Disclaimer: see end of this chapter for updated disclaimer.
Children
Part 4
Kiss and tell
By Random1377
One nice thing about making your own lunch and bringing it to school is that you never have to eat cafeteria food. Fortunately, I've only had to eat the 'food' in our cafeteria once or twice.
To be perfectly honest, I didn't even know we HAD a cafeteria until Touji (who else?) pointed it out to me one day when I forgot my lunch.
It was my first bout with food poisoning.
One thing that was nice about the cafeteria, though, was that it offered us the chance to sit and look at all the pretty girls while we ate... umm, I mean study while we ate... yeah, study.
"Check her out!" Kensuke whispered, 'pointing' with his eyes at one of the transfer students from America, a girl with shoulder-length blonde hair and VERY long legs.
We all sighed in appreciation.
"She's nice," Touji conceded, "but give me one of the Mitsukis any day..." he inclined his head (very subtly) to his right, and I stole a glance over that way.
The girls were sitting at the table against the far wall... and they were engaging in a heated argument.
Well... Mitsuki Sanada was, anyway - gesturing wildly and making no attempt to be quiet. Her sister, Mitsuki Rara, was calmly eating her lunch and responding in a low voice... so low I couldn't hear it over the crowd, but I could see her lips moving.
It was a given fact that the two Mitsukis were among the hottest girls in school, second only to Asuka in the last guy-poll (these were conducted quietly, secretly, and with a LOT of glances over the shoulder to make sure none of the girls in question happened by). This fact seemed to irritate both Mitsuki Sanada AND Asuka... though why either of them would care is beyond me.
I once overheard them arguing about it... standing in the middle of the hall, and ignoring the various stares, catcalls, and shouts of encouragement. 'You think you're SOOO hot, don't you!' Asuka had said, putting her hands on her hips, 'You're NOTHING, do you hear me? Just a pathetic little tramp, so wrapped up in that Kazuki kid that you failed your last test.'
'Puh-lease,' Mitsuki had replied, crossing her arms, 'like you'd know anything about it, freshie. And what makes you so damned cool, anyway? Those stupid little hair clips you always wear?' She reached into her backpack suddenly, 'Here,' she said, handing Asuka a handful of change, 'go buy some fashion sense.'
Asuka had slapped the money out of her hand, 'FRESHIE!?' Her face had turned bright red, and her fists clenched at her sides, 'I finished college, you BITCH! And they're not 'hairclips' they're neural connectors... they let me sync with my EVA - which has saved your ASS!'
Mitsuki had yawned, 'Yeah, yeah... I've seen your robot. Big deal. Its big, it stomps around, it ruins half the city in one fall... but at least it's red. Good color."
Before the spat had elevated into an all-out brawl, the bell had rung. The girls had glared at each other for another thirty seconds, then spun around at exactly the same time and stomped off in opposite directions.
"They are both very nice..." I said, bringing myself back to the present and tearing my eyes away from Mitsuki Rara's long, light-brown hair with some difficulty, "but why do they have the same name? Isn't that a little odd?"
"You want to know my theory?" Kensuke said, leaning forward with an intense look on his face.
"Not this again!" Touji groaned in disgust.
Kensuke ignored him, "I think they're really the same girl - and one of them is from a parallel world. You just don't get two girls that good looking without extraordinary circum-"
"They're twins, you dipshit!" Touji exploded.
Kensuke was not to be deterred, "Then how do you explain the fact that they have different mothers? And I've heard that both of them claim that the girls are theirs."
"One of them remarried, dumbass!" Touji replied, "And besides..."
As they continued to argue I tuned them out, concentrating instead on Asuka as she and Hikari sat down at the table across from us... pointedly ignoring our presence. In the last two days she had been surprisingly neutral towards me... not even mentioning the paintball game (and my... insubordination) at all. This last detail worried Touji and Kensuke... a lot.
"Earth to Shinji, hello?" I realized that Touji was talking to me.
"Huh?" I said, turning around.
Kensuke spoke up, skeptically, "We were discussing the possibility of going out with girls of that caliber," I rolled my eyes. Kensuke took any chance to mention firearms that he could, "and Touji here claims he kissed Miho yesterday..." his face said loud and clear that he didn't buy it for a second.
Neither did I, "Izawa? The senior?" I said, "Yeah, right... maybe last night in your dreams... perv."
At the mention of the girl's name, Hikari's head whipped around... and I would have sworn she said something involving the word, 'whore...' but I know that can't be... Hikari's too straight laced. And besides - why would she care if Miho was kissing Touji?
I looked around for the girl in question, finally locating her near the back of the room with a group of her friends. I took in her long, black hair and pretty face, thinking, -If he's telling the truth... he's a lucky man...- I froze as her eyes met mine for a moment. They were almost the same color as mine, but they held a hint of green in the deep, dark blue. She also had a mole under her right eye, kind of like Doctor Akagi's.
