Chapter 06 - A Christmas Tale
NERV-HQ, Gendo Ikari´s bureau, early morning
Gendo Ikari smiled when a bluehaired girl took a seat on the other side of his desk.
He wasn´t unable to do otherwise, her similiarity to Yui just forced him to let his mask
go and open his heart, even with her visit unannounced and surprising.
"Rei, why did you come here?"
Her face betrayed neither her emotions nor her thoughts, neither did her red eyes. For
her whole life she had been trained to ignore her own emotions and always keep calm and
calculating.
"Commander Ikari, the Third Children... pilot Ikari... your son, Shinji..." her words
betrayed the confusion she was feeling. "he invited me to Major Katsuragi´s christmas
party."
"So..."
He frowned.
"Well, you need a reason to decline, I will have doctor Akagi schedule some tests. She´s
interested in further examining your synch with unit four."
"No."
"No?"
"I... I would like to go to the party."
"Really? Why?"
"Because he asked me."
"He? Shinji?"
"Yes."
"And that´s the reason..."
"Yes. May I go?"
"Why do you want to go just because of him asking you to come?"
"I... care for him... and he cares for me..."
Gendo blinked. For a moment he felt as if a dagger had pierced his heart.
"Rei, what are your feelings for... my son?"
She looked at him, slightly blushing.
"I want to... unite with him... body, mind and soul..."
Gendo swallowed hard.
"Do you know what you are talking about? That´s impossible..."
"I know what I am talking about." she confirmed.
"If things had taken another path you might have been brother and sister."
"Hai. If things had taken another path. But they did not."
Ikari felt his throat becoming dry. This wasn´t a part of his scenario, it had never been
planned for Rei to express emotions. And he had never planned to be tricked by his own
argumentation.
"May I go?"
"And what if I don´t allow it?"
For a moment something shone within her eyes, just shortly, but he was able to read it:
rebellion...
The solution of this problem would have been easy - erase this Rei and get another, better
conditioned clone from the tank. But he knew that he was unable to do so.
He cleared his throat.
"You may go. I wish you to have fun."
She blinked.
"Thank you."
"Alas, Rei, I don´t wish you to... unite with... my son... You are not old enough to do
this."
"Yes, Commander Ikari."
She got up and left the room.
Gendo covered his face with his hands.
"Yui, you would have known what to do..." he mumbled.
Then he reached into the top drawer of his desk to retrieve a small metalbottle...
***
Misato´s apartment, evening
Asuka had just distributed the presents she had bought the day before; each of those
present was busy opening his or her parcel and finding a scarf.
Shinji who had accompained her buying the gifts and who had carried the stuff home
already knew what was inside of his parcel, but felt urged to make a happyly surprised
face.
Misato liked her gift.
Kaji place the scarf at once aound his neck.
"Just what I´ve wished for! Thank you!"
Rei had opened her parcel that careful that the paper could have been reused. Now she
held a bright blue scarf in her hands.
"Oh."
Not a monotonous ´oh´, but a rather happy ´oh´.
Asuka held her breath.
Just an ´oh´? Argh!
"It´s beautiful. Thanks, Asuka."
She started breathing again, blinked, smiled.
"No problem."
Am I wrong or is Wondergirl smiling?
Now it was Shinji´s turn to hand over the gifts he had bought.
A pity that Wolf was unable to come, too, but he wanted to talk with his daughter.
Kaji found some gardening equipment in his parcel.
"Ha, Shinji! That´s great!"
What a stupid gift. Asuka thought.
Misato got some unbreakable drinking-glasses - the last time she had come home drunk
she had throw all glasses to the floor unintentionally.
"Thanks."
Asuka got two new red hairclips with sliver stripes.
How did he know that I needed new ones?
Rei was still busy opening her parcel with all care when suddenly the bell rung.
"Shinji, you are the only one not sitting!" ordered Asuka with friendly but still
commanding voice. "Get the door!"
"Yes, yes."
He smiled as if he had bitten into a citrus and dragged his feet to the door.
