Disclaimer: See chapter 1.

'Thoughts'

"Speech"

Chapter 02: The Kiss Of Dawn

"Rei…please. I know I haven't exactly been the most accepting of any help, but I don't want to wake up like that again."

She knew he was at least willing to try and get himself out of his current state if he was willing to beg her for help.

"Alright, let's go; you need some immediate help." Shinji couldn't argue with that, he was feeling pain all over. Rei had called Ritsuko from her little used cell phone while standing at the front gate of their school with Shinji partially using her to stay on his feet.

"Dr. Akagi."

"Yes, Rei?"

"Can you send someone to pick up me and Shinji; he needs some medical help right away."

"Of course" and as soon as Rei had heard that, she hung up and continued to help Shinji stand up straight. A few minutes later, a black car came to the front of the school and Rei helped Shinji in it before climbing in herself. The car took off as soon as Rei's door was closed.

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Rei simply stood there and watched as Ritsuko applied some cream to Shinji's bruises and continued to look at some area's of his skin where it looked like he had been cut slightly, meaning that the blade was sharp and was only lightly dragged across his skin.

When the doctor was finished, she turned to Rei. "For as long as it takes for him to get better mentally and physically, do not let him out of your sight for very long. His very life may depend on it. If something else like this happens, then his life may be ended prematurely."

She understood the implications of if there were to be a next time before the doctor had even said anything. It was something that she did not want to happen, though she could really say that she knew why as she had very little experience with emotions.

"Understood, doctor" with that, Akagi walked out. Rei took a few steps to where Shinji sat on the hospital, looking like, well, (for lack of a better word) shit.

"Better?" She asked in her usual soft voice.

"A little. Though Dr. Akagi told me to get plenty of sleep and take things easy, I don't think I can even think about sleep for quite a while after what happened."

"That is understandable. However, you must at least try."

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"Uh…Rei?" Shinji asked when they were inside of her apartment.

"Yes, Shinji-kun?"

"Where exactly am I supposed to sleep?" he asked, suddenly aware of just how small her decrepit old apartment was. It was, however, a lot cleaner than he remembered it, though he hadn't been there in several months, it was definitely cleaner than he remembered.

"You may use my bed. I will sleep on a futon" She said, pulling a futon out from a closet that he hadn't remembered being where it was, and placed the futon on the floor.

Having nothing else to do, he decided to at least lie down. It didn't help that Rei wasn't being all that talkative, though she never was anyway. He still felt rather tired so he lay down on her bed and gently closed his eyes, aware that she was watching his every move, or even his lack of movement.

Sometime, later, Shinji woke up to find the whole room in darkness. He tried to sit up, but there was something, no, someone on top of him. He figured that it was Rei rather quickly, as anyone else would probably have woken him up.

It seemed that she was in a deep sleep, so he thought it best just to try and sleep for now, and talk to her in the morning about why she was on top of him.

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"So, how has our little plan proceeded?" Ritsuko said as she came in to Misato's office where she was filling out a big pile of paperwork.

"I believe that we have done our part, Rits" Misato said without looking up.

"And why is that? Because we made him get some form of help?"

"We didn't make him do anything. We…just…sorta…pushed him in the right direction" Misato said as she turned to the doctor.

"So a push in the right direction is having him beaten up in his sleep and dumped on some street near Rei's apartment?!" Ritsuko almost yelled, but kept her voice only raised.

Misato could only look down at the ground when Ritsuko all but yelled at her. "And I thought you were his friend, Major."

Misato knew when she was in deep shit, and it was when Ritsuko used her rank instead of her name. Misato continued to do or say nothing. Ritsuko chose that moment to leave, saying under her breath, "It makes me sick that a friend would do that to another friend."

Misato knew she had done wrong, she knew it all too well, but that didn't change the fact that it happened. If she told Shinji that she had done it any time soon, it would probably send him back on the path of destruction, though he wasn't very far on it, he was still on it, and could go back to it if word of something like what Misato had done had somehow gotten to him, he would be back on it.

She didn't really like the fact that she had Section 2 go into his room and carry him out to their car, beat him up, tear his clothes and then toss him into a street. She needed a drink. Badly. She got up and grabbed her purse and then headed to the nearest bar to drown in a pool of booze.

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When Shinji woke up the next morning, Rei wasn't on him. However, he smelled something that smelled somewhat like food, possibly breakfast. He sat up slowly and started to get up. He stretched out his muscles a bit before heading into the kitchen area of Rei's apartment.

