Work of fanfiction. Please do not sue

Blades and Love

"Dear lord, you two learn fast," said Kaji at the end of the week that they had been training with him. He was sporting just as many bruises as Rei and Shinji were, a testament to how quickly they had learned what he knew. "I don't have anything left to teach you two. You guys should go and do some research on sword styles, before you go off to train in swords."

"Thanks, Kaji."

"Thank you, Mr. Kaji."

As they walked out the door Kaji thought to himself, Note to self: Never piss Shinji or Rei off again. They'll kick your ass.  

"Want to get something to eat, Rei?"

"Yes. I am rather hungry."

"Ramen sound good?"

"Yes."

Shinji smiled. That week of intensive training, seeing no one, but Kaji, Rei, and that guy who delivered the training dummies, had not only been beneficial to their bodies (outside of the bruises), but also to their friendship. All the rifts they had were filled, and if anything they were closer than they had ever been. Rei had also started using more slang (probably Kaji's fault). They walked inside a favorite ramen hut of Shinji's. Rei got vegetarian while Shinji got pork. They sat down at a booth to eat their food.

Belatedly, as he was breaking his chopsticks apart, Shinji noticed this was the booth he had sat in with Asuka on their second date. He shook it off and tied the chopstick wrapper into the knot his teacher had shown him so long ago.

Rei picked up some of her noodles on her chopsticks, blew on them, and ate them. Shinji followed suit.

After Rei had eaten for a bit, she put her chopsticks down on her knotted wrapper. It was a good trick Shinji had taught her. "Shinji?"

"Hmm?" said Shinji with a mouthful of ramen.

"May I ask you a question?"

He swallowed the ramen. "What is it?"

"Why did you and Soruy break up?"

Shinji blew out all the air in his lungs slowly. He looked up at Rei, down at his food, at Rei again, then back to his food.

"If you do not wish to talk about it…"

"No," Shinji cut her off, "No, I guess I need to tell someone. And I suppose if anyone deserves to know, it's you." After all, Asuka was the reason we weren't talking for so long. I make a horrible friend. "Where should I start?"

"I know that Soruy requested her permanent transfer because of the break-up, but…"

"At the beginning, then?"

"A logical place to start."

"Okay. When Asuka came to Tokyo-3, I thought she was good-looking, and was attracted to her. She had a fiery personality, which I thought I was missing. So, even though she was always belittling me, I had a crush on her. But it was something I'd never tell her. I was too scared of what she'd do.

"Turns out she liked me too, but not all the time. She really, really liked me when I was in the EVA, but she didn't get why I'm like I am outside of it. She eventually decided I was just masking my true self. That was when I finally got up enough courage to ask her out.

"She was so happy. She thought that I was finally discarding my mask and standing up for myself. But I obviously wasn't. I'm just who I am. Little flashes of bravery from me were enough to keep us together for as long as we were, but…"

"You broke up."

"Right. She decided that she couldn't be around me anymore, because it embarrassed her. I don't know what she meant. That's why she went to Berlin"

"I do not understand, Shinji. She told me numerous times she loved you."

"Just part of me."

"Then she did not love you."

"What?"

"She was in love with an idea of you, not you. What about you?"

"You mean, was I in love with her?"

"You don't have to answer."

"No," said Shinji, resting his head on his folded arms, "I don't know if I did. I know I liked her, but loved, I don't know."

"Gomen."

"What?"

"I seem to have made you depressed."

"No, no!" Shinji put his head up again and took another bite of ramen. "Not your fault. What style of swords do you think we'll study?"

"Styles. Major Katsuragi said styles, correct?"

"Yeah." He pulled out the book the teacher had given them. "Misato said she'd only look for styles from Meji or that were used in the Bakamatsu." Rei took her ramen and moved over to where Shinji was sitting to look at the book as well. He moved over so there was room for her, only blushing a very small amount.

"There aren't many ear-marked pages," commented Rei.

"Yeah, those were the ones the teacher said were Meji or Bakamatsu dai-sho styles. The book didn't have too much on the Meji era. There's Tennen Rishen-Ryu, Mugai-Ryu, Hokushin Itto-Ryu, Jigen-Ryu, and Nikkaido Heiho-Ryu."

