Juugo: 2 – Sensei?

Disclaimer: I do not own Negima or any of the characters they are the property of their respective creators. Please be aware that no profit is being made from this work of fan fiction.

Soon after we had entered the building, Takamichi made an excuse, saying he had something to attend to elsewhere, and departed, leaving me alone with the two girls. The longhaired one, she introduced herself as Konoka, offered to show me to the head master's office so I could let him know I had arrived. Unsure of how to respond exactly, I simply bowed while giving my thanks. Obviously this proved to be the right thing to do as she smiled at me warmly, giggling slightly. The other girl, Asuna, simply stood there with her arms crossed over her chest, even though I could feel a definite reduction in her level of hostility.

As we walked Konoka struck up a conversation with me, asking me a little bit more about myself.

"So Springfield-sensei, where do you come from?"

"I come from a small country called Wales, it's on the western border of England. And please Konoka-san, call me Negi."

She blushed once again at my words, while Asuna continued to fume silently. If I hadn't known better I would have assumed she was jealous of the attention her friend was getting.

"What's it like in Whales? Is it anything like Japan?"

I couldn't help but smile slightly at her mispronunciation, I couldn't help but allow the image of the academy being strapped to the back of a great whale to slip into my mind.

"Wales is...what would be the word…wet. It rains rather a lot there; the climate is a lot like England, often rather dull. Also, it is rather cold there, it's been quite a challenge for me adjusting to the Japanese climate, it's far hotter than I'm used to except during the summer."

Of course Asuna chose that moment to make her opinion known.

"Oh marvellous, so he comes from some little country no-one has ever heard off which seems to be cold and wet, fantastic."

"Asuna, that wasn't very nice."

"Big deal, I just a want to get to the head master's office so your grandfather can tell us this is a huge misunderstanding and everything can go back to normal, ok?"

Konoka frowned slightly at Asuna's words but remained silent. To be honest I was more than a little peeved by her attitude but having witnessed her reaction to Takamichi, I think I could understand why. Although I haven't ever really had a crush on anyone, according to my sister it can be a very difficult time, especially if the person you have a crush on is someone who may not return your feelings. She's probably going to stay mad at me for quite a while, and until she finally accepts it, I'm going to have to grin and bare it, just like any proper English gentleman would.

A few moments later, we arrived at the door to the headmaster's office and were quickly ushered inside by his secretary. The headmaster seemed to be already aware of my arrival and as we walked in, he directed for me to come and stand in front of his desk, Asuna and Konoka standing a little bit behind me, on either side.

"It is good to see you arrived here safely Negi, did you experience any problems on the way?"

For a moment my mind flicked back to various incidents on the journey, most of all, my brief kiss with Asuna.

"No sir, it was relatively uneventful."

"That's good to hear, now as to your duties…"

Of course Asuna chose this moment to cut in once again.

"Headmaster please, tell me this is a mistake or a joke."

The headmaster turned his attention away from me for a moment, seemingly unfazed by her outburst. Her actions were in direct contradiction to what I had learned about Japanese society, yet it seemed that she was treated as a special case. Perhaps that is something I will find out in more detail later…

"If you wish, but it would be lying. So 'Professor' your teaching post should be quite a challenge in your training, eh?"

I was very conscious of the double meaning of his statement, of the impact that this assignment would have both on my career as a teacher and as a future magi.

"Yes sir, I'll do my best sir."

His face hardened slightly at my words, his eyes fixing me with a firm gaze.

"Do better than that."

"Yes sir."

"You'll student teach until March, after that we will review your performance, understood?"

"Yes sir."

"Good. Now, if you are in need of a girlfriend during your time here my granddaughter is currently single."

"Grandfather!"

"Headmaster!"

Konoka sounded embarrassed while Asuna sounded mad, although I was not entirely sure it was for the most obvious reasons, there was an edge to her voice, one that sounded almost a little like jealousy. Brushing it off quickly I kept my attention focused squarely on the headmaster, not wanting to make the situation any worse.

"Negi, you understand that if you fail there will be no second chances, understand?"

His voice had gone from joking to serious once again, I knew all to well the reality of the threat behind his words.

"Crystal sir. If I fail…except I won't. That's all. I won't fail."

His expression softened slightly and I was sure I could see traces of amusement dancing in his eyes.

"Ha! Just what I expected to hear. We'll start you off today; your advisor will be Shizuna-sensei. Shizuna, you may come in now."

From the door to my left a woman's voice emerged.

"Yes sir."

I turned my head to get a look at the person who would be my advisor during my time as a teacher and at once noticed her rather large 'assets'. Of course, being a gentleman I immediately raised my gaze to meet hers, an action that earner me a small glimmer of respect in the woman's eyes.

