Chapter 02 - The sorrows of Young Ikari


Misato´s Apartment:

Shinji sat at the small desk below his room´s window, ear-phones pluged into and doing
homework.

On the bed next to the desk laid a two-finger-thick batch of paper, mostly to read. The
old teacher seemed to give out homework always when the larger part of his pupils was
missing from school.

He had already done the English homework and was fighting now with physics. Physics has
never been has subject of choice, it was enough for him to know that object tended to
fall down, not why.

The bell rung.

Shinji was no friend of loud music, the ear-plugs were more a tool to create a barriere
between himself and the rest of the world, a barriere the bell cut through without
efforts.

He sighted, put the homework aside and got up. Was this the surprise Misato had talked
about at the phone? He didn´t like surprises, for his taste they were to often associated
with a certain purple-green mecha called unit one.

He dragged his feet towards the door, opened it using only the fingertips. His hands
were still bandaged and hurt, but it got better slowly and the doctor had told him that
he wouldn´t have to wear gloves like his father.

Two men stood in the staircase with several crates.

"Yes?" the boy asked cautiously.

"Is this..." one of the men, the older one, looked at his notes, "the Katsuragi residence?"

"Ja."

"Good, we have a delivery from the NERV-quartermaster, where can we put the stuff down?"

He didn´t have a clue about what was in the crates, if this was Misato´s surprise it
wasn´t a problem for him - EVA-01 definitly couldn´t be inside the crates.

"Eh, the left room at the end of the corridor."
He pointed at the door of said room where Misato had been used to put into all the stuff
she couldn´t place anywhere else, like the crates she had her stuff in when she came to
Tokio-3. Most of these he had brought into the small room in the basement that had been
rented with the apartment.

The two men got the strange crates and a large cardboard box int othe room, had the
delivery papers signed and Shinji show his NERV-ID-card.

He closed the door behind them and walked into the room that was opposite to his own.
The box stood in the miidle of the room, the crates at the walls.

"Hm, what might this be? In this one, in the corner, could be a bed and that one..."
He shook his head.
"Sure, as if we would need more furniture..."
He returned into his room, back to his SDAT-player and the homework...


***


"I am baaack!" Misato shouted when she entered the apartment.

Shinja was in the kitchen, preparing supper.
"Supper is finished soon", he answered without turning.

She turned around and beckoned at her companion.
"Come in, not so shy, since you will stay here for the next days."

Rei looked at her questioning, than she also crossed the door-step.
"Yes, Captain."

"Ah, you can call me Misato, we are not on duty."

"Yes, Cap..."

Misato lifted a brow.

"... Misato."
Rei took off her shoes.

"Well... - Shinji?"

The boy removes the ear-plugs.
"Yes?"

"Has the stuff already arrived?"

"Crates and a box? - Yes."

"Good. What are cocking? It smells delicious."

"Noodles, vegetables... what was in the fridge."

"Ah."
Misato entered the kitchen and checked on her beerdepot, nodded happily and took a can.
"We have a guest."

"What? Who?"
Curious he turned around.

Rei stood in the doorway between corridor and kitchen with expressionless face.

"Oh, Ayamani", he said surprised.

"Hello, Ikari."
She looked him up and down, asking herself for a moment if she should say something
about the pink apron he was wearing or about the meal he was cooking.

"Uhm, did they let you leave the hospital today?"

"Yes."

"Shinji, Rei will stay here with us for the next days to recover. Do you think that we
have anything that might be needed?"

"Ah... she will stay? Uhm... I will have to go shopping..."
There it was again, the urge to run away when confronted with a new situation.

"But not today. - Come, Rei, I show you your room."

"Yes, Cap... Misato."

Shinji looked after them, remembering the meal than and turning toward the stove again.
"She will stay..."
He wasn´t sure if he should be happy or cowering in panic.


***


Rei sat silently at the kitchen table while Misato already had finished her third beer.
Shinji placed the bowls with the steaming meal in the middle of the table, knocked
against the door of the second fridge and sat down at the table.

For a moment there was silence, than Misato grabbed the first bowl and placed it right
before Rei´s nose.
"Take as much as you like."

"Yes."

The frigde´s door was opened from inside and PenPen came out.
"Wark!"

"Ha, come here!" Misato shouted happily. "Rei, that´s PenPen."

"A hotwaterpenguin", the bluehaired girl lectures as if this was a most commen thing on
earth, well maybe it was for her.

