Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is the property of Gainax Studio and the intellectual property of Hideaki Anno. I own neither and hold no claims to such. Same goes for any other mention made of name brand or copyrighted material.
Darkness Falls
Shinji Ikari was also having a bad day. Even worse it had started off well enough, if not a little routine, waking up early to the sound of his alarm before slipping quietly out of his room. He didn't know why but for some reason he had a good feeling about today, a sort of sense of happiness with his current situation. It had been nearly a month since he and his teammates had defeated the ninth Angel Matariel and life had become once again the daily grind of school, home and sync tests he was accustomed to.
After taking a quick shower and changing into his school uniform, Shinji emptied the trash can and carried it downstairs to the dumpster. He then returned to the apartment and began picking out components for the morning's breakfast. Mindlessly humming a tune he skillfully went to work and before long the kitchen was permeated with the scent of eggs being fried and bread being toasted. Still whistling cheerfully to himself he set the table for three and distributed the food accordingly. Standing back he removed his apron and surveyed his efforts with a hearty smile. Glancing at the clock he decided it was getting a little late so he'd better rouse his flat mates.
"Misato-san! Asuka-san! It's time for breakfast!" He called. When no response came in reply, he shook his head in amusement and knocked on the nearest of the closed bedroom doors. "Misato-san, it's time to get up!" This time a grunt came back in acknowledgment so Shinji moved onto the second door and relayed the same message. This done he sat back down at the table and started to eat.
It wasn't long before a crash followed by a loud moan issued forth from the first room and Shinji's purple haired guardian made her grand appearance. Stumbling across the room in a shambling gait, Major Misato Katsuragi plopped down across from Shinji and rubbed her blood shot eyes.
"Gah Shinji! I can never figure out how you do it, getting up so early and all and every day? That just borders the crazy."
"I don't know I've just always been an early riser..." Shinji glanced annoyingly at the still closed second door. 'I swear sometimes that these two would not even bother getting up if I didn't make breakfast.' He thought to himself 'Just the kind of ingratitude tha…'
"YEEEAAAAAAAAAAAYEEEE!!!" his private complaints were painfully interrupted as the Major completed her morning beer ritual complete with ear shatteringly loud victory cry. "That's the stuff that gets me out of bed in the morning!" Grinning Misato seductively licked her lips and leaned over the table, bringing her scantily clad "assets" into Shinji's line of view. "So you're an early riser huh? You and every man sweetie!" Laughing in delight as he clumsily covered up the growing bulge in his pants, Misato playfully swatted Shinji upside the head causing his ever reddening face to go even redder.
Still smiling, Misato sat back down and started to devour her food.
"Shinji these eggs are great! I don't understand how you do it!" she said between chews "I swear keep this sort of thing up and I don't know how long I can keep my hands off of you!"
"If you really love the baka so much then why don't you marry him." The statement came as a hiss, issuing from Shinji's missing roommate and fellow EVA pilot as she finally graced them with her presence. "Or better yet move out."
"Good morning Asuka!" Shinji called waving his hand for the redhead to join them at the table. "I made e…"
"Shut up baka, it's too early for that kind of attitude!" Asuka pulled out a chair and slumped her face into the table top. "Seriously I don't understand why I have to go through this every day; after all I've already graduated freaking college! There is just no valid reason for making me go to school, other than wanting to painfully torture me; especially when it's obvious I'm not learning anything I don't know already."
"Asuka you complain about going to school every morning and every morning I explain why." Misato illustrated her point with a wave of her fork, sending bits of egg flying all over the place. "The reason you go to school is to further your understanding of Japanese culture and language, as well as provide a place where you can interact with other people your age in a safe monitored environment."
"But…" Misato slashed her fork like a dagger cutting off any resistance before it had a chance to form. She had no intention of getting into a full out verbal brawl with the German teen this early in the morning, which even in the best of times was a painful and rather long drawn out affair.
"Furthermore," She said not letting her opponent get a word in edgewise "it gets you out of my hair and more importantly out of this apartment. Besides it's not like you ever see Shinji complaining about going to school." As soon as she finished Shinji cringed; he already knew where this was going, and as he cleared the now forgotten breakfast plates from the table he made a tactically planned, yet hasty retreat out of the line of fire.
Asuka didn't bother to prove him wrong. "That's because he's a spineless baka! If you told him to stay home from school he would, if you tell him to go to school he will and if you told him to get down on his hands and knees and blow you…"
"Asuka, watch your language!" Misato stood up, abruptly jarring the table, "Besides Shinji has a spine, and you of all people should know that! What about that time he risked his life to save you when he pulled your sinking EVA out of that volcano?! Or when he almost died stopping the Jet Alone from reaching the city and killing all those people or what about….."
"Exactly!" Asuka mirrored Misato's earlier move, jarring the table yet again and causing Shinji groan to himself, annoyed at the shear predictability of his life. "When he's in EVA, sure he can show some balls but only because he's been ordered to! But take a moment outside to talk to him and it's like he can't even piss without someone holding his hand!"
"Uh, Misato, Asuka?" Shinji stammered raising a hand in vain effort to extinguish the shrinking fuse.
"Quiet Shinji this doesn't concern you!" Misato growled and reluctantly he dropped his hand in defeat.
"Uh, okay. I'm sorr…" He winced as his half uttered statement brought the redheads smoldering gaze into line with his own.
"See what I mean!? I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Asuka's voice rose in a mocking high pitched squeal "Hi my name is Shinji and I'm a big fat lipped wuss, please just leave me alone! Bah!" Asuka threw up her hands in exasperation "If you were an actually responsible guardian you would see that babying him doesn't help! I see how you look at him, tell him everything's going to be alright, not to worry he has people that care about him! Hell you'd be better just finishing what you started and screwing him! Maybe then he'd actually show some balls, even if it was only to you!"
"Why you little…" Misato started to hike up imaginary sleeves and Shinji inwardly groaned. He knew where this was headed and he had found that in the past that trying to interfere at this point would just make things worse. So instead he concentrated on finishing up the dishes before he started preparing his and Asuka's bentos.
"Language Major, language." Asuka teased throwing Misato's earlier comment right back at her "But then again what do you expect from low brow streetwalking gutter trash like yourself." The veins that had been bulging before on Misato's forehead now expanded at an alarming rate and one could almost see steam leaking from her nostrils.
"WHY YOU LITTLE BITCH!!" Misato screamed and threw herself across the table, knocking the teen clear off her chair. Asuka landed with on the floor with a meaty thud followed by a little shriek of rage as Misato dove on top of the lighter teen, wasting no time, clawing and scratching the younger woman with all the ferocity you'd expect from a woman with her reputation questioned.
"GET OFF OF ME YOU DRIED UP WHORE!" Asuka screamed and pitched the other woman off of her in a vain attempt to escape, only to be brought down from behind moments by a well executed flying tackle.
