Red Red Sky
Authors' notes: Chapter is a long one, sorry for such a long wait, enjoy it as much, please REVIEW, that's one of the only reasons I keep on writing this, and that I do enjoy writing, Thank you J - Armazd.
Chapter 6 - Office
"Major, you're telling me that Ayanami Rei insisted Shinji to stay with her? What where her reasons behind this or is this some kind of joke, I know you wouldn't lie to me Major?" Gendo Questioned Misato in his office, with Kozo Fuyutsuki behind him.
Misato was afraid, she did not know what to say, the commander and Rei have a relationship from what she can tell, a sort of a father – daughter time of deal. She thought what Rei said to her, and started to speak, "Commander, Ayanami Rei spoke to me and told me that you gave her authorization that Shinji may stay with her. I believed her, mostly because of how much time she dedicates to Nerv, I never thought she would lie."
Gendo cringed when she said 'lie', he never thought that Rei would lie to him, but she lied to him indirectly. There was something going on between Rei and Shinji, he did not want them to be emotionally tied, though from what he saw, Shinji has been doing just great.
"Thank you Major, you may leave now, but would you call in Shinji and Rei, I need to speak to them now," Gendo Asked, looking over papers from Nerv Intelligence section, he understood that they have been staying together since Soryu Asuka Langley came to Nerv. He was going to question Shinji and Rei at the same time, to see if Shinji comes out more from his shell, when Rei is around, if he is actually emotionally tied to her.
Shinji and Rei walked into Gendos Office. Shinji was nervous; he never really gets to talk to his father. His father has pushed him away, and Shinji has been coping with this for many years, since he was just a small child, even though he is just a child right now.
Rei was afraid or more concerned that Gendo will separate them; she knew that he found out that she lied to him. She didn't want Gendo to separate them, she had grown to being with Shinji most of the time, at home, at school, and of course at Nerv. They enjoyed each others company, and never got tired of being together, she did not know what it meant, maybe it was kindness, maybe it was friendship, or maybe it was love.
"Rei…" Gendo paused, "You have told Major Katsuragi that Shinji was going to stay with you, and that you have gotten clearance from me?"
"Yes Commander," She answered him without hesitation.
"You lied to the Major; I did not give such authorization, why may I ask?" Gendo questioned. Though he knew the answer, it was probably puppy love, but how could Rei have such feelings, he had done almost everything to stop her from having such feelings, he wanted her to be perfect, without any problems.
"Commander, I had no choice, Shinji came to me, he needed the help, and he needed to be with someone who…" She paused and cleared her throat, "Someone who would protect him, he was afraid he wasn't going to get that being in such an environment at the Katsuragi residence"
"Rei, who thinks you can protect him, he is quite good at protecting himself, as you can see what happened today in battle." Gendo looked at Shinji, with a smirk, and then started down Rei.
Rei did not know what to say, Shinji did perform very well today, he had defeated a twin angel with his bare hands, and managed to get his Eva out without any harmful or fatal damage.
"Shinji, what have you to say to this? You came to Rei, because you did not feel safe at the Katsuragi residence, could you explain why?" Gendo questioned Shinji.
It took some time for Shinji, his hand clenching and unclenching, and then clenched into a fist. He started to think what he would say to save what he had with Rei, what he wished would last, something in his small and pathetic life he could enjoy.
"Father, It is just… Well… Just like Rei Ayanami says, I did not feel safe being at the Katsuragi residence, Soryu was harassing me, she belittled me and never stopped from her verbal assaults, I couldn't stand it anymore, so I decided to find shelter with Rei-chan." Shinji spoke, almost killing himself that he added chan after saying Rei's name. His father's eyes lit up after he said this.
Gendo knew what was going on, he wasn't a fool, or a simpleton. Pressing a button on his desk that signaled Fuyutsukis office, he thought maybe his old professor would give him at least some advice he could laugh at before he decided what to do with Shinji and Rei.
Fuyutsuki came up behind Gendo. Gendo started off on their conversation in whispers. They compared and contrasted about what could would and might happen between the children in front of them. Fuyutsuki came out with a good point, he told Gendo, to keep the children close to each other, he needed Shinji to complete the project and of course he needed Rei, it would be perfect for them to be safe together, and of course Rei is quite able to protect Shinji.
Gendo thought about this for a while, the children were standing in front of the commander and second commander waiting what was going to happen. They were worried, and Gendo had a grin on his face, it even grew bigger the longer they waited. The conversation ended on a final note that would describe something like flowers blooming in the spring time. Gendo had finally decided.
"I have decided to keep you together, though there will be some tests done on Rei. I do not know if you Shinji have been doing something children aren't supposed to be doing these days. You will both be staying together, until I decide otherwise, there will be an increase in your pay," Gendo spoke and turned his head towards Shinji, "This is because you will now have to support yourself. Rei you do not need a pay increase."
Gendo stopped there, he looked at Fuyutsuki that had a smile on his face, and then looked back at the two children, and they seemed to be getting into quite a better mood.
"Because your environments have changed your weekly Synch tests will not be weekly anymore, they will be bi-weekly unless told otherwise. Dr. Akagi, will test you Rei tomorrow at 09:00 hours. Shinji you are to go with Rei, and answer any questions the doctor will have for you." Gendo finished his speech, looked back at Fuyutsuki and pressed a button to open the doors to his office.
