"Good Afternoon Pilot Ikari. I am here to meet Pilot Soryu for our training."

Before he can invite her in, Asuka's voice calls across the room from behind him, "Stop drooling at your girlfriend baka, and let her in out of the heat."

As Rei stepped around Shinji she replied, "Are you not my girlfriend for today Asuka?"

Asuka rolls her eyes, "It's a training exercise, not a practice date, and certainly not a real date."

Rei tilts her head to one side and Asuka comes over to hug her.

From where they are standing, Shinji can see the faint smile on Rei's face and is convinced she looks smug. She's also wearing a different but similar dress to the one from a couple of days ago.

"Umm.. Rei?" he asks blushing.

"I assume there's a reason you're staring at my girlfriend's arse from over there, pervert."

"I will not cause an unintentional incident Shinji, you do not need to be concerned."

Asuka looks between the two of them, "Do I even want to know?"

"No," interjects Shinji before Rei can elaborate.

"Whatever. Are you ready to go, Rei?"

"Yes Pilot-Sensei."

Asuka is following Rei through the streets of the shopping district somewhat bewildered and absolutely not admiring the way Rei looks in yet another sundress. She was supposed to be the shopping expert, but the conversation hadn't started well and she seemed to have completely lost control over the whole process.

As they had left the apartment, Rei had asked "What is our first destination?"

Asuka had explained to Rei what they were looking for in order to expand her wardrobe to include clothing suitable for casual dating.

"So wherever you got that dress is where we'll start."

"No."

"No? What do you mean 'no'? Obviously wherever it is caters to your tastes."

"We are to learn the correct social conventions. We should shop at places other people do."

And that had been all Rei had been willing to say on the subject, so they were walking seemingly endless streets and she was following Rei around.

Rei meanwhile was walking past every storefront, looking in the windows as she approached, very occasionally going as far as the doorway, and moving on to the next.

Finally she found somewhere that met whatever her standards were and disappeared inside. Asuka sighed gratefully and followed her in. Hopefully it wouldn't take as long to find something suitable.

If Asuka had glanced at the sign on the door rather than just absentmindedly following Rei around, she might have had second thoughts.

"What are you looking for?" she asks Rei with some trepidation.

Rei's voice is her usual clear tone, quite audible across the small store, "Something more suitable for the next time I sleep with Shinji."

"Rei!" splutters Asuka.

"Yes, Asuka?" Rei looks at her, "Did I say something incorrectly? Shinji is comfortable to sleep with. I wish to do so again."

Asuka recovers enough to explain, "I realise you meant that literally, but sleep with is also a euphemism for sex. As we are standing between the nightdresses and the lingerie, people would assume you are looking for something to wear for that."

"They would be incorrect. I have not had sexual intercourse with Shinji."

"I could wear the clothing you previously bought for me," Rei pauses to watch the blush creeping across Asuka's face, "or sleep naked as is my preference." The blush is no longer creeping. "I want him to be comfortable. Neither of those options would achieve that."

As Rei looks through the available items, Asuka is in desperate need of a distraction, and the one she gave Shinji is part of what she needs a distraction from. On the one hand mine. On another, Rei's taste and selection of clothing for herself has obviously exceeded Asuka's ability to do so for her. On a third, Rei definitely looked cute in the items she had not worn to sleep with Shinji. On the fourth, she didn't want to be thinking about them sleeping together again - if nothing else she hadn't gone a night without nightmares unless she had Shinji with her. The obvious solution to that was for them to sleep on opposite sides of her idiot. Asuka had had some ridiculous thoughts about this whole situation, but that was possibly a record of some sort. Besides, then she'd need to buy something nicer than the t-shirts, tops or sports bras she wore to bed or Rei would upstage her there too, and she wasn't wearing anything like that around Shinji, he might finally get ideas she didn't want him to have. She is most definitely in need of a distraction before her brain gets totally out of hand.

At least Shinji had found the dress she was wearing, which was indeed cooler and made her look less out of place next to Rei. How the hell did she end up with the least fashion sense of the three of them?!

Which was the point that Rei returned carrying something that would look absolutely terrible on her.

"That might be comfortable, but I don't think it's going to qualify as 'aesthetically pleasing' unless you're colour-blind. Which none of us are."

Rei passes it to her, "It will on you."

Then she turns and heads towards the changing rooms with her remaining items, leaving Asuka wondering if that was entirely coincidental or if Rei has somehow developed mind-reading. Given what she was thinking about a few minutes ago, Asuka really hoped it was the former.

Thankfully in the next store that Rei deemed acceptable for her business, the discussion was about what qualified as casual date vs serious date and what clothing was appropriate for which. It turned out that Rei looked stunning in a kimono if you picked the right colours, but then Rei looked good in almost everything she tried on.

