Shinji Ikari One Shot

A pilot from a counter earth

It was a dark and misty morning in the hills of Hakone. Captain Misato Katsuragi could see her breath. She cupped her hands around her mouth and breathed onto them to warm them up. Even with the leggings under her black dress and her red leather jacket on she was quite cold. One of her men, dressed in forest cammies, brought her coffee that she eagerly took.

"Thanks Suzuhara."

"No problem Ma'am." The private first class said and gave a curt salute. He was green, just eighteen and two years out of basic. He was a good soldier though and Misato was glad to have him as one of her own people. It helped that he was over six feet tall and built like a brick shit house, which made him basically a giant among his peers. Misato found the little handgun strapped to his hip a little amusing just because it looked tiny on him compared to most soldiers.

It was a moonless night and she stood in the headlights of her Alpine and the Section Two van. They were almost a kilometer from the main road, as far down a dirt path as their vehicles would permit. She had been worried they had made a mistake until the lights found the blue-ish metal medallion, as large as a dinner plate, sunken into a boulder.

"Aida, got anything?" Misato called towards the van.

"No Ma'am. Not seeing anything on NV or IR. Which is kinda weird." The corporal replied, putting his BCGs back on as he lifted his face from the scope. He had been using a special scope mounted to the top of the van with controls inside. He wore the same hip holster as Suzuhara, but it looked fairly normal on his average sized frame.

Aida and Suzuahara went back, they had been child hood friends and had both enlisted when they were sixteen. Aida had done his college work alongside secondary school and got the grade bump when he came in. From what he said it was the only reason he did it. Misato had picked them up when she asked for permanent staff besides the units she picked up when she requisitioned whatever was handy.

"How so?"

"Well Ma'am, I used to camp up here and I haven't seen any deer, birds, not even a tanuki."

Commander Ikari had sent them out here to collect their newest pilot. Most of it was classified way above her paygrade, even as head of tactical operations, but from what she knew this pilot, the commander's own son, had been sent off for training when he was just a little kid. The commander had given them coordinates and instructions and told them he would meet up with them there.

He had also said the kid's teacher came from a weird culture and had given them a list of things to be ready for and things not to do. Misato had received a whole separate briefing on what not to do or wear around him. Apparently they had some weird ways of treating women wherever he had been. Maybe he had been in the Middle East or something, but she had never heard of muslim women not being allowed to wear earrings.

Misato checked her watch. It was nearly 0430, the sun be up soon. They had already been waiting an hour and their brief had said they would rendezvous before dawn.

"Dammit, when is he going to be here..." She grumbled and no sooner had her breath turned to steam did they hear the crunch of undergrowth under foot. All three had their weapons out and attached lights on in a split second and pointing into the forest where the sound came from.

What they found was unexpected. They had been briefed, it was in fact almost exactly what they had been told to expect, but one doesn't really comprehend these things until they happen.

The figure was perhaps five and a half feet tall, but the crested helmet made him look as big as Suzuhara. He wore a crimson red tunic held together by a broad leather belt that bore several pouches and sheathed sword on his left hip. In his right hand he held a spear his height and half again tall, and in his left hand held the front legs of a deer slung across his shoulders. Snug brown leggings, they looked like leather, covered his legs and strappy sandals covered his feet and wrapped up his calves. The tunic stopped at the shoulders and his arms were bare but for leather wrappings around his hands and wrists. The helmet was the color of brass and looked like the old Greek helmets Misato had seen on several modern logos, though it differed in that the opening was Y-shaped instead of the T she had seen. Misato could see the points of a bow peeking over his shoulders and behind his hip.

"HALT!" Barked Private Suzuhara. "Are you Shinji Ikari, son of Gendo Ikari?"

The figure dipped his head to toss the deer over his shoulders to the ground. His left hand now free, he grabbed his hoplite helmet by the face and lifted it from his head to tuck it under his arm. His face was thin and smooth but for the hints of fuzz along the line of his jaw. He had shockingly blue eyes and a shake of his head let his dark, nearly black, hair fall to just above his ears.