Rei heard him and turned around from the stove where she was attempting to cook.

"Morning"

"Morning, Rei. What are you cooking?"

"I thought I would attempt to cook some eggs" she said, and turned back to the frying pan, spatula in hand. Some minutes later, they were sitting at her rather small table and were eating some slightly burnt eggs.

Shinji didn't complain though, he had tasted worse; Misato's cooking. They ate in relative silence, as neither one could formulate any coherent, or speakable thoughts. In Shinji's mind, he was thinking how much better Rei could cook than Misato.

However, in Rei's mind, there were thoughts of a different nature. 'What is this warm feeling I am having as I think about what we could be doing instead of eating breakfast?' She shook her head slightly so that Shinji wouldn't notice it. 'Why is it that I wish to think of Shinji in that manner?' she questioned herself. She continued to sit there thinking, not noticing that Shinji was actually watching her as she contemplated her feelings, though she only had a limited experience with feelings, and couldn't really tell what she was feeling.

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"Major."

"Yes, Commander Fuyutski?"

"I entrust that your little plan to get the young Ikari better is going well?"

"Yes sir."

"That's not what Doctor Akagi has said. She said that you had him beaten up and thrown in some street. Is this correct?"

Misato knew she was in trouble then, and that the faux blonde was no longer a friend. She sighed audibly and said, "Yes commander."

Fuyutski had often wondered what exactly was going on inside of the Major's mind, especially right now; having her charge beaten up just so he would be forced to get some help? Now that was wrong, but he did say that whatever plan she came up with, she would have his complete support. Of course, that was only because he thought that she would come up with something different.

"Major, I remember telling you that you had my full support of whatever plan you came up with. This, however, is not tolerable. You will not be arrested since it seems to be working, but one more mistake like that, and you will be in prison. Is that understood?"

"Yes sir."

"Good. Dismissed."

Fuyutski didn't like being hard on those under him, but there were just certain things that you didn't have done to teenagers. He figured that he had just been around Gendo, the emotionless human wall, for far too long. He was glad that he had pointed out to the UN inspectors of what Gendo had been doing this whole time, besides fighting the Angels.

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After breakfast, Shinji had thought it a good idea to take a walk, though, Rei would have to come. He had heard the doctor's orders for Rei to accompany him almost everywhere, the exception being the bathroom.

They were walking through a rather large park and were currently sitting on a bench that Shinji had spotted a while ago.

"Something wrong, Rei?"

"Not really, why?"

"Well, you're only wearing your school uniform and it's kinda cold out here. Also, you're shivering." Rei looked down at her body and noticed that she was shivering. Shinji opened his slightly large coat and motioned for her to share it with him.

She was reluctant at first, but then the wind picked up and she chose to take him up on his offer. She crawled into his lap and let his arms encircle her with their warmth. A blush found it's way to her cheeks when she realized just how close he was, and started to realize what her feelings were, and why ash had had the urge to sleep next to him the night before.

Shinji too had a blush, but he was looking away from her, and trying to push certain thoughts out of his head that would start something that she would notice rather quickly.

After about a half hour of them sitting there, the wind finally died down and she got off of his lap, blush still in place. They then started heading towards her apartment, as any longer out in the park would probably mean Rei's death, and with there being no more "copies" of her in some storage tank in Terminal Dogma, she felt that she had some reason to live, though she didn't know why she felt that way; Eva was her life, and the Eva's were to be dismantled soon, so she really had nothing to live for anymore.

At this time, snow started to fall, and Shinji took off his coat and placed it on Rei's shoulders. He had something on that was warmer than Rei's school dress, so he wasn't too concerned. When she felt his coat on her shoulders, she wrapped it around herself rather tightly.

After a time, they made it back to the apartment and then they noticed that there was no heat.

"Sorry, Shinji-kun, I do not have heater."

Shinji didn't say anything, but crawled into her bed and then said, "That's alright, there's always body heat." She said nothing and continued to stand there. "C'mon, Rei, I know you're cold, so come here and lay down."

She slowly started for the bed and got in as he had directed. She left his coat was on the floor. She snuggled up to him almost immediately and laid her head on his shoulder. He surprised her by putting his arm around her and bringing her close to him and put his mouth right by her ear and said, "Rei, I love you."

AN: Yes, OOC, and all that, but without a little bit of OOCness, what is a story?