Strange Love
Xelloss: The Foolish Priest…
(^_^ Now don’t get me wrong. I think Xelloss is a rather cute
little bugger, but that doesn’t mean he’s not a fool…at least when it comes
to love he is!)
“Hmmm, Nabiki Tendo,” Xelloss muttered to himself as he walked down the street towards Lina, Amelia, Zelgadis, and Gourry. Xel nerved himself and put on his priestly-est face.
“Hello, Lina,” he said, disappearing and reappearing at her side. “It’s been awhile, hasn’t it. How goes your search for the Claire Bible?” Somehow, tormenting her wasn’t as fun as usual.
Lina flinched and drew back from him, “Get away from me, giggling boy!”
Xelloss started to laugh, but his heart wasn’t really in it. He sat down at the table with them and took a sip of Zelgadis’ coffee. His face dropped and he leaned his head in his hand.
“Well, I have a lead as to the location of another manuscript. Might you be interested?” he said with a yawn.
Lina and Zelgadis looked at one another, confused at the Mysterious Priest’s strange behavior.
“Umm, Xelloss, are you feeling alright?” Lina asked, feeling his forehead for a fever.
“Oh, of course I’m fine. Heh heh,” he said, perking himself up
with visible effort. “Now, about that manuscript…”
“Okay Xelloss, just one more time. Just how did we get ourselves in this mess in the first place?!” Lina demanded. She and Xelloss had been tied at the wrists and ankles and thrown into the Seyruun prison.
Xelloss smirked, “Now that is a secret!” He teleported out of his chains and turned to leave the cell.
“Hey, waitaminute! Come back here! Aren’t you forgetting something?” Lina yelled with a growl.
Xelloss paused and turned back to the little sorceress and smiled, “Oh of course!” He knelt down next to her and untied her hands and feet. “Sorry, Lina. I don’t know where my head was. Now, let’s get out of here, shall we?” he said, holding out his arm to the irate girl.
“Just get me out of here. I am not touching you,” she said, crossing her arms.
“Suit yourself,” Xelloss said with a shrug as he disappeared. He reappeared on the other side of the cellblock and waved to Lina. He started down the hall in the direction of the exit. His mind, however, was on Nabiki Tendo. Oh, how he wanted to see her again. He never recalled having felt this way before. This was a purely human emotion, and he never thought himself capable of that.
“Okay, okay, Xelloss, come back okay? I’ll touch you! Just get me out!” Lina said from behind him. Xelloss spun on his heel and walked back into the cell. He held out his arm to the sorceress.
“Shall we try this again?” he asked with a fixed smile. She took
his arm roughly and allowed him to lead her out of the cell. He tried
to enjoy tormenting Lina, but somehow, it just wasn’t working today.
His sharp mind had been thinking of all kinds of things to show Nabiki.
He would show her magic. He would show her the towns, the people
and the foods. It would be a…a date…
Nabiki fell asleep with her earphones on, listening to Akane and Ranma. They were arguing as usual, and Nabiki had gotten bored. So she had fallen asleep, not wearing the cloak. Her dream was clouded.
All she saw was herself in a room full of mirrors. She looked at herself and realized that the cloak wasn’t on. So she woke up.
Nabiki shook her head and took off her earphones. She switched
off the equipment and went to take a bath. She finished, put on her
nightgown and slipped the cloak on. She took a last look at the note
and turned off the light.
Xelloss was pacing back and forth. Where was she? Had she gotten the note? The only way he could pull her here was if she wore his cloak. His master had agreed to let her come back and he might not even be able to find her! Suddenly, he smelled the familiar scent of his cloak. She was here!
Xelloss hurried inside to tell his master. She smiled at her little priest. He was going on his first real date! She was so proud. Of course, the girl he was going with had no idea what was going on, but that would come later. Zellas Metallium was strangely pleased to see her High Priest so happy.
“Ah, here she is!” Xelloss said as he saw Nabiki walking toward him. Sure enough, she wore his cloak about her shoulders. The faint light of the torches made her look almost spectral as she came closer. Xelloss had to force restraint on himself. She couldn’t know how he felt. Not yet anyway. He assumed his friendly Mysterious Priest face and came forward to meet her.
“Ahh, Nabiki Tendo. I see you have decided to join me again tonight. I am honored. You are probably wondering what I want. Well, I suppose if you must know…I wanted to show you around my world a bit. Then, perhaps another time, you will repay me by showing me your world.”
Nabiki squinted, “You cannot be serious. You expect me to believe that after one little meeting, you’re ready to date me? I’m sorry, but…” she stopped, suddenly thinking of the way she’d spent the entire day, mooning over a guy she’d just met.
