THIS LONELY HEART WANDERS

By: Tezza1502

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I don't own 'Neon Genesis Evangelion', nor any of the characters within. I'n just excercising my imagination.

The next morning.

"Oh, hi class rep! What's up?" Kensuke asked as he and Touji saw her walking towards the elevator that led up to the Katsuragi/Ikari/Ayanami residence.

"Hi guys! Shinji asked me to come over and walk with him and Rei to school." She answered mysteriously.

"Huh! Why?" Touji spoke up.

"You'll see in about five minutes." She grinned at their confused expressions. "Come on!" She led them into the elevator and pushed the button. Kensuke and Touji were both burning with curiosity and barely containing it, while Hikari was thinking about the nice time she had had with Shinji and the others, last night. Soon, the doors opened and let them out. Heading for the door, she pushed the buzzer. /Coming/ A voice came from the intercom. Opening the door, Shinji stepped out and greeted his friends. "Come on in. We should be ready to leave in a few minutes." He smiled apologetically. "Rei's been having second thoughts since we got home last night."

"Isn't it about twelve hours too late for that?" An understanding smirk appeared on Hikari's face.

"Yeah! Could you get in there and try to calm her down? I'll let these two in on what's going on." He pointed a thumb over his shoulder.

"Sure!" She bounced past him, leaving Shinji with the other two looking at him, confused as hell.

"Um, so what's up with Rei?" Kensuke spoke first.

"As you know, we all went shopping last night. I needed some new gear for the weekend. While we were there, Rei decided to try out a new look." He laughed at the expressions on their faces. "She looks fantastic! But she's nervous about going to school today. So, I need a big favour from you two." His face turned serious.

Seeing this, Touji and Kensuke became all business. "For you guys, anything. You know that." Kensuke said. Touji nodded in agreement.

"Thanks. It's just that she doesn't really like being the centre of attention, y'know? And she's going to get plenty of it for the next few days. So, with myself and Hikari, I need you two to help look out for her until everyone gets used to her new appearance."

"Sure! No prob! We're on it!" Kensuke answered. "I remember her getting flustered from the attention she used to get from boys when she first started. I mean, she never used to show it, but you could tell she didn't like it at all."

Touji nodded again. "So yeah, we got her back if she needs it."

Shinji was relieved. "Thanks guys."

"So, what did she have done?" Touji asked.

Shinji was about to answer when he saw Kensuke's mouth suddenly fall open. He was looking into the apartment entrance.

"This!" Hikari said proudly from the door.

Touji turned and he too let his jaw hit his chest. "Damn Rei, you look hot!" He said without thinking.

The girl went bright pink and tried to go back into the apartment, only to be stopped by Hikari and Misato.

Shinji looked on, amused. "Well, I think that's a first in the history of Tokyo-3. Touji and Kensuke at my place and they're not drooling over Misato!" He smirked. "Congratulations, Rei. You've outshone our guardian."

Misato pouted. "Awww. Don't I do it for you guys anymore?" She said as she stretched her arms over her head and jiggled herself at the two boys. It worked. As they switched their attention to Misato's lewd display, Hikari pushed Rei out the door and past them.

"Jerks!" She muttered at the drooling duo.

"I'll catch up with you in a minute, ladies." Shinji said as they passed by. Turning back, he whacked the mesmerized boys in the back of the head a couple of times to break them out of their daze. "Misato, behave! No more corrupting their innocence! They don't have much left as it is." He yelled over his shoulder as he dragged them away by their collars.

Misato poked her tongue out at him. "Meanie! Spoiling my fun!" She giggled as she went back inside. 'Oh, yeah! Still got it! No-ones taking MY title.'

The day at school went pretty much as Hikari had expected. The whispers started as soon as the group walked in the main gates, the class rep in the lead, Rei by Shinji's side and Touji and Kensuke in flanking positions. The guys were all slack-jawed as they caught sight of her. Rei had always had her fans amongst the school's male population, despite her steadfast refusal to get involved with any of them. Or indeed, acknowledge their existence.

