He just needed some time to cool off, that was all. He tried to convince himself of this several times, his rational mind going over several arguments he had had with Zangulus in the past, where in each situation he had felt this way and believed that their precarious friendship would disappear, only to make up later and have the entire thing forgotten. Despite how logical this was, it was impossible for him to believe at the moment, and he fully expected when he went back to the apartment to find all his belongings thrown out in front of the door.

Thoughts along this line depressed him and by the time he finally made it into Flagoon, a local cafe, it was easy to tell, by anyone who knew him, exactly what happened.

Vrumugun didn't even bother glancing over whoever was there to see if he recognized anyone, instead heading for a seat in the corner and hunching over the table, resting his chin on his arm and his other arm on top of his head. Despite his best efforts, he sighed softly and proceeded to stare blankly at the empty seat across from him.

It only took a few minutes for someone to approach him. The sound of the soft, quiet calm voice that matched his own in many ways was immediately identifiable, although this was not enough to get Vrumugun to move.

"Mind if I sit here?"

Vrumugun waved his hand slightly from it's perch on top of his head, and a familiar blue-skinned figure slid and occupied the seat in front of him, blocking his vision and causing him to muster the energy to at least sit up correctly, propping himself up on his elbows.

"You and Zangulus have been fighting again, haven't you?" Zelgadis correctly assessed the situation quickly, resting his azure blue arms across the table, a slight clicking sound arising from the dark stones that littered his skin.

As it was, no one was quite sure exactly what was wrong with Zelgadis or what had caused his peculiar but, as he had assured everyone several times, very uncontagious disorder, but it was clear that it was not debilitating and he was not at all happy with it. Then again, Vrumugun knew all too well self-hatred, and therefore felt a sort of kinship with Zelgadis in that aspect, although this was only one of many ways he felt connected to him.

The two of them had met on the rave scene, ironically enough, where Zelgadis' bizarre appearance was barely noticed and actually complimented at times. It was enough to keep him there, despite his naturally quiet nature, and more then enough to capture both Vrumugun and Zangulus' interest.

Technically he was friends with them both, although Zangulus' boisterous nature sometimes proved irritating to Zelgadis. His personality meshed much more easily with Vrumugun, their interests overlapping repeatedly and even their manner of speech and tone being similiar.

Normally Zelgadis would have covered his arms from sight, as he was extremely self-conscious, but apparently today he was feeling more confident then usual, and was wearing a light cream-colored shirt, which contrasted sharply both with his blue skin and his equally peculiar, stiff lavender hair.

In terms, his hair was not that peculiar considering the proliferation of hair dyes, but the sheer extremes of blue and purple was enough to catch the eye of almost anyone immediately.

Ironic as how much Zelgadis truly hated attention of any kind.

At the moment he looked somewhat concerned, although it was often hard to tell considering the one solid bang of hair that perpetually covered his eye. However, Vrumugun was an expert at being able to read one eye, as Zangulus' hairstyle followed much the same way. He looked at Zelgadis in a tired way, not exactly sure of how to explain what happened satisfactorily, before turning his attention back down to the table.

"I do not know...perhaps I expect too much from him..."

"Well, what did he say?" Zelgadis leaned forward on his arms. Vrumugun threaded some of his limp hair through his fingers idly.

"Not so much what he said as what he did..." Vrumugun sighed deeply. He could feel his face already taking on the emotionless look it always got when he was in distress. He paused for a moment.

"Do you know a 'Gourry'?"

"Huh?" Zelgadis tilted his head slightly to one side for a moment, regarding the question before shrugging. "Gabriev? Sure. Why?"

Vrumugun let himself slide back down the table until he was resting on his arms again. "Zangulus does..."

Zelgadis was silent for a while, waiting for Vrumugun to continue, which he didn't. He finally decided to try and prompt further information from him. "...Well?"

"It sounds so foolish when I think about it...it was such a little thing and now this entire ordeal has built up out of it..." Vrumugun mumbled to himself, barely audibly.

"What happened?"

He paused, toying with a salt shaker before deciding on what to say. "He went to go dance with him..."

"Wait, Gourry was at a rave?" Zelgadis sounded very disbelieving, but then rethought his statement. "And Zangulus went to dance with him?" He cursed under his breath softly for a moment. "Lina's not going to be happy..."

