Secret Feelings By Zosuru_Wolfgirl

Disclaimer: Not mine rights reserved to Hajime Kanzaka

Part Two

"Would you stay? Just for a little while… that is…" She felt herself blush again as she waited for his answer. Gourry stood there a long time that she thought he didn't want to be with her when he sat down next to her surprisingly. Lina felt his body heat next to her own and tensed up. He smiles down at her.

"Sure. But do you think you want to tell me what's wrong?"

Lina looked at Gourry as she tried to find the right words to explain to him what was going on with her but every time she tried to find a way she ended up blushing and wanted to switch to different idea. Gourry on the other hand was interested in the way Lina was acting. She's always so closed like a book that he could never read her but now many thing played over her face and it worried him that she really had something big on her mind and she was going to talk him to death. Not that he mind her talking to him it's just that her stories seemed way too long or it was something he really never like to pay attention too.

He watched her rub her nose the way she did when she was nervous or caught in the act of something she had done only to watch her get angry the next second. He was about to say that she didn't have to worry about it when she faced him with a serious look that made him fidget in his seat.

"Hey Gourry…" She cut herself off and turned away with a blush. 'Shit… that's not going to work. Ugh… what am I going to do?' Lina face went into her hand as she tried to think of another way to approach this.

When she looked away from him he couldn't help but be interested in what she might have to say. He smiled and placed his hand on hers.

"It's alright Lina, go on. I'm listening." Lina looked up at him and he gave her a reassured smile. She smiled back then face the fire again.

'Maybe he will know what I feel for him if I tell him.' She took a deep breath and faced him with that serious look again.

"G-Gourry I have to tell you something… something I've kept from you for a long time." She felt herself blushing again so she faced the ground. She took a deep breath. "Gourry I-I— ack!" She didn't finish that last sentence as she felt something hit her from the back of her head. She fell face first into the dirt as the thing that hit her, a stone, rolled off her head.

She growled and lifted up her face only to be face to face with Gourry.

"Lina! Lina are you alright?!" His face clearly with worry on it as he asked while kneeling down to her level. She blushed again and the only thing she could do to get away from him was to shove his face into the ground.

"No you jellyfish! I'm not all right!" She glared over where the stone came from and saw Zelgadiss standing outside his tent. She growled again before she got up and stomped her way over to him. She grabbed the hem of his night-cloths and yanked him down to her height. "The HELL is your problem?!"

Zelgadiss just grabbed her hands and pulled them off him. "Isn't that my question? I'm trying to sleep here and you and your loud mouth just can't seem to be quiet so I shut you both up." He said pretty calmly and Lina just turned even redder and she wasn't blushing. She growled deep in her throat and took a step back away from him.

"So you thinking throwing a stone at my head would make me shut up?! Well I got news for you pal! You just pissed me off more by interrupting me with that stupid excuse! FIREBALL!!"

Zelgadiss had only the time enough to give a surprised look before he was blasted away by Lina's massive fireball.

Lina huffed out another sigh as she trudged on weary feet. After she had blasted Zelgadiss away with her fireball Amelia demanded that they go look for him. They found him, with Lina being the first one, and she enjoyed her few minutes when she got to poked him with a stick to make sure he was alive only to have him break the twig out of her hand and force them to go to the next town sleep or no sleep. So they have been walking since late last night up until the morning.

Lina groaned as her stomach growled for the fifth time that morning. Lina looked at Zelgadiss' back.

"Hey Zel, can't we stop to find some food. I'm starving over here and my feet are killing me too and I'm hot and sweaty. Let's rest for a bit, what do ya say?" Lina stared at him. He didn't even acknowledge that she had spoken and she huffed at him. "Fine be that way. See if I treat you to lunch when we get there."

"Miss Lina… I don't mean to interrupt you but it's my money that will be paying for the lunches. Or have you forgot that you had demand for my Saillune Crest aga—" Lina glared at her and Amelia 'eeped' then looked back to the front. Lina glared a few more seconds at both Amelia's and Zelgadiss' back before she looked at her surroundings, trees and more trees. Lina scratched the back of her head then glared back at Zelgadiss.

"Can you at least tell me how much longer it'll be before we get to town?"

Zelgadiss still didn't respond and she growled again. She wanted to give that 'pain in her butt' a good piece of her mind right now but she forced herself to quit and just walk for the time being. Meanwhile Gourry was looking at Lina while she grumbled about being the leader and blasting Zelgadiss away again so she could rest. He smiled at her before tapping her on the shoulder. She looked at him.

"What?" She asked impatiently. Gourry smiled at her before picking her up bridle-style. "Ah! Gourry w-what the hell are you doing."

