Author's Notes: It seems only natural that coldness follows the rain. I present the 10th chapter of Happier Days. I still can't believe it has gotten this far in such little time.

For those that care, Shinji and Asuka's schedule at school looks like:

MWF

Women's Studies

Calculus

PE

TuThS

History

Physics

Computer Science

If you're confused about the date, it's Friday, so one day away from the dance on Saturday.

Oh and thanks for the reviews, guys. It makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. And SxR fans, don't forget that is still an SxA fanfic so don't get too excited about Rei.

Darknemo – Chapter 9 was actually longer than Chapter 8, just to let you know.

Disclaimer: I don't own Neon Genesis Evangelion and am writing this fanfic for pure enjoyment.

CHAPTER 10: THE COLD

Shinji stirred in his bed. Years of being awakened by Asuka at the same time every day had conditioned his body to become alert around 7 AM. No matter how tired Shinji felt, there was no way for him to fall back asleep. Besides, Asuka would soon arrive to wake him and to tell him "to get his lazy baka ass out of bed."

Shinji rubbed his eyes trying to clear his vision. He looked at his nightstand trying to make out the glowing red numbers on his alarm clock. He should really call it his clock now since the alarm function had long been out of use, rendered obsolete by Asuka. The numbers were a bit blurry. Shinji became a bit worried, believing that his vision was slowly failing him. He was so young though and he didn't want to wear glasses like his father did. Maybe it was all that late night reading under the covers with his flashlight and Kensuke's magazines.

Shinji leaned in closer to his nightstand. The clock read 7:12 AM. Where was Asuka? She was usually prompt at 7:00 AM. Shinji thought that it was odd that she would be late, but he felt that even punctual people had the right to be late once in their life. It's not like he cared whether she was on-time or not. It just meant he had more time in his bed to think.

Shinji pulled the covers off of himself, inadvertently brushing against the other head that was awake that morning. For once, Shinji was glad Asuka wasn't there to slap him for being a baka-hentai. Tucking in his boxers, Shinji went to his closet to retrieve fresh clothes to change into after his shower. He slid the door to his room open, noting that the two familiar pairs of shoes that were usually there in the morning weren't there. His parents probably didn't come home last night, presumably working late again at NERV.

By the time Shinji was done with his shower, it was 7:27 AM. Asuka was still not here. He prepared his lunch, grabbed his bag, and put on his shoes. He was ready to head to school, but Asuka still wasn't here. Realizing that if he waited any longer for Asuka he would be late, Shinji quietly apologized to an imaginary Asuka for leaving without her.

Shinji walked into homeroom by himself and took his usual seat in the back. He was surprised to find that Asuka's seat was empty. She wasn't at school either. So where was she?

He reflected on his walk to school. It had been peaceful and not tense, which was different from the way it had been for the last week when he and Asuka had been walking to school in awkward silence. To him, it felt weird to walk alone. Even without talking, Asuka always seemed to provide some kind of presence for him. Like someone who cared to walk with him to school every day. That was commitment for someone to do something like that for no reason. Shinji had asked before why it was necessary for Asuka to walk him to school, and he got a mean glare for it. He never bothered because it never really concerned him. He was content allowing her to do it, and she seemed equally content doing it.

It seemed that the rest of the class also took notice that Shinji had walked into class alone. It was definitely unusual as almost every day he was accompanied by Asuka either grabbing his wrist and dragging him into class or pushing him into class. "Had something happened to the two of them?" wondered most of the class.

"Hey, where's red?" asked Touji, referring to Asuka with his other nickname for her.

"Did you guys get into a lover's spat again?" joked Kensuke, reveling in the pleasure of making Shinji uncomfortable about his relationship with Asuka. After all, it seemed only fair since Asuka frequently berated Kensuke, and the only reason Asuka was around was because Shinji let her.

"I don't know. She didn't show up at my house today. It's strange..." Shinji was truly concerned about Asuka. It was definitely something out of the ordinary, and he couldn't figure out why. Had he pissed her off somehow and didn't know it? Shinji admitted that he was probably a poor observer for the feelings of the opposite sex. For those situations, Shinji agreed with Asuka that he was an idiot.

