I don't own anything. (My new idiot-proof disclaimer.)
Lycanthrope
-Chapter Eight: Pack Mate
"What's wrong with him?" Bob glanced up from his place in front of the T.V. and watched as Angel poked Shinji. The young lycan ignored her and watched as his hand moved in front of his face.
"Nothing."
"You call this nothing?" Angel demanded as Shinji fell into a fit of giggles.
"He ate a flower child," Bob said with a shrug. "It's not going to kill him."
"A flower child?" Angel asked in confusion.
"You know," Bob said, trying to find the right words, "a stoner."
"You mean that works?" Angel asked in awe.
"Well yeah," Bob said. "You've never tried?"
"No," Angel said as she sat down. "So what are we going to do with a stoned lycan?"
"We can't exactly take him home," Bob said with a shrug. He glanced at the young man. "I doubt he'll move from that spot for a while."
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Misato glanced up as the door to the apartment slid open. Shinji stumbled in and nearly fell flat on his face. "Where the hell have you been?"
"Out," Shinji said. He glared at Misato and she quickly came to a single conclusion.
"Have you been smoking marijuana?"
"What makes you say that?" Shinji said faintly.
"I can tell," Misato said sagely.
"Is that something to be proud of?" Shinji wondered aloud as he stumbled towards his room.
"Are you going to school today?" Misato asked.
"What time is it?"
"Noon," Misato answered. "You have a synch test tonight."
"Wonderful," Shinji grunted from inside his room.
"Someone called looking for you last night," Misato called. "It was a girl," she added teasingly. Shinji's reaction was quite different then what she had expected.
"What was her name?" he growled as he reappeared.
"Yuki something," Misato answered. Shinji took a deep breath and seemed to be fighting back some violent urge.
"I'm going out."
"To school?" Misato asked.
"To work," Shinji said calmly. He reached behind him and checked to make sure his pistol was there.
"What kind of work do you do that involves a gun?" Misato asked.
"This and that."
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"You weren't in school today," Shinji turned and watched as a dark-haired woman in a school uniform walked towards him through the small restaurant. "I was trying to find you last night."
"I heard," Shinji said. "What do you want from me?" Yuki sat down next to him and took a deep breath. For once she actually looked quite serious.
"What I really want is to join your pack," Yuki said as her hand came up to rest on Shinji's brand through his jacket and T-shirt.
"Why?" Shinji asked after a moment's pause. He glanced at the hand on his shoulder and finally decided that it didn't bother him.
"I was telling the truth when I said my pack was attacked," Yuki said. Shinji glanced at her and found to his surprise that she on the verge of crying. Without thinking he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. It was the first time he could remember feeling sad because someone else was sad in quite some time.
"You don't have to continue if you don't want to."
"It's alright," Yuki said as she leaned against him. "I had just been turned. I've been a lycan for only two months."
"Longer then me," Shinji commented.
"Really?" Yuki asked in surprise. "You just seemed to enjoy being who you are so much that I thought you had been a lycan for a while."
"What can I say?" Shinji asked. "I was born to enjoy the kill. . .I just didn't know it for about fourteen years."
"Oh," Yuki said. "Anyway, I was out on my first hunt alone and I was coming back to the den. I was really proud because I had gotten my kill easily. When I came to the den the whole building was on fire."
"Don't worry," Shinji said, giving her shoulders a reassuring squeeze. "Bob and Angel would love to have you in our pack."
"What about you?" Yuki asked as she rested her head on his chest.
"I'd like it," Shinji admitted.
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"Hey," Hikari said as she stared at a young couple sitting in one of the booths. "Isn't that Ikari and Hayasaka?"
"What?" Asuka demanded.
"There," Hikari said, pointing to the two students.
"That pervert," Asuka growled in disgust. "They deserve each other." Hikari watched as her friend stormed out of the restaurant and wondered just what she had done. She glanced back at the two. They seemed happy. Shinji was really smiling and it wasn't one of his insanely cheerful ones. He actually looked happy.
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"Hey Shinji." Bob watched as the young lycan moved into the apartment. "Is something wrong?"
