DISCLAIMER: I do not own Slayers or any of its characters. Slayers is owned by Hajime Kanzaka, Rui Araizumi and some other people. I think that should go without saying, but hey, don't feel like getting sued today!
CHAPTER 8
"Um, you know, this ain't gonna fit, Moon-Breath ... " Lina groaned, holding up a Zephilia dress she hasn't used in years; last time she has ever used this particular dress was during the Harvest Festival. Both Luna and her were sitting outside together, while Gourry and the Inverses were lighting up a few fireworks. "Pipe down, Squirt. You won't be wearing that; you'll be wearing this!" Luna stated proudly, holding up a red festival dress that caught Lina's eye. "Well, this is more like it! This does looks better." Lina said, sitting by Luna, holding onto the dress. "I thought you'd like it," Luna patted her back, "Believe it or not, but we do tend to update things since the past five years or so." she teased, smirking at her little sister. "Shut up, you." Lina groaned, glaring at her older sister. "Well, get ready for getting purple feet. Tomorrow is the big day! You excited?" Luna asked, stretching her arms behind her head. "Yeah, I guess you could say that ... "Lina said, trailing off. "So, I heard that Gourry's birthday is on the same day as the festival. You gonna do anything special for him?" Luna asked, non-chalantly. "Yeah. I tried to bake him a cake, but we decided to settle on cookies." she replied. "Oooh, baking for him, hm? Well, even if they taste bad, I bet he'd eat 'em anyways." she said, with such a matter-of-fact tone to her voice. "Oh? What makes you say that?" Lina asked, looking up at her sister. "Oh, nothing. Just that he'd probably do something like that for you." Luna replied, looking off to the side. Lina cocked an eyebrow at her, then just shrugged it off. "Hey, what are you girls doing over there? Come here and light a few fireworks with us! It's fun!" Raluf yelled at the sisters, interrupting their discussion. "Oh, nothing, Papa! Just girl talk, is all!" Lina yelled back, and with that, Luna stood up. "Well, I guess I should be heading back home. Spot is probably starving. Bye, Mama! Bye, Papa! Bye, Gourry! See you at the festival!" Luna waved back at everyone, as they waved back. "I never knew fireworks were so much fun!" Fiona squealed, while Raluf lit another. "Oi Lina, come light a firework!" Gourry called out. "OK!" she called back, jumping off the deck to Gourry's side.
That night, she retired to her bed, lazingly plopping right smack in the middle of it. "Aahhh, Mama really outdid herself tonight. I'm so full ... " Lina sighed, rubbing her rounded belly. Two knocks came to her door at that moment. Lina, unable to move, just turned herhead towards the door, replying, "Come in." "Hey, Lina?" Gourry poked his head in her room. "Gourry, what're you doing here?" she asked, sitting up on her elbows. "Well, I guess I came here to ask you if you wanted to go to the festival with me." Gourry admitted. Lina was a bit taken back by this; Gourry asking her to go with him to the festival? Like a ... DATE? Lina started to blush. "Um, sure, I guess. You DO know that I'll be participating in it, with the grape-crushing, right?" she asked, with a questioning look on her face. "Really? That sounds like fun! Hey, do you think I could do it, too?" Gourry asked innocently, pointing at himself. "Sorry, Jellyfish. Girls only! Unless ... you really want to ... " Lina had a dangerous tone in her voice, one that scared the daylights out of Gourry sometimes. He immediately turned down the offer, of course. "NONONONO! Hehehehe! Now that I think about it, I don't think I really want to, anymore." he laughed, scratching the back of his head. Lina giggled at him, "Alright, Gourry. I was just joking, anyways. Well, I guess after the grape-crushing, I'm more than welcome to accompany you to the festival." Lina said, giving a wink. Gourry's eyes lit up, as he asked, "Really? You will?" Lina nodded, "Yep. It's a date!" she smiled. Then, Gourry came over to her side, and patted her head gently. "Night, Lina." he said, smiling down at her. She smiled back at him, laying back down, "Night, Gourry." He opened the door, and closed it softly behind him. She rested her hands behind her head, just relaxing for a moment before she had to get up, to change to her pajamas. Then, her mind drifted off to another subject, to Gourry.
