A/N: It starts out exactly how the manga starts out, once we get to Mahora the differences will start to appear. And I'm only going to say this once, for this chapter and every following chapter. I do not own Negima, as much as I would like to.

Chapter One: Change of Plans

"I will now award you your diplomas. You've done well for these last seven years, but the real training begins now. Do not let your resolve weaken." Grandmaster told the attendees as he gazed across the room.

"Negi Springfield!"

"Yes!" Negi replied in earnest. He took his scroll and with a deep bow, left with Anya and his sister, Nekane.

"Hey, Negi! What does it say? I got assigned to a fortune-telling job in London!" Anya inquired.

"Where will you be training?" Nekane added.

Negi looked between Anya and Nekane, and barely able to withhold his excitement, he opened the aged parchment scroll. "It's about to appear!" Negi told them, shivering with excitement. "Oh..."

"Well?" Anya asked as she peeked over his shoulder to look at his scroll.

"Ano(1)..." Negi stated flabbergasted. "A teacher...in japan." He read out loud as the cerulean letters appeared, one by one, on his scroll.

"Eeeeeeeh?" Nekane and Anya sputtered out in shock.

Nekane and Anya ran to see the Grandmaster, dragging Negi along.

"P-principal! What's the meaning of this? What do you mean by 'teacher'?" Nekane asked of him, her voice raising an octave.

"Ho...a teacher, is it?" Grandmaster stated as he stroked his beard thoughtfully.

"Are you sure there hasn't been a mistake? There's no way a 10-year old can be a teacher!" Nekane asked him, her voice quivering with worry.

"That's right! Negi's a real shrimp, and on top of that he spaces out all the time!" Anya exclaimed, trying to put up a front in front of Negi.

"If it was written on the diploma, then that is the end of the matter. Well...you must train hard...in order to become a great mage!" Grandmaster told Negi.

"Aah!" Nekane said as she fainted.

"Ah! Onee-chan!" Negi exclaimed. Negi immediately went and caught her just before she hit the ground.

"Hmm...Don't worry, the principal of the school you will be assigned to is a friend of mine. Just do your best, alright?" Grandmaster advised him.

"...Yes, sir! Understood!" Negi replied with a bow.

"Wow...this is amazing!" Negi said as he stared at all the people, unused to city life. Quickly, he boarded the subway, which, as usual, was filled to the brim with people and he got stuck against the pole. As all the women started to fawn over him, for being so cute, his nose started to itch and he sneezed causing a minor gale storm to burst through the subway car and the skirts of all the women flew up. After about 15 minutes of riding the subway he got off at Mahora. He ran by, powered up by his magic so he wouldn't be late, only to meet Miyazaki Nodoka, one of his students, although he doesn't know it at the time. With her were her two best friends, Saotome Haruna and Ayase Yue. They were walking together asking Haruna of her manga that she was in the process of drawing.

"Oh, excuse me." Negi said in perfect Japanese, although his accent clearly showed him as a foreigner.

"What are you doing here, Otoko(2)?" Haruna asked of him leaning in closely, pushing his chest with a finger.

"This is Mahora Academy. An all girls school. Mahora Elementary is one station back." Yue drilled him in her fairly monotonous voice.

Nodoka remained silent as her friends patronized Negi.

"I-I'm suppos-" Negi started when a familiar voice interrupted him, one that stopped the girls mid-sentence.

"Welcome to Mahora Academy...Negi-sensei." Takamichi told him, leaning out of a window. "Girls, this is your new homeroom teacher that I told the class about."

Just after he finished saying that the bell rung and Negi realized he needed to hurry to meet up with Konoemon. "Excuse me girls, nice meeting you, if I didn't catch your names, but I really need to hurry up and meet with the Dean." He told them, before running off quickly, leaving a minor dust cloud in his wake.

"H-he's to be our new sensei, Takahata-sensei?" Nodoka asked as she watched his figure disappear from sight.

"Yes, Negi-kun is a good friend of mine, so don't worry about his age so much, he's definitely qualified." Takamich told them.

"NANI?(3)" Asuna screamed at the Dean. She pulled up Negi by the scruff of his neck. "Are you telling me this little brat is to replace Takahata-sensei as our new homeroom teacher?"

"Yes, that is correct, Kagurazaka-san." Konoemon told her as he glanced at Negi worried about what Asuna might do to him.

"Negi-kun, you still need a place to stay right? How about with my granddaughter Konoka?" Konoemon asked him. "Oh, and speaking of which, you don't have a girlfriend do you? How do you feel about marrying my granddaughter?"

At this Konoka hits her grandfather with a tiny mallet. "Oh, Ojii-san..." She scolded him.

"There is no way in hell that I'm going to let this brat stay in our room. I don't care if he has to live out on the streets, he is not staying with me." Asuna told the Dean sternly as she glared at Negi.

