Finally, after two weeks, I am able to get up my new chapter. I do not own Slayers, Major League Baseball, the Detroit Tigers, Portland, the awesomeness of my reviewers or Naga's unusually thick cranium. I might make my next installment in another two weeks, considering I have the dreaded semester finals to take next week. Also, apologies last week for the FCC rant in the Things to Know. I do realize that they are just trying to do their job. I bet they hate doing their job as much as the amount of flack random people like me give them.

Ni-juu-san

The Swelling of Egos! Is This For Real?

"LIAM!" bellowed Jan. Lina turned her head and without thinking, caught the zooming ball an whipped it home to Takashi. The catcher caught the ball and easily tagged the man attempting to run into home. Fans in the stands cheered for their Slayers as the number of outs in the ninth inning finally amounted to two.

Suddenly, the crowd rose to its feet. They recognized the situation when the scoreboard lights blinked with the second out as official. There was a singular runner still out for the Tigers, being the stone-faced catcher looming about second. That man was the tying run in the top of the ninth inning. Excitement surged through the air as the red-headed first baseman stepped up to the plate, preparing for the possible best and worst the closing pitcher could give him. The batter shifted in place as Daniel and Takashi silently discussed which pitch to use.

Pick one already damn it! Lina cursed silently as the two were deciding to use a low fastball or an outside curve ball. The air became heavy as the decision became more and more difficult to resolve. Lina twitched her mouth as she saw Daniel accept the sign for the outside curve ball. Daniel drew back his arm and thrust the ball forward, hoping to make the best of his opponent. A forceful swing met only air as the batter missed the ball by a hair's breadth. Not only did Lina breathe a sigh of relief, but a few more of her teammates did as well. Everyone on the field tensed up once again as Daniel pitched another ball, this one being the secondary fast ball on the inside of the batter's box.

Pfft, went the sound of the ball striking against Takashi's glove as the strike was called, though the batter was able to check his swing. Daniel caught the return ball from Takashi and looked back to second, where Lina and Gary were keeping the Tiger's catcher at bay from stealing third. Good. They were doing their job. Now he had to throw one last strike and his job would be complete as well. The real pressure, the kind that felt like a knot in his intestines, it began to kick in as he began to debate with Takashi silently over the next, hopefully the final, pitch.

One finger... fast ball outside... no way. He hit that earlier in the game. Two fingers... that was the curve ball that he nearly hit. Scratch that one off the list. Three fingers... no knuckle balls today. Four fingers... that was it! Inside fast ball. The batter checked his swing on that and he would not expect the same pitch twice in a row. It was perfect. Daniel took a deep breath to calm his nerves and then let loose one of the fastest pitches he had thrown that night. He closed his eyes upon releasing, not wanting to see the result.

Pfft, went Takashi's glove again.

"Strike three! You're out of here!" yelled Sunny the Umpire. "Game over! The Slayers win!"

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Naga checked the hastily-scrawled note she held in her hand that was inscribed from the contents of a phone book not even forty minutes earlier. In the Maelstrom Apartment Building... check; on the fifth floor... check; at apartment number five-twelve... check... now why in the hell was she so nervous? Maybe it was the way in which she had suddenly left all that time ago or that she was going to show up almost out of completely thin air. After taking a deep, calming breath, she nervously beat on the door.

"Amelia, open up this instant!" she said into the door when her pounding yielded no answer. "Don't you dare ignore me!" She was about to forcefully knock again when a tall, brown-haired man that she did not recognize opened the door and leaned casually on the door frame.

"Amelia's out. Who are you?"

"I should be the one asking you that!" Naga scoffed, pushing the man aside and barging in to inspect the area. "This is supposed to be Amelia's apartment. Why are you still here if she's out?"

"Just watching the place. I don't think she'll even be gone for more than fifteen minutes. It was just a quick run out to the store. We were going to have lunch but she ran out of sandwich bread and..."

