45V1 Chapter 1: School Days Start!
Shinji's Home, Sarutobi Clan Compound, Konoha
Asuka, lying on her side, slowly opened her eyes as she slowly woke up from a peaceful night of sleep, something that had become common for her now in this new world.
A peaceful night of sleep, that is definitely something she had learned from a young age to never take for granted after the almost nightly nightmares she had to suffer through after the death of her mama. Even to this day she said a silent thank you to any gods that may exist every time she woke up without a nightmare.
She looked down and saw a tuft of brown hair and smiled at, in her opinion, the person most responsible for her continuous nights of peaceful slumber. She could feel his warm body with her arms wrapped around him and smiled. She hugged him a little tighter and nuzzled against the tuft of his hair, eliciting happy murmurs from the ex-Third Child. She just basked in his presence for a moment.
These small moments of peace is what she lives for.
After a few moments she made sure to unwrap her limbs around the small boy very carefully before crawling out of the sheets and off the bed and on to her feet with just as much care. She could feel that her shirt was a bit wet with Shinji's drool but she just laughed quietly at how carefree he felt in his sleep now. A part of her felt a little bad at the fact that if he did something so innocent in the past she would beat him black and blue, Gott she was such a bitch back then.
That said if somebody other than Shinji did it she would rip off their own arm and beat them with it. While she made an effort not to be a bitch with Shinji, she didn't make any promise to do that for anyone else right?
Besides she knew Shinji found her fire attractive, and if the boy she loved found the sight of her beating the daylights out of those stupid enough to piss her off hot then too bad for her victims right?
After quickly stretching her back with a grunt she looked at his sleeping face and smiled. He looked so peaceful, so content. She still remembered seeing him asleep a few times in their old world. First during a few nights while undergoing their synchronization training to fight against the 7th Angel and a few times after, sometimes he would fall asleep on the couch at home or sometimes he would catch a nap in the car during the ride home after a long day of tests and training at NERV. During all that time he had always looked…stressed? Pained? Either way she could probably count the times she had seen him sleep peacefully in their old life on both her hands. To see him sleep so peacefully now made her happy.
They both deserved at least that much.
A blush worked up to her cheeks as she thought about how adorable he is as a child and a part of her wished they had met when they were younger. Another part of her wondered how his bastard of a father could abandon such a cute and innocent child to a family that did things to him that still made her blood boil.
She herself had been dealt a shitty hand by fate, hell all three of them have had shitty childhoods but in her opinion Shinji had had it the worse. Sure she had spent a life training to be an Eva pilot but at least plenty of people at NERV Germany genuinely cared for her. Sure Rei is a clone who had lived an empty life delude of joy but at least she had been taken care off. Shinji though had lived a life designed by his father to break him down as a human being.
THAT is something she would never forgive the bastard for. She hoped that he burns in hell for what he had put herself, Rei and Shinji through.
Asuka shook her head, she had things to do and thinking dark thoughts would do nothing to help her. So after gently fixing the blanket and tucking him back into their bed she put her shinobi training to good use and silently walked out of their home's master bedroom.
'Who would have thought this ninja stuff would be so handy?' she thought to herself with great amusement. She was pretty sure this isn't what Yugao thought her trainging would be used for but she didn't care.
She started her shinobi training to protect the smile of the two people she cared about the most, if it couldn't even protect Shinji's happy sleeping face then what good is it for?
Closing the door quietly she let a smirk show on her face at the excellent show of stealth straight out of bed. 'Well that's to be expected isn't it? I'm Asuka Langley Soryu after all!'
She walked down the hall to the door that had '00' written on it in white, in comparison her and Shinji's room has '01+02' written on it in purple and red respectively. She slowly and carefully opened the door to Rei's room and smiled at the girl still sleeping inside and closed the door. That was something that had actually surprised her, Rei isn't a morning person, the constantly serious looking Wondergirl she knew was the very image of diligence. From her by the books style behavior when it came to school and work at NERV she had always imagined the blue haired girl to be like Shinji and be the kind of person that could wake up at the crack of dawn and be totally fine.
Content that her housemate is still asleep and doing so peacefully she closed the door.
Shinji and Asuka had started sleeping together because it helped with their nightmares. Seeing that it worked she had offered for Rei to share a bed with them as well. While Asuka didn't like the idea of sharing him she also didn't dislike the idea of sharing him with Rei. Asuka had been selfish and self-centered for years in her old life and all it brought her was a life of loneliness. Even when Shinji had made such a big effort to be nice to her she had pushed him away.
She wouldn't keep Rei away from the happiness she herself had, in her stupidity, pushed away.
Rei though, being typical Rei, had told them she had no such nightmares and therefore no need to share a room with them and did not wish to take up room on their bed. She had wanted to just drag Wondergirl into bed with Shinji and herself anyway but Shinji had convinced her that they needed to take it slow with Rei. She's only now finally living a normal childhood after all and so they had both decided to let Rei work through her emotions at her own pace with them supporting her every step of the way.
Making her way downstairs she starts cooking breakfast. Nothing fancy though, just some omelets, sausages, toast and orange juice for all three of them.
That had been another change, Rei no longer minding eating meat.
Shinji and her had theorized that due to experiencing eating meat through both of their memories and had found the second hand experience pleasurable.
Well either that or Rei's pragmatism won through and started eating meat because of their choice to become shinobi. That means they all needed the protein to build up their strength and in the field once their rations, if they have any at all, have ran dry then they would need all the food they can find. They can't choose to be picky.
Shinji and herself leaned more on the latter when it came to Rei but at least she seemed to have learned to like eating meat, if she chose to do it b/c of practical reasons and didn't enjoy it at all they would have preferred Rei move into civilian life instead. After all, the reason they had chosen the life they had is to have the power to protect their own happiness. If Rei wasn't happy living the shinobi way then Shinji and herself would more than happily pick up the slack and let her do what she wants.
As fellow soldiers they would understand if she was sick of fighting.
"Good morning Asuka," she suddenly heard from behind causing her to 'eep' in surprise. She knew who it was instantly from the soft monotone of the voice.
"Jesus, Wondergirl! How many times have I told you to make some noise when walking around at home? I almost splashed some oil on myself!"
