Ugh... i'm sick... and i feel like crap... And now i wanna update this story... Hope the chapter's alright, i really wasn't in the mood to do too many edits, but i really wanted to post this chap. Hn. Hope y'all enjoy it!

Disclaimer: I do not own... if i did, would this be called fanfiction?


Erased

Chapter 16

Something Interesting

When I woke up in the morning, I immediately knew that something was out of place. Of course, I couldn't figure it out right away, as I had just woken up, but as the fuzz left my vision my eyes widened in shock.

Sherry was still curled up next to me while I was on my back, just as it had been when I had previously fallen asleep, but instead of keeping her hands to herself, Sherry had draped her left arm across my chest as she silently slept. My right hand was gently clutching onto hers while my own left arm was lying across the pillow that the woman was supposed to be using. I had not intended to be her pillow! Her head was leaning against my shoulder and, surprisingly, my head was twisted around to face Sherry, the tip of her hair tickled my chin.

I quickly moved my head away from the position it was in and stared.

Well, this was... odd.

Once more, the same tugging feeling rose inside my chest and I closed my eyes in agitation. Now was not the time to go through irritating sensations, I wanted up. So, with that, I carefully picked up my bookkeeper's hand and removed her arm from myself and gently pushed her away from me. Without making any noise, she took her hand back and continued sleeping.

After throwing the covers off, I quietly removed myself from the bed. As I sat up the mattress creaked just slightly and I froze, staring down at Sherry as she yawned and slowly stirred in her sleep, yawning while doing so. I didn't know why I just stood there, watching her, but I did as she slowly started to wake from her slumber.

Gently rubbing her eyes, Sherry yawned again and then looked up at me, a small smile forming on her face as well as a blush. "M-morning, Brago," she said quietly, averting her gaze from mine for a second. I said nothing but just stared down at her with a blank look as she shifted her position on the bed, supporting herself with her arms as she turned around, her feet now dangling off the edge of the bed. "Is... is your arm feeling any better?" inquired Sherry after a moment's pause. I glanced at my shoulder before I shrugged.

"I suppose so."

The smile upon her face lingered. "That's good," she said. Again, we were silent. I merely stood by her bedside as I watched the woman continue to sit on the mattress, staring at the ground.

I wondered if she knew about the awkward position we had been in while we slept. Most likely she knew, but I assumed she would rather stay silent, obviously feeling uncomfortable about the situation. I had to admit it too, but I didn't want to talk about it, either.

"Brago?"

After calling my name, I turned to look down at the woman as she stared at me with those vibrant azure eyes. There was no way I could avert my gaze from hers, so I stared back and muttered, "What?"

She was slightly hesitant, but then mumbled, "Th-thank you for... for staying with me last night..." My moment of staring at her ended as I quickly turned away, finally avoiding her gazes. Once more, silence filled the room, only adding to the insecurity of this uncomfortable situation.

When I turned back around to look at Sherry one last time, I realized that she had stood up and was standing right next to me. Damn, I didn't even notice her do that. We both stared at another for a good long moment before Sherry inched up to me, wrapping her arms around me in a light embrace. I stared down at her with an illegible look. Why did she take a sudden interest in touching me all of a sudden? I suppose my 'no more hugs' rule would have to be abandoned. I mentally sighed.

"Brago... I'm so sorry," said the woman quietly, nuzzling her head into my right shoulder. "I should have moved when that giant spell came for me... Yet you pushed me out of the way and took the hit yourself. And now... now your arm is hurt because of me..."

Great, another damn tirade... Didn't she have one just like this yesterday? "Don't worry," I said, "I've told you not to apologize. So shut up already, will you?"

With a slight blush, Sherry moved herself a little so she could look at me in the eye. She turned her attention to something else right afterwards, not bothering to release her grip around me as she sighed, resting her head against my shoulder again. I stood there in the middle of the room, staring at her oddly as I mused to myself about what was going to happen next now that some of her memory had been regained. Speaking of which...

"Brago..."

Her timid voice interrupted my thoughts and I looked down at her into her two blue eyes that were staring back at me. Sherry released the embrace and took a step back, though she still kept the eye contact. When the woman let go of me, I immediately felt that something was missing... I ignored that thought.

