"So I think you should come as well. I'm definitely going, but leaving you here alone on New Year's just won't do." Shinji reasoned.
I shifted on my spot on the couch. He was at his desk, doing some paperwork. He was talking about the New Year's party. I knew he was going. He couldn't just let his girlfriend, Choka, go alone. It wouldn't have been ok. I appreciated that he had thought about me, but... "I don't know... I don't wanna be a bother."
He rolled his eyes. "Choka doesn't hate you."
"It's not that." I defended. Yes, she did. Choka was a total and complete sweetheart unless she thought you were trying to steal her boyfriend. And, given that I basically lived with Shinji... yeah, let's just say that we didn't get along too well. She wanted to strangle me, then revive me, then burn me, revive me again, watch me get killed by Kenpachi etc. So yes, she hated my guts. And Shinji was blind to all that, stupid. I sighed. "You'll go with her, do I-don't-care-what..." 'Have sex' "... and I will be all alone."
Shinji frowned. "Are you stupid?"
I shook my head, hesitating. "No...?" Yeah, I wasn't exactly sure what he was talking about.
"Then you will get to know new people. And have fun."
I looked down. "I don't know..."
He sighed, exasperated. "Are you antisocial?"
"A little."
Had we been in our time, he would have face-palmed. Given that we weren't, he sweat dropped. "Koizumi, the world doesn't bite."
"You're my babysitter. You're supposed to say that the world is a dangerous place and I should be careful." 'Or the prospect of getting laid is clouding your judgement so badly?'
Shinji looked at me in all seriousness. "You forget something. I'm your temporary babysitter. I ain't gonna be guarding you forever."
I pouted. "I want a Prince Charming."
"Find him." he answered sternly.
I grinned. "Then maybe I can trade you for eternal love, although I think I will also have to add my heart and stuff. Nobody would want you."
He glared at me, unamused. I smiled innocently. "Good to know I'm so important to you, kido. I'd like to see you manage on your own."
"Oh, don't be like that, Shinji-kyun~!" I said in an overly sweet voice, clearly immitating Choka. Yeah, she called him like that.
He hissed in annoyance. "I only take that from one person, kid! Don't make me teach you some respect."
I gulped, uncomfortable with his threat. 'Teaching me some respect' usually included some rather hardcore exercises during our training sessions, when he didn't hesitate to use Sakanade and get me a few bruises. So no, thank you. "Pass."
He grinned in victory. And...
Apparently, God was on my side that morning, since, just when Shinji had a clear win, the door opened and Choka ran in and promptly sat in his lap, kissing him lightly. "Ohayo, Shinji-kyun!" she chanted, subtly glaring daggers at me. I greeted her as well and she responded briefly. I didn't exactly blame her. If she was in love, good for her. I was pretty sure she loved my babysitter, given how clingy she was. "I thought you were bored here so I came to keep you some company."
Shinji, too, was quite lovey-dovey to her. I had seen him with a few other girls (who all seemed to annoy him to no end), but Choka was special. He actually responded to her sweetness and returned the favor, of course keeping his pride (at least around others). He smiled warmly. "Well, not bored as much as annoyed."
She tilted her head to the side in confusion, then looked at me in surprise. "Really?" she sounded pretty happy. "Why?"
He shrugged. "I'm trying to make Koizumi stop being a baby and come to the New Year's party."
Choka's eyes widened. She walked to the couch, but didn't sit down next to me. Given our height difference (I was almost as tall as Shinji and she only got a little below his shoulder), she was actually looking down at me. "Why don't you wanna come?"
I avoided their eyes on me. "I... I don't think I belong there..."
"Nonsense! There are plenty of stranger people than you! You'll certainly fit in."
I looked down. I did have a rather humiliating reason. A strong one. "I just..."
Choka made me look at her. "Don't you wanna get a boyfriend?" Shinji visibly tensed at that. "Choka, don't give her any bad ideas! If she gets a boyfriend, that's just more work for me!"
I stuck my tongue out at him. "It's a good idea." I countered. 'No, it's not.' I could barely muster enough courage to talk to someone and she wanted me to flirt?
Shinji caught my lie. Choka probably suspected it as well, so she dropped the subject. "So why won't you come? It'll be fun. There's the midnight kido show..."
"Why do you even want me to come? You two could be alone..."
Choka shrugged. "We ain't gonna babysit you anyway."
I shook my head, adamantly refusing them. In the end, they managed to anger me and I finally yelled. "What am I even supposed to do there? I don't even know how to dance!"
That froze both. Shinji was the first to recompose himself. "Really?" he asked. "What the hell did you learn back in your world, besides maths?"
I shrugged. "Des choses desquelles je n'ai pas besoin dans la vie reèlle."
Choka gasped, clapping her hands excitedly. "You speak French!"
I smiled, proud of my knowledge. "Yep."
"That's amazing! How do you say 'I love you and I wanna be yours forever'?"
I thought a little. "Je t'aime et je veux... être la tienne pour l'étèrnité? I'm not sure. French was my second foreign language."
She seemed surprised. "And your first?"
"English."
Shinji rolled his eyes with a smirk. He knew all that already. "Her mother tongue is a Latin language. It sounds a little like French, I guess, but closer to Latin."