"Ah…" she heard Rei and immediately regretted snapping at the girl. While most people probably wouldn't be able to hear the difference Asuka could hear the regret and shame in Rei's voice. "I'm sorry Asuka."
"Its fine Rei," she sighed. "I'm sorry for snapping at you. Can you please set the table?"
"Of course."
Rei went off to do her task quietly, that was something that didn't change, Rei is still the quiet girl she had always been.
Well Asuka doesn't really mind anymore, that's just who she is like how Asuka is still a spitfire and Shinji is still shy.
Somethings just don't change, even after an apocalypse.
Plating the sausages and bringing the plate of food to their dining table Asuka listened and heard footsteps from upstairs and knew that Shinji had just woken up. Normally Shinji would be the one up and cooking breakfast, Rei can't cook anything past cooking something found in the field to make it safe for consumption and Asuka just didn't like waking up earlier than necessary so Shinji still cooked breakfast most days.
She would feel bad if she didn't know that Shinji loved cooking.
Last night though Shinji had stayed up late with Asuma-san studying clan politics so she didn't mind cooking breakfast for once, plus he has to go to a meeting with the elders this morning and he needs to be well rested.
And after that is their first day at the Academy so she has to prepare their bento boxes after breakfast.
'Gonna be a busy day today.'
"Is that really necessary Asuka-chan?" Yugao asked as she relaxed in the children's backyard while eying the workers currently finishing up the extension to the home of the children that she had come to think of as her little siblings or perhaps even as her own kids.
Asuka just shrugged in response, "well with Shinji really getting serious learning fuinjutsu now it'll be nice for him to have a proper workshop to work in, just in case something like an explosive tag goes wrong."
Yugao couldn't do anything but agree. In the couple of years that had passed now since the three children had come to Konoha they had taken their training seriously. She'd put money that any of them can take on any of the clan born children their age one on one. Civilian born kids in the Academy or children that haven't already received shinobi training wouldn't stand a chance at all against any of them. That said she did question the forge also being installed, wasn't it a bit much? She never did see eye to eye with any of the clans' elders.
"You okay?" she asked the normally fiery redhead, she looked…too somber for someone of her attitude and age as she sat across the picnic table from Yugao. Rei though, who is currently sitting beside Yugao and just quietly watching the workers with curiosity looked just like she did all the time to the older woman. She had started getting 'Rei-speak' lessons from Shinji and Asuka to understand the bluenette's subtle emotional ques but it hadn't really started to bear fruit yet. "You look stressed."
"Yeah…a little."
"Is it because of Shinji-sama?" She asked Asuka.
Shinji had, with an amusing amount of gusto, begged her to just refer to him as Shinji. He had always insisted his adoption by the Sarutobi clan be kept on the down low, not kept a secret but just something he didn't want attention brought to. She knew it wasn't out of disrespect though, he just didn't like the attention it brought him. Most of the people who know him had complied as they only really did it out of respect to the Hokage and the 'proper' members of the clan, not out of any respect for the meek child.
Well at least the children at the Academy wouldn't call him that, that should at least make him happy. The clan born kids will see him as an equal and the other kids will be too young to know what to do while the teachers are told not to play favorites and treat all kids as equals. A part of her though told her that all three of them would earn the respect of others when they're older.
As for her and the ANBU who had watched over the kids they know what he's really like. A kind, hardworking and loyal young shinobi in the making. A boy that behaved more like a young man, a boy that would risk his life for his friends and loved ones. That spirit of his that embodied what a good Konoha shinobi should be had earned their respect and so had decided to still regard him with the 'sama' suffix.
Plus the annoyed little glare he sometimes shot at her when she called him that is just too adorable to resist.
"Yeah," Asuka sighed. Moments like these always gave her the impression that the Children were older than they actually are. "I don't like him going off to these meetings by himself. We stick together Yugao-nee, together we can do so much! Alone…I-I just don't like the idea of leaving him to deal with the old men by himself."
"Asuka-chan," she placed a hand on one of the younger girl's own to try and calm her down. "remember that Hokage-sama will be there too."
"I know!" she snapped before calming down. "I know…and I understand why they're doing this. Adopting a child outside of a shinobi clan is already rare. A shinobi clan adopting a child with no shinobi background is unheard of. Adopting a child with no background at all? NEVER happened before!...and then he has us live with him."
Yugao grimaced before a small proud smile shows on her face at the small girl's care for her male housemate and for her maturity in understanding the politics of the situation. At least Yugao can be confident that Shinji would have a capable council as he grows up.
Thinking back to the meeting though Yugao understood why the meetings took place.
When Shinji, Asuka and Rei arrived at the village the ever so kind Sandaime Hokage wanted to take the kids in. They had no family or home to go to and with the state of the village at the time, still recovering from the attack of the Kyuubi, most families couldn't take in extra mouths to feed as the village focused all its efforts in rebuilding its military capability. The only families that had more than enough to go around at the time were the shinobi clans, in fact because of the heavy casualties suffered by the village the highly skilled shinobi of the clan received even more work than usual to pick up the slack which resulted in the clans building up wealth and power during those tumultuous times. Only clans like the Sarutobi had the extra resources available to take the three kids in at the time.
The elders of the Sarutobi clan were not happy with the idea at the time. The children had then been asked to demonstrate any skills they had, to which all three agreed and asked to be given academic tests for children several years older than them.
They had completed all of them, perfectly.
Even the elders were surprised. Yugao had been a part of the Hokage's security detail at the time and boy she would never forget the faces of all those old men and women.
After that the children were taken in, albeit at great reluctance. The Sarutobi clan being wealthier than ever and seeking to spread their influence into civilian affairs, they saw the…use of three genius children. Of course the children couldn't slack off so Shinji, the only one that had actually taken the Sarutobi name needed to report monthly to the council of clan elders. After the children started on the path of the shinobi the clan had been accepting, wishing to gain more power and influence aside they are still a shinobi clan first and foremost.
Military might trumped civilian influence any day of the week.
That said the monthly meetings still continued, much to her and the two girl's annoyance.
'How do I cheer her up?'
"Ah, Asuka-chan?"
"Hm?" the girl hummed as she cast the workers a curious glance.
"Excited to go to the Academy?" Yugao asked, honestly curious.
