Hosted by
|
Life after Eva: Day 147
|
|
|
Acknowledging Tex and Dennisud once again. You guys rock. Thanks for your help.
DAY 147 Asuka opened her eyes to the bright light of day. The light streamed in through the windows illuminating the room with a few wispy snow flakes lazily floating by. The space next to her was empty of the Shinji that usually slept there. It was cold so he had been up for some time. She sat up, and that was when she saw it. It hung on a cross shaped hanger, holding the sleeves out straight. The kimono was brightly colored with lots of warm tones of red and yellow. It was a flowery pattern with butterflies on it too. The sleeves were long, almost coming down past her knees, and the belt that accompanied it was a deep blue that added stark contrast to the ensemble. Beneath the hanging garments was a small pamphlet that explained much about the traditional clothing of Japan. This particular style was called a furisode. The length of sleeves was indicative of her marital status, and the vibrant colors where more to show her age than anything else. The sash was called an obi. She examined it, and found that it was quite long, about 12 feet, and it was nearly a foot wide. There was also a nagajuban, it explained, as well as a haori that would serve as underclothing. It illustrated how each piece was worn and gave step by step instructions on the placement of each layer and folded piece. Also there were instructions on how to tie the obi into different knots. Most of these were very elaborate, and Asuka could not even follow most of them. But there was an easy looking all purpose one that she figured she could manage. There was an empty hanger next to hers, that undoubtedly had held another kimono until a little while before. Shinji must have gotten up quite early to set all of this up for her. She had not expected him to get her clothes such as these. They were elegant and light, made out of top quality silk, and tailored to perfection. She disrobed, casting t-shirt and bra to the side, but she decided to at least wear underwear. The clothing covered everything else. The nagajuban was like a slip, covering her top half and hanging loose at the bottom. Over this she wore the haori, being careful to keep the left side over the right as per the instructions. A small sash kept it in place while she donned the furisode, arranging it similarly, then following the instructions on how to tie the simple yet not quite so simple knot about her waist. After several unsuccessful tries she got it right, then turned the sash around so that the knot was at her back. She looked in the mirror and looked at her reflection. She was surprised by it. She had expected to look out of place, even funny in the outfit, but it was well chosen for her. The blue brought out the color of her eyes. She turned around to see herself from different angles, and smiled at herself. She leaped for the door to go see her Shinji. When she opened it, she found a pair of soft sandals waiting for her. After slipping her feet into them, she padded around to the kitchen to find Shinji. He was there cooking furiously. There was homemade sausage cooking as well as steamed onions, red cabbage, and baked potatoes in the oven. She caught the faint sugar smell that hung in the air too. Shinji was dressed in a dark blue kimono with a comparatively small tan sash wrapped around it tied in a simple knot. As she stepped into the room, Shinji turned around, a little surprised to see her. He had not expected her to be up for a while more. Shinji smiled and looked at her for what seemed like an eternity, taking in her splendor. She was beautiful. He had judged well when he picked out her kimono. It was like it was made for her, and it fit very well. Her red hair hung down the back almost melding with the color of the fabric. Asuka turned around so that he could see all of her, the long hanging sleeves flowing loosely under her arms. Asuka sniffed several times to break Shinji out of his inspection. "What are you cooking? That smells great." "Well I figured that you were getting tired of Japanese food so I decided to make you something to remind you of home for your birthday." He lifted the lid of a pot to watch the red cabbage cooking. Shinji nodded. "By the way, this should be done in a little while, then I have a present for you. We can open that sometime later." ‘So the Kimonos where not the only thing he had gotten for me’ she thought. She had not expected him to celebrate her birthday like this. Asuka seated herself at the table to watch the meal being prepared. She and Shinji talked a little, but she watched him with more attention than she was paying towards talking to him. He moved about the kitchen stirring this and cutting that, and tasting something else, smiling about it all the whole time. For one of the few times in his life, Shinji was happy, and he had been for several months now. Was this what contentment was? Being with someone you love, and only having to worry about your own welfare? To have everything you need and no worries about anything else. He had noticed that he liked watching the world recently. He would sit in the living room chair and watch the snow, just thinking about things. It was soothing. And there was a lot to think about. Why were they here? Even though the fact that both of them were in Evas at the time, it was odd that there would be no one else around at all. Statistically speaking there should be people around. There are