji-san.�

�Ah, a safe answer.�

�Ryoga?� Misato�s voice was almost dripping with sugar.

�Yeah?�

�Let me borrow that umbrella of yours for a minute, will you?�

�Sure.� He pulled it out from his pack, flipped it, offered the handle
to Misato. She grabbed it, both hands, and raised it over her head.
�Take it back, Kaji, or it�s all over.�

�In that case, I take it back. What is that thing you�re waving around?�

She lost her grip on the umbrella. It fell on the table� through the
table. Of course, it was only a folding kind, and his umbrella WAS solid
depleted uranium. He�d have to thank that construction engineer the next
time he wandered by.

�Um� good question. Ryoga?�

�It keeps the rain off.� It was also the central tool of his own style
of martial arts, of course. Not that anybody would understand that.

�No kidding. I�m going back to the bridge, then. Anybody coming?�

Asuka grabbed Ryoga�s arm. �You come with me, pilot boy. There�s
something I want you to see.� Touji snickered, then ducked the requisite
slap.

---
Asuka clambered on top of HER Eva 02. So, that big lug was a pilot, was
he? Well, anybody could get lucky, she supposed. And since Hibiki is his
father� nepotism, a classic case of it too. He�d probably curl up and
die the first time he saw REAL combat.

�What are you waiting for? Come on!�

For some reason, he was oddly reluctant to get on the bridge to her Eva.
�I can see just fine from over here.� �Over here� was the edge of the
pool that suspended Eva 02. �I didn�t know that it was red.�

�Heh. The color�s not the only thing different about it. Ayanami�s Eva
was just the proof-of-concept model, and yours was the testing model,
just to work out the bugs. Everything they learned, they put into this
one. Here, you see the final product, Eva Unit 02. The perfect
Evangelion.�

�I�ll take your word for it.� He said this to the rocking of the ship.
The ship doesn�t rock like that� and it sure doesn�t make rumbling
noises like that. �What�s going on? Enemy attack?�

She looked at the entry plug, still open. After grabbing her duffel from
the seat of the cockpit, she skipped across the bridge and back to him.
All right. THIS is my chance. Wait until they get a load of me.

---
Ryoga wasn�t sure why he was waiting at the side of the stairwell� well
actually he was quite sure. Asuka had to be changing, which would
account for the thrown shoe and the yell of �Pervert� when he had peeked
to check on her. Obviously, she was putting on her plug suit. That meant
she wanted to use the Eva. Well, so long as he didn�t get wet, it would
be all right, he supposed.

A wad of fabric hit him in the chest. �Get changed, pilot boy. Only plug
suits in the cockpit.� He shook out the garment. How Asuka expected him
to fit into one of HER plug suits, he couldn�t fathom. She had to be a
foot shorter than him, and just over half the weight as well.

�Look, it won�t work. I�ll go as I am.� He started for the door.

�What, and get my entry plug dirty? Besides, you need your neural
connectors for a good connection.�

That�s right. He fiddled with his headband until the two oblong metal
pieces stuck up like antennae. �Always prepared, that�s me.�

�Oh, I give up. Come on.� The two bolted for the Eva, listening to the
sounds of battle.

Ryoga didn�t trust the pontoons this time, either. One jump took him
from the pool edge to the entry plug. He shrugged off his pack and
tossed it into the cockpit. �I�m ready to go.�

�Hey! Get that gross thing out of there! It�ll pollute the LCL!�

�It�ll be fine, I had it with me on my first run through this thing.
Besides, I�m not leaving it here.�

�Whatever.� She settled in the pilot�s seat. He settled for the softer
part of his pack as a chair.

Asuka keyed through the initial startup sequences. �There�s� an error
somewhere. Something�s not working. Thought noise! You�re thinking too
loud!�

�Um� I wasn�t thinking too loud.�

�Yeah, but it has to be in German!�

German? She had to pick the one country he�d never wandered across. �I
don�t know German.� Maybe the gibberish she had been spouting while
starting it up had been German.

�You�re pretty stupid, aren�t you? I�m switching to basic Japanese.
Think you can handle that?�

�Yeah.� This was NOT the time to get angry at a little sarcasm.

---
�The missiles aren�t working!� Star never did handle odd things well.
�Have the escorts prepare a bombardment!�

Justin leaned back in his chair. To be honest, he could have done
without an attack as well. �Now, now, if the guns don�t work, tell them
to stop firing. No sense in wasting the ammunition, and we might hit our
own ships at this range.�

�Are you serious?� She whirled on him. �Just stop firing? In the middle
of an enemy attack? What, do you hope that it will just go away or
something?�

�Not exactly.� He gestured towards the door, which had just opened to
admit Misato. �She might have some ideas, though.�

�Special delivery� would you like to order information on how to defeat
the enemy?� Misato was cheery this time.

