Chapter 5. The Unanswered Question

Rei, who was accustomed to waking up very early was sitting on a chair in the living room

watching Shinji sleep until she heard someone yelling. "Gendo! Gendo for God's sake get up!

You're going to be late! I swear if you make me wake those children up . . . " Yui yelled at her

sleeping husband. "Hmm, the commander seems to like to sleep." Rei said stating the obvious.

All this commotion obviously stirred Shinji who was now sitting up yawning. "Ikari, Ikari get

up." Rei said softly. "Please go get ready for school." Wiping the sleep out of his eyes Shinji

glanced at his watch and to his surprise he wasn't to be at school for another two hours. "Rei,

are you crazy? Why are you up so early?" Rei just looked at him blankly.



"Well, since I'm up, I suppose I'll make breakfast." Shinji told Rei. "Ikari, may I help?" Rei

innocently asked. Shinji was surprised by her question but happily granted Rei's request. "Sure

you can help, what would you like to do?" Shinji asked. "I can make tea." Rei said.

Remembering how Rei made tea Shinji asked her if she would set the table, she calmly agreed.

Rei, as she was accustomed to doing, reached into the cupboard and got one plate, a fork, and a

knife then set it down on the table. Realizing where she was she quickly got the remaining

plates and forks. Shinji who was no happily humming while cooking breakfast heard his father

call him "Shinji, please come in here." The boy didn't know what to expect when he entered his

father room. Gendo was calmly sitting on his bed tightening his tie. Son, I think we should have

a talk about you and that little girl out there. *Oh my God, I know he's not going to give me the

old "birds and bees talk* Shinji thought. With a contorted look on his face Shinji involuntarily

agreed. "Son, it seems to me that Rei thinks highly of you. She acts very differently toward you

that she would act to me or mom or even your friends." Shinji's father explained. "You think

so??" Shinji excitedly asked. Realizing how he sounded he calmed himself and asked again in a

lower voice, "You think so father?" "Yes, I think so" Gendo replied. "Shinji you're a man now

and can make you're own decisions, I just wanted to let you know incase you haven't figured it

out yet." Commander Ikari's son heard his mother yell from the bathroom down the hall

"GENDO, ARE YOU UP YET??" she screamed. "Yes dear" his father replied. "I should get

back to making breakfast." Shinji noted, "Okay that fine son." Shinji began to walk out of the

door when he heard his father "Im sorry son." "For what dad?" "For everything." his father said

with a frown on his face. "It's okay father." Shinji said with a forgiving smile on his face. He

then walked out of the room and saw Rei blankly staring at the burning eggs. "Ikari, are they

supposed to turn brown like that?" Rei curiously asked. Embarrassed, Shinji said "No, they're

burnt". He was disappointed because he liked the idea of making Rei breakfast however Yui

came in a saw the mess. "Shinji, I thought you told me you could cook?" Yui jokingly said.

Shinji who didn't like being embarrassed infront of Rei took the remark a little too seriously

and yelled "I can!" Yui seeing her son was a little upset because she made that remark in front

of his object of attention said "Okay, okay I'll just make you some cereal."

As Shinji was leaving out of the front door his father called from behind him "Shinji, make sure

you walk Rei to her apartment before you come home." His son blushed a little and agreed.

Shinji, who was still disappointed about the eggs had a concerned look on his face. *That's just

great.* Shinji thought *I get a chance to impress her and we end up eating cereal.* The attractive young girl walking infront of him turned around and seeing he was still disappointed

blankly said "Ikari, I don't really eat eggs anyway." This attempt to cheer him up apparently

worked because Shinji began walking beside her instead of sulking behind. He smiled at Rei

who just stared back at him. *"Do you find me humorous Ikari?" Rei innocently asked.

Laughing, Shinji said "No, no of coarse not, and please call me Shinji, after all I don't call you

Ayanami anymore, right?" "Very well." Rei said, pleased that she had made Shinji feel better.

