The original Disclaimer:
Okay folks. This is a really odd one for me. I'd just
finished a marathon session of Neon Genesis Evangelion (Vol
1-5, & 7) and I felt like I really needed to write a fic
about this series because it's so GREAT!
So for some odd reason, I ended up writing something
where I tried to keep within the boundaries of the original
series. Which is really unusual for me because my work is
largely composed of fusions, alternate universes and
crossovers all series. Of course, I think I've gone pretty
off tangent by around the end, but I hope people can tell
me what they think.
This occurs between episodes 14 and 15.
C&C can be public or private (scriviner@yahoo.com)
any of it would be appreciated.
The new and improved disclaimer:
Well, after all this time, I figured I'd give this a once-
over and repost it online. This is version 3 now of this
fic. Which to my surprise, I apparently haven't done
anything to since 1997. Anyway, I've started getting back
into writing fics, so I hope you enjoy.
Two Hearts of One Mind.
A Neon Genesis Evangelion fanfic by the Scriviner
Piloting an Eva, a multi-ton, several story high,
semi-biological mecha designed for killing angels (which it
must be noted are nothing at all like the winged humanoid
figures one expects from the New Testament, but more like
the Old Testament angels, swift and terrible), would be a
very dangerous job for anyone, especially so for fourteen-
year-olds kids, who were the only ones who could mentally
interface with the Evas to control them in the first place.
It's hardly surprising that the pilots get injured as a
matter of course. This can range anywhere from getting
slightly banged up when the Eva gets knocked into a wall,
all the way up to the potential for some serious brain
death if the pilot's mind gets fried by the feedback from
the Eva's nerve linkages. And that's just during training.
Actual combat was far worse.
These, however, were not the thoughts going through
Shinji Ikari's head at the moment. He was mostly annoyed at
the dull ringing in aforementioned head and wondering why
the painkillers they'd issued him hadn't taken effect yet.
It wasn't anything really serious... it was more
embarrassing than anything else. He hadn't paid too much
attention when he stepped out of the entry plug and had
managed to trip, incidentally fetching him a good hard
smack upside the head. That wouldn't really have been all
that bad, since it was several hours ago and most of the
pain had faded, but that wasn't the worst part of it.
It was his fellow Eva pilot, sometime combat backup
and flatmate (though not by choice), Asuka Langley Soryu,
who was driving him nuts. The two of them were sprawled on
the two couches in almost identical positions watching TV.
Asuka, however, had only stopped laughing about how stupid
he'd been and how she'd never have made such a dumb
mistake, to take the occasional breath.
It had long since passed the point where it was merely
annoying to where it was now. It was really, really, REALLY
annoying. Then again, she was probably doing it to annoy
him in the first place. Trouble was it was working. On the
upshot, she was too busy snickering to pay attention to
what was on the TV, so Shinji was watching the program of
his choice.
Both of them were fairly slender fourteen year-olds.
Shinji's face was entirely too serious for someone his age
and he had a thoughtful, quiet air about him. Asuka, on the
other hand, was already starting to fill out and was
showing definite signs of becoming devastatingly gorgeous
when the time came. Her entire attitude gave the impression
that as far as she was concerned, the whole world was a
stage and she was the female lead. It's not surprising that
the phrase 'best of terms' could hardly be applied to them,
unless preceded by the words 'not on the'.
Shinji kept his attention focused on the TV, using it
mostly to help him tune Asuka out. He raised his remote to
change the channel just as Asuka raised her own remote. The
screen flickered briefly between a history documentary and
a soap opera then back. Shinji didn't have the energy to
even turn to glare at her- she however obviously did.
"Hey! Are you even listening to me?" she asked,
exasperated at Shinji's utter lack of reaction.
Three hours straight of insults and laughing were
more than enough to wear away at his considerable reserves
of patience. The headache wasn't helping much, either.
Shinji didn't even turn to look at her, but replied in a
bored tone, "Sorry, I wasn't." He cringed slightly, at the
expression on her face, but he had a moment of... something
and before he could stop himself added, "I just didn't have
the heart to tell you to stop. You seemed like you were
enjoying listening to yourself."
"You lousy idiot!" Asuka fumed, changing the channel
back to her soap, "I don't know why they bother keeping
your around!"
"The feeling's mutual!" he shot back, almost
automatically, bringing the documentary back on the screen.
"Do you mind?! I'm trying to watch!" Asuka yelled at
him, switching back to the soap opera. For some reason she
couldn't put her finger on, he was being particularly
annoying today.
"So am I!" He flicked the channel change button on
his remote at the exact moment Asuka flicked her own. The
result was a cooking show with a man with a fake moustache
and a fake Italian accent showing people what to do with
synthetic meatballs and instant sauce.
"That reminds me-," Both said at the same time. They
glared at each other for a moment.
Asuka continued, "Where is Misato anyway? It's her
turn to cook dinner. Not that I'm really looking forward to
it," she added in a low mutter.
Major Misato Kitsuragi was Asuka and Shinji's token
'adult-in-charge', who paid the rent and also lived in that
apartment. She was Director of Operations for NERV, the
organization that created, owned and maintained the Evas.
NERV, through judicious political maneuvering was in fact
largely in charge of the war against the Angels, despite
the UN's preferences.
By the mere fact that Misato had managed to attain
her position, she hadproof enough that she was a very
competent and intelligent woman. Publicly at least- at home
she had beer for breakfast, was an absolute slob and lived
off of beer, instant food and takeout more often than not.
As a result, both Shinji and Asuka suffered because of it.
Someone who belches loudly, drinks beer as if it were water
and scratches herself during dinner was not exactly an
ideal companion, but it beat eating alone.
Shinji shrugged and turned to look at his watch, an
expression of concern on his face. "She usually calls if
she's going to be this late... maybe I ought to call her
office..."
Asuka sniffed at him from across the living room.
"Dummy. They haven't restored phone service to our
celphones or this district since last week's battle."
Shinji frowned at her. She always knew the right
thing to say to annoy him. "There's no need to be so rude
about it," he replied, raising his voice a little.
Asuka merely glared at him disapprovingly. Shinji
glared back for a moment, but he didn't really have the
energy for it. He collapsed back onto the couch and
muttered, "She's probably got some extra work to do."
"You don't suppose there's another angel attack?"
Asuka asked, her voice oddly enthusiastic.
She wants another chance to show off what a hot-shot pilot
she is, Shinji thought with a sigh. "I think we'd have heard
the alert already." Shinji replied.
Asuka sighed. "Well, I'm starving. I don't think I
can wait for her much longer. I think there's still two TV
dinners in the back of the freezer." Her expression became
thoughtful, "Actually, I think that's all we've got
left..."
"Are you sure they're not the ones that Misato stuck
in there?" Shinji asked tentatively.
"The ones from three weeks ago?" Asuka asked, pulling
a face. "No I don't think so. These ones are still in their
wrappers."
"Oh. Good." Shinji replied, a look of distaste on his
face. "Well, they've got to be better than the stuff Misato
tried to feed us the other night."
His companion grimaced openly. "Her pseudo-spaghetti?