Shinji mentally plugged his ears as the women turned to psychological warfare.
"SPOILED BRAT!"
"SLUT!"
"TEENIE BOPPER!"
"WITHERED HAG!"
"A-CUP!"
With their insults temporarily exhausted; the two women threw themselves at each other with a wordless screech.
Meanwhile Shinji had finished packing the lunches and started to place them in his and Asuka's book bags. Taking care to ignore and avoid the writhing pile of fighting, scratching, hair pulling, female bits at his feet, Shinji looked at his watch and sighed.
"Asuka it's almost time to leave, don't you think you should get ready?" he suggested, trying to keep the hopefulness out of his voice.
With a final *SLAP* the two sweaty women untangled their limbs and fell apart.
"This isn't finished!" Asuka growled as she rose to her feet wiping her hands on the side of her t-shirt.
"Anytime sweetheart anytime." Misato cheerfully called from her reclining position on the floor. As the young teen stormed into the bathroom the purple haired Major blew her retreating back a kiss.
Shinji walked over to his fallen guardian and helped her to her feet. "Thanks Shinji-kun."
"Misato why do you provoke her like that? I mean it doesn't really bother me you two fighting but you know now she's going to be in a bad mood today and that typically means she's going to take it out on me." Misato placed her hand on Shinji's shoulder.
"Bah! A little in-fighting's good for people, keeps things interesting. Besides when a person has a constitution like Asuka it helps to keep her personality in check. The only thing she understands is confrontation."
"But just how does help me?" Any further discussion was ended with a wave of Misato's hand.
"You're a man aren't you? I'm sure you can handle a little female aggression once in a while." She said as she walked into her room. Pausing at the threshold she called over her shoulder. "Who knows, it might be good for you!"
Her door slid shut and Shinji stood in the hallway silently fuming. On the sound of another door being opened he turned around just in time to be greeted by a certain towel covered red head.
"Oh hey Asu…" The resounding smack could be heard in the adjacent apartments all up and down the block.
"PEVERT! Waiting outside the bathroom for a cheap peak eh? You men are all the same!" Gathering her towels around her like a robe she pushed the still red faced Shinji into the wall with near bone breaking force and stalked into her room.
Shinji slumped against the wall, feeling the bruises already starting to form on his back. 'Dammit Asuka that really fucking hurt!' he grimaced before rising slowly to his feet. Sighing to himself he limped over to the kitchen table and sat down with his hands on his forehead. Why did this always have to happen to him? "It's not like I asked for any of this." He stated to no-one in particular.
It wouldn't be so bad except this kind of thing seemed to be happening more and more lately. Denied the one thing she enjoyed, piloting EVA, Asuka had resorted to other sources of relief for her pent up frustration. Namely abusing Shinji and being a general pain to everyone else. Not that she was a generally nice person in the best of times, but lately her attacks had been much more vicious and personal.
"Come on Third we don't have all day!" Asuka stood in her doorway with her arms crossed, dressed in her school uniform.
'Speak of the devil.' Shinji thought glumly as he picked up their back packs and handed Asuka's to her, only to have it immediately shoved back into his arms.
"Carrying things is not a task suited for a top rated EVA pilot like myself. You however are. Therefore you now have the honor of carrying the great Asuka Langley Soryu's book bag!"
With that she swirled and marched out of the apartment, luscious auburn hair bobbing under her two pointy neural connectors. Shinji stood still for a minute dreamily admiring the way her hips swung as she walked. Shaking himself out of his private fantasy Shinji moved to follow, but was interrupted as his guardian's door slid open.
"Shinji, sorry about Asuka, I think she's just frustrated because she's bored. Maybe you should do something with her after school today." Misato said as she leaned against the doorframe. "Take her to the arcade or something. Also don't bother making dinner for me tonight. I pulled the overnight shift at work, so I won't be here when you get home. Don't you to get into any trouble!" With that and a wink Misato slid the door shut and left Shinji out in the hallway.
Still trying to figure out what Misato had meant from that last comment, Shinji closed the front door and hurried down the hall.
Getting into the elevator Shinji pressed the button for the first floor, noting with some disappointment that Asuka hadn't bothered waiting for him. Not that he expected anything different from her, but deep down he had always held some hope that he and Asuka could both eventually get past their differences and move on to something resembling a normal friendship. However given Asuka's natural fiery personality and his rather timid one it seemed at times it to border on the impossible. Coupled with the recent escalation in tension at the Katsuragi household it appeared to Shinji that in fact they were doing the exact opposite, falling farther and farther from that category of friends to the rather more natural standing (at least in Asuka's mind) of enemies.
'Should have recognized a pipe dream when I saw one." His thoughts rang with melancholy.
The buzzer *dinged* and Shinji exited at street level, only to be greeted by a mighty slap.
"Baka, just who do you think you are making me wait like that?!" Asuka demanded, poking her finger painfully into Shinji's chest.
"What was that for?" he asked rubbing his hand across his stinging cheek. 'God dammit Asuka, at least make an effort to spice up the punishment once in a while.' "So you waited here just to slap me again?"
While he maintained his calm demeanor, Shinji inwardly jumped in glee at the slight reddening of Asuka's pretty features and whether it was in anger or embarrassment he didn't care.
Regardless of the reason it didn't take longer than a moment for Asuka to quickly recover her composure and replace it with her usual haughty air. "No I just wanted to make sure you brought my bag to school instead of skipping school to screw that whore all day. Anyways come I don't want to be late!" With that she about faced in a blur of skirts and hair and sped off down the street, leaving a sputtering red faced Shinji in her wake.
…
'God this old guy can really pack it in.' Shinji mused as the teacher started off on another one of his rambling Pre-Second Impact oriented lectures. As far as Shinji knew the old man had never actually taught anything of any practical use. Not that any of the other students in his class particularly cared one way or the other. Text messaging and note passing occupied most of their time, the rest was spent doodling on textbooks or staring aimlessly into space.
Shinji sighed and tried to tone out the incessant droning of his Sensei. Seriously the guy would put rocks asleep, let alone second year junior high students. Propping his head up on his fist, Shinji let his eyes wander around the room finally settling on Asuka sitting at the front of the class. Trying her best to fake interest in the teachers lecture she was currently typing furiously on her laptop taking time off to occasionally flick a despondent hair over her shoulder. 'Damn she looks good today, but then again she does every day.' He closed his eyes and tried to imagine her as she was the night before the defeat of the seventh angel: timid, frightened, alone, she was all of these things the night she had sleepwalked into the living room and collapsed on his bed. Not surprisingly he couldn't do it. It seemed at times that this Asuka was an entirely different person than the one who had tackled the seventh with him and who he had risked life and limb to save during their ill advised excursion into Mt. Asama. At those times he had almost felt at ease with the redhead, finally seeming to get past the petty differences that life had presented to them and try to find some sort of peace. However their truce had come to an end with the attack of the ninth and the subsequent lack of Evangelion related action had led to Asuka's current boredom and the renewal of their previous at odds relationship.
