Home Sweet Home

V.

Brago and I continued on our search for more mamodo's, or more specifically, the Fire Mamodo. I understood why he was so eager to find him, but I wonder if he realized how uninterested I was. Out of all the mamodo's out there, why go after the Fire Mamodo now? Why not give himself more time to become stronger? Not that I wanted him to assume I was calling him weak.

Once we were well into the woods, he took me for a jog. I guess almost a whole day of not doing too much bored him, and he had to get all the kinks out. I was surprised to see how fast and how long I could run. Not only did the almost endless travel help me get in shape, my lighter dress kept me cooler when the wind blew against me.

He stopped after about half an hour and looked back to see I wasn't that far behind. I slowed down when I got closer to him. I breathed heavy for a few minutes, but when I saw that he wasn't continuing, I shot him a look.

"What?"

He prolonged his stare on me, and I felt myself become uncomfortable. I reached a hand up on top of my head to feel if I had something stuck in my hair.

"You're getting better."

The phrase was simple enough, but it sounded so much like a compliment--coming from Brago--that a light blush spread across my cheeks. He actually said it without adding a crude remark afterward?

"You still need to run faster, though," he threw in, making my blush turn into more of a flush of anger.

"Brago," I began, my breathing only becoming heavier due to my frustration, "I would like to see you try to find another human that would run for thirty minutes nonstop with you."

He turned away from me with no expression, "What about sixty minutes?"

I let out a long breath, "You're the one that stopped first."

His eyes shot toward me once again. I could tell he took that as an insult, but it was true after all. I didn't complain one time in that half hour and I think I could have run another mile if I really pushed myself.

I was giving him one-hundred percent.

Before he could respond, I heard a loud yell reverberate around us. I couldn't tell what was said, but it was no doubt some sort of spell. I barely caught a glimpse of a bright light before Brago pushed me to the ground. Out of instinct, I swirled around and caught myself right before my face fell into the dirt. I dropped the book by accident, by snatched it up the second I rolled myself over.

I heard Brago groan lonely from beside me. After the dots stopped dancing in my eyes, I saw that he was down on one knee with his hand over his eyes.

"Brago, are you all right?" I asked, slowly rising to my feet.

He didn't answer, which worried me even further. Any other time, he would say he was fine and brush off the pain. I called his name again before walking over to him. I kneeled beside him.

"The damn spell blinded me!" He yelled through his teeth. He moved his hand away from his eyes and slowly opened them. His orbs were more dilated than usual. They were also out of focus. He closed them quickly when he probably sensed me studying him.

"You should never let your guard down out in the wild," I heard a deep voice say. I stood up and looked to my left to see a tall, well-built man come out of the bushes. Following him came a mamodo so white, I'm sure it wouldn't be a problem for him to blend in with the clouds. His clothes were also white. The pallor was so bright and solid, I had to shield my eyes just looking at him.

"Sherry, get ready," Brago demanded. I averted my eyes to him to watch as he stood and faced in our direction. He kept his eyes closed, but I could tell his other senses already kicked in overtime.

"Too slow!" the man yelled before yelling another attack. Instead of a straight shot of light this time, a big ball of light came forth, getting smaller and brighter as it got closer to us.

I flipped open the black book and screamed the first attack, "Reis!"

Brago had excellent aim as he pointed his hand right at the light. The dark ball contrasted against the glow, making the attack more bearable. The two spells went right through each other, however, which left us with a small ball of light. Instead of being blinding, it simply felt as though I was lying on blacktop in one-hundred and twenty degree weather. Or standing right next to the sun.

Trying to stay in focus, despite all the sweat dripping into my eyes, I saw that our attack only had half its power about time it reached our opponents. They fell to the ground, but only got the wind knocked out of them for a moment.

The ball of light exploded, fireworks falling down on my bare skin. At least I would get a tan…after the sunburn disappeared.

I grinded my teeth through the pain and turned the book to another page, "You ready, Brago?"

"Let's do it!" He yelled. I looked toward him to make sure he was still looking in the right direction. I should've had more faith in him. He definitely knew what he was doing.

"Gigano-Reis!" Within a second, dark matter blasted everything in our path. For a long moment, it looked as though there was an eclipse. I didn't panic, but instead welcomed the darkness in hope of destroying the light.

The dark disappeared and normal light appeared. I took a step forward to see the Light Mamodo down. I was surprised that it looked blinded as well, but figured it got affected the opposite of Brago.

