I will say these things in advance: I have absolutely no rights at NGE, but you should have already known that.
The story itself is basically a re-telling of the original storyline, but twisted into my way. While at the beginning there seem to be only few divigances, it will become more with each episode. The people, their motivations and the backgrounds are while holding true to the basic layout, changed at my imagination in many details, so canon-purists now are allowed to flame me.
NOTE: I hate both, the ending of the TV series, and how End of Evangelion turned out. So don't expect any of those outcomes.
This will be Shinji/Rei.
For all the work I put into this, I would like to get reviews. I will always try to respond to every review I get.
Note that this is the REVIVAL-Edition. Compared to the original from 2010, significant changes have been made, though the basic story is still the same. More about that at the end of the chapter.
Chapter 10: Red and Blue do not mix
It was over two weeks now since the latest Angel had been defeated. Shinji stood in front of the bathroom mirror, looking at himself after he had gotten out of the shower.
Looking at himself, he saw that puberty was starting to slowly transform him from a boy into a man, something he had already noticed for some time now. Some years ago he had been the literal picture of a total weakling. Now he looked much better. Sure, he was not even nearly as strong as Toji and he probably would never be as he was no sports fan as Toji was, but it was enough that he didn't look like a nerd - no offense to Kensuke.
Feeling over his chin, Shinji found no trace of hair there yet. But he knew, in a year or two he would have to learn how to shave. He had recently noticed the very fine hairs on his legs, still practically invisible to the eye. And of course there was... other body hair already having established a steady growth. Yep, he had definitely started his way to slowly become a man, but it still was a long way to go.
I might like this, but I hope I don't grow too fast. I don't want to again go through the fitting procedure for the plugsuit too soon! Shinji shuddered when remembering the first time. Throwing the towel onto the rack, he searched for the toothpaste.
Brushing his teeth, Shinji's thoughts focused on the previous two weeks.
Work at NERV had become a routine. His synch-rate had risen to almost 60 percent in the simulator by now, which was quite a jump. Dr. Akagi had told him that he must have gained confidence. He honestly didn't care much about the rate as long as it meant he could do his job well. He would leave all the science to Dr. Akagi and Lt. Ibuki.
He had talked a little with the tactical crew as well during these two weeks. Beside what he already knew, he did learn some surprising things.
Maya Ibuki was a nice woman, but threw around almost as much technobabble as Dr. Akagi. Shinji wondered if it was this fact that made her Dr. Akagi's assistant. However, he still had to chuckle when he remembered how he had caught her reading an adult romance novel during slow times. She might look like a 'good girl' on the outside, but there surely was more to her than the imagine she wanted to give others of herself.
Makoto Hyuga worked the closest with Misato. Shinji saw a little of an adult Kensuke in him, as he was quite a bit nerdy. The guy might be smart, but he had also preserved his youthful perspective. Seeing him read manga and even letting him borrow some had certainly helped both of them to understand each other better. Makoto adored Misato and he sometimes wondered if the man was in love with her.
Shigeru Aoba's pessimistic and cynical worldview still was an enigma to Shinji. He didn't really fit into an organization like NERV. However, on the other hand, the guy was cool. Shigeru was a great guitar enthusiast and Heavy Metal fan. He said he was dreaming about opening up a music shop and the demo tape he'd given him was really great - only to cause horror for Misato and Asuka at the sudden noise.
He had met his father only once during these two weeks, right after he had returned from New York. His old man had demanded to know what he thought he was doing with Rei. He had told him that it concerned him a fuck what he and Rei were doing in their free time, of course worded much more diplomatically as he didn't want to risk getting fired under a pretext.
As if YOU are the big role model, old man! So stay the fuck out of my relationships. You have lost every right to interfere, so leave me alone... Shinji thought angrily. The nerve alone to demand this had flared defiance in him.
His thoughts turned to people closer than his sorry excuse of a father.
Asuka was slowly becoming annoying again. Beside her bragging about her own skills, she now always tried to hang out with him. He by now really wished back the aggressive Asuka, who hated his guts and avoided him. Rei had said nothing about it yet, but he was sure that she had noticed this by now. New was, that Asuka now told him that she was better than Rei, as if she and Rei now were in a sort of competition.
What the hell is the matter with her? First she hates my guts, and now she can't get enough of me, while dragging Rei through the dirt. Good thing that Rei doesn't seem to mind at all, and simply ignores her. I will never understand girls...what a relief that Rei isn't like most girls, he thought, asking himself the millennia old question of what went on in a female's head.
Rei... thinking of her was much more pleasant for Shinji. After the victory kiss two weeks ago, both of them had shared several more of these moments when they were sure to be alone, slowly becoming bolder with each kiss, as the last one yesterday had been open-mouthed.
Thinking of Rei, he knew he had to ask Hikari to help him. The only clothes Rei owned, beside her plugsuit and undergarments, were several sets of school uniforms. After helping her to master a number of everyday activities - how the hell could she have not known how to boil water? Shinji credited this to his old man - he felt that he should help her with this problem next.
But there was no way he would ask Asuka for help. Not only would she most likely decline, since he knew her opinion of Rei, but he also feared that should she actually agree, which would be a divine event, she would advise Rei in the worst way to make her look like something Shinji didn't dare to speak out aloud.
No, Shinji still needed a girl to help him and Hikari was the only one available. He himself had no idea of girl fashion. Hopefully this would get Rei to wear something else than her school uniform in her free time.
