Neon Genesis Evangelion and all characters from therein are the
property of Gainax. They are used without permission and we beg the
kind and benevolent creators of the glorious show not to sue us. ^_^
Chain Lightning Studios Presents
Together We Stand
By T. L. Webb
Hey you, don't tell me there's no hope at all
Together we stand, divided we fall
Hey you
Pink Floyd, The Wall
[]=======================[]
Book 1 Prologue
[]=======================[]
Hikari Horaki walked into the classroom and sighed; Rei
Ayanami had beaten her to school again. If she didn't have to
walk her younger sister to class she suspected that she might be
able to actually arrive before the strange pale girl for once. It
wasn't really that big a deal-- it was more of a game she played
to amuse herself. The only reason that she didn't worry about
Ayanami's uncanny punctuality overlapping her own was the fact
that half of the time the girl didn't even show up in the first
place. This was actually the first time in almost three weeks
that she had been in class at all. When she did bother to show up
however, it seemed she arrived the moment the gates were
unlocked.
As Hikari walked closer she let out a small gasp; Ayanami's
arms and head were wrapped in bandages, in addition her right arm
hung limply in a sling. She wondered if the girl had been injured
in the Robot incident.
It had been the talk of the school-- actually it had been
the talk of the world. Less than a week before, a giant monster
had come out of nowhere and started wrecking the city. Hikari and
her sisters had missed seeing it, having been evacuated to the
shelters immediately after the first alert. There had, however,
been a few people who had either been too slow or had stayed out
to see what was going on. From their accounts- it had been
hundreds of feet tall and had taken everything the UN had been
able to throw at it without a scratch. As it had resumed its
attack on the city after the UN's last attack, a huge robot had
risen from the ground and the two had fought.
The monster had been destroyed and the next day the news
was reporting that Nerv had created the robot. She and her
sisters had badgered her dad for days after that for him to tell
them more. Unfortunately his office was only related to what he
called project E indirectly, and he knew little. Nerv employed
most of the city, and she was surprised that no one had ever
heard of the huge machine before then. Where in the world could
they hide something like that?
Hikari shook all that from her mind. The issue was Rei and
how she had gotten hurt, not the dumb mech. She was starting to
sound like Kensuke.
"Rei? Are you ok? What happened?" she asked with concern as
she stepped closer.
Ayanami turned and fixed Hikari with her uninjured eye, but
said nothing.
'I'll never get used to those red eyes' Hikari thought as
Ayanami's gaze froze her in place. They were almost hypnotic. Rei
rarely focused on anything other than the view from the window,
but when she did; the intensity she radiated was overwhelming.
Because of this few ever mustered up the courage to speak to her.
Shaking off her unease she repeated herself; hoping that Rei
would actually say something. "Are you alright?" She asked.
"I am not in pain," Rei replied in that calm, soft voice
that creeped out most of the student body, "There is no need for
concern Representative Horaki."
"We-well that's good, I-I'm glad you're alright." Hikari
said, trying to keep from flinching under Rei's stare.
To her relief Rei turned back to the window and resumed
whatever meditations she had been involved in before. She wanted
to be nicer to Rei, but he girl was so... strange, and it wasn't
just the albinism. Rei had an air about her that disturbed
Hikari, something that was just beyond her ability to describe
accurately. It was almost as if Rei had no drive in life, nothing
to work for. Ever since Hikari had known the girl, she seemed to
just go through the motions of living without taking part.
Making a mental note to try to speak with her more often,
Hikari went to her desk to check her messages. As class
representative it was her responsibility to keep herself updated
on all new information concerning school events.
Plugging in her laptop and entering her password, she
brought up the menu. Sure enough the faculty had sent her a set
of data concerning a new student. This was a bit surprising.
Since the Robot incident many of her fellow students had left
Tokyo Three, having been moved out by their parents. A person
actually moving _into_ such a dangerous city was a bit unusual.
Looking over the information she found the boy's name and
picture.
Shinji Ikari, age 14.
He had apparently been living with his uncle for most of his
life and had been tutored privately for the last couple of years.
