Neon Genesis Evangelion and all characters from therein are the 
property of Gainax. They are used without permission and we beg the 
kind and benevolent creators of the glorious show not to sue us. ^_^



Chain Lightning Studios Presents
      Together We Stand
       By T. L. Webb


     When I was a child
     I caught a fleeting glimpse
     Out of the corner of my eye
     I turned to look but it was gone
     I can not put my finger on it now
                   Comfortably Numb
                    Pink Floyd, The Wall


[]=========================[]
   Book One - Part Four            
[]=========================[]


     "So how did your first day on the town with the Idiot Duo go?" 
Hikari asked Shinji over the phone.

     "Well even my softest clothes still feel like they're made of 
burlap, but other than that it went pretty good," Shinji said. He had 
mostly healed from the Fifth Angel's attack, but apparently his skin 
was still extremely sensitive. She could hear him shifting slightly 
to a more comfortable position as he continued, "We went down to 
the entertainment district and spent most of the day at one of their 
favorite arcade houses."

     "Anything new out there? I haven't had time to go in awhile."

     "Well it was my first time so I don’t know what was new, but 
we spent a lot of time playing this VR racing game they had."

      "Oh? The one with the hovercraft? It's not new but it's fairly 
popular. They even talked me into playing it once."

     "Yeah, once I got the hang of it I did pretty well. I guess 
Kensuke plays it a lot-- he even beat the guy who was working 
there."

     "He probably 'forgot' to mention that he's captain of the local 
team," Hikari said with a giggle, "well I'm glad they invited you, 
we haven't seen you in almost two weeks."

      "Dr. Akagi says that I'm done with the tests for awhile. They 
can't do much more till either Wing is repaired or Duo arrives." 

      This was a little word game that Kensuke had come up with so 
that they could talk about Shinji's job over the phone. They weren't 
allowed to discuss the Eva's themselves, but as long as the 
Evangelions or other technical aspects weren't mentioned by name, 
the automatic system that monitored calls wouldn't terminate the 
connection. It was one of the few times that Kensuke's mech fetish 
had actually come in handy.

     "I'm glad too," he continued, "I barely had time to recover 
before they pulled me out of school for the experiments." 

     "If you're so tired why are you up so late? We do have school 
tomorrow you know."

     "I'll be fine, and I haven't had much time to talk with you 
lately... besides, according to Touji and Kensuke, a guy who passes 
up an opportunity to talk with a pretty girl is a moron." 

     "I think I ought to be afraid if you're taking advice from those 
two blockheads. They don’t know the first thing about girls."

     "As displayed by their drooling over Misato every time they 
stop by."

     "Are they _still_ doing that?" 

     "I'm afraid so," Shinji replied with a sigh, "and to make matters 
worse she keeps playing up to it. When they stopped by Friday she 
was wearing those cutoffs again."

      "You mean the ones you said almost qualified as a French 
bikini?"

      "Those are the ones-- I thought Kensuke was going to get a 
nosebleed that first day."

     "Oh, like you didn’t the first time you saw them," she said 
playfully.

     "I suppose I should have, but when I got here I was so messed 
up from... everything, that I was too tired to care. Now I just find it 
embarrassing."

     "Well she seems like the type of person who does things just to 
mess with other peoples' heads, but that doesn't have to be a bad 
thing. By the way-- speaking of Misato-- did she give you those 
printouts? You were at work when I tried to drop them by last 
week."

     "If you're referring to the enormous stack of paper on my desk, 
I'm afraid she did. I don't know how sensei finds the time to give 
out all this and still spend two hours a day telling us about every 
moment of his life from the last fifteen years."  

     "What I want to know is how you're expected to keep up with 
the class given your... um, 'duties'."

     "To be honest I was surprised they had me go to school in the 
first place. I mean, you're right; with all the stuff they have me 
doing its not like I have the time or the energy to properly tackle 
my studies." 
  
     "Well your job is nothing if not unusual. And it's impossible to 
guess just how long you might have to keep doing it. I suppose 
they felt that if you made an effort now you wouldn't have to play 
catch up to five or six years of missed school later down the line."

     "I guess, but I don't see how I'm supposed to do all of this and 
still keep my grades up-- I didn't even have time to start."

     "Well if you do need help remember I'm always available to 
give you a hand."
 
     "I thought you already had a bunch of students you were 
helping?"

     "I did until just before the hearing. When I realized that I might 
get expelled, I arranged for some upperclassmen to take on my 
workload. I think I'll let the others keep them for awhile-- I'm 
enjoying the break. But I wouldn't have a problem helping you out 
if you need it."

