For some reason, that night, Kira dreamed of the past. She didn't know why, but, for some reason, she had a dream of Narikage, something that hadn't happened in years.
He was standing at the window, her back to him. A car passed by under them, illuminating the room for a moment. It's also when she saw the ugly scars peeking from his tank top.
She suddenly felt a hand close around her arm and she was spun around to face him. The look on his face scared her. "And you need to stop being so stubborn and difficult," he said in a hard, dangerous voice.
"I know you probably aren't happy with it," Misato continued. "But, once again, it was your grandfather's orders and the Commander saw no reason to protest."
Misato let out a dry laugh. "Oh, definitly. Also, your plug suits arrived." She handed Kira a hermetically sealed suit. "You'll be given a new one each time you pilot, of course."
She had heard the other three talking and, from what she understood, Narikage didn't like working with other people. "Let's just try some basics for now," Misato said over their intercoms.
But Narikage didn't let that stand for long. All too soon he was firing at everything and hitting everything dead-on while Kira still had the occassional miss.
Halfway through the excersize, Misato changed the targets so these ones began to fire back. Now Kira had to worry about dodging and running on top of hitting the moving targets.
"Don't get snippy. I was just letting you know," he said in his usual flat tone. The loading bay door opened and Shinji appeared dressed in his blue and white plugsuit.
Narikage moved past her, approaching Shinji. The younger boy's eyes narrowed a little. That's when it hit Kira. The reason why Narikage looked familiar...was because he and Shinji looked extremely similar.
"100% again today, Shinji. Let's see you beat that," Narikage said as he passed. That surprised Kira again. He used Shinji's name without any suffix. "Bite me!" Shinji snapped back.
She didn't want to admit it but she hated knowing so little about the boy she was staying with. Even worse, he refused to answer any questions that were less than supperficial.
There was nothing she could do but wait for him to open up. ********* It was a week after her first training excersize that Kira was involved in her first angel battle with Narikage. The creature, which had resembled a centipede of some sort, had been vicious and knocked her out of the fight almost as soon as it had started. And, to add insult to injury, Narikage had had to come to her rescue, making her feel even more useless. Even worse, the angel battle brought back horrible memories of her parents' deaths.
He actually seemed to understand--for once. When rapped on her door for dinner, when she peeked out, she saw that instead of making her come to the table, he'd left a tray with her dinner.
She foght against sleep, not wanting to dream about that day. But her body eventually gave in and she fell into a fitfull sleep, plagued by nightmares.
That's when she felt herself jolted awake. Her eyes snapped open and she bit back her screaming cries. She was sitting up and two strong arms were around her from behind. There was fresh blood on the arms and she realized through her dazed fog that it was because she had clawed at them in her nightmare.
"It must have been a horrible nightmare for you to scream like that." Narikage's voice was soft, much softer than usual. Not only that but it held actual...concern. For her.
She closed her eyes as she continued to tremble. She opened them as soon as the scene from her nightmare began to play on the blackness of her lids. "I-I..."
"I keep seeing my parents die..." The words were soft from her lips and the trembling didn't stop. "The wall fell in on them... Seeing you fight today in unit 01...brought back the memories..." Tears ran down her face again.
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«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 400 of 474 Newer› Newest»But he quickly grabbed her arm, pulling her back again.
"I said I'd do it." Before she could protest further, he dashed past her.
What on earth? She walked out to go see why he was so eager to keep her out of the kitchen.
Narikage was just shutting off the water.
But now he was wearing his dark blue school tank top.
"Huh. Your tank top looked black in your room."
"What?" He looked over his shoulder at her, a confused look on his face.
"Just now, when you were helping me with math. Your tank top looked black."
"Helping you with math?" For some odd reason, he looked over her shoulder.
"Yes..." She frowned at him and pointed. "Are you okay?"
"Fine." He picked up a towel and wiped off his hands. "Did you have any other questions then?"
She frowned at him. "No. That was the last one. Are you sure you're okay?"
"I'm fine. I was just making sure you were finished."
"I JUST told you I only had one problem left."
He shrugged a little but he seemed rather tense.
"Then I guess you don't need any more help." He started past her.
"You're acting very strangely today." She turned and went into her room.
She heard footsteps head down the hall and a moment later, his door open and shut.
She blinked. What on earth was going on?
