Title: The Road Less Traveled
Category: Anime/Manga » Negima! Magister Negi Magi/魔法先生ネギま！
Author: ChoboChan
Language: English, Rating: Rated: T
Genre: Humor/Fantasy
Published: 01-04-09, Updated: 01-04-09
Chapters: 1, Words: 5,492
Chapter 1: Chapter 1
Ah well here I am again actually posting something! Again I warn you I am no writer but I constantly get plot bunnies. Occasionally I am able to write them out…..well rarely anyways….
This is sort of a one shot and probably feels rushed but it's something I guess, even if it sucks~
If I would continue this the only other characters that would appear are probably Kotaro/Nodoka/Nagi/Eva/Konoka/Setsuna no else really o.o…. Pairings would be, Nodoka/Negi/Kotaro(Don't ask me why…) KonoSetsu Asuna/Ayaka pastAyaka/Eva(Don't ask about that one either…)Side note- Since your not going to find out later Asuna hates the cause she used to be a slave o.o and you guess how that went so~~
But if anyways else feel like picking it up or something feel free to ask XD
Anyways Onwards!
Disclaimer: Haha I wish I owned it, but sadly I phail so I own nothing but this plot.
The Road Less Traveled.
A young woman ran hurriedly through the forest panting with one hand clutching tightly to the white and gold encrusted hilt of the sword at her side and the other swatting bushes out of her way. Long blonde hair was matted to her forehead and neck with sweat and one of her long pointed ears, showing her elfin heritage, was bleeding from a cut. The white uniform she was wearing was now covered in dirt and a few other things she tried not to think about, had a few tears here and there. Her blue cape billowing behind her she continued to run tired, hungry, and sore all over. Unfortunately she couldn't stop either, not with that demon chasing after her.
Suddenly she stumbled over a tree root and fell harshly onto the ground with a pained groan, dirtying her uniform and face even more. With a grimace she slowly rose onto her hands and knees, groaning her green eyes narrowed at the newly made cut on her and remembered how she got into this mess in the first place.
She had been traveling down the same beaten path almost all day and was trying to find a clearing she could set up camp in, not to mention put some food in her stomach and hopefully get some rest. Unfortunately while looking for one she had stumbled into a nest of some sorts and had managed to fall on one of the large blue eggs, crushing it.
She wondered absently where her horse had run off too, it held almost all her belongings. Damn!
Wincing she was snapped out of her thoughts by the echo of a loud screech, lets just say the mother was not to happy about what happened to her precious egg. She rose from the ground painfully into a standing position, but faltered slightly almost falling back down. With a another grimace she realized she wasn't going to be able to run anymore.
Shakily she turned around and slowly took her sword from its sheath and held it out in front of her waiting. She gulped and nearly dropped it, her green eyes widening when the beast appeared in front of her. She had never actually seen the thing, just getting a passing glance when she ran after hearing its angry roar.
That roar did not do it justice, the beast was huge, at least twice as tall as her almost six foot frame, and it looked vaguely like a cat with its serpent like tail swaying behind it. Its body was covered in dark green scales and its sharp black claws tapped against the ground as its black eyes stared her down. It licked its slobbering mouth full of sharp teeth and growled as it got down in a crouching position.
Realizing what was about to happen she threw herself to the side just as it pounced and with the last of her strength she thrusted her sword forward and prayed as she landed on the ground unconscious.
With a loud roar the beast landed and pawed at its bleeding left eye where the sword had been impaled. Its paw managed to tear the sword out of its eye and it fell with thump onto the ground a few feet away from the unconscious woman its blade covered in green blood. Growling it made its way back to its nest shaking its head ever so often with a small whine, leaving the elf alone in the middle of the forest.
….
To say young Negi Springfield was surprised was an under statement, when the large catlike creature suddenly bounded onto the path in front of him the young brown haired mage was more then terrified. This was his first time setting out on his own and he was already in some sort of trouble!
He stood in shock too afraid to grab his wand when it turned to him giving him an angry roar before leaping at him. He shut his eyes tightly and threw his arms over his head in a futile and slightly stupid effort to protect himself.
