Disclaimer: The world of Neon Genesis Evangelion and the characters contained within do not belong to me. I am only borrowing them for my own twisted purposes. This story is for entertainment purposes only and not for profit because no one in their right mind would buy a fanfic from me. :)

Funvince Fanfic Enterprises presents:

WISHES OF THE CHILDREN

-By Vincent "Funvince" Nguyen

-Arc I: Confrontations-

Rei watched the three teenagers heading toward them. Aida and Suzuhara both had knowing leers on their faces. This was nothing new. The two boys gained this look whenever any female talked to Shinji. She didn't quite understand why though. It undoubtedly had something to do with their obsession with sexual matters.

Class Representative Horaki had a befuddled expression on her face, probably wondering what someone like her was doing at the mall. This observation disturbed Rei a little. It was true that she had never been to the mall before, but Horaki wouldn't know that. So why would she be so obviously surprised at her presence? Did she give out such a strong aura of isolation?

Shinji motioned for her attention then asked, "Do you want to get away from them?"

"I do not know," Rei said honestly. A part of her wanted to run away from their questioning eyes, but a more perverse part wanted to see how they would react to her changes.

"Well, it's too late to back out now," Shinji commented as their classmates descended upon them.

"Hey, guys," Suzuhara greeted. "Sure is a surprise to run into you two."

"It is a surprise to us as well," Rei managed to say. Then much to her own surprise as well as the surprise of the group, she asked, "Are you having an enjoyable outing?"

Horaki was the first to recover. "Yes we are. Thank you for asking."

Aida nudged Suzuhara in the side. He whispered something that Rei had no trouble picking up with her strong hearing. "I told you she probably acted differently outside of school. No one could be that cold all the time."

Rei didn't know whether to feel hurt by this affront or flattered that the boy had such misguided confidence in her. Emotions were so confusing.

"So what are you guys doing here?" Shinji asked.

"Kensuke and I were just going to the arcade," Suzuhara replied. Then he pointed his thumb at Horaki. "The class rep here invited herself along as usual."

Horaki rolled her eyes. "As I recall, you two were following me. I don't know why. I'm just going to beat you at DDR as always."

"In your dreams! Your chicken legs don't stand a chance against me!"

"What did you say!"

Horaki and Suzuhara started whispering angrily at each other, ignoring the stares that passer-bys were giving them.

Aida just shrugged then turned to Shinji. "So what are you doing with Ayanami? You wouldn't happen to be on a date now, would you?"

"What? No! It's not like that!" Shinji sputtered, turning bright red. He then began making inarticulate noises and gesturing frantically.

Seeing that her friend was incapacitated for the moment, Rei said, "Shinji was just taking me... shopping."

Aida raised his eyebrows at her use of Shinji's name, but he didn't say anything.

Horaki walked away from Suzuhara, cutting him off in mid-rant, over to Rei. "Are you buying some new clothes then?"

"I have no need for new clothes," Rei replied. "My uniform is sufficient for my needs. We are merely looking around."

"Oh. You should consider buying some stuff though. You should wear something other than your school uniform all the time. Oh, no offense, Shinji."

Shinji protested, "Hey! I wear other stuff! Well, sometimes..."

Rei hadn't noticed it before, but she now realized that she and Shinji were dressed differently from the others. Touji wore his customary sweats. Kensuke had on jeans and a t-shirt that said 'Go ahead, make my data!' Hikari was wearing a purple tank top and denim shorts.

Aida said, "You guys can keep jabbering all you want, but I really need to check out the new Ultimate Vengeance game. See you at the arcade."

"Yeah, we'll see ya," Suzuhara replied, waving his friend off.

As soon as Aida left, Suzuhara's smile disappeared. He gave Shinji a nervous look. "Hey, man, I've been meaning to talk to you about something. Do you have a moment?" He shuffled his feet, looking very miserable.

Shinji said, "I don't know..." He looked over at Rei.

Please don't leave me! Rei wanted to scream, but she managed to restrain herself. Every instinct she had wanted her to run away dragging Shinji behind her; but, she knew what Suzuhara wanted to talk about and she knew that she couldn't get in the way. She didn't know why though. Perhaps it was because she had known true fear for the first time in her life that morning and she did not wish for anyone to suffer through that alone.

"It is okay. You should go talk to your friends," Rei said.

Shinji gave her a surprised but grateful look. "But what about you? I don't want to leave you here by yourself..."

"I'd be happy to show her around while you boys go goof off," Horaki volunteered suddenly. "It's no fun shopping by myself anyway."

