"AUTHOR'S NOTE" A MUST READ!:

Lines shown between these symbols ..... indicates that the character is

thinking something in his/her mind. Thus, they are thought lines. For example,

Oh, that is it, I am a dead man,

Also, Please keep in mind that in Japan, the family name of a person comes

first while the Surname appears after it. Thus, the characters with a Japanese origin

will have a name arrangement like this, ie. "Ikari Yui". However, characters with

other nationalities will have a name arrangement where the Surname is followed by

the family name, ie, "Soryu Asuka Langley".

Disclaimer:

Just a reminder that every Evangelion belongs to Gainax and ADV. I am only

borrowing the characters to write a non-profit story for entertainment.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A.D. 2018

"Family Reassurance"

"Oh good, you two are back," Yui smiled as Shinji and Asuka walked

through the entrance of the hanger bay.

"Sorry for running off like that, Mrs Ikari," Asuka apologized as she bowed

her head.

"That's quite alright," Yui replied. "Shinji should be the one to blame."

"Yeah," Asuka giggled sweetly in response.

"Alright mother, I have had enough time to reflect on my attitude just now.

Besides, I have already received my punishment from Asuka," Shinji interrupted.

"Indeed, I will deal with your son later, Mrs Ikari," Asuka smiled

cheerfully. "So, do you need me to run some tests?"

"Oh yes. Asuka, I need you to put on your plug-suit, then report to Lt.

Ibuki in Lab 32-C. She will brief you on the details," Yui notified.

"Well, I will see you later then, Shinji," Asuka waved good-bye as she ran

off.

Turning to his mother, Shinji asked, "Mother, what should I do now? Do

you want me suit up and board Eva-01?"

"Do you really want to do that?" Yui asked with a serious tone of voice.

Shinji was suddenly caught without a reply to this question. Initially, he

thought the reason that his mother brought him here to Nerv today was to once again

step aboard Eva-01. Deep within, Shinji was indeed reluctant and somewhat

disturbed about coming into contact with Eva-01 again. However, he withheld those

feelings because he thought his mother needed him to help her with her work. Even

so, his mind was still unclear regarding the true feelings he had towards this issue.

To Shinji, Eva-01 was a reminder of his unhappy past and unwanted memories.

Indeed, for the past three years, Shinji experienced many new memories to help

compensate for his darker past, but occasionally little things would pop up to remind

him of the past.

"Well? Shinji," Yui asked once more.

"I don't know mother," Shinji replied with a shaky tone of voice. "This

morning, Asuka asked me a similar question. I didn't know how to answer her then,

and I still don't. There are just too much going through my mind right now.. I just

don't know how to answer."

Yui placed her hand on Shinji's shoulder, and tenderly asked, "You can tell

me. I am your mother."

"I. know," Shinji faintly replied. "I guess I am terrified of what will

happen if I pilot Eva-01 again. I don't want to remember the past. I don't want to

be reminded of the time when my only usefulness in this world was to be a

mechanical part for the function of Eva-01. I don't want to go back to the time

when I have to kill other beings to prove my usefulness."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Yui inquired.

"I didn't want to turn my back on you or father. The Evangelions are your

life's greatest accomplishment. And Nerv was the fruit of years of father's hard

work. He built this place with years of sweat, pain, blood, and sacrifices. Moreover,

I don't want to remind him of the rough past that he also went through," Shinji

expressed with deep emotions. "I can't turn my back on my parents when they need

me to continue their work. That is the reason you brought me here to Nerv today,

isn't it?"

"Hmm, I see," Yui said, while caressing Shinji's face affectionately with

her hand. "Shinji, the truth is I didn't bring you here today so that I could run tests

on you. I brought you here today to show you the work that I do. I want to show

you what it is that I do in order to make a difference in this world for the better."

"Really?" Shinji asked, surprised and somewhat relieved. Then, he

suddenly remembered something that caused him to be filled with even more fear.

Slowly, he asked, "Mother... the last time you brought me to this place to show me

the work that you do... you disappeared for 13 years... You aren't trying anything

dangerous today are you? Please, don't. Please?"

Yui eyes shot wide open as she was surprised by what her son had suddenly

revealed. Then she giggled warmly and replied, "Oh, my sweet little boy. Of course

not."

"Really?" Shinji asked once again for reassurance.

"Yes, don't you trust me?" Yui kindly smiled. "I have told you this

before, but I just want to remind you again. You must never forget that my greatest

achievements in this world are not the Evangelions. You and Rei are my biggest

accomplishments and rewards in my life. Both of you are my greatest joy and pride.

Promise me you will always remember that?"

"Yes, mother," Shinji nodded, with joyful droplets of tears running down

his cheeks.

"You have to also remember that your father went through all the hardships

to create Nerv in order to protect us. Nerv isn't his first priority. Your feelings,

happiness and well-being are his highest priority," Yui added. "You must always

keep that in mind no matter what happens in the future." With this, Yui wrapped her

arms around Shinji and hugged him tightly as if she was going to lose her son.

"Thank you, mother," Shinji sobbed, as he returned the hug.

"You have to make your own choices in life. You shouldn't make choices

based on what you think others want you to do, or how others will think of you.

You must find out by yourself what it is that you want to do with your life. The

priorities, the passion, the path, the joy, the goals in your life are things you must

explore and determine for yourself," explained Yui. "Keep in mind, your family

loves you very much, and we will support the choices that you make."

"Yes, brother. You must never forget that," a voice from behind Shinji

affectionately whispered. Then the speaker began to wrap a pair of delicate arms

around Shinji from behind, and pressed her body onto Shinji's back.

"Ah! Rei! When did you get here???" Shinji jumpily asked, obviously a bit

startled and surprised to find out that Rei had once again successfully sneaked up on

him unnoticed. "One of these days you are going to scare me to death with your

amazing stealth ability, haha," Shinji joked as he patted his chest.

"Please brother, don't say that," Rei frowned. "I do not like it when you

associate yourself with the subject of death....." Then with dead seriousness, Rei

added, "Just keep in mind, brother. I won't allow you to leave this world.... I will do

whatever that is necessary to protect you. If I fail... slowly shakes her head with a

soft chuckle... No, I won't allow myself to fail. But... when you go... I just want to

let you know... that I won't allow you to go alone."

"Huh?....... haha... yeah....," Shinji nervously responded with a couple of

weak chuckles. Rei.... sometimes is..... too serious... sigh

"Now you two, why don't we find your father and have lunch with him?"

Yui merrily suggested. "Come along now."

"Yay! " The two Ikari children enthusiastically cheered.

Then hand in hand, the mother and her children strolled out of the hanger

bay while enjoying jubilant conversations with each other.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A.D. 2018

"The People of Nerv"

Fuyutsuki sat at one end of the long rectangular meeting table with his arms

crossed. From his facial expression, one could clearly tell that something was

bothering him. Occasionally, his face would shift towards Kaji, who was sitting in

front of him to the left. Looking into Fuyutsuki's eyes, Kaji understood the question

that he was asking.

Hey, don't look at me. Those people have been notified, I don't know

when they will show up, Kaji eyes and facial expression seemed to reply as he

stared back at Fuyutsuki with a smirk on his face.

"Oh damn it! I can't believe I got lost again!!" Rio cursed, as flames began

to burst out of her eyes. "Just perfect. My first senior staff meeting and I'm going

to be late. --!"

With that, Rio continued to search for her destination by following the map

in her hand, which incidentally was turned upside down.

"Why isn't Colonel Katsuragi answering her cell phone? I need to contact

her about the meeting that the commander just called," Hyouga panicked, as he

continued his dialing frenzy while walking down a corridor.

"This would be much easier if we could use the base's broadcast system to

notify her," said Aoba, who was walking beside Hyouga.

"The commander was very specific about keeping this quiet," Hyouga

replied. "Why don't you go on ahead while I try to look for her?"

"Ok, see you at the meeting then. Make sure that you DO show up

sometime today," Aoba laughed, as he ran off.

Meanwhile.... Misato's cellular phone was resting on a panel at the top

level of the commander center as it continued to ring. Obviously, she had left it

there when she dashed off the command deck.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A.D. 2018

"New Perspective"

"Yes, Touji. That's right. Yeah? That's great, we will meet you guys at

The Matsumoto Mall in an hour then," Shinji spoke into his cellular phone. "Yeah,

sure, we haven't had lunch yet either. Ok, later then."

"It's too bad mother and father were called away to attend an emergency

meeting," Rei sighed, as she continued to walk beside Shinji down a Nerv corridor.

"Yeah, I suppose it must be very important. Mother said that they won't

even be coming home tonight," Shinji disappointedly breathed, as he placed his cell

phone back into the holder on his belt. "Hey, don't be so disappointed, Rei. We

knew that mother and father would be quite busy when they got back to Nerv."

"At least we are together," Rei said as she gave a quick smile to reassure

Shinji. "We should get going now if we want to get there on time."

"Yeah, I am starving too. Those guys better be there on time, or I am going

to get lunch without them," Shinji laughed, as they began to head towards the closest

elevator. Then, he suddenly stop as a realization popped into his mind. "Maybe, we

should call Asuka and get her to come along as well?" Shinji suggested, and began

to reach for his phone.

"Brother, I think she is still occupied with her synchronization tests. I

doubt the second child will have extra time to spend away from her Unit-02," Rei

said in a monotone as she continued to walk.

"Yeah, haha. How silly of me," Shinji replied chuckling, and he began to

pick up his pace to catch up with Rei. I wonder why Rei...... Oh well, I suppose it's

nothing, Shinji thought in his mind.

When the two teens arrived before an elevator, Shinji reached out and

pressed the button. Then for a short moment, the two stood there and waited as

Shinji whistled a cheerful tune, while Rei stared at the ground. Suddenly, Rei broke

her silence by asking a question.

"Brother?" Rei said with a soft whisper.

"Hmmm? What is it, Rei?"

"Is the life we have now... is it not enough?" Rei asked, again in with in a

whisper.

"Eh? Why would you ask this? Is something troubling you, Rei? You

seem kind of dispirited." Shinji replied with concern.

"Do you... ever wish that you had more than what you have now? And

with more, you would be happier?" Rei continued to question with the same tone.

"Come on, Rei. I know something is bothering you," Shinji smiled as he

placed a hand on Rei's shoulder to comfort her. "Let it out. You can tell me.

Whatever it is, your big brother will help you through it together." Coming back to

Nerv today must have sparked her memory and made her remember our tragic past.

I should do my best to solace her discomfort. Shinji reasoned in his mind.

"I heard about what happened to you in the hanger today... how you painful

you felt... how you cried..." Rei straightforwardly confessed, as she turned to face

Shinji.

Shinji was suddenly caught off guard by Rei's words. Moreover, he

touched to see Rei's watery red eyes were filled with emotions of concern, and

worry. In this moment, Shinji could honestly say to himself that he was the luckiest

man on Earth to have a woman who genuinely cared for his well-being more than

anything else. This was not the first time that Rei had expressed such concerns and

feelings for Shinji. However, this was the first time that Shinji could actually

savored Rei's feelings as if their hearts were connected, and their souls merged as

one. He could feel that Rei had valued every aspects of his life to be more important

than her own life. For an unknown reason, Shinji felt more connected to Rei than he

ever was to anyone else on the face of the planet.

"Rei...," Shinji replied with countless emotions as he was about to open his

arms to embrace Rei. "I..."

Then suddenly, Shinji heard a deep and course voice powerfully echoed,

"Adam..... Adam....." Shinji immediately snapped his head towards the direction

down the corridor, where he thought the voice originated. To Shinji, this voice felt

nostalgic, and yet at the same time sent a cold chilly feeling throughout his body.

The warm kindness he felt from Rei was suddenly replaced with a frightening

intimidation upon hearing the voice. Then, without realizing it himself, Shinji's

body began to tremble, and began to sway as he could no longer keep his balance.

Seeing this, Rei quickly wrapped her arms around Shinji to keep him from

falling down. "Shinji! Brother! Are you okay? I am sorry! I promise I won't ask

you about things that you don't want to answer ever again. Please, I am sorry, don't

be angry at me," Rei began to cry as she slowly helped Shinji to rest on the bench

nearby. To Rei, she had thought that Shinji was about to fainted because he was so

enraged from what she had said.

Shinji now began to feel a piercing pain drilling into his head. He could

hear every word that Rei had said, and he could see that Rei was crying, however he

was unable to speak a word of reassurance to comfort Rei. He wanted to let her

know that she had misunderstood the cause for his condition, he desperately hoped

to tell her that it wasn't her fault, but Shinji began to realize no matter how hard he

tried, not a sound came out of his mouth. Slowly, he began to feel that he was

losing control of his other senses as well. As he sat down on the bench, Shinji

realized that he could no longer hear Rei's crying voice, nor could smell the fresh

scent left by the shampoo from Rei's hair. Then, his eyesight began to go, and all he

could see was darkness. Finally, he could no longer feel the bench he was sitting on,

the temperature of his surrounding or the gentle touch of his sister. Shinji felt like it

was as if his sense of touch has been robbed from him.

Then, Shinji began to feel that his perspective towards his dark surroundings

was changing. He started to hear countless muffled voices all speaking around him

at the same time. However, Shinji could not identify or see the sources

of the voices. Suddenly, the darkness disappeared and in place of it, flashes of

different images that made no sense to Shinji began to play out before him. As this

continued, the rate of change for the flashes of images began to hasten until it finally

came to a sudden stop. Now, Shinji was shocked to see this final image before him.

It was a still scene where a giant mech resembling his Evangelion Unit-01 floating

over a red ocean. However, before Shinji was able to make out more details from

this image, this scene began to melt away. Within seconds, he was once again

surrounded by a void of darkness.

"Shinji! Please? Wake up!" Rei continued to plead while crying on

Shinji's shoulder. She could not believe that a little more than a minute ago, Shinji

was still whistling a cheerful tune, but now his body was completely lifeless.

