Author's Notes: Thanks for the comments on the last chapter. It's nice to know that the quality of it was good so I'll try to maintain that kind of quality throughout. However, I can't make any guarantees. So basically, I've been racking my brain to come up with new plot ideas and I've come to the conclusion that when I can't write anything else I'll write the conclusion, which I know what will happen despite not having planned it before. In the meanwhile, I already wrote the epilogue. It's wicked, but no hints. Anyways, enjoy!
Congrats to Alex Nagisa for being a really good guesser.
Disclaimer: I don't own Neon Genesis Evangelion and am writing this fanfic for pure enjoyment.
CHAPTER 8: THE BULLY
"Hey, Shinji, have you started on the calc homework, yet?" asked Asuka as Shinji and she made their way to their lockers to get their books, dodging the growing crowd of people who poured into the hallways also trying to make it to their lockers. It was times like these Asuka wished that she had the power to part the seas of people so that Shinji and she could walk down the hallway without having to weave in and out.
"No, but it's not due until Friday, right?" The question was a rhetorical one as Shinji knew that Asuka kept better track of assignments than he did. Her nod was enough to affirm Shinji's statement.
"Hey, is it my day?" asked Shinji again as he reached into his locker, not sure whether it was his day to bring the textbook or not. Since Asuka and Shinji had shared all their classes and sat next to each other, it made sense that only one of them needed to carry the textbook to class. What was the point of lugging around extra weight? Again, Asuka replied silently with a nod.
Shinji: Something's wrong with her today…
Usually, Asuka was talkative in the mornings, hyper from her over-sweetened cereals, but recently, she had become introverted, turned inwards by her thoughts. She was still troubled by the words of Keiko two days ago, wondering whether Keiko was actually serious. Even though Asuka felt that she had no business interfering with Shinji's affairs, she still felt that it was her duty as Shinji's friend to keep him away from girls like Keiko. Girls like her would eat a gentle heart like Shinji's and spit out nothing but the blackened roasted spit of a heart.
"Hey, you seem quiet, today. Anything wrong?" asked a concerned Shinji, worried that a silent Asuka might mean that something was seriously troubling her. A troubled Asuka would be a force to be reckoned with. Not wanting to concern Shinji yet, Asuka just smiled back at Shinji, happy that her baka-Shinji still cared so much for her.
"I'm fine, baka-Shinji. Let's get to class." Asuka tugged Shinji along towards class. He quickly slammed his locker shut just before his hands got out of range.
As Asuka pulled a stumbling Shinji into the classroom, she noticed someone new in the calc class who she didn't see before. Keiko.
Asuka: What is that bitch doing here?
Obviously, Keiko had noticed the appearance of Asuka and Shinji. Her face grew to a grin that had even Asuka shuddering inside.
Asuka: What kind of devious plan is she planning?
Asuka paused halfway to her desk to glare at Keiko. It was the kind of glare implied for Keiko to watch what she was doing. Shinji had completely ignored what Asuka was doing and proceeded silently to his desk, hoping to catch a few more winks before the sensei came in. Asuka was shocked that Shinji could just so calmly ignore the gazes of the girls in the class. Maybe, he was just clueless at noticing things like that. Whenever Asuka got gazes like that from the boys in her classes, she felt irritated like they were objectifying her and always returned their gazes with venomous glares whenever she caught them doing it.
Asuka almost gasped when she saw Keiko turn away from glaring at her and got up, walking to the boy who sat in the back of the room. The boy who sat next her in all her classes. Asuka intensified her glare as if she was concentrating daggers into the back of Keiko but to no avail.
Shinji was almost about to fall asleep when he felt the weight shift on his desk. He looked up and his eyes got caught into the gaze of a pair of brown eyes draped by straight black hair. She was wearing a slim blue tank top with a very short black skirt. A skirt that was revealing more and more of her legs as she sat down on Shinji's desk.
