+++++ Tokyo-3 Academy. Monday, +6.
One of the things Shinji was most grateful for of late was the way that he'd been shown how to look past the surface level of things. Washu had made it clear to him that a shallow analysis would leave him forever confused, and that the only way to understand other people was to search for meaning behind their actions and emotions. It had been getting easier with time and experience. He saw in most of his classmates an eagerness to get to know him, an array of motivations for that desire, and an openness to taking things at his pace to avoid scaring him off.
Moving around the track, tuning out Gen's 'encouragement' of the other students, Shinji was left alone with his first true challenge in this new skill. At no point in time during the school day had Ayanami been approached or greeted by another student. Other than Hikari, nobody spoke to her or included her in lessons. It had taken him two periods to figure out that it was Ayanami that had been watching him, using the window's reflectivity to see what he'd been doing. She was clearly intent on monitoring his conversations, and it was clear that the other students had come to accept that she wanted nothing to do with them. The big question in his mind…was why?
She wasn't unattractive. A little off-putting with her coloration, sure, but it wasn't like she was hideous or deformed. In truth, using the scale that he'd heard some of his male colleagues use, Ayanami was a seven. If she had a different hair style, showed…any emotions, she'd easily be higher. She was clearly educated, the words she'd used weren't basic vocabulary. There was, in her, a deeper sea kept away by her own designs….
It was then that he realized something he'd overlooked all day, and he swore at himself for being so dense as to miss the obvious. None of the ladies at NERV would have told her to watch him like that, they all trusted him! Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki hadn't made a single move to stop him from speaking up in front of the Juraians, believing them to be from the United Nations. If he'd wanted Shinji to remain silent, he would have done something much sooner. That left the one person who had a clearly adversarial relationship with him.
Unaware that his mood had visually darkened throughout the daily lessons, Shinji trotted to the locker room after Gen ended the class for the day. He failed to notice that the others in the locker room were looking at one another with concern and confusion. He showered, alone. He dressed, alone. He left the locker room and blew past Nanako who had been waiting to ask him what was wrong. Standing near, but not directly outside, the women's locker room he didn't hear any of the questions being asked of him. All that was ringing in his mind was that his father had forced another young person to act as a puppet for him. Ayanami was being mistreated, and unlike him she didn't have support.
Once the bluenette exited the lockers, he moved to intercept her and tried to not sound as angry as he felt, "Ayanami-san, can we talk for a moment?"
"If you wish," she replied softly. Taking his physical cue, she walked alongside him to a nearby alcove out of the flow of traffic.
Once he had her out of earshot of everyone else, Shinji looked around with a scowl. He had to speak on a subject that he had no experience in, to a woman he'd just met, and he had to do it alone. I'm going to screw this up, but I can't let her suffer. "Just because my father tells you to do something…doesn't mean you have to do it."
"He is the Commander. By law, we must obey his orders." The statement held no equivocation or hesitation.
Shinji scoffed. "And if he ordered you to die? If he ordered you to stand there and be beaten? If he ordered you to strip in front of him?"
She remained unmoved. "He would not."
"You don't know that asshole the way that I do, Aya-" His vision went fuzzy for a second, the familiar sensation of a palm striking his cheek bringing up a host of unwelcome memories. Before he could overcome the burst of rage that exploded within him the woman he'd been trying to help was gone, replaced by Nanako.
"Hey, hey," the youthful agent took his chin in her fingers and probed the side of his face that had been struck, "careful. She's stronger than she looks."
"I've been hit harder." He couldn't chase after her without it seeming like he was chasing her. "I…screwed up."
"By trying to help someone? I wouldn't see that as screwing up." Kissing the cheek that had been slapped, she gave him a soft grin laden with interest. "I kinda think it's sweet."
His other cheek grew a much different pink. "I…uhm…I…you're gorgeous."
Her grin became a contented smile. "I'm glad you think so."
"I…uhm…."
"Minaho-chan is fully aware of what I'm doing, and fully supportive of what we're going to be doing. Can't run a ship with just two people, at least not one worth calling a ship." With a wink, she wrapped her arms around his left arm and walked him back towards the entrance. "Hikari and Sasami went to go have a chat with Ayanami, so it's just you and I heading to the hotel at the moment."
