Bad news guys. My hostile takeover of Gainax didn't pan out, so I still don't own Evangelion. Oh well, maybe next time.

Shinji Ikari walked through the streets of Tokyo 3 like someone caught in a dream, oblivious as the May morning's sun tried to cast warm, comforting rays on the boy's shoulders. He paid no mind to the city surrounding him; the hypnotic pattern of his footfalls kept his gaze to the ground.

His fist tightly clutched the blooming bouquet of scarlet roses he had bought only a few blocks back at a small, humble little flower stand. A strong pressure pulled on the back of Shinji's eyes; an ache budded on the top slopes of his muddled brain.

The sleepless nights Shinji had been suffering with all week seemed to have finally tallied up. The slight bookbag on his shoulder seemed like a burdensome deadweight now. The Third Child was, without a doubt, sleep deprived and exhausted.

But the thought to ride a bus or board a train never really occurred to Shinji. He was simply far too disorientated. There was no one to talk to, nothing that could distract him, so the dreams of his mother swam unchallenged around his head, pulling him along like a feeble marionette.

"I'm sorry Professor Fuyutsuki, I brought Shinji along."

Mom's voice.

"I want him to see just how bright the future will be…"

Her last words.

And then…

"What's wrong?"

"What's happening?"

"Flat-line!"

"No vital signs on Test Subject!"

"Cut the connection! Cut it now!"

"Abort the test!"

Even after all that…

The Beast was still grinning at me from behind the glass.

The blaring of a car horn jolted Shinji from his brooding like shattering glass. Yelping in alarm, he jumped back as a compact blue convertible parked itself on the street's curb alongside him with the heavy screeching of tires. Shinji blinked under the bright sun as the driver arched off a pair of sunglasses and greeted the baffled Eva pilot with an easy smile that was all too familiar…

His unkempt stubble may have grown out a little more, but Ryoji Kaji was exactly as Shinji remembered otherwise.

Keeping his engine idling, Kaji waved casually from the comfort of the driver's seat. "Shinji! Well now, isn't this a coincidence? You really should be a little more careful y'know. Walking around in a daze like that, you're liable to get run over or something."

"Mr. Kaji?" Shinji asked hesitantly.

"Oh, come on man, we know each other better than that!" Kaji beamed. "It's just 'Kaji', alright?"

"Uh…sure…"

"By the way, what's the Third Child doing sulking alone in Tokyo 3 on such a beautiful day like this?"

Kaji's question abruptly forced Shinji into the reality of today, and his face darkened. "I just have an errand to run in the city, that's all."

"Really?" he said. "Well, I've got nothing important on my agenda today, so how about I just tag along and give you ride?"

"Actually," the Eva pilot replied stoically. "This is kinda a…personal thing. I'd really prefer just to do it alone, if you really don't mind…"

"Great!" Mr. Kaji grinned. "Then it's settled: I'll go with you. No, no, you don't need to thank me, I like havin' you around anyways."

Shinji's shoulders slumped in exasperation. "Are you even listening?"

As it turned out, he wasn't. Not one bit. Despite Shinji's pleas otherwise, Mr. Kaji was insistent on giving Shinji a ride. His headache worse and fatigue moreso, Shinji was in real no condition to argue for long. In the end, the young Ikari rode alongside his chauffer in the passenger seat, adjusting the well-cushioned seat further back so he could sit back comfortably and rest his throbbing eyes.

Mr. Kaji broke Shinji's half-doze only once to ask where it was they were going. Groggy as he was, the Third Child never noticed as he mumbled their destination that they were already half-way there.

Kaji followed with silent reverence as Shinji led him through the endlessly stretching maze of gravestones. When they at last reached the spot, Kaji kept a respectful distance behind the boy as he laid the bouquet at the foot of his mother's grave.

Ikari Yui

1977-2004

"Flowers for your mom on Mother's Day, eh?" Mr. Kaji spoke up at last. "You sure are a good son."

Shinji made no acknowledgement of even hearing him, eyes locked on the gravestone. On his last visit here, his father had said that the grave was just an artifice. There was no sleeping body or urn of ashes beneath to accept neither his flowers nor his prayers.

But really, where else was there to go?

"If my memory's right, you lost your mother when you were very young, didn't you?" Kaji said.

"When I was four," was the distant reply.

"I was just a year older than you are now when Second Impact took my mom away from me," Kaji offered. "I guess I'm a little more fortunate than you in that regard. At least I have nice memories of her to look back on. Four isn't really much of an age that anyone can remember well."

