Yin and Yang

Spineless Shinji followed closely behind Misato very nervously. Misato was somewhat confused about the mental well being of the third child.

"Are you okay Shinji?"

"Y-y-yes."

"Really?"

"YES!!" Misato flinched at the response. 'Jeez, sorry I ever asked.' They approached Misato's blue sport's car. He warily entered into the passenger side.

'I least I'm safe in this car.' He let out a sigh of relief. Misato got into the drivers seat. She pulled out her car keys and started the car.

"Get ready!" she warned out loud.

"WhaAAAAAAT!!!"Shinji screamed in wide-eyed terror as the car sped through the streets.

Back in the apartment…

'Judging from those screams, I guess they left for Nerv. Time to make my glorious entrance.' He exited his room wearing the same plain uniform shirt, except it was unbuttoned and untucked, kind of like a Kaji style way. He went over to the kitchen and started to cook himself some breakfast. 'That Shinji, no sense of style at all.' The sound of a door opening and closing could be heard down the hallway. Then the sound of the faucet rang throughout the apartment. 'I see…Asuka's up.' A mischievous smile planted itself on his face.

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Original Shinji face-faulted as he looked at his spineless side holding for dear life in Misato's car. He covered his face with his hand.

"This is too embarrassing…"

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Spineless Shinji was racked with sobs and tears as got out of the car. Misato had worried expression on her face.

"Shinji, don't cry, it's all right."

"But (hic) I-I-I (hic) w-w-was so (hic) sc-scared (hic) and…" Misato put her hand on his shoulder.

"It's all right, you don't have to cry." 'What am I suppose to do at a time like this?' "Just…stop crying pleeeasse?" Shinji grabbed Misato in a hug all of a sudden. She was very surprised. 'Whaaa?'

"Thank you for c-calming me down M-Misato…"

"Yeah…" Misato was seriously freaked out. "Let's go in the base now. 'I think I'll have Ritsuko check you as well.' A sweat drop appeared on her head.

At the apartment…

"You ready stupid?" Shinji had an indignant look on his face. He and Asuka had finished their breakfast. Asuka was dressed and about to leave.

"Stupid? Don't call me that."

"Huh? Why not?"

"Oh I don't know, maybe because I'm NOT stupid," he sarcastically said. "Let's just go."

"You ARE stupid Shinji," Asuka insulted as she grabbed his wrist. She led him out the door and started walking to the door.

"Hey, layoff the death grip won't you?"

"What did you say?"

"Layoff the death grip!" She let go of his arm and stared at him.

"Listen Dummkopf! Don't say anything and just do as I tell you okay?"

"Yeah yeah yeah…"

"Ugh, idiot."

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Misato was angrily walking throughout the hallways of Nerv headquarters.

"Would you let go of me?!" she angrily asked Shinji, who was tightly clinging to her body.

"But I feel safe with you." She was fuming when she bumped into Dr. Akagi. Ritsuko looked at Misato.

"I'm sorry Ritsuko," she apologized miffed. Ritsuko looked down and saw Shinji. She raised an eyebrow.

"What's this?"

"I don't know, Shinji's getting too overemotional." Ritsuko noticed that Shinji was cowering behind Misato. "You might want to check on him, he's really getting on my nerves," she gritted between her teeth."

"All right Shinji, come with me," the doctor ordered.

"I don't want to…" he complained. Misato covered her face with her hand.

"What?"

"I don't want to…" Ritsuko chuckled to herself.

"Come on Shinji, stop playing around and come with me."

"Only if Misato comes," he wanted.

"You see what I mean," Misato said tiredly.

"Shinji, I'm not going to wait for you to let go," she said with a hint of anger in her voice.

"Too bad," he whined.

Back to Shinji with a spine…

"Come on a Asuka! How many outfits can you possibly try on? This is getting kind of tiring." 'Asuka is such…what's the word? Oh yeah, a bitch.'

'What is he complaining about?' "You never complained before?" Asuka had noticed something different about Shinji this day. He didn't seem so…pathetic.

"Well…whatever." He was leaning against a wall, near the dressing room. 'Why did I ever think she was going to be any different?' His eyes wandered over across the rest of the clothing store. He spotted a girl looking through some dresses. She was wearing a blue dress and she was…what's the word? Oh yeah, cute. He recognized the girl from his class her name was Hitomi. He walked over to her. 'Forget Asuka, she's a lost cause. But this babe…'

"Hey beautiful." The girl was startled and looked up at Shinji. A faint blush was apparent on her face.

"H-hi Shinji," she nervously greeted back. He noticed how nervous she was.

"You don't have to be so nervous, you can relax around me."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I was just wondering though, what's a pretty young girl like you doing here all alone?" She blushed even harder.

"I was just shopping for a dress…" she trailed off.

"You know…" he put his hand on her shoulder. "You're not alone anymore. How about…" He started whispering in Hitomi's ears. Her face started getting redder and redder by the second.

