DISCLAIMER: I don't own Daa! Daa! Daa!

Touched by an Angel

~By mugen83

Chapter 5: "Nice to Meet You"

When Kanata regained his consciousness, he was already in his bedroom, lying comfortably in his futon. The porridge was placed beside him. He tried getting up, removing the covers in the process as his eyes searched around the room looking for the person who had kindly took care of him.

Has his dad come back? Was he the one who put him in bed? Did he decide not to go to India anymore? And if he ishere, had he seen the angel in the other room? And was he able to see her anyway? Those thoughts race in his head. He closed his eyes, trying to recount what had happened. He vaguely has a recollection of the events that transpired before he collapsed from his fever.

"Are you feeling better?" a gentle concerned voice suddenly asked him, bringing Kanata back from his reverie and making him flabbergasted at the same time. He looked at the source of the voice and was surprised to see the angel, already seated beside his futon. She looked worried while looking at him. Then, she suddenly raised her hand to his forehead. He was taken aback by her sudden gesture.

"You look a little fine now. And oh, won't you eat this? It might make you feel a lot better." the angel said in her soft gentle voice.

Kanata was still bewildered about his current situation. It seemed just awhile ago that he was the one taking care of her but now it was the other way around. Has she already ready recovered? The question popped in his mind. He wanted to ask her this but the words seemed unable to form in his mouth.

"Here. Please eat it." She handed the tray where the porridge was placed, urging him to eat. He accepted the kind gesture and slowly took a sip from the spoon.

"Were you the one who helped me?" the words finally came out from his lips. The angel smiled at his query.

"You need to finish eating before it gets cold," she said not answering his question. He recalled that during their first meeting, the same thing happened. She never answered his question straight away, so he tried asking her again.

"I remembered collapsing from the fever awhile ago. Were you the one who brought me here? And are you also feeling better? I saw you in the forest and decided to take you here. You seemed badly injured. And is this the porridge the one I left beside you awhile ago?" he knew he was asking too much questions but he cannot help bombarding her with them. He studied her face, trying to fathom the enigma behind her, as if her expression will reveal the answers.

"You were the one who helped me." She finally said smiling. "And yes, I was the one who brought you to bed. And that food you called porridge, I saw it in another room. I ate the one you prepared for me. It was really delicious. It made me feel so much better," she added her smile still plastered on her beautiful face "so you should also eat."

"Well, uhmmm… thanks I guess." Kanata said a little embarrassed.

The angel however, smiled and said to him. "I should be the one thanking you." She lowered her head while saying this. "Thank you very much. You are a really kind person. I am truly very grateful."

"Ah no. No really, it's fine. You don't need to thank me."

The angel smiled at his response. Then she glanced at the unfinished food he was holding. "You really should start eating." She said brightly, reminding him of the food he was supposed to be eating.

Kanata silently ate the porridge. It was a little awkward since the angel was watching him eat. He considered asking her to stop staring while he was eating but he thought it would be rude if he told her this. So he tried to maintain his composure and tried not to look embarrassed at the situation. It seemed like eternity before he finally finished eating. The angel took the emptied bowl together with the tray.

"Thank you very much for helping me but I think I can manage putting those back to the kitchen. I'm already feeling better, I can at least handle that much." He told her. She ignored his offer though and proceeded outside of his room while holding the tray. Before she left the room, she gave Kanata her brightest smile.

That was rather awkward and embarrassing. Kanata thought. When the angel smiled he somehow felt flustered and relief. Looking at her unfaltering smiles seemed relaxing. Then it occurred to him, if it was true that she was the one who put him onto his futon, how was she able to manage such task? Did she carry him all the way here? Kanata felt embarrassed at the idea of the angel carrying him to his room and the very idea that a girl had to do the strenuous task. She might have some superhuman or rather a supernatural strength making it possible for her but the idea still really bothered him.

The door opened and the angel came in again. She sat beside Kanata's futon and stared at him. This made him really nervous. What was he supposed to say in such situation? He was about to open his mouth and say something but the angel beat her to it.

"Please go back to sleep Kanata-san." She told him softly. He looked at her then saw that she still seemed worried. He was about to say that she should not worry since he miraculously regained his health but then a wave of lethargy suddenly came over him. His eyes became heavy and he somehow fell asleep.

It was already morning when Kanata woke up. He felt refreshed after long hours of sleep. He surveyed his room and noticed that the angel was no longer there. This made him feel relieve. He really did not want to be stared at as he slept. He got up and proceeded to the kitchen. He needed to go to school so he must prepare his breakfast fast.

As he walked towards the kitchen, he wondered whether the angel had gone back to the heavens or to whatever place she came from. His question was answered when he looked at the yard. The angel was still there. In fact she was currently feeding the birds.