The instant beef stew she added tomato paste and wasabe
flavored potato chips to before she spread it on the
instant soba noddles? Yuk... Even Pen-Pen wouldn't eat it."
Shinji smiled slightly. Pen-Pen was their fellow
flatmate, even if he slept in the fridge, at least he
picked up after himself. He was a hot spring penguin whom
Misato had acquired through circumstances that had never
been made absolutely clear to either of them. While Pen-Pen
had developed a cast iron stomach from all of Misato's
various culinary disasters, even he had his limits.
"I can't understand how she manages to make instant
food taste bad. It's incredible," Asuka continued. Her
stomach gave a warning grumble causing her to wince. "I am
starving..."
"Uh huh." Shinji replied absently, and without too
much sympathy. He turned his attention back to the TV.
"So what are you waiting for Shinji?" Asuka demanded,
"Why don't you go pop those dinners in the microwave?"
"Me?" Shinji frowned, turning to face Asuka, "You're
closer to the kitchen."
"By all of five feet!" Asuka shot back, "I'm too weak
from hunger to move..." She groaned dramatically.
"You're the one who's so hungry." Shinji pointed out.
Almost as if on cue, his own stomach gave a rumble.
Asuka laughed and pointed at Shinji's midsection,
"Looks like I'm not the only one!"
Shinji sighed and got up off the couch, "Fine. I'm
getting my dinner."
"Make sure you keep mine in for an extra fifteen
seconds! I want to make sure it gets heated through!" Asuka
called after him as he passed through the doorway.
"Who said anything about your dinner? I'm just
getting mine." Shinji muttered as he walked away. He was
still annoyed at her.
"Why you..!" Asuka cried, hurling a throw pillow at
him as he ducked into the hallway. Asuka held out for all
of thirty seconds before the various warning noises her
digestive system was giving her spurred her out of her
comfortable sprawl.
The two of them were in the process of chipping away
at the ice in the freezer which held their TV dinners. Pen
Pen looked at the two of them curiously. He was just
waiting for his two human roommates to get HIS dinner ready
so he could take a nap, when the doorbell rang.
"I'll get it." Shinji said wiping some sweat away
from his forehead.
Asuka glared at him for a moment as though he were
using the doorbell as an excuse to slack off, then went
back to work on the ice with the knife.
He opened the door and found, to his surprise, Rei
standing outside with a neutral expression on her face. Rei
was the first of the Eva pilots that NERV found... or
perhaps not. The situation was terribly complicated. To put
it bluntly, Rei, in most people's opinions was a decidedly
strange girl. There was something strangely intense and, at
the same time, resigned about her, which made her very
difficult to approach. Shinji knew it well.
She had an overnight bag on one shoulder. He wasn't
all too surprised that she was still wearing her school
uniform. He'd never seen her in anything but that outside
of the base or PE class.
"Um... Ayanami, this is a surprise."
Rei glanced down for a moment, noting the knife which
Shinji still held in hand without expression before saying
in a soft monotone, "Major Katsuragi said something came up
at the office. She won't be home until early tomorrow
morning. I've been ordered to keep you and Soryu company."
That was another surprise. Shinji stepped away from
the door and made a vague gesture to come in, "Oh. Um...
sure."
Rei stepped into the house without acknowledging him
further. Shinji watched her walk past him, wondering why
Misato told her to stay with them tonight... his mind
wandered a bit on that topic, before he realized he was
gawking at Rei who was now looking back at him.
"Better close the door." She told him.
"Er... right..." Shinji replied, embarrassed at
having been caught staring.
"Ah-HAH!" Asuka's voice cried out happily from the
kitchen. "I got em free, Shinji! Dinner in a minute or so!"
"Have you eaten yet, Rei?" Shinji asked tentatively.
She was still staring at him and he growing very
uncomfortable.
"No." Rei said softly.
Shinji's reply was lost as Asuka burst in. "So who
was it?" Asuka inquired. She caught sight of Rei, who
seemed to be watching a mildly squirming Shinji. She
rolled her eyes and sighed. Boys, constantly thinking
with their hormones.
"Oh. It's you." Asuka didn't sound too enthusiastic.
Rei told her almost exactly the same message she gave
Shinji, in the same monotone, "Major Katsuragi said
something came up at the office. She won't be home until
tomorrow at noon. I've been ordered to keep you and Ikari
company."
Asuka sniffed and raised an eyebrow. "Oh... I guess
Misato doesn't trust Shinji anymore after what happened the
last time we got left alone together so she sent a
chaperone!"
Shinji blushed and frowned at Asuka, "Nothing
happened!"
"You still tried to kiss me, you lech!" Asuka shot
back.
"I am not a lech!"
"Yes you are!"
Shinji gave a disgusted snort, dropping the knife on
the counter next to the door. He blushed even more
furiously as he stalked off to the kitchen.
"Where do you think you're going, pervert?" Asuka
demanded. "The food's not ready yet!"
"I'm heating up some water for instant ramen."
Shinji replied. "Give the other TV dinner to Rei."
Asuka jerked a thumb at the impassive Rei, as she
called back. "Miss Picky here doesn't eat meat! Those're
Salisbury steak TV dinners!"
"It's not like there's any real meat in those
things." Shinji shrugged.
Rei merely watched Shinji leave.
Asuka turned to look at Rei, whose expression hadn't
changed during the entire exchange. Asuka's mouth
quirked. she'd had her suspicions regarding Shinji and
Rei for a while now: she was pretty sure the Shinji had a
thing for Rei. It was hard for someone as empathic as an
Eva pilot to live with someone and NOT pick up a little on
what they thought about. Rei hadn't shown any sort of
interest in Shinji, but she was always like that... her
train of thought got derailed suddenly.
"Why did you call him a pervert?" Rei asked, her tone
still soft and expressionless save for a mild puzzlement.
"Well, Duh!" Asuka replied, "Weren't you listening?
He tried to kiss me!"
"So?" Rei persisted.
"SO?! What do you mean 'so'?! Who knows what else he
would've done to me in my sleep if he'd succeeded in
kissing me?!!" Asuka gesticulated wildly.
Rei replied, "I'm sure he would know," as she
followed Shinji to the kitchen.
"Oooooh!" Asuka groaned angrily. Rei was simply
impossible to talk to. Sometimes she thought that Rei and
Shinji were conspiring against her- after all, they knew
that SHE was better then both of them combined. She gave
herself a little grin, satisfied that the explanation for
their rude behavior was simply jealousy and followed her
fellow pilots to have dinner.
"Well..." Asuka said as she sprawled on the couch
again, dinner being happily digested, "That wasn't too
bad..."
Shinji lounged on the other couch, also somewhat
full, "I guess."
Rei sat primly on the easy chair and didn't say
anything. The food they'd given her had not only tasted
like cardboard, it had looked a bit like it too, so she'd
mostly given the hamburger to Shinji and eaten around the
peas and carrots. He had offered her some of the ramen,
which promptly set Asuka off on some inspired teasing about
the two of them sharing food. Shinji blushed, but Rei
seemed to make a point of ignoring her.
