Summary: Certain events brought back the question that Setsuna would have to answer once again: "Your sword…or your happiness?"
Warning: Shoujo-ai, don't like? Press BACK button then.
Author's notes: May be a little AU/OC.
Disclaimer: I don't own Mahou Sensei Negima, Negima!?, Negima!! Magister Magi, and everything involved. I'm just making a fiction out of it.
Realize
By: Rune Stine
Chapter One: The Year of the Demons
Mana Tatsumiya was walking silently on the dark woods outside Mahora school grounds. Wearing her usual hunting attire, she also brought the rifle she often used. She looked back, she believed her patrol companion Setsuna Sakurazaki should be walking behind her. However the other girl who was wearing a Mahora school uniform stopped walking, her pale, skinny hand covering her eyes. Mana might not be showing it, but she'd been observing. It's been a month and a half since they celebrated New Year's Eve. Setsuna had been acting a bit off ever since. The hanyo would suddenly snap at her classmates, even Mana herself, and then walking out of class whenever she wanted. Her habit of disappearing to the shadows like before was slowly going back, too. The tan girl decided to walk back to her friend.
"It's doing it again, isn't it? Your eyes." Mana started, Setsuna raised her head slightly and nodded.
"Look, I've been telling you to consult Negi-sensei about this. Honestly, you're more stubborn than ever." The markswoman added as she removed Setsuna's hand away from her face and examined her friend's eyes.
"I don't want to worry anyone. Besides, Negi-sensei had a lot of things to do since the exams are coming. Don't forget his training with Evangeline-san...I can't believe that even black-brown contact lenses are still useless." Setsuna whispered the last sentence to her self. She sighed and gently shoved Mana's hands away and started to walk.
"Well, if that's your decision. Just don't go showing those eyes and scare our classmates." The tan girl followed.
"Shut up." Setsuna glared at her, obviously pissed at the last statement. Mana normally didn't allow anyone to tell her to shut up, but she decided to ignore it. Besides, she couldn't miss the opportunity of seeing the swords-girl's annoyed face. She's tired of Setsuna's humble and blushing face.
"Relax. You know I'm only kidding. You don't have to look at me like your going to murder me. What will happen if your ojou-sama sees you like this?" Mana smirked at her friend's off guard face. Setsuna looked up and stared on the bright moonlight in the sky. She hated to see someone looking at her with a frightened face. It only reminded and made her felt less human. As long as she kept her demon part hidden she shouldn't worry.
But that's what she had been worrying about. Five weeks ago, her eyes started glowing against her will. She once tried to look at herself in the mirror at night and couldn't believe that she was scared by her own pair of glowing red eyes. And the last thing she ever wanted to happen was to frighten Konoka with the sudden change. Setsuna grabbed her Yuunagi tight. She didn't know what to do. Mana stopped once again and gave Setsuna an amused look.
"Setsuna, hold your breath." Mana ordered. The other girl gave her a questioning gaze.
"Hold your breath until I tell you to breathe. Just do it." The markswoman was glaring at her. Setsuna closed her eyes and gulped before holding her breath. While on the process, she heard Mana whisper. She slowly opened her eyes only to see Mana counting with her fingers.
"...seven, eight, nine...ten. You can breathe now." The young samurai started breathing. She looked at Mana who was still looking at her like she's waiting for the swordsgirl to say something.
"What? Feeling better?" Mana finally asked.
Setsuna was clueless. She didn't know what her friend was trying to imply.
"I guess it worked. You're back to your old self again. So are your eyes." Mana continued walking. Setsuna followed, with a big question mark written on her face.
"Wait, what was that for?"
"To calm your nerves down. You start by breathing in, then count to ten and finally breathe out." Mana replied without looking back at the swords-girl.
Setsuna looked down at the thought and whispered thanks to her friend. Hopefully that will keep her eyes from glowing.
Mana stopped and waved a hand to Setsuna who just stopped. They sensed a presence lurking near them. Mana lifted her rifle silently while Setsuna was on her sword stance. The swords-girl's eyes wandered. Both girls have trained their eyes for these situations since using flashlights would be a disadvantage when fighting demons in the middle of the night.
'left, right...up, down...'
"Behind! ZaNgAnKeN!" Setsuna yelled swinging her sword behind. The object she intended to hit was a deformed shadow behind her. The said object started to evaporate. It's one of those stray demon traps. Both girls alerted themselves.
Mana knew. Her own pair of demon eyes saw that, too. It seemed that demons have been appearing more than usual. She wondered if someone was behind this. The tan haired girl fired her rifle to her left.
