It was early afternoon in Tokyo-3 and all the students have either gone home or with their friends on an after-school trip. Classes had been cut short for some reason or another and yet Hikari found herself walking back towards the school and telling Asuka to go on without her. She'd left her homework on her desk and she didn't want to bother the redhead, who had to go to Nerv later that day anyway, to come with her.

The class rep sighed as she finally entered the deserted school and headed for their classroom. It was so quiet and peaceful and the afternoon sunlight was lulling that when Hikari reached the classroom, instead of taking her homework and leaving, she proceeded to sit down and bury her head in her arms. The next thing she knew Touji Suzuhara was shaking her shoulder and telling her to wake up.

*****

Twilight Passing [1/2]

A NGE Fanfic by amihan

Anno created it, Gainax owns it and I just mess around with it, without their permission.

Warning: [slight] OOC

***** 

"Hey, hey, class rep. Wake up. Wake up."

"Huh?" was all Hikari's reply. She raised her head half a foot from the desk to look at her disturber through sleep-laden eyes.

"Are you alright?" Touji asked, his hand finally leaving her shoulder.

"I'm fine." Hikari mumbled as she wiped the sleep from her eyes. She straightened up, looked around the empty room and saw Touji standing beside her. She stared at him for a few moments until Touji felt a bit uncomfortable and waved his hand in front of her face.

"You're here."

"Yeah, I am."

"You're really here." Hikari repeated, still dumbfounded by sleep and by the very fact that he was there.

"I think we've already established that."

"And I'm not dreaming."

"No, you're not dreaming, unless of course your dreams normally involved me." Touji grinned, starting to enjoy and be amused by the extremely rare happening of Hikari being slow on the uptake, and to be seen doing things that well, not exactly what a class rep should do.

The said normally sharp and quick-witted class rep blinked at his comment.

And blinked a few times more before turning a shade of red that was normally seen in Asuka's hair.

And Touji grinned again; really enjoying the position he was in, although if he knew the real reason behind Hikari's blush the shade of red his face would be is the color of Asuka's Eva, and not her hair. "Hmm, our class rep seems to be on the slow side today, eh?" he teased as he tapped the side of Hikari's head.

"What are you doing here?" Hikari asked as she finally came to her wits and tried to salvage what little dignity and poise she had left. Fortunately she remembered that Touji wasn't supposed to be there, and decided to use it to her advantage. "Aren't you supposed to be absent, or were you just cutting classes?"

Touji shrugged and sat down in the seat beside hers, deciding not to press his luck in teasing Hikari who was obviously returning to her 'I may be smaller than you but I am the class rep' mode. "I wasn't cutting classes, and I just figured that I'd meet up with Kensuke and Shinji after school. Where'd they disappear to, and the rest of the school for that matter?"

"Gone."

"I can see that," Touji made a wry face and tried to not to smile as he decided that although his luck wasn't so good this past days, this chance was too rare to pass up. "Obviously what I'm asking is why, or has sleep fogged up your mind too much?"

"I knew what you were asking," Hikari said as she turned a lovely shade of pink. She'd just then realized that she was in a building all alone with Touji, who was normally involved in her dreams these past weeks, and just blurted out the obviously wrong answer.

"So what you're saying is that Kensuke and the rest of the school is gone because they're gone?" Touji countered as he fought the urge not to laugh. "That makes absolutely no sense, doesn't it class rep?"

Once again Hikari entered another blinking state as she caught on to what he was saying.

"No, what I meant was, you didn't let me finish," she amended while in the back of her mind countless thoughts ran around such as 'this is ridiculous', 'I'm all alone with Touji', 'is it me or is the setting totally romantic what with the only source of light is through the windows', 'I probably look like a smitten fool' and the like.

"So why is everyone gone?"

"Classes were dismissed early today since the school board has a meeting or something, I'm not really sure," Hikari answered as she focused entirely on putting her things in her bag to clear her mind off Touji.

"Oh, then why are you still here?"

"I left my homework here," Hikari replied; finally back to her normally calm and 'not blushing by the minute' self.