He thought back to the events of the day before, trying to figure out why Asuka might not show up. The only interaction he really could recall yesterday was when Asuka gave him permission to take her to the dance. He didn't really think it was that big of a deal. He was going with Rei because she asked first. Why would it matter to Asuka? It couldn't have been something so insignificant, leaving Shinji stumped.

Dark thoughts ran through Shinji's head as usual when he couldn't rationalize out a reason. Maybe she was hurt on the way to his house. Maybe she was hurt on the way home yesterday. Shinji didn't walk her home so how would he know that she made it home safely. Thoughts like these made Shinji wish he didn't ignore Asuka yesterday. He definitely enjoyed the walk home with Rei. Even though it was raining, they didn't let it dampen their lively discussion about music.

Shinji shook his head, trying to free himself from his dark thoughts. There was no way Asuka could be hurt like that. She was a strong girl, and Tokyo-3 was rapidly becoming the safest modern metropolis. Out of the corner of his eyes, Shinji saw a familiar girl with brown pigtails enter the classroom. It was Hikari.

Shinji: Maybe she would have some idea where Asuka is.

Shinji was ready to walk over to Hikari's desk to ask her when she turned to face Shinji. She looked Shinji straight in the eyes for a good while to ensure that he understood that the glare that she gave him was indeed meant for him. He almost reeled back from the amount of ferocity behind the glare, something he would have never expected from the class representative. Figuring that it was probably because his collar was messed up, Shinji glanced away from Hikari as quickly as he could and began fixing his collar. It was something he was inexperienced with ever since Asuka had been fixing it for him.

"Rise. Sit. Bow." Sensei Fuyutsuki had entered the classroom ready to start another day with more announcements.

Shinji: I suppose I'll ask Hikari at lunch.

The bell rang, signaling the end of calculus. Shinji felt it weird to get up on his own volition and head towards the lockers. It seemed like every day, Asuka would pull him up and drag him by the wrist to go somewhere. Shinji rubbed his wrist, imagining Asuka grabbing his wrist again violently to drag him off to lunch. But there was no Asuka.

Shinji ran into Touji and Kensuke at the lockers. They seemed pretty delighted that lunch was starting. Touji looked forward to lunch because eating time was probably his favorite time during the day. Shinji chuckled in his mind as he imagined Touji being a professional food taster. Kensuke was just as excited because lunch was the chance for him to blabber on about the latest anime that he downloaded.

"Doesn't look like it's going to rain today, so we're on the rooftop, okay Shinji?" said Touji, rubbing his stomach in anticipation of the food that would eventually settle there.

"Gimme a couple of minutes. I need to talk to the class rep."

"About?" Touji was curious as to what his friend would have to do with Hikari. There was a hint of jealousy that spread across his face, but it was not apparent to Shinji.

"Advice on how to deal with the demon?" Kensuke butted in.

"Pretty much. She might know what's going on," Shinji said as he turned to head to the set of trees where Hikari and Asuka would eat when they had stuff to share and wouldn't do it in front of the "stupid Stooges."

Soon, Shinji was closing in on the set of trees. He could see Hikari leaning against one of the trees, slowly taking out her bento box, careful not to spill anything. Even from so far, he could tell it looked good. The one thing that Hikari prided herself upon was her food. She was definitely a good cook from feeding her sisters so many nights when her parents were working late. Workaholics just like Shinji's parents.

As Shinji got closer, Hikari could hear his footsteps and looked up, choosing to stare at him. She was startled as she expected Shinji wasn't bold enough to directly confront her about Asuka.

"Hey class rep," said Shinji as he stopped in front of Hikari and looked down at her, still unwrapping her bento box.

"Hey Ikari," Hikari said coldly.

"Do you know where Asuka is today? She didn't come by the apartment to wake me up."

"What do you mean? You don't know where she is?!" yelled Hikari, clearly upset.

