Here's part seven... it's been suggested that these could use some
titles. Any suggestions along these lines are appreciated... who am I
kidding? Any suggestions at ALL are welcome. As usual, send them to
akent@pdq.net or just look up the rest of the fic at
http://members.tripod.com/~AvatarHR/pl.html. Thanks.
---
Misato flung the door open, threw a long, wrapped package into the
entry. If she had to work ONE MORE DAY with that impossible man Gendo
Hibiki, she would go insane. �Ryoga-kun? I�m home�� She removed her
shoes and wandered into the kitchen. Nothing moving, nothing lying
around. One good thing about having the son of that devil living at her
house, he was good at doing the dishes. It didn�t look like he�d had
lunch, however. She grabbed a six-pack from the fridge.

She stuck her head into the living room, but nobody was there, either.
The television was off. In one corner, she saw Ryoga�s pack, lying on
its side� and his umbrella, buried halfway into the wall. What did he
think he was doing? House repairs cost a lot. She walked over to it,
gave an experimental tug. It wasn�t going anywhere, not without heavy
lift equipment or Ryoga�s intervention.

While she had learned that Ryoga was the sort of man that caused
incidental property destruction (the remains of that stairwell at NERV
were a sight to see, she never should have tripped him there), he wasn�t
one to leave his stuff lying around. She walked down the hall. One room
was empty, save for a couple of empty boxes and such. The other was
Ryoga�s room.

She paused at the door, listened before knocking. There was a faint
sound, like a hammer striking a nail, repeated every few seconds. She
thought for a bit, then knocked. �Ryoga-kun? You in there?�

�Go away!�

Well, that decided it. He was depressed about something. She could
either talk him out of it or watch as her department was destroyed piece
by piece. �I�m coming in.� Always a good idea to give warning, and
besides, if he threw something, it would really hurt.

She cracked the door, saw no flying pillows or books, opened it the rest
of the way. Ryoga was there, sitting on his bed. One hand was bruised,
red and raw; the other held what looked like a chunk of steel railing,
with a stylized fist impression on one side. He had been crying, too.
Red eyes, bleary, runny nose, the whole nine yards.

�You want to talk about it?�

�Not really.�

�Well, that doesn�t matter, you need to talk about it. What happened?�

He leaned back, adjusted the pillow behind him. �Today� today was the
worst day in a long, long stretch of worst days of my life.�

�Bad class day, huh?�

He twitched an eyebrow. �That reminds me. I�m going to class from now
on. It�s not safe not to.�

Well, he had cut class. Strike one, but the lecture could wait. �Come
on, you can tell me.�

�You�ve got to promise not to laugh at me.�

�I promise, already. Go on.�

Sigh. �Remember how I told you about that friend of mine?�

She nodded. �What, the one with the fianc�es and everything?�

�Yeah, that one. He�s getting married.� He coughed. �He�s marrying
Akane.�

Everything made a little more sense after that. �She�s special to you,
huh?�

�Special? She�s EVERYTHING to me. I wake up in the morning for her. I
fight for her. I train for her. I think of her, every day, every moment.
When I�m in Eva, it�s to protect HER. I would do anything for her, die,
kill, it doesn�t matter.�

�We don�t have to worry about you killing your friend, then, do we?�

He giggled at that, not a laughing giggle, but the giggle of somebody
who�s so close to the edge that they can see the fall. �No, it�s not his
fault. Nobody�s fault, really. Mine. It was my idea. The marriage, my
idea. I told him to marry Akane, and he said okay.�

�Isn�t that a bit weird?�

�You�ve never met those two. He�s not the kind of guy to show his
feelings� and she�s violent. They fight all the time, but he loves her.
And Akane loves him.�

�So you gave up.�

�Yeah.� Another mad giggle. �Not because of that, though. It had never
been enough to stop me before, that. I fought with my friend over her.
I�d lose, most of the time. He�s GOOD.� He�d have to be, to take down
Ryoga. Ryoga was barely human himself, in that respect. �But now, with
all this� I can�t keep her, not keep her and make her happy.�

�Why not?� She sat down on his chair.

�I� I�ve loved her for so long, what, two years? And she doesn�t care
for me, not really, it�s just pity, that�s all. Maybe I�m her friend, a
little. And� there�s another reason.� He pulled his knees up to his
chest. �You don�t get to hear this one. Nobody does. She doesn�t know,
but if she did, she�d want to kill me. God, she gets so angry
sometimes.�

�I�m not sure I follow this. You love her, she doesn�t love you, so to
win her heart you go up to her fianc� and tell them to get married?�

�Not win her heart. That�s� over now, I can�t win, I can�t even afford
to try anymore. But, I can make sure she�s happy, damn it. She will be
happy. With him.� He was crying again, not much, but crying. �I don�t
even dare see her. I could have killed her, don�t you see? So many
times, and I didn�t see. Once, yesterday, and now I know.� He was
glowing, now, faint green.

