Oh, wow, I've got your attention. Ok, here it is, my first slayers
fic. This is kind of a prologue to something I've been working on for a
while. It take place two years after try and would take too much time to
explain the story here. This ***** means a change in scene, ~*~*~ is a
change in perspective, and italic is thought, just so you know. Enough chit
chat. Let's get to the fic.
Oh! Almost forgot. I don't own these characters, 'cept one and I think you can guess who the little cutie is. This is all for fun and nothing more. On with the story.
Chapter 1 - The Missing Headband
The water was perfect. It wasn't cold at all. Her tiny hand dipped fully in, making sure it didn't get hotter below the surface. It didn't. It was just right all the way through. Who ever had been here before must have heated it with a spell, the girl guessed. The water from the stream that connected to it was ice cold, so it had to have been magic. It wouldn't be warm for long, so if she wanted a warm bath, she had to take it now. It was kind of late in the afternoon, but it had been sooo long since she had had a warm bath that her body ached for it. She slipped off her small leather boots and ran one foot through it. Goose bumps ran up her leg from the temperature difference in the water from the air outside. The child grinned from ear to tiny ear. She stripped off the rest of her clothes and slipped in slowly, letting her body get use to the heat. Once fully in, she found a rock to sit on the let her rest comfortably with the water lapping slightly under her chin. She sighed and leaned her head against the side of in pool. Something soft tangled in with her long locks of hair. She pulled one pudgy arm out of the water, grabbed hold of the item, and examined it. It was a black strip of cloth...a belt or a headband of some sort...
*****
"Oh, where is it!?" Lina cried as she rummaged through her things again.
Gourry peered up from the sword he was polishing and watched her. "Where's what?" he asked.
"My headband!" The red head turned from her own things to his, praying it might be there. They often mixed up there things by accident when ever they stayed at an inn. She ripped everything out, making a terrible mess. Gourry sighed. And after I just got it all cleaned up, he thought. He may not have been what you'd call the brightest candle in the shop, but even he knew better then to interfere the small woman when she was looking for something. Acutely, know that he thought about it, it usually wasn't a good idea to interfere with anything she did; it was painful. She could explode with surprising power at any moment, despite how innocent she may have looked. He had learned that lesson all too well. She let out an exasperated cry before getting up and going in to the bathroom and searching through all the drawers. "Where is it!?" she yelled as she pulled open a small cabinet and knocked everything out of it.
"I hope they don't charge us for the mess you're making," the tall blonde sighed to himself as he went back to polishing his sword. It wasn't his sword of light, but he supposed it worked fine. He missed his old sword though.
"What was that?!" Lina barked.
"Huh? What? Oh,...nothing," he lied and smiled. She just glared at him from the bathroom doorway, then disappeared back inside.
The swordsman could hear other things being knocked down, victims of her rantic search. He paused, thinking about where the missing headband might be, but nothing came to mind. "Hey Lina."
"What?"
"Have you looked through your back pack?"
The small woman appeared at the doorway again. There was a sour look on her face. He knew that look. He began to look frantically for a place to duck behind if she decided to throw a fireball but there was only the bed and he knew she would have no trouble getting him through there.
"Of course I looked through my back pack!" she snapped through grated teeth. "Do you think I'd be looking in here if I hadn't!"
Gourry shrank back. "I don't know," he replied fearfully. Her anger only seemed to get worse. She was going to burn him. He knew it. He closed his eyes, waiting for the inevitable... ... ... He felt a small punch in his arm.
"Course you don't know. Got too much air flowing through here." She knocked the top of his head, a evil smile on her face. She dropped to the ground next to him with a bitter sigh. "Where'd I put it?" the sorceress asked no one in particular.
"Well, where'd you last have it on?"
Her red eyes peered up at him as she thought back. The last time she'd had it on... ... the last time... ... "Yesterday morning... I put it on and went to the stream... Oh no! I left it at the stream!" she cried.
"The stream..."
"There was a small pool connected to it so I heated it up and took a bath and I must have forgotten it... Someone's probably taken it by now." Gloom covered her face.
His heart sank along with hers. He hated seeing her like that. It always made him feel the same way she looked. "Can't you just buy a new one?"
She nodded. "Yeah, but I liked that one. It was already broken in and spelled too."
