"Just an Old Wound."

Narikage swam through the lingering haze of a forgotten dream, his eyes slowly blinking open. The light filtering in from his curtained window was the grey light of predawn. Misato was sitting beside his bed on a pillow, her chin resting on her ample chest as she dozed, snoring softly. Puzzled, the boy sat up and reached over, touching the woman's shoulder.

"Misato-san? Misato-san?" the woman gave a violent start, her head jerking up, eyes wide.

"What?! What's wrong?!" She blinked a few times then rubbed her eyes. "Narikage? How are you feeling?"

"I feel fine. Why? Was I sick?"

"You don't remember anything?"

"The last thing I remember was watching movies with you."

"Narikage, that was two days ago." The boy's eyes widened.

"Two...days...?" Misato nodded.

"You've been having continual nightmares the entire time. You kept waking up every few hours or so, screaming or crying." Narikage looked down at himself and realized he was indeed splattered with the rusty brown of dried blood. He touched one of the spots then glanced over at her.

"Y-you're covered too." Misato looked down then gave a very small laugh.

"Yeah, I kind of gave up changing after every nightmare. Dry cleaning is expensive." Narikage's color deepened slightly.

"Gomen—"

"Don't apologize. There's nothing to apologize FOR. You're alright now and that's what counts."

"Have you been here the whole time?"

"Of course! I would never leave you in such a situation." Misato stood and stretched. "Now, I want you to rest today. You can go out in the living room and watch a few more movies if you like, but I don't want you doing much. I'll make us some breakfast. Are you hungry?"

Narikage started to say no but Misato looked so hopeful...

"Hai. Starving." He gave her a small smile which she returned. "Arigato, Misato-san. For watching over me. I should have warned you that that happens sometimes but it usually only occurs when I'm depressed and I was feeling so happy the other night—"

"Narikage, relax. You're starting to babble. Besides, I've already told you that it's fine." She touched his shoulder, still smiling at him. "What are friends for?" After throwing him a wink, she disappeared from the room.

(Cut)

Ritsuko sat at her computer, analyzing data she had taken from Rei the day before. Her numbers, since the last angel incident, had actually climbed instead of the suspected fall. She was actually just clearing the normal range for pilots now, a huge step for her.

"Looks like we owe Narikage some thanks," Ritsuko murmured to herself, punching a few buttons and sitting back to wait for the data to print.

"Ritsuko-san?" The blonde turned when she heard her name and smiled at the two girls standing in her doorway.

"Rei, Asuka. What brings you two down here?"

"We were wondering if that OTHER pilot has come back yet. We have some stuff to discuss with him," Asuka said, flipping her hair back over her shoulder in an annoyed gesture.

"I just got a call from Misato not to long ago. Apparently, Narikage is feeling much better and he should be back tomorrow, if all goes well."

"If you don't mind...what caused the illness?" Rei asked in her soft voice.

"Oh, just a cold. That can happen sometimes after an excessive amount of testing."

"Do cold usually cause people to cry blood?" Ritsuko was so staggered by the German's question, it took a moment for her to reply.

"What are you talking about?"

"Rei and I stopped by Misato's the other day to drop off Narikage's homework and we saw him crying blood all over her."

"That's ridiculous, Asuka. It must have been a trick of the light."

"That wasn't a trick. He was crying blood." Ritsuko looked over at Rei."

"Is this what you think as well?" The blue-haired girl gave a small nod.

"Hai."

"Then both of you are being ridiculous. People don't cry blood."

"Then how do you explain what we saw?"

"Like I said: a trick of the light, your imagination perhaps. Or perhaps, Asuka, you're attempting to spread rumors about him. Everyone knows you hate him," Ritsuko said in an even voice, looking pointedly at the red-head.

"I'm not spreading rumors! I'm not that petty! And you're hiding something!"

"That's enough. From both of you. You're excused and I don't want to hear either of you saying such things about Narikage again. Do I make myself clear?" Asuka, red-faced, opened her mouth to argue further, but Rei dragged her out before she could.

"What did you do that for?!" she cried once they were outside again.

"Because you could have gotten in trouble."

"So?!"

"Asuka, it's obvious we won't get anything from Ritsuko. We're better off just asking Narikage outright."

"No way! I don't want to talk to that liar."

"But you want to find out about the crying, ne?" Asuka paused.

"Well...yes..."

"Then asking him is the only way." Asuka spluttered for a few more minutes before finally admitting her friend was right. "We'll talk to him tomorrow, but we'll have to do it in private or else we won't get anything."