�See? Go ahead, come in. We give big tips for good service here.�

�You�re probably shooting at an Angel, you know.�

Star was about to explode. If he managed to stay quiet for the next
minute, somebody else would get hit.

�Of COURSE we�re shooting at it! What else are we going to do? That Eva
of yours has type B equipment� it doesn�t work underwater!�

�So don�t let it get wet.� Oops. He shouldn�t have said that. Here it
comes� WHAP ouch! Oh well.

One of the communications operators spoke up. �The transport says that
they�re activating the Evangelion!�

�Heh. Just in time, too. Way to go, Asuka!� Misato looked out the window
toward the huge transport that carried Eva 02.

---
�Ready, pilot boy?� Ryoga really wished that Asuka would stop calling
him that.

�Ready as I�m going to get.�

�Well, here goes!�

The Eva jumped, launching itself a few hundred feet in the air. They
couldn�t see too well, the tarp had gotten caught on the Eva, but the
navigation system was working fine. Ryoga DID see the transport shatter
under an impact from whatever that thing was.

�Hope nobody�s on that deck down there��

Well, it was a little late to worry about things like that NOW. The Eva
landed, both feet, on a helicopter launching pad. The metal deck buckled
like rice paper hit by a flying body, and then they were airborne again.
Nice hang time for something this big. Asuka did something funny with
the controls, and the Eva flung the tarp off.

This time, they came down on a gun turret. Good thing it wasn�t firing
or they�d have lost a leg. �Asuka, we�ve only got thirty seconds of
power left.�

�I know that! Don�t worry, we�ll make it.� The next jump would carry
them onto the aircraft carrier. Ryoga hoped that they had the plug
ready, or this was going to be a short fight.

The impact jarred him, and he bounced around at the bottom of the entry
plug. Jets skidded off of the surface of the suddenly tilted carrier
deck and into the water. Nobody on deck; obviously they had been seen
coming.

�There�s the plug.� Asuka crouched the Eva, wrestled the plug into the
socket on the back of Unit 02. �There, all the power we need.�

�Yeah, but none of the weapons.�

�Are you kidding? I�ve got the progressive knife�� She stood, flipped
the knife from one shoulder housing. Interesting style, extending
instead of his butterfly housing. Cool-looking, too. It started glowing
purple from the intense vibration.

�Here it comes� whoa! It�s HUGE!�

�I expected that. Come on, let�s go!�

The Angel heaved itself up and out of the water. Huge didn�t say it. It
was easily six times larger than the Eva! No hands or legs though. Just
looked like a big whale or something. Well, it didn�t need arms. Its
weight alone was enough to slam the Eva into the deck. The left foot
wedged into a jet elevator� the elevator collapsed. Ryoga felt the Eva
tilting to one side�

No. No water. No fighting under water. �I WILL NOT get WET!�

---
Asuka felt something enter between her link with the Eva. Another
presence. An angry presence, desperate. It jammed the free arm into the
side of the carrier, halting their fall.

Considering the situation, there could only be ONE reason. �Ryoga, you
IDIOT! What are you doing?�

He didn�t answer. Asuka could see beads of sweat on his face, tension in
the muscles. He really didn�t want to go under, after all. He moved his
arms� and the Eva responded, flinging it (and the Angel) up and away
from the carrier.

�Hey, stupid, this is MY Eva!� She tried breaking into the link� and
suddenly, she �saw� what Ryoga had in mind. �Well, so long as it works��

The Angel crashed down on a missile cruiser, with Eva on top. The power
cord hadn�t snagged, thank goodness. Now, the two pilots grabbed the
sides of the Angel�s mouth, forcing it open.

�Where�s the core?� Asuka�s fingers flew over the keyboard. �There!� Of
course� dead center inside.

�Tell them�� Ryoga had his arms braced against the sides of the cockpit,
elbows locked. �Tell them to shoot in!�

---
�What? Shoot IN it?� Misato turned to Tylor. �Can you do that?�

�Sure, why not? Yurika, can you��

Star attacked her station. �Already on it, Captain. The battleships have
the target.�

This just might work. �Tell them to be careful� if they miss, they�ll
hit the ship or the Eva.�

�No problem. We DON�T miss. Battleships firing.�

The shells from the two battleships on that side of the formation
streaked towards the cruiser� at least five of them went directly inside
the Angel�s mouth. Of course, the other four exploded right ON the
Angel�s mouth, and the concussion blew both Angel and Eva into the
ocean.