"You her boyfriend?"

"Used to be."

"Then why are you here?"

"We're still friends. Why are you questioning me anyways?"

"Let's just call it instinct," Naga looked around to find a picture frame that had Amelia with two other people in Washington D.C., one of whom she expected to be there and the other being the man who was standing right in front of her. "I mean, someone has to play the role of protector in our family."

Our family…? Kurt froze and looked wide-eyed at Naga. Was it her? The one Amelia talked about? Was it really her?

"Gracia?"

"Ah, so you do know of me," Naga laughed. She glanced haughtily at him, studying his tense, obviously enraged body language. "Now, who are you?"

"Kurt, like it really matters to you. Where have you been the past eight years?"

"I'd give you the sticky details, but I still have my modesty." She gave a howling laugh that strained Kurt's ears. "Besides, all I really want to do is ask my sister about an old childhood friend of ours." Naga sat down on the couch, clearly refusing to budge.

Damn it, she thought to herself. This idiot fielder is going to get in the way. Why did she have to befriend this dolt?

"You were uninvited and are very rude!" Kurt snapped, trying his best not to lose his temper. "Stand outside in the hall until Amelia comes back!"

"Don't you dare order me around," Naga sneered.

"Do you think that I really want to!"

"Then don't!"

"You abandoned my friend!"

"It was for her own good."

"By leaving her without an older sister figure? She's told me about how your disappearance left not only her in shambles, but your father as well!"

"She had Lina to take care of her and besides, my father was a goody-two shoes idiot," Naga scoffed. "Me sticking around would have broken his heart even worse." She paused and looked over towards the door. "Hey Ame, is that you?" Then there was a silence. The moment lasted for only a few seconds before Kurt began chewing her out for trying to change the subject. Little did Kurt know that there had been someone at the open door. He just did not come in, instead standing in the hallway, just barely out of sight.

Who is that woman! Zelgadis thought, standing frozen in the hallway. I did not even get to the door! That in there is definitely not Amelia. I must have the wrong apartment… He let out a heavy sigh and turned around to leave, but he was surprised to find Amelia standing right there behind him.

"Hello there Mr. Zelgadis!" she said happily. "Did you need to see me for something?"

"N-No, not really," Zelgadis lied, his face flushing with red in embarrassment. "I was just wondering if you…"

"Why don't you come inside?" Amelia asked, cutting off Zelgadis's suggestion of going out somewhere together. The chimera was going to protest and retreat back to the staircase, but Amelia cut him off. "Now why is the door wide open? Hey Kurt! Did you open up the door?" She walked in without a problem, Zelgadis forcing himself to follow.

"Amelia!" Kurt exclaimed as she entered the kitchen, keeping the living area out of her sight. He went over to the doorway between the kitchen and the living area and began to talk in a quick fashion spurred by his panic. "ShejustbargedinandIcouldn'tstopherandshewasmeanandshewasrudeandshewouldn'twaitoutsideforyouand…"

"Hang on!" Amelia protested, halting Kurt's ranting so that he could breathe. After a second, he noticed Zelgadis standing silently by the refrigerator and pointed at him questioningly.

"Oh," Amelia shrugged. She pointed at each man as she casually introduced them. "That's my boss… that's my good friend… now what in the heck is the matter Kurt?" She pushed past him and walked into an empty living area. "Who were you talking about? There's no one here."

"Garcia!" Kurt exhaled heavily. "She was right there on the couch! She was just here talking to me!"

"That's not a very funny joke," Amelia sighed.

"No," Kurt said, pointing at the couch. "She was right there! I am not lying!"

"Kurt, leave. Now."

"Huh?"

Then, before he knew it, Kurt was outside of Amelia's, the door slamming in his face.

…but she was just there…

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Naga hopped into the passenger seat of the idling convertible and laughed as it sped away. She gently picked up Kiko from the back seat and placed the small white dog in her lap.