"I thought you were going to the arcade," Shinji said.

"I can do that later. Besides, this seems important." She gave Touji an inscrutable look. "So you guys do your guy talk and we'll meet up later."

So it was agreed that in about an hour they would all regroup at the food court.

After the boys left, Horaki seemed to deflate a bit and smiled weakly at the blue-haired girl. Rei saw this and felt bad. "I am sorry if my presence makes you uncomfortable. I can wait here if you would like to go shopping on your own."

Horaki looked startled. "Oh no! I didn't mean make it seem like I didn't want you around. I just thought that you wouldn't want me around! I mean, I just figured you didn't like me."

"Where did you get that idea?" Rei asked, quite surprised.

"I've been trying to talk to you for years and you rarely say anything when I do, so I just figured you didn't like talking to me."

"You were asking questions that had answers that were readily apparent such as 'what are you doing?' or questions that were of a personal nature such as 'how are you feeling?' I saw no need to respond."

"I was making small talk. If you didn't like what I was saying, you could have changed the subject," Horaki said.

Rei had no reply to that. She felt conflicted looking at Horaki. The class representative had never given up on trying to draw her out. Rei had not understood why, but she had done nothing to stop it. She had done nothing to encourage it either. Yet a small part of her had liked the attention.

She pondered her own contradictions. She wanted companionship yet she did everything possible to avoid it. Why? It was partly because she was sure that Commander Ikari would not approve of her forming social attachments, but there was more to it. Had she been afraid of what would happen if she allowed herself to be vulnerable? How could she both desire and fear something at the same time? She was discovering many things about herself today and not all of them were good.

Rei never quite understood why people seemed to enjoy talking purely for the sake of talking. Even now when she talked to Shinji she did so either to exchange information or to satisfy her curiosity, but maybe there was something to be learned from this.

"Miss Horaki, could you tell me more about this 'small talk?' "

"Call me Hikari and you have a deal," the brown-haired girl replied, smiling.

"Okay... Hikari."

Rei watched the class representative walk through the department store picking out various clothing. She tried her best to keep up her end of the disjointed conversation. Hora- no, Hikari was obviously trying to ask questions that were worth answering and Rei tried hard not to automatically ignore the ones that seemed pointless.

They did this for some time until Hikari set down her pile and looked at Rei. "Okay, you're making me a little nervous following me around like that. Why don't you pick out something for yourself to try on?"

Rei glanced at the clothes that Hikari had set on a table. She said, "I do not understand the purpose of owning so many varieties of clothing. Garments are to be used only for warmth and modesty, are they not?"

Hikari looked puzzled, but she did not ignore the question as Rei had expected. She said, "I never thought of it that way, but I think there is a reason. Clothes are a way of showing individuality. It allows us to show a part of our personalities to the world. When I'm not in school or going out, I select an outfit that matches my mood or the image I want to present that day."

No one had ever explained this to her in such a way before. But even if this was true it did not apply to her. She did not go out enough to require a wardrobe. Still, Hikari 's explanation evoked an odd impulse within her. She suddenly wanted very much so to show her 'individuality.' That word alone gave her a mild thrill. She had never thought of herself as an individual before.

Rei looked at the clothing again then reached out to feel the material. There would be no harm in simply trying on a few of these selected items. The point of this day was to try out new experiences after all. She picked up a blue blouse and held it in front of herself before looking into a mirror.

"What do you think?" Hikari asked.

Rei stared at herself for a long moment. "I... do not know. I have no basis for comparison, but it is... different."

"Rei... you would look great in that! It really complements your hair," Hikari said.

"You do not have to say that," Rei said quietly, turning her head away.

Hikari looked surprised. "I'm not. You're a beautiful girl. Don't you know that?"

Freak. Monster. Demon. Ugly witch. These were terms that she was familiar with. She could not refute them. She was an embodiment of everything humans feared. She was an unnatural abomination. A thing like her could not be considered beautiful. The class representative had to be mistaken if she truly meant her words.

Rei felt a hand squeeze her arm and she stiffened. Her first impulse was to push it away, but she couldn't bring herself to move. Her own words came back to her. If physical contact was such a desirable state, then why did people go to such great lengths to avoid it?

Lifting her hand to Hikari's, she gently squeezed back. She allowed herself to feel the comfort of another human being, and Rei found that she did feel a little better.

"I'm sorry if I said something wrong," Hikari said.

Rei could see the sincerity in the other girl's eyes and she felt herself softening. For Hikari's sake, she smiled weakly. "I was simply taken by surprise."