Asuka grimaced in disgust, "and be surrounded by gross kids? No!"
'She does realize that she, Rei and Shinji are kids too right?' Yugao raised a brow as the redhead continued.
"Besides what are we going to learn that we need to go there to learn it anyway? Science, math and writing? We already know all that, the tests we took when we first came here proved that. History? BAH! We can go just go to the village library and learn all that. And don't think I haven't gone over what they teach at the Academy Yugao-nee. Leaf Concentration Practice? Rope Escape, Clone and Transformation Jutsu? How to use storage scrolls? How to use throwing weapons? Basic taijutsu and kunai combat? We know all that! And more!"
Yugao couldn't really say anything about that, Asuka had been right after all. Hell, in a way Yugao felt sorry for the Jonin-sensei that will be in charge of the Children once they graduated from the Academy. She sincerely hoped that whoever they will be didn't wish for the satisfaction of teaching them more advanced techniques, she had already taught them Water Walking and Tree Climbing. By the time they would graduate the kids could probably take on a Chunin with the jutsus she knows they would have picked up by then.
'I hope you three don't get assigned to Kurenai, I doubt she'd forgive me,' she thought as she remembered how excited her friend is about becoming a Jonin-sensei.
"Asuka," Yugao called her, "please at least pretend to pay attention? You sensei will only be doing their jobs."
"Of course," Asuka huffed. "I'm not some child."
Yugao sighed, she just knew that she wouldn't be cheering up Asuka. When she was this annoyed by something it usually took a certain blue eyed boy to calm her down…well maybe Rei could but the girl usually just stayed quiet when the redhead made her wrath be known.
"Come on Asuka, and you too Rei, I'll drop you two off at the Academy."
Academy, Konoha
"Asuka," Rei called to her as they waited outside of the Academy.
"What is it Wondergirl?" Asuka asked as she tapped her foot in annoyance.
"Your facial expression is scaring away the other children," Rei said in her usual monotone although Asuka heard the easy to miss 'duh isn't it obvious?' in her tone.
Rei wasn't lying either, looking around Asuka could see the scowl on her face scaring the other kids away. It isn't hard to miss either. With Rei and her standing off to one side of the courtyard in front of the Academy, with Asuka sitting atop the fence while Rei just stood beside her the other kids gave them a plenty of space.
Then she heard the bell ring and the kids started to shuffle in, Rei and her didn't make a move to follow them though. They had all agreed to take their formal first step into shinobi life together. So what if they have to take the step a few days after the first day of school? Wasn't their fault, damn clan elders and their old fashioned ways. If they weren't her Baka's new family she would wish that time finally killed the old bastards, wasting his time and constantly nagging him about acting 'like a proper Sarutobi.'
'Had he ever done anything to disgrace their name? NO!,' she fumed before taking a deep breath, if Shinji saw her like this he would end up worrying way too much about what made her upset.
The sun rises in the morning, Rei is quiet and Shinji worries too much, just the way the universe works.
Looking at her future school mates she felt happy that at least there's no uniform at the Academy. If anything it would force her precious Baka into something more interesting than what he used to wear back in Tokyo-3. The kids were dressed in all sorts of different clothing, she also saw Naruto's familiar bright orange track jacket along with his bright blond hair in the crowd. 'What kind of shinobi wears such bright clothing?'
Asuka herself is dressed in a red V-neck short sleeved shirt with a sleeveless mesh undershirt underneath, only visible because of her shirt's V-neck cut, for some basic protection. She also wore a pair of black short and a pair of black sandals with the same fingerless gloves that Yugao gave her all those years ago worn on her hands. Her hair had been cut shorter now, she loved her hair yes but she only really grew it so long because she loved the attention and praise it brought her.
Now though the long hair may only have hurt her, giving the enemy something to grab onto so she had cut it shorter, not too short mind you, she knew Shinji liked running his hands through her hair after all. Also, she did like doing up her hair so had done it up in a simple pony tail with a black ribbon, a gift from Rei of all people.
Rei herself is dressed in a similar top but coloured white and with long sleeves that are long enough to hide her hands along with a sky blue skirt with shorts underneath. Rei's hair hadn't changed, still shorter than Asuka's so it didn't need any shortening.
"There," Asuka gestured to the last of the kids entering the school, "now I'm not scaring them."
Rei blinked, "you are still scowling."
"So?" Asuka's brow twitched.
"I thought the children were annoying you."
"They were. What's your point Rei?"
"Why are you still upset?" the former First Child tilted her head in confusion.
Asuka just sighed, she didn't like worrying Rei. "Just worrying for our Baka."
Rei blinked in confusion again, "I think Shinji-kun is quite intelligent."
"I…*sigh* it's just my pet name for him Rei."
"Pet name?"
"Nick name Rei," Asuka sighed again. 'Oh Wondergirl you'll be the death of me, I swear.'
Asuka couldn't help but look at her blue haired friend like one would look like a lovable but dumb as nails blue dog. It always astounded her how, even after the years Rei had stayed so comically ignorant of…well anything anyone would label 'common sense.' While Asuka would never admit it to anyone but herself she's absolutely sure that if Rei and Shinji attended university with her then Rei would probably get the highest marks out of the three of them if they ever took the same course.
Sadly book smarts did not translate to street smarts.
That very same Rei looked like she had just had a life changing epiphany, 'seriously, I've been calling him Baka for years by now.'
Asuka heard someone body flicker behind her and she smiled as she heard a familiar soft voice.
"Sorry I'm late."
She couldn't help but shake her head at that, 'typical Shinji, first word out of his mouth is a damn apology.'
She turned around and saw an embarrassed looking Shinji, something that would have angered her once upon a time but now she can't help but blush a bit at how adorable it made him look.
Yup she really wished they met each other as kids.
Hell, she even saw a faint bit of pink on chibi-Rei.
He was wearing a simple black shirt with '01' in white over his right breast along with a purple scarf wrapped around his neck. His simple but good looking outfit is finished off with a pair of grey shinobi pants with a double kunai holster strapped to his left leg, the standard blue sandals and his trusty ninjato slung over his shoulder.
"Well," Rei started in her usual monotone, "shall we proceed?"
Naruto Uzumaki sat in class bored as all hell.