She hoped he was up to date on his studies, her schedule for
study aid was already chock full. Scanning quickly over the rest
she was struck by how empty the file was. No sports, no clubs, no
extracurricular activities at all from his older class records,
save that he apparently played the cello.
She took a moment to look at his picture again. He was
slender and apparently well groomed-- that would be a nice switch
from some of the slobs in class, but it was the boy's eyes that
caught her attention. He seemed... sad.
Well it was just a school file photo; it wasn't like a
person's whole life was in there. Making a mental note to welcome
him, she finished up her paper work and waited for the rest of
the class to arrive.
[]====[]
[]====[]
"Welcome to our school Mr. Ikari. I am the class
representative Hikari Horaki," she said, greeting the young man
as he walked in.
He looked just as he had in his photograph, brown hair and
deep blue eyes, but as she had expected the photo hadn't conveyed
anything about him. The sound of her voice had surprised him and
he had jumped slightly. Once he realized what she had said
however he reverted to the distant look he'd carried with him as
he had entered.
"T-thank you... which is my seat?" he asked in a quiet, shy
voice.
As she led him to his assigned place, she handed him the
bootup disk for his assigned laptop.
"This contains a quick tutorial on the operating system, a
list of the school rules, regulations for private messages, and a
few other important bits of information," She told him, "our
classroom is connected to the internet, but access is limited
during most of the day. Private messages are permitted, but
interrupting the class can result in loss of privileges."
Shinji listened to this and nodded, and Hikari got the
impression he was a bit uncomfortable. This was not too
surprising; being new at a school could do that to someone.
He thanked her again before sitting down and pulling out
earplugs and turning on a SDAT player.
"Great... another Rei." She muttered under her breath--
social interaction did not seem to be one of Shinji's greater
talents. She admonished herself immediately; it wasn't nice or
fair to make snap judgments like that.
As she greeted the other arriving students, she took a look
back at him and decided she had been wrong about his photo. The
look in his eyes wasn't that of sadness. It was more as if he
were haunted by something.
[]====[]
[]====[]
"Hey class rep!"
Hikari rolled her eyes. Kensuke Aida was a nice enough guy;
she had known him and his best friend Touji Suzuhara since first
grade, but when he went into military mode he became a world
class pain in the neck. Ever since the Robot incident he had
insisted on reminding everyone of this fact... in spades.
"What is it Aida?" She asked, letting her voice betray her
annoyance. She didn't like being disturbed during lunch in the
first place, it was one of the few times during the school day
she could actually relax. The twinkle in Kensuke's eyes was
enough to convince her that whatever he wanted it had to do with
either Nerv or the Giant Robot.
"I need to ask you something about the new guy."
"You mean the transfer student, Shinji Ikari?"
"Yeah, not that there are any other new guys, but can you
show me his school file?"
Hikari's eyes narrowed. It wasn't technically against the
rules, but it still wasn't proper to ask for such things. "Why do
you want to see his file Kensuke?"
"I wanna test a theory."
"I'm not going to play games Aida, tell me or leave me alone
so I can eat my lunch."
"Okay, okay, I think the new kid works for Nerv."
Hikari mentally rolled her eyes. It figured. "What makes you
think that?" she asked
"Have you seen those guys in black suits wandering the
perimeter of the school all year?
"Yeah... what about them?"
"Well as of today there are twice as many of them. The only
change in the past couple of days is the new kid."
"So what does his file got to do with that? It's just school
notes and other boring stuff."
"Don't you know anything about espionage?"
"No Kensuke, but then again I have things in my life other
than military and anime."
"Cheep shot, but I'll let it slide. Show me his file and
I'll explain my theory."
"If it will get you to leave me to my lunch," She said as
she pulled her laptop out from the desk and booted it up. "Okay
Kensuke, here's his file... now what's so special about it?"
"Look there!" Kensuke said excitedly, pointing at the
screen.
"What?"
"The gaps in the history!"
"Kensuke Aida, if you don't start making sense..."
"They erased some of his school history! And look here,
there's no parents listed other than a guardian."
"And this proves what, exactly? He had a private tutor for
a couple of years. That doesn't mean anything"
"Well of course it means nothing by itself, but when you
take the pieces and put them together..."
