Okay, so by now I'm sure everyone is well aware that I do not own
Evangelion. Everybody get it? Good. Anyway, this chapter is going to be a
bit longer than the others as a lot more has to happen this time around.
How is everyone going to react to the growing relationship between the
First and Third Children? You'll just have to read on to find out. Brief
warning, things get pretty sappy in this chapter. Nothing major but there
is a lot of introspective junk on love. You have been warned.
The Ties That Bind
Chapter Six: Beginnings
A general uproar filled the room. Numerous voices bellowed and echoed from wall to wall reverberating off the surfaces to infuse the room with a tumultuous overflow of sound. Twelve great monoliths, each with the word SEELE numbers 1 through 12 created a circle in the middle of the room, and eleven voices continued to chatter all at once.
"SILENCE!" bellowed a voice from SEELE 1.
"The plan has been shattered," SEELE 4 yelled back in a panic.
"Ikari has betrayed us," said SEELE 8
"The First and Third are connected," SEELE 12 interjected. "I do not believe that Ikari had anything to do with that connection, however it is true that our plans are in danger.
"Does anyone else believe that Ikari betrayed this council intentionally, or are we of the opinion that he merely made a series of oversights that caused the chain of events that led to our present situation?" SEELE 1 asked of the assemblage.
There were no forthcoming comments for either side of the question.
"As there is very little we can do about this situation at the moment I move that this meeting be adjourned and we all get back to work. It is in our best interest to find some way to use this situation to our advantage rather than lose our heads over a minor complications," SEELE 1 said.
"Agreed," came the response from SEELE 12.
An instant later, all twelve had vanished, leaving the room once again in total darkness.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
"This is unacceptable Doctor," Gendo said as he glared over his desk at the blond woman before him. "This link that has developed between Rei and my son must not be allowed to continue any further."
"There's nothing that can be done sir," Ritsuko informed him.
"Why not?"
"When Shinji was taken by the Twelfth Angel yesterday Rei was extremely distraught."
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"That's only the beginning of what I have to tell you. For an instant while he was inside the angel Shinji died. He was clinically dead, no respiration, no pulse, all bodily functions shut down. In that instant Reis' vital signs plummeted, if they had continued to fall she too would have died, and there would have been no bringing her back. The two of them are connected completely, if one dies the other dies."
"How far has this link progressed?"
"There's no way to be sure sir without asking them. I have no idea how much of Reis' thoughts are in Shinjis' head and vice versa. It's completely outside of anything we've ever seen."
"Recommended course of action?"
"At this time I would recommend that we leave them alone for now and work on breaking this link, without killing either of them in the process." Ritsuko struggled to keep her voice and face steady. Gendo did NOT look happy, and one thing she had always enjoyed was seeing him break his emotionless mask and show that underneath his facade he was still human.
"Dismissed Doctor," he growled at her. She turned and left.
"You should have done something about this before it got to this point."
"I am well aware of that Kozo," Gendo snarled at the elderly man. Kozo Fuyutski made his way around the desk to stand in front of Gendo.
"Because you left things until now the link between them has had time to solidify. Cutting it earlier would have been less painful than what will happen if and when one of them dies in combat."
"When one of them dies?" Gendo asked with an arched eyebrow.
"You know as well as I do that Unit 00 will not be surviving until the last angel arrives. I'm worried about what that event will do to Shinji."
"Have you already forgotten our discussion a week or so ago old friend?" Gendo asked as his customary smirk spread over his lips. "Shinji is my son, whether he likes it or not, and as such he is much stronger than even he knows. When the time comes, he will stand up just fine under the strain that will be placed on him, until the end."
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Things were a little weird around the Katsuragi apartment. Asuka and Misato were seated at the kitchen table, waiting for breakfast. There was only one problem. Shinji wasn't in the kitchen cooking.
"Where the hell is he?" Asuka snapped.
"I don't know," Misato said looking over the top of her coffee mug. "Maybe he's still asleep." Misato ignored the angry red head as she left the table, choosing instead to sit and mull over what had happened recently.
Events had carried them all away. The Twelfth Angel had attacked barely two days prior. The morning after the attack Shinji woke up in the hospital with Rei seated beside him holding his hand. Neither had said anything to Misato about what happened between them in that hospital room when she arrived twenty minutes later to find Rei sound asleep on the bed next to Shinji. As far as she knew, no one else was aware of the fact that for a short time the two had shared a bed, even if it was only to sleep.
"He's not here," Asuka ranted as she stormed back into the kitchen.
"What?" Misato asked.
"He's not in the apartment. Where the hell is he?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the apartment next door, one Shinji Ikari slowly opened his eyes. He felt strange. An emotion filled him that as far as he could remember, he had never felt before. He felt warm, content, and. safe? Yeah. Safe. He felt safe and secure.
He was lying on his back, on a soft surface and as his eyes opened he looked at the pale blue ceiling above him. A blanket was drawn up to his chest, and his entire right side felt unnaturally warm. Turning his head he saw blue again. Blue hair. Rei was lying in the bed next to him, his arm was wrapped around her body and her head rested on his chest. One of her arms was slung across him and her right leg was bent at an angle across his own.
She was dressed in only a bra and panties, and he was relieved to find that he himself was fully dressed, not counting the absence of his shoes and socks. Obviously nothing too serious had happened physically between them the night before.
As he became more awake his thoughts seemed less fuzzy, but at the same time. incomplete, like he was only remembering half of what happened last night. After Misato woke them in the hospital Rei left to wait outside as the doctors came in and performed test, after test on him to ensure that there was no contamination by the angel he'd spent over half a day residing inside of.
Finally, they decided he was clean and allowed him to leave. By that time the entire day had passed and Misato gave them a ride home. Rei had gone into her apartment after first standing up on tip-toe to gently brush her lips over his in a feather light kiss. Both Children ignored the looks cast in their direction by Shinjis' roommates. The night had progressed and finally he heard his two roommates go to sleep.
Unable to sleep Shinji carefully slipped out of the apartment and went next door to Reis' apartment. She was waiting by the door and opened it before he even had a chance to knock. They both knew that they had a lot to talk about, but neither felt up to it, so they went to bed. And the next thing Shinji knew was waking up and realizing that Rei was sprawled across his body, and with that realization came the understanding that he was perfectly comfortable with the close, physical contact, though slightly disappointed that he couldn't feel her skin against his own. The cast on his right arm interfered with any attempt to stroke her skin with that hand.