Rei kept her eyes on the TV show the three of them
were watching. It was some sort of game show. It wasn't
particularly good, but none of them particularly felt like
changing the channel. All three sighed at the same time.
"This is boring..." Asuka said after a few moments.
"It's nearly over anyway..." Shinji replied.
"I can't work up any enthusiasm over whether or not
this guy manages to win the house or not. Why are we even
watching this?" Asuka complained.
"There's nothing better on."
"That does it then, I'm sleeping." Asuka announced as
she got up off the couch and stretched. Shinji glanced at
her quickly without really thinking about it. She might be
annoying, but he had to admit she was definitely pretty.
"And don't get any ideas about sneaking into my room,
Ikari!" Asuka added, waggling a finger in his general
direction.
Shinji rolled his eyes, still not completely over his
earlier annoyance at her. "I wasn't planning on it." He
made it sound as if wild horses couldn't drag him into that
room.
She turned her nose up at him and with a flip of her
hair she was out the doorway.
Shinji muttered to himself, "Sometimes I wish NERV
never found her."
Rei asked suddenly, still in her soft voice, "Would
you rather it had been just the two of us?"
He turned to face her, a little surprised not only at
how the question was worded, but that Rei was showing signs
of curiosity at all, and the fact that he hadn't intended
for her to hear it. "Um... that's not quite what I meant I
guess... I just wish they'd gotten someone more... I don't
know... um... easy to get along with?"
Shinji noted the subtle change in Rei. He was one of
a very short list of people who'd spent any considerable
amount of time with Rei and it was possible for him to read
some of her moods, difficult though it was. Her eyes
brightened slightly and the corners of her mouth almost
curled up. She asked in her same quiet monotone, but Shinji
thought he heard a hint of amusement, "Someone like me?"
"Er..." Shinji had no reply for that. He stretched
his arms up over his head for a moment at the precise
moment that Rei did too, both of them stifling yawns. He
felt the oddest sensation... it almost felt like the
sensations he'd received when he was inside her Eva and
trying to synchronize with it... the way it felt just
before her Eva had gone berserk...
That had been one of the less pleasant instances
during the testing they'd had to endure as pilots... they
tried to match their thought patterns to the other pilot's
Eva as a precaution, in case one of them had to take the
other's Eva. Oddly enough they called it the 'mutual
compatibility' experiment. Rei had synchronized with almost
no trouble at all with Shinji's Eva, with an unexpected
side effect of opening some of Shinji's memories to her,
through the Eva... Shinji, however, did not prove quite so
lucky in Her Eva and ended up suffering a mental backlash
which wiped out all impressions he'd gotten from her...
"Well?" Rei persisted. Shinji's eyes widened
somewhat. Rei's behavior was definitely starting to make
him uneasy.
Asuka ducked her head into the living room again...
jolting Shinji out of whatever state he was in. She had
changed into a long T-shirt and she was frowning
suspiciously, "I don't believe my ears... are you two
flirting?"
"Hey! That's not it at all!" Shinji cried. Rei's
expression neither confirmed nor denied.
"Trust me, Ayanami... You're better off without this
guy. He's probably just waiting for you to doze off so he
can rip your clothes off or something..." Asuka said
viciously.
"Would you quit that, Asuka?!" Shinji yelled at her,
blushing both at the embarrassment and the mental image
that THAT had brought up.
"Why would he do that?" Rei inquired quietly.
Asuka rolled her eyes, "What planet are you from,
Ayanami? So he can see your naked body! That's what all of
these perverts think about all the time."
Rei's expression had slipped back to neutral. "But
he's already seen me without clothes on. Why should it
matter if he sees it again?"
Asuka's jaw dropped. Shinji's face reddened
considerably. Asuka marched over to the couch, grabbing a
throw pillow on her way with which she began to beat on
Shinji's head. "You lecherous, perverted, filthy minded...
BOY!"
"OW! Hey, cut that out! Stop! It was an... OW!
Accident! Argh!" Shinji held his hands up to try and ward
Asuka off.
"I don't believe it! You pervert!! Take this! And
THIS!" She proceeded to brutally beat on his still ringing
head with the throw pillow. "How dare you try to take
advantage of a woman?! Even if it is Wondergirl!"
Rei watched, mildly confused at it all. Interaction
with other people and understanding them were never her
strong suits, "What are you doing?"
Asuka stopped long enough to give Rei a puzzled
glance. "Wha? Doesn't it bother you that he looked at you
while you were naked?!"
Rei gave her head a very small shake, "No."
Asuka's eyes grew wide as she passed her gaze from
Rei to Shinji then back, "You don't mean to say that the
two of you've been sleeping toge...?" She couldn't bring
herself to complete the sentence... she couldn't really
understand why... it wasn't even as if she was getting
jealous at all... not that she'd admit it if she were.
Which she wasn't... really... and if she said it to herself
often enough she might believe it. It was the fact that
Ayanami was taking it all so ridiculously calmly that Asuka
felt she had to get mad on Ayanami's behalf... which made
her feel twice as weird since she was now trying to stand
up for a girl she disliked intensely...
"That's not it either, Asuka..." Shinji grumbled from
the couch, still blushing furiously, but now rubbing his
head. His headache wasn't helping him think clearly, "It
was an accident, really..."
"It was not his fault he lost his balance and landed
on me either." Rei volunteered quietly. Shinji acked as
Asuka glared at him and reached for the remote control,
holding it threateningly.
"This was while you were naked?" Asuka asked, still
very much confused, but quite ready to beat the daylights
out of Shinji for it regardless.
Shinji looked as if he wanted to crawl under a rock
somewhere... he'd hoped that she wouldn't talk about the
incident, but here she was actually telling Asuka! Asuka of
all people! It was almost as if Rei was trying to cause
trouble!
Rei nodded, expression still totally neutral, but her
eyes had fallen on Shinji again.
Asuka whirled to face the cringing Shinji, "What the
heck were you doing with Ayanami while she was naked?!"
Shinji... pushed to the limit, snapped back, "What
business is it of yours if I was naked with Ayanami?! Er...
I mean... she was... er..." Unfortunately... anger and a
nasty headache also have the tendency to make people slip
their words up sometimes...
Asuka's jaw dropped. Again. Her fury went from red
hot to ice cold in a matter of moments. "Well... I don't
care how you two are going to go around denying this." She
threw the remote over her shoulder and looked down her nose
at the two of them, "It's none of my business if you and
she are going to do some perverse, disgusting and utterly
immoral act. Why am I even bothering?"
Rei was suspiciously silent.
"But..." Shinji tried to explain... if any of this
got back to Misato... or worse to his father. This would
not be good...
Asuka coolly walked out of the room, overdramatically
muttering and posing, "Don't mind me... Get yourself in
trouble why don't you..? What an idiot... what a pair of
idiots... What a pair of weirdoes."
Shinji's mouth worked uselessly as he tried to figure
out what else to say... not that he had anything left to
say, since his only company was Rei and the TV. Neither of
which were noted for their conversational skills.
Asuka ducked her head into the living room one last
time and called out, "You two deserve each other!"