inevitably always people who will survive something right? So perhaps they were picked to stay behind. To do what? Repopulate? Begin again? And try to do so without nearly destroying the world again? But why start with only two? Was this some neo-biblical thing again? Adam and Eve? How could something so monumental be so cut and dried? He and Asuka were not like Adam and eve. They both had memories of pre-Third impact life. Maybe they were to remind them of where humanity went wrong. Regardless they were here, and practicality stated that sooner or later they would run out of resources that they wanted or needed. Like gasoline for engines or other chemicals. Food would consume much of their time to grow and tend. And what about the technology that still littered the landscape? What would they do when things began breaking due to age and they could not repair it? They needed help of some kind. The timer on the stove dinged and Shinji shut off the heat. He had been so absorbed in his thoughts that he had lost track of time. Fortunately cooking came almost as second nature to him so he could think about things like that and cook at the same time. Asuka had taken the initiative to put some dishes on the table; she was ready for some good German food. Shinji served it out in heaping helpings, and they both dug in. Shinji paused just long enough for a quick "Happy birthday Asuka." Shinji was not used to spice or rich foods like this but it was good. Asuka was in heaven. It was cooked just like she had remembered it tasting, and it brought back memories of Hamburg and Berlin when she got the chance to eat out while in college. If she had not known better, she would swear that Shinji was a German cook. She complimented him on his cooking several times. When they were finished the stuffed teens sat eyeing the empty plates, wondering how they managed to eat it all. Shinji rose, and cleared the table, then let them sit in water so that he could wash them later. Asuka felt about ready to pop. "I don’t think I am going to need anything else to eat for another 2 weeks." She half expected to see a huge round belly when she looked down, so much food had she put in there. "Well, after you let that settle for a while, I have a cake that we can have. I made it for just the two of us, so we don’t have to worry about leftovers. Asuka groaned. It would be forever before she could eat that cake. Right now she was digesting the biggest meal of her life, and she was getting drowsy despite the night of sleep she had last night. She related that to Shinji, and they decided to sit and watch it snow. "Asuka? You ever think about what were doing here?" "All the time. What’s on your mind?" "Do you… I mean, what do you think about… kids?" Shinji blushed a terrible red. It was very evident that such a subject was embarrassing to him. "Well, I think bout that a lot, yeah. Do you think I would be ashamed of having children?" "No." Shinji paused for a moment. "I just remember you commenting that you did not want children when we were pilots. And I just wanted to know what you thought about having kids with… someone like me." Asuka knew how much it took him to say something like that so bluntly. It was a bit of a thrill that he would want to have a child with her. Thinking about that was sometimes something that she had no idea how to understand. That two people could make another person, and that person would be a part of each parent. The idea, when you just get right down to it was unfathomable. It would take experience to allow her to know what it was to be a mother. She smiled at her Shinji. "Shinji, I sure do love you. You may have a hard time of broaching difficult subjects, but you do care more than anyone I have known. I have not even thought of having any with someone other than you." She tried to drop her smile and look serious, but it did not work well. Instead she just had this silly grin on, and Shinji nodded and smiled back. Perhaps teens such as they really could not grasp concepts such as these. To be responsible for another’s life and well being as well as their future. Shinji and Asuka both were no strangers to being responsible for other people lives but it was altogether different when that person would be your child. As they talked the snow would quit falling only to resume a few minutes later. It was light but steadily it recovered much of the ground that had begun showing through the melted spots. The topic of conversation changed gradually from children to the future, to what they would do. Asuka proposed the idea that they could try going to Germany. "Why did you want to go back there?" "It has been a while since I have seen my home. I just wanted to see it. And besides they have one of the higher end MAGI there. We could use that to get all of the information that we have been wanting. Like how to work all of these things and how other stuff functions. I would be surprised if one of the branches did not have information like that in its database." "But that is a long way, how would we get there?" Even though the idea of another traveling adventure appealed to him, it was much further than from Tokyo-3 to Okayama had been. "I don’t suppose you know how to fly?" Asuka said hopefully. Shinji shook his head. "Only what I’ve seen in movies. And I crash a lot in simulators." Asuka grimaced at that. "Yeah, same here. That leaves going by boat." "Do you mean a sail boat or a powerboat?" "Well originally I was thinking about a powerboat, but we