Hawking it again, if you have never read any of the Destroyer books you really should. The first one is available free on amazon and is called Created, The Destroyer. Speaking of which, this obviously breaks from the ongoing Destroyer canon around second impact. I realize that should have put Remo as having kids but for our purposes, he never fathered children.

Warnings this chapter: Nothing too bad but we get a look inside Rei's mind and it is not a pleasant place.

Chapter 11

Back at the NERV dojo, Shinji Ikari was breathing deeply. He thought he had done this before, but had recently been informed that was not the case. What he had thought were deep breathes were in fact only slightly less shallow. Vitali-sensei had said what most of humanity did day-to-day was barely getting by on a tiny portion of their lung capacity.

"That is why when it counts they cannot hold their breath more than a minute or two. The rest of their lungs have grown lazy and don't work when needed." Vitali said as the children continued to breath in slow rhythm. He had turned them to face away from each other so the boy, Shinji, would stop thinking about the girl and concentrate on the exercise. This, to Vitali, was the main issue with training women. He was sure the right girl could do it, but training teenagers side by side was going to lead to something, and whatever it was would be distracting.

They had been doing this for what seemed like forever but had only been about an hour. Shinji thought he could feel the change already. His head felt clearer, and the tingling soreness of his burns bothered him less. Shinji closed his eyes and continued. He drew the air in with his chest and pulled it all the way down to his groin, just like Vitali had taught them. He heard the door slide open and the click of Misato's heels. He wondered how Rei would look in heels. They made girls' legs do amazing things.

As his mind continued to wonder on the subject of the girl behind him, Shinji felt a little tickle on his nose. He opened his eyes to see if something had landed on him and was shocked to find himself face to face with Remo. How had he even gotten there? He hadn't heard him come in or walk up to him or anything. In his surprise, Shinji fell back on the mat with a yelp.

"Looks like you have the breathing down, Vitali is a better teacher than I thought." Remo said as he straightened up.

"You wound me, Ssem." Vitali said with mock offense.

"How did you move like that?!" Shinji asked, eyes still wide as he sat up from the floor.

"Oh you will learn how tomorrow." Remo replied. "But for tonight, I want you both to go home, have a nice meal, and get a good night's sleep. Starting bright and early tomorrow, we will train for the next 7 days and every day after school and on the weekends. We don't know how long we have until the next angel attacks so we need prepare as much as possible."

As the children rose, Remo stood before them with his hands clasped behind his back. "The Evas are being rebuilt. They will be better, faster, stronger, and I will see to it that you two are as well. They call you children, but I call you Night Tigers, students of the most ancient and superior school of combat, Sinanju. I will teach you to hit harder than a cannon, to move faster than bullets, and to disappear in plain sight. Most important of all, I will teach you to take apart any opponent piece by piece, no matter how strong or inhuman. And when the next angel comes, in its dying moments, as your machines stand over its broken body as the last sliver of life leaves, it will know fear."

It was a simple thing to manipulate the voice for maximum impact, Remo thought to himself. The kids were looking at him in stunned awe. At least Shinji was, it was hard to tell with Rei. It may have been a little melodramatic, but they should at least have that. He would have to push weeks of training into days to get them ready. If Captain Katsuragi was right and these two had never truly had happy moments of childhood, it would only make what he had to do easier as he took what childhood they had left away. Remo had always fantasized, in moments of weakness, of having a family, and raising children. Now he would have to take these children and make them among the deadliest killers in the world. He understood Misato's concern for them and hoped in all this terrible business they may find some happiness.

They were snapped out of their stupor, the children from their awe and Remo from his wool gathering, by Misato applauding.

"That was wonderful Remo-sensei!" Misato said. She stepped behind the children and placed a hand on each pilot's shoulder. "How about we all have dinner together? Shinji is a great cook."

"You know Captain Katsuragi, I think we will take you up on that. I had wanted to see the student's quarters anyway. Will the commander be joining us?"

"Oh no, the commander is really busy, So Shinji lives with me."

"I see, and what about Rei's family?"