"Wahh Sister! I'm not old enough to die yet!" He cried out pitifully.
"Hey brat! If don't wanna die then duck!" A loud voice shouted behind him. Confused and scared out of his mind he did as he was told and crouched low on the ground. Still cowering on the ground he didn't see what happened next, just felt a large gust of air pass over his head, the sound of a deafening roar and another shout followed a loud thump. Everything went silent for a few moments after.
"Hell yea! Score another one for Asuna and nothing for the big ugly beats!" The same voice from before shouted.
The next thing he heard was footsteps coming towards him and saw a brown pair of boots stop in front of him. He cautiously lifted his head and stared straight up into a pair of green and blue eyes of a girl looking only a few years older than him. Her long red hair reached mid back and she wore a prideful fangy grin on her face. A long broad sword that was at least two heads taller than her was slung over her shoulder with ease while the other hand was outstretched towards him.
"Hey, you ok kid?" Nodding shakily he took the outstretch hand and she pulled him to his feet.
"Thanks a lot umm… Asuna was it? What happened to-" She quickly pointed behind him. Turning around he saw the beast was lying on its side with a large noticeably slit through its stomach, and suddenly he felt ill.
Asuna walked back over to the creature and prodded it with her foot.
"I could probably make some gold selling this hide, and a couple meals too. Hmm…. It looks like someone else just got done with it too." She peered at its damaged eye that was closed and bleeding. "That's a fresh wound."
She turned back around and tilted her head curiously at him a pair of twitching wolfish ears appearing on her head. "You're a mage right?" That got a nod out of the boy who was trying to looking anywhere but the corpse on the ground.
"How come you didn't just use your magic or whatever? Or do you not know any yet?"
"Ehh I do, I just umm… well forgot." He sheepishly rubbed his head, the small glasses he wore sliding down his nose some.
Asuna shook her head sighing and planted her sword into the ground beside her. " Sheesh, your lucky I came along or you'd be this thing's dinner by now." She looked him up and down and smirked. "Well more like a snack anyways." He looked slightly insulted at that and she peered down at him. "What's a kid like you doing all the way out here anyways, you get lost or something?"
"Hey! I'm not a kid. I'm just a little short….." He grumbled.
"Oh yea? How old are you then? Cause you look like a kid to me." She ruffled his short hair teasingly.
"I'm already 13!"
"Ha! Thats pretty young in my book."
"Well you don't look that much older then me!"
Asuna huffed and placed her hands on her hips, ears twitching irritably. "I'll have you know… while I might around 17 I'm already way older then you'll ever be." She stuck her tongue out at him.
He paused from arguing to take in her appearance when a thought suddenly struck him. "Ah! Might you be a-"
"I'm a werewolf, got a problem with that?" She glared at him slightly daring him to say something.
"N-no, I mean… It's just that I've never seen one before is all!" He sweated slightly.
"Huh? Where have you been living, under a rock or something?" She eyed him suspiciously.
He scratched the side of his check. "I came from New Earth actually."
Asuna blinked. "O, well that kind of makes some sense then." A sudden loud rumbling came from the younger boy's stomach. Negi blushed embarrassedly.
"Sorry. It's just I haven't eaten anything since lunch. I heard there was a tavern near here so I was heading there before… this happened." He grinned sheepishly at her.
Asuna suddenly gave a wide grin. "Well you're in even more luck then! I know exactly the place your talking about, I'm headed there myself." She motioned to the corpse on the ground. "Just let me skin this thing and I'll take you there myself." She picked her sword back out of the ground.
Negi looked slightly green at that. "Uhh skin it? You mean by hand?"
She gave him a slightly confused look. "Of course, unless you know another way? Like any spells or whatever. Cause if you did that's save me the job." She looked thoughtful for a second. "And the mess…"
Negi brightened up a bit and smiled. "Actually I know one, my father use to use it all the time to skin the wild animals he caught while hunting." He reached into the long white cloak he wore and pulled out a long staff from one of the subspace pockets within.
