Disclaimer: I don't own Negima. Also, I actually owe people money so don't sue, you'll end up with less than nothing.
Authors Notes: If the actions of "The Clown" make you mad or he comes off as a complete arse, then good, he's done his job. I've played a lot of D&D and have many good characters lying about that have died (or are undead) and know how they work. So with a few minor tweaks to fit the universe they now happen to reside (in this case Negima) they can work well. This time around I'm using Peten Falson and "The Clown." And for future reference, if you're reading anything of mine and someone says the names "Kaiser" or "Madrix," very bad things are about to, or will, happen.
I also wrote this based on the information I know. If something is wrong, such as bedrooms in the wrong place or something on that order, I duly apologize.
Negima: Bard Moon Rising
By Dark Dragon Dave
Chapter One: Send in the Clown
Asuna slept comfortably. Her paper route was in a few hours so she wanted, subconsciously; get as much sleep as possible. But as she rolled over, something lilted into her ears. The sound traveled down her aural canal and triggered her inner ear which, in turn, sent a signal to her brain and woke her up. She reluctantly opened her eyes and checked her clock. 3 a.m. was a horrible time for someone to be playing the violin. She decided to yell at Ayaka later. In the morning, that'd be better. Sleep settled in again.
Music also trickled into Yue's ear. She tried to look around as best she could, considering the pitch black that enshrouded the room. A sound this faint shouldn't carry through the walls and no one in the room could play the violin. Either way it didn't matter because the music had stopped. Eventually sleep took her once again.
---
In the morning, as Asuna delivered papers and pondered various ways of yelling at Ayaka, her attention waned and she walked right into someone. Her balance faltered and she fell down. After thinking about Ayaka she was about to unload all over whoever was in her path. But as she looked up she thought she had seen Takahata. Her face was about to turn red when the sun obscuring her vision was itself obscured by a cloud which gave her a better view.
"I'm sorry." The felled girl apologized."I guess I wasn't paying attention."
"No problem." The person said. "Although, I must say, daydreaming this early in the morning... Can't bode well for the rest of the day. Need a hand up?" The man leaned in and offered a hand up. He had an accent but Asuna couldn't place it.
He had short, red hair, the same color as Asuna's'. He had the start of a chin goatee, which was likely what threw Asuna off, and blue eyes. Black leather gloves clad his hands. Under his red vest was a ruffled white shirt. Below that he wore grey slacks and black leather oxfords. The man's grey suit coat was slung over his left shoulder, held in place by his left hand.
Asuna grabbed his hand and he helped her up. "Thank you. I didn't mean to bump into you."
"Forget about it. I suppose I should introduce myself. My name is Peten Falson. And may I ask what your name is young lady?"
"Asuna Kagurazaka, sir." Asuna answered.
"Well, Asuna-san, I don't want to keep you from your job any longer, but I believe it to be an incredible stroke of luck to run into a girl of your age." Asuna felt really creeped out. "I hope I'm correct in assuming you go to school at Mahora Academy."
Asuna was reluctant with her answer. "You are."
Peten looked relieved. "Good… Then can you tell me where it's at? I'm the new music instructor, and when I took the job I neglected to ask where the school was." He admitted, embarrassed.
After Asuna finished laughing, she pointed out where Mahora was located. "Good luck with the new job." She said as she waved him goodbye.
"Thanks and good luck with yours." Peten said. He waved back.
"I guess he's not too bad… but, what's up with that accent?" Asuna thought.
---
Negi and Chamo were having a nice morning chat before the morning rush.
"I tell you, Aniki, I'm tired. I didn't get any sleep last night."
Negi fastened his belt. "Why's that?"
"I think some inconsiderate jerk had their radio on last night." Chamo answered. "I'm taking the day off." He flopped back in bed and yawned.
"That's a little harsh don't you think? I didn't hear anything last night." Negi put on his green jacket and adjusted his tie.
"Hurry up, Negi! We're late." The distant voice of Asuna commanded.
Konoka looked down in disappointment. "Every day…"
Negi quickly grabbed everything he needed, threw it in his briefcase and, with Konoka and Asuna, rushed out of the dorms.
---
Later, as they rushed to class with the rest of the wave of humanity, they came across Kaede. She was hustling along with the rest of the crowd.
