Hello one and all to chapter 2 of Pale roots! For starters, I must apologize! I had this chapter done some time ago, but I didn't want to upload it until I had made a few more chapters! How many more do I have made you ask? Not as many as you might think... but enough about that! Lets get to the reading~!

and to you people who left reviews! I'm gonna try to respond to you as much as I can! so lets start off with...

Nightmares around winter: Thanks very much!

Leo247: Glad you like it! But all of those girls? Yikes... Slight spoiler! I only plan on about four girls to be his pactio partners!( of course, that's just an estimate, I may, at maximum, allow up to six girls, but no more then that) you have three of them listed, but the fourth one will be coming up soon! can you guess who they are?

and to the Anon: yes he does doesn't he? My plans for what happens next?... I'm thinking something along the lines of purple aliens... stop me if that doesn't work however...

From your friendly neighborhood junki!

Negima

Chapter 2: Rub-a-dub-dub strange love and a tub

"Officer Yuna!"

She stood at attention "yes Commander Thane Sir!"

"This situation is looking bad soldier! I fear that one of us is going to need to die in order to bring an end to the cutie cutie Zombie Horde!"

Yuna looked out at the swarming and incredibly slow pink zombie Horde "I see sir… but how are we going to do it?"

Thane reached into his very small bag and, completely ignoring the laws of mass conversion, pulled out a massive glowing bomb "with this! The dues Ex Tamanator 56 billion! This thing will totally wipe out anything living and undead on a universal scale!"

Yuna pulled the bomb from his Hands "I'll do it sir! I've always wanted to go out with a bang!"

Thane salutes her "simply due to the very badly timed Pun, you will be given the honor of redeeming your humor by going out there and blowing yourself to hell! Now let me get into the only known safe house that will protect me from the explosion…"

Thane closes the door and hears a mighty shout "Total annihilation!" The explosion that shook the foundations of the universe could not be felt in the very tiny room oddly enough.

Thane looks over and sees Akira sitting on a bed crying "Oh no! Thane! We are the only two humans left here in this world!" Thane holds her hands in his own "Do not worry dear! For we shall repopulate the world! Now gimme some sugar!" *Censored* *Censored* *Censored* * Censored*

Thane feels his eyes groggily begin to Open. He slowly sits up in the couch; still half conscious and very much confused

'what… the hell was that?'

he shook his head to try to drag his consciousness fully to the surface and looked around the room. He saw that the room was still rather dark, 'must still be early then…' His question was answered when he looked at the glowing lights on Yuna's Alarm clock, 4:37 A.M. Thane stretched and yawned, pulling his feet off the couch and sitting in an upright position. Thane felt something slip off his body and he quickly grabbed it. It was a blanket he didn't remember having on. He stared at it in confusion

'I don't remember putting this on when I went to sleep…'

He glanced over at the bunk bed and smiled 'either Yuna or Akira must have done it… I'm thinking Akira, Yuna would have tried pulling something again.' Thane lightly laughed and folded the blanket, placing it on the couch arm. He got up and looked around for a bit, trying to find something to do at such an early morning 'Classes won't start until 8… not really feeling tired or hungry either…'

Thane suddenly thought back to his dream 'I must have eaten something funny yesterday… that or it was one of those stupid drinks that Yue recommended to me... but… I feel that Yuna would be somebody to go out like that in a blaze of glory… and what was that last little bit with Akira? Yeah, defiantly must have eaten something funny.'

He Stretched his arms out and let them fall to his side lazily 'Well, guess I might as well go jogging… or… could I… maybe try something else…' Thane walked over to the window and opened the curtains a crack, looking out at the empty campus. However, the lone familiar face he saw leave the dorm building made him smile inwardly 'nah… just jogging today…' Thane quickly walked to the door and put his shoes on.

Xx Outside xX

Setsuna Sakurazaki was doing her early morning stretches, a look of slight worry on her face 'I wasn't expecting this… I managed to avoid him yesterday thankfully, but I don't know how long I'll be able to do that… maybe I could ask him to act like he doesn't know me? No, that would be rather rude to him… plus, that would be rather awkward for us both and cause many misunderstandings… hum… no easy solution…' Setsuna started to scratch her chin, deep in thought.

"what are you busy thinking about?"

"A way for Thane-san to not recognize me…"

Setsuna suddenly realized that another voice just spoke and quickly turned around, coming face to face with the subject of her thoughts

"Th-Thane! I mean Thane-sensei… Crap!"

Thane stood behind her with a look of confusion on his face "Sensei? How do you know I'm a teacher?"

Setsuna quickly started to flail about 'great! I just blew it myself! Wait! Maybe I can still salvage the situation!'

"U-Um!... You see… uh… one of… my…friends! Yeah one of my frie-"

Thane lightly conked his right hand into his left, the little bit of the student roster he saw coming to mind "Oh yeah! Your student number fifteen in our class aren't you?"

Setsuna had tears falling down her eyes in quick defeat "y-yes…"

Thane gave her a smile but quickly started to think "wait… then why didn't you come to say 'Hi' yesterday?"

Setsuna could feel herself quickly falling from the frying pan directly into the Oven "Um… because… I… had something to do?" A weak excuse, even she could see that.

Thane raised his eyebrow in a questioning look "is that a statement or a question?"

Setsuna sighed 'might as well come clean…'

"Thane-sensei-"

Thane held up his hand to stop her "Ah, You don't have to call me Sensei out of class. I personally like it when you just say my name without the honorific"

Setsuna slightly blushed from the thought, but continued "Thane, do you remember when I told you that I was guarding a particular person on the campus?"

Thane nodded his head. He remembered that, she would never tell him who it was though "yeah"

"Well, you see, I have to keep up a professional appearance when I am around her. I don't want any enemies to see me in a moment of weakness and take advantage of that to get to her, do you get what I'm saying?"

Thane nodded his head "yeah, but I don't think that Konoka has any enemies that would want to harm her does she?"

Setsuna took a few steps back in surprise "h-How did you know I was Guarding Ojou-sama?-!"

Thane gave her a surprised look "You follow her around like a stalker. Every time I see her, you're some odd amount of feet behind keeping an eye on her. Rather obvious really"

Setsuna was on all fours in defeat, 'was I really that obvious?...'

She quickly got back up, this not really being the time for her to feel slightly depressed "a-anyway, Even though there are no enemies right now, that doesn't mean that I need to let myself get lax. So I would like to ask you to act like you don't know me when we are together in class."

Thane scratched the back of his head "Sure, I can do that, however…" he gave her a playful smile "In the early morning hours, or when it is just us, I want us to be the same as we are now. Friends, because I like being with my friends"

Setsuna was staring at him with her mouth lightly open "we-We're friends?"

Thane threw his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close "No duh Sherlock! And friends help each other out like this! Now come on! I wanna get the jogging done so I can get you to help me out! My sword swings are finally starting to feel a little less rusty…" Thane quickly dashed off, already heading toward the tree in eager delight.

Setsuna was watching him go, a light smile crossing her face "friends…" However, darker thoughts invaded her mind 'would he still be my friend if he knew what I was…?'

"Hey hurry it up! I have a class to help teach, and you have to be there to listen!"

Setsuna shook her head and took off after him 'I'll think about it later...'

Xx 6:30 A.M xX

Thane proceeded up the stairs, his legs heavy as lead and his muscles feeling rather tired, 'Geez, she was on fire today… was afraid she was going to break a bone with that thing… but I like that about her" Thane lightly smiled to himself as he marched the last steps and into the hall. He looked down the hall way and suddenly thought of something, 'what was the room number again? ...Shit…'

Thane started to pace up and down the halls, looking for something, anything, that looked familiar. He decided to go for broke and simply knock on one of the doors, 'here goes nothing…'

He stopped at a random door and proceeded to knock. The person who answered was not who he expected. A short girl with a slightly plump disposition stood there in her PJs rubbing the sleep from her eyes. When she saw him she suddenly looked wide awake and gave him a warm smile, "Ah, Thane-sensei, good Morning."

Thane was charmed by her smile and suddenly felt a little less tired "Ah, Good morning…huh…"

She gave a small laugh at his lack of recognition "Satsuki Yotsuba, seat number Thirty in class, how can I help you Sensei?"

Thane scratched the back of his head sheepishly from lack of remembering her name and his predicament, "I kinda forgot which room That Yuna-san and Akira-san where staying in."

She gave another warm smile that left him with even more warm and fuzzes "there room is number 628, just down the hall their on the left."

Thane gave her a small bow "Thank you Yotsuba-san. And I am sorry if I woke you up"

She shook her head gently "No problem at all. See you in class Sensei"

Thane stood outside her closed door for a moment longer with the warm feeling still in his chest 'she has a cute way of talking…' Thane walked down the hall and found his room. He sighed and, without even knocking, opened the door and walked right in and sat on the couch. What he saw next left him and everybody present stunned. From what he could see, Akira had just gotten out of the shower, and was standing across the room with her bare back to him, her hair loose and obscuring most of it while her head turned to stare at him in shock. Thanes first thought 'she has a nice body' Thanes second thought 'HOLY SHIT!"

Both of their faces turn a deep red color with the silence being broken by Akira screaming "Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!-!" She falls to her Knees covering her chest while Thane quickly slammed his hands to his eyes, "By the God's! I am so sorry Akira-san! I'll-"

"HIYA!"

