Haibane Renmei Fan Fiction / Neon Genesis Evangelion Fan Fiction ❯ Rei-Bane ❯ Chapter 7: Bending the Rules / Sin-Bound / Trapped ( Chapter 7 )

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"What are you doing here, you bastard?" Kana barked down at Ikari as he stood in the courtyard of Old Home.

"I’ve come to see Rei!" he shouted back.

"You can’t do that!" Hikari yelled as she came up beside Kana.  "It’s bad enough that you even came here!  Go back to the Factory now!"

"Do I have to come down there and beat the shit out of you until you leave?" added Kana.

Inside the guest room Rakka’s gentle massaging of Rei’s shoulders had turned into a vice grip as she tried to keep Rei firmly in her chair.

"You can’t go out there!" she said.

"Rakka, please, let me up," Rei said with perfect calm.

"You’re not supposed to see him."

"You are hurting me."

Rakka immediately let go and Rei stood.

"Rei, please.  Don’t go out there.  You’ll both get in trouble."

Suddenly Kana burst through the room. 

"That asshole is coming in!" she said as she ran out into the hallway.

Moments later she found herself at the top of the stairs staring down at Ikari.

"You come one step further and I’ll really mess you up," she growled.  "What makes you think you can just barge into Old Home like this?"

"I came because of something Nemu said to me."

Kana was taken aback.  "Nemu?"  She glowered at him.  "You’re not worthy to even say her name!"

"What did Nemu say to you?" came a quiet voice from behind her.

"Rei!" both Kana and Ikari exclaimed.

Kana stepped aside as Rei came up next to her, with Rakka and Hikari right behind.

"Hello, Brother Ikari."

"H-Hi, Rei," he answered with sudden shyness.

"So what did Nemu say to you?"

"I saw her in Glie on Monday.  When I reminded her that I wasn’t allowed to see you she told me that ‘some rules are meant to be broken’."

"And so you took that to mean that you could come here?" Kana spat, red faced.

Hikari came up next to her and put a hand on her shoulder.  "Calm down," she whispered.

"I don’t know what she really meant," Ikari said.  "But I decided I’d gone without seeing you long enough."

"And what of the Communicator’s prohibition on visiting me?" Rei asked.

Ikari looked down at his feet.  "I… I really don’t care about that anymore.  Whatever happens happens."  He looked back up at Rei.  "I just needed to see you again."

"Why is that?" Kana asked sharply.

Hikari grabbed Kana by the ear and started pulling her back towards the guest room.

"Ow!  Ow!  Let go!"

"They’ve seen each other now," Hikari said without letting go.  "It’s too late to stop them, so just leave them be."

Rei walked down the stairs to Ikari and looked back up at Rakka.  "It is alright.  I do not think I need a chaperone."

Rakka blushed.  "Okay," she said uncertainly and then went to join her sisters.

Rei turned her attention to Ikari.  "What made you come here like this?"

"I guess talking to Nemu effected me somehow.  I’ve been pushed around and pushed around, but, when I thought about it, something about what she said made something inside me give way.  I’m not going to let myself be pushed around anymore."

"And now here you are."

"Yeah.  Here I am...  Where is Nemu anyway?  I’d like to ask her about why she said that to me."

Rei became downcast.  "Nemu is gone."

"Gone?  Where to?"

Rei looked back up at him, tears in her eyes.  "Yesterday was her Day of Flight.  She is gone."

"What?" Ikari said in disbelief.

"Come with me," said Rei.  "I will show you."

She then led Ikari out into the courtyard and took him to the small shrine, where she showed him the halos and told him about the prior day’s events.

"So that’s the Day of Flight?" he then asked.

"Yes.  And someday it will be our turns."

Ikari followed after Rei as she turned and walked silently out to the road.

"You should not have come here, Brother Ikari," she then told him.  "But I am glad that you did."

"I’m glad I came too."

