Zero's Dog
Chapter 2: Bark Verses Bite
"And that's all I can say about the events that led me here, without repeating what you already know," finished the dog-boy as he sat on the stone floor facing the girl who had summoned him earlier that same day. "Now will you please take THIS thing off?"
As he spoke Kotaro held up the chain and gestured at the collar that was locked around his neck. It was demeaning but infinitely preferable to a repeat of the painful event he experienced just this afternoon. After bringing the young warrior to the ground and getting some answers through pain compliance, Louise ordered her new familiar to carry her back to the academy. As they reached the boundary, Kotaro was allowed his hat back so that he could follow the orders to continue the concealment of his non-human characteristics. Kotaro was then 'graced' with the honor of attending class with his master. Then a return to the lair of the beast itself.
Kotaro noted that the room did have a 'cozy' feel to it despite being the nest of the scariest girl since Chizuru Naba. Then again, the dorm he shared with Chizuru was cozy too, until green onions were brought in. He tried not to think about any similarities, lest he be plagued by the memories. By the time his trip through the past was done he realized that an iron collar with a heavy chain had been locked to his neck. The next hour was spent going into more detail about the events that led to his arrival from his perspective, his unique heritage as a half-youkai, and hearing dog jokes, several mean-spirited dog jokes. Granted he'd heard most of them before so listening through them wasn't too trying on his patience but when he was told that he "had better not be a dog that goes seeking out a bitch in heat," he had to nearly bite through his tongue to hold the retort "if I was, I would have grabbed you and run off into the woods the moment I was summoned," for fear of this young woman's ire.
After all of this the twin moons were visible in the sky outside Louise's window. With a sigh Louise unlocked the heavy iron collar. She then prepared for bed revealing that one of her comments wasn't a joke: that a familiar is regarded by its master in much the same manner as a dog, so modesty wasn't to be an issue. And with the shed clothes came the chore of cleaning them and preparing the clothes for her the following day.
(scene break)
With his master having loosened the leash, Kotaro spent time wandering the corridors when he overheard someone talking. After checking his concealment measures he turned the corner and was met by the sight of a boy and girl conversing. If it hadn't been so late he would have assumed it a simple chat but was obviously a flirting session, the boy was recognizable from the summoning ritual and was making grand gestures and making great exaggerations of the beauty of the girl, Katie as he called her, who was dressed slightly different than Louise and Guiche, the name of the grand flirt, had been. As Kotaro passed, Guiche noticed and decided to show off for his girlfriend.
"Well, if I isn't the commoner familiar that 'Louise the Zero' summoned today," Guiche called out flamboyantly.
"Well, if it isn't a self-absorbed playboy with a pathetic need to feel superior," responded the half youkai, in no mood to be tormented at the moment.
An indignant sputter was all that Guiche could respond with at the verbal abuse that was directed at him, much to Kotaro's amusement. Another voice broke the silence though.
"Now see here, you lowborn commoner, Guiche isn't like that," Katie called to the boy who had insulted her boyfriend. The gesture had earned respect for Katie from Kotaro because it marked her devotion as a friend. Before she could continue though he cut her off.
"Katie, please don't involve yourself in this any further because this is between us men," gesturing at both himself and the still speechless blonde. "Though, your defense of him was admirable, his insult was a shallow action to impress you and he thought that his status would protect him from returned insults. I used the same insult this afternoon at the summoning ritual which he was at, so he is either very brave or very foolish for testing my patience right now. If you don't mind I've accepted the task of acquainting myself with the layout of the school," he finished with assertiveness in his voice that prevented the argument from escalating any further.
As he strode down the corridor, the flirt session seemed to have resumed as he heard the girl mention "soufflé." Katie's adoration of the pretty boy brought a wave of nostalgia, about the girls of Class 3-A and their affection towards Kotaro's best friend and eternal rival Negi Springfield. Shaking the feeling off, Kotaro continued his self-appointed task.