Breaking her promise, Rei began to use her special ability to peek into Shinji's mind

for a closer examination. However, Rei was terrified when she couldn't detect any

activity or signs of life within Shinji. It was as if the young man's body had

suddenly turned in a blank. His sister was in complete shock, as streams of tears

traveled down her pale cheeks and dripped onto Shinji's shirt. "Please...., I am

sorry... don't.... leave me.... please....."

As Rei continued to wrap her arms tighter around Shinji, she felt one of his

arms slowly wrapping itself around the back of her waist. With joy, Rei looked up

at Shinji's face, and saw his eyelids beginning to rise up.

".... Don't... cry..." Shinji weakly whispered with a comforting voice. "It...

wasn't your fault. I can clearly sense your feelings... Thank you, Rei." And Shinji

wasn't just saying that to make Rei feel better. He could honestly feel every bit of

Rei's warm emotions and tender affections for him pouring directly into his heart

and mind. He felt as if Rei's heart, mind, and soul was part of himself.

"sniff... Shinji, you scared me. Did you know that?" Rei affectionately

whispered with relief, and joy. However, her body was still trembling.

"....weakly chuckles, I am sorry," Shinji replied, as he began to sit up.

Then looking at Rei's warm smile, he allowed himself to do the same. With his arm

already around her waist, Shinji pulled Rei closer to him, then placed his other hand

on her cheek and started to gently wipe her sparkling tears away with his finger.

Next, he continued to do the same on the other side of her cheek.

"What happened?" Rei asked while she started to calm herself.

"I am not sure..." Shinji answered with uncertainty. "I guess, I just

suddenly blanked out or fainted. Must be because of stress. Don't worry, I am fine

now." Shinji couldn't bring himself to tell Rei about the experiences that he went

through because simply, he couldn't understand them himself.

Rei simply gave a small smile of relief as a response.

Ding, and the doors of the elevator began to slide open.

"Come on, we should get going" Shinji said as he stood up.

Rei nodded, and grabbed hold of Shinji's hand. Then she began to walk

alongside of him into the elevator.

As the doors began to close, Shinji stared down into the long corridor

through the crack, and thought, What... the HELL was THAT???

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile...

In the "Combat Simulation Room"...

Soryu Asuka Langley was inside one of the six "CSP- Combat Simulation

Pod" located inside the large room brushing up on her short-range battle tactics.

Asuka was fighting several opponents at once within a virtual copy of the central

city area in New-Tokyo-3. Due the fact that there were tall buildings surrounding

the area, Asuka thought it was the best battlefield to conduct close combat training.

At first, Asuka was enjoying the fact that she was doing a great job. However, her

delight was suddenly interrupted when a non-A.I. combatant entered the simulation.

Asuka was completely surprised when an orange strip of words marking, "New

Challenger!" appeared on her combat scope. Her amazement was mainly fueled by

the fact that Asuka knew full well that she was the only pilot currently stationed at

Nerv HQ.

"Haha, must be one of the tech personnel from the control room. I knew

that they had the chance to play around with the simulator when they were working

out the bugs, but if they think that they can stand up against a real pilot like myself...

heh... heh..., But, I always admire courageous souls, but that guy over there is going

to slaughtered!" Asuka sneered, as she cracked her knuckles. Then she opened a

'voice only' hologram window to the other combatant and laughed, "Ok, you tech

monkey. Let see how long your half-ass skills can stand up against a professional!"

"We'll see," a female's gentle yet hostile voice replied from the other side

of the line.

Then another hologram screen opened up before Asuka and words began to

scroll up...

Simulation loading.....

Ryukevain Type I settings loading...

[Ryukevain Type-One:]

Selections...........

Armaments:

- Head Vulcan pod x2

- Beam sword x2

- Giant Revolver (Eva Type) x2

- Knuckle crasher x2

- Buster shot ability active

Optional Weapons:

- Smoke Screen Bomb

- Beam rifle with grenade launcher x1

Optional Equipment:

- High-torque thrusters

..................

........Simulation starting.

Then, the 3D image of the Ryukevain Type-1 appeared on the virtual

Tokyo-3 battlefield, several blocks away from Asuka. The Ryukevain Type-One

was slightly different that the Test-Type model's appearance. The limes basically

remained the same, except the armor pieces looked a little different. They were of a

Gundam Type design. However, there were two large metal boxes that were the size

of its knuckles attached to the sides on the lower section of both its arms [one on

each arm]. There was also a giant Eva Type Revolver hanging off both sides of its

waist. Not only that, there were no extra armor protecting the section joining the

legs to the main body. The body's designs were also much different from the Test-

Type, however the two orange colored exhaust grids were still on both sides of its

front chest. The body of the Type-One seemed to have a more sharper and flexible

feel to it. Even the two shoulder armor pieces were much smaller than found

attached onto the Test-Type. There was also a long pod connected from behind onto

the back of each of its shoulders. The head was also very different from that of the

Test-Type model. It was still a Gundam Style head, except it didn't have those two

thin blades forming the "V" shape on its forehead. Instead, there was a thin upside-

down pentagon shaped orange pad on its forehead. There was a hole on beside both

sides of the pad that lead into the depths of the head in which the Vulcan bullets are

fired from. On both sides of its head, there was a long blade-like metal piece

sticking out that were similar to those found on the Test-Type. They were flat

against the side of the head and pointing into the sky on a small 10 degrees slant

towards the back. Once again there was a shield shaped metal piece placed onto its

'mouth' section. The Type-One was also of a dark blue color. It was also holding a

small pointy shield on its left hand.

"Mmmmmm, seems like you know what you are doing. You must have

spent a lot of time in the CSP working out the glitches. This is should be fun, but

the result is still the same, heh heh" Asuka said devilishly. "But... I will just give

you some free advice. Packing up all that equipment will limit your mobility..., then

again... oh well, who am I to argue with stupidity. o"

"Heh, you still like talk a lot. Shall we begin?" the other combatant said

with impatience.

"Alright, it's your funeral," Asuka taunted. With that, Asuka activated a

prog. knife and began her offensive maneuvers.

Then, the Ryukevain Type-One suddenly jumped slightly off the ground

and threw its shield into the air. Its head started to rotate 180 degrees, and is now

facing completely towards the back. Then its arms plus its shoulders began to shift

and folded backwards until it relocated themselves straight on top of its back. The

pods connected on the shoulders began to open up and expanded into a pair of

fighter jet wings sticking outward on each side. Next, the section where the legs

joint with the body began to push outward to the side as it increased the distance

between the legs. Suddenly, the body and the legs began to bend backwards while

the part between its legs remained to point forward. When its body and legs have

folded backward together into a horizontal position to the ground, the shield floating

in the air came back and attached itself onto the section between its legs that's still

facing the front. Due to its new form, the two giant revolvers that it had on its waist

are pointing forward and located just underneath the shield thus effectively making

them the R-Wing's primary weapons. The process described took about four quick

seconds to complete in actual time. Now the humanoid robot has completely

transformed into an aircraft resembling a fighter jet.

It remained floating above the spot it was standing on just now as the pilot

tauntingly asked via the communication channel, "Surprised? This form is called

the 'R-Wing', you like? The prototype that you test piloted wasn't designed to do

this. Do you still feel as confident as you did a minute ago?"

Unwilling to show any signs of weakness, Asuka calmly replied, "Fine, you

have an advantage with a flight ability now. But the result will still be the same.

Maybe, you should overestimate the effectiveness of your flight ability." Emptying

her rifle ammo towards the Ryukevain Type-One, Asuka started to follow a different

battle maneuver due to her discovery of the Type-One's flight ability.

The R-Wing skillfully dodged every incoming round and flew into the

virtual clouds above.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A.D. 2018

"His two friends."

"Good god, man! You are late!!!" Touji yelled, as Shinji and Rei

approached the table that he and Kensuke occupied. Touji and Kensuke had arrived

on time at the meeting place but when they noticed that Shinji was late, the duo

decided to ramble through the food court to hunt for lunch.

"Mmmmf, Mmmmmm, Ymmmmmf!!" Kensuke mumbled inaudibly due to

the unreasonable amount of food currently lodging in his mouth.

"OH Damn! Kensuke, that's a nasty habit!" Shinji ridiculed with disgust.

"Hmmmmm?...." Kensuke questioned with narrowed eyes. Due to the fact

that he actually tried to clear some room in his mouth, an octopus tentacle was

dangling off the right side of his lips.

"Yo, Shinji does have a point, you sick bitch. It is as if you just went

through a famine," Touji added, obviously annoyed as well. "I don't know why I

hang around you sometimes. With eating habits like yours, it's no wonder I can't

pick up any hot girls!"

"Brrrrrrr! coughs Ahem. Well, you keep talking like that, and Horaki

(Note: Horaki=Hikari's last name) is going to give you the 'silent treatment' again,"

Kensuke countered with a sly grin. Then, he imitated the sound of a whip cracking,

while swinging an octopus tentacle in front of Touji's face like a miniature whip.

"Shut up and eat," Touji sneered with hostility. Then he turned towards

Shinji and asked, "So, what took you long?"

"It's a long story," Shinji sighed. "We are going to get something to eat

first. I will tell you about it later."

Then, Rei and Shinji made their way around the food court deciding on

what type of chow to purchase. Not surprising to Touji and Kensuke, Rei was again

sticking 'very' close to Shinji during their food search.

"You know, sometimes I really wonder just what IS the relationship

between those two," Kensuke suggested in a whisper.

"Eh. I don't know," Touji shrugged. "My younger sister sometimes acts

like that when I am with her. But... you do have a point. Sometimes, those two

could easily pass as a pair of couples in love. Keep in mind that Rei is Shinji's

adopted sister. So, if they decide to step into that level, there is no law against it."

"Yeah, she was only adopted into Shinji's family about three years ago.

Besides, there isn't much of an age difference between them. Don't forget that

Shinji did sort of had a thing for her when he first arrived in Tokyo-3. Remember

how he used to stare unblinkingly at her with fondness and curiosity in his eyes? "

Kensuke added. "You never know... heehee, maybe they even sleep in the same bed

already. I am sure you and your little sister sleeps in the same bed

sometimes...heehee..."

"Shut up!" Touji warned as he slapped Kensuke on the back of his head.

"Well... think about it. Why does Rei keep turning down all those guys

who confessed to her?" Kensuke continued. "From a purely analytical perspective,

some of those guys weren't bad. A few of those guys either excelled in sports,

music, stylish or smart. Some of them had girls following them or dreaming about

them all the time. Yet, Rei turned them all down."

"Come on... Kensuke. This could just mean that maybe Rei doesn't want to

date anyone yet," Touji replied.

"... Yeah... maybe she doesn't want to go out with anyone but Shinji,"

Kensuke suggested.

"You think too much. Ooooooh... wait... I get it," Touji grinned sinisterly.

"You want Rei... don't you? Haha, you are jealous because she only notices her

brother. Oh, Kensuke... you are a sly one."

"What? NO!" Kensuke quickly defended. "Not that! I always go by the

rule of never dating a friend's sister."

"Hmmm, smart words to live by," Touji commented with approval. "Haha,

I guess this just sparks your curiosity because, after all, you ARE the 'King of

Gossips'."

"Quiet, they are coming back," Kensuke warned with a whisper.

"So, what's new?" Shinji asked as he sat down at the table with his food.

Rei did likewise, and took the seat next to him.

"Eh, not much. Just finished my summer job," Kensuke answered.

"I was busy with the soccer team for the past few weeks, and blah blah

blah...," Touji replied. However, he seemed to have trailed off towards the end as he

suddenly realized that he shouldn't acquaint his listeners with the details regarding

the rest of his summer highlights.

"Haha! You finally slept with Horaki didn't you?" Kensuke laughed with

is sly yet congratulating grin.

"Would you shut your cursed mouth for once in your life!?" Touji protested

with an angry roar. "How many times DO I have to tell you. Hikari and I aren't at

that stage yet. Although... I do admit that our relationship has taken recently another

step forward." Touji smile as he began to lose himself in his own sweet memories.

"Yeah.... well... ok..." Kensuke mumbled, obviously disappointed. "Just

make sure you keep us informed at ALL times. As well as with as MUCH details as

possible.... HEY! I don't like that look in your eyes.... what are you.......? WAIT!!!

Aaaaaaaah!!!"

"That's nice," Rei applauded with an adorable voice. "Congratulations,

Suzuhara-kun."

"Thanks, Rei-san," Touji replied, as he continued to choke Kensuke with

his bare hands.

"Yeah...ooooookay!!!! cough cough... Well, you don't have to get all

emotional... I just wanted you to share your fortune with some of your less fortunate

friends," Kensuke grumble, as he gasped for air upon escaping from Touji's grip.

"So, Shinji, what is this great idea you have for us to end the summer with a bang?

"Well, actually, it was Rei's idea," Shinji reply, as he turned towards Rei.

"I am proposing that we embark on a group camping trip for about five days or so.

Kind of taking the advantage to enjoy our last days of the summer holiday."

"OH YEAH! I like that idea!!" Kensuke jumped with excitement. "I am

IN!!!"

"Yeah? I had a hunch that you get excited over this idea," Shinji beamed.

"Touji, how about you? We have already included you and Horaki-kun in our plan."

"Hmmm, this is most certainly an excellent idea," Touji replied upon

running the idea through his mind. "I am sure Hikari's parents won't object to this.

Shouldn't be a problem. I will talk with her when she swings by later to meet us."

"OOOOOOH! This is so exciting!!! I am can't WAIT!" Kensuke

announced as a blazing flame produced by his passion suddenly appeared and

engulfed his body. Then standing up on his seat, he announced with enthusiasm,

"Just leave the planning and equipment organization to me! I AM the expert in this

field after all. I guarantee all of you that this will be a trip that your mind won't

soon forget! Muhahahahaha!!"

