I Was a Teenage Dummy Plug
Part 9: Different Viewpoints: Misato / Love Stinks
A Neon Genesis Evangelion fanfic by Logan J. Goodhue
*** Disclaimer***
Neon Genesis Evangelion is � and � GAiNAX, et al.
This story is for nonprofit entertainment only.
First Version, 25OCT2003; Current Version, 08DEC2003

Different Viewpoints: Misato

	"Geez!" Misato snorted in disgust at the Section Two agents manhandling 
their precious cargo. "Be more careful with her, you dopes!" She smirked to 
herself in satisfaction as the two lugs set Emi gently into the passenger 
seat of her Renault Alpine. The smirk was quickly replaced with a concerned 
frown as she remembered the call from Ritsuko that had brought her back to 
the geofront after bringing Asuka home. She still wasn't satisfied with the 
explanation her old friend had given her for not putting the blue-haired 
teenager in the infirmary until she had recovered.

	"Trying to save money, my ass!" NERV's Tactical Operations Director 
muttered under her breath. Apparently, because there was nothing medically 
wrong with the Fourth Child, the Commander had denied the use of one of the 
infirmary's beds for her. Therefore, it was up to Misato to bring Emi home. 
She smiled down at her sleeping passenger and started her car. With more 
care than usual, she pulled out of her parking space and began the drive 
back to her apartment building.

	As she stopped at the security gate outside the geofront, she glanced at 
Emi and hissed in shock. The change in light from inside to outside had 
uncovered several bruises. A single round bruise sat in the middle of her 
forehead, and there appeared to be massive fingerprints around her throat.

	"What the hell kind of tests was Ritsuko running today?" Misato whispered. 
Troubled, she obeyed all the traffic laws she usually ignored as a matter of 
course. She was incensed at the possibility that the good doctor was 
torturing Emi. She hadn't known Rei's sister for very long, but she thought 
she had a good idea of what to expect from her. Her parties weren't just an 
excuse to drink beer and tease Shinji, but an opportunity to get to know her 
charges and coworkers.

	Emi was perhaps as much of an enigma as Rei was, but in a different way. 
She seemed to be a tomboy wise beyond her years, but where a typical tomboy 
was more physical, she almost seemed to be uncomfortable in her own body. 
She had a quirky sense of humor, yet the first time Misato had seen her, she 
was huddled in a ball of abject despair. Despite all of these things, she 
was the most "normal" of the Children. Asuka's bluster hid a vulnerable 
soul. Shinji needed a boost of self-esteem. Rei was . . . well, Rei.

	Misato was most impressed with the impact the Fourth Child was having on 
her twin sister. Emi's presence was beginning to crack Rei's stony facade, 
speeding improvements that had begun during the battle with the fifth Angel. 
She was sure that the First Child would always be quiet, but maybe she'd at 
least smile more.

	She pulled into her parking space near her apartment and turned off the 
motor. She clambered out of the car and contemplated how she was going to 
get Emi to the apartment she shared with Rei. As she considered calling 
Asuka and Shinji down to help, a voice interrupted her thoughts.

	"Need some help, Katsuragi?"

	'Only one person,' she thought, frowning, 'has that smug tone of voice.' 
She whirled to face him.
"Hello, Kaji." She thought for a moment, and then grudgingly agreed. "If you 
take her legs, we can carry her up to her apartment." Suiting word to deed, 
they made their way to the elevator. They stood in uncomfortable silence 
until Emi began to murmur in her sleep.

	Misato didn't recognize the guttural language the Fourth Child began in, 
but she did recognize English and then she turned to Japanese: "And in those 
days the angels shall return and hurl themselves to the east upon the 
Parthians and Medes. They shall stir up the kings, so that a spirit of 
unrest shall come upon them, and they shall rouse them from their thrones, 
that they may break forth as lions from their lairs, and as hungry wolves 
among their flocks."

	Kaji almost dropped Emi's legs in shock, and Misato narrowed her eyes. 
Distracted as she was, she missed a few sentences and struggled to keep up.

	"And they shall begin to fight among themselves," Emi continued, "and their 
right hand shall be strong against themselves, and a man shall not know his 
brother." A single tear tracked from her closed right eye. "Nor a son his 
father or his mother, 'til there be no number of the corpses through their 
slaughter, and their punishment be not in vain."

	When they reached the Ayanamis' apartment door, Misato struggled with the 
passkey she'd been given by Section Two. She quickly got the door open and 
they brought Emi into the room marked with the sign reading, "Reflected 
Beauty, Laughter, Love, and Emi." A moment's work had the Fourth Child laid 
gently on her futon and under her coverlet. Misato smiled softly to herself 
as Emi snuggled into the blanket. Signaling Kaji to silence, she led him out 
of the apartment and hoped to get him to talk about what Emi had said to 
startle him.