"Oi, Shinji!" Morimoto waved at him from an adjoining hallway, changing their course briefly. "You ok, man?"
Shinji blinked a few times, trying to place what had happened that might indicate he wasn't 'ok'. "I…uhm…."
"You were glaring death at your desk today," the affable athlete drew close enough to speak in quiet tones, "and on the track you looked like you wanted blood. We worry, dude. You're our protection against giant monsters, we want to try and protect you against the little monsters if possible."
Helping cover for Shinji's inability to prevaricate effectively, Nanako patted Morimoto on the shoulder and explained, "He realized that someone was being mistreated at work, and with the job everyone here at school has done to show him that things can get better he was winding himself up over how to apply those lessons there."
"Ah, ok." Blowing out a heavy breath through pursed lips, Morimoto nodded slowly. "Ok…well, we can't really do much ourselves there, except listen. So, if you need someone to park your worries on, I know for certain that there's at least nine kids in our class that are up for listening. Always better to gameplan with multiple viewpoints, because you never know who's going to see through the other team's defenses, you know?"
The offer alone further buoyed Shinji's mood. He wasn't alone anymore, and there were nice people everywhere if he was just willing to look for them. "Thank you, Morimoto-san. Next time I have something come up like this, I'll try to remember I'm not alone anymore."
"Right on." Lightly punching Shinji's arm, he nodded once and waved. "I gotta get to practice. I'll let everyone know that you were worried about work, and that we had a good talk about how to work as a team. Later!"
"See you tomorrow," Shinji replied with a similar wave. Once they were moving towards the car again, he looked down to the ground and wondered aloud, "What was so terrible that he wouldn't let me live here? He didn't even need to raise me, just…put me in a closet and let me go to school."
Nanako didn't answer him, save for an internal reminder to ensure that his father suffered a fate so horrible that the stars above turned their light away from it forevermore.
+++++ Tokyo-3 Academy. Monday, +6.
Waiting for Rei Ayanami to come around a corner, Hikari exercised every ounce of willpower she had to not return the favor the blue-haired brat had given to Shinji. "I want you to give me one good reason," she stated without preamble on contact, "why I shouldn't haul you into the front office for that little stunt."
When Rei attempted to sidestep Hikari, she bounced off of Sasami. Realizing that she'd been effectively flanked, she stopped and fell back on, "You are not allowed to interfere in official NERV business."
"Official NERV business includes slapping Shinji-kun? How about you answer the Class Representative." Sasami crossed her arms under her chest, to stop her hands from snatching her fellow bluenette bald.
With her options limited by the orders she'd been given, Rei stuck to her initial statement. "The discussion between Pilot Ikari and I dealt with official NERV business, as such you are not allowed to interfere."
"Ok." Hikari pulled out her phone, hitting the 'call' button for the number she'd pre-dialed, then putting it on speaker phone.
A voice Rei was familiar with answered with a terse, "Doctor Akagi."
"Good afternoon, Doctor. This is Hikari Horaki, I'm the class representative for both Shinji Ikari and Rei Ayanami. Do you have a moment?"
Puzzled, but curious, Ritsuko replied gamely, "Certainly. Has Shinji run into more serious difficulties with classwork?"
"No, actually. Today he participated in a discussion regarding a very difficult math question and made some excellent observations. The class was greatly helped in its understanding by his perspective, I feel. The reason I am calling is because I am concerned that it is official NERV business for one staff member to strike another without provocation."
A lengthy pause was followed by, "Where is she?"
"In front of me. We're standing near the east entrance to the school building, where C-hall and D-hall intersect."
"Someone will be there shortly to pick her up, Horaki-san. Please tell her that she is ordered to remain with you until retrieved. Thank you for bringing this to my attention."
"It is my duty to ensure the welfare of all of my classmates, Doctor. Thank you for being available to help." After a brief exchange of farewells, she hung up and locked eyes with Rei. "Fair warning: you hurt my boyfriend again, and the next conversation we'll have will end in a hospital. Sit down and stay silent."
Watching Rei for a moment after the bluenette sat down with clear surprise on her typically expressionless face, Sasami looked askance at Hikari. "Boyfriend?"
"I'm not waiting for you. I saw her slap him, and my heart felt all sorts of protective. Whatever it is that's stopping you, isn't going to stop me."