Who could this be? Maybe Wolf? Or Touji and Hikari? Or Kensuke? Or did Misato invite
somebody else and forgot telling us?
He opened the door and went completly stiff.
"Father..."
On the other side of the door Gendo Ikari stood, wearing long grey coat and a once deep
red woolen scarf and looked at his son though his dark tinted glasses and with
expressionless face.
Slowly he raised the right hand and and gave Shinji a small parcel.
"Here. Merry christmas."
Shinji swallowed, looked down at the parcel and back again to his father who already
had turned around and walked towards the elevator.
"Father, would you like to..."
The older Ikari did not react, walked around the corner.
"... come in..."
Shinji blinked, looked again at the parcel, the only proof that he did not dreamt the
whole thing. He closed the door and returned to the livingroom.
"Shinji, who was it?" Misato asked.
"My... father..."
He suddenly felt the others´ eyes upon himself.
"The commander?" Kaji asked with raised brows.
Only Rei stayed calm, but... weren´t the corners of her mouth twitching slightly...?
"Yes."
Shinji sat down on the ground, still holding the parcel in his hands.
"Did he give this to you?"
"Yes, Misato. And he... he wished me a merry christmas..."
"Seems that even he can´t ignore this time of the year completly..." Kaji mumbled.
"What did he give you?" Asuka was courious.
"I don´t know."
"Of course you do not know, baka, you didn´t open it!"
"Second Children, please stop calling Shinji an idiot."
The calm voice caused an effect similiar to a loud scream. Suddenly all eyes turned
towards Rei who had opened her parcel meanwhile and was holding a small brown teddybear.
Asuka´s jaw dropped.
Misato´s jaw dropped.
PenPen´s jaw dropped.
Even Kaji was searching for words. The combination of voice, words and the fact that
she held the bear like an ordinary girl would was nearly too much for him.
Asuka blinked, clenched her fists. Her eyes met Rei´s, her gaze tried to pierce her´s.
"Good." she finally gave up. "Except he earned it..."
Shinji looked from one girl to the other one.
"Rei..."
She nodded at him, now again being the calm, expressionless Rei.
"Thank you for the gift."
"Yes..."
Asuka swallowed her anger, remembered her intentions she did this morning.
"Well, now open your present!"
"Yes. Gomen."
At first he tried to open it as careful as Rei had opened his gift to her, but he was
way to courious and excited.
Inside of the parcel were an expensive looking fountain pen, a new SDATplayer, an empty
picture frame and an envelop. Within the envelop was an old photo from the year 2002,
showing his father, his mother and himself on his mother´s arms.
He gasped for air, put the picture back into the envelop.
"What is it?" Asuka asked, she hadn´t been fast enough to catch a glimpse at the photo.
"Nothing..."
He jumped to his feet, envelop pressed to his chest and ran to his own room.
Asuka looked after him.
"Well, I truely wonder..."
Kaji exchanged a look with Misato, got up, too.
"Get ready, I´ll look after him."
"Good."
***
"Shinji, may I come in?"
Kaji didn´t wait for an answer but opened the door.
The boy sat on his bed, holding the picture in his hands, tear in his eyes. When he
noticed the visitor, he let the photo vashish under the pillow.
"Are you alright?"
Shinji nodded.
"Yes."
"Good. If you need somebody to talk..."
"Kaji, why is he acting this way suddenly? For the last ten years he did ignore me and
now... now..."
"Maybe there´s still a beating human heart within your father´s chest - he still is your
father."
"Wolf... Lieutenant Larsen told me something similiar... a few weeks agos..."
"Ah." Kaji rubbed his chin. "And I thought to be knowing people. Shinji, do yourself a
favor and do not expect to much of your father. That he comes along and brings you a
gift, does not have to mean..."
"I know. But I can wish it would, can´t I?"
Kaji nodded with understanding smile.
"Of course. Will you be okay?"
"Yes."
"If you need somebody to talk, you can always come to me. And I am sure that Katsuragi
would also listen to you. You needn´t be alone if you don´t want to."