Obviously the kimono was not an option for the date Asuka was planning, but perhaps fortunately the store clerk had handed them a card for a different store with the recommendation that they shop there for one that would fit as well as what Rei was currently wearing. Rei of course had still refused to tell Asuka where she'd gotten that.

In the end, the only thing they actually purchased was a pair of shorts that were almost identical to a pair Asuka was starting to wonder if she'd left in Germany after all. Except Rei's were in a colour that suited her better, as she was apparently well on her way to completely optimising her 'aesthetically pleasing' algorithm. That it showed off Rei's legs as well as the missing pair did Asuka's was obviously an indication of Asuka's excellent sense of style.

Asuka is watching Rei eat ice-cream, which is a lot more interesting than it sounds, and it wasn't as if either of them would get the chance with Shinji. She's almost accepted that Shinji and Rei are not actually dating, but has decided that you probably couldn't tell the difference even if they were.

The part of her brain that was not occupied enjoying Rei enjoying ice-cream was busily restructuring the training.

Her idiot is, well, an idiot. Not only has he never played for Rei, he's never even brought her something to eat that he hasn't made himself, never-mind taken her out for something as simple as ice-cream. So "how to not screw up a date with Rei" now needs a remedial course on dating to even have it qualify as a date.

Rei needs more practical examples: an encyclopedic knowledge of the philosophy of friendships, had to be told that her probably-not-a-boyfriend-after-all would find her holding his hand reassuring. Shinji had even had to teach her to smile when she's happy. Obviously she can't do demonstrations, any more than she could hold Shinji's hand this morning, but she can move them somewhere closer to where the school students will be once they get out.

Asuka tries to get Rei's attention, "Hey, Wondergirl?"

Rei stops, a moment later Asuka turns back having realised she's left Rei behind.

"Do not call me that."

"Why not?"

"Wondergirl. First." Rei mimics Asuka's tone from early in their relationship, before they were friends, "You use them in a derogatory manner."

"At Nerv, please refer to me as Ayanami, or Pilot Ayanami if you need to be formal. When we are somewhere where it is safe to acknowledge we are friends, I am Rei.

"Although I do not mind the occasional use of Vündergirl," she adds, duplicating Asuka's accented affectionate and admiring tone, practically caressing the word, "while we are on our date."

"It's not a date, it's a training exercise, remember.

"And if you can do that, Vündergirl," Asuka asks before attempting to speak in Rei's monotone, "Why do you talk like this all the time?"

Rei reverts back to her usual not-quite-monotone, "Each word takes practice. It is not my voice."

Rei decides that as Asuka brought up the training, a lesson is not out of place.

"Vündergirl is only acceptable because I can distinguish it from Wondergirl" and Rei sneers the word, barely exaggerated from Asuka's most insulting tone to make her point. "Shinj cannot tell baka," Rei spits the word using Asuka's angry voice, "and my baka," doing an almost perfect impression of Asuka's affectionate, almost loving, pronunciation, "apart. So it would probably improve your communication with him if you could find a different way to express yourself."

Having hopefully made her point, Rei continues, "So Asuka, what does Pilot Soryu have planned for us next?"

Asuka handed Rei her cold drink and sat down next to her. If she'd timed this right, the high school students would pass by shortly, and they could either wait for the middle school students coming from the other direction or escape before they were spotted, depending on whether she'd had enough examples to point out to Rei.

They aren't waiting long before most of the students show up in a group.

"So those first two, in Germany they'd obviously be dating. No one holds hands like that at that age if they aren't. Here, they are most likely just friends or they have very accepting families."

Rei nods, "They are good friends. They are not dating each other, they like boys."

Asuka stares at her, "Just because they like boys doesn't mean they aren't dating. There are people who like both. And there's no way you could know that from looking at them."

"Thank you for that information. They are the two girls I witnessed asking Shinji for a date. Therefore they like at least one boy. Was I incorrect to generalise?"

Asuka studied the rest of the group, which illustrated another stark difference between Germany and Japan. Apart from one older boy who was obviously dating the girl next to him, this looked like it was the entire year. Japan already had a declining population, just how many children they'd lost in the second impact and its aftermath had just been one more statistic in a boring lecture that was supposed to be physics. Seeing it in front of her... almost half these girls thought her Invincible Idiot was better than anyone they knew. Well he was her's, and perhaps Rei's, so they'd have to do without.

She looked back at the first two girls, they were pretty enough she supposed, though she doubted their mental capacity if they thought a boy younger than them who was just an excellent cook, a cellist, a comfortable pillow, all the things she'd told Shinji... alright maybe they had a point, though they had better not know about some of those. Anyway, it didn't matter, 'One girl from 3C' - her Shinji hadn't even noticed them.

