Author's Notes: Well due to some people wanting a sequel (7 out of 12) I'm going to write one. This is a teeny bit more serious and romancey, it probably isn't as good as the first chapter. *sigh* It will focus more on Xellos and Filia just to tell you all that now (Now I can't seem to write something without it focusing on Filia and Xellos...) Maybe I should change the title… what dou your readers think tell me in your review please. Like before I own nothing but half of this idea behind the fic, the other half is Zee M's. The plot is mine to extent also. If you like this fic be sure to go see Kitty nipper by Zee M. :3 =^_^=

~ ~ ~ (Eeee! An unplanned sequel!!! Yay!!!!!) ~ ~ ~

It had been several weeks since the incident in Nipperton and things had returned to their normal routine.

Boooom!

As I said they were back in the swing of things.

Lina finished picking off most of the bandit's treasure. She walked back to where the rest of the group was lounging around waiting for her. Filia was polishing her mace, Xellos was in a tree, Gourry was polishing his sword, Amelia was playing with Fluffers, and Zelgadis was looking at a map. (*whips out a book* In response to spare Fluffers was riding Amelia's shoulder and has become her little pet. *closes book, fills up that plot hole, and smiles*)

"Ok I'm done. Where is the nearest town Zel?" Lina asked.

"Down the road. We should be there by nightfall if we make good time." Zelgadis replied as he rolled up the map and pointed down the road with it.

~ ~ ~ (Typity type type! ^_^) ~ ~ ~

Filia was thinking as she absently ate dinner with the others. Back in Nipperton that tea had affected her and Xellos. It relaxed her and nothing else. Had she really liked being around Xellos? Had he really liked her or was it the Verin? Had she and Xellos spent a few hours together peacefully under a tree? Did he really purr?

The last thought caused Filia to grin. Who would of thought that Xellos could purr. She remembered that quite clearly, so she was sure he did.

Last time she had been under the plant's influence as well. The only way to really answer some of these questions is to ask Xellos. He wouldn't tell her normally, but what if she could some how sneak some Verin to Xellos without her eating any. The only thing he had was tea, and she also drinks tea as well.

With her meal finished Filia walked upstairs to her room. How can she trick the Trickster Priest? She flopped down on her bed and looked at the ceiling. He would be able to taste it. So then...

Filia grinned and rolled over. She had an idea, and she would try it out tomorrow.

~ ~ ~ (Xellos is rubbing off on Filia isn't he?) ~ ~ ~

Breakfast was going normally so far. Though the pancakes Filia craned her neck to see if the tea was coming soon. Not seeing any waitress or waiter she dug back into her pancakes.

"My, my Filia. If you eat like that all the time you'll be over 2 tons soon. I believe you about 1 ton now right?" Xellos grinned at her from two seats to her left.

"I don't even weigh close to a ton!" Filia growled.

"I'm sure-" Xellos reply was cut off as a waitress placed the tea on the table.

After Amelia poured tea for both of them, she wants to finish eating and a dragon on the rampage would interrupt her meal. Both Xellos and Filia took their cups.

Filia lifted the cup and made a sipping noise but didn't actually drink any. She watched Xellos out of the corner of her eye.

Xellos however did drink some. He raised his eyebrows and looked into the cup. 'We're to far away from Nipperton for there to be any Verin here. But it does have that slight flavor in it.' Xellos took a small sniff of the tea. 'It does have a faint scent to it as well. I'd better not risk it.' He put the cup down and pushed it away.

"Not in the mood for tea today Xellos?" Filia asked as she poured her second cup. (She poured the first on the floor when no one was looking.)

"Not at all." Xellos replied leaning back in his chair.

"But I can't finish that whole pot off myself. And Lina is paying this morning since I paid last night." Filia said after she swallowed the last bite of her pancakes.

"What?" Lina's ears perked up at the mention of her name.

"Xellos won't have anymore tea and I'm finished." Filia said.

"You two are the only ones that drink tea, and I'm paying for it! If I'm going to spend money it won't be wasted! Now Xellos, you drink that tea!" Lina pushed the teapot over to him

"But Lina..." Xellos began.

"I said drink the tea!!!" Lina shouted, the force of her voice created a small gust of wind that blew back Xellos's hair.

Xellos picked up the teapot and looked back at Lina. He sweat-dropped when her aura flared up. 'I hope I'm just being paranoid about this...' he thought as he tilted the pot back to drink the tea.

Filia leaned back in her chair and stifled a yawn. She had to wake up very early to convince the owner to put the Verin in the tea. They had thought it was poison at first, but she was eventually able to convince them that it wasn't. She used some of her emergency reserves of money to make sure they put the Verin in.