Glowing, faint green?!

Just like the Evangelion yesterday. Misato did some quick mental
gymnastics. �You want to talk about yesterday? What happened, with the
Angel?�

�That? Side effect, I don�t know. I fired, and the shot�� sniffle,
�twisted, and it hit� it hit her school. I went a little crazy then, I
didn�t know she wasn�t there, I thought she was dead, and then Rei, she
gets hit, she gets hit in front of me. And then, it�s Rei on the ground,
and Akane dead, and all of my friends, and the gun doesn�t fire.
Something� went out of me then.�

�Yeah, we saw it. Pretty damn impressive.�

He looked up. �Oh, that. No, that�s different. You see?� He held up his
arm, turned it, patterning his face with a pattern of glowing shadows.
�That�s ki, the power of concentration. Normally, a fight brings it out,
but with me� depression can do the same thing. The ki blast is called
the Shishi Hokodan. You let go, and it works. No telling why it worked,
why it was that big, that�s a HELL of a lot bigger than I thought I
could do.�

Yeah, it was big. It had gone through the Angel�s AT field like butter.
That meant what, one hundred eighty megawatts? More? �And you glow for a
while afterward, then? Like right now?�

�No, it goes away.�

�Then what was the glow?�

�I wasn�t done� there�s another part to it. A complete version of the
same technique. It calls down� energy from the sky, I don�t know why it
works. It�s a lot more powerful, it takes a second to go off. Sometimes
a bit more.�

Misato breathed deeply. More powerful? A lot? And down from the sky.
That�s why he was so upset last night� what if he had finished? It would
have killed them all.

He continued. �I just keep thinking, I could have killed Akane. Even if
she wasn�t in the school� Nerima�s not that far from where I was, right
then. If the big one was as much bigger� there wouldn�t have been
anything left. I could have killed her because I was upset because I
thought that I had killed her!� He wiped his nose with a spare bandana.
�Stupid, right? I couldn�t help it, that was the scary part, I couldn�t
help it.

�So I went to their house today, and I told him, get married. I couldn�t
give her up if he didn�t promise to take care of her. And she�ll be
happy.� He dropped back, eyes staring at the ceiling. �Damn it all, but
she�ll be happy.�

�So, there�s no hope, for you and� Akane?�

He turned, looked at Misato. �No, damn it, that�s the point! I can�t
hope, it�s too dangerous, if I keep loving her, I�ll kill her. I can�t
control it, not enough. I can�t make her happy if I kill her because I�m
too stupid.�

She understood, sort of. Not ever the kind of problem that she had
faced, though. It was love, though. He loved her enough to stop loving
her. Romantic, really, except that it was horrible and SHE had forced
him to go through it, her and the Eva. �I�m sorry, Ryoga. I really am.�

�You didn�t do it. It was coming, it would have happened, except that
now, I saw it. I saw it in time and now it�ll be okay. Everything will
be okay.� He grimaced. �Damn, but it hurts this way.�

She stood up, left two beers on the chair. �In case you get thirsty.� On
her way to the door, she remembered another detail from last night.
�That girl, Akane, she came last night, didn�t she? She snapped you out
of it?�

Well, he now looked puzzled instead of maniacally depressed. �Huh? NO!
That wasn�t Akane. That was just Ranma��

Ranma. Well, that was one hell of a coincidence, that Ryoga would know a
girl named Ranma. �Oh, don�t worry about it. I�ll be out here when you
feel like talking some more.�

�Thanks, Misato. Thanks�� He rolled over, stared at the far wall. She
slid the door shut and left him to his misery.
---
Paradise Lost, part 7
Fan Fiction by Andy Kent
All characters copyright Gainax or Rumiko Takahashi
---
Ryoga staggered out of his room. He�d cried all day� and now, he felt
better. The world was still a dark and horrible place created
specifically to subject him to every kind of hell that could be
imagined, of course. But at least he was noble about the whole thing.

*[Yeah, kid. You know it�s working when you feel like hell, eh?]*

Ain�t that the truth. He�d get over it, right?

*[Right, over it. Before you know it, even. Just wanted to let you know
that we�re proud of you, kid.]*

Oh, great. No sooner did he get everything under some semblance of
control, than he started hearing voices in his head. And talking to
them, and having them answer. Maybe he had gone crazy. He listened, but
the voice did not return.

He moved into the living room, found the couch. Misato was in the other
chair, with enough empties to last her the night. �Hey, Misato?�

�How you doing, Ryoga-kun?� She sounded concerned. At least he had
somebody that cared about him.