"Man! Calm down, and plant your butt back on your seat," Touji urged

with embarrassment as he already noticed that half the people in the food court were

already looking at Kensuke like he was some sort of weirdo.

Shinji gave a weak chuckle while producing a sweat bead on his forehead

as Kensuke began to settle down. Rei simply remained in her seat with a peaceful

posture while quietly sipping her soft drink through a straw.

"Haha, sorry guys. Just got a little carried away," Kensuke apologized, still

burning with excitement. "Well, getting the equipment shouldn't be too difficult.

The main concern is rather on how many tents to get." Kensuke continued as he

began to stare at Touji with a sly grin.

"Damn you! I told you that Hikari and I aren't at that level yet!" Touji

countered.

"Oh really? Well, I guess two tents are enough...One for us guys, and the

other for Horaki-san and Rei." Kensuke declared with fake disappointment.

"Well... I... I mean, WE have to... ask Hikari about it first before deciding

anything, right?" Touji muttered while staring at the table.

"Haha, I knew you can't let yourself pass up such a perfect opportunity to

spend quality time with Horaki," Kensuke teased with narrowed eyes and a

triumphant grin.

"Alright, you have exposed me, now shut up!" Touji reluctantly admitted

under his breath.

"Haha, three tents it is. Isn't it nice to be truthful to your buddy

sometimes?" Kensuke triumphantly said as he lightly nudged Touji with his elbow.

"Hey, Shinji, I hope Rei doesn't mind staying in a tent alone by herself at night."

"Actually...." Shinji began.

"OR you and Rei can spend the nights together in the same tent so that I

can have the third tent all to myself," Kensuke teasingly suggested.

".... well, actually, you and I can share the same tent," Shinji continued

normally as he didn't realize the true intent of Kensuke's suggestion. "Rei can share

the last tent with Asuka."

Rei immediately winced upon hearing Shinji's proposal, however it went

undetected by anyone at the table.

"Awww, don't be embarrassed. You and Rei ARE siblings after all,"

Kensuke jokingly replied. Due to the fact that Kensuke was enjoying his time in

trying to irritate both his friends, he had naturally missed out on some of the

information presented by Shinji's latest sentence. However, as Kensuke is a man

with a keen mind, he soon began to realize what Shinji had just announced. Then

with a trembling voice, he hesitantly inquired, "WHAT... did you just... say...?"

"What's wrong? What did I say?" Shinji replied, sounding puzzled.

"For a moment, I thought you were trying to scare me by saying that the

'Queen of the Shrews' is back from Germany, and will be tagging along with us on

this trip," Kensuke laughed nervously. "Good one pal. You almost had me for a

minute."

"Ahem.... she... is..." Shinji slowly coughed.

"DAMN! I forgot she came back!" Touji blurted as he slapped a hand on

his forehead.

"... you KNEW???" Kensuke questioned with a pair of big wide surprised

eyes.

"... well, Hikari mentioned this to me..." Touji carefully answered.

"THIS IS TERRIBLE!!! There GOES ALL THE FUN!!! THIS WILL BE

LIKE A TRIP THROUGH HELL WITH THE DEVIL'S PITCHFORK STUCK IN MY ASS!!" Kensuke

exploded in horror. As a result, many curious heads in the food court were once

again shifted towards the group's table to check out the spectacle.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile...

Back at Nerv...

"Hey! What's going on here!" Rio yelled as she entered the control room

for the 'combat simulation lab'. There were at least 30 tech crews and Nerv staff

inside the control room all yelling and cheering while staring at the large hologram

screen appearing before the windows staring into the large room where the CSPs

were located. Rio could immediately make out that someone were using the CSPs,

while the rest of these tech crews were most probably enjoying a nice round of bets

to see who would be the winner.

Noticing that everyone in the control room were too caught up in the

excitement to pay any attention to her, Rio decided to walk to the closest terminal

and turned off the holographic screen. As soon as everyone were stunned to see the

holographic screen disappeared, they all turned around to see who pushed the

button. To their horror, they found the extremely furious Rio Meilong staring back

at them with her arms crossed.

"I thought Nerv rules were very clear in defining that NO TECHNICIANS

are allowed in the CSPs other than for maintenance, and repairs! Which meant that

using it for gambling is also NOT allowed!" Rio yelled furiously at the tech crews.

"Since all of you were too busy indulging yourselves with illegal gambling to hear

my question, I ask once again... WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON???"

One brave technician decided to step up and answer, "Sorry, we just got a

little carried away by the battle raging inside..."

"Yes... and I suppose you are going to tell me that the technicians inside the

CSPs were only conducting maintenance when they just suddenly got too carried

away and decided to put on a show for all of you?" Rio jeered, still very angry.

"Actually... no ma'am, there are two pilots inside," the technician replied.

"What?" Rio asked with curiosity, as she walked towards the group, and

the window. "Ok, everyone back to their post. Those who aren't suppose to be

here, leave now before I report you for slacking on the job. Reactivate the main

screen, and show me all the pilots' statistics."

With haste, the technicians and staff carried out carried out Rio's

commands. Those who had to leave the control room ran out as fast as their legs

allowed, and those who belong here returned immediately to their consoles. Within

moments the giant holographic screen reappeared over the large window, and other

small hologram screens also appeared displaying the pilots' heart rate, vitals, current

visual of the pilots inside the CSPs, and their respective mechs' details. Upon taking

a closer look at the main holo-screen that displayed the virtual battlefield, Rio was

very surprised to find what she saw. Immediately, she took a closer look at the Eva-

02, and Ryukevain Type One's details to confirm what she saw.

"Wow, simply amazing..." Rio whispered with amazement.

What Rio saw was that the Ryukevain in the virtual battlefield had a

progressive knife stuck on its shoulder. There were also many signs of physical

damage all over its body. Several large armor pieces were also missing, and the

signs seemed to indicate that those pieces were either blown away by explosions or

ripped right off by the Eva-02. Rio also noticed many internal damages from

reviewing the holo-screen displaying the mecha's details. However, it wasn't the

Ryukevain's damage that surprised Rio, whereas it was the exterior damage she

witnessed on the Eva-02.

Eva-02's entire left arm was missing from the shoulder downwards. There

were also signs was minor and major damages caused by firearms as well as

physical weapons on its armor. Also, there was a large hole that one could see right

through to the scenery on the other side located in the middle of the Eva-02's waist.

Not only that, the left side of Eva-02's head seemed to be have been beaten in by

something leaving a large crater like dent. There were also many internal damages

registering for the Eva-02.

Then Rio could hear Asuka yelling through the holo-screen channel opened

to her CSP, "THAT was a cheap shot!"

"That was because you under-estimated me. That kind of attitude could be

fatal in a REAL combat," the other pilot replied with a dry hostile chuckle. "But, I

must admit that I will lose in the end. You were very smart in concentrating your

attack on my power generator. I don't have much time left until my unit is

disabled."

"Heh," Asuka gave a short unfriendly laugh.

"But, this probably isn't a victory that you can enjoy," the other pilot

continued. "Since you never realize or could accept that the Ryukevain can inflict

such high damage on your beloved Evangelion. Must be tough for your pride to

swallow that, huh?"

"..... damn... I never realize how powerful its buster-shot was," Asuka

mumbled under her breath. "Hey! Don't get so cocky! The most you did was only

punched a hole through my waist! That shot on my head was a cheap one! The fact

remains that you are still going to lose to me!"

"Well, that's true. At least your pride is hurt now," the other pilot laughed

with her sweet female voice. "Maybe next time I will take your entire head off.

But, time for me to retreat for now. Bye."

Then, the 3D image of the Ryukevain Type One disappeared. By looking

through the window down into the large room, Rio could see one of the CSPs

opening up. Then the pilot jumped out onto the walking ramp next to it and ran out

of the Combat Simulation Room.

"DON'T YOU DARE LEAVE!!! COME BACK!!!!!!!" Asuka yelled at the top of her

lungs. "Ooooh! I am SO going to hunt your ass DOWN!"

Rio simply smiled while slowly shaking her head. In her mind, she sighed,

That child... I got to have a talk with her later... But, I also have to thank her for

proving to the second child that my Ryukevain isn't useless. giggles.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A.D. 2018

"His Two Friends plus a Hikari Horaki"

At the moment, Shinji, Rei, Kensuke, Touji, and Hikari were leisurely

strolling through the Matsumoto Mall as they made their way to the 'Outdoors

Equipment' store. Touji, and Hikari were merrily walking hand in hand while

paying no attention to anyone else except for each other. Meanwhile, Kensuke with

a dark gloom over his face followed lifelessly behind the loving couple as he

continued to curse the 'Devil' for ruining his end of summer trip. Walking behind

Kensuke were the Ikari siblings, who were enjoying their time reviewing different

items displayed behind the glass of every store they passed by.

"Why? Why?... WHY?" Kensuke spoke dismally to himself.

"Hey, don't be so depressed. It's not the end of the world here," Shinji

comforted, as he walked up next to his friend.

"Are you kidding?? Asuka is like a parasite living off the misery of the

people surrounding her," Kensuke countered. "Do I need to remind you about her

temper? The trip will be like carrying a bomb around that will explode any minute!"

"It really isn't going to be that bad," Shinji sighed. "Touji isn't making a

big deal out of it, so...."

"That's because he has a weak mind," Kensuke whispered into Shinji's ear.

"If it is a request from Horaki-san, he will agree to it regardless!"

"Heh Heh..." Shinji gave a weak laugh while producing a sweat beat on his

forehead. All of a sudden he noticed that they have walked passed the 'Outdoor

Equipment' store. "Hey! You two lovebirds up there, come back! We passed the

store." Shinji called out to retrieve Touji and Hikari back into the real world.

"Haha, sorry," Touji laughingly replied while scratching his head. "We

just got a little carried away." Then the two rejoined the group and made their way

into the store.

Kensuke couldn't help but be extremely depressed as he slowly entered the

store behind Shinji, Touji, and Hikari. Suddenly, he heard a soft monotone voice

whispering into his ear, "Don't be so sad. You aren't the only one who is upset

about it." Kensuke spun around to find Rei slowly walk pass him with her eyes

narrowed while wearing her famous emotionless expression.

Hmmm, this is interesting... Kensuke cracked a mischievous grin as he

commented in his mind.

After about an hour, the group reemerged from the store carrying the

equipment required for the trip that they still lack. Then, they gathered outside the

store to discuss the next step.

"Ok, what should we do now?" Touji began, as he continued to tighten his

griped on the bags his was carrying. He and Shinji were carrying more than their

share because Touji offered to hold Hikari's share while Shinji offered to carry

Rei's.

"Well, we have decided to leave the day after, but we still need to discuss

the plans on how to get there," Kensuke said. Then a curtain of darkness suddenly

glommed over his face as he added with a depressed tone of voice, "Plus, we got to

meet with the 'Empress of Hell' to check out her suggestions...shivers with

disgust...."

"Aida-kun, Asuka isn't really that bad," Hikari defended.

"Yeah, man. Take it easy," Touji added.

"Oh! You traitor!" Kensuke criticized when he heard what Touji said to

suck up to Hikari.

"Ok, ok! Easy there, people," Shinji intervened. "Why don't you all come

our house for dinner tonight, and we can talk about it? Our parents are away at Nerv

tonight, so it's just going to be Rei and me at the apartment anyway. Also, Asuka

can easily swing by when she comes home from Nerv."

Rei suddenly flinched unnoticed when she heard Shinji bring up yet another

suggestion that she didn't support.

"My house doesn't have much food left, so we are going to have to buy

some stuff in the supermarket at the bottom level before we leave," Shinji continued.

"Well, let's hurry up! This stuff we are carrying aren't light," Touji

complained. "Hikari, do you need to phone your parents about this first?"

"Oh, shouldn't be a problem," Hikari replied with a sweet smile for her

boyfriend.

Then, the group proceeded to the bottom level using the escalators. While

traveling down, Shinji couldn't help but notice his sister's downcast expression.

Turning around, he asked with concern, "Rei? What's wrong? You don't seem..."

Before Shinji could finish his question, Rei suddenly looked up into his

eyes with a warm smile and asked, "Brother, what will you like to have for dinner

tonight?"

"Oh... well... haha, it doesn't matter. Whatever you make for me are so

delicious, I don't really have a favorite," Shinji immediately replied with certainty in

his voice. "Thanks Rei, but you decide. Ok?"

"Certainly," Rei answered sweetly.

Facing forward again, Shinji thought internally, Hmmm, it probably was

nothing. But, it seems to me that Rei isn't too ecstatic about this trip. Dismissing

his concern, he began to think about other things. However, in the back of his head,

Shinji knew something was wrong with Rei because for some odd reason he felt as

if he could clearly sense as well as share Rei's true emotions deep in her heart.

However, he thought it was just because he was thinking too much. For Shinji knew

that no man could have the ability to accurately sense another person's inner feelings

and emotions. It's not like I am a psychic or telepathic. Haha, it must just be that I

am thinking too hard about this. It is still very difficult for me to read what Rei is

thinking, Shinji casually thought in his mind.

The three guys were now sitting on a bench in the mall located before the

supermarket with their bags on the ground. Except for Kensuke, the rest of the two

needed a temporary rest from carrying their double share of goods purchased from

the 'Outdoors Equipment' store. Meanwhile, Rei and Hikari went inside to buys the

ingredients required for preparing dinner at the Ikari Apartment tonight. Kensuke

was still sulking over the fact that Asuka would be showing up tonight, plus the

thought that she would most probably ruin the camping trip for him. Touji, on the

other hand didn't think much of it. Currently, he was facing the glass ceiling of the

mall while laying back on the bench for a good rest. At the same time, Shinji was

staring unblinkingly at the raffle booth set up near the entrance/exit of the

supermarket.

