I'm blitzing today it seems. Thus far this is the third fic I've worked on today. Isn't life grand when you have nothing to do? Anyway, I'm glad for the response I received when people reviewed the first chapter. I hope the rest lives up to your expectations. And if it doesn't... meh. Anyway, here we go people! More from your not-particularly-friendly probably-doesn't-live-in-your-neighbourhood Fanfiction author! Hmm. Doesn't quite have the same ring to it...
For disclaimer see first chapter.
The light shining in his left eye was what woke the boy up. It jolted him into wakefulness and shocked the doctor who was holding the small torch over his pupil as well. The elderly man grinned as he looked down at the confused youth.
"Feeling a bit better now?" Shinji sat up gingerly, seeing he was in a medical centre and propped onto a bed. The man continued. "You collapsed when you were upstairs with your class. The woman showing you around was frantic." The man grinned slightly. The event's of earlier came rushing back to Shinji. Hurriedly he checked his hand, remembering a certain blue and red arachnid, now featured exclusively on the underside of his friends shoe. All that was left was a pair of red spots on his wrist, resembling two mosquito bites next to each other. The doctor didn't seem to notice. Instead he continued to smile absently at the boy, while adjusting his glasses.
'He grins far too much for someone who spends their time in a medical wing.' Shinji thought absently.
"Why don't I get your friends? They've been waiting outside since you were brought in." The elderly man asked, his obviously permanent smile still plastered across his wrinkled face. Shinji blinked and nodded dumbly. The man's grin extended slightly as he turned to exit the room. Swinging himself off the mobile bed he was perched on Shinji stood and stretched, blinking as the supposedly loose shirt tightened uncomfortably around his chest and arms. Looking down at himself and adjusting the lie of the fabric across his shoulders his attention was quickly derailed by the sound of his loud friends entering.
"Just admit it demon! You did something to him! Was it your cooking? It was, wasn't it!" Shinji sighed. Touji and Asuka entered first quickly followed by Kensuke and Rei. The former duo were in the middle of a rather loud and pointless argument. As was the norm, sadly.
"Zip it, you walking jock-strap! i had nothing to do with the baka's fainting fit." Kensuke rolled his eyes and then looked beseechingly towards the ceiling, perhaps praying for divine intervention. Rei remained expressionless. Shinji smiled quietly, pleasantly surprised that they had all bothered to wait for him. He blinked, noticing that Rei had appeared at his side, seemingly without crossing the intervening space. He chalked it up to him still being a little woozy.
"Are you well, Ikari?" Shinji shook himself out of his daze and smiled at her, in what he hoped was a reassuring manner. The total lack of facial expression she exhibited made it hard to tell either way.
"Er, yeah I'm fine. Just felt a little-" Asuka planted herself directly in front of the boy and scowled darkly, perhaps annoyed at not having his undivided attention. Poised with her hands on her hips her frown transformed into a smirk, making Shinji twitch slightly in agitation.
"Mien Gott, you are such a baka! First you start spacing out and going all weird," She felt the need to demonstrate her impression of his state by rolling her cerulean eyes and swaying from side to side like a drunk nailed to the floor before continuing, "and then you just collapse. Weakling." She added as an afterthought. Shinji grinned weakly, opting to ignore the girl's commentary rather than attempt to answer it. Touji wandered up behind the red head sporting a curiously hand shaped red mark on his cheek, indicating who the victor of the previous argument had been.
"Yo, Shin-man, you feeling better?" Shinji nodded and his smile became a shade more genuine.
"Yeah, I'm feeling ok now." Feeling the need to demonstrate his recover he stood up, momentarily worried that he would feel dizzy and have to sit back down, but was pleasantly surprised when he found that this was not the case. He noticed that Rei had moved slightly closer to him as he stood, seemingly prepared to steady him if he fell. He smiled at her quickly, assuring her that he was fine. Her ruby eyes regarded him intently, before her lips quirked into a slight smile and she backed off slightly. Her smiles were more common now, though not by much. Resisting the urge to stretch once more for fear of the shirt tightening uncomfortably again, Shinji settled for rotating his neck slightly to get the kinks out of it.
"Well come on then! Lets get going!" Touji rolled his eyes at Asuka's exuberance but echoed her sentiments.
