DISCLAIMER: I do not own Negima or any of the characters – Ken Akamatsu does.

Italics: person's thoughts

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Chapter 2: Strange Occurrences.

It was cold and the room was dark. The smell of blood filled the entire room. She was running anxiously searching everywhere trying to find the source of the screaming. She knew that voice, she knew it all too well. She was alone. Somehow she remembered being with Negi, Asuna and even Nodoka.

Her breathing had become quick. "Where is she? Ojousama where are you!?" The screaming became louder and even more painful to hear. The knot it Setsuna's stomach became heavier and her throat was becoming dry.

KONO-CHAN!

SMACK!!!

Setsuna opened her eyes and realized she was on the floor of her dorm room. She quickly got on her feet scanning the room for an attacker – it was in her nature. She was covered in sweat and was still breathing hard.

"Ojousama" Konoka's face flashed in her mind.

She got dressed and headed out the door scanning her surroundings before jumping up into the sky. She flew up to her destination and confirmed that once again Konoka-Ojousama was sleeping safely in her room. She descended and stepped onto the ground and decided to take a walk.

"What's happening" thought Setsuna. Some part of her didn't want to be too worried yet she couldn't just shrug it off. Nakamuri hadn't been in her dream this time but she was sure that she was there the last time. Yesterday the girl was anything but a threat to Konoka.

"Ohayo Konoka-Ojousama it's a pleasure to be in the same class as you.

Konoka smiled at the girl. "Welcome to the class if you need anything just ask me okay? It's nice to meet you Mizuki-san."

Mizuki walked back to the front of the class to the second row where she took a seat across from Setsuna's left. She was quickly greeted by Haruna and both girls carried a conversation as if they were good friends and then was introduced to Yue and Nodoka. During their break Mizuki was invited to play volleyball on behalf of Konoka and Asuna. Mizuki quickly demonstrated great skill and precision in the sport and even good sportsmanship. She was quick to dive and to strike the ball never missing a hit and delivering blows that all the girls would move out of the way for fear of getting hit by a volleyball that was traveling way too fast. It felt as if they were playing dodge-ball instead of volleyball. If it weren't for Asuna the other team would have lost in a matter of minutes.

During class Mizuki often raised her hand to answer Negi's questions and never got any of them wrong. She seemed to be good in almost every subject especially English and Math. The girl was athletic and by the looks of it she seemed like she would excel in every academic subject.

After school was over she left class while chatting with Makie and the Narutaki twins.

Setsuna was pondering all of this when she averted her gaze further up the road upon sensing somebody's ki. She had an idea of who it was having sensed it before. She looked up the road and saw none other but Nakamuri standing in the middle of the road. Setsuna thought it was strange that anybody else would be up this late or this early. Mizuki was walking towards her. Setsuna decided to continue walking and pretend not to notice her. As both girls got closer Setsuna continued walking as if Mizuki wasn't even on the road. Their shoulders briefly connected with a light touch as they passed each other when she heard the other girl ask "Does she know about your white wings?" in a teasing manner.

Setsuna spun around and glared at the other girl.

"I mean wasn't that why you left your tribe as a child? Or maybe it was them who abandoned you because you were considered taboo. I'd say you must have had a tough and miserable childhood ne?" said the other girl as she feigned innocent curiosity, tilting her head slightly with while bringing up a finger to rest on her chin.

Mizuki had no chance to react as she came face to face with Yuunagi. "Damn she's faster than I thought" Setsuna was ready to attack at any given moment as she watched Mizuki lose her cool and take a few steps back. Mizuki gained self-control and stood there smirking at Setsuna as the morning wind blew lightly against both girls.

"Don't pretend to know me" replied Setsuna with a tone full of disdain.

"Did I say something wrong? You should be more careful when you fly around you know. That's if you don't want anyone to know you secret."

"Stay away from Konoka-Ojousama. Don't get close to her," Setsuna countered angrily.

"Ha, I can't make any promises," smirked the other girl.

In a blink of any eye Mizuki jumped back instantly summoning a longbow out of nowhere. The bow was almost as tall as Mizuki and was made of the toughest steel but shined as if made of pure silver with tips that curved away from its archer. With an arrow in place Mizuki was ready to fire. The atmosphere was thick with tense yet neither girl attacked as the sun was beginning to rise and the darkness slowly began to fade away. Suddenly the battle began as Mizuki fired deadly arrows at Setsuna. Setsuna quickly blocked and evaded the arrows with ease while advancing on Mizuki. A clash heard as Setsuna saw an opening and brought her nodachi down in a strike only to be blocked by the back of the bow.

