Yeah... 'nother long update. Sorry folks...
Say... is anybody aware of the fact that if no new episodes of Zatch Bell were blocked, Brago and Sherry would have appeared last night (Saturday 1/28/06)? (sigh) It's not fair i tell you... completely unfair...
Well... read and review! n.n
Disclaimer: Zatch Bell is not mine.. if it was, Brago and Sherry would have appeared last night or sooner! Grr...
Erased
Chapter 9
And Then Some
I hated to admit it, but we were lost.
Sherry and I had been walking all day, trying to figure out where we were. Both of us were in such a hurry to get away from the battle scene as soon as possible that we didn't pay attention to where we were going. Great, another damn mistake I made.
The forest area that we were in was quite unfamiliar-- I had never been through this section of the woods before. But I knew we couldn't be too far from where Sherry was first found unconscious. It was currently night and we just had to get there before we headed anywhere else. The sooner we reached our destination the less chance we had of somebody messing up the surroundings causing any clues that were there to remain forever unfound.
"Brago... I'm tired..." complained Sherry as she walked a few feet behind me. "Can't we take a break...?"
"No," I retorted, turning to look behind me so I could see her. I'll admit that Sherry didn't do the best job cleaning herself up after that battle when we found a small stream some ways off. There were still scratches all over her skin, and around her shoulders her dress was slightly torn.
"But I can't go on..."
The woman continued to wine until I had finally had enough. Just to make her shut up, I had offered to carry her on my back like I had done previous times when she had fallen during battle.
Her eyes lit up like glittering sapphires before she asked, "Are you sure?"
"Just hurry up before I change my mind," I growled before she hesitantly nodded her head. Bending down on my knees, I watched as she soon climbed on my back and wrapped her arms loosely around my neck while I grabbed her thighs and stood up.
We had done this previous times before yet I didn't understand why this time I felt slightly... different. The ningen rested her head against my shoulder and sighed.
"Don't get too comfortable," I muttered after a minute.
"Hmmmmm...?" mumbled the woman drowsily. "...What Brago?"
My point exactly, I thought to myself, she's going to fall asleep if she keeps at it...
I was right, after a while I could feel her breathing slowing down to a steady rhythm. Her grip around myself loosened and I had to lean forwards just a little more to keep her from falling off.
It felt odd, yet... somewhat... pleasant... I cursed to myself again for thinking such thoughts. I still didn't understand why I was acting so differently around her.
It couldn't be because I felt sorry for her...?
I sighed and continued to walk. After a long while, I noticed the surroundings were becoming slightly familiar. Now I knew I was on the right track when I saw a few surroundings that I recognized. We were definitely around where the woman was hurt.
For a moment I stopped to regain my grip on Sherry. She was getting heavier and I needed to keep her from slipping. Afterwards I looked around and pondered to myself which way I should head next, considering the fact that just a few simple surroundings wouldn't do me much good.
After a minute I chose to go slightly west and then walked off in that direction. It was getting rather uncomfortable now... Usually I didn't have to carry Sherry this long or this far.
"Brago..." Hearing her call my name caught my attention and I stopped walking. From the corner of my eye I saw her facial expression... From the looks of it, she seemed to be upset about something. But it was probably just her dream...
"Sherry, are you going to wake up or not?" I asked her, seeing if she would respond. Slowly her eyes flipped open revealing her azure orbs. She looked up at me with them and blushed.
"Uh... I guess I could walk on my own now."
"Good." I gently set her down as she yawned and rubbed one of her eyes. As soon as her feet touched the ground she looked up at me and gave an awkward smile.
"Th-thanks for that... I feel much better now."
I was silent but nodded my head. We both started to walk again in the direction we needed to go to. Good thing that Sherry really didn't need to be carried any longer; the entire time we walked she didn't complain once.
After a while, I stopped walking and looked around. There was the tree that I spotted blood on before... And there it was: a small bit of dried blood was still there.
"Eww, why is there red stuff on that tree?" commented Sherry as she looked up at it. "What is it anyway?"
"It's dried blood," I responded.
Sherry made a face. "Blood? Gross...!"
"It's your blood, Sherry." I turned to look at the woman who was staring at me oddly. She looked at me to the tree and then back to me.
"...That can't be my blood," she said, shaking her head. "What proof do you have, huh? NONE!"
"Sherry, I know that's your blood."