"I have heard about Lina, believe me..." A tone of bitterness snuck into his voice against his will. "I have heard all about Gourry as well, how perfect he is..." Remembering how Zelgadis knew Gourry, he decided further explaining how he currently felt about him would not be wise. "How he just could not help it, going to dance with him...sometimes I feel..." He paused, not sure of how to phrase what he wanted to say without it coming out wrong. "Expendable I guess..."

He felt cold stone, even through his sweater, and looked up at Zelgadis, who had took hold of his forearm. "I think you're right."

Vrumugun regarded him silently. Zelgadis let go and leaned back, crossing his arms.

"You're both making a big deal out of nothing."

Vrumugun sighed and began toying with the salt shaker again. "That is what I thought..."

"You just got to get this whole thing out of the way already. It shouldn't have had this much effect at all. You guys are way too paranoid."

Vrumugun made a soft affirmatory noise, tilting the salt shaker back and forth and pulling it back before it spilt.

"You know what would solve your problem?" A voice from behind him startled him enough as to lose his control over the shaker, causing it to fall on the table. The malicious playfulness behind the deliberate calm and grace of the words always slightly put him on edge, and he could already see Zelgadis across from him tensing, his eyes half-closed in annoyance.

"Dare I ask?"

"We should all have sex! Right now!"

By this time the two of them were so used to this kind of statement that it no longer held any kind of surprise or threat. Within seconds a second form slid over the back of Vrumugun's seat, taking an easy place at the table beside him, leaning his chin on his elegantly folded hands. His thin body was covered with a dark blue shirt, this one with the words "We all have to make sacrifices in life. Mine are to the dark gods of the underworld." written across the front. Occasional shiny strands of deep purple managed to break free from his peculiarily careful, meticulous hairstyle, although they fell back into place eerily a short time afterwards. He was smiling at them both disarmingly, although this was expected; Xellos was always smiling.

"We're trying to have a serious discussion, Xellos." Zelgadis added something darkly under his breath at the end of the sentence. Xellos just continued smiling as if he hadn't heard it, although there was no possibility of that.

To say that Xellos and Zelgadis had a love-hate relationship would have been too literal and far too broad. Zelgadis did, very much so in fact, hate Xellos, while Xellos seemed to adore him. To be more specific, adore making him miserable by pretending to adore him. It was fairly widely known that Xellos seemed to enjoy causing people pain in various ways and he was a master at the skill, which was why he was usually avoided by the general populace. However, as a result of this, he had gotten increasingly subtle in manipulating others and often toyed with them in ways that were hard to divine, sometimes double or even triple layering his motives.

Not to mention he never answered any questions directly.

In truth, he made Vrumugun somewhat uncomfortable because, although usually Xellos was a friend in the loosest sense and did often have good advice, he also would make comments or say things deliberatly intended to embarass or provoke him, and that he did not enjoy or appreciate at all. Of course, trying to explain this to Xellos was completely useless, as his ability to hurt others in subtle, difficult-to-pinpoint ways was just as effective as his complete inability to understand the ramifications of what he was doing.

To say that he was soulless would not be entirely accurate. Xellos merely did what was in his best interests at all times and if it involved others in some way, he would incorporate them as well. This often made Vrumugun wonder what possible use he could ever be to him, as that was the only reason he could think of for why Xellos would continue to speak with and be "friends" with him.

Zangulus was not very fond of Xellos and made that clear often, although the only thing this seemed to do was provoke Xellos to even worse pranks or embarassing comments, often about Vrumugun and their relationship. Although Zangulus and Vrumugun were comfortable speaking with others about being friends, Xellos was able to pick out just the right words, adjectives, metaphors, and innuendo to make either of them feel hideously uncomfortable or in some cases blush terribly. In this way they feared him, but although Xellos enjoyed toying with other people and saying such ribald things out of seemingly nowhere, Vrumugun sincerely doubted that he would ever actually hurt him or try to force himself on him. He was almost positive that it was all for show.

Almost positive.

Zelgadis was looking increasingly upset as Xellos began inching over to him, his efforts to move away only prompting Xellos continuing to move closer to him, and, finally ending the game, he stood, moving next to Vrumugun and placing his hand on his shoulder.

"Look, I know you're both really proud and hate to be wrong. But someone's got to apologize to get this whole stupid thing out of the way, and you know it's got to be you. I'll see you later, okay?"

Vrumugun nodded slightly, sighing to himself as Zelgadis tried to move away, only to find himself detained.

"GOD#$^# IT XELLOS STOP HUMPING MY LEG!"

This scene had transpired many times and Vrumugun didn't even have to look over to know that Zelgadis had already fended Xellos off in a particularly violent way.

