Note: If you utterly, totally, and just plain hate Gendou; turn back 
now.  This is not for you.


Teknos Warhammer presents

Gift of the Ikari

A Neon Genesis Evangelion Fanfic
Written by Christian Clark


Note: This takes place some time before Episode 18 for those who wish to 
be precise in terms of chronology. 

     Misato was a little more giddy than usual that day she entered the 
main control room at NERV. Most everyone gave her odd looks while she 
wasn't looking, but even if she knew, she wouldn't care. 

     "Ohayo Minna!" she announced as she walked through the doors. 
Shigeru Aoba, Maia Ibuki, and Makoto Hyuga respectively turned their 
heads to the Lieutenant. The only one who really didn't notice was 
Ritsuko Akagi, the chief scientist. She was sitting in a chair, staring 
at the EVA's within the big room, lost within her own thoughts. 

     "Ohayo Commander Katsuragi. If I may ask, what's up?" Shigeru 
asked, taking advantage of Misato's good mood to find out why Misato was 
so happy. His commander turned to him and said, 

     "Didn't you guys know? It's Shinji-kun's birthday this week. He's 
turning 15," to almost everyone else, she seemed more like a happy 
parent than a determined commander. Who also drank enough beer to kill a 
plow horse and had the most questionable sense of fashion out of 
everyone else they knew. Speaking of fashion, she was also wearing a 
pair of black gloves which she never seemed to take off lately. "And I 
got the most wonderful gift in store for him." 

     On the platform above Misato and the three comm officers, sat 
Gendou Ikari. His face unmoving and hands in front of his face and 
fingers interlocked. He only took a second to look down at Misato and 
the others, paying what seemed very little attention to what they were 
talking about. Then return to his thoughts and what was to come. 
Fuyustuki would show up in a few minutes, which gave Gendou the time he 
wanted to be with his own thoughts. As always. 

     Ristuko came out of her own thoughts, and replied as if she heard 
everything. "Birthdays. Before the Second Impact, I always looked 
forward to my next one. Then we grow up and find that no matter what we 
think, they're just another day." 

     With a smirk, Misato turned on her friend, walked up to her, and 
mocked, "Oh? You don't care? Who'd of thought that Akagi-sama would 
actually think so little of a single day that happens once a year. I for 
one am looking forward to my 30th, and right now, I am really excited 
about Shinji-kun's." Misato went back to her station and whispered, 
"Ritsuko no Obaa-san."

     That was the string that broke the camel's back. Ristuko stood up 
and started to screech at Mistato. Screaming bloody murder about being 
called an old bag when she was only 30. Maia and Makoto couldn't keep 
their faces straight. Seeing the seemingly always cool and sometimes 
cold-hearted Ristuko explode like that was something that rarely 
happened. While Shigeru shook his head and went back to his work. 
Lastly, Misato tried to contain the seething cauldron of noise that was 
Ritsuko, but didn't have much success. 

     This time, Gendou paid more attention at the platform below him. 
There was an excess amount of noise coming from Akegi. It was evidently 
another one of Misato's 'jokes' about being old. He was a good eighteen 
years older than them both, and it didn't bother him in the least. He 
figured it was one of things when you're younger, to worry about being 
old. 

     All that mattered now was training the next 'child'. 

*************************************************

     Back at the school, the 'children' were speaking with all of their 
respective friends, save for Ayanami Rei, who simply stared at out the 
window. 

     "So it's BOTH of your birthday's coming up? Wow!" Kensuke Aida said 
with awe to one of the two people in question. Both Shinji Ikari and 
Asuka Soryu
Langley were to turn fifteen, Shinji within the next few days, and Asuka 
the week after.

     "Asuka-san, how does it feel? Turning fifteen I mean? I still got 
about eight months until that happens to me." Hikari Horaki asked her 
best friend. The brunette twirled to her friend and said,

     "It feels... I don't know. It hasn't happened yet. But once it 
does, I'll let you know. Ok Hikari?" Asuka's friend nodded and turned to 
see the door open where the teacher came in. All the students either 
made a mad dash to their seats or just walked right into them. 