Gourry: good-old Jellyfish-for-Brains, her "protector" for a good three years, her partner-in-crime in some ways, and not just that but also her best and closest friend. Sure, Amelia and Zel were also considered her best friends in many ways, but Gourry, no matter what, has always stayed by her side; never once has he ever strayed from her, while Zel disappeared somewhere again, looking for his cure, and Amelia went back to Seyruun, since she had responsibilities and such as Seyruun's next queen. Must be harsh on Amelia, especially since she is rumored to have a lost older sister, who escaped the throne after the queen's death. Some say that she ran away, I heard from others that she was entitled to leave; no matter how she left, the results are the same: Amelia is now sole heir to the throne, now. Lina now contemplated whether to pay a visit to Amelia, after the festival, but then doubted whether to do it or not, since the last couple of times they happened to bump into her, Amelia tried to snub them; she even went as far as to put a funny-faces mask on her, stating: "Who are you? I don't believe we met!" Lina sighed, then got up to try and clear her thoughts. She undressed from her soft, flowing Zephilian clothes, and walked to her closet. Since tonight's a bit warm, I don't think that flannel's the best choice to sleep in, she thought as she went through her closet. Then, she spotted a good pair; they were a matching set of a short sort of negligee-and-girl boxers. The short negligee was a soft yellow color, as were the boxers, with an embroided decal of a yellow-orange Dahlia of the lower-right leg of the boxers. She quickly slipped into the pajamas, and stretched again before heading for bed. She climbed into her bed, and pulled her blankets over herself. She sighed, snuggling into her soft, warm bed. Before she drifted off to sleep, she started to think of how happy Gourry will be when he receives her cookies.
That morning, Lina grogginly woke up, then remembered that today was Gourry's birthday and the day of the festival, and smiled at that thought. She sat up, stretching her arms, giving a loud yawn. "Today's the day!" she giggled. She jumped off her bed, and rushed to her closet. She searched for something to wear, since she didn't have much of an idea of what she wanted to wear. Then, she saw what she wanted, and a wide smile spread on her face. It was an off-white knitted muumuu, that came to her knees, with long sleeves that came to her hands. It was looked a few sizes bigger than her, but she liked it that way. "Wow, I haven't wore this in forever! I remember that I used to live in this dress!" she gushed, as she pulled out a familiar belt to complete her ensemble.
"GOOD MORNING!" Lina called out, as she stepped in the kitchen. "Morning, Lili!" Fiona responded, smiling to her cheerful daughter. "Morning, sunshine!" a familiar masculine voice replied, one that caught Lina off-guard. "Gourry! Um, Up a bit early, ain't ya?" Lina fidgeted. She had originally intended to bake the cookies now, but with Gourry, it wouldn't be much of a surprise. "Well, Gourry-hon, we can continue our conversation later! Right now, I have a feeling that Lina might need to talkabout something with me." Fiona said to Gourry, placing her hand on his shoulder. "Alright. I'll be in my room, when you're done, Lina. Bye, Fiona!" Gourry waved as he exited the room. "You were discussing things with Gourry?" Lina asked her mother, unsure if she should suspicious or shocked that Gourry and her mother had something to discuss. "Yes, but it's nothing! So, you're here to start on those cookies, right? C'mon, let's get right to it, then!" Fiona rolled up the imaginary sleeve on her right arm, extremely enthusiastic about Lina baking her cookies. "Sometimes, you've got WAY too much energy for one person, Mama." Lina bluntly said, as she sweatdropped at her mother.