Shinji was particularly interested in the grand prize that they were currently

raffling away at the booth. It was a free trip for eight to spend two nights and three

days at a Hot Springs Inn within the Hot Springs resort Village located in the

Kanagawa Prefecture. Shinji always did enjoy a warm relaxing dip in a hot spring.

He was hooked onto this interest ever since he first went for a dip with Misato,

Asuka, and PenPen three years ago. He promised himself that he had to do it more

often ever since that first try, but for the past three years the chance never came up.

Often, he would look at travel brochures dreaming about a trip to a Hot Springs Inn

with his family. For some reason, he never managed to bring up the subject to his

parents. Now, once again he was daydreaming in his mind about such a trip as he

continued to stare at the raffle booth.

"What's taking them so long?" Touji lazily yawned.

"... stupid Red Devil... cursed bitch..." Kensuke continued his muffled

grumbling.

"Heh heh, Kensuke. Take it easy," Shinji suggested with nervous laughs

because he couldn't believe that the news would hit Kensuke this hard. Then

turning to Touji, he added, "Yeah, I wonder why it's taking Rei and Horaki-san so

long. What could they be buying?"

Then as if cued, Rei and Hikari emerged from the exit. Both the girls were

carrying a shopping bag on one hand while on the other they were each carrying a

piece of paper. They then proceeded to the raffle booth and presented their slip of

paper to the man there. Hikari had the chance to spin the raffle box (the box was

held up off the table by a stand on each side of it. So, people can spin it.) first, and

before it came to a stop, a little red colored ball rolled out onto the dish underneath

designed to catch it. The man then handed a prize to Hikari. Next, Rei went up to

spin, and the result produced a little green ball. The man collected the ball from Rei,

and handed her an envelope. Shinji could see that Hikari was jumping with

excitement as Rei received the envelope from the man. However, Rei's face

remained in its usual expressionless state as she stared at the envelope in her hand.

Shinji and his buddies began to stand up while gathering their bags as the

girls approached them. Hikari ran up to Touji grabbing hold to his left arm and

showed him what she won from the supermarket raffle.

"Touji! Look! I won this cute little doll of a duck!" Hikari announced with

great joy.

"Yeah, that's cute. Now you can add it to your already extensive collection

of stuff animals," Touji replied with a congratulatory smile.

Rei stood in front of the group with her eyes still facing down onto the

envelope in her hand. Shinji walked up to her and asked, "So, what did you win?"

"I won a gift certificate," Rei replied with little emotions. "I guess it will

prove to be useful when mother and I shop here next time."

"Hey, that's great! Good job, my lucky little sister," Shinji congratulated

with a warm smile. Internally in his mind, Shinji said with a small amount of

disappointment, At first, I thought she won the grand prize in that envelope. Well,

guess no one is that lucky.

Suddenly, Rei looked up into Shinji's eyes as if something was wrong and

said, "Brother, I forgot to buy something for breakfast tomorrow. Mother asked me

if I could get it on our way home today."

"Oh, I see," Shinji replied. "Sorry guys. Rei and I will just swing back

inside to buy some stuff. Won' take too long."

"Yeah, sure. Take your time," Touji replied with one of his arms around

Hikari as they sat back down on the bench.

"Yeah... take as LONG as you need... at least it will help to delay our

inevitable meeting with the 'Devil's mistress'..." Kensuke replied with great despair.

"Aida-kun, really. Asuka isn't that bad," Hikari defended once again.

"Yeah man. Lighten up," Touji added to support his girlfriend.

"Ooooooooooh, That's it! You damn traitor!" Kensuke yelled as he

jumped towards Touji like an attack hound shooting towards its target.

"Aaaaaah! Let go man! We are in public! Stop biting me!" Touji

screamed with horror and pain.

Shinji made his way towards the supermarket's entrance with Rei holding

onto his hand while staring back at his friends. With a sweat beat dropping off his

head, Shinji sighed in his mind, I hope they don't kill each other before I come

back....

The Ikari siblings were quickly shopping through the aisles of the

supermarket with Rei grabbing items off the selves while putting them into the

basket that Shinji was carrying. Shinji noticed that Rei was pulling only high priced

items off the shelves. When those items landed into the basket, he realized that

some of them aren't even ingredients they usually use for making breakfast.

Out of curiosity, Shinji asked, "Rei, we rarely use some of these high

priced stuff in any of our cooking. Didn't mother ask you to buy things for

breakfast? Why are you grabbing all these extra things?"

Rei suddenly stopped, looked into the basket and started counting.

"See, you must have made a mistake," Shinji said with relief.

Rei looked up, and to Shinji's surprise she replied with certainty, "No, I

didn't make a mistake. All we need now is one more item."

"One more item?" Shinji was confused. "What is it then?"

Rei began to walk forward again, and without turning back, she replied, "I

am not sure yet."

"What?" Shinji was really confused now. "What do you mean you don't

know? Rei. Rei? Slow down!" Shinji called out as his sister began to walk faster.

When Shinji finally caught up to his sister, he noticed she was looking at the wine

section.

"Rei, what are you doing?" Shinji asked, panting slightly. Without a reply,

Rei pulled a bottle of medium priced wine off the selves and into the shopping

basket that Shinji was carrying.

Rei then drew her face close to Shinji's and said with a soft quiet voice,

"That's for father. Don't let mother know about it."

Breathing a sigh of relief, Shinji began to laugh, "Oh I see. Haha, Dad

gave you his secret shopping list huh?" Shinji always knew that his mother

restricted Gendou from consuming certain goods that his father extremely enjoyed.

As to why Yui restricted Gendou from these products, Shinji never had a clue to

even venture a guess.

The two then proceeded to the cashier, and Shinji carefully began to place

the items from the basket slowly onto the counter. As Shinji placed the items on the

counter, he mentally commented, Hmm, Rei didn't buy much... it's just that all of

them are kind of expensive. Oh well, the less the better... I hate to be carrying that

much stuff on the way home. My arms might fall off.

The woman operating the counter professionally checked all the items over

the scanner, and presented the amount owed in a short time. With a welcoming

smile she also added, "This is your total amount. And it seems that your total

arrived precisely on the mark that entitles you to receive two of our raffle tickets.

The raffle booth is just on the left when you exit. Good luck. o"

Rei took the raffle tickets and paid the women for the items. Then Rei

began to hurry toward the exit with Shinji following her with the bags in his hands.

When they arrived beside the raffle booth, Rei turned around said with one of her

rare cute smiles, "Brother, I have two raffle tickets in my hand. Why don't you take

one and try your luck?"

"Oh. Thanks. But, I doubt I will win anything good," Shinji laughed.

"That's not true. You are sometimes very lucky with these kinds of raffle

draws. Remember, the school festival last year?" Rei encouraged with an enticing

voice. "Come on. Don't be shy."

Rei wasn't making it up about Shinji's luck in certain cases. Sometimes,

Shinji was extremely lucky in raffle draws, card games with friends, and many other

types of activities where luck was a major factor. Shinji doesn't rely heavily on it

nor does he believe that his streak of luck was some sort of hidden talent. He merely

dismissed it every time by reminding himself, Eh, I got lucky, but lets keep it

humble.

As Shinji was reliving some of his past memories, Rei had already dragged

him by his hand to the booth. "Come on, brother. I will try first. Mister! Here, I

got a raffle ticket." Rei said as she waved her ticket to get the attention of the man

at the booth.

The man received Rei's ticket and said, "Oh, haha. It's you again. Well,

you know how to do this. Here." Then he pointed to the box next to him and

cheered, "Good luck! Hope you win another gift certificate."

Shinji watched as Rei carefully spun the box, and a little white ball dropped

out after a few rotations. Then the man said, "Not as good as last time, little Miss.

This time your prize is a bottle of Soy Sauce. Well, you can't be lucky all the time,

right? Thank you for playing, shop again."

Rei took the bottle and placed it into her shopping bag. Then she turned

around to face Shinji and smiled, "Well, at least I won something. Come on,

brother. Try it. It was fun."

Shinji very surprised by Rei's level of enthusiasm in this matter, but he

simply chuckled and replied, "Haha, alright. Thanks Rei."

"Wait till you win it, then you can thank me," Rei replied, and happily

kissed him on his cheek. "That was for good luck."

Shinji gave a gentle smile in reply, and handed his ticket to the man. He

then proceeded to indulge himself in the game of 'spinning the lotto box'. While the

box was spinning, Shinji whispered in his mind, Please be something good... Please

be something good... However, in the depths of his mind, he heard another softer

voice continuously whispering, Black Ball... Black Ball... Black Ball...

Before the box came to a stop, a little black ball dropped out onto the dish

underneath. Shinji immediately looked up onto the display board behind the man to

see what he had won with a black ball. In his mind, Shinji thought that the color

black couldn't stand for anything good. Shinji's eyes blew wide open with shock as

he realized what he had won. However, before he couldn't react to it, the man at the

booth began to ring the bell hanging above him.

Then man then cheered out as loud as he could, "GRAND PRIZE!!!

GRAND PRIZE!!! THIS LUCKY YOUNG MAN HAS WON THE GRAND PRIZE!!!"

Shinji was still in a shock of disbelief as Kensuke, Touji and Hikari have

already gathered around him upon hearing the man's announcement. They were all

congratulating Shinji and cheering wildly for him. Rei had already placed her

shopping bag on the booth and immediately wrapped her arms around Shinji with

joy.

"Yay! Brother. See? I knew you could do it!" Rei cheerfully

congratulated as she held on to Shinji. The two then buoyantly swung around and

around due to the motion from Rei's jump hug.

"Good job! What did you win?" Kensuke who was standing next the two

asked with excitement.

"Ikari-san, you should let go of him so he can get the prize," Hikari said

giggling.

"Yeah, look at him. He is still in shock! Haha," Touji laughed as he

noticed Shinji was still in a trance.

With all the excitement around him, Shinji couldn't help but think about

several questions produced by his mind. He puzzled in his mind, I didn't know

what the black ball was for... yet how come my mind was cheering for a black ball

before it rolled out of the box? I wanted the Hot Springs grand prize... but winning

it like this was too coincidental, and unbelievable. And Rei... Rei was acting very

weird just now... What IS going on today?? Then, Shinji snapped out of his trance

as Rei began to placed countless kisses on his cheeks.

"Haha, thanks Rei. I guess your lucky kiss did its job," Shinji gently

smiled at his blushing sister who still had her arms around his neck. "Here, let me

return your favor," Shinji laughed as he stretched out his lips to kiss Rei. Obviously,

Shinji had already lost himself in the joy induced by the surrounding excitement.

"Hee hee. Big Brother!" Rei embarrassingly giggled as she turned her

blushing face away from Shinji. However, she wasn't escaping anywhere because

Shinji had already wrapped his arms tightly around her waist.

"Hey man. Stop harassing your sister, and check out what you won!"

Kensuke urged.

Giving Rei a quick kiss on her blushing cheek, Shinji let go of her and

replied, "Ok. Ok. I KNOW what I won already." Then he turned to the man at the

booth and received large package-style envelope that seemed to contain a lot of

papers inside. Reaching in, Shinji pulled out the papers. Unable to contain his

excitement, Shinji immediately began to read the first page.

The first introduction page displayed what seemed to be the front of a large

and beautiful traditional Japanese style Inn. Then there were words, and it read...

Congratulations on winning a trip for eight to the wonderful... HINATA INN!!

The Inn Manager; Urashima Kanako welcomes you and your group to spend two

nights and three days at our famous relaxing hot springs inn located in the Hinata

City Hot Springs Resort Village.

Please notify your arrival date in advance.

We hope to see you soon at Hinata Sou.

Hmmm, this could be interesting, o Shinji happily thought in his mind.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile...

Back at Nerv...

Inside Katsuragi Misato's office...

"What do you mean you can't tell me who that pilot was?" Asuka

impatiently questioned Misato.

"Well, she requested that her identity not be disclosed," Misato passively

responded.

"I never knew you can even DO that!" Asuka blurted out with absolute

amazement. "I can understand not disclosing pilot information to people outside

Nerv... or even low ranking staff. But to other pilots as well? Who is this woman

anyway? I could tell she is probably a woman around my age!"

Misato simply frowned and shook her head. "Can't tell you. Sorry, dear."

"Did you authorized this? You are responsible for the pilots after all,"

Asuka suggested, without any signs of calming down.

"Nope, sorry. I already told you, she authorized it," Misato crisply replied.

"Who?"

"It was authorized by Second-Officer Ikari."

"Mrs. Ikari?" Asuka puzzled out loud. "Why would she..."

Before Asuka could finish her comment, Misato shook her head and

clarified, "Nope... it wasn't her. Yui doesn't hold a Command Level rank. She

holds a Guest rank, actually the highest guest rank there is. But, I can still override

her commands if I didn't agree with her decisions."

"Wait... Mr. Fuyutsuki is the commander. Then comes Kaji-san as the

second in command... also known as First-Officer. But... after that, comes you. I

never heard of any Second-Officer ranking," Asuka began to think with a finger on

her chin.

"Look, Asuka. This is an emergency rank designed to keep chaos from

breaking out if Fuyutsuki and Kaji ever went missing for some odd reason during a

crisis. No one is suppose to know about this ranking other than a few selected

people. So, she doesn't usually execute her power. I felt that you were responsible

enough, and that is why I told you. Plus, I want to get rid of your questions soon... I

am very busy right now...," Misato explained with seriousness in her voice.

"Wait... Just let me figure this out...," Asuka replied, evidently not hearing

a word Misato had said. "Ikari... and a woman... Nooooo, it can't be........ HOW?"

Asuka suddenly exploded with horror as she looked at Misato for an answer.

"OK! Please? Don't do ANYTHING rash. She did give me a reason for

issuing this command," Misato desperately tried to explain. "If you promise me not

to pester her, or do anything stupid, I will let you in on it. Deal?"

Logically processing all the information in her mind while weighing the

best alternative for herself, Asuka replied, "Alright. It will probably be in my best

interest to pretend not to know about her 'special' position."

