[]===---===[]

- DAY ONE -

"It's hopeless. The signal for ejecting the entry plug isn't accepted," Maya reported as the screens blinked "REFUSED."

"What about the back up codes?" Ritsuko asked.

"Also refused. Even a direct circuit isn't getting through," she replied.

"The plug's video monitor is active though," Makoto reported. "Switching to main screen."

"What the hell is this?" Misato gasped, seeing an empty entry plug as the screen flashed "PILOT VANISHED."

"I'd say that's the truth behind 400% synch ratio," Ritsuko replied.

"I can't believe it... what happened to Shinji?" Misato asked.

"Apparently... the Eva has taken him into itself," Ritsuko mused.

[]===---===[]

"I know that Wondergirl is still alive! Don't bother me with trivial crap like that, Misato!" Asuka slammed the door shut and flopped onto her bed with her face buried in her pillow.

"I can't believe it! I couldn't do anything! I can't believe that STUPID Shinji outperformed me again! I can't stand it..."

[]===---===[]

Now I'm just going to pause here and say that I love these things: []===---===[] They really add character and drama to the story.

- DAY TWO -

Bleep! Bleep! Bleep!

The next morning, Asuka yawned as she knocked the alarm clock off her nightstand.

"Ow!"

Her eyes snapped open as she heard a strangely familiar MALE's voice. "Who’s there?! I eat perverts like you for breakfast! Show yourself!" she growled.

"It's just me, Asuka," Shinji groaned. His head felt like it had hit something really hard... something like an alarm clock.

"Baka Shinji? Where are you, you pervert?" she shouted as her eyes quickly scanned her room. No Shinji. Then her eyes went wide. Under the bed? Under the blanket? "NOOO! You pervert! Get out of there!" she screamed as she flailed around.

"Whoa Hey! Stop it! Asuka!!! I'm getting dizzy!"

Asuka stopped when her eyes finally locked onto Shinji's. "Wh-wh-why are you on my right hand?" she stammered. Instead of her right hand, a small miniature version of Shinji was sticking out of her right pajama sleeve.

"Dizzy..." Shinji moaned, his head rattled from all of Asuka's flailing around.

It didn't take long for the absurdness of the situation to sink in. "WHY ARE YOU ON MY RIGHT HAND, BAKA SHINJI?!" she exploded.

"I don't know!" he squeaked. Asuka's screaming felt like a hurricane to him. "Ugh... you have morning breath, Asuka."

Yes, most important thing when discovering you're suddenly attached to a friend's hand? YOU HAVE MORNING BREATH ASUKA.

"Shut up about my breath! WHY ARE YOU ON MY RIGHT HAND?! Weren't you supposed to be absorbed inside Unit-01?! I demand an explanation!"

"I don't know!" he repeated. "I was in the entry plug one minute and then the next minute I wake up attached to your right arm!"

Asuka sighed as she massaged her temple with her left hand, trying to calm down. "Okay... so this is just another Eva freak accident," she murmured.

"Possibly," he shrugged. "Or it could just be a dream."

"Will you shut up? Right hands don't talk," she snapped.

"Sorry."

"Shut up!"

"Sorry."

"ARG!"

Conversations like these remind me why I love fanfiction. In the worst way possible.

"So... what are we gonna do then? We could tell Misato-san and Ritsuko-san..."

"NO! You know how humiliating it is for me to have YOU as part of my body?!" she growled. "I have my pride you know!"

"Well... if it's Eva's fault... I'm sure they'll understand," Shinji said tentatively. "Besides... what other way is there to get back to normal?"

"I didn't graduate college for nothing, you know! We'll figure something out," she argued.

I don't really think college is going to help you out here, Asuka. At least Shinij will want to get out of being your hand and tell Misato or whoever...

"Fine, fine..." he sighed in defeat. ‘Being her right hand will give me a break from piloting Eva for awhile anyway,' he thought.

Well okay.

"Now that that's settled, it's time for breakfast," Asuka said, enjoying another victory. Without thinking, she started taking off her pajama top, revealing half her breasts before she realized that Shinji was getting an ultra up-close view.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" she screamed as she flailed her right arm around... until Shinji slammed into the wall.

"Uh... Shinji?"

WELL THAT'S WHAT YOU GET FOR HAVING A BOY FOR A HAND.

[]===---===[]

Ooh! It's these things again. I THINK THEY SYMBOLIZE A SCENE BREAK.

"Ittai (ouch)..." Shinji grumbled as he wrapped some bandages around his head.