would have to stop all the time to refuel, and it would take a while at each place to get the fuel. I have sailed a little before, nothing as big as an open water boat, and certainly not as far as we are talking." Shinji considered this. He had been sailing a little bit himself. When he had been in school they had gone on a field trip to the ocean and they went sailing there. "How did you plan on getting there?" "Well really at first I thought that we could just sail to China, then go overland the rest of the way, but that would take forever, plus we would get lost a lot cause we don’t know anything about the area. But, if we sail to say, Italy, we could then go overland north through Europe, and be there in no time. Longest part would be sailing there." "How long are we talking? I don’t really know anything about sailing long distances." Asuka thought for a moment. It would not be really fast going. Certainly not a mater of days. "Maybe 2 months or more?" "On a ship?" Shinji sounded skeptical. Asuka nodded. "Alone?" Asuka nodded again. "Won’t we get cabin fever or something? And what about food?" "No fresh vegetables for a while. We could fish. And we could bring cooking stuff with us." "We could find a good-sized boat that would have a fridge and freezer." "Shinji do you really want to do it? I mean I would hate to drag you along if you did not want to go." Shinji thought about it only for a second before responding. He wanted to see more of the world. There was so much that he had not seen and yet so much out there to see. "Lets do it." Being stuck in the house for the winter was bad enough to make him long to be out and about. He had so much fun traveling even the relatively short distance to Okayama. Asuka brightened and started talking about the route that she had been thinking about. They could sail west from Japan through the Indian Ocean, around Saudi Arabia and its satellites and through the Suez Canal after going through the Red Sea. Then just a short trip across the Mediterranean Sea, and they could land in Italy. "Do you think we could have some of that cake? I have some room now." Asuka was curious as to what kind of cake it was. "OK, but don’t expect to be too impressed. I did not spend too much time on it, and it only has a little icing on it." "Stop right there. By the time you finish telling me about it; it’ll have become the worst cake in history. I am sure it is great. Just gimme some." Shinji took the cake out of the fridge and cut it in half. It was very small. Big enough to make only two medium sized pieces. It was a vanilla cake with yellow lemon icing on it. There were even tiny specks of vanilla bean in the cake. While Asuka started eating hers, Shinji went outside and retrieved a small flat flap-lid box. He had found it at a jewelry store, and put the ring in it. When he returned inside Asuka was waiting for him, having not yet taken a bite of her cake. He set the box on the table, not saying anything about it, but instead cutting a piece of cake and putting it in his mouth. He smiled when Asuka eyed the box, and then looked back at him. He knew that she was curious about it, but he wanted to let it be for a few more minutes. When the cake was gone, Shinji picked up the box, and placed it on the table in front of Asuka. "I umm…" He cleared his throat. "I made this for you. I hope you like it. Happy birthday Asuka." He watched raptly as she slowly reached for the box, and lifted its cover. When she saw the ring she stared at it for a moment smiling. "You made that? For me? Oh Shinji, I never did anything for you for your birthday." Her smile faded, and she was suddenly sad that she had never shown Shinji the level of appreciation or devotion that she herself had enjoyed from him. Shinji stood up and moved next to her, turning her towards him and he took the ring from the box. He looked at her eyes as he found her left hand and he lifted the middle finger to place the ring on it. "Shinji? Would you put it on my ring finger instead?" Shinji hesitated only an instant, but in that time he thought volumes worth. What did this mean? That he was putting the ring on her ring finger? He knew that among couples it had special significance. Were they a couple? They were in love and they were together. Was she asking him to marry her? Or was she asking him to ask her to marry him? Or was this just a boy giving a ring that he made to the girl that he loves? He looked into her eyes, as he pushed the ring slowly up her finger. It caught for an instant on her knuckle on a small fold of skin, then it was in place. "I love you, Asuka. Happy birthday." On an impulse he kissed her, and he instantly knew that it was the right thing to do. Asuka hugged him, and buried her face in his neck. She vowed to do something special for his birthday next time. She would make it his special day just like he had made this one hers. The kimonos, the cake, the ring, it had all been carefully planned. When they let go of each other, she looked at the ring again. The flames licked at the edges, curling around in some places. It shone with it’s yellow brown luster, and caught the light well. "Shinji? Why flames? Just out of curiosity." "Oh, I forgot to tell you. Look inside it." Asuka slowly pulled the ring off of her finger, and examined the inside. She had to move into better light, and then she saw it. "The fire in my life." She looked up at Shinji. "Well, you know. I have just come to think of you as my