Chapters a bit short maybe? Meh…I'm comfortable like this, instead of the chaotic chapters of Madness…This is sort of like the comfortableness of Darkness, which is the only fanfic I've finished so far…
Well, let's get on with it, hope you're enjoying it so far.
Disclaimer: I don't own Evangelion or its characters. Gainax does, and they rock. Who else could create both Evangelion and FLCL! I also don't own anything that happens to be referenced in this story.
Tokyo 3, Japan
Shinji's Apartment
Shinji and Rei sat at the breakfast table, Shinji passively eating some cereal as Rei shuffled a newspaper in front of her.
A drop of blood falls onto the table but Rei wipes it on her finger and licks it off disinterestedly.
"Have you seen this, Shinji? The mayoral race is coming around again…"
"And they want me to run again, like they said last year, right?"
Shinji sighed.
"You were the first mayor of Tokyo 3 after the destruction…And they love you, they regard you as their savior, which you know you are."
Shinji stiffened, still not used to praise.
"Hmmm. You know I can't Rei, not after what…you know I can't."
Rei tenderly wiped a tear trickling down Shinji's face away, leaving a small watery crimson smudge on Shinji's cheek.
"I know Shinji, I know, it's alright, you're alright Shinji."
Asuka Langley Sohryu stared at Shinji as he sat passively in his chair, silent, his eyes hollow and lifeless.
"Shinji! Shinji? You can't stay moping like this, we've got to get food, dammit! I know Misato and everyone else is dead now, but you can't do this to me, don't be an idiot!"
Shinji remained silent, his chin to his chest.
Asuka had been trying to rouse him for what seemed like and most probably was, many days, but he had remained silent and apathetic.
She growled, slowly untying his robe and making her mischievous face, her voice smooth and seductive.
Sensuously she leans forward and rubs his naked chest with her hands, waiting for some sort of response.
The old Shinji would've blushed heavily and ran off, blurting an apology, but Shinji remained sitting, not even responding to Asuka's touch, sitting silently, disinterested.
Furious, she slapped him, leaving a glaring red mark on Shinji's face, moving his head to the left.
Shinji made no effort to correct it.
Bounding away, she cursed at the top of her voice, fuming with rage.
"You stupid little shit! Who do you think you are to ignore me like this! Especially after I had to do that, you bastard! Stupid idiot Third Child, you're just spineless, if you want to die, go ahead and die."
Shinji looked up at her, and then suddenly a blur and a deep darkness.
Then a voice.
"Shinji! Shinji? Idiot? Shinji? Are you alright?"
Shinji groaned, the first sound that had left his voice for days, and lifted himself off the ground, looking at the oddly worried face of Asuka. He felt quite dizzy and light-headed for some reason.
"Yes…I'm fine…I'm fine…I'm…I'm fine…"
Suddenly, Rei's soft voice seemed to come from Asuka's mouth, making Shinji let out a shriek of confusion.
"Shinji? Are you alright?"
Tokyo 3, Japan
Shinji's Apartment
Shinji looked around, confused.
"I'm…I'm fine…"
Rei's worried face looked down on him, shaking her head and caressing his face.
"It was just a dream Shinji, just a flashback, you must've dozed off in your chair."
Shinji nodded to himself, whispering to himself.
"Just a dream…Yeah…It was always a dream with her."
"Huh?"
Shinji peered up at Rei listlessly.
"Oh…nothing Rei…nothing."
"Do you love me?"
Shinji nodded and Rei smiled coyly, slight but very easy for Shinji to see, rubbing her fingers into his soft hair.
"Representative Hikari invited us to some sort of social gathering or party tonight…You still want to go, don't you Shinji? You need to relieve your stress."
Shinji nodded once more, and Rei smiled.
"You still love me, Shinji?"
Shinji nodded one last time, only heavily, as if the question exhausts him.
Tokyo 3, Japan
Tokyo 3 Hospital, Mental Clinic
Shinji Ikari sighed as he entered the room, feeling quite uncomfortable.
It was filled with policemen, nurses and patients, and Shinji noticed an old man that seemed vaguely familiar sitting among the patients, although he was handcuffed to his chair.
Shinji approached the main reception desk, speaking nervously to the old woman inside.
"Yes, Mr. Ikari?"
A short old woman danced in front of Shinji, an obscene old jig, and the receptionist shouted at her.
"Sit down this instant! Yes, Mr. Ikari?"
"I need to see Dr. Kiriyama please."
"Kiriyama?"
The receptionist bent down to one of the files in front of her.
"Is he new here, Mr. Ikari?"
"New? No, he's been here for years."
Shinji tapped his foot impatiently as the receptionist looked at a bundle of papers in front of her.
