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Kitsune Lina
Complications Lina leaned down to investigate the trampled ground, she didn't have to
take the scent to know that her prey had been here. Her hair was cut shorter
now, just above shoulder length. She hoped that and her mode of dress made
it difficult to identify her. The rumor of her death had been everywhere for
a while, but everybody knew that rumors sometimes weren't true.
"I must have really hurt it last night," Lina thought, then she flexed
her right arm. "Then again I wasn't so hot earlier either."
It hadn't taken her and Xellos long to decide that the full moon form
would be happy if it was given a good, tough battle to fight. Lacking that,
some decent hunting for food seemed to keep the battle instincts down enough
that she wouldn't fly off the handle the first instant she smelled a human
being in the area.
Added to this was the fact that she was still trying to trace Martina.
The lunatic was somewhat difficult to follow. Apparently she had learned to
stay underground during her time stalking the slayers. This, on both
accounts, is where bounty hunting came in, using the name Rannaur. It would
be somewhat obvious if someone translated, but the theme was common enough so
anybody that did might not make the connection.
"Maybe I should have asked Xellos along on this one," that was another
developement. Lina didn't like the idea that she would only be able to spend
time with Xellos on half-remembered nights and fatigue-filled days. She had
appreciated the company on those nights, but it was about the same as not
seeing him at all.
"I need to talk to him soon, but," Lina looked up to where the faded moon
hung in the darkening blue sky. Until the sun finished setting it wouldn't
matter, but until them it was an uncomfortable reminder. "Now's not a good
time for that anyway."
"Last night of the full moon, if I don't kill it this time..." she left
the rest unsaid. She wasn't about to let a prize like a behir get away from
her, but it would be a lot more difficult after this. "Damn legged snake."
Lina looked to the sun low in the horizon and began preparing for the
change. Stripping down to her skin and setting her clothes and gear in a
neat pile off to the side, keeping only the amulet Xellos had given her. She
spent the last minute of daylight memorizing the scent of the place. The
changes were getting easier, she wasn't certain if they actually hurt less or
if she was just getting used to the pain. Whichever it was, she welcomed it
as the change overtook her. Filia saw Xellos tense and fix a stare off towards the night. Until now,
she had thought it was just her imagination, but here was definite proof.
She paused a moment in reading Valgarv a story to regard the oblivious mazoku.
"Wha' nex? Wha' nex?" Valgarv demanded. Filia shushed him and watched as
Xellos finally relaxed releasing a held breath. He noticed her watching him
and actually seemed embarrassed, she arched an eyebrow. "Wha' nex mommy?"
"Oh, I'm sorry Val," she said, surprised, and looked at the book again.
She muttered under her breath before looking down again at the lime green
dragon carving on the cover. "Silly human children's book."
"Yes, they really give you dragons a bad name don't they," Xellos
cheerfully asked, Filia knew that he was soaking in the irritation from her.
She glared at him, and noticed again that his attention was away from her.
For the last couple of nights he had been extremely distracted. She wasn't
certain, but thought it had something to do with his amulet that had
disappeared about a year ago.
Valgarv finally settled down and it was just Filia and a fidgety Xellos.
"Is something wrong?" He turned to her with his usual annoying grin.
"What makes you ask that?"
"You keep looking off to the north and fidgetting."
"Just bored I guess," he looked away, north again, and frowned briefly
before his expression returned to normal.
"If I didn't know better, I'd say you have a lover," Filia sipped her
coffee, the caffeine was a necessity for dealing with the hyperactive dragon
child. He glanced at her and flashed a scowl.
"Don't be silly," then he stood up and walked to house's wall.
"So if you're so worried about her," she ignored his not quite denial.
"Why not go check on her. Its not like you can't be there and back in
virtually no time." Xellos sighed and shook his head. Filia hoped she was
right, recently the mazoku had been treating her like a child. She almost
thought he felt remorse for killing all those golds ages before and intended
to make her his redemption, but considering he was mazoku it was probably
just to annoy her. It was working.
"She doesn't like help."
"But what if she needs it?" Xellos looked at her a moment.
"I might not be back for couple of days," he warned her before vanishing.
"Yes!" Filia declared quietly, but excitedly. "Xellos is out, Valgarv is
asleep. I can get a little rela.." she started to raise the cup to her lips
when.
"Mommy! Mommy!" Filia's human head fell forward onto the table and she
sobbed in frustration twice before standing up and putting a pleasant
expression on her face.
"I'm coming Val, just a moment," she called sweetly. "A green-haired young woman with a strange laugh?" The mercenary
repeated nervously, looking at Gourry's sword to his throat. "Why is
everybody so interested in her?"
"You've had other inquiries along this line?" Zelgadis asked as the
bandit lair burned around him and the other two Slayers.
"A bounty hunter first...that new one...small," he stammered, trying to
remember more details. "cloak...couldn't see the face, got in and out of my
lair without anybody but me knowing."
"When was this?"
"A..a..bout seven months ago."
"Was this bounty hunter a woman or man?" Amelia asked.
"I couldn't tell," Gourry pushed the sword in a little further. "I
couldn't...the bounty hunter talked in a whisper...kept to the shadows."