"Yeah, Shin-man. We better get back to the others." Kensuke grunted in agreement, though he was wheeling around the sick room trying to catch as much of the scenery as possible on his hand computer. Shinji nodded and followed the group out of the door, only noticing that he was receiving weird looks from his friends when they were all in the hallway outside. Well, except for Rei.
"What?" Touji shook his head and frowned, both he and Kensuke's eyes focused on his left hand. Asuka started to guffaw loudly.
"Aw, is widdle Shinji nervous to go out without his blanky?" The German girl had clasped her hands underneath her chin and somehow made her eyes twice as wide as normal, with extra sparkle and shine. Shinji couldn't help but feel his face heat a little under her scrutiny, even if he wasn't sure what she was talking about. Suddenly the strange weight on his left hand registered making him look down in confusion. Seeing the bright blue blanket he had been lying on clutching in his hand his face flared brighter and he tried to snatch his hand away. Strangely this had little effect. The blanket was still in his hand. Asuka was still laughing and Kensuke and Touji both looked puzzled at his unusual behaviour resulting in his frantic shaking of his hand, trying to throw of the blue cloth. Eventually he stopped and pulled his hand closer, seeing that it was, in fact, open and not clutching the blanket at all, though the material was still stuck to his hand. Reaching up with his other hand he attempted to tug it free, before quickly realising that all he had achieved was somehow attaching the cloth to both hands rather than just one.
Asuka had finally had enough, her humour at his situation quickly passing into irritation at what she saw as his deliberate delay. Stomping over to the struggling boy, muttering oaths in German, Japanese and assumedly a dozen or so other languages she grabbed the blanket, though not before a few seconds hesitation where she wondered if this would end up with her somehow stuck to the fabric as well.
"Oh for the love of..." Asuka grabbed the coverlet and, reassured that she wasn't attached to the Third Child by azure coloured stitching, pulled sharply. Unfortunately this resulted in the thin young man being dragged off his feet towards her, in turn over balancing her and leaving them both in an uncomfortable position on the floor. Wincing slightly Asuka looked up to find the struggling boy quietly suffocating in the confines of her bosom. A vein popped out on her head.
"Woo, go Shinji! Can't say much for your taste in women but atta boy!" The vein grew slightly.
"Our little Shinji's growing up... I think I'm misting up!" Kensuke buzzed around the fallen pair, trying to find the perfect angle for his camera to view both Asuka's rage and Shinji's unfortunate predicament. After all if he didn't record it no-one would believe him. It's what friends were for. The vein multiplied in size exponentially.
Shinji, who had apparently figured out what was going on and why it was so dark, had begun screaming in a highly muffled manner and flailing his arms as he pleaded for release, manifestly well aware that his life was probably about to end. Sadly his legs had become entwined with hers in the fall and his attempts to stand were not ending in success. A cracking sound signified that Asuka had in fact had an aneurysm. A blur of crimson and six and a half loud smacks later and the German girl was stalking to the end of the corridor, a miasma of darkness and rage swirling about her, frothing slightly at the mouth. The three boys stood somewhat bewilderedly, swaying in the non-existent breeze, sporting a hand print on each cheek. Rei, looking somewhat peeved considering her usual lack of expression, was sporting a single hand print on her right cheek. She was willing to put that down to over excitement on Asuka's part instead of believing that the redhead had wanted to slap her. Sighing almost imperceptibly she followed the fuming girl to the lift at the end of the corridor, choosing not to nurse her stinging cheek.
At the departure of the cobalt haired young woman, whose eyes seemed a little narrower than usual, Kensuke and Touji snapped out of their Asuka induced daze.
"Dude... you face-planted into her chest...and you're still alive! She loves you. It's the only explanation!" Satisfied that his friends had plunged face first over the boundaries of sanity, Shinji was less than pleased to find he was still stuck to the blanket.