Holding the staff out in front of him, he pointing at the corpse and began chanting an incantation. A large glowing circle with symbols appeared beneath him and a sudden wind picked around him. Asuna looked on slightly impressed then sweated when a sudden rush of light shot from the staff and headed towards the corpse, and her!
"Kyaaaaaaa!" It came at her so suddenly she wasn't able to dodge in time, after a few moments she realized she was unharmed though. Blinking she looked around confused before noticing the corpse was now gone and in its place only the hide remained.
"Hey it… worked!" She turned back to him with a grin before noticing he was looking away, his face a bright red. "Huh?"
"A-A-Asuna! I'm so sorry!" He took of his clock and held it out towards her still refusing to turn back around.
"Huh? What's that for?" She looked at him suspiciously.
"Umm y-you… that is…. Your umm p-pants…" He managed to stutter out embrassedly.
"My… pants?" Asuna blinked and noticed the sudden cold draft from below. Freezing up some she looked down only to find the brown pants she was wearing before gone.
"Y-y-you…" Her shoulders shock and she tighten her grip on her sword as her face went red with anger and embarrassment. She looked at him menacingly and pointed her sword at him.
"WHY YOU LITTLE PERVERT! I'LL KILL YOU!"
"WAHHH! I'M SOOORRRRYYYY!"
…
Still slightly miffed form earlier and with a new pair of pants Asuna stepped into the fairly large wooden tavern. She stomped over to the bar and took a seat calling out for a drink irritably. A bruised and slightly down trotted Negi followed in after a few moments but took a seat at one of the tables instead and a waiter quickly appeared to take his order.
"What can I get ya?"
"Huh?" Negi stared blankly at the large bear that was his server looking down at him.
"You know, food, drink, possibly even room for the night." He said with an annoyed and slightly sarcastic tone.
"Oh right." He rubbed his neck embarrassed. "Umm I'll take what ever you're serving for dinner tonight, and some milk I guess." He smiled brightly at the server who only raised an eyebrow at the choice of drink and ignored the snorts from the group of men who overheard.
"Stew it is then, twenty six coppers total."
"Ok then." Negi dug out the cost of dinner from the pouch at his side and set it down on the table. The server picked it up and depositing it into his apron as he returned back behind the bar.
Negi glanced around the tavern for a few moments seeing it wasn't very crowded. Besides him and Asuna, one of the tables in the far corner of the room held two cloaked figures sitting quietly and drinking, most likely mages as well. Another table in the middle of the room had a not so quiet group of five men who, who snorted at him earlier, were laughing loudly at something and probably a bit drunk.
He was half way through his meal while Asuna was well onto her fifth drink when the tavern doors slammed back open drawing the attention of everyone inside. A tall and haggard looking blonde elf covered in, well he wasn't exactly sure what, had ambled in glaring at anyone who dared to look her way. She made her way to the nearest table and sagged down into one of the chairs wincing slightly before tossing a few gold coins onto the table.
"Bring me food and drink. I don't care what it is, just bring it." She called out loudly and the server from before was only too happy to do so and he rushed to her side. Asuna snorted under her breath and rolled her eyes at the display while the cloaked figures ignored the rest of them.
"Right away Miss. Will you need anything else? A room for the night? Maybe a warm bath perhaps?"
She looked down at herself and nearly purred at the thought of a warm bath. "Please." The server nodded and took the coins before rushing off.
The blonde woman glanced up and caught Negi staring at her from the table across, spoon still halfway to his mouth.
"What?" She glared at him and he squeaked slightly developing a sudden fascination with his bowl. The woman sighed before laying her head in her hands and quietly grumbled something about beasts and horses under her breath. She stopped when her food came out and hungrily began eating, not worrying how un-lady like she looked at the moment.
The men from before suddenly laughed drunkly again watching her eat.
"A bit hungry there little lady?" One of them called out.
"Yea, whew what in the world did you run into out there?"
"I thought I smelled something before."
"Naw, that was me."
"HaHa!"