"Fine."

Ritsuko, meanwhile, was busy making a call to Misato.

"Moshi Moshi?"

"Misato! It's me."

"Oh, hi. Something wrong?"

"Yes. Rei and Asuka just paid me a visit. It seems they saw you the other night."

"Saw me?"

"Hai. They saw Narikage crying the other day when they dropped off his assignments." There was a long silence over the phone. "Misato?"

"I'm still here. What did you say to them?"

"That they must have been imagining it but I can tell they don't believe me. It won't take them long to figure out SOMETHING. Asuka's a genius for god's sake."

"For now, we pretend nothing happened. I'll talk to Narikage and see what he thinks. If he wants to tell them, we'll let him do it." Ritsuko sighed. It wasn't the answer she had been hoping for.

"Alright. I'll call if anything else happens."

"Arigato."

(Cut)

Narikage, after a very long argument with Misato, was finally permitted to go back to school the following day. The only reason he had won the argument was because the days without sleep had affected her more than it had him, making her too exhausted to continue.

Having had the discussion with Asuka a few days past, the last thing he expected was to see her during his lunch break. Imagine his surprise when she did indeed approach him, Rei trailing behind, her face carefully blank. Asuka, on the other hand, had a scowl on her face. When Narikage saw them coming, he quickly removed his glasses and put them in a safe place, just in case she decided to strike him. Closing his book, he stood.

"Is there something I can help you with?"

"You're a liar," was the first thing out of Asuka's mouth.

"Liar?"

"You never told us you were Shinji's older brother."

"I didn't have to. Besides, I arrived just after his death. I didn't think it would be proper to just show up and claim to be a long-lost relative." He glanced over at Rei as he spoke and her eyes skipped away.

"But showing up and taking over his EVA was much better."

"Unit 01 was built for me. If anything, Shinji was the one who took the unit over, not me."

"Why you--!"

"Asuka," Rei intervened quietly. She glanced back at the other girl and let out a growling sigh.

"Yeah, yeah. I know. No picking fights." Asuka took a deep breath and faced Narikage again. "ANYWAY, we want to know why you were crying blood the other day."

"Crying blood? I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about," Narikage said, neither his eyes nor his voice betraying any sort of emotion. Rei, however, being an expert at hiding things, could sense the lie and stepped forward.

"Narikage-san...we may have gotten off on the wrong foot. But you can trust us."

"Miss Ayanami, you know as well as I that there are some things that are much better left unsaid." The girl flushed slightly and Asuka jumped forward once more.

"So you ARE hiding something! And if you don't tell us, we're going to the Commander with our suspicions!"

"Go ahead. But, Asuka-san, it has already been well established that you aren't fond of me. He will simply think you're attempting to spread rumors about me." The German spluttered, face red.

"You bas--!"

Narikage suddenly let out a loud gasp, his eyes widening. He hunched over, a hand clapped to his shoulder blade. Both girls leapt back in surprise, not quite sure what to make of the situation. Narikage's entire body was as rigid as a steel rope and his eyes were clenched shut.

"What's wrong?" Rei was the first one to speak as she crept forward slightly, bending a little to look at his face. Even Asuka had a look of surprised concern—though it was just a trace. Narikage could only shake his head as he hunched over further.

"Jesus! Rei, look!" The woman straightened and her mouth fell open as she saw a spot of crimson blooming under Narikage's hand.

"What the...?" She trailed off, unable to even fathom what was happening.

Narikage relaxed then and his hand limply fell away from the bloody spot. He straightened slowly, as if the act pained him, though his face betrayed nothing.

"Why are you bleeding?" Asuka said in a slightly awed voice.

"Just an old wound, that's all. I hit it yesterday and it opened." This time, both girls pounced on the lie.

"But it wouldn't have reopened from doing nothing!" Asuka said at the same time Rei said: "But there's an identical spot on the other side!" The girls exchanged glances then looked at Narikage. "You're hiding something." Unison.

"I'm sorry, girls, but I have to get to NERV." Narikage gathered his things and turned away, giving them both a very clear view of both bloody spots, one on each shoulder blade. Rei squinted her eyes at them. She was forgetting something...

"NERV? School isn't even over."

"I know. But there's an angel on its way. By the way...thank you for your concern." Narikage flashed them a peace sign over his shoulder as he lopped off.

"An angel? How the hell would he know?" Asuka asked as they watched him disappear around a corner.

"I'm not sure but we probably should follow...just in case."

"Hai." The girls ran inside to get their bags.