Author's Note: The song is "Kiss Me", by Sixpence None The Richer. Thanks to Renfield for beta-reading again and again and again and again...
Kiss me out of the bearded barley
Nightly, beside the green, green grass
He didn't think. He just jumped.
Swing, swing, swing the spinning step
You wear those shoes and I will wear that dress
Lina recoiled in surprise--just as the mazoku raised the weapon to strike, a blur of metallic colour rushed across her field of vision. A shower of sparks rushed through the air; she took a half-step backwards as a voice--Zel's voice--shouted something she couldn't quite make out.
Did he just...?
Then came the explosion.
Oh, kiss me beneath the milky twilight
Lead me out on the moonlit floor
Zel blinked.
His heart was still hammering from the leap. The walls of the small room were covered with black ash in chaotic patterns--he guessed that would be the mazoku's remains--and the scythe had become a blackened, twisted knot of metal. He wasn't sure what he had intended to do to block the creature, but it looked like it had come out as a Ra-Tilt.
"Zelgadis?"
Lina's voice, behind him--he turned, slowly.
Lift up your open hand
Strike up the band and make the fireflies dance
He looked almost as dazed as she felt.
"Um, Zel... explain to me what you just did and why?" she said, feeling a bit lame.
"I--I just reacted," he said slowly, his voice catching on ragged breaths. "I don't think, that is, I didn't mean to kill it--I was trying to buy you some time, er, I really don't know what..."
He trailed off, an embarrassed look creeping across his face. She shook her head a little, trying to clear it of confusion--she should have expected that. Okay, sure, so she usually insisted on doing the monster-slaying thing her way, but... this wasn't the same, somehow.
Suddenly, inexplicably, she felt anger spiking through her.
"For crying out loud, Zel, would you try not to develop a martyr complex on me?"
Silver moon's sparkling
So kiss me
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me." The sorceress gave him a dirty look. "Jeeze, next time you're considering suicide, tell me so I can beat some sense into you!"
He took a half-step back, bewildered and dizzy. "Lina, it's not like he actually--"
"My ass! Look at your shirt, you idiot!"
My...? That's odd, I didn't feel anything...
He glanced down at himself. There was a long slash in the cream-coloured fabric, running from his left hip to his right shoulder.
Oh. Really, really slick, Zel. Go charging in to save the day and, ta-da, come out a total mess. Holy L-sama, I must be hanging out with Gourry too much.
"Sorry," he said quickly, kicking at the twisted scythe. "I, uh, wasn't thinking..."
"Yeah, well, it was a stupid thing to do."
She fell silent, glaring. Inwardly, he shrank: this really shouldn't matter, he shouldn't feel ashamed and angry and--and insulted...
Damn. She always got to him like this.
Kiss me down by the broken tree house
Swing me upon its hanging tire
Lina gritted her teeth. It didn't make any sense. He'd saved her life, just like he had dozens of times before that...why the hell was she upset at him?
Because he'd made her scared, that was why.
The thought startled her, but only a little. She should've expected that things like this would hit her harder, after she'd gotten her feelings worked out...
Great, Lina, really smooth. Just throw a big ol' hissy fit over it, why don't you.
"Sorry," she mumbled.
Bring, bring, bring your flowered hat
We'll take the trail marked on your father's map
"Forget it."
There was a very awkward pause; then he cleared his throat and turned to look at her.
"We, um--we're not going to tell the others about this, are we?" he asked.
"I don't think so."
He kicked at the scythe again, folding his arms tightly over his chest to cover the wide slash in the fabric and quiet his still-racing pulse. And the cycle begins again, he thought, and suppressed a sigh. They always went through this--after the end of a big fight, there would be a few hours of tense silence, and then Lina would go off to eat everything in sight and he'd have to try to keep himself from trembling.
He knew she could handle herself. He knew he didn't have to get quite so worried. But he knew there was no way he could let this just drop, not when he felt the way he did.
"I'm not apologizing for saving your life, though."
Oh, kiss me beneath the milky twilight
Lead me out on the moonlit floor
"Wh--what?"
Lina's eyes went wide in surprise; her hands promptly went numb and tingling beneath the gloves.
"You heard me." He turned away from her, his face falling into shadow. "I'm not gonna apologize for it."
"I--I didn't want you to, Zel," she managed, a bit thickly. "I... uh..."
Oh, great, he must think you're a wonderful human being right now. Brilliant.
Her gaze dropped to the floor; quite suddenly she felt rather small and silly.
