Zelgadis grumbled as he lay in his bed. He was sick and miserable. His stomach hurt, he had a fever, the thought of food was generally making him sick and head felt like he had a piano dropped on it. He had, stomach flu.
About two days ago Zelgadis had been traveling with Gourry, Amelia, Xellos and Lina. Until they reached this small town. It didn't have much in the way of accommodating travelers but they did stay the night. Well that next morning everyone left continuing on their journey, expect Zelgadis. He told them that he knew of some lead for his cure so he told them to go on without him and that he would catch up with them later. The real reason was of course that he felt the flu as it was coming and rather then have to deal with everyone trying to help him with his sickness he sent them all away to leave him alone. And it worked too, they all left while Zelgadis confined himself to the bed in his rented room. The inn keeper was aware that Zelgadis was sick so she didn't protest. She only helped when he needed something, but otherwise left him be, which is was exactly what he wanted. Or so he had thought originally. Zelgadis was going stir crazy and for once in his life he felt lonely. He missed talking to people, he missed his friends.
"Damn why couldn't I have just been honest with them? What is so bad for them to see me vulnerable like this?" Zelgadis asked himself in a whisper. No but would you want to have to deal with Amelia feeling all sick? Zelgadis chuckled faintly. Amelia was the main reason why he had lied to them. Amelia already smothered him with childish affection, just imagining what she would do if she knew that he was sick was enough to scare Zelgadis. He grumbled again. He knew that he needed to eat something but he was too sick to even get up let alone stomach it. If I could get up and out of here what would I eat anyway? Everything seems so disgusting to me right now. But soup is supposed to be good for when you are sick. A faint knocking on the door brought Zelgadis out of his thoughts.
"Come in." Zelgadis managed to say. His voice was raspy due to how sore his throat was.
He was surprised when a certain red haired sorceress came in holding a tray in her arms.
"Zelgadis this is pathetic. I know maybe not telling Amelia that you are sick is a good idea but why didn't you tell me?" Lina demanded with a stern voice. Though she was a bit annoyed it was obvious that she was concerned.
"Sorry. What's that?" Zelgadis lifted a tired finger to point at the tray that she was holding.
"Well I had to ask the inn keeper to find out that you had the stomach flu, so I figured I'd bring you up some chicken soup. Even though you're sick you should still eat something." Lina set up the tray for him while Zelgadis managed to get himself into a sitting position.
"Thanks." Zelgadis ate the soup slowly. A silence fell between the two of them.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Lina dared to break the silence with a small voice.
"I didn't think you would want to bother having to deal with a sick chimera. But why did you come back and how did you know that I was still here?"
"Well I knew there was something wrong with you well you told us to without you. I didn't think much of it till we got to the next town. It's resort area and Amelia and Gourry wanted to stay there for a while. I figured that it would be fun, but it turned out to be very boring. So I told them to stay there and that I was going to go get you so you didn't go somewhere else without us. When I got back to the inn I asked the inn keeper if she knew where you had gone and she told me that you were sick in your room."
"Oh." Zelgadis looked sheepishly at his soup. "Well you can go back to Amelia and Gourry. You don't have to stay here."
"No I'm staying here with you. You really think I would leave a friend behind all alone whose sick and can't even get out of his own bed? What type of a monster do you think I am?! No way buster you aren't getting rid me that easily! I'm going to stay here with you until you feel better. Got it?" Lina glared at him.
He sighed with defeat. "Alright Lina."
She flashed a victory sign and he chuckled. After Zelgadis finally finished his soup Lina ordered him to go back to sleep. He complied and went back to dreamland while Lina took the dishes back downstairs. She went back into his room and glanced at him for a few moments. She gave him a light peck on his cheek and left the room.
Zelgadis opened his eyes fingering where she had kissed him. "Thanks Lina." He whispered before really falling asleep.