"Uhmmm… I thought you already left." Kanata said to her. She looked at him and smiled but did not say anything.

"Oh, is your wings fine by the way? They seem to be badly injured." He added. She still did not respond, only giving him a warm smile. But Kanata noticed that she seemed a bit worried that there was a hint of sadness behind her smiling face.

"If your wings haven't fully healed yet, you can stay here you know. Is it really that bad? Your injury I mean."

The angel walked towards his direction and said, "Are you feeling better Kanata-san?" It was an unexpected response from Kanata's point of view. He was still not used to her habit of not answering a question straight away or getting a different response.

"I'm already fine. Thanks. But uhmmm… what about your… wings, are they better?" he tried asking her again.

"It's good that you're fine now." She gave him another smile. Kanata continued to look at her, waiting for her to answer his question. There was a long pause before she finally said, "You see my wings still haven't fully recovered yet." Her voice remained calm and there were not any traces of worry as she spoke.

"Thank you for taking care of me. And Kanata-san, aren't you going somewhere?"

"Ughh, yeah of course. I almost forgot!" Kanata finally remembered that he needed to go to school.

"Sorry, I need to go. And you can stay here. I mean, you should stay here until you've fully recovered." He said as he hurriedly prepared himself for school. "And please don't go out while I'm away okay?" he added as he sprinted all the way to school.

Kanata was panting by the time he got there. Apparently, he barely made it in time for his first period. Time ticked and the class proceeded as usual until it was finally time for lunch.

"Hey Kanata!" a black haired boy approached him. It was Santa Kurosu, Kanata's best friend.

"That was close. You were almost late for class and almost got scolded by Mizuno-sensei." Santa told him. His tone make it sound like the thought of being late for class or rather the consequences of being late was terrifying and that no one should dare do it.

"Yeah, good thing I ran quite fast." Kanata replied, giving a huge sigh of relief.

"It's your first time being almost late for class though."

"Ah yeah. Had a hard time waking up. I wasn't feeling really well yesterday."

"Come to think of it, your face did look rather pale when you went home yesterday. You feeling better now?"

"Of course. What about you by the way. Did you get to watch that Tofu Man movie you were talking about?"

"Yeah. That movie was awesome." Santa's eyes were brimming with delight. "Too bad, you weren't able to watch it. Anyway I bought the DVD so we could watch it anytime."

Kanata was not really as interested in Tofu Man unlike Santa. Though, he somehow developed a little liking to the strange series, probably because he had been hanging out with its number one fan since childhood.

"Yeah sure. I'll watch it some other time I guess. Anyway I'm starving."

"You're right. We better hurry to the cafeteria or the yakisoba pan might get sold out."

The school bell rang signaling the end of school. Kanata was relieved that he was able to finish the mountain of work which he had been trying to finish. Good thing tomorrow is a Sunday, I can finally rest. He thought. There were still things that needed to be done in the temple but at least he could take a break from school.

When he got home, he went straight to his room and got changed. He wandered around the temple looking for the angel. That was when he saw her seated in the porch while looking at the yard wearing a calm expression on her face.

"Okaerinasai Kanata-san" she suddenly said as she darted her eyes towards him. Kanata was a bit startled. He wondered how she knew that he was there.

"Ahhh… Tadaima" he said rather unsure. "Uhmm… can I ask you something?" She only smiled at his question so he proceeded with his query.

"How do you treat wings exactly? I mean uhmmm… is there something I can do to help you treat them?" Like his other questions, Kanata did not get any response right away. She had averted her gaze from him and was now gazing at the yard. Then she said to him. "Please take your seat Kanata-san." She beamed at him and gestured at the place beside her.

"Again thank you very much for letting me stay here." There was a long pause before she continued. "You see an angel's wings are the only one we can use so we could go back to heaven. So without it I can't return." There was another pause. Kanata turned to glance at her and saw her forlorn face.

"Even though I did not lose my wings, it's as a good as having lost them because of the injury. And… and I don't know how long it will take for it to recover." she added her voice though calm and gentle showed traces of sadness.

After hearing this, Kanata felt sorrier for her. It did occur to him that she might not make it home if her wings have not fully recovered.

"Like I told you, you can stay here until it recovers." He told her. "And you don't need to worry. I bet they will recover soon enough" he said encouragingly.

The angel smiled at his response. Her face did not show any traces of sadness anymore. Either she was already happy or she was good at hiding it. That was when Kanata decided to change the topic.

"Anyway now that it's decided. I'll introduce myself properly. I'm Kanata Saionji, you can just call me Kanata. Nice to meet you."

She smiled and said, "I'm Angel Miyu. Uhmmm… but I guess you can call me Miyu since I'm here on earth. Nice to meet you too Kanata-kun."

"Yeah, nice to meet you too Miyu."