Rei smiled slightly.  "I would like to spend more time with you, but tonight is not appropriate.  This is a time for the four of us remaining at Old Home to be together."

"I understand.  My timing wasn’t so hot, was it?"

"I hope we are allowed to see each other again soon."

"Me too."

"Goodbye, Brother," Rei said and then began to head back towards Old Home.

"See you, Rei," Ikari answered.

She turned back and gave him a small wave.

For a short while Ikari could not have been happier.

The next morning Rakka started off to work only to once again find Rei waiting for her at the south gate.

"May I accompany you to the Temple?" Rei asked.

"Um, sure…  But why do you want to go today?"

"It is your duty to tell the Communicator of Ikari’s visit, correct?"

"Err…  I suppose so…  But I wasn’t going to.  Neither are Hikari or Kana.  We talked about it last night and decided it didn’t do anyone any harm."

"Then, if he were to find out about it some other way, would that not reflect badly on the three of you?"

"Yeah, I guess a little."

"Then it is my duty to relieve you of that dilemma.  I will tell the Communicator myself."

"You don’t have to do that."

"I cannot make myself any more of a burden on my sisters than I already am."

"You’re not a burden!"

"I appreciate that you feel this way, but it is beside the point," Rei stated with flat finality.  "I will not sit idly by and let you put yourselves at any sort of a risk on my behalf."

Rakka sighed.  "Alright."

Rei then flipped over their nametags and they left Old Home in silence.

"Are you sure you’re okay?" asked Rakka after a while.

"Once again I am conflicted…  I do not like the feeling."

"Can I help?"

Rei glanced over at the Woods in the direction of the ruined temple.  "I wish Nemu was here."

"If she was, what would you ask her?"

Rei looked down at the ground.  "You are not Nemu," she said quietly.  "I am… uncomfortable… talking to you about it."

Rakka could not stop herself from looking hurt.

"I am… sorry," Rei said.  "You are also my friend.  I should not have said that."

"It’s okay.  You were a lot closer to Nemu than to anyone else."

"But Nemu has moved on…  You are my closest friend here now."

Rakka smiled.  "Thank you."

Rei’s look became pensive as she tried to decide something.  Then she nodded slightly.  ‘Yes, she is now my best friend.  I will ask her.’

"Have you ever been in love?"

Rakka’s jaw dropped.  "I-In love?"

"Yes."

"Not that I can remember."

Rei was disappointed.  "Oh."

"Are you in love with Ikari?"

"I was… before I came here."

‘Oh, no,’ thought Rakka.  ‘Not this again.’  "Rei, Haibane don’t have memories of our old lives."

"Perhaps not.  But I am not…"

"Not what?"

‘I have been careless,’ thought Rei.  ‘I almost said too much about myself.’

"It is nothing," she said. 

"How you feel is not nothing."

Rei was relieved that Rakka did not press her further about her near slip.  "I know I loved Ikari in my old life," she then said.  "Now, however, I do not know what to do with that knowledge."

"So that’s why you say you’re conflicted?"

"Correct."

"So you don’t love him now?"

"I do not believe so."

"So it’s sort of like seeing an old boyfriend, I guess."

"I do not understand."

"Well, one time I was in Glie and I saw Reki and Hyouko run into each other.  It was sort of awkward for them both."

"So seeing each other after their mutual feelings had declined was uncomfortable for them?"

"Yeah, you could say that." 

Rei shook her head.  "That is not how it feels with Ikari." 

"Then how does it feel?  Like you’re friends?"

"No, it is more like looking at a shadow and wanting it to have substance."

"I don’t get it."

"When I am with Ikari I sense something of what I once felt for him.  I want to feel that again but I cannot."

"You want to be in love with him?"

"Is love not considered to be perhaps the highest form of emotion?"

"I suppose so."

"Then how can a person not want to feel it?"

"But do you just want to feel it for its own sake, or do you want to feel it for Ikari?"