Shinji spat out the foam and sighed when he thought about one another aspect of Rei. Since the... incident, he couldn't get that picture of Rei out of his head, forcing him to take care of the... problem several times. Before her, he had shyly looked after girls, but now he had fallen quite hard for one. He felt that if that went on, he needed to ask an adult man for advice. Most likely his uncle, since he had been married after all.
'Episode IX' starts in the cinemas in three days. I should buy two tickets... Shinji thought while dressing for school. Hmm... she could think of it as a date... Ah, stupid. Neither of us two knows what to do on a date. We just want to have some entertainment.
Vowing to buy two cinema tickets after school, Shinji walked into the kitchen to prepare breakfast, hearing Asuka digging through her closet for a fresh uniform. He mentally prepared himself for another day with the new, scary Asuka, and politely declining any ideas she would have.
o
At the same time, Rei was in her bathroom.
After she had showered and dried herself, she was busy with combing her hair. Her longer hair, as canceling all hairdresser appointments had started to show the first visible results after a month. Two more months and she would have her hair reaching down to below her shoulders. To keep it in shape however meant more maintenance, such as combing and brushing it.
However, the added work was well worth it. When looking into the mirror, Rei noticed that her longer hair really started to make her look different. Even though her face stayed the same, her longer hair made her appear... more beautiful. She approved of this change, especially since Shinji liked it as well.
Being done, Rei looked into the mirror. Since her activation several years ago her body had changed significantly. While she had ignored these changes before, she now watched the changes in her observantly. Despite her mixed heritage and not being naturally born, she now was in human puberty and thus she was slowly growing from girl to woman.
She had gained some serious height over the years. Her frame had become curvier and her breasts had grown quite a bit, starting to become firm and round. Feeling over her leg, Rei felt no trace of hair there. It was a side-effect of the Angel DNA. Beside her head, there were only two places on her body were hair was growing, otherwise she had no body hair at all. After what she had read about women removing it, it was no loss.
The only two places where she did have body hair where her armpits and at the junction of her legs over her sex. While she had read that a number of women remove it, her armpit hair had never bothered her, so she didn't shave it. The same went for the other place, only that she now didn't even think anymore about removing it; not after Shinji seemed to have been fascinated with it for already two times.
Rei put her hand flat on her belly. Despite her body maturing, she would never become a full woman, even if she would live past her purpose. Where her womb had been now was the special S² they had grown from her cells. Where her cervix should have been now only was a sewn-shut dead end. And while her ovaries still produced hormones, the tubes were sewn shut as well. Basically, they had amputated a part of her.
She had never thought about it before, but now it felt like something important was missing. She now felt incomplete, an important part of her developing female identity missing.
As far as Rei knew, the clones still were in the original condition, as they only copied her outer appearance while growing up in synch with her. But that was useless, because as soon as her soul would have entered a new body, they would certainly repeat the procedure on that one, too. So she had simply accepted it as something that couldn't be changed and moved on as if nothing was amiss.
I should not dwell on these things... After brushing her teeth and putting on her school uniform, Rei walked into the kitchen.
She remembered the previous two weeks. Shinji had been really nice to her and they became bolder with their kissing each time. It felt interesting to slowly escalate it. She also did have some... interesting dreams she couldn't describe, that had some strange effects on her sleeping body. She had no idea that dreaming could be this nice.
She'd had a strange confrontation with the Commander two weeks ago as well.
Why would he order her to stop seeing Shinji? Since it didn't impact on her role, she saw no reason for this order and thus she had asked for the reason, only to be sent away, ordered to forget all this. Of course she would have obeyed the order to stop seeing Shinji, but the idea alone had created a sick feeling in her stomach. Thankfully, the Commander seemed to have changed his mind.
Then Rei felt something bitter flash in her when she remembered the behavior of the Second Child. Asuka tried to always hang out with him recently while at the same time comparing herself with her, only that Soryu always saw herself as the winner. Rei totally ignored Asuka dragging her through the dirt, she simply didn't think it would accomplish anything to correct her.
But Asuka forcing her presence on Shinji in such an obvious way... Rei had next to no experience with these things, but her heart knew what it didn't like. If Pilot Soryu insists to continue this course of action, I will point out to her that it will accomplish nothing.
Because of her very limited social knowledge, she didn't have any idea that she was about to put a stick into a hornet's nest.
...during the day, deep inside NERV...
Dr. Akagi couldn't help but to chuckle when watching the clones of Rei floating in the huge tank inside the Room of Guf.
The clones always mimicked the outer appearance of the main Rei - the one who was truly alive at the moment. Each time Rei got a memory backup, the clones would react to a changed appearance or growth and adapt to it, essentially preserving the mirror-look. It had to be a side-effect of the Angel DNA, so much she knew, since the clones didn't mature naturally.
It was interesting, because all of the clones had now started to let their hair grow longer the same way the active Rei did, the length very actual as the latest memory dump had been yesterday at Sunday. The hair growing longer on Rei's clones was a hidden sign to Ritsuko that her plan was working very well. Rei was getting bolder and again had moved a little away from Gendo.
Lowering the shutters to hide the tank, she walked to the elevator.
Well, Gendo, looks like Rei is no longer your plaything. Now you only got me... she thought, but wasn't really happy about it.
Recently, it felt like Gendo was keeping things from her and the mystery of Unit-00 was still in her mind. She had found no data at all about some aspects of the prototype EVA, especially how they had made it fully functional, meaning that someone had deleted it. But why would someone do something like that? Only to hide something no one else should know about. But what the solution to this could be, Ritsuko had no clue.
Ritsuko hated to admit that she for now had hit a dead end.
