Disclaimer: I do not Evangelion. I do not intend in any way to profit off of this story.

Chapter 2: Separation Anxiety

With the end of that conversation, it seemed to Shinji that the ban on small talk was removed. Yamada seemed to be a friendly enough man, and spent much of the remainder of the drive having largely one-sided conversations with either the sergeant in the back seat or Shinji. In a relatively short period, Shinji learned about the man's wife and daughter, the latest baseball scores (Chunichi Dragons beating the Yomiuri Giants 6 to 3), and that Sgt. Hansen was dating a blond from Section 3 and hadn't yet gotten past first base.

Shinji also found himself revealing a number of things to the man. He didn't quite know how the man did it, but after a few amusing stories about the adventures of Yamada's daughter, Shinji felt himself relaxing for the first time in several days. He knew without a doubt that the man was purposely doing it, but still he found himself sitting more comfortably and even smiling a bit at particularly funny punch lines. In the process, he unwillingly let slip that he played the cello, had never been on a date, was a half-decent cook, and was used to fending for himself. He was fairly certain, that at least some of those details were being remembered, and after thinking about, he didn't really want to know why. Still, it was nice to feel comfortable for once.

Deciding to do a little information gathering himself, Shinji gathered the courage that had returned to him and asked his own question, "So what exactly does Section Two do, anyway?"

The two men in the back traded looks again, and Yamada shrugged his shoulders at the sergeant, before answering Shinji's question. "Well, we do a lot, I suppose. There aren't really too many of us around, maybe fifteen hundred people total for all of NERV. That's actually probably a high estimate. About two hundred of us are here, the rest are scattered around the rest of NERV's bases. Any reason you want to know?" He raised an eyebrow.

Shinji looked at the floor, the small well of confidence drying up, "…No, well, not really. I guess I was just curious…After all…I suppose I'll be working with you guys for a while…" Shinji managed to stammer out.

There was a pause, and then, surprisingly, Hansen in the back seat spoke up, his voice, a quiet, near monotone as always. "There are three divisions within Section Two. Due to limited personnel, however, many of us often double-hat. The Security Division is responsible for base, location, and personnel security. Intelligence is responsible for gaining information on the enemy, in addition to other countries and organizations that might oppose NERV. The Counter-Intelligence Division is responsible for providing misinformation and paramilitary operations if, when, and where they are needed."

"Giving out all our secrets, right away, aren't you, Switch?" said Yamada with a touch of amusement.

Shinji looked up just in time to see the blond haired man's eyebrows furrow, and speak again, this time with a touch of irritation. "He asked. What more do you want from me?"

Yamada just laughed and turned towards Shinji, leaning forward and whispering conspiratorially, "He's not quiet like the Ice Princess, Pilot. When he gets off work he relaxes, and get this, even occasionally speaks without prompting!"

"Shove it," Came the terse reply from the back seat, and Shinji couldn't help but smile when Yamada starting laughing again.

"What do you mean by 'like the Ice Princess?'" Shinji asked the two men when Yamada had recovered from his bout of laughter.

Yamada nodded and answered the question "That's Security's nickname for the First Child, you know, the blue-haired girl? I heard that you had some sort of encounter with her, so you should know who I'm talking about. The codename we use for her on the radios is 'Princess,' but she's really such a-" both men stiffened, and all the friendliness drained from both of their faces almost faster than Shinji could blink. What remained was the cold, expressionless look of professionalism that made Shinji very uncomfortable, especially combined with the fact the van had come to a stop. . "-We're here. Pilot, please stay between us, and try not to make any sudden moves. The First's security team hasn't been in the area for several days due to the girl's hospitalization, so it is entirely possible that hostiles have been in and around the area. This is a supposed to be a safe area, but now that the Angel's have returned, all bets are off."

