Neon Genesis Evangelion: Legacy
Episode I: The Phantom Menace

Chapter 4 – Genius, Scientist, Homemaker
1992 – Kyoto, Japan

A 15–year–old girl was sitting in her room at her desk. The desk was littered with formulas and homework assignments from school. In the corner of the desk sat a CRT monitor which was open to an online encyclopedia. However, the girl wasn't doing homework at her desk (like she should be), or even working on the complicated looking formulas she had on her desk (which were of her own creation), she was writing in her diary about her day, writing about her hopes, and her dreams. She had always been like this, the perpetual optimist, as her grandmother, Hanako Ayanami always said. The girl was a certified, Grade–A genius, but she didn't let that get in the way of her being as girly as possible. As smart as she was, she wanted to have a family someday, and hoped to meet the man of her dreams someday too. That's why she wrote all of her thoughts down in her diary to keep track of what she was looking for in husband.

She had just gotten home from her first day of high school, Class 1–A, where the higher performing students were placed. She went to a private high school because of her high intelligence, and was still placed in the smartest class for first year students. It had been a wonderful day. She met a lot new people, and learned a lot. But she was still missing something, a boyfriend. Being as girly as she was, having a boyfriend at her tender age was something she had wished for quite a bit, however, her class was mostly girls, and the few boys that were in there she had classified as. "hentai" due to the fact they kept using their vast knowledge and intelligence to try and get a look up at any of the girl's panties.

Other than that concerning thought, she would look for a boyfriend that would make her happy, and treat her like a person, not an object. "Yui… time for dinner." The girl's mother called up the stars, breaking young Yui Ikari out of her trance about boys and boyfriends.

"I'll be down in a minute mother!" She called back. 'Boy she has great timing, I was in the middle of a nice daydream.' She sighed and looked down at her diary, and finished the thought she had, then closed it. She stood up and stretched, the young girl was tall for her age, a little taller than the average girl, and she brushed her long brunette hair out of her face and headed for her bedroom door. She looked back to her desk at the mess she left behind, and sighed. 'I didn't even touch my homework.' She thought, and it was true, since getting home she had accomplished little to nothing, save for writing in her diary. She would look at the homework later on in the evening, after dinner, and probably complete it quite swiftly. 'It should be pretty easy, I am a genius after all.' She blushed and chuckled at the comment she made to herself and left her room to go get some dinner.

She wandered downstairs to the dining room to see sitting at the table her father, mother, grandmother, and… her brother? He hadn't been home in six months, and she was glad to see him. The chair next to him was open, and as she walked toward the table, her brother called out. "Took you long enough sis, what where you doing up there, napping?"

"Shinji, stop being so mean, whenever you've home from college you always make fun of me, when you're gone you don't even bother to call and say hello." Her eyes welled up with tears. "Can't you just be nice and say hello first?" Her voice cracked as she spoke.

"Oh, don't cry sis." Shinji got up from the table and hugged his younger sister. "I was just kidding with you, why are you always so sensitive? Can't you take a joke anymore?"

"Well, maybe if you were home more, I'd be used to your jokes." She hugged him back tightly. "It's nice to see you home from the academy, dummy."

"Well, ya know, a military academy is no easy place to study, but it is good to be home." Shinji released his sister from the hug, but she wouldn't let go. "Come on sis, if you let go, we can eat and talk."

"Ok, Shinji." Yui dried her eyes and sat down.

Her mother came in with a platter filled with her brother's favorites, pork ramen, pork curry rice, and tonkatsu, with a variety of vegetables of course.

Digging into the food in front of her, Yui turned to her brother. "So what have you been studying, Shinji?"

Shinji, having just taken a huge bite of food, struggled to swallow and answer Yui's question. "Well, I've studied all of the regular courses any normal college student would study, and some military themed things as well, like. "The Art of War", and military discipline. Right now, I'm third in my class, and graduation is just around the corner."

"What branch of the service will you be going into?" Yui's grandmother asked. "Will you be in the Imperial Army like your grandfather?"

