Change in Seasons
Crystaldaggerz
Chapter seven
A/N: I'm almost done editing! -squeals and dances around in relief-
Disclaimer: I do not own Zatch Bell, yadda yadda yadda.
Hesitant, Sherry opened her bedroom door allowing Koi to pass through eyes downcast. Hiewa grippingly watched the elderly man as he turned to face the pair once more in the doorway. He was wearing an assuring smile that almost comforted him—almost...
''Don't worry you two'' he said ardently, thoroughly abandoning his initial anxious frown. ''You can count on me''
Sherry forced a smile, half-heartedly expecting it to fool the elderly man, because to her, it actually felt like a grimace. Surprisingly it had the desired effect; he smiled back and swiftly exited her chambers after an exchange of morose good-byes donned in bright clothing.
Sherry slowly closed the door after him and stood when it was shut, silent and rigid, an iron grip on the ivory handle. Hiewa silently observed her, debating whether or not he should approach her. He wanted to; he would have liked to comfort her, this lovely woman whom he had grown to think of as a mother, aunt and in a strange sense, the replacement of an older sister whose image had begun to fade away. It saddened him to see her so upset; it looked as if she were on the verge of tears.
Didn't she believe him? Koi's words replayed over and over in his head like an irking TV commercial. ''An antidote?'' he had asked. ''I'm not sure, but I will do my best to find one, Sherry''
Hiewa believed the old man could do it. He'd believe almost anything if he knew Brago would be alright in the end; strong, stubborn and brave Brago—the perfect super hero, though now he was the one who needed saving. His brows knitted together and he looked down with frustration, tiny fists shaking.
Sherry slowly turned to face him and watched wistfully as he fought back his own wave of tears. Her lips were upturned slightly in another painfully sad smile, her stark azure eyes betraying her true emotions. ''Hiewa, maybe it would be best for you to go to sleep now''
Hiewa's own eyes widened in shock and recovering somewhat, he crossed his arms to his chest defiantly as he looked up, chin raised. For that moment, the boy actually looked his age. ''But I don't want to! I'm not a baby!'' he exclaimed, chocolate brown eyes darkening immediately.
Sherry looked as if she wanted to respond to that remark, almost smiling in amusement before the door swung opened, harshly hitting the wall. She heard a crash as a picture fell from the wall to the ground in a sea of broken glass. She nearly fell over in surprise when she saw the intruder.
''Brago!'' she exclaimed.
The dark mamodo stood right there in her doorway crimson eyes ablaze—the object of her excruciating headache. She noticed that he was still shirtless and slick with sweat and somewhat satisfied with himself; a look gracing his features that looked awfully familiar to her—he got that look after his ego swelled from whenever he had accomplished something. Though now there was something horribly off.
She turned pink despite herself as she remembered stroking that same bare chest not too long ago in her bedroom. Embarrassed that she couldn't keep her mind from trailing off in that direction, she willed her blush to fade away. Instead, she glowered at him, not very sure why she was upset with him in the first place.
''What in the world have you been doing Brago?'' she asked with exasperation. She envisioned him bullying unarmed but irksome teenagers or some little kid while he was out. Or maybe even hunting some kind of large animal in the woods. There was a wild glint in those dark eyes of his, as if the velvet scarlet she had grown to love hardened to a solid ruby, void of any emotion. His glare was flinchingly cold; fierce, biting, chilling her to her very being, causing her to flinch as she felt the blood in her veins freeze.
He had never looked at her like that. In the beginning, there had been hostility brewing behind the crimson glare; now, there was nothing at all.
Just emptiness.
''The boy is coming with me''
It took a while for what he said to register in her numbing mind. Her brows crinkled as she absorbed it, willing herself to put effort into examining his words, turning them over countless times before she was able to comprehend what he had said. Her sapphire eyes sparked angrily, widening into an azure tempest.
''Listen, Brago. I told you that I'm coming with you! What's so hard to understand about that?'' she asked firmly but calmly. Only her eyes gave her away. She was stark mad!
He didn't answer her. How surprising. He averted his eyes from the raging cerulean fire caught in her dark lashes and focused instead on the boy standing quietly behind Sherry.
His brown eyes were sparkling with a mixture of excitement and total bliss. Brago was ignorant to the emotions so openly displayed in the boy and beckoned him towards him. ''Come with me'' he ordered resolutely.
Sherry spun around, golden hair whipping behind her as she curled her hands into tight fists at her side.
''Hiewa! Stay right there'' she commanded before spinning around again to face Brago. He was snarling at her, lip curled back.
''I already told you Sherry, you're not coming''
''And I told you that I am!'' she answered, voice unknowingly rising.
