The Shinji Ikari One Shots

The Law Of The Jungle

I messed up. I mean I fucked up bad.

My claws skittered on the sidewalk, my paws stung from running so hard on the concrete.

I mean it wasn't that big a thing, was it? So I got old miss Inagi's chi tzu, I was really hungry and it was right there, out for a piss or something. In the long run, better it than me going hungry on a night like this, right?

Of course I couldn't communicate this to Tokyo-3's finest chasing me. Even if I could, I think they would be more concerned with the talking wolf than anything he had to say.

Oh… yeah. Perhaps I should explain.

I was twelve years old the first time it happened. I had just fallen asleep, only to be running across grass and through underbrush. The scents and sounds of the wilds were like nothing I had ever felt. I felt like an observer, watching through the eyes of a creature running on instinct that night. When I caught my prey and felt the hot blood in my mouth I swore it felt like stroking one off, except, like, a thousand times better.

I thought it was a dream until the sun started to rise and I found myself quite naked, and quite cold, in the middle of the woods.

Ever since, one night a month, boring, meek, little old Shinji lets the tempting voice loose and turns into a wolf to go and hunt. To taste that blood in my mouth again, to feel that rush. It keeps the beast quiet until the next full moon.

But this was my last meal if I didn't think fast. They had a car now and I could already feel my muscles burning. It was nearly morning, I had been out all night.

I didn't want to do what I did next, but it was better than ending up dead. I had learned over the years that the wolf inside just wanted to be a wolf. He was always there, demanding I act like a beast instead of a man, but my night out each month usually shut him up. But if I stopped resisting for a little while, let him go nuts, the wolf would give me a little extra in return. I might not be in control of what happens next, I might not even remember it, but it was better than ending up dead or shifting back to my human body in a pound somewhere.

I stopped trying to think like a man and let the wolf take over. His power engulfed me like a bluish smoke and suddenly I was running as fast as any car could drive. With my four paws I could corner a hell of a lot faster and go more places. I left the police in the dust in just a few seconds.

I came to as the sun was coming over the hills. I was back to smooth skinned and human shaped. Fortunately I wasn't too far from the apartment and my stash of clothes in the bike locker was still there. I got inside before Misato woke up.

She still didn't suspect anything wrong; at least I didn't think so. Pen pen had caught me a few times, but we had an arrangement. His silence was bought and paid for in sardines. It was Sunday, so I slipped into bed, looking for a few hours sleep to get me through the day.

As sleep took me, I wondered something I had wondered a lot. Was there anyone else out there like me? What were they like? Did they have a society and culture all their own? I hoped I would meet them someday. Little did I know…

Now this is the Law of the Jungle -
as old and as true as the sky;
And the Wolf that shall keep it may prosper,
but the Wolf that shall break it must die.

"Come on Dumkopf! Hurry!" She screamed at me as we ran across the metal deck plate and catwalks of the ship. The angel was out there and only getting closer. I was running as fast as I could but really, in human form, I'm kinda a whimp. Not to mention doing this in a, ahem, ill-fitting, plug suit was not helping.

Once the plug filled with LCL and the connections broke in, I felt something weird. It is hard to describe, but it reminded me of the moments right before I began to change on full moon nights, when the wolf's mind fully entered my own. But then it was gone.

A couple weeks later it was that time of the month again. I had to check if Asuka was asleep first, since her door was just across from mine. I heard nothing from her room, so I checked Misato's and found her lightly snoring. Good, the wolf was getting impatient. I slipped out and stashed my clothes just in time and in a few minutes I was off to the hills.

I learned my lesson after last month. I was going to get as far from the city as I could and stick to hunting in the woods. Even if it was just a squirrel or a tanuki or something it was better than risking getting caught again.

As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk
the Law runneth forward and back –

The first time I heard the howl of another, I lost control. It was the howl of the hunt, calling me, no, demanding I come. I abandoned the trail I had been chasing and made for the source. That was when I found her.

Bolting between the trees, I caught glimpses of her through the forest. She was no bigger than I, and her fur was tawny and flecked with red. I yipped as I approached and she turned her head for only a moment to acknowledge me before redoubling her pace. I followed and soon I could smell her prey… no, our prey. She had not warned me off the trail and she had called out her hunt.

