Yeah, it's up now. Enjoy

Ch. 5

Unexpected Acquaintance

Later that day, Olivia quickly exited the plane, dragging her sister behind her.

Taylor risked a glance at her sister as she tried not to trip "Slow down Oliver!"

Olivia ignored her and pulled out her pulls out her sister's cell phone "No, now that we're off the plane I need to make a call"

"But why do you have to run? We don't even know where we're goING!" she whined before tripping over her own feet, pulling Olivia with her as she hit the ground.

Meanwhile, Sherry was sitting in a chair besides the bed she had placed Stripes in. She already tended to their wounds and had Brago placed in a different room, now she just needed to wait for someone to wake up. She glanced down at the sleeping teen, who was now back to normal with the exception of her still frizzy hair. Her peaceful expression was a nice change to Brago's serious one. Even when he did sleep, he looked like he was ready and waiting for battle.

Her train of thought was interrupted by a ringing. She quickly determined that it was coming from Stripes' bag and pulled it out.

"Hello?" she greeted whoever was on the other end.

At first there was static and thumping, but noise and jumbled words replaced that soon followed by comprehensible words.

"Ow! What did you do that for?!"

"It's not my fault! You were going too fast and I tripped!"

"Likely excuse"

WHOP!

"OW!"

"Hello!" Sherry said again, this time louder hoping to get someone's attention

She could hear the phone shuffle before someone answered "Hey, you're that lady from before"

Sherry relaxed now that she knew who it was "Ah, Olivia was it? It's…"

"Why do you have my phone? What happened to Stripes? Oh no, please tell me you didn't send her back. I…" Olivia panicked.

Sherry smiled sheepishly "Calm down" she could hear someone in the background yell something like 'that's what I've been telling her' followed by another thud. "Stripes is still in our world. Right now she's sleeping" she finished.

Olivia sounded surprised "You're…taking care of her? Fine, just hold on, we'll head for Japan as soon as the storm subsides"

"Actually, we're in France now…"

"THAT'S GREAT!" Olivia yelled into the phone forcing Sherry to pull the phone away from her ear in pain. "Tell me where you are so…"

Sherry quickly cut her off "I'm sorry, but we need her for something. Tell me where you're staying so we can bring her to you when we're done"

It was quiet for a moment and Sherry could hear yelling on the other side of the phone, but couldn't tell what was being said. She could tell it was Olivia though and that she sounded extremely mad. Another moment of yelling before the phone was shuffled around again and someone responded.

"Okay, we'll be staying at the Orchin hotel…" Taylor responded.

"Good, I know where that is. We'll return her as soon as we're able" Sherry replied.

Taylor sounded relieved "Okay, and thanks for not burning her book. I've been waiting to meet her for a while"

Sherry was quiet for a moment before nodding as if she could see her and hanging up. She shook off her shock and sighed before an opening door caught her attention. She looked up and watched as Brago entered and shut the door behind him. He still hadn't reclaimed his shirt, so she could see slightly bloodstained bandages that were tightly wrapped around his wounds and his irritated face showed that they still hurt.

"Good evening" Sherry said politely

Brago only grunted as he sat down at the edge of the bed, slightly ruffling the comforter and looked over at the still sleeping girl.

Sherry looked at him, down at Stripes, then back up at him again puzzled "Is something wrong?"

Brago smirked, but didn't look at her "I wonder if anyone else knows?"

Sherry raise a brow agitated by his response "Knows what?"

"This is apparently another prodigy child of the Makai" he replied, still not looking at her. "The Berserker" upon saying it, his grin grew larger.

Sherry continued her agitated stare "Okay, so she's a…"

Brago corrected her "The Berserker. There have been rumors of attacks by a creature resembling a lizard. It mostly attacked those traveling through wooded areas and no one knew who it was, at least until now" he said with another grin.

Sherry quietly took in this information before smiling back "So it doesn't hurt your pride as much now that you know who beat you?"

Brago finally looked up at her with an angry glare and her smile grew. Having nothing more to say, he then stood up and left.

At the hotel, Taylor and Oliver were settling into their room.

Olivia gritted her teeth as she shuffled her things around "I can't believe you agreed to her terms"

Taylor tossed an ice bag from hand to hand "What else could I do? Would you prefer I declined and they keep her?" she placed the bag on her head and winced in pain. "Ow! You hit me too hard" she whined.

Olivia glanced at her "You hit me first"

"You deserved it" Taylor said in her defense

"So did you" Oliver retorted

They glared at each other for a moment in silence before returning to what they were doing prior.

Taylor kicked her legs gently against the bed with a smile "So, how about we go out for breakfast tomorrow and see what's around?"

Olivia quickly stopped what she was doing and turned to glare at her sister "How can you think about sightseeing at a time like this? Do you even care about what's happening?!"

