Chapter 19:
Coming out of the bathroom with a towel draped round his neck, Xelloss sat down beside his violet-haired wife, peering over at the reports the latter shuffled in her hands. "More paperwork, darlin'?"
Grimacing at the last word in her husband's query, Luna's indigo eyes rolled skyward. "Yes, more paperwork…" her voice practically dripped honey and sweetness, "…honey."
The Trickster scrubbed his wet hair thoroughly with the towel, flashing the ex-Knight a roguish wink. "You should learn to relax, dear. I would gladly be your teacher. Besides…we really should finish what we were intending before my bath." Tossing the towel aside, Xelloss wrapped an arm round his skeptical wife's shoulder and pulled her closer to him, nuzzling and trailing kisses down her soft neck.
Without flinching, Luna smirked. "Cest la vie, Xel. Perhaps I should invest my time in searching for a less excitable husband."
Laughing, the Trickster grabbed his wife by the waist and began his torture: tickling. Struggling in vain, a giggling Luna collapsed onto the bed, pulling her husband down with her.
* * *
"Let's get moving. The sooner we leave, the faster we'll get there."
Lina glanced up from her breakfast, into the golden eyes of Filia. Swallowing her mouthful of food, she stabbed her fork into a meatball and waved it around. "Don't tell me when to leave! Go ask my Oneesama. Oi, Gourry, don't you dare touch my garlic bread!"
With impassive sapphire eyes, Zelgadiss watched his fiery-haired wife battle it out with the blond mercernary to rescue her piece of bread. Karyuuou's former miko buried her head in her hands. "You just want to finish your lunch!"
"Lina san, why don't you ask Luna san? She is your elder sister after all."
Her mouth bulging with food, Lina stared at the former Princess of Saillune, now her present neighbour. The dark-haired Amelia sweatdropped at the sight, the expression upon her face a mixture of amusement and disgust.
"Take my advice, Lina…swallow. You look like a hamster trying to store food." Mizuno stifled a giggle. Gulping her food, the fiery-haired girl washed it down with a tankard of foaming beer before slamming the tankard onto the table. The group released a sigh of relief, waiting expectantly.
"Ah…that felt great. Now for the spaghetti."
Everyone yelled, "Lina!"
"All right, all right, I'm going, I'm going…" Grousing and grumbling, Lina grudgingly headed up the spiral staircase.
Reaching the room where her elder sister was, Lina took a deep breath, attempting to compose herself, before raising her fist to knock on the door. She stopped, her fist a fraction away from the wood as a bout of soft giggles and chuckles floated out from within the room.
Meekly, gently, she opened the door a crack and peeped inside. What met her wide crimson eyes caused her to take several stumbling steps back from the door…
…and topple down the steps with a wild screech.
Her elder sister lay sprawled on the rumpled bedsheets, with her grinning, shirtless husband on top of her!
At the bottom of the flight, stood a smirking Zelgadiss, his arms wide open, ready to catch his dizzy wife. This was, after all, not the first time it happened. Sylphiel gasped. "Oh my…don't tell me Luna san and Xelloss san are at it again?" The bandit killer gave a groan in reply.
"I must say, you have impeccable timing." Hazel eyes glinted with amusement, as the silver-haired Dynast glanced at the swirly-eyed Lina.
Stirring his cup of tea, Ryo's emerald eyes roved round the people. "Hmm…someone has to call them down. Perhaps you should go, Mizuno san. You are Luna's former master after all."
The lady in question winced and proceeded up the staircase, a feeling of dread in her gut.
* * *
Finally gaining control of her laughter, Luna immediately acted: she slammed her palms onto her husband's shoulders and shoved, rolling both of them over in the process. She ended up lying atop of the Trickster. Finding the situation utterly hilarious, the couple burst out into fresh peals of laughter.
* * *
Mizuno rapped the door, giving a loud, high-pitched yell in her nervousness. "Luna, Xelloss! It's time to go!" Swallowing, the girl cleared her throat to deliver a better call. Before she had the chance to do so, the room seemed to fill with laughter.
Curiosity got the better of her: the ex-Water Dragon opened the door and peered in.
"Oh my ga-EEEEEEEK!!!"
With his hands in his pockets, Shuu watched his frazzled fiancee roll down the stairs, landing to the bottom as an undignified heap. "…"
Still clutching onto her suffocating husband whose face was turning into a dark shade of blue, Lina pointed to Mizuno. "See, I'm not the only one!"
The ex-Chaos Dragon leaned his heavy frame against the wall with a sigh of exasperation, uttering a single word that caused every man in the room to smile.
"Women."
Before Lina could retort, Mizuno shot out of her fiance's arms and raced up the stairs. Everyone winced slightly as they heard the Dragon God's almost hysterical screams above them.
"Luna san, what are you doing in there? With Xelloss no less! I know you like him but…but…to such an extent…I mean…I never knew you had such loose morals!"
The audience below tensed; the door was creaking open.
Luna Inverse stood at the doorway, arms akimbo, an eyebrow delicated raised as she stared blankly at her former Lord. "I don't understand a word you're saying."
"Loose morals?" The violet-haired Xelloss poked his head over his wife's shoulder and smirked at Mizuno. "I believe if anyone is being perverted here, it would be you, Mizuno san."
The ex-Dragon could only gawk at the shirtless man.
"Put your shirt on, bozo."
"Bozo? Luna san, you hurt my feelings."
"You wouldn't believe how else I could hurt you if you don't put it on."
"I have such a doting wife."
"And I have such an obedient husband." On a second thought, Luna wagged her finger in a rather familiar gesture at the Trickster. "Cute, though."
The couple grinned widely at each other. Mizuno's eyes rolled to the top of head as she made her tumbling journey down the flight of stairs again.