�Better, some. Who gave Rei that gun?�

That got her attention. �What do you mean, gun? Rei�s got a gun?�

�Yeah, I was meaning to tell you.� He popped the tab on his second beer.
�The other thing that happened today. That friend of mine, remember?
He�s got three other fianc�es. One of them, she�s a jerk, always trying
to trick him and other stuff. Some kind of obscure legal thing, that�s
why she wants to marry him. The other one, though� she�s nice, just a
little odd.�

�Yeah?�

�I went over there, with Rei, I was going to tell her what happened. I
did tell her� she got mad, we were going to fight, let her get it out of
her system like I got it out of mine��

�Yeah?�

�And Rei almost put a bullet in her brain. I saw it coming, moved the
gun. It still hit her, but just a scratch. She almost killed her. Ukyou.
She�s a friend, almost� even tried to help me out with Akane, sometimes.
And she almost died too.�

�Why did Rei shoot her?� Misato couldn�t even picture Rei getting mad
enough to shoot somebody.

�I don�t know, really. Maybe it�s the whole protection thing. Last
night, today, she�s trying to keep me alive.�

�Well, that�s a good thing, right?�

�Yeah, unless somebody gets shot.�

�Good point. I�ll talk to her about it.�

That was good. �Don�t yell at her about it, though. I don�t think she
knows she�s not supposed to shoot anybody.�

�We�ll fix that.�

�Well, okay. Look, I need some sleep, wake me up tomorrow, all right?�

�Wait a second.� She shifted a bit. �You said three fianc�es.�

Oh, right, Kodachi. �Doesn�t matter now. Somebody killed the other one.
Last week.� Yeah, somebody. Somebody who pilots a purple Evangelion, why
don�t you say, Ryoga? If only he could understand how the hell THAT had
happened. �She was a demon. Her brother? He�s happier now. If they
caught who did it, he�d THANK them.�

�Oh, okay.�

---
Ritsuko downed another cup of coffee. She still hadn�t slept, not since
she�d awakened from that kick last night. Too much to do, too much to
look at. Status reports. After-action reports. Sync patterns. Rei�s
patterns. Ryoga�s patterns. That one really odd part on Ryoga�s pattern,
when he killed the Angel. Damage reports. A spectral reading of the
blast. Dead Angel analysis. She could hear the dying screams of
old-growth forests in the piles on her desk.

At least Misato had it worse� Ritsuko didn�t have to talk to all of
those people who had houses under the last Angel�s crash site. That was
a lot of property. Those gentlemen from the high school custodial
department, though, they were miracle workers. It was almost if they
were used to pouring concrete and fixing damage around the clock. She
toyed with the idea of drafting them into the Evangelion effort,
reconsidered. At the beginning, sure, but now the need for secrecy
outweighed other concerns.

She looked at the damage report for Unit 01. Abrasions around the hands.
Hand armor, melted, palm side, extreme condition exposure pattern. Same
on chest. Lots of little damages, too� hydraulic systems with decomposed
fluids. Odd things, but overall, not too bad.

Unit 00 was in worse shape. Most of the external armor was gone, for
good. It would have had to come off, anyway, but it could have waited
some more. It also had lost a couple of armor sections completely,
including the one over the pilot�s entry plug. She would really have to
talk to Ryoga about the proper procedure for clearing a downed pilot.
The thermal shock must have been massive� but Rei was alive. Come to
think of it, the organic components of Unit 00 were in pretty good shape
too, considering their parboiling. Good living paying back, she
suspected.

Here was a good one� somebody picked up a radiation analysis of whatever
that thing that Hibiki-kun had pulled off. Not EM energy� not free ions�
not anything familiar, really. She filed it away. Have to look at that
one later on, she supposed.

And then there was this conference to go to tomorrow. Those idiots. As
if anything could replace the Eva at this point. Oh well, she�d taken
care of that four days ago, she�d only have to attend. Misato would have
to come too, of course.

Then again, if she was attending, no reason to stay up too late the
night before. NERV did have to watch its public image, after all. She
closed down her terminal and left the office, headed for the parking
garage.

---
�Good morning, Hibiki-kun!� The two peeked their heads around the
corner. �Later, Katsuragi-san!� Kensuke grinned. Even if he wasn�t
fanatically devoted to seeing Misato on a regular basis, the whole
stereo effect was still pretty cool.

�She left already, guys.� Ryoga looked like hell. Of course, after
taking off like that yesterday, he deserved to� maybe guilt had kept him
awake. �Dressed up and everything, some sort of conference thing. She
won�t be back until tonight.�

�A conference? She�s just so COOL!�

�Touji, give it a rest, all right? Don�t sweat yesterday, Ryoga.� He
really didn�t have anything to apologize for. To think that he knew
Nabiki Tendo! Kensuke had finished more business with her yesterday than
he could normally have done in a month, if he could have convinced her
to pay attention to him, and with better prices too. Of course, she had
insisted on delivering some of the merchandise herself, which only made
sense. After all, it pays to know where your customers live when you
deliver guns and explosives.

