Creation began on 02-27-17

Creation ended on 03-01-17

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Bloodless Ties, Orphan of Hurt

A/N: The idea came to me recently, and, to my knowledge, no story of this sort has ever been attempted by anyone.

The last she ever heard of them, they had taken him from her…and left her for dead in that insufferable hospital where her father had died. It nearly shattered her with heartache when she found out from her mother what happened when she herself had been informed by her elder sister, but the only thing that kept her from losing what little sanity she had left was the thought of seeing him again, to find him and take him away from this nightmare she felt he was trapped inside of by them. And now, after almost fifteen years of getting her life together and trying to find him, she had gotten a tip from a friend of her dead boyfriend that he was in Tokyo-3, that so-called fortress city that was constantly being attacked by giant monsters, and that was where she was driving towards.

I know he's still alive, she thought, wanting so much to see him after only seeing him once. I can't disbelieve my own heart.

In a folder on the passenger seat of her car was a picture of a fourteen-year-old boy with solemn look on his face. His eyes were the deepest, primordial brown known to the world.

She looked at the picture and thought of her father, his grandfather, whom he looked like a little in his early-teens.

"I'm looking forward to meeting you…Shinji."

-x-

As of late, Shinji just had a feeling. It wasn't a premonition or a vague glimpse into the unknown, but it was just a feeling of unease. It was like there was something unclear, or even unresolved, that was going to happen, eventually. Even in the Entry Plug of the Eva, just days after the battle with the Seventh Angel, which surprised everyone by being able to work as a pair against Units-01 and 02, the boy didn't feel like there was some sort of unwanted connection between him and the purple behemoth.

"…His synchronization with the Eva dropped by three percent, Dr. Akagi," went Maya to Ritsuko as they monitored the test between the Evas and the pilots.

"Well, he did see his father yesterday at the cemetery," Ritsuko stated, suggesting that the anniversary of the passing of his mother was a contributing factor to the drop in his scoring.

"Did you ever hear of that rumor that started shortly after the Fifth Angel attacked?" Maya asked her. "It was after Shinji was injured. He lost two pints of blood and required a transfusion."

"I only heard there was no time to do so, so he was infused with synthetic plasma instead," Ritsuko explained.

"But that's where the rumor starts. One of the nurses ran the blood he lost to try and find the right blood type, and she saw something that didn't add up."

"What was this?"

"It might've been a lab error, but Shinji's blood didn't match with Commander Ikari's. Most of the personnel's blood type is O-Positive and B-Negative, but Shinji's blood work came back as AB-Negative. Commander Ikari's blood type is A-Positive. You know what that means?"

Now Ritsuko was curious. Being a polymath, she understood that blood types revealed many things about people, including their heritage. But if the rumor was more than just a rumor, then something was clearly not right about what was going on here. Something completely not right about this at all.

"Maya," she uttered, "for now, it would be best if you didn't mention this to anyone else."

-x-

The park was quiet, but being there didn't lift Shinji' spirits. Maybe it was the lack of people or even the feeling of loneliness, but it didn't help put a smile on his face. As he sat on a bench, he watched the world pass him by.

"…Uh, I'm sorry, young man," he turned to the right and looked up at a woman standing nearby, "but is it alright if I sit down?"

She was about Misato's height, give or take, with ebony hair that probably reached past her shoulders, and brownish eyes, dressed in an outfit that looked like a black or dark blue sailor uniform with a green neckerchief.

"Uh, yes, of course," he responded, and she sat down next to him.

"Thank you," she praised him.

Suddenly, Shinji felt at ease, like his problems seemed to lessen.

"I'm Fusei Hitode, by the way," the woman introduced herself.

"Shinji Ikari," he responded, feeling more elated.

"Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you, too."

They both looked at the skyscrapers of the city away from the park.

"Nice city," Fusei spoke up.

"It's not all that nice," Shinji told her. "I mean, it gets attacked by giant monsters every time. It's hard to live in a place like this."

"Really?"

"The only times it seems this city isn't so awful is when there aren't any attacks."

"Wow."

Shinji wasn't sure why, but he felt comfortable talking to this woman, Fusei Hitode. And then, he noticed that she was looking at him oddly, like she had an epiphany of some sort.