Rei stirred against him, her arms tightened their hold around his body and she pressed her face deeper into his chest, blocking out the sunlight that streamed in through the window. Or attempting to at least. She failed in that respect, but she did succeed in reminding herself that there was a warm body in the bed with her, and that realization brought with it a sense of peace and calm that she'd never known in her life.
She lifted her head to look at him. "Good morning Ikari," she whispered.
"Good morning Rei," he whispered in kind. He paused for a moment. "Rei?" he asked. "Could you call me Shinji?"
"If you wish. Shinji," she said laying her head back down on his chest and closing her eyes, pressed her body closer against him to reassure herself that he wouldn't be leaving suddenly as he had during the fight with the Twelfth Messenger.
The two laid in silence for a while. Finally, Shinji spoke. "When I was in the hospital, we said that we had a lot to talk about, didn't we?"
"Yes," Rei mumbled against his chest.
"Do you want to talk now? Or would you rather just stay right here for a while longer?" He asked.
Rei felt torn. Her entire life had been built and structured around discipline and responsibility, so she knew that in light of their present situation they should get out of bed and discuss what was happening to them, however at the same time she really did not want to move, and risk destroying the fragile sensation of peace that had stolen over her as soon as she'd wrapped her arms around him the night before as they'd climbed into bed. She came to a decision.
"I think that it is very important that we discuss what is happening to us, and what we know from each others memories," she said. She heard Shinji sigh slightly in disappointment and he started to sit up to get out of the bed. However, her arms tightened once again around his chest and held him firmly to the bed. "While I think it is important that we have this discussion, I do not believe that we have to get out of bed to do so," she continued. "I think we could talk just fine right where we are. With at least one minor adjustment."
"Adjustment?" Shinji asked, frowning slightly.
"Yes." Rei sat up and motioned for him to do so as well. She tossed the blankets aside so they hung off the foot of the bed, and then reached for the buttons of Shinji's shirt. Before he had a chance to put the words together to ask why she was unbuttoning his shirt it was done and she was pushing it off his shoulders. It took a bit of effort to get it past the cast on his right wrist but she managed. She lifted the hem of his undershirt and he automatically raised his arms to help her remove it.
Then she pushed him back down onto the bed and laid across his chest once again, sighing quietly as she felt his smooth skin against her own. For a time neither spoke. Rei lazily traced abstract patterns on his chest with one hand while Shinji slowly stroked her back and side, running the tips of his fingers lightly over her body.
"How did you know I was slightly disappointed that I could barely feel your skin?" he asked after a time.
"Were you?" she asked raising her head to look at him.
"Yes. A minute before you woke up I was thinking just that."
"I did not know," she said laying her head back down on his chest. A miniscule smile graced her lips as she listened to his heart beat, the steady sound lulling her into a sense of security. "What is happening to us Shinji?" she asked a moment later.
"I'm not entirely sure Rei," he said. "All I know is I have a lot of your memories in my head, and I know what you want, and what you're feeling all the time. I know when you're happy, and when you're sad. I know that when you can't see me you feel lost and helpless, and when I can't see you I feel pain, and loneliness. I know all these things, but I don't know what it means."
"I have a theory."
"You do?"
"Yes."
"May I ask what it is?" he asked.
"Yes."
There was a moment of silence before Shinji remembered precisely how it was that Reis' mind worked and he spoke up again. "What is this theory you've come up with?"
"I believe that something else happened to us during the Cross Synchronization Test, and somehow our minds have been connected to each other."
"Connected?"
"Yes. I feel what you feel, I know what you think. You feel what I feel, and know what I am thinking."
"You mean like telepathy?" he asked.
"No. There is nothing to suggest that we can speak to each other through our minds. However we can sense each others emotions and thoughts on an instinctive level. Like when you wanted to feel my skin, even though I was asleep I registered that feeling in you, and when I woke up I too wanted that."
"That sounds a lot like the other night at dinner. Each of us knew when the other wanted something. And I knew you'd moved in next door even though I hadn't seen you or been told by anyone or anything."
"Exactly."
Shinji chewed thoughtfully on his lower lip for a moment. He started slightly when he felt a gentle touch on his lip though. His eyes crossed as he looked down his nose to find a slim finger pressed against his lips.
"Stop biting," Rei said from her position on his chest. "You're going to hurt yourself."
"Yes, Rei," he said automatically not even bothering to question how she knew he was biting his lip when she couldn't see his face.
"How much do you remember?" she whispered a moment later.
He looked down at the top of her head. "What do you mean?"
She lifted her head and rested her chin on his chest, looking him in the eye. "How much of, me, do you remember? How many of my memories are in your head?"
"Enough," he said. "I know where you came from. I have an inkling of what my father is planning, though I can't even begin to understand what he's really up to. All I know is he has some great plan in mind for humanity, and that he wants to see Mother again." He paused for a moment. "I know that you are attracted to me, that you might even love me."
Reis' breath caught in her throat. "I was not aware that you had learned so much from my memories. How is it that you have not panicked? I believe before the Synch Test if you had learned those things you would be in a very unstable mental state at the moment."
"True." Shinji appeared thoughtful for a moment. "I've noticed that myself. I don't get embarrassed as much as I used to, and I don't get flustered. I think it's because of how closely our minds are linked. I have some of your iron fisted control over emotions, and you are a lot more vocal and emotional than before the test."
Rei seemed pensive, and Shinji felt in his heart that she was worried about something. He was beginning to trust the feelings he got concerning her. "What's wrong?" he asked.
"I don't know what to do," she whispered. "All my life I always knew exactly what to do; I always knew where I stood, and what my purpose was. Now I'm not sure. And I'm scared."
"You're not scared about not knowing what to do. Something else is scaring you besides that."
She looked up at him again, her face held a rather comical expression of shock. "That is getting slightly irritating," she muttered as she realized he was now able to read her emotions.
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be."
They were silent once again. "What's bothering you? What has you so scared?"
She trembled slightly in his arms. "I almost lost you two days ago. I felt you die in there. It was the most painful experience of my life."
"I'm sorry Rei," he whispered, tightening his grip on her body. "I never want to hurt you."
"I don't think I could stand to lose you again," she whispered brokenly.
"You won't lose me Rei. You know from my own memories that I love you. I'll never leave you."
"How?"
"What do you mean?"
"How can you still love me, knowing where I came from? Knowing what I am?"
"I don't care. The genetic material that created you makes no difference to me. Your personality, your thoughts and feelings are all your own. You are not her, you are Rei Ayanami."