She didn't hold my gaze. Instead, her eyes continued on their path to finding Touji... and stopped, a faint trace of a smile appearing briefly on her full lips before she looked away.
I blinked, unsure I had seen the smile at all, -Maybe he did...- I thought with some amazement.
"It happened!" Touji said indignantly, "Right after third period, in the stairway between the first and second floor. She grabbed the back of my head and laid it on me - hell, she even stuck her tongue in my mouth!"
"Bullshit." Kensuke said flatly, "There is no way a girl THAT hot would be interested in a sophomore... no way!"
"He's right, Touji..." I agreed with some reluctance, -I hate confrontation,- I thought miserably, "it DOES seem kind of hard to believe. I mean, would you believe ME if I told you I'd kissed Mitsuki?"
"Which one?" Touji said, "Because if you're talking about Mitsuki Rara... maybe..." he leaned further over, "I heard she's got a thing for you, my man." I blinked -HARD- as he went on, "And besides," he said belligerently, taking the offensive (and I DO mean OFFENSIVE), as he grew more upset by our continued disbelief, "have you EVER kissed a girl, Shinji? Didn't think so, so shut up!"
"Actually, I have..." I said quietly, hoping Asuka was not listening. I turned her way and found her blue eyes digging into mine. She was frowning slightly.
"Details!" Kensuke yelled, "GIVE!"
"I..." I hesitated as Asuka's frown deepened and she shook her head once... left to right... very slowly.
I looked at my two friends, who had leaned forward to hear, "Come on, man!" Touji pressed, "I told you all about mine... now talk!"
I hesitated a moment longer, then said, "Ok... it was back in my old town..." Asuka smiled and relaxed visibly. I frowned, -Why should I be the only uncomfortable one?- I thought with a sudden flare of anger, -Let's see how she likes it!- I leaned further forward, "She asked me if I wanted to kiss her... I didn't really want to, but I did it anyway."
Asuka blinked in surprise, and Touji said, "Was she cute? Why wouldn't you want to kiss her?"
I smiled slightly at Asuka, -How does it feel, Second Child?- I thought, "I didn't really want too because she only wanted to do it to kill time... she didn't really like me at all... and yeah... she was pretty - really pretty..."
I wished that I could read the expression on her face, but she smoothed her features as she saw me looking at her. I continued, watching for any reaction at all, "When I finally agreed - after she asked if I was scared - she said my breath was tickling her, so she pinched my nose closed... I couldn't breathe."
Kensuke and Touji blinked in union, then broke out laughing, "Oh man!!" Touji laughed, "That's HARSH! How long did she suffocate you?"
Asuka's face flashed with surprise, probably at the fact that I was willing to admit to letting a girl practically choke me while we kissed. "About two minutes," I said, still holding Asuka's eyes, "and when she finally let me go, she ran to the bathroom and started gargling really loud... making a big deal about how gross it had been..."
At this, I thought Asuka blushed slightly, the corners of her mouth turning down at a severe angle. The odd thing (for me, anyway) is that I didn't care... I hoped that she DID feel bad about it, I know that *I* sure felt like an idiot when she had run to the bathroom that night, making me feel like the gum stuck to the bottom of her shoe.
Touji's next question caught me totally off guard, "So did you like it?" I blinked and he went on, "I mean, even though she suffocated you and all... would you do it again?"
Kensuke spoke up as I hesitated... making it far worse than before, "Yeah, do you still like her?"
Now Asuka was leaning forward in her seat, studying me intently.
"Yeah," I said finally, breaking eye contact, "Yeah, I still like her... and I would kiss her again... if she didn't pinch my nose..." I shook my head and focused on Asuka again, "but after that night... she always treated me like dirt. I don't think she would ever come near me again..."
Asuka averted her eyes, her face once again unreadable.
"Have you gone out with anyone since that?" Kensuke inquired.
"Well," I said reluctantly, "as a Child, I don't... have a lot of time... for stuff like that..."
"Oh," Touji said loudly, "to hell with that! We're going to find you a girlfriend!" He shook his head, "That's just wrong, man!" He looked up, catching Hikari's eyes, "Hey, class rep," he said brightly, "know any girls that would take pity on Shinji here and go out with him?"
He wasn't being quiet, much to my horror, and lots of heads turned. I noticed Mitsuki Rara watching me thoughtfully, and I blushed deeply, trying to avoid her eyes.
Before Hikari could even open her mouth, Asuka answered for her, "No," she said icily, "find your own tramps, stooge!"
I stared at her, shocked at her vehemence, -What's THAT all about?- I wondered as they got up and left, their lunch apparently over.
Touji grinned, "Don't worry," he said consolingly, "we'll find someone for you."