"I live alone Remo-sensei."

Remo considered several questions to ask but ultimately decided not to ask any of them. Instead he said "Alright then, I would like you to show Vitali your room and surrender all of your medication to him. I have spoken with Dr. Akagi and we have decided you will no longer be taking them. Got that Vitali?"

"Yes Ssem." Vitali turned to Misato and made an over dramatic bow. "Captain, may I please have your address?" Vitali said with courtly manners.

"Of course Vitali-san, since you ask so nicely." Misato replied with a curt bow. She took a NERV business card from her breast pocket and wrote her address on the back then gave it to Vitali. "Rei should be able to get you there."

"Thank you Captain." Vitali said, taking the card in both hands. He was not about to offend the hot officer again. He liked her, she was feisty. And Ssem would hit him again. Mostly because of the latter.

"Very good. So what's for dinner?" Remo said as they began to leave.

"What would you like, Remo-sensei?" Misato said, walking beside him with Vitali behind his master. Shinji and Rei brought up the rear as they left and Shinji swore he saw Rei smile, just for a second before it was gone.

They parted ways after several elevator rides brought them to the surface. It was still early in the afternoon and Vitali accompanied Rei to her apartment. Misato, Remo, and Shinji were soon in the hybrid. Misato drove with Remo in the passenger seat and Shinji sat in the back.

"So Shinji, where did you learn to cook?" Remo asked. It was small talk, but he was still trying to get a feeling for the boy. Remo normally gave people all of 10 seconds before he judged them, but he wanted to give the students more consideration.

"The last family I lived with owned a restaurant, Remo-sensei." Shinji replied, taking his SDAT from his ears.

"Really, what kind of food?"

"HK Chinese, the Chus owned a restaurant there before impact."

"Really? What kind of things do you like to make?"

"Well I can make the fancy stuff, like peking duck, but it is a pain in the ass. I like making fried rice and noodle bowls to eat, but Misato is probably tired of it by now."

"Not at all Shinji!" Misato said then stage whispered to Remo. "Ever since he told me what was in the crap I used to eat I am afraid to go shopping without him."

-meanwhile-

It was the general opinion of NERV staff that Gendo Ikari's office was designed to evoke fear and awe, and not for function. In the mind of Gendo Ikari, they were incorrect. It was perfectly designed for the function of evoking fear and awe in those in front of the desk. The stone floors were unyielding, there were no chairs for guests, and the orientation of the windows meant that visitors were instantly sun-struck during daylight hours. Gendo took all visitors during daylight hours. If someone wished to avoid the commander's gaze and look up or down, they were confronted by the imposing mysto-babble of the kabaalah inlayed in white stone across the floor and ceiling. Gendo had no spiritual affiliation to the symbol, or toanything at all really. To him it was just something to intimidate the peasants he was forced to deal with. Not that some of them were useless of course he thought as Ritsuko Akagi entered the office.

"Dr. Akagi, report."

Ritsuko Akagi stood in front of the large desk that was carved from the same reflectively black stone as the rest of the room, several folders in hand. Though she wore the same ridiculous outfit as earlier, there was none of the energy behind it. Gendo Ikari may know her body, but she was past caring enough to put any effort into it.

"Sir, we have succeeded in removing 99% of the damaged dermis from Unit One. Installation of replacement nerve tissue has also been successful. Unit Zero has been cleared of bakelight, and we have removed all damaged armor segments. We have not found any interior damage at this time, nor any other structural problems that could have impacted the last activation test. We are delaying further repairs on both units until the redesign of the F-type equipment is complete."

"Excellent. The designs have been forwarded to Captain Katsuragi and Mr. Williams then?"

"Yes, Sir."

"And regarding Mr. Williams?"

Dr. Akagi sighed. Admitting failure was one thing, but this felt like she was admitting an inability to attract the opposite sex. "Mr. Williams was not influenced as we had hoped. However I believe he has concluded that compliance was the reason for sedation of the first child."

"Very good. If he is able to help Rei control her impulses, then all the better. If not, we have new data points on her behavior and can adjust treatment accordingly, while Mr. Williams loses face in front of the staff. What progress has been made on the dissection of the 4th angel?"