"I do not know.  If only I could remember why I loved him."

Rakka sighed.  ‘I guess I can’t make her understand that what she thinks are memories are just figments of her imagination...  I suppose I should just play along for now.’

"Well," Rakka then said, "If you spend more time with him I’m sure that whatever made you love him before will become clear to you once more…  Maybe you just need to not worry about it and allow yourself the chance to fall in love with him all over again."

Rei smiled.  "I was right to ask you."

"It is good that you came and told me of this yourself," the Communicator said to Rei.  "I never expected that Ikari would act so rashly, so impatiently."

"I am sorry that I also could not live within your guidelines," Rei said, her head down.  "What is my punishment to be?"

"Look up at me, child."

Rei did as instructed.

"Again, you are blameless.  You can hardly be faulted for doing as you did, and no ill came of it."

"Thank you for being lenient with me."

The Communicator chuckled.  "You are the last Haibane in Glie who should say such a thing to me.  I have made you follow a difficult path.  I will not compound your burdens unnecessarily."

"Will you now punish Brother Ikari further?"

The Communicator shook his head.  "No."

Rei was surprised.  "But he disobeyed you."

"I told you before that he had been punished enough for his failure.  Indeed, his situation with the others in his Nest had improved to the point where we were about to allow him to see you again regardless."

"So will we be allowed to see each other now?"

"Yes, once I have a word with him about patience."

Rei could almost feel the smile she could not see behind the Communicator’s mask.  She smiled herself.  "Even as she was about to ‘leave the Nest’ it seems that Nemu helped me... helped us."

"Great clarity and insight come to those who are about to fly.  Take their words to heart."

"I am happy Brother Ikari did."

The next morning Ikari headed out of the Factory to go to work along with Dai.

"What’s this?" Dai asked when he saw a note pinned to the board where their nametags hung.

Ikari pulled it down.  "It’s a message from the Haibane Renmei."  His face contorted into a scowl as he read it.

"What’s it say?"

Ikari crumpled the note and tossed it away.  "It says that I’m supposed to go to the Temple at my ‘earliest convenience’ but no later than tomorrow afternoon."

"What for?"

"I guess they found out I went to see Rei at Old Home."

"You did what?  Man, you’re in for it now!"

Ikari just shrugged his shoulders and headed towards Glie.

As they were about to go their separate ways in town, Dai asked, "When are you going to go to the Temple?"

"I’m not going to go," Ikari answered.

"You have to go!  You’ll be in real trouble if you don’t!"

"What more could they do to me?"

"I don’t know, and I don’t think you want to find out!"

"You kept telling me I had to stand up for myself more."

"This is not what I meant."

Ikari again just shrugged and then turned and headed off to the music shop.  "See you at dinner."

Dai shook his head.  "Yeah, see you."

Neither of them noticed the fringes of some of Ikari’s feathers start to turn black.

Later that day Ikari walked into the kitchen at the Factory.  The music shop had been very boring; there had been few customers and he had worked alone all day, as the couple that owned it had been out visiting a sick relative.

Consequently no one had really gotten a good look at him since he left the Factory that morning.

As it was his normal turn to cook that evening, he dug into the cupboards and refrigerator.  He was busy chopping some carrots with his back to the door when Midori walked in carrying a vase full of flowers.

The next thing he heard was a crash.

Startled, he turned around to see the smashed vessel on the floor and Midori looking at him with a shocked expression.

"What’s the matter?" he asked.

"G-Go look at yourself in a mirror," she said faintly.

Puzzled, he walked down the hall to one of the bathrooms.

‘I don’t see anything wrong,’ he thought as he looked at himself.  Then he turned to the side.  ‘What is that?’

Looking at a side view of himself he could now see that many of the feathers on the lower parts of his wings had large black spots on them.

He walked back to the kitchen, where Midori was finishing cleaning up the mess she had made.

