Chapter 16

"Rei, I'm going to ask you a question," Ritsuko said. "I want you to know that no matter your answer, I will respect it. But if the Commander orders me to, I must tell her about this. All of it."

The First Child nodded. "I understand."

The two had quietly spoken to each other after Misato left. Ritsuko expressed her worries about Rei's sudden emotional swings, but she was not as surprised as Rei herself had been. It had reached the point where Rei was starting to become afraid of her own emotions. Already she had shouted at someone and almost broke down crying.

However, this time when they spoke with each other, Rei had finally noticed the concern that had been missing from the scientist during her examinations the previous year. That was enough for Rei to answer frankly.

Ritsuko took a deep breath. "Do you want to go back on the drug regimen? You don't need the anti-rejection medication anymore, but the rest will keep you from these sudden outbursts you've been having."

As the words left her mouth, Ritsuko silently prayed that Rei would pick the right choice. That Rei would choose not to take the drugs again, and be able to live the life that was stolen from her before she was even born. She would simply have to learn how to control her emotions.

When Rei's eyes widened in shock after a moment of thought, Ritsuko realised something. Rei had utterly no idea what the rest of the drugs she had been given were made to do. A horrible feeling washed over her as she stared at the girl.

"What are you saying, Doctor Akagi?" There was no mistaking the accusatory tone in Rei's voice. "Was countering the rejection of my angelic half not the whole purpose of the regimen?"

Ritsuko found she could no longer hold her gaze with those angry red eyes. Rei was giving her the same look she had given the girl during their examinations. An expression of barely concealed disdain. She chose instead to look down at her hands on the table in front of her.

"It was Ikari's orders. He wanted you bent to his will by any means necessary, with no possibility of outside interference." Ritsuko let out a harsh laugh. "Look at how well that turned out..."

Rei shook her head. "I know why. I want to know what you did." Her voice was starting to gain an edge.

"Rei... I- I'm sorry..."

"What did you do to me?"

"I-"

The chair almost fell over as Rei quickly got to her feet. "What did you do?!" she yelled.

The woman slapped the table as she too stood up. "Ayanami, sit down!" Ritsuko ordered.

Despite her anger, Rei found herself automatically moving to comply. Perhaps it was her conditioning to obey orders, or maybe it was the hint of moisture in the scientist's eyes.

"I drugged you, I admit that," Ritsuko said after a moment of staring at Rei, her hands planted on either edge of the table. "I gave you such a horrendous combination of emotional and hormonal suppressants together with the anti-rejection drugs that I'm still surprised you didn't die. Those drugs were never meant to be anywhere near each other. If any real medical professional found out what I had done to you, I would likely be in prison for the rest of my life! Your mind had been deadened and your body clock halted almost since you were 'born'." Ritsuko snorted the last word.

She slumped back into her chair with her face cupped in her hands, her energy gone. "I know what I did was terrible, but it had to be done, for him. For Ikari. Every time you came to me, I was reminded of what I was doing just because he ordered me to. I told myself for years that you understood. That you didn't care what happened to your mind and body because of your purpose. And I followed Ikari's orders in the hope that he would look at me the way he looked at... you."

"How much of my regimen was suppressants?"

Ritsuko thought for a moment. "The medication to counter your angelic DNA only made up about a quarter of the drugs."

'Three quarters,' Rei thought, recalling the table where she once stored the medication. 'It is little wonder then why Asuka called me a doll.' She sat still, absorbing the information, then frowned as something Ritsuko said sunk in.

"You loved him." It was not a question, but a statement. "That is why you hated me. Because Ikari was using me to be with his wife again." Rei found her anger gradually slipping away as she gazed at the mostly-brunette head in front of her, but her hands remained tightly clenched in her lap.

With her head still in her hands, Ritsuko could only nod awkwardly. "I wanted him to notice me. To put aside the notion of reuniting with Yui. Maybe then he wouldn't have needed to go through with his plan."

"I see."

Rei slowly stood up. She silently walked past Ritsuko towards the exit, but halted near the door as the woman called her name.

"Rei, I'm going to transfer what I can of your medical records to one of the real doctors here," Ritsuko said, not turning around. "Now that you're human, you don't need me anymore. You wouldn't trust me anyway."

After waiting a moment to see if she had anything more to say, Rei turned and stalked away, leaving the depressed woman alone in the cafeteria.


Asuka took the news of Rei's new living arrangements surprisingly well, in Misato's opinion. She had only complained about it for around ten minutes before sighing heavily and saying, "Well she's not staying in my room."

"I wasn't going to suggest that. Now that Shinji sleeps with you," Misato had pretended not to notice Asuka's red-faced reaction, but still smirked inwardly at her own 'slip', "his old room should suffice."

The doctor called to examine Shinji left the room after examining the boy, missing the murderous look directed at his back by Asuka.

"'Permanent vegetative state' my ass!" she muttered from her seat next to Shinji's bed. "It's mental trauma, not a brain injury. Did that moron win his medical license or buy it online?"

Misato sighed."Let it go, Asuka. You know we need to keep his condition as quiet as possible."

"It's not permanent. He will recover."

"Of course he will," was the reassuring reply from Misato. "With your help, it'll happen sooner than we think."

Misato rearranged the pillows she had 'borrowed' from Rei's bed as she returned to where she had been sitting on Shinji's bed, putting an arm around and drawing him closer. The previous year, Asuka would have called the older woman a pervert for such an act. Now she knew that Misato's affection for the boy was maternal, not deviant.