Rei regarded her with a flat expression as Asuka
stormed off to her room, "I'm going to sleep now." Rei said
flatly as she walked from the easy chair to the couch,
unbuttoning her shirt as she walked. She had her back to
Shinji as she did it, and he was staring blankly at the TV.
Her shirt was already totally unbuttoned when Shinji turned
to face her.
"Um... maybe you'd like to stay in my room instead?
You can use the bed. I can stay on the couch." He paused
for a moment as he realized that he was staring at the
smooth expanse of skin across her belly... the fringes of
her bra... he turned to one side quickly. She didn't seem
to notice at all.
Rei seemed to consider his question for a moment
longer than necessary before replying, "Yes."
Shinji kept his face turned away, "Um... w-w-why is
your shirt unbuttoned?"
Asuka's eyes widened. She'd been eavesdropping just
in case the two of them started talking about her behind
her back or something... but THIS was worse than she
expected! She rolled up her sleeve preparing to rush in
and... something... she wasn't too sure about that herself.
Rei stood up and walked calmly to the doorway, "I was
undressing to sleep." She took her shirt off entirely,
stuffing it into the overnight bag which she heaved over
one shoulder.
Shinji's eyes bugged out when he realized that she
was down to just her bra and skirt... and whatever she had
under the skirt... he kept his gaze directly opposite her,
but didn't shut his eyes... Rei didn't really seem to
care... he asked in a strained voice, "Do you have to do
that while you're still here?!"
"You haven't shown me where your room is." She
replied matter-of-factly. Shinji was surprised to hear a
very tiny note of exasperation in her tone.
"Um... it's... er... down the... hall... um...
right... third door on the right... yeah, that's it."
Shinji rattled off with difficulty. He kept his eyes firmly
planted on an uninteresting spot of wall, but his
peripheral vision was pretty good. Rei walked purposefully
towards the doorway once Shinji had completed the
directions.
Asuka ducked into her room quickly to keep Rei from
spotting her. Asuka closed the door as she breathed a sigh
of relief. Interestingly enough, she sighed simultaneously
with Shinji who was pulling on the collar of his shirt and
fanning himself unconsciously...
She'd never affected him like this before. Even from
that distance he was starting to feel something oddly
familiar and not... he was receiving the phantom sensation,
same as before... he took a deep breath and he could almost
swear he could feel her in the air around him. Her
presence. Like a scent... almost exactly like the time he
was in her Eva.
Normally, Shinji would've listened to his walkman
until he would finally allow himself to drift off to
sleep... but he wasn't risking going into his room to look
for it. Certainly not if there was a possibility that Rei's
idea of sleepwear was bare skin, which was entirely
possible...
He settled down on the couch to rest at the precise
moment Rei did the same on his bed, twelve feet away. They
both breathed a heavy sigh as they both turned over to
their left side, each tucking a hand under their heads
before finally drifting off.
Shinji woke up softly to the strains of "Fly me to
The Moon" being sung by Megumi Hayashibara. He blinked his
eyes slowly open... it was still dark... he felt a rather
familiar pressure in one of his ears and there was some
sort of shadowy figure obscuring his vision as he tried to
focus.
"Wha..?" he asked, still dazed from his awakening.
He felt a warm breath of air touch face lightly. A
scent he recognized... "Ayanami?" he whispered.
She moved her face slightly closer to his, her
features becoming clearer as she shifted. She had an
earphone fitted into her left ear and it took him a moment
to realize that the other end of the earphone was in his
right ear. He was aware of her breathing. The movement of
air across his face... the gentle rise and fall of her
chest. Thank goodness she was wearing a shirt at least, he
thought to himself.
She was most definitely not sleepwalking. She was
kneeling to one side of the couch and looking down at him
intently. Her eyes were obscured in part by her hair and by
the shadows, so he couldn't see any more of her expression,
than the fact that she wore an impassive face. She reached
out and gently ran her fingertips across his cheek.
"I thought you would want something to listen to. To
help you sleep." She answered quietly.
"It's my favorite tape... how did you know?" he
asked, trying to mask his nervousness with small talk.
"I just did. It felt right."
"Oh. I... um... I see..." Shinji frantically fished
for something... anything to say to her... "What are you
trying to do?"
"What do you mean?" Rei asked softly, almost as if
she didn't care whether or not she was answered.
"I was already sleeping fine... why the..."
"I don't know."
"Huh?"
"I do not understand it either. Major Katsuragi
didn't really order me to keep you and Asuka company... she
just mentioned offhand that I could come here if I wanted
to. Which I did."
Shinji gulped nervously.
Rei's hand brushed lightly against Shinji's cheek
again, "I am not asking for anything from you. Just let me
be nearby. I won't do anything. Just let me stay with you."
Her voice was still soft... but the tiny hint of pleading
was almost impossible to ignore.
"Rei, this is so sudden..." Shinji tried to say.
"No, it's not." Rei said, her voice gathering
strength, "When I synchronized with your Eva... I felt you
through it... the pattern of your thoughts that you left in
it was there for me to read... and I know what it's like to
be you..." She paused awkwardly, as though trying to find
the right words. "I've been inside your head... and I know
you experienced the same when you synchronized with my Eva,
even if only for a moment..."
"But... um... I forgot everything that I learned
about you from the synchronization. My mind couldn't handle
them I guess... I told the doctors..."
She smiled at him... warmly. It was a smile he'd only
seen on her twice before in all the time they'd known each
other. "I know... my Eva went berserk. Perhaps you may not
remember them consciously... but you know them. You know
me."
"But I don't..." Shinji protested.
"... just like I know you." She continued, despite
his interruption. "I... I think I know what it's like to
feel... when I felt what you did. I know what you were
thinking when you first looked at me." She touched his
cheek again.
Despite the darkness, Shinji was sure she could see
his face turn red.
"We are probably the two closest human beings on the
planet. We have seen the world through each other's eyes."
"Maybe." Shinji hazarded.
"What do I want now?" Rei asked quietly.
"To lie down and get some sleep." Shinji answered
without thinking.
"Good." Rei said. Shinji, without realizing it, moved
aside allowing Rei to lie down next to him on the narrow
sofa. She dropped a small tube on the end table near the
sofa before laying down.
Rei snuggled quietly up to Shinji's side. The two of
them lying quietly. He didn't understand what was
happening, but he followed what he felt.
"Is this such a good idea?" Shinji asked finally, "I mean
my bed's got more room than this... and Asuka's going to
find us like this tomorrow morning..."
"Just get some sleep. Don't worry about her," she
murmured softly.
Shinji smiled a little as he felt both of them begin
to drift off to sleep... perhaps this wouldn't be so bad.
Rei echoed his smile... Asuka was hardly going to
disturb them. She remembered one of Shinji's memories of
Asuka complaining how Japanese doors didn't have locks and
how little privacy there was in a Japanese home. She was
only too happy to give Asuka the privacy she asked for.
Asuka slept soundly behind her closed door... come
morning, she would no doubt experience a considerable
degree of trouble leaving her room, though. Having your
door epoxied shut could do that.