The pair arrived at school a few minutes later and went into their home room. Rei sat at her

usual chair a few rows in front of him. Shinji sat at his desk and opened up the laptop computer

the school provided for all the children. Asuka walked in a few seconds later, then sat down and

said "Hey baby, you have fun last night?" she then winked at him and pinched his arm. He could

see she was back to her normal self, usually Shinji would just ignore her comments, however

this morning he was in a good mood so he exclaimed fairly loudly "Yeah sweetheart, you were

great! I didn't think a person could bend like that!" Asuka was caught totally off guard by the

remarks of whom she considered a spineless wimp. She just sat there staring at him with her

mouth dropped wide open, everyone in the class heard Shinji's remarks and they were all

staring at her. Even Rei had turned around and was looking at Asuka in a strange way. Kensuke

whispered to Toji who was sitting beside him "See? I told you, she's a total nympho" Toji gave

his friend a sly look and said "Yeah I bet ya she shags like a..." He was interrupted by his

annoyed girlfriend who slapped him in the back of the head. Kensuke could barely control his

laughter, all he could manage to say was "Busted!" Toji immediately began to apologize to

Hikari who was looking for something else to hit him with.

Shinji who was sitting with a content smile on his didn't notice Asuka until she dug her finger

nails into the back of his neck and whispered "Just wait till lunch boy." At that moment the teacher who was half blind and half deaf hobbled in and seeing Asuka exclaimed "Asuka stop

hugging your boyfriend back there and get back to your seat." Rei turned around and saw Asuka

walking away from Shinji's desk. She didn't say anything then but she was some what troubled

by what the teacher said. *Why is Asuka hugging Shinji?* She thought as the aging teacher

walk up to her desk and said "Here you go Hikari, pass the out for me if you don't mind." Rei

was a little confused and explained "My name is Rei" "No, I don't wish to play Hikari, just pass

the papers out" the half deaf teacher answered. Rei who was still confused decided to do what

she asked and began passing the papers out. When Rei got to Shinji's desk, she put the paper

down as hard as she could without making too much noise, now Rei had never passed out

papers before but he watched her gently place everyone else paper on their desk. Shinji knew she was annoyed with him for some reason. When Rei got to the red head's desk, she

"accidently" dropped Asuka's paper on the floor and without saying a word walked onto the

next desk. "Hey Doll!" Asuka exclaimed, "You dropped my paper you dummy!" When Rei

didn't turn around, she mumbled some German curse word under her breath and picked her

paper up off the floor. When she straightened herself up again she saw that Shinji was glaring at

her "I thought I told you not to pick on her anymore" "But she started it!!!" Asuka yelled. The

annoyed boy just looked away from her in disgust.



When the lunch bell rang, he walked out to the line and as usual was last. When he finally

received his "food" he walked through the large cafeteria door and went outside to sit in the

warm sun. The weather could be called perfect it was sunny, and there was a light breeze

flowing through the schoolyard, the temperature wasn't too hot or cold it seemed just right

Shinji thought. He was happy, happy that everyone he loved came back, happy that Nerv was

destroyed, happy that he would have to pilot the Eva ever again. Shinji picked up a apple, the

only recognizable piece of food on his tray and began to nibble on that when he heard a large

amount of laughter coming over from a tree where a few kids had gathered. Shinji, having

nothing better to do picked up his apple and left his tray to go investigate the source of everyone's amusement.



When he saw what was so funny something stirred inside him, something dangerous, his eyes

narrowed and his fists clenched, what he saw completely enraged him. Rei was sitting under a

tree reading, Asuka was right next to her mocking her, making fun of her, "Is this the only the

Ayanami wears?" Asuka exclaimed tugging on one of Rei's sleeves. "Look at her, she's a doll.

