Part 16: Blood Ties
***
Shinji's head was spinning for the past few hours. Asuka dropped the mother of all bombshells in his lap. Rei was a clone of his mother... There had been an attraction to Rei, but she had felt out of reach, but now... His mother. He had pictured Rei a little older and with Brown Hair and Brown Eyes and felt his stomach sink like a stone. Then the urge to throw up hit him. Rei had said something during the Instrumentality that was working itself through the fog of his mind... Shinji-kun... If I ever come back, I want you to kill me... Then his hands were around... Asuka's neck... He had thought Asuka was Rei... Shinji rushed to the bathroom and flipped up the lid to the Porcelain throne and emptied his stomach of its contents, mostly vegetables, rice and heavy soy sauce drenched ramen. Rei wanted to die... what the hell had his father done to her that made her want to become suicidal... Then the image hit him... His mother... his father wanted her to be like his mother... Shinji wrenched again. Rei... Cloned... Tortured... put through hell... a living hell, not loved, lusted to bring back a woman that he loved... she was just considered a vessel, not a person... Destroyed bodies... Clones... the nightmare... Shinji pounded his fist against the side of the wall as he slid to the floor.
"Shinji-kun..." Rei was standing in the doorway. "Are you okay?" Shinji pulled his gaze away from her. Shinji couldn't look at her.
"No..." Shinji said as he slammed the edge of the soaking tub with his fist.
"Shinji-kun..." Rei moved over to him. She was wearing a long white sleeping t-shirt. "Do you want me to get Pi-ka?" Rei grinned, embarrassed at saying Asuka's name.
"Rei." Shinji said softly as he bit his lip trying to sort out the best words to say what he wanted.
"Yes, Shinji-kun..." Rei knelt down onto the floor. Shinji could tell she wasn't wearing any undergarments. "What do you need?" Shinji forced out the words.
"During the Instrumentality..." Shinji knew that the next words he would say would weigh hard on him and Rei. "When we shared our AT Fields... You wanted to die... I kinda of know the reasons why..." Rei looked at Shinji worriedly before she started to turn away from him in shame. "I know that my father... did stuff to you that no one should ever endure..." Shinji took Rei's face into his hand and slowly turned it towards him. "But why command me to kill you?" Rei started to cry as she fell forward.
"I wanted to go back to being nothing... I wanted to be free, no coming back, again, again, again..." Rei continued to speak until Shinji could barely hear her.
"Rei... I know that you wanted it to stop." Shinji rubbed her back. "But making me a weapon of your own demise..." Shinji held her as she kept saying "again" over and over again. "I know that you feel that you had nothing to live for... but for those around you... you gave us a reason to live." Shinji hugged her as Rei's tears covered his shirt. "I know that I can't make up for what my father did to you. But I can try." Shinji kissed Rei on the forehead. Rei calmed down some as she looked up at Shinji.
"You will try?" Rei said through bloodshot eyes. Shinji nodded his response to her.
"I will, Rei... You are family, my sister, I will fight for you. So please... let me do that without any constraints you placed on me?" Rei understood as she placed a hand on Shinji's forehead and closed her eyes. Shinji could feel something being removed from his mind. Then... Shinji felt free.
"Rei..." Shinji was about to speak as Rei placed a finger on his lips.
"You are free, Shinji-kun..." Rei kissed him on the cheek as she got up.
"Rei..." Shinji looked down at the floor before looking back up at her. "Thanks... Listen if you need any help. I'll be there for you." Rei nodded as she walked out of the bathroom. Shinji decided that he needed to talk with Asuka and let her know that he was going to be okay. That he had talked with Rei and now that he was free he could love Rei as a sister and Asuka as a lover for the first time in his life unburdened.
***
Navi felt the last little way from the beach come into play as she watched the little hodge-podge group they had found. Navi was a little worried about the green haired girl that was part of the ones who had come back, but something told her that she would find out in time what it was. Giving everyone a crash course in use of AT Fields took some time, but they had gotten everyone up and flying, well pretty much. Orhime was giving Natalie the piggy back as she flew with the young girl on her back. As they watched the shoreline slowly change as they flew to the familiar area where the Farm was. Boy they were going to need to hit a lumber yard soon.
