Chapter Two

A somewhat short figure darkened the doorway to the small room. In the dim lighting, her shoulder-length light purple hair looked darker than usual, but even in the dim lighting, the woman could see enough.

She stared, placed a hand on her hip, and sighed. She had been eager to get home, as her shift at the local restaurant had been more hectic than usual, and everyone was being cheap with their tips. At one point, she even had a brat throw up on her. It wasn't a nice feeling, and it stank.

But when she walked by her sister's long-abandoned bedroom, only to find it not only occupied, but occupied by two people instead of one, even the scent of a child's upchuck could be ignored.

Granted, her sister looked a little different. Taller, maybe. Longer hair. Still thin, though. The man, however, was a piece of work. Extremely tall, with yards of blond hair, as well muscular. With her sister held in his arms, she looked even smaller than usual, because he was just so BIG.

Interesting, the woman thought, raising an eyebrow that of course could not be seen through her curtain of bangs. Lina-chan comes home with a man.

Slowly, Luna crept into the room, her hand reaching to her side. She drew out her butcher knife slowly. The blade glinted, not with reflection, but with pure light, but she only had to flicker her glance at it for it to die. When she was merely inches hovering over the tangled couple, she brought the knife up and carefully edged it closer to Lina's throat, grinning widely.

A hand shot out and grabbed her wrist, tight. She jerked, a flare of her power responding to the sudden assault, making the blade of the knife shine. The man had her wrist in his huge grip, and his eyes were on her. And yet, she realised, impressed, he hadn't even sat up.

His face was hard for a moment, then suddenly relaxed. He let go of her wrist and yawned, stretching a little. "If you're going to scare her, that's fine," he whispered, draping an arm over his eyes. "Just don't use knives. They make me cringe."

Luna gaped at him, then hissed, "Excuse me, but who the hell are you?"

The man dropped his arm, smiling. "You sure sound like your mom!" he declared, forgetting to lower his voice.

Lina grunted and stirred. "Gourry, why are you loud?" she mumbled, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "Are you talking to yourself again? You know that freaks me out..." Slowly, Lina's eyes looked down, blinking. Her gaze made its way up gradually, and when they landed on Luna's face, they froze, going wide and fearful.

Luna grinned, waving the blade of her knife at Lina. "Welcome home, Lina-chan!" she declared.

The scream that ripped from Lina's throat could be heard from the street.

X X X

Luna held Lina in a pretty decent headlock as she spoke to Gourry over tea. Lina was whining, loudly, and Gourry found this amusing. He had known her for a long time, and watched her grow up into a woman, but now that she was home, in front of her family, it was like she took several steps backwards. She was acting like a kid, and it was amusing to him. It reminded him of when he first met her.

"Luna-onee-san, can't we just forget it?" Lina wailed, trying to squirm out of her sister's grip.

Luna sipped her tea calmly, her other arm not even shifting. "Never. Shut up, I'm talking to your friend here." She turned to Gourry. "So you're Gourry, huh? Where are you from? You have a bit of an accent."

Gourry smiled. "So do you," he replied, carefully avoiding the question. Of all of the things he didn't like to talk about, his home was at the top of the list.

Luna smiled a little. "Ah, well," she said off-handedly.

"Can I at least have so tea?" Lina whimpered, looking up at Luna with huge and watery eyes.

"You can't drink with my arm around your throat," Luna answered, "so no."

"What if you just move your damned arm?" Lina snapped.

"No."

"Gourry!" Lina cried, turning her gaze on him. He groaned inwardly. That look always got to him, and she knew it. "Save me!"

Gourry felt a little bad now. He hadn't intervened because he knew better than to interfere with family issues, but maybe it had gone on long enough. But then...he stole a gaze at Luna, who was sipping her tea calmly. She was very, very scary.

"She'll kick my ass," he said plainly. Luna jolted, spitting a bit of tea, and Lina cursed in frustration.

"I think I like you," Luna declared, getting to her feet. She squeezed her arm for a moment, bringing up a yelp from Lina, before letting go. Lina dropped to the ground, her hands at her neck. "I have to get changed," Luna said. "Catch your breath and be ready for more."

"WHAT?!" Lina shrieked. "You had me in that headlock for a half an hour!"

Luna turned and went back to her room. "And you're a little pornographer. What's worse?" were her parting words.

Lina blanched, looking ashamed. Gourry got up and knelt in front of her. She looked back at him pathetically. "She's mean!" Lina simpered.

Gourry smiled, cupping her face in his hands. She blinked, looking closer at him. "What?" she wondered.

"Dunno," he admitted. "Seeing you here, seeing you with your family, it kind of makes you seem younger, don't you think?"

Lina pouted. "Are you saying I'm immature?" she wondered.

"See?" Gourry pointed out.

Lina paused, considering. She reddened a little. "I know what you mean. It's just, being here, actually being home, it makes me feel younger, you know? I can't help it. It's like...it's like it was all waiting for me. It's like time stopped."

Gourry didn't say anything. He could tell from the look in her eyes that she wasn't finished, and sure enough, she went on. She looked up at him, her eyes shining. "And yet, time is moving forward, ongoing, and you're here with me."

