Chapter 4: Malpractice

Shinji and Rei were blinded by the light streaming into the room from all directions when they opened their eyes when Misato entered Shinji's bedroom. Squinting through the haze of glare from dark vision, they saw Misato already dressed for work. Shinji hoisted Rei up against him and sat up against the wall.

"M-Misato! You're already up-"

"Well I sure should be, considering how late you two little minxes slept today!"

"What!? But it felt like we just went to bed!"

"From where I'm standing, it seems to me that you might have been in bed, but you weren't getting any sleep."

Rei spoke up. "Misato, this is not Shinji's doing. I came to him of my own volition last night, and he did protest."

"Well, that's just great, Rei. You're supposed to be the responsible one. Now Ritsuko's gonna see that you've got one freshly popped cherry in your physical."

"That is untrue. Shinji and I had no intercourse of any form last night."

"So, what? All you did was cuddle?"

"We kissed as well."

"But there was no sex. None. Am I reading you right?"

"Misato, I...I have proof we did no such thing." Rei offered. She stood up, lifted up the hem of her nightie so that Misato could see that Rei's nighttime diaper was still taped tightly against her, and Rei's need for such a garment was proven, with a visible yellow tint underneath its plastic shell. Rei looked up at her. "It was never removed last night."

Misato stood and thought for a minute, then decided on a course of action. "Rei...you come with me; Shinji, you stay right where you are."

"Yes ma'am." Rei followed her back to her own bedroom. Shinji stayed put, and crossed his legs where he sat, because he could now feel that he had indeed slept late.
Inside Rei's bedroom, Misato set out with Rei's reprimanding. "Look, Rei, I'm glad that you've established that you won't get pregnant, but that does not mean that you have permission to wave your ass around. At Shinji, or anyone else."

"I did not go to Shinji for physical reasons."

"Oh really? Because I'd certainly call two teenagers in one bed 'physical'."

"Misato, I went to him because I felt his heart calling out to me, and my own heart answered. Yes Misato, one is able to kiss, embrace, and consummate, but those actions are as you said; physical. Physical actions alone cannot break down the Absolute Terror field."

Yeah, no. Misato didn't believe Rei's justification one bit. AT Fields? Like the Angels fight with? From people? The last time she'd heard that was... "Rei, there's a difference between what Shinji's mom Yui studied about Angel AT fields vs that unproven theory she made about human ones. If there even is a human AT field, it's nowhere near strong enough to be dangerous like an Angel is. Here, look at us-" Misato walked up to Rei and quickly hugged her to make her point. "I can walk right up to you and invade your personal space, and there's no explosion or shockwave or anything. We're not Angels, Rei. When two Angels hug each other, you get an Impact."

But I am an Angel, Major Katsuragi. Not that you'd know that. "Breaking down the field is not about violence, Major, it is about exposing your own weakness so that you can share your other's strength. I am well aware that what I did is not sanctioned, but I went to Shinji last night not because I desire his body, but because I desire his heart. Shinji has repeatedly stated that he believes that I am stronger than him. I am not. I only fear the Eva less than he does. In every other facet of our lives, Shinji is adjusted to better live than I. And so, my heart told me to go to him; how could I be able to refuse?"

...Misato felt tears running down her cheeks. Rei was so innocent, but at the same time, so dangerous; dangerous to Shinji, and to herself. Misato knew she had to keep the two from going too far, but she'd be damned if she'd allow anyone or anything to ever break the young pair apart. She tapped her toe on the floor a few times while thinking, until she found a solution.
"Look, Rei, I'm gonna make you a deal: If you want to sleep with Shinji, you are allowed to do exactly that. Sleep. As in, climb into bed, snuggle into your boyfriend's arms, and go to sleep. If I find out that you two have gone active, you're getting separated. If NERV finds out that you two have gone active, you get re-assigned." Misato raised an eyebrow at Rei.

"Yes ma'am, I am already aware of the repercussions. But I must ask how this is a 'deal'? Nothing appears to have changed."

"Ah, now that's where the deal comes in, sweetie! You see, to make sure you and Shinij don't get any cute ideas: on nights that you want to sleep with Shinji, whether it's every night or never again, you're not to go to bed until you check in with me, so I can make sure you're all sealed up," Misato playfully swatted Rei's padded behind, "so that we know that Shinji won't be able to get into your pants. But for any nights you two stay separate and you sleep in your own room, you don't have to check in. Good deal?"