"How bout sharing some of that wealth baby?"
"Bah! Forget the gold, how about sharing that bed of yours tonight!" The leader of the group called out licking his lips as he leered at her, which got him a bunch of hoots from the other.
"But Boss she looks like something chewed her up then spit her out." One snorted at her.
"Ain't nothing a good cleaning can't fix, but hell! I ain't picky anyway!" He stood up and strutted over to her before clapping her on the shoulder. "So how bought it babe, How'd you like to spend the night with a real man?"
The blonde woman's eyebrow twitched as she stood slapping his hand away from her shoulder and turned around to glare at him. "Now you drunkards listen here!" She poke him in the chest with a growl. "First of all my name is not 'baby' or 'babe' its Ayaka! Secondly I've been traveling all day, I've lost my horse, all my belongings besides what's on me, chased halfway through this forest by a giant lizard of a cat, nearly eaten alive, I'm bleeding, sore and I have Goddess knows what covering me!" Negi looked back up and wondered if it was the same one from before when she mention the beast.
Her green eyes narrowed at the man who was looking slightly dumbstruck by now. "And now I have to deal with you and your idiotic friends! So I suggest you-" she pulled back a fist and punched him squarely in the nose. "-LEAVE ME ALONE!" The man fell back unconscious and she stood there huffing and slightly red in the face.
"Anyone… else want to… bother me?" The rest of the men stared at her dumbly and she cracked her knuckles staring back with a slightly psychotic smile on her face. The men immediately picked up their boss and rushed out the door.
"Ooo shouldn't have done that….." Suddenly she felt the energy from a few moments ago leaving and darkness invading her vision.
Negi snapped out of his shock from before and immediately rushed over to her side when he saw her fall unconscious. "Oh no! What do I do?"
"Leave her there?" Asuna volunteered and she wandered over mug in hand. Negi looked at her with wide eyes as if appalled by the notion.
"We can't do that! We should help! You heard what she said, she could be seriously injured or, or-" Asuna rolled her eyes and bonked him on the head to shut him up. She kneeled down next to the other girl, she wrinkled her nose slightly at the smell coming off her but quickly looked her over.
"Chill kid, she just passed out."
"But, but the blood?" Negi rubbed his neck and looked concerned.
"Pift. Just some superficial stuff, should heal in a couple of days so don't worry about it. Elves heal pretty fast, and they didn't stop her from getting here did they?" Asuna smiled and ruffled his hair.
"But still…. We can't just leave her here." As soon as he had mentioned that the server from before magically reappeared at his side startling both him and Asuna.
"Don't worry I'll take care of her myself, she has paid for her room after all." He gave them an oddly bright smile and Asuna snorted.
"Yeah I'm sure. I bet she won't wake up the rest of her money on her either." The server gave her an angry glare and started to say something but Asuna cut him off. "We'll take her to her room and get cleaned her up."
"We will?" Negi looked at her hopefully and she couldn't help but smile back. She turned back to the server and tossed a couple more silver coins at him. "We'll take a room too by the way." The server stared at her for a few seconds before mutely walking off money in hand. Asuna looked down at Negi and the unconscious Ayaka quizzically for a moment.
"You would happen to have a spell so we can just float her up to the room would you?"
"Well I have a spell that can stop someone from falling but not float someone long distances." Negi scratched his check apologetically.
"Damn, figures." Asuna gave out a loud sigh and finished off what was left in her mug before setting it onto a table. She grimaced a bit and picked up the blonde with ease before starting up the stairs. Negi blinked before quickly following after, the rest of his and Ayaka's food left on the tables.
…
Ayaka groaned when the sunlight hit her eyes, her body protesting as she turned over on her side to escape the bright light. She cracked one eye open before both and stared blankly at the smiling face in her field of vision. She blinked and shot up in surprise and immediately regretted it, biting a pained yelp she turned back towards the young boy she remembered from the tavern with a confused look.
"Ah good your awake! How do you feel?"
"Ok I guess…where am I? And who are you?"