Asuka had taken advantage of Shinji's unconsciousness to take a shower and change into her school uniform. To her surprise, only Shinji's upper half had been melded to her arm. Anything below his waist was thankfully nowhere in sight.

"Well, this is better, isn't it? If I wear the long-sleeved school uniform, I can just say that I hurt my hand or something," she argued. "Why don't you just wrap your whole body with bandages?"

Shinji looked a bit annoyed but complied. He wrapped his entire body, minus his face, with bandages, making him look sort of like a mummy.

"Hey, what's that person-shaped mummy appendage you have in place of a hand?" "Oh, it's just... my hand... It's been like this forever pretty much ever, you know?"

Asuka put on the black long-sleeved PE jacket that Touji wore all the time, which actually didn't look too bad matched with the standard teal-blue skirt.

"There... it sort of looks like I sprained my hand or something I guess," she shrugged.

"What now?"

"You make breakfast of course," she replied.

He sighed as they made their way to the kitchen. On the way there, Shinji found that he had joint control of Asuka's right arm. "Good thing Misato's not awake yet."

"Tcha, as if she could see through your disguise," she rolled her eyes.

"Good point." He opened the refrigerator and reached for the fish when Asuka immediately redirected her right arm towards the egg rack.

"No fish. I want scrambled eggs and sausage," she ordered.

"Fine, whatever," he muttered.

"Hey, this is pretty useful," Asuka grinned as she read her manga while Shinji did the cooking. It looked like she was doing he cooking and reading at the same time.

Shinji just grumbled an incoherent response as he cracked the extremely heavy egg. He found that his strength-to-size ratio had multiplied by a lot though, allowing him to lift things even five times his size. It was sort of like how ants were able to lift extremely heavy things compared to their own weight.

Well I'm glad we got the science of how a tiny person could lift eggs figured out. You know, I always appreciate it when the writer takes the time to properly explai-- WHO GIVES A CRAP, SERIOUSLY. ASUKA HAS A SHINJI ON HER ARM.

It took him awhile to get used to everything being a lot bigger than him, but he managed to finish. "Taste good?" he asked.

"Better than fish," she replied as she hungrily munched on the eggs and sausages.

"Hmm... I guess I don't have to eat..."

"What do you mean?"

He shrugged. "When you eat... I don't feel hungry anymore. So I guess I absorb some of your stuff."

She looked at him weird. "Eww..."

Actually I sorta agree with Asuka here.

[]===---===[]

YES SCENE BREAK.

"Asuka? What happened to your hand?" Hikari asked once they arrived at school.

"I just sprained it a little," Asuka said nonchalantly as she zipped open the jacket three-quarters of the way down and hid Shinji inside.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. No big deal."

It felt a bit weird for Hikari to see Asuka wearing the PE jacket. Mostly because it reminded her of Touji, who was still in the hospital after the Unit-03 incident.

"Where's Shinji?" Kensuke asked. "He wasn't hurt in that last battle, was he?"

"He's fine. He'll be doing stuff for NERV the next couple days," she lied.

"Man... gonna be lonely around here without those two around," Kensuke sighed as he looked around at the nearly empty classroom. As the Angel attacks got more and more deadly, less people stayed.

"One stooge is better than three if you ask me," Asuka said arrogantly.

"Rise!" Hikari said suddenly as the teacher entered the room. "Bow! Sit!"

The old teacher adjusted his glasses as he went down the attendance sheet. "Ikari left too, eh?"

"No, he'll be back in a couple days," Hikari replied.

"That kid's got guts... actually coming back here," the teacher murmured to himself as he placed a large envelope on his desk. "As you know... today is test day."

Asuka sighed, knowing she still couldn't read the kanji that the test was written in. She then felt something poking her stomach. She looked down and saw Shinji mouthing something to her.

She gave him a questioning look, not knowing what he was getting at. Shinji sighed and took control of Asuka's right arm, moving him up to her ear, partially concealed by her hair.

"I'll read the kanji to you," he whispered.

"Good idea," she whispered back, practicing holding the pencil with her left hand. "You're more useful as a right hand than you are as regular baka Shinji."

Once the teacher handed out the test sheets, Shinji read the first question. "Uh... thermal expansion..."

Cheating is bad, you know. "Miss Asuka, I'm sorry, but having your hand read you the answers to the test is clearly against the-- HOLY BALLS IS THAT SHINJI?"

"Your cooking tastes better when you're my right hand too," Asuka said as she finished up dinner later that day.

"Only because you force me to cook stuff you like," he muttered.