His wandering brought him into contact with a maid of the school dark hair that extended slightly past her jaw. During introductions, Kotaro learned the maid's name was Siesta and that she was very polite. She was curious about his status as a familiar but refrained from too many prying questions. Upon hearing his of his assignment of cleaning laundry, Siesta led Kotaro to where he could find a washboard and gave him advice on how clean certain articles before returning to her own duties.
Having finished his tasks, Kotaro returned to Louise's room exhausted. The day had been so physically and mentally draining that he merely laid/fell forward onto the foot of his master's bed without even the thought of removing any clothing.
"Sleep now, worry later," he said to himself before passing out.
(scene break)
Kotaro was awakened by a sharp tug on his left ear and became alert just in time to have the girl's shrill yell into it affect him.
"A FAMILIAR DOES NOT SLEEP ON ITS MASTER'S BED WITHOUT PERMISSION," the tiny demon roared, then continued in a quieter voice, "neither, is it the job of the master to wake their servants. Now fetch my clothes for today," she said pointing at the wardrobe, "panties are in the lowest drawer."
Kotaro obeyed in silence but his mind was abuzz with thoughts. "This sucks. Why do I allow this girl dominate me like I'm some kind of pack animal? I hope Natsumi and the other girls didn't have it this bad as slaves. The food had BETTER be good. Let's see: shirt, check, stockings, check, skirt, check, cloak, check, panties . . . check, but I swear so help me if she demands that I dress her, I'm going to ignore her and leave this room with that pentagram imprinted broach that secures her mantle and not return it until she swears an oath to never ask it of me again." Handling a girl's panties was awkward enough for Kotaro alone, but he had been ordered to bring a pair across the room to her while she watched. He set the neatly folded pile on the bed beside his overseer and turned to leave the room, nearly reaching the door, when he heard the snapping of fingers.
Louise had already established the first day that when she snaps her fingers, she's demanding her servant's attention, she has a task for him to do and she's too irritable to name him. Knowing he'd likely regret not fleeing, Kotaro turned around to face the little spitfire who called herself master. She had removed her night clothes but had thankfully put the panties on. She was glaring at him, right hand on her hip, left hand pointing at the pile of folded clothes that she had next to her. A moment later as if the hint wasn't enough she spoke: "Dress me."
Kotaro knew that he should follow through with his plan of making off with the broach but couldn't stop from himself from responding. "Why?"
"A noble never dresses themselves if a servant is around to do it for them," replied Louise in a haughty tone.
"Dressing a girl just ain't manly and your reason isn't good enough for me to lose any more of my pride," responded Kotaro in a tone and volume that he hadn't used on Louise yet, for fear of her. Nearly shouting, he let her know there are some things that are over the line.
Louise appeared struck dumb for a moment, before addressing the defiant young man.
"You are my familiar. Your 'manly pride' means nothing to me as familiars are things that are subservient and subject to the whims of its master. You want to be treated like a man? Prove you are worthy of independent thoughts and actions. Until then, you are a familiar in your actions and treatment. Now clothe me now, or your next two days will be without food," the girl's voice calm and laced with apathy. The lack of emotion from the girl who had usually spoke with rage and condescension made his fear of her grow.
Unable to argue further Kotaro complied.
(Scene break)
"So, what now, master," asked the boy contemptuously as he followed Louise from the Alviss Dining Hall.
"There are no classes today in order for students to interact with the newly summoned familiars," she replied, ignoring his tone.
Kotaro looked around the courtyard and noticed the large number of individual students, each doing things with their own familiar. The variety of different types of familiars was the most interesting part, even if the animals weren't special. Common animals: cats, birds, amphibians with little intrigue. Then there were some more unusual familiars like a giant orange serpent, a dragon, and a levitating purple orb with one large eye that he couldn't put a name to.
