Neon Genesis Evangelion Fan Fiction ❯ So Happy Together ❯ chapter 8 ( Chapter 7 )

Twenty minutes later Rei came out of the bathroom. She was showered and dressed in her regular sleeping attire. ^_^

She skillfully walked through the dark bed room. It wasn't completely dark. The light of the bathroom gave some light. She was looking for her phone.

Shinji heard her movements since he was awake, feeling too guilty to sleep. "Rei-chan, what are you looking for?"

"My phone. I need to make a call."

"Oh... want to use mine?"

She stopped looking and thought about it. "No thank you." She started looking again.

"Are you sure?" He quickly picked up his cell phone and held it to her. "I don't mind."

She was about to say no then remembered that she left her phone in her office. "Thank you, Shinji." She took his phone and dialed the number.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~ring ring~

"Ahhh ahhh ... just let it ring!" pleaded a lusty doctor.

Gendo pumped inside her a few more times. He was tempted to do as she asked. It had been a long time since he had it this good.

~ring ring~

Gendo glanced at his night stand and at the phone...

~ring ring~

"Just let it ring." Ritsuko urged as she nibbled on his neck and matched his thrusts.

~ring ring~

He pulled out. He could not ignore his *little girl*. He picked up the phone, calmed his breathing and answered. "Yes Rei."

Akagi was having a silent tantrum. <Gawd I hate her!!!>

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rei spoke on Shinji's phone. "Commander..."

Shinji's eyes tripled their size. He could not believe that she actually called his father at ... he looked at his alarm clock ... at 12:54am in the morning. <are you nuts?>

Rei continued. "The plans I had made to keep pilot Souyru in the dark about pilot Ikari's new living arrangement are no longer going to work."

~~~~~~~~~~~~

The commander sat at the edge of his king sized bed. "I see."

~~~~~~~~~~~

She was silent

~~~~~~~~~

The commander took her silence as an unspoken request. "Don't worry, Rei.. I'll handle it." He opened the drawer to his night stand.

~~~~~~~~

Rei's eyes widened. She knew how the commander handled things. In about ten minutes, four NERV operatives would be breaking into Misato's apartment and dragging out the second pilot by gun point to have the problem *erased.*

"Sir."

~~~~~~~~

"Yes."

~~~~~~~

"I am sure I can handle the problem."

~~~~~~~

Gendo inwardly pouted as he glanced at his gun, then closed the drawer. "As you wish."

~~~~~~~~~~~

"Thank you sir."

~~~~~~~~~~~

He didn't answer verbally < you're welcome my little Rei>

~click~

Gendo got off the bed and went to the bathroom to shower. With his phone in tow, he started making calls. He was going to handle things his way, just in case they don't go as Rei planned.

Ritsuko threw a tantrum on the bed as she watched him leave. <I hate you Rei Ayanami!!... Gawd I hate you!!!!>

~~~~~~~~~

~click~

Rei erased the number from Shinji's phone memory. The number she used to call the commander was a private number known only to her. She then gave the phone back the her roommate.

"Thank you, Shinji."

"You're welcome Rei-chan." He was really curious what that whole conversation was about, but didn't ask. Instead he was more curious with what she was now doing.

Rei walked around his air bed and over to the closet. She pulled out her school uniform and started getting dressed.

"It's a little early to be getting ready for school, Rei-chan." he commented playfully.

She didn't answer.

"Where are you going?"

She glanced at him and answered. "To NERV."

"Oh..."

She finished getting dressed.

"Did my father tell you to go?"

"No."

"It's so late, Rei-chan..."

She looked at his clock then walked to the door and slipped on her sneakers.

Shinji quickly got out of his bed and walked to the door. "Rei-chan, if you wait one minute I'll walk you."

She turned around and smiled at him. "I will be alright, Shinji. Do not worry." She turned to walk out of the door.

"Rei wait!"

She gave him a side profile of her face.

"Why are you going this late?"

"To work." She walked out the door and closed it behind her.

Shinji just stood there and stared at the closed door. <to work on what?>

*******************************

That Monday morning Misato woke up early. She needed to talk to Asuka before she went to school. That night she was informed by the friendly doctor, to just how replaceable the commander thought the second child was. Permanently replaceable, and we're not talking about being fired from her job. Since there were no more angels attacking, the pilots were being kept around for an undisclosed reason. One less pilot wouldn't make a difference to the commander. Especially if that pilot was Asuka. She had absolutely no ties to him. She wasn't his son nor was she his favorite. Asuka was the expendable one and always had been. Asuka was the one the commander always sent into battle first. Shinji had the best Eva and the major knew that the only time Rei was ever sent into battle was when the commander was gone and she did it herself.