"What?"

"Um..." For a moment, she paused, most likely contemplating on how she was going to word whatever it was she wished to say next, and then spoke: "Since we... since we uh... well... What I mean is, since we fought somebody else already, can we please go out and do something fun?"

I stared. "Nani...?"

"Umm..." Apparently she was uncomfortable with this and having difficulty. I waited for another moment, watching her as she fiddled her thumbs around before she asked again, "Can we... go out for a walk?"

"A walk?" I echoed and she nodded.

"Hai... I just wanted to go walk somewhere, that's all..." Sherry flushed with embarrassment as she said that, quickly turning her gaze to the edge of the unmade bed before she averted it to my shirt and belt, which were tossed to the side on the floor. It was then I realized that I hadn't put my shirt back on, so I walked over to where my clothing was and threw it back on around my shoulders, Sherry stared at me while I did so.

After I turned back around with my shirt back on, I began to put on my belt and asked, "Well, where do you want to walk?" It was hard to believe I was asking her this... But I suppose it couldn't be too bad if she just wanted to go on a walk, could it?

"I was thinking about the beach..."

"There's a beach?" I asked, now wondering where I put my shoes. I discovered they were thrown over by the doorway. As I began to put those on as well, Sherry spoke again as she nodded her head.

"Yes... It's about ten minutes away from here..." She gazed at me for a long moment, clearly lost in her own thoughts. We were silent again for about a minute as I thought about her request. A walk on the beach shouldn't be too bad, should it? If I denied it, she'd probably start crying again... I wasn't in the mood to deal with anymore of her laments, so I nodded my head.

"Hn, fine."

Sherry squealed in delight as she jumped up, grabbing onto my left arm. An unusual sensation jolted through my nerves and I gritted my teeth. Wounds like this didn't heal overnight...

Noticing my expression, Sherry loosened her grip but still held onto me otherwise. There was a large smile adorned on her face and she beamed up at me. "Thank you, Brago!" she said happily. Soon she let go of my arm and twirled around with a giggle, I watched as she faced me once more, silent, but smiling.

I nodded my head before I turned around, telling her to get ready. So we would head to the beach...

-o-o-o-o-o-

To think that I would ever so something like this was absurd, but I was doing it. As I looked up I squinted my eyes, the Sun's light was bright and it radiated over the entire area. The sky was a bright blue and hardly any clouds were seen in the sky. The sound of seagulls reached my ears and then laughter, I turned my head around to see that Sherry was quite enjoying herself.

She was twirling around on the sand, laughing, a bright smile seen on her face. Turning to look at me, she grinned even bigger. "Come on, Brago!" she said with a laugh, now running over to me, climbing up the wooden steps to the wooden ledge that I was standing on. "Let's go over here!"

With that outburst, she tugged on my right arm this time, pulling me with her. I had no choice but to follow and she led me to the wooden stairs that led to the sandy beach. When I stepped foot in the sand I sunk just a little, it now became slightly harder to walk but the difference was hardly noticeable. I watched as the woman looked up at me.

"Come on, Brago, take your shoes off, it's more fun that way!" she instructed as she pulled her own white boots off. I stared.

"Must I?"

"Please?"

"Fine..."

I grumbled and did what Sherry asked me to do. I didn't like being bossed around, but chances are if I said no to the blonde's request she would cry, and I didn't want that. If it meant to take my shoes off to prevent her from doing so, I was willing to do so.

So I took them off; when I stepped foot into the sand once more a warm tingling sensation jolted up my feet. The sand was hot. Sherry giggled as she set her boots to the side, watching me with pure interest.

"I think it feels better this way," she said. "I love the feeling of sand beneath your feet!"

I said nothing but shrugged, throwing my own shoes to the side next to Sherry's as well. When I turned back around, Sherry was viewing the surroundings around her and I looked around too. There weren't really any others on the beach... In fact, I couldn't see anyone at all except for us and a few other dots out in the distance; those of which I could sense were, in fact, humans.

"Hey, Brago, let's go this way," suggested Sherry as she pointed off to the left. I said nothing but shrugged again as the woman led the way, I folded my arms behind my back and watched her from behind as she started to skip. If she wanted to make a fool out of herself then fine, but that was one thing I was not willing to do.

