In Japan, summer was in full swing; The sakura blossomed beautifully, painting the trees an avid pink, happy swimsuit-clad students bustled about on their merry way to the beach, and couples sprawled haphazardly across the many grassy lawns within the Mahora academy campus. Everyone was happy. Well...Maybe not everyone. The sun beat down hard on the concrete path to which Setsuna Sakurazaki's blistered feet tread. Oh how she wished she could be out at the beach with Asuna, Negi, and her beloved Konoka. She could picture the scene: Asuna swimming in the clear blue sea, Negi bumping into her and causing her to almost drown, Asuna kicking him in the face and sending him right across the beach, and then Konoka, forever the peace-maker, healing whatever injury Negi was bound to have (No one could survive a surprise kick from Asuna's kick-ass, barrier breaking feet) and forcing an extremely stubborn Asuna to apologize to their young teacher. It was always the same. Although she couldn't be there with her friends (friends being the perfect word, although it still sounded strange to the loner half demon) Konoka always took the time to relive every single minute of her day. The way Konoka squealed at the parts which had excited her, and sighed at the daily Negi-Asuna arguments, made Setsuna feel as though she had been right there alongside, watching the events unfold.
But unfortunately, she was on duty. She'd been walking all day, only finding the occasional rabbit, or fox; which weren't much of a threat to her. Mana had gone on vacation, (although she was due back later that night) so she was all alone with the protection of the academy. She wiped the sweat from her head, dropped Yunagi down from her shoulder, and slumped against the bark of a large tree, shaded by its huge outstretched branches. She meant only to rest for a minute or two to soothe her aching feet, but the sun had drained her completely and she soon found herself nodding off.
At the beach, two teenagers and their teacher were having a rather...eventful time. As Setsuna had pictured, red headed Asuna had beaten Negi to a pulp after he almost pulled her swimsuit off of her in an attemp to stay afloat. It was an accident of course-the english gentleman would never do such a thing on purpose, but Asuna, hot-headed and stubborn as she was, had lay into him anyway. The warmhearted healer had seperated the two and was tending to the young boy with the auburn hair. "Seriously Negi, where do you get off doing things like that?? I should get you arrested." Asuna stood, hands on hips, in an attempt to intimidate the boy prodigy. Clearly, Asuna was successful as Negi crawled backwards, dragging himself along the sand in a desperate attempt to escape. Konoka pulled Negi back by his ankles and continued to tend to his bruised ankle, which was clearly dislocated. "Asuna, he's only 10. Do you really have to go so hard on him??" She asked, glancing up and peering through her thick, chocolate coloured bangs. "Yes I do!! The kid's been spending too much time with Chamomile and not enough time training. At this rate, he's gonna end up a little pervert rather than like his father." The redhead turned to Negi, who looked up at her timidly "Really, I thought you wanted to find your dad, not women!!" Asuna's words stung Negi, and he tore his brown eyes away from the girls' heterochromic ones, and began staring at his calloused hands instead. He had been training, everyday aside from this one. But maybe he shouldn't be lounging around at the beach and be in Eva's resort instead. After all, if he ever wanted to find his father, the young Springfield lad would have to be tough. He knew this more than anyone did. "Come on, Negi. Asuna's just grumpy. Ignore her and lets go swimming, how does that sound??" Konoka's bright smile broke his train of thought, although it was a nice awakenking. He much preferred it to waking up to one of Asuna's punches as he often did. He never had gotten out of the habit to climbing into her bed in his sleep.
Anyway, the sun was setting now, and he didn't much feel like swimming after Asuna's comment, so merely shook his head lightly in response. "I think I'll head on back to the dorms. I need some sleep. I'm up early tomorrow to train with Master." The British accent was barely audible when he spoke Japanese, as he was very skilled in the language, but there was clear sadness in his words, made clearer when he sighed deeply. Asuna knew that it was her fault he was now feeling this way, but was too proud to admit to it. Instead, she followed along behind him, keeping her distance so she could watch him carefully.
A wet, slightly fluffy nose snuffled around the sleeping girl. It licked her fingertips gently, feeling the rough skin on its tongue. It sniffed lightly at the strong, battle torn hands, skin hard from wielding Yunagi, and nails ragged from throwing punches. The small animal knew better than to attack the dreamer-he'd seen her skillfully slay numerous demons with those hands, and just continued around her. She stared slightly, whimpering in her nightmare mumbling something from a past memory. "Kono-chan...Hold on...Kono-chan...I'll save you...KONO-CHAN!!!" She screamed loudly, waking herself and causing the fox to scarper. She'd had that nightmare again. The one were her Ojou-sama was nearly taken away from her. She remembered the rush of the river, sweeping the child downstream, the terrible cry for help fading and becoming more strained as the water filled and stung young Konoka's lungs, and her young self, unable to save the girl to whom she had vowed to protect. The memory was still fresh in her mind, no matter how many years ago it was, and she wouldn't let herself forget it until she had proved to herself that she could protect her beloved.
Looking up at the sky, Setsuna guessed that it must have been at least 6pm. She had allowed herself to fall asleep for three hours or so, and scolded herself for not doing her job properly. Her shift was over now at least, as Mana would be clocking on soon. She headed back towards the dorms, but to Konoka, Asuna, and Negi's room rather than her own. She knew they would be back by now.