I regret to announce, this early on in the game, that there will unlikely be any place for the character of Asuka in this fic, and, in fact, every other character is more of a side-character. Although the fate of the other characters are already predetermined, if public demand becomes significant, the character of Asuka may be somehow worked into the plot before it is too late. Thank you for your attention.

BDSM abbr. bondage; discipline; domination and submission; sadism and masochism.

Comedy: 56 pt
Drama: 10 pt
Descriptive: 34 pt

Now's your chance to watch The Phantom of the Opera. Go ask your relatives the DVD for Christmas.

First Stop

The day was at its prime. The sun shone down blaringingly onto the world, below, casting awful shadows where it can. The cicada-buzz saturated the air with a heat, unbearable; and an energy electrified it, tingling the senses like soda fizz.
And in all this, Rei made her way to the local shopping mall in her school uniform.

Rei was not a frequent customer to the KABUKI Center. She only ever visited for a few bits of odds and ends like toothbrushes or red shampoo. The rest, she often ordered in bulk to be delivered to her door, like instant ramen.
Therefore, this sort of visit to the shopping center would have been regarded as "unnecessary" by Rei since she was here not for any of the above. However, through the persuasion of a voice in her head, she was led to come to KABUKI for a round of shopping to prepare for her first drop-by to a rich girl's party with the entire school invited. Rei's inclination to follow this voice's suggestions could not be explained by the fact that she first experienced it during her first dream, and next whilst she was showering; or that the hot chocolate the voice offered Rei was made by Rei, anyway. It would be disappointing to report, then, that the shopping mall had no psychiatric ward nor mental asylum in its complex.

Fortunately, for Kaworu - the owner of the voice, this meant that he could hang around for just a bit longer, at least as long as he needed to. For now, Kaworu's first mission was to get Rei some good clothes.

"Alright, Rei," Kaworu said as they entered the mall, "firstly, I don't mean to be stingy, but we need some money. Did you bring much? Or have much?"
"We can withdraw money from my account at that ATM," Rei replied.
"Right, right, let's get to it..."
Rei inserted her card and punched in some number, to which Kaworu was asked not to look at. When Kaworu was allowed to look, again, he near lost his pseudo-balance. "Whoah," Kaworu was taken aback. "7,788,656 Yen?"
"How much will we need?"
"Forget 'need', let's take it all! I think we can seriously give you a make-over to remember for a thousand years...!"

Rei felt somewhat reluctant to just take out her life-savings and to spend it on a cause that she rather wished she did not have to take part in, so felt she had to verify the validity of its justification. In her most brilliantly neutral tone, she asked, "Must we really withdraw all this money?"

Kaworu attempted to stay under control from the sight of all that money. "Well, er, that is - if it's okay with you... I mean, what, are you saving for something?"
"No. My weekly living expenses leaves a substantial excess of money, which I leave in this deposit. I haven't consider what to do with the money, yet."
"Well, I think I've found the perfect thing to do with it. Come on, let's take it and go shopping!"
Rei couldn't hold her ground. "Alright."

As quickly as the cash spewed out of the ATM - all ¥7,788,656 - the man standing behind Rei snatched it out of her hands, bagged it and ran. "Yoink."
Kaworu sweatdropped. Rei looked as the man ran.
"Rei! Aren't you going to do something? Go catch him!" Kaworu urged. "He's getting away with my money!"
"My money."
"Whatever! Just go!"
Rei sighed. "Alright."

Rei dashed after the robber.
"There he is!" Kaworu called, pointing. "The one wearing the pink tutu, carrying the black bag!"
"I can tell," Rei replied, homed in and gaining on him.

The background of the mall flashed by the pursuer and the pursued into a blur like streaks of water-color. It was as if the two were perfectly stationary, and the surroundings moved. It was like a cost-effective method of animation.
But Rei was catching up fast. She had the leg-power. The man in the pink tutu didn't have it in those thin, little hairy legs of his. Rei was almost there.

Now was the time to strike...

