Quietly slipping into her room, Kyoko shifted over to her desk, gently rubbing the red mark on her cheek. Her mother, having been caught in one of her moods, took her frustrations out on her daughter, as she had for most of her life. Sitting in the chair, Kyoko took her schoolbooks out, and again took refuge in the safety of study. Mother didn't hit her when she was studying. Sometimes, she didn't even yell.

It wasn't her fault. She kept trying to tell herself, over and over again. Mother was just like that. Mother liked feeling like she was above everyone, always, and why shouldn't she? As one of the most decorated professors of her university, shouldn't she feel some sense of superiority towards others?

Perhaps, she thought to herself, but is it really necessary? Does she really need to go to such lengths?

Shaking her head, Kyoko focused on her studies. She didn't need mother to come in and see her spaced out. No, that would be unwholesome, undisciplined. Mother did tolerate lack of discipline, not from her students, not from her co-workers, and especially not her daughter. Not that there was anything else for her to do. Apart from the common necessities, a bed, dresser, desk, lamp, and such, there was almost nothing in Kyoko's room.

As she finished her studies, Kyoko took a look at herself in her mirror. The red welt, despite throbbing, would likely be gone by morning, and she would go on as usual. She considered herself a plain looking girl. Not one anyone would be interested in. Not someone like her...

Worthless...

She froze, breathless, as her mother's words echoed in her head.

You are a worthless, ugly child. I have tried to make you great. Tried to make you like myself, but I can only do so much with so little.

She brought her arms around herself, shaking, the tears starting to form in her eyes.

Look at you. You can hardly compose yourself. You can't even look anyone in the eye. Too think that you, of all people, could have been my daughter.

Hearing her mother come up the stairs, Kyoko turned her light off and quickly went to bed. As she heard her mother stop in front of her door, she held her breath, as if afraid that a single sound would provoke her. After what seemed like an eternity, her mother left, and from there, Kyoko Zeppelin Sohryu quietly slipped into a restless sleep.

Nobody Dies : Sins of the Mother

AKA Kyoko's Mom is a Big Fat Bitch, She's the Biggest Bitch in the Whole Wide World…

Chapter 1

"Hmm, passable, I suppose."

Madame Sohryu inspected her daughter, as she did every morning, dissecting every facet of her appearance, every detail. Any imperfection, no matter how small, would be unforgivable for her daughter, and she always found an imperfection. So, being one of the few days her mother was satisfied, Kyoko let out a visible sigh of relief.

"What was that?"
Kyoko stiffened, cursing herself for showing weakness. Staring into the disgusted eyes of her mother, she winced as she grabbed her face, nails digging into her skin.
"... You're fine. Leave."

Grabbing her bag, Kyoko left the house as quickly as possible.

St. Bishop's was one of the most famous and reputable schools in Berlin, with many a parent's dream to be able to send their children, and as usual, many children dreaded going.
Regardless, knowing that doing so could possibly mean a free ride through college, they went without (verbal) complaint.

"Langley!"

Pieter Langley stopped in his tracks, shifting to the side as the clamor in the halls continued. His friend, Tobias Beiermann, took him by the shoulder.
"Listen, I need you to do me favor, a BIG one."
Pieter eyed his acquaintance. He knew where these conversations lead to...
"Do you think you could help me with some schoolwork?"
"Do you think you could help me with some schoolwork?"
Tobias stood there, dumbstruck, while Pieter started laughing.
"What? What's so funny?"
"Oh, nothing, I just figured that by now you'd probably ask someone else to do your work for you, I think the teachers are starting to get suspicious."
Tobias scowled.
"Hey, I don't ask you to do all my work..."
"Oh, that's bullshit and you know it! Every year since primary school, you had me do your work a few weeks before exams, while you slack off the entire time. Then, the night before, you cram pretty much every note I write down for you and barely scrape by. Or did you forget how you got in this school in the first place?"
Tobias shrugged.
"Hey, the way I see it, don't mess with a system that works."
Pieter groaned, rubbing his forehead.
"Look, I'd help you, but I have my own workload to do. Or did you forget that these exams also determine which university we go to?"
"Well, yeah. That's why I need your help. No, really, I'll pay attention this time!"
"That's what you said last time!"

"So Pieter, what University do you plan on going to?"
Inside the classroom, many of the students started gossiping about future prospects. It was a well known fact that most college placement was determined by the junior year, with senior being used for those with a particular profession in mind to take the required classes.
"I don't know. Maybe central, or possibly St. Sebastian's. What about you Amelia? Knowing Tobias, you two probably aren't going toge... what?"
Amelia Eilenberg, Pieter's classroom neighbor was eyeing him incredulously.
"Sebastian's? Are you serious? Why... why would you..."
Pieter stared at his friend.
"What? What's the matter? Last I checked Sebastian was one of the best in Berlin."

