Yes, i finally updated! Heh, actually i just started working on this chapter earlier this afternoon... so sorry if it seems rushed near the end. I don't think it sounds rushed, but just in case:-)

Anyways... here's the next chapter! Hope you peeps enjoy it!

Disclaimer: I don't own Zatch Bell. If I did... well... let's just say I don't and end it there.


Gift from the Dark

Chapter 8

Story Time

Kalu was just playing with her small teddy bear when her parents walked up to her. She looked up at them with her clouded purple eyes and gave a puzzled look.

"Kalu, we need to speak with you." Sherry said with a strange look in her eyes. She glanced over at Brago and then back to her daughter.

"Did… Did I do something wrong?" asked the little girl. Her gaze shifted from her mother and then to her father. "Did I?"

"No, you didn't." This time it was her father speaking. "We just need to tell you something, that's all."

"OK…"

Sherry gave a sigh before she spoke. "Well, you remember how yesterday you were almost kidnapped by this ma— er… other person?"

The little girl nodded her head. "Did you find out why he did?"

"Uh, no, actually we need to talk about something else just as important." said the blonde quickly. Brago turned his head around to face his wife.

"Will you just get on with it already?" he asked.

The blonde gave him a look after he said that. "Patience, it can't all just be rushed." The dark mamodo rolled his eyes and Sherry continued. "Now, Kalu, sweetie, this may be a little shock to you, but…"

"You found out why that light came out of my hand?" interrupted the little girl.

"No, that's not it. Kalu…" Sighing, Sherry shook her head. How was she going to explain it to her? After a minute's pause, she finally thought of a way to speak it out. "You aren't quite what you think you are, Kalu."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Kalu… you're not human."

Confusion spread in the girl's eyes as she heard her mother speak those words. She looked up with her big eyes in bewilderment. "I – I'm not… human? Then… what – how – You're a human, why aren't I?"

Sherry slightly nodded her head. "Yes, I am human, but—"

"—I'm not." spoke Brago. His daughter's eyes wandered from her mother and then over to him.

"You're not?"

"Kalu, you may not be one hundred percent human, but you do have human blood. You are half human and half mamodo." Sherry looked down at her daughter as she continued to ponder about that remark.

"What's a mamodo?" was the little girl's next question.

"I'm a mamodo." spoke her father. Kalu still didn't understand this, so he added on to the conversation. "Do you want to hear a story?" he asked.

The little girl seemed a little interested when he said 'story', but wondered what a tiny story had to do with her and her father not being human.

Sherry turned her attention to Brago, understanding what he was thinking. Telling a story would probably be the best way for Kalu to understand all this. At least Brago wasn't being too blunt about it all…

The dark mamodo nodded his head and started the little 'story'. "About thirteen years ago, before you were born, a war had been declared. This wasn't an ordinary war, but a battle for king that takes place every one thousand years. It was declared in a place called the mamodo world – where I am from. Many different beings such as I live there, and we also had a powerful king stating that the battle for mamodo king would be held in the human world – where you, your mother, and I are right now.

"During the time the battle was declared, I was one of the one hundred chosen mamodo children to take part in the battle." Brago paused as he saw his daughter slightly nod her head, showing that she understood what he was saying. "In the mamodo world, we have our own powers, or spells, that we could use whenever and wherever we wanted to use them. But before the battle actually started, we were told that when we arrived into the human world our powers would not function properly—"

"What does function mean?" interrupted Kalu. Brago looked off to the side with an annoyed look, for he did not enjoy being interrupted too well. He sighed as his wife gave the answer, and then continued.

"As I was saying, we were told that our powers would not work properly when we arrived into the human world. So the way we would have to use them was by pairing up with a human partner and have them read out of special spell books to call out the spells. However, if our books ever happened to get burned during the mamodo battle, we would be sent back to our world and disqualified from the battle."

