Konnichi-wa again! Another Slayers fanfiction, hot off the keyboard.
First: I do not own Slayers, which bites, but I don't own it. -cries- I do own rights to this piece of my boredom though. Just the story. Not the story it is ultimately based off of.
Second: this story is set most likely in NEXT. Maybe TRY, I don't know, still need to see TRY, God I'm hopeless.
Third: NOT FLUFF/LEMONY!
Fourth: Enjoy!
Guy Talk
"Zelgadis," Gourry whined.
"What?"
"Do you think Lina likes me?"
The question was from out of the blue. The swordsman and chimera were split up from the girls, off to fend for themselves for a few days. Mainly it was to escape the erratic Lina and her fireballs, which were becoming more and more consistent with each passing day. Hopefully, Lina would cool off and Zelgadis and Gourry especially would be safe.
"Gourry, how would I know?" Zelgadis sighed as he sat down on a smoothed rock by the brook. He stared into the water, past his reflection and at the pebbles on the bed.
"I just wanted to know if you knew," Gourry said earnestly. Carefully, he too sat down at the brook and washed his face. The cool water felt good on his skin. It had been a long day and he was glad they were stopping to rest.
"Why would you want to know if Lina liked you or not?"
"Can't a guy be curious?"
"I guess he can."
Zelgadis felt awfully awkward. Damn the jellyfish. Putting him in these spots where friendly advice is necessary. It made him want to cringe.
"You know, I think Amelia likes you," Gourry said happily. Zelgadis looked over to the blonde man to see a big, goofy grin upon his face.
"Really?" Zelgadis said monotonously. He kept his face as straight and cold as possible. Keeping it emotionless makes most people stop talking.
Clearly, Gourry was not most people.
"Yeah. She keeps looking at you and when she talks to Lina, every now and then I hear your name."
"Well, we all do travel together. I would not be surprised if you heard my name."
Quite oblivious to the air in Zelgadis's voice, Gourry laid back in the grass and stared up at the sky. He laughed lightly and pointed straight up.
"That cloud looks like a dragon," he giggled.
Zelgadis broke his hypnotic gaze into the stream to look up. Resting on his arms, he leaned back and gazed at the clouds as well.
"You are such a child Gourry," Zelgadis snorted.
"Well, at least I want to know if a woman likes me or not."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"It seems like you do not care if Amelia likes you or not. I would care if I were you."
"Shut up."
Zelgadis leaned forward and stared into the brook again. He saw his face and almost cried, like every time he saw his reflection. Blue-grey rock in place of skin, steel strands where his hair belonged, it was the face of a monster. How could any woman, Amelia or not, love him like this? Thinking about love only made his passion burn more. His passion to find a cure was a fiery demon, hardly able to be contained. Gingerly, Zelgadis put his hand upon his face. Cold. His granite skin was ice cold. Not since his transformation was he ever warm without the help of the sun. Such a horrific thing this form.
"Zelgadis?"
"Shut up."
"If you were cured, would you hope Amelia likes you?"
"Stop being hypothetical."
"What's that?"
"Just be quiet. I do not like to talk about girls."
"She doesn't think you are a monster you know."
"I know."
"Then why do you not like her?"
"I never said if I liked her or not."
"Well then...?"
"You sound too much like a girl yourself," Zelgadis muttered. It was just perfect that a man as dense as Gourry was trying to talk to him about his love life, which was secret either way.
"I hope she likes me," Gourry said.
"Amelia?"
"No. Lina. I really hope Lina likes me."
"Oh. Why would you want her to like you? All she does is fireball people and half the time it is you."
"I do not mind."
"You must be dense."
Gourry laughed to himself. He liked talking to Zelgadis like this. He seemed slightly more open than when Lina and Amelia were around. Slowly, he closed his eyes and sighed. When the darkness came, Lina appeared in the pitch black of his mind. She just stood there and smiled. That is all it took, her smiling. Gourry blissfully smiled back.
"Gourry, stop it."
"What am I doing."
"Fantasizing, what else?"
"Am not."
"Then why were you smiling? What is she doing?"
"Smiling."
"You truly are dense. You don't make women smile when you dream about them."
"Then what do you make them do? I am perfectly happy with Lina smiling. That means she is happy."
"You need to shut up now."
"Did I do something wrong?"
"Yeah. You made me depressed."
Gourry opened his eyes and sat up. He looked over at Zelgadis, sitting there on his rock. He looked so sad, so lonely. Gourry could see the human Zelgadis screaming out on the inside, wanting to be freed from the curse. Maybe, even more than just freedom.
"You know Zelgadis, you do not have to be depressed," Gourry said.
"Why? You are not the monster. You do not have to worry about returning to normal. You can at least feel..."
"What do you mean?"
"I cannot feel warmth. Everything is dead cold. One time when I saved Amelia and I had to carry her, I could not feel her warmth. Her bare arm clung to my bare neck, yet nothing. If only I could feel her warmth..."
"That is just a little creepy," Gourry said frankly. Zelgadis glared over at the swordsman.
"Well, you are the one conducting this twisted conversation."
"You want to feel her body heat? Most people would call that slightly demented."
"Most people have never been a chimera. Let everyone believe what they want, but all I want is to feel a woman's body heat. The warmth of her hand in mine would be priceless."
"Yep, creepy!" Gourry said.
Zelgadis's eye twitched slightly. He just blown everything to Gourry and the dumb man was not making it any better. Zelgadis snapped his fingers and a small explosion detonated underneath Gourry, sending him a few feet in the air.
"Ow! What was that for?"
"Being a jerk!"
"What did I do?"
"You would not understand you octopus-brain!"
"That's not very nice!"
"Well neither is making me expose my feelings!"
"It is alright to have feelings!"
"I. Do. No. Have. FEELINGS!"
"Yes you do."
"Do not!"
"For Amelia. You just told me."
"ARGH!"
Zelgadis wanted to collapse and die. What pain. The smoldering man next to him was messing with his mind. How could such a dull-witted being mess with his mind? It just did not make sense. Why was he even traveling alone with Gourry in the first place?
"Having feelings is what makes us human Zelgadis," Gourry said happily. Zelgaids just laid back on the rock until he was looking at Gourry upside down.
"You have got to be kidding me."
"It is true! Without feelings, a person is like an empty shell or a moving statue. Do you want to be a moving statue Zelgadis?"
"I am a moving statue, baka." Gourry did seem to have some sort of point though. A human being needs an essence to survive and part of that essence is emotions. That was all basic knowledge for a mage. Why was Gourry making a point of this?
"No, I mean, if there is still a human in you, you still have to have feelings. Fish don't have feelings, so they are not human. I am human and I have feelings!"
"For Lina."
Gourry blushed fiercely. Zelgadis laughed.
"At least I can admit it!"
That was it. Gourry sounded too childish for his own good. Zelgadis clenched a fist and punched Gourry clean in the forehead, knocking the man unconcious.
"Finally," he sighed. "Some peace and quiet."
Zelgadis sat back and watched the clouds roll by. Soon, he realized it was way too quiet. He looked over at Gourry, lying motionlessly on the ground.
Damn, he thought. Now he was regretting knocking out his only source of conversation. He sighed and waited patiently. He was bound to wake up sooner or later.
A few miles away and in a small hamlet town...
"Lina?"
"Yeah?"
"Does Mr. Zelgadis like me?"
Done! Now, what did everyone think? Review please and give me that input! Was the pairing really weird, or just what was needed? Did I get the characters right? Please tell me. Well, sayonara for now. Ja ne!