Chapter Nine: Of Asuka's Strange and Sudden Attraction to Shinji, and the Unusual Friendship That Develops Between Our Heroine and the Class Representative

Asuka lay on Shinji's bed, her eyes opened wide in apparent catatonia, her hair sprawled out beneath her, unkempt and tangled, still wet from the shower. Flecks of dirt spotted her face, despite the fact that she had just washed.

Wearing only her underwear, she lay under the covers as Shinji gazed down at her.

"Asuka..." he whispered. She didn't respond, except for a very slight movement of her head.

Asuka had returned home from Rei's apartment completely changed. Her head, which she normally held high, dipped down to an angle that was more commonly seen with Shinji. Her eyes were lifeless, her step was uneven. Muttering under her breath, she went immediately towards the bathroom, and had remained in there for quite some time. Afterwards, having emerged from the bathroom soaking wet and almost naked, she had thrown herself onto his bed. The blankets still stuck to her body, which was wet from the shower.

He called to her, asking her what was wrong, but she made no indication of having heard him. Climbing underneath the covers, seeking some kind of warmth, she didn't respond to his voice in the slightest.

"Asuka...." he whispered.

"Asuka...?" he said again, his voice rising to just above a whisper, almost reaching a pathetic whine.

There was still no response.

"Is this... for real?"

He stood there silently, not knowing what to say or do.

-If this really were an anime, I'd know exactly what to do.-

He sniffled.

-I'd say, 'I love you', or 'I need you' or maybe I'd just yell, 'Wake up!'-

He sniffled again, and wiped a newly formed tear away from his face.

-What's going on in your head? I never know what you're thinking. I don't know anything. Are you faking this right now? Are you going to sit up and start laughing at me? Make fun of me?-

-I don't even know if 'Asuka Langley Sohryu' is your real name. I don't know you at all. Maybe no one does. Maybe...-

Asuka sat up, interrupting his introspective thoughts and causing him to gasp in surprise. Her eyes half closed in a seductive manner, she grabbed his arm and pulled him forward. He stumbled, caught by surprise, and landed on top of her, the softness of her body beneath him, the two of them separated only by the thin layer of the bed's covers.

Before he could regain his feet and stammer out an apology, she caught him in an embrace.

"I've been waiting so long for this..." she said, and kissed him on the lips.

Eyes wide open in shock, he remained completely still as Asuka gave him the chaste yet enduring kiss, her arms wrapped around him, her hands caressing him softly. His arms, supporting his weight on the bed, slackened, and his weight pressed down gently on the girl beneath him.

The kiss was unexpected, and felt very strange on his inexperienced lips. He'd always expected that the sensation of being kissed would be an intense feeling, like a jolt of electricity. The actual sensation was much different, much milder. Mild, but pleasant.

Closing his eyes, he surrendered to her lips.

The first kiss between them had been lost to his dreams. He had been half asleep at the time. This kiss was very different, very real; there was no denying that Asuka was serious about it, this time. When she had spoken, her voice had been sweet and full of desire.

He closed his eyes, and let the chaste kiss continue to endure. He lost himself in her scent; the lingering fragrance of soap and shampoo, contrasted with the earthy smell of mud. She lifted a hand to his face, stroking his smooth cheek. She drew her hand back in surprise, but she didn't pull away from him, or disengage her lips from his. It worried Shinji for a moment that Asuka had found something strange about the feel of his face, but this anxious line of thought was soon forgotten. Her lips took precedence even over his own mountainous self doubt. So, they continued to kiss, and Asuka became more and more adventurous with each passing second.

It was when Asuka's tongue managed to find it's way into Shinji's mouth that he pulled away from her, shocked by the strange, erotic and unfamiliar sensation. Her gaze met his uncertain eyes as their lips parted. Looking into her eyes, which seemed to be expressing something similar to love, a giddy joy rose up inside him, and he suddenly realized the full implications what had just happened between them..

There had been no mockery in that kiss. Somehow, for some reason, Asuka wanted him. She desired him.

Maybe she even loved him.

"Kaji..." she said softly, "It's been so long."

"Huh?"