"Thank you," Rei whispered against his chest, "for understanding me." She slid up his body and brushed her lips against his for a moment. He found himself hypnotized by her eyes, wet with unshed tears, and at the same time, burning with emotion he'd never seen in her. Joy, happiness, acceptance, and love, all mixed together in a confusing whirlpool of emotion.
His arms came around her back as her body settled on top of him. Before the test he would have been red in the face and stammering a mile a minute if he'd been put into this same position, feeling a beautiful girls' body pressed tightly against him. Now however, he just enjoyed the sensation, and held her tightly.
After the brief kiss she laid her head on his shoulder and sighed heavily in contentment. Rei Ayanami was in love. The enormity of that had yet to crash down upon her. Instead she chose to revel in the sensation, letting it tingle its' way through every nerve ending in her body. Her skin felt hyper sensitive, and every brush of his fingertips over her body sent a shuddering tingle of excitement down her spine. She could still taste his lips. Unconsciously she liked her own lips, as if trying to catch that taste on her tongue.
His skin felt indescribably smooth beneath her fingers, his body warm against her. She could smell him, with her face buried against the side of his neck. The scent of his skin lingered about him. No longer did he smell of LCL or the soap he'd used to vigorously scrub away the blood like odor of the liquid they worked with. Instead he smelled like Shinji. That was the only way she could think of to describe it. She breathed deeply, letting his scent flood her body, struggling at the same time against an almost irrational urge to kiss the side of his neck.
She hoped to fall back to sleep, held tightly in his arms. But the longer she stayed within his embrace, the more awake she felt. And the warmer her body became. The sensations running through her lit up every sense like a Christmas tree, and she found herself unable to focus fully on anything other than the boy beneath her.
Shinji knew what she was going through. He could feel her breathing getting slightly heavier as her body reacted to the emotions coursing through her. He also was well aware of his own bodies reactions to the warm girl he held so tightly to him. He knew that they could not stay as they were for too much longer. They had admitted they were in love, but he did not think them ready for too physical a relationship. They still had to sort out everything that had happened to them over the last few weeks.
He cast about almost desperately for a way to get out of the bed, without taking away from the heavy rush of security Rei felt in his arms. Before he had time to think any further however someone pounded on the apartment door. Repeatedly.
He looked to the door, then glanced at the clock beside the bed.
"We should get up Rei," he whispered to her. She sighed, knowing that he was right, but still unwilling to leave his side.
"I don't want to," she whispered.
"I know, but I need to get the door and," he looked at the clock again. "School starts in two hours. We need to get up."
Rei sighed again. Lifting her head she pressed her lips against his, enjoying the sensation, and taste of him before rolling to the side off of him. Sliding out of the bed she calmly made her way to the joining bathroom and turned on the shower.
Shinji laid in the bed for a moment longer, staring up at the baby blue ceiling. He could still feel her lips against his, could still taste her. The pounding continued. Sighing in irritation Shinji rose from the bed. He grabbed his school shirt from the floor beside the bed, not bothering with the undershirt and walked through the spacious, one bedroom apartment to the door.
He hit the button to open the door with his hand as he attempted to hold the shirt in such a way as to let gravity take over, making the shirt slide down his free arm. Putting a shirt on with only one hand was turning out to be more trouble than it was worth.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
The world was being fed-exed straight to hell, in a handcart. Or so it seemed to Misato. She peered over the rim of her can of beer, having switched the coffee with something stronger when Asuka had dragged a half dressed, and vocally complaining Shinji into her apartment to inform her that the young male pilot had spent the night in Reis' bed.
'I am really not drunk enough to deal with this,' she thought. 'Especially not this early in the morning.'
"Tell me again why you slept with Rei last night," she said. Rei and Shinji were both seated on the opposite side of the table from her. Shinji looked nothing like his old self. He still looked nervous and fearful as usual, but that was tempered by a bit of confidence, and by the fact that he did not look as nervous as he had in the past.
Rei, was Rei. With one difference. She was holding Shinjis' hand on the table in front of them, her thumb gently stroking back and forth across his skin.
"B-because I couldn't sleep last night Misato-san," he said in a voice just over a whisper.
"That still doesn't tell me why you decided to sleep with Rei."
"I think I may-"
"Be able to clarify Misato," Shinji finished.
"Damn I forgot about that," Misato groaned, looking back and forth between the two children. She sighed, "go ahead," she muttered waving her beer in Reis direction.
"When we are apart,-"
"even if it's just in another-"
"room we feel unwell," Rei explained.
"I feel sick, and weak when Rei is not around," Shinji said.
"I believe, that in order-"
"for us to function-"
"properly we must remain-"
"together."
"I understand what you're telling me," Misato sighed. "However I can not allow the two of you to continue sleeping in the same bed."
"Why not?" Rei asked, tilting her head slightly to one side. Shinji smiled. He loved it when she did that. To him it was something very cute that she did whenever she was questioning, or curious about something. She turned her head to Shinji. "You find that is cute?" she asked, once again unconsciously tilting her head to the side.
Shinji nodded, still smiling.
"What's cute?" Misato asked getting confused.
"The way she tilts her head like that," Shinji explained.
"Okay, how did she know you thought it was cute?"
"I felt it."
"You felt it?" Rei nodded her head. "Okay, I'm going to skip that one and get right back to what we were discussing. Rei you two are only fourteen years old. By law you're not old enough to pursue a physical relationship."
"I am well-"
"aware of the laws-"
"Major Katsuragi."
"Then why are you fighting me on this?" she asked.
"We are not-"
"fighting you on-"
"the matter of the two of us-"
"having a physical relationship-"
"beyond kissing," Rei said.
"We are merely-"
"discussing allowing-"
"us to share a-"
"bed, as we do not-"
"want to sleep apart," Shinji added.
Misato shook her head. "Look. Right now I can't think about this. There are serious ramifications to your relationship. I'm sure the commander is not happy with how close you two are getting. If you continue to share a bed then he might take some kind of drastic action to separate the two of you." She paused to drain the last of her beer. "Right now I would like you two to do me a favor."
"What is it Misato?" Shinji asked.
"Don't let anyone know quite how close you're getting. You're both too young, the commander would have my ass if he found out you two were sleeping together. Even if you're not having sex." She paused for a moment. "You're not having sex, right?"
"No, we have not,"
"yet made love Major," Rei finished.
"Yet?"
Rei and Shinji shared a look, and in that look Misato could tell that she was officially out of the loop. Information seemed to pass back and forth between them at near lightning speed, almost like a conversation, but one where no words were used, or needed.