*PING*

"SWEET MERCY!-!"

Thane felt a sharp impact on the back of his head, causing him to fall to the ground in a daze. He was face down on the floor when he heard the sound of his Assailant's voice , "Oh, it's only you Thane."

Thane looked up and saw two Yuna's staring down at him with frying pans. "Damn it Yuna! You didn't need to hit so hard! Both of ya! Wait… you didn't check to see what you were swinging at?"

Yuna shrugged her shoulders with some mild disinterest "I swing first, ask later."

Thane angrily muttered to himself and groggily got up to lay down on the couch, careful not to touch the tender spot on his head. After his head stopped swimming, he looked around the room and saw that Akira wasn't there "Hey, where's Akira-san?"

Yuna handed him an Icepack "In the bathroom getting dressed. The moment you turned away, she got her clothes and bolted down the hallway, oh and her face was really red too."

Thane placed the Icepack on the sore spot and sighed "great… just great…" he sat there for a moment longer until he noticed that Yuna was standing there... in her underwear.

He quickly covered his eyes "YUNA! What the hell are you doing!"

She was really confused at that statement "Uhhhhhhhhh… making sure your ok?"

Thane blindly pointed at her "I mean why the hell are you not wearing any clothes!"

Yuna looked down at herself and started to scratch the back of her head with a laugh "Oh, That! I had just gotten out of the bath myself when I heard Akira screaming." She noticed his blushing face and started to smile mischievously "what's wrong? Why do you have your eyes covered?"

Thane, still keeping his eyes covered, started to fume at her "You know damn well why!"

She posed in a sexy manner even though he couldn't see her "Could it be that you won't be able keep your eyes off me if you uncover them?"

Thane uncovers his eyes and gave her an angry glare "Put some clothes on before I strip the rest of them off!"

She was shocked for a moment, but started to act like a pure maiden "Oh my… can Sensei not hold back his male desires if this goes on for too much longer? Oh no… My maidenhood is in danger…"

Thane was sorely tempted to throw her out the window so that he wouldn't have to deal with her insanity, but simply settled with strangling the air in front of him.

Yuna was holding her stomach from laughing to hard " Ha ha! You are just too much fun to tease!"

Thane felt the blood rush to his cheeks and he turned away, not wanting her to see it as well. "ju-just put some clothes on already, you could catch a cold, and it's highly indecent."

Yuna's laughing slowly came to a halt "*phew* alright…" She walked over and lightly patted him on the back and went to get changed.

Thane sighed lightly to himself 'that girl is a handful… even more then Levy if I think about it…' Thane heard his stomach start to growl and looked over at the kitchen "Guess I better eat…" he looked over at the clock on the dresser to check how much time they had 'only 6:47, plenty of time to make something.' Thane walked over into the kitchen and opened the fridge, a small smile growing on his face.

Meanwhile, in the Bathroom, Akira was still red and had leaned up against the bathroom wall, her heart still racing from the earlier encounter 'h-h-h-h- He sa-saw me naked! Full body exposure! Why didn't he knock before he came in? Where was he anyway?-!' She held her face in her hands, feeling the heat radiate onto her skin with an intense force. "I-I need to cool off first…" She stood up and went to the Sink, turning the cold tap all the way on in haste and plugged the sink. She watched the water flow out and started to let her thoughts flow with it 'did… did he really see my body though? My back was turned to him and he did cover his eyes as soon as he saw me… maybe… I'm over thinking things… maybe…'

She watched the water flow for a second more before she turned it off and stared down into the water and at her reflection, her heart and body calming down upon seeing the cool liquid reflecting the light. She dipped her hands into it and stared into the small amount cupped in her hands 'better…' she continued to stare into the water, letting her thoughts drift away from her and into the liquid, an expression of bliss on her face.

Yuna suddenly walked into the bathroom and saw her friend standing full nude in front of the mirror looking all happy "What? Your breasts get bigger or something?" Akira didn't hear her and continued to stare at her cupped hands, which caused Yuna to scratch her chin, "great… her condition must be acting up again…" Yuna came over and lightly shook her, "Yo! Akira! ...*sigh*…"

Yuna dipped her hand in the icy cold water in the sink and flicked her fingers at Akira's face, the icy droplets causing her to flinch and come slowly back to attention

"…Huh?"

Yuna stared at her friend "You ok? I think your condition was acting up again"

Akira blinked her eyes a few time before she had begun to register what her friend had said "Oh…I'm fine now… thanks…"

Yuna eyed her friend in concern, "if you say so. But, man that is a strange condition, and why does it happen so sporadically? Oh well."

Akira shook her head again, bringing the last of her attention back into focus. The both of them got dressed and proceeded to start combing their hair until Akira started to smell something "*Sniff Sniff* Yuna…" She looked over at her friend, who was busy getting her hair back up into the side ponytail that she so enjoyed

"yeah?"

"Did you put something on the stove? Because I smell something cooking…"

Yuna looked back at her friend with an odd expression "No, I didn't."

Both girls look at each other and exit the bathroom. They get into the living room and see an amazing sight. Thane was standing over by the stove, the sound of something sizzling in the background. He was wearing a white apron and had taken his hair out of its usual ponytail, letting it fall on his neck and the side of his face, a smile just barely visible. Thane felt there looks on his back and turned to them "Oh hey, could one of you tell me where I can find the salt? This kitchen is confusing." Thane suddenly lit up and reached over on the counter "Never mind, I found it"

Yuna, who was still rather shocked, pointed at him "Thane? You can cook?"

The pale male started to shake small pinches of salt into the frying pan "Yeah, when you have three kids who would eat only junk for dinner, you learn, and fast. What? Did you think I couldn't or something?"

Yuna only looked at him in stunned silence. Thane looked over and crossed eyes with Akira, causing them both to remember the earlier incident and blush madly. Thane quickly went back to making breakfast with more energy than before. Yuna was smiling widely and sat down at the table "so you're really smart and can cook? My life just keeps getting better and better with you around! I better go ahead and stake my claim so nobody else takes you away!"

Thane looked at her with anger and embarrassment etched into his features "St-stupid! Don't say retarded stuff like that…" Yuna started to laugh again, not noticing the small amount of discomfort on both Akira's and Thanes faces. Thane gave a defeated sigh and went back to cooking 'this is gonna be a looooooong day…'

Xx 8:27 A.M. xX

"we are going to be so late!"

Yuna, Akira, and Thane were making a mad dash to the school building, the impending time limit looming closer and closer. Yuna looked Back at Thane and started to rant, "This is your fault!"

Thane proceeded to yell back at her "My fault!-? I was making the lunch that sits in that bag of yours! And this is the Thanks I get!-?"

Yuna added a little more speed to her step "You didn't have to make it so damned meticulously!"

"and let you eat some unhealthy slop? Not on my watch sister!"

Akira dashed between them both "less fighting more running you two!"

The trio was quickly accompanied by many other such late comers, which also made a mad dash for the school building. With less than a minute left for the bell to toll, the three dash through the door, Thane breathing more heavily due to the fact that he had run four hours earlier. Akira looked at him with some concern, "are you alright Sensei? You seem really out of breath." Thane waved her question away "*pant* yeah… I- I'm fine…*pant* *wheeze* Just… did a lot of exercise this morning, that's all…"

Thane stood up, finally having caught his breath "You two go on ahead, I need to find Negi-Sensei" Both girls nod their heads in unison and Thane watches them quickly walk off. He also notices a certain red head accompanied by a chocolate haired girl walk out from behind one of the shoe lockers and quickly calls out to them, "Ah! Asuna-san, Konoka-san, is Negi-sensei with you?"

Asuna doesn't answer, instead she opts to point at the lockers a few rows down. Thane nods his head in thanks and walked to them. He turned the corner and saw Negi grumbling while trying to get to his shoe locker "stupid out-of-reach locker…"

Thane laughed internally at the little display and was about to help before the class representative reached out and helped him instead, "good morning Negi-Sensei, I'll walk with you to the classroom."

Thane could have sworn that he saw her glowing with a massive amount of flower petals coming off the girl. Negi sheepishly scratched his head "Th-Thank you"

"good morning Negi, Yukihiro-san"

Thane had walked over next to the boy and gave them both a smile. Ayaka bowed her head in greeting, "Good morning Thane-sensei."

Negi also bowed his head in greeting, "Good morning Thane-san"

Thane patted the boy on the back and started to walk with them, followed by Asuna and Konoka. "I trust that both of you slept well last night?" Ayaka was walking next to Negi and was looking back at Thane. Negi Nodded his head "Your… Ayaka Yukihiro. Iincho-san right? I slept well, thank you" Thane smiled at Him "getting their names down quickly I see. Good work."

" I have to, else I would get bogged down with just the greetings"

Thane lightly ruffled his hair "True, True. By the way Negi, would you mind if I looked at the class roster? And a copy of the lesson plans that you have for the week?" Negi pulled some papers and the Book that Shizuna had given him out from under his arm and handed it to Thane, "Sure, but what do you need them for?" Thane started to scan the Class roster "1, so I can also get to know the names of the students. And 2, so I can help you start making lesson plans for next week"

Ayaka stared at the pale youth with respect, "you are a very diligent assistant. Are you sure you're a recent graduate?" Thane looked at her with a coy smile, "recent graduate? Yes. Doing paper work? No"

Thane noticed a certain purple haired bookworm leaning out the classroom door and greeted her at the same time as Negi, "Good morning Miyazaki-san/ Nodoka-chan!"