"No!" the man yelled, glaring at me before glowering at his mamodo, "Get up, you good for nothing weakling! We're not done yet!"

For some reason, the way he talked to his mamodo angered me. I knew that there were mamodo's out there that liked to be treated indifferently, but this one seemed slightly hurt at his bookkeeper's words.

I thought about stepping closer to them, but instead went near Brago. I knew what I was going to do. I saw the mamodo slowly standing back up, blinking his eyes to try to get his sight back.

"You deserve to be burned, not your mamodo!" I yelled at the man, not even flinching when he shot daggers through his angry eyes. I flipped the page again. Brago sensed what I was planning. He put his hand forward and held onto his wrist to keep it steady.

"Ion Gravi-Rei!" A large amount of high ranged gravity came forth. I laid on the ground right beside Brago so I would not get caught in the attack. I felt the ground tremble beneath me as he sent trees straight into the ground. The spell always lasted no more than twenty seconds, but it felt like forever to me. He went in a full circle before coming to an abrupt stop when he reached the full three-sixty.

The attack had been so loud, the silence rang in my ears, and I heard my heavily beating heart. I looked and stood up instantly. I could barely see where the opposing team was smashed to the ground except for the pure white book beside them.

"Come on," I told Brago, walking toward them and hearing him follow behind me. I reached where they lay, seeing that the mamodo was just gaining consciousness, but the man was out cold.

The mamodo tried to sit up, but gravity was still against him. He groaned. That's when I finally realized the mamodo was a girl. Her hair had been so long and as white as her body, I hadn't noticed. She opened her eyes and looked up at me, though I could tell she couldn't see me.

"You can burn my book, now…" she whispered. She turned her head to the side as a couple tears slipped from her face, "Just don't hurt Shiina anymore."

I stared down at her for a long moment before needing to cast my eyes away. Though she was beautiful, she was simply too blinding to keep looking at. I glanced over to the man she called Shiina. I bent down and placed my two fingers to his neck.

"His pulse is slow. He might be in a coma for a few days, but he'll live," I don't know why I felt the need to tell her this, but it seemed to comfort her in her awkward position.

"I'm glad," she admitted weakly.

I raised an eyebrow. His ugly words to her from earlier shot through my mind. And yet…the mamodo…the one that was supposed to be evil and unloving…seemed to have fallen for her Hon no Mochinushi. I stared at the spot beside her.

"You're better off in your own world. You don't need someone like him." She didn't say anything in response to this, though I know she wanted to defend herself.

I shook my head and opened the book again, "Brago…look straight ahead." I saw him do so and was about to read the spell when I hard the Light Mamodo whisper something. Maybe it was just me, but it sounded an awful lot like that three word confession.

"You're better off," I told her once again. For her sake or mine, I'm not sure. "Reis!" I read with emotion, the spell shooting forward at the book and catching the unguarded object aflame.

The Light Mamodo closed her eyes, as she could do nothing but wait her inevitable end now. In no time, her glorious light began to fade, and her and her book vanished.

I glimpsed at the man again and felt pity and hatred toward him. His mamodo loved him so much, but he shot heart-wrenching words at her in return. I turned to Brago to see he still had his eyes closed.

"Can you see yet?"

"Those kind of spells don't wear off right away," he told me, not even bothering to turn toward me, "It'll probably take me ten to twelve hours to regain my sight."

"That's too bad," I said dryly, almost sarcastically. I turned around and began to walk away from the battle scene. He began following me, walking like he wasn't blind at all. He even had his hands behind his back.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked harshly.

I sighed and held the book close to my side, "Nothing…just that we should find someplace to stop for the day until you're recovered."

He growled at that, no doubt taking that as an insult. How about that, I insulted him twice in one day. Despite myself, I smiled vaguely over my shoulder. He walked just a little faster, "I'm just as capable without my eyes as I am with them."

I titled my head to the side as we began to walk out of the area with all the smashed trees. I walked straight toward the first tree, slowing down just a little so he would be right behind me. At the last second, I side-stepped the tree. He didn't think it would be necessary to take my rash step and ended up running right into the tree.

I let out a small laugh of amusement, but he didn't find it too funny. He knew I did that on purpose.

"Sherry…!" He said my name warningly, clenching his fists as he turned toward me.

"Sorry," I said, though not very apologetically, "but I was just trying to prove my point. I doubt you would have run into that tree if you could see."

