Disclaimer: See prologue
Chapter 7: Rei

Even though he was happy to have a home again, Shinji didn't look forward to returning to school, until the caveman approached him outside...

"Look, just do it or we'll never get off on the right foot!"

"Touji means it, Shinji, just hit him and get it over with."

"I've told you before, I don't want to fight you-"

"Yeah, yeah, just get us on even ground and we can shut up about it."

Shinji punched Touji in the lower jaw, and the jock reacted with continued surprise at the scrawny boy's strength.

"Okray, nowsh were eben" he garbled around his throbbing chin. He massaged his head for a while and continued. "I'm sorry I slugged you the other day, me and Kensuke think what you did for us in that Angel fight was incredible, and we want to hang out with you from now on."

Shinji didn't know how to respond to that; did he just make friends?

Phys Ed period had the girls swimming laps and the boys playing basketball. All the guys on the bench were staring dumbly up at the all the swimsuited girls at the distant swimming complex, well, until they were caught, anyway.

"Eeww, the boys are gawking at us again, PERVERTS! Look over at Touji and his beady little eyes!"

Shinji was off to the side, not really contributing to or lessening the problem, because his attention was held by one specific individual, also off the side by herself.

"Hey Shinji," Kensuke slunk up next to him, "what are you staring so intently at?"

"He's totally ogling Rei! Admit it man, you've got it bad for her, don't you?" Touji joined in poking the bear.

"Not like we can blame him, just think about it! Ayanami's milky thighs, her curved calves, her heavy bre-"

"No wonder the girls will never talk to you two!" Shinji shut down their hormone-injected rambling. "I don't care about Rei's looks, I care that she always looks so alone…"

"You know, she really hasn't made any friends since she transferred here a few years ago…She's an Eva pilot too, right? You should know her better than anyone, Shinji."

"Well, you might think I would, but we never talk, not even about piloting."

"Oh, hi Dr. Ritsuko," Shinji said on his way into the apartment.

"Evening, Shinji, it's nice to see you and Misato patched things up."

"Well, we realized fighting each other wouldn't help us fight angels any better!" Misato cheerfully shouted from the kitchen.

Ritsuko nudged over to Shinji "She's already had several, and she's been babbling like an idiot all afternoon."

"I HEARD THAT! You'd better be happy I love you both enough to cook for everyone tonight!"

Much like a train wreck, Shinji and Ritsuko were appalled by the food Misato brought out, but they couldn't look away from it.

"Misato," Shinji asked, "is that curry sauce poured onto curry sauce?"

Misato's other roommate, PenPen, usually had a pretty strong constitution, but when he ate some of the curry…slime that Misato plopped down for him, he tumbled out of the apartment and threw up down over the stairway railing, directly onto the Section 2 night guard's head.

"Now that the mood's been set," Ritsuko observed, "I've got a present for you, Shinji." She handed him an ID badge with his picture. "That functions as your security clearance and as a secure credit account, linked to your NERV stipend balance. Don't spend it all on junk food, now. Wait, that reminds me, I forgot to give Rei's to her during her checkup today. Would you be a sweetie and give it to her on your way in to the Sync Test tomorrow?"

Shinji started hyperventilating. "Uhh…Uh…yea…yeash…shure…imean…yesiwilldoitforyou…"

Ritsuko warmly smiled at the obvious school-age crush while Misato exploded in laughter, "Well, well, well, my little Shinji is growing up, isn't he! Already has his sight on a girl and everything!"

"MISATO! Cut it out!"

"But Shinji, you're so easy to get a reaction out of!"

Ritsuko joined in the mockery; "But nowhere as easy as it is to make fun of you, Misato."

"You shut your mouth!"

Shinji changed the subject. "Dr. Akagi, you know Rei better than we do, is she always so…aloof?"

"She's a really sweet, nice girl when she knows and trusts you, she's just doesn't really know how to live a real life. She was the First Child identified by the Marduk Report, taken in by NERV when she was young. Unlike you, Shinji, she's a real orphan, no family or historical records whatsoever. Commander Ikari was the only real influence on her for years, and she's completely loyal to him, especially after the activation test rescue."

"I read about that, my dad was involved?"

"Officially, his participation was written out, but in reality, he got Rei out of the crashed entry plug by hand."