"Go away and let me eat in peace Kensuke," Hikari said in a
strained voice.
"Okay, but mark my words, there's something weird going on
with this guy."
"Kensuke!" She growled.
"Alright, alright," Kensuke said as he ducked out the door.
Hikari let out a sigh as she turned back to her lunch. Kensuke's
imagination was going to get him in trouble of him one day.
[]====[]
[]====[]
She couldn't say that she was surprised.
By the time she made back from the equipment room, the
locker room gossip mill was already in full swing. Every singly
girl in class seemed to have a theory about the transfer student,
and they each apparently felt the world would end if she didn't
share it with everyone else.
"Well I heard he came here because he got in trouble with
the law."
"No, Kensuke says he works for Nerv!"
"Oh as if! What would they want with a scrawny wimp like
him? Did you see how slow he was on the track?"
"Oh please, I think he's a cutie."
"I bet he had to leave a girlfriend behind and that's why
he's so quiet."
"Ooh, think he needs help healing his wounded heart?"
Hikari rolled her eyes. This would keep up for at most a
week, then the girls would promptly forget about it when
something new happened. They would joke, giggle, and dare each
other to ask him out-- but that's about as far as it would go. It
was about the only predictable thing left in Tokyo 3.
'At least its not a new girl' she thought, 'I've had to
break Aida and Suzuhara's little photo racket up twice this year
already.'
[]====[]
[]====[]
The final bell rang and she yelled out her instructions to
the class. Yelling was the only way that she could get their
attention some days.
The teacher walked out and the rest of the class began
gathering their things. Rei was gone before Hikari could say
anything; she would have to talk with the girl some other time.
It had been a long day, mostly due to the fact that the
teacher insisted on going over the same material every day during
the final hour. By now the entire class could probably quote it
line for line. It was about the only reason she didn't crack down
on the private messages in the classroom chatsite.
'Let no one ever say that the reign of Hikari Horaki was not
a tolerant one,' she thought with a grin. She would get out of
her older sister's shadow yet! As she finished packing her things
and walked out the door, she wondered just how much easier it
would be if her Kodama hadn't been such a terror in the
classroom. She had learned the hard way that following such an
act was not the easiest job in the world. Fortunately over the
course of the year she seemed to have finally been accepted in
the position and the grumbles had faded to almost nothing.
Stepping out of the front doors of the school and into the
daylight she saw the new student standing across the street
looking out at the city. In the distance the buildings were
lowering into the underground shafts that protected them during
attack. She had forgotten that there was a scheduled evacuation
drill in the main block, theirs would most likely be in a week or
two.
She had only seen the spectacle a couple of times since the
final construction, so she stepped across the street to watch it
as well. When she made it to the rail where Shinji stood, she saw
that he was shaking. His hands gripped the railing so tightly
that she could hear his knuckles pop.
Concerned for the boy, she tapped him lightly on the
shoulder and asked if he was all right. He jumped back from her
touch and for a moment she actually thought he was going to run
away. When he realized who it was he seemed to deflate as he let
out a sigh of relief. Even so, she could clearly see that
whatever was bothering him ran deep, he seemed to still be
looking for a way to leave quickly.
"I-I'm... okay, thank you. Sorry if I startled you Miss...
Horaki?"
"That's me," she acknowledged with a smile, "and it's
alright. _I_ should be the one apologizing. I mean-- I'm the one
who snuck up on you. Are you sure you're okay?"
"Yes... I--I just have a lot on my mind right now... I
should go, sorry to trouble you." He told her as he headed off
down the road.
"What a strange boy" she said to herself as she headed home.
[]====[]
[]====[]
That night, as she got ready for bed, Hikari found herself
thinking about the new student. He seemed so distant from
everyone around him. He hadn't spoken to anyone the entire day
beyond the initial greetings he got. She wondered if it was
because he was just shy or if he was simply unfriendly. He didn't
seem mean or rude, just self contained.
