I had meant to do this on a chapter per week basis and here we are nearly a chapter a day later since I started this. Given they are slightly short I may end up compacting them into fewer, longer, chapters at some point. I just dislike really long chapters because if I get interrupted, it is difficult to find my place again.

As always, please read and review, I love the feedback I am getting!

Warnings for this chapter: If any implications about Shinji's past have bothered you so far, the cause and source is identified. Also if Hare Krishnas freak you out ("like, man") one ISKCON member does make a brief appearence.

Chapter 6

The angel had attacked on Saturday, and Shinji had slept until Tuesday. On Wednesday morning Shinji Ikari woke up, made his bed and put on a t-shirt and sweat pants. He could do this, he thought, it was nothing he had not done before and there was only so much the task could throw at him. As he stepped out of his room and turned to confront the piles of trash covering much of the apartment, his confidence waned significantly

With people still returning after the evacuation order was rescinded, school was not scheduled to start again until Monday, so Shinji had 4 days to get the apartment cleaned up. He figured he would need all 4 of them. It wasn't that he was a freak about it or anything, having things clean just made getting around easier. It would also help the smell quite a bit. He had gotten an apron on and trash bags set up by the time Misato came out of her room, still wearing those cut-offs from last night. Shinji was ready for it this time and kept it together this time, much to his credit he thought.

"Good morning Misato-san!" Shinji said with a smile that Misato had no recollection of being associated with morning.

Misato yawned stretched her arms above her head. "Good morning Shinji, why are you up so early? You don't have school until Monday."

"I know, I just woke up and wanted to get started on cleaning."

"Come again?"

"I wanted to start cleaning up."

"Why?"

"Cause I know what lives in dirty kitchens."

"Like?"

"Misato… Would you like some breakfast?" Shinji said as he put down the garbage bags and headed to the kitchen. He left the apron on, a little food would not hurt it under whatever else he got in today.

"I don't know want to know, do I?"

Shinji was already getting the left over's from last night's dinner out. "Not if you want breakfast." Misato was actually running quite behind if she was to get to work on time, so Shinji packed her a lunch. The cleaning actually went surprisingly quick, and by midday he had the living room clear. It needed new tatami but that could wait until the rest of the apartment was finished. Shinji considered starting on Misato's room but quickly thought better of it, and the door across from his room gave him a bad feeling.

This how the next 3 days went for the most part. Shinji would get up early to start cleaning, share breakfast with Misato, and when she got home they would go shopping as necessary and he would make dinner. It had made a comfortable routine and on Monday morning Shinji was not looking forward to school.

School was… unpleasant. Cleaning and cooking he at least felt like he was getting something done, but school was like running into a wall over and over again. He was good at math he actually used, but other than that he had always had trouble and it only got worse when he started missing days and not doing his homework while he was working. He could read fine, and pretty fast too, but poetry and stuff like that was beyond him.

The school was not far, so Shinji chose to walk even when Misato offered to drop him off for his first day. As he walked down the sidewalk, he saw other kids in the school uniform, boys dressed like him in white shirts and black slacks, and girls in green jumpers and white blouses. None of them tried to talk to him, and that was just fine as he had his SDAT in his ears.

He was about halfway there, judging by the house numbers he passed, when a young man with a shaved head approached him. The man tapped the side of his head in the universal gesture for "please take whatever those are out" and Shinji removed his ear buds.

"Hello young man, would ya like a book?"

Shinji found the question unusual, he had never heard it before. "Um…"

"Great here ya go!" The bald man slapped the brick-like paperback into Shinji's chest and jogged away.

As someone who didn't like being touched in the first place and was completely unaccustomed to the idea of gifts from strangers, Shinji was a bit stunned and it was a minute or so before he looked down at the very thick but rather cheaply bound book.

"Bu-gu-va-do ge-ta" He sounded out the kanji for the unfamiliar title. He didn't even try reading what ISKCON was supposed to stand for. Shinji stuffed the book in his bag and proceeded on his way, probably late because of the weird book.

"What a strange person."

"Mornin' Rits!"

"Misato, you seem unusually… chipper, this morning." Dr. Akagi was decidedly not chipper. In fact the word chipper had never occurred to anyone to describe the doctor and this condition was likely to remain for the foreseeable future.