Then, it was time to start pulling out the flour, the butter, sugar, corn syrup, and salt; followed right after those ingredients came the bowls. Lina folded back her sleeves, and even when as far as to use a long ribbon to strap back her long sleeves. After urgings from her mother to wash her hands, she blended all the ingredients in a huge bowl, kneading the becoming-dough dough with her hands, while her mother got the cookie pan ready. After all of the ingredients was blended into the dough, she proceeded to tear large nuggets of dough and rolled around in her hands to create three-inch spheres. After Lina got the hang of this, she found that it was getting to be kinda fun. Then, after rolling the last piece of dough, her mother had preheated the oven, and they placed the cookies in rows of fours, and slid the pan inside the oven, and Fiona reached for a timer that her father probably invented for them, to count when a certain amout of time has timed and to make a loud ringing sound when the time was up. Fiona just hugged Lina closely, "I'm so proud of you, Lili! You did it all by yourself, and I know that Gourry will really love those cookies!" Fiona gushed, hugging her tightly. Lina just hugged her mother back, really happy and proud of herself.
After the twenty minutes were up, Fiona went through many ideas of how to wrap up the cookies that it made Lina's head spin. "Um, I don't think we really need to think so much on the wrapping; just a simple hankerchief with a ribbon should do! Oh, by the way, Mama, how are we going to keep them warm until the festival?" Lina asked her smiling mother. "Heehee! Leave that to me!" Then, she turned off the oven, which still contained the cookies inside, and held up her hand to the mouth of the oven. "BOMB SPRID!" The spell she used look very similar to a Fireball, but not even close to how destructible as a Fireball. The most a Bomb Sprid did was produce heat for a prolonged period of time. It was a fairly simple spell, but usually not too necessary. After casting the spell on the cookies, Fiona shutted the oven door, dusting her hands. "Well, that takes care of that! Now, go change! It's going to be noon, and the grape-crushing starts at noon!" Lina undid her ribbon tying back her muumuu sleeves, and rushed off to her room. "Oh, I almost forgot!" Lina conjured a glowing orb from her palm, seeming to absorb some air from the kitchen. "What was that?" Fiona asked. "Hehe, it's an original spell of mine I made for being on the road. I'd sometimes sneak food into her room, and I made it so Gourry wouldn't follow the smell!" Lina explained, then proceeded to rush around the house, absorbing all the aroma the cookies spent throughtout the house.
"Cookies? I smell cookies." Gourry stated, as he wondered outside of his room.
Lina, after that little morning exercise, hurried to her room and slipped on the dress she received from Luna. The dress was breath-taking; it was a crimson red dress, with embroided pink rosebuds and light green vines entwined with each other throughout the dress, with black ribbons to tie the corset of the dress, with a white spherical-sleeved blouse peeking out of the bodice, covering her chest area, black shoes to top it off. After changing into her costume, she started to brush her hair and put on her favorite golden-orb earrings. After brushing her hair, she thought back having her hair pulled back for the festival. I hardly ever have my hair pulled back, maybe I should, just for today. Maybe in a ponytail? I don't want to do pigtails; I'm not a kid anymore! A braid, maybe? she contemplated, then she split her hair into two parts, then wrapped her hair into a bun on her left side. She knew that this kind of hairstyle she'd NEVER even consider, but today, she felt in the mood for change. She pulled out a pair of red ribbons and proceeded to pull her hair into two pigtails, to wrap her red hair around into a pair of buns.
"Alright, I'll be at the festival with Luna! See you all there!" Lina shouted as she left the house to join Luna at the festival. She ran up to Luna's house, which she found out what her address was last night; her house wasn't too far down the street from the Inverse household, which made things less confusing for everyone. She knocked on Luna's door. "Hey, Moon-breath! I'm ready to go to the festival! Let's go now!" Lina shouted. Within that minute, Luna stepped out with her costume, in different colors to Lina's, but could be considered matching. Her dress was black, with yellow rosebuds, and a red ribbon tying her corset and a red ribbon around her right wrist. "Well, well, Squirt! Looks like SOMEONE wanted to go for a change today, uh?" Luna smirked, referring to her uncommon hairstyle. "Too different?" Lina asked, playing with a stray lock of hair. "Nah, it suits you, in a way. It's just going to be surprising for some who know you." Luna commented, as they walked together to the festival. "Ah, well. Today is a special day, and I feel like having it today." Lina remarked. Luna smiled at her energetic little sister. "I'm sure GOURRY'll like it!" Luna replied, with an overbearing teasing voice that almost made Lina cringe. "You know, you DON'T have to bring him up, Moon-breath!" Lina scolded, with a blush on her cheeks. "Oh, hush, Squirt! Let's get to that festival now, so we can sneak out with some wine!" Luna said, with a triumphant voice. "Yeah! Let's get two bottles and we can really start the festival!" Lina joined in. "Hmm, ... nah, I think you might want another bottle, for you and Gourry to share!" Luna winked, then started to rush for the festival, leaving Lina blushing and embarassed. "D-Dammit! Come back here, Moon-breath!" Lina chased after Luna, who was just snickering at her sister's embarassment.