"Hi, Shinji," said the girl. Shinji blinked but continued to stare at her, confused as to why she was talking to her. Shinji didn't talk to anyone in his calc class except Asuka. He felt that it was his fault for being so advanced in math that it made other people feel inferior, but he didn't mean to do that. It was either that or be placed in a class learning something he already knew. That was something that would have probably driven him insane. The girl smiled at him, attempting to use it like a beam to melt through Shinji's social barriers.
"I'm Keiko." She smiled again as Shinji's face went to one of realization. The name definitely was familiar to Shinji. It was brought up so many times in his lunches with the Stooges. She was by far one of the most popular and beautiful girls at Tokyo-3 High School. In fact, Touji and Kensuke had made a pact that if they had the chance to go out with Keiko, they would do it regardless of whether they had a girlfriend or not. Shinji knew that Kensuke sold dozens of people pictures of her in her swimsuit as she got out of the school swimming pool. But why was she sitting on his desk, talking to him? Him of all people?
"H-h-hi" was all Shinji could stutter out. He was entranced by her beauty. She was definitely comparable to Asuka in his eyes, at least physically. Keiko smiled again, amused by how easy she was able to make Shinji fluster. She reckoned by now Asuka's face would be red with intensifying anger.
"I just transferred to this class." Keiko paused, seeing if she could get any reaction out of the boy. Noticing that Shinji was still frozen there like a statue, she continued. "You seem on top of things." Keiko made a devious grin as she said that. "I was wondering whether you could tutor me today."
"U-um…" Shinji averted his eyes from Keiko, realizing that he had been staring at her long enough for her to think that he was a pervert. He wasn't sure what to say. On one hand, if he didn't do it and Touji and Kensuke found out about this, they would give him shit for months to come. On the other, he felt really strange talking to Keiko as if something was just off about her. Like she was using him for something. Even Shinji recognized the signs of something too good to be true.
Keiko had noticed Shinji's uneasiness with the question and wondered what else she could put on the table to convince Shinji otherwise. She suddenly grinned.
"We could do it at my place," said Keiko while slightly emphasizing "do it." Again, Shinji opened his mouth to respond but nothing came out except short stutters until Asuka interrupted him.
"Sorry, Shinji's helping me with the homework today. Right, Shinji?" Shinji could only nod as Asuka intentionally leaned over his desk, giving him a very revealing view of her assets.
"Okay fine." Keiko sounded distraught at having to lose to Asuka again. "Lemme know if you're free. I could really use the help," said Keiko as she backtracked to her seat, repelled by Asuka's glare. While she wasn't scared of Asuka, she was disappointed that since Asuka butted into their conversation, Shinji had not removed his eyes from Asuka.
Asuka sat down in her seat and sighed at her victory. She could tell that it was going to be a long day. She looked to her right and saw her companion asleep already.
Asuka: Poor Shinji… he probably had those nightmares about giant robots again. I need to get Kensuke to stop loaning him those kinds of movies.
Asuka thought again about the other kinds of movies that Kensuke possessed.
Asuka: I should probably get him to stop loaning movies all together.
Shinji felt himself being nudged to reality. He had only meant to catch a few winks before class, but he had ended up sleeping for the entire lecture. Regardless, he still felt really tired, refusing to open his eyes despite hearing the shuffling of students exiting the room.
"Shinji! Wake up," whispered Asuka into his ear, hoping to wake up Shinji before the rapidly dispersing crowd of students revealed to the sensei that Shinji had slept the entire lecture. Finally, Shinji opened his eyes to see an open book in front of him. He looked to his left at Asuka with a confused look and pointed to the textbook.
"So the sensei doesn't think you're sleeping, baka," said Asuka as she got up, draping one strap of the backpack over her shoulder. She closed Shinji's textbook and started to pack up his backpack, knowing that Shinji was worthless when he just wakes up. Shinji smiled at her, appreciating her efforts to keep him out of trouble.
Shinji: I'll make it up to her tomorrow.
