It's Tuesday again, yay! =)

Um ... This chapter I used the archaic 'thee' in some places ... I hope I didn't make any mistakes with it. ^^ But I won't use it that often anyway.

So, enjoy the next chapter. =)


Chapter 6: A wet event

The candles were guttering in the little temple; because of the play of light and shadow you could only guess that the figure above the altar was supposed to personate an angel.

Praying, a young woman knelt in front of the altar. She had her hands folded, her head lowered, her eyes closed.

"Mighty god Ariyakon, who dwells in the cloudy towers of heaven, I beg of thee to answer my prayers …" the young woman murmured.

"Miko-sama! Come quick!" a man running into the temple exclaimed, thus interrupting the prayer of the priestess.

The young woman stood up and followed the man outside. They were in a small village hidden in the mountains. It was very peaceful here because almost nobody from outside knew of this village.

"What happened?" the priestess asked while lifting the hem of her robe to follow the man who was running towards the river.

"We've found a young man! He's unconscious and badly wounded!"

They arrived at the river and the priestess knelt down next to the man. He had an abdominal wound as well as a laceration on the head. His black hair was glued by blood.

"Have you already cleaned his wounds?" the woman asked the surrounding persons.

"Yes, Miko-sama. We've done everything like you taught us," a young girl who belonged to the pupils of the priestess answered.

"Good." The priestess closed her eyes and let her hand float above the abdominal wound. "Mighty god Ariyakon, I beg of thee to give me the power to heal this man." Green light surrounded her hand and slowly closed the wound until nothing of it could be seen anymore. She did the same with the head wound.

"Put him into a bed. He has to rest. When he wakes up give him soup," the priestess commanded.

"As you wish, Miko-sama," everybody answered simultaneously and the young man was carried into a house.

The young woman played with a strand of her purple hair and wondered who the young man was, who wounded him and how he got here.

"He's a half-elf …" she assumed because she had seen his pointy ears.

:::

When Sheena woke up the first thing she felt was a big headache. She was dizzy and nauseous and when she opened her eyes her vision was blurry. She almost thought she was seeing the young priestess of her dream in front of her but then she realized that it was Lilly who looked at her with big eyes.

"Mommy!" Lilly exclaimed happily while hugging Sheena.

"Not so loud, sweetheart," the kunoichi murmured quietly while a small smile spread on her face.

"How are you feeling?" Zelos asked worriedly.

"I've already felt better … What happened?" Sheena couldn't remember anything.

"You've drunk pretty much and then collapsed," her husband explained. "Here, drink that." He handed her a glass with water which Sheena took gladly. After she had emptied the glass she felt a little bit better but she was still nauseous.

"Sheena, I have to say that I'm disappointed with you. It's not even midnight and you're already drunk," Orochi remarked while shaking his head.

"I'm sorry … Next time I will hold back a little bit."

"Ah, that's not what I mean! I'm not disappointed because you've drunk so much, I'm just surprised that you collapsed that fast! Back then you could drink a whole barrel and you were still sober. And now you already collapse after a few bottles of sake! That's not like you. Are you perhaps sick?"

Sheena shook her head. "I'm not sick … I think …"

"It doesn't matter anyway. You should rest," Zelos said to his wife. He wanted to push her softly back into the pillows but Sheena shook her head and stood up.

"I'm fine. Really."

Zelos didn't seem to be convinced but he didn't want to argue with Sheena again. "Alright … But as soon as you get dizzy again or something like that you lie down again, ok?"

"Yeah, of course," Sheena answered half-heartedly. "So, how late is it?"

"Half past eleven. The fireworks will start soon!" Ashton was already exited.

"That's …" Sheena suddenly felt the nausea coming up and so she ran quickly into the bathroom.

"Mommy?" Lilly asked confusedly while looking at Zelos.

"Apparently she's not as fine as she claims …" Zelos just said.

Orochi folded his arms behind his head. "Well, what did you expect? If she's drunk as much as you claim then it's not surprising that she's nauseous. It would only be a pity if she misses the fireworks because of it … Ah, apropos! I have to make sure that everything is prepared. So, see you later!" Orochi left the house.

"I think I'll go outside as well!" Ashton exclaimed excitedly before following Orochi.

