Hey there. You know, maybe I shouldn't be so surprised that I keep going with this. I mean, the excitement of actually being able to continue kind of wore off… That's not to say I'm even remotely less enthusiastic about going on. Thanks to everyone who reviewed, you guys are far more than enough reason to keep going. Also, I've decided what direction I'm going to take with this story. I'm just going to take it forward. Whatever happens on the way will happen. I feel that if I try and force this down a set path, then I'm going to ruin the whole thing. Oh, and if anyone wonders why it is I post so often, good, keep wondering.

Disclaimer -- -- remialcsiD

A.N. " ' ' "

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'What the hell was I thinking!' Shinji thought to himself. It was the day after he had returned and he currently lay on his bed in Misato's house, pondering his recent actions.

'Man… I guess that's what happens when I wait too long to take a damn pill… never thought it'd make me go all sentimental like that… Then again, this is a whole lot better than what I'm used to. I think someone told me once that humans crowd together because they fear being alone… does that mean I'm still human… I have no problem being alone but why could it be that I feel at ease here…? I know it isn't because of the security, I mean hell, I took out four of those guys and they only shot me twice… What the hell, thinking like this is making me dizzy; and damn hungry too.'

Shinji rose from his bed and walked over to the refrigerator. He looked inside and pulled out some leftovers.

'Hmm…' he though to himself as he microwaved his food. 'All takeout and instant junk… does this woman not know how to cook! Who the hell am I kidding… I can't cook either… I think that's the kind of thing that a family is supposed to teach you… does that mean she never had one either…?' he stopped thinking for a bit as his food finished warming up.

He placed it on the table and kept going. 'Family huh? I really doubt that my father would count… I only call him my father because… wait a minute… why do I call him that? Well, at any rate, why did it have to be his men that found me…? I suppose I should be thankful that he did extend my life for a bit… If I was anyone else, that might be enough reason to stop hating him, or at least keep them from plotting to kill him, I probably would too if it wasn't for the fact that all of this was because of him… I can't stand talking to him alone. In public I can make him look like an idiot, but in his damn dungeon, the chains where the only thing keeping me from ripping his god dammed head off. At least he's not the type of fool that talks for an hour while saying nothing at all… I'm glad he brought up the subject of me piloting up fast because seriously, I was at about my limit… Maybe I agreed a little to fast? It doesn't matter. Point is, I still get to pilot a giant bio-mechanical robot around! Damn… why am I thinking like this… If they could see the way I'm changing now, they'd kick my ass for going soft like that.'

----------

"Any idea what they did to you Shinji?" Ritsuko asked him. Shinji had gone in for a medical examination as per Ritsuko's request and, seeing as she was keeping him alive, the least he could do is comply.

"Not a clue." He said.

"You never asked!" she replied, shocked at his lack of knowledge.

"Well the thing is, I'm not sure about you, but the bastards who did this to me," he said gesturing towards his body, "didn't feel it necessary to tell their guinea pigs what they were doing. And, the fact that I wasn't even expected to survive, didn't persuade them much."

"I… I see…" She said. She stopped talking for a bit and concentrated instead on what she was working on in her computer.

After a few minutes of constant silence, she told him that she needs to run a few test on him before the medicine could be completed.

"What? Why can't you just make a complete replica of what you already had?" he asked, not really liking the thought of more medical experiments on him.

"Well I could," Ritsuko said, "That is, if you don't mind the side effects that come with that particular mix of medicines."

"Side effects? What makes you think there were side effects?" he asked, hoping he could convince her to leave him alone.

"Are you telling me there weren't?" she taunted him.

"Uh, well…"

"As I thought. Don't worry. I just need a blood sample from you and that's it." She said.

"Oh, okay. That's fine then." He was clearly relieved, that is, until Ritsuko came back with the needle.

'Oh crap. Oh crap. Oh crap.' His mind chanted. 'That needle is frickin' huge!'

"Now just roll up your sleeve…" Ritsuko said, taking a sick sadistic pleasure in waving that thing around.

"Ugh…" he said as she pulled up his shirt.

"Oh my…" Ritsuko said.

"What?" he said opening one eye to look at her.

"Your arm… what happened…?" she was absolutely shocked at the condition of his arm. "Take off you shirt!" she then demanded.

"What? Why!" he was extremely reluctant to comply. His reason to do so became obvious when he was forced to do so anyway.