"What’s this stuff on my wings?" he asked.

Midori came over to him and cautiously examined one of his wings, hoping that she had jumped to the wrong conclusion.

She found she had not.

"It’s not any ‘stuff’," she said grimly after the short inspection.  "Your feathers themselves are turning black."

"What?"

"Soon your wings will be completely black."

"Why?"

She looked at him dejectedly.  "Ikari, it looks like you’ve become what’s called a sin-bound Haibane."

Just the name sent a chill through him.  "W-What’s that?"

"I’m really not sure what it is.  I’ve only seen this once before, with Reki from Old Home.  All I can tell you is that it is very, very bad."

"W-What do I d-do about it?"

Midori shook her head.  "I don’t know."

"There must be something!"

"I know there’s a medicine that you can put on your feathers to make them grey again, but it doesn’t wash away the sin.  I don’t know how you do that."

"Then what’s going to happen to me?"

"I don’t know that either."

To his utter surprise, she hugged him.

"Go put your winter wing covers on for now," she told him.  "You can just tell people your wings felt cold for some reason…  Tomorrow morning I’ll walk over to Old Home with you.  Maybe they still have some of Reki’s medicine, or maybe someone there will know how to make it."  She sighed again.  "Nemu sure picked a great time to leave."

She started to head out of the kitchen.

"Midori," Ikari said timidly.

She turned back to him.  "What is it?"

"Thanks for trying to help me."

Her expression became sad.  "It’s the least I can do."

The next day everyone at Old Home was out in the courtyard enjoying another warm, sunny Sunday morning.

"Kana, don’t hang the sheets up like that!" Hikari scolded as the two girls dealt with some laundry.  "After all these years you’d think you’d know how to do it by now!"

"Rakka!  Catch the ball!" one of the Little Feathers shouted.

"Rei," said Hana.  "Can I braid your hair again?"

"Why do you always insist on practicing on my hair?  Why not ask Rakka or Hikari?"

"Their hair is too wavy!  Yours is nice and straight."

Rei sat herself down.  "Very well.  Just remember not to pull so hard this time."

"Yay!"

"I think Rei likes having her hair braided but doesn’t want to admit it," Hikari said to Kana conspiratorially.

"Yeah," Kana agreed.  "But if she did then Hana would never leave her alone." 

Kana then surveyed the courtyard and chuckled to herself.  ‘Things are getting back to normal.’

A short while later their idyll was shattered by the arrival of Midori and Ikari.

Rakka and Rei went over to greet them as they came through the gate.  "What brings you two here?" Rakka asked pleasantly.

"This," Midori said pointedly and turned Ikari around.

Rakka gasped.  "When did this happen?"

"It started yesterday," Ikari said sheepishly as he turned back around.

"What is the matter with your wings?" Rei asked.

Before Ikari could answer Rakka hurried around behind him to examine his wings herself.  "Don’t say anything until I look at them!"

"You have some experience with this?" Midori asked doubtfully.

Rakka looked away, ashamed.  "It happened to me, too," she said barely above a whisper.

"It did?"

"Shhh!  No one else here knows.  Only Reki knew."  Rakka looked over at Rei.  "Promise me you won’t say anything about it to anyone."

Rei nodded.  "Of course."

‘It must really be bad if people don’t even want to talk about it,’ Ikari concluded.

"But y-you beat it?" he then asked hesitantly.

"I wouldn’t say I ‘beat’ it, but, no, I’m not sin-bound anymore."

Ikari breathed a sigh of relief.  ‘If she can do it, so can I.’

"So he’s definitely sin-bound?" asked Midori.

Rakka gave Ikari’s wings one last going over and then nodded.  "Yes…  This is just how mine were at first – lots of black spots."  She pointed to a large one.  "Watch.  You can even see it growing."

"So can you take care of it?"

"We don’t have any of the medicine left anymore.  It goes bad after a while, so I threw it out a long time ago.  But I have instructions on how to make it."

