Characters and backstory from Xena: Warrior Princess are property of MCA/Universal/Renaissance. No copyright infringement is intended.

This is an original (I hope) work of alternative fan fiction. No profit will be gained from its production. This piece of fiction is copyright of the author.

There are depictions of love/sex between consenting adult persons of the same gender (hummahummahumma). If this is illegal where you live, you are underage, or this isn't your preference, then stop reading here and find something more appropriate to your tastes and/or laws.

Comments can be forwarded via e-mail at ztami@hotmail.com.

Passion Improvised

by TZ

Copyright June 7, 1998

Gabrielle sighed into her mug of cider. It had been days since she and her warrior companion had seen any action and she was beginning to get a little fidgety. In the three years that the two of them had been traveling together, it had always seemed like their days of battling evil was only broken by the occasional good night's sleep and monotonous travel. Lately, though, it was if someone had called a cease-fire in the conflict. She could only imagine how Xena who always needed an outlet for the nervous energy she tended to accumulate, was dealing with it.

The bard stole a surreptitious glance to the warrior. To any stranger she seemed almost relaxed, enjoying the music that the tavern minstrel was providing as entertainment for the night. Gabrielle knew better, though. If she looked hard enough she could see the tense lines of anticipation outlined in the lethal weapon the woman passed off as a body.

Xena rolled her head against the wall at her back. She was thankful for the little breather that she and the bard had been afforded. After helping the village of Karanas rid itself of a sizable band of raiders, she needed the time to slow down and allow her body to heal from the myriad of wounds she had received, both seen and unseen. While Gabrielle had fussed over the wounds on the outside, the warrior had kept hidden those out of sight. With an effort not to grimace, she tightened her stomach muscles. Nodding slightly to herself, she was pleased to discover that the pull no longer caused her discomfort.

Signaling the barkeep for another port, the warrior let her eyes drift over the sparse crowd of the inn's tavern. With relief, she noted that they were all locals who were enjoying a night away from their usual routines. When a serving girl arrived with her drink, she tossed the young woman a coin and quaffed the strong drink in three long gulps. Wiping her mouth on the back of her hand, she found her gaze wandering to her traveling companion.

The bard seemed lost in thought and did not hear her words at first. Reaching over to tap the dreamy woman's hand, Xena gained her attention. "I'm going to check on Argo. I'll be back in a bit."

Gabrielle nodded her understanding and locked away her worry, not wanting her friend to see the concern in her eyes. After Xena left, Gabrielle sighed in her own drink.

The bard was drawn out of her worry for the warrior by the thud of the tavern door hitting the wall. She turned in her chair to see its cause and mentally groaned. Xena had not returned from the stables. *Probably having a long chat with Argo,* she figured with a roll of her eyes. Not wanting to draw attention to herself, she made herself as small as possible but kept a watchful eyes on the group of soldiers that had entered the tavern.

There were a dozen of them, not including several women who were hanging off of their arms and laughing at rude jests. Gabrielle studied them without being obvious about it, trying to determine whether they were a threat. The man she assumed to be the senior officer approached the bar and bellowed for drinks. The fair woman felt a pang of sympathy for the barkeep as he hurried to fill the order.

She jumped when the leader turned to face the stage and began hurling insults to the musician who had continued to play as if this was nothing out of the usual. "Get off the stage, you bumbling fool! We want to hear a story!" The soldiers around him chortled in agreement.

Gabrielle groaned when the barkeep leaned towards the leader and whispered into his ear while pointing in her direction. When they had first come to the tavern, she had offered some stories for a room. She had to fight the urge to turn and run. The leader smiled lecherously as he took several giant strides to her side.

"You a storyteller, huh?"

Nodding mutely, the bard cursed Xena's warhorse. *Come on, Xena. You've brushed her enough, already.*

"Good, 'cause you see, little girl, my men and me wanna hear something special."