"Yes." Shinji smiled. "Thanks, Kaji."
"No problem. The major and I want to hit the road, so if you have anything on your
heart..."
"No."
***
Kaji was just leaving Shinji´s room when he nearly ran into an obviously angry Asuka.
"Eh, Asuka, what´s up?"
"Wondergirl is staying over night, sleeping on the couch. Misato thinks that it is too
dangerous to walk home alone in the dark."
"Hm, she´s right, it´s really dark outside."
"But what might happen to her?"
"Ah, Asuka, come on, you don´t mean it this way."
"Why not?"
"Or are you afraid to sleep with Rei under the same roof?" He winked. "That she might
try to get Shinji?"
"Ha! She could have him!" she answered and stormed into her room.
"Hm", Kaji mumble to himself. "Why don´t I think that this was meant honestly?"
***
It was long past midnight when Rei got up from the couch in Misato´s livingroom.
She wore a long t-shirt and shorts given to her by Misato. Her protests that she needed
no clothes had been interupted by Misato telling her to put on the clothes or having her
drive her home. Rei who had heard about Misato´s driving style valued her life enough
to put on the clothes.
Barefoot she stalked through the apartment to the door to Shinji´s room.
Her fingertips touched the doorsign.
*Shin-chan´s lovely room*
Shin-chan... an expression of sympathy... friendship... love...
She opened the door silently, entered, closed the door.
Shinji was laying on his bed, knees drawn up to his chest, head dug into the pilow.
The blanket didn´t cover him anymore.
Rei stopped by the door, looked at the sleeper. Her face softened.
Why... why am I here? Why do I feel... happyness... when I see him?
Hesitatingly she stepped forward to the bed, reached out with his hand to caress his
cheek... stopped, didn´t toch him, grabbing the blanket instead and covering him with it.
Good night, Shin-chan...
As silently as she had come she left the room again.
next: it´s big, it´s strong, it eats EVAs for breakfast - it´s Zeruel, the Angel of Might
NERV-HQ, Gendo Ikari´s bureau, early morning
Gendo Ikari smiled when a bluehaired girl took a seat on the other side of his desk.
He wasn´t unable to do otherwise, her similiarity to Yui just forced him to let his mask
go and open his heart, even with her visit unannounced and surprising.
"Rei, why did you come here?"
Her face betrayed neither her emotions nor her thoughts, neither did her red eyes. For
her whole life she had been trained to ignore her own emotions and always keep calm and
calculating.
"Commander Ikari, the Third Children... pilot Ikari... your son, Shinji..." her words
betrayed the confusion she was feeling. "he invited me to Major Katsuragi´s christmas
party."
"So..."
He frowned.
"Well, you need a reason to decline, I will have doctor Akagi schedule some tests. She´s
interested in further examining your synch with unit four."
"No."
"No?"
"I... I would like to go to the party."
"Really? Why?"
"Because he asked me."
"He? Shinji?"
"Yes."
"And that´s the reason..."
"Yes. May I go?"
"Why do you want to go just because of him asking you to come?"
"I... care for him... and he cares for me..."
Gendo blinked. For a moment he felt as if a dagger had pierced his heart.
"Rei, what are your feelings for... my son?"
She looked at him, slightly blushing.
"I want to... unite with him... body, mind and soul..."
Gendo swallowed hard.
"Do you know what you are talking about? That´s impossible..."
"I know what I am talking about." she confirmed.
"If things had taken another path you might have been brother and sister."
"Hai. If things had taken another path. But they did not."
Ikari felt his throat becoming dry. This wasn´t a part of his scenario, it had never been
planned for Rei to express emotions. And he had never planned to be tricked by his own
argumentation.
"May I go?"
"And what if I don´t allow it?"
For a moment something shone within her eyes, just shortly, but he was able to read it:
rebellion...
The solution of this problem would have been easy - erase this Rei and get another, better
conditioned clone from the tank. But he knew that he was unable to do so.