"Wark!" the Penguin greeted her before sitting down at the free place at the table and
pushing his eating bowl toward Shinji for filling.

"Yes, since we are all here - Good eating!" Misato shouted, emptying the next can of beer
in one draw and grabbing the next with the free hand.

Rei poked her meal. Shinji watched her for a while, asking himself if she didn´t like his
cooking or if he might have cooked badly.
"Ayanami, is anything wrong?"

"No... no, I eat no flesh."

"Ah... I didn´t know. I´m sorry."

"You don´t have to, as you said, you didn´t know."

"But I will remember - that is, if you will stay for longer."

"I was ordered to recover from the battle with Ramiel."

"Ordered?"

"Yes, by the Commander."

"Father... how can you order somebody to get better?!"

"..."

"Uhm... here, take from the vegetables, there is no flesh within."

Silent she took the bowl.

Again nobody spoke, only PenPen´s champing and Misato´s beer-guzzling were heard.

"You cook good", Rei said suddenly.

Shinji turned red.
"Th-thank you, uhm... but I guess you can cook good, too."

"No."

"No? Ah... but you are a..."
Girl, he had wanted to say, but then he had remembered that Misato was of the same gender
- and she was able to burn water.

"I´ve never learnt."

"Hm... uhm... I could show you. I mean, some of the easier things... but only, if you
want me to..."
Again the stream of words was out of his controll.

"I would like it."

"Ui, you Casa... Casa... Casanova..." Misato laughed drunkenly and tapped his shoulder.

Shinji´s face turned even redder, he felt quite ashamed, looked at Rei beseeching.
"Don´t listen to her."

"Captain Katsuragi is drunken", she lectured.

"Wark!" the Penguin agreed - and emptied his own can of beer.

"Ah am not djun... drun... djanken!" Misato protested. "Ah... maybe a bit... but not
djunken, yesh? Really good cocking, Shinshi."

"Ah..."
Under the table he clenched and unclenched his fist.

"Shinschi, could shou be sho nish and help Rei with her stuff? In the cratsh ish shome
furnishure... shey are already at sche right plash. Shou two will get it right..."
And so Misato vanished into her bedroom, not to be seen again until the next morning.

Shinji looked at Rei sorryful.
"Normally... She must have a lot of stress... ah..."
His trying to play Misatos behavior down sounded not even in his own ears convincing.

"It is alright."

"Well... uhm... it´s nice to have you here."

She blinked.
"Why are you saying this?"

"Because... well... I... uhm... I think it is nice to you around."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Noone said something like this to me ever."

"Noone? And your parents?"

She looked down at the floor.
"I have no parents."

"I... ah... I´m sorry..."
He remembered Ritsuko telling him that Rei´s parents died while she still a baby.
Hurrying he removed the plates and glasses and carried them to the sink, searching for
words feverishly.

"It is no problem."

"Thank you. Well... Uhm, lets look what they brought for you."
He was happy for her dropping the subject.

"Yes."


***


The crates did really contain the furniture he had already suspected.
After they had found out the system to open the crates without a crowbar they had most
of it out of the crates soon.

"Ayanami, it´s late... and until we have everything done... lets finish tomorrow, yes?
You can sleep in my room."

She looked at him.

He raised the hands, remembered the accident in her apartment.
"Ah... of course I will sleep on the couch in the living room... not to make you think
I would... uhm..."

"I trust you."

He looked at her with surprise. It was the first time that somebody told him something
like this. Had she forgotten what a coward he was? Could she - Was she allowed to - trust
a coward?
"Yes?"

"Of course. Don´t you trust me?"

"I do." he answered softly. "How could I not place my trust in you after what you have
done?"


***


Carefully Rei sat down on Shinji´s bed and looked around.

On the desk were some papers, she looked at the top one.

"Physics... wrong way of calculation... much to fussy..." she mumbled while looking at
Shinji´s solution of the homework.

In the corner stood a basket for used clothing, over the edge laid one of Shinji´s
shirts.

Rei looked at the clock on the desk´s edge. It was truely late.
She took off her clothes, placed them on the chair and slipped under the sheets.

"The pillow... it smells like Ikari... like his hair..."

She closed her eyes.

"Why am I here? Because I was ordered to come. Because I shall recover. I don´t need
any special rest, so why was I ordered to come? And I knew that the order was unnessary,
why am I here?"


***


Shinji laid on the couch under a light sheet, unable to sleep, always drifting into and
out of a semiwaken state.