�I�m okay.� Ryoga took a deep breath, shrugged on his pack. �Let�s go.
Hey, where�s Rei?�

�She�s� here she comes.�

�Good morning, Hibiki-kun.�

�Morning�� He started walking towards the stairwell. �You�re not going
to shoot anyone today, right?� What did he mean by that?

�I still don�t understand why��

�TAKE MY WORD FOR IT, OKAY?�

�Fine.� Now what did all of that mean? Kensuke frowned, concentrated�
Rei had a gun. USP, 9mm, shoulder holster, under the left arm. From her
balance, she had two clips under the right. He smiled, enjoying the
discovery. Life just kept getting better around these two.

---
Ranma ran along the top of the fence. Last night had been good; for
once, Akane was willing to listen to his (Ryoga�s) idea, and she liked
it, for some reason he�d never know. They�d told the family later, and
then the nightmare started.

He�d never known how awful an encouraging father could be in this kind
of situation. He�d almost been tossed, physically, into Akane�s room to
spend the night. That would have to wait for later, they�d decided. All
in all, though, it was worth having done. And finally, he could relax
about the whole fianc�e thing for good. Only thing he needed now was a
cup of water from a certain spring�

And some breakfast. Just because he was going to marry her didn�t mean
he had to eat her cooking every day, thank God. Somebody needed to teach
her to make edible food, one of these days. Breakfast, breakfast, there.
Ucchan�s. Hey, didn�t Ryoga go tell her about the wedding? He hoped so,
he felt more like food than fighting.

Three jumps took him across rooftops, another set him down in front of
the door. The sign said �closed�, but that never applied to him, she
said. Maybe that had changed, now. Hope not. She was still a good
friend. He opened the door.

Ukyou was sitting behind the counter, her head down, sleeping. Funny,
normally she was up way before he was, and she didn�t sleep there
anyway. Her hair was tied back from her face with its normal bow� no.
That bow would have been white, and not worn like a headband. This one
was, of all things, yellow. With black specks. Heck, it was one of
Ryoga�s bandanas. What the hell did that mean? �Hey, Ukyou, wake up will
ya?�

She stirred, sat up, looked at him. The right side of the headband was
not yellow and black, just a dull reddish brown. OH. That�s what it
meant. �Oh, jeez, I didn�t mean for him to hit you! You all right?�

�He didn�t, Ranma. He just told me� how could you? I wondered, all last
night. How? Why? Why now?� She hadn�t slept much, not from her eyes.
�Why are you marrying Akane?�

This would be embarrassing. He sat down. �Look, it�s like this. Ryoga
came over yesterday, he was tripping out, the day before must have been
rough on him. You saw that thing he did Sunday night, right? You know
how depressed he had to be to do that. Well, he came over, and we
talked.

�He told me about it, the fear that he�d hurt Akane, the pain. He loves
her, you know. But� he knows what he is, now. Remember, I told you about
that time? When he had that soap, and couldn�t turn into a pig, and
asked Akane out? He figured that out too, that he could have really hurt
her. That�s one thing he never wanted, to hurt her.

�He told me that he couldn�t give her up, though. She loves me, and this
whole mess�� He gestured, encompassing everything. �She wouldn�t have
been happy with it, either. Then, he got the idea, I could see it on his
face, it must have been like tearing his own heart out to say it. He
TOLD me, outright, to marry her. And I had to.�

�Liar.� She was getting angry, now. �You�ve never let anybody tell you
what to do in your entire life. Why in hell would you start now?�

�It�s not like that! No. It wasn�t like that. He was right, damn it, for
once he was right. I had to say yes� I couldn�t have refused, that would
have been giving her to Ryoga, and he couldn�t let that happen.� Deep
breath. �Neither could I. I love Akane. I�m sorry.�

�Sorry? That�s all you have to say? Sorry!� She grabbed her spatula off
of the counter, got ready to swing.

He�d planned on this. �What�re you going to do with that, Ukyou? Hit me?
You won�t win, we�ve been through that. You can�t hit Akane with it.
She�s not here, and if you did, Ryoga would really kill you. He wouldn�t
hold back, either, not for that. You think you can stop him?�

�I tried yesterday. I wouldn�t have won, but we didn�t get to fight.
That girl, Rei, she shot me.�

Holy� �Oh my God. Are you OK? Come on, let�s go to the hospital, it
can�t be too bad or the bleeding� is that a smile?� He liked Ukyou, but
really didn�t understand her at all.

�Good to know you still care.� She pointed at the bloody spot on the
bandana. �It just scratched me, really. She wasn�t aiming for that,
though. Ryoga saw it, hit the gun. Saved my life, probably.�

�That makes four you owe him and three for everybody else.�

�Huh? You�re not making any sense, Ranma.�

�He told you about the robots, right?�

�You don�t believe that, do you?�

Well, he wouldn�t have. �I saw him get out of the purple one. Maybe
they�re two-seaters, I don�t know, but he�s a robot pilot. And he�s
killed three of those Angel things so far. AND given us a couple days
off of school, don�t forget.� He tried grinning.