Ritsuko took several glossy photographs from the folders she held and spread them out on the commander's desk. She pointed to the first, which showed several cranes and helicopters around the corpse of the gigantic worm.

"As soon as Unit One was retrieved, we began the operation to take samples from the angel. While the core was destroyed in the battle, apparently by manual compression by Unit One, the rest of the body remained relatively intact. What core fragments we have recovered reveal nothing of the inner workings and spectral analysis shows nothing but silicone oxide with traces of gold."

"Red glass?"

"Exactly."

"Continue."

Dr. Akagi moved to the second picture, showing a stone mask of a peaceful human face. "This structure was found within the angel, beneath the flesh of the leading edge. It is identical to the structure images show on the exterior of the 3rd angel."

"It appears human, have we had any success finding anything similar in human cultures, maybe some trace these things have been here before?"

"Yes, too much in fact. Simplistic representations of the human face matching these are present in almost all cultures that create images in worked stone. Personally, I don't think it is evidence of influence. I think it is just a generic representation. I would go so far as to say it might not even represent a human." The commander had to admit the doctor made a valid point. While it was clearly a face, the masks as they had dubbed them, were basically ovals with carvings that appeared to represent closed eyes and lips with no expression.

"Your theory has merit. Continue to investigate future angels for similar structures, but do not devote any more resources at this time. Have we found anything else of interest within the corpse?"

Ritsuko pointed to the final picture of the set, showing a lake of pink sludge in the charred remains of the battlefield.

"The angel began to disintegrate within 72 hours. From what we were able to tell, the tissue was consistent with terrestrial flatworm biology, though made up of several proteins and amino acids which we have no evidence to show have occurred on earth previously. We were able to do some preliminary analysis on the limbs and found some tissues that we believe to be conditional superconductors. The leading theory right now is that in the presence of AT field would reduce resistance in the materiel to zero."

"Interesting, can we replicate it?"

"I have some techs working on it, if so it could be valuable if applied to the evas."

"Keep me updated. Was there anything else Doctor?"

"No Commander."

"Very well, thank you for your report."

-At the Katsuragi/Ikari apartment some time later-

"You have a pet penguin?"

"Wark!"

"We think of him as more of a room mate."

"I see."

Remo Williams sat at the kitchen table while his hosts prepared dinner. He was watching a penguin watching soap operas. Apparently this was normal as both of the other residents were normally still at NERV at this time. Something bothered him about the bird. It was the way it sat, rocking back and forth and humming to itself while it watched TV. Remo hadn't thought birds could hum, but there it was. Of course he had not known birds to watch TV either. Maybe that is what they did when it rained.

"Hey Shinji, I want to look at your room, see how you live. Which one is it?"

"Oh, um, hallway on your right, door on the left."

"Not going to find anything that shouldn't be there, right? Don't worry about the porn, I don't care."

Shinji blushed deeply and nearly "Wha-what? No Sensei, I don't have anything like that. Just clothes and school stuff really."

In fact, Remo was pleasantly surprised, that was all he found. A thin mattress on the floor as was the local fashion, a chest of drawers with some clothes in it, schoolwork, and a personal tape player with a small collection of tapes. They reminded Remo of the micro cassettes CURE used for transmitting data at one point before optical drives came about.

Remo began to look through Shinji's schoolwork and the weird brief case they made kids carry here. He found the boy was really not much of student, seemingly every paper covered in red corrective marks. Under the papers in the brief case he found a book and was impressed at least with the kid's taste. He had read the Mahabharata when he first found out a hindu god was periodically hijacking his body. This edition was in Japanese, which Remo would be the first to admit was not his strongest written language, but he felt a chill down his back as he flipped it open to the sole marked page. There was a passage, messily circled in pen.

"I am all-powerful time which destroys all things…" Remo quietly read. It was what Oppenheimer had misquoted when he talked about seeing the first atomic bomb. Scratched out in barely readable characters below it were words Remo knew too well.