"Oh my god…" she said. "What kind of sick bastard would do this to a child…?"

"Yeah… This is all thanks to the commander." he told her. "There was a reason I told you I wasn't expected to survive."

"Then… how are you…?"

"I don't know… When I look in the mirror, that is what I ask myself."

"The painkillers… this is what they're for isn't it…?"

"Just make a copy of what I used to take. The side effects are not as bad as… this. And, please, don't tell anyone about it." She nodded. He pulled his shirt back on and was about to leave when Ritsuko called out to him.

"'Oh! I almost forgot! Go find Misato and meet me where the Angel core you destroyed is being kept. I want to show you guys something."

"Go find her? What the hell! I'm not a messenger!" His words were harsh but his tone was light.

She laughed a bit and said "Stop complaining and go find her!" She watched him walk away, muttering under his breath, but she knew he was joking. 'Now I understand why he acts like this… it must make it easier for him to handle it…'

----------

"Misato!" Shinji called as he walked into her office.

"Huh? What is it Shinji?" she said.

"Ritsuko said she wanted to see us with the angel fragment."

"What does she want?"

"How would I know? I'm just Shinji Ikari, world saving messenger!"

"Ha ha ha… Fine fine… let's just go." They walked forward for a while in silence.

"Hey, now that I think about it, that's the first time I've seen you smile."

"What are you talking about? I smile all the time."

"No you don't, sure you make jokes and laugh all the time, but you never smile. Not for real anyway."

"You really are observant aren't you?"

"You should smile more often." She said, a teasing tone creeping into her voice. "You're pretty cute. Cuter than you'd think, anyway."

"Right." He said. Clearly ignoring her. She was about to complain but stopped when she noticed the person who stood before them.

"Hey there, Ayanami!" Shinji called out.

"So… you didn't quit." She said more than asked.

"Yeah… I suppose I didn't…"

"I could have piloted Unit-01 as well as you did." She said before walking past them.

Misato was about to tell Shinji that she was always that way when his expression shocked her into silence. He smiled again.

"That's not saying much!" he called out towards her.

Not expecting a response of any kind, much less what seemed to her to be an insult, she turned around and told him, "What do you mean by that, Ikari." Her tone level and colder than usual.

He grinned at her and said "in case you weren't watching, every time I go out there, I nearly get killed by the Angels. It's a miracle I beat them in the first place! If you are as 'good' as me, then we really are in trouble!" he waited a few seconds before continuing. "You really shouldn't compare yourself to anyone. You are the only you and you are as good as you are, no better and no worse." He smirked again and walked away, saying "Come, Misato, we're going to be late."

They walked off, leaving a confounded Rei in their wake.

'I am very confused.' She thought to herself as she walked off in the direction she was originally heading. 'What does he want from me? He has done a lot of things to protect me, but he has never asked for anything in return. Even the commander who treats me the best still demands that I repay him by obeying him blindly. But Ikari has told me that I am me. What does that mean? I know I am myself but he seemed to have a deeper meaning behind that statement. This is too strange. I will have to ask him at a later date.'

In a different corridor, Misato spoke to Shinji. "What was that, eh, Shinji? Trying to hit on Rei?"

Shinji sighed and said "Why must you be so incredibly perverse…? Can't you just believe that what I want doesn't center on that?"

"Right…" she said teasingly. "Of course not…"

"Ugh…"

----------

"Is this all that's left?" Shinji asked while facing the angel core. The ones he asked, however, were too preoccupied with their own conversation to listen to him.

"Okay. Fine. Ignore me. I don't care." He said loudly. "It's not like I'm some incredibly heroic warrior risking his life to protect you all and the human race anyway. Don't worry. I don't need an answer."

Hearing him, both women began laughing. "Sorry, sorry Shinji!" Ritsuko said when she had caught her breath. "I didn't mean to ignore you. But, yes, that's all that's left. Anyway, I wanted to show both of you something." She began talking about the similarities of the Angels or something, but the giant shiny core was too big a distraction for him so he walked over to it again and ignored Ritsuko's explanation.

He stared for a good while and turned to leave. When he did turn, he saw the commander, the second commander, and two random techs walk towards the core and him.

With a great idea in mind he walks forward slightly and calls out to the group. "Good morning, commander Fuyutsuki!" he says to the second commander "Hey there you two!" he says to the techs. The three he addressed greet him in kind and Shinji walked off.

