A/N: This story was written as part of Flame Rising's Writing Challenge No. 2. In it we must create a functional OC that must interact with the other characters. I had always wondered who raised Shinji (the manga makes it clear that it's his uncle, but the anime simply refers to the guardian as the "teacher") and why Gendo dropped him off with that person. That's basically the point of this little story here.

Neon Genesis Evangelion is the property of Studio Gainax, Hideaki Anno, TV Tokyo, Studio Khara, and any other people whose names and organizations I cannot recall.

The Goodbye

The first few hours were spent cleaning up the room. Haru thoroughly washed the sheets and replaced them on the bed. He swept up the floor, and then vacuumed it. He had even taken the time to dust off the furniture. The room was now spotless, good as new. It was as if there was no person living there, but just a simple empty bedroom.

It hasn't been very long, Haru thought, but the house already seems a bit quieter.

He wasn't sure why he thought that. It wasn't as if Shinji was a loud boy. For all of the eleven years spent in Haru's home, not once did Shinji scream, slam the door, or even seem to get angry. When it came to any sort of disappointment or stress, he would do what he always did: give up and walk away.

Like father, like son.

Haru organized some papers on his desk, and stood up. He adjusted his glasses and scanned the class before him. It wasn't a very large one; Bioethics was an elective class and not the sort of class a student in their junior year would want to take. This didn't matter to him; being able to simply teach at a place like Kyoto University was enough.

He walked to the center of the classroom and cleared his throat.

"Good morning, everyone", Haru began, "I am Haru Tachibana, your professor in Bioethics for the next year. Now, can anyone tell me…?"

He stopped, interrupted by the sound of loud snoring. It wasn't hard to follow the noise, as the class held only thirty people. He finally came to the middle of the third row, where a skinny, dark haired young man slept.

Haru clapped his hands. There was no response. He clapped his hands again. There was no response. He clapped his hands for a third time. The man adjusted his arms and head for a more comfortable sleeping position.

"Excuse me?" Haru asked.

The man snapped open his eyes. The man looked around and saw the people around him.

"Er…I'm sorry; I guess I must have dozed off." The man smiled, attempting to hide the embarrassment showing in his eyes.

Haru turned his back to him.

"So," he said in a harsh tone, "it's only been three minutes into the school year, and already you find my class to be so boring that you need to rest your eyes."

He turned to him, eyes glaring. "What is your name?"

Despite the calm and collected smile he wore, the man's eyes held a hint of fear. Sitting in the seat gave Haru, normally a man of slightly short, stocky stature, a tall and intimidating presence. The anger in Haru's eyes seemed to enhance his presence.

The man took a deep breath and spoke. "Gendo Rokubungi."

To Gendo's surprise, the glare in Haru's eyes softened. Haru smiled.

"Well, Mr. Rokubungi", he said, "I'll just have to make this class less boring for you, won't I?"

Haru left for the nearby grocery store. It was only fifteen minutes away, so it made for a nice excuse to get out of the house for an hour or two. Besides, it was a time for celebration. Shinji would finally be back with his father. That called for a great dinner, even if it did mean the start of cooking for one from now on.

Cooking for one. Cooking for one meant shopping for one, which Haru found hard to do. Every so often, he would find himself buying the same amounts of food he would normally buy when Shinji was there. When he found himself doing this, he would smile, shake his head and return to the aisle to put the extra portion back. If anyone wondered why, he would just explain that it was senility. That should get them laughing. Besides, almost everyone in the town knew him by now, so they would be used to his sense of humor by now.

"Tachibana!" called a woman from the other side of the bread aisle.

He looked at the woman and smiled. He found it slightly funny that Shinji's teacher was the first person he would meet all day. "Hello, Mrs. Azuma!"

"So, Shinji's left us already, has he?" Mrs. Azuma was always the sort of person to get to the point of the conversation.

"Yes, he has."

"Did he get the card?"

"The card?"

"Yes, the card," Mrs. Azuma said, "Everyone in the class made a card for him. Did he show it to you?"

Haru remembered now. News traveled fast around town, so when Shinji got the postcard summoning him to Tokyo-3, Mrs. Azuma had gotten his class to make him a card. All of his classmates signed the card. Shinji didn't take it with him. Haru never saw the card until this morning, while he was cleaning.