She gave a nervous greeting in return and disappeared into the room. Negi was the first to enter the classroom which caused an Eraser to fall, though Ayaka caught it before it hit him. Thane saw one of the Twins snap her finger at her trap being defeated, and shook his head while smiling. After everybody was in there seats, Thane watched Nodoka stand up, "Teachers approach! Stand!" Everybody in the room stood up. "Attention!" Negi was holding his hand up in greeting, slightly confused by it all "Uh, Thank you…" Thane simply scratched his head in confusion 'what in Carotis is this all about?'

"Bow!"

"GOOD MORNING SENSEI!"

Negi pulled his book out and gave a nervous smile "Uh, Good morning…"

"Be seated!"

The sound of chairs scratching the floor fills the room until there is silence once more. Thane saw Asuna hold her hand up to her mouth and whisper out something along the lines of 'relax' to Negi who also whispered something back. Negi stood up and grabbed one of the books he had and opened it up, grabbing a piece of chalk as well. "Let's pick up where we left off. Please turn to Page 76 in your texts."

Negi began to walk around the class " {The fall of Jason the flower. Spring came. Jason the Flower was born on the branch of a tall tree. Hundreds of flowers were born on the tree. They were all friends}"

'I didn't do so well yesterday, so today, I have to give it my best'

Thane was staring out at the classroom, seeing if anybody was diverting their attention, but he was only doing it instinctively. His thoughts were elsewhere 'Thirty seconds and no riots yet! Gotta be a record!'

"Now who can I get to translate this passage in Japanese?"

Thane snapped back into focus. He saw the class try very hard to not catch Negi's attention, and where busy trying to find things to occupy their field of vision, like the floor, or the ceiling. The ones by the windows stared out onto the now empty campus grounds. Thane saw Asuna try very hard not to get his attention, even electing to spin a pencil to distract herself. Negi, however, didn't quite catch that signal.

"how about you Asuna-san?"

Thane saw everybody else in the room sigh in relief at not catching his attention, everybody except Asuna that is, "Wh-WHY ME!-?"

Negi was trying to shirk away from the angry girl "be-because…"

"because why?-! Normally you go by rows or dates!"

Negi held the book up, thinking that it might defend him "But Asuna, I thought you might like the opportunity…"

"what opportunity!-?"

Thane was trying not to laugh at them both, but not doing a very good job at it. Ayaka stood up, holding her hand to her chin in a royal manner "So you admit that the Material is too hard for you to understand? Allow me to do it for you Asuna."

Much to both Thane and Negi's surprise, Asuna let up on her anger, "Fi-Fine! I'll do it okay?" She held the book up and looked at it with intense concentration, which to Thane looked painful for her 'Nah, must be imagining it…'

"Jason…fell off the top of a flower… spring arrived? Jason and a flower…um… ate brunch by tall tree… There were a hundred…bones…um… the bones… the trees"

There was a moment of silence " Ok… not bad… but not good either"

Thane watched as Negi put himself right in front of the firing line. Everybody in the room started to giggle and laugh, save for the fiery red head "Wah-!-?"

Misa spoke up "She's not very good at Math either"

"or literature"

"Science and History are a no go as well."

"about the only thing she is good at is P.E"

without thinking, Thane also put himself on the firing line "In other words, a Bonafide Idiot you mean"

She glared at Thane, who flinched from the fiery death glare. Though the only one in strangling distance was Negi, so she latched onto him. Thane knew how this was fixing to go down, so he proceeded to go over and prevent her from turning him into a smear on the floor.

"Ah-!"

The sound of a sneeze coming on put both Asuna and Thane on High alert.

'aw snap! I hope I can make it in time!' Thane quickly dashed over to stop him. Before Negi could sneeze, Thane grabbed him by the top of the head and twisted him right at Himself 'This has got to be the best idea I've ever had!'

"ACHOO!"

The gale force sneeze that ensued blasted all of Thanes clothes away, everything except his blue boxers that is. 'Scratch that, this is the worst idea I've ever had!'

Thankfully, everybody was not focused on him just yet. Most were still debating where the heck the mini-tornado came from. However, a nude male does not go unnoticed for very long. Ayaka quickly stood up and pointed at Thane, a huge blush on her face "Th-Thane-sensei! What are you doing!-?"

Everybody in the class had their attention drawn directly to him, which caused quite a few blushing faces and maybe one or two whistles at his well honed body, there may have been a cat call in there somewhere, but he wasn't paying attention to that. Thane did the first thing that came to mind, and that was to start flexing his muscles and posing "can't you tell Iincho-san? I'm posing for artistic nude. Quiet a deep subject you know…" everybody in the room started to laugh.

Asakura quickly got her camera out and started to take pictures. Haruna followed suite, only with more enthusiasm "Show off that build you sexy narcissistic bastard!"

Of course, that made everything better "yes! Takes those pictures! Chisel my magnificent figure into both your minds and technology! Plaster it for all to see and marvel at the Creature called a human male!"

poor Negi was confused and disgruntled, feeling both sorry for blowing his assistants cloths off and confused at the recent events. Asuna simply face palmed thinking the whole world has gone bat-shit crazy.

Xx After class xX

Thane was sitting outside on a bench with a hopeless look on his face and sighed in defeat 'well, this day wasn't the best day ever…I think poor Negi still feels rather guilty about the whole thing…' A light shimmering made it's self visible next to Thane and eventually formed into Sayo Aisaka, her face one of worry

"Are you ok Thane-sensei?"

Thane smiled at her though his eyes were still listless "from a physical standpoint, never better! From a mental one… my brain is completely fried… God's I hope I don't get fired from my job…"

Sayo held her hand up to her mouth, "Fi- Fired? Why would you get fired? You didn't do anything wrong!" Thane leaned his head back into the bench, "well, exposing myself to a bunch of underage girls isn't exactly something a teacher does you know, so that's kinda grounds for dismissal right there…"

Thane saw the ghost girl begin to panic, "I-It was a misunderstanding! They can't get rid of you because of one mistake! I-I'll go talk to the headmaster, or-or make a strike or…!"

Thane smiled warmly at Sayo and patted her on the head, "Oh you don't have to do that (not like you could anyway.) I don't think anybody in our class really cared about it that much… so I'm safe for the time being"

The look of relief on her face made Thane want to hug her, "Oh thank goodness… I don't know what I would have done if you had to leave…"

Thane patted her on the cheek "Even if I get fired, I won't leave the campus. I promised didn't I? I will be there for you whenever you need me Sayo-chan"

Sayo was blushing, but had a feeling of happiness welling up in her chest. Thane saw her unconsciously smile at him with that beautiful smile of hers, and he blushed. 'I Think that this is going to be the best part of my days from now on…'

Thane leaned forward and fought past his embarrassment to give her a smile of his own "Your smile is really beautiful, has anybody ever told you that? It certainly makes me happy to see it"

Sayo was slightly taken aback by the sudden complement and started to blush again, "Th-thank you…" she started to lightly mumble, "I-if you… If you want… I can smi-"

Thane saw the Library Trio and called out to them, not hearing the Ghost girls words "hey you three! What's going on?"

Thane looked back and saw Sayo sitting in a depressed corner "You ok?"

"yeah…fine…" She shook her head and looked back at him 'I need to try harder! He's the first person to see me in sixty years! I can't let myself be weak willed!'

Thane got up and walked over to the Trio, Sayo following close behind him. Yue was the first to greet him, "Hi there Thane-sensei" Haruna was busy doing something to Nodokas head and gave him a grunt in greeting.

Thane looked at the spectacle with some mild confusion and a lot of interest, "what are you three up to?" since Yue wasn't doing anything, she decided to answer his question, "we are working on getting Negi-sensei to notice Nodoka. So we decided to try to change her up a bit." Haruna jumped back a bit and examined her handy work, "What do ya think Thane?"

Thane looked at Nodoka, not sure what to expect. Haruna had tied the girls Hair into a very short side-ponytail, moving most of the girl's hair to the side, revealing a good bit of Nodoka's face. Thane started to scratch his Chin, "it looks good… but…"

"But... but What? Spit it out man!"

Thane was silent for a moment longer, "It borders on unusual. I'm not really bothered by it since I know her a little better, but Negi hasn't had a lot of interaction with her, so he may think it looks odd. Here let me try something…"

before Nodoka could protest, Thane reached down and started to mess with her hair a bit. After a few more seconds, he stood back and looked at her. he had changed her hair back to the way it was, with only a small alteration. He had moved the bangs around a bit to reveal more of her eyes.

"There! Now what do you think?"

Haruna started to scratch her chin, "Simple, yet cute… I think I like it!"

Yue nodded her head as well, "very cute."

Nodoka was starting to blush from the praise which caused Thane to pat her on the back, "he'll like it, I know it, cause I sure do!"

Sayo, though unnoticed by most everybody except Thane, hovered around the bookworm, "It really is cute…"

Thane grabbed Nodoka and started to pull her, who in turn, started to flail madly, "let's go show Negi!" After a few minutes of searching and forced kidnapping, Thane saw him sitting off by a statue with a depressed look on his face 'There he is! This cutie should defiantly cheer his day up!' Thane let go of her and Pointed at the young boy, "There's your target! Now seek and destroy! Fight!" Thane threw his arm in the air in excitement.

