Alice

Shun was laying down on his bed and lying flatly on his stomach as I rubbed the muscles on his back. My eyes went up to the injured portion of his wing. Mason had to pull teeth to get Shun to sit still as he wrapped the wing up in bandages. He had made it clear that the arrow cut through the two joints that allowed the wing to move, and that it may be a while before Shun could fly again.

If ever. "Mhmm. You're really good at this." I looked down at Shun and couldn't help but blush. It was quite obvious he was getting a little too much pleasure from this back massage, but after feeling how knotted up and tense his back was, I was sure it did feel good. At first I was slightly uncomfortable being in a room with just me and him without a shirt on, but Shun was kind enough to let me keep the door open just to prove that no funny business would go on.

I had just finished his lower back and was working in between his wings now. His lower back was no where as knotted up as between those wings. Shun buried his face into his white pillow and sighed. Both of his wings laid loosely by his sides and hung off the bed. I heard him say through the pillow, "Are you sure you never took any classes on this?"

I blushed and felt kind of good that I had made him putty in my hands. I told him, "Nope. Not a single one." I thought about the rest of the Clan that had survived the carnage. They were downstairs scrounging around for whatever bandages they could find for their wounds. They seriously needed Bertha since none of them knew what to do for their injuries. Shun let out a soft, muffled sound under the pillow as I hit a tense muscle. I thought it was kind of cute. In a romantic was of course.

I focused back on his wing as I kept kneading my fingertips into his back. "I'm really sorry about hurting you." He lifted his head up from the pillow and some of his hair stuck to it. Shun chuckled and told me, "Quit fretting over it. As long as I can still fly, it's not a problem. Now if I can't ever fly again, that's another story." He was still smiling at me when I pressed my fingertip right on his spine and I felt his skin shudder and he buried his face back into the pillow.

I smiled. Looks like I found a good spot to work with. I heard him sigh into the pillow again. My fingers started to hurt from the constant massaging I had been doing. I stopped pressing them into his back and rubbed my knuckles. Shun propped himself up on his elbows and turned his head back towards me. "Why'd you stop? It was starting to feel really good."

He put maybe a little too much emphasis on the really part. I showed him my hands and said, "My fingers can only take so much. Don't worry. I'll continue when they start feeling better." Shun looked at my hands and sat up. Then, placed a kiss on the back of my right hand. His eyes went up to mine, but his lips stayed on the back of my hand. He said to me with his lips just above my hand, "You work too hard." I smiled and turned my head to the side to try and hide my blush.

"I can still see you, ya know." We then leaned closer and placed our lips on the others. I felt my own body unwinding and relaxing in his grip. Runo would flip if she saw this. I felt my eyes widened and I pushed Shun back. "Oh my gosh! I forgot all about Runo and the others!" Shun caught himself before falling off from his bed. He then shot me a look as if asking what my sudden damage was. I jumped off the bed and hurried to put my shoes on. "Alice, calm down. The world isn't going to end."

Did he know Runo? She was already apprehensive about me even liking Shun. If she knew that I had started to develop stronger feelings for him, I'd be locked away in a castle somewhere just so I'd be safe. Runo was always overprotective of me, and she got worse after my grandfather's death and my run in with that car. I finally got my shoes on and told Shun, "I'm just going to go and let them know that I'm alright, and I'll come back here as soon as I can." Shun nodded his head and I darted out of the building and grabbed a cab to the café.

Shun

My back was singing with the phantom feelings of Alice's hands massaging my muscles. I looked out of my window as she hopped in the back of a cab and headed off towards Runo's. I sighed and there was a knock at my door. I turned and saw Adam standing in the doorway with his arms folded over his chest. He had a sly smirk on his face when he said, "That was almost close to being rated PG-13. You better watch out who sees you two when you have to door wide open."

I narrowed my eyes at him. How long had he been standing there? Probably not very long. If he had been then he was probably peeping out from behind the door. I asked him gruffly, "And why were you up here watching us? Trying to get a cheap fix?" Adam laughed. Out of most of my Clan mates, he was my least favorite. He never understood words such as limits, boundaries, privacy, and common sense. Adam hadn't even helped out in the fight yesterday from what I had heard. His navy bluish hair fell just below his green eyes. Nobody knew what Adam had done to Fall. Probably invading privacy.

"Just remember if you and that little Bondage want some alone time, around here probably isn't the best place to have it." I growled as he walked from the doorway and back downstairs. I felt my face heat up with a blush. It wasn't like it was against any law to have feelings for a human, but it was just so uncommon that not many angels knew what to do about it and how to handle it.