Shinji stared at his hands, puzzled at the recent events. The group of five had rejoined the rest of the class on their tour, the three boys making sure that Rei stood between them and Asuka at all times, as a kind of protective barrier. The glares the Second Child insisted on sending their way every minute or so reassured them that this was the best course of action for all concerned, except perhaps Rei who would probably get trampled in any of Asuka's future enraged attempts to get to them. They had managed to slip into the middle of a lecture that Samuel was giving on the theory behind the gene splicing project. A slide projector had been set up in the corner and was the only source of ambient light in the room. Shinji had found a seat easily and was at a loss to understand why his friends found it difficult to see. It wasn't bright by any means but he could see just fine. Had he thought about things more carefully he would have hung back and sat down last, but without such foresight he was left with the quietly cursing Asuka on his left side and the taciturn Rei on his right. As much as he liked Rei his hands were twitching to physically pick her up and swap seats with her. He wondered if it was wrong to mentally refer to a friend as a meat shield. Anyway he was fairly sure Asuka wouldn't harm the silent girl under cover of darkness simply to get to him, so it would be ok.
Instead he tried to hunker down as much as possible in the seat and become one with the upholstery. Listening to the lecture proved rather difficult while trying to ignore the violent vibes emanating from the girl next to him.
That had been a couple of hours ago. Since the trip ended later than a normal school day by a good few hours, the class was taking a half hour break in the Labs cafeteria. Unsurprisingly Asuka had chosen not to sit with the three boys and Rei had opted to keep her company in what Kensuke had referred to as 'an unusual display of suicidal intent' under his breath. And so the three stooges were sat at a table sifting through their cafeteria food with their plastic utensils. Kensuke and Touji were taking the time to watch the trailer to their anime show's debut on the big screen one more time and were gyrating madly from left to right. Shinji was debating whether or not it was worth leaving them to their own devices and sitting else where, but decided resignedly to stay.
Three tables away Asuka Langley Sohryu was doing her best to glare a hole in the back of Shinji Ikari's head. Thus far it was having little effect.
"I can't believe he did that! Taking the opportunity to grope my beautiful body when I took the time to help him -" Rei Ayanami's eyebrow quirked slightly at the reference to 'help'. "- and now my sacrosanct body has been defiled by that, that pervert." Twin waterfalls of tears erupted from Asuka's bright blue eyes as she wept for the degradation inflicted upon her pristine body. Rei's lifted eyebrow twitched slightly. The loud slam of the volatile redheads shoe on the bench drew the First Child's attention again. Asuka was standing with one foot braced on the bench, glaring at the sky with one hand clenched and held above her head. She looked like she was trying to uppercut God.
"Vengeance must be had!" Rei calmly continued to eat her rice. Sweeping her eyes across the area in front of her Asuka searched for some method of dispensing justice, warped as it may be. Grinning widely when she noticed the small plastic soy sauce bottle sitting in the middle of her table, the redhead snatched it up and took aim. Before Rei could attempt to dissuade her she had lined up her shot and launched the small brown bottle at the back of the Third Child's head, who at the time seemed to be having some kind of disagreement with his hand.
Shinji was lethargically working his way through his small meal, trying to ignore the squeals of happiness emanating from his two friends until they died down. After one last, 'For the Bunshin, buddy!' from each of them they went back to their meals, having gotten their daily fix of animated goodness. As the cafeteria was small and not extensively stocked it came with plastic knives and forks rather than traditional Japanese disposable chopsticks. This was assumedly because only a very small percentage of the workers at Nerv Labs were actually Japanese. While Nerv bases existed across the globe Nerv Labs in Tokyo-3 was the largest of it's kind and had therefore attracted the talented from all over the world rather than just within the Japanese nation. Seeing as the majority of the staff ate with knives and forks it made more sense to keep those in stock. Shinji hadn't missed Asuka's muttered 'Hallelujah' when she this out upon entering the cafe. She had never gotten totally used to chopsticks in her time in Japan.
Finished with his food, Shinji set down the utensils and leant his chin on his hand to wait for his two friends. The sudden pain in his right cheek jarred him out of any pleasant daze he might have been slipping into and brought his attention immediately to his hand. Frowning in unease he saw that the plastic fork had stuck to his hand, in the same manner that the blanket had before. Pulling it off felt like stripping off a band-aid, or like it was velcro-ed to his skin. He examined his palm curiously, before realising that the fork was now stuck to the fingertips of his left hand. Shaking his hand quickly in an attempt to dislodge the utensil, he noticed that his two friends had started to take note of his problem and were wearing slight grins at his predicament. Shaking his hand harder and now secretly wishing that the plastic fork would fly off and hit one of his fellow stooges in the face, he half heartedly glared at them, more focused on the blur his left hand had become.