Once Shinji had passed them, he turned around slightly to see the effect of what he had done. The two techs seemed very surprised at Shinji's actions; even the second commander was a bit shocked. His father, however, ignored the whole thing and was acting as though it had never happened. The other three, liking their jobs, followed suit.

Shinji was about to walk away when he saw something unexpected. His father's hands were heavily burnt.

Misato snuck up behind him and was about to shout and surprise him when he said "What is it Misato?"

"Not fair!" she complained. "You always know when I'm around but you keep popping up on me like that."

"Ha ha, it's due to years of experience!" he said, half joking.

"That's cheating!"

Shinji laughed a little more at this and then asked "What's up with the commander's hands, they're all fried."

"Oh that?" Ritsuko said. She told him about Rei's failed activation test and how the commander injured himself to get her out.

"See Shinji." Misato said. "The commander isn't as bad as you think."

"I'm not so sure…" Shinji said.

Inwardly, Ritsuko agreed, especially after what she had seen.

"Replacing pilots must be a pain." Shinji told Misato. "I mean, after all the crap I've pulled, you'd think I'd get fired or something."

Seeing no possible argument to Shinji's analysis of the commander's actions, she stayed quiet.

"In the end," Shinji kept going "I really don't care either way. Nothing he could do would possibly change my thoughts on him."

----------

'Oh man is this boring…' Shinji thought to himself outside of school. He was dressed in his gym clothes and as such, was currently in his P.E. class. He stared upward and was approached by two of his classmates, Toji and Kensuke.

"Shinji!" Toji called out. "I want you to hit me!" he said before striking a strange pose.

'The hell…?' Shinji thought to himself. "Fine." He said and stood up.

He was about to punch him when he said, "Why?"

"Don' worry 'bout dat! Jus do it!" he said.

Shinji shrugged and hit him. Kensuke and a few girls saw this and were surprised that he actually did it.

"So, what the hell was up with that?" Shinji asked Kensuke.

"Well the thing is," he began. "His little sister found out about what he did. She got mad and yelled at him and told him that you were the one who was protecting all of us. She even said that your job was far too important for you to be focused on any one individual."

At his words Shinji started laughing.

"Wha' the hell's so funny!" Toji said as he got up.

"Now I know why you're an idiot." Shinji said. "Your sister must have inherited all of the intelligence you were supposed to have!" Shinji said then started to laugh again.

----------

"Shinjiiiiii…" Misato drawled on.

"What is it?" he said. He was currently eating and didn't appreciate being interrupted from his meal. "Why are you still walking around like that, Misato?" he said once he noticed what she was wearing.

"Hey, it's hot, okay?" she said before trying to tease him again by telling him "What's wrong with the way I dress?"

"Oh nothing at all," he said. "It's just that you're warping that poor penguin's mind with your borderline indecent behavior." He said while pointing at PenPen.

"That reminds me, I want to ask you something," he told her in a very serious sounding voice.

"What is?" she said, worried a bit at his tone.

"Well, the thing is… why does PenPen live in a fridge if he's a warm water penguin?"

"Huh!" she said, completely confused by his absolutely random question.

"Well?" he said.

"Umm…" She began. 'Now what do I do?' her mind screamed at her. 'How can I answer that! I don't even know! What do I… The Card! Oh thank you Ritsuko! You saved me!'

"Oh yeah! Here, this is for you." She said and handed him a card.

"What's this?" he said as he got it.

"It's your permanent security card." She told him. "Oh and take this one too."

He took it and said "What do I do with this one?"

"It's Rei's new card. Ritsuko says she forgot to give it to her. Sorry, but could you drop it off at her place tomorrow before you go to HQ?"

"I see…" he said while looking at the card.

"Oh?" Misato says when she notices Shinji staring at the card, a far off look in his eyes. "See something you like? Hmm?"

"What?" he said looking up. "Oh, I was checking the address and wondering how to get there."

"Aw… You're no fun…" she muttered.

"If you say so… Anyway, well?"

"Well what?"

"Did you think I'd forget so easily? What about PenPen?"

'Oh no! My plan failed!' she cried until she noticed PenPen walking back into the room. "Hey PenPen!" Misato called out to the penguin. "Why do you live in a refrigerator?"

"Wark!" PenPen said.

"Wait, what was that!" Shinji said.

"Wark!" PenPen repeated.