Kensuke was convinced the guy was the Robot's pilot now, but
how he came to that conclusion was beyond her. Then again she had
never claimed to understand Kensuke in the first place. She hoped
Touji was ok. For all his antics with Kensuke he was a nice
enough guy, and one of her best friends. She was more than a bit
worried; he hadn't been back at school since the incident. The
news reports said no one had been injured, but after she had seen
Rei... she wasn't as sure.
A she finished dressing for bed and turned out the light,
she wondered if Kensuke was right... if the new kid was in fact
the pilot then he was a hero, he had fought to save all their
lives. But if that was true it didn't match the boy's attitude.
He didn't seem like the type of person a military organization
would hire. He seemed so... lost.
She didn't even know why she was thinking about this, it was
just distracting her from her job as class rep and her
schoolwork. But even as she tried to wipe all such thoughts from
her mind, even as she drifted off to sleep, she kept seeing
Shinji Ikari's wounded eyes and wondering what had happened to
cause such pain.
[]====================[]
To be Continued...
[]====================[]
Authors incoherent babbling:
Wow this might be the shortest thing I've written ^_^, but
on the other hand; it marks the beginning of a story. The idea
exploded in my head (yuk) when I was reading the 'In Other Words'
message board and someone asked why there weren't more
Shinji/Hikari fics out there.
"Well" I said, "that's a darn good question."
Being the only marginally sane person in the cast of
Evangelion, (not counting the bridge bunnies) Hikari is an oasis
of peace in the desert of angst that composes Eva's later
chapters.
Keep this in mind as you read the fic:
A smart fella once said "the future is not set, there is no
fate but what we make." And indeed the future is in constant
flux. The choices each and every person makes every moment of
their lives have small, sometimes immeasurable effects one the
lives of others. Sometimes the smallest choices can have the
largest effects, altering entire destinies. In short it's the
butterfly effect.
Touji/Hikari fans may hate me for this. Rei/Shinji fans will
probably hate me for this. Asuka/Shinji fans will most likely be
shouting for my head on a pike by the end.
The rest of you, sit back, relax and enjoy the ride
Hotwire
Chain Lightning Studios
http://hotwire182.freeyellow.com/chainlightning.html
property of Gainax. They are used without permission and we beg the
kind and benevolent creators of the glorious show not to sue us. ^_^
Chain Lightning Studios Presents
Together We Stand
By T. L. Webb
Hey you, don't tell me there's no hope at all
Together we stand, divided we fall
Hey you
Pink Floyd, The Wall
[]=======================[]
Book 1 Prologue
[]=======================[]
Hikari Horaki walked into the classroom and sighed; Rei
Ayanami had beaten her to school again. If she didn't have to
walk her younger sister to class she suspected that she might be
able to actually arrive before the strange pale girl for once. It
wasn't really that big a deal-- it was more of a game she played
to amuse herself. The only reason that she didn't worry about
Ayanami's uncanny punctuality overlapping her own was the fact
that half of the time the girl didn't even show up in the first
place. This was actually the first time in almost three weeks
that she had been in class at all. When she did bother to show up
however, it seemed she arrived the moment the gates were
unlocked.
As Hikari walked closer she let out a small gasp; Ayanami's
arms and head were wrapped in bandages, in addition her right arm
hung limply in a sling. She wondered if the girl had been injured
in the Robot incident.
It had been the talk of the school-- actually it had been
the talk of the world. Less than a week before, a giant monster
had come out of nowhere and started wrecking the city. Hikari and
her sisters had missed seeing it, having been evacuated to the
shelters immediately after the first alert. There had, however,
been a few people who had either been too slow or had stayed out
to see what was going on. From their accounts- it had been
hundreds of feet tall and had taken everything the UN had been
able to throw at it without a scratch. As it had resumed its
attack on the city after the UN's last attack, a huge robot had
risen from the ground and the two had fought.
The monster had been destroyed and the next day the news
was reporting that Nerv had created the robot. She and her
sisters had badgered her dad for days after that for him to tell
them more. Unfortunately his office was only related to what he
called project E indirectly, and he knew little. Nerv employed
most of the city, and she was surprised that no one had ever
heard of the huge machine before then. Where in the world could
they hide something like that?