I nodded and looked around, blushing as I noticed several girls giggling at me. -Great...- I thought dejectedly, -now I get to be laughed at... aren't I the lucky one?- As my eyes continued their journey around the room, they caught Mitsuki Rara's light brown ones.
I froze as she smiled softly at me. Not laughing... not teasing... just smiling gently.
I blushed deeper as one second turned into two... then three. -DO SOMETHING!- My mind screamed, and for the first time that I could remember... I listened.
I smiled back at her holding, her eyes firmly the whole time.
Finally, she broke eye contact when her sister slapped her arm, "Come ON!" the more caustic of the two said, "We have a lab experiment to work on, remember??"
Mitsuki flushed a deep red and nodded, standing to leave. As she made her way out of the room, she turned back to me and smiled again... raising her hand in a tiny wave.
I think I might have fainted if Touji hadn't yelled, "Go talk to her!"
My head whipped around and my heart stopped... until I saw that he was talking to Kensuke - who looked absolutely miserable. Taking a brief second to thank my lucky stars that they had not witnessed the exchange, I said, "Talk to who?"
Touji looked at me, shaking his head, "Try and stay current, Ikari... Aida here has a crush on the little blue-haired girl over there," he motioned with his head, not trying to be subtle, "and he refuses to go talk to her... even though she's a year younger."
I looked at the girl he was referring to, finding her sitting with a small cluster of other thirteen year olds. I couldn't see her eyes, as her face was downcast, but she had a pretty face... and her hair was a deep blue, almost purple.
"Touji, shut up!" Kensuke whispered fiercely, "She's shy... you'll make her nervous!"
"If you won't talk to her, I will." Touji threatened, starting to rise.
"NO!" Kensuke grabbed him and hauled him back down, exhibiting more strength than I knew he possessed.
"Fine," Touji said, retaking his seat, "Shinji, you go talk to her for him."
"What?" I said, surprised, "Me? Why?" I looked away, "I... I'm not good at talking to girls..."
Touji shook his head, "Come on! You're doing it for him... he'll NEVER talk to her... besides," he added reasonably, "it's not like you have to ask her out, just find out if she has a boyfriend and stuff!" He pointed, "Now GO!"
I rose reluctantly, "Kensuke..." I said, "do YOU want me to do this?" I prayed he would say no.
He looked from me to the girl then back again, "Yeah..." he said, blushing, "would you, Shinji? Her name is Shinobu..." he added.
I sighed deeply, "Just this once!" I said firmly, -I can't believe I'm doing this...- I thought.
"You're a damn fine man!" Touji exclaimed. As I turned away, he said, "Oh, and good luck with Mitsuki, too..."
-Damn...- I thought, refusing to turn back around and look at the smile I KNEW was on his face.
I slowly walked over to where she was sitting, my stomach twisting in knots, -Come on...- I thought, -Touji's right... it's not like I'M asking her out...- This was SOME consolation... though not much. I was still about to talk to a pretty girl.
"Umm... excuse me..." I said quietly, bowing as I reached the table and trying not to stop breathing as five pairs of eyes (none of them hers) came up to study me with great interest.
All of the eyes widened as I said, "Shinobu? May I speak with you?"
I think her breath froze (much like mine wanted to) and she slowly turned to look up at me, "Me?" She whispered, disbelievingly, "You want to talk... to me?"
I nodded, suddenly hit by how similar she looked to Misato, -Bet that's it...- I thought, -that's why he likes her.-
I realized I was kind of towering over her, since she was shorter than I was and she was sitting down.
I dropped into a crouch so that my eyes were lower than hers, "I was wondering," I began slowly, trying to ignore her friends as they stared, open-mouthed, "are you seeing anyone, Shinobu?" I realized how it sounded a moment after the words left my mouth and she flushed a bright red, "Not for me..." I said quickly, "I... a friend of mine likes you..." I blushed myself, realizing that that ALSO sounded pretty forward. I decided to shut up and see how she replied.
"I..." she dropped her eyes (also a deep shade of blue, I noticed before she averted them), "no... I'm not..." she whispered. "I... I've never been on a date..." she added timidly.
"But she has kissed someone!" A friend of hers piped up.
Shinobu's head came back up, a horrified expression on her face, "SUU!" She squeaked in a tiny little voice.
Her friend went on with a big smile, "Yup! She kissed-"
One of the other girls slapped a hand over Suu's mouth as Shinobu turned to me, her lip trembling, "I..." She tried to speak, then gave up and stared at the floor, embarrassed beyond the capacity for speech.
"That's ok..." I said, "he won't hold that against you..." I smiled as her head come back up, a small smile gracing her lips. "Would you like to go out with my friend sometime?" I asked, feeling once again horribly awkward as I pointed Kensuke out to her.
Kensuke waved timidly.