Nodoka imitated him; though very weakly, "F-fight…"

Thane watched her start to walk over, very slowly, with no rush in her step at all.

Thane, Yue, and Haruna watched her for a full minute before anybody said anything, "I think she's gonna need back up…"

"yeah"

"defiantly."

Thane pushed the other two out after her, "So go back her up!" He watched the other two push the shy girl towards Negi, who finally noticed them. Thane was too far away to hear anything, but as far as he could see, the exchange was going well enough. That is until Yue and Haruna moved up and moved all her hair out of her face and say something about her having a cute face. Nodoka quickly ran away right past Thane who was laughing nervously 'well… it's a start…' Haruna ran right past while calling out. Yue was the only one to stop, "sorry about that Sensei, and Thank you for helping out" She quickly dashed off after the speck that was Nodoka.

Thane looked at Sayo and shrugged his shoulders, she merely giggled back. He then turned toward Negi and waved at him. Negi dejectedly waved back at him 'yeah, this morning must still be bugging him…' Thane walked over and sat down next to Negi, "hey! How you doing Negi? Haven't seen you for thirty minutes! Anything interesting happen in that time? Like a vampire come to drink your blood or a time traveler give you a Time traveling device?"

Negi looked at him with some confusion, "Um… no"

Thane however was looking away with a sense of impending doom and a strange expression on his face 'funny…felt like I just predicted the future…'

He shook his head and went back to smiling, "well that's cool too! So what's bugging you?"

Negi looked at him with a fake smile, "Oh, nothing is wrong. Why would you think that?"

Thane stared blankly at him for a moment before he put him in a headlock and started to furiously give him a noogie, "Don't you lie to me ya little runt! This morning is still bugging you, isn't it?"

Negi was desperately trying to get out of the head lock with no avail "YES! YES! NOW PLEASE STOP! I THINK MY SCALP IS SMOKING!"

Thane let go of him and crossed his arms in annoyance "like I said yesterday Negi, don't blame yourself for every little thing that goes wrong. You simply jump over the little details in the road of life."

Negi gave him a weak smile, "Thanks…"

Thane could hear that he wasn't convinced and started to think 'damn… kid needs a real morale booster to get him out of this one… I got it!' Thane jumped up, "alright then Negi! We're going to prove that you don't suck at this! so I suggest that we help somebody! Do you have anybody in mind?"

Negi held up his hand, "No, it's fine, really."

Thane ignored him and continued talking, "Nobody comes to mind? Hum… I got it! Asuna! Let's make that love potion for her! Then she'll stop calling you a twerp and accept you as a great mage in training!"

Negi nervously laughed, "I don't know abou-"

Thane grabbed the boy by the head and started to grind his temples with his knuckles "AIEEEEEEEE!"

"Stop being such a wimp!"

In a furious attempt to get away, Negi started to struggle, causing Thane to accidently kick Negi's bag in an attempt to keep up the punishment, forcing a small glass vile to fall out of it. Thane stops grinding Negi's head and picks it up, "what's this?" Negi was rubbing his temples before he suddenly lights up in recognition. He takes it from his grasp with an excited expression on his face "Th-This is the seven colored magical pills my grandfather gave me years ago! Anya Or My sister must have slipped them into my bag!" Thane scratched his head 'he has a sister?'

"so what does that mean?"

Negi looked over at Thane with a huge amount of enthusiasm coming from his little person, "It means that we could almost 100% make that love potion!" Thane was scratching is chin nervously, "You sure about that?" Negi gave him a beaming smile, "Positive!"

Thane merely shrugged 'I'll follow his judgment on this one, though that "for adult use only" Tag is really making me nervous…' Negi stopped for a moment, thinking back on what Asuna had told him this morning 'I'll make it happen on my own'

"I don't know if this will allow her to accept or forgive me… but it's the only thing I can do for now…"

Thane was slightly confused by that but didn't say anything. Negi got out a few laboratory odd items and added the whole contents of the vial into some magical chemical of some sort. Thane was lightly scratching his head, "Uh… are you sure you should be adding the whole thi-"

Negi had already started and was deaf to Thanes words "Ras Tel Ma scir magister… Age Nascatur Potion Amoris!"

The slight explosion of magic caused Thane to hold his hand up to shield his face. When it finally had died down, Negi already had it in his hands, a look of achievement on his face, "I… I did it!" Thane tapped him on the shoulder, "Are you sure it's going to work though? We haven't even tested it yet"

Negi looked up at him with a beaming confidence, "I Know it'll work! Let's get this to Asuna pronto!" Negi began to dash off, but was stopped when Thane grabbed him by his collar, "Now hooooold on their Negi, lets test it first. Make sure it doesn't have any adverse side effects. Last thing we need is for her to grow things that shouldn't be there"

Negi started to pout, "Bu-But I know it'll wo-"

Thane quickly nabbed it from him and poured just a minuscule amount into the palm of his hand, "I'm not doubting you Negi, I just wanna check for myself, that's all. Just humor me on this."

Negi still looked like he wanted to say something, but let him continue. Thane gave him a smile and sipped the small amount in his hand. They waited for a minute, Negi's face looking at him with expectancy "Is it working?" Thane looked around for a moment, "I don't know, no girl's he-" Thane stopped when he saw Sayo looking at him with dreamy eyes,

"Oh Thane-sensei… has anybody told you how much of a stud you are?"

'ohhhhhhhhhhhh shit... that's not good...' Thane's mouth was hanging wide open in shock and horror. Negi was confused by his expression, "What's wrong? Are you ok?"

"I'm fine… It works by the way" he quickly handed it back, taking a few steps back from the slowly approaching Sayo 'I didn't think it would have such a powerful affect!' he tried to dash off, but Sayo pounced on him, her cheeks rubbing his own, "Oh sensei… touch me more! Let me feel you so that I can return my love for you!"

Thane saw Negi run off with an excited look on his face. Thane reached out to try to stop him, "Don't do it Negi! It's too powerful! I need to seal it!" 'why the hell did I give it back to him in the first place!-?'

Sayo, however, was not letting up and grabbed his face, looking into his eyes with a dreamy expression on her face, "Thane… can I call you that? Let me feel the warmth of your lips…"

Thane quickly started to try to push her away, "No Sayo-chan! You don't wanna do this!"

She was proving stronger then he thought possible from a spirit and continued to inch closer, "I don't?... No... I do. But I don't want just a kiss, now that I think about it…" She moved down and started to undo her old school uniform, which caused Thane to recoil in horror.

'OH. MEH. GAWD! scratch what I said earlier! It's not powerful, it's downright dangerous!' Thane grabbed her hands to stop her, "Sayo! You are under the affect of a strange drug that somehow got into the possession of a ten-year old! Snap out of it girl!"

She grabbed his hands and looked up at him, the Beautiful smile that she had beaming at him. He almost lost control right there.

'no choice!'

Thane pulled her close into an embrace, which made her giddy and embrace him back "I knew you loved me back sense-"

*whack!*

A Karate chop to the back of her neck knocked her out before she could complete her sentence. Thane saw her slump to the ground in a heap, and held his hand up in apology "Sorry Sayo-chan, Looks like that lesson in pain came earlier then I wanted."

He pulled her off and gently laid her down on the ground, apologizing multiple times as he did. After making sure she was alright, he quickly dashed in the direction that Negi did 'aw man… this all my fault… I pushed him to make the stupid potion. And knowing how Asuna is, she never is going to drink the stupid thing. More likely scenario is she forces it down his throat…'

He actually had to stop and think about that for a second. 'you know... that probably is what happened... shit...' Thane dashed through the halls, trying to find Negi before it was too late.

"Negi-sensei!"

Thane stopped upon hearing the familiar voice "Nodoka-chan? That sounded close!" he quickly dashed down the hall until he saw Asuna trying to force a door open.

"Gah! It's locked!"

"Asuna-san!"

Asuna turned and Saw her pale sensei running at her "Is Negi and Nodoka-chan in there?"

Asuna nodded her head "Yeah! But I can't get this damn door open!"

"Stand back!"

Asuna quickly jumped back, while Thane held his fist up and started to concentrate his Chi "HIYA!" he pulled his arm back and punched a hole right through the door "hell yeah!"

Asuna started to yell at him "We wanted it off! not a hole through it! Outta the way!"

Thane looked at her and quickly jumped back, the look of fire scaring him, oh, and the flying high kick too. The impact busts the door right off its hinges and sent it flying across the room, where Negi pushed a highly horny Nodoka away and deflected it with a wind barrier. After checking to see if she was still alive (thankfully, she was only Knocked out) Negi started to flail his arms wildly "As-Asuna! You could have killed somebody!"

"so- Sorry!"

Thane, however, was looking at Asuna with his mouth hanging open "Asuna."

She looked back at him "What?"

"you do realize these doors don't open inward right?"

She scratched her head in confusion, as if he just told her something in gibberish "what's your point?"

Thane looked at the door half-way across the room and back to the ripped out door frame that was hanging precariously from a few splinters and drywall tape "…Nothing…"

Xx Later xX

After checking to see if anybody needed medical attention, Thane went to check and see how Sayo was, but by the time he had gone back, she was already gone. So Thane simply thought she had gone back to the classroom. He sighed and sat down on the bench 'can't say that it fixed Negi's problem, but its one thing out of the way… I still need to go visit McDowell and then try to apologize to Akira for this morning.' He held his hand up and counted the number of problems he had and sighed "I better get To McDowell-sans place first. She seems like the sort to bite my head off if I was late." Thane got up and started to walk towards the dorms feeling rather tired from the day.

