Delicate As Glass

Chapter 3

Procrastination. That was the subject clouding Kaworu's mind as he paced to and fro in front of Rei's bedroom door. Kaworu was nervous yet partly shy at the thought of going into a young lady's room while she was sleeping only to check and see if she is well. She is probably sleeping right now, Kaworu thought to himself. Leaning against the wall he thought some more about the other options he could muster up. I would be impolite to barge into her sleeping quarters while she sleeps, he thought. Poor Rei. I know she is upset about something, but I cannot quite put my finger on it. Kaworu felt tension building up in his heart and mind, so he decided to act halfway.

He slowly turned the brass doorknob and silently opened the door ajar. He peeked in to see if Rei was safe and sound. He noticed that she had eaten all of the soup that he had prepared for her earlier and drank all of the warm milk. As her sleeping face, vulnerable and innocent, rested upon the white sheet of her pillow, Rei's face seemed more at ease than it was when she was on the bus and walking home with Kaworu. Still pale as Kaworu, Rei did look better than previously.

Kaworu smiled and closed the door carefully without waking her. Turning to face the hallway's opposite wall, Kaworu could not help but think that Rei was more worried and weak than she had been letting on. The end of his lip created a curve that signaled that Kaworu had an idea. Not an ingenious idea but an idea nonetheless. Somebody has to keep an eye on such a Sleeping Beauty, he thought.

About 8 o'clock, Kaworu was awaken from a peaceful slumber by the sound of merry and gay laughter from downstairs in the living room. Before he knew what was going on, or figured out that it had been at least two hours since he drifted off to sleep, Kaworu still remembered what happened before. He had been leaning against his pillow with his blankets over his slender body out on the hallway floor, in front of Rei's bedroom door. He wanted to sleep outside Rei's door just in case something went wrong. He was worried, that was the case. Sleeping in her room would cause questionable issues; because Kaworu's room was the furthest from Rei's, the next best thing was staying outside her bedroom door. He rubbed his eyes sleepily, and stood up without falling down. He swiped his blankets and pillow in his arms and went downstairs and into the living room. Misato and the others were watching comedy on TV, Kaworu noticed. They were having such a good time downstairs in the living room.

"Hey, Kaworu-kun!" Asuka waved. "Wanna watch this movie with us? It's freakin' hilarious!"

"What is it?" Kaworu asked. "What is the name of the movie?"

"50 First Dates," Shinji replied. "It is very funny. Wanna watch?"

Even thought neither one of them, except Misato, who was drinking a beer on the couch, knew that Rei was very, very, very, very, very sick , Kaworu pondered wether or not to stay downstairs or go back upstairs. He rushed his hand through his silver locks and dropped his beautiful eyes on the floor, staring at his slippers. Rei was sleeping; he had just awakened. He though it wouldn't hurt to watch a movie if Rei was sleeping all that time while he slept outside her door. So he decided.

"Sure, I will gladly watch it with all of you," he said in a dreary tone. He sat next to Shinji, put his arm around him and laid his head on his shoulder. Kaworu appeared very tired and worried at the same time. Misato and Asuka, while Toji continued viewing the movie without a care, stared at Kaworu and Shinji's position questionably. Shinji turned pink in the face, but it appeared blue in the dark room with the TV's light showing on his delicate skin.

"Uh...Kaworu-kun?" asked Misato, "Are you feeling alright?"

"Yeah, you don't look so hot," Asuka agreed with a sweat drop.

Kaworu replied: "Hmm-nnnm..." as he turned his head a little toward the TV with closed eyes. What Kaworu, in this case, was thinking of was Rei. For some cosmic-parallel reason, Kaworu could just feel that something was wrong with his co-pilot. He did not like even the thought of someone he knew, especially Shinji, being unhappy or sad. Kaworu listened to the dialogue of the movie, then was interrupted by another one of Misato's questions.

"Are you sure you're okay, Kaworu-kun? You look tired. Maybe you should go straight to bed for the night." Kaworu barely shook his head on Shinji's shoulder. Misato was replied with an answer of a dreamy sort. "I'm ok. Just thinking." Misato, being a teenager before, knew that he was thinking deeply and needed some thinking time to himself, so she cut the third degree. Asuka looked at him seeing that is wasn't a 'what' he was thinking of. It was more of a 'who.' Question was: Who was this 'who'? Asuka didn't seem to think that Kaworu was that concerned with it seeing the calm expression on his face, so she turned her undivided attention to the film.

"I haven't even met you!" said Drew Barrymore to Adam Sandler, the two leading roles in 50 First Dates. Kaworu opened his eyes at that line then shut them again. Almost falling asleep leaning against Shinji, Kaworu almost gave up on Rei's predicament but he was not going to ignore it all together.

"Interesting," Misato said. "She knows him one day and the next she doesn't remember him. Interesting..."

I saw and spoke with her one the bus, thought Kaworu, giving his last attempt to figuring out if Rei was really depressed and what he could do about it, and why she did not even have a coat in this cold winter weather. Let me see...I said hello, and she said hello back. I said that she did look pale, oh, no...! Did I hurt her feelings? God, I hope not. Then...after I said another thing she froze like a photograph. What did I say? What was it that caused her to look like that. After I said that...! That's it! She did not talk the rest of the way home until she fainted. It definitely was something I said. God, I'm an idiot! Now what was it?

"She doesn't like men hitting on her when she's eating her breakfast," said another actor in the film.

His thinking path, deep and turning, Kaworu's eyes remained shut. Was she trying to get sick on purpose? he thought. No, it couldn't be. Rei would not do that. Then what is it? I cannot think of another reason.

"That's crazy. That is the kind of story I would tell a girl so she would never call me again," said Sandler.

"Hmm...interesting," Misato repeated. "Oh! I'm so glad that we got you kids' cloths done for the dance next week. You guys will have such a great time."

"Isn't Rei-chan going with us?" Shinji asked to Misato.

"I really don't know, Shinji-kun," Misato said. "I really don't know."

Just then, Kaworu's eyes snapped open as though he had just been shot. He stood erect at an instant, scaring Shinji and the others. Kaworu's paroxysm of such an action within an outburst of alertness in so little seconds even pulled Toji's attention from the movie.

"What is it?" Asuka asked. "What's the matter, Kaworu-kun?"

"I-It...It is nothing," Kaworu lied in a low voice. It was at that moment a thought came to Kaworu's chamber of his mind: Did Rei attempt to catch an illness just to avoid going to the dance with him and everybody else? I'm not 100 sure that's what it is but it could be. Rei...

"You sure are acting strange," Toji said. "Is anything wrong?"

"Sorry," Kaworu said. "I'm just a little paranoid. No worries." It was not a "no worry" situation for him to tell the truth. Kaworu, thanks to a little help from the movie, discovered the truth or the possible truth to Rei's secret.

"Hey, where are you going Kaworu-kun?" Shinji asked the older pilot as he walked away with his blankets and pillow.

"I'm sleepy so I'm gonna go to bed now, but I have something to take care of first," he said with a weak smile. All of them bid Kaworu a good night and he did the same before climbing the stairs to Rei's bedroom. As before, he stood in front of the door with a blank face. Eyes of possible regret gazed a the stern oak, polished to shine. Taking a deep breath, he gripped the doorknob, tightening his grip on his blankets and pillow, and turned but stopped in the middle of the turn when he heard a yawn come from inside the room. The door was already slightly opened when Rei caught sight of his red eyes full of concern. Kaworu ceased in breath, broke out in a cold sweat and felt his heart in his throat. Rei saw him.