"I'm bored."

Lina inverse stood in her master's doorway and glared into the room. "You just want time off, don't you?"

The old man sighed and turned from where he was having a nice, quiet moment by the fire reading a risqué romance novel. Until this moment, it had been blessedly Lina bereft. Unfortunately, bliss was hard to get around here.

Lina Inverse tossed her unruly mane of fiery hair impatiently and glared at him with ruby red eyes. She was an amazingly intelligent girl, brilliant in all aspects… omitting tact. But she did have quite a head on her shoulders, and learned faster than any pupil that the old man had ever heard of. She often cheated ahead of her classes and read old books even he never touched. A bored Lina was a dangerous Lina. He was hoping that during the "self evaluation" period in between levels of training would give him a moment's repose, but apparently he was wrong.

"You know that students are supposed to take three days off before their first trial of combat." He said hopefully. Maybe she would go away and he could go back to reading his smutty literary porn…

"I'm still bored. What, am I supposed to sit there and say 'I can do it' to myself all day? I already KNOW I can do it. What more is there to do?"

Actually, when he had first passed the first of the three levels of training and had to defeat the first threat he saw when he took his trail, he'd sat there in his room repeating the little engine phrase until he forgot he was awake. However, the little snippet HE was stuck with wasn't that unsure. She was a brazen girl of around 15, with a slim figure and a tongue like a spiked whip. She did things one way, her way, and no way would she take no as an answer. The old man had originally refused to teach her because she was female, and wasn't even a particularly sexy female, but she'd camped out on his front porch until he'd been forced to teach her. Then he'd tried to explain the full extent of things, requiring her to know all the history and all the workings behind even the most elementary level spells, hoping she'd give up. But she plowed right through it, and searched through all his books when he couldn't explain something entirely-- she now knew more about magic theory than he did. She would stop at nothing; this was what she wanted to be and she wouldn't accept any reason why she couldn't.

If the guild heard he was teaching a little girl, they'd throw him out in a second.

"My dear, you have to think on the meaning of--"

"I don't WANT to think of it any more! I'm bored already! Teach me something from the second five years of training." Actually, she'd finished the first five years in a half a year, and knew it better than he did. He sensed there was something wrong with this, but couldn't make her go away, so he really had no choice.

He sighed. "I could teach you demon summoning;" he began, hoping to scare her off. Most boys freaked out at the idea, and since she was a girl, she should--

"REALLY??? That's SO COOL!!!" She watched as he facefaulted from his chair and sat cross-legged. "Teach me now."

Oh well. No remedy for it now. He sighed and turned to her, putting down the book down and assuming his teacher stance.

"The ingredients you need are a virgin's blood, light from the full moon, and a knife of silver." He began. She sat forward eagerly, soaking up the knowledge like a sponge.

* * *

"WAHOO!!! Old man, get yer carcass going!! We don't wanna be late for my trial!!"

Actually, there was no late, he muttered silently as he felt himself kicked out of bed. She was never patient.

Of course, if she had been, she'd have probably been ignored by those that only saw a skinny little kid…

He shook his head and followed the spunky little snot out of his hut and towards the woods. She'd pass, no problem. But he had to be there to make sure the thing didn't kill her, and that she didn't screw up by accidentally blowing up the planet…but those things rarely happened. If she was unlucky, she might find a troll, but the chances of anything beyond maybe an orc were extremely slim…

"WHOA!! A mazoku!!"

Lower level mazoku to be exact. The old man turned tail and fled. Lina turned and watched him.

"Geez, what a wimp. Well, buddy, I guess I have to kill ya. Sorry."

The mazoku cocked an eyebrow. "You're joking, right? Aren’t you supposed to be running in fear right now?"

"Nope. Gotta kill ya, rules. I have to pass my first level training as a mage."

"And you saw me first?"

"Yep."

"You poor unlucky bastard."

"Watch it! I know my dad!"

The mazoku sighed. "Hey, kid, take my advice and beat it, okay?"