"She must be using her ki to strengthen her bow"

Damn. She's strong. I don't know how much my bow can take."

Both girls continued to strike at each other. Setsuna was delivering most of the attacks while Mizuki continued to block and evade Yuunagi. Knowing that she couldn't keep this going Mizuki dodged Setsuna's incoming strike and like a flash of lighting jumped behind her opponent.

"What!? Where did she…" Feeling the presence of an attack Setsuna quickly turned around to block the incoming arrows successfully but missed the last. The arrow seemed to explode before reaching Setsuna and opened up into small net trapping Setsuna's arms in close with Yuunagi. The force of the attack caused Setsuna to stumble back and Mizuki advanced further kicking Setsuna until the other girl found herself falling back onto the floor. One girl pinned the other on the floor and leaned in close.

Setsuna could feel the weight of Mizuki on her as she pinned Yuunagi with her bow and leaned over until she felt the breath of the other girl against her ear.

"Maybe it's not Konoka I want to get close to" She whispered.

Setsuna's eyes widened with a bit of shock. A whirlwind of questions and thoughts re-appeared in her mind. Setsuna struggled to get the other girl off when they heard footsteps of someone quickly approaching.

"See you around Sakurazaki-san"

"Wait!"

Mizuki was gone and the net vanished leaving Setsuna on her back on the floor in an awkward position.

"Hey Setsuna. What are you doing on the floor? You okay?" asked a confused Asuna who peered over Setsuna and was carrying bags full of newspapers.

Setsuna looked awkwardly sprawled on the floor due to the effect of the net and now that it had vanished her position made no sense and her breathing was also a bit faster than usual.

"Nothing. I'm fine" The young samurai replied in a somewhat cold and remote manner as she got up and dusted herself and sheathed Yuunagi. She wasn't in the mood to discuss with anyone about what had just happened.

Realizing that Setsuna was in no mood Asuna made an effort to not prod the swordswoman to talk about anything. She knew Setsuna wasn't the chatting type. She still had trouble when it came to speaking with others in a friendly manner. It was thanks to Konoka that Setsuna was slowly learning to become somewhat closer to others but her progress was indeed very slow. When it came to Setsuna, Konoka might be the only one to get through the barrier that samurai put around herself.

Asuna just watched as the samurai dismissed herself from the scene and headed towards the dormitories and continued her morning deliveries.

Meanwhile Setsuna was walking up the stairs to her room.

She decided she would check on Konoka and brought out a Shikigami transforming it into Chibi Setsuna. The miniature version of her appeared ready for an assignment.

"I need you to go check on Konoka-Ojousama and report to me as soon as possible and make sure you are not seen by anyone especially Ojousama."

"Hai" answered the chibi and disappeared with a spoof.

It was still too early to get ready for school so Setsuna decided she would train again. She headed out to the forest to her usual location. She decided to meditate and clear her mind before starting practice. She closed her eyes and concentrated on her ki. She could feel the cool air blow against her face and she tuned into her environment. She could feel the presence of the animals around her, Setsuna was alone besides the animals in her surrounding area but no human beings were detected by Setsuna in her immediate environment. Setsuna could easily identify the presence of someone around her in a given range if she concentrated and cleared her mind.

She practiced for a while executing every technique with perfection. Sometime during her practice chibi Setsuna appeared with confirmation that Konoka-Ojousama was sleeping safely in her bed. After a couple of hours she was ready to head back to her dorm. She showered and got ready for class.

Negi and Asuna sat in their room enjoying the breakfast Konoka had prepared for them. Konoka was an excellent cook, it was just one of the many talented gifts the princess had. She was definitely one of the prettiest girls in all of Mahora Academy. She was a sweet and caring girl that often smiled and had an airhead expression as if she wasn't registering what was happening around her. However that was the contrary to what she really was. Konoka ranked in the top five of Negi's best academic students in his class and was very intelligent.

"Thank you Konoka-san, breakfast was delicious." Said Negi thankfully as he got up to was his plate.

"Yeah thanks Konoka" followed Asuna.

"You're welcome Negi-kun, Asuna. Are you guys ready to go?" replied Konoka. "I wonder where Secchan is. She's usually here by now."