Seconds after, three demons with sharp pointed elbows jumped above them. The first one had green leather-like skin with one horn in the middle of its forehead and had unstable white eyes. The second demon was the tallest and had a pair of horns on its head. It also possessed green skin and white eyes. Finally, the last one was the biggest and seemed to be the strongest of the three. It had brown leather-like skin. His eyes were yellow and have more than five horns sticking unevenly on its head. All three demons' elbows stick out and formed a scythe behind. Mana pointed her rifle to the brown demon in the middle.
"Alright, I'm sick of playing merry go round. Who sent you?" The tan girl asked without falter.
"I don't know what you mean by that lady but we're merely just demons who long for human flesh and blood. Looks like we're lucky tonight and we don't have to force our way in the building to get some prey!" The brown demon replied as the two green demons behind him started to move and attack the patrol students. The first demon ran straight to the tan girl.
Mana used her rifle to block the first demon's attacks. With the unknown source of its speed and power, the markswoman needed to find a way to distance herself and fire her rifle. Reaching and opening a secret slot at the back handle of her rifle she took out a small bottle with blue glowing liquid substance. She blocked another attack and broke the small glass bottle on the demon's forehead. The glowing liquid penetrated the one-horned demon's eyes and yelped. Mana smirked and kicked the demon a few feet away from her. She focused her rifle and shot the demon on its head, resulting to an instant defeat.
After killing one out of three demons the markswoman regarded her patrol partner. Setsuna doesn't have any problems since her speed was giving her a great advantage. But for some reason, the second demon was slowly catching up with her speed. Not letting the tables turn, Setsuna grabbed some ofuda (*1) from her pocket to cast a spell.
"Shinmei special technique, SakUra PeTals of ConFusion!" She whispered as she threw four paper talismans in midair. Each ofuda shattered and became cherry blossom petals. It surrounded the tall demon and blocked its view. Setsuna prepared for the final blow.
"ZaNgAnKeN!" She yelled as she successfully slashed second demon. Thinking the other girl was finished with her fight, Mana called Setsuna, the third bastard was still around. She could sense it. Setsuna nodded and looked around for the brown demon. She felt her eyes sting with pain. She shook her head and seconds after she looked up. The brown demon's yellow eyes reflected with her red ones.
"Mana, above you!" The brown demon had bat-like wings and was flying down a few feet away from Mana with lightning speed. The markswoman knew that firing her rifle was a bit too late. With her quick reflexes she used her weapon as a shield once again to block the attack but this demon was stronger. The brown demon managed to break Mana's rifle into half and stabbed the tan girl on her right arm using his scythe elbows. Mana winced but using her free left hand she quickly reached at her back. She grabbed her spare handgun pistol and fired it directly to the demon's yellow eyes. The blade's pressure on her arm lessened. Setsuna immediately slashes the demon's arm away from Mana and stabs its heart. Finally they were able to defeat the last demon.
Mana knelt down to observe her injury. Setsuna panicked and kneeled down beside her. She gently held Mana's bloody arm and rested it down on her own knee, ignoring the blood staining her white uniform.
"Hey, don't move. It looks bad." Setsuna said as she checked Mana's wounds. She slowly lifted the beige leather sleeve upwards to get a better view of Mana's arm.
"Don't worry. I'm just bleeding like hell. My trusty leather jacket saved my arm. The blade never reached my bones." Mana whispered as Setsuna unwrapped a pack of bandages from Mana's mini leather belt bag. The wound was about two inches. The young samurai wrapped the wound as a first aid and helped her friend back to Mahora academy school grounds. They needed to alert the teachers about the demons.
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It's been a while since Negi felt this peaceful. He was sitting on his study table thinking about tomorrow's English lessons. He couldn't help but to recall what happened last year. Although his father's whereabouts was still unknown, he'll never give up. His group, Ala Alba was stronger than ever. Everyone had progressed a lot with their respective skills, especially the red head Asuna. It's already midnight in Mahora dormitory. He's staying up to prepare his beloved students' lessons.
Negi heard distant voices outside the window near him. He opened it slightly upward, his wand prepared. Negi's eyes wandered outside the dark environment and saw some lamps lit near the infirmary building. The Dean of the school, Konoemon with Takahata-sensei, Shizuna-sensei, Setsuna Sakurazaki and the other teachers were outside the infirmary. Negi grabbed his robe and covered his light green pajamas. He slowly goes out of the room careful not to wake Asuna or Konoka and proceeded to where the infirmary was located.
