Disclaimer: I do NOT own these characters. But I DO own the events that follow. Enjoy!

Here's Chapter Four, all for you fans out there! XD : 3

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After about one more day of traveling through the dense forest, Amelia and Zelgadis had reached their halfway point to their seemingly endless journey ahead. The pair had stopped at a small little village which sat on the shores of perhaps the bluest lake the young princess had ever laid eyes on. As Zelgadis stayed close to the lake's beach, keeping plenty of distance between him and the townsfolk, Amelia wandered through the small village in hopes of locating a tavern, a small inn even, and shops in which they could stock up on the necessary supplies.

As the night slowly crept onto the village, Amelia had returned with their supplies stored neatly in Zelgadis' pack and the two walked back through the village and straight to the inn she had discovered near the outermost edge of the village, Zelgadis keeping as close to the shadows as humanly possible without drawing too much attention. Once reaching the tiny inn, Amelia spoke with the man at the desk about getting a room or two for the night while Zelgadis slipped into the shadows once again, watching through his thin eyes as the princess walked back towards him with a worried look.

"Anything the matter, Amelia?" he asked, trying not to sound all too concerned.

She sighed and crossed her arms against her stomach before looking up to meet his gaze. Though his voice seemed to be full of annoyance, hatred even, his eyes told the young princess an entirely different story. She had always found herself yearning to see his eyes while he spoke, but was disappointed each time as he turned away from her, never looking her in the eye like he had been the past couple days. What was going on with him? With her? Her confusion, she felt, was starting to get the better of her.

"I think I might have gone a little excess on the amount of supplies we'll need, so our money's a little low as of now. And, we don't have enough for two rooms for tonight." She explained, obviously irritated by her miscalculation, "I tried talking the clerk into letting us trade some things in exchange for the second room, or even just some items to make up for the missing chunk of the money, but he's being unreasonable."

"Do you wish to find another place to stay for the night?"

"I asked the clerk if there was another place near here, unfortunately…"

"Oh…"

"Yeah. So, I got the one room, but we'll have to share it. It's only one night right? I guess it's better we save that last bit of money for some extra food than to simply waste it."

He nodded and glanced over to the clerk at the desk. The man seemed much older than he was, mid forties perhaps, balding near the middle of his head. His age showed greatly on his wrinkled face. "He's overcharging you for the rooms." Zelgadis told her.

"Huh? How do you figure?" she asked, a bit confused.

"You're a woman." He stated flatly, "A younger woman at that. And, if you've looked around, you would notice that the only women here are the few concubines the guests have picked up. Why would he waste a room on a single young woman who doesn't plan on spending a long while here when he could simply rent it out by the hour to a bunch of…err…excited…men."

She blinked, dumbfounded by his reasoning, "That's…just…uh…wow."

He nodded and sighed, turning to head to the stairs and up to their room.

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She sat at the end of the large bed and carefully removed her boots from her sore feet, placing them on the floor off to the side where she would sleep. Her cloak had been discarded and hung over the chair by the window. Getting to her feet, she walked to the window and looked out up at the full moon that shone down brightly atop the small little village, its reflection glistening off the water of the nearby lake. Amelia sighed and ran her hands through her ebony locks, leaning her small frame against the wall as she gazed out, admiring the night.

He set down their sack of supplies for their long journey ahead and removed his cloak, laying it over his right arm and slowly rolling it up. He set it on the floor opposite the side of the bed where it seemed Amelia would be sleeping. After laying out a few blankets across the floor, he too removed his boots and sat them at the foot of the bed. Hearing all the commotion and rustling of sheets, Amelia broke from her daze and turned to see what her friend was up to.

"You…plan to sleep on the floor like that?" she asked him, blinking a bit and sitting on her side of the bed leaning over slightly to see what he'd created.

He only nodded and looked up at her on the bed with an expression she read to be 'What? Like you didn't know that?'. She nodded back and blushed a bit, turning her head away as he lifted off his shirt and set it beside his rolled up cloak. She crawled back to her side of the bed and curled up a bit, pressing her hands against her burning cheeks.

After feeling something hard jab into her side, she sat up and noticed she still had yet to remove her belt and finally did so, folding it in half and placing it on the table beside the bed. She curled up again and looked up at the ceiling, her pulse still racing and her heartbeat steadily thumping against her chest at a slightly quickened pace.

"What's happening to me?" she asked herself, "I know…no…I have known about these feelings for, Mister Zelgadis for some time now…but…I have never acted like this before…no one has ever made me feel like this before…I wish I could tell someone…anyone…especially him…"

He sat there for a few moments before lying down too, "She has been acting so strangely these few days…perhaps she did fall ill from the rainstorm after all? No…she shows no symptoms of that." He sighed and directed his gaze towards the ceiling as well, "Come now, you know very well why she is acting in such a manner. And you should talk to her about it too, because, dear fellow, you share mutual feelings towards the girl. Just go on and tell her already and spare yourselves of this torment."

"Amelia?" he spoke, breaking the dreadful silence which had settled in upon the room in the minutes they had separated.

"Y-yeah?" she replied rather hesitantly.

"Do you…do you suppose there would be enough space up there…if I were to join you? The floor is…err…rather cold…and…"

She giggled lightly, making his heart almost leap right into his throat, it had been so long since he had truly heard her laugh, and he had to admit to himself that he really had missed it. He missed her giddy, bubbly, justice-seeking self. He truly did.

"Well…if word got out that we had shared a bed, we would never hear the end of it. But…I trust you, Mister Zelgadis. You've never really given me reason not to. All you've ever done since we started this journey is protect me. And, I wouldn't want you to catch cold down there all by yourself."

He was almost stunned by her generosity. She was a princess, he was a monster, and she willingly and happily accepted him into her bed. She trusted him enough to allow him to sleep at her side. Maybe…just maybe…maybe she, one day, could return these strange yet powerful emotions he was slowly beginning to realize he held for her.

"Maybe…"

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A/N: Well, there you are. I took about..well..about a week off. Sorry about the long delay guys. But there it is. I don't think I'll be able to get up a chapter a day again like I did with the first three chapters, but I will update as much as I can manage to fit in. Gotta love high school..--gags--

R&R to be lovelled forever: 3

--yawns and stumbles off to bed--