"Yes, he did", he lied, "He even took it with him."

Mrs. Azuma smiled. "That's good to know. We'll all really miss him. You know, I think he would have been such a great student if he had only tried a little harder."

"Really?" Shinji never had the best grades. Despite Haru's encouragement, he never got any grades higher than seventy-six or so.

"Yes", Mrs. Azuma continued, "I once asked him to write an essay about what he wanted in life. He wrote that everything in his life happened because it had to. He even wrote that he didn't care if he died!"

She shook her head. "I just don't know what gets into a person to make them think that way."

Haru shook his head sadly. Even now, Shinji was a mystery to him. It was if there was some untapped potential, some sort of force within the boy that was being held back. It seemed at times that Shinji was even trying to hold himself back.

"I have one question, though, Haru."

"What?"

"Why was he living with you?"

Haru's face took on a blank look.

"Sometimes, I don't even know."

"Say, Professor?"

Haru came out of his daze. It was a Friday morning, which meant that Haru had no classes to teach. Lately these Fridays would be spent talking to Gendo, discussing biology.

Despite the rough start to the year, Haru found that Gendo was good at his work. Damn good. He was acing every test and writing papers so well done that Haru almost suspected plagiarism. But it seemed that he only did well in his class. Every other class, he was only doing enough to get by. There was potential in the man, to be sure, but to try to get it out was maddening.

So he began inviting Gendo into his office every Friday. He though that perhaps regular contact with people would help him out. He didn't seem to have any friends. Sometimes they would debate about an ethical topic they disagreed on. Sometimes they would talk about other aspects of the science world, such as the new Katsuragi Super Solenoid Theory. That theory in particular had taken the world by storm, with its promise of free energy. Some days, Gendo would ask Haru to play the cello that hung around his office.

On some days, like this one, they would simply sit in silence. Haru never really figured out why Gendo felt like staying in his office when there was nothing to talk about. He had expected the silence to continue, so Gendo's question slight spooked him.

"Yes, Gendo?"

"I've been meaning to ask, who is that woman in this picture?"

Gendo took a small framed photo from Haru's desk. The picture was from about twenty years ago. Haru was in the picture, without the glasses he wore now and with the shoulder length black hair he used to wear back then blowing in the wind. A young woman was hugging him around the neck in the photo, her own waist length black hair blowing in the wind as well.

"She was my wife", Haru answered, "We went to the beach that day. Very beautiful."

Gendo raised an eyebrow. "Was?"

"She died five years ago. Lung cancer."

"Oh." Gendo brought his eyes to the floor. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. She went peacefully."

"Don't you miss her?"

"Every day. But, there's nothing I can do about that, is there? I've learned that there are some things in this world that we just can't change, no matter how hard we try. The best thing a person can do is to deal with what we've got and grow. There's really no choice."

Gendo's mouth tightened.

"I don't think I could do that", he said, "If there was anyone that precious to me, I'm not sure I could let them go like that."

Gendo then looked up, straight into Haru's eyes.

"But let me tell you this", he said, his voice confident yet shaking, "Man has the ability to change anything. Especially death."

Haru saw the look in Gendo's eyes, and suddenly felt very afraid.

It was about eleven-thirty when Haru returned. He sat on the couch, and turned on the television. The usual midday dramas were on. Haru never had the time to watch them before, even after he retired, so he felt that on this day of celebration, he would watch television. As he had never watched them, the scenes he saw were quite odd.

In the show, a handsome man walked into a room.

"Yaeko! What's wrong?" he asked. A beautiful young woman turned to the camera, eyes filled to the brim with perfect, raindrop like tears.

"My diamond, where did it go?" she cried.

"You must have dropped it somewhere!"

The woman's eyes got wide. "The Dog! He must have eaten it!"

Haru continued to watch until about twelve-thirty or so, when the phone rang. Haru picked it up.

"Professor?"

"Shinji?" Haru's voice brightened, "Shinji! It is you! Are you in Hakone yet?"

"It's Tokyo-3, Professor."

Shinji always called Haru "Professor". Haru once asked him why, and was told that that was what his father told him to call him.