Seeing as their living arrangement was common knowledge around the school, a lot of them became even more insanely jealous of Shinji, especially since Rei was holding on to his arm for support. Right then, he would have traded places with any of them because she was clutching his arm so tightly he was quickly losing all sensation below the elbow.

The girls, however, immediately went into various huddles, looking at her and whispering amongst themselves about this unexpected potential threat to their significant others. Green eyes were appearing everywhere. Only the presence of the most feared class representative of Tokyo-3 high school was keeping them from confronting Rei directly about her intentions. Seeing this, and knowing she couldn't be everywhere, Hikari began making a mental list of who she could trust in various classes to spread the word: Touch Rei and suffer the consequences!

Class went as normal, despite the occasional snort of annoyance coming from Rei's direction as she deleted message after message off her computer. Meal breaks also passed with minimal interference. If Touji cracking his knuckles or Hikari's stern glare didn't deter Rei's wannabe suitors, Shinji assuming the 'Gendo position' and giving them the evil eye usually did the trick. Shinji spotted Aki once during the day and mouthed "Main gate. After school" at her while he escorted Rei from one class to another. She nodded, unhappy at being ignored.

Eventually, school ended.

As students streamed out into the weekend, Shinji and Rei waited by the main gate. Rei was pointedly ignoring the other students by looking the other way while Shinji was handing out frozen glares to anyone who dared to come within range.

"Do you mind waiting? I haven't had a chance to talk to Aki today." Shinji asked.

"It is fine, Shinji. Take your time." Rei responded.

Soon enough, the young girl came into view. Seeing that Shinji had kept his word to talk to her after school, she bounced over to him. "Hi, Shinji!" A slightly more subdued "Hello Rei." followed. Rei nodded back politely.

"Um, hi Aki. Sorry I couldn't talk to you today. It's been interesting." Rei snorted again in annoyance.

Aki spared her a small glance, pouting. "So I saw. Everyone's scared that she is making an attempt to start dating, or something! Like, laying down a challenge." She pointed at Rei, who was thoroughly confused. Aki saw this and clarified. "The red-head, Asuka, did the same thing when she first started here. Y'know, put the fear into all the girls. It went something like; 'If I wanted to, I could have any boy in this school I wanted just by snapping my fingers!'." Aki scowled at the memory. "Really scared the crap out of everyone!"

Shinji put his hand over his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Yep! That sounds like something Asuka would do." He sighed. Rei began grinding her teeth together at finding yet another reason to dislike the Second Child.

"So, why'd you do it?" Aki asked, seeking to find out if Rei was intending to go on the prowl. Her friends would want to know. Just in case.

Rei gave serious thought to not answering, but decided that the truth may save her a lot of trouble later on. "I wished to change my hairstyle. That is all. I was tired of it." She touched it again, then flicked her earrings lightly. "Misato, our guardian, convinced me to pierce my ears at the same time."

Aki wasn't sure whether to believe her or not. "That's it! No grand plan to start wreaking havoc with the boys?"

"No." Rei said in such a way as to leave no doubt in the other girls mind.

"Cool!" Aki responded enthusiastically. "Do you mind if I spread the word?"

"Please do!" Shinji broke in eagerly.

"Done!" She beamed. "So, what are we doing tomorrow?" She moved in closer to Shinji.

"It's a surprise." He answered quickly, not wanting to insult her by backing away from this invasion of his personal space.

"Aww. Not even a hint?" She leant forward and batted her lashes at him. Shinji began to panic slightly. No-one had ever flirted with him before. At least, not without it turning into a tease-fest or a beating. Starting to go red, he talked quickly before her flowery perfume took away his powers of speech.

"Well, um, we're going to start with lunch in the park, and then see where the day leads us." He stated, hoping it would be enough for her.

