Dinner was a somewhat strained affair for the two twenty-six year olds who
hadn't met in over twelve years, but Misato and Ritsuko made themselves at
home. Shinji was seated to Asuka's left, and Misato to her right. Ritsuko
sat directly facing her. Kimie, the dutiful and understanding girl that she
was, politely excused herself and went home to take care of her brothers.
The table was laden with the products of Misato's long hours spent huddled over the stove. Immediately Shinji reached forward with his chopsticks, apparently hungry after the long ride, but Ritsuko hesitated before plucking up a piece of chicken. Misato watched her over the rim of her cup as she sipped, hoping that her cooking had improved somewhat over the years. Perhaps she should have measured before putting in the soy sauce.
But Ritsuko nodded thoughtfully. "It's good." Shinji murmured in agreement.
Asuka said nothing. She felt her face flame within the frame of her red hair. She had been preparing for hours to meet Ritsuko, but Shinji had caught her off guard. There was no way she could have been ready to meet a guy her age, much less one she had mercilessly teased and called "baka" countless times in the past. Yet—Asuka stole a glance at his face—he hadn't shown any signs of apathy nor aversion to her. Slightly ashamed now, she ducked her head down again and wondered why Shinji had chosen to forgive her. She remembered the hurting after she had been subjected to the same treatment and the state it had left her in.
What?
Her thoughts were interrupted abruptly as Ritsuko put down her chopsticks in an attempt to draw the redhead into the conversation. "Asuka, how do you like living with Misato?"
"It's nice." When Ritsuko continued to look at her, however, Asuka was compelled to elaborate. "Oftentimes we sit outside and pick watermelons with the children that live around here."
"Was the girl who was with you earlier one of them?"
"Yes," Asuka replied, a little too quickly, then turned back to her chicken.
Ritsuko propped her chin up on her crossed fingers, her elbows resting on the table as she glanced out the window. "Do you remember the time, Misato, when you and I and—"
Misato suddenly choked on her tea and coughed. She quickly excused herself and hurried off. Ritsuko's sentence was left hanging in the air.
"You and Misato and who?" Asuka asked, always craving more information.
Ritsuko and Shinji exchanged a look that Asuka did not understand.
"Kaji Ryoji," Ritsuko said at last. "This used to be his house, and his watermelons."
Seeing the surprise on Asuka's face, she continued. "You don't know about him?"
Asuka shook her head. "Who was—"
But at that moment Misato interrupted the conversation again as she returned, all smiles now. "Shinji-kun, it looks like you've become quite a businessman."
"I guess so." He smiled sheepishly. "I'm working with Aida Kensuke on a nature magazine in America. If you'd like, I can show you some of his work after dinner."
"That would be nice." Misato drank again. Anything to steer the conversation away from dangerous waters.
Ritsuko watched her out of the corner of her eye. How odd it is, she thought, that it's Asuka who wants to know everything about the past, and Misato who is still trying to repress it. She picked up her own cup of tea and drank.
Meanwhile, Shinji reached out with his chopsticks for another piece of celery, just as Asuka reached for her glass of water. The backs of their hands collided and caused the water in Asuka's glass to spill all over her dress.
Both Misato and Ritsuko reached for a napkin as Asuka leapt up, but it was Shinji who managed to hand her a clean napkin first. Their fingers brushed again as she took it with a soft "thanks", and attempted unsuccessfully to dry it off.
"Why don't you go get another dress?" Misato suggested. Asuka excused herself and went upstairs to do so. Shinji, in his fancy business suit and leather shoes, got down on his hands and knees and proceeded to wipe up the rest of the water on the floor. Misato stuck her head under the table. "Shinji-kun, you really don't have to do that."
Shinji shook his head and continued to scrub until Asuka returned, at which point he faced her embarrassedly. "I'm sorry."
"It's all right," she assured him quickly.
The rest of dinner followed with the cake and a slideshow of Kensuke's pictures. The curly-haired boy who was once jealous of not being an Eva pilot had made himself quite a name in the Western Hemisphere, shooting images of rainforests, exotic wildlife, and even some underwater creatures. When Shinji at last shut down his computer, Ritsuko looked directly at Asuka and suggested, "Why don't we all go outside for a watermelon?"
"I'll go get the knife." Misato disappeared into the kitchen.
As Asuka stood up, she slipped on the still-damp floor and flailed her arms wildly. Shinji grabbed one of them in an attempt to hold her up, then drew back when she pulled away, both embarrassed.