Taylors smile dulled a little "Of course I care, but we can't do anything about it now. So why not have some fun while we wait"

They exchanged looks before Olivia turned away in defeat "I hate logic!" Taylor's smile grew.

A few hours later, Brago, now having reclaimed his shirt, was making his way back to the room Stripes' was in when he noticed something on the ground. He stared down at it and realized that an arrow had been etched into the carpet. He followed the direction it pointed in, along with the direction of several others he came across until he came across several arrows overlapping each other pointing down different paths.

"…What the hell?" he muttered to himself.

A shadow briefly flashed before him. He reached out and grabbed it, hearing a quiet squeak as he pulled it closer to get a better look.

Stripes looked upon his red eyes and smiled "Hey Brago"

Even in the dark hallway, he could see the white t-shirt that Sherry had given her to replace the one she had, though it wasn't long enough to cover her tail.

He grunted and tossed her back, causing her to stumble in an attempt to regain her balance. "So The Berserker finally wakes up" he said with a smug grin while crossing his arms.

Stripes regained her balance and looked at him a little confused "Berserker? What are you talking about?"

Brago glanced away "Hmph, I should have expected that. It wouldn't suit you to remember" this only further confused her, so he decided to change the subject. "So what are you doing?"

Stripes smiled sheepishly and scratched the back of her head "Heh, well…I'm lost again"

Brago stared at her hard somewhat in disbelief "…..Again?"

"Hey, it's not my fault. Why do all the hallways look the same?" she said in her defense.

Brago smirked at her "So you're the one who drew those arrows" "Sherry's going to love that" he said to himself.

Stripes looked away trying to will away her embarrassment that had now shown itself in a blush. Her attention was quickly brought back to Brago as he turned and started walking away.

"Wait!" she whined as she ran to him, tightly grasping his arm.

Brago looked down at her irritated by her touch, but he had a hard time glaring as she stared back up at him with huge pleading puppy dog eyes.

He caved and looked away, feeling the smirk that was spreading across her face "What?"

Stripes lifted her head up so she could make eye contact while still holding onto his hand "Please help me find the kitchen, I'm starving"

Brago refused to look at her "Why don't you go hunt something?"

"I don't know how to get outside" she whined before rubbing her head against his arm "Please help me"

Brago pulled his arm away, but still didn't look at her as he began walking away. Stripes followed silently and since he didn't protest, she assumed that he was leading her to some source of food.

A few minutes, Sherry walked down the halls fuming. Staff moved quickly out of the way of their mistress as she made her way through the mansion. She opened the kitchen's double doors and stepped in, surprised at what she saw. Brago sat at the counter watching with a smirk as Stripes chugged water from right under the faucet. Sherry quickly walked over and shut the water off.

Stripes moved from under the faucet and looked at her annoyed "Hey, I wasn't done" Sherry ignored her and bopped her on the head with a gem tipped staff. Stripes grasped her head in pain "Ow! What was that for?!"

Sherry rested staff against her shoulder and glared "One, that's not how you use the faucet. Two, I don't appreciate you redecorating my house with claw marks"

Stripes glanced over at Brago as he quietly mused over her being in trouble. Then Sherry turned her attention to him.

BOP!

"Ow! What the hell, Sherry!" Brago yelled while rubbing his head, now Stripes was holding in a laugh.

Sherry leaned into his face "You're not allowed to redecorate either, or did you think that I wouldn't notice all the recent holes in the walls" Brago grunted and looked away. Sherry turned and glanced at Stripes, immediately shutting her up "It's almost dinner time. Try not to do anything you'll regret" with that, she turned and left.

Brago watched her leave before letting out a growl "Annoying human"

"Aw, she's not that bad" Stripes said.

Brago turned to look at her and saw her shifting through the cabinets "What are you doing?"

Stripes continued her search "Looking for cups so I can have some more to drink" she reached deep into one of the lower cabinets and pulls out a smooth glass bottle. "Hey" she exclaimed as she rushed over to Brago and placed the bottle down in front of him "Brago, drink some of this with me"

Brago looked at her excited smile and then down at the bottle that read red wine with a puzzled look "What is it?"

Stripes smile grew "Don't know, but it has to be good since they put it in such a nice bottle"

He looked at her skeptically "How do you know?"

"Oliver gave me some out of a different bottle before" she replied.

"How'd it taste?" he asked

Stripes thought about it a little before shrugging "…..You know, I don't remember. But I'm sure it was good"

Brago stared at her skeptically before turning away "No"

Stripes frowned at his answer, but almost immediately smiled again "Aw, is the poor little kitty afraid"

Brago kept his body turned away, but glanced up at her "No"

Stripes turned slightly, waving her hand and smirking deviously "Don't worry, it's okay to be afraid of something. I just never expected it to be human stuff, especially since you find yourself to be so superior"

Brago completely turned to face her, standing and slamming his hand on the counter, completely falling for her taunt "I am NOT afraid of anything!"