"What are they?"

"Tennen Rishen-Ryu was most famously wielded by a minor officer of the Kyoto Shinsengumi, named Okita. It was a school mostly consisting of lunges, stabs, and short slashes. Some spin moves were included." Shinji read from the book. "The ultimate attack was known as the Shinden Blade, a straight stab to the target's center, hitting with god-like speed, giving the target no time to parry or avoid. Very useful for assassinations or one-on-one duels. The style was well suited for indoor fighting, duels, and fights in small spaces. It had very few overhead attacks. A samurai trained in this style would carry a katana of medium length."

"Interesting. Hmm. Mugai-Ryu looks like another similar style. It says: 'Mugai Ryu is a style based around its ultimate attack. Much like Tennen Rishen-Ryu in composition, only adding a few overhead attacks and with larger slashes, its most famous practitioner was Hajime Saitou, considered by many to be the best warrior of the Kyoto Shinsengumi, and the master of Okita. He was said to be able to fight the Battousai to a draw. It's ultimate attack was the Gatsotsu, a lunging stab followed by an outward swing to the right, in case the opponent dodged the stab. Very powerful if the opponent did not know about the attack. Saitou was the only left-handed practitioner of this style, and so his swing was to the left.  A fatal surprise for those who encountered it for the first time. Mugai-Ryu was considered a 'power style', but was not as effective as one would hope against more than four opponents. A swordsman of this school would carry a rather long katana."

"Wow."

"Indeed, a most powerful style."

"I don't think I could learn any of these styles."

"You learned kempo."

"True, but we were taught hand-to-hand fighting as EVA pilots. Never sword training."

"Possibly. But martial arts are all fundamentally connected."

"Oh, I'm just too weak to learn them."

Rei just shook her head. "Ile. You beat Mr. Kaji numerous times. You are not weak."

"He was letting me win."

"He was not."

"Rei, a weak guy like me? No way."

The blue haired girl sighed then stood up, moving five paces away from the booth before slinging a chopstick at him. Shinji caught it in midair. She quirked an eyebrow. "You can do that."

Shinji looked at the chopstick in his fist as Rei walked back to the table to finish her food. "How..?"

She shrugged, sitting beside him. "I do not know. Hmm…Jigen-Ryu, commonly considered during the Meji era to be the most powerful sword school…"

"So, you two ready?" asked Misato as they closed the books they had found on Meji kenjutsu a few days later. They were working in Misato's apartment, after Rei had moved in at Misato's invitation. Thankfully for Shinji's sanity, Rei had dropped some of the habit she had when she lived alone. She was his friend, but she was hot. He didn't think he could take a repeat of that time when he dropped her card off.

Shinji let out a yawn. "Yeah. I don't think I need to know so much about Nikkaido Heiho-Ryu." His eyes went slightly blank. "Composed of three forms represented by the kanji 'one', 'three', and 'ten'. Ultimate attack is Shin no Ippo, or the Isikumi technique, an instant hypnosis that freezes a target of lower will. Can be shaken off," he recited, "Rei and I can tell you that for every sword school in the Meji era, outside of Hiten Mitsurugi-Ryu. No book has any real information on its techniques…"

"Just that it is the 'most powerful form of kenjutsu," finished Rei.

"So you two are done with your research?"

"Yeah, we've got enough notes to fill Pen-pen's fridge. We'll write the verbal portion later. All I want is a few days of rest before going off to learn some sword school."

"I concur with Shinji."

Misato smiled. "Sounds good. I've found you some good teachers, not twenty miles from here. There's a small town that the teachers live in. You'll train there. But take a break first."

"Thanks Misato."

"Hey, I can't do anything less for my little Shinji and Rei, can I?" Misato sure adapted to new surrogate children well.

Rei and Shinji were stared at the people in the park from a hill they sat on top of.

"It's so much nicer in Tokyo-3 now that the Angels don't attack anymore," mused Shinji

"Yes, it is," agreed Rei.

Second chapter: Done! The next chapter will be a look at the time off they take from the project and a check in with the other groups. And then they're off to learn the art of the sword. Thanks to all my kind reviewers. I'll try to get out another chapter soon.