Navi remembered the box of eyeglasses that Rei had hidden one of the recessed panels of one of the rooms. How many pairs of glasses did that girl need to break to finally get closure? There were at least five boxes of the same make and type of eyeglasses so Navi considered that that Rei still had some issues to resolve. That was when Miss Sea Foam Green flew up behind her.
"Navi..." The green haired girl spoke. "I know that we are flying, but..." Navi watched the girl her legs bent behind her and arms outstretched. The girl flew like a God dang bumblebee as she kept her arms in a V pattern away from her body. But that long Green hair looked like it had a mind of its own. "You seem like you have to focus on flying." Navi sighed as she forgot for a second and her AT Field weakened and she descended several feet down.
"I do..." Navi said getting her attention back on track and pushed herself back up. The thick scarf around her neck shielded her from the wind they were heading into. But right now her breasts felt like someone had dropped an entire five scoop cone's worth of ice cream down her shirt. "Listen... are you getting cold because..." Sea Foam glided forward and touched her.
"Everyone is uncomfortable around me." Sea looked at the girl. "You can say it..."
"Sea..." Navi realized that no one had asked this girl her name. "Um... listen I can't keep calling you Sea Foam... That doesn't sound like a real person's name..." The girl looked away in shame. "Listen what is your real name... I mean you have to have a name?" Navi drifted down again as she gritted her teeth and forced her back up in flight.
"It is hard to pronounce..." Sea said as she bit her lip as she offered up a hand to pull Navi up beside her. "I would prefer something more..." Sea floated with some considerable grace.
"Easier to say?" Orihime swung up by Navi. Boy this girl had some major hooters on her, Navi thought as she watched the older girl carry her passenger piggy back.
"Yes..." Sea said as she watched the red head tilt to more of an angle so that Natalie wouldn't fall off. "That would be nice."
"You know you fly like a bumblebee." Natalie said as she watched Sea's flying style.
"Soi Fon?" Sea said chewing over the new name in her mind. Then she grinned. "I think that sounds a lot better." Then the group understood and said the green hair girl's new name.
"Well, I shall be called Soi Fon from now on." Then with a twirl Soi Fon spun over Natalie and gave her a nudge on the cheek. Navi wondered why this strange girl wanted to keep her name hidden. But for the time being seeing that these new arrivals needed to be brought back to the farm so that they could at least have some shelter. Boy their place was filling up fast. They would soon need another house or two to house all the people that were coming back into the world.
***
Rose was curled up in some found clothes that Hikari had dug up for her. Between all the stress she had been through seeing Dominic okay and playing with those children made her feel alright. But there was a feeling that Hikari wasn't telling her the entire story as she had gone off to talk with someone named Maya. Whatever was going on had to do with something that Desmond's older sister had done. Whatever it was, it must be serious given that one of the boys was carrying a gun. She was scared, and whatever it was it must be serious or she was in a situation where she had gone from being in the frying pan and into the fire. She prayed it wasn't the later or the first one. She prayed that somewhere Edward was alive and he was on his way to rescue her as she reached over and played with the yellow tassel of the pillow she had her head on. Stroking the nylon she took a deep breath in and smelled the sweat and oil of Edwards's skin and wished that he was here now.
***
Maya Ibuki was staring at the girl. Concern was growing on her face as she looked at the girl's light blue hair. She prayed that she wasn't in front of an Angel that was going to wipe out the last of humanity right before them. Tru just sat in the chair with the neck of her plugsuit unzipped. The girl was looking around the room as Desmond and Spike came in. Tru stood up as Desmond rushed over to her hugged her waist. Tru spoke softly in her native tongue as she patted Desmond's head. Maya was watching as Tru spoke in the singsong soft tones to Spike as he told her the situation she was in. That was when she moved over with Desmond attached to her towards Maya. In broken Japanese Tru said. "Why are you scared of me???" Maya's eyes showed her fear as Tru fearful of what would happen to her and her brother knelt down and hugged him. Maya reached over and attempted to touch her but hit an octagon of an AT field.