Why was he acting so strangely? He'd always acted a little odd, granted, but this was different.
She shook her head and finished up her math homework. When that was done, she pulled out a book to read.
As she was starting to get tired again, she heard narikage's door roll open and his footsteps head down the hall once more.
She blinked a few times, then glanced at her clock. Seeing the hour, she changed into her pajamas and went to the bathroom to brush her teeth.
She could hear Narikage moving around the living room.
She peeked in on her way to the bathroom.
He was standing at the window, her back to him. A car passed by under them, illuminating the room for a moment.
It's also when she saw the ugly scars peeking from his tank top.
She let out a quiet gasp.
He somehow heard it and whirled, his vivid eyes boring into hers.
"What are you still doing awake?" he asked in a short tone.
"I was just getting ready to go to bed..."
"You have school tomorrow."
"So do you."
He blinked.
"Just go to bed." He turned away from her.
"I will...eventually."
"Stop being difficult."
"I'm not. I'm just telling you the only reason I came out here is I heard you as I was coming out of my room to get ready for bed."
"Well you saw me so why are you still hanging around?"
She suddenly felt a hand close around her arm and she was spun around to face him.
The look on his face scared her.
"And you need to stop being so stubborn and difficult," he said in a hard, dangerous voice.
Her breath came quickly. "Let me go."
"Or what?"
"Just let me go..."
He did so, pushing her away slightly. The palce where he had touched burned.
She rubbed her arm. "That hurt." She walked into the bathroom, closing the door.
Through the bathroom door, she thought she heard voices. But, like before, the voices sounded the same.
She shook her head. Somethign was going on...but she didn't know what. She examined her arm.
The skin where he had touched was pink and when she touched it, she found it was hot. It was almost like...he'd burned her.
She frowned and wet the washcloth with cold water. She put it on her arm.
It burned for a split second then faded again. What the hell had happened?
She shook her head again and brushed her teeth and washed her face before leaving the bathroom.
The living room was empty now but as she passed Narikage's door, she saw that it was once again open slightly.
She paused for a moment, but continued on into her own room.
She didn't want to speak with Narikage right now.
*******
The next few days she avoided him in fact. Which was all too easy. He didn't really go out of his way to talk to her.
And so when Misato informed her that she and Narikage would be partners when it came to fighting angels...
She was...less than thrilled.
"I know you probably aren't happy with it," Misato continued. "But, once again, it was your grandfather's orders and the Commander saw no reason to protest."
"Grandfather always knows best," she murmured sarcastically.
Misato let out a dry laugh.
"Oh, definitly. Also, your plug suits arrived." She handed Kira a hermetically sealed suit. "You'll be given a new one each time you pilot, of course."
"Arigatou."
"Would you like to see your new unit?"
"Hai."
"Come on." Misato led her to the loading dock where a new navy blue unit was docked. "This is Unit 03."
She smiled a little. "I like it."
"I'm glad since you will be spending a lot of time in it."
"Oh?"
"Yes. Now that it's completed, we're going to start running performance tests to see how you sync with the unit, things like that."
"I see."
"So why don't you head to the changing room and get into your suit and we'll start right away."
She nodded and did so. It felt strange having the navy blue and black suit on.
As she came out from behind the changing screen, she saw Narikage standing there, just zipping his up.
Her eyes shifted away from him.
"I apologize."
Her head shot up. "Nani?"
"For the other night. I'm sorry."
"Its...alright..."
He nodded and pushed a button on his wrist. The air compressed and the suit molded to his body.
"You did hurt my arm terribly though."
He glanced over at her qickly.
"He--" He coughed and cut himself off. "I did? Then I apologize for htat as well?"
She frowned at him. "You sound confused."
He coughed again.
"I don't know what you mean." He slammed his locker shut.
"Fine. Whatever..." She turned away and walked to the lift.
A couple of the technicians were waiting for her and they helped her into her seat.
She settled in just fine.
"Alright, Kira, I'm sure you know how this part works," Misato said over the intercom to her as she was settled into her unit.
"Hai."
The orange LCD filled the unit, submerging her before clearing. It felt strange, but not unpleasant.
She took slow breaths.
"Alright...syncing in three...two...one..." She heard a few cheers. "Everything's normal!"
Kira smiled a little.