"I'm sorry," he said. Again Asuka forgave him, though her face was pink.
There are so many Asukas, the redhead thought, as Misato opened the back door and she stepped barefoot onto the cool, damp soil. Hazuki-san treated me like a patient. Misato treats me as an equal. Ritsuko looks at me as if I'm a little girl. Shinji...seems to act as if I'm a porcelain doll.
And someone in the past treated me like none of these.
Determined to enjoy the moment and not make a fool of herself in front of Ritsuko and Shinji, Asuka selected a watermelon and seated herself on it. Hesitantly Shinji chose the watermelon next to her. Ritsuko was about to sit down on a large, ripe watermelon when Misato grabbed it away and slapped it heartily.
"We'll cut this one," she decided, as Ritsuko set off in search of another watermelon to sit on.
As Misato cut and distributed slices, Asuka glanced over her shoulder and saw several of the young children—including Makoto, hanging on branches of trees in order to peer over the fence. Even as she watched, Kimie climbed deftly to the top, grabbed her brother by the back of his shirt, and dragged him down despite his howls.
Without a glance in that direction, Misato spit out a seed and smoothly asked, "Ritsuko, Shinji, how long will you be able to stay?"
"I'll have to return by the day after tomorrow," Ritsuko said thoughtfully, and then added under her breath, "or I'll be out of a job."
Ignoring the second half of Ritsuko's sentence, "Shinji-kun?"
"Uh, I've actually got two weeks of vacation left," Shinji admitted shyly. "But—"
"Are you thinking of visiting anywhere else?"
"Not really," Shinji confessed. "I'd like to stop by my mother's grave, but that's all."
"Then it's settled, you'll be staying here," Misato closed the matter by spitting out a few more seeds. "And Ritsuko, I'll drive you back to Kyoto Monday afternoon."
Ritsuko closed her eyes as she imagined another four hours in the backseat—with Misato at the wheel. As if reading her thoughts, Misato laughed and reminded her, "You can't complain about my driving. I haven't hit anyone."
Ritsuko snorted. Misato stood up. "I'll go put the knife back."
"I'll help you clean up," Ritsuko offered. Shinji quickly stood up too, but Misato pushed him back down roughly. "You've already cleaned the floor." The two ladies disappeared into the house, leaving Asuka and Shinji alone outside.
The loose strands of Asuka's copper hair fluttered in the gentle breeze. She looked away from Shinji determinedly, not sure what she could say to him.
"Asuka." She turned to face him slowly, and saw that he was smiling. He looked off into the distance, his hands on one knee. "I never thought we'd meet up here. In a watermelon patch." As Asuka laughed softly, his expression grew serious. "Asuka, I understand that you may not want to talk about it, but what happened to you over the last few years?"
As soon as the words escaped his lips, Shinji had to suppress a groan. That was a terrible way to put it. But Asuka didn't even flinch, although she seemed to be thinking deeply.
"I don't know," she said at last. "I remember bits and pieces about Eva, and a little bit about you and Rei. But—" she swallowed hard— "I don't know who, or why it happened, but I can remember someone else. Someone towering over me—calling me names—hitting me—"
Her voice shook and died. She buried her face in her hands. Shinji inched closer, but she slid away as far as her watermelon would allow. With nothing else left for him to do, Shinji changed the topic.
"When we drove up, that girl was hugging you. Tell me more about her," he coaxed.
Asuka's blue eyes emerged from under her forearms and pivoted to face him. "Her name's Kimie," she said quietly, "She leads the children who come to eat watermelons. She has two younger brothers, and no parents. She reminds me of someone, but I don't know who."
She wanted to fall to pieces after hearing her own words. Nothing had ever sounded so stupid. She half-expected Shinji to burst out into laughter, and braced herself for it. Instead there was silence.
When Shinji spoke again, he said, "I know the girl you're thinking of."
Asuka looked at him curiously. "Who?"
"Does the name Hikari Horaki sound familiar?"
"No."
"Oh."
"Tell me," Asuka begged, and rotated on her watermelon so that she was facing him.
"She was your best friend, back then," Shinji began awkwardly, "and our class representative. She had three sisters at home and no parents either, so she took care of everything."
"Shinji?"
"Yes?"
How weird it felt to say his name out loud, Asuka thought, but she was focused on her next question. Yes, Kimie might be a younger version of Hikari, but she couldn't even remember what the class representative had looked like—and there was a more pressing isuse on her mind.
"Was Eva really that bad?"
