A Reunion of Friends
Chapter #3: An Awakening of Feelings
Shinji made his way to the train's bar and ordered some Saké. He didn't
normally drink but he did use Saké whenever he
couldn't get to sleep. This
was one of those times. His old memories continued to haunt him as he made his
way back to his
cabin. Rei was awake feeding little Yui who must have woken
up crying for her milk. "Where did you go, I was worried," said
a mildly
concerned Rei. "I just needed something to get me to sleep, honey. I've been
having some flashbacks from ...... Third
Impact," said a tired Shinji.
Rei reached up with her one free hand (The other was supporting a feeding Yui).
"Are you ok? Can I do something to help?" said a now openly concerned Rei.
"Finish feeding our daughter and we'll get some sleep," answered Shinji.
As Yui was feeding, Shinji downed the Saké and sat admiring the beautiful
sight of mother feeding her child. "Yes, it was all
worth it," he thought to
himself as he let the drink's effects envelope him in a warm haze. Within a few
minutes Yui had
finished and fell into a deep sleep. Shinji took the
opportunity to kiss his wife as she cleaned herself up and they both got into
bed and shut off the lights. As the darkness filled their cabin Rei asked,
"Are you alright my love?"
"I always remember events from the past when I am
on a long trip. You know I have a hard time getting to sleep on anything
that's moving, so I take some Saké or some sleeping pills to get me there".
"Oh, my Shinji-kun. Come here and rest on me, maybe it will help you sleep."
"You know that's a great idea Hon, I love you." They kiss. (Though Rei is a
little put off from the taste of the Saké she never
misses an opportunity to
kiss her husband.)
As Shinji makes himself comfortable lying his head on his
wife's chest, her arms wrap around him and that alone causes him to
drift
swiftly to sleep. As he does his memories returned to where he had stopped off
before.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
After a few hours of scavenging Shinji had gotten enough food, clothes and
supplies to last the three of them for about a week.
As he made his way back
towards the beach he heard it, two screams coming from where he had left the two
girls and now he
ran as fast as he could to see what had happened and
hopefully to calm his fears!
As he ran he knew at once one of the screams was Asuka and he recongnized the
other.
"It wasn't Rei's, yet it should have been unless Rei was still
unconscious?" But the scream was still familiar to him.
As he rounded the dunes which blocked his view of the beach and the two
people he was concerned about, he saw what he
couldn't believe!
There, in front of him, was Asuka hugging another person. Rei was still
asleep a few feet away, as Shinji looked back at the
person Asuka was
hugging. "Oh my God it's ..... MISATO!"
Shinji nearly flew the short distance to his guardian as he literally tackled
her and Asuka to the ground. He hugged and kissed
and was kissed back by
Misato. Both were hugging Asuka as well. Then a yelp was heard. Misato and
Shinji had inadvertently
hugged Asuka on her damaged arm. As Misato and
Shinji got up and helped a now hurt Asuka to sit next to the sleeping Rei.
Misato and Shinji hugged again.
"Oh Shinji, my Shinji, I thought I'd
never see you again!" said Misato through tears of joy.
"Misato,.... how,
....when ....why?" was all Shinji could say through the sobs he was emitting at
the happy thought of having his
friend back. Then he realized two things,
Misato was nude and the supplies he had gathered were left behind the dunes.
"Listen Misato, I have some supplies behind the dunes, I'll get them, I know
I brought some blankets, so stay here and I'll get
them. OK?" Throughout
this he kept his eyes directly on her so as not to start a nose bleed in front
of his now nude friend.
"All right, Shin-chan. I'll check on Rei and Asuka,
you get those supplies," was all she said as he turned around to go back to
get them.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
By the time night fell the four survivors were around a camp fire and all
were clothed, though it was obvious that Misato
would have to go scavenging
tomorrow for clothes that fit. What she wore just didn't fit well. To keep his
eyes off of Misato
and her rather revealing attire, Shinji concentrated on
reviving Rei. After finding a clear stream he gathered up what
provisions
could contain the clean water and with some bits of clothing cleaned her up and
dampened her forehead with a cool
compress. His efforts were rewarded
sometime later when Rei finally woke up.
"Ssshhinji-kun" was all she could say as she awoke form the haze she was in.
He was delighted, holding her in his arms as he
had done several times
before. After she rubbed her eyes and saw the goofy smile on his face she
reciprocated with her small
but sincere smile she had given him after the
5th Angel's defeat.
"Thank God you're alive Rei, I couldn't, ...no I didn't want to go on without you here."
All she could say was "I know" in her monotone voice but that was contrasted
by the now genuine smile on her face. She
reached up and touched his cheek
with her small dainty hand. As she did she caught a single tear from his eye.
Both seemed to
zone out the rest of the world at that moment, looking into
each other's eyes. Then the word "Dumkopfs" seem to resonate,
breaking that
moment for them. "Well I see wondergirl has joined the living!" Asuka
sarcastically said.