"I am humbled by your great wisdom master PenPen!" Shinji told him.

"What?" Misato said, confused and a little worried about Shinji's sanity. "Did he say something?"

"Should I tell this non-believer?" Shinji asked PenPen.

"Wark!" PenPen said and shook his head in an obvious no. Needless to say, this shocked both of his human compatriots. Misato's eyes greatly widened and her mouth fell open, Shinji's reaction was not so apparent but he did raise an eyebrow rather high…

"As you command." Shinji said.

"Hey! That's not fair! I want to know what he said."

"Sorry Misato, PenPen has spoken."

Misato pouted and Shinji could be heard laughing his way down the hall and enter his bedroom.

----------

'Whoa… this place is huge…' Shinji said to himself. He was standing in front of Rei's apartment early in the morning.

'Maybe I should have lived in a place like this… I'd get more sleep at least… Then again, I do get free food… Wait… I get free room, free food, why? Holy crap! I'm completely broke! Aren't I getting paid? I'm not am I! The hell… I risk my life to save humanity and I don't even get a paycheck! What kind of crap is that! That's it, when I get to NERV I'm gonna complain! Wait a minute… what if I am getting paid but Misato gets it… hmm, maybe I'll pawn off her car to get even… hold it, I'm here… Room 402… This is it.'

Shinji reached over and rang the doorbell, 'what the…?' he said to himself, 'it's broken…' "Hello! Any one in there?" Shinji called out as he knocked on the door. After a minute of continuous knocking he though 'maybe she's not here? Misato told me she wasn't due at NERV for a while so maybe she went out or something… huh? Door's open…' he had checked the door knob and noticed that not only was it unlocked, it didn't even have a lock.

"Hello? Ayanami? Are you here somewhere?" He walked in a bit to find out if she was there or not. The state of the room surprised him a bit, it wasn't so much dirty, I mean, after seeing Misato's mess the world suddenly looked a hell of a lot cleaner. The apartment wasn't really that dirty, it just seemed neglected. There was no overflowing amount of trash all over the floor, but something about the room gave the impression of it being a mess. 'This looks far too familiar… This treating your home as just the place to sleep… Damn it! Stop thinking like that!' Shinji said to himself before shaking his head to clear his mind.

He looked up towards Rei's dresser and saw something glint in the sunlight streaming through the open windows, 'What could that be?' he said to himself as he walked over to it and looked at it 'Ayanami wears glasses? No, these look familiar; hmm… they seem pretty cheap too…' He looked a little closer and saw the words G. Ikari written on them. 'Oh so they're his, huh…' He was alerted of another's presence by approaching footsteps. He turned around to see what it could be. All of the training he had endured did not, in the slightest, prepare him for what he now faced. Ayanami stood at the doorway to her bathroom, naked save for a towel around her shoulders. Shinji's eyes widened and his mouth fell open in surprise, a very slight blush also spread across his face. Ayanami, on her part, was surprised as well. She did not expect anyone to enter her apartment for any reason at this moment. That someone did, let alone that he did, was an absolute surprise for her. Shinji was shocked the moment he was confronted with that sight, but his reflexes kicked in after about two or three seconds. He closed his eyes and whirled around to face in the opposite direction.

"Sorry!" Shinji said. "I thought you weren't here so I checked just to be sure. I'm sorry for just walking in like that!"

Getting over her surprise, she responded "There is no need to apologize. You have caused not caused any problems."

"What? Of course I need to apologize. I walked in without asking for permission and saw you…" his voice trailed off and the same blush came back to cover his face.

There was an awkward silence after Shinji spoke in which he was far too embarrassed to say anything.

"Why are you here?" she said after a while longer.

'Wait why am I here?' Shinji asked himself. 'Oh yeah! The card! Thank you Misato! You saved me! Wait a minute! She sent me here in the first place! Damn you Misato!'

"Well?" Rei asked again interrupting his mental monologue.

"Oh, um… I'm here to give you your security card. Misato told me that Ritsuko forgot to give it to you."

"They sent you?" she asked.

"Yeah well, I guess in an organization as big and important as NERV, every single employee is involved in such important work that a lowly pilot such as myself whose only job is to control a giant bio-mechanical robot against even gianter monsters in a battle to the death in order to protect humanity on a constant basis is seen as the perfect one to send messages and deliver things I guess." He said sarcastically.