Shinji nodded, and quickly checked to make sure he had everything. He didn't want to risk irritating these men by forgetting something and having to come back for it. Fortunately, everything seemed to be in order, and when he looked up again, the man sitting in the passenger seat, Sgt. Thilivhali, Shinji thought his name was, had gotten out of the van. A second later, sunlight flooded the inside of the van and Shinji had to blink repeatedly to adjust to the sudden brightness. Yamada was the first one out, and when Hansen gestured, Shinji followed him obediently out.

Shinji was absolutely underwhelmed by his surroundings when his eyes finally did manage to adjust. To be completely and utterly honest, the place looked like a dump. The buildings were bland, empty looking, and obviously built as economy housing. It was fairly obvious that the buildings had never been occupied, at least by paying renters, and instead of that being a plus, they looked as if they had been abandoned as soon as they had been built. To top it off, Shinji could hear the noise of construction quite clearly a short distance away. It looked as if his father had found out the perfect way to show exactly what he thought of his son.

Thankfully, Shinji was spared a longer look at his surroundings when Sgt. Hansen emerged from the van behind him and pushed him towards the stairs. Lt. Yamada and the other sergeant had already headed up the stairs, and Shinji hurried to follow them. He didn't understand it, but he suddenly felt very naked and exposed out in the open area. He hunched his shoulders and did his best not to break into a run. It seemed as if Lt. Yamada's paranoia was already affecting him.

His apartment was apparently on the fifth floor, as the group slowly moved up the stairs, stopping at ever junction, to scan for what Shinji assumed to be hostiles. They found none, thankfully, and when they reached the fifth level, Sgt. Thilivhali, who was indeed of some sort of African descent and not just a man with a very good tan, interposed himself between Shinji and the railing. Yamada took to the front position and Hansen brought up the rear. It was very frightening to be surrounded by the three, who were armed and seemed quite ready to draw whatever weapons they had at the slightest provocation, but at the same time, Shinji somehow founded it very comforting. For the moment, his life was in their hands.

The group passed the first door on the floor, but paused before the second. Yamada made some sort of hand gesture, that made little sense to Shinji, but apparently did to the other Section Two men. Yamada then drew a rather mean and dangerous looking pistol, and carefully moved to open the door. As soon as he touched the door, it swung violently open, and all hell broke lose.


Rei Ayanami was quite familiar with the hospitals of NERV. Throughout her short life, she had spent a great deal of time in the many facilities of Section Four. From the small infirmary right outside the Eva cages to the massive surgical ward deep within the heart of headquarters, Rei Ayanami knew them all. She knew one more thing. She hated them all.

It wasn't that the nurses were inattentive or the food was bad. On the contrary, the food was of excellent quality, even for a vegetarian like Rei, and the nurses, to Rei's growing irritation, were in fact near borderline over attentive. However, neither of those were acceptable reasons to hate the facilities. It had taken her many hours of quiet deliberation to deduce the exact reasons for her feeling. When she finally came to a conclusion, it had surprised her.

It was the smell. The hospitals in NERV all had the same smell, and she found it utterly disgusting. The smell of blood. Not just any blood, for if one spent any amount of time around the Eva's and at NERV, one quickly became accustomed to the smell, but the smell of her own blood. It filled the hallways and rooms of the hospitals, and leaked through the doors and windows into the surrounding area. It was a constant reminder of the path and the destination that was chosen for her.

Why she should find that so loathsome, Rei was not quite sure. After all, her purpose in life was to pilot Eva, and if what lay at the end of that path was her blood being spilled, what was the problem? Perhaps it was simply that the place represented a long period of pain and suffering for her, both in the past and for the future. Though, even that should not matter in the face of her ultimate purpose. Pain was only a temporary inconvenience, after all.

Even with that logic, Rei did her best to keep her visits to the hospitals of NERV as short as possible. As soon as she could breathe and walk on her own, she would fill out her release paperwork, and make her way home. In the beginning, the doctors had tried to prevent her from leaving, but Rei was nothing, if not persistent. Even Section 2 had been unable to prevent her from leaving, as one man who had tried to physically restrain her had learned quite well. His broken ribs had healed nicely, but the man still walked with a slight limp. In the end, the medical staff had given up and let her do what she wanted, though they still always filed a token protest with the commander when she checked out earlier than they wished. Which were routinely ignored, as always.

