LITTLE MATCH GIRL
by Gunman

Disclaimer: I do not own Eva or it's characters.

Summary: Gendo is dead and Shinji and Rei celebrate Christmas together.

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Chapter 2

Now Gendo was dead, to begin with.

Having grown aggravated at his driver for getting their car unintentionally caught in a snow bank, Gendo had shot his own driver in the back of the head. He then tried to turn up the cars heater in order to stay warm while he tried to get ahold of NERV in order to get him out of this mess.

However, help never came, and Gendo was eventually asphyxiated by the heater interacting with the fuel components in the car.

The engine eventually died, and the entire car was frozen in the snow bank. They would never find him until the snow thawed.

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(Katsuragi/Ikari Apartment, living room)

"Misato, should you really have another one?" Shinji asked as he watched his 'guardian' inhale her tenth beer of the evening.

"Come on, Shinji-kun! A person has to have something to keep them warm at night." (BURP) Unless, of course, you'd like to be my bed warmer?" she teased.

"WHA?! Misato! I'd never... you wouldn't... how can you... You're drunk!"

"I may be drunk, Shinji-kun, but I can at least succeed in teasing you." Misato smiled.

While this was going on, Rei and PenPen were watch with somewhat amused interest.

PenPen was preferable to eating his cooked fish, while Rei simply enjoyed her non-meat dinner that Shinji had cooked for her.

The blue-haired albino girl had long ago come to expect this kind of behavior from The Major, and it was only through her normal quiet demeanor that she was able to enjoy her meal with a degree of peace.

The interplay between the Third Child and the Operations Director of NERV was an interesting one to say the least. Rei had only interacted with them once or twice when they were away from NERV, and had to admit that they were very different than when they were on duty.

Major Katsuragi was often the serious and creative one when on-duty. Pilot Ikari, despite his great experience in battling the Angels, was something of a 'straight course' when it came to personality.

That is, he rarely changed from what he was whether or not he was in his Eva or out of it.

And while this was typically true of the Second Child as well, herself being loud and obnoxious and more than a bit of a show off, Rei didn't like to think about her at the moment.

Refocusing her attention towards the Third Child, Rei noticed that the Major was already lying on the ground, drool coming out of her mouth, and a leaky beer can just out of reach of her.

Shinji was cleaning up the food and dumping the trash.

He was fortunate that the building had installed an incinerator chute for each floor, otherwise he would have had to wait a couple months for the garbage men to come by and collect everything that they (though mostly Misato) had made.

Rei finished with her meal and helped Shinji clean up.

"Oh. Thank you, Ayanami. But I can handle it." he said.

"You do not want my assistance?" she asked innocently.

"Uh... no, that's... thank you." he said with a small blush.

Rei smiled to herself.

I like Ikari when he blushes. She thought to herself.

After cleaning up the food and dishes, both Shinji and Rei literally dragged Misato into her room and onto her futon. Shinji tried to cover her up, only for the woman to suddenly wrap her arms around the Third Child.

"Argh! Misato!" he gasped in surprise.

"Mmmmm.. Don't leave me, Mr Yebisu! I need you." she mumbled and slurred.

Oh, kami! She thinks I'm a can of beer! Shinji mentally groans as he struggles in her grip.

Misato held on, hugging Shinji into her breasts.

"Help!" a muffles cry from Shinji sounded out.

He suddenly felt someone grab his leg, and pull him out of Misato's grip. Shinji felt himself slip down her breasts and across her stomach, past her cut-off shorts and over her long legs.

He looked back and saw Rei pulling at his leg.

Shinji felt a little embarrassed at having Rei pulling on his leg in order to save him from Misato. Worse is that Rei dragged him from Misato's room, into the living room, then let his leg go before she went over and shut Misato's door.

"Thank you, Ayanami." Shinji said to the bluenette.

"You are welcome, Ikari." Rei said as she went over and sat down on the couch.

Shinji and Rei watched television for a couple hours, PenPen was sleeping on one of the pillows next to the couch, and was snoring happily.

Shinji then realized that Rei had fallen asleep against him, her head on his shoulder, her eyes closed and her breathing shallow.

Shinji couldn't help but stare at the blue-haired girl. His first crush when he first came to Tokyo-3.

She's so beautiful. He thought as he tried not to move so as not to disturb her.

Slowly and carefully, Shinji maneuvered the girl so that he could get out from underneath her, and carefully picked her up bridal-style before taking her to Asuka's room. He was amazed at how light the girl seemed, especially when he considered himself to be less than athletic for someone his age.

He gently placed Rei down onto the bed and pulled the blanket over her so that she wouldn't get cold. The temperature in the apartment had dropped due to the increasing cold, and Shinji was sure that even Rei didn't like being cold. Her apartment was cold enough, and he often wondered why she lived there. His fathers orders notwithstanding.

Shinji then went back into the apartment and shut down everything else. The TV, the lights, and put PenPen back into his fridge, before turning out the lights in the kitchen and the rest of the apartment.

