*Blushes and looks down*
Thanks for all the great reviews! I should get to writing chapter eight, and after that…I think there should be only another two or three chapters before I'm done.
Desert Rose…Lina?
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The group set out again, this time with a slightly crispy Xellos, and headed south again. Xellos had steadfastly refused to reveal the ultimate destination though he did stress again that they had to get there by a certain time. As they traveled farther south, they came across vast expanses of desert, causing Lina and Gourry to want to shrivel up, and the others more inclined to let them cause it'd mean they'd be easier to carry. It was in one vast expanse of this desert that they found their first monster. It was a large toad looking like thing and was easily defeated when both Lina and Gourry attempted to eat it. The next monster was a little more…challenging. It ran at them, charging up the trail, roaring and shaking it's bull like horns. The group watched unimpressed while Lina fried it with a Fireball.
" This country seems to be filled with monsters," Xellos commented while they walked past the twitching remains of the bull one. " Perhaps it would be best for those with magical ability to bring up the front."
They looked at him.
" And who," Lina asked Xellos, " among us doesn't have a magical ability of some kind?"
Grinning Xellos answered, " You in about half a day. I can smell blood on you."
" BOM DE WIND!"
Looking surprised, Lina, who was letting a rather nasty looking Mega Volto die in her hands, looked over at Amelia as Xellos had jumped into a sub-dimension to get out of the way of the attack.
" Jeez," Amelia said, looking at the stunned group. " Oh come on, everybody was expecting me to do that since I found out he was Mazuko."
" Ah," was all Lina could say as Amelia picked her pack back up.
" Let's go Lina," Gourry said, hoisting her to his shoulder.
To everyone's surprise, she hadn't protested and they set out again. This time they didn't run into any demons until well past nightfall. They had set up camp next to a small spring, a refuge in the cooling desert. Looking out of her tent flap, Lina was struck by how much it resembled the desert inside the shrine, the one with the memory of the Ciepheld. Gourry was even sitting by the fire, his new sword leaning against him as he watched for any monsters that Lina and Zelgadis hadn't taken care of. Those had been the stupidest ones, Xellos had said, because he'd spread his 'scent' around and no monster worth his salt even thought he was up to taking a fellow monster of such power on. When asking whether or not he was going to spend the night, Xellos had grinned and said that he had far more comfortable surroundings he was welcome in and took off before Lina could ask him what he meant by that. Gourry had helped Zelgadis, Amelia and Lina set up their separate tents, start the fire, and had barely fought with Lina over the food. Pushing the tent curtain aside, Lina stepped outside and sat down next to Gourry, who looked over at her and gave her an innocent smile. Lina's eyes softened.
" Want something to eat?" He asked, reaching into a pack to grab something. She shook her head no and looked at him again.
" Why are you out here?" She asked him, drawing her knees up against her chest and resting her chin on them. He thought for a second and then looked up at the stars.
" Did you notice Lina, the stars, they're exactly like the ones that were in the desert in the temple."
" Really?" She looked up at them. " I hadn't noticed them when we were in there."
" You were asleep most of the time." He said, smiling as he turned to look at her. " It was a nice feeling, to have you guys in your tents, asleep, trusting me to guard you."
Lina blushed and looked back at her knees. She didn't know what to say, her mind was confused and grasped onto any distraction, like the warm desert wind blowing sand in the cool night, the insects humming around the fire, and Gourry shifting to look back at the flames.
" I never thought I'd be here," Gourry said softly, " guarding Lina Inverse on her quests, battling monsters, saving the world…"
" Robbing bandits?" Lina filled in.
" Nope," he said, looking back up at the stars, " I knew I was going to be doing that. I just never thought I'd travel with a princess, be amused by her dad, joke with a depressing chimera…"
" He is, isn't he," Lina chuckled. " Sometimes I think he wants to ask Amelia to do things with him, like set up his tent, but he's too shy to. Did you see the way he blushed when you were helping him and called Amelia over, and then took off? Priceless!" She laughed, and Gourry watched her large eyes close with happiness and sighed.