The major had been up all night trying to think up a plan to keep the pilot of unit 02 from harming the first child in any way. She needed a way to save the child's life without telling her that her life was in danger.

Misato nervously stood up when she heard the second child coming from her bedroom. <Asuka if you never listen to me again, please listen to me today>

*******************************

Rei actually made it to school early that morning. Though no one would be able to tell, she was *not* in a good mood. She had been working on that problem the whole night and still ended up with the wrong answer. Actually the answer was correct, but it wasn't the answer the commander wanted. To make matters worse, tomorrow she was supposed present the commander with her findings. He was not going to be pleased. Like the third impact, he had a plan and that problem, not just the answer, was the catalyst to that plan. Then to aggravate her mood even more, her stomach was still nauseous because of the egg Shinji put in her food. She was tired physically, *and* she had to deal with the Asuka problem too before they all went to work after school today. *And* because she had to run a test with her Eva, she was going to have even less time to work on that problem for the commander!

<life sucks>

Because of the mood she was in, she decided that the way she was going to deal with the Souyru problem was, if Asuka challenged her to another fight, she was going to beat the holly hell out of the red headed second child. End of story.

Rei clasped her hands together and stared out the window. <yes, I believe that would make me feel better>

Shinji walked into the class room and was happy to see Rei sitting at her desk. He didn't think she was going to be here. He quickly walked over to her and asked...

"Are you nervous?"

She turned her gaze from the window and towards him. "Nervous about what?"

"About seeing Asuka today." His fear was clearly audible. "I'm sure she's pretty angry. And I'm sure she wants to take that anger out on us."

"I am not afraid of pilot Souyru, Shinji." Rei said in her calm low voice, then mentally growled. <it is she who should be afraid of me>

"Well I'm glad at least one of us isn't afraid." He admitted, then lingered and stared at her a bit. He then went to his seat once she looked toward the window again.

Rei had turned her head because she could feel her cheeks heating up. His attention on her was making her feel... nervous and happy at the same time. And the feeling was intense. It was also making her stomach feel weird. Which wasn't good because her stomach was already feeling weird because of the egg.

"Shinji."

"Yes, Rei-chan?" he answered as he sat down.

She spoke softly as she gave her visual attention to the happenings outside the window. "Do you remember what I told you before we fought against the fifth angel?"

He smiled. He was glad she remembered something from her second life. "Ummm.. you said you would protect me." <how could I forget>

She didn't respond any further after his recollection.

But he got her meaning loud and clear. He smiled at her even though she did not see it.

"Shin-man!"

Shinji turned his gaze at the door. "Aida"

Kensuke quickly walked to his desk and turned around to face his friend. "The devil is coming!"

"Nani?"

"Asuka, she's down the hall." Aida clarified.

Rei inwardly laughed.

"And she has a new method to her madness." he continued.

Shinji swallowed hard and leaned forward. "What do you mean?"

In his best secret agent voice, Aide explained. "She's acting all nice and stuff.."

Shinji face paled. "It's a trap?"

Kensuke nodded and whispered. "Don't be fooled."

Shinji whispered back. "I won't." Shinji glanced at Rei one last time before Asuka came into the room. <Rei this time... I'll protect you> He looked back at his friend. "Oh.. forget about what I asked you on Friday.."

"Why?"

"Because Asuka already knows that I'm living with Rei-cha..." He bit his bottom lip and hoped that Aida didn't catch what he was about to say.

Kensuke's eyes libidinously twinkled. "So it's Rei-chan, ne?...." He nodded approvingly. "You know Shin-man, I can't ever recall you calling the demon *chan*. I mean, not even once."

Shinji shrugged his shoulders. "I guess.. it's because I didn't feel that way about her..."

Rei smiled to herself.

"Then why did you stay with her for so long?" Aida asked.

"I told you. I couldn't get away." the pilot admitted.

As the boy's spoke to each other, Rei continued to stare out the window. Most people would think that she was always day dreaming or spacing out. The real reason why Rei never paid visual attention to the class was because she didn't need to. She could clearly hear what was going on, without staring into everyone's face. Very rarely did anything get past her. She knew dark and dirty secrets about almost everyone in her class. It was their own fault because they all talk about their business around her because they thought she wasn't listening. They didn't know that she was taught by the commander to always listen. It may be the difference between life and death. Not that anyone besides Asuka wanted to kill her. However, even though she was conditioned to listen to them, she did not care to know these things about them. In all honesty she'd rather not know about theirs secrets. Some of the things they did were really perverted. But people felt the need to tell their business around her.