"Oh," was the only reply he could think of. She took a deep breath and leaned up against Gourry's legs. "Suppose I should clean that up," he suggested as he looked at the mess in the room.
"No, I'll get it," she breathed out.
*****
Lina walked half heatedly through the street with Gourry close behind. Her keen eyes kept a watch out for a decent clothing shop but there weren't any more. They had been to one, apparently the only one in town, but she hadn't seen anything she liked. The town was small, but she had hoped there might have been at least one other shop. She could see the edge of town. Nothing. Not one more.
There was a shrill cry from just behind them. In a split second, Gourry had pulled out his blade. She was already prepared to cast a spell. The source of the cry wasn't hard to find. People had backed away from a small open air shop selling fruit. The shop owner held the hand of a squirming girl. Around the girls forehead was a black band...My headband! Lina's mind raced and she got closer to the scene. She's got my headband! The little rat!
~*~*~
"Let me go!" the girl cried. She didn't look to be too old to any who saw her. Her turquoise dress was faded and worn, not to mention a bit too small for her. Her shoes had holes in them where her bare toes stood out. She was clean, however dirty her clothes may have looked. Her skin was very fair, like a that of a porcelain doll, with slightly rose colored cheeks. Strands of thick black hair waved about her face as she desperately tried to jerk free of the man. Her violet colored eyes searched the crowd for someone
who might help, but no one seemed to want to interfere.
The shop owner chuckled as he reached for something at his hip. "Not so fast, thief! You don't think I'm going to let you get away with trying to steal from me, now do you!" He pulled a small dagger out. "Do you know what the punishment for thievery is?!"
She screeched again as the knife went slicing down. Metal sliced against metal. Her eyes stared in awe and horror. A second dagger had stopped his.
"Now, now, let's not be too hasty," the new person stated. She looked up at a young woman dressed in a strange rose, white, and yellow getup and a long black cape. A sorceress, no doubt, the child thought. She had long red hair and piercing red eyes. She wasn't great in size, rather small compared to the girl captor, but she obviously made up for it in other ways. she was holding back to man's dagger, and for the moment, that was enough for her.
"Move!" the man snapped. Her violet eyes flicked back to him. The shop owner looked angry. The girl shrank back, wishing she could just disappear in to nothingness and slip away.
"Why, so you can cut her hand off?" the sorceress demanded.
"Yes!" the man barked back.
The woman rolled her eyes. "Don't you think that's just a bit harsh for a kid?" A gloved white hand gripped the girl's shoulder.
"A thief is a thief! If she didn't wanna lose that pretty little hand, she shouldn't have tried to steal from me! Now move, or I'll take your hand too!" There was movement behind her. Out of the corner of her eye, the girl spotted a tall, blond man. A sword was held was in one of his burly gloved hands. He really didn't look happy. The shop owner's hand loosened on her wrist until she could pull it free. She made a quick check, rubbing her wrist with her other hand to make sure it was alright. "Uh, p-perhaps yer r- right," the shop owner studdered. "I th-think she's lear-learned her lesson. Good day, good day." He put his hands up defensively and smiled nervously.
"Glad ta see we understand each other," the woman replied confidently. The hand on the child's shoulder gripped tighter and she was suddenly dragged along with the sorceress and the tall blond with the sword. She was yanked into a small alleyway just off the main street before the woman let go. "Well that was a dumb thing to do!" she snapped. The girl rubbed her shoulder. "That little
stunt just nearly cost you your hand, kid."
"I know," the girl replied sheepishly. "Most people cut the hands off of thrives in this area."
"If you knew he'd do that, then why'd you do it anyway?" the blond asked. She looked over at him. The oversized man had kneeled down closer to her won level, though he was still a great deal bigger then her. When fully standing, she just barely stood above his knee.
She shrugged. "Gotta eat, don't ya? Didn't have any money, so I just tried to take it..."
"And he caught you," the woman sneered. The child looked down at her worn shoes and nodded. Her left big toes stood out of the shoe. "Maybe you should learn to be a better thief before you go trying that again. Now gimme that headband!"
Caught off guard, the girl jumped back. One hand instantly reached for the band around her head. It was still there, just where she had tied it after her bath earlier that afternoon. She felt a sudden rush of outrage go through her small body. She'd found it first. "No! It's mine! You can't have it!"