"Yes Major," Rei said.
"we believe 'yet' is the right word."
"Which basically translates into the two of you intend to have sex, no matter what I or anyone else says when the two of you feel ready to do so." Shinjis' face was turning a bit red with a light blush, as was Reis, however Misato could easily tell that Shinji was nowhere near as embarrassed with the discussion as he would have been before he received a large download of Rei thoughts and memories.
"Just go to school you two. We'll talk about this again later."
The two Children rose from their seats and made their way to the door. "See you later Misato," Shinji called back as he slipped on his shoes. Then, they were gone.
"Why did you let them leave?" Asuka asked. "They'll get to the school with an hour left to wait before classes start."
"Did you notice Shinji's behavior?"
"How do you mean?" Asuka slipped into the seat across from Misato and held out a can of beer.
"He wasn't nearly as embarrassed as he would have been four weeks ago," she said as she took the beer.
"So?"
"I think this relationship is a good thing. Rei has been warmer since the synch test. She and Shinji have been getting closer together, and the closer they get, the better each one is. Rei is more outgoing, not much but the difference is noticeable, and Shinji is less of a wimp."
"What does that have to do with them sleeping together. You should have punished them for that."
"There's nothing to punish them for. They slept in the same bed, they did not have sex." Misato paused. "And I think, that if I were to separate them, they would just go back to being sick."
"Ritsuko still hasn't told you what happened during the test?"
"No but I think I've figured it out."
"Oh? Do tell," Asuka said leaning forwards in her seat.
Misato proceeded to outline a theory straight out of a bad B movie. But the more she talked, the more Asuka had to admit, they were acting as if they shared each others thoughts. Maybe their minds did get crossed somehow during the test. Neither of the two women however, had any idea of the full scope of the danger Shinji and Rei had been placed into, neither of them knew what would happen in the future, or what hardships faced them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
'I wonder why she always gets here so early,' Shinji thought.
"I dislike crowds."
"Huh?" Shinji turned to look at the girl walking beside him as they made their way up the steps into the school. "What was that Rei?" he asked.
"I always get here early, because I dislike crowds. If I get here early I can avoid most of the people and just look out my window," she clarified.
Shinji was, to say the least stunned. "How did you know I was wondering that?" he asked.
Rei arched an eyebrow at him. "You spoke aloud, did you not?" she asked.
Shinji shook his head mutely. "I didn't say a thing, I was only thinking it."
Rei looked thoughtful for a moment. In the back of his mind Shinji became aware of something. He could feel her thinking. He could sense the speed at which her mind processed and discarded idea after idea in an effort to find an answer for their latest predicament. While Shinji was not a stupid boy, Rei was nearly a genius. She could wrap her mind easily around very difficult concepts, and in an instant have a full understanding of them. It was the simple things that sometimes confused her.
"Perhaps you were right," she said finally as they took their seats in the classroom.
"Right about what?" he asked.
"You asked earlier this morning when we were in bed if we were developing a telepathic link. Maybe we are."
Any further discussion was cut short as a few of their fellow students filtered into the classroom. While Rei was becoming increasingly comfortable talking to him, she was still more comfortable maintaining her usual frosty silence around others. Shinji understood her feelings and the two settled into an easy silence, both lost in their own thoughts and worries about their ever more complicated situation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
With thirty minutes left before lunch Shinjis' brain was shutting down from sheer boredom. He attempted to amuse himself for a time by fiddling with his laptop, he held a short, five minute message conversation with Kensuke and Touji. He tried playing solitaire, but quickly became bored with it.
With fifteen minutes left before lunch he officially entered total shut-down mode. His thoughts began to wander as he slumped across his desk. His wandering mind settled finally on that morning, and the discussion he'd held with Rei as he held her in his arms.
A small smile stole across his face as he recalled the sensations of the morning. The taste and feel of her lips against his, the warmth of her body as he held her, the rough feeling of the fabric of her bra against his chest contrasting sharply with the feeling of her smooth skin. 'I wish I could hold her again,' he thought, 'it felt nice being close to her.'
A beeping sound caught his attention and his slightly glazed eyes focused on the screen of his laptop. A message had appeared there.
Ayanami- I know what you're thinking.-
He turned his head to look at her. Rei was watching him, her eyes held warmth, and amusement that he knew only he was able to see, and a small, almost invisible smile curved her lips. He turned back to his laptop and typed a response.
Ikari- Did you hear my thoughts or read the emotion? - He pushed the SEND button.
Ayanami- I am not entirely sure. I am beginning to think however that the longer we remain linked, the more sophisticated the connection between us becomes.-
Ikari- I'm confused. What exactly do you mean? -
Ayanami- When we first woke up after the test, I believe the only feelings we could sense were physical. I felt the pain from your broken wrist and your lip. Later we began to sense more emotions. Your desire to feel my skin this morning being an example. Still later after that we may begin to hear thoughts, as happened earlier when you wondered why I always arrive early to school. It is my belief that eventually, we will develop a complete telepathic link.-
Ikari- Is that a good thing? -
"I would certainly enjoy hearing your voice in my head," Rei whispered, leaning towards him slightly so that he could hear her better. "It would make the times when we must be apart much easier to bear if I could hear your thoughts."
Shinji smiled and nodded his head in agreement just as the bell rang allowing them to leave for lunch.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
The rest of the day passed largely without incident, however two Children spent the entire time deep in thought concerning their own very unusual situation. 'How are we going to manage sleeping arrangements?' Shinji thought as the three Children walked home. 'I can't sleep when she isn't near me, but I can't sleep with her cause then Misato will blow a gasket.'
His thoughts trailed off as he felt a small hand grasp his own. Startled, he looked down at the hand and followed the arm it was attached to find himself looking directly into a pair of deep crimson eyes.
"Do not worry," she said softly, "we will find a way." Her calm assurance helped to calm him, and he smiled, grateful for her words.
Ahead of them Asuka looked back, an expression of disgust marring her pretty face. "Those two idiots deserve each other," she muttered to herself as she quickly walked on, leaving the two behind. Shinji and Rei were oblivious to her however as they walked, hand in hand, happy just to be in each others presence.
And slowly, the connection between their minds grew stronger, their thoughts became more tightly entwined, and their lives, became irrevocably bound together.
End
So what's this one? Chapter Six? Wow, I can't believe I'm only on chapter six after what, almost a frikin' YEAR?