"Negi-kun, you're still up?" The Dean asked but with no hint of surprise. He looked at Setsuna's school uniform, it was stained with blood. Negi panicked, he was about to ask when Takahata spoke.
"Relax Negi-kun. Setsuna-kun isn't hurt...but Tatsumiya-kun..." Negi noticed that Takahata was frowning. He looked at Setsuna who bowed down guiltily.
"She was injured. Her arm was stabbed by a stray demon that we were trying to hunt down like we always do outside the school grounds. For some reason, they're getting stronger and faster every night..." The shy samurai explained.
"How is she?" Negi asked worriedly. He was obviously referring to Mana Tatsumiya.
"She's safe now. She said her pride's the only thing that was injured. What a brave girl." Shizuna-sensei replied. She was wearing a robe covering her sky-blue nightgown.
'To think that Tatsumiya-san is really good at long-ranged combat...These demons are probably up to something.' Negi thought.
"This is a bit troublesome. I am afraid that Setsuna-kun won't be out of the school grounds starting tomorrow night for the meantime." The Dean said. Setsuna was surprised with the decision.
"G-Gakuencho-san, I can't leave my duties behind, I'm pretty sure I can handle it even without Tatsumiya. I have sworn loyalty to you and Eishun-sama, and that I will serve and protect the school grounds." The young samurai said as she kneeled down a single leg. Her fists balled, feeling anxious for some reason.
"You and Tatsumiya-kun always did a very good job maintaining the safety of our school grounds every night. Right now this is already getting out of hand, especially when a very skillful student is injured. We can't bear if this happens to you too, Setsuna-kun." Konoemon explained. Setsuna nodded weakly.
"For the time being I will investigate what's happening. I will also observe the demon's behaviors--" Takahata announced.
"That won't be necessary." A girl's voice interrupted them.
Negi looked behind him and saw his shrimpy vampire master and student Evangeline with Chachamaru. Evangeline was wearing her favorite black vampire gown while Chachamaru was wearing a maid's uniform.
"Master, do you know something about this?" Negi asked. The rest of them are all waiting for the vampire's answer.
"Oi old man, do you happen to remember what year it is right now in the western mage calendar?" Evangeline asked Konoemon. The Dean's eyes twitched. Negi and the others were completely clueless. Evangeline did not wait for the answer.
"I take that as a yes. I discovered this a month ago. Although I ignored it because I thought it was nothing." Evangeline continued.
"I see. It's...the year of the demons." Konoemon said without thinking.
"I-I've heard of it. The year of the demons takes place every three hundred years...but that's all I know." Negi said.
"That probably explains it. There's nothing much special about it, really. The demons behave more aggressively than they used to." Takahata said. Evangeline looked at Setsuna.
"Your eyes seem to be glowing more than usual. Could it be that your demon part is responding to it too, Setsuna?" Evangeline asked and smiled menacingly. The swordsgirl remained silent.
"I have proven and trusted Setsuna-kun's ability. There is no need to worry. Negi-kun and the other teachers will definitely look after her and the students." Konoemon said. Setsuna nodded eagerly and bowed.
"I truly appreciate the trust you put in me. I will do my best."
"Now, you still have school tomorrow. Negi-kun, as much as possible, try to keep what happened to Tatsumiya-kun." The Dean finally said as he and the teachers retired themselves.
"Um...Setsuna-san, I'll accompany you back to the dorms." Negi offered as he turned his head to the said girl. Setsuna and Evangeline seemed to be looking at each other seriously after everyone departed.
-"I'm just warning you as a fellow student. You're a half-demon after all."- Evangeline communicated telepathically to Setsuna.
-"Do you really think of me that low?"- Setsuna replied back on her mind, her eyes starting to glow a little reddish as she readied her sword.
-"Ho-ho, can't control your temper now, can you?"- Evangeline smirked. Setsuna hated to admit it, but the vampire girl was right. She had been trying to keep her emotions intact. 'Damn this demon's year thingy and this hanyo blood.'
"I'll be going. I'll be here when you need me, Setsuna." Evangeline and Chachamaru finally disappeared. Setsuna sighed, releasing her stress.
"Are you alright Setsuna-san?" Negi asked. The child teacher was a bit startled when Setsuna looked at him with a pair of glowing red eyes. Negi stepped back a bit. Setsuna noticed this small move and frowned.
"Don't worry Negi-sensei, I won't hurt you. My eyes are just reacting to the environment. I'm still myself. Evangeline-san was right. My demon half is going haywire this year, but I won't turn into a blood-thirsty demon or anything." Setsuna explained. Negi sighed in relief.