For a while we just walked along the seashore; even if it was morning, it was still fairly warm. But what was to be expected. I had only been to a beach in the human world once, not that I had gone to where the water was, no, Sherry and I had merely been passing through the town with a beach to the side, I remembered Sherry wearing a dress with no long sleeves, as Sherry was wearing none now. Her dress was still pink however...

From what I could tell, Sherry was very happy. I suppose it was another mood swing; so she went from shy and timid to an outburst of happiness. I mentally shook my head. It was strange.

At least she had my book with me, that was what I mostly cared about at the present moment, or as usual, I should say. It was tucked in that large white belt she would wear a lot around her waist. So if we encountered any other teams (which was highly unlikely, I couldn't sense any nearby, but I had been wrong before. The teams were stronger at this point so it was harder to decipher where they were) the book would be nearby.

Sherry would sometimes wander over to where the water was and walk in the wet sand, maybe even go to where it was warmer and twirl around again, but eventually she got bored of that and slowed down her pace to walk next to me in silence. Not that this bothered me, I had become somewhat used to this by now. I preferred silence to loud noise anyway.

So we continued walking without any conversations. However quiet Sherry was, though, I could still tell she was very happy, for that smile still lingered on her face. Eventually she turned to look up at me and smiled.

"Thank you, Brago," said the woman, "for taking me here."

"Hn." I said nothing else afterwards. Sherry still smiled and turned to look in front of her again and we went on walking, though we would probably have to turn back soon to retrieve our shoes.

But before I could even mention turning back, something caught my eye and I stopped walking, Sherry halted as well and turned to look at me with a curious look.

"What is it?" she asked, now going up to where I stood. I stared in a different direction, near where the water lay. Something was poking out of the sand... something stone... "Brago?"

"Something is over there," I said, now heading to the foreign object that had caught my attention. Sherry didn't follow.

"Where?"

"Here," I spoke as I picked up the slab of stone. It was heavy, but that didn't matter, I held it up for Sherry to see with ease as I wiped away some of the sand that was still on top of the stone.

Walking up to where I was, the woman stared at what I held in my hands. "W-what is it?" she inquired, looking up at me, clearly requesting an answer.

"I don't know... But it looks familiar..." Turning the stone slab over in my hands, I noticed on the front of it that there were strange carvings adorned in the stone, along with an oddly shaped creature that reminded me very well of a demon...

"It does?" Sherry stared at the rock harder, even supporting her chin with her hand as she placed her elbow in her other palm. "Well, I've certainly never seen this thing before... Ooh, pretty carvings!" I glared when she said that as she pointed at the markings on the front, but I said nothing; the new discovery I made was too intriguing...

"This is very interesting..." I said quietly, staring at the front of the slab. It was definitely a picture of a demon, and the words beneath it looked a lot like the demon script I was familiar with. I smirked before I threw the thing back into the water and it created a large splash, sending water everywhere, I watched as it sunk to the bottom. "Finally something interesting happens."

Sherry stared at me with a pondering look, obviously wondering what I was talking about. "Brago..." she mumbled and I turned my attention to look at her, she had lost her happy mood and was now staring at the ground with an illegible expression. When she turned to look back up at me, she mumbled, "Does... does this mean that something bad will happen?"

I stared back at her and gave her my honest answer. "I don't know. But obviously it's related to the Makai. Perhaps something new will come up." If this meant that it was a challenging battle, then it was certainly exciting. I hadn't had one that I enjoyed in a good while; Sherry was taking away all the challenge to it because of the predicament she was in. I wanted to face those at my level of combat, not a bunch of amateurs.

"Oh..." A saddened look overwhelmed her features and she turned away. "And just when I was enjoying things..." I don't think she knew I heard her as she mumbled.

"Come on," I said after a moment, turning back around to the direction we came from. "We need to head back, I want to get out of this place."

My patience had suddenly been driven short now because of the stone slab, no longer did I want to put up with Sherry's nonsense. The one thing I desired more than anything right now was to head back into the Battle for King. The war was moving on ahead and I was behind on everything, it was disappointing. I was parched for a good fight--I needed to quench my thirst. Anger rose inside me when I realized just how far behind we were.

