Human After All
CHAPTER 2: THE MAN WHO IS AFRAID OF SHOWING HIS LOVE
The sound of birds chirping filled the morning air as both police and TV cars rushed towards GEHRIN's building.
Breaking news: Good morning, Tokyo-3. Today we will be talking about the incident that happened at GEHRIN's base. As some of you know, two days ago a brilliant scientist by the name of Yui Ikari died in an incident inside the labs. The police are not sure of the background events but a popular belief is that Gendo Ikari, her husband, is at fault. Due to these events, the GEHRIN building is being locked down by the government for further research on the matter and won't open until 2012. My name is Aika Satō and this was the news.
Gendo got up from his couch and turned the TV off. Looking at the watch on his wall, he made his way towards Shinji's room to wake him up. Once inside, he shook his son gently and said, "Shinji, wake up. You'll be late for kindergarten."
"Mmm, don wanna." Shinji said, half asleep.
Gendo opened the curtain, "If you wake up now, you'll eat your Miso Shiru warm."
In an instant, the young boy got up. Gendo sighed.
"Go wash your hands first, I'll be at the table." With that, Gendo left the room and let his son dress.
After they ate breakfast, Gendo drove Shinji to kindergarten. They were accompanied by a woman Shinji hadn't seen before.
"Dad, who is the lady?"
She turned from her seat and smiled sweetly at the boy, "I'm not surprised you don't remember me. I am a friend of your dad. Naoko Akagi."
"Miss Akagi will be joining us these days due to work." Gendo commented from the driving seat, his eyes never leaving the road.
"Okay." Shinji replied back.
"Will mommy be there too?"
The car halted abruptly.
"..."
"Shinji, your mother will not be there." Naoko said, trying to calm the situation.
"Why not?"
"Yui is gone." Gendo said coldly.
The car engine started again as Gendo started driving.
"Will mom be back?"
Through the rearview mirror, Gendo watched his son, thinking if he should just give the truth.
'Take care of Shinji dear.'
"I don't know."
After they had dropped Shinji at the kindergarten, they went back inside the GEHRIN building. How much he hated that place now.
"Your son was really cute, Ikari. I can see why Yui loved him so much. He reminds me of my daughter when she was little." Naoko said, wanting to break the silence as they walked down the hallway.
Or so would everyone think. He knew very well what she was trying to do. That hag.
After a small chat, they finally entered the room where they had observed Yui making contact with the Eva.
"Ah, the two of you are finally here." Fuyutsuki commented from his seat.
"You have been getting quite the dirt on your name, Ikari." With that said, he gently pushed the newspaper towards Gendo. Picking it up, he read the first headline.
Scientist Yui Ikari was confirmed dead today in the morning.
The culprit is presumed to be her husband, Gendo Ikari. Sources say marriage had always been a business strategy, and nothing more.
Below the header, is an image of Gendo and one of the members of SEELE shaking hands. His face was circled, with "MURDERER" written next to it.
"Well?"
"Nothing for us to be concerned about. They don't know anything about me or my relationship with Yui. They just want to cause drama for their pockets." Gendo put the paper down and took a seat on the computer near the window.
"How is it?" he asked Fuyutsuki.
"There is brain signal, but it doesn't seem to want to wake up anytime soon." Fuyutsuki reported.
"And Yui?"
"We managed to retrieve her plugsuit, but there isn't single evidence of her in there. We can only theorize that the Eva somehow turned her back to a primordial state."
"She's there, but we can't see her. Only she can through the eyes of the Eva." Naoko answered him.
"And the old men?"
"They call it a failure," Fuyutsuki said from his seat. "Now they are talking with the German branch of GEHRIN to start their own test on Unit 02 since we don't have any other Eva at the moment." Then he stopped typing for a moment.
"They also say GEHRIN will be closed soon. The name now has dirt on it so they will do everything to clear up this mess."
Gendo moved from his seat to look at his professor's face, "What about the experiments here? The MAGI and Unit 01?"