"That's called a bugbear," a feminine voice behind him said. Kotaro turned to see a tall girl, whose dark complexion and red hair, plus a figure that many boys could only dream of, gave an exotic allure to her. "Hello Louise, that's a unique familiar you have there." Kotaro subtly checked that his ears and tail were still hidden.
"Kirche what do you want," the pinkette replied with an air of impatience that suggested a rivalry between them.
"I only came to have a more thorough inspection of your familiar," Kirke said, passion suffusing her voice.
"Forget it von Zerbst, you can't have him," shrieked the smaller girl.
At that moment Kotaro turned to his master and spoke.
"I'm sorry master; I often affect the ladies like this. It's because of my face and body type. Don't worry though I've had to fight off girls with much more impressive figures than this Kirche."
Both girls gawked at him as he inwardly smirked at the deception. He hadn't lied that he attracted many girls in the past with his looks. And he had to fight a passionate girl, who had a figure that was more impressive than this exotic temptress, to escape her on more than one occasion but seduction was never involved with Chizuru Naba. Just a green onion and a drive to cure the cold or fever that he had developed. Those experiences usually left traumatic memories, but considering the use in keeping back the unwelcome advances of this new girl he might as well twist them to his will.
"Well," the busty redhead started, "what do you think of MY familiar, Flame? He's a salamander from the Fire Dragon Mountains," she boasted while gesturing to the ground at her left. Both the eyes of Louise and Kotaro followed the gesture until they settled upon a reptile that could dwarf most other familiars. Its height reached just below the knee of its master with a length of nearly ten feet from nose to end of its tail. It was a red color similar to the hot coal in the center of a wood fire. With yellow eyes it gazed up curiously, at the two people its master was talking to, with all the excitement of a puppy. The most eye-catching part of Flame though, was the fire that burned at the tip of his tail.
Louise looked jealous and before she could stroke her rival's ego with words of envy, Kotaro, having dismissed the creature already, spoke again.
"Is that what is considered a dragon here? The dragons of Mundus Magicus were all more impressive, especially Vrkso Nagasya, I wonder if there are any dragons like him," under his breath and to the side but still audible to the two girls.
Kirche looked ready to cry. Apparently she had never been cast off and ignored in a conversation before, and was taking it rather badly, as this mysterious and handsome boy had managed it so nonchalantly. She took one last look at Louise, then at the boy, and left.
When Kotaro looked back at his master, she was glaring at him contemplating the possibility he had lied but the look slowly morphed to one of admiration.
"That was incredible," she finally said, beaming, "I've never seen another person brush off Kirche like that. I thought it was impossible, especially for a boy. Wait, how is it you were unaffected by her," the girl suddenly demanded of him, feeling the need to know his preference in partners.
"I'll admit she has charm but is far too forward with her advances for my tastes. I also spent a few years alongside a classroom of 30 girls, of whom at least 14 I got to know personally," he answered.
"You're going to tell me all about this later," suddenly irate again as she stormed off.
"I guess that means I have free time," the lone familiar chuckled to himself after a minute, and walked toward the crowd of second years.
(scene break)
Kotaro had been walking amongst the tables of students when he bumped someone, knocking them over. He reached down to help, apologizing, and discovered it was the polite maid he had met the previous night, Siesta. After helping her up and apologizing again, Kotaro turned to leave and Siesta halted him.
"Um," she started nervously, "the kitchen staff is shorthanded, and I was wondering if you would be willing to help?"
"Sorry," he said, looking through the tables, where his eyes landed upon a couple at a table on the edge, "sorry, there's something else I must do." And with that he left her, confused, as he approached the couple at the table.
"My, my, Guiche, don't YOU work fast," Kotaro called to the startled boy as he chatted with Montmorency, the rude girl from the ritual.
"What's he talking about," Montmorency growled at her date as Guiche got up to escort the newcomer away.
"I don't know," he said, nervously glancing between the girl and a witness.