Rei proceeded down the familiar hallway of the Pilots' Ward at her usual slow pace, having temporarily escaped from her hospital room. There was an unusual amount of activity near the entrance to the ward that drew her attention. She made her way towards the activity and stopped to curiously watch the custodial workers and nurses removing the sheets and some of the used equipment from the room. Until this week, the room and it surrounding support facilities had all been sealed and the equipment kept waiting for their intended use. Now that the Third Child had arrived, the rooms were staffed and the equipment serviced and readied for use.

The hospital staff, once they noticed her, proceeded to pay her no attention, and finished their cleaning work quickly and efficiently. They left the room, bowing politely to her, and headed for the elevator, and presumably, to either their next task or the staff break room. It didn't terribly matter much to Rei what they did or where they went, for the moment they left, Rei stepped into the room and began to look around.

It was an almost exact copy of her room. The bed and heart monitor were in the same places, as was the restroom and flower table. Still, Rei carefully looked over the room nearly inch by inch. She didn't know exactly what she was looking for, or exactly why she was searching, but Rei never let things like that bother her. She was not immune to the occasional strange urge or compulsion; she was human, just like everyone else.

Still when she had gone over the whole room, she couldn't help but frown slightly in confusion and irritation. She had not found anything. This had been a waste of her time that could have better been served by preparing for her release tomorrow. There were things to be done and paperwork to fill out. Everything needed to be perfect; else the doctors would find some almost legimate reason to keep her in this place.

Turning around, Rei made her way to the room's door, only to stop and face the room again when something caught her attention. She looked over the room carefully one last time, then inhaled and smelled. Nodding to herself in slight satisfaction, she understood what had driven her to search the room. It was the smell. It was like…Commander Ikari's, and not. She supposed it might be his son's.


As soon as the door started to swing open, Shinji saw Yamada pull sharply backward and Shinji found himself flying backward after a hard push backward from Sgt. Thilvhali as the man threw himself between Shinji and the door. He felt Sgt. Hansen catch him roughly, and suddenly he was being rapidly half-carried, half-dragged even further backward back towards the stairs. Before they rounded the corner of the building, Shinji saw both Sgt. Thilivhali and Lt. Yamada at the door, both with dangerous looking pistols in their hands. Then they rounded the corner, and Shinji had to rely on sound to figure out what was going on.

St. Hansen dropped him roughly to the ground on the side of the wall, then, without pausing, drew a pistol from somewhere beneath his jacket, and positioned himself at the corner. Shinji could hear him whispering under his breath, and after a second of thought, realized that the man likely had some sort of radio on him, and was probably communicating with the other three agents. He scooted closer, to try to hear what the sergeant was saying.

What he heard was fragmented, as expected from a radio conversation. "…secured by the stairs, Yuu. Watch the car." There was a pause. "Sir, I'm covering you two. Go for it."

The next thing Shinji heard was a loud crashing noise coming from what he assumed was the door, and some almost unintelligible yelling. He assumed that it was the two men shoving their way into the apartment. He curled himself into a small ball beside the sergeant, and waited for the inevitable sound of gunshots.

Instead he heard more shouting, then a strange silence, which even Sgt. Hansen didn't break by whispering into his radio. The man's tenseness didn't go away and neither did he relax his grip on the gun, so Shinji remained curled up. Whatever had happened or had not happened still was apparently dangerous, and Shinji was more than willing to do what it took to keep himself alive. Dying at the front door of his new apartment wasn't exactly the most attractive of deaths.

