"So now we have a magic box to deal with?"

"Yup," Lina sighed, "but we'll have to travel elsewhere to hide the thing. It'd bee to conspicuous out here with all the magic it's radiating." Lina patted the leather sack laying on the forest floor.

"So you presume we leave it in an area with more magical energy to match it?"

"Precisely! Unless, of course, you think you have a better idea . . . Good, 'cause were leaving soon anyway."

"Sounds great . . ." Zelgadis replied in monotone.

"I'm so glad you're happy to oblige . . ." Lina spoke sarcastically.

With a shrug Zelgadis stood and walked over to where Amelia stood staring at the stick marking the late traveler's whereabouts.

"I knew those things were trouble from the beginning," he said with a frown, eyeing the marker. "If Lina hadn't been so caught up with gaining extra magical power we would've never been in this mess!"

"It's alright, Zelgadis-san," she said, turning to face him. "We won't have to travel too far - just out of this forest past the next couple hills."

"Right," he replied, his point having been totally missed. "That's exactly what we need after all we've been through already."

Amelia lowered her gaze. "I guess you have the right to say that, Zelgadis-san . . ."

"Huh?" He glanced over, baffled by her remark, but suddenly realized what she was referring to. He released his breath through his nose.

"I . . . I'm sorry I couldn't help you, Zelgadis-san . . ."

"What?" he grunted. "You have no reason to apologize, Amelia. It wasn't your fault."

"I know," she replied timidly, "but it seemed like the right thing to say."

Zelgadis shook his head, dismissing the topic. An awkward silence ensued for a moment, until Zelgadis decided to disrupt it.

"I'm sorry . . . if I hurt you earlier . . ." he spoke under his breath.

Amelia looked up. "Did . . . Lina-san tell you about that?" she gasped.

"She didn't have to," he replied in a soft voice. "I saw everything I did.

It was pure torture." He stared blankly.

Amelia opened her mouth to speak, but realized she didn't know what to say. She wanted to express so much, but didn't know how . . .

Suddenly she knew what to say. She found it most efficient.

"Oh, Zelgadis-san," she smiled, "I'm so glad you're back!"

Without a second thought she threw her arms around his neck. Zelgadis flinched at the sudden weight pulling him down. His heart began to race, and his face suddenly burned like a furnace.

His posture was awkward, having to bent forward because of being so tall.

He dared not move or even breathe - it seemed as if he'd been struck dumb by her touch.

As Amelia released him he felt the weight continue - only this time, it was the weight of Lina and Gourry's gaze. He tried his hardest to act normal, but it was difficult. His heart felt as if it would burst through his chest at any given moment, and his knees felt weak as he tried to stand upright.

He muffled a nervous cough.

Zelgadis bashed Amelia in his mind for being to brave, but, unbeknownst to him, she was feeling the same as he.

Lina and Gourry stared intently. A very satisfied grin splayed itself across Lina's face, and Gourry seemed quite interested, as well.

"Uh," Zelgadis tested his seemingly fresh, new voice, "Shouldn't we be going?"

"Yeah," Lina replied smugly. "If you're ready."

"We're ready," Amelia replied, trying to ignore her wobbliness. A blush continued to burn her face.

"Alright, then!" she exclaimed. "Let's get out of here!"

Gourry slung the leather sack across his back, and the four friends began to walk back to the small village from which they'd come.

Lina couldn't resist. "You get so much attention, 'kitty'!"

"Knock it off!" he snarled under his breath, glaring at her through slits and blushing all the same.

The night sky was peaceful once again, and a lone star shone far brighter than any other.

DT: Congratulations! You've just finished yet another fic!

Zelgadis: ::grumbling::

DT: Glad it's over?

Zelgadis: Well, of course . . .

DT: Eh heh heh . . . Thanks. Anyway, thank you, reader, for taking the time to read my very first fic!

Zelgadis: 'First'?

DT: Yes - but don't worry! After writing this one, I regret to inform everyone that I've decided never to write one ever again! I don't have the time, and . . . Oy . . . this time took over two years, for crying out load! Can you tell? Anyway, I had some things I wanted to mention that I thought you, the reader might be interested in . . .

Zelgadis: Actually, no, not really.

DT: No, not you! Anyway . . . This, as you already know, is me, Lynda Miller, the author of this fic, and, of course, Slayers is not copyrighted by me, yadda yadda yadda . . .

Zelgadis: Thank goodness.

DT: You're telling me! Too much work, thank you! I think the creators have done an excellent job! Hence why I'm talking to an imaginary person.

Zelgadis: Ouch.

DT: Oh - uh . . . No offense, Zelgadis. Umm . . . would you mind leaving me with the reader or sitting quietly?

Zelgadis: I have some things to attend to anyway.