"I..." her voice was unsure. One of her friends (the one muzzling Suu) tapped her on the shoulder and nodded. Shinobu flushed deeply, "Tell him I would like that..." she whispered.
I repressed the sigh of relief, and smiled, "Ok... next time, he can talk to you himself." I said, feeling proud of myself.
I sat back down with a deep sigh, "Next time..." I said, resting my head on the table, "ask your own girls out..." I closed my eyes, adding, "she said yes."
Kensuke's shout of joy reverberated through the room. I was glad I had my eyes closed so I couldn't see the stares... though Touji told me later that Shinobu did turn a very interesting color. I sat up, meaning to tell him that this probably did not endear him to the girl, when my attention was diverted.
Asuka came back into the cafeteria and strode up to our table, putting her hands down flat and speaking briskly, "All right, stooges, here's the deal: it's time to start paying up."
Touji and Kensuke paled, as did several other nearby students who had been involved in the paintball fight... and had hoped (perhaps) that she had forgotten the bet.
Touji swallowed, "Yeah, fine..." he said sullenly, "a bet's a bet... what do you want us to do?"
Asuka smiled, "I'll cut you a deal, dufus," she said, leaning forward and offering me a nice view of her cleavage (I think I went slightly cross-eyed trying to meet her eyes and appreciate the view at the same time... not that I'm complaining, you understand), "instead of each and every one of you doing something for me," these had been the stakes of the bet... each member of the losing team would have to do something that the other team's captain demanded - without complaining, "I'll let you all off the hook - IF..."
"If?" Touji prodded as she trailed off.
Her eyes locked on mine... and she smiled wickedly, "If Shinji agrees to be my personal slave for an entire week."
"DONE!" Twenty some-odd male voices cried in unison.
"B-but!" I tried to protest, but Touji put his hand on my shoulder.
"Come on man," he said reasonably, "don't be selfish! We'd do it for you!"
Somehow, I doubted him.
Asuka smiled wider, looking back to Touji, "And make no mistake..." she said so that everyone could hear, "I WILL make it hell on all of you..."
Every eye in the cafeteria focused on me.
It was the first time I'd ever wished for an angel attack... though my wish went unanswered. "Well, Third Child?" Asuka said focusing her full attention on me.
I looked up into her eyes, a bit surprised at her quiet tone of voice. Something in those deep, crystal pools spoke of... kindness? No... reassurance. As the silence stretched, I could almost hear her whispering, 'I won't make it bad... I promise...'
I nodded finally, my lips barely moving, "Ok..."
Cheers and sighs of relief erupted around me. Asuka took her hands off of the table and turned away, "Don't stay at school too long, Third Child... I have some things I want you to do when you get home." She turned back to me, smiling broadly, "Understood?"
I swallowed hard, "Yes... ma'am..." I said softly.
"Don't worry," she said with a wink, "I won't be TOO hard on you..." she grabbed my cheek between her fingers and pinched firmly... though not so firmly that it actually hurt.
She giggled as my eyes tried to come out of their sockets, leaving the room with a flip of her hair and a final look back over her shoulder... coupled with the strangest smile I had ever seen on her lips. I couldn't decide if it was sincerity or something else completely... but, oddly... it suited her very well... and I couldn't help smiling back.
Continued...
Author's notes: if the characters that were introduced in this chapter seem familiar, its just because they are from other Animes. One thing I noticed when I started writing a story about children in the Evangelion universe is that, well... there weren't that many actual CHILDREN shown. As a result, I had to borrow some from other shows to flesh things out. I'm too unoriginal to come up with my own character names :P. All Love Hina name spellings come from here: http://www.hinatasou.com/home.html. The Dual! Name spellings and other information come from the character biographies on the DVDs and from this web page: http://dualpta.tripod.com/char/index.html. (I chose the information on the web page for Mitsuki Rara over the DVD info, because the DVD has her being 21... and I thought she acted more like 17 - which the web page says - in the show). The Kare Kano Name spellings come from http://www.crosswinds.net/~sana_chan/index02.html.
New Disclaimer: Gainax animation owns all rights to the characters in Neon Genesis Evangelion and Kareshi Kanojo No Jijou (sometimes abbreviated as Kare Kano). All rights to the characters from Dual! Parallel trouble adventure owned by AIC/Pioneer LDC (according to Ryoma's DVDs - and thanks to him for letting me borrow them). All rights to the characters from Love Hina owned by Ken Akamatsu (as near as I can tell from the web pages I've found). I take no credit for ANY of the characters in this story, and should the rightful owners of any of them ask that I remove this story, I will gladly do so rather than face legal action.
Thanks to Ryoma for the excellent idea on the Mitsuki Sanada/Asuka interaction... hope I did it right. ;) and thanks to JobFaust for pre-reading and catching some mistakes.