"Hey... why are you so angry?" Shinji put his hand on Hikari's shoulders, trying to sooth her anger. Hikari shook, shrugging off Shinji's hands and looked back into his eyes.

"I don't understand how you can do that to her. I thought you cared," yelled Hikari, surprised at her outburst of emotion. She didn't expect to reveal that to Shinji, but she felt so distressed for her friend the day before and finding out that her friend was missing was worrying her even more. What if Asuka got really depressed and no one came to check on her?

Shinji was taken aback by Hikari's statement. He was thoroughly confused as to what he did to her.

"W-what did I do?"

"The dance! God, sometimes you are just an idiot." Again, Shinji was confused.

Shinji: What about the dance that was such a big deal?

"I don't get it. I know she asked me to ask her to go to the dance, but Ayanami had already asked me so I'm going with her."

"But she asked you..." Hikari trailed off, realizing that Shinji didn't really mean intentional harm. If he had said yes to Rei first, it would be rude to change on Rei. It's not like Shinji knew that Asuka secretly harbored feelings for him.

"I thought she hated stuff like that." Shinji felt that he probably wouldn't have minded going with Asuka if Rei hadn't asked him already, but now he was just rationalizing how if he went, Asuka would have hated it anyways.

"But she wanted to go... with you." Shinji gasped, realizing a little bit of what Hikari was getting at. He felt like he didn't grasp all of what Asuka was feeling, but he thought he was beginning to understand. Asuka had always hated whenever the idea of Shinji and her as a couple was brought up. She went out of her way to even name his negative traits that would make him undesirable as a boyfriend. Yet, Asuka wanted to go with Shinji to a dance which would have implied romantic interest.

"To answer your question though, no, I don't know where she is. I only saw her run off into the rain."

"I guess I'll see how she's doing after school."

"C-could you tell her to call me?" pleaded Hikari, hoping that she could get the inside scoop as to why her friend wasn't at school today.

"Sure," said Shinji as he nodded.

It felt weird to be walking home alone. There were only a few times that he recalled walking home by himself. It usually involved Asuka pushing him over the edge and pissing him off enough to leave without her, but they usually got over it the next day. Shinji wasn't the type of person that could stay mad at Asuka, especially when she does her apologetic look.

He had asked Rei after school whether she would walk with him home, but she said that she intended to spend the afternoon practicing her swimming strokes. She mentioned something about trying out for the school's swim team in the spring semester, and she needed all the practice that she could get.

Shinji stopped. He had finally made it to Asuka's apartment. Even though he wasn't really in the mood to see Asuka, he felt that something was wrong and couldn't resist going up to see her. After all, he did promise Hikari that he would.

Taking the elevator to the 5th floor, Shinji strolled up to the door that led to Asuka's apartment. His finger reached up to the doorbell. He hesitated, not sure what to say if Asuka opened the door and instead, took the time to examine the name plate on the door. "K. Soryu," it said. Shinji's finger depressed the doorbell, ringing twice to indicate that it was him. There was no response. Figuring that something might be wrong, Shinji reached under the welcome mat and flipped it over with ease. On the back, there were several inconspicuous holes. One of the holes contained the spare key in case Asuka got locked out. He only knew because he watched Asuka do the same when she had gotten locked out a few months ago.

After poking at several of the holes, he found one that was harder than usual. Reaching into the hole, he withdrew a brass key. It fit perfectly in the lock of the door, opening the door when Shinji turned the key. Keeping the door open with his foot, he bent down again to replace the key, making sure that he put it back into the right hole before making his way into Asuka's apartment.

Shinji sniffed the air. It smelled of Asuka or rather Asuka's perfume. The smell was comforting. It reminded him of lying in a field of flowers with the sun gently caressing his body. There were times when Shinji got close enough to Asuka to get a good whiff of her perfume, falling into a euphoric state. When that happened, he had to resist himself from hugging her and pushing his face into her hair.