The Academy had been a lot more dull than he had imagined it to be.
He thought it would have all kinds of cool stuff! But a lot of it had been stuff they would teach to civilians.
Where was all the cool shinobi stuff?
Speaking of cool shinobi he wondered where they were? The people who saved him a few years ago.
Asuka-san, Shinji-san and Rei-chan.
They had become friends over the years and they would hang out and eat ramen together from time to time. It wasn't often enough in Naruto's opinion, they were some of the few people who held absolutely no animosity for him and instead made it a point to try and help him out whenever they could. While they couldn't help him out all the time or spend a lot of time with him, they did live on the other side of the village and seemed to be busy people after all, it was the thought that counted for him.
'When I become Hokage I'll let them know my gratitude!' he nodded to himself in satisfaction, maybe he'll get some ramen recipes at Ichiraku Ramen named after them?
He expected them to be here at the Academy and he did look forward to seeing them on a daily basis.
So he just plunked his head on his desk and just listened to his sensei.
"Settle down class," his sensei walked into the room and the other students started to drift back to their seats. Naruto had thought about playing a few pranks on his classmates or teachers beforehand but thought against it in the end. While lenient when she's not around the chance of Asuka-san being in his class is still too high. If she ever found out he did something so immature he was pretty sure she'd beat the daylights out of him.
Friends or not she scared the crap out of him!
His sensei, a chunin dressed in the normal uniform of green Konoha flak jacket, blue shinobi pants, long sleeved blue shirt and blue sandals clapped his hands as the kids sat down. He had tan skin, brown hair tied into a spiky ponytail, black hair and a long horizontal scar across his nose and black eyes and his name is Iruka.
"We have three new students joining us today."
At that he heard most of the class murmur amongst themselves and Naruto's head perked up at that, he had always had good instincts and if his are right, and they usually are…a smile spread across his face.
"Sensei!" a girl with pink hair raised her hand, Sakura-chan, the girl of his dreams.
"Yes Haruno-kun?"
"Why are they only coming now?"
"Ah, well due to personal reasons they have not been able to attend the Academy until today. Anymore questions?"
Silence and a few headshakes was all he got and so his sensei went to the door and three individuals walked into the class.
Asuka-san marched into class first, full of confidence, her red hair tied into a pony tail flowing behind her.
Rei-chan calmly followed her, no emotions that Naruto could read on her face.
Last but far from the least came Shinji, looking uncomfortable at all the attention his group attracted. Naruto still found it shocking that someone that looked like a complete wuss, not that Naruto would ever say that out loud since Asuka-san would splatter him over half of Konoha, could be so damn cold in a fight.
The class exploded into excitement and frankly Naruto didn't blame them, even if the blond Ino behind him shrieking about Shinji really hurt his poor ears. 'Well at least Sakura-chan isn't shrieking!'
Silencing the class his sensei motioned for the three to introduce themselves.
First came Asuka-san who stepped forward, a superior smirk on her face with one hand on her hip while the other threw her ponytail over her shoulder.
"Asuka Langley Soryu! Charmed huh?" and a lot of the boys cheered in response while some of the girls were obviously pissed. Naruto just shook his head though. He felt sorry for the boys, really. Oh he could understand why they were so happy. Asuka is confident, fiery and cute as all hell, in a few years Naruto knew she would be a knock out. He had a crush on her too once upon a time, just like most of the male class now. When she found out though she had let him down in her own way.
Bluntly
Still he appreciated her coming out straight, imagine if he spent the next several years trying to win over someone already totally one hundred percent in love with someone else?
That would've sucked.
Naruto made a silent prayer. He could already see some of the more hot headed classmates eying her. Naruto couldn't help but sigh and hoped that Asuka-san didn't kill anyone, the girl's temper could match a badly made explosive tag. Add that in with how timid Shinji is and he knew some of the jerks in his class would try to 'out man' him to get Asuka's attention and Naruto knew just how protective his three friends were about each other.
EXTREMELY protective.
Then Rei-chan stepped forward as Asuka-san stepped back and she introduce herself in her usual soft monotone.
"Rei Ayanami…" she said and Naruto just sweat dropped at her minimalist attitude before he saw Shinji whisper something in her ear, "…nice to meet you all."
'Wow, that didn't sound forced at all,' he just shook his head. The girl was nice as can be but weird.
Still he could see the boys get excited again but he knew the quiet blue haired red eyed girl too is already spoken for…even if she didn't speak much at all.
Next came Shinji who stepped forward as Rei stepped back.
"H-hello," Shinji softly stuttered, "my n-name is Shinji Ikari Sarutobi, p-please take care of me."
Que squealing girls.
Normally Naruto didn't like people like Shinji, good looking pretty boys that tended to get the attention of girls with no effort.
Hell, even to someone as dense as Naruto it was obvious the shy Shinji had already earned the love of both Asuka and Rei.
And those two were totally okay sharing him with each other!
It was like a harem manga...but real.
If Naruto didn't know him then he may have thought that the shy puppy dog act was fake but he knew better. Shinji really didn't like attention, which now that he thought about it is a good thing for a shinobi.
He also didn't care for the attention of girls except two.
Rei and Asuka, who are currently glaring at the class with stares so cold and scary that it made Naruto shiver even if it wasn't aimed at him. He felt justified in fearing his friends. He had earned Asuka's anger once a few years ago when he made fun of Shinji over something stupid, something touchy, something he didn't even remember anymore…yeah he couldn't walk straight for weeks after that and he healed a lot faster than most people!
Still he can't help but be glad that the three of them had been put in the same class as him.
Rei sat outside with the rest of her class. Iruka-sensei had declared it time for sparring practice and had led the class outside for the last class of the day. She couldn't help but frown as she sat down on Shinji's left. She just didn't like fighting in such close proximity to her opponent.
So now they were all sitting at the edge of the practice field with Iruka-sensei having their class roster in hand as he randomly called students to spar and he would keep doing so until either all the students have fought or the bell would ring. The rules for the spar are simple, close combat only, blunt training weapons are allowed, no ninjutsu, spar ends at knockout, surrender or at sensei's orders.
Herself, Shinji, who sat in between herself and Asuka are seated in the back row of their class. She had not been surprised to see that she didn't see anybody she recognized in class except for Uzumaki-kun, the boy they had saved from a mob and the boy that the Sandaime Hokage told them to try and befriend.