"Carrying you, what does it look like?" He said as he smiled at her. Amelia and Zelgadiss both turned to look at him and Lina. Lina being the one to notice everything saw them looking at her and she blushed brightly then she started to struggle.

"Put me down now Gourry!" He looked at her weirdly.

"But you were just saying you were tired so I thought I could give you a break by carrying you." She glared at him only to blush more when Zelgadiss spoke.

"Sure looks like to me that he's trying to please his daughter then a mature adult. That or a lover." Zelgadiss gave one of his smirks while Lina blushed at his words. She looked up at Gourry only to notice that he was a lot closer than normal. She gave out a shout before punching him square in the face sending flying backwards and leaving her to land perfectly on her feet. Lina, still blushing, turned to face Zelgadiss. She wasn't going to let him get away with that comment.

"I wouldn't be talking. You and Amelia look like you're getting along too fine standing side by side like you are. I bet you can even grab her hand too since she's so close to you. When did you guys become a couple?" Zelgadiss sputtered before turning away to hide his blush.

"I have no idea what you're talking about beside it looked more like you and Gourry was getting it on last night even with all of your loud talking." It was Lina's turn to sputter.

"'Getting it on'?! Where in the world did you think of that? We were just talking and you happened to think other wise of what we were talking about! And how was I loud? I was whispering—" Zelgadiss' eyebrow raised up in question. " …ok not really whispering but I was talking in a normal tone." Zelgadiss gave her another smirk.

"Not by what I was hearing." Amelia turned to look at Zelgadiss.

"What do you mean by that Mr. Zelgadiss?" He turned and looked down at Amelia and gave her a grin.

"Only what you can't hear with your normal ears. Lina was really going for it but she was just taking too long and being too loud but she was about to say that she—!" Zelgadiss looked in time to see a bright light coming towards him.

"FIREBALL!!" Lina shouted before he even finished. He, of course, went flying again and Amelia got mad again too but that was beside the point. Lina looked over at Gourry as he was walking up to them.

"WOW!" He looked up into the sky with a hand to shed the suns light from his eyes. He whistled then looked at Lina. "Think you over did it Lina." Then he laughed as he ran to catch up with Amelia who was already running the way Zelgadiss flew. She watched Gourry's back until she couldn't see him no more. She sighed then ran to catch up with them.

Zelgadiss glared as Lina passed by him. She had excused herself to go to the bathroom only to escape Zelgadiss' glares. It seem that she had put a little too much into her little, but big, fireball and now Zelgadiss was… well pissed at the fact that Lina had yet again fireballed his ass away again. They were now at the little town called Meldrum. When they found Zelgadiss they went to find an Inn immediately after they had revived him. They got two rooms with two beds in each room, girls in one room and the boys in the other then they sat down for a nice meal of the day. They plan to shop tomorrow so everything was in place except their stomachs.

Lina hurriedly walked up the stairs to avoid looking at Zelgadiss anymore that night. She stopped a waitress that happened to be coming from one of the rooms and ordered all that was on the list from their menu. The waitress blanched for a bit before asking if she wanted it all up in her room.

"Yeah just bring everything up here. I'll pay for it when you bring my food." Lina said and the waitress bowed then said it might be a while. Lina just waved her hand saying she knew and went to her room. She sighed as she started to take her armor off letting the shoulder-guards fall where they wanted and she let out a pleased sigh. Sometimes the guards were just too much for her at times that they started to cause pain in her shoulder muscles now and then. She moved her neck in a full circle rotating the muscle only to hear it pop a few time. She grabbed the back of her neck and winced.

She might have to get a masseuse in here to help with her pains. That or heal it but that would do no good it would just come back with a vengeance. She sighed and sat on the bed closes to the window and stared outwards to the dark blue sky. Nighttime had fallen and the stars were now showing their bright selves again to her. She looked at them with envy once again before the stabbing pain reminder her that it was still there. She growled and tried to loosen the muscles on her own only to have them hurt her more. She sighed and gave up.

'Let them ach. I don't care right now. I just want to eat and go to bed.' She thought as she tried rotating her shoulders seeing if that would help but alas even that wasn't any good. She was about to lie down on the soft bed when a pair of hands grabbed her shoulder and slowly yet firmly begin to work out the kinks she had. At first she was about to fireball the person who dared touch her but the feeling she was having relaxed her completely and she gave in to concentrate on it.

'Besides it's probably Amelia. She has the only other key to this room.' Her thoughts died as she paid more attention to the hands working on her tired shoulders. First they started out gently then became a little more forceful. Lina let out a happy sigh as the hands really did their job at working out the kinks in her shoulders then they started to rub the middle of her spine. Lina only leaned forward to let her whole back get a massage from 'Amelia'. She sighed again as the hands worked out the muscles in her back too. She was getting into the massage that she didn't hear the knock at the door. Another knock came at the door also a girl's voice saying she had her food.