"If I may, Misato, might I ask why a sexual relationship is prohibited? It will not lead to pregnancy."

"Because it's a simple act of self-discipline, Rei. You're young, your relationship is young, and your boyfriend is young. So that means there needs to be some real limits on what you can do with him. You're lucky, some people your age...or older..." Misato felt a slight twinge of shame, "don't even have the freedom to hug and kiss their loved ones, but you're far more mature than people like that. So I need that maturity, Rei. From you and Shinji."

Rei thought to herself. The terms were fair. "Yes, Misato. It's a good deal."

Misato and Rei had been talking for a very long time now. Shinji was still sitting cross legged on the floor, but in all the time that had gone by, his reservoir was filling, and cracks in the damn had already started to split.
Shinji took some of his orders a bit too personally, as Misato had no plans to punish Shinji for leaving his spot, but Shinji took Misato's word as gospel, and that had gotten him into trouble yet again. He knew the inevitable would happen, but Shinji did everything in his meager power to delay it. He closed his eyes, tightened his muscles, and crossed his smooth, slender legs over and under each other, back and forth, but eventually his body gave up the fight before his willpower did.
"Oh my God, no; please no!" He whimpered at himself as he felt the diaper Misato had forced him into last night swell up, and his thighs now felt hot and slick. Tears of shame welled up in his eyes as he chastised himself for the humiliating act, this was now one of the low points of his life so far. Even Rei isn't awake while it happens! I...I just wet myself, right in broad daylight!...I'm so fucked up...

Misato and Rei returned to the bedroom to rouse the boy they left behind. To his horror, they found him right as he had finished.

"Shinji, is Rei already rubbing off on you that much!?" Misato snickered and snorted, trying to hold back her laughter.

"NO! IT'S BECAUSE YOU TOOK SO DAMN LONG!"

"Now now mister, little boys don't say mean words like that!" Misato waved her finger at him. She really couldn't help herself, as adorable as Shinji looked right now, it'd have been a crime not to tease him until he fainted! "And you don't have to wait up for little old me!"

"You told me to stay right here, and-"

"You could still go to the bathroom, you silly goose!" Misato continued at the blushing boy. "But still, good on you for being obedient, soooo...is our little Shinji gonna need his big sis Misato or his little playmate Rei to help him get cleaned up?"

"NO!"

"Shinji, if you require any assistance, I can provide it." Rei spoke up after his outburst.

"Rei, I-I'm OK, thanks..." He tried to sound calm and collected, but the thought of his new girlfriend taking him into the washroom, stripping him down, and wiping him all over with a washcloth only scrambled his brain even more. "I'm just gonna go take a shower, now..." He said, then got up and ran out of the room.

Rei noted that the boy forgot to take a change of clothes with him. Misato immediately pointed out Rei's interest when she offered to take him his clothes.

"Ooh, trying to get a glimpse of Shinji naked, Rei?"

Of course, Misato's line of questioning only served to confuse the inexperienced girl. "I...I suppose? I feel...curious about his appearance."

"Well, don't. We've already tormented him enough for one day. Just wait your turn until he gets out. He needs to make it to school on time; you and me are going straight to NERV today."

For the first time in several days, Shinji felt normal. He looked at himself in the mirror after he discarded the worn diaper and removed and neatly folded the nightie Misato had put him in.
"At least it's still down there," he said to himself as he looked down. He entered the shower and let out a breath of relief as the hot water washed the previous night away. He left the bath, toweled off, and realized he'd thrown the only underwear he'd entered the room with in the garbage.
"NOT AGAIN!" He said as he wrapped the towel around his waist, cracked the door, and found his school uniform neatly folded just outside. There was a note written on top of the outfit.

'You ran away without these, please hurry back, I do not want to leave today without telling you goodbye.'

Shinji smiled a dreamy smile as he collected his clothes. He thought back to when he'd first really spoken to her. Sure, she had a stern military exterior, but when Rei was off duty, she was just so nice. She was kind and understanding, and he no longer even needed to mention that she was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. How did he ever deserve to meet a girl like her?