"They will be transferred below the Dogma. On top of it they will build the headquarters of our new organization. NERV." Fuyutsuki answered him.
"MAGI is 50% done. I am having some issues with the other parts of the brain constantly disagreeing with one another and some bugs with the 666 firewall." Naoko said.
"Good. I trust you on this, Miss Akagi."
"Please, you can just call me Naoko." She said to him with a small blush. Fuyutsuki on the other hand was frowning at her. Just then, the phone rang and Fuyutsuki answered.
"Yes? Yes, mister Ikari is here…I understand." The professor told Gendo to come to his seat for a moment. "It's the teacher from Shinji's kindergarten. They ask for you."
Gendo nodded and took the phone, "Yes, this is Gendo."
"Hello, mister Ikari. I am so sorry to bother you at this time but we need your help with Shinji."
Gendo frowned, "Is something wrong with him?"
"No no, he is fine. It's just that a moment ago he fought with his cousin. From what my colleague said, their cousin told him you had killed his…his mom." The teacher said.
'That little brat.'
"I understand, I will be there." With that, he closed the phone and removed the lab coat.
"I have to go. Any progression today, send it to our shared folder. I'll be dealing with it over at home."
"I will. Take care, Ikari." Fuyutsuki said.
"Goodbye, Gendo." Naoko said.
Reaching the kindergarten, Gendo knocked on the door and waited for it to open. The sun had disappeared from the sky, blocked by the clouds. Judging from the smell in the air, it would rain soon enough.
Finally, the door opened. "Thank you for coming, Mister Ikari, Shinji is waiting inside."
As he entered the room, he found his son sitting down on the carpet with a car toy. He was so quiet. Like he himself had once been.
"Shinji, your father is here."
Hearing that, Shinji turned his head and saw his father. Slowly, the boy got up and made his way towards him and gently hugged his leg. Gendo himself only rested his hand on his son's head, and surprising himself, he gently caressed him.
"I want to go home."
"We will now." Gendo turned to the teacher, "I will deal with him at home. I'll make sure that this doesn't happen again."
"Thank you, but I understand why your son would react like that. Not every kid loses-" they heard a little sniff from the boy.
Now it was raining. The drive back home had been quiet.
"Dad?"
Gendo nodded from his seat, not removing his eyes from the window.
"Did you kill mom?"
"No."
"But why did cousin say you did?"
Gendo sighed. "He doesn't know anything, he just listened to lies made by humans."
"Dad?"
"Yes?"
"Do you love me?"
Gendo's eyes widened at that question. Of course, he loved him… but he was afraid. He had always been afraid.
Flashback
"Don't you want to hold him?" Yui asked from her bed. Mari and Fuyutsuki had long left the hospital room.
"I…don't know, I think he's better in your hands." Gendo answered.
"Oh stop being scared, he doesn't bite. Right, Shinji?" She asked her son and nuzzled him. The baby whimpered a little.
"I-"
"Don't be scared, dear. Here, I'll help you." She grabbed his hand and gently moved it to their baby. Shinji opened his eyes and looked at his dad. A small smile started to form on his face.
The warmth Gendo felt in his heart was…something he had not felt before. His son was so small and fragile, yet a single smile from him made him smile too.
"I think he likes his big grumpy dad." Yui commented and laughed at her husband's smile.
End of flashback
"I do." He answered.
As they finally entered the apartment, Shinji went to his bed and fell asleep. Gendo went to his room. Only now did it dawn on him, how empty it was.
The sheets were in the same state he had left them that morning. Yui's folders were still open from the day before the test. Gendo slowly walked to her desk and looked at it. A small mental image appeared, of Yui being there, smiling at him.
"Yui…" he clenched his fist, "I'm so scared. So scared to show him more love."
To be continued…
Author note: I kept my promise in the end, very sorry for such a short chapter but I felt that if I made it longer it would drag, I wanted to save some scenes for future chapters.
I apologize for such a long time on posting this story, I will promise to drop more chapters before my second year of Uni starts again.
Thanks once again to YourBlandestNightmare for beta reading.