"Well... I need to take a shower now. Can't you blindfold yourself or something?" she asked, reminded of one of the disadvantages of having a boy for a right hand.

"But you took a shower this morning," he pointed out. "Do you really need to take another one?"

"I'm not a boy, you know. I need at least two showers a day," she snapped.

"Can't you at least sacrifice one? Just for the time that I'm around?" he asked, not really comfortable of the idea of being with Asuka in the bath.

She thought about it for a second and growled in exasperation. "Fine! You'd probably try to peek anyway."

Shinji sighed in relief.

THANK GOD I DON'T HAVE TO SEE A NAKED GIRL.

Asuka put the dishes in the sink and sat down at the living room to watch some TV. "Hey... you know..."

"Hmm?" Shinji looked up at her as she lazily flipped through the channels. "Are you mad?"

She looked at him strangely. "Why would I be mad?"

He shrugged. "I guess... you don't really like it when other people help you... you always try to do things yourself..."

"What's your point?"

"You would have failed that test today if I hadn't helped you," he said softly.

"You weren't helping me," she said coldly. "I was using you, that's all."

"Oh..."

Both of them could feel that the atmosphere had already died.

"Let's go to sleep."

Shinji glanced at the clock, 9pm, but didn't argue. "All right."

While Asuka brushed her teeth and washed up, Shinji shed the bandages that had disguised him and, not having a toothbrush small enough, he gargled some mouthwash.

"Close your eyes," she commanded, but her voice lacked her usual strength and confidence. She changed into her night clothes and turned the light off.

"This is gonna get kinda hard to get used to," she muttered.

"What is?"

"Seeing your face when I fall asleep and when I wake up. I'll have nightmares."

"Sorry."

"Shut up."

[]===---===[]

Hello there scene break indicator.

"Asuka's synch ratio is back up," Maya reported.

"Hmm... it’s been going down recently. I wonder what happened," Ritsuko said. "Good job, Asuka. You beat Shinji's old high score."

"Whatever." Asuka glanced down at her bandaged right hand and knew it was Shinji's presence that had boosted her synch ratio.

"I guess we don't have to worry about replacing her just yet then," Ritsuko sighed, relieved that she wouldn't have to do all the extra work involved with training a new pilot. "Good work, you two."

"I wonder why they didn't detect Shinji in there," Asuka murmured as she made her way to the dressing room.

"Ohayo," Shinji yawned.

"Wh-what?! You were asleep the whole time?!"

Shinji blinked. "Oh, synch tests? I was bored, so I just fell asleep."

I'd bet being Asuka's hand is pretty boring. Just doing... hand stuff... all the time.

A large grin was suddenly plastered on Asuka's face. "I just beat your high score," she mocked.

He smiled. "Good job, but you won't be number one once I get my body back." He hadn't really been asleep through the test. He had actually been concentrating very hard at raising Asuka's synch ratio since she had been a bit depressed ever since he had beaten her score. He just wanted her to think she had done it all by herself.

"Oh, we'll see about that," she grinned.

"Misato-san seemed really worried though," Shinji said. All of NERV seemed to have the crazy idea that Shinji had been absorbed by Unit-01 when in fact he was just attached to Asuka's right arm.

Ha! NERV is a group of idiots! They missed the obvious possibility of Shinji actually being my hand!

"Close your eyes," she ordered as she opened her locker and started to get changed out of her plugsuit.

"Did you have anything planned today?" he asked as they left HQ.

"Not really, why?"

"Well... um... I haven't done the laundry in awhile... the dishes are piling up too... the house is a mess," he said nervously.

"You really are a housebroken male."

"It's not like that!" he protested.

Hint: it's totally like that.

"Fine, whatever. Let's go home," she grumbled, realizing that if he were to do housework, she would have to do it too seeing how they were stuck together.

Once the got back to the apartment, Shinji immediately started on the laundry. Asuka sighed as she just watched him zip around the small laundry room. Actually, it was sort of weird watching her right arm move around all over the place without her willing it to.

Actually, having a person as your arm in the first place is much weirder.

"Wow, you're pretty fast even though you're small," she noted.

I'll refrain from any "that's what she said" jokes here.

Soon Shinji had the entire house cleaned up in no time... however, it was Asuka that had gotten exhausted even though she hadn't really done anything. "Jeez... and you do this every week?"

"Maybe you'll appreciate my services more now that you see what I actually do around here," he frowned.

"If I ever need a butler, I'll know who to call," she retorted. "I'm gonna take a bath, so put a blindfold on."

"But it's in the middle of the day!" he protested.

