"Today things will get back on track!" Lina said as she brushed her hair as Gourry brushed his teeth. "All of our teachers are back, all of the students are accounted for, it's a few days late in coming but today we get this term off to a good solid start!"
Gourry spat in the sink and nodded, "Right."
"I never thought I'd say this but it's such a relief to have Naga back! I was not looking forward to covering her classes today. Frees me up some time to get through this pile of paperwork I have. I'm even thinking of cutting back on the amount of homework I assign so I won't have to grade it because I just don't have the time! But then I don't want the standards of the school to go down."
"Well, is the homework what makes the school successful?" Gourry asked as he splashed water on his face. "Or is it the practical aspects?"
"In magic it's both! If you don't have an understanding of the fundamentals you won't be able to synthesize spells or know when to use the right ones."
"I guess you're right there." He said as his mouth twitched as though he was about to say more, but he walked over to the dresser instead.
"Out with it, Gourry, what were you going to say."
He sighed as he grabbed a shirt, "It's just you've been so busy this week, and every time we aren't spending working we're with the twins, and the thought of keeping this up throughout the whole schoolyear and having so little time together, just the two of us…"
Lina felt a strange ambivalence. On the one hand it was good to hear he still desired time alone with her. But on the other there was an unwanted pressure, as though some how couples time had become just another thing to do on her endless to do list. "Let's just focus on getting through the rest of this week! The rest of the semester can wait."
He finished buttoning up his shirt and then moved towards her and put his hands on her hips and drew her closer, "Why don't we go into town this weekend? Have a nice dinner, see a show? Just you and me?"
Lina raised an eyebrow as she tried and failed to push the pile of paperwork out of her mind, "Who are you and what have you done with my husband?"
"I'm here." He said as he leaned down and touched his forehead to hers. "Wanting some time alone with my wife."
Damn, but she could never resist when he did that! She brought her arms around him and held him close, "There are always people around now, aren't there? I mean it's not like there was never others around. Just long stretches of just the two of us to break it up."
"So is that a yes?" he asked.
Lina smiled sadly, "It sounds lovely, but there's so much work to do and all I'll be able to think about is how it's piling up…"
"Hey, what happened to my wife?"
"I have a lifestyle to maintain now." Lina said as she pulled away, "And two babies who depend on me to maintain it."
"After Luna's exit strategy I don't think we have to worry too much."
"Perhaps, but we should never take something like this for granted. Especially when you saw what I grew up in."
"Think about it at least." Gourry said. "We still have a few days."
She smiled, "Well you are being unusually persistent."
They leaned forward to kiss each other as Lina started to miss the days when morning didn't come with ceilings as a familiar cracking sound rang through the room. Lina and Gourry froze and then Lina smiled as she grabbed his hand and they turned to see Midas crawling through a portal. "Well good morning." Lina said.
Suddenly Midas stopped, and he looked down at his ankle, which had a rope tied to it. A moment later Moe's hand came through the portal as he grabbed Midas, "Gotcha!"
The portal closed, and Lina and Gourry looked at each other and broke out laughing. "I guess he's hungry." Lina said.
"And in a room full of wet nurses. Good to know you're irreplaceable."
Lina wrapped an arm around him, "Guess we'd better pay a visit to our spawn."
They made the quick trip to the nursery to see Midas and Aurelia, and Lina was grateful that Zelgadis and Amelia were there once more and things were back to normal. They gathered their children and headed down together for breakfast, and despite the pressure Lina was feeling the best she had all week. She was feeling so good, in fact, that it didn't even occur to her to question why the foyer was considerably less crowded than it should be.
Gourry looked up at the sky to gauge the time and then over where the students were gathered, "The sparring fields sure seem empty today."
Han nodded as he looked ahead, "I was thinking the same thing."
"We're not that early, are we?" Rick asked as he checked the sky.
"We're missing a lot of the girls." Han commented.
Gourry silently counted and realized he was right. Honor, Ripley and Mara Jade were huddled together talking as they shook their heads while Morticia stood just apart from them smiling serenely. But all of the other girls were gone. "You don't think something's wrong?" Rick asked.
"The way this year is going…" Han grumbled.
"I think Honor would have come to us if it was something very bad." Gourry said, "So it can't be too bad. Hopefully nothing we need to bring Lina in on. She has enough on her plate and I really want to make sure she has some time this morning to catch up on everything she needs to. I'm sure it's nothing the three of us can't handle. Come on."
They walked over to where the girls were talking, and as soon as Ripley spotted them she grabbed Honor and Mara Jade's arms and they all stopped talking. "Good morning." Gourry said.
"Morning." Honor said stoically.
"Everything all right?" Han asked.
"Yeah, we're fine."
"And the rest of the girls?"