motivation. I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have you and… You are the reason I do anything anymore. Without you, I would be… Existing." Asuka had for a long time only lived for the praise of others. But praise on such a base idea as this was something that she had never known. To be loved and to inspire someone to be better than they are. Asuka knew that what Shinji had told her was true. To him, she was his reason for living. While the idea was flattering, it carried with it a sense of responsibility. For the rest of the day they puttered about the house in their kimonos. They poured over an atlas they had found discussing possible routes they could take to get to Germany, they cleaned up the mess from the cake and the meal. Shinji went outside for a moment to check on the chickens and make sure things were running right around the house. He carried the .38 special with him nearly everywhere now. It was snub-nosed, and could fit easily into a pocket if he needed to. They had heard the dogs several times in the last few months, and Asuka had even shot at them once. Fortunately Shinji did not have to use it today. The UPS showed in the green, the chickens were fed and watered, the pipes looked good, and the LP gas tank was only down to ¾ tank. Once their work was done, they relaxed and talked for a while, and then it was time for bed. During the winter, they had both noticed that since the days were so short, they had started going to be earlier and waking up later. So it was not so uncommon for them to be going to bed at 8:00. Of course, going to bed is a loosed term. More so, it was going to the bedroom. They had not had a fight in a few days and it was high time they had one. Shinji had found long ago that Asuka liked to wrestle and she was pretty darn good at it too. So he made sure that the "fight" turned into a wrestling match. It started just like it always did. Words exchanged, voices raised, then Shinji moved it up a notch when he started trying to get Asuka down on the ground. And from there it only got better. Asuka managed to get both of his wrists out to the sides, then let go of one in the hopes that she could get around him in time to bring the remaining one up behind his back. But Shinji had been in this position before, and so sacrificing personal comfort he quickly ducked his head under his arm, and came around with her arm coming across his chest. With her hand sliding around the circumference of his wrist, it stretched the skin a little and it burned fiercely. She was still behind him which left her in prime pull-over body-slamming posture. He always had trouble getting a hold of something other than hair, but this time he was lucky. She had taken off her kimono and put on a shirt and shorts. He reached up with his free hand and grabbed a wad of shirt, and yanked her over, but she rolled to the side at the last moment and tripped him up, causing him to fall face down on the futon. And now he was in trouble. No sooner did he try to get up, but he felt her applying weight to his back. He had grown more muscular, but there was no way he was going to move Asuka off his back. Especially now that she was putting her knee into the small of it. It hurt, and he knew he was lost, but that was OK. This was her day, let her have it. Asuka leaned down to whisper something in his ear, but bit it instead, and the fight was on again. A while later, exhausted, both teens lay in bed, just listening to each other breathing. Asuka wished that she could show Shinji how much she loved him, but for now it had to wait. They could not risk the repercussions of a decision like that at this point. It would not do to be tied down with a child with so much left to do to prepare for a family, assuming they would ever have one. It was with thoughts like this that Asuka fell asleep. It had been one of the happiest days of her life, and she looked forward to many more like it next to her man.
Addendum A word about Kimonos. I am sure that most people who have watched at least a miniscule amount of anime with kimonos in it can grasp the idea of the kimonos that I described in the above chapter. If you are one of the unfortunate ones who think that the kimono entails only the thin single layer silk robes that are sold in the west you might check out http://web.mit.edu/jpnet/kimono/index.html . This page has a pretty good illustration of how much there is to the Kimono. Another place to look is http://www.jinjapan.org/kidsweb/virtual/kimono/top.html which has some kind of funny little things in it like a funky virtual kimono Flash presentation. If you prefer text only stuff http://mothra.rerf.or.jp/ENG/Hiroshima/Things/79.html. Beware, surfing around this site will lead to a part that details the after affects of the Atomic Bomb drop on Hiroshima. Even though I believe that history should not be censored, it is a bit grisly in a couple of places so if you are squeamish…. Also, this is going to be the last chapter for a little while. I am moving to Hawaii (back to Hawaii actually) on the 9th of July so it will be a while before I secure housing and get my personal goods out there. It will likely be halfway through August before I do so don’t hold your breath. You can always send to my portable e-mail at balthasar10@yahoo.com. I will answer as quickly as I can ( I will have access to public computers at the library). Until I get back on my feet, take care and I will do my best to keep writing good stuff. Talk to everyone later! Chewie |
|
Hosted by
|