The bard cleared her throat and grimaced when her first attempt at a question resulted in an unbecoming squeak. "What kind of story?" She shuddered at the look on the soldier's face.

"Something hot and wild...with lots of sex."

She barely had time to respond before the leader left her to find a seat close to the stage. She bowed her head when the musicians scurried off. Gabrielle's face scrunched in thought. From what source could she draw a story like that which the soldiers wanted? She considered her wedding night for the briefest moment but disregarded it with a sad shake of her head. The men did not want some tale of a sweet, shy farmer loving his new bride with cautious fondling. No, not that, the bard thought with a sigh. The soldiers wanted something with passion, fire, and lust. Suddenly, Gabrielle's face flushed crimson. It would be a great risk, she figured. But with Xena nowhere in sight, there was no chance that the warrior would hear a word of it. If she did not comply, she was risking harm to both herself and the other patrons in the tavern. With stubborn courage, she crossed the tavern floor and climbed the few steps to the raised platform.

Clearing her throat once again, the bard gathered her courage and fixed an unwavering gaze on the brutish captain who had pulled a young woman onto his lap. "You wish to hear a tale of passion and lust," she began as she paced the small stage, waving her hands in languid movements. "Well, I can only tell you that it was a passion that turned the fair virgin to molten heat, and it was a warrior's lust that quenched the flames." She mentally patted herself on the back for not blushing too profusely. Taking a deep breath, she launched into her story.

"She was a comely maiden, fair and sweet. But as she grew to womanhood, she found herself wanting a mysterious unknown. She searched throughout her village, in the field and town, but none could help her find what she desperately craved. So thence, she went forth into the world on a quest to find that which she desired.

"No sooner was she half a day from her village of birth, that was she accosted by villains of the crudest sort who wished to partake of her beguiling virtue."

Gabrielle glared at the man who dared to whistle, interrupting the spell that she had begun to cast over the crowd. When other patrons' stares quieted the man, she continued.

"But alas, the gods were watching over the fair maiden and saw true that there be a warrior nearby to hear her plaintive cries."

Gabrielle closed her eyes to picture the rescuer in her mind. As she recalled the vision she had forever memorized, she missed her tall companion slip behind a table in the darkest far corner. Opening her eyes, she caught her listeners as her voice fell deeper and her words rolled off her tongue like a sweet seduction.

"The maiden was besotted by her rescuer, for the warrior leapt into the fray with a mighty battlecry and hastened to preserve the young woman's virtue. The maiden was mesmerized by physical feats that had her mind painting impure thoughts and her body crying for their realization. Her breath quit, her bosom's heaving stilled when the warrior's eyes trapped hers. The maiden felt her desire pool thick like honey and her heart resumed its thunderous appreciation.. The village woman found that which she had been lacking.

"Now, during the battle with the villains, the warrior's bloodlust reached fevered a heat. You see, the warrior savored the taste of a good fight, the sounds of metal upon metal and fist upon flesh. When the battle was done, when the last of the brigands had died by the warrior's sword or had escaped, the warrior's bloodlust was not satisfied. Turning blazing eyes to the young woman, the warrior's body sang with a new need.

"The warrior's fierce gaze burned the innocent woman until she knew that she would die, for her passionate need consumed her so. Like a force of nature, they fell into one another, their lips met in a crushing embrace, their limbs pulled and molded their bodies until it was if they were one."

Gabrielle took a sip of water and closed her eyes, letting her audience create a picture of the passionate tale. She was sure that their thoughts were pale compared to what she was imagining. She shuddered subtly in longing ache.

"Without conscious thought and without shame, the warrior and maiden tore at each other's clothes until they were rolling across the forest floor blanketed by fragrant ferns. Their lips and hands sought blindly for the pleasure that the other was sure to give."

The bard's eyes hooded with her own rising desire failed to see some of the audience slip away with their women. She no longer saw her listeners, for she was totally lost to the fantasy that she had created. She was aroused past the point of comfort and she began to fidget, flexing her thighs unconsciously.

