FicWad

A couple of notes before heading into this story:

1) Disclaimer: Slayers isn't mine, but is the property of Hajime Kanzaka, Rui Araizumi and the companies that represent them. I'm just borrowing them long enough to relieve a little sexual tension among the cast members.

2) The background for this story is a meld of the anime and the novels. It takes place four years after Lina and Gourry meet and one year after the end of Slayers Try. In that year between then and the beginning of this story, the events of novels 9-15 take place.

3) This story is dedicated to Angelica Pierce, whose motivation encouraged me to see this story through to the end. Well, the end as it is now that is...

-----

Lina pushed the door to the inn room shut behind her, grateful for the chance to enjoy some privacy. Sometimes being around Amelia got on her nerves. It wasn't her friend's natural tendency toward being overly cheerful that grated at her - though that was part of it. It was just that sometimes Lina preferred to be alone and it was hard to find privacy whenever she shared a room with someone, which was most of the time.

The past few days had been rough and she was literally running on fumes. She'd been on her period, which had never been an easy time for her. Even though she had Gourry, Zelgadiss and Amelia around to cover for her if they were attacked, Lina still remained on her guard the entire time she was out of commission, leading to several sleepless nights.

So when they stopped at a resort that Amelia's family frequented in the eastern part of Saillune, Lina was thrilled to find out that each of them could have separate rooms. Because they were Amelia's friends, and the staff had recognized the princess on sight, their lodging was free despite the late hour. What a lucky break!

Lina clasped her hands on her stomach. She would just lie here for a few minutes before going down to get something to eat and chat with her friends. Then she would go soak in the hot springs with Amelia before coming back to her wonderful, soft bed to get hours upon hours of sleep. With any luck, she would be able to talk Zelgadiss into staying here a few days. She and Gourry had run into the chimera shortly before reaching Saillune City. Upon hearing his destination was Zefielia, Lina had roped Zelgadiss into joining the group and had stopped to grab Amelia as well. With no dangerous Mazoku chasing them, they could relax for once. They had all the time in the world to enjoy the trip.

She woke a few hours later, slightly disoriented. She cast a small Lighting spell, making it just bright enough for her to see the clock next to her bed. Lina scrubbed her hands over her eyes and groaned. She'd intended to doze for only 15 minutes or so, but it was well after midnight now. She'd be up the rest of the night. Maybe she would go prod Gourry awake and talk him into a game of cards or raiding the kitchen for a snack.

Before she could roll out of bed, her ears picked up on some noise coming from outside. Lina sat up and scowled at the window as the noise got louder and unmistakably human. Someone was having a little fun in the hot springs with his sweetheart, she decided. Didn't they know that everyone else in the inn was trying to sleep? Sleep, after all, was a precious commodity. Ignoring the fact that she had awaken on her own to begin with, Lina headed to the window to yell at the inconsiderate lovers.

What she saw had her gripping the sill in shock.

She'd been spot on in guessing that two people were fooling around in the hot springs. She blinked as she saw the man take his lover's breast into his mouth and suckle it while she whimpered. His other hand moved below the water, doing something that caused her to scream his name and clamp her legs around the man's waist.

Unable to watch anymore, Lina stumbled backwards until she ran into the bed. She sat down, feeling just as tired as she had been hours earlier.

The man in this case? Zelgadiss.

The woman? Amelia.

"Oh, great heavens," Lina muttered aloud as the realization sank in. Her two best friends, the same two that had been at her side for a good many of her biggest battles, were now boinking each other.

What a strange world.

Lina closed her eyes, did her best to wipe the images from her mind. But they wouldn't leave. It didn't help matters that the moaning was getting louder and louder. Did those two not have any respect for privacy? Then again, it was the middle of the night. Most sane people would be asleep. She should be asleep. She laid down and pulled the covers over her head.

The mind is a traitorous thing and Lina's was doing a very good job in deceiving her at the moment. Despite all of her will, she couldn't erase what was going on from her memory. She could almost see in her mind's eye what they were doing - as much as her limited knowledge regarding sex could give her.

