Well, I'm going along well on this…It's fun to write, and it's taking my mind off FoD…Madness of course will be updated…

Everyone go read End of Evangelion: Darkness, dang it, I finished it but I barely got any reviews…

Seems people are leaning towards R/S, and it indeed may be that, beware however, although I am experienced in all the various areas, situations, and cliches of a Shinji/Asuka fic, when it comes to Rei/Shinji romance, I'm rather green, but we'll see what happens…

As for the horror, or weirdness, or whatever you perceive in this, or whatever questions you must have, don't worry, I'm not the type to leave everything unanswered and random (or at least I'm not that type most of the time…ehehhe…)

Thanks for the reviews, by the way, all quite interesting and well written.

Well, whatever, let's begin…

Disclaimer: I don't own Evangelion or its characters. Gainax does, and they rock. Who else could create both Evangelion and FLCL! I also don't own anything that happens to be referenced in this story.

Tokyo 3, Japan

Shinji's Apartment

Shinji sighed as he entered his apartment, turning on the light and yawning, his eyes blinking rapidly.

He slowly crept his way towards the bed, hoping that the tiny lamp he had turned on would help him to his room, but he failed misrebly, banging his head against the wall and letting out a yelp.

Suddenly, a soft, woman's voice.

"Shinji…is that you?"

"Ow…ow…sorry, Rei, did you move the furniture or something?"

"Why did you not turn all the lights, Shinji?"

"I...didn't want to wake you up, Rei…"

Shinji gazed at Rei's dimly lit face as she stood and almost gasped. She was quite beautiful, her skin of alabaster perfection, and although he had lived with her for years, he continued to realize that like a revelation from time to time, and grew extremely shy in those moments, almost returning to calling her by the formal "Ayanami."

Rei smiled, it was difficult to see in the dim light, but it seemed warm and sleepy. She smiled and spoke, her voice soft and almost lilting in the silence.

"Thank you, Shinji."

Shinji almost stumbled over in surprise, but caught himself, grinning inside. No, this should not be a great surprise, she had changed as the years had gone by, continued contact with him and other human beings that were friendly and active, unlike the late Gendo Ikari, had led her to slowly but inevitably rise from within her shell of cold monotony.

Shinji yawned again, looking around, his hands grasping around.

"Where's that switch again?"

"Where are you, Shinji?"

"If I knew, I wouldn't ask…What did you do anyway, Rei?"

"I simply moved the couch."

"Where t-"

Shinji's legs seemed to expect his question, answering it before he could finish, sending him stumbling over in the darkness against the recently moved couch.

And suddenly, the light came on, Rei standing in front of the light switch, gazing at Shinji Ikari.

Indeed, Rei Ayanami had grown into quite the beautiful young woman, her figure filling out, maybe not to Misato proportions, but she was almost even more beautiful than anything Shinji had ever seen, simply because Shinji recognized her uniqueness.

There was indeed no one else in the world like her…or at least not anymore.

Ritsuko stood in front of the tanks of liquid, smirking confidently as Shinji and Misato stared in awe.

"Rei!"

A hundred giggles and voices echoed in the room, all Rei, and Shinji stumbled backwards, his eyes bulging out.

"All of these are salvaged parts…Spare Reis…They have no souls, they're nothing but hollow Reis, and I despise them…"

Misato aimed her handgun at Doctor Akagi as the Reis all around Shinji began to dissolve, their eerie smiles still on many of their dissolving faces.

"Do you have any idea of what you're doing!"

"Yes, I'm destroying them…These are not human…just things with human forms…The Chamber of Guff…is empty"

Ritsuko sobbed.

"I lost against her…those things…these foolish things…I could weather it all as long as he loved me, or as long as I thought he did…but I always knew I wasn't like that to him…Never…I'm an idiot, just like my mother…stupid…stupid…"

Misato's eyes widened, while Shinji remained speechless.

"Kill me if you want…I'd be glad if you did…Life is simply one diminishing marginal return…my mother could never understand that love and life can be measured scientifically, dismally so…"

Misato looked down, lowering her gun and peering at Shinji, who was on his knees, shivering, his eyes emotionless, dead.

"The great tragedy of the Evangelion and the people related to it…Am I also one of them?"

Shinji sighed, closing his eyes as he heard Misato's voice in his memories. Oh, how he missed that voice, it meant so much to him, she was like family, maybe more, maybe something else, it didn't matter, he had discovered too late that she was someone who depended on him and cared for him.

Suddenly, Rei's soft voice, interrupting Misato Katsuragi's.

"Shinji? Are you alright, Shinji?"

Shinji sighed, nodding, almost sprawled across the couch, and lifted himself up.

"I'm alright Rei…I'm fine…"

Rei's face seemed to tint with worry, but even Shinji's eyes were unable to catch the expression completely as Rei returned to her usual slight smile, an expression he had cherished since the day he had battled that angel alongside her.

