Disclaimer: Check the Prologue.
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AN: Might as well warn the readers that, here, there will be a fight. This is my first chapter with fights, so there's the high possibility that it's badly built.
To nicknack: ".... but some dangerous crappy SA stuff incubating...." If I were you I, wouldn't worry myself with that, since the most you'll see are friendship and comradeship. For now, I have no intention of throwing this into a romance of any kind. Like I've said at the Prologue 'only teasers at the most'! Unless, of course, for some very strong reason, I do place some intimate and romantic paragraphs, but such is highly improbable. ".... And get us into one of those fights where hinji get moped around or mopes a guy around...dunno." Wish granted :)
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This is narrative.
"This is a dialogue."
"THIS IS SHOUTING."
'This is a quote/EMPHASIS made either during a dialogue or narrative.'
These are thoughts.
These are mouthed and facial expressions before, during, and after, a dialogue.
This tells where and when the following happens.
(These will be Author Notes)
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"Second Rule: You do NOT TALK about Fight Club."
-Tyler Durden
Saturday, 21:57
Katsuragi/Ikari/Sohryu Residence (1)
"Damnit Kensuke, do you really believe this is the best way of getting to know what's Shinji been doing?"
"Yes, I'm positive about this. From what I can tell, he hasn't told anyone about where he goes every Saturday's night, or a reliable reason for why he fights. We have to follow him, and we can't let him be aware of us, or we're dead."
Touji looked at him, with an eyebrow raised.
"I somehow doubt he would kill us, Ken..."
Kensuke just looked exasperated, and slapped his forehead with his right hand, while muttering about the ignorance of people towards vocabulary. (2)
Still, one had to give some respect to them. They were both standing outside the building where Shinji lived along with one of the most desirable purple-haired female and a redheaded cruel devil, hidden between said building and a neighbouring-one. He had chosen this location for the stakeout because of three important facts: first, the nearest street lamp was several metres away, and the very small alley had none of its own, which cast this place in an almost complete darkness; second, they had a perfect view of the two exits of the building, the main and the emergency, allowing them to watch out for him; third, if the need arose, they could run and hide deeper in the alleyway, or jump to the pave walk and hide between the several cars parked.
Kensuke saw that there was no possibility of them being spotted by Shinji, so he was congratulating himself on an excellent location chosen, when he saw, across the street, in another alley between buildings, two black-suited men. Recognizing them as Section 2 from NERV, he now remembered something that he had caught the Red-Devil telling the Class Rep. about Shinji always managing somehow elude from them. Slitting his eyes and pressing his lips, he looked around and saw a parked Ford Focus on the same side of the building, but a few metres away from the main exit, and around ten meters from them, with a hand outside having a lit cigar between his fingers. He also saw, in another building directly in front of theirs, a balcony with no lights and two agents, one of them leaning against the rails, looking at the building, along with several electronic devices on top of something, most likely they were a vid-cam and audio-web.
Hearing the front door of the building opening, both peered from the alley, checking who was leaving. They saw a tall blond woman with a body in 'good shape', a black mid-skirt, brown blouse, and a dark-something jacket. Following her was Misato, which caused them to peer more and saliva to start leaving their mouths and paint the sidewalk.
Kensuke, noticing Misato and company were coming in their direction, blinked, cleared his throat, and pushed Touji and himself back to the alley, pressing them against the wall. They then heard Misato talking.
"... Well, at least you've got to admit that his sync-ratio is steadily raising with his midnight fights." He then heard the other woman.
"And his performance in the exercises is getting better too. In the last one, you should've seen him going against the third with only his fists. Chuckles He didn't even used his prog-knife."
"At least, he eliminated the target. I don't know though, if when the 11th comes, he'll do the same."
He saw them, then, entering Misato's car, offering them also a good view of her rear during it.
