*Ring-ring* "Ohhh, sweet boy... don't stop." *Ring-ring* "Mmm, nor you neither, pretty girl." *Ring-ring* "Damn phone. Let's ignore it so it'll go away." Misato buried her head under her blankets. *Ring-ring* She came fully awake. "Bugger. That was a nice dream." *Ring-ring* "Blast." Whoever was ringing her, their phone had a security chip able to override the off-switch on hers-- a security chip available only to the UN military, Tokyo-3 civil defense and emergency services, and NERV. The call must be important. She sat up and began to dig through the piles of clothing, following the noise. She extricated the handset from under a pair of jeans and a hentai manga. "Hello?" There was a pink lace bra hanging from the antenna-- she pulled it off and tossed it away. "Major Katsuragi?" "Speaking." "Lieutenant Liam O Suilleabhain, Tokyo-3 PD. We've got a situation at Apartment 402, Maison Oklahoma." "There's a Miss Ayanami here, says you're her CO." "If you'll come down, ma'am, I'm willing to release her to your custody." The man had a high, light voice, and some kind of lilting accent. "What? Custody? What the he-- I mean, what is the situation, lieutenant?" She came down hard on the rank, the way they'd taught her in OCS. "I'm sorry, major, but I can't give you the details over the phone." "Right. I'm on my way." She shut the phone, weighed it in her hand for a moment. "Shit! Shit! Shit! Why does this garbage always happen on _my_ watch?" She slammed the offending device into the corner of her room-- an action which surely would have cracked the plastic casing, had it not been cushioned by an uneven stack of shorts and blouses-- and began to pull on her clothes. "Damn all cops to nine hells! Damn all godsdamn' _foreign_ cops to another twelve! Arrgh! What kind of name is O- Suyuvan, anyhow?" She was mostly dressed before she realised she was wearing the coat and boots to her dress uniform with a pair of denim cut- offs and a sleeveless blouse. "Shit! And damn Commander Ikari for not being in town when shit like this happens! Damn Ikari's brother for croaking! Damn both of them for taking away my Shinji when I need him!" Properly uniformed, she stomped out of her apartment in a most unmillitary fashion. *Crash* She was on the floor. Lying on top of something soft and warm and rather cuddly. Something soft and warm that was squirming... no, struggling. And cursing in a mixture of Japanese and German. "Oh. Asuka. Sorry." "Get off me!" "Right." She stood up and reached down. Asuka ignored the offered hand and sprang to her feet. The German-Japanese girl glowered at Misato for a second. "What's the rush?" she asked, shifting from a snarl to an irritating mock-sweetness in midsentence. "The cops just rang me. Something's happened at Rei's. You're coming along." She grabbed Asuka by the arm and pulled her toward the elevator. "What? Why me?" "Same reason why they rang me instead of Commander Ikari. With him and Shinji both out of town, you're the closest thing to a friend of Rei's I can find. She might want company, you know." "Wondergirl? Fat chance. What'd she do, anyhow?" "I don't know if she did anything." "I bet she's some kind of psycho. It's always the quiet ones, right?" "Shut up, Asuka. She probably had a burglar or something and doesn't want to be alone." Her car was parked right by the door. "Shit. I'm going to lose this space, I just know it." "Could I drive? Please?" "You don't have a licence. Get in. And fasten your seatbelt, okay?" "Oh..." Misato gave her a flat hard glare and, for once, she stopped talking and followed orders. As soon as the catch clicked into place, she pulled a fast one-eighty and peeled out of the lot. "I can pilot Eva, but I can't drive a little car? It's not fair." "You're not a very cute kid sometimes, you know that?" Asuka opened her mouth, then closed it again. Misato thought. The rest of the drive was silent. There was a marked cruiser in front of the building. Standard police issue, down to the two bored cops drinking canned coffee. She pulled to a stop behind the vehicle. "Miss. You cannot park here." The cop was heavily bearded and wore a turban. His partner-- Japanese, but weathered- looking, like a farmer or a fisherman, a long knife scar running down to his jawbone from a white spot in his close-cropped hair-- hung back, not saying anything, just staring through his shades. Misato swung out of the car, glad she'd worn uniform. "_Major_ Katsuragi Misato, NERV. I'm told one of my pilots is involved, _patrolman_. Radio your Lieutenant O-Suryu-whatever and tell him I'm going in." She reached for the door, stepped hastily out of the way as it was pushed open. "Major Katsuragi? Lieutenant O Suilleabhain." He was short for a European, broad-shouldered with pale skin and dark hair pulled back and tied at the nape of his neck. He wore a civilian suit, four or five years out of date, the kind a lower manager at a not-failing company might wear, with plain laced boots and a gray trench-- presumably the coat was supposed to hide his flak vest and the non-police-regulation Heckler and Koch assault pistol. "Excuse me, Miss, but you'll have to leave." He was looking past her, towards Asuka. "She's with me." "No civilians." "Pilot