"Guten Tag, Hikari! It took me forever to find you..."

Rei slowly turned around and looked into a pair of dark blue eyes. Asuka Langley Soryu stared back at her with a dropped jaw, which she promplty closed with an audible snap.

A look of disdain appeared in her eyes and she turned away from Rei. "Hikari, what's she doing here?"

Hikari looked flustered. She glanced left and right as if hoping for an interruption. "Um, I just ran into her. Shinji was taking her shopping..." Hikari covered her mouth, but it was too late.

"What! That idiot told me he was going to be at NERV all day! You're telling me he skipped school to hang out with this weirdo?" Soryu yelled.

Hikari mouthed 'I'm sorry' to Rei. Rei would have liked to tell her it was okay, but Soryu picked that moment to invade her personal space. The Second Child pressed her face in until their noses were only inches apart. She said slowly and clearly, "You stay away from him, Wondergirl. Do you understand me? Just to make sure, I'll put it in words you can understand. I order you to stay away from Shinji."

"I do not take orders from you," Rei said tightly.

"Ooh, the doll talks back. Look, just because you're the Commander's favorite doesn't mean you can do whatever you want. Some of us follow the rules."

Isn't that the reason you dislike me so much? Rei wanted to ask. The hypocrisy was too much to take, so she focused on a different opening. "Why do you keep calling me a doll? I realize that I behave differently from most people, but I am what I am. Why do you dislike me so?"

"You want to know why, First Child? Because you never think for yourself. You do whatever you're told. Maybe that makes you good cannon fodder, but those are lousy qualities in a pilot."

Soryu began to pick up steam. "And the worst part of it is how you act. You're always acting so arrogant and superior! Like you're better than everyone else! You didn't do a damn thing to earn your attitude. You have the lowest synch score, but because you're the best ass-kisser at NERV everyone pats you on the head. It's too bad that Shinji doesn't see that. He thinks you like him. He doesn't know that you're just trying to suck up to Commander Ikari some more by hanging out with his son!"

"You understand nothing about me," Rei said, trembling. She knew Asuka was trying to protect Shinji in her own twisted way, but she was not in the mood to think charitable thoughts about the Second. The absurdity of the charges laid against her was wearing away at the remnants of her self-control. How could someone who was supposedly very intelligent be so stupid? This was why she had spent so many months pondering the Second Child's psyche and trying to come to terms with the strange, unpleasant emotions the girl evoked in her?

Rei could feel her hands and jaw tensing. Her eyes had narrowed and her lips had set into a thin, hard line. All she wanted to do right now was beat Soryu to a bloody pulp. She could feel the anger pulsating through her and it scared her. She did not realize that she was capable of such rage. She felt powerful. She felt free. But she could not give in. It was wrong. She held onto that thought and struggled not to give into her dark impulses.

She took a firm hold on her emotions and said evenly, "Shinji is my friend. I simply wish to spend time with him..."

"Dolls don't have friends..." Soryu began.

The hold broke.

"Stop calling me a doll!" Rei cried, her voice rising to a never-before used level. "Are you so stupid that you can not see that I am a person? You think that because I do not respond to your childish taunts you can treat me like an inferior being. What gives you that right? You say you do not like the way I act. Assuming your accusations were even correct, who are you to judge me? Despite your delusions of grandeur, the world does not revolve around you..."

Rei could not stop the words from flowing out of her and she didn't want to. Thoughts and feelings that she had never articulated even to herself burst out of her. She felt... exhilarated. Anger was supposed to be a bad thing, but this was very satisfying. That was also terrifying. How much rage did she hold? What she was saying now was not even a dip in the well of pain she wanted to unleash on Soryu. And Akagi. And everyone who ever assumed that because she never reacted to their hurtful comments that meant she did not care.

Soryu's face was turning an interesting shade of red. "Shut up for a minute, Wondergirl-"

"No, you shut up," Rei snapped, feeling an odd thrill at actually talking back for the first time in her life. "You once asked if we could be friends. If you had truly meant that offer, you either would have kept trying or left me alone! Instead, you have harassed me when I have done nothing to you. You accuse me of unsavory actions and motives for which you have no evidence. When you look at me, you see an emotionless doll with no will of her own.

"You know what I see when I look at you? You are..." Rei paused, seeking the word that would sum up best how she felt about the Second Child. "You are... a bully. A girl who cannot handle the problems in her own life so hurts those who cannot fight back. Or is it a coincidence that it is people like Shinji and I who take the brunt of your anger? And you call me arrogant!"