He thought he heard what could have been a small laugh from behind him and was about to turn around to see if that was what it was when he remembered 'Gah! Turn away you idiot! She's probably still naked!' His head snapped forward again fast enough to actually get him a bit dizzy.

"Umm… anyways… here's your card." He finished holding the card to the side.

Rei, fully dressed now, walked past him and took it from his outstretched hand.

"We have to go to NERV now, right?" Shinji asked as they headed out.

"Yes." Was her reply.

"You know," Shinji began as they walked out of her apartment. "Maybe you should get a lock or something for your door."

"It is unnecessary." She said. "There are Section two agents constantly around in case anything ever happened."

"I suppose so…" Shinji said. "They don't seem to be too good at their job, I mean, I got in with no problem."

"Hmm…" she said and seemed to be considering what he said. "You may be right. However, I lack the funds necessary to install one."

'What the…? She's poor too?' Shinji thought to himself.

"Hey, I've been wondering, do we actually get paid for piloting?"

"I do not think so." She told him. Inwardly she said 'Ikari makes a good point. This is considered work for us so we should be receiving payment for it.'

"So it wasn't just me." He said, thinking out loud. "That's just not right! We've got the most important job there, so, we should be making a whole lot of money? Hey I've got an idea, Ayanami."

"What is it, Ikari?"

"How about when we reach NERV, we find the ones who decided that we weren't going to get paid, and threaten to step on them if they don't start giving us money?"

"That seems to be a very foolish suggestion." She said but she though 'I wonder if that would work?'

"Any ideas then?" he asked.

"Not at this moment." She said before realizing that he had stopped. She turned around to see what had halted him when a car drove into a puddle and splashed them. Rei instinctively closed her eyes and waited for the water to hit her. When it didn't, she looked back and saw that he had stopped directly in the path of the water.

'He protected me again? There was absolutely no reason for that.' She was about to ask him why it was that he did that when she noticed what he was doing.

"Hey you bastard get back here! What the hell! That was on purpose! If I had my giant robot I'd squish you for that!" He yelled after the car. The driver, completely oblivious, ignored him.

'Was he protecting me this time?' she thought, not quite sure after his outburst. She was going to ask him when she noticed that the water had hit her, it was only the skirt of her dress, but she was wet. She realized that, this time at least, it had been an accident seeing as he had stopped to look into the display of a game store they had walked past.

"Being around you is highly entertaining." She told him and walked off.

'Did she say what I think she said?' Shinji's bewildered mind tried to understand the series of events that had just taken place. A few seconds of stunned silence later he thought to himself, 'I guess acting like this was worthwhile for a reaction like that…"

"Hey Ayanami! Wait up!" he called out to her as he ran to catch up.

"Hey, you have a reactivation test with Unit-00 today, don't you?" he asked as he remembered the reason they were going to NERV.

"Yes." She said.

"Do you feel up to it? Didn't it fail last time?"

"I am not afraid to die." She told him. Those words were barely out of her mouth when she heard Shinji chuckle.

"Having thoughts like that is not necessarily a good thing. Being willing to risk their lives makes a person courageous, but willing to throw their lives away makes them foolish." He told her.

'What he says does not apply to me. I am replaceable.'

"The reason a person who throws their lives away is foolish is not because of their actions. It is because of their mindset. Those are the types of people who think that they have no value, that they are easily replaceable."

"Some people really are replaceable." She said to him. 'Like me.'

"Do you really think so?" He asked her. She nodded.

"You're wrong. There is no such thing as a replaceable person. No matter who takes their place, how much they look or act like them, they will not replace the one that is gone. They are as much themselves as any one else is and as such, they are not anyone else. No matter what anyone else thinks, themselves included, and as such, they give up on life because they see it as the easiest path." He finished and kept following her.

They continued on their walk towards headquarters. Shinji trailed by a few steps but they were close enough to be able to talk. What Shinji didn't realize was the shadow of a smile that adorned Rei's face the entire time.

They arrived a while later and were about to go their different ways when Shinji told her one final thing as she walked off. "Good luck on the test! And if you give up, I'll throw Misato at you or something!"

She stopped at his seeming threat and looked back in surprise. He was already gone though. She shrugged and kept walking forward. She seemed the same as always but those that knew her could have seen a difference. Her eyebrows were slightly furrowed and a single thought ran through her mind. 'I wonder if he really would throw the captain at me…'

----------

"We will now commence the activation test for Unit-00. Rei. Are you ready?" The commander said.