Xellos was more than halfway done with the tea. He glanced at Lina and saw she was still watching, mentally sighing he finished the rest. He then put the pot back down on the table and pushed it away from him.

"And the cup." Lina said pointing to the teacup.

"But Lina..." Xellos whined.

Immediately the full-force glare and aura were back.

Hanging his head in defeat Xellos picked up and drained the teacup.

Minutes later Lina, Gourry, Amelia, and Zelgadis finished breakfast and planned to look around town.

Filia was still at the table and said to everyone else. "Maybe I'll stay here for a little bit." She got up and walked over to the stairs that lead upstairs. She then sneaked around and peered at the table where Xellos was still sitting.

'They won't leave town, and it's deserted at the forest nearby.' Xellos stood up a bit shakily. 'I should go before the Verin kicks in.' He walked out of the inn. Anyone who looked close enough, could see he was weaving slightly.

Filia grinned and followed.

~ ~ ~ (If you want to, I can save you.) ~ ~ ~

Xellos leaned against a rock and slid down. He sighed and put his head in his hands. He was very dizzy, that was what happens first. Then he feels as if he spaced out for only a moment, but really who knows how much time had passed in reality. He wouldn't remember a thing until the Verin wore off. He shook his head in a futile attempt to shake off his dizziness.

Filia peeked around a tree she was hiding behind and waited. It was about five minutes until she saw Xellos stand up. A bird flew above them breaking the silence with its call.

"Birdie..." Xellos said in a hushed awed voice. "Birdie!" Xellos leapt on top of his earlier leaning rock and began to leap after the bird.

"Wha... hey!" Filia began the chase.

~ ~ ~ (I can take you away from here.) ~ ~ ~

The bird when it saw it was being chased by something that could jump very well, it flew faster and higher.

"Awww... birdie go away." Xellos stopped in a clearing and looked at the bird. Then he looked around and saw several large rocks around. "Hmmm..." he said looking thoughtful before pouncing on the nearest unsuspecting rock

When Filia finally wandered near the clearing and gasped. It looked impossible but there were really big rocks stacked one on another and at the top balancing on one hand was a humming Xellos. The tower didn't look to steady, it constantly shifted one way or another.

"That wasn't much fun." Xellos pouted from his hastily constructed rock tower. Over to his left he saw something glitter.

"Shiny!" Xellos spun and landed in a crouching position before bounding off the rock. Now gravity doesn't like things piled on one another, nor does like it even more if it's not steady. So when Xellos rocketed off of it, gravity got the to edge it needed to pull down the huge rickety tower. It luckily fell the other way from where Xellos leapt off and Filia was hiding.

"Aaahh! Filia yelled when the tower crashed down. When a shadow passed over her, she looked up and saw Xellos. Quickly scrambling to her feet she ran after him. "Oh why can't he walk!"

~ ~ ~ (So lonely inside, so busy out there.) ~ ~ ~

Xellos finally reached the lake and stared at it for a second or two before picking up a couple of small stones and skipping them. When he ran out of those he looked around for something else. He then picked up a larger stone and threw that in. Soon there were only a few very big stones left that were just too big to skip.

Xellos sat down on the nearly rock-less shore and looked at the higher water level. His gaze wandered to the ground in front him. He smile broadened and he took off his gloves.

Panting Filia finally reached the lake and began looking around. "I was sure he was around here, he headed this way." Suddenly a small hole caught her attention and she walked over. Filia kneeled down, and peered inside only to get a face full of dirt. Surprised she sneezed and fell backwards. She looked back at the hole in time to see a head come out. Though covered in dirt she knew it was Xellos.

Xellos's face lit up. "Filia!" He dived back in the hole and came up again. When he climbed out, Filia saw he was carrying something and covered in dirt. He sat down right next Filia and lifted the dirty brown circular object in front of her face. "Look what I found!"

"That's nice." Filia pushed it away. "Can I ask you something Xellos?"

Xellos pouted when she pushed his find away. "You don't like it?"

"Yes I do. Can I ask you something though?" Filia persisted.

Xellos stood up and walked to the shore. He turned around for a second to grin before splashing in.

"Hey Xellos!" Filia waded in after him. "Can you tell me the answer to a few questions?" The mazoku seemed to have disappeared. Filia scanned the lake's surface for any movement. After a few minutes she started to gingerly head back to shore, picking through the rocky ground hidden by the water's surface.