"There, that's my good girl," Misato let out a deep sigh of relief. "It was

because of who that pilot really is. She felt that if that pilot's identity was ever made

known, someone very close to her will be traumatized by the revelation."

"Wait...a minute," Asuka suddenly interrupted.

"Ok... really now. Don't try and figure out why... PLEASE?" Misato

pleaded.

"No. No. YOU know who that pilot is, right?" Asuka joyfully jumped as

she asked the question. "Come on, Misato-san. Tell me. I promise I won't say

anything. Please? Please? You can trust me," Asuka sweetly pleaded.

"No," Misato refused as she turned away from Asuka.

"Please? Please? Come on?" Asuka continued to pester Misato by jumping

up to her chair.

"No! Please, Asuka. I really got work to do," Misato continued her refusal

by covering her ears.

"Please? Please? Please?" Asuka continued, as she jumped around

Misato's chair like a little child begging for candy from her parent.

"NOOOoooooo! Please!!! Spare me!!!" Misato sobbed as she covered her

ears even harder.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

About Two Hours later...

At the Ikari Apartment...

Behind the Closed Door of Ikari Shinji's Room...

Shinji, Touji, and Kensuke gathered before the computer in Shinji's room.

Rei and Hikari were in the kitchen preparing dinner while the guys researched

information regarding location, travel prices, and other details of the trip. Kensuke,

who was suffering from extreme depression a few moments ago, was now burning

with limitless enthusiasm as he searched the web for his plans.

"Yes, yes.... Yes! This will be perfect," Kensuke muttered to himself,

while Shinji and Touji stared at him with sweat beats forming on their heads. "Ok,

just let me print this one out too, and we can sit down to discuss it."

"Ok then. Let's go out to the living room and talk about it. The table is

much larger out there. We can spread out all this stuff you have printed out there,"

Shinji suggested, as he stood up.

"Why? The floor here is large enough. We could spread the papers on

your floor, and talk right here," Kensuke said with a sly grin. "Or are you afraid that

we might find something you don't want us to know about in your room?"

"You already know that I keep some 'special' magazines in here. I lent

several to you which you still haven't returned," Shinji countered with a calm

expression.

"Nah, I meant... other stuff... heh heh... Like female pajamas, or panties,

or..." Kensuke continued with an even larger smirk on his face now.

"What do you mean?" Shinji asked, puzzled.

"Oh, what I meant was that maybe your sist..." However, before Kensuke

could finish, Touji already gave him a big whack on the back of his head.

"Shut Up! You moron," Touji added. "Don't worry, Shinji. Where

ever you prefer. This is your house."

"Oh, ok then. Well Kensuke, if you prefer to stay in here then let's stay

here. You can check out the new reading materials I got from my trip to New-

Vancouver-3. They in the top drawer inside my closet," Shinji replied casually.

"Really? Sweet!" Kensuke replied with a prevented grin. "But, serious

business first. Let's figure out our travel route and plans."

Then the three friends spent the next half an hour discussing over the plans

for their big trip. Kensuke wanted to finish quickly due to the fact he wanted to

check out Shinji's recently acquired goods from his summer trip.

"Alright then," Shinji agreed, as he began to help his friends lay out the

map and papers on his floor. "Now that we are going to use the Hot Springs tickets

I just won from the supermarket, we will have to alter our initial plans. Rather than

having five days out in the woods, we will now spend two and a half days at Hinata

Inn. Then we will spend about two days in the woods at Kyoto for camping. We

will leave late in the afternoon for home on the fifth day."

"Sounds about right," Touji commented.

"As far as equipment wise we got everything except for food, but those

stuff we can buy later on when we reached Kyoto. Everyone is responsible for his

or her own personal items. At 7:00am the day after we will meet at the train station

to leave for Hinata City in Kanagawa. I will bring the three 2-man tents with me

that morning. Then, I will hook one up onto each of your backpacks. Can't let the

girls carry those, right? Well.... maybe we should give one to the 'Red Devil'.... she

doesn't qualify as a full female..." Kensuke added.

"That's sound about right. All we need to show the list of stuff to bring,

and let the girls know about it," Touji finished off. "Well, that's over with now.

Shinji, I am catch the sports channel on T.V." Then Touji made his way out of the

room.

"I am going to see if the girls need any help with preparing dinner," Shinji

announced as he too began to walk towards the door. Turning back to Kensuke, he

laughingly added, "You know where the stuff are. You can stay in here and read if

you want, just don't make a mess."

"Eh, don't worry," Kensuke replied with a short chuckle. "I am going to

need you washroom for a sec."

"Sure, down the hall on your right," Shinji directed and made his way to

the living room where he saw Touji resting on the couch peacefully watching a

soccer game. Without disturbing him, Shinji continued to walk towards the kitchen.

As he walked in, he greeted with a smile, "Hi girls. How is dinner coming

along? Need any help?" He noticed that Hikari was humming a cheerful tune while

cutting the vegetables. Whereas Rei wore her emotionless expression again while

placing the sliced beef into the pot.

"Oh, Ikari-kun. We are almost done here. Can you let Touji, Asuka and

Aida-kun know that we will be starting soon," Hikari replied.

"Huh? Did you just include Asuka?" Shinji asked, confused.

"Yeah, she just came in and surprised us," Hikari smilingly answered.

"How did she...?" Shinji was about to ask when Rei answered with a

monotone, "Mother gave her a keycard to our apartment because their water pipes

still aren't working yet..."

"Oh... I see," Shinji said. "I guess we didn't know she come in, or Touji

would have told me about her. He is sitting out at the living room now."

"She went to use the washroom..." Rei once again replied with an

emotionless monotone.

Shinji's eyes shot wide open as his mind processed what Rei had said. For

Shinji knew firsthand that Asuka had a habit to not lock the door when she was

using the washroom. Oh... Kensuke will have fun... Shinji weakly sighed in his

mind as he spun around to make a dash towards the washroom.

However before Shinji could move his legs, a loud high-pitched scream

was heard, "Aaaaaaaaaaah! OH GOOD LORD!!! OH! SOMEBODY HELP!!!!!!

MY EYES ARE RUINED!!!!!! OH! I AM BLINDED!!!!!! Aaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!!"

Touji jumped off the couch and called out, "What the hell was that?"

Shinji recognized the owner of the scream was his friend Aida Kensuke.

He slapped his hand on his forehead and began to shake his head trying to contain

his laughter from breaking out.

"OH!!! HELP!!! FOR I SAW THE 'DEVIL'S MISSTRESS' EXCRETING

BODILY FUILUDS!!! DAMN!!!! SOMEONE PLEASE HURRY AND

CLEANSE ME WITH HOLY WATER!!!!" Kensuke continued to scream wildly

from down the hall.

At the dining table, the group gathered to enjoy the 'Sukiyaki' that Rei and

Hikari had prepared. At the same time, Shinji and Touji could not contain their

snickering, and were occasionally chuckling uncontrollably under their breath.

Touji almost choked on his food a few times already.

Finally, Touji spoke up laughing with tears coming out the corner of his

eyes, "Hahaha! Hey, Kensuke. Was it even close to the worst scenario for the

reunion meeting with Asuka that you had imagined?"

Shinji suddenly coughed on his food as he began to burst into an

uncontrollable frenzy of laughter as well. Rei also produced a few sweet giggles

when she heard Touji's comment.

"Alright guys! Stop joking around. Do I look like I am in anyway in the

mood for jokes?" Kensuke replied as he aimlessly used his chopsticks to reach for

the items in the pot. Due to the fact that Asuka punched him in both his eyes, his

friends had to tie two packs of ice onto his eye to bring down the swelling.

Effectively, the two packs of ice had now blocked his vision, and at the same time

making him look like some sort of clown.

"You were lucky I didn't gouge your eyes out," Asuka fumed as she

reached for another piece of meat from the pot.

"Somehow I really wished that you did," Kensuke countered. "You have

no idea what kind of horrific image was burned into my eyes."

"Hey! What's wrong with my beautiful body?" Asuka furiously demanded.

"Shinji didn't have a problem when he saw me naked in the showers last night!"

Everyone except Rei, turned towards Shinji's direction upon hearing

Asuka's comment. Shinji immediately stopped laughing, and began to slowly sink

into his seat with embarrassment.

"In fact, I think Shinji felt a little excited reuniting with me in such an

ecstatic way. Right? Shinji." Asuka flirted with Shinji while giving him a few

seducing winks. This caused Shinji to sink even further into his seat.

In his mind, Shinji began to nervously ask, WHAT is she doing?? Three

years ago she would never have acted like this in front of our friends

"Yeah right. He was probably so shocked with disgust that he was

completely petrified," Kensuke countered with hostility. "Besides, he already has

his gorgeous and ravishing little sister by his side everyday. Why would he care

how good you look?"

"HEY! Watch what you are saying! Or do you want me to rip you a new

one!" Asuka fiercely threatened.

Kensuke, who was eager to pick a verbal fight with Asuka was delighted to

hear Asuka's reaction. Thus, he continued, "What? I was only complimenting on

how beautiful and gentle Ikari-san is. Hey, Shinji, you are so lucky to have such a

heavenly beauty to be by your side everyday, and allow me to venture a guess...

every-night as well? Haha"

All Shinji could do was continued to sink downward with embarrassment,

however he suddenly felt Rei, who was sitting beside him, grab hold of his arm

without looking down at him and began to pull him back up. He then noticed that

Rei was displaying one of her extremely rare 'Rei-chan's sweeter than honey smile'

as she cheerfully thanked Kensuke for his praise, "Thank you, Aida-kun. Here,

since you can't see clearly, why don't you give me your bowl and I can pick out

what you like from the pot?"

"Haha, thanks Ikari-san, you are so kindhearted and polite," Kensuke added

as Rei graciously took the bowl from his hand. Upon taking the bowl, she filled it

with an assortment of vegetables and beef, then handed it back to Kensuke, who was

enjoying himself very much. "Ikari-san, I am sure that Shinji must appreciate you

so much that one day he might just propose to you and make you his wife!" Kensuke

laughingly added. "I am not joking! See! Look at Shinji!"

Shinji couldn't help but tried to sink under the table as he saw Kensuke's

finger pointed accusingly at him. However, he was unable to do so because Rei had

once again laid her tight grip on his arm in order to hold him up. Currently, Shinji

was blushing uncontrollably while in his mind he thought, Please Lord! Take me

now! I am ready! Please!!! Anything but this!! Please, not this again...

Shaking her head, Asuka mockingly chortled, "Kensuke. You still have

such a low intelligence. Wonder-Girl, and Shinji are siblings. So, why would he

want to take his own sister as his wife? Even if he wanted to, Mr. and Mrs. Ikari

won't allow it."

"Why do you care? It's not like you have a crush on Shinji," Kensuke gave

a sly snicker. "Or DO you?"

Asuka's face suddenly went red with embarrassment as her hands began to

wildly flap around like small tentacles while she incoherently explained, "What?...

Nooooo, wait... No, I meant.. wait... I mean.... well... haha... of course.... well... I

don't..."

"Hahahaha! Oh, look at this. Seems like the 'Daughter of Hell' is capable

of love after all," Kensuke cruelly teased.

Mustering up whatever courage he could find, Shinji spoke up in Asuka's

defense, "Kensuke... Leave her alone. Asuka already has a boyfriend. She told me

about him this morning at Nerv."

BAKA!! I never knew he actually took that seriously, Asuka protested

with astonishment in her mind.

Kensuke was a little surprised by what Shinji had said, as he skeptically

asked, "Really? Wow, I am surprised that any guy to take such a violent, ill-

tempered, and ill-mannered woman like you."

"Yeah? SO? I have a very handsome and manly boyfriend waiting for me

at Germany! Not that you will ever know what that means, you poor excuse for a

man," Asuka exclaimed with haste and anger. However, in her mind, Asuka quickly

regretted her impulsive words to rescue herself from further embarrassment as well

as to halt Kensuke's mockery to expose her true feelings. Asuka then controlled

herself with relief in her mind, Oh well, I could always clear things up with Shinji

later. There is always a way with him. Stares an icy glare at Kensuke The most

important thing now is to shut that bastard Kensuke's filthy mouth.

Without showing any signs of stopping, Kensuke continued to speak with a

triumphant smirk on his face, "Well, I think it all comes down to a matter of

personal feelings. Ikari-san used to go by the name 'Ayanami Rei' before she was

adopted into Shinji's family. When Shinji chooses her to be his partner for life,

there really isn't any law against it. Maybe you haven't seen Mrs. Ikari as much as

we have, but I happened to know that she is a very open-minded lady. So, the

choice is purely up to Shinji. When he does decides, Shinji and Ikari-san can skip

the dating process and go straight into marriage. I mean, they have been living with

each other for the past three years."

Upon hearing Kensuke's last words, Asuka's arguing spirit seemed to have

somewhat died down. Her mind had unwillingly begun the process of expanding on

the logic presented by Kensuke's argument. Noticing this, Kensuke was became

very excited, and it was this excitement that encouraged him to deliver another blow.

He always had good bet that the 'Red Devil' still had a thing for Shinji, and that she

must have lied to Shinji about having a boyfriend to save face just now. Thus, he

knew that following this trend of verbal attacks was bound to hit a nerve in Asuka's

mind. Also, he wanted to pay her back big time for her double punch attack on his

eyes earlier on. However, as Kensuke was about to open his open, Touji who had

already received a non-verbal command from his girlfriend, suddenly clasped his

hand onto Kensuke's mouth.

"Hey, hey. Just give it a rest, man. Look at Shinji. He is trying to dig up a

hole and crawl into it right now," Touji pointed out. "This is his own personal

matters, so let him take care of it. Don't use him as ammo for your little verbal

warfare."

Supporting his boyfriend's attempt to defuse the situation, Hikari turned to

Asuka and added, "Yeah, Asuka-san. Today is our reunion after three years.

