I realized AFTER I put up chapter 3 that I forgot the Review thanks. So here they are, for the last TWO chapters! Thanks go to Demonhime, Lady Dark Angel, Alexial, Nathan Huss, Kellis, Ludacris, Shira, gehtmane8, and minty fresh socks (I must say, you have the most ORIGINAL name I've ever seen on FF.net. XD I wish my socks were minty fresh.)
The people in the HNG fandom are getting REALLY impatient (except the person who flamed me, although I don't worry about him) but I'm unable to write the climactic final battle between Hikaru and Tsuyujima until I work THIS fic out of my system. (And the poor Inuyasha folks have to wait until BOTH fics are done before I put out another update. I'm so lazy . . .)
So, enough author's notes! On with ficcage!
* * *
Filia leaned against the warm stones of the bathing grotto, feeling the heat seep pain from her tired muscles. One of the nicest things about running a pottery shop, she mused, was being able to enjoy the side effects. Like readily available hot water.
She had built her kiln behind the two story pottery shop, in the backyard of the building, which was on the outskirts of a peaceful village near the ocean. Jillos, Grabos, and herself had chosen it mostly because it was someplace that they had NOT been during the whole Dark Star business, which meant that they didn't remember an angry golden dragon macing random males or a hungry sorceress devouring their winter's food supply. That would all change if Lina Inverse ever decided to visit, but from her most recent letter, it seemed that Lina was traipsing across the penninsula with the rest of the group again and would not be visiting the Outerworld anytime soon.
That was fine. Filia had her own problems without adding Lina Inverse into the equation.
She sank deeper into the water, which leeched heat radiated from the kiln. Rather than waste the excess heat and risk setting nearby trees on fire, a second brick wall outside the kiln connected to a series of metal and stone plates, which in turn led to the small bathing pool. The arrangement only took a portion of the wasted heat to turn the small grotto into a miniature hotspring, deep enough for one person at a time. Kiln firing time meant a long hot soak for everyone, although Filia insisted they actually wash first before getting in the water, for sanitation's sake.
Above her, a few small clouds made an attempt to look menacing on the horizon, but were crowned out by the cheering sunshine and continue birdsong from the trees around her. Her shop loomed in front of her, modest yet proud even from the backside. The kitchen and sitting room comprised the back half of the bottom floor, with the shop in the front half. Three small bedrooms and a water closet were on the top floor. When Val hatched, maybe five years or so from now, and then matured enough to require his own room -- another three or four decades, maybe -- she might have to add another bedroom.
Then she remember that Jillos and Grabos might not be around that long.
She sank deeper into the water still, her nose barely breaking the surface.
That's right, she thought sadly. In another thirty or forty years they'll either be very old or even gone. Even Lina and the others might be dead by then.
"Whatcha doin', Filia-chan?"
Xelloss would still be around, unfortunately.
She gasped in horror and tried to cover up her bare chest, and glared at the rude Mazoku that had disturbed her contemplation. She didn't even have a mace nearby.
"I'm trying to BATHE, thank you very much," she hollared, and snatched a towel from beside the grotto. "It's something that normally calls for privacy!"
Xelloss managed to look incredibly innocent as he said, "I didn't MEAN to spy on you. It's just that it's teatime and you weren't inside, so I decided to see where you were." He opened one eye halfway, the slitted demon pupil seeming to glow in the afternoon light. "Now that I know, I'll go back inside. Nothing much I'd want to see anyway," he said flippantly, but winked, to remind her that he was only teasing as usual. His teasing, as always, had the intended effect, and her tail shot straight up out of the water as she stood up.
"What was THAT supposed to mean, kitchen trash?" she cried indignantly, then realized she was exposing a lot of flesh to anyone who happened to be peering into her yard. She tucked the towel securely around her body, and stepped onto the ledge of the grotto, fully prepared to strangle him with her bare hands, but he phased out just before she lunged for him.
"Seeya inside!" he called as her arms encircled empty air.
* * *
Zelas took a drag on her cigarette and read the newspapers from around the world, more for the sake of interest than for the sake of doing her job -- plotting the end of the planet itself.
