30 Kisses, 30 Ways: Shinji and Asuka

Themes: K#04 (Our distance and that person), W#29 (See the world my way)

Title: Airplanes in the sky

Disclaimer: I shall use this space to cover my own ass: Not mine. I do not own Eva, or anything in this story.

This little joke started as an attempt of mine in trying to get out of writer's block, so I (stupidly) said to myself "Myself, let's take this endeavor of 2 challenges at once: 30 kisses and 30 ways in one story."

It all snowballed from there.

Disclaimer #2: I most definitely don't own in any way, shape or form the Disney "Paperman" short either.

During instrumentality an infinite number of worlds were created; from the Edo period to the end of the millennium. All of them different, all of them unique.

But all those worlds have one unifying rule in common; in every single one we met, and invariably, we fall in love. And sometimes we hurt each other.

And we connect to each other deeply.

Worlds made with both you and me in the center.

That's the single, unifying rule. (Retake 04)

The fact that it was Monday morning wasn't lost to Shinji.

The fact that a gust of wind in the abnormally cold winter morning made him snuggle closer to his wool coat and scarf, and wish he would have gotten that warm coffee for an extra 100 yen made this morning much more miserable than it was.

And so, here he was, standing in the train station, trying to stay warm with his wool coat while trying to stay awake long enough to take the train at the same time.

Time was going by so slow… even the fact that the train had just passed by and a few papers were left flowing in it's midst, sticking to the fence, the rails, the roof and even Shinji himself, seemed like something that was happening miles away from here,

Until that same paper that had been sticking stubbornly to his arm flew away, only for it to be chased after by a redheaded girl about his age.

Shinji noticed that, and he also noticed that she seemed to be rather cute, albeitly, that could be because her particular hair color wasn't something he was used to seeing that often here in Tokyo. her eyes were also very peculiar; a vibrant shade of blue, clear and pure… almost electric, like the sky on a summer day; the kind that could make someone stare at them and lose themselves easily, not really caring about anything in life but content with simply staring at those pure, beautiful blue eyes.

But it was also because of the way she was frowning her brows as she made her way towards where Shinji remained standing, as if she were trying to burn a hole into the sheet of paper that was now being tucked into one of her folders before she looked up at Shinji who simply gave her a brief small smile that was answered with a frown and a narrowing of her eyes.

Before another train passed quickly by, making one of Shinji's own papers flow out of his grasp and straight into the redhead's face, obscuring her face and flapping the edges around at the void the air being displaced had created while the train stopped in it's tracks, just as she was busy trying to rearrange her hair, flipping behind her ear a strand that refused to play along.

Shinji gasped as his hands reflexively reached up towards the paper, peeling it back from the redheaded girl's face, and that was when things slowly began to unravel.

His lips were already forming the vowels to ask for an apology while the redhead's face was already frowning, her lips tracing back into a snarl, ready to shout at him, and ask for an explanation when her eyes fell upon the piece of paper, a form of some kind that had to be filled and stamped and then sent out through the mail before she did the oddest thing in the world.

She smiled, big blue eyes slowly blinking at him before she looked at the paper he held in his hand and she let a small laugh. Shinji could only stare in awe at how such a simple expression could grant someone some sort of ethereal, almost sublime loveliness, the likes of which he had never seen before. He began to look around to see what she had seen that seemed so funny before his eyes fell on the form he held in his hand; the bright, red contour of the redheaded girl's lips clearly visible against the white backdrop and the black ink and for some reason, it felt so comical and funny that all Shinji could do was laugh and chuckle and smile, before he heard the train bell ringing.

And he saw the redhead boarding the train, heading out elsewhere while the wind began to pick up as the train gained momentum, the paper in Shinji's hand which still had the red mark of the creamy lipstick the redhead has used flapping stubbornly, almost as if it wanted to get free form the vice grip.

And all Shinji could do was watch her leave, becoming smaller and smaller, and all he could do was flash a small, almost weak and somewhat submissive smile, the kind that you flash when you are ready to resign and throw in the towel...

