From the fifteenth and last novel The Demon Slayers by Hajime Kanazaki:
Translated by QP/Diana, edited by Rocky.
Plus the continuation ...
"Well... What shall we do now?" Gourry asked me.
"Hmmm... We don't have a certain purpose..." I said. "Hey! Don't let me decide all the time! Show your idea, Gourry! Don't you have any idea or certain place where you want to go?"
"Oh? Alright... How about..." Gourry looked directly at my eyes and said. "How about going to your home?"
"... What?..." My heart was thumping rapidly. I turned my face from him.
"Hey... hey, Gourry... Do you really understand what you're saying? I mean, do you really know the meaning of your words?"
"Oh, yes, I do," he said in a gentle voice.
"What?" I trembled a little. I realized that my cheeks were blushed.
Gourry continued in a gentle voice. "You said that your homeland, Zeplilia, is famous for grapes, didn't you? And now it's grape season."
"Oh! You mean your appetite!"
SLAAAPPP!!
I took out my slipper at the speed of the light and slapped him.
"What are you doing?" Gourry said. "Don't you like grapes?"
"I don't mean it! Uuuuhhhh! I don't care what you say anymore!"
"So, we shall go to Zeplilia, right?"
"Hey, why should we go there?"
"You've said that you don't care what I say."
"... Hey..."
"I think it isn't bad to go home to see your parents after a long journey."
"..."
Puff...
Well... I think that it isn't bad, too... But, I feel that he is unsually persistent this time... Oh, does he pretend not to understand everything and know the meanings of it all?
"... Yes... I don't care anymore... Alright. Our distination is my home: The castle city of Zeplilia, Zeplil City! Okay?"
"Okay!"
Thus, Gourry and I started to walk together side by side.
Zephilia, home, their destinations, all of these things were special to Lina. She haven't been home since she was twelve years old when her older sister told her if she wanted more out of life then to go out into the world. Her sister was scary and had great power but, she also had great advice though...Not to mention taller and curvier than Lina but we won't go into that for Lina's sake.
"Wow..." Gourry said, fascinated as he gazed at the wide field lush with their harvest of grapes. It was quite a mouth-watering site and both Lina and Gourry had to wipe the drool from their mouths.
"So, how much farther to your parent's house, Lina?"
"We still got awhile to go before we reach the city, but we'll be there before dark."
"You think they still have your old room? I would like to see it."
Lina was getting more nervous then she should when Gourry made statements like that. Since she knew what Gourry's true intentions of going to her parent's house were, little comments like that made her blush and she had to catch her breath.
"Nah! Knowing my parents, they already made it into an office room or a place for warehousing." Lina placed her hands behind her head.
"They would use your old room to house were-wolves?!"
SMACK
"No, you dummy!"
"Sorry, Lina....oww.." Gourry pulled himself up from the ground. "But where will you sleep if your room is gone?"
Keep the blush down Lina told herself "Probably room with my sister then. She snores though."
"So, the snoring runs in the family, eh?" Gourry place his chin in his hand thoughtfully.
"I don't snore! You do!"
"Trust me, Lina, you snore and I don't." This conversation went on for another minute before Gourry found Lina's fist in his face.
The sun was already setting and it gave everything a warm orange and reddish glow. Lina sighed as they reached her house inside the city's gates. Nothing much had changed except they added a little balcony on the outside of her old room. Other then that it still looked like the place she came home to everyday after her lessons at the Guild. The placed she was born, grew up and became a woman in. How fitting that Gourry choose this place. Not that he knew the significance of it all.
He's gonna propose to me Lina thought and blushed as well. Help me, gods, I'm home. She gave an afterthought to when they reached the side door. She didn't want to go in through the front because she didn't need a big sappy scene in the store. This was more of a private thing not a show for her parent's customers.
"It's now or never!" Lina finally spoke up and started to knock on, a more accurate description would be pounding on but this was normal for Lina, the door.
Footsteps "Who is it?" Luna's.
"It's me: Lina! Open up, I'm home!
"Why?" said through the door.
