Pattern: White
By ArchangelUK

I am not dreaming of a white Christmas, just like the ones I used to know. Where the treetops glisten and children listen to hear that I do not own Neon Genesis Evangelion, Christingles, Jesus or snow.

Shinji Ikari walked briskly down the street, his feet propelling him at a rapid yet still somewhat cautious speed down the concrete slabs. His feet seemed to be compelling him to move even faster, Shinji surmised this was due to them being in almost direct contact with the crisp snow beneath his battered old white trainers. Trainers that long ago should have been replaced Shinji realised, somewhere on the rubber sole a small crack had opened and his left sock was ever so slowly getting damp.

It was the middle of February; there hadn't been an Angel Attack in Tokyo-3 for sometime now, not since before Christmas and the young pilot of Unit One wasn't complaining. It had been widely regarded at the time that there wouldn't be an attack during the Christmas period, after all they would not wage war during the anniversary of the birth of their Lord but the hiatus since had not been expected. Of course Shinji knew there would be more sometime or the other, but he was content for the time to live in a state of blissful contentment.

Winter had come late this year, though most of the older residents of Tokyo-3 those who had lived through the early years of the 21st Century and hence the aftermath of Second Impact were more than happy with this. The climate changes thrown up by Adam's apparent self-destruction (or the meteorite hitting the polar ice caps as reported to the world) had been nothing short of devastating. The return of the seasons from the three yearlong bitter winters that had engulfed the planet was nothing short of a relief.

Tokyo-3 looked like any other city covered in snow.

Any other city...

Shinji rubbed his gloved hands together, noting the friction of the wool on wool before picking up his bags and attempted to increase his speed. It was very cold indeed and it was also very typical that Misato just happened to forget to get some food shopping.

"Of course, it always comes down to me." Shinji grumbled to himself, "Naturally I have to do everything unless it doesn't get done. 'Could I get a lift?' I ask, but oh no Shinji I'm sorry but I need to go to Lake Okosuka for Asuka's climate control test. 'Not even on the way?' I ask, but no I'm late Shin-chan I'm sorry." Shinji kicked a mound of snow and it flew off his shoe, underneath his sock got damper still. "Then it's I can't get a taxi because Misato has no more Yen and I don't have any and Asuka won't let me have some, oh no. So it's up to me to walk to the store in four degrees below zero and drag the shopping back so Misato can yell at me for dripping all over the carpet and Asuka can moan at me that I didn't get her the right food or the right can off the shelf from the hundred other identical ones on there!"

Shinji sighed and his breath made a large cloud which floated away gently before being torn apart by a large truck which trundled by with enough speed to send a chill down Shinji's spine and a blast of cold air into his unprotected face. Tightening his grip on the shopping bag and with black thoughts on his mind about certain truck drivers he plodded on.

It wasn't long before the Third Child was walking past the park, after pausing for a moment by the gates and quite unsure as to why he decided to go inside. After all he was as cold as he was going to get and he somehow doubted the frozen food he was carrying would defrost anytime soon. The park looked like a storybook winter scene, Shinji blinked as he saw a squirrel digging by a tree, a spray of snow and dirt coming up from behind its hind legs.

After a few minutes it stopped, poked its grey head upwards and looked around an acorn in its mouth. Noticing Shinji it froze for a second, its store found and location rumbled by the human staring at it the squirrel decided to retreat with its lunch and disappeared up the tree trunk.

Shinji sighed again and continued walking, after a while he came to the white marble fountain in the centre. It shimmered and gleamed in the midday sun yet the sun wasn't warm enough to melt the snow and there was no water flowing from it. He noticed a figure at the base of the fountain examining it intently and it was at that precise moment where man-made substances failed him again and the handles on a plastic shopping bag he was carrying snapped.

"Oh fantastic!" Shinji cried as a tidal wave of oranges, packs of instant ramen and his new toothbrush spilled out onto the floor. Cursing the Gods of plastic packing who-so-ever they were, he began scooping up his spoils into what remained of the Tatahida branded carrier. As he reached down for the last orange which had rolled some distance away he found himself staring at a pair of fluffy white winter boots. Shinji blinked and his eyes travelled up over the faux-fur, pale blue knitted winter coat he found himself looking up into a pair of deep red eyes. A hand covered in a white furry glove which matched the boots and the slightly Russian style hat on her head closed around the orange and offered it to him.

"This is yours."