"Can't. I wanna be an all powerful mage and I gotta kill ya. Sorry." She grinned and planted her feet slightly apart, holding her hands to her sides and let the fire swell before her.

"FIREBALL!!"

The mazoku shrugged and took the full brunt.

"Magical array!!" Caught off guard, the mazoku got that not in the scaled and protected regions of his body, but in a rather sensitive area.

"Damn, bitch!" He managed finally in a squeak, "I'm never gonna have any fucking kids!!!"

She shrugged. "If you're dead, it won't matter. Burst flare!"

The Mazoku burst into flames and dissapeared.

"Was that all?" She muttered, walking to the slightly charred spot in the ground. "Not very tough-"

She leapt back in reflex as a talon slice down where she had been, one of the claws slicing open her arm from shoulder to elbow. She tripped and fell to the ground.

Dammit, all my attacks require both hands working… Lina looked at the limp arm and frantically tried to search her scull for anything of use that she could cast wit one hand…nothing came to mind…

The demon!! Lina looked up. She'd gotten the man up so early the moon was still in the sky.

Full moon…

She looked at the blood seeping from her wound.

Virgins blood…

She looked at the dagger at her side.

Silver knife…

Kick ASS!!!

All she needed was enough time to cast recovery on her arm. Currently the mazoku was gloating in her wounding and drinking up the pain she felt from the cut in her arm. She grinned. He would catch and kill her if she tried recovery now, but with a demon distracting him…

Hell, maybe the demon would even kill him for her…

Lina waved her one hand, touched the dagger, looked towards the moon and soaked her fingers in the blood. A few simple words, and…

A bright light shone from the ground as Lina and the Mazoku stared at it. Lina hoped to high heavens it was something useful, and she hadn't screwed up…

A young man, it looked like, floated softly up through the ground. She didn't get a great look at him, but she was pretty sure it was a guy. He was pretty in a way that makes you think, 'fem', but he wasn't wearing a shirt, so she hoped it was a guy and-- oh dear, she was loosing too much blood and using too much power at once. She needed to heal herself before she rambled off too much…

The man's eyes opened.

Lina found herself in a tangled heap of arms and legs with a definitely male form sprawled over her. Deep sapphire eyes stared into hers and a husky tenor softly whispered, "What is your wish? My master…"

Yep, that was a voice that would have sent chills up her spine and hormones racing through her veins had they not already been filled with adrenaline and waaaaay too little blood. As it was she was cranky, sullen, pissed off and in pain. She smiled sweetly.

"Beat the hell outta that thing, dipshit, and I might not kill you."

The man gave her an odd look, shrugged, and stood before the mazoku.

"Hello, sir, and you are?"

"Gazrel." The mazoku seemed rather confused, and well it should. What the hell was the girl doing, summoning Zelgadis, of all demons?

"Ah, yes, I remember the hell-master had quite a bit to say about you. Is he still annoyed that you screwed up last time?" Zelgadis fiddled with one of his bracelets and smiled charmingly.

"Yep. That's why I'm out here."

"So what are you doing, may I ask?"

The mazoku shrugged. "I was out her looking for something to maim when some little brat said she had to kill me." And she'd come pretty close to it, too, but he wasn't gonna say that.

"Where's the body?"

"Isn't a dead one yet." Oops. The mazoku spun to where Lina had been. "Oh shit, I--"

"Mage BRANDO!!"

Toasted mazoku. The dead thing fell in a heap at her feet.

"Ugh, that smells." Lina held her nose and stepped back. Never underestimate the stench of a roasted carcass that hasn't been washed in over a millennia. It reeks, lemme tell you. Smells like my sister…

Zelgadis shrugged. "Yeah, yeah, Now release me, will you? I wanna get back where I can get back to screwing people over. Literally."

She looked up at him. "Oops."

"I don't like the sound of that." He glared at her. "What do you mean, oops?"

