I was trying to study for my last final and all I could think of was more to add to the story. I hope that means I'll be better at uploading during my vacation anyways, continuing!

Personally, I think that Gourry was way too comfortable about us travelling together. I was always self-conscious about sharing rooms but he seemed to know how to handle it. So it went for a few weeks. I didn't have any of my headache spells so we were moving at a pretty standard pace.

When we'd sleep I the forest I always had him teach me more swordplay. He told me I was really good, especially for a beginner but then I reminded him that I wasn't sure if I was even a beginner. He awkwardly remembered and we continued sparring.

For the most part I could protect myself with my new sword. Gourry's sword, however, was not the best for him. It was flimsy and after a few more practices it broke!

"Not another one!" He was obviously upset but it seemed like more of a nuisance than a devastation.

"Geez, how are you going to protect me with a broken sword?" I was half-joking.

"I'll just fix it."

"Why not get a new one? I mean, this one's not great."

"Well, I'm looking for a new one as well. One worthy of my potential. At least, that's what Lina used to say."

"So, you two were looking for a new sword when she…"Awkward…

"Something like that."

"Why don't you just take one from a bandit like I did?" I grasped my sword. I liked it, whether it was stolen or not. "A temporary one anyways. That way you can protect me better while searching for…um… everything you're searching for."

"I never thought of that. But what if it breaks?"

"Then you keep replacing them. We are in an endless see of bandits, right?"

"Yeah!" So he went over to one of the down bandits and took a sword.

Right…we just took down some bandits before this certain practice. I probably should have mentioned that earlier. Well, after that we went on our way. We made quite a team, I must say. I was still getting used to this, but he had a nice rhythm to it, so it worked I guess.

We were camping out around a fire in the woods one day when I finally asked the awkward question.

"So this friend you're looking for…What exactly happened?"

His face grew solid. "I can't really say."

"You don't remember?"

"No, it's not that, it's just…really hard to comprehend," he paused. "See, Lina and me were doing our normal thing. Travelling together and looking for a new sword. My old one was great but I had to give it up for the better good.

"Ok…" That was odd.

"Anyways, we were travelling when we were ambushed. It seemed like nothing we couldn't handle so we fought back."

"Seemed?"

He nodded. "Really it should have been. You see how easily I work against bandits, well, these weren't ordinary bandits. They were mazoku."

I gasped. All I knew about mazoku came from that book which I took with me. It wasn't good. "What did they want?"

"Lina," he finally answered.

"What?!" My head was spinning. They were after one girl?! Ow… my head.

"It's happened before, but this time I wasn't sure what was going on. I used up most of my strength when they revealed their true intentions. They beat us down pretty badly… I'm not sure what happened next…all I know is that when I woke up…Lina was gone."

"So a group of mazoku kidnapped your friend! And is that what we've been doing this whole time?! Looking for mazoku?!" It was quite a shock. "Do you realize how dangerous that is?! Especially with me! I have no abilities to take down mazoku! Sword fighting won't do much! And…wait…why would they want your friend? What did she do to…well?"

"She's a great sorceress. She's done plenty to upset mazoku, but to kidnap her… I'm not sure what their game is."

"So this…Lina…she's important to you, huh?"

"Yeah," he grinned. "You can say that."

I don't know why I got jealous, but I did. I know he had been travelling with her for a longer than me, but, I don't know. I don't understand my own emotions at times.

"So…we're pretty much looking for mazoku powerful enough to take down a great sorceress…this can't end well."

"Don't worry," he said, looking me in the eyes. "I'll protect you."

I looked away so he wouldn't see me blush, "Like you did your friend?" Dammit! Why did I say that?! That was too mean!

"No, because now I know what we'll be up against. And I promise you," his look got more serious, "nothing will catch me off guard this time. Nothing."

He kept looking at me and I was starting to feel really uncomfortable. My head hadn't stopped hurting so I started to climb a tree to get some sleep.

"You don't have to sleep in a tree, just here by the fire."

"Right," I stopped. "Um…well…" This headache was getting worse so I couldn't speak right, or maybe it was all the blushing. Anyways, I laid myself down and let the pain take me over until I was out… That's one way to get to sleep, I guess.

Yay! Some explanation! Okay, like I said, I don't want to give too much away, no matter how painfully obvious (at least I think I said that, if I didn't I meant to).

By the way, I hope I didn't freak people out when I admitted I faint alot. I just don't handle pain well so if I get a bad enough headache or stomach cramps I'm out. That's what the doctor says anyways.