Otonashi stood on the rooftop, the full moon lighting the scene almost as bright as day. As the door to the roof opened and Kanada walked towards him, he swallowed, hiding his nervousness. He wasn't sure if this was even something he could talk about with Kanada, but… there was no one else she could talk with. Only him.
Otonashi nodded a greeting as the girl walked up beside him, and stood at the railing.
'I guess your wondering why I called you up here. I've been thinking, Kanada…'
The girl by his side looked up at him, silently waiting for him to continue.'
'You said everyone comes here because they weren't able to have a happy youth, didn't you Kanada'
The girl nodded silently.
'So… why are you here? What's your story?'
A frown crossed her face, and the girl looked away without speaking.
'Kanada… after you absorbed your clones and fell unconscious, I stayed by your side till you woke. You know this, right?'
The girl nodded silently.
'Kanada… You know… when you were unconscious, you had nightmares. You were talking in your sleep.
Kanada nodded.
'Yes, I remember.'
Otonashi hesitated one last time… should he continue. But who else was there?
He grabbed her firmly by the shoulders, and asked 'Kanada… who's Ikari? When you were talking in your sleep, you were crying, saying you would protect him, but you wouldn't become one with him. Who was he, Kanada, and what did he make you do?'
Kanada looked at him silently, and her eyes seemed to be judging him. The moment seemed to go on forever… Then she nodded to herself, spoke.
'Sit.'
Otonashi sat on the bench beside them, and Kanada sat beside him, then raised her hands, till she was pressing gently against both sides of Otonashi's head.
'If you want to know who I am, If you want to know who Ikari is, close your eyes.'
Otonashi closed his eyes.
At first there was nothing. Nothing but darkness. Then… There was still nothing. A minute passed, and Otonashi was beginning to get impatient.
'You need to relax, or it won't work.'
Otonashi sighed, and tried to relax.
He wasn't sure how long he had been there, but eventually he fell into a light doze. He was tired, it had been a long day, and it was now late. As he slowly drifted towards sleep, images started coming into his mind. Dreams. Kanada's dreams? Otonashi tried not to think, tried just to drift along with the dreams. They didn't make anything any clearer though. The setting sun, along with a feeling of intense fear… An older man with a goatee and tinted glasses looking at her. A younger boy – the first persons son? Looking at her with a shy smile. Then a black room, and the sound of liquid moving around. Otonashi wasn't sure how, but he knew there were large tanks of the liquid, and there were things in there that filled him… filled Kanada with fear. There were other images too. Phrases that were important to Kanada, but meant nothing to Otonashi. Images… sounds… scents…
Otonashi came out of the dream even more confused than he went in, but somehow sure now that he had had the wrong idea about whoever this 'Ikari' person was. It wasn't someone who had hurt Kanda, but someone she had been trying to protect. He woke slowly, and when he opened his eyes, found himself in Kanda's lap, looking up at her. He'd never noticed it before, but her long hair wasn't completely white. There was a very slight tinge of blue to it. She looked down at him, her tazipan eyes looking very solemn. For a moment, Otonashi had the feeling that they should be red for some reason, but shrugged the fancy away. Her clones were gone now, so there was no reason…
Some of the phrases from the dream were still in his mind, and he looked up at her sleepily and asked 'Kanada, who's 'Ayanami? And what's a 'AT Field?'
AUTHORS NOTES:
I was in the middle of writing another crossover when this possibility occurred to me. It all kind of makes sense that Kanada could be Rei. (except for the name, and the color of her eyes.) If you look in episode 9, she does have a blueish tinge to her hair. If Rei had grown it longer once she died, and changed her name for some reason, it would explain a lot. For instance, 'distortion' could have been inspired by repressed memories of the AT fields, and 'blade sonic' could have been her memories of the prog knife. And lets not even talk about the Harmonics skill…
Once I'd thought about it, the idea kept bugging me until I had to write it down, just to get it out of my system. Well, I hope you enjoyed…