"Good Moring, Kaede-san." greeted Negi.
Kaede looked round to look at Negi. "Good morning." She looked back at where she was going. "Hey, did you guys hear music last night?"
"I did." answered Asuna. "In fact I was going to ask Ayaka about it. That was clearly a violin.
Negi was feeling brave. "And by ask do you mean, 'yell at.'"
Asuna looked miffed. "No. Besides, you watch, she'll blow it out of proportion."
Everyone slowed down as thy approached the class buildings. As Negi looked at Asuna he caught something out of the corner of his eye. Someone was sitting on the edge of the roof of one of the buildings. The person's legs dangled down over the edge like they were sitting in a tall chair. Because of the distance Negi couldn't quite make out any details. He looked back at Asuna. "Asuna, who is that up there?" He motioned to the top of the building where no one was.
Asuna looked to where Negi pointed. "I don't see anyone."
"Huh? But… There was."
"I hope you didn't screw up a you-know-what again." Asuna said. "Something bad always happens when you do."
---
In class 3-A, Ayaka was getting the third degree from everyone, except Natsumi and Chizuru, Evangeline, and Chachamaru. Natsumi and Chizuru had elected to defend Ayaka, knowing full well her innocence.
"She wasn't playing last night, I swear." Natsumi said.
Chizuru spoke up too. "She was asleep all night."
"Why would I do something like that?" asked Ayaka.
Asuna barged into the classroom. "Ayaka!"
A look of disgust landed on Ayaka's face, like a piece of meat landing on a tile floor. "Oh great. 3-A's resident chimpanzee."
"What was that?!"
"You're right. I'm sorry." Ayaka apologized. "That was an insult to chimpanzees."
"That did it!" Asuna erupted. She slapped her stuff down on Negi's desk and grabbed the nearest clump of Ayaka's hair. Ayaka followed up by grabbing Asuna's hair.
"Please stop!" Negi begged. The tug-o-war continued unabated.
Chizuru and Natsumi took their safety into their own hands by stepping in. "Enough now!" Chizuru said. "Ayaka-san had nothing to do with what you're thinking." Asuna released her iron grip. "We heard it too." Ayaka released as well.
"Thank you, Chizuru-san," Negi said, "and you as well, Natsumi-san."
"No problem." Natsumi said.
"You're welcome, Negi-sensei." Chizuru replied.
Asuna picked up her books and avoided looking at Ayaka as she went to her desk and sat down. Negi proceeded to his desk and prepared for homeroom.
"Good morning, everyone." Negi said.
All the students bowed. "Good morning, Negi-sensei."
---
Later in the afternoon, Headmaster Konoe had to give someone a minor reprimand. Being late on your first day was acceptable, normal really, but it'd be best not to let this become a full blown problem. He seemed flighty especially after their first meeting. Come on, is grand-daughter is a nice girl. Somewhere along his amblings, Negi had joined him. "Good afternoon, Negi-kun."
"Good afternoon, Headmaster Konoe."
"Have you met our new music teacher?"
Negi shook his head. "No I haven't."
"Well I'm going to speak with him, so why don't you come along."
"Okay." Negi agreed. He realized they were headed to the same room anyway.
They eventually made their way to the Teacher's Workroom. "Peten-san." The old man opened the door and went in.
The red haired man looked up from his work. "I know what this is about and I'm sorry. But this place is rather large and imposing. It's very hard to get around."
"So you know you were late then. I won't speak of it any further on it. But while I'm here I'd like you to meet our youngest faculty member. Peten-san this is Negi Springfield-san."
Peten seemed to choke slightly. It passed in the blink of an eye. "So you're the famous Negi Springfield. I've heard quite a bit about you from our fellow coworkers." He leaned in closer to Negi and spoke quietly. "Shizuna-san has a good opinion of you." Peten sat up.
Negi blushed a little. "I- Well…"
"Peten-san, quit embarrassing Negi-kun." The Headmaster cajoled. "And Negi-kun, Peten is a little like you. He's from Scotland. Edinburgh, wasn't it?" Peten indicated that was correct. "He graduated at 14 from a bardic college and played in the London Philharmonic until he was 20. It's also said that he's mastered every known musical instrument."