"That’s great!" said Ikari.

"What will we need to prepare it?" Rei asked.

"We’ll need some tree leaves, roots and herbs.  We should be able to find what we need along the edge of the Woods."

"And that will cure him?"

Rakka shook her head as she stepped back beside Rei.  "No, it’ll just make his wings grey again.  The black will come back if he doesn’t keep putting it on every couple weeks or so."

"But what is the cause?  What is ‘sin-bound’?"

"It’s a curse," Midori said. 

"It’s not a curse!" Rakka responded.

"Then what would you call it?  Hyouko was almost killed by it."

Rakka couldn’t believe what she was hearing.  "Can’t you let go of that?  That had nothing to do with Reki’s being sin-bound…  And, besides, she’s gone now!"

"But it seems that the contagion Reki brought here continues to spread."

"It’s not a disease either!"

"Oh, really?  It had been so long since there was a sin-bound Haibane here that no one besides the Communicator knew what Reki’s black wings meant…  And now, since then, it’s happened twice more."

"That’s not Reki’s fault!  You’re just saying that because you’re still mad at her."

"Ikari comes and visits here and then two days later this happens."

"Oh, so now it’s Old Home’s fault?" Rakka asked, the hurt obvious in her voice.

"It all comes back to Old Home.  Reki brought it here.  Kuramori did nothing to stop it, and neither did Nemu.  So it spreads."

"That's not fair!  Don’t talk about them like that!"

"Or what?" Midori taunted.  "You just don’t want to admit they failed to deal with it, and that now we have to bear the responsibilities they neglected."

Hearing this Rei drew her hand back to slap Midori only to have Rakka catch her by the wrist.

"Rei, don’t!"

"She does not show the proper respect for those who have moved on," Rei retorted evenly as she pulled her hand away.  "She dishonors all Haibane by not doing so."

"Why you little freak," Midori snarled and then drew her own hand back.  "Try to hit me will you!"

She and everyone else froze when Rei immediately dropped into what was clearly a combat stance.

"Attempting to fight me would not be advisable," Rei said calmly.

Although she was unnerved by Rei’s posture, Midori’s blood truly ran cold when she looked into Rei’s unblinking eyes, which to her seemed to be glowing softly.  "What are you?" she whispered to herself.

Midori then gathered her composure and spun around with a huff.  "Well, I can see I’m not welcome here…  I suppose that’s a good thing."  She then started to walk out.  "I’ll leave Ikari in your care.  Send him home when he’s learned how to take care of his wings."

Rakka and Ikari stood there dumbly as Midori left.

"Heck of an attitude to have when you come looking for help," Kana observed as she walked past to fetch more laundry.

Rakka sighed.  "She’s just still mad about that whole business with Reki and Hyouko.  And, on top of that, Ikari’s wings probably really scare her."

"Still," said Hikari, "She doesn’t have to say such nasty things."

"Sometimes once Midori gets upset she doesn’t seem able to stop," Ikari told them.  "It’s like her anger takes control of her, and she just gets madder and madder."

"Lovely," said Kana.

"You’re one to talk," Hikari chided.

"Well, let’s forget about it," said Rakka.  "Come with me, Ikari."

Rakka took him towards the West Wing.  When they arrived at the door, Rakka noticed Rei following behind them.  "You coming with us?" she asked.

"Yes.  I wish… to help."

Rakka smiled at her.  "That’s no surprise."

The trio went upstairs to the guest room, where Rakka dug into a drawer.  "Here it is!" she proclaimed as she pulled out a folder.

She sat down at the table and began going through the papers inside.

"What is this?" Rei asked.

"After Kuu left and I became sin-bound I asked Reki and Nemu to write down recipes for medicines and other things that might be useful, just in case no one in the future knew how to make them."

"That was wise."

"Was one of them how to make the medication for my wings?" Ikari asked.

