Somewhere In Between
Chapter One
"Are you stupid?!"
Ikari Shinji stumbled forward after a forceful hand struck him in the back of the head. It stung only like a certain seventeen-year-old girl he knew could make it. "Ahh…that hurt, Asuka."
"Duh! It was supposed to hurt, dummkopf!" she told him. Puffing out her chest, she walked in front of him and looked over her shoulder at him. "I'm still better than you are. The Angels may be gone, but I'm still smarter than you are. I've already graduated college in Germany."
Shinji sighed. "I know, Asuka. Guten morgen, by the way."
"Guten morgen," she answered, suddenly smiling.
Inside, he sighed again. He would never understand Sohryu Asuka Langely—one moment, she was berating him for the latest thing he had done, and the next, she was smiling and laughing like nothing had gone wrong. In fact, he didn't even know why she had asked him if he was stupid this time, but he had learned to ignore it over the past three years. After all, he had lived with her for close to a year. Now she lived next door to him, and Ayanami Rei on the opposite side of him.
After the Third Impact, his mother had been extracted from Evangelion Unit 01, and his father had turned into a more accepting, more affectionate man. Ikari Yui and Ikari Gendo now lived with Shinji in an apartment complex about a half-mile away from the complex he had lived in with Asuka and Misato. Gendo had grown so attached to Ayanami Rei that he had asked her to move out of her little hovel and into the apartment next door to theirs. She had graciously accepted, leaving Asuka to live with Misato and Kaji. Half out of pity and half because he had actually missed having her around, Shinji had asked Gendo if he would mind paying for Asuka to live in the empty apartment on the other side of them after two months of her absence.
Amazingly, the once cold-hearted bastard had agreed.
Suddenly, Shinji realized why Asuka had smacked him. "Sorry," he told her.
Asuka smiled. "Wait for me next time. I won't have to smack you then."
He nodded. "Point realized. I just thought I was going to be late because okaa-san cleaned yesterday and accidentally unplugged my alarm clock. She set the time wrong and didn't set my alarm time again." They rounded the corner and found Rei way ahead of them, almost to the school gates, already. "On top of that, I forgot to even turn my alarm on last night because of otou-san's birthday. We were out late all night."
"I know," nodded Asuka. "I heard you come in around midnight. Where the hell did you go? Switzerland?"
Shinji sputtered. "We weren't gone that long! We got back at ten!"
Rolling her eyes, Asuka shook her head. "You got in around midnight. I know, because I looked at my clock when you woke me up!"
Shinji groaned in frustration, only to have Asuka flick his forehead. "Stop that!"
Asuka stuck her tongue out and flicked his forehead once more. "Make me, Third Child!" she dared him.
Careful not to grin, Shinji grabbed her wrists and turned her around, pinning her to him. With his other hand, he began to tickle her. She let out a squeal and bit her lip, trying to refrain from laughing, but couldn't hold it in. Shinji knew exactly where she was ticklish from countless battles such as this one.
Another laughter joined theirs.
They froze and slowly looked behind them…at Hikari.
"Asuka-chan!" Hikari laughed. "You two are so cute. Come on. The bell will ring soon."
Slowly, almost like he hadn't wanted to, Shinji released Asuka. She threw him a grin over her shoulder, picked up her schoolbag, and grabbed Hikari's arm. "Come on, Hikari-chan. Let's go."
The two of them started off, Hikari in the lead. She didn't notice when Asuka slowed and waited for Shinji. Quickly, he caught up with her and began to jog towards the gates. "We'll never make it if you go that slow, Third Child," she told him. "Come on, faster."
Unexpectedly, Asuka grabbed Shinji's hand and dragged him towards the gates as the bell to close them had sounded.
"I swear! I think sitting in Unit 01 for so long made you slow!" Asuka exclaimed, dragging him through the gates and down the halls to their class, just as the final bell rang.
"You were in an Eva since you were little," Shinji told her. "Should have made you slow. I just don't like to run fast."
"A likely story," she waved it off.
"I told you we were going to be late," Shinji changed the subject.
"Are you saying it's my fault?" Asuka demanded.
"Yes." Shinji narrowed his eyes at her.
"Are you stupid?!" she smacked him upside the head again.
"Stop that!" he snapped.
"Ahem."