"Just come in. I'm busy right now." She heard the door open then a startled gasp.

"Oh! I'm sorry I didn't know you was this busy I-I can come back later with your food if you want me too." This confused Lina. Why would the waitress be embarrassed if she was having her friend… Lina's eyes snapped opened and she jumped to her feet immediately. Who was giving her the massage? It couldn't be Amelia as she thought and Zelgadiss was still mad at her and… well he would never do this anyways so it could only be…

Lina turned around slowly only to see Gourry taking the food away from the waitress and her bowing to him saying she was sorry for interrupting them. He laughed and told her they weren't doing anything so she had nothing to worry about. The waitress gave him another bow then left, closing the door behind her. Gourry turned to face Lina with two trays in his hands and a smile on his face.

"Here's your food Lina." She only stared at him before he spoke again. "You all right Lina?" He sat the trays on the table next to the window then walked over to her. "Lina?" Before he even knew it was coming she grabbed him in a full headlock while making him bend down to her height.

"What the hell are you doing in my room!?" She practically yelled while twisting her arms more down making him yelp in pain.

"Ow! Ow! Lina ow! That hurts!" He grabbed her arms or at least tried. She pried his hands away by biting at them as he tried to place them on her arms.

"It should damnit! Coming into my room without announcing yourself to me! I should cripple you for trying to take advantage of an innocent girl." Gourry coughed a bit before looking at her.

"Who's innocent? What girl?" Lina growled then slammed Gourry into the floor.

"Me you idiot! I'm the innocent girl!" Gourry looked at her before giving that stupid look again as in saying, 'Really? You can't be.' She glared at him. "You know what, never mind just go so I can eat my food alone." Lina walked over to the table not paying any attention to Gourry anymore. As she sat down and pulled herself to the table she started to eat right away with haste. She knew Gourry didn't listen to her and was still in the room and she wasn't going to let him eat her food if she had any say in it.

She ate for a while without a care and Gourry waited for her to be done. When she finished the last chicken soup she let out a gasp of satisfaction and patted her stomach.

'That hit the spot. Now for some sleep.' She said to herself. She was about to get up when she felt Gourry's hands on her shoulders again. She jumped away from him. "What ARE you doing?!" She looked at Gourry who had a shocked look on his face with his hands up in the air.

"I thought it was obvious. I'm giving you a massage." Lina growled at him and he back up a bit away from her. "Ok. Ok. I'll just ask what I came up here for. I came up here to ask you… you…" He paused and Lina just heaved a sigh.

'How can I love him when he can't remember anything?' She asked herself. Lina shook her head then went to sit on the bed to wait for him to remember what he came for which wasn't long. He slapped his hand into the other one and smiled.

"I remember now!"

'Go pat yourself on the back, smart guy.'

"I came to ask what you had wanted to say to me last night. I mean Zel did cut you off and well now he can't say your being loud because there are still a lot of people down there talking real loud so I thought it would be a good time to ask you what you wanted to talk about." Lina looked at him shocked but then faced the wall.

'That's right! I still haven't told him yet… but I don't want to now. I mean I was pumped up last night but now… just the thought of it is stupid. Would he make fun of me or say what a loser I am or something else that I can't think of that might go through his jellyfish-for-brains.'

"Lina?" She looked up at him. He was smiling at her again.

'Damnit! Why do you freakin smile all the time when you look at me or anything else I do.' Lina grabbed her hair the rubbed her head furiously while growling.

"L-Lina?" She stopped and looked at him. He gave her a crooked smile. "You ok?" She sighed then smiled at him.

"Yeah Gourry. I'm ok. Don't worry about what I was saying back at the campsite. It wasn't important."

He gave her a look. "You sure?" She nodded.

"Yeah. Umm, hey Gourry? Uh, I just want to ask you one thing though."

"What is it Lina?" He said as he smiled. She smiled back and turned her back to him while looking over her shoulders.

"C-could you give me another massage? It made my shoulders stop hurting and well now they hurt again soo…" She cut herself off as Gourry chuckled a bit.

"Sure Lina. Anything you want." He placed his hands back on her shoulders and gently rubbed the sore muscles. Lina sighed as she let him work out the kinks again.

'As long as you stay by my side I'll be fine. I won't have to tell you my feelings yet… those three words I secretly hold inside as long as you're by my side…'

Zosuru: Heh, just fixing it up still lots of mistakes making it better. If there are still some lemme know