Hikari shook all that from her mind. The issue was Rei and
how she had gotten hurt, not the dumb mech. She was starting to
sound like Kensuke.
"Rei? Are you ok? What happened?" she asked with concern as
she stepped closer.
Ayanami turned and fixed Hikari with her uninjured eye, but
said nothing.
'I'll never get used to those red eyes' Hikari thought as
Ayanami's gaze froze her in place. They were almost hypnotic. Rei
rarely focused on anything other than the view from the window,
but when she did; the intensity she radiated was overwhelming.
Because of this few ever mustered up the courage to speak to her.
Shaking off her unease she repeated herself; hoping that Rei
would actually say something. "Are you alright?" She asked.
"I am not in pain," Rei replied in that calm, soft voice
that creeped out most of the student body, "There is no need for
concern Representative Horaki."
"We-well that's good, I-I'm glad you're alright." Hikari
said, trying to keep from flinching under Rei's stare.
To her relief Rei turned back to the window and resumed
whatever meditations she had been involved in before. She wanted
to be nicer to Rei, but he girl was so... strange, and it wasn't
just the albinism. Rei had an air about her that disturbed
Hikari, something that was just beyond her ability to describe
accurately. It was almost as if Rei had no drive in life, nothing
to work for. Ever since Hikari had known the girl, she seemed to
just go through the motions of living without taking part.
Making a mental note to try to speak with her more often,
Hikari went to her desk to check her messages. As class
representative it was her responsibility to keep herself updated
on all new information concerning school events.
Plugging in her laptop and entering her password, she
brought up the menu. Sure enough the faculty had sent her a set
of data concerning a new student. This was a bit surprising.
Since the Robot incident many of her fellow students had left
Tokyo Three, having been moved out by their parents. A person
actually moving _into_ such a dangerous city was a bit unusual.
Looking over the information she found the boy's name and
picture.
Shinji Ikari, age 14.
He had apparently been living with his uncle for most of his
life and had been tutored privately for the last couple of years.
She hoped he was up to date on his studies, her schedule for
study aid was already chock full. Scanning quickly over the rest
she was struck by how empty the file was. No sports, no clubs, no
extracurricular activities at all from his older class records,
save that he apparently played the cello.
She took a moment to look at his picture again. He was
slender and apparently well groomed-- that would be a nice switch
from some of the slobs in class, but it was the boy's eyes that
caught her attention. He seemed... sad.
Well it was just a school file photo; it wasn't like a
person's whole life was in there. Making a mental note to welcome
him, she finished up her paper work and waited for the rest of
the class to arrive.
[]====[]
[]====[]
"Welcome to our school Mr. Ikari. I am the class
representative Hikari Horaki," she said, greeting the young man
as he walked in.
He looked just as he had in his photograph, brown hair and
deep blue eyes, but as she had expected the photo hadn't conveyed
anything about him. The sound of her voice had surprised him and
he had jumped slightly. Once he realized what she had said
however he reverted to the distant look he'd carried with him as
he had entered.
"T-thank you... which is my seat?" he asked in a quiet, shy
voice.
As she led him to his assigned place, she handed him the
bootup disk for his assigned laptop.
"This contains a quick tutorial on the operating system, a
list of the school rules, regulations for private messages, and a
few other important bits of information," She told him, "our
classroom is connected to the internet, but access is limited
during most of the day. Private messages are permitted, but
interrupting the class can result in loss of privileges."
Shinji listened to this and nodded, and Hikari got the
impression he was a bit uncomfortable. This was not too
surprising; being new at a school could do that to someone.
He thanked her again before sitting down and pulling out
earplugs and turning on a SDAT player.
"Great... another Rei." She muttered under her breath--
social interaction did not seem to be one of Shinji's greater
talents. She admonished herself immediately; it wasn't nice or
fair to make snap judgments like that.
As she greeted the other arriving students, she took a look
back at him and decided she had been wrong about his photo. The
look in his eyes wasn't that of sadness. It was more as if he
were haunted by something.
[]====[]
[]====[]
"Hey class rep!"