     "I don't want to cut into your free time, Hikari..."

     "Oh please," she said slightly annoyed-- sometimes it seem as if 
Shinji couldn't make up his mind if he wanted attention or not. He 
would shy away from groups of people, but at the same time she 
knew he wanted company. It was an odd contradiction, but there 
were worse personality traits a person could have. Plus it made him 
easy to tease.

      "First off," she told him with an authoritative voice, " you're 
my friend, and second, it's my duty as a citizen of Tokyo Three to 
assist such an important figure as yourself if I am in any way able. 
      
     "I wish you wouldent talk like that Hikari, it embarrasses me."

      "Oh," sometimes he took the bait, and sometimes he didn’t. It 
sounded like it would be best to drop it this time around, "sorry 
Shinji, I'll leave the teasing to Misato."

     "Its alright, I just don't like people making a big deal about the 
whole thing."

     "I understand," she told him as she yawned, "Well it really is 
getting late and I need to get ready for bed, I'll see you in class 
tomorrow Shinji, Good night."

     "Good night, Hikari," Shinji said as he hung up the phone. 


[]====[]
[]====[]


     Walking back to his room, Shinji passed his desk-- sighing as 
he took another look at the large pile of school printouts. He was 
definitely going to have to take Hikari up of her offer if he was 
ever going to get caught up anytime soon. Fortunately until he had 
come to Tokyo Three his grades had been quite good. If he worked 
hard at it he might just manage to catch up. The parent-teacher 
conference was later that week, and the meeting was to discuss the 
grades for the previous quarter. With any luck his grades should 
still reflected those of before his arrival.

     It suddenly struck him that he had recently been spending much 
more time talking to Hikari than with Touji or Kensuke. He 
supposed that it was mostly due to the fact that he felt more 
relaxed around her than he did with the other two. He had told her 
things that he hadn't shared with anyone else-- specifically about 
the incident with Rei just before Unit Zero's activation.

    Hikari had laughed at that, and in hindsight it was kind of funny. 
Thankfully she had understood that he didn't mean for any of it to 
happen, and had promised to talk with Rei and explain that he was 
sorry. 

     'I'm actually happy for the first time in... well, a really long 
time' he realized with a smile. It was something he hadn't really 
expected to happen, especially after the first battle. Since he had 
arrived here however, he had begun to make friends. That was 
something new to him. He'd been alone for so long that he had 
almost thought it to be normal. Lately as he looked back on his 
time before he arrived he was a little shocked at how hollow his 
life had been. 

      'This is the first time in so long that I've felt so accepted,' he 
thought, 'its strange; I don't feel like I deserve it somehow...' 


[]====[]
[]====[]


     " So tell me again how much power they used in that particle 
rifle?" Kensuke asked later that week. Shinji had been joining him 
and Touji at their lunch spot on the roof, and he'd been just 
admiring the view until Kensuke had started in on his all time 
favorite subject.

      " I told you I don't remember Kensuke, it was over a hundred 
gigawatts though," Shinji replied as he ate his lunch. It was an 
instant meal, which thankfully meant no curry spice.

     "Interesting, according to the calculations one of the guys on 
my message board came up with; the Angel would have required at 
least that much energy to maintain such a field, what did they call 
them again?"

      "Kensuke, if you don't chill, your going to get him in trouble," 
Touji said with his mouth half full of rice, "not to mention what's 
going to happen if anyone sees that website of yours."

     "I know, and I'm sorry Shinji, but it's all so interesting! I mean, 
if they had to shut down all the power grids in Japan, then it had to 
be almost two hundred gigawatts, if not more! So how did the 
angel generate that much power? We saw it that night before the 
sunset, and you could see through it, but it lowered a _mechanical_ 
drill into the geofront! I thought these things were organic. Just 
what are we fighting anyway?"

     "I know what you mean Kensuke, but I don't understand it any 
more than Touji does. To me its just one battle after the other, and 
I don't have the knack for technical things like you do."

     "And if your absences keep piling up you wont gain one 
either..." Kensuke added with a frown.

     "Dr. Akagi said that I was done with the testing for awhile," 
Shinji told them, privately smiling as he realized that he was 
having almost the same conversation as he had with Hikari a 
couple of nights before. Looking back over at Kensuke, who was 
sitting outside the rail he continued, "they still need to go through 
the data they collected, and until either Unit Zero is done or Unit 
Two is sent there isn't much more they can do."

     "Well at least you're off the hook," Touji said.

      "For now, anyway... but it's so hard keeping up with my classes 
and participating in the tests. I wish they would pick one or the 
other. I don't know why they have me doing both. It's just wearing 
me out."

