"A bu...bu...bu..." Lina tried to suppress the rising laughter, more to keep herself from choking on dinner than in respect with her dinner companion's feelings. "A pink bunny..."
Zelgadiss could feel several nerves popping as he picked up part of his dinner with almost enough force to break it in half between his chopsticks. The chopsticks themselves were already showing signs of excessive stress. Keeping a tight rein on his rearing temper, he attempted to make civil conversation.
"Don't...tell...anyone...about this."
"What? That you work in an ice cream parlor? Or that you have to dress up as in a - "
"I SAID DON'T SAY IT!!!"
A rather needless effort on Zel's part as Lina was once again laughing her head off, unable to make any other articulate sound. With a sigh of defeat, resignation, or just plain annoyance, he sat back down on the park bench.
After the revelation of Zelgadiss's part time job, and the end of his shift, a red-faced chimera had dragged a laughing-so-hard-she-was-crying Lina and everything that came with her down to a secluded bench in the park. Streetlights were slowly turning on, as the shadows grew deeper with the sun's retreat. Most people ignored couples trysting in the twilight, even if one part of said couple was pulling the other one behind him.
"Are you quite finished yet?" he asked icily, holding the splinters of his chopsticks in his fist when Lina was reduced to snickers. "Or does yet more amusement at my expense await?"
"Oh come on, I mean of all possible jobs in the world that you could take, you're...you're..." Lina shook her head, her gut complaining at the amount of laughing she already did.
"Unfortunately, I don't exactly have a plethora of jobs to choose from. At least, I'm independent and not reliant on my family to pay my bills."
"Hey!" She sat up at the underhanded jab. "I don't need money from anyone. I'm paying for all of my bills, food, board, and tuition, unlike you! Since your mother is the principal you don't have to pay tuition do you."
"I suppose you have a well paying part time job."
"Don't need one," Lina replied smugly, digging into Sylphiel's dinner. It was good. "The bandits of the countryside generously support my education and lifestyle after I enlighten them on the error of their ways."
"Humph," Zel snorted. "Don't you mean after you beat them up to hell and back?"
"Urusai!"
The two glared at each other, providing more than enough illumination from the crackling glares to replace sunlight. But that took too much effort so they broke it off, returning to sullenly eating their very delicious dinners.
So after completing the nature demanded necessity of feeding the rarely satiable god known as the stomach, Lina, Zel, and the crickets sat in a fragile balance of silence. For perhaps five seconds.
"..."
Lina let out a long breath, then smirked. "Well, I guess you can buy my silence about your little 'job' for a price."
Zel started. Had she heard what he said? About her not telling anyone this secret of his. Not that he actually thought he had spoken aloud. Even if he did, it surely had to be too low for any normal person to hear.
"Well excuse me for having really good hearing," the redhead retorted. "If you don't want your thoughts heard, keep them to yourself."
"Tch. So what's your price?" he asked reluctantly. Knowing her, this was really going to cost him. "And it can't be anything illegal, beyond my means, or nonexistent."
Lina pouted.
"How about this then? I'll tutor you so you can pass your finals. How's that?" Zel quickly put in when Lina didn't immediately jump in with some request that would likely require a lifetime of servitude or something. Plus, it sounded like a great sacrifice on his part, which it was in a way, and if she agreed, he could get this stupid community service thing out of the way.
Lina wondered what he was up to. Did he forget what he told Gourry? No, Zelgadiss didn't look or act like the type to forget something so easily. Perhaps Gourry really had been just picking straws out of air. But tutoring...it wasn't at all as satisfying as some of the other things she had been rapidly considering to buy her silence. However, it did save her the embarrassment of having to ask, and possibly beg, for his assistance. And if she played it right, it would like she was being exceedingly generous and she could give him hell during the sessions anyway.
The brilliant smile Lina flashed at him did nothing to reassure Zelgadiss of her intentions.
"Alright then. Tutoring it is. AND I have to pass top of the class."
"What?!" Zel choked. "Top ten."
"Top five."
"Top three."
"Exactly what do you expect in two weeks of cramming!"
"Number one in the class," Lina grinned flashing a V for Victory sign.
"Do you know who is currently the number one student in our class?"
"Yep! You right?"
"So how do you expect to beat the top student when you're being tutored by the top student?" Zel asked thinly.
"Of course you'll help cute little me get the top place ne?"
"You don't need tutoring," Zel groaned. "You need a miracle."
"Why did we have to meet so far away from the school?" Lina asked, walking next to Zel the next day afterschool, swinging her school bag widely enough to make people detour far around her.
"Would you rather we left school together?" Zel asked acidly. "It would give credence to all of those rumors floating around that we're dating."
"Oh, like anyone not seeing us walking together now might not think the same thing? So where are we going since you obviously don't want to do it at school."
"Isn't that the same reason why you didn't want Sylphiel helping you with Domestic Skills at school?"
"Who asked you!" Lina scowled, swinging her school bag, with its additional weight of texts like Modern Lit, into Zel's back. Hitting him herself would have hurt. Of course, the thick literature book almost put out the chimera's back.
"Anyway," Zel winced. Damn minx. "There are too many eyes at school that I want to avoid."