It was a a logical request to Rei. Loneliness, abuse and isolation was just asking for mental instability and with the power the young blond contained it made perfect sense for the Hokage to try and ensure the boy did not go insane and rampage.
Rei herself was glad for the request, she too knew what it is to be lonely, no child deserves to go through life alone in her opinion.
She could see the blond and loud shinobi, a strange trait for a shinobi-to-be in her opinion, almost bouncing in anticipation.
'Ah, he is like Soryu…' her thought trailed off before she remembered that Shinji-kun told her that people who are close refer to each other by their first name, '…Asuka. Loud and somewhat obnoxious but not entirely unlikable. Perhaps this is a trait of people with fiery hair pigmentation? This requires further observation.'
So she turned her attention to her fellow former Evangelion pilot. She too seemed to be excited. Not that Rei could read her expression well…or at all, she really found her social ineptitude irritating, but she could feel it through the metaphysical bond she shared with Shinji-kun and Asuka. 'I hope this bond does not fade with time. If it does so it will be…inconvenient for myself.'
Her bond let her understand the two people who mattered to her the most and right now she could sense that the former pilot of Unit-02 was excited and…'aroused?'
That made her blink as she wondered what her housemate found arousing about sparring, not she understood the intricacies of sex herself. She understood why Asuka would be excited, generally speaking Asuka liked to fight so that was no surprise, especially with the way some of the girls had been eyeing their Shinji…well Rei finally understood what jealousy felt like.
So she at least learned something new today.
Needless to say Rei had taken out her newly understood frustration on the girl that her sensei assigned as her opponent. She may not be nearly anywhere as good in taijutsu as Asuka or Shinji but she specialized in medical ninjutsu for a reason; she excelled in chakra control, the very same chakra control that Asuka used to increase her strength.
Rei may not be that skilled but she could hit hard, harder than even Asuka.
Then Rei reached a hypothesis as she remembered a time when she was focusing on her bond with Asuka as said girl was training with Shinji in bladed weapon combat, Shinji's specialty. They were training with blunt weapons and Rei, seeking to increase her understanding of human emotions, decided to concentrate on their bond. While their bond did let them feel each other's emotions it normally had to be a strong emotion to be felt unless one were to actively try to feel for it.
She had expected to feel frustration as Shinji drove Asuka back, Asuka's kunai failing to get past Shinji's ninjato. Yes Asuka had become less volatile compared to their old world but she is still Asuka and in the end of the day and after three hours Rei had expected an outburst of anger.
It did come but Rei also felt that the former Second Child felt aroused by it which confused her greatly. When confronted privately Asuka had, red faced, replied that she 'found Shinji especially attractive when he's fighting, confident, decisive and strong.'
"Asuka Langley Soryu! And Hanshiro Isobe! You two are next!" their sensei called, snapping Rei out of her own thoughts.
As she watched Asuka stand up and begin to walk she realized that Asuka and herself really are opposites.
Asuka is loud and she isn't.
Asuka knew what she felt for Shinji-kun, or Rei assumed she did, while she still found herself overwhelmed by the intense emotions.
Lastly, while they both loved Shinji as a whole Asuka especially liked when Shinji acted strong and in charge, like he is in a fight or in his shinobi persona while Rei preferred the quiet moments of gentle kindness he showed.
Like when she smiled a real smile for the first time back in the battle against the Fourth Angel, not the fake smiles she used to show the Commander of NERV. No, those were her just trying to imitate the man she had now grown to despise, the smile she showed Shinji was real and even now though the memory of their first battle together always brought the painful burning sensations she didn't care, she treasured it all the same.
Rei snapped out of her thoughts when she felt Shinji's warm hand squeeze her own.
"You ok Rei? Something wrong? You're spacing out."
Rei blinked, Shinji catching her off guard, "N-no, Shinji-kun. I was just thinking about Asuka's behavior."
"Why?"
"Some of her previous behavior confused me."
Shinji smiled at her and she felt her cheeks warm a little before he nodded and turned his attention back towards the match, "Well I can't help you with that, I barely understand Asuka myself sometimes."
Rei nodded and turned her attention to the match. She knew who would win already but she still hoped to learn by watching Asuka, although she doubted that Asuka would do anything too fancy. So she'll probably learn nothing by watching. 'I doubt the other children will be able to see her movements either. This spar will probably prove useless...unfortunate.'
The two of them arrived at the middle of the field. Rei turned her attention to Hanshiro Isobe. He is a tall boy for his age with a light tan. He wore a olive drab green shirt over a black long sleeve shirt, black cargo shorts and a black balaclava with a skull motif that covered the bottom of his face. Rei wracked her memory of what she knew about him and drew a blank. Not surprising, while she knew Naruto Uzumaki and a few other students but what she knew was limited to second hand information. Shinji had met some of the clan born children before during meetings with the clans and he had told Asuka and her about them.
Rei saw Shinji shaking his head from the corner of her vision and turned to face him, "Shinji-kun?"
"Oh, yes Rei?"
She tilted her head, indicating her curiosity, "why did you shake her your head?"
"Oh," Shinji blinked before motioning to their male classmate, "he's trying way too hard to try to appear like an intimidating shinobi. I mean, we're not even genin right? What shinobi would ever be scared of us?"
Hearing that Uzumaki-kun turned to face them with a deadpan look, "that's easy to say for you, you're pretty scary, Shinji-san."
Shinji blinked in surprise, "I am?"
It was at this point that classmate Yamanaka, who sat beside Rei, chimed in.
"What are you talking about Naruto? Shinji-kun isn't scary he's so…" she trailed off in a blush.
Naruto just shook his head, "you've never seen him fight Ino-chan."
Shinji just blushed a bit, "l-lets pay attention to the spar ok? You two might learn something."
They all nodded and concentrated on the match.
"Hmph," Asuka threw her ponytail over her shoulder, "let's get this over-"
"Don't worry Asuka-chan," Isobe interrupted and Rei saw Naruto flinch, "I'll show you what a real man is like."
"And what does that mean?" Asuka said calmly although Rei could feel the anger coming from her friend.