"Oh! Negi Springfield, offical mage at your service. You passed out in the tavern and have been unconscious the last two days." He said brightly sticking his out for her to shake which she, despite the situation did so. "By the way it was cool the way you punched that guy out." He added cheerily and she blushed.
"Ayaka." She said simply
"Nice to see were all getting along." A sarcastic voice added from the door and both heads turned towards Asuna who was leaning in the doorway. "Also you owe us for the room and stuff too." She mentioned in a dry tone and walked over to stand besides Negi.
"And you are?" Ayaka stared at up at her with narrowed eyes a lot less trustful then before.
"None of your business Blondie." Ayaka stare turned into an out right glare.
"There was no need to be rude." She gave the red head a once over and smirked. "Then again I guess I shouldn't expect something like manners from one of your kind."
"What was that you pointy eared freak!" Asuna growled.
"You heard me mutt! Or am I speaking to fast for you to understand" Ayaka gave the other girl a smug look.
"Argh! This is why I hate you rich types, always looking down on everybody else!" Ayaka looked taken back by that.
"Me? Ha! You're the one acting like some-some bratty child over a simple question!" Negi had started looking worriedly between them both.
"What!"
"You heard me!" The argument was suddenly interrupted by a loud gurgling sound. Both girls blink and Ayaka slowly turned red placing a hand over her stomach. Asuna snickered but Negi was glad for the distraction and suddenly brightened up.
"That's right your probably hungry, I'll go down and bring you something to eat!" He quickly rushed out the door before either girl could say something.
Ayaka blinked but smiled slightly only to frown again when the girl next to her gave out a loud sigh and leaned back against the wall. Ayaka decided just to ignore her for now and looked down noticing the bandages wrapped around her chest and mid-section. She also noticed bandages were the only things she was wearing and fought down a blush as she crossed her arms over her chest.
Asuna saw and gave a snort. "Why bother it's not like I haven't seen them already. Bandages don't wrap themselves." She leaned forward and leered at her slightly with a smirk. "Not bad by the way, shame your one of those snobs."
She rolled her eyes when Ayaka redden further bringing the blanket up to cover self and gave her an annoyed look. "You barely know me, what gives you the right to judge?"
"Please! I know your type; they wave their money around wherever and expect people like me to wait on you hand and foot. In fact a bet you had slaves waiting on you all the time at home. I bet you came around these parts just to rub it in our faces or maybe find a new slave." Asuna stared down at the other girl angrily. "You're lucky Negi wanted to help, I would just left you there."
Ayaka bristled at the comments and looked slightly appalled. "While that may be true for most rich people, I'll have you know I do nothing of the sort and I've never once owned a slave thank you. I've always treated the servants I did have fairly and never ever raised a hand against one." She stared down at her hands and laughed bitterly. "It's because of those types of reasons…" She clenched her hands together tightly. "My own family felt ashamed of me and exiled me from our kingdom…"
Asuna's anger dissipated and she was taken aback when Ayaka turned her with a pained look in her eyes. "You may think you know who I am… but you know nothing about me." Ayaka looked back down at her hands and the room filled with silence for a few moments.
"Here we go! The food took a while but its here." Negi walked into the room hold the tray and looked confused when they just stared at him. "Umm….."
"Well I still need to take care of some stuff before I leave, so I'll see you later kid." Asuna announced as she walked out of the room and ruffled his hair on the way out.
"….Ok?" Negi watched her go before turning to the occupant and smiling again. He walked over to the bed and set the tray down in front of her. "I hope you don't mind stew, I swear it's the only food they have here."
Ayaka chuckled slightly at the boy. "I don't think my stomach's going to complain at anything at the moment." She picked up the spoon and began eating at a much more sedated pace than the previous night.
"It's nice that someone here has manners anyways, to bad your sister hasn't picked them up as well."
"Oh! Asuna isn't my sister."
"Then you're traveling together?" Ayaka gave him an inquiring look.