...at the same time, Gendo's office...
Gendo was thinking about the problems he had recently encountered concerning Rei.
The whole situation was absolutely not to his taste. Rei was supposed to be his tool to accomplish his goals - nothing more. She was supposed to only exist for that one purpose. He hadn't been pleased to see that Rei started to get ideas that weren't to his liking. The footage of her and the Third Child from directly after the victory over the 7th Angel had been the last straw. She wasn't created to feel love; it made him feel as if he was losing control.
Of course the situation was quite difficult, not allowing for any easy solutions. He had no way to simply send his son away now, since Unit-01 would become useless right away and what were his plans worth if the Angels actually managed to destroy them? No, Shinji had managed to get into a position where his removal would have dire consequences. Shinji had made himself irreplaceable.
Damn it, Yui... Why do you insist on making things complicated by only allowing him to pilot the EVA? Gendo grumbled mentally.
Of course there also was Rei herself.
The option to dispose of this Rei and activate the third... He had toyed with it, but Dr. Akagi had shot it down. Since Rei needed memories in her new body, otherwise she would be totally useless, they either would have to use the latest backup, which would only continue the problem, or the basic memory template, which would make her useless for piloting. Meaning: replacing her also was impossible until the time was right.
It was a problem, that the right time still was quite far away.
This meant he was back to square one.
Of course, the first thing he did was to confront them. Shinji had basically told him to mind his own business, only worded diplomatically enough that it wouldn't count as an offense. Since it was nothing NERV-related, there was no way he could force him. It again came back to the fact that he was irreplaceable.
He did remember when he had called Rei into his office shortly later to tell her to break it off. Difficult to forget her behavior.
-flashback, two weeks ago-
"Commander?" Rei asked, standing before his desk.
"I was notified that you have started a relationship with the Third Child. I want you to stop it," Gendo ordered her, thinking that this already was it. However...
"Why?" Rei asked. "It does not impact on either the scenario nor my battle performance."
Gendo was shocked. Had Rei just questioned his decision? He hadn't been prepared for this and of course the true reason was, that he disliked Rei acting as more than just a tool. He could still replace her at the right time, he only had no desire to see Rei, wearing Yui's face, kissing his son while she was supposed to be a mindless tool of his.
This defiance meant that ordering her now wouldn't work anymore, he wrongly concluded. "Forget this order. Now go."
-back to the present-
Gendo had brooded over this problem for hours, and yet the problem stayed the same.
He simply had no official way to force them to stop, both of them were showing defiance, and any less-legal ways would ruin their worth as pilots, creating the danger of the Angels defeating them in the end, effectively again bringing him back to square one. This all was like a vicious cycle where he was locked out of any way to influence the outcome.
This all had simply happened because Shinji was so strong-willed. He cursed his decision to send him to Kaldor. If he had sent him to any kind of guardian with little interest in his welfare, then he would have been weak-willed and a perfect tool, willingly following orders. Not crippling Rei's emotions with a piece of Lilith's soul also was such a bad decision.
"You shouldn't think so much about it. I do not think it will significantly alter our scenario. Rei is still totally devoted to the cause," Vice-Commander Fuyutsuki said while removing another piece from his Mah-Jongg board. "Also remember that in the end it doesn't matter, therefore our personal dislikes have to stay back."
Yes, and I hope nothing of this ever happens. I prefer the world as it is now, he mentally added. He however wouldn't dare to say it aloud.
"Really?" Gendo asked him while giving him an interested look. He knew very well that Fuyutsuki had never been thrilled of Rei's upbringing.
The Vice-Commander didn't answer this and removed another piece from the board, leaving Gendo to his brooding. He knew, Gendo would adapt to this situation soon - he always did. Changing the topic, he said "SEELE seems to be satisfied with us in the recent weeks. It can only be good for us that they don't any longer watch every single of our steps."
"It certainly has something to do with Keel meeting me in New York. He's now convinced I'm back in line," Gendo answered in dismissal. "The old men are an evil we have to tolerate for now, so leave them with the illusion that they know everything."
Better don't be so dismissive of them. You know what they are capable of, so don't take them so easily... Fuyutsuki thought.
There was a fine line between being sure of yourself because you are right and unjustified arrogance. That Gendo had managed up to now to perfectly balance on this line was testament to his manipulative skills. However, even the best manipulator would slip up in time. Should SEELE find out what Gendo was planning, they would eliminate him and all around him.
...after school, Tokyo-3 shopping mall...
Hikari normally liked shopping. Despite it sounding a little cliched, it was a relaxing activity. Of course she was not obsessed with it like some of her classmates. She after all was a reasonable girl and really disliked acting like a cliche.
However, shopping for Rei Ayanami proved to be a difficult experience.
At first she had not believed Shinji when he had told her that the only civilian clothes Rei owned were several sets of school uniforms. However, after trying to remember Rei in anything else and failing miserably at it, she realized the whole, bitter truth: Rei Ayanami was a girl with a wardrobe consisting of exactly the same thing. Her female sensibilities had balked at the idea and she had agreed to help Rei with clothes shopping.
She understood that Shinji didn't want to be present, especially since Rei was also buying new underwear. Most boys were embarrassed by the idea and also hardly knew how to help anyway. Therefore him bailing out to wait outside was for the best.
It had proven to be harder than Hikari had anticipated. Rei had absolutely no sense for fashion and also was very practically-minded. Trying to explain fashion to her was like explaining things to a little kid. In the end Hikari had agreed to let Rei buy several pairs of comfortable jeans and nice shirts, while she in turn would select a few nice things for her.