When they arrived, all the other girls were just about ready to get ready; they were doing some warm-ups similar to those ballerinas use before the big recital, and some were washing their feet. Lina and Luna removed their shoes, and soaked their feet. "Alright. A good couple of hours of nothing but grapes under our feet. You ready, Squirt?" Luna asked, looking over at Lina. "As ready as I'll ever be, Moon-breath." Lina replied, spinning her foot in the right, then left, direction. "OK then, let's do it!" Luna said, stepping into an large empty barrel, soon to be filled with grapes. "Alright." Lina replied, stepping in the same barrel as Luna. Then, the barrel was quickly filled with red grapes as their competitive drive was starting to rev up. They grabbed each other's shoulder, glaring at each other, and started stomping.
At the coming of dusk, all the grapes provided were stomped and crushed, into the wine that will be used till next year's festival, between all the maidens of Zephilia City. Lina and Luna were out-of-breath, and were ready to wash their feet from all the grape juice that was rubbed off on them. "Well, that was fun, uh, Luna?" Lina smiled. "Yeah. Just like old times, when we'd have our own little competitions between each other on who crushed more grapes!" Luna smiled back, slipping her feet in the tub full of water. "Ahhh ... " Luna sighed. "Hey, move over! You're hogging up all the goodness!" Lina scolded, then accompanied Luna in her sighings. "Ahhh, that feels good ... " Lina sighed. "Yep." Luna replied.
After scolding from the other girls who complained of the Inverse sisters of being in that tub for too long, they were ultimately kicked out, to slip back on their shoes. "Hey Luna, let's go steal some bottles!" Lina suggested, while a grin played on Luna's face. "Sounds like an idea to me!" Luna agreed. Then, after that was decided, Luna and Lina sneaked off to the Zephilia Wine Cellar, which held all the wine supply for tonight's event, and they both took one bottle of wine: Luna taking the white wine, while Lina took the red wine, both giggling as they ran away from the wine cellar, proud of their efforts and their stealings.
Gourry and the Inverses came to the festival together, with Gourry in a new attire to his white tunic he usually wore. "By the way, thank you for lending me these clothes from your store, Mr. Inverse!" Gourry thanked, while Raluf smiled back. "Oh, don't get me wrong, my boy; I know I said that they weren't easy to sell, since they're so large, but you're still paying me for them, boy!" he said, matter-of-factly. "WHAT? I guess I should have seen that coming; how much?" Gourry almost dreaded even thinking of how much could Raluf charge him. "Five gold is all we ask for!" Fiona interrupted, lifting up five fingers. "WHAT! Fiona, what are you doing?" Raluf reacted. "Gourry is now a friend of the family, and he's taken such good care of our youngest daughter for the past three years; I think five gold is the most appropiate price." Fiona stated, glaring at her husband, making him almost shrink back. "Alright, alright; I suppose the price of five gold of those is a reward for protecting our daughter. But, don't think that, if you try anything funny with our daughter, you're getting away with THAT, young man!" Raluf threatened Gourry. Gourry nodded, giving the five gold, "I promise, I won't try anything funny on Lina." With that, Fiona pulled Gourry away, to tell Gourry, "You don't need to listen to Raluf tonight; he doesn't know what he's talking about! Now, just do what we discussed this morning; just follow the paved road until you see the Zephilia Grape Tree. It's the tallest tree imagineable, and just take your time, with Lina, there." Fiona informed, with Gourry nodding and paying close attention to Fiona's words. "Alright, I'll do that, Fiona. Thank you." Gourry smiled, truly grateful for all of Fiona's help. She just smiled back, "I know you'll make my daughter very happy; that's why I'm helping you. I've known since the first moment we met. I'm an excellent judge of character; Lina got that from me, you know. So, when you see Lina, just do that, and I know that I can leave the rest to you." After needing to