Disclaimer: Not mine rights reserved to Hajime Kanzaka
Part 5
Lina sighed then turned to go back to the camp. Suddenly she felt overwhelmed. She grabbed her head as she felt the whole world spin around her. She fell to her knees as she grabbed her head and tried to make the spinning go away but it only worsened and her world went black…
Both Gourry and Zelgadiss stood up from where they sat. Kaori and Amelia looked at them puzzled before hearing what they were hearing. A scream.
"…Is that Miss Lina?" Amelia asked as she stood up from where she sat. Kaori got up as well and looked over at Gourry. His fists were clenched tightly as he glared out into the darkness. He turned to Zelgadiss.
"I'm going to go find her." He said then he started to go out into the rain when Zelgadiss grabbed him.
"No. You wait here. Amelia and I will go look for her."
Gourry glared at him. "You expect me to sit here and wait when she's out there and god knows what just happened to her?"
Zelgadiss loosened his grip on Gourry. "No I expect you to trust me to go and find her." Gourry clenched his fist tighter as he made a growling sound in the back of his throat.
"No. I'm going to go find her now." He tried again to go out into the rain but Zelgadiss stopped him once more.
"If Amelia and I go we can fly to get to her faster and back again. You hate flying and we're going to Raywing there and back so it'll be fast. Fast enough that you'll know how she is, so just wait here with Kaori for awhile and we'll be back before you know it."
Gourry gritted his teeth as he glared at Zelgadiss. Gourry faced the ground before he looked Zelgadiss again. Zelgadiss took a step back as he looked at Gourry's sad face. Zelgadiss smiled at him before placing a hand on his shoulder for reassurance. Gourry smiled as he nodded them to go.
"You'd better hurry then. She's not her usual self right now." He said as he sat down. Zelgadiss gave him a look.
"What do you mean?" He asked, as Amelia was now standing next to him ready to go.
Gourry smiled weakly. "It's that time."
Zelgadiss looked confused before he blushed lightly.
"Y-you keep track of that?" Amelia asked as she now too was blushing.
Gourry gave them his goofy grin before saying, "Well it's how I make sure I don't get on her bad side." Then he stared at the ground before he continued, "And how I make sure she doesn't get hurt…"
Zelgadiss nodded at him. "Don't worry. We'll find her." Gourry nodded again before they chanted the spell and Raywinged out of their shelter. As he watched them he hoped that she was all right… and safe.
Kaori watched him with sad eyes before she sat down with him. She looped her arm around his and he looked down at her. She smiled at him before leaning into his arm.
"She'll be ok. I'm sure of it." Gourry sadly looked back out into the darkness.
"And if she isn't?" Kaori looked back up at him. He didn't face her this time. She looked at the ground, as everything was quiet except for the rain pounding lightly on the over-head of their shelter.
Zelgadiss and Amelia zoomed through the air, as they looked everywhere they had flew past and still no sign of Lina. Zelgadiss called to Amelia and they landed slightly close to each other. Amelia took the chance to wipe the rain that had pounded into her face as she flew. Zelgadiss smiled, as he understood how she felt but didn't know how hard the rain was hitting her as they flew as fast as possible to find Lina.
"Sorry. You want to go a little more slowly?" He asked as he looked down at her. She smiled at him before pointing a finger out into the rain.
"No! We must continue on for the sake of Gourry and justice! We will find Lina no matter what gets in our way!"
Zelgadiss just shook his head and smiled. "Then let's get going." Amelia nodded and just when they were about to take of again Amelia saw redish-brown sticking out above the ground. At first she didn't recognize it but after casting a light spell she realize whom it was.
"Miss Lina!" She shouted then ran over to her Zelgadiss at her feet. She kneeled down beside Lina. Seeing that her face was half way in the mud she quickly pulled her out and laid her on her back, the rain washing some of the mud off. Amelia began to panic and Zelgadiss being the one to be cool in situations picked Lina up and listened. He sighed with relief as he heard her breathing. He looked at Amelia and she looked at him with teary eyes. He smiled gently.
"She's fine. She's just sleeping." He then noticed that something was off with Lina. He looked at her again and noticed in the light that she looked flushed. He placed his hand on her forehead but then cursed under his breath.
"Amelia, touch her forehead and see if she has a fever." Amelia gave him a look before she placed her hand on Lina's head. Amelia pulled back only after a few seconds and nodded. Zelgadiss nodded his head too then he took off his cloak and wrapped it around her making sure she had some breathing room as well. He then picked Lina up under her legs and grabbed her shoulder, carrying her bridle-style. He looked over at Amelia and she nodded. They cast Raywing again and flew off towards the campsite.