Asuka felt a slight pang of jealousy again, but this one was different from what she experienced with Rei earlier. If it wasn't for Shinji's vacant stare -and the difference in hair colour between the two- the scene would have looked for all the world like a child napping next to their mother.

"Oh, speaking of which," Misato said, interrupting Asuka's thoughts just as her mind began to drift ten years into the past. She cast a reluctant look at Shinji then stood up from where she had just made herself comfortable and walked around to Asuka's side of the bed. "Pilot Soryu."

"What?"

"Pilot Soryu," Misato repeated, folding her arms and staring almost disapprovingly at Asuka.

It took a moment to sink in, but Asuka eventually noticed that Misato had shifted into her military persona. In the woman's eyes was the same hard look she had during an Angel attack. She was no longer just 'Misato', now she was Commander Katsuragi. Asuka got to her feet and smartly saluted. "Yes, Commander?"

Misato rewarded Asuka with a small smile, before turning serious again. "Starting today, you are now Pilot Ikari's caretaker. When you are not in your Eva, he is your primary concern. When you are in your Eva, I will be looking after him."

Asuka held her position of attention, but blinked at Misato a few times. "You... want me to keep an eye on Shinji... which I've been doing anyway."

"Pilot Soryu, what you have been doing on your own time is not the subject here. Your official orders are now to keep close personal watch on Pilot Ikari until such time as he is recovered and fully fit for duty. Pilot Ikari is a vital military asset, and getting him back in functional shape for missions against Angel and rogue MP Eva attacks like you faced is a top priority. It is your mission now to make sure he gets better. So snap to it, Pilot!"

"Aye, Commander!" Asuka replied, before doubt crossed her face. "Wait, what about school? Hikari called me earlier and said it starts next week."

Asuka couldn't work out how, but Misato somehow managed to look as if she had tripped while standing still. "Erm..." she began, her face starting to fall back into her normal expression. She finally let out a sigh. "Okay, Asuka. I want you to think about how you answer this question. Have you learned anything, anything at all in school since coming to Tokyo-3?"

Asuka's eyes drifted down to the floor as she thought. With a college degree under her belt, there had been almost nothing to hold her attention in school. However, there was one thing that she had to grudgingly admit. "Kanji. That's the only subject I didn't already know. Hikari's been helping me out whenever she can, but I'm still a little weak."

Misato ran a hand through her hair, all traces of 'Commander Katsuragi' vanishing. "I thought as much," she said. "In that case, I'll arrange things so the school won't harass you. Since Hikari lives so close to us now, we can see if she would be willing to tutor you more often."

"Thanks... I think." Asuka finally dropped her salute, then scrunched up her face in confusion. "So what was all that really about? Getting all serious and ordering me to take care of him?"

"Just making it official, Asuka. You don't need to go to school now, although I still expect you to pay attention to Hikari, and you can now say that you've been ordered to look after Shinji."

"Okay... but why would I need to be able to say that?"

Misato grinned slyly and ignored the question. Instead, she said, "When Rei gets back, we'll head home."

"Don't change the subject! Why would I need to?!"

"Oh yes! We should take her shopping next weekend. She's going to need some new things since her home was destroyed. That should be fun! I'll even look after Shinji while you're in the shops."

"Misato!"


When Rei arrived a few minutes later, nursing bruised knuckles, it was to the sight of Misato lounging on Shinji's bed while Asuka fumed in the corner. Misato turned her head towards the door as Rei entered and flashed a bright smile at her.

"Hi Rei!" she said. "We'll be going home soon. Everything okay with you and Rits?" It was then that she noticed what Rei was doing with her hands.

Asuka noticed this too, and got to her feet. "She do something to make you hit her?" She didn't sound very surprised.

"No," Rei quietly answered with a shake of her head. "I... punched a wall."

"You what?!" was Misato's shocked reply.

While Asuka was merely furious after Rei told them what she had learned about her medication, Misato looked as if she wanted to run back to the cafeteria and hit Ritsuko.

Asuka was about to say something, but Rei cut her off. "I do not wish to speak of it right now. Please, may we go home now?"

Misato's face softened up, and she nodded. After ordering the two girls out of the room, she got Shinji ready and joined them in the hallway. Rei noticed instantly that something was different about her brother, and spoke up.

"No surprise you figured it out quicker than Misato, Wondergirl," Asuka remarked, as her hand pushed Misato's out of the way so that she could guide the boy. Misato moved away and stuck her tongue out at Asuka. It was then that she noticed something different about Shinji.

"Is it just me, or is he moving a little differently too?" Misato asked with a raised eyebrow as they got to the elevator.

Rei was unable to comment, but Asuka stopped and stared at Shinji. She too saw the change. "Yeah, he's actually... well... walking normally?" She shrugged. "Don't really know how to explain it. Before, he'd follow someone and just stand absolutely still when they stopped. And he had his head down."

Now, Shinji was shifting his weight slightly from one foot to the other and while he was not looking straight down at his feet anymore, his head was moving slightly, as if his eyes were tracking something.

"Is he perhaps sleepwalking?" queried Rei. The other two were unable to answer. The elevator arrived, and they stepped on. Rei looked down at where Shinji and Asuka's hands met as the elevator ascended. Asuka saw her do this, and squeezed the boy's hand slightly.