The moans died down and Lina exhaled in relief. Thank goodness. She started to drift off toward sleep once again, her mind conjuring up delicious images of herself in the hot springs. She was relaxing, with a tray loaded with snacks by her side. The water was warm and soothing and so were Gourry's lips as they trailed down the side of her neck and...

Wait a second. Gourry?

Lina shot up once more. What the hell was she doing fantasizing about Gourry, of all people? He was her best friend. Her protector. Her partner. Gourry and anything having to do with sex should be the furthest thing from her mind, despite his comment just a few weeks earlier about wanting to go meet her parents. She had interpreted it as a marriage proposal, since that's how things were done. The prospective groom talked to the parents, made arrangements, then did the proposing. But Gourry had insisted that he wanted to go because the grapes were in season.

She glared at the window, blaming all of her problems on the activity going on outside of it. She tossed the covers aside, got up and stomped over to the window to throw it open and give Amelia and Zelgadiss a good piece of her mind and a Mega Brando to go along with it.

Instead, she saw more of Zelgadiss and Amelia than she ever wanted to see.

Two seconds later, Lina was back on the bed, scrubbing at her eyes desperately. Any curiosity to see what a naked, aroused chimera looked like had been firmly squelched. And what Amelia had been doing to him...she had no idea that a woman could do...well.../that/...to a man. Especially down there. What scared her even worse was that it was Amelia doing it! The thought made her feel slightly ill and she got up to pour herself a glass of water.

A drink and a bathroom visit later, Lina tried once again to sleep. She started to feel light-headed and little by little, the noise outside faded away.

They were kissing, letting loose all of the emotions that had been pent up since the first day they met and he had taken it upon himself to save her from a bandit group - despite the fact that she didn't need saving at all.

She loved every aspect of him - the hair that glinted gold in the sunlight, the eyes that were the color of the sky. He was so much taller than her and covered with muscle, used to protect and fight beside her. Her hands skimmed down his chest before coming to rest on his towel. With a flick of her wrist, it pooled to his feet. A mischievous gleam in her eyes, she started to kiss her way down his body until she reached the base of his shaft. Then...

Her eyes snapped open and Lina shot up once more. Hand clasped over her mouth, she trembled as she realized what she had been fantasizing about. Oh Ceiphied, she had wanted to do the same thing to Gourry that Amelia had been doing to Zelgadiss.

What terrified her even worse was that even though she was awake, she still wanted it.

Lina hastily got up, throwing on the bits and pieces of clothing that she had shed before lying down earlier. The moment her cloak settled around her shoulders, she felt more confident and in control of herself. She pulled on her gloves and started to reach for her tailsmen, then remembered that she didn't have them any longer.

She would go find herself a nice bandit camp to plunder. By the time she was back, Zel and Amelia would hopefully be in...well, a bed, and the rest of the night would pass peacefully.

-----

There were no bandits.

Absolutely zero.

Trembling with pent-up energy, Lina growled at everything that came into her sight - random trees, a squirrel, an owl that dared hoot at her. Why couldn't there be a bandit camp? How about a roving thief? Maybe even some hapless bounty hunter. Anyone she could justify Dragon Slaving into submission! She considered simply torching the forest, but she didn't really want to put up with one of Amelia's justice speeches regarding destroying stuff needlessly in the morning.

Hell, now she wished she'd woke Gourry up just to knock him around a bit. She wondered if she could justify accidentally torching the hot springs?

The hot springs came into view and she froze. She didn't want to go back in there - not knowing what her two best friends were doing outside her window and the resident jellyfish snoozing away next door while she tossed around in her own bed. It was just too weird. It was going to be even worse facing them over breakfast the next morning. Out of all of them, Gourry would be the only one blissfully unaware of what happened.

Lina collapsed on a bench in the outer gardens, leaned her head against a tree. She was so tired. It was like the previous three hours of sleep she'd gotten before she heard Zel and Amelia had never existed. But every time she closed her eyes, the vision of her and Gourry fooling around in the hot springs appeared. She stared at her hands, wondered about casting Sleeping on herself. Slowly, she curled them into fists. No, she couldn't do that. She was always told never to cast Sleeping on herself, because she could make it too powerful and never wake from it. Lina definitely didn't have plans to become the next Sleeping Beauty in her future.