After a few more tense moments, however, the man relaxed, which allowed Shinji to relax as well. Something had been cleared up, and they were at least slightly safer than before, which suited Shinji just fine. Things were exciting enough without adding a gunfight to the mix. At this point, all that Shinji wanted to do was to find a bed and rest. Then maybe when he woke up, he could make sense of what was happening to his life.

"The Lieutenant and Sgt. Thilvhali have finished the initial bomb search, and are checking the neighboring rooms. They aren't really expecting anything, so it should be safe to proceed to the apartment," said Sgt. Hansen, back to his normal deadpan. Just the idea of a bomb sent shivers down Shinji's spine. He hadn't even thought of that. Would this sort of thinking need to become routine? Was this what Yamada had meant by always think about his survival first? He hoped not, for the sake of his sanity.

Shinji picked himself off the ground, and dusted himself off, and when the agent began to move, followed close behind. They passed the first apartment door, which was now wrenched wide open, and Sgt. Thilivhali stuck his head out and nodded to Sgt. Hansen as they passed. He fell in behind them as they headed for the second door.

Yamada appeared out of the third door, ahead of them, at about the same time, and walked towards them. When he reached them, he gave a strange sort of smile that sent shivers down Shinji's spine. It was the smile of a very unhappy predator, about to join in on the hunt. "It seems, Pilot Ikari, as if the boys of Section 1 are not too fond of you. They have chosen to house you in a room with no functional lock and…well…you'll just have to see for yourself." He turned and gave a mockingly grand gesture for the boy to enter.

Giving all three men a nervous glance, Shinji stepped in the door. He made to take off his shoes, but immediately decided against it, for there was a thick layer of dust on the ground. Right inside the door was a pile of boxes marked with his name, which Shinji assumed had come from his guar…former guardian. To have them here this quick, the man must have assumed from the get-go Shinji would not be returning. At least he had waited for Shinji to leave. A small kindness, but that was more than he often received.

Walking further into the room, cause Shinji's already low spirits to sink to rock bottom. The dust on the floor covered just about everything else in the room, not that there was much to 'everything else.' There were spaces and wall stains that suggested a dresser and desk had once occupied some of the floor space, but there were long gone. There was also a pile of broken metal in one corner that might have once been a frame for a Western style bed, but since it was under the dust Shinji couldn't be sure. The kitchen was the same, missing both a stove and a refrigerator and a pile of broken wood that was probably once a table and chairs. With some relief, Shinji saw that the bathroom was largely intact, though for some reason someone had scrawled in orange paint a number of rude words on the toilet. Overall, it could barely be called an apartment. If Shinji had had enough energy to be heartbroken, he would have been, but all he could manage was sort of a listless unhappiness. He walked back out of the apartment to the waiting agents, and gave sort of an unhappy shrug to their questioning glances.

They exchanged a look among each other, and then continued a somewhat broken conversation, that apparently included the agent back in the van. Yamada was doing most of the talking. "…Yeah, tell Norio that I'm going to break both his legs when I get back for not telling us beforehand about the lock being broken." There was a long pause, "Well, I'm glad to know that he was arranging for a new lock, but tell him the door needs a new frame, now as well. Hell, just tell him to get a whole new door. A good one." Another pause. "Good. And tell him to ask about the rest of the building. The security here is so leaky that a blind, armless man could come in and kidnap either of the Children. And ask why the Third's room is such a dump." Another pause. "Alright, a cot is fine for tonight, I'm glad Norio had the foresight to think of that. I'll ask around about the rest when I get back. Get back to base and pick up the new door and the crew to install it. We'll stay here and…I dunno, make sure this building doesn't fall apart more than it already is."

With that final remark, Shinji heard the van start in the lot below, and mournfully watched it drive off down the road. There went his hope for a completely different living space. Maybe if he was lucky, the man would bring a cleaning crew and new furniture back too along with him, though that was probably hoping for too much. He had heard something about a cot, which he was almost certain was a temporary bed of some kind, so at least he'd have somewhere to sleep that wasn't covered in dust.