"I'll show you how great I am!" he shouted as he pointed his thumb up at himself before pointing at Shinji-kun with an expression that if Rei had to guess would be labeled 'smug.' "He's nothing compared to me, look at him. What a useless wimp!"
Rei's eyes widened in shock as she felt an explosion of anger coming from Asuka, so much so that her head started to spin, simply unprepared for the explosion of raw emotion. The sheer intensity almost causing her to visibly recoil, her instincts told her to run away!
Rei knew Asuka is very protective over Shinji, perhaps even more so than herself. She also knew that she regretted calling Shinji all the things she did call him and disliked it when Shinji is ever called anything similar by other people but…'I seem to have been wrong in my initial estimation of how much Asuka hated her previous actions.'
Uzumaki-kun in front of Shinji just shook his head before turning around to face them, "he's so dead."
"Worry not Uzumaki-kun," she tried to reassure him and seemed to be failing judging from the expression on the blonde's face. "If Asuka were to…accidentally kill classmate Isobe it will prove inconvenient for Shinji-kun and myself. She will control herself to avoid such an outcome."
Uzumaki just blinked, "wow, I think that's the most I've ever heard you say Rei-chan…wait, isn't it bad if she kills him…well because he's dead?"
"Naruto," Shinji said, "that's just Rei's way of trying to calm you down. Don't worry, Asuka won't kill him for something so petty." Then he muttered but all of them heard, "…I hope."
Before anyone could say anything Asuka's voice snapped their attention back to the match.
"That's it," Asuka growled with a glare that Isobe, in Rei's opinion, unwisely ignored. "NOBODY and I mean nobody insults Baka-Shinji but me."
"Settle down you two," their sensei ordered. "Bow," and they did so, "begin!"
Isobe drew two practice kunai, one in each hand, in a reverse grip and took a stance that seemed weak even to Rei. He seemed to be either trying to appear as big and as intimidating as possible, like Shinji had suggested, or someone just trying to imitate what he had seen in a movie…'perhaps both.'
Asuka grinned, her stance was in her normal relaxed stance, standing straight with her arms at her side, inviting the enemy to attack.
"Come on stooge, show me how much of a man you are."
Isobe charged and Asuka lunged to close the distance. Probably thinking he had the advantage against an unarmed opponent, a foolish notion common to civilians who usually fail to realize a shinobi's whole body is a weapon, swung both kunai knives in a horizontal scissor like motion. It came to no surprise to Rei when Asuka easily ducked under the slow (for Rei at least) swing and with a sweep of her leg Isobe fell and with his forward momentum, flew over the crouched Asuka and skidded face first into the grass.
Rei could still feel the anger in Asuka, although now lessened as she calmly walked up to her downed opponent. She stopped and placed her hands on her hips, with her back turned to the class, and spat on her opponent.
"Wow she must be really mad," Shinji murmured beside her, "usually she tries so hard to keep up appearances."
"Get up stooge. I haven't seen how great of a man you are yet. All I see right now is a try-hard wannabe monkey."
Rei could see some of her classmates looking at their sensei with a look that she couldn't understand. Shinji spoke up, probably sensing her confusion but kept his attention on Asuka.
"Their surprised Rei, they probably expected sensei to say something about Asuka's…behavior."
"But he hasn't," Rei said.
"No he hasn't," Shinji agreed with a nod. "This is a close range spar meant to let us practice taijutsu and weapon skills but remember. The only rules on what you can't use are throwing and projectile weapons and no ninjutsu and that's just to simulate the possibility that we had ran too low on chakra. This isn't a martial arts spar, this is a spar between future shinobi, riling up the opponent so they make mistakes is a perfectly legitimate tactic."
Rei nodded and turned back to the match. Isobe had started to get up and Asuka took a few steps back.
"Oh woman up dweeb," Asuka shook her head with a smile, "come on, our class doesn't have all day! I still want to see Baka-Shinji in action."
Isobe threw his kunai, breaking the rules but Asuka just side stepped and lunged at him. Isobe saw this and tried to land a round house kick but even to Rei he might as well tried to have gently tapped Asuka with his foot and Asuka easily caught the limb with no effort. Her opponent just stared at her in shock as Asuka, without even a grunt of effort threw him into the air, the real impressive thing to Rei though is that Asuka hadn't reinforced herself with chakra yet and had just used her superior physical strength, something Rei lacked in comparison. Isobe screamed as he went up and as he went down.
Asuka was not done with him yet and just as he was about to hit the ground Asuka landed a spinning back kick that landed with a loud 'smack!' That sent the male student straight through the field's wooden fence in a shower of saw dust and splinters.
Silence fell on the crowd and Rei wasn't surprised, people were surprised when she herself knocked out her opponent with one punch and only a few light injuries, which she easily healed herself. Asuka's victory had been that much more impressive, flawless and with a bit of flair that Rei knew she couldn't quite match, not that it mattered to her though.
"G-good job Soryu-kun," sensei stuttered in response while another sensei who had been acting as a medic rushed over to the now unconscious Isobe's body.
'I estimate a three week recovery period based on the level of medical treatment the average civilian family can afford,' Rei also made a mental note to go and see how correct she was, it would be a good chance to see how good her skills in diagnosing injuries by eye had gotten. While the boy upset her by badmouthing Shinji-kun he would prove useful at least, how fortunate.
"Woah," Rei heard classmate Yamanaka breath out while Uzumaki-kun just shook his head.
"Shinji Ikari! And…let's see who hasn't fought yet…Shino Aburame! You two are next!" their sensei called out as Asuka sat down.
Rei immediately stopped paying attention to her bond with Asuka and tried to consciously ignore it. If Asuka felt aroused at the mere thought of Shinji fighting…she isn't so sure if she could handle what her friend would feel as Shnji actually fought and she knew Shinji would do something impressive. While she wasn't at the meeting he was at with the rest of the Sarutobi clan, and he hadn't had time to brief Asuka and herself yet either, she could guess what the elders might have told him to do.
Such as do something impressive when a chance to spar against another opponent, especially a member of another clan such as the Aburame. If she learned anything from her old life and her life under the Commander of NERV it was that power meant everything and even shows of power meant a lot.
What better show than to display the superiority of one's clan than to show how capable it's younger generation is?
