"We're The Band"

Chapter 13: Lost and Found

Late Saturday Morning – The Apartment
Asuka awoke to find a warm but empty spot on the futon that was normally occupied by a certain, brown-haired boy. A slight frown crossed her face until the right neurons connected to remind her that Shinji, Toji, and Kensuke had planned on some "Stooge"-bonding this morning since Saturday classes were cancelled in preparation for a series of big exams. Asuka, Rei, and Hikari, more practical than the boys, all chose to sleep in instead. Having decided that more sleep was not in the cards, Asuka made her way to the bathroom in search of hot water and toothpaste as part of the normal morning rituals of preparing to face the day.

Later, cleaned and marginally ready to face the day, Asuka made her way to the kitchen. As she passed Rei's room, she heard music piping out from the girl's laptop. It was mostly muffled by the door and unintelligible, but it did seem like Rei was streaming some sort of oldies station. Continuing down the hall, Asuka passed Misato's room and noted that she was still asleep judging from the gentle snoring emanating out from under the door. Asuka just shook her head as she continued on the trek down the hall. Misato must have come in pretty late since Asuka and Shinji had sat up past midnight snuggling and talking and hadn't heard her come in. This prompted a thought within Asuka that they needed to find out who was Misato's new boyfriend.

That thought was immediately filed away in the "to do list" as the smell of breakfast washed over Asuka. Surprised, she burst into the kitchen half expecting to see Shinji in his familiar blue apron cooking. A bit disappointed to find the kitchen empty, she was delighted to find brunch plates in the oven on warm – one each complete with labels for Asuka, Rei, and Misato – from Shinji. As she retrieved her plate and proceeded to demolish her meal, she reflected on how her Baka seemed to always know how to do little things for her that were very thoughtful and sweet. In fact, these little things were probably what kept the insecurity monster at bay through the constant little reminders that he loved her. Plate empty and daydream over, Asuka stood to clean the plate and place it in the dish rack. Making her way back down the hall, she heard something odd coming from Rei's room. Over the soft music that was still playing, Asuka was positive she could hear sobbing. Alarmed, she announced, "Rei, are you alright? I'm coming in."

Bursting through the door before Rei could have answered; Asuka was startled to see Rei huddled under her blanket in the fetal position sobbing bitterly as if the world had ended for her. Even more alarmed than before, Asuka sat down next to Rei, "Rei, what's wrong? Why are you crying?"

Looking up at Asuka with tear stains on her face and eyes puffy from crying, Rei managed to get out between sniffles and sobs, "Will I ever be loved?"

Shocked, Asuka immediately remembered the last time she had heard something similar from Rei.

Flashback
Misato had come back from NERV to immediately call a "family meeting" with Shinji and Asuka. As the three of them arranged themselves around the kitchen table, Misato had come to an internal decision that there was no tactful, diplomatic way to tell them, so she just came right out and dropped the grand piano on their heads.

"We found Rei alive today in the pool of LCL inside Terminal Dogma where we had kept Lilith. She's currently undergoing extensive medical exams and debriefing, but I can give you what we've pieced together."

Misato paused to allow Shinji and Asuka to catch up with what she had just said. Shinji was speechless. Asuka, on the other hand, was not.

"What!?!? Wondergirl's alive?!?!?!" Asuka, to say the least, was not pleased to have the biggest competitor for Shinji's affections back on the scene. While she had no doubt in her mind that Shinji was hers, Asuka was not confident in the strength of her bond with Shinji.

"There's more," replied Misato much to the consternation of the two teens in front of her. "Rei will be coming to live with us since she no longer has a guardian, so until we can finish the remodeling on the apartment, she'll be rooming with you, Asuka. In addition, the routine DNA scans that are performed and some of the information we recently recovered from the Magi indicate some important facts that the two of you need to understand," continued Misato over the very vocal and threatening protests from Asuka. These protests subsided as Misato mentioned the Magi.

"It seems there's a lot about Rei that I didn't know about." Misato then began to recount Rei's origin's and Gendo's plans for Rei in bringing about Third Impact and Instrumentality. She also confirmed what she and Shinji had been shown by Ritsuko – that many Rei's had been created to support the dummy plug systems and as potential replacements in case Rei was killed. Misato concluded with the final two blows in a quick one-two punch. "Rei's DNA confirms that she is essentially Shinji's half-sister since the former Commander had used Shinji's mother's DNA in creating her, and she has come back with a more complete set of emotions that we speculate is a function of the aborted Third Impact."

Silence ruled the table broken only by the hum of the refrigerator's compressor. Sometime in the monologue, Shinji's hand had sought out Asuka's and now tightly held it as he fought to try and process everything he had just been told. The most he could summon was, "So, I have a . . . sister?"