But the honest to gawd real reason she was always preoccupied with the window was that she was bored. Plain and simple. She was probably the smartest person on this planet, and she *really* didn't need to be in high school.

However, today she was staring out the window because was looking for something. She narrowed her eyes, increasing her range of vision. <I see you> she mentally chimed and got up and to let down the blinds to the window in front of her desk. On three different buildings located a few blocks away from the school, she saw them. Snipers. <commander.. I said I would handle it myself>

As she finished putting down the blinds Asuka walked in through the class room door. The first person the red haired vixen's eyes gazed upon was Rei.

Un-intimidated, the first child passively stared back at the second child's hateful glare.

The tension created by the two was as thick as mud and was sucking up all the usable oxygen. For it seemed that the few other students in the classroom had stopped breathing.

Then for no reason, Asuka changed from her glare of hate, to a look of superiority, hmphed and walked over to Shinji.

When Shinji noticed her coming to him, his heart started palpating so fast he thought he was going to have a heart attack.

Asuka stood in front of the third child for about 10 seconds, plopped herself in his lap, wrapped her arms around his neck and happily chimed "I forgive you!"

Rei eyes widen a bit before she caught her shocked reaction then narrowed them in anger before she composed herself into her face of indifference.

Shinji saw the glimpses of Rei's mood swing. It gave him the strength to stand up for himself. It also let him know that even though Rei had not said it, she was starting to like him, like him.

(A.N. remember saying that when you were really little ^_~ )

He took a deep breath and asked timidly "You forgive me, for what?"

"For Friday" she said with false sweetness. "Misato-san told me everything. I guess I kinda over reacted."

Touji walked into the classroom and saw Asuka on Shinji's lap. He shook his head <don't do it man. don't let her trap you again>

Hikari had walked into the classroom with her boyfriend. She was glad to see the scene between the two pilots. Asuka had been griping to her about the whole break-up all weekend, and she knew that Asuka loved Shinji, so she was glad to see them getting back together.

Aida stood up from his seat, and rolled his eyes in disgust as he walked away from them and toward Touji.

"Asuka..." Shinji started, "you *did* over react. Rei and I never cheated on you..."

"I know..." she interrupted happily then turned her head to look at Rei. "What would you want with a *doll* when you have me."

It took all of the first child's self control and years of training not to outwardly express the anger she felt at that moment.

Shinji started to comment "Asuka..."

But was interrupted "That's why I'm letting you be my boyfriend again." Then for the benefit of Rei, she gave Shinji a *very* passionate kiss.

Everybody's jaw dropped.

Except Rei's. She just pulled the strings in her hand, and let up the blinds. She walked away from the windows and toward the other side of the room <commander, if you want to handle things, who am I to stop you>

Shinji immediately started to pull away from the kiss, but it wasn't until he noticed Rei moving toward the other side of the classroom did he finally break away from it. He thought she was leaving. He was afraid he blew whatever chance he had with her.

Asuka knew that Shinji was unresponsive to the kiss and broke it off, but she played it off as if he was just as hungry for it as she was. "So I guess you'll start moving your stuff back home today, ne?"

Shinji wiped off his mouth. "Ne" and pushed her off of him and stood up.

Touji and Kensuke gave their friend a big @$$ grin.

The third child looked at Rei as he wiped his mouth off again. She gave him a tiny warm smile. He nodded and took that as a sign that all hope with her was not lost. He then turned to his *ex* "I'm sorry, Asuka. But I'm not moving back into Misato's... I'm happy were I am."

Asuka's face contorted in anger. She could not believe that her charm was not working on him. "So you're going to say with *her*!!"

Shinji took a deep breath, straightened his back and answered "yes" in a very small voice.

The second pilot was so mad she was shaking. She wanted to attack him and beat some sense into him, so he could see how *they* were meant for each other. She looked over at the first child. She hated the blue haired girl so much. She wanted to kill her. Literally kill her, then defecate on her grave. Asuka was about to attempt her desire to do harm to them, then remembered the talk that she and Misato had this morning. She was warned not to harm the first child or the third child or she would lose her position as an Eva pilot. And that meant everything to her. Even more than Shinji. (she didn't know that it would be her life and not her job that she would actually lose) She took a deep breath and spoke with bitter venom...