"I don't know, she's probably running late. I saw her earlier today while I was doing my daily newspaper delivery," replied Asuna remembering their awkward encounter earlier that morning.

"What? You saw Secchan at five in the morning?"

"Uh, yeah I guess she gets up early too but she was lying on the floor holding her sword when I saw her. She looked strange."

"Was Secchan ok?" Konoka was full of concern.

"I'm not sure. She seemed okay. She didn't talk about it when I asked her. She was actually standoffish when I asked her if she was okay so I decided not to bother her about what she was doing."

"I hope Setsuna-san is alright. Something could be wrong and we could never know since she never talks about anything or at least about herself" inquired the kid sensei.

"Don't worry about Setsuna-nesan aniki. I'm sure she can handle whatever is wrong, if there is anything wrong," said Chamo who had just woken up to the conversation. The ermie was Negi's trusted source of information and friend. He always came handy even though he was perverted and annoyed Asuna most of the time.

A knock was heard signaling Setsuna's arrival. Asuna got up and opened the door.

"Ohayo Asuna-san" smiled a friendly and familiar face.

"Mizuki-san? Ohayo."

Mizuki had arrived to dorm room instead of Setsuna as Asuna had expected. Dressed in her Mahora uniform she was ready to go to class. "I'm sorry if I'm disturbing something but…"

"On no, don't be sorry, it's just that we were expecting Setsuna. She's usually here by now to walk Konoka to class."

"Ah yes, I saw her earlier. She mentioned something about a last minute meeting with the school principal. She asked me to tell Konoka-Ojousama that she apologizes for not being able to escort her to class this morning. I offered to walk Konoka-Ojousama to class and that's why I'm here. I figure that I can't do a good a job as Setsuna to ensure the safety of Ojousama but I figured I'd come along just to try and reassure her that Konoka-Ojousama would be safe – as a friendly favor"

"Oh yeah sure, come on in"

Mizuki walked in. Upon seeing Konoka she bowed. "Ohayo gozaimasu Konoka-Ojousama." She then nodded as she greeted Negi.

"Morning Mizuki. By the way you don't have to call me Ojousama, Konoka is fine." Both girls smiled as they greeted each other. Konoka looked over to the door and when she didn't see Secchan she turned to her friend, "Asuna where's Secchan?"

"Huh, that must be what she calls Sakurazaki," thought Mizuki.

"She has a meeting with your grandfather so Mizuki came to take you to class as a favor for Setsuna." said Asuna.

The princess frowned slightly. Chamo arched an eyebrow but said nothing.

"I hope that's okay with you Konoka-sama," said Mizuki.

"Uh, Of course it's okay I don't mind." replied Konoka. I wonder what Gramps wants to talk to Secchan about. Konoka was a bit curious as to what business they had so early in the morning.

Asuna, Negi, Konoka and Mizuki left the room and headed to class. Konoka looked around the hallway in hopes of seeing Setsuna but saw that she was nowhere around.

"Dammit! What's wrong with the door." Setsuna slammed against the door in hopes of opening it. After getting ready she had reached for the handle to open the door only to find out it wouldn't turn. She tried turning the knob it both ways, she tried to jiggle the knob and pushed and pulled. After that failed she resorted to kicking down the door but it simply wouldn't budge. She knew something was odd when she couldn't kick it down and so she drew her sword even though she was in a small area. She slashed at the door but not even a scratch was made.

"Somebody must've put a barrier on the door. It must be very strong to not even have a scratch on it and the person who put this barrier must be strong as well. What's going on? Who……Nakamuri! It must be her."

She sheathed her sword. There was no point in using any special techniques especially since she was indoors. There was not point in exploding the entire room just to open a door. She opened her bedroom window and poked her head outside. She was several floors up but it was not a problem getting down. The real problem was getting down unnoticed. There were hundreds of girls below running and walking to class. She couldn't simply fly down or even jump down. Everybody would be suspicious of a girl jumping several stories down and landing unharmed.

"Dammit, I'm already late to pick up Konoka-Ojousama. I'll just have to wait until everything clears."

Konoka entered the classroom and took her seat looking around to see if Setsuna had already arrived. She couldn't find her and got up.

"Hi Madoka have you seen Secchan?" Konoka asked the girl who sat next to Setsuna.

"No I don't think she's here yet."

Konoka took her seat next to Asuna. "She's probably on her way now"

The bell rang and all the students took their seats as Negi greeted the class and began the lesson. Class continued as usual until break time and Setsuna had not arrived. "I wonder what's taking Secchan so long. She never has meetings this long with Gramps."