It wasn't something secret to anyone that I had some feelings for Alice, some stronger than others at times, but it was still something they hadn't really grown used to yet. I thought back to when Kiba said something about me falling in love with Alice. At the moment I didn't want to admit it with the oncoming fight. Last thing I wanted was for anything serious to happen with us and then something happen to either me or her.

I walked over to my closest and pulled out a black shirt. I carefully folded my wings back and slid the shirt on. My body was still sore from yesterday, but I couldn't just stay up in my room all day until Alice came back. That would be like saying something was going on.

Downstairs, my Clan mates were sitting around in any available chair. They all had bandages around their bodies in some way or form. Some had them on their heads, and others had them on their arms or legs. Mason got up from a lawn chair that we had placed in the room, and stood in front of me.

"Good to see you're up and around. How's the wing?" I looked over at my shoulder where my wing would be when it was unfolded and said, "Ok, I guess. It still hurts though. Listen Mason, thanks for looking out for Alice when I couldn't." He smiled and said, "No problem. We're all like family here. Even her." That was a good thing to hear.

Alice

Runo wrapped her arms around me, and hugged tight enough that I couldn't breathe. "Alice! Oh my gosh! Where have you been?" Dan and the others were also in the café when I had walked in. Runo finally let go of me and I caught my breath back.

Murucho walked up to me and said, "Yeah. Where did you go, Alice? Last we saw of you we had just brought you back from the hospital and when you didn't come down for breakfast we checked on you and saw you were gone." I felt kind of bad that I had made them worry so much about me. I would of left a note, but I wasn't expecting to be swept up by Shun and taken to the tenement building where I'd spend several days. I faced Runo and saw she looked truly worried about me.

I felt a drop of nervous sweat fall down my head and smiled nervously to match. "Well, I know you won't be too happy to hear this Runo, but I kind of spent some time with Shun." There was a simulations, "What!" from everybody in the café. I was expecting Runo to bite my head off, but she said to me normally, "Alice, I thought I said to watch yourself around him and not to get too close. There's no telling what he could of done to you."

I couldn't blame her for not trusting Shun since she didn't know how he really was. And the only reason he had started that bad streak with the police and such was because the Clan Wars had started up. Now that the Clans were no longer fighting, crime would go down and the others would notice Shun returning back to how he was before the Wars.

I told Runo in a reassuring tone, "I know you don't approve of him, but I promise he's nothing like you make him out to be. He's not a bad guy." Runo didn't seem to believe me. I wished I could of told her everything; about Shun being a Fallen angel and with the Clan Wars and the huge fight we just had with Tristan. I wanted to explain to her all the rules and underground world that was all around them and they never knew. But I was well aware that they would think I was crazy or that Shun had drugged me while I was with him.

Julie stood on the other side of me and asked, "So, what all happened between you two while you were gone?" I blushed although nothing big had happened between us. A few innocent kisses and hugs, but nothing over than. Unless you counted the back massage that Shun was enjoying a bit too much. I told her honestly, "Nothing really happened. We mainly just talked."

It wasn't completely a lie. We did do a lot of talking as he explained everything to me. Runo was looking at me like she still wasn't believing me. She told me seriously, "Alice, I know you think he's ok. But there's just something off about him." I sighed. It would take a while for Runo to get used to Shun again. I didn't think she even liked him when they first met all those years ago. I sighed and told them, "Well, I need to get going." Runo's eyes widened and she stopped me from walking out of the door.

"Where do you think you're going?" I knew this would be another problem. I was aware that she would ask me where I was going when I tried to leave. I told her, "I promised Shun I would go back to him after I told you guys that I was ok and not hurt."

Murucho walked up next to me again and said, "Alice, you should really stay here or at my place. You've been missing for several days after getting out of the hospital and haven't been getting the adequate amount of rest." I got plenty of rest last night in one of the guest rooms. It was the only rest I had gotten since I had left the hospital.

I told them, "I promise I'll come back tomorrow. Okay?" They all seemed unsure about this, then Runo stepped in front of me and said, "Ok. You better come back here tomorrow or else we'll all think Shun did something to you. Be careful, Alice." I smiled and walked out of the door and caught another cab. I stopped right before I got into the car and looked up into the sky at the barrier. I think that gray sky will start looking pretty nice.

well, i think this is a nice place to leave off the story as i prepare the second one. it will be up tomorrow unless something comes up. i promise it will be longer than this one. (wasnt really planning on it being this short) check out my profile for a poll and the cover for the story. read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~