"Sorry, Shinji, I forgot about that. It used to be Hakone when I was little. Anyway, are you at your father's apartment yet?"

"No, the trains had to stop. There's something going on here. I don't know what it is. I tried to find someone around here, I'm the only one around."

"Have you tried to call your father?" Haru asked, "Do you have his number? Maybe it's on the card."

There was a pause. Shinji must have been looking at the card.

"No, there's nothing." Haru heard a sigh. "I should just go home."

"Don't say that!" Haru exclaimed, "You've come this far to see your father. You can't just turn back now!"

"Well, why not? Why does he even want to see me for, anyways? Why should I be here? There's just no—"

"Listen to me, Shinji", Haru interjected, his voice becoming sharper, "I know it must be scary out there on your own. I know what it feels like to be alone. No matter what happens, just keep telling yourself, 'I mustn't run away.' Do you understand?"

"I…I mustn't run away."

"Good. Keep that in mind, and you can't fail."

There was silence for a few moments.

Haru attempted to restart the conversation. "So, how was the trip?"

"Well, it wasn't really that special, just—"

Nothing followed. "Shinji?"

"We're sorry, but due to the state of emergency, there are no lines available. This is a recording."

State of emergency? Haru dropped the phone. When did that happen? He ran to the television and turned it on. If anything would tell him about the event, the television would be it.

Haru turned on the TV and gaped at what he saw.

Fuyutsuki came into the breakroom grumbling. He went to the vending machine and got a canned coffee. He took a seat at the only table in the room, and began sippping small quick sips.

Haru, who had been in the room for some time now, smiled at him.

"Good morning, sunshine", Haru said.

Fuyutsuki said nothing in return. Haru frowned, this wasn't entirely like him.

"Something wrong, Fuyutsuki?"

"Ikari's getting married", Fuyutsuki answered.

Haru knew exactly who he meant. Yui Ikari was the woman who was taking the whole Biostudies department by storm, at least if one were to believe Fuyutsuki. It was fun to watch him talk about her; his eyes would light up, and his whole body would animate with gestures when he got into her pet project, an idea called Instrumentality. Haru had to admit that he was interested in the idea, but the idea of the union of humanity and things like that felt too much like a science fiction novel to him.

"Lucky woman", Haru said, "and who's the lucky groom? Anyone I know?"

"Yes. You're familiar with Gendo Rokubungi, are you not?"

Haru choked on his coffee. Gendo? Why didn't he know about this?

Fuyutsuki heard his choking. "You didn't know?"

Haru coughed and said, "No, he never told me!"

Fuyutsuki sipped on his coffee. "It doesn't make sense. Why would she want to even date a bastard like that?"

Haru slammed his coffee on the table. "Hey! Don't call Gendo a bastard! You don't even know him!"

Fuyutsuki gave a bitter smile. "Oh, I have. I bailed him from jail."

Jail? Haru's heart skipped a beat. "When did that happen?"

"About a month ago. I got sent to bail him out, and there he was, stinking of alcohol. All he says to me is how I'm exactly how he pictured me."

A scowl appeared on Fuyutsuki's face. He was apparently too disgusted to talk.

Haru looked into his coffee. "That doesn't sound like the Gendo I know."

The bitter smile returned to Fuyutsuki's face. "Maybe you don't know him at all."

"I'm standing at the remnants of the city", the reporter on the television said, "My God, I don't think I've seen so much carnage in my entire career, not since Second Impact!"

Haru had been glued to the TV for hours now. There were all sorts of reports coming in. Apparently something came out of the sea, and it was heading straight for Tokyo-3. There was some sort of bomb used on…whatever it was, and it was still coming.

"Thank you, Nagato", said a newswoman, "If you're just joining us, the city of Tokyo-3 appears to be under attack by some large creature. Expert zoologists have yet to identify the creature or its origin. The United Nations Army has stressed that no one must attempt to enter or leave the city. Again, at twelve-thirty today…Hold on, breaking news! There appears to be some sort of explosion coming from the city. Here's Takeshi Hiwatari with more. Hiwatari?"

Explosions? Haru's heart beat faster and faster. The disconnected phone call was bad enough, but now this?