''No you're not''
''Yes I am!''
Hiewa watched them as they argued viciously, harsh words jumping nimbly from mouth to mouth.
He desperately wanted to leave with Brago, to finally find his sister again but he remained standing where he was for both fear and respect for Sherry. The two of them were now silent and glaring at each other with such intensity that Hiewa was genially surprised when neither of their heads were set ablaze.
Sherry sighed heavily as she curled a sun-kissed ringlet between her fingers, still glowering at the mamodo before her. ''Okay Brago'' she said tiredly, deciding to change tactics. ''How will you fight without you're spells then? That team isn't one that will let you approach them without a plan. What do you plan to do?''
He wasn't about to admit to her that he hadn't even thought of a plan past making her stay safely here. In fact, he had originally thought of rushing at them like Sherry clearly suggested he was fixed to do. Without saying anything more to her, he effortlessly shouldered passed her and approached Hiewa.
The boy looked up at him, wide-eyed, and then looked to Sherry who looked to be in total shock.
''Um...Brago?'' he whispered softly. The dark mamodo ignored him and grabbed the small boy by the wrist, leading him towards the door. Sherry hastily stepped out in front of them.
''Brago! Please, just for once, will you listen to me?!'' she pleaded arms out to block him, utterly failing to maintain her initial infuriation. It was melting away, leaving terror in its place. For once in her life, she felt fearful of what Brago was capable of doing to her...the way his crimson eyes were piercing into her now...
She shuddered but remained where she was.
But more then anything she was terrified of what may happen to him in battle with his judgment fried and hazardous poison of a deadly plant wrecking havoc in his body.
Brago studied her quietly for a moment as if considering her plea. Something familiar flashed across his face and she felt hope spark within her along with it. Sherry relaxed and lowered her arms, hoping that he had finally given in…and maybe, maybe even become his old lovable, stubborn, strange self.
Then, he surprised them both.
Releasing Hiewa's hand, he reached out and grabbed her by her shoulders before roughly pulling her to him for a kiss. Her eyes widened in shock, her mind shutting down just before he broke it.
She looked up and inhaled sharply. His ruby eyes had visibly softened from the earlier cold rock into their normal warm velvety pools of crimson. He looked at her almost apologetically; lips curved down into a small doleful frown as he lifted his clawed hand and gently, carefully, traced the curve of her cheek, taking great caution not to mar her. She opened her mouth to speak before the ability failed her completely, but he had already released her, already pulled Hiewa with him out the door, had already gone.
The loud thud from the slamming of the door snatched her out of her daze. She spun around and wrapped her hand around the door knob and turned.
It wouldn't open.
Sherry shook the door handle and beat the mahogany wood hard with her fist. ''Brago! Open this damn door!''
There was no answer.
"BRAGO! Come back here and open this damn door!'' she screamed. ''Brago! Come back here!"
It didn't surprise her any when he didn't answer, but it didn't do much to ease her dark mood—she continued to beat the door and holler until her throat was raw from abuse. Growling, she spun on her heels and stormed away from the door, her head spinning dangerously from the different emotions playing havoc on her mind.
She wanted to continue to scream regardless of the fact that she knew it would be a fruitless cause and would only result in her losing her voice. She was infuriated that he kissed her when she was off guard like that, but— but her heart was fluttering inside her chest as if it had dissolved into a family of butterflies, and her was still tingling pleasantly from where he had touched her. She had never known he could be so gentle, but he proved her wrong. Actually, he had proven her wrong about a lot of things.
If someone had asked her before if he was capable of half the emotions she seen in his eyes, she would have laughed and said definitely not. But the way he looked at her lately, the way he would set her ablaze by simply looking at her was very very real. Though in all honesty, she shouldn't have been really surprised. After all, Brago was an intense person. It only made sense that he'd be the same way with other emotions.
But intensity wasn't going to get him anywhere in a mamodo battle.
A wave of depression nearly drowned her when she thought of all the ways he could get hurt because of the state he was in, yet she was sure that when she saw him again she wouldn't hesitate to rip him to pieces and burn them all to ashes. Forcefully ceasing her pacing, she took a shuddering breath and massaged her temples, attempting to ease her headache.
She needed to do something. She couldn't just stay locked in her room or else she'd surely lose her mind. Sherry looked around her room for something, anything, that may spark an idea.
Silly mamodo, she thought amusingly. Brago may have thought he won, but he had forgotten one slight detail.
Technology!
The jerk didn't even know how to use a remote control, there was no way he knew anything about cell phones! She doubted he had even seen one. Smiling smugly to herself, she patted her thigh for her own mobile.