Shinji sucked in a breath as he remembered. "We saved people," he admitted at last. "And we killed people. It was very traumatic at times."
"I remember Misato said that Toji Suzuhara died in an accident concerning the Evas. What happened?"
Is she ready for the truth?
"My Eva destroyed him," Shinji said finally, in a voice overflowing with guilt and sorrow. "His Eva was infected with the thirteenth angel and we had no choice but to destroy it."
"Angel," Asuka repeated slowly.
Shinji shifted the topic. "What do you remember about Eva?"
It came in bits and pieces. "I remember that my Eva was red, and my suit was red to go with it. It was filled with something called LCL..." She drifted off into a private corner of her memory, thinking carefully. "Something called a 'synchronization rate'. Misato and Ritsuko were always there, and they told us what to do. Did we go underwater with it once?"
She remembers that? Does she remember beating me over the head too?
"Yes, we did," Shinji said. "What else do you remember about that time?"
Asuka shook her head. Nothing more.
When Shinji finished telling her the whole story, Asuka looked astounded.
"It seems like a story out of a book," she whispered. Her fingers played absentmindedly with the rough pigtail-like stem of her watermelon. "I can't imagine controlling such a thing. I can't imagine defeating an—Angel—like that."
"It is hard to imagine now," Shinji agreed. "But Asuka, you liked it. You were a wonderful pilot and you were proud of it."
"Really?"
Shinji nodded.
"How did you feel about piloting Eva?"
"I didn't like it at all." At Asuka's questioning glance, he continued, albeit a bit reluctantly. "I piloted Eva 01 almost solely to hear those rare words of praise from my father. He didn't care for me," Shinji said quietly, his gaze dropping to the field of watermelons. "He hardly ever spoke to me. It was Rei who was important."
"What about your mother?"
"She died," Shinji said shortly, then revised his statement. "Well, I guess she didn't exactly die. As it's been put, 'a freak accident' erased her from this world—in short, she disappeared during testing with the Evas. There was no body."
"I'm sorry," Asuka said.
"Don't be." Shinji smiled. "Things were bad then. They've improved since then."
There was a long pause as Asuka recalled what Misato had told her of Ikari Gendo, one of the few people of Nerv who had had more power than she. Slowly she thought of the terrifying being called Eva, and the people that had suffered at it. Toji Suzuhara had died. Shinji's mother had disappeared without a trace. Why did Ikari Gendo put his wife and son in such danger? A shiver crept up her spine to think that she had been in that danger constantly, too.
"Shinji?" Asuka said again. The name escaped her lips as barely a wisp of a sound. This time she was almost afraid to hear the answer to her question.
"Yes?"
"What do you know about my parents?"
Shinji thought hard. "Nothing," he said at last. "Nothing at all."
Asuka nodded. "I see."
= = = = = = =
Shrouded in the darkness, Misato and Ritsuko sat cross-legged in front of the window, watching the two silhouettes outside.
"You're still hiding," Ritsuko commented quietly. Misato did not deny it or swing her arm back to hit the doctor, but simply sighed.
"I am," she admitted. "After Nerv disintegrated and I came here to live alone, I thought I could be happy with watermelons and neighborhood kids. With Asuka's arrival, however, everything's changed. She wants to know everything about the past, and I want to suppress it." There was a long pause. "I wonder what Kaji would have said if he were here."
There was a pause in which both women thought of him. Then Misato sniffled and Ritsuko laid her arm around her shoulder.
"It's all right," she whispered comfortingly. Misato nodded.
"You know," she said, pulling her head away and wiping at her eyes, "Asuka keeps asking what happened to Rei."
"Well, I really don't know," Ritsuko said honestly. "After Nerv disintegrated she was left in Commander Ikari's charge. I don't know why, seeing as there was no use for her anymore."
Silence again, as they contemplated what might have become of the blue- haired, shy pilot of Eva Unit 00.
"It's getting late," Misato said, ending the conversation. "I'll go get Shinji and Asuka. We'll come up with a makeshift bed in our room for you, and Shinji can sleep on the couch."
"All right."
Ritsuko remained sitting on the floor, looking out the window. The tall, slender silhouette of Misato Katsuragi picked itself up and made its way out the door.
Author's Notes: Yes, the anime from which I got Hazuki-san's name is Full Moon wo Sagashite—she's the deceased mother of the singer Koyama Mitsuki. Congratulations to all the people that answered correctly (ShadowScythe, sonlee16, jennyjennai, and Dsojourn)! I guess I should add in another disclaimer... I don't own Full Moon wo Sagashite either.