"Unfortunately, I have to agree with Asuna-chan on this point Ojii-san. Things are hazardous enough that we are barely on time as it is, throw him into the picture and we might never be on time again." Konoka stated with a light giggle.

"Hmm...I see your point there. I'll check the rooms and see how we're doing on that situation, onto the next point. Shizuna-chan, come in and help Negi-kun out on his first day. Good luck, Negi." Konoemon said and with a wave of his hand sat back down in his seat.

"Come on, Negi-kun, you've got a class to meet." Shizuna told Negi, leading the way. She stopped just outside the class. "Here, Negi-kun, take this." She added as she handed him the class roll.

Negi stopped outside, and looked through the windows at all his students. 'These are the people I will be teaching from now on, huh?' Negi thought as he gazed across the room. "Wow, there's so many."

"Shall we, Negi-kun?" Shizuna asked Negi as she pointed to the door.

"H-hai(4)!" Negi said as he tentatively opened the door. Immediately a chalkboard eraser came down and met his magic barrier stopping just half an inch away before releasing all the chalk dust it held. Negi coughed as he stumbled forward...only to trip over a wire and get his head caught in a bucket. Three "Plunger" arrows came and hit him, knocking him over, and after a few cartwheels he flew into the side of his new desk.

Immediately about half the class rushed to him, yelling "A kid? Eh?"

"Hey, are you okay?"

"Sorry about that! We thought that you were the new teacher!"

At that Shizuna clapped, bringing everyone's attention to her. "No, he is your new teacher." She told them all. "Come on, introduce yourself." She added to Negi.

"H-hai...I'm...My name is Negi Springfield. From today onwards I'll be teaching English at this school. I'll only be here for three terms, but it's nice to meet you all." Negi said, with slight nervousness. There was no noise anywhere on campus for an entire three seconds, as if the world was waiting for their reaction in suspense.

"He's so cute!" screamed all the girls in unison.

"How old are you?" asked Makie.

"Ano...ten."

"Where are you from? What's your nationality?" Asakuro asked him, holding a microphone up to him.

"The back mountains of Wales..."

"Where's Wales?" Akira asked.

"Western England."

"Are you really smart?" Yuuna asked.

"Ano...I am fluent in English to a Graduate level."

"What was your childhood like?" Ako asked him.

The look on his face was depressing enough to move demons. His countenance seemed to have dropped the temperature by fifteen degrees. Centigrade.

"Ano..." said the girls repeatedly as they felt awkward.

"Well, Negi. Looks like you'll do fine here, I'll leave you be for now. Be gentle with him girls, he is only ten after all." Shizuna said, breaking the tension for them.

"R-right." Negi said and suddenly, was lifted up by the scruff of his neck...again.

"Hey, you! What did you do with the chalkboard eraser back there? You did something weird, didn't you?" Asuna demanded of him, shaking him back and forth.

"S-stop it!" Nodoka yelled out, surprising everyone around her. With a faint blush, she continued. "Ano...let Negi-sensei get to our lesson..."

"Arigatou(5)...Nodoka-san." He said as he turned around and opened his book. "Everyone, turn to page 137 and let's begin our lesson.

(A/N: This part may be boring for some, but I feel it is necessary for the story, if you wish to skip the lesson, just scroll down to where I bold my next A/N indicating the end of lesson)

"The furry dog ran across the busy street dodging cars here and there and found its bone in the ground. After digging for a moment, he freed it and continued to run with it." Negi said, reading it out loud in English. Taking a look at the role call, he pondered on who to call next. "Yuuna-san, mind reading the next two sentences?"

"Aww man. I'll try. He...ran far and fast...with his bone firmly set in his mouth. As he stopped paying attention to his surroundings...he...fell in a river..." Yuuna said tentatively.

"Very good, Yuuna-san. How about you Asakura-san?" Negi said as he began the lesson, continuing to pace around the room, trying to memorize everyone's name as quickly as he could.

"Okay, Negi-Sensei." Asakura stated. "With a sudden tremor, the dog quickly leapt out of the river, leaving his bone behind in his fright. He shook himself off and quickly searched around him, hoping to find his bone again."

"Wow, great job Asakura-san. I take it you don't have many troubles in English?" Negi said, gleefully surprised at her skill.

"I have to know what everyone says to be able to report it accurately, don't I?" She replied loudly with a wink.

"True, true." Negi said with a small chuckle. "Now for you Yue-san." This continued for quite a while without a hitch until he came to Asuna.

"Wha-why me?" She complained.

"I've gone down the role call in order, which you should have noticed if you were paying attention, Asuna-san." Negi admonished her.

At this Asuna's cheeks quickly colored. "Shu-shut up! I'll...read...it. The dog found...a new bone. He...was careful with...what he...bone...new...friend...went..." she mumbled, her voice getting softer and softer.