And…
It wasn't there.
Sherry's eye twitched before she let out a frustrated scream. Her dress! She left it in the bathroom for the freaking maid! The blonde was angry enough to tear her hair out. Why oh why was lady luck torturing her like this? Sadists and their miserable forms of entertainment…
Relax, she told herself firmly before she screamed again. Just think.
Her blue eyes landed on her blanket and she sighed in exasperation before rushing over to her messy bed. The blanket was thin, and as she tugged it a few times, she realized that she wasn't content with this particular material for her plan: it was far too weak.
She dropped it and looked around once more. Her eyes flew from her dresser to her nightstand, to the small round table in the corner and to her curtains as she danced about. Nothing seemed good enough, and she couldn't recall having any rope. She finally came to the closet, and flung the doors open. The blonde brought down and dug through numerous boxes which kept gifts given to her that she would have rather forgotten and left for the ravenous dust bunnies and cobwebs.
Her hands found and wrapped around a rough scratchy material, and she pulled it out. It was a very grotesque painting of a gruesome battle of some sort on a beige blanket, the grisly smell of the stale material making the scene all the more real. It seemed strong enough, and large enough. Satisfied, she tugged it out completely and went over to her window and pulled it open.
The forthcoming arms of the sun, early warm rays bright and cheerful, welcomed her, a nice change from the frequent nipping of the air in her room. The wind blew through the towering trees whose branches delicately scratched her window and through her hair as she looked down to the ground below. It was far, even from the lowest branch on the tree beside her. If she fell, she'd break more than just an ankle or two.
Sighing heavily, she carefully climbed out onto the closest and sturdiest looking branch. Next, Sherry tied one end of the blanket around its base close to the great trunk of the tree, taking care to ensure that the knot was reliable.
Satisfied, she wiped her brow and chanced another look down, regretting it immediately when she felt her stomach turn. Come on Sherry… she thought. She had faced far more challenging things than this. Hell, she fought monsters from another world for a living with Brago...
Brago.
Her grip on the blanket tightened before she dropped it and watched it fly down, stopping about a foot or two off the ground.
Usually when she did things like this, she barely gave it a second thought. It was like the heat of the moment thing. Now, the moment was ice cold and she was giving this a lot more than a second thought. Try four or five thoughts. Even if she made it out, Brago wouldn't let her join him easily, and it wasn't like she knew where he was anyway.
The blonde moved away from the trunk and climbed back through the window to the side of her bed. She dug around through her bed sheets until her hands patted the familiar hard cover of a book. Pulling it out, she brought it closer to her face and ran her hand over the dark cover tracing the strange picture adorning it. Just like him.
Looking over to the window, she finally made a final decision to help Brago whether he liked it or not. Besides, she was his team mate, wasn't she?
xxxx
''Brago! We have to get Sherry! Why did you lock her up?!''
Brago growled irritably and clenched his fist. He had released his hold on the little brunette long ago, but it didn't seem to minimize the annoyance he felt from Hiewa's constantly running mouth.
He wished greatly that he didn't have to rely on some little human boy, whose mouth never seemed to rest, and whose well of questions never ran dry.
''Are you listening to me Brago? Why? Huh? Why did you do that?''
"…"
''Tell me! Why? Why? Huh? Whhhyyy?''
''Shut up!''
Hiewa closed his mouth and blinked at the back of Brago's head. He had stopped for a moment, but continued walking down the sidewalk after a brief moment of silence.
Hiewa watched Brago's heels as he walked, the pavement below him just a moving blur. It was difficult to match his pace, and he had often been forced to run in order to catch up when he had been lagging behind, but Brago never seemed to notice. In fact, he never once looked at him since he dragged him out of Sherry's room. Hiewa had to rile up a reaction from the other man to convince himself that he was alright.
''I wasn't only talking to you''
Hiewa looked back up at Brago's head questioningly, but he let Brago's response for his actions go. Brago said unusual things regularly.
''Where are we going?'' Hiewa asked, twirling around on his heels his arms outstretched.
''Did you not tell me where you're sister was?''
''Aaaaa-meeeer-i-caaaaaaa'' he answered, playing with the sound. ''But we can't just leave Sherry here all by herself''
Bored with twirling around, Hiewa focused his energy on taking special care to not step on any of the numerous cracks weaving in and out of the sidewalk. Brago hadn't answered him so he continued.
''You like Sherry don't you?''
''...What makes you say that?''
A small smile played on his lips and his brown eyes sparkled. ''Weeeeell, you kissed her silly''
Brago sighed.
Even a little boy knows you have the hots for that blonde chick. Why can't you just accept the fact, eh?