And lastly, I'm sorry about that horrible cliffhanger last time. I promise I'll try to avoid such things in the future!
The table was laden with the products of Misato's long hours spent huddled over the stove. Immediately Shinji reached forward with his chopsticks, apparently hungry after the long ride, but Ritsuko hesitated before plucking up a piece of chicken. Misato watched her over the rim of her cup as she sipped, hoping that her cooking had improved somewhat over the years. Perhaps she should have measured before putting in the soy sauce.
But Ritsuko nodded thoughtfully. "It's good." Shinji murmured in agreement.
Asuka said nothing. She felt her face flame within the frame of her red hair. She had been preparing for hours to meet Ritsuko, but Shinji had caught her off guard. There was no way she could have been ready to meet a guy her age, much less one she had mercilessly teased and called "baka" countless times in the past. Yet—Asuka stole a glance at his face—he hadn't shown any signs of apathy nor aversion to her. Slightly ashamed now, she ducked her head down again and wondered why Shinji had chosen to forgive her. She remembered the hurting after she had been subjected to the same treatment and the state it had left her in.
What?
Her thoughts were interrupted abruptly as Ritsuko put down her chopsticks in an attempt to draw the redhead into the conversation. "Asuka, how do you like living with Misato?"
"It's nice." When Ritsuko continued to look at her, however, Asuka was compelled to elaborate. "Oftentimes we sit outside and pick watermelons with the children that live around here."
"Was the girl who was with you earlier one of them?"
"Yes," Asuka replied, a little too quickly, then turned back to her chicken.
Ritsuko propped her chin up on her crossed fingers, her elbows resting on the table as she glanced out the window. "Do you remember the time, Misato, when you and I and—"
Misato suddenly choked on her tea and coughed. She quickly excused herself and hurried off. Ritsuko's sentence was left hanging in the air.
"You and Misato and who?" Asuka asked, always craving more information.
Ritsuko and Shinji exchanged a look that Asuka did not understand.
"Kaji Ryoji," Ritsuko said at last. "This used to be his house, and his watermelons."
Seeing the surprise on Asuka's face, she continued. "You don't know about him?"
Asuka shook her head. "Who was—"
But at that moment Misato interrupted the conversation again as she returned, all smiles now. "Shinji-kun, it looks like you've become quite a businessman."
"I guess so." He smiled sheepishly. "I'm working with Aida Kensuke on a nature magazine in America. If you'd like, I can show you some of his work after dinner."
"That would be nice." Misato drank again. Anything to steer the conversation away from dangerous waters.
Ritsuko watched her out of the corner of her eye. How odd it is, she thought, that it's Asuka who wants to know everything about the past, and Misato who is still trying to repress it. She picked up her own cup of tea and drank.
Meanwhile, Shinji reached out with his chopsticks for another piece of celery, just as Asuka reached for her glass of water. The backs of their hands collided and caused the water in Asuka's glass to spill all over her dress.
Both Misato and Ritsuko reached for a napkin as Asuka leapt up, but it was Shinji who managed to hand her a clean napkin first. Their fingers brushed again as she took it with a soft "thanks", and attempted unsuccessfully to dry it off.
"Why don't you go get another dress?" Misato suggested. Asuka excused herself and went upstairs to do so. Shinji, in his fancy business suit and leather shoes, got down on his hands and knees and proceeded to wipe up the rest of the water on the floor. Misato stuck her head under the table. "Shinji-kun, you really don't have to do that."
Shinji shook his head and continued to scrub until Asuka returned, at which point he faced her embarrassedly. "I'm sorry."
"It's all right," she assured him quickly.
The rest of dinner followed with the cake and a slideshow of Kensuke's pictures. The curly-haired boy who was once jealous of not being an Eva pilot had made himself quite a name in the Western Hemisphere, shooting images of rainforests, exotic wildlife, and even some underwater creatures. When Shinji at last shut down his computer, Ritsuko looked directly at Asuka and suggested, "Why don't we all go outside for a watermelon?"
"I'll go get the knife." Misato disappeared into the kitchen.
As Asuka stood up, she slipped on the still-damp floor and flailed her arms wildly. Shinji grabbed one of them in an attempt to hold her up, then drew back when she pulled away, both embarrassed.
"I'm sorry," he said. Again Asuka forgave him, though her face was pink.
