Another name for this story could be: The Asuka Langley Soryu Raising Project. But I have a fetish for one-word story titles, so that didn't happen xD This story is slightly based on, yes you guessed it, The Shinji Ikari Raising Project! The manga, although the video game will have its references scattered around the story, here and there. Shinji starts out a lot more upbeat than he would normally be, but there is a reason for that, so bear with me!

The gentle rays of the morning sun peeked through the small gap in the curtain, reflecting the slowly falling dust floating lazily to the floor. The light managed to reach the face of a teenage boy who was fast asleep. A peaceful expression was etched on his face as he continued to enjoy a pleasant dream.

Mere inches away from him, a girl was breathing heavily, a furious, bright red blush on her face. She had light brown hair that she normally kept tied in twintails, but having woken up not that long ago, it lay tousled as she leaned over the sleeping boy, wrestling with her emotions. Her soft blue eyes looked over his face as loose strands of her hair fell over his nose and cheek.

She was debating whether or not to wake him normally, as was her intention when she first walked into this room, or to wake him with a raunchy morning kiss. Compounding the problem was the fact that she had only recently realised, within the last week or so, that she was madly in love with this boy. The soul with the name Shinji Ikari had been her childhood friend since forever, but her feelings had been evolving, growing and growing to the point where she could no longer deny that the spell had been cast.

She leaned in closer, close enough that she could feel his gentle breathing tickling the tip of her nose. Her mind was pretty much made up. Edging closer and closer to the prize, she began to close her eyes as she readied herself. This was going to be her first kiss.

Nanometres away from Shinji's lips, she was seconds away from success when a grouchy voice echoed from the other room.

"Asuka! How long does it take to wake a teenage boy? You're both gonna be late for school!"

Their guardian, Misato Katsuragi, could be heard swigging a morning beer as she busied herself getting ready. Asuka could hear footsteps moving closer to the door, causing her to panic.

"Just give me a second Misato!" Sighing with regret, she began to shake her unrequited love's shoulder until groaning could be heard.

"Just another couple minutes, please..."

"No can do Baka. We gotta get breakfast going. Hell, even Misato's awake before you today." Standing up, she made for the door. One of Shinji's eyelids cracked open, catching a glimpse of Asuka wearing a simple yellow vest top and short shorts that left very little to the imagination. As she walked out of his room, he allowed himself a small grin. He had been awake the whole time since Asuka first entered the room, keeping it secret that he was already conscious. He was aware that Asuka had been doing strange things like this for a while, but he wasn't yet quite sure how to deal with it. The girl baffled his mind. Was she in heat? He was sure if he mentioned the idea, he'd meet the receiving end of some sharp object and be a lot worse off for it. Was she in love? With him?

Making a sound somewhere between a snort and a chuckle, Shinji got out of bed and began to pull on his regular school clothes. He was about as attractive as a mouse, and had the charisma of a fart, there was no way in hell she was attracted to him.

But the fact was, mere moments ago, the beautiful half-European bombshell of a girl he had lived with for a considerably long time now had tried to kiss him. He had never been this confused in his entire life.

As he walked out of the room, he yawned again, already exhausted from having to think so hard this early in the morning.

"What do people want for breakfast?"

In response to his question directed to the household at large, Asuka ran out of the kitchen, now wearing her regular school uniform. Forcing a slice of toast into his mouth, she ran into her room whilst yelling at him.

"There's no time! We've overslept, we gotta get to school, asap!"

"Wait, what about breakfast?!" A horrified Misato sounded out her fears from her bedroom. If there was no time to make something for her, she would have to make herself something. An apocalyptic scenario if there ever was one.

"Don't you start your new job today? Aren't you late?" Asuka's muffled voice echoed from her bedroom. Several seconds of silence echoed throughout the house before...

"OH SHIT, I'M LATE!"

Shinji grinned as he wandered into his bedroom to grab his bag. First day back at school for the new semester and things were going fabulously. As he made his way to the door, the two female cohabitants barrelled out their respective bedrooms, Asuka grabbing his arm on the way out of the house, half-eaten toast hanging on for dear life as it bounced wildly from the corner of her mouth.

"Have a good day guys, watch the road, don't get hit by cars or anything." Misato yelled from her own vehicle's window as she pumped the ignition. Seconds later, she was racing down the road, speed limits be damned in their entirety.

"The only car we're going to have to worry about on the roads is that damned Alpine she drives." Asuka breathed as they both ran towards the station. After a lengthy ten minute jog to the station, they touched through the station gates with their cards and just barely made the train as the doors began to close.

"That... was... too close..." Asuka panted as she caught her breath. Shinji nodded in agreement, eyes fixed to the floor as his lungs stopped trying to kill him. He slowly stood up, catching his balance, when his first trial of the morning began by fire.

His beautiful roommate was sweating from all the running they'd just finished in the sweltering Japanese summer heat, causing her white shirt to look a little see-through in certain areas. And amongst that, it seems like they had been in far too much of a hurry for her to remember to wear a bra...