	Had she remained, Misato would have heard Emi's next sleepy utterance: "And 
the Angel of Hail shall strike the Fourth a mighty blow, calling out the 
Archangel Gabriel. Lo, though the Lovely Village of Avalanche be struck by a 
mote from Bardiel's sword, it shall prosper 'neath the Helmsman's steerage. 
So has God willed it, so may it be. Amen."

Love Stinks

	"Oh, man!" I moaned around the corner of a slice of toast as I dashed 
towards school. "I'm going to be sooo late!" I tugged on and straightened my 
tie as the school gates hove into view. Putting on a final burst of speed, I 
cleared the gates by centimeters before they closed. "Made it!" I stopped 
and finished my toast, brushing the crumbs off the yellow sweater-vest I was 
wearing in lieu of the normal uniform: a fact which did not go unnoticed by 
my class representative and friend, Hikari Horaki.

	"Why are you wearing the wrong uniform, Emi?" she asked sternly. I caught 
the slight waver of concern behind her tough "responsible martinet" facade. 
Nevertheless, she stood impatiently tapping her foot, waiting for me to 
answer.

	"Well," I said, heading towards the classroom, "I was going to do laundry 
yesterday, but something came up at NERV." I tugged at the hem of my gray 
skirt. 'Still not used to wearing these things,' I thought darkly. I smiled 
gently. "It's a simple formula, Hikari. Five clean uniforms," I held up my 
hand and splayed my fingers, "minus two identical girls multiplied by three 
days of school," I closed my fist and held up a finger on my other hand, 
"equals negative one. I think Rei's got the last clean uniform, so I had to 
wear this one."

	The class representative's face cleared. "Oh." She cast a critical eye over 
what I was wearing. "Is that your old school's uniform?" she asked.

	"Mm-hm," I agreed. "Unfortunately, I never got to wear it to my old school 
before I got transferred here." It was a blatant lie, of course. I wasn't 
even quite sure how I had acquired it. I knew that I hadn't bought the 
individual parts during the shopping spree my friends had taken me on. There 
had just been an unnerving typewritten note on the folded uniform in my room 
that read: "You might need this today. -- A Friend."

	"I'll let it go, just this once," she said with a wink, and then she 
sobered. "But seriously, Emi, please make sure you've got the proper uniform 
next time. It would make me look bad as Class Representative if my friends 
don't meet the dress code."

	"Gotcha, Hikari!" I made my way to my seat and watched as Asuka berated 
Shinji for some minor violation of her "Rules of Non-Stooge Conduct." As 
entertaining (and loud) as that was, I still felt my face begin to heat when 
I heard the buzz of conversation around me.

	"Hey! Check out Ayanami!"

	"Which one?"

	"Emi. Man, doesn't she look hot in that outfit?"

	"Does she have no shame?"

	"Who does she think she is, not wearing the right uniform?"

	Hikari apparently started a counter-rumor, because the catty remarks began 
to show more sympathy than jealousy. Unfortunately, the rumors reached the 
guys, too. I could feel all the sympathetic gazes and could practically hear 
the guys thinking of how to use the information to get me on a date. I 
sighed and turned to Asuka who was winding down.

	"Hey, Red! You done disciplining Ace there?" I asked.

	"Guten Morgen, Blue!" she said with a grin. "What's up?" She glanced 
sideways at Rei in her seat. "Wonder Girl said you weren't feeling well."

	"Well," I temporized, and looked at Rei, who was staring out the window, as 
usual. 'Why would she lie?' I thought, and then answered myself. 'Rokubungi 
told her to.' I sighed and turned back to Asuka. "Doctor Akagi put me 
through quite a tough drill after you left." I smiled wryly. "When it was 
done, I suppose you could say that I was dead tired."

	The redhead nodded to herself. "That's right. Misato had to go pick you up, 
didn't she?"

	"Yep," I said as I sat down and prepared for the day. Asuka followed suit, 
and I leaned over to her and whispered. "Look, I've got some business I need 
to discuss with Aida at lunch. Could you and Hikari distract the other two 
Stooges for me? Just have her offer Suzuhara a bento or something. I'll 
leave how to handle Ace up to you."

	A wicked smirk spread across her face as she agreed. Soon after that, the 
teacher entered the classroom, and we suffered through yet another 
hours-long lecture about Second Impact.

