Okay, so I have a lot to say and this going to be a long author note. Probably longer than I want. So, if you don't wanna read it, just go ahead and scroll on through. Though, I do write these author notes for a reason, so I would encourage you to read it.

So…on one hand, I kinda want to apologize for last chapter, since it didn't seem to be too terribly well received among my readers, but on the other hand…I did warn you guys that this was gonna be a fucked up story. Now, I'm not honestly sure how many people finished last chapter. I got messages from many multiples of people and I get the impression that a good few didn't finish the chapter. Which is understandable I suppose since (I don't need to worry about spoilers here, do I? Of course not! Or maybe I do, I dunno.) Gendo and Rei aren't exactly the pairing. And, I don't blame you if you skipped reading last chapter. That's fine. I don't take offense and you can be honest with me.

And I know how rabid and hysterical fans can be towards things they love (I do seem to remember they sent death threats to Anno after everyone watched the last two episodes of NGE, which is how we ended up with End of Evangelion.) so, I don't harbor any ill will toward anyone who sent me hate mail. (Thankfully, I haven't received any death threats yet. I do thoroughly hope it remains that way.) So, you're all still cool in my book. No hard feelings. I knew what I wrote was gonna upset some people, and so it didn't really bother me because I'd already been braced for it.

But, yeah, just to clear everything up, Gendo didn't fuck Rei II, only the clones. So, the Shinji and Rei romance is still perfectly intact. Granted, I probably could have delivered that chapter a little better. But, I was rushed and trying to get it out since I'd been at my Grandmother's house for a few weeks and hadn't been focusing on writing as much. So, I will obviously take some of the fault as my own. I left some hints that it wasn't Rei II, like her asking where she was and Gendo saying she was in her room even though she didn't recognize the place. But, I suppose at the end of the day, it was still poorer delivery than I had intended.

Honestly, I have a lot to say about of a variety of things. I don't really regret writing the scenes from last chapter, but I may regret how I wrote it. I guess that's the best way I can put it into words. But, whatever. That doesn't matter. Shinji and Rei are still together. Nothing is between them. You have nothing to fear. Gendo isn't stealing Rei from Shinji or anything. I do suppose there are people out there that that explanation won't be good enough for, namely the people who basically worship Rei as a god and only see her being with Shinji. …I mean, I guess she did sorta turn into a god during the End of Evangleion…but that's beside the point.

But, still, just for future reference, this story isn't going to be cutesy fruitsy all the way through. There's gonna be some messed up shit that happens, as should be expected in Evangelion. Now, I'm trying really hard to walk a thin line between stereotypical classical storytelling and stereotypical tasteless overly edgy storytelling so that I hopefully end up with something that isn't stereotypical. And it's a hard line to walk on…because it's…a line…a thin line… and I'm not good at figurative language…Actually I am, and this is just an attempt at dry comedy. But, back to the point.

And, to be honest, I have messed up at times and I've mistepped on said thin line, especially in some of the earlier chapters, which I may actually go back revise sometime soon, probably around Christmas. Because, they just didn't really turn out the way I wanted. For anyone who likes the old chapters the way they are (extra fanservicey to the point of breaking character), I'll be sure to make another story entry and place them there for people who prefer the vanilla versions. But, anyways, I do intend to revise them and tone down the sexuality some since it did get more extreme than I had originally intended. But, once again, no one needs to worry.

Like I said, I'll make the original copies available for viewing. But, I don't think it's going to be necessary because there's going to be an…well, I don't want to say an absurd amount of sex…but…there's going to be an absurd amount of sex later.

They're a bunch of hormonal, mentally ill, teenagers, that aren't bound by the law in a very restricting manner given their essential position in defending a world that they still have a lot to learn about. And, I mean, we all know how teens are nowadays. It's not some mystery. I myself was looking up porn when I was a lad of only 8 summers…

Not that I'd condone or encourage watching porn when you're eight years old… But…I mean, we all know it happens. We did it. Our parents did it. Our kids will/have/are doing it. And to any future mothers reading this right now…yes…your kid is going to do it too. So, you better monitor them. We're growing up in an age where it's easier to find that kind of stuff. This story is proof enough of that.

So, of course the three pilots are going to have lots of sex once they get together. So, I don't think that cutting a few out-of-character teasing scenes are going to be sorely missed by anyone.

And I know that some of you are getting impatient with the lack of sexual stuff in this story so far. And, I tried to tide you guys over with excessive fanservice. But, that didn't really do anything except cause some of the characters to not act like themselves. But, for those of you worried about the lack of sexy stuff, don't worry! It's coming! (Heheh, cumming.)

I know, I know, it's hard (heheh, hard) to wait, I really do know. I know it's taking a long (Heheh, long) time to get there, but the pilots are going to fuck! I promise! I just don't want the sex scenes to seem cheap like some of the older fanservice scenes I wrote for this. So, it's going to take a bit of time to get the pilots to the point that they're all comfortable doing each other.

Like I've said in other author notes, I need to do a lot of recharacterization to get Asuka to be willing to fuck Shinji or Rei. She spent the entire series shutting herself off from one of them and hating the other. So, it's going to take her some time.

And then there's Shinji and Rei, one of which is so shy and polite that it's hard to believe he'd ever even suggest having sex and the other of which is so unfamiliar with herself that she may not even recognize her sexual urges, and that's assuming she even feels sexual urges in the first place. They're so reserved that getting one of them to make the first move is very tricky without an outside force like Misato, Toji, and Kensuke to spur them on. (And…maybe a sex ed class too. But, that's an idea for a later chapter, *wink wink*! And I may have just spoiled that a bit. But, I guess I'll toss you a bone.)

I'm just saying that…it's a lot of work to get these character to really be willing to open up to each other in that way while also still retaining believability.

And, really, I'm kinda making this revising stuff out to be a little bigger than it is. I'm just gonna alter a couple scenes. Nothing too dramatic. In fact, I'd daresay it's things that most of you reading this right now don't even remember me writing unless you've actually been frequently rereading my story, which I would encourage you to do by the way. I stick lot of little hints, references, and callbacks to previous chapters in my newer ones and I leave foreshadowing in my older ones. And most of those are things you won't notice unless you've read it a couple times. And it's just good as a refresher.

Anyways, that is enough of that garbage. That was a 1,400 something word author note, not including this paragraph. Probably the longest author note I've ever written- Er, uh typed. And, I'm sure most of you just want to get on with the chapter. So, carry on.

Also, I intended to do review responses this chapter, but with how long that note was, I think I'll just save them for next chapter. Fanfiction and Fictionpress are… well, kinda against big Author notes like this. Not sure why I'd be heeding that rule when I'm writing an MA rated story on a site that forbids MA material. But, yeah…

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Text Guide

Standard Wording

"Spoken Dialogue/Speech"

'Internal Dialogue/Thoughts'

(Flashbacks)

/

[Slash denotes scene transition for the moment; this may be changed in the future so as to become more visible.]

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Disclaimer: I do not own or profit off of Neon Genesis Evangelion, End Of Evangelion, or the Rebuilds of Evangelion. I do not own Shinji Ikari, Rei Ayanami, Asuka Langley Sohryu, or any of the other characters/ideas from the Evangelion intellectual property collective. All licenses remain with the proper license holders. If asked to, I will formally remove this story from the hosting website.

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*Cruel Angel's Thesis and Eva intro starts playing*


Neon Genesis Evangelion

A Journey of Hate, Power, and Love

Chapter 16

Days In, Days Out

.

Gendo watched impatiently as Ritsuko, obviously flustered, fumbled to put on her lab coat. As she finally got it on, Gendo sat down at his desk and laced his fingers in front of his face, just as he always did. He watched her from behind his orange glasses as she finally left the room and the door to his office slid shut.

Silence.

Rei didn't speak a word and neither did Commander Ikari.

Usually, in quiet situations like this, Gendo was the one to make others uncomfortable. But, before Rei's unblinking eye contact, he was the one to look away. She was, in all honesty, the only living person who could make him submit. And she didn't even need to try.

