I do not own Evangelion, the Superstar Virgo or any other copyrighted material that may appear in this story. Please don't sue me. Heck! You guys should be THANKING me instead. I am advertising for you all you know?
Hehe, I hope nobody sues me for that statement. Even if they do, I'll just hide in some dark alley where I can ambush the captors. Oops, I'm rambling again…
So without further ado, I present to you
Winning Her Heart In 7 Days
The Cruise – Day 1
It was three days since Rei discharged from hospital. To her surprise, those three days were unbearably long. That was saying something as the blue haired albino was used to spending time alone. In fact, she was alone for most of her short life.
"Its eleven o clock. The Major should be here any minute." Rei thought as she waited at the car park below her house. She flicked away a stray strand of hair from her eyes as she looked at the car park entrance for the umpteenth time. "This is… unusual…I have never had a problem with waiting."
Actually, she had been there waiting since ten. The dreary atmosphere at home finally affecting her, the albino decided to wait downstairs an hour earlier instead. Having nothing to do to occupy her as she waited, her thoughts inadvertently turned towards a certain timid brown haired boy.
"Ikari-kun would be in the car as well." Rei thought unconsciously. "Would he be sitting at the front or behind?"
Of course, she hoped he would be sitting at the back. That would mean that they would be in closer proximity. Admittedly, one of the main reasons why the past three days seemed so long was because he kept appearing in her thoughts. Rei was especially worried when she remembered him running away when Asuka told her how he felt about her. What was most uncomfortable was that she began to doubt whether Shinji actually liked her or not. She needed to know the answer.
Finally, the screeching of tyres could be heard in the distance; as well as the curses of pedestrians that managed a close brush with death.
"That must be the Major, her driving skills are infamous." The albino thought.
Thirty seconds later, a blue blur turned into the car park and came to a grinding halt just a few feet away from her. The windows of the car wound down to reveal an ecstatic Misato and two very carsick passengers.
"Hi Rei! Glad to see that you're all packed and ready." Misato said brightly.
Shinji however, noticed something amiss, even in his current state of queasiness. "But why are you wearing your school uniform Ayanami?"
"I do not posses any other form of clothing." Rei replied without any trace of emotion.
Hearing her cool dismissal of his question, Shinji could not help but feel disappointed. "I think she's really angry with me," he thought. The boy then meekly scooted to the other side to allow Rei into the car.
In an act of brilliance, Asuka recalled Rei saying once that she had no other clothes. Therefore, the redhead had actually packed extra for the albino. "Don't worry Baka, I have packed extra clothing for Rei for this trip."
Misato could not help but smile. "You see! Asuka's a really nice girl. I'm so proud of you Asuka!"
For once, Asuka actually blushed. "Gee, I know you guys worship the ground I stand upon but there's no need to suck up to me so early." Of course, she had to cover up her momentary uneasiness with more bravado.
"In your dreams." Shinji and Misato muttered.
"What did you say?" the redhead overheard them and demanded.
Rei on the other hand, did not pay much attention to the conversation. However, she did notice that Shinji was indeed sitting at the back. "Its strange that just sitting next to Ikari-kun can make me feel nervous." She noted with mild surprise.
And so, the journey to the dock was a laughter-filled one. With the three flatmates doing most of the joking and quarrelling while Rei just sat and listened. Shinji absentmindedly noted that this was what a happy family should be like.
"Yo Shin-man how are you doing?" Touji asked the timid boy once he saw them at the check in counter. "You of course, are going to be in the same room as me right?"
Being an EVA pilot as well, Touji was naturally invited to the cruise, albeit another reason why Misato invited him was actually so that Shinji would have some male company. She reasoned that Ryoji Kaji was not the best of role models.
Shinji looked over at the females he came with. "Am I?"
Misato and Asuka replied him with a resounding, "YES!"
Shinji shrugged his shoulders and followed Touji to their room.
"Man, Kensuke was so pissed when he heard he was not invited that he nearly severed all ties with me!" The jock tried to initiate conversation.
"Oh I see..." Shinji replied with not much enthusiasm.
Touji gave his friend a queer look. "You seem out of sorts once we left the girls… anything I should know about?"
That knocked Shinji back to his senses.
"Wha…what? Stop imagining things." Shinji countered weakly.
"Aha! I knew something is wrong. So who's it?" Touji demanded.
"Its Rei of course!"
Touji started. Shinji gave that answer so readily? He had thought he would have to grill the poor boy for at least an hour first. Then he saw a flash of red from behind him, quickly followed by streaks of blue and purple.
Asuka grabbed the heads of the two boys and knocked them together. "So its up to you to help him not make a fool of himself." She ordered Touji.
"Aa…Asuka… not so loud please." Shinji rubbed his head where it had connected with the jock's. He risked a glance at his crush and noted that she was flushing a little and looking at the floor. That gave the boy a little more confidence. "Maybe I still have hope."
"Here! Take this and put it in our room." Asuka said, handing the two boys their considerable luggage and the keycard to their room. However she also whispered to Shinji, "Use this chance to write a card to Rei or something."
The boy winked at her and muttered, "Thanks…sis… I owe you one."
The redhead gaped. "No…no problem…bro."
She quickly shuffled away after that, taking Misato and Rei with her.
Staring at the blushing redhead, Touji had to ask. "Wow, what did you say to subdue the demon?"
"I simply called her sis." Shinji replied. "Come on, we have a lot of unpacking to do."
The two boys then threw their own luggage into their room before doing the dreaded task of unpacking the luggage for the women. Actually, only Shinji dreaded it. Touji, being the hotheaded youth that he was, could not wait.