"Correction, it's mine, and I'd like it back. Now give it here!" The woman dove to grab the girl but she was much to quick. She leaped between the woman's legs and slipped right under her cape only to be grabbed by the blond. She squirmed and tried to kick him, but he held her at a safe distance so her stubby little legs couldn't reach him. The woman got up, frustration brewing off of her like fire on a torch, and she came over to glare at the girl.
"I didn't ask you to save me! I don't owe you anything!"
"We never said you did," the man said honestly. "That just happens to belong to Lina."
"Then she shouldn't have left it for anyone to take. Finders keepers," the child argued.
"So, what, you don't ever forget anything?" the woman, Lina he had called her, demanded. The girl shook her head. "Oh, co'mon. I'm sure you've left something out and one of your brothers or sisters took it."
"Don't have any brothers or sisters," the girl replied in a calm voice.
"You never forgot something at a friends or left it outside or anything?"
She just shook her head to all of the questions. "Don't have anything to forget. Don't own anything but the clothes on my back."
Lina looked her up and down, exhuming the girl's clothes. She did look rather ragged. "Your parents must really not like you much, if they let you run around dressed like that."
The girl looked back down at the ground. "There not here," she sighed.
~*~*~
No parents explained a lot. Maybe a runaway, she pondered. Alright, time to try a different approached. "Alright, look. How 'bout you give me my headband and we'll buy you lunch. All you can eat. Sound fair."
The girl thought about it. "Alright, but I keep it 'till after we eat."
Lina smiled. "Deal." She reached out and took the girl from Gourry. Now that she actually held the girl, she realized how thin and bony she was. Poor kid, she thought. "So, what's your name, anyway?"
"Xaina," the girl smiled. She had to admit, the kid was kinda cute.
"I'm Gourry," the blond stated proudly.
"Swordsman and a sorceress, right?"
"How'd you guess?" Gourry asked. He'd been honest in his confusion.
"Wasn't hard," the girl replied.
"For anyone who's got more then half a brain," Lina retorted as she carried the girl out of the alley, looking for the place
they'd eaten last night. They'd had the best spaghetti there.
Xaina twisted her face in confusion. "What'd ya mean by that?"
"Don't worry 'bout it," Lina sighed. "It's not important. Right now, you should be thinking about what you want to eat."
Oh! Almost forgot. I don't own these characters, 'cept one and I think you can guess who the little cutie is. This is all for fun and nothing more. On with the story.
Chapter 1 - The Missing Headband
The water was perfect. It wasn't cold at all. Her tiny hand dipped fully in, making sure it didn't get hotter below the surface. It didn't. It was just right all the way through. Who ever had been here before must have heated it with a spell, the girl guessed. The water from the stream that connected to it was ice cold, so it had to have been magic. It wouldn't be warm for long, so if she wanted a warm bath, she had to take it now. It was kind of late in the afternoon, but it had been sooo long since she had had a warm bath that her body ached for it. She slipped off her small leather boots and ran one foot through it. Goose bumps ran up her leg from the temperature difference in the water from the air outside. The child grinned from ear to tiny ear. She stripped off the rest of her clothes and slipped in slowly, letting her body get use to the heat. Once fully in, she found a rock to sit on the let her rest comfortably with the water lapping slightly under her chin. She sighed and leaned her head against the side of in pool. Something soft tangled in with her long locks of hair. She pulled one pudgy arm out of the water, grabbed hold of the item, and examined it. It was a black strip of cloth...a belt or a headband of some sort...
*****
"Oh, where is it!?" Lina cried as she rummaged through her things again.
Gourry peered up from the sword he was polishing and watched her. "Where's what?" he asked.
"My headband!" The red head turned from her own things to his, praying it might be there. They often mixed up there things by accident when ever they stayed at an inn. She ripped everything out, making a terrible mess. Gourry sighed. And after I just got it all cleaned up, he thought. He may not have been what you'd call the brightest candle in the shop, but even he knew better then to interfere the small woman when she was looking for something. Acutely, know that he thought about it, it usually wasn't a good idea to interfere with anything she did; it was painful. She could explode with surprising power at any moment, despite how innocent she may have looked. He had learned that lesson all too well. She let out an exasperated cry before getting up and going in to the bathroom and searching through all the drawers. "Where is it!?" she yelled as she pulled open a small cabinet and knocked everything out of it.