"Then stay with the b*tch, Shinji no Baka." Her voice was like pure ice. "She's nothing but a $^%@ing doll anyway." She laughed bitterly "You two deserve each other... a wimp @$$ idiot and a $^&%ing doll!! The only thing either of you are good for is taking orders!!"

Shinji didn't respond to her insults. It wasn't worth it because it didn't matter. He just passively stared at her.

She noticed that her words weren't cutting him like they used to. She then looked at Rei who was passively staring at her as well, then back to Shinji. She began to laugh even more bitterly. "It's only been one weekend and your already acting like her." She turned on her heals and walked out of the classroom. She had to get out of there before she hurt one of them... both of them.

Shinji looked at Rei and smiled. She smiled back. Hikari went to follow her friend while Touji and Kensuke practically ran to Shinji and showered him with accolades for standing up for himself.

Rei went and took her seat and stared out the window.

******************************************

It was the last hour of the class when the teacher became fed up with Rei's preoccupation with the window.

"Ms. Ayanami!"

She didn't respond to the teacher. Her thoughts were occupied with the math problem the commander gave her.

"MS. AYANAMI!!!" He slammed his book on her desk.

That got her attention, but not in the way the teacher hoped. He wanted to scare her but failed miserably.

"Hai sensei?" she asked calmly.

He took a deep breath. "Ms. Ayanami, the rest of the class is working on these math problems" He pointed to the black board. "Could you find it in your schedule to pay enough attention to do question 10?"

Shinji looked at the question on the board. It was a hard one, even for him and he excelled in math.

Rei glanced at it for about 10 seconds. "The answer is 7."

"Wrong Ms. Ayanami. Maybe next time you'll try to work it out with a pencil and paper like the rest of your peers."

Shinji narrowed his eyes at the teacher as so did Touji and Aida. The rest of the class giggled and laughed.

Rei looked at the problem again. "I was not mistaken. The answer is 7."

"You're wrong, Ms. Ayanami." The teacher turned away from her. "Does any one have the correct answer?"

Shinji started working on it. As so did Kensuke and half of the class.

"I am correct sensei." she said adamantly yet calmly. Usually she wouldn't care that the teacher thought, but today she was in a bad mood.

The teacher sighed heavily. "Miss Ayanami, if you refuse to accept your mistake I will tell you the correct answer. It's 14."

Rei, looking at her teacher, responded "If the answer is supposed to be 14 then the problem is wrong." After she said those words a light clicked on in her head. <the problem.... is..... wrong..> She quickly stood up to leave.

The teacher raised his brow. "Going somewhere, Ms Ayanami?"

She looked at the teacher "Hai" then left the class room.

Kensuke raised his hand a few minutes after Rei walked out of the classroom.

"Yes Mr. Aida?"

He cleared his throat. "Ms. Ayanami was right. The answer is 7."

The teacher narrowed his eyes. "Did anyone else come up with 7 as an answer?"

Half the class raised their hands The other half didn't attempt the problem.

*****************************************

Shinji was surprised when he went to testing. Asuka was more obnoxious and arrogant than usual. Her insults were more cruel to the first and third pilots, but she kept her distance from him and Rei. Which totally surprised him. He wasn't completely sure, but Rei looked surprised by Asuka's self control too. Maybe even a little disappointed. He wasn't sure. After work Rei stayed at NERV, so he walked home alone. It felt weird to Shinji to be alone... for two years he was told what to do almost every moment of everyday by Asuka or Misato. Someone was always around him for one reason or another.

As he took his time to walk to his and Rei's apartment by himself... he felt happy. He wished Rei was with him, but he was also enjoying his time alone. He walked into the apartment, put on his music, and started cooking dinner for himself and Rei.

At was about 10p.m. when he started getting worried. Rei hadn't come home yet. He had called Misato to see if they were still doing some type of test with her and she said no. He called her cell phone only to hear it ring in the apartment. He even went back to NERV to see if she was still there. But he was told that he didn't have the clearance to be told if she was there or not. He stayed up most of the night worrying about her. When he went to school the next day, she wasn't there. He was a nervous wreck. So he left school early and went back to the apartment. When he got there, he found her sleeping on her bed. He wasn't sure whether to be angry or relieved that she was ok. He was about to wake her and ask her where she was but decided not to. She looked completely exhausted.