Negi was astounded. "Is that true?"
"Not to tout my own accomplishments, but yes, it is." Peten said. "Once you learn one from a group it's usually just a small matter of placement and movement. At least for me it is. But I'd like to think my greatest accomplishment is becoming a teacher. I figured I won't be around forever so why not pass along the knowledge. How about you?"
"I haven't really thought about it." Negi answered
Peten leaned back with his hands behind his head."I don't know, but being a wizard at your age? I'd say that was pretty grand, wouldn't you?"
"Wha-?! How do you…"
"Oh! I neglected to tell you," Konoe said, "He knows about wizards. He was going to become a wizard at about your age."
"Yeah but things didn't exactly pan out that way. When it comes to magic I've got a thick skull." Peten knocked himself in the head. He turned to his right and put some papers in a folder. "Now if you'll excuse me, gentlemen, I have a class to get to." He stood up and left the room.
"I hope you'll excuse me too." Konoe said to Negi. "I have other business to attend to while I'm here." The old man walked over o another part of the room to talk to another teacher.
Negi went and sat at his own desk.
---
Later that evening, just after the sun had set, found Negi walking to Evangeline's house. Chamo was riding on his shoulder, rested fully from his sleepless night last night. Also with Negi was his ever present staff. As the boy walked along the wind, warm and inviting, caused him to relax. Perhaps a bit too much. He closed his eyes, which is something you should never do while you walk. With his eyes closed he didn't see who he bumped into.
"Ow." Negi said as he landed. He looked at who he had walked into. Chamo rolled farther away.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Negi-sensei." apologized Yue.
"No," Negi said as he stood up, "it's my fault. I wasn't looking where I was going." Chamo returned to Negi's shoulder. Negi offered Yue a hand up. Yue's cheeks became slightly redder at the gesture. She accepted and he helped her up.
The wind kicked up and rustled the leaves of the nearby trees. Negi, Yue, and Chamo didn't see the figure fly up into the trees near them. As far the figure was concerned their inane chatter had gone on long enough. It finally spoke. "Wah-hahaha!" The laugh sounded like it was run through a reverberator, making it sound mechanical.
All three non-tree bystanders turned to the voice. The figure standing in the tree wore a clown outfit. The left side of the whole outfit, except the cap, was sky blue. The right side was white with a blue diamond pattern. On the hands of the figure were black gloves. It wore black, pointy-toed elf shoes that ended in white puffballs instead of points.
On the head it wore a unique jester's cap. The cap had two sides and therefore had two points. The left side was white and the right side was sky blue. Both points were really long, starting at the head and ending at knee length. Both points ended in white puffballs like the shoes.
But, by far, the most disturbing feature was the mask. It was a full face mask that had no more than three colors on it. The upper half, around the eyes over the top half of the bridge of the nose and the whole forehead, was pure black. Save for two white circles where the eyes would be. The lower half was snow white and had a line drawing of a pointy toothed smile on it, the kind of smile you'd draw on a shark. The smile stretched across the mask from left to right. From the bottom center of the eyes to the smile below ran two, thick, red stripes, one per eye, as if the mask had cried blood.
"I've come for Negi Springfield!" The reverberated voice said. Even with the distortion the three of them could tell it was male.
"Why? Who are you?" Negi asked. He moved in between Yue and the clown in the tree.
"All," The clown jumped and landed right in front of Negi, bowing to reduce the height difference, "of that in good time." With a flick of his wrist, the clown produced a spray can and sprayed the contents into Negi's face. The cloud of gas wafted into Chamo's face as well. A deep slumber fell over both of them.
"Hey! What do you think-" before Yue could finish, she received a face full of sleep, "you're do-ing? Yue drifted off to sleep. An indeterminate amount of time later she woke up at the request of Kaede. "Negi?!" She looked around but didn't see him. The sun had set and the moon was full. She had been out for a while.
"What's the matter? What about Negi? He didn't do anything to you, did he?" Kaede asked.
"No." Yue answered. She stood up and spotted Chamo. "I think someone took him." Yue picked up the still KO'd Chamo.
"Took him?" Kaede asked. Her voice had a sense of urgency. "What did the culprit look like?"
