Disclaimer: see chapter 1.

Folded Wings

By Random1377

Chapter 11

Hikari waved to Rei as she approached the corner, gesturing for the blue-haired girl to join her on the far side of the street. "Hey, Ayanami!" she called brightly, "Over here!"

She smiled as the other girl made her way over, checking carefully for oncoming traffic before crossing the street. Man, she's cute, Hikari thought suddenly. She's thin, tiny, exotic… wow, I think I'm jealous.

Being a good-natured person, this thought was more self-deprecating and amused than anything else, and by the time Rei had reached her side, Hikari had filed it away for later consideration.

She was not one to forget things, after all.

"How's it going?"

"Well," Rei replied politely. "How are you, Representative Horaki?"

"You know," Hikari said, starting off towards school once more, "you can call me Hikari, if you want."

"May I?"

"Sure, we're friends, right?"

Rei nodded gravely.

"Then call me Hikari – and you don't have to be so serious all the time… relax a bit."

"I… thought I was," Rei murmured.

Hikari laughed. "Then you need some lessons in how to unwind," she said playfully.

Giving her a considering glance, Rei observed, "You seem very happy today, re- …Hikari."

"You can tell?" Hikari grinned. "Yeah, I'm kinda… thinking I might ask someone out."

"I see," Rei said. "It is difficult. Good luck."

Hikari came up short. "Wait," she said as Rei continued walking. "You've… asked someone out?"

"Yes," Rei replied, adding almost as an afterthought, "but I am not… what is the proper word? 'Exclusive,' with him."

For a long moment, Hikari simply stared with open wonder. Finally, realizing that her jaw had fallen open, she closed it and said, "Umm… who was it? Can I ask?"

Rei met her eyes. "I do not mind telling you," she said clearly, "but I would like you to understand that I have other people that I am interested in being close to."

Nodding quickly, Hikari interpreted, "So you want me to keep my mouth shut. Yeah, of course."

"That is not what I said," Rei pointed out, but Hikari impatiently gestured for her to continue. "It was Ikari."

Hikari nearly sighed with relief. "Oh," she said lamely, blinking as she realized that just because the name she had been worried about had not come out, the name that had been spoken was in and of itself rather surprising. "Ikari?" she repeated, "Really? What did he say?"

"He accepted my invitation."

"Wow…"

Hikari honestly could not think of anything to say. Past Rei, Shinji was possibly the most reclusive person she had ever met. He was way better than when he had first arrived, especially when Touji and Kensuke were around, but if he was alone, he tended to simply sit with his head down and do his homework, looking as if he desperately hoped no one would notice he was there and try to start a conversation with him.

The idea of him agreeing to go on a date seemed pretty out there to Hikari, though if there was anyone in school he would say yes to, it was Ayanami.

…or possibly Asuka.

"So um," Hikari said slowly, "what did you guys do…?"

"Ate," Rei replied evenly. "It was a dinner engagement."

Hikari whistled. "Dinner date, huh?" she mused. "That's pretty cool for a first date. Most people do like, a movie or lunch or something that doesn't take too long. Dinner's kind of… I dunno, grown up."

"Is it?"

"Well, I've always thought so."

"Ah."

Slowly, Hikari started walking again, considering this information very closely. Now, if Ayanami can do it, she thought critically, why can't I? I've known Touji way longer than she's known Ikari. Hmm… yeah, I can do this. If she can, I can – definitely!

"Hikari…?"

Caught up in her thoughts, Hikari murmured, "Yeah?"

"May I ask who it is that you like?"

Hikari was suddenly guarded, remembering that Rei had just told her that there was more than one guy she liked.

Better stake my claim now, she thought nervously, if she'll ask Ikari out, Touji would be nothing for her…

"Suzuhara."

Though she tried desperately to read the other girl's reaction, Hikari found it impossible. Rei simply continued walking, staring straight ahead as if Hikari had not spoken at all.

After a moment of quiet, she carefully asked, "Are there… others you are interested in?"

"Not really," Hikari said quickly, feeling a mild sense of panic at this line of questioning. "I've had my eye on Touji for a while, so… I haven't really been looking around that much."

"But if there was another you found attractive," Rei pressed gently, "you might have reason to consider other options?"