"Here," said Asuka as she handed Shinji his backpack, motioning him to follow her to lunch.
"Dammit, I can't believe I missed the whole lecture," said Shinji as he shook his head, unable to comprehend why he was so sleepy. He felt Asuka put her hand on his shoulder and patted it as if she was reassuring him of something.
"It's alright. I'll tutor you," giggled Asuka as she turned to look at Shinji. She winked at him and sped up towards their lockers. Shinji looked at the red-head as she disappeared around the corner. Her distinct red hair stood out among the sea of black. He didn't like her because of her beauty, how she was different, or how she treated him. He liked her because she was Asuka Langley Soryu. She was special in his heart. He smiled and picked up his own pace towards the lockers. His hunger was now overwhelming his sleepiness, and he couldn't wait to engulf his lunch.
Shinji got to the locker to see Asuka examining herself in the vanity mirror that she had taped to her locker.
"You know, you're not getting any uglier," joked Shinji as he put in his calc book and retrieved his lunch. It was a bland sack lunch. He had packed it in a hurry in the morning because he didn't want to burden Asuka with it but now his hungry stomach regretted it. He enjoyed Asuka's sandwiches. She made them just the way he liked it, but she would never tell him how, claiming that it was her leverage against him.
While punching him playfully in the shoulder, Asuka briefly looked up from her mirror to say, "Go ahead, I'll catch up." With that gesture, Shinji nodded and headed up the nearest staircase to the rooftop.
Just as Asuka was satisfied with how she looked, she felt a cold hand grab onto her exposed leg. Asuka was wearing short-shorts today, and she regretted it. While they were comfortable when it was so warm outside, she had always felt exposed by them as if every boy in the school was eyeing her. Asuka tried to squirm free of the arm so that she could turn around and face her opponent. The arm was strong, but finally it let go and Asuka whirled around ready to bring hell to whoever just touched her.
Whoever it was that touched her leg, he was big enough to block out the rays of the sun that penetrated the hallway from the window behind him. She shifted to get a better angle, instantly recognizing the face of Yahiko. Yahiko was a year older than Shinji and Asuka but was in the same class as them for being held back. He was also much bigger than most of the people in the school. Physical development started early for Yahiko, and he used it to his advantage, bullying many kids that he was annoyed with. There was one boy that Yahiko loved to torment and that was Shinji.
Before Asuka came along, Yahiko had constantly bugged Shinji whenever Shinji tried to interact with the other boys. He claimed that Shinji was too effeminate and weak so that he should just be a baby and play in the sandbox. Shinji complied. He knew that in the sandbox he could be isolated and free from the torment that Yahiko conducted. It wasn't until Asuka showed up that Shinji was able to stand up to Yahiko. She had convinced him that he needed to save the princess and would have to stand up against the evil monster that was Yahiko in order to so. Shinji did just that, even though it was in his fantasy world, and Yahiko left Shinji alone. Even though Yahiko made fun of Shinji for being defended by a girl, he knew that he couldn't take on someone as spirited as Asuka and a Shinji hell-bent on protecting her.
"Where's Shinji?" asked Yahiko with a grin on his face.
"I thought you would have matured," said Asuka. She had thought that after so many years he would have seen the error of his ways and changed. Guess not.
"Oh, but I have matured. I want a piece of this ass," taunted Yahiko. Asuka shuddered at the thought. She knew that Yahiko was strong enough to force himself upon her, and she probably couldn't even do anything to stop him.
"Leave her alone!" The shout came from a boy standing in front of the staircase. It was Shinji standing there, slightly out of breath having ran from down the staircase after hearing what was going on. His fists were clenched ready to do battle if necessary even if his opponent was Yahiko. Shinji knew that fighting someone like Yahiko would probably hurt him more than it hurt Yahiko, but he didn't care as long as it meant that Asuka wouldn't get hurt.