"And that is what? To sleep in your desk all alone?"

"Very funny."

"I know."

Hikari sighed; she needed to turn the topic of conversation to something else other than her, fast, before Touji could make her blush more than she already had. "If you weren't sick, why were you absent?"

"You don't need to know about that," Touji said as he slumped forward in his seat, his chin resting on his folded arms across the desk.

"Well actually I do," Hikari said, her resolve to not blush anymore forgotten as she remembered the lunch she'd waken up so early to prepare for, only to find out that the person she made it for was absent, again.

"And why's that?"

"I made you lunch, remember?"

This time it was Touji who looked like deer caught in the headlights. "I'm sorry, I forgot and well, I didn't really expect to be absent today. Sorry."

Hikari nodded. She wasn't angry or anything, why would she be? It was just that this making lunch for him, she realized, was the one thing that only she and Touji shared. It was just a small thing, but the idea was nice and she could settle for it, if it had happened. But it didn't.

"What did you do with it?"

"I gave it to Asuka," Hikari said simply.

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay. So why were you absent Suzuhara?" Hikari asked again. The darkening of his mood when she asked about his absence the first time hadn't escaped her eyes, and his voice began to sound hollow and bleak to her ears.

"Long story."

"I have all the time in the world."

"Trust me Horaki, it's not something you'd want to hear."

"Try me."

Touji just laughed, shook his head and stared at the blackboard before them.

Something's wrong, Hikari thought as she bit her lip. His laugh didn't reach his eyes and somehow it sounded empty and angry and sad all at the same time, a complete mockery of what a laugh really stood for.

"Suzuhara, are you okay?" she asked tentatively.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that? Why sleep here when you can have the comforts of your own bed at home?"

Hikari didn't answer, she didn't need to anyway, Touji obviously just wanted to put her questioning off. She sighed and watched his slumped profile for awhile before turning her attention towards the dust particles floating in the air.

'What's wrong, Suzuhara?' Hikari thought as her hand idly reached out to catch the dust barely seen in the slanted light coming through the windows. Something was obviously bothering him, it was in his eyes and the way he spoke and he acted, but Hikari couldn't bring herself to press him into answering her questions. She didn't want to be nosy. Sure, they were more than acquaintances, they were friends, but they were never particularly close. She didn't want to pry, but she also couldn't bring herself to not care.

So the two just sat there, lost in their thoughts, one about the other one, the other about things he couldn't control and things he'd grudgingly let happen. It seemed like a long time before Hikari finally decided to go home, nothing was going to happen anyway, what with her unwillingness to ask him questions and his unwillingness to answer questions she did ask.

"I'm going home Suzuhara, what about you?" Hikari asked as she straightened up her things once more.

"I'll probably just stay here until the janitor comes."

Hikari nodded, still hesitant to leave Touji while he was in the state he was in. "You're not going to find Kensuke and Shinji?"

"Nah, Kensuke's probably just hacking something somewhere and Shinji's probably at Nerv," If it were possible, Touji went even more moody when he mentioned Nerv.

'Is it his sister then?' Hikari wondered. No, that wasn't it. Rika was fine and she knew it for a fact, her father said so this morning. He may not be a doctor at the hospital Touji's sister was confined in, but he had some friends there, and besides Hikari visited her just last week. 'So what was it?' Deciding to ask this one last time, Hikari opened her mouth to speak just as the janitor walked in.

"Hey, shouldn't you kids be home by now? I thought that classes were cut short today."

It was Touji who answered. "It was. She just left her homework here and returned for it." he jerked his thumb towards Hikari's direction as he stood up. "Sorry."

The older man nodded and watched silently as Hikari stood up. Then a mischievous gleam suddenly lighted up his eyes. "Hey, you know what? It's fine; you can stay here. I'll just go and finish the other rooms first."

"Uh, um, no, thank you. We'll be going now." Hikari replied, unsure by the man's sudden change of behavior.

"Oh, it's perfectly fine with me. You two can stay here, and do … do whatever it is couples do nowadays. I understand. I was young once too you know."  He wriggled his eyebrows suggestively and kept on grinning. "Although the charms of this school are lost in me."