“Oh, I see. Well, perhaps I was a bit presumptuous. Forgive me,” Xelloss bowed, already feeling his chance with her fly right up into the sky.
“Well, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt me to see something new…but what did you have in mind?” Nabiki asked slowly, looking up at the purple-haired man.
Xelloss hid his relief as that chance came soaring back with brilliant fanfare. “Well, I thought maybe we could find a nice little restaurant somewhere in Atlas City, and then see a performance or two in Seyruun. We should have time to do that, don’t you think?”
“Well, alright. On one condition though…you are paying for dinner,” Nabiki smirked evilly at the Priest.
Xelloss grinned broadly at Nabiki. He felt like a little schoolboy
for some reason and he still had no idea why…
*That’s my fault…I shouldn’t have left him with that emotion…I should’ve
taken love from him…he’s falling for her! I…I might lose my High
Priest, * thought the Beast Master as she watched Xelloss from her den.
She growled. Well, she couldn’t do much about it. The girl
wasn’t one of her subjects, nor even from her world, so Zellas Metallium
could do naught but wait.
“Mmmm…this is very good. What is it called again?” Nabiki asked after her second bowl of the stuff. Zellas Metallium had been kind enough to give Nabiki one of her old outfits. (Old of course being about five days ago.) The dress made Nabiki look like, well, a beautiful Dark Lord. Xelloss couldn’t help but look at her.
Xelloss sighed and saw dollar signs cracking in half in front of him, “It’s Nihera-Nihera’s famous hot-pot. It’s one of Atlas City’s best dishes. Are you about ready to go? I think we might be late getting to the…” Xelloss trailed off as he saw Lina and the others walk into the restaurant. He opened his eyes and frowned deeply, angry that his plans were going to have to change.
Gourry spotted him first and approached him, “So, you got dragged here too, huh? I personally hate this stuff, but Amelia and Zelgadis absolutely insisted on coming here. Personally, I like Nio Herron’s roast beef much better, don’t you, Xelloss?” Gourry wound up for a grand speech about the reasons roast beef was better than hot-pot, but soon stopped, for Lina’s fist was now embedded in his skull.
“You moron! What are you doing! We don’t want to talk to him!” Lina yelled, little fangs coming out of her mouth as she berated the idiot swordsman.
“Gee Lina I’m sorry. I thought we were making excuses not to eat this stuff!” Gourry said from the floor.
Lina grinned and backed away, dragging Gourry with her. Xelloss sweatdropped and facefaulted. (That’s quite a feat for an anime character to do all in one take you know!)
“Heh, heh. Sorry about that, just pretend we aren’t here. Well talk about the manuscript later, after we eat…” Lina said. Nabiki sat with her arms crossed and her eyebrows raised.
“Who are they?” she asked calmly, not taking her eyes off of Xelloss. His expression was one of mixed chagrin and worry. He had covered up his emotions admirably; at least until the strange Lina girl mentioned some manuscript. She saw a certain darkness cloud his eyes for a moment and quickly added, “Of course, I don’t mind hearing about it, since you are paying for dinner after all.” Nabiki smiled to try and lighten the mood.
Xelloss relaxed and sipped his ale, “I’m sorry Nabiki, but it seems that my work always comes to interrupt my pleasure.” The mysterious Priest looked at Nabiki. He thought he detected the slightest hint of a blush in her pale cheeks. That made him smile. Nabiki signaled that she was done eating. Xelloss paid for their meal and stood to leave.
Suddenly, someone forced him to sit back down.
“Oh, no, Xelloss. You aren’t getting away that easily. First of all, you’re going to tell me why you skipped out on us back at Seyruun. We had to spend about three hours explaining things to Prince Phil. Amelia even had to turn on the water works! Then you’re going to tell us who she is,” Lina said, calmly putting a very firm hand on his shoulder to prevent him from leaving.
Xelloss sighed again and then smiled, “Why Lina, this is Nabiki Tendo. She is also helping me find the Claire Bible. Nabiki, meet the infamous Lina Inverse, killer of bandits.”
Nabiki nodded to the girl, who looked to be about her age. Nabiki’s
mind was working on the whole Claire Bible thing, but she decided to play
along with her date. Hey, he was going to pay for a whole evening
and this little side incident might be fun.
Xelloss smiled again and said, “As to the reason I left you so quickly
in Seyruun, well, now…that is a secret!” He waved his finger in the
air and grinned his telltale grin. Lina facefaulted. “Well,
you know Lina, it’s rude not to introduce your friends,” Xelloss said pointing
to Gourry, Amelia, and Zelgadis.