If Shinji did something really impressive then Rei doubted she could handle what Asuka would feel. She had just become comfortable holding hands with him and blushed furiously at the thought of just sleeping in the same bed.
An…amusing? Yes amusing, Rei decided, thought entered Rei's mind as Shinji walked to the weapon table to pick up a practice ninjato. 'Asuka always accuses Shinji of being a pervert but I sense more amorous thoughts coming from her than from Shinji-kun.'
"Well," Uzumaki-kun started as he turned around, "now you'll see Shinji-san in action, Ino-chan."
"Hey Naruto-kun, I've been curious," classmate Yamanaka started, "why do you call Shinji-kun 'Shinji-san' but you just call the other boys by just their name? Is he older than us?"
"Wha? Oh no. Just that I look up to him, he can kick butt and he's a good guy. Makes really good ramen too!"
"You two know each other for a while?"
Naruto just shrugged with a sheepish smile, "he, Rei-chan and Asuka-san helped me out a few years ago. We hang out from time to time. You two know each other for a while?"
"I met him a few years ago at a meeting between the clans, Hokage-sama brought him along. Never seen him fight before though."
"Shh," Asuka told them to be quiet, "now you'll see what Re's and my Baka can do. Watch carefully Ino, because Shinji is fast."
The female blonde nodded and paid with close attention as did Uzumaki-kun, Asuka and Rei herself.
Shinji walked up to the middle of the field where classmate Aburame stood, quietly waiting. Aburame was a boy of average height who wore a grey long sleeved shirt with large brown buttons and a high collar that covered the entire bottom half of his face. Over it he wore a tannish grey long coat with a hood that covered his short brown hair, the same shade as Shinji, grey pants, the standard blue sandals and a pair of black shades. He stood calmly with his hands in his pockets. Rei looked on in interest, to her knowledge the Aburame are a clan who use insects, unusual and peculiar, she wondered how he would fare in a fight at close range with Shinji. The Aburame clan excelled in medium range combat while Shinji still needed to improve himself at that range, looking to use fuinjutsu and ninjutsu for that style of combat.
Then Rei realized that Shinji will actually be somewhat serious and frowned a bit, another spar she wouldn't learn anything from.
Shinji stood across from the young Aburame with a sheepish smile on his face.
"Hello again, Shino-san. How long has it been since the last clans meeting? 2 months?"
Re was surprised with how low for his age Shinji's opponent sounded.
"Yes it has, Shinji-san."
"I wish out first meeting since then didn't have us fighting but…well we do belong to shinobi clans after all," Shinji finished off quietly as his smile slipped off his face, donning the cold mask he wore when acting as a shinobi.
The young Aburame just nodded, apparently a quiet person like Rei herself while Shinji drew the practice ninjato, made a test swing, to test the balance and weight Rei guessed. The practice ninjato was much like the real ninjato that Yugao had gifted him years ago, the sword he still used as Shinji's body is still too small for using a full size katana.
That and Shinji wanted to forge his own sword.
Rei did notice though the difference even from where she sat. The practice weapon was obviously not made to the same high quality as the real weapon. It lacked a hamon for one, the visible pattern between the harder more brittle steel of the edge and the softer but more flexible steel of the sword's spine. The steel lacked the shine of Shinji's blade and the black sheath was dull and had no luster.
Still Shinji seemed to have been satisfied as he nodded before sheathing his practice weapon. He held the weapon by the scabbard in his left hand and stood in a relaxed stance, just like Asuka. Rei wasn't surprised by that, Asuka's taijutsu style and Shinji-kun's kenjutsu style were similar in many regards after all, they basically developed it side by side.
Still Rei knew from the way Shinji's arms were tense that he wasn't going to be as passive as Asuka was initially, waiting for the enemy to attack before doing so herself so she could use his momentum against him.
The young Aburame seemed to sense that his opponent was serious and took out a kunai and held it in his left hand in front of him in a guarding position.
"Ready?" sensei looked at both his students and they both made a shallow bow, "begin!"
Shinji exploded into action so fast that even Rei struggled to see him.
One step, he moved closer, his hand reaching for the sword's handle.
Second step, his hands gripped his sword, and he had closed half the distance between them.
Third step, he drew his sword in an iai strike, drawing the sword and cutting in one smooth lightning fast motion.
Fourth step and he was behind his opponent and he spun to face his back as the sword left the sheath.
There was no fifth step, it was already over.
In the span of a few heart beats, before his opponent could react Shinji had closed in, went past his guard, gotten behind him and now had the dull edge of the practice sword touching the back of his neck.
Silence once again filled the field as Rei blushed lightly from whatever it was that she was feeling coming from Asuka, still trying her hardest to ignore it.
Shinji broke the silence, his quiet, soft but cold voice carried like thunder in the silence, "I think I win, Shino-san."
His opponent just shakily nodded, sweat beading down his face.
'The clan elders should be pleased,' Rei thought to herself, a little bitter that once again Shinji had to act according to the whims of old men.
"W-well done, Sarutobi-kun," their sensei remarked as Shinji bowed to both their sensei and his opponent, and quickly apologized to the Aburame even though he didn't really need to right before the school bell rang. "OK! That's it for today. See you all tomorrow, class dismissed!"
Rei stood up to join Shinji and Asuka, who had already leaped to his side, a little amused at Uzumaki-kun grumbling about him not having a chance to show off today.
Shinji's Home, Sarutobi Clan Compound, Konoha
"Good night Rei," Shinji said softly as he held her hand. Rei herself is already lying in bed, all but her head and the one hand covered by the dark blue blanket.
"Good night Shinji-kun," she said in her usual soft tone before giving his hand a gentle squeeze which he returned.
He made sure not to do anything else though. Rei and Asuka really were opposites he thought, calm and passionate, blue and red. In the case of their relationship he knew he had to give Rei her space. Even once she moved past hand holding he doubted they would be a 'touchy-feely' couple. Rei had always been a very private person and he doubted that she would change that much even once she had grown out of her shell. Asuka though wanted the least amount of space between them as possible, much to his embarrassment.
After turning off the light in her room he closed the door and went off to the master bedroom.
