HIDARITE NO KIOKU
by Kayoko (trublu39@hotmail.com)

Disclaimer: I don't own Slayers. I'm just a freshmen whose poor, confused little mind comes up with these fics! Please R&R! The story will get better as it goes on, but I don't want to continue if nobody likes it! Onegai! R&R, and I'll…I'll give you a cooky! Thanks to Koji-sensei (Toumatachi) and cnysn88 for encouragement!

Shaking purple hair out of his normally upturned eyes, he gazed at the long walk ahead of him. He could just barely make out the tiny cave that was his final destination. 

All this work…Everything we lost…And I'm almost there…he thought to himself. 

The realization should have made him happy, but instead unfamiliar moistness formed behind his hard eyes.  No mischievous grin inhabited his face, no inner fires warmed him, and for the first time since he had become a Mazoku, he was cold.  He could feel the icy temperatures, just as he could feel the icy claw squeezing his soul. 

All this way…

He tried to take another step, but instead he fell to the ground, clawing at the space where his heart should have been.  If Mazokus had hearts, his would have been broken long ago.  Still, he could feel the sadness that crippled him now, in what should have been his hour of glory.  His face was crumpled in agony and he flung his staff down on the ground, animal cries ripping from his throat, resounding around the mountainside.   And as the figure cried his grief and rage to whatever gods were listening, the wind echoed his howls. 

"You're never cold, are you Xellos?" 

"Shut up!" he cried to the sky.  "Leave me alone!" 

"I'm so cold, Xellos…"

"Stop it!  Just…stop it!" tears streamed down his pale face, freezing as they hit his shirt. 

"Xellos-kun, I'm so cold…Can't you warm me?  Onegai, Xellos-kun, onegai!!"  The Mazoku's body was racked with violent, painful sobs.  He was frozen in time, unable to stop the replaying images that filled his mind with horror. 

"Onegai…Xellos-kun…o-onegai…it's s-so cold…" Xellos could only watch and remember in helplessness, knowing he would never be warm again… 

Autumn that year was nearly perfect, just the right amount of crispness to the air without being too frosty or too warm.  Not that he minded winter, either, but autumn didn't have snow.  He knew the others liked snow, but it had always seemed like a nuisance to him.  The others…he watched them as they chattered on, walking ahead of him.  Gourry and Lina…Amelia and Zelgadiss…and then there was that annoying Ryuuzoku.  Still sporting her priestess headgear and dress, even though she was no longer a Golden Dragon Priestess.  Xellos shook his head in mild amusement. 

Well, this little reunion might be more fun if I have someone to tease…  

In the space of two seconds, Xellos tugged Filia's tail, disappeared behind her as she turned around, furious, and then reappeared in front of her, grinning.  Filia charged him, swinging her mace as Lina fell to the ground laughing and Zelgadiss groaned.  Amelia looked distressed, as if she was too good to associate with such unruly company.  And as always, Gourry looked adorably confused.  Filia raced after the flying Mazoku, her mace held aloft. 

"Get back here, you namagomi!  Come down and fight like the coward you are!" 

Xellos merely grinned and shook his head, disappearing and then popping up again, perched on the roof of a store.  The storekeeper came out and shook his broom at the group.   

"Quit makin' that racket!  You're scarin' away my customers!" 

And it was true, many early-rising shoppers had come out to view the scene.  Filia's eyes were red in rage, and Lina decided it was time for them to get to the inn.  Grabbing Filia's arm, she began running down the street.  Gourry followed, with Amelia in his wake.  Zelgadiss turned his eyes skyward and wondered why he hadn't brought aspirin.  Xellos disappeared again, waving to the storekeeper and the stunned audience, in high good humor as he flew away, ahead of the group. Upon reaching the inn, Lina burst through the door, having already smelled the scent of her lifelong obsession… 

"FOOD!" she shouted gleefully, leaping into the dining room.  Gourry jumped into a chair, and even Amelia couldn't surpress a joyous shriek as she surveyed the buffet table.  Walking all that way had given them an enormous appetite, and as the three gorged themselves, Zelgadiss and Filia were once again left to sign in at the front desk and apologize in advance to the innkeeper.  Xellos was nowhere to be seen, a fact that Lina and Co. didn't realize until five courses and three exhausted servers later.  Looking up from a drumstick of some animal, the redheaded leader of the group scanned the room for her Mazoku friend.   

