Author's Notes: A. Nonymous – Good guess. See below

Pyro – Twins. Mmmm... ;-)

Chapter 8 – Rei's Love Potion Number Nine

Shinji-and-harem were deep inside NERV HQ and all was not merry. Asuka fumed, Mana sulked, and Hikari paced back and forth looking by turns both nervous and embarrassed. Shinji and Rei were currently ensconced in Unit-01, and this was not sitting well with those who were left out.

"Why couldn't I have gone in with-" Asuka began, then she paused, desperately tried to suppress a blush, and rephrased her question. "Don't you need me in there to boost the sync rating?" she asked Ritsuko in a sweet little voice that just did not sound right coming from the flamboyant redhead.

"Actually, that's the problem," the doctor answered. "Your sync ratio would push them past one hundred, and all we want to do is conduct a simple extended activation test on Unit-01." The word 'extended' caused a significant rise in the blood-pressures of all three girls.

"Wh-what about me?" Mana spoke without thinking, then clapped her hands over her mouth in horror.

"You're not even a pilot yet, Miss Kirishima," Ritsuko answered.

"...'yet'?" Asuka asked in a dangerous voice, and ever so slowly Mana began to reach for her guitar.

"Miss Kirishima is the designated pilot for Unit-03, which is being shipped here along with Unit-02," Ritsuko answered, blissfully unaware of the impending doomsday.

"When did that happen?" The air grew noticeably cooler with each word.

"A short time ago Unit-03's installation received a massive funding increase, a bunch of new personnel, and a mysterious order tripling all shifts, so we're getting it ahead of schedule." In fact, this was due to the haunting melody Mana had strummed upon her guitar back in Post-Third-Impact. Asuka glared suspiciously at the brunette, who put on her best 'innocent' look. Hikari began toying with her retracted stun-baton, and the two girls relented. The Class Rep felt as if she were abusing her authority, but she did not want to be thrown out of NERV on her first visit just because Asuka and Mana were in the middle of a love spat. In any case, none of them should have worried (atleast not yet), because an angsty little piece of fluff was currently taking place inside Unit-01.

Shinji was sitting to the right of the plug-seat, and Rei was sitting to the left, each in their suits, their eyes closed as the extended activation test continued.

"I-I apologize, Ayanami." Spots of pink appeared on her cheeks at his words. "...for treating you so badly, I mean."

"That is... okay, Pilot Ikari," she said softly. "Per... perhaps it is not a good idea after all." Her voice caught ever so slightly. "The artifact, that is," she said quickly.

"I, um..." Shinji had begun to feel quite terrible, especially considering how friendly he had been with the quiet blue-haired girl in the original time-line. She had been so lonely. They both had. He had undoubtedly hurt her with his clone-fear, which fortunately was almost completely gone with the recent crazy happenings.

"With my Angelic heritage, any artifact I get could be truly dangerous."

"You know... Ayanami... I kind of feel bad." Shinji pushed his index fingers together in an embarrassed way. "If... I'm causing strong feelings in you... I'll give you a kiss like I did Hikari. If it'll help..."

"No!" she said a little too quickly, also pushing her index fingers together. "I mean... it does not affect me like the others," she half-lied. It did not affect her as strongly, she being only part-human, but the effect was still there. "In truth, I feel things... for you... even without your strange ability," she said almost too softly for him to hear.

"I-I see," Shinji said, and they both fell silent, blushing furiously for a few moments. "...a-actually, if you want, we can... I mean, it's safe in here..." he fell silent because Rei had reached across and laid a finger on his lips. They both stood carefully and sat down on the plug-seat, sharing it, turning slightly to face each other. "...it's only fair," Shinji stuttered, "since you... actually like me, as opposed to..." he stopped, not wanting to say bad things about the other girls.

They both leaned in slightly, and their lips touched. All in all, this cute little scene might not even have been included in this fic were it not for the fact that unbeknownst to the both of them, they were not safe after all. Through his Magi-net connection, Kamo had hacked in and found out about the test, and the two people who would be in it. The magical rat had snuck in and drawn a magical circle on the bottom of the entry plug

As their lips touched, a Tarot card popped into existence above them and floated down to rest on Rei's sky-blue hair. The card face was innocuous enough, featuring an image of Rei in her plug-suit, one leg crossed behind the other in a cute little pose. One arm was behind her back, the other hand was blowing a kiss, and she was winking rather prettily. The caption above the picture was 'Love Potion Number Nine.' Thus, with a 'poof' and a flash of light, things suddenly changed without either of them knowing it.

Warm and giddy, they both pulled back, happy they had gotten their feelings out in the open. Remembering Hikari's and Asuka's relief, they both fully expected things to be more calm now that the tension had been relieved. And it was, until they opened their eyes and looked at each other. An almost-physical crackle of electricity passed between them, and they both froze.

Rei's hair which before had been cute and unkempt, was suddenly well-manicured, perfectly cut, and was now argent-purple at the fringes. Her porcelain skin had transformed as if she had been using all the proper cleansers and exfoliants all her life, and impossibly, she appeared to be wearing just a bare hint of make-up (which somehow was not running or smearing in the LCL). Shinji was frozen into speechlessness by her suddenly entrancing beauty, and Rei found herself completely vulnerable to his Charming grey orbs.

"A-A-Ayanami," Shinji stammered, slowly losing control of his speech faculties as he saw her plug-suit de-skin-tighten itself, "...wh-wh-why are you taking off your suit?"

"I-I-I am doing no such th-thing, Pilot Ikari," she replied, watching his suit come loose as well. In fact, they were undressing each other without being aware of it.

"Th-this isn't right, A-Ayanami," Shinji said, drawing closer to her as his face flushed red and his suit drifted down, trapping his arms.

"Y-y-you are right, Pilot Ikari, let us n-not do th-th-" her cheeks were a deep lavender, and her actions were directly contradicting her words. Time seemed to slow, and they both were shivering as they fought desperately against immense forces beyond their control. They managed to halt themselves bare millimeters from each other, neither of them daring to breathe as they looked into each other's eyes. Ever so slowly they lost track of where they were, and what they were fighting against, then Shinji took a breath due to lack of oxygen. This movement caused their lips to barely come into contact, and suddenly they both snapped and were all over each other.

Meanwhile, in the Reiquarium, a Rei opened her eyes, looking around.

Maya took a moment from her programming assignment to reach over and turn on a monitor and check on her two charges. What she saw caused her to develop a nosebleed of gargantuan proportions and pass out on the floor. Several minutes later Ritsuko happened to walk by and glance at the monitor while sipping her coffee. She spewed the coffee, went into a choking fit, experienced syncope, and fell onto the floor in a twitching heap. Forty minutes later when the experiment ended, the two pilots appeared at the doorway still dripping LCL, and three worried heads turned.

"h-hands...!" Hikari stuttered, pointing, and Shinji and Rei twitched slightly, releasing each others hands, not completely aware they had been joined.

"Her hair," Mana said in a small voice. "...h-her face..." Rei put a hand to her hair, blushing slightly.

"...w-we require a shower," she said, and the two of them walked quickly towards the changing rooms.

"J-just what the hell went on in there?" Asuka wondered, so shocked at the First's peaceful expression that she did not yell. The two guilty parties sped up, trying to ignore her, and her face reddened suddenly at where they were heading. "Hey!" the redhead shrieked, "You two can't go into the same shower!" They jumped, then split up, going to the men's and women's showers respectively.

Dark storm clouds were gathering rapidly, but at that moment Ramiel happened by, and Shinji and Rei breathed a sigh of relief as the alarms blared. Never had the boy been so happy to experience an Angel attack.