"Grandma, it's the JGSDF now, and no, I'm not one for the front line action running around with 70kg of gear on me. Nope, no army for me, I wanna be a pilot with the JASDF." Shinji said proudly. "But before I do that, I'm going to go to officer candidate school for the air force, and then I'll be accepted in as an officer. Thankfully my application for Officer Candidate School was accepted."

"More school before you join the Defense Forces?" Yui said, her eyes wide with shock. "And… you wanna be… a pilot? Isn't that dangerous?" She looked at her brother with quite a worried look on her face.

"Don't worry Yui, I promise you I'll be careful. Besides we're only defense forces, so as long as no one invades Japan, or as long as no crazy people with small mustaches try to take over the world again, I should be fine. I'll only be doing training missions and stuff like that." He leaned over as he said this and hugged his sister, as he did that, he moved close to her ear and whispered. "I promise I won't be reckless or anything, ok? Just please don't cry again, I hate it when you cry."

Yui nodded in agreement, and hugged her brother back. "Even though you can be mean sometimes, I always knew that you cared."

1996 – Tokyo University

Ding dong ding ding… ding dong ding ding

Class had just ended, and 19 –year–old Yui Ikari was having a wonderful day. She had just gotten another 100 on an important biology test, and today she was expecting her weekly letter from her brother, which would be extra special today because if it came it would be the first one in a month. 'He must be busy.' Yui thought. Shinji, who was based way out in Misawa, wrote when he could, but sometimes missions or training kept him from writing. Perhaps she'd finally get an answer back about the doctoral program in Kyoto as well. She finished high school in one year, at the insistence of her brother. "Don't waste that great mind of yours, sis, you should be in college, not stuck in high school." He said to her during her first year in high school, so near the end of the school year, she took the high school equivalency exam, and applied to Tokyo University. Yui was proud of herself for taking the exam, and was glad to start college. She finished her undergrad work in two years, by taking as many classes as she could, the work wasn't hard for her, after all, as she constantly reminded herself, she was a genius. Now, working on her Master's in biochemical engineering, she was at a very happy place in her life, now all she was waiting for was an acceptance letter to begin working on her doctorate.

Yui had been walking to the campus post office to pick up her mail, going inside, the woman at the desk, recognized her and grabbed a small pile of envelopes from her mailbox, and handed them over. "Here you are Ms. Ikari, it looks like you got something from Misawa today." And she winked. Yui was ecstatic, she couldn't wait to her of what her brother had been up to now.

She rushed back to her dorm room to read the mail, once she got to her room, she entered. "Tadaima!" She said, and with no response, Yui knew her roommate was not back from class yet. 'Probably with her girlfriends.' Yui thought. Her roommate was a nice enough girl, but was very dismissive of "brainiacs" like Yui, so the two didn't interact very much. She tossed her stuff down next to her desk and plopped on her futon. She found the letter from her brother on top, and hastily ripped it open. Inside was a photograph of her brother, goofy smile and all standing next to a large combat fighter, loaded with various weapons on its underbody, she flipped the picture over. "My new F–15J, how do I look next to her? I'm thinking of nicknaming her 'Yui' in honor of my favorite sister." Yui laughed, her brother was always sending pictures of his escapades, I'm your only sister you dummy' shoe thought. So she would add this latest letter and picture to the rest of them. Then she read the letter, it was short;

"Heya sis! How have things been the last month? Things around base have been pretty hectic, some stuff with those Chinese pricks we all know and hate, can't be too specific for security reasons of course. But, for you I do have some great news, I'm finally qualified on the F–15J, my dream plane. I also got a promotion for some pretty heroic stuff, so now you can call me Captain Ikari. Send me a letter when you get a response from Kyoto, if you haven't heard back yet. I'm sure they'll take you, you're the smartest person I know and Kyoto would be lucky to get you as a doctoral student. I have some leave coming up in a few weeks, so maybe you can come home for the weekend when I visit? Let me know with your next letter. Anyway, I have some awesome pilot stuff to do, so I'll be sure to write you next week. With Love, Shinji."