	Lunch arrived, as it often does in a high school, with much celebration on 
the part of the student body. I purchased a vegetarian bento from the bored 
cafeteria workers and made my way through the milling throng. I smiled and 
nodded to my various classmates as they made a few polite noises along the 
way to where the Three Stooges usually hung out. Just as I neared the hill, 
I saw Asuka dragging Shinji off as Hikari shyly approached Touji.

	I looked for my target, but couldn't quite spot Kensuke. I did, however see 
Rei sitting on her accustomed bench and reading what appeared to be a 
psychology textbook. She looked up at me suddenly, and I could feel her gaze 
boring into me across the schoolyard. She nodded sharply once and returned 
to her book, a tiny, almost invisible smile on her lips. I smiled fondly 
myself and resumed scanning.

	"Target acquired," I said softly as I spotted Kensuke, camera in hand. He 
was walking away from a group of boys and looking in confusion at the empty 
spot where Touji and Shinji should have been. I squared my shoulders and 
took a deep breath. "Here we go."

	I quietly crept up on the unsuspecting military otaku with an uncanny grace 
born of a combination of good genes, fragmentary memories of Rei's training, 
and the simple fact that I had always been good at sneaking up on easily 
distracted targets, even when I had been in my original body. Absolutely 
certain he didn't know I was there, I touched his shoulder and spoke: 
"Aida."

	His shriek was as rewarding as I thought it would be and he whirled to face 
me, clutching at his chest. It took him a few seconds to calm down enough to 
speak, and I could hear the gears turning in his head. His confusion turned 
into a tentatively hopeful grin. I felt a slight thrill down my spine, as 
though I'd achieved something I needed to do. I was sure it was something 
I'd done, and not anything relating to Kensuke.

	"Ayanami?" he asked incredulously and blinked a few times. A slightly 
careful look crossed his features. "What can I do for you?"

	I knew that look. I'd worn it a few times myself whenever an attractive 
girl had asked for my help on her homework. It was universal to geeks and 
weirdoes across the sidereal universe. I combined the hope that an 
attractive girl might actually care and the fear that she was going to 
utterly destroy someone's hopes and dreams. It even hurt a little, because I 
was going to destroy at least one of them. There was no way I was going to 
date any guy if I could help it. I noticed that Kensuke was beginning to get 
nervous, so I decided to relieve a bit of tension and smiled a bit.

	"Well, the first thing you can do," I said, "is dispense with formality and 
call me Emi. I keep looking over my shoulder and expect to see my sister 
when people call me 'Ayanami.'" I held up my bento. "The second thing you 
can do is give me some company for lunch. We have things to discuss." The 
thrill was back with a vengeance as Kensuke broke into a gleaming smile that 
practically bisected his face.

	"Sure, Emi!" He plopped down under the tree and patted the ground beside 
him. He frowned slightly as I sat across from him at a bit of a distance and 
opened my bento.

	"First things first, Kensuke," I said before. I popped a carrot roll into 
my mouth with a pair of cheap chopsticks. I chewed, swallowed, and then 
continued. "Your note was the best written of all the love notes I've 
received since I got here. Not only was it well-written, but the calligraphy 
was magnificent, and your poetry seems to be original." With each point, 
Kensuke beamed with pride. "However . . ." Kensuke winced. He was obviously 
well acquainted with the word. "However, I am not interested in a romantic 
relationship with anyone at the moment. If I were, my tastes are a little . 
. . different. I did think you deserved a little better than the other guys 
got."

	He looked at me with pain-filled eyes. "What do you mean?"

	"Well, for one thing," I said, "I'm telling you this face-to-face instead 
of just dumping your note in the trash." He turned thoughtful. "Or turning 
it over to Asuka for retribution." I said with a grin. He chuckled at that. 
Feeling a little better about what I was doing, I barreled on. "Besides, I'm 
giving you a chance to be one of my friends. I mean, any friend of Shinji's 
gotta be good people, right?"

	"Yeah, I suppose you're right," he said.

	"Of course I am. Tell you what, as a peace offering, I'll tell you 
something I think you'd like to know." He leaned forward with interest. "Now 
this is probably classified to high heaven, so you didn't hear this from me: 
Unit Three arrives on Friday."

	A hint of military fandom gleamed in his eyes. He stood quickly and shouted 
in glee. "Friday? IT'S A DATE!"

	A sense of dread overtook me. I slowly turned around and saw Asuka, Hikari, 
Touji and Shinji, along with several of our classmates who had heard the 
outburst, staring at us in shock.

	I put my head in my hands and groaned in English, "Why me?"

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