     "Well maybe they thought being around other kids would relax 
you a bit?" Kensuke ventured, " I mean, as shut off as you were 
when you got here I can't imagine how bad off you'd be if you 
hadn't started school."

     "I guess you have a point, Kensuke... and I have to admit that 
having friends is definitely making the whole thing easier."

      "Plus you get to hang with the class rep." Touji added with a 
grin.

      "Oh not this again," Shinji said defensively, "we're just friends! 
Why does everyone want to make it sound like any minute we're 
going to elope or something?"

     "Because it's fun to watch you fly off the handle like that."

     Shinji's response to this was to bang his head lightly on the rail. 


[]====[]
[]====[]


     "Hello Rei," Hikari said as she sat down beside her, "how are 
you feeling?"

     Rei looked up from her book at Hikari and for a change didn't 
turn back to her reading immediately.

     "I am well Representative Horaki. My injuries have healed."

     Hikari smiled and nodded as she tried to figure out how to 
approach the subject she had planned. "You know you don't have 
to call me by my title all the time. I won't mind if you just call me 
Hikari, or if you have to be formal 'Miss Horaki' will do. "

     "Understood," the albino girl replied simply. Hikari wasn't sure 
whether it meant that Rei would stop calling her that, or that she 
just understood that she didn't like it. With Rei it was always a 
challenge to decipher her meanings. At any rate Hikari had 
promised Shinji that she'd find out if Rei was angry with him or 
not. After his slip up awhile back he was more than a bit nervous 
around Rei, and didn't quite feel it was appropriate to ask in 
person.

      "Um Rei, can I ask you something?" Hikari started

      Rei just sat there looking at her. She assumed that meant 'yes'.

     "Shinji told me what happened at your apartment. He really 
feels bad about it, and I wanted to make sure you knew that he 
didn't mean for it to happen. You're not mad at him are you?"

     "Why would I be?"

     "Well for starters he saw you naked!" Hikari said with no small 
amount of confusion toward the girl's cool attitude.

     "I do not understand. Why does this trouble him?"

     Had Hikari not already had a few of these unusual discussions 
with Rei this might have discouraged her. However, by now she 
was beginning to understand that there was a strange naivete about 
Rei. Not so much that she was childlike, more as if there were gaps 
in her experience in life. In this case, it was if she honestly didn’t 
realize that women were supposed to show modesty around men--
in which case explaining the concept might take an hour or even an 
entire day. Seeing as she only had a few minutes before class was 
over-- she opted to save that discussion for another time.

     "He feels that he invaded your privacy by seeing you like that, 
and he really feels bad about it. If you're really not mad, it might 
be best to let him know."

     "I see. Thank you for bringing this to my attention... Miss 
Horaki"

      Well, it was a start.


[]====[]
[]====[]


     As she pulled into the school parking lot, Misato caught a 
glimpse of Shinji sitting at his classroom's window. Even from 
where she was she could tell he was moping again.

     That wouldn't do at all.
 
     Gunning the engine, she yanked the wheel around, hit the 
brakes, tossed her car into reverse and spun it into the parking spot 
with pinpoint accuracy. Proud of her successful maneuver, she 
glanced up through the windshield and saw that Shinji was sitting 
up and looking down with an expression of shock. His two friends, 
who were precariously hanging out the window for a better look at 
her, had excited and lustful smiles plastered on their faces. 

     As she grinned and climbed out of the car, a dozen other male 
students joined the three boys at the window and she began to hear 
wolf whistles and very appreciative comments drift down to the 
parking lot. Putting on her shades she looked up and tossed a V up 
at the boys then headed into the building.    

      It was too bad that males didn't stay as predictable as they were 
at fifteen.


[]====[]
[]====[]


     'Okay, this is officially creeping me out' she thought fifteen 
minutes later as she looked around the conference hall. 

      This Junior High school was specifically set aside for the 
children of Nerv's employees; she had already known that. She had 
also known that with the dropping birth rates since second impact 
that the number of students in this particular class was only large 
enough to fill one classroom. 

     She hadn't known that she was going to be the only woman at 
the meeting. 
            
      It was strange... no, strike that, it was damn weird. Each 
student had at least one person representing them, and they all 
seemed to be the fathers, or in one or two cases the grandfather. It 
wasn't until Kodama Horaki stepped in that she felt better about it, 
and even that wasn't much of a relief. Did any of these kids have a 
mom?

      The younger girl saw her and smiled. The meeting wasn't for 
another five minutes and they had a bit of time to chitchat, so they 
took advantage and struck up a conversation.

      "Hi Kodama, I didn't expect to see you here today."

