CHAPTER 7: RED EYE GIRL

The next few weeks at NERV passed by without incident. The brush between Shinji and the Section Two agents was swept under the rug. He did see the two agents in the halls a couple times. They always went rigid as they passed and tried to avoid him like the plague. Shinji would always laugh inwardly at their cowardice.

One day, as he sat in his EVA during an active synch-test he spotted Rei Ayanami approaching her EVA Unit-00. It was still painted in the orange scheme identifying it as under testing. She was fully healed up and Shinji couldn't help but take notice of her striking figure in her all white plugsuit. As she was working on something in her plug Shinji's father walked up to her. He was surprised to see her bounce out of the plug and stand in front of him in apparent happiness.

Zooming in he watched their conversation. He couldn't hear what they were saying but there was no mistaking the smile on his father's face. 'What the hell?' Shinji said to himself. 'Why is my father so interested in Rei?' He watched as they conversed for a few more seconds before his father left and Rei returned to her previous activity. 'Something's not right here.' He wasn't jealous that Rei, and not him, was getting attention from his father. He could care less about his father. But he was interested in why his father took such a concern for Rei. 'She has a reactivation test soon.' Shinji recalled what Ritsuko told him while they were examining the remains of the last angel.

"Unit-00 went berserk and the pilot was badly injured," Ritsuko had said. "And it was Commander Ikari who rescued her."

XXXXX

The next day at school, while the guys took turns playing basketball and the girls swam at the pool, Shinji kept thinking about Rei. He looked up at her while she sat against the pool fence. "Oh my gosh those guys are looking at us!" One of the girls squealed.

"Ew, gross!"

"But, look!" Another cried out. "Shinji's looking too!"

"Hi, Shinji!" A couple of girls waved but he ignored them. Shinji hated when that happened. It did however draw the attention of three people. First was Rei who glanced over at him. She regarded him for a second then looked away. The second two were right behind him.

"Hey, big shot," Toji said grinning. "What are you looking at so intently?"

"Huh?" Shinji looked back at them.

"He's ogling Rei!" Kensuke spoke up.

"I wouldn't put it that way."

"We saw ya looking," Kensuke teased. As they continued to tease him Shinji just glared at them.

"Ready for Round Two, Toji?" He replied at which the two dolts backed down. "Heh," he chuckled. "Actually, I was just wondering why she's always alone."

"Come to think of it," Toji said, "I don't think she's had any friends since she got here in the seventh grade."

"There's just something that makes her hard to talk to," Kensuke added. "Like she's in her own world or something."

"She's probably just got a lousy personality." Toji added as the three of them got up to run a couple laps. "Maybe you could give her some special attention, Shinji!"

"And maybe you could get your head out of the gutter," Shinji shot back.

"You're an EVA pilot, though Shinji," Kensuke butted in. "You should know her better than any us."

"Yeah," Toji agreed.

"Not really," Shinji said. "We've hardly ever talked."

That night Ritsuko was over for dinner. "What is this stuff!" Ritsuko asked the question that was going through Shinji's mind as well.

"It's curry!" Misato cheered.

"Instant curry, to be precise," Shinji added.

"You're still eating this instant junk?" Ritsuko glared.

"You're a guest, so you have no right to complain," Misato shot back. Needless to say neither Shinji nor Ritsuko were impressed by Misato's cooking skills; or lack thereof.

'Who else can make instant food taste so awful?' Ritsuko asked herself as her eye twitched. "Next time you invite me over make sure it's Shinji's turn to cook!" Not even the resident waterfowl found the food appetizing. His first swallow resulted in him keeling over and passing out from the taste. "You know Shinji," Ritsuko said turning to him. "You really should consider moving out. You shouldn't let one bad roommate ruin your life."

"Where would I go? Your place?" Shinji asked. "I'm actually getting used to her shenanigans."

"He's right Ritsuko," Misato said in a slightly slurred voice. "Never underestimate the ability of the human animal to adapt to his environment. Besides he just got his permanent security card so he'd have to go through a lot of red tape if he moved."

"Oh, damn it!" Ritsuko snapped to. "I almost forgot again!" She then dug into her purse. "Shinji, I need a favor."

"I am not going to go pick up your dry cleaning, if that's what you're asking," Shinji said sarcastically.

"Oh shut up," Ritsuko growled. "I forgot to give Rei her renewed card. Could you give it to her before you come in tomorrow?"

"Sure," he said taking the card from her. He then looked at the card and took note of the address. He then looked over at her picture. She was solemn and expressionless. Her red eyes staring into nothingness, a thousand yard stare. 'What's going on inside your head Rei Ayanami?' He heard Ritsuko giggle but before he could ask her what was so funny Misato chimed in.

"What's the matter?" She asked resting her head in her hand. "You're staring at Rei's picture aren't you?"

"No I'm not!" Shinji snapped.

"Oh, yes you were Shinji."

"Misato!" She kept on giggling.

"I think I embarrassed him." She then smiled slyly at him. "Now you've got an excuse to go over to Rei's place don't you?"