"Is there some rule that states that I can't take a bath in the middle of the day?" she snarled.

"Uh... no, fine, do what you want," Shinji whimpered.

Actually mid-day baths are scientifically proven to be bad for you. Shinij didn't know this because he DIDN'T GO TO COLLEGE LIKE ASUKA.

"You are such a wimp," she muttered as she made her way to the bathroom. First she helped Shinji unwrap all the bandages that were on him and then tied one around his eyes.

Asuka quickly undressed using just her left hand and placed her clothes in the laundry hamper. She had gotten used to not wearing a bra already, since it was difficult putting one on and taking it off with just her one hand.

Okay.

She first rinsed herself off in the shower before filling up the tub to soak. "Do you enjoy baths?" Shinji asked, hearing her sigh with pleasure as she submerged herself in the warm water.

"Of course I enjoy baths. Who doesn't?" she snapped.

"Well... I don't," he murmured, doing his best to wash himself without the help of his eyes. "My problems always seem to find me when I'm in the bath..."

OKAY.

"My problems always disappear when I'm in the bath," she explained, watching Shinji with curiosity. Even if it was just his top half, it was still a bit stimulating to watch him soap up his naked body. It was sort of like watching a shower scene from a movie.

"So you're running away," he mumbled. Before he could hear her response, he dunked himself underwater to rinse off the soap. When he came back up for air, he took a deep breath of oxygen and suddenly the wet cloth bandage that was blindfolding him unraveled, giving him an unrestricted view of Asuka in all her glory.

"YOU PERVERT!!!!"

Four exclamation points!!!! Must've been really perverted!!!!

"You didn't have to hit me that hard, you know," Shinji muttered as he nursed his aching head. "It was an accident."

"Hmph! You deserved it," Asuka argued. "Besides, it’s a small price to pay for what you saw."

"Wasn't really worth it," he winced as blood was still seeping from the wounds on his head. He tried his best to slow the flow, but all he could do was just wait it out until the wound naturally coagulated. It wasn't all that bad, considering that he had been slammed against walls mutliple times in the last couple days.

"Are you implying that you didn't like what you saw?" she frowned, feeling her pride at stake once again.

"I've seen better," he blurted out, mostly out of annoyance.

Shinji didn't even have to tell her who it was that he was meaning; it was quite obvious. "Wondergirl," she seethed, eyes narrowing with hatred.

"Speaking of Rei..." he murmured, his bitterness for the situation suddenly dissipating at the image of Unit-00 blowing itself up with an N2 mine in an attempt to destroy that last angel. "Is she...gone...?"

"No, your precious Wondergirl is safe and sound," she mocked. "You and your little DOLL!"

"She's not a doll!" Shinji argued angrily.

"She'd do ANYTHING she's ordered to," Asuka shot back. "That makes her a doll!"

"She almost sacrificed her life and you insult her like this?!" he exploded. "Did you hear the commander give out the order for her to kill herself?! I don't think so!"

Suddenly it got quiet.

Editor's note: I'm not quite sure this was needed for the development of the story. Please see me or Jtor article for further critique.

[]===---===[]

YEAH!

- DAY FOUR -

Asuka woke up once again to the sight of Shinji sleeping right next to her only a few centimeters away. "How annoying..."

They skipped school that day and barely spoke to each other. Shinji wanted to go see Rei, but he didn't say anything, knowing that it would only make the situation worse.

Suddenly the angel attack alarms began to sound. “An Angel?”

MAN THE CANONS BOYS!~ Time for a pointless interlude!

The next thing Shinji knew, he was once again wrapped in bandages and drowning in LCL. “Don’t make a sound, got it?” she threatened. Shinji just nodded his head.

“The Angel is not moving from its position in orbit,” Makoto reported.

“It’s maintaining a constant position,” Shigeru confirmed.

“Does that mean it’s looking for a place to land?” Misato wondered, staring at the huge white wings of the Angel that appeared on screen. “Or is it going to destroy us from up there...?”

“We can’t attack it easily from this position,” Makoto replied.

“Unless it comes into our range, there’s nothing we can do,” Misato shrugged. “The Evas can’t destroy a target that’s in orbit. What’s Unit-00’s status?”

“Unit-00 is fully regenerated and ready, but Rei is still a bit hurt,” Maya answered.

“Understood. Sortie Unit-02 and equip it for long-range firing. Unit-00 will be back up,” Misato ordered. “Eva, launch!”

