Chapter Two

            A few days later, Lina and Xelloss were leisurely trucking down the road, completely at ease with one another. Lina was still searching for a particular treasure, so blasting bandits and looting their goods had become a regular thing; that is not to say that blasting bandits had ever been out of the ordinary for Lina.

            She couldn’t remember the last time she felt so happy and content. Having Xelloss by her side was like a wish come true, even if he was the last person on earth she had expected to meet again. She was grateful that her days of seclusion had seemingly come to an end, but there was one thing that still bothered her. Over the course of the week, she had come to realize that he wasn’t just visiting--he was following her with the intention to stay. As she contemplated the reasons behind that, her thoughts kept drifting back to what he had said when they first met up again: the mazoku war had come to a conclusion. Lina just couldn’t shake the feeling that the results had been bad for the mazoku, and though it was a preposterous notion, Lina didn’t feel an ounce of shame in disdaining the ryuuzoku for their momentary victory over the mazoku race--the enemy of all living things. If it could shake up her friend this badly, they deserved to be beaten. What puzzled her, though, was how they could have emerged victorious from an encounter with Xelloss--that is, if they had encountered Xelloss. And if he hadn’t been there, where had he been?

            Xelloss realized that Lina had been thinking to herself, and he remained quiet out of respect to give her the silence she needed to hear her own thoughts. His own stream of conscious began to drift, and he found himself wondering what Lina had been through in the years he hadn’t seen her. Though she still had the same personality, he had noticed over the past couple of days that there was a small hint of melancholy or regret lodged somewhere deep within her heart. He didn’t know when or why it had developed, but it was certainly there. He could only speculate that it had something to do with the missing blond guardian that had always been so dear to her. He shook his head. He had never understood what she saw in him--what Gourry had that Zelgadiss and he lacked. He personally thought that, between the three of them, the swordsman had the personality that matched least with hers. She always deserved so much better.

            Xelloss broke the silence. “Lina-san, I haven’t seen a group of bandits in the last mile that we’ve walked,” he said. “Perhaps you should settle down for a couple of days to let them regain their courage?”

            “No way!” she protested. “Listen. Bandits are generally very stupid. As soon as you let up on them a bit, they’re immediately back on the roads attacking innocent citizens. If someone like me isn’t there, who else do you think would protect these people from getting hurt?” she asked, assuming her teacher pose.

            Xelloss shrugged and continued to walk with her as she strode down the road, eager for some action. It seemed she wouldn’t reconsider her actions regardless of what he said, but he honestly didn’t see any astral bodies within a ten-mile radius. She was just wasting her time searching for people, but he wasn’t going to tell her that.

            Lina had other reasons for being stubborn. If she wasn’t serving some sort of purpose, she would probably end up relapsing into a depressed state again, and that was something she wished to avoid under all circumstances. Xelloss could sense her conflicted emotions, and in an attempt to dispel them he reached out and took her hand. Lina made no attempt to pull her hand away; in fact, she had been secretly yearning for his affection since that other day, so the friendly gesture was very welcome. Though she felt somewhat shy, she was happy to walk beside him hand-in-hand. Now she had a legitimate excuse to not want to return to town.

            The rest of the day had been rather uneventful. Just as Xelloss predicted, no bandits showed up to attack any of the villagers on the road. The most interaction they had received were interested eyes from aged men and women that targeted the pair’s subtle display of affection, but Lina pretended not to see any of it. If Xelloss had, he didn’t say anything about it, and for that she was glad.

            “It looks like the sun’s beginning to set,” noted Lina. “We should head back soon,” she added, though she felt a bit sad about it.

            “Yes,” Xelloss responded and turned to look at her. He particularly loved the crimson hue of her hair and eyes during the sunset. It was a secret pleasure of his to gaze at its lovely hue each evening; she never noticed since his eyes were always hidden behind a veil. But today was a bit different, and he stopped to tell her, “Lina-san is very beautiful.”

            She blinked at him. Had she heard him correctly? Was he really complimenting her? No man had ever told her outright that she was beautiful, and that particular word struck a pleasant chord in her heart.

            Xelloss saw the confusion in her eyes and reached forward to touch her glowing locks of hair. He ran his fingers through its smooth texture, watching as they were lost in a sea of red. He took a cluster of strands in-between two fingers, brought it forward, and gently laid a kiss upon it. Then he raised his eyes up, reasserting his opinion through the intense gaze he gave her.

            Lina became aware of the truth behind his words and felt something pounding dynamically within her chest. She felt very touched by his words and very enchanted by his eyes--those gorgeous violet eyes. With a tender look, she impulsively let go of his hand and stepped forward, never once letting go of those violet eyes that looked upon her with admiration and desire.