“Okay, okay. This is Gourry Gabriev,” she said, pointing at the blonde swordsman, “Princess Amelia Wil Tesla Seyruun,” Lina pointed to the little girl with a royal seal on her wrists, “and Zelgadis Greywers,” she finished, pointing to the rocky-skinned man in the back.
“A pleasure, I’m sure,” Nabiki purred, noting the Princess. She probably carried quite a sum of money on her. Then Nabiki realized that the money would be of no use to her. It was different currency. Nabiki mentally sweatdropped, not wanting to show the emotion on her face.
“Well, are you gonna give Zel the info he needs or what?” Lina said impatiently, hands on hips.
Xelloss smirked, suddenly interested in tormenting Lina. “Oh, that manuscript was just a worthless recipe for raising lesser Demons. I destroyed that one too. It wasn’t even from the Claire Bible anyway.”
Lina and her friends all facefault. Zelgadis turned red--well purple anyway--with anger. “YOU WHAT!!??!!?!?!?!?” he screamed, barely refraining from casting a Ra-Tilt.
“Aww, poor Zelgadis. You still don’t trust my judgement? What a pity,” Xelloss said with mock sincerity, breaking down into laughter. “Well, Nabiki and I must really be going now. We have an appointment to keep.”
Nabiki got an evil gleam in her eyes. “Well, Xelloss dear, perhaps Lina and the others would like to join us. That would be just lovely, don’t you think?” she asked innocently. Then, turning to Lina, “We are going to see a performance in Seyruun. Xel dear won’t tell me what it is though. The suspense is absolutely killing me!” Nabiki said, putting on her best debutante voice.
Xelloss did a ‘little sweatdrop’ and consented, “Oh alright. I suppose it can’t hurt anything can it?”
Amelia yipped with glee and glomped onto Zelgadis’ arm. Lina snorted and started for the door. Gourry shrugged and followed her out. Nabiki and Xelloss came last, after Amelia and the annoyed Zelgadis. Once they were a safe distance from the city, Xelloss approached Nabiki.
“Nabiki…may I inquire as to why you invited Lina along?” he asked, taking her arm and leading her toward Seyruun. Nabiki’s smile turned innocent.
“Why Xelloss, can’t even a schemer sometimes give a freebie?” she asked, fluttering her eyelashes in the true manner of a debutante.
“Freebie!” Xelloss snorted disdainfully.
“Yeah, can’t you see it? That blonde guy and the redhead are just waiting for a chance like this. They want to be alone in a dark theatre so they can…well you know,” Nabiki said, nodding at Lina and Gourry.
Xelloss smiled, “And what brought you to this conclusion my dear?” He turned and looked into her brown eyes.
“Hee hee…now that is a secret!” Nabiki said, imitating him perfectly. Xelloss nearly kissed her right there. What a woman! The small company stopped suddenly as Lina spun around.
“What was that? Did you hear it?” she demanded as her eyes darted back and forth, searching the darkness for the source of the noise. Xelloss had heard it too, and feared he knew what it was. A few seconds passed, and all then became clear. It was a lesser dragon. Xelloss swore under his breath and pushed Nabiki behind him. Gourry and Zelgadis drew their swords while Amelia and Lina readied spells.
“This is your fault Xelloss!” Lina yelled as she prepared her spell. “DIL BRAND!”
“ELMIKIA LANCE!” yelled Amelia as she hurled the crackling bolt of energy at the beast. Xelloss put up a barrier around Nabiki and himself and then prepared his own spell. It was no Giga Slave, but it would have to do.
He released the spell without a word and watched it work. Within moments, the dragon was encased in a block of granite, unable to move. Nabiki’s eyes widened.
“Did you do that?” she asked Xelloss. He nodded, still concentrating to maintain the containment. Lina apparently saw her chance so she began chanting the Dragon Slave spell. Nabiki’s face lit up and with an evil grin, she memorized it. Zelgadis and Amelia were simultaneously chanting the Ra-Tilt, so Nabiki took the liberty of memorizing that too, filling herself with raw magic energy. She had it stored up now, for later use, she surmised. She smiled up at Xelloss. His back was to her, but she could tell he was concentrating hard, for beads of sweat rolled off of his face and dropped onto his shirt.
To Xelloss, each second he maintained the spell felt like a whole year or hard labor. He couldn’t let that dragon out, no matter what the cost. A single dragon, no matter how small, was more than a match for him, though he hated to admit it. Dragons and Mozoku were bitter enemies. And…he didn’t want Nabiki to be hurt.