Author: Grimbt

Timeline: After Magic World Arc, before Asuna Kagurazaka leaves.

Chapter 1.

The crisp air of morning settled into a slight breeze that wound its way through the streets and pathways of the City of Mahora. It pushed past the Residential District, where housewives were beginning to tidy up after the morning meal. It danced past the Dormitories, dark except for the Dorm Mother's apartment, where she wearily went over the list of chores to complete that day. The breeze wound around the train station, where students barely waited for the train to stop before jumping out to a sprint. It pushed through the shopping district where bright neon signs mixed with tantalizing smells, exciting sounds, and splashes of color. From the shopping district it swung past the Academy itself, buffeting against its walls of stone and glass, then rising, covering, and moving past, on its restless way to no destination in particular. Along the way the breeze tickled the skin of a certain young female student making her way to class that morning. The chocolate-haired student shivered slightly as the air brushed against her skin. It didn't rouse her out of her thoughts though.

Shaking off the shiver, Konoe Konoka made her way to the school building alone. There were plenty of other students on their way to class, but none of them she had seen had been among those she counted as friends. She recognized a few—perhaps even knew a name or two—but none of them were in her class, 3-A. As she glided down the sidewalk she wondered, somewhat absently, why she hadn't seen any of her friends that morning. Her kid-teacher, and roommate, Negi Springfield had what he called "things to attend to" after the resolution of the collapse of the Magical World just a few weeks prior. Her best friend, Kagurazaka Asuna, would frequently help him with, whatever he was doing. That she understood. But they could at least bother to tell me when they'd be gone, she thought. She continued to mull it over as she flowed down the busy street towards Mahora Academy on her rollerblades. Before she could get very far, however, a very familiar voice shouting her name snapped her out of her thoughts.

"Konoka-ojousama!"

Behind her, a female student was running to catch up with her, weaving effortlessly between people on the crowded street. Being a student of Shinmeiryuu, the girl had complete mastery over her body, making the task of dodging half-asleep teenagers near second nature. At the sight of the girl with charcoal colored hair pulled back into an unmistakable side-ponytail, excitement bubbled up in Konoka's body.

"Secchan!" Konoka twirled around on her skates to greet the girl. As her body rotated, her chocolate colored hair flew through the air like ribbons of loose silk caught up in a breeze, and she realized that all of the irritation she had felt just moments before had all been washed away by a simple greeting. Except, it wasn't just a simple greeting. Sakurazaki Setsuna was one of the only people in the world that trusted absolutely. Of her friends, it was Setsuna that she had known the longest. They had been childhood friends and, though they had a period of separation, Setsuna had resumed her duty to protect her soon after they both started in class 3-A. For Konoka, it was reassuring to know that there was at least one person she could count on, no matter what. With that spirit of happiness bubbling up in her body, she turned to greet her friend, perhaps a little more flamboyantly than she had intended.

With only a few paces to go, Setsuna slowed to a halt before her friend, wide eyes wholly absorbed in watching Konoka's movements. Time seemed to slow as she watched Konoka spin on her skates. Strands of chocolate hair curved and danced as each was carried on an individual flow of air. Setsuna wondered if Konoka had meant to make the move so flashy, but flashy or not, her enchantment meant that she momentarily lost track of her surroundings. Suddenly, the moment was cut short when someone bumped into her from behind, breaking her out of her trance.

A shrill voice jabbed through the wash of sound on the street. This one seemed directed for Setsuna herself. "Hey, watch where you're standing! I'm trying to walk here!" The girl whose voice it was hardly took a second glance at Setsuna before rushing on down the street.

After shooting the girl a quick sideways glance that plainly didn't register, Konoka rolled the short distance remaining between the two girls.

"What was her problem? Do you know her?" Konoka asked. Setsuna could feel her ponytail of charcoal hair bobble as she shook her head. She was still staring at the girl's back, fading in the distance.

"No, I've never seen her before. I have no idea." Setsuna turned her head to look at Konoka and was surprised when she saw the other girl pouting.

"That's not very nice Secchan…" Konoka's expression quickly turned from girlish pout to over exaggerated teenage petulance as she wagged her finger playfully at her friend. "I thought I told you not to call me ojousama anymore." Her hand fell back to her side, but the stern look in her eyes didn't change. "It's too formal. It makes me uncomfortable, coming from you."

Hearing those words, Setsuna blushed slightly as she broke eye contact, berating herself for instinctively using the honorific greeting. Even though the two had been friends for years, it was still hard for Setsuna to remember that Konoka didn't like being called princess. Mainly because Setsuna didn't understand why she wouldn't like the title. It was what she was. Just like Setsuna was her protection, first and foremost. Still, I should do a better job of remembering, she thought.

"I'm sorry, ojou—Konoka-chan. It just sort of came out…"

"It's okay Secchan, I forgive you." Konoka gave her friend a wide smile and took hold of her wrist. "Now we better hurry or we're going to be late for class!" Setsuna's blush increased as she allowed herself to be dragged through the quickly dispersing crowd by the girl on rollerblades.

Setsuna didn't have any trouble keeping up, of course, even with Konoka having a mechanical advantage. Between her Shinmeiryuu training and her hanyou heritage, her physical condition could rival even the strongest students in her school, if not some of the characters she had encountered in her recent journey to Mundus Magicus. Her contracts with both Negi and Konoka didn't hurt either. Somewhat uniquely, she was the beneficiary of passive energy diffusion from two wizards. Even better, Setsuna might have been able to count the number of mages with more potential than either of hers on two hands, if not just one. To Setsuna one thing was certain, very few humans in either world could match her physically. Still, it was nice to be led once in a while.