"Tal!" He said in a clear and loud voice. He bowed to set his helmet on the ground and raised his hand, showing his open palm. As his body dipped they could see a shield strapped across his back, large enough to cover him from neck to thigh. "I am Shinji, though I have never been called Ikari and I do not know this Gendo of whom you speak. Which of you is Captain Katsuragi?"

Misato put her weapon back in the jackass holster under her jacket and stepped forward, hand extended. "I am Captain Katsuragi."

He tossed his spear into his left hand and grasped her wrist with his right, his fingers beneath the cuff of her jacket. She had been told about this, to shake by the wrists. When he released she copied him and licked her palm. It was a warrior ritual of some kind she was told.

"Well met Captain, I apologize for my tardiness for I did not get to eat before my trip and I hungered." He said and tapped the deer carcass between them with the butt of his spear.

Misato reminded herself that he was raised in a different culture and this may well be normal where he was from. He may look Japanese, he may speak Japanese albeit with a strange accent, but he was… from wherever he came from.

"Well I imagine we can get you some food quick enough. That is not to say we reject your kill if you mean it as a gift of course, I am quite fond of venison myself." She said, a little stiffly. The kid had just dumped a dead deer at her feet, was it supposed to be a gift or what? Was there some little back and forth they were supposed to have, she didn't know.

The young man cocked his head. "I mean no offense, but your superiors told you some strange things about how to treat me, didn't they?"

All four laughed. The quizzical tone of his voice had broken the tension.

"Yes, you could say that. We were told you come from a very different culture."

"From what I have been told of your people Captain, I do. I am told though, that this is the place of my birth, and I know I am one coming among the many. It is my place to adapt to your culture, not to force you to fit to mine. I am not some savage tribesman, I am of the civilized cities."

"Thank you, and nonetheless we will try to not make you too uncomfortable."

"Thank you Captain. Would you introduce me to your warriors?" He said, motioning to Suzuhara and Aida with his spear. Introductions were made and they each copied his method of shaking hands.

"Private, Corporal, Captain. These are ranks and what I should call you? That is polite here?"

"Yes." Answered Corporal Kensuke Aida. "You, uh, look like a warrior yourself if you don't mind me saying. What is your rank?"

"I am trained as a warrior like yourselves and I passed the trials in my teacher's home city of Ko-ro-ba just a month ago. I was accepted by the heads of the city into the high caste of the warriors there." He shrugged his shoulder to slide his shield around to his arm and pointed with his hand to the red markings that Misato figured to indicate his status. "Warrior is my profession and what you may call me."

Misato was still not sure he believed his words as they drove in the dim early dawn back to the city. Shinji rode with her in her Alpine and Suzuhara and Aida followed in the fan behind them. There had been some tense discussion when they had asked him to put his equipment in the van and ride in the car but he had been satisfied with keeping his sword. He had released the shield from his belt and it now sat between his leg and the center console, his palm resting on the pommel.

"So, are you excited to see your father? I understand you've been away some time."

Shinji shrugged. "I suppose it will be interesting to meet him. My earliest memories are of my teacher, if I knew my father before I left, I do not recall. I actually thought my teacher was my father for most of my life."

"I'm sorry, I did not know."

"No need to apologize, you have not caused offense. In fact, would you mind if I asked you of my earth-father?"

Misato's brow furled at his wording. His 'earth-father'?

"I don't mind at all, what do you want to know?"

"What does he do? I know he is in a position of some authority and that I am required for some battle, but that is all I have been told." Shinji said. It was a lie, but only a small one. He had been told more, but his fib had a purpose. He wanted to know how much these people wanted him to know.

"Well…" Misato paused and considered her words carefully. She had been told to inform him of whatever he wished to know about his duties but she wanted to put it in terms universal enough he would understand. From how he spoke she gathered he had learned Japanese without the cultural side of it. He didn't use the honorifics at all and his tense was always quite forward.

"Your father is Gendo Ikari, the commander of NERV, a special military unit set up to fight a threat we call angels, an extraterrestrial race… do you know what that means?"

"Yes, that they are a species from somewhere other than this planet. We have a similar problem called the Kurii where I come from."

