I don't own anything. (My new idiot-proof disclaimer.)
Lycanthrope
-Chapter Five: Hunting
Misato watched as Shinji pushed the door to the apartment open and stepped inside. "I'm home."
"Where have you been?" she demanded. "You weren't supposed to leave your hospital room!"
"I was out," Shinji said as he pulled off his leather jacket. "I had to go see someone."
"Who?" Misato demanded. "And what did you do to the Section-2 agent?"
"I hit him," Shinji said cheerfully. "Is he still alive?"
"Yeah," Misato said. "You broke his collar. . ." She stopped speaking when she noticed the disappointed look on her charge's face.
"I need to practice," he muttered as he walked past her into his room. Misato stared at the closed door for a moment and finally picked up the beer she had been drinking before Shinji had walked in. She took a long drink and collapsed onto the couch in front of the TV.
"It must be hormones," she decided finally. Shinji walked back out of his room and sat next to her. 'Should I give him the talk?' Misato wondered.
"I'm going to go out for dinner," Shinji said, cutting off her train of thought. "I might be back before mourning."
"Are you sure that's safe?" Misato asked. "That animal that attacked you is still out there."
"He won't bother me," Shinji said simply.
"Why are you so sure?" Misato asked. Shinji just shrugged. "Then where are you going for dinner?"
"I'll just wonder around until something looks appetizing," Shinji said before he began laughing like that was a hilarious joke. 'I don't get it,' Misato thought.
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Bob looked around the city and scratched his head. He had seen Shinji come this way. It had really been a stroke of luck that he had spotted the young lycan. "Now where did he go?" A single gunshot rang out and Bob whipped around while drawing his pistol. He quickly ran down an alleyway and nearly rammed into the object of his search.
"Hey Pops."
"Are you alright?" Bob demanded, holding the young man at arms length and examining the deep scratches on his face. There were three. They started on his forehead under his bangs, ran down across his left eye, and ended on his jaw bone. There was also a great deal of blood splattered across his white T-shirt. "You're lucky you still have that eye. Where else are you hurt?"
"Here," Shinji said, as he held out both his hands. On both of his forearms were deep puncture wounds. Shinji flipped his hands over and revealed another deep mark on each of his arms. "That asshole had a tight grip," he said in explanation.
"Asshole?" Bob asked as he leaned to the left to look behind the young lycan. On the ground in the alleyway was the body of a full-grown man lying face down. Bob moved to stand beside the corpse and rolled him over. The first thing was caught his eyes was the gaping hole in the man's chest. The second was the long fangs that had taken the place of the man's canine teeth. "A vampire?"
"Yup," Shinji said as he ran a finger along the cuts on his face. "I told you, this is my territory." Bob kneeled down and peered at the wound in his chest. The vampire's heart wasn't inside his body. "Were you looking for me, or did you just happen to be passing by?"
"I was looking for you," Bob admitted. "Something has worried me and Angel."
"What is that?" Shinji asked.
"Do you know what you lost in that Angel?" Bob asked.
"My sense of self worthlessness?" Shinji guessed.
"I guess so," Bob said. "But you lost something more important."
"I'm not a fan of games," Shinji growled.
"Your humanity," Bob said. "You lost all of you morals and inhibitions."
"Is that a bad thing?" Shinji asked. "I mean, I do kill people now."
"Well," Bob began, wondering how he was going to explain this. "Inhibitions and morals are what keep us out of the public notice. If we brought fear to the humans then they would attack us."
"And there are a lot more humans then lycans," Shinji finished. Bob nodded. "Ah," Shinji said simply. "I have to get going."
"Hunting?" Bob asked. Shinji nodded. "Would you mind some company?"
"You're the sire Pops."
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Misato jumped in surprise as the front door banged open. She had been staying up late watching a marathon of her favorite TV show. Her exhaustion was lending a certain dream-like quality to her perception. She watched as Shinji, naked and bloody, stepped into the apartment and closed the door. He turned and regarded her with glowing golden eyes for a moment before he disappeared into his room, leaving Misato to wonder if anything had really happened. She stood and moved to Shinji's door. She pushed it open and found Shinji lying in his bed, apparently asleep. Misato closed the door quietly and tried to figure out if she had been imagining things.
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"When did you get home last time Shinji?"
"Pretty late," Shinji said as he walked out of his bedroom and sat down.
"Oh my God!" Misato gasped. "What happened to you eye?"
"My eye?" Shinji asked as he reached up to touch one of the three long scars over his left eye. "Oh, that. Nothing happened."
"Nothing?" Misato demanded. "It looks like someone tried to gouge your eye out!"
"It's nothing," Shinji said, "just calm down Misato."
"I'm really worried," Misato said as she sat down. "First the scars on your stomach and arms. . ." she trailed off as she spotted the news scars on his forearms.
"Look," Shinji said, holding out his hand. "They're healing just fine." Misato stared at the scars. She wasn't an expert, but the scars actually looked old, like Shinji had gotten then a while ago.
"Maybe you should have Ritsuko look at them," Misato said.
"They're healing on their own," Shinji said as he stood up and moved to pour himself a mug of coffee.
"Are you going to eat?" Misato asked.
"I'm full," Shinji said.
"That's a first," Misato teased. "For a while I thought you were going to eat me out of house home."
"You don't have to worry about the house," Shinji said simply.
"So what did you eat last night?" Misato asked.