Yahiko didn't say anything in response to Shinji. He was still shocked at Shinji's sudden outburst of courage. Could that scrawny boy stand up to someone like Yahiko? Yahiko doubted it, but he planned on enjoying pummeling Shinji again. He stepped forward to approach Shinji when Asuka slammed her locker and pushed Shinji into the staircase.
"Let's go! I'm hungry," said Asuka as she dragged Shinji up the stairs. The commotion in the hallway resumed as students realized that a fight was not going to happen. Shinji tried to protest, but Asuka punched him in the shoulder quite hard. He looked at her face, wondering what the hell he did to deserve that.
"I didn't need your help. I'm perfectly capable of defending myself," yelled Asuka in an angry tone but there wasn't much bark behind it. While Asuka wouldn't admit it, she appreciated Shinji showing up when he did. She didn't want to think what might have happened if he didn't.
PE was finally over, and Asuka was truly glad. It was exhausting to have to continually run around the track, lost in her thoughts. She couldn't even stop to watch Shinji play. His PE class was probably doing some running on the other field that she couldn't see.
Asuka turned and scanned the field again to see if she could catch a glimpse of Shinji after a hard workout, but she only saw her coach furiously waving her hand to call Asuka in. She was last one into the changing room, not that she cared. The changing room was the traditional place to trade gossip, but Asuka didn't want any part of that. All that did was hurt other people or lower their self-esteem. Asuka had already made up her mind about most people so hearing rumors wasn't going to change much of her opinion.
As she was just about done with dressing into her casual clothes, Keiko strolled up to confront Asuka.
"Hey Soryu," said Keiko in a condescending tone. Asuka realized she respected Keiko a bit more for being able to face her time after time.
"What!" barked Asuka, obviously annoyed at Keiko keeping her from heading home early. Keiko brushed the hair out of her eyes and leaned against the locker.
"What's your problem, Soryu? What do you have against me and Shinji?" Keiko was alluding to her failed attempt to get Shinji to tutor her.
"You're wrong for him."
"Why?" Asuka felt like it was a brutally obvious question, but she decided to enlighten Keiko.
"Because you're a bitch. Because you want to use him and cast him aside when you're done." Keiko drew back at the sudden outburst from the red-head. While she knew of Asuka's fiery personality, she didn't expect her to defend a boy that she had frequently taunted and tormented.
"He doesn't deserve that!" added Asuka as the closing to her argument. Asuka was almost in tears by now. She didn't want to be seen like this, especially by Keiko. Keiko would have taken it as a sign of weakness and a victory for her. Angered by her inability to control herself, Asuka slammed the gym locker, causing several girls in the room to jump at the startling sound. She stormed off to her locker so that she could go home, leaving a stunned Keiko.
Shinji had gotten out of PE early. He had shown a lot of effort today, and the coach noticed, offering to let him out five minutes early. Shinji got to his locker with plenty of time to spare but realized that he would have to wait for Asuka anyways before he could go home. He decided to take this time to rearrange his locker. By his standards, it was messy so he started to sort his books in the order of use so that tomorrow, he would be able to retrieve them without digging through his entire locker. He never understood how Asuka could so easily find her books through all the crap in her locker.
Shinji felt a hand on his shoulder. Apparently, Asuka was out early from PE too.
"Hey Asuka, h-" Shinji stopped mid-sentence as the hand started to squeeze his shoulder harder and harder. Shinji let out a small yelp as it started to hurt. The hand spun him around so that he could face his attacker. Shinji wasn't surprised to see that it was none other than Yahiko.
"Well, if it isn't the wimp. Where's your little girlfriend?" taunted Yahiko. Shinji gulped. He looked at Yahiko. He was a good half a foot taller than him with probably twice the muscle mass. Yahiko had definitely grown a lot since their elementary school days. Either that or he was taking steroids.
"You, leave her alone," yelled Shinji in a show of defiance. Shinji was always surprised when he blurted out things like that. It was like the so-called "spine" that Asuka talked about him lacking just showed up and gets him into a situation like this.