Souryuu is a serving NERV officer, under my command and here at my order. You wouldn't be interfering with military operations, would you, Lieutenant?" He grimaced. "Follow me." The stairs were dirty and rank-smelling. If they'd billeted her in this place, she would have resigned her commission. "Bastards." "Excuse me, Major?" "Nothing." They paused at the landing for a plainclothes officer to finish spraying a coat of preservative across the stairs. "What exactly is the situation here?" Misato asked. "We're not sure yet. A neighbour made a noise complaint at five o'clock. The local patrol responded within five minutes, and found Miss Ayanami sitting on her bed and the body by the door." "The _body_?" "Male, Asian, mid-forties, one-hundred-seventy centimeters, eighty kilos, no notable scars or tats. Good suit, better than this neighbourhood sees most days. Forensics hasn't had him yet, but it looks to me like multiple blunt trauma. Tell me, Major, do you have any reason to suspect Miss Ayanami of engaging in prostitution?" "Hell, no." Asuka's teeth were clenched. O Suilleabhain gave her a dose of cop eye. She didn't look away. "You're out of order, Pilot Souryuu," Misato said, turning her back on the policeman and softening her words with a fleeting smile and a wink. "As for your question, Lieutenant, I am offended that you would accuse a valuable member of my command, a proven combat pilot, of engaging in illegal activities." He shrugged. "Just checking all angles. Lots of schoolgirls do, you know?" "Not Pilot Ayanami." "You sure?" "Yes." "We'll see. Personally, I'd like to know why else the guy was in her flat and her not wearin' but a shirt." "She always answers her door like that." O Suilleabhain raised an eyebrow. "Pilot Souryuu?" "I apologise, sir and ma'am," she said hastily. "Go on, please." Asuka swallowed. "Rei, I mean, Pilot Ayanami doesn't think much about clothes, I guess." "Ah. Is Miss Ayanami mentally stable?" Misato thought. "Of course. Her duties include the use of an Evangelion unit. All our pilots are fully competent. She's just... sheltered." "Oh?" "She was orphaned in early childhood and raised by Commander Ikari. She hasn't had much contact with regular society." "I see." The officer set down her spraygun and said something in a melodic language, lilting and gutteral. Misato wondered. O Suilleabhain replied in the same tongue, but cut himself off in mid-word. "In Japanese, if you would, Maighread." "It's dried and you may go on ahead, sir." She had the same accent, but thicker. "Carry on." She hadn't known what to expect. Blood stains, broken furniture, a body sprawled on the floor, Rei in hysterics or catatonic. Instead, there was eerie calm: laundry hanging from a line, books stacked on a cheap desk, a chalk outline on the tile floor. Rei sat on her iron-framed bed, hands in her lap. She wore a long-tailed school shirt, and her feet were bare. Another woman officer, her hair woven in many tight braids, sat in the desk chair, pulled over to face her. "It's all right, honey, you can tell us what happened. You were just protecting yourself, weren't you?" "I am under orders to wait for my superior officer." "Rei?" "I have acted in self-defense, according to Commander Ikari's standing orders." "May I speak with her alone?" "I'm afraid that's against procedure, major." "All right. Could you tell us what happened?" She started to add something about not being afraid, that NERV would protect her no matter what, to tell the truth and nothing else, but she stopped herself. Rei was incapable of saying anything but the truth- - unless Commander Ikari had givenn her orders to lie-- and she trusted NERV infinitely more than Misato did. "He tried to remove my..." "From the beginning, please, Miss Ayanami," O Suilleabhain said. His tone was slightly gentler than it had been. He leaned up against the corner of the desk. Misato sat down next to Rei on the bed; a moment later, Asuka placed herself on the pale girl's other side. ***** There was a knock at her door. Strange. Ikari-kun was in Kyoto, and so was the Commander. No one else ever came to her flat. Perhaps it was Katsuragi-san? The Commander had told her she was to follow the major's orders during his absence. Or might it be Souryuu? There it was again. Rei rolled out of bed and put on her shirt, buttoning as she went to answer. "Hello, Miss." She'd never seen the man before. He certainly didn't look like anyone from NERV. He scanned down from her face to her feet, and back up her body again. She'd seen scientists smile the same way when an experiment succeeded. "May I come in?" He must be _visiting_. Ikari-kun said that people went to others' dwellings for social interaction. "Yes." She should make tea. "Why are you here?" He sipped the tea. "I noticed you on the street. You're very pretty, Miss Ayanami. Most... striking, in fact. Not like the other girls." Blood rushed to her face. That didn't usually happen. She ought to say something, she supposed, but couldn't think what. "Miss... Might I ask your given name?" "Rei." "Lovely. It suits you. Call me Genji, please." "Acknowledged." He smiled, and laughed. She must have said something "funny". "Rei-kun. Rei-_chan_. This certainly