It was a beautiful and peaceful day, but if you were travelling with Lina Inverse, that peace would most likely be disturbed.
"Come on, Zel! I know that there's more treasure over there!" exclaimed the fiery sorceress.
Zelgadis sighed. "What is there that you haven't taken, Lina?"
Lina scowled at him. "Oh, stuff it! Besides, I'm looking for something in particular."
"I knew it," Zelgadis muttered. "What is it this time, Lina?"
"None of your business, Zel! If you don't wanna look for it with me, then no one's keeping you here!" she yelled as she began to stalk off without him.
Zelgadis nearly choked. He was the only one left travelling with her. The rest had left because they were just tired of travelling in general. Gourry and Sylphiel had a different reason, though. They had left due to the fact that Sylphiel was pregnant with Gourry's child. Zelgadis had never found a reason to stay before because Lina was always with someone and kept out of danger. Gourry had always been there for Lina, but ever since he got married to Sylphiel, he couldn't pay anymore attention to her. Zelgadis was left as her only companion and bodyguard.
Zelgadis followed right behind Lina and spun her around. Lina looked at him shocked, but didn't say anything.
"I know that you're probably going to fireball me in any second now, but I'm sorry about being so rude to you. I'm not going to leave you alone," he said, blushing all the while.
Lina was basically left speechless and blushing. "Ano...Zel, I don't know what to say."
"All I want to know is if I can still come with you," said Zelgadis, hopefully.
"Sure, Zel. I just thought that you might've wanted to look for your cure," said Lina.
"I should be, but I don't want to leave you by yourself," he explained.
"I'm a big girl, Zel. I can take care of myself!" Lina huffed.
"That may be so, but I don't want to see you getting hurt!" he shouted, a bit too loudly.
"Since when have you cared?" she shot back.
"I've always cared, Lina!" he yelled.
"You never ever stayed with Gourry and I after all of our big battles. You always went off by yourself to search for your cure, which I don't believe you need!" she spat.
"I never felt wanted, Lina. You always favored Gourry over me! Even when I left you two I was always worried about your well being!" he cried.
"Why damnit! Why!" she nearly screamed.
"Why? You really want to know why?" he asked her, skeptically.
"Damnit, Zel! Stop repeating what I say!" she growled. "Just answer the damn question!"
"I can't do that," he said.
"Why not?" she demanded.
"You wouldn't believe me," he said, simply.
"Fine! Be that way!" she muttered, angrily.
"Fine, I will," he replied.
"Grr...let's go," she said.
Zelgadis shrugged. "Whatever you say."
Lina wanted to hurt him badly. I can't believe him at times! Yet...I can't believe myself at times. Argh! Why does it have to be so hard? Oh, that's right. Amelia is the reason why it's so hard.
Zelgadis looked over at Lina. She is so damn hard headed! Can't she see why I'm doing this? Why do I have to explain my feelings when I've been making them as plain as day?
The two of them finally reached the temple that Lina was convinced had a lot of treasure in. They walked inside and noticed that there was no lighting.
Lina and Zelgadis then said in unison, "LIGHTING!"
Each of them held a sphere of light in their hands as they walked through the passageway in the temple.
At the end of the passageway, they reached a large, empty room. Zelgadis and Lina stared inside of the room confused.
"Huh? Where's the treasure?!" Lina shrieked.
"Maybe there's a hidden door, so calm down," said Zelgadis, while rolling his eyes.
"But, I've been looking for this thing forever and now that it's not here...how do expect me to feel?" she asked, sarcastically.
"Can't you try to calm down at least a little?" he asked, almost pleadingly.
"Oh, all right," she muttered.
"Good. Now, I'm going in the room to check for a door. Don't move," he said as he went inside.
"You can't tell me what to do, Zel!" she yelled at him.
"I just did. Now, hush up!" he ordered her.
At that, Lina muttered a string of swear words under her breath, but Zelgadis still heard them. He smirked slightly and then continued to look for a door.
"Any luck, yet?" asked Lina.
Zelgadis turned around with a raised eyebrow. "Oh my! The shrew cares!"
"What did you call me?" she asked, evilly.
"A shrew," Zelgadis answered plainly.
"You take that back!" she yelled.
"Iie," said Zelgadis.
"I hate you!" she screamed.
Zelgadis shrugged. "So?"