Instead of waking her, he went to make himself something to eat in the kitchen. He noticed the mess she made. She left an open jar of peanut butter and a jar of jelly on the counter. She also left the dirty butter knife she used on the counter by the bread crumbs, where she didn't use a plate. He turned his head to look at his roommate and noticed the other mess she made. Her dirty clothes were strewn all over the floor as well as her undergarments. The third pilot narrowed his eyes at her . She was such a slob. Before he fixed himself something to eat he decided to clean the apartment.

~~~~~~~~~~

It was about 5p.m. when Rei woke up. Slowly and groggily she sat up on her bed. For about 3 minutes she just sat there, staring at the wall. She was beyond exhausted. She has worked that entire evening and straight through the morning. But it was worth it. She fixed the kinks out of the problem and the commander was more than please with her efforts. Though no one beside her and Fuyutsuki would be able to tell. They were the only ones who could read the subtle gestures in his face. He was so pleased that he gave her another problem.

All she could think when he assigned it to her was a sarcastic <great> Though her face betrayed nothing.

Out of habit, she went to the bathroom and took a drink from the faucet. After she got her fill, she walked to the closet and started to get dressed in a tank top and the hip hugger jeans she wore the other day.

Anyone who would of been observing her would say she was sleepwalking and going through the motions of getting dressed by routine. That's probably why when Shinji called out to her she almost jumped out of her skin.

Her reaction took Shinji by surprise. As long as he's known her, he had never seen her express fear.

Her small hand flutter to her chest as she calmed her heart beat and her breathing. She thought she was alone in the apartment. She glanced at Shinji's clock, she didn't realize that she slept so late.

"Rei-chan, where were you last night?" Shinji asked in a worried tone. His anger went away a couple of hours ago as he watched her sleep. She looked so beautiful as she slept he couldn't stay mad her.

"I was at NERV." She answered calmly and finished getting dressed.

Shinji was now upset. If the security guards would of just told him that, he would not of been worried all night. "I went to NERV and no one would tell my that you were there.."

Rei nodded in understanding. "I will make sure you have clearance to know whether I'm there or not." She started walking toward the door.

"Where are going Rei-chan?"

"To NERV."

As he watched her put on her sneakers, he swallowed hard and asked "My I ask why you have to work so much?"

She nodded. "You may ask why I work so much."

He waited for her answer to why she was there then realized she was waiting for him to ask her why she was there. "Umm... why do you have to work so much, Rei-chan?"

"That is classified information.."

Shinji blinked. Hard. <okay.... she said I can ask her why... she never said she'd answer my question.> He took a deep breath and said " I made us some dinner."

She turned and looked at him. He looked at her. They both looked at each other... then Rei kicked off her shoes and walked to the kitchen to eat what he cooked for her.

Shinji prepared and brought her plate to her. She didn't even pick through it and investigate it to make sure he didn't try to sneak something in it before she started eating.

That totally surprised the third child. If he poisoned Asuka, one, she wouldn't ever let him forget it, two, she would investigated every morsel of food before she put it in her mouth. "Aren't you afraid I put something in it?"

She shook her head no. "I trust you." and continued eating.

He smiled and began eating as well.

After a few minutes, he stopped eating and looked at her. "Rei-chan."

She looked up at him.

"Do you always work so much?"

She nodded then she continued to eat.

"Oh.." He returned to his food. A few minutes later "....Always?"

She looked at him again. She stared at him for a minute then inwardly sighed. She really had things to do but for some reason she knew this was even more important. "Shinji."

"Yes, Rei-chan?"

"Would you like to go for a walk after dinner?"

He nodded his head vigorously.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shinji followed Rei since this was her side of town. They walked a few blocks then came to a park. It was huge, full of trees and flower gardens and paths. It had a large lake and a playground for kids.

"I didn't know this was here?" Shinji said in complete amazement as he looked around, trying to take it all in.

Rei didn't answer. She just walked slowly beside her roommate.

"How long has this been here?"

"About a year. It is still being worked on."

Shinji was really impressed. Since the second impact full grown trees, flowers and other vegetation meant for visual enjoyment was rare to see in abundance like this.

"Where did all the trees and flowers come from?"

"The Americas." Rei answered.

Shinji's head whipped to her direction. He wasn't really expecting her to know the answer to his question. It was just an outspoken thought. "How do you know that, Rei?"

"I asked." she admitted.

"Oh..." <that makes sense> He looked at her as they walked together. It was getting late in the day and the sun was casting a golden hue over everything. She sun shine also made her hair halo her face, making her look even more beautiful. He sighed lovingly.