Ah well, that's the way things go I guess. Anyway, next chapter, the thirteenth angel finally arrives. What will happen to the fourth child? What will happen when Rei and Shinji are forced to fight as their minds continuously draw closer together as their wills become bound to each other? Fuck, not even I know the answer to that one yet, you'll just have to stick around and find out.
See you all next time.
The Ties That Bind
Chapter Six: Beginnings
A general uproar filled the room. Numerous voices bellowed and echoed from wall to wall reverberating off the surfaces to infuse the room with a tumultuous overflow of sound. Twelve great monoliths, each with the word SEELE numbers 1 through 12 created a circle in the middle of the room, and eleven voices continued to chatter all at once.
"SILENCE!" bellowed a voice from SEELE 1.
"The plan has been shattered," SEELE 4 yelled back in a panic.
"Ikari has betrayed us," said SEELE 8
"The First and Third are connected," SEELE 12 interjected. "I do not believe that Ikari had anything to do with that connection, however it is true that our plans are in danger.
"Does anyone else believe that Ikari betrayed this council intentionally, or are we of the opinion that he merely made a series of oversights that caused the chain of events that led to our present situation?" SEELE 1 asked of the assemblage.
There were no forthcoming comments for either side of the question.
"As there is very little we can do about this situation at the moment I move that this meeting be adjourned and we all get back to work. It is in our best interest to find some way to use this situation to our advantage rather than lose our heads over a minor complications," SEELE 1 said.
"Agreed," came the response from SEELE 12.
An instant later, all twelve had vanished, leaving the room once again in total darkness.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
"This is unacceptable Doctor," Gendo said as he glared over his desk at the blond woman before him. "This link that has developed between Rei and my son must not be allowed to continue any further."
"There's nothing that can be done sir," Ritsuko informed him.
"Why not?"
"When Shinji was taken by the Twelfth Angel yesterday Rei was extremely distraught."
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"That's only the beginning of what I have to tell you. For an instant while he was inside the angel Shinji died. He was clinically dead, no respiration, no pulse, all bodily functions shut down. In that instant Reis' vital signs plummeted, if they had continued to fall she too would have died, and there would have been no bringing her back. The two of them are connected completely, if one dies the other dies."
"How far has this link progressed?"
"There's no way to be sure sir without asking them. I have no idea how much of Reis' thoughts are in Shinjis' head and vice versa. It's completely outside of anything we've ever seen."
"Recommended course of action?"
"At this time I would recommend that we leave them alone for now and work on breaking this link, without killing either of them in the process." Ritsuko struggled to keep her voice and face steady. Gendo did NOT look happy, and one thing she had always enjoyed was seeing him break his emotionless mask and show that underneath his facade he was still human.
"Dismissed Doctor," he growled at her. She turned and left.
"You should have done something about this before it got to this point."
"I am well aware of that Kozo," Gendo snarled at the elderly man. Kozo Fuyutski made his way around the desk to stand in front of Gendo.
"Because you left things until now the link between them has had time to solidify. Cutting it earlier would have been less painful than what will happen if and when one of them dies in combat."
"When one of them dies?" Gendo asked with an arched eyebrow.
"You know as well as I do that Unit 00 will not be surviving until the last angel arrives. I'm worried about what that event will do to Shinji."
"Have you already forgotten our discussion a week or so ago old friend?" Gendo asked as his customary smirk spread over his lips. "Shinji is my son, whether he likes it or not, and as such he is much stronger than even he knows. When the time comes, he will stand up just fine under the strain that will be placed on him, until the end."
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Things were a little weird around the Katsuragi apartment. Asuka and Misato were seated at the kitchen table, waiting for breakfast. There was only one problem. Shinji wasn't in the kitchen cooking.
"Where the hell is he?" Asuka snapped.
"I don't know," Misato said looking over the top of her coffee mug. "Maybe he's still asleep." Misato ignored the angry red head as she left the table, choosing instead to sit and mull over what had happened recently.
Events had carried them all away. The Twelfth Angel had attacked barely two days prior. The morning after the attack Shinji woke up in the hospital with Rei seated beside him holding his hand. Neither had said anything to Misato about what happened between them in that hospital room when she arrived twenty minutes later to find Rei sound asleep on the bed next to Shinji. As far as she knew, no one else was aware of the fact that for a short time the two had shared a bed, even if it was only to sleep.
"He's not here," Asuka ranted as she stormed back into the kitchen.
"What?" Misato asked.
"He's not in the apartment. Where the hell is he?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the apartment next door, one Shinji Ikari slowly opened his eyes. He felt strange. An emotion filled him that as far as he could remember, he had never felt before. He felt warm, content, and. safe? Yeah. Safe. He felt safe and secure.
He was lying on his back, on a soft surface and as his eyes opened he looked at the pale blue ceiling above him. A blanket was drawn up to his chest, and his entire right side felt unnaturally warm. Turning his head he saw blue again. Blue hair. Rei was lying in the bed next to him, his arm was wrapped around her body and her head rested on his chest. One of her arms was slung across him and her right leg was bent at an angle across his own.
She was dressed in only a bra and panties, and he was relieved to find that he himself was fully dressed, not counting the absence of his shoes and socks. Obviously nothing too serious had happened physically between them the night before.
As he became more awake his thoughts seemed less fuzzy, but at the same time. incomplete, like he was only remembering half of what happened last night. After Misato woke them in the hospital Rei left to wait outside as the doctors came in and performed test, after test on him to ensure that there was no contamination by the angel he'd spent over half a day residing inside of.
Finally, they decided he was clean and allowed him to leave. By that time the entire day had passed and Misato gave them a ride home. Rei had gone into her apartment after first standing up on tip-toe to gently brush her lips over his in a feather light kiss. Both Children ignored the looks cast in their direction by Shinjis' roommates. The night had progressed and finally he heard his two roommates go to sleep.
Unable to sleep Shinji carefully slipped out of the apartment and went next door to Reis' apartment. She was waiting by the door and opened it before he even had a chance to knock. They both knew that they had a lot to talk about, but neither felt up to it, so they went to bed. And the next thing Shinji knew was waking up and realizing that Rei was sprawled across his body, and with that realization came the understanding that he was perfectly comfortable with the close, physical contact, though slightly disappointed that he couldn't feel her skin against his own. The cast on his right arm interfered with any attempt to stroke her skin with that hand.
Rei stirred against him, her arms tightened their hold around his body and she pressed her face deeper into his chest, blocking out the sunlight that streamed in through the window. Or attempting to at least. She failed in that respect, but she did succeed in reminding herself that there was a warm body in the bed with her, and that realization brought with it a sense of peace and calm that she'd never known in her life.
