Disclaimer: I do not own Evangelion.

December 23, 2032: Tokyo-3 General Hospital

09:32am

He's always been there for he two girls. No matter the problem they had rather it was a sisterly fight (Even if they're not sisters, they still act like It.) or even problems with boys. Kenji was there to help them, to offer advice or even it be a bit of helpful information. And this was no different; but this time his friend lay in a hospital bed. Out cold from a concussion, caused from a mere bump on the head.

Sitting there beside Natsuki's hospital bed, Kenji slept. His head resting there in his hand, his elbow resting on the beds edge. Hearing the sounds of a hospital bed being wheeled down the hall, Natsuki slowly opened her eyes. Looking up she found Kenji there beside her. A weak smile creped across her lips. And slowly she brought her hand up and creased Kenji's cheek.

"You need to shave more often…." Natsuki whispered to her self, hoping that she wouldn't wake Kenji.

But feeling the warmth on his face, Kenji opened his eyes to see his friend looking back at him.

"You're awake… You want anything?" Kenji asked as he started to get up. "Water maybe?"

Natsuki shook her head. "No thanks… I'm fine."

Natsuki then slowly looked around the hospital room to find that it was only her and Kenji. "Where's Aya?" She asked, looking back up to Kenji.

"When her dad stopped by to check up on you he made her go home with him." Kenji replied. "As for my self…. Let's just say that I have better powers of persuasion over my mom."

Natsuki smiled and shook her head. "No, she just has a soft spot for you when it comes to dealing with me and Aya."

Kenji leaned back in the chair that sat beside Natsuki's bed. "Never the less… Is there anything I can get you?"

Natsuki sat up; slowly and painfully. "Yeah, first off you can tell me what the hell happened to me?"

"Well all that I was able to get out of Mr. Krefta, is that bump on your head was worst then they thought." Kenji replied.

"How long am I stuck in this hospital?"

Kenji shrugged his shoulders. "Beats me… I thank they said once you woke up and the doctors look you over, you should be good to go."

"Soooo?"

"A couple hours…. If everything works out." Kenji said, but got the feeling that wasn't enough. "How bout this… after Christmas, why don't all three of us smoke up some good bud, then raid my Uncle Shinji's place for some food." Kenji said. "It'd be fun."

Natsuki thought about it for a moment. "Yeah you're right… Your Uncle Shinji dose cooks some pretty good munchies."

"There…" Kenji said standing up. "I'm going to go get the doctor and I'm going to get home my self. My mom and I are going to spend time with my Aunt Ritsuko…"

Kenji said with a hint of a shiver in his voice during that last part.

"Oh… Have fun." Said Natsuki, hiding her giggles, but not all that well.

"Yeah right…."

NERV: Gendo Ikari's office

"… I fail to see the reasoning behind cutting NERV's budget." Ikari said in to a phone. He leaned back in his oak office chair, the wood creaking as he did. "The UN needs what NERV has to offer in the area of technology….."

Hearing more reasons why the budget was going to be cut, Gendo poured a drink for Chairmen Krefta, who sat across from Ikari.

"… vary well I will wait to dear from the UN committee… Good day." Hanging up the phone, Gendo watched this…. Partner enjoy his drink. "A Un committee will convene next month to discuss the issue of NERV's budget."

"And things aren't looking all that great are they?"

Gendo, sitting now in this famous Ikari pose. Stared at Krefta. "Correct."

Krefta tapped his glass a couple times, and then leaned over Gendo's desk. "Ikari, get me detailed information and I can… make the problem disappear."

"Natsuki?"

"Plus two of our Children of SEELE." Krefta added. "This will give us a prefect chance to see how a group of our children will function and also…." Krefta paused to take a sip of his drink. "… To try out some equipment you and I have developed."

"We will have to come up with a cover up story." Gendo remarked.

"Don't worry about that; just leave it up to me." Krefta said, and then he quickly finished the drink like it was in a shot glass.

December 24, 2032

Suburbs of Kyoto… (Or there about that area….)