"We came here to visit!"
Silence "Okay." Luna opened the door finally and Lina stiffened. Luna hadn't changed much: she was still busting out.
"You've grown a little, Lina" Luna level her hand with Lina's height.
"Nice to see you too, sis. Are you gonna invite me in or not?"
"If I feel like it. Who's he?" Luna indicated Gourry.
"HI!" Gourry exclaimed as she went to shake Luna's pointing hand. "I'm Gourry Gabriev! Lina's protector! Nice to meet you!"
Straight to the point as always Lina thought.
Luna looked from Gourry to Lina, and back and forth. "Oh." She said in realization of the true meaning behind their visit.
Great...Luna knows...yay... Lina moaned in her head.
Luna smiled "Why don't you all come on in and get comfortable." Lina had a feel she was going to get more teasing from her sister throughout their stay here.
"Thank you!" The ever-clueless Gourry said although Lina couldn't really blame him. Unless you were a part of her family, oh why did she use those choice of words, you couldn't really pick up on the hidden meanings of the simple comments and other short phrases. Of course, if Lina said "Yes" Gourry would be a part of her family. Poor guy. Man, was Lina really ready for marriage?
Marriage...ha...haha...
"Why are laughing, Lina?" Gourry asked. Shoot! Lina may not have said marriage out-loud but her slight paranoid laughter was vocal.
"Uh...it just feels weird being home after so long, Gourry."
"Oh, okay!"
"Yeah," Luna began "One can only imagine what's going through her head."
Damn! Lina thought I don't know whether or not I'm ready for marriage but I'm definitely NOT ready for my sister's sarcasm.
"So, where are your parents?"
"Where else?" Luna pointed in a direction as they entered the house "The store. I'll go get them to close shop early for tonight." And so Luna was off.
Gourry looked around the common room of Lina's old house. Very roomy, her parents had money on them. No wonder Lina was so greedy. Lina took off her cloak, armor and sword belt. She wouldn't need these for awhile now. Plopping herself in the big chair, she let out a sigh of pleasure.
"This feels great! This chair is always feels nice."
"That's why I brought it." Came a new male voice.
"Dad." Lina got up and walked to the man who just entered the room "How are you?"
"I'm good. Happy to see my youngest girl." He took Lina's hands in his "You've gotten a little taller."
"Yeah, well, wish it was more."
"Ha! I believe you."
"Me too." came another female voice. "Good to see you again, Lina" and the woman gave Lina a hug.
"I missed you too, Mom." When the hug was over, Lina had to wipe a forming tear in her eye. "So, tell what's been happening! It'll be nice to catch up. You won't believe half the things I've done since I left~"
"Bandit Killer?"
"Ergh..."
"Enemy of All Who Live?"
"Ah...haha." Shit! They heard the bad stuff!
"Can devour an entire baby dragon with her Dragon's Breath?"
"That's not true! Where do these things get started?! Who the hell spreads these things?!"
Meanwhile, somewhere in the world, Naga sneezes and that's the only cameo she's making in this fanfiction.
"Well, is it true about one of the seven pieces of Shabranigdo, Hellmaster Phibrizzo and the Demon Dragon King Gaav? It was quite a shock what that priestess told Luna."
Lina sighed and began to gloat "YEP! It was all me who destroyed them all! The one who broke the barrier and saved the world! Not that was the first time I saved the world, mind you. Geez, I've been doing so much charity work since I left home. I need to stop."
"Consider it repaying your debt to society for all that you've done to it." Luna said plainly. Lina had to catch herself from falling over.
"I'm not that bad!" Lina fussed.
"Yeah, she's a whole lot worst." Gourry spoke up only to be knocked back down again.
"So, Gourry, is it?" Mrs. Inverse asked.
"Oww, yeah?"
"Been traveling with Lina long?"
"Waaaaay too long."
"Stop talking like I'm such a bad person!" Lina stomped her feet.
Mr. Inverse laughed "Quite a family reunion, eh? Who to think it would turn into a Lina bashing?" At least her dad was on Lina's side. "Still, what's up with this Dragon Spooker stuff?" Then again...