"It's not like I didn't appreciate it," she mumbled. "But, you know... I panicked."
Lift your open hand
Strike up the band and make the fireflies dance
He hunched his shoulders a little more tightly, stifling a shiver.
"You didn't need to," he said, his own voice sounding soft and alien in his ears.
"Yeah, well, what can I say... I just gotta do everything my way..."
She laughed; he caught the forced flatness of the sound, and turned to look at her. She was twisting her hands, eyes trained on the floor, looking vaguely embarrassed.
And cute, some part of his brain insisted. The thought brought on a wave of dizziness, but he ventured a step closer.
"Lina... are you okay?"
Silver moon's sparkling
"Yeah."
"You're sure?"
Damn him! "Why wouldn't I be?" she snapped, her gaze swinging up to meet his.
It was a mistake. The pale, concerned expression on his face was... well... it was damn attractive. She didn't dare to look at the patch of blue skin showing through his slashed tunic--no way am I gonna blush in front of him, not now...
"I mean," she faltered, "I'm fine, really... adrenaline's wearing off, is all..."
"You don't need a healing spell or anything?"
He stepped closer, worry sparking somewhere behind his eyes, and she had to fight to keep a shiver from running up her spine. Dammit, not now, please don't do this now.
She took a deep breath, then forced the brightest smile she could manage.
"I'm okay. You?"
So kiss me
Zel shrugged. "Been better."
"Yeah, no kidding."
He smiled, then fell silent. She'd thanked him. She practically never did that; it had always sort of been understood that they were grateful for each other's help...
It was nice.
Okay, it was great.
Except that a familiar twinge of hope was starting to flicker somewhere beneath his collarbone.
Or... was that something else...
Oh, kiss me beneath the milky twilight
Lina's eyes snapped wide open as the chimera let out a little groan, huddling into himself.
"Zel?"
She wasn't even aware of having moved--one moment she was standing a short distance from him, the next she was supporting him as he sagged forward against her hands.
Her heart roared in her ears. No no don't do this not now you can't...
There was something wet against the palm of one of her gloves. Something warm... she moved a hand and caught the faintest scent of something metallic.
The scythe...
Lead me out on the moonlit floor
He drew a sharp breath. Damn, damn, damn... I should have expected that... why did I think it would be a normal scythe?
That's right, I wasn't thinking...
The pain gathered strength, spiking across the full length of the wide scratch this time. His vision blurred briefly; when it cleared, Lina was staring concernedly into his face.
"How bad is it?" she asked urgently.
"Uhn..."
"How bad?"
The wound throbbed again. He was suddenly aware that her hands were pressed against it, warming the cold stone.
"...I don't..." he managed, choking on the words.
Lift up your open hand
Mind and heart racing, she summoned a burst of strength and pushed him backwards against the wall. Although part of her cringed at the pained groan that escaped his throat, she shoved emotion aside and closed her eyes.
"Healing power, flowing white..."
Time slowed as she muttered the recovery spell; it seemed a lifetime before the gash under her hands knit itself closed.
She felt him take in a deep breath, and then allowed herself a sigh of relief.
Strike up the band
The world came into focus again, much more quickly this time.
The pain was gone. The wound was gone. He drew another breath, experimentally; there was no sharp cold stabbing across his chest.
"Thank you," he breathed, closing his eyes again. He felt more than a little shaky.
"My fault," she said. Was it him or was her voice trembling, just a bit? "I should have known, when I saw the sparks..."
"It's okay..."
He summoned enough energy to stand up straight, then opened his eyes and looked down at her.
Her statement was softening from a hard, determined look into something warmer... something grateful. She was glad to have him back.
And, although her hands were still on his chest, she wasn't pulling back. Or blushing, come to think of it.
His pulse began to double-time.
And make the fireflies dance
Lina felt a smile rise to her face as Zel looked down at her. Two bad scares in one day, and despite it all, they were still intact and together.
And still silent.
Her heartbeat picked up as she shifted her fingers a little against his stone skin. She'd almost died and she didn't know how close he'd come.
He might as well know, some part of her insisted. I have nothing to lose now.
And for once, she couldn't bring herself to protest.
The silver moon's sparkling
He wasn't sure who moved first--only that suddenly it was happening, she was tilting her face up and he was leaning in; he felt as if the floor was falling away underneath him... his eyes were slipping shut and he was spinning out crazily into space, he had no anchor, no support...
A warm current of breath passed across his lips, and a long shiver raced from the base of his neck to the soles of his feet.
So kiss me
For a small eternity, it was almost like flying.
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