It was raining hard over the group's small camp. It was too late for them to make it to the next town, so they opted for setting up tents for the night. They only had three tents now since Lina cast a fireball out of the last one, so Gourry and Zel took one tent, while Lina and Amelia each had one to themselves.
Lina took the first watch, sitting under a tree to try and stay dry. An hour into her watch lightening struck the camp hitting Lina's tent. Too tired to care, the sorceress sighed, and waited for Gourry to relieve her of duty. While waiting for Gourry Lina fell asleep.
When Gourry stepped out of his tent the first thing he noticed was that there was smoke coming from Lina's tent. he second thing he noticed was Lina curled up under a tree, shivering. Walking silently up to her, he picked her up and started to carry her over to Amelia's tent, then he remembered the last time she and Amelia shared a room, so he opted to put her in the tent with Zel. Zel didn't bruise nearly as easily as Amelia did. So with his mind made up, he placed Lina in his empty bedroll.
Zel heard the tent open again, and opened his eyes in time to see Gourry placing Lina in the bedroll beside him.
"What are you doing?"
"Lina's tent got hit by lightening, so I am putting her here to sleep."
"Oh. Be sure to wake me up for the next watch." Gourry nodded as he pulled the blanket over Lina's shoulders.
"I will." Gourry said that while leaving the tent.
An hour later, Lina woke up shivering, then there was warmth. Smiling a little she snuggled into the warmness and went back to sleep. Zel sighed a little as he held Lina a bit closer, only to keep her warm, or at least that is what he kept telling himself. When he felt her body relax into sleep, he did too. When Gourry came back and saw them like that, he opted to take Zel's watch, rather than disturb them.
When day broke, and the early morning mind fog left Lina's brain, she started to panic at Zel's arms being wrapped around her, then that 'This isn't so bad, I could really get use to this' feeling came over, and she snuggled into his embrace while pretending to still be asleep. Zel's heart was racing out of fear that she would fireball him when she first woke up, now it was racing for a totally different reason.
Deciding that it was worth the chance, Zel bent his head and placed a kiss on the nape of her neck.
"Time to get up, Lina. I know you are awake."
"Zel....." Lina was at a loss for words.
"You were cold last night so....." Zel stopped talking when Lina rolled over to look at him, placing a finger to his lips.
"I figured as much. Either that or you and Gourry have got some explaining to do." Lina smiled at the look of horror on Zel's face.
"I love you, Lina."
"I love you too, Zel. I almost wish every night was a rainy night. It makes for good conversation in the morning." The two smiled at each other as they kissed.
So it is another semi-sappy short one from me. You would be surprised at the fanfics that come to mind when you don't want to do school work ;)