"That's right."

Asuka was completely set back on her heels. Her only coherent thought about Rei was that she was no longer a threat for Shinji romantically but would still be competition for the boy's attention and Asuka hated sharing. Releasing Shinji's hand, Asuka stood and announced, "I need some air. This is almost too much." With that, she headed to the balcony.

Shinji sat with Misato for a couple of heartbeats before getting ready to follow Asuka to find out what was really bothering her. As he stood, the door bell announced a visitor. Opening the door, he was surprised to find Rei standing there with a small bag held tightly in her hands with white knuckles and, in place of her normal placid expression, a face full of worry and apprehension.

"Oh, hello, Rei. Please come in," sputtered Shinji who was saved only by normal good manners from merely standing in the doorway gawking at the poor girl.

"Thank you," was the only response, so soft that he almost missed it as Rei came in and stood by the door as Shinji pushed it closed.

"Shinji, why don't you take Rei to the room she's going to share with Asuka and let her get settled?" prompted Misato as she struggled for something meaningful in the awkward silence.

Shinji, more emotionally aware of girls now that he had a girlfriend and had spent a lot of subjective time working through emotional problems with her, noticed that Rei actually needed something more. He instead pulled Rei into a hug and said to her, "Sister, welcome home." He could feel the apprehension melt out of Rei but he could tell she was still tense. Slowly releasing her, he took her hand and said as he led her to the room, "It's ok. We'll work everything out."

As the walked towards the room, Rei noticed Asuka at the glass door to the balcony seething in anger. Asuka had apparently seen the entire event and was not a happy camper.

Rei stood in Asuka's room and after Shinji closed the door and left her to arrange her things, she placed her small bag off the side and sat down in the center of the room trying to deal with the strong emotions she was feeling for the first time. She heard the voices from the living room. Apparently, Shinji, Asuka, and Misato were having a fairly heated discussion. Rei recognized her name and some other things being said. Wrapping herself in one of Asuka's spare blankets, Rei huddled into the corner farthest from the door and began to sob uncontrollably. She had spent so many years with only a single minded purpose suppressing her emotions and now that she had them, they overwhelmed her. The feelings of despair and loneliness became almost too much. Coupled with the feeling that she had let down all of her friends at NERV by not being able to completely recall her part in Third Impact while joined with Lilith, Rei just felt an enormous emotional burden continuing to crush her very soul.

Asuka threw open the door to their room ready to rip into Rei only to see her huddled in the corner sobbing as if the world was about to end. As Asuka quietly came through the doorway and slowly shut the door behind her, Rei would never realize until much later how much Asuka had changed and how much she owed her brother for the part he played in that transformation. Asuka's anger had evaporated as empathy with Rei's plight took hold thanks to some well placed thoughts from Shinji. Asuka knew very well what it felt like to be abandoned by those you had depended on only to be forced to try and make your way in the world on your own, and Shinji's insistent urgings in the living room had actually reached the emotional core of her when Misato's more logical arguments had failed.

Kneeling down next to Rei and feeling her flinch and cower away as Asuka's arm went around her shoulders, Asuka was almost heartbroken at the sight of what she had come to realize was her boyfriend's very vulnerable little sister – an image of Rei that was very different from the Wondergirl image that Asuka had previously held onto.

It wasn't clear to Asuka how long she had held onto Rei trying to get her to calm down when the worst of the sobbing appeared to be over. It was at this point that Rei turned to look at Asuka to ask, "Will I ever be more than a tool or a burden to those around me?"

End Flashback
Asuka shook herself mentally as the fast forward replay completed in her head. It was at this point that she noticed the music in the background was an old, melancholy song about lost love that she recognized from some old movie that Kensuke had made everyone watch – Top Something or Other – that had a bunch of testosterone fueled fighter pilots and planes. (A/N – "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin"" by the Righteous Brothers). It was, apparently, on some sort of loop because it started up again.

You never close your eyes any more
When I kiss your lips
And there's no tenderness like before
In your fingertips
You're trying hard not to show it baby
But baby, baby I know it
You've lost that loving feeling

Oh, that loving feeling
You've lost that loving feeling
Now it's gone, gone, gone
Whoa-oh

"Rei, of course you'll be loved. You already are," soothed Asuka. "I mean Shinji, Misato, and I love you. Shinji dotes on you taking valuable time and attention away from his girlfriend," joked Asuka as she rubbed Rei's back. "Misato loves you because you help make this a family. I love you because you're like the sister I never had, even though you do annoy me with your lapses into Wonder-mode. You're an important and loved part of this family. So, what brought this on?"

