opening4

Note: Totoki and Moe are from "Kimishika Iranai"
Marie and Jean are from "Fushigi no Umi no Nadia"
ChibiChibi is from "Sailor Moon"

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Opening The Future Doors

Fourth Chapter. Part One.

December, the first. 2025. 08:30 PM

By then, even Autumn was almost completely over. The terrestrial ecosystem had definitely recovered, so that many countries in the world had been the cold winter breeze during the during recent years. In spite of that, Neo-Tokyo 3 could still enjoy wonderful sunny days, typical of milder seasons. The temperature used to drop and gradually, and it was quite difficult to notice the oncoming winter, especially for the ones who lived in towns.

Shinji Ikari, Nerv's new vice-commander was still lying in his bed. Today was his day off, so he didn't hurry to stand up. He had not even set the alarm clock, as he used to, in order to go work in time. But something seemed to disturb his rest : it was the bright sunlight which filtered through the bed-room shutters. The light just had settled upon his eyes, piercing the eyelids and and distressing him .Shinji woke up slowly, grimacing with nuisance. The young man carefully opened his eyes, and then gave a puzzled look at the source of light. He realized at once the sunrays were filtering through the shutters, and then he stood up, a little pissed off, and headed near to the window, closing the shutters for good, so that darkness reigned again over the room.
Finally he turned towards the bed, and smiled in seeing Rei, who was still wandering in Dreamland. She was sleeping in a fetal position , while the bed sheets were in disarray, because of her and Shinji's movements during their sleep. Shinji watched at the clock, whose hands were visible even in the room's dim light
The young man decided that he was too awake to go back to bed, and so he decided to do Rei's morning chores for once
Since they got married, Rei was usually the one who woke up first and prepare breakfast so that her husband found all ready, when he would wake up too. But Shinji wanted to reverse their roles, for once. So he drew near his young wife, then turned down the sheets with delicacy, being careful to do it without interrupting her dreams. Rei did not notice anything; on the contrary, she went on sleeping peacefully. Shinji was staring at her *This is the decisive month, Rei-chan* , the young man thought, while smiling and slightly caressing Rei's face, as he moved her strands to the back of her ears from hanging down over her cheeks. *It's finally arrived *

The young man stood up again, and moved away from Rei, not without regret, drawing near the door. Shinji crossed the threshold, then he cast a glance at his wife, smiling at the sight, just before shutting the door behind himself.
Yawning all the way, he slowly went down the stairs, which would led him to the first floor.
Once he had gone down all the steps, he headed to the right, where both the living room and the kitchen were located. The young man drew near the wall, with several photos, pictures and a calendar,whose days were all crossed out.
He snatched the sheet dedicated to November. He felt very satisfied while doing it, because he could finally catch sight of the day he had marked as the probable birthday of their children : 26th December the day after Xmas.
The number twenty-six had become Shinji's obsession : he always found himself scribbling it, whenever he had a pen in his hands by chance; he has often uttered it to himself, to the puzzlement of people around him; besides this, he used to smile at any occurrence when he heard other persons pronouncing it.
After he had spent some seconds watching at his "Number of Desire", he went on walking towards the kitchen. He slowly approached the cupboard, then he opened its door, taking the tea box from the upper shelf.
Anytime that he saw some tea packaging, it reminded him of the unforgettable experience he had lived in her wife's former apartment, ten years before, when she had succeeded in pronouncing a wish of hers, for the first time in her life, letting Shinji come in, then offering to prepare a cup of tea for him. She had tried to be kind to Shinji, as she wished she could.

The young man felt like laughing, thinking again how clumsy he was anytime he approached Rei, in those times.. he couldn't help cutting a poor figure, according to his opinion. On the contrary, it was exactly his spontaneity and kindness, his shy but gentle manner, what had attracted Rei, who was used to meet with persons that disregarded her, either because of their fear , which was the case of her classmates ; or because of their exploitation of her , while making her cherish the illusion of their affection, which was the case of Shinji's father, for example.

Shinji had not thought over about his father for a long time. After all, since Gendo had moved to the Mongolian Branch of Nerv, Shinji had not been missed him that much. He had understood it was useless to worry about him; he had started to understand it a long time ago, when he made his best to approach his father, who had always repudiated him.
This had to be Ikari Gendo's twelfth and last month in Mongolia ; Shinji wondered what he was supposed to do, when he would meet his father again.
By the time Gendo came back to Tokyo 3, he would find a completely different world. Now Shinji had set up family, since he had a wife who expected two babies.
Gendo already knew his son had married Rei in February. Rei was one of those he had treated as if they were his destined victims.
He had not enjoyed the news, he merely showed no interest, as usual. Shinji couldn't expect his father to be present at the wedding, because of the distance. But he expected to receive either a call or a letter from him.
Nowadays, communication systems are ubiquitous; nevertheless, he was repaid by sheer silence from his father.
But Shinji didn't mind anymore, by then. While growing up, he became aware that there was no need to approach a person who did not return his wish at all. He had tried to make his father change his mind about himself, for so long: but to no avail. At the and of the day, he'd given up
After all, he knew everything about his father's crimes, which Gendo probably was still committing, in Mongolia, Who knows?