"I'm serious," Kotaro continued, not moving, enthusiasm filling his voice, "my best friend knew exactly what to say to girls, he had at least 7 girls seriously competing for his affection 4 years ago because of way he said things to them. I tried asking him how he did it but he was completely oblivious to their feelings unless some came out and told him, so that was little help. And each one of those girls was unique including personality. Since then, I've not met his equal but you're the closest I've seen come without subtlety, you simply must teach me how girls think," Kotaro finished with a giddiness that surprised Guiche and disconcerted Montmorency.
"Why would you want my help? I'm not THAT good," Guiche replied nervously, as he continued eying Montmorency.
"Now for the final nail." " Oh but you are, you managed to tame the haughty and proud Montmorency," at which point she sat up proudly in her seat, Guiche straightened prideful too, "and romance that sweet, thoughtful girl I saw you with last night. Her cape was a different color but I think you called her Katie," Kotaro happily summed up.
The effect was almost instantly. As Guiche rapidly looked between Kotaro and Montmorency, his date stood up at the table and approached him.
"Is this peasant speaking the truth? Is it true," she demanded angrily, tears forming in her eyes.
"I don't know what he's talking about," Guiche verbalized, impressing Kotaro with his ability to keep terror from affecting his voice.
"Now for good measure." "At least tell me if her soufflé was any good." Silence. "Oh I see, she said she was going to make you a soufflé and that must be her now," Kotaro happily sad while pointing to Katie wandering through the crowd through the crowd while carrying a pan.
She looked puzzled for a second when she saw Kotaro waving, did a double take in the direction she had come from, then ran over as she saw Guiche, calling his name. As she saw Montmorency, slightly hunched, red-faced and with tears trickling down her cheeks, something clicked.
"Montmorency," Kotaro solemnly asked, "is there something you want to tell Guiche?"
The blond girl quivered on the spot for a moment, stood up straight, looked Guiche in the eye, and decked him with the declaration "FILTHY TWO-TIMER." She then stomped off leaving Guiche on the ground.
Katie set the pan down on the table and leaned forward right hand extended to assist Guiche back to his feet. He smiled thankfully as he was standing again, only to be struck by Katie's left hand. Then Katie stormed off.
The spectacle had not gone unnoticed and laughter erupted at the disgraced noble. Seeing Katie's soufflé left forgotten on the table, Kotaro thought of the perfect way to escape before Guiche could get his bearings. "Katie, WAAIITT," he called after her and as he reached for the pan was intercepted by Guiche. The young noble looked furious at him for exposing his philandering. His right cheek was bright red from the slap and his left eye was turning purple from Montmorency's punch. He was ridiculous-looking.
"You. Peasant," he roared at Kotaro, almost incomprehensibly, "I cannot forgive one who makes girls cry!"
"Well then," Kotaro replied, "your love affair with the mirror is postponed indefinitely instead of the week it takes for that black eye to heal." More crows of laughter rose from the crowd.
"You set that up didn't you?"
"It was more of a 'spur of the moment' idea. It was going to happen, Katie was already out here, I merely had her directed here sooner," admitted Kotaro, none of the cheer in his voice that he had earlier. "Have you learned from this experience? Maybe 'Dating more than one girl at a time is wrong'?"
"I challenge you peasant to a dual," Guiche declared. A collective gasp spread through the crowd.
"Oh, really? Tell me where and I'll be there in 15 minutes," was the response, causing an even greater 'gasp' to spread.
"Vestri Court, I'll be waiting," sneered Guiche as he turned and left.
As the crowd fell into murmurs, two forms emerged and approached the challenged familiar, as he turned, saw them and fled. The maid and the master gave chase but lost him when he vanished from a dead end.
(scene break)
As it nearly reached the time limit, the large crowd gasped at his appearance. Louise exited the crowd and approached her familiar. He saw her and started to speak but was interrupted by her strike to the gut.
"You idiot," she yelled, and struck him again, "why did you accept his challenge? He's a noble gifted with magic and you're a peasant, a commoner. Quick, apologize and ask forgiveness and he might let you off after only a minor beating. Please."