Gourry had stood up during the time Zelgadiss and Amelia had flown off. He didn't like staying here one bit and was about to go out there himself to look for Lina then he saw something coming up fast. His heart leapt with joy as he saw them but his hopes died as he only saw Zelgadiss and Amelia. As they were getting closer he saw the bundle that Zelgadiss was carrying and his heart sank ever lower. Was Lina… She couldn't…
Zelgadiss landed first and then Amelia. They walked out of the rain and walked under the shelter. Amelia glanced around looking for Kaori, who was already asleep in her tent. She smiled a bit then turned her attention to Zelgadiss and Gourry.
Gourry reached out but paused in mid air looking at Zelgadiss. "I-is she-she…" He trailed off and Zelgadiss smile reassuringly.
"No. She's fine but she does have slight fever." Gourry breathed a sigh that he was holding as he figured Zelgadiss would deliver bad news to him. He looked at Zelgadiss again.
"Is that why she screamed?"
Zelgadiss shrugged. "Your guess is just as good as mine," He turned to Amelia. "Go find some dry cloths of hers. We need to get her warmed up so the fever won't get any worse." Amelia nodded and went over to look at the bags while Zelgadiss held out Lina to Gourry. He looked shocked at first but gladly grabbed her as Zelgadiss took his cloak off her.
"I'm sure she's was uncomfortable with me carrying her." He said as he started to wring out his cloak.
Gourry shook his head. "Nah. I'm sure she knew that you wouldn't do anything to her cause if you did she'd fireball you," he chuckled. "But that's if she had her powers."
Zelgadiss gave him a blanched look then he sighed. Leave it to Gourry to misinterpret what anybody said to him. He walked over to his bags and pick out some new cloths for himself as Amelia looked up at him.
"It looks like all of Miss Lina's cloths are dirty. She has them all in her laundry bag." Amelia glanced over at Kaori and laughed. "Now we know why Lina had said for her to do her laundry."
Zelgadiss shook his head then look back to her. "Well how about you? Do you have any spares?"
Amelia sighed as she held up her only pair left and laughed. "It seems we need to do our laundry. I guess I could give up my cloths for Miss Lina but…" She looked down at her wet, cold cloths. She heard Gourry chuckle and she looked at him.
"Get my bag. I'm sure I have some clothes she can borrow." Amelia sighed. Did she really have a choice? She rather his cloths than hers, she got up and grabbed his bag then walked over to him with it and gave it to him. He was smiling the whole time as he search for anything he could find. He then grinned as he pulled out one of his shirts that he wears to bed.
"Well," he laughed. "I'm sure the shirt will fit her but my pants… well the shirt could be worn as a dress-like-shirt," he looked over at Amelia. "Uh… you might want to put it on her. I don't want her wake up and be mad for me being worry about her." Gourry stood up and walk into his tent with Lina then walked out.
Amelia had nodded and walked over to his tent with him. She told him and Zelgadiss to just turn away and don't look until she was done. When she had finally gotten the shirt on her she said to the guys it was okay. She stepped out of the tent and breathed out a sigh. The whole time she took was trying to take off Lina's clothes that stuck to her body and trying to find a way to take off her cloths. Amelia sighed as she sat on the ground, wiping the sweat off her face.
Zelgadiss looked down at her while smiling. "That hard?"
Amelia glared at him. "You try taking off somebody else's clothing that you don't know how they get into them everyday, and the fact that she could have woken up and be mad for me waking her up too was on my mind. I didn't want to be yelled at or punched out because she thought I was somebody else." Zelgadiss nodded his head but still grinned at her.
Amelia went over and got changed in her tent then walked out after she was dressed and hanged her cloths next Zelgadiss' that hanged off one of the branches to dry. Gourry sat down on the ground and glanced over at Lina sleep in her blanket to keep warm. Zelgadiss noticed his stare and smiled. He walked over to him and tapped his shoulder. Gourry looked up at him with a questioning face.
"She needs to be warmer and that blanket isn't doing a good job to give her the warmth she needs." Gourry looked down at Lina, who was shivering in her sleep. He looked back at him.
"What should I do to keep her warmer than the blanket?" Zelgadiss grinned as he remembered all the times Lina had mad fun of him when he blushed or when something with Amelia happened.
'Pay back, Lina.' He thought as he grinned at Gourry.
"How else? Body heat Gourry. That will help her a lot since she has a cold." Amelia, overhearing, blushed as she thought she should say something but kept her mouth shut.
