Disclaimer: Blah Blah I dont own blah blah;3

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Note: Thank you so much to Purin-chan! You have no idea how much i admire your talented stories and your amazing ability with words. I've been reading your X/L stories for such a long time and in truth you are the reason why this couple is my favorite. I shall now call you Purin-sensei! Hehe, anyways, please keep reviewing my stories. I promise to follow all directions from the master of lemony arts;3

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After their yet another awkward encounter, Lina and Xelloss decided to eat their breakfast in silence. Not that Xelloss had ever been the talkative type, but for now he decided that it was best he not anger the little sorceress further. He glanced down at his charred cape, and inwardly pouted. It was worth it though, for now he knew that Lina had some sort of interest in him. That was yet another advantage in his favor.

Lina tore at her food with canine-like teeth, glaring at Xelloss. Oh how she wished that this fish was his leg, so she could tear it off and watch him scream in pain. Even with all of the menacing looks she gave him Xelloss seemed to just grin at her.

Xelloss simply smiled at Lina while taking tiny, polite bites, of the fish she had cooked so considerately that morning. He knew that Lina wasn't mad at him, she was just embarrassed that he knew what she wanted even when she didn't know herself. For some odd reason, that brought a sense of pride to him over the fumbling idiot Gourry. The swordsman had never kissed her like that, she probably would have sent him to hell for it.

What did he care what Lina felt for him over Gourry? He didn't care. It was his orders to gain Lina's trust, and that's exactly what he was doing.

Lina watched a strange expression cross over Xelloss's face, breaking his mask for a split second. It was one of the few times that Lina could actually say that she knew that mazoku had feelings of somewhat, too. She stared at him, wanting to know exactly what he was thinking about. It was so unfair that he could probably read her like a book.

She didn't want to admit it, but she liked the way Xelloss had kissed her. It was so passionate, and open. Gourry would have never kissed her like that, for he had too much respect for a young maiden. But Xelloss ignited a flame that licked her skin, and burned the very core of her being. Lina swallowed, embarrassed. What was she thinking?

Xelloss caught her stare, and grinned mischievously. He noted the light blush that graced her cheeks and raised his eyebrows at her, as if asking her if something was on her mind. Her lips parted and she stared mutely at him helplessly, he had caught her.

She felt like a trapped animal, this was torture. "Something the matter, Lina-san?" He drawled. Lina shook her head violently. "No, no. Everything is fine."

Smiling smugly, Xelloss resumed nibbling at his food. He looked forward to the day's events.

OoO

"Lina-san, what are you doing?" Xelloss questioned, watching Lina unsheathe her sword. After traveling all morning and through the afternoon they finally reached the infamous mountain pass.

"Isn't it obvious? This is where the Abura-sumashi reside, I am getting ready for them." She answered, rather annoyed. He was supposed to know these things.

Just as she'd finished talking a small Abura-sumashi appeared before them, blocking their path. It was a tiny creature, with squiggly little hands and feet. It held out an oil can and looked up at them with a pleading look. Lina sheathed her sword again and couldn't resist scoffing.

"This is it? This is why people are so afraid to pass through here? I could through this thing off the side of the mountain if I wanted to!" Lina rambled to herself, expressing her superiority.

While she rambled Xelloss watched the little Abura grovel for oil rather pitifully. If mazoku had hearts Xelloss might actually feel bad for the little one. Lina sauntered past the pleading little thing and ignored its final plea. "Oil, please. I need oil.'' He tugged lightly on Lina's cape.

''We don't have any damned oil you brat! Now let go!'' She turned away from the Abura, but Xelloss didn't move. He knew what was coming. Lina turned at the sound of the suddenly booming voice behind her.

''No oil? No oil?! NO OIL?!'' Her eyes widened and a sweat drop appeared on her head. The little brat had grown to the size of a troll! ''No oil, no mountain.'' Before Lina could respond, the now enormous Abura threw her by her cape into the mountain wall.

She moaned as her body crashed down and into the ground. The Abura-sumashi still kept on though, and picked her up again, this time throwing her for the opposite mountain-side.

But Xelloss teleported to her rescue, catching her in his arms before she could slam into the mountain. He set her down gently and tried to comfort her, but she shoved him away and shouted an angry spell. "Wind which blows across eternity, gather in my hands and become my strength!''

''Buramu Gasshu!''

An arrow of wind appeared from her poised her hands and shot out at the Abura, and it exploded on contact, shattering her victim into pieces. She smugly turned back to the mountain trail that led into the first layer of the mountain.

''Humph. 'No oil, no mountain.' my ass.''

After climbing for almost an hour's worth of mountain, Lina and Xelloss reached the archway to the next layer of mountain. But just before they reached it, a fog enveloped the travelers. Nothing could be seen anywhere around them, it was all just smog.

Lina looked behind her. "Xelloss?'' She called, seeing no following priest in sight. Her eyes darted everywhere, feeling a little nervous she started to creep closer to the exit.