Looking back at the building, he saw Shinji exit the building, with a metal cylinder in his left hand, as soon as the car started. Elbowing Touji, he pulled out a small flashlight and a small bunch of papers, which were maps of Tokyo-3, decently folded.
Preparing themselves for a few sprints, they saw him waving at the building where there were two agents in a balcony, and next go to the Ford Focus and give them the metal cylinder. He guessed it was a thermos with something to drink. He heard Touji whisper
"I don't think he put sleeping pills on the thermos... Do you?"
Kensuke saw him, then, walking away casually. He replied
"Nah, what would be the use? He knows where and how many they are, the car must be one of the lesser worries he's got, right now."
"Yeah, if I were him, I'd be more troubled in losing the four guys in the alleys."
"Yeah—What, four? Where?"
Touji pointed, with his thumb over his shoulder, backwards. Kensuke looked and saw two leaning against the wall, talking with each other. Gaping, he looked at Touji in disbelief.
"What? I thought you had already seen them!"
Shaking his own head several times, he grunted and turned, seeing Shinji in the distance. Turning towards the agents, he asked
"Aren't you guys going to follow him?"
One of the agents looked at him, and said
"Nope, we're under orders to protect the apartment and the Children while in it. Third Child, however, has no exterior escorts."
Frowning, he pulled Touji by his sleeve and went pursuing Shinji. Maybe they already know, keeping it wrapped up, and allowing him to keep doing this. Or they don't know, and don't care, for some reason...
Hiding between cars, behind posts of mail, lights, traffic, and publicity, keeping always-visual contact, they kept the chase for some time.
Seeing Shinji enter a convenience store, they go to the other side of the street, hide behind a car, and wait. From where they were, they had a small field of view of the interior of the store. They stood out, waiting for over ten minutes, when Touji, suddenly, grabs him and drags him quickly, and openly, to the store, where they enter and gaze around, looking for Shinji.
Kensuke couldn't believe it. What was going on with Touji? Swallowing, he also looked around and, much to his surprise, Shinji wasn't anywhere. When he saw, however, the man behind the counter, he now knew why Touji had decided to come out like this: a young man, around twenty-five, dark haired, average build, had a face in a very similar state to Shinji's. And, again, Touji surprised Kensuke. He went to the counter and said, in a jovial but lightly annoyed tone
"Damnit where's that guy? He better not be late. Hey, have you seen a guy our age, brown hair all messed up, dark blue eyes, average body, dressed in a white shirt and black pants with black shoes? We were supposed to rendezvous here, and he would take us to... you know?" By the end, Touji was making a circular motion with his right hand, along with his eyebrows raised.
The guy looked at them for a few moments, and then asked, in a neutral tone and expression
"Been there before?"
Kensuke, now deciding to enter the game too, said
"Hey, you know the rules: you do not talk about it."
The man stared at them for a few more moments, and then pointed to a door on the back of the store.
"He went through there. He's been doing it for a while now, to help losing those black suits that chase him everywhere."
Touji nodded quickly and headed to the door, with Kensuke following him.
They used it, and now were in a small tight alley, kept in a slight poor state, with dumpsters and abandoned crates loitering the street. They didn't saw Shinji; however there were only two possible directions he might've taken, so they started to run, in a light jog. For almost a quarter-of-hour, they kept wandering in the alley, looking for any sign of Shinji. However, they didn't found any. Suddenly, they heard
"Bakas don't tell me you actually lost him too!"
They turned around and saw two persons they never expected: Asuka and Hikari!
Kensuke, scratching his head, asked
"What're you two doing here?"
Asuka simply smirked and said, in a mocking tone
"Ask that question to yourself and you'll know our answer!"
Touji then interrupted
"You followed us, hoping that we would find out where he's been going for the last weeks?"
Hikari nodded, and said
"Yeah, but I guess he managed to lose you two..."