She wont even look at me." The fact that Rei wasn't paying much attention to her insults pissed

Asuka off even more, she slapped the book that Rei was reading out of her hand then got up and

walked on the book. Rei calmly picked her book and was beginning to walk away when Asuka

grabbed her by the shoulder and spun her around. Shinji saw that Rei had tears in her eyes and

was trying to hide them by not looking at anyone. This was the final straw, Shinji could take no

more, he didn't mind Asuka picking on him, he didn't care what she did to anyone else, but

what she just did to Rei was inexcusable. With all his might Shinji grabbed Asuka's arm spun

her around and pushed her as hard as he could to the ground, he then grabbed her back pack and

flung it against the tree letting all the papers and books fly out. He then returned to the ground

where was lying half crying, he got close to her face and whispered "If you were not female I

would beat you with in an inch of your life right now." Asuka had never seen Shinji like this,

she was scared, extremely scared, she thought he was going to hurt her, but she couldn't move

she was petrified.

Rei was totally shocked *Why did Ikari defend me? Why is he doing this for me Does he feel the

same way I do? Does he love me . . . Does he love me?* This question went through Rei's head

a million times before her train of thought was interrupted by the voice of a teacher who was

screaming at Shinji from the cafeteria door way. "Oh my! Asuka are you okay? Shinji what have

you done?" The teacher exclaimed. Shinji, still furious just stared back at her in what she

thought to be a very, very threatening way. "I think you should leave school now young man, I

will notify your parents immediately" Without another word the infuriated boy turned around

and walked off the campus heading toward his home.



He had only walked a short distance when a blue haired girl gently grabbed him by the arm and

turned him around. "Why did you do that Shinji?" Rei asked, "I do not mind Asuka's insults."

"Well I do." Shinji interrupted. "Why do you let her pick on you like that?" Rei just looked

away. Seeing that he wasn't going to get an answer from her Shinji said "I'll walk you home."

Rei agreed, and they began walking toward Rei's apartment. The same thought had been

running through Rei's mind the entire time she had been walking with him *Does he love me*



Shinji pulled the door to Rei apartment open for her then stepped out of the way so she could

pass by. "Goodbye Rei" Shinji said still upset that he had just been banned from school. Just as

he was about to take the first step down Rei asked "Shinji, may I ask you a question?" "I think

you just did." Shinji said, smiling weakly. "Then may I ask another?" Rei asked, "Yes, yes of

course." Shinji replied. Her tone changed from her usual monotone to a voice that sounded

weak and unsure. "Shinji, do you love me?" Rei asked lowering her head as she blushed.

Shinji's eyes were now the size of quarters and his mouth dropped to the ground, Rei's question

almost knocked him on the floor. This was his perfect chance to tell Rei exactly how he felt, he

wanted so badly to tell her how much he cared for her, how much he loved her. However, all he

could manage was "I . . . Rei, I . . . " Before Shinji could finish his sentence Rei's small smile

turned back into her emotionless face, then into a frown as small tears began to form in her

eyes. "I see" was all Rei said. She then turned around and walked through her door, closing it

behind her. Shinji's heart felt like someone had stabbed it and used a sledge hammer to drive

the knife in. He was in incredible emotional pain. *I can't believe I just did that.* Shinji

thought. *I wonder what I should do, maybe I should just go home* as his old personality began

to kick in. He could hear Rei sobbing on the other side of the door as he was about to walk

down the stairs, but he suddenly stopped and thought *No..* "Not this time!" he said out loud.

With that Shinji burst into Rei's apartment.

I hoped you like this chapter. I know I laid into Asuka pretty hard this time but Ill make up for it next time. However I do dislike Asuka I don't wish to bash her character. I also realize I havent gone much into Shinji's new relationship with his father, but the story isn't about that, it's about Rei and Shinji. Sorry for all the spacing errors, I have to space this all by hand. One more thing, the characters are a bit OOC especially Rei and Shinji, however I do this with good reason, I will still approach everything Rei does from a "Rei perspective. And dont go crazy just because he gets a little backbone, I think its possibly that he would stand up for Rei in such a way if he actually felt her needed to.