Logically, Hikari could see no way out of Rei's word trap. Of course, if Touji was completely unavailable, she would have to think about other guys… but she wasn't about to let that happen – not without a fight. If Ayanami was about to be her enemy for Touji's affections, so be it. She would not lose.

Calm down, she told herself, she didn't say that Touji was the one she was after – and she went out with Ikari, after all, so-

"I… have upset you."

Abruptly, Hikari realized that she was scowling.

"I did not mean to offend you," Rei continued, "I was simply interested in hearing more about y-"

"Can we drop it?"

Hikari came up short once more, staring down at the ground and blushing as Rei stared at her.

"S-sorry," she stammered. "I didn't mean to snap, I just… I don't want to talk about this anymore."

"Understood."

"Hey, don't," Hikari said quickly, reaching out to grab Rei's hand as the blue-haired girl started to walk away. "I'm sorry, really. Don't just walk away, alright? Look, let's… why don't you come over to my house after school, ok? We'll talk about anything you want then – I just didn't really expect this to come up now."

It was a rather thin excuse, Hikari thought as Rei considered her invitation, but if she had the day to think about it – and maybe do something about it – she would be better prepared to talk to her potential rival.

Rei… her rival.

Who would have thought…?

Glancing down at Hikari's hand for a moment, Rei finally replied, "It would not be an imposition?"

"No," Hikari said firmly, "it wouldn't. I just… I need to think about some stuff before we talk, that's all."

"Understood."

Feeling the need to change the subject, Hikari said, "Hey, your skin is really soft. What do you use on it?"

Rei's cheeks flushed slightly, but before she could say anything, a quiet, electronic jingling sound rose from her pocket. Hikari released her hand, allowing her to retrieve her cell phone, and took a polite step back as the blue-haired girl answered it.

"Yes… yes sir, I understand. The Fourth…? Yes, I understand. Goodbye."

"Is it an angel?" Hikari asked nervously, glancing around for the closest shelter as Rei calmly pocketed her cell and checked her wristwatch.

"No," Rei replied levelly, "but I must go."

"Oh," Hikari said slowly. "Then, umm… you're not going to be coming over later?"

Calls to NERV generally ended up being all-day affairs, in Hikari's experience. Asuka had been called away several times, and the class rep often did not see her until the following day.

"No, I will not," Rei confirmed. "My apologies."

"No problem!" Hikari said quickly. "Tomorrow, then?"

Rei hesitated, clearly thinking that the invitation to come over had been nothing more than politeness. "I would… enjoy that," she said slowly, giving Hikari a slight bow. "Have a pleasant day, Hikari."

"You too," Hikari said amicably, thinking that this just might be the chance she had been looking for.

I'll talk to Touji today, she told herself firmly as Rei wandered off towards the closest train station. No more hesitating!

Unfortunately, when she arrived at school, she found that Touji was absent.

( 0 0 0 )

"Four ball, corner pocket."

The crack of billiard balls knocking into each other echoed in the small bar, rising above the few lazy conversations taking place as Kaji grinned across the table at Maya.

"You don't have to call your shots," the technician said in exasperation, "and you missed, anyway."

"On purpose!" Kaji protested, scooping his beer up off the small round table next to the wall and taking a swig as Maya studied the layout of the balls. "I'm lulling you into a false sense of security, then, when you least expect it – bam! I'll win the whole thing!"

Maya arched an eyebrow, leaning against her cue for a moment as she said, "You've still got most of your balls on the table."

Grinning gleefully, Kaji said, "Hey now, let's not make it personal!"

The desired results were achieved when Maya's face blushed bright red. "Th-thirteen, corner pocket," she stumbled out, leaning over the line up the shot.

"I thought we weren't calling shots," Kaji teased, waiting until the tech drew the stick back, then gently running the palm of his hand over her defenseless backside.

Maya squeaked, driving her cue forward so hard it nearly tore the felt.

"K-Kaji!"

"What?" Kaji said innocently, giving her a broad smile as he lowered his voice. "You're not going to complain about dirty pool, are you?"

Groaning at the gruesome pun, Maya reached for her drink, trying to turn her body sideways to prevent the man from caressing her again. "You're terrible."

Kaji leaned a bit closer, laying his hand on her thigh.

