Slayers Fan Fiction ❯ Enigma to Paramour ❯ Meeting ( Chapter 3 )

Meeting

Disclaimer: I don't own the Slayers characters, just the plot I put them in. I also own Katia and the names of the kingdoms as those are from my own imagination.

AN: I would like to thank the four people who reviewed. I really like to know that people are reading what I write. So thanks to Hanna-chan, Kaeru Shisho, Filing Sloth, and RiNa MeTaLlIuM.

Again I apologize if anyone is OOC, but I have only seen the first and most of the Next series. Also, the reason I'm getting them out so fast is because I'm bored and out of school so I have plenty of free time to write. I also have an easy time writing this. So, don't expect a new chapter or two every day. It depends on how much I have to do that day and if I'm in the mood for writing.

The two people sat on the ground stunned for a moment, until they heard the guards' voices. Lina quickly stood up and looked for her hat, but she didn't see it. Xellos also stood up.

"Excuse me." Lina said, trying to get past the purple-haired man before her.

Xellos stood out of the way then asked, "Why are the castle guards following you?" By the time he finished Lina had run past him.

"If you want to know, follow me!" she called over her shoulder.

Shrugging, Xellos followed. The two reasons were: one, he was curious and two, he didn't really have anything better to do. He raced after the petite red head and followed her down two alleys he had missed on his first time through there. He almost lost her on two crossways, but he managed to spot her bright orange hair. Suddenly she came to a stop and he stopped right behind her.

Lina glanced over her shoulder and saw that the purple-haired man had, indeed, followed her. She was surprised because no one else who had ever asked that question had ever followed her. She opened her mouth to tell him something when she heard the guards. `Damn, they've gotten even better. Must from the times they have chased me.' She looked around and only saw one passage, but she knew that that one led to a dead end. She was just about to run down there when she heard a familiar voice from her right.

Xellos saw the young woman in front of him about to say something when they both heard the guards behind them. There was only one passage from where they stood and he didn't have quite enough time to cast a levitation spell and get out of sight before the guards came. The girl didn't look like she wanted to go down the passage, but she was just about to when they heard a voice from their right.

"Lina?" a voice said. The voice belonged to a woman standing in front of the doorway to a house. "Hurry in here." The woman motioned Lina into her house.

Lina ran over to her and she let her and, though not without hesitation, the man behind her in. If Lina wasn't running from him then he wasn't one of the guards.

The woman closed the door behind them just as the guards rounded the corner. Xellos heard one of them ask, "Excuse me miss, have you seen a red-head run down this way?"

"Why yes I did. I believe she went that way." Lina peeked out the window with the stranger and saw her point down the alley they had been about to run down.

"Thank you." And with that the guards ran down there and out of sight.

The woman stepped back in side her house and turned to the two people sitting on her floor. Now that they weren't in a hurry to get away from the guards Xellos saw that she had very dark blond, almost light brown, hair that reached about half way down her back and was braided and dark sapphire, almost black, eyes. She appeared to be about his height and wore a pair of loose dark blue pants and a dark blue blouse.

"Thanks Katia," the red head said.

The girl, Katia, nodded at her then turned to Xellos, "Who are you? I'm sure I've never seen you before. And I know everyone here."

"Well, I arrive here from out of town today and I was exploring when this young lady ran me down. When I asked what she was doing she said that if I really wanted to know, to follow her." Katia turned to the red head after Xellos finished. The red head nodded.

"Well, I guess you deserved what you chased this hot head for. First, my name is Katia Shinrai. This is Lina. What is your name?" Katia said.

Xellos noticed that Katia didn't give the red head, Lina's, last name, but he didn't comment. "My name is Xellos, and as I said before I am traveling I had been exploring the city when Lina, quite literally, ran into me."

Katia and Lina both noticed that he didn't give his last name either, but while Lina was about to comment one look from Katia shut her up. Katia knew that if he told them his last name then Lina would have to tell him hers, and Katia knew that she really didn't want to.

"May I ask why Lina here was running from the castle guards?" Xellos said.

Katia said, "I think you may want to sit down on something more comfortable than the floor."

Lina blushed and nodded. Katia led them into a kitchen, which, Xellos noted, also seemed to be made of orihalcon stone. In fact the whole house seemed to be made of the stuff, though it was disguised to look like regular stone. They sat at a wooden table in the middle of the kitchen and Katia went and got her pot of boiling water. It seemed that she had been expecting, at least, Lina's presence. She poured them all a cup of tea. Xellos and Lina could both smell herbs in the tea but couldn't tell which ones.