I am created.

Once he read those words, Remo slammed the book shut between his hands, and then opened it again, read the scrawled characters once more, and shut it.

"What the fuck…" He said to the empty room. It had been 15 years since he last heard those words. As the years went on, he had begun remembering the lapses. When he 'died' and the other presence took over.

He had been called the destroyer from the beginning, the killing arm of an organization that did not exist. His mission had always been to kill those who could not be touched by the law, to end problems by bringing swift death to all involved. He did not remember who first called him the destroyer though. It might have been Smith, or Chuin, or maybe just some mook telling ghost stories in an alley about how his boss and his boss's boss had been found with every bone in their body smashed to dust.

Decades of memories came flooding back before Remo's eyes, and in the worst times there was always those words.

I am created, Shiva, the destroyer, the earth-shatterer, the dead Night Tiger made whole by the art of Sinanju.

Every time he was defeated, and felt the life drain from his body, it had come. Like a star within his chest he would feel the heat, and then the other would take over. A god dedicated to the destruction of all the wickedness it could find in the world. The places Remo Williams traveled never lacked for wickedness, and the god had never wanted for evil to cleanse.

He considered calling for Shinji and talking to the boy about it, but as the doorbell rang he was saved the decision. That would be Vitali with the girl. Remo would watch the boy closely; get more data on his two battles so far. If he could train the boy, maybe he wouldn't have to worry about Shiva coming out again.

Remo opened the door back into the apartment only for Vitali to walk into him, pushing him back into Shinji's room.

"We need to talk Ssem." Vitali said as they reentered the room.

"Well hello to you too Vitali, how was Rei's?" Remo snarked as the younger man slammed the door shut behind them.

"These…" Vitali held up a plastic grocery bag full of orange prescription bottles. "… Were the least disturbing thing about that place."

Remo signed and took a seat on the floor, legs crossed. He gestured for Vitali to do the same. "Alright then, lets hear the whole of it."

"Okay, so first of all, I don't know how a brand new city like this has a neighborhood that bad already. Any good ghetto has some character behind it, ya'know? Some story. So I am looking around, tryin' to scare off trouble before it starts, but ya know what? Every mook and slimeball I saw did everything they could to get away from her. Not only that, but so did all the kids, all the dogs and cats, even the rats wouldn't come within 10 yards of her."

"You sure that wasn't just your natural charm?"

"No way, they weren't looking at me, they were lookin' at her."

"Alright, so you get to her place…"

"Yeah yeah I am getting there. So we get to the building, place is a dump. She lives on the 5th floor, but elevator's broke. Trash and who knows what else is piled in the stairs. We get up to her place, she just opens the door, turns out the lock is broke. So we go inside… You remember those slums in Rio, what did they call'em, the favelas?"

"I quite distinctly remember us agreeing to never speak of them again."

"Hey just give me a chance, you remember them?"

"Yes I remember them, get to the point."

"I would rather spend another week in that shit hole then spend the night in that place. Studio apartment, all concrete. Bed, desk, drawers, all steel and plywood, like a hospital, 'cept its all covered in that grime you get when filth gets covered in more filth."

"Hmmm, alright, what does she eat?"

"Instant poison for the most part, did notice no meat though."

"Let me guess, shes so skinny because she doesn't eat enough?"

"Yep, when I asked she said she ate one meal a day at home and got lunch at school."

"Great. Any other revalations?"

"Yeah, she is goddamn creepy."

"Is that your professional opinion Dr. Genomevich?"

"Very funny, hey ask about hyper…hyper… when someone feels like they need to write without a reason."

"Hypergraphia."

"Yeah that, ask if she ever did that next time you talk to the doc. Y'know how it was all concrete? Well there were a bunch of patches that were discolored, looked like they had had the top layer ground off. I would bet ya it was something she wasn't supposed to be writing."

"I will look into it, anything else?"

"Besides that place needing a few coats of bleach to make it liveable? Naw that's all I got, what about the boy?"