A look of remembrance took place on Kalu's features as her father talked about the spell books. She thought about to when the other two strange people had a book with them and one called out funny things from the book, and when she had burnt it the other being disappeared in thin air. But wasn't the battle over? So why was he there?

"This is also the time when I first met Sherry." Brago turned his head and motioned towards the blonde. "Though I wasn't the first mamodo she encountered."

Sherry shuddered at the memory of her best friend being controlled by a mamodo who was just sickening. The memories of Zophise and Koko being paired up with in the battle for mamodo king were definitely a thought she'd rather not think about. "Brago saved me from my best friend who was being controlled by another mamodo. She had tried to kill me, but he saved me just in time." she said.

"Who was she?" Kalu asked.

"My friend? Her name is Koko, I've been friends with her since my childhood, but I lost track with her a couple of years ago." A sad look took over Sherry's face as she thought about not speaking to her friend in a while. Brago began speaking again as the blonde continued to think about Koko.

"After we met I had given Sherry my black spell book and we formed somewhat of an alliance. I had promised her that I would get her friend back and that she would make me king… although one promise wasn't accomplished…" At this he gave a look over at the blonde who only shrugged. "I never ended up king, but at least one promise was completed. Her friend was soon freed from the mamodo who had taken control of her and soon began reliving a normal life. And as time went by my relationship with Sherry improved, and during the final battle for king we lost. Though the winner was kind enough to let me stay here with Sherry, and a few years later you were born."

The dark mamodo then looked down at his daughter, who was staring at the ground. Her eyes were shaking and she had an odd look about her. Then she glanced upwards and asked the question, "But what's a mamodo exactly?"

"A demon, you could say." answered Sherry. Kalu's eyes widened and she turned her attention over to her father and then back to her mother.

"D-demon?" she echoed, her voice almost croaking. So… that's what she was? She was half human and demon, or as her parents said, mamodo?

"Kalu, I know this is probably difficult for you, but please don't get worked up over it." said Sherry calmly. She was about to rest her hand on her daughter's shoulder when she suddenly stood up quickly.

Kalu said nothing, but darted away from her mother and father and ran right out the door. She ran deeper into the house to go hide. The blonde just turned around to face her husband as Kalu ran off.

"Well… we told her. Now what?"

"We'll just have to wait and see what happens next." responded the dark mamodo. "But I do know that I would like to train her a little, just to make her stronger and have more control of her powers." He folded his arms and leaned against the wall behind him.

This statement made the blonde shake her head with disapproval. "No, I don't want her to be trained. At least not yet. It was only yesterday when she was attacked, and we didn't even get to tell her about how she inherited those powers from you. Kalu doesn't even know she has a second spell, only one. Although she refers to it as a 'strange light', in a way she knew that she did it."

"That's the reason why she needs to be trained. The sooner the better." Brago unfolded his arms and stood up strait. "I want to train her."

"And I don't want you to." Sherry said defensively. "She may be your daughter but she's mine as well! I don't want you trainer her just yet."

Brago shook his head. "Sherry, it's for the better."

"No it is not! How can you be so sure of this?" she inquired. "Kalu only just found out! I'm sure she's probably very confused right now and just needs a little space. After all Brago, she's turning six in a week."

Hearing herself say that made Sherry think about just how old her daughter was. Currently she was five, but she had forgotten that in only a week she would be six. Kalu was maturing and growing, it made her a little upset for the fact that this all seemed like an early nightmare as a birthday present for the girl.

The dark mamodo only sighed and shook his head. "Fine, you win." he said. "But I still want to train her. Maybe after a week or two after her birthday passes, I'll start training her. You win this time."

Brago was about to walk away when Sherry stopped him. "No, I didn't win anything. I'm just saying what is good for our Kalu!"

"Like I said, you win." And with that, the dark mamodo walked off. Sherry flushed with annoyance a little and just shook her head.