Suddenly a sliver of ice began to slip down his spine, making all the hairs on the back of his neck stand erect. Instead of fading the feeling only got stronger, like he was rubbing up against an iceberg. His body seemed to want to react of it's own accord, though what he was supposed to be reacting to was still a mystery. Unnerved he watched the fork suddenly detach from his hand, like there was nothing holding it there at all before his upper body swiveled in it's place. His arm whipped out and snatched a brown blur out of the air, leaving him twisted in his seat and his arm splayed out behind him. Surprisingly it wasn't as uncomfortable as it looked, meaning a position that would have had gymnasts wincing had left Shinji unpained. Out of the corner of his eyes he could see a redhead gaping at him incredulously, before he twisted back around and examined the object he was holding in his hand, slightly shaken. A bottle of 'Kukoken Soy Sauce' greeted him from it's new position, cupped between his fingers. His eyes wandered up to meet Kensuke and Touji's, the first of whom was sitting with a fork layden with rice suspended before his mouth in frozen shock and the latter of which was seemingly experiencing a full body twitch. Shinji blinked, trying not to blush.
"What?" No response. Sighing and deciding it was probably best to just ignore the incident, Shinji adjusted himself into a more comfortable position in the seat. As much as he tried though ignoring the strange occurrences that had sprung up around him recently was getting harder and harder. In truth he was getting a bit worried. Not-so-muffled expletives tinted with a German accent were erupting from behind him, making a icy feeling in his spine start to tingle but in a much less pronounced fashion, as if undecided. It made him shudder anyway. It seemed obvious where the bottle had come from. Ignoring the two males across from him he set the soy sauce down on the sidetop... before realising that it too was stuck to his hand. "...God dammit."
"Look I don't know what happened, ok? I just got really lucky or something." The three boys were walking home from their school, seeing as the bus had dropped them back where it had picked them up from. Since the incident at the cafeteria Kensuke and Touji hadn't stopped harassing him about what had happened, much to his displeasure. Simply telling them that it was a fluke hadn't worked. In fact this had only made the problem worse by sending Touji into a long winded and frankly poorly thought out rant on the laws of 'Flukedom' and how they did not apply to the situation that Shinji had found himself in. This rant had grown so loud that it had disturbed the lecture they had been nominally listening to, and earned Touji a reprimand. The jock hadn't stopped glaring at Shinji through the rest of the lecture, as if it was somehow his fault. The brief lull in questioning had come to an end though when the visit to the Labs had ended leaving Shinji with another influx of questions.
His only hope now was that Asuka hadn't told Misato about what had happened. The last thing he needed was the indigo haired major on his case as well. The German girl had flounced off in a huff as soon as they got off the bus, making it clear that she would not be walking home with them. Ayanami had made her brief good byes and walked in the opposite direction to her home.
Blocking out the babbling of his two fellow stooges Shinji recalled time Rei has moved out of her old appartment. It had finally prevailed on her that it was indeed prudent to move when one of the stairwells had collapsed. No one was injured, but it highlighted the state of disrepair the building was in. Apparently repeated Angel attacks had weakened the foundations and materials of an already shoddily made structure and the rest had only been a matter of time. The three stooges plus Asuka and Hikari had all helped Rei move, though she had little that needed moving and most of the work was done by hired Nerv labourers, but they had been there for it at least.
Her new appartment was much larger than her old one, and obviously in better condition. Their was enough space that she didn't have to double the living room as a bedroom and her kitchen was of a better size. The few times he had visited her with the others since had shown that she did a much more thorough job of keeping the new appartment clean than she had the old one. which wasn't saying much but at least it didn't look like a hazardous waste disposal anymore.
"Misato! I'm home!" The three boys slipped their shoes off at the door and stepped into the hallway. The lack of an answering cry caught Shinji's attention, making him pause for a second before he remembered her shifts had switched over starting that day and therefore she wouldn't be home until much later. He ignored the silent waterfalls of tears both his friends had adopted on finding out this unwelcome news - they would have to go without their regularly scheduled dose of the Nerv Major - and wandered into the kitchen.
Since it was a Friday and they only had a half day of school the next day it was the norm for the three stooges to congregate at one of their homes and hang out. Last week it had been Touji's place where all three boys were thoroughly thrashed by Mari, Touji's sister, at videogames. It had taken some quick restraining from both Kensuke and Shinji to stop the little girl's brother's attempts at re-hospitalising her. Mari seemed unconcerned. Apparently it was a regular occurrence.