Misato figured he meant a rival group or something and continued.

"So the angels are going to try and wipe out all life on earth. Your father says you were sent away to learn to fight to aid in the battle against the angels."

"I see. He is a warrior then?"

"I am not sure I would call him a warrior. He has never been in the military that I know of, but he is really good at organizing and keeping everything running smoothly. I was brought in to oversee the actual military matters."

Shinji nodded and seemed to consider it for a moment. "Does he answer to a council or some other organ of the will of the people?"

"No, he has total authority over NERV operations and the city."

"Until the threat is over?"

"Yes"

"He sounds like a war chief, put in place by proper rulers to manage a crisis, then expected to step down once it is resolved."

"Yes, yes that does describe what your father does very well." Misato replied after some thought.

"Where I have come from, the word for such a person is Ubar." Shinji said, pronouncing the last word yoo-bar.

"Hm, Ubar Ikari, something tells me he would like that."

Shinji was pleased. So he was the son of a Ubar. His earth-father wasn't of the warrior caste, but if he was made a Ubar he must be high caste of some sort.

As they rounded a corner, dawn was breaking and Shinji got his first look at his father's city. His sense of awe must have been noticeable because the captain commented.

"Beautiful, isn't it? Welcome to Tokyo-3, Shinji."

Shinji smiled as he looked over the towers of glass and metal.

"She is beautiful… are all the cities of Earth so grand?"

"Shinji, may I ask you a question?"

"It would impolite to not first answer mine, Captain."

"Some are not as nice, some are so grand you cannot believe. Now tell me, you called the commander your earth-father, you asked about the cities of Earth… Shinji, where did you go to learn to fight?"

"They didn't tell you?" He asked and turned back to look at her.

"Would I be asking if they had?"

Oh good, they liked to spar with words here too. That made Shinji happy.

He cleared his throat and in his proudest voice said:

"Captain Katsuragi, I learned from Tarl Cabot, first of Bristol, then of Ko-ro-ba, then of Port Kar, known among all the warrior peoples worthy of being called such, agent and champion of the Priest-Kings of Gor."

As they rode the elevator down into the geofront some time later, Misato was concerned for the boy's sanity, that of his father, and most particularly her own. He claimed to be the student of a character from a crappy series of books, trained on another planet that Earth could never see. She had never read the series as a whole, just the first couple books, but it had a certain reputation. Now her first thought had been he was lying. When she entertained the notion he was telling the truth she had become angry at his father for having done that to a young child.

Finally, supposing it was all true, she was seriously concerned that the boy, young man really, was not unattractive. After all, if it was all true, he would be an excellent pilot for the brain controlled evangelion but for some firearm training and that was easy enough. The problem was from what she remembered; Gorean warriors were all honor bound, swarthy, and sex maniacs. Misato had the horrible feeling that she was going to get stuck keeping this warrior off the earth women, or them off him.

Shinji had put his sword back on his belt and leaned back against the wall with his arms crossed across his chest. He was whistling, though she did not recognize the tune. Under the bright lights, Misato could see that he was in fact swarthy, even without a proper beard, and though he was not muscular as the word usually means, he had dense lean muscles wrapped around his bones. Any baby fat was gone from his face and with the flesh of his cheeks sunken like that he really did look like his father.

"So, if you are from Gor…"

"Which I am."

"If you are from Gor, didn't the cars, this elevator, lots of stuff seem a little weird to you?"

Shinji shrugged. "Teacher told me about the many wonders of Earth. You have many things here the priest-kings do not allow us."

"Yeah, I couldn't imagine being forced to stay so… stagnant with technology. No phones, no cars, no computers…"

"Clean air, fresh food, almost no disease, medicine to let a man live a happy life into his third century…"

"No way."

"Its true, I met a man in my teacher's court who was two hundred and thirteen. Teacher says he knew an assassin who lived to be four hundred, but I never met the man."

"Uhuh, sure you did."

Shinji raised his nose to the ceiling and closed his eyes. "Captain, on my honor as a warrior, I would not lie to you.