---
The clown hauled Negi through the trees. He stepped over random shrubbery and around trees. "I'd really like to fly, but I don't know how much longer he'll be out." He muttered as he put Negi down.
He snapped with his right hand which seemed to cause a trumpet to appear out of thin air. He placed the trumpet to the mouth of the mask. Even though it should not have worked, it did. The horn produced a single wavering note that seemed to hang in the air. The clown listened intently and heard a discrepancy. With a quick twist, the clown faced his pursuer.
"And what were you going to with Negi-boya, eh?" Evangeline asked. Chachamaru stood beside her as usual.
The clown made the trumpet disappear and put a finger on his chin. "I really don't see where that is any of your business."
"He is my 'student' as it were. I can't very well let you take him." explained Eva.
"Hmm…" the clown pondered. "Ha ha ha ha. And he is my prisoner, which leaves us with one heck of a conundrum. But I really don't care about you or your opinion… so… later." The clown picked up Negi and slung him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and started walking off again.
"Chachamaru," Evangeline ordered, "stop him."
Chachamaru ran towards the clown and missed with her jab. The clown tossed Negi to one side, and did a quick spin to end up behind her. Chachamaru tried a roundhouse kick on him, but he ducked and grabbed her ankle. He pulled her foot out but she quickly recovered and made a few more kicks which the clown simply back flipped to avoid.
Evangeline started. "Lic lac la lac lilac."
The clown heard it and reached into the frill of his left cuff while dodging Chachamaru.
Evangeline continued. "Veniant spiritus glaciales-"
The clown pulled a red ball from his cuff about the size of a golf ball while moving to avoid Chachamaru's attacks.
"Obscurants, cum obscurantioni flet-" Evangeline seen the ball as the clown held it up to her as he landed. "Tepestas nivalis-" The clown clapped his hands together with the ball in between them. When he separated his hands the ball was gone. Evangeline continued on, almost finished. "Nivis tem-fuhnah."
"Eh heh he heh heh heh." The clown laughed.
Evangeline reached into her mouth and pulled out a red foam rubber ball. "Veniant spiritus glaciales-" Once again the clown pulled a foam rubber ball from his cuff, a green one this time, and clapped his hands together. Once again when he separated them, the ball was missing. "Obsununus, um." She pulled a green foam rubber ball out of her mouth. She threw it out into the trees. "How many of those do you have?"
"Enough. We done here? I'm bored." The clown yawned. "I've already proved I can block your spell casting and your metal girlfriend can't land a hit on me. Useless." He hefted Negi once more and again proceeded to walk off.
"Negi-sensei…" Chachamaru muttered. She fired up her jets and, at top speed, sped forwards.
The clown turned while dropping Negi safely off to one side. With an inhuman amount of speed he grabbed both of her arms and braced his left foot against her abdomen. The clown shifted his weight to his back and took Chachamaru with him. Chachamaru felt the monkey flip even more because of her jets, and ended up landing in the dirt on her back. Before she landed she turned off her jets.
The clown drew out four knives, two per hand, with another flick of his wrist. With another couple of quick movements he threw them all at Chachamaru. She could see them coming at her as if time had slowed, but there was nothing she could do because she'd have to stand first. "I'm sorry Negi." she thought.
The knives flew off in random directions as if something had collided with them because, in fact, something did. "Hold it right there!" demanded the possessor of the kunais that knocked the knives off course. The clown looked and saw Kaede, Yue, and Chamo approach.
"Well well." The clown laughed. "This is has become a regular party." His tone changed, "I don't do parties."
"What are you going to do with Negi-bozu?" Kaede asked.
Chamo hopped down and ran to Negi. Before he could get close, another knife stopped him by stabbing into the ground immediately in front of him. Chamo exclaimed and could have sworn he lost a few hairs.
"The question of the day apparently…" The clown said. "One I don't intend on answering yet, if at all, thanks." Chachamaru stood up and dusted herself off. "Now if you don't mind, I have somewhere I need to be and I'm taking Shortpie there with me."
All four girls and Chamo surrounded Negi. They were ready to fight the clown off by any means necessary.
"Hmm…" The clown was thinking.
"Before we commence beating the hell out of you," Evangeline asked, "who are you, what is your name?"