"Hey Amelia, have you seen Xellos?" 

Amelia shook her head, putting her fork down.   "Gomen, Lina-san, I haven't seen him since Filia attacked him in the street."  The afore mentioned Ryuzoku sniffed frostily and sipped at her cup of tea.   

"I did NOT attack that, that Monster!  I was provoked!" 

Gourry peered at her from around a mound of empty dishes. "Oh, c'mon Filia, you know you just love using that mace…" The goofy blonde winked at her.  Filia turned a mottled shade of purple and was about to throw her teacup at him when Xellos popped up in the empty chair next to her.   

"Gahhhhh!"  The former Golden Dragon priestess fell backwards. Lina grinned at the Mazoku and pushed a plate towards him. 

"Hey there, Xellos…where'd you go?" 

Xellos declined the food, happily breathing in the anger from Filia. "That's a secret!" he said cheerfully, tapping his staff to his forehead knowingly.  "But I did happen to check out the sleeping arrangements, and Gourry made a mistake…" 

"What?  What'd I do?"  Lina hit her companion on the head to shut him up. Xellos grinned wickedly. 

"There are 2 rooms with 2 single beds in each of them, and 1 room with only one single bed.  Two people have to share a bed." 

Filia gasped and Lina turned to Gourry. "Bakamitai!  Gourry, I said get 6 single beds!  3 rooms, two single beds each!"  Gourry scratched his head, confused. 

"Well, Lina, it's not my fault!  I got mixed up with the numbers!" 

"ARGGGHHH!"   

Everyone groaned in unison, with the exception of Gourry, who was looking sheepish, and Xellos, who was delighted with the chance of someone's added misery. 

Amelia quickly grabbed Zelgadiss' arm. "I get to share a room with Zelgadiss-san, we already agreed on that!  Besides, I kick at night, so I couldn't share a bed with anybody!"   

Lina propped her head up on her hands, resting her elbows on the table as servers began clearing away the piles of dishes.  "Well, I guess since me and Gourry are a couple, we could share a bed…except I don't think we would fit!"  The group looked at the tall, broad-shouldered blonde and agreed.  "So…if Zel and Amelia are in one room, and me and Gourry are in another…that leaves you and Xellos, Fi." 

The Ryuzoku stood up, indignant.  "You must be joking!  As if I would sleep in the same room, let alone the same BED as that namagomi!"   Xellos feigned hurt, opening his eyes wide.   

"Aw, c'mon Filia!  It won't be so bad!  Maybe one of you can sleep on the floor.  We could ask the innkeeper for an extra mattress," Lina suggested. 

"If you think for one minute that I'm going to sleep on the FLOOR…" 

Xellos grinned and floated up to the ceiling.  "Don't worry, koibito, I'll sleep on the floor.  You need your beauty rest, after all!" 

"Don't you dare call me koibito, monster!" Zelgadiss grabbed Filia's mace before she could swing it. 

"Not in the inn…"  Sulking, the Ryuzoku sat back in her seat and folded her arms across her chest. 

Lina stood up and stretched. "Well, I'm beat!  I'll go see if the innkeeper can spare a futon, and you guys can go get settled.  See you in the morning!" 

"Oyasumi, Lina-san!" Amelia called. 

"Oyasumi, and good luck with Gourry.  He snores like the devil," Zelgadiss warned with a smile.  Gourry squawked as Lina held a hand over his mouth, cutting off his retort.  She dragged him off to the front desk, leaving Xellos and Filia in the dining room.  Filia swept herself off to her room, well, her and Xellos' room, and the purple-haired Mazoku followed, flying above the Golden Dragon just to annoy her. 

Outside, the sky was dark as night approached rapidly, bringing with it a gray fog.  The dining room emptied, and lights were turned off all throughout the inn.  The surrounding stores and houses were strangely silent, as if everyone were asleep already. 

And in the shadows, something lurked, waiting for one redhead, her blonde boyfriend, one brunette, one-half human, and one Ryuzoku to retire to their beds.  As for the Mazoku… Xellos knew where he was needed.  That something shifted restlessly, anxious to begin the hunt.