Author Notes: Thanks to readerjunkie, KL and 1337 for your reviews and thanks to those who favourited and/or put alerts!

Chapter 3

"That tingling feeling"

A dark haired boy slowly made his way down the road, heading towards the Tokyo-3 Municipal High School. The boy was busy wondering how he was going to apologize to Asuka, without getting her to blow up in his face.

He hadn't really meant what he said, but he just hated it when Asuka talked down on him like that.

Misato hadn't helped him at all. All she did was tease him about it.

'Don't tell me, you two had a lovers quarrel?'

He heaved a sigh, why did he always get the teasing?

Suddenly, his hairs stood on end again. Someone was following him.

'Hello Shinji.'

He spun around, and found Rei looking at him with a small smile. He smiled back.

'Morning Rei, how are you?'

'I am fine, are you unwell? You seemed to be…distant.'

'Uh, well, I…'

Shinji wasn't sure if he should unload all of his troubles on Rei, they had only just started hanging out. The blue haired girl came to a conclusion as to why Shinji was reluctant to speak.

'If you require me to keep something secret, I will do so.'

He grinned, and decided he could trust her.

'Thanks Rei. You want to…um, walk with me to school?'

'That would be satisfactory.'

The two teens walked on, Shinji told Rei about his dilemma with Asuka. The blue haired girl seemed a little downcast at the topic, but she did pay attention nonetheless.

'So, I just…well, I want to make it up to her.'

'Perhaps she is the one who should change her attitude. She should be more aware of how her actions and words can affect others, not just herself.'

That did make sense, but even he wouldn't tell Asuka that, the repercussions of such an act would be…disturbing.

'I guess, but maybe if she sees that I'm really sorry…'

Looking up, he noticed that they had reached the school.

'…we're here. Thanks for the talk Rei, you're really smart.'

Rei's eyes widened slightly and her pale face warmed up.

'I…thank you Shinji, you are…very…pleasant to be around.'

'Heh, um, thanks. See you later.'

The shy boy moved onwards to the school.

'Yes, later.'

A smile crept onto Rei's face as the boy left.

[]

A short moment ago…

A locker slammed shut, an angry German tossed a bundle of letters into the dustbin.

'Stupid perverts! Stupid baka!' she growled.

Everyone within range made sure that they kept a safe distance away, not wanting to get caught in the crossfire. Except for Hikari, Asuka's best and perhaps only friend.

'Asuka, what's wrong?'

'Nothing,' was the only reply she got.

The German girl's answer was riddled with rage. It was incredibly obvious that something was most definitely bothering her.

'I'm your friend Asuka, come on tell me.'

'It's nothing Hikari, just…work.'

Hikari took a deep breath, preparing herself as she had to ask a question that was going to cause a volatile reaction.

'Is this about…Shinji?'

'Hah, why would I waste my time with that baka?'

'Well, you were just complaining about a baka, not baka's plural.'

Asuka groaned inwardly. Why did Hikari have to be so observant?

'It doesn't matter! The stupid baka just doesn't appreciate anything, that's all!'

'What doesn't he appreciate?'

Damn it, why did she have to say that out loud? Asuka rolled her eyes in annoyance at her mishap.

'When I kindly give up the time that I should be using to do work to help him with his simple homework, he always has to have a stupid sarcastic remark about it! There, happy?'

'Well, maybe that's just what he does when he's nervous. In class I notice he's only like that when he's feeling under pressure, especially around girls.'

Hikari wasn't lying, Shinji had done that quite a bit during the last two years at school and she also knew that there was something between the two roommates, although the roommates in question were too stubborn to admit it.

'Humph, well…that's no excuse! Just because he can't handle my beauty isn't justification for being a jerk!'

The pig-tailed girl sighed; she highly doubted that the problem was so simple.

'This isn't about his sarcasm is it?'

'It…it…don't change the subject!'

'I'm not.'

Realising she was caught; Asuka just decided she may as well tell Hikari a partial truth.

'Alright fine, I'll tell you. Let's start heading to class so long.'

The two friends made their way out of the locker area, heading to pass the entrance of the school as they headed to their classroom.

'Well, what is it really Asuka?'

'There was a robbery at NERV and…'

'WHAT! Is Shinji okay? I-I asked him to take your notes and-and oh no!'