The voice that had been the cause of him snapping at Hiewa was once more grating on his nerves. He wasn't mentally capable of handling both Hiewa's and this voice's rambling at the same time.
For now, he decided to ignore the nagging voice completely until he was able to arrive to the kid's uncle's house and fly to America with his family. He could finally find the mamodo team who had in a sense, been the roots of all of their trouble; digging itself into their lives and breeding animosity and perplexity.
Suddenly, Hiewa bumped firmly into him, gripping the material of his gloomy clothing to break his fall. Brago spun around and grabbed him by both wrists, irritation looming over him like an immense foreboding storm cloud. Hiewa smiled apologetically.
''What the hell are you doing?'' Brago growled.
''Trying not to step on any cracks''
Brago stared at him as if he had grown an extra head with wings flapping from its ears. This only made the boy's smile grow.
''For what reason?'' he asked slowly, not entirely sure he wanted an answer—but he had never heard anything so ridicules.
Hiewa looked surprised, his large brown eyes widening in astonishment, as if the idea of him not knowing were preposterous.
''Didn't you know? Step on a crack, you break you're mothers back! Everyone knows that'' he responded with a roll of his eyes.
xxxx
Closing the porch door behind him, the elderly man patted the golden head of his companion, a beautiful Labrador retriever approaching old age herself; though it was hard to tell with her energetic antics. He laid his hand to rest on his waist, Yasasha's tail beating excitingly at his thigh, and scrutinized the large bottle green van parked neatly in his driveway.
Four kids and two adults awaited him behind rolled-down car windows and open doors, the kids vigorously fanning themselves while they complained to their weary parents between laughter.
He smiled. It seemed like an eternity since their last vacation—his grandkids were now almost as tall as he. He looked up at the royal blue cloudless sky and shook his head merrily, joyous that the weather was finally on his side. The old man couldn't wait; his hands were shaking with excitement, though it could have been his arthritis. A loud bark from Yasasha snatched him from his thoughts.
He looked down at her.
''What's wrong Yasasha? ''
She gave another ferocious bark, her brown eyes focused dead ahead and her lip curled back in a snarl, revealing her canines. He looked up to see what had caused her to snap into guard dog mode.
A young man was steadily advancing towards him with a child on his back. He could have been pale, it was difficult to tell with his complexion the odd tinge of gray that it was. He was donned in black clothing; fishnet, ribs outlining his waist and dark fur on his shoulders…it reminded him of the crazy style some teenagers had taken a fancy to.
Just watching him approach, the old man immediately knew that he could not compare the man to the rowdy kids that sometimes played their fuming music too loudly or pierced themselves senseless; he was...different...
The young man looked up at him, his peculiar crimson eyes showing signs of fatigue. He slowly stepped through the gate and approached him, coming to a halt at the porch steps.
''Here,'' he said agitatedly, turning around so the boy's back faced him. His eyes widened in realization when he saw the familiar messy mop of woody hair.
''Hiewa!'' he exclaimed.
Hiewa lifted his head at the sound of his name and mumbled something incoherently. The elderly man reached over and wrapped his wizened but sturdy arms around his small waist to lift him up, but the little boy refused to budge. Hiewa's arms were laced firmly around the man's neck, and it didn't seem he'd let go anytime soon.
''Hiewa. Hiewa, wake up'' he whispered firmly, shaking his shoulder. This time, Hiewa lifted his head and kept it up. He loosened his hold on Brago and allowed himself to be removed and be picked up by his uncle. Brago sighed as he turned around to face the two looking rather gruff, eyeing the small boy blinking drowsily at him with distaste. Hiewa's uncle let his nephew down on his feet upon his request and Hiewa affectionately petted the silky fur of the suddenly cheerful
Yasasha.
The old man gave Brago an odd measuring look before looking down at his nephew.
''Um...well, Hiewa? Didn't you tell me that your, er, friend...was in your class?''
Hiewa looked up at him as if he lost his mind, Yasasha mimicking his exact look at gazing at her master with disapproving eyes. ''Í know I did, Uncle. He is in my class''
His uncle raised a silver brow and frowned deeply again, and observed his so-called friend again who growled impatiently at the unwanted attention.
Hiewa stood up and crossed his arms. ''Are you packed yet? Where is everyone?''
Just as he said that, a woman holding the hand of a bright eyed little girl opened the screen door. She stood stagnant in the doorway for a moment, observing the three people on her porch. Her silver eyes bounced from Hiewa to her "uncle" and finally to the mysterious dark young man who studied her irritably.
''Aren't you supposed to be Hiewa's classmate?'' she asked.