      "Well father is in the middle of a project and he asked me to 
come for him. Um... is it me or is something deeply wrong with 
this picture?" she asked as she looked around the room.

      "At least I'm not imagining things... it's beyond spooky isn't it? 
I was just thinking about it as you came in. Looks like Second 
Impact wasn't too kind to our gender."

      "I guess not. So what's the latest?"

     "Well Shinji spent about an hour on the phone last night with 
your sister-- I don't think I've seen him hold a conversation that 
long since he arrived."

    "That's adorable! So when do you think the sparks will start 
flying?"

     "Its hard to say with Shinji, a week or two ago I would have 
said that he wouldn't make a move if you used a cattle prod on 
him, but I think he's opening up more. I've seen him smile more in 
the last week than in the two months since he arrived." 
      
     "Hmmm and Hikari is just as slow as I was at her age... perhaps 
a little subtle coaxing on our part might be of some benefit?"

     "Well under normal circumstances I'd jump at the idea, but with 
Shinji's job being what it is I don't know how fair dragging Hikari 
into it all would be. It's very stressful and it might be very hard on 
her to deal with the fallout of a bad mission."

     "Give her some credit Misato, she's a tough kid."

     "Okay, but on your own head be it," Misato said with a smile, 
"so what's our first big plot to get them together?"

     "How about something simple like dinner? Hikari loves to 
cook, and I think I overheard them talking about it on the phone 
last week."

     "Might work, might work, I have to head out of town tomorrow 
though... how's tonight sound?"

     "Well I don't think that would be too much of a problem, but 
let's do it over at our place."

     "How come?"

     "Well let's say that I don't trust Nozomi not to swipe from your 
liquor cabinet."

     "You think she'd try to get drunk?"

     "No I think she'd sell it to her classmates."

     "Oh..." 


[]====[]
[]====[]


     "We're _what_?" Hikari and Shinji asked simultaneously

     "We're all going to have dinner at our place" Kodama said as 
they walked to Misato's car. 

     "But who's going to cook?" Hikari wanted to know.

     "Well," Misato said cheerfully, "since Shinji has been bugging 
me for weeks to let him loose in the kitchen and since you sister 
has such high praise for your culinary talents I figured we'd let the 
two of you whip something up. I deposited enough money in 
Shinji's account to cover the supplies and you two have a good 
three hours to put something together. While you're doing that, 
_we_ are going downtown with Ritsuko to pick up our uniforms 
from the cleaners. 

     As the two got into the car and drove off, Shinji turned to his 
friend and shrugged. Hikari covered her eyes with her hand and let 
out a sigh.

     "We have _got_ to keep those two apart," she said as they 
headed to the store. 

     "I agree, they're a dangerous combination."

     "Well, we better start planning... what do you feel in the mood 
for?"

     "Hmm... well, I don't think we have time for anything too 
fancy-- how about we make a quick detour. We can grab my book 
from the apartment and look through it on the way to the store. 
We'll pick up the supplies we need and should have time to cook 
something decent. "

     "We'd better get going then."

     As they made their way up to the apartment, Hikari commented 
on something she had noticed on her first visit. 

     "Hey Shinji? Does anyone else even live here?"

     "I don't think so. When I got here there wasn't anyone else, and 
no one has moved in... I think we're the only ones."

     "That's weird... why do you suppose that is? It's a nice 
complex."

     "Well there is the war going on, other than Nerv staff most of 
the population left after the first battle, we haven't had many 
people move into town."

     "I suppose, but don't you think it's creepy? Having the whole 
place to yourselves like that?"

     "I guess, but at the same time its kind of nice. I remember when 
I was living with my uncle we stayed in a small apartment for 
awhile and the guy upstairs would always complain when I played 
my cello."

     "Really? I remember reading something about that in your 
transfer file, how long have you played?"

     "For a few years now, but I'm not very good."

     "Well do you think you could play for me sometime? I've never 
actually heard someone play a solo."

     "... Okay, but it'll have to wait, right now we have a dinner to 
plan."


[]====[]
[]====[]


     It had not escaped Hikari's notice how much time she had been 
spending with Shinji lately. She enjoyed his company: he was 
polite, considerate, and with a bit of patence and kindness he 
would open right up. 

    She liked that; most guys had such an ego that talking to them 
was more like being talked _at_ than anything. With Shinji it was 
like she had his total attention. He was still shy, and she usually 
had to coax him into a conversation, but once she got him started 
they ended up talking for hours. One night back while Shinji had 
been recovering from the fifth angel, they had actually stayed up 
the whole night on the phone. She was fairly certain that Misato 
hadn't found out about that one yet, because she was sure they 
would never hear the end of it if or when she did. 