"I'm sorry, do I have something on my face?" He asked her.

"No," she answered him. "Your face is fine. Just fine."

-x-

"…The rumor started, supposedly, after the Third Child was attacked by the Fifth Angel and he required a blood transfusion," Ritsuko informed Commander Ikari in his office later that evening. "How is it that he's of a rare blood type and has no relation to you?"

Even Fuyutsuki was curious about this, and the last time he ever checked, Yui was O-Negative. The fact that Shinji's blood type was AB-Negative meant that there was either a lab error made years ago…or the Third Child had no relation to either Yui or Gendo. If he was their child, he would've inherited either parent's blood type, which meant that he had to be someone else's child.

"Did you check for errors yourself?" Gendo asked her.

"Twice," she answered him.

"Check again."

-x-

"…I actually start my new job tomorrow, and I just got here earlier this afternoon," Fusei told Shinji, later inviting him to dinner at a ramen stand.

"But why would you want to come to Tokyo-3?" Shinji asked, setting his chopsticks down over his bowl. "There aren't many good opportunities here in the city. What could you possibly bring you here?"

As she picked up a dumpling, the woman responded, "For as long as I could remember, I've spent the last years of my life looking for something to give it meaning, something precious and irreplaceable. I've been looking for so long, I've forgotten nearly everything else. Why are you living here?"

"Me? Oh, well, it's, uh… I was actually told to come here by my father."

"You were told? You didn't live with him?"

"No. He just dumped me at my aunt and uncle's one day when I was little and we hardly ever saw each other."

"That's terrible. Why did he want you here?"

"To work for him."

"That's even worse."

"If only you knew how much worse."

Fusei gave him a small smile and then resumed her meal.

"Haven't you ever wanted to do something that you wanted to do before?" She asked him later.

"No," he answered; in all honesty, Shinji didn't have any dreams or ambitions. "I have never aspired to anything."

"Well, that's not good. You're, what, fourteen right now? You really need a goal that you can look forward to. Maybe a hobby of sorts. There's gotta be something you like, at least."

"Uh, there's cooking. I like to cook different dishes."

"I do, too."

Shinji felt like he could tell this woman anything, and he only met her just this afternoon. He didn't even know why, but he definitely felt a calming presence being near her. And now…he had the strangest feeling that he couldn't comprehend properly. It was different from what he felt about Ayanami…even different from what he felt about his father.

But what? And why?

"Oh, my gosh," went Fusei, checking her watch on her left hand. "It's almost ten. You should get home now, Shinji."

"Oh?" He reacted, then realized that Misato and Asuka would probably cause him tension to no end if he was out any later than now. "Oh… Yeah, it is getting late out."

He was about to take out his wallet to pay for his meal, but Fusei gently touched his right arm and stopped him.

"There's no need for you to do that," she told him. "Please, don't worry about it. Go rest up for the next day."

"I… Thank you," he said kindly to her, getting up and picking up his backpack. "I hope you have a great experience while you're here in Tokyo-3."

"And I hope you have a great day tomorrow, Shinji. Good night."

"Good night."

As he left, Fusei felt the impulse to make sure he got back to his guardian's home, but sighed at how too soon it felt to get her hopes up for something that she needed to clarify first. She had just met Shinji…and she still wanted to know more about him before she decided to talk about how she felt she had found what she had been looking for at long last. Turning to pay for the dinner, she saw the vendor picking up Shinji's bowl.

"Excuse me, sir," she spoke to him, looking at the wooden chopsticks Shinji had used, "but could you leave the chopsticks alone? I'll be taking them with me."

"But, miss, they're just disposables," he told her.

"Not everything is disposable," she told him, reaching into her bag and taking out a small, plastic bag, similar to the ones you could find at grocery stores. "There's a reason to all that we do. It all depends upon the motivation, the drive."

"But…why the boy's chopsticks?"

"Feeding my curiosity."

To be continued…

A/N: I'll stop here and leave it as another prototype. I'm hoping that it'll get some interest before continuing, eventually. I'm now convinced that nobody has ever tried this before, which makes me the very first to do so. Peace out.