"Rei, eat," Gendo ordered softly as he stared at a wall to his left.

Rei did as she was told and approached the desk. She looked down at the cold metal tray and the pills that were on it.

Used to, she never minded ingesting the pills. It was what she's been raised on. Pills, watered down milk, and cold, dry, tasteless food.

But ever since him; ever since… Shinji… she'd grown accustomed to, and may have even enjoyed, many new foods and flavors.

And, as she stood before Gendo's desk and picked up one of the pills she'd been served, she realized the bitter and plasticky thing no longer appealed to her.

Nevertheless, she placed the pill on her tongue and swallowed it without question.

For the first time in her life, she recoiled and almost gagged as the foul-tasting pill dryly stuck and tried to attach to her inner esophagus. She swallowed again in response and the pill loosened itself. Though, Rei could still taste it in the back of her throat.

Meanwhile, as Rei silently swallowed the pills, Gendo pulled out a matchbox from a drawer in his desk. He pulled out one of the thin pieces of woods and swiped the match against the side of the box. He then lit a few candles that usually sat unlit on his desk before waving the match back and forth to put it out.

The light from the candles grew a bit brighter as they slowly got hotter. And before long, there was a little oasis of light in the dark, empty, expanse of Commander Ikari's office.

Why the man felt the need to have such a massive and shadowy office, Rei did not know. Perhaps it was to intimidate his employees and underlings. Mayhap, it was an expression of his view on the vast and nigh endless universe and how cold and lonely it was. Or, perhaps the man was just fond of his space. But because of his tendency to keep to himself, Commander Ikari was likely the only one who would ever know.

"Rei."

"Yes, Sir?" she asked as she looked up from the tray of pills.

"You have been courting my son?" Gendo asked as he turned his eyes back towards Rei.

"Yes, Sir," Rei said, slightly quieter than before.

Gendo eyed the girl. Not many people would have noticed it, but he saw that she had tensed up some, which was highly unusual for her.

"Has that proven… well... for you?"

"Well, Sir?"

"Has he been…enjoyable?" Gendo clarified, trying hard not to spit from the distaste of pronouncing the word enjoyable in the same sentence that he referenced his son in.

"Enjoyable? I... suppose so…" Rei mumbled quietly.

"But, of course. Otherwise you wouldn't have engaged with him."

"I…suppose that is true."

A moment of silence stretched on between the two before Gendo spoke again.

"You may continue on as you will with him, but do not forget your purpose, Rei. If you cannot perform your duties, I will have to dispose of you. The same applies if you interrupt my son's ability to perform. And should it come to that, what must be done will not be pleasant for you, for me, or for Shinji."

'Di…dispose of...me?' Rei thought to herself as adrenaline sharply shot through her body.

Never before in her life had the thought of her disappearing elicited such a response from her. She'd never been afraid to sacrifice herself. She always knew; had always known, that she was replaceable. And the thought had never frightened her before. But now…now it did.

'I…don't want to be disposed of. I don't want to be…replaced,' Rei continued thinking to herself.

But wasn't that just the problem? Now she fully understood what Commander Ikari was saying to her. If she couldn't be willing to sacrifice herself, her happiness, to sacrifice her very essence and being, how could she be expected to fight and be willing to die if that was what was required of her.

Though no one else would be able to tell, Gendo could see his words had shaken the unshakable girl, and he knew that it did not bode well that they had.

"Do you know why I chose my son, Rei? Why I chose him to be the pilot of Unit-01?"

"No, Sir."

"Because he has nothing. And, for many years, I had to painstakingly ensure that he remained with nothing. He is not like you, Rei. I cannot simply wipe the slate with him. If you break him, if you ruin him, it could be irreparable. He needs to remain with nothing. As does Pilot Sohryu. I chose her for the same reason. She has lost everything she holds dear. She has no living blood relatives that are actively in her life. She doesn't have anything left to lose. And she has been conditioned to believe that she has everything to gain by piloting the Evangelion. Everything that Pilot Sohryu has, everything that Shinji has, is ephemeral, including you if it comes to the point that I need to remove you. Everything they have will pass with time and they will again be left with nothing save to move forward. That is why they are Evangelion Pilots. Aside from the pain they feel in battle, they have no reason not to adhere and serve. One could almost call them tools if they weren't so easy, and at the same time, so difficult to mold.

"I believe… I understand," Rei said quietly.

Gendo relaxed into his seat, content with Rei's answer.

"But, Sir?" Rei started again.

Gendo gave Rei his attention once more as he straightened himself in his seat.

"Why not encourage them with something to strive for?" Rei asked, trying to cut the emotion out of her voice as much as possible.

"Because, Rei. That inevitably leads to regression. They find something they can hope for only for it to be snatched away from them. And that causes them to stop and to dwell on what they've lost. It keeps them from progressing."

"But, Sir-"

"No, Rei. You know what happened with me… with Yui. That should be explanation enough. And if you will not accept that, I will be forced to remove you from the equation. I will not have you destroy the effort that I and other people have put in to manipulating the Pilots to perform to the best of their ability and to the best of our advantage. You must understand, Rei, that when they have no hope, there is no way back and that they can only press forward. I will dispose of you if you change that truth in their hearts, do you understand?"

"Yes… Sir. I…do not wish to be disposed of."

Gendo flinched at how oddly the girl had responded to him. Used to, she would never have said something so… regretful? Pitiful? There wasn't much emotion that she conveyed, but Gendo could tell that she was developing feelings that she shouldn't have been.

"Be carful what you wish for, Rei. Often times, the more you wish, the worse things will turn out."

"I will perform… my duties… Sir," Rei said trying to correct herself while keeping her increasingly turbulent emotions under control.

Gendo sighed gently. Despite the hard demeanor he put up, he did have a soft spot for the girl, even if it was against his better judgment.

"Rei, come with me," Gendo said as he stood up from his seat.

Without another word, Rei followed the footsteps of the man who ruled the world, the King of the Lillin.

/

-To Be or Not to Be-

/

Rei followed Gendo down the dark hallways of lower NERV HQ, wondering what he could possibly be trying to show her. She'd been down here many times and knew a great deal of the secrets this place held. Though, she did suppose that there could still be things down here that may have remained beyond her ken.

In spite of her inquisitiveness however, she remained silent as the man led her further and further into the darkness.

Ahead of her, she saw a door with a flickering sign on the wall above it. She couldn't make out all of it, but she could read the words "First Child."

Rei solemnly glanced at Gendo as he pulled his keycard out of his pocket upon drawing nearer. There was a swift sound of plastic swiping against metal and a beep. Then, the door slid open.

Rei immediately recognized the inside.

"My… room."

"Your old one, yes. Before you were relocated to the outside world."

Gendo stepped inside as Rei followed.

The scent of iron or blood immediately washed over her face, as well as a few other scents that she couldn't place.

She glanced over to the bed, where the smell seemed to be coming from and saw… a mass of some sort, bloody and torn.

Gendo approached the bed before turning around and standing next to it, inanimately beckoning Rei forward with his lack of movement and expectant expression.

Rei glanced at Gendo and then back at the bloodied sheets before she too came to stand next to the bed.

"It is… me… Rei Ayanami," she deduced as she finally began to identify parts of the… well, it was hard to call it a body anymore. More so the remains of one. She could see bones and flesh and teeth strewn across the mattress and a bundle of short blue hair near the opposite side of the bed. On the floor, there was a part of a lower leg with a knee bone protruding from the top with torn strands of muscle hanging loosely down the calf of the leg. And, as though the spectacle wasn't gruesome enough, Rei observed that the muscle and the skin was slowly dissolving and turning into a thick red juice.

The gore itself did not bother Rei. She'd seen plenty of such things while piloting Unit-00. But, the thought of her being dismantled and ceasing to be on the other hand…

"To be or not to be, Rei? That is the question," Gendo said gruffly.

