Evangeli-Moon

Three

Shinji Ikari smiled as the brown haired young man dished up dinner, glad to have the whole family together tonight. With their jobs keeping them all busy it was hard to get everyone together at one night, but in the aftermath of the angel attack they were finally all here.

"Hey, Shinji," Misato smiled as she got up from the table, "do you need some help serving?"

"I wouldn't mind a hand," Shinji admitted to his 'big sister.'

Misato had been taken in by the Ikaris after she had been found floating in Antarctica, and he had almost always known her as a honorary big sister. She had babysit him and Rei, helped them with school while she took her GED, college and university classes and had even been the object of a mild crush. I mean, yes they were raised together, but Misato was awfully sexy...

"Hmm, smells good," Misato grinned as they carried plates in and set them around the table.

Gendo Ikari nodded, smiling slightly, while Yui beamed and Rei grinned. "You are going to make someone a lovely wife someday, bro," Rei teased.

"And you're going to need a wife with your inability to cook," Shinji shot back with a grin as everyone gave the traditional thanks for the food.

"Down, you too," Yui chided them gently, her brown hair falling into her eyes.

"Sorry, Mom," both kids chorused.

"How did practice go today?" Gendo asked gruffly. Their father tried, but Shinji always got the feeling the man was deeply uncomfortable being a father. On the other hand he had finally shaved off the creepy beard, so things were improving a bit.

"Now that I finally have the cast off, pretty good," Rei admitted, flexing her hand. "I'll have to do strengthening exercises for a bit, though."

"We're working on some coordinated attacks with Unit-01 and 00," Shinji admitted as they ate happily. "Do we know when the rifle prototype will be coming in?"

Misato looked at the two with a thoughtful look, "Using Rei as a sniper?"

Once again Shinji was faintly surprised at how fast Misato could be. "With the issues Unit-00 has, we decided it might be a good plan," Shinji admitted, "what do you think?"

"Because 00 is the prototype, it isn't as physically agile as your unit," Misato conceded, "but I think Rei makes up for that with pure gung-ho attitude."

"Gee, thanks," Rei laughed.

"You know what I mean," Misato gestured with her chop sticks.

Shinji did know what she meant, of course. He and Rei were similar in build and looks, of course, but very different in attitude. Where he was mostly easy going, she was both highly intelligent and driven, focused like a laser. She clearly had inherited her mother's scientific genius, even though she got dad's hair. Doctor Akagi even 'borrowed' Rei to assist in her lab, whenever she got the time.

He himself was more artistic, Shinji liked to think. He played the cello, sketched and had even appeared in a drama society play. Of course his hobbies had to take a second place to Evangelion, but he had accepted that after a few rough moments. It had been Misato who helped him when he had resented being a pilot candidate, helping him see it was a honor, not a trial.

"We're doing pretty well in practice," Shinji noted with a smile, "except when Misato takes over and kills us."

Yui gave Misato a amused look, "Is this training or fun?"

"Bit of both?" Misato shrugged. She sipped her tea, though from the look on her face she would have preferred something stronger, "From Shinji's fight with Sachiel, it looks like they might be smarter than we thought. It clearly recovered faster than expected, and used terrain advantages."

"Another reason I want a rifle," Rei noted mildly as she munched, "at least that was we can retract the buildings, Shinji pins it, takes out the AT-Field and I nail the core."

"Sounds like a plan," Shinji nodded.

"Assuming we don't run into a Angel with a force field," Gendo noted.

"Pessimist," Yui chided, poking her husband in the side.

Shinji bit back a laugh as his dad blushed, the two adults exchanging smiles. It was oddly comforting to see two people as in love as their parents were, even if Shinji sometimes found it annoying too. He had always had the gut feeling his had was mildly jealous of the time Yui took to take care of them...

Rei finished off her food and sat back with a sigh, "Ah, that was good,."

Misato was done nearly as fast, sitting back with a satisfied sigh. Shinji, can I keep you as a slave boy?" she asked jokingly.

"No," Shinji told her, fighting back a laugh.

"No slave boys," Yui laughed, too, shaking her head. "Misato, you really need to learn to cook for yourself," she told her.

"Why? As long as I have my microwave, I'm good," Misato shrugged.

"Ugh," Shinji shuddered.

Changing the subject Yui looked at her kids fondly as she asked, "Does your study group have a session tonight?"

