I'll start the next analysis with Kaji's arrival. I see in re-reading that this seems a bit abrupt. The reader can probably tell I'd forgotten about Kaji, and had to find a way to bring him back into the main story. Since he just shows up so often, I hope this scene isn't too jarring for the reader. We, of course, get another dose of Kaji's penchant to know just enough to get himself in trouble, as he seems to know about Cirus' trouble-making already. I'm not sure if Cirus' distant, distracted behavior comes across possible in the scene as he notices the clouds are not raining, but there's little more I can do about that now. I also thought Hyuga deserved a little page-time, so I had Cirus go to him for help rather than Ayobi. I've seen both 'Ayobi' and 'Ayoba' on even official Eva info, so I just picked one and stuck with it...

The battle itself. A surprisingly important battle because of its results rather than the fight, I wanted it to be more harrowing than usual. I'm not sure if I succeeded in that, but seeing Ayanami-sama get hurt so badly is enough to yank a fan-boy's heart-strings at least. Araphiel is little more than a big ball of goo, nothing so insane as a Sea of Dirac. I save the psychological Angels for later *chuckles*. Again, I wanted to keep the original three pilots respectably portrayed in battle, so in this fight, Asuka gets the glory. Yes, she jumped the Angel while everyone was distracted, if you were curious. Also, Asuka and Shinji's team-work was intended to show they can get along when they have to, as with the Angel that could split into two forms (I never bothered to memerize all the Angel names, sorry.) Its quite clear this Angel doesn't like Rei very much, because she gets wolloped and wailed on very specifically. The actual, in-story reason for this is nothing more than proximity. Unit 01 was less of a threat, Unit 02 was nowhere to be seen, and Unit 00 was proving stubborn about lying down and staying there. So the Araphiel took care of business, and then some. Nothing yanks a gut-reaction out of me like Ayanami-sama struggling in pain or suffocating, desperation of some kind. I rely on that sympathy quite a bit, to the point where I have to accept the critique that I use it too much. I used it deliberately each time, however, not just to cause the effect, but because I found each and every scene in which it occurs important. One of the critial issues in this battle is that Cirus' fear and concern for Rei are vividly depicted. His facade breaks and he shows open panic when she's attacked so brutally. The guilt hits right there, especially.

One of the most important scenes in Kenosis, and one of my favorites. Though it begins with simple plot-development, the real issue I'm speaking about is Cirus' entering the medical chamber, and getting down beside Rei's bed. That first gentle touch of her cheek is a corner stone for the story. We know Cirus is devoted to her right here. Any doubt should be gone, if I did my job correctly. A side-note: Cirus, as I created the character for Ayanami-sama's benefit, has an exceptionally clean mind, especially toward her. One expression of this is extreme modesty. Her face is more than enough for him to remain transfixed for hours. Actually, her eyes are enough to blow his mind.

The following sections up to the end of the chapter all effectively establish Cirus' dedicated vigil for Rei, but the character interactions are very good in my own view. The interaction with Misato, here, is one of the better ones between the pair, and Misato shows good use of her 'unofficial' awareness of Cirus' affection and concern for Ayanami-sama. The final sentence of this section strikes a chord that is the heart of the Kenosis story-line. Indeed, this theme is why I chose the word 'kenosis' as the sub-title. He will not leave her alone unless she wishes him to.

Okay, you can give me a hard time for the pun off of 'unfamiliar ceiling', but you have to admit it was wide open. This is just establishing that Shinji is awake while still building up Cirus' vigil with actual page-time. Describing a long period of time just isn't a match for actual numbers of scenes dragging it out. I tried to strike the balance between page-time and description to avoid drowning the reader. It's up to the reader if I succeeded or not. By the way, there is something to the idea that Cirus was hoping Shinji would leave soon, but he would never have pressed beyond the true reminder that Misato was worried about him.

The interaction between Misato and Ritsuko is both a wonderful character-interaction, and a very solid plot-narrative up to this point. Ritusko's comment about Cirus only being a child is accurate... to a point. The uniqueness of his nature is revealed later, as I've said before. He still has childish characteristics, which are the truth at the core of Ritusko's statement. But, really, don't we all still have childish characteristics?

The interaction between Asuka and Cirus is a classic one. Cirus, always trying to remain mysterious for his own good, just can't win for losing with the fiery German-American. Again, Cirus has that habit of 'popping up' behind someone. His tendency to lash out at Asuka and then immediately regret it tends to repeat itself. The two simply grate on each other, and Asuka's rudeness toward Rei out of jealousy doesn't help. As for 'where you two go differently in my mind'. If you actually look at Asuka and Rei's design, they have the same body, just using different hair and coloring. Rei appeals to Cirus in deep ways, not the least of which being her innocence and her vulnerability within her strength. To be blunt, Asuka doesn't stand a snow-ball's chance in you-know-where of winning over Rei for Ci's affection. Just isn't going to happen, and anyone who, oddly, chooses to write a fan-fan-fic to that end obviously didn't understand this story.

And we finish with the blunt narrative I mentioned before. I still tried to drag it out a bit, and I'm much happier with the current form than the original, which said little more than 'and he stayed that way for three days.' Yeah, not cool. Beyond the obvious, the desire of Cirus to see Rei smile is another key aspect of the main theme of Kenosis. The lack of smile is a symbol of the pain Cirus knows is in Rei's heart. Quite the cliff-hangar, eh? At least this isn't anime on TV, or you'd really hate me. Read the next chapter for more of my illustrious writing (*rolls eyes at self*).