End.
Okay folks. This is a really odd one for me. I'd just
finished a marathon session of Neon Genesis Evangelion (Vol
1-5, & 7) and I felt like I really needed to write a fic
about this series because it's so GREAT!
So for some odd reason, I ended up writing something
where I tried to keep within the boundaries of the original
series. Which is really unusual for me because my work is
largely composed of fusions, alternate universes and
crossovers all series. Of course, I think I've gone pretty
off tangent by around the end, but I hope people can tell
me what they think.
This occurs between episodes 14 and 15.
C&C can be public or private (scriviner@yahoo.com)
any of it would be appreciated.
The new and improved disclaimer:
Well, after all this time, I figured I'd give this a once-
over and repost it online. This is version 3 now of this
fic. Which to my surprise, I apparently haven't done
anything to since 1997. Anyway, I've started getting back
into writing fics, so I hope you enjoy.
Two Hearts of One Mind.
A Neon Genesis Evangelion fanfic by the Scriviner
Piloting an Eva, a multi-ton, several story high,
semi-biological mecha designed for killing angels (which it
must be noted are nothing at all like the winged humanoid
figures one expects from the New Testament, but more like
the Old Testament angels, swift and terrible), would be a
very dangerous job for anyone, especially so for fourteen-
year-olds kids, who were the only ones who could mentally
interface with the Evas to control them in the first place.
It's hardly surprising that the pilots get injured as a
matter of course. This can range anywhere from getting
slightly banged up when the Eva gets knocked into a wall,
all the way up to the potential for some serious brain
death if the pilot's mind gets fried by the feedback from
the Eva's nerve linkages. And that's just during training.
Actual combat was far worse.
These, however, were not the thoughts going through
Shinji Ikari's head at the moment. He was mostly annoyed at
the dull ringing in aforementioned head and wondering why
the painkillers they'd issued him hadn't taken effect yet.
It wasn't anything really serious... it was more
embarrassing than anything else. He hadn't paid too much
attention when he stepped out of the entry plug and had
managed to trip, incidentally fetching him a good hard
smack upside the head. That wouldn't really have been all
that bad, since it was several hours ago and most of the
pain had faded, but that wasn't the worst part of it.
It was his fellow Eva pilot, sometime combat backup
and flatmate (though not by choice), Asuka Langley Soryu,
who was driving him nuts. The two of them were sprawled on
the two couches in almost identical positions watching TV.
Asuka, however, had only stopped laughing about how stupid
he'd been and how she'd never have made such a dumb
mistake, to take the occasional breath.
It had long since passed the point where it was merely
annoying to where it was now. It was really, really, REALLY
annoying. Then again, she was probably doing it to annoy
him in the first place. Trouble was it was working. On the
upshot, she was too busy snickering to pay attention to
what was on the TV, so Shinji was watching the program of
his choice.
Both of them were fairly slender fourteen year-olds.
Shinji's face was entirely too serious for someone his age
and he had a thoughtful, quiet air about him. Asuka, on the
other hand, was already starting to fill out and was
showing definite signs of becoming devastatingly gorgeous
when the time came. Her entire attitude gave the impression
that as far as she was concerned, the whole world was a
stage and she was the female lead. It's not surprising that
the phrase 'best of terms' could hardly be applied to them,
unless preceded by the words 'not on the'.
Shinji kept his attention focused on the TV, using it
mostly to help him tune Asuka out. He raised his remote to
change the channel just as Asuka raised her own remote. The
screen flickered briefly between a history documentary and
a soap opera then back. Shinji didn't have the energy to
even turn to glare at her- she however obviously did.
"Hey! Are you even listening to me?" she asked,
exasperated at Shinji's utter lack of reaction.
Three hours straight of insults and laughing were
more than enough to wear away at his considerable reserves
of patience. The headache wasn't helping much, either.
Shinji didn't even turn to look at her, but replied in a
bored tone, "Sorry, I wasn't." He cringed slightly, at the
expression on her face, but he had a moment of... something
and before he could stop himself added, "I just didn't have
the heart to tell you to stop. You seemed like you were
enjoying listening to yourself."
"You lousy idiot!" Asuka fumed, changing the channel
back to her soap, "I don't know why they bother keeping
your around!"
"The feeling's mutual!" he shot back, almost
automatically, bringing the documentary back on the screen.
"Do you mind?! I'm trying to watch!" Asuka yelled at
him, switching back to the soap opera. For some reason she
couldn't put her finger on, he was being particularly
annoying today.
"So am I!" He flicked the channel change button on
his remote at the exact moment Asuka flicked her own. The
result was a cooking show with a man with a fake moustache
and a fake Italian accent showing people what to do with
synthetic meatballs and instant sauce.
"That reminds me-," Both said at the same time. They
glared at each other for a moment.
Asuka continued, "Where is Misato anyway? It's her
turn to cook dinner. Not that I'm really looking forward to
it," she added in a low mutter.
Major Misato Kitsuragi was Asuka and Shinji's token
'adult-in-charge', who paid the rent and also lived in that
apartment. She was Director of Operations for NERV, the
organization that created, owned and maintained the Evas.
NERV, through judicious political maneuvering was in fact
largely in charge of the war against the Angels, despite
the UN's preferences.
By the mere fact that Misato had managed to attain
her position, she hadproof enough that she was a very
competent and intelligent woman. Publicly at least- at home
she had beer for breakfast, was an absolute slob and lived
off of beer, instant food and takeout more often than not.
As a result, both Shinji and Asuka suffered because of it.
Someone who belches loudly, drinks beer as if it were water
and scratches herself during dinner was not exactly an
ideal companion, but it beat eating alone.
Shinji shrugged and turned to look at his watch, an
expression of concern on his face. "She usually calls if
she's going to be this late... maybe I ought to call her
office..."
Asuka sniffed at him from across the living room.
"Dummy. They haven't restored phone service to our
celphones or this district since last week's battle."
Shinji frowned at her. She always knew the right
thing to say to annoy him. "There's no need to be so rude
about it," he replied, raising his voice a little.
Asuka merely glared at him disapprovingly. Shinji
glared back for a moment, but he didn't really have the
energy for it. He collapsed back onto the couch and
muttered, "She's probably got some extra work to do."
"You don't suppose there's another angel attack?"
Asuka asked, her voice oddly enthusiastic.
She wants another chance to show off what a hot-shot pilot
she is, Shinji thought with a sigh. "I think we'd have heard
the alert already." Shinji replied.
Asuka sighed. "Well, I'm starving. I don't think I
can wait for her much longer. I think there's still two TV
dinners in the back of the freezer." Her expression became
thoughtful, "Actually, I think that's all we've got
left..."
"Are you sure they're not the ones that Misato stuck
in there?" Shinji asked tentatively.
"The ones from three weeks ago?" Asuka asked, pulling
a face. "No I don't think so. These ones are still in their
wrappers."
"Oh. Good." Shinji replied, a look of distaste on his
face. "Well, they've got to be better than the stuff Misato
tried to feed us the other night."
His companion grimaced openly. "Her pseudo-spaghetti?