"Whatcha looking at Shinji?" A sudden hand on his shoulder caused him to jump. "Thinking of trying to tame a certain red headed demon are you?" Rolling his eyes Shinji looked across the aisle at his friend Kensuke Aida and regarded the bespectacled geek.
"N-n-oo, I'm just thinking about the…the last angel attack and I was wondering when the next one is going to show." He whispered back.
"Bullshit," his friend said as he pressed his finger to the center of his glasses "I've seen you mooning over her. Shin-dog you can't resist nature man. You might as just give it up and admit it."
"Eh leave the boy alone, if he wants to go around playing with the fires of hell let em." Listening in, Shinji's other friend Toji Suzuhara decided to put in his two bit's worth. "Besides if he wants to mess around with the devil I say let him. That just means that Misato-san is all the more available for us!" the jock said as he threw a wink and thumbs up at Kensuke.
The other boy caught the wink and answered "Right man right! Oh Shinji, I envy you living with such a fox like Misato! But you're right Toji, if he wants to waste his time getting his balls stepped on by Asuka I say we leave him to play his little boy games. It's just unfair that such a fine vintage of woman would be wasted on such a little minded man."
As the conversation continued back and forth between the two, Shinji just shut them out. He was if not immune then used to this kind of teasing by over exposure to it and barely paid it mind any more. After all, he got a double earful every day from Misato, who seemed to derive a sense of deranged pleasure from seeing his face go red in embarrassment, not to mention the random insults that Asuka delivered at every opportunity. Of course he'd rather take the teasing any day over the cold indifference offered by his father or the detached scientific curiosity of Dr. Akagi's verbal prodding.
"…well Shinji?"
Not having heard the question in the first place Shinji merely raised his eyebrow. Kensuke merely shook his head in exasperation.
"Come on man pay attention! What's with you spacing out so much recently? You know it only goes to confirm my suspicions about you and big red." With a blank look from Shinji, Kensuke continued "Anyways I asked if you knew where Ayanami-san has been for the past few days?" he gestured to an empty desk situated against the wall near the windows. Indeed there was an empty space, usually occupied with his fellow blue haired EVA pilot, Ayanami Rei.
Shinji answered his friends query with a shrug, though in truth he had a pretty good idea where the quiet girl had gotten too. Earlier that week he had overheard Dr. Akagi talking to some other technicians about feedback problems in Unit-00's sync graph. Although Shinji didn't understand the specific nature of the problem as with all things EVA, physical pilot input was probably required and Rei was most likely being held at NERV in an attempt to sort it out.
"Bah you're useless sometimes you know that?" Kensuke replied turning his attention away from Shinji to fiddle with his always present video camera.
'How about next time a 100 foot tall monster from hell comes calling I let you deal with it?' Shinji mentally replied as he turned his attention back to the front of the room.
…
Lunch was the usual affair, eating with Toji and Kensuke in the shade of a tree in the school yard. They talked as they ate, managing to cover all the important topics, women, sports, television. At one point Toji and Aida got into a heated argument concerning which qualities in a man Major Katsuragi liked the most. Toji was a firm believer in the Major's love of strong men with lots of confidence citing her profession as evidence. Kensuke countered with his opinion that such an intelligent person as the Tactical Operation Director at NERV would prize a healthy mind and keen intellect; therefore he was the clear choice to ask her on a date. Shinji tried to ignore them both as best he could, something he found he was getting a lot of practice of lately. Eventually the bell rung and they walked back to class together, his two friends arguing their opposing views the entire way.
…
The final bell rang and Shinji woke up with a heavy start. He had fallen asleep halfway through the lecture and hadn't bothered with any sort of pretense. At the head of the classroom the class representative Hikari Horaki did her usual "Rise, bow, sit!" routine that officially ended the day. After returning the bow his teacher gathered his things and left the room prompting an eruption of noise from the previously silent students.
Getting up out of his desk and stifling a heavy yawn Shinji remembered Misato's suggestion of taking Asuka out to do something. So he picked up his books and headed over to where she was still seated. On the way to walking to her desk he decided on asking her to go to a movie with him, his reasoning being it would take up a few hours and cost less than the arcade.
So gathering what little courage he could dredge up, Shinji approached her desk and placed a hand on it to steady himself. Detecting his presence Asuka remained facing straight ahead her face plastered with a look of annoyance. Suddenly finding himself nervous and lacking the necessary words, he simply froze in place trying desperately to find his courage. When this didn't seem to be working she let out an exasperated groan and turned fully in her seat to face him.
"What is it baka?" she growled snapping her fingers in front of his face to get his attention.
"Oh, hey Asuka, um…Misato isn't going to be home tonight so it's just going to be us and ah...I was wondering if you wanted to do something with me. Like maybe go to a movie or something?' he stammered
"Are you asking me out on a date after the shit you pulled this morning?" Asuka's eyebrows lowered and her voice reached a low growl.
"Um...no…I was just seeing if you…um sorry?" he squeaked out, holding his hands out in supplication. If anything this only served to enrage Asuka further and as she rose to her feet Shinji could almost smell the fire and brimstone.
"So now I'm not good enough to go on a date with you, aye baka?" she stated in voice full of menace as she walked towards the now cowering teenager. "Well then baka, if you can't show enough balls to ask a girl like me out then I suppose you don't need any." With that she kneed Shinji right in the nads, causing the shocked boy to scream in a high pitched voice and collapse on the floor.
Walking past him with an air of contempt writ on her features, Asuka stormed out of the classroom leaving a now moaning Shinji in front of a class of giggling middle school students.
…
After a few minutes of intense rubbing Shinji managed to shakily get to his feet. Looking around he noticed the entire class had left with the exception of the class rep, who was working on getting the dust out of the chalk erasers.
"I don't know what you said to Asuka Shinji but whatever it was I'm not sure you deserved that." Hikari winced as he painfully walked bowlegged over to where she was and leaned against the wall.
"Yeah neither am I, though I probably should of expected something like that." He sputtered still trying to massage feeling back into his legs.
"Well regardless, I suggest you don't make the same mistake again. "
"Yeah, I'll try to remember. See you later Hikari-san!" He waved as he limped out of the classroom and into the hallway.
"Bye Ikari-san! I hope you feel better." She called
Grumbling under his breath, Shinji made his way laboriously down to the front entrance, wincing with every step. As he finally reached the exit, he pushed open the doors only to be immediately soaked by a sudden deluge of rain.