Shinji owes me once this is done... Hikari thought while waiting for Rei outside of the changing room.
"Hikari? This dress is unusual," Rei called from the changing room.
Hikari knew, for a girl without fashion sense everything would be unusual. "Just come out, then I explain."
Rei pulled back the curtain, revealing her wearing a nice leisure dress. "Structurally this is not too different from my school uniform. I do not understand."
Hikari rolled her eyes. "Rei, the main problem was, that your school uniforms are that: uniforms. They are all the same. The idea is that you look different. Also, the color looks nice on you and it meshes well with your hair."
Rei took a look into the mirror before agreeing, again vanishing behind the curtain. Hikari was just glad that this would not take much longer. She did like Rei, but this shopping trip was more work than anything else and had not been enjoyable at all.
Shinji owes me big time, she thought.
Outside, Shinji was waiting for them to finish.
Well, that was easier than I had thought it would be, Shinji thought while he sat there, waiting for Hikari and Rei to finish their purchases.
Shinji might be starting to develop some male bravado, but no way he would go together with two girls into a clothing store. These things were horrible death-traps for males, as his uncle had told him very early on. After purchasing the two cinema tickets for Episode IX - thank all goodness that seats were still available due to Tokyo-3 having less inhabitants after the start of the Angel attacks - he was now waiting for them.
Hikari had been very happy to help Rei, and Rei, despite not understanding why she would need something other than her school uniforms, went along with it. Toji on the other hand had said that he would have liked to come along with Hikari, but he had sports practice and thus had to bail out. Shinji however sincerely doubted this.
Sports practice... my ass. I know he has been in the shopping mall with Hikari exactly one time. Guess that one time had been enough for him to go chicken.
Shinji found it fascinating that despite the fact that Hikari was not the stereotype of the girly girl, actually a number of her mannerisms were quite the opposite of it, she still managed to create the dreaded shopping-death trip for boys.
Toji really liked Hikari, but he held no desire to again go through this hell - that was the real reason why he had bailed out. At least Hikari didn't seem to mind. So now here he was, alone, reading a manga he had bought while waiting for them to finish and let himself surprise what she would wear when leaving the shop.
"Oh, hello Shinji!"
I know that voice far too well... Shinji groaned mentally, feeling his quiet time had just ended.
Lowering the manga, he saw that it was Asuka. She was wearing the yellow sundress he had seen her wear on the carrier. "Hello Asuka." He wasn't very enthusiastic to see her. She was a girl of extremes, from hating him to not getting enough of him. Guessing by her shopping bag, at least this time it was pure coincidence that they'd met.
"Why the long face? It's a beautiful day, and everyone should be happy," Asuka quipped, being in a good mood.
"Ah, nothing. I'm waiting for Rei and Hikari to finally finish with Rei's purchases. Hikari offered to help Rei with it. But they are needing awfully long in there," Shinji said, hoping that it would not take too long. It was not that he hated Asuka, but her emotional extremes were really making him wonder what the real 'her' was.
"Seems you have no clue about girls... Also, why does Wondergirl need help with buying clothes? It's not that she is a little kid," Asuka snorted, making no secret that it didn't help her opinion of Rei.
Shinji hated her spreading her poison against Rei. "Her sheltered life, thanks to my old man, is responsible. You wouldn't believe how much has been held back from her."
"Yeah, yeah, I've heard it all," she dismissed it. "So what the hell does make her so special?" she now wanted to know. It was a insult to Asuka that a frigid girl with no knowledge of anything would be considered more attractive than her.
"There is something... I can't describe it," Shinji tried to explain, but failed. "Sorry, there is something that draws me to her, but I can't put it into words."
Asuka arched her eyebrows. How the hell was she supposed to compete with Ayanami if she got no idea what that girl's secret was? To her it proved that while some boys could be interesting, all of them were clueless. Shinji Ikari had just proven to be clueless as well.
"Right..." she said, rolling her eyes.
"Shinji, we are done!"
Hearing Hikari, Shinji looked to the store entrance and couldn't help but to smile. There was Rei, carrying two shopping bags. Instead of her school uniform, she was now wearing blue jeans and a green shirt. He could glimpse her school uniform in one of the bags. It was interesting how a new outfit could make such a difference on her.
"Excuse me..." Standing up, he walked over to the two girls. "This looks good, Rei."
"Thank you," she answered a little unsure. She still didn't really see the point, although she had to admit that these clothes were quite comfortable.
Hikari shook her head. "I really wonder what your father has done to her. I've never before met a girl with such a simple taste. Most what we bought for her is a variation of this. You can thank me that I convinced her to buy two nice ones, too, that are more fitting for a girl. You owe me for this."
Rei looked to where Shinji had sat and suddenly felt something cold stir in her. There was Asuka, dressed in a sundress, which meant that she had again tried to linger around Shinji. She had no way to logically explain it, but Asuka's actions made her feel... angry. All these emotions she had to deal with recently were so confusing for her.
Little did Rei know that all the hormones any teenage girl was 'gifted' with were doing their work, which was especially noticeable because she had so little experience with emotions. Jealously securing your claim was one of these things.
"Hey, Hikari!" Asuka greeted the brown-haired girl, walking over to her. "I was just browsing the mall when I met Shinji. What do you say, want to tag along with me?"
"Sure! Come, there is something I want to check out..." Hikari didn't say it, but she had seen Rei's eyes narrowing. Rei Ayanami, who hadn't shown any emotions for as long as she could remember, was obviously getting quite annoyed. This meant trouble.