"Xelloss, this isn't funny." She tried to keep the shaking out of her voice but failed miserably. A shadow flew through the fog, and an eerie shriek sounded. It rang in Lina's ears and left a terrifying echo.

She decided that if Xelloss really had been hiding, he would have jumped out by now, so she decided to take charge. She mumbled her spell and lifted her arms into the position of an arrow launcher.

"Wind Brid!"

The fog around the arrow of wind disappeared and a figure was materialized. ''Xelloss!'' Lina exclaimed, and ran over to him. ''Jeez Xelloss, you scared me... Disappearing like that...'' Xelloss just simply smiled down at her.

''Xelloss?'' Lina reached up to touch his face. ''Xelloss?'' She tried again, but he still only smiled at her. She jumped when his hands suddenly encircled her waist, drawing her into his embrace. "Hey!"

Lina looked up at him, and his eyes were now open, revealing his beautiful eyes. She knew that something wasn't right, and shoved against his chest, punching him and pushing with all her might. It was no use. ''Xelloss what is wrong with you?!''

Xelloss ignored her question. ''Don't worry Lina-san, I am here now.'' Before Lina could object, Xelloss's lips smashed onto hers, bringing tears to her eyes. This was not the same sort of kiss they had once shared, this one made Lina cringe in pain. She felt Xelloss's hands squeeze her lower back so hard the bruises started to form, and she screamed against his lips.

He still didn't react, only moved his lips above hers, and crushing them harder as he did. Lina's lips hurt so much she felt her teeth being pressed into them. She tried one last time to shove him off, and this time he let himself be pushed away from her.

Lina's hand reached up to touch her swollen lips, and felt blood on her fingers. She gasped and stared at Xelloss in mute anger. ''What's the matter, Lina-san?'' He reached for her again, but she backed away, unknowingly trapping herself with his body looming in front of hers.

"Xelloss what's gotten into you?" Lina shrank back as he reached out his hand again, this time grazing it gently against her neck. She swallowed, and nervoulsy reached out to take his hand away from her. But before she knew it his fingers were clasped tightly around her throat.

She gagged as her fingers tried uselessly to pry his hand loose, and felt her body being brought into the air. Her legs kicked frantically as she felt her lungs constrict painfully. Xelloss smiled at her and brought her body up just a bit higher, just before he crushed her into the stone wall, slamming her small frame into it.

Lina groaned as her body was smashed backwards, and the sound of bones cracking made her wince. She slid down the wall in a useless heap. Whatever breath she had left in her lungs was sucked from her body, and she coughed uncontrollably. The impact had broken her leg and, she found as she tried to support herself with her arm, apparently her shoulder too.

Xelloss simply stared down at her, his smile becoming more and more menacing all the while. His eyes opened to reveal his violet depths to her, seeming to make his face even more terrifying.

But suddenly it wasn't Xelloss who was staring down at her anymore, his form started to change right in front of her. Now what stood in his place was a hideous old woman with long golden white hair, and the red kimono she donned was tattered and torn. Lina's mouth opened in silent horror as her gaze fixed itself on the woman's mouth, it took up the entire width of her wrinkled face, and the sharp fangs that dangled from her gums brought a chill through Lina.

"Baka! Did you really think I was this 'Xelloss' you speak of? Aho!" The old woman cackled down at the crippled Lina.

"Urusai, oban. You ashi de matoi." The old hag glared down at Lina, her eyes spitting fire at her. "You'll regret that, wench." Lina rolled her eyes and tried to stand up again, only to fail as two of her main limbs were useless. She looked up again to glare at the old hag but her eyes widened as she stared at her.

The old woman's hair had turned from long and white to red-eyed snakes, they hissed at her and closed in. Lina screeched in unbearable pain as one of the snakes wrapped itself around her broken leg, and the others wrapped themselves around her neck, wrists, and waist.

Lina was brought into the air yet again, and another scream of agony erupted from her. The snakes were squeezing her so tight...so tight... Her limbs were aching and her weakened bones were failing under the weight of the pressure being applied.

Her body bucked again as one of the snakes bent her leg backwards and then pulled it out straight. Lina made the mistake of looking down and into the old woman's face, for the woman's eyes were now a blood-thirsty red and her mouth was wide open, and her tongue peeked out to lick her fangs in anticipation. The old hag was going to eat her!

Soon Lina couldn't fight anymore as the snakes squeezed all the blood from her body, they were weakening her so there would be less resistance to the feast. SHe was being lowered into the woman's mouth when the snakes bodies were chopped off.

Lina screamed as her death seemed to be closing in as she fell straight into the mouth of her predator. But there was Xelloss again, catching her out of the air and into his arms. Bringing her higher above the woman he surveyed her tattered and bruised body. "Are you alright Lina-san?"

"I'm fine." This was an obvious lie, she knew, but she refused to bring herself low enough to gain a mozoku's pity. Xelloss raised an eyebrow but decided to leave it alone for now.