"Wow, Asuna, you really are bad at English." Negi said.

"Not just English. Maths, Science, and History too. In fact, the only thing she's good at is P.E." Ayaka told him, almost jumping in his face.

Laughing lightly, Negi continued his lesson, and got through the short story a little quicker than he planned.

"Thank you, Chisame-san, you did a good job translating. However, Chisame-san, Evangeline-san, Nodoka-san, Natsumi-san, Ayaka-san, Yotsuba-san, and Zazie-san haven't done their part yet. And...seeing as how Chisame-san and Evangeline-san aren't here, we'll start with you Nodoka-san. What did you think the message the author was trying to send to us?"

"M-me?" She asked him, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Hai, you Nodoka-san." Negi replied in an affirmative voice.

"Ano...I think that she was saying that while we may overcome a few obstacles to reach a goal of ours, just reaching that goal doesn't mean that things have come easy for us, yet. We still must be wary of our surroundings, push forward, and even if we lose some ground initially, we can still push ahead and become triumphant." Nodoka stated with a knowledgeable aura about her.

Everyone in the class except for Yue, Konoka, and Haruna looked at her in shock. "Wow. I couldn't have put it better myself, great job in seeing underneath the underneath Nodoka-san. Ayaka-san, Natsumi-san, Yotsuba-san, Zazie-san. Anything else you want to add?"

"Ano...it wasn't that great..." Nodoka added softly.

"Um...no, I don't see anything else the author may have been meaning to say to us." Natsumi said.

"No. She took the words right out of my mouth." Ayaka said as she thought 'Hopefully, this will make him see me in a better light...and damn that Nodoka, putting herself on a high pedestal in front of MY Negi-sensei.'

"No, Negi-sensei." Yotsuba told him.

"..."

"Okay, one last thing before I dismiss you all. Your homework is on Page 146. Do questions 1-4, and a, b, d, and g on question 7. Read the author's comments on it, they will be on a future test." Negi said, writing it down on the chalkboard.

(A/N: Lesson ended.)

"Okay, see you all tomorrow. Class is dismissed." Negi told everyone as he put all his things in his bag.

'Ah...where will I stay the night? I can't survive outdoors without revealing my magic, since I don't have any camping equipment, and I don't have much experience...Ah, may as well mention that when I talk to Kono-san at the meeting.' Negi thought.

He left the room and immediately bumped into Takamichi. "Ah. Takamichi."

"Hey, Negi-kun. Glad I caught you before you left." Takamichi said.

"Caught...me? For what?" Negi inquired of him, faintly puzzled.

"Just wanted to see how you were doing, Negi-kun." Takamichi told him.

"Oh, well...today went pretty well, I covered the lesson, and got a few surprises from my students. Nodoka-san was surprisingly good at seeing what the author was trying to tell the readers. Asakura-san read far more quickly and accurately than I expected. Evangeline-san and Chachamaru-san weren't here today...so I can't give any opinions on them. Except for one little hitch with Asuna-san reading today, it went really well." Negi told him, with a slight chuckle.

"That's good, Negi-kun. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some stuff to do, and I'm sure you do as well." He said as he turned around. "Don't be too hard on Asuna-san, it's not easy for her." He added, leaving before Negi could ask what he meant.

'Well, I better go to Konoemon-san now, hmm...just what did Takamichi-kun mean...' Negi thought to himself, as he headed towards the Dean's office.

Pausing briefly to look out one of the windows, he saw the World Tree. "Wow..." Negi said out loud, in total shock.

"Yeah, that's the world tree, Negi-sensei."

"Huh? Oh...Student #4 Ayase Yue-san. What do you know of it? I've never seen such a large tree before, and I've never even heard of it before." Negi told her, as he turned his gaze away from the World Tree.

"They say this tree was here long before Mahora was built. Everyone call is the World Tree. Not only that, but there is a legend about this tree. They say that if those with unrequited love confess here, that love will come true." Yue told him, still in her fairly monotonous voice.

"Wow, that's amazing...oh. If you'll excuse me, I've got to hurry. I'm nearly late." Negi told her.

"Of course, Sensei." Yue told him, as she drank some more of her weird juice, this one curry flavored.

Negi walked quickly down the halls, and in just a few moments, he made it to the Dean's office. He opened the door and went in.

"Ah, Negi-kun. What is it that you wanted to speak with me about?" Konoemon asked him.

"Well, it's about..." Negi started.

"That took a lot longer than I expected..." Negi said to himself, sitting by the fountain. "It's already 5:30."

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Nodoka, with about fifteen books in her arms. "That can not be safe..." Negi said. And as if he was forseeing the future, she tripped, and started to fall off the stairs. "I knew it!" Quickly, he pulled out his staff and pulled on his magic.