Both Unit-02 and Unit-00 launched to the surface. “You can do this, Asuka,” she told herself as she readied the long-range rifle. She pulled out the butterfly controls and the targeting computer. “C’mon, you stupid Angel...” she grumbled, waiting impatiently for it to come into range.

Then, just as the two target cursors locked, a bright light shot out towards Unit-02. “Huh?!” Asuka gasped as Shinji instinctually flew up to shield her from the attack.

“The enemy has a particle beam weapon?!” Misato shouted.

“No! No thermal emissions detected!” Shigeru reported.

“We’ve got two separate readings in Asuka’s psychograph! One of them is going off the chart!” Maya informed. “Mental contamination imminent!”

“The Angel’s making a psychic attack?!” Ritsuko gasped. “The Angels understand our psychology that well?!”

Shinji fought the urge to scream as he felt an unknown presence ripping through his mind, shuffling through unwanted memories.

Asuka saw Shinji writhing in pain and shook off the initial shock. “Damn it, Angel!” she locked on the target once again and started firing continuous shots. “What are you doing, Wondergirl?! Shoot!”

“Understood!” Rei locked onto the target and began firing as well.

“AT field breeched!” Makoto reported as the barrage of positron energy blasts shattered the Angel’s AT field. “The target has gone silent!”

“Good job, girls,” Misato sighed in relief, watching the explosion on screen.

“It’s strange... the psychograph showed that the Angel was contaminating Asuka’s mind... but she seemed unaffected,” Maya told Ritsuko.

Ritsuko took a closer look at the psychograph readings, wondering how one person could have two different ones at the same time. “That psychograph reading... looks oddly familiar...”

Asuka quickly jumped out of the entry plug and made a mad dash towards the locker room. “Hey! Are you okay?! Get a hold of yourself! Hey!” She stripped off the bandages that were covering Shinji and found him weak and limp. “Hey! Hey! You aren’t dead, right?! Hey!”

Actually, what would be the moral implications of having a dead boy as your arm? How would you bury him? Amputation? I'm not really sure, mainly because there's no precedence for this. WAIT WHAT.

He cracked open an eyelid and groaned. “Asuka...?”

Oh, phew, nevermind. Legal problems avoided.

“Hey! Are you okay?” she asked desperately.

“Asuka... are you okay?” he asked, smiling weakly. “Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine... but...”

“That’s good,” Shinji rubbed his temples, as if trying to scrub out the bad memories that were still fresh in his mind. “I kept my promise at least...”

“Huh?”

“I didn’t make a sound,” he replied, finally regaining some of his energy.

She chuckled weakly, glad that he was feeling better. “From now on... you can break our promise in that type of situation.”

“Okay...”

“What happened anyway? Ritsuko said something about mental contamination...” she said.

“The Angel was reading my mind... my memories... everything,” he shrugged. “It wasn’t really a pleasant experience... it dug up memories of father among other things... but I think about that kind of stuff often, so it wasn’t too bad.”

Just talking about it made Asuka cringe. If Shinji hadn’t taken the attack for her, she would’ve been forced to remember some really horrible things. “Thanks... for protecting me...”

“No problem.”

“Hide!” Asuka whispered when she heard Rei’s footsteps near the locker room. “Hey, Wondergirl, good job today, but be faster to react next time.”

“Understood.”

Asuka grinned. “Nothing feels better than having Wondergirl bow down to me.”

[]===---===[]

Yeah, Rei's so slow... uh.. I'm not sure where I was going with this. The whole Shinij-arm-Asuka thing distracted me.

“I think I know what happened,” Ritsuko sighed after many hours of studying and deliberation. “Shinji is not in Unit-01 as we had originally thought.”

“He’s not?” Maya asked.

Ritsuko shook her head. “Either he’s inside Unit-02... or Asuka...”

“That would explain the two separate psychograph readings,” Maya nodded in understanding. “Shinji’s mind took the hit to protect Asuka.”

“But the theory that Shinji could’ve transferred to either Unit-02 or Asuka doesn’t make sense... yet it’s the only possible answer,” Ritsuko rubbed her temples in frustration.

Then, suddenly she realized something. “Asuka’s hand! Shinji must be grafted onto Asuka’s hand somehow! That’s why she bandaged it up!” Ritsuko snapped.

“Shouldn’t we call her in for diagnosis then?” Maya asked, still reeling from Ritsuko’s revelation.

“We can wait... with Unit-01 in cryo-stasis, I think Shinji will be more useful as a backup for Asuka,” Ritsuko sighed, not wanting to tackle such an abnormal problem just yet. “Don’t tell anybody yet either. We can let the kids have their fun. It’s improving Asuka’s sync ratio anyway.”