+++++ Tokyo-3 Intercontinental. Monday, +6.
Shinji sat in the study, working diligently on the homework he'd been assigned while Nanako performed maintenance on her 'official' sidearm. The scent of rich wood and gun oil was calming his mind, and the tricks and methods his classmates had shared were embedding themselves in that mind more securely with each iteration of use. The soft plucking of a stringed instrument he couldn't identify was playing counterpoint to a gentle piano arpeggio, the music chosen by Nanako as something that would 'help him focus'. He couldn't identify the media player she used, not that it surprised him that he was ignorant of something.
"You hungry?" Nanako worked a specialized brush through the barrel, keeping her eyes on her work.
He was always hungry. Hunger and him had long agreed to ignore one another, though. "If you ever ask me that, and I say 'no', you should probably worry," he made another attempt at a joke, hoping this one would work better than the last.
Her heartfelt laughter gave him his answer. "Fair enough, my good sir." Taking one last look down the barrel with her penlight, she nodded her satisfaction and set everything aside. "Gonna let everything sit for a few minutes to air out. My cooking might not be quite on Her Majesty's level, but I think I can make us something edible."
This drew Shinji's eyes up, a hint of worry looming in them. "I-I don't compare anyone."
"I know you don't," she countered with an easy shrug, "but I do. I haven't earned my place in life quite yet, and until I do I want to aim as high as I can. Her Majesty is the brightest star in the sky to guide myself by, and so I compare myself to her. I'm not going to be hurt if you think she's a better chef, the same way I wouldn't be hurt if you think Toshiro can lift way more than I do. Facts is facts, after all." Walking past the desk, she kissed him on the lips and tapped her forehead to his. "Always strive to improve, Shinji. The only way to improve the world is if we improve ourselves first."
When Minaho kissed him, it felt wonderful. When Nanako kissed him, it felt wonderful. He really didn't have any reason to ask them to improve, since 'wonderful' was leagues better than the nothing he had before. Glancing at the latest woman to lay some claim to him as she left the room, he wondered for a time at how to ask them to help him make them feel as wonderful as they made him feel. Without any ideas coming to mind, he went back to the problem he could solve: math…for all of three seconds before one of the guards that typically stood at the doorway into his hotel suite knocked politely on the door to the study.
"I'm sorry to bother you during your study, sir," the big man stated with honesty, "but there is a Misato Katsuragi at the door. She says that you were hit by someone, and she's here to ask you some questions. Should I bring her in?"
"O-oh," Shinji nodded, "yeah. She's…uhm, she's the person who helps me come up with tactics during my fights against the Angels. I should probably talk to her if she needs me."
"Understood. We'll be keeping her sidearm while she's in here, just so you know." He frowned at Nanako's disassembled pistol laid out on the cleaning mat. "If she tries to touch that, press that blue button we gave you this morning, ok?"
He sorely doubted that Misato would try to kill him, but he had to accept that the men protecting him knew better than he did on the matter. "I promise I will."
Clicking the side of his cheek, the big man winked at Shinji with approval. "Thank you, sir." Leaving the way he'd come in, he made as much noise as a light breeze through an empty field.
Deciding to stop working on his math for the moment, to more fully be available for someone he had to work with, Shinji tidied up the desk. The papers weren't haphazardly strewn everywhere, in fact they were already well beyond 'neat and organized', but he didn't want to give Misato the opening to chastise him for anything. The memory of their first battle together, how she'd scolded him, held a far greater weight in his mind than anything since.
"Holy. Shit," Misato exclaimed as she walked into the room, looking at the opulence with disbelief. "This place is bigger than my apartment!"
He was sitting in a space that was more than five times larger than the place he'd been raised. The desk he was seated behind was twice as large as the room he'd been kept in. With no knowledge of scale, he had no idea of how to respond to her declaration. "I-I'm sorry."
Blinking in confusion, Misato turned and looked at him. "Why?" Spreading her fingers and gesturing at the room, she laughed. "If they're paying for it, I say take advantage of it." Coming closer to the desk, she hitched her hip up and sat on the edge to look him over. "Huh…left a bruise, but not as bad as I'd thought it would be. Never seen Little Girl Blue show anything resembling emotion before, but I know better than to judge strength based on size. What happened?"