Asuka frowned, and went to the nearest exit of the alley. Kensuke decided to follow her. They were now in a street with residential buildings, and a public gym. He was now admitting that Shinji did outsmart him. Conceding his defeat, he looked at Asuka, and saw that she was looking at the gym. She, out of the blues, snapped her fingers, and said
"I know where he is, come on!" She then crossed the street, heading towards the gym. Kensuke, confused, followed her. He also heard Touji and Hikari's footsteps behind him.
Reaching it, he noticed Asuka was trying to push open the main doors. Noticing they wouldn't budge, he started to circle the gym, trying to find a window or a back door that might be open. Or easy to open. He was just reaching the back of the gym, when he saw a crowd, around twenty guys, talking with each other. He also saw Shinji, amidst the crowd, talking normally with a group of men. Deciding they had hit bulls' eye, he turned back, and went to call the rest.
Silently calling them, with his index finger over his lips, he motioned them to follow. They settled behind a line of cars and mini-vans parked next to the gym, in the side-alley. There was a paraphernalia of people there: men with casual clothing, suits of every types, uniforms of the police and all types of jobs, there was even a young man with robe garbs indicating he was a priest of some kind. Suddenly, they heard some loud rapid clapping, made by a tall and muscled man, in tight sports wear. He went through a double back door of the gym, and the crowd followed him. Kensuke was rising himself to follow them, when he saw that Asuka was already on her way there. Blinking, he and Touji went, with Hikari treading carefully and nervously.
Entering the gym, they saw a couple of them walking through another door, with a corridor poorly lit beyond it. Carefully, trying to be as stealthy as possible, they kept a low walk to there.
The corridor led to a staircase, downwards. They descended it, passing by another door, as well as crates and small transport-carts for clothing laundry. They came to be in a large room, which was kept in an average state. They saw the men forming a circle. Kensuke then saw a man with a brown uniform, a NERV uniform, step forward. He had an average-low muscular build, thin hair reaching his shoulders. He then heard Asuka mutter something. Turning towards her, he asked. She replied
"Shigeru Aoba, he's a bridge technician." They then heard the man, who had clapped outside, shout something. However, due to the distance they were from them, they couldn't make out what he was saying. Kensuke then saw something he had never seen before: Shinji stepped forward from the circle, giving a nod to Aoba. He saw both taking off their shirts and under-shirts, as well as their shoes and belts. Shinji did some quick stretching with his arms, legs, and neck, before standing in a guard position in front of Aoba, which did likewise. He heard Touji then
"I can't believe it. Shinji's stepping forward to fight against somebody, with nobody telling him to?" Hikari was the one who replied
"Maybe they have some sorts of rules here, to prevent any major harm to them?" Asuka threw a jab, though, that the three of them didn't expected
"By the looks of Shinji during this last month, I somehow doubt that."
The fight beginning, though, impeded any further discussion about this.
Shinji was on defence, keeping a small distance from Aoba, who, in turn, kept making several quick sweeps and faints. Shinji just kept dodging him. Things were kept this way, Aoba trying to hit Shinji; the latter keeping at all times a small distance from the former. The crowd was cheering and shouting, eager to see some blood. Needless to say that Kensuke and company was staring and following the fight as well, though the feelings each had were different.
Several minutes passed by, around six, 'til Shinji changed the pace. He made a quick jump to the front, giving a punch at Aoba's right thigh, which was surprised with this and half-fell, consequence of Shinji hitting a central nerve. Shinji didn't slow down either, he punched twice Aoba's stomach, and next lifted his left knee that connected, rather forcibly, with his chin, making Aoba fall backwards.
Aoba, however, didn't stop. He rolled backwards, and lifted himself, and now he was raging. Shinji was heading towards him, when Aoba sprinted, half-bend, against Shinji, hitting him in his mid-torso, and pushing him backwards, until they went against a pillar. Aoba stood straight, back head butting against Shinji's chin. Several slow, but powerful, jabs at Shinji's kidneys and stomach left him gasping for air. Aoba didn't stop with this; he grabbed Shinji's head and, thrice, pushed it against the pillar. After the third, Aoba released it, and gave two steps back. Shinji, though he leaned against the pillar for balance, ended collapsing in the floor, leaving a bloodstain at the pillar.
