Answers:
Akuma, Thanks for reviewing. I answered some of your questions via PM
Fanus: That was one of many moments that Misato pissed me off.

Disclaimer: See prologue
Chapter 6: Go Home Shinji

= Misato told me to go home, and she wants me to obey her. = Shinji had a sick chuckle at his twisted logic while the subway train he was riding passed into downtown Tokyo-3, five stations before Misato's outskirts apartment. SDAT player looping continually, he disembarked and started wandering Tokyo-3's entertainment district. His ability to get around unnoticed was quite apparent, with nary a soul acknowledging the 14 year old boy moving around and in between the movie theaters, nightclubs, and casino buildings. He found an untouched alleyway around midnight where he slept until the light of the next day forced him awake.

"Well, it seems our newest student is absent today," the old schoolteacher noticed that morning, "Miss Ayanami, are you aware of any business for Mr. Ikari today?"

She turned away fom the cloud she was inspecting. "No, I do not know where he is."

"I suppose he can be forgiven just this once…"

Shinji returned to the downtown station and rode the train out to the edge of town, leaving the suburb connector station and walking on foot to the overlook where Misato took him after his first fight. He started unloading his problems to himself and the air around him.

"Saved 133 million people…yeah right. I get beat up in school for winning my first fight, and berated by Misato for winning the second. Every time I get in the Eva, it just hurts; and every time I fight, people hate me for it…heh, Misato was practically worshiping me after I killed that first Angel, what happened since then? I may as well not even go to school, it's not like Rei and I are friends. I wouldn't even know her name if Misato didn't tell me."

= Just go home Shinji… = "Yeah, I am," he said to himself as he started walking along the road heading to the neighboring city of Edo. "Maybe Sensei will understand that I don't belong at NERV."

That walk would have taken two days, but Shinji found himself in darkness at the destroyed bridge over the river between the two cities. = I have no idea which Angel did this, but there's no way I'd be able to cross that water. I really don't have any choice; I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I've got nowhere else I can go…=

"All right, I know you pricks are following me!" He turned around into the night, shouting to the hidden NERV security. "Just take me back to Misato already!"

Misato walked into the interrogation room where Shinji was delivered.

"Feel better after your little walk? Was it worth it?" She said with venom on her lips.

"Not really, but it doesn't matter does it? You guys win, I'm the body inside the Eva Unit. What else do you need out of me?"

"Shut up, piloting that Eva was a choice you made, and it's one you continue to make when you came back here, if you want to leave, that's fine, you're free to go whenever you want."

Shinji, now legitimately sick of being cut down in every conversation, decided to see just how far Misato can go.

"You really believe your own bullshit, don't you? Those Section 2 pricks will have already briefed you on what happened before you came in here. My home is on a remote island now, it's not like I can just up and fly away. If I could have made it all the way, I would have. I came back here because I have too much self-respect to rot in the streets! I really don't have a choice, and you know it. I'm the Eva pilot here, and I was brought in—by you people—to kill Angels, and I'm going to do that however I have to, even if it means risking your robot!"

"I will not discuss my military philosophy with a child!"

"Yeah you will, because you're losing and you know it! You seriously couldn't believe that I of all people would do what's right over what's easy, and now you're eating yourself up over it; I can see it in your eyes, Misato!"

She quivered in sadness, and a slight touch of fear. She saw that the savage fire Shinji showed the Fifth Angel was about to trigger itself. "Just…just come home, Shinji. We need you here."

"I thought I already was."

A/N: Short, wasn't it? The interrogation is based on 1.11, and I felt it warranted a deeper discussion ( see Anno? I can do philosophy too. ) and its own page, if only so I could squeeze more Shinji/Rei stuff in the next chapter.