"Shakespeare…" Rei mumbled quietly as she recognized the words, thinking back to her time in literary class.

"It seems you have been paying attention in school…"

"I was ordered to… I will follow my orders."

"Then, perhaps you are still usable," Gendo said as he began walking to the exit of the room.

"Commander Ikari?" Rei suddenly asked, causing the man to pause.

He didn't say anything, but Rei knew he was listening.

"What are… bonds… Commander?"

Commander Ikari sighed, not being able to find suitable words to answer the girl's question.

Rei forced herself to look away from the slowly dissolving clone resting on the bed, and instead faced Commander Ikari, still expecting an answer from him.

"Bonds, Rei… are… motivations in people's hearts that move them to achieve goals that would otherwise be impossible to reach for. Bonds can be shared between humans, but they can be between other things. Men and money for example. Or hope as well. And some bonds… transcend even those things," Commander Ikari said as he looked over his shoulder at Rei, only to see Yui in her place.

"I have… a bond… with all living things," Rei said, her lip quivering, "And I have a bond…with you. But, Commander Ikari?"

"Yes, Rei?"

"Do you have a bond… with your son?"

Gendo didn't say anything as he stared blankly at the door of the room.

"I… I see," Rei whispered.

"Come. It's time to quit this place, Rei. It's late and you need to go home and rest. It won't do to have a fatigued Pilot."

/

As was common in the Katsuragi residence in the morning, Shinji was up busily cooking breakfast. It was raining today as well, but that wasn't entirely out of the norm. What was unusual however was that Asuka was also awake.

When she'd first moved to Japan, she had usually been the first to wake up. And because she was the first to wake, she was usually the first to need breakfast as well. And, so, she'd naturally barge into Shinji's room and demand that he wake up to fix her something.

As days turned into weeks, Asuka had found herself sleeping more comfortably. However, before that had happened, she had successfully, and quite possibly permanently, altered Shinji's sleeping schedule. And, since then, he had been the first one to awake and was usually well on his way to finishing breakfast preparations before Misato or Asuka had stirred.

But today, and in fact, for a few days now, it had seemed as though Asuka wasn't sleeping as well.

Shinji would sometimes hear her get up in the middle of the night, or he'd hear her cursing to herself. And, sometimes, on the nights when Misato was able to successfully get to bed herself instead of passing out on the couch and leaving the T.V. on, he could hear Asuka's breathing become uneasy and rapid before she would inevitably wake up gasping, as though her dreams were a lake she'd been drowning in and upon finally waking up, had been allowed a breath of air.

Naturally, Shinji wanted to confront her about what he assumed were nightmares she was suffering from. But, he quickly realized that would have been foolish of him. Even if he had the ability to stop such things from happening, Asuka had been being rather unapproachable recently, more so than usual. She was constantly upset with him and had been getting more physically and verbally violent with him whenever he tried to interact with her.

The thought saddened him, but all he could really do was just pretend like he didn't notice what she was going through.

And, as he listened to the girl verbally abusing him as she sat at the kitchen table, he continued to make her breakfast for her as politely as he could.

"Stupid Shinji! Are you even listening to me, you dumbass!? Don't you know to give a girl your full attention when she's talking to you?!"

"I'm listening, Asuka. Don't worry."

"Oh, yeah? Then why don't you answer my question and tell me which of these dresses looks better?"

"Well, I'm cooking right now. Can't you bring the computer over here if you want to show them to me?"

"Hmph," Asuka huffed as she stood up from the kitchen table and brought her chrome red laptop over to the counter next to the stove.

"So? Which one looks the best? I need to decide which one to buy," Asuka asked again as she rotated the laptop towards him and showed him some pictures of a few dresses.

"Buy? Why would you buy one? Don't you have enough dresses? And where would you get the money from anyways?"

"From my paycheck, you idiot! Where do you think?"

"Oh…right…"

"Heeeeey, what do you spend your money on, Stupid Shinji? I never see you bring anything new home."

"Oh, me? I just give my money to Misato. I don't really use it on anything and she's always complaining about money."

"Riiiight. Anyways, the dresses!" Asuka said as she pointed at her laptop.

Shinji turned his attention towards the screen and saw that there was a yellow satin dress, a blue dress with diamonds on it, a strapless red dress, and a frilly black dress with lace trimming on it.

"Hmm, I kinda like the blue one!" Shinji said happily.

"What?! The blue one!? But blue is so ugly!"

Shinji sighed, half expecting her to hit him for the second time that morning.

"If you didn't want to know my answer, then why did you ask? You wanted to know which one I thought looked the best. I think the blue one looks the best."

"I MEANT WHICH ONE WOULD LOOK THE BEST ON ME, YOU IDIOT! Obviously when a girl is asking what clothes would look best, she's talking about if she put them on herself! Blue would clash with my hair too much. Obviously, any of the other colors are a better choice!" Asuka growled as she clenched her fists and glared at Shinji spitefully.

"Well, you should have told me that! I'm not in tune with all this fashion stuff!"

"Stupid Shinji! You should have been able to figure it out for yourself! You have a fucking girlfriend now! You better start learning how to treat her."

"Okay, okay! I'll keep it in mind for next time. Just don't get so worked up over it."

"I'M NOT getting worked up!" Asuka spat as she snatched her laptop off the counter and brought it back to the kitchen table.

"Asuka!" Shinji sighed in frustration, "…never mind."

"What?! WHAT IS IT, SHINJI?!" Asuka asked accusingly.

"It's nothing…" Shinji mumbled as he started to yawn.

"No, what is it, Shinji?! Tell me!" she demanded.

"It's nothing, Asuka. Please, just leave it alone."

"FUCK YOU! YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY TO ME, THEN SAY IT!"

"Can you two please keep it down?" Misato drunkenly groaned from the couch, apparently having been woken up from Asuka's excessive bickering, "I'm trying to ferment myself so I have infinite alcohol."

For a moment, the two children stopped arguing just because of the odd nature of Misato's comment.

"I have the beer. Drink the beer. Become one with the beer. I am the beer." Misato chanted quietly to herself, obviously still drunk from last night.

"You… you know what, Misato?" Asuka said back to the older woman in a spirited voice.

"Hmm, what? I mean, yes?" The older woman stuttered as she lost her concentration on her fermentation… which really just looked more like meditation.

"That's a great idea!" Asuka said cheerfully.

"Oh, yeah, of course! No problem. I have the beer. Drink the beer. Become one with the-"

Asuka got up from the kitchen table, attracting Shinji's attention. She smiled at him with a soft and innocent smile, which Shinji knew was a bad thing. That was the same disarming smile she'd given him the first time she'd ever slapped him, so he knew that nothing good was going to come from that smile.

His eyes followed her for a time as she strided across the kitchen, but before long, he knew where she was going.

"Asuka, no! You cannot keep drinking that stuff!"

"And why the hell not?" Asuka said as she flung open the doors to the alcohol cabinet before snatching out a bottle of brandy.

"Misato! Asuka is stealing your alcohol!" Shinji angrily shouted to the older woman.

"Oh, that's okay. It's not mine," Misato said, blowing off Shinji's observation.

Shinji looked appalled for a moment.

"But… what?!" Shinji stammered.

He looked back and saw Asuka was seemingly unphased by his outburst and was nonchalantly pouring herself a glass without a care in the world.

"S-so you're just gonna let her get away with it?!" Shinji asked, his frustration slowly changing to disappointment.

"Yeah, it's the weekend. Why not? No one's going to notice her."

"But! Who even-! What- Why did- Where did it come from?! Why is she allowed to have it!?"

Misato just shrugged and went back to meditating… fermenting.

Shinji was shaking and upset. He wasn't really sure why. None of this stuff should have bothered him, but it did and he couldn't help it. He knew that Misato wasn't exactly a role model guardian, but every time that Asuka had been drunk over the past few days, he'd assumed it was because she'd been stealing Misato's alcohol; not because Misato had actually gone out and bought alcohol for Asuka.