"That's not what you said last night."

Maya's blush intensified, and she stammered something that Kaji could not even understand, though he guessed it was some kind of further protest.

He ignored it, running his hand lightly up and down her thigh as she took a sip of her drink, trying to pretend that her hand was not shaking as she glanced around the dimly lit bar. If she really didn't like being touched in public, he reasoned, she would pull away or tell him to stop… but all she ever gave was feeble protests and halfhearted complaints.

Further evidence of the idea that she enjoyed his attention was the fact that she was always wilder and more uninhibited after he had toyed with her for a few hours before taking her to bed.

Not that she was the best he'd ever had – far from it – but getting her 'warmed up' as he liked to think of it at least brought her into the above average range.

God, I am such a bastard.

"D-do you have to work tonight?" Maya stammered, setting her bottle down hard enough to slosh the liquid inside almost to the rim.

Kaji smiled.

A right, true bastard…

"Nope."

Maya was outright crimson as she whispered, "Do you want to… you know… come over for a while…?"

Nodding, Kaji assured her that there was nothing he would enjoy more than enjoying her, a comment that nearly made the poor technician swoon.

It was almost criminal, he mused, that manipulating women came so easily to him. Maya stood almost no chance in this game, a fact that made him feel triumphant… and slightly dirty – triumphant because he had already gleaned a few semi-classified details about the MAGI from her, dirty because it felt like drawing a gun on an unarmed opponent.

Mighty full of ourselves, aren't we? he thought as Maya gave him a brief, guilty little kiss. Hey, it's not bragging if it's true, right? Oh wait… maybe it is…

"How was dinner last night?"

"Hmm?"

Maya motioned to the table, indicating that it was Kaji's shot. "Dinner… you know, with Shinji and Rei."

Kaji searched his memory, trying to remember telling the tech that this was going to take place, but coming up empty. "Not bad," he said, trying to sound casual. "Did Rei tell you about it…?"

"Yeah," Maya said, "she said it was kind of awkward."

"Mm." Kaji hummed, keeping his eyes on the table.

Rei said she wouldn't get involved in his affairs… but if Maya talked to Shinji about dinner, and he mentioned Misato…

"It was," he said lightly, playing it loose while simultaneously making plans to talk to Shinji about the evening in question the very next moment he could. "Rei cooked for the two of us, then hardly said anything all evening."

"Yeah, she told me that she cooked," Maya said thoughtfully, "but she said she wasn't sure how it turned out, because she made herself something without any meat in it."

Kaji shrugged. "It was terrible," he said evenly, "but we ate it all and told her it was great."

Nodding, Maya said, "She knows, you know… she didn't say that you lied to her, but I could tell that she knew."

"Heh," Kaji chuckled. "We said it was good, even though it was bad… she knows it was bad, and knows that we hated it, but she isn't going to tell us… and even though I know that she's figured it out, I'm not going to say a word. Funny, isn't it? The lengths we'll go to avoid confrontation and save people's feelings from being hurt."

"It's human," Maya pointed out. "I'm… actually a little relieved that Rei's handling it this way – not so long ago, she would have just told you that she knew so you could stop pretending."

"No she wouldn't," Kaji laughed, setting his cue aside for a moment and stretching his back. "She wouldn't have cared what I thought – nor would she have bothered to cook in the first place."

"True… she is changing."

"Not all that much."

"Well, it hasn't been all that long," Maya said slowly. "Give her some time."

"Time… time, time, time…" Kaji said airily. "I can't even remember being her age. It's funny – I can remember being eight, but fourteen? It's just a blur…"

Maya smiled. "I know what you mean. Hey," she leaned forward, suddenly intent, "tell me about it."

"About what?"

"About when you were eight – no, don't laugh… I really wanna know."

Kaji shook his head. "It's just a little memory," he said dismissively, "you really don't want to hear it."

"Please?" Maya said, biting her lip for a moment before adding, "I'd… make it worth your while."

Arching an eyebrow, Kaji said, "Why, Miss Ibuki… are you trying to seduce me?"

Maya's blush returned. "M-maybe."

"Funny," Kaji said easily, "you hit my one weak spot. Fine, fine, I'll tell you, but it's really just a little thing…"

"Go on."