"We're taking Yuki into the pack," Shinji said. "Understand?"
"Now wait just a minute!" Bob bellowed. "I am the leader of this pack. . ."
"We are taking Yuki into this pack!" Shinji roared. "You dig?"
"Yes," Bob said meekly.
"What's all the yelling about?" Angel asked as she stepped into the room.
"I was just telling Bob that we have a new addition to our little pack," Shinji explained cheerfully.
"Since when?" Angel asked, her eyes narrowing.
"Since now," Shinji said happily. Angel took one look at him and quickly nodded.
"Okay."
"You can come in now!" Shinji called. The front door opened and a young woman stepped into the room cautiously.
"You're Yuki Hayasaka?" Angel asked.
"Yes I am," the woman said. She seemed rather nervous.
"It's nice to meet you," Angel said with a smile. "I'm Angel and this is Bob."
"I'm heading home," Shinji said as he started for the door. "Be nice." Bob glanced at the younger lycan and noticed his cold, calculating eyes.
"Okay."
"Are you going to go hunting?" Angel asked. Shinji paused and glanced at his hand for a moment.
"No."
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Shinji stepped into the apartment and pulled off his coat. He felt strangely good for helping someone. 'Is my humanity coming back?' he mused tiredly. "Well hello Third Child."
"Asuka?" Shinji asked in surprise. The Second Child was sitting at the kitchen table under the sole illuminated light. "Where's Misato?"
"At work for the rest of the night," Asuka said. For some reason she was glaring at him. Shinji paused and briefly tried to think of anything he had done to piss her off. 'Fuck it,' he thought in annoyance. 'Probably that time of month.'
"I'm going to bed."
"Tired Third Child?" Asuka sneered.
Yeah," Shinji said. "Though I fail to see how that concerns you." He turned and started towards his room.
"I guess your little fuck toy tired you out huh?" Asuka asked.
"What?" Shinji asked, turning to look at her. 'And I thought I was stoned.'
"I saw you at the restaurant with that little whore," Asuka said.
"What?" Shinji asked, his voice lowering dangerously. Asuka either didn't notice or didn't care.
"That's right," she continued as Shinji began to advance threateningly. "Is she fun to play with?"
"You should stop talking now," Shinji growled. Asuka didn't even notice how his teeth were elongating or how his eyes were shifting from a pale yellow to a deep, dangerous gold.
"How long did you wait before you began going at her?" Asuka asked. "Or did she go after y. . ." She didn't even get a chance to finish her sentence as Shinji's deceptively slender fingers wrapped around her throat and pulled her out of her chair.
"What the fuck if your problem?" Shinji demanded as he slammed her into a wall with enough force to make her gasp in pain. "If I ever hear you talk about my pack mate like that I will show you a whole new meaning in pain." Asuka clawed desperately at his hand, but Shinji didn't even seem to feel her nails scrambling at his skin.
"Let go," she managed.
"Just remember this," Shinji hissed dangerously, his face close enough to hers for their noses to touch, "once the Seventeenth Messenger is defeated, I will kill you." His hand disappeared and Asuka collapsed to the ground. "I'm going out," he growled lowly. 'I need to kill something now.'
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Yuki looked around the empty streets of Tokyo-3 and sighed. A wet tearing sound in one of the alleyways drew her attention. "Hello?" A deep growl reverberated from the alleyway. "Shinji?" For a moment there was silence then there was a soft grinding sound. Finally a person stepped out of the alleyway's deep shadow.
"Hey Yuki. What are you doing around here?" Shinji asked, trying to wipe some of the blood off of his mouth.
"Pickings are really slim tonight," Yuki said with a shrug. "Looks like aren't having any trouble."
"I'm really good at hunting," Shinji said as he licked his lips. "Want to join?"
"Sure."
-End
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-Author's notes. I know it's really short, but school has suddenly picked up. This should tide you over until the next real chapter this weekend (I hope). So here we see Asuka's jealousy of Yuki and Shinji driving them onto, what I guess, is a lycan date. Ironic, no?