"That was the first thing I asked Reki to write down," Rakka said as she pulled out a sheet of paper.  "And here it is."  She read it over.  "Just as I remembered it!"

Curious, Rei looked over Rakka’s shoulder to see what else was in the folder.  She just had time to read the title "Wall Sickness" on the top paper before Rakka closed the folder and put it back in its drawer.

"Let’s go!" Rakka said as she grabbed a basket to put their collections in.

"I can see now how you were able to take on that boy in Glie," Rakka said to Rei as the trio walked across the fields towards the Woods.

"How so?" Rei asked hesitantly as she noticed Ikari shoot her an uneasy glance.

"You were trained to fight in your previous life, weren’t you?"

Both Rei and Ikari sighed inwardly with relief at the direction of Rakka’s question.

"It would seem so," Rei then answered.  "Nemu said that observing me over time led her to the conclusion that I might have been some sort of soldier."

"That makes a lot of sense."

"Yes, it does.  But I cannot say that I find the idea a pleasant one.  I find conflict… unsettling."

As they walked back from the Woods with their basket full of the necessary leaves and roots, Rakka looked over at Ikari, who had hardly said anything the entire trip.

"How’re you doing?" she asked him.

"I’m scared."

"Yeah, I know the feeling."

"What do I have to do to not be sin-bound anymore?"

Rakka shook her head.  "I wish I could tell you, but it's different for each of us."

"What did I do to deserve this?"

"You didn’t do anything to anyone.  You’re sin-bound because of something inside yourself."

"What could it be?"

"I can’t answer that for you, either.  Only you can."

"So what should I do?"

"You have to go see the Communicator.  He can help point you in the right direction.  But, in the end, freeing yourself is entirely up to you."

"We can go after we have treated your wings," Rei suggested.

"Yeah, and I’ll come too!" added Rakka.  "After all, I’ve got experience with this."

"You seem okay talking about it now," said Ikari.

"Mm-hmm…  It’s because you both know about my being sin-bound.  I just don’t want anyone else to know...  It’s not something I’m proud of."

"But why do you feel ashamed though?"

"Because I brought it on myself, just like you have."

They arrived back at the guest room at Old Home just as Kana and Hikari were finishing lunch.

"There’s some vegetable stew on the stove if you want it," Hikari told them.

Ikari gave Kana a wide berth as she eyed him suspiciously.

Rakka gave the stew a stir and sniffed it.  "Smells good!"  She grabbed a bowl and ladled some of the thick mixture into it.  "You know, we eat a lot less meat than we used to."

"That’s Rei’s fault!" Hikari teased.

"I have never asked you to change your dietary habits on my behalf," Rei said in all seriousness.

Everyone else chuckled.

"So, what do we have to do now to make the medicine," Ikari asked when they were all seated at the table.

"The medicine is basically an infusion," Rakka told him.  "We have to chop all this stuff up really fine and then boil it…  After that we strain the mixture, add some vinegar and then boil it some more to make a reduction of that."

"Doesn’t sound too complicated," observed Hikari.

"Nope," agreed Rakka.  "We’ve done the hard part already.  The rest just takes some time."

"Would cheesecloth be best for doing the straining?" Hikari asked.

"Yeah, that’s the best thing.  We don’t want any of the stuff we chopped up in it."

"I’ll go get some," Hikari said and rose to leave.

"You don’t all have to help me like this," Ikari said.

Hikari waved him off as she went out the door.  "Oh, don’t be silly," she said.

‘This place really isn’t like the Factory,’ Ikari concluded.

"Well, when Hikari gets back I suppose she and I will take the Little Feathers on the cocoon hunt," said Kana.

"If you wait a little while we can all come help," said Rakka.  "The stuff takes a long time to simmer."

"Okay," answered Kana.  "I’ll be up in the clock tower, then.  Call me when you’re ready."