"All and all, I would have to say business is doing pretty good." That was the short simple summary that followed up the long, very detail and filled with jargon lecture given by Mr. Inverse about his business. Gourry should have never asked "So, I heard you have a shop. How's it going?" during dinner. Lina had to admit that Gourry seemed very attentive during her dad's speech.
"Do you like the food, Gourry?" Mrs. Inverse asked. Gourry said nothing; in fact he wasn't even blinking.
"Hey, Gourry, Mom said something." Nothing, so Lina took her fork and proceeded to stab his forearm. Gourry eyes shot back; he jumped up out of his chair and screamed.
"OWW!!! Lina, why'd you wake me up?"
She should have known.
Mr. Inverse coughed "Luna, honey, could you go get dessert?"
"I wait tables during the day. I pay my rent, I don't have to wait tables here."
"Right. Lina, go get dessert."
"Yes, Dad..." Lina haul up an armload of dishes and headed towards the direction of the kitchen.
"Good girl! Anyway, so how's travel~" the sound of dishes breaking were heard in the next room.
"I'll go help her." Luna said as she went to her sister's aid.
"It's nice to have the girls in the house." Mrs. Inverse said but her eye twitched as she heard another dish breaking.
"Actually, sir, ma'am," Gourry began "I need to talk to you about something..."
"You should have made a couple of trips with the dishes, Lina."
"I thought I could get it all in one trip, sis."
"Yeah, you didn't."
Lina grumbled.
"What?"
"I'm sorry, ma'am." bow "You're right, ma'am." bow "I should have made a couple of trips, ma'am" bow.
"That's better." Luna said as she cleaned up the last of the dishes on the floor. What a prime opportunity this is. Luna thought.
Oh no, here it comes. Lina thought.
"He's kinda cute." Luna smirked.
"He's not bad looking."
"Still, I bet he must get quite the attention from the ladies."
Why did an image of Syphiel appear now in Lina's head?
"But I don't care about other ladies. I'm interested in how you feel about him, Lina." Luna had Lina cornered. How the hell did Lina get in a corner in the first place? "Tell me how you feel, Lina?" it was more of a demand then a request.
"Me?" Lina pointed to herself.
"Only Lina in this room."
"'Feel', ya said. You see...it's..."
"Go on."
"Gourry...Gourry is..."
THUD
"Gourry's dead!!" came from the other room.
"Huh?" went the sisters to see what was going on.
Apparently, Lina hit a little deep with her fork and during that time frame, Gourry had managed to lose enough blood to pass out. Their mother was already casting a healing spell on the poor guy.
"Great! Just great! Got blood ALL over my carpet!" Mrs. Inverse was complaining. "Lina, you clean it up before the stain gets worst!"
"Why me?"
"You inflicted the wound, you clean up the mess." So, Lina went to get a bucket.
"Okay, Honey." Mrs. Inverse finished the spell, "Why don't you set blondie here on the couch."
"Right." Mr. Inverse heaved Gourry over his shoulder and plopped him on the couch in the common room. Gourry was in a peaceful sleep.
Laughter.
Who's laughing? Gourry though. One minute he was talking to Lina's parents about her and the next second, his head hit the table.
"Arrgg..." he moaned "I feel weak..."
"Oh, you're awake. That was fast."
Lina?
"You okay?" it was her.
"Yeah...I'm fine I guess." Gourry opened his eyes. The Inverses were drinking, judging by the smell, hot cocoa, in the common room around him. "Can I have some?" he indicated the cocoa. Luna poured him a cup as he sat up. "Thank you." Gourry said as he accepted it.
"Not a problem. Do I get a tip?"
Gourry had just begun to take a sip, so he just opened an eye to give her a questionable look.
"So easy." Luna sighed. Gourry went back to drinking his cocoa when he noticed Lina was in the chair next to him.
Cute. he smiled and took another sip. Wait...she looks a little pissed... "What's wrong, Lina?" The rest of the family was still remising. Lina pointed to the dog by Luna's feet.