     She wasn't sure just what was going on between them, but she 
liked it. It was a wonder that none of the other girls in class had 
made a pass at him because there was a lot about him to like. He 
was attentive and always listened to what she had to say. He didn't 
go around gossiping about the things they talked about, and he 
didn't seem to realize that he stereotypically should be using this 
chance to try to kiss her. 

     Then again... was that good or bad?

     She couldn't honestly say. She had thought about it once or 
twice. Between Misato and Kodama's teasing it was nigh 
impossible for her not to have. That and the fact that Shinji was 
kind of cute made it a line of thought that was sometimes hard to 
avoid. 

     A bit later as they made their way through the grocery store, 
that line of thought was crossing her mind again. It was mostly due 
to something she had caught out of the corner of her eye as they 
were heading back to the checkout counter. She had been double-
checking their selections against the list they had made up when 
she had seen Shinji looking at her with a wistful smile on his face. 
It had taken a bit of willpower not to say anything; she wasn’t sure 
just what that look had meant. It might have been just a friendly 
smile; she knew how grateful Shinji had been as of late to have 
friends. Then again he might have been thinking along the lines 
she was. 

     The question was; should she say something about it?


[]====[]
[]====[]


     "Hey Nozomi!" Hikari called as they walked into her home. 

     "Yes?"  Came a voice from somewhere inside

     "We have company!" Hikari said as she and Shinji set their 
groceries on a table. As they began setting up in the kitchen a few 
minutes later, a girl of around eleven came walking in. when she 
saw Shinji, a grin spread across her face and she turned to Hikari. 

     "Is he the pilot guy?" she asked, causing Shinji to blush and 
Hikari to roll her eyes.

     "Nozomi, he's a guest! Would it kill you to at least _pretend_ to 
be polite?" Hikari asked. She sighed and turned to Shinji, saying, 
"I'm sorry... I should have warned you about the imp here."

     "It's ok," Shinji said as he turned and smiled at the young girl, 
"hello Nozomi, my name is Shinji Ikari, pleased to meet you."

     "Likewise," the girl replied with a bright smile, " sorry if I 
embarrassed you."

     "It's okay, I'm almost used to that kind of thing at this point."

     "So you _are_ the pilot guy right?"  

     "Nozomi!" 

     "What?" the girl asked with a well-practiced innocent look 
springing to her face.

     "Never mind," Hikari said, turning back to the groceries and 
muttering darkly.

     "Anyway," the younger girl said, "Kodama called and said that 
she and the other lady would be here in a couple of hours."

     "Thanks for letting us know," Shinji said.

     "Is she your mom?"

      Even Nozomi could see from Shinji's sudden change in 
demeanor that an immediate change in topic was in order. 
Resolving not to bring that up again, she asked him what the 
Geofront was like.

     "Most of the population has seen it from the observation decks, 
but I want to know what its like from the ground floor," she said.

     Shinji thought about that for a moment before answering, "well, 
when the city is in battle formation it looks amazing, because all 
the lights come on and it's like an upside down palace in the mist. 
Even when the buildings are on the surface, it's still impressive. 
The ceiling is so far up that a slight haze makes it hard to make out 
sometimes, I think that’s humidity or something from the lake. 
When they open the skylights, beams of sunlight shine down and 
that’s when it looks it's most beautiful. Plus, when a transport is 
moving on the rails you can see its lights glowing-- I think it looks 
like a chain of fireflies personally."

      "Wow," was all either Nozomi had to say. Hikari was a touch 
more speechless. She'd known that Shinji had more than a small 
romantic streak hiding in him. Hearing it come out like that was 
enough to make her rethink something she'd previously decided to 
put off for awhile...
 

[]====[]
[]====[]


      "I am _so_ sorry," Hikari said with a blush as Nozomi went to 
the living room to play a videogame. 

     "Why?"

     "I didn’t think she would be such a pest. She's usually at least a 
bit more subtle when we have company."

     "I didn’t mind," Shinji said as they began cutting vegetables. 

     "Well I'm glad she didn’t embarrass you too much-- with all the 
questions about piloting I mean."

     "I was just glad she didn’t ask about anything classified. I still 
feel bad when I have to tell Kensuke or Touji that something they 
asked is off limits." 

     "I can imagine."

     "I kind of envy you though. I never had any brothers or sisters, 
and my Uncle was so distant that he might as well not have even 
been family."    

      "I understand, but you do have someone at least. I mean, if you 
think about it, Misato seems more like a big sister to you than 
anything."     

      "I don’t know... something tells me that big sisters generally 
don’t try to tease their brothers by walking around wearing next to 
nothing."