There are so many Asukas, the redhead thought, as Misato opened the back door and she stepped barefoot onto the cool, damp soil. Hazuki-san treated me like a patient. Misato treats me as an equal. Ritsuko looks at me as if I'm a little girl. Shinji...seems to act as if I'm a porcelain doll.
And someone in the past treated me like none of these.
Determined to enjoy the moment and not make a fool of herself in front of Ritsuko and Shinji, Asuka selected a watermelon and seated herself on it. Hesitantly Shinji chose the watermelon next to her. Ritsuko was about to sit down on a large, ripe watermelon when Misato grabbed it away and slapped it heartily.
"We'll cut this one," she decided, as Ritsuko set off in search of another watermelon to sit on.
As Misato cut and distributed slices, Asuka glanced over her shoulder and saw several of the young children—including Makoto, hanging on branches of trees in order to peer over the fence. Even as she watched, Kimie climbed deftly to the top, grabbed her brother by the back of his shirt, and dragged him down despite his howls.
Without a glance in that direction, Misato spit out a seed and smoothly asked, "Ritsuko, Shinji, how long will you be able to stay?"
"I'll have to return by the day after tomorrow," Ritsuko said thoughtfully, and then added under her breath, "or I'll be out of a job."
Ignoring the second half of Ritsuko's sentence, "Shinji-kun?"
"Uh, I've actually got two weeks of vacation left," Shinji admitted shyly. "But—"
"Are you thinking of visiting anywhere else?"
"Not really," Shinji confessed. "I'd like to stop by my mother's grave, but that's all."
"Then it's settled, you'll be staying here," Misato closed the matter by spitting out a few more seeds. "And Ritsuko, I'll drive you back to Kyoto Monday afternoon."
Ritsuko closed her eyes as she imagined another four hours in the backseat—with Misato at the wheel. As if reading her thoughts, Misato laughed and reminded her, "You can't complain about my driving. I haven't hit anyone."
Ritsuko snorted. Misato stood up. "I'll go put the knife back."
"I'll help you clean up," Ritsuko offered. Shinji quickly stood up too, but Misato pushed him back down roughly. "You've already cleaned the floor." The two ladies disappeared into the house, leaving Asuka and Shinji alone outside.
The loose strands of Asuka's copper hair fluttered in the gentle breeze. She looked away from Shinji determinedly, not sure what she could say to him.
"Asuka." She turned to face him slowly, and saw that he was smiling. He looked off into the distance, his hands on one knee. "I never thought we'd meet up here. In a watermelon patch." As Asuka laughed softly, his expression grew serious. "Asuka, I understand that you may not want to talk about it, but what happened to you over the last few years?"
As soon as the words escaped his lips, Shinji had to suppress a groan. That was a terrible way to put it. But Asuka didn't even flinch, although she seemed to be thinking deeply.
"I don't know," she said at last. "I remember bits and pieces about Eva, and a little bit about you and Rei. But—" she swallowed hard— "I don't know who, or why it happened, but I can remember someone else. Someone towering over me—calling me names—hitting me—"
Her voice shook and died. She buried her face in her hands. Shinji inched closer, but she slid away as far as her watermelon would allow. With nothing else left for him to do, Shinji changed the topic.
"When we drove up, that girl was hugging you. Tell me more about her," he coaxed.
Asuka's blue eyes emerged from under her forearms and pivoted to face him. "Her name's Kimie," she said quietly, "She leads the children who come to eat watermelons. She has two younger brothers, and no parents. She reminds me of someone, but I don't know who."
She wanted to fall to pieces after hearing her own words. Nothing had ever sounded so stupid. She half-expected Shinji to burst out into laughter, and braced herself for it. Instead there was silence.
When Shinji spoke again, he said, "I know the girl you're thinking of."
Asuka looked at him curiously. "Who?"
"Does the name Hikari Horaki sound familiar?"
"No."
"Oh."
"Tell me," Asuka begged, and rotated on her watermelon so that she was facing him.
"She was your best friend, back then," Shinji began awkwardly, "and our class representative. She had three sisters at home and no parents either, so she took care of everything."
"Shinji?"
"Yes?"
How weird it felt to say his name out loud, Asuka thought, but she was focused on her next question. Yes, Kimie might be a younger version of Hikari, but she couldn't even remember what the class representative had looked like—and there was a more pressing isuse on her mind.
"Was Eva really that bad?"
Shinji sucked in a breath as he remembered. "We saved people," he admitted at last. "And we killed people. It was very traumatic at times."
"I remember Misato said that Toji Suzuhara died in an accident concerning the Evas. What happened?"