say that, Fiona gave Gourry a quick hug, and patted his back, with a tear in her eye. "I'll take good care of her, Fiona." Gourry said, trying to console Fiona. "I know that, Gourry. I know that." she said, wiping her tears. Then, Fiona saw Lina running up to her, from a distance, and pulled out the hankerchief, enclosed with Gourry's cookies, from her handbag. "Ah! Lili, you're here," she hugged her closely, slipping the hanky in Lina's hands, "I'll leave you two along to enjoy the festival yourselves." Fiona took one last look at her youngest daughter, having a strong feeling that this night was going to radically change everything. "See you!" she waved, walking to her puzzled husband, as to what just happened. "Fiona, darling, what just happened just now?" he asked. "Something important is going to happen tonight, dearest." she stated, a smile playing on her face.
Gourry and Lina stood there, Lina a bit puzzled as to why her mother left so abruptly. "Well, let's get going, Gourry!" Lina said, releasing her hair from the ribbons, and linking her arm with his. "OK; say, let's go down to the Zephilia Grape Tree!" Gourry suggested. "The Grape Tree? Why all the way out there?" Lina asked, tilting her head, fluffing her hair. "Um, 'cause I wanna see it before we leave." Gourry said, pointing his index finger up. "Alright." she shrugged, guiding Gourry along a paved road that was probably the one Fiona was referring to.
After a few minutes of walking, they finally made it to the large grape tree, that was a few hundred dozen grapes shy now. "Wow ... it's huge!" Gourry awed. "Yep; that's why its the local resource of wine, unless it's sold by a private brand." Lina informed, looking up at Gourry. Lina walked up to the tree, and leaned her back against it, with Gourry in front of her. Lina started to blush, looking at Gourry. Her heart was starting to pound, then she remembered abruptly. "I almost forgot: here! Here's your present, baked by yours truly! Happy Birthday, Gourry!" Lina cheered, handing over the hanky. Gourry looked ecstatic, looking at the small package. "Cookies! I LOVE cookies!" Gourry said, with Lina smiling up at him. "What kind are they?" he asked. "They're shortbread cookies!" she replied. "How did you know that I like shortbread cookies?" he smiled, truly happy with his present. "I didn't; I just took a guess." she confessed, shrugging her shoulders. "I love it, Lina. Thank you!" Gourry smiled to Lina, as he started to eat his present. Lina started to blush again, thinking of what she should do now. Then, she lifted herself from her toes, and kissed him on his cheek, while he ate his cookies. He pause during the mid-chewing, to absorb what she just did. She just looked up at him, with her eyes twinkling. He gulped, swallowing down the cookie he was devouring, with crumbs still around his mouth. She giggled, "You have all over your mouth, Jellyfish." she laughed, brushing off the crumbs off his face; she brushed her hand against his lips, and Gourry closed his eyes to feel her soft fingers against his lips. He grabbed her remaining hand, and placed his other hand over her cheek. She closed her eyes, letting her feeling completely take over, allowing herself to be under Gourry's touch; under usual circumstances, she'd have Dragon Slaved him by now, but something about tonight made her want to consider the alternate, just letting herself be completely smitten by Gourry, for she didn't feel like fighting her feelings tonight. He'd usualy be scared to even consider attempting this, but something about tonight, and maybe even Fiona, seemed to tell him differently. He opened his eyes, to look at her under the moonlight, "You're beautiful ... " he whispered, taking Lina by surprise, and pressed his lips against hers. At that second, a large firework exploded in the night sky. The festival officially started, and Gourry and Lina didn't seem to mind not being there. She wrapped her arms around his neck, deeping their kiss. Gourry held her close to his body, feeling the fabric on her dress. Her hand wandered into his golden blonde hair, just enjoying their first kiss since the Sea of Chaos. Somehow, this felt familiar to them both, not that they minded.
