A/N: This fic heralds my return to writing after a very long absence. It hasn't been pre-read so there's a good….well…great chance that it has some horrible grammar, and some extremely obvious errors. The ending was written much later in the night than the beginning (same applies to the middle) so it also may deteriorate some there. Enough bitching about my in-eptitude. There has been at least one fic I know of like this (and you prob won't figure out what this is until next chapter) but I plan to take this a different way than that one. Enough ranting. I hope you enjoy the fic
Darkness conceals many things, but also opens the eyes to another world
– Author Unknown
The night. For many, it was a time of fear, fear of the un-known and the un-seeable. For a long time, Shinji Ikari was one of those people, one of those who retreated under the covers after the sun had finished it's daily sojourn across the heavens. Now, Shinji feared nothing, for after all, what did one fear when they knew they were doomed already?
Shinji Ikari made his way back towards his small apartment, where the wrath of two women awaited him. Misato, worried about his safety, and Auska, worried about her dinner. Held up after-school with cleaning, he meandered down the perfectly straight streets of Tokyo 3, not exactly with any due haste. He knew he was going to be screamed at, so why hurry it up. He will get there when he gets there, and no sooner than that. The street lights formed little pools of light, islands of brightness. The almost full moon tinting every thing silver. Shinji walked head down, watching his shadow perform crazy rotations on the ground, as he moved under the actinide white light of the lamps. He did not see the bottle fly out of the shadows, nor did he see much of anything after it.
Racing from his current home, Kagi Ryogi, Section 2 extraordinaire, promptly fell over the small concrete stairs, his pants still at half mast around his knees.
"That's the last time I challenge Maya to a drinking contest" he muttered to himself, fumbling with his belt "She must be some sort of Android sent back in time to show me up" Shaking his head, before realizing that in his current state, shaking his head was NOT the best of ideas. Dragging himself upright, the un-shaven man glanced at his watch, wincing at the numbers displayed. "Lets hope old man Gendo isn't watching the clock to closely this evening" he sighed, buckling his belt around his waist.
With a colossal groan, Kagi slowly gained forward momentum, heading down the street towards the general direction of the Katusragi residence, where his quarry was currently stationed, cooking probably. Or so he thought. With a loud trill, his Nerv personnel locator device flashed a proximity alert across its orange interface. Shinji was close. TOO close.
What the hell is going on? Kagi thought. That boy oughta be cooking up a storm right about now, not lurking in some alley.
Kagi picked up the pace, his ears pricked for the sound of anything un-usual. His change from lay-about to super-spy was perceptible, like the creases falling out of a shirt. The locator kept increasingly informing him that he was closing the gap between his location and that of the boy he was assigned to be guarding.
He began to make out muffled noises coming from the closest alley, the one corresponding to the read out on the tracker. This was not looking good. There was ten metres till he had line of sight…..six……..two….and then he saw.
Shinji felt each blow raining down on his body, but they didn't hurt, as if he was merely watching himself get pummeled. He felt a dull crump, one of his ribs must've broken. A size 11 cleat to the chest will do that to you. He knew that he was going to die, and felt comforted. Soon the pressure will lift, and no more worries will rattle around his skull. It will. All. End.
Kagi pulled out his NERV issue side-arm, and checked the breach. Nothing. A dim recollection of a extremely dangerous drinking game. There was no time to find his other clip. Still moving Kagi Ryogi tossed his gun aside, and removed his neck-tie.
"Desperate times call for desperate measures" he muttered, quickly approaching the gang of thugs assaulting Shinji, the burly men to busy inflicting pain to notice the un-shaven man's approach.
Shinji felt his consciousness nearing his body….the dull ache he felt quickly blossoming into the true pain that had been inflicted.
"So this is God's little joke huh? Making me feel pain this one last time before I go into his embrace, recompense for all the pain I've avoided and ignored...fine, just get it over with you bastard" Shinji thought, as the images grew sharper and more in-focus
Even though he was in a lot of pain, Shinji noticed that the blows had stopped, and the thugs who had been intent on killing him were now busy with something else, and Shinji dragged himself onto his elbow to see more clearly. There was a large black….beast, in between him and the group of men. It looked like a dog….no, it looked like a wolf, if wolves had fur darker than the void between the stars. It was massive, standing just under chest height. Its growl was a low bass rumble felt, more than heard, and seemed to trigger thoughts of a bygone age where man was hunted, the darkness bringing forth swift death for any cave man foolish enough to venture into it. Steam issued forth from its slightly open maw, high-lighting the long ivory teeth that were easily two inches long
The thugs tentatively step towards the animal, and after no apparent reaction from it, one of them charged at it, a baseball bat raised high above his head. Bad move. Quicker than Shinji's beleaguered eyes could follow, the beast rushed forward, and with a brutal bite removed most of the mans neck. A haze of blood covered everything, including Shinji. The dead man fell. He looked surprised, as if he thought he was invincible. The other men screamed in rage and rushed the creature as one man, weapons at the ready.
The fighting was intense, but brief. The men only managed to land a few blows before being taken down by the wolf-like creature. The bodies were sprawled everywhere. All of them were very evidently dead. The beast stood there panting, still looking on edge. Scanning for more enemies. Blood matted its dark coat, dripping off its snout.
"This animal saved me" Shinji thought "But why?"
Shinji Ikari slowly reached out a hand, wanting to touch the animal which had saved his life, wanting to make a connection, or just checking to see if it was real, he didn't quite know. His cautious hand almost touched the animals black fur, but quicker than he could react the beast snapped around and bit down hard on Shinji's out stretched hand. Shinji felt his arm grow cold in the animal's mouth, and felt that coldness spread through his body like a silver mist. All Shinji could do was stare deep into the animals blood red eyes. The chill that had spread through his body now seeped slowly up his neck, creeping into his brain. He slumped backwards, and the last thing he saw was the wolf, with a strangely human look of concern on its features, red eyes melting into yellow.
END CHAPTER 1
A/N: So what did you think? Good? Bad? Be sure to review and give me some good feedback please. I'm also looking for a pre-reader, and if possible, a co-author. I hope to keep the updates thick and fast (one a week hopefully) and if I had a co-author, it would progress so much more. Looking forward to next time
- That Hopeless Romantic