Surely, ten years ago Shinji Ikari could have never imagined,that he would arrive at this point. He did not hate him. Gendo was still his father, in spite of all. He could not resent him, despite how his father had behaved towards himself and his mother, and also towards Rei, not to mention the way he had treated Nerv employees.
He did not hate him, at least, and he supposed that his father did not hate him either.
Shinji was indifferent to him, as a rule…Gendo considered him as as a stranger … anyway he didn't look like he detested his son, even from Shinji's point of view.

By then, Shinji was the new vice-Commander. The day when he received from Nerv Command the letter which informed him about his sudden promotion , he couldn't grasp the reason why his father had chosen him. They have often met each other in the Geo-Front quarters. Why hadn't he let him know his own decision in person, instead of telling him the news by a detached formal letter?
To tell the truth, their relationship had always been so cold that Shinji couldn't think his father would renounce his aloofness, only because he had promoted him to the rank of vice-Commander, from the task of piloting Evangelion unit 01, which the younger Ikari had been filling in the past .

His father had been aware that he needed to go to Mongolia for a long time so he obviously intended to entrust someone with the whole Base. But why did he choose just him? Maybe he had elected him for vice-Commander by right of succession, or possibly Fuyutsuki Kozo haddesignated him as his replacement, when he had retired.
The point was that Shinji was the new vice-Commander, and the whole Base depended on him, during Gendo's absence.

The young man was watering the tea leaves when he felt a cold shiver running over his shoulders. He shrugged.
"Brrr..it's cold!", he uttered.
"Something must be open" , he said to himself, while looking around in order to check if any doors or windows were open. So it was: the door of a room at the end of the corridor was slowly opening, possibly because of a draft which was entering through some open window .

Ikari-kun slowly headed near it, and looked inside. It was the new room, where some time ago Rei and himself he had settled the furniture they had received as a gift from all Nerv employees. It was to be their children's room. It was very odd to notice how everything looked like "was doubled" , inside there. There were two cradles, two high chairs, two beds their child would lie on while being swaddled, two sand boxes, and a lot of other stuff such as toys, babies' bottles and things like these, which were arranged over the bedside tables and the rest of the room furniture.
The young man remained to gaze the room for some minute longer: whenever he came inside it, he couldn't go away easily

He couldn't understand why : after all, he had seen a lot of times the same furniture or similar ones, in other persons' houses. And still he used to feel an unusual happiness, while seeing them in his own house.
Shin-chan went over to and closed the window, removing the bright yellow curtains, then tying them up with a cord of the same color; he finally turned the handle, shutting the window tightly.
Shinji stayed there a little more time. How beautiful that room looked to his eyes. ..Even if it was empty in that time then, because its "occupants" were not present yet, for Shinji it felt as if they were there since the day when Rei announced to him that she was pregnant.
Shinji looked at several childish stuffed dolls, which were laying on the floor, just under the window, then he turned his eyes towards two babies' bottles that were still in their packages. Shinji smiled at the sight.. Who knows what was in his mind? Maybe not even he could have explained what he was thinking about. He surely didn't mind the confusion that much.

Without being aware of it, he took in his hand the nearest stuffed doll; it was a little bright coloured elephant, with a puppy face. Who knows if his children would have liked it? Who knows whom they would have resembled, both physically and psychologically..
Shinji hoped they would have resembled anyone but his father. At any rate, he knew for sure that such an occurrence would have never happen, because Rei and he would not give them reason to be like that.

Shinji went on staring for some minutes at the little elephant, with a blank look . The only thing which could interrupt his train of thoughts was the entry of Rei-chan, who came into the room without Shinji noticing her. She had imagined that Shinji would be there, or in the kitchen. The young woman drew near Shinji slowly , without saying a word, then she hugged him by his shoulder, finally kissing him. Shinji gave himself to the soft warm sensation of her kiss, then returned Rei's hug,while turning to her.

Finally Rei lowered her arms to clasp Shinji, while he continued embracing his wife's waist.