That was the last thing the insane girl needed. For all he knew, she'd go into some drunken rage and beat him or stab him with a kitchen knife just for saying something slightly out of line.

"Asuka, please. Don't drink that."

"I'll stop drinking when you tell me what you were gonna say to me," Asuka said as she took a shot from her glass, before turning her head sideways and resting her cheek on the palm of her hand, still smiling at him all the while.

"There's no reason to, Asuka! So, please, can you just stop? I don't want to play this game with you."

"I'll stop when you tell me. Simple as that," Asuka said again as she poured another glass full and drunk it.

"It doesn't matter what I say, because no matter what I say, it's always the wrong answer! And that's what I was going to say in the first place. And now you're probably going to hurt me again!"

Asuka got up from her chair and walked over to Shinji with a dirty look in her eyes, like she was looking at a bug that had happened to cross he path and now she was going to crush it.

And, sure enough, she raised her hand and slapped Shinji across the face.

The boy recoiled and placed his hand on his cheek!

"See! I told you!" Shinji shouted back at the girl angrily.

"Shut up, Shinji. And finish making breakfast," she said with a disgusted look in her eyes.

"Well, I'm going to see you two later. I'm going out for a bit," Misato said as she pretended to not have noticed anything, leaving the two kids staring at her in bewilderment.

'Damn kids,' Misato thought to herself as she picked up her purse and opened a frothy can of Yebisu before heading out the door.

She drunkenly stumbled her way over to the door, which was made all the more harder by the fact she was wearing heels and was a little disoriented when she tilted her head back to drink her beer. But, at this point in her life, there wasn't really anything Misato couldn't accomplish while being drunk.

Even with both of her hands full and almost tripping over herself every other step, she somehow managed to pull her keys out of her purse and unlock the door.

"I'll see you later. Behave while I'm gone!" Misato called out to the kids as she opened the door.

She heard some glassware being shuffled around and a drink being poured, but she wasn't going to stick around to listen to what happened next. And so, she quickly shut the door and went on her merry way.

Immediately, the wind from the cold front that had rolled in overnight lifted Misato's skirt up, causing her to shiver as little droplets of water carried by the wind sprayed onto her legs.

She pulled out her phone and began looking for Ritsuko's number, but before she could find it, a little voice peeped to life in front of her.

"Good morning, Captain Katsuragi."

Misato looked up from her phone to see Rei.

"Oh, hello there, Rei! Don't you look cute today. Still wearing those clothes I bought for you, I see."

"Y…yes, Ma'am." Rei said politely.

"I guess you're here to see Shinji?"

"Yes, Ma'am. I am."

"Well, just be careful, alright. I think he and Asuka are about to have a big blow up or something. They won't stop fighting. Anyways, I'll be seeing you." Misato said as she started stumbling along the terrace to get to her car.

Rei noticed the woman was slurring her words only in the slightest and that her cheeks were flushed.

"Captain Katsuragi, you seem intoxicated. Are you quite well enough to drive?" Rei said as the woman clumsily plodded along.

The Captain turned around and smiled at rei.

"Oh, yeah. I-I can do anything when I'm drunk. Besides, I… I just need to get out of the house for a bit. Like I said, those kids…they won't stop fighting. I just need some calm for a while."

"I… see," Rei mumbled, "I will attempt to stop them from conflicting then."

"Oh, Rei," Misato sighed, "I don't know if anything could stop Asuka from fighting. She'd argue with a lamppost if she thought it was trying to pick a fight with her."

"I will try…"

"Heheh, you're welcome to. I left the door unlocked, so you can just welcome yourself. But, I'm not gonna stick around. So, I'll see you later."

Rei nodded at Misato, seeing her reach for her phone.

"Oh, yeah. Hey, Ritsuko, I was wondering, could we meet up?" The woman asked as she tried not to lose her footing while heading down the stairwell.

Rei turned away from the woman and then looked back at the door of the Katsuragi residence. She could hear the two kids screaming even from where she was, almost fifty feet from the door.

Rei quietly approached the door, not that she needed to. Whatever was going on in there would probably sufficiently mask any sound of her approach.

She opened the door and the yelling grew much louder and clearer.

"AND WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN IF WE HAVE TO PILOT THE EVAS AND YOU'RE DRUNK!? I CAN'T FIGHT THE ANGELS BY MYSELF!"

"WE'LL BURN THAT BRIDGE WHEN WE COME TO IT!"

"Wha…WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?"

"THAT'S FOR YOU TO KNOW AND FOR ME TO FIND OUT!"

"Look at you, Asuka! You…YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT YOU'RE SAYING ANYMORE!"

"I KNOW PERFECTLY WELL WHAT I'M SAYING!"

Shinji was about to respond again, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw a bit of blue appear out from behind the foyer wall.

"R-Rei!" Shinji said in a mixed tone, not sure if his spirits were falling or taking flight as he made eye contact with the girl who had just awkwardly appeared and interrupted the argument.

He walked over to her and she reached out her hand to take Shinji's in her own.

"Well, well, well," Asuka said as she crossed her arms, "Looks like the discarded little doll dragged herself out of the gutter after all. Not without incident, though. Look at you. Your clothes are all wet. Didn't you take any care to stay out of the rain? And your hair hasn't even been brushed yet today. I can tell. A perfectly fit look for a broken and abandoned toy such as yourself."

"Stop it, Asuka!" Shinji spat at the girl, "Why do you have to be so hostile to her?! She didn't even do anything to you!"

"SHUT UP, SHINJI!" Asuka spat back ten times as vilely, "YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW! YOU'RE HOSTILE TO YOURSELF, AND YOU DON'T EVEN REALIZE IT! WHO ARE YOU TO TALK ABOUT HOSTILITY!? You, who chose a stupid sex doll for a girlfriend! You, who can't even take on an angel without someone else's help, even when you're inside a giant fucking robot! YOU, WHO CAN'T EVEN STAND UP FOR HIMSELF! You don't even know how miserable you make other people! You don't even get that you're hurting yourself! You're just a pathetic housebroken beta! It's no wonder you have a chalkboard as your significant other! Look at her! She's just sitting there! She won't even come to your defense, like a proper girlfriend would!"

"Just… JUST SHUT UP, ALRIGHT, ASUKA!? LIKE YOU'RE ANY BETTER! You…YOU'RE THE ONE WHO DOESN'T GET IT!"

Rei could feel Shinji's grasp on her hand tightening.

Asuka's nostrils flared and she began stomping over to Shinji and Rei.

"Pilot Sohryu, restrain yourself," Rei demanded emotionlessly.

But Asuka did not heed Rei's warning and she raised her hand against Shinji. The boy was already flinching and he looked away. And then came the sound of skin clashing against skin. But, Shinji didn't feel any pain.

He opened his eyes and saw, in his bewilderment, that Rei had caught Asuka by her wrist.

The redhead yanked her arm free and made a disgusted look as she glanced at her wrist.

Rei returned her arm to her side and remained motionless, save for her eyes, which seemed to follow Asuka's every move.

Asuka then got into Rei's face and pressed her body against the girl aggressively, trying to force her back and make her submit.

Asuka was quivering in rage that was scarcely held back. She looked Rei dead in her eyes.

'Red. The color I hate…' Rei thought as a strand of hair fell in front of Asuka's scowling face.

'Blue. The color I fucking hate!' Asuka thought as she stared daggers into the girl with such a freakishly unnatural hair color.

Asuka's breathing became more and more erratic as did the quivering in her body.

"You've got some nerve… for a doll," Asuka whispered hatefully into the girl's face.

Rei could smell the alcohol on Asuka's breath. But, it wasn't enough to move her to make an expression of any kind, or even verbally respond. Instead, Rei retained the same bored look in her eyes that she almost always had, which only served to piss off Asuka further.

"You… you better…" Asuka growled, her breathing becoming more bitter and broken even still, "You better start acting like a normal girl. You hear me, you bitch? I don't have any tolerance for you, you goddamn freak!" Asuka finished as she rudely shoved her finger into the sternum of Rei's chest.

