Prologue

Sunlight streamed brightly through the windows, illuminating wooden shelves full of valuable items. Tiny dust particles could be seen floating in sunlit patches, adding a general feeling of age and refinement to the small shop. The wooden floors and walls were well kept, despite their seemingly ancient essence. A middle aged Red Fox Clan beastman sat on a stool in the corner, behind an antique desk and an even more antique cash register. His feet were propped up lazily on the counter, as he was napping lightly in the warmth of the afternoon. A bulky, muscular lizardman was amongst the many shelves, carefully polishing a delicate jar with his rather large and not quite delicate clawed hands.

"Ahhhhh."

The lizardman looked up from his careful work, to see the owner of that happy sigh, and also the owner of the shop itself. Filia Ul Copt looked around her small establishment lovingly, walking immediately to her favorite jar, caressing it affectionately. She paused for a moment, taking in the air slowly.

"I think we have finally achieved the correct air for an old antique shop," she said, her voice melodious and soft, greatly complimenting the air of the emporium itself.  "It has just the right amount of mustiness and spice for a place over 200 years old," A compliment on her part, seeing as how the shop had been founded exactly 5 years and 37 days ago.

The fox smiled slightly at this, as he was halfway awake now. His Boss never got too mad at him for napping, unless, of course, something was stolen. Then all hell would break lose with mace-sama... He thought, wincing a bit at the mental picture.

"Jiras," Filia crooned to the aging foxman, having walked over to the counter after taking care to see that all of her inventory was shining and intact over the many shelves.  "Have we sold anything today?"

"Ehh, not much business today m'afraid, Boss. We had some old guy come in looking for a bathroom, then a young girl who stuck gum under this counter when I was slee... errr looking away," Jiras rubbed his chin for a moment in though, then snapped his fingers (or paws, call them what you may) "Oh yeah, dis' old lady came in and bought that antique tea set that used to be in the front window."

A look of intense remorse crossed Filia's face, which was quickly hidden by a shaky smile.

"Ahh well... I-I suppose we would have had to sell it sometime," she said, with a look of profound sadness in her expression. It had been her favorite tea set, after all. "So, how much money did you manage to milk out of the old bat, anyway?" she said, her look suddenly much more serious and with a twinge of anger at the woman that had taken away her precious possession.

"Ummmm... lesse..." Jiras said, moving from his leisurely position into an upright sitting stance, suddenly much more serious at his job then before. He knew better than to further provoke an angry Boss. "She paid exactly ahh... oooo, 1000 gold for the whole thing."

Filia stopped short of an angry outburst. "Wow, that much?  How did you manage that deal Jiras? Are you actually becoming a good salesma..err.fox?" Jiras gave her a smug smile as an answer to that. If there was one thing he enjoyed the most in life, it was getting praised by the Boss.

Glavos, the lizardman, had been quite silent during all these proceedings, noiselessly polishing the jars one by one, but decided to speak up at this point. "Actually," he said in his gruff voice, "Jiras didn't do any bargaining, 1000 was the old lady's initial offer."

Jiras gave him a sour look, and reluctantly nodded to Filia, confirming the story. "Yea, she was really weird lookin' too, her hair was all purple-y colored and done up in a bun with two black chopsticks or whateva stickin out."

"Hmmm..... hair dye for old folks is getting more popular these days..." Filia responded, generally uninterested now and still moping about her lost tea set. I knew I shouldn't have put it in the front window... maybe I should have charged a hugely unreasonable price or something.... but then again, 1000 is really unreasonable. Wait, wait I have to protect my other favored antiques too! ahh, where to start..... ooo, I wish I didn't love everything in this store...., Filia thought, glancing around the store nervously. Unlike most shopkeepers, she dreaded sales and customers alike, which is the reason she always had Jiras and Glavos to run things. In the end, she could never stand to part with a beautiful antique.

"--and she walked around ok, but kept her eyes closed like she was blind or something. Oy, d'you think she had magic helpin' her out or something Glavos? She's was a weird ol' lady, I got this really funny feeling from her, yah know?" Jiras finished his description, though it was just his regular chatter, and he didn't really expect anyone to be more than half-listening. Filia perked her ears slightly at the last statement as something clicked in her head, something that seemed not quite right about this whole situation.

"Jiras... tell me more about this woman, please," Filia stated frankly, though her voice was becoming a bit shaky.

"Uhh? Well, ahh, she walked around with this staff thingy that had a red gem at the top... It musta' been a fancy cane or something" Jiras continued, a bit unsure of himself now that his Boss seemed so intent on his seemingly meaningless story. "And, well, she had a crooked back, and was wearing this cloak thingy so she looked really creepy, hey, do you know her or somethin'?" Jiras looked at her questioningly. Filia had twitched and grown more agitated with each description, as now she had a clear mental picture of who exactly this "old lady" was. She knew who had taken away her precious tea set.

Filia opened her mouth to say some nasty comment about the entire situation, when she felt a cold shiver go down her spine, as well heard the faint sound of teleportation behind her. She whirled, filled with rage, only to see the one person she had envisioned in her mind only a moment ago. Xellos Metallium floated quite contentedly in the air, his legs crossed and his staff placed across his lap. He had a bright, sunny smile upon his face, and Filia's most favored of teacups in his hand. He took a slow sip of the steaming tea, and cheerfully said two simple words to the enraged dragon-woman that was standing two feet from him.

"Kon'nichi wa, Filia-san!"

He then quickly teleported away, as a certain mace-sama was flying towards his head at roughly 100 miles per hour.

A/n: Ehhh.... my first real fanfiction. Starring our oh-so-favorite mozoku and ryozoku right now, but I will incorporate the others and their story's later on.... in the next chapter actually ^^. Sorry if it seems a bit boring right now, it always takes me a while to build up action in my stories... I'll try for a fast(er) plot now at least ^^;. Right now this takes place 5 years after the ending of Try, though it will skip around in the timeline as I do my own personal takes on the histories and futures of characters, and all that good fancy stuff. Rated R for a bit of language and... innuendo later on. Also may be some gore. Review if you please, thanks for reading.  

P.S.~ I don't own slayers, nor do I claim to, all credits on the original characters to their creators, though my own made-up characters will of course be credited to me ^^ (is it just me or is all this junk painfully obvious and unnecessary?)