Hikari rolled her eyes. Kensuke Aida was a nice enough guy;
she had known him and his best friend Touji Suzuhara since first
grade, but when he went into military mode he became a world
class pain in the neck. Ever since the Robot incident he had
insisted on reminding everyone of this fact... in spades.
"What is it Aida?" She asked, letting her voice betray her
annoyance. She didn't like being disturbed during lunch in the
first place, it was one of the few times during the school day
she could actually relax. The twinkle in Kensuke's eyes was
enough to convince her that whatever he wanted it had to do with
either Nerv or the Giant Robot.
"I need to ask you something about the new guy."
"You mean the transfer student, Shinji Ikari?"
"Yeah, not that there are any other new guys, but can you
show me his school file?"
Hikari's eyes narrowed. It wasn't technically against the
rules, but it still wasn't proper to ask for such things. "Why do
you want to see his file Kensuke?"
"I wanna test a theory."
"I'm not going to play games Aida, tell me or leave me alone
so I can eat my lunch."
"Okay, okay, I think the new kid works for Nerv."
Hikari mentally rolled her eyes. It figured. "What makes you
think that?" she asked
"Have you seen those guys in black suits wandering the
perimeter of the school all year?
"Yeah... what about them?"
"Well as of today there are twice as many of them. The only
change in the past couple of days is the new kid."
"So what does his file got to do with that? It's just school
notes and other boring stuff."
"Don't you know anything about espionage?"
"No Kensuke, but then again I have things in my life other
than military and anime."
"Cheep shot, but I'll let it slide. Show me his file and
I'll explain my theory."
"If it will get you to leave me to my lunch," She said as
she pulled her laptop out from the desk and booted it up. "Okay
Kensuke, here's his file... now what's so special about it?"
"Look there!" Kensuke said excitedly, pointing at the
screen.
"What?"
"The gaps in the history!"
"Kensuke Aida, if you don't start making sense..."
"They erased some of his school history! And look here,
there's no parents listed other than a guardian."
"And this proves what, exactly? He had a private tutor for
a couple of years. That doesn't mean anything"
"Well of course it means nothing by itself, but when you
take the pieces and put them together..."
"Go away and let me eat in peace Kensuke," Hikari said in a
strained voice.
"Okay, but mark my words, there's something weird going on
with this guy."
"Kensuke!" She growled.
"Alright, alright," Kensuke said as he ducked out the door.
Hikari let out a sigh as she turned back to her lunch. Kensuke's
imagination was going to get him in trouble of him one day.
[]====[]
[]====[]
She couldn't say that she was surprised.
By the time she made back from the equipment room, the
locker room gossip mill was already in full swing. Every singly
girl in class seemed to have a theory about the transfer student,
and they each apparently felt the world would end if she didn't
share it with everyone else.
"Well I heard he came here because he got in trouble with
the law."
"No, Kensuke says he works for Nerv!"
"Oh as if! What would they want with a scrawny wimp like
him? Did you see how slow he was on the track?"
"Oh please, I think he's a cutie."
"I bet he had to leave a girlfriend behind and that's why
he's so quiet."
"Ooh, think he needs help healing his wounded heart?"
Hikari rolled her eyes. This would keep up for at most a
week, then the girls would promptly forget about it when
something new happened. They would joke, giggle, and dare each
other to ask him out-- but that's about as far as it would go. It
was about the only predictable thing left in Tokyo 3.
'At least its not a new girl' she thought, 'I've had to
break Aida and Suzuhara's little photo racket up twice this year
already.'
[]====[]
[]====[]
The final bell rang and she yelled out her instructions to
the class. Yelling was the only way that she could get their
attention some days.
The teacher walked out and the rest of the class began
gathering their things. Rei was gone before Hikari could say
anything; she would have to talk with the girl some other time.
It had been a long day, mostly due to the fact that the
teacher insisted on going over the same material every day during
the final hour. By now the entire class could probably quote it
line for line. It was about the only reason she didn't crack down
on the private messages in the classroom chatsite.