"Rei, come on. Let's just go," Shinji pleaded as he tugged at her arm.

"Yeah, go on, Wondergirl. You're not welcome here. Go back to the filthy gutter of an apartment you crawled out of," Asuka hissed, spitting more venom with each and every word she uttered, even as her voice started to break.

Shinji clenched his free fist, but tried to ignore Asuka's words.

"Rei!" Shinji whimpered, tugging at her again.

Rei finally broke eye contact with Asuka and nodded at Shinji gently. She then simply turned around and walked away as she held Shinji's hand.

Shinji looked over his shoulder and glanced at Asuka with a regretful look that seemed to say that he wished he could help her.

Asuka noticed this and she stared right back at Shinji, hate filling her eyes like never before.

"Y- Yeah! Just- Just get out of here you… you… YOU WHORE!" Asuka screamed right as the door to the apartment began shutting.

Suddenly, Asuka noticed that she smelled smoke. She looked around and saw that the food in the skillet on the stove had started to burn. Obviously, Shinji had forgotten about it.

She rushed over to it and pulled it off of the heating element.

"Shinji… YOU!"

Asuka looked around for the nearest thing she could throw and saw a glass on the counter. She picked it up, turned around, and threw it at the wall across the room.

"YOU JERKWAD!" she screamed sharply.

The glass shattered and all the beautiful shards fell to the tile floor of the kitchen like little pieces of hail. Asuka then marched across the kitchen and to her room, the glass crunching under her foot as her shoes pulverized it further.

/

-Not Without Incident-

/

"I just don't understand what's gotten into her," Shinji said pitifully.

Rei and Shinji were waiting together at a terminal for the Tokyo-3 Loop Line just down the street from Misato's Apartment. Neither really knew where they wanted to go at the moment, but they both knew that they wanted to be away from Asuka, even if it did mean walking half a mile through the rain and sitting on a cold metal bench under an awning that didn't do that much to shield them from the wind chill.

"She is suffering, Shinji," Rei responded.

Shinji shook his head in frustration.

"I…I know that much. But, why? Why is she so…intent on…why does she want to make all of us suffer with her."

"I cannot say. …But, Shinji, we must look forward. For everyone's sake, even Pilot Sohryu's. We will not find the answer by focusing on the past. We all must proceed forward eventually, even her. Remember what Chief Inspection Officer Kaji asked of us. We must take care of her, for he no longer can. And, I propose we do that by laying out a path for her."

"But, what if she doesn't walk that path, Rei?"

"We can only offer her salvation. We cannot force her to accept it."

"But, what if she wants to but she just can't for some reason?"

Rei looked down in thought for a moment.

"Perhaps… you have a point. I… did not consider that. Nevertheless, we cannot force her."

"But, Rei!"

"She has to realize her problems and choose to fix them. But, that does not mean we cannot help her realize them."

Shinji quieted his protest.

"I… I guess you're right."

"You will have to be patient with her, Shinji."

"I know that."

"She is going to hurt you, Shinji."

"I know that too," Shinji said as he kicked the air.

"Are you prepared?"

"I… I don't know."

"You will need to be."

Instead of answering her, he just kicked the air again.

"I am prepared. But, I will need your help, Shinji. I believe… that all three of us will all need each other's help… eventually."

Rei then leaned over and kissed his cheek, which caused him to blush, though not as much as it used to.

Suddenly, a horn blared, and the two pilots looked up to see a shuttle was about to arrive at the terminal.

Rei stood up and then offered her hand to Shinji, who hadn't been quite as driven to get up.

"Come, Shinji. I need to find a place to practice."

"Practice what?" Shinji asked as he took her hand and she pulled him up off the bench.

"I do not believe Pilot Sohryu will be receptive to our efforts to help her right now. So, we should practice that strange thing; I believe they call it… kissing."

/

Soft moaning emanated from two people holding each other Rei Ayanami's bed. Rain pattered against the windows and her apartment creaked quietly as the wind whistled around the building, creating a powerfully calming ambiance. The sound of rustling bed sheets came to life for a moment before fading again. The sound of lips gently parting and coming together again was the only other sound in the room.

For the moment at least, this was probably the quietest place in Tokyo-3.

Shinji laid on Rei's bed, his legs hanging off the edge and his hands around Rei's waist. Rei herself rested on Shinji, one of her hands running through his hair while the other was around the back of his neck, constantly trying to pull him deeper into the kiss they shared.

He could feel her hot breath washing over his face when she exhaled. Though, Shinji himself was afraid to breathe when she was so close to him. In fact, he was nearly suffocating.

Rei took notice of this and quit kissing him.

"Shinji?" Rei asked.

"Yeah?" Shinji said while still trying to hold his breath.

"Why aren't you respiring?"

"I! Uh!" Shinji choked as he looked away in embarrassment

Rei blinked in confusion and sat up a little straighter, shifting more of her weight onto Shinji's hips.

"I… I just… I haven't really done anything like this… before," Shinji started, "And, I didn't want to just breathe in your face or anything."

"I don't mind…"

"You… you don't?"

"No, I don't. I thought it was normal. I have seen motion pictures that display people breathing while preforming kisses."

"Y-you've seen movies? But, I thought you didn't have a television!"

"I didn't… But, Mister Aida allowed me to borrow one of his. And Mister Suzuhara gave me some disks he believed I should observe for… research."

"Wha?! Wha?! What kind of research!? It wasn't anything inappropriate, was it?!" Shinji asked, becoming even more flustered.

"Inappropriate? No, I do not believe so," Rei said as she got off the bed and walked to her used-to-be-empty cabinet, upon which now sat a small plasma-screen television that Shinji had failed to notice when he first walked into Rei's apartment.

Shinji sat up in Rei's bed and watched her. She had pulled open one of the drawers of the cabinet and it sounded like she had been picking up a bunch of DVD cases. The girl then turned around, and in her arms sat a disorderly cluster of about twenty movies. She carried them over to the bed and dropped them onto the mattress.

Shinji was relieved that Toji hadn't brought her a bunch of pornos. It appeared that most of them were tame romance movies and a few romantic comedies.

"Mister Suzuhara called them… romantic. I do not understand. Most of them did not seem to discuss Rome or any of the Romantic languages. And, as far as I had investigated, none of them were made in Rome," Rei said with what could possibly be a frustrated frown, as though she had spent one too many hours thinking about the definition of Romantic, "I still fail to see how they are Romantic. But they did have an abundance of kissing scenes in them."

Shinji giggled some at the girl's odd views of the world.

"Haha, I think it's just connotation, Rei."

"Conno…tation?"

"Yeah, like, I don't think that Romantic really means that it has to do with Rome. At least…I've never heard of anything like that… I'm sure Asuka would know more about it, though."

"You think so?" Rei asked, her interest becoming piqued.

"Well, yeah, she knows lots of things. She has been to college. And, you said something about romantic languages or something. And…well, she's bilingual. So, if there is a connection, she may know something about it."

"There must be a connection. I am sure of it. Does she speak any romantic languages?"

"I…I don't know. She doesn't really…talk about that kind of stuff with me. She used to… It almost seemed like she wanted to show herself off to me. She'd always talk to me about things I didn't know. But now…she just…doesn't."

"I see…"

They both remained silent for a bit and Rei sat down on the bed next to Shinji. The rain continued to blow onto the windows and thunder sounded in the distance, though neither child was startled by it.

"Shinji?"

"Hmm?"

"What…do you know of your father; of Commander Ikari?"

Shinji glanced at Rei suddenly, a small frown on his face.

"I… figured you would know more about him than me, Rei. When I first came to Tokyo-3, I always saw you with him. And, you'd smile at him. And, sometimes, he seemed happy when he looked at you. I was sent away…I guess because I couldn't make him smile. He's never loved me. That's why he got rid of me."