"I hope they don't charge us for the mess you're making," the tall blonde sighed to himself as he went back to polishing his sword. It wasn't his sword of light, but he supposed it worked fine. He missed his old sword though.
"What was that?!" Lina barked.
"Huh? What? Oh,...nothing," he lied and smiled. She just glared at him from the bathroom doorway, then disappeared back inside.
The swordsman could hear other things being knocked down, victims of her rantic search. He paused, thinking about where the missing headband might be, but nothing came to mind. "Hey Lina."
"What?"
"Have you looked through your back pack?"
The small woman appeared at the doorway again. There was a sour look on her face. He knew that look. He began to look frantically for a place to duck behind if she decided to throw a fireball but there was only the bed and he knew she would have no trouble getting him through there.
"Of course I looked through my back pack!" she snapped through grated teeth. "Do you think I'd be looking in here if I hadn't!"
Gourry shrank back. "I don't know," he replied fearfully. Her anger only seemed to get worse. She was going to burn him. He knew it. He closed his eyes, waiting for the inevitable... ... ... He felt a small punch in his arm.
"Course you don't know. Got too much air flowing through here." She knocked the top of his head, a evil smile on her face. She dropped to the ground next to him with a bitter sigh. "Where'd I put it?" the sorceress asked no one in particular.
"Well, where'd you last have it on?"
Her red eyes peered up at him as she thought back. The last time she'd had it on... ... the last time... ... "Yesterday morning... I put it on and went to the stream... Oh no! I left it at the stream!" she cried.
"The stream..."
"There was a small pool connected to it so I heated it up and took a bath and I must have forgotten it... Someone's probably taken it by now." Gloom covered her face.
His heart sank along with hers. He hated seeing her like that. It always made him feel the same way she looked. "Can't you just buy a new one?"
She nodded. "Yeah, but I liked that one. It was already broken in and spelled too."
"Oh," was the only reply he could think of. She took a deep breath and leaned up against Gourry's legs. "Suppose I should clean that up," he suggested as he looked at the mess in the room.
"No, I'll get it," she breathed out.
*****
Lina walked half heatedly through the street with Gourry close behind. Her keen eyes kept a watch out for a decent clothing shop but there weren't any more. They had been to one, apparently the only one in town, but she hadn't seen anything she liked. The town was small, but she had hoped there might have been at least one other shop. She could see the edge of town. Nothing. Not one more.
There was a shrill cry from just behind them. In a split second, Gourry had pulled out his blade. She was already prepared to cast a spell. The source of the cry wasn't hard to find. People had backed away from a small open air shop selling fruit. The shop owner held the hand of a squirming girl. Around the girls forehead was a black band...My headband! Lina's mind raced and she got closer to the scene. She's got my headband! The little rat!
~*~*~
"Let me go!" the girl cried. She didn't look to be too old to any who saw her. Her turquoise dress was faded and worn, not to mention a bit too small for her. Her shoes had holes in them where her bare toes stood out. She was clean, however dirty her clothes may have looked. Her skin was very fair, like a that of a porcelain doll, with slightly rose colored cheeks. Strands of thick black hair waved about her face as she desperately tried to jerk free of the man. Her violet colored eyes searched the crowd for someone
who might help, but no one seemed to want to interfere.
The shop owner chuckled as he reached for something at his hip. "Not so fast, thief! You don't think I'm going to let you get away with trying to steal from me, now do you!" He pulled a small dagger out. "Do you know what the punishment for thievery is?!"
She screeched again as the knife went slicing down. Metal sliced against metal. Her eyes stared in awe and horror. A second dagger had stopped his.
"Now, now, let's not be too hasty," the new person stated. She looked up at a young woman dressed in a strange rose, white, and yellow getup and a long black cape. A sorceress, no doubt, the child thought. She had long red hair and piercing red eyes. She wasn't great in size, rather small compared to the girl captor, but she obviously made up for it in other ways. she was holding back to man's dagger, and for the moment, that was enough for her.
"Move!" the man snapped. Her violet eyes flicked back to him. The shop owner looked angry. The girl shrank back, wishing she could just disappear in to nothingness and slip away.
"Why, so you can cut her hand off?" the sorceress demanded.