Suddenly Ripley turned red as she threw her hand over her mouth and stifled a laugh. Mara Jade glared at her, "It's really not funny!"
"Oh, but it is!" Morticia said as she smiled smugly.
"We're lost." Rick said, "What happened."
Ripley turned around as she broke out into giggles as Honor struggled to keep a straight face as she explained, "Well, yesterday a peddler came trying to sell beauty products. A few of us turned him away, but he got Anne sold on some hair dye and she managed to convince the other girls to buy various beauty products from him and now…"
Suddenly Honor broke out into laughter as Gourry suddenly got the feeling that he was way, way out of his depth. Honor took a deep breath, "I'm sorry, but now Anne's hair is green. Danielle was trying to get rid of her acne and her face is blue now, Ace has some weird rash and…"
"And this is where we get our wives." Han said decisively. "Sorry Gourry."
"Seconded." Gourry and Rick said.
"It's too bad Amelia and Sis have already left for Zefiel City." Lina lamented as she walked to the girls' dormitories with Leia, Naga and Sylphiel.
"They're already too scared to leave their dorms, and you want Miss Luna to handle this?" Sylphiel asked.
"Serves them right for buying stuff from some random peddler!" Lina said.
"As if you didn't nearly get led to disaster by a few grow your breast scams." Naga said.
"Shut up!" Lina snapped as they reached the door to the dorms and tried it and shook her head as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a key. "If they think they can lock me out they have another thing coming."
Lina placed the key in the lock and opened the door, resulting in a plethora of screams as the girls dove under their bedcovers as she walked in with the other teachers. "Game's up." Lina said, "Might as well get it over with and show us the damage."
"No! I'm never leaving this bed again!" Hyacinth said.
Now I see why Mom let me travel at this age. Lina thought in annoyance.
"There now. That's not an option." Leia said.
"This is the Luke and Mileena School of Sorcery and Swordplay, not the Luke and Mileena School of Vapid Beauties. The people you're saving won't care if your hair is green or not. Now up you get." Lina said as she pulled back the covers.
"How can you say that when people complain about your small breasts all the time!?" Adora asked from beneath her quilt, "I mean sure you saved the world but you're still known as that flat chested sorceress!"
Lina's face heated as the girls started murmuring in agreement, "I even heard someone wondered why all the heroines are so ugly! I don't want to be famous for being ugly!" Pippi wailed.
Lina felt a vein in her temple throb as Leia put a hand on her shoulder. "Darling, people will always find ways to take powerful women down. Some men feel threatened by them and women who don't have powers are jealous of the freedoms that being a sorceress gives." Leia said, "Even the most beautiful among us, like Princess Naga, would be not enough for those people. You're just going to have to learn to ignore it and focus on your mission. And given that this is a decided low in your appearance, now is as good a time as ever to practice."
This week has it in for me! Lina fumed silently as Naga caught her eye as she smiled smugly.
"And look, some men are attracted to power! Gourry could have had Sylphiel but he still chose Dame Lina with her puny breasts." Naga added.
"Well I think you three have this under control!" Lina said as she attempted to storm off but was stopped by Leia.
"You're not exactly setting a good example of sticking with the mission through the punches." Leia whispered in her ear.
Lina felt as though her head was about to explode as she grabbed the nearest set of bedsheets and tore them off, "Alright, covers off! Face the music! First, does anyone have anything really grisly that needs medical attention or is it all cosmetic?"
"A few of us took some face cream and got a bad rash." Ace said as she finally pulled the covers down, and Lina had to keep from blanching as she saw the red rash covered in a yucky whitish green crust.
Sylphiel drew forward, "Oh dear. Does it hurt?"
"It stings." Ace said as Sylphiel examined it and a few other girls came out from under the covers. "But my pride is hurt worst of all. I only thought I was smart."
"Have I ever told you about the time Dame Lina tried to grow her breasts by…" Naga said.
"No one wants to hear that story!" Lina snapped.
"Oh but we do!" Nerys said from under the covers.
"Please, we want to hear it!" Anne said.
Lina sputtered as Sylphiel put a hand on her shoulder, "It might help the more reticent ones get out from under the covers."
"So would setting Sis and her knife on them!" Lina hissed.
"Well are you wanting to go and get her?" Leia asked, "Because I'm sure she'd love to be pulled away from the palace for this."
Lina gulped, "Fine, I thought a hot spring would give me big breasts but it would really only age me by a few decades. Luckily I found out before I took the plunge but even smart girls can be fooled by scam artists and the like. Now, up and at 'em!"