For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf,
and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.

A deer, full grown and strong, was our quarry. When my hunting partner could have taken it but instead jerked right and drove the deer left, I realized that we were driving it, and there must be another waiting to make the kill.

We drove the doe into a valley between the hills and a new smell hit my nose only as the trap closed. Another wolf sprung from the growth. Huge and shaggy with dark fur, he caught the deer by the neck with his vicious jaws, snapping its neck. The prey was dead when it hit the ground.

The red female stopped but I padded forward. The kill was fresh, the blood still hot. I wanted my fill.

The great wolf had only to snap his jaws and I retreated, tail tucked and head bowed. I understood the message: his kill, and his to share as he pleased.

The dark wolf tore open the chest of the carcass and gorged himself on the powerful muscles there. After taking of the choice meat, he ripped off a haunch and dragged it a few yards away. There he lay with his meat held between his paws, and watched. The tawny red female stepped forward, but I did not move. These wolves knew each other, was I even welcome?

Before she reached the prey, she looked back at me. In a very human gesture, she swung her head from me to the prey, as if calling me to it. I followed and ate alongside her until I could eat no more. Before now the largest prey I had taken had been a raccoon dog. The chase, and the catching and eating with others, was a totally new experience and more exhilarating than I had ever felt before.

We rested together after eating our fill, until I could sense the dawn approaching. A precise sense of direction and time was one of the little things the wolf inside had given me over the years. I rose and quite awkwardly, realizing these animals probably had no idea what I was trying to do, made my best bow towards the great wolf before running for home.

The wolf was happy and I ran like the wind, the blue aura of his power surrounding me. Though I made haste, I could still tell that the smells and colors of the world were deeper now than they had ever been to me before. This was the difference between merely acting the part and being the wolf. I must have been starving him if this was what he was like after a good meal.

I slipped through the fence and found the bike lockers. These were good hiding places since, without a lock on it, I could grab and turn the big handle with my teeth. I was doing just that when I heard the voice.

"You know, I had a feeling when I saw you. I think its cause you still have a little bit of LCL on you. It's a unique smell y'know?"

I let go of the handle and very slowly turned to look at the voice. There she was wearing nothing but a pair of bike shorts and a little red crop top, her long red hair free but for her A-10 clips, which I only noticed just then looked remarkably like ears.

I really wasn't sure what to do. I had never been caught like this before and the night had been plenty strange to start. I knew I didn't have enough time to run away and come back…

"Yoohoo, earth to Baka-Shinji, I know its you. Chill out." She said. She walked right over and opened the bike locker, swinging the door open and pushing me out of the way. "Oooooh, someone hasn't learned to shift clothes yet, got yer stash in here."

I sniffed the air…. Holy shit. It was her! The one with with the red flecked coat, it was her! She was… like me.

She grabbed my neatly folded pile of clothes. I tried to grab them back but she swatted me on the nose and held them away.

"Come on, you can change inside. We need to talk so that means we have to have a good enough sick story to get Misato to let us stay home. Come on."

I followed her. It was weird because I had always made plans and been outside when I shifted between wolf and human form, so this was the first time going through the building on four legs. It is a very different perspective on the world. As soon as she opened the door I dashed into my room. I could already feel the first signs of the change building up and the last thing I needed to end the night was to end up naked in front of Asuka. With my luck Misato would have woken up at the same time.

By the time I had shifted back I could hear Asuka yelling at Misato from the bathroom.

"I can't go to school, I…" Asuka's retching sounds were very believable, but I knew she was faking by the lack of bile smell. "I had to kick the baka out just a second ago. I think we both have food poisoning, probably his stupid cooking!"

'Asuka, if you had food poisoning, so would I."

"You drink so damn much it kills everything!" Asuka shrieked, followed by another round of very well acted vomiting sounds. I heard Misato walk up to my door and knock.

"Shin-chan, you okay in there?"