Kensuke was awakened from his stupor, by hearing someone vomiting. He looked at his right, and saw Hikari bend over, throwing up, with Touji close to her, comforting her back with his right hand, and looking at her with concern. Kensuke blinked, and looked at Asuka, seeing that she too was concerned with Hikari. However, she quickly looked back to the circle. Kensuke, giving the two friends one last look, turned to the circle as well. There he saw that the big man was now in the middle of the circle, with his right arm over Aoba's shoulders, which had his own arms high in the air and seemed to be howling in contentment. Strange thing, though, was that he seemed happy not by defeating Shinji, but by being there simply.
Aoba then lowered his arms, and kneeled next to Shinji. He grabbed his head, turned it towards him, and called out his name, very loud, several times. The guys knew Shinji awoke when he gave Aoba a slap at his left cheek. Aoba simply laughed good-naturedly, and helped Shinji rise. There they stood for a moment, checking each other for a minute, with everybody giving them their cheers and congratulations. They then joined the circle, allowing two other men to fill their previous spot in the middle. A few moments after, they were brawling. Shinji and Aoba were holding each other, enthusiastically shouting at the two men now punching and kicking each other.
Kensuke felt his sleeve being pulled, so he looked at his right and saw that Touji and Hikari were already by the stairs, and Asuka was the one who was tugging his sleeve.
"Come on, dumpkopf; let's get out of here, before they see us."
Taking one last look at everything, he nodded to Asuka and the two headed quietly to the staircase.
A few minutes later, they were outside. Touji said
"Well, now we know where Shinji goes every Saturday night. I can't figure it out, though, why he likes fighting this much. I mean, I remember when Kensuke and me were with him in his entry plug fighting the 4th Angel, and he didn't liked it one bit. I don't get it!"
Hikari replied, though her own voice was doubtful
"Maybe he likes being in a group who accept him well?"
Asuka's reply was harsh, again
"NERV accepts him; Misato's the living proof of that. It's something else."
They, then, heard a voice which belonged to someone they had no idea had been with them all this time.
"He enjoys being himself. He enjoys not having to wear masks, to deceive those surrounding him. He enjoys this, because he can be who he truly is, without regrets and doubts and uncertainties."
The four turned to the voice, seeing Rei Ayanami looking at the moon while saying it. She continued
"It has been his choice. We should leave him to it." She then walked away from them, heading towards the alleys, diving deeper in the darkness of the night.
Asuka shook her head several times and said
"Well, she's right. No use trying to talk Shinji out of this. –She turned to Hikari- Come on, we've seen enough." She then grabbed Hikari's hand and dragged her to the street. Hikari was confused with all this, and only managed to say some warm good-byes to them, though she was looking and waving at Touji the whole time.
Kensuke turned to Touji and said
"What do you say tomorrow we talk to Shinji about all this?"
Touji, having a thoughtful look on him, spent a moment gazing in the direction Asuka and Hikari went, before replying
"If you want... Just don't spread word around school about all this. It's Shinji's secret, and we aren't going to betray him. –He then looked at Kensuke, with a jovial expression- Well, I'm going home. See ya tomorrow, buddy."
Touji then proceeded to the streets as well.
Kensuke gazed at him, then at the gym, and went home as well, mulling about the why's of Shinji's secret habits...
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TBC
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1- I have no idea how's the street, where the apartment-building is, called, so I'm leaving it like this...
2- I know this might seem as a bash on Touji, but don't get yourselves wrong, actually it's Kensuke who, unaware, is the 'ignorant in the vocabulary'. And no, this isn't either a bash on Kensuke... Well, mayhaps a light-one, at least ;)
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AN: No beta-reader has proof-read this chapter.