            She touched his lips with her finger, then delicately traced a line down his chin, his neck, and out to his shoulders. From there she reached forward, wrapping her arms around his neck, drawing him closer. She acted upon an instinct that swelled within her bosom, for she had abandoned any sense of reason at the moment he had captured her with his intense eyes. She was lost to her emotions, and they guided her seamlessly towards him--towards Xelloss.

            He smiled and pulled back at first, enjoying the confused look she gave him. Then he wrapped an arm around her waist, pulled her body against his, tilted her chin up, and kissed her. She kissed him back with a sort of restrained fervor. She longed for passion, and he could sense it as the feeling rippled throughout her body. The last ten years had provided her with a new sense of maturity; she was no longer the innocent maiden that yearned for True Love’s kiss. But rather than cater to her new desire for passion, he pulled away and planted a couple of playful, innocent kisses on her lips with a smile.

            She gave him a look. He wasn’t going to get away that easily. Taking a bolder initiative, Lina kissed him again, pressing her lips more firmly against his, beckoning.

            And he was happy to oblige. He began to kiss her more fiercely, sending her mind swimming in circles, but as she melted in his arms he pulled back and tapped her on the nose with his index finger. “No need to be so hasty, Lina-san.”

            She blushed as realization set in, astonished by her own aggression. She didn’t know what overcame her just then, and though it scared her, she kind of liked it. She licked her lips and turned away, savoring the taste that lingered there. His prudence didn’t bother her, for there would probably be more chances to come; he wasn’t going to leave any time soon. And to her own amazement, or perhaps horror, she looked forward to them.

            Taking recommendations from Xelloss’s handy pocket guidebook, the pair stopped by the Riverbed Inn for dinner. Lina was looking forward to the inn’s specialty--a soup made from an extremely rare and high-quality fish found in the neighboring river upon which the inn was built. It was supposedly steamed as soon as it came out of the water with a complementary mix of herbs and seasoning to ensure maximum flavor and tenderness. The description itself was enough to make her mouth water.

            The entire restaurant area was located on a pier that was annexed to the rest of the inn. Xelloss took note of the atmosphere: dim candlelight, fireflies dancing in pairs above the river, and gentle sounds of flowing water. If Lina hadn’t been so hungry, she might have been drawn in by the environment as well.

            Lina rubbed her hands in anticipation as she placed her order. Xelloss watched her with an amused grin on his face, particularly when she chewed the waiter out for his naturally shocked response to the sheer magnitude of her order. He could imagine Lina smacking the poor boy with a fan as he hurriedly scurried toward the kitchen, and the edges of his lips curled upward into a restrained grin as a response to that image.

            Lina nevertheless caught it and gave him a look. “What’s so funny?” she asked, and raised an eyebrow.

            “Oh, nothing,” he replied with a large grin--the kind that annoyed her.

            She turned her head with a small “Hmph!” Then she finally laid her eyes on the large expanse of crystal-clear water and the soft glow that hovered just above its surface. The view was magnificent. Lina sucked in a breath and held it there as she gazed upon the naturally beautiful scene, taking it all in at once. Then as she exhaled, she commented, “It’s beautiful.”

            Xelloss pulled out his convenient tourist book. “Riverbed Inn is well-known for its exquisite dining experience. From the food to the breathtaking view of the river, Riverbed Inn promises an unforgettable night of dreams,” he read aloud.

            Lina turned to him. “Why didn’t you mention that before?” she asked. Though she was primarily concerned about food, she still appreciated the natural splendor.

            “I thought it’d be more fun if it was a surprise,” he cheerily replied, closing his book. “I don’t think you would have responded so favorably if I had told you before, right Lina-san?”

            She pondered the thought for a second and realized he was right. Amazed, Lina wondered how Xelloss had come to understand her much better than she had understood herself, and she found it nice to be in the company of someone who knew her well enough to be able to make pleasurable judgements for her. Above all, it was astonishing that a mazoku was catering to this want. Perhaps he had her figured out because he could see her reactions like a colored aura. She must have been glowing with a shade of contentment at that moment.

            She was partially right. Xelloss could indeed feel her satisfaction radiating from her like an aura, but it was also his extensive years of experience with humans that allowed him to understand the female heart. Trial and error was his best teacher; Lina was not the first girl he had come to woo. She was just the first girl that he came to impress with other important intentions in mind. She was also the first human being he sincerely felt respect for.

            The timid little waiter returned with a stack of appetizer plates lined up along both arms. He set them down carefully in front of a rather ravenous-looking Lina, and retreated tail-between-legs to his safe haven in the kitchen. The poor kid will probably have nightmares tonight, Xelloss mused silently as he watched his date devour her food. As for me, I look forward to a night of sweet dreams, he added, and happily sipped at his tea.