Fuyutsuki looked down at Gendo, which was sitting in his desk, he nodded his head, and spoke, "Children, you are dismissed, return home, and please don't get into any more trouble"
Shinji and Rei walked out of the office, not saying one word, but if you looked closely both had smiles on their faces, they were very unnoticeable, but they were genuine. They got all of their belonging and left for their apartment, yes their apartment. It was home. Home.
Gendo sat still, he had messaged Ritsuko to come to his office, and she had done as he wished. Ritsuko showing up seconds after Gendo had called her for a meeting with him.
"The first and third child will be staying together, you have to test Rei tomorrow if there has been any contamination, have a psychological test done on Shinji, I want to see what type of impact Rei is having on him, and vice versa," Gendo ordered, while telling Fuyutsuki to leave him, he had some desires to fulfill.
Ritsuko was shocked, the first and third staying together in one apartment, one room apartment at that, was Gendo crazy to let them stay together, but maybe this was a way to win against the angels, Shinji had showed great piloting this day, and the angels were destroyed very quickly though both units except unit-00 had considerable damage on them, but it was an easy fix with the LCL and parts that have been shipped to Nerv from the third branch in Germany.
Moving closer to Gendos desk Ritsuko nodded her head. Moving closer to Gendo she saw him looking down at her body, from there the magic flew and we will always wonder what happened.
Back at the battle field, the molten plug from Unit-02 was being open, it had heated up so much from its booster rockets going off that the hatch had to be sawed off, the pilot inside was yelling at the com link to get her out. Asuka was mad, she was defeated but the battle was not lost yet for her, she was mad at Shinji that took both of the angels out. Her pride was hurt, but she was stubborn she was not going to lose without a fight. The plug hatch flew open, and Asuka rushed out. She pushed away anyone that threw a blanket at her, running into the recovery truck she saw Misato inside.
"So what happened, are the angels dead, I'm guessing they are, because everyone doesn't seem to be worried or even concerned that I was stuck in that stupid plug for two hours," Asuka yelled into Misatos ear. Misato was about to go off, she was cringing at every word that came out of Asukas mouth. It was just pure hatred to the other pilots and disrespect on Misato's part
"Asuka just shut up, get over it, next Angel that comes around you can kick its ass, we've got many to go, from what I can tell this is only 5th Angel to attack us, we have gotten 10 more angels to go. Maybe more I don't really know, all I know is what the higher ups tell me, and don't think I'm as high as they go. I'm rice compared to the noodles that we have around." Misato shot back at Asuka.
Hearing this, Asuka calmed down, and started to think to herself, she wondered how Shinji had done such a stunt, how could have he defeated both angels without any work at all, at least almost no work.
Misato and Asuka returned to their apartment. Driving down the street they saw Shinji and Rei walking back to their apartment. Misato thought this might be a good chance to patch things up with Shinji and herself, and maybe get him to see that Asuka is more than she puts out.
Pulling close to them by the street she yelled out of her car, "Hey guys do you need a ride back to your place!"
Rei and Shinji heard this pretty easily, because it was pure silence outside, people were still shocked to come out after such a battle that went on in and around Tokyo-3. Shinji looked at Rei and she looked back at him.
They decided to take the ride, both were tired from such a long day at Nerv, and the battle had taken lots of Energy out of everyone.
Both Rei and Shinji got in the back seat, Asuka didn't want to give the front passenger seat to Shinji or Rei, she just moved to let them get in the back of the two door sports car.
Durring the entire drive towards Shinjis and Reis apartment, there was almost nothing said; even Misato the person came up with the idea of trying to patch things up didn't know what to tell the couple. They seemed to be on the same thought path, Rei was thinking to herself and looking out the window, Shinji was almost doing the same thing, but had his headphones on, and listening to music and relaxing. Misato was driving like she stole her own car like always, and Asuka ignored it all trying to keep to herself.
Misato came up with a great idea, she thought they should have a party for the defeat of the Angel, and the kids could invite their friends, and she could invite hers.
"I've got a great Idea guys, this tomorrow we should have a party at my house, so that we could celebrate the defeat of another angel, you guys can invite your friends, and I'll get Kaji and Ritsuko to come by, maybe even the staff at the command center. Shinji Rei, both of you better come or I'll drag you over, we would have lots of fun if you both came, at least I think that," Misato just couldn't stop herself.
Dropped the kids off at their apartment, and driving off, Shinji could hear a "are you crazy Misato, why did you go and do that" coming from Asuka's mouth when Misato darted her car towards her own Apartment.
That night, Rei and Shinji lay in bed thinking of what will happen tomorrow, Shinji actually was in a good mood, he was happy that his father had let him stay with Rei. Rei was confused why the Major would have a party for the destruction of the angel, even though there was high amounts of life lost when it came out of nowhere, lots of Japans self defense forces were destroyed or blown to shreds.
Shinji closed his eyes, and pushing his body closer to Rei, it was getting cold at the Apartment, and he did not want to turn up the heater more. Rei had done the same thing, and wrapping her body closer to Shinji. Both finding comfort in each other fell asleep, thinking how the next day will go, will they have to face hell again, or will it be heaven. Maybe it will be as comforting, to go to school tomorrow, maybe it will be enjoy to talk to his friends at school Shinji thought, Rei couldn't stop thinking about commander though, she lied to him, and she thought that she owed him an apology.
The night had fallen, the construction workers went home it was quiet, the moon was out, so Shinji opened the shutters for the windows letting the Moons light hit his face and the room. Maybe it will help me and Rei fall asleep faster, maybe it will be more comforting, to sleep under the moons light.
They both fell asleep holding each other, thinking what will happen to them next, and maybe what will they become the next day in their lives,