The instant beef stew she added tomato paste and wasabe
flavored potato chips to before she spread it on the
instant soba noddles? Yuk... Even Pen-Pen wouldn't eat it."
Shinji smiled slightly. Pen-Pen was their fellow
flatmate, even if he slept in the fridge, at least he
picked up after himself. He was a hot spring penguin whom
Misato had acquired through circumstances that had never
been made absolutely clear to either of them. While Pen-Pen
had developed a cast iron stomach from all of Misato's
various culinary disasters, even he had his limits.
"I can't understand how she manages to make instant
food taste bad. It's incredible," Asuka continued. Her
stomach gave a warning grumble causing her to wince. "I am
starving..."
"Uh huh." Shinji replied absently, and without too
much sympathy. He turned his attention back to the TV.
"So what are you waiting for Shinji?" Asuka demanded,
"Why don't you go pop those dinners in the microwave?"
"Me?" Shinji frowned, turning to face Asuka, "You're
closer to the kitchen."
"By all of five feet!" Asuka shot back, "I'm too weak
from hunger to move..." She groaned dramatically.
"You're the one who's so hungry." Shinji pointed out.
Almost as if on cue, his own stomach gave a rumble.
Asuka laughed and pointed at Shinji's midsection,
"Looks like I'm not the only one!"
Shinji sighed and got up off the couch, "Fine. I'm
getting my dinner."
"Make sure you keep mine in for an extra fifteen
seconds! I want to make sure it gets heated through!" Asuka
called after him as he passed through the doorway.
"Who said anything about your dinner? I'm just
getting mine." Shinji muttered as he walked away. He was
still annoyed at her.
"Why you..!" Asuka cried, hurling a throw pillow at
him as he ducked into the hallway. Asuka held out for all
of thirty seconds before the various warning noises her
digestive system was giving her spurred her out of her
comfortable sprawl.
The two of them were in the process of chipping away
at the ice in the freezer which held their TV dinners. Pen
Pen looked at the two of them curiously. He was just
waiting for his two human roommates to get HIS dinner ready
so he could take a nap, when the doorbell rang.
"I'll get it." Shinji said wiping some sweat away
from his forehead.
Asuka glared at him for a moment as though he were
using the doorbell as an excuse to slack off, then went
back to work on the ice with the knife.
He opened the door and found, to his surprise, Rei
standing outside with a neutral expression on her face. Rei
was the first of the Eva pilots that NERV found... or
perhaps not. The situation was terribly complicated. To put
it bluntly, Rei, in most people's opinions was a decidedly
strange girl. There was something strangely intense and, at
the same time, resigned about her, which made her very
difficult to approach. Shinji knew it well.
She had an overnight bag on one shoulder. He wasn't
all too surprised that she was still wearing her school
uniform. He'd never seen her in anything but that outside
of the base or PE class.
"Um... Ayanami, this is a surprise."
Rei glanced down for a moment, noting the knife which
Shinji still held in hand without expression before saying
in a soft monotone, "Major Katsuragi said something came up
at the office. She won't be home until early tomorrow
morning. I've been ordered to keep you and Soryu company."
That was another surprise. Shinji stepped away from
the door and made a vague gesture to come in, "Oh. Um...
sure."
Rei stepped into the house without acknowledging him
further. Shinji watched her walk past him, wondering why
Misato told her to stay with them tonight... his mind
wandered a bit on that topic, before he realized he was
gawking at Rei who was now looking back at him.
"Better close the door." She told him.
"Er... right..." Shinji replied, embarrassed at
having been caught staring.
"Ah-HAH!" Asuka's voice cried out happily from the
kitchen. "I got em free, Shinji! Dinner in a minute or so!"
"Have you eaten yet, Rei?" Shinji asked tentatively.
She was still staring at him and he growing very
uncomfortable.
"No." Rei said softly.
Shinji's reply was lost as Asuka burst in. "So who
was it?" Asuka inquired. She caught sight of Rei, who
seemed to be watching a mildly squirming Shinji. She
rolled her eyes and sighed. Boys, constantly thinking
with their hormones.
"Oh. It's you." Asuka didn't sound too enthusiastic.
Rei told her almost exactly the same message she gave
Shinji, in the same monotone, "Major Katsuragi said
something came up at the office. She won't be home until
tomorrow at noon. I've been ordered to keep you and Ikari
company."
Asuka sniffed and raised an eyebrow. "Oh... I guess
Misato doesn't trust Shinji anymore after what happened the
last time we got left alone together so she sent a
chaperone!"
Shinji blushed and frowned at Asuka, "Nothing
happened!"
"You still tried to kiss me, you lech!" Asuka shot
back.
"I am not a lech!"
"Yes you are!"
Shinji gave a disgusted snort, dropping the knife on
the counter next to the door. He blushed even more
furiously as he stalked off to the kitchen.
"Where do you think you're going, pervert?" Asuka
demanded. "The food's not ready yet!"
"I'm heating up some water for instant ramen."
Shinji replied. "Give the other TV dinner to Rei."
Asuka jerked a thumb at the impassive Rei, as she
called back. "Miss Picky here doesn't eat meat! Those're
Salisbury steak TV dinners!"
"It's not like there's any real meat in those
things." Shinji shrugged.
Rei merely watched Shinji leave.
Asuka turned to look at Rei, whose expression hadn't
changed during the entire exchange. Asuka's mouth
quirked. she'd had her suspicions regarding Shinji and
Rei for a while now: she was pretty sure the Shinji had a
thing for Rei. It was hard for someone as empathic as an
Eva pilot to live with someone and NOT pick up a little on
what they thought about. Rei hadn't shown any sort of
interest in Shinji, but she was always like that... her
train of thought got derailed suddenly.
"Why did you call him a pervert?" Rei asked, her tone
still soft and expressionless save for a mild puzzlement.
"Well, Duh!" Asuka replied, "Weren't you listening?
He tried to kiss me!"
"So?" Rei persisted.
"SO?! What do you mean 'so'?! Who knows what else he
would've done to me in my sleep if he'd succeeded in
kissing me?!!" Asuka gesticulated wildly.
Rei replied, "I'm sure he would know," as she
followed Shinji to the kitchen.
"Oooooh!" Asuka groaned angrily. Rei was simply
impossible to talk to. Sometimes she thought that Rei and
Shinji were conspiring against her- after all, they knew
that SHE was better then both of them combined. She gave
herself a little grin, satisfied that the explanation for
their rude behavior was simply jealousy and followed her
fellow pilots to have dinner.
"Well..." Asuka said as she sprawled on the couch
again, dinner being happily digested, "That wasn't too
bad..."
Shinji lounged on the other couch, also somewhat
full, "I guess."
Rei sat primly on the easy chair and didn't say
anything. The food they'd given her had not only tasted
like cardboard, it had looked a bit like it too, so she'd
mostly given the hamburger to Shinji and eaten around the
peas and carrots. He had offered her some of the ramen,
which promptly set Asuka off on some inspired teasing about
the two of them sharing food. Shinji blushed, but Rei
seemed to make a point of ignoring her.