�Well, what do you know. He really is. That explains a little. You think
it makes you crazy, piloting robots?�

�He calls it Eva. And Rei, she�s a pilot, too. She�s quiet, really
quiet, you know?�

�Yeah.� She stretched, ran her fingers through her hair. �I must look
like hell warmed over right now.�

�Not that bad, really. I like the new fashion accessory.�

She looked up, startled. �Fashion�� Sputter. �Well, after his girlfriend
shot me, you think it was the LEAST the jackass could do!�

�You going to be all right?� She�d need to get cleaned up, and opened
for business.

�I�ll live. I haven�t given up yet, you know?�

�NO.� Damn it, he wasn�t going through this again. �It�s not going to
work. I�m going to marry Akane, in a couple of months. You and Shampoo
have less chance of breaking it up than Kodachi, at this point. Before�
before, I didn�t know, I wasn�t really sure. Not this sure, anyway. I
didn�t mind you trying, you�re nice, really cute too, but� that was
then. Now, you�ve got to stop it. You see? It�s over, if it had ever
started.�

�That�s cruel, Ranma.�

It was. �I don�t have a choice. No, I did, and I made it, and it wasn�t
you. I can be a friend, but that�s it. Besides, if Ryoga thought I was
being unfaithful, he�d break me like a twig. Or take that big thing out
after me, probably.�

�What if I don�t want to be your friend, after that?�

�Then� it�ll be a damned shame, Ukyou. I don�t have many friends.�

He got up, opened the door, jumped for a roof. That was like� it must
have been a little of what Ryoga had felt, last night. Damn him and his
fool honor and the whole fianc�e thing anyway. And doubly damn that
damned Genma for making him do that to Ukyou.

She�d get over him, somehow. Maybe� maybe he could help her be happy,
some other way. Some other guy, maybe? He saw Ukyou, sleeping, with a
yellow and black bandana around her temples. An idea came to him. It was
so sick, so twisted, that it would probably work. And it would take care
of two debts he had piled up.

He still hadn�t had breakfast yet.

---
Rei stepped into the office. It was comforting, a little, the patterns
on floor and ceiling familiar. As was the figure behind the desk.
�Hibiki-san?�

Gendo looked up from a stack of paper, saw Rei, smiled. �Come in, Rei.
What do you need?�

This would be difficult. She hadn�t ever had a request to make before�
just statements of insufficient this or that, things that HAD to be
done. This would be different. �I need to ask a question.� There. Good
start.

He placed the paper down on his desk, folded his hands under his chin.
Another familiar gesture, reassuring. �Go ahead, ask then.�

Difficult didn�t begin to describe this. How could she tell him� �Where
does Ryoga-kun get his money?� There. A neutral question.

�He has a pilot�s salary. It makes sense, what with him getting lost.
The money makes his life easier and thus he will prefer to pilot Eva
rather than leave.� He unfolded his hands. �Why do you want to know?�

�I am an Eva pilot.� He would see the meaning.

He did. �So.� He smiled! Not much of a smile, but he wasn�t very good at
smiling, not like Misato. �I should have guessed, before now. How much?�

She hadn�t planned on success. In fact, she�d spent all of her time
thinking of various failure scenarios. �I� I don�t know.�

�Well.� Now he was smiling like Misato smiled, with his whole face. �I
can�t say no, can I? And it makes sense, too� Do you want what he gets?�

�Not necessarily.� It didn�t matter how much, she just needed what she
would need. �I don�t know what things cost.�

�You had no reason to know, though. What brought this on?� He answered
his own question. �Ryoga, keeping track of Ryoga. Of course! You would
see how he acts. He told you, or did you guess?�

�He told me, but after I guessed.�

�Heh. Well, I can give you what he gets. After all, you are an Eva
pilot.� That sounded quite suspiciously like one of Ryoga�s jokes, but
different. �But not all at once. You need a college fund, you know.�
That had to have been a joke. Since when did Gendo-san tell jokes?

�What are the details?�

�I can give you pocket cash, when you need it.� He reached into his
desk, grabbed a black leather case, opened it. His hand came out with
several bills, all in the thousand or two thousand yen range. �Anything
more expensive, you must come and ask me first.�

�Understood.�

�Do you know how to use money, Rei?�

�It�s an exchange medium. Used to procure goods and services.�

�That�s what it is, not how it�s used. Look, let Ryoga handle the money,
then. I�ll explain it to him.� That was interesting. She�d never heard
somebody say �explain� in that tone of voice. �Be careful not to waste
it, and don�t tell people you have it.�

�Understood.� Well, no, but she�d follow instructions.