"The moment that the maiden glimpsed into her lover's eyes she was burned forevermore by a hot blue fire that branded her heart. Her cry carried to the gods when the warrior entered her. Reaching up, the young woman anchored herself, grasping great handfuls of raven hair, urging the warrior to claim her lips once more."

Gabrielle, realizing where her own hands were heading, stopped and clenched two handfuls of her own skirt. *Time for that later,* she chastised herself.

"The warrior, enveloped by the tight heat of the fair woman's passion, exalted with a victory so rapturous that she was not sure if their shared passion was a fantasy or reality. Riding the wave of her lover's release, the warrior gave a fierce battlecry of surrender, for she had found new life in the arms of the questing maiden."

Only one observer seemed to notice what surely had to be a verbal slip by the bard. Intense blue eyes widened when the woman in the shadowed corner realized the warrior's gender. The bard had gone so long not divulging that bit of information, letting the audience assume what they would. But Xena realized that any person who knew them, would have to be pretty slow on the take to figure out who the characters were. What had been a slow trickle between her legs for an anonymous erotic tale became a flood of need for the woman who had revealed her secret desires.

Gabrielle opened her eyes slowly and realized that she had stopped talking and that few were left to witness the ending of her story. After a slight curtsey, she started to descend from the stage and escape to the room Xena had gotten for them earlier. With any luck, she would have a brief moment of time to find her own release. In the state she was in now, that moment would not have to be any longer than a few thundering heartbeats.

Her plans, however were thwarted when one of the soldiers approached the stage. The bard groaned under her breath and gripped her staff tighter. She was definitely not in the mood to deal with anyone.

Before the man could reach out to the young bard, however, he found himself on his back and sobering quickly under the intimidating stare of a tall, dark warrior. "X...Xena," he stuttered. Slow comprehension lit his face as his gaze went between the warrior and the bard. "I...if I'd know it was you, well...."

Gabrielle gasped when she realized that not only had Xena been in the tavern, but that the drunken soldier had put two and two together. If his addled brain could identify the warrior and maiden in her tale, then surely Xena had just heard her give voice to her deepest and most hidden of fantasies. She was mortified with embarrassment and feared her companion's retribution. With a strangled sob, the bard spun on her heel and climbed the stairs in a blind escape.

Xena cursed the soldier and growled low. "You are lucky that I have to be somewhere else," she warned, leaving the consequences to the man's imagination as she stood and mounted the steps two at a time determined to ease Gabrielle's fears. When she entered the room, she breathed a sigh of relief. Gabrielle was still there. She was pacing and her gaze was wandering from her bags on the bottom of the bed to the open window.

"Gabrielle...."

The bard jumped and blushed deeply. "Hades, Xena, don't do that," she fairly shouted. Realizing that she had raised her voice, the bard stumbled over an apology. "I'm sorry, Xena. I didn't mean to yell. And I'm sorry about that downstairs," she continued as tears began to cascade down her fair cheeks. "They wanted a story...that type of story, and I just couldn't think...."

"So you told them something private," the warrior finished as she approached the bard. When they were a mere arm's length away from each other, she stopped. "Is that what you want Gabrielle? Am *I* who you want?"

Gabrielle inhaled sharply. "I...I...I'm sorry, Xena. I don't mean to.... I just can't help.... A person would have to be crazy not to want you, Xena. I'm no different." Gabrielle turned and crossed to the window that overlooked the village's main thoroughfare. "I'll just get my things and leave."

Xena shook her head in amusement. *Oh, Gabrielle.* She approached the bard silently, removing her breast and back armor plates as she did so.

There was heat. It melted what little resistance her body was willing to offer. When warm, supple leather pressed intimately against her back, she nearly swooned. Her hands gripped the window sill and she closed her eyes to better absorb the current that was passing into her now-quivering body. When Xena's hands appeared on either side of her, leaning against the sides of the window for support, her knuckles turned white with effort.