The three men discussed something in English that Shinji couldn't quite understand, before the African sergeant nodded, put his gun away, and walked off towards the stairs, before disappearing down them. It was kind of strange. He suddenly felt much more vulnerable without the other man there, and took a few tentative steps towards the remaining agents.

Yamada and Hansen continued to discuss something in whispered English for a few more moment, before nodding each other and turning towards himself. They escorted him, once more, inside the filthy apartment, and left Hansen right inside the door, but Yamada pushed Shinji a forward into the room a little more. They stopped and Yamada turned and gave, to Shinji's surprise, a moderately low bow. "I would like to apologize for my words and actions a few minutes ago, Pilot Ikari. Despite their truth, they were uncalled for, and if you were insulted in anyway, please accept my apology." Shinji gave an uneasy nod, "Secondly, I'd like to apologize for the condition of your apartment. These are emergency NERV personnel apartments, and as you can see," he gave another mocking gesture, "they have not been kept up to standard. When I return to headquarters tonight, I will contact the people in Section 1 who are better equipped to deal with this and see what they can do about it. Until then, we'll wait for your new door to arrive, and then let you sleep," he frowned and look slightly uncomfortable, "as well as you can sleep in here, anyway."

Shinji nodded weakly, and took another look around the room. It was a dump, without a doubt. He hoped he would at least be able to a proper bed in here quickly. It didn't matter if it was a futon, or a Western style bed, as long as it was comfortable, he didn't care. Whatever a cot was, it certainly didn't sound comfortable.

"Where did Sgt Thi...Tiv...Thil…the other agent that was with us go?" Shinji asked the lieutenant, embarrassed that he hadn't been able to pronounce the name of one the men who were trying to protect him.

"Thilivhali? He went to check out and hopefully man the security post across the street. The Ice Princess's security team usually is the one to use it, but now that you're here, it's going to be staffed at all times by either us or them. Safer that way." He frowned, "It should have been that way from the start, actually, but…," he shrugged, his own puzzlement obvious, "budgeting and some bizarre internal Section 1 politics, I'd guess."

Shinji nodded, and tucked those little bits of information into the back of his brain. If he was to stay alive, they might come in handy someday. "How long till the new door gets here?"

The man shrugged. "Knowing Norio, he-" Yamada punched his fist into his hand and rolled his eyes, "Norio's the quartermaster for Section Two and sort of NERV' custom's officer, by the way, sorry about that. He should have the door pretty quick. The work crew might be a little harder. With the clean-up operations and everything, a door installation might be pretty far down on the priority list. If we're here more than two hours, I'll send out a Class 1 call. That's our 'drop everything, security breach' call. Hopefully, that won't be necessary, though. It makes everybody nervous."

Shinji nodded dazedly, and when Yamada saw there were no more questions, he moved to the doorway to join Sgt. Hansen, leaving Shinji largely to his own devices. He took a few minutes to pull himself together, again, before looking around the desolate room once more. He obviously couldn't unpack. The place was too dirty, and there weren't any places left to put things anyway. At least, he could maybe start on the cleaning.

Making his way over to the boxes, Shinji began to open and go through the contents of the boxes. Depending on how thorough his former guardian had been, he should have a couple of old shirts he had once used to help paint his guardian's house. He was sure they could double as washrags just as well. If they weren't in the box, he could probably sacrifice something else, but with his current circumstance he'd really rather not. Still, sitting around with nothing to do for two hours would just give himself too much time to think.

Thankfully, in the box at the bottom of the pile marked 'Throwaways?' Shinji found the shirts he was looking for. Giving the main room a quick look over, Shinji gave it up as a lost cause for the moment. The kitchen, however, didn't seem quite as bad. Also, it was a higher priority. After all, he needed to eat much more than he needed a clean place to sleep, even if he was currently missing a stove and refrigerator. Best-case scenario, he would have the area cleaned up in time for the appliances to be delivered. Worst case, he at least had one clean room.