"What?!" cried two rather scandalized voices after the shock of realizing what he was alluding to had worn off.

"You mean you're not a couple?"

"No!" once again two voices in perfect sync together.

"No, you're a couple?"

"No!"

This time it was the janitor who said "What?!"

 "We meant, I mean, I meant no, we're not a couple." Touji said haltingly, red-faced.

There must have been a blinking epidemic going around or the idea that Touji and Hikari, two young members of the different sexes caught in a dark room all alone, weren't a couple was just too unbelievable as the man blinked.

And blinked again while two red faced students stammered out a logical but a bit confusing explanation between them.

When the pair finished they looked at the man expectantly, trying to gauge his reaction, but failing since he just stared straight back at them.

And then the man laughed, loudly, his laughter ringing in the quiet room, to the bewilderment of the now pink Touji and Hikari.

"Sorry," the older man said as he finally stopped laughing. "Sorry, it's just that the look on your faces, oh, sorry again." He slapped his knee and chuckled again. "I'm so sorry" He straightened up, but the amusement was still in his eyes.

Touji and Hikari just nodded, their faces still cherry blossom pink.

"Well, so this probably means you two are not going to use this room?" the man asked, grinning.

"Um, no. We'd be going now, I mean, I'd be going now. I don't know about him." Hikari answered, not wanting to use the word 'we'.

"Oh, I'd be going too." Touji said. "Sorry if we, I mean I, took your time."

"Sorry," the class rep echoed as she and Touji started to move towards the door.

"It's alright, just be careful on your way home, okay?" the janitor said as he waved them off.

"Okay, thanks. And sorry again." Hikari repeated at the door. She then fell into step behind Touji in the corridor. The two walked in silence, their footsteps echoing in the deserted hallway. They were nearing the staircase when Hikari remembered that she had Touji's homework.

"Suzuhara,"

"Yep?" Touji stopped and turned to look at Hikari, who was walking slightly behind him.

"I almost forgot, I have your assignments with me," Hikari said, fishing out his assignments out of her bag and handing it to him.

"Oh, thanks." Touji nodded, took his assignments, smiled at her, and then resumed his pace.

'Like clockwork' the class rep thought. Something was bothering him again, he smiled at her just like the way he laughed before the janitor came in, empty and sad and angry. Hikari watched his retreating back for a few moments before hurrying to catch up with him before he reached the first floor, determination to find out what was wrong finally taking a firm root in her mind. 

They weren't very close friends, but they were friends, and she valued that. She was going to deal with him just like the way she deals with Asuka: make it clear that she was there, push until she'd been told to back off, and when that happened, just wait patiently until they're ready.

But how she was going to do that, she had no idea.

The two had reached the first floor and were nearing the main entrance and in that span of time that they were walking all Hikari had managed to talk to Touji about was the weather, homework and other school stuff.

Just a few more minutes and wham! The clear blue sky, fresh air, and no excuse to remain walking together.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

Now or never is just a few paces away.

Tick, tock. Tick, tock.

We are nearing our final stop. Please make sure that you have all your belongings with you.

Tick tock tick tock

There's no time to detonate it. Run now before the bomb goes bang!

TICK TOCK TICK TOCK

You must be finished by now, make sure that you haven't missed any questions and please go over your final answers.

TICKTOCKTICKTOCK

Oops! Times up. Finish or not, pass your papers.

*****

The next short chapter would probably be around October. Sorry, I'm a slow writer.

I have no idea what is the exact name of Touji's sister so I just named her Rika.

I don't have a copy of the series but I'm pretty sure that Touji and Hikari call each other by their last names around the time of this fic, which is around episodes 17-18.

Since Asuka and Hikari's friendship was [slightly] mentioned in this fic, you might want to read what the deal is with it in my not yet finished fic, "Once Upon a Time", coming soon to this fic archive near you.

Just mentioning it ^_^

Since you've survived this weird product of my insanity, why not tell me what you think, eh?