As Konoka glided along before her, Setsuna couldn't help but lose herself in the feeling of Konoka's hand on her wrist. It was a warmth of contact she rarely received, and so cherished even more. Even so, Setsuna was embarrassed by almost any form of physical contact in public, it was no surprise her blush remained on her face as the two raced down the street. Despite the embarrassment, Setsuna truly enjoyed the feeling of her friend's hand so close to her own. At least for a while.

What am I thinking? We're both girls! Yeah, we kissed for the contract, but isn't it indecent? I mean, what would Eishun-sama say? Or old man Konoemon-sama? With that thought, she managed to wriggle her hand free from Konoka's grip, feeling a pang of regret when the girl's warmth left her wrist. "Thanks, Konoka, but I can keep up." Konoka only looked at her flatly for a moment, before sighing and refocusing on the street before her. They spent the rest of the commute in relative silence, finally arriving at their classroom with only a few minutes to spare.

As they entered the classroom, Fate Averruncus—their fill-in teacher for Negi, but who didn't appear to be much older than Negi himself—was seated stiffly at Negi's large desk, scrawling something in what looked to be a journal with apparent, extreme concentration. Setsuna diverted her eyes as soon as possible, and gave his desk a wide berth. She still didn't trust Fate, and didn't want to spend any more time close to him than she had to.

Idle chit-chat filled the room as their classmates conversed in their normal groups, with the occasional daydreamer, namely Sasaki Makie. Setsuna quickly noted that once again, Karakuri Chachamaru was nowhere to be found. Not too surprising, she thought, she is probably helping Negi with the project. Maybe on the other side? Would he send her back so soon? Deep in thought, Setsuna automatically set her things down on her desk. Her desk mate, Kugimiya Madoka, was too absorbed in conversation to greet her, which suited Setsuna just fine. She had nothing against the girl, but she hadn't found much in favor either. The charcoal-haired girl was rustling through her bag when she heard her name called.

"Sakurazaki-san, please come to the front of the room." The sentence was made even colder by Fate's icy voice. Setsuna was rarely shaken, but Fate's past incident with the Konoe family jaded her view of him. Enough to be more than caught off guard by the sudden request.

"Yes, sensei," she said in a confident, but hollow manner. It wasn't until she reached the desk that she realized that most of the conversation around the room had evanesced, her classmates watching. As Fate stared at her from behind his desk, she could almost feel every eye trained on her back.

"Sakurazaki-san, you will be moving seats. Kagurazaka-san can no longer make it to class on a consistent basis due to classified reasons. Therefore, in the interest of space, you will be taking her place next to Konoe-san, and when McDowell-san finally arrives to class, she will be taking your seat. Are we clear?"

Setsuna's emotions rollercoastered as she listened to Fate's eerily stony voice. First confusion, then elation, then embarrassment, finally ending in a sort of happy acquiescence.

"Yes, sensei. I will move my things immediately." She bowed to the white-haired youth who had returned to his notes without a second glance, and walked somewhat briskly back to her seat, trying to get ahold of her heart rate. Is it normal to get so excited about moving to the seat next to your best friend? Why do I feel so happy? She tried to figure out just what her emotions were doing as she grabbed her things. When she looked around to her new seat, however, that train of thought was completely derailed by the sight of Konoka beaming at her from behind her desk.

"Isn't this great news, Secchan? Now we get to be next to each other all day long!" Konoka, as usual, burst out in a sort of gleeful shout that had all of their classmates snickering. She herself, of course, was oblivious. Setsuna's pulse jumped, and she felt her blush return to her cheeks in full force as she moved around to her new seat, trying very diligently to look anywhere but at her compatriots.

"Yes, Konoka-chan, it is nice." When she sat down, Konoka scooted her chair closer to Setsuna's and link arms with the charcoal-haired girl.

"I'm happy Secchan." Konoka said with a bright smile.

Setsuna could only blush at Konoka's forwardness. Intentionally avoiding her eyes, she gazed around the room, and noticed several of her classmates giggling at the two of them. Saotome Haruna, and Kazumi Asakura in particular. Luckily, the bell signifying the beginning of class saved Setsuna from her face becoming even more flushed.

Fate stood with his usual stiffness and cast his stern, unwavering gaze over the classroom. "Welcome to another day of class, girls of Mahora class 3-A. Today we will be talking about Recursion in the English language. We will start on page 256 with the third paragraph. Please follow along. 'Recursion occurs when a sentence in which there is a Noun Phrase, or 'NP', contains…'"

Setsuna could barely maintain her focus through Fate's lecture. Her mind drifted to the girl on her left, and in particular, the fact that when she did so, a strange warmth rose inside her, brightening even Fate's cold delivery of very dull subject material. Luckily, Setsuna was not called on to answer a single question, and was in quite a good mood when the bell rang, signifying the end of classes for the day. She set her notebook and pen in her book bag and was about to lift it to her shoulder when Konoka caught her by the hand.

End Chapter 1.

Author's Note: Readers, this is a reworking of the first chapter of Barriers. My hope was that it would fit better with the rest of the chapters, and give a better indication of the type of story this is. Thanks to everyone who read this, and remember to write me a PM or review if you want. I respond promptly! In the words of Glyph, "Have a pleasant day."

-Grimbt