Shinji was staring dumbly at the luggage on the floor when he noticed Touji taking Rei's luggage carrier and was about to unzip it. Feeling a surge of jealousy, he gave the jock a push and snatched it away. "Here unpack this instead." He said and threw Asuka's luggage to his friend.
"Sheesh…" Touji exclaimed in disbelief.
The shyer of the two boys then started to unpack his crush's luggage, noticing with a tinge of sadness that it only contained a few items. Two sets of school uniform, a white long sleeved shirt, a white one-piece swimming costume and a few sets of undergarments were all that was inside the bag.
"Its lucky that Asuka brought extra for her." Shinji mentally thanked his 'sister' again.
Then his attention refocused upon the swimming costume. "Rei likes swimming… maybe I could spend more time with her if I learnt it as well." Then he remembered they were in a cruise ship. "But we are at sea, who can teach me swimming now?"
He looked at the other boy who was having the time of his life arranging Misato's undergarments. "Can you teach me how to swim?"
Touji quickly dropped the laced bra and answered, "Yea…yea sure of course! Just don't tell Misato what I did."
Shinji laughed. "Deal!"
"Ok first, you have to learn how to float." Touji instructed his friend who was holding on to a floatation device. "Slowly let go of it and spread your arms and legs… that's it."
Shinji was quite a fast learner. In a space of an hour, he was able to master the basics of the breaststroke.
"Hey Shin-man, you really like Ayanami don't you?" Touji asked when he was certain Shinji got the hang of being suspended in water.
Shinji choked when he heard that. "I don't really know… it is just that she has a kind of mysterious appeal to her. All I know is that I want to know her better."
The jock regarded him thoughtfully, "No offence, but isn't she like, cloned from your mum?"
"I know, i know… But everytimeI look at her, I just cannot help but feel attracted." Shinji said desperately. "It's as if she is a part of me that was ripped away a long time ago."
Touji smiled slightly. "I feel the same way with Hikari as well! But don't you think the missing part of you is really cold and unfeeling?"
"She's not cold because she wants to." Shinji argued. "It was her upbringing… my da…Gendo Rokubungi brainwashed her." Mentioning his father made Shinji feel hot inside. "He deserves to be jailed for all the things he's done."
Touji wisely kept silent at that. The boy was always sensitive whenever his parents were mentioned. After a few more minutes of awkward silence, the more athletic boy decided he wanted a drink.
"Hey I'm gonna get a drink. You just swim a few practice laps around the pool ok?" the makeshift instructor asked his student.
"Ok."
This was the jock's most serious mistake of the day. No good instructor would ever leave a beginner unsupervised in the pool, not even one who has as much natural talent as Shinji. Therefore, almost as soon as he went away, Shinji decided that he would try swimming at the deep end of the pool. "I mustn't run away anymore." He thought.
In his defence, he initially managed quite well on his own. However, once he reached the middle of the pool, he decided to take a rest to catch his breath. Unfortunately, Touji forgot to teach him the skill of treading water as they were practicing at the shallow end. Therefore, when Shinji found out that his feet could not touch the bottom, he started to panic.
A panicked swimmer usually meant trouble.
"HELP!" Shinji screamed as he floundered, made splashing noises and started to sink like the Titanic. The irony of drowning above sea level when he was offshore did not occur to him then as he struggled to keep afloat.
"And so he just pushed me away when I was about to help unpack Rei's luggage and he…OH SHIT!" Touji was retelling Shinji's weird behaviour to the three females that his current student had arrived with when he saw Shinji thrashing wildly.
"Ikari-kun!" Rei screamed as loud as she ever did and was about to jump in when Touji plunged into the pool and swam towards the struggling boy. He got hold of Shinji's shoulders and dragged him towards the edge of the pull. Finally with a mighty heave, he pulled his friend up to ground.
"Shinji! Shinji! You have to vomit out the water!" Touji desperately shook his friend.
Shinji just lay on the floor motionless.
Finally, Touji was left with no other choice but to administer cardio pulmonary resuscitation. He took a deep breath and bent down…
Three seconds before Touji's lips touched his friend's, Rei realised that something was not right. Shinji's first kiss should not be wasted in such a manner.
"No." She said simply and pushed the jock away, making it the second time that day that the poor boy was pushed to the floor.
Rei placed her lips onto Shinji's and exhaled strongly into his mouth. She then frantically applied pressure on his chest, checking his breathing every few seconds to see if her efforts were working. "Ikari-kun you must not die! I still have so many unanswered questions!" She thought desperately. "You must come back… to me."
Finally, Shinji's eyes opened and he gagged; throwing up the water he had swallowed. When the boy's vision refocused, he saw a heavenly sight.
"Ayanami…"
"Ikari-kun… I'm… glad." Rei said and did another unexpected thing. She smiled.
Applause could be heard in the background when the onlookers witnessed this heart- warming event. The two teens blushed when they realised the position they were in.
"Thank you Ayanami." Shinji said finally.
"Rei."
"Huh?"
"We are friends now. Is it not proper for you to call me Rei, Shinji-kun?"
That was more than the timid boy could ever wish for. He gave the pale albino a hug and said, "Thank you Rei, thank you."
The girl only blushed in reply.
For the rest of the day, everyone who saw Shinji could not help but notice the glassy look in his eyes. "Rei kissed me, Rei kissed me, Rei kissed me."
TO BE CONTINUEDWow! It seemed the hedgehog only needed a day to win his lady's heart in the end. Maybe I should change the title to something else.
Stay tuned for more S/R fluff in the next chapter!
This chapter is pre-read by my sis.
Finally, please review!