She had witnessed the drama taking place during school time. Despite her warnings, Asuka tried to make an impression on Shinji, but her methods were very doubtful. Trying to make an impression on Shinji by trash-talking Rei was a bad idea. Shinji was annoyed, but ignorant of Asuka's motives. Hikari knew, it would blow up sooner or later, but for now she had prevented a scene.
Poor Asuka... She will only get hurt, regardless what the outcome will be, she thought while leading Asuka away, making her forget Shinji and Rei for the moment.
Shinji had no idea what had just happened. In his perspective, Hikari had just invited Asuka to girl-activities. Rei on the other hand was not sad that Asuka was gone now. The sick feeling in the pit of her stomach now was gone as well.
"Well, Rei, how does it feel to wear something else besides school uniforms?" Shinji asked her with a smile.
"They are comfortable, but I still do not understand the point at having different clothes," she admitted openly.
"Oh, trust me, you will with time. It's one of these things you can't explain. I think for now it's enough to say that you look good in these. Who said that girls can't wear pants?" Shinji said.
Rei answered with a shy smile.
Shinji could never get enough of these angelic smiles from her. Counting the Yen bills in his hand, he saw that it was more than enough. "I'm in the mood for a big vanilla milkshake right now. What do you say, want one, too? The Gentleman pays, of course..."
It went without saying that Rei said yes. After introducing her to the world of ice cream, he knew that he had again proven the cliche, that the best way to a girl's heart goes through her stomach, and the key is ice cream.
...that night...
Waking up in the middle of the night, Rei was sweating heavily while her heart was racing in terror from the nightmare she had woken up from.
She remembered the nightmare that her disturbed her so much in vivid detail. It had been very simple and yet scared her to no end. It had just shown Pilot Soryu walking with Shinji hand in hand towards the sunset, with her watching them. But this also had been enough to make her panic and wake her up sweat-soaked and close to a panic-attack.
Many things had happened to her in the previous months; things that had changed her life and opened up her mind to things she hadn't even considered before. There also were many things she had no way of understanding; new emotions that were alien to her right now arose and most often she didn't know at all how to act on them.
In this case however, she knew the course of action she would have to take.
She would tell Pilot Soryu to stop making these advances on Shinji. Her observations had brought her to the conclusion that he didn't welcome Asuka's attention at all, but why he didn't simply tell her so, that was a mystery to Rei. Rei was not known to be a girl who would take the initiative, but now she would have no choice in this matter.
After she would clear this up tomorrow, it would stop. She thought that it was the logical thing to think and expect.
Little did Rei know that logic didn't apply to this situation, and that actually she had felt threatened by Asuka's overly aggressive tries to woo Shinji. Despite her thinking that she acted rational, in reality emotion was guiding her decision.
With her decision, the stage was set.
...next day, at school...
It still were roughly twenty minutes before the school day would start officially. The students were enjoying the good weather outside in the yard before they would be forced inside for another day of learning. For now everyone was left to his or her own devices.
Shinji knew one definite advantage of two of his friends. While he was talking with Kensuke and Toji, Asuka wouldn't dare to come close to him. Her sheer disgust for these two kept her away and she was somewhere else in the yard. His friends knew this of course and had gotten into the habit of being around him as often as possible in recent days just to keep Asuka away.
"Well, have you survived mall-hell?" Toji asked Shinji innocently.
"Don't act so innocent. I know exactly why you didn't want to come. But it actually wasn't that bad. I was not abducted to a walk through the entire mall, nor did I have to go clothes shopping with her and she left with Asuka shortly later. I must thank her later, since I wouldn't have survived a mall stroll with Asuka. That girl is a shopping shark..." Shinji remembered all the boxes when Asuka had moved in.
"You are truly a lucky dog, Shinji. First you move in with Misato, then you thaw up icy Rei and now you have the red devil after you, too. You must tell me your secret," Kensuke joked, laughing.
Shinji scowled. "That's not funny. Asuka really goes on my nerves with her always trying to hang out with me. If not for you guys, I wouldn't get a quiet minute at school."
Toji could only agree. "Yeah, strange chick. First she goes all nuclear on you and now she tries to get you into bed, eh? What does Rei think of this?"
"She hasn't told me a thing. She simply ignores Asuka, everything said against her goes over her head. Don't ask me how she does it; any other girl would have reacted with anger by now. She must have a really thick hide. Remember, she isn't a girl who shares her emotions easily," Shinji answered.
He actually was impressed how much restraint Rei showed in this case. On the other hand, she could simply have no idea what to do or was ignorant to the whole thing. He knew that was possible considering her limited understanding of social interactions. Shinji feared the moment when Rei would understand and try to tell Asuka to back off.
"She must have nerves of steel," Toji whistled. "I would have ripped someone who would trash-talk me like this to pieces over a week ago. Guess she has a really high bullshit tolerance."
"You would have beaten up the guy trash-talking you on the first day. Not everyone is gifted with the tolerance of a saint," Kensuke added, only to receive a dirty look from Toji.
"You know, I..." Shinji said, only to get interrupted.
"Hey guys... Look..." Kensuke suddenly said, pointing towards a corner of the yard.
All three of them saw Rei walking towards Asuka. She looked impassive as always, but Shinji, who knew her body language better by now, saw determination in her red eyes. He also noticed that Rei looked quite tense. "I don't like that..."
Kensuke fished his camcorder out of his his school bag. He did have the feeling that something would happen and he really wanted to tape that. "I better create evidence..." he said before he started to film the whole thing.