"What do you think, Shinji?"

"Um…about what?"

Rei seemed to grin.

"The room of course."

"Oh…it…it looks good Rei, although I'm really tired…the kids wore me down today."

Rei's hand seemed to slowly raise, as if she was about to lay a hand on his shoulder, when her eyes noticed the stains on his pants.

"What happened, Shinji? I am referring to the stains."

Shinji smiled as he heard Rei's voice. She was such a complex person, and although she had left behind her mechanical frigidity, she sometimes showed some of her former personality, especially when around other people, but she had indeed improved a great deal.

Shinji sighed, unbuttoning his shirt as he walked to the bathroom, Rei repeating her question.

"Oh…Ah…Don't ask Rei, mishap in the subway station…."

Shinji flinched as he remembered the incident that morning…More than a "mishap", maybe, more like a nightmare.

He slowly made his way to the bathroom, closing the door while he changed out of his close not completely, but enough to hide his nudeness.

He left his clothes in a pile on the ground and turned the faucet on, watching as the water cascaded against the porcelain tub.

Shinji sighed once more, a multitude of memories weighing down on his mind as he entered the shower.

Shinji lay upon his futon, gazing up at the ceiling which was supposedly "familiar", yet he had not yet grown accustomed to this place, even after all this time.

"Rei…Ayanami…I feel something about her, something warm. Asuka., Misato, my mother, Rei…". Shinji pictured his father's cold gaze piercing through his body. Light glinting off his shades as he folded his hands in front of his face, perhaps hiding a malevolent smirk, or something worse.

Shinji Ikari stood in front of a familiar red Eva, gazing at it as if he were gazing at its pilot. He mumbled to himself. "Asuka…where are you? I need you…".

Need her? But what would you talk to her about if she was here?

"Well…I…I don't know".

You see now, besides she hates you. You remember…after what that angel did that to her mind

Shinji struggled with the memories, but simply responded with one word. "Asuka…".

"Awww, my little Shinji, are you wasting away for her? Don't worry, she's been found".

Shinji spun around as the blush rose up his cheeks, and was face to face…well, perhaps chest to face with his guardian Misato.

"Oh hey Misato…".

Shinji closed his eyes, his head bowed down in depression and fatigue.

Even the good memories were bitter and painful, for he realized he would never see those people again…

He sighed once again, and then gasped, feeling a soft, tingling feeling as a white hand slowly caressed his shoulder.

His eyes bulged out and he blushed, peering back at Rei, who was smiling warmly now, almost discnerably.

Shinji quickly covered his crotch with the closest towel, stammering as Rei wrapped arms around him.

"Uh…Uh…Uh…Ayana…Ayanami…What are you doing, Rei!"

Rei smiled, a smile that disturbed Shinji because it took him by surprise, it almost seemed mischievous, if such a quiet girl was capable of such things.

She slowly let the robe covering her fall to the ground, speaking simply.

"It would be logical for us to share the shower and our bodies, would it not? It would be a bit more efficient, don't you think so, Shinji?"

Shinji's eyes bulged out as she slowly dragged him into the spraying water of the tub, smiling once more.

The water washed against them, purifying them, sticking to them, sharing in their love, becoming a part of it.

Water…drops of water…were showering everywhere.

Shinji stared up at the sky as the water showered down upon his skewered Evangelion, feeling a coldness creeping into his body, his eyes dilating rapidly as he tried to blink them to normality.

He choked with emotion, realizing the enormity of what was occurring…His death…He was letting them all down…all of them…Asuka…Misato…Rei…Everyone in the entire world even, although he only cared for that female trinity, one dead, one surely dead or dying, and one missing.

Shinji shut his eyes, shivering in his misery.

"Who…am I…kidding…I've let them down already…all…of them…"

His hands sluggishly moved towards his bleeding abdomen, as he saw a group of the mass produced Evangelions slowly stalking towards the wreckage of a crimson Evangelion that seemed vaguely familiar.

He shook his head, whispering.

"No…Not like this…Help me. Someone."

A new feeling shot up Shinji's spine, no longer pain, this was an odd feeling, one of invasion, as if there was something seeping into his body, as if he was…not alone.

"…M-Mother?"

The Third Child's eyes bulged out and he let out a shriek as images began to flash through his head.

Comfort

"What…"

Kindness

"…is this?"

Warmth

"Why…"

Nourishment

"…do I feel so…"

Loved

A bright light filled the entry plug and Shinji clenched his fists and closed his eyes tight, his Evangelion letting out a piercing howl, the light filtering everywhere around him…

Shinji stirred and yawned as sunlight poured into his opening, dazed eyes, from an open window to his left.