�No you don�t, but you�ll follow my instructions.� Gendo-san always
seemed to know what she was thinking. It was an odd and not particularly
unpleasant feeling. �That should be all, then. You have a synch test in
twenty minutes.�

�Yes.� She turned to leave. She thought about saying �goodbye�,
remembered how Ryoga-kun had acted when she had said that, last time.
Maybe he�d be willing to explain later.

---
Ryoga stepped out of the men�s locker room. He remembered how there had
been no partition when he first arrived at NERV. He�d changed in the
bathroom for a week. Somebody must have noticed� which was scary, when
you came down and think about it.

Rei was waiting in the hallway. �Are you going home, Hibiki-kun?�

�Not quite yet. I�ve got a couple stops to make, first.� His fault, his
problem. He�d fix it. Yeah. Besides, it was better than eating dinner at
home, even if he was the cook.

�Where first?�

�Central Command.� Everybody was off-shift right now. Aoba and Hyuuga
were out doing whatever they did when they were out. (What? He didn�t
know.) Misato and Ritsuko were gone, somewhere. Hadn�t been much of a
test without those two on hand. Except for Maya, the place should be
deserted.

Wait, Gendo might be there. Well, no real reason to avoid him, any more.
Besides, Ryoga knew he wasn�t a bastard, so maybe Gendo would have some
ideas to help as well.

Rei called the elevator. �Why shouldn�t I have shot her?�

No need to ask what that was about. �You really don�t know?�

�No.�

Good question, now that he decided to think about it. �She wasn�t going
to kill me. When I fight somebody, with my fists, with my umbrella, it�s
real, I�m trying to hurt them, but they don�t die from it. I beat them
up and then stop, or they beat me up and then stop. With a gun, though,
it�s not like that. You�re dead or you missed.�

�So, I shouldn�t use the gun?� She looked puzzled.

Hard question. This could get them both killed. �If they want to kill
you, yes, use it. If they want to kill me, and they�re actually doing
it, yes. If they�re not, don�t.�

�Then why carry the gun?�

�I don�t carry a gun.�

�I�m supposed to.�

Yeah, there was that. Probably a good reason, too. �Just because you
have a gun, it doesn�t mean you have to shoot somebody, though. If you
had just pointed the gun at Ukyou, and not fired, it would have worked
too.�

�I don�t understand.�

�She wouldn�t know you wouldn�t shoot her, right? She would have
stopped. Probably. If not, you could� still shoot her.�

�I still don�t understand.�

Neither did he. �Maybe you just have to be brought up that way, I guess.
Here. If I tell you that you can shoot somebody, go ahead. If I�m not
around, you have to judge, but don�t kill them if you don�t have to.�

�Understood.�

Hey! �That wasn�t an order, Rei.�

The elevator reached Central Dogma. The two stepped out, Rei leading,
and entered the command center. As expected, only Maya was there,
tapping at her terminal. �Wait here, Rei, I�m just going to be a
minute.�

�Hey, Ryoga-kun! Shouldn�t you be going home?� My, but she was cheery.

�Not yet.� Damn, he couldn�t remember her last name. He�d just have to
go with it. �Maya-san�� Good, not too familiar, she wasn�t ticked. �I
could use some advice.� Ibuki! That was it. Of course, he�d already used
the first name�

She stopped typing, swiveled her chair around. �I might have some
advice. What�s wrong?�

�Lots, but that�s not what I need the advice for. I�ve got a friend.
He�s getting married� but he�s poor, right?�

She nodded. �Weddings are expensive.�

�Right. And it�s sort of my fault they�re getting married now. My
friend, though, he�d feel bad if I tried to pay for the whole thing.
What exactly do you really need for a wedding?�

�A friend.� On anybody else, he�d have called that look skeptical.
�Right. Well, of course, there�s a church. Western or local custom?�

�Uh�� Like he knew. �I don�t think they care.�

�Must be love. We�ll go with Western, it�s more romantic for modern
couples. That means a Western church, maybe. How many people?�

�Two, duh.�

�No, dummy! How many people to watch?� She had found that really funny.