Asuka shook her head, partly in response to Rei, partly to shake the thoughts from her own head, "It's a reasonable conclusion. If they like one boy, they probably like others, and statistically at least one of them ditched their boyfriend after just hearing about Shinji."

Strange-Asuka tried to point out that Asuka only liked one boy. The rest of Asuka shoved her back in the closet.

Back to the lesson...

After some time of pointing out different people and how they are interacting, Asuka notices Rei is looking... uncertain? puzzled? Something anyway. She's gotten used to Rei actually having these micro-expressions, but that doesn't necessarily mean she can read them.

"What is it?"

"I do not understand why all this is necessary. It seems complicated."

Asuka sighs, "People are complicated. If it were simple, you could have just kissed Shinji already. You try that in the wrong context, the best case is that he's shocked and doesn't respond. Worse case he starts thinking about his mother again and looking for buildings to walk off. So you need the right context and frame of mind."

"I see. Buildings would be more efficient."

Asuka stares at Rei.

"LCL is somewhat denser than water, it would take a fall of seventy metres to impact with sufficient velocity. Onto a solid surface"

Asuka interrupts, "Only twenty, I know. You're both idiots. Do I have to give you the 'you're important to me' speech as well?"

"I am important to you?" Rei's absolutely flat monotone is perhaps more of an indication of surprise than any normal reaction could have been.

Asuka snaps, "No! Of course not! I just spent days planning and training you so you can go on a date and kiss my Shinji because I was bored. For heaven's sake, of course you're fucking important to me."

"I see. You are important to me, Asuka."

Asuka goes from angry to blushing almost instantly, "Oh. Good. We're friends after all. So no dying on me."

"I shall endeavour not to."

Asuka slides an arm around Rei and Rei rests her head on her shoulder. After a few moments they are comfortable, and after a few more Asuka is calm and thinking, trying to find some way to explain to Rei what she's trying to convey. Going through her own experiences for reference is a rather short exercise.

Asuka is suddenly glad that her naive attempts at throwing herself at Kaji had been unsuccessful. Not that she wanted to re-live the embarrassment and rejection, thank you brain, but the same brain was putting that together with something Hikari said about closeness and Shinji. She'd lain on Shinji wearing even less than she had with Kaji, but it had been... comfortable. Not that she ever would, but if she'd said the same thing to Shinji, when they were already touching like that the reaction would be completely different. It's even possible his brain wouldn't explode. Rei at least understood the comfortable part, hopefully she could explain without any of the embarrassing things she didn't even want to remember.

"You said you find sleeping with Shinji comfortable."

"I do. You do not?"

"That's not the point. Think about how you felt when you woke up feeling comfortable. Compare that to when you first meet in the morning, or when you've just climbed out of an entry plug and are dripping with LCL.

"Dates are for getting people close to the first one, or finding out if you can or want to, without actually sharing a bed, which normal people don't do."

Rei looks up at Asuka, "I am comfortable with him in all those situations. I am comfortable with you in those which we have shared. I have not yet had the opportunity to sleep in the same bed with you to find out. I see no reason it would not also be comfortable."

Asuka blushes as she realises she has a good idea exactly how comfortable that would be as she'd woken up with Rei sleeping on her Shinji's shoulder. That's a different sort of comfortable than the feeling of Rei's head on her shoulder at the moment, isn't it?

"You said you wanted to sleep next to him again though, so you must have felt some difference."

"Time."

"Huh?"

"I do not know how to explain. I require a word I do not have and which you would not understand."

Asuka laughs ruefully, "Well, I certainly know how that feels. Five languages and I still haven't found a better word than sehnsucht."

"Sehnsucht?" Rei pronounces the word cautiously, as if she's never heard it before. "That is not the kind of word I am looking for. Though it perhaps explains why your word would be different."

Asuka latches on to the part of that that made any sense, "You speak German? Why didn't you tell me?"

Rei shakes her head, "I do not. I can read. The words are often pronounced differently than they are written. I only recognised three of the ingredients in your recipe."

Asuka groans, "Does everyone know?"

"Doctor Akagi is still causing confusion when she addresses you, so I do not believe so. Shinji is struggling with English. I expect it will be some time before he appreciates the humour."

"If he's struggling with English without telling me, and can't understand German, how is he cooking me meals that could have been homemade?"

"Misato."

"What? Misato can't cook!"

"She knows your favourite foods. Shinji most likely supplemented her instructions by asking at the international food market where he buys the appropriate ingredients when they are available. He will have adjusted for your individual tastes based on your criticism."