"What’s she do up in the clock tower?" Ikari asked after Kana had left.

"She’s been tinkering with the clock for years trying to get it working again," Rakka told him.

"And what’s a cocoon hunt?"

"Just what it sounds like.  Every week we take the Little Feathers and go on a sort of ‘treasure hunt’ for new cocoons all through Old Home."

"Sounds like fun."

"It is, for the little ones."  Rakka then got up from the table and rubbed her hands together.  "Time to get choppin’!"

"This will probably be easier if you take off your shirt," Rakka said to Ikari later that afternoon.  "This stuff is kinda sticky and it can stain."

Ikari looked at the other Haibane sheepishly, particularly Rei.

"Oh, come on!" said Kana.  "It’s not like we’re guys and you’ve got tits or anything!"

"Kana!" Hikari responded as both Rakka and she turned bright red.

"Maybe it would be best if everybody else left," Rakka suggested.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Kana answered with a laugh and then headed out the door followed by Hikari and Rei.

"Rei, could you please stay?" asked Ikari.

She came back and sat at the table.  "Of course I will stay if you wish."

Rakka winked at her as Ikari dutifully took off his shirt.

"Okay," she then said as she put some of the fresh concoction on a cloth.  "Keep your wings spread out like that, Ikari."

He winced as Rakka began to wipe on the medicine.

"It stings a little when it gets down to the roots of your feathers, doesn’t it?"

"Yeah, but it’s not too bad."

"How long does it take to work?" Rei asked.

"It’s really fast," Rakka answered.  "His wings will be all grey again by the time this stuff dries."

A short while later Rakka pronounced herself done and sent Ikari out onto the terrace to get some sun to help dry his wings.

"Thank you for doing this," he told Rei and Rakka.

"Don’t mention it," Rakka said.  "Haibane should always help each other."

Ikari felt a stab of shame.

"Oooo!  Sexy!" Kana shouted from the courtyard as Ikari came out onto the balcony without his shirt on.

"Kana!" Rakka yelled back.  "Just leave him be already!"

The tomboy just laughed again and went back to taking down the laundry Hikari and she had put up earlier.

"Do not mind her," Rei told Ikari.

"Yeah, she doesn’t mean anything by it," Rakka added.  "She just likes to tease people."

"It’s alright," said Ikari.  "I’ve had to put up with a lot worse from Midori."

Rakka glanced back into the guest room to read the clock.  "Gee, it’s almost time to start dinner.  Making the medicine took a lot longer than I thought it would."

"I should probably get going then," said Ikari.

"Don’t be ridiculous!  You've got to let your wings dry first.  We'll have dinner ready by then, so you’re more than welcome to stay and eat here…  In fact, why don’t you just stay here tonight and you can come with me to the Temple in the morning."

Ikari seemed almost frightened by the suggestion.  "Stay here?"

"Sure.  You can use the bed in the guest room.  You are a guest after all."

After dinner Rei went out onto the balcony where Ikari was watching the sunset.

"How are you feeling?" she asked.

"Okay, now.  Are my wings all grey again?"

Rei looked them over closely.  "Yes."

"That's a relief."

"I hope that the Communicator can help you tomorrow."

"Yeah, so do I."

"I also hope this has not happened to you because you came to see me.  I do not want to be the cause of any trouble for you."

"I doubt it has anything to do with you."

"You sound so certain.  How can you be sure?"

"Um..."

Rei tilted her head expectantly.

"It's...  It's because...  seeing you makes me h-happy."

Rei smiled.  "Seeing you makes me feel happiness as well."

"It does?"

"Does that surprise you?"

"I can't be very good company right now," he said.  'And it's not like people find me good company at other times either,' he added to himself.

"You have had a difficult time since coming here."

"Yeah, you could say that."

"Rakka and I will try to help you through this."

Ikari smiled a little.  "I like Old Home."

Hearing that added to the warm feeling inside that Rei was enjoying.