He missed his SDAT-player, it was in his room. And he couldn´t go and get it because of
Rei sleeping there.

Restless he turned to the other side, finding finally some rest.


***


Rei was woken up by the alarm-clock.
At first she felt desoriented, then she remembered where she was. She got up, turning
the alarm off.

In her own apartment she would have gone to the bathroom now, in the last moment, hand
already at the doorknob, she remembered, that she wasn´t the only person within the
apartment´s walls. She looked around, disovered the shirt in the basket, put it on and
came to the conclusion of wearing enough clothes for the moment. Then she left the room.

It smelled like breakfast.

Barefooted she went into the kitchen.

Shinji was already up and cooking, he didn´t see her coming.

"Good morning, Ikari."

The boy twitched.
"Ah..."
He turned around, knife in hand, put it fast aside.
"Good morning, Ayanami..."
He saw her, wearing only one of his shirts that only be chance covered parts of her legs,
turned red and turned around.
"I... uhm... I hope you had a good rest."

"Yes, I feel refreshed."

"That´s good."
He was quite busy to keep his eyes on the vegatables he was preparing instead looking at
her and starring at her, or better, at her body. It was hard, a part of him thought about
the incident at her apartment, but another part, the combination of reasoning and fear
kept the upperhand, keeping him from doing something stupid.

"Is it okay that I wear your shirt?"

"Ah... of course... uhm, you look better in it than I do..."

"Yes...? What are you cooking?"

"Lunch... Bento... for school..."

She saw that he had prepared quite a lot, saw also the two boxes on the workspace.
"For yourself and..."

"Ah, I thought... I counld also prepare something for you... while I was already here
and worked... Look, all vegetarian, no flesh, no fish..."

She looked at him with surprise.
"You are doing this for me? Why?"

"Uhm... because I wanted to... ah... because it seemed to be the right thing..."

"That´s... nice, Ikari... Thank you..."

He swallowed, looked her in the eyes.
"It is no problem. I will go now and wake up Misato... if you want to use the bath before..."

"Yes. And what about you?"

"After breakfast. I´m not quite finished."

"You do this every day?"

He smiled a crocked smile and pointed at the plan.
"Nearly every day."

"Oh..."

"You get used to it."

"Yes..."

He took a deep breath, collecting all his courage.
"Uhm, Ayanami..."

"„Ikari?"

"Could you... do me a favor?"

"What?"

"Please don´t call me Ikari anymore... my friends call me Shinji, Shinji is completly
enough."

She nodded.
"If you wish..."

"Thanks, Ayanami."
He felt a weight lifted from his heart.

"Rei."

"What?"

"You can call me Rei. Are we... friends?"

"Uhm... ah... I would like it this way..."

"Good... friends..."
She turned around and went into the bathroom.

Shinji leaned against the table, wipping the sweat from his brow.
So he stood for a while before starting to work again, not seeing that Rei left the
bathroom some minutes later, wearing only a towel, and vanished into her room to get
some clothes out of the box - he would have fallen over unconsciousness if he had.


***


Misato started the day quite unhappy until she got her first beer of the day.

For a moment Shinji felt Rei´s questioning look, Misato´s behavior seemed to make even
Rei a bit nervous. He just shrugged, knowing that Misato seemed to need a certain
amount of alcohol within her blood to be ready to face a new day.

"And, Rei, how was your first night?" Misato asked after putting the can down.

"I feel refreshed after sleeping in Ika... Shinji´s bed."

Misato opened her eyes as far as possible. Shinji was nearly able to hear her thoughts.
"Shinji..." she gasped. "I never..."

He turned red again, raising his hands defensivly.
"No, Misato, ah, it was not as you are thinking. I´ve slept on the couch."

"What?" She calmed down again. "Ha, you shouldn´t startle an old woman like me this way.
Ah, I remember know, we haven´t unpacked the furniture, yet."

Shinji grumbled.
"Rei and I did the unpacking already, we just have to put them up."

"Well, when you come from school this afternoon you can finish, I am on duty."

Shinji looked at the plan and knew what this meant - today he would have to do her chores
again.

"But I managed that you have enough time - you won´t have to participate at physical
education. Well... - Shinji, how are your hands?"

"They don´t hurt anymore."
He showed her his hand, the medicine of the 21. century had quitly fastened the healing.

"Good. - Rei, you should know that he was nearly unable to hold anything during the last
days."

"Yes."

"Well, okay, I have to get ready. Have fun at school, yes?"

So they left.