Amelia grabbed him by the shoulders.
"Look, Pieter, listen to me. As a friend, I'll give some advice right now: Do not. Go. To Sebastian's. My brother goes there, and according to him one of the professors is a complete harpy. Not only is she temperamental as all hell, but she's also one of the head of the disciplinary board, and she apparently takes a little too much pleasure in it."
Pieter laughed.
"Come on, I doubt she's that bad."
Amelia shook her head.
"Oh no, she is. My mother decided to invite her for dinner one night, and she drove her to a complete wreck. Even today just mentioning the name Sohryu is enough to have her break down in hysterics."

A bell ringed in Pieter's head.
"Sohryu... why does that name sound familiar?"
"Her daughter goes here. Blond, kind of pretty, never talks to anyone? I think you have couple of classes with her. She's a little better than her mother, at least. You never got the feeling that she was about to rip you in half when she was around."
Huh, Pieter thought to himself, you'd think someone like that would stand out more.
"Huh, I wonder about that. I should say hi to her if I see her."

"Pieter… Pieter…. Pieter STOP!"

Tobias grabbed his friend before he could drive his head into the desk again. After about an hour of study in the library, Pieter had effectively reached the breaking point.

"How… how can you, I don't get it. This is basic Trigonometry, how can you screw it up this badly? I mean you never were that good at math, but this is ridiculous!"

Tobias shrugged.

"I dunno. To be honest I didn't even want to take this course but Amelia insisted. Although I do have to admit, physics turned out pretty interesting."

"You're barely passing that too!"

"Which is a lot more than I can say about this."

Pieter groaned, palming his face as he was mentally preparing himself for the verbal bitchslapping his best friend's girlfriend was going to give them. Ever since the year started Amelia was all over Tobias to get his grades up, since she wanted to the two of them to go to the same university. Of course, since Tobias had about as much an attention span as a five year old on a caffeine high, Pieter unofficial job as Tobias' academic bailout was put into overdrive. Still, he couldn't really fault her since he was in real danger if flunking out of the school, she could have just been a bit more lenient on the subject.

"Ugh, let's just call it a day, alright?"

Kyoko let out an aggravated sigh. Those two had effectively been back and forth for the past hour and almost nothing had been done except aggravate everyone in the immediate vicinity. Admittedly, she felt a bit sorry for Langley, since Beiermann was obviously a lost cause, but she reasoned that anyone who willingly signed up to tutor him multiple times had a twisted sort of masochistic personality. Although she was surprised at how well read he was on history, even correcting his study mate on a few select subjects.

Still, it didn't really explain how just how exactly he managed to get into St. Bishop's. Indeed, it was one of the schools more prevalent mysteries among the student body. Not that she held any interest in rumors, but she couldn't deny the fact that she was annoyed that such a blatant idiot got into one of Berlin's top private schools.

Even more baffling was why Pieter Langley consistently associated with him. He was in the upper middle class St. Bishop's student hierarchy, not too popular but not dislike either, as well as one of its more academically advanced students. Apparently a few of the more flighty members of the female student population had also taken a liking to him, but to his credit he seemed to focus more on his studies, never socializing with anyone outside of Beiermann and Eilenberg. For her credit, Kyoko herself had a healthy interest in him, but something else also turned her off. As Eilenberg said in one of the few conversations she had with her,

"Pieter's nice, and he'll try and help you when he can, but he also has a bad habit of splitting when things get difficult. He tries to avoid difficult problems than deal with them upfront, and often avoids uncomfortable subject matter."

Still, he seemed to be more sensible than most of the other student body, and she wouldn't mind getting to know him more. But anything close to resembling an intimate relationship, that was something mother would never let happen.

Shaking her head, Kyoko got up from her seat and headed for the library's exit, dropping off a few of her borrowed textbooks.

"Leaving, Ms. Sohryu?"

Stopped by Ms. Schrader's question, Kyoko faced the elderly librarian and gave a small, if sincere smile.

"Yes, Madame, I'm finding it hard to concentrate on my studies lately, so I might as well return these."

The old woman nodded, wearing the warm smile she always had.

"Alright then. Goodbye. Oh, and Kyoko?"

The girl stopped at the door.

"Yes?"

"You really should smile more often, you look much prettier when you do."

To that, there was no answering remark.

AN:Side story of Eva fanfic Nobody dies, by Gregg Landsman.

Received approval from Gregg to start this, been in the back of my head for a while. So far reception on the forums have been good.

Basically, I've been wondering about the pasts of some of the adults in the story, so decided to have some fun :)

I was going to do Yui, but that kind of hit a road block, so a certain someone decided to take up that mantle known as Itty Bitty Ikari on the forums.