Just as the girl looked over her shoulder directly at Shinji and she smiled a small, shy, almost there smile.

And then the distance between him and that person became so big, the train finally entered a tunnel and darkness swallowed her whole.

Asuka looked over her shoulder, catching that guy's small, brief smile before she reflexively gave him one of her own just as the train rode inside the tunnel and she lost sight of him.

She sighed and turned on her seat, staring at her stack of folders with her resume. She already had most of her morning and afternoon planned out to drop of resumes here and there, and so, without thinking again about it, she decided to enjoy the mind-numbing ride to the next station and begin with her day.

The ride to the office had been more of a fast forward flash, Shinji could only remember walking inside the train car when the train had finally arrived, and then walking out of it and walking in some sort of auto- motion towards his office building, scrunching his tall, lanky frame along with the other people who took the same elevator car up, before he finally reached his floor, walked outside and past the office's wooden doors, and made his way to his desk, sitting down while he stared out the window, sighing and remembering the flash of red and blue that had painted some color into his otherwise black and gray working day.

So far the day had advanced in a hazy way; if you would ask Shinji, he wouldn't be able to remember anything in particular of it, except for the morning wait time for his commute; the morning shift had been boring and stale, his lunch had been a mere 30 minutes of pre-rehearsed jokes and comments of last nights "it" show, and now, the afternoon shift seemed to be a clone of the morning one, except for the fact he had gotten into trouble for something he couldn't really be bothered to remember but that Misato had made very clear he wasn't supposed to forget.

All in all, all he could do since he had seated down on his desk, exactly 23 and a half minutes ago was stare at the paper that had that redheaded girl's lips; vibrant red against dull black and neutral white before out of nowhere a stack of forms was placed squarely on his desk by one of his supervisors; her mauve-colored hair tied tightly into a ponytail that was sitting at the base of her neck while she offered Shinji a small, almost apologetic look before she shrugged and walked along with the other section supervisors; the blond with glasses and a birthmark under her left eye and the older man with a ponytail and a perennial five o'clock shadow, towards the main section's chief office door, closing it behind while everyone else at their desks got busy reviewing, stamping, signing, filling out and generally making sure the forms were correct before placing them on their "out" bin.

Shinji looked from the stack back at the space where the supervisor's office had been opened, before a strong gust of air flew, making the form he had been staring at so intently slowly ease itself out from under all the other forms, flowing out towards the open window while Shinji held onto it tightly, not yet willing to part ways with the only reminder he had of that redheaded girl, and wondering when destiny would deign itself to make them both cross paths yet again.

Which was when Shinji looked up, and noticed that on the building across from his, just a flight below, was the same vibrant hue of red hair, the same bright blue eyes and the same small, shy, almost there smile all belonging to the same girl he had meet at the train station by mere chance.

She was walking through the door, smiling and shaking the hand of whoever was sitting in the desk in front of her, before sitting down, waiting.

The smile in Shinji's face felt so big and wide and huge it made his cheek and jaw hurt, almost as if they were being ripped apart, but he didn't really care because she was there, close enough that all he had to do was shout loud enough for her to hear and she would turn and see him and maybe smile or chuckle or roll her eyes.

Ok, so she wasn't turning even if Shinji was trying to shout out at her, because obviously the air and the height and a lot of other, physics-related reasons made his voice not loud enough to make it able to travel the distance between both buildings and through the windows, the sounds of traffic and people walking and chatting and life as anyone knew it in a big city drowning the anguished cries a brown haired boy from one building was making, trying to make the redhead girl from the building across look up and out the window.

But Shinji knew that when she'd finally hear him, she would smile back at him and shake her head because of his weird antics and then Shinji would motion for her to meet him downstairs and he would get out early and they would exchange names and phone numbers and email addresses and maybe text each other to go get a coffee or some tea o-

Ahem...