I groaned and curled up in the fetal position, clutching my stomach. I don't know why, I guess I assumed good position would make it sound more real. "Ugh, No…. I think it could have been lunch yesterday. I only made it for Asuka and I, you wouldn't have had any. I guess I need to cook the fish longer."

"Okay we need to get you both to the doctor…"

"No, no… I mean its fine. I've had this before, it will go away by this afternoon, we just need to be careful and drink plenty of water."

I heard Misato sigh. "Okay. You hear that Asuka? Shinji knows what he is doing, listen to him and I will see you both this evening. CALL ME if it gets any worse."

"Yes Misato!"

"Yes Misato!"

As soon as the front door closed, Asuka was there throwing open the door to my room. "Nice improv on the lunch thing." She said and grabbed me by the arm and tugging until I got up. Jesus, it felt like my arm was going to pop out. "Come on, we need to talk. You are like, a thousand times more interesting now."

She all but shoved me to the ground in the living room, where the morning was casting plenty of warm spots.

She asked when I found out, when I started changing.

"Um, about two years ago."

"That's nearly as long as me. Why can't you change with your clothes yet? Whose your alpha?"

"Uh, my what? I didn't know I could change with clothes."

"You don't have an alpha to teach you?"

"Whats an alpha?"

"Like a mentor, or a leader you follow that's… you know, like us?" She asked me. Her face looked like I had just told her I was from Mars.

"I never had one of those."

"Oh… That actually explains some."

"Like what?"

"Like when you tried to eat before your turn."

"Well excuse me, I didn't know there were rules. Last night was the first time I've even seen another wolf, let alone… you know."

"Well, there are rules, and lucky for you, I am going to, out of the kindness of my heart, take it upon myself to teach you. Aren't I wonderful?"

"Uh, yeah…"

"You sound unhappy."

"I, uh… its just new to me, that's all. I don't know what I am or why this happens to me. Everything I do know I just kind of figured out through trial and error." I said. I slumped forward, my elbows resting on my knees while I sat cross-legged. "So am I part of your group now or, what, I don't know. Or was it a one time thing? Is this your territory so I have to move or do I need to pee on stuff to mark it as mine, I just don't know anything, okay."

My mind was starting to go to dark places when she poked me hard in the shoulder. I looked up and for the first time I saw her smile pleasantly, not that cruel smirk she usually had.

"Hey, if you want to be in our pack, you can be in our pack. Its not my decision, but I doubt Kaji would say no, seeing what we are and what we do."

"O-okay…. Wait, Kaji?! Last night that was him?"

"Yep!"

"But he always seems so nice, he scared me half to death when he snapped at me!"

"Well you were trying to eat before your turn, its yer own damn fault."

"I don't even know when my turn is!"

"And that's why you need to learn the law. If it had been anyone else, or even a wild wolf, he would have killed you, even if you did help. Thanks for that by the way."

"No problem, thanks for sharing."

"Alright." She said and cracked her knuckles, stretching her arms out in front of her. "Time to impart some knowledge to you cub."

"We're the same age."

"I know how to behave, you don't, so I am more mature." She said then stuck out her tongue. "Anyway, listen carefully. You need to remember all of this, for this is the law of the jungle, as old and as true as the sky. The wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the wolf that shall break it must die…"

Wash daily from nose-tip to tail-tip;
drink deeply, but never too deep;
And remember the night is for hunting,
and forget not the day is for sleep.

I was pretty skeptical when Asuka told me how important it was that I clean myself better. I don't mean to say I am a neat freak…. But I'm a bit of a neat freak.

"Oh yeah?" She said. "Show me your hands."

I held out my hands and noticed the dirt in the creases between my fingers and under my nails.

"I smelled LCL on you last night. Its things like that get people like us caught. You have to be extra careful every night to get it all out, or else someone will find something on you in one form or another that links your days and nights, if you know what I mean."

"Okay so I have to be careful each month, got it."

"What are you talking about each month? No, every night you go out, it should be a habit everyday anyway, you never know what could happen."

"Um, I only turn once a month."

That made her laugh. After a couple minutes I started to feel embarrassed and had the distinct impression I had missed something.