Xx a little bit later at the dorms xX

Thane was walking down the dorm steps fuming 'what do ya mean they don't live at the damned dorms?-!' He had gone to every door on the 5th and 6th floors and everybody had told him the same thing.

Evangeline and Chachamaru don't live in the registered housing area.

Thankfully, Hakase (student number 24) had told him that they live in a cottage in the woods just outside the campus grounds. "Guess she likes her privacy… Rather A-typical of a vampire" After twenty minutes of wandering, Thane finally found the woods he was looking for.

Much to his surprise, he also saw a green haired student going into them as well and recognized her "Ah! Karakuri-san! Hold up!"

Chachamaru looked over at the pale youth with her expressionless face and bowed "good evening Thane-sensei. I believe that you have come for the appointment with My Master then?"

Thane noticed the lack of emotion in the girl's voice, but didn't ask about it "yes I am. is she here?"

Chachamaru nodded her head "yes, she is. I will take you to her if you so wish"

Thane nodded his head and gave her a smile "that would be nice, yes please"

Thane followed the girl to the cottage he heard about and whistled "Nice place she has here, though I was kinda expecting a castle for a vampire."

"She has a castle"

Thane looked at her in surprise "really? I'm guessing not here though"

"It's here"

Thane did a double take and started to look around "where?-!"

Chachamaru nodded her head at the cabin "Inside the house in the basement"

Thane gave her a long blank stare "… you're making fun of me, aren't you?"

Chachamaru simply stared at him, no hint of humor or sarcasm in her features "I speak only the truth. Ah, here we are." She opened the door and motioned for him to go first.

Thane walked through the door and was surprised by the sight of all the stuffed dolls arranged in an elegant fashion throughout the house. Though some of them looked cursed, and when he got a better look at some of them, downright creepy.

"About time you came back Chachamaru! I was starting to get hungry!" Thane saw the small blond vampire walking down the stairs in a simple black night dress.

Thane cocked his head to the side and smiled at her "Katamesimero (High Noon) Evangeline-san"

She stopped in her tracks, a small look of slight annoyance etched in her face "Again with the strange language! You have a lot of explaining to do Thane Mastizetai!"

Thane bowed to her "very well then. But is it not common courtesy to invite your guest to sit and to drink upon the abode?"

Eva's eyebrow slightly coked upward in some small amount of amusement "Humph, it would appear that you are trying to act the part of a Gentleman of some sort. Very well, Chachamaru! Get tea ready!"

as The Gynoid went about her task, Thane sat down on one of the few empty chairs and saw Eva do the same, though in a less then lady like manner "Alright, start talking. I managed to get some things out of that old Gourd for brains of a headmaster. But it was only the bare raw facts. I want the juicy fat of the details."

Thane chuckled to himself "alright then, let's play twenty questions shall we? But I would also like some answers as well, though you may dislike the questions"

Eva scoffed at him "Fine, I'll start then. What is Estoria?"

Thane began his explanation "Right to the point then... Estoria is a land filled with magic, High Dragons, Technology of many sorts. Psychic orders, vampires, werewolves, mermaids, Elder God's, Eldritch Abominations, Nightmarish horrors, and damn near anything else I happened to read in this world's fantasy Books and novels"

Eva raised her eyebrows in interest "So it's technically like Mundus Magicus? Interesting… Though not as much as I was hoping. Next question, How did you know That I was a vampire?"

Thane saw Chachamaru approach and took the tea from her "Thank you. How? Easy, I have a friend back in Estoria who is just like you. A vampire with a considerable amount of power hidden away. I could see it in your eyes when I saw you, the amount of power that you wield."

Eva felt a little flattered, and started to get just a little puffed up "you could tell? But of course! Even strangers to this world would feel my power! Ha ha!" Thane saw her put one foot on the table and put one hand under her Chin and laugh royally. Chachamaru Picked her up and set her back in her chair, much to the vampire's annoyance.

"anyway… who is this vampire that you speak of? A doddering old man Filled with his own delusions of grandeur?"

Thane lifted his eyebrow in amusement "Her name is Queen Mary Vannyle de Granz, ruler of the land of Naxator for nearly 2000 years since she ascended its dark Ruins, About the 5th most powerful being in all of Estoria, and the last of the Void Vampires, so I would ask you to show a little more respect please."

Eva sat back in her chair, feeling impressed with this person, if not just a dash humbled "I…see. Well then, my next question. What is the Blood greeting you were talking about yesterday? And what is that odd language you were using as well?"

Thane sat back and sipped his tea "the blood greeting is just that, a greeting between vampires. The language, however is called Logia Ton Nekron or Words of the Dead."

Eva started to fidget in her seat, The name causing her to remember when she was first turned " Why does that name cause me to…"

Thane finished her sentence "To remember your turning? Because the language is even older than that, so it tends to drag out memories of when you died as a human. Though I am a little surprised to see that it affects you at all considering the fact that you're a world away"

Eva sat back in her chair, taking it all in, her tea forgotten. Thane watched her in silence for a few minutes "So, does this answer your questions?" she looked back at him "All but one."

"Go ahead and shoot, I'll answer to the best of my ability"

She sat back in her chair appropriately, a deadly serious look on her face "What are you?"

Of all the questions he had expected her to ask, that wasn't one of them "… excuse me?"

She looked annoyed "I don't like to repeat my questions, but I will do it anyway. What. Are you?"

Thane stared at her with a vacant expression "I'm Thane Mastizetai. That's it, full blown Human extraordinaire!"

Eva gave him a look that wasn't friendly "so you will avoid my question huh? No matter, I don't really care anyway for what you may be…"

Thane smiled at her "If you say so… now for my questions!"

Eva simply rolled her eyes "woo-hoo...great…"

Thane leaned forward "When were you turned?" a very bold first question from him, which earned him a very angry glare from her "I don't remember asking you that kind of question!"

Thane sat back "I believe that we agreed to answer my questions after I answered yours?"

she fell back in her chair, more out of annoyance of his true statement then the actual question "fine! Though I'll have you know that it is a very rude question to ask for a woman's age in this world" she sat back and closed her eyes in thought "let's see… During the one hundred years war in France."

Thane scratched his chin "so I take it your nearly 800 years old then?" She scowled at him "You clearly have a hearing problem if you failed to notice what I said not but 20 seconds ago"

he shrugged his shoulders "Fair enough. Now, I find this really odd for a Vampire like you. But why are you here in this school? I would think you would be playing the Political game in government and taking it over from the inside out. That or sleeping"

Eva started to grit her teeth, hateful memories resurfacing "Oh how I would love to be doing something of either choice. But I'm stuck here! Forced to stay in this ditzy school girl hell, constantly hearing the same boring shit over and over for the past Fifteen years Thanks to that man! Yes, that man… I would skin him alive and pike his head outside my door and laugh at it every time I walked through my yard if I could get my hands on him!" She was pretty much ranting in anger now, which caused Thane to scoot his chair back a few feet in case she decided to put his head on a pike

'Touchy subject I'm guessing…'

Thane waited for her to calm down before he proceeded with his questions "so you're being kept here? How?" She practically threw herself into her chair and gave him a sour look "A magical seal that restricts my powers as both a vampire and a mage. I've been working on breaking it for years, but I haven't solved it yet…"

Thane stared at her for a moment, his chin screwing up in serious thought "… let me try something here…" before she could ask him what, he had reached into his bag and pulled out a small metallic sphere with two multi color gems embedded into it. He pressed on one of the gems, causing the whole thing to light up "retrieve Item 05534, named 'Eye of Havrad' " The small sphere started to glow and a small item began to form in the Pillar of light until a small crystal that looked like a snakes eye was visible. Thane snatched it from the air and placed it in the palm of his hand, a look of confusion On Eva's face.

"What is That? And what do you plan on doing with it?"

Thane held it up and let Eva Examine it "This is a magical artifact Known as the Eye of Havrad, named after the Serpent of the legend."

Eva was intrigued "Oh?"

Thane smiled at her "Interested in the legend?"

Eva wasn't about to say it out loud, but she was intrigued. She rarely got to read anything interesting anymore. However, it must have shown on her face, because he leaned further into his chair and started to ponder, placing the Spherical object on the table.

"Fine then, I see no harm in it. Let me see… Havrad was the trickster god of Snakes. His tongue could weave a lie and make it seem truth, while his eyes could see through any deception so that he could never be deceived. Now Havrad would have his fun with mortals, turning loving families into bitter enemies, making kings execute his own people in fear of them turning traitor and on and on. now he eventually grew bored with deceiving Humans and turned his eyes towards tricking gods. For what greater joy is there then to deceive those who hold real power?"

Eva sat back with a sinister smile "A dangerous gambit, and yet, it makes success all that much sweeter..."

Thane smiled inwardly " The god he sought to trick was Terrathrax, master of the earth and keeper of the Gods Forge. Havrad whispered into the God's ear one night and told him that the High Dragon's held a rare and powerful ore known as Star Metal. Now Terrathrax was master of the earth and any new metals or ores found belonged to him, such was the pact he had with his subjects The High Dragons. The God was outraged that his Subjects would keep this from him, and caused the Dragons ancient home of Trimitra to erupt into gouts of magma and fire in his rage."