'Dummy… ' Yui thought. 'He said he'd be careful, but heroic stuff doesn't sound too careful.' She sighed, her brother was always the brave and outgoing type, ready to take on any challenge, so being a pilot suited his personality quite well. 'Well, whatever he's doing, I just hope he's being super careful.' She got up and set the letter on her desk, and stuck the new picture from her brother with other 20 or so she had showing him in his flight suit, with his squadron, or in the cockpit, they all had funny notes on the back for her to read.

Then she looked back at her remaining mail on her bed. A few of the items were junk mail of course, one was the school newsletter, and another was a notification about graduation. But at the bottom of the stack was a letter from Kyoto. Her eyes opened in shock, and she grabbed the letter hastily, and opened it so violently she ripped the letter in half. After a few tense minutes of taping the poor letter back together she read it quickly:

"Dear Ms. Yui Ikari, It is my pleasure to inform you that you have been accepted into the metaphysical biology doctoral program. This acceptance is tentative upon your current completion of your studies at Tokyo University by the end of this term. We would like to set up a preliminary meeting with you to meet with your faculty advisor, Professor Kozo Fuyutsuki, scheduled for March 18, 1996 at 10:00a. The meeting will take place in Metaphysical Biology Lab 1 of the Scientific Research Building on our main campus. We look forward to meeting you. Regards, Jushiro Kyoraku, Dean of Students."

"I… got in?" Yui sounded shocked as she said this. "I got in!" It had hit her, she was going to Kyoto to study, and her interview was in a few weeks. 'I should write to Shinji to let him know I got in, and call home to tell mama and papa too, they'll all be so proud!'

March 18, 1996 – Kyoto University

Yui arrived at the front gate of Kyoto University. Her brother had driven her there from home before leaving to go back to base. He wished her good luck, and told her everything would go great. He also mentioned that she should be glad to have been driven, because there were a lot problems with the train system. Yui thanked him and walked cautiously over the gate's threshold, almost as though she were waiting for lightning to strike her. She saw a campus directory in the middle of the quad, and walked over to it. She was looking for the scientific research building where the professor she would be meeting had his office. She found where she was on the map and where the building was, not a very far walk.

'Professor Fuyski was it?' She thought, as she walked towards the science building. 'Maybe Fuyuyski, or maybe Fufutski? No, I remember now, it was Fuyutsuki. That's it, Professor Fuyutsuki.' She saw the building up ahead, with a brunette girl coming out the door, as the two got closer, Yui got a better look at her. 'She looks a little young to be in college, maybe she was visiting her parent or something.' Yui wondered to herself as the girl approached her. Yui could hear the young girl happily humming to herself as they walked past each other.

She entered the building and looked around, there was no directory to which research lab she or office she should go to. And there was no one around to ask. She wandered in the hall for a moment and decided to start heading upstairs when she ran into a nervous looking young man. "Excuse me, do you know where I could find Professor Fuyutsuki's lab? I'm here for an interview." Yui asked politely.

"Metaphysical Biology Lab 1 is up on the third floor, 4th door on the left." He responded.

"Thank you very much." Yui said as she bowed in thanks and then she started to hustle up the stairs to get to the appointment before 10:00a. She found the lab on the third floor without any problems. On the sign was a small label 'Fuyutsuki' showing she found the right place. She knocked on the door gently. The voice from within answered the knock with. "Enter."

Yui opened the door and walked in. The lab was quite spacious, and had several lab desks for experiments, a storage cabinet in the corner, an area to put live specimens, and also a proper desk which was covered in what looked like research reports, and pens, but there was also a cleared space in the middle with three folders. One was open, and Yui recognized her own picture in its cover page. 'Well at least they got a nice picture of me from Tokyo University.' She thought.

"Won't you sit down Ms. Ikari?" Fuyutsuki said, looking over at the young woman standing in the doorway of his lab. She had been looking around quite intrigued at the lab. She looked somewhere between extremely nervous and fascinated, which he thought was quite an odd combination, and somewhat endearing. "Ms. Ikari?"