"I don't know how." Zelgadis sighed. What was a kid like her doing with a spell like that?

"Easy. You say, 'demon, I set you free.' Simple."

"Demon, I set you free." She paused. "Nothing happened."

"So I noticed." Zelgadis glared at her. Now that she wasn't worried about the mazoku on her tail, she took some time to study him, without appearing to do so. He was a young man of about 19, with soft violet hair and slitted sapphire eyes. Ha was wearing a sort of chainmail skirt reaching to mid-thigh, then wrapped over a pair of extremely loose pants held in place at the mail and the beads at his ankles. He was barefoot, with bangles on his wrists, biceps (nice ones too….the bangles!! I meant the bangles! Really!) ankles, and neck. His hair was dusted with gold filings, and his pointed ears were looped through with gold chains and studs. He wasn't tall, but he wasn't short, and he was slim and muscular in ways that you only see on TV and in comic books. All in all, the kinda guy you see and really wanna immediately drag into bed. Lina sighed. And he probably knew that too. Jerk. She shrugged. No big deal to her.

After all, hormones didn't dictate her actions like they did certain people she knew.

"Did you do something stupid in the spellcasting?"

"Such as?"

"Such as using a gold knife, saying the wrong words, using your own blood…nah, anyone who knows that spell wouldn't be stupid enough to do those--"

"Umm… about he own blood thing…is that bad?"

"Bad? That's awful!!"

"What happens?"

"You literally bond the demon to your soul, and the only way it could get free is if you killed….yourself…please."

"Please what?"

His eyes begged her. "Please don't tell me you used your own blood. I really do NOT need that in my life and if you--"

"Oops."

"I'm going to rip your marrow out if you're joking, girl."

"Well, how was I supposed to know??"

"It's there in all the goddamned instructions!! You're supposed to spend at least a week…when did you learn this spell?"

"Last night."

"And how long did you study it?"

"Maybe fifteen minutes…"

"You cast a spell you'd only--"

"HEY!! I was sitting there with a mazoku ready to kill me! What was I supposed to do, invite him for tea? I really don’t think they like biscuits."

He screamed exasperatedly and stared at her wide eyed. "So you summoned a fucking incubus???"

"Oh, is that what you are?" Lina tilted her head sideways. "Yeah, that makes sense. You do exude a certain--"

"YOU DIDN'T KNOW WHAT YOU WERE SUMMONING??"

She reeled backwards but came right back full force. "W-what do you mean? Hey, look, buddy, I'm only a first level! I can't do this stuff right now. I'm lucky I was able to do ANYTHING with one hand. All I needed was the time to cast recovery!"

"What if I had been Shaburandigo? Hm? What then?"

"Then I would have had bigger things to worry about."

"Like what?"

"Like how the hell I have enough power to do that and why I wasn't dead from the energy loss yet. Duh."

He sighed and sat down. "Of all the stupid things to do…where was your master? Where IS you master? He should have been here to--"

"He ran off when he saw the mazoku." Lina plopped down on the ground crosslegged and watched him. He moved like a cat, really. A very graceful cat. A very graceful, sexy ca--

She stomped on that thought before it finished forming.

"Why the hell would he do that???"

"Because he keeps his brains between his legs and has no room for balls." She said nonchalantly, tossing the waterfall of fire she called hair. "Perverted old dickead."

"Are you sure you're female?"

"OF COURSE I AM!!!"

"Yikes! Just asking, damn, what the hell is wrong with you? You swear like a sailor,"

"Hey!! I don't swear! On behalf of the moon, I will pun--…ummm…..you're not a negamonster…"

Both of them stared at the girl with blonde pigtails and the short skirt with a crescent wand. She muttered something about authors and stalked back into the trees.