Whether it was a question or simply a statement Shinji wasn't sure, but he nodded all the same, taking the offered orange and placing it in the remains of his bag.

"Thank you Ayanami."

"I did not realise you could still get oranges at this time of year."

"Oh yes, they still have a lot over from Christmas."

"Why would they have oranges at Christmas, is not the traditional dish turkey?"

Shinji laughed, Rei frowned and Shinji gestured apologetically with his hand. "They are needed to make Christingles for the children."

"Christingles?"

"Tokyo-3 is very diverse, the church on South Street performed a Christingle service on December 23rd. I remembered my old teacher talking about them so I went along just to see what was going on." Shinji retrieved one of the oranges from his bag. "A Christingle is given to children, which is basically an orange with a candle stuck in it."

"I fail to see the significance of a citrus fruit with a candle stuck in it has?"

"Well, the orange represents the Earth and the candle represents the light of God you see."

Rei tilted her head to the side. "The candle represents an AT Field?"

"No, no." Shinji shook his head, "The light of God, his goodwill or something along those lines."

"His love for you?"

Shinji blushed and fidgeted uncomfortably, "Well, not me specifically. I don't think a Shinjiingle would take off."

"I would have one." Rei stated bluntly.

Shinji blushed even more and tried to cover himself by adjusting his hat. "Um, thank you. The orange also has a red ribbon around it."

Rei's eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly, "Blood."

"Actually yes, the blood of Jesus is said to have shed for us."

"I hate red."

"It's just a representation Ayanami," Shinji reassured, unsure if he had somehow offended the enigmatic girl. "Finally four cocktail sticks with small pieces of fruit, like raisens are stuck in the orange."

Rei looked dubious.

"Honest Rei it is." Shinji swallowed, "It's a celebration about God and people and that we should be thankful. That we should care for others."

"You," The First Child looked up at him, "Care a lot for others Ikari."

Shinji's lips twitched, "I wouldn't say so."

"You do. You care about people other than yourself, people you don't necessarily know. People you are unlikely ever to meet."

"People who hurt me…" Shinji whispered and Rei stopped mid-sentence, even when he said those four words his voice was full of warmth.

"If people hurt you, you should not care for them."

"Yes, but I… can't bring myself to simply let others suffer even if I hate them. I would have never come back to pilot the Evangelion against the 14th angel if I had let my anger for my father rule me. I would have thought he deserved whatever he got, maybe I would have believed when Eva 02's head was cut off that it was justice for all Asuka's cruel words." Shinji walked over to a bench and after dusting off the light covering of snow invited Rei to sit down.

"I do not understand."

Shinji rolled his tongue around his mouth, "How can I explain this?" Shinji began balling up a mound of snow which he proceeded to throw at a tree, scoring a direct hit on it's thick brown bark. "Why do I care about people?" A gust of wind rustled the tree branches letting a small amount of powdery white fall to the ground, he grinned. "Snowflakes are like people Ayanami."

Shinji's grin faltered, Rei was looking dubious again, "Snowflakes… are like people?"

"Look around you Ayanami, what do you see?" Rei elegantly arched her back so she could look beyond Shinji's head, giving the Third Child a rather uncomfortable few moments as she inadvertently came close to thrusting her breasts in his beet red face.

"I see the park covered in various types of precipitation."

"Snow, right?"

She inclined her head in the briefest of brief nods.

Shinji cleared his throat. "Now, snow may look like simply snow, one snow flake is white and so is another. Essentially they are the same; however no snowflake is exactly alike."

"The formation of individual ice crystals is an un-uniform process, this is rudimentary science Ikari."

"Exactly!" Shinji snapped his fingers, "Just as you can't copy a snowflake you cannot copy a person, an individual is an individual."

Rei looked up towards the grey cloud covered sky. "It is possible to copy the genetics of a person."

"Cloning."

"Yes."

"Ayanami, an individual is the sum of their experiences, nothing more. Which is why they are like snowflakes."

"Your explanation is flawed, snowflakes do not 'experience' anything."

Shinji ignored her, "Say we took you and we cloned you."

"Let us not say that…" Rei's glanced away, Shinji could have sworn she was angry about something.

"Ooookay." He adjusted his scarf, suddenly very uncomfortable. "Let's say that Misato and Kaji had a baby."

The First Child's nose wrinkled slightly, "That vision does not particularly appeal either."

"Okay there is 'a baby'." Shinji finally said, surrendering to Rei's wishes. "Now the baby is cloned. It is cloned in two test tubes before it is finally birthed after reaching full gestation."