Shinji took a glance at the shoe rack. Even though Asuka possessed a countless number of shoes, Shinji could see that all of them were accounted for, which meant that Asuka was indeed in the apartment. He was surprised that the red-head had not heard the door open.

Shinji followed the smell of Asuka's perfume. It grew stronger and stronger as he approached Asuka's room. As he stopped in front of it, he realized that he couldn't really hear any noises coming from within her room. Why was it so quiet? Had she stopped breathing? His heart quickened as his mind delved into dark thoughts again. To his relief, those thoughts were interrupted when he heard the sound of Asuka turning in her bed. Hoping that Asuka was decent, Shinji slid the door open, preparing himself for a slap if she wasn't.

What he saw he wasn't prepared for. The once lively girl seemed to be pale and shuddered under the blanket. It seemed she was cold despite being wrapped by the blanket like a burrito. She was sick. That's why she probably wasn't able to make it to school. But how did she get sick? It wasn't quite winter yet. That's when it dawned onto Shinji. The day before. The rain. The cold. She didn't have an umbrella.

Shinji: Oh, Asuka...

He slowly walked over to the side of her bed, bending down to grasp Asuka's hand. It was cold and sweaty. A look of concern reflexively spread through his face. He was always concerned when it came to Asuka's well-being. His hand reached for Asuka's head, checking to see if she had a fever. She was burning up.

Shinji couldn't help but to feel sorry. Somehow he felt it was his fault that Asuka ran away and then later walked through the rain without her umbrella. He didn't know why she ran away, but he was positive it was something he did. It was always something he did. What bothered him the most was he didn't have the mind to check on her when she didn't show up in the morning to wake him up. He felt that he should have been there all day for her, waiting on her needs and wants.

It seemed Shinji's hand on her forehead disturbed Asuka more than he had thought. She stirred, and her eyes opened. Her eyes, once of fire, seemed dull. This scared Shinji. She looked almost lifeless. Shinji gripped her hands tighter as if he was passing his warmth through her hand. She responded by gripping his hands back. A silence passed between the two as both stared into each other's eyes. Neither of them kept track of time, and it seemed like a millennia passed before them.

"Shinji?" Asuka seemed perplexed, not expecting Shinji to be the one by her bedside, taking care of her.

"I'm here, Asuka," Shinji said to reassure her. It felt right to be by her side, taking care of her. After all, it was the least he could do because it was his fault that she was sick.

"Where were you?" asked Asuka. She was distraught that he had not come earlier. While it annoyed her that he had neglected her, she quickly realized that he didn't know that she was sick until he had showed up.

"I'm sorry..." said Shinji in his classic apologetic voice.

"What are you apologizing for?"

"I wasn't here to take care of you." Shinji tucked some of her red hair behind her ear to expose her eyes. He could see them clearly. They read of confusion and frustration. He frowned, realizing that those emotions were probably directed at him.

"I don't need your help, baka," said Asuka defiantly. She prided herself on being independent so why would she need help from a baka like him. She tried to push him off her bed, but her arms just didn't have the strength to make Shinji budge.

"But Asuka... you're burning up." He felt Asuka's forehead again to comfirm his observation. "And you're shuddering." He rubbed his hands against hers, hoping to warm them up. All Asuka could do was grunt, too tired to make a coherent response. Shinji tried to think of what he could do to make her better and decided on making her some noodle soup. She must have been stuck in bed all day, starving and dehydrated. He slowly got up to head for the kitchen when Asuka's hand grasped his wrist, preventing him from escaping.

"Don't go..." said Asuka weakly.

"I want to make you some soup. You probably haven't had anything to eat or drink," explained Shinji, trying to persuade the stubborn red-head to let go of his hand. He was only trying to help. Asuka shook her head and pointed to her nightstand. There were several water bottles on the desk, all at varying levels of consumption. There were also the remains of a meal, strewn carelessly across the table. Shinji stared at the food and drinks, unable to comprehend how Asuka had the strength to prepare a meal for herself.

Asuka examined Shinji's face, wondering why he had the confused look on his face. However, even in her weakened state, she stood still understood Shinji well.