'Let no one ever say that the reign of Hikari Horaki was not
a tolerant one,' she thought with a grin. She would get out of
her older sister's shadow yet! As she finished packing her things
and walked out the door, she wondered just how much easier it
would be if her Kodama hadn't been such a terror in the
classroom. She had learned the hard way that following such an
act was not the easiest job in the world. Fortunately over the
course of the year she seemed to have finally been accepted in
the position and the grumbles had faded to almost nothing.
Stepping out of the front doors of the school and into the
daylight she saw the new student standing across the street
looking out at the city. In the distance the buildings were
lowering into the underground shafts that protected them during
attack. She had forgotten that there was a scheduled evacuation
drill in the main block, theirs would most likely be in a week or
two.
She had only seen the spectacle a couple of times since the
final construction, so she stepped across the street to watch it
as well. When she made it to the rail where Shinji stood, she saw
that he was shaking. His hands gripped the railing so tightly
that she could hear his knuckles pop.
Concerned for the boy, she tapped him lightly on the
shoulder and asked if he was all right. He jumped back from her
touch and for a moment she actually thought he was going to run
away. When he realized who it was he seemed to deflate as he let
out a sigh of relief. Even so, she could clearly see that
whatever was bothering him ran deep, he seemed to still be
looking for a way to leave quickly.
"I-I'm... okay, thank you. Sorry if I startled you Miss...
Horaki?"
"That's me," she acknowledged with a smile, "and it's
alright. _I_ should be the one apologizing. I mean-- I'm the one
who snuck up on you. Are you sure you're okay?"
"Yes... I--I just have a lot on my mind right now... I
should go, sorry to trouble you." He told her as he headed off
down the road.
"What a strange boy" she said to herself as she headed home.
[]====[]
[]====[]
That night, as she got ready for bed, Hikari found herself
thinking about the new student. He seemed so distant from
everyone around him. He hadn't spoken to anyone the entire day
beyond the initial greetings he got. She wondered if it was
because he was just shy or if he was simply unfriendly. He didn't
seem mean or rude, just self contained.
Kensuke was convinced the guy was the Robot's pilot now, but
how he came to that conclusion was beyond her. Then again she had
never claimed to understand Kensuke in the first place. She hoped
Touji was ok. For all his antics with Kensuke he was a nice
enough guy, and one of her best friends. She was more than a bit
worried; he hadn't been back at school since the incident. The
news reports said no one had been injured, but after she had seen
Rei... she wasn't as sure.
A she finished dressing for bed and turned out the light,
she wondered if Kensuke was right... if the new kid was in fact
the pilot then he was a hero, he had fought to save all their
lives. But if that was true it didn't match the boy's attitude.
He didn't seem like the type of person a military organization
would hire. He seemed so... lost.
She didn't even know why she was thinking about this, it was
just distracting her from her job as class rep and her
schoolwork. But even as she tried to wipe all such thoughts from
her mind, even as she drifted off to sleep, she kept seeing
Shinji Ikari's wounded eyes and wondering what had happened to
cause such pain.
[]====================[]
To be Continued...
[]====================[]
Authors incoherent babbling:
Wow this might be the shortest thing I've written ^_^, but
on the other hand; it marks the beginning of a story. The idea
exploded in my head (yuk) when I was reading the 'In Other Words'
message board and someone asked why there weren't more
Shinji/Hikari fics out there.
"Well" I said, "that's a darn good question."
Being the only marginally sane person in the cast of
Evangelion, (not counting the bridge bunnies) Hikari is an oasis
of peace in the desert of angst that composes Eva's later
chapters.
Keep this in mind as you read the fic:
A smart fella once said "the future is not set, there is no
fate but what we make." And indeed the future is in constant
flux. The choices each and every person makes every moment of
their lives have small, sometimes immeasurable effects one the
lives of others. Sometimes the smallest choices can have the
largest effects, altering entire destinies. In short it's the
butterfly effect.
Touji/Hikari fans may hate me for this. Rei/Shinji fans will
probably hate me for this. Asuka/Shinji fans will most likely be
shouting for my head on a pike by the end.
The rest of you, sit back, relax and enjoy the ride
Hotwire
Chain Lightning Studios
http://hotwire182.freeyellow.com/chainlightning.html