She scrubbed her hands over her face and tried to think of natural ways to fall asleep. She could count sheep. That was the ticket! She closed her eyes and started to count.

One sheep...two sheep...three sheep...four jellyfish...five jellyfish...six jellyfish...

Wait a minute. Where did the jellyfish come from?

With a scream of frustration, Lina tugged at her bangs. "No, no, no!" she cried, her voice rising at each word. "I refuse...I absolutely refuse to consider being intimate with that idiot jellyfish!"

"Lina?"

"Lina-san?"

Her hands dropped limply into her lap as she noticed Zelgadiss and Amelia, bundled into robes, staring at her. Their arms were linked and they appeared relaxed and satisfied - two things Lina definitely wasn't feeling at the moment. Magic welled in her hands. At least she had an excuse to use it now!

"Burst Rondo!"

-----

Breakfast was a silent affair. Zelgadiss and Amelia were both angry at Lina for the Burst Rondo she shot at them, though it had missed due to her exhaustion. Lina kept falling asleep during the meal, her face landing in a bowl of oatmeal at one point. Gourry, who had slept blissfully through the entire thing, plowed his way through three extra-large platters of food like nothing was amiss in his world.

Gourry paused in the middle of wolfing down scrambled eggs and wondered if he should even venture asking what they were going to do today. Four years of traveling with Lina Inverse had taught him something - keep his mouth shut when it matters. Instead, he simply relieved Lina of her food and kept eating.

Lina considered randomly tossing a spell at Gourry next. He looked so cheerful and it made her feel even worse. How dare he be cheerful when she was miserable! Didn't he even have a clue of the misery that she was feeling? She stood up abruptly, knocking her chair back in the process. She jabbed her finger at him, lacking the energy to conjure up a spell. "You are such an idiot," she informed him, then stomped upstairs.

He watched her go, shrugged and returned to eating. "I figured she'd be madder for my stealing her food."

"At least she didn't Burst Rondo you," Zelgadiss muttered and poured himself a second cup of coffee.

Amelia pushed the remains of her breakfast around her plate as she tried to analyze the situation. Lina had acted like her normal self when she went to her room the night before. Then she and Zelgadiss had come across her shortly before dawn, yelling about how she refused to be intimate with the jellyfish - Gourry naturally. Then, out of embarrassment, Lina had tried to Burst Rondo both her and Zelgadiss. That was a normal reaction for her.

When was the last time Lina had slept? Amelia mulled it over. She knew Lina had been on her period until the day before. Whenever she lost her powers, she slept poorly, prepared to face anyone willing to attack her during her down time. It was the main reason Amelia had suggested the resort. Maybe Lina was finally going to get some sleep, and once she did, she would be fine.

Amelia excused herself from the table and headed up her room. She straightened up the few items she'd brought with her and pushed aside the lace curtains covering the window. There was such a nice view of the hot springs from here. She could sit and...

Her eyes widened as the last piece of the puzzle snapped into place. The hot springs!

Mortified, Amelia sank onto her bed. Her room and Lina's both overlooked the hot springs - the very hot springs where she and Zelgadiss had made love hours earlier. She remembered catching a glimpse of curtains fluttering in the breeze during their activities, but thought they had been from her own window. Instead, it had been from her best friend's.

It explained one question - why Lina had been out in the garden so early in the morning. She'd heard the interaction and instead of yelling at them, she'd simply left. The small act touched Amelia and made her feel better about flaunting her newfound relationship under Lina's nose.

"I absolutely refuse to consider being intimate with that idiot jellyfish!"

Amelia considered Lina's words. She got up, paced as she thought of the interaction between Lina and Gourry. Sometimes, they seemed little more than the best friends that they were. Other times, the sexual tension was so thick that Amelia wanted to scream at them to hurry up and do something about it. She thought about Zelgadiss and the road to their current, very new relationship. She stopped, a smile tugging at her lips. Lina-san is so in denial.