"I have every right to be-"

"Why? Because you're the best?" Rei sneered. She was dredging up every memory of mocks and taunts used against her and using them as templates of how best to show her contempt against the Second Child. Judging by the expression on the redhead's face, she was succeeding admirably.

"Or maybe it's because horrible things have happened to you. A childhood trauma used as an excuse to lash out-" Rei stopped, knowing that she had almost gone too far.

Soryu stiffened. She said dangerously, "Don't go there."

Rei backed off. She did not want to provoke the Second into attacking her after all, but the girl had to be humbled. She decided to approach this from a different direction. Her voice lowered to its customary softness, her new instincts telling her that such quietness after an outpouring of frustration would be unsettling.

"You're not the only one who has suffered in this life. Major Katsuragi lost her father when Antarctica vanished from the face of the earth. She was adrift at sea for days and after she was rescued, she was catatonic for two years after Second Impact. Doctor Akagi's mother killed... a girl... and then committed suicide. Ryouji Kaji was indirectly responsible for his brother's death. The Third Child saw his mother die and was then promptly abandoned by his father. Over two billion people suffered just as much as you have when this planet was thrown out of its orbit."

Rei knew that she should feel bad for revealing so many personal secrets, but she couldn't bring herself to care. Nothing she was revealing was classified information. And her pain was the most important thing on her mind at the moment. How very human, she thought idly in a brief flash of reflection.

"There were many tragedies and losses among our colleagues. Many of them were never the same afterwards, but yet... yet, you do not see any of them acting like such a bitch."

Soryu slapped her hard.

"Asuka!" Hikari cried out, horrified.

Rei gently touched the red mark she knew had to be marring her pale skin. It hurt, but it could not dim the illicit thrill she felt at uttering such an insult. This may not have been the most mature of responses, but there was something to be said for name-calling. She was still new at this business of handling emotions, but she felt quite pleased with her progress.

"Do you feel better?" she asked politely.

"Damn you," Soryu whispered, her eyes oddly bright. But she was still defiant. "And what's your sob story? What's your reason for acting like a damn robot?"

"None of your business," Rei replied coldly.

Strangely, the answer seemed to satisfy the girl. And while the Second Child still glared at her balefully, Rei also saw something in her eyes that she never expected to see.

Respect.

Rei suddenly had an insight. Asuka Soryu was the type of girl who thrived on conflict. She wasn't sure how this information would help her in the future, but it certainly good to know

"A bully, am I? And a bitch as well. You got the guts to back up those words?" Soryu asked menancingly, stepping forward with clenched fists.

Rei simply stared at her coldly. "Truth is truth. Your actions only serve to strengthen it."

Surprisingly, she felt little fear or anger at the moment. She had said what she wanted to say, and nothing would ever take that satisfaction away from her. She braced herself for Soryu's attack.

Hikari cut in between the two of them. "I'm getting that you two don't like each other. Fine. You know what? I don't care. Can't you girls be civil? Or do you want security to kick us out?"

"You're taking her side?" Soryu asked in a tone of disbelief and slight hurt.

"I'm not taking anyone's side," Hikari replied firmly. "I wouldn't mind enjoying the afternoon with the both of you, but only if you call a truce. Otherwise, I'm leaving."

"I accept those terms," Rei quickly agreed. She really didn't want her only female acquaintance and witness leaving her alone with the Second Child.

Something dark flashed through the redhead's eyes, but the girl quickly suppressed it and agreed.

Hikari gave a sigh of relief. "Okay, then. We have a little over half an hour to browse before we have to go to the food court. Let's get to it."

The next five minutes were slightly uncomfortable. Soryu didn't seem to know how to act around Rei now that she wasn't yelling at her. And Rei didn't feel she could talk to Hikari with the Second next to her."

Finally, Soryu threw a sweater down in frustration. "This is stupid. It's not like we don't see each other every day. You still piss the hell out of me, but if I can get along with those two idiots Shinji hangs with, then I can certainly put up with you. So what's up, Wondergirl?"

Confused, Rei glanced up at the ceiling.

Soryu smirked. "Some things don't change after all. What's up with you today, anyway? You forget to take your medication or something?"

"Something like that," Rei replied wryly. Then on a mischievious whim, she asked, "Would you like some?"

Rei had to turn quickly toward the clothes rack to keep Soryu from seeing her face break out into a grin. She was startled when a trembly sound bubbled out from the back of her throat. It wasn't quite laughter, but it was a pleasing start.