"You like?" Kazumi grinned as Evangeline downed the shot glass and poured herself another from the tokkuri. "It was a bit expensive, but definitely worth it."
Eva wiped her mouth off like any uncultured ten-year-old girl, running her tongue along her teeth to savor the taste. "Damn good stuff," she approved, setting the glass down. "My only question is how you managed to find this, much less buy it." She set a hand on her thigh, her other elbow to the floor, and looked up at Kazumi suspiciously. "Aren't you underage?"
"Well, yeah," she answered, "but that doesn't mean I can't get other people to buy it for me. It's not like I'm going to drink it, either, y' know?"
Evangeline stared down at the empty shot glass, toying with it between her fingers. "I want more," she said, looking up at the reporter with a frown. "Give that tokkuri back." She swiped for it, and Kazumi held it away from her.
"Not until you tell me more about Nagi Springfield," she replied, watching in amusement as Eva groped the air for the ceramic bottle in her hand.
"That's not important," Eva deadpanned, putting her arm back down in unspoken defeat. "God knows where he is. Gimme my sake already. You said you weren't going to drink it, so don't waste it."
Kazumi leaned in, her arm out, and smiled at her; it wasn't good-natured, but it wasn't derisive, either. "Yeah? I know more than a few people who would be willing to drink this stuff. You're about as old as God, so spill it."
"How insulting," Eva sniffed. "I already told you, I don't know where he is. And how come you're so interested in him now, anyway? I thought you were happy with that ghost girl what's always following you around."
"Maybe..." Kazumi mused for a moment. "But seriously, the whole magic world's still crazy about him," she continued brightly. "This is my big chance, and you're my best source of information right now."
"Hardly," Eva countered. "Go chase after your wild goose in Kyoto or bother Al about it. They knew him personally."
"So did you. You were in love with him," Kazumi grinned at her. "Weren'tcha?"
Evangeline was surprised for a moment. "How did you..." She shook her head. "Listen, Asakura," she said pointedly, "you're not getting anything out of me. I have absolutely nothing to say about him."
Kazumi blinked at her, and then shrugged. "Well, if that's so, then," she got up, "I guess I'll just go give this sake to the Headmaster."
Evangeline was suddenly at the door, stopping her. "What the hell do you think you're doing with that?" she snapped.
"I thought you said you had nothing to say, so I just decided to leave," Kazumi replied with feigned innocence. "'S not like you need this stuff, anyway, do ya?"
Eva bit down hard on her lip, staring at the bottle.
"Don't worry," Kazumi chirped, noting the vampire's reaction. "Once you finish that bottle, the charm will wear off... I think."
"What do you need to know?" Eva quickly demanded, sitting back down.
"You always struck me as one of those creepy obsessive types that want to know everything about the guy they're in love with," Kazumi commented as she sat down with the little girl, "but, now that I think about it, I guess not."
"Not really," Eva replied with disgust. "Though I didn't have much else to do..." she added, looking off towards the wall, "I was in hiding back then, more like a fugitive despite the fact the large bounty on my head had been forgotten since the war. You know how wars are; they consume most of the funds a government is able to generate."
"Actually... you're being surprisingly honest."
"I want that sake, dammit." Eva stared at the notepad Kazumi was writing on, frowning. "Are you going to turn this into an article for the school newspaper or something?"
"Nah. Notes for later on. Headmaster says I can't disclose any of this stuff to the rest of the school. Just piecing what I have together. Maybe it'll actually help Negi and all of 'em that're doing all that stuff t' do with magic," Kazumi replied with a shrug. "'S all I can do for now."
"You're being considerate, how intriguing," Eva quipped. "Are there any particular reasons for that?"
"I'm not as desperate for the sake as you are," Kazumi said with a broad grin. "Keep talkin'."
Eva grumbled. "Well, he saved me once, just after the war."
"And then you fell in love with him? You sure fall in love easy," Kazumi commented quizzically. "Woulda thought after a couple hundred years..."
"Shut up," Eva hissed. "That's all you need to know, all right? I'd have to delve into the history of the war to give you the circumstances in which we met," she prattled. "I don't want to but..." She stared at the tokkuri.
Kazumi didn't like the look in her eyes. It looked unnatural, and it was unnatural. It was her fault that Eva was like this, after all.
Of course, it wasn't as if she really cared...
"OK, OK, I get it," the reporter said with increasing discomfort. "Now, tell me what you..."
It all happened in a second. Eva sped from her spot on the floor, tore the bottle out of Kazumi's hand and downed the whole thing.
"Ow!" Kazumi rubbed her shoulder, yanked out of its socket, and looked at the little girl behind her. "Geez, Eva, what are you..."
She flung the tokkuri, with the charm, to the floor. It shattered into pieces.
"Do you really think that would work on me?" Eva asked her with a frown. "I am about as old as God, remember?"
"To be honest, I was a little surprised at first..."
"Yeah, well, you should have been. It didn't work, all right? I was just playing along," Eva said hastily. "...That sake was good, however, to be honest. I liked it. Thanks for sharing."
"...So none of that was true?" Kazumi asked.
"It was, but most of it was so ambiguous it wouldn't have been useful to you anyway," the vampire replied. "You could have gotten the same information from that teacher of yours, Negi. You didn't seem to have noticed that I was giving you such general information, either. You won't be a good journalist that way."
"I see. I'll note that."
Eva made a face. "I beat you," she said. "Why are you still smiling?"
"Oh, right." The reporter looked down at the bottle, in pieces on the floor. "Eva... The charm and the bottle might've been mine, but that sake was yours."
"'Scuse me?"
"It was yours. I didn't spend anything on it. I got Satomi to reprogram Chachamaru for a moment so she would let me into your house and empty your bottle of sake into that one, 's all. I had to do something for her, of course, but it wasn't all that hard. The charm I blackmailed Setsuna into giving me, but, y' know... Setsuna's pretty weak-willed. I was kinda surprised..."
"I... I don't have any sake," Eva stuttered, ignoring Kazumi's ramblings. "Unless it was that..." She paused. "W... Wait a second... I was saving that!" she squeaked. "I was saving that! It-it wasn't ready yet!" Her voice was unusually shrill and... desperate?
It was an interesting face, Kazumi had to note.
She smiled at her regardless. "But you said it was good, right?"
The vampire was fuming at this point, a familiar frost hovering around her hand.
Kazumi took this as a cue to run out of the house. She slammed the door shut behind her, narrowly dodging a long, narrow chunk of ice that buried itself in Eva's front door.
Her chest was heaving. "Heh..." She grinned to herself. "I win."
A/N: For Feral Phoenix, 'cause, like, she asked. And told me to post it. And write two more related fic. Dunno about the other two, but you can be assured that if they are actually written they'll be here as the next two chapters. For now, though, feel free to comment on it like a one-shot.