"Shinchan…I imagined you were here.", Rei whispered, smiling sweetly at her husband and leaning her hands over the young man's arms.

Shinji smiled back, then looked around the room, without leaving his grip on her. "Yeah..I'll find any pretext for coming here..", exclaimed Shinji, with a laughter.
Rei took Shinji's hand and put it over her womb, which was quite swollen by then, given the fact that she was at her ninth month; Rei's belly almost clashed with her slight build.
"Listen..", she whispered, in a happy tone. " Can you feel them moving?", she went on after some moments of silence.

Shinji closed his eyes, trying to perceive the babies' movements inside her wife's womb as best he could, then he suddenly opened his eyes again, with a smile. "Yeah, I can feel them!", the new vice-Commander exclaimed joyfully.
Rei smiled, then she bent over Shinji's chest.
"This room will be filled up very soon", she whispered.
Shinji nodded, while kissing Rei's hair. "It's not a long time to it, Rei-chan."

Meanwhile at Ritsuko's house...

"Look, Mummy! Auntie Misato's finally woken up!", exclaimed the little Tomoyo, approaching colonel Katsuragi, who had found herself sleeping in Ritusko's guest room with Kaji lying beside her still asleep.

"Ah! It's high time she woke up!", Ritsuko playfully said, while bringing breakfast to the nearby room, where Akane and Yukito were already at table, waiting for her with impatience.

Misato sat down on the bed, while rubbing her head. "My God..what a nap!" *YAWNNN* "Hello, Tomoyo-chan", Misato said, in a drowsy way.

Giving a look around, she found Ritsuko standing on the threshold.
" 'Morning!", dr. Akagi said to her friend, ironically. "You've had a good sleep, haven't you?"

Misato yawned once again. "What are you doing, here, Ritchan?", asked, in dismay.

"What do you mean by What are you doing here? > > Can't you remember what happened yesterday night?!", Ritsuko asked , while leaving to the nearby room.

Misato stood up. "What?….. I can't even remember my surname, by now! How can I try to recall what's happened yesterday night?", she said , while heading towards the next room, followed by Tomoyo, who pursued her like a puppy dog.
Katsuragi finally found her daughter eating happily together with Yukito the breakfast her friend had prepared.

"You and Daddy draaankk two bottles of chammmpagneee, Mummy! You drunkard!!", Akane said, while Yukito took her in his arms, setting her on the big-chair that Tomoyo used when she was younger.

"SSHH!!Akane-chan! You've just spoilt Auntie Ritsuko's trick!", the doctor said in disappointment .

Akane brought both her hands in front of her mouth, with a worried expression. "Iiihhh! Sciiorryyyy!"

"I see..I can remember..Yesterday Kaji and I have just hit the bottle, haven't we?", Misato whispered, slowly regaining lucidity.

"To be honest, we all have hit the bottle!", doctor Tsukishiro uttered. "Aah!Ritchan , Honey ! Your white coffee tastes so good!", he went on, returning to dunk the biscuits in the white coffee, joyfully.

"Uncle Yukiii! You're right! My Mummy's not good at preparing it, on the contrary!", Akane-chan exclaimed, offending Misato, without being aware of it.

"AKANEE! What do you mean by Mummy's not good at preparing it?? > > "; Misato yelled, furiously.

"Whaf, Muffy??", Akane asked, while chomping a biscuit.

"What do you mean WHAT ? > >?", Misato yelled again.

"She's definitely awake…", Ritsuko whispered , sipping her coffee.

"M..Mummy! But it's true! Daddy used to say it too" the child went on.

"Mm…what did Daddy use to say?", Kaji whispered, popping out behind Misato, with a drowsy look on his face.

"GRRRR! I don't know what Daddy used to say, but Mummy says she's gonna kill you!!", Misato yelled in angry, while grabbing the drowsy unaware secret agent's neck.

"Eeeh..what's wrong with you, Misa-chan?Why are you angry at me?", Kaji said in dismay, while his wife was keeping on shaking him.

"Don't be so dumb, Kaji! You know what's with me!!"

"I've got it! I've got it", Kaji said, being sure he had found her problem. "Are you hungry? Do you want some beer?"

"You think you're funny, you idiot..?". Kaji's words had made colonel Katsuragi even more angry at him. So she started again to shake her husband again.

"WICKED!! A WRESTLING MATCH!!", Akane joyfully yelled, being amused at watching her mother hitting her father.
Misato was obviously pretending to beat him…

Finally Katsuragi went to sit down, still pretending to be angry at Kaji, only to make him apologize to her. "You're always so ungrateful!"