Feedback is always welcome at random1377@yahoo.com
Children
Part 4
Kiss and tell
By Random1377
One nice thing about making your own lunch and bringing it to school is that you never have to eat cafeteria food. Fortunately, I've only had to eat the 'food' in our cafeteria once or twice.
To be perfectly honest, I didn't even know we HAD a cafeteria until Touji (who else?) pointed it out to me one day when I forgot my lunch.
It was my first bout with food poisoning.
One thing that was nice about the cafeteria, though, was that it offered us the chance to sit and look at all the pretty girls while we ate... umm, I mean study while we ate... yeah, study.
"Check her out!" Kensuke whispered, 'pointing' with his eyes at one of the transfer students from America, a girl with shoulder-length blonde hair and VERY long legs.
We all sighed in appreciation.
"She's nice," Touji conceded, "but give me one of the Mitsukis any day..." he inclined his head (very subtly) to his right, and I stole a glance over that way.
The girls were sitting at the table against the far wall... and they were engaging in a heated argument.
Well... Mitsuki Sanada was, anyway - gesturing wildly and making no attempt to be quiet. Her sister, Mitsuki Rara, was calmly eating her lunch and responding in a low voice... so low I couldn't hear it over the crowd, but I could see her lips moving.
It was a given fact that the two Mitsukis were among the hottest girls in school, second only to Asuka in the last guy-poll (these were conducted quietly, secretly, and with a LOT of glances over the shoulder to make sure none of the girls in question happened by). This fact seemed to irritate both Mitsuki Sanada AND Asuka... though why either of them would care is beyond me.
I once overheard them arguing about it... standing in the middle of the hall, and ignoring the various stares, catcalls, and shouts of encouragement. 'You think you're SOOO hot, don't you!' Asuka had said, putting her hands on her hips, 'You're NOTHING, do you hear me? Just a pathetic little tramp, so wrapped up in that Kazuki kid that you failed your last test.'
'Puh-lease,' Mitsuki had replied, crossing her arms, 'like you'd know anything about it, freshie. And what makes you so damned cool, anyway? Those stupid little hair clips you always wear?' She reached into her backpack suddenly, 'Here,' she said, handing Asuka a handful of change, 'go buy some fashion sense.'
Asuka had slapped the money out of her hand, 'FRESHIE!?' Her face had turned bright red, and her fists clenched at her sides, 'I finished college, you BITCH! And they're not 'hairclips' they're neural connectors... they let me sync with my EVA - which has saved your ASS!'
Mitsuki had yawned, 'Yeah, yeah... I've seen your robot. Big deal. Its big, it stomps around, it ruins half the city in one fall... but at least it's red. Good color."
Before the spat had elevated into an all-out brawl, the bell had rung. The girls had glared at each other for another thirty seconds, then spun around at exactly the same time and stomped off in opposite directions.
"They are both very nice..." I said, bringing myself back to the present and tearing my eyes away from Mitsuki Rara's long, light-brown hair with some difficulty, "but why do they have the same name? Isn't that a little odd?"
"You want to know my theory?" Kensuke said, leaning forward with an intense look on his face.
"Not this again!" Touji groaned in disgust.
Kensuke ignored him, "I think they're really the same girl - and one of them is from a parallel world. You just don't get two girls that good looking without extraordinary circum-"
"They're twins, you dipshit!" Touji exploded.
Kensuke was not to be deterred, "Then how do you explain the fact that they have different mothers? And I've heard that both of them claim that the girls are theirs."
"One of them remarried, dumbass!" Touji replied, "And besides..."
As they continued to argue I tuned them out, concentrating instead on Asuka as she and Hikari sat down at the table across from us... pointedly ignoring our presence. In the last two days she had been surprisingly neutral towards me... not even mentioning the paintball game (and my... insubordination) at all. This last detail worried Touji and Kensuke... a lot.
"Earth to Shinji, hello?" I realized that Touji was talking to me.
"Huh?" I said, turning around.
Kensuke spoke up, skeptically, "We were discussing the possibility of going out with girls of that caliber," I rolled my eyes. Kensuke took any chance to mention firearms that he could, "and Touji here claims he kissed Miho yesterday..." his face said loud and clear that he didn't buy it for a second.
Neither did I, "Izawa? The senior?" I said, "Yeah, right... maybe last night in your dreams... perv."
At the mention of the girl's name, Hikari's head whipped around... and I would have sworn she said something involving the word, 'whore...' but I know that can't be... Hikari's too straight laced. And besides - why would she care if Miho was kissing Touji?
I looked around for the girl in question, finally locating her near the back of the room with a group of her friends. I took in her long, black hair and pretty face, thinking, -If he's telling the truth... he's a lucky man...- I froze as her eyes met mine for a moment. They were almost the same color as mine, but they held a hint of green in the deep, dark blue. She also had a mole under her right eye, kind of like Doctor Akagi's.