Rei kept her eyes on the TV show the three of them
were watching. It was some sort of game show. It wasn't
particularly good, but none of them particularly felt like
changing the channel. All three sighed at the same time.
"This is boring..." Asuka said after a few moments.
"It's nearly over anyway..." Shinji replied.
"I can't work up any enthusiasm over whether or not
this guy manages to win the house or not. Why are we even
watching this?" Asuka complained.
"There's nothing better on."
"That does it then, I'm sleeping." Asuka announced as
she got up off the couch and stretched. Shinji glanced at
her quickly without really thinking about it. She might be
annoying, but he had to admit she was definitely pretty.
"And don't get any ideas about sneaking into my room,
Ikari!" Asuka added, waggling a finger in his general
direction.
Shinji rolled his eyes, still not completely over his
earlier annoyance at her. "I wasn't planning on it." He
made it sound as if wild horses couldn't drag him into that
room.
She turned her nose up at him and with a flip of her
hair she was out the doorway.
Shinji muttered to himself, "Sometimes I wish NERV
never found her."
Rei asked suddenly, still in her soft voice, "Would
you rather it had been just the two of us?"
He turned to face her, a little surprised not only at
how the question was worded, but that Rei was showing signs
of curiosity at all, and the fact that he hadn't intended
for her to hear it. "Um... that's not quite what I meant I
guess... I just wish they'd gotten someone more... I don't
know... um... easy to get along with?"
Shinji noted the subtle change in Rei. He was one of
a very short list of people who'd spent any considerable
amount of time with Rei and it was possible for him to read
some of her moods, difficult though it was. Her eyes
brightened slightly and the corners of her mouth almost
curled up. She asked in her same quiet monotone, but Shinji
thought he heard a hint of amusement, "Someone like me?"
"Er..." Shinji had no reply for that. He stretched
his arms up over his head for a moment at the precise
moment that Rei did too, both of them stifling yawns. He
felt the oddest sensation... it almost felt like the
sensations he'd received when he was inside her Eva and
trying to synchronize with it... the way it felt just
before her Eva had gone berserk...
That had been one of the less pleasant instances
during the testing they'd had to endure as pilots... they
tried to match their thought patterns to the other pilot's
Eva as a precaution, in case one of them had to take the
other's Eva. Oddly enough they called it the 'mutual
compatibility' experiment. Rei had synchronized with almost
no trouble at all with Shinji's Eva, with an unexpected
side effect of opening some of Shinji's memories to her,
through the Eva... Shinji, however, did not prove quite so
lucky in Her Eva and ended up suffering a mental backlash
which wiped out all impressions he'd gotten from her...
"Well?" Rei persisted. Shinji's eyes widened
somewhat. Rei's behavior was definitely starting to make
him uneasy.
Asuka ducked her head into the living room again...
jolting Shinji out of whatever state he was in. She had
changed into a long T-shirt and she was frowning
suspiciously, "I don't believe my ears... are you two
flirting?"
"Hey! That's not it at all!" Shinji cried. Rei's
expression neither confirmed nor denied.
"Trust me, Ayanami... You're better off without this
guy. He's probably just waiting for you to doze off so he
can rip your clothes off or something..." Asuka said
viciously.
"Would you quit that, Asuka?!" Shinji yelled at her,
blushing both at the embarrassment and the mental image
that THAT had brought up.
"Why would he do that?" Rei inquired quietly.
Asuka rolled her eyes, "What planet are you from,
Ayanami? So he can see your naked body! That's what all of
these perverts think about all the time."
Rei's expression had slipped back to neutral. "But
he's already seen me without clothes on. Why should it
matter if he sees it again?"
Asuka's jaw dropped. Shinji's face reddened
considerably. Asuka marched over to the couch, grabbing a
throw pillow on her way with which she began to beat on
Shinji's head. "You lecherous, perverted, filthy minded...
BOY!"
"OW! Hey, cut that out! Stop! It was an... OW!
Accident! Argh!" Shinji held his hands up to try and ward
Asuka off.
"I don't believe it! You pervert!! Take this! And
THIS!" She proceeded to brutally beat on his still ringing
head with the throw pillow. "How dare you try to take
advantage of a woman?! Even if it is Wondergirl!"
Rei watched, mildly confused at it all. Interaction
with other people and understanding them were never her
strong suits, "What are you doing?"
Asuka stopped long enough to give Rei a puzzled
glance. "Wha? Doesn't it bother you that he looked at you
while you were naked?!"
Rei gave her head a very small shake, "No."
Asuka's eyes grew wide as she passed her gaze from
Rei to Shinji then back, "You don't mean to say that the
two of you've been sleeping toge...?" She couldn't bring
herself to complete the sentence... she couldn't really
understand why... it wasn't even as if she was getting
jealous at all... not that she'd admit it if she were.
Which she wasn't... really... and if she said it to herself
often enough she might believe it. It was the fact that
Ayanami was taking it all so ridiculously calmly that Asuka
felt she had to get mad on Ayanami's behalf... which made
her feel twice as weird since she was now trying to stand
up for a girl she disliked intensely...
"That's not it either, Asuka..." Shinji grumbled from
the couch, still blushing furiously, but now rubbing his
head. His headache wasn't helping him think clearly, "It
was an accident, really..."
"It was not his fault he lost his balance and landed
on me either." Rei volunteered quietly. Shinji acked as
Asuka glared at him and reached for the remote control,
holding it threateningly.
"This was while you were naked?" Asuka asked, still
very much confused, but quite ready to beat the daylights
out of Shinji for it regardless.
Shinji looked as if he wanted to crawl under a rock
somewhere... he'd hoped that she wouldn't talk about the
incident, but here she was actually telling Asuka! Asuka of
all people! It was almost as if Rei was trying to cause
trouble!
Rei nodded, expression still totally neutral, but her
eyes had fallen on Shinji again.
Asuka whirled to face the cringing Shinji, "What the
heck were you doing with Ayanami while she was naked?!"
Shinji... pushed to the limit, snapped back, "What
business is it of yours if I was naked with Ayanami?! Er...
I mean... she was... er..." Unfortunately... anger and a
nasty headache also have the tendency to make people slip
their words up sometimes...
Asuka's jaw dropped. Again. Her fury went from red
hot to ice cold in a matter of moments. "Well... I don't
care how you two are going to go around denying this." She
threw the remote over her shoulder and looked down her nose
at the two of them, "It's none of my business if you and
she are going to do some perverse, disgusting and utterly
immoral act. Why am I even bothering?"
Rei was suspiciously silent.
"But..." Shinji tried to explain... if any of this
got back to Misato... or worse to his father. This would
not be good...
Asuka coolly walked out of the room, overdramatically
muttering and posing, "Don't mind me... Get yourself in
trouble why don't you..? What an idiot... what a pair of
idiots... What a pair of weirdoes."
Shinji's mouth worked uselessly as he tried to figure
out what else to say... not that he had anything left to
say, since his only company was Rei and the TV. Neither of
which were noted for their conversational skills.
Asuka ducked her head into the living room one last
time and called out, "You two deserve each other!"
