Disclaimers: All Slayers Characters belong to Kanzaka Hajime and T.V. Tokyo, Lin belongs to me.

Chapter 1: Lin

It was a clear nights sky when Lina Inverse was walking down the streets at night with bags of jewels and money in her hands. She was returning from her nightly activity of beating up robbers and was headed towards the inn. She was grinning ear to ear, happy about the treasure she received. Her long hair glimmered in the moon light, and the stars were reflected in her ruby colored eyes.

She was humming a tune from Zefiria, her hometown. She was only starting to imagine of all the money her treasures would bring her. The more she thought about it the more she wished to get back to the inn, and conduct a through check out of her loot.

A figure which sat on top of the tree looked down at Lina and smiled. Her long black hair was up in a pony tail, put in place by a blood red ribbon. She wore a black jacket that looked like it was from the medieval ages, and had on a blue skirt with gray boots. Her eyes were hidden behind the shadows of her long bangs as she saw the human girl hum a tune.

"…..that must be Lina Inverse…." The girl muttered with a smile appearing on her lips. "She’s quite cute." With that she chuckled. "It would be great if I can get a closer look." Even though she knew she couldn’t do that. Getting a closer look meant going near her. She couldn’t just suddenly start following the human girl.

The girl sighed. "It’s probably going to take longer than I hoped. There’s so many obstacles I have to consider." She quickly ran through her mind all the things she had figured out about Lina Inverse, and always came down to two large obstacles. "If only I can remove one of them, it would be a lot better." She kicked her legs into the air.

She sighed again. "I guess……I’d have to go the old fashioned way." She sighed and spun around, her clothes changing into a normal everyday towns girl’s outfit. "Now, I’ll need a place to stay…." She teleported into the town’s night sky and looked around. "That, would be perfect." She smiled as she pointed towards a house. "I’ll just toy with their minds a little." She than muttered a few words under her breath and pointed her forefinger at the house. "Zap!" She chuckled. "Now…. their last name is…… Dist huh?" She smiled. "Dist, Lin Dist. …..It makes me sound like I’m a ditz." She sighed. "I guess I have to pay some price for this."

She already had a plan forming in her mind. She was an everyday towns girl, the only daughter to the Dist family. She worked at the inn as a part time job, and that inn just happened to be Lina Inverse’s inn. She would get close to Lina Inverse, claiming she had never seen a sorceress, which was true, she had never seen a human sorceress.

‘Avoid lying when you can. Let them assume what you want them to, it will come to your advantage then.’

Lin smiled as she remembered her master’s words. "Don’t worry master, I am no idiot. I know what I am doing." All she needed to do was earn Lina Inverse’s trust, and she knew the only way she could get it was that Lina Inverse stayed in this town long enough. "I’ll make her stay worthwhile."

"Good morning you guys." Lina entered the dining room of the inn, early enough to beat the crowd but late enough that her friends were already there.

"Good morning Lina-san." Amelia, the justice loving princess of Seyluun greeted her. "Did you have a good night sleep?"

"I sure did." Lina replied with a smile on her face. "How about you Amelia, did you have a good night sleep, or should I say good dreams?" Lina smiled and Amelia blushed red.

"….How can you two be so energetic in the morning?" Zelgadiss Graywords, a chimera of Human, Gorlem, and Demon asked the two girls.

"…I agree with Zel.." Gaury Gabliev, Lina’s brainless traveling companion as well as best friend had his head on the table with a cup of coffee in his hand. "I’m….:yawn: ..tired."

"…..And they call us the weaker being…" Lina muttered under her breath as she sat down. Just then a waitress came.

"May I take your order?" She asked. She had her long black hair in a ponytail with a red ribbon on it, and her eyes were a deep shade of purple, the color of an amethyst.

Lina sighed at that description. Black hair, eyes the color of an amethyst. It reminded her of a certain demon she hoped to never meet again. Or at least if he planned on bringing trouble.

"I’ll have 30 plates of the A-lunch." Gaury ordered sleepy eyed. Lina wanted to slap him awake with the slipper she carried around but gave up on the idea when she remembered that her slipper was up in her room.

"I’ll have another cup of coffee, and some toast." Zelgadiss stated his order. He wasn’t much of a morning person and if he tried to eat more than coffee and toast in the morning, he would be feeling sick the rest of the day.

"I will have an order of an omelet with ham, bacon, scallions, and cheese in it. Also a glass of orange juice please." Amelia said already smiling from ear to ear.

"I’ll have……" Lina looked over the menu. "40 orders of the B-lunch." She decided. The B-lunch was ‘Authentic Zefirian styled breakfast. With French Toast topped with the great taste of Zefirian Grapes. Along with a grape juice.’ Something that reminded her of her hometown. ‘To start a day off with grapes, is equal to winning a million dollars.’ Her father once told her. Not that she really believed it, but she still loved the taste of the grapes from her hometown.

The waitress nodded and left. Lina leaned back against the chair when Gaury tugged on her sleeve.

"What?" She asked in somewhat of an impatient tone.

"Be careful Lina, I have this sneaky feeling she’s mazoku." Gaury informed her with a straight face but Lina just sighed and shook her head.