DT: Thanks for your time!

Zelgadis exits.

DT: Ok, now we can get down to business . . .

First I wanted to share some "behind the scenes" stuff . . . You may wonder where this idea came from. (If not, then why on earth are you still reading? ^_~) Anyway, I'd like to introduce you to 'our' cat Goofy, whom I based 'Zel Neko' after. I say 'our' because we received Goof from my aunt, because, unfortunately, she grew allergic. We took him in since we're already experienced with cats. Goof is ours, but my cousin (daughter of my aunt, obviously) informed us that whenever she moves out of her dangerous neighborhood (for cats, anyway) she'd like to take him back. Goofy is a male gray tabby with a pansy voice, but I love him anyhow. ^^ But anyway, that's Goofy. But how did this story idea come about, you ask?

Goofy is basically 'assigned' to sleep on my bed when we let him in at night, but he goes through times when he sleeps elsewhere, or decides not to come in. This was one of those times, and one night (or rather morning, I guess) after a month of being kitty-less, I woke up to find a warm clump of fur at my feet. That's when it hit me. BOOM. (No, not a Flare Arrow.) What would happen if Zelgadis was changed into a cat? Now, I understand that this idea has been used before, and in itself it's kind of silly, but the more I got to thinking about it the more I wanted to write it. You see, when I first got the idea I was trying to write another fanfic, which bombed, let me tell you. By chapter five it hadn't gone much of anywhere. Anyway, the time came when I gave up on the original one and eagerly began with Nocturnal Insight.

Something I remember about the 'planning' of my fic, which usually happens at night when I wait for sleep to come, was one night when I was thinking about what was to happen. All of a sudden my vision faded (I'm assuming my eyes were closed, but I wasn't asleep) and it was as if I was watching an episode rolling through my mind. What I saw was most of which is in chapter four(when Zelgadis discovers his state and has many tribulations), up until when Zelgadis arrives at the inn. From then after it's just whatever made sense.

Originally, if I remember correctly, the deal with the wizard was going to be different. At first I considered to allow the possessed man to still be alive, after all, and survive the incident, but for some reason his dying before the story actually sounded much better. I was never sure how to change Zelgadis back into a chimera, but I guess what I did end up having happen works, right?

Some of you may notice some . . . references to other sources. If you're wondering, yes, I play Diablo, or rather did at the time, it seems, since I adapted the idea of stones from that. I know it was kind of dark nearing the end there, but I guess that's just what was bound to happen since I was slightly in a 'Diablo phase'. (it also just seemed to work) I think of the Soul Stones as looking close to that of the jewel in Diablo's forehead. (Yeah, see, there you go! I shamelessly used the forehead scheme. That's copyrighted, too, I guess.)

And that reminds me . . . the Soul Stones were named such because of a slight personal misunderstanding. We'd bought the Slayers Playstation games way back when I was mustering up ideas for this fic, and in 'Slayers Wonderful' (or 'Wandahoo', if you so desire) there are stones you collect throughout the game to strengthen your magic power (most of which has been 'sealed', I guess). They're actually called "Seal Stones", but for some reason I messed up the S word and assumed they were called "Soul Stones' instead. I decided to use 'Soul Stone' for my fic, but was disappointed that I was using a name of a stone already used in Slayers; of course, later I discovered that it was actually 'Seal Stone' and not 'Soul Stone', so it was all good. Besides, 'Soul Stone' fit perfectly with what I was going for, so it was all good, despite the fact that I'd come across it on accident.

Unfortunately, I can't think of much else to mention about the fic . . . It seemed like there was more, but I guess not. Of course, some of you may be familiar with the fact that I rewrote some parts in this fic because of improper characterization and such, so it's much better now. But, like I just said, that's about it concerning the fic.

Lastly, I'd like to include my thanks. I'd like to thank, most of all, my punk Goofy, whom is so much like Zelgadis it's not even funny, and my sister, who lent some info about cats when I had writer's block. I'd also like to thank my friend Krelian Necros, author of Slayers Resurrection. (which I highly recommend) He might not think he did much, but throughout the process of posting his fic it got me to work on mine. And, I'd like to thank my local buds, SkyeWolf, Jussie (of the Neko Adoptions, for drawing with me ^_^), Nigi-chan (of the Anti-Anti Sasami Shrine), Heather, Miko and Ash (of the Slayers Warren), and probably several more, for their support. SkyeWolf in particular helped by conversing with me about my fic when I had writer's block. Thank you, all! I love you! And, lastly, thank you for taking the time to read my fic! I sincerely hope you enjoyed it, and, if you'd be so kind, if you have any comments, please e-mail me with them! Thank you, and take care!

-Lynda Miller, the obsessive author