Tying one of the shirts around his face as a dust filter, Shinji went after the small room with a vengeance. Thankfully, the water from the small sink was turned on, and even appeared to be clean, which made the job much easier. He was relieved that something in this horrible apartment worked. Maybe that meant the toilet and the shower worked too. If nothing else, he could be clean, even if the apartment wasn't.

Before he knew it, an hour had passed, and Sgt. Hansen came in and gestured for him to follow. Shinji had been rather absorbed in cleaning a particularly stubborn stain on the floor, and hadn't even heard the man until he was right in from of him. He supposed it felt good to do something that didn't require him to think. After all that had happened the last few days, thinking was really the last thing on his to-do list.

Taking off his impromptu dust mask and leaving it by the sink, Shinji made his way into the other room, where, to his surprise, a bag of takeout was sitting. Yamada and Hansen were already going at the meal, and when Yamada saw Shinji enter the room, he gestured to the bag. "Feel free to take something. We didn't expect to be here this long, so I asked NERV to have something delivered. The mess halls generally turn out decent food, so I figured, why not? Not at my expense." The man laughed.

Shinji shrugged, as did the sergeant, and made his way over to the bag and pulled out a Styrofoam container. Grabbing some of the disposable tableware that someone had thoughtfully adding, Shinji moved to join the two men at the door. He glanced sideways at what both of them were eating. They both had some sort of rice dish, which probably meant it was edible, if not always terribly tasty. Opening his own container, which revealed another portion of the same dish, Shinji began to eat.

The hallway had been relatively quiet while Shinji was working, and the meal wasn't terribly different. Both men ate with a kind of mechanical precision; clearly their attention was somewhere else. Or maybe they just weren't too fond of the dish, Shinji couldn't really tell. Even while eating, the men both seemed kind of tense; one of them was always looking out of the door, and every few seconds one or the other would shift positions minutely. Shinji wondered if all security people were that jumpy. He assumed they probably were. It was a dangerous profession after all.

Still, Shinji was used to at least a little conversation during meals, so when the silence became near unbearable, he spoke up. "…So, any news on the new door?"

The American grunted, and shook his head, and Yamada barely looked up from his meal, at least when he wasn't staring out the door. Shinji was a bit disappointed. He at least expected a reply from Yamada, the man seemed talkative enough when things weren't that tense. Maybe that meant…He opened his mouth to ask a question, but was surprised when Hansen spoke, instead. "Move back to the kitchen, Pilot. You are exposed."

Shinji's eyes widened in surprise and looked to Yamada who nodded. "Sitting in the hallway with the door open, is all well and fine for us, Pilot, but it leaves you quite exposed. You should eat your meal in the kitchen and continue what you were doing in there until the new door arrives."

Shinji nodded, and retreated with his meal, feeling a little hurt, and frankly a bit lonely. They were only trying to protect him, but he appreciated their company, nonetheless. Since he had arrived in town, he had been shuffled from person to person and place-to-place. To him, this was a strange and frightening city. In this desolate and unknown place, any company was welcome; even it was the company of paid security agents whose only job was to see that he remained physically intact.

He finished his meal, and without having a trashcan to put anything in to, regretfully placed the empty container on his newly cleaned countertop. It was depressing to christen his new apartment with an empty take-out box, but really, there wasn't a terribly large amount of choices. He certainly didn't want to take anything out of his boxes and put it somewhere in this dirty place. He supposed he'd just have to deal with it.

Returning to his task, Shinji did his best to finish cleaning up the kitchen. After digging through the pile of loose wood sitting in the middle of the room, he came to the conclusion that the table and chairs really were a total loss. However, with nowhere to simply pitch them, Shinji's only real option was to wipe them down the best he could and stack them neatly in the corner by the doorway leading to the main room. However, the cupboards were surprisingly clean on the inside, and not even scratched or marked on the outside. Whatever vandal had come by and taken the appliances and vandalized the bed and table apparently didn't really care about cabinets. Not that he was complaining.