She didn't hold my gaze. Instead, her eyes continued on their path to finding Touji... and stopped, a faint trace of a smile appearing briefly on her full lips before she looked away.
I blinked, unsure I had seen the smile at all, -Maybe he did...- I thought with some amazement.
"It happened!" Touji said indignantly, "Right after third period, in the stairway between the first and second floor. She grabbed the back of my head and laid it on me - hell, she even stuck her tongue in my mouth!"
"Bullshit." Kensuke said flatly, "There is no way a girl THAT hot would be interested in a sophomore... no way!"
"He's right, Touji..." I agreed with some reluctance, -I hate confrontation,- I thought miserably, "it DOES seem kind of hard to believe. I mean, would you believe ME if I told you I'd kissed Mitsuki?"
"Which one?" Touji said, "Because if you're talking about Mitsuki Rara... maybe..." he leaned further over, "I heard she's got a thing for you, my man." I blinked -HARD- as he went on, "And besides," he said belligerently, taking the offensive (and I DO mean OFFENSIVE), as he grew more upset by our continued disbelief, "have you EVER kissed a girl, Shinji? Didn't think so, so shut up!"
"Actually, I have..." I said quietly, hoping Asuka was not listening. I turned her way and found her blue eyes digging into mine. She was frowning slightly.
"Details!" Kensuke yelled, "GIVE!"
"I..." I hesitated as Asuka's frown deepened and she shook her head once... left to right... very slowly.
I looked at my two friends, who had leaned forward to hear, "Come on, man!" Touji pressed, "I told you all about mine... now talk!"
I hesitated a moment longer, then said, "Ok... it was back in my old town..." Asuka smiled and relaxed visibly. I frowned, -Why should I be the only uncomfortable one?- I thought with a sudden flare of anger, -Let's see how she likes it!- I leaned further forward, "She asked me if I wanted to kiss her... I didn't really want to, but I did it anyway."
Asuka blinked in surprise, and Touji said, "Was she cute? Why wouldn't you want to kiss her?"
I smiled slightly at Asuka, -How does it feel, Second Child?- I thought, "I didn't really want too because she only wanted to do it to kill time... she didn't really like me at all... and yeah... she was pretty - really pretty..."
I wished that I could read the expression on her face, but she smoothed her features as she saw me looking at her. I continued, watching for any reaction at all, "When I finally agreed - after she asked if I was scared - she said my breath was tickling her, so she pinched my nose closed... I couldn't breathe."
Kensuke and Touji blinked in union, then broke out laughing, "Oh man!!" Touji laughed, "That's HARSH! How long did she suffocate you?"
Asuka's face flashed with surprise, probably at the fact that I was willing to admit to letting a girl practically choke me while we kissed. "About two minutes," I said, still holding Asuka's eyes, "and when she finally let me go, she ran to the bathroom and started gargling really loud... making a big deal about how gross it had been..."
At this, I thought Asuka blushed slightly, the corners of her mouth turning down at a severe angle. The odd thing (for me, anyway) is that I didn't care... I hoped that she DID feel bad about it, I know that *I* sure felt like an idiot when she had run to the bathroom that night, making me feel like the gum stuck to the bottom of her shoe.
Touji's next question caught me totally off guard, "So did you like it?" I blinked and he went on, "I mean, even though she suffocated you and all... would you do it again?"
Kensuke spoke up as I hesitated... making it far worse than before, "Yeah, do you still like her?"
Now Asuka was leaning forward in her seat, studying me intently.
"Yeah," I said finally, breaking eye contact, "Yeah, I still like her... and I would kiss her again... if she didn't pinch my nose..." I shook my head and focused on Asuka again, "but after that night... she always treated me like dirt. I don't think she would ever come near me again..."
Asuka averted her eyes, her face once again unreadable.
"Have you gone out with anyone since that?" Kensuke inquired.
"Well," I said reluctantly, "as a Child, I don't... have a lot of time... for stuff like that..."
"Oh," Touji said loudly, "to hell with that! We're going to find you a girlfriend!" He shook his head, "That's just wrong, man!" He looked up, catching Hikari's eyes, "Hey, class rep," he said brightly, "know any girls that would take pity on Shinji here and go out with him?"
He wasn't being quiet, much to my horror, and lots of heads turned. I noticed Mitsuki Rara watching me thoughtfully, and I blushed deeply, trying to avoid her eyes.
Before Hikari could even open her mouth, Asuka answered for her, "No," she said icily, "find your own tramps, stooge!"
I stared at her, shocked at her vehemence, -What's THAT all about?- I wondered as they got up and left, their lunch apparently over.
Touji grinned, "Don't worry," he said consolingly, "we'll find someone for you."