Gourry shot Zelgadiss another glance this time with worry in his eyes. "Won't she be mad though? I mean she doesn't really like—"
"She has a fever. What does she expect? She can't have all of our blankets cause then we would be cold but if she gets body heat from you she won't be cold and you won't either. Amelia and I are going to go to bed and I know you'll stay up wanting to make sure she's alright so you have to be the one to give her heat. Good night Gourry." Zelgadiss went into his tent and Amelia looked at Gourry before she disappeared into hers too.
Gourry looked back down at Lina and smiled when she tried to burry herself deeper into the covers. He gentle picked her up in his arms and took her into his tent the rest of the way. He sat down and she groaned at the change of movement then relaxed in his arms by pressing her face into his chest. Gourry looked at her shocked but put it behind him for she was sick and she was just trying to get comfy but what she did next really left him shocked.
She took a deep breath before she let it out and at the same time his name came out with it. She then grabbed his shirt in her hand and almost tried to pull herself deeper into him while whispering to herself.
"Don't go…" Gourry looked confused before he hugged her closer to him while smiling. He gently rubbed his hand up and down her back at the same time whispering back to her.
"I'm not going anywhere, Lina."
'Mmm… why does my bed smell so good?' Lina thought as she started to wake up to the sounds of birds chirping. She tried to shift her body into a different position but something stopped her with its weight. She grumbled as she tried to lift herself once more only to have her bed groan and pull her back down. Wait… groan… Lina lifted her head and turn it upright. She blushed brightly as she faced the sleeping Gourry. She gaped at him as she tried to remember what happened.
She was out in the rain and she was angry at the world cause of how bad her luck was now then she felt dizzy and… Gourry snorted out something and she turned her attentions back to him. Her thought was to pound the living daylights out of him but paused at the opportunity that she had before her. She laid her head back down on his shoulder and just looked at him, studying every detail he had itched on his face.
She wondered if she could touch his face with her fingers but she pulled back as she heard rustling outside the tent. She quickly shut her eyes as the tent flap opened and light entered the tent and behind her eyelids. Zelgadiss stepped in and nudged Gourry with his foot. Gourry opened his eyes and looked at Zelgadiss. He was about to sit up when he felt the weight and remembered. He smiled as he looked down at Lina.
"How is she?" Zelgadiss asked. Gourry placed his hand on Lina's forehead before he smiled up at Zelgadiss.
"She doesn't feel hot anymore so maybe she's feeling better."
Zelgadiss nodded. "Well then get up both of you so we can get to the next town before dark." He walked out before Gourry could argue back. Gourry glanced down at Lina and gulped. Would she hit him if she woke up laying the way she was on him? He sighed then, as gently as he could, shook her. Lina, who heard everything, pretended to be asleep so she wouldn't have to hear Zelgadiss stupid comments about her and Gourry sleeping together and making it sound all so wrong. She felt Gourry touch her shoulder and shook it lightly.
Lina frowned mentally. 'Like that's going to wake somebody up…' She thought as she pretended again to be waking up. Lina gave him half eyes just like she really did wake up then widen them to make him fear for his life. She laughed mentally at that. He held up his hands as Lina glared at him.
"Now Lina… I know what you're thinking but I swear I did nothing. You had a fever and I was just giving you heat that you needed." Lina glared at him still but inside she smiled and thought that if she ever did tell him she would have to thank him for this moment. She pushed herself off him and stood up. She felt cold and wondered why before she realized that she didn't have her normal cloths on. She blushed as bright as her hair before she screamed and punched Gourry this time without him explaining why she had his shirt on only.
Gourry slammed into the ground as he was about to say why she was wearing his shirt but only to have her fist cut him off. Lina bent down and grabbed the blanket that was beside Gourry and headed for the flap of the tent. She turned to look at him before yelling out, "Pervert!" then stormed out of the tent. Gourry sat up rubbing his cheek at the same time while he thought that she was going to be mad with him all day for that.
Zelgadiss grinned as Lina came storming out of Gourry's tent yelling at the same time. He was folding up his tent as he watched her look for hers but didn't find it so she went into Amelia's, who screamed a shocked cry as Lina barged in on her. Kaori smiled at Amelia as she came out of her tent grumbling. Zelgadiss just continued to fold his tent grinning the whole time. When Gourry had finally came out he glanced around to make sure Lina wasn't around then made his way out of the tent and place his stuff beside everyone's things.
Zelgadiss came over and placed his tent beside his things then turned to Gourry.
"Really, you guys should be quieter when you do those things." Zelgadiss grinned as Gourry looked at him confused. Lina charged out of Amelia's tent and smack down Zelgadiss and he went flying into the ground.
