Yaii, so many reviews from Lauren-sama! I'm going to _have_ to put my replies to them at the end! Someone, thank you _very_ much for both the review and the dark chocolate. I make an effort to write this well because much of this is more on the poetic/emotional side than prose/thinking side; someday I may end up writing a paper on that whole aspect of storytelling. Don't worry, Filia's behavior will eventually be explained. (By the way, your English isn't horrible. I have seen much, much worse.) 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 songs of This Mortal Coil. _Late Night_ was originally done by Syd Barret and is copyright S. Barrett & Lupus Music Co. Ltd. +===+ +===+ +===+ +===+ +===+ +===+ +===+ +===+ +===+ Mr Somewhere +=== A Slayers Fanfic by Ryo Hoshi 07 +===+ Several Times Inside me I feel, alone and unreal And the way you kiss will always be A very special thing to me -- Late Night Xelloss carefully extracted himself from Filia's embrace again. She had been sleeping restlessly, not like she had been the other nights, and had been more inclined to cuddle him than anything else while asleep. Whatever mood it was that had brought on the strong flavor of desperation in bed before she had fallen asleep seemed to have carried over into her sleep. She kept mumbling, too, though Xelloss could never make out what she was saying. He carefully gathered Filia into his own arms, pulling her against him. _I'm not doing this because I...feel anything for her, I'm just doing this so I have a better chance of hearing her clearly..._ He gave the flesh under his hands a gentle squeeze, enjoying how her breasts felt under them. _And I can enjoy this, too_, he thought with a grin. Filia twisted in his arms once again, this time bringing her arms up and entangling her fingers in his hair. She pulled his face downwards, tilting hers up so their lips would meet, and Xelloss realized that her blue eyes were open, though unfocused. Then her lips were on his, kissing him passionately and insistantly, and he quickly found himself giving in and not caring at all. By the time he could think coherently again, it was completely over. Both were sweaty, and breathing hard (for their respective species) and Xelloss could feel the tiredness and satisfaction with just the slightest touch of dull pain radiating from the almost-asleep dragon snuggled up close beside him. Xelloss felt too numb to actually taste Filia's emotions. It had been _good_, though also frantic and confusing... He couldn't remember, and didn't really care, which of them had taken it past simply kissing. He had left her bruised, from the force of his kisses and from the not-so-occasional nip, but he didn't feel any guilt because she would have done the same to him if he wasn't a mazoku. Then, when they mutually decided that they had had enough of simply kissing, biting, and rough caresses, then... Xelloss smiled lazily at the memory of _then_. Xelloss thought that, while they were pushing against each other's body, trying so hard to find satisfaction, Filia had begged him to give her proof that he was _there_ with her, and that she wasn't alone and was _real_... But that wasn't likely. Even less likely to him was the idea that he had begged her for anything in return, no less that he had begged her to tell him that he was loved by her, and valued, and not being used and thrown away... It was completely impossible that either had answered in the positive, just before everything went a very, _very_ brilliant white and life, such as it was, felt _incredibly_ wonderful. _So..._ Xelloss thought to himself. _*That*'s what rough sex is like..._ Filia groaned. She felt sore, though she could barely remember why, and had not slept well at all. She didn't want to have to open her eyes, but they drifted open anyway. She looked at the mostly-white sheets for a few seconds, her mind muggy. _Dark red and inky black spots...?_ she thought to herself. Xelloss had trouble not giggling as he tasted the bright candy-like flavor of Filia's utter and complete surprise as well as feeling her physical reaction. He'd have had trouble _not_ knowing, as he had managed to get her back close to his chest, with her head tucked under his chin. Her little jump had done interesting things indeed, too. "Good morning, Filia!" he said brightly. "Good morning, namagomi..." _How *dare* he be so cheerful...?_ "You'll be glad to know that we only had sex once tonight, but it was _*really*_ good sex," he somehow managed to chirp. "You really do know how to make a mazoku happy!" Filia growled, and elbowed him in the ribs. He countered with a few pinches that, incidentally, finished the flower pattern of bruises on her breast. She went in to retaliate with a few strategically placed nips, and they soon were tangled up together in a minor scuffle that seemed to be now over who got to be on top. Before they found out the results, however, there was a loud, wooden crack and they tumbled onto the floor, Filia's bed frame broken. Filia yelped as her bottom hit the cool, almost cold wooden floor. Xelloss made a noise very, _very_ much like the one he had made first thing in the morning, the first time she woke up with him in her bed, as his face landed between Filia's breasts and his hips hit the floor between Filia's legs. Filia sweatdropped. "I'm going to have to get a new bed today..." Xelloss moaned into her breasts what might have been a reply to _that_. "Could you please get off me? Please?" +===+ +===+ +===+ +===+ +===+ +===+ +===+ +===+ +===+ Well, this is really more of an interlude than anything else, though it does have a relationship to the plot. (See the next chapter once it's up for details _there_.) I will admit, I'm not at all sure why they didn't manage to break Filia's bed earlier. It must have been really sturdy. I'm really sorry about hurting Xelloss at the end of this chapter the way I did. Well, alright, I'm not sorry about that at all. I did it because it had to be done. Really. To start with, Lauren-sama's reviews are quite extensive for the five chapters she reviewed. If you're still reading, Lauren-sama, thank you. To the first two reviews in specific: I will admit that I chose to write Xelloss the way he is in this story _because_ he is portrayed as a (stereotypical) sadistic psycho or as a, well, hopeless romantic much too often. I am not denying that he is a mazoku, and thus eats others' negative emotions to survive. However, that does not make him a sadistic psycho unless you want to apply pretty much the same terms to anybody and everybody who eats meat since anything with two brain cells to rub together can feel pain. As for this being romance... I have no idea. Maybe it is. There's a reason why this has no genres yet. To the third one: Thank you. I will be fleshing out the dream soon, and of course this story seems to be mostly about the sensory details. As for the identity of the tower's master, you guess well. (I will not say that you are right or wrong, but I will say if you're wrong you aren't off by much.) By the way, part of why I did fill in on Xelloss's emotional state (and the reasons behind it) was because I realized when I was writing that chapter that I really should have done so already. To the fourth review: I like Filia, and I like Xelloss... I do my best to write them as IC as I can, and to not bash them. I may put them through hell, but I will do it lovingly! Everybody seems to like Zelas's motherly aspect. We will be seeing more of it. She seems to be enjoying being in this story. On the last of Lauren's reviews: Funny, to me you seem quite good at getting to what is at least a rather close to right answer from minimal evidence. I'm glad you liked the almost-fluff; most of this story will have bits and pieces of almost-fluff. I won't have any full-fledged fluff, though, in this one simply because Filia would end up being very, very worried about poor Xelloss's health. So, for Xelloss's sake, no full-fledged fluff. (Be kind to mazoku!) Reviews and dark chocolate would be really enjoyed and will be found encouraging. Please give me both, though if you can only provide one, please send reviews instead of dark chocolate.