SCREEECH SCREEECH SCREEECH
Hitomi's alarm went off and she quite unceremoniously flung herself out of bed. Picking herself up from the floor, she looked at the alarm.
2:12am. What was her alarm doing going off then?
She turned to make sure Van was still asleep in her bed and realized he wasn't even in the room. A quick glance told her he wasn't in the bathroom either. Tentatively, she called his name. There was no reply.
As she wandered out of her room, she saw a sort of flickering coming from her back yard. She ran to the window and then sprinted down the stairs and out the back door, calling her angel's name as she went.
The faint glow was coming from his cupped hands. Again his head was tilted back to the sky, but this time his feathers and hair were being whipped around by what looked like gale-force winds. Finally, his hair stopped rustling and he opened his eyes. Turning to Hitomi, he gave her the weakest smile she had seen from him yet.
"This is the time I have left, Hitomi," he said hoarsely. Opening his hands, they both looked upon a small glowing orb, blindingly white, and incredibly small. "I never told you," he croaked, "that we only have a certain amount of time." His breathing was ragged and frightened sounding. "He's mad, Hitomi. It's forbidden, you and I. I knew it, too. I knew it, but it's what you needed." Van forced a smile. "There's no way. If I stay here till this light's gone, I don't know what will happen. No one's ever done that before."
"Then... then I'll come to you, Van. You said - you said that when people die, some become angels."
He whirled on her. His hands flew out and gripped her arms painfully. "No Hitomi. Never. Never say that to me again. You don't know what it's like. You remember nothing - nothing - of your past life for more than five minutes. You become this placated, comatose, drugged thing. You float around happy all day because you can't remember to be sad, because you can't remember anything. I don't want that for you."
"I don't understand," Hitomi squeaked out.
Van sighed and raked his hands through his hair. He then bent to pick up the orb from where it had fallen when he'd grasped Hitomi's arms. He squeezed it between his hands and it disappeared.
"Hitomi. If you were to die, naturally or not, you would get to where I'd be." He waved his hand to brush away her happy sounding noise. "But you wouldn't remember me. After five minutes of being there, you wouldn't know who I was. You wouldn't remember your parents, your friends, even your stupid fucking dog! We would have no time together. It would be a waste of your life."
He sighed.
"Before... Earlier... I couldn't be with you because I knew it was forbidden. I knew that to consummate something like that would be the biggest mark on both of our records. It is forbidden. Angels and humans do not mate, that's just how it is, and how it'll always be."
"But... your wings are gone, Van."
His laugh was bitter. "D'you remember how I told you we could be rid of them for a time? That's all it is, Hitomi. I thought maybe I could pretend. I could be your human lover and this wouldn't be wrong. It would be okay for me to kiss you and touch you and make love to you. But it's not. It's not, Hitomi. He has made it very clear to me. I'm not supposed to be this close. I'm not supposed to have fallen in love with you." His eyes were pools of liquid that shimmered when he looked at her. He blinked and they broke, the liquid spilling down his cheeks.
Tears of angels are said to have healing properties. Hitomi very quickly learned that this was wrong, for as soon as Van started to cry, she felt her heart shatter into a million pieces. She moved to him, wiping his face and watching as his tears turned to crystal in her hands.
"How long do we have?" she asked him, quietly.
"Till dawn, if we're lucky."
"Then... let's make the best of it, shall we?"
Van nodded silently, gazing at the woman in front of him. He reached out and brushed her cheek with the back of his hand. "I love you," he mouthed. She smiled sadly and closed the distance between them, desperately wanting to hold him. As soon as her lips touched his, the rain started to fall, hitting their eyelids and shoulders.
"I'm not going to pretend, Hitomi," he said. "I am going to love you tonight. And I am going to love you as both a man and as an angel." He smiled and took her hands in his as the dazzling white feathers burst from his back. Hitomi couldn't tell if it was water or feathers raining down upon her anymore.
And he crushed her to him, his mouth grasping at the fragile skin on her neck. She petted his hair as his lips bruised her skin. When he raised his head, his eyes were a dark colour. He swept her from her feet and she got another view of his dazzlingly fast movements as they arrived in her room within ten seconds.
He lay her down upon her bed and propped himself on one hand beside her. His hands flew through her wet hair, smoothing the tangles and making the smell of it fill the room. For what seemed like hours they stayed like this. Van touching her hair and Hitomi with her hand on his face. And then he leaned down to tentatively kiss her. Her reaction the his kiss was astounding. Within seconds he was flat on his back on the mattress with Hitomi's small body holding him there.
Her hands flew frantically from place to place on his body. Touching his face, his back, his thigh, his neck. He was saying something, over and over again, but she didn't know what it was. And then he was on top of her, almost ripping her clothes from her body. They felt as if they were one, rolling over one another, feathers flying every direction.
And then everything was still.
Hitomi looked up into Van's face. His breathing was heavy and he had never looked more beautiful than he did with his hair sticking in every direction and his eyes glowing from the urge to be close to her. His wings came around and enclosed them in a small room of feathers. All the sounds from the house around them were deadened and all Hitomi could hear was the rise and fall of their breathing.
She felt Van move and, like the last time, he hesitated. "Are you sure?" she whispered to him. "You don't have to do this, you know."
His smile was bittersweet. He leaned down and kissed her face momentarily. And then several things happened simultaneously: Van had stopped hesitating and had thrust himself into her, Hitomi's back had arched so hard that they almost fell off the bed, all of the windows in the room had flown open and the rain had begun to pour in, and the doors had all started to slam open and closed rapidly.
When Van pulled himself back momentarily, everything froze. They stared at each other, listening to the rain hitting the carpeted floor of Hitomi's room. She was sobbing without crying until the grin that appeared on Van's face blotted out the rest of the world.
"Oh God, I love you, Hitomi," he said, resting his head on her shoulder before thrusting back into her once again.
Hitomi found that, like she had the first time Van and her had kissed, that there is no way that any prior experience could prepare you for making love with an angel. She couldn't tell if it was the fact that he was what he was or the fact that she loved him like she did that was making her head spin like it was.
Later, if you had asked either of the two what had occurred during that night, neither would have been able to answer. There were no precise memories in either of their heads. They would only be able to remember the coming together of two souls, of two bodies, and of two lives.
Hitomi watched the sun as it came up over the horizon. It was still misting slightly and it cooled her hot skin where it lay against Van's. She had her hand tangled in his hair and was listening to the rise and fall of his chest as he slept. His wings lay innocently at his sides, covering their legs and the blanket they had wrapped around themselves.
Suddenly Van stirred. His eyes opened and slowly fastened themselves on Hitomi's face. "G'morning," he slurred, smiling. Hitomi's eyes were glistening as she smiled back down upon him. Her lips brushed across his forehead lovingly, before she returned to smoothing his hair and watching the sun.
Ven jerked himself up into a sitting position, looking around as if to listen. His eyes were wide and frightened looking as he turned himself back to look upon his lover's face.
"Hitomi," he whispered. "It's time."
(A/N: Lalalaaaa. I'm happy that people remember and are enjoying this story. It's pretty close to done already so you probably won't have to wait much longer to read the final chapters. Until then, just keep it up with the lovely Reviews.)