"Oh you've got to be shitting me." He cursed silently as he held his bag over his head and started hobbling down the street.
…
Asuka glanced worriedly at the window as the speed of the rain pattering against the panes intensified once again. It had been over an hour and Shinji still wasn't home. Not that she would ever admit to caring. Seated on the couch in the apartment's living room she had been playing her PS4 ever since getting home. Growling in frustration, she threw down her controller and crossed her arms.
'Stupid baka Shinji, making me wait for him again!' Asuka buzzed angrily to herself. She had come up with this plan shortly after Shinji had asked her to go to the movies. Truth be told she had been delighted when he had asked; it had been what seemed like ages since she had been outside the dingy apartment for anything other than school or N.E.R.V related business. Plus she was glad he was finally showing some backbone for once, and to be honest it thrilled her to no end. She liked those parts of Shinji, the brave, sensitive, funny young man who could be brimming with tender hearted kindness one moment and stubbornly holding the lines against the enemies of mankind the next. That was the kind of someone who she could picture bringing into her life as a friend of something more.
However on the flipside was the Shinji who seemed to anger her with every wince, every apology and every bow. It was an enigma how two such conflicting personalities could exist in a single vessel. Even more frustrating was how those two personalities could have such adverse effects on her.
'Bah! No use wasting time wishing, I just hope he gets here soon before the theater closes.' When he had asked her to go with him she had in her mind immediately said yes but had decided to keep up appearances in front of the rest of the class. Thus she had done what she did, humiliating him in front of the class to prevent her own embarrassment. It didn't make her feel any better about herself, but in her own mind she had qualified her reaction as being for the best. In addition the look on his face when she kneed him had been priceless. Running back to the apartment she had planned on ignoring him until boredom got the best of his caution and prompted him to ask again. At which time she'd grudgingly accept his proposal but not without first giving him a well deserved tongue lashing and a few reasonable demands to be met.
She shivered in anticipation at the forthcoming free dinner and impromptu shopping spree. 'A girl has her needs, sorry baka Shinji but that's the way it is." she giggled. She shivered once again but this time for a different reason. This morning it had been about 27 degrees Celsius but by mid afternoon when the freak storms had first started it had steadily dropped down to 15 and showed no sign of stopping. Already the local news was proclaiming it the coldest day in years, issuing a flood warning for the outlying low altitude communities and a severe weather alert for the rest of the Tokyo 3 area.
Asuka jumped as lighting flashed immediately followed by a staccato crash of thunder. Getting up quickly she walked to her door and slid it open, taking a jacket from her closet and slipping it on. She had never liked thunder storms and the feeling of helplessness that encompassed her whenever she encountered one. It cut too close for comfort by reminding her of her own uncomfortable past. It had been raining the day her mother died, but she had run through the rain anyways to tell her that her only daughter had been selected to be an elite EVA pilot. Instead she had found her mentally unstable mother hanging from the ceiling; frozen grin still plastered on the corpses lips. On that day the 4-year old Soryu had sworn to herself that she would be the best at everything she did and would never cry again.
Collapsing back on the couch Asuka wiped the hair from her face and reached for the remote. Flicking the channel she started to flip through channels all the while glancing at the clock.
"Dammit Shinji where could you be?" she whispered.
…
Shinji plodded down the slick city streets, angry with Asuka and the world in general. But mostly he was just angry with himself for asking her in the first place. He was starting to realize that his relationship with Asuka was reflective of his life in general. Pathetic. First he was denied by fate a normal life and was denied happiness in this one by his own self inflicted sorrows. Finally the meticulous and ongoing meddling of his father and so many others in his life had sealed the deal. In all the time since he had arrived here in Tokyo 3 all those months ago he had been submitted to the manipulations of a whole cadre of shadowy masked figures all of them working at his expense for their own twisted purposes.
Feeling the effects of the freezing rain, Shinji moved off the sidewalk into a side alley, taking refuge under the back door of a laundry mat. From his position he watched as people rushed up and down the street with newspapers and briefcases held over their heads. He remembered what those people looked like when he rode inside the EVA. Like ants and seeing them scurry back and forth only served to remind him of that comparison. They were all so small in comparison to the things life decided to throw at them. What's the point of fighting for humanity when they were destined to run themselves into the ground anyways? Shinji didn't know why; he fought because he was told to fight because if he didn't then those that depended on him would perish in the fires of third impact. And who were those people? He honestly didn't know. Things that once had been so straight forward now were jaded by the numbing experiences he had endured. People he had once trusted now seemed to have ulterior motives. Misato's light hearted teasing had become the inadequate and frustrated projections of a cold hearted machinist shaping him into the weapon needed by his cold hearted bastard of a father.
Whenever she went off on him, instead of doing so as a frustrated teenage girl, Asuka's tantrum seemed to be personal attacked created by her insistent jealousy of his unwanted pilot status.
His so called friends, Kensuke and Toji, one a sycophant intent on riding on the coat tails of his celebrity status and the other a faux friend created by guilt trip induced fellowship brought on by the accidental injury of his little sister.
And Rei who had been the first person he had opened up to here. The only person who at the time had seemed as if they would turn a sympathetic ear to his problems had shown herself to be a loyal minion of his father, just another measure of control for the old man to exert over him.
Emotional blackmail, that's all they were, the whole city of them just placed to force his hand in a quest he never had any stake in to begin with. To save the future of humanity, so what was the point of rescuing such a sickly and vicious beast from extinction when all it could ever do was cause harm to itself and others? Maybe it was better to let it die or perhaps even put it out of its misery, allow for a clean slate and fresh start. Perhaps the angels would do a better job of things, who knew?
As he asked himself these things, crouched hiding in a filth encrusted alley way like a wild stray, he realized the real reason he was locked in this destiny. It was his own cowardice and nothing else, he wasn't even brave enough to do nothing, let alone die for something. So he was stuck and nothing he was willing to do would ever change that. Turning his head upwards into the incoming rain he let the water wash over him, mixing with his frustrated tears, dripping into the street and flowing away into the street.
…
Section-2 Agent Riro Hirakata keyed his earpiece and once again queried a status update on the Third Childs position. Once more he was met with static, an event he was becoming quite accustomed to. Turning to his partner Hari he frowned.
"Damn rain is messing with the god damn radios again." He stated "I can't make contact with the other teams and there's still no response from HQ. Are you absolutely sure he didn't stop or turn off anywhere?"
The other agent replied with a shrug and pointed down the street "Well if he did I didn't see him do it. Besides for all we know the kid might have took off sprinting at some point just to get out of this damn rain."
"Shit, you know if we can't find him it's going to be our asses' right?" Hirakata cursed. They been shadowing Shinji ever since he had left school, following at a respectable distance in a vain attempt to remain discrete. Men in suits and sunglasses had a hard time with that. However regardless of their visibility it hadn't been long until they had lost him in a particularly rough patch and suddenly the damn kid had just disappeared. Despite their best efforts they had yet to re-acquire the target.
