A/N: A tip of the hat to 'Hamstadini'. Rice is, indeed, a grain.

Death Sentence VI

Asuka Langley Sorhyu was one of those people who found strange things intriguing. Say, fire. And it was this compulsion towards arson that set things off in an entirely different direction than they would have gone, had she not been interested in fire.

For it was at the exact moment that Shinji was being driven by Rei to school that Asuka was leaving the school. The redhead absently tossed a cigarette butt through the door and made for the hills. The gasoline she had lined the halls with erupted into flame, and another link in the chain of causality was forged.

Rei arrived just in time to see the fire department evacuating the students. She stared at the flames. Shinji did too.

"You got lucky, Shin-Shin," remarked Rei, "I had to actually go through school."

Suddenly, the air raid sirens began to wail – it was Shamshel!

-

The motorcycle cut through the evacuated streets. Tanks rolled into position to oppose the alien Tripods. Shamshel's whips cut through the city. Rei cut through an alley to evade a collapsing building. There was a lot of cutting in general.

"Just in case we die," said Rei, "Rice is a grain!"

Shinji was too terrified to even find out what she was talking about. He tried desperately not to wet himself. As they took a secret passage, Rei's motorcycle skidded to a halt.

"I'll hold her," she said, drawing a guitar, "Just go!"

-

Shinji took the lift down. An angel couldn't exactly fit down here, so why Rei didn't follow was a mystery to him. Suddenly, a blast rocked the complex – damn, the Angel was coming.

The lift dropped him off at the bottom floor. The bridge technicians quickly picked him up and bore him towards the entry plug.

-

Shamshel would deliver this gift, dammit! And get them back for Sachiel, too… As rap music blared over the Angel's sound system, Shamshel's pilot vowed revenge and, simultaneously, bust a move.

What was this? A lone girl armed with a guitar… but that hair… no… that couldn't be right…

"Traitor," whispered Shamshel's pilot. The gift could wait; this bitch had to die. But suddenly, the girl seemed to be everywhere at once, swinging with her guitar.

Suddenly, the Purple Thing arrived. Big and monstrous, it started beating up on poor Shamshel. However, Shamshel's ribbons gave it something to think about! As the battle raged, Rei ran up the side of the monster and slammed her guitar down on the Angel's core.

There was a violent explosion, and that was that.

-

Shinji woke up in the hospital. He hated unfamiliar ceilings. They were just… so… unfamiliar? You know? Like… like… eh… When he first came to NERV. Except, in that instance, the floors and walls were unfamiliar as well.

Shinji looked around at the walls. On one hung MC Escher's famed Relativity. He wished he could travel on those stares…

Misato entered. She had to admit, she felt a little guilty about getting the poor kid into this mess… So she brought some AC/DC to cheer him up. Of course, this was actually a subtle form of revenge, so Misato is deep and complex. Really.

Recently, Shinji and Misato had a little debate about AC/DC. Shinji said they should be classified as heavy metal, by reason of suck. Misato said this was unfair, as they produced two good songs, as opposed to no good songs, so they were hard rock.

As the fight escalated, Rei came in as a hardcore AC/DC fan, and soon they resolved to have a 'prank war' for it. I feel compelled to jump in and say that AC/DC is technically hard rock because their songs have something a recognizable as a melody.

Shinji resolved to retaliate, once he got home. Banana Phone, baby!

Upon arrival home, though, Shinji noticed someone was missing. Rei. He was about to ask Misato, but she had already retreated into her room. Confused, Shinji asked Asuka.

"Look at the letter, Ta-kun," she said. She was pointing to a half-written letter on Misato's desk. Shinji needed only to read the send address:

To Mr. and Mrs. Ayanami.

And he immediately knew what the letter was about.

-

Shinji climbed down from his bunk, alone. Asuka was still fast asleep, and Shinji was alone. Misato slept, the redhead slept… Rei was the only one who got up early like he did. She also prepared his lunch, so he had to do that himself as well.

And so he left with Asuka. She spent a lot of her time in silence, lost in thoughts all her own. And so they went down to the bridge, skipping school. Asuka sat next to him, pensive.

"Ta-kun, why is the sky blue?" she asked, pensively.

"It's a reflection of the ocean." Shinji wished that she would leave him in his own thoughts for a while.

"Ta-kun, why is fire red?"

"I don't know."

"If there was enough fire, would the sky be red, too?"

"I suppose."

She then fell silent. Shinji resolved to get something to drink. However, Asuka beat him to it.

"I told you I didn't like the sweet kind," said Shinji, crossly. They headed off down Main Street, heads bowed in exactly the same position. Of course, Asuka had been at this for some time, and so won the bowed-head contest.

Shinji then ate at the mall food court. Asuka seemed to have an obsession with hot curry; this was actually quite in character. Shinji liked cooler foods, so he just ate deli sandwiches. Angst-ridden and sad, he went home.

-

The Commandant sat in his high-backed chair, facing away from his two agents. Ritsuko and Misato looked apprehensive.

"Excellent, all is going according to plan," said the Commandant, with his twistedly deep voice. "Soon, soon the angst factor will be high enough…"