"That's Spot; Luna's pet." Lina said.
"Pretty weird looking dog." Gourry commented.
"That's not a dog, you dummy! That's Dilgear! Remember?" Gourry shook his head "no" at Lina. "Never mind, I should have known. That's a werewolf who tried to kill us when we first met Zel. How he became my sister's pet after he died is a puzzle to me..."
"You don't have to worry about him, Lina." Gourry smiled "If he tries to hurt you, I'll get him!"
"I'm not worried about that! It's just they put his dog basket in my room..."
"Hey, Lina! Your old room really is were-housing!"
SMACK
"Shut up!"
"You okay, Lina?" her mom asked.
"I'm fine." Lina snorted.
"It's getting late, girls, and about time you two should get ready for bed." her father gestured them to get to sleep.
"Aw, c'mon..." came from the girls.
"Now, now. Get to bed. If you're good I'll read you a bed time story" his daughter's eyes rolled back into their heads before they got up and headed up the stairs.
"Anyway, Gourry." Mr. Inverse turned his attentions to him when the girls were in the room. "Please continue what you were saying before you passes out."
"Hmm?" Gourry blinked "Oh yeah!" he finished off the cocoa and sat it down "As I was saying, I want to talk about Lina. It's the whole reason I'm here."
Mr. Inverse made a noise in his throat and sat back while still keeping his eyes on Gourry.
"Go on." Mrs. Inverse had a somewhat sad look on her face.
"Like I said, I've been with Lina for a long time now. I want to protect her for the rest of my life." Lina's parents glanced at eachother as Gourry continued. "I remember my dad telling me about how he felt about mom; he couldn't imagine a day without her by his side despite all her faults and their rough times." Boy, do Lina's parents look tense! he sweat dropped a little. "I feel the same way about Lina. In fact I think, no, I know I love her"
Mr. Inverse breathed out. "Have you told Lina this?"
"I will soon, but there's more." Gourry looked them straight in the eyes with a solemn face "Mr. And Mrs. Inverse, I would like to have your blessings for your daughter's hand in marriage."
They gasped back slightly, then looked at eachother and smiled. They turned to face Gourry
"How much you gonna pay us?" they said simultaneously
"WHHAAA!!" Gourry screamed as he hit the floor. "P~Pay?!"
"Of course!" began Mrs. Inverse "It's customary for the groom to brib~errr..give the BRIDE'S parents money for all their trouble and expense for bringing their girl up."
Gourry gave them an accusing look. He was right about where Lina got her greed from, still...he really did want to marry Lina. "Since I'd be going against my code if I don't have your blessings...I'll pay your price. How much do you want?" grumble, grumble, grumble.
Mr. Inverse wrote a figure on a piece of paper and passed it to Gourry, "This will suffice" he said as Gourry opened the note.
Hope gone...Black void...Isolate desert...Barren cold...
"Gourry?"
Someone was talking to him again.
"Are you okay?" It was Mr. Inverse.
Gourry shook his head clear "Th...THIS much?!" How the hell could he pay this?
"Lina was rather expensive to raise" Mrs. Inverse added.
"HOW am I suppose to get this amount of money?!"
"Well, work."
"It'll take too long to get this amount of money. I want to marry Lina soon"
"You know, Jacob worked for fourteen years of his life before he could marry his true love Rachael" Mr. Inverse added.
"Yeah, but Lina's no sheepherder." Gourry was giving them a look.
"Okay. Okay." Mr. Inverse waved his hands "How about this, we'll lower the price," He drew another figure on a note "but no refunds."
Gourry looked at the new figure. It was still cold and dark but there was hope. He shot them another look. His code of honor or go get some extra cash? "Agreed."
Lina awoke with a yawn. She missed her old room but it was still good to be home. Luna was still sound asleep so after getting her slippers on, Lina tip-toed out of the room. A quick stop to the wash room and she slide down the rail of the stairs in a childish manner. Gourry was still sleeping on the sofa. Why was everyone asleep so late today?