“Okay... whatever you say, senpai.”

[]===---===[]

"Our one, really valuable pilot is the hand of someone else! Should we try to fix it, Ritsuko?" "NO BAKA."

“Hey, Asuka, where we going?”

Asuka stopped in front of a small hobby shop and pointed to the dolls on display. “As a reward... I’m gonna buy you some clothes!”

Shinji’s jaw dropped as she walked into the store and headed towards the male doll clothing section. “Y-y-you really don’t have to! I’m fine with jus bandages!”

Actually, compared to what Shinij is about to endure, bandages are pretty nice.

“Don’t be silly,” Asuka scolded. “How about this?” she asked holding up a mini blue and white 01 plug suit. “It’s cute!”

“I can’t wear that! I don’t have any legs!” he protested.

“Oh, right, how could I forget,” she giggled. “How about this then?” She held up a tuxedo set, complete with mask, top hat, and cane. “Cute!” she squealed as she put them on Shinji.

“I look like Tuxedo Kamen from Sailor Moon,” Shinji groaned. Then he noticed the price tag. “Uwah?! 100,000 yen?!”

“Too expensive,” Asuka sighed as she took the clothes off of Shinji and put them back on the shelf. “I really liked it too.”

“Just get me something normal.”

“How about something traditional then?” she asked, putting a bright red and white gi on him and then placing a necklace of prayer beads and fangs around his neck.

“Hey... isn’t this from Inu Yasha?” Shinji slapped his forehead. “No way!”

Seriously, the fourth wall is now curled up in the corner, begging for the beatings to stop, and we're not done yet.

“Yeah, the red doesn’t really match with your hair color,” she agreed and put the clothes back. “Now this one is perfect!”

“You’re kidding, right?” Shinji grew a large sweat drop when he saw himself in the mirror, wearing a ridiculous yellow and white hooded jacket with a blue shoulder pad, red elbow armor, and a ridged metal gauntlet all only on the left arm.

“Hey, I liked Tidus,” she pouted.

TIDUS.

“You’re enjoying yourself, aren’t you?” he asked.

Asuka stopped to think about it for a moment. “Yeah... I guess I am. I never really played with dolls when I was little... I... I hate dolls... but...”

“I’m not a doll,” he smiled wistfully.

“That’s why it’s so much fun!” she grinned as she dressed him up in an even more ridiculous orange and blue Dragon Ball Z outfit. “When else are you gonna have a chance to do something like this?”

Shinji just sighed and let Asuka have her fun. It was actually kind of cute to see Asuka trying to recapture her lost childhood. After many rounds of ‘dress-up,’ Asuka finally decided on a simple Kyo Kusanagi (King of Fighters) outfit, consisting of a white jacket and a black turtleneck shirt that had white lines running across the front, looking like a crucifix of sorts.

KUSANAGI. (King of Fighters)

“Do you want to get some ice cream?” she asked after she paid for the clothes.

“Sure.”

Asuka bought some ice cream at the store next door and walked over to an empty area of the park. “Never thought I’d be sharing an ice cream with a baka like you,” she murmured. They had to share a single cone, since Shinji obviously wasn’t big enough to eat an entire one himself.

“How come?”

“It’s something only couples do, baka,” she rolled her eyes. “Don’t you watch dramas on TV?”

“Not really...”

“Maybe you’d be more of a romantic and less of a baka if you did,” she remarked and took a lick of the strawberry ice cream.

He just shrugged. “Maybe.”

[]===---===[]

Here we go.

- DAY FIVE -

“Baka! Don’t cry!”

“But! But! It’s so sad!” Shinji sobbed as he munched on popcorn, while watching his first ever J-drama. “No! Natsuki, don’t go in there!! HE’S CHEATING ON YOU!” he wailed at the character on screen.

Asuka slapped her forehead and groaned. “Housebroken male...”

Shinji wiped a tear from his eye as the show ended. “That was... beautiful...”

“You wanna watch more?” she asked, gesturing towards the large pile of DVDs. She had a good collection of movies and dramas, though many of the DVDs in that pile were borrowed from Hikari.

“YES!”

“How about something Korean?” she asked, sifting through the mess of DVD cases. “They make really good dramas too. Aha! This one is a classic!”

“My Sassy Girl?” Shinji asked quizzically.

“You’ve never heard of it?! It’s only the most famous Asian film in the past fifteen years!” She inserted the DVD into the DVD player and pressed ‘Play.’ “This is a movie that never gets old.”

