Her eyes widened in surprise, wondering if Gourry remembered her birthday.
"G-Gourry?" she whispered.
*SNORE* Seems like Gourry fell asleep with all those secret preparations.
Lina slowly got up, and stretched. She looked nice that morning, and her hair was a bright red. She decided to take a shower, and be fresh for her b-day.
"Happy birthday, Lina Inverse." she sighed to herself.
Picking up a towel, and her day clothes, she quietly stepped into the bathroom.
"Maybe a bath would be nicer." she decided. Slipping off her light red night gown, she turned on the water, and slowly lay back into it. The warmth comforted her, and she sighed with relaxation.
A knock on the door made her jump in the water, as she asked, "Who's there?"
"It's me, Gourry." replied the calm handsome voice.
Lina relaxed. "What is it?" she asked.
"Well, I was getting kind of hungry, so I came in here to ask if you wanted to come get something to eat." he smiled from behind the door.
The thught of food made Lina's stomach growl. "Sound great, Gourry. I'll be out in a while though, because I just got in the bathtub."
"No problem. I hope you don't mind if I just stay here, then."
"I don't mind. Just as long as you don't browse through my stuff!"
"Oh, I won't." Gourry smiled again, and sat back down in his chair. 'I wonder how the rest of the guys are doing....?' he thought.
"Alright, Gourry! I'm ready to go!" said Lina, as she knocked his sleeping head. He looked at her with shock, and then looked out the window. *phew* "It's not too dark yet, but I want to go someplace nice, ok? I'm going to go grab a suit, so can you wait for me?"
"Dress up...? Ok.... Then why didn't you tell me before?!" asked the still confused sorceress.
"I forgot..." chibi Gourry replied.
".............. ok. Then go get ready, and wait for me downstairs. I'll be out soon."
"Why do I have to dress up fancy.... *sigh* might as well, considering it's my birthday..... I wonder if that's what Gourry's planning....? Nah. He wouldn't remember." she continued to talk to herself, as she browsed through her closet.
"This should do just fine!" she smiled, holding up a slim red dress. You could tell, red was just her favourite colour.
With a knock on the door, Lina quickly put on her knee high boots, and answered the door. "Hi Gourry!"
"Lina....! You look.... nice! I can see you've grown--"
*SMACK* "You don't have to let the world know..............." Lina was as pretty as the other girls. Her dress was hanging off her shoulder with a strap as thin as string, and it had a nice slit along the side of her right leg. Very pretty, and to Gourry's case, quite appealing.
"Sorry..." Gourry rubbed his head, and looked at his watch. "We might just make it to a show! Shall we?" he held out his arm for Lina to hold onto, and she took it with a blush, and smile.
"Why not?" she laughed. Lina noticed that Gourry was nicely dressed himself. His suit was a dark blue, and had a very white formal undershirt. The blue jacket was open halfway, so that any girl would be able to admire his nicely built body. *ahem*
He gently walked down the stairs with Lina, always keeping a smile on.
People watched them pass by with a smile, and Lina kind of felt like fireballing every guy who looked at her there. But as soon as Gourry noticed a guy doing that, he protected his Lina with a hard glare that scared them off. How sweet. ^_^
They exited their inn, as the sun was already coming down. Gourry looked at his watch again, and it said 5:00pm.
"I dunno." answered Gourry. "Oh! Right! Sorry... my mind was somewhere else. I.. uhh.... saw this place around the corner. It sounds tasty!" he laughed, a little nervously.
You'd think that Lina would be suspicious, or atleast get a clue, but her stomach didn't care. All she could think about was how good the food would satisfy her. ^.^
They walked formaly around the corner, and stopped infront of a nice looking building. It didn't look like a restaurant... just some... place, or movie theatre entrance...
"Whatever this place is.. I can already smell the nice food coming from inside!" cheered Lina.
"Good evening, sir, madam." said the "door opener".
"Oooo. Talk about fancy!" smiled Lina.
They walked into a hallway, as Lina just closed her eyes, and smelt her way to the food room.
She excitedly opened the door, and her face turned from happy, to disappointed.
"What is this, some kind of joke?" she said folding her arms. "What's going on Gourry?" The place was perfectly black.
Gourry just started to laugh, and the gang took that as the signal.
"SURPRISE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Lina frighfully screamed, and hugged Gourry for protection.
