Sorry for the long update! (sigh) I've been out of school for three weeks because i'm ina year round and we get four 3-week long breaks throughout the year, and i just got one! But now it's over and that means school starts Monday... Oh well.

Here's the next chapter! Remember to read and review! AND NO FLAMES!

Disclaimer: I don't own ANYTHING related to Zatch Bell WHATSOEVER! But i DO own Kalu!


Gift from the Dark

Chapter 21

Practice Makes Perfect

It was the fifth of October and a Friday afternoon, about two months after Kalu started school. The hybrid child was at her home working on some homework of hers, just a few simple math equations was all.

Spread out over a table was many pieces of paper. Some of them were blank, others were colored on, and a few were apart of Kalu's homework.

Kalu laid her head on the wooden table and sighed as she thought about the past two months. She and Emma had become quite close friends. However, Emma was the only one that would ever speak to Kalu aside from the teacher. All the other children enjoyed to pick on the hybrid, especially the twins, Kenny and Jacob, and the girl Lilly, all because of her abnormalities.

But the girl was thankful to have at least one friend. Emma was always there to stand up for Kalu since she never really stood up for herself. She was the sister Kalu never had.

During the two months, her father, Brago, had also taken her back to the Mamodo World many times to go through training. He took her there at least once a week… and every time they went, Zatch Bell always made an appearance to see Kalu. The two of them had also become friends. This slightly annoyed Brago but he was glad to see that Kalu had another friend. He was also quite proud to see that Kalu was beginning to take control of her powers that she had inherited from him. So far, Kalu had only used the Reis and Giganoreis spells. No other spells had been discovered yet, but Brago was sure that they'd appear eventually. After all, she was his daughter.

Just then Sherry walked into the room that Kalu was in. She turned, smiled, and walked over to her daughter.

"Hello Kalu. Doing homework?" inquired Sherry as she leaned over the child's shoulder. The other nodded.

"Yeah… um, Mamma, could you help me with something?" asked the little girl. Sherry smiled and nodded.

"Yes, what is it?" Kalu pointed to a few problems on the paper in front of her. The blonde looked down and noticed the equations. They were just like the ones her mother always yelled at her at for not doing quite correctly…

Sherry was silent for a moment, and her daughter looked up at her with curiosity. The blonde, however, was lost in her thoughts as she recalled all of her mother's screams.

"Why can't you understand such a simple problem?"

Her mother would constantly yell at her with negativity in all her words. However, just because her mother was cruel to her, Sherry would not be cruel to Kalu. The blonde was suddenly snapped out of her thoughts as her daughter called out to her.

"Mamma?" Kalu's purple orbs stared into Sherry's crystal blue ones. The mother blinked, and then smiled.

"Oh, I'm sorry Kalu. Yes, I can help you." After being showed the problems, the blonde nodded and began tohelp the girl with her homework. Addition was easiest to do for Kalu while subtraction was a little harder. Instead of being harsh whenever her daughter made a mistake, Sherry was kind and helped out the girl.

Kalu asked about a few more problems and the woman helped her out. After a while, Brago walked into the room after coming back from hunting again. He noticed the two girls over to the side and went over to see what was up.

"What're you two doing?" inquired the dark being, glancing down at the paper in Kalu's hands.

"Hi, Daddy!" Kalu greeted with a warm smile. "Mamma's helping me with homework." She watched as Brago took up the paper in his hands and stared at it and then soon handed it back to her.

"Hn, let's just hope you are doing a good job on them," spoke the mamodo with a smirk.

"Don't worry, she is," Sherry informed as she looked down at her daughter and smiled. "We just have to remember that practice makes perfect." Kalu smiled at her mother's words while her father smirked.

Brago sat down in the chair next to the two and watched as Sherry helped Kalu with her last problem. After the mother finished helping Kalu, the little girl gave her a hug and thanked her for the help.

After that, the hybrid walked up to her father and sat in his lap. The dark mamodo smirked and wrapped his arm around Kalu as he looked over to his wife. "I was thinking about taking Kalu to the Mamodo World later on today to train her for a couple of hours."

As he said this, Sherry sighed. "Alright, but remember that I wanted to spend a little family time later tonight. It's Friday and you know how it is… We have to spend a little time together, you know."

"I know, I know. But we don't want Kalu to lose control again, do we?" Brago glanced down at the hybrid, who wasn't paying attention, though she did turn to look at him when she heard her name.

"What happened?" Kalu looked up at her father.

"I'm going to take you to the Mamodo World again today." informed the dark mamodo. Kalu smiled.

"Oh, does that mean I get to see Zatch Bell again?" she asked.

Sherry watched as Brag paused. Again, Kalu was bringing up the fact that she'd see the Mamodo King again sometime when they reached the other world. It wasn't something Brago liked to hear about, since he never particularly liked Zatch, but Kalu had a friend, and that's what mattered… even if he was the king.

"Daddy?"

"Hn?"

"I do get to see him again, right?"

"…Yes, you do."

The little girl squealed and hopped out of the dark mamodo's lap. "OK, lemme just go get ready really quick!" With that, she darted out of the room and headed to her own.

Turning his head, Brago glanced at his wife, who only shrugged.

"I suppose it's not that big of a deal that she's befriended Zatch," spoke the woman. "I mean, she only has two friends, him and this girl Emma I always hear about."

"Perhaps," agreed Brago, "but still, I don't like the fact that it's Zatch Bell too much."