Being quite dumbfounded because of Misato's morning outburst, Kaji sat down next to her , showing even more puzzlement than before, then and continuing to look at her wife, who was still in a huff, while sipping her white coffee.

He finally looked at the others. "Does anybody know what's wrong with her?", he asked.
Ritsuko, Yukito and the two children burst out laughing. "You'd better not ask anymore!", Yukito answered, while laughing.

About an hour after, everybody was done with breakfast, and Misato was helping Ritsuko with the washing up.

"Given the fact that both of us have got to go to a wedding, tonight, and Shinji allowed all the Base staff to have the day off for the occasion, why don't you stay for lunch?", dr. Akagi suggested, arranging the cups on the dish rack.

Misato turned the sink tap off, her hands still wet. "Thank you for inviting us, Rit-chan..but..I don't know..", Misato answered, while wiping her hands. "The dresses for the wedding are at my home, and…"

"Come on, Misato! I think Kaji could go and get your dresses after lunch, so we can go to the weddings all together!", Ritsuko insisted joyfully, trying to convince her friend.

Misato let herself be convinced by Ritsuko's words. "All right..", she whispered with a smile. "But you'll be my guests, next time!", Misato went on, in a menacing tone.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!", a terrifying yelling echoed through Tomoyo's room, followed by the noise of things tumbling.

Misato recognized her daughter's voice. "Aaaaaahh!! What is Akane yelling for, this time?", she cried out, very angry

"I guess we'll know soon", answered Ritsuko, since she heard Akane draw near the kitchen in a hurry.

"Mummyyyyy!!!", Akane yelled, standing on on the threshold. She looked like a lady-in-waiting, wearing an elegant fuchsia dress: it reached her ankles, and was filled with ribbons and laces; the bodice and skirt's borders were decorated with stylish golden appliques.
"Mummyyyy! Look at what Tomoyo made me weeeeeear" , the child said, running towards her mother.

"Akane-chan!! You look so pretty in a dress like this!", exclaimed Misato.

Ritsuko burst out laughing, imagining the scene, when Tomoyo popped out from the kitchen door , wearing an azure dress resembling Akane's one in all respects, except for its size and colour.

"Auntie Misato! Tell Akane-chan that she looks so good in this dress!", Tomoyo exclaimed. "She looks like a Princess!", dreamily she went on, joining her hands, .

Misato caressed Tomoyo's hair. "Congratulations, Tomoyo-chan! You're so good at making dresses!", said the Colonel joyfully. In the background, Akane-chan had finished untying her pig tails, removing the bows which fastened them. Finally she crossed her arms, disappointed by the fact that her own mother had not supported her.

Tomoyo blushed and brought her right hand to her face. "Thank you very much, Auntie Misato! Sewing has always been my passion!"

"Definitely unlike her mother!", Risuko said, while arranging the last cup left on the dish rack."I can't even sew a button on!"

"Mummyyyyy! PHEW! I WWANT to play FOOTBALL!", Akane protested, stamping her feet on the floor.

Tomoyo was astonished, while bringing her hands to her face. "What are you saying, Akane? Football is a game for boys!" , she exclaimed in a saddened tone of voice. "Why don't we play princesses?", she continued, catching the child's hands.

"Nooooo!! Let's play Football!", Akane retorted.

"But I want to play princesses!", the elder child insisted. As a last resort, she even spun round, trying to incite Akane to play her favourite game.

Akane raised her forefinger. "Then we shall play princesses who are playing football!"

The two women burst out laughing, at Akane's odd expedient.
"Akane! You're always the same!", ended Ritsuko .

Tomoyo resolved to indulge Akane's oddity. "All right! So we'll play princessess who're playing football!", Tomoyo allowed, taking Akane-chan by hand and leading her to the play room.

Misato smiled, while looking at Tomoyo rushing to the play room together with her best friend's daughter. She finally shook her head, turning to Ritsuko. "My daughter is definitely a tomboy", Katsuragi whispered, in a sweet tone.

Ritsuko smiled. "Tomoyo has always been obsessed with elegant dresses, princesses, fairies….She's very happy today, 'cause on the occasion of Nozomi and Kensuke's wedding, she can finally wear the light-blue dress I bought her the other day."

Misato sighed, while tying her hair, using the band she always encircled her forearm with, finally arranging her tresses in a low tail.

"I can foresee Akane's complaints when I'll have to make her wear her elegant dress. She literally hates those kinds of clothes. Everytime she has to dress elegantly, I'm in trouble!".

"Eehhh… Don't you miss the times when we were newly-weds? No whims, nothing to worry about…", Ritsuko said ironically.