Now there's no tenderness
In your eyes when I reach for you
And girl you're starting to criticize
little things I do
It makes me just feel like crying baby
'Cause baby, something beautiful's dying

With a heavy sigh, Rei sat up only to lean on Asuka's shoulder seeking the comfort of an older sister. "It's not the family love. I know my family loves me and goes out of their way for me," she responded raising her head to give Asuka a little smile. A little startled in seeing the smile, Asuka realized at that point why Shinji cherished his sister's smiles.

Wrapping an arm around Rei's shoulders, Asuka prompted, "So, if it's not family, it must be boys, right?"

Rei all of a sudden turned shy and dropped her eyes and gave a small nod into Asuka's shoulder.

You've lost that loving feeling
Oh that loving feeling
Bring back that loving feeling
Now it's gone gone gone
And I can't go on
No-oh-oh

"Are you wondering if you'll find a nice boy?" Asuka gently prompted.

Without looking up, Rei just gave another small nod. Asuka smiled inwardly at the Rei's "predicament" but also began to wonder why Misato wasn't there as their only real mother figure. As quickly as that thought arrived, it was rebutted by the knowledge that Misato wasn't really the best source of advice on boys.

Baby baby I get down on my knees for you
If you would only love me like you used to do
We had a love
A love a love you don't find every day
So don't...don't...don't let it slip away

"I happen to know that you'll find one just like I found one. You can't predict when it will happen, but you can know that it will, and you have to have faith in that . . . Mein Gott! That's almost as cliché as the stuff your brother says!" exclaimed Asuka to Rei's amusement.

Bring back that loving feeling
Oh, that loving feeling
Bring back that loving feeling
Now it's gone...gone...gone...
And I can't go on...
No-oh-oh...

"Hah. Good. I finally got you to laugh a little," declared Asuka. "So, you now have to shut off this depressing music, get cleaned up and dressed, eat the brunch your brother left warming for you in the oven, and then we can get Hikari and go shopping!"

With a little sniffle, Rei nodded. As simplistic a solution as it seemed, she had merely needed to know that another girl understood her problem. Rei hadn't realized that her feelings were normal and that there were probably hundreds of girls having similar thoughts all around the city.

Arcade – That Same Morning
Toji, Shinji, and Kensuke had escaped the clutches of their respective girlfriends long enough to fully regress back to their primal Stooge states. Having found no takers to pound on in any of the games they basically had been doing a number on each other with the requisite trash talking and shouts of glee or despair as wins and losses piled up. However, the fun had started to pale as only so much electronic carnage can be had against familiar opponents.

The boys decided that it was time for food and after weighing their options, they just settled on the food court of the big department store down the block. Having gotten food samples from nearly every stall, the boys sat down to stuff their faces.

"Shinji, what are you getting Asuka for her birthday?" mumbled Toji around a mouthful of food.

The food Shinji had on its way to his mouth halted about halfway on its journey and slowly returned to its place in his bowl as Shinji looked up at his friend. A sideways glance at Kensuke noted that the boy was paying extraordinarily close attention to the conversation.

"Where did that come from?" sputtered a surprised Shinji. This was definitely not on the radar screen of possible conversations from his friends.

"Well, Hikari mentioned to me that I have to go shopping with her to get Asuka's gift, and she wanted me to find out what you were getting Asuka so we wouldn't duplicate gifts."

"You really think that Hikari and I would get Asuka the same thing?"

"um . . . well, no."

"So, why do you want to know what I'm getting Asuka?"

"Shinji, do you realize that you've had this whole conversation about a birthday gift for your girlfriend without blushing?" interrupted Kensuke.

"Yeah, and stop trying to change the subject," replied Shinji without taking his eyes off of Toji.

"Okay, you caught me," replied Toji. "We were just fishing for gift ideas for Yuki and Hikari. We really don't have any good sources, and we sure aren't going to listen to the other guys at school."

"Yeah, the last round of gifts went over like lead balloons," added Kensuke.

"A bunch of guys bought stuff like sports tickets. Which at first seemed like a good idea, but their girlfriends were pretty unhappy. Something about it not being more for the boy than the girl. Go figure. I thought some of them liked sports," contributed Toji.

Shinji just leaned back in his chair. He was a little stunned that he was now the fountain of knowledge for the right thing to get your girlfriend. As best as he could remember, he hadn't gotten Asuka any sort of gift yet and he didn't think he had a reputation as some sort of emo-guy. Depressed, anti-social, yes. Emo-guy, no.

"So, why come to me?" Shinji blurted out.

Kensuke and Toji shared a glance that seemed to be a short battle of wills to see who had to answer. Kensuke having lost, spoke up, "So, you know about your current social status, right?"