Of course, that question only got harder to answer as he met up with Rei and Misato and saw what she was wearing today. Rei looked unbelievably pretty in pink. She wore one of her new polo tops in a shade of blue that matched her hair, and had on a pink skirt, stockings that made her legs shine, and pink ballet flats that made her dainty feet look even more petite.

"Shinji" Misato got his attention, "Your jaw is about to go down through the ground floor."

He closed his mouth and walked up to his better half. "Uh, hi, uh, Rei...You, you look great. Thank you for remembering my school clothes."

"I am glad I was able to help, Shinji. But I cannot go to school with you today, I'm needed at NERV. Would you please bring me the replacement uniforms that will be waiting for me while you're there?"

"Oh, sure I can!" He perked up, happy to feel needed and useful.

"Thank you." She said. Words of gratitude. She had never really shown such appreciation to people before Shinji had been summoned to Tokyo-3. But she did indeed have reason to feel such gratitude now, which she demonstrated by rising up on her toes, wreathing her arms around his neck, and giving his lips a soft, affectionate goodbye kiss. "Have a good day today."
Shinji had a wonderful trip to school that morning.

That blouse and skirt quickly changed into Rei's plugsuit when they arrived at NERV. Her latest sync test was initiated as soon as she arrived, and Ritsuko was shocked by the result. Rei's health being imperfect, and Unit-00 being a prototype, her sync to the Eva had been low and unstable for the entirety of her career. So Ritsuko was rightfully stunned when Rei's sync was twenty-four percent higher today than it was just as of her previous test. She, of course, received an order from the Commander to investigate such a substantial sudden improvement. Rei found herself out of her plugsuit almost as quickly as she had changed to it, and was now lying mostly undressed on Dr. Akagi's examination bed. She'd had a vial of blood drawn, and Dr. Akagi was now examining the individual chemicals in that blood under a spectrometer. Misato impatiently tapped her food outside the clinic, as Ritsuko had shut the door behind her and Rei as Misato followed them in. It was alright by Misato, though. She had all day to wait to give Ritsuko a piece of her mind. Ritsuko, meanwhile, interviewed NERV's most regular patient about her findings.

"I've found an interesting result, Rei. Nothing else about you has drastically changed. You do indeed still have low red blood cell and platelet counts, your bones are still osteogenetic, but you have healed up on schedule. Unit-00 has been repaired on schedule as well, so we expected your sync results to be unsurprising. But instead, we find your sync score to be a personal best, and I've found some interesting chemicals in your blood."

"Doctor," Rei replied "I doubt I've contracted any communicable diseases, nor have I been poisoned, as Shinji selects fresh foods to prepare for our meals at the Major's apartment."

"You're right so far, Rei, but I'm reading here that your oestradiol levels are as high as a woman who has recently copulated. Is there anything you want to tell me about living at Misato's apartment?"

Rei looked Ritsuko in the eyes. "Feel free to give me a full pelvic exam, Doctor Akagi. You will find no evidence of sexual activity."

"Then why do you have the hormone balance of a girl the morning after prom night?"

"Hormones are also secreted when the human body feels emotional and climatic changes, doctor. I will make no attempts to conceal my preference for my new living arrangements, to you or Commander Ikari. Major Katsuragi and Pilot Ikari have both gone out of their way to accommodate me while I have stayed in their household. I am not ashamed to say that I am more satisfied living there than in my old quarters."

"And you're not having any relations at all? With any boys? Or girls for that matter?"

"No, Doctor." Rei knew that the truth would come out eventually, but she had no desire to reveal it to Ritsuko, who never hid her dislike of the girl.

"Alright, then. Get dressed. Commander Ikari wants to interview you."

"I will go to him." Rei slid off the bed, replaced her hosiery, blouse, and skirt, and opened the door out to NERV's labyrinthine halls. Misato was still standing there, and she stormed past Rei into the lab.

"RITSUKO, LET ME IN THIS DAMN ROOM."

"Sorry, Misato, but this isn't an asylum for the criminally insane. You'll need to go down the road for that."

"Fuck you. I'm here because I want Rei's medication reviewed. I want anything that's not life saving or mission critical taken off of her regimen. She's on blood thinners, immunosuppressants, and even fucking opiates! It's amazing she's not a heroin addict! No wonder she's in such poor health!"