She lifted her head to look at him. "Good morning Ikari," she whispered.
"Good morning Rei," he whispered in kind. He paused for a moment. "Rei?" he asked. "Could you call me Shinji?"
"If you wish. Shinji," she said laying her head back down on his chest and closing her eyes, pressed her body closer against him to reassure herself that he wouldn't be leaving suddenly as he had during the fight with the Twelfth Messenger.
The two laid in silence for a while. Finally, Shinji spoke. "When I was in the hospital, we said that we had a lot to talk about, didn't we?"
"Yes," Rei mumbled against his chest.
"Do you want to talk now? Or would you rather just stay right here for a while longer?" He asked.
Rei felt torn. Her entire life had been built and structured around discipline and responsibility, so she knew that in light of their present situation they should get out of bed and discuss what was happening to them, however at the same time she really did not want to move, and risk destroying the fragile sensation of peace that had stolen over her as soon as she'd wrapped her arms around him the night before as they'd climbed into bed. She came to a decision.
"I think that it is very important that we discuss what is happening to us, and what we know from each others memories," she said. She heard Shinji sigh slightly in disappointment and he started to sit up to get out of the bed. However, her arms tightened once again around his chest and held him firmly to the bed. "While I think it is important that we have this discussion, I do not believe that we have to get out of bed to do so," she continued. "I think we could talk just fine right where we are. With at least one minor adjustment."
"Adjustment?" Shinji asked, frowning slightly.
"Yes." Rei sat up and motioned for him to do so as well. She tossed the blankets aside so they hung off the foot of the bed, and then reached for the buttons of Shinji's shirt. Before he had a chance to put the words together to ask why she was unbuttoning his shirt it was done and she was pushing it off his shoulders. It took a bit of effort to get it past the cast on his right wrist but she managed. She lifted the hem of his undershirt and he automatically raised his arms to help her remove it.
Then she pushed him back down onto the bed and laid across his chest once again, sighing quietly as she felt his smooth skin against her own. For a time neither spoke. Rei lazily traced abstract patterns on his chest with one hand while Shinji slowly stroked her back and side, running the tips of his fingers lightly over her body.
"How did you know I was slightly disappointed that I could barely feel your skin?" he asked after a time.
"Were you?" she asked raising her head to look at him.
"Yes. A minute before you woke up I was thinking just that."
"I did not know," she said laying her head back down on his chest. A miniscule smile graced her lips as she listened to his heart beat, the steady sound lulling her into a sense of security. "What is happening to us Shinji?" she asked a moment later.
"I'm not entirely sure Rei," he said. "All I know is I have a lot of your memories in my head, and I know what you want, and what you're feeling all the time. I know when you're happy, and when you're sad. I know that when you can't see me you feel lost and helpless, and when I can't see you I feel pain, and loneliness. I know all these things, but I don't know what it means."
"I have a theory."
"You do?"
"Yes."
"May I ask what it is?" he asked.
"Yes."
There was a moment of silence before Shinji remembered precisely how it was that Reis' mind worked and he spoke up again. "What is this theory you've come up with?"
"I believe that something else happened to us during the Cross Synchronization Test, and somehow our minds have been connected to each other."
"Connected?"
"Yes. I feel what you feel, I know what you think. You feel what I feel, and know what I am thinking."
"You mean like telepathy?" he asked.
"No. There is nothing to suggest that we can speak to each other through our minds. However we can sense each others emotions and thoughts on an instinctive level. Like when you wanted to feel my skin, even though I was asleep I registered that feeling in you, and when I woke up I too wanted that."
"That sounds a lot like the other night at dinner. Each of us knew when the other wanted something. And I knew you'd moved in next door even though I hadn't seen you or been told by anyone or anything."
"Exactly."
Shinji chewed thoughtfully on his lower lip for a moment. He started slightly when he felt a gentle touch on his lip though. His eyes crossed as he looked down his nose to find a slim finger pressed against his lips.
"Stop biting," Rei said from her position on his chest. "You're going to hurt yourself."
"Yes, Rei," he said automatically not even bothering to question how she knew he was biting his lip when she couldn't see his face.
"How much do you remember?" she whispered a moment later.
He looked down at the top of her head. "What do you mean?"
She lifted her head and rested her chin on his chest, looking him in the eye. "How much of, me, do you remember? How many of my memories are in your head?"
"Enough," he said. "I know where you came from. I have an inkling of what my father is planning, though I can't even begin to understand what he's really up to. All I know is he has some great plan in mind for humanity, and that he wants to see Mother again." He paused for a moment. "I know that you are attracted to me, that you might even love me."
Reis' breath caught in her throat. "I was not aware that you had learned so much from my memories. How is it that you have not panicked? I believe before the Synch Test if you had learned those things you would be in a very unstable mental state at the moment."
"True." Shinji appeared thoughtful for a moment. "I've noticed that myself. I don't get embarrassed as much as I used to, and I don't get flustered. I think it's because of how closely our minds are linked. I have some of your iron fisted control over emotions, and you are a lot more vocal and emotional than before the test."
Rei seemed pensive, and Shinji felt in his heart that she was worried about something. He was beginning to trust the feelings he got concerning her. "What's wrong?" he asked.
"I don't know what to do," she whispered. "All my life I always knew exactly what to do; I always knew where I stood, and what my purpose was. Now I'm not sure. And I'm scared."
"You're not scared about not knowing what to do. Something else is scaring you besides that."
She looked up at him again, her face held a rather comical expression of shock. "That is getting slightly irritating," she muttered as she realized he was now able to read her emotions.
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be."
They were silent once again. "What's bothering you? What has you so scared?"
She trembled slightly in his arms. "I almost lost you two days ago. I felt you die in there. It was the most painful experience of my life."
"I'm sorry Rei," he whispered, tightening his grip on her body. "I never want to hurt you."
"I don't think I could stand to lose you again," she whispered brokenly.
"You won't lose me Rei. You know from my own memories that I love you. I'll never leave you."
"How?"
"What do you mean?"
"How can you still love me, knowing where I came from? Knowing what I am?"
"I don't care. The genetic material that created you makes no difference to me. Your personality, your thoughts and feelings are all your own. You are not her, you are Rei Ayanami."
"Thank you," Rei whispered against his chest, "for understanding me." She slid up his body and brushed her lips against his for a moment. He found himself hypnotized by her eyes, wet with unshed tears, and at the same time, burning with emotion he'd never seen in her. Joy, happiness, acceptance, and love, all mixed together in a confusing whirlpool of emotion.
