Disclaimer: I don't own The Slayers but a few added little spells and chars and such. Please don't sue me and I'll give you cookies:D

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Lina scarfed down the hefty helping of food lay out so graciously in front of her. This morning she had stopped by just another small town to grab a bite for lunch; it had indeed been a long month for her without humanity. She stopped munching momentarily to glance at the empty chair in front of her, and she sighed heavily.

This pain was never going to end, was it? It had already been a year since Gourry had left, and she should be over this by now. She wasn't of course.

There was no easy way to say that she was still completely, and hopelessly, in love with him. Thinking about it only seemed to make her heart ache more, so, as usual; she just stopped thinking about it.

As she left the diner a storm cloud evaded the clouds above, and a sigh escaped her lips. Why did it have to start raining right when I decide to head out again? Eventually she gave up questioning the gods and dragged herself to the nearest hotel.

Getting a room was not easy, as the hotel manager had heard of the rumored blood-thirsty killer Lina Inverse. It took awhile but she managed to assure him that she was not the Lina he spoke of.

After collapsing onto the fluffy bed near the window Lina heard the first droplets of rain fall against her window pane. The sound made her a bit sleepy and the soft pitter patter seemed to be coaxing her into rest.

The water hadn't had to tell her twice as, since she was already tired from yesterday's trip, her eyes drifted downwards and she fell into a deep slumber.

OoO

Lina's sleep was interrupted by the roars of thunder outside her window. She groaned rather un-lady like and cursed. The notion of falling back asleep was not a very likely one, so she her feet off and onto the floor.

A chill swept through the tiny room as Lina tip toed to the fireplace. After lighting the fire she shivered as the flames began to sooth the coldness invading her body. Staring into the fire her mind reeled around and around. This reminded her of the last night she'd spent with Gourry, as he had stared into the flames just as she was now.

What had he been thinking about while dazing into his own thoughts?

Sylphiel no doubt. A wave of jealousy swept through Lina and for a moment the idea of slaughtering Sylphiel seemed almost enjoyable. Lina blinked and flushed, had she really just thought of harming Sylphiel?

Sighing, she walked over to the window to gaze out at the rumbling skies above. The day of Gourry's wedding had been a day similar to this one, only that they had been inside of the old church near Amelia's castle.

At first Lina had been hesitant to attend because of the possibilities of exposing herself to Gourry, but as soon as she had stepped into the quiet chapel her anger slowly melted into guilt. Gourry looked happier than she'd ever seen him, and that goes double for the little maiden Sylphiel.

Lina's heart had sunk lower into her stomach as she watched Gourry coddle his new bride. It had been unbearable to realize that she had never made him smile like that before, and she had been with him far more than Sylphiel had.

That had been the last time she'd seen the happy couple, and she preferred it that way. It's not like she'd have anything useful to say to him. Besides the fact that she still had feelings for him. But that wasn't important.

Getting over Gourry was harder than she first thought it would be. Just falling in love with him was hard enough.

Suddenly Lina's sleep had caught up to her and she leaned against the window sill, her eyes were closing slowly…slowly…

She jerked her head back as, out of nowhere, two arms encircled her small waist. Her skull came into contact with someone's jaw and suddenly whoever it was wasn't behind her anymore.

Lina spun around and looked around the room. There was no one there. Her senses on edge, she crept to her sword lying on the side table next to the bed. A familiar voice interrupted her actions.

"Ow, Lina-san. That hurt." She knew that whiny voice, didn't she? Lina turned slowly to face her old friend and a small smile formed on her face at the sight of the pouting Xelloss.

"You deserved it, scaring me like that." Xelloss chuckled. "As heartless as ever, Lina-san." Lina shrugged and leaned against the wall behind her, crossing her arms against her near flat chest.

For awhile they just stared at each other, Lina with a suspicious frown on her face, Xelloss with that annoying stupid grin on his. This was the reason Lina didn't like reunions. "What do you want Xelloss? I'm not in the mood for this. Make it quick because I shouldn't be giving you even the short 5 seconds that I am."

Xelloss raised an eyebrow at her before speaking, knowing that it would piss her off even more. "I just came to check up on you Lina-san. It's been such a long time since I've seen you." He teleported to her and reached his arms out to hug her, his efforts were only thwarted as usual when Lina's hands were shoved into his chest.

"Don't give me that Xelloss. I want to know and I want to know now. And if you tell me that it's a secret then so help me…" Xelloss stared down into her face before deciding that it was best not to tease her at the moment; not that there ever was a good time for it.

Lina glared up at the damned priest, he hadn't changed in the least. Not that Lina really minded, she was just honestly happy to see someone she knew. That someone she hadn't expected to be Xelloss but what happened, happened, she supposed.

