Chapter 11

Shinji awoke the next morning, feeling immensely refreshed and invigorated. Whatever was wrong with him the previous evening seemed to have passed. Maybe, Shinji thought, maybe it was just an overdose of sugar in his blood. At least he hadn't puked. Shinji noticed that he was in the nude.

But I still had my jeans on when I fell into bed last night, Shinji thought, Huh. Maybe I woke up just enough to pull them off. I don't remember doing that, but stranger things have happened.

Shinji pulled on some clothes and walked downstairs to find Misato sitting in the living room with several of the other adults from the neighborhood. Kensuke and Shinji's other friends were all there, also. Shinji was about to wish them all a cheerful "good morning" when he caught the air of deadly seriousness in the room. Something was very wrong. Shinji's smile quickly faded and his mood with it.

"What's going on?" Shinji asked, joining the powwow.

"Last night," Mrs. Aida said, "Kensuke said he saw a large animal prowling around the streets of the development, heading for the city."

"It was enormous," Kensuke said excitedly, "It looked kind of like a big bear, or a wolf, or something. It was too dark to really tell for sure what it was. When I went out to look this morning, all I found were some huge paw prints in the mud of mom's flowerbed in front of the house."

"What was it?" Shinji asked, fully interested now in what his friend was saying.

"I'm really not all that sure," Kensuke said with a shrug, "I didn't really get that detailed a look at it. I have automatic webcams set up in both yards and the ones in the front yard got an okay look at whatever it was. It was dark, and my cameras are supposed to be used in the daylight. I've been trying to get mom and dad to buy me some night-vision cameras, but--,"

"Kensuke!" Shinji snapped.

"Sorry," Kensuke said, stopping his ramble, "Anyways, my cams in the front yard picked the thing up…sorta. I can pull up the best image that I have on my laptop for you."

"Do it," Shinji said, "I'd like to see what's prowling."

"You can't seriously believe that there's something in the neighborhood?" Asuka asked, disbelieving.

"Until I see proof that tells me different, I'm willing to accept anything as a possibility," Shinji said seriously, "Now, let's see what you've got, Kensuke."

The sandy-haired youth punched a few keys on his laptop, and in a few moments, the group of adults and teens were looking at a dark and fuzzy image of a large shape. Whatever it was, it was looking at the camera. Shinji noticed that it was on all fours, but its back legs were bent such that its long, muscular forearms could reach the ground. Shinji reasoned that this could mean that whatever it was had the capacity to be bipedal.

Whatever the creature was, it had large, wolf-like ears on top of its head, a long, muzzle-shaped snout, and shining eyes, like a cat's. Its shoulders were of an enormous build and hunched over, giving it an almost mountainous appearance. Every inch of the creature's body was covered in hair. Shinji noticed what looked like a tail growing from the creature's backside, as well as elongated talons on all of its paws.

It's front appendages don't have paws, though, Shinji noticed, They're…hands…

"Kensuke," Misato said slowly, "what are we looking at here?"

"If I had to guess," Kensuke said, "I'd say a werewolf."

Asuka and Toji both broke out into raucous laughter at this suggestion. Misato shook her head disbelievingly. All of the other parents made similar signs of disbelief. Shinji, too, felt that this particular guess was a bit over-the-top, though he believed it more than the others appeared to. To Shinji, the theory of a werewolf seemed to make sense, somehow. The word struck a familiar chord somewhere in the back of Shinji's mind.

"A werewolf," Shinji murmured, "It's possible…"

"What's that, Shinji?" Misato asked, looking over at him.

"Nothing," Shinji said immediately, so quickly that quite a few eyebrows were raised in response.

"Really," Shinji said emphatically, "it's nothing. All I'm saying is that any explanation is possible as to what this thing is, that's all."

This response seemed to satisfy the questioning looks that Shinji was getting. Shinji was saved from having to answer any other questions by the sound of the doorbell ringing. He immediately volunteered to answer it and rushed to the front door. When Shinji opened the door, he saw a man with long, dark hair standing there. The man's hair was bound back in a ponytail, exposing his scruffy, unshaven face and dark-colored eyes. He was wearing a set of auto shop coveralls.

"Hi," the man said, "I'm looking for Shinji Ikari."

"You've found him," Shinji replied, "What can I do for you?"

"My name's Ryoji Kaji, I work for Johnson Auto," Kaji said, "Did you order some parts from us the other day?"

"I did, yeah," Shinji answered, "The only stuff I didn't pick up was the four new tires I need and the fuel system parts. They said that the fuel system needed to be ordered."

"Well, the order's in, that's why I'm here," said Kaji, "I have all of the other parts that you ordered. Where would you like them put?"

Before Shinji could answer, he heard footfalls on the hardwood behind him.

"Who's this?" Misato asked.

"His name's Kaji," Shinji said, "He works for the auto place that I got those parts from."

"Pleased to meet you," Kaji said, taking Misato's hand and flashing a winning smile. Shinji glared at him from the corner of his eye. There was something about this Kaji that made Shinji distrust him immediately, other than the fact that he seemed to be putting the moves on Misato.