Kensuke-san was only trying to greet you in his own... well... unique way. Haha.

Don't take it so seriously."

Upon hearing the couple's plead for a seize fire, Kensuke and Asuka

relaxed themselves to resume their food consumption. However, occasionally Shinji

could still catch Asuka sending threatening death glares at Kensuke while Kensuke

was stealthily giving Asuka the middle finger. Shinji couldn't help but silently

chuckle whenever he caught either one of them showing their aggression in such a

manner. It wasn't so much of how the two managed to continue their personal war

without Touji and Hikari noticing that made it so funny. Rather it was the way in

which Kensuke now looked. Because of the two icepacks tied in front of his eyes,

Kensuke couldn't aim properly. Several times it seemed as if he was giving Shinji

the finger, or that he was taunting Rei. Rei noticed it too, but paid no further

attention to it. Shinji noticed that she had reverted back to her emotionless as well

as expressionless state. Shinji simply shook his head lightly at the current situation

while desperately trying to contain his chuckles.

"Asuka, is something bothering you? You seem kind of agitated today,"

Hikari asked her good friend with concern.

Kensuke was about to make yet another smart comment, however Touji

had already planted his foot painfully onto Kensuke's under the table. Sensing his

friend's warning Kensuke immediately swallowed the thought of making the

comment. Then he whispered with despise, "Traitor!"

"It was nothing..." Asuka fumed slightly as she jammed a piece of

vegetable into her mouth.

"Come on, what is it?" Hikari urged an answer from her friend.

"Well... I just got a little ticked off when this cocky new pilot at Nerv got in

my way today," Asuka replied still venting the fumes of anger. "To top it all,

'someone' shooting a quick hostile glance at Rei restricted me from even finding

out the name of that pilot or how her face looks like!"

Rei was the only one at the table who caught Asuka's quick hostile glare.

She couldn't help but let a couple of soft giggles escape her upon seeing this.

"Hmm? What's so funny Rei?" Shinji asked with curiosity.

"Oh, It's nothing, brother," Rei replied with a smile. Internally, she

continued to giggle, Good job. I knew she was going to try something on

Langley.

Then Shinji suddenly turned his head towards Rei and casually asked,

"Huh? You know who is this new pilot whom Asuka is talking about?"

With her eyes wide open with shock, Rei turned to face Shinji and slowly

asked, "What...? Why... did... you just ask me...?"

"Well... I heard you say, 'I knew she was going to try something on

Langley.' just now, so I took a guess that you already met this new pilot," Shinji

answered honestly as if nothing was out of the ordinary. However, he was a little

surprised by Rei reaction.

"I... I... No, I didn't... say that," Rei replied with an unnatural calm.

"But, I was sure that you..." Shinji insisted.

"No! I didn't... Just... I didn't..." Rei clarified by shaking her head with

dead seriousness.

Noticing the little drama going on between the Ikari siblings, the rest of

people at the table broke off from their conversation and whipped their heads

towards Shinji's direction with curiosity.

Kensuke spoke up and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Oh, it's nothing... My mind must be playing tricks on me again," Shinji

skeptically replied as he scratched his head.

"At first, we just thought that you and Wonder-Girl were having an

argument," Asuka clarified.

"Nah, of course not. What's wrong everyone? Let's eat!" Shinji suggested

enthusiastically.

Hearing this, the rest of the table continued their joyful conversations and

for two members, carried on their exchange of silent insults. Shinji joined in on the

conversation as he continued to eat. However, he noticed that his sister was eating

in a usual silent. As he took a closer look, he could see that something was deeply

troubling Rei's mind.

Suddenly experiencing a mild headache, Shinji heard two different voices

in his mind with one saying, "Die, you 'Bitch from Hell'. Just die!" and the other

saying, "Stupid bastard... You are going to pay later!" Looking towards Asuka and

Kensuke's direction, Shinji noticed that they were once again sending non-verbal

attacks to each other. However, it seemed that Touji and Hikari never heard what he

just heard. To Shinji, he was certain that one of the voices he had just heard

belonged to Asuka, while the other belong to Kensuke. As he carefully reviewed

this, he began to realize those weren't voices that his ears had picked up. Whereas,

they were just echoing whispers produced inside his mind. Confused, he began to

turn towards Rei's direction and started to stare in her direction with puzzlement

written all over his face. After a few seconds, a voice that felt like it belonged to Rei

whispered with a prayer-like rhythm in Shinji's mind, Look away... please... There

is nothing wrong... please just look away...

Shinji couldn't do anything but blink his eyes confusingly as he thought,

What on earth is going on?? Why does it seem like I could just now hear what

seemed to be other people's thoughts in my mind?

Then Rei suddenly gave a quick surprised glance at Shinji, and quickly

turned away from him as she continued to eat silently. Shinji noticed Rei's actions

just now, however, he decided that this was simply too weird to even mention to

anyone. Thus, he simply shook his head thinking that his mind was playing tricks

on him and continued to eat while enjoying the company of his friends at the table.

After dinner, the group gathered at the living room as Kensuke began to

explain the final version of their plans for the trip. Everyone all round was very

excited when they heard about spending a couple of days at that Hot Springs Inn.

Touji and Hikari began to whisper affectionately about certain ideas they like to do

on the trip into each other's ears. Asuka was busy questioning Kensuke about

certain minor details just to start another healthy argument with him. Kensuke was

simply ecstatic about this as he was given the chance to continue his verbal battle

with Asuka on the subject that he specialized on. Shinji simply remained sitting on

the couch while happily watching his friends enjoy themselves. Rei sat beside

Shinji as she quietly sipped her tea.

This continued for a little while longer until Kensuke realized it was getting

late. Thus, the guest said their good byes, and left the Ikaris' apartment. However,

Asuka had remained behind in the apartment. She jumped onto the couch, grabbed

the remote to the T.V. and switched on a channel. Shinji couldn't help but walk

over to Asuka and asked, "What are you still doing here?"

"What? Am I not welcomed here?" Asuka countered with a cute smile.

"Well, no. Not really...You are welcome to stay," Shinji uttered, starting

at the floor.

"Relax, it's just that my apartment is so quiet tonight. So, I thought I spend

it here with my good friend Ikari Shinji, and his kindhearted little sister," Asuka

cheerfully replied, as she wrapped an arm around Shinji's shoulders.

"Errr... yeah... ok... Well, ... make yourself... at home... then," Shinji

stammered as he began to blush when Asuka's hand gently caressed his face.

Without warning she suddenly pulled Shinji down closely beside her onto the couch

with an arm still hanging over his shoulders.

"Hmmm, let's see what we should watch," Asuka merrily giggled, as she

flipped through the channels using the remote with her free hand, while her other

hand continued to casually caress Shinji's cheek.

Shinji couldn't help but blush with even more intensity now as he slowly

began to realize what kind of position he was in. He was so close to Asuka now,

Shinji could easily catch the intoxicating scent of her hair. More over, one of

Shinji's arms was practically pushing itself into the side of Asuka's feminine figure.

On the back on his neck, he unwillingly began to enjoy the smooth skin of her arm

rubbing against him like fine silk. Finally, Shinji couldn't help but feel a little

excited as Asuka continued to gently caress his cheek with her delicate fingers.

Nervously jumping to his feet, Shinji stuttered, "Hah... Asuka... ahem I...

got to help Rei with the dishes.... So.... you enjoy yourself... here... just... lock the

bathroom door when you use it this time." Leaving a disappointed Asuka, Shinji

then made his way to the kitchen as he confusingly thought in his mind, Why is she

suddenly so forward... she is so difficult to understand... If I didn't know better, I

was sure that she was flirting with me!

What Shinji saw next in the kitchen nearly scared him out of his skin. The

water tap at the sink was left running, while there was no one using it. With all the

dishes in the sink, the fallen water was trapped inside and has started to overflow

onto the floor. Next, he saw Rei sitting on the ground against the cabinets with her

thighs pulled against her body and her head resting on her knees. Faintly through

the rushing sound of the tap water, he could make out a series of sad sobs. Due to

the overflowing sink water, Rei's bottom was now completely soaked. Realizing

what he was seeing, Shinji immediately ran up to the sink and turned off the tap.

Then he knelt beside his sobbing sister, and asked with great concern, "What is

going on, Rei? Why are you crying? What happened? Are you hurt? Where are

you hurting? Why didn't you call for me? Rei?"

Even upon hearing the series of quick and concerned questions, Rei

continued to bury her face between her knees. Her sobs were now filled with even

more sadness and tone.

Shinji tried to gather his sister into his arms to comfort her, however Rei

refused to accept Shinji's gesture by pushing him away. Filled with concern and

fear, Shinji asked, "Rei? What's wrong? Did I do something wrong? Rei? What

happened?"

Rei didn't reply, and continued to cry.

Now that Shinji actually thought about it, he had never seen Rei cry like

this before. Actually, now that he really thought about it, he had never seen her cry

with such intense sadness and pain before. As far as he knew, Rei wasn't capable of

crying in such as manner even if she was experiencing the pain after a truck ran over

her foot. Sure, he had seen a few tears from his sister in the past, but nothing like

this ever happened. However, he wasn't about to just sit here and allow his sister to

cry her eyes out. So, he attempted to get close to Rei again.

Once again, Rei turned away from Shinji and tried to push him away with

one hand. However, Shinji was prepared this time. He skillfully saw the path which

Rei's hand was coming from, and grabbed hold of her arm. He then pulled her arm

towards him, thus causing Rei body to fly towards him as well. As soon as Rei's

body came close to him, Shinji firmly placed both his hands onto her shoulders. For

some odd reason, Shinji felt no resistance at all. It was as if Rei's muscles had given

up and refused to put up a fight. Her body seemed so fragile, vulnerable, and so

yielding. Yet, a part of Rei's body continued to oppose Shinji's attempt by turning

her face by turning away from him. Shinji could now clearly make out the sparkling

streams of tears running down the side of Rei's pinkish tender cheeks.

sighs She must have been crying for a long while now... Her cheeks are

so red, Shinji internally commented with concern. Kneeling closer to his crying

sister, Shinji gently asked, "Rei? What's wrong? Please tell me?"

Slowly and carefully, Shinji began to reach for Rei's far cheek with one

hand. Gently, he began to lead Rei's face towards his direction. When Rei was

finally facing Shinji, he saw that her red eyes were redder than usual. They were

filled with tears, while showing her deepest emotions of sadness. Shinji could tell

that his sister was in a lot of pain right now.

"My goodness... what happened to you?" Shinji asked, shocked and

disturbed.

"I... I... sniffs I.. I..," Rei uttered as more tears began to drip out of her

angelic red orbs. Without warning, she wrapped her arms around Shinji and

painfully cried even louder against his shoulder.

Hearing the sudden intense crying in the living room, Asuka ran into the

kitchen asking, "What's going on? Why is Wonder-Girl crying?" Because of the

speed at which she entered the kitchen with, Asuka nearly slid and fell backwards as

her feet came into contact with the flooded floor. When she regained her balance,

Asuka yelled with annoyance, "What's going on? The floor is flooded!! I nearly

killed myself! What the hell...!!"

Hearing Asuka's series of complaints from behind, Shinji coldly and

frustratingly said without looking back, "Asuka, would you please stop yelling

behind my back. I am sorry the floor is flooded, but I got more serious concerns to

attend to now. So, please just try your darn hardest to be quiet."

Asuka was about to angrily holler at Shinji for his tone of voice when she

complained about nearly slipping on the floor and breaking her back. However,

when she took a moment to review the scene before her, Asuka wisely decided that

it was not the time. With curiosity she asked, "What did you do to her?"

"What? Nothing! I didn't do anything!" Shinji replied with frustration. "Just...

Just go away! You aren't helping at all!"

Suddenly, a horrific idea dawned over Asuka's mind as she continued to

evaluate the current scene in more detail. With a shaky voice she began to utter her

hypothesis, "My God... Wonder-Girl would never cry like this... You... you..., You

sick bastard! Did that pervert Kensuke's words finally got to you?"

Shinji whipped his head towards Asuka and gave her an extremely

confused expression that seemed to ask What??? ARE you talking about???.

Then finally realizing that her guess was indeed a little too far-fetched.

Asuka shook her head with relief and thought, Oh good... he wasn't trying to rape

his own sister... or make her become his wife... breaths a sigh of relief That slip

on the wet floor must have shook me up quite a bit... I wasn't even thinking straight.

Shinji wouldn't do such a disgusting act. Sure, I make fun of him about being a

pervert sometimes... but I knew he wasn't one. Or I wouldn't choose him... How

silly of me. Then, she asked with genuine concern, "Is there anything I can do?"

Feeling less stressful upon hearing Asuka's gentle voice, Shinji slowly

shook his head, and replied, "Thanks for your offer, but I would like to be alone with

Rei for a while."

"Well, you sure?" Asuka offered again.

Shinji nodded with turning his head.

"Alright then. Hmmmm, I will quickly use the bathroom for a shower and

brushing my teeth, and other... girl's stuff," Asuka announced as she slowly backed

her way out of the kitchen. "If you need any help, just knock on the door. Ok?"

"Yeah. Thank you, Asuka," Shinji replied as he turned around and gave

Asuka a warm reassuring smile. Then, he began to gently brush his hands over

Rei's back to comfort her.

Asuka's heart was filled with content and satisfaction as she saw Shinji

smile at her in such a way. She felt that this was another giant step in letting Shinji

know that she was not the same person she was three years ago and that she had

changed for the better. The idea of seeing that Shinji had also changed for the better

also gave Asuka great hope for expanding with him in the future. With joy filling

her inner mind, Asuka made her way to the bathroom with a big happy smile on her

face.