Thane wasn't aware of it, but Chachamaru had stopped what she was doing and was listening in on them.

"The Dragons begged with Terrathrax and asked him what they had done to receive his ire. Upon hearing the Dragons Cry's for mercy, Terrathrax Knew he had been deceived and sought to Hunt the serpent down and skin him alive for the wrong committed on him. But the snake was too cunning and managed to keep away from him. So Terrathrax devised for a way to beat the Trickster god at his own game." Eva lightly huffed "Hum… I want to hear this…"

"Terrathrax had spread through the world that he had found a book of secrets that could reveal the fates of all things, mortal and God. Havrad heard this from the mouth of another and sought this book out. What fun he would have if he could see the fates of Mortals and Gods! He entered the hall of the Earth God and found the book, but he could see that the book was a lie! It could not see such fates! He had been tricked because others believed the story true and had not heard it from the source! Terrathrax Caught the Serpent and took out his eyes and cut out his tongue and skinned the god in punishment, giving the scales to The High Dragons in Apology. Such is the tale of the Snake God Havrad"

Eva sat there with a grin on her face "what an interesting story! So The snake couldn't match the earth Huh? But what does it have to do with that crystal?"

Thane held it up and grinned at her "'the eye of the Trickster will not be deceived' " the small crystal suddenly flashed a brilliant green light causing Eva to cover her eyes and Chachamaru to reboot her Visual sensors. When Eva finally opened her eyes, she saw glowing runes around her body floating with many more in the air

"Wh-What is this?"

Thane was looking at the floating symbols and scratching his Chin "Well you sure weren't kidding when you said it was complex!"

Eva turned her head to him "Wait! This is the seal placed on me?"

Thane moved his hand at a symbol and watched as it floated away lazily "correct, but now that I look at it, I may be able to do something about it." Eva wasn't sure she had heard him right "Huh?"

Thane moved his hands around a little bit, causing the Symbols to dash about back and forth between his fingers "yeah… Maybe not as Hard as I first thought… could probably get it off real soon…"

"Really?-! How soon?"

Thane held his hand up. as if doing so would curb her enthusiasm "hang on their Evangeline-san! This is going to take a little study, I don't want to screw something up because I rushed. But If given Time, I may be able to remove it if I study it properly." The look of joy in her eyes made Thane feel happy himself. He finished the last of his tea and looked at the clock "Wow! 6:48! I really should head on back, But I'll come back In a few days after I have done some research on the Seal itself."

She was smiling at first, but then she had a look of suspicion "Wait… why do you want to help me? what do you hope to get out of this?"

Thane blinked a few times, but then he felt rather hurt by her suspicion "wh-! I only do this because I want to help you out, why are you suddenly suspicious?"

Eva looked him over for a moment, thinking about what he just said, and eventually found that she was just being silly and sighed "A lifetime of paranoia does that to you. But I honestly can't remember the last time somebody just wanted to help me out."

Thane shrugged his shoulders "I can understand that. Mary herself is a lot like that." Thane gave her a polite bow "I'll see you in a few days, and maybe I'll have a solution to your problem." He started to head for the door before he stopped which caught Eva's attention, "what is it?"

"You know… I told you a story from my home, would it be alright with you if you told me a story from this world when next we meet?"

Eva gave him a less then threatening scowl "What do I look like? A nanny?... but… maybe stories of the Dark Evangel would be a better topic?"

Thane laughed inwardly at her pride "Very well Then! We shall exchange stories when next we meet!" And with That, Thane gave one more low Bow and left.

Xx A little later xX

Thane walked up to the room he shared and, having learned his lesson from this morning, knocked. The door opened to reveal Yuna still in her sports jersey "Oh! Hey Thane! Was wondering where you got to!" Thane scratched the back of his head "sorry about that. Had something to do. Is it safe for me to come in?" Yuna was confused by his question for a second before she finally understood "Oh! Yeah, it's fine. Akira's not even home yet. Something about everybody testing their lap times."

"Ah, I see" Thane walked in and sat on the couch, letting a sigh of relief escape his lips 'I know I shouldn't be happy about her not being here, but I really do need to give her a proper apology for this morning…' he suddenly felt something poking his right cheek and saw Yuna smiling at him "What's with the Sigh Sensei? Having some girl troubles?"

Thane glowered at her "I'm a teacher, I can't afford to have 'girl troubles' I'd get in deep trouble for it"

Yuna sat on the lower bunk across from him "really? Too bad for you then, cause there are a lot of girls in our class without Boyfriends… just saying…" She couldn't hide her giggling when she saw his blushing face

"Oh why do I suffer from this every day?" he said to nobody in particular.

"Oh come on! Admit it! You would be a rather drab guy if I didn't try to tease you every once in a while. I'm adding Energy to your life!"

Thane lightly threw a pillow at her and missed "Energy? It takes all my energy to put up with ya! I'll be an old man by the end of the semester from all the insanity that goes on around here!"

Yuna shrugged her shoulders " well, Asuna-san might like you then."

Thane got up and started to chase her around the room "you never learn!" she was cackling madly, just keeping out of his reach. The two finally ran out of Stamina and collapsed to the ground in a heap.

"da-damn it!... I'll *Pant* I'll catch you… one of these days!"

Yuna waved her hand weakly "Ha… ha… yeah right! You're talking to one of the fastest basketball runners on the team!"

Thane sat up and helped her up as well, both of them sitting in their respective places. The two were quite for a few minutes before Thane noticed an odd odor coming from himself "*Sniff Sniff* ugh… I smell like an unwashed Wojack…" Yuna sat up and smiled " a what?... wait, never mind. You may want to take a bath then, follow me!" She quickly jumped up and grabbed his arm, dragging him from the couch.

"he- hey wait! The bathrooms right there! I don't need help getting to it!"

Yuna wagged her finger at him while keeping him in a tight grip "Tsk, Tsk Thane. Where would be the fun in having a normal bath in here? I'm going to show you something pretty incredible!"

before he could ask what, she yanked him forward as she started to dash out into the hall and down the stairs. After a few flights of stairs and long hallways of being dragged against his will later, Thane was standing outside a door that had a big sign that read 'Suzukaze' She finally let him go and stood in front of the doors with a big grin on her face " Welcome to the pride of our dorm! The Giant bath Suzukaze!"

Thane scratched his head "You guys have a giant bath?"

"sure do! Now you go on ahead and go in while I go and get you some spare clothes!"

quick as a flash, she was already gone before he could say anything to her. Thane looked at the place she had been standing for a moment longer before he shrugs his shoulders "Oh well, Might as well bathe while I'm here…" he entered and saw that there were some baskets to place his clothes and items. Thane got undressed, Folding his clothes as he took them off until he was fully exposed. He placed the small pouch of eggs along with his pocket watch on top and grabbed a towel, but before he went into the bath, his face lit up in remembrance "Oh yeah…" he reached back behind his head and undid his pony-tail, holding a small Platinum hair ring with a skull shaped ruby embedded into it. He turned it over in his hands a few times and smiled at it

"Eh he he… Mary always did have a strange sense of aesthetics…"

he placed the ring with his other Items and went through the curtain. The first thing he did was whistle "*Tweet*Ho-ly crap… this thing is huge!" The first thing that had caught his attention was simply the number of bathes. At least five or six, each that seemed to have a different purpose that he couldn't even begin to imagine. The plant foliage was a nice addition as well.

He stared for a few more minutes before he shook his head "Focus, focus… I can admire it later." Thane proceeded over to the shower portion and got to the washing. After a few more minutes of repeated scrubbing and rinsing of his body, Thane got into the bath that he assumed was the one he soaked in and relaxed. He leaned his back against the bath wall and stared up at the ceiling lost in thought "I wish Levy, Dark and Troy were awake… they would love this…"

'but of course I still need to complete certain rituals first… plus a few magical reagents… I wonder if Evangeline could point me in the right direction…'

"No! please!"

"Fairs fair Brat! You've seen me naked! Plus, you're only Ten!"

The sounds of scuffling and angry/scared voices brought Thane out of his dreamy state 'those voices sound familiar…' Thane turned around and saw Asuna charging forward with a nude Negi in her grasp.

"Now get in there!" She chucked him forward before he could protest.

"AIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Thane watched as Negi was sent airborne and try to flap his arms in hopes to fly away from the bath. Unfortunately, man was not designed to fly and the impact sent waves of water crashing around. Thane was laughing at the whole spectacle until he saw Negi poke his head out of the water muttering to himself

"and I'm her teacher to… Thane?"

said person raised his hand in greeting "Yo Negi!"

Asuna jumped into the bath and saw him as well "Thane-sensei? What are you doing in here?"

Thane shrugged his shoulders "I was just going to take a bath in the dorm room, But Yuna dragged me here saying she wanted to show me the Dorms crowning jewel or something along those lines."

Negi was slightly confused before he started to look around, the gasp of surprise audible for everybody to hear "Wha- What is this? Look at the size of it!"

Asuna grabbed a bar of soap and a towel and walked over "Like Thane-sensei said, This is the pride of the dorms, our Giant bath. You have to fit at least A hundred people in here at a time sometimes, and it would suck if we didn't have the room for it. Now get washing."