"But Brago... W-wait!" I didn't bother listening to Sherry's pleas as she ran up to me and walked along next to me. "Why do we have to stop? I was enjoying this!" From the sound of her voice she was quite distressed. I didn't care. "Brago!"

"Don't be so selfish, woman, and hurry up," I muttered angrily as we continued on our way. "I'm unsure if you remember it or not, but you made a promise to make me king. That's a promise I intend you to keep, now get a move on, we're late." I walked faster as I began taking longer strides; Sherry struggled to keep up.

"L-late for what?" the blonde asked but I didn't respond, so she ran up in front of me and we both stopped since she was blocking my way. "Brago, I don't understand this!" she said, tears forming in her eyes. "You're not telling me... Please? You can't just do this to me! What are we late for?"

I stared blankly at her. "We're late for the battles that are taking place all around us, we're too far behind," As I said this, Sherry's puzzled look remained. "You saw that slab! Something's going on here, and I plan to find out what! We're going back to the routine we were on before you lost your memory!"

"And what would that be, huh?" Sherry spat back heatedly as she clenched her fists, her face reddened. "All this time you... I thought you really cared!" Tears poured down her cheek as she shook her head in protest, but she let them fall anyway. "All this time you took care of me... and for what? What did you expect in return, that I become your slave and do whatever the hell you want me to? TELL ME, BRAGO!"

Her breathing became unsteady for a moment and she took a few deep breaths and panted as she averted her gaze, closing her eyes, tears forming in the corners and dripping down the side of her cheeks. I frowned a little deeper and shook my head.

"It doesn't matter, Sherry," I began, "You're in a situation you can't back out of. You're going to help me whether you like it or not."

"Brago!" Sherry cried, now turning to look at me again, her eyes open. "Don't be such an asshole and try to feel emotion for once! Can't you think about anything else other than yourself? I don't want to participate in these battles! I'll just end up failing, I'll end up getting you hurt like you were yesterday!"

As she said that, she pointed to my left arm, I chose to not turn and look. We were silent again; I could feel the anger still within me. Oh, how could she not understand that this was my friggin' purpose that I was here? Damn it, Sherry!

I watched as the woman started to cry again, she buried her face in her hands and turned away from me, shaking her head. "Why, why, why! Why are you making this so hard for me, Brago? Tell me why! What did I ever do to deserve this?" the woman asked between sobs, I was silent. Even with my blood boiling in fury, I could feel the nerve-wracking urge to comfort her. I cursed myself before I looked around, it was probably sometime around midday...

Now redirecting my attention back to the distressed woman, I sighed. "We'll figure out what we're doing later then, alright?" She stopped crying so loudly and turned to look up at me, tears were still trickling down her face.

"W-wha...?"

I sighed heavily before I repeated myself. "We'll discuss this later then. Does that suit you better?"

For a moment, she was silent, most likely chewing over on her answer. I waited silently for her to respond, and when she finally did, there was an odd feeling within the air.

'"Fine... Just don't control me like you tried to do before..."

Sherry gave me an odd look before she turned around and began walking, heading to where our shoes were still lying around near the wooden stairs a little far off. Before I followed her, I had to stare at her in wonder: I had not been trying to control her right now. Was there something she knew about that she wasn't telling me? With a shrug, I walked briskly along in the sand too and headed back in complete silence.

Though I did have to wonder why I settled with the option to talk about this later with Sherry, perhaps it was because of...

I mentally shook my head. No, that wasn't it. I cared about nothing other than myself, which was final. But the desire to do something always lingered within me when I was around her now, the sensation was driving me utterly insane... I just had to wonder what the hell was wrong with me.

Hopefully I could find out soon...


Yeah... just in case you didn't catch it, but this scene (at the beach with the slab) is supposed to be when Brago finds the stone slab like in episode 48. I just changed it around a lil' to fit the scene i wanted to do. XD

Hey... question... does anybody think this is angst? I'm just curious... i dunno if this story would be considered something else like drama or action/adventure instead of angst... Of course it's romance, but as for the other... Hm... i just dunno. Anybody wanna comment?

Meh... i'm signing off. It's about nine thirty at night and i still haven't had dinner... -.-