"Mama came home last night..." Shinji was surprised that Asuka's mother had been home because recently, she hadn't been home much. He silently thanked her mother for taking care of Asuka when he neglected to. Shinji took his seat beside Asuka, clasping her hand again to assure her that he wasn't going anywhere. Not anymore. He couldn't leave her in this state even if it meant not being able to go home, take a shower, and sleep in his own bed. Not now. He needed to take care of Asuka.

"Shinji?" Asuka's weak voice broke the silence again.

"Hai."

"Can you hold me?" Asuka begged. Usually she would use her seductive voice to persuade Shinji, but this voice was different. She was pleading. Her heart called out for Shinji to be there for her. Shinji felt that he couldn't refuse, not when she was using such a genuine voice.

Shinji: I must protect the princess...

As cliché as it sounded, Shinji had always envisioned Asuka has his princess and him the knight in shining armor that would come to save her. Now was his time to save her. Shinji lay down on the bed next to Asuka and began to gently embrace her. She was still shivering. His hands slowly encircled around her figure. Asuka gasped as his hands touched her bare skin underneath the thick blanket. As awkward as it was for both of them, they both stayed silent, enjoying each other's warmth. Soon Asuka stopped shivering, and Shinji relaxed, feeling like he had fulfilled his duty.

"Asuka?" he asked quietly. He knew the red-head was asleep from the gentle snoring, but he had hoped that she was awake so he could talk to her. Relinquishing himself to his tiredness, Shinji also found himself dozing, still in a comfortable embrace with Asuka.

The light of the early morning filtered in through the blinds and struck Shinji's eye. Shinji stirred, trying to roll in bed to avoid the annoying beam of light which inadvertently awakened the sleeping German girl next to him. He found in his frantic motions that he wasn't able to move his left arm. It was pinned under something. His eyes struggled to open but when they finally did, they searched for the cause of his arm's immobility. Instead, he found a mass of red hair in his face. It finally dawned on him where he was as Asuka groaned next to him, upset to be so rudely awakened.

Shinji: I'm in Asuka's bed... but how did I get under the covers?

It seemed that overnight Shinji somehow made it under Asuka's blanket and was now sharing an intimate bed with her. Shinji brushed the hair out of the face, relishing the touch of Asuka's soft hair. He turned to his left, noticing that despite a cold and a rough sleep, Asuka still looked as beautiful as ever. He pulled his arm from underneath her, gasping at the pain of imaginary needle pricks as blood rushed back into his hand. This movement caused Asuka to reenact Shinji's frantic motions a few minutes beforehand. With no hand pinned, she was able to move freely and soon found herself on top of Shinji.

Asuka blinked. Her eyes were wide open after rolling on top of a hard object. And now she realized that that hard object had been Shinji.

Asuka: What is this pervert doing in my bed?

The events of the previous night flashed back to Asuka. She recalled telling Shinji to not go and to hold her. She remembered waking up in the middle of the night covered in sweat, still embraced by Shinji. She had been grateful that he had stayed the night. It had comforted her that he was just there. Still feeling cold, she had lifted her blanket to let the sleeping boy in so that she could directly absorb his warmth.

Asuka stared into the eyes of a dumbfounded Shinji who could not believe that she was on top of him. He realized that only the thin layer of her nightgown physically separated him and Asuka. He felt himself being sexually aroused, trying desperately to think of other thoughts. He knew it was wrong. He was here to comfort Asuka and make up for his absence, but it was too late.

Asuka felt something slowly press against her thigh. She knew what it was. At first, she wanted to slap the boy as hard as she could for being the pervert she always joked about but never really believed, but she realized that he probably couldn't help himself. She was, after all, stunningly beautiful. She settled on the thought of being satisfied. Satisfied that she could still get a rise out of Shinji. Satisfied that she was still attractive and desired.

For Shinji, terror gripped him. He could tell by the scowl on Asuka's face that she probably felt his manhood being pressed against her thigh. He prepared himself for the worst – preparing for the slap that would have rivaled the atomic bomb.