His arms came around her back as her body settled on top of him. Before the test he would have been red in the face and stammering a mile a minute if he'd been put into this same position, feeling a beautiful girls' body pressed tightly against him. Now however, he just enjoyed the sensation, and held her tightly.
After the brief kiss she laid her head on his shoulder and sighed heavily in contentment. Rei Ayanami was in love. The enormity of that had yet to crash down upon her. Instead she chose to revel in the sensation, letting it tingle its' way through every nerve ending in her body. Her skin felt hyper sensitive, and every brush of his fingertips over her body sent a shuddering tingle of excitement down her spine. She could still taste his lips. Unconsciously she liked her own lips, as if trying to catch that taste on her tongue.
His skin felt indescribably smooth beneath her fingers, his body warm against her. She could smell him, with her face buried against the side of his neck. The scent of his skin lingered about him. No longer did he smell of LCL or the soap he'd used to vigorously scrub away the blood like odor of the liquid they worked with. Instead he smelled like Shinji. That was the only way she could think of to describe it. She breathed deeply, letting his scent flood her body, struggling at the same time against an almost irrational urge to kiss the side of his neck.
She hoped to fall back to sleep, held tightly in his arms. But the longer she stayed within his embrace, the more awake she felt. And the warmer her body became. The sensations running through her lit up every sense like a Christmas tree, and she found herself unable to focus fully on anything other than the boy beneath her.
Shinji knew what she was going through. He could feel her breathing getting slightly heavier as her body reacted to the emotions coursing through her. He also was well aware of his own bodies reactions to the warm girl he held so tightly to him. He knew that they could not stay as they were for too much longer. They had admitted they were in love, but he did not think them ready for too physical a relationship. They still had to sort out everything that had happened to them over the last few weeks.
He cast about almost desperately for a way to get out of the bed, without taking away from the heavy rush of security Rei felt in his arms. Before he had time to think any further however someone pounded on the apartment door. Repeatedly.
He looked to the door, then glanced at the clock beside the bed.
"We should get up Rei," he whispered to her. She sighed, knowing that he was right, but still unwilling to leave his side.
"I don't want to," she whispered.
"I know, but I need to get the door and," he looked at the clock again. "School starts in two hours. We need to get up."
Rei sighed again. Lifting her head she pressed her lips against his, enjoying the sensation, and taste of him before rolling to the side off of him. Sliding out of the bed she calmly made her way to the joining bathroom and turned on the shower.
Shinji laid in the bed for a moment longer, staring up at the baby blue ceiling. He could still feel her lips against his, could still taste her. The pounding continued. Sighing in irritation Shinji rose from the bed. He grabbed his school shirt from the floor beside the bed, not bothering with the undershirt and walked through the spacious, one bedroom apartment to the door.
He hit the button to open the door with his hand as he attempted to hold the shirt in such a way as to let gravity take over, making the shirt slide down his free arm. Putting a shirt on with only one hand was turning out to be more trouble than it was worth.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
The world was being fed-exed straight to hell, in a handcart. Or so it seemed to Misato. She peered over the rim of her can of beer, having switched the coffee with something stronger when Asuka had dragged a half dressed, and vocally complaining Shinji into her apartment to inform her that the young male pilot had spent the night in Reis' bed.
'I am really not drunk enough to deal with this,' she thought. 'Especially not this early in the morning.'
"Tell me again why you slept with Rei last night," she said. Rei and Shinji were both seated on the opposite side of the table from her. Shinji looked nothing like his old self. He still looked nervous and fearful as usual, but that was tempered by a bit of confidence, and by the fact that he did not look as nervous as he had in the past.
Rei, was Rei. With one difference. She was holding Shinjis' hand on the table in front of them, her thumb gently stroking back and forth across his skin.
"B-because I couldn't sleep last night Misato-san," he said in a voice just over a whisper.
"That still doesn't tell me why you decided to sleep with Rei."
"I think I may-"
"Be able to clarify Misato," Shinji finished.
"Damn I forgot about that," Misato groaned, looking back and forth between the two children. She sighed, "go ahead," she muttered waving her beer in Reis direction.
"When we are apart,-"
"even if it's just in another-"
"room we feel unwell," Rei explained.
"I feel sick, and weak when Rei is not around," Shinji said.
"I believe, that in order-"
"for us to function-"
"properly we must remain-"
"together."
"I understand what you're telling me," Misato sighed. "However I can not allow the two of you to continue sleeping in the same bed."
"Why not?" Rei asked, tilting her head slightly to one side. Shinji smiled. He loved it when she did that. To him it was something very cute that she did whenever she was questioning, or curious about something. She turned her head to Shinji. "You find that is cute?" she asked, once again unconsciously tilting her head to the side.
Shinji nodded, still smiling.
"What's cute?" Misato asked getting confused.
"The way she tilts her head like that," Shinji explained.
"Okay, how did she know you thought it was cute?"
"I felt it."
"You felt it?" Rei nodded her head. "Okay, I'm going to skip that one and get right back to what we were discussing. Rei you two are only fourteen years old. By law you're not old enough to pursue a physical relationship."
"I am well-"
"aware of the laws-"
"Major Katsuragi."
"Then why are you fighting me on this?" she asked.
"We are not-"
"fighting you on-"
"the matter of the two of us-"
"having a physical relationship-"
"beyond kissing," Rei said.
"We are merely-"
"discussing allowing-"
"us to share a-"
"bed, as we do not-"
"want to sleep apart," Shinji added.
Misato shook her head. "Look. Right now I can't think about this. There are serious ramifications to your relationship. I'm sure the commander is not happy with how close you two are getting. If you continue to share a bed then he might take some kind of drastic action to separate the two of you." She paused to drain the last of her beer. "Right now I would like you two to do me a favor."
"What is it Misato?" Shinji asked.
"Don't let anyone know quite how close you're getting. You're both too young, the commander would have my ass if he found out you two were sleeping together. Even if you're not having sex." She paused for a moment. "You're not having sex, right?"
"No, we have not,"
"yet made love Major," Rei finished.
"Yet?"
Rei and Shinji shared a look, and in that look Misato could tell that she was officially out of the loop. Information seemed to pass back and forth between them at near lightning speed, almost like a conversation, but one where no words were used, or needed.
"Yes Major," Rei said.
"we believe 'yet' is the right word."