Seriously, he could be so difficult at times…

The blonde sighed and then returned her thoughts to the little girl that was somewhere inside the house. Oh, if only she had taken this a little easier and saved the stress for not just her, but for Sherry as well. Brago seemed to be handling it well in his own strange way, but she wasn't managing it as well as him.

So the woman began walking in hopes to find her daughter and try to reassure her, before anything else out of the ordinary happened.


There it is! Not really a cliffhanger, but it'll still leave all of you readers/reviewers waiting! haha!

anyways... ON TO MY REVIEWERS!

Blood of the Wolf: Hahaha... chocolate supply... funny! -smiles- Yes Brago's still a softie! Heheheh... You'll also see a tad bit more of Kalu's reaction in the next chappy... so I'm making you wait! HA!

Rae: Um, I don't think there's anybody that you would dislike in this story that will be of any importance. And the reason why I had Brago/Sherry not tell Kalu what she was is because they (mostly Sherry) believed she was too young to understand, so they waited... yeah... Oh, and before I forget, a reviewer (Sara) is talking to you 'bout something I don't know...

Wolf of the Blue Moon: You'll see a lil' more of Kalu's reaction (note just a lil') in the next chappy. So I'm not going to tell you and I'm just going to make you wait! HAHAHAHA!

PsychicLunar: Noo not another cliffy! Well, i s'pose that everybody deserves it because everybody does cliffhangers... heh... Anyways, you'll see just an itsy bit more of how she reacts in the next chappy as well!

pyro: Here's the next chappy!

Sara: Brago's not becoming hard and stern again... maybe just a lil' bit cuz he's concerned for his daughter (and that's why he's a softie!). Brago: -glares- Will you shut the hell up already! I AM NOT A SOFTIE! Me: Then why is it you are concerned for your daughter? Brago: Because that's what fathers are supposed to do! Me: -stares- Y'know, what you said right there sounded like you were saying "because I'm a dad and i'm supposed to be soft!" Brago: ...Huh! What! Me: -snickers- Wouldn't you agree Sara? XD

Emria: I've said this before in a different story, BRAGO TORTURING IS SOO MUCH FUN:D

WELL PEOPLES! It's the next chappy! Now you all are just going to have to think of what might happen next... In the meantime, i'm just going to go think about sushi and re-read over and over again different BragoSherry stories!

Brago: Since when was my love-life any of your concern?

Me: ho HO! SO HE ADMITS IT!

Brago: wha - what? What the hell is the "ho ho he admits it" all about, anyways!

Me: You finally admited you DO have a love-life of course! Silly Braggy...

Brago: First of all, if I'm a father in this story and your other one, then of course i have to have a love-life! Second, MY NAME IS NOT BRAGGY! Idiotic ningen...

Me: I AM NOT IDIOTIC! My brain just doesn't always stay turned on.And besides, my B-day is tommorow so I'm just going to torture you as an early present for me from me!

Brago: ...Tommorow's your B-what?

Me: B-day, Brago, means BIRTHDAY!

Zatch: Happy B-day then! B-days sound like so much FUN!

Me: They are! Although I have no Earthly idea what I'm doing besides going out to dinner to eat sushi and yellow tail and--

Zatch: -drools- YELLOW TAIL! GIMME GIMME GIMME!

Me; NOOOOO! KEEP AWAY FROM MY DINNER! BAD ZATCH! DOWN! DOWN! DOWN!

Zatch: But I wanna eat some yellow tail... -sobs-

Me: Eh, I like yellow tail, even though I like unagi (eel) better...

Brago: -tip-toes off-

Me: Now where do you think YOU'RE going!

Brago: Uh...

Me: You're still looking for Kalu, aren't you? Or is it Sherry?

Brago: ...

Me: Cat got your tongue again?

Brago: Stupid human phrases...

ANYHOW... I'LL BE BACK WITH THE NEXT CHAPTER SOON! Hope you all liked this chapter! I amgoing to go read more BragoSherry stories now! Ta ta!

Twilight Memories has now signed off.