Suddently she remembered to tear the November page of the calendar.

"Another month has gone by..yesterday had been six years since Tomoyo was born, and eight since Yukito and I were married."

"Yeah..You know .. This children-mania looks like it's infected everyone, don't you think? If I'm not right this is the month when Rei and Shinji will become parents, isn't it?", Misato asked.

"Yeah..On December 26th, it will be their turn!", Ritsuko uttered, noticing that she had already marked in red on the kitchen's calendar the likely birth-day for Rei and Shinji's sons.

"I can't believe our pilots have grown-up to become parents as well..", Misato whispered, while leaning her back on the edge of the kitchen furniture, just next to the wall-calendar.

"It looks strange to me too, do you know?It seems like yesterday when Shinji, Rei and Asuka fought the Angels aboard the Eva Units.", Ritsuko said, throwing the expired calendar sheet on the rubbish.

"At the right time! It's the nine month for Rei, isn't it? Do you know if she's gonna have two boys or two girls?", Katsuragi asked

Dr. Akagi smiled, turning to her friend. "Both!A boy and a girl!"

"Are you serious? Wonderful!" Misato yelled gaily

"Yeah, it is! But, shut up, please! Rei didn't want to be informed about the children's sex during the last ultrasound she underwent."

Misato was amazed at it. "Really ?" Why? Does she prefer the surprise?"

"Well..possibly..But..I had the impression that Rei.." Ritsuko's look became thoughtful, all at once.

*FLASHBACK*

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"Doctor Akagi..I'd rather not to know before hand if I'll give birth to two boys or girls" Rei had uttered these words, after a pause of silence which had been preceded by Ritsuko's joyful statement: she could finally establish the babies' sex.

Ritusko turned to the young mother, looking rather dismayed. "Why would you rather not know it in advance, Rei-chan?", she asked. "Aren't you curious to find out their sex?"

Rei shook her head, whit a slight smile. "Nope. It's not that I'm uninterested.I'm
looking forward to seeing them, but I'd rather know all about them just at the moment of their birth. I do not want anything to be planned before they're born". So speaking, the young woman watched at the ultrasound display, exploiting of the fact Dr. Akagi had not yet removed the sensor from her womb; she stared at the two outlines, which had finally assumed the proper form of two babies, being cuddled up next to each other.

Dr. Akagi didn't try to dissuade Rei from her resolution, on the contrary she smiled at her, as a token of encouragement. " All right..Rei-chan. If it's your choice, I won't tell you. Maya too did not want to know before time if her childwould be a male either or a female. Surprise is a great thing, isnt' it, Honey?"

Rei nodded. "Yup. So to speak, I'm expecting the surprise too." Almost invisible tears sparkled into the young woman's eyes, as if she was recalling something unpleasant, just in a beautiful moment like that.

*END FLASHBACK*

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Misato crossed her arms. "I guess I understand what was impeding Rei's natural curiosity."

Ritsuko nodded. "At the time when Gendo created the Dummy System… or better, even before he built it ... we already knew every slightest detail about Rei I think Rei wouldn't give her children the same treatment at all."

"I see.. I can remember that time. But it'd be better not to recall a shame like that, hanging over the Nerv's reputation ." Misato stated, with sorrow. " And what about the birth of the children? Will you take care of it ?" Colonel asked averting her mind from Nerv's misdeeds, by changing the topic of their conversation.

Ritsuko looked away from the emptiness, which was reminding her of the horrible past. Then she nodded again, turning towards her friend, with a smile on her face. "Of course. I guarded Rei since her first months of pregnancy, and I promised her I would be beside her at the moment of the child birth."

"Well done. I think it's very important for Rei-chan to feel someone's friendly presence next to her, given the fact that she won't be able to have Shinji with her."

"Aahh.. er…Sorry for interfering in your womanish conversation, but…", Kaji uttered, snickering while he made his entrance a hand on his head. "Misato-chan. Which clothes am I supposed to wear tonight?", he asked

"Why do you ask me? The last one I bought you, it's obvious, isn't it? That is the dark blue tuxedo with the bordeaux tie!", Misato cried out, trying to make her husband figure which dress she was adressing to.

"Aaahh! I got it!", Kaji averred. "But the shirt is still at the laundry! Do you remember? It stained at Maya's child's baptism."

"Why don't you put the new one on?", Ritsuko suggested, interfering in the conversation. "If I remember correctly, you took the shirt as well, when you bought the dress , didn't you?"

"Nope. I gave the shirt back to the shop, because it was tight on him, and I changed it with a shirt for Akane, which she's supposed to wear this night, by the way."