His gaze turned down to the old woman now spitting fire up at them, and he descended to her slowly. He resumed his mask and put on his best smile. "And what's a beautiful woman like yourself doing in these dirty mountains? Surely you deserve to be somewhere that matches your beauty."

The old hag blushed and raised her hand to her wrinkled face in embarrassment. "Oh, my..." She waved her hand nonchalantly to the exit and smiled at them. "You and your little friend can go now, Bishonen, I have lost my appetite." Then she batted her eyelashes at him before disappearing into thin air.

Xelloss wasted no time bringing Lina through the archway that led to the next layer of the mountain. As soon as he set her down against the mountain wall, she moaned in pain from her broken limbs. A frown of concern creased his brow and he touched her cheek lightly. "Lina-san, where does it hurt?"

Lina ignored his question, and instead asked one of her own. "What is wrong with you, you stupid priest! Why were you flirting with that oban?!" Xelloss chuckled at her obvious jealousy, but he didn't point it out. Even Lina didn't know why she was so mad about it.

"Lina-san that was a Yamanba, she is a yokai that tricks travelers with illusion and then eats their souls. She is very hard to escape unless you are charming enough to avade her clutches." He winked at her.

Lina laughed, but the laugh got caught in her throat and instead she coughed up more blood. As she reached up to wipe her face she caught Xelloss's eyes. his real eyes, scrutinizing her. "I'm fine." She repeated, annoyed that he wouldn't just let it go.

He ignored her and rubbed his hands up her legs, squeezing all the tender places. Lina glared down at him, and prepared to strike. "What are you doing you damned-" She sucked in a breath as his hands squeezed the bone that had been shattered.

"Your leg is broken." Xelloss stated, looking up into her eyes again. "Is there anywhere else?" Lina bit her lip, and winced as her teeth came in contact with her bloody one. "My shoulder too, that oban dislocated it." Xelloss nodded and resumed his body search, investigating anywhere else that might have a major injury. Except for the many yelps of pain from bruises and scrapes there were no more broken bones.

"Why did you let her get so close?" He asked, capturing her with his eyes again. Lina blushed and averted her eyes from his. "She disguised herself as you...so I ran to her." Her cheeks colored and Xelloss raised an eyebrow, but didn't press the issue.

"Well, I can help you with the broken bones but the rest you'll have to rely on your white magic for." Lina didn't have the strength to be annoyed at him for stating the obvious, so instead she just nodded meekly and leaned her head back against the wall. "You're going to push my bones back in to place, ne?"

Xelloss didn't answer for a while before finally nodding; he knew how painful it was for a human to go through that. Lina nodded again, and shivered. She knew of this method, and of course she had broken lots of limbs before, but never had she ever been faced with the solution of forcing them back into place.

She lifted her head up again and stared boldly into the violet murky depths that were Xelloss's guide. "Alright, do it. Just make it quick."

OoO

Two hours later, Lina lay on her mat beside the fire. Xelloss had popped her bones back into place with surprising strength, and speed. It didn't hurt as much as she thought it would but it hurt. Her minor wounds had healed already through her magic so she wasn't as sore as she used to be.

Now Lina just sits alone, her amber hair resting on her slim shoulders, her golden jewelry glowing in the dim firelight. She stared at Xelloss sitting very still in his upright sleeping position, and smiled.

Xelloss had brought a new light to her thoughts, and gave her notion that there were mazoku who didn't go around destroying things and killing innocents. In fact Xelloss wasn't that bad at all, he was sort of sweet. Either that or he was sickeningly charming.

Lina was grateful for his cheery company for once, for she didn't need someone like Xelgadiss to bring down her mood. She did that enough already. The thought of liking his company would have never crossed her mind if he hadn't received orders to follow her, so she was grateful, just this once, to beastmaster-sama.

Her eyes drooped and Lina rested her head on the mat. She whispered an inaudible sentence that Xelloss would have never caught if he'd really been sleeping all this time.

"Thank you, Xelloss-san." Were her last mumbled words before falling asleep again.

Xelloss opened one eye at her, grinning slyly. She was falling right into his plans, and everything was going just fine. Lina Inverse trusted him and liked his company, which meant that she'd never expect the other half of his orders.

But one thing bothered the mazoku priest greatly, what she'd said about the Yamanba. Obviously she hadn't know the legend of the mountain yokai or she;d know that in order to leer you in she disguised herself as a loved one to gain trust, and not to mention confuse the hell out of you.

Lina had said that the yokai was him, but that was impossible. The yokai had made a mistake when she'd invaded Lina's mind, and misunderstood Lina's lust for him as love. Xelloss knew that it had to be a mistake.

No one could love a mazoku.

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kya! something happened to my clipboard last night and I only posted half of this chapter. But I just updated it so this is the whole thing, so I got it covered. And once again sorry for the Japanese, its my second language and in truth I use it more than my first! gomen-ne! And I am a fast updater so I post each new chapter daily, if possible. So check back frequently for new ones;3