"Will you shut up?" Shinji asked as he sat back down. "Do you have to be so obnoxious?"

"But I love to Shinji, you go so ballistic."

"Just like Misato," Ritsuko added causing the Major to recoil.

"I was just wondering why she seems so distant," Shinji said. "She's hardly said five words to me."

"Well, you're not exactly the most approachable guy, either, Shinji," Misato said. "You've got the gloomy, bad ass thing down to a science, Mr. Hero."

"Well, you've got the alcoholic moron thing down to a science, Madam Guinness," Shinji shot back causing her vein to reappear. "Did I…strike a nerve?"

"Rei's a nice girl," Ritsuko said softly, bringing an end to verbal duel. "But she's like your father. She's not very adept at…" She shrugged. "Living…I guess."

"Let me guess," Shinji said. "Her people skills aren't that developed?"

"You could say that. She's also had a rough time here. She's only just fully recovered from her accident."

"I bet you could cheer her up real nice, Shinji," Misato teased.

'She's just as gutter tracked as Toji,' Shinji said rolling his eyes and falling back onto the floor.

XXXXX

The next day he walked to Rei's early in the morning. The moment he came up to her apartment complex he didn't like it. "This is ridiculous," he said as he entered the grounds. "There's trash all over the place," he looked across the street. "That construction's got to be annoying as shit. This place is in desperate need of a makeover." 'Not to mention the neighborhood has got a high per capita rate of prostitutes and druggies.' "I guess I shouldn't be too surprised that my father has a teenage girl living in this dump." The elevator didn't work so he took the stairs.

Graffiti adorned all the walls, garbage was all over and he didn't want to know what was going on inside the other apartments. Basically, the place was a shit hole. Shinji kept alert, his eyes checking every corner, every doorway; his ears listening in to anything amiss. When he got to Rei's room, 402, he tried the button. Nothing. 'Is the electricity out in this place?' He tried knocking but got nothing.

Someone left their own apartment further down the hall. The man didn't notice him and walked in the opposite direction. Shinji watched the poorly dressed man walk further away and down the other set of stairs before Shinji turned his attention back to the door. He knocked again but got nothing. 'I don't like this.' Slowly, Shinji tried the knob. 'The door is unlocked!' That really got him worried. Quietly, he stepped inside the apartment. He saw one pair of shoes on the floor. 'Well, her shoes are still here. That's a good sign. I think.' Quietly he tip toed further inside.

He walked through the dirty kitchen, his hands ready to fight off any intruders. As he came to the doorway leading to the bathroom Shinji slipped past it and into the living area. It was just a single room with a bare metal bed with a lone mattress on it. Rei's school uniform was lying on it along with the sole blanket and pillow. Off to the side there was a cardboard box with some old bloody bandages tossed in it. The place was empty. There was a mini-fridge with a beaker of water and a bag of prescription pills on top. Shinji looked at the label. 'Janax. This stuff is still in clinical trials. What the hell?' He looked at the issuing doctor. "Dr. Akagi, Ritsuko." 'I'm going to have to ask her a few questions.'

As he stepped further inside he heard a shower shut off. 'She was in the shower?' Shinji relaxed. He hadn't heard it because of the construction until it turned off. The water pipes creaked as the pressure in them changed. Shaking his head at the state of the place Shinji spotted something on the only dresser in the room. It was a pair of glasses. But the frame was warped, partially melted by heat, and the lens cracked. He picked them up and examined them. 'Since when did Rei wear glasses?' He asked himself. He then saw a name on the inside of the frame. "'G. Ikari.' So, they're my father's glasses."

He heard the curtain to the bathroom draw back. Turning around he froze as he saw Rei standing there with only a towel around her shoulders. "Uh," he said, blushing and looking away. "I didn't mean to barge in but…you didn't…answer the door so I…" He was cut off when she smartly walked up to him and snatched the glasses from his hand. Not expecting the move he backed away. As he did so his foot slipped on one of the discarded bandages. "AH!" Before either one knew it they had fallen to the floor, one of the drawers caught on his shoulder bag and was pulled out dumping lingerie onto them and the floor.

Thankfully, Shinji kept himself from falling on top of her. Instead he fell onto his hands and knees over her. His eyes locked with hers and he couldn't help but be frozen in place. One knee was between her legs and the other was just outside her left leg. He hoped he didn't hurt her but he didn't see pain on her face.

"Will you get off me?" She asked softly, breaking the silence.

"Huh?" He blinked. That's when he noticed that his left hand was touching something soft and round. "GAH! Shit!" He recoiled off of her when he realized what it was his hand was on. "I am so sorry!" She just stood up and he followed suit. She then turned around and began to dress. 'Great going, Shinji,' he said as he turned his head and walked back to the entry way. 'Now she'll think you're a prowler and a pervert.'

When she returned to the doorway she regarded him with a curious expression. "Yes?"

"Ritsuko asked me to bring this by," he said handing her the new card. "It's been renewed…" He then gulped. "I came in because I was…worried."

"Worried?" She asked.

"Well…with the neighborhood and your door being unlocked…Does it lock?"