"Riiight." The man said slowly. He turned to Lina. "Anyway, you swear, you're a stick, you're a mage, you have no chest whatsoever--"

"HEY!!! You think I care about that stuff? I'm not gonna sit and listen to some asshole with less metaphorical nuts than I do tell me what to do as I trudge about in heavy skirts and makeup all over my face just cuz he's got more than I do between his thighs! I'm gonna run my own damn life and beat the crap outta assholes like my brot--never mind! Anyway, I'm a girl, you sex-obsessed neurotic, so shaddup!!"

The man reeled back. "YEESH!! Someone's a bit sensitive!"

"How would you like it if every day people asked you if you were a girl because you're pretty and wear jewelry?" Lina shot back. "Anyway, I'm sorry I shackled you to me. You had the choice of ignoring the summons, you know."

"Yeah, but…well…you seemed kinna desperate…and I was bored at the time…"

"I wasn't desperate like THAT!! I wanted to kill the thing!" Lina fumed. How dare he say she was…ohhh!!

"It seems the same thing across a few dimensions!"

"Besides, you'd have known about the thing with my own blood!"

"I was distracted at the time! Yeesh! Calm down!! Dammit, I'm the one stuck here, I should be in hysterics!"

"It's not every goddamned day you end up with an INCUBUS following you around for the rest of your life!" Lina screamed.

"You could kill yourself." He muttered, looking up hopefully.

"You gotta be fuckin' joking."

"No, I gotta be fuckin' going, okay? Do you know how many women I'm supposed to seduce this year? No way I'm gonna be able to get them all according to schedule if I have to follow you around!"

"Look, I'm not gonna kill myself! Back off!!" Lina growled. "You think I care about your stupid itinerary? Anyway, I guess there's no way I'm gonna convince the master to teach me with you here, so we'll have to go somewhere else."

"Oh, thank you very much."

"Hello? What am I gonna do? 'this is my brother, from...uhhh…Idaho and he's staying here for a while.' Yeah right!" Lina tossed her hair. "Anyway, I wanted to run off anyway. The old codger was getting boring. And if all else fails, I could always head to a big city and sell you off as a prostitute."

"Gee, thanx, I love you too."

"Hey, you're an incubus, right?"

"So?"

They sat there glaring at eachother for a while.

"So what's your name, anyway? Or would you rather I called you slut?"

"You really need to work on your people skills, you know that?"

"So I've ignored. Who are ya?"

"My name is Zelgadis."

"Zeldifas?"

"Zelgadis!"

"Zelgidas?"

"Zelgadis!"

"Zadgildas?"

"ZELGADIS!!"

"OH!! Why didn't you say so?"

"I hate you already."

"Feeling's mutual, darlin. Lets head off this way."

"I hope you know where you're going…"

"Not a clue."

"Great."

* * *

"Where IS he??" Zelas paced up and down the halls, glaring at her preist and occasionally blowing something up. Xellos sighed. He really didn't like carpentry, but he had no choice when she was in these moods.

"Master, I told you-- he answered a human summons."

"And I told YOU that he wasn't to associate with any men!"

"It was a female summoning."

Zelas froze. "There's a human female up top that is working magic?" She spun to glare at him. "I thought they'd outlawed them ever since that one girl blew up the country by accident?"

"It was actually her little brother."

"Yeah, but they blamed her." Zelas sat down in her chair and sent a small daemon for wine. A slow grin made it's way across her face and she chuckled. "I like this. I like this very much."

"What? Zelgadis going off on--"

"No, stupid!! I like the fact that a girl is doing magic." She snatched the wine from the daemon and smiled. "I was getting sick of those stupid, sexist humans. So don't kill her. But try to get Zelgadis back, I'd rather not do without him. I only let you borrow him for a short while, Xellos." She grinned at him.

Xellos smiled. "Of course, master. I'll do my best."

* * *

"Guildmaster! Guildmaster!" The old man trudged to the manor where the head of the mage's guild sat on his throne. Damn arrogant bastard…

"What do you want, Tim?"

Tim heard some snickers behind him. He hated his mother, he truly did.

"Sir, there are mazoku in the woods!"