"Just something local," Shinji said with a grin. 'Another inside joke,' Misato guessed. "I'm going to get going," Shinji said as he pulled on the worn leather jacket.
"Where did you get that?" Misato asked.
"A friend of mine gave it to me," Shinji said as he slid his sunglasses on. "See you after school."
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"What the hell is going on?" Shinji wondered as he looked around the crowded campus. The school's front yard was almost hidden under a mass of reporters.
"Hey Shinji!" Shinji turned and watched as Touji and Kensuke battled their way through the mass of humanity.
"What's going on?"
"A kid from 2-B was killed last night," Kensuke said. "I've heard that he was attacked by a big animal. Maybe it was the one that attacked you."
"Quiet," Shinji hissed.
"Sorry," Kensuke said, looking around at the crowd. "What with the Angel wars you would think that the death of a kid wouldn't be such big news."
"The death of young people always draws attention," Shinji said. "These people can use that to promote themselves. They're just here to provoke memories of the deceased in hopes of getting an emotional response from one of his friends."
"That's a little cold," Touji commented. Shinji shrugged and ran a hand through his long hair.
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Keith Richardson chuckled as he watched the kid run a hand through his hair. "What a prick," Asako Kitsuragi growled.
"He's right you know," Keith said as he lowered his camera.
"He's making us seem like vultures," Asako argued.
"You mean we aren't?" Keith asked. In his many years of covering news stories he had long ago come to terms with the truth of the business.
"I'd like to strangle him with that stupid necklace," Asako muttered.
"That probably wouldn't be a good idea," Keith said.
"And why not?" Asako asked.
"Him," Keith said, pointing to a man in a black suit. "Over there too," he added. Years ago Keith had recorded several speeches by the president of the United States. The men in the suits looked almost identical to the Secret Service agents and they mover like them too.
"Are they his bodyguards?" Asako asked, obviously deciding that this was interesting enough to warrant her attention.
"That's my guess," Keith said. "You want to check it out?"
"Yeah," Asako said. "I think we've gotten enough 'emotional responses' to make the chief happy."
"I guess so," Keith said with a nod.
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Shinji whipped around and looked at the people on the campus grounds. Someone was watching him. "Something wrong?" Kensuke asked.
"Yeah," Shinji said. "Let's get inside.'
"Right," Touji said. "I never was a fan of big crowds." Of course that set off an argument about how Touji played basketball in front of big crowds. Shinji sighed and started towards the entrance of the building alone. The sea of humanity flowed away from him like the Red Sea for Moses. He made it all the way to his classroom without being bothered. Well at least by any of the reporters. Shinji growled as his cell phone rang shrilly. He dug it out of his pocket and flipped it open.
"Hello?"
"Pilot Ikari?" a calm voice asked.
"Speaking."
"You are not to speak with the reporters," the voice said.
"I hope you're going to tell that to Pilot Sohryu," Shinji said. "You may have to enforce it." The man hung up and Shinji chuckled as he tucked it into his pocket. He had no trouble believing that Asuka would strut around and explain that she was an Eva pilot. Shinji sat down at his seat and looked around the classroom. The only other people in the room were Rei and Hikari. Rei turned to regard him and Shinji recoiled. 'Wrong,' his brain screamed. 'Not a human and not like us!' He noticed a similar wave of distaste flash across her face.
"What happened to your face Ikari?" Hikari asked.
"My face?" Shinji asked as he kept his attention focused on Rei.
"Yes," Hikari said, "your face. What happened?"
"Just something," Shinji said vaguely. He noticed the flash of concern and annoyance on her face. "Don't worry."
"If you say so," Hikari said. "Did you see any of the other people from the class?"
"Yeah. Kensuke and Touji are out there arguing about being afraid of crowds," Shinji said. "I think I saw a few others."
"It was a mistake to let those reporters near the school," the teacher said with a sigh.
"You don't say," Shinji said dryly. He leaned back in his seat and yawned. 'I really need to get more sleep.'
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Shinji looked around the NERV dressing room and pressed the button on his plug suit's wrist. The air inside the blue and white suit rushed out and Shinji frowned in distaste as the material clung to him. "Are you decent?"
"Yeah!" Shinji called as he sat down on one of the benches. The locker room door swung open and Misato walked in. "I'm not going to go see Ritsuko."
"Can't blame me for trying," Misato said, faltering for only a second. She sat down on the bench next to Shinji. "I want you to answer this question truthfully."
"Alright," Shinji said. "I owe you that much."
"Have you joined a gang?" Misato asked.
"No," Shinji said, almost laughing at the thought. "I have most certainly not joined a gang."
"Where did you get those scars?" Misato asked.
"Fighting," Shinji admitted.
"Alright," Misato said. "Next question, have you been taking any kind of steroids?"
"No," Shinji said. "Why?"
"No reason," Misato said with a laugh.
"I need to thank you," Shinji said as he stood up and rolled his shoulders.
"For what?" Misato asked in surprise.
"For keeping the old bastard off of my back," Shinji said. "I haven't really been in a mood to deal with Commander Ikari right now."
"How do you know about that?" Misato asked.
"A little birdie told me," Shinji said dreamily. Misato laughed and punched the young man in his shoulder.
-End
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-Author's notes. I know this is pretty short, but I think its better then nothing. In the last chapter we learned that Shinji is very territorial, not we get to see that in action. He believes that the city Tokyo-3 is his and it very well might be.