Negi was standing in awe "Wow… I saw something like this in a book once, but seeing it close up is something else entirely!" Thane leaned back and smiled at Negi "yeah, that was my first reaction as well. We had something similar back in Estoria, only it was an outdoor bath. Spring of the Dryads it was called, said to increase youthfulness and vitality for those who stayed in long enough. Popular tourist spot in The land of Faire."

Negi looked over at him "Sounds amazing!"

he Then saw Asuna walking over to him with a bar of soap in one hand and a towel in the other, a wicked smile on her face "Noo-oow then… let's get this little puppy all cleaned up"

Negi's face lost its cheerfulness quickly, replaced with a look of desperate cuteness. He took off running "AIEEE!" Asuna quickly gave chase "GET BACK HERE!"

Thane laughed at them both and watched her chase the Auburn haired boy around for a few minutes. He was proving to be quiet the slippery little eel, Because every time Asuna had him in her hands, Negi would simply add more speed, causing her to put out even more of her own strength to try to keep up. 'the way he avoids baths, you'd think it was the plague' after a few more minutes of watching the little chase, Thane finally decided to help. He stood up and just as Negi passed him, put his foot out, tripping the boy up. Before Negi could recover, Thane was on him and had the boy held up by his arms

"TRAITOR!"

Thane simply smiled at the kicking Kid "Part of my job is to help you out, whether you like it or not"

Negi was desperately trying to escape, but the older boy was too strong for him "That should only apply to the Teaching!"

Thane shrugged his shoulders and handed him off to Asuna "So I bent the rules a little. Sue me."

the pitiful look that he gave him as Asuna carried the lad away almost made him regret doing it.

Almost.

"Sorry Negi, it's for your own good…" Thane sat back down and let the waters sooth him back into relaxation. Of course, the talking voice of Asuna caught his attention. "man… can't even wash your own hair. Are you sure you're really ten?"

Thane turned around and put his arms on the walk, letting his chin rest comfortably as he watched the little scene ' kinda like a brother and his older sister…'

"Well, I will be on my tenth year…"

Both Asuna and Thane were surprised at that, however Asuna quickly flew into a rage and started to wash his hair savagely "meaning your really Nine!-? Dammit! I'm a frikken babysitter!"

Negi was trying to escape but Asuna held him down with both her hands and her dangerous aura "AGGHHH! What'd my scalp ever do to you people!-? YOUR TEARING IT OFF!-!-!"

Thane, ignoring Negi's plight, started to scratch his Chin "Only Nine and you're a teacher? You've got a hell of a lot guts for this don't ya?"

Negi couldn't hear him however until Asuna finally calmed down, though she huffed angrily "geez… I gotta get up early to deliver papers tomorrow, so you better be grateful that I'm taking the time to do this for you!"

Negi simply sigh out an 'Ok' while Thane latched onto that piece of Info. Though Negi asked about it first "So that's your job? You deliver papers?"

Thane sat up in the water cross legged "That's not an easy job for a girl your age to be doing. Why are you working so hard?"

Asuna didn't turn around as she started to Rinse Negi's hair "To pay my way. I'm an Orphan."

Thane blanched at that "An… Orphan?"

Negi lightly turned his head "Your parents are…dead?"

She grabbed a small pan and filled it with water "yeah, Konoka's Grandpa has looked out for me since I was small. Though I don't want to Mooch off of him forever, so I got a job to pay back what I owe Him, though he says I don't have to worry about it." Asuna felt Negi shivering and looked at him "Hum?" The tears in his eyes surprised her "Wha? Why are you crying?-! If you start complaining that I hurt you-!"

Negi was trying to wipe his tears away as he talked "N-No it's not that… You lead such a bitter and sad school life… I completely misjudged you!"

"Wha?-"

before she could talk, the sounds of crying could also be heard coming from the bath. She turned and saw Thane practically bawling his eyes out "WHY THE HELL ARE YOU CRYING!-?-!"

Thane got up out of the bath "*Sniff Sniff* No wonder your so angry all the time! You need a hug!"

She stared to back away "OH HELL NO!"

She pointed at Negi "I don't need your sympathy! And YOU!" She pointed at Thane, who was still inching closer " You so much as touch me in the nude, and I will shove this bar of soap so far up your ass, bubbles will be coming outta your-" Said bar of soap apparently didn't like that idea, so it somehow got under her foot, causing her to trip, right on top of Negi.

Thane stopped crying and dashed over "You guys Ok-?" the sight before him shut him up. Asuna had managed to Pin Negi's arms down with their faces too close for comfort while their bodies were in close proximity to each other. Thane's face was turning red "well this is awkward…"

the sound's of a sliding door and people chattering caused all three of them to jump. Asuna quickly jumped up "AW CRAP! What are people doing in here? It's too early for a bath!"

Negi started to flail around "Eh? Eh?"

Asuna and Thane started to look around for an escape route "If we are caught in here together, I'll never hear the end of it!"

Thane grabbed Asuna by the back of her swimsuit and Negi by the top of his head and threw them in the water "HIDE!" He jumped in after them and pulled them behind a large fern that was close to the water. He pushed Negi behind him while Asuna pushed her back against his front while pulling the fern down to provide more cover.

Thane leaned over her shoulder to get a better look. From what he could see, It was the Library Trio, The class rep, And Konoka who was looking around for Asuna and Negi.

"Figures… god my day just keeps going from bad to worse…"

Asuna held her finger to her lips "Shh! I don't wanna get caught!" poor Negi couldn't say anything due to the fact That Thane was crushing the poor boy up against the bath wall.

as soon as the girls sat down and started washing, Ayaka started to vent "This is madness! Letting Negi-sensei room with a Crazy ape Like Asuna! How did this happen?-!"

Konoka Started to wash her hair "She's not that bad, plus, it's what my grandfather wanted."

"The Dean did?"

Haruna started to scratch her chin, an idea working it's way into her thought process "Huh… maybe the Headmaster would let him stay with us if we asked, Right Nodoka?"

Thane peeked over Asuna's shoulder and saw Nodoka start to fidget "Um… well…"

Negi Finally managed to get himself out of the death lock with the wall and wrapped his arms around Thanes shoulders for a boost "What are they talking about?"

he felt Thane shoulders shrugged while Asuna gave them a hopeless look "They're all dopes…"

Ayaka looked over her shoulder, a scolding look in her eyes "you guys can barely look after yourselves! What he needs is-!"

Haruna started to chuckle to herself " let me guess, for somebody to Raise him properly? Like you?"

Both Asuna and Thane had the same thought 'so he needs to be raised huh?...'

Yue finally decided to speak up "then wouldn't it be better to stick him and Thane-sensei in the same room? I am sure That Thane-Sensei could help him along much better then middle schoolers."

Ayaka really couldn't come up with a valid excuse for that one for the moment. But a sudden spurt of inspiration came to her "There is truth in what you say, However! He needs the support and loving grace of a mother Figure! It's a two sided Coin! And hey! Who's got more of a figure then me?"

Negi looked at Asuna and Thane with a little worry "Will I be changing rooms?"

Asuna simply shrugged "I can only hope."

Thane however, was not thinking about that right now. When Ayaka Said the word 'Figure' his attention finally came to focus on the display of female nudity in front of him, causing certain male reactions to be deployed. This did not go unnoticed by Asuna. Her face was red as she glared at him angrily and whispered at him dangerously "What the hell are you thinking about?"

Thane started to flush and gave a quick reply "I'm not thinking! That's the problem!"

Asuna elbowed him "don't get close to me with that thing! God knows what you would pull!"

Thane glared at her "I'm not that depraved! Like I'd go for you anyway you monkey!"

"what'd you say!-?"

Negi decided to intervene before they could come to blows "Please! Let's focus on getting out of here!"

When they finally calmed down enough to look for a chance to get out, they saw that quite a few more girls had come in to join the Negi debate. Thane's male reaction started to get stronger. Asuna jerked forward a little "Stop looking at them Dammit! And stop pushing 'that' against my back!" Thane however, was preoccupied with one person in particular, a certain dark skinned girl to be precise. This put his entire body into full panic mode,

"Oh Shit!"

Asuna and Negi were confused by his sudden fear "what's wrong Thane-san?"

His mouth was hanging open "I gotta get outta here! She'll kill me!"

It was at that Moment that he heard all the girls say something about a big breast competition. But he was too focused on the list of people that he knew could detect Him, and maybe a few others he didn't. Setsuna was looking over at the spot while blushing. Mana simply eyed the corner. Kaede could feel the strange chi coming from behind the fern. Eva was smirking, knowing what was going to happen in a few moments, and Ku Fei was wondering who could have such a strange Chi. Zazie Rainyday though not showing it, felt the three persons behind the Fern, but didn't show anymore interest then that.

Thane was practically crying 'I am going to die…'

the ruckus behind the Plant started to get louder, which Asuna took for an opening "does our class have nothing better to do? Come on you two! There's an opening!" she grabbed Negi and yanked him out of the water. Thane however, tried to stop them,

"No! Not yet Asu-!" Thane watched as Negi crashed into Asuna, causing both of them to fall over each other in a tangled mess. The resulting crash caused everybody in the hall to look for the source of the noise. Thane saw for the second time that day Negi and Asuna in an awkward position that looked less then decent. However, the first time around was an audience of one. Now it was 30 plus odd students. There was a momentary Silence before everybody started talking

"Negi-sensei?"

"Negi-kun!"