�Let me see�� Not counting Akane and Ranma. He�d be there. Soun and
Genma. Nabiki and Kasumi. If he was there, Rei would be there. Ukyou
might come, but maybe not. Tofu would be there, if they could find a way
to keep him from going crazy around Kasumi. �Eight.�

�Eight?� Maya was shocked. �Just eight? How can it be just eight? The
parents are four by themselves.�

�Two. Akane�s mother died a long time ago. And Ranma, he hasn�t seen his
mother in ten years, at least.�

�How sad! But she�ll have to come, anyway. She�d never miss her son�s
wedding.�

�Yeah, but I don�t know who she is. Or where she�d be. Besides, she
might try to kill him. Don�t ask me why, but he says so.�

�It�ll work out, weddings do that. Who else, then?�

�Um� two sisters, both older. The oldest one, Kasumi, she�s got a
friend, Dr. Tofu. There�s another friend, but she kind of liked Ranma
too, so she might not come. Maybe some school friends, I don�t know. Me.
Probably Rei could come too, if I�m there.�

�Yeah, single guys can always bring a date.� Oh, God, please say she�s
joking. Wait. She�s grinning. No, now she�s laughing. Good, it was a
joke. �Who�s the bridesmaids?�

�What are bridesmaids?�

�You know, they�re the bride�s best friends, they help her out. Probably
her sisters.�

�Yeah, I guess so.�

�And the best man?�

�Huh? Me, I guess. What do I do, anyway?�

�You really don�t know weddings, Ryoga-kun. The best man gives the ring
to the groom during the ceremony.�

�Ring?�

�Yes, the wedding ring. You�re hopeless, do you know that? It replaces
their engagement ring.�

�Engagement ring?�

�You mean they don�t have an engagement ring already? My God! How long
do they want to wait before getting married?�

All right, finally, he knew this one! �Two months.�

�TWO MONTHS? Are they crazy?� Well, yes. �There�s no way to put together
a decent wedding in two months! Well, maybe one or two. But no
engagement ring, though, that�s rough. Not a good start.�

�Hey, I could help him out with that, anyway, right?�

�Just don�t let her catch on, if you do.�

�It�s okay, she�ll just assume that he sold his soul to her sister or
something. You�ve never met Nabiki.�

Puzzled look. �All right, but be careful about that. You two will do
fine.�

�Huh?�

�Please, Ryoga. Two friends getting married and you need advice? Oldest
trick in the book. Come on, who�s the lucky girl?�

Wait! �No, no, it�s really not me!� Great, this was the last thing he
needed right now.

�Suuuuure it�s not. I believe you.� Ah. Sarcasm.

�Not that it matters whether you do or not��

�And the mom thing? I know your father well enough to know about THAT.
You might as well come out and say it.�

�Rei, help!�

�Hibiki-kun is telling the truth.�

Thank you, Rei. �See? See? It�s not me, really.�

�Unless she�s in on it too. Isn�t she a bit young for you, though?�

�Maya, remember RIGHT before Eva went berserk for the first time?�

�Yes, why?�

�I feel just like that, RIGHT NOW.�

She chewed on that for a second. �Oh, sorry, I shouldn�t have said so
much. It is your business, after all. Just be careful� Hibiki-san would
kill you.�

�Aaaargh!� He jumped to the door. Why was she staring like that? It was
only twenty feet, and he had gone horizontal, not up. �Come on, Rei.�

---
Well, that was certainly cute. Maya could swear she�d seen Rei
developing some kind of personality over the last few days� she�d ask
more questions, even grin every so often. And she had understood a joke,
laughed at it. It had scared Maya enough to make her drop the subject,
then.

And Ryoga� well, he was rough around the edges, and much too young for
Maya at any rate, but he WAS a little handsome. And muscular. And he had
that spectacular endurance. Throw in a little pilot glamour and he would
have to beat the girls off with a stick. Shame about the sense of
direction thing, really. Like father, like son.

Plus, it was pretty obvious he was making the whole �Ranma and Akane�
thing up. Obviously, he�d gotten the name �Ranma� from Misato sometime.
Fairly stupid to use it here, too. Misato tended to get very drunk at
social functions, and some times she would talk. Maya thought she knew
why Misato drank so much, a past like that.

�Maya?� Eek! That was Misato!

Oh, it was coming through her headset. �Yes, Captain?�

�Find Ryoga and Rei. There�s a problem at the Jet Alone site, and we
need Eva here.�

�An Angel!�

�No, just a dumb robot that�s too stupid to stop moving.�

�I�ll get them. Details?�

---
�I can�t believe she said that.� Ryoga looked over at Rei as the two
headed towards the train exits. �She� she thought� hell she still
thinks!� Rei was blushing, not much but she was so pale. �That�s��

Wait a second. If he could recall, the most stupid thing you could do to
a girl was make her think you didn�t like her, for some reason. Hold it
down, pull it in, center� there. �a misconception, that�s all. She�s
just got an active imagination.�

{RYOGA-KUN! AYANAMI!}

Oh, great, more voices in his head.

{REPORT TO FIFTH HANGAR!}

No, not voices. Maya, on the intercom. Angel attack?