"Rei-chan."

"Hmmm" She bent down to inspect a flower.

"Thanks for spending time with me... even though you have work to do."

She looked up at him and smiled.

They walked a little further.

"Shinji."

"Yes."

"Are you allergic to bees?"

"Umm... I don't know.. I've never seen a bee in real life before."

She nodded and slowly walked toward him.

He stiffened. "Do I have a bee on me?"

She shook her head no then in a quick movement she grabbed something by his shoulder. "This is a bee, Shinji." She opened her tiny hand.

He took a peek and winced. "You squished it"

She looked at her hand. "So I did." She threw the bee on the grass and wiped her hands on her jeans.

They walked a little further until they got to the park.

Shinji and Rei rested on some swings.

"Rei-chan... why do we still train to pilot the Evas, if there are no more angels?"

"To keep the peace." she said as she started to swing.

"The peace... from who?"

"To keep the peace among men.... we are the regulators of peace."

"So we train to fight against men... humans?"

"No Shinji, we train so we won't have to fight against them... As long as they fear us.. peace will ensue."

"What about SEELE?" Shinji looked up at her.

"What about SEELE?" She was swinging pretty high now.

"They don't fear us..." He looked expectantly at her. "Don't they have Evas too?"

She arched her back and tilted her head back as she swung to and fro. "SEELE has been disbanded. After they attacked NERV, and lost.... we gained control of everything."

"Oh..."

Feeling a bit nauseous she sat correctly and dragged her feet across the ground to stop herself from swinging. "This time around, Shinji... NERV has a different purpose. Your father has a different plan."

Shinji wasn't sure what she meant by that statement. "What's our purpose?"

"To protect the world from itself."

"Oh...." He looked at his feet.

She looked at her feet too. Her white sneakers were now dirty from dragging her feet. She leaned over and dusted them off.

He returned his gaze to her. "Do you think anyone will remember the third impact?"

She thought about it. Since the last time they had this conversation she had talked to the commander about it. "No. As far as anyone beside us is concerned, the third impact was adverted."

"How?"

She looked at him. "You saved the world, Shinji. We all did.... NERV is the world's savior."

"Oh..."

She mumbled to herself. "You have no idea how powerful your father is now."

But he heard her loud and clear. "You mean the Japanese government...?"

She shook her head. "NERV is not part of the Japanese Government..."

"Nani?" His eyes doubled their size. "Then who owns.... controls NERV?"

She looked at him and stated. "The commander."

He was absolutely dumbfounded. "How?"

"I don't know, Shinji." She smiled warmly. "It's your world."

"Are you saying this is what I wanted?"

"I am saying, this is what you desired before you rejected the third impact. The details were created by a higher power."

He was about to say something else but was interrupted by her.

"I think we should go back before it gets dark."

He looked at the sky. She was right the sun was almost completely set. As they walked back to the apartment together they walked side by side. Every so often their hands would brush against each other.

Rei passively walked beside her roommate and brushed her hand against his again <hint hint Shinji.. you can hold my hand if you want to.>

Shinji, blushing heavily walked beside his roommate and brushed his hand against her again <I wonder if she'll mind if I try to hold her hand..?>

When they reached the apartment building both were blushing but both were still too afraid to make the first move to hold each other's hand.

"That was nice."

She nodded in agreement and mentally sighed <I wish it didn't have to end... but.. I've got to go to NERV... I've got work to do..> She looked at him. He was smiling at her. <later.. I'll go later>

"Rei-chan."

She slightly raise her brow.

"If we saved the world... why aren't we rich and famous?"

"Is that what you would have wanted, Shinji? To be rich and famous?"

The third pilot thought about it. "I guess not. I'm happy the way I am now."

She nodded knowingly.

"It was my choice, wasn't it?" he asked a bit dejectedly.

She smiled as her answer.

He sighed. "I just wanted a normal life."

She walked into the kitchen to get some juice. "Are you thirsty?"

"Umm sure." He followed her into the kitchen. "Are you mad that you're not famous?"

"No." She stated calmly as she poured him some grape juice. "But I would not tell Asuka that you cheated her out of her chance to be idolized by the entire world."

He laughed, then drank his juice. "I guess you're going to go to work soon, huh?"

She nodded.

He sighed dejectedly. "Umm Rei-chan."

She looked at him.

"If you're going to be gone all night... could you ... please tell me... so I won't be worried."

Her brow furrowed. She was not used to having to check in with someone, but she didn't feel like the request was unreasonable and nodded. She drank her juice and made her way for the door. As she put on her sneakers she called out..

"Shinji."

"Hai."

She opened the door. "I will probably be gone all night." and closed it behind her.

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I still don't own any thing Evangelion