Pulling a trick that she knew Lina used herself, Amelia placed her hand on the wall to cast the Sleeping spell. After a few minutes, she peeked into Lina's room. Satisfied that she was finally getting the sleep she'd sought for so long, Amelia pulled Lina's door shut and headed back downstairs. She had some planning to do.

-----

Amelia stepped out of the inn's kitchens, a tray nearly overflowing with food in her hands. She caught sight of the clock over the mantel in the main room and grinned. If her estimations were correct, Lina would be starting to wake up pretty soon.

She scanned the room, caught sight of the man she needed. "Gourry-san!"

He had his back to her, talking to Zelgadiss. He glanced over his shoulder at the sound of his name, his eyes nearly dancing when he noticed the food. "Wow, that's a lot of food!"

"It is!" Amelia carefully carried the tray over and thrust it at him. "It's enough for you and Lina-san. She's been asleep for eight hours now. I figured she's either just getting up or she will be soon. In any case, she probably would love having lunch served to her in bed. There's some extra on there for you as well."

"Thanks, Amelia!" Gourry accepted the tray and got to his feet. Amelia nearly gawked at the ease he carried the weight. It had nearly killed her own arms just to cross the room with it.

Zelgadiss waited until Gourry had disappeared up the stairs before turning a cryptic eye to Amelia. "What was that all about?"

"Would you like some lemonade, Zelgadiss-san?" Amelia started to edge toward the kitchen. "I believe the cook said that she just made a new batch and they have the most lovely lemonade here and..."

"Amelia."

She froze. "Yes, Zelgadiss-san?"

"Are you trying to start something between Lina and Gourry?" He drummed his fingers on his thighs.

Amelia bit her lip as she carefully orchestrated her answer. "I don't understand what you mean.

"You understand perfectly what I mean. Amelia, if you meddle in their business, you're going to wind up making a complete mess of things. He's a big boy and she's a big girl. They'll figure it out eventually."

"Yeah, but...in this case, I think we're the ones causing this to happen." Amelia took Gourry's empty seat and began to tell Zelgadiss what she guessed Lina had seen the night before.

-----

Gourry couldn't help but sneak a few pieces of food off the tray as he carried it up the stairs. If Lina had anything to say about it, he could simply tell her what Amelia said about some of the food being for him. He had to get some of his share now, or else he wouldn't get any at all.

Shifting the tray to one arm, he knocked on her door. "Lina?"

He heard some shifting, a slight creaking of bed come from within. "Gourry..."

She sounded a bit strange to him, but he quickly brushed it aside. She was probably just waking up. Everyone was acting strange to him today, but there was just some days when that seemed natural for this group. Gourry tested the knob, saw that it was unlocked, and figured that she wanted him to come in, especially since she said his name once again as he did so. He pushed the door open and stepped inside.

"Hey, Amelia sent up this tray of food for you," he said as he shifted the tray back to both hands, nudged the door shut with his foot and spotted a small table across the room. "She said some of it was for me, so don't go hogging..."

"Gourry..."

He glanced over at the bed and froze in mid-step. She wasn't awake, he realized. She was definitely sleeping. She tossed on the mattress, the sheets getting tangled around her legs. Her arms reached out, as if trying to grab onto something. Was she having a nightmare? Gourry knew that Lina got violent in her sleep. Amelia had woken up several times with a black eye thanks to her, and he had shared a room with Lina on occasion as well. Would she want him to wake her up?

She moaned his name again and a plea to keep doing more of something that she didn't name. He sucked in a quick breath when he realized that she wasn't having a nightmare, but the exact opposite. She shifted on the mattress, her hands cupping her breasts as she called for him again. His gaze drifted from her flushed face to the nipples that jutted against the thin cloth of her tunic and the restless movements of her lower body.

His own response was immediate and painful. Burning need swept through his body and his grip on the tray tightened to the point where the dishes on it rattled. The blood began to hum beneath his skin and visions of walking over and soothing her were so strong that he had taken two steps in her direction without realizing it at first. Automatically, he backed away from the bed, knowing that if he hadn't had the tray in his hands...