"Ras Tel Ma Scir Magister: Spiritus Venti, Puellae Sublatus."

He ran towards her and caught her just as the shield died. "Are you okay Nodoka-san?"

"Negi-sensei..?" she said and then quickly passed out.

"What am I going to do? I can't leave her here, that much is obvious. But it would be irresponsible and hazardous to others to leave the books here...Ah! I know. I'll put them in my bag, it's mostly empty anyways, and I can use magic to increase its inner size...with a pocket for my stuff so it won't seem unnaturally large on the inside to them."

Lifting his staff once more, careful not to disturb Nodoka, he chanted " Ras Tel Ma Scir Magister: Spiritus Venti, Sacci Expansio."

He then quickly put all of his things into the pocket and put her fifteen books in the bag. Carrying her the only way he could for his size, he headed off to the dorms. It only took him ten minutes, Nodoka was still out of it, unfortunately for Negi.

Opening the door he was immediately swarmed by Yue and Haruna. "What happened? Why is she unconscious? You didn't do anything to her did you? Is she hurt?" They both said in about the space of three seconds.

Negi slowly absorbed what they said, and readied himself to answer their questions. "Okay, at 5:30, I finished up my meeting with Kono-san, I sat by the fountain thinking on what happened in the meeting. Almost immediately after, I saw Nodoka-san head down the stairs, with fifteen or so books in her arms. I immediately thought that that couldn't be safe, and unfortunately, I was right. She tripped and fell sideways off the stairs, I quickly ran and luckily caught her before she hit the ground. She fainted immediately after. T-the only things I did for her was catch her, gather her books, and carry her here. And I don't think she got hurt, the most she might have is a few bruises." Negi told them, slightly nervous at all this attention.

"Okay, set her down on the couch, if you want, you can join us for dinner. It's the least we can do in thanks for saving Nodoka." Haruna told him.

"I-I wouldn't want to intrude..." he stated softly.

"No, no, no. This is fine. Oh, speaking of which, where'll you be living at Negi-sensei?" Haruna asked him.

"No-nowhere at the moment..." He told her softly.

"Well, how about you live here with us?" she asked him.

"No. I-I couldn't do that, I'm already intruding enough by having dinner with you three..." Negi told her nervously.

"As long as it's fine with Yue and Nodoka, this won't be intrusion, I'll have no problem with you staying here. And you did save Nodoka after all."

"Ah...well...I..." Negi sputtered, as his nerves started to get the better of him.

"Sensei, I have no problem with it. And I'm sure Nodoka wouldn't either." Yue added.

"Ah...umm...I...well..." he continued sputtering.

Nodoka finally stirred, getting everyone's attention on her. Catching sight of Negi she started to blush. "Ne-Negi-sensei! Ano...arigatou. F-for saving me..." She told him softly.

"N-no problem...I-I just did wh-what any teacher would do..." Negi told her, still nervous.

"Nodoka, we were just discussing this. But how would you feel if Negi-sensei were to move in with us?" Haruna asked her.

'Negi...sensei. Living...here...?' she thought to herself.

"Ano...I-I-I wouldn't have a p-p-problem with with that." she responded.

"Okay, that's settled. All three of us would have no problems with you here Negi-sensei. What do you say?" Haruna told him.

"Ano...I...guess it's fine. I-I still feel like I'll be intruding." Negi told her.

"Okay, now onto the next thing. Negi-sensei, have you ever had Kare Raisu(6)?" Haruna asked him.

"No...I haven't, but I've always wanted to." Negi replied in earnest, sniffing the air for the enticing scent of the curry.

"Good. That's for tomorrow, today we are having Nikujaga(7)." Haruna told him, laughing at his expression change from joyful, to disappointment, and back to joy.

"Negi, head off to the baths now. In forty-five minutes the girls will go to them, this gives you time to finish and be back, without any awkwardness." Yue told him.

"Ano..." Negi started, looking around the room.

"Hm? What is it, Negi-sensei?" Haruna asked him.

"Well...I...don't exactly like baths." He mumbled.

Haruna started laughing, "You can be such a kid, Negi-sensei."

"Sensei, I'd go if I were you. You wouldn't want Haruna to take you there herself." Yue adviced him.

"Tha-thanks, Yue-san. I'll be back." He told them with a wave of his hand, and hurried out of the room.

A/N: And on that...I'm done with this chapter. Woah...I did this in one sitting. Not bad if I do say so myself. Stupid FF...won't let me use superscript.

1: Umm...

2: Little Boy

3: What

4: Yes.

5: Thank you.

6: Curry Rice

7: Nikujaga is a popular dish of home style cooking made of meat and potatoes.

And sitting at about 3300 words for my first chapter of my first story.

Looking for beta-readers, although don't know how that is done...anyways. Poll on my profile.