"E... excuse me."

The woman behind the desk looked up. – "Yes?"

"I'm, uh... I'm looking for a patient I heard is in this hospital."

"I see. One moment, please..." – She tapped something on her keyboard. – "What's the name of your acquaintance?"

"Suzuhara, ma'am." – Shinji replied, his nervousness evident to all.

After nearly a minute of searching, the receptionist spoke up. – "Room 421. Go to the fourth floor and turn right."

"Thank you." – he replied before moving on.

As the elevator took him up, his nervousness intensified further. Not because of being among people; he got used to that a while ago. No, it was the reason behind his very presence in the hospital.

"Hey, Shinji." – spoke up Tōji, breaking the uncharacteristic silence he held all day.

For one, Shinji was actually grateful someone abruptly talked to him, what with talking being a much better alternative to the glare he received from his friend since they met at school in the morning. – "What is it?"

"Ya have a day off anytime soon?"

"Uh... I think so. Why?"

"Mah sister wants ta see ya."

And so here he was, on his way to visiting someone he put into the hospital with his own incompetence.

A girl, nonetheless. No pressure whatsoever, no siree.

Now was the time he finally got to silently curse his own insecurity with people. He didn't even know anything about her, other than an offhand comment from Kensuke that she's an elementary schooler. And he didn't even bother to ask, a negligence that finally bit him in the ass.

When it came to interacting with a member of the opposite sex, be of any age, Shinji would rather do what he did last week: get boiled alive in his Eva's entry plug by the fifth Angel. He only hoped she wouldn't be angry because he didn't bring anything for her. What kind of get-well present would one bring for an elementary schooler, anyway?

He found Room 421 quickly; it wasn't getting lost that took him a long time. It was his hesitation at seeing the door wide open.

Taking a deep breath, he stepped through the door.

The first thing he noticed was that the room only had a single bed. The second was the person sitting on it.

From Kensuke's remark, he fully expected to find a child. What he didn't expect in the slightest was a teenager.

She didn't look very old; that was a given, seeing that she had an older brother aged fourteen. From what little the baggy hospital gown and the long waterfall of brown hair allowed to see, she was well into puberty: nowhere as filled-out as some of his classmates but she was already on her way of growing up.

Then the mass of hair shifted as she looked at him with the cutest brown eyes Shinji had ever seen. – "Hey there."

Shinji suddenly found his throat constricting in response to her gaze.

The girl raised an eyebrow at his silence. – "Did niihan scare you that much?" – she asked with a Kansai accent much softer than Tōji's. – "Wait 'till I get my hands on him..."

"No! I, uh..." – Again, his speech center failed him.

She shook her head with a smirk. – "Just kidding; come in."

Long ago, Shinji found it far easier to do something if he was being told to do; it took having to choose out of his hands and removed any possibility of being held responsible (that's what he told himself, anyway). With nothing else to do, he walked in and stood next to the bed.

She looked at him quizzically. – "Are you goin' to stand?"

"I, uh..." – he stuttered. – "There's no chair."

"Just sit on the bed, then."

After a momentary hesitation, Shinji swallowed and once again did as he was being told.

"Thanks for coming." – he heard after a while.

He only nodded at first, taking his time at psyching himself up for what he never thought would happen in his lifetime: him having informal conversation with a girl. – "How's the, uh... hospital?"

She shrugged. – "Whenever I'm not eating the sorry excuse for food they give out here, I'm borin' my head off. I mean, it's nice when niihan comes but he can't be here all the time, you know?"

"I'm... sorry for your injury." – he started, hazarding a look towards her face.

What he saw there almost made him flee on the spot. The formerly friendly smile turned into a frown of annoyance, reinforced by a glare that Shinji wasn't entirely convinced couldn't melt his Eva's armor. – "Let me guess: that ahō forgot to tell you that I said I'm not angry, didn't he?" – she growled in a tone that made a berserk Unit-01 sound downright motherly.

Shinji's mouth immediately locked up again. – "I-I-I-I, uh... I mean, he told me!"

As quickly as it came, the annoyance evaporated and went back into a cheerful smile. – "Then there's nothin' to apologize for!"

'I can see why would Tōji be so henpecked about her... she's scary.' Much scarier than her brother, Shinji thought. – "Still, I'm sorry. If it weren't for me, you wouldn't be in the hospital."

"How do you know that? I didn't see what dislodged the debris; maybe it wasn't even you and if it was, you had no way of knowin' I'd be there." – she pointed out.

For his part, Shinji didn't feel much better. – "I-if you say so, Suzuhara-san."

She shook her head with vigor. – "None of that; I'm thirteen, not thirty. Call me Sakura."

Having never been asked by a girl to call them by first name, the name rolled off Shinji's tongue not unlike something from an alien language. – "Alright... S-Sakura-san."

She nodded. – "Still not perfect but better."

Whatever else she might've wanted to say died in her throat when a nurse appeared in the doorway. – "Sakura-chan, it's check-up time."

Sakura's face blanched. – "Already?" – She momentarily looked at Shinji, then back at the nurse. – "Uh, could you give me a minute here?"

The nurse glanced at the boy and smiled. – "Of course."

As soon as the adult was gone, Sakura turned back to Shinji. – "Listen... you got here at a bad time right now but, uh... could you come by again tomorrow?"

Shinji shook his head. – "Sorry... tomorrow's not good. How about the day after?" – He still had no idea what exactly was Misato's plan she referred to as 'a little trip'. All he knew is that it involved a ship.

"That's good too. The doctors always see me at the same time each day so if you come here earlier..." – she trailed off, suddenly hesitant. – "That is... if you have time."

Shinji looked down. – "I don't want to impose..." – he murmured...

...only to feel her hand grasping his.

He immediately blushed at the intimate gesture, finding himself unable to look her in the eye again.

Which is why he failed to notice she was blushing as well. – "It's not imposition if you're invited." – she said quietly. – "And don't listen to a single word niihan says about me 'cause he's stupid."

When the nurse later came back, Sakura already resigned herself to another round of daily poking and prodding.

She only snapped back to reality when she heard the woman's voice. – "Boyfriend of yours?"

"No." – As his blushing image appeared in her mind however, Sakura smiled. 'But he's still cute.'

In case anyone is wondering, Sakura is the canonical name of Tōji's sister, revealed in Rebuild 3.0. In the film, she's voiced by Miyuki Sawashiro.

This situation takes place in the original (non-Rebuild) Evaverse where she never appeared on-screen, other than a statement from Kensuke that she goes to an elementary school. I originally thought her actual age was never mentioned until my very first reviewer pointed out that my habit of skipping recap episodes backfired since episode 14 does mention she's in second grade. So by having her go to the final year of her school (as shipping a 14-year old boy with a prepubescent girl as per her canon age would be kinda hard to do without making either Shinji look like a pedophile or Sakura look like an expy of Rin Kokonoe), I placed this into AU territory.

I hope this story starts a trend as I personally see Shinji/Sakura as much more believable and likely than, say, Shinji/Maya.

For the record, the title is a pun on the characters' names: Sakura means 'cherry blossom' in Japanese while one of the possible meanings of Ikari is 'wrath', depending on the kanji used to write it.