He cleared his throat.
"You may go. I wish you to have fun."
She blinked.
"Thank you."
"Alas, Rei, I don´t wish you to... unite with... my son... You are not old enough to do
this."
"Yes, Commander Ikari."
She got up and left the room.
Gendo covered his face with his hands.
"Yui, you would have known what to do..." he mumbled.
Then he reached into the top drawer of his desk to retrieve a small metalbottle...
***
Misato´s apartment, evening
Asuka had just distributed the presents she had bought the day before; each of those
present was busy opening his or her parcel and finding a scarf.
Shinji who had accompained her buying the gifts and who had carried the stuff home
already knew what was inside of his parcel, but felt urged to make a happyly surprised
face.
Misato liked her gift.
Kaji place the scarf at once aound his neck.
"Just what I´ve wished for! Thank you!"
Rei had opened her parcel that careful that the paper could have been reused. Now she
held a bright blue scarf in her hands.
"Oh."
Not a monotonous ´oh´, but a rather happy ´oh´.
Asuka held her breath.
Just an ´oh´? Argh!
"It´s beautiful. Thanks, Asuka."
She started breathing again, blinked, smiled.
"No problem."
Am I wrong or is Wondergirl smiling?
Now it was Shinji´s turn to hand over the gifts he had bought.
A pity that Wolf was unable to come, too, but he wanted to talk with his daughter.
Kaji found some gardening equipment in his parcel.
"Ha, Shinji! That´s great!"
What a stupid gift. Asuka thought.
Misato got some unbreakable drinking-glasses - the last time she had come home drunk
she had throw all glasses to the floor unintentionally.
"Thanks."
Asuka got two new red hairclips with sliver stripes.
How did he know that I needed new ones?
Rei was still busy opening her parcel with all care when suddenly the bell rung.
"Shinji, you are the only one not sitting!" ordered Asuka with friendly but still
commanding voice. "Get the door!"
"Yes, yes."
He smiled as if he had bitten into a citrus and dragged his feet to the door.
Who could this be? Maybe Wolf? Or Touji and Hikari? Or Kensuke? Or did Misato invite
somebody else and forgot telling us?
He opened the door and went completly stiff.
"Father..."
On the other side of the door Gendo Ikari stood, wearing long grey coat and a once deep
red woolen scarf and looked at his son though his dark tinted glasses and with
expressionless face.
Slowly he raised the right hand and and gave Shinji a small parcel.
"Here. Merry christmas."
Shinji swallowed, looked down at the parcel and back again to his father who already
had turned around and walked towards the elevator.
"Father, would you like to..."
The older Ikari did not react, walked around the corner.
"... come in..."
Shinji blinked, looked again at the parcel, the only proof that he did not dreamt the
whole thing. He closed the door and returned to the livingroom.
"Shinji, who was it?" Misato asked.
"My... father..."
He suddenly felt the others´ eyes upon himself.
"The commander?" Kaji asked with raised brows.
Only Rei stayed calm, but... weren´t the corners of her mouth twitching slightly...?
"Yes."
Shinji sat down on the ground, still holding the parcel in his hands.
"Did he give this to you?"
"Yes, Misato. And he... he wished me a merry christmas..."
"Seems that even he can´t ignore this time of the year completly..." Kaji mumbled.
"What did he give you?" Asuka was courious.
"I don´t know."
"Of course you do not know, baka, you didn´t open it!"
"Second Children, please stop calling Shinji an idiot."
The calm voice caused an effect similiar to a loud scream. Suddenly all eyes turned
towards Rei who had opened her parcel meanwhile and was holding a small brown teddybear.
Asuka´s jaw dropped.
Misato´s jaw dropped.
PenPen´s jaw dropped.
Even Kaji was searching for words. The combination of voice, words and the fact that
she held the bear like an ordinary girl would was nearly too much for him.
Asuka blinked, clenched her fists. Her eyes met Rei´s, her gaze tried to pierce her´s.
"Good." she finally gave up. "Except he earned it..."