'Hikari, will you calm down? The baka just fainted outside of my lab; he was alright, just drooling on the floor.'

'Phew, that's good. If he had been hurt I don't think I could have forgiven myself.'

'Please, the baka just fainted dead away. I was the one who had to call for help and then I had to watch over him at home.'

Hikari stared at her friend, blinking in disbelief.

'You…you took time off work to stay with him? Asuka, that is so…'

'Don't say it! I-I just…they let us go home after the police came, so I had nothing better to do!'

Hikari grinned and knew exactly why Asuka had stayed with Shinji. Her blush said it all.

'Right…'

'Don't romanticize something that isn't, and will never be, romantic. There is nothing cute, sweet or sappy about a silly little baka fainting!'

'But you stayed with him, you totally-'

'I DON'T!'

Asuka's scream of denial caused heads to turn, making her angrily wave a fist to threaten them. Why did Hikari think that she would like a…a baka like Shinji? What made him worth her…her…time?

The German girl stared at the entrance of the school, her mouth open as she stared on in disbelief. Hikari looked in the direction that was causing Asuka's sudden silence and she held her face in horror. Baka Shinji!

He was walking into school, talking to Rei…and they both seemed very friendly with each other, smiling shyly and lightly blushing as they went their separate ways.

'Asuka?' a worried Hikari asked.

Hikari noticed that her friend had stormed off already. Groaning internally, the Class Rep wondered why she had to be right.

[]

Class was horrific for Shinji. For some reason he was nervous wreck, he couldn't sit still in his seat. His brain was deluding him into thinking that it was not safe to be still when he was so visible.

As if that wasn't bad enough, Asuka kept glaring him, causing the hairs on his neck to stand up as well as a weird tingling sensation in the back of his head to go off.

'Yo, Shin-man! You okay?'

Toji wondered what was going on with his friend. Ever since he had gotten into class he had been acting strangely.

'Y-yeah, I-I'm just…feeling sick that's all.'

'Just ask the Class Rep if you can go to the bathroom or something.'

Trust Kensuke to come up with a logical solution…when it didn't involve conspiracy theories or giant mecha's.

Shinji decided that would be the best course of action, so he sent a message to Hikari's laptop.

The Representative saw the message from Shinji and decided this would be a valid excuse to talk to him. Turning around she nodded to the boy, and wondered what was causing him to be so…strange. He was sweating and seemed on edge, another thing she'd have to ask.

Shinji was all too happy to be able to leave the danger zone, but he wondered why Hikari was getting up as well. Maybe she was going to explain to the secretary?

The two classmates left the room, and headed down the hallway after the door was quietly shut.

'Shinji, you need to stop being so…Shinji?'

He snapped his head back to Hikari, who he had left behind. Somehow he had made it all the way to the stairs already.

'Um, s-sorry Hikari, I-I'm not feeling so great…'

'I can see that, what's wrong exactly?'

'I…I don't know, I just feel…weird. Probably just a bug or something…'

'Yeah…look Shinji, what's going on between you and Rei?'

The nervy boy looked at Hikari in surprise.

'N-nothing, we just…well, we're friends, I guess. I saw her at NERV talking to her foster parent and well…'

'Oh, okay…look Shinji, Asuka is…she really…uh; I don't really know how to put it…'

Shinji came to his own conclusion as to what Hikari was going to say, it was the wrong one of course.

'I know, I'm being kinda ungrateful…it's just that she makes me feel so…well, stupid when she helps me. I just react and…I don't really mean it.'

'Uh, well…I shouldn't be telling you this, but I think Asuka only does that because she doesn't really know how else to act.'

'What do you mean?'

Hikari shifted uncomfortably, she was sort of betraying her friends trust, but it was for a good cause.

'Think about it, she never really had a normal life. She's a genius, the only reason she's in our school is to learn the kanji. I think Asuka only knows how to react in a way to make people feel small because she was just a little kid in college with a bunch of twenty year olds, it's like a defence mechanism. Now she's with her own age group, but she only knows how to deal with people who probably looked down on her. I guess she just tried to level the playing fields back then.'

He hadn't thought about it like that, maybe when he was nervous around her, Asuka was feeling just as awkward around him. It did make sense, even though it seemed unbelievable to think that the confident German college graduate actually felt nervous from time to time.