"Well then we'd better keep looking." The other man motioned for him to move ahead and they quickly moved down the street searching as they went.
…
He didn't know for how long he sat there sobbing silently into hands and it was only when he heard the approaching sound of footsteps did he even bother to look up. Peering into the oily darkness of the alley he was suddenly gripped with an impending sense of dread. Turning to flee, he never saw the running at a dead sprint appear from the shadows and slam into his back. Nor did he notice the look of absolute horror etched on his face or the blood that covered his hands. He did however notice the force of the impact and found himself entangled in a mass of writhing limbs and clothes.
Breath knocked out of him, Shinji was less quick of the two to react and as the man detached himself he immediately feared for the worst. Mugging, kidnapping, assassination. These things ran quickly through Shinji's mind as he fought to regain his footing and flee. A somewhat more detached part of him wondered idly where exactly his Section-2 escorts had gotten off too; this was after all the sort of thing they were supposed to guard against.
However his paranoia proved to be unfounded as the sound of his assailants squishy footsteps receded into the distance. Quickly turning he caught only the briefest glimpse of a trench coat covered form before it rounded the corner and disappeared.
Raising himself warily to his feat he quickly wiped the grime from his spill off his pants and scanned the alley for any sign of the encounter. Finding it well and truly deserted he turned to exit the alley, when he tripped once again and landed face first into the muck.
"God damn it!" he exclaimed crawling up on all fours then sitting back on his ass, uncaring of the sudden wetness that permeated the seat of his pants. Rubbing his knees he looked around for the cause of his fall and found it lying directly behind him, partially submerged in a rather large pothole. Standing once again he picked it up from where it had fallen and gave it a cursory glance over.
It seemed to be a rather large plain looking leather briefcase, presumably dropped by the mystery man when he made his hectic rush away. On the front was a decorative metal seal of some sort, its appearance and message too obscured by the muck and mud to be easily identifiable. Deciding to take it back to the apartment so he could get a closer look at it, Shinji hoisted it over his head as make shift cover and hurried his way out of the alley and back to the apartment.
In the sky above the city, lighting flashed ominously and the alleyway he had just emerged from was briefly lit up fully. For a fleeting second the bloody truth was revealed for those who sought it, only to be swallowed once again by the all consuming darkness.
…
Shinji reached the door to the apartment, spent a moment fumbling with his keys, banged open the door and then rushed inside. He was freezing; the rain had seemingly stripped away his warmth to the core.
With a chattering of teeth he rushed to his room dropping his soaked book bag and the mystery briefcase on his floor before changing out of his clothes and into a set of clean ones. Just in shedding his waterlogged garments, Shinji felt a twelve fold times better than before, as if the dark thoughts in the alley had been locally created, a product of the environment. The feelings of despair and betrayal he had been feeling earlier had all but dissipated with the fading of the cold. Plus he was genuinely happy to finally be inside out of the rain.
After putting his wet clothes in the hamper he went back to his book and retrieved the briefcase from where he had dumped it in the middle of the floor. Setting it down on his desk he sat down and switched on the lamp. Wiping clean the metal engraving of mud he studied the seal's curious design, a double headed eagled emblazoned with a heraldic shield and an open book. Below the design were angular western characters that Shinji identified as being English.
"Mis-katon-nic Un-uni-ver-sity." He whispered, having trouble pronouncing the unfamiliar words. Intrigued as to how a briefcase from a western university had ended up on the streets of Japan he sought to open it and examine its contents. Unfortunately it seemed that his efforts at exploration would be further hampered as the opening was secured by a golden combination lock. After failing to pry it open with his fingers Shinji decided on going for the big guns and pulled a screw driver out of his desk drawer. However after a few minutes of exerting himself and making all sorts of humorous facial expressions he dropped it all back on to the desk top and leaned back in his chair lightly panting.
'Well I guess I should have figured it wouldn't be so easy.' He sighed and tumbled the three number lock until it landed on 000. Pulling the lid he wasn't particularly surprised when it didn't budge.
'Oh who would have figured' he thought sarcastically 'Yep this is going to take a while.' Turning the wheels to 001 he settled in for the long run.
…
Misato walked down the long hallways of NERV with a spring in her step. She had been feeling good today for some reason, probably due to the tension that had been released by her fight with Asuka this morning. She had really been feeling the pressure of her position recently. In lieu of real life angel attacks the daily schedule of NERV had been redesigned as an endless battery of drills, sync tests and maintenance tasks. While the angel attacks were by far the more physically dangerous, the simple task of doing the same things day after day all the while not knowing when the next attack would come proved to be much more wearing on the personnel. Already a month into the lull and there were murmurs of discontent in the ranks, whisperings that the last angel had been defeated and NERV was just milking its power while it could. She had stomped out these rumors when she encountered them, reminding them of the 15 year period between second impact and the sighting of the third angel.
Stopping in front of a cat adorned office door, the NERV Major forwent knocking and simply barged in.
"Hey Ritsuko-Chan! Long time no see!" she quipped sarcastically. It had become part of Misato's daily routine to take time out of each work shift to chat with her friend. Plus she made a pretty good cup of coffee.
"Oh, it's you Misato? I thought you would be out drinking by now. Trying to cut back or has Kaji just started refusing to carry you home?" the Chief NERV science officer smirked, not bothering to look up from the terminal she was working on.
"Nah, I have the night shift today, I thought I'd just get in early and catch you before you went home." She responded, helping herself to some coffee. "Er, you do go home right?" she gestured at the piles of empty coffee packets and instant ramen boxes. If one looked closely they would also identify what looked like a sleeping bag under a mountain of crumpled spreadsheet printouts.
Ritsuko shrugged "Where's the home? If it's where the heart is then I'm there. Anyways my domestic problems aside what brings you here in such an upbeat mood today?" The doctor listened as Misato outlined her fight with Asuka and the resulting feeling of relief. "Hmm you could probably find less physically damaging ways to release your tension Misato. Perhaps you could spare Asuka the beating and invite Kaji over instead? As least then the bruising would be confined to places no one could see."
Misato's face colored and her speech devolved into some sort of sputtering denial, at which the scientist finally disengaged her fingers from the key board and turned to face her.
"By the way, I would appreciate if you told Shinji that his sync ration has fallen six points from the last sync test. Ask him if anything is wrong, if we can figure out what it is that's bothering then maybe we can nip this in the bud."
Misato giggled "Shinji talk to me about something that's wrong with him? I think he'd sooner ask Asuka out then let anyone on to what he's feeling."