Is she ready for the truth?
"My Eva destroyed him," Shinji said finally, in a voice overflowing with guilt and sorrow. "His Eva was infected with the thirteenth angel and we had no choice but to destroy it."
"Angel," Asuka repeated slowly.
Shinji shifted the topic. "What do you remember about Eva?"
It came in bits and pieces. "I remember that my Eva was red, and my suit was red to go with it. It was filled with something called LCL..." She drifted off into a private corner of her memory, thinking carefully. "Something called a 'synchronization rate'. Misato and Ritsuko were always there, and they told us what to do. Did we go underwater with it once?"
She remembers that? Does she remember beating me over the head too?
"Yes, we did," Shinji said. "What else do you remember about that time?"
Asuka shook her head. Nothing more.
When Shinji finished telling her the whole story, Asuka looked astounded.
"It seems like a story out of a book," she whispered. Her fingers played absentmindedly with the rough pigtail-like stem of her watermelon. "I can't imagine controlling such a thing. I can't imagine defeating an—Angel—like that."
"It is hard to imagine now," Shinji agreed. "But Asuka, you liked it. You were a wonderful pilot and you were proud of it."
"Really?"
Shinji nodded.
"How did you feel about piloting Eva?"
"I didn't like it at all." At Asuka's questioning glance, he continued, albeit a bit reluctantly. "I piloted Eva 01 almost solely to hear those rare words of praise from my father. He didn't care for me," Shinji said quietly, his gaze dropping to the field of watermelons. "He hardly ever spoke to me. It was Rei who was important."
"What about your mother?"
"She died," Shinji said shortly, then revised his statement. "Well, I guess she didn't exactly die. As it's been put, 'a freak accident' erased her from this world—in short, she disappeared during testing with the Evas. There was no body."
"I'm sorry," Asuka said.
"Don't be." Shinji smiled. "Things were bad then. They've improved since then."
There was a long pause as Asuka recalled what Misato had told her of Ikari Gendo, one of the few people of Nerv who had had more power than she. Slowly she thought of the terrifying being called Eva, and the people that had suffered at it. Toji Suzuhara had died. Shinji's mother had disappeared without a trace. Why did Ikari Gendo put his wife and son in such danger? A shiver crept up her spine to think that she had been in that danger constantly, too.
"Shinji?" Asuka said again. The name escaped her lips as barely a wisp of a sound. This time she was almost afraid to hear the answer to her question.
"Yes?"
"What do you know about my parents?"
Shinji thought hard. "Nothing," he said at last. "Nothing at all."
Asuka nodded. "I see."
= = = = = = =
Shrouded in the darkness, Misato and Ritsuko sat cross-legged in front of the window, watching the two silhouettes outside.
"You're still hiding," Ritsuko commented quietly. Misato did not deny it or swing her arm back to hit the doctor, but simply sighed.
"I am," she admitted. "After Nerv disintegrated and I came here to live alone, I thought I could be happy with watermelons and neighborhood kids. With Asuka's arrival, however, everything's changed. She wants to know everything about the past, and I want to suppress it." There was a long pause. "I wonder what Kaji would have said if he were here."
There was a pause in which both women thought of him. Then Misato sniffled and Ritsuko laid her arm around her shoulder.
"It's all right," she whispered comfortingly. Misato nodded.
"You know," she said, pulling her head away and wiping at her eyes, "Asuka keeps asking what happened to Rei."
"Well, I really don't know," Ritsuko said honestly. "After Nerv disintegrated she was left in Commander Ikari's charge. I don't know why, seeing as there was no use for her anymore."
Silence again, as they contemplated what might have become of the blue- haired, shy pilot of Eva Unit 00.
"It's getting late," Misato said, ending the conversation. "I'll go get Shinji and Asuka. We'll come up with a makeshift bed in our room for you, and Shinji can sleep on the couch."
"All right."
Ritsuko remained sitting on the floor, looking out the window. The tall, slender silhouette of Misato Katsuragi picked itself up and made its way out the door.
Author's Notes: Yes, the anime from which I got Hazuki-san's name is Full Moon wo Sagashite—she's the deceased mother of the singer Koyama Mitsuki. Congratulations to all the people that answered correctly (ShadowScythe, sonlee16, jennyjennai, and Dsojourn)! I guess I should add in another disclaimer... I don't own Full Moon wo Sagashite either.
And lastly, I'm sorry about that horrible cliffhanger last time. I promise I'll try to avoid such things in the future!