"Wow! Kira, your numbers are extrodinary for the first time in a unit!"
"Arigatou."
"Alright, so, I assume you read your manual on how to operate your unit."
"Hai."
"Alright then. We'll start with some basic target practice. Move your unit into the pratice room to your left."
Kira did so carefully.
It was a little awkward, moving this giant. Once she got into the large room, Misato explained what she had to do.
Which she did rather well.
"Excellent!" Misato said when she'd finished. "Alright, time to see how you do with your partner." The room's door slid open and Unit 01 lumbered in.
Kira smiled a little. This would be interesting.
She had heard the other three talking and, from what she understood, Narikage didn't like working with other people.
"Let's just try some basics for now," Misato said over their intercoms.
"Got it."
She heard Narikage give a small snort but he said nothing as he took the rifle waiting for him. Targets began to fly by.
They began working and at first it seemed that Kira was almost better than him.
But Narikage didn't let that stand for long. All too soon he was firing at everything and hitting everything dead-on while Kira still had the occassional miss.
She scowled slightly, but kept working.
Halfway through the excersize, Misato changed the targets so these ones began to fire back. Now Kira had to worry about dodging and running on top of hitting the moving targets.
She still did fairly well.
"Alright, that's enough." Misato finally ended the practice. "Kira, excellent work. 75% accurate, great for a beginner."
"Arigatou." She winced a little hearing that. It wasn't good enough.
"Narikage, I assume I don't have to read you your numbers."
"100%, I know."
Kira growled softly. Ass.
"Return to the dock." Narikage easily replaced the rifle and left the practice room, Kira close behind.
She waited patiently for her capsule to be ejected.
The LCD drained in a whoosh and her seat was lifted from Unit 03 and place on the loading dock. Narikage was just climbing from his seat.
She climbed out, stumbling a moment.
"You'll get used to it." She glanced over as Narikage spoke. "It's difficult to move your own body again after moving the unit's."
"I know."
"Don't get snippy. I was just letting you know," he said in his usual flat tone. The loading bay door opened and Shinji appeared dressed in his blue and white plugsuit.
"I wasn't being snippy," she murmured.
Narikage moved past her, approaching Shinji. The younger boy's eyes narrowed a little.
That's when it hit Kira.
The reason why Narikage looked familiar...was because he and Shinji looked extremely similar.
She stared for a moment. How odd.
"100% again today, Shinji. Let's see you beat that," Narikage said as he passed. That surprised Kira again. He used Shinji's name without any suffix.
"Bite me!" Shinji snapped back.
"Oh, stop it you two."
Shinji snarled under his breath and stormed past them both to get into Unit 01.
Kira sighed. "You shouldn't bait him like that."
"It's none of your business, now is it?"
"I'm just informing you that it's none of your business." He pulled open his locker, removing his clothes.
She sighed and retrieved her own clothes.
She saw his form against the partion as he pulled off his suit.
Blushing slightly, she looked away and pulled off her own suit.
As she dressed, she thought about the night a few days ago...when she'd seen those horrible scars on his back. Where had they come from?
She was so curious. But she didn't want to ask. It would probably make him angry.
She didn't want to admit it but she hated knowing so little about the boy she was staying with. Even worse, he refused to answer any questions that were less than supperficial.
She sighed as she pulled on her maroon sweater.
There was nothing she could do but wait for him to open up.
*********
It was a week after her first training excersize that Kira was involved in her first angel battle with Narikage. The creature, which had resembled a centipede of some sort, had been vicious and knocked her out of the fight almost as soon as it had started. And, to add insult to injury, Narikage had had to come to her rescue, making her feel even more useless.
Even worse, the angel battle brought back horrible memories of her parents' deaths.
When they returned home, she went into her room and didn't say a word to him.
He actually seemed to understand--for once. When rapped on her door for dinner, when she peeked out, she saw that instead of making her come to the table, he'd left a tray with her dinner.
She took it, but didn't eat much. She kept rubbing her fingers over the scar she'd gotten when her parents died.
Seeing Unit 01 battle the angel...it had been too similar to that day.
Tears slid down her face, but she made no move to wipe them away.
All the memories she had with her parents began to wash over her.
She broke down sobbing without realizing it. She'd tried so hard to be strong. She knew they wouldn't want her to be so depressed, but it was so hard.