It took another twenty minutes to finish up the kitchen, and Shinji debated with himself on whether or not to start on the bathroom. It was getting dark, and he had already tried the lights. Either the electricity wasn't turned on in the apartment yet, or the vandals had chosen for some reason or other to take the light bulbs as well. He hadn't tried to remove the fixtures to check, even if he had cleaned the outsides of them in the kitchen. The bathroom was quite small, and Shinji was worried about the possibility of tripping over something and somehow injuring himself. In an unfamiliar room, it was entirely likely, especially for Shinji.

Thankfully, he was saved from the choice by the arrival of the new door and what he assumed was the thing he was supposed to be sleeping on. The cot wasn't terribly impressive, in fact it looked rather worn and very uncomfortable, but the door the workmen had brought certainly was. It looked as if had been ripped from a top-secret bunker storing nuclear weapons. It was made of three inches of reinforced steel, and had an electronic lock that apparently, according to one of the workmen, would take a Cray supercomputer two weeks of continuous computing to crack. Even the two security men were impressed. Whatever they had been expecting, this certainly hadn't been it.

"The Vice-Commander sends his regards," one of the workmen cheekily said. Almost as if on cue, Shinji heard a brief humming noise, and one of the fluorescent lights in the main room tiredly flickered on. It wasn't much, but it was enough to bring a slight smile to Shinji's face. It seemed as if there was at least one person out there who was looking out for him.

The door installation took another two hours, largely due to the need for some creative rewiring to power the electronic lock. Shinji used the time, and the newly provided lights to give the bathroom a rough cleaning, and even get started on part of the main room. When it came time for the workmen to leave, he had cleaned a large enough space for the cot. He thanked the workmen with all the courtesy he could muster, earning smiles from several of the men. To his surprise and somewhat relief, the workmen gathered together all of the broken furniture pieces and took them out when they left. A large part of his clean up was done and he had somewhere to sleep. It almost made life seem pleasant, at least for the moment.

"Well, that went better than expected," Said Lt. Yamada, sounding almost happy, "Was expecting a normal sort of door, not a Mark 4. I don't know what Norio did to get the Vice-Commander's attention, but I hope he remembers what it was, just in case we have to do that again. I guess I won't be breaking his legs after all. He got Nagamura's work crew to come, too. Wonder what favor he called in to get them off reconstruction duty…" he mused to himself.

Sgt. Hansen rolled his eyes at the lieutenant, and then gestured at Shinji to come to the door with him. He then proceeded to give a short, terse explanation on how the door worked, and had Shinji set his password. The man then set an additional password that was to be used by the security personnel only in emergency situations. For some reason, the sergeant made a point of assuring him that there were only those two passwords. Shinji guessed from the man's pointed insistence that much of NERV security had had the habit of breaking into its personnel's rooms fairly frequently. He really wouldn't have minded even if they had. He had nothing to hide.

The two security agents then informed him that he would be required at NERV the next morning, and gave him a time when they would come to pick him up. It was a terribly early time to be up, but Shinji managed a wan smile and a nod. The two agents then took their leave. After all, it was long past time for the night shift to officially take over. Shinji saw them to the door, thanked them for their time, and then shut the door firmly behind them when they walked out. If nothing else he could trust this new door. Even he was willing to trust three inches of reinforced steel. Privacy at last.

Planting his back against the door, Shinji let himself slide to the floor. Pulling his legs up to his chest, and his hands around his knees, Shinji let out a mournful sigh. He still didn't know what was going on, or why he really was still here. The lieutenant had tried his best to explain, Shinji believed, but the man couldn't tell what he didn't know. Looking around the room, Shinji could tell that he still wasn't in his father's good graces, either, though he had no clue what exactly he had done wrong this time. Exist, probably.