Shinji looked up and noticed Ritsuko looking at him, leaning back from her chair as an immaculate eyebrow arched ever so slightly, wordlessly asking him if there was any kind of problem or issue while one of the senior clerks, Ibuki, looked from her to him and then back at her. Ritsuko paid no attention to the clerk but held her eyes on Shinji who looked from the blond towards the redhead outside his window and then to the stack of papers in his desk, finally sitting down and looking defeated while Ritsuko leaned back forward, closing the door while everyone else went back to work.

Shinji sat down back at his desk, still staring out his window, still wondering how he could be able to reach out to the girl in front of him before the form that held the redhead's lipmarks began to flap again under the wind, making Shinji slam his hand down firmly at it to prevent it from escaping.

And that was when he got the idea.

He reached out towards the form sitting on top of his stack of papers, placing it on his desk and quickly folding it around an imaginary axis, following the motions he knew since elementary school to build a paper airplane.

The lines were firm, the edges very well defined and all in all, the body and nose of the airplane were so well done, Shinji was sure it would fly out effortlessly from his hand out towards the redhead who was still sitting down, maybe waiting to be for her interview.

And so when he held his hand outside the window, after making sure no one from the supervisor's office was looking outside their door, Shinji confidently let his hand slip back, taking in a small amount of momentum before flinging his wrist forward, letting his hand sail forth and fall as it released the paper airplane from his grasp.

And then watched as it plummeted down towards the busy street.

Shinji looked at the paper construct before he went back to his desk, plucking out another form from his stack and began the process again: fold, fold, flip, fold, flatten, turn, fold before he threw this airplane gently from his window, watching it sail out across the divide between both buildings, holding his breath just as the paper plane was about to reach the window, only for it to crash into the buildings brick wall just inches away from the open window and the redhead who was now reading the morning newspaper.

Shinji was undeterred though: fold, fold, flip, fold, flatten, turn, fold but just as he was turning in his chair, ready to get up to try again, a heavy hand pushed him down on his chair, making Shinji let out a small gasp and look up at Kaji's frowning face, with the white lollipop stick sticking out of his mouth before his frown broke into a small smile, silently motioning with his head towards the supervisor's section where Fuyutsuki, one of the bigwigs from upstairs had just walked in.

The silent message was loud and clear; sit down, get your act together and get your job done, so Shinji stared at Kaji as he walked to the office, stopping to look over his shoulder and give Shinji a wink before closing the door behind him, the silhouettes from inside the office all sitting down.

And once he was sure they were all inside and busy, Shinji went back to making a paper airplane, throwing it outside of the window.

Only for this plane to fly at a downward angle straight towards the open window of the office that was two floors down from the original target, where a short, thin guy with wide-rimmed glasses sat down, his curly, light brown hair and freckles making him look a lot younger than his actual age,

He stared from the paper airplane that had just landed in his desk to the open window and then up at Shinji who was now busy shaking his hands quickly, trying to explain to the other guy it had been a mistake.

Sandy-haired freckled glasses frowned, crumpling the paper plane, throwing it to the trash and getting back at work.

Shinji tried again, and this time the plane flew true towards the window, keeping optimal altitude and bearing and was just about to make it inside when a flock of pigeons flew across, and the last one of the birds in the triangle caught a beak full of the paper airplane.

Again and again Shinji tried, planes flowing out as if they were part of a paper armada intent on conquering the other building; some flew onto the building's wall, landing on the building's ledge, while others fell down towards the street, while some others were chased away by the air, some flying several floors up or down or some windows left or right.

The closest one flew across the space between the buildings, was able to sneak past a gust or two of wind that threatened to make it fly of course, waltzed inside the window where the redhead was, and landed on the paper basket next to the couch where she had been sitting a few seconds before.

It was only a few seconds after that the redhead came back, walking back from an adjacent door and looking down as she kept on wiping her hands dry with her handkerchief before finally sitting down again, and she began to talk with whoever was on the other side of the desk, never knowing how close Shinji had been to making contact with her.

Shinji ended up bonking his head against the bricks surrounding the wall in exasperation.