Kotaro looked into his master's eyes and saw tears forming. She had no doubt begged for forgiveness on his behalf but was turned down. "Poetic justice."
"What," his tiny master asked.
"I exposed his actions as poetic justice for the girls who he was mistreating. It's a man's job to protect the women in his life, but his lies were harming them."
"Was that why you released me in the dust cloud?"
"Yes," the familiar stood up, "but that's a tale for another time, don't want to keep the nice man waiting."
Wolf whistles rose from the crowd and girls lined the front rows, which struck Louise as odd until she looked back at the ring.
"FAMILIAR, WHAT ARE YOU WEARING," she shrieked.
She had been referring to the wrappings. White cloth, two finger-widths wide, had been wrapped tightly around his torso starting at his hips and ending mid-torso. If she tried, Louise could make out the slight bulge of his tail through the cloth. His hands were similarly wrapped. And his hat was still on his head but wore no other clothing above the waist.
"See something you like, master," he teased and every girl swooned over the lean muscular familiar, "actually it's one of your spare sheets. Okay-I'm-ready-let's-fight," he shot off before Louise could react to his admission.
Louise had no time to yell back as the fight started. Guiche cast a petal from his rose wand and a metal statue rose from where the petal landed. "My runic name is 'Guiche the Bronze' therefore a bronze golem, a Valkyrie, shall be your opponent."
"I had assumed you would use magic but a proxy seems like a weak tactic however I'll indulge you, one free hit."
"You moron, he has magic already. The advantage is his and you're GIVING him a free strike," his master screamed at her idiot familiar.
"I want to feel the power of his attacks to see if this is actually worth the …," but was cut off by a metal fist slamming into his gut. But the attacks continued with brutality. Girls screamed, boys watched in silent horror as skin split and bones snapped on the commoner boy.
A minute passed and the attacks ceased and Guiche stepped forward, standing over the fallen combatant. "Do you concede," he asked in a mocking tone.
"It's not my place to do so. My job was to be eye candy and nothing else," the broken figure said with a sigh.
"Then where is my opponent," screamed Guiche. There were gasps from the crowd and a finger tapped him on the shoulder.
"You called for me?"
Guiche sputtered as he looked from the one on the ground to the one standing behind him. And he wasn't the only one. There were double-takes from nearly everyone in attendance. One looked like she realized something.
"So that's how I saw you with Guiche right after you pointed me towards him," the brown haired girl shouted.
"Yep, we," he gestured between himself and the figure on the ground, "are both the same person, he's just a copy though."
"Cheating," screamed the blonde mage at the loss of his advantage. Flailing his arms about, six more Valkyries appeared.
"How was I cheating if you never bothered explaining the rules in the first place," claimed the boy incredulously before dismissing it. "Unimportant. But if you wanted a pissing contest you should have just said so, I would've happily obliged. I need practice with this anyway."
As he spoke he let his doppelganger vanish and extended his hands slightly away from his hips. His ultimatum had confused the crowd but was simple to comprehend compared to what came next. "I learned this technique with the hopes of matching my best friend in power. It took hours of begging to get Takahata-sensei to teach me and weeks to achieve this level of skill with it."
His hands had each developed an aura as he spoke. The left was a nearly blinding intensity of white that caused most to avert their eyes. The right hand was almost the opposite, as if dipped in liquid shadow. The edges of the auras were opposites too, the black one gracefully flickering back and forth like a flame while the bright aura had constantly shifting sharp angles. "The world in my left hand, myself in my right hand," he recited like a sort of poem. "Combine," he declared as he brought both hands together.
Guiche regained his senses enough to send his golems at the stationary figure with the intent to stop whatever plan was unfolding. "Let's see him escape these," he thought to himself. He watched as the first made contact and gasped as the punch was intercepted.