After a factual recounting of the event, including how he'd been angry at his father for potentially mistreating someone, Shinji ventured a question of his own, "How…uhm, how'd you find out?"
"Your Class Rep called Rits," she answered nonchalantly. "Rits asked if I could swing by and see if there was anything else to the story, and make sure you were still interested in coming in to pilot the Eva." With a sigh, she shook her head sadly. "You were worried about her, you told her the truth as you saw it, and she popped you one? That's not acceptable."
"I-it's ok."
"No, it's not."
He really didn't want Rei to be scolded. He knew how much that hurt. "I-I've had worse."
"Doesn't make this situation any better." Sliding off the desk, she leaned her hips against it and bent forward to rest on her elbows so that she was closer to level with him. "I've been shot, stabbed, and had an enormous chunk of metal rammed into my belly. Would you be ok with someone slapping me at work, just because 'I've had worse'?" He shook his head, causing her to smile happily. "Of course you wouldn't. You're a good man, and you would rather someone resolve their problems with words. I can't very well let someone treat you badly when you would do your best to treat them right. It sends a terrible message to everyone else, and it sends a worse message to you. You matter to us, Shinji-kun. You're part of our team, now."
He blushed hard. The words she'd used meant something far different in his mind than her own, not that he was aware of the discrepancy. She'd only been harsh with him because she hadn't known he was on 'her team'. Now that they were teammates, she wanted him to be treated well. It made sense, to him, and warmed his heart. The problem causing the blushing, however, was mostly because the way she'd leaned forward had caused her sizable feminine attributes to bulge attractively. He'd dropped his eyes, to avoid ogling. "I…uhm…." He felt a finger under his chin, and lifted his face at Misato's unspoken request. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be sorry for being who you are." The honest advice was something she'd wished she'd received when she was younger. If she could spare him some torment by passing it along, all the better. "You want to protect Ayanami, because that's who you are. But if we don't set boundaries for her, if we don't teach her that it's wrong to slap someone for voicing an opinion, then all we're doing is reinforcing bad behaviors. We're not going to throw her in jail for a slap, but we've got to make it clear to her that she can't do this. She's not going to be happy, but I doubt Rits is going to hurt her." Taking her fingers from his chin, she let him nod in understanding. "Now, I need you to understand something…that I'm going to have a hard time just…admitting. Ok?" He nodded again, and she blew out a snort of frustration. "I…don't…." She paused, frowned, and tried again. "When I was younger, younger than you are, I had a really, really, bad day. I lost my father, I almost lost my life…and I did lose my mind."
"I'm sorry."
The softness in his tone, the genuine empathy for her situation based on a hilariously reduced version of the events of Second Impact from her perspective, caused her to have an all too familiar sensation that she attempted to smother. "Thanks," she chose, instead of other possible responses, pairing it with a warm supermodel smile. "I spent the next several years basically catatonic. Didn't speak, didn't socialize, didn't really do anything but eat, sleep, and stare off into space. At least, according to my doctors that's what I did. I can't remember any of it, myself. But after I met Ritsuko, I…kind of 'woke up'. I tried to make up for all the time I'd lost, drinking and smoking and…well, let's just say I didn't make the best decisions."
He nodded slowly, finding a new connection with the woman in front of him developing. She might have been younger than he was when she 'lost' her father, but she still lost him. She lost years, unaware of the world around her and what happened within it. He understood her better, and he tried to show that, "It…hurts. Coming out into a strange world, where everyone else…acts? I guess acts strange. They're all living in a world that you'll never understand…but they don't know just by looking at you that you don't understand."
"Exactly!" Misato's mood grew more uncontrollable, hearing Shinji put words to something she simply couldn't. "They expect you to know the lingo, they expect you to know when people are lying or understating things to avoid embarrassment. A lot can happen in three years, anymore. I bet even more happened in the fourteen years you lost."
"Oh n-no," he shook his head, waving his hands to ward off the insinuation, "I wouldn't compare us like that. I-I mean…it doesn't matter how many years it is, once you can describe it in years…right?"
Biting down on her bottom lip, Misato began to lose control over her impulses. "It's why we have to pack more into the remaining time…right? More experiences, more discoveries, more…fun."
"Oh, hey!" Nanako walked in hurriedly, slowing down once she had eyes on Shinji, she positioned herself at his side with one arm around his shoulders. "It's…Misato, right? Misato Katsuragi?"