Everyone stepped aside, feeling as if something, a presence, demanded from them to be let through. They couldn't explain it, but they created a clear path for Rei that led directly to Asuka, who was busy with talking to some girl. She stopped however when she noticed Rei approaching. If Asuka noticed the look Rei gave her, she ignored it.
Asuka looked really annoyed when seeing Rei. "What do you want, Wondergirl?" she finally asked her after some moments of silence.
"Stop your advances on Shinji," she said without anger or acid, just matter-of-fact. Rei thought that his would do it. However, she got no idea it would do the exact opposite.
Now Asuka looked angry at her, her eyes becoming dangerous slits. "And why should I do so? Certainly not just because you say so," Asuka growled.
Wer glaubt sie dass sie ist? Latscht einfach zu mir hin und stellt Forderungen! [Who does she think she is? Waltzing in and demanding things from me!] Asuka thought.
"Your advances only cause Shinji distress. He does not welcome your attention," she stated further, spelling it out. Again she thought that telling the naked facts would be enough, although by now Asuka's reaction made her feel strangely... annoyed.
"DU LÜGST!" Asuka screamed. "I am far better suited for him than you will ever be, and he knows this very well!"
"Then why does he seek my presence, instead of yours?" Rei asked her. She hadn't thought that it would go like this and became quite irritated at the Second Child.
-SLAP!-
She hadn't seen it coming. As fast as lightning Asuka's hand had hit her hard on her left cheek, nearly making her stumble. It hurt and the skin felt as if it was burning. All the students looked shocked at what had just happened. Asuka slapping Rei had passed an invisible line.
Asuka now was fuming. "Shut up! Just shut up!" she screamed. "You are an emotionless, frigid, sterile ice block! You are nothing, just the Commander's pet! I'm far more of a girl than you will ever be. He will be better off with me!"
Rei had no idea what happened, but something snapped in her right at that moment. Maybe it was because she felt threatened or because of Asuka mentioning that she could never have children. Regardless the reason, it was as if something deep within her took over, totally shutting off her rational mind. Right now she was not Rei Ayanami. Instead she was a female who had to put a rivaling female into her place.
Rei's eyes flashed dangerously and then she lunged at Asuka, fully intent on beating her green and blue while an angry scream escaped her. All students gasped in horror at what followed.
"Oh shit!" Toji shouted and Kensuke almost lost his camcorder when they saw the quickly escalating cat fight that had broken out. They had never thought of Rei being capable doing something like this.
"Guys, we must do something!" Shinji finally shouted after getting over the shock of what he was seeing there. "Quick!"
Toji might not have much love for Asuka, but he couldn't let these two girls hurt each other even more than they'd already done. Together with Shinji and Kensuke he ran through the crowd to pull these two girls apart and prevent the worst.
o
"Be glad that I've decided to keep this quiet, or the Commander would have heard of this for sure. Both of you can guess how he would have reacted," Misato told them in clear disappointment. "I'm very disappointed in you two. Beating up each other..."
Asuka and Rei were sitting on chairs in the principal's office. Both looked worse for the wear after their little confrontation. Thankfully, Toji, Kensuke and Shinji had been able to pull them apart before even worse things could have happened. Still, Asuka and Rei were sporting numerous bruises and both their hair looked like a crow's nest. Rei got a bloody lip while Asuka knew the bruise on her cheek would need time to heal.
Since the school didn't have any way to directly contact Rei's guardian - the Commander hadn't even bothered to give them a number - they had done the next best thing and contacted Misato at work. Of course she was not thrilled to hear the news and now here they were, getting both chewed out by her while Shinji sat in the background, still in disbelief over what had happened.
Misato felt that if this was how it would be to have kids, then she would never have any of her own, as this was really costing her nerves. "Now that I'm done with lecturing you two, tell me what caused this to happen..."
"I told Pilot Soryu to stop her advances on Shinji, as it only distressed him. She didn't believe me and then physically attacked me," Rei said. She was unused to be in this position and still hadn't really processed what had happened. "And then I... I..."
"Basically you snapped. Emotions which you barely understand took over. You hit back and the whole thing escalated into a full-blown cat fight," Misato concluded.
Rei could only nod. By now she felt another emotion, now that the anger at Soryu was out of her system. This time she knew what it was: shame. She felt ashamed at herself that she had lost control like this. Her sudden blackout and the resulting violence were nothing to be proud of.
Misato then looked to Asuka. "And what do you have to say in your defense?"
"She demanded from me that I stop trying to show Shinji how much better I am for him than she will ever be. Seeing him waste his time with her is wrong, he must see that," Asuka tried to explain.
Oh dear, NOW I understand... Misato knew there would be a headache coming up with this nugget.
"Asuka, are you saying that you are jealous?" seeing Asuka nod, Misato now knew what had happened as she had once been young, too. "Asuka, Shinji isn't a prize that can be won, nor are you and Rei in any sort of competition. She has already been his friend long before you came here, and it turned into more. What you have simply is a childish crush and nothing more."
"What?" Asuka asked, eyes wide in disbelief now that it had been spelled out. "No, he is the first boy with any spine I've met. He must be the right one, he only must see it."
Misato knew Asuka didn't believe her, but she now wouldn't let this go on any longer. "Asuka, I've once been a teenager, too. You simply have a crush that has clouded your judgment. You're only imagining things."
"I still don't believe you!" It was the voice of desperation. Everything what before had been overlaid by emotion now came back to her.
Misato sighed. "Shinji, please tell her the truth. And don't you dare to try to weasel out of this."