"Yes, sir."

As the bridge crew began reporting on the status of the activation Shinji made sure the comm. he was standing next to was on and he turned to talk to Misato.

"Hey Misato?" Shinji asked.

"What is it Shinji?" She said; glad to have something to take her mind off of the test seeing as she had nothing to do but watch.

"Why aren't I getting paid?"

"What? What do you mean paid?"

"Well this is work, isn't it? So shouldn't Ayanami and I get a paycheck or something?"

"Well…" she said before Shinji cut her off.

"Why else would you think that we should Pilot if not for a huge amount of cash?"

"You pilot because no one else can." The commander said. He heard the whole pointless conversation and thought that this was a way in which he could show his superiority to the third child.

"That's even better then!" Shinji said, completely opposite of how the commander thought he would have reacted. "This means we're specialists so we should get even more money if you want to have us keep going, right?"

The commander, seeing no possible way to end this conversation with making himself look like a fool, decided to say, "Katsuragi, arrange it."

By this time, the Eva had been successfully activated and Shinji walked over to the terminal. "I told you this would work, Ayanami!"

"Yes." She answered. "I suppose I owe you lunch now."

Hearing this statement the entire bridge crew broke out laughing, all save for the commander who was furious that his son was turning his puppet against him.

Unfortunately their laughter was cut short when Fuyutsuki said, "An unidentified flying object is heading this way. It's probably the fifth angel."

"Abort the test! All personnel, go to level one yellow alert!" the commander ordered.

"Can we use Unit-00?" Fuyutsuki asked.

"It's not battle-ready yet." The commander told him before asking Ritsuko "What about Unit-01?"

"We can have it up in 380 seconds." She informed the commander.

"Good, scramble it." He said.

"Aw damn!" Shinji said loudly. "I guess I have to go to work now…"

"Stop complaining Shinji!" Misato said. "Go do your job!"

"Fine… It's better than being a messenger, I guess…"

"He's still upset about that?" Ritsuko asked Misato when Shinji left the room.

"Yeah, every time I ask him to got get something for me, he complains about most of the stories he'll have to tell his grandchildren when this is long past will be about how he spent his time delivering things."

"Ha ha ha, yes, that sounds like something he'd say."

"The target is now above Lake Ashino."

"Eva Unit-01 is ready for take off."

"Money, money, money, money…" Shinji muttered to himself as he sat in Unit-01.

"What was that Shinji?" Misato asked.

"Oh nothing. Just reminding myself why I pilot. Hey, Ayanami, we'll go get lunch when I get back!"

"Assuming you return." She said. Misato was shocked that Rei would tell him something like that until Shinji's reply came.

"You're not getting out of it that easily!"

"Oh well, one can hope."

'What the hell?' Misato thought to herself. 'Since when are these two friends!'

"Don't give up." She told him.

"Hey, don't worry about that. And besides, I doubt you could pick Misato up!" He managed to say before he was launched.

Misato, highly confused, was about to ask Rei what the heck had just happened when someone said "I'm getting a high energy reading within the target!"

"What!" Misato shouted back.

"It's accelerating on its periphery! Starting to converge!"

Understanding dawning on her, Misato said "Can't be… A particle beam!"

"No!" she shouted. "Shinji get out of the way!"

"Huh?" was his response until he saw what she meant. The angel looked like a big blue diamond but what caught his attention was the oncoming beam as it blasted easily through the building in its path.

"Oh crap…" he said before he was engulfed in pink death.

To be continued…!

Damn I'm tired… I've been writing for like eight hours just to finish it up… Well, there you go! How's that. If it sucks, then it's a vacuum in disguise. Tell me what you thought of it. It doesn't have to be some crazy in-depth analysis or anything, though that would be appreciated, just telling me you liked it and want me to keep going really is enough. I'm going to stop begging for ideas, but if you have any, tell me and I'll see if it inspires me. Oh, and I wonder just how many stories decide to end right at that exact moment? Oh yeah, also about the whole Shinji and Rei being friendly now, I've got a reason, but I'd ruin the story if I said it now. I also wanted to claim that despite what it looks like, it's still NOT a SinjiXRei fic, seriously. Maybe I should stop now? Oh, one more thing. I update fast because I write fast, or type, whatever. This is my protest against writers who think up great stories and update really, really slowly. If you agree with me, do the same.

Later.