"I got up this morning after a good night's sleep and a cute guy made me breakfast. He makes a good pot of coffee for a kid." The captain said, throwing her jacket over a chair before sitting down across the paperwork filled desk from her blond friend.

Dr. Akagi cocked an eyebrow. "So that's why you wanted him. Do you have him cleaning too?"

"I didn't even have to ask. I got home Thursday and the living room and the kitchen were spotless! He even had dinner ready."

Ritsuko snickered and needled her friend "Well look at you, found yourself a wife."

"Yeah, yeah… If he is fair game than so is that lieutenant of yours." Misato retorted.

Ritsuko fake gasped and sat straight up in her chair. "Captain Katsuragi, I haven't the slightest idea what you mean and resent the implication that I would do ANYTHING unprofessional or in violation of NERV regulations regarding staff conduct." She said with mock indignation. Both women managed to keep a straight face for all of 3 seconds before breaking into simultaneous laughter.

"Okay okay…" Ritsuko said and took several deep breaths before continuing. "What can I help you with this morning Captain? I imagine the paperwork on your desk is no lighter than my own." Dr. Akagi said after they had both calmed down.

"Well its actually about Shinji. Ritsuko, he seems really messed up. "

"Having second thoughts?"

"No, I am just worried. I mean, he jumps at everything, its like he is afraid if I am upset I am going to take it out on him, and some of the things he says. He told me the last family he was with made him work all the time to earn his keep, but his file said NERV was paying every family a big stipend to take care of him. What happened to this kid Rits?"

Ritsuko was actually a little surprised at the question "Misato, did you get the briefing on the pilot psychological profile conditioning program?"

"Noooo, I didn't know we had a pilot psych profile conditioning program… Ritsuko, maybe I haven't heard about this because I am really not going to like what it is."

Dr. Akagi turned in her chair and opened a file cabinet beneath her desk and took out a black NERV folder, which she handed to Misato. "Well you are cleared for it, here. You want the short version with small words like normal?"

"Bite me… and yes."

"At the outset of project E it was determined that due to qualities of their minds when introduced to the entry plug hardware, as well as other factors, that is was necessary for the pilots to be children. Once those children were identified, a correct psychological profile for a pilot was established and programs were put in place for many of the potential pilots in order to create a subject who matched that profile. Other potential pilots were left alone as a control group." Dr. Akagi explained.

"Ritsuko… this profile its…" Misato said as she read, aghast at what the file described

"A sociopath? Not quite. While the program is designed to create certain traits that would indicate anti-social personality disorder, it also looks to minimize the more problematic tendencies. What we are looking for, to put it briefly, is a compliant subject who will accept orders and carry them out without hesitation. This requires a certain emotional detachment of course. The control subjects have mostly normal lives, though NERV does intervene if the subject's safety or ability to pilot are threatened. Shinji was part of the test group, where the circumstances of his life were influenced in one attempt to create someone matching the needed profile. From initial observation, it seems to have exceeded. He piloted the evangelion with minimal resistance, less than even his father anticipated."

"Wait, Ritsuko… Are you telling me his father knew about this?"

"Misato, Commander Ikari is the head of the conditioning project. He was the one who insisted Shinji be in the test group and he has overseen the entire program personally."

"STAND, BOW, SIT!"

"Good morning class, glad to see you all back safe. I understand we will have a few absences today but I am told the families of our remaining students have contacted the administration and I am pleased to say it appears everyone is all right. Now we have a new student. Mr. Ikari, if you please."

"My name is Ikari Shinji, its nice to meet you all."

"Very good, thank you. Why don't you have a seat next tooo… Mr. Aida, raise your hand boy, thank you. The seat next to Mr. Aida, against the wall will do fine."

End

So yeah, two things.

First, the laziest Hare Krishna is actually taken directly from an experience I had in college. As the scene is in this story is pretty much exactly what happened to me. I was listening to an MP3 instead of an SDAT of course. It is kind of a stupid story, but of the ways to get something like that in Shinji's hands, it felt like the least contrived. Those guys are EVERYWHERE. That was actually how I got my first copy of the Bhagavad Gita, though it was as mentioned rather cheaply made and fell apart before I finished with it.

Second, yes we are starting to push further from canon in character personalities besides Shinji. These are different people and have different motivations.