            After a fulfilling dinner, Xelloss escorted Lina to her room. She wasn’t in any hurry to get to bed, so she allowed him to enter the room for the moment. He would always usher himself out on his own, anyway. This made her smile a bit--his considerateness was something she valued.

            Lina pulled off her shoulder guards and cape, laying them atop the back of her chair. She then noticed a book lying atop the table, and she curiously poked her nose into it to see what it was about.

            Lina flipped through the pages of the book. “What? It’s just some old trashy romance novel,” she muttered, but read parts of it out of curiosity anyway.

           Lina didn’t notice how Xelloss snuck up on her, or how he peeped over her shoulder to see what she was looking at. The descriptions were so vivid that they pulled her in; she became fully immersed in the interactions between characters of the story. Xelloss skimmed the first couple of lines on the page then teasingly said into her ear, “I didn’t know you liked to read these kinds of books, Lina-san.”

            She turned, startled to find him there. She quickly slammed the book shut and placed it behind her on the table as she backed up from him, not once breaking their eye contact. He chuckled and pressed the joke forward, backing her up into the edge of the table and causing her to squirm under his gaze. But she wouldn’t stand for that again. Feeling anticipation from what had happened just earlier that day, she slid her hand around his neck and stood on her toes, then murmured in a low voice into his ear, “I want to try something out.”

            Then she dropped her head and traced a finger down the side of his neck, keeping her other hand around it to hold him in place. She followed the line with her lips, at first hesitantly and eventually with more aggression. She kissed and sucked briefly at each spot along the line she had drawn earlier, grazing his skin with her tongue and savoring its sweet taste, finally following up with a small puff of warm air from her lips. Seeing that Xelloss wasn’t very responsive, she attempted to incite some sort of reaction out of him by repeatedly nibbling and sucking on the same area at the lower end of his neck, but even then he did not budge. Then she got an idea: she kissed him again on that same spot, gently, and then she sank her teeth into his skin.

            The act was a success--she felt him shiver as she drew blood, and then in one swift movement he had her pinned down to the table by the arms. Lina’s eyes shut tightly as he pressed his lips against hers, kissing her with an incredible outburst of passion. She kissed back and attempted to break free of his grasp. She wanted to slide her fingers up through his hair--to draw him into the heat of the moment--but she could not escape his incredible strength. She made a soft complaining noise and struggled again, and to her unpleasant surprise she felt a smile form against her lips; he was enjoying this dominance he had as she was being forced into submission.

            He kissed her again--gently this time--and backed away from her, leaving her lying in that humiliating position on the table. She sat up immediately and gave his back a dirty look. She wanted to say something witty--something that would irritate him--but nothing came to mind. And to her aggravation, she caught the twinkle in his eye as he turned around at that exact moment--a twinkle that made her wonder if he knew exactly what she was thinking.

            He was thoroughly enjoying this. With every romantic exchange, Lina was growing more and more attached to him. He was achieving what he set out to do: in a few more days, she would probably come to need him constantly by her side. It was essential for him not to jump ahead right away--she might grow tired of him if he did.

            Frustrated, Lina began to pull off her accessories and slammed them down on the desk. A bath might help me clear my mind, she thought, suddenly disgusted by her feelings toward the priest. What could have possessed her to feel so strongly for him--to desire his kisses and his touch? What driving force empowered her to act upon that will? She stomped over to the bathroom, gave him a menacing look to prevent him from having naughty ideas, and shut the door in his smiling face.

            He grinned. She was definitely playing into his plans now.

             “What’s wrong with me?” she angrily asked herself as she stripped. “How could I so easily let myself be played around by him of all people? I need some food to cheer me up.”

            She paused as she turned to face the mirror. The amethyst hung so brilliantly from her neck and nestled itself upon her milky-white bosom. She felt a pang of regret in her heart as she clutched it in her hand, fingering it gently between her thumb and forefinger. But then she let it go and turned around with a renewed feeling of frustration, climbing into the tub after wrapping her hair up in a bun. The warm water would hopefully cleanse some of the strange emotions she was feeling in her heart.

            She lowered her head partially into the water and began to blow bubbles through her mouth, noticing an odd sensation of numbness in her lips as she did so. She lifted her fingers and pressed them to her lips, realizing that they were a tad bit swollen from the kiss earlier. Then she blushed.