"Hey, Gourry, rise and shine"
Gourry rolled in his sleep "No...not my blood..."
Lina scratched her head. Gourry would be grateful if I woke him up right now Lina slapped his shoulder "Hey, wake up!" Gourry almost jumped out of bed.
"Wh...What...Lina?"
"It's not the tooth fairy. Now, c'mon I wanna go and get something to eat" her voice raised a pitch.
""Food?" Gourry rubbed his eyes "Alright." he yawned.
"Good. Wash up and I'll show you this great bakery they have around here." Lina said as she started up the stairs. Gourry smiled and nodded though her back was already turned. Lina was still in her pajamas and she looked rather cute he thought. Well, time to get ready he thought as he found the washroom.
After a few minutes Lina was fully dressed and knocked on the washroom door
"You ready?"
"Gimme a minute."
"Well, hurry up then, Gourry! We have to get there soon."
"I'm out! I'm out!" he was still drying his face off as he came out.
"About time. Let's go!" Lina took hold of his arm and led him.
Lina wasn't kidding about getting there early. The store opened at dawn and that wasn't too long ago yet half the good stuff was already gone. The pastries they got were good though; sweet but light. When they got back to Lina's place, Lina went to offer her parents the surviving pastries from the trip. Since Gourry had nothing better to do, he went to explore the rest of the house. They had a very nice office room. It had a little basket for the werewolf they were housing. Gourry let out a sigh, he wouldn't have expected such modern people to have such an old 'tradition'. Something also told him that this 'tradition' was just recently started in this family.
"Greedy, money hungry people..." he muttered.
"They're just trying to discourage you from marrying Lina."
"Who's there?" Gourry whipped his head around "Oh, hi, Luna."
"Hi, future-brother-in-law." Luna waved back.
Gourry blushed "How do you~"
"Like my parents can keep a secret from me. No. Actually I casted a sleep spell on Lina last night and came back to listen in on you guys." Luna shook her head and laughed.
"Please don't tell Lina" Gourry asked.
"Why would I? It's more fun to watch Lina sweat it out." Luna hopped up on a desk.
"You seem bitter towards Lina."
"You have no idea...Let's just say that Lina distributed homemade porn of me to the local boys."
Gourry was shocked by this "Is she still selling?" My...didn't he seem eager...
"What do you mean by that?" Luna narrowed her eyes.
"Nothing." Gourry tried to hide his new blush.
"Anyhow, don't mind my parent's price. Consider it a test. If Lina and yourself are ever in a desperate situation and you needed money, you can earn it legally to support the both of you."
"You say that, but I think we both know it's because your parents just want money."
"..." Luna put her hand behind her head "I guess you'll fit in just fine with this family if you know that much"
"After all these years, you get to know all about how dishonest, sneaky, selfish, conniving and just plain bad a person can be."
"You must have met a lot of people in your time."
"No, I'm just talking about Lina."
Luna nodded her head in agreement "Very true. So, why marry her if she's so rotten?"
"I really do need her." Gourry rested his head on his hand.
Luna sighed "Hey, if she rejects you, I'll marry you!"
"Re...reject?!"
"Oh, sure. Happens all the time! But don't worry because if she turns you down like a wounded horse, I'll be right there to pick you right up!" Luna got up and towards the door.
"Wo...Wounded horse?"
"Naaaaay" Luna said as she left the room leaving an insecure Gourry.
After dropping off the surviving pastries to her thankful parents, well, the father was, the mother was more in a 'about time you did something for us' mood, Lina went to see where Gourry was. Of course she didn't have to look far because he was coming down the stairs, looking at his legs in an odd manner.
"C'mon! C'mon!" Lina grabbed his arm "I wanna see what's changed since I've been here!"
"Gourry smiled "Alright."
The rest of the day was pleasant, good food, lovely weather, plus good company. They did meet plenty of people who Lina knew and all of them brought up the bad rumors about her...Didn't anyone hear of the good deeds she'd done?
"It's Lina the Pink!" a passer-by called out.
"'Lina the Pink'?" Gourry questioned.