He lay there, dazed, then slowly stretched his arms, moving out of the bed and peering about.

Suddenly, Rei's voice, tired but content as she walked in, nude, apparently comfortable with her nudity, as comfortable as she had been as a pilot, although that was simply out of protocol, now it was because of familiarity.

"Shinji, are you up?"

Shinji nodded, too tired to blush, images of what had happened last night flooding his head, numbing it.

She smiled and tossed a paper bag towards him, which he stared at for a few minutes, tired, speaking quizzically.

"What's that, Rei?"

"That girl dropped it off…The class representative, Hikari."

Shinji yawned, raising an eyebrow and picking up the bag.

"Hikari? Haven't heard of her in ages…She was always Asuka's friend…And I just couldn't face her after what I did to-"

But Rei's hand rested against his bare shoulder, comforting him, silencing him, the warmth of her skin conveying a sense of understanding and comfortable familiarity, something that he had been yearning for since…since…well, that was in the past.

He slowly opened the paper bag, gasping as a massive group of photographs spilled out onto the bed.

Re peered at the photographs, her face expressionless.

"The Second Child was going to throw them away, or at least that was what the Class Representative told me, so instead she gave them to you to see if you wanted any of them."

Shinji examined the photographs with a slowly apparent glowing delight, peering at them curiously.

"Look at this! I can't believe it…This was me after the battle with the Fifth Angel…and Misato's here too, and look at that, is that Toji and Kensuke?"

Rei moved in closer, her hand still on Shinji's shoulder, apparently curious.

"And oh! This is when we were moving into the first apartment…hmmm."

"The Second Child…I understand what you meant about her now, Shinji".

Shinji smiled curiously, looking up at Rei.

"What do you mean, Rei?"

"You called her a 'psycho bitch', and indeed she seems to be angry in these pictures, Shinji."

Shinji raised an eyebrow and chuckled.

"Yeah…but she's nice sometimes, even if that only lasts a few seconds."

He peered through a few more pictures, and then suddenly stopped, his eyes wide, his hand shaking as he held a single photograph in front of him.

Tears began to run down Shinji's face, warm streams that felt good across his cold face, surprising both himself and Rei.

Shinji remained motionless, not speaking as Rei peered carefully at the now shaking picture in Shinji's hand.

It was a picture of Shinji, a few years younger, with a small smiling red-haired infant boy with shining blue eyes atop his shoulders, both their faces reflecting childlike mirth.

Rei's face saddened and she wrapped her arms around Shinji, holding him tight as he sobbed now, uncontrollably, her voice finally speaking, soft and warm.

"Is that the one that died?"

Shinji spoke through his tears, nodding at the same time.

"Yeah…we named him Kawuro…"

Rei remained silent, looking at the photograph as Shinji grabbed a napkin and blew his running nose.

Shinji sighed, the tears stopping now, finally.

"Sorry Rei…It just took me by surprise…I didn't expect to see him this morning…God, what I wouldn't give…He was the cutest little angel, and…what a smile…"

Shinji choked back the tears again.

"Damn…I don't even remember this picture…"

Shinji sighed, hiding and bottling up the surge of emotions that had been growing within him, and scrambling across the bed for his pants. He pulled out his wallet and carefully stuck the picture inside it, alongside a picture of Rei Ayanami and Gendo Ikari.

Meanwhile, Rei began stuffing the rest of the pictures methodically into black plastic bag.

"Wait…Rei, don't."

Rei shook her head, a sad expression on her face.

"No, Shinji…I don't like things that make you cry, no matter what."

Shinji sighed, but felt almost warm inside, moved by Rei's emotion.

"No…I…I just want to look at them a little…"

He reached into the pile of photographs, many of them worn and yellow by age, and pulled one out, smiling as he looked at it.

"Oh! This is me!"

He showed a yellowed picture of a small infant boy, sleeping quietly, to Rei.

"Look, it's dated right after I was born!"

He stared at the picture intently and sighed.

"What a kid huh? So cute…so…so much promise."

Rei smiled, embracing Shinji once more.

"It's amazing, is it not, Shinji? Your whole life sprawled right in front of you…"

She paused, gazing at the disheveled pile of pictures.

"What a mess it is, Shinji..."

Shinji chuckled and Rei smiled, as she began to pick up the photographs, organizing them.

"But…I will help you clean up, Shinji."

Shinji blushed as Rei flashed her slight smile once more, it was still as fresh and amazing as the first time he had seen it.

Ugh…Was this chapter lame? I'm new to Rei/Shinji romance…Too WAFFy? Too OOC? This is the year 2026, mind you…Rei's changed, people change…I hope I'm not making this into the Rei/Shinji fic's I hate…I can't tell, but if you didn't like the content of this chapter, don't fret, the chapters of this fic will be so diverse in content anyway…

Well, until next time, later.