MY SASSY GIRL.

Soon, the two of them were rolling around with laughter at the sheer romantic comedy of the movie. What made the movie even more entertaining was that the female lead was a lot like Asuka, while the male lead was extremely submissive like Shinji.

‘Maybe Shinji and I could get along,’ she thought happily, watching Shinji enjoy himself so much. It really made her glad to be able to share something she really liked with him.

Shinji was thinking the exact same thing.

[]===---===[]

Actually, Asuka and Shinji make a really cute couple. This is kinda swee--HOW CAN YOU BE A COUPLE WITH YOUR OWN HAND/PERSON/THING. Actually, don't answer that.

- DAY TWENTY-NINE -

“Wake up, Asuka. Time for school.”

Asuka cracked open an eyelid and saw Shinji’s tiny face right in front of her. This was the sight she woke up to everyday for the past month. “All right...”

She made her way to the bathroom and took off her pajamas for her morning shower. Shinji had ‘accidentally’ seen her naked so many times before that nudity really was no longer a big deal to them. They were attached to each other after all.

“Hey, can you cut my hair a bit? It’s getting kinda long,” he said as he brushed the wet strands out of his eyes.

Cutting your hands hair? Sounds like a GOOD IDEA.

“I’ve never cut hair before,” she replied. “It’s okay though... just part your hair down the middle like this.” She pushed his hair off to both sides, leaving the middle open and giving his eyes a clearer view.

“Hmm... why didn’t I think of that...?”

“It’ll complete your Kyo Kusanagi look,” she giggled. “Now wash my back for me.”

After their shower, Shinji made a quick breakfast before they left for school. Usually Shinji wore bandages to school, but occasionally Asuka would give him a break and just let him wear the doll clothes she had bought for him. Though, of course, she had to hide him inside her jacket most of the time.

“Misato?” Asuka asked, surprised. It was unusual to find Misato at home during the morning recently. In fact, they hadn’t seen much of her at all.

“Oh... hi, Asuka,” Misato murmured wearily, not even lifting her head from the kitchen table. “I’m just a little tired...”

“Is something wrong?” Asuka asked.

‘Kaji’s gone... Shinji’s gone...’ Misato couldn’t bear to tell Asuka what had happened to the unshaven double-agent though. “I miss Shinji... don’t you, Asuka?”

Under Asuka’s jacket, Shinji winced.

“Y-yeah...” Asuka lied.

“Those idiots at NERV still haven’t been able to rescue Shinji,” Misato muttered, still believing that Shinji had been absorbed into Unit-01. At the moment, only Maya, Ritsuko, Fuyutsuki, and Gendo knew the real truth about Shinji’s whereabouts. The Commander had decided to leave Shinji as is, since he did prove to be much more useful in his current state.

Gendo: "I like my son better as a hand."

“Give me back my Shinji...” Misato was almost sobbing by now.

“Ah, well... I’m gonna be late for school,” Asuka said nervously and quickly left.

“I don’t mind staying like this; I like being with you... but... is this really okay?” Shinji asked guiltily.

“I don’t know...” she replied, feeling equally as guilty. “We’ll figure something out... sooner or later...”

“Ohayo, Asuka,” Hikari greeted as Asuka walked into class. “Hey... is your hand healed? What’s that?” Asuka had been careless and left a tiny bit of Shinji’s white jacket visible. “A puppet?”

“Oh, this? Uh... yeah! It’s a puppet!” Asuka laughed nervously, holding Shinji up for Hikari to see. Shinji stood rigid, doing his best to pretend.

“It... sort of looks like Ikari-kun,” Hikari murmured, taking a closer look. “It is Ikari-kun, isn’t it? Except with a bit longer hair...”

“Uh, yeah! I had it custom built by a technician at NERV,” Asuka lied. “They sure do have a lot of free time on their hands sometimes.”

“You must really miss him, huh?” Hikari asked.

“No! Of course not!”

“Then why else would you have a puppet of him?” Hikari inquired.

Asuka sighed. “Yeah... fine, I miss the baka.”

Hikari grinned smugly. “I knew you liked him.”

“It’s not like that!”

“Oh, yes it is.”

Asuka groaned. “Okay... maybe a little...”

Hikari could’ve sworn the Shinji puppet had blushed.

[]===---===[]

WILL SHINJI EVER FIND TRUE LOVE... AS A HAND?!

“Where were you?! You’re fifteen minutes late!” Ritsuko scolded as Misato rushed onto the command bridge.