---
Misato looked across the seat of the briefing room. Well, the briefing
spot in the cockpit, anyway. She and Ryoga were flying a few hundred
feet over the old Jet Alone proving grounds. �Do you understand the
operation, Ryoga-kun?�

�Yeah. I�m supposed to drop down, run up to the robot, put you at the
hatch in the back, then stop it from moving while you turn it off,
right?�

�Right.�

�That�s crazy!�

�Well, there�s no other options at this point.�

�I�ll go. I can work the computer. Besides, I�ll probably be safer in
there.�

No time to argue. �I can�t pilot Eva to get you there, dummy. Get in
there.�

�Why don�t I just beat on it some?�

�BECAUSE it has a nuclear reactor! You�ll make it explode!�

�What were they going to do when the Angel hit it?�

�I don�t know. Shut up and quit arguing, we�re almost there.�

---
Ryoga chased after the Jet Alone robot with Eva 01. It was pretty slow.
He caught up to the back, grabbed the thing that looked like a handle
with its left hand. It didn�t stop trying to walk, so he leaned back,
shifting the weight balance to keep it from moving its pivot foot.
�Ready?�

\�Go!�/ Misato crouched in his right hand. He moved it up to the hatch,
watched as she grabbed the emergency release handle. Watched her as the
rock beneath Eva�s feet gave, and she tumbled around the side, and down�

Down to a nearby hand rung. Wow! She was pretty good, to be able to hang
on with one hand in that heavy environment suit she had on. �Misato? You
all right?�

She gestured with the victory sign, went up the rungs. This time, she
made it inside the hatch.

He wasn�t going to be able to hang on to the back of this thing forever.
He pivoted, threw himself in front, braced himself against the thing. It
was really stupid-looking. No head. The arms were really, really, really
long, down to the knees, and flexible. And swinging, like the thing was
still moving. He gave it a little punch.

\�I can�t do this if you�re rocking the thing, Ryoga!�/

Well, ripping its legs off was out then. He decided to stand there and
hang on until something happened.

Two minutes of power remaining.

He moved one giant hand to cover a steam rupture. With any luck, that
was a secondary backup coolant. Not radioactive, anyway. Besides, the
primary coolant wasn�t on, that was the problem.

One minute thirty seconds of power remaining.

The ground under his feet couldn�t take too much more. Already, he was
sliding a little bit.

One minute of power remaining.

\�Damn it, the password�s not working!�/

�Misato!� What did she mean, the password wasn�t working?

\�It won�t accept the password! It�s still trying to melt down!�/

Oh no. �Get out of there!�

\�I have to shut it down, Ryoga! I�ll try moving the rods by hand.�/ As
if they didn�t weigh several tons each. Not even he could do it like
that.

�Misato, the coolant pump! Try breaking the coolant pump!�

\�Huh?�/

�They build these things to where gravity floods the thing with coolant
if the pump breaks. Just find it and break it!�

A few seconds, and two more steam line breaks.

\�I found it! They label everything in here.�/

�Great! Smash it!� He felt like smashing something. He had lots of anger
to sublimate.

\�What, with my bare hands?�/

Huh? She had gloves on. �Just hit it!�

\�It�s� not� working!�/

Thirty seconds of power left, which meant maybe twenty till it blew.
�Close your eyes. You can feel the pump, feel the metal and the water.
Stiffen your right index finger. Ready?� This�d never work. It took him
a week to get this right, and it didn�t work right on metal anyway.
�Strike!�

\�Hyah!�/

And something happened. The big vent rods from the robot�s back withdrew
into the robot�s body. �Hey! You did it! All right!�

\�Yeah, something gave, a little.�/

�Wow! It�s a miracle! Are you all right?�

\�I�ve been better. I�m coming out, now.�/

---
Misato was quiet for most of the ride home. Her right index finger was
in a heavy splint. She didn�t know what was more stupid, Ryoga�s
last-second, stupid idea or her stupidity in actually trying the stupid
thing. It hurt, really badly. He nodded, said something like, �It does,
the first few hundred times,� and then tried to wander off. She had
managed to sic Hyuuga on him, though.

There was no way that the dinky amount of coolant that went through the
broken valve could possibly have cooled off the reactor that quickly.
The whole system had cycled� and that meant software control. It
couldn�t have been the Jet Alone people; they were all stunned that it
had worked, and had spent an hour pestering poor Ryoga about that
bakusai whatever thing. That left very few suspects. She�d have to have
words with Ritsuko when she returned.

�Captain?�

�Yes, Hyuuga?� Good thing he could drive.

�Message from NERV HQ. You�re to take Hibiki and meet Unit 02 coming in
with the Fifth Fleet.�

�Great.� Good thing she had packed for an overnight stay at the
conference. �Hey, Ryoga-kun, you packed?�

�You kidding?� He patted the top of his pack, lying next to him in the
back seat. �I live out of this thing.�

�Great.�

�Hey, somebody make sure to tell Rei that I�ll be gone. Don�t want her
getting worried or anything.�

�Ryoga, I didn�t know you cared about Rei.�

�Damn it, not you too Hyuuga!�

---
End of part seven

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or disaster?