�Don�t miss, Yurika?�

�I didn�t do that.�

---
Well, this was just dandy. Stuck inside an entry plug with Asuka for an
hour, dangling in the middle of the ocean from the power cord. Misato
had said it would take at least another hour to haul them back on deck.
The damage wasn�t bad, though. No leaks, thank God.

�I still can�t believe you did that. Couldn�t you at least have asked
permission before grabbing MY Eva?�

�Would you drop it? It worked, right?� This must be how Ranma feels
whenever Akane�s feeling particularly jealous. No man deserved this.
�Besides, you wanted me to come.�

�I can�t remember why! Be glad you did, anyway. Otherwise, you�d be
headed for the bottom of the sea!�

Brrr. That didn�t bear thinking about. �Yeah, well, could you at least
stop kicking me?�

�No! It�s got to hurt first!�

�Come on, you might as well be kicking the wall. You just don�t know
enough martial arts to hurt me with a kick.�

�That�s what you think�� She concentrated, her tongue sticking out the
side of her mouth for an instant. �There!� Her foot lashed out.

CLANK

�OW! My foot!� Oh, yeah, right, like he�d actually NOT wear a cup.
Oldest female trick in the book.

�Serves you right.�

---
Ukyou finished tidying the last table. After the lunch rush, she�d have
about an hour of free time until the first dinner customers arrived. No
reason to rush.

She still didn�t believe it. Ranma had broken it off. No �look, let�s
just be friends�. No �I can�t, I�ve got a fianc�e�. He had actually SAID
that he loved Akane, SAID that he didn�t love Ukyou. The jackass. How
could he string her along for SO LONG and then dump her? He deserved
Akane, AND her cooking! Especially the cooking.

The door slid open. �Little bit early for dinner, aren�t you?� She
turned around, spotted a green school uniform, red irises, blue hair.
She jumped, rolled over the bar, came up with her large spatula. �What,
back for more, then?�

The girl (Rei, right?) didn�t go for her gun. She had a school bag in
her hands. No battle aura. Well, maybe not. �I� need to talk to you.�

�Okaaaaaay. Come in.� She didn�t put down the spatula as Rei sat down at
the counter. �Talk about what?�

�About Hibiki-kun.�

�And why me?�

�Who else?�

�Well, you could just ask Ryoga, he doesn�t lie.� Usually, anyway, he
was really direct.

�He�s out of town.�

�Fancy that.� Ukyou sat down. Rei wasn�t here for a fight. �Well, talk
then.�

�First� he told me that I wasn�t supposed to shoot you.�

�Big of him.� Funny, she was putting enough venom in her voice to drop
elephants. Rei must not register sarcasm well. �I feel the same way.�

�I don�t understand why, though. You were going to hurt him.�

�Of course I was going to hurt him. This whole marriage thing is his
fault, you know. If he�d just have kept his big mouth shut and suffered
like he always did, none of this would have happened.�

�So why did he tell me not to shoot you?�

Because he was stupid? �You tried asking him?�

�Yes. He kept saying something about you being a friend and that you
weren�t supposed to shoot friends� I don�t understand. If you�re his
friend, why did you want to hurt him?�

He said THAT? After what he did? He would, too. �It�s� a little
complicated. Did he tell you about Ranma?�

�He turns into a girl.�

�There�s more to it than that�� Ukyou gave her the condensed version of
Ranma�s life story, fianc�es included. �You see?�

�No.�

�Well, take my word for it. He�s a great guy. I can�t believe he�s
actually going to marry Akane!�

�Why not? He loves Akane, you said.�

Hm. It seemed Rei never learned tact, either. �What does he see in her
anyway? What does she have that I don�t have?�

�Ryoga would know. He loves Akane too.�

�He did. He gave her up, remember?�

�But he told me that he still loves her. This whole thing is confusing.
Does everybody live like this?�

�Who knows?� He still loved Akane, then. But he was giving her up! She
knew how much he had felt� how deeply� �Did he say why?�

�He was afraid of hurting her. He thinks he�s not safe to be around.�

Well, true, he was hard on his surroundings. And, if she took what Ranma
had said at face value (the JACKASS!) then he�d almost blown up the
whole city a few days ago. Just like Ryoga.