"We did nothing." She hissed out between clenched teeth. She then turned to Gourry, who jumped at the contact with her eyes. "And you! You had better not have done anything while I was sick cause if I find out, you're dead! No better yet I'll just make sure you can't take advantage of girls anymore." She pounded her fist into her opened palm and Gourry gulped. "Go put you tent away now Gourry. Zel you go help Kaori and Amelia. We're losing daylight and I'm not staying out here another night!" She then stomped off to go and eat something.
They walked along the path that was leading them to the town called Giles. Everything was going the way Lina had wanted it to go and even the day seemed to not bother her. She took in the rained fresh air and smiled as she thought to herself, 'Nothing could spoil this perfect day.' Just as she was about to comment her thoughts a yelp came from behind her, a girl kinda yelp… Her eyebrow twitched as she regrets saying it was "perfect". She turned around to see Kaori on her buttocks holding her ankle and she gritted her teeth.
Gourry, being the damn nice guy he was, was kneeling over her already with worry written on his face. Kaori clearly had pain written on her face and tiny tears coming out of the corner of her eyes. Lina huffed a sigh then walked over to where Gourry was hunched over.
"What's wrong?" She asked annoyingly, even if she knew what was wrong.
Kaori gasped out in pain before replying, "M-my ankle. I-I think I twisted it."
Lina looked down at her before sighing again then turned to Amelia. "I think a quick heal should do." Amelia blushed as she walked over to Lina and whispered something in her ear. Lina eyes widen as she yelled, "WHAA?! You too? How can you have your—" Amelia cupped her hand over Lina's mouth blushing brighter than before.
"M-miss Lina! Don't say things like that out loud!" Lina pulled her hand away from her mouth and glared at her. She then remembered that Zelgadiss could heal as well. She smiled as she turned to… air? Lina glanced around looking for Zelgadiss who was nowhere to be found. She growled under her breath cursing at the same time. She would pay him back later. She glanced back at Kaori, who was now being helped up by Gourry curtsey of his arm, to help her stand. She placed her hurt foot down to the ground only to spring back up her foot with another yelp.
Lina glared at her while she bit the edge of her thumb. 'She did it on purpose! I know she did but I can't prove it. Damn!' Gourry looked up at Lina and she just sighed.
"Go ahead Gourry. She can't walk on it, it'll only get worse." Gourry smiled as he nodded. He then turned to Kaori and pardoned himself as he bent down and picked her up into his arms. She made a noise as he did this and then blushed lightly as he now started to walk with her in his arms.
"S-sorry for this." She quietly said as she grabbed his shirt for her safety reasons and he smiled down at her.
"It wasn't your fault for getting hurt and besides my Grandmother told me to be nice to little girls." Gourry had a big smile on his face when he said this and Kaori smiled lightly back at him. Lina on the other hand already hated this and Kaori wasn't even in his arms that long.
'That idiot!' She thought as she walked behind them. She bit her thumb trying not to say it out loud as she remembered that he had said the same thing to her when she was hurt. 'What does he do? Say that to every damn girl he meets?' She thought angry thoughts about him as they walked down the street. Gourry lend his left ear down to his shoulder and rubbed it as best as he could.
"What's wrong?" Kaori asked as she looked up at the sudden movement.
Gourry looked back down at her and grinned. "Ah, it's nothing. Just my ear started to itch is all."
Kaori giggled lightly. "Somebody must be thinking of you then." Gourry laughed with her as he lends down again to rub his ear.
"Then they must be thinking about me a lot!" He said as he and her continued to laugh. Amelia glanced behind her to look at Lina and sweat-dropped at the sight. Lina looked pissed, as there was an aura around her that looked evil as well. She turned around to glance at Gourry and Kaori whom both seemed to be having fun without noticing the change in Lina. She sighed as she hoped for the best in Gourry's health.
"So ZEL, you decide to ditch us at a bad moment back there and left Kaori to deal with the pain all the way here!"
Kaori reached out a hand to say something but stopped as Lina shot her with a glare. She backed out quietly and Lina turned her attention to Zelgadiss, who wasn't really listening to a word she was yelling. He calmly took another sip of his coffee then looked at Kaori.
"She doesn't look in pain," Zelgadiss turn back to Lina. "Gourry seemed to have been a fine ride here if she isn't in pain like you're saying she was." Lina gritted her teeth as she glared at him, if even possible, harder. Zelgadiss smiled at the brim of his cup.
"Gee, Lina. If I didn't know any better I'd say you were jel-mmfft." Lina gave his back a hard slap and made his cup of hot coffee spill over him. He sputtered as he tried to get the coffee out of his nose. Gourry cringed back in pain as he saw the steam from the hot coffee float off Zelgadiss' face, if that was anybody else that would have hurt like hell.