Suddenly, Lina's eyes opened, glazed and heavy. After a moment, they cleared as she realized she wasn't dreaming any longer. She sprang into a sitting position, pressed a hand to her heaving chest. "Not again," she moaned. "Why is this happening now?" She rubbed her face, glanced up and spotted Gourry standing a few feet away with a loaded food tray in his hands.

Her hands fell to the bed as she gawked at him. "G...g...Gourry?"

He swallowed and wasn't quite sure how to react. But knowing that a fireball was most likely in his future, Gourry put the tray on the small table in the corner, his body acting on its own while his mind reeled from what he had just seen. "Um...here's some lunch," he stammered and beat a hasty retreat.

The sound of the door closing jerked Lina out of her shock and she sprang out of bed. She grabbed the knob, ready to yank it open and yell at him. Instead, she turned, leaned against it and pressed her hands to her face.

Gourry leaned against the other side of the door, calling himself several different kinds of fool. What sort of man would walk away from a woman who was dreaming about him, a dream that obviously left her aroused? He squeezed his eyes shut, tried to get rid of the image of her nipples of those small, pert breasts that he secretly adored thrusting against the thin cloth of her tunic as she called for him in her dream world.

He pushed himself off the door, headed for the stairs. He couldn't do that to her. He wanted too much. He wanted to wake up with her beside him, to laugh, to kiss and do all of the things a couple did...hell, that Amelia and Zelgadiss were doing now. He'd wanted it for so damn long, to be able to love her with everything that he had. He couldn't think of a time when she didn't fill his dreams, or his fantasies, except for the first few weeks of their friendship.

But if she truly knew what was in his heart for her, she could very well refuse it and would ditch him.

It would destroy him.

Amelia and Zelgadiss looked up from their chess game as Gourry stumbled down the stairs. They half-rose when they noticed him visibly shaking.

"Something's wrong," Zelgadiss muttered, but Amelia was already halfway up the stairs.

He intercepted Gourry right before he ran into the table. "What's wrong? Is Lina ill? Amelia's gone up to check on her."

The firm voice shook Gourry from his daze and he blinked a few times to clear his vision. He glanced around, surprised to find himself downstairs, then noticed Zelgadiss in front of him. Using every bit of control he possessed, he mustered a half-hearted smile for him. "She's just getting up. I walked in on her at a bad time. I think I need to go for a walk. Or get drunk. Or both."

Zelgadiss looked after him as he headed outside, then turned to watch a worried Amelia come back down the stairs. "Is Lina okay?"

"Lina-san said she wanted to be alone." Amelia sighed. "I'm starting to wonder if my plan backfired."

-----

Lina curled up on one of the low stone benches that was set into the hot springs. She had waited until after Amelia had gone in her bedroom for the night before she headed out to use them. She didn't want company right now. She needed to sit and sulk on her own.

She couldn't even remember the dream that she had been having when she woke up and saw Gourry standing in the room. Whatever it had been, it'd been enough for him to guess that she had been dreaming about him - and it wasn't a dream where they were conquering treasure either. No, they were going after each other in her fantasies.

He must think I'm a sick person, she thought miserably. He had every right to believe it as well. He was the most important person in the world to her. That much she couldn't deny. She had risked everything for him against Hellmaster Phibrizzo and won. And, yes, she loved him. It was a bitter pill to swallow, but it was the truth. Lina drew her knees to her chin and wrapped her arms around her legs.

But no matter how much she loved him, she wasn't so sure he felt the same way about her. She knew that he loved her - but there was all different types of love. They teased each other all the time, but there was loving each other as friends and loving each other as lovers. After all, he was seven years older than she was. He could easily just see her as the little sister he never had. If she stepped wrong, tried to force something to happen that wasn't there, she could lose him. Her grip on her legs tightened. She would do anything to prevent that, including denying the hell out of any physical attraction she had for him.