"Don't ask..." was Lina's answer.
Still, it was a lovely day with all the pleasantries of Zephilia.
"*&%$ you, pal!"
"Go to hell, you lousy *%$#!"
So, that's where Lina got her foul mouth from!
They grabbed lunch at a sandwich shop, they had a good ham on rye and with their bellies happy, they headed back to Lina's house.
Back at the shop
"Oh, I saw it, Inverse. Lina and that blonde fellow were with eachother all this afternoon. They look quite the couple."
"If this is Lina we're talking about then we shouldn't be worried. Lina has her own ideas of love and they all involve money and profit. This guy won't~doesn't have any money, so it's nothing to be concerned about. 'Sides, Gourry bleeds too much..."
Mr. Inverse listened to the conversation between his wife and the local brown-nosed gossip. The woman had money and always brought stuff, so they had no reason to be rude to her. Didn't stop him and especially his wife from speaking their mind though. Besides, the lady usually had something interesting to talk about.
"But don't you think those two would give you such lovely grandchildren?"
"I don't want to be a grandma!"
Expect now were one of those times he wished she wouldn't push the subject since it was never going to happen.
"We're back!" Lina yelled as she entered the store quite enthused. The conversation was quickly dropped and went to welcoming greetings.
"LINA!" The brown-nosed gossip made a fuss "I haven't seen you since you were this...err...since you left!"
"So, I haven't grown much! I'm just a later bloomer!" Lina retort.
"I think your blooming days have expired" Gourry commented before he was knocked to the floor.
"Who asked you?!" Lina stomped on his head to make a point.
"I...I see...ow...ow...quit it!"
Lina stopped stomping his head, but stepped on his torso as she left the room yelling 'bye' to her parents. The Inverses waved 'bye' to Lina and looked back down to see Gourry slowly and painfully get up and follow her. This was the cue for the brown-nosed gossip to continue her conversation.
"Oh! That was so adorable; those two together!"
"What the hell was cute about it? Gourry insulting Lina's figure or Gourry getting spit and blood my the floor?" Mrs. Inverse complained as she went to get the mop.
Mr. Inverse just sighed.
"HMMMMM?!" The brown-nosed gossip had to inquire "Thinking of your daughter and her love life?"
"Actually, I was thinking of how many cleaning products we'll have to go through with their stay with us." he sighed again "Lina's too expensive to keep around."
The brown-nosed gossip tried to recover "B...But what do you think of Lina's love life?"
"She has a love life?
"What about that man and her?"
"Like I said; what love life?"
The day passed on, night time setting in, cooling the busy air, giving the city a peaceful atmosphere. The inn's and restaurant's chatter seemed to have calmed. People catching up on the day's event's, old friends drinking together, heartfelt laughter being shares, all was serene. Or it was until the food arrived at Lina's and Gourry's table.
"Whoo-Hoo!"
"Food's on!" slurping, crunching, gnawing, snapping, glurping and various other ravenous sounds filled the once calm restaurant. Strangely enough, the owner didn't seem that surprised when he saw who it was.
"I remember you." the owner began, "You came in here all the time when you were little."
"Neah." Lina said with a mouthful.
"So, will you be staying here in Zephilia for awhile?"
"Umm...I'm not really sure~" Lina was cut off.
"Oh, yeah." Gourry cut her off. "We'll be here for a long time." he crossed his arms and nodded his head thoughtfully.
Lina shot a look a him. He couldn't possibly want to settle down here! Nervousness kicked in like a pissed-off donkey. Of course, unknown to Lina, they were staying here for a long time not to settle down but it would take a long time for Gourry to get the money those greedy parents of hers wanted. Not that Lina was any better in that money-hungry part.
"Oh, wonderful!" the owner clapped his hands together. "It'll be more lively with this cute face around" he gave Lina's chin a nudge
"Ahh...thanks." Lina replied nervously. The rest of the meal Lina was quiet and Gourry was a little concerned. Maybe she just wasn't used to getting compliments like that one old man gave her. Lina got up from her meal and headed for the ladies room.