Shinji's confidence obviously upset Yahiko. He wasn't used to his opponents talking back at him. He really enjoyed tormenting those who couldn't really fight back physically and verbally. Yahiko, himself, wasn't really sure why he hated Shinji so much. Maybe it was the fact that his parents were the head of NERV. Maybe it was because Shinji had such a perfect sheltered childhood and he didn't. Maybe it was the fact that girls fawned over him because he was so gentle and innocent. Maybe it was because despite his poor efforts to attract a certain red-headed girl in elementary school, she was always with Shinji. Yahiko shook his head of these thoughts. There was no point in rationalizing it now.
"When I'm done with you, she's next," taunted Yahiko. He laughed demonically. Shinji shuddered as he realized what Yahiko could do. Shinji then did something he never expected himself to do. He spat into Yahiko's face.
Shinji: Stupid spine…
Yahiko stood there shocked. In a moment of hatred, he grabbed Shinji by the collar, easily lifting him off the ground and slammed him into the closed locker. Shinji winced as he felt the combination lock smack his back. Yahiko had a look of surprise on his face, surprised at how easily he was able to lift Shinji up. This face turned to a grin when he realized how powerless Shinji was in his clutches. Shinji was still in the air kicking his feet furiously trying to get a lucky kick on Yahiko. From a distance, he almost looked like a cockroach on its back, furiously kicking its legs to right itself.
Suddenly, Shinji felt himself being dropped. He looked up to see a boy with a tracksuit completing the motion of his punch. A punch that sent Yahiko reeling backwards, releasing his grip on Shinji.
"You okay, Shinji?" inquired Touji as he watched Shinji dust himself off and get back up. Yahiko had already taken the time to retreat in the face of defeat, lest he get reported by someone to school officials.
"Yeah, thanks."
"You know I always got your back, man." Touji patted Shinji's back to show his support. In return, Shinji flashed Touji a smile of gratitude.
"Hey Shin- Whoa, what happened to you?" Asuka had just appeared around the corner, hearing Touji and Shinji talking. As Shinji came into visual, Asuka noticed that Shinji's collar was a bit ruffled and his pants still dusty from landing on the floor. Her concern for him took over as she rushed over to Shinji, examining him for any bruises.
"Hey Asuka, I'm fine. Just a scuffle with Yahiko," said Shinji. He said it in a way that seemed a scuffle was a casual thing for him. Asuka ignored him and worked on straightening out his collar.
"Yeah, I backed Shinji up," said Touji as he showed off his biceps and proceeded to throw fake punches into the air.
"I'm sorry, Shinji, it's my fault. You don't need to fight my battles for me." Asuka looked at the floor, unable to look into the eyes of the one that got hurt defending her. She slowly approached Shinji for a hug to comfort him but was surprised that he pushed her away.
"Look, I made a promise seven years ago."
"That was just a silly little promise." Asuka rolled her eyes. She didn't expect Shinji to hold up the promise to always protect the princess. It was seven years ago. It was for a fantasy world. It was only to boost Shinji's confidence.
"No, it's not silly!" yelled Shinji, obviously upset that Asuka treated their promise with such little worth. Asuka wanted to interrupt him, but Shinji continued talking before she could.
Asuka: Damn, must be learning from me.
"I need to prove myself. I'm worthless if I can't even protect you, Asuka." Shinji was in tears after saying that. He turned towards the entrance of the school and ran away, tormented by the whirl of emotions that he was feeling. Anger. Sorrow. Confusion. He didn't know what to do but to keep running, maybe seek the comfort of his cello.
"You're not worthless," muttered Asuka. She had hoped those words would reach Shinji, but he was already long gone. Asuka was sad to watch Shinji run off like that. She didn't mean to upset him, but sometimes Shinji was just that easy to tip over the edge. She sighed, surrendering herself to her own thoughts after realizing that it was going to be a quiet trip home.
End Notes: The chapter is a bit short, but I just didn't want to repeat stuff about school over and over again. Prepare for angst.
