Hello everybody! Thanks for deciding on reading my fic. First a little warning: this is only my second fanfic and I'm not a native speaker, so if you dare, read on!
The Slayers party was on a new quest. Actually it was the same old quest as usual. Kill some bandits and see if they had something valuable. Zel had joined again, because he had heard that one of the bandit gangs around here had some interesting old book. Of course he had to promise Lina that she could have it after he took a look at it.
Zel glanced side-ways and saw that Lina was currently occupied with smashing Gourry against the ground. The chimera sighed. Would Gourry never learn to refer to the upper part of Lina's anatomy as flat? It surely did not look that way to him, but compared to the much younger Amelia, it seemed that way.
Amelia...a glance to his other side showed Zel the glowing eyes of the little princess. She was hanging on his arm since he rejoined the party and starring at him happily. As annoying as it was, at least she kept quiet for the moment.
She always knew when "that time of the month" was coming closer. She did not need to count the days to KNOW. The day she felt like dragu-slaving Gourry instead of fireballing always was the first sign.
Luckily for Gourry she refrained from it and started to stomp him in the ground again until he was begging her to stop. Still angry for being called flat-chested again, she turned away and tried to catch up with Zel and Amelia who where going arm in arm.
A strange sight indeed since Zel usually got rid of her whenever the princess tried that. A tiny sting of jealousy touched her heart. This was Zel! Why should she feel jealous? Maybe it was only because "that time of the month" was coming closer and Gourry was getting on her nerves even more than during the rest of the month.
Gourry finally caught up with her, but at least he did not say anything. He saw Lina watching Zel and Amelia and her longing look. In some kind of suicide attempt he hooked his arm into hers.
On some other day Lina might have blushed and maybe even enjoined the feeling, but this was really the worst possible moment. "Fireball" , she whispered, getting rid of her touchy sidekick.
He always knew when "that time of the month" came close, though she really tried to conceal it. She did not succeed though. The feeling that he would prefer to sleep in the open instead of staying in an inn with her always was the first sign. Only poor Gourry was too stupid to notice.
They had finally arrived at a village, which was good. Gourry probably would not have survived the next day if they had not reached the inn. Finally Lina's mind was on something else : Food and a nice warm bath afterwards.
Zel actually felt very good. Except for Lina's continuous outbreaks and a fireball gone awry, the day had been quite peaceful. Amelia had been so stunned by his appearance that she had kept quiet the whole DAY! Maybe he should leave the party more often.
Unlike the others, the chimera did not need as much food (though he doubted that they needed that much food either, especially Lina) and only sipped on his cup of tea. He watched the others devouring their food and noticed that the red-haired sorceress did not eat as much as she usually did. Gourry even snatched a sausage from her table and she did not notice it. That was strange, really strange.
This must have been one of the worst days of her live. She felt really bad and Gourry had not done anything to help it. She nearly overexerted herself with sending flare arrows and fireballs after him. At one point she nearly hid Zel and Amelia with a fireball, though they weren't even close to where the jellyfish-brains had stood.
Even the food did not taste as good to her as it usually did. She barely finished her meal without trying to snatch anything from Gourry or Amelia. She felt more like drinking a nice warm cup of tea with Zel, but if she did not eat up, her friends would get worried about her. Hell, she even was worried about herself!
She noticed that Zel was looking at her with a worried look in his eyes. Damn, she really did not need another problem, Gourry was really enough for a day. She excused herself from the table and told them that she was going to take a bath.
Gourry and Amelia did not even look up, they were too occupied with their food. As Lina passed by him, Zel stopped her.
"Something wrong?", he asked softly. He did not want to alert the others. She gave him a look that was a mixture of "Leave me alone" and "Thanks you noticed".
"Nothing.", she replied. "It's nothing. Want to join me for stargazing tonight? There supposed to be a clear sky?". Zel was somehow caught off guard, but agreed.
"Where did that come from?", she asked herself as she eased herself into the warm water. "Want to join me for stargazing today?". She really must have had it today to be so touched by Zel's concern to say that. Slowly the water was easing the pain in her muscles and she nearly fell asleep. Her thoughts were drifting away.
The others were still eating when Zelgadiss went to take a bath. The room was nearly completely empty except for one tub whose user was hidden by the curtains. "Must be Lina.", he thought and closed the curtains around the tub he had chosen.
He was thinking about his cure again, when he heard a sobbing noise from the other end of the hall. A look confirmed that it could only come from where Lina was. Should he ignore it? She obviously thought that she was still alone.
His concern won. Draping the towel around his hips he quietly went to Lina's tub. It definitely was her crying. "Lina?", he asked softly. "Are you alright?".