He managed to keep a straight face for another two seconds before he began to laugh. Misato could not help but to laugh with him. His laugh was full and genuine, and thus infectious. So he may be insane, or from a savage planet, either way, Misato could not help but think he was a good person.

The elevator dinged and the doors open to admit a blond in a lab coat.

"Well hello, you must be Shinji Ikari, I'm Dr. Ritsuko Akagi." She said and extended her hand. Misato was a youthful thirty-four, as was her blond friend, but she could have sworn she heard a mountain lion growl when Ritsuko laid eyes on Shinji.

Misato was amused but managed to not snicker when Shinji licked his palm after gripping her by the wrist. She saw Shinji grin when Ritsuko made a face at his actions. Misato could see her friend's face in the stainless steel wall panels.

"You know, for having cars and elevators, you people do spend an awful lot of time going from one place to another. Where are we going anyway Captain?"

The doctor answered. Shinji found her preemption of Misato rude, but perhaps physicians were placed above warriors here.

"We are going directly to the evangelion hanger. An angel has been detected." Ritsuko said and jammed the cancel button on the elevator before hitting the button for the correct floor.

The blond looked at him, and Shinji imagined she was expecting him to ask her a certain set of questions. He also imagined the answers he would get would be less than respectful. So he didn't ask. Her reaction to his inaction was amusing. He could almost hear her face scrunching up.

Earth women were fun. Lets see how far we can poke the hens.

"As I was saying Captain, medicine is much more advanced where I come from. Teacher said you lot haven't even figured out the stabilization serum here yet. I mean, it is expensive on Gor, but with your magnificent city, you do not seem to lack for money."

Oh that got the blond going Shinji thought. She turned on her heels and her look was like daggers to his throat. "And just what is a stabilization serum, mister Ikari? I would think we simply call it something else and have it freely available to all if some alchemist or whatever you call would be doctors have come up with it. Tell me, does it involve leeches? Maybe certain mysical herbs and incantations? Oh do tell us of the magic of whatever backwoods hack that passes for medical treatment where you come from."

Misato had assumed everyone on base had gotten the same briefing her men and she had, or at least all the women. She moved to the other side of the elevator, to try and put herself between her friend and the young man. She felt foolish when Shinji didn't move from his spot, still leaning against the wall in the corner of the elevator car.

"Now now Captain, I am more than happy to explain. Besides, Dr. Akagi's rudeness does not bother me. In fact I would ask a question of you doctor. How old are you?"

Ritsuko shoved Misato aside with a hand on her shoulder. "It is rude to ask a women's age."

"It is rude to speak ill of a culture you do not understand, Doctor…" He shot back with a grin.

"… I'm thirty-five years old."

"And you consider yourself attractive? I would offer my opinion but I wouldn't want to seem disrespectful. Physicians are obviously held in high regard here"

"Yes." She said through gritted teeth.

"And in another thirty-five years, do you predict you will still be so attractive?"

Misato felt like she was watching a train wreck. Ritsuko looked like she was going to scream at any moment. Misato had annoyed her to this point before but they had known each other for years, Shinji had just met the woman. It was all going so bad but she just couldn't look away.

"Noooo, I don't expect I will be but we don't feel a woman is defined by her body here on Earth, mister Ikari. I am a noted expert in my field and my colleagues define me by my work."

"I am sure they do doctor. But what if I told you a… I do apologize; I do not recall the word in your language… a kajira in my teacher's court who was once the wife of a quite rich merchant, looked oh not unlike Captain Katsuragi does now, you are a few years older than her, right doctor?..."

Misato openly winced when he said that. She was actually a few months older than Ritsuko.

"… and we celebrated her eightieth birthday by passing her among the warriors beds for the night, and not a single one of us found her lacking? I will admit I did not believe some of the men who said experience is the truest measure of worth but I must agree with your standards doctor…"

Shinji unfolded his arms and stretched them above his head before bringing his forearms to rest against the broad belt that circled his abdomen. His left palm rested on his sword.

"…I would define her by her work and she surely was an expert in her field." He said then snapped his fingers. "Oh that's it! I just remembered that word that escaped me. Slave girl, kajira means slave girl. Now I understand that an angel approaching is a serious thing, but I would love to discuss the latest use of leeches and mystical herbs on Earth with you at a later time doctor, I think we have much to learn from each other."