"Misato…. Kenji, I was wondering when you two where going to show up!" Ritsuko greeted the two Katsuragi's. More cheerfully then she would normally.

"Hi Ritsuko, I brought a whole bottle of Christmas cheer." Misato said holding up a bottle of some hard liquor.

"I think she's had a couple bottles already….." Kenji said under his breath. "Ouch…."

Kenji stood there rubbing his shoulder where his mother delivered a rather hard blow to his side. "Marry Christmas Aunt Ritsuko."

"Let me see you Kenji." Said Ritsuko as she adjusted a set of glasses. "My… You're looking more and more like your father every time I see you. I bet your trouble for the girls at your school, eh?"

"All the time Aunt Ritsuko, I've got at least three or four girls waiting for me all the time."

"Yeah, he's a regular Casanova…." Misato remarked, with a roll of her eyes. "So Ritsuko, what's with the glasses?"

Ritsuko about ripped the glasses off her face at the question. "This is the result of spending my youth in front of a computer."

'You where young?' Both Misato and Kenji thought?

Ritsuko then stepped aside, letting the two in the small but comfortable house. "Come on you two come in, it's cold out and I don't want my cat to get out."

Once inside and the two had made them self's at home. Things started to calm down some. Misato and Ritsuko caught up with things and remembered the old days, while Kenji sat there watching the two aging women talk back and fourth….. Completely board out of his mind. The only relief from this torment was secure in a plastic baggie in his back pack. But that was limited to the escape it offered. Then there was the cat. It wasn't Pen-Pen, whom sadly died when Kenji was five; rather it was the result of Misato's cooking or simply old age.

"What's the matter Kenji?" Misato asked, and then she took a gulp from her can of beer. "Miss your girl friends?"

"Yes…. Yes I do."

"What about this…." Ritsuko said handing a set of VR glasses to the board teen. "It's a little something I made up."

Putting on the VR glasses, Kenji found him self in side a cockpit of some machine. "What the hell! This is the coolest, thanks Aunt Ritsuko!"

"Marry Christmas kiddo."

Kenji was about to go off in to the living room, but his Aunt grabbed him by the arm. "What was that?"

Kenji let out a sigh. "Thank you Auntie Ritsuko……"

When Kenji was out of the room, Misato looked at her friend with a questioning look. "What was that?"

"Oh that? Just some old EVA sim data I found when I was going through my things." Ritsuko said. "So I turned it in to a game….. It's due out in the stores this spring."

"People are going to buy this!" Misato asked. "What dose Shinji, Asuka and Rei think about this?"

Ritsuko shrugged her shoulders. "A percentage is going in to their kid's college funds."

"Wow… I'm impressed. Let's see Rei and Kensuke have Ayumi and twins on the way, Shinji and Asuka have……" Misato paused.

"…. Yui?" Ritsuko said, finishing what Misato was going to say. "I heard that she's quite the trouble maker."

Misato rolled her eyes. "That's an understatement. Put it this way, she's a hand full… almost to the point that both Shinji and Asuka have said that one is enough."

"And what about you Misato?" Ritsuko asked, with teasing in mind. "Is Kenji enough or has the clock started ticking?"

"More… god no, I was lucky enough that my figured survived Kenji." Misato answered. "What about you Ritsuko? Has the clock started ticking for you… Or are the hands already in motion?"

"I've got my cats… As sad as it may sound, but they are my children."

Around them there where two other cats.

The two women took a huge gulp of their booze then looked at each other, then started to laugh.

Meanwhile at the Krefta household…

"… I'm so board…. Aya lets go find something to do." Natsuki said from the couch she was laying across.

"Like what? It's no fun with out Kenji, and my dad wont let us go anywhere with out him of a couple of his body guards." Aya replied from a spot in front of the TV. "He did leave us a bag of Christmas cheer."

Natsuki shook her head. "No, I'm not really in the mood for that. Besides it's really no fun with out Kenji around to make fun of."

Aya laughed. "Yeah, all the times he got us, he makes it too easy for us to make fun of him when he's like that." Then Aya started to think. "Have you ever thought why my dad trusts Kenji enough to let us hang out with him with out any of his body guards around?"