"Who was next?" Gourry asked, Amelia and Zelgadis blinked, then nodded.
"Right, if the hunter was first, who was next?"
There was a trickling sound and the slayers looked to the growing wet
spot on the front of the man's breeches and as one arched a single eyebrow
each.
"That's disgusting," Amelia pinched her nose and averted her eyes.
"Don't ask me about him?"
"Gourry," the swordsman reared his arm back.
"All right! All right! The lady said someone might look for her so we
were supposed to send them to a trap, so I did..."
"And?"
"A couple of weeks later this purple-haired psychopath shows up,"
Zelgadis and Amelia looked at each other. "Takes my second in command apart,
in small pieces. Demands to know where the lady is and if there are any more
traps."
"And where did you send him?"
"South! She went south, towards Sairuun." Amelia and Zelgadis traded
another look.
"Let's go." Zelgadis walked past the frozen man cooly, Amelia made a wide
path wafting the air in front of her nose. Gourry smiled and pulled back his
sword, letting the bandit collapse to his knees.
"Try to be a good boy, now," Gourry waved as he followed the other two
slayers away.
"That's the first we've heard of Xellos looking for Martina," Zelgadis
grumbled.
"But that sure sounded like that 'Rannaur' person again, sounds like
they're working together," Amelia yawned as they finally passed up the
battle's leftover flames. "Pretty persistant for such a small bounty as
Martina's. Hmm."
"Most elves don't go in for bounty hunting," Gourry added. Amelia and
Zelgadis stopped, looked at each other and turned to face Gourry.
"What makes you say its an elf?" Zelgadis asked.
"Oh, don't you two speak elven?"
"No, that was always Lina," Amelia stated. "And you I guess."
"My family's had elven friends for a while." He started walking again.
"Well?"
"What?"
"What does Rannaur mean?!"
"Oh, 'wandering fire,'" Gourry yawned walking on. Zelgadis and Amelia
smiled at each other.
"Lina!" they shouted. Xellos appeared in the woods to the sounds of a battle of beasts, a flash
of lightning lit the area briefly over a hill. This section of wilderness
had already seen two nights of battle and three days of mutual stalking. The
place looked it, paths of fallen trees uprooted by a great beast and here and
there lightning scores. Xellos didn't hang around long enough to notice much
of this or even to soak the leftover emotions of anger and fear about the
place. It didn't take him long to find the battle.
The beast extended almost thirty serpentine feet, which made it not quite
an adult. It should have been moving with amazing fluidity and speed for its
size, crawling or half slithering with its dozen feet. It wasn't though, the
previous two night's battles had warn it down. The behir did not possess
Lina's enhanced rate of healing, and the site of it calmed Xellos extremely.
The dragon-like head was half-torn apart, the eye torn out and preening
horns ripped off. It limped along on only nine legs and was bleeding
somewhat severely from the various wounds that had lost the legs. It might
survive, if it didn't still have Lina to deal with. Not to mention Xellos,
of course, now that he was here.
The half-blind reptile cast about the darkness looking for his opponent,
sniffing the air. It was really a pathetic site, then Lina's full moon form
appeared, breezing in from the remaining tree line along the thing's
blindside.
The sleek red-furred form landed at the base of the creatures neck and
began climbing up. The behir twisted about to bring its face next to the
pesky werecreature climbing up its neck. Xellos lashed out with his hand as
the beast's mouth opened and released a breath of lightning. The blast
ricochetted off the shield Xellos had erected, bouncing back towards the
behir's head. This didn't affect it much, immune to the electricity as it
was, but it did give Lina time to rip into the soft scales under the beasts
chin.
That was the death blow, the blood flowed out in what seemed a torrent as
the beast toppled over on its side. Lina leaped off and crouched a safe
distance from the creature's death throes. Xellos teleported next to her and
sat down. The were-fox looked at him curiously.
Xellos looked at her, smiled and shrugged. Lina sniffed at him a moment
and then licked his face a couple of times before moving towards finally
motionless behir. Then the were-fox started eating. Xellos wondered if the
beast had enough meat on its bones for Lina's normal meal. "Xellos?" Lina asked. The mazoku yawned and blinked the sleep out of his
eyes. "What are you doing here?" He looked over at Lina and smiled.
"And good morning to you," he said. "Did I ever tell you how beautiful
you look with blood smeared all over you?" Lina rolled her eyes as she
reached for one of her waterskins
"So why are you here?" she asked, starting to rinse herself off from last
night's battle.
"Filia figured me out," Lina snapped a look at him. "Only partially, she
doesn't know its you." Lina went back to rinsing off, Xellos leaned his head
on his arm and watched as she scrubbed the blood away. She did look
beautiful with the blood, the morning after a kill. It was the same look she
used to get while casting a dragon slave. He wasn't about to tell her that,
the loss of magic was still painful to her.
"That doesn't say why you're here."
"Sore wa himitsu desu," they both chorused.
"Well, it's good you're here anyway," she said. "I might have to find
some place to lay low for a time. There's going to be a...complication."
"A complication?"
"I...uh...missed my period." Xellos stared at her blankly. Then
sheepishly she added. "Twice."
"And you're still bounty hunting?"
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