     Shinji sighed and figured it was going to be yet another boring 
lecture about the second impact or whatever. He turned to where his 
friend, Touji
Suzuhara, was supposed to be sitting. He had been absent from class a  
lot more than usual. He often showed up just when school got out, which 
was making a lot of people suspicious about what he might have been 
doing. Every time someone asked him, he'd close his mouth and you'd be 
considered lucky if he even said hi to you. 

     Some people had been talking about his birthday lately. Yet, no 
matter how exciting it seemed to everyone else, he just couldn't get 
worked up for it, not like Asuka anyway. It just seemed like another 
day, like all the others from his fourth to now. Ever since... No, he 
wouldn't go there again. It hurt too much. He turned back to the teacher 
and pretended to notice what he was saying.

     After school had ended, Shinji found that everyone had left the 
very second the bell had rung. Like so many times before, Touji was 
missing. Kensuke said he was going to compete on some online game that 
had survived the 2nd Impact, something called EarthQuake, or something. 
Asuka and Hikari had left, saying they were going to do some 'girl' 
things. Shinji didn't know nor cared what that meant. 

     He looked at his shadow as the sun was setting in the west. Alone. 
Alone with his shadow. Another day was ending, another "Angel" free day. 
That he was thankful for. Even though he had come at his father's 
request, he wanted to do more than just pilot some machine that went 
berserk for no reason. Then those times where had come so close to 
death, it was making him sick. He had quit once, then came back because 
of Misato-san. That was the second time, he almost ran away again. 
Again? 

     Yes. Again. His mother's death... his father's ice cold gaze... his 
'new' family, meaning his uncle and aunt and their kids. He remembered 
Uncle Kyo and Aunt Yuki with some fondness. Even though they and their 
kids did their best to bring him up with love, it just didn't feel the 
same with his dad. It made him want to cry to remember the times when 
his father and mother hugged him and said "I love you Shinji".

     With Commander Ikari, that was beyond impossible. His father's gaze 
was like that of a stranger. He felt those familiar feelings back when 
he was four. Then, he remembered the scene when Gendou was speaking with 
Ayanami. His father almost seemed... the same way he did before. A small 
part of him inside was screaming and yelling at Gendou. Calling him a 
hypocrite, bastard, prick or whatever. 

He felt so jealous of Rei at times, being the only person who can unlock 
those hidden emotions within that puzzle of a man. At the same time, 
seeing him unlock the emotion within the girl who was accused of being 
emotionally sterile by his school mates. 

Everything had a rather orange/gold look to it that wasn't covered with 
shadows. He opened the gates and stepped through, it was another long 
day ending. Walking up the stairs, he remembered that today was supposed 
to be different somehow. Yet, he couldn't remember what it was supposed 
to be. As he walked up to the door, he figured that it wasn't really 
worth trying to remember. 

     Opening it, he found the hallway completely dark. "Tadaima." He 
said to the darkness. No answer. Placing his book bag and shoes in front 
of the door, he left it open so as to let enough light in. He started to 
get nervous as he called for anyone inside and received no answer again. 
Peeking around the edge of the hallways into the main room, he started 
to walk into the darkness.
"Ano... Gomen Kudasai." 

     Without a warning, the light flashed on and all the people hidden 
within the darkness yelled, "O TANJIYOBI OMEDETO GOZAIMASU SHINJI!" 
Shinji teetered back in shock at what he saw. There were party decors, a 
small pile of wrapped presents, and even a big sign that said what 
everyone else said. Almost everyone was there. Misato, Kaji, Asuka, 
Hikari, Touji, Kensuke, and several others from school were there. All 
there for him. 

     For the next couple of hours, Shinji never felt so... so... happy. 
First of all, Misato ran back into the kitchen and brought out a 
birthday cake, made by Hikari. With candles and all. When he was asked 
to make a wish, he took a couple of minutes and blew them out. Shinji 
knew what he wanted, so he wished and blew on the candles. He was never 
going to tell what his wish was. 