"Hello, you must be the famed Negi."

"Shizuna had been kept abreast of the situation."

I couldn't help but grimace slightly at the headmaster's attempt humour.

"So, any questions?"

I faltered for a moment when she winked at me.

"N-no Shizuna-sensei."

She nodded at me in approval and I turned to leave when the headmaster called out to me again.

"Oh, there is one more thing I forgot to inform you of. Konoka, Asuna-chan, as we are presently very short on space Negi will be rooming with the two of you. A spare futon will be delivered tomorrow, for now I suggest you provide space for him on your couch."

"What! I…he…you…"

I didn't dare face Asuna; I could already feel the force of her gaze boring into my back. Before she could compose herself sufficiently to launch into the verbal tirade I knew was coming, Konoka spoke up.

"Ok."

"Good, then it's settled."

We left the office in silence as Shizuna-sensei led the way to my new classroom, Asuna and Konoka trailing behind.

As we walked Konoka had moved forward to speak with Shizuna-sensei, leaving me standing beside Asuna. She was poignantly ignoring me, turning her head away from me as we walked. Suddenly, I felt her gaze on me and turned to find us eye to eye. Obviously unsettled by our close proximity she stepped back, her face-hardened slightly before she shouted at me.

"If I so much as catch you looking at me when I'm in bed, I'll send you flying back to Wales, without a plane."

She stormed off, Konoka trailing behind trying in vain to appease her wrath. For a moment I simply stood there, forcing myself to remain clam, I'm sure that before this is over she and I are going to butt heads a lot more times, I just have to take it in my stride. I resumed walking, along side Shizuna-sensei once again.

"Negi…you'll get used to her over time, we all did."

"I certainly hope so…"

We walked perhaps another thirty yards or so before stopping outside a classroom. Above the door was a sign reading 3-A.

"This is your classroom Negi, your students should all be inside."

She pulled a small book from under her arm and handed it to me.

"This is your student list, Takahata-sensei asked me to pass it on to you."

"Thank you…if I might ask something?"

"Yes?"

"Are they all like Asuna?"

She smiled, letting out a small chuckle.

"A few of them are but they are the exceptions rather than the rule; I'm sure you'll be fine."

"Ok."

Taking a deep breath I opened the door and stepped inside…only to have an eraser fall on my head. Or it would have if it hadn't been for my magic kicking in by instinct and causing it to float for a moment before I caught it in my hand. I was about to move forward when I noticed something pressing against my leg; I looked down to find a trip wire there. Stepping over it I moved over to the lectern, noting the looks of surprise on the faces of the majority of my students.

"Good morning class."

At first there was no reaction, then, all of a sudden I was mobbed by half of them.

"Wow!"

"He's cute!"

"Geez, I though our new teacher was supposed to be arriving today?"

I looked to Shizuna-sensei for support, not knowing what to do in the face of this verbal assault.

"Girls, please calm down. This is Negi-sensei; he will be your teacher for the next semester. Please take your seats while he introduces himself."

She turned to me giving me a 'go ahead' look. Still feeling a little nervous I cleared my throat before introducing myself.

"My name is Negi Springfield. As Shizuna-sensei explained, I will be your English professor for the third semester. And I…uh…look forwards to teaching you all I can."

There was a deep an abiding silence for a moment before the questions erupted forth once again.

"Hey! You got a girlfriend?"

"Well, no."

"How old are you?"

"Fifteen and a half."

"Where are you from?"

"Wales."

"Whales? You mean your mom's a whale?"

"Yes, that's…no!"

One of them walked over to Shizuna-sensei before asking calmly.

"This is a joke, right?"

"No."

"He's really our teacher? But he's our age?"

"He must be really intelligent."

"Say something intelligent cutie."

Blushing like a tomato it was hard enough controlling my now raging hormones without trying to think of something to say. Thankfully Shizuna-sensei came to my rescue once again.

"That's enough ladies. He's you teacher, he should be respected not pawed. Now back off"

"Yes ma'am."

To my relief the girls backed away before returning to their respective seats. Of course my relief was only temporary as I suddenly found myself grabbed by my collar and yanked face to face with Asuna.

"That eraser floated before you caught it, what 'weird' thing did you do to it?"

"Moi?"

"Save your fancy Greek words!"

There were various cries of protest from other girls in the class, not that Asuna was listening to any of them.

"Whoa! Everybody just whoa! Now rein it in before you bust our little bronco."

She turned to Asuna next, fixing her with a cool gaze.

"Put him down Asuna, I don't really care if you want to make a fool of yourself but I won't let you bring down the rest of the class along with you."