"Let's see, the Hephzibah Rebels lost to the Seyruun Mages yet again. Should have seen it coming, but it's still rather depressing."
Zelas was not actually a genuinely lazy person. She put an incredible amount of effort into being lazy. Making her general and priest into one person had been a very well thought out move all those millenia ago; Xellos was not only the most powerful Mazoku besides the Dark Lords themselves, he had required only half the effort to produce (although the same amount of energy, due to the nature of their beings.) Whereas a separate general and priest could communicate with each other behind their lord's back and cause problems, Xelloss answered to no one but her. She not only had the trump card in all inter-Dark Lord squabbles, she didn't have to waste any energy worrying over being usurped.
Her location on Wolf Pack Island, carefully hidden from all human, Ryuuzoku, and most Mazoku eyes and senses, provided adequate natural defenses to the point where she didn't even have to maintain a standing army like Deep Sea Dolphin and Dynast did. Once again, less underlings to rely on, less energy wasted. Those who resided on the island with her and her wolves were handpicked for their loyalty and more importantly, their resourcefulness. Things were done with the utmost efficiency possible, which left plenty of time for play.
"Fortunately, the Terringal Wolves destroyed the Marinata Dolphins, which means that Deep Sea owes me a human artifact now. If they beat them to the playoffs, I think I shall ask her to resurrect a boat for me."
She continued checking the sports scores, and then compiled a list of predictions for the next round of winners for the games today. Idly, she wrote "Xelloss vs Filia" in the margins of her list, and then grinned to herself. Loyal and extremely resourceful, indeed.
* * *
Dried, dressed, and calmed down a bit, Filia stalked down her stairs to where Xelloss was sitting on her couch, one leg crossed over the other at the ankle in a casual, vaguely masculine pose. He looked perfectly at home, as if be belonged there, much to Filia's irritation. She stomped into her kitchen, slamming tea things onto the delicate porcelain tray. The tea water was hot already, and Filia knew that Xelloss had put it on the stove himself.
The NERVE of him! she grumbled mentally as she took the tray into the sitting room and set it on the coffee table. Wordlessly, she scooped tea leaves into pierced porcelain infusers, which rested on the teacups, and poured the hot water carefully through them. The aroma of hot tea quickly filled the room.
Still, she said nothing. She handed him a cup, the infuser still in place.
Xelloss finally opted to break the silence. "I honestly didn't mean to peak at you, Filia-chan," he said with a smirk as he inhaled the steam from the tea, a rare look of genuine pleasure crossing over his features as he did so. "All Jillas said was that you were at the kiln."
Filia made a mental note to re-acquaint Jillas with her mace later on.
First things first, however. She took a deep breath. "We need to talk about what happened yesterday."
"We do," Xelloss agreed, surprising her.
"We were both entirely beyond the bounds of propriety."
Xelloss sipped at his tea nochalantly. "And you do so hate not being proper, Filia-chan."
She supressed her rising anger. "I think we should just forget yesterday happened at all."
"I think we should not." Xelloss set the tea down then, and Filia noticed that his eyes were open as he looked at her hungrily. His eyes usually angered her, but today there was something about them that frightened her at the same time it *excited* her.
Still, she protested. "You nearly passed out when I mentioned that I might not hate you," she said, narrowing her own eyes at the Mazoku.
Xelloss winced slightly at the words again, but recovered admirably. "But as you yourself said, you hate the fact that you might not hate me. That in itself balances things out." He grinned and shrugged merrily.
Her darkness, her sin filled her again, and she fought it, unwilling to let him know how much the guilt of her situation assaulted her on a daily basis.
"So what do you want?" she challenged, sipping her own tea to try to hide how much the conversation was affecting her.
"I want to kiss you again," he said.
She nearly dropped her tea. Shaking, she set the teacup down on the table to avoid breaking the delicate porcelain. "I think you said that just to get a reaction," she said, quite calmly despite the maelstrom of emotion that had welled up inside. The darkness she battled every day ate away at her barriers.