I told Choka a few words in Romanian. She seemed impressed by my language knowledge. "I wouldn't have guessed that English was your foreign language. You have a bit of an accent, but your vocabulary is vast. You never seem lost when we're talking, no matter what."
I smiled. "I was born with high deductory logic capacities. I can easily understand a sentence if I don't know a word or two and even deduce its meaning and eventually learn how to use it after hearing it several times. I only realized that when the French teacher got annoyed by it. I could translate a whole text, but when I was given certain words to translate, I got stuck. So she never really knew how much I knew and how much I deduced."
Shinji rolled his eyes. "You're too modest." he said sarcastically.
Choka glared at him. "You're so mean, Shinji-kyun!" She was defending me? Wow, Shinji must have sounded like a complete asshole to me if Choka took my side.
He hugged her, kissing her deeply. Her back was arched backwards so much that I wondered whether it didn't hurt her. Her arms encircled around Shinji's neck and her eyes landed on me. "Will you teach me French?"
I shrugged, hoping that she would stop hating me like that. Shinji had started giving me the shoulder too and I felt that I could at least get close to her. "Sure."
She pressed her lips against Shinji's. His hands moved on her body, then stopped, as if he had just realized I was there. "Hey, Koizumi, can you please deliver the papers I signed? I'm done for today."
I nodded, knowing he actually wanted some intimacy. I took the stash of completed papers and left with a brief goodbye.

Several days later, Choka came into Shinji's house as I was preparing something. "Shinji's on a mission." I informed.
She smiled. "I know. I came here for you, Zumi."
My eyebrows went up. "Really? What for?"
She bowed. "Please, please, please, teach me French!"
I tilted my head to the side in confusion. Sure, I didn't mind teaching, it was ok, but I wanted to know her reasons. "Are you going in France?"
"No... But French is such a sexy language!"
"Whaaat?"
She nodded eagerly. "Yes, and I wanna be able to say sexy things to Shinji! He said it's hot when I speak French."
I facepalmed. Her logic was beyond me. Why would she go through the trouble of learning a new language just to satisfy one of her boyfriend's fetishes? "Ok, but... how are you paying me?"
She seemed thoughtful. "I could teach you how to dance!"
I blushed, embarrassed by my major flaw. "Umm... Sure..."
She smiled. "Alright then."
I told her that I would need a few books, since I wasn't exactly sure how to start. She nodded, and, several hours later, returned with a nice pile of French books for beginners. 'What did I get myself into?' I thought, shuffling through them a little. I saw that the lessons were in a similar order in all books and glanced at my student. Choka smiled eagerly. I gulped. "You want to learn the language properly or just know how to say some sweet stuff?"
She hesitated slightly. "Is there any difference?"
I nodded. "Look, you don't need too vast a vocabulary for that. I could just translate your sentences for you. On the other hand, if you want to learn it properly, it's gonna take a long while."
She seemed thoughtful for a while. "I wanna learn it properly. I don't mind it if it'll take a long time, I just don't like half-doing things."
I nodded. "Ok."

My dancing lessons were crawling. I lacked the natural grace of a maiden and, although Choka was a pretty good teacher, I sucked. Shinji had quite a lot of patience too, and I usually stepped onto his feet every two steps or so. Or I tripped. Or lost balance. I sulked. I would never learn... "This will get us nowhere. Guys, I'm just that much of a failure. Just forget it."
Shinji laid back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest. He glanced at Choka. "Y'know, she's right. We need to try something else."
Choka sighed. "I told you already. Let her dance on your feet. You're a Taicho, Shinji-kun, I'm sure you can carry her around." There was a little sarcasm in her voice and I thought he'd react to it.
He rolled his eyes. God, he was soft with her. "I just don't see what good it'll do. I think you know the steps by now, kido."
I looked down. "Then what's my problem? Talent?"
"Will you quit the talent crap already?" Shinji asked with little heat. "Now. You're not a clutz. The problem is that this is something you can't do on your own." That made us girls tilt our heads in confusion. "Think about it, Choka."
She nodded slowly. "You may be right. The man leads here."
I sighed. "I know."
Shinji stood up. "But do you accept it?" He came to me and took my hands, then arranged me for valse. "Slow valse." he told Choka. She nodded and the music started playing. I looked into Shinji's eyes, like they had taught me to. He rarely returned the favor, usually being pretty thoughtful, but this time he looked at me, smiling as he did so. It changed everything. It was as if we suddenly had a bond. I knew what he wanted me to do and moved accordingly. My eyes widened as Choka changed the music to tango. Shinji gave her a small glare, then pulled me closer and moved my arms on his body. I had never danced tango before. They had shown me, but it was the one dance Shinji didn't really want to do with me. And I figured why. It was a lovers' dance. He wasn't troubled about it as much as I was, though. It was too difficult to keep up with him. He made me lean backwards and I held onto him. "Relax. Trust me." he whispered in my ear.
I gulped and, remembering some movies, I relaxed and allowed his arm on my back to be my only support. He smiled. "Good." The music stopped and he pulled me up. It felt weird, being maneuvered like some doll.
I pulled back from Shinji and Choka came to us. "You did it, you did it! It was great, Zumi-chan!"
I blushed and looked at Shinji, hoping he'd say something. "Thanks." I said to her.
He rolled his eyes. "Good to know you appreciate my contribution."
Choka jumped on him and gave him a long kiss. "You're always amazing, Shinji-kyun!"