He shook his head at my statement of the obvious.

"Let's find someplace to rest," I began walking, hearing him following behind me again. I smiled and subliminally pressed the black book to my chest. It was nice to know that I could help him in his time of need as much as he could help me. As long as I ignore the fact that I made him run into a tree.

I found a place where there was a lot of shade due to the density of the trees and decided that would be our resting spot. I sat down against a tree and Brago felt for a tree near mine before sitting against it also.

I stared across the small distance between us, "You should use this time to sleep."

"I don't think so," he said bluntly.

"Why not? When was the last time you slept anyway?"

He sighed lowly, "I went longer. Besides, the worst time to sleep is when you're injured. An enemy could sneak up on you, but when you wake up, you might temporarily forget about your handicap and panic. It's best you stay awake and alert."

"I'll keep watch," I told him, leaning my head back.

"You would most likely fall asleep yourself," he alleged with disdain.

I narrowed my eyes, "I would not. I slept good last night."

He didn't respond, but instead merely shrugged.

Things between us got quiet for so long, I began thinking he really did fall asleep. I watched him closely, not even seeing him make a small jerk. It was somewhat odd seeing him like this. Though I'm sure his guard wasn't completely down, it still wasn't at top speed and that made him look…different.

I looked at the space between us once again and figured there was about twelve feet there. Trying not to think too hard on it, I began to crawl closer to him. The leaves and twigs cracked under me, but that didn't falter my actions.

Before I knew it, I was right in front of him on all fours. He had his knees pulled up to his chest, which made it easier to get closer to him. I sat back on my heels when my knees were a couple inches from his feet.

What are you doing, Sherry? Seeing if he'll reach out to punch you and miss? He's blind, not stupid.

I leaned forward. Besides all those times he's carried me on his back, this was the closet I ever was to him. Though his skin looked smooth, I was able to make out tiny scars he obtained from the many battles he had to endure.

Over his bottom lip stuck out a small fang on the left side. I imagined myself randomly finding the Gravity Mamodo in the woods and cautiously going up to study him. Why was I suddenly so very curious about him?

"Are you convinced I'm blind now?"

His voice scared me, causing me to snap my head away from him. My heart began thumping roughly at the shock and the embarrassment of being caught.

He raised his chin off his chest, but didn't bother to open his eyes. He didn't seem mad…but then again, he always did have a way of hiding exactly what he was feeling.

"That's…that's not what I was doing," I told him before I could stop and think of how that sounded.

Brago didn't respond, which only made me frustrated. Why did he always have to go quiet? Why couldn't he just talk to me?

Mentioning his eyes, however, made me look at his closed orbs. I found myself wondering if his eyes were redder when he was blind. I didn't take the time to notice when it first happened. Would they be burgundy?

I wonder…

I leaned closer again and raised my hand. My first two fingers touched his eyelid so gently, I would think I was touching nothing at all if it wasn't for his small twitch.

"Does it hurt?" I asked casually, trying to keep calm and collected.

He didn't move for a long moment, actually allowing me to massage his left eye. Unfortunately, he got tired of it and moved away from my hand. I dropped my arm onto my lap, gripping the book I carried over with me.

"No," he finally retorted. I wasn't sure I should believe him. Then again, would he really admit if it hurt anyway? Of course not.

I looked down at the book I was holding, positive he didn't want me looking at him anymore. The silence encircled around us once again, only the birds happy to sing a joyous song. I didn't move back to my tree, but instead stayed seated in front of him. He didn't tell me to leave him alone, so I found no reason to leave his side.

I would stay with him as long as I could.

I'm back! Sorry for the slight delay, but I have been busy. Lemmie tell you something for those of you who reads these AN's.

Well, for my graduation, I got over a thousand dollars, so I drove down to the closest anime store, Anime Palace. I actually only spend a little over four hundred bucks, but among everything I bought, I only got one Konjiki no Gash Bell thing, 'cause…they didn't have too much of it. It's a pencil board; the main reason I got it is because it has Sherry and Brago on it, too. There was another one, but it was very…pink. Too pink.

Also, the dude at Anime Palace said that in the Japanese version, Brago is already gone. O.O;; I told him that he was wrong, and then he just started teasing me by saying "maybe I am lying…maybe I'm not." Mean! But uhh…does anyone happen to know if Brago's gone yet? I hope not…that'll be sad.

Well, that's all for now! I'll update as soon as I can.

Enula