"You can leave the parts outside the garage door," Shinji said, bringing the focus of the conversation back to Kaji-the-Casanova's job.

"Right," Kaji said, looking away from Misato with some reluctance.

A few minutes later, after unloading four new tires and a set of medium sized boxes, Kaji climbed into his truck and drove away. The whole time Kaji had been moving the heavy tires and boxes, his eyes hadn't left Misato's. It was as if Kaji were trying to win Misato's affection and attention. This attention made Misato blush and Shinji flush with protective rage. After Kaji left, Shinji immediately set to work on the car, a dark cloud still covering his features. Misato finally noticed Shinji's mood when, in the midst of trying to change one of the tires, Shinji happened to drop the four-way wrench on his foot, causing a long, loud string of curse words to fly out.

"Are you all right?" Misato asked concerned.

"Fine!" Shinji snapped, harder than he meant to.

"What's the matter?"

"What's the matter?" Shinji repeated, turning to face her, "A guy that I've never even seen before hits on you like a college boy and you just stand there basking in it like a whore, knowing full well how I feel about other men hitting on my girlfriend, and you have to ask what's the matter?!"

"I'm what?! Excuse me?!" Misato asked, insulted rage building a crescendo in her voice, "Did you just call me a whore?! How dare you?! And who are you to think that I belong to you? Try to remember that I'm still your legal guardian, and you're still living under my roof. That gives you no right whatsoever to talk to me like that!"

"I'm full grown now, Misato," Shinji shouted back, "And as soon as I get this damn car fixed up right, I'm out of here! So don't worry. As soon as I'm out of here, you can have your little fling with Kaji. I hope you give him a better time than you gave me!"

With that, Shinji stormed out of the garage, leaving the car in pieces and Misato on the verge of tears. Shinji took off at an enraged sprint down the sidewalk, seemingly trying to out-run his pain. After about ten blocks, Shinji was out of breath and on the verge of tears himself. His blood pounded with abject, blind hatred. Exactly why or who Shinji hated the most, Shinji wasn't entirely sure of, but the fact remained that he hated them.

Shinji's first thought was to focus his hatred on Misato. After all, wasn't she the one who accepted the way that idiot Kaji's had glanced and smiled at her? But that couldn't be it, Shinji reasoned. He loved Misato. That was why he was hurting so badly; it was because he had seen the way another man had looked at the woman he loved, and the fact that she hadn't resisted made him, Shinji, feel utterly betrayed.

Maybe he hated Kaji more. Again no, Shinji reasoned. How could he logically hate someone that he barely knew? Certainly he shouldn't be happy with Kaji. After all, hadn't Kaji tried to lure Misato away from him? But no, he didn't hate Kaji, either. Who, then? Who was the true object of Shinji's hatred?

Himself? Did Shinji hate himself for yelling at Misato? Did he hate himself for calling her a whore? Or maybe Shinji just hated himself for being who he was: a motherless, fatherless, bastard child that no one really seemed to care about, who moved around from home to home. That had to be it. Shinji looked back on the thoughts that he once had about why he didn't feel comfortable with any foster family; and sneered at them.

Higher destiny unfulfilled, Shinji thought scornfully, yeah-fucking-right! I don't have a destiny. I'm just a crazy son of a bitch who doesn't deserve to have a home. That's why all of my foster families kept kicking me out. They knew it, too.

Shinji wandered through the suburbs all day. While he walked, he sank deeper and deeper into a wave of depression. He also had long hours to think about what he had said that morning. When Shinji finally wandered back to Misato's house at nearly ten o'clock that night, he knew what he had to say. Before he could say or do anything, however, Shinji was confronted at the door by a frantic Misato.

"WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?!" she screeched at him, "I've been worrying myself sick!"

"S-sorry," Shinji said softly, not looking Misato in the eye. He was too ashamed of himself to even look at her.

"Shinji…" Misato sighed, taking the teen into her arms again, "Don't run off like that. Even here in the 'burbs, there are people who will hurt you if they catch you on the streets after dark."

"I know," Shinji said, his voice still soft and ashamed, "I just…I was angry. I didn't want to admit that I…"

Shinji broke down into tears. His knees started to give way under the burden of guilt and shame that he felt. His mind was still reeling from its earlier turmoil. Misato caught Shinji under his shoulders and held him up.

"Shinji," Misato whispered, "I still love you. I'm sorry for the way I acted today. I should have known that it would hurt you. What you saw today was a bad habit that I let myself get into after college. I used to hang out in bars and let guys try to pick me up. It was my way of dealing with the fact that I could never maintain a steady romance."

"You still…?" Shinji asked weakly, unable to believe what he was hearing.

"Yes," Misato replied enthusiastically, "I still love you more than anything, Shinji, and I don't want you to leave me."

"I don't want to leave, either, Misato," Shinji said, "But I'm afraid that I might have to."

"What do you mean, baby?"

"What I mean is," Shinji replied, "I think I might have something to do with that beast that we saw on Kensuke's camera."