"Why do you care?" The clown asked Eva.
She shrugged her shoulders. "Just curious."
The clown snapped the fingers on his right hand and his trumpet reappeared. He placed to the smile of the mask again.
Evangeline whispered. "Frigerans-"
The clown produced a screaming shockwave that caused everyone who wasn't playing or mechanical to hold their ears. The sound continued and grew stronger. The clown moved forward and swept across with the trumpet. The sound waves knocked those who were guarding Negi back. The force became loud enough that it peeled the bark off the trees it hit.
Negi finally started to open his eyes.
The clown's music stopped and he made the instrument nonexistent. "Looks like it's wearing off. I've wasted too much time here." He lifted Negi up by the arms. "Come on, Negi-kun," he said the name sarcastically, "we've got a date to keep." He did the sack of potatoes things again and ran off.
Kaede and the others stood up. The ninja ran after the clown.
"Chachamaru," Evangeline ordered, "follow him."
"You should know, master, that I've suffered 20 structural damage from the sound wave and my left arm is not functioning." Chachamaru stated. She followed orders any way and gave chase.
"If you know what's best for you you'll head back." Evangeline said. She looked at Yue and Chamo. "Don't worry. We can take care of this fool." She ran after the clown as well.
---
"Let go of me right this instant!" Negi demanded. He started reciting his release when he got a painful thumb in his side. "Ouch."
"Shut it." suggested the clown. He could tell someone was approaching him from behind. "I hate persistent people…" he muttered. Negi tried his release again and got an even more painful thumb in his side. "For such a smart kid you sure do learn slowly."
Kaede realized she would have to be swift and accurate in her attack. She had six shuriken ready and threw three of them. The clown seemed to lift off the ground ever so slightly, so as not to be noticed that he did, and spun fast enough he became a sky blue and white blur. He only spun to knock the shuriken away. "What a pain in the butt." Kaede thought.
Negi had gotten used to his situation and decided to get a better look around. He ducked a branch.
Chachamaru caught up with Kaede and used her jets to fly forward and chop blocked the clown. Before Negi hit the ground Chachamaru caught him. The clown tumbled and turned it into a forward summersault. He jumped and turned to face his pursuers. He produced three more rubber balls, all red, and started juggling them. Evangeline, who brought up the rear, joined them.
"Well, now that we've narrowed the field…" The clown eyes flashed. "Let me tell you a story. Long ago the village of Enlin, there lived a greedy mayor. With the taxes he collected he had amassed a fair bit of gold." Eva, Kaede, and Negi fell into a trance like state. It continued while the clown spoke. "…hired a powerful wizard to craft him a 'Ring of Invisibility' that would…"
Chachamaru didn't move because she had not been ordered to and he wasn't actually doing anything. Or so she thought.
"…shortchanged the wizard by refusing to pay all he owed because the wizard was a day late. This angered the wizard and he placed a curse upon the mayor which gave him what he wanted. Invisibility and a little something extra, silence. The mayor was never seen or heard from again, replaced, and eventually died without anyone knowing it." He put the balls away.
The three non-clown humans snapped out of it. Evangeline shook her head. "That was pointless."
The clown started running again, this time without Negi. Kaede felt something brush by her. She didn't see or hear anything so she disregarded it and chased after the clown with the others.
"You know…" The clown said as he started running backwards. "The story did have a point to it." Chachamaru flew faster and reach out with her right hand. She grabbed the clown and… Nothing. "It's," he said as Chachamaru touched him, "about a man who was never there." The clown faded away.
"What the!" exclaimed Evangeline.
Chachamaru looked at her hand. "How?" She processed for a second longer then turned to Negi. "Are you okay, Negi-sensei?"
"I'm fine." He answered. "My side hurts a little though."
"As he ran away, I felt something brush by me." Kaede said.
"It was him." Eva observed. "That stupid little story was a spell meant to distract us. There's no point now. He's gotten away." She turned to Negi. "Who did you anger?"
"I didn't do anything… I swear." Negi answered.
"Either way, someone is after you. He's gotten tired; otherwise we'd still be fighting him. I say we head back in case I'm wrong."
The other three agreed with her and started heading back.