"No wonder, you don't know anything. Your spirit must be going crazy, don't you talk to him? He could have told you."

"Um, well, no."

"No? Whaddya mean no?"

"We, uh, don't talk. I didn't know we could."

"Oy gavault. That's it, go clean up. I am going to call Kaji and tell him about you, then we are going to get you and the beast inside you talking."

As I headed for the bathroom, I heard her mumbling, something about the poor thing must be so lonely in there, baka-Shinji. By the time I was finished she was just getting off the phone.

"Alright, welcome to the pack, Shin-chan!"

"Shin-chan now? No more Baka Shinji?"

"Naw, you'll always be Baka Shinji to me, but you're kinda family now."

The Jackal may follow the Tiger,
but, Cub, when thy whiskers are grown,
Remember the Wolf is a Hunter -
go forth and get food of thine own.

For a long time, as I grew up, I just wanted to disappear. I wished that others could not see me, and I could just be left alone, y myself where I was happy. I don't want to be alone anymore, I have friends and others who rely on me, my pack. But my wolf, he understood what I meant.

Asuka told me our wolves ultimately want what we want, just in their own way. This affects what gifts they may offer us in exchange for friendship.

I ran the city streets without fear. I was faster than any eye could see, more silent than any ear could hear. You might smell me as I passed you, but the smell would remind you of nothing but the woods and the full moon.

I left nothing behind me but ripples in water and the faintest of smoke.

I bound from rooftop to rooftop, following my prey's scent. I don't know what it is yet, but from the smell alone I WANT it.

I followed it for the whole night, I didn't even take any prey. All I wanted was to catch this thing. But I never caught up. I ran until dawn came over the horizon, but it just disappeared.

Keep peace with the Lords of the Jungle -
the Tiger, the Panther, and Bear.
And trouble not Hathi the Silent,
and mock not the Boar in his lair.

I struggled but Asuka was stronger and bundled me into a broom closet and jammed the door behind her.

"What the fuck were you thinking dumkopf?!"

"Let me go!" I shouted and pulled away from her. "Dad is going to get us all killed acting like this!"

"And what will going in there and confronting him do? What was your plan going in?"

"I was going to make him see reason, I'm going to make him listen!"

"How?"

"I'll scare him if I have to."

"Don't even fucking joke about that Shinji."

"Hey I…"

"Think about it you idiot. You show him a little fang and the moment you turn around he takes you down and starts cutting you up into itty bitty bits. Its not a matter of if you give us up, its when. We survive because we stay hidden. We leave the powerful the hell alone."

I didn't say anything back. She was right. I had forgotten my responsibilities. I could have gotten my pack killed.

"Do you understand me Shinji? We do as the head wolf says and keep our heads down. Got me?"

"Yes Asuka…"

When Pack meets with Pack in the Jungle,
and neither will go from the trail,
Lie down till the leaders have spoken -
it may be fair words shall prevail.

I felt the blood coming over the tips of my fingers as my nails pierced the flesh of my hand. I concentrated on the pain, it was all I could do to stop myself. My Alpha, our head wolf, Kaji, was staring down my father. Asuka and I stood behind him on either side. We were silent as they spoke.

"Commander, this isn't about the kids, just let them get on with their lives. They'll still come pilot the evangelion, they know what is at stake. Now I know you don't like me, and what I am doing. But that doesn't mean the kids need to be involved."

"I have heard fools say that a righteous man can never be manipulated, that he will always have the courage to stay the course. This is of course false." Father said, As he opened a drawer in his desk and withdrew a pistol. "The righteous ones are the most easily manipulated. All I had to do was summon the children and you came running here, to my office, with my lovely silver decorations above and below."

"At least let them leave, don't make them watch this." Kaji said as he raised his hands in the air..

"Mr. Kaji…" Gendo said, pointing the gun at the scruffy man in the rumpled clothes. "That is the entire point. The feared are the most easily ruled. Now watch, children, what happens to those who defy the chosen order."

I saw father's finger move to the trigger, then suddenly everything went weird. It as like I was in wolf form. Everything was slower, sharper, more real. Kaji turned his head to look at me and as our eyes locked I heard his voice inside my head, even though his lips did not move.