Twenty minutes later, Misato's car left NERV headquarters. Over the last few months, she had toned down her reckless driving whenever Shinji was in the car at the angry request of Asuka, after a sudden turn smacked his head into the passenger window. As Asuka had heatedly explained to Misato when they had stopped after the incident, Shinji had no resistance to outside forces acting on his body, such as when the bullies in the mall had pushed him over.

Now Misato only drove like her old self when she was alone in the car. The Section Two detail assigned to Misato and the pilots had let out a sigh of relief when they learned that their targets would be much easier to protect when their boss didn't always drive like she was being pursued. If it hadn't been for the prohibitive cost of fuelling a gunship, several would have been assigned to the security detail, as they were the only vehicle capable of safely matching the Renault Alpine's speed.

When the group finally arrived at the Katsuragi residence, they found Hikari and Toji inside. As the most responsible of Asuka and Shinji's teenage friends, Misato had made a copy of her keycard for Hikari so that she could feed Pen-Pen in the event that NERV business prevented either her or Asuka being home to take care of the penguin.

The unofficial couple were in the lounge room, with several school books around them. Despite how close they were sitting to each other, their attention was most definitely on the books, judging by Toji's exasperated groan as he stared at his notebook.

Hikari noticed the group walk in, and elbowed Toji in the ribs before standing up. "Good afternoon, Miss Katsuragi!" she said. "I hope you don't mind us being here. With school starting again soon, I wanted to get Toji caught up with some of his old homework."

"Yeah, and Sakura's been driving me and my dad up the wall the last couple days," Toji added wearily. "She's runnin' around like mad getting ready today, when school doesn't start 'til next week. We came here to study in peace."

"That's fine, kids. If we're out, feel free to come here if you ever need some privacy!" Misato replied with a wink. Toji sputtered and Hikari's face turned bright red, but then the sight of Rei slightly behind the woman made both of them open their eyes wide in shock.

"Rei! You've returned!" Hikari immediately ran over and hugged the startled First Child. Toji remained where he was and simply smiled at Rei over Hikari's shoulder. When the pig-tailed girl finally let go, she rapidly began asking Rei questions, before Asuka had to take her by the arm and lead her back to the couch, promising to explain.

"Come along, Rei. Let's get some ice for that hand," said Misato, before heading back into the kitchen and opening the freezer to retrieve an ice pack.

"Are those two..." Rei began as she placed the pack over her sore knuckles.

Misato nodded as she sat down at the kitchen table. "Yep, they've fallen for each other. I noticed it as soon as they showed up at my door. It's so cute how they think nobody else knows!"

Rei turned slightly in her seat and looked at Asuka, who was chatting with Hikari on the couch, with Shinji sitting next to her. "Hmm..."

"Hey, Miss Katsuragi, do you have a moment?" Toji nervously asked as he walked in, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Sure, what's on your mind?" Misato replied, before leaning over in her seat and turning the kettle on.

"Um... I need to ask a favour of you."

The woman smirked. "Did we come home too early? Need us to leave for a couple hours?"

Misato found Toji almost as much fun to tease as Asuka. But where Asuka would get red-faced and angry while hurling denials, Toji simply blushed and fell silent.

"I will leave you two alone," Rei said before heading into the lounge room, where she was immediately pulled into the conversation between the school friends in order to reveal what she could of her return.

Toji took the seat Rei had just vacated. "No, nothin' like that. It's about my sister, actually. She... wants to spend some time with you."

All thoughts of further embarrassing the boy fled Misato's mind. "Me? Why would she want to hang around with me?"

"I dunno. Yesterday she was almost demandin' that I ask you."

Misato scratched her head. Whenever Sakura had visited, she would usually sit quietly next to Shinji, as if lending support through her proximity.

The kettle whistled, and she got up to make a cup of coffee. Toji waved off her offer of a drink. The moment of quiet as she poured the boiling water into her cup gave Misato time to think, and the realisation quickly struck.

"I know why now," she said as she sat back down. "Back when she first visited, Sakura got sad when she couldn't wake Shinji. I ended up hugging her, and she... ah... compared me rather favourably to her mother."

Toji visibly flinched at the mention of his late mother. "Well, Sakura's the youngest in the family, so she was hit the hardest by our mum's death. It took a while for us to be able to coax her out of her room. She would stay in there all day, and only come out for meals. It must have been one hell of a hug for her to bring our mum up like that."

Misato took a long sip of her coffee. She had been at ground zero for Second Impact, where her father died saving her life, and the incident had rendered her mute for several years. She could sympathise with how the boy's sister felt. "Alright. I'm taking Asuka and Rei to the mall on the weekend, and Shinji's obviously coming with us. We should be able to squeeze your sister into my car as well."

"Really? Thanks, Miss Katsuragi!" Toji excitedly said, letting out a sigh of relief. "Uh, if you want, I could see if my dad would lend you his car for the trip. The five of you might be a bit squished in that sports car of yours." He cast a surreptitious glance towards the lounge room and lowered his voice. "Besides, if you're taking Asuka and Sakura shopping, you're gonna need plenty of space."

"Oh?" Misato raised an eyebrow. "Is your sister turning into a little shopaholic already?"

"Yeah," Toji replied with a chuckle. "Dad and I just can't say no to her, and I don't fancy your chances either."