"Does it matter?" inquired Sherry. "Sure, it's Zatch, but you have to think of the good he's done. I mean, he let you stay behind with me. And if he didn't, we wouldn't have Kalu."

Brago shrugged. "Yeah… sure." Over to the side, the clock turned to four in the afternoon. "Well, I suppose I should go get Kalu. If we're to all do something tonight we should leave as soon as we can."

His wife nodded and gave him a quick kiss. "Just don't take too long," she said. "And since you two are going out I guess I'll go to the store for a bit. See you later, Brago."

As Sherry walked out of the room, Brago headed to Kalu's to make sure that she was ready. She was, so they both headed to the Mamodo World while Sherry to the store.

-o-o-o-o-o-

The trees were all different red and orange colors in the Mamodo World. The cold of fall was starting to take hold of the world, and the only green colors there were was the grass.

Kalu looked up and smiled. She still didn't like her father's world too much, since she was quite content with the human world, but Zatch was the only reason why she enjoyed coming. He was her second best friend, and he always made her laugh.

"Are you ready to begin, Kalu?" Brago watched as his daughter turned to face him and nodded. "Good. First we'll start off with a test. Try to throw a Reis attack at that tree right over there." His clawed hand pointed over to a rather small tree.

Raising her right hand, Kalu aimed at the small tree. Just a small attack, she thought to herself, no need for a large one. A purple aura started to surround her hand and a ball of energy began to form. It shot out from her palm like a bullet from a gun and smacked the tree as it fell to the ground. Smiling, the 6-year old glanced at her father.

The demon nodded his head. She was really starting to get the hang of things… like Sherry had said with her schoolwork, he'd say it for her training: practice would make perfect. Brago then began to speak. "Excellent. Now let's try something else…"

-o-o-o-o-o-

Outside the empty Belmond mansion, a figure walked through the shadows. It looked around and growled to itself.

"Damn… I should have come at a different time. Ah well, they'll have to arrive sooner or later. I can just have some fun while they're out…"

The figure walked out from the darkness, revealing who it was. Dressed in his normal doll-like outfit with the long orange hair stood Zophise, staring up at the mansion.

"I wonder what their reactions will be when they come back…" The mamodo smirked and then headed up to the mansion to carry on his plan.


Cliffy! Heheh, i got the Zatch Bell DVD that has the first four episodes earlier today and was watching it for a bit. I was kinda PO'd at the fact that there's no Japanese audio so i can't hear their Jap. voices. -.- oh well. I'm thankful i got it anyway. :) If anyone wants to know where i got it it was at Best Buy. Now on to myreviewers!

PsychicLunar: What does Kalu mean? Nothing really... i just made up a bunch of names and then picked which one i liked best, which happened to be 'Kalu'. I don't remember what the other ones were... 'lost the list for 'em a while ago. Yes, Emma is human. She just has a careless father who got them in an accident so she has that large scar up her arm. Ooh, where'd you find that pic of Kakashi? Here's an update!

Computerfreak101: You know, i don't think that it'd be as funny if Snape really WAS singing it, what about you? I just love how they cut his mouth apart and moved it up and down... it's so funny like that:D the ZB game is good, the Story Mode isn't that great but the fighting is the whole point of the game (the fighting, by the way, completely rocks!) Would you believe me if i told you that Zophise's voice is even more screwed up in the game?

Alison: No problem. N' the ZB game is cool, though it can be hard at times! Heh, here's an update!

rahkshi500: I can understand that school takes away time, no biggy. I absolutely despise the essays we get whenever i'm in school... -.- And, rahkshi, all that's happening to Kalu is just apart of the story. I'm not putting her through all this 'cause i think it's fun... n.n Oh, and thanks for pointing out that error. (slaps head) Now i feel silly. XP Yeah... n' i said my response to your game thing in your other story.

anonimize: Well... i'll admit that the game has its downsides, but overall it's really fun. You should at least rent it to try it out... In my opinion the fighting is all that matters, and that's the coolest part of the game. I'd probably rate it a 7 or 7.5 or close to that anyway. Here's an update!

Sara: Ya probably won't be able to read this for a while but i'm still responding. :) Sorry you got a C, those such tremendously. Hope that you'll be able to get back on soon! See ya!

ShadowVixen: Naps? Haha, i'm afraid i never participated in those. XP Here's the next chapter!

Yamia Ishtar: Oh? The Snape thing? Uh (looks for the llink) Go look for Computerfreak's review for chapter 20, it's in there. I'd put it right here but some of the symbols wouldn't show up. :-/ Oh, and there's only one 'w' in it, so you'll wanna add 2 more in the link.Here's an update!

angel6530: Two days? That's a long time. Well, hope you like it!

angel61991: Here's the next chapter.

Wolf Girl V: Heh, well, here's the next chapter!

Rae: Glad ya think so n' here's an update!

Blood of the Wolf: Heehee, Brago has a fluffy cape:D Now now, i think Brago has to go to an anger management class that has an anti-Brago instructor, that way he won't kill the person. :-/ (glances at Sherry) ...Make that both of them. Wouldn't you agree, Blood? o.o I'm now scared, too. (slowly backs away)

OK, here's the next chapter! And a hint for a future chapter (dunno which one) Emma will play a VERY important role in something that happens! And that something is BAD! Heehee, i'm shutting up now.

Hope y'all enjoyed the chapter! I have to get off now! BYE! Read and review! NO FLAMES!