"Touch my food and die" her departing words.
When she was out of sight Gourry took a piece of meat. He was sure Lina wouldn't notice. Man, this was a stringy piece of meat. Lina should of sent it back.
"Anyhow, Louie won't be able to make the meeting."
Gourry always had sharp hearing so he always picked up on whispered conversations even in a noisy tavern like this one. He never means to eavesdrop; it just happens.
"I know Louie can't show up but why not someplace else?"
Gourry finished off the meat and washed it down. He really shouldn't listen in so he decided to focus on another part of the room. Lucky for him he saw the wanted poster. "Relouis Artile" Nice bounty on this guy. That would definitely take care of the greedy parents problem. Relouis...
"So, where should we meet up with Louie?" the whispered conversation went on. Re-louie. Gourry smiled. As Amelia would put it, it's a god sent. As it turns out, Louie would meet with those potential business partners in a small town outside of Zeplil City. Only a two day journey. Judging by the looks of these guys, he could take them. Gourry sighed as his realized the only difficult part of this plan; how to keep Lina here for four days while he collected the bounty and without her knowing exactly why he needed the money. This was gonna be tough.
The walk back to Lina's home was peaceful with Lina's nerves were less agitated.
"It's sure is nice here in this city." Gourry commented.
Nerves acting up again.
"It...It's not THAT great, Gourry. After awhile you've seen all you can see here."
"Still, I do like it."
"B...but..."
"What is it, Lina?"
Lina put her hands behind her head "My big sister told me if I wanted more out of life, I should leave here and go out into the world."
"That's good advice."
"Yeah, it really is. I don't know why Luna didn't follow her own advice though."
"Hmm...Maybe she just wanted to get rid of you." Gourry blurted out.
Lina stopped dead in her tracks.
"You okay, Lina?"
"She...She wouldn't of...Oh, HELLS! I KNOW she would!" she screamed to let out this new found annoyance.
"Now, now, Lina." he gave an uneasy smile and waved his hands. "I mean, leaving here was for the best, right?" Lina looked up at Gourry with her pouting face. "It's true. If you haven't of left, you couldn't have done all the things you've done." Lina moaned. "Plus we wouldn't have met otherwise."
There's that blush again. "I guess you're right, Gourry." she smiled his way. "It really was for the best." Their eyes met and when they tried to pull away, they just couldn't. All that they wanted to do right now was look at eachother; nothing else seemed to matter. The feeling of the burning red being devoured by the shimmering blue~
"HELLO!" Luna euthanistically interrupted.
"GAH!" Lina threw her hands in the air.
"What's wrong, little sister?" Luna smiled "Something on your mind?" she turned her gaze to the wide-eyed Gourry.
Lina coughed and tried to regain her composure. However, when you've been rudely interrupted in a tender moment by your scary big sister, everything came out awkward "Everything's fine. Perfectically fine."
"Hi, Luna. Did you just get off of work?" Gourry wasn't too shy now, was he?
"Yes I did. Sooooo," Luna stood closer to him "You have a nice day?" she asked batting her eyelashes. Meanwhile Lina's mind was screaming 'Hey! I'm right here!'. Not that Lina would say that herself right now.
"Oh, yeah, it's real nice here in this city.
"Well..." Luna gave a husky laugh "I'm glad you're enjoying yourself."
Lina was grinding her teeth. How does one react when your scary big sister is flirting with your potential fiancé? Fiancé...How was she going to get used to that fact...or explain to Gourry what it meant? But at the moment, it's best to deal with your scary big sister drawing circles on the guy's chest.
"It's getting late already!" Lina puffed.
"But I've only just begun" Luna came back still looking at Gourry. Lina winced.
"Shouldn't we be getting back home now before it's gets too late?"
"You would hate it if it was already too late" Luna nonchantley said.
Lina gasped. What did she mean by that? Surely, Luna didn't have an eye on Gourry? Her sister and Gourry...no!