"Ow! Ow! You always punch the one you love! OW!"

He could hear Zelgadis cursing all the way out of the restaurant as Xellos slid back into the booth directly beside Vrumugun, imitating his position, although not his expression. "That went well, don't you think? I think he's coming around."

Vrumugun shook his head, not even able to smile slightly at him. He sighed again.

"Aww, what's wrong?" Xellos poked Vrumugun in the cheek, causing him to back away involuntarily before resuming his previous position. "Is Vru-chan all jealous that Zangy likes someone else?"

"Just leave me alone..." Vrumugun buried his head in his arms to try and block Xellos out, although he could feel him playing with some free strands of his hair. "I really do not need this now..."

"You two are the most dysfunctional couple I know!" The hidden joy in Xellos' voice bothered him.

"We are not a couple." Vrumugun mumbled uselessly, but Xellos continued, as he expected, as if he had not even heard him.

"So many sparks all underneath the surface! Pzow!" He emphasized his word by tugging slightly on the strand of hair he was playing with. "All you guys need to argue is some little thing and boom!" Another tug. "You're at eachother's throats. The sexual tension...! You could cut it with a knife!"

Vrumugun was trying very hard to block Xellos out, but eventually could not even do that. He turned his head slightly so he could see him, prompting a wave, and sighed deeply. Xellos usually stopped tormenting him this way if he played along.

"Sometimes I wish he would consider my feelings once in a while..."

He could feel his thin fingers patting his back, his voice taking on a mock conciliatory tone. "We all feel that way, don't we? Don't worry, a little argument won't break you two up, you'll get back together somehow."

That was as close to a reassurance as you could often get out of Xellos, and Vrumugun sighed deeply again.

"He is not going to be happy when I come home...I did not even tell him where I was going..."

"I'm not going to see you with horrible bruises and black eyes and swollen cut lips, am I?" Xellos somehow managed to dig his hand underneath Vrumugun's chin enough to raise his face to look at him. "I couldn't bear to see that pretty face all torn up!"

Vrumugun this time mustered enough anger to glare at him unhappily. "Do not toy with me that way."

Xellos shrugged playfully, as he often did when everyone considered him having gone too far. He knew that touching on Vrumugun's physical appearance was dangerous, even more so then the issue of Zangulus, and he rarely probed that nerve unless he felt particularly malicious. He leaned back casually.

"Don't worry, I don't think it'll be that bad anyway. He'll probably be glad you came back in one piece! Hanging out with ruffians such as myself. It's truly a miracle."

Vrumugun made a soft scoffing noise under his breath and returned to his previous position with his head resting on his arms. Despite himself, he couldn't help but notice that Xellos managed to get the most emotion out of him, even though he was trying hard not to let him do so. He hated the fact that Xellos could manipulate him this way, when often even he couldn't control how much emotion he expressed.

"Personally, I think you guys just need some time off from eachother. You know, meet other people and all that." Xellos stretched suggestively and threw his arm around Vrumugun's shoulders. Vrumugun knew he was just toying with him here, as he was very rarely serious about being attracted to anyone, and just disregarded the physical contact. "You should stay at my place for a while."

Vrumugun didn't move for a few moments, processing what Xellos had just said, before he finally sat up rather quickly, shedding Xellos' arm in the process, looking at him with a mixture of shock and disbelief. "You cannot be serious."

"Of course I am!" Xellos put a hand on his chest and held up his hand in some bizarre parody of a Boy Scout promise. "I'm your friend, right?"

Vrumugun returned his gaze to the table, remembering Zangulus' angry face as he left, the expression he had, the grip he had on his arm...more then that, remembering what he had been talking about, all he could think about...Gourry...Gourry....

While he was thinking, Xellos had leaned in quite close to him and said, in an extremely frightening voice, "You only miss things when they're gone."

Vrumugun stared at him, and Xellos smiled again, although this had a distinctly evil tinge to it. He eventually again returned his gaze downwards, this time staring at his fingers. He didn't want to make Zangulus worry, but something inside him almost told him that he deserved it.

This was extremely confusing.

"I do not know..."

Again he could feel Xellos' presence near him. "Come on, what's the worst that could happen? Besides, if he's going to be angry at you for being away, you might as well be properly away, right?"

"Maybe I should call..."

"No no no." Xellos grabbed the edge of Vrumugun's sweater before he even considered standing. He smiled and held a finger up. "It's better this way. It'll be a secret."