"Ahh..So you've got to go to the laundry today, to get it back!"

"Yup! Makoto's not available. I'll have to go by myself!"

Misato crossed her arms, angry. "Hmmmph! That Makoto! He choose the wrong time for his honeymoon with the laundry owner's daughter!!"

"Yeah..It was so convenient for us..He lived right in front of our favourite laundry, and it suited us to carry our clothes there! And now, I'll have to go myself by car to pick it up!"

"You'd better hurry up, Sweet Heart! It's already half past eleven!", his wife informed him, watching at the clock.

Kaji snorted, leaning his hands on his hips. "Ok..I'll go and prepare myself for going out."Kaji said. "See you later, beautiful ladies" Kaji left of them, with a hint of irony.

"Bye, Kaji-chan, and remember to shave!", Misato recommended him, while Ritsuko could not help but laughing in seeing Misato who still used to give her husband a reminder about having a shave.

"Ok..ok..I won't forget it!", Kaji promised, on the verge of shutting the door.

"WHHHAAAAATTT???", Akane-chan yelled, popping out dressed in another princess dress made by Tomoyo, who chased her little friend. Ryouji's daughter madly ran towards her father. "DADDDYYY! I want to come with youuuu!", Akane cried out, while jumping around Kaji, in order to beg him to take her in his arms.

"Aka..Akane…what's up with you?", Kaji whispered, taking her daughter in his arms, while noticing her face was covered with an avalanche of make-up, not to speak of her quite unusual attire.

Akane was too busy trying to reach her goal, so she didn't hear her father's question. "Pleaseeeee, Daddyyyy! Take me with youuuu!", the child pleaded, grabbing her father's neck.

"Are you leaving me alone, Akane?", Tomoyo sadly murmured sitting disconsolate on the floor.

"But you're supposed to come with us, Tomoyoooo!! So Daddy 'll buy candies for both of us!!", Akane-chan exclaimed gaily.

Tomoyo cheered up. "Are you really? May I come as well, Uncle Kaji?"

Kaji landed Akane on the floor. "Yes, if Mummy agrees.", the man answered.

"Mummy, May I?", Tomoyo implored.

Ritsuko nodded in agreement. "All right, you may go..Just don't make Uncle Kaji get mad with you, Tomoyo-chan!", Ritsuko granted.

"HURRAHHH!", Tomoyo and Akane chorused.

"So I am supposed to bring them with me, then?", Kaji addressed the two women. Both of them nodded with approval.

"Yeah, it's all right.. Just be careful, keep your eyes on them!", Misato warned him. "Not a month had passed by since Akane-chan got on a bus, taking advantage of our inattention; if we hadn't noticed it, who knows how the thing would have ended!

Kaji snickered while an enormous sweatdrop formed over his forehead. "Er… I can remember..I' ll be careful, don't worry! I won't take my eyes off her. Now, you' d better go and dress yourself according to the third century style!", he suggested, finally closing the kitchen door behind himself, and carrying the energetically happy children with him.

Early afternoon, another place in Neo-Tokyo 3.
A young woman of about 24 years, whose hair was arranged in two pig-tails, fastened in the same way a junior high student would, was nervously stamping the ground , as if she was waiting for someone's arrival, while holding in his arms a baby of seven months, who was having fun by trifling with the woman's tails.

"Nooo! Musashi-chan, sweet heart! Please, don't pull Auntie Hikari's hair, ok?" the young woman told the child off, while trying to move her head away from his hands.

"DaHa", Musashi-chan giggled, then he happily renewed his efforts to grasp his aunt's pony-tails.

"AHI! Musashi-chan! Please leave my hair alone'!" , Hikari yelled again, removing the baby's fingers from her maltreated hair. "Here!", she said all of a sudden, while sitting the child on the floor, next to his haphazardly scattered toys. "What about playing with your little horse,uhn?", she proposed, bowing towards the baby, suggesting the child entertain himself with his gummy and stuffed dolls.

"Gaaah", Musashi moaned in protest, since he saw his young Auntie stand up and stop playing with him.

Hikari lowered her look. "What else do you want now, Musashi-chan?", Hikari asked the baby, who was heading over to her on all fours. His gaze met Hikari's', which bent down to meet Musashi's eyes. The child smiled at seeing his Auntie curiously worried, then he finally giggled, while lifting his own arms as a cue that could serve as a signal to Hikari, to take him in her arms again.

Hikari snorted, while bowing to pick Musashi up in her arms. "Musashi-chan, you can't keep still a moment, uhn? You're identical to your mother, in every respect, she uttered, letting the child sit down on her arms. Hikari lifted her look up towards the upper floor and exclaimed in a loud voice: "Kodamaaa! How long does it take to Nozomi to be ready??"