“Sorry, no excuse,” she huffed, trying to catch her breath. “Sortie Unit-02 to the thirty-second gate. Use Unit-00 as a backup.”

“What the heck is that?” Asuka wondered, studying the large glowing ring that was supposedly an Angel.

“It keeps cycling through blood patterns blue and orange,” Makoto reported. “We don’t have any solid information on this one yet.”

“So we can’t attack first,” Misato concluded. “Asuka, get back and stay ready.”

“No, it’s coming,” Asuka gritted her teeth, readying herself for combat as the Angel suddenly unlooped itself.

“Asuka, evasive action!” Misato shouted.

“She can’t! There’s not enough time!” Makoto cried as the Angel shot through the air at Unit-02.

“Asuka, watch out!” Shinji blocked the Angel’s attack using Unit-02’s right hand. Strange veins started popping out of Unit-02’s hand on immediate contact.

“Shinji?!” Misato’s eyes widened.

“Target has made physical contact with Unit-02!” Shigeru informed. “Contamination imminent!”

“Is the Angel trying to establish first level contact with Unit-02? Impossible!” Ritsuko gasped.

“We got bio-contamination invading Unit-02!” Maya reported.

“Asuka, do something!” Shinji shouted, grimacing in pain as the same strange veins started popping up on his own bandage-clad body. “I’m doing my best to hold it off!”

“Baka! I told you not to do stupid things like that!” Asuka scolded as she started unloading bullets into the Angel. “It’s not working!”

“Shinji?! Are you there?!” Misato cried.

“I’m fine! Don’t worry!” Shinji grunted. Misato couldn’t see Shinji because he was still covered with bandages, but his voice comforted her to no end.

“Misato, focus! This is no time for that!” Ritsuko scolded.

“R-right! Rei, hurry up and back Asuka... and Shinji... up!” Misato ordered. “Spread your AT field to maximum and target the rear end!”

“Understood!” Unit-00 rushed in with a pallet rifle and fired at the Angel at point-blank range.

“Rifles are useless!” Asuka growled as she activated her prog knife and started hacking away at the Angel.

“It’s not working!” Shinji gritted his teeth, trying to ignore the pain coursing through his body.

“Use an N2 mine,” Commander Ikari ordered.

“What?!” Misato cried out.

“Do it! The Angel’s AT field will have been neutralized enough at this point,” Commander Ikari explained.

“Asuka, Rei! Hold the Angel with your AT fields! We’re going to drop an N2 mine!” Misato quickly relayed the order to both the UN as well, and soon enough a bomber appeared.

“I’ll never get used to this,” Asuka braced herself for the gigantic explosion.

“What’s the status on the Angel and Unit-00 and Unit-02?” Misato asked quickly, watching the gigantic mushroom cloud rise into once clear blue sky.

“The Angel has gone silent,” Shigeru reported.

“Both Rei and Asuka are alive but unconscious from the impact,” Maya added.

“How about Shinji?!” Misato asked worriedly.

Ritsuko stared at Maya’s monitor with a puzzled expression on her face. “He’s... inside Unit-01...”

[]===---===[]

That was exciting! Right? Right??

“Where am I...?” Shinji mumbled groggily, waking up in a hospital bed.

“Shinji!” Misato threw her arms around him and sobbed. “I missed you so much!”

“Was I gone?” he asked, confused.

Asuka blinked. “You mean... you don’t remember anything?!”

He shrugged as he put a comforting hand on Misato’s shoulder. “Last thing I remember is running out of power inside Unit-01.”

“That was a month ago,” Rei informed.

“Wow, I must’ve been out of it for awhile then,” he laughed.

Asuka slapped her forehead and groaned. “You really don’t remember anything...”

“Remember what?”

Asuka sighed and shook her head. “Nothing, forget it.”

[]===---===[]

HAHA, OH MAN. IT WAS ALL JUST A DREAM.

“The Shinji that was grafted onto Asuka’s hand must not have been the real Shinji then,” Ritsuko remarked, carefully studying all the data she had collected. “He must’ve been inside Unit-01 all along... and the one on Asuka’s hand must’ve been some sort of physical projection of himself. When the Angel had contaminated that physical projection to a fatal level, he was forced to return to his normal state.”

“Is that possible?” Maya asked quizzically.

“Apparently so,” Ritsuko shrugged. “Let’s just leave it at that...”

Yeah, actually, let's just totally ignore that another human was grafted onto the arm of one our pilots. SCIENCE SUCKS.

In conclusion, I'd like to apologize, and also ask a question: do you guys want more?