She laughed and embraced him again, her head against his chest.

"It's about time you kissed me, you jerk," she said teasingly.

Shinji, not knowing how to react to this, lay completely still as Asuka rubbed against him, her eyes closed peacefully. One of his legs dangled off the side of the bed and his movement was restricted by Asuka's embrace. His weight was supported only by the girl beneath him.

"You made me wait for so long, and you never told me how you felt about me..." she whispered, looking up at him sadly, "I was starting to think you would ignore me forever. Why did you treat me like that, Kaji? How could you be so cruel?"

"Uhh..." replied Shinji, his body stiff and unmoving as she gently caressed his back. He had absolutely no idea what to say or do.

"Kaji... don't play with me any more," she said, her voice overflowing with wistful want, "I need you to tell me your true feelings, right now."

"Hhu..." Shinji mumbled incoherently, as he did his best to divert his eyes from the bewitching girl that lay beneath him. She took this as an affirmative answer, and wrapped her arms around him once again.

"Stay here with me tonight Kaji," she begged, "I don't... I mean... we don't have to do anything tonight, but I want you to stay here." She looked at him with pleading eyes.

He opened his mouth to speak, lips quivering. "O-okay."

Hearing this, Asuka temporarily released Shinji and he, ignoring everything sensible that his mind was telling him, joined her underneath the covers.

Shinji, his breath coming rapidly, his face blushing hotly, tentatively draped an arm over Asuka's shoulder as she turned to face him, smiling. "Kaji, I'm so glad you're here," she cooed.

She hugged him tightly, resting her head against his chest, his heart pounding it's soothing rhythm much more quickly than usual. She fell into a peaceful sleep almost immediately, listening to this unending instrument as it played.

Shinji, his emotions tangled in a confused mix of terror and lust, happiness and sadness, fell into merciful sleep a long while after. -

When Shinji woke, he was relieved to see that Asuka hadn't. There was no telling how long the delusion would last, and he had no idea what she would have done if she had woken up with him sleeping next to her. It didn't seem unlikely that she might have attacked him, calling him something like "Abdiel" or "Asiel".

Rising from the bed with a stealth born of terror, he succeeded in not waking the girl, leaving her to her peaceful sleep.

He stood there for a moment, looking on as Asuka slept, and realized that he was faced with a dilemma.

If he left Asuka as she was, and let her sleep the day away, she would undoubtedly be very angry. She had made it very clear to him, after the first incident with Touji, that the two of them were not to be separated for extended periods of time.

But if he woke her up, there was no telling what she might do. Her reaction could be anything; she might kiss him, she might kill him, she might behave as she usual. There was no way of predicting.

Asuka had left him more confused than ever. Was she attracted to him?

For a moment he allowed himself to believe that her actions from the previous night had not been initiated by delusion. Perhaps she hadn't really believed that he was 'Kaji', a person she had described as being 'cool', and had just been using that as an excuse?

No, that idea was completely ridiculous.

He made his decision. He would risk Asuka's wrath, and let her sleep. The school would be full of people, and would therefore be much safer.

He quickly showered and dressed, and was on his way out the door when a tired voice interrupted him.

"Shinji," Asuka said, yawning, "Why didn't you wake me up? We're gonna be late for school."

-

Shinji and Asuka walked together, unhurried despite their lateness.

"I don't know how I ended up on the bed. I must've been sleepwalking or something. I had a really good dream last night, though, maybe I'll sleep there from now on. Kaji is so cool...

"I'm getting really tired of going to school every day. There are so many other things I could be doing with my time. It just seems pointless. I mean, it's important that we stay close so that we can defeat the angels and everything, but... Oh, well. I guess I might as well get used to it. We've still got twelve angels to go, thirteen if you count the last one..."

Shinji listened as Asuka talked endlessly, walking silently beside her.

"I wish I didn't have to hang out with you all the time. Why can't you be more cool? I mean, I know you have to be angsty and everything, but you've got all that repressed anger... why don't you ever use it? Like, maybe you could get in a fight at school or something... and then, after this guy has just beat the crap out of you, you could take it out on an angel. It would work perfectly. How about we try doing that this afternoon?"