Gourry only heard two sisters talking about what time it was. He didn't hear how Luna was playing with her sister's feelings to make her feel insecure. Luna was still pissed about that business Lina ran when she was still home, so opportunities like this were not passed up. "Lina's right; it is getting late. Let's go home, girls!" he said brightly.
"Oh, okay" Lina smiled back.
"Sounds good." Luna hooked her arm with Gourry's and snuggled up to him "Would you mind escorting me home, please" using that sweet voice Lina always uses to get her way.
Lina screamed.
"Lina, what's wrong?!"
"Yes, little sister. What's wrong? That's the third time you've screamed tonight."
"Nothing" she said looking down.
"But, Lina, you were just~" Gourry was cut off.
"Oh, don't worry! If she says it's nothing, it's nothing. Let's go!" Luna pulled Gourry off. "Come now, Lina. You don't want to stand there all night now do you?"
"No, sister dear." she said in a bitter sweet tone. She was glad they were ahead of her or else they would see her face twitching and the vein in her forehead popping. Lina wanted to kill something. Whether it was Gourry or some small bird, she didn't care as long as she could kill something. Reaching home Lina went upstair to get her thoughts together by biting into a pillow. One tattered pillow later, Lina started to grumble. She wished Gourry would "goddamn well and beep hurry up and beep propose to me all beep ready so we can get the beep out of there and get the beep away from my annoying big sister. To hell with staying here any longer!". Lina sighed. She really needed to talk to Gourry tonight about this whole proposal stuff. In fact, why not do that now? Jumping out of bed she headed downstairs. To hell with this wait.
"A job, huh?"
"Yeah, enough money to get your parents to finally agree."
"I don't think you really need their blessings, Gourry. Lina's a big girl; she doesn't need mommy's and daddy's permission."
"I know, Luna, but...How do I put it?"
"You want to be all proper about this and treat Lina like she's a lady."
"Yes. I dunno, maybe it was the way I was raise but important things like marriage shouldn't be taken likely."
Luna nodded "You do know, if you would've asked Lina first and then our parents with Lina there, they wouldn't have talked about this money deal."
"Hey, how was I suppose to know they would want money for their blessings."
"Still, you should of asked Lina first and they wouldn't have charged."
"What are you talking about? They probably would have came to me in private and demand the money." Gourry crossed his arms.
"Wow..." Luna was amazed. "You are going to fit in so well with our family."
"Uh, thanks...I think."
"Oh don't give me that." she got up and walked over to him and hugged him. "You're going to be a fantastic brother-in-law."
"If only I could go and get that money without having to answer so many questions from Lina..."
"Don't you worry about Lina. I can handle my little sister quite well while you go off. By the way, Lina's coming down so let's stop this conversation."
"Okay."
Lina came down the stairs to see her big sister hugging Gourry. She puffed her cheeks. When did her day became so frustrating and why the hell was Luna doing this to her? She didn't need this.
"Hi, little sis. Feeling any better?"
"No." Lina looked very cute when she was angry like this. Other times, when she was angry she looked like a devil. However, she wasn't going to give Luna the satisfaction of seeing her that pissed off.
"Isn't it a shame?"
Lina took a few breathes. Luna was never one for teasing; they always had a purpose to it. Still...this was Lina's personal life and Lina knew what she had to do. She had already made her decision regarding Gourry. She scooted between Luna and right next to Gourry. "Oh, get off my case, sis" Lina hugged Gourry's arm and pulled up against him. They looked at each other and smiled. This time they wouldn't let Luna interrupt them.
I wrote this fanfiction up before I found out more information about Lina's father in a Gourry side story by Hajime Kanazaki: The Thing He Sees beyond the Point of His Sword (this story is kindly translated by QP/Diana). However, I wasn't about to throw away all that I had written, so I stopped production of the story and wrote it up to what I called the "false end". If you want a summary of what else I had planned for the rest of the fic, give me a hoot at Rockym82@aol.com
If you would like to know more about the novels and other Slayers facts, check out QP/Diana's (Our Slayers fan in Japan) wonderful and informative website: http://member.nifty.ne.jp/QPHOUSE/qp/qp_index_e.html