"Hyaaa...!"
Rei screamed as she did a flying kick aimed right at the culrpit's face. The man could only see Rei's shoe, and a miniscule peek up her skirt when he turned around for the last time...
The two collided and flew right into the adjacent porn shop with a crash.

The robber's eyes swirled as he lay on a pile of magazines in the gay section. Rei was found dusting herself off under the more popular section, 'shaved'.
"Very appropriate," Kaworu commented, nodding.
Rei picked up the black bag next to the man in the pink tutu, and walked off...

"So, this is the first place I want you see take a look through," Kaworu said. "It's great. It's got everything you need to make you look like the badass girl you are."
"I am badass?"
"You damn straight will be when I'm through with you. But then again, I guess we could try for 'sweet'... No, we'll take you here, first, and we'll decide whether it's for you..."

Rei was standing in front of a neat little store named "Graffiti". The only people who walked through those doors, however, were goths, punks and general BDSM enthusiasts. That all changed when Rei stepped through.

"Hi," the shop assistant greeted in plain English.
He, himself, had the whole eye-brow ring, Mohawk, blackness and chewing-gum thing going on.
"You need some help, girl, or are you fine?" The shop assistant was looking Rei and her figure up and down. He wondered what a cute chick in a schoolgirl uniform was doing in a store which featured badass clothing and bondage equipment on a hot Saturday afternoon. In those very words.
Kaworu saw that Rei needed to quickly get through the pleasantries. "Yeah. Rei, just say you don't need any help, okay?"

Rei looked at the shop assistant for a silent moment. "I won't need any help."
"Good," Kaworu continued. "Now smile and walk away."

Smile? Rei rethought this direction Kaworu was giving her. You want me to smile?
"Yes! Now do it!"

Rei looked at the shop assistant for another silent moment before she smiled. Unfortunately, for her, this hit him like a ton of bricks. Rei walked away, immediately.
That was unusual, for me to...
"Yeah," Kaworu said, taking a good look at the shop assistant again as they walked into the store. "Maybe that was a bad idea, to smile..."

The shop was interesting, to say the least. Although the whips, the black leather straps, the fluffy, pink handcuffs and other things, unspeakable, were found waiting to be picked up as they went around, Kaworu managed to direct Rei's attention to the badass clothing he was talking about.
What Kaworu managed to carefully select as they made a trip around the store were black, leather pants with a nice pattern of horizontal black cord down the side; a short, tight, white top; a tiny, shiney, black, latex form of a waistcoat and a soft, black, flat cap.
"This is great. Let's try it on!" Kaworu enthused. "Change rooms over there..."

Apparently, the shop assistant got some ideas. He cleared the shop and locked the shutters, putting a sign up that said, "Back in 5 minutes."
It was now just Rei and the shop assistant...
And Kaworu, who wasn't really anywhere in particular.

Inside the dressing room, Rei slid off her school uniform, somehow not uncomfortable under the general presense of Kaworu. As he explained, "I've already seen too much at the tanks," by which he meant he spent a sufferable amount of time in the giddy world of NERV's holding tanks for the spare Reis.
First to come off, for Rei, was the red bow. The ribbon hung droopily on the hook. A few silent pops of some buttons, the loosening of the middle, then the aqua-blue dress was allowed to fall off her shoulders, softly onto her delicate hands - placed to the side. Through the mirror, Rei's large, white shirt - the only garnment left - had much length, coming down to safely cover up below the hips, though it was already teadiously, slowly being unbottoned.

Then, the shirt was placed on the hook, also.
Even under the insufficient lighting of the store, Graffiti, Rei's smooth, pale skin - of her slender arms, the symmetrical hills of her back, her bare legs - was just as white as her cotton undergarnments. Now, this very skin would have the exciting oppurtunity to shine from under the blackness of her new clothing. Or at least, it might have been exciting for others.