"And how do you know this?" Shit. Tim hadn't thought about that. They all knew he'd never set foot inside the wood unless he had to. Damnnnnnn…

"Ah….Well…my…student had to pass her ritual monster slaying, and--" Oops…

"HER??? Why are you teaching a female MAGIC, Timothy???" The guild master looked incised. And well he might be. Ever since Luna Inverse destroyed that country with an out of control dragu slave…Women were incapable of learning magic correctly, their minds would overheat and the spells could destroy more than intended. That was why women's magic had always been more powerful.

That's what the males told eachother, anyways. And Luna Inverse--

Oh. Inverse. Shit.

"It was Lina Inverse sir!! Sister of Luna Inverse! She forced me, I had no choice!!! But as she attacked the mazoku, I ran, I came here to tell you!" Tim fell to his knees before the man. "Help me, sir!" Don't kill me, don't kill me, don't kill me…

By the end of the day, the forest was being searched for mazoku and the kingdom for evil demons posing as human female mages. Tim ran home cheerfully, only to find that half of his books had been stolen, and a note from Lina stated they'd been borrowed. He grinned. Small price to pay to get rid of her.

Of course, that winter he also found out that all the food he'd stored had been taken as well.

* * *

"You're going too slow!" Lina snapped at the incubus weighed down with a month's worth of food, half a library full of books, three lanterns, two swords, ten daggers and fifty-three different magical ingredients she thought she might need. Zelgadis glared at her. "Hurry up! Honestly, men have no balls."

Zelgadis threw down the pile of junk she had made him carry and stalked straight up to her.

"Number one! I am not a man, I am an incubus! There are three differences. A) I've got better speed, reflexes, and eyesight. B) I have less weight and about 50 times more strength, and c) I'm a hellovalot better hung!" She rolled her eyes.

"Right, whatever. Just don't show me, okay? Now pick the stuff up and lets get going. I don't want to have to camp out."

Zelgadis seethed. "I am not a draft horse!"

"You said yourself you're hung like one, I oughta treat you like one."

"I'm an incubus! I'm not meant for manual labor! I'm supposed to convince others to do it for me!"

"Do you see anyone else here? Other than me, And I'm sure as hell not gonna carry it. Let's get moving." She started walking.

"How can you DO this to me?" His voice had an edge of hysteria in it, and she turned around, almost feeling a bit sorry for him. Almost.

"Easy. I say, 'Pick up the pack and walk.' Simple."

"But…but…I'm Zelgadis. You have to know who I am! You have to know how skilled I am! What the hell is wrong with you?"

"I'm not gonna go on a pity trip for you, buster. Sorry."

Zelgadis' sad face twisted into an annoyed frown. "Dammit. You're good, you know that?"

"Of course! I'm Lina Inverse!" She flipped her hair and grinned. "Anyway, pick up the--"

"NO!"

She frowned. "Pick up the--"

"I said NO!! I am not a beast of burden, I'm one of the most skilled incubus that Zelas has, and I refuse to be treated as a pack animal! Why do you insist on this?"

"Because do you see anyone you can seduce here?"

He got a sly smile and licked his lips. "Yes…"

Lina punched him.

"OW! Dammit, kid, there's no need to hit me every time I act on my nature! It's not my goddamned fault!"

"I'm making it your fault! Stop coming on to me!"

"Like anyone would want to," He grumbled. "What are you, a lesbian or something?"

He got another sock to the jaw.

"OW!! Dammit, what the hell is wrong with you??"

"You're being a jerk, that's what!! Look, if you promise to be civilized, I'll figure out a way to get a dimensional pocket to put all this in."

"You'd do that? For me?"

"Don't push it, buddy."

"Fine. I'd love that. Ugh, I'm never met a less sexual person!"

Lina ignored him and searched through the books. Lessee…..here! She glared at it. It required a week. She didn't want to have to go through another week of him whining. She'd just have to edit it a bit. Shouldn't be hard, she understood all the reasoning behind everything.