Shinji: Anytime now...

A few minutes had passed even though it seemed like an eternity for him. He was still holding his breath, still expecting a slap from Asuka. He looked at Asuka's face. Her scowl had disappeared, replaced by a look of delight?!

Shinji: What the hell?!

Hoping to extricate himself from the awkward situation as fast as possible, Shinji tried to get up from underneath Asuka but found it impossible. She had him perfectly pinned.

"Could you um... get off of me?" The question had shocked and disappointed Asuka. She never expected him to be so blunt about it. At the same time, she felt sad. Sad that Shinji wanted to get away from her.

Asuka: Am I attractive anymore?

Asuka felt her rage boil. She was angry that an idiot and pervert like Shinji could reject her. She was, after all, Asuka Langley Soryu. No one was supposed to defy her, let alone a spineless baka like Shinji. She fought the urge to shove him violently off the bed but decided not to. She would not drive him away when he willingly came to her. If she did, there would be no one to take care of her. Instead, Asuka just nodded to Shinji and slowly got up, allowing him to slide out.

There was another awkward silence as they both stood by the bed. Asuka kept glancing at Shinji and looking away as if she was too shy to look or speak to the boy. Shinji just averted his eyes, trying to keep his eyes from wandering to the area where Asuka's nightgown was revealing too much of her chest. It was Shinji who broke the silence.

"So... what do you want for breakfast?" Asuka stood there, pondering for a while. Usually she was really particular about her breakfast, but she felt really relaxed, possibly from her sleep.

"Anything is fine, really." Shinji silently pointed to the bed, motioning for Asuka to get back to resting and recovering from her cold. Asuka giggled, knowing that he was intentionally babying her from the last time she had taken care of him. Shinji flashed a smile and hurried to the kitchen, hoping that he wouldn't take too long to make a breakfast. He didn't know his way around the Soryu kitchen that well, and he honestly didn't know how long it would take for him to get everything together.

Asuka looked at the doorway where Shinji had just disappeared through. She sighed, and for a moment, she wanted to take back all the insults she had ever said about Shinji.

Asuka: What am I thinking? He's still a baka. My baka.

End Notes: My present to you all, WAFF. I can't help myself sometimes. I tried to keep the sugar coating down as too much is bad for the teeth.

I had originally intended for this chapter to include the dance, but I got carried away and this chapter got longer than I had originally intended. I promise that the next chapter will definitely be about the dance.

I had also intended to write this chapter the day after I published "The Rain" to make up for the fact that I split the chapter, but I spent a bunch of time being uninspired and reading other fanfics. Too bad a lot of them were unfinished which seriously annoyed me. There's nothing worse than enjoying a fanfic only to find it to end at a cliffhanger and the author gone for 3 years. If I ever drop off the face of the Earth, just PM me. Besides, I already have the ending written.

If you want to keep track of my progress, my bio lists the completion rate of what I'm working on so you can see for yourself how far along the next chapter is. I don't update it that often, usually when I need to check something on FF like a new review hint hint. I don't usually do this, but I got bored...

OMAKE!

Asuka sat on top of Shinji, unwilling to get off of him. She found herself really comfortable in this position despite the awkwardness it was causing for him.

"Um... could you get off, please?" Shinji pleaded. Asuka grinned back.

Shinji: Uh oh...

"You have to do something, first."

"What?" asked Shinji, fed up with Asuka's games.

"You have to say as loud as you can 'I am the Pumpkin Queen.'" (Props if you know which fanfic this is from)

"WHAT?!" yelled Shinji, incredulous at how ridiculous of a request that was. Fortunately, it was easy so he complied.

At the top of his lungs, Shinji yelled, "I am the Pumpkin Queen!" Asuka covered her ears, not expecting Shinji to be that loud. She had hoped in the future he would be that loud in bed though, hopefully calling out her name.

Several miles away, a clueless blue-haired girl with red eyes heard Shinji's voice.

"What is a pumpkin?" pondered Rei. She shrugged and continued carving an orange melon.