"I can't just stop giving Rei her medication-"

"YOU CAN, BECAUSE I'M THE DIRECTOR OF EVANGELION OPERATIONS, AND MY PILOTS ARE NOT GOING TO RELY ON PILLS WHILE THEY'RE ON ALERT!"

"Rei has been on these longer than you've even been here, Misato, but this is the first time you've complained-"

"Yeah, because now I have intel to work with, and when I've got positive intel, I don't just sit on my ass."

"And is this coming from Misato the Officer, or Misato who wants to be a mommy?"

"Does it really matter? I want Rei to be as healthy as possible, naturally, for her own sake AND FOR NERV'S."

"Fine, Misato. I'll go through her medication, and I'll put her on a safe minimum. If I detect any degradation in her health, however, I will have you deliver her report to the Commander."

"Fine." You Bitch. Misato didn't say that second word out loud.

Before they could go home, Rei informed Misato that she had to meet with the Commander. Misato found herself sealed outside the room Rei was in for the second time, this day.

"Rei." NERV's Commander spoke to the girl standing before him. In the darkness of his office, he inspected her from the crown of her head down to her toes. He had raised her to dress indistinguishably from one day to the next, a psychological element of her military conditioning, but he had never seen her dress with such...individuality. "You are not wearing your uniform."

"Commander Ikari, I was ordered to remove my plugsuit for my physical exam. I chose to send it ahead to be washed after my Sync today."

"You are also not wearing the school system's uniform."

"I only own one of those right now, and it is worn from several days of use. All others were destroyed during the Angel's attack. Your son will deliver the replacements I'm to be issued this evening. Had the attack not destroyed them, I would be."

Gendo raised one eyebrow. Ramiel's insolence had thrown his organization's entire purpose into jeopardy. "Yes. Shinji. He is the reason I've called you here. Your Sync is the highest it has ever been, Rei."

"Yes sir. Doctor Akagi also gave me that news."

"Do you know why you've improved so greatly?"

"My improvement seems to be psychosomatic in nature, Commander Ikari. Aside from my general injury recovery, I have experienced no physical changes that would have affected my performance in the Eva."

"Then tell me, what has changed in regards to your feelings, Rei?"

"As I said to Doctor Akagi, Major Katsuragi's household is more comfortable than my own. The feeling of comfort contributed to my general emotional uplift.
Sir, the bond to an Eva is an emotional bond as much as it is an intellectual bond. I await Dr. Akagi's opinion, but I myself believe that my Sync to the Eva improved because I feel more emotionally enriched living with Major Katsuragi and Pilot Ikari."

"Then I am required to ask you this, Rei. Should Shinji's life be placed in danger, what would you do?"

"In public, or in combat, Sir?"

"Both."

"In public, I would call in to the security section. In combat, I would do whatever is necessary to support him."

"Why?" Commander Ikari watched Rei's expression for any hint of insincerity.
This line of questioning would either give the powerful man the justification he needed to place the girl back under NERV's thumb, or it would be her railroad to freedom. Rei, being as intelligent as she was, felt this, and she decided to fight for the comfort she had so recently attained.

"Because he is the only Pilot who will sync with Unit-01. He is of extreme value to NERV."

"And should NERV's objectives require Pilot Ikari's death, Rei?"

"Commander Ikari, you mean to lose Pilot Ikari without destroying Unit-01?"

"That is correct, Rei."

"He is a valuable pilot." Rei answered. "However, should his death further NERV's goals, then best way to respect his sacrifice would be to succeed."

"And should the time come that you must choose between Shinji's life, and NERV-"

"I would serve NERV's goals, Commander Ikari." Rei answered the line without hesitation. She had practiced the answer relentlessly, as the answer was expected of her. However, after tasting life under Misato's roof, after tasting life with Shinji, the answer was no longer true. Rei wore no expression, but the words tasted like poison on her tongue, and she was grateful that she was not under the sensors of a lie detector, because she knew the answer was now a lie.

Commander Ikari still suspected her, because for all the things he was, he was not a fool. But he did not have the evidence he needed to justify the choice to re-educate her. Yet. "Remember that allegiance, Rei. You are dismissed."

A/N: Next chapter won't be as dark. Promise!