I do not own Neon Genesis Evangelion or any of it's characters/places. I was inspired to write this after being woken early by some of the heaviest rain I have ever heard, made worse by the fact that I was in a caravan at the time. I thought to myself 'Oh I'll write it later once I'm awake properly', but I decided that to get the mood I wanted, it would be best to write it while the storm was still going on, which is what I did. Enjoy.

-xxx-

Rei Ayanami let out a quiet whimper as another blinding flash illuminated the room, followed soon after by a low, rumbling sound. She hated thunderstorms. Always had, always would. Which to some would seem odd, considering she used to fight giant monsters for a living and had been created in a genetics lab to end the world. She was currently laying in bed on her side, her arms drawn up in front of herself, and her legs tucked into her stomach. If it weren't for her frown and frequent sobs, one would see her as the very epitome of cuteness. Oddly enough, this was also the opinion of the bed's other occupant, or it least it would have been if they were awake. Rei closed her eyes tightly and whined as another flash of lightning made itself known, lighting up the bedroom for the briefest of moments before throwing it once more into darkness.

Wiping the tears from her eyes using her pyjama sleeve, Rei rolled onto her other side, facing her bed partner. Despite her distressed state, the blue-haired girl's face relaxed slightly upon seeing her lover's sleeping form. Seemingly endless torrents of luscious crimson hair shot out in all directions, cascading over both it's owner's pillow as well as Rei's. Said owner's sharp features were fixed in a relaxed expression, an occasional snore escaping their mouth. Rei found herself becoming lost in her lover's face as she usually did, until another flash of lightning caused her to curl up once again. Once the thunder had sounded, she reopened a single scarlet eye, noting that her red-headed partner was still asleep. Gingerly, Rei reached out with a pale hand, and ever-so-gently nudged her lover's shoulder.

"Asuka…" she whispered, her voice shaking slightly "Asuka…wake up……please…"

Almost instantly, the German's azure eyes opened tiredly, a warm smile tugging at her lips. However, her content expression faded when she noticed Rei's tear-stained cheeks and her anxious eyes.

"Wie gehts?" she asked, slipping into her native tongue by mistake. Upon seeing Rei's blank look, she corrected herself. "Sorry. What's up, Rei?"

"I…I'm frightened…" the blue haired girl replied.

As if punctuating her statement, another flash illuminated her face, causing her to quickly shut her eyes again and try to make herself as small as possible. Asuka looked at her sympathetically, listening to the pounding rain on the windows. She had to admit, it was a rather bad storm, especially for the middle of summer. She smiled once more and proceeded to wrap her strong arms around her red-eyed lover, who instantly returned the embrace, only much tighter.

"It's alright, my little angel…" Asuka cooed, giving Rei's back a gentle stroke through her pyjamas "Nothing can hurt you while I'm here…"

Rei didn't seem convinced, and held onto Asuka even tighter, burying her head within the masses of scarlet hair. The German girl smiled wider and rolled onto her back, so that Rei was now laying atop her. The smaller girl let out a quiet squeak of surprise as she did so, but didn't protest.

"I bet you wish you'd gone through with Third Impact now" Asuka said teasingly "You could've stopped the world from having rain with all that power"

"I do not wish that" Rei stated seriously "If Instrumentality had been implemented, I would not be with you. I chose to disobey orders so that I could remain in this world with you"

"Alright alright" Asuka chuckled, ruffling Rei's stringy blue hair "I was just joking"

Rei just buried her head within Asuka's red mane once more, whimpering at yet another crash of thunder. Asuka smiled and held Rei gently, giving her a reassuring squeeze whenever there was another flash of lightning or rumble of thunder. Asuka stared up at the ceiling for a few minutes, musing at how strange it was - Rei, while able to risk her life in the cockpit of a giant robot while fighting alien monsters, was still frightened by such a trivial thing as a thunderstorm. She giggled quietly to herself and planted a gentle kiss on Rei's hair, careful not to lose herself in Rei's delicious scent and get carried away, though such a thing would probably distract Rei just as well as her other plan.

"I've got an idea" she said, just loud enough for Rei to hear over the hammering rain "I'll tell you a story"

The albino girl looked up, her face childlike in every way possible, right down to her quivering bottom lip.

"You will…?" she asked quietly, gazing directly into Asuka's sapphire eyes.

"Yeah, just let me think of one" the German replied with a wink, causing Rei to give a tiny smile, which was then promptly wiped from her face by another bolt of lightning. "Aha! I've got one, you ready?"

Rei gave the cutest of nods, causing her lover to smile widely.

"Here we go then. Once upon a time, there was a little girl. This girl was very special, as she wasn't born like other girls. Instead, she was made by some very clever but very cruel Toymakers. They thought she would be the perfect doll for them; obedient, trusting, and unemotional. But-" Asuka paused for another rumble of thunder. However, Rei's whimper never came. For a moment, Asuka thought that her lover had fallen asleep, but when she looked down, she was met with a pair of ruby eyes staring back at her intently. She smiled, and continued. "But they didn't realise what effect another of their pawns would have on this girl. The other pawn of which I speak, was brave, heroic, beautiful, intelligent, had good fashion-sense, was never late-"

"Asuka" Rei cut in, her attempt at being stern failing miserably but still getting the message across.

"Sorry!" Asuka yelped, and resumed her fairy-tale voice "Anyway, at first this beautiful pawn detested the doll, hating how she was so cold and emotionless to others. Now, the doll was created for a very special reason. She was supposed to eventually unite all of the people in the world into one single being, all so that the Chief Toymaker could get what he wanted. But, while all of this was going on, the beautiful pawn and the doll had gotten closer to each other, because despite her cold outer shell, it turned out that the Toymakers had put the kindest of hearts within the doll, and all it took was the right person to find it. There was another pawn around while this was happening, the son of the Chief Toymaker, but he got too damn weird and so the beautiful pawn kept him away from the doll, whom she had begun to have feelings for. When the time came for the evil Toymakers' plan to be carried out, the doll refused. They ordered her again and again, but she just said no, and that she wished to stay with the beautiful pawn, whom she had fallen in love with. And so, to the Toymakers' dismay, the doll and the pawn lived happily ever after"

Asuka yawned quietly, and took a gulp of water from the glass upon her bedside table.

"Well Rei, what did you think?" she asked, looking down at her lover.

But there was no reply; save for the quiet snores escaping from the albino girl's smiling lips. Asuka grinned at her sleeping lover, and placed another kiss atop her blue-haired head, before snuggling into the pale girl and closing her eyes.

"Sweet dreams my angel…" she whispered "I love you, Rei…"

Outside, the rain began to subside to a tiny pitter-patter, the sun just beginning to peak over the buildings, their surfaces shiny from the water that still resided there. The howling wind slowed to barely more than a whisper. The birds began to sing, poking their heads from within their nests. A few early morning joggers set out for a run before work or school. And inside an apartment near the city-centre, the only sound that could be heard was the heavy breathing of two young women, one atop the other, eternally together.

-xxx-

Hehe, so what do we think? Should I write another story in this style? And if so, on what theme? I'm definitely glad I wrote it during the storm rather than after, as I woke up nearly 6 hours later and it was very warm and very sunny. By the way, those waiting for an update on Crystalline Rebirth – it's being written, just taking slightly longer than expected XD

Anyhoo, please review!