"And we wait for Mommy here, right, Lilly?" Zelos looked at the spot where his adoptive daughter had been a minute ago and then realized with panic that she had disappeared. "Lilly? Lilly, where are you?" He ran downstairs into the hall, hoping that he would find her there. But it was so crowded that he couldn't see her. Not that Zelos had expected that …

He ran through the hall, asked here and there, crawled under the tables whereupon people looked at him as if he were crazy but he just couldn't find Lilly.

"Oh no, Sheena kills me if she learns this … Oh please, Martel, let her stay in the bathroom a little bit longer," Zelos prayed before continuing searching.

:::

In the meantime, Sheena was hanging above the toilet bowl and wiped her mouth when she had the feeling that her stomach had calmed down again. But shortly afterwards she had to vomit again and after a while she was sure that she had nothing in her stomach anymore.

No, she wouldn't touch alcohol again anytime soon. She really felt miserable and she didn't want to feel like that again. When she felt a little bit better again she washed her face and looked into the mirror. If she hadn't already known that she must look terrible she would've probably fainted now. She was totally pale, her hair was a mere disaster and she looked as if she hadn't slept for days.

She couldn't go out like that. Though she wasn't one of Zelos' groupies – they were still after him – which put make-up on her face until the skin couldn't be seen anymore she still had a little bit of pride and if she went out like this she would be thoroughly embarrassed.

So she locked the door, undressed and entered the shower cubicle. She felt a little bit strange, but after all, she had lived in this house once, so it shouldn't be a problem if she showered here, right? Apart from that nobody would probably notice it anyway …

When she turned on the faucet she thought she heard surprised screams but it could've also been cries of joy because the fireworks had started. In the end it didn't matter to her anyway, she just wanted to relax.

It felt good how the warm water slid down her skin and when she had finished showering she felt almost like new born. She picked one of the velvety yellow towels that were hanging nearby and wrapped it around her body. Next was her hair. After searching for some time she found a hair-dryer and a comb and so she styled her long black hair with it. While she was at it she wondered why Zelos hadn't already knocked worriedly at the door. He must have heard that she had showered. She came to the conclusion that he wasn't standing in front of the door. It angered her. She felt terrible and he couldn't even do such a little thing as waiting for her? He could just hope that he had a good reason for not standing in front of the door. If she found out that he enjoyed himself in the meantime she would beat him up!

She decided to let her hair open for the rest of the day or rather the night and got dressed again. When she looked now in the mirror she looked much better. She wasn't so pale anymore.

Satisfied with herself she opened the door of the bathroom and walked into the little room which served as sleeping- and living-room. Nobody was here.

She sighed and wanted to go downstairs to the hall when she saw that the way from the stairs to the front door was totally wet.

"What the hell …?" she asked herself.

The next moment somebody ran up the stairs and bumped into her.

"Hey!" Sheena exclaimed. Then she realized that it was Zelos. He was from head to toe totally wet as if he had jumped into a lake.

"What happened to you?" Sheena asked confusedly.

"Downstairs a pipe has burst. The water suddenly spurted out … If nothing is done soon the whole hall will be flooded. Some ninja already try to tamp the pipe somehow but until now they weren't really successful. I just wanted to tell Orochi."

"A … pipe has burst?" Sheena asked nervously. She remembered hearing screams as she turned on the faucet … Had it been maybe the screams of the people who had been in the hall and suddenly got wet because the pipe had burst? She was pretty sure that it was like that and that also meant that it was her fault.

"Do you come with me searching for Orochi or do you want to help downstairs?" Zelos wanted to know. He was already on his way outside.

"You don't really want to go outside like that, do you?"

Zelos looked at her confusedly. "Err … Yes, I do. Why shouldn't I?"

"Zelos, you're soaking wet! You'll catch a death of cold! I'll go get Orochi, you stay here," Sheena decided.

Zelos nodded and watched his wife getting her cloak on and then going outside.

'How come she looks actually so fresh?' he wondered while going downstairs again to help the others. He didn't really think about it any longer and asked himself how they could stop the water.


So, yeah, the first part was a dream Sheena had. And in my stories dreams always have a meaning ... Hehehe. ^^ You'll understand what this dream is about in later chapters. ^^

Poor Sheena ... But, well, it's her own fault. xD

Yeah, a pipe burst. xDD The evening couldn't end smoothly so there had to happen something. xD But will they be able to stop the water?

To be continued ...