     The presents they all gave him made him think twice about how he 
thought about everyone. Misato's gift was a hand-made scarf, it wasn't 
well made, but Misato's bandaged hands signified how hard she worked on 
it. Kaji gave him a gardener's kit, just in case he wanted to start a 
hobby of his own. Touji and Kensuke both pitched in a gave him a set of 
Nature's Sound music discs and a disc player, they both figured he could 
use them. Hikari said that the cake was made herself and worked extra 
hard to make it good for Shinji. Asuka, a tomogatchi key chain. Somehow, 
that really
didn't surprise anyone in the least.  

*************************************************

     For the next couple of hours, the momentum of the party didn't 
waver in the least. That is, until it was time to for everyone to leave. 
Everyone was kind of reluctant at first, but were soon reminded of 
school the next day. Also, the 'children' had synchro testing to go 
through. When the last of the guests had left, the three residents has 
began to clean up. Shinji didn't mind in the least helping. 

Then he heard a knock at the door. Opening it up, he found Rei, with 
something small in her hands. She remained stone-faced as she handed 
what looked like... a small red pincushion? It didn't look very well 
made, in fact, there was some tears here and there. In bad sewn kanji, 
he saw what it said. 

"To Shinji."

She smiled a little bit and whispered, "O tanjiyobi omedeto gozaimasu 
Ikari-kun." Then, she turned and walked back to her own apartment. He 
looked down at the pincushion and then back at Rei as her form vanished 
within the doorway to the elevator. He smiled and said,

"Arigato, Ayanami." 

*************************************************

When the clock was nearing nine p.m., Misato announced that it was time 
for bed. Just before she passed out from all the after party beer she 
drank. Asuka didn't bother to argue, changed, and went to bed. Shinji 
sighed and put all his gifts back into his room, save for the disc 
player, one of the sea discs, and one of the books he got from one of 
his classmates.  

Sitting in the main room, he turned off most of the lights save for a 
single lamp on a nightstand. He started to read the book.

All of a sudden, a shadow from one of the windows caught his eye. 
Standing up, he quickly ran to the door and swung it open, but found no 
one. Before he walked back inside, he saw a package on the ground. 
Picking it up, he walked back into the apartment. He decided to take the 
rest of his stuff back into his own room and began to open the package. 

With the wrappings gone, Shinji found it to be a picture frame with a 
photo in it. There appeared to be a woman, a man, and a baby. Upon 
closer examination, the man in the picture was... Gendou? Then that 
meant that the baby was... him! Then was woman was Ikari Yui! His 
mother! He turned the picture around to it's backside to see a set of 
four tiny hiragana beside it. 

Gendou.

His eyes started to water heavily. But the smile never left his face. 
This was a gift from his father. A man who seemed so cold from afar. He 
did recall that Ritsuko-san saying that he was similar to Gendou. He 
couldn't communicate very well. So maybe, this was a way of saying 
something. After all these years. He hugged the picture close and 
started to cry with tears of joy. Holding the picture as if it meant 
everything in the world to him, because it did.

Between happy sobs, he whispered, "Otousan." 

His birthday wish had come true. 

Outside, the shadow took a final look at the building, smiling a very 
little bit, and whispered. "O Tanjiyobi omedeto Shinji."  With that 
done, the shadow stepped into the car and drove off as silently as he 
could. 

*************************************************

The next morning, as Shinji, Misato, and Asuka walked into NERV, Shinji 
saw his father standing upon the platform above. Staring that seemingly 
cold hearted stare as always. Shinji stared up at his father and smiled. 
Gendou nodded in response. Shinji continued to follow Asuka into the 
changing room where they would prepare for the synchro tests. 

True, neither one of them could relate to others very well, but in what 
little they did, meant more than what people would ever think. 

Owari

[Note: I am well aware that this is the first chapter of Seraphim's 
Judgement, but I figured it would be a bit better were it alone, yet 
still connected to Seraphim.]


Teknos WarHammer-

Are they pants? Or trousers?
Depends.

http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Garden/4853/index.html

-Knight of the True Fiancee. A.K.A. Akane Tendou
-Fanfic writer of Teknoman and other great manga and anime.
-Self appointed Guardian of Kiyone Makibi.
-And so much more!



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