      "Ok, you have a point there."

     "So do you though, I just never really thought about it," Shinji 
said as he stopped cutting for a moment, "when Nozomi asked if 
she was my mother back there I almost got mad, and I don’t really 
know why."

     "We lost our mom a few years ago too." Hikari said softly. 
"There was an accident at the lab and she got infected with 
something. I think that’s why dad works so hard now... He won't 
let anyone do a hazardous project if he isn't there to supervise. It's 
kind of sad though-- its like he thinks that if he had been there 
mom wouldn't have been hurt and he's trying to make up for it."

     Shinji nodded and was quiet for a while as he took that in. 
Finally he said, "I don’t know why my father is the way he is. 
After mom died he changed completely. I barely remember what 
he was like before, I was only five when it happened... but I think I 
remember him smiling once. I never saw him do that afterwards. 
He never wrote to me or called until just before I came here, and 
even that was through intermediaries. The first time I had any 
contact with him in three years was in Unit One's cage, and... it 
didn’t go very well."

      "I don’t think it’s the same Shinji..." Hikari said sadly, 
"whatever happened to your father must have hurt him much 
worse. Dad might work hard but he still takes care of us. Maybe 
this is because I'm a girl, but I can't think of anything bad enough 
to make someone want to abandon their child like that."

     As she said that, Shinji froze and then suddenly turned away. 
Concerned, she leaned over and saw a tear roll down his cheek. 

     "Oh no... Shinji I'm sorry," she told him as she realized she had 
said that without thinking. He had never spoken much about his 
father, and she didn’t know just how deep the gulf between the two 
was, but it obviously was a more painful topic for her friend than 
she had initially thought. 

     "I'll be fine, just give me a moment," he said with more than a 
little embarrassment. 

     "Listen," she said as she placed a hand on his shoulder, "you've 
been dealing with whatever this is alone for awhile now, maybe 
you need to let it out. Bottling it up like that can't be good for you."

     "Hikari..." he said, " it hurts to even think about it."

     "I can see that Shinji... if you want to wait, that’s fine, I 
understand this must be hard, but don’t wait too long ok? I'm 
always here to listen if you need to talk."

    "Thank you," he said, smiling as he sniffed back the tears.  

    "Hey, I wouldn't be much of a friend if I didn’t at least try to 
help you out with something this painful.  We'll talk about it some 
more later. For now lets get the rest of this ready before the evil 
twins show up."


[]====[]
[]====[]


     "We're back!" Kodama called as she and Misato entered the 
house. 

     "Wow..." Misato said taking a quick peek in the kitchen, " if 
this tastes as good as it smells, I'll have to let Shinji handle the 
cooking from here on out."

     "Only if you take over the garbage and the bathroom" Shinji 
said as he and Hikari continued to set the table "I have enough of 
the chores as it is."

     "Awww, we decided that fair and square Shinji, it's unseemly to 
complain now."

     "Let's give them a minute to finish up Misato," Kodama said, 
"we can go hunt up Nozomi so I can introduce you."

     "See ya," Misato said as they headed upstairs.

     Once they were out of earshot, Shinji paused and shook his 
head. "I don’t know how they hit it off so well, Kodama is so much 
younger than she is."

    "Well, they seem to be about equally mature." Hikari replied as 
she checked the rice.

    "Um... does that make Misato far less mature, or Kodama far 
more mature than normal?" 

    "You got me there... probably somewhere in between."

     "Do you think they're going to let up on us tonight?"

     "Not a chance."

     "I guessed as much."


[]====[]
[]====[]


     As Rei finished her dinner she thought back over her day. 

     She had found out that Pilot Ikari retained unease from their 
meeting many weeks ago. Miss Horaki had spoken to her again 
and had told her this. It seemed that Pilot Ikari and Miss Horaki 
had been together even more often than usual over the course of 
the week. It was a deviation from the boy's earlier behavior. Had 
this been a result of his fight with the Angel? Or was it something 
she had merely not seen before? 

     It was odd for her to be spending so much time thinking of 
these things. For example, she had never considered that his seeing 
her unclothed would have upset Pilot Ikari so much, or that he 
would think her to be upset about the incident. In truth she had 
been mildly annoyed that he had disturbed Commander Ikari's 
glasses, but since no damage had been incurred there was no need 
for concern.   

     She still did not understand what it had been about her 
appearance that had bothered him. Neither Commander Ikari nor 
Doctor Akagi had ever displayed such unease when she disrobed 
for tests. She did know that to go unclad outdoors was against the 
law, and even if she had wanted to there was skin damage to 
consider.  Perhaps Pilot Ikari had never seen a woman in such a 
state? That was possible, but it did not explain why he would 
believe her angry with him. 