Both Shinji and Asuka froze for a moment, then sank back into their seats and faced forward. "Yes, sensei?" they chorused.
"Sohryu-san, Ikari-san, I understand that perhaps in your last year of junior high you may have been treated with particular deference because of your former status, but here, in year two of high school, you are no longer the pilots of the Evangelion Units. Here, you are just another student to me. As I have warned you two before, I do not tolerate disobedience in my classroom." The teacher pushed up her glasses on the bridge of her nose and caught and held Shinji's eyes for a few moments before doing the same with Asuka. "Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, sensei," they said quietly.
"If I have to talk to you two about this one more time, I am sending you to the counselor's office," the teacher, Wakaouji-sensei, threatened. "Now. Open your English readers to page ninety-one…"
* * *
-God! Honestly, that woman drives me up the wall!- Asuka typed to Shinji. A few seconds later, the message appeared on his screen.
With glances up at Wakaouji-sensei every few moments, Shinji replied. –I know. She drives me crazy too, Asuka. Besides, she wasn't even in here when we started arguing. I know that when she cleared her voice that was when she came in the room.-
Blatantly not paying attention because she already knew English, Asuka wrote back to Shinji. –Doesn't that piss you off? I mean, why is she like that? I'll bet she eats metal nails and toddlers' toes for breakfast.-
Shinji bit his lip to keep from laughing and ducked his head. –What does she eat for lunch then?-
-Normal food. She can't eat her normal diet on school grounds, the administration would fire her.- Asuka paused before sending the message because Wakaouji-sensei turned around and said something important to the lesson. As soon as she handed out the assignment, Asuka sent the message.
-Can I check my answers to yours when I finish?- he asked.
-Dummkopf. You should know by now that that bitch gives me different work than the rest of the class since she found I speak fluent English.- Asuka sent the reply and began to work quickly on the paper. –I'll check your answers though, if you'd like.-
-You don't have to.- Shinji assured her. –After all, I don't want you to get sent to the counselor's without me.-
-Oh, don't worry. She would send us both, I think.-
-You're right. Okaa-san and Otou-san would probably kill us, too.-
As Wakaouji-sensei started towards her, Asuka exited out of the messaging system and brought up the blank document that would send to the teacher when it was finished. Typing as fast as her fingers would go, she attempted to get to at least question five before the teacher reached her. Please, please, please…she prayed silently. She was halfway through typing the answer to the second question when Wakaouji-sensei reached her.
"Sohryu-san. What takes you so long?" Wakaouji-sensei wanted to know.
"This work is just so challenging, Wakaouji-sensei," Asuka lied. "It takes me a few minutes to experiment until I find the correct answer."
That is such bullshit, Shinji thought as Asuka talked. Stop there, Asuka. You'll get in trouble if you keep going…
Wakaouji-sensei raised an eyebrow at the auburn-headed former Second Child. Across the room, Rei sent Shinji a message. –What is Sohryu doing?-
-Spouting bullshit so she doesn't get in trouble for talking to me when we should be doing our work.- Shinji hit send and returned to his work. The message blinked up on the screen again.
-Why were you two talking rather than completing the assignment?- Rei wanted to know.
-I don't know. But now you're keeping me from my work again, so I'll talk to you at lunch if you want to talk some more.- Shinji sent the message quickly and brought up the document he had been working on.
Wakaouji-sensei placed a hand on the top of the desk and one on the back of Asuka's chair. "Sohryu-san," she said, her voice dangerously low. "I may not have caught you passing notes with Ikari-san this time, but I will catch you one day. You are a troublemaker. Ikari is a good student, he doesn't need a screw-up like you to poison his mind."
At those words, Asuka's eyes widened and she stiffened. "Excuse me, Wakaouji-sensei?"
"I know how to spot a delinquent corrupting a passive mind," Wakaouji-sensei continued. "Leave Ikari alone from now on, or I will see to it personally that you are removed from this classroom—permanently."
For a moment longer, Wakaouji-sensei stood there, then she moved on down the aisle. As soon as she couldn't feel Wakaouji-sensei's eyes on her anymore, Asuka sank in her seat. Remove her from the class, permanently? No more being with Shinji, Hikari, Rei, Touji, Kensuke? Her, a troublemaker? A delinquent? What? When had that happened?
Then it clicked.
Wakaouji-sensei didn't like her.