"Gaury, my dear friend." She said with a mocking tone. "Why in the world would a mazoku work as a waitress!!!!!????? Mazoku don’t need any money to live on!!!!! How many times have I explained that to you!?!? Besides, a mazoku would not work as a waitress, only gods or humans will" She screamed at him.

"….Since when was waitress a job for the gods.?" Zelgadiss, other wise known as the voice of reason in the chaotic foursome.

"Since my sister started working as one!" Lina declared and started to strangle Gaury’s neck.

"……If you say so Lina." Zelgadiss decided that he wasn’t going to get in the middle of this and sat back down, taking a sip of his coffee.

Lin smiled, she was doing a good job posing as a waitress. Though when she heard the blond human warn Lina Inverse, she prayed that her cover won’t be blown. For the first time in her life, Lin felt as though she wanted to thank the god that possessed Lina Inverse’s sisters body.

The easiest obstacle to get rid of, would be the Chimera and the princess. They won’t be too hard to get away from Lina Inverse. She’d just give the Chimera some pathetic reason to go check out the old temple at the edge of town, and give the princess a map showing the highest places in town.

The main obstacle, the blond human. She had heard his name from her master but couldn’t place what it was. She didn’t think the names of humans except Lina Inverse were important. Oh well, she could just ask their names later.

What was she thinking?! Names, they aren’t at all important!! She needed to find out a way to get to know Lina Inverse alone, and the blond human already suspected her of being a mazoku!! How was she going to convince him to let Lina Inverse out of his sight when he suspected a mazoku. He was definitely over protective when it came to Lina Inverse and mazoku, but she couldn’t blame him since the mazoku have done some pretty nasty things to the human girl. The easiest way to convince him to leave Lina Inverse alone would be to convince him that she WAS human.

She slowly looked over all the details. Everybody in the town was under a mind spell that she grew up here and was the daughter to Mr. and Mrs. Dist, she had created all kinds of past records such as she was listed in a lot of the kids sports, or at least the ones girls were allowed to play in. She had crammed her head with information about the towns people, and created a close group of friends. She couldn’t think of why he would suspect her.

Enough!!! She screamed inside her head. Why was she worrying about a HUMAN other than Lina Inverse. She needed to do what she was planning!!!! After her shift was over, she would approach Lina Inverse, just make up some lame but believable excuse that she had heard her name in the past and wanted to have a talk with her. She wouldn’t try any of her mind spells, since Lina Inverse had a strong tendency to notice if she was even starting to be controlled.

Everything was going to be harder than she ever imagined. She had to keep on telling herself that the reward she would receive would be greater.

Gaury eyed the waitress carefully throughout the whole time, he didn’t even notice it when Lina stole a bunch of hash browns from his plate. If it was just any old mazoku he wouldn’t have minded that much. He would still warn Lina but he won’t be as intense about it. The waitress scared him though. She looked, or rather the air that surrounded her, was almost identical to Xelloss.

He didn’t hate Xelloss, or at least he didn’t want to become enemies with that guy since Gaury had traveled with him. But…Xelloss, on rare occasions, would allow his mask to slip in front of Lina. Not to reveal the blood thirsty mazoku side, but the calm and more humane side, if he had one. That was what he feared. The mazoku would get attached to the girl he treasured more than anything, and worse yet, if Lina got attached to Xelloss…Gaury knew he would go insane.

The girl, no matter how similar the air around her was to Xelloss, she was definitely not Xelloss. For there is no reason for Xelloss to disguise himself in front of them. She must, in some kind of way, be linked to Xelloss though. But what were Xelloss’s intention of sending in that young girl(Or so she seemed.) All Gaury could be sure of was that he had to protect Lina from her and that was all that mattered.

Xelloss was teleporting back and forth in the Astral Plane. "Where did she go?" He asked allowed surveying the place around him once more.

He remembered saying good night to the girl the night before, but when he woke up she was no where in the castle. He had searched around for her but she wasn’t in any of the places she would usually be. If she had gone to the human world, he would assume she would at the least tell him. Where could she possibly be?! He felt as if he would go insane if the girl didn’t show up sometime soon.

"Xelloss-san, did you find her?" Xelloss turned around and was face to face with a girl with brown hair and in braids.

"Oh, it is you Sheela-san." He muttered under his breath. "no, I have not found her. Do you have any clue as where to she may be?" Sheela just shook her head.

"You’re worrying yourself sick over her." Sheela just shook her head at him. "Don’t be so tense about it, knowing her personality she should appear in front of you sometime soon." Sheela sighed. "Why don’t you take a break and come over to my place for tea. You’re going to need the strength to look for her."

"Thank you Sheela-san, but……" Xelloss was about to say no to the offer when Sheela stopped him.

"Look, just a cup of tea and you can leave!" She snapped. "You NEED the rest Xelloss-san and" She added with a smile. "Don’t refuse an offer from a pretty girl like myself."

Xelloss couldn’t help but remember one human at those words. He wondered what that human girl is doing right now. Would she still be sleeping? Would she be eating? Would she be checking her loot from the previous night when she beat up robbers? He laughed inwardly. He could only connect three things to her, and yet he felt like he had known her for centruries.

"What are you smiling about?" Sheela asked as she tugged on his arm to follow her. "Are you remembering all the cute little mistakes *she* did?" Sheela asked with another sigh and started walking off.

"No, someone more important than her….." He replied in a whisper, but Sheela didn’t comprehend one bit.