Time Waits For No One

Chapter 1

The morning sun was – at least to Shiina – a horrible thing. It gleamed and shone across the wide expanse of school property as if it had a right to be there… as if it owned the place. As if someone actually wanted or cared about it. It was stupid, dumb, idiotic, and mercilessly bright and cheerful.

Shiina hated it.

Long strands of black hair escaped from the scarf around her neck and waved behind her as the wind hit her face, caressing her clenched jaw and narrowed eyes. Everything about her life here was stupid. One couldn't even call it a life… maybe a less than horrible death, but never really 'life'. Her friends here were going to disappear one day. She knew this well, but cared not to think of it. If anyone was going to be disappearing then it would be her.

She hated this place, so what was there to stay for?

Still, Shiina was here. Always would be here as long as her friends were. Nothing ever changed.

"This is so stupid."

"Perk up and feel the music, man!" TK's voice penetrated her deep and depressing thoughts abruptly. She turned, letting up on her clenched jaw for a moment and trying to act non-chalant.

"I am not a man," came her oh-so-calm-and-collected reply. TK looked a bit confused, as if he were sure that his out of the blue comment would make her feel better. Or at least get a rise out of her if nothing else. He might've been sort of thick headed and narrow minded, but that didn't mean he couldn't see when someone was down in the dumps.

"Perk up and feel the music, girl! …Woman. Eh… female?"

"This is so stupid."

That ended the conversation pretty quickly and TK soon went back to dancing like a DJ, or whatever else he was imagining in that head of his. A sigh of exasperation quickly departed from Shiina's lips as she leaned against the railing of the stairway. Yuri – or 'Yurippe' as some liked to say – would usually let Shiina do whatever she pleased with her free time. The girl only really appeared when trouble was up and about. That was the problem right now.

There was trouble. And not just any trouble, but big trouble. Naoi, the vice-president of the Student Council, had only just a few days before become the temporary President of the school. The rest of the Battlefront believed him to be an NPC of some new proportions, but Shiina wasn't fooled. Whenever he came close enough for her to look directly in his eyes…

She just knew something wasn't right. Something was off about this guy, and it was making her incredibly uneasy. Especially when Shiina would hear the muffled screams of a real NPC student getting the crap beat of him by the new 'President'. Naoi was a leech, and she was not fond of leeches. They sucked off of whatever kind of power source they could find, and wouldn't let go for all the bribes in the world. She knew his kind. He was a leech alright, but a stupid one. If he thought that beating up a few students and intimidating the rest was going to earn him respect, then he was dead wrong.

Or maybe he was just dead.

That was it. Naoi wasn't an NPC – Shiina had known this from the start, but doubted Yuri would believe her if she said anything – he was dead just like the rest of them. A lost soul that had never gotten to live out its youth in the real world.

"We're all damned to this hell forever."

"Don't be like that, Shiina! Rock n' roll and go with the music-"

"Shut up, TK."

Anyway, back to her thoughts of doom and gloom. This Naoi was not going to pull the wool over her eyes like he had with everyone else. As long as he didn't take out some incredibly cute object, then he wouldn't stand a chance alone against her. Shiina nodded her head, reaching nimble fingers upwards and absent mindedly tucking strands of hair behind her ear.

Suddenly her walkie-talkie crackled with static before the clear voice of Yuri sounded over the transmission system. "Is anyone there? Can anyone here me?"

"This is Shiina. You're coming in clear enough, Yuri."

"Alright, good. Whoever else is on this channel, listen closely. Otanashi and Angel have gone missing. They haven't reported back to headquarters yet and I warned everyone beforehand that we had to have regular check times. It's been two hours since he called in last!"

No. No this can't be… this isn't right! I've got to find that leech… and destroy him…

"Shiina? Are you listening?" Yurippe's voice seemed strained as if she were trying to hold her composure while thinking up some sort of plan at the same time.

"Not really."

"Naoi is a human. He has a human soul just like us. I thought… I thought he was an NPC before, but no NPC would act against their programming like this."

Big surprise. "I see."

"I'm going to try and locate Otanashi – or at the very least, contact him. I gave him his own walkie-talkie before he left, so I might be able to find the right channel and call in to see if he's okay or not. Something is going down soon, Shiina. I can feel the tension in the air. I need you to go on a solo mission and… and… hey… what's happenin-"

The transmission went dead. Something had interrupted! How rude! Shiina guessed it wasn't a pack of bunnies (unfortunately) so the time to act was now. This was all that Naoi's fault. Still, from the determination in Yuri's voice, he obviously had come alone or with small numbers. Shiina was sure he'd lure them out near the baseball field and there would be a battle there like no other. Leeches were easy to decipher if you were good at understanding people's character.

Luckily, that was one of Shiina's strong points. _

Hope you guys liked it! My muse right now is out of the roof for Angel Beats (finished watching the last episode a couple days ago, so I just gotta write about it, ;3). Anyways, this is set around the time of the series when everyone is realizing that Naoi is the bad guy. Right before the big battle. This isn't going to happen the same way it did in the actual anime, though there are lots of parts that are the same. Spoiler warnings, just so you know! Shiina was one of my fave characters and I CANNOT believe they didn't add more of her in there. It's just sad. So this chapter is dedicated to her.

There will be more chapters to come! Don'tcha worry.

Lots n' lots n' lots and… whatever I'm feeling like putting lol. Keep watching and reviewing! 3

I also got 'Time Waits For No One' from the animated movie, 'The Girl Who Leapt Through Time' (it's awesome, so you guys should totally watch it!).

I don't own Angel Beats! or the characters related to it, but I do own this fanfic!