Lina heard someone moving around in the changing area and sighed. It was probably Amelia. She stood and climbed out of the water when she heard footsteps on the path connecting it to the hot springs. "Hey, Amelia, I was just...," her voice died away as Gourry stepped into view, wearing nothing but a towel. His eyes widened and he froze, proving that seeing her was just as much of a surprise to him as it was to her.

Her mind began to process what was going on in front of her.

Situation: The object of your desire is standing approximately six feet away from you wearing nothing but a towel. You are also wearing nothing but a towel - a wet one at that. Do you A) scream and call him a pervert before fireballing his ass into the next town, B) throw yourself at him or C) stand in shock as you try to figure out option D.

Lina decided on option C, but thought that option A was pretty damn appealing as well.

It was all Zelgadiss and Amelia's fault, that much was for sure. If they hadn't decided to fool around themselves, especially in the hot springs where they could be seen and heard by unsuspecting sorceresses - namely herself - which caused a chain reaction leading to this very situation! So what now?

She turned away from him, horror inching through her body. She knew her response to this would either make or break the situation. If she allowed him to leave, she was firmly drawing the boundaries of what their relationship was. They would never be more than friends. But could that friendship survive this? Hell, could anything survive this? Whether or not they took that chance, things would never be the same between them again.

She squeezed her eyes shut, searched desperately for any sort of guidance. Instead, she heard the soft slap of bare feet against brick as he started to walk away.

Something inside her snapped.

Lina pivoted, raced toward him. She leaped at him, locking her arms around his waist. She couldn't stop the tears from leaking out, was horrified and ashamed at them. Damn it, she wasn't about to become some weak and weepy damsel in distress!

His muscles rippled beneath her grip as she tried to channel everything she wanted to say into her fierce hug. Slowly, Gourry reached down and covered her hands with his own.

From the second floor, Amelia gripped the windowsill so tightly that her knuckles turned white. Behind her, Zelgadiss sighed and continued to change for bed. "Leave them alone, Amelia. It's private."

"If they don't get together, it's all my fault."

"No, it's not." He moved over to her, rested his hands on her shoulders. "Those two have always been like this, not to mention..." His voice died away as he watched his two best friends turn to each other and kiss.

He coughed and averted his gaze when he noticed how little either of them wore. "Amelia?"

Tears ran down her cheeks. "Thank you," she whispered, then pushed away from the window. Amelia gave Zelgadiss a blazingly bright smile. "Now all's right with the world."

He took her by the elbow and steered her toward the bed. "I think you should stay in my room tonight."

-----

Gourry turned, breaking the hold that she had on him. He'd been convinced when she turned away from him that she was rejecting him. He'd started to walk away, knowing that it was the end of the matter. But when she had suddenly thrown her arms around him, he started to let himself believe. If this was some type of joke, he didn't think he'd be able to handle it. But when she raised her eyes to his and saw his own pain and misery reflected back at him, hope started to rise. Maybe she does want me after all...

There was only one way to find out.

He bent down to her, amazed at how short she was. Even standing on her toes, the top of her head barely brushed his shoulder. Eyes drifting shut, he brushed his mouth against hers. When she didn't pull away, he pressed his lips fully to hers. Wrapping her arms around his shoulders, she started to kiss him back.

Her fingers threaded through his hair as she changed the angle to explore him just a little bit more. As she did so, her lips parted slightly, allowing him to take the kiss deeper. Her eyes snapped open wide for a moment with shock as he showed her a difference facet of being kissed. Tentatively, she began to probe back, satisfied with the resulting whimper coming from him.

His hands skimmed over the rough, wet towel that still clung to her. He reached her bottom and, cupping his hands beneath her, pulled her closer. She broke away with a gasp as she came in contact with him and felt how his body had changed. He chuckled and took the chance to press a string of kisses down the side of her neck, his tongue flicking out with each nibble of his lips. She clung to his shoulders and whimpered as her knees threatened to give out.

When he reached her shoulder, he simply held her close, enjoyed the feeling of being able to touch her this way and not be thrown across the room or blasted out of it via spell. He combed his fingers through her drying hair before burying his nose in it.

"Four years," he confessed, his lips grazing her scalp. "I've waited four years to be able to do this. I won't wait any longer."