Shinji leaned back against the wall again and chuckled to himself as the doctor silently fumed. The rest of the ride was silent. Neither of the earth women were happy with him. Oh they were fun though. He wondered if they were all like this, it would explain some of the ones he had met back home.

The hens marched him out of the elevator and into a dark room with only a catwalk that he could see. They were midway across by Shinji's reckoning when the lights came on. His hand flew to his sword when he saw the huge face and the gigantic eyes staring at him. He wasn't sure what his sword could do to it, but it was the only weapon he had.

"Shinji…" Came a booming voice from above. Shinji looked up to see a small room of glass above the titanic head. Bright light from within silhouetted a figure, the source of the voice. "You have grown well, you look strong. An enemy only you can fight approaches. You will use this weapon, the evangelion, and defeat it. That is your duty as a warrior of Tokyo-3."

Nobody expected the young man to respond with laughter. Misato found his laugh decidedly less endearing as it echoed off the hanger walls.

"Do I speak with the Ubar of this city, my father?" He said, his voice as loud and full of pride as when he had first told Misato of where he was from.

"You do."

"And you would employ this warrior?"

"Yes…"

"Then we will discuss payment!"

"Shinji, I know you have been away some time and I do not know what you have been told but there is a giant alien monster coming here to kill everyone ! This is not time for wage negotiations!" Yelled the shadowy figure. Whatever air of mystery he had meant to cultivate was now eliminated

"Seems like the perfect time from where I stand!" Shinji responded, with more than a hint of arrogance in his voice. His arms were crossed across his chest and he looked up at the glass room with a grin.

The figure, his father, turned and said something Shinji did not hear. A moment later, a door to Shinji's left opened and a bed was wheeled in. On it laid a girl Shinji found quite curious. She was rather injured and looked to be in great pain. Her skin was ivory white and her hair was blue like the sky. Shinji stepped closer and saw her eyes were blood red. He assumed there was a second eye under the bandage that covered half of her face. Shinji brushed a doctor aside and stepped to the side of the bed and looked down into the crimson eye. He reached out and grasped the girls chin. She was in pain despite the sedation, but her jaw opened easily and she turned her head first left then right when he applied gentle pressure to her chin.

"What is your name, child of blood and sky?" He asked in a soft voice.

"If you will not fulfill your obligations…" Came the voice again. Shinji wasn't listening as it continued, his attention was on the girl.

"Rei… My name is Rei." The girl said, almost silent with just the faintest breath passing her lips. Shinji could see the strength in her face. She was in agony but refused to scream or cry. Not a whimper from her despite the injuries that left most of the bedding soaked with blood. That was admirable.

"I'll take her!" Shinji yelled up at the figure. He turned from the girl and faced the glass room. "Not premium wages by any means, but you have only words to know my abilities right now and I can understand that. I expect her to be fully healed before taking possession of her though! We will discuss ongoing pay after this attack is repulsed."

"What?!" Came voices from all around. Misato was trying to work out his meaning, thinking it could be a mistranslation on his part, like maybe he meant he will take control of the eva and talking about pay was some honor thing but then he wouldn't be talking about… then it clicked. Suddenly and horribly it came together in Misato's head.

Kajira, slave girl, Gor. He thought Rei was an offer of payment.

"Shinji, that's not what he meant, we-"

"NERV agrees to your terms for payment for this action, further negotiations can wait." Boomed the voice of the commander of NERV. "Weapons have been prepared for your use in the evangelion. Now get moving, I want to avoid a confrontation inside the city."

Gendo Ikari got what he wanted.

Evangelon Unit One deployed on the Eastern outskirts of Tokyo-3. A progressive spear and a broad double-edged sword, about the length of the giant's arm, had followed.

The bridge was stunned when the evangelion hefted the spear and threw it like a javelin, something it had never been designed for. It found its mark and pinned the angel Sachiel to a hillside by its leg. The angel freed itself, regenerating flesh as quickly as it ripped itself from the spear point, but it was long enough for Shinji to close the distance.