Again and again Shinji tried over and over, paper planes flying, falling, sailing, crashing, until finally Shinji reached for another form and all he could grasp wait emptiness and air, and his desk bin fell onto the floor, crashing the silence of the workplace with such loudness, it felt like something had been broken and could never be made whole again.

Everyone stared at Shinji, and Rei, who was sitting in the desk next to him silently, and without so much as arching an eyebrow simply held her hand over her own form stack, pushing it towards herself and going back to work, never taking her arm off.

Shinji looked from his bare desk to the bin still on the floor, reflexively thinking all the forms were gone, all that he had left was the original one, the one that had started it all, the form with the imprint of the redhead's lips, firmly held down to his desk by his right hand.

Shinji looked to his right, noticing the redhead was shaking the hand of the freckled faced brunette sitting on the desk, both of them talking enthusiastically and smiling and giggling before Shinji realized this was it; this was his last chance.

Quickly, he did the same motions as before; fold, fold, flip, fold, flatten, turn, fold. Solemnly, he stood in front of the window, holding the paper plane made with that form tightly between thumb and forefinger, staring out at the redhead in front of him with all his will, as if trying to force an imaginary tunnel to take form so that this paper plane could reach it's final destination, crash into the redhead's side, making her gasp and turn and pick it up, staring at the from, frowning while the brunette would stare from the paper plane to her friend and then out the window towards the smiling and waving by in the office building across.

Shinji would be smiling and waving his hands, and the brunette and the redhead would smile and giggle and chat between them both, before finally, the brunette would push her friend forward just a bit, and then signal to Shinji to go downstairs so they could finally meet and talk, and get her name and number and email and then Shinji would ask her out to get some coffee or lunch and th-

The wind blew again, and it made the last airplane fly out of his hand, falling down in a spiral towards the street below and far beyond Shinji's reach who could only watch from his window as the airplane became a small dot against the gray asphalt of the street, before he looked up and could only watch a flash of red walking out the door, closing the door behind her.

Shinji gasped, unsure of what to do when suddenly, the supervisor's door opened, and everyone went from staring at Shinji back to work. Shinji looked down and then up at Misato who held a fresh new stack, a frustrated look on her face before she let it fall on Shinji's desk again, making Shinji slowly fall down on his chair before out of the corner of his eyes he saw the familiar flash of red hair walking out the building's front door.

Shinji looked despondently at Misato's retreating form, before something new began to fester in him.

And before she could go back to the supervisor's office, Misato heard the rustle of wind and paper sheets on the floor as Shinji ran towards the front office door, and outside to the busy street downstairs.

And even as she tried to remain angry at him, Misato could only shrug and smile, while Rei finally relaxed and let her left hand fall, staring at Shinji's empty desk and then at the office that laid beyond the space between both buildings, wondering who had been that redhead Shinji had payed so much attention to.

If Shinji had left the office five minutes before, then he would have probably seen the redhead just as she was walking out the front door of the building in front of his, and she would have seen him. They both would have probably smiled awkwardly before Shinji would have tried to make his way towards her, finally fulfilling his self imposed mission of asking her for her name, telephone number, email address, and then inviting her to have lunch or coffee or something else, maybe even catch a movie or going somewhere.

As it was, Shinji rushed out the front door mere seconds after the redhead had turned around the corner across from his building, already disappearing between the sea of people from the busy intersection while Shinji lunged forward towards the street, crossing the street as cars and trucks and buses honked angrily at him just as he made his way towards the other side of the street, turning frantically left then right, gasping for air and holding his head in his hands while he tried to regain his bearing before making a choice of where to go from here.

There, in front of him, sitting in a mailbox carelessly, just like an inanimate object would, lay the last newspaper he had made, still with the bright red lipstick kiss on it, and for some reason, that made Shinji so angry, so frustrated, so irked, all he could do was snatch the paper plane and throw it out towards the sky, the air rising from within the city streets propelling it up, up and away, lifting it past buildings and billboards, across streets and alleys, until the plane slowly began to fly lower and lower into the courtyard of an apartment building that was partially shadowed in given the time of the day and the direction of the walls.