"I love you, Lina ... ," Gourry said, after minutes of their kissing.
"What?" Lina spoke up, completely caught off-guard. "I said, I love you, Lina." Gourry said again, with a smile on his face. All logic didn't register; all consequences no longer stood between her and her untold feelings for him; all that mattered was him and her, together, right now. "I love you, too, Gourry." she sighed, leaning her head against his chest, to listen to the rythym of his heartbeat. He smiled, stroking her hair tenderly, while she toyed with his between her fingers. He could never ask for anything more than this moment with Lina, right here, right now. He kissed the top of her head, as she took in the smell of musk that was adourned on his clothes. "Do you think we should be getting back, Lina?" Gourry asked Lina, still running his hand through her hair. "Mm, I guess, but why would want to, so quickly?" Lina suggested, giving Gourry a naughty smile, in which he smiled back, and they both started laughing together, starting to kiss each other again.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: HAPPY 4TH OF JULY EVERYONE! Hey, to all those who's read this story this far, THANK YOU SO MUCH! Also, a great big shoutout & thanks to my bud (& #1 fan ;P )BlueJellyFish (email me!), cuz her support always makes me wanna pull through! THANK YOU SO MUCH! & also to Gerao-A, & to Neo-cristal Serenity, who've given me support when I needed it! THANK YOU, GUYS:D :D :D Well, this chapter, I don't think, requires TOO much commentary, but let's get cracking! First off, the dress that Lina was talking about first, was the dress she flashbacked seeing herself in, in Slayers Pefect, when she fell into the illusion of Zephilia done by Lagan. The dress Lina & Luna use for the festival is basically a spin-off of one of those German dresses; I thought it be cute to have them included in this story. Lina's hairstyle, basically like Miaka's from Fushigi Yuugi, I know is COMPLETELY polar-opposite of Lina, but I WANTED TO DO IT! SO THERE! So, there's a small paid homage to Lina's thing for dressing Gourry as a girl, & or at least suggesting it. The part with Gourry & the Inverses playing with the fireworks, ... they HAD to be preoccupied somehow, while Luna & Lina were talking, and the fireworks seemed like an escape. The segment with Lina reminscencing, there is slight hintings of Amelia's older sister (SPOLIER a.k.a. Naga the White Serpent)! If you're familiar with them, you're probably aware of the fact that Naga is the older sister of Amelia, & left Seyruun after her mother's death. There's other sites to get further details on this, so I'm not going to elaborate into this! The way Lina bakes Gourry's cookies is pretty how it's instructed to do them, except they're supposed to be 1" orbs, instead of 3"! Her muumuu & pajamas mentioned are not what I own, but what I DO wanna buy! I wanna muumuu:D Bomb Sprid is, I think, a real spell; whether it was mentioned before in the novel, I'm not sure; but, I read about it in another fanfiction! The part with the grape-stomping, I felt right to add, since it's a pretty important part to the festival, and even their little competitions. The part with Fiona completely behind Gourry & Lina 100 percent (good to see more L/G supporters, in these stories, huh:D) , very necessary, to get the point across that she is really a great mom, & willing to let her daughter go to a man who is truly worthy of her heart, whom she knows that that man could be Gourry. The part of her being a good judge of character, had to be added, cuz it'd nice to know where Lina got some of her traits from. Of course, the bit of Raluf trying to over-charge Gourry who his clothes, just some randomness inserted to try & lighten up the mood & also a little thingy that he & Lina share! ;) And, of course, FINALLY, the moment I've been DYING to write: Gourry & Lina's kiss! Sure, not too much to go into, 'cuz it speaks for itself! Of course, there's only so much detail to go into, without grossing anyone out, but I think that keeping it to a minimum is sometimes the best idea, do you? Well, stay tuned for the next installment; whether it's the last chapter or not, I'll keep you posted! Ciao! ;)