Lina definitely was not alright. She had been thinking about home and the boys that had teased her all day with calling her flat-chested. Her older sister Luna was the perfect comparison for them, since Lina herself had told them where she took her bath and earned some money doing this. Still, it wasn't fair, was it? Why did everyone notice only this. Wasn't she a genius sorceress, wasn't she pretty?
She hated herself when that time of the month came close and she was getting all touchy and soft, but there was nothing she could do against it. But Gourry really had been a pain in the axx, today more than ever. Didn't he notice? No, probably not. A sob escaped her throat and another followed.
"Lina?" a familiar voice asked. "Are you alright?". She swiftly washed the tears away and glanced out to see Zel standing there with a concerned look in his eyes. He had very pretty eyes, she noticed. "Oh Zel, didn't know you where here." she said trying to change the subject, when she saw that he had only a towel around his hips. Her eyes nearly fell out of her head and she blushed furiously. "aah.." was all she could say.
He noticed her look and started blushing even more if that was possible. "Maybe we should talk later", he said and darted back to the changing room, leaving a confused Lina behind. He had not noticed that he had held his breath in embarrassment until he was fully clothed again.
Back in his room he was still embarassed. It had not been very thoughtful to show Lina his terrible body. In her place he would have probably turned green instead of red. Where had his mind been? Still he was worried about her. He had never ever seen her cry even during the most desperate situations they've been through.
The moon reached the level of his window and shone on his face, letting his hair seem like threads of silver. Slowly he walked to the window and outside he saw Lina sitting on a small bench, staring in the sky. Should he still join her?
When Zel had so suddenly left, she was kind of sad. Hey, he really did look good with only a towel and it surely had changed her train of thoughts. She even smiled as she slipped in her clothes, the warm water had loosened her sore muscles.
After a short moment she decided to go out now. It was already dark. When she passed through the dining room, she noticed that Gourry and Amelia where already gone. Her stomach gave a noise, indicating, that it was not satisfied by what it had gotten today, so Lina slipped into the empty kitchen and took a loaf of bread with her.
It was cold outside, but she enjoyed the fresh air and the stillness. The moon had already risen and it was a very bright night. Finishing the bread she just sat there and thought of nothing for a change, when she heard the sound of footsteps coming from the inn. Zel?
He had decided to join her, after all, he had been invited. Ignoring the chilliness of the bench, he sat next to her without saying a word and started staring at the full moon. He felt Lina's look on his face, but somehow it did not bother him. As strange as it was, he trusted her. She had never treated him like a freak, so he could at least stop acting like one around her.
Finally he turned his head. Their eyes met for a moment, before she lowered her look. "Thanks for coming, Zel", she said. "My pleasure." he answered. After a moment she continued:" I'm sorry for being so terrible today and for sending that fireball your way." "Don't worry, I know what you are going through right now. It's going to be that time of the month, right?". He didn't really expect an answer to that, but after a while she whispered:"Is it that obvious?" He noticed that she had blushed into a deep red. He felt like he said something wrong.
"Oh, not really. I doubt Amelia or Gourry noticed it." he replied, "but only because one of them is too stupid and the other one was too occupied." he finished the sentence in his mind. "Oh,...o.k.", was all she said, but he felt her relieve. After that, they just sat and enjoyed the night sky.
Zel sat next to her without saying a word. The bench was very small, so she had to notice his closeness and it felt kind of pleasant. She looked at him and noticed how handsome he was. As a human he really must look gorgeous. His hair shimmered silver in the moonlight.
Suddenly he turned his head. Embarassed for staring, she thanked him for coming. After a short while she felt like apologizing for her behavior during the day. He surprised her by knowing the cause of her emotional instability. She blushed deep red in seconds. Was it really that obvious to everyone? She HAD really tried to behave normal, whatever that meant in her case.
His assurance that the others had not noticed, relieved her, but then, Gourry really was too stupid to notice anything like that and Amelia had been too occupied with Zel, so it really didn't mean anything. She really must have behaved terribly. "Oh, ...o.k." was all she said.
They continued staring at the sky and after some time she relaxed again. Sitting that close to Zel was really nice. Not having to explain everything was even nicer. Suddenly she yawned. It really had become late, but she did not feel like leaving already. Zel asked her if she wanted to go to sleep now. Wow, he had beautiful eyes. "Yeah, I guess so.", she said and looked at her hands instead. "Thanks for tonight, Zel!". Before she knew what she did, she had kissed his cheek and left.
Zel had not moved but she heard him say :" I'll watch you for the rest of the week." Lina turned back to him made her victory sign and said :"Deal!". Somehow this terrible day had turned out quite nice, she thought, when she cuddled into her bed...really nice.
As Zel finally went to bed he still had this silly smile plastered to his face, but somehow he wished it would stay there. As he fell asleep he felt like a human again for the first time since Rezo had transformed him. This really hadn't been a bad day. Actually it had been really nice...