From: "Philip Cho" Send all C&C (PLEASE SEND) to the email address below, or just post it, and check out the site if you want more stories. **************************************** platypus3333 platypus3333@yahoo.com http://members.tripod.com/Platypus3333 This is kind of bad, but I decided to pose it anyway. **************************************** The Other Aftermath Ikari Shinji and Sohryu Asuka Langley sat on a beach. Shinji turned. "Guess we're the only ones left." "Yep. And don't try to strangle me again." "Okay." They paused, staring into the vast ocean. "What do you wanna do?" "I dunno. What do YOU wanna do?" "I dunno." They stared at the ocean again. "I miss them." Asuka snorted. "Hmmph. You mean you miss Rei." "I didn't say that." "You implied it." "No I didn't." "Did too." "Did not!" "Did too!" "Forget it. I don't want to argue with you." "Hmmph. You like her more than you do me." She rolled over, refusing to face Shinji. "No I don't." "Do too." "Do not." "Do too!" "Do not! And don't start that again!" "Hmmph." They lay there for a minute. Finally, Asuka spoke up again. "I'm hungry." "Me too. What do you think there is to eat?" "I dunno. What do you think?" "I dunno. Let's go check." Shinji got up and offered a hand to Asuka. She refused it. "I can get up by myself." Shinji shrugged and pointed north. "Let's go this way." "Nah. Anybody with a brain can see that this way is better." Asuka pointed south. "Argh." "Yup." "Fine. We'll settle this the usual way." "Fine." "Jan! Ken! Pon!" Shinji's rock beat Asuka's scissors. "Verdammt!" Shinji grinned, and they started walking. Along the way, Asuka kept muttering. "Stupid baka hentai schwachsinniger 3rd Child." "Heh heh heh." "What are you snickering about?!" "Nothing." "No, really, what is it?!" "You're kind of cute when you're angry." Asuka stood still as Shinji kept walking. "Really?" "Yep." 'Maybe this will shut her up.' "Shinji?" Asuka jogged up and started pacing him. "Hmm?" "We DO have to restart the human race, you know." Shinji blushed. "Guh." "What?" "We.we're 14." "I DIDN'T SAY NOW, YOU STUPID PERVERT!" "Oh. Oops. Never mind." "Baka." Asuka was grinning inwardly at her victory. 'Shinji, 1, Asuka, 1.' **************************************** They found the remains of NERV headquarters. Shinji brightened. Asuka glared. "We walked for 2 hours to get HERE? This place is a DUMP!" "Maybe the vending machines still work." "VENDING MACHINES?!" "Yeah, the junk food should fill us temporarily." "DO YOU EVEN HAVE MONEY?!" 'Oops.' "Of course I do! How stupid do you think I am?!" 'Maybe I can get some off a dead UN guy. Or at least his uniform.Jeez, I'm getting sick of this abuse.' They walked around. 'Damn, where were those access tunnels again? I don't really remember.' "Hey, Shinji, over here!" Asuka had found a portal. It was blocked up with Unit 013's head. Shinji groaned. He couldn't take this anymore. 'She found an opening blocked up with the remains of a huge engine of destruction. That's REALLY helpful.' "Oh, great, Asuka, this is JUST what we need. MAYBE if we get you PISSED enough, you can blow it apart with one of your patented Asuka Death Glares!!!!" Asuka stared at him. Her eyes began tearing. "FINE!" She turned away and stomped off. Shinji watched her retreating back, then sat down on a piece of cement. 'Why did I say that?' **************************************** Asuka stomped angrily through the abandoned street, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. 'How dare he talk to me like that?! After I actually found an opening.' She looked up. It was the building of the apartment they had shared with Misato. She stared for a while, then opened the door and began slowly ascending the stairs. **************************************** Shinji sat, thinking. 'She usually doesn't get like this. She usually smacks me. what's wrong with her?' Shinji felt like a piece of crap. 'I don' t know.' Shinji came to a decision and got up. He walked off in the direction Asuka had gone. **************************************** Asuka lay in her bed. It, remarkably, was still the same, as was her room. Her eyes widened as something tapped her foot. "Shinji?" She turned over. "PEN-PEN??!?!?!?!" **************************************** They key word in the Human Instrumentality Project was HUMAN. Penguins survived admirably. **************************************** Asuka was sitting on the couch, holding Pen-Pen tightly in the crook of her left arm. She was flipping through the TV channels. Lacking anybody to act, write, direct, or even broadcast, there was just static. The electricity would probably run out soon, too. She looked down when Pen-Pen began to squawk. She put him down and he went to get a beer. She sighed and leaned back, staring at the ceiling. The enormity of the situation had just begun to dawn on her. 'There is absolutely nothing left. no humans. except me and Shinji.' She felt her eyes starting to tear up again. 'Why does he hate me?' **************************************** Shinji was strolling down the street when he saw his old apartment. He was holding a bag of food. He had not needed to pay because there was no one to give the money to. Life was good. He sighed and went up. **************************************** Asuka was wiping her eyes with her fingers when she heard the door open. Shinji walked in with a bag of food, and looked at her. "Hi." She growled. "What do you want?" Shinji walked over and sat down next to her. She shrunk away from him. He sighed. "Asuka, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to explode like that, but I was just so stressed.I mean, we're the only ones left." "Shut up! You HATE me!" She began crying again. "Asuka, I don't hate you. How could I?" "It's just the.the way you look at me sometimes. like you're thinking 'What does she want now?' or 'God, I hope she doesn't act bitchy again.'" "Well, I do admit that sometimes I think that, but for the most part, I don 't. I spend most of my time thinking about you in general, and how deep-down inside of you there's a different Asuka. I love that one." "L.love?" Shinji leaned back and stared at the ceiling. "I might be too young to know what love really is, but if I had to guess, it's what I feel. I mean, ever since I met you, I kept thinking how cute and bitchy you were, but then, later, you kept showing this other side of you." "What.what about Rei?" Shinji looked at her. She had stopped sobbing. "Rei is.was.special to me too. But there was no way I could ever love her like I do you. She was like a.sister to me, I guess." He grinned. "She's half my mother, besides." "Really?" "Yes." They stared at each other, for a long moment. Then Asuka took the initiative and leaned in closer. Shinji started squirming, then stopped and leaned in too. Their lips grew nearer and nearer, until Shinji took her gently by the shoulders. "Squawk!!!!!" Pen-Pen waddled in holding a beer. Shinji and Asuka jumped and separated, blushing. They sat there in silence, each not looking at the other. Then Shinji focused on Pen-Pen. "He survived?!" Asuka giggled at the look of total shock on his face. "Yeah, I guess that only humans became LCL." Shinji patted Pen-Pen on the head. The penguin didn't like this and went over to Asuka instead. She picked him up and cuddled him. Shinji sighed. "I don't think he likes me." "Nope." Asuka grinned. 'She really is pretty.' Shinji just kept staring at her. "What now?" "Nothing." Asuka had an idea, and got up. Against Pen-Pen's protests, she locked him in the bathroom, propping up a chair. Then she came back and grinned. "When do you want to jumpstart the human race?" Shinji put his arm around her. "I.I have no idea." "Shinji?" "What?" "I'm not going to hold your nose this time." "MMPH!" **************************************** Pen-Pen tried the lock, then went to take a bath.