"Huh?" She pulled back to hear him better, wasn't quite sure if she had heard him right.

He laughed and dropped a kiss on her nose. "Nothing. Why don't we go upstairs?"

Once again, he was leaving the choice in her hands. If she refused, he would respect her wishes. But she didn't want to refuse. She didn't think she could refuse him. With a self-satisfied grin, Lina wrapped her arm through Gourry's. "Your room or mine?"

"Mine would probably be best. Zel would be more likely to ignore things than Amelia."

They started for the inn. "You obviously aren't keyed into the fact that those two are jumping all over each other every chance they get."

They stopped by the changing area to retrieve their clothes. He ducked behind the privacy shield so they could each change. "I did know," Gourry replied. "They've been doing it for awhile."

"Really?" Lina tied the belt of the dry robe and picked up the basket holding the rest of her things. "How long?"

"Umm...two weeks? It started about two days after Amelia rejoined us when we passed through Saillune City. When did you notice?"

"Last night. Two weeks?" Lina gawked at Gourry as he emerged dressed in a matching robe, carrying his own basket. "I never...I would had thought."

He tossed back his head and laughed. "Lina, if it had been a fireball, it would had smacked you in the face. It's obvious if you're looking for it."

Had she been looking for it? Lina frowned as she followed him inside and up the stairs. It would figure that Gourry would notice something like that first. It always infuriated her when he pulled those moves - like when he realized before anyone else that Xelloss was a Mazoku. He was very adept in noticing changes in the physical world.

"How did you know?" she asked, following him into his room.

"Hmm? They're not very quiet about it. I'm surprised you slept through it."

"I am too," she admitted, though she was a sound sleeper at times. Still, two weeks? Lina dropped the basket on the floor and sat on the bed. "I would had thought..."

"They're being quiet about it, I suppose. Maybe they didn't want to be teased about it."

"I wouldn't have teased them!" Lina shot at him. When Gourry merely lifted an eyebrow, she huffed. "Okay, not much. Just a little. After all, it took them long enough!"

"Isn't that the pot calling the kettle blue?"

"You mean black." Lina rolled her eyes. "We're different."

"How so? It's taking us long enough, isn't it?"

She snorted. She hated when he was right. She had no right to tease Zelgadiss and Amelia when they obviously had come to their senses before she had, though they had been separated a year. In fact, it had taken a very graphic display of them coming to their senses under her nose to realize what she had known internally all along. She sighed and fell backwards, sprawling her arms out to either side.

Lina would had ponder over the matter, but was distracted when she heard the light rustle of the sash being pulled on her robe. She turned her head and noticed Gourry now leaning on his side, looking down at her. Half-worried, half-amused, he kept tugging on the sash until the knot gave way and the fabric parted slightly. It didn't reveal much, but it was still a big step for either of them.

She held her breath as his hand snaked under one side of the robe and splayed on her rib cage. Softly, he trailed his hand up toward her breast and covered it. He cupped it lightly before giving it a gentle squeeze, pulling up so that when just his forefinger and thumb remained, he pinched her nipple. He grinned when her body jerked and she whimpered.

Slowly, he withdrew his hand and pushed her robe open, exposing her breasts to the air. Their eyes locked and he knew she was expecting him to pass judgment on them. Ever since the day they met, he'd teased her over and over again about them. He cupped her breast again. "They are small," he observed.

Anger started to boil inside of her. "Yeah, like you remind me all the time." She stiffened, began to pull away from him. He stopped it with an expert twist of the fingers. She gave a strangled gasp as he lowered his lips to her breast and started to flick his tongue against her nipple. Her hands flailed for a moment before latching onto his head. Her head tilted back as she cried out.

With a chuckle, he pushed the other half of the robe aside with his free hand and cupped the other breast. With a final nip on the side he had been ministrating, he then swapped, using his other hand to caress her ribcage and the outside of her thighs.

Every instinct he had screamed for him to go ahead, settle himself between her legs and finally release everything that had been building up inside him. He pulled away slightly, remembered the first time that he had wanted her in this way. It had been shortly after Lina had beatened the combined Rezo/Shabra...whatever the hell he was.