"I don't like this," Kana said back inside the guest room as she eyed Rei and Ikari out on the balcony.

"What?" asked Hikari.  "You're not actually worried about Ikari staying here for one night, are you?"

"No, I'm not worried about him, specifically.  I just don't like having a guy spending the night here."

"But Ikari's so shy and meek.  What's there to worry about?"

"He's a guy.  We're girls."

"Well, then, maybe you should lock your door tonight," Rakka said teasingly.

"Or is it that you find him too tempting?" Hikari asked slyly.  "Maybe we should lock his door tonight."

"That's not it at all!" Kana almost shouted, making her sisters laugh.

"But you did call him 'sexy'," Rakka added.

Kana screamed in frustration.

Outside, both Rei and Ikari wondered what the commotion was about.

That night Ikari again had a visitor in his sleep:

"What do you want with me this time?" he asked sharply.

"Your memory of these little meetings is getting better I see," said Lilith.

"That’s not an answer."

"Shut up!"  She came up to him and glared at him almost nose to nose.  "You have no idea what you’ve done."

The dream Shinji began to lose some of his initial boldness.  ‘This isn’t the way she’s acted in the past,’ he realized nervously.  ‘She’s really angry.’

"Do you know how hard it is for a Haibane who isn’t born a sin-bound to become one?" she asked pointedly.

"What does it matter?  I’m still more than ready to leave Glie now anyway."

"That’s just it.  I cannot remove you from there now!"

"What?  Why?"

"Rakka didn’t tell you what happens to sin-bound Haibane when the time for their Day of Flight comes, did she?"

"They don’t leave like everyone else?"

"Oh, no…  They simply cease to exist.  Every memory and trace of them disappears as well.  It’s as if they never existed at all."

"So?  I’m nowhere near having my Day of Flight."

"So?  So?" she almost yelled at him.  "That means that if I tried to pull you out of Glie now you’d just vanish from reality.  No.  More.  Shinji.  Ikari."  She sneered at him.  "And while that might not be so bad in and of itself, my daughter’s decision to leave the fate of humanity in your hands means that you have to free yourself from being sin-bound."

"The fate of humanity in my hands?"  The dream Shinji was now visibly shaken.  "And what will happen if I don’t free myself?"

"Rei has made you the only one who can complete the process of Third Impact.  Without you to make the choice for them, the human race will be trapped in its current limbo for all eternity."

Author’s Notes:

Oh, the irony.  Just as things were looking up, Shinji unwittingly goes and makes them a lot, lot worse.  But then, that’s about par for the course for him.

Because of what Nemu said to him, he’d gone from his ‘cowering’ mode to his ‘screw everybody’ mode.  Only this time he couldn’t physically run away so he had to find different outlets for his anger and frustration.  And, as usual, it’s turned around and bitten him on the ass.

Shinji Ikari – the Universe’s Bitch.

About Midori’s 180: Her holding grudges aside, she’s actually a very caring person.  What’s happened to Ikari in her mind now far outweighs whatever she thinks about what he did before, so she tries to help him.  Besides, she might also be blaming herself for helping cause whatever it was that made Ikari become sin-bound by being mean to him.

Oh, and did I mention that Midori apparently hated Reki?  And she has a bad temper…

Rei attempts to slap Midori for the same reason she slapped Shinji in NGE – not showing proper respect for someone Rei respects deeply.  In this case it’s not Gendo, but Nemu, in particular, being disparaged.  She probably also feels that Reki and Kuramori are due respect because her sisters, especially Rakka, all respect them, as did Nemu.

One comment on the draft of this chapter wondered how Lilith and Rei could exist separately at the same time if they share one soul.  They clearly seem to be separate at times during Third Impact in End of Evangelion, but we're never told how they can do that.  I've got a theory and I might include it somewhere down the line in this story.

Version 1.1 - the usual clean up and minor changes.