"So your eyes are like that because of the demon's year, Setsuna-san?" The child teacher asked. Setsuna nodded and covered her forehead with her free hand.
"They glow whenever they want, that's why I keep avoiding people when it happens. I don't want to scare everyone with these eyes. And I've been having difficulty controlling my emotions recently. I easily get mad for some reason. I just hope this will end soon." She balled her fists, feeling angry at herself each passing second.
"Tatsumiya-san has demon eyes as well, no?" the mage teacher asked.
"I don't see her eyes glow or show anything. I've been wondering about that as well." Setsuna replied.
'I wonder if Mana is hiding it from me...'
"Don't worry, Setsuna-san. I'm glad you told me about this. I've been worried about you since you're always spacing out in class. I'll definitely do something about this!" Negi said eagerly.
Setsuna breathed a large amount of air, letting it out after ten seconds, just like what Mana instructed her to do, and that calmed her a bit. Negi received a small nod from the half-demon. They walked together back to their dormitory.
"Negi-sensei?" Setsuna called the child teacher.
"What is it?" Negi looked at her curiously.
"Please don't tell anyone about my eyes, especially Konoka-ojousama."
"Eh, but why?" Negi asked worriedly.
"I...don't want to cause any trouble. I'll try to be careful, I promise."
"Well, if you say so." Negi for some reason wasn't convinced with his student's answer.
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Morning came and Negi's class just started. He gave an excuse on what happened to Mana. Asuna and Konoka already knew what happened after Negi told them last night. Konoka had not taken her eyes off Setsuna since the start of the class. Her bodyguard seemed to be upset about something. Probably because of what happened to Mana, she's her confidante after all. Setsuna on the other hand was feeling more and more uncomfortable every minute because of her ojou-sama's worried gaze.
Finally the class was over. Konoka and Asuna went out of the room. They both waited for Setsuna. The young hanyo came out of the room with her Yuunagi. Konoka smiled at her but to the princess' surprise, she was ignored.
"Secchan?" She called the other girl with her favorite nick name. Setsuna was lost in thoughts. Konoka skipped in front of her and Setsuna jumped in surprise. The mage-in-training held her bodyguard's face with her hands, causing the other girl to blush.
"O-Ojou-sama, what is it?" Setsuna nervously said. Konoka looked into the other girl's eyes for a few seconds.
"Mou, who are you calling? It's Kono-chan, how many times do I have to tell you that? Secchan, you don't have any sleep at all, do you?" She said to her bodyguard. Setsuna's blush faded and looked down. Feeling the awkward silence, Asuna broke the ice.
"We're sorry to hear about Tatsumiya-san. Good thing she's not badly injured. I'm sure she'll recover in no time." Asuna whispered and gave an apologetic smile. Setsuna suddenly felt her eyes sting with pain. 'Oh no, here goes my eyes again! I need to stay away from Asuna-san and ojou-sama's sight before they notice.'
"Setsuna-san, are you alright?" Asuna asked when she noticed the other girl spacing out. The raven-haired girl flinched and avoided her gaze.
"Huh? Oh, right...I know Mana will be alright. Thank you for your concern but I need to do something. I will go back as soon as possible. I'm sorry, Ojou—I mean Kono-chan." Setsuna gently pulled down Konoka's hands and continued to walk. Konoka knew she was obviously hiding something. She caught up with Setsuna and blocked the girl's way once again.
"Secchan, are you not feeling well that you don't want to be with us today? Tell me, where does it hurt and I'll do my best to heal it." Konoka started searching for any visible wounds or bruise on her bodyguard's body. As if in a trance Setsuna held Konoka's shoulders rather a little tight which made the mage gasp a bit. The healer noticed the angry eyes of her guardian. It looked a little crimson because of the sun's reflection from the windows of the classroom hall. Or was it because of the sun? Whatever it was Konoka eventually ignored it. Instead she was more worried that she made Setsuna angry.
"Ojou-sama, I-am-not-hurt. I just want to be alone, please...I'm sorry." Setsuna said, finally letting go of Konoka's shoulders and disappeared in the hallway. Asuna was a bit confused on what happened.
'So she really wants to be alone after all.'
"H-hey Konoka, what's wrong with Setsuna-san?" Asuna noticed that her chocolate-haired friend was frowning.