Asuna turned to look at the girl with an angry glare.

"Back off Ayaka."

"I hear Negi-sensei is an Oxford educated genius, that makes him more qualified than anyone here, especially you."

"What did you say?"

Asuna released her grip on me to go head to head with Ayaka.

"You heard me you baka."

"Goody goody!"

"Is that your best comeback? Humph, I shouldn't have expected much from someone who's into senior citizens."

"What!"

"Well Takahata-sensei is around thirty after all."

"You shut up about him!"

As the girls continued fighting I found myself growing increasingly worried. Shizuna-sensei was right here, if I don't do something soon I'll get written up…

"STOP THIS NOW, BOTH OF YOU."

At once both girls stopped fighting to look at me, identical expressions of surprise on their faces. Without further incident they returned to their seats, Asuna still fuming visibly but at least now she was doing it silently. I received an appreciative look from Shizuna-sensei before she bid me farewell, leaving the class in my hands.

The lesson started off well, I began writing the day's lesson on the board when I sensed danger and quickly ducked to the side. A small rock bounced off the board where I had been standing before dropping onto the floor. Thinking nothing of it I continued to write only to duck a number of other times as subsequent rocks pinged off the blackboard. By the time the lesson was over there was quite a pile at the foot of the blackboard; someone really had been determined to hit me with one.

When finally turned round to dismiss the class I noticed that Asuna was fuming even more than before, most likely she had been the one throwing them at me. Another trial to my patience but one I will accept gladly. The class filed out and I started to leave only to be intercepted by Takamichi. He asked me how my class was and I was about to reply when Asuna tackled me from behind.

"Negi-sensei, thanks again for teaching us. I love this guy Takahata-sensei."

He smiled in response.

"It's nice to know your supporting him Asuna, I appreciate it. It's good to know that Negi has found a nice responsible girlfriend."

I didn't have to see it to know her jaw dropped at that last statement. I'm sure that she would have been vehemently denying it had it not been for the fact she was currently going into shock.

"Ok, I have some other things to take care off. Be good you two."

With that he departed leaving a still shocked Asuna wrapped around my shoulders. She finally recovered enough to moved round so she was standing in front of me and proceeded to grab me by the collar once again.

"You…you…why didn't you tell him!"

"Tell him what?"

"That we are most definitely not a couple! I would never date someone like you!"

"And why not?"

"Because…"

"Because? Your into older men rather than guys your own age?"

"Yes! No! Damn you!"

She ran off, leaving me standing in the hall, feeling a little guilty about what I had done. In truth she had it coming but still it had been rather cruel of me to act like that. I'll have to try and make it up to her later.

The day plodded on after that and when it finally ended I was rather glad. I headed outside, making my way back towards the station when I spotted one of the girls in my class walking down the stairs in front of the school carrying a pile of books. She looked like she might fall, as luck would have it she began to topple only a moment later. Knowing I couldn't make it in time I summoned my wand, using a small amount of wind magic to make her float long enough for me to catch her in my arms.

"Are you alight?"

Before she could respond an all too familiar voice cut in.

"You…you're…"

I looked up to see Asuna standing there; no doubt she had seen it all. Before I could say a word she grabbed hold of my hand and pulled me away from the other girl, off into the trees. Once we were out of sight she grabbed me by the collar for the umpteenth time today and shouted.

"You made her float! I saw it!"

"That's ridic-"

She cut me off before I could finish.

"Float long enough to 'catch' her! How?"

"I…um…"

"Admit it! You're some kind of psychic or alien aren't you!"

"No, I'm a wizard, okay?"

"Either way you're weird."

She paused for a moment, seemingly lost in thought. For some reason I had a bad feeling about it…

"Hey! You're the reason my dress blew off this morning! You pervert!"

"It was an accident!"

"Like hell! I'm going to tell everyone!"

"Then I have no choice…I'll have to erase your memory."

"What?"

I began the incantation, summoning the spirits to erase her memory. Unfortunately it didn't go exactly as planned…

"…Disappear!"

What disappeared was not her memory but rather her clothes. For a brief moment, before I could turn away, I was presented with her naked body, this time without the underwear. Suddenly I felt something pressed up against my back, something warm.

"You…you…look what you did to my clothes! That's two uniforms you've ruined! I swear you better replace them or else!"

Thankfully she seems to be more upset about the loss of her clothing rather than the fact I saw her naked. If I'm very lucky I might actually get to walk away from this encounter nothing more than a little out of pocket…or I would have until Takamichi arrived on the scene. He took one look at me, then one at the almost naked Asuna fastened tightly to my back.