After some moments, another childish voice echoed from the upper floor. It looked like belonging to a six or seven years old child. "She's almost done, Auntie Hikari!", the child answered.

"Mummy is just finishing to arranck Auntie Nozomi's veil!", soon after two childsh voice chorused. They must be two young girl's voices chorused.

"The right word is arrange, you dummy", the kid, who had answered first, corrected them.

"That's what we said, isn't it? Arranck!", the two twins went on, with perfect synchrony.

"Moe, Marie, you are not even able to speak!", the kid teased them, scoffingly. "Baka Moe! Baka Marie!", he went on , as if intoning a familiar monotonous chant.

"Mummyyyyy! Totoki's making fun of us!", the two twins reported to their mummy in unison, begging her support.

"Totoki, stop making fun of your sisters! They are so young that it's quite obvious they miss the words correct pronunciation. You did it too when you were the same age they are now."

"But..Mummy! It was only a joke! It's not fair! You always defend them!", the elder child retorted.

"Totoki, dear, just don't talk nonsense.. I use to defend them because you are the one who started the whole thing, by making fun of them.", the eldest of Horaki sisters explained. Her name was Kodama, and she was thirty. Just then she was trying to keep the children away from the room where she was helping her sister Nozomi to put on her white wedding dress.
Hikari Nozomi was getting ready for her wedding, which would be that very afternoon.
She was carefully looking at herself in the mirror, while her sister was fastening the bridal veil with several clips and pins, taking care she didn't disrupt her sisters' hairdo.

Totoki looked around himself, noticing that one of his three sisters was absent, despite the fact that two twins were there, sitting on the floor. "Mummy, where's Chibi-Chibi?", the eldest son doubtfully asked her mother, addressing her younger sister by calling her "Chibi-Chibi".

"Chibi-Chibi's sleeping, Treasure", his mother answered, keeping on arranging Nozomi's wedding dress veil and ribbons as best she could.

The dark-haired child, the one who had taken after his mother in their family, snorted. "Mummy! Ugh! Why did you make three sisters for me? I want a little brother! Moe and Marie never let me play with me, whereas , Chibi-Chibi is far younger than me!", the child sulked , while sitting down on the floor.

Nozomi was the one who answered to him. "To-chan! What are you complaining about?Another baby will be born within a couple of months. Who knows? Possibly, it will be your little brother's turn!"

The child kicked one of the toys scattered on the room floor, then he snorted once again."If it would be another little girl, I'll go and live at someone else house."

The blonde child with freckles on her face and a bobbed hair, averted her attention from the games she was playing with her sister. "Yes Mummy! She'd like to go and live at doctor Akagi's house, because she likes her daughter Tomoyo-chan!"

"That's true! That's true!", called out the other twin, the one with the pony-tails, supporting her sister. "He blushes head to toe, anytime he catches sight of her!", she went on, causing her brother to blush furiously.

"Aaahh..", Auntie Nozomi snickered maliciously. "There's already a little girl whom you like, uhn?", she insinuated.

"It's not true. Not at all!", Totoki retorted.

"Come oonnn!!You've blushed head to toe!", her mother exclaimed, while looking at Totoki's image reflected by the mirror she had in front of herself.

Marie and Moe stood up , leaving behind the dolls and the other toys they were playing with.

"Nee-chan! Let's go and say it to Auntie Hikari!!!", Moe said spitefully.

Marie nodded, taking her sister by her hand. "Yeeess!", she yelled, heading rushing towards the stairs, followed by her sister. "AUNTIE HIKARIIIIIII! Listen at what Totoki's said!!"

"Childreenn!! Please, don't yell like this! Chibi-Chibi's sleeping!", their mother, sorrowful.

"Chibi-Chibi! KAWAIII!What a nice name you chose for your daughter!", Nozomi exclaimed, bringing her hands to her face, while thinking over it joyfully.

At the end of the day, Kodama's worry was proven right . The room's half-closed door slowly opened, and a child of about two years popped out of it. Her hair was red, and gathered in two delicious high pony-tails, arranged so that they looked heart-shaped, hanging down like curls. By looking into her eyes, one could notice she was still drowsy and dumbfounded, which meant she had been woken up in the middle of her nap.

"Chibi-Chibiiiii", the child said with a low broken voice, being on the verge of crying, while carrying a stuffed tiger,which was almost bigger than her.