"Umm actually we met the same day we met you." He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "She sort of saved my life and she's been nice enough to stay with me here for now." He suddenly adopted sort of a sad look. "I guess we'll be parting soon too…"
"Oh." She gave him a small smile slightly alarmed about someone so young being alone. "If I may ask, why is someone your age traveling all by himself for? These parts of the Outer Kingdoms aren't exactly safe."
Negi looked down then back at her with a serious expression. "I….I have to find someone, someone important to me."
"Surely you couldn't leave it up to someone more… capable at those sorts of things?" She looked at him concerned but he just shook his head.
"No… I have to do this on my own." He suddenly stood and grabbed his staff that had been sitting in the corner and turned smiling at her with a determined look. "I've been training since I was little for this, and nothing's going to stop me."
"I see…" She sighed and smiled at him. "Then I suppose I'll just have come along then."
"Ehh?" Negi stared at her confused. Ayaka finished off the rest of the stew and slowly stood up ignoring the slight pain, she smiled at him with a sudden fire in her eyes.
"There is no way that I, Yuki- Ayaka, can stand by and in good confidence let such a defenseless young boy travel all alone in these dangerous lands!" She raised her hands to the air and Negi swore for a moment he saw flowers appearing behind her.
"Umm well I'm not really defenseless but," He gave her a bright smile. "I'd be more than happy to have someone along for journey."
"Then so it shall be!" Ayaka paused for a moment then blushed slightly. "Um… you wouldn't happen to know where my clothes are would you."
Negi blushed as well noticing her state of undress. " R-Right I-I'll go get them right away!"
….
Negi stared up nervously at the now clothed blonde woman besides him and they stood outside the tavern. "Are you sure you wouldn't rather rest another day?"
"Nonsense! I'll be perfectly fine." She squinted against the sun at something in the distance. "Is that…?"
"Ah it's Asuna!" Negi shouted as he waved to her. "Wonder why she's got a horse with her though?"
"Yo!" Asuna waved slightly and she stopped in front of them holding the reigns of a large ivory stallion. "Huh? Up and about already are we?"
"My horse…" Ayaka stated quietly. "Where….When did you?" She looked at the other girl questionably.
"You said you lost a horse and I found this one wandering along the river bank nearby. Since it hand someone's belongings and stuff on it I figured it might be yours." Asuna folded her arms behind her head.
"I…Thank you Asuna." Asuna huffed slightly and looked away to hide the small blush on her cheeks.
"Don't thank me or anything; it wasn't like I was looking for it or something." She shoved the reigns into the other girls hand while Negi only smiled and watched.
"So I see you guys are all dressed and ready to go." Asuna grabbed Negi and gave him a playful squeeze. "You weren't trying to leave without telling me were ya?"
"Ouch we weren't! I swear!" He cried out painfully. Ayaka patted her horse's muzzle and couldn't help but smile at the scene, maybe Asuna wasn't as bad as she thought.
"Huh? We?" Asuna raised an eyebrow at him and he looked back happily.
"Ayaka has decided to travel with me." Asuna turned to give the girl a suspicious glance.
"It's not like I have anywhere in particular to be." Ayaka sniffed. "Besides a sweet boy like Negi shouldn't be traveling alone after all!" Again Negi swore he saw flowers appear and sweated slightly.
"Umm yea…but it isn't great Asuna?"
"I don't know…. Sounds kind of suspicious if you ask me." She suddenly smiled mischievously. "How do we know you're not into little boys or something?"
"What? How dare you accuse-"
"So it's decided!" Asuna said cutting the ranting blonde off. "I'm just gonna have to come with you and make sure Negi's innocence stays intact."
"Ehh?"
"Why you!" Asuna dodged as the blond tried to tackle her. "Ah so eager to get your hands on me, maybe I should start worrying too."
Ayaka turned red and Asuna stuck her tongue out at the fuming elf before running ahead as the other girl gave chase sword in hand.
"Ah! Asuna! Ayaka! Wait for meeeee!" Negi wailed as he grabbed the reigns of the horse and quickly followed after.
FIN?
3/28/2010 – A few corrections made to some of my bad grammar, possibly still more left though. -;