"And that's why she trusts him so much, right?"

"Well, it's the latest in a line of things he's done for her, but yes."

Shinji felt a foreboding sense of bad news as he walked through the construction projects on the cheap side of town and saw the battle damaged building Ritsuko gave him directions to.

"…Apartment 402. This building is falling apart." Shinji ringed the broken doorbell to no effect, and knocked forcefully with no answer. He opened the unlocked door and stopped for a moment in the kitchen hallway. "Rei! Are you home, it's Shinji, I have a delivery for you." He went ahead into the main room and saw the dust-covered floor and walls, old and damaged bed, and the small refrigerator and medicine chest. = Why would Rei want to live in a place like this? Maybe I'll just drop the card off and go. = He walked over to her clothes dresser and saw a pair of broken glasses. = I've never seen her wear these before. = Shinji reached to pick them up as his Sensei's words from years past filled his head = "Shinji, you aren't allowed to take things that don't belong to you, you have to learn the difference between right and wrong." = "You're right, Sensei," Shinji said to nobody as he withdrew his hand. He heard a door shut, turned around, and started choking on his own drool.

Rei was standing behind him, slippers on her feet and hair wrapped up in a towel, but other than that, the only thing she was wearing was air.

"R-r-Re-Rei," Shinji was gurgling out, he quickly whipped around, facing away from her, "you were in the s-shower, s-sorry, keep getting dressed."

"Pilot Ikari, what are you doing here?"

"Uhh…uhh…The Card! Ritsuko had me deliver this to you!" He eventually remembered, as he tried to blink away the image of the beautiful girl that walked in on him. "Where did I put it?"

Rei walked by him, uncaringingly giving him a view of her slim shoulders and shapely legs, took the glasses he was staring at and walked over to her school dress, laid out for another drab day in her existence. She walked out of the room by the time Shinji found her new identification, and he ran out after her when he heard her door shut.

As she made her way into the ground-level NERV entrance, she was held up at the automated security gate, the card she was carrying would not pass the security swipe. Shinji walked up behind her and ran her new card before offering it to her. "Like I was trying to say, all of our accounts were reset, Ritsuko had me get your new badge." She snatched it from his hand and went through the gate, the door closing in his face.

He caught up to her on the massive escalator going down into the complex, and felt the need to ask her about the day's programs.

"I know your new activation test is today, Rei, are you worried about it?"

"What should I worry for?"

"Well, I heard the test went bad last time, and you really got hurt in it."

"As Commander Ikari's son, do you not believe in your father's work?"

"Uh no, I've never believed in him, how could I!?"

Rei about-faced, stepped up to Shinji, swung her open hand, and Shinji's trained reflexes took over his body.

= She's trying to slap me, she thinks I insulted dad! Bend backwards, block her hand! =

Rei watched as Shinji moved into a balanced backbend and shot his right hand into the air, catching her own. Shinji slowly recoiled, loosening his hold on her but not letting go.

"Rei, Dr. Akagi told me how close you and my dad are, I understand if that comment made you mad, but you have to realize, he sent me away when I was three years old. I envy the relationship you two have, I'm jealous of you for that, but I'm just not capable of trusting him yet."

He let her go and walked past her to the locker rooms as she contemplated his statements.

"He feels that I am his father's replacement for him. He is depressed because of it, but, when his hand took my own, it felt warm…alive?"

She looked gently at Gendo's broken glasses as she fit her plugsuit for the test. When she entered the Eva loading pools, Shinji was already syncing with Unit 01. He saw his father make his way to Unit 00, and Rei practically glowing as she talked to him.

= Ritsuko was right, she does come alive when he's around. = He issued a voice command, "Magnify. 8X" He watched the two conversing. = I've never said that many words to dad, ever…=

"Alright, Rei, are you ready?" Gendo asked.

"Yes, Commander Ikari."

"Begin Unit 00 reactivation." Rei felt her mind joined to the unstable Unit, and almost noticed something missing between it and her, but the feeling wasn't strong enough to know what...

...The test went smoothly, Rei looked again at the glasses hanging from the plug controls. She smiled and breathed in and out, feeling safe in her Unit for the first time.

A/N: Why did you change the apartment scene!? I hear you all asking. I just couldn't believe that Shinji had never been taught to keep his hands to himself.