Meanwhile, Shinji still had no idea as to what had caused Rei's sudden

outburst of sad cries. All he could do now was to gently brush her back as his sister

continued to cry on his shoulder. Shinji thought that he should just let Rei cry as

much as she needed to for now, then when the time was appropriate he would ask

her again. However, Rei's crying continued on for the next ten minutes without any

signs of stopping anytime soon. Her voice was starting to get distorted due to the

continuous strains, but she continued on. Shinji could no longer tell if the pain that

was heard within her crying was caused by her emotion of sadness or from the pain

produced every time she tried to make a crying sound as she continued to weep.

Finally Shinji thought, This can't go on... She is going to lose her voice

soon... Then Shinji stopped brushing his hands over Rei's back, and proceeded to

lifting her up in his arms. He carefully shifted to Rei's side while keeping her head

on his shoulder, and started to lay his arms one behind her upper back while the

other slid under her knees. Cautiously, Shinji began to stand up on the wet floor as

he mustered the strength into his arms to lift Rei off the ground. Step by step, Shinji

carried Rei into her room and kicked the door shut behind him. Tactfully kneeling

down in the dark room, Shinji rested his still crying sister onto the floor against her

bed because parts of her clothing were wet. Drawing his face close to Rei, he

tenderly asked as he brushed his fingers gently on the side of her face, "Rei? We are

alone now. Asuka can't hear us in here. Now, tell your big brother what's wrong.

Why are you crying like this?"

Rei slowly stopped her crying, however she was left with the hiccups and

sniffles resulting from the long duration of intense sobbing. Even in the darkness of

Rei's room, Shinji could see that her cheeks were completely red. Then

instinctively, Rei began to rub her sore redden eyes with the back of her hands.

"Hey hey, don't rub them like that. It's not good for your eyes," Shinji

softly urged. Reaching for the tissue paper box with the cute PenPen cover on Rei's

bedside table, Shinji acquired a few sheets and handed it to Rei. With a warm

chuckle, Shinji added, "I wouldn't want you to ruin your beautiful eyes, my sweet

little Rei."

Shinji then waited for a while longer as he watched Rei wipe the remaining

tears away from her eyes. Rei had now calmed her sniffling and hiccups. However,

she was still staring at the floor and inattentive to Shinji's worried look. Then Shinji

once again asked with the same gentle caring voice, "Please, Rei. Can you tell me

what is the problem? I want to help you through it. I am really worried here. I have

never seen you cry like this before. I want to protect you from anything that will

cause you pain, but I can't do it without you letting me know what's wrong."

"You... you...," Rei slowly murmured inaudibly.

"Mmmm? What did you say?" Shinji inquired with hope and gentleness in

his voice.

"I... still... heh... I still remembered that night when you promised me in

your bed that you will... always protect me," Rei spoke with a quick weird snigger.

"Yeah. Haha. I remember that night too..." Shinji gave a few quick titters

as he scratch his head.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A.D. 2015

"I Promise I Will Protect You... Always."

Shinji desperately tried to control his breathing as he lay in his bed in the

middle of the night. He didn't want to wake Rei with any sudden breathing motion

caused by rising and lower of his chest. Tonight, Shinji woke up in the middle of

the night to find that Rei had once again quietly crawled into his bed. Rei was

peacefully sleeping with her head resting on Shinji's chest, with one of her hands

resting lightly on the side of his waist. Upon clearing up his fuzzy vision and with

the help from the light rays of moonlight, Shinji could make out a small smile of

content registering above Rei's satiny chin.

Rei always like to sneak into my bed after she moved in with us a couple

of weeks ago... Shinji sighed with a smile. Although it isn't comfortable with her

sleeping on top of me, I don't really mind. Seeing her lovely smile and she sleeping

so peacefully makes it all worth it. Then instinctively, Shinji raised an arm and

gently rest on Rei's back. As he looked out into the night through the blinds

covering the window, Shinji unwittingly took a deep breath and with a happy smile

he thought, I am the luckiest guy in the world. I could stay like this forever.

Sensing the suddenly rise of Shinji's chest, Rei gave a soft moan to indicate

she was scratched away from her peaceful sleep.

Realizing what he had done, Shinji softly apologized, "Oops, sorry Rei. I

didn't mean to wake you. I suddenly forgot to control my breathing."

"Mmmmm?" Rei moaned with her eyes half opened.

"Don't worry, just rest your head down and try to fall asleep again," Shinji

quietly suggested. "I will try harder not to wake you with my breathing this time."

Slowly lifting herself slightly above Shinji, Rei asked shaking her head,

"You didn't feel comfortable with the extra weight on top of your chest, right?"

"No, of course not. I can hardly feel anything. You know how light you

are. o" Shinji lied with a smile.

"Please, Shinji," Rei said as she stared straight into his eyes. "Why do you

tell me something different from what you are feeling?"

"No, I am not," Shinji insisted.

"Yes. Yes. You are," Rei continued without raising her voice. "Why?

Please explain. Why would you lie to me in such a simple matter?"

Taking a deep breath, Shinji decided to give up against his newly adopted

sister, "Well... I just thought that... Well, you were sleeping so peacefully and with

such happiness. I didn't want you to feel unwanted. I mean.... I really enjoy you

sneaking into my bed sometimes. Makes me feel more connected to you. I

wouldn't mind being a little uncomfortable when it could make you so happy."

Tilting her head slightly, Rei replied, "Oh, I see."

"I would do anything in my power for you to be happy," Shinji explained

with a smile.

Rei seemed a little confused, and asked, "Why?"

"Because you are my precious little sister now," Shinji answered with a big

smile for Rei.

"So, you do so purely because you are bounded by such duties required of

you now that mother and father had made me your younger sister," Rei asked

without emotions.

"Well... you can't put it in such a way..." Shinji scratched his head as he

tried to explain. "I am not doing this because I am bound by any rules or duties.

Well... wait. Ok. I believe that it IS my duty to make you happy and care for you,

but NOT because I am required or bounded by any commands or rules. Mother and

Father didn't command me to do this. I chose to do this according to my own free

will. I do this because I love you. You are now my precious little sister, Ikari Rei,

and I love you very much." Then, Shinji leaned forward, wrapped his arms around

Rei and pulled her closer into a hug. After a while, Shinji pulled himself away and

said with a warm smile, "You are going to have to help me with this though. I have

never been someone's older brother before. So, you are going to have to let me

know if I am doing a good job or not. Ok?"

"Hug me again," Rei crisply commanded without emotions.

"Huh?" Shinji puzzled with a sweat beat appearing on his head.

"You wish for me to assist you in making me happy, correct?" Rei asked

raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, of course," Shinji nodded.

"Then hug me again. I felt happiness just now when you pulled my body

close to yours with your arms wrapped around my back," Rei explained. "I want

you to do it again."

"Alright," Shinji smiled, as he pulled his sister into a warm hug again.

"How is this?"

"I feel warmth, joy and happiness," Rei replied without emotions in her

voice.

"Really? You don't sound like you are happy," Shinji commented as he

turned his eyes towards Rei without turning his head.

"But I do feel it," Rei explained.

"You should try and show it to other people then."

"Father said that betraying emotions to others will be the same as showing

your weakness," Rei innocently argued.

"Really? Did he say that to you before Third Impact?"

"Yes."

Letting out a few chuckles, Shinji explained as he slowly brushed Rei's

back with his hands, "You were in a different situation back then. I think father

meant for you to do that when you are faced with an enemy or a stranger. He meant

for you to protect yourself back then by doing so. It is different now. Does it look

like I am going to hurt you in any way?"

Rei slowly shook her head on Shinji's shoulder.

"I am not saying you should completely forget about what father said, but

you should only do so when the situation calls for it. For example, like when you

are in danger, or in an unfamiliar environment. You should show your emotions to

your family, those you love, those you trust and your friends," Shinji clarified. Then

said with pretended disappointment, "Or do you feel that I will hurt you, or you

don't trust me?"

Pulling away from Shinjij, Rei stared with seriousness into his eyes and

replied, "I understand." Then without warning, she slowly closed her eyes as she

pressed her lips against Shinji's and wrapped her arms around his back.

Surprised, Shinji lost his balance and fell backwards onto his pillow as well

as pulling Rei down with him. Now, not only were Rei's lips still connected with

Shinji's but her upper body was pressed against his chest as well. Shinji couldn't

help but feel a little aroused when he felt Rei's feminine features through their

clothing as her body continued to press onto him. Gently slipping to one side and

landing Rei on his bed, Shinji asked with blushing cheeks, "Rei? What were you

doing?"

"You suggested that I should show my emotions with actions, didn't you?"

Rei replied with pure innocence.

"Well... yes... but... well..." Shinji stammered. "Well... I was... you see..."

"What's wrong? Did I make a mistake in showing that I was happy?" Rei

inquired professionally. "Instead of withholding my emotions, I acted on them with

the first action that came into my mind."

"Hmmm, well... I guess... you see... Well, Rei," Shinji tried to clarify as he

continued to reorganize in thinking. "When you show that you are happy, you just

give a smile, or laugh a little. You shouldn't try and kiss the person. Haha, I

mean... if you did that, then you will have to constantly be kissing other people to

show that you are happy."

"I see," Rei pondered as she stared into the ceiling. Then producing a

precious and beautiful smile, Rei replied, "I understand."

"There, see?" Shinji congratulated by responding with a smile. "Now you

are showing that you are happy. Come to think of it, I think I explained this to you

before when we defeated Ramiel. I remember I explained to you that you should

smile when you are happy, and you smiled for me. At that moment, I was very glad

that you decided to smile for me."

"Why?" Rei asked.

"Well, I was afraid that you might have been hurt when you shielded me

from the fifth Angel's particle beam. Also, the way how you morbidly said goodbye

made me think that you have sacrificed your life to save mine. You said you would

protect me... I just didn't know you would do it at any cost." Shinji softly explained.

"It was my mission to protect you until your rifle could..."

Shinji suddenly interrupted, "I know... but I just didn't thought that you

would sacrifice yourself to save my life... Nobody has ever done that for me... I

didn't thought anyone would... I wasn't worth it."

"I was replaceable, you were not," Rei said with calm.

Clasping a hand over Rei's mouth, Shinji warned with dead seriousness,

"You are not replaceable. Don't ever think that you are. You are Ikari Rei, and no

one can ever replace your importance in this world."

"I understand. But back then, I was Ayanami Rei, and I was replaceable,"

Rei replied.

Shinji didn't know if he should be angry or if he should laugh when he

heard her say that. Shinji simply exploded emotionally as he made himself clear,

"No! You are the same person as you were before. Doesn't matter if your name

was Ikari, or Ayanami. You are yourself, and you are an important individual who

can't be replaced."

"Is it because all my other clones were destroyed? Is that why I can't be

replaced now?" Rei continued to innocently thwart Shinji's attempt to clarify certain

things about life to her.

"NO!" Shinji answered, with his voice showing signs of frustration and

panic. Then taking a deep breath Shinji wrapped an arm reassuringly around Rei

and explain with patience and gentleness, "I don't know how I can explain it clearly

to you. But, I will try my best. Let me ask you a question. Am I replaceable?"

"No," Rei answered.

"Right. Why?"

"Because you are Ikari Shinji, and after you die, there won't be another one

like you in this world."

"That's right. You are the same. You are irreplaceable. You are just as

important and anyone else. You have a soul, and you are a sentient human being.

You deserve to live just as much as any other person. I don't care if your body can

be cloned or was made from cloning. The point is... you just can't be replaced.

Because if you die, your current self will be missed very much, and I will very sad,"

Shinji explained with his voice starting to crack. "I will blame myself... if you ever

died."

"Why? What happens in this world is unpredictable," Rei comforted upon

seeing the little droplets of tears falling from Shinji's closed eyes. "You can never

control everything."

"Because... I would blame myself for not being able to be there for you,

and protect you from harm. I would always think that there was something I

could've done," Shinji cried as he tightened his arm around Rei. "Just please, don't

ask anymore questions. Please just promise me that you will treasure your life, your

body, and be careful in whatever you do, and whatever decisions you make."

Rei nodded with an amiable whisper of "Yes. I will." Then she gave

Shinji a warm reassuring smile and wrapped an arm around her brother. Slowly, the

Ikari siblings began to pull closer to each other on the bed until their foreheads

touched.

"Thanks Rei," Shinji said with joy. "From now on, I will do everything in

my power to protect you from any harm. I love you, Rei. I won't ever let you leave

me. I swear I will protect with whatever means possible. Nothing is impossible,

because I can control anything if I set my mind to it. And as God is my witness, I

swear that I will do anything to protect you. Rei, I promise I will protect you...

always."

"Thank you, Shinji. I love you too," Rei tenderly replied as she kissed

Shinji on his lips. A teardrop of joy was seen sliding down her cheek from one of

her closed eyes. It sparkled with absolute brilliance due to the moonlight as it

slowly trickled to her chin and falling onto the pillow.

Fogged by all the emotions in his head, Shinji slowly and unconsciously

began to return the kiss with his adopted sister. With arms wrapped tightly around

each other, they were now sharing a very passionate kiss on Shinji's bed.

Little did Shinji know... his father Gendou once whispered a similar vow of

protection to his mother a little more than 16 years ago on a night and in a scene

much similar to the one he was currently sharing with Rei.

Meanwhile, Rei was starting to lose herself in the kiss as she felt her body

was slowly melting away into Shinji. Filled with joy, Rei thought, I understand

now. I didn't kiss him just now because I was happy... I kissed him because I love

him. I love Shinji. I want to be with him forever.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Knock, Knock

Rei suddenly returned from reliving one of her most treasured memories

when she heard the soft knock on the door.

Slowly and quietly opening the door, Asuka cautiously tiptoed through.

Seeing the Shinji kneeling before Rei, Asuka asked with concern, "Shinji, is

everything alright?"

"Yeah. Thanks Asuka," Shinji turned his head and replied.

"Well, I hope you feel better soon, Rei," Asuka comforted. "Shinji, I am

just going to return to my apartment next door. I am guessing you will need some

time alone with your sister."