"Like those?" Lina gestured with slight nod of her head toward the floating whirling mobile video cameras. "They've been hovering around you since we met. Someone tailing you outside of school? That Xelloss creep?"
"Kind of. I'll probably need to do something about them before we actually get anything done - "
"Flare Arrow!!"
BOOMx2!!
"..."
Zelgadiss and a number of townsfolk stared at the rain of charred pieces of metal and glass of what used to be two very expensive pieces of machinery. Lina brushed off her hands satisfactorily.
"Now, where are we going?"
Zel looked at her. Then grabbed her and raced off in a large trail of dust. It wasn't until perhaps several moments later that he came to an almost shoe sole burning stop. Lina however didn't. She went flying into something hard but cushioned and knocked said thing over.
He quickly locked the door and prayed that no one had gotten a good look of either him or Lina before she destroyed his watchdogs. Not that he wasn't grateful but spell use in public without prior authorization was illegal.
"Is blowing something up the answer to every problem for you?"
"You'd be amazed how often it works." Lina sat up, rubbing her face back into shape. "And why the hell did you throw me like that?! You could have squashed my nose!"
"Ever heard of anything called subtlety?" Zelgadiss tossed his school bag onto a chair and grabbed one side of the cough to upright it. "It would probably be an improvement."
"It gets the job doesn't it? And what do you mean 'improvement'?! I'll have you know I'm perfectly cute as I am right now!"
"It also tells the world what you just did. This tutoring was supposed to be my little community service but a lot of good that does me when my so-called tutoree goes and breaks the law in broad daylight!"
"Hey, you wanted to get rid of them right? So stop complaining," Lina huffed, tossing her hair. "Where is this anyway?"
"My apartment."
The apartment was very plain and bare, devoid of all but essential furniture. Well, Lina wasn't sure why there was a couch there since Zel didn't look like the type to socialize a lot. Impersonal and functional appeared to be the theme of the design. It really did seem to fit him.
"How...homey."
"You're not here to comment on the interior decorating." Zel picked up his bag and placed it on the only table in the room. "So are we going to get started now or do you plan on sitting on the floor for the rest of the afternoon?"
"Chi, what a grouch."
"Jedah! Jedah where are you? If you're stealing candy from the kitchen again..." Terisa called, walking around the house looking for her little brother.
"Nee-chan! Nii-chan has someone over at his place and it isn't Xelloss-jichan! In fact, I think it's a girl!!"
The entire house shook with the rumbling of many people stampeding through the building to crowd around the window little Jedah was spying through. This window was labeled as the one with the best view of Zel's apartment from the Graywords home.
"A girl!!" <= Terisa
"My darling boy has a girlfriend and he hasn't introduced her to me yet??" <= Zelas
"You know, I think I can get a shot off from here." <= Kitzero
"I think Terisa and Jedah should go to their rooms. What activities may follow could be highly inappropriate for their viewing." <= Xelloss ^_^
"Think I can zoom in from here?" <= Dynast with hand held video camera.
"Move so I can see!" <= Fibrizo
"Oh yes, someone should also lock Fibrizo up in a room." <= Xelloss
"My great grandson is growing up," Rezo sniffed, looking at a wall because he was blind and had no idea where the window really was.
"Ummm...I'm kinda of squished here," Jedah squirmed.
"Hey, the curtains just closed!"
"Awwwwwwwwwwww." <= Collective
"Why'd you close the curtains? It's still light out," Lina complained, trying to keep straight who wrote what ridiculous play that has no merit or use in anything she was going to do later in life.
"Too many eyes."
"?"
"Think they're...?"
"Xelloss-jichan, Nii-chan is on the phone for you."
"Hello, Zel-kun."
"Don't put me on your level, you gutter freak!!"
"Zel, just who are you calling?"
"Ara, Lina-chan! Can you hear me? Moshi moshi? He hung up on me."
"Yatta! The finals are OVER!!" Lina cheered, jumping up in the air with about half of her class. The most of the other half had fainted, overcome by relief. "Now it's time for spring break!"
"Which is only about a week before school starts up again," Zel said briefly, pricking Lina's balloon of elation. "And of course, the test scores will be out tomorrow so your celebration is a bit premature."
"..." Lina picked up her Modern Lit book and whacked Zel over the head with it. "Don't spoil my mood! You've got to live for today, not tomorrow which never comes! Just like you can't mope around forever about the past which you can't change."
"I thought you'd appreciate a reminder to make plans to change your identity and go abroad to avoid your older sister you mentioned so often should your grades not come out satisfactorily."
Lina crumpled like a dry leaf at the mention of her Nee-chan.
TEST SCORES
Lina Inverse
89 Modern Lit.
90 Politics
S Dom. Skills
S P.E.
100 Ancient His.
* Magic Occult
Magic Entrance Exam: Passed
* Weapon Unarmed
Combat Entrance Exam: Passed
Zelgadiss Graywords
100 Modern Lit.
100 Politics
S Woodshop
S P.E.
100 Ancient His.
* Magic Occult
Magic Entrance Exam: Passed
* Weapon
Single-Edged Blade Entrance Exam: Passed
"Nee-chan is going to KILL me!!!!"
snicker
"And if I'm dying, I'm taking you with me Zel!"
"Tch."