By the time they finished treating the rashes, cutting off colored hair and finding the right blends of make up for discolored faces it was nearly lunch time and Lina was lamenting the fact that she'd made no headway whatsoever on the pile of paperwork waiting for her. "What a mess." Lina said as she walked to lunch with Leia, Sylphiel and Naga. "And here I was thinking guiding Rails through all this would be a piece of cake. It was Midas I was worried about, I mean, I don't have any brothers. I don't know anything about boy puberty!"
"I understand completely." Sylphiel said. "I was worried about the same thing. But after this I'm glad that right now I only have one little boy."
"It's good practice." Leia said with a smile as she wrapped an arm around Lina.
"Says the woman who let me travel the world when I was thirteen."
"You were there when Luna went through her growing pains. Once was enough!" Leia said.
Lina's eyes widened, "I see your point."
Lina trudged up the stairs after she'd finished her afternoon classes, her shoulders heavy with the weight of all the things she still had to do as her head swirled with the fact that everyone was likely gossiping about her youthful endeavors to grow her breasts. As it was her afternoon classes were unusually aggravating with various students trying to get a rise out of the girls unfortunate enough to be scammed by the peddler and the girls responding in either anger or tears that by the end of the day Lina was about ready to tear her hair out. So she decided to track Gourry down instead.
He wasn't in her room, so she headed over to the upstairs parlor and found him sitting comfortably alone on the couch, "Well, I didn't get any of the paperwork that I needed to done." She said from the doorway.
"Did that really take up all of your morning?"
"Yeah," Lina said as she folded her arms under her breasts and walked towards him, "So, you know, I should say no to this idea of a weekend getaway. Especially so early into this semester from hell."
"I was afraid of this. We can still carve out some time for ourselves, perhaps have a dinner in our room, just you and me…"
She sat on his knee and wrapped her arms around him and leaned her head down on his neck, "Screw that! They haven't been back a week already and I need a break from these kids!" She then moved so she was facing him, legs wrapped around his torso as she grabbed him by the collar, "Take me away! Get me out of the manor! Show me a night on the town! I don't care where we go or what we do just get me away from these kids!"
"Really?" he asked.
"I'm desperate!" Lina said.
"What's this about a night out?" Amelia asked as she walked in with Zelgadis, "Because it sounds just what we need!"
"What!?" Lina and Gourry said as they both snapped to attention as Lina scrambled off Gourry's lap.
Amelia's hand bunched into a fist, "Zel and I need time to recover after what happened! We're going with you!"
"I dunno Amelia. I'm not sure I'm ready to be in public…" Zelgadis muttered.
"But Han is right! The more you put it off the worse it will get." Amelia said, "Don't you feel better now that you got your fears about teaching out of the way with?"
Zelgadis smiled a little, "Admittedly it did help that half of the class was so embarrassed to be there that they'd forgotten about my problems. But I doubt that will happen wherever we go."
Lina bit her lip. She still wasn't sure where her relationship with Amelia stood after everything and wasn't exactly keen on saying this was just supposed to be for just her and Gourry. But before she could say anything Sylphiel walked in with Rick and Erik.
"No one will even notice you!" Amelia said, "Tell him! He's scared to go on a night out."
"A night out sounds wonderful, just what the two of you need." Rick said contemplatively, "It's just what Syl and I need. We haven't been out since Erik was born."
"You should come with us! We're going with Lina and Gourry." Amelia said as Lina felt her chest tighten.
"Oh, sweetheart, I don't know." Sylphiel said as she looked at Erik, "If anything happened while we were away…"
"There's plenty of people here to take care of him. You deserve a break!"
"Sounds like you all are planning an outing!" Naga said as she walked in with Moe, "And it wouldn't be fun without us!"
No! No! No! No! I draw the line at Naga! Lina thought as she watched in disbelief as Amelia, Zel, Sylphiel, Rick, Naga and Moe started excitedly making plans as she started chastising herself for not bringing Gourry into their room to discuss this. But before she could find her tongue her parents walked in. "What's got you all so excited?" Leia asked with a smile.
"Date night!" Amelia said cheerily, "You wanna come along?"
"No!" Lina said as she realized she had definitely reached her limit, "I refuse to have a date night with my parents!"
"Oh, even with the recent drama your father and I are still flying high from our romantic getaway." Leia said with a smile, "This will give us some fun time with the twins. You young'uns have fun."
Lina relaxed a little as she looked forlornly at Gourry, who grabbed and squeezed her hand as he gave her a small smile and whispered in her ear, "Don't worry. I think that we're going to need a whole lotta date nights to get through the year and we'll keep the next one private."
AN: Because of the J-Novel translations I've changed the spelling of Mileena's name to be in line with how her name is being officially translated. Eventually I will go through older chapters to update this. And I read a book once that speculated about boarding school serving the purpose of getting adolescent kids away from their parents during the turbulent teen years and it rather amused me.