"No," Rei shook her head, "but we're meeting up with Mana, Hikari and Toji tomorrow during lunch." She looked at Shinji, "Could you pack a bit extra in case Kensuke shows up again?"

"Yeah, sure," Shinji agreed, knowing poor Ken had a crush on Rei. Of course, he had his suspicions who Rei really liked...

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Evangelion pilot trainee Mana Kirishima smiled as she entered the suite of her host, the officer chosen to keep an eye on her at NERV. "I'm home," the slim, brown haired girl called out, taking her shoes off at the door.

"Welcome home," Maya Ibuki answered, the darker brown haired officer smiling at the girl kindly. Maya had volunteered to host a trainee when Yui decided to start preparing pilots for future Evangelion Units, and so far it was working out well.

Mana was a bit of a physical opposite to Maya, but the two got along well despite that. Where Maya was a short, scientific type Mana was taller, slim and athletic. She was already on the school track team, and was also a member of the karate dojo.

"How was school?" Maya asked as she prepared a quick dinner for them both.

"Pretty well," Mana smiled warmly as she put her school bag away. She walked into the kitchen and gently nudged Maya away from the stir-fry, "Let me get that."

Maya had to smile, watching the young woman cook. She could be oddly timid at times, but put her in a kitchen and she was right at home. "Are the bullies at school still being a problem?" Maya asked curiously as she sat at a nearby table.

"Uhm," Mana looked kind of sheepish, "I sort of took care of them."

"You didn't throw the first punch did you?" Maya had to ask.

"No, no," Mana smiled as she finished frying up dinner, "they punched first, and my classmate Hikari was a witness."

"Why didn't you get Shinji and Rei involved?" Maya had to ask

"We all work for NERV," Mana offered reasonably as they dished up the food and sat down to eat, "people might think they were biased in my favor."

"Hmm, this is good," Maya sighed as she munched, the meat cooked just right even as the vegetables still had enough crunch. 'How does she do that?' she wondered.

"Thank you," Mana smiled. She ate her own food, being careful not to do so too quickly, and asked, "Uhm, where did Captain Katsuragi come from?"

"She's the only survivor of the Katsuragi expedition to the south pole," Maya answered straight forwardly, "why?"

"I don't know," Mana admitted as she drank some tea, "but there's... something oddly familiar about her. I can't really explain it though."

"Hmm," Maya nodded. In fact Maya knew a bit more than what she told Mana, including that Misato was a amnesiac that the Ikari's had rescued. But that was confidential information, not something she felt right about revealing.

"Never mind, it's nothing," Mana decided. She smiled at Maya shyly, "Uhm, are you busy tonight? I could use some help on my homework..."

Maya chuckled softly, "Sure, it's not a problem."

"Thank you so much," Mana sighed. She smiled wryly, "I'm good at the athletics, but academics are... not so good."

"Do you study with your classmates?" Maya asked curiously.

"I like to study with Shinji, Rei and the others," Mana admitted, "but I feel bad about the extra time Rei spends helping me."

"Do you think she really minds?" Maya asked, smiling slightly.

Mana blushed, "No, but..."

Maya had to fight back a smile. It really looked like Mana had a crush on Rei, and in her eyes it was adorable. She was tempted to try to nudge things along, but wasn't sure it was a good idea. Instead she said mildly, "I'll do what I can."

"Thank you," Mana smiled.

Later that evening she was in her room, listening to music on a old personal music player. She felt... torn as she looked up at the ceiling, wishing she could tell Miss Ibuki about the strange feelings she had. When she was studying with Rei she didn't just want to be close to her.. she wanted to hug her, even kiss the other girl on the lips!

'I'm sure there's no one else as freakish as I am,' Mana thought with a weary sigh. And she didn't dare tell the other girl, for fear of scaring her off. "One of these days, I'll tell her,' Mana promised herself, even though she knew she probably wouldn't.

The phone rang, there was a garbled conversation and then Misato yelled, "Mana, phone call!"

"Who is it?" Mana answered as she got up from the bed.

"Rei Ikari," Misato answered, and Mana nearly ran to get to the phone.

To be continued...

Notes: Yes, I'm mixing canons for the various Evangelion series. Mana is from the game 'Girlfriend of Steel' though I'm mostly just grabbing the name, not the other character details.