First, the black leather pants. Rei did not often wear pants. These ones form-fitted her thighs tightly. Then the white top. In the mirror, Rei could see it only managed to cover her breasts, leaving a good deal of her lower torso exposed. And now, the black, shiney, latex version of a waistcoat. People used to only dream of owning one of these. Now, Rei wore it, left unbottoned. Finally, the black, flat cap. So simple, yet so outspoken.
What Rei saw in the mirror was The Badass Rei.

"Absolutely beautiful, isn't it?" Kaworu commented, lightly holding his chin with two fingers and with a pleased smile. "I have created a monster; elegantly organic, synthetically formed."
"I don't think this suits me."
"Come on, now! Haven't you been looking at the mirror? Look at you!"
"Kaworu, look at this waistcoat - it's even too small to be buttoned without difficulty." Rei demonstrated by pulling the two sides together, ending up four inches apart. Rei's chest was being squeezed much by the top, already, but to button up the waistcoat would be the equivalent of wearing a corset upside-down.
"Ah, but it's not meant to be buttoned up..."

Before the conversation went on to the I'm-telling-you-No-Let-me-tell-you path, the curtains slid violently with a screech and the head of the shop assistant popped itself in. "Hey, baby, wanna- Ugh!"

This was a reflex, and so Rei did not have time to develop a shocked disgust for the shop assistant to knock him out with hatred.

His head snapped just as quickly back to position, now with such an evil smile that even the local travelling circus would have been ashamed. "Feisty," he said, rubbing the back of his hand along his lip. "We're playing rough, now, aren't we?" Suddenly, raising his hand, there Rei beheld the thick, black whip in its grasps - yes, a whip. The shop assistant's eyes were suddenly of terrifying evil.
"Oh... shit," Kaworu said.

With a wild whip of his arm, the instrument crashed into and through the cubicle. Rei dodged, the rest that didn't were annihilated. The mirror shattered, Rei's school uniform shredded.
Rei slipped out and ran.
The shutters were locked. "Not good!" Kaworu stated. Rei turned back to see where she could go: nowhere.
The shop assistant came after her.
This was another chase.

And so, as dramatically as it could possibly be, Rei dashed around the store with the shop assistant after her, cracking his whip. The blur around them were of badass clothing, whips, black leather straps, fluffy, pink handcuffs and other things, unspeakable, waiting to be picked up. And this gave Kaworu an idea.

"Rei!" Kaworu yelled, as if the roar of the wind was loud. "Pick up that fluffy, pink handcuff!"
A sharp tilting maneuver, as Rei dashed past, and Rei had a fluffy, pink hadcuff in her hand.
"Alright! Now that green gag!"
Done.
"Ah! And that spikey, black club!"
Taken.
"Ooh! And that large, cute bunny costume!"
"Kaworu! Now's not the time to go cosplaying!"
"Oh, right! Now, Rei... Now's the time to defend your honor! Now's the time to utilize your self-defense skills! Use the force, Rei! Use the force!"
"The what?"
"Oh, I guess I better teach you, one day," Kaworu smiled smugly. "Because only I have the power to use my AT-Field! Now, Rei, trust me and turn around!"

Rei felt like she was being toyed with, but twisted around to a stop, anyway. There, she saw the small figure of the shop assistant in the distance growing exponentially. She held her spikey, black club up, ready for a batting. Realistically, it was more problable that the whip would get her first before she could get him. However, Rei could only do as Kaworu said. The shop assistant continued to charge right at her.
Just as his arms were raised for another whip-crack, he smashed right into an orange hexagon... Kaworu's AT-Field.
The shop assistant fell onto his back. "Ow..."
For a moment, dazed, he saw Rei walk up and smash his head in with the spikey, black club. That was it.

The man lapsed to the floor, indefinitely; the spikey, black club still attatched to his head.

For added measure, and for the hell of it, Rei and Kaworu fluffly, pink handcuffed the shop assistant, gagged and tied the man into a ball. He was let to roll off somewhere down the store.