Slowly, the plane drifted down more and more, crashing into one of the walls and then slowly plummeting down before it finally it finally fell on top of another plane, just as the wind blew and turned it one side, then the other, then away from the plane and into the floor, making it fall into a few dozen more planes sitting on the floor.

Without even waiting to see where that plane had flown out to, Shinji began to walk angrily. he needed to get away from that place, from those stupid airplanes, from that damn building. He needed to forget about cute redheads and bright blue eyes and smiles that were half smirks and half lopsided grins and cute small noses and bright red lips and all he could right now to keep himself from screaming out of sheer anger and frustration was stomp angrily down the street, ignoring as people stared and pointed at him.

And just as he passed by the alley that lead to the courtyard of the building where a good portion of his forms-turned-paper-airplanes had ended, a strong gust of winter air flew, rattling them all, lifting them from the floor almost like it was awaking them from a deep slumber, making the paper planes lift up and move in circles around each other, dancing to a musical tune that only they seemed could hear.

Shinji walked past them with an angry look in his face; he had decided that the day could very well just go to hell for all he could care and so he decided to head back to the station and go back home.

Just as he turned the corner he noticed the entrance to the train station had a construction frame collapsed on it, and a crew of construction workers flagged him down, telling him he couldn't go through, as it seemed one of them had accidentally turned on a jackhammer near a frame and had accidentally turned it on when a paper plane flew out of nowhere, making him somehow cut down the frame, blocking the small street.

Great. Shinji shook his head and walked back the street; the closest stations were both a good 10 blocks away either way. So Shinji decided to stop by a convenience store and buy himself a canned coffee.

The cashier smiled at him in that same, auto-mechanical way they do when smiling is part of their work description; like plastic flowers or fake fruit; from a distance it seems just like the real thing until you look closer and notice the truth.

So Shinji decided to ignore the perfect-almost-too-perfect smile with white pearly teeth and the gray, almost ashen hair of the clerk and instead walked out the door turning right to go to the nearest train station.

Only to see a police cruiser driving at top speed towards the street intersection, stopping with a sudden screech as an officer jumped out and approached the site of a car crash between a fish truck and a taxi, the taxi driver trying to explain to the officer how the crash had been the result of a paper plane coming out of nowhere, startling him into driving straight into the trucks rear fender.

Shinji decided to scurry away for fear someone might say he was the guy who had devoted the better part of his day to making and throwing paper planes out his window.

Everywhere he went, it seemed the paper planes were following him; in one street, a plane had crashed into a group of movers that had let go of the ropes lifting a grand piano towards one of the top floors,resulting in a huge crash and the street being closed to the circulation.

In another one, the plane had flown into a street light that had been connected to the power cables haphazardly, making the light fall which in turn made a car crash into another.

Still in another one, another plane had flown into a parking car where a small child had followed it, locking the doors with the keys inside and currently the child's mother was trying to coax him into opening the door with the promise of chocolates and toys, lest the child would put the key in the ignition and turn it on.

And while Shinji kept on walking towards the station, marveling at the strife a few little paper airplanes could cause, he never witnessed as a particular airplane, one that had a bright red kiss imprint on one of it's wings flew like a bat out of hell, zipping across roofs and buildings and kept going on straight, flying inside an open taxi, through a corner window office and upwards from a bus.

It flew past a group of children walking with their teacher, crossing the road and past a newsstand with the sonic boom of a supersonic plane, making the newspapers and magazines and other publications rustle, pages flipping as skirts flew and men tried not to look at the ladies holding their skirts.

As she walked out of her interview, Asuka looked around, feeling as if something was amiss. While Hikari had told her that she was a show-in for that position and that she was sure she would get it, something on the back of her head kept whispering she was missing something.

Something important, something… blue.

Dark blue eyes and a goofy small shy smile; dark brown, almost black, hair falling down his face and a tall, lanky frame that was almost like a bean sprout about to be broken in half by the wind.