Butchered was the word that came to Misato's mind as she watched the carnage. The evangelion wielded the sword like it was processing an animal, severing joints and major muscle groups. When the angel regenerated, Shinji switched tactics, laying open the abdomen and torso with deep, powerful cuts.

When the angel screamed, Shinji knew he had found its weakness. His strike had chipped the great red gem in its belly. Blows with his great machine's fists did much more than that, and the screaming continued. When the gem's surface was deprived of all smooth round portions that his blade could deflect from, Shinji finished the monster with a powerful slash.

From the bridge they saw the evangelion cut the angel's core in two, then the core shattered into dust. The corpse of the angel lay on the same hill the spear had pinned it to, with the spear shaft still jutting out from the earth.

In the morning light, all could see the purple giant that was evangelion unit one. One hand was drenched with blood to the elbow, and the other held a great bloody sword. The blooded hand reached down and grabbed the beak like "face" of the angel and began to pull from the angel's corpse. The evangelion put its foot the beast to try and pull the skull away and finally brought the sword down, nearly stumbling as the face, and a skull and spinal cord behind, came loose. It hefted the bloody trophy to the sky and roared.

Inside the entry plug, and on the monitors of the bridge, Shinji laughed. What disturbed Misato was that when he laughed, no matter what it was about, it sounded the same. It was full, and genuine, and deep and it did not matter what it was about, whether he has butchering an angel or when he made a joke earlier, it was like that was all equally amusing to him.

"Tu Sardar Gor! For the priest kings!" He shouted in Gorean before repeating himself in Japanese.

"For Earth, for Tokyo-3!" He said as he pumped the trophy in the air again.

"Um, Commander Sir…"

"What is it lieutenant?"

"We may have a problem sir. In case of potential radio interference due to AT field fluctuations, the external speakers on Unit One were left on."

"Lieutenant, how much of the city has been evacuated?"

"Um, none Sir, there was no time with the angel's sudden appearance."

"How many TV stations is it on?"

"All of them Sir, local, national, and international, radio too."

Gendo Ikari took off his glasses, and gingerly folded the arms and set them down next to his console. He reached over and manually turned off the microphone so that unless he yelled, those present besides the vice-commander at his side, could not hear him.

"Fuck…"

Later that day, Gendo Ikari found himself before the monoliths of his supposed bosses.

"Ikari, what in god's name were you thinking?"

"Well chairmen, it did afford us a four year delay in the arrival of the angels. We needed that time to prepare."

"You think I don't know that? I meant what the fuck were you thinking sending your only child off to that intergalactic zoo?!"

"They helped us, all they wanted was a cultural exchange and a favor down the line, I thought it was a good deal. Besides, sending the first or second would have been impossible."

"Don't even get me started on the first child! Am I to understand you sold her to your son for services rendered?!"

"Unfortunately, regulations prevent me from discussing ongoing wage negotiations…"

"IKARI!"

After the battle, Shinji had been concerned with firstly getting his things back. His arguments for the return of his weapons had been at least put off by Misato suggesting he leave them with science division so they could work on copying them for the eva. Shinji was satisfied with that but still took his sword, reasoning that he was satisfied with the model provided. He suggested they study his helmet as well, since the horn and frill of the evangelion was, in his words:

"As pointless as tits on a tharlarion."

Whatever the hell that meant. They had given him back his bow too, with the promise that the evangelion's model was undergoing final testing. Shinji had slung it across his chest as it had been when he had met Misato in the woods.

Priority number two was food. Corporal Aida had actually had the bright idea to take the deer to a butcher for processing so food was acquired from the NERV cafeteria. That had been an adventure in itself.

Misato had informed operations of where they were going, just to be safe. When they entered the cafeteria, it seemed like half the base staff was there. News spread quickly among bored soldiers.

"Tu sardar Gor!" They yelled.

"For Earth, for Tokyo-3!"

"Hail Shinji, warrior of Tokyo-3!" They chanted, some applauding by smacking their palms to their shoulders

Oh great Misato thought, someone had read the books. This could not end well.