"How do you want it, Gabrielle? Do you want it like your story, hot and consuming? Do you want to come all over a warrior's hand?"

The warrior's seductive purr started a flurry of sparks along her spine. She leaned back into Xena's body. She imagined that she could feel the warrior's nipples rising against their leather confinement. She tried to speak but the words were carried away by a ragged sigh of ache.

"Or do you want it slow, with my mouth tasting every inch of your delicious flesh?"

She was sure that she was shaking noticeably now. How she managed to maintain her vertical position was a mystery. That she turned to face her fantasy and found the warrior's lips with her own would have shocked her at any other time. Xena's passionate words spoken with honest desire had enflamed within her a boldness that had her guiding the warrior backwards to the bed.

Xena battled every instinct that rebelled against being forced, but the bard's gentle coercion and ravenous kisses had made her weak with passion and eager to do anything for the woman who had captured her imagination with one erotic tale. Knowing that the bard would not betray that trust, she fell back onto the bed and let go.

Gabrielle released the warrior's mouth when they began to fall. When they finally landed, she was straddling Xena's hips while her arms supported her to either side of the warrior's head. Her skin was flushed and glowing with a need that had surpassed all that she had felt before in her young life. With an animalistic growl, she let her instincts lead where her mind had taken her on many occasions.

*So much for those ideas,* Xena had the chance to consider with a mental irony. The bard's story had been one the warrior ravishing the maiden, but upon hearing the sound issued from deep within Gabrielle's throat, she knew that she was about to discover firsthand the bard's passionate nature.

The lips that lowered and claimed hers were not soft or gentle, but rather, fierce and aggressive. With each shift of their mouths, she could feel another piece of her soul being claimed by its mate. She gasped with the intensity and the bard took advantage.

Xena clutched at the bed cover as Gabrielle's tongue mapped the inside of her mouth with skill and surety. *Where did she pick that up,* she wondered incoherently as a moan escaped past their intimate duel. With each lingual thrust, Gabrielle found herself sinking into the warrior. She no longer controlled her movements nor her actions. She could only vaguely recall how her hands found Xena's breasts, but their fullness urged her to squeeze her appreciation. Her senses were assaulted by the sweet perfume of sweat, leather, and wet desire. Breaking off from the kiss, Gabrielle, her hands still massaging Xena's breasts, pushed herself up so that she could see the warrior's face.

She was lost in the smoky green eyes that seared her with intense need. Her mouth was dry, for all her body's moisture had flowed southward and was causing a delicious friction against her breeches. She watched as Gabrielle studied her hands and their occupation. The bard was panting and grunting softly as her hips ground into passion-slicked leather. With shaking hands, Xena reached up and began to unlace the bard's halter.

Gabrielle's eyes were glazed as she watched the warrior's long fingers fumble at their task. Finally, the lace was pulled through the last eye and Gabrielle abandoned the warrior's breasts.

Xena held her breath as Gabrielle grasped the bottom of her top and pulled it over her head. After tossing the brief garment across the room, the bard cupped her own breasts and sighed with pleasure. Throwing her head back, she moaned as fire began streaking from her nipples to her groin which was grinding harder and faster. Gabrielle fixed her gaze upon the warrior.

Her heart began pounding furiously, forcing blood to the core of her need. She was consumed by the bard's sensuous gaze. Her hands joined Gabrielle's as the bard began to slip the straps of her leather battledress eagerly off her broad shoulders. She pushed herself up onto her elbows and began to bathe Gabrielle's neck with bruising kisses as the small woman leaned into her and reached around to undo the laces of her leathers. A shimmy and wiggle later, the warrior was burning under erotic scrutiny as Gabrielle's eyes devoured her exposed body.