Shinji swallowed hard. Now that he did know what was going on, he felt that his next words would hurt Asuka quite a lot. "Asuka, my heart is with Rei. I do not have any emotions for you that go further than friendship. Sorry, but you only chased after a dream..."
After hearing this, Asuka looked as if she had just been notified of the death of her whole family. Then her face went aflame when she remembered her actions of the previous two weeks. It was almost as if she had been in a bad movie, with her as the main actress. She had thought herself above such childish things, and now to hear this...
Misato had mercy with her, seeing that she was now already enduring a worse punishment than anything she could give her, and let her leave the office. She then turned her attention to Rei.
"I never imagined that you would get into a fight and you have the bruises to prove it, they show especially much on your pale skin," Misato said, again making her disappointment clear. "I have to ask Ritsuko to treat them so that they won't be as noticeable as they are now. Do you have anything to say in your defense?"
"I have nothing to say in my defense. I simply do not know what came over me," Rei answered.
Misato took a deep breath. "Rei, as your superior I can only disapprove of what happened. However, I do have to admit that I would have reacted exactly the same way after getting slapped into the face. Since I do know that you are not the kind of girl who usually gets into trouble, I will not set a punishment, nor will I report it to the Commander. However, should this happen again you won't be so fortunate."
Misato could have sworn that for some seconds there was relief on Rei's face.
"Misato, can I speak with Rei for a moment?" Shinji asked.
Misato first looked to Rei, then to Shinji. "Good, I will give you some minutes. But after this, pack your stuff. Rei needs medical treatment for these bruises, since they really stick out on her pale skin, and you will come with us since I think your school day is effectively over with this little disaster. I shall later write an excuse to the school." That said, Misato left them alone.
"Shinji...?" Rei asked.
"Rei... please do not assume again that I would leave you for someone else just because of someone else's crush on me. You have my heart, I never ever felt anything more for Asuka than friendship. I know you feared that she would snatch me away, but this will never happen," Shinji reassured her.
"I..." Rei didn't know what she actually should say.
"No, you don't need to say anything..." That said, Shinji gave her a nice and sensual kiss. Surprised for a second, Rei answered the same way. Both of them enjoyed it much and they went further with it, until it was an full, open-mouthed kiss with tongue and all. Rei really enjoyed this one. It felt far more personal than any of the others they'd had before.
After two minutes their mouths finally parted. "This was very... enjoyable," Rei said, a little stunned how wonderful it had been.
Shinji smiled. He didn't need to say anymore.
...the next day, NERV...
"Hmm... Rei's synch-rate has risen over the magic line of 60 percent," Dr. Akagi commented while reading the results of the synch-test. "That's the first time in her entire life that she has passed the line of 60 percent. Quite impressive."
Misato wasn't surprised. She had seen Shinji reassure Rei over time. This included their little token of affection which she had watched trough the slightly open door in school - she had been too curious to not do a little spying. They had both looked so cute and innocent when doing this and it seemed to have given Rei some confidence. It clearly showed in her passing this barrier. Shinji was good for the blue-haired girl, so much was clear.
"What about the other two children?" Misato asked her, curious.
Dr. Akagi looked on the screen. "Shinji shows only marginal improvements. He is now at 59.8 percent, but seeing how he is steadily improving, I think he will surpass Rei very soon. Asuka... that's difficult to say. Her rate is fluctuating between 72 and 74, something must be on her mind if she can't manage to hold a stable rate right now."
No wonder. Asuka has realized how stupid she had acted by letting her jealously getting the better of her. Well, her now again mostly ignoring Shinji with only the occasional arrogance-burst strewn in sounds better than what happened during the previous two weeks, Misato thought.
Asuka had been quite put down by the realization how foolish she had acted, but then tried to forget the whole embarrassing episode. To imagine that she had followed a stupid crush and imagined herself in a competition with the First Child! She had threatened everyone with dire consequences, should they ever again even mention it to her. It meant that Asuka was back to her old self; a big relief for everyone involved, since she now at least was more predictable.
Only thing was, Asuka herself would need some time to get over this episode.
"Ritsu, shouldn't we also see how their rates will be in their real Units? I think you told me that there are differences," Misato remembered.
"Right, haven't thought about it." Ritsuko knew there were differences, especially with Rei and Unit-00, which made these synch-tests in the dry only partially representative of the pilot's achievements in control. She turned on the comm-system. "Children, we will get you out. However there also will be a test with you in your real EVAs right now, so don't hit the showers yet."
Ten minutes later, each of them were in their respective EVA.
Asuka tried to push away the embarrassment of yesterday, concentrating. Rei was also concentrating, she felt as if it went easier for her than normal - Unit-00 felt as if slowly warming up to her. Shinji felt surprisingly good in his entry plug. He felt as if a hidden voice told him what a fine young man he had become. It felt warm and caring, so he relaxed.
"Well, this is a surprise. Asuka has no change at all, but Rei's synch-rate has shot up to 58 percent. If you remember that she still had the shock of the failed activation test in her bones and that her last test in her real unit before the seventh Angel showed only 49 percent, this is quite a recovery," Dr. Akagi said in awe when looking at the numbers.
"What about Shinji?" Misato asked, curious.
"That's the next surprise. His rate is higher than in the normal test, around 64 percent to be precise. It is as if sitting in the real EVA gives him a boost." Ritsuko of course had her suspicions who really was behind this, something she would have to report to the Commander since he would be very interested in it.
Of course she knew the secrets of Unit-01 and Unit-02. Unit-03 was the first one where this special problem had been solved, eliminating this special need for the EVA to actually work. But what about Unit-00? She knew it had to be the same as with the latter two Units, but she hadn't found any recording of how exactly this had been accomplished.