She cried for what seemed like hours, exhausting her already worn-out body.
She had ended up curled on her side on her futon.
She foght against sleep, not wanting to dream about that day. But her body eventually gave in and she fell into a fitfull sleep, plagued by nightmares.
She cried out as she watched the wall come in on her parents, over and over.
That's when she felt herself jolted awake. Her eyes snapped open and she bit back her screaming cries. She was sitting up and two strong arms were around her from behind. There was fresh blood on the arms and she realized through her dazed fog that it was because she had clawed at them in her nightmare.
She sat there, trembling, for a moment. "G-gomen..."
"It must have been a horrible nightmare for you to scream like that." Narikage's voice was soft, much softer than usual. Not only that but it held actual...concern. For her.
She closed her eyes as she continued to tremble. She opened them as soon as the scene from her nightmare began to play on the blackness of her lids. "I-I..."
"You don't have to tell me," he continued in that same quiet voice. "Just worry about calming down."
"I keep seeing my parents die..." The words were soft from her lips and the trembling didn't stop. "The wall fell in on them... Seeing you fight today in unit 01...brought back the memories..." Tears ran down her face again.
"I see..."
She tilted her head back and tried to blink her tears away.
She was surprised then when he reached out, very gently brushing one away.
She turned to look at him, a little surprised.
He had a very strange look on his face...
"Do you feel better now?"
"Umu...a little... I'm still scared to go back to sleep."
He was quiet for a moment.
"Lay down."
She did so, slowly.
He gently covered her with a blanket.
"I'll stay until you fall back to sleep."
"But you really should do something for your arms first... I'm really sorry about that."
"Don't worry about them."
"Are you sure?"
He wiped some of the blood away with his finger.
The cuts were almost completely healed.
"Wow...you heal fast."
He nodded slightly.
"That's why I told you not to worry about it. Now lay back down and try to sleep."
She bit her lip lightly, but did so.
He covered her back up and it was strange how he was being so gentle with her.
Not that she was really complaining. She liked it...
Did this mean...a part of him might acutally like her?
That would be amazing.
After all...he was rather attractive...
"Have you calmed down now?"
"Hmm?" Her eyes had been fluttering shut.
"Nothing," he said quietly. He shifted a little and she felt his warm body press against hers although he was above the covers.
She made another soft noise as she pressed closer to him.
He seemed to hesitate for a brief moment then his arm draped, heavy and warm, over her waist.
"Mmm..." A slight smile slid onto her face. "That feels nice..." her voice was soft and heavy.
"Don't talk and just go to sleep," he said quietly.
She rolled over in his arms and pressed her face into his chest.
He stiffened slightly at that, his eyes wide as he blinked down at her. Then, slowly, he relaxed, his arms tightening ever so slightly.
She made another soft noise and slowly fell into sleep.
Narikage touched her black hair, watching her sleep.
********
When Kira woke, it was morning and she was alone in bed.
She blinked and got up, stumbling to the bathroom.
She could hear Narikage cooking breakfast in the kitchen and she wondered why he hadn't woken her up.
Maybe he wanted her to sleep. She went in to take a shower.
As she stood under the warm spray, she couldn't help but think about the night before. Narikage's arms had been so warm around her...
She shook herself. She couldn't think about him that way.
She was certain HE didn't think of HER that way; last night had simply been him trying to calm her down.
But just once...she wanted to kiss his lips.
They looked so utterly kissable...
A sudden knock on the bathroom door startled her from her daydream.
"Breakfast."
"A-arigatou!" She quickly finished her shower.
She got out to the kitchen just as Narikage was putting the rice on the table.
"Hurry so you're not late," he said, turning back to the sink.
"Hai. Gomen."
"Did you sleep alright?" he asked casually as he turned back to the sink.
"Fine. Thank you."
He nodded a little, wiping off his hands before going and sitting at his place to eat.
She started eating her breakfast.
The whole time she couldn't hlep but wonder why he wasn't mentioning the night before. Had he forgotten already?
Well, she wasn't about to push the issue.
When they'd finished, Narikage stood and cleared the plates away, placing them carefully in the sink.
She opened her mouth to speak, but stopped herself and instead went to her room to get the rest of her things.
"Hurry up," he called from the kitchen. "You'll be late."
"Hai!" She gathered the last of what she needed and left.
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