" Lina," he said suddenly, " have you ever thought about what's going to happen after we get to old to travel around all the time?"
She looked at the ground, letting her knees slide out from her grasp and her legs straighten out in front of her and let her hair fall in front of her face. Gourry was deathly afraid that she was upset for some reason, but didn't know it was only to suppress a blush that had formed again over the bridge of her nose.
" Gourry," she said in a very soft tone, " do you have someone waiting for you somewhere?"
" What do you mean?" He asked, looking at her with a puzzled expression.
She turned to face him and he was a little amazed at the wideness of her eyes. " Do you have someone waiting for you at home? A girlfriend, a…a lover?"
He looked at her, at the way her eyes were slightly shiny in the moonlight and tilted his head, looking slightly confused until a little glimmer in the depths of the one eye Lina could see said that he'd gotten the message.
He grinned and took Lina's hand. " Nope," he said, not looking at her. " I was traveling for a reason, all my family has, it's nothing to be ashamed of." He took her hand without looking and gave it a squeeze and smiled when he felt her squeeze back shyly, " I'd like you to meet my parents when we go to Mipross Island this winter," he said quietly.
She was silent for a while, and it'd even got to the point where he thought she'd fallen asleep again, but when she answered, he could hear the grin in her voice and felt relieved.
" I'd like to too," Lina said, grinning and blushing furiously into the dark. She and Gourry weren't looking at each other, but they're hands were tightly intertwined and they stayed that way for a long while. Looking over, Lina saw that his eyes were closed and, after waiting to make sure he was really asleep, she muttered 'baka' under her breath and leaned against his shoulder, letting her head droop against his arm, and closed her eyes. After a couple of minutes, Gourry let his eyes open and looked at the slumbering Lina.
Grinning like a mad man, he pulled her into a more comfortable position. " Worked twice, and no one to interrupt us this time." He placed his arm on her shoulder, drew her closer, and tilted his head to rest on top of hers.
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Amelia was the first one out of her tent the next morning, saw Lina and Gourry, blushed, and dived back into her tent. Several minutes later, when she heard Zelgadis stir in his tent, and then heard him draw the opening of his tent aside, she leapt half out of her tent cover, chunked a rock at his head and then shooed him back into his tent with her hands. He got a good glimpse of the slumbering couple and got the hint, though he didn't see why Amelia had had to throw a fist-sized rock at his head.
" We should wake them up," he told Amelia softly through the walls of their tents.
" But why, " she complained, her voice registering complaint against stirring such an obvious symbol of justice and love.
" Because," Zelgadis said, sighing, " Xellos is sure to show up soon and what's the first thing he's going to do when he sees the two of them like that?"
Amelia was silent for a minute before she conceded the point and the two of them commenced to make the most noise possible without seeming suspicious. Lina was the first to awake, and she quickly pulled away from Gourry, waking him. Glancing at the stirring tents, the two separated, though they let their hands keep connected for a few seconds, and then broke apart. Lina rushed back into her tent, pretending she'd been there all along just as Zelgadis came out of his and walked over to Gourry and sat down.
" So," Zelgadis said. " Nice night wasn't it?"
" Very," Gourry said, grinning slightly. Zelgadis just smiled a little and stood back up.
" Better break up camp and getting moving soon," he said, looking at the paling sky, " Xellos might have kittens if we don't cover a certain amount of ground each day."
" Indeed!" Xellos said, from just on top of Zelgadis's head, causing the stone man to faceplant into the sand. " We should be getting a move on."
" Why must you always do that?" Zelgadis asked, spitting sand as Gourry helped him back up.
" Sore wa…," Xellos suddenly shrugged. " Because it's fun."
Zelgadis faceplanted again, this time taking Gourry with him.
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I can't write romance scenes at all can I? *Laughs* And that was the easy couple!