"My what?"

Kensuke let out a heavy sigh after realizing how out of touch his friend was. "Jeez, Shinji, do you live in a bubble? Your social status is sky high right now. You're like the most popular boy in school – you're the front man for the most popular band in school, you're a former EVA pilot, all the girls think you're cute, and you tamed the Red Devil."

Shinji was about to tell his friends that they were insane or just deranged for believing that kind of gossip until he noticed that they were serious about that last statement. This latest revelation was a bigger shock than Toji and Kensuke coming to him for gift advice. It was surreal and almost more than he could take. Shinji just sat there alternately staring at Kensuke and Toji while trying not to hyperventilate. For their parts, Kensuke and Toji were realizing just how big a bomb they had just dropped on their friend and were watching him with growing concern when Shinji finally had gathered enough wits about him to say something.

"I guess I really don't pay much attention to what everyone else is thinking about me but that seems to explain what's been happening." Not really prepared to continue following that rabbit down the hole, Shinji shifted back to their original train of thought.

"But, you asked what I'm getting Asuka. I'm taking that picture of us at our first concert and putting it in a special frame."

Kensuke and Toji looked at Shinji just stunned – that kind of gift just seemed completely out of the ordinary for a boy to give a girl – and they were having a hard time fitting that statement into their reality picture of Shinji. In fact, they were starting to wonder if their friend had gone all sensitive on them.

"Where'd you get the idea for the picture frame? Did Misato-san give you the idea? What's on this frame?" demanded an exasperated Toji who was feeling the pressure because anything Shinji gave Asuka would immediately be reported to Hikari for comparison to Toji.

"Uhh, it was actually a suggestion from Maya," Shinji replied absently while he was still thinking about the popularity statement from Kensuke.

"Maya?!? You've got another girl on the side?" interjected a flabbergasted Kensuke.

"Huh? That's not it at all. You're always jumping to conclusions! No wonder Asuka calls you a hentai. Toji has met her - Lieutenant Ibuki. She's one of the research leads. She and I were reviewing the last round of research data and she saw that I was really distracted. To make a long story short, I ended up asking her advice on what I should get Asuka and she suggested a picture of some sort. She said gifts are supposed to be reminders of your most pleasant memories, not memories themselves," explained Shinji blushing at what Kensuke had implied.

"So, to answer your next question, I don't know what you should get them. If you follow Lieutenant Ibuki's advice, it should be something that reminds them of a pleasant memory or significant memory about you," continued Shinji a little more calm, blush fading from his face.

The boys were quiet for a little while as Shinji turned back to his food and Kensuke and Toji thought hard about what to get for their significant others. Shinji had slid back from the table and was watching his friends struggle with their gift buying decisions when he turned his head just in time to see Asuka as she sat down in his lap and wrapped her arms around him in big hug. Startled at the public display of affection, giggles from Rei and Hikari who were in tow, and some of the disapproving looks of some of the adults, Shinji did the only thing his brain could come up with hug her back and give her a kiss.

Pleased that she could still get Shinji to blush and with his response, Asuka stayed in his lap and softened her next comments from her originally planned, more scathing remarks, "So, are the Stooges now all bonded?"

"Yup. Laid waste to vast electronic armies. Rescued many a virtual maiden and won the accolades of many fictional throngs," responded Shinji.

Asuka merely put her head on his shoulder and said to him, "MY invincible Shinji," in a mock, breathless whisper of the femme fatale. After a moment's pause, they both started to laugh while their friends merely shook their heads at the display.

"Asuka, what brings you guys to this place? You hardly ever shop here," queried Shinji.

Raising her head, "We knew you guys would be here since you ALWAYS eat here. It's like some Stooge ritual or something. We want you to take us to the movies."

Looking around and seeing head nods, Toji actually was the first to respond. "Which movie?" since there really wasn't much choice in arguing with the girls since it appeared that the matter seemed already decided.

"It's all arranged, so you just come with us," replied Hikari as she pulled on Toji's hand to get him to get up which in turn provided the opening for Rei to inject, "And, we already invited Yuki-chan on behalf of Kensuke who of course said yes because she can't turn down an invitation from more senior girls."

The boys merely sat there in agreement. They knew that when the girls had put this much planning and effort into something, they were not to be denied.

Author's Parting Shots: So, I had promised a while ago that I'd get around to more info on Rei's arrival. I figured that after 12 chapters, I was more than a little late. Also, one of the things I always thought would be intriguing is how Rei would deal with life's emotional pressures without the singularity of purpose provided by Gendo's plans, so you get a bit of that experiment in this chapter.