"His personality is interesting, but his material effects say very little. By the state of the place, I would say he likes things to be clean to create order. He cooks, pretty good by what the captain says but we will find out." Remo held up the cheaply bound book. "And we may have a little more trouble than we bargained for. These angels though? They aren't going to know what hit them."

When Remo showed Vitali what he had found, he made sure to cherish the experience of seeing the little punk's jaw hit the floor. 10 years now they had lived side-by-side, master and student. Remo knew how Chuin felt putting up with his wiseass all those years now. It felt good to get one back.

Dinner was called and nobody was disappointed with Shinji's cooking. While Vitali could still eat pretty much whatever he wanted, Remo was not so fortunate. 50 years of constant training had left his body very selective about what it would accept. Red meat was out, no processed food, and everything else had to be fresh.

Remo was on his 3rd helping of chicken fried rice when he began to consider moving in. Good food he could actually eat, and the view was not bad either he thought as he looked at the captain. She was eating like a soldier, shoveling it in with the plate up to her mouth, as was Vitali. Rei was taking small bites and holding it in her mouth for while, chewing slowly. Shinji ate in patterns, one bite of each item then a drink of water.

While Misato was not in her "normal" at home attire, the tight black top and tight denim jeans she wore were more than enough to get the attention of the instructors. She didn't consider it the same as what Ritsuko had tried to do. She wasn't trying to control them and she wasn't dressed like a skank at work. Attraction had its advantages though. These men would be influencing Shinji, changing him. Her greatest fear in making the suggestion to bring them in had been for Shinji. She was afraid they would change him, that they would take away the nice boy under all that pain and turn him into a weapon. If flirting meant they would tell her more, it was worth it to protect Shinji.

"So Shinji, when you worked in the restaurant, did you enjoy it?"

"Not at first, washing dishes was no fun. After a while though, I learned one thing and then another, and once I knew every job, I just kinda started to run it. I liked it when I could get everything moving together just right…" Shinji said with a smile, then frowned. "Damn chinks still didn't pay me though."

"SHINJI!" Misato yelled and rose from her seat. "This has-" Misato stopped herself, remembering the others present. It would be humiliating to do this in front of them. Her room was a mess, his room everyone would still hear, same with the balcony. "Outside young man, now!" She said and pointed to the front door.

"But Misato!"

"Now!"

Misato marched Shinji out into the hall. She was tired of this. Every day it seemed like another new and horrible slur came out of his mouth. She prepared herself to give the kid a good dressing down, worthy of a captain of the JSSDF. This shit stopped here and now.

As they stepped into the twilight of the open hallway and the door slid shut behind them, Misato turned to face Shinji. "Shinji…"

"Yeah yeah I know, no more funny names for foreigners."

"Shinji, my mom was Chinese."

"What!? R-really?"

"No, not really, but what if she was? You had a bad experience I get it. You have heard people say these words and thought it was okay. It happens and I am not blaming you for knowing them. But you need to think for a second before you speak. You need to think of the people around you and how you might hurt their feelings with what you say."

"Nip."

"Shinji!"

"Wokou. Riben Gou, fei wu. Recognize those ones? They are Chinese, and for two years, I didn't have a name, all those are what they called me. Don't talk to me about hurt feelings. I don't care about theirs because they don't care about mine!"

The door slid open again and Remo stepped out into the hallway between the fighting roommates.

"You know, my late master hated the Chinese. Well he hated everyone, but especially the Chinese. They stiffed his great great great grandfather for a job. Couldn't keep his damn mouth shut and China and America nearly went to war because of it." He turned to Shinji and placed a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Not sure where I was going with that, the point is you can have your opinions, but voicing them needlessly only leads to problems. Clean up your mouth."

"I…y-yes Remo-sensei." Shinji replied and bowed.

"Good, head back in, I need to speak with Captain Katsuragi for a moment." Shinji left and as soon as the door slid shut, that entire officer training unbraided before Remo's assault.