"Gee, Zel. You should be more careful when drinking something. It could go up your nose if you talk too much." Lina said in the same voice that Zelgadiss had used. They both did a glare contest before Lina turned sharp on her heels then walked off over to a different table and yelled at one of the waiters to get her everything off the list that they had.
Zelgadiss sighed as he wiped the now cooling coffee off his face then turn to Kaori. "Let's heal this up before I get yelled at again." Kaori nodded and set her foot on the chair in front of him, wincing at the same time. Zelgadiss muttered the words for the healing spell then set off to work on mending the bruised muscle. Meanwhile Amelia walked over to where Lina sat. She pulled out a chair where she could see both Zelgadiss and Lina. She smiled at Lina and Lina glared at her.
"What do you want?" Lina spat out, she lend into her chair arms crossed as she patiently waited for her food.
Amelia smiled at her as she lend into her hands. "Why don't you just tell him?"
Lina sputtered as she sat up straight. "Wh-what?! What the heck are you talking about?" She said after she regain her cool and lend into her chair again pretending that she didn't hear what she said.
Amelia smiled more as she glanced over at Gourry. "I'm sure he's just being polite but maybe if you were to tell him how you felt—" Lina slammed her palms into the table making the whole room quiet.
She glared and Amelia gulped at the seriousness in her eyes. "I don't need help thank you. How bout you take your own advice and do it yourself. I'm sure you'll have better luck than me." She stood up pushing her chair back then walked away from the table. Amelia sat there shocked as she watched the spot where Lina had sat. She frowned at the table before she stood up and went back over to Zelgadiss, Gourry, and Kaori.
"What was that all about?" Zelgadiss asked, as he still was making sure he healed Kaori right. Amelia looked up at him surprised as if she didn't know he was there then smiled.
"It was nothing. I was just trying to help Lina through some things and I guess you heard the rest." She chuckled a bit then looked back down at the ground. Zelgadiss quirked a brow as he studied her to find out more but she closed herself off to him. He frowned before he went back to healing.
Everyone had eaten before they headed up to go to sleep. Everyone had a room to themselves except Amelia, who had agreed that she would share with Kaori. Lina lay upon her bed wide-awake as she repeated Amelia's words over and over in her head. Maybe she should tell him now, now that she had the chance of not getting interrupted again. She burrowed her face into her pillow as anxiety over came her and she tried thinking of how she was going to do this again.
She sat up in her bed and nodded to no one. Tonight was the night he was going to know how she felt. She got out of bed to put back on her regular clothes. She sniffed and wrinkled her nose. She really needed to get her stuff washed. She slipped her outfit on then headed to the door. She opened it slowly then walked out into the dimly lit hallway. She turned her head and saw Kaori going past the corner where the guys slept. Her brow furrowed as curiosity got the better of her and she followed right after Kaori.
She peeked around the corner to see Kaori standing in front of a door. She knocked gently then a bit harder when no one answered. Lina then heard the door open then the voice of Gourry, sounding very sleepy, and then heard him asked, "Kaori? What's wrong?"
Kaori hugged her arms around her body as she looked down at the ground. Gourry didn't know what was wrong so he asked her if she wanted to come in. Kaori smiled lightly then nodded her head before stepping in. After she had went in Lina had quickly went pass the corner she hid behind and stood up against the wall close to Gourry's door. To her luck the door hadn't been closed all the way so she could hear what was being said behind the wooden door.
"Come on, what's wrong. You look like Lina took your food away from ya." Gourry said as he smiled to get her to smile. She did and then she went back to a frown.
"Gourry… just wondering and I know that we haven't know each other long but… what do you think of me?" Kaori kept her face down as a blush had appeared. Lina glared at the roof of the building. She heard Gourry chuckle then she heard movement. Gourry sat on the bed as he smiled at her.
"You're a great person and I'm sure everyone agrees."
Kaori shook her head. "No. As in something… more…" Gourry knitted his brows together as he thought of her question. Lina on the other side of the wall stared at the roof wide eyed.
'The heck is she trying to do?' She thought as she turned to take a peek inside. What she saw was defiantly not what she wanted to see. Lina opened the door and looked at Kaori kissing Gourry. His eyes wide as Kaori was kissing him then his eyes darted to where Lina stood. He pushed Kaori away and looked at Lina wide eyed.
"L-Lina!" Lina looked at him with tears in her eyes. She then gasped out loud as if she didn't know that she had been caught. She quickly turned around and ran down the hall. "LINA!" Gourry yelled as he got up to follow her. Kaori sat there glaring at the doorway then got up from where she sat and walked to the door but disappeared before she exited out of the room…