Kodama sighed.. "What I expected has finally happened!", she said, neglecting for a moment her sister's veil, to draw near her younger daughter, preventing the child from bursting out crying, as she used to, whenever she was woken with a start.

Kodama took her in her own arms and quickly caressed her face, with a smile. "Poor Chibi-Chibi, my Treasure! Your nasty brothers were those who woke you up, weren't they?", she uttered, trying to calm down the child.

Chibi-Chibi nodded, while rubbing her own eyes. Kodama brought her daugther to her sister .

"Would you keep her in your arms, while I'm finishing to arrange your dress, please? " , Kodama asked, handing the child to her sister Nozomi.

"SUUUUUUREEEE! COME HERE TO AUNTIE NOZOMI, CHIBI-CHIBI!", Nozomi exclaimed, while leaning Chibi-Chibi on her own knees. In the meanwhile Kodama came back to put in order the wedding dress veil.

"Which barbe did your husband Jean went go to?", Nozomi asked

"The same as KenFuke!", Kodama answered, keeping in her mouth the last hairpins remained to be placed in her sister's hair.

"Really?" Both of them will be very handsome, for sure!!"

"All three,you mean! Touji too went along with them", Hikari added, coming into the room all of a sudden, pursued by the two gossipy twins, Moe and Marie, and by their elder brother, Totoki.

"Ah!Hikari-chan! You're here!", Nozomi observed."Where's Musashi-chan?"

"I've already finished to feeding Musashi-chan with his baby-bottle, and he's asleep like an angel by now.", Hikari said with satisfaction.

"Assuming that these rascals won't make such a racket that he'll wake up, as Chibi-Chibi did.", Kodama said ironically, while looking at Chibi-Chibi, who was on the verge of falling asleep again, in Nozomi's arms , on that occasion.

15:30 PM

"Phew! Hair gel is almost done" Shinji said, while standing in front of the bathroom mirror. He was finishing to putting his hair in order with his fingers.

Shinji Ikari, 25 years old. His birthday had been the last June. Ten months ago, he had married the woman who had always been to him the most important person on the earth, since the time he was still a young man of fourteen. She had always represented his only reason to live.

That very day, he had to go to an old friend's wedding. Kensuke would marry Nozomi, in the afternoon.
The young man luckily succeeded in arranging his hair with the little amount of hair gel left. Then he tightened more firmly the black tie's knot, under his elegant white shirt collar.
He finally went out of the bathroom, turning off the light then shutting the door behind him. He headed towards the living room which was the room just after the corner.

There was a young woman sitting down on the couch, who was playing with Hoshi's grown-up kittens, whose names were Tenshi, Sakura, Midori and Momo. She wore a long light-blue pinafore, which reached her knees; it was the same colour of her smooth hair, which hung down on her neck. One could have noticed, at first sight, that she was pregnant. Shinji couldn't help but staring at her. She was so spontaneous, while tickling the kittens under their chins and on their bellies; they rubbed themselves against her, purring all time. Rei's other hand was constantly on her light-blue satin dress, caressing her swollen womb, which did not succeed in spoiling the young woman's outline delicious harmony, in spite of all.

"Rei-chan?", Shinji asked for Rei's attention, suddenly. She turned towards him
with an inquiring look, then she smiled."Are you ready, Shin-chan?" . She slowly stood up from the couch. He drew near to her.

"You're so elegant, today.", she said with a hint of irony, while arranging her husband's jacket. Shinji smiled. "You too are so charming, Mademoiselle..", Shinji answered, as if he was playing in an old-time drama, speaking to his wife in a formal tone.

Rei smiled and pressed close to Shinji's chest, taking care that she wouldn't crease her elegant, sky-blue, satin pinafore . Under it she wore a creamy blouse with long sleeves and rolled up cuffs.

In the same way, Shinji embraced her, leaning his hand over Rei's shoulders. He wore an elegant black tuxedo, which perfectly matched the black tie, whereas his white shirt served to break the monotonous darkness.

Rei released herself from Shinjj's hug only when she heard the long case clock in front of herself striking half past three.
"We'd better go now, Shin-chan. The wedding's supposed to start at 15:45, and we' ll be late unless we hurry up", Rei pointed out, looking at Shinji with a smile on her face.

Shinji nodded and smiled back. "Yeah. We'd better go." Finally, both of them headed towards the front door.

End of the Fourth Chapter-First Part

************

Many thanks to Faby-chan (shinchan@inwind.it) for this translation!^_^
And many thanks to my American friend Jason Carter (jmc159@hotmail.com) for all the english corrections!^_^THANKS REALLY VERY MUCH!^_^
And do not forget to rewiev!!^___^

Rei-chan