"Thanks for keeping the car running dear," she told AirJay as he turned a corner sharply.

"Any time, babe. What'd you got there?"

"My sister's digital camera," she replied with a smirk. She was browsing the camera's memory with relish, going through the proof that confirmed that confirmed her suspicions.

"She loaned you her digital camera?"

"No."

"Did you at least talk to her?"

"Are yo kidding me?"

"Then you broke into her apartment and stole it?"

"No. I'm just borrowing it," Naga laughed. She turned the camera towards AirJay when he came to a halt at a traffic light.

"Whoa, who's the little red-headed flat-chest there with your sister? She looks as if I have seen her before."

"Lina Inverse."

"How do I know that name?"

"She plays baseball."

"Many people play baseball babe."

"Not many play professional baseball though."

If AirJay had not been stopped at a traffic light, he would have slammed on the breaks. Instead, when the light turned green, he slammed down on the gas pedal and sped off dangerously.

"What's the matter?" Naga asked, noticing AirJay's startled face.

"I just put two and two together and I got something that scares the shit out of me," he said. "Are you talking about who I think you're talking about?"

"Liam Inverse?"

"Ora bolas," AirJay shuddered. "Sometimes you really creep me out."

"Yep. I had my suspicions since the Tigers/Slayers game."

"That was the beginning of the playoffs! We're covering the semifinals tomorrow with the Yankees/Slayers game! Why did you never tell anyone before... let alone notice?"

"I never looked real hard at Liam before two weeks ago at the Tiger game. It was then that I realized that he beared a strong resemblance to a girl I knew when I lived in my hometown."

"Oh, you mean that creepy little Mayberry-town that is stuck in the fifties and can't possibly appreciate a sexily-fine woman like you?" AirJay said smoothly with a smile. "What kind of great baseball player can come out of Nowhere?"

"Lina can and if she just cuts her hair, flattens what little chest she has and changes her name, she's a man's perfect double. Everything makes sense now."

"What makes sense?"

"Everything you idiot!" Naga snapped. "Why Amelia has pictures of her with Liam on her camera but not a single one with Lina, why Kurt Fuchs was in her apartment while she went out to the store, why Liam freezes up when Gourry Gabriev is always on the mound and she is at the plate..."

"What are you saying?" AirJay said with a fake gasp.

"Au au au, ruff ruf au," Kiko barked. The actions of Liam now make sense! Idiot.

"I know that," AirJay scoffed at the dog. "It is just that the last comment doesn't sound completely right. What do you mean that you now know why Liam froze at the plate?"

"I hope you both know that either tells anyone else about this and they die."

"Yes ma'am."

"Au."

"I think Liam, who is really Lina, likes Gourry, or is at least intrigued by him," Naga grinned, looking through some more pictures on the camera and grinned devilishly. "She's never experienced love before and I think that now's about the time she first gets bitten by the bug."

"Heh, you truly are the one for me. You sound so vicious when you say that," AirJay smirked, sharply turning a corner again and nearly causing an accident.

"Yeah, well, I guess we just have to wait this one out," Naga said as AirJay zoomed onto the highway. "Rumor has it, the Gladiators are working their way up the ladder in the National League."

"Oh! What fun!"

"Au, au, ruf!" You two are so strange.

Things To Know

The Tigers: I really, really, really want them to win the World Series this year. They've been fire-hot so far and it would be more rewarding for me to witness them winning such a thing since I have been behind the team even when they sucked so bad they set the record for losses. Baka bandwagon.

Naga vs. Kurt: Yes, I wrote this on my panic mode, therefore, I feel as if it could be better, but there is no real way to do so. Them encountering each other and then having Naga conveniently slip out before Amelia noticing was fun though.

Zelgadis: What's he doing at Amelia's apartment trying to ask her out? We shall see!

AirJay/Naga: As always, not owning the pairing, let alone the characters of AirJay, Kiko or our umpire Sunny.