AN: I do not own The Slayers, I just play in the sandbox.
Gourry was aware of the very moment when she levitated out of her window. Even though he had been expecting it, his irritation flared as he grabbed his sword and left his room. Soon he was out of the inn and on her trail. It didn't take long to find her as she walked swiftly down the city block, well on her way to beat up some bandits.
He really wanted to get her attention this time, so he sped up his pace and moved a block over. Then he raced down a few blocks so he was ahead of her before he zipped back over to the street she was on so that he was ahead of her. He casually leant against a building as he waited for her to approach, arms folded in a disapproving manner.
She slowed down as she spotted him, her face shifting into a scowl. "How do you do that?" she asked.
He sure as hell wasn't going to tell her that she'd tipped her hat during dinner when she started to make too much noise about going to bed early and getting some good sleep. That was always code for she hoped he'd go to sleep quickly so she could sneak out and hunt bandits. He also wasn't going to tell her that he constantly checked on her to make sure she was safe, and many a time had found that she had fled that way.
"Sneaking out, now, with all of this demon activity?" he said by way of response, "Really, Lina."
"Sneaking out?" she repeated, her voice low, and then it picked up as she asked in her cutesy manner, "So, are you saying that if I told you at dinner I'd be leaving for a while to hunt bandits you'd let me?"
"Don't be stupid." he said.
"Then if I want to hunt bandits, I have no choice but to sneak out, don't I?" she concluded so logically that it rattled him with the condescension.
Worse, he had no idea how argue against that. It was maddening to know in his gut that he was right but that she could win the argument simply because she better at arguing. He put a hand on her shoulder and attempted to steer her back to the inn. "Come back to the inn, Lina."
"Lay off!" she snapped as she pulled away from him, momentarily stunning him. This wasn't the way it usually worked! Typically she'd go back to the inn, yelling at him the whole time, unless they were attacked. Never before had she continued on toward a bandit camp after he stopped her. "Lina!" he said more loudly than he meant to as he followed her, "Wait…"
"Are you going to help me hunt bandits? If not, then go back to the inn. I'll be back shortly." She huffed.
He grabbed her hand, stopping her in her tracks, "What's with this?" he asked, his temper burning, "This isn't like you. Why is it so important to hunt down bandits all of the sudden?"
She didn't pull away this time, but the heat of her anger was coloring her face, "Because they're evil doers who must be stopped!"
Then she wrested her hand from his and continued on her path. He was completely dismayed now. "Lina, stop!"
She didn't, instead she casted her head behind her to vent. "What is it with you?" she yelled, for once not caring if she woke the whole town, "You don't want to hunt bandits, fine! Stay at the inn, but why do you need to keep me from doing it?"
"Because something could happen to you!" he exclaimed, "Honestly, Lina, doesn't enough trouble find us without you having to go looking for it?"
"I can handle a few bandits!" Lina screeched.
"Yes, you can, but sometimes it's not just a few bandits, is it?" he shot back. Honestly, how could she be so cavalier when they couldn't go a day anymore without running into a demon attack? Or after watching Milina die? "And sometimes bad luck happens, doesn't it? Like with Milina…"
The effect of him saying this was dramatic. She finally stopped in her tracks and wrapped her arms around herself. She shuddered. Finally, he seemed to be reaching her! "Lina," he said gently as he worked to keep his voice steady, "Please come back to the inn."
Time seemed to hang in the balance, and he waited anxiously. If she didn't turn back towards the inn then he was just going to have to drag her back, kicking and screaming. Finally she turned in the direction of the inn, her anger pulsating off her in waves.
It was fine. She could be angry, as long as she was angry and safe at the inn. He would likely bear the brunt of her anger throughout the next day, but that was fine. He could handle it. He had plenty of times before. He took a deep, steadying breath, still feeling tense. He tried to let it go now that he was getting what he wanted. Still, he was mad that he had to twist her arm so much to get it.
"It helps me. I've been so angry and it helps me work through it." She spat.
"There are other ways to deal with anger." He pointed out, sounding harsher than he meant to.
"What, like the warm, fuzzy group hugs your family must have had growing up?"
Before he could think better of it he retorted, "It wasn't like that at all growing up. Most of the time…" he stopped himself before he went any further.
One glance at her told him he had already said too much. "Most of the time what?" she asked as her anger receded under the weight of her curiosity.
He shook his head, "Nothing."
In an instant he realized he'd made a mistake. He'd actually gotten her mind off her fury, but by dropping the subject he'd exposed a weakness to her, and Lina was an expert on capitalizing on the weaknesses of those who had raised her ire. "So why is it you never talk about them anyway? Or where you're from for that matter? It's awfully suspicious if you ask me."
He folded his arms across his chest and reminded himself that she was headed back to the inn as she continued, "What'd you do anyway? Must be really bad if you don't want to talk about it." His silence to her provocations only seemed to frustrate her. "I mean we've been traveling with each other for two years, and you've barely told me anything about you! How can I even trust you?"
He looked at the ground, and answered her even though he knew he shouldn't, "I guess you can't be all that good of a judge of character as you say you are, since you've been traveling for the past two years with someone you can't trust."
Lina reddened, "Oh sure, you're so high and mighty and noble, lecturing me about hunting bandits! But what's lurking in your past? What secrets are you keeping from me? Did you murder someone? Are you on some mission of atonement?"
"Atonement?"
"What skeletons are in your closet, Gourry? Just who have I been traveling with for the past two years?" she bellowed as she reached the inn and threw the door open and walked inside and ran up the stairs.
He stared after her for a moment as he wondered where that had come from. But she's safe, he reminded himself as he shook his head and walked over to the bar that was on the ground floor of the inn and ordered some ale and took it into a corner to slowly nurse it, and wondered if Lina was really mad that he'd never told her about his history or if she was just trying to get under his skin because she wasn't getting her way.