"Aya, I love you like a sister but sometimes you're a little slow on the up take." Natsuki stated.

"Meaning?"

"Okay, who's Kenji's mom?" Natsuki asked.

"The sub-commander of NERV, so?"

"You're dad dose a lot of meetings with commander Ikari."

"And then?"

Natsuki let out a sigh. "Your dad trusts the commander, who trusts Kenji's mom. So I'm thinking that it he trusts his mom."

Just then Krefta walked to the door way to the living room, working on tying a bow tie. Aya and Natsuki looked over and watched the man work on the tie.

"Poppa… here let me help you." Aya said as she got up off the floor.

"Its okay sweetie, I've got it." Krefta said, and then presented the two girls with his work…..

Both girls shook their heads. "Here Poppa…."

Aya started to tie the tie for her father. When she was done, Krefta looked at his daughters work in a near by mirror. Then back at Aya.

"Where did you learn to tie a tie?" He asked.

"Oh poppa, your not the first man I've tied a tie for." Aya said with a giggle and a blush.

Natsuki sat there on the couch shaking her head, "its true… it's not."

"Katsuragi's boy?" he asked.

Natsuki shook her head. "Yeah a couple times…… both of us……"

Krefta's eyes went wide. "You mean the two of you and Katsuragi's boy has?"

Then the girls have figured that the man was thinking something completely different. But figured that it would be fun to play with him some more. "I'm a lady of high morals…. I never talk about such things."

Natsuki again shook her head. "It's true…. But she tells me everything, and then I tell her everything in return. It's really not that bad of a deal."

Then Krefta figured out that the two girls where playing him and shook his head. "Girls… I'm going to the company Christmas party. I'll be back before eleven."

Kyoto, December 25

Vary early in the morning…

Unable to sleep, Kenji worked on some homework on his school laptop. After all, he too has his school work to finish…. And catch up on. But his mind was else where. The chip that he found was plaguing his mind with questions. Knowing full well that his mother dealt with the Evangelion them self's and the pilots…. His Aunts and Uncle mainly. Kenji started a search for any info he could find online, what he found the most was footage from his Kensuke that he had posted on the net. But anything beyond that there was nothing. Not even news clippings.

Tapping his key board some more Kenji came up with an idea. And started to type. 'Kaji Ryoji.' Waiting for the results Kenji brought up the list of all his music that he stored on the computer. The list was big… huge would be a better way to describe it. Starting up some music, Kenji went back to what the computer came up from the search. There wasn't much only a photo of his fathers college ID, and that was it.

'Figured as much…Mom did say he was a spy of sorts.' Kenji thought to him self. "Guess I better find some other way to get what I'm looking for."

Closing his school laptop, Kenji kept the music playing, letting him fall to sleep. Sleep that he'll from sure need for in the morning, Dealing with his hung over mother and Aunt was sure to come.

Krefta house hold, same time.

Tossing and turning in her bed, Natsuki fought with the horrible images that flooded her head. Death, fire, screams. Then she saw it, blood on her hands, and a man lying before her. Waking from her own screams, Natsuki shot up from her futon. Some how while waking from her sleep; her right hand had driven in to the wood floor. Making it crack and driving splinters in her hand.

"WHAT'S GOING ON IN HERE!"

Looking up from her futon she found Mr. Krefta standing there with Aya just behind him. Both looked like that they too had just woken up. Natsuki hugged her knees to her chest.

"Nothing, sorry to wake you both." Natsuki said. "It was just a bad dream, nothing more."

Krefta stood there looking at Natsuki. "It you want to talk about it, you can ask." 'Damn the memory suppression needs to be worked on.' Krefta smiled.

"Yeah same here." Aya said.

"No thanks, but thank you both."

Krefta and Aya closed the door and went back to their rooms, leaving Natsuki there to think about her nightmares. 'Why is it since my last trip to see my parents I feel like something else is going on… Nothing is making since to me any more. Am… Am I going crazy? Going mad?'