His calling her name broke her out of her trance. "Sorry, sir, I'm… just a little nervous." Yui stammered. She walked over to the chair Fuyutsuki indicated and sat down. At this point she had butterflies or something else jumping around in her stomach. Fuyutsuki simply surveyed her with a calm look.

"So, I read the outline of the research you wish to accomplish while you are here in Kyoto. I was quite impressed by the work you are looking to do." Fuyutsuki said.

"Thank you, sir." Yui bowed her head in thanks, and as she did she noticed her cheeks were becoming quite warm, Fuyutsuki noticed this as well.

"I can see you are quite modest in your abilities by your reaction to my comment. There is no need to blush Ms. Ikari." Fuyutsuki said kindly. 'She's quite reserved for someone so intelligent, she seems to be quite conscious of the fact she is smarter than most, and is embarrassed when people point it out.' Fuyutsuki thought to himself. "Ms. Ikari, what are you hoping to accomplish with your research?" he asked inquisitively.

"Well, Professor, please call me Yui. If we are to be working together, it would be more than acceptable to call me by my first name." Yui was still blushing as she said this, and still sounded nervous, but when she spoke again, she sounded much more confident than before. "But to answer your question, I hope to gain insight on being able to communicate with other people's souls, though some sort of contact, one soul to another, so that people can truly begin to understand each other. People are separated by some sort of barrier, and I want to find a way for that barrier to be weakened. I if can do that, maybe war would be a thing of the past, and the future would look a lot brighter. That is what I hope for most of all through my research, people to understand each other."

"Well, Yui, I think that is a very noble goal, when I read your paper, I saw that it was quite technical, with no reason behind what you wanted to do. Now that I have some understanding in what you wish to accomplish, I am more than happy to accept you into the program." Fuyutsuki smiled as he said this. "Now the term begins on April 1st, so be ready to move in for that date, you and the two others in this program will be living in single rooms on campus, and will each have your own lab space, and access to mine if needed. I may also ask for your help occasionally with some of my classes, if you are up to that of course, it may help give you practical experience with explaining your work to others. I know I am giving you quite a lot of information all at once, but according to your school records, you can handle it. So does all of that sound reasonable to you, Yui?"

"Yes, professor, that seems more than fair." Yui smiled, and the blush on her face began to fade, and she felt relieved and much less nervous than when she came and sat in Fuyutsuki's office. "But, I'm curious, who are the others in the doctoral program?" Yui asked, wondering if she had read their work, or if there was a boy she could meet that was interesting in the same things as her.

"I don't want to give that away just yet, but I can tell you that the other two in the program are girls." Fuyutsuki said with a smile.

As Fuyutsuki said this Yui was saddened a bit. 'No boys for me… ' She thought, cursing her luck silently. "Well, I look forward to meeting them, seeing as we'll all be working together, it should be fun. And once again Yui smiled happily at the thought she was closer to her dreams than the day before. 'I'll have to call Shinji and tell him all about this when I get back.' Yui thought. 'And I'll have plenty to write about in my diary tonight.'

To Be Continued

A/N: I do not own Evangelion or any of the characters, GAINAX and the other distributors of NGE related material do. I am simply using them as a backdrop for my fanfic.

And that was sweet Yui's chapter. And she met with her sensei, Fuyutsuki (Yay!) in last part of the chapter. So for the other two women going to Fuyutsuki's doctorate program, they will also finally meet with him at the end of their origin chapters, but they won't meet with each other until a later chapter, I can promise, however, that they will meet each other before the end of this episode.

And now we have the other connection to Rei through Yui's chapter. While Rei may be named for the dead twin of Gendo, her last name was Yui's material grandmother's maiden name. In a later episode, Fuyutsuki will learn the reason behind the name Gendo will choose, so more on that later. Also, Yui was not an only child, but had an older brother, who is 8 or so years older than Yui. He will feature again in a different episode, and yes, he is Shinji–kun's namesake.

I made her episode title out of her third option when Fuyutsuki asked her in the anime what she wanted to do with her life, and her answer was a. "be a mother."

As I said before, and will always say at the end of chapter, please leave comments, as I would like to try to improve the story going forward any way I can. And, hell, constructive criticism is a good thing.

つづく