"Fair enough, but you should try none the less. Anything that helps him to recover his lost sync rate is worth trying." Dr. Akagi plucked the pilfered coffee mug out from Misato's hand and took a swig. Returning it back to the Major she turned her attention back to the monitor in front of her. "Also you might consider not telling him in front of Asuka. The last thing that girl needs is an even larger chip on her shoulder, even though it might increase her sync ratio a few points." She resumed typing, fingers blurring over the keys with remarkable speed.
"Noted." Misato turned to leave "See ya Rits!" The lab coated scientist didn't look up.
"Uh-huh"
…
Shinji paused for a moment on 442 and took a moment to stretch his arms. He had been at it for what seemed like hours, trying to crack the lock on that damnable brief case. He glanced at his watch and confirmed it had only actually been one.
'Man this sucks, wish I had a damn crowbar.' Somewhere in the universe a scientist laughed. Cracking his knuckles he advanced the far tumbler one place.
443
'Grr. This sucks with a capital fucking S!" he fumed. He wasn't even halfway done with the combinations and it had already taken this long. With his luck the correct combination would be 999 and he would spend the rest of the night clicking through the numbers only to end where he should have begun. Furthermore what was to say the damn thing would even open at all?! It could have been damaged when it was dropped or rusted from the exposure to the weather or…
444
Click.
The golden clasps sprang open with such force that he nearly dropped the case in surprise. Shinji placed the suitcase back down on the desk, gripped both edges with his hand, took a deep breath and flipped it open. Great expectations that had been brewing in his head for the past hour, turned first to disappointment, then to general confusion. To be honest he didn't know what he had been expecting to find inside, but a dirty fist sized burlap sack was definitely not it. Picking it up he set it aside, searching the rest of the suitcase for anything else that could be used as clues.
'Great, now even if I wanted to I couldn't find out whom the damn thing belongs to.' He thought. Sighing at the apparent dead end he picked up the bag and unceremoniously dumped its contents onto the desk top. Reaching he picked it up and held it up to the lamp light.
In his palm sat a statuette of the most curious design. Intricately carved, it depicted a mythological beast of some sort, sitting on its haunches, one arm outstretched in a gesture of beckoning. Out of its hunched back a pair of bat like wings protruded. Its face was a mass of writhing tentacles; its eyes were black gems of some kind and seemed to extrude a palpable air of malice. The hands themselves were tipped in wicked looking razor edged claws and its feet were lizard like in appearance.
The material itself was like no other substance Shinji had ever seen, a green colored rock of sorts with black striations spaced randomly around the surface. As he rotated the grisly figure in the light of the lamp he was disturbed greatly as he noticed the complete lack of reflection the stone provided, despite having a glossy almost oily surface. It seemed actually to be devouring the light, taking it into itself and reflecting a sort of shadowy inverse instead.
Shinji continued to pour over the details of the statue, his eyes eventually drifting down to the base the figure was mounted on. Expecting more words of English persuasion he was surprised to find some sort of angular script of unknown origin instead. It flowed like water when beheld by the eye, a sort of wavering motion that made him dizzy just by looking at it. Forcing himself to take in the eldritch symbols he decided to take one at random and transcribe it to a piece of paper he had sitting nearby.
After finishing in his transliteration efforts he set down the figure and picked up the paper he had just written on. Staring in confusion he looked once more again at the script of the statue and back at the glyphs written on his paper just to confirm his suspicions. Incredibly where he had specifically remembered lifting the statues glyph and copying it exactly as it was on the paper, now stood written a clear series of Japanese characters. Even stranger, they were written in his handwriting, though he clearly didn't remember writing it. He rubbed his eyes to clear his vision, but upon opening them again all was as it had appeared before. Shaking slightly he held the paper up and with some hesitancy read the newly translated words aloud.
"Cthulhu." He whispered, the single word rolling off his tongue like a fine night sea mist.
The temperature in the room clearly dropped by least 10 degrees in the span of a single heartbeat and Shinji's eyes widened as he noticed ice crystals forming in front of him. His breath was actually freezing in mid air! He turned back to the figure, eyes wide with fright. What had he done! This kind of hocuses pocus superstitious crap wasn't real! This was the 21st century! Still internally forming rationalizations, his vision suddenly swam and a headache of truly epic proportions radiated from the back of his skull.
The now forgotten figurine started to grow faintly, the syllables required for its activation now uttered at the correct day of the correct astral alignment for the first time in millennia.
With a lurch his hands rushed forward, seemingly under their own power. He tried to move, to flee to resist, but found he was unable to. Frozen on the spot he watched in horror as a slew of Japanese characters appeared aside the first, his hand scribbling faster than what should be humanly possible. At first he didn't even hear the voice as it gurgled out sounds not meant for use by the human tongue. It took him a couple more seconds to realize it was his! Rising in pitch and speed he spewed forth a torrent of foul babble, pure insanity given form in words.
"…mk'lth hr wet ito, tz'aal murhd de riy'as'harir…" he head himself chant, his ears beginning to bleed from the profane river of blasphemies being given life by his voice. His stomach turned and he felt a surge of vomit as it rose in his throat. His eyes wept, tears running down to mix with snot and pool underneath his now still fingers. He mind reeled from the assault and unholy terror swept through his body, wrapping it in increasingly ever violent convulsions.
His fist slammed down on the table, shattering it down the middle, sending the figure flying off onto the floor. His hands ached and he looked in horror as unseen knots of muscles writhed and grew below his skin like a thousand coiling serpents. Bones dissolved to base elements before reforming thicker and stronger, his brain reconfiguring itself in preparation for enhanced neural activity. He would have screamed had his mouth not been clamped shut as every nerve in his body pulsed and stretched.
As his chanting reached a fever pitch his eyes rolled back into their sockets and his back went taught, bending him over almost double. The pain in his head increased by tenfold and his hands shot to his head as he writhed in agony. Finally capitulating defeat his mind simply shut down and his consciousness fled into deepest recess of his mind, unable to take the assault on his sanity any longer. Shortly after that his lips fell still with the incantation complete and his body collapsed in a pile. His chest stopped its movements, his eyes finally closed. Tense minutes passed and silence once again flooded the room with its presence.
…
The rain continued in its tireless efforts to drown the city below, slowly falling from the sky above to cover the streets. It descended upon one particular apartment in what seemed to be an especially violent matter as though expressing its approval of what was happening within.
One of the two individuals in the apartment was currently having his soul ripped apart by an extra-dimensional demonic entity, while the other was blaring German techno music on her MP4 player.
In one of the rooms the sole occupant lay in a lifeless pile in the center of the room. Vacant eyes stared aimlessly at the ceiling fan. Suddenly it twitched. Its chest rose and then fell weakly, only to rise again, stronger. Its nostrils widened and it breathed for the first time in countless eons, tasted the polluted air of the mortal realm and smiled.