Where he slept with the Asuka Langley Soryu, pilot of Unit-02, fiery redhead and the exotic idol of Tokyo-3 Middle School and if they had stayed in their world just a bit longer then he knew she would be the idol of Tokyo-3 High School. They were so close to graduating after all.
Considering he's also in a relationship with the 'Ice Queen' Rei Ayanami he was pretty damn sure the male population of either school would beat him black and blue when word got out. Which wouldn't be long since he just knew that Asuka would state their relationship on day one, the redhead always reminded him of a fierce animal and like all predators would probably mark what is 'hers.'
Then of course once the girls found out what the boys had done to him they'd probably beat them all half dead, with their Eva training he knew they could do it too.
Shinji shook his head, God it had been a long day. Look at how tired he is. Thinking all kinds of weird crap.
He reached his and Asuka's room and opened the door and blinked in surprise at the sight of Asuka sleeping, 'guess she's tired too?'
She was lying in their bed, her untied fiery red hair pooled around her head. He couldn't see what she was wearing as she was mostly covered by the blanket. The room itself was already dark, it seems that Asuka had already turned off the light. Still, the room had a nice glow to it thanks to the soft moonlight coming from the window.
He made his way over to her as quiet as can be, and considering he's training to be a shinobi that meant he moved very quietly. When he reached their bed he gently lifted the blanket, slid beside her and covered himself too, taking a moment to enjoy the comforting softness. Oh yes, being adopted by a powerful clan had it's benefits even if the elders tended to grate his nerves.
He glanced over at Asuka's back as he laid on his, debating whether to hold her or not. Unlike Rei he knew Asuka wouldn't feel uncomfortable but the act of taking advantage of his redhead's unaware state (even though he wouldn't really be doing anything indecent), his traditional Japanese sensibility and his own shyness brought him to the decision that he wouldn't do anything. So he closed his eyes and started to drift off to sleep.
He let out a very masculine 'eep' when he felt something slide on top and straddle him. He opened his eyes and saw that Asuka had climbed on top of him, sitting on his waist with he legs on either side of his waist. She supported herself with her arms which were on either side of his head as she looked down on him. Well it seemed that she either faked being asleep or just woke up but he isn't quite sure, what he is sure of is that she felt annoyed right now. It wouldn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out, what with their bond and the absolutely ticked off look she had on her face.
So of course he did the first thing that came to his mind.
He apologized.
"Sorry!" he squeaked and she pinched his cheek, quite forcefully if he may add, and sighed with a half-hearted glare.
"STOP," she half-whispered half shouted, "apologizing all the time Baka. Seriously though would it kill you to hold me?"
"N-no?"
Her eye twitched, "I swear, how the hell did I fall for such a Baka?"
With a sigh she unceremoniously flopped on top of his chest, making him release a grunt as air came out of his lunges to which she gave a small laugh, enjoying his light suffering. Soon enough she slid off him and hugged his arm and nuzzled herself against his neck.
Damn, how did he get so lucky? Kensuke would die if he ever told the military otaku about nights like these.
"Hey Baka," she called but it came more like a mumble as she relaxed against him while he relaxed into the bed, finally letting his stress seep out. "You look like shit by the way."
"..."
She sighed, "are you tired because of all the attention at school or because of the meeting with the elders?"
"Both," he mumbled. He had never felt so much attention on him as he did today at the Academy and the meeting with the elders...the less that can be said about them the better.
"Anything from the meeting I should know?...you can just tell us tomorrow if you don't want to talk about it Shinji."
He shook his head tiredly. "Nothing outside the normal. Just instructing me to behave like a 'proper' Sarutobi and not to disgrace the clan. To make a show of any opponents in any spars, how unhappy they are that two non-clan members are living in the compound, how it goes outside of tradition, blah blah blah..."
Asuka blinked a few times when Shinji trailed off, as quiet as he could be he at least finished his sentences, finishing sentences short at odd times is Rei's thing.
She raised her head from its spot and saw him sleeping, the day must have really stressed him out. She really pitied him for being such an introvert sometimes, being so tired out by the stimulus from social interactions...and the clan elders didn't help any. When she's old enough to be appointed as one of his advisors she would make sure to attend those meetings too, gang up on her Baka will they?
She'll show them their mistake eventually.
Still now it's time for sleep, they have school tomorrow after all.
NEXT- V1 CHAPTER 2: GRADUATION DAY
A/N
For those wondering the V1 indicates that this is volume one of this story. Naruto being so long means that I have to break up this story or else I'll get bored if I write it continuously.
Yes it's not dead! Sorry that this took so long. This was supposed to be released a few weeks ago actually but uni started and that took up some time.
Destiny: The Taken King releasing did NOT in ANY way factor into this.
Nope.
Honest.
Fun as hell though.
So dumb they didn't add Gjalli and Ice Breaker to Year 2, just when I finally get a Gjalli of my own.
Then my computer broke (again) and I lost the entire last part of this chapter (the part of SHinji and Asuka in bed) as well as 2k words of SNPR's next chapter so I just didn't feel like writing for a bit due to frustration.
For this chapter I just wanted to do some everyday things and talk about the situation Shinji, Asuka and Rei find themselves in plus hinting at some of Shinji's future skills. And in the end I wanted a fight that's purpose isn't to show fighting ability but show off some of Asuka being...Asuka, in a fight while showing that Shinji while in a good position isn't as free as he may like.
If anyone is concerned about all the fights being melee and weapon only don't worry, we'll see some actual ninjutsu from Shinji, Asuka and Rei next chapter. They'll me using a lot of original ninjutsu, more so as they grow older and face better enemies.
As for those worried about the Children being overpowered please remember they are facing off against children while they do have combat experience as Eva pilots and are taking their shinobi training VERY seriously with minds much more mature than that of their peers.
Next time we have the start of Naruto proper! How will Shinji, Rei and Asuka fair? Well no real surprise in that they WILL graduate with no trouble, but who will be their Jonin-sensei? I've already chosen, and its a super secret ninja...secret.
For my next update expect SNPR and Wagtails followed by Toy Soldier. No time table though b/c of school, Persona 4:Dancing All Night (which I just got today!), Destiny and in the future Star Wars: Battlefront and Fallout 4. Plus I'm also looking for a new job to get a new laptop, as this one is one its last legs.
See you all next time!