"Producing two identical babies."

"Wrong."

"The scientist who cares for them, perhaps checks on the left hand tube then the right, maybe he or she rubs a tube without realising it or pats it fondly."

"I do not see how barely conductive signs of affection at that stage can affect individualism, studies have shown that-"

"-would the friction of rubbing alter the temperature balance inside the tube."

"Negligibly, yes."

"What if it was patted, or perhaps even knocked."

"Possibly."

"What if Ayanami, one was 'born' before the other – would that have a dramatic effect?"

"Yes. It would." She looked up at him her eyes becoming slightly puzzled, "Ikari, your complexion is abnormal."

"My what?"

"You're going blue, are you not cold?"

Impressed he was actually blue now after being so embarrassed Shinji realised he was very cold, the gloves he was wearing were actually a pair Lieutenant Aoba had given him that were too small for the bridge officer. He had given him them after finding out Shinji was wandering around in sub-zero temperatures with barely anything else on than a coat and his normal clothes.

"Well, actually, irk!" Shinji practically leapt out of his skin as Rei scooted up on the seat so she was leaning against him." R-Rei, um, Ayanami I mean, er, that is I…"

"You are cold Shinji-kun." Rei stated, "You are in danger of suffering from illness should you remain cold, it would be advisable to raise your temperature to a degree that this was unlikely."

"Well, yes." Shinji stuttered, "But why the, um, you?"

"The best way to warm up is by sharing bodily heat, as your co-worker it would be negligent of me to not offer myself to you in this way." Shinji went red to the tips of his ears, "Your appearance is returning to normal now."

"Ayanami, you're my friend before you're my co-worker you know."

"I am your friend?"

"Of course!"

Rei adjusted her position, so that she was looking into Shinji's eyes. "Then as your friend I have a request."

"A request?" Shinji raised an eyebrow; Rei never asked for anything, she informed or ordered but she never asked for anything. Never.

"As your friend I ask you continue to call me Rei as you have a couple of times today."

Shinji turned away awkwardly. "I don't want it to seem…" He searched for a wording that would satisfy the girl. "-Improper Ayanami."

"How can this be improper if it is I who request it?" She asked, again manoeuvring herself so that she was being more efficient in her body heat sharing. The motion unbalanced Shinji slightly and he had to stick his arm out to prevent himself falling off the bench, unfortunately the only thing he could really grab hold of was Rei's waist - not that he was complaining (for the first ten seconds at least).

Then of course he realised and he noticed Rei for a few moments had gone wide eyed before accepting the movement. However, that didn't stop him shrieking and going into an apologetic fit.

"Shinji." Rei said, after he finally calmed down.

"Y-Yes."

"You are my friend too." Rei began, "However, I feel drawn to you in a different way other than friendship." She leant her head against his shoulder. "Do you know what this feeling is?"

"Ummm…" Shinji's eyebrows did their best to climb up into his brown mop of hair, in fact, far from being cold he was now beginning to sweat. Laughing nervously he scratched behind his head and said, "I think I've explained enough things for one day Rei, I'm tired and it's getting late. I need to get these back to the apartment."

Rei nodded acceptance at his explanation.

"I'll see you at testing tomorrow Ayana- Rei." He corrected.

"Yes." She turned away.

"Rei!" Shinji called out, making her turn back. "T-Thank you for sharing your… body heat with me."

"You are welcome." Rei replied, "You are most warm Shinji, I feel… much warmer when I am with you."

"Er, thanks."

"I shall see you at nine hundred hours tomorrow. Goodbye."

Shinji let out a breath he hadn't realised he was holding which drifted up into the air, he picked up his bag off the floor and went to go home. That was until he was hit square in the face by a snowball.

Spluttering, he wiped the remains of the missile out of his face to find himself looking at the giggling forms of Hikari Horaki and the perpetrator of the dastardly act – one Miss Nozomi Horaki.

"Shinji-san!"

The little girl bounced up to him and hugged his waist, little Nozomi was very taken with Shinji after her sister had told her many bedtime stories of the brave Evangelion pilots (all highly embellished naturally).

"Shinji-san, come and make snow angels with us!"

Shinji chuckled and disentangled himself from the little girl, "I can't right now Nozomi okay."

"Aww." She gave him her best puppy-dog face, it had little effect but he ruffled her hair making her giggle again.

"Besides," He turned towards the direction Rei had gone, "I think I already have one."

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