"Captain, I get that you are his guardian. I get that you want to do right by him, give him that childhood he didn't have, raise him right and all that. I get it, but what are you doing to my student? He was on a confidence high, he had impressed himself by impressing the people around him. He had made a meal for the girl he stares at and she liked it. He had built himself up so high and then you smack him down hard. Now he is back to square one, feeling like nobody appreciates him and nobody cares. So will you please try and help him be a better person with a little more fucking tact from now on?" Remo had stepped forward as he spoke and he was pushed up against Misato with her behind pressed against the railing as he finally stopped.

"Y-yes, of course, I didn't realize. I am trying, this is all so new though." Misato said. She was more flustered by this guy than she should be she thought. She was a grown woman who shouldn't be so nervous because a tall, dark, handsome man had her pinned like that. His hot breath filling her…. Dammit, guess not she thought as he stepped back.

"Yeah well we all start somewhere." Remo said as he turned to open the door. "And will you please put some decent clothes on when you have guests over? I don't know why everyone thinks all it takes is a nice chest to manipulate me."

"But I wasn't-"

"Horseshit." He cuts her off in English before stepping back inside. Misato followed and dinner continued in awkward fashion for a few moments.

Remo broke the silence. "So kids, lets talk about how this will go tomorrow. Vitali tells me your apartment is in pretty sad shape Rei, so if you don't mind I would like you to sleep here tonight. Is that alright?"

"So long as I am welcome."

"Of course you are Rei."

"Thank you captain. As I said before, we are going to be working together for the first week without breaks. Sleeping arrangements will be made and we will bring in food for you. It is not the best circumstance, but I have been told we do not know when the next battle will be. That being the case I want to get you both in fighting shape as soon as possible. Fortunately, ours is a very effective art, so as long as we can give you solid basics, I believe even after only a week you will be much more effective. So tomorrow morning, you are both going to get up bright and early and Captain Katsuragi will bring you down to us to begin. Any questions? No, good."

As Remo went back for a 4th helping, Vitali began to ask Shinji about his cooking and it was revealed the younger man did most of it for the pair. Conversation continued and the awkwardness forgotten. As dinner was finished and the instructor's prepared to leave, Vitali promised Shinji he would make their next meal to return the favor.

An extra futon was brought out for Rei to sleep in the living room. After discovering Rei preferred to sleep in the nude, Misato furnished her with an oversized t-shirt to wear for the night.

-Later that night-

Rei lay under a heavy comforter in the cool air of the living room, staring at the ceiling. She could not sleep. She had now missed 2 doses of medication. It felt good.

At dinner, she had actually tasted food for the first time in years. Oh she had experienced a sensation from that trash she had eaten to fuel her body, but this was different. It wasn't just fuel anymore, it was an experience as she smelled, then tasted it, then felt the warmth travel through her body as she consumed it. It had been even longer since she had had meat and it was even better than she remembered. She hoped she could have red meat again soon though. Just a little bit of sear, enough to bring out the flavor, but not enough to take away that texture when she could feel her teeth driving apart the fibers. When she had to rip and pull at it. The effort put into it made it better.

Rei shivered. Shinji made good food; maybe he would make beef for her if she asked. She liked him. He was nice. He did not want to hurt her. Not like that stupid doctor. Or those ugly girls at school. They were the same, they hated her for being better. Commander Ikari liked her more than the blond bitch. She was taller than those girls, faster, stronger, better looking… just better. If she cared she could get better grades than them too.

Dr. Akagi always had another test to run, another shot to give, another pill to order her to take. Rei snarled to herself, thinking how she must feel so smart, that she was fooling Rei. Rei knew what that wretched woman did was not "for her own good". She hated Rei, so she gave her the pills and the shots. To make her better she said but Rei knew the truth. It was all to put her in this fog, to make her dull and stupid. Because Dr. Akagi was afraid. Dr. Akagi saw that Rei was a predator and Dr. Akagi knew she was prey.

Those stupid girls too. Thought they were so damned clever, telling lies about her and putting tacks in her shoes. They were prey too. Prey thinks its so smart. It gets together and feels safe in a group and makes all the predators like her act like them. Weak. She saw how they looked at her, especially now that she spent her time with Shinji.

Shinji.