I nodded and looked around, blushing as I noticed several girls giggling at me. -Great...- I thought dejectedly, -now I get to be laughed at... aren't I the lucky one?- As my eyes continued their journey around the room, they caught Mitsuki Rara's light brown ones.
I froze as she smiled softly at me. Not laughing... not teasing... just smiling gently.
I blushed deeper as one second turned into two... then three. -DO SOMETHING!- My mind screamed, and for the first time that I could remember... I listened.
I smiled back at her holding, her eyes firmly the whole time.
Finally, she broke eye contact when her sister slapped her arm, "Come ON!" the more caustic of the two said, "We have a lab experiment to work on, remember??"
Mitsuki flushed a deep red and nodded, standing to leave. As she made her way out of the room, she turned back to me and smiled again... raising her hand in a tiny wave.
I think I might have fainted if Touji hadn't yelled, "Go talk to her!"
My head whipped around and my heart stopped... until I saw that he was talking to Kensuke - who looked absolutely miserable. Taking a brief second to thank my lucky stars that they had not witnessed the exchange, I said, "Talk to who?"
Touji looked at me, shaking his head, "Try and stay current, Ikari... Aida here has a crush on the little blue-haired girl over there," he motioned with his head, not trying to be subtle, "and he refuses to go talk to her... even though she's a year younger."
I looked at the girl he was referring to, finding her sitting with a small cluster of other thirteen year olds. I couldn't see her eyes, as her face was downcast, but she had a pretty face... and her hair was a deep blue, almost purple.
"Touji, shut up!" Kensuke whispered fiercely, "She's shy... you'll make her nervous!"
"If you won't talk to her, I will." Touji threatened, starting to rise.
"NO!" Kensuke grabbed him and hauled him back down, exhibiting more strength than I knew he possessed.
"Fine," Touji said, retaking his seat, "Shinji, you go talk to her for him."
"What?" I said, surprised, "Me? Why?" I looked away, "I... I'm not good at talking to girls..."
Touji shook his head, "Come on! You're doing it for him... he'll NEVER talk to her... besides," he added reasonably, "it's not like you have to ask her out, just find out if she has a boyfriend and stuff!" He pointed, "Now GO!"
I rose reluctantly, "Kensuke..." I said, "do YOU want me to do this?" I prayed he would say no.
He looked from me to the girl then back again, "Yeah..." he said, blushing, "would you, Shinji? Her name is Shinobu..." he added.
I sighed deeply, "Just this once!" I said firmly, -I can't believe I'm doing this...- I thought.
"You're a damn fine man!" Touji exclaimed. As I turned away, he said, "Oh, and good luck with Mitsuki, too..."
-Damn...- I thought, refusing to turn back around and look at the smile I KNEW was on his face.
I slowly walked over to where she was sitting, my stomach twisting in knots, -Come on...- I thought, -Touji's right... it's not like I'M asking her out...- This was SOME consolation... though not much. I was still about to talk to a pretty girl.
"Umm... excuse me..." I said quietly, bowing as I reached the table and trying not to stop breathing as five pairs of eyes (none of them hers) came up to study me with great interest.
All of the eyes widened as I said, "Shinobu? May I speak with you?"
I think her breath froze (much like mine wanted to) and she slowly turned to look up at me, "Me?" She whispered, disbelievingly, "You want to talk... to me?"
I nodded, suddenly hit by how similar she looked to Misato, -Bet that's it...- I thought, -that's why he likes her.-
I realized I was kind of towering over her, since she was shorter than I was and she was sitting down.
I dropped into a crouch so that my eyes were lower than hers, "I was wondering," I began slowly, trying to ignore her friends as they stared, open-mouthed, "are you seeing anyone, Shinobu?" I realized how it sounded a moment after the words left my mouth and she flushed a bright red, "Not for me..." I said quickly, "I... a friend of mine likes you..." I blushed myself, realizing that that ALSO sounded pretty forward. I decided to shut up and see how she replied.
"I..." she dropped her eyes (also a deep shade of blue, I noticed before she averted them), "no... I'm not..." she whispered. "I... I've never been on a date..." she added timidly.
"But she has kissed someone!" A friend of hers piped up.
Shinobu's head came back up, a horrified expression on her face, "SUU!" She squeaked in a tiny little voice.
Her friend went on with a big smile, "Yup! She kissed-"
One of the other girls slapped a hand over Suu's mouth as Shinobu turned to me, her lip trembling, "I..." She tried to speak, then gave up and stared at the floor, embarrassed beyond the capacity for speech.
"That's ok..." I said, "he won't hold that against you..." I smiled as her head come back up, a small smile gracing her lips. "Would you like to go out with my friend sometime?" I asked, feeling once again horribly awkward as I pointed Kensuke out to her.
Kensuke waved timidly.