Lina was about ready to strangle him. He enjoys aggravating me! Ugh!
"Of course I care, baka! It is MY treasure after all!" she explained, haughtily.
"I wouldn't say that," said Zelgadis.
"Why not?" she inquired.
"I thought that we were going to share it," he said.
"Now why would I want to do that?" she asked.
"You said it, not me," he said.
"You are so dead!" she spat.
"Arigato, Lina-chan!" he said, sarcastically.
"Don't call me that!" she yelled.
"Shh! I found a crack somewhere," Zelgadis said seriously.
"What?" she asked.
"I think I found a door," he said.
"I'm going over there," said Lina as she walked over to Zelgadis.
Looking through the crack, Zelgadis and Lina saw some light shine through it, so they dispersed their light spells.
"Gods, this door is heavy to open," Lina complained.
"I have to agree, Lina and I'm a chimera," said Zelgadis with some strain in his voice.
Once they finally got the door open, they ran through the light filled passageway until they encountered another room, which was full of treasure.
"VICTORY!" Lina exclaimed as she went off into the room to collect.
Zelgadis stood by the door of the room with an amused look on his face as he watched Lina jovially take the treasure.
He then noticed that Lina's face was a bit saddened as she finished collecting the last bit of treasure.
Lina walked over to him and said, "Let's go."
As they walked out, Zelgadis asked, "Couldn't find it?"
Lina shook her head. "Nope."
"What was it that you were looking for?" he asked, curiously.
"It was a necklace," she said.
"A necklace? I didn't know you were into jewelry," Zelgadis mused.
"It's not for me, Zel. It was for a friend of mine because their birthday was coming up soon and I knew that my friend would really like it," she said.
"Well, can't you get your friend something else?" he asked. "They have many necklaces everywhere."
"Iie, Zel. This necklace was special. It was enchanted," she said.
"I see," he said. "Not many of those around, ne?"
Lina giggled softly. "Nope. Not at all."
They stayed silent until they reached the outside of the temple. Lina looked at Zelgadis sadly.
"I guess this is where we part ways," said Lina. "Sayonara, Zelgadis."
Zelgadis watched her trudge off sadly and then something hit him. Wait a minute...
"Lina, wait!" he yelled from behind her.
"Hai?" she asked, her voice cracked from sad emotions.
"Lina, what's wrong?" he asked as he turned her around.
Zelgadis gasped softly at the sight of Lina crying and it just didn't suit her. He wanted to embrace her, but what if his embrace wasn't welcome? What if she loved Gourry?
"Zel...I failed you," she said, crying even harder than before.
"What?" he asked, rather confused.
"You still don't get it, do you, Zel?" she asked.
"Get what?" he asked.
"That the necklace was for -- " she started off, but then was cut off by Zelgadis.
"Gourry?" he finished, sadly.
"Gourry? Iie, Zel! Didn't you hear what I said? I failed YOU. It's your birthday soon and I failed you," she said as she fell to her knees in a fit of tears.
Zelgadis went to his knees too and embraced her. "Oh gods, Lina! You did this for me?"
"Hai," she said as she wept into his shirt.
"Why didn't you tell me before?" he asked.
"Because it was a birthday present. I know that it sounds like a weird birthday present, but if you were to wear that necklace around your neck and make any wish that you want, it would come true. I knew that you wanted a cure so badly that I went off to look for it by myself at times, while Gourry wasn't looking," she said.
"Why would you do something like that for me?" he asked, gently.
"Because I love you," she said, blushing, while hiding her face into his shirt.
"You did this all because you love me?" he asked, surprised.
"Hai. All for the love of you," she said.
"And then you wonder why I've been staying around lately and never going off to find my cure," said Zelgadis with a smile.
Lina looked up at him with soft eyes. "Zel..."
"It was done all for the love of you, Lina," he whispered into her right ear.
"But I thought that you liked Amelia," said Lina, who was now confused.
"Iie, never. You are the only one in my heart, Lina," he with a soft smile on his face.
"Arigato," she whispered as she leaned forward to kiss him.
"Anything for you, Lina," he said as he leaned forward himself.
"Likewise," said Lina as they finally kissed.
Okay, I strayed from one story to another, but this one had been locked in my mind for quite some time, so I decided to release it. Hope you all liked it and ja ne!