It only made her mistrust grow that someone wanted to hide something. She vowed to get behind it sooner or later. Only for now that would get her nowhere, with no leads left.
"Am I interrupting something?"
Misato rolled her eyes. "Kaji, what are you doing here? Please don't tell me you are stalking me," she asked slightly annoyed.
"I had nothing to do, so I thought I would see how our pilots are faring," he answered, looking to the screen. He then whistled. "Wow, our tiger really seems to show his claws now. The kid really has talent."
Misato looked on her wristwatch. "Excuse me, but I still have work to do." She then left the room.
Mr. Kaji looked after her. "It could have been worse. She didn't curse and didn't throw me an angry look. This can only mean that I must be on the right way..."
Ritsuko took off her glasses. "Ryoji, maybe you are on the right way, but you still have way to go. As long as she's defensive, you'll get nowhere. Also don't even try to make her jealous by hanging around with me. In my experience this won't work at all. Jealously is a bad thing."
Kaji knew what Ritsuko was playing at. "Ah yes, I've heard of that little disaster through my sources. How do you know of it?"
"Misato had to tell me when I treated Rei's bruises and I don't think the Commander wants to be bothered with it, now that it is out of the world. Oh, I heard that Asuka's had a crush on you, too?" she said with a smirk, enjoying how Kaji seemed to become uncomfortable with this topic.
"Yeah... It was ridiculous. Thank all Kami that she dropped that when one girl had asked if I'm her father. Guess she realized what it looked like. Her still holding me as the best example of manliness is better than her childish crush on me." Kaji really was glad that Asuka had stopped her crush on him on her own. It was sad that she had fallen onto her face this time.
Sometimes you need to get hurt before it becomes better, he thought, finding a surprising parallel to his own situation.
...the following day, in class...
It was a minute before the beginning of the next period when Hikari asked for attention, since she had to relay something to the class. Everyone listened to what she would have to say.
"Do not forget that the class trip to Okinawa will be next week. For everyone who has entered the class since the decision was made: At the beginning of the school year the decision for this trip was made. Please transfer the money for it in time, all right? For questions, please come to me," Hikari announced to the class.
"A class trip! Great! I always wanted to go diving in the ocean!" Asuka realized happily. Pushing the last few days to the back of her mind had really helped her mood. "I can't wait for the trip! I must ask her how much it will cost..."
Shinji shook his head. He did have a good guess what would happen. "Rei, has she even read her employment contract?"
Rei found this to be an interesting question. "It does not seem to be the case."
Shinji leaned back. He had read the copy of his employment contract just because he was curious, and it stated clearly that NERV had to approve to this. Additionally, this would only go if the security of Tokyo-3 wouldn't be compromised. Since they were the only three pilots available, he did have a good guess what the outcome would be. He wouldn't tell her, as he had no desire to put his ass into the line of fire. Not so soon after the previous incident.
Who in all names planned the trip to be this close to the autumn holidays anyway? Shinji wondered.
He wanted to say more, but right at that moment the teacher came in. "Stand! Bow! Sit!" Hikari barked, now fully in her Class-Rep. mode. The class did as ordered and the period began, in this case math.
...early evening, in a cinema...
The cinema was full, as 'Episode IX' had been long-awaited by all its fans. Thankfully, buying the tickets a few days in advance - and the fact that demand wasn't as insane as in other cities - enabled Shinji to get two seats in the middle of the back row, meaning in the best place of all. They had both found their seats and the movie was to begin any moment.
"What is this?" Rei asked, looking at the paper bag full with strange white flocks, which Shinji had bought and put on the narrow board that was fastened to the back of the next seat row.
"This is popcorn. It's made from corn and it is coated with sugar. Just try it," Shinji offered.
Rei took some of it. She noticed that it tasted unusual, nothing like anything she had tried before. "It tastes... interesting." To underline that she did like it, she took some more. "Thank you for explaining the background."
Shinji knew what she meant. There had been eight more movies before this one, and of course Rei knew none of them. So he had taken it upon himself to rent all eight of them in order to give her the entire story up to now. She had admitted that it was enjoyable and interesting and that she wanted to see the conclusion to the final trilogy.
"No problem, otherwise you wouldn't understand most of it," Shinji said.
Right then the lights went out, the fanfare started and the 20th Century Fox logo appeared on the screen, followed by the Lucasfilm logo. The music died down while the well-known 'A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...' appeared.
Shinji put his left arm over Rei's shoulders. She didn't mind and put her right hand on his leg while the Star Wars logo appeared on the screen, together with the famous title music.
to be continued...
Next Chapter: Sandalphon
Notes
As said earlier, the early drafts were missing filler chapters, and this was one of them. I quickly realized however, that the pace simply was insane and didn't allow for proper character development, thus why new chapters were developed.
In canon, Asuka held no more interest in Shinji. Of course, in my story this had changed considerably and i needed an outlet for the tensions that would surely follow. That also gave me a great chance to furth develop Rei and her interactions with those around her. I at first had planned to have Asuka retain her jealously against Rei and much longer actively try to win over Shinji. However, when writing this chapter, I found that ending thematter in this chapter was more effective, and did it that way, instead having Asuka become agitated over how Rei acted towards her (which was her own fault).
Now, when I wrote this story originally, the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy was not even a thought. Again a strange twist of fate, that it did become reality in the end.
For the chapter, the Revival version mainly has many minor extensions. However, Hikari shopping with Rei is totally new.