Lina had sprawled on the ground, just in the manner she had been before he had turned his attention to her breasts. Her hair completely white, she panted as the realization sunk that she had taken the odds and beatened them.

Gourry remembered staring down at her, with a mixture of awe, respect and the first pangs of desire he'd felt for the girl that had seemed like a younger sibling to that point. He'd been mortified at first, but as the months slipped away, it had grown into genuine affection and need. Lina was his entire world and he had sworn long ago to remain by her side for the rest of his life. But it seemed like she would never want him in this way and he would spend the rest of his life being the big brother he didn't want to be.

Now she was lying here, on his bed, waiting for him to make love to her. He was tempted to cling to her, weep and thank Ceiphied and yes, even Shabranigdu, for allowing him to finally have the one thing he wanted most in his life.

Overcome with emotion, he nuzzled her cheek and fought to control himself. He was going to make this the best experience she'd ever had, or as good as he could make it with it being her first time.

He pulled in a deep breath and trailed more kisses down the side of her neck before covering her breast with his mouth once more. His hand trailed down her side, toward the part of her that was still somewhat covered by the robe. He pushed it aside and tangled his fingers in the soft hair that lay between her thighs. She opened her mouth, as if to ask what he was doing, when his finger slid down and between her legs.

She was already wet when he touched her and she gripped his shoulders hard when he tickled the insides of her folds with his fingers. Wanting to see her reaction, he lifted his head and locked eyes with her as his thumb brushed over the nub of flesh he knew would cause her to cry out.

She obliged him, her legs splaying open in response. He rubbed his thumb in a slow circle over the flesh as she whimpered and gave an incoherent moan that sounded somewhat like his name. Satisfied that she had been given a taste of what was to come, he settled himself between her legs and bent down to kiss her breasts once more, then started making his way down her abdomen. Her hands tangled in his hair and she started to move her hips in response to the feelings building up inside her.

"Zelgadiss-san!"

Gourry lifted his head, gave her a confused look. "What did you call me, Lina?"

It took her a moment for her to register the fact that he was talking to her. She lifted her head. "Huh? I didn't call you..."

"Zelgadiss-san! Oh, Zelgadiss-san!"

Lina and Gourry both scrambled into sitting positions, then pressed their ears to the wall that divided Gourry's room from Zelgadiss'. They stared at each other, horrified, as the realization sank in that it was Amelia screaming out their friend's name, and it was indeed coming from the room next door.

They sat back and Lina burrowed under the covers. "What was the odds of picking this room?"

"Fifty-fifty." Gourry lifted the blanket. "Got any room for me under there?"

The predatory look he gave her made the tingling between her thighs start again and she wanted him to keep doing whatever he had been doing before. She reached for his hand, still a bit too embarrassed to directly ask for him to touch her. She brought it to her breast, moaned when he squeezed it in response. He joined her beneath the covers and kept up his ministrations as they kissed once more.

Then the squeaking began.

They warily peered out from under the covers as the headboard from the room next door slammed into the wall, punctuated by cries of ecstasy.

Lina buried her face in the pillow. "I'm going to fireball those idiots."

"We'll get thrown out of the resort if you do." Gourry stretched out beside her. "I heard they're serving pancakes on the buffet tomorrow."

Her eyes lit up. "Really? Well...we could go to my room. Though it feels kind of creepy, knowing what Zel and Amelia are doing as well."

"They're doing it because they think we're doing it," he observed and pulled her to him. "I wouldn't mind though if you would just stay with me tonight. Just like this." After all, he conceded, as much as he wanted to be inside of her, he wanted to be with her in this sense as well - curled up next to him.

"I think we can arrange that," she mummered, and rested her cheek against his chest.

"Say Lina?"

"Hmm?"

"Why do you think Amelia's still calling him, 'Zelgadiss-san'?"

She yawned. "Who knows? Maybe it's some type of weird fetish." She closed her eyes. The steady beat of his heart lulled her into a natural sleep for the first time in days.