Katia smirked and said, "The tea has cinnamon, blessed thistle, and bay leaf in it. It's good for you." Xellos nodded and took a sip. It actually didn't taste half bad.

"So," Xellos said his traditional smile growing a little bigger, "now why was Lina here running from the guards?"

"I was trying to get out of the castle." Lina said simply. She really didn't want to go into more detail with this stranger. He seemed nice enough, but that smile of his (^__^) could get a little creepy after a while.

"Now why would you be doing that?" Xellos asked. He was truly curious about the reason why she would be leaving the castle.

"It's none of your business." Lina snapped, her temper getting the better of her.

Xellos's smile suddenly grew imperceptibly bigger. He realized that Lina had a short temper and that that could prove to be very interesting. He just loved it when people responded to his teasing. It was very fun and often very funny, especially if the said person has a short temper.

"I think that the guards just passed outside again. It seems that they decided you used your magic to escape." Katia said. She had gone to the front room and looked out the window while they had been talking.

"You know magic?" Xellos said. `I may have just found out what that explosion was earlier.'

"Yes, I do." Lina said, glaring at Katia who just grinned right back at her.

"So, did you do that explosion earlier?" Xellos asked.

"Yes." Lina said shortly.

"Well, that just may have been why you were caught." Xellos said.

"Oh shut up. I wasn't caught." Lina said, all the while glaring daggers at Xellos.

"That's what you say. I have a feeling that if Katia hadn't here you would've been caught." Xellos said smiling all the while.

Lina reached across the table and whacked him upside the head. Xellos just grinned in return. He really enjoyed teasing this particular red head, she just responded so strongly.

"Oh, so that means you agree with me?" Xellos said. Lina started to turn red.

"No, I don't. And I suggest you shut up before I hurt you." Lina said. She was seething. She was literally seeing red.

"Now, you wouldn't do that, would you Lina-chan?" Xellos said, grinning broadly.

That did it. Suddenly Lina stood up and began to chant her spell:

"Darkness beyond twilight,

Crimson beyond blood that flows.

Buried in the stream of time,

Is where your power grows.

I pledge myself to conquer

All the foes who stand,

Against the mighty gift bestowed in my unworthy hand.

Let the fools who stand before me be destroyed by the power you and I posses!"

Xellos was so stunned for a moment that he didn't react. Luckily Katia expected this kind of thing to happen. She cast a real quick silencing spell and a ward spell. She was doing this during the chant. Right before the last sentence she dragged Xellos to the right.

"DRAGON SLAVE!"

Lina shot her Dragon Slave to where Xellos was just a second ago. The attack created a small dent in the opposite wall. It wasn't any bigger thanks to the fact that Katia is used to such things happening.

"You know Lina, next time you want to Dragon Slave some one, please do it outside my home. The reason it wasn't destroyed it because I have three feet of orihalcon stone for my outer walls and I cast a warding spell. Also, you do know that if I hadn't cast a silencing spell, the explosion would've caused the guard to come running." Katia said, causing Lina to blush in embarrassment.

"And you," she said, turning to Xellos, "please don't provoke her TOO much. Fireballs and the like I can handle, but every time she uses her Dragon Slave I have to repair a portion of my walls." Xellos nodded, noting the use of the word "too." He could still provoke her, just not as much.

Katia ran up her stairs and came down a second later. "You do know that the sun is starting to set right? If you don't want to be missed, I suggest you both get to your homes. We can all meet tomorrow at the sorcerer's shop. You know where that is right?" she directed the last part at Xellos who nodded.

"I'm also a sorcerer so I located it fairly easily." Xellos said.

"Right then, we'll meet there tomorrow one hour after the sun is at it's highest."

Katia took up the three mostly empty cups of cold tea off of the table, all of which had also thankfully been warded. She pushed the two toward the door and outside. She handed Xellos his staff that he had dropped when he had first entered and pushed the two out the door. "Remember Xellos, Lina, tomorrow. One hour after noon. The sorcerer's shop. Bye!" and with that the door closed and the two sorcerers walked back down the alleys.

When Xellos noticed that they were going a different way than the one they had come from he shot a quizzical look at Lina. Lina just said, "This is the short way around I took the other way to lose the guards." Xellos just nodded. Sure enough they reached the entrance to the street a few minutes later.

Xellos turned to Lina and said, "Well then, I'll see you tomorrow Lina-chan." And kissed her on the cheek, causing her to burn a bright red. The last thing he heard as he slipped back into the diminishing crowd, staff in hand, was Lina's enraged shout.

AN: This may have been the longest thing I have ever written. 2013 words total and seven pages according to Microsoft word. Man, that is long for me because I have them be around 1000 words long.