Misato stifled a giggle. "Yes, I've seen her order you around. Alright, tell your father that I'll pay for the gas if he lets me borrow his car."

"Are you kidding? He'd probably fill it up on Friday night just so you wouldn't have to. You are kind of his boss after all."

"Ooh, right. I am too..." It had slipped Misato's mind that both Toji's and Kensuke's fathers were workers at NERV. And since she was the big boss now...

"Well thanks for doing this, Miss Katsuragi," Toji said as he stood up. "She's gonna be thrilled when she finds out."

A shrill "What?!" from the next room cut off any further conversation, but Misato was unsurprised and merely waved Toji off to join the other teenagers.


With some reassurance from Asuka, Rei agreed to reveal more than she originally intended about her past to the trustworthy class representative. The subject of her drug regimen had arisen, and when Rei clenched both her eyes and fists shut, she heard Hikari's expected surprise. What she was not expecting was for Hikari to leap from the couch and wrap her arms around Rei where she knelt on the floor.

"W-why are you hugging me again?" a confused Rei asked.

Hikari pulled back slightly to look at the girl's face. "I'm comforting you, Rei. Giving you my support. If you ever need help, please come to one of us. Don't try and keep things bottled up inside. That only makes it worse when they break out."

"I... I see," Rei stammered.

"Hey Wondergirl," Asuka interjected. "You're supposed to hug someone back if they're hugging you."

Rei's hands hesitantly lifted up from her sides, and placed themselves around Hikari's back. Despite the awkwardness, Asuka grinned reassuringly at Rei, which the blue-haired girl took to mean that she had done it correctly.

Toji walked in just in time to see Rei reciprocate the hug, and Asuka shot him a warning glance. Toji decided it meant 'don't get any ideas', and raised his hands in a defensive gesture while shaking his head. "Hikari, we should probably get going," he called to the brunette.

Hikari jumped back from Rei, startled by Toji's intrusion, and turned to glare suspiciously at him. Whatever it was she had been expecting to see was absent, and she let the glare drop from her face. "Alright, you should be pretty well caught up. For now, anyway."

The two of them moved out into the kitchen, and Hikari bowed towards Misato. "Thank you for letting us stay here, Miss Katsuragi."

"Yeah, and thanks again for taking Sakura," Toji added.

"That's fine, kids," Misato airily replied. "And please, call me Misato. There's no need to be so formal."

Hikari and Toji said their goodbyes and left the apartment. Just as they rounded the corner into the small hallway leading to the front door, Misato saw Hikari make a grab for Toji's hand and smiled to herself. She turned and walked into the lounge room, where Rei had taken Hikari's place on the couch.

"How's your hand now, Rei?" asked Misato.

Rei looked down at the ice pack she had placed on the table. "Better, thank you. And I must thank you again for taking me into your home on such short notice."

"You know, First," Asuka leaned in close to Rei and whispered with a grin. "A hug is also a great way to show your thanks to someone like her."

The blue-haired girl's head shot up, and her eyes nervously darted towards Misato, who was glancing out of the balcony window and hadn't heard Asuka's comment. Looking back at the redhead who simply grinned wider and nodded, Rei gathered herself and stood up, coming around the couch to stand behind Misato.

"M-Misato?"

Misato turned around and saw the girl. "What's up? Want some fresh ice?" she asked, mistaking Rei's fidgeting hands for them still being sore.

"No, n-nothing of the sort. It's..." Rei glanced back at the couch, where an exasperated Asuka waved her on. She took a deep breath and turned to face Misato again, looking her in the eye. "I would like to express my gratitude for your willingness to accept me into your home."

"Rei, you already-" Misato managed to get out, before Rei moved quickly forward and put her arms around the woman's torso. "...Oh," she finished lamely, before a warm smile lit up her face as she returned the hug. "You're very welcome, Rei. Remember now, that my home is your home. If there's ever anything you need, let me know."

Rei could feel the tears attempting to form in her eyes, but this time for a different reason. It was the first time in her life that she felt... accepted. As if someone cared about who she was, instead of what she had been created for. They broke the hug after about a minute, to the hidden regret of both parties.

While Misato hunted for the television remote, Rei sat back on the couch and looked expectantly at Asuka.

"...What?" The redhead raised an eyebrow at the unexpected attention.

"I would like to thank you as well, Asuka."

Rei moved towards her, but Asuka put a restraining hand on the blue-haired girl's shoulder. "I appreciate it Wondergirl, but I'm not the touchy feely type."

As one, Misato and Rei stared pointedly at the spot on the couch where Shinji and Asuka's hands sat. Asuka's face reddened, and she stammered, "H-hey, this doesn't count!" as she let go. "Misato, you've ordered me to make his well-being my priority!"

"Why would she do that?" Rei asked. "You had already made it your duty to look after him."

"Oh, I did it so that Asuka could explain away why she leads him by the hand everywhere," Misato cheerily answered. "Since she still doesn't want to admit- Oops!" she added, before exaggeratedly covering her mouth at her 'slip'.

"Admit what?" Asuka asked in confusion. After a moment, her face suddenly turned possibly the brightest shade of red Misato had ever seen on the girl.

"MISATO!"


That night, the members of the Katsuragi residence decided to order take-out. At Rei's request, a vegetarian dish was added to the order for her, and when a curious Asuka wondered why, she simply answered, "Meat... the taste of blood... it disgusts me."

When shown the room she would be sleeping in, Rei said, "This is more than adequate for my needs, thank you."