"Glad you're awake Rei, Shinji here has gotten us some
food, would you like some?" Rei was hesitant to move out of Shinji's
arms
but she did. After the four had fed they all agreed to head for the Geofront and
see who if any were left or had came back
to life as they did.
Shinji then explained what had happened to them. Rei had as foggy a
recollection of the Third Impact as the others and was
surprised at her
appearance. She wanted to find out if her appearance belied a further truth, was
the angel half of her gone? Is
that why she looked like she did? Was she now
fully human? These questions were to be answered later. As within the next
month all over the world, those who chose to come back, did. Misato and the
children, later joined by a very much alive Kaji
made their home in Misato's
old apartment. Many came back. All of the children came back with many of the
parents long dead
from Second Impact. But some didn't return. Those that
composed SEELE never returned. Sub-commander Fuyutsuki didn't
return nor did
his family. Some of the older tech staff didn't return including Touji's parents
and Hikari's parents.
Finally, the two who were at the center of this whole
mess, Gendo and Yui Ikari, didn't return.
"Maybe they're finally together,"
Shinji said to Rei as they stood on the balcony of their apartment Both had
grown closer and
finally were living together in Misato's apartment. They
had slowly fallen in love with each other. Then the big revelation came
when
Dr. Ritsuko Akagi (She came back, her mother didn't) gave Rei the news to her
questions.
First she was 100% Human, second, who was her human parent?
Well to this
Dr Akagi paused then told her only 5% of her DNA came from Yui Ikari, the rest
came from the egg donor.
Shinji then asked for a nervous Rei, "Who was it?"
"Well, at the time that Rei was conceived there was only one individual
available to harvest the eggs from."
"WHO IS IT DOCTOR?" said Shinji
forcefully
"It was Misato Katsuragi!" Both children looked stunned.
"How,... why....?" was all a dazed Rei could say. Ritsuko answered her.
"With Misato comatose those 2 years after Second
Impact she was available
and so Gendo Ikari and my mother took it upon themselves to harvest one of her
ovaries."
"That's where all of the clones came from?" asked Shinji.
"Yes, and not just ours, SEELE's too. So Kaouro was Rei's brother on both
sides of the family," stated the Doctor.
Both Rei and Shinji took some time
to look around but when they saw each other they hugged and cried. As this
happened
Ritsuko tried to make her way out, when Shinji grabbed her hand.
"So, that means Rei and I are not brother and sister, right?"
"Yes, you're
actually very distant cousins. You shouldn't have a problem getting married if
that's your concern," she said.
"Ok, was there anything else you wanted me
to answer?" she asked.
"Yes, could I have babies?" asked Rei. The Doctor
answered her, "Yes and no."
"What kind of answer is that?" asked Shinji who
was with Rei as they talked to the Doctor. "Well she has a uterus where the S-2
organ was before, so she can carry a child. But she has no ovaries to
produce the eggs needed to make child in the first place."
Both Children
looked down saddened. "But there is a viable alternative." Both looked up
expectantly. "If you can get a donor to
give up some eggs, I can switch it's
DNA strands with yours, then have it artificially inseminated with Shinji's
sperm, and then
you can have a baby."
Both teens launched themselves at
the surprised doctor to hug her. Now I hope you're going to wait this out. This
could take
sometime. They both nodded yes in understanding. I took 4 years
to finally get all that straightened out. During that time both
of them
graduated high school and after getting married moved to Kyoto-2 to start their
university careers. Both wanted to
have degrees so they could start their
life together right.
And so 3 years after Third Impact in a small shrine
outside Tokyo-3, Ayanami Rei and Ikari Shinji exchanged vows and
became
Shinji and Rei Ikari. They broke tradition with his parents because he wanted
the Ikari name to go on to honor his
mother.
After the honeymoon it was
time for goodbyes. After Ritsuko's revelations Misato and Rei became very close
and both Misato
and Shinji taught Rei how to improve her people skills.
Though still quiet and shy, she was not aloof any more and allowed
others to
approach and converse with her. Her rudeness before was replaced with a kind
nature toward others. And her final
worry, a focus for her life, was
answered with her family. Shinji, herself, her Mom Misato, Kaji and her friends.
They left on the same train to Kyoto-2 that they were on now returning to
Tokyo-3.
"How ironic!" Shinji thought as he lay back on that same train, the
train that in the coming morning would pull up to the train
station with
their friends and family waiting for them to arrive. As the little family slept
a figure was standing at their door,
wondering the very same thing. Their
unknown guardian then made it's way toward another car and to fulfill the
destiny that
awaited them all.
Next Chapter: A Friends Sacrifice
If you like or dislike the style of writing I am using with this story,
please let me know. This is somewhat different from my
other stories, so I
would like your imput. Thanks! And to all who have reviewed this and my other
stories thanks for the
positives, and the negatives. I hope I have improved
since my first story!
**Special thanks go to Andre Laval, without you I could never have improved
as much as I have! Thanks!;)