She saw the almost imperceptible shift in the bard's expression as it softened into one of unconditional love. The young woman's seduction turned from primal to one of absolute devotion. When the bard leaned down to plant a trail of kisses across her collarbone, Xena's vision misted. The fire that had been burning solely at her center was now spreading out, diffusing throughout her body.

She savored the unique tastes that were Xena. A delicate tongue traced the lines of supple muscles as they bunched at her touch. Pressing her face into the valley of the warrior's breasts, she inhaled deeply, memorizing the smell, the feel, and the taste.

Xena gasped and began clutching at the covers again when the bard's gentle mouth found her breasts. Looking down, she saw the bard's pink tongue flicking over a rigid nipple. She began to bite her lip in an effort to still the cries that were gathering in the back of her throat.

When she felt the warrior's struggles, Gabrielle looked up, curious, even though a fear began to creep along her spine that she was doing something wrong. The sight of Xena fighting her own passion dispelled that, however. Leaning over so that their breasts were playing with each other with every slight movement, Gabrielle's breath fluttered against the warrior's ear. "I want to hear you, Xena. I need to know that I am pleasing you," the bard whispered seductively. She smiled when she turned her face to see that the warrior had released her lip and was whimpering.

When Gabrielle slid down the warrior's body to return to her breasts, Xena gasped with pleasure. The bard's skin was like fine silk caressing and torturing nerve endings alive with excitement. Her body began to tremble when Gabrielle settled between her naked thighs and resumed her previous attentions.

She was soft. As intimate as Gabrielle was with her own body, the fact that Xena's skin was so soft surprised her. She knew the strength of the warrior and the power contained within, but the softness.... Gabrielle sank into it. She rubbed her cheeks across Xena's breasts and captured a dusky nipple along the way. The various textures caused a deepening hunger within her.

Xena cried out when Gabrielle abandoned her tender ministrations. Her disappointment was short-lived, however, when the bard began to explore the length of her body with languid caresses and whispery kisses. Along the occasional line of muscle or prominence of bone, Xena could feel Gabrielle tasting her.

She could not believe that the warrior was allowing her to make love to her. Her initial fears of rejection were forgotten as the Xena's soft moans of encouragement came more frequent the longer she made love to her. There was not an inch of skin that she did not explore. She discovered valleys and peaks that were more sensitive than others. She saved the most secret, the most mysterious, for last.

Arching into the bard's tentative caress, the warrior thought that perhaps she was trapped within a long-held fantasy. She gasped when the bard leaned over her and shared the salty moisture that lingered on her lips. Their kiss lasted but a moment before the bard settled once again between her legs.

Gabrielle's lips curled in satisfaction when she saw the proof of the warrior's desire. Parting outer lips that were surprisingly clean-shaven, the bard again sampled the taste that was like an aphrodisiac. The more she tasted, the more she wanted. She sank deeper into the warrior when Xena lifted her legs to rest them along the bard's back.

Raising to her elbows, Xena watched the young Amazon as she licked and suckled, as she learned what she enjoyed and what was pleasing her lover. She wanted to give verbal instructions, but the words were caught in her throat. They were crowded by murmurs and grunts of satisfaction. When Gabrielle raised her head to take a steadying breath, she was lost in the bard's passionate gaze.

She had read so much when she first understood her feelings for Xena. The scrolls in Athens had been limited but the ones that were in the Amazon archive were rich in detail and description. With a voracity greater than that which she held for epics or legends, she had pored over them. She had absorbed all the knowledge that she had hoped would one day be put into practice. As she observed the warrior's hooded regard, she knew that it was paying off.

Shrugging the warrior's legs off her back, she shifted and straddled the taller woman's shoulders, wanting to share the pleasure that she was receiving from giving. It was bold, she knew. It would shock her lover that she would know such a thing, for the warrior had assumed her to be innocent. The moment that Xena's long fingers deftly parted the folds of her sex, though, all she could consider was that she had finally found a cure for the ache that had been consuming her.