'Like brother, like sister,' Asuka darkly thought, remembering Shinji's lack of protest about the converted closet.

As if sensing her disapproval, Rei added, "I will mainly be sleeping and keeping my clothes here. I do not require a large space."

Despite claims that the bedclothes were freshly washed, Rei still fell asleep with the lingering scent of her brother in her nostrils.

It was the most relaxed night of sleep she could ever recall having.

The week passed by in a flash. When Saturday morning arrived, at ten o'clock sharp there was a knock at the door of the Katsuragi residence. As Rei was already in the kitchen preparing a cup of tea, she was the one that opened the door to see a beaming young Sakura standing in front of her brother.

"Good morning, you must be Rei!" Sakura was almost bouncing up and down in excitement.

Rei gave a small smile in return and said, "It is good to finally meet you, Sakura Suzuhara."

"Oh yeah, you two ain't actually met face to face yet," Toji noted.

Rei invited them both in but Toji politely declined, saying that he was merely dropping Sakura off, before waving goodbye to the two girls and heading back downstairs.

"Big bro's told me all about you!" Sakura said as they walked into the kitchen.

Rei stiffened. "Did he?" she quietly asked.

"Yeah, you piloted an Eva and protected us just like Asuka and Shinji! Big bro also said you didn't have any friends because you're really shy."

"O-oh, I see." Rei let out a mental sigh of relief. She had been worried for a moment that Toji had actually told his sister everything. She moved to the kitchen counter and turned the kettle on again, wordlessly taking out another cup.

"If you want, I'll be your friend, Rei!"

The smile on Rei's face as she turned around was much bigger this time. "Thank you, Sakura. I would appreciate that."


The three pilots sat in the back of the dark grey sports utility vehicle that belonged to Toji's father, with Shinji in the middle, while Sakura rode up front. One look at Asuka's eyes reflected in the rear view mirror was enough to convince Misato not to attempt anything 'fun' with somebody else's car.

"If there's another attack today, I'm gonna throw that bastard into the sun." Asuka's tone indicated she would not tolerate any interruption to the day's proceedings, and Misato hummed in agreement. She had been able to catch up on paperwork to the point where she had been able to take a day off and leave Ritsuko in charge.

Something she would have to repay her friend for, one day.

When they reached the mall, Sakura's feet hit the ground almost before the car stopped moving and Asuka wasn't far behind. Both had been looking forward to this day for separate reasons.

Asuka was there to browse and buy, to have a taste of normalcy. The fact that she was also shopping for Rei only made it more interesting, in the redhead's opinion. Having to buy nearly an entire wardrobe at once made Asuka glad that Toji's father had offered his car.

Sakura, on the other hand, had only two goals in mind for the day. Three, if spending time with Misato counted. Since her goals would be quickly attained, the group decided to let Misato and Sakura do their shopping first, while Asuka and Rei waited in the food court with Shinji.

The young girl seemed to know exactly where to go for her first stop, and was in and out in a flash with her purchase, a rather nice sports jacket for Toji. Her second stop, however, took a bit longer. Misato was almost dragged by the hand into what felt like a hundred shops, each greeter smiling warmly at the excited girl and offering an apologetic grin to the poor woman when they eventually left empty-handed.

Sakura finally found what she was looking for in the back of the final store. When Misato saw what it was, she was almost overcome by emotion at the thoughtfulness of the young girl. The second she spotted it, Sakura turned around and put a finger to her lips. "Keep this a secret, please!" she loudly whispered despite the store being nearly empty, as if the recipient was close by.

The bemused clerk rang up the purchase, and Sakura finally relaxed her pace as she and Misato returned to the food court, where the girl immediately jumped into the large curved seat that made up half of their booth.

"Sooo... what did you get, Sakura?" Asuka inquired as they sat down.

Sakura shook her head in refusal. "I'm not telling yet!"

The three older females smiled at the younger one's defensiveness, and then went about ordering lunch. Strangely, Shinji seemed to be refusing to eat, simply staring down at the table. A quick look into his eyes reassured Asuka that he had not regressed into his previous state, but offered no explanation for his inaction.

"Maybe he's just not hungry," suggested Sakura. With no way of knowing, Asuka had to concede that the girl was probably right.

Rei was the only one who did not get fish and chips, instead opting for a simple salad once more.

Asuka sighed. "We really need to do something about you, Rei. Even if you're a vegetarian, there's more to food than just... well, vegetables."

"What are you suggesting?" Rei asked inquisitively.

"Rice, pasta, even tofu if you want to try a meat substitute," Misato promptly answered for Asuka. "Ritsuko and I were on a vegetarian diet for a while in college. Couldn't stand the taste of tofu, myself. Probably why I caved before she did."

"We should do some grocery shopping before we head home," suggested Asuka. "Not only to get some things for Wondergirl, but I'm sick of instant meals and take-out, and Hikari shouldn't be coming over so often just to cook us dinner."

The class representative usually stopped by the Katsuragi residence three or four times a week, out of concern for their eating habits. Asuka refused to allow Misato to prepare meals, but she herself barely knew how to prepare anything more basic than eggs and ready-made soup.

Asuka wiped her mouth clean with a napkin. "Well, we can sort that out after Wondergirl and I have our fun. We're off now! Come on, First." With that, the two female pilots got up and left.

"Will they be okay?" Sakura asked, noticing Rei's reluctance to leave.