"Good, Rei," Kaworu said, in a heroic voice, perhaps mocking her again. "You have learnt much about the way of BDSM..."
"Actually, Gendou and I used to use with these things a lot..."
"A wha-?" Kaworu instantaneously fell over backwards in a sudden shock.

"Just kidding," Rei said, with a small, sly smile. "I just wanted to see you fall over."
"Yeah, real funny; don't give me attitude," Kaworu said, pseudo-getting back up. "That was more shocking than having to spend my time with a tank full of toilet-humor-happy Reis... Ugh..." Kaworu shivered.
"That was for putting me in a dangerous situation and letting my school clothes be destroyed!"

In reality, Rei said the above in a practically neutral tone, like she normally would. However, Kaworu couldn't help but get a hint that Rei was placing an exclamation point at the end of that statement. It was almost uncanny.

"Let's get out of here..." Kaworu said, "with the bunny suit."
"Should we pay?"
"No," Kaworu said, psuedo-walking towards the door. Rei followed (with) suit. "He tried to kill us. It's only fair we walk off with a bunny suit..."

And so, they went. Kaworu, though nowhere in particular, seemed to walk in front of Rei, leading her; Rei followed with a large shopping bag, containing the bunny suit, in black, leather pants; a short, tight, white top; a shiney, black, latex form of a waistcoat and a soft, black, flat cap; without the price tag.

Rei attempted to walk as normally as she could.
Eventually, she whispered to Kaworu, "These clothes are chaffing me..."
"Don't say that out loud!"
"Maybe if we'd stay a bit longer to find the right size..."
"But tight clothes do look good on you."
"I say we now try for 'sweet', next."
"How about a mix of 'sweet' and 'badass'?"

As Rei followed Kaworu, somebody came round the corner and Rei promptly smacked herself into it.

She looked up from the familiar chest to see those same manly eyes that were, at the same time, a glistening dark shade of brown, now in a leather jacket. Rei immediately saw that this senior student from her school was dressed in exactly the same taste as what she wore.
Kaworu's reaction, when he noticed the student, too, was in an ogling state of frozen schock. His eyes were large as he looked upon this guy of a "hunk".
"Holy..."

"Hey," those shades of brown said.
Rei didn't speak.
Kaworu jumped in, "Are you going to say something?"
Rei replied, "Yes?"
"Yeah, are you shopping alone?"
"Say 'yes'! Say 'yes'!"
"Yes."
"Yeah, cool. You're looking hot."
"Say 'you too'! Say 'you too'!"
"Yes."
"Huh..."

This senior student of Rei's school was often used to girls jumping all over him, but sadly, in all his years of existance, they werenever the ones he sought. They either weren't interested (school-work obsessed), were interested in another guy (Shinji - although he still remains absolutely clueless), were dead (those unfortunate enough to come between an Eva and its prey), were lesbian (Michiko) or were the likes ofRei.

"Playing hard to get, are we?" He looked at Rei amusedly with a tilted head as if he was looking through a peephole. "Keep it up... See you later... tonight."
And he walked off.

After a long pause:
"That's it?" Kaworu asked simply. "The same three-lettered words three times (at least in English - 'hai')?"
"I don't know..." Rei began. "I don't know why..."

There was something about that senior student that made him almost unusually creepy to be around for Rei. She couldn't place her finger on it. The mere presence of him did something to Rei: It made her stand still and become helplessly unable to do anything. It made her unable to even move her eyes. It made her uncontrollably say "yes" three times. Rei didn't like it one bit.

Rei and Kaworu stood there, looking at him walking away into the distance, through the sparse crowd.

"Hey, did you check out that guy's ass? Whoa!"

"No..." Rei's head finally began to clear.

"Really? Whoa..."

Next time:
Rei finds a 'sweet' clothing shop! Dresses, skirts, marshmallow-sweetness - this store has it all! After only several minutes of trying on different clothing, Rei finally finds the perfect set. But what is the catch with this store? And what other setbacks will Rei find in trying to purchase her dream outfit?
Find out in the next, mindless chapter: Happy Smile

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