Something blue like this particular bouquet made of dark blue flowers with small yellow centers and white stamens. she had asked the flower lady what kind they were and she had said they were hydrangeas, which were now in bloom.

And as Asuka got closer to the flowers to smell them, attempting to freeze frame their design into her memory, she noticed out of the corner of her eye a piece of paper landing on top of the flowers at the other end of the stand; she did a double take as she noticed it was a paper plane that seemed to have the impression of a red pair of lips on it…

A very familiar pair of lips...

In a very familiar looking piece of paper from a somewhat familiar guy with equally dark blue eyes.

And then the plane seemed to be free once again, a playful gust of wind making it fly around her, making the redhead twirl in her place as if she was being held by her waist and arm by an unseen dancer before she felt the need to follow this plane out of nowhere wherever it would lead her.

Shinji sighed as he waited on the train station for the train to arrive only to notice a paper airplane flying to his feet. He frowned and knelt to grab it just as the 5:00 p.m. train stopped and opened it's door and a tidal wave of commuters rushed out, like water from a dam that had been broken, the people pushed him back and away from his train before he could do anything about it, instead only being able to see as the doors closed and the train left for the next station.

Which meant Shinji now had to wait an extra 13 minutes for the next train to arrive.

Asuka kept running behind the paper plane as it turned around a corner and flew down a street before going up the stairs of the train station, past the people standing and waiting for the train to leave. She felt like a little child, seeing the world in a different way, with outstretched arms that were trying to pull themselves around the world while the plane flew above and under and around her, circling her body, and before she knew it, Asuka had ran into the train, catching up to the plane which fell limply just as her fingertips grazed it, almost at the exact same time the train bell rang and it's doors closed and the car began to move forth onto the next station.

Shinji grumbled from his seat on a train car he had never tried to take, a train car he had only gotten into because a little boy had bumped into him after trying to catch a paper airplane which had made Shinji lose his balance, landing face first inside the train car just as the doors closed behind him and the car began to move in the opposite direction he had wanted to take.

Now, all he could do was watch as another one of those damn paper planes flew next to him, outside the window, the stark white paper making a vivid contrast against the blueish, pinkish, orangeish, reddish hues of the setting sun and the night sky.

Asuka looked at the plane with her lips on it, as she waited for the car the arrive to it's destination, shaking her head as the brief spiel of repressed childhood passed and now here she was; already late, with darkening skies and she still had to take 3 more trains to get home.

She looked up as the train finally stopped in the station, walking out and looking at the plane that still lay in her hands, playing with it a little, as if trying to wake it up and make it come alive again before behind her, she heard the screeching sound of a train stopping in the middle rail, and with the sound of metal scraping against metal the ever present gust of air as the speed of travel reached the end of momentum, only to see at her feet what seemed like dozens and dozens of paper planes being pushed by the air past her, making the redhead turn reflectively.

And there, next to her, stepping out of the train car almost in a daze was Shinji, staring at Asuka as if it was the first time he had ever laid eyes on her.

Hikari giggled behind her mittens while Touji kept on talking about how Shinji had been goofing off the whole day, something decidedly not normal, and had instead devoted the last part of the day to making airplanes out of the forms they were supposed to review and stamp, throwing them out the window while Rei and everyone else in the office simply witnessed this.

Hikari rolled her eyes, but smiled while she told Toji how her boss had decided to give Asuka a chance but the redhead hadn't been able to answer her phone. It wasn't a real problem because she had told her boss she would tell the redhead to show up on Wednesday for work but still…

Touji was about to say something when he stopped short, stopping Hikari with him. The brunette stared at her boyfriend and then followed his line of sight as he stared at the window of a small cafe.

There in front of them were Shinji and Asuka, sharing a cup of coffee as if they had always were meant to.

And in front of them both, sitting on the cafe bar lay a paper airplane with a pair of red lips kissing it.

AN: Hmm, guess I still had one more story to add before becoming a zombie.