Ah, well, only one review this time to reply to.  Thanks, WD, and 
here's some of what is going to happen.  I hope you enjoy it.

     Slayers is the creation of Hajime Kanzanka and Rui Araizumi.  I 
don't own it; they and a lot of other people do.  I'm not making any 
profit off of this story.
     All lyrics used in this story are from the music of This Mortal 
Coil.

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Mr Somewhere
+=== A Slayers Fanfic by Ryo Hoshi
O3 +===+ Nature's Way

        So with the sun there won't be time just to look behind
       There will be reasons not exclusions for my place of mind
             There was so much I was told, it was not real
        So many things that I could not taste, but I could feel
                                 -- With Tomorrow

     Xelloss sat and thought, while waiting for Zelas to tell him that 
she was ready for his report.  Zelas almost always took his reports in 
private: she claimed that she didn't think the others would understand 
why she would allow him to speak in such a way as he often did to her, 
even though he was a good servant.  Xelloss, of course, understood what 
she wouldn't say: she enjoyed the way he gave his reports, like he was 
telling a story to amuse her.
     Of course, Zelas's wolves -- which seemed to consider Zelas's 
private chambers to be their own den, and the Beastmaster's presence to 
be incidental -- were as always littered all over the floor, and a large
 black one had settled in his lap.  Somewhat automatically, he was 
scratching behind the wolf's ears.  The sweetly sour taste of the wolf's
 simple physical pleasure matched Xelloss's own thoughts.
     Suddenly, a pair of arms slipped around him in a gentle hug, and a 
familiar voice spoke softly in his ear.  "Xelloss-chan, what's wrong?  
You don't usually brood..."
     "Zelas-sama, why did you send me back?" he asked in return, leaning
 against his mother and master and letting her run her fingers through 
his hair, smoothing it.
     "Xelloss-chan, from all you've told be about that girl, she'd never
 pull _anybody_ into her bed, and particularly not you.  No, _don't_ 
argue with me about that.  She's a very _nice_ girl, and she would ask 
first."  Xelloss nodded as well as he could, since he couldn't argue 
with that.  "For her to pull her into her bed, and have her way with 
you, means that something unusual is going on.  I want to know what this
 is, before it becomes something important."
     "So I have to be a dragon's sex toy...?" he asked, doing his best 
to keep from sounding like he was _complaining_.
     "I'm sorry, Xelloss-chan.  When you're done this mission, would you
 like to follow Lina around some more?  I know you like doing that..."
     Xelloss sighed.  "Yes, Zelas-sama."  Even in mother mode, she was 
his master.
     "Sorry, Xelloss.  I need you to do this for me."

     Filia sipped tea in her shop, trying to calm down and enjoy the 
quiet of the slow season.  At its start, she had taken sent Gravos and 
Jillas away, insisting they take a vacation and had even considered 
closing the shop up for its duration and taking a vacation herself.  She
 had decided against that, though since the dreams had started she was 
starting to wonder if she should have chosen to take that vacation 
anyway.
     _Something_, she thought, _is very wrong with me.  I would never 
have...done *that* with Xelloss, even if he had asked._  She blushed 
slightly as her conscious reminded her of certain dreams she had dreamt 
that had involved the purple-haired mazoku.  _Why do I keep doing 
*that*?_
     She finished her cup, and looked at the few stray leaves at its 
bottom for a few moments as a second question formed itself in her mind.
  _Why does he keep *returning*?_
     She refilled her cup, and took a few sips as she answered that 
question: _Xelloss is a pervert as *well* as a namagomi._  She knew that
 didn't really make sense, since she was the one responsible for what 
she had done to him, but it was much easier for her to blame him.

     Xelloss cautiously appeared in Filia's bedroom.  If he was right, 
he should have arrived just _before_ she went to bed.  However, he 
didn't trust his experience with her anymore, as he would not have 
expected her to rape him _twice_ before, either.  She could have taken 
up sleep-walking, too, for all he knew.
     Suppressing slight shudder at his sudden vision of her pulling his 
clothes off and forcing him down onto the wooden floor of her bedroom, 
he carefully checked for any sign that she might have already gone to 
bed, and was relieved to find that her robe and her mace were not there.
  Xelloss doubted that she'd have taken both with her if she was 
sleep walking.
     He heard the door swinging open, and he turned to see Filia, hair 
still wet, in her pink robe and with her mace already out.  He smiled --
 he knew better than to show fear, _particularly_ when it was something 
he wasn't supposed to be scared of -- and waved.  "Hello, Filia-san!"
     "Xelloss!"  She swung her mace at him, and almost managed to 
connect.  "Namagomi!  Are you here because you want to take advantage of
 me _again_!?"
     Yet another swing of hers almost connected, as her victim was still
 surprised.  "Filia-san, what do you mean, _I've_ take advantage of 
_you_?  You're the one who keeps raping me!  Why are you blaming _me_?!"
     "If you really didn't like it, then why do you keep coming back?"
     Xelloss caught her mace in mid-swing, his own eyes open and looking
 into hers.  "Because, Filia-san, something's wrong with you, and I want
 to know what it is."  He was certain that saying why he wanted to know 
would be a bad idea.  "I just came here early...to offer myself."
     Filia looked at him, wondering what he was up to.  "Offer yourself,
 Xelloss?"
     "Since we'll end up with me in your bed anyway, I though I'd save 
us both time..."  He let his implied meaning sink in, and then caught 
her free hand as it came up to slap him.  "Besides, maybe you'll not 
injure me in your sleep if I'm in your bed from the start..."
     Filia sighed.  He did seem to be right...  "Alright, Xelloss."
     "Thank you, Filia-san," he said quietly and earnestly.  He pulled 
her close, slipping his arms under her robe and around her waist, and 
kissed her.

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     For some reason, Zelas in this story tends to write herself.  She's
 cooperative, in that she doesn't want to change the direction the story
 itself is going in, nor does she seem to want to have the story dwell 
on her even though she's already appeared in it several more times than 
I had originally thought she would.
     She really does seem to like playing mother to Xelloss, and I'm 
pretty sure that normally Xelloss gladly plays along and calls her 
'Mother'...  However, at least this time, he's not that happy with his 
orders, so he's calling her 'Zelas-sama' even though he does really play
 along otherwise.  Zelas may think of Xelloss as her son, but she is not
 an indulgent mother to him.

     An attitude of "Somehow it's Xelloss's fault" suits Filia, and 
admittedly she doesn't know why Xelloss really is returning for more.  
She also probably still thinks of herself as essentially good, and not 
somebody who would do cruel, evil things even unintentionally to even 
those who might deserve them.  But, to be honest, I don't know why she 
does decide to blame him anyway.

     I don't know if any of you were feeling like Xelloss deserved to 
get to have a say in having sex with Filia or not, but I felt that he 
deserved to have a little luck after finding himself told that he'd have
 to be Filia's sex toy for a while.  So, he's getting to find out if 
being fully willing and consenting helps at all.

     Reviews and dark chocolate are highly welcomed, and will encourage 
me to try to keep on posting new chapters at this pace for longer.  I 
don't mind that much if all you have to say is that you like this or 
that you hate it but find yourself reading it anyway.  (I feel that it's
 safe to assume that, if you hate this story but you're reading _this_, 
you're finding yourself reading this story anyway...unless you were here
 for Xelloss getting raped and don't like him finally getting a chance 
to consent.)