Shinji looked from one girl to the other one.
"Rei..."
She nodded at him, now again being the calm, expressionless Rei.
"Thank you for the gift."
"Yes..."
Asuka swallowed her anger, remembered her intentions she did this morning.
"Well, now open your present!"
"Yes. Gomen."
At first he tried to open it as careful as Rei had opened his gift to her, but he was
way to courious and excited.
Inside of the parcel were an expensive looking fountain pen, a new SDATplayer, an empty
picture frame and an envelop. Within the envelop was an old photo from the year 2002,
showing his father, his mother and himself on his mother´s arms.
He gasped for air, put the picture back into the envelop.
"What is it?" Asuka asked, she hadn´t been fast enough to catch a glimpse at the photo.
"Nothing..."
He jumped to his feet, envelop pressed to his chest and ran to his own room.
Asuka looked after him.
"Well, I truely wonder..."
Kaji exchanged a look with Misato, got up, too.
"Get ready, I´ll look after him."
"Good."
***
"Shinji, may I come in?"
Kaji didn´t wait for an answer but opened the door.
The boy sat on his bed, holding the picture in his hands, tear in his eyes. When he
noticed the visitor, he let the photo vashish under the pillow.
"Are you alright?"
Shinji nodded.
"Yes."
"Good. If you need somebody to talk..."
"Kaji, why is he acting this way suddenly? For the last ten years he did ignore me and
now... now..."
"Maybe there´s still a beating human heart within your father´s chest - he still is your
father."
"Wolf... Lieutenant Larsen told me something similiar... a few weeks agos..."
"Ah." Kaji rubbed his chin. "And I thought to be knowing people. Shinji, do yourself a
favor and do not expect to much of your father. That he comes along and brings you a
gift, does not have to mean..."
"I know. But I can wish it would, can´t I?"
Kaji nodded with understanding smile.
"Of course. Will you be okay?"
"Yes."
"If you need somebody to talk, you can always come to me. And I am sure that Katsuragi
would also listen to you. You needn´t be alone if you don´t want to."
"Yes." Shinji smiled. "Thanks, Kaji."
"No problem. The major and I want to hit the road, so if you have anything on your
heart..."
"No."
***
Kaji was just leaving Shinji´s room when he nearly ran into an obviously angry Asuka.
"Eh, Asuka, what´s up?"
"Wondergirl is staying over night, sleeping on the couch. Misato thinks that it is too
dangerous to walk home alone in the dark."
"Hm, she´s right, it´s really dark outside."
"But what might happen to her?"
"Ah, Asuka, come on, you don´t mean it this way."
"Why not?"
"Or are you afraid to sleep with Rei under the same roof?" He winked. "That she might
try to get Shinji?"
"Ha! She could have him!" she answered and stormed into her room.
"Hm", Kaji mumble to himself. "Why don´t I think that this was meant honestly?"
***
It was long past midnight when Rei got up from the couch in Misato´s livingroom.
She wore a long t-shirt and shorts given to her by Misato. Her protests that she needed
no clothes had been interupted by Misato telling her to put on the clothes or having her
drive her home. Rei who had heard about Misato´s driving style valued her life enough
to put on the clothes.
Barefoot she stalked through the apartment to the door to Shinji´s room.
Her fingertips touched the doorsign.
*Shin-chan´s lovely room*
Shin-chan... an expression of sympathy... friendship... love...
She opened the door silently, entered, closed the door.
Shinji was laying on his bed, knees drawn up to his chest, head dug into the pilow.
The blanket didn´t cover him anymore.
Rei stopped by the door, looked at the sleeper. Her face softened.
Why... why am I here? Why do I feel... happyness... when I see him?
Hesitatingly she stepped forward to the bed, reached out with his hand to caress his
cheek... stopped, didn´t toch him, grabbing the blanket instead and covering him with it.
Good night, Shin-chan...
As silently as she had come she left the room again.
next: it´s big, it´s strong, it eats EVAs for breakfast - it´s Zeruel, the Angel of Might