'Wait, why would she feel nervous around me?' the oblivious boy asked.

Hikari stared at Shinji, blinking several times. How could he not see it?

'Isn't it obvious?'

'What exact-'

He stopped; a chill ran down his spine. Something was wrong, there was danger somewhere close. He grabbed a surprised Hikari and pulled her to the side.

'Shinji what are you doing!'

Before the boy could say anything more, a ball flew past the spot Shinji had just been standing.

Hikari looked at the field, seeing a class was having Phys Ed. Her mind slowly remembered that Shinji was holding her rather tightly, and he must be stronger than he looked, because she could feel a lot of muscle. She stopped her train of though there, blaming hormones and then her face went slightly pink.

'Uh, Shinji, you can let go now.'

'S-sorry, guess I was just…lucky.'

How did he know that the ball was going to hit him?

Shinji was also unsure as to how he knew that the speeding projectile was about to hit him. He really needed to lie down.

[]

Making his way back to the apartment, Shinji remembered that the door still required fixing. He looked down the street and spotted the hardware store, deciding he may as well get the door done and out of the way.

He heard the chime of the bell that was connected to the store door. For some reason he was feeling edgy again, but why? It was just a bell.

The nervy teenager made his way over to the aisle of the store that had what he needed. As he checked out the different types of knobs, he sensed someone walking towards him.

'Shinji? Shouldn't you be in school?'

He turned around and saw that it was Mr. Hotaru. He just hoped that the security guard wouldn't think he was skipping school or anything.

'Hello, Mr. Hotaru!'

The older gentleman looked at Shinji questionably.

'Are you skipping school or something?'

'No, I wasn't feeling too well and then I remembered that I had to fix the apartments door, so I thought I'd get that out of the way.'

The security guard looked the boy up and down, studying the young boy.

'Well, you do look a little pale. I hope you get better soon.'

'Thank you sir, and thanks for not being…angry last night, I didn't mean to-'

'Why would I be angry? You probably needed some time to think after what happened at NERV; I was actually worried about you. I just didn't want to alarm my wife and Rei, so I spared them the details.'

'Oh, thanks…did you guys catch them yet?'

'No, I'm afraid not. The police are looking into it, so…'

The older gentleman's voice trailed off and he decided to change the topic.

'Well, enough of the darker side of life. How are you and Rei getting along?'

'Um, f-fine,' Shinji answered.

'Good, good. Shinji, I know this might be a little much to ask, but…Rei's had a tough childhood and she…well, she doesn't take to people so well. I just would like to ask if you wouldn't mind watching out for her. I know she's more open now, but in case anything should happen…'

'I promise sir, and she's really lucky to have you as a dad.'

'Thanks son. Oh, better go. Those lights aren't going to fix themselves, see you Shinji and get better.'

'Will do Mr. Hotaru!' the boy promised, waving the man off.

As kind man left, Shinji realised just how lucky Rei was. He wished he could have a father like that.

After purchasing a replacement doorknob as well as the other things he'd need for the repairing, Shinji made his way back home, his nerves slowly returning to their hyper levels.

Around the time he was supposed to cross the street, he suddenly moved out of the way to let a runner past. For some reason, Shinji's eyes absorbed the distinguishing mark on the man's neck, a dragon tattoo. Another weird thing was the terror he felt as the man dashed past, which was substantiated by the fact that two cops chased after the tattooed man.

'Geeze, kid, you coulda tripped him or something!'

The teenager stared at the dashing cop, what did he expect him to do? He was just a kid, he wasn't even athletic and he was expected to just stop a criminal?

Carrying the packet that he had wrapped around his wrist, he began to cross the road. As he crossed, his nerves came back with a vengeance. It was far too unsafe here, danger was all around him; he was in the middle of a kill zone!

Shinji was too busy feeling paranoid about the entire world to hear or see a speeding car coming right for him. Strangely, he somehow did notice it, as the driver slammed his brakes, knowing it was too late, but he failed to hit anything.

Looking up and down the street the driver muttered something about needing to quit drinking before driving off.

If he had stayed a little longer and had been more aware of what was going on above, he might have just heard a teenager's horrified, amazed and completely astounded whisper.

'Oh my God,' Shinji could not believe what he had just done.