"Aaaaah!" Filia shouted when she felt one foot yanked out from under her. She toppled backwards into the water. Sputtering she sat up and saw a clean giggling Xellos standing up right next her with his hands behind his back. "Hey! Why did you do that?!"

Xellos didn't reply, he instead held out the something he had hid. It was about 4 inches long and circular. Mostly colored like a sapphire except with flecks of emerald and a ruby center.

"That's a Kirei Stone." Filia gasped. "Where did you get it?"

"I found it in the hole." Xellos replied and he bolted for the shore.

"But I didn't see anything." Filia said when she reached the shore.

"I let you see it but you pushed it away. You didn't look past the dirt." Xellos was sitting on large flat stone throwing the stone from hand to hand. (The flat stone was one of those rocks just a little to big to skip)

"Can you stay here and answer a couple of questions for me?" Filia asked sitting down.

Xellos threw the stone to Filia, sat down next to her, and replied in a very cheery, enthusiastic, and perky tone. "Okay!"

Filia reflexively caught the stone, and looked at Xellos forgetting her question.

"What did you want to ask me?" Xellos leaned on her a little and rubbed his head on her arm.

"I… umm… do you really like me?" Filia blurted out, with a red face.

"Course I do! I like you a lot!" Xellos sat back up and looked at her with an even genkier expression than normal. "You just…" Xellos's mood did a 180 when he looked away and continued in a softer voice. "don't… like… me."


He looked back at her with huge watery eyes. "No matter what I do, you don't like me." Xellos looked away again. "Maybe I should go away." He stood up.

"No wait don't go!" Filia tugged on his cape.

"Why? You don't like me." Xellos had the kicked puppy dog act on full force.

"Of course I do." Filia did her best to ignore the pink stain on her face. "It's just that you can be so annoying, and you killed my people."

"I like to bug you, you pay attention to me then! Any other time you ignore me." Xellos sat back down and looked at her with a serious expression. "And I had to fight back, I was ordered during a war to fight. I wasn't just going to stand there and let them kill me."

Filia was silent as her mind processed this new information. While she sat there contemplating, Xellos once again started rubbing his head against her arm.

Filia turned and ran her hand through his hair, she was rewarded when Xellos started purring. "Xellos?"

"Mmmm…yes?" Xellos replied opening one eye to look at her.

"Why are you purring?" Filia asked.

"For the same reasons dragons trill of course!" Xellos curled up next to Filia.

"But dragons do that when they are happy…" Filia said. 'He looks like he's going to fall asleep.'

Xellos nodded and yawned. "But I'm not supposed too…" Before Filia could say anything else he was fast a sleep.


~ ~ ~ (And all you wanted was somebody who cares.) ~ ~ ~

Filia was still mulling over what she learned a couple hours later. She sat there with the Kirei Stone in one hand while she gently rubbed the still purring Xellos's head. She was organizing her thoughts and more importantly her feelings. So far she had come to several conclusions.

Xellos wasn't so bad. She did kinda sorta like him. He really liked her. Ok maybe she really liked him back. He probably didn't purr often because that would ruin his 'I'm-a-big-bad-tough-mazoku' act. He was waking up.

Filia sat and waited patiently when she felt Xellos stir and stop purring abruptly.

He was back in that warm comfy place again, and like before he was having the top of his head rubbed. Not that he was complaining, but the last time he had been with Filia. And that was when he had gotten that Verin in his tea… wait. Didn't he have some this morning? Xellos cracked open one eye and saw a pink dress, white boots, and beyond that a lake.

He closed his eye. 'If this keeps up it will turn into a habit.' He sighed and sat up expecting Filia to be strange from the Verin too.

"Sleep well?" Filia asked.

Out of all the things he had expected, he didn't expect this. "…" Blink blink. "What?"

"Did you sleep well?" Filia repeated the words slowly.

Xellos raised an eyebrow. "Yes."

"Good." Filia smiled and stood up. She pocketed a small round object and said. "Oh Xellos, I know a secret." She turned around and headed back to the town leaving a thoroughly surprised Xellos standing at the lake's edge.

~*If you want to, I can save you.*~

~*I can take you away from here.*~

~*So lonely inside, so busy out there.*~

~*And all you wanted was somebody who cares.*~

Michelle Branch "All You Wanted"

Author's Notes: Wow longer than the first one!! And a mini song-fic too! I'm actually happy how this turned out! ^_^ Well anyway I don't own the song either. I had it stuck in my head and it just seemed to flow into the fic, and it fits too. But I would love to see reviews! *huge hopeful eyes* Pretty please with your favorite character on top? I may just have to write more if you do…