Asuka grumbles to herself, 'there's an international food market and he didn't tell me? but when would he? I didn't ask, just pointed out when the flavour wasn't quite right.'

Rei interrupts her thoughts before she actually reaches the obvious conclusions.

"How long is acceptable for a date?"

"For a first date? If you didn't know each other, maybe an hour to give each side chance to escape politely." Asuka ignores the fact that she'd done neither. "As long as there's no tests that day, you could probably leave a little after when school would start, that would give you almost ten hours of daylight before you'd have to give him back. Will that be enough?"

"It should be sufficient. It cannot be enough." Rei pauses, "We are going somewhere?"

Asuka nods, "Not far. I'll let you know when I have the details worked out."

Asuka rubs her face, she is running out of ideas.

"Well, there's no point in trying to teach you how to flirt with him. He wouldn't even notice."

Rei nods in agreement, "My efforts would go unnoticed."

This time it was Rei's turn to ask Asuka what was bothering her.

"Children."

"There are none nearby to cause you concern."

"That's the point. The only young kids I can see at the moment are in advertisements. Some of those are even the government trying to bribe people into having at least one child. Back ... back in Germany there would be children everywhere, couples with multiple children, even my father has two more now despite being an arschloch and that's perfectly normal. It's not even a large family until you get to five. Here Hikari has a big family and it's just her two sisters and her Dad.

"When Shinji said he didn't spend any time around younger kids, I thought it was just because he didn't go anywhere, not that there were barely any to be around. No wonder there's more people here like Chihiro's father who hate the idea of two girls being together, no little Japanese children from either of them.

"I think Hikari's dad might be the only half way decent father I know of. Obviously mine isn't, Shinji's manages to be even worse and you never even mention yours."

"I do not have a father. Commander Ikari raised me."

Asuka snorts, "Shinji's done more for you since I've known him than Commander Arsehole. Even he'd make a better father."

"I do not wish to be in a parental relationship with Shinji."

"Good. Because that would make you kissing him revolting."

Strange-Asuka had a question, which nothing managed to interrupt before the thought reached her mouth.

"So you don't want his children either?"

"I cannot have Shinji's children, so the question is irrelevant."

Asuka was almost convinced Rei looked sad. For a moment her curiosity argued with the question of whether asking about it would make Rei more sad or be supportive. Obviously she didn't want a sad Rei, but also this was a sentence not a 'No' and wasn't part of the point of this training to help Rei actually talk? 'The sky is blue.'

Asuka holds a stray strand of Rei's hair for a moment before tucking it back behind her ear.

"Oh. Your genetics?"

"I do not have the necessary internal organs."

"What the hell? What did they do to you?"

Rei is silent for long enough that Asuka starts to think she's tripped one of Rei's can't talk about it triggers.

"I do not wish to talk about it here."

Asuka nods and squeezes Rei's hand, "Whenever you're ready," she adds gently.

It's still uncomfortably hot, but Asuka leads them on a somewhat circuitous route back to the apartment, avoiding the roads and trains that might be full of people, especially people they might know. She manages to take them through the shaded edge of a small park, but notably not past wherever Rei had acquired her dress. Apparently she would need a bigger bribe to find out that piece of information.

"May I hold your hand?"

Asuka looks down, looking somewhat puzzled to find that she was not already doing so.

"Sure," she takes Rei's hand, holding it gently and rubbing her thumb lightly across the back, it felt the same as it had a moment before Rei had asked. First she doesn't notice she's touching Shinji, now she doesn't notice she's not touching Rei. This whole Shinji and Rei date thing is clearly completely throwing her off balance.

Asuka and Rei are standing at the threshold of the apartment, somewhat tired from all the walking and conversation.

"So if this were a date, you should stop there; thank the person for an enjoyable time, even if was not; then you say goodbye politely and go home."

She already knows Shinji is out of hearing range as long as she does not raise her voice. She knows what she has to do, she's just delaying doing so.

"If you still wanted to ask Shinji, this is probably the best time for you to do it."

"May I?"

Asuka relaxes preemptively in anticipation of Rei hugging her at the familiar question and nods.

So she is utterly unprepared for the softness of Rei's lips caressing hers. Or the sense of loss when she stops.

"Was that acceptable?" intrudes Rei's question into her scrambled thoughts.

"Y..Y.. ." stammers out Asuka in a distinctly Shinji-like manner.

The still functioning part of Asuka decides she had better correct Rei before she makes the same mistake with Shinji, "Ask properly next time. 'May I?' is how you've asked for hugs for nearly two months. If you're going to ask for something new, you need to be clear. Not this Japanese guess-the-meaning-from-context crap."

"May I kiss you?"

"Yes, like that."

Asuka really should have known better. This is Rei. This is Rei kissing her softly, again.