"What are you?" Maya said worried as she could see that Tru was terrified of having a gun aimed at her.
"We... me and my brother were called... Heralds..." Tru raised her field tighter as she gritted her teeth in fear... "I don't know what we are now??? Why are the Barons after us???" Tru swallowed hard... Heralds... Wait that was a type of...
"You're an Angel???" Maya said the word with fear as Tru was shaking so hard that Desmond was about to piss himself as Tru and Desmond nodded together... Maya reached over to the gun and held it to not to so much to attack, but to protect herself if Tru wanted to attack, but given how scared Tru and her brother were acting...
"Tru..." Maya spoke softly as she knelt down to the floor while using the nose of the machine gun to keep herself balanced. "You don't know how you got here?" With that the field collapsed and Maya was able to hug the girl. It would be a while until the story of this girl's life would play out for her.
***
Maya sitting on the couch in the lounge watched as Tru looked more human now, well given the fact she was now wearing a sweater over the plugsuit. Spike translated as Tru spoke.
"I was playing in the fields with my brother... He had developed his secondary wings and was trying them out." Tru spoke in her native tongue. "Our parents had said that I had to look out for him. I didn't know what that meant; it was as if they knew something was coming... Then... The wave occurred." Tru sat down and placed her elbows on the table to push her hair out of her face.
"Wave???" Maya spoke leaning forward in her seat.
"That is the only way to describe it... a wave... like a..." Tru tried sort through her language for the right term... Then taking a glass of water before her flung the water out of it across the table she was at motioning her arms upwards to illustrate the size of the wave. Maya's face went white at the image presented towards her. Wave was too small of a term... Tsunami... was the word Tru was attempting to say.
"It pulled everything in... I held my brother tight as we were pulled tumbled..." Tru described the moments of fear. "Then our bodies merged together, um... like we needed to hold onto each other. Then the dream of being safe... Warm... by the hearth in my parent's home... then... waking up in the red water... Swimming to the surface but not drowning... Then with the spotted face girl and boy..." Tru swallowed as she looked at the now soaking wet table as the water tripped off the edge and onto a large puddle on the floor.
"Tru... I experience the same thing..." Maya spoke as she walked up to the girl... Maya had never thought that the Instrumentality would also hit the world of the Angels as hard as it had her own... Maya had seen the destruction of a Tsunami in news footage when she was in her early teens. How everything got pushed inland and out to sea by the wave coming in. Then the image of the Blue haired boy she had seen when she had awakened. The bodies... The Angels... the Angels had been dragged into this world without a clue... These weren't enemy troops... These were... Maya placed her hands over her mouth... Civilians... Then... The people from Earth had been sucked into... Tru's home... Fighting the urge to vomit... Maya hugged Tru and started to cry... "Tru... I understand how scared you are..." Tru reached up and felt Maya's back and dug her nose into Maya's shoulder. That moment Maya experienced Tru's memories. Tru looked beautiful in her angel form... Maya understood that this form was what she missed and understood who scared the now human girl in her arms felt. Maya kissed her and let her have one of her memories... The two understood how scared they both were.
***
Asuka sat on the bed topless. The images of how Shinji had reacted to her when they... what had happened between him and Rei... She had spilled the preferable beans that Rei was a clone of Shinji's mom... Then... Asuka cringed... What if Shinji and Rei had... She shuddered at that image. Then Shinji came back into the room.
"Asuka..." Shinji sat down next to Asuka. Shinji looked numb but... "I talked with Rei..." Asuka was in shock but the mood changed as Shinji placed his hand in her's. "She told me about the cloning..." There was a pause as Shinji turned towards her. "I think she needed someone to tell her that it was okay to live... no ghost..."
"Shinji... did you and Rei... um..." Asuka motioned with her hands to illustrate male and female organs going into each other. Shinji shook his head as negative.