It was. "Okay!" She leant back slowly, enjoying the reactions she was getting from him. 'Wow! That was easy! Miki was right, this is fun!' She thought slyly. Straightening up, she stepped back and gave him a sunny smile. "So I'm meeting you at the park, huh."

"Yep. North entrance, twelve o'clock."

"Cool! See you tomorrow!" She gave him a shy wave as she turned and skipped over to her waiting friends. Rei watched as Shinji gathered his composure before commenting.

"You haven't made any plans at all for tomorrow, have you?" She smirked at the guilty expression on his face.

"No. I've been too busy with other things to give it much thought." He gave her a pointed stare.

Ignoring his subtle dig at the anxiety attack she had made him and Misato suffer through the night before after they had returned from the mall, Rei picked up her bag and began to walk home. "I was nervous. Sue me!" Shinji emitted a remarkably good imitation of the snort she had been producing all day as he picked his own bag up and fell into step with her. "Maybe you should ask Misato for some tips. She has been on a lot more dates than anyone else we know." Now the boy just growled. "Look at it this way, it will give her a chance to make up for her behaviour yesterday. She has been wanting to say sorry for going overboard."

"Fine! I'll talk to her when she gets home tonight." He grumbled. Rei was inwardly content. She did not like it when her family argued with each other.

Saturday. After the date.

Shinji staggered in to the apartment, looking distinctly the worse for wear. "Holy crap! What happened to you?" Misato demanded when she noticed him flop down in a heap at the kitchen table. Rei came out of her room at the sound of voices talking and positioned herself in the doorway.

"The date…didn't go so good." He stated. Misato made him a cup of green tea and waited. Taking a sip, he began to talk.

"Well, it started out okay. She was fifteen minutes late getting there, but I didn't say anything. We found a café and sat down. We talked about school and stuff while we ate. I was pretty nervous, so the conversation was a bit stop/start. I was going to take her to a movie, but it went a bit pear-shaped before that." He frowned in memory.

Misato prompted him to keep talking. "First of all, Touji and Kensuke had tailed me to the park and were filming the whole thing." Misato groaned. "Yep! That was my reaction too when I spotted them out of the corner of my eye. Needless to say, I was pissed off. So, first chance I got, I went over to give them both a kick. They bolted when they realised they were sprung. Naturally, Aki wasn't happy that my 'friends' were spying on us. Then, I returned from ordering our food to find that her ex-boyfriend just happened to be walking past and invited himself to the table." Misato and Rei both rolled their eyes at that. "But what put the final nail in the coffin of the whole date was that a bunch of those fundamentalist nuts you swore Section-2 had cleared out of the city saw me and started giving me grief. You know, the usual stuff about how I'm going straight to hell for killing God's messengers."

Misato's eyes went wide. "Oh no! What happened then?"

"After I managed to get away from the God-botherers, I came back to find Aki walking away with her 'ex'. When I asked her what she was doing, she told me she didn't want to date someone who was in the middle of so much trouble. She wanted someone 'safer'." He took another sip of the tea, hoping it would calm him down some more. "So, after that I walked around for a while feeling sorry for myself and eventually made my way back here. THE END." Shinji let his head thump against the table top a few times after he finished.

Misato jumped up, ran over and swamped him in a hug. "Oh I'm so sorry Shinji!" Raising his head until they were eye to eye, she smiled softly. "Don't let one bad experience put you off dating. Okay kiddo." She waited until Shinji nodded reluctantly. "Like most things, it takes practice. You'll get better!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know." He answered half-heartedly as he stood up and headed for his room. "I'm going to my room to wallow in misery for a while longer. Call me when you want me to start dinner."

Rei put a hand on his shoulder sympathetically as he passed. Waiting until his door slid shut, she went to the phone and began dialling.

"Who ya callin'?" Misato asked.

"Hikari."

"Why?"

"To do something I should have done when Shinji accepted that girls' proposal." Seeing Misato's confused expression, Rei elaborated. "Find out why she asked him out in the first place."