He demanded meat and he received it. He demanded paga, whatever the hell that was, and someone said he wanted wine and brought it. She saw it was Makato doing the cultural translation. Oh that little bastard was going to get NJP'd so hard he was going to wish he'd never been commissioned.

They left the impromptu party nearly three hours later, only after Shinji had led several drinking songs, from atop a table, that he insisted they learn phonetically. The songs had followed a tall pot having been co-opted into a communal drinking vessel and filled with beer being passed around the room. Each person took a drink and passed it along. Quite a victory feast, for 0900 in the damn morning.

Misato cringed when he said where he wanted to go next.

"Take me to see the girl called Rei."

The hospital was only two elevators and four hallways away. Shinji brushed off the security officers who only went through the motions of telling him his sword was not allowed. They knew who he was, what he had done, and most of all that they lived only because of him. That's gets one a lot of credibility with people one has not even met. They were also happy to help him find Rei Ayanami's room and to make sure nobody but doctors and those he approved entered.

Misato followed him into the hospital room and shut the door.

"Warrior Ikari, I need to discuss this with you…" She said as she turned to face him but did not continue. She found him sitting cross-legged on the floor next to the low hospital bed. With her head turned to face him, he and Rei were at even level. He was speaking to her, softly, in that strange mix of low, guttural tones and lilting, almost sing-song consonants that she now recognized as Gorean. He had one hand by her face and was slowly stroking the blue-haired girl's cheek. God she was smiling, that wasn't something Misato had seen before.

Misato watched the little scene unfold in fascination. Shinji considered Rei property now, and from what Misato had read in those damned books, that didn't mean being…well… cute, was the only word she could think of to describe it. Maybe sweet. Yes sweet. Tooth rottenly sweet actually.

"What is that you are speaking?" She asked.

"The language of my home, Rei child of blood and sky." He replied.

"What were you saying?"

"That all will be well and your pain will be healed soon. I have slain the angel, you are safe now." Shinji said, smiling.

"Are you the commander's son?"

"I am the son of Gendo, Ubar of Tokyo-3, though I did not know him before today."

"What is your name?"

"I am Shinji, warrior of this city. You will know it well."

"What do you mean?"

"My earth-father offered you as payment for the head of the angel. I killed the beast, so you are mine now, you are kajira." Shinji said. He had seen the reactions of free women having just changed status before, but this girl did not react that way.

"What is kajira?" she asked.

Well that explained that.

"Slave girl." Shinji replied. "Worry not, I am a simple man and I will teach you those things I will require of you. I own no others, so you will have no chain sisters to squabble with. If father keeps paying me like this I will have to put you in charge of the others I suppose…"

"These are… good things?"

"Yes."

"Good." Rei said and nuzzled her cheek into his palm. Misato was looking at the IV bag hanging next to the bed. That explained it, she thought. Girl was on more painkillers than a woman in labor.

"Come on warrior, let's let the poor girl sleep."

They left after Shinji told Rei she was to obey her physicians. In the hallway, they spoke again.

"Captain Katsuragi, a question comes to mind. Will I be housed or given a stipend to secure shelter?"

"To tell you the truth warrior, I don't know. Good question though, I will check." She replied and took her phone from her pocket. She dialed and held it to her head.

"Commander, I am sorry if I am interrupting… Yes, Sir… Of course Sir, yes he is fine, we just finished visiting the first child… I'm sorry Sir I wasn't aware that was your intention… Yes Sir, since you mention it, she seemed to be doing alright… Yes, Sir, actually I called regarding lodgings for Shinji…" Shinji heard voices coming from the strange device, which he assumed was the 'phones' he had been told about. He saw the captain pull the device away from her head and she appeared panicked.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE IS STAYING WITH ME OF COURSE?!"

end

Gor gets a lot of hate. That may contribute to why I like it, I dunno. I actually wrote more than this but this felt like a good point to end the chapter. Let me know what you all think. I will admit an expanded story would probably have to end up on another website. Unlike my other Gor story, Assassins Of A Counter Earth, a Gorean warrior on earth story pretty much has to touch on the NC17 rated bits of that universe.