     'Perhaps I could discuss this with Doctor Akagi,' she thought as 
she undressed for bed, 'it would be rude to disturb the Commander 
with such trivial questions.'

     Ever since the Fourth Angel had attacked, the UN had finally 
put Project E on top priority. It was fortunate that the government 
body had finally released the funds necessary to the project. Had 
they done so sooner, perhaps the Angel would not have taken them 
all off guard. It would not be long now before Unit Zero's 
reconstruction would be completed, and she would be able to take 
her place as she was meant to. 

       Had Pilot Ikari not returned, she would have become the 
designated pilot of Unit One and would have a greater purpose. 
She was, however, uncertain as to why she'd felt a brief 
apprehension before being informed of his return. 

     To Pilot Eva was her purpose, and despite Pilot Ikari's 
insistence, she had nothing else. The repeated damage to Unit Zero 
was an annoyance to her because it prevented her from 
accomplishing her purpose. Pilot Ikari's return had also denied her 
purpose, but for reasons she was unable to decipher, she was not 
upset about this. 

     Something else to ask Doctor Akagi perhaps? 

     Or perhaps not. The doctor was sometimes put at unease with 
discussing anything of an emotional nature with her. Once when 
asked why the Commander had transferred her to this apartment 
the doctor's reply had been less than convincing. 

     There were two others she might consider asking. Miss Horaki 
had developed a friendship with Pilot Ikari and conceivably might 
be of help on this matter. Also Captain Katsuragi was the boy's 
guardian, she perhaps could explain the lack of annoyance toward 
Pilot Ikari's return. 

      Having found several possible solutions to her dilemma, Rei 
did what Pilot Ikari had told her was the appropriate response to 
happiness.

     She smiled.


[]====[]
[]====[]


     "So what are your plans for the future Hikari?" Misato wanted 
to know as they ate. 

     "Well, I haven't really decided, but I'm thinking about perhaps 
teaching." 

     "Really?" Misato said before taking a bite and swallowing, "is 
that because of your class rep thingie?"

      "Actually it's because of our class's teacher."

     "What?" Kodama said as she turned to her sister, "you can't 
seriously be saying that that senile old goat is an inspiration to you, 
he was putting us to sleep three years ago, and I doubt he's gotten 
_better_"

     Hikari giggled at that before answering "not in the way you 
think Kodama, I want the kids to have a good teacher, not one who 
spends two hours of the day rehashing the same story week after 
week."

      "That's a noble cause if I ever heard one," Nozomi said, " try to 
graduate before I hit Junior High wouldja?" 

     "If I could I would half-pint, but I think I have a ways to go 
yet."

     "How about you Shinji?" Kodama asked, "what are your big 
plans for the future. 

     She didn’t seem to have thought about it before she asked, and 
Misato frowned- knowing all too well that Shinji's future might 
well have been decided for him. It didn’t seem fair somehow, but 
even as Kodama seemed to realize this-- he spoke up. 

     "I don’t know, I never thought about it much. I think I might 
make a good teacher* but I don’t know if that’s for me. I like 
music, and I might try to learn how to write some. I think I could 
be happy doing that."

    "Well its important to make sure whatever it is you try to enjoy 
it if you can," Misato said, but to herself she added 'even if it is 
Eva.'

     "Well I want Misato's job." Nozomi said as she took a third 
helping of rice. "That way I can yell at people and get drunk all the 
time."

      Three of the other four people in the room promptly cracked up 
at this as Misato privately calculated the penalty for throwing a 
small child into oncoming traffic. Shaking it off she joined the 
others in laughing before responding "I don’t think you could 
handle the paperwork sweetie. Every time Shinji here steps on a 
building I have to fill out a damage report. And until recently he 
was a bit of a klutz."

     Nozomi frowned at this, "how well do you remember those 
reports?"

     "Well I have a pretty good memory, its part of how I got the 
job."
     
     "Do you remember how building 253 in D section got 
crushed?"

     "Nozomi, is something wrong?" Hikari asked, seeming 
suddenly suspicious of her younger sister.

     Misato however hadn't noticed the glare she was giving Nozomi 
yet, "well lets see here, that was one of the ones damaged during 
the first battle, I think it got damaged early on in the fight."

    "How early?" Nozomi asked carefully, causing Misato to finally 
realize that this wasn’t the same playful conversation it had started 
as.
 