Gourry smiled back at her, rubbing her cheeks a little.

"That's just weird, Lina-chan, squatting on the floor together," Luna said sternly, although the way she held herself belied the tone in her voice.

Lina jerked her head away and stood up, turning around and starting towards her sister with a furious look on her face. She had, after all, been interrupted in the midst of a romantic moment. It was hard to live those down.

When Lina was an inch away from nailing her with a mean left hook, Luna thrust out her hand and held the tip of her knife right at Lina's throat. The younger sister paused, the colour draining out of her face. She suddenly could not feel her feet.

Luna grinned, satisfied. The moment Lina was tipping over from shock, Luna had the sword sheathed and was walking past her back to the table. She sat down and resumed sipping her tea, like nothing had happened.

"That should be good enough," was all she said.

Gourry, meanwhile, was still on the floor. He had watched the exchanged with wide eyes, speechless. It was like watching a cart accident. Could anything get weirder than the two of them duking it out?

Oh, my, of course it could.

X X X

It was much later that It Happened.

There is an event that every man who seeks to date a girl dreads encountering. It is one that such men put of for as long as they can, sometimes so much as causing themselves bodily harm just to get out of it.

It happened to Gourry quite unexpectedly, and thus was not prepared. And thus, made an ass of himself.

Shortly after Luna caused Lina brain failure, the younger sister recovered and announced that she stank and was going to wash up before their mother came home. Gourry almost snuck in after her, but was nailed to the spot by Luna's hidden gaze, which he could feel through her hair.

They chatted for a while, Luna mostly asking for confirmation on a few rumours that had been circulating about Lina's adventures. The things that were confirmed were the least believable, apparently.

Luna had gotten up to get more tea when It Happened.

He seemed to materialise out of nowhere. He was a sturdy, compact man, with close-cropped, thinning black hair that was showing grey but had purple highlights in the black. His face was hairy, complete with sturdy eyebrows and a bush of a beard, close-cropped, but messily kempt. His eyes were narrowed and a sort of coppery green colour.

Gourry could easily outdo him in height, but he wasn't so sure about strength. Though a little skint in length, his arms were incredibly muscular. The man reminded Gourry of an incredibly muscly bulldog.

"Excuse me, but who the hell are you?" The man boomed, his gravelly voice echoing throughout the hall.

Gourry, who had been sitting quietly and innocently at the table, blanched, actually cowering a little. "I'm...with Lina?" he squeaked out.

The man's eyes widened. "Lina-chan!" he shouted. "Lina-chan has come home?" He looked thrilled, but only for a moment. Those hard eyes were on him again. "You're with Lina-chan, how?" he demanded.

Gourry stammered. "Uh, I'm...her...protector," he replied, in his panic falling upon the safest answer.

The man snorted. "Lina-chan is far too pushy and annoying to need a protector. Does she owe you money? Or, do you owe HER money and are acting as her dog?"

Gourry stumbled, his head almost smashing onto the table. "Dog?!" he echoed.

"Daddy, stop it," Luna said calmly, emerging from the kitchen with a pot of fresh tea. The man turned to her and eyed her closely, but she wasn't done. "Lina-chan is nineteen now. You can't expect her to remain celibate."

Gourry wanted to strangle her. He suspected that she had been waiting to say something like that, to perfect her revenge against Lina for good.

Well, it worked.

"WHAT," the man boomed, his hands going up, turning to huge fists.

Gourry held up his hands, definitely cowering this time. "No, it's not like that! I love Lina, I really do!" He was babbling, and desperate. "Anything that we've done, we've done out of of love! I have no intentions of dishonouring her! I swear!"

Both Luna and the man gaped at him. The man was getting redder and redder, shaking from head to foot, and Luna's face was twitching. "Too much," she choked out, holding onto her sides and hiding her face, her shoulders shaking. "Too much!"

"Daaaadddeee!" There was a streak of orange, which collided with the man. Instantly, he seemed to shrink, smooth out, and become soft. Lina threw her arms around him, and he crushed her in a hug.

Gourry peered out from behind his hands. Lina looked nice and clean, wearing green clothes that he had never seen on her before. They were oversized and seemed to make her look even cuter.

"Daddy, I'm home!" Lina said needlessly, throwing her arms out and grinning.

"Yes," he agreed. "With a man!" the anger was back.

Lina grinned at him. "Gourry isn't a man. He's Gourry!" She walked over to him and pushed his hands down away from his face. "Gourry Gabriev, this is my father, Delmas!"

Gourry paled, wanting to hide his face in Lina's chest and never, ever look up. Delmas seemed to sense that, and his face hardened. Gourry ducked a little.

"Lina-chan," Delmas said, his voice loud. "You know what?" It sounded like a challenge.

Lina grinned, immune to her father's ranting. "What?" she wondered.

He reached forward, and with a big hand, ruffled Gourry's hair. "I like him!" he announced.

The moment Delmas's hand made contact with Gourry's hair, he thought he was going to die from fear. For the second time in less than an hour, someone in the Inverse household went brainless from shock.