Heaven Sent
By crimsonwraith

Chapter 3: Cold Fire

"Ng- gah! Let go of me!" Asuka painfully screamed to the top of her lungs, but to no avail as a pair of hellspawn lead her down a path of destruction. She gnashed her teeth, peering through her blood drenched eyes. Her heart skipped a beat.

The darkened sky covered the burning cities as agonizing screams and blood filled the air. Demons in their thousands tormented their human captives, trudging atop the broken bodies of countless angels. That was when she saw him, in the distance: Kaoru, crucified upon a valley of fire.

Suddenly they stop, casting Asuka down into the dirt. The girl struggled to push herself up again, but then froze as a shadow fell upon her with a sound more frightening than howl of demons or the tortured screams of men.

It was the laughter of a child.

Asuka lifted her gaze and found the baby in the arms of its mother with its father looking lovingly from behind. "She has your eyes, my love," said Shinji to his wife.

The blue haired girl smiled lovingly as she looked at her child. "And she has your smile," said Rei, taking a quick glimpse at the broken girl at her feet, "my love."

"No!" Asuka screamed, awakening wide eyed to the darkness. She watched as the afterimages of the family fade into the darkness and listened as her heart slowed within her chest. Slowly, she wiped her brow with her arm and felt a light coat of sweat.

She hardened her gaze as she stood up from her bed. "What's wrong with me?" For a long moment, she stood in the darkness, pondering an answer for herself, but when none came, she left her room.

As she headed for the pantry, she noticed a light coming from the kitchen. At first, she thought that perhaps it was Misato searching for her midnight beer, but when she saw the boy emerging from the fridge door, she stopped in midstride. "Shinji!" she gasped, her reddening face half hidden by the darkness. "Wh- what are you doing up this late?"

He looked up with a puzzled gaze and checked his watch. "Asuka, it's 5:30 in the morning."

"Okay," she muttered to herself, "So what are you doing up this early?"

The boy dove back into the fridge in search of something. "I'm making some lunch."

"Doesn't Misato do that for you?"

Suddenly, the boy sniggered, bumping his head on the fridge. "Misato? Cook?" he laughed to himself. "I'm still trying to get the taste of her last home cooked lunch out of my mouth."

"That bad huh?"

"At the very least," he laughed, emerging with a dish of breast fillet chicken which he placed onto the counter where a chopping board and a knife awaited them. He began to dice the chicken when he paused, throwing a backwards glance towards the girl near the hallway. "You wouldn't happen to be able to cook, Asuka, would you?"

She paused. "I guess I really haven't tried before."

"Why not?"

"Well, I really didn't need to eat… that much. I mean… I've got a very strict diet," she managed awkwardly, not at all convincing.

"Oh," was all that Shinji managed. "I see…" His voice seemed downcast as he continued to dice the chicken.

Asuka saw his gaze suddenly becoming distant as he stuck a skewer through a few diced pieces of chicken. Something told her that there was something more to this than just being able to cook. Something told her that this meant the difference between a dream and a nightmare.

"So you want to cook?" Kaoru asked, arching a brow at Asuka as they paced down the hallway side by side. He curled his lips. "That's not such a bad idea at all. What ever made you think it up?"

Asuka blushed, then turned away. "I guess Shinji's tired of cooking for the three of us all of the time."

Kaoru remained silent, skeptic of the girl's reasons. "Well… you know what humans say. The fastest way to a man's heart is through his stomach."

"That's not right," the girl countered. "The fastest way to a man's heart is through his ribcage."

The boy's head drooped wearily. "You really didn't really interact much with humans much as an angel, did you?"

She shook her head. "I didn't need to. I just had to find demons and slay them."

"In that case," Kaoru began, stopping and eyeing the girl, "We should get started as soon as we can. We'll get started after school at my apartment. Find Shinji and tell him that you'll be coming home late."

"Alright," Asuka replied, waving to him. "I'll talk to you later."

"Indeed," Kaoru sighed, eyeing the girl as she walked away, smiling to himself. "Indeed…"

Shinji hesitated, watching Rei from the corner of the room with a lunchbox in his hands. He had planned this for weeks after he had noticed that Rei had never brought lunch with her before. Perhaps if she likes his homemade lunch, maybe they could spend some time together. And with that thought, the boy summoned all his courage as she walked towards the girl.

"Um, Rei," he stammered as he paused in front of her.

The cerulean haired girl looked up in silence.

"Uh… I was wondering… if you'd like to… I mean, if it's alright, maybe you and I could…"

"What is it that you you want, pilot Ikari," he asked dryly.

The boy gulped heavily. "Rei," he began nervously, "would you… like to have lunch with me?"

Oddly enough, the girl blushed as she looked away, but not before managing a discreet nod. "uh… Th- thank you, Shinji."