"Where did you go?" Rei asked, realizing for the first time that she actually know much about where Shinji came from.

"He sent me to live with my Aunt and Uncle on the outskirts of New Atsugi. That's where I lived before all this. But, they never really understood me…no one does."

"I will understand you, Shinji. One day… That is why… I'm asking you these questions."

"Yeah… yeah, I guess you're right. Maybe… you will understand me," Shinji said as he smiled at Rei, who only smiled back at him.

"What did you do there?"

"In New Atsugi? Nothing. There was nothing to do there. …Well, actually, there was one time that I got in trouble for stealing a bike that I didn't steal. But that was only one time! Other than that, there was nothing that ever happened."

"How did you get in trouble for stealing something you didn't steal?"

"Well… everyday, when I was walking to school- And we didn't have any trains there and the school district was broke because of Second Impact, so we didn't have any money for busses or anything, so I did have to walk the entire way every day. But, anyways, there was this bike in this alleyway that I passed on the way to school. And it was always there. No one ever touched it. It had been there for months. And, I got tired of walking to school every day, so I thought that no one would mind if I took it. But, it turned out that it was stolen. I guess the person who stole it decided to hide it but forgot about it and never used it again. So, I'm the one who got in trouble when the police found out it was the stolen bike after I'd been riding it for a few days. It turned out that it actually belonged to someone just down the street from me and they saw me riding it, so it got returned to them."

"And that is the only significant thing that every happened while you were there?" Rei asked curiously.

"Well…there was this guy. He had these two plum trees in his yard. But he was weird. He moved in a couple year after I did, but I was so young that it just seemed like he'd always been there. His name was…I can't remember… It started with an M. I think it was like Matsumoto or something. I don't remember. But, sometimes, he'd come over and give my uncle some of the plums he grew. And he had these tattoos on his arms. And, my aunt would get angry at my uncle for accepting anything from him because she thought he was a retired Yakuza member. But, I think she was just worried because of how he carried himself."

"Carried himself?"

"Yeah, he never spoke really. He'd just come over and bring the plums. And, I really mean that he never spoke. He'd smile and bow and shake your hand, but he never said a word to anyone. But, he was confident. He'd always come up to our house and be really forthright. But, when he never said anything, I think it just freaked my aunt out."

Rei's eyes widened slightly as she realized something.

("You… You better… You better start acting like a normal girl! You hear me?" Asuka hissed as she glared at Rei.)

"You mean…alike to how I make Pilot Sohryu uncomfortable?"

Shinji looked at the girl with an odd and somewhat pained expression.

"I…" he sighed, "Yeah, I guess something like that."

"Shinji?"

"Yeah?"

Rei cast her head down to the floor of her apartment before looking up at Shinji.

"Do you like Asuka?"

"Do I like her?"

"Yes. Do you… find her agreeable?"

"Agreeable? Well, I don't know if I'd call her agreeable… but I don't… not like her. She's our ally. She's an Eva pilot, just like us. So, I guess… I'd have to like her at least some."

"And, Shinji?"

"Mhmm?"

"Do you… like your father?"

"I… don't know…"

"That is why you Pilot the Eva, correct?"

"I… I guess, yeah. I… just want him… I want him to appreciate me. I want him to like me. And, I want to like him. But… I just can't. Not with the way things are. …I guess I could also kind of say the same about Asuka. I want her to be my friend, and I want her to accept me. But, she just won't."

"When Commander Ikari is around me, sometimes, I feel… warm inside. And, when you are around me, I also feel warm inside… Shinji?"

"Y… yeah?"

"Would you like to feel warm inside when Commander Ikari and Pilot Sohryu are around you?"

"I… I guess. Haha," Shinji laughed awkwardly.

"Then… I will do what I can."

"Do what you can? What do you mean, Rei?"

"I can't tell you. It's a surprise… But, I'll tell you later…once I have decided what I must do."

Shinji chuckled at the odd but endearing way Rei conveyed herself and, for the moment at least, he felt warm inside.

"Come, Shinji! Let us return to our practice!" Rei said enthusiastically…as enthusiastically as Rei could anyways.

And, before Shinji knew it, Rei had already shoved him back into her bed and was awkwardly attacking him with her lips.

/

-You Will (Not) Sleep Soundly-

/

"Misato, I'm home!" Shinji announced as he entered the apartment, dearly hoping that Asuka had calmed down enough to not engage him in direct superheated conflict the moment he stepped into the kitchen.

"She's not here, you idiot," Asuka shouted back, presumably from the living room couch, "Or did you even bother to check the parking lot on your way back?"

Shinji sighed in relief. At least Asuka hadn't immediately started screaming at him.

"I didn't," Shinji said as he kicked off his wet shoes and left them at the doorstep, "It was raining and I just wanted to get inside and get dinner made."

"Why don't you make some fried chicken or something? And, can you at least try to make sure it doesn't smell like some dead animal before you fry it."

"Asuka… it is a dead animal. The smell will clear out after it gets cooking."

Asuka sighed as she rested her head on the armrest of the couch.

"I suppose it just can't be helped… Well, just hurry it up then. I didn't have lunch today."

"Didn't you get anything out of the freezer?" Shinji asked as he turned on the stovetop.

"No. Frozen food is garbage! I can't be expected sustain my beauteous nubile physique and soft shimmering hair on such disgusting contrivances! I need actual food, Shinji!"

Shinji smiled, making sure to hide it from Asuka. He didn't know if she had just intentionally praised him. But, even if she hadn't it still made him happy.

"You can't be expected to sustain yourself on nothing either, though."

"Precisely why I asked you to hurry…" Asuka mumbled more to herself than anyone else.

/

Oddly enough, Asuka was content tonight, despite the events that had transpired earlier in the day. She had a warm meal in her and the cool air and the sound of the rain calmed her soul.

There was however, one thing on Asuka's mind.

'Why?'

She turned over on her bed and nuzzled her the side of her face into her pillow.

'Why does he keep doing it? Why does he keep treating me so nicely? Why can't he just blow up for once? I mean, really blow up? He came so close today, but he still wouldn't even raise a hand against me, even after I got into Wondergirl's face. And even when I called her a whore, he still…wouldn't do anything. Doesn't he care at all? And, then he comes home and… he makes me dinner? Why would he do that? Why would anyone do that?'

"What's wrong with him?" Asuka whispered into her pillow.

She turned over again and came to rest on her back as one of her hands laid across her stomach.

"What's… wrong with me?"

Suddenly, Asuka was torn from her wonderings as her phone started vibrating.

She picked it up and looked at the number. She didn't recognize it, but could see that it was someone from NERV based on the formatting of the number.

Against her better judgment, she answered the call.

"Yeah, who is it?" she groaned.

"Pilot Sohryu?" a small voice on the other side of the line answered.

"Oh! It's you," Asuka said in disgust, "What do you want?"

"I wanted to ask you… what is… romance?"

Asuka rolled her eyes and silently mouthed, "Mein lieber Gott."

"You should know, Wondergirl. You're in one!" Asuka whispered hostilely in response.

"I… am aware. But… I am curious as to why it is called such a thing and how it would relate to… Rome."

Asuka sat up in her bed and began spitting into the phone, albeit quietly.

"What are you? Stupid? What makes you think I would I tell you? And- And, how did you even get my number!?"

"I-"

"Don't answer that!"

"Then, why did you-"

"No! Don't ask what you're about to ask!"

"Is that an-"

"Yes! It's an order!"

"May I-"

"You may hang up the phone, Ayanami! That is what you may do. I don't know why you thought I would want to talk to you of all people! Jesus! Don't you have a boyfriend for this?!"

"It is because of him that I called you."

"You… wha... what?" Asuka asked in disbelief.

"He only wants to make you feel warm inside," was the last thing Rei said before she abruptly hung up, leaving Asuka to listen to... nothing.