If it was the latter, it worked. He took a sip of ale and stared at the people in the bar, fuming to himself, and wondered why he put so much effort into keeping her safe when she was willing to put herself into the fire at a moment's notice. But he knew, he knew that if anything happened to her he would never forgive himself.
He scanned the room and took a moment to open his ears to anything that might pose a danger. He was greeted with the typical noises of a rowdy drinking crowd. He took another drink, and reflected that both of them had been on tenterhooks since Milina had died and Luke had run amok. And for Lina, bullying bandits was an outlet for her frustration. Still.
I'd like to show her some other ways to work out frustration, he thought to himself, and then he shook his head. Why, after being madder at her than he could ever recall being, was he thinking of having sex with her? Well, it had been a long time, and it wasn't as if he'd never had those urges for her before. But that would require a level of intimacy they didn't have yet.
May be ever, he reflected as he stared into his drink and realized that part of the reason her comments on him never talking about his family stung so much was because she was right. He was keeping things from her. It wasn't as if he was singling her out. He didn't talk about it with anyone.
But Lina wasn't just anyone. She was the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. And, if he did want to become intimate with Lina, he was going to have to tell her. Intimacy required trust. Trust that she would still have his back if she knew. Trust that she wouldn't leave.
But then he worried about being open about the things that troubled him with her. The fisherman had said to never show his troubles to whomever he fell in love with. And while on the one hand he and Lina were both still alive so his strategy of not burdening Lina unnecessarily seemed sound, he started to wonder what sort of toll it was taking on their relationship.
He took another sip of ale, and noticed as a familiar presence entered at the bar. His lips curved into a small smile and he took another drink and thought that it certainly didn't take Lina long to track him down. She'd never openly admit it, but she liked to have some reassurance that things were okay between them before going to bed.
Quietly he watched as Lina ordered a drink and then walked over to him, a glass of ale in her hands. He briefly considered cautioning her against drinking something so strong. She rarely drank and she was so tiny. But he decide lecturing her would just rile her up even further and said nothing as she sat beside him.
They were silent for a moment as they sipped their ale, waiting for the other to make the first more. Gourry grew increasingly nervous as he debated how to open up to her. Years of keeping that part of his life a secret from everyone left him grappling, wondering where even to start. Eventually he clumsily stated, "I'm from the Elmekian Empire."
She looked at him, her dark eyes sparkling with curiously in the manner he found so endearing, even when he was mad at her. Then she shrugged and took another drink. "That wasn't so hard." She quipped.
Did that mean she really was upset about it? "I stole the Sword of Light."
She had been about to take another sip. Instead she set the tankard down firmly. "So, that's your big, dark, dirty secret?"
He nodded, tensely waiting for her response.
She tossed her hair over her shoulder and nonchalantly she took another drink, "You must have had a good reason."
He gave a half smile. "I used to think my motives were good."
"Huh?"
"My family was always fighting over who got to own the Sword of Light. After my brother was killed, I decided enough was enough and I stole it and ran away. They couldn't kill each other for it if it wasn't there."
He noted the horrified expression on her face and squirmed. He felt a bit of relief when she said, "So you did have a good reason. You wanted to protect your family. I bet it taught them a lesson, waking up to find the Sword of Light gone, realizing they'd let it slip through their fingers due to their own selfishness."
He took another sip of ale, "It didn't work."
"What?"
He stared into his drink again. "A few years ago I ran into someone from my hometown. He told me that after I left there was just too much bad blood to be forgiven. He told me who had been killed since I left."
He stopped and took a drink. Then he found he couldn't continue.
"That's horrible." She said.
His thoughts traveled back to how depressed he became when he found out what had happened to his family, how angry he was at the sword. How he had even almost clunked it in a river. He decided not to tell Lina that. Now that her anger seemed to have tempered he didn't want it to flare again. And come to think of it, he wasn't feeling angry anymore.
He turned his head to look at the woman who had brought a sense of purpose to his life after wandering aimlessly for years, hating the Sword of Light for all it had cost him. Warmth flooded him.
"It's the reason why I'm here." He said, his tone cheerful as he placed a hand on her head. "It's the reason I met you. So it's okay."
He watched, bemused as her pale skin took a pinkish tint. Then the familiar look of panic rose in her eyes before she looked away. Was she panicking because she didn't feel the same way, or because she did? He took his hand away, just in case, and took another swig of ale, enjoying just how cute she looked when she was flustered and red faced.
"But for that to happen to your family, I mean." She shook her head.
"I couldn't save them, no. They didn't want to help themselves. So I focused on what I could do instead." He considered whether or not to continue, but decided that the fact that she was still there meant it was safe. "Which is to be your guardian."
The pinkish tint to her skin deepened as he patted her on the head again. He just couldn't help it! Her head was like a magnet that called to his hand, "It's why I can't let you go bandit hunting, Lina. If anything happened to you, I'd be adrift once again."
"Well, then you're just going to have to keep on me, because I'm not going to stop." Her words were meant to be said more challengingly, but came out soft.
He moved his arm to rest on her shoulder. She stiffened for a moment, and then she relaxed. "Fair enough. But I'll be keeping an eye out."
AN: I wrote this about a year and a half ago while I was working on the Missing Scenes from the first half of the novels. I wasn't sure if it was going to be another MS or a standalone, and this went through several iterations. Once I started writing MS for the later novels, this finally found its place. It baffles me how I can churn out long fics like "Desolation" in a matter of months, but these little ones can stump me for years. Anyway, I am GLAD to finally get this out of my "In Progress" folder.