"Oh, sorry if I was interrupting…excuse me."

For a moment there was nothing but silence before a sorrowful cry erupted from behind me.

"Nooooooo!"

Five minutes later and Asuna had managed to obtain another spare uniform and was dressed once again. After a very brief discussion about why exactly I was here, and a brief explanation about magi in general, she had taken hold of my arm and refused to let go as she pulled me along. Realising I was yet to apologise for what had happened I tried to explain.

"Um…Asuna? I'm sorry about what happened, I guess that the ancient beings don't speak Japanese."

When she said nothing I started to get more worried.

"Asuna-san? Are you alright?"

It seemed that on hearing my words something inside her snapped.

"No! I'm not alright! That's the third time today you've embarrassed me in front of Takahata-sensei! He'll never love me and it's all your fault!"

"Um, then why are you holding my arm?"

"Because, we are going to go back to the classroom so I can get my things and then you are taking me out for ice cream and buying me the biggest sundae I can find. Understand?"

"Ok."

She led, or rather dragged me back to the classroom only to be welcomed by a loud cry as we walked through the door.

"Negi-sensei!"

The whole class was waiting for us, it seems they had prepared me a welcoming party. Almost immediately I was pulled away and pushed into a chair in the centre of all the girls before they proceeded to stuff me with countless different types of food. After a minute or two there was finally a break and I was about to try and get away when the girl from before approached me.

"Um…Negi-sensei…thank you for saving me earlier. I'd have broken my neck if it hadn't been for you. I wanted to thank you…"

She pulled out what looked like a set of coupons.

"Here's discount coupons from the school library. It's not much but…"

I took them gladly, offering her a broad smile.

"Thank you."

The class rep followed by presenting me with a bust to commemorate the occasion, one that caused Asuna to make a comment about Ayaka trotting out her 'bust' as soon as she saw a guy and once again their argument degenerated into a fight. To be honest I was too tired to deal with it this time so I simply left them to duel it out. I happened to wander over to where Takamichi was sitting when an idea struck me, I would help Asuna out by reading his mind and finding out what he thought of her.

Now, had this been a couple of years ago it would have been rather obvious but now I've gotten the spell refined to a point where I don't need direct contact with the person. He greeted me as I approached, grinning broadly.

"Negi, so how was your first day?"

"Not bad I guess."

"I'm sorry for interrupting you and Asuna earlier, although the two of you should be more careful, I never would have figured her to be the type to do something like that on school grounds."

I heard a sob from behind me and turned just as Asuna fled the room. Knowing I couldn't leaving things like this I made my apologies to Takamichi and ran after her, catching up with her in the hall.

"Please! Asuna! Wait!"

"Leave me alone!"

"Look, I'm sorry for what happened but I think I can help, there is a love potion I could make…"

At once she stopped running, turning back to look at me with hope in her eyes.

"Really?"

"Well…it does take four months to make and the results aren't exactly guaranteed…"

She threw her hands up in the air, her angry expression returning once again.

"Then what the hell good is you magic anyway!"

"Well my grandfather said 'our magic is not absolute, true magic results from courage of the heart'."

She paused for a moment before turning and beginning to walk away once more.

"Your grandfather was a dope."

Feeling defeated I was about to walk away when she stopped suddenly and turned around.

"Okay…I'll be more courageous. But first I need to use you as my guinea pig."

"What?"

"I'll pretend you're Takahata-sensei so I can practice."

"Uh…well…"

She was already pulling the ribbons from her hair causing it to fall it a red waterfall about her shoulders. Looking at her I realised for the first time just how beautiful she actually was.

"I love you."

I felt my self stiffen automatically at those words.

"I love you…teacher."

Once again I could do nothing to prevent the increase in the beating of my heart or the sweat that began to form on my brow.

"I've loved you for so long…I hope you're not offended."

"Uh. No…but…"

She closed the gap between us, her face only inches away from my own.

"Teacher…I've waited so long for this…"

Without meaning to my eyes slid closed as I awaited the contact of our lips…that never came. Instead her hand came up to pinch my cheeks, pulling at my face.

"Ha! Like I would ever be caught dead kissing you!"

A flash from behind sent her off balance, stumbling forwards into me, our lips pressed together for the second time today. When she pulled away she seemed to be in somewhat of a daze, looking up the stairs to my horror I found almost the entire class staring at us. This is not my day…

A/N: And so chapter two is born. This time I hope you all noticed the rather larger proportion of deviation from the manga. It will probably vary from time to time depending on how closely the cannon story fits with what I am trying to achieve.

Till next time please leave a review,

Hououza

Chapter preread by That Other Guy