He had expected her to be surprised at his entrance, but he hadn't expected to get a sore lip from the hot little sorceress. His teasing was supposed to have lightened her mood but it seemed to have done the exact opposite.

She watched him think, wanting for him to open his eyes so she might be able to see what he was thinking at that exact moment. It was so frustrating trying to get a mazoku to talk. Lina had never been particularly patient and unconsciously her foot started thumping.

Not that Xelloss cared about Lina's feelings, but he couldn't talk to her if she was reading to bite his head off at any second. He needed to calm her down, or at least try not to tease her as much for the moment. "Alright Lina-san, I'll tell you. It has, indeed, become my direct order to follow you." Her eyes scrutinized him. "For how long?"

Lina dreaded the answer, she knew that it wasn't going to be an answer that she wanted to hear. But when did Xelloss ever not annoy her? "As long as my master wants me to." He answered simply, grinning widely at her. She rolled her eyes. Like she hadn't expected that one.

Xelloss knew that that was the kind of answer that Lina hated the most, but at the moment it was the only answer that he could give her at the moment. He had a strong feeling that she wouldn't like the main reason he was following her, the real reason.

"Where is Gourry-san?" Xelloss asked, attempting to steer her away from the subject.

"He left."

"He...left?"

"Yeah."

"Well, where did he go?"

Lina rolled her eyes and answered with an irritated tone to her voice. "He's in Atlas city, I don't know where exactly."

"Why did he leave?"

She opened her mouth to respond, but nothing came out. Biting her lip she decided to lash out at him with her own question. "Why do you ask so many questions?"

"Why won't you answer the question?"

That left her silent again, and she turned her back to him. "It doesn't matter, it was a long time ago." Her voice had softened, and there was a break on the last word.

"Gourry-san isn't coming back, is he?"

Surprisingly Lina didn't react at all, she just simply sighed and walked to her bed while mumbling something about burning priests. "Lina-san are you alright?" Lina turned a curious eye to him. For a moment she felt that Xelloss could actually be caring about her, but she shook that thought off. He was, afterall, just an annoying mazoku.

The emotions that she emitted were those of surprise, then sadness, then only to follow was disappointment. "I'm fine, just…tired." Xelloss stared at her for a moment before nodding. Lina was never usually this unresponsive, but since she did look tired Xelloss ignored it.

Lina watched Xelloss sit cross-legged on the wooden floor near the fireplace. It felt like she had missed something, something the mysterious Xelloss had not told her. It was a feeling that bothered her all through the night and even chased her in her dreams.

OoO

Lina awoke to her empty hotel room, and for a moment started to assume that Xelloss's appearance last night had only been a dream. But her hopes were shattered as the sneaky priest teleported into her room. "Good morning, Lina-san." He chirped.

Xelloss smiled at the pale faced Lina, it seemed that he had startled her. "Morning…" She mumbled drearily and swung her feet off the bed. He watched her as she scurried to the wash room to, he assumed, wash and dress for the day.

She slammed the bathroom door closed and leaned up against it, breathing heavily. For some reason she felt shy waking up to find Xelloss in her room. She shrugged off the odd thoughts of the priest and filled the tub with warm water.

After stripping she sank into the deep waters of the bath and moaned with exquisite pleasure. This was heaven.

Closing her eyes in ecstasy she felt a nagging at the back of her head, and sat back up in the tub. Her conversation with Xelloss had not been a relief to how she'd been feeling lately, not that any of her conversations with Xelloss ever ended up good.

OoO

As soon as Lina opened the bathroom door Lina's eyes caught sight of Xelloss's striking violet eyes and her breath caught in her throat. They were the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen, so majestic and other-worldly. Their deep lavender depths seemed to be pulling her in, and she wandered to Xelloss without even thinking about it.

Xelloss peered curiously into Lina's amber eyes and wondered why she was coming towards him with such a passionate look on her face. She stopped only when they were toe-to-toe and gazed up at him with wonder and stupor.

Lina felt the distant touch of Xelloss's finger under her chin, and her face was lifted upwards. She looked up at him with parted lips and a funny feeling in her stomach. He is going to kiss me…

Her eyes fluttered open as Xelloss only placed a gentle kiss onto her nose, his eyes now firmly shut and his mask back into place. She was ashamed to realize that she had wanted very much for Xelloss to kiss her, it also made her feel a bit scared.

The smile returned to his face and he walked to the otheside of the room. "Lina-san you might want to consider getting dressed before giving me that look, I might become tempted." Lina frowned at him and looked down, blushing bright red.

Xelloss teleported from the room laughing, dodging the table lamp hummed dangerously in his direction.