"Surprise! Lina-san! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!" Amelia cheered, as the lights turned on.
Lina's eyes turned starry, as she looked from Gourry, to the big table full of food.
Blue and red decorations were everywhere, and a big sign that said 'Happy Birthday Lina!' was hanging over her chair, at the mile long table full of food.
"Guys.......!" gasped Lina. She was so amazed that everyone was there to celebrate her b-day.
Zelgadiss and Amelia were both standing at Lina's chair, waiting for her stomach to cry out for the food and wine they brought. Zel was even dressed up! He wore a nice black suit, that was buttoned up, and Amelia's dark green dress slightly shone in the bright shining lights above them. Now Lina knew why she had to dress up!
"Come one Lina! Sit down! Aren't you hungry?" asked Gourry.
"You can say that again! Yipee!!! This is so cool!"
Gourry followed Lina to her chair, and sat beside her at the head. Amelia sat on the other side of her, and Zel sat beside Gourry.
Lina took in a deep breath as she looked at all the food.
"Roast chicken... fried fish... french fries... sushi.. 10 types of rice.. 12 types of salad... 4 types of soup... stuffed turkey... beef in teryaki sauce.. *drool* and 24 types of wine.. beer.. pop.. and *drool* I think I'm going to cry....!"
"Hey, Lina. It's not over yet! LIGHTS!"
The lights suddenly went off, and the faint sound of Xelloss and Filia's voices were heard singing happy birthday.
"Filia...? And Xelloss...?!?" gasped Lina. "CAKE???"
Filia and Xelloss both held a side of the cake, with a big smile on their faces.
"Happy birthday to you... Happy Birthday dear Lina.... Happy Birthday to you."
They approached the smiling Lina, with 19 candles on a cute, yet big, cake. It was white, and the size of 15 small, regular cakes put together. Light blue icing lined the outside of the delicious looking treat, and little icing pictures of the Slayers were drawn in chibi style.
"Oh!!! How kawaii!!!" smiled Lina. "Look! There's Gourry in the jellyfish outfit! And there's Mr. Zel Bunny.. ^_^ And the star of "justice", Amelia! oh!!! There's Filia, too! She's so cute being a little dragon, and all.... and Xelloss... well... that is cute too. Even though he's just in chibi saying 'That's a Secret'...." ^_^ The cake was set right infront of Lina, and her pals, as Filia and Xelloss sat down. The girls on one side, the guys on the other.
"Your welcome! I drew them on!" smiled the trickster.
"You made this?" asked the shocked Inverse.
"Yup! Sure did!"
"Wow.....!" Lina's stomach growled incredibly loudly at that second. "Hehe... I'm kind of hungry now....." she said scratching the back of her head.
"Wait! How about on the count of three. So we can all get our share." reasoned Filia. Everyone nodded.
"One.... Two...."
"Three!" Lina yelled, and started stuffing cake in her mouth.
Everyone dove into the food, except for Xelloss. He just smiled, and cut out the piece of chibi Xelloss, and chibi Filia from the cake before Lina and the guys got to eat it.
"Heehee!" he chuckled. He took the Xelloss cake, and started attacking the Filia piece.
"ROAR!" he laughed, as the Filia piece in his hand fired cake icing at the chibi Xelloss.
Filia was the only one that noticed, and she gave Xelloss a questioning stare.
"What are you doing?" she asked flatly.
"Oh! Hi Filia. Just having some fun.... hehe.... *ahem*..." smiled the trickster. "ROAR!!!!" he continued to play with the Filia and Xelloss cake pieces, and the Xelloss piece jumped ontop of the Filia one, which just split in half. "VICTORY!" smiled Xelloss holding up two fingers. He popped the Filia piece in his mouth, and then slowly licked the Xelloss piece. ^_^
Filia smiled, and resumed drinking her warm soup.
"Ugh! This is soooo good, guys!" mumbled Lina. "Where'd you get all this stuff?!"
"Ask Zelgadiss-san! It was his birthday present for you! And the wine was from me! I got it from Seyruun!"
"And I just bought the food from a very happy saleswoman in an unknown town back east." Zel shrugged, and presumed eating his chicken, and drinking his wine.
Lina's stomach thanked her, as she stuffed more food down her throat. She silently wondered what Gourry gave her for a birthday present. And what about Filia, and Xelloss? Does she even want to know? Only one way to find out!