---
A figure splashed up from the trees like a dolphin breaching the surface of the ocean, but instead of splashing down it continued gaining altitude. It was the clown from before, silhouetted against the full moon. He lifted his mask but his face remained hidden by darkness. "Just great! Perfect!" He yelled. The clown continued to shout for a few more seconds out of rage. He picked up speed towards town.
---
Yue ran as far as she could. Chamo hung to her shoulder. "Listen, I'd carry you if I could but there's no way."
"That's fine. I understand." Yue said. A nearby bench provided a place to catch her breath. After a short break she got up and walked. It wasn't running but it was better than nothing. Fortunately she was close to the dorms. Still far enough to be a problem, but at least she was in a place where someone might come along. She continued walking and looking. Yes, it was dark out but someone had to be about. Standing at the entrance, having a nice chat, was Akira Okochi and Ako Izumi. Better than nothing. "Help!" she shouted.
Ako and Akira stopped talking and rushed over to Yue. "What's the matter? What's wrong?"
"Someone abducted Negi." Yue answered. "Call Asuna she'll know what to do."
"Shouldn't we call the police or something?" Ako asked.
"Just trust me. Call Asuna." Yue said. "Of all the days to leave my phone in my room."
Ako got out her phone and started dialing.
---
Asuna and Konoka sat at the table watching television. The show wasn't important to the story nor was it any good. Its only relevance was to be played out in Asuna's next comment, after which it'll probably be forgotten by the end of the chapter. But now that I've said that you're going to try your best to remember it aren't you? Just trust me, it's not important.
"This show is dumb. Can we find something else?" asked Asuna.
Konoka picked up the remote and pressed the button to go up one channel and at that exact moment Asuna's phone rang. Konoka exclaimed as it caught her off guard.
Asuna opened her phone and seen it was Ako calling. "Why would Ako call me?" She answered, "Hello?"
"Asuna," Ako replied, "something bad has happened."
"What?" Asuna asked. Konoka looked on silently.
"Someone's abducted Negi."
Asuna's heartbeat quickened. "Who?" She stood up.
"I don't know. I heard it from Yue."
"Let me speak to her." A quite voice ordered. "Asuna?" The voice of Yue asked louder.
"What's going on?"
"Someone dressed like a clown attacked Negi and me with some kind of sleep spray. He took Negi and wandered off with him. Kaede woke me up later and we ended up catching up with him."
"And?"
"When we got there Evangeline and Chachamaru were already fighting him. After a concussive blast from a trumpet that knocked everyone back, he grabbed Negi and ran off again. However Chachamaru, Evangeline, and Kaede went after him." explained Yue.
Asuna relaxed a little. With that kind of force she felt bad for the clown. "I'm-"
"Asuna?"
"What?"
"It's okay. They've returned."
"Good. Where are you?"
"Right outside the dorms."
"I'm coming down then." Asuna ended the call and shut her phone.
"What's going on?" Konoka asked. She had waited patiently through the entire call.
"Negi was kidnapped."
"Wha?!" Konoka panicked. "Why are we sitting here?" Konoka sat up and started flailing about nervously.
"Konoka."
Konoka flailed on.
"Konoka!" Asuna shouted. Konoka stopped. "He's fine. Kaede, Evangeline, and Chachamaru rescued him."
Konoka exhaled deeply. "Good."
"They're right outside. Let's go."
---
The dorm came into sight as the clown fighters walked back. Negi waved to Yue, Ako, and Akira. Ako and Akira ran to Negi. Yue closed Ako's phone and decided to walk to Negi, she couldn't bring herself to run. "I'm glad you're okay." She handed Ako back her phone.
Chamo hopped from Yue to Negi.
"Yep, our little Negi-bozu's perfectly okay." Kaede said. "However the clown got away, so just to be safe, keep an eye out."
"Come on boya, you've proved you're okay, you were headed to my place anyway." Eva said.
"Asuna's coming down. I called her about this. She'd probably like to see for herself" Yue said.
"I really wish you wouldn't have. She's going to be mad.
"Don't forget. I was attacked too. She'd have to be mad at me as well."
"Whenever lovey-dovey hour is over, you're mine." Evangeline said while tugging at Negi's tie.
"Maybe I would have been better off with the clown" Negi thought.