Shrugging, Kaji said, "When I was a kid, there was a little park near my house. It had this little plastic slide shaped like a rocket – not very tall, maybe five or six feet… but it seemed huge to me back then. Anyway, it was covered, right? Like a tube, only one of the sections of the top part was clear Plexiglas, so you could see out." He smiled faintly. "When it was a clear night, I would go sit in the slide and stare up at the stars, kinda pretend I was an astronaut… make all these plans – what to be when I grew up, how to sneak a couple yen from my dad's easy chair to buy a pop, that kind of thing."

"So you've always been sneaky," Maya joked.

"Pretty much," Kaji said dryly, "and I've always been good at it too – bet you didn't know I stole your bra last time I was over, did you?"

"I kinda noticed the strap over your shoulder when you wore it out," Maya laughed, trying not to blush in spite of her joking tone. "Go on, please."

Kaji stared at the wall for a moment before whispering, "I remember… I used to go there when it rained, too… lie in that little plastic rocket… look up at the clouds. I didn't get rained on, but I still got soaked because the rain would come right through the top of the slide and drench my shirt. Mom would get pissed… dad would just sigh… I can still remember the helpless look on his face, that 'oh, not again,' kind of look he got when mom was on the warpath…"

Maya's smile slowly faded at the sad tone in Kaji's voice, but she dared not speak for fear of losing the wonderful feeling of closeness she had.

"I used to think the world was so big back then," Kaji murmured, slowly shaking his head as his eyes grew far-off with the memory, "but it's tiny. You can travel from one end to the other, if you find a fast enough transport… but I can still remember that feeling I had – that everything was so much bigger than me. I kind of miss it…"

Unsure of how to reply to this, Maya said, "Well maybe we could… go visit that park sometime, if… if you want…"

Kaji sighed, shaking his head to clear it. "It's probably a puddle of slag by now," he said tiredly, "or buried under a ton of dirt, or floating in a sea somewhere. The world isn't what it used to be, Ibuki… you can't go back – you have to keep moving forward."

"Y-yeah…"

"Shinji brought flowers, did Rei tell you?"

Maya blinked, taken off guard by the sudden change in topic. "Hmm?"

"To dinner," Kaji clarified, "he showed up with a whole bunch of pansies and gave them to Rei. It was pretty cute."

"Flowers?" Maya mused. "Shinji? Really?"

"Yeah," Kaji nodded. "I didn't have a vase, though… had to put them in pitcher."

Maya grinned at this image. "You'll have to show me next time I'm over," she said, "if they're still alive."

"I'll take care of them."

Considering the woman for a moment, Kaji decided that the time was right to push for a bit of information.

"So, is it true that the Fourth Child has been found…?"

"How do you know about that?" Maya wondered. "It was just barely announced to the E-project staff yesterday."

Shrugging, Kaji replied, "Hearing things is my specialty. So is it true?"

Maya mulled this over for a moment. On the one hand, it was supposed to be confidential information, but on the other hand, Kaji seemed to know it already – he was just looking for confirmation.

…and he would never do anything to hurt her, right? Not after sharing so much of his life with her.

"Yeah, it's true," she said finally, leaning her cue up against the table. "It's… I don't know how much you know about Shinji, but it's one of his friends."

Kaji feigned shock. "No," he exclaimed, pretending he did not know that every member of Shinji's class was a candidate. "Kensuke?"

Maya shook her head. "No," she said, "not him. This boy's name is Suzuhara."

"Oh, Touji," Kaji said, "I've met him. Nice kid."

"You met… oh that's right," Maya said, "you met him and Aida on the boat ride back, right? I forgot that."

The conversation lagged as Maya ran a fingertip absently along the edge of the pool table's felt surface, trying not to stare at Kaji's downcast, thoughtful face. She had the sudden, distinct impression that he had told her more than he'd intended, and this idea made her quite sad, as she was starting to find more and more of her time spent in thinking about him.

She realized suddenly that when she had spoken to Rei in the café… she had lied.

She knew exactly what her feelings were.

"Hey," she whispered, draping her arms over Kaji's shoulders and resting her forehead against his as his hands settled against her hips.

"Hmm?"

Maya closed her eyes, whispering the three words that men in bars have longed to hear since time immemorial.

"…take me home."

Continued…

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