"I think Rei was scared of coming back again..." Shinji paused. "Back during the instrumentality, I think she put a command in my head to kill her." Shinji rubbed Asuka's face. "She removed it from me... I think that is why I had my hands around your neck when we woke up on the beach." Asuka looked scared and a bit worried about this. "Asuka, I love you and Kaworu loves Rei." Shinji grinned and blushed a little.
"So..." Asuka reached to cover her breasts wit her arms. "Rei..." Shinji moved closer to her and held her.
"I think she is going to be okay and she might like to have a day of fun with us." Asuka looked perplexed. "Asuka... I think that we should take a bath... have a fresh start." Asuka was concerned about this change of subject.
"Wha..." Asuka became protective.
"I mean... we are both young... and... We have no clue of where the other likes to be touched... We both have roving hands and..." Shinji exhaled in defeat. "Kaji said if I ever got this far into a relationship, that taking a bath with a girl who was nervous as I was would break the tension. But spend time to cuddle before that." Shinji had lost Asuka. Reaching over and finding Asuka Shirt and pulling it over her head so that she could stick her arms through. "Hi... My name is Shinji Ikari..." Shinji offered his hand out.
"What are you doing goofball?" Asuka said worried.
"Play along... Asuka..." Shinji pleaded as Asuka offered her hand out.
"Asuka Langley Soryu... Shinji what is this all about?" Shinji grinned.
"Well Asuka... Kaji, your former caregiver and I spent some time gardening and we started to talk about some guy stuff... you know mostly about girls. And he told me about you. That you wanted to meet that specific guy, were throwing yourself at him." Asuka looked shocked at this. "But mostly he understood my insecurities... that I lacked a father figure in my life... and I was totally clueless about girls..." Shinji leaned back. Asuka tilted her head wondering what was going on. "So, when I mentioned that I started to like you, he gave me some advice knowing that we might like each other. So..." Shinji paused letting information set in. "Asuka... tell me a little about yourself. I hear that you are from Germany." Asuka gave him a sour look.
"Shinji you know that I am from Germany..." That was when Shinji mouthed 'play along you might find it fun.' "Alright... I'm from Germany..." Shinji motioned her on. "I grew up around the Nervy Germany compound..." Shinji motioned her on. "I've always wanted to be an EVA pilot..." Shinji rolled his hand in the air to keep her going. "Shinji what is with this??? You already know this stuff." Shinji shot her a look of distain.
"It's called Bar Talk... Asuka... Assume you know nothing about the person you are meeting, I mean I like to cook, pretty decent. I hate red peppers, but the green do well for me. Can't make noodles to save my life... Can't stand curry sauce. Like looking at the beach... Can't swim...well in water. In LCL, I'm not afraid of drowning." Asuka tilted her head.
"You like to cook?" Asuka grinned. "Well I try to make Tea... But mostly I like to do it in an American style called sun tea, but I think I like tea due to my mom being Japanese." Asuka paused at this. "Shinji..." Asuka started to grin. "I haven't thought about this in years..." She paused as she realized what the game was about... "My mom used to make tea in this old Japanese tea set... I used to play with it all the time... I liked the look of the patterns on the side... These nice arched characters..."
"Trace one for me." Shinji said with a grin. Asuka nodded as she traced her finger on the bed sheets.
"Life..." Shinji said as he traced the symbol of his own. "Love..." Asuka blushed. Shinji leaned closer then...
They were kissing...
Both were a little in shock by the action, but... It felt nice...different than that first time they tried kissing, but this felt... Nice...
"Wow ... Das fühlte Nizza..." (Wow... That felt nice...) Asuka said as she leaned in again...
"Kaji you were right..." Shinji said after Asuka's kiss. "Going slow works."
"Sie können sagen, dass auch Dritte Boy ..." (You can say that again Third Boy...) Asuka snuggled close to Shinji as she rolled onto him.
***
Well I hope what I have written so far. Sorry about being so long in updating, but I have hunkered down to start working on my writing while I have free time this summer.
Please read and review
Hearns