Kotaro's left arm was raised out in front of him, holding the attacking fist with little apparent difficulty. His left hand no longer shown with the intensity of the sun, nor was his right cloaked in impenetrable darkness. Instead his body seemed to exude a silver mist. He struck his immobilized attacker, sending it soaring across the field where it landed next to its caster. He was still clutching the golem's arm, which had been liberated from the shoulder.
Dropping the severed arm, he ran forward, not at the advancing Valkyries but at the summoner. The golems were not worth his effort and maybe the caster would have something else. "After all Fate Averruncus was an earth magic user and was difficult for even Negi to defeat, maybe this guy has more tricks."
Guiche summoned a sword to his hands at the last moment only to have it wrenched from his grip as Kotaro grabbed the blade and pulled. "This guy is an amateur but maybe he really focuses on his barriers," thought Kotaro drawing back his fist for an uppercut, noting the strange glow his left hand emitted and the sudden lightness his body felt.
When he felt no resistance as his punch came closer and closer to connecting, he shifted the angle to glance across the cheek instead of knock the boy's head off when it hit the chin. There was a powerful updraft that followed the punch and was felt by the crowd.
Guiche gazed forward, shell-shocked at what had happened. That quickly morphed to panic, "I yield," he cried out.
"Surrender accepted," replied the victor, ceasing his aura. Kotaro raised his hand to hug on his hat, only to find it had fallen off at some point.
A scream of terror came from the crowd. Turning to see who it had specifically come from, Kotaro saw a girl clutching her chest with her left hand and pointing at his ears with her right.
"ELF!" she screamed.
Authors Notes
Yay. Second chapter is done. I'll admit, though, that my second chapter coming so soon after the first is due to having a 2-day waiting period between signing up and first allowed upload. In those two days I was able to write more story.
Now about the chapter itself. I had several different possible ideas for the fight with Guiche. My first plan involved a brief amount of martial arts but it seemed one-sided and really victimizing Guiche. While that would be fun, that would be difficult to pull off well. My second plan involved Kotaro's use of Kanka and a watered down version of Jack Rakan's "For-The-Hell-of-it-Right-Hand-Punch" which originally left a fist-shaped crater at least 12 feet wide. Again I figured that outcome would be fun but it involved lots of overkill and harder to write Kotaro's ears being revealed. A third option involved Kotaro using the shadow, dog spirits or his clones to fight but I'm not good with describing action that's divided between three or more pairs. So I finally settled on Kotaro using Kanka and stopping short of a lethal blow.
Kanka, for those who are not familiar with Negima, is called 'The Ultimate Art.' It combines magic (mana) with chi to increase the natural abilities of the user. It also provides protection from some effects like cold. It's not an easy process though, because while mana and chi may be very similar, they are difficult to combine. The more avid readers of Negima may be upset with my portrayal of Kanka or Kotaro's ability to use it but I have reasons. As for the portrayal, I made the mana aura white with boundaries that shifted sharply as a generic representation of pure energy. After that, portraying chi was harder to show without doing the same. I settled with black because chi is Kotaro's 'material' to work his spells and augment his physical attacks. This gives a good representation of the opposing natures of chi and mana. And to those who take issue with the fact he can use Kanka, I'm not using the 10-year old Kotaro, I aged him up a bit with the idea that he's spent the last few years trying to catch up with Negi in terms of power. I'm not making him a master of it, yet anyway, I may allow him to master it in future chapters though.
I also wanted Kotaro's ears revealed in front of everybody. Those who are familiar with ZnT know what the elves are and how they are regarded. To those who aren't familiar, elves are insanely powerful magical creatures who have been warring with the humans over the 'Holy Land' for millennia. I wanted someone to see Kotaro's ears and have them cause a main event in the next chapter.
For future chapters, my only real plan is to provide Katie with more 'screen time' because I enjoyed making her scenes. How this will play out though is still in planning, meaning it could take a while. If there is something I'm doing wrong please tell me. Please review, constructive criticism appreciated.