"You know me so well!" He laughed and stood up, taking a few menacing steps toward her. "But it wasn't just a reaction I was going for. I wanted permission, as well."
Filia debated running away, and actually stood up from her chair to do so, but she wasn't fast enough as Xelloss just teleported the last few feet between them and caught her in strong, secure hug that meant she wasn't going anywhere. Her arms were pinned firmly to her sides, meaning that she couldn't reach mace-sama as Xelloss attacked her.
Yet, despite his firm hold on her, his kiss was tender, much like it had been yesterday. The darkness nearly consumed her as every forbidden thought screamed to the surface, demanding she surrender. Desire, strong and swift, caused her to instead open her mouth to his, deepening the kiss.
He sensed her acquiensence and let her arms go, allowing her to slide them around his torso and grasp at his back as he growled playfully and reached one hand up to cradle her head.
Finally, when Filia was sure she was going to faint from the overwhelming emotions, he broke the kiss. "So is permission granted?"
"It's a little too late to ask now," she choked out.
"I'm not letting you go unless you give me permission," he teased, squeezing her to show that he meant it.
"Then you're not letting me go anytime soon," Filia said, surprising herself. Mace-sama was in reach, but she didn't particularly feel like bashing him on the head at the moment. He might stop holding her if she did.
"So I'll just have to steal another one!"
If it was possible, this kiss was even more passionate, even more demanding. The last of Filia's mental barriers broke, and she surrendered to the darkness in her heart, kissing him back with equal ferver. She didn't say a word in complaint as Xelloss scooped her up and carried her up the stairs; she only hope that the guilt and darkness would not destroy her after it was all over.
* * *
When Xelloss' response to Zelas' mental query was a "VERY busy at the moment, Juuoh-sama," Zelas knew that her hunches were all true. She circled his name on the margin of her paper, adding him to the tally of "winning" teams for the week.
"Let's see how the game plays out from here," she said to the wolf at her feet, whose head rose briefly at her master's voice before dropping down again. "L-sama's game of chess is quite interesting, but I think this game is a bit more fun to watch."
* * *
End part 4
-- Since lemons aren't allowed on FF.net, if there every IS a more detailed description of the ensueing afternoon, you'll have to visit my website to find it. I'll let you know if I get around to writing it ^_^
The people in the HNG fandom are getting REALLY impatient (except the person who flamed me, although I don't worry about him) but I'm unable to write the climactic final battle between Hikaru and Tsuyujima until I work THIS fic out of my system. (And the poor Inuyasha folks have to wait until BOTH fics are done before I put out another update. I'm so lazy . . .)
So, enough author's notes! On with ficcage!
* * *
Filia leaned against the warm stones of the bathing grotto, feeling the heat seep pain from her tired muscles. One of the nicest things about running a pottery shop, she mused, was being able to enjoy the side effects. Like readily available hot water.
She had built her kiln behind the two story pottery shop, in the backyard of the building, which was on the outskirts of a peaceful village near the ocean. Jillos, Grabos, and herself had chosen it mostly because it was someplace that they had NOT been during the whole Dark Star business, which meant that they didn't remember an angry golden dragon macing random males or a hungry sorceress devouring their winter's food supply. That would all change if Lina Inverse ever decided to visit, but from her most recent letter, it seemed that Lina was traipsing across the penninsula with the rest of the group again and would not be visiting the Outerworld anytime soon.
That was fine. Filia had her own problems without adding Lina Inverse into the equation.
She sank deeper into the water, which leeched heat radiated from the kiln. Rather than waste the excess heat and risk setting nearby trees on fire, a second brick wall outside the kiln connected to a series of metal and stone plates, which in turn led to the small bathing pool. The arrangement only took a portion of the wasted heat to turn the small grotto into a miniature hotspring, deep enough for one person at a time. Kiln firing time meant a long hot soak for everyone, although Filia insisted they actually wash first before getting in the water, for sanitation's sake.