"No." She said before stepping out. Shinji followed.

"Aren't you worried about someone coming in unannounced?"

"Like you did?"

"Well…" He shrugged. "Someone…bad."

"No one has." She said. They walked the rest of the way to NERV in silence.

XXXXX

As they were riding the escalator down Shinji brought up the upcoming test. "You're reactivation test is today, right?"

"That is correct," was her response.

"You're not worried it might you know…go berserk again?"

"Why should I be?"

"Never mind," he said. 'She's all business.'

"You are Commander Ikari's son, are you not?"

'So now she's curious?' "If you can call someone who's been estranged from his father for ten years his son, yeah."

"Don't you have any faith in your father's work?"

"How can I have faith in a man who all but abandoned me, didn't care if I survived a goddamn military invasion, and brought me back only because he had a use for me?" Rei turned around with anger in her eyes. "I don't know what's going on in his head. I don't know him, period. So how can I trust someone that I don't know? I pilot because if I don't, people will die." he replied firmly. And with that she turned around and said nothing else. Shinji placed his hands in his pockets and looked off to the side. 'She seems attached to father. Why? Besides saving her after the accident what has he ever done for her?'

'Commander Ikari's son is angry with his father. He said he pilots to keep others from dying.' She then recalled his argument with Major Katsuragi a few weeks ago.

"You do remember why I'm fighting for you guys, right?" He had said.

"Is that what you meant when you asked Major Katsuragi to remember why you fight?" She asked out of the blue.

"You saw that, huh?" Shinji said not looking in her direction. She nodded. "Yes. That's what I meant. That's the only reason why I do it. It's why I changed my mind after I saw you on that gurney." Rei recalled what he said to her the first he was here.

"You're too injured to fight," he said. "I'll pilot it."

"You…piloted EVA…so that I wouldn't?" Rei asked hesitantly.

"Yeah," Shinji replied. For some reason unknown to her, Rei blushed.

XXXXX

Madrid, Spain

Nikolai stopped the van just down the block and around the corner from the target building. In the back, Price checked his H&K USP45 Tactical with attached sound suppressor. "Neighborhood is quiet, Price," Nikolai said from the driver's seat. "The back alley looks clear and the fire escape should get you up to the third floor."

"Right," Price said as he slid the pistol under his leather jacket. Price was wearing basic civilian clothing and only carrying the pistol since this wasn't a hit job or pitched battle. Just a sneak and peek. He slid the ear piece in and checked its reception. "Mind to store while I'm gone, mate." And with that he exited the van and stepped nonchalantly into the alley.

He strode casually down about fifty yards before he made a turn down a side alley. Ten yards later he came to the fire escape. Price climbed onto the nearby dumpster, his aging bone yelling at him and trying to tell him that he was getting too old for this shit. He ignored them. From there it was an easy jump, even for a tough old bastard like him, to the fire escape ladder. He pulled himself up and climbed up to the landing. He then quickly bounded up to the third floor.

There he climbed onto the ledge of the building. This is where it got a little hairy. He edged himself ever so carefully back down the alley and around the corner of the building. When he came to the target window he carefully looked inside. Seeing no movement he pulled out his pick kit and undid the latch.

Once inside he took note of how bare the room was. The occupants didn't use this place for comfort. It was a safe house; a meeting place. Tip toeing into the office Price noted the sole laptop on a steel table with accompanying chair. Looking at the computer he noticed that it was still logged in and not locked. 'Not even the dumbest bloke does that if he's leaving for any length of time…unless…' At that moment he heard movement behind him and light shone in the darkness.

Turning his head around, he saw someone stepping out of the bathroom, turning off the light as he went. His night vision ruined, the occupant never took notice of Price. Instead, Price side stepped and kicked the occupant's feet out from under him. He fell towards the floor in a heap. Not letting him recover, Price drove his fist down on top of his target's head as he fell. The man was unconscious before he even realized what was happening.

Thinking quickly, Price noticed a few jugs of water along the wall. He decided to knock one over and allow its contents to spill onto the linoleum floor. That way, when he came to, the occupant might just suspect his slipped and fell. Price hoped. The current occupant didn't seem to be the sharpest tool in the shed and might just come to that very conclusion. In the meantime, Price had a mission to complete.

He moved back over to the computer and attached a detachable hard drive the size of a bible. He then proceeded to copy the contents of the laptop's hard drive. The process took all of fifteen long minutes. Price kept an eye of the occupant, lest he come to before the process finished. He did not. Price detached the hard drive and tucked it back under his jacket as he heard the first signs of life coming from his hapless victim. 'Bad luck, chum,' he said to himself as he climbed back out the window. 'You just happened to be in the right place at the wrong time.'

When he got back to the van he just gave a simple nod to Nikolai, who proceeded to drive them to the airport. When he came to the occupant swore as he removed his wet pants and shirt. "Jesus H. Christ," he said as he went over to his trunk. "I would have to slip coming out of the water closet. Next time they should put mats down or some shit." He never did wonder why the side of his head hurt instead of the back, which would be hurting if he had simply fallen backwards.