Misato nodded. "They'll be fine. Asuka's been looking forward to this for a while. It's a chance for her to just be a normal girl, instead of a saviour of humanity. Rei needs a bit more time to... get used to Asuka I guess."

Sakura thought about this for a moment, before returning to her chips.

While they waited, Misato took a pen out of her purse, and she and Sakura entertained themselves with the children's puzzles written on the placemat inserts. After completing a couple of mazes, Sakura shifted to Misato's lap, and the woman softly smiled and wrapped an arm around Sakura to keep her steady. Together, they attacked the mighty find-a-word puzzle.

"It warms my heart to see such a loving family out and about," a female voice said.

Misato looked up, into the wrinkled face of a smiling old woman with a cane in one hand and a tray in the other.

"Would you mind terribly if I sat down here?" the woman asked. "I'm afraid there's no free tables at the moment."

A quick look around at the food court brought surprise to Misato's face. She had been so wrapped up in enjoying the time spent with Sakura that she hadn't even noticed the place filling up as the lunch hour approached. "Of course you can, madam," Misato replied.

The woman nodded her thanks. "Please, call me Yuuka." She sat down and leaned her cane against the table. "Ah, my old bones aren't what they used to be," she lamented as she began to eat.

As Sakura and Misato returned to the puzzle, Misato could spot Yuuka occasionally sneaking glances at their interactions in between bites of her lunch. After Sakura found a particularly long word, Yuuka spoke up. "Your daughter is quite smart."

Sakura smiled widely at the compliment, but Misato replied, "Um, she's not my daughter."

"Oh? Are you babysitting her then?"

Misato had to think for a moment, before settling on a simple reply. It wasn't worth the effort to explain the entire situation. "For today, I suppose that's accurate."

Yuuka nodded towards the until-now ignored person at their table. "He must be your son then."

'I wish,' Misato thought before shaking her head. "No, I'm his guardian. He... lost both his parents and now I look after him, along with two other children."

"Ah," Yuuka replied, then stared approvingly at Misato. "You are a wonderful person then, Miss...?"

"Misato Katsuragi."

"You are a wonderful person, Misato Katsuragi. It does my heart proud to see someone like you. Not many people would be willing to look after one orphan, let alone three."

Misato blushed and rubbed the back of her head as her face began to light up in embarrassment. "T-thank you," she stammered.

"Is there a young man in your life? Someone to help you take care of them?"

"There was someone, but..." Misato shook her head. "He died last year, before I could tell him how I felt." Sensing her sadness, Sakura twisted around and hugged Misato.

"I am truly sorry to hear that."

Misato smiled and waved off the apology. "I have the children now, and I love all three of them as if they were my own. My work keeps me too busy to pursue a romantic relationship anyway."

"Well, perhaps some day, when you least expect it, someone will come along and sweep you off your feet," Yuuka said with a smile. She slowly got to her feet. "Thank you for the table, and for the conversation, Miss Katsuragi. I hope to see you again, perhaps with the rest of your charges, but if not I wish you a long and happy life."

Misato and Sakura waved at the old woman as she wandered off. Sakura continued her word hunt, but Misato's thoughts were elsewhere. Her chat with the friendly senior citizen had stirred something within her. She looked down at the girl in her lap. Despite Sakura being someone else's child, something about their current situation felt right to the lonely woman. While she would not be able to marry the man she loved and have a baby, perhaps...

'...as if they were my own...' Her own words echoed inside her head.

She eventually asked Sakura to hop off her lap, The girl looked confused and slightly disappointed, but acquiesced. The Commander of NERV moved away from the table, and made a call. "Rits, it's Misato," she said. "I have a question for you: how difficult would it be for me to adopt the Children?"


"I can't believe you were planning on buying seven identical sets of clothing!"

"I do not know why you find that so appalling."

"Do you want to go back to looking exactly the same each day? A girl has to have some variety in her outfits."

"Are you still upset about my previous wardrobe?"

Asuka sighed and put a hand to her forehead. "Not as much as I was when you first told me. I mean seriously, nothing but school uniforms? At least then there was a decent reason why you didn't care. You have no excuse now."

Asuka had bought a couple each of blouses, skirts, and dresses, both red and green. Despite Rei's weak protests, she now owned several sets of light blue clothing, as well as a few white blouses and skirts. At Asuka's insistence, both girls now also owned two pairs of what the redhead had called 'comfy pants'.

"Some days," Asuka had explained, "you just don't feel like wearing a dress, like maybe it's too cold. That's where comfy pants come in. Something to wear while you're lounging around the house."

Rei glanced at the trolley that Asuka was now pushing. Having to buy not only normal clothing for both of them, but underclothes, toiletries, and several make-up items -that Rei was unsure she would ever use- made the trolley a necessity.

According to Asuka, the task of carrying the bags traditionally fell to whatever male companions were accompanying them, but the redhead made it clear that she was not going to make Shinji act like a mindless servant. She had almost done it once, and it had made her feel slightly ill. Rei had quietly expressed her approval at Asuka's treatment.

"I'm still surprised at something though," Asuka said. "All that money you have. Didn't you spend any of your pilot wages? Why not just buy your own house while you're at it?"

"Because I do not want to live on my own anymore," Rei answered, staring directly ahead. "Living alone, the mere thought of it... it scares me."