Above her, a few small clouds made an attempt to look menacing on the horizon, but were crowned out by the cheering sunshine and continue birdsong from the trees around her. Her shop loomed in front of her, modest yet proud even from the backside. The kitchen and sitting room comprised the back half of the bottom floor, with the shop in the front half. Three small bedrooms and a water closet were on the top floor. When Val hatched, maybe five years or so from now, and then matured enough to require his own room -- another three or four decades, maybe -- she might have to add another bedroom.
Then she remember that Jillos and Grabos might not be around that long.
She sank deeper into the water still, her nose barely breaking the surface.
That's right, she thought sadly. In another thirty or forty years they'll either be very old or even gone. Even Lina and the others might be dead by then.
"Whatcha doin', Filia-chan?"
Xelloss would still be around, unfortunately.
She gasped in horror and tried to cover up her bare chest, and glared at the rude Mazoku that had disturbed her contemplation. She didn't even have a mace nearby.
"I'm trying to BATHE, thank you very much," she hollared, and snatched a towel from beside the grotto. "It's something that normally calls for privacy!"
Xelloss managed to look incredibly innocent as he said, "I didn't MEAN to spy on you. It's just that it's teatime and you weren't inside, so I decided to see where you were." He opened one eye halfway, the slitted demon pupil seeming to glow in the afternoon light. "Now that I know, I'll go back inside. Nothing much I'd want to see anyway," he said flippantly, but winked, to remind her that he was only teasing as usual. His teasing, as always, had the intended effect, and her tail shot straight up out of the water as she stood up.
"What was THAT supposed to mean, kitchen trash?" she cried indignantly, then realized she was exposing a lot of flesh to anyone who happened to be peering into her yard. She tucked the towel securely around her body, and stepped onto the ledge of the grotto, fully prepared to strangle him with her bare hands, but he phased out just before she lunged for him.
"Seeya inside!" he called as her arms encircled empty air.
* * *
Zelas took a drag on her cigarette and read the newspapers from around the world, more for the sake of interest than for the sake of doing her job -- plotting the end of the planet itself.
"Let's see, the Hephzibah Rebels lost to the Seyruun Mages yet again. Should have seen it coming, but it's still rather depressing."
Zelas was not actually a genuinely lazy person. She put an incredible amount of effort into being lazy. Making her general and priest into one person had been a very well thought out move all those millenia ago; Xellos was not only the most powerful Mazoku besides the Dark Lords themselves, he had required only half the effort to produce (although the same amount of energy, due to the nature of their beings.) Whereas a separate general and priest could communicate with each other behind their lord's back and cause problems, Xelloss answered to no one but her. She not only had the trump card in all inter-Dark Lord squabbles, she didn't have to waste any energy worrying over being usurped.
Her location on Wolf Pack Island, carefully hidden from all human, Ryuuzoku, and most Mazoku eyes and senses, provided adequate natural defenses to the point where she didn't even have to maintain a standing army like Deep Sea Dolphin and Dynast did. Once again, less underlings to rely on, less energy wasted. Those who resided on the island with her and her wolves were handpicked for their loyalty and more importantly, their resourcefulness. Things were done with the utmost efficiency possible, which left plenty of time for play.
"Fortunately, the Terringal Wolves destroyed the Marinata Dolphins, which means that Deep Sea owes me a human artifact now. If they beat them to the playoffs, I think I shall ask her to resurrect a boat for me."
She continued checking the sports scores, and then compiled a list of predictions for the next round of winners for the games today. Idly, she wrote "Xelloss vs Filia" in the margins of her list, and then grinned to herself. Loyal and extremely resourceful, indeed.
* * *
Dried, dressed, and calmed down a bit, Filia stalked down her stairs to where Xelloss was sitting on her couch, one leg crossed over the other at the ankle in a casual, vaguely masculine pose. He looked perfectly at home, as if be belonged there, much to Filia's irritation. She stomped into her kitchen, slamming tea things onto the delicate porcelain tray. The tea water was hot already, and Filia knew that Xelloss had put it on the stove himself.
The NERVE of him! she grumbled mentally as she took the tray into the sitting room and set it on the coffee table. Wordlessly, she scooped tea leaves into pierced porcelain infusers, which rested on the teacups, and poured the hot water carefully through them. The aroma of hot tea quickly filled the room.