Shinji sighed. "But Asuka..."

The rest of this conversation passed in a predictable fashion, with Shinji giving constant protestations as to why it would be unnecessary for him to be injured, and Asuka remaining persistent in her goal of subjecting him to some sort of injury.

-

The morning passed relatively peacefully as the students sat in their classrooms, until a certain message was sent to Shinji's computer screen.

It read: Shinji, bring Touji with you during lunch. I've got a plan. Don't argue, don't type anything back, just do it.
The last two words, blinking annoyingly on his screen in boldface, left him with no argument. Shinji felt that he had no choice but to do as she requested, just hoping that things would work out somehow.

-

"So she thought you were somebody else. Big deal," said Touji shrugging casually as the three of them walked down the school hallway, "It's happened to me a couple a' times."

"But with you... she didn't..." Shinji looked away, blushing very slightly.

Kensuke snickered. "Yeah, she just tried to kill him."

"Twice," Touji added, "Three times if you count that time when she was shouting 'Asuka kick' and everything."

"Asuka is just so..." Shinji said, trailing off. He sighed dejectedly.

"Psychotic? Bitchy? Bossy? Loud? Rude?" offered Touji.

"...she's just so hard to understand," said Shinji, shaking his head hopelessly.

"What makes you think you have to understand her?" offered Kensuke, "If you're tired of dealing with her, just kick her out. It's your house, right?"

"Kick her out...?" The idea had occurred to him, but it had passed out of his consideration so quickly that it almost seemed like a new idea, coming from someone else.

"Yeah, she's bugging you, isn't she?" Touji said, "Kensuke's right. You should just kick her to the curb. Why not?"

-

Hikari approached the girl with more than a little trepidation.

The girl had proven to be very disruptive from the first day she'd arrived. She'd also missed several days of school, and had even started a fight, if the rumors were true. Hikari felt obligated to speak to the girl personally before the teacher was forced to act on her behavior, but was a little nervous of how the girl might react. If it was true that she had picked a fight with a larger boy, then she certainly wasn't a girl to be taken lightly.

"Excuse me? Sohryu?"

The girl was sitting silently on a bench, seemingly lost in thought.

"Call me 'Asuka'," she said, not looking in Hikari's direction.

"Asuka, I need to talk to you," she said, taking a firm tone. She didn't take kindly to people who ignored her. In addition to being loud and disruptive, Asuka was also very rude, apparently.

"What do you want?" Asuka asked, irritated, "I'm kind of distracted right now. I'm in the middle of something."

"Distracted?" asked Hikari, confused, "But you're just sitting there. It's lunchtime."

Asuka shrugged. "I've always got a lot on my mind. I've got a lot of responsibility, ya know?"

Hikari could certainly understand that. "Responsibility? What do you mean?"

"Well, I shouldn't talk about it too much. It's classified."

Hikari's eyes went wide. "Really?"

"Yeah," Asuka replied, casual. "I'm a very important person. I just wish I didn't always have to put up with so much whining and complaining all the time."

"From who?" Hikari asked, genuinely curious.

"Shinji. He always has something stupid to say. He's such a complete idiot."

"Shinji?" Hikari asked, confused, "That quiet guy? I think I've seen you talking to him before."

"He never does what I tell him... he always has some excuse."

"Like what?"

"He always says, 'That's impossible,' or 'I can't do it,' or 'Are you crazy?' There's always something, you know?" said Asuka, shaking her head in remembered frustration from earlier that morning.

"And, 'That's too hard for me, I can't do it.' That sort of thing?" Hikari asked, a hint of hope in her voice.

"Yeah, and he's always slacking off, trying to get out of doing stuff, even when I threaten him."

"I understand completely..." Hikari whispered, clasping her hands in front of her..

"Hold on a second. Hey, Shinji! Over here!" Asuka yelled, spotting the boy as he turned the corner of a nearby building, flanked by his two friends.

"Play along," she whispered to Hikari,

"What? What do you mean?"

"Don't worry. Just play along. This is important," Asuka whispered, then turned her attention to the approaching boys. "Hey, Shinji, did you tell Touji yet?"