They were always jealous of her. What if they were jealous of her… having him? They couldn't take him away though, not them. No no no, they were alike, they were the same. Not like the prey, not like them.

Rei began to toss and turn. She was uncomfortable here. It was too open. Too many doors. She couldn't watch them all. Even if she got up against the wall, no good corners. She was smarter than that; she let it happen once and wouldn't let it happen again.

Rei stopped herself from becoming more excited. She breathed in deep, just like sensei had taught her. She pulled the breath all the way in then slowly let it out. Shinji was here, he wouldn't be so careless to sleep somewhere unsafe. Perhaps he would share his space.

Rei rose to her feet, pulling the blanket up with her. Wrapping it about herself, she strode cat silent to the room Shinji slept in. She reached for the door knob and froze, her fingers a hair's width from the metal. She was…afraid? No, just nervous. She would not welcome a visitor while she slept. But he already knew she was here. He was the same as her, he would understand.

Rei gently turned the handle and pushed the door open just a little. Her eyes adjusted to the dark already, she could see Shinji huddled into the corner. Of course that's where he would be, that is where she would be. Rei opened the door further and stepped into the room. As she closed the door behind her, she heard him start behind.

"Wha!... Rei? W-what are you doing in here, what do you want?" Shinji said, throwing his blanket off and getting ready to stand.

He believed I was a threat, she thought. Yes, he is not prey. He knows harm comes in shapes we trust.

Shinji was surprised as Rei dropped the blanket from her shoulders and made a deep bow with one foot in front of the other. "I am sorry to disturb you, Ikari-san. I could not sleep and hoped I may share your space."

Shinji settled back down and pulled his blankets back around him. "S-sure. Why couldn't you sleep?"

"Too much space to watch." She said as she stepped closer and Shinji nodded. He knew the feeling. She pointed to the space beside him, where the wall met the floor and looked to him. Shinji nodded again and Rei laid down along the wall with the blankets around her with head near Shinji and her feet in the opposite corner. As she moved to get comfortable, Shinji silently offered her his pillow, holding it out for her in one hand. She looked to him then reached out for it. To his surprise, she grabbed his wrist and pulled his hand to her. As the pillow was beneath her head, his hand was to her lips.

Shinji froze. He didn't know what to do. Who does?

"Thank you" She said in a voice so soft and sincere as she released his wrist. In that instant, Shinji understood something about Rei he had not before. Kindness was foreign to her as it was to him. She expected what he expected, for everything around them to reject their presence.

"Y-you are welcome Ayanami-san. W-" Shinji reached out and touched her cheek with his hand. "We are the same." He did not know why he said it, or touched her like that, it just felt right. When she smiled at him, he was glad he had done it.

"Yes, we are." She said and held his pillow close as she watched the door. They did that together for a long time before sleep took them. Their thoughts as their eyes closed were the same.

I can rest.

There is another.

They slept well.

Omake 1

Please note: This is canon, it has no impact on the story other than an old man who had to deal with way too much crap getting a good shake in his next life.

As Rei and Shinji fell to sleep, Pen Pen was in his icebox apartment, enjoying the reruns on the soap opera channel. He was glad Misato had sprung for cable. It was one of the many things he liked about life.

He could watch his stories without interruption. Nobody asked him to do anything. He didn't even have to bother with clothes!

And they said reincarnating as an animal was for the wicked. HA! This was a heaven. Though perhaps if he had been a little better, the beautiful creature that saw to his needs would have been Korean. She was hardly ugly, but it was comparing anchovy and smelt.

The new boy was even nice, he would have made a good student. It had been a treat to see the round eyed one again, he had turned out alright. There was still so much happening the world, but the Hot Springs Penguin was sure they would have it well in hand.

And so we learn why Chuin is not in this story: I can't write the old bastard.

So yeah, Rei was on those meds for a reason. I apologize if anyone finds the way I write her thoughts weird or difficult to follow. I think of it as stream of consciousness from an unorganized mind, more how I imagine an animal thinks.

Love the reviews and PMs, please keep them coming.