Disclaimers:
Neon Genesis Evangelion and all related characters, concepts, etc., are
property of ADVision and Gainax. I only *wish* they were mine.

**Big Waff Warning here folks! **
This A/U story takes place 5 years after Third Impact with Flashbacks as well.
Also, I have yet to see if I will continue this with more chapters.
The types of reviews will determine the continuation of this story as long
as they are constructive. Flames need not apply!
Some characters are a bit OOC as they have matured since Third Impact.
I do need Pre-readers if I continue as well. Hope you enjoy!
Yes Its after Christmas, but I'm posting it none the less.
**** Special Thanks go to Andre for Pre-reading this story! ****

A Reunion of Friends

Chapter #2: The Trip to Tokyo-3

When someone takes a trip, whether by jet, bus, and car or as Shinji was, by train, it leaves much time to reflect on past events. This was Shinji Ikari's problem as a he and his family were making their way towards Tokyo-3 and a reunion with their old friends.
Misato had reserved and paid for this cabin and made all the other arrangements for them. For this Shinji was grateful.

From the car sent to pick them up from their college family dorm apartment, to the tickets waiting for them at the train station, to the free food given to them all paid for by UN funds. Shinji knew that with what he, the other pilots, and the ex-NERV personnel had done and gone through, the World Community had a great debt owed to them. With Misato being now with the UN, that would account for all of the freebies they were getting and Shinji appreciated them all.

Shinji then observed the two loves of his life sleeping before him in a pull down queen-sized bed that had come out of the wall of one side of the cabin. First was his wife, Rei. He let out a quiet sigh as he lifted some loose hair blocking his view of her face as he stared at her. She was his soul mate! He knew and accepted that from the moment they first met, when she had light blue hair and piercing red eyes.

For a long time she was an enigma that fascinated him to no end. Even with the horrible realization
of her origins, use by his father and her involvement in the Third Impact (Which he himself was also apart of), he still couldn't keep her out of his mind.

Even when he avoided her before the last Angel appeared, she was still in his mind.
Later after the events of the Third Impact, where her appearance changed and she came back from the LCL, he rediscovered the feeling he had for her and that led him to them now.

He then looked at his baby girl, Two month old Yui, named after his late mother. She was a miracle, due to various circumstances. If things had not gone the way they did, he and Rei would have eventually had to adopt. Simply put, Rei was never meant to have children, especially due to her reason for being in the first place.

But after Third Impact she came back and looking different hadn't changed this truth.
"I can't believe you are here alive my little Yui." thought Shinji as he gazed upon his daughter.
He wanted to thank several of his friends, for without their help, she wouldn't have been born.

That was another reason they were headed to Tokyo-3. To thank those who helped, as well as apologizing to another who would be there. Shinji then thought; "Asuka, I'll know hopefully what to say to you, when we get there!"

As he looked out the window of the spacious cabin they were given, Shinji was reflecting on the past Five years and how those experiences had brought him, and Rei to this trip back in time.

{Flashback: Right after Third Impact, The beach, just outside Tokyo-3}

Shinji had just left a dazed and angry Asuka, running away from what he almost did to her.

"Oh God, I almost choked her to death, why did I do that? Did I really hate her that much?" Shinji was thinking of this as he ran, not hearing the red headed pilot trying to call him back with shouts of "It's Ok", and "I forgive you Baka". He slowly started to make out the words Asuka was shouting when he stumbled on something in his path. He flew over it and landed face first in the sand a little farther down the beach.

As he rose up to wipe the sand from his face and spit any out from his mouth, he looked at what had caused his fall only to see a girl with raven black hair, around his age and completely naked. He was startled at this until he saw that she seemed to have collapsed like he and Asuka had, just as if she crawled out of the LCL.

He moved over hesitantly towards her when he heard Asuka still shouting at him. He looked up to see her crawling on her back with her badly damaged arm cradled on her chest. She was using her one good arm and her two legs to shuffle backwards towards him.

"Asuka, wait, I'll get you, after I check on this girl!" Shinji shouted back to Asuka.

She stopped for a minute to catch her breath and accepted his statement with a nod of her head. She then moved up the beach to a rock and she laid back on it while still keeping an eye on Shinji and the girl lying on the beach.
As Shinji rolled her over, the girl as it turned out was Rei,. Though her hair color was now black, and her skin color was more normal, it was Rei.

"What happened to her?" Shinji asked himself as he took off his shirt to cover what he could of her
body. He then felt for a pulse, quietly letting out a sigh of relief, she was alive. He then lifted and carried her to where Asuka was resting. When he got there, Asuka realized whom it was he was carrying. "You mean the b***h is alive!" said an enraged Asuka as she took a swing at the unconscious girl. But Shinji stopped her and said, "If it wasn't for her, we'd be still in there, in the LCL, bodiless and not our individual selves, Asuka!" He said. "Now I need you to keep an eye on her, I'm going to find some food and clothes for us!" As he turned to go, Asuka grabbed his arm and started crying out, "DON'T LEAVE ME HERE, PLEASE?!?"
"Now, Asuka, you are shivering, Rei is knocked out and we all need clothes and food. I need to go and find that or we can just sit here and die. Do you want to do that? Do you?" She shook her head no. "Well, I just went through a life altering experience and we have been given a second chance at living, and I'm going to take it. Will you let me go so you two can also have that chance too?"
After a few moments she let go of his arm and nodded yes. He grabbed her hand and squeezed it, telling her he had understood.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

After a few hours of scavenging, Shinji had gotten enough food, clothes and supplies to last the three of them for about a week. As he made his way back towards the beach he heard it. Two screams coming from where he had left the two girls and now he ran as fast as he could to see what had happened, and hopefully to calm his fears!

Next chapter: What happened to the girls, and what other memories does Shinji recall while on his way to the Reunion?

Chapter #3: An Awakening of Feelings