Break ended and Setsuna stepped in the classroom. She could hear some of the girls mumbling and asking each other why she had come to class late.

"I apologize for being late Negi-sensei. I couldn't …"

"Don't worry about it Setsuna-san we got your message."

"Message?"

"Yeah Mizuki told us you had a meeting with the school principal."

"She …… Uh … yeah. Yes, thank you for understanding Negi-sensei." Setsuna shifted her gaze towards Mizuki who sat at her desk smiling her usual friendly smile. She wanted to glare at the girl but just looked away before taking her seat.

"There's no point in discussing this with Negi-sensei, it'll just worry him. I mustn't worry Konoka-Ojousama with this either."

Setsuna didn't understand why Mizuki would block her door with a barrier. A suspicious act but it seemed nothing bad had happened except that Mizuki had made her late to class. It had taken a long while for all the girls to clear the building area and a few girls where running late and so Setsuna had to wait until everyone was gone before jumping down.

During lunch Konoka quickly made her way up to Setsuna's desk as soon as the class was dismissed to go.

"Secchan, let's go to lunch. I made lunch for both of us" said Konoka smiling brightly at Setsuna.

"Uh, Th-Thank you Ojousama, but you mustn't worry yourself about me. Besides I have some business to attend to" with that the Samurai spun around and dashed out the classroom.

"Wait Secchan!" Mou, she's always running off like that.

"Sakurazaki sure is strange."

Konoka turned around to see Mizuki standing behind her.

"Uh, Secchan is just a bit shy I guess."

"Shy?" She doesn't seem shy to me thought Mizuki having experienced Setsuna's anger and cold demeanor.

"Yeah well Secchan isn't used to being close to others. At least that's what Asuna and Negi-kun keep telling me. Anyways do you want to join us for lunch Mizuki? Asuna, Negi and I are going to share lunch together and you're more that welcomed to join us if you want to."

"Sure, I'd love to Konoka-sama, thank you for inviting me, you are kind."

Konoka and Mizuki grabbed their lunches and headed toward the lunch room chatting amicably. However they were being watched from a distance. Setsuna had sped off but didn't leave the scene completely. She was closely watching Konoka and Mizuki from afar making sure she wasn't noticed. "Don't worry Konoka-Ojousama, I'll figure this out and protect you no matter what happens. Just be careful for your own sake."

Mizuki was nothing but pleasant company and she got along with Asuna and Negi very well. After class was over Konoka, Asuna and Mizuki had planned to head out into the city to start off the weekend. They were going to meet in front of the dormitory building and head off from there.

"Asuna have you seen Secchan? I wanted to ask her if she wanted to come but she left so quickly after class. I want her to come with us."

"No I didn't see her." Replied Asuna, thinking back she hadn't had much contact with the young samurai all day except for their morning encounter.

"Asuna, do you think Secchan is mad at me?"

"Huh?"

"I mean all day to day it's like she's been avoiding me. During lunch she ran off after I offered to share my lunch with her and after class I called out her name but she just left class so quickly. I don't know if she heard me but I think she did." The princess looked somewhat sad and disappointed. "I don't know if I've done something wrong but it seems like Secchan is becoming distant like before."

"Don't worry Konoka, I'm sure she's not mad at you. I don't think that girl could ever be mad at you. Setsuna is probably just having a busy day that's all." smiled Asuna trying to reassure Konoka. Hmmm… Setsuna has been acting strange today. I'll have to talk to her about it when I see her, at least for Konoka's sake."

"Yeah, I hope you're right Asuna. Well then let's go, I'm sure Mizuki is probably already waiting for us," replied Konoka trying her best to smile back.

Sure enough Mizuki was leaning against the wall when both girls arrived. The trio of girls left for their shopping trip. Setsuna continued to watch them from afar. "I'm truly sorry Konoka-Ojousama but its best that I keep my distance for now."

Throughout the entire trip the girls had fun shopping, eating ice cream and just walking around all the stores while Setsuna kept her distance without being noticed by Konoka, Asuna or Mizuki. She made sure to especially hide her ki and presence from Mizuki. She was alert, more than ever; she could faintly feel a bad presence in the distance around her. "Nakamuri you better not lay a hand on Ojousama."

A/N

Thanks to: Nana the Dwarf, Ari Matoya, Denisen and demonic archangel.