Still things were looking a bit up. He had a place to sleep, apparently a job, and he was close to his father, in distance if not actual closeness. The angel attack hadn't been that bad, the bits that he could remember, at least. His arm still hurt like something else, and he knew he'd have a crazy headache for at least a week, but honestly, he'd been hurt worse by bullies at school, even if it hurt a heck of a lot more while in the Eva. Maybe this piloting thing wouldn't be too bad after all.

Feeling somewhat more cheerful, Shinji stood up and prepared for bed. It took some digging through the boxes to find suitable nightclothes and a couple of blankets for the cot, but everything he needed was there. He changed, made the cot, turned out the lights, and lay down on the cot. Within minutes he was asleep.

Then the nightmares began.


Section 02 Database – Pilot Security Team Gamma (PST-G) – File 017

First Impressions – Shinji Ikari

1st Lt. Shiro Yamada

First things first, Security matters. The boy seemed relatively receptive to everything that I told him, and seems willing to play ball. Has a healthy sense of self-preservation that should hopefully make it easier on us. Doesn't really seem to be the type to get into trouble or head into the red-light district, at least not by himself. Doesn't seemed to be trained in any manner of self-defense, either, but his combat training should take care of that soon enough. Note to self: Talk to Rob and Mine on what they were ordered to teach the kid. We'll take that into account when deciding how close we'll have to stick to him. I hope they standardize Pilot training eventually, its hell on us Security people. There was a screw up with his residence, but the team and Norio are going to look into it. He seemed to take it as well as anyone could in that situation, and cooperated fully with the three of us there. I don't know what Lt. Mochizuki is doing, but he's putting both Shinji and the Ice Princess in danger, leaving the building like that.

The rest of it. Kid's horribly confused. Hasn't been told anything. I think he thought we were kidnappers or yakuza killers or something when we first showed up. Somebody in Section 01 is playing games with this kid, and I'm guessing it's probably the Commander. Not going to stick my nose into that hornet's nest, unless it endangers the kid. Seems to have some self-confidence issues, which isn't surprising considering the thing with his dad. Other than that, seems to be a fairly sturdy kid. If he fills out and gains some confidence, he'll probably be a real lady-killer someday. Also seems to be fairly self-sufficient, cooks, cleans, and seems to be reasonably capable of good personal hygiene, which is a relief. Getting someone to teach a kid those things would be a pain. Kid's fairly observant too. He knew I was digging for information. Maybe he share's his dad's paranoia. Note to self: Double check to make sure all relevant medical records have been transferred to Section 4 and get a hold of a copy. Find out if he's got any deadly allergies, or some sickness that doesn't show. Come up with a suitable call sign for the kid. 'Princess' fits the girl I suppose, but I don't know if we should use something similar.

Shiro


This chapter is about 1500 words longer than I really wanted it, but I suppose in the end that's the way the cookie crumbles. I went over it, and really didn't find a lot I wanted to cut out that I wouldn't probably use in some way or fashion later. Though I'd appreciate hearing other people opinions on whether there seems to be fat that could be cut off.

And bleargh, Rei is a pain in the butt to write. I have new respect for all those people who write her real well. Emotionless and cold is far harder to write than I expected. I'd appreciate opinions on how I did that as well.

A couple replies to some of the reviews:

There is not going to be a pairing in this fic. I didn't set out to write a story with a concrete pairing, and I don't intend to start writing one now. There will likely be romance later on, possibly with more than one character, but right now that's up in the air. I don't want to be tethered to any particular character at the moment, because declaring a pairing means that I have to generally follow a set of rules about that pairing. I'm not a big fan of that.

Also, on whether this follows the manga or anime version…I am really undecided on that at the moment. I know I need to make a decision soon, because hopefully after the next chapter, I can pick up the pace of the story a little bit and get the plot moving along. I am tempted sorely to try to base it off the manga at the moment, but I don't quite know yet.

As for the next chapter…I don't know when it'll be out. I have to work on some other projects first, so hopefully within the next two months. Sorry.