Xena stared dumbly at the gift she had been given. Where she kept herself shaven as it made for easier maintenance, the bard's nether lips and mound were hidden by a patch of soft golden hair that was curled with moisture. Needing to see the treasures that were hidden, the warrior ran a finger along their length and was rewarded with what she could only compare to the opening of a flower's blossom. The bard opened to her and she parted the folds even wider so that her mouth might have access to the nectar that glistened like a sweet honey glaze.

They fed from each other. The warrior showed by example instead of spoken word that which pleased her most. Their bodies picked up a rhythmic motion as their fingers plunged and searched depths for the source of pleasure in each other. Xena held off, wanting to climax with the bard. When Gabrielle finally crested the peak, she let go. Their mingled cries of rapture and love mingled into one soulful wail of release.

***

Xena stretched as the morning's sun filtered through the shutters and warned her of time's passing. Normally, she would have finished her morning routine of seeing to Argo, practicing a few weapons drills, and catching their breakfast. This morning, however, she was just too satiated to do anything by lie in bed and savor the warmth that was snuggled against her side.

They had made love late into the night until both were weak-limbed from exhaustion and sore. The warrior actually blushed as she remembered one heated session which had sent all of their bags from the bottom of the bed to land haphazardly all over the floor. She studied the bard's form that was half-covered by the sheet tangled in their legs. There were distinct bruises all over her neck and upper chest, and if Xena remembered correctly, there would be a few along the length of her inner thighs. She herself bore an almost equal number of marks as well as scratches and bites.

The last time they had made love, the one that had drained the last of their energy, had been the most poignant experience the warrior could ever recall. They had taken their time once the urgency was out of their blood. They moved slowly to learn each other's bodies, to talk, and to share. They had admitted to each other their long-standing love and had discussed their underlying fears.

Xena had explained to her young lover the terms of their love, that they had to be careful about demonstrating their bond lest someone use it against them. Gabrielle had groaned when she realized what had happened the evening before when she had told a roomful of strangers her most intimate thoughts about the warrior. Xena had quieted those fears, however, when she explained that only she and the drunken soldier had been left at the end and he would think that it had all been an effect of the strong port.

Xena sighed with contentment. She was happy. At that moment, in that bed, with her woman, there was no darkness to fight, no past for which to atone. She was no longer the Warrior Princess or the Destroyer of Nations, but rather, she was a woman who knew that love was only a heartbeat away.

Gabrielle was roused by the gentle stroking hand that caressed her back. Arching in appreciation, she opened sleep-fogged eyes to find Xena staring at her with emotions that the bard could not read. "What are you thinking?"

Smiling a good morning and kissing the bard lightly, the warrior shifted on the bed and tilted her lover's face so that they were eye to eye. "If I forgot to tell you last night, Gabrielle, I want you to know that you are everything to me. You are my source, my heart, my soul, and I love you. I want to be with only you for the rest of my life."

The bard's eyes misted and Gabrielle shifted uncomfortably, for she could not find the words that would match the warrior's eloquence. So, instead, she found wit. "Is that a proposal, Xena? If it is, I definitely accept."

Xena hid the tiny spark of alarm that had flashed so briefly. Tied down...that's all her mind could comprehend for a moment before she realized two things. First, the bard was joking in a way that said it was all right if it was not a proposal, and if it was, then she would bond herself to the warrior. And second, Xena realized that bonding with Gabrielle would not be any different from the lives they already led. Wanderlust was still strong in the both of them. Bonding would only serve as a vehicle to affirm to each other the strong love between them.

Letting all her love shine bright in her sky-blue eyes, the warrior grinned mischievously. "I guess we'll see, won't we, my love?"

"Hmm...."

Any thoughts of a catty retort evaporated under the onslaught of Xena's kisses. The bard surrendered and her soul climbed and shared its ecstasy with the warrior's. Together, they were one, two halves of a whole. All their love had needed was a little improvisation.

The End.