            She planted her face into the water and closed her eyes tightly. I can’t be feeling this way, she thought adamantly. I swore. I swore I would never fall in love again, and yet… And yet the signs were clearly showing her that she was, and she was falling fast. The happiness she felt at his touch--her accelerated heartbeat when he got near--it all gave evidence to support the notion that she was indeed falling in love with him--with Xelloss. “Oh god,” she complained as she brought her head out of the water. “Not with him.”

            Not only was romance with a mazoku a completely absurd idea--their race didn’t really harbor feelings like that towards anyone--but why did it have to be Xelloss of all people? A relationship with him would never end well. He caused her enough troubles even when they were just acquaintances; she could only imagine how bad it would become if they were to actually…well…form a relationship with one another.

            She leaned back and let her hair drape along the outside edge of the tub. As she ran her fingers through her hair, she recalled how nice it had felt to have him so tenderly stroke her hair. She recalled the look on his face--the intense stare of those violet eyes. He wanted her so badly, and she could see that, but for what reason she still did not know.

            After she washed her hair, she took the amethyst gem in her fingers once more and rotated it between her fingers. In the soft light of the moon, its appearance was absolutely stunning, but in a different way from how it captured her heart during the day. At night, it shone with a very gentle hue that both enchanted her and calmed her. She felt the last of her anger wash away, going down the drain along with the water that cleansed her. The cold air made goosebumps rise on her skin, and she quickly dried herself off with a towel before getting dressed.

            Lina stepped out of the bathroom with her towel draped over her shoulders. She rubbed the water out of her hair with one hand and glanced around the room to see if Xelloss was still there. Indeed, he was, and she felt somewhat captivated by his softly illuminated figure sitting at the windowsill.

            He saw that she had come out from her bath and motioned for her to come over. Lina hesitated briefly, but then obeyed and walked over to him, making soft pitter-patter noises with her feet against the wooden planks. She was wearing white flannel pajamas with cute little pink buttons down the middle of her shirt. Her cheeks were still rosy from the bath, and water fell in little droplets from the ends of her hair, raining upon the wooden floors beneath her tender feet. She saw that he had started a fire in the fireplace and took note of its warmth with a feeling of satisfaction. The goosebumps on her arms began to disappear as she walked past it to Xelloss’s side.

            He glanced at her with an easy smile on his face. One eye was open, and it reminded her of the gem she had observed just moments before in the bath. “Feeling better?” he asked.

            She nodded and wrapped the towel around her neck like a scarf, hoping it would make her feel a bit warmer, but the goosebumps on the back of her neck showed no sign of fading. He gestured for her to come closer, and she warily took another two steps forward, one carefully placed after the other.

            In one swift movement he pulled her into his lap, wrapping his arms around her and nuzzling his face into her sweet-scented hair. She blushed and frantically tried to push him away, spitting a thousand scathing words at him, but he held onto her like a child to a pet cat. He found her shyness to be extremely cute, but he restrained his urge to indulge himself. He might as well teach himself discipline while she was still not completely accessible.

            Eventually Lina calmed down, and she awkwardly folded her arms in a stubborn attempt to refuse him. But as she came to realize how warm he was, she yielded to his will and eased into his embrace, resting her back against his chest and leaning her head against his shoulder. After a few minutes, she wryly noted that the goosebumps on the back of her neck had finally gone away.

            “I heard you talking in the bath,” Xelloss said with a curious grin on his face.

            Lina blushed. “I-I was not…”

            “What were you thinking about?”

            “Nothing,” she answered quickly, hoping he couldn’t read her mind. To her relief, she realized that he couldn’t because he continued to poke into her space, trying to prod her into telling him. She didn’t budge.

            He gave up for the moment. “Want to know what I’m thinking about?”

            She glanced up at him as he looked down on her. “That’s a secret, right?” she guessed.

            He chuckled. “You’re learning!” he exclaimed and hugged her. Lina looked a bit bothered by all the adorably affectionate interaction, but he had expected this much from her. She was definitely becoming more responsive to his advances, but he wasn’t sure exactly how far along her thinking processes were. How much had she thought through her actions? He wasn’t as concerned about the attachment being there as much as he was about her realizing that there was an attachment--he knew that the former of the two issues was already fairly solid. The latter, however, would be much more important in the long-run.

           They sat in silence for a while longer before Lina felt sleepy sands come in contact with her eyelids. She rubbed them, fighting the instinctive desire to sleep for a bit more, but finally surrendered herself to the overwhelming drowsiness. Xelloss felt her head turn slightly and come into a comfortable position nestled just under his chin as Lina lost consciousness. He continued to hold her, but this time it was his turn to be wrought with confusion. For some reason, the close proximity to her positive feelings had no direct effect on him. And for some other reason, he felt something in his heart--or whatever it was that he had in place of a heart--as a response to that.

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