The two others had trailed after him and had stationed themselves around the kitchen table to mourn the loss of their mauve maned object of affection. Despite Touji's relationship with Hikari, he still became a gibbering ape when Misato teased him, something that both amused and agitated Hikari. Touji had quickly learned the duck and cover procedure whenever the two females were in the room together. The situation was only exacerbated by the elder woman's apparent glee in torturing him.
"You guys want something to eat?" Both boys gave disappointed grunts.
"...I'll take that as a yes, I suppose." Another pair of grunts followed. Sighing and rolling his eyes Shinji leisurely put together a stack of sandwiches and dropped the plate on the table. The two boys, slightly rejuvenated by the promise of food tucked into the fare with a little more life. Grabbing a ham sandwich for himself, Shinji sat on one of the remaining stools and bit into the white bread and thin meat. The discolouration on his wrist caught his attention first, making him slow his chewing and examine the mark a little closer. A small bump in the contours of his skin at just below his wrist, the tiny nub was a much fainter shade of pink than the rest of his flesh. Putting down the half eaten sandwich Shinji probed at the mark gently with the index finger of his other hand, finding it to be slightly softer than the rest of the arm around it, but springy enough to soon flow back into shape after it had been prodded. While his examination was going on the other two boys had resumed their previous conversation, now beginning to put forward various theories as to how Shinji had caught the bottle of soy sauce.
"Maybe all that time in the Eva has given him superfast reflexes or something! It could be slowly morphing his genetic make-up, rebuilding him to it's design..." Touji's laugh cut off Kensuke's description.
"Yeah, Shin-man's a super hero. Good theory genius." He bit down into his snack again, trying to convey disdain through chewing alone. Kensuke smirked and adjusted his glasses on his nose, taking a smaller bite of his repaste. Finishing quicker than Touji allowed him to speak again first.
"We don't know what all that time in an Eva could do to someone. Besides you saw what happened." The sandy haired youth shrugged expressively. "Do you have any better ideas?" Touji frowned through his chewing. Shinji ignored them both and continued to probe at the small mark on his arm.
"Even having no ideas at all are better than coming up with something like that, otaku boy." Touji said after swallowing. "It's like something out of one of your manga. This isn't a comic book, y'know."
"It could happen!" The dark haired teen snorted.
"Yeah, in your anime based wetdreams, Ken." The spectacled youth chuckled at the jab. It had become a running joke for Touji to refer to his anime and manga habits as obsessive and purile, much in the same way that western thought held it most of the time. In turn Kensuke called him a jock and a meathead. Gesturing with his sandwich Kensuke continued.
"All I'm saying is that prolonged exposure to an Eva might have side effects. How cool would it be if super reflexes or super strength were the result?" Two stars had replaced the military fanatic's eyes as he gazed into a world of his own, one filled with cheesy sentai costumes and corny one-liners. Touji shook his head at his friends naivety.
"C'mon, wouldn't they notice at Nerv if Shin-man suddenly started changing into a super human? I mean they'd notice with all the tests they run right?" Kensuke's dream world came crashing down around him, and his grounding in reality was reawakened. Sighing at the loss, the youth reached for another sandwich on the pile.
"Yeah I suppose you're right..." Touji nodded, looking annoyingly satisfied with himself and chomping a large portion of his ham sandwich in victory.
Shinji had been mostly ignoring the two of them, rather fascinated by the blemish on his skin and still playing with it. It didn't hurt and caused him no real discomfort, so he wasn't too worried about it. He'd probably have the nurse at school look at it tomorrow. He poked the area one last time and nearly spasmed of his chair when a slim white line of fluid exploded from his wrist with a thin whipping sound and shot across the room between the two boys faces, fanning out and sticking itself firmly to the far wall. The area between the two had formed a pattern like a huge web.
Kensuke's glasses slid down his face as he stared in shock. Touji swallowed his food and gestured at the other boy calmly.
"Or I could be wrong." He said mildly, before folding up and falling off the chair.
Well there's the second of the chapters in the new saga. As some know my project list has ballooned hugely, so updates for both this and XVII will be a little slower than usual. Rest assured, most of the other projects are one shots so should eat up too much time. Till later all!