"...Oh," was all Asuka could offer as a response. "Well... now that you're living with Misato, you'll probably feel like you're at the complete opposite end of the spectrum."

Rei smiled slightly. "Yes, she does have a rather large presence. As if she could fill a room on her own." Asuka grinned fondly, which lasted until Rei continued speaking. "You, on the other hand, accomplish the same feat through sheer volume sometimes."

The look on the redhead's face could only be described as incredulous. "Did... did you just... sass me, First?"

"Y-yes? Did I do it wrong? I apologise!" Rei bowed deeply, almost bumping her head on the edge of the shopping cart in her haste.

"Nah, you're fine," Asuka reassured the girl with a chuckle. "It was a little weak, but since it's your first time I'll let it slide."

The smile returned to Rei's face, and they both made their way to the food court in companionable silence.

When they reached the table they had left a couple hours earlier, it was to the sight of Misato relaxing against the back wall of the booth with an arm around Sakura, sitting sideways on her lap and dozing lightly. Misato raised a finger to her lips to signal them to be quiet.

"How did it go?" she softly asked.

Asuka glanced first at Rei, then at Sakura before saying in a low tone, "Apart from the beginning where Rei thought it would be fine to have seven identical sets, pretty good."

"I bought something for you as well, Misato," Rei added as she stuck a hand into one of her shopping bags. She withdrew a couple of roughly rectangular boxes and set the larger one down in front of Misato. The slightly smaller box was placed closer to Sakura, who was starting to stir at the noise.

Seeing that the girl was waking up, Misato gently shifted her on her lap and reached towards the box. She opened it and grinned, withdrawing a pair of expensive-looking sunglasses.

"Asuka is to thank for the idea. She noted that you have not been wearing yours since Third Impact."

"Yeah, they were dropped somewhere in the halls of NERV, most likely," Misato answered as she put the sunglasses on. "Ooh, these are nice. Thanks Rei!"

"Did you get me a pair too, Rei?" Sakura asked as she opened the box in front of her. Inside was an identical pair of sunglasses, only smaller. At Rei's encouraging nod, she squealed in delight and put them on.

Misato lowered her shades, looking at Rei over the top. "I appreciate the gift, but why did you buy them? These must have cost quite a bit."

"I wanted to express my gratitude to you-" Rei stopped as Misato palmed her face. "Did I say something wrong?"

Around her hand, a smile was barely visible on Misato's face. "No, no. It's just..." She dropped her hand and sighed exasperatedly. "There's no need to repay me."

"But I wish to."

"Just give up, Misato, I couldn't talk her out of it either," Asuka warned. What she neglected to mention was that she hadn't tried very hard to dissuade Rei. "Let's just get the groceries and head home."


Even Asuka was surprised at how much they walked out of the grocery store with. They now had a second cart full of food due to Rei's distaste for meat and fish, and Misato had suggested buying a large amount of both pasta and rice since they could both be stored for a long time.

The redhead made a detour into a bookstore on their way out of the mall, returning with a couple of recipe books. "Pasta's easy to cook, and I'm sure I saw a rice cooker somewhere in the house," she explained, earning a quirked eyebrow from Misato for apparently knowing more than she did about the contents of her own house. "But on their own they're going to get boring fast. Since I'm not letting Katsuragi the Culinary Catastrophe anywhere near a stove, I may as well learn how to do it instead."

"Hey!"

"Besides," Asuka went on, ignoring Misato's indignation. "Cooking can't be that hard, considering Shinji was able to somehow not screw it up."

The boy in question was starting to look more and more listless as they left the mall. When they reached the parking lot, Shinji stumbled over the curb and would have fallen over if it hadn't been for Asuka's quick reaction

"Get him into the car, Asuka. Rei and I will handle the bags," Misato said. The jovial mood had disappeared from everyone, even Sakura, at Shinji's apparent deterioration. The concerned look on Asuka's face almost made Misato break the speed limit as she headed home, just to get the boy to a guaranteed safe place as quickly as possible.

When they reached the apartment, Misato ordered Asuka to go ahead with Shinji and lay him down on the couch. Knowing that the girl would refuse to come back down, Misato didn't press her to assist them, instead sending Sakura to ask her brother to help.

"Something's definitely wrong with him," Asuka said as soon as Misato stepped through the door. "I had to almost drag him out of the elevator and he nearly collapsed."

Misato swore under her breath, and marched through the apartment to the couch upon which Shinji lay. In the few seconds he had been out of someone's sight, he had curled in on himself. Misato gently pulled his head away from his knees and cursed again at what she saw. The last time she had seen Shinji look like this was...

When the JSSDF sergeant had a gun to the boy's head.

"Do we need to take him to the hospital?" Though she wasn't looking, Misato could still sense the anxiety emanating from Asuka, standing just behind her. She slowly shook her head.

"No, this isn't medical. I believe Shinji's remembering the past, but it's much more this time. Now he's... re-enacting it, so to speak."

Misato stood up, and suddenly grabbed Shinji by the arm and yanked him off the couch to Asuka's loud protests. Ignoring the redhead, she stood still for a moment, staring down at the boy by her feet. On the edge of her hearing, she could detect a faint mumbling from the boy. The only thing that was missing from the scene was a gun in her hand, and she would have felt as if she were back in NERV, attempting to drag Shinji to his Eva whilst avoiding an invading army hellbent on murdering everybody.