Shinji's eyes never left the gravemarker, presenting his back as he said "Dad cast everything away after she died. No photos, nothing. I can't even remember what her face looked like." But he still remembered soft, warm smile she always gave him.

Pulling out his pack of smokes, Kaji pulled a cancer-stick from the box and thumbed open his lighter, feeding its flame to the cigarette before he took a long, savoring breath of it. "Memories are over-rated, really. Your mom was different things to different people. Ask Doctor Akagi what she remembers about Yui Ikari, she'll start goin' on about what a great scientist she was. To Commander Ikari, Yui was his wife. But that doesn't really mean much to you, does it? Of course not. To you, Yui Ikari was your mother. It doesn't matter who your mother was Shinji. All that matters is who you remember she was: your mom."

"That's quite a speech," the boy replied coldly. "Did you rehearse all of that beforehand?"

"Nope," Kaji mumbled, cigarette dancing between his lips. "Came up with that off the top of my head, actually."

An empty silence stretched between the two, the vast openness of the graveyard seemed to magnify the air's stillness.

Another breath of smoke drawn in, exhaling a wafting cloud that quickly dispersed in the clean air. "Listen man, visiting your mom's grave like this? I damn well respect you for it. Makes me wish my mother had a grave I didn't have to swim out to. But you can't let the void she's left behind swallow you up. The past belongs to the dead. All this, right now, it's all yours."

Shinji turned sharply to face Kaji, dejected tears escaping his eyes. "I don't even have anything dammit! My own father's abandoned me, I'm nothing but a burden on my Aunt and Uncle, and all I have left of Mom is a Goddamn piece of stone with her name on it! Oh! And how can I forget the titanic purple death-trap I get to jump into just so I can remind my father I exist? Maybe I'm better off being swallowed by the past Mr. Kaji, because all this, right now, is shit!"

Fists balled, shoulders hunched, Shinji stood before Ryoji Kaji panting as tears of long-bottled anger and pain trickling down his reddened face.

"A mother, Shinji," Kaji told him, cig forgotten in his hand. "Is a woman who shows you the light when you just see dark."

"Came up with that one too?" Shinji snapped

"Nah, it's a quote from Grimaldos Robin."

Shinji frowned. "Who's that?"

"Hell if I know," the man shrugged, flicking away his spent cigarette. Walking up to the boy with an easy stride, he gently slapped a firm, assuring hand on Shinji's shoulder.

The Third flinched instinctively at such close contact.

"Mother's are more than just blood, Ikari. A mom is a woman you care about- even love. A woman who feeds you, protects you, comforts you when you need it, and tries to teach you about life the best she can; all under the premise of those insane maternal instincts that makes women take care of another human being with the promise of absolutely no reward at all."

Shinji turned his head self-consciously as Kaji stared down at him, a blush rising to his cheeks.

"It's like I said before: the present belongs to the living." Ryoji reminded him. "Keep on honoring your mom like a good son should, but don't you think that someone else in your life right now may deserve a bouquet of flowers too?"

Kaji's point brought a dawning thought to Shinji, one that invigorated him to the point where weariness was forgotten. "Thanks a lot for coming here with me, Mr. Kaji" he apologized anxiously." But I think I need to be someplace else right now."

"Say no more, say no more. It was my pleasure giving you a ride. Just be sure not to get yourself run over huh?"

Nodding with something almost resembling a smile, the Third Child gave a wave as he shouldered his bag back on and hurriedly ran off.

Even after Shinji was long since gone, Ryoji remained at Yui Ikari's grave as he thoughtfully smoked the rest of his pack. Eyes drawn on the gravestone as if studying it intensely, he muttered something to himself as another cigarette hung in the mouth.

"Do you feel him too? Even through that thick shell of armor?"

The cheerful chiming of his wristwatch broke Kaji from his musing, bringing up his arm to check the time the watch's alarm had announced.

"Oops, time to water my melons."

I have to admit, I was surprised at the quick interest Mother's Memory received among the Evangelion fanbase. It's just a well, I suppose. NGE is easily my favorite anime series, and it was even the first I actively got into. Six years later and it's still going on strong. But I digress. Thanks a lot to all of you who responded so quickly to Mother's Memory's first posting, this update's for you!

The Third and final chapter coming soon, but for now I'm off to bed. It's 1:42 A.M. and I'm exhausted.

Until next time,

-ShinobiCyrus