"Which basically translates into the two of you intend to have sex, no matter what I or anyone else says when the two of you feel ready to do so." Shinjis' face was turning a bit red with a light blush, as was Reis, however Misato could easily tell that Shinji was nowhere near as embarrassed with the discussion as he would have been before he received a large download of Rei thoughts and memories.
"Just go to school you two. We'll talk about this again later."
The two Children rose from their seats and made their way to the door. "See you later Misato," Shinji called back as he slipped on his shoes. Then, they were gone.
"Why did you let them leave?" Asuka asked. "They'll get to the school with an hour left to wait before classes start."
"Did you notice Shinji's behavior?"
"How do you mean?" Asuka slipped into the seat across from Misato and held out a can of beer.
"He wasn't nearly as embarrassed as he would have been four weeks ago," she said as she took the beer.
"So?"
"I think this relationship is a good thing. Rei has been warmer since the synch test. She and Shinji have been getting closer together, and the closer they get, the better each one is. Rei is more outgoing, not much but the difference is noticeable, and Shinji is less of a wimp."
"What does that have to do with them sleeping together. You should have punished them for that."
"There's nothing to punish them for. They slept in the same bed, they did not have sex." Misato paused. "And I think, that if I were to separate them, they would just go back to being sick."
"Ritsuko still hasn't told you what happened during the test?"
"No but I think I've figured it out."
"Oh? Do tell," Asuka said leaning forwards in her seat.
Misato proceeded to outline a theory straight out of a bad B movie. But the more she talked, the more Asuka had to admit, they were acting as if they shared each others thoughts. Maybe their minds did get crossed somehow during the test. Neither of the two women however, had any idea of the full scope of the danger Shinji and Rei had been placed into, neither of them knew what would happen in the future, or what hardships faced them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
'I wonder why she always gets here so early,' Shinji thought.
"I dislike crowds."
"Huh?" Shinji turned to look at the girl walking beside him as they made their way up the steps into the school. "What was that Rei?" he asked.
"I always get here early, because I dislike crowds. If I get here early I can avoid most of the people and just look out my window," she clarified.
Shinji was, to say the least stunned. "How did you know I was wondering that?" he asked.
Rei arched an eyebrow at him. "You spoke aloud, did you not?" she asked.
Shinji shook his head mutely. "I didn't say a thing, I was only thinking it."
Rei looked thoughtful for a moment. In the back of his mind Shinji became aware of something. He could feel her thinking. He could sense the speed at which her mind processed and discarded idea after idea in an effort to find an answer for their latest predicament. While Shinji was not a stupid boy, Rei was nearly a genius. She could wrap her mind easily around very difficult concepts, and in an instant have a full understanding of them. It was the simple things that sometimes confused her.
"Perhaps you were right," she said finally as they took their seats in the classroom.
"Right about what?" he asked.
"You asked earlier this morning when we were in bed if we were developing a telepathic link. Maybe we are."
Any further discussion was cut short as a few of their fellow students filtered into the classroom. While Rei was becoming increasingly comfortable talking to him, she was still more comfortable maintaining her usual frosty silence around others. Shinji understood her feelings and the two settled into an easy silence, both lost in their own thoughts and worries about their ever more complicated situation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
With thirty minutes left before lunch Shinjis' brain was shutting down from sheer boredom. He attempted to amuse himself for a time by fiddling with his laptop, he held a short, five minute message conversation with Kensuke and Touji. He tried playing solitaire, but quickly became bored with it.
With fifteen minutes left before lunch he officially entered total shut-down mode. His thoughts began to wander as he slumped across his desk. His wandering mind settled finally on that morning, and the discussion he'd held with Rei as he held her in his arms.
A small smile stole across his face as he recalled the sensations of the morning. The taste and feel of her lips against his, the warmth of her body as he held her, the rough feeling of the fabric of her bra against his chest contrasting sharply with the feeling of her smooth skin. 'I wish I could hold her again,' he thought, 'it felt nice being close to her.'
A beeping sound caught his attention and his slightly glazed eyes focused on the screen of his laptop. A message had appeared there.
Ayanami- I know what you're thinking.-
He turned his head to look at her. Rei was watching him, her eyes held warmth, and amusement that he knew only he was able to see, and a small, almost invisible smile curved her lips. He turned back to his laptop and typed a response.
Ikari- Did you hear my thoughts or read the emotion? - He pushed the SEND button.
Ayanami- I am not entirely sure. I am beginning to think however that the longer we remain linked, the more sophisticated the connection between us becomes.-
Ikari- I'm confused. What exactly do you mean? -
Ayanami- When we first woke up after the test, I believe the only feelings we could sense were physical. I felt the pain from your broken wrist and your lip. Later we began to sense more emotions. Your desire to feel my skin this morning being an example. Still later after that we may begin to hear thoughts, as happened earlier when you wondered why I always arrive early to school. It is my belief that eventually, we will develop a complete telepathic link.-
Ikari- Is that a good thing? -
"I would certainly enjoy hearing your voice in my head," Rei whispered, leaning towards him slightly so that he could hear her better. "It would make the times when we must be apart much easier to bear if I could hear your thoughts."
Shinji smiled and nodded his head in agreement just as the bell rang allowing them to leave for lunch.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
The rest of the day passed largely without incident, however two Children spent the entire time deep in thought concerning their own very unusual situation. 'How are we going to manage sleeping arrangements?' Shinji thought as the three Children walked home. 'I can't sleep when she isn't near me, but I can't sleep with her cause then Misato will blow a gasket.'
His thoughts trailed off as he felt a small hand grasp his own. Startled, he looked down at the hand and followed the arm it was attached to find himself looking directly into a pair of deep crimson eyes.
"Do not worry," she said softly, "we will find a way." Her calm assurance helped to calm him, and he smiled, grateful for her words.
Ahead of them Asuka looked back, an expression of disgust marring her pretty face. "Those two idiots deserve each other," she muttered to herself as she quickly walked on, leaving the two behind. Shinji and Rei were oblivious to her however as they walked, hand in hand, happy just to be in each others presence.
And slowly, the connection between their minds grew stronger, their thoughts became more tightly entwined, and their lives, became irrevocably bound together.
End
So what's this one? Chapter Six? Wow, I can't believe I'm only on chapter six after what, almost a frikin' YEAR?
Ah well, that's the way things go I guess. Anyway, next chapter, the thirteenth angel finally arrives. What will happen to the fourth child? What will happen when Rei and Shinji are forced to fight as their minds continuously draw closer together as their wills become bound to each other? Fuck, not even I know the answer to that one yet, you'll just have to stick around and find out.
See you all next time.