Asuka's jaw was agape and she slowly pulled the phone away from her ear before looking at it and clenching her teeth in anger. She threw it against the wall. It bounced off of it and landed at the foot of Asuka's mattress with a soft thud. She didn't even check to see if was broken. If it was, NERV would just issue her a new one anyways.

Asuka curled her fingers into a loose fist and brought them to her mouth. She slowly rubbed her knuckles back and forth over her lips, obviously conflicted and lost in thought.

'He… he wants to make me warm inside? What… does that mean?'

She nervously looked to the door of her room. She threw the covers off her and got out of bed, which she almost immediately regretted considering she was only wearing a thin nightie and some panties and the air in the room was almost sixty degrees.

Nevertheless, she slid her door open and edged out into the hallway. Right across from her, not even three feet away, was the door to Shinji's room. She reached out her arm and tension overtook her body as she slowly, very slowly, opened the door to his room and snuck in.

Suddenly, she heard the front door open and she gasped. Misato must've just gotten home. Asuka started sliding the door shut only minorly faster. And, when the door was finally sealed, she let out a long, quiet, and bated breath as she closed her eyes in relief.

She then carefully began pulling the covers down the boy's shoulders.

He stirred some and she froze. But, when he didn't wake, she continued. However, she eventually came to another roadblock.

She couldn't see how or where, but the covers where caught on him. She tugged once, and then twice, and then a third time, and the covers came loose. Unfortunately, she saw that the boy's eye had shot open as well.

He gasped and she lunged her hands forward, covering the boy's mouth as she crawled on top of him and pushed his head roughly into his pillow, trying to muffle him.

She looked down and saw that his gentle blue eyes were quaking and darting all over the place in terror. No doubt the boy thought that Asuka had finally gone over the edge and was trying to kill him in his sleep.

"Shut up, Shinji! Shut up!" Asuka hissed as she still had her hands pressed over Shinji's mouth as he tried to scream.

Though, the boy was obviously hysterical and wasn't silencing himself as quickly as Asuka had preferred.

She raised one of her hands and sharply slapped the boy, which for some reason, had miraculously caused him to cease his mewling.

"Calm the fuck down and keep quiet, Shinji!" Asuka said as she pointed a disciplining finger in his face.

The boy nodded and Asuka slowly took her hands off the boy's mouth.

"A…Asuka, why're you here?" he asked as she crawled off of him.

Asuka's eyes softened some and she sighed quietly.

"It was… too cold in my room. So… I just wanted to come in here and… be warm. Will you let me? Just lie here for a while?"

"I… guess… But, only as long as you don't hit me in the morning."

Asuka's eyes softened even further and she sighed yet again before closing her eyes for a moment and then opening them. She then reached for the covers, which caused Shinji to flinch as her fingers brushed over his shoulders and began lifting the covers off him.

She immediately saw that the boy wasn't wearing a shirt.

"How can you sleep shirtless in this perpetually frigid apartment?" Asuka asked, completely taken aback that the boy could stand the temperature.

"I just…I've gotten used to it, I guess."

"Well, you better have some pants on at least…"

Asuka couldn't see it in the darkness, but the boy had blushed.

"Y-yeah! Of course, I do!" he whispered back, trying not to let on that he was embarrassed about the whole situation.

Asuka groaned and threw the covers off the boy so that she could lay down on the futon. The boy did indeed have on a pair of pants, much to Asuka's relief. She then quickly pulled the covers back over her and snuggled into the fabric, eager to get warm.

Shinji also gingerly took the covers, though he didn't dare pull too hard. He had essentially just relinquished his only source of warmth to a cold girl with a flaring temper. And he wasn't eager to upset her by stealing away the warmth she sought for.

"I may be in your bed, but don't you dare get any ideas." Asuka whispered, her back to the boy.

Shinji only groaned in response.

He then felt the girl back into him some. He flinched as he felt her shoulders come into contact with his. Maybe the girl was testing him? Making sure he was safe to be around? He couldn't tell.

"You aren't going to come up with any smart ideas, are you? Are you, Shinji?" Asuka prodded again.

"Asuka… you… we both know I'm not like that."

Asuka considered his answer for a moment, and then pushed her back up against his even further.

"Well, that's good. Because, I really am cold. Stupid Misato can't just have a normal body temperature. I think it's all that alcohol she drinks, you know? She just gets all flushed and she has to go turn the AC down to keep herself from frying her brain with a fever."

"Or maybe it's the Penguin," Shinji added.

Asuka began giggling and tried to muffle herself by shoving her face into the covers.

"Heeheehee, maybe it is. Or maybe it's because of all the beer she has lying around. Maybe she just wants to make sure she always has a cold one on hand since she's always too lazy or drunk to get to the fridge," Asuka laughed and sniffled, desperately trying to keep herself quiet.

At this point, Shinji had joined in and was laughing quietly along with the girl.

Suddenly, the two kids heard a crack come from the living room and they both became silent. They looked over each other's shoulders and realized Misato had just opened a beer. Both the kids tried to catch their laughter but only really ended up spraying spit in each other's faces.

Asuka's laughing got more and more high pitched while she kicked her legs back and forth under the covers in raw uncontainable glee while Shinji's laughing got more and more breathy as he too turned his face over and muffled his laughter in his pillow.

"Mein Gut Gott in Himmel!" Asuka whispered as she tried to calm herself, only to fail and resume shrieking in laugher while slamming her balled fist into the covers.

"That was so perfect! Too perfect!" Shinji murmured under his breath.

Eventually, the kids calmed down and got resituated under the covers, Asuka having claimed most of the covers and dragging them to her side of the futon. Not that Shinji minded. He was right next to her for now, and so they would share the warmth.

"Goodnight, Asuka."

"Goodnight… Shinji."

/

Misato glanced at the thermostat in the living room. It clearly read 67. But, it felt more like 75 to her.

She cracked open her beer and took a sip before turning the temperature down to 62.

'Father… how cold was it that day?'

/

"He only wants to make you feel warm inside," Rei said as she abruptly hung up the phone on a currently unreceptive Asuka.

"Thank you for letting me call the Second Child, Doctor Akagi," Rei politely said to Ritsuko.

"I won't ask. But, I hope that whatever is going on with her gets resolved," Ritsuko said as she scratched a few equations down on the paper she was working on.

"As do I," Rei said as she resumed her progress towards Commander Ikari's office.

'How may I force a bond between Commander Ikari and Pilot Ikari?' Rei wondered to herself as she stepped inside an Elevator.

The elevator lurched as it started its ascent up to Commander Ikari's office.

'How would Shinji bond with someone? What would he do to bring people together?'

The answer came all to easily to Rei. There were more than a handful of times that Rei could think of in how Shinji had brought people together and it usually revolved around one thing.

'Shinji… he brings people together… by cooking for them. Maybe… I should do the same.'

The doors to the elevator opened. Outside was a hallway. And beyond that, the doors to Gendo Ikari's office.

'A… homecooked meal.'

Rei smiled a genuine smile and then stepped out of the elevator and briskly walked down the hall and opened the doors to Gendo's office.

The man stood ominously behind his desk, his back to the entrance as though he were calmly thinking himself into a corner and didn't want to be interrupted.

"Good Evening," Rei stated.

"Yes, Rei. Good evening."

Candles were lit in the center of Commander Ikari's desk. On one side of the desk was a plate so large that you couldn't wrap your arms around it. It was full of steak and shrimp wrapped with bacon and seasoned with chives, a pile of potatoes in some kind of fine, cheesy, cream sauce, artichoke hearts, brussel sprouts, toasted sesame balls with red bean paste inside, and a slew of other servings. A large bottle of red wine, easily two feet tall and seven inches across, sat next to the plate.

And on the other side of the desk?

A pitiful serving of lukewarm watered-down milk, stale bread, and some pills, possibly vitamins to make up for the lacking meal.

Gendo turned around to face Rei as she approached.

Fuyutsuki appeared out of the darkness of Ikari's office holding a portable folding chair. He placed it in front of the man's desk.

"Sit, Rei," Gendo demanded.

Rei sat.