"Thanks Asuka. I will see you out," Shinji offered as he began to stand up.

"Rei, don't worry. I will be back in a minute."

When Asuka and Shinji had cleared out of the room, Rei softly whispered,

"You will always protect me..."

Then Asuka and Shinji made their way down the hall towards the door.

Shinji opened the door, and said, "Thank you for being so supportive and nice to Rei

just now."

"What? You didn't thought I was capable of being nice?" Asuka jokingly

blamed.

"No... It just that I wasn't expecting..." Shinji expressed with uncertainty.

"Don't be so surprised. There will be a lot that you won't be expecting

from me," Asuka explained with a smile.

"Yeah...," Shinji admitted as he scratched his head. "You have changed a

lot during these past three years. It's like I'm getting to know you all over again."

"For better or for worst?" Asuka asked with a smile as she raised an

eyebrow.

"Of course for the better," Shinji smiled.

"Are you implying that I was wicked person back then?" Asuka threatened.

"No! Of course... not," Shinji sweated.

"Well, I don't blame you. I had a few problems back then," Asuka softly

laughed. "But, I am glad we can start off new and on the right step again."

"Yeah," Shinji replied with a warm smile.

"Hey. I really enjoy jogging with you this morning," Asuka added

blushing slightly.

"Yeah, me too," Shinji agreed. "If you don't mind... would you like to

have a run again tomorrow morning?"

"Yeah. I would like that," Asuka smiled sweetly and softly replied. "I bet

you won't be able to keep up with me again tomorrow."

"Yeah, we'll see," Shinji challenged with a friendly voice. Then the two

began to let out a series of soft laughter.

"Well, you better take good care of your sister," Asuka suggested. "Let me

know what happened tomorrow morning. I must admit, I was a little worried when I

saw the misery on your face in the kitchen just now."

"Good night then."

"Yeah," Asuka softly whispered as she leaned towards Shinji and gave him

a quick peck on his cheek. "Good Night then. If you need anything, just knock on

my door." With that, Asuka open the apartment door across from the Ikaris' and

stepped inside.

Shinji was left blushing slightly as he stood there until Asuka's door slid

fully shut. With a smile, we walked back into his apartment, and began to make his

way to Rei's room.

Shinji noticed that her door was close, thus he knocked and asked, "Rei?

Are you all right? I am coming in." Quietly, he slid the door open and walked into

the dark room. To Shinji's surprise, he noticed that Rei was no longer sitting by her

bed. In fact, as he looked around the room, he could find Rei at all. Shinji began to

panic as he thought, Where did she go?

Suddenly, the door behind him slammed shut with a bang. Before Shinji

could turn around, a hand from behind clasped itself onto his mouth. Then, he heard

an emotionless voice within his mind warned, Please, don't scream.

Shinji quickly thought, Rei!?

Before Shinji could do anymore, he was forcefully pushed him across the

room and landed on Rei's bed face front. Immediately, Shinji pushed himself

around on Rei's bed and ask with a small amount of anger in his voice, "Rei! What

are you doing?"

What Shinji saw next sent absolute fear into his heart. Shinji's body froze

on the spot as he stared wide-eyed at Rei. There was nothing wrong with Rei except

she was now floating a few inches off the ground. However, due to the darkness of

the room, Shinji couldn't make out anymore but Rei's dark levitated figure.

All of a sudden the room was filled with a dim reddish orange glow and a

familiar humming sound.

"Absolute.... Terror... Field...?" Shinji gasped with horror and awe.

Shinji was completely stunned and terrified as he saw an A.T. Field

appeared into existence inches before the floating Rei. He didn't know what to

make of the current situation nor could he do anything as his body remained

stunned, as well as starting a rhythm of trembling. All he could feel now was that

his jaw had dropped straight to the ground due to his fear. With the dim light

provided by the A.T. Field, Shinji could now make out the expression on Rei's face.

Her facial expression was made up of pain, regret, and sadness as streams of tears

began to flow out of her red orbs. Furthermore, Shinji could now clearly feel Rei's

current emotions as if they were his own.

Then Shinji heard a familiar voice inside his mind, I know you can hear

me in your mind, brother.

Completely surprised and frightened, Shinji naturally thought in his mind,

Rei?

Yes. Rei replied in his mind.

Unable to speak due to his trembling, Shinji began speak in his mind, Rei?

What is going on??

I can sense your fear, my brother. I can see and hear the thoughts and the

questions you have in your mind right now.

Shinji remained silent in his mind as he continued to listen in fear.

Shinji, if you can just calm down for a minute, I just want to explain

something to you. Rei urged in his mind.

Shinji slowly nodded and mentally replied, Ok...

I figured out why you fainted at Nerv today. Rei's echoing voice began

in his mind. There were certain side effects that your brain experienced after you

came out of Third Impact. I always thought maybe... just maybe... it would just

remain dormant in you. But, I was wrong.

What do you mean? Shinji asked.

Since you were the center of Third Impact, you brain had to go through

certain changes in order to adapt itself to process the vast amount information.

When you came out of it, those changes remained dormant in your brain until now.

What kind of changes?

Simply put, you had just experienced the ability like me to read other

people's thoughts and telepathically sense their emotions. That was the furthest you

got today after only a few hours upon awaking your dormant mental trait. Normal

science might classify this as a psychic ability. Our Eva's synchronization is

something similar. Everyone has this ability lying dormant in their minds.

However, not everyone can trigger this hidden ability. You, on the other hand,

possess a much higher potential with this ability after it awakens in your mind due to

the changes that Third Impact had on you.

You mean later on I can bend spoons without touching them? Shinji

asked mentally with optimism as he began to relax.

Bending petty spoons will be the least you can do, Rei softly chuckled in

Shinji mind.

Wait... you have this ability too? Shinji inquired. To move things

without touching them... telekinesis, I think that's what they call it.

Yes... but I didn't receive this ability because of Third Impact...

You made the black ball to roll out in the raffle today! Shinji suddenly

pointed out. You read my mind today, and you knew I wanted to win that trip. Then you

quickly purchased just enough items to get the raffle tickets again! Then you rigged

the game when I went to spin the box! How many more times have you been doing

this for me in the past?

Please, Shinji. Don't get mad at me. I promise you that I have never tried

to read your mind unless I sense certain amount of disappointment, sadness, pain, or

regret from you, Rei pleaded. All I want to do is to make you happy...

Oh, I see, Shinji replied. Well, I know you wouldn't invade my privacy

without a legitimate reason. But, still... I don't want you to do this anymore.

Remember, I have this ability now too. So, I can probably tell when you are reading

my mind chuncles

But I can't let you develop your ability any further, Rei announced

dejectedly.

Why? What's going on?? Shinji asked, with fear creeping back into his

mind again. Is it because I will be able to create an A.T. Field like you?

No, my A.T. Field is part of my original ability. You won't be able to

produce it no matter how you develop... chuckles if you were just going to gain

the ability to produce an A.T. Field... things would be a lot simpler.

Wait... I am confused. What will happen to me later on?

You don't... want to find out... It will just bring you more trouble, regret,

detriment, and pain, Rei replied with her thoughts as she shook her head.

Why? What's going to happen??

Don't be afraid, Shinji. Rei gives a warm smile Wouldn't it be great to

live as a normal human being on this world? Do you really wish to have an ability

that will be destined to bring you regret, misery, danger, harm, pain, torment, and

might ultimately cost you your life? Rei spoke with a louder voice in her brother's

mind. It will be very possible that you won't be able to control this ability. This

ability is very dangerous when one doesn't have proper control over it. The most

optimistic consequence... is that it will destroy your mind and leave your body a

blank... You will be lying on a bed in a hospital like a vegetable. I don't EVER

want to see you like that! Rei screamed painfully in Shinji's mind.

Rei.... Shinji murmured sadly.

I DON'T EVER WANT TO SEE YOU GET HURT!! NO! NO! NO!

NO! I don't want it!!! I don't want this!!! I WANT TO SEE YOU ALIVE AND

HAPPY FOREVER!!! Rei continued scream frantically with pain. Shinji was able

to clearly sense Rei's feelings of pain, fear and regret as he heard her protest in his

mind. I don't want to lose you!! I DON'T EVER WANT TO BE ALONE AGAIN!!

Rei... don't worry..., Shinji comforted mentally. There isn't anything to

be done now... If Third Impact had such effects on my body... then that is reality. I

promise I will try my best and control this. I won't let myself get hurt.... please...

there is nothing you can do, so don't be so upset. I don't want to see you torture

yourself in such pain.

Then with a pair of very frightening eyes, Rei stared at Shinji as she began

to float closer to Shinji. Then in his mind she admitted with a weird tone of voice,

There IS something I can do.... heh heh...

Really scared out of his skin now, Shinji nervously asked, What... is...

that? He even tried to back away from Rei as he slowly inched backwards on the

bed. However, after a few more inches, his back came into contact with the wall.

Crap... no where to go...

Yes... Shinji... no where to go now... Rei eerily agreed in his mind.

What are you... going to do....?

It won't hurt... I promise... This is going to torment my heart and mind

more than it's going to hurt you... Rei unconvincingly comforted in Shinji's mind

with her frighteningly spooky tone of voice. I was crying my eyes out just now,

because I didn't know what to do... I didn't want to invade your privacy and your

mind to such a high degree... I really didn't want to have to invade your mind like

this... But I can't come up with any other alternatives. It was either invade your

mind, or let your ability develop... I rather live with the guilt of invading your

privacy rather than seeing be thrown in front of danger's path once again... I... I... I

can't wait any longer... The more you develop, the more harm this process will do

to your mind.

....Rei...?? What.... are you....going.....

Don't worry... Shinji. I love you. I want to protect you just as much as

you want to protect me from any pain and harm. I will also do everything in my

power to make sure you are safe. I don't ever want to see you risk your life in

combat... ever... again.... Not knowing if you will come back alive.... Knowing that I

might lose the most important person to me at any minute... I can't bare that kind of

pain... I don't want people to use you like a weapon or a tool... I don't want to see

you hate yourself for killing and destroying again... Rei explained as her cries were

clearly heard in Shinji's mind. Please, understand I have no choice... I didn't want

to invade your mind... You mustn't think of me as trying to hurt you... I have never

used my ability to alter your mind and memories like this before. Nor have I

invaded your personal privacy before... You have to trust me... I just don't want you

to repeat what you went through in the past again...

"Rei..." Shinji softly whispered as he saw more streams of tears flow down

her cheeks.

Even thought I can't destroy this cursed ability, I will try to seal it in the

depths of your mind with a form of limiting constraint. I have to do this now.... I

have no alternatives.... later on... even with my power, I won't be able to do this

without seriously destabilizing your mind... Rei explained with more pain in her

thoughts. Even if you won't remember... I want you to know that I am doing this

because this is something within my power to protect you from... and I won't

hesitate to do it!

Instinctively, Shinji began to try and back further up into the wall due to

fear.

Don't worry... it won't hurt... the most harm this process will do is along

with your ability, it will seal up some of the memories that you have collected

today... But, don't worry... please trust me...

"Rei... please... wait..." Shinji nervously pleaded.

Then Rei floated above Shinji and positioned the A.T. Field facing down

directly above him. She softly whispered, "Minus polarity A.T. Field... open!"

With a flash of light, Shinji realized he was falling into a void of darkness

as he desperately screamed, "Noooooooooooooo!!!!!!"

Meanwhile, in the apartment next door, Asuka began to peacefully and

joyfully falling asleep with a smile in her bed as she thought, Tomorrow will be a

great day. o Good night, Shinji. Tightly hugging the cute little Shinji doll that

she had made when she was in Germany, Asuka slowly drifted to into her sleep.

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Author's ending notes,

Please remember to write me an email of Review. o

This time, I introduced the Ryukevain Type-One. This mech can transform from robot mode to a fighter

plane mode. Once again, if any of your Super Robot Wars fans are reading this, I would like to let you

know that I am using the design of the R-1 from the Super Robot Wars original design series called "Super

Machine Wars- SRX". If any of you readers like to look at a picture of this mech, then email me, and I will

be more than happy to send you a picture of it. Just a reminder, in this story so far, the Ryukevain Type-

One was stolen in Chapter Two. That fighter-jet was the Type-One in R-Wing form.

Well, I have expanded a bit more on Rei this time. I hope the Rei fans will approve of this. The characters

are getting closer on going to their trip. So, please read the next chapter to find out what will happen.

All I can say right now is that, more of Rei's feelings will be explored in the next chapter when she meets

the Hinata Hot Springs Inn Manger; Urashima Kanako.

Those of you who are Love Hina fans would have guessed it by now. Yes! This is the same Hinata Inn

from the series "Love Hina". However, the Love Hina story line that I am incorporating into this fanfiction

is the manga storyline. Urashima Kanako is a character from the Love Hina manga series. She is

Urashima Keitaro's adopted sister who made her appearance at the end of manga vol 10. Her story lasted

till the end of vol 12, which is the furthest that Ken Akamatsu has released in Japan so far (The guy took a

vacation... so Love Hina manga has stopped until June 6th). But, don't worry... if you haven't read that far

in the manga, you can still enjoy the next chapter. Why? Because Urashim Kanako's story within those

two volumes of the Love Hina manga series (vol. 11, and 12) will also be briefly explained in "A.D 2018"

Chapter Five. This is kind like my prediction of what will happen to the Love Hina characters in the year

2018. o

BUT!!! Those of you who are Asuka fans don't despair!

The Chapter Six would be a bit more Asuka intense. Asuka will continue to develop when the characters

head for Kyoto for the second part of their summer trip.

I can give away a bit more spoiler... in the forest at Kyoto, Shinji and his friends will meet a new character.

It is a girl... hahaha... no more spoilers.... that's it.

Sorry... still no Eva battle story yet... but... Chapter Seven will have. o

Send me your comments and your hate mail... if you have any...