"This is my final lesson. You know the power of coming to terms with your wolf and know what he wants. This is the power that comes with makes what you want and the wolf wants the same…"

I started to move. I raised my hand and tried to run to him. He couldn't do this, he had to have a plan, something to get us all out of this…

Suddenly Asuka was grabbing me by the collar and pulling me away. It was all happening so fast, I don't think father saw anything but a blur, but the last thing I saw before the door closed behind us was Kaji's shirt bursting across the seam as truly massive black wolf emerged. It walked on two legs and stood well above the height of the man it came from. The door closed and I heard the sound of the gun shot, but Asuka and I had already turned by that time.

We ran, faster than the eye could see. We used the stairs and the tunnels to escape the geofront to the surface, and we kept running. When we finally stopped it was dawn and we were god knew how far away from the city in the wooded hills.

The Lair of the Wolf is his refuge,
and where he has made him his home,
Not even the Head Wolf may enter,
not even the Council may come.

The Lair of the Wolf is his refuge,
but where he has digged it too plain,
The Council shall send him a message,
and so he shall change it again.

We found a cave. It was a nice cave, it even had a little hot spring nearby. We made up a shelter around the mouth of it, with branches to camouflage the entrance.

We didn't talk about it for a long time. We didn't talk at all for the first week I think. After we built our home in the cave, we stayed in wolf form most of the time. It was easier to get comfy that way.

"Hey…"

"What?"

"What does your wolf want?"

She just shrugged then stretched her arms over head before putting her hands to the ground and leaning back.

"Pups mostly. It's that drive to procreate and pass on the genes, y'know?"

"Oh…" I wasn't sure how to respond to that without Asuka slapping me for being perverted.

"Yours?" She asked, just looking up at the moon.

"He used to just want someone to talk to. He didn't need love and attention, just someone to be his friend. They're like us, y'know, they can be alone, but they want to be social."

She nodded then, after a few minutes asked. "And what about now?"

"Huh?"

"You said 'used to'. What does he want now?"

I shrugged and took a long look at the moon as I thought about it. "He wants what I want. He wants to make dad pay."

"And after that?"

I just shrugged my shoulders again. I hadn't thought that far.

"You ready to go hunt?" She asked after a while.

"Yeah." I replied right away. I wanted to think about something else, to lose myself in the thrill of chasing prey. We both stood and stretched a little. I don't know why, but it helped smooth the transition.

"Hey Shinji…"

"Yeah?"

"I think I want pups some day too. But Kaji…" I saw the flicker of pain in her eyes. She only paused for a moment before continuing. "Kaji told me that the pups can't change back and forth in the womb. I'd either have to have to get pregnant with a human child and resist the urge until its born, or turn and stay four legged until I have the litter."

"Oh…"

"That's not something I can do right now, either way. But making the commander pay… I feel like we can do that." She said with the slightest of smiles. I smiled back and held out a hand, which she took.

"When this is all done, I hope the world is one where you can have your pups."

"Well, first I need to find a worthy mate. He'd have to be strong, a head wolf."

"Know anybody?" I said, teasing her.

"Yeah actually. I know this guy. Cute, if a little scrawny when he's human, but when he is a wolf…" Asuka grinned and got this look in her eye. "He is amazing. His alpha died though, and now its just a question if he can handle the responsibility."

I nodded, understanding her meaning.

"Let's go hunt."

"Yeah, I think I smelled some rabbit to the east…"

"We go West." I said. "There are deer that way. I'll drive them to you, do it clean. Rabbits take too much energy and they don't have any minerals"

I let go of her hand and summoned my wolf to begin the change. As the more real senses overtook me, I heard her say.

"Aye head wolf."

Now these are the Laws of the Jungle,
and many and mighty are they;
But the head and the hoof of the Law
and the haunch and the hump is - Obey!

With credit and thanks to Rudyard Kipling.

Been working on this for while, getting it just right.

Oh and Nartog, the one who went through and reviewed almost everything I have ever posted, will you please just make an account and PM me? I'll answer your questions but its just annoying to not be able to talk back.