"I'm here on the outskirts of Tokyo-3", Hiwatari said, "We're using a telescoping camera to get a look at the city. There's appears to be nothing so far, but—Oh, My God! What is that?"

The camera caught sight of a large creature. Haru moved closer to the screen to see the creature better. It was a hideous thing, its rounded face (Haru had guessed it was a face) falling off with another face rising to replace it. At the center of its stretched body was a large red object. It was nothing Haru had ever seen before in his life.

"As you've just seen, we now have visual confirmation of a large creature attacking Tokyo-3! I've never seen anything like it! Perhaps it's some new kind of species, maybe some sort of over active corporate mascot or—"

There was a loud sound, of twisted metal and broken glass. It sounded as if something was rising. Haru could barely breathe. There couldn't be another one, could it?

"Ladies and Gentlemen, this is absolutely unreal! There's another one, and this one is somehow more terrifying than the last one! God, just look at the face! It's some sort of demon!"

Haru gaped in terror again. This new creature certainly was more terrifying. The purple creature stood, broad shouldered, then rushed at the other creature with what looked like a giant knife.

Haru fell to the floor. Shinji was dead. There was no doubt now. There could be no way anyone could survive this. If the bomb didn't get him, those things probably did.

He climbed back onto the couch, turned off the TV, and sobbed.

The child kept sobbing on the couch. Haru sat before him, unsure of what to do.

The child had been left at the door, and had been crying for some time. There was something familiar in the face, but Haru couldn't put his finger on it.

So far, all he knew was that the child's name was Shinji. That was as much as the boy could tell him before he began crying again. Haru wondered if he should call the police. Surely they would know what to do with a missing child.

In the meantime, there had to be something to do. Something had to be done.

Haru did what he always did when he was nervous: he pulled out his cello.

The boy looked at him, and watched him play. Apparently that stopped the crying.

"What's that song?" the boy asked after a while.

Haru smiled. "'Air on the G String'. It's an old song. It's not usually played on the cello, though. And I don't think it's really a good song to play alone, but I like it."

The boy got up from the couch, and a small piece of paper fell to the floor.

Haru picked it up. He gasped. It was from Gendo.

He hadn't seen Gendo since graduation. He tried to find him, but he never did manage to keep contact. After Second Impact, he had assumed Gendo had died, like everyone else he had lost touch with since that day.

The note was only two sentences long, but to Haru, it meant more than that. It said:

He is Shinji Ikari. Take care of him, Professor. Gendo.

Ikari. Gendo's wife. Was she gone? Why couldn't Gendo take care of him. Why him? Out of all the people to care for the boy, why did it have to be a simple college professor?

"Did your father write this, Shinji?" Haru asked.

Shinji started to sniffle. "Uh-huh. But he left me. And mom's gone, too." He began to cry.

Haru then went up to him and hugged him. Shinji saw tears form in Haru's eyes.

"Why are you crying?" Shinji asked between sniffles.

Haru smiled sadly. "No reason."

Haru slept on the couch. It was noon. He stared at the ceiling, and then turned to the TV.

I shouldn't do this, he thought.

He turned the TV on.

"Miraculous", said a man in a military suit, "never have I seen such an incredible victory, and with no casualties!"

No casualties?

"Thank you, General Staffer", said the same newswoman as before, "If you're just joining us, Tokyo-3 has been saved! Thanks to the efforts of the United Nations, the creature, codenamed "Gill Legs", has been destroyed. No injuries or deaths have been reported."

No injuries?

"As for the other creature, it has disappeared after killing Gill Legs. Inquiries into the situation have yet to be made."

He's alive!

Haru jumped off the couch and whooped for joy. He knew that as soon as he got washed up, he'd run straight to the phone and…

And what? There was no number to call. There were no means of contacting Shinji. He didn't even know where he lived.

He realized that the lack of numbers or addresses had a meaning: Haru was to no longer take any part in Shinji's life. He had raised him, and that was all that was to be expected from him.

Haru sat on the couch again. He bowed his head and closed his eyes. The boy had vanished from his life just as his father had. He left the same way as well: unknowable and unable to change.

He went back to Shinji's room, and took out the card his class had made. He put it up above the television. It looked nice there. He stared at it. Then, only one thought came to his mind.

Goodbye, Shinji.