8:47am.
Hitomi opened her eyes farther and saw she was, indeed, not seeing things. She bolted upright in bed, and put one foot on the floor before she saw a figure in her doorway. Van was standing there in his white pants, wings folded majestically behind him, watching her.
"Don't worry about work," he said. "Some guy called to see if you were coming in and I told him you were too sick to even get up. He sounded pretty surprised."
With a noise, Hitomi fell back onto her bed, putting one hand over her eyes. "Okay, when I count to ten and open my eyes, there won't be an angel standing in my door, and I'll realize my alarm is about to go off and I'm going to go to work. One..." Van stared incredulously at the young woman on the huge bed. "Two... Three... Four... Five... Si -"
There was a sound of scuttling feet and a rattling of a chain to warn Hitomi about Van letting out a loud scream. When she opened her eyes, she could see Bozo coming up the stairs behind the angel before he spread his wings, took a small jump, hit his head on the ceiling light, and fluttered back to the floor. Turning, he faced the small dog. It was eying him warily, seeming cautious about the wings.
With a grin, Van lifted his wings up and stretched them as far as they would reach. Looking side to side, Hitomi realized that they touched either wall, jostling some of the feathers. As soon as the poodle saw the wings, he started whining and ran off in the other direction.
Van lowered his wings slightly, backing up towards the bed. He was still peering out the door after the dog, so he didn't notice Hitomi standing and moving carefully up behind him until she brushed a hand carefully on one of his wings.
Jumping, he turned quickly, wings creating a wind and a loud rustling. He peered down at Hitomi, several white feathers falling around them. She caught one in between her fingers and blew on it lightly. "May I?" she asked, gesturing towards the closer of the two wings that were curling around the both of them.
With wide eyes, the dark haired angel nodded, and then watched her hand move forward slowly. To Hitomi it felt just like petting a large bird. After a couple seconds of petting, she smiled uneasily and removed her hand.
"Uh, well, I'm, uh, just gonna... go somewhere," Van said quickly.
"Yeah," Hitomi agreed. "I'm going to shower so, um, there's a TV on the main level if you want to watch that."
- - -
When she came downstairs fifteen minutes later, she was greeted with a victorious yell from her living room. Van's wings were half extended and she brushed one out of the way before ducking underneath it to see the television screen.
A football game. He was cheering because of a football game? All men were the same.
"Do you want something to eat?" Hitomi asked loudly, making the angel turn and look at her.
"Sure," he replied. "You don't happen to have toast, do you? I haven't had that in so long."
"Toast?" she asked.
Van waved his hand. "Yeah. See, angels, we don't eat too often. We're sent to earth once every, hundred years or so - more if you're good - so that's about the only time we eat. Last time I had toast easily had to be two hundred years ago."
Hitomi's mouth dropped open, and she fumbled with the cord of the toaster she was trying to plug in. "How old are you?"
"I'm only about four hundred and fifty."
"Only?"
"Yeah," he affirmed, "I'm actually still a rookie up there."
"Oh? And how does one become an angel?" questioned Hitomi, now shoving bread into the toaster.
"Dunno," Van said thoughtfully, rubbing the back of his head. "Not everyone is made one. It's complicated. Things don't work there like they do on earth. There's no hurry, there's no pain, there's nothing to worry about. You get the occasional newcomer that distresses over family members or materialistic items, but they all forget soon." A look of discontent crossed his face. Instead of saying anything else, he curled a wing around and grabbed the end of it, searching through the feathers for something that Hitomi suspected wasn't there.
A second later, two fresh pieces of toast popped and Hitomi hurried them over to her guest. He stared at them for a second before taking a bite. He made a noise of content as Hitomi watched him. She slid down the arm of her couch and landed cross-legged beside Van.
She watched him for almost a minute before he, still eating his toast and not looking at her, asked, "What's so interesting?"
"Your wings," she breathed.
They twitched slightly when she said that. "What about them?" His voice sounded almost impatient.
"They're... absolutely amazing."
Hitomi watched as he moved them, studying the muscles in his bare back that shifted to do this. He seemed to be trying to curl them up so the view of them was minimized.
"They're nothing special," Van replied, a long while later. "Not even beautiful, compared to a lot of the things I see on a daily basis."
"Tell me!" demanded Hitomi like a small child.
"Uhh -"
"No, tell me what it's like in heaven!"
"Well -"
"What happens to us when we die?"
"You see -"
"Were you human once too, Van?"
"I -"
"Wait! I got it!" Hitomi cried and Van sighed with relief. "Why are you here?"
"This one I can answer."
"So answer it!"
"I will, if you let me!" he said, frustrated.
"Sorry."
"Stop talking, Hitomi, unless you don't want to hear any of this."
"Okay, done and d -"
"No, I said stop talking, not continue blabbering on."
Hitomi opened her mouth to apologize but Van moved one of his wings so it was in front of her face and causing her to lean backwards to avoid feathers in her mouth.
"Okay, so, why am I here?" Van started. Hitomi ducked under the wing and nodded, eyes wide. "Well, the short and short of it is, I was sent by God." Correctly interpreting her stare he said, "No, not God Himself. He got one of my higher ups to pass the message along. It's actually all His fault that you even know I'm here. Angels aren't supposed to be seen; it's just in our nature to stay out of sight. Otherwise people will idolize us or follow us, asking for favours constantly. It's quite annoying. Now, I'm not breaking any rules by sitting here and talking to you, it's just not recommended for us. But as I was saying, God is the only one who actually decides all the Will and Will Nots.
"So I was lurking innocently outside your window last night, studying you, watching you, and mainly just stalking you, which was my job. Well, He didn't seem to like that so He brought several things about that basically brought us to where we are now. This brings us to why I was sent as your divine stalker. It's as simple as this: you're missing something in your life. I'm not talking something small, either. This is some big shit -" Van looked upwards, cringing, almost as if expecting to be struck down then and there "- that I'm talking about. So my job is to figure out what that is, solve it, and presto-chango, you have your very own miracle!"
Hitomi was fingering a necklace she had and Van watched as the red crystal slid easily along its silver chain and through her fingers.
"Any ideas?" he asked, after a time. "About what you're missing, I mean."
"No," she said, looking thoughtful. "Have I always been missing this or is it just something recent?"
Van shrugged, causing his wings to rustle lightly against the woman's back. She shivered, unconsciously leaning closer to the wing.
"Your guess is as good as mine at this point," the angel said, brushing some of his dark hair from his face. "I'm just hoping it's something we can actually fix. Not like the last time I was sent here."
Hitomi was about to ask, when her back door was suddenly pushed open by a gale-force wind. Some feathers detached themselves from Van's wings and one blew until it landed, upright, in Hitomi's hair.
The wind stopped as suddenly as it had started and both were left gaping at each other.
"That's God for ya," Van said, smiling, after a while. "Good sense of humour, that one."
(A/N: Well, done. Nothing much to say. Just if you're waiting on any of my other stories And if you're not, I suggest you go read them... Yes this is shameless plugging, what's your point? it will probably be a while for an update! School's starting soon, and I'm working on a fic that I would like to finish before posting any of it. Review and I'll hopefully see you reasonably soon!)