"Yes," the lavender-haired tactical commander briefly seemed frustrated, before a mask of professionalism covered it over, "you're Nanako Dojima? His security liaison?"
"More of a bodyguard, less of a liaison," she demurred skillfully. "Everyone tends to come to me with things about him because he likes having me around." Hugging him closer, she grinned down at Shinji's extremely confused features.
"So, if not you, then who would I talk to about why we only heard about today's incident from his class representative?" She arched an eyebrow, showing a hint of contempt for the open display of affection. "Shouldn't one of you have contacted us?"
"Oh, we would have," Nanako's voice dropped slightly in timbre, losing the humorous quality she'd attempted, "however I happen to be very good friends with Horaki-chan's father. When she told me that she would make certain it was handled, I decided to let her gain experience in handling more adult matters. If she hadn't contacted you by tomorrow, then I would have. Since the offense was limited to a single slap, it hardly required more immediate intervention. Besides," her eyes went flat, "the problem only came about because a NERV employee lost the plot. Perhaps we need to increase our security posture further, if this is going to become an official matter. Starting with not leaving him alone around anyone from NERV?"
"Or, perhaps," Misato took a step back, picking up a part of the pistol from the mat and wagging it, "you might start taking his security seriously! He's not range certified, since your people won't let us give him any time on the range, so what's he doing in the same room as a weapon?"
Without thinking through the likely outcome, Shinji pressed the blue button under the desk. The reaction came about as a direct result of having been asked to do it had just what happened come into play, but if he had taken a few moments to think about why they'd asked him to do it he probably could have changed everything himself.
The same man who'd asked him to push the button appeared inside the room as if by magic. Taking in the situation, he noted that Misato had the slide for Nanako's sidearm in her possession and placed himself between Shinji and 'the threat'. "If you would hand that to me, please." While the word 'please' had been used, there was no hint of a choice in his tone. Taking the component from her, he gestured towards the door and in the same manner 'asked', "If you would please come with us."
Shinji hadn't seen the other two men enter the room and was so shocked at the rapidity of everything that he remained silent as Misato was 'helped' out of his suite. Once the only people inside were him, Nanako, and the large man, he braced himself to be chastised for acting.
"I told him to do that, by the way," the big man explained to Nanako. "I told him we were taking her sidearm. I told him that if she touched your piece, he was to press the button. I want it on record that I adore working for someone like him. He listens!"
Hugging Shinji's head to her chest, Nanako sighed in relief. "I'm really glad you did, Sig. I think we're going to have some problems with her."
"I'll leave him to you to calm down," Sig chuckled out. "He looks like he's a bit wound." With a simple wave of farewell to Shinji, the big man left the room and closed the door behind himself.
Shinji felt terrible. Misato wasn't threatening him, she was making a point. He couldn't understand why she and Nanako suddenly seemed antagonistic, but it wasn't his business who got along and who didn't. "I…I just did what I was told. But I shouldn't have. I got her…she's going to-"
"Get her cute little ass kicked if she makes a fuss about you following directions given to you by one of the men responsible for your safety," Nanako stated as she swung a leg over Shinji's knees, taking a seat atop his lap with her knees now tucked in against his hips. Taking his hands, she began to squeeze them in rhythm while she talked, "There was no ammunition in this room. You were instructed to leave my pistol alone. It was disassembled, and more importantly," her fingers dipped into her shirt, beneath her bra, pulling out a small metal piece and displaying it for him, "without the firing pin that's just a very interesting chunk of metal. She was looking for a reason to divert the blame back on me, because she got jealous at my protectiveness of you."
He blinked rapidly. "J-jealous?"
Setting the firing pin down on the desk behind her, she leaned forward and hugged him close. "You are the most adorable man I have ever met." Kissing him on the side of the neck, she slid off of him and retrieved the part of her pistol she'd need. "I'm going to put together my weapon, you're going to do the last few math problems, then we're going to go eat fruit in the tub."
A not insignificant portion of his mind was worried about Misato, another sizable chunk was now dedicated to the awareness that he'd soon be nude, wet, and cuddling with another beautiful woman. In smacking one around, he jostled both loose enough to redouble his efforts on his homework. He had to complete it, or he'd never get to the fun part of the evening.