�Why doesn�t Akane love Ryoga, then?�

Besides the obvious? �Well� Ryoga�s not too smart. Plus, he�s never
around when you need him. And he can�t remember how strong he is� it�s
not normal. It can be hard on somebody.�

Rei�s eyes tightened a little. �I feel� something. I�m tired of thinking
about this.�

�It�s called frustration. Ryoga�s good at that too, you know.� AND
Ranma, the jackass. Well, so long as Rei was here� �Is he really a
pilot?�

�Yes. He pilots Eva 01.�

�He any good at it?�

�I don�t know, really. I didn�t see the first two fights, and the third
one�� She flinched a bit. �I was busy and didn�t look at him. He just
beat another one.�

�Really? When? I didn�t hear an alarm or anything.�

�Just a few minutes ago. He was out with the new Eva unit. An Angel must
have attacked him.�

�How do you know?� The robots never showed up on the news, for some
strange reason, but people talked about the fights.

Rei shrugged. �I know.�

�Is he all right?�

�Yes.�

�Well, that�s good then. Oh, yeah, before I forget�� Ukyou reached under
the counter, came up with a yellow cloth. �Can you give this back to
Ryoga? I�m done with it.�

�It�s got blood on it.�

�Don�t worry, I�m not infectious.� Come to think of it, it did look
pretty gross. �Well, then, I�ll wash it and give it back to him later.�
She replaced it back under the counter. �So, what else do you need to
talk about?� For some reason she felt better. At least SHE wasn�t the
only person suffering over Ranma (the jackass!) and Akane.

�Dinner, maybe. I�m hungry.� She looked surprised, too. Well, maybe it
was the excellent cooking�

�I think I can make some dinner. Let me guess� no meat, right?�

That couldn�t have been a grin. Maybe a nervous tick. �Right.�

�Um� I hate to say this� but I�ve got this policy. No free food to
anybody who shoots the cook.� Ryoga�s tab, by now, looked like the
defense budget of a small African nation.

Rei reached into a pocket, pulled out a wad of paper. Paper money. LOTS
of paper money. Man, Ukyou thought, she was in the wrong business. �How
much does dinner cost?�

�I was just joking, you know.� Well, if she WANTED to pay, that was
different. �Ten thousand should cover it.�

Rei counted out five two-thousand bills. �Is that right?�

�Yeah.� Well, so much for Ryoga�s tab. �Actually, it�s a lot extra, but
I had to pay Dr. Tofu to look at my ear. Incidentally, he told me that I
should cream you the next time I saw you.�

�I wouldn�t enjoy that.�

�No, you wouldn�t. So the extra charge is for me breaking doctor�s
orders.�

�All right.�

By this time, the griddle was hot. �Here goes, then.�

---
Unit 02 was being unloaded from the carrier deck. Ritsuko smiled. It
didn�t seem to be in bad shape, for all that it had been keel-hauled.
Misato was coming down the gangplank. �Well, it seems that you had fun.�

�Well, some.� Misato wasn�t smiling. �That Kaji. Who�d have thought he�d
be out there?�

�Where is he?� Ritsuko couldn�t see him on the deck, and he hadn�t come
off yet.

�I really don�t want to know. He hid somewhere during the attack and I
haven�t seen him since.�

�Well, take a look at this.� Ritsuko gestured to her clipboard, which
had information from Unit 02�s telemetry. �Impressive, huh?�

�Yeah, he broke his synch ratio record.�

�She did too, right here. It must have been the stress involved.�

Asuka limped down the catwalk, hopped into the back of Ritsuko�s jeep.
�No kidding. YOU try piloting an Eva with that thing sometime.�

Ryoga didn�t use the catwalk at all. He jumped, dropped the seventy feet
to the dock. �Hey! I thought we agreed to drop it.�

�That was before I had to walk on this foot.�

�Your own fault and you know it, Asuka.�

�Yeah, yeah, get in, stupid. Where are we going, Misato?�

�Home, I guess.� She looked over at Ritsuko. �You�re invited to a
victory celebration, you know.�

�Not if you�re cooking, Misato.� She didn�t bother looking up. Ritsuko
had tried Misato�s cooking once, years ago. She was probably still
digesting the stuff, come to think of it.

�How about it, Kensuke?� He had managed to make it down the gangway
himself.

�No thanks, I�ve got to get home and store this stuff.� He must have
been carrying two days worth of film disks. �Thanks for taking me
along!�

�No problem. Where�s Touji?�

Touji was coming out as well. Right next to Kaji. �Hurry, Ritsuko, let�s
go!�

Ritsuko started the motor. �See you at work, Kaji.� He was carrying a
case of some kind, an armored case. The mission had been successful,
then. �Stay away from the women.�

�So, then I��

�No way! She let you��

�Of course!�

The two were a good pair, Ritsuko concluded.

---
End of part eight

Questions, comments, flames go to akent@pdq.net

Heh. Next time� living arrangements and face rearrangements.