He felt his face ignite as a hot, red flush crawled up his face. There was a fair amount of people crowded onto this train, and one look at the wrong angle, and Asuka might begin to be considered an exhibitionist.

"Asuka..." He whispered frantically. "Come here!"

He received a look of confused anger for his trouble, but he didn't really care about her temper at the moment. Motioning with his hand, Asuka eventually came over to his side. He prayed to every god that would listen to protect him from the consequences of his forthcoming actions, and quickly wrapped his arms around the German girl. Her face lit up crimson as she began to try and push herself away, she wasn't anywhere near mentally prepared for Shinji's sudden forwardness.

"What the hell are you doing, idiot Shinji!?"

"You appear to have a slight wardrobe malfunction, and I'm protecting you from the lecherous idiots that share our train."

"I count you as one of those idiots as well, asshole! The hell are you talking about, 'wardrobe malfunction'?" Asuka looked down at her dress, before quickly realising Shinji had made the right, if unexpected move.

"You have got to be joking..."

"See?" Shinji grinned. "For my actions in the line of duty, I deserve immunity from concussion after this is all over."

"You'll be lucky not to get my foot up your ass as soon as we get off this damn train." Asuka mumbled as she held onto Shinji's shirt. "Don't you dare move until then. I hope to god Hikari's got a spare bra I can steal..."

"Will that even fit?"

"What in the hell are you trying to say Ikari!? Hikari and me are roughly the same size..."

"Fantastic, I now know roughly the bra size of our class president." Shinji grinned as he thought of informing Toji when he survived this particular hell.

"Why do you know my bra size!?" Asuka hissed, her face could boil water instantly. "Asshole! Pervert!" She began beating his chest angrily.

"Hey, who does all of the washing in our house?"

"Fair point, but that doesn't mean you have to memorise this stuff!"

"To be fair, I wash all of the clothes so often, I could recite Misato and your sizes from memory easily. Let me think, I'm sure you're something like a B-cup, and your..." A firm grasp on his ear made for an abrupt punctuation.

"Try telling the whole damn train Shinji, see what happens." The man standing behind Asuka shifted uncomfortably. The pain increased on Shinji's ear, and only stopped after a sharp yelp of pain escaped his lips.

"I'm sorry!" He half-meant it too. Back in the day, he had been too nervous to even talk to Asuka. Being able to tease her like his was something out of a dream, and he wanted to relish every second of it. Rolling her eyes, Asuka buried her head into his chest, partly to escape their confounding situation, but partly as a way to enjoy Shinji's scent under pretense.

"Stupid idiot..." She mumbled to herself.

What felt like an entirely too-short eternity to them both later, they arrived at their stop, after which they raced to their classroom, just making it in the nick of time. After a hasty conversation with the class president, Asuka and Hikari quickly dashed for the girls locker room, returning with a satisfied smile on both girls faces. Asuka's smile quickly turned to irritation after spotting Shinji's knowing grin and sat down on her chair, her mood in a strange place between sour and bashful after the events of the morning replayed in her head. Caught up in her bubbly daydream, she didn't even notice as their usual, old and frail homeroom teacher wandered in.

"Good morning class. I have an announcement. I may have mentioned to everyone last week how this class would be getting a new homeroom teacher soon, and I am pleased to announced she has arrived, albeit five minutes late for her first day." The class giggled in response, with Shinji agreeing with the crowd. Asuka, on the other hand, had a sudden sinking feeling that she couldn't quite explain.

"Without further ado, if you would please, Miss..."

"Katsuragi." A familiar voice echoed from the front of the class as an equally similar head of purple hair walked pridefully into their classroom. Their guardian, looking slightly tousled after what must have been plenty of near-death experiences with other vehicles, was standing at the front of the class, grinning directly at her two roommates.

"Good morning class, I'm sorry for the delay. As mentioned before, my name is Misato Katsuragi, and starting today, I'm going to be your new homeroom teacher! I hope we can all get along and have an awesome year together!" No sooner had she stopped talking then all the boys in the class erupted into cheers. The cheers stopped quickly however, when two indignantly loud voices cut through all of the noise and screamed as loud as they could.

"YOU COULD'VE GIVEN US A LIFT EARLIER!"

Hello!

As mentioned above, this story is slightly based on The Shinji Ikari Raising Project manga series by Takahashi Osamu. If you like your Evangelion stories more romantic-comedy then based on perpetual angst and depression, then you should definitely give it a read.

If only to see the mind-blowing difference between the original Gendo Ikari and the manga's version. It's just...

Go read it, you'll see what I mean.

Anyway, if you enjoyed the story, check out the links in my profile! I'm up to all sorts of other projects, like YouTube Abridged series, Artwork and even anime-themed Japanese lessons!

You can find everything on the Facebook links posted there.

Have an awesome day!