"Not according to my charts. Do you have an appointment?"
Shinji sighed, shaking his head.
"Forget it, forget it, just please let me see him. Just give me a pass, ten minutes, I know where his room is, I won't be long."
The receptionist put away her papers and spoke, her voice calm.
"Our doctors are seen by appointment only."
Shinji leaned over towards her, speaking quickly.
"Damn…He knows me; I was in his first program. Don't you even recognize me? He knows me."
The receptionist blinked, unsure.
"What-What was your name?"
"Ikari, Shinji Ikari."
She rose, her face unhappy, trudging over to a file cabinet and going through it several times for a few minutes while Shinji stood impatient and then returning to Shinji, her face glinting with an odd emotion.
"I'm sorry…There's no record of a Shinji Ikari in our hospital files. Maybe you're at the wrong hospital."
"Wrong hospital? And what do you mean by no record?"
The receptionist raised her voice, a contrast to Shinji's whispered impatience.
"Do I have to spell it out for you? There is nothing there!"
"That's ridiculous; I've been coming here for years…"
Shinji leaned forward, rubbing his head, his face tired.
"Listen to me…I'm…I…I've been…I just…I just need to see Dr. Kiriyama."
"If this is an emergency we have a staff of psychiatric social workers. There's about an hour's wait. I'll be glad to take your name. Why don't you just fill out this form?"
Shinji clenched his fist, kicking the receptionist's desk and sending a few pens to the floor.
"I don't want to see any social worker!"
Shinji took in a deep breath, his voice calm again.
"I…need to talk to Dr. Kiriyama…He knows me."
The receptionist sighed, bending over to pick up her fallen pens, her nurse's cap falling over in the process.
Shinji gasped, his eyes centering onto her head, stumbling back.
Two small odd almost knuckle-like protrusions poke out of her brown hair, almost like horns.
Shinji stumbled back more as she replaced the cap and glared at him, one hand keeping her cap on.
The former Third Child swallowed deeply and then ran through the door marked "Patients only" that he had entered so many times with Dr. Kiriyama.
As he sprinted he could hear the receptionist's intense, almost enraged voice.
"Hey! Come back here! You can't go in there!"
Shinji continued running as he heard the policeman that had been next to the door give chase with clomping footsteps.
Shinji charged down hall after hall full of patients, some swaying and mumbling to themselves.
Quickly charging through the interior corridors of the aging institution, Shinji running faster.
Meanwhile a line of mental patients, all holding hands, is moving down the hall.
They break ranks as Shinji charges by and begin to scream at the top of their voices. Their attendant tries to calm them down but the sight of the policeman following after Shinji only increases their hysteria. They grab hold of him as he tries to get by, shaking him around and making odd noises.
Meanwhile, Shinji ducked into a familiar door, his eyes wide in surprise, a ring of men and women sitting down in the middle of a dimly-lit room, and in the center of them, a beard bespectacled man in a large chair.
"Can I help you?"
"Dr. Kiriyama, isn't this his office?"
The man peered at Shinji uncomfortably and stood, slowly leading Shinji to the corner of the room while the rest of the people stare at them uneasily.
"I'm so…so sorry…Obviously you didn't hear. Dr. Kiriyama has died."
Shinji stared at the man, tired and stunned.
"Dead!"
"It was a car accident…"
"Oh…When!"
"Last month…"
"How did it happen?"
"No one really knows, they say it blew up."
Shinji stared at him, growing pale.
"Blew up? What do you mean?"
The man shrugged, trying to put his arm around Shinji's shoulder, but Ikari pulled away uncomfortably.
"Do you want me to get someone?"
"No…No…I'm alright now…I think."
He backs quickly to the door, turning and realizing that all the people in the circle are staring at him intently for some odd reason.
Turning away, unsettled, he hurried back down the hallway, bumping into mental patients and nurses, frightened and confused.
Suddenly a voice.
"Hey you! Freeze!"
Shinji peered forward, seeing the policeman apparently waiting for him.
"Hold it. Just hold it. Where the hell do you think you are? This is Tokyo 3, for God's sake. People running around here get shot."
The bespectacled man suddenly appeared behind Shinji, startling him, and motioned to the policeman, waving him away.
"It's alright, he's fine, he's alright."
The policeman nodded warily, mumbling to himself as he holstered his pistol and walked away.
Shinji made his way back towards the lobby, almost running out of the clinic and not looking back, mumbling to himself under his breath.
"I'm fine…I'm just fine…Just fine Asuka, just fine…"
Well, this chapter was about a paragraph longer than the previous one…But that was a quick update, huh? Hope you enjoyed Shinji's adventure through hospital beaurocracy and weirdness…Goodtimes, eh?
Well, see you next chapter.