Goodnight Kisses

Part One, Butterfly

By Relm

The day had been a long one. As Gourry made his way to his room at the inn for the night he practically had to drag his feet. He was so tired. It was another one of those treasure seeking adventures that had them going from place to another. The areas that Lina, Gourry, Amelia and Zelgadis travelled to and from where filled with many demons so it meant lots of tiring fights. But the time they reached that town with the inn Gourry was ready to crash.

The room was quaint with a nice welcoming decor, but Gourry didn't care. All he cared about the bed and how close he was to it. Shrugging out of his armour was difficult but he did and climbed into the bed sleeping right away.

Though Gourry was seemingly dead to the world that wasn't so. Being a trained swordsmen and traveling with Lina to boot, the possibility of getting attacked at night was high. So as he heard the sound of the door knob turning even though he didn't want to he woke up.

Even before Gourry fully woke he was reaching for his sword. It was possible it was just Lina coming to ask him a question or Amelia or Zelgadis. But one should be prepared for the worst.

The person behind the door slowly opened it letting the light spill from the hallway into the room. The only thing Gourry could make out from the silhouette was that the visitor was a woman.

Perhaps Gourry should have been more cautious but seeing that his visitor just made him too confused to act. He just stared at her blinking. He wasn't sure who the woman was, but she did seem tall with long smooth hair. That ruled out both Lina and Amelia. So who was this woman?

The woman was silent as she stepped into the room and closed the door behind her. It wasn't until she got closer to the bed that Gourry realized who it was.

Even in the dim moonlight invading from the uncovered windows it wasn't hard to figure out who was standing by Gourry's bed. The smile on her face was a playful one as she climbed on the bed and sat herself on Gourry. She sat straight up looking down at Gourry who was still laying on the bed flat on his back looking up at her.

Gourry was confused by this action as he stared into her emerald eyes. There he was flat on his back with Sylphiel sitting on top of his straddling him with her long legs.

"Sylph-" Gourry started to say as he tried to sit up.

But with a gentle shush and a finger lightly pressed to his lips Sylphiel coaxed him back onto his back. She didn't push hard. Just a feather light touch of her finger and Gourry lost all ability to resist. He just laid there looking up at her completely confused. Why was she there? What did she want? Gourry could have pondered a million thoughts and he stil wouldn't be prepared for what Sylphiel did next.

That smile of hers filled with amusement boarded as she leaned forward and down to Gourry's ace.

Gourry felt his heart beating in his throat as Sylphiel got close. Her lips were so soft and light that Gourry would have sworn it was butterflies flutter across his lips and not Sylphiel's lips kissing him. He couldn't move. The moment Sylphiel' lips touched his he became immobilized. His mind shrieked at him to do something anything but just laying still. But as much as he wanted to kiss her back he couldn't do anything. He was far too confused to react. His brain had trouble registering the fact that it was Sylphiel kissing him. Sylphiel was shy and not so forward. Why would she be kissing him?

Once Gourry's brain and body come to an agreement it was too late. Sylphiel broke the kiss and sat herself back up staring down at him.

"Why?" Gourry whispered. The one word was all that Gourry could manage to say. Though only one word it covered so many questions. Why are you here? Why did you come into my room? Why did you kiss me?

Sylphiel could have answered any one of those questions. Instead she posed one of her own. "Do you want me to leave?" Her voice was soft and sultry.

"No." Gourry found himself saying before he could even think about her question.

Sylphiel smiled at Gourry fondly as she got under the covers and snuggled up to him. She laid her head on his chest and wrapped her arms around him.

Gourry laid there petrified. He wasn't sure of what he should do. Hell he wasn't even sure how all this ended up happening let alone on what to do next.

As Gourry sifted through his thought cluttered mess of a mind it became apparent that Sylphiel had fallen asleep.

Realizing the shrine maiden was already asleep he came to a conclusion. He didn't want to wake her. In fact he didn't want to her to leave anyway. So Gourry wrapped his arms around her pulling her close before going back to sleep.

...

That unexpected kiss was still so fresh in Gourry's mind as he woke that morning. But as he opened his eyes and felt around on the bed he found that he was alone. Sylphiel was no longer in bed with him.

His eyes darted around the room for a sign of the shrine maiden. A forgotten piece of clothing or a note to let him know where she went. Nothing in the room told him where she went, nor was there anything present to prove she had been in the room at all.

Gourry got ready quickly and reached to open his door. To his surprise the door was locked... from the inside.

Thinking back Gourry couldn't remember if he locked the door the previous night. 'If I locked it how did Sylphiel get in? And if I didn't how did she lock it when she left?' He tried to remember if there was some spell that could be used to lock and unlock doors. But even probing the very far corners of his mind he couldn't remember if there was.

The thought occurred to him that maybe Sylphiel had never been there. That maybe her unexpected visit had just been a dream.

Gourry was quick to dismiss that thought. The touch of her lips, the feel of her in his arms... no it had been too real to be a dream. 'She must know a spell to lock doors. That has to be it. I couldn't have been a dream.'

Downstairs Gourry went to the restaurant to meet his friends whom had already started breakfast without him.

"It's about time you got up!" Lina mumbled with a mouth full of eggs and sausage.

Gourry frowned as he joined his friends at their table. Sitting at the table was Lina, Zelgadis and Amelia. Sylphiel was nowhere in sight. Obviously if she was staying at the inn too she surely would have joined the others for breakfast if she saw them. Gourry found himself searching the restaurant for the shrine maiden's face.

"Gourry is something wrong?" Zelgadis questioned Gourry after taking a sip of his coffee. "Are you looking for something?"

"I thought... I thought I saw Sylphiel last night. I thought she was staying at the inn too."

Zelgadis frowned. "I haven't seen Sylphiel since we were all in Tarforashia. If she's here then she hasn't made her presence known. And Lina's making too much of a spectacle for Sylphiel not to notice us."

"The last time I saw Miss Sylphiel she was leaving for New Siaraag." Amelia admitted. After going back to Sailune with Amelia and Prince Phil, Sylphiel announced that she was going back home. Being in Tarforashia reminded her too much of Siaraag and all the work that still needed to be done. Sylphiel did admit that it was probably foolish for thinking of rebuilding the city yet again, but it was her home after all.

"Yeah Sylphiel wouldn't have left Siaraag to end up in this backwater town. You're probably just confusing a dream you had last night with yesterday memories. Unless you were hallucinating then you must have just dreamt about her." Lina declared while she stuffed another heaping spoonful of food into her mouth.

"I guess..." Gourry mumbled to himself. A dream did make the most sense. But then the question becomes, why was he dreaming about Sylphiel in the first place?

(Author's Notes: This was supposed to be a oneshot. It was me thinking about how Gourry would react if Sylphiel actually decided to be bold and take charge. But I didn't get a chance to work on it right away as I had to go to work and while at work my mind drifted to this story thinking of alternate ways to explain why Sylphiel would be so boldly out of character. So now it's become a multi-parter. Of course this is going to remain G/S, but there will be more couples in the future as well as other characters popping up. I don't want to make this fic too long and complicated, but knowing me it probably will.)