"Hold on, Zel. There's a chance that I'll get a multi-demensional nasty through here."

"A what???"

"Don't worry, it's a really slim chance. And….yes!!"

A rip in the air appeared. "Shove all the stuff in it!" Zelgadis hastily did so. She closed it back up and stood.

"That wasn't so hard. I just had to make up for the time by using more…power…" She tripped and fell. Zelgadis sighed.

"You're an idiot, you know that?"

"So I've been told."

Zelgadis Sighed and picked her up.

"H-hey!! What are you doing??"

"I'm carrying you. You don't want to have to camp out, do you?"

"B-but!" Lina was blushing the color of her hair. He grinned. At least he had SOME influence over her. He was afraid he'd lost it.

"But nothing."

"You have to be civilized," She warned. Actually, he'd never promised, but he pretended he had. "Were the Greeks civilized?"

She blinked. "Well… yeah… what--"

"Then I'm allowed to rip off your clothes right here in the middle of the road and--"

"NO!!!" She bashed him in the head, sending them both to the ground. This made it yet worse. Lina kicked him in the face and got an arm around his throat to put him in a headlock. "Friggin' pervert!! I said CIVILIZED!!"

"If the Greeks are allowed to rape young boys on a normal basis,' He managed through a blocked trachea, "and go to public orgies, I should be allowed to--"

"MY definition of civilized!"

"You're not civilized!"

"I never said I was!!"

They glared at each other for a while.

"Anyway, I wasn't going to." He said annoyedly. "Who would want to with a skinny, flat little girl like y--"

"Asshole!" Lina kicked him in the stomach with her steel toed boot. He lay gasping for air as she glared at him. "You say I have to work on my people skills? Anyone who doesn’t let you drag them off to be, you criticize! Honestly! It seems you have a major security problem!"

"Hey, you…"

"ANYWAY, we're gonna camp here tonight. We're not going to get any further. And you stay on THAT side of the clearing!" She added when he moved towards her. He sulked and leaned against a tree. After glaring at him for a while, she lay down and went to sleep.

Zelgadis looked at her. She was a skinny, flat little kid. He shouldn’t worry about not being able to…

But if she was so undesirable, he shouldn't have this much trouble! He banged his head against a tree, then jumped back, barely biting down the yelp of pain. Dammit, he was going to get a bruise there, he knew it. And he was going to have them all over, too. Damn little minx!

He glared over at where she slept. Odd, when she was asleep, she didn't look quite as intimidating as when she was awake. He smiled slightly. She looked like a child when she slept… Not unlike how she looked awake, but a sweet child, not a spoiled one.

Actually, she did have a remarkable slim sort of beauty if you took the time to look…

"Well, Zelgadis, how are you?"

Zelgadis stomped on the urge to jump and spin, knowing that that wouldn't be good to do in Xellos' presence. Pushing back the tiny feeling of fear he had to the back of his mind, Zelgadis turned gracefully and bowed. "My lord. What are you doing here?"

Xellos grinned. "Passing by. Are you finished with the girl yet? I wasn't done with you when you left." He grinned at Zelgadis, who got a slightly sick feeling inside. But he was skilled at biting such things down. Not even Xellos could sense his unease.

"Ah…well…"

"why does she still have her clothes on?"

"Um…you see…"

"Well?"

"She used her own blood."

"WHAT???"

Zelgadis hastily silenced him with a kiss, even though it made his stomach turn to do so. "Shhhh, don't wake her up," he whispered huskily, wrapping his arms around Xellos neck. "She'd be angry."

"What do I care if I wake her up?" Xellos hissed, but lowered his voice anyway. "Why did you answer the summons?"

Zelgadis grinned. "If you remember, I was a bit muddled at the time."

Xellos grinned back and snaked his hands around Zelgadis' waist. He bit back his upchuck reflex and smiled. "So now you're stuck with a blood summons. Zelas won't like that."