"I trust you have been enjoying the company of my son?"

"Yes, Sir."

Rei picked up one of the pills on the table and swallowed it. She then began swallowing the others one by one.

"As I said before, you must remember your duty always. However that need not mean that you cannot become closer with my son. On the contrary, I need you to be close with him."

The candle light flickered in Rei's red eyes. She watched as Gendo's gloved hands opened one of the drawers behind his desk. He then lifted a small carved music box out of it and held it in his hands with the utmost care.

"Often times in the past, when people asked me if I still had any of Yui's worldly possessions, I would tell them that I had destroyed most of her belongings. Do you know why that is, Rei?"

"No, Sir," Rei responded as she continued to swallow her pills.

"It is because I have everything I need in my heart. I do not need to keep reminders of her when I know I will see her again… when I still see her every day. I see how much she cares for Shinji. I've seen how she reacts when he is in peril. She awakens and defends him like any good mother would."

Rei had finished taking her pills and now sat quiet and attentive before Gendo.

Gendo began winding up the music box and then set it on the table in front of Rei.

"This music box is the last thing I had of her. It is yours now, Rei," Gendo said solemnly, almost smiling as he opened the box and listened to it start playing.

Rei looked up at Commander Ikari with her ruby eyes and then at the music box as her jaw dropped only a little as she observed and listened to it.

"Rei."

The girl looked back up at Commander Ikari.

"Yes, Sir?"

"Take care of Shinji."

"Yes, Sir!" Rei said as she felt a slight tingling feeling in her chest.

"Now, eat," Gendo said.

Rei reached for the carton on milk and picked it up before trying to open it.

Gendo watched her, but… soon, he couldn't help but see Yui in her place. The man then made a split-second decision that would change the rest of his and Rei's night.

"You will not be having that tonight, Rei," Gendo said as he grabbed the little carton of milk out of her hands and set it down on his desk.

"Sir?" Rei asked in confusion.

Gendo then took Rei's metal tray and moved it to his side of the desk before picking up the massive plate, lifting it up over the candles, and setting it in front of Rei.

"Sir? I…I do not understand."

"Eat, Rei. I will get your refreshments."

Gendo then walked the long walk out of his office and left Rei and Fuyutsuki in utter awe.

"I have never in all my days…" Fuyutsuki said in disbelief.

A few minutes later, Gendo reappeared with a variety of soda bottles in his hands and he set them all down in front of Rei. She was completely free to pick and choose whatever she wanted.

After finishing a slice of potato in cheese sauce, Rei reached for a bottle of raspberry lychee soda, curiosity obviously driving her hand, as it was the only flavor of soda among the bunch that she hadn't tried before.

"Commander Ikari?" Rei asked.

"Yes, Rei?"

"What will you eat?"

"Fuyutsuki and I will finish what you do not. I know you aren't fond of meat. So, I will eat the steak. And I believe Fuyutsuki is quite partial to the shrimp."

Gendo saw the old man's eyes twinkle a little in the corner of his glasses.

"Commander Ikari?"

"Yes, Rei?"

"Do you find the act of preparing a meal… satisfying?"

"I suppose so, yes."

"And, sharing something you've created with someone else? Is that appealing?"

"I imagine so…"

"And, sitting down to a meal is… enjoyable?"

"Yes…"

"And… do you find pleasure in eating with others?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Would… would you like… to have a meal… with your son… and my friends?" Rei said, finishing unsurely.

Gendo stared back at Rei silently. He saw her lips forming into a very slight but sad smile.

"…No. I'm sorry, Rei. I don't have time."

Gendo saw her already almost nonexistent smile fade into obscurity as she continued to stare at him, and him back at her. But, for a moment, like a ghost, Yui appeared once more.

"Gendo" the imaginary woman said with a sweet smile, "take care of Shinji."

Yui's words echoed in Gendo's mind, and for the second time that night, he made a decision that would hopefully affect Rei for the better.

"…Alright. Count me in," Gendo said, revoking his previous statment.

Rei's eyes lit up almost as bright as the candles that reflected in her eyes.

/

Rei had just arrived in the parking lot of her apartment. In her hands, she carried a trinket, the music box Gendo had given her about an hour ago.

Surprisingly, the clouds that had obscured the sky earlier in the day had drifted on and she could now see the moon high above her head as she tilted her head back.

She looked down to the box in her hands and wound it up for a second before opening it and looking back up at the moon. It seemed like an eternity to Rei, but the box had only played for about twenty seconds as she stared at the moon. The last few notes passed and Rei shut the box before holding it up to her chest and cradling it.

/

-A Grand New Stage | An Old Tried Pain-

/

Far from Earth, on the shore of the unknown, on the edge of time, a young man with grey hair, ruby eyes, and skin as white as snow arose from a coffin that rested on pearl dust.

"I already know. If you're here, then we've entered the summation stage," the man said as he stood up and stepped out of the coffin.

A large slab of stone appeared in the man's path. Polished and slate-like, it was a dark stone. But, like blood out of a freshly made cut, the stone lit up and a red pattern adorned it; an apple, a snake, a set of spirited eyes, a hymn in German, and the numbers zero and one.

"The promised time is near," the stone spoke, "The apocrypha from the Dead Sea Scrolls have been passed into the Book of Law."

"Then it's only a matter of time," the young man said as the stone disappeared, "I can't wait to meet you… Shinji Ikari."

.


*Eva credits roll and Fly Me to the Moon plays*

.

"Well, look who's back! It's me, Misato!"

*Kaji barges into recording booth!*

"And Kaji! You were gonna say and Kaji, right Misato? Right?"

*Misato sighs.*

"And Kaji. Are you happy now?"

"Well, let me check. Do I still have my stubble? Hmm, yep! I do and I am."

"Anyways, I actually have to spend next chapter with this jerk during the same time Shinji and Rei were making out in this chapter. God, I wish I could have gotten in on that!"

"And, that longing sounds strikingly similar to something we're going to cover in the next chapter. Especially since we all know Misato's snoring keeps Shinji up at night."

*Kaji Winks*

"Shove it, Kaji! I'm the one who has the script! I'm the one who know what happens next chapter."

"Well, mayhap you should check your script and you'll see that we do indeed go over some intriguing and possibly quite troubling things regarding you."

*Kaji Winks again*

*Misato grumbles*

*Misato reevaluates scripts*

"Let me see here. I walk out on Shinji and Asuka as they have a big fight, the same fight that happened this chapter. I meet Rei and tell she shouldn't bother trying to stop them from fighting. I call Ritsuko and ask to meet up. Ritsuko goes behind my back and asks you to meet up with her when I'm supposed to meet up with her. We both all end up getting lunch together in the rain. Worlds collides. Something about someone's melons; not gonna say who's. And... and... wow... you're right. We actually bring up my irresponsible conduct towards Shinji all the way back in chapter four. DAMN IT ALL!"

*Kaji chuckles*

"Well, everyone, make sure to tune in for the next chapter of Neon Genesis Evangelion: A Journey of Hate, Power, and Love; Above The Churning Waters.

And that's all for this time, folks! We're gonna let Misato get a handle on her life before she provides any more fanservice!"

.

Well, everyone. I guess, for the chapter ending author note, I should just tell you all to have a happy holiday. Hopefully, this can be my Christmas present to you and hopefully it makes up for last chapter.

Like I said at the beginning of the chapter, I'm probably gonna be trying to revise some of the old chapters (and maybe some of the new ones too) a little bit over Christmas time. So, the next chapter may take a bit longer to get out. (I don't think anyone here understands how much I hate saying that, haha.) But, yeah. Next chapter might take a little longer to get out. But, hopefully not too much longer.

But, yeah, like said, happy holidays! Hope it's a good one.

Update: Okay everyone. I've been sick, and I've been having some computer problems. So...damn it, but next chapter still might be awhile. I think my sickness is receding some though. So, hopefully, that won't be a problem for too much longer. So, I just have to get the computer stuff sorted out.