"Sorry, Asuka. I had to be sure," Misato apologised, kneeling down to pick the boy up and place him back on the couch. "But now I know exactly what he's recalling. The time just before Third Impact, when I found him."

"Oh. Scheiße."

"Just stay with him for now, while we bring the shopping up. Hopefully your presence will snap him out of it."

Without waiting for a reply, Misato turned and left the apartment.


After unpacking and saying goodbye to Toji and Sakura, Rei went to her room to start organising her new clothing while Misato returned to the lounge room. She began to sneak towards the couch, and what she saw as she got closer brought a smile to the woman's face.

Both teens were on the couch with Shinji's head on Asuka's lap while she softly stroked his hair. The boy had his eyes closed, looking as if he was indeed asleep. If it hadn't been for what happened with Shinji earlier, Misato would have found it almost adorable.

"He's looking better already," she whispered in Asuka's ear.

Asuka somehow managed to jump to her feet without disturbing Shinji. "Damnit, Misato! Don't do that!" she exclaimed as quietly as she could, her red face showing how mortified she was about being caught in such a position. The smirk on Misato's face only made her angrier.

"It'll be dinner time soon," Misato said, as if nothing happened. "Do you still plan on making something?"

"I was going to, but..." Asuka hesitantly replied, looking down at Shinji.

A soft voice from the doorway said, "I will watch over him," as Rei walked in.

Misato looked between the two. "Well sort it out amongst yourselves, I'm going to take a shower."

As soon as the bathroom door closed behind the woman, Rei turned to Asuka and said, "You will have to learn to trust other people with Shinji. You cannot watch over him every moment of every day."

"You think I don't know that, First?" Asuka hissed. "What am I going to do while we're doing simulations or tests? Misato's the Commander, she won't be able to watch him all the time either."

"Seeing as you are the one officially in charge of him, that is your decision to make." Rei moved to the couch and took Asuka's place with Shinji's head on her lap. "Please, for the moment at least, trust me with him," she said without taking her eyes off the boy.

"I'm fine with you keeping an eye on him, but what happens when he has a nightmare?"

Rei finally looked up. "Then I will call for you. You will only be in the next room." Her right hand began to stroke Shinji's hair. Asuka noticed this and grimaced.

"Fine," she said, and changed the subject. "What do you want for dinner?"

"Whatever you make, I shall eat, provided-"

"Yeah yeah, I know. No meat or fish. Since this is my first time, I'll just make the same for everybody."

Preparing dinner went surprisingly smoothly, in Asuka's opinion. She decided to start simple, with a vegetable stir fry with rice. The rice cooker she found under the sink required some dusting, due to Shinji using other methods and Misato not even knowing how to use it, but it still functioned.

The actual stir fry part was almost laughably simple to her, as all it required was chopping vegetables and putting them into a wok. Only the sauce proved a hindrance -and a minor one at that- to the budding chef because of the multiple different ingredients it required.

Pen-Pen stepped out of his fridge, to be rewarded with a salmon dinner. He patted the redhead on the leg with a flipper in thanks before heading into the lounge room, where he turned the television on to watch the news.

When Misato left the bathroom, she inhaled deeply and remarked, "That smells pretty good, Asuka."

The redhead turned around and waved a spoon at her. "Of course it does, I made it! Did you expect anything different?" A smirk from her guardian was the only response she got as the woman sat down at the table.

All three females enjoyed the simple but tasty meal. Shinji remained asleep, as none of them wished to disturb him even for a meal. When they finished, they retired to the lounge room to watch television with Pen-Pen.

A couple of hours later, Misato yawned and got up, heading to her room stating that she needed to get up early the next day to go into NERV. Rei stayed seated, and Asuka went into the kitchen to clean up, not noticing the blue-haired girl's head nodding back and forth as she attempted to fight off sleep.

Asuka was washing the wok when she heard heavy footsteps behind her. "Trouble sleeping, Misato?" she asked without turning around. The lack of response didn't bother her, until she heard the shattering of cups behind her as they hit the ground. She turned around just in time to see the table get flipped over.

"Wha- Shinji?!"

Shinji was standing in front of her, holding a chair over his head and mumbling something. She backed away as the chair hit the ground near her feet.

"Shinji, calm down!"

For a moment, it seemed as if her words had reached Shinji's dream-addled mind. He stood there for a long time, hunched over and breathing heavily. Asuka breathed a sigh of relief, and was about to call for Rei when Shinji surged forward with a wild look in his eyes.

And almost lifted her off the ground as he wrapped his hands around her neck. Her back slammed into the fridge and Asuka felt what was left of the breath in her lungs escape past her lips in a whoosh of air, a moment before Shinji's thumbs pressed into the centre of her throat and began to squeeze.

The expression on Shinji's face stunned the redhead into inaction more than the impact against the unyielding metal door against her back. She had seen those eyes only a week ago, through the cockpit camera of an Evangelion.

It was the look of a boy caught in the depths of madness.

With blackness creeping in on her vision, and with her blood pounding in her ears, Asuka tried to pry Shinji's hands away from her throat. The struggling girl may as well have tried to shift a mountain.

Realising her effort was useless, Asuka did the only thing she could think of. "Sh-Shinji," she croaked, as her hand shakily reached out towards the boys face.

Despite her ears being filled with the sound of her own rapidly pumping blood, the words that left Shinji's mouth came through clearly, freezing her hand in midair.

"...so everybody, just go and die."