Shinji lit up as he dragged a chair over to her desk and began to unfold his lunch. All the while the red head stood upon the doorway watching the pair eat their lunch with a dumbstruck look on her face.

"How does she do it?" Asuka snarled menacingly as she carved a carrot to shreds. "I mean, how does she get him eating out of her hands? The whole doll affection is creeping me out."

Kaoru shook his head as he lit up the stove and began to boil some rice, then returned to the benchtop opposite Asuka as he wrapped baked seaweed around a tightly roll of rice with carrots and steamed beef in the middle. "Those two have been through quite a lot together, Asuka. She saved his life, you know."

Asuka paused, grabbing another carrot as she rose her attention towards the boy. "She what?'

"Two months ago," he explained, "when the Fakes attacked the city, Rei jumped in front of the beam intended for Shinji and saved his life. She was injured as the result of the encounter, but it obviously had an impact on Shinji."

"W- wait!" the redhead cut in, "did you say two months ago?"

He nodded his head. "It was a part of their condition for this wager. That demon certainly did use her time well. As you've said, he's practically chasing after her now."

"Then just why the hell did you agree with it?" an enraged Asuka shrieked, wincing as she felt the knife graze her fingers. She quickly drew her hand back, noticing the crimson bleeding from the tip of her index finger.

Kaoru quickly grabbed her hand and led her towards a running faucet and watched the blood running down the drain. "Because, Asuka… someone believes in you. Now hold still and clean your wound while I grab a band aid," he said, walking away. "You know Asuka… you have to be careful. Humans are fragile, they are wounded easily."

"I know," she grunted, her gaze becoming distant. "I know."

Then the boy returned and wrapped a gauze tape around her finger before smiling brightly. "Now… shall we keep cooking?'

Scores of bullets ripped through a man's chest just before he collapsed and become frigid, with blood splattering all over the place. Misato leaned in closer to the TV set, eyeing the hero tear a swath through the enemies' army with his handgun, mimicking it as she formed a gun with her hand and shot the screen. "Eat that and that!" she squealed maniacally.

A tentative sweat drop rolled down Shinji's brow as he began continued to cook dinner when he heard a knock. "Misato!" he called out to the woman on the couch, "can you get the door?"

"HA! DIE!" she continued to scream, pretending to blow away the enemy on the screen.

He quietly grumbled to himself as he made his way towards the door, opening it to find Asuka on the other side. She seemed tired, but managed a smile nonetheless. "Sorry I'm so late."

"Where've you been?" he asked, with an inclination of anxiety in his voice.

The girl lifted a plastic bag filled with food. "I was over at a friend's house learning how to cook."

At this, the boy lifted a brow. "That's nice but you should have told me where you were going. I was really worried about you."

Suddenly, Asuka flustered up. "Y- you were?"

"Of course!" he asserted, then noticed a gauze tape wrapped around her index finger. He quickly grabbed her hand and pointed out to her injury. "Asuka! What happened your finger?"

"Huh?" she followed his gaze to her injury. "Oh that! I guess I got distracted while I was dicing the carrots…"

"You should be more careful!" Shinji pointed out leading her back into the apartment.

Asuka lowered her head, "I was just trying to cook something, you jerk."

"I don't really care about food, Asuka. If you hurt yourself because of me, I wouldn't know what to do with myself." With this, he smiled as he closed the door, and moved to the end of the hallway. "Come on, let's see what you made…"

A warm feeling came over Asuka as she followed the boy towards the dining room, when all of a sudden, she sensed a dark aura lingering on the other side. Her eyes narrowed as she dashed in, only to find a young blue haired girl already sitting at the table. "What the hell are you doing here?" Asuka gasped breathlessly.

"Asuka!" Shinji growled angrily, stepping in to defend Rei. "Show Rei a little respect. I invited her over for dinner."

Suddenly, he heard a loud screeching behind him as he Rei stood up. "If miss Soryu is uncomfortable with my presence, perhaps it is best if I leave-"

"Please don't!" Shinji cut in sharply, before eyeing Asuka. "Miss Soryu doesn't have a problem, does she?"

Wide eyed, the girl remained in silent disbelief for a few tentative heartbeats. Her mind turned blank as she hardened her gaze shoved the plastic bag into the boy's chest. "Of course not. Here, enjoy your dinner with your girlfriend," she growled as she stomped back out the hallway.

With the pneumatic hiss of the doors sliding back close, Asuka was gone leaving Shinji wondering just why Asuka was acting so weird. Meanwhile, Rei stood a short distance behind with a smile barely noticeable. You give up to easily, she thought to herself, my love.

To be continued

Author's notes

At the second scene, Shinji was cooking Yakitori, it's kind of like barbequed chicken based with teriyaki marinade and garnished with shallots. Later, Asuka and Kaoru cooked sushi… I guess you guys already know what sushi is.

Too much Iron Chefs for me.