"I know. You'll tell her for me, won't you?" Zelgadis out every once of pleading into his voice and eyes. He really didn't want Zelas mad at him with him right there before her. She might forget he was her favorite instrument of entertainment, and then he'd be pretty royally screwed. He thought of being tossed to the lower mazoku to play with and nearly paled.

Xellos smiled. "I'm sure I could convince her, lovely one." Zelgadis smiled radiantly and Xellos chuckled. Ohh, if he knew how hard Zelgadis had to work to keep smiling while Xellos was…roaming with his hands. "So, was the girl fun?"

Zelgadis frowned. "No. I think she's lesbian, she won't react at all to me, She just--" He hissed in pain as one of Xellos' hands came in contact with where Lina had kicked him with her boot. Xellos pulled back suddenly, as if afraid of breaking a cracked toy.

"Zelgadis, you're covered with bruises!" Xellos looked at him sympathetically. "You poor lovely thing… I hope she doesn't ruin that pretty face of yours…" Zelgadis sucked in air in alarm. If she ruined his looks, he'd have nothing to fall back on…

Xellos chuckled at his fearful eyes. "But I guess you're stuck with her. At least this saves me from having to watch her myself. You'll do a fine job while bonded with her." He chuckled. "I won't try to play with you now, covered in bruises…but I hope you’re healed up next time I see you." He smiled in a way that made Zelgadis sick and disappeared.

Zelgadis bit his lip and leaned against a tree. He really hadn't needed that. He really hadn't wanted to see Xellos. Now his stomach was twisted in knots, and his head was pounding.

What if she did ruin his face? Zelas wouldn't like him as much anymore. He would probably either be tossed out for manual labor or-- Zelgadis swallowed. Or tossed to her lower servants to play with before he died. That would not be fun. Disgusting as Xellos was, he didn't hurt him. The lower creatures didn't care about breaking their toys…

Zelgadis bit down on the moan that nearly escaped his lips and lay down. He might as well rest. He didn't need any sleep, but it was nice. And he'd rather drift into oblivion than sit and mull over what would happen to him if her were anything less that perfect.

* * *

Zelgadis woke up to Lina's grinning face next to his. The grinning face next to his didn't startle him much, he was used to it. But the fact it was Lina…

"What the hell are you doing here?" He yelped, jumping backwards. What was wrong with her, anyway? Zelgadis raised his hands, ready to defend, albeit badly, against attack.

Lina laughed. "Geez! You'd think I wanted to kill you!! I was just up, and I thought I'd see how you were doing. You're not bruised from those kicks I gave you, are you?"

Zelgadis snorted. "Of course I am, ditz. Why wouldn't I be?"

"I just thought demons were super-fast healers." She shrugged. "Guess I overestimated you."

Zelgadis' temper flared. "The warrior types are." He snapped. "I, as you have to have gotten through your thicker than rock skull by now, am not a warrior. I'm an incubus. I have other skills. Super-quick healing, up until I met you, has not been an issue."

Lina shrugged. "Sorry about that. Want me to heal you?"

"I don't trust you."

"Thanks for caring." She snorted derisively and flipped her hair. Zelgadis was getting sick of that. "Anyway, I promise I won't hurt you purposely while healing you."

"But before and after are fair game."

"Of course! What if you groped me?"

Zelgadis sighed.

"Well, if you don't wanna be healed, you're gonna be awfully sore, Zel."

"…Zel?"

"What? You're name's Zelgadis, right? I just thought I'd shorten it up a bit." She smiled. "It's okay, right?"

"Well…I guess…but…"

"Right! Well then, Zel, lets be off! We want to make the next town so we don't have to sleep on the ground." She grabbed his elbow and dragged him along until he managed to speed up a bit.

A smile almost crossed his lips. This wasn't so bad. It was better than Xellos' bed, after all. And if he got scarred, well, he'd think about that when it happened. He didn't really have a choice, anyway.

Zelgadis smiled and walked along with the red haired mage, coming close to smiling.