Ako leaned over to Akira and whispered in her ear. "Those two aren't… You know, are they?"
Akira replied in a hushed tone. "I don't know."
After a few moments of uncomfortable silence Asuna made it out of the building with Konoka right behind her. "What the heck Negi? Are you all right?" Konoka showed her concern by hugging him instead.
"I'm fine really. My side hurts a little though." Negi said.
Ever so faintly the sound of a bagpipe could be heard. Everyone, some of which that were already on edge, turned. In the distance, under the streetlights, Peten played. He looked up every now and then to make sure he wasn't going to walk into something. Seemingly, Negi and the others didn't register with him. His expression was that of deep thought.
Kaede looked like she had indigestion. Such a grating noise.
The music stopped and Peten squeezed the lat bits of air out of the bag producing several off key notes. He exhaled and walked along the path he'd been following which lead right past the dorms. Not much later he noticed Negi and the others.
"Hi Peten-san." Negi said.
"Hey Negi-kun. Oh Asuna-san. Nice to see you again" Peten said.
"Hi Peten-san." Asuna said.
"By all means, call me Peten." He reacted when he saw Konoka. "It's you."
"What about me?" Konoka asked.
Peten chuckled. "I'm sorry. When I first arrived this morning your grandfather, after getting the basic stuff out of the way, wanted to know if I wanted to be in an O-mimai with his granddaughter. He then showed me your picture."
"He did what?!" Konoka was embarrassed. "What did you say?"
"Yes" Peten replied. Konoka turned red. The others expressions changed as well. "Then I did what I should have done first and asked exactly what an O-mimai was. And I was embarrassed. I'm originally from Scotland, so I thought he was talking about a car or maybe a restaurant. But I was wrong."
"What did you do then?" Konoka asked. Peten could tell she was sad.
"Don't worry. I talked my way out of it." Peten said. "As for why he'd ask me, I can only figure that it's that I'm not much older than you, right about seven years."
"Oh good." Konoka said relieved. "I don't like them."
"Besides, it looks like you already got a boyfriend there." Peten looked around. "Seems like you're quite the lady-killer there Negi, eh."
"He's not my boyfriend." Konoka giggled. "He's our teacher.
"Oh. Well I'll see you later, kids." Peten walked off. "Man, did I ever walk off course." He said. He looked around, turned, and headed in a new direction. When he was out of line of sight he gave a big smile and laughed.
When he was out off ear shot Kaede voiced her opinion. "I dislike the bagpipe."
"Who doesn't?" asked Ako. "I'll see everyone tomorrow." Akira also said her goodbye and went in with Ako. Kaede and Yue went in too. Konoka was next.
"You coming, Negi?" Asuna asked.
Before Negi could answer his decision was made for him. "He'll be coming with me as part of his training." Eva said. "With that clown about I don't want him taking Negi."
"Thanks for your concern." Negi said.
"I am concerned… About myself. If that clown walks of with you, I'll be stuck here forever." Evangeline said. "Come on. We're leaving." Chachamaru and her started walking off.
"Hurry up, Aniki, or she'll leave you behind." Chamo said.
"Right. See you tomorrow Asuna." Negi said.
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Someone picked up a phone and pressed quite a few numbers. "Good thing I'm not paying the bill."After a few moments of silence the phone on the other end started ringing. Click. "Hello."
"It me."
"Did you get the kid?"
"No. I almost had him but I got attacked by a robot, a ninja, and a vampire… I think."
The voice on the other end rustled through some papers. "Get me a picture and you reward could be greater, but keep in mind, as of now, you have 30 days. After that you'll be seen as a traitor yourself and an execution order will be sent out. Are we clear?"
"Yes we are." Click. "It's you or me Negi Springfield."
End Chapter One
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Author's Afterthoughts: Well this is my first, available outside notebooks I own, fanfic. So whad'ya think. Good? (I hope.) Bad? (Nooo!) Anyway, let me know. If you did like it, unfortunately it might be a while before I can update. I don't have a computer, I'm currently borrowing Midnights laptop, and I still write everything in a notebook and then transfer it to his computer via my slow typing skills. (I couldn't crack 17wpm in my old typing class) I have most of Chapter 2 wrote, all I need is time. Lots of it.