"Where's that wimp?" Asuka looked around for any signs of him as she poked her head out of the dressing room. "I can't believe that idiot wandered off like that." Then she noticed that there were moans coming from the dressing room beside her. "What the?" She walked over and opens the dressing room door and saw Shinji making out with some schoolgirl. Her face went from annoyed to red-hot fury in half a second. "SHINJI!!!!!"

(SLAP!!!)

A little girl can be seen crying running out from the store.

"What was that for?" Shinji asked while rubbing his cheek, which was red from the slap.

"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU DOING?!!"

"Making out, what else?"

(SLAP!!!)

"Ugh, y-y-you ASS!" With that, she ran out with small tears forming in her eyes. Shinji however, just stood there.

"That Asuka, she just gets so OWW!" he yelped in pain as he touched his face. "Hmmm, I guess I can take the marks on my face as a sign of her jealousy? Maybe not such a lost cause anymore."

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Original Shinji rubbed his cheek.

"Damn! If he gets hurt, I do too?" Shinji complained.

"Well yeah, after all, you two are connected to each other." After the pain had subsided, Shinji opened his mouth to speak.

"This is exactly why I don't want to act like I have a spine."

"I don't know, let's take a look at your wimpy side."

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The Nerv personnel were trying to pull Shinji who was actively holding on to Misato. The two Nerv employees were pulling on his legs.

"Let go of the Major, kid!"

"NO!" Misato was trying to loosen up the grip the boy had on her. Ritsuko looked on with a tired expression. After some slight difficulty, Shinji let go falling back on the Nerv personnel. Dr. Akagi laughed at the scene.

"Alright Shinji, you're going to have to come with me now." She pulled the reluctant boy's arm and started towards the lab. The two employees got up and apologized to Misato.

"It's all right," she waved off. 'I'm really worried about Shinji.'

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Original Shinji had his back turned against the screens.

"This is too…I can't watch it! These guys are really messing up my reputation." Fate gave a small smile.

"I never thought you cared about your reputation." The boy just looked in exasperation as he laid his eyes on the monitor.

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'That idiot! How could he do that?! What is wrong with him?! It's just not right! This is Shinji, of all the people! Him, making out? I-I-it's a crime against nature!' Thoughts ran through Asuka's head as she was running towards the apartment.

At the mall…

Shinji was sitting on the bench relaxing and trying to let the pain in his face subside.

"The smarts…" He decided to buy a red dress for Asuka before he left the store, his way of saying 'sorry.' He was holding a cold drink in his hand, mostly because he was thirsty, but also to slow down the swelling on his face. 'Not so good over here, maybe I should've gone over to Nerv instead. I wonder how's my coward side is doing?'

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"Shinji, I sense that something is missing from you. I can't put my finger on it, almost as if an important part of you has disappeared. Did anything happen this morning or yesterday?" Dr. Akagi had asked as she read the diagnosis report.

"Well…" He nervously pointed his index fingers together. "I guess this all started when Shinji decided to split himself into two people so that he can be at two places at once."

"Excuse me?"

"Well my other side, the one with the backbone, should be out shopping with Asuka right now. I don't know why he would want to go shopping with somebody as mean as that but that's where he should be right now."

"Wait a minute." She looked over the report and saw that everything was fine with Shinji, physically anyways. Mentally, all signs were normal too. Either Shinji was acting like this on purpose or he really WAS like this. She's going to check out the story that Shinji gave. "Wait here while I'll make a phone call."

"Okay."

Misato was hanging out by the door until Dr. Akagi came out.

"So?" she asked the doctor.

"I'm going to make a phone call to Asuka, see how things are going."

"Asuka? Why? Did she like hurt Shinji in any way or something? I mean I knew he was kind of depressing but this is ridiculous! This is not at all like him."

"I think you should keep him company for now." Misato's expression fell.

"Do I have to? I mean you saw how he was when we came here."

"Don't worry about, he's calm down. After all, he did just come after driving with you."

"I guess." The doctor walked away to a nearby phone. Misato put on her happy face and entered the room expecting to see a sobbing mess of a boy. To her surprise, the boy was relaxed and calm. "Shinji, are you alright?"

"Hey Misato, yeah, I'm alright. Would you mind if you brought me a piece of paper?"

"Why?"

"Drawing calms me down."

"Oh, okay." 'Drawing? Since when did Shinji become an artist?' Misato left the room entered her office. 'Piece of paper huh?' She looked through her desk, no "clean" piece of paper in sight.

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"Great! As soon as Dr. Akagi figures out what's going on, I could get back into the real world and get out of this "dream."

"Sorry Shinji, nothing's ever THAT easy. Like I said, you need a kiss."

"No! She's smart, she could figure out what to do!"

"You're just kidding yourself kid."

"I am, aren't I?" Fate nodded its head up and down. Original Shinji slumped on his couch.