Snapping its eyes open and raising quickly to its feet it wasted no time in retrieving the portal key to the prison that had held it captive since the beginning of man as a species. Holding the statue in its hand, it admired the superb craftsmanship that had gone into the creation of its vessel. Grinning once again, the being currently holding the form of Shinji Ikari crushed the figurine in its fist, relishing the feel of the accursed object as it turned to dust under its iron grip.
After letting the green dust fall to the carpet it stretched its arms languorously. Pausing for a moment it cocked its head to the side. A source of great power lay close, very close. Casually walking over to the cracked desk it pushed the office chair out of the way and opened the closed briefcase. Feeling around the edges it reached down and tore the false bottom out. Breathing in surprise it gingerly reached into the case and retrieved the ancient plain leather bound book. Wrapped in a fine gold chain and coated in dust the thing holding shuddered as it sensed the raw seething energy bound in the pages of the grimoire. Finding such a priceless and rare volume as this so near to its place of awakening could hardly be called coincidence. Fate would be much a better guess or more likely some sort of manufactured plot. However it came to into its possession the thing did not care, instead content in finding it. Lifting it gently it gently unclasped the gold chain and re-clasped it around its neck. As a result it never noticed the extremely advanced wafer thin tracking chip embedded in the back cover of the tome.
Satisfied that the book was secure it turned to more pressing concerns, such as finding out where and when in the world it had been summoned. It turned its perception inwards sending probing feelers into the soul currently cowering in the abyssal reaches of its host's mind.
…
Latching onto its victim it ripped the required information from the mewling presence. The boy's soul screamed as his memories were cut apart and examined, painful and old memories dredged up, half forgotten episodes and things he didn't even remember learning. They flashed past his immaterial eyes, speeding up faster and faster until they simply melded together in an indistinguishable blur.
The Earth, Japan, 2nd Impact, the Evangelion, his father, his fight with the third angel, the capital of New France, his eighth birthday party, his mother's death, the first time he ever rode a bike, the names of every Roman Emperor, meeting Asuka on board the super carrier Over the Rainbow, his first kiss.
The memories continued to flow out of him, leaving behind an ever increasingly empty astral shell. Soon however it began to fill with memories of a different sort. A foreign sort, as it turned out the bridge between the two beings was reciprocal. As his memories were wrung out of him they were replaced by those of the things. And they were terrifying.
He saw the universal expanse, infinite in its distance, ever growing. He witnessed the birth of a new being, deep within the nebulous regions of a galaxy on the other side of this plane of existence, delivered out of the very minds of the Outer Gods themselves. The Outer Gods, great beings of infinite power beyond the scope of the human mind to comprehend, who plotted and fought in the titanic regions of barren space between constellations, on a scale too vast and gigantic to be quantified in any existing terms. He remembered the rise of the newly formed being amongst its peers, all of whom could claim origin out of the remnants of emotional refuse extruded by those above. The terrible constant battles the cosmic newborn fought, with every victory devouring more of its fellow's essence; each time growing more and more powerful. Its first steps into a new phase of its existences, self realization, and the acceptance of the name given to it out of fear by its enemies. Cthulhu, the first and greatest of the Great Old Ones, the first of its kind. Howling in agony Shinji mind recalled its final cosmic battle, fighting against the combined weight of the other cosmic beings, those who had banded together to defeat him. He felt its pain and hatred as it was forced to flee its position, flee halfway across the universe until its pursuers finally relinquished the hunt.
Shinji gasped inwardly as he recognized the fertile virgin world that the god finally stopped at. He shivered as it attempted to claim it for its own, only to be challenged by a powerful force that had already done so. The Elder Things, a strange yet majestic race of cephalopod like extraterrestrials whose kingdoms almost covered the earth with their splendor, from the deepest seas to the highest mountains.
Realizing the need for soldiers to fight and win the inevitable war, the Great Cthulhu split portions of his endless mind into fragments, creating a vast horde of lesser being to act as his minions. Using these it crafted the great bastion city of R'lyeh and the implements of war required for its conquest. From there they advanced to build other settlements and forts all the while encroaching ever so closer to the territories of the enemy. Cthulhu-spawn they were called, individual pieces of the whole, created with a measure of independent thought capability, but still dependent on the influence of the original. Man sized, they were miniature anatomically correct copies of their creator. They were mortal, yet something greater, for in death resulted in a return to the All Father, and new chance of reincarnation.
Shinji was smart enough to put two and two together and as he witnessed the brutality of that war he saw it through the eyes of one of these spawn, great battles of a truly epic scale, he realized these must be the memories of the thing that had invaded his mind. The actual memories ended with a flash of light and the chanting of alien tongue as it was banished by the elder things from this plane of existence. From there on the memories became vague and inconsistent. The creature had sat in silence alone, separated by its brothers and father by a veil of reality. It had never learned until its first temporary awakening at the hands of another alien race, the Mi-go, who had discovered the key to his prison and affected a summoning of its astral form. From them it learned of its father's eventual defeat and imprisonment, forced into an artificial sleep by the combined powers of the Elder Things greatest sorcerers, imprisoned until the end of time in the now submerged city of R'lyeh. It also found the fate of its brothers, reabsorbed at the last moment when the battle reached its conclusion, so that the great Cthulhu would be entombed with his mind intact.
The teenager was surprised to find memories of emotional trauma there as well, specifically loneliness and anger, where upon learning it was the last of its kind, its father lost beyond its reach, the demon had become rather depressed. It did however find great amusement in the demise of its former enemy the Elder Things, killed by their own creations in result of foolish pride. Unfortunately before long it had been sucked back into its extra-dimensional prison, as the Mi-go did not possess the proper magic to sustain its psychical form. Thus it had lain for countless years, unaware of the rise of man and the changing of the world.
Shinji's mind reeled with the volume of information that suddenly filled it, truly if it had not been for the vast expanse of time in which the creature had laid dormant his mind would have been obliterated by the sheer magnitude of information. But instead he found himself sent reeling into distress as his consciousness wilted under the attack.
…
The spawn sifted through the available information copying what it needed to its own memories; letting those it deemed insignificant flow past it. Once it felt it had adequate grasp of the information it released its hold on its host, letting the memories flow back to the source, rebuilding the teenager's psyche from the bottom up. The creature let its senses flow outward once again, letting the boy's soul receded into the background. It could not for the time being completely consume its host's soul. It provided a psychic anchor to which the demon could maintain its link to the physical world. It had no other choice, after its corporeal form had been destroyed by the cursed great enemies so long ago, without a host soul it could not draw create a strong enough metaphysical link to exist on this plane. Though the form it now occupied lacked the resilience and strength of his original body, it was infinitely better than the alternative. To be left without a confining vessel in the infinite void between realities to have its existence spread over a limitless gulf. To have its existence stretched out to the point where it could no longer think or exist as an individual. It was the ultimate form punishment; to have its spirit banished to another reality, where had it simply been destroyed in a physical form it would have simply returned to the original to meet bliss in the father consciousness.