Asuka was surprised to note that Shinji seemed to be fairly alarmed by this. She hadn't expected him to actually play along with her.

"Uhh..."

Asuka continued, "Hikari here has been telling me a few things, isn't that right Hikari?"

"I guess so..." she said, sounding very unsure of herself.

"What the hell are you talking about?" asked Touji, glaring at Asuka suspiciously.

"Well, you see, Shinji here is a pervert," Asuka explained, "He decided that he wanted to force himself on this girl right here. It's always the quiet ones..." Hikari turned to Asuka with a shocked expression, but said nothing.

"What!?" exclaimed Shinji, his eyes widening as he took a step back.

"Do you really expect anyone to believe that?" asked Touji skeptically, "Everyone knows you're a nut."

Asuka, reigning in her temper, turned to Shinji. "Shinji, come to my defense," she commanded.

"But I..."

Asuka glared at Shinji furiously, causing him to stop in mid sentence. "'Scuse us for a second," Asuka snarled, pulling Shinji aside.

Grabbing him by the collar, she whispered harshly, "Listen. If I tell you to do something, you do it. This isn't a game. I'm doing all the work for you anyway, so stop being stupid!"

"Okay...!" he whispered, leaning backwards in intimidation, eyes wide with frightened innocence.

She loosed his collar and turned back to the onlooking boys. Taking a haughty pose, she said, "Now, you'll have to deal with Shinji."

Kensuke suppressed his laughter, but Touji did not.

"You've gotta be kidding me, psycho girl!" he said, laughing boisterously, "You really think you can make me and Shinji fight?"

"Shut up!" she said, her voice rising in pitch, "This is important! You two don't have a choice!"

"Um... Asuka?" Hikari said, speaking in a soft, hesitant voice. "I don't think there's a reason for anyone to be fighting..."

"You too Hikari? Well, fine then!" she said angrily, and grabbed Shinji by the shirt again. "If no one else is willing to help me... I'll kick his ass myself!"

"Now hold on a second," said Touji, cracking his knuckles, "I don't think ANYONE is going to be kicking Shinji's ass today."

Hikari, looking back and forth between Shinji, Asuka and Touji, was very confused. "Asuka, I really don't think you two should fight."

"It wouldn't be a fight," Asuka argued, "I'm just gonna slap him around a little bit."

Shinji awkwardly stood with his hands at his sides, insulted, but not willing to antagonize the girl, who was behaving even more strangely than usual.

"Asuka..." Shinji said, giving her a pleading look.

"Hey, don't blame me," she said, letting go of him and holding up her hands, "Someone's got to do it, or you'll never be any use against the angels."

"Hold on a second," said Kensuke, finally speaking, "I've got an idea. You just need Shinji to get in a fight, right?"

"Kensuke..." said Touji, shaking his head in disbelief, "Are you actually trying to reason with her?"

"Just hear me out," he insisted. "What if Touji just punches Shinji once or twice in the face? Would that be okay?"

"Now just hold on right there..." said Touji, giving his friend a nasty look, "Don't just go making deals like that. No one's gonna be hittin' Shinji tod-"

"That'd be just fine," interrupted Asuka. "Twice would be good."

Hikari rose to her feet and sighed, closing her eyes. She opened them, and spoke with her best authoritative tone, "Listen you guys, I really didn't want to have to do this, but I can't let there be any fighting here. If you're going to fight, do it outside of school."

"No, it's okay," insisted Asuka, "This is official pilot business. Somebody has to kick Shinji's ass. The world is at stake here."

"This is the girl that was getting all lovey-dovey with you last night, Shinji?" asked Touji doubtfully, "Seems like she's got it in for ya now."

Hearing this, Asuka became slightly confused and very suspicious. "Shinji," she said, her voice level, "What exactly have you been telling your friends about me?"

-

Shinji and Asuka walked home, Shinji with a very noticeable purplish bruise on his right cheek.

"Well, I guess it all worked out in the end, you know?" said Asuka, shrugging.

"Yeah," muttered Shinji, his eyes on the pavement.


End Chapter Nine


Thanks go to Autophage and Backspaced for pre reading.