     "That building was first damaged when the Angel attacked Unit 
One," She replied, recalling the information, "the combination of 
the Angels energy attack and Unit One's weight lowered its 
structural integrity to the point that it collapsed during the Angels 
self destruction. Now why did you want to know this?"

      Nozomi looked relieved. "One of my classmates was hurt when 
it happened. And she's having a real hard time convincing her 
brother that it wasn’t Shinji's fault. Now I can tell her for sure that 
it was an accident"

     "Nozomi," Hikari asked cautiously, "what is your friend's 
name?"

     "Mari Suzuhara"

     That was when Shinji started choking on his drink.      


[]====[]
[]====[]


     "I'm sorry about that," he told Hikari later on that evening. 
Nozomi had been sent to her room, not as punishment but because 
it was past her bedtime, and Misato and Kodama were in the 
kitchen talking about something or other. Once Shinji had cleared 
his throat he and Hikari had retired to the living room, and had 
remained there most of the night.  
    
     "Don’t be, I didn’t even know that Mari was in her class," she 
told him as she shook her head in wonder, " although I shouldn’t 
be surprised considering how small ours is."

     "I think I saw it coming, but it still took me off guard to actually 
hear it come out like that."

     "Well I can see how, the way you carry around guilt.  I keep 
telling you that you need to lighten up."

     "I believe you, and I do understand, its just that little part of my 
mind that keeps telling me that all this is my fault won't shut up 
sometimes." 

     "Well we're going to have to gag it or something. You're so 
wound up inside that it's not going to be very long before the same 
thing that happened with the second fight happens again. I'm really 
not very big on the idea of a boy I like having a nervous 
breakdown."

     It took Shinji a few moments for what she had just said to sink 
in. 

     "Hikari?" 

     "Shinji, if I repeat myself I'm going to start blushing, and if 
those two see _that_ we will never get them out of the room 
again."

     "Oh... good point."

     "So how do you feel about that?" she asked.

     "About what?" Shinji said as he blushed himself. Fortunately 
this was common enough with him to be unremarkable-- definitely 
not something that would attract attention.         

     "About my liking you," Hikari said nervously. 

     "I don’t know... right now I feel a little scared to be honest. Is 
that normal?"

     "I don’t know, and I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a bit 
nervous myself. Have you ever had a girlfriend?"

      "No."

    "I've never even been on a date, I don’t have the slightest idea 
what to do."

     "Well..." Shinji said, an idea coming to mind.

     "What?"

     "We could try that I suppose."

     "You mean a date?"

     "Yeah, I think we ought to start there at least."

     "Probably a good idea. Think we ought to tell them?" she asked 
as she nodded in the direction of the kitchen.

     "I don’t think we should, at least not for now. Let's see how the 
date goes first, then we can let them tease us about it. I don’t need 
to be any more nervous than I already am."

     "I know what you mean Shinji," she paused a moment then 
smiled, "you know? This went better than I thought it would."

     "What did?"

     "Asking you out like that. I didn’t even know if you were 
interested."
   
     "I don’t think it would have gotten done if you hadn't. You're a 
lot braver than I am."

      "Don't shortchange yourself Shinji; remember what you do out 
there in the Eva. Not many people could stay after what you've 
been through in that thing. You’re a lot braver than you think."

      They sat there across from one another for awhile longer before 
Misato finally called for Shinji from the kitchen. It was time for 
him to go home. 

    "Hey, before you go..." Hikari said catching his sleeve.

    "Yes?"

    She had hugged him once before almost a month ago, just before 
his train had arrived and he had nearly left Tokyo Three. This hug 
was different in a way that was at first just beyond his ability to 
describe. Later on, he would think about that moment and pick 
apart each of the differences he could pin down. It was slightly 
more affectionate for one thing, and for another he managed to 
return it. That he hadn't been an emotional wreck at the time was 
also a factor. There were many more, but the one that stood out the 
most was the smell of her hair, or more specifically the shampoo 
she used. It was something that he would find difficult _not_ to 
think about in the weeks that followed. 

      She pulled back and they smiled shyly at one another for a 
moment before Misato called again. 

     "If I wait much longer She's going to either suspect something 
or make something up to suspect." Shinji told her. 

    "Ok, goodnight Shinji, see you in class."

    "Good night Hikari."


[]======================[]
    To Be Continued...
[]======================[]


Authors Incoherent Babbling:

     Well that’s the second draft of part four. I want to thank Sparky 
again for his help. As bad as my grammar is, this would be 
nowhere as good without his help.

    Next chapter things are gonna get interesting. That’s right, Der 
Redhead arrives. Planning a date is hard enough, planing it around 
tests, school, and keeping it secret from roommates is nigh 
impossible (I just love that word) 


Out

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