"Yes!" the man barked back.
The woman rolled her eyes. "Don't you think that's just a bit harsh for a kid?" A gloved white hand gripped the girl's shoulder.
"A thief is a thief! If she didn't wanna lose that pretty little hand, she shouldn't have tried to steal from me! Now move, or I'll take your hand too!" There was movement behind her. Out of the corner of her eye, the girl spotted a tall, blond man. A sword was held was in one of his burly gloved hands. He really didn't look happy. The shop owner's hand loosened on her wrist until she could pull it free. She made a quick check, rubbing her wrist with her other hand to make sure it was alright. "Uh, p-perhaps yer r- right," the shop owner studdered. "I th-think she's lear-learned her lesson. Good day, good day." He put his hands up defensively and smiled nervously.
"Glad ta see we understand each other," the woman replied confidently. The hand on the child's shoulder gripped tighter and she was suddenly dragged along with the sorceress and the tall blond with the sword. She was yanked into a small alleyway just off the main street before the woman let go. "Well that was a dumb thing to do!" she snapped. The girl rubbed her shoulder. "That little
stunt just nearly cost you your hand, kid."
"I know," the girl replied sheepishly. "Most people cut the hands off of thrives in this area."
"If you knew he'd do that, then why'd you do it anyway?" the blond asked. She looked over at him. The oversized man had kneeled down closer to her won level, though he was still a great deal bigger then her. When fully standing, she just barely stood above his knee.
She shrugged. "Gotta eat, don't ya? Didn't have any money, so I just tried to take it..."
"And he caught you," the woman sneered. The child looked down at her worn shoes and nodded. Her left big toes stood out of the shoe. "Maybe you should learn to be a better thief before you go trying that again. Now gimme that headband!"
Caught off guard, the girl jumped back. One hand instantly reached for the band around her head. It was still there, just where she had tied it after her bath earlier that afternoon. She felt a sudden rush of outrage go through her small body. She'd found it first. "No! It's mine! You can't have it!"
"Correction, it's mine, and I'd like it back. Now give it here!" The woman dove to grab the girl but she was much to quick. She leaped between the woman's legs and slipped right under her cape only to be grabbed by the blond. She squirmed and tried to kick him, but he held her at a safe distance so her stubby little legs couldn't reach him. The woman got up, frustration brewing off of her like fire on a torch, and she came over to glare at the girl.
"I didn't ask you to save me! I don't owe you anything!"
"We never said you did," the man said honestly. "That just happens to belong to Lina."
"Then she shouldn't have left it for anyone to take. Finders keepers," the child argued.
"So, what, you don't ever forget anything?" the woman, Lina he had called her, demanded. The girl shook her head. "Oh, co'mon. I'm sure you've left something out and one of your brothers or sisters took it."
"Don't have any brothers or sisters," the girl replied in a calm voice.
"You never forgot something at a friends or left it outside or anything?"
She just shook her head to all of the questions. "Don't have anything to forget. Don't own anything but the clothes on my back."
Lina looked her up and down, exhuming the girl's clothes. She did look rather ragged. "Your parents must really not like you much, if they let you run around dressed like that."
The girl looked back down at the ground. "There not here," she sighed.
~*~*~
No parents explained a lot. Maybe a runaway, she pondered. Alright, time to try a different approached. "Alright, look. How 'bout you give me my headband and we'll buy you lunch. All you can eat. Sound fair."
The girl thought about it. "Alright, but I keep it 'till after we eat."
Lina smiled. "Deal." She reached out and took the girl from Gourry. Now that she actually held the girl, she realized how thin and bony she was. Poor kid, she thought. "So, what's your name, anyway?"
"Xaina," the girl smiled. She had to admit, the kid was kinda cute.
"I'm Gourry," the blond stated proudly.
"Swordsman and a sorceress, right?"
"How'd you guess?" Gourry asked. He'd been honest in his confusion.
"Wasn't hard," the girl replied.
"For anyone who's got more then half a brain," Lina retorted as she carried the girl out of the alley, looking for the place
they'd eaten last night. They'd had the best spaghetti there.
Xaina twisted her face in confusion. "What'd ya mean by that?"
"Don't worry 'bout it," Lina sighed. "It's not important. Right now, you should be thinking about what you want to eat."