"How so?"
"Because a little over a week ago I was out looking for you. I found blood on this tree and walked a little bit beyond this point, I found you lying on the ground, unconscious, covered in blood. That's how I know."
"..." She was silent as she stared at the tree where the blood splotch was. I assumed she was going to say nothing more because she didn't say anything else.
"Come on," I said, "We need to head to the spot where I found you. Now let's go."
She sighed and stared at the ground as she nodded her head. "Alright..."
We both then directed our attention forward where I had found Sherry. As we walked along, getting closer to our destination, I noticed that the blonde was started to act... odd. Her eyes were widening and she was looking back and forth, almost as if she expected a monster to hop out and kill her at any second. What I also noticed was that, when I stepped on a twig at one moment, she jumped a little and inched a little closer to me.
I eyed her before turning my head forwards once more and searching for the spot where I found her. Then... I saw it. In the center of scattered bushes was where I had found my bookkeeper unconscious.
"Well... this is it. This is where I found you," I said, turning to face the blonde. A puzzled look crossed my features when I noticed that she had a terrified look on her face. "Sherry?"
"Brago... this place scares me..." said the ningen, her eyes darting around the area. "I don't like it here... Can we please leave?"
"No, I want to look around and see if I can find anything that would give me a clue as to why you lost your memory," I responded as I turned around to begin my search. "You need your memory and old personality back..."
"Are... are you saying this isn't how I acted before?"
"Iie."
She gave another look before looking around and sitting on the ground with her legs pulled up to herself and her arms wrapped around them. My book was in a special white case that Sherry kept around her belt of her dress. She kept it there a lot before her memories were lost.
As I continued searching, I began to feel aggravated. I had not yet found any clues to this pain in the ass mystery that was going on... which annoyed me tremendously. I wanted this whole ordeal over with so that way I could continue with the Battle for King like any other demon would...
The minutes passed by and soon half an hour had gone. Sherry was surprisingly quiet the whole time while I searched. Soon I gave up and turned to face the blonde, who still had the scared look on her face.
As soon as I stepped up to her, she looked up at me with those sapphire eyes and mumbled something incoherent. I asked her to repeat herself, so she shook her head and sighed as she then stared at the ground.
"Brago... I remember my mother..."
A surprised looked overwhelmed my face before she continued.
"While you were searching for... whatever it was you were looking for... I just started to remember my mom..." Her voice was quiet and she was trembling slightly. "She... I remember she abused me when I was younger... She thought I was a failure... She said I was hopeless and useless... She hated me..."
I stared down at her while she paused. Tears trickled down from her eyes and she let out a sob. There was nothing I could really say... The only thing I could think of was that the fact she regained some memory was good.
Looking up, Sherry gave me a sad look before asking, "Brago... do you hate me? Do you... do you think I'm... a failure?" More tears fell down her cheeks and she wiped them away with her sleeve.
During this time I said nothing so there was silence. Honestly... I didn't know what to tell her. Currently I didn't know what I thought of her... but... she wasn't a failure...
"You do hate me, don't you?" she cried, more tears splashing down her face. "You probably think I'm a complete failure too! Because I haven't done anything right! All I can remember doing is bringing everyone trouble and misfortune-- I'm worthless!"
"Sherry, shut up!" I said angrily. She was starting to go on another tirade about something I didn't want to hear. No way was she going to start that again. "You're not a failure... alright? So you can be quiet!"
She stood up and sniffed again, staring at the ground. Once more there was an awkward silence between the two of us.
"If... if I'm not a failure," began the other after a while, "Then... what do you think of me? Do you hate me?"
I stared at her before glancing to the ground. What was I supposed to say? My feelings towards her were too mixed up... I couldn't answer her question. I decided to avoid it. "Come on, we should try to head back to the mansion and get you cleaned up," I said, now turning away from her.
"But Brago... I have to know! What do you think of me?" She began to follow me as we both walked away from the area. "It's something you must tell me!"
"Not now, Sherry..." I murmured, keeping my gaze away from hers. She stopped after that, but I could tell she was anxious to hear my reply.
But what would I tell her? I... I didn't hate her... so then what was this feeling I had for her? Would I ever find out? Why was I acting like this anyway? Why was I suddenly feeling these new emotions?
And most importantly, would I ever be able to answer her question?
I don't think I would ever know...