He went back to his room and got changed into his pajamas. He thought about giving Rei some warmer clothes to sleep in than her school uniform, but he didn't want to wake her up and he would never think about changing her clothes without her permission.

He actually blushed at the thought of changing Rei's clothes himself.

Shinji got into bed and tried to push thoughts of the First Child out of his head, if only so that he could get some sleep that night.

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It was just past midnight when Rei awoke. Her eyes carefully looked over her environment, and she remembered where she was.

This is... The Second Child's room. She thought as she got up and walked out of the room.

While she rationalized that The Third Child had placed her in the bed and pulled the blanket over her, she was upset at being in the Second's room.

For some reason, it felt wrong to her. As if she were sleeping in an environment of evil.

Looking around and seeing Shinji's room, labeled with the sign 'Shinji's Lovely Suite' in kanji, Rei moved over to it, and entered.

Thinking that Shinji was now asleep, she didn't bother knocking.

When she saw that the Third Child was in fact asleep, she gave a soft smile at seeing how peaceful he seemed to be.

She quickly and quietly removed her school uniform, her skin bristling when she felt the cold air of the apartment wash over her. Not having any pajamas herself, Rei wore only her white bra and panties as she carefully slipped into bed next to Shinji.

Shinji was too deep into his sleep to acknowledge another presence in his own bed. Rei just stared at Shinji and smiled to herself.

Ikari-kun looks so peaceful when he sleeps. she thought.

Shinji's peaceful expression soon turned, his lips turning into a frown as his eyes squinted and creased.

Is he... having a bad dream? she wondered as she looked at him.

Moving closer to Shinji so that she was curled up against him, Rei pulled the upset young man into a tight hug, her breasts pushing against his chest, her head nestled against his shoulder, her arms wrapped tightly around his torso. Shinji's arms suddenly, unconsciously, pulled around Rei's body and wrapped tightly the teenage girl to his own self. He hugged her tightly, whimpering softly as he whispered her name.

"Rei... don't die... please..."

Rei's eyes opened wide in shock and surprise.

Ikari is thinking... about me? she thought as her legs were suddenly entangled with his legs.

Rei hugged Shinji tightly, rubbing his back gently and comfortingly, inhaling his scent that she found so comforting.

Within less than a minute, Shinji was sleeping peacefully, wrapped in the First Child's arms. Rei took a degree of pride in the fact that she could have this much of an effect on the Third Child. She was sure that Pilot Sohryu could never, would never, do this for him. That she could never have this kind of comforting effect on Shinji, made Rei feel more important than she had before.

Rei was fast asleep before she knew it.

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It was morning when Shinji awoke from his slumber. While he had never slept peacefully since he had come to Tokyo-3, he had to wonder what had changed.

Looking down he gasped when he saw a familiar mop of blue hair resting on his chest. What's more is that his pajama-shirt was open, allowing the girl in question to rest her head against his bare skin. To make things even more uncomfortable for Shinji, Rei's hand was rubbing his bare skin.

The blush on Shinji's face seemed to spread throughout his entire body, which only seemed to warm the girl who was responsible for his accelerated heartbeat and rise in body temperature.

"Mmmm... Shinji-kun..." Rei muttered in her sleep.

She looks so happy. I've... never seen her like this. Shinji thought as he continued to watch her.

Shinji continued to watch the girl sleep against his chest, happy and peaceful as she had never seen her before.

He vaguely wondered if she had ever been like this in the past.

After a few minutes, Rei blinked her eyes, looking up and seeing Shinji's blue eyes staring back at her.

"Ikari-kun?" Rei gasped.

"Good morning, Ayanami-chan." Shinji said with a smile.

Rei felt her cheeks heat up as she looked at Shinji's bare chest that had a couple strands of her blue hair on it. She looked at herself , still wearing her white bra and panties, and felt a shiver go through her body as the cold air hit her.

She grabbed the covers and pulled them over her, as she cuddled up tightly against Shinji.

"Ayanami?" he asked.

"I am cold." she said simply.

"Oh."

"Ikari-kun?"

"Yes?"

"Could you... call me by my name?" she asked tentatively.

"I... only if you would call me by mine." he replied in a near whisper.

"Thank you, Shinji."

"Thank you, Rei."

The pair smiled warmly at each other as Rei snuggled up against Shinji, her head buried in the crook of his neck. Shinji wrapped his arms around Rei's shoulders, holding her warmly and protectively, his heartbeat matching her own, the pair happy with just being together.

That was, until Misato's morning beer-call woke shattered their peace.

The End.

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Authors Notes:

Here's my Christmas story, and update to something I wasn't sure I was going to update.

Also I am so sorry that this is late. There was some trouble with the Servers that made them unavailable.

This was written in less than a day, so I hope everyone likes it.

It's just a nice little fluff piece between two of my favorite characters.

Merry Christmas to all!