Still, she said nothing. She handed him a cup, the infuser still in place.
Xelloss finally opted to break the silence. "I honestly didn't mean to peak at you, Filia-chan," he said with a smirk as he inhaled the steam from the tea, a rare look of genuine pleasure crossing over his features as he did so. "All Jillas said was that you were at the kiln."
Filia made a mental note to re-acquaint Jillas with her mace later on.
First things first, however. She took a deep breath. "We need to talk about what happened yesterday."
"We do," Xelloss agreed, surprising her.
"We were both entirely beyond the bounds of propriety."
Xelloss sipped at his tea nochalantly. "And you do so hate not being proper, Filia-chan."
She supressed her rising anger. "I think we should just forget yesterday happened at all."
"I think we should not." Xelloss set the tea down then, and Filia noticed that his eyes were open as he looked at her hungrily. His eyes usually angered her, but today there was something about them that frightened her at the same time it *excited* her.
Still, she protested. "You nearly passed out when I mentioned that I might not hate you," she said, narrowing her own eyes at the Mazoku.
Xelloss winced slightly at the words again, but recovered admirably. "But as you yourself said, you hate the fact that you might not hate me. That in itself balances things out." He grinned and shrugged merrily.
Her darkness, her sin filled her again, and she fought it, unwilling to let him know how much the guilt of her situation assaulted her on a daily basis.
"So what do you want?" she challenged, sipping her own tea to try to hide how much the conversation was affecting her.
"I want to kiss you again," he said.
She nearly dropped her tea. Shaking, she set the teacup down on the table to avoid breaking the delicate porcelain. "I think you said that just to get a reaction," she said, quite calmly despite the maelstrom of emotion that had welled up inside. The darkness she battled every day ate away at her barriers.
"You know me so well!" He laughed and stood up, taking a few menacing steps toward her. "But it wasn't just a reaction I was going for. I wanted permission, as well."
Filia debated running away, and actually stood up from her chair to do so, but she wasn't fast enough as Xelloss just teleported the last few feet between them and caught her in strong, secure hug that meant she wasn't going anywhere. Her arms were pinned firmly to her sides, meaning that she couldn't reach mace-sama as Xelloss attacked her.
Yet, despite his firm hold on her, his kiss was tender, much like it had been yesterday. The darkness nearly consumed her as every forbidden thought screamed to the surface, demanding she surrender. Desire, strong and swift, caused her to instead open her mouth to his, deepening the kiss.
He sensed her acquiensence and let her arms go, allowing her to slide them around his torso and grasp at his back as he growled playfully and reached one hand up to cradle her head.
Finally, when Filia was sure she was going to faint from the overwhelming emotions, he broke the kiss. "So is permission granted?"
"It's a little too late to ask now," she choked out.
"I'm not letting you go unless you give me permission," he teased, squeezing her to show that he meant it.
"Then you're not letting me go anytime soon," Filia said, surprising herself. Mace-sama was in reach, but she didn't particularly feel like bashing him on the head at the moment. He might stop holding her if she did.
"So I'll just have to steal another one!"
If it was possible, this kiss was even more passionate, even more demanding. The last of Filia's mental barriers broke, and she surrendered to the darkness in her heart, kissing him back with equal ferver. She didn't say a word in complaint as Xelloss scooped her up and carried her up the stairs; she only hope that the guilt and darkness would not destroy her after it was all over.
* * *
When Xelloss' response to Zelas' mental query was a "VERY busy at the moment, Juuoh-sama," Zelas knew that her hunches were all true. She circled his name on the margin of her paper, adding him to the tally of "winning" teams for the week.
"Let's see how the game plays out from here," she said to the wolf at her feet, whose head rose briefly at her master's voice before dropping down again. "L-sama's game of chess is quite interesting, but I think this game is a bit more fun to watch."
* * *
End part 4
-- Since lemons aren't allowed on FF.net, if there every IS a more detailed description of the ensueing afternoon, you'll have to visit my website to find it. I'll let you know if I get around to writing it ^_^