is an... unusual place for a pretty girl like you to live. Do you have any roommates?" The thought had never occured to her. She lived alone, and always had. Roommates. Like Ikari and Souryuu and Major Katsuragi. It was... interesting? "No." He smiled. "A pity. It must be very lonely." "It is what I am accustomed to." He laughed again. "Your sense of humour is delightful. As unique as your sense of style. Tell me, Rei-chan, do you ever want things? Things you don't have?" "No." "Oh, surely there must be something. Clothes from the best designers? Fine shoes? Perhaps a nice stereo?" "No." "Are you sure? A girl like you could earn herself quite a lot of money very easily. Very enjoyably." "My Commander provides all I need." "Including love?" Love. That word. People used it quite often. It seemed to change meanings. "I'm not sure. Does it matter?" "Tell me, Rei-chan: does he give you _this_?" He pushed the table out of the way and laid his hand on her knee, slid it up to her thigh, beneath her shirt. The Commander had never done such a thing. "No." "A pity." His breath was faster and more shallow, and his scent was changed. Ikari-kun's had done that, the first time he came visiting. But Ikari-kun had been different. He'd looked away from her, and apologised. Genji's hand was sweaty, and his fingers were pulling at her briefs. Doctor Akagi had said something about things like this, when her body first started to change. People might want to touch her, and if she liked it, that was all right, but if she didn't, she should tell them to stop. She didn't really understand this "liking" business, but something felt... abnormal. As if insects were crawling on her skin. Commander Ikari had told her to obey medical orders. "Please stop." "Ah, that's what all the girls say. But they all change their minds, Rei-chan. Just like you will." He reached for her shirt collar with his other hand and pulled, tearing her first button loose of its thread. She seized his wrists and pushed him away. "Like it rough, then?" He jerked free and swung his open palm at her cheek. She caught it, twisting the wrist. "Bitch!" He reached for her throat. Long ago, she had been told to defend herself. The order had never been rescinded. ***** Misato thought when the story was over. She was going to the morgue, and she was going to cut the genitals off the body, and she was going to stuff them in his mouth. And if anyone tried to pretty the carcass up for the funeral, she was going to shoot them. The woman officer muttered a couple of short, ugly phrases in something that might have been English. Misato caught only the words "spill his chitlins." She didn't know what they meant, but she had a feeling she'd agree with the idea. O Suilleabhain unclenched his fist. "Self defense. NERV will back us up on that?" "Of course." "Good." Rei's expression was as flat as ever, but something glimmered in her eyes. She reached out her hand, blindly, towards Asuka. The redhead clasped it in both of hers. Misato looked away. "I think Detective Alston and I have business downstairs. And Major? I'd suggest you might find Miss Ayanami other quarters for a while. Perhaps one of her comrades might take her in?" "I'll do that, Lieutenant. And... thank you. Very much." "Just doing my job, Major." She waited until they'd left. "Rei? Would you like to come stay with us for a while?" "Am I ordered?" "No, but... it would make me happy if you did." Rei had distressingly few things to pack. She put on her school jumper-- another two, neatly folded, and their matching shirts went into a small duffel bag, along with underwear and socks and an armful of books. "Don't you have anything else you want to take?" Rei paused. Then she zipped her bag, reached under her bed and pulled out a viola case. "May I?" "Of course. Asuka, why don't you give her a hand?" Without complaining, the redhead slung Rei's duffel across her shoulder. Surreptitiously, Misato pinched her arm, hard. No, she wasn't dreaming. The patrolmen had left the street. Without asking, Rei got into the back of the car. A beat later, Asuka slid in beside her. "Misato?" "Hmmm?" She was standing next to the car, her hand on the door latch. "Oh, right." She got in and turned the key. "So, where do you want to go for dinner, Rei?" *** MORE TO COME ********** I've been playing with this for a while-- am rather stallt, so I thought I might as well put it up. This is my response to a fic by Matthew Harrison, wherein Rei, after being raped by an intruder in her apartment, went to stay in Misato's and seduced Shinji. To which my response was something along the lines of "What in Hades?" Sure, Rei isn't a normal person, but depicting a rape victim as immediately wanting sex is not only wrong, but unrealistic. She's not _that_ unhuman. Besides, I was ticked by the pointless and unnecessary Asuka bashing. Usually, my response would be something along the lines of "BLEEP this guy and whatever he rode in on," but the fic was quite well written, so I felt like answering it. In the end, I couldn't justify an actual rape (I wanted to stick close to the circumstances of the Harrison fic, and I couldn't believe Rei wouldn't defend herself), so I came up with this instead.