Vrumugun knew Xellos loved secrets.

Vrumugun glanced at his passenger as they waited at the red light. Although they had originally met Xellos at the rave scene, he felt uncomfortable turning on his music, fearing rejection. He knew that the music that he so loved was detested by many other people, just as he disliked a great deal of music that seemed to be quite popular. Arguing was useless and pointless and in the end only emotionally and logically frustrating, so he just refused to bring up the issue at all. He looked so normal, so nondescript, that it was easy for him to completely hide his love of techno and all it's variations and pass off for liking any kind of music available, particularly the kind that the person he was talking to enjoyed. Even though he knew Xellos must have liked the music, he still wasn't sure if he'd like his choices from the vast ocean of electronica and therefore didn't want to bring it up.

However, Xellos was an expert at disconcerting other people, and he did this by humming. More specifically, he hummed all the songs that Vrumugun had on his tape, which remained outside the player.

Although one may have thought this would have been encouraging (not too mention somewhat inexplicable), this only made it more awkward for him to turn on the music. Why hadn't he turned it on before? More importantly, how did Xellos even know the songs at all? He had never ridden in this car, much less showed any interest in any of Vrumugun's, or Zangulus' for that matter, music. It was extremely confusing and awkward, and he was almost positive that Xellos was quite aware of what effect this was having on him.

That wasn't exactly why he looked at Xellos, who currently had his feet propped up against the dashboard despite Vrumugun repeated requests for him to stop doing that, and his arms behind his head, looking perfectly at ease.

"Why am I driving you to your house?"

Xellos was moving one foot along with the music that should have been playing, humming softly to himself. Hearing the question, he turned at Vrumugun and nodded once with his usual smile as if that was an answer.

Vrumugun sighed softly. "Do you even have a car?"

Xellos seemed to be completely ignoring him, bobbing his head back and forth and humming once again. He continued to bob back and forth for a while before, abruptly, turning to Vrumugun and pointing directly at him.

"That..."

Vrumugun rolled his eyes as he knew the rest of the statement before he even finished.

"Is a secret."

It was the only thing you could predict from Xellos.

He sighed heavily as the light turned green, watching from the corner of his eye as Xellos settled back into his previous position easily, still humming eerily. He even managed to handle the breaks and interactions between songs without missing a single beat, and he did not continue from where he had left off. His humming picked up as if the song had progressed without him even giving it vocal presence, and it was beginning to slightly creep Vrumugun out. Maybe he had the same mix CD that he had...

Xellos, without warning, fairly jumped out of his seat and proceeded to nearly crack the windshield with the force he exerted to jab his finger into the glass to point at a turn that was more then several blocks away. In the midst of Vrumugun trying to keep control of the car despite being scared half to death, Xellos sang in a strange, sing-song chant that sounded almost like the song he had been humming previously backwards.

"That way! Turn there!"

Rolling his eyes and trying to act as if he had not been surprised whatsoever, Vrumugun followed the overtly early directions, turning down the street obediantly. Xellos showed no sign of even realizing they were heading down the street he had indicated, continuing with his humming where he had left off.

"I take it this is the way to your house?"

Xellos acted as if he hadn't heard just long enough to prompt Vrumugun to almost ask again before cutting him off, a mischevious smile now seeming to take a permanent place on his face. "No."

Pause.

"No?" Before he could muster any kind of emotion or any kind of response to what Xellos had said, the purple-haired man cut him off once again.

"Actually yes." Xellos turned and smiled at him. "You make it too easy for me, Vru-chan."

"Do not call me that." Whether or not he would have been as annoyed at Xellos if they really hadn't been heading for his house was debatable. He sighed again under his breath.

Without warning Xellos grabbed Vrumugun's arm, calling out in an overly exaggerated and dramatic manner, "STOP HERE!".

Startled and almost frightened, Vrumugun automatically complied, veering off to the side of the road and stopping the car with such a jerk it nearly pulled the two of them out of their seats.

In the silence that followed, he struggled to regain his breath before turning slowly to look at Xellos, who was smiling and leaning back in his seat lazily. Vrumugun's previous annoyance was now swiftly metamorphosizing into anger and frustration, and he could barely control his emotions at the thought that this was the second time that he had been fooled this way.

"I cannot believe you..."

Xellos opened his door and stepped out, shutting it behind him almost as if giving himself a sheild. He leaned against the car and pointed at him through the glass, smiling in a particularly evil way.

"Oh, I can tell this weekend is going to be lots of fun."