It shuddered at it as it recalled that hell. Such thoughts aside it was reminded another condition that it was afflicted with as it felt the gnawing hunger like feeling of its weakening psychic presence. It would have to find a source of magic energy soon, it had expended too much of its energy in its possession of the human. Fortunately it detected huge quantities of mystical energy in every direction.
"Well that is to be expected, judging by the size of this city these primitive's breed like rats after all." The voice that issued forth from Shinji's mouth was unnaturally deep; and if the demon was partial to singing he would have passed as an acceptable baritone. It actually would have been comical if anybody had been around to hear it, such a smooth, rich voice issuing from the body of an adolescent.
Sifting through the memories it had so recently acquired the thing waltzed out of the room, really enjoying the feeling of actually moving around in corporeal once again. Making its way to the kitchen it searched for the tools required for the harvest. Pausing in its search it grinned evilly as it finally found what it was looking for.
Six and half inches of straight steel, the chef's knife was hardly the classical tool for this sort of task, but it would serve the purpose just as well. Sticking the knife in the waistband of Shinji's pants, it started to walk back to Shinji's room when it was distracted by the mirror in the bathroom as it walked by. Curious as to its new appearance the thing walked into the bathroom and smoothed Shinji's hair back.
"Ironic that the innocence of a child would release me into this world. Still though perhaps it's fortunate that he is not of the ugliest sort of these creatures, though it would be easier if his age was greater. However these clothes will not do." The demon had quite a few oddities it had acquired while it had spent its time in isolation and a huge sense of vanity could be counted among them. So it decided at the first chance it had it would take a moment to inspect the host's wardrobe and see if it would go to one of these "stores" and procure new vestments.
The sound of a door opening made it whip its head around. Sifting through the child's memories it concluded that this must be one of the two human females that co-inhabited this domicile. Smiling wickedly it reached for the blade tucked in the small of its back but just let its hand rest on the handle as it reconsidered its course of action. As of now it had no real power or control over its situation, its host was a child and while a unique one at that, his power came from others. Others that would frown upon the murder of one of this Shinji's friends and perhaps restrict access to this Evangelion creation. The very thought of the EVA intrigued the demon and it did not want to lose the chance to experience it firsthand. Of course he could make the victim disappear and try to dispose all evidence, but there was always the chance it could be traced back to it and thusly not worth the risk.
It reluctantly let its hand fall from the blade. The demons heightened senses could hear the approach of the mystery female as she neared the bathroom. He had closed the door but suddenly realized it would be to his advantage to avoid contact with Shinji's roommates as long as possible, or at least until he could replenish his psychic energy. He did not have the time to get back to its room and looking at the state of his 'body', blood covered hands, torn shirt and wrinkled pants, if it was seen it would raise unnecessary and annoying questions. Yes avoidance was the best option here.
Gathering his strength the creature bunched its legs, leapt into the air and wedged itself above the door frame, legs stretching across the adjoining space, holding him in place. It had not bothered to turn the light on being possessed of extraordinary night vision so it had no worry there. Now it prayed to the Sleeping Father that the female would not bother to look up.
Within seconds the door opened and a redheaded female dressed in an oversized t-shirt entered the bathroom, sliding the door closed behind her. The creature flinched unconsciously as she flicked on the light and its hand moved to rest on the knife's hilt and watched as the girl below looked at herself in the mirror. She spent a few minutes playing with her hair, fixing it so it rested evenly between two red hair bands. The demon rolled its eyes.
…
Looking at herself in the mirror, Asuka graced her reflection with an approving smile. Damn she looked good! Of course she always did but that was beside the point.
"Humph, Shinji! We'll just see if you can manage to resist this!" She struck what she assumed was a man killer of a pose. "That is if you ever decide to come out of your room"
A quiet snicker rung through the air.
Asuka's head whipped around to the door, her face red with embarrassment. If Shinji had been outside door and heard her say that…
Reaching over to the door she pried it open and peered through the crack. Satisfied that there was no one outside she went back to the sink and retrieved her toothbrush.
'Must have been my imagination.' She thought to herself as she reached for her tooth paste. Applying a liberal dollop she began brushing her teeth. Finishing with that she looked in the mirror and flashed her biggest smile. Satisfied at the pearly whites shining back at her, she grabbed a brush and started to run it through her hair.
And she began to sing.
…
The demon clutched the host's hands to its head in an effort to drown out the horrid screeching noise coming from below. When that proved ineffective it seriously reconsidered the notion killing the brat. The laugh it had let out had almost forced it to do just that, but fortunately luck seemed to be on its side. So it stayed its hand, for now.
'But just you wait Asuka Langley Soryu, you'll get yours!' It swore silently jaw clenched in pain.
Finally after what seemed to be another instance of eternity the singing stopped and the redhead turned off the lights and left the bathroom. It waited until it heard the sound of her bedroom door closing before dropping to the floor and giving off a sigh. Yes, there would definitely be a reckoning.
After taking a moment to wash the blood from its hands the demon traveled back into Shinji's room and padded over to the single window. It was still raining outside, though it had let up a bit. Going over to the wardrobe, the thing was disappointed but not surprised, it would have to go out and buy some appropriate attire after all. After it dumped its shredded shirt and pants on the floor it picked some clothes. Walking over to the window it straightened the grey sports jacket it had donned, making sure the book and knife were securely fashioned. Satisfied that they would remain so, it hoisted the hosts legs up over the window sill, took one last look around the room. It would return before morning and attempt to clean up, it would have done it now but it couldn't risk running out of steam. It would take all its strength just to complete the current task and it couldn't delay any further. So without hesitancy it slipped gracefully out the window and promptly fell the 50 remaining feet to the wet asphalt below.
…
A/N Well there you have it, my first ever attempt at fiction of any kind. I know, I know, you hear that seemingly every time you get to the end (or for those with no shame, the beginning) of a subpar fic as if it say "IT'S NOT MY FAULT I'M NOT GOD GIVENLY BLESSED WITH THE POWER OF PERSUASIVE AND COHESIVE WRITING! I'M SORRY THAT MY SPELLING AND SYNTAX ARE HORRIBLE, MY PARENTS USED MAKE ME WATCH TELEVISION AND PLAY VIDEO GAMES ALL DAY! PLEASE DON'T HURT ME!" But hey at least in this instance it's the truth, no matter how god awful it is. Anyways…where was I… oh yeah, reviews welcome, appreciated even. Please, if you find it in your heart, school me in the errors of my writing technique. It's the only way I'll ever learn! I'll try to answer any questions you have and fix the errors you will undoubtedly find. Cheerio.