"I..." her voice was unsure. One of her friends (the one muzzling Suu) tapped her on the shoulder and nodded. Shinobu flushed deeply, "Tell him I would like that..." she whispered.
I repressed the sigh of relief, and smiled, "Ok... next time, he can talk to you himself." I said, feeling proud of myself.
I sat back down with a deep sigh, "Next time..." I said, resting my head on the table, "ask your own girls out..." I closed my eyes, adding, "she said yes."
Kensuke's shout of joy reverberated through the room. I was glad I had my eyes closed so I couldn't see the stares... though Touji told me later that Shinobu did turn a very interesting color. I sat up, meaning to tell him that this probably did not endear him to the girl, when my attention was diverted.
Asuka came back into the cafeteria and strode up to our table, putting her hands down flat and speaking briskly, "All right, stooges, here's the deal: it's time to start paying up."
Touji and Kensuke paled, as did several other nearby students who had been involved in the paintball fight... and had hoped (perhaps) that she had forgotten the bet.
Touji swallowed, "Yeah, fine..." he said sullenly, "a bet's a bet... what do you want us to do?"
Asuka smiled, "I'll cut you a deal, dufus," she said, leaning forward and offering me a nice view of her cleavage (I think I went slightly cross-eyed trying to meet her eyes and appreciate the view at the same time... not that I'm complaining, you understand), "instead of each and every one of you doing something for me," these had been the stakes of the bet... each member of the losing team would have to do something that the other team's captain demanded - without complaining, "I'll let you all off the hook - IF..."
"If?" Touji prodded as she trailed off.
Her eyes locked on mine... and she smiled wickedly, "If Shinji agrees to be my personal slave for an entire week."
"DONE!" Twenty some-odd male voices cried in unison.
"B-but!" I tried to protest, but Touji put his hand on my shoulder.
"Come on man," he said reasonably, "don't be selfish! We'd do it for you!"
Somehow, I doubted him.
Asuka smiled wider, looking back to Touji, "And make no mistake..." she said so that everyone could hear, "I WILL make it hell on all of you..."
Every eye in the cafeteria focused on me.
It was the first time I'd ever wished for an angel attack... though my wish went unanswered. "Well, Third Child?" Asuka said focusing her full attention on me.
I looked up into her eyes, a bit surprised at her quiet tone of voice. Something in those deep, crystal pools spoke of... kindness? No... reassurance. As the silence stretched, I could almost hear her whispering, 'I won't make it bad... I promise...'
I nodded finally, my lips barely moving, "Ok..."
Cheers and sighs of relief erupted around me. Asuka took her hands off of the table and turned away, "Don't stay at school too long, Third Child... I have some things I want you to do when you get home." She turned back to me, smiling broadly, "Understood?"
I swallowed hard, "Yes... ma'am..." I said softly.
"Don't worry," she said with a wink, "I won't be TOO hard on you..." she grabbed my cheek between her fingers and pinched firmly... though not so firmly that it actually hurt.
She giggled as my eyes tried to come out of their sockets, leaving the room with a flip of her hair and a final look back over her shoulder... coupled with the strangest smile I had ever seen on her lips. I couldn't decide if it was sincerity or something else completely... but, oddly... it suited her very well... and I couldn't help smiling back.
Continued...
Author's notes: if the characters that were introduced in this chapter seem familiar, its just because they are from other Animes. One thing I noticed when I started writing a story about children in the Evangelion universe is that, well... there weren't that many actual CHILDREN shown. As a result, I had to borrow some from other shows to flesh things out. I'm too unoriginal to come up with my own character names :P. All Love Hina name spellings come from here: http://www.hinatasou.com/home.html. The Dual! Name spellings and other information come from the character biographies on the DVDs and from this web page: http://dualpta.tripod.com/char/index.html. (I chose the information on the web page for Mitsuki Rara over the DVD info, because the DVD has her being 21... and I thought she acted more like 17 - which the web page says - in the show). The Kare Kano Name spellings come from http://www.crosswinds.net/~sana_chan/index02.html.
New Disclaimer: Gainax animation owns all rights to the characters in Neon Genesis Evangelion and Kareshi Kanojo No Jijou (sometimes abbreviated as Kare Kano). All rights to the characters from Dual! Parallel trouble adventure owned by AIC/Pioneer LDC (according to Ryoma's DVDs - and thanks to him for letting me borrow them). All rights to the characters from Love Hina owned by Ken Akamatsu (as near as I can tell from the web pages I've found). I take no credit for ANY of the characters in this story, and should the rightful owners of any of them ask that I remove this story, I will gladly do so rather than face legal action.
Thanks to Ryoma for the excellent idea on the Mitsuki Sanada/Asuka interaction... hope I did it right. ;) and thanks to JobFaust for pre-reading and catching some mistakes.
Feedback is always welcome at random1377@yahoo.com