Misato was still playing catch-up. "And why would Hikari know?"

"She is the class representative. If you want to know what's going on with whom in the classroom, she is the one to ask." A small, devious smile appeared briefly. "Besides, I am sure she would be interested to know what the other two stooges got up to today."

While Misato only knew the girl from the file Section-2 had on her, she was sure that Hikari would probably not be happy to find out that Touji and Kensuke had a small but not insignificant role in turning Shinji's date into a disaster. "Damn Rei, that's evil!" She grinned proudly.

"Your point being…?" Rei retorted, feigning confusion.

Over dinner

"-so it turns out that she was just trying to make her boyfriend jealous for something he did the other week." Rei finished relating the low-down she had received from Hikari while Shinji was sulking in his room. The chopsticks he was holding suddenly snapped in two.

"I really, really, hate being used!" He growled as he got up to get a new pair. 'I am being punished for taking the easy way and not asking someone out, aren't I!' "Why didn't Hikari say something earlier?"

"She didn't know." Rei shrugged. "Apparently, she was out shopping today and she ran into some of Aki's friends. After a bit of prodding, they let her in on what was going on. Unfortunately, by then it was too late to tell you. She said to say sorry for letting you down."

"It's not her fault!" Shinji let out a long sigh. "Remind me to tell her that at school on Monday." He looked at Rei, who nodded. He glanced at his guardian, who was watching him intently. "Misato? Tell me the truth. Or lie to me if you have to. But tell me that this whole dating thing gets easier? Please?" He pleaded.

Misato pondered on how to answer that question without crushing his ego. "Easier? Not really. More rewarding? Definitely!" While not the answer he wanted, Misato felt that Shinji still needed to be clear on the reasons why he was doing this. Most important of all, was he ready?

For the rest of the weekend, Shinji brooded about just that question. It was Sunday night before he decided on his answer.

-Interlude-

Vice-Commander Katsuragi strode into the Commanders office and stood at attention in front of the desk. "You wished to see me sir?"

Commander Fuyutski looked up from a letter on his desk. "Ah, Misato. I just received this communication from Tokyo-2 regarding the new commander." Her eyes widened slightly. "They have narrowed it down to the final four candidates, who are now going into a final round of interviews with the UN."

Misato thought it over for a minute. "And who's your money on, sir?"

Fuyutski looked at her for a moment before reaching into his desk and removing a file. "I believe that this man will be your next commander." He opened it and slid it across the desk towards her. She picked it up and began reading.

"Professor Yoshi Kirishima. Born 1960. Married Amanda Davis, an American, in 1995. They met while they were …" She looked up sharply. "Your kidding, right?"

"No. They were both a part of the GEHERN project before it metamorphosed into NERV. She was a translator of the Dead Sea Scrolls, he was a bio-geneticist. He also worked with your father for a while. By all accounts they got on quite well. After Second Impact, they both left in disgust at where the project was going."

This surprised Misato. "I was under the impression that SEELE didn't accept resignations."

"Yes, well, they thought that it was better to give them the illusion of freedom than to kill them at that time. They both were and still are among the top people in their respective fields. No use wasting resources like that until absolutely necessary. Besides, SEELE had another way of insuring that they kept their silence." He nodded pointedly at the folder again. Misato scanned it.

"Oh, they have a daughter. Mana Kirishima. Born in the year after Third Impact. Which means that she was another potential candidate for the EVA program. That explains why they are still alive." She put the folder down. "So, you think the UN will put him in charge because of his antagonistic history with SEELE and NERV, huh."

He nodded. "Yes. My thinking is that they believe he will not have any interest in restarting any of the more…distasteful projects of the previous management."

"Good! We'll get along just fine then." Misato commented.

"Well, you will find out in a few months, at any rate. Take that file and study it at your leisure."

She put it under her arm. "Thank you sir. I will return it as soon as possible." She saluted and left the office.

-End Interlude-