Rei regarded her with a flat expression as Asuka
stormed off to her room, "I'm going to sleep now." Rei said
flatly as she walked from the easy chair to the couch,
unbuttoning her shirt as she walked. She had her back to
Shinji as she did it, and he was staring blankly at the TV.
Her shirt was already totally unbuttoned when Shinji turned
to face her.
"Um... maybe you'd like to stay in my room instead?
You can use the bed. I can stay on the couch." He paused
for a moment as he realized that he was staring at the
smooth expanse of skin across her belly... the fringes of
her bra... he turned to one side quickly. She didn't seem
to notice at all.
Rei seemed to consider his question for a moment
longer than necessary before replying, "Yes."
Shinji kept his face turned away, "Um... w-w-why is
your shirt unbuttoned?"
Asuka's eyes widened. She'd been eavesdropping just
in case the two of them started talking about her behind
her back or something... but THIS was worse than she
expected! She rolled up her sleeve preparing to rush in
and... something... she wasn't too sure about that herself.
Rei stood up and walked calmly to the doorway, "I was
undressing to sleep." She took her shirt off entirely,
stuffing it into the overnight bag which she heaved over
one shoulder.
Shinji's eyes bugged out when he realized that she
was down to just her bra and skirt... and whatever she had
under the skirt... he kept his gaze directly opposite her,
but didn't shut his eyes... Rei didn't really seem to
care... he asked in a strained voice, "Do you have to do
that while you're still here?!"
"You haven't shown me where your room is." She
replied matter-of-factly. Shinji was surprised to hear a
very tiny note of exasperation in her tone.
"Um... it's... er... down the... hall... um...
right... third door on the right... yeah, that's it."
Shinji rattled off with difficulty. He kept his eyes firmly
planted on an uninteresting spot of wall, but his
peripheral vision was pretty good. Rei walked purposefully
towards the doorway once Shinji had completed the
directions.
Asuka ducked into her room quickly to keep Rei from
spotting her. Asuka closed the door as she breathed a sigh
of relief. Interestingly enough, she sighed simultaneously
with Shinji who was pulling on the collar of his shirt and
fanning himself unconsciously...
She'd never affected him like this before. Even from
that distance he was starting to feel something oddly
familiar and not... he was receiving the phantom sensation,
same as before... he took a deep breath and he could almost
swear he could feel her in the air around him. Her
presence. Like a scent... almost exactly like the time he
was in her Eva.
Normally, Shinji would've listened to his walkman
until he would finally allow himself to drift off to
sleep... but he wasn't risking going into his room to look
for it. Certainly not if there was a possibility that Rei's
idea of sleepwear was bare skin, which was entirely
possible...
He settled down on the couch to rest at the precise
moment Rei did the same on his bed, twelve feet away. They
both breathed a heavy sigh as they both turned over to
their left side, each tucking a hand under their heads
before finally drifting off.
Shinji woke up softly to the strains of "Fly me to
The Moon" being sung by Megumi Hayashibara. He blinked his
eyes slowly open... it was still dark... he felt a rather
familiar pressure in one of his ears and there was some
sort of shadowy figure obscuring his vision as he tried to
focus.
"Wha..?" he asked, still dazed from his awakening.
He felt a warm breath of air touch face lightly. A
scent he recognized... "Ayanami?" he whispered.
She moved her face slightly closer to his, her
features becoming clearer as she shifted. She had an
earphone fitted into her left ear and it took him a moment
to realize that the other end of the earphone was in his
right ear. He was aware of her breathing. The movement of
air across his face... the gentle rise and fall of her
chest. Thank goodness she was wearing a shirt at least, he
thought to himself.
She was most definitely not sleepwalking. She was
kneeling to one side of the couch and looking down at him
intently. Her eyes were obscured in part by her hair and by
the shadows, so he couldn't see any more of her expression,
than the fact that she wore an impassive face. She reached
out and gently ran her fingertips across his cheek.
"I thought you would want something to listen to. To
help you sleep." She answered quietly.
"It's my favorite tape... how did you know?" he
asked, trying to mask his nervousness with small talk.
"I just did. It felt right."
"Oh. I... um... I see..." Shinji frantically fished
for something... anything to say to her... "What are you
trying to do?"
"What do you mean?" Rei asked softly, almost as if
she didn't care whether or not she was answered.
"I was already sleeping fine... why the..."
"I don't know."
"Huh?"
"I do not understand it either. Major Katsuragi
didn't really order me to keep you and Asuka company... she
just mentioned offhand that I could come here if I wanted
to. Which I did."
Shinji gulped nervously.
Rei's hand brushed lightly against Shinji's cheek
again, "I am not asking for anything from you. Just let me
be nearby. I won't do anything. Just let me stay with you."
Her voice was still soft... but the tiny hint of pleading
was almost impossible to ignore.
"Rei, this is so sudden..." Shinji tried to say.
"No, it's not." Rei said, her voice gathering
strength, "When I synchronized with your Eva... I felt you
through it... the pattern of your thoughts that you left in
it was there for me to read... and I know what it's like to
be you..." She paused awkwardly, as though trying to find
the right words. "I've been inside your head... and I know
you experienced the same when you synchronized with my Eva,
even if only for a moment..."
"But... um... I forgot everything that I learned
about you from the synchronization. My mind couldn't handle
them I guess... I told the doctors..."
She smiled at him... warmly. It was a smile he'd only
seen on her twice before in all the time they'd known each
other. "I know... my Eva went berserk. Perhaps you may not
remember them consciously... but you know them. You know
me."
"But I don't..." Shinji protested.
"... just like I know you." She continued, despite
his interruption. "I... I think I know what it's like to
feel... when I felt what you did. I know what you were
thinking when you first looked at me." She touched his
cheek again.
Despite the darkness, Shinji was sure she could see
his face turn red.
"We are probably the two closest human beings on the
planet. We have seen the world through each other's eyes."
"Maybe." Shinji hazarded.
"What do I want now?" Rei asked quietly.
"To lie down and get some sleep." Shinji answered
without thinking.
"Good." Rei said. Shinji, without realizing it, moved
aside allowing Rei to lie down next to him on the narrow
sofa. She dropped a small tube on the end table near the
sofa before laying down.
Rei snuggled quietly up to Shinji's side. The two of
them lying quietly. He didn't understand what was
happening, but he followed what he felt.
"Is this such a good idea?" Shinji asked finally, "I mean
my bed's got more room than this... and Asuka's going to
find us like this tomorrow morning..."
"Just get some sleep. Don't worry about her," she
murmured softly.
Shinji smiled a little as he felt both of them begin
to drift off to sleep... perhaps this wouldn't be so bad.
Rei echoed his smile... Asuka was hardly going to
disturb them. She remembered one of Shinji's memories of
Asuka complaining how Japanese doors didn't have locks and
how little privacy there was in a Japanese home. She was
only too happy to give Asuka the privacy she asked for.
Asuka slept soundly behind her closed door... come
morning, she would no doubt experience a considerable
degree of trouble leaving her room, though. Having your
door epoxied shut could do that.
End.