"Asuna...something's bothering Secchan and she won't even tell it to me. She's been avoiding me—-us thrice this week already." Konoka replied, trying to hold back a tear from escaping her eyes. She doesn't want Asuna to worry. Actually, it had been three weeks since Setsuna acted weird as far as the chocolate-haired healer knew. The swordsgirl would join them for lunch and dinner. But there were times when Setsuna would suddenly excuse herself and be gone for hours.
"Setsuna-san is probably trying to recover from yesterday's incident. I guess she's not ready to tell it to you or to any of us yet. The best thing we do is to ask Negi since he may know something about Setsuna-san's behavior." Asuna gave her best friend a reassuring smile and Konoka smiled a bit. They went back to their dorms to ask Negi about it.
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--Mahora Dormitory--
"Setsuna-san is what?" Negi asked as Asuna and Konoka confronted him.
"She's been avoiding us, especially Konoka. Did you notice anything strange about her lately?" The red-head asked.
"W-well it may be—" Negi was cut by Konoka.
"She's actually starting to avoid everyone...like the day before yesterday she just walked out of the classroom when Honya-chan (*2) asked her a favor. Last week she even ignored Nitta-sensei in the middle of the lesson. And just awhile ago she...well...Secchan isn't the type of person who would do that." Konoka almost whispered on the last sentence.
"Nitta-sensei was really pissed! That was the first time Setsuna-san ever ditched a class. Oi Negi, you were with her last night, right? What exactly happened?" Asuna was squeezing Negi's cheek.
"Ouch, okay I'll tell you right now! It's because this year is the year of the demons in western mage calendar! Setsuna-san's eye—I mean she's having difficulties controlling her temper!" Negi whispered. Asuna finally let go of his cheek. 'That was close, I almost said "eyes"...I promised Setsuna-san not to tell them.'
"Eh? Year of the demons? Is there such a thing?" Asuna asked and looked at Konoka who shrugged.
"B-but what does it have to do with Secchan...oh..." Konoka suddenly realized that her guardian was a half-demon.
"Setsuna-san is acting weird because of it? I guess it's her demon instinct." Asuna crossed her arms with the thought.
"Apparently, the demons that were appearing from the school grounds recently are much stronger than usual because of the said year. Setsuna-san and Tatsumiya-san are the only ones doing patrols every night. Eva-san will only help if she feels like it. I guess they were out-numbered last night that's why Mana-san was injured." Negi explained.
"But without Tatsumiya-san, will Secchan be alright tonight?" Konoka asked worriedly.
"Oh, that. Your grandfather actually puts the 'patrolling' on hold for the meantime because he wanted to avoid further casualties." Negi replied and Konoka sighed in relief.
"Well isn't that great Konoka? Setsuna-san's schedule is going to be less occupied now!" Asuna teased, Konoka blushed for a second and she smiled excitedly as an idea just came in her mind.
"I know, let's go visit her in her room! I'll bake some cakes and snacks so we can eat there while chatting." Konoka said to Asuna and Negi. The two looked at each other and winked.
"Sorry! I need to get my pay today before the sun sets." Asuna gave an honest excuse.
"M-me too! Takahata-sensei asked me to assist him on checking the anti-demon and spell barrier outside the school grounds to see if there are any loopholes or portals of some sort..." Negi said, giving Konoka his cute apologetic smile.
"Eh, with Takahata-sensei??" Asuna blushed, hearing the name of the teacher she had a crush on. Konoka looked at the two. Was this something intentional? She thought, but never the less she ignored it since she also wanted to talk to Setsuna in private.
"It's alright. I guess it's just me and Secchan then!"
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F.Y.I.:
1.) Ofuda-Japanese term for talisman or charm issued by Shinto shrine. It is made by inscribing the name of a kami, the name of Shinto shrine, or a representative of kami on a strip of paper, wood, cloth, or metal.(See Wiki)
2.) Honya-Means 'Librarian' or library representative in Japanese. In this chapter, I added an honorific (-chan) since most students in Mahora call Nodoka as Honya-chan.
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Oh God, how long had I've been gone...a year!?
Well I'm really sorry for being gone so long my fellow readers. It's either I'm busy or I'm lazy, but I've been updating my fics on my PC.
This is my first Konoka/Setsuna FanFic. I hope it turned out good. Please let me know what you think. I may need to re-edit this but it depends on my yuri fuel. It may take long for this fic to update though.
Also, for those who were reading my other 2 fics, they will be updated VERY SOON, as a Christmas gift. Plus, the grammar error shit will be reduced and a lot of sweet addition/changes.
Ja! Need to daydream again!
Runie