Stripes moved closer to him, sticking her face inches from his, smirking all the while "Prove it"

Elsewhere in France, the man from before stood over a defeated team. The demon was nowhere to be seen, but the human was sprawled out on the ground struggling to breathe and bleeding heavily.

The man looked down at him with no type of sadness in his eyes; he didn't even seem to be happy "Hmm, so you're still alive"

The person looked up at him attempting to speak and sit up, but failed at both and merely laid back down on the ground.

"Tch, that wasn't even worth my time. Oh well, no sense in leaving behind spoils" a voice said from seemingly nowhere.

"Just consider this a warm up. We are after stronger pray after all or at least that what you said" the man replied before pumping an enormous amount of energy into his black book, which lit up immensely reveal a grey stripe down the middle.

"Yes, they are much worthier opponents. I have to be at my best when fighting them" the voice said in an amused tone.

A few minutes later, Sherry and her butler, Albert, were making their way to the kitchen. Sherry had originally intended to order something and wait for it to arrive, but after a run in with several 'concerned' staff members, she decided to head to the kitchen and see what the problem was.

Albert walked beside her with a calm smile "I'm sure it's nothing Ms. Sherry"

Sherry stayed focused on what was ahead of her "I'm not so sure. Brago did try to kill her earlier" at this, he went silent. Sherry sighed "I just hope he didn't kill her"

They walked the rest of the way in silence. They reached the doors and stood there listening to the silence before something on the other side fell, making a shattering noise. Preparing herself for the worst, Sherry pushed the doors open and gaped in amazement at what she saw. Stripes was hanging upside down with her legs deep inside a cabinet's shelf, shattered and spilled materials all around her and littering the floor. Brago sat with his back to her in the same seat she had last seen him in.

The opening doors caught Stripes' attention and she looked up with a big smile on her face "Hello!"

Sherry continued to stare "….W-What are you doing?"

Stripes' pulled herself into a sitting position with her legs and rummaged through the untouched shelves "Lookin fo the good stuv" she grabbed random containers and tossed them away carelessly as she continued her search.

"M-Ms. Stripes, stop that!" Albert ran over to stop her, catching a few flung items on the way.

Sherry finally managed to pry her eyes away to look at Brago, who had been sitting quietly the whole time. "Brago?" she said while walking over to him and hesitantly placing a hand on his shoulder.

He shivered under her touch before looking up at her with unnaturally dilated eyes "Hmm?"

Sherry stiffened at his calmness and glared down at him "How can you just sit here and watch her do that?!"

Brago just stared at her, blinking a few times, which annoyed Sherry. He then smiled, showing off all his sharp teeth "She's gettin ze good stuv"

Sherry was shocked, but she quickly shook it off when she noticed the bottle in his hand. She carefully took it from him as he got up to assist Stripes in her search. She heard the fridge door tear off its hinges as he pulled it from the wrong side and the distressed yells of her butler as he began to rummaged through it, but she ignored it all to focus on the label "Vodka". She took a step and hit something followed by repetitive noise. She looked down and saw several empty bottles lying on the ground, the one she accidentally kicked still rolling away.

Albert stood behind the drunken pair as they tore apart the fridge "Please stop, whatever you're looking for is most likely not in there!" he yanked at Brago's arm and caused him to stumble backwards.

Brago turned and grabbed Albert to keep himself from falling, but kept smiling "Aw, we hav ta look"

Stripes turned her head to look at them "Bagy, itz not in her"

Brago stood up and staggered back over to her "No, itz got ta be in her. Maybze the bak" he starts trying to climb in.

Stripes nodded in agreement and tried to climb in as well, ignoring the shelves cracking in protest.

Albert immediately grabbed them both and pulled them away from the fridge "I think you've done enough damage already!"

They both looked at him and whined, which somewhat disturbed him to see Brago acting that way.

"Brago, Stripes" they looked over at Sherry, who oddly enough was smiling back at them. "Why don't we play a game instead?"

They were both instantly standing in front of her with big happy smiles, leaving Albert to recover from being somewhat trampled.

He stood back up shakily and looked at his mistress concerned "M-Miss Sherry…"

Sherry glanced over at him with her still beaming smile "Don't worry, we'll deal with this mess later, but I want to enjoy this while I can" she turned her attention back to the eager pair "So let's get started" she pulled out a decent sized box that she must have left to get and had been hiding it behind her back. It was a multi colored box with the large Title 'Quelf' in the center.

I apologicze if you thought it sucked, I got a little hard to write while they were drunk, especially since Brago's clearly not himself. Thanks for reading^^