Ayaka was blushing and had a surprised look on her face "A-A-Asuna! Wh-Wh-What are you doing to Negi-sensei while he's half Naked!-?"

Thane pulled himself further back into the Fern, knowing that the exit was blocked by the large body of females 'sorry Negi, Asuna… you're on your own from here… I like living…' Thane swam to the other side of the bath under the cover of the steam and got out into another bath away from the insanity. He heard the sounds of cheering from across the bath

"Asuna's got us all beat!"

"They're balloons you morons!"

Thane felt the Magic that Negi used but not on what. The sound of an explosion was heard and there was a large amount of scrambling out the door from what he could hear. Thane sighed in relief and sat back against the bath wall, letting the calming waters work their own magic. 'boy oh boy… I'm going to have to learn the times when girls come in here so That I don't have a repeat of today…' he leaned his head against one of the small palm trees that was close to the edge and closed his eyes

"yeah… after…*Yawn*… after I get done in here…" He allowed his thoughts to wander until he eventually nodded off, the day's hardships finally catching up to him.

Xx Akira Okochi xX

Akira pulled the door to her dorm open, feeling just a little tired. She walked in and placed her bag on the couch, where Yuna was currently seated watching a recording of her favorite afternoon Home-shopping program. Yuna turned her head toward her friend and gave her a smile "Hey Akira! So how was practice?"

Akira pulled a towel out of the closet along with a small water pan "It was fine. Everybody did rather well this time around, though the Captain could let up just a little…"

Yuna went back to watching "Cool."

Akira looked around the room for a minute, feeling that there was something missing. It suddenly dawned on her "Yuna, where is Thane-sensei?"

Yuna put her finger to her mouth and tried to remember "Uh… I…Hum… I think he's still out." Akira looked at her friend and simply shook her head at the lack of concern in her voice "Alright, I'll be in the bath for awhile" Yuna waved back at her without even turning. After she Left the room Yuna started to scratch her head "feels like I'm forgetting something…"

Akira was walking down the stairs and lightly smiled. The bath's were perhaps her favorite place in the whole school next to the Pool, even though the class rep had repeatedly told her that it wasn't for swimming on multiple occasions, she still did it anyway. Her happy thought was interrupted by the amount of people leaving the bath. She watched them all walk off, and Asuna holding her chest and Glaring at their child teacher. Scratching her head at what that was all about, she made sure that everybody was gone, and entered the changing room and got undressed. She undid her hair and, just to make sure, took one more glance around the Bath area, missing her sleeping Sensei halfway across the Hall. After concluding that there was nobody else present, she nodded her head at nobody in particular.

She set her stuff down and dashed forward, leaping into the air and diving forward into the water like a dolphin. She quickly surfaced with a look of pure happiness on her face and proceeded to do all manners of back strokes and front strokes. 'Ah truly a wonderful feeling…' she continued to do a few more laps around the largest of the baths until she finally got tired.

"I think it's time I do what I came to do…" She stood up and went into the next bath over, the very one her Male Roommate was sleeping in. Thane was slightly moving, just a twitch of a finger with some REM, A dream invading his Psyche.

Xx ? xX

He was staring out into a beautiful blue lake with the surface concealed by the vapors of a nightly mist. Thane stood on the edge of the water and simply listened. He could hear the faint sound of a song ringing out into the night air. It was calling to him to take a step forward. However he simply stood there, hesitation evident in his movement "why?" was the only thing to come from his mouth. the song faintly whispered to him 'because I wish to meet you…' He still did not move from his spot "I cannot see you though. Where are you?"there was silence for a moment before the mist started to part, revealing a large bolder in the middle of the lake, the moon shining on it. 'I am here…' Thane looked harder and could see somebody sitting on the rock, there neck craned back in song. He could see that she was a woman from the curves on her chest and her slender legs. 'come to me and listen to my song…' Thane finally took a step into the water.

Xx Bath xX

Akira lazily floated in the water, letting her body simply be carried along with no particular destination. She had closed her eye, allowing herself to relax, a strange feeling wanting to escape from her chest 'I wonder why I feel so giddy today? I haven't ever felt like this before when I came into the bath…' She quickly pushed the thoughts from her mind as she let the water take her along its unknown course, Inching her closer and closer to Thane.

Xx ? xX

Thane quickly took a step back out of the freezing water "That's cold!" The girl on the rock started to laugh high and clear, like a bell. Thane gave the person an angry scowl "Very funny! I'll teach you to laugh at me!" he quickly dived in and started swimming towards the rock. Much to his surprise, the girl Dived off into the water and swam faster than any human could right for him. He watched as she stopped close and started swimming around him, her face obscured by her Ocean blue hair. Thane gave her another scowl "Why are you hiding from me?" She merely laughed and swam very close to him her head just under his chin 'I do not hide, simply tease.' She tilted her head up, her hair obscuring just enough of her face for Thane not to see it. He reached down to move her hair aside, the face of the maiden close in sight.

Xx Bath (again) xX

Akira felt herself bump into something that wasn't quiet the wall. She opened her eyes and saw the Sleeping Face of her Sensei leaning up against the tree. Her face quickly turned red as she jumped up and took a few steps back. Thane remained asleep despite the water splashing against his chest. Akira observed him for a few more tense minutes before she came in a little closer "Thane…Sensei?" No reaction. She stared into his face for a moment longer, the feeling that was in her chest growing stronger. She shook her head and took a deep breath

'Ok… I think I should try to move him out of the water, else he could catch a cold or somebody else finds him…'

She looked him over for a second more, her eyes stopping on his face. 'He has such a peaceful face… I wonder what he is dreaming about?' She smiled at him and reached over, brushing his hair from his eyes. She suddenly realized what she was doing and blushed, quickly pulling her hand back "Wh-what am I doing?" She shook her head again and lightly smacked her cheeks.

"I need to get him out of here…" She reached over and pulled his arm up, slinging it over her shoulder. Before she could pick him up, however, his eyes fluttered open and he moved his head to look right into Akira's. There was a momentary pause "You have a beautiful face… you shouldn't hide it like that…"

"Eh?" Akira had to stop and think about what he just said, confusion the first thing on her mind.

Thane forced the rest of his sleepy conscious to the surface and suddenly realized who he was looking at. He quickly jumped back out of her grasp and straight into the tree "A-A-A-Akira! What are you-?" Thane let his eyes try to drift away to not look her in the face, but they drifted to the rest of her body, which was not covered this time, allowing Thane a full Frontal assault of his eyes.

Akira saw his eyes look down which caused her own to do the same. She blushed and covered herself up quickly, dropping into the water and turning around. Thane also quickly turned around and stared up at the ceiling 'this is a frikken repeat of this morning!'

"I-I-I'm so sorry Akira! I didn't mean too! Though not to be rude, It's kinda hard not to…I mean you're just kinda… standing there… naked…" Thane did a face palm 'and you're standing here making an ass of yourself! Shut up!'

Akira still had herself covered and tried to stammer out some words "I Th-Thought you were out somewhere! What are you doing here?"

"Um… well, to make a long story short, Yuna brought me here to show me the bath. I waited for her to bring me some spare clothes and I fell asleep."

Akira started to bite on her thumb nail 'Yuna! You said you didn't know where he was! You are so going to get it when I come back!'

Xx Dorm Room xX

Yuna suddenly had a cold shiver run up her spine as she cooked "I feel like I should be gone before Akira comes back…"

Xx current situation xX

The silence that filled the bath house was crushing and left a very awkward feeling in the air. Thane finally had enough of the dreaded silence "Akira…*sigh*… I'm very sorry for this morning, and for right now. I have shamed myself in a very hideous manner and I can understand if you really don't want to forgive me either. But all I can say is, I'm sorry." Thane felt just a little better, and maybe a little cold from standing in the air. After a few more seconds of her lack of response, he took it as her not wanting to talk to him and started to walk away

"Wait!"

Thane stopped in his tracks but didn't turn around. Akira continued as she got up "neither time was your fault Thane-san. I found you in the bath and tried to help you, which resulted in this. When you walked in on me this morning, I should have perhaps been just a little more prepared and locked the door. So neither time was your fault…"

Thane didn't move, but he was stunned "I… see…" another few minutes of silence filled the room before Thane just sat back down in the water, the splashing catching Akira's attention. "Akira, could I ask you a favor?"

She lightly turned her head "Wh-What is it?"

she heard him sigh "Could you get me some spare clothes when you go back up to the dorm and bring them back here? Judging from the fact that you came here a few minutes ago, I take it that Yuna totally forgot about me."

Akira sighed as well, knowing that was the case "Sure…"

Thane went back and sat at his spot by the tree "great, I'll be right here when you get back, so don't mind me as you get done washing yourself" Thane thought about what he just said and started to blubber about "Uh… that…didn't come out quite right… I'll go to the back…"

Akira lightly laughed at his embarrassment. She suddenly remembered the large amount of people she saw before she came in herself "wait Sensei… did you happen to bath with anybody else?"

"No, I was done before anybody else showed up. I was just waiting for Yuna."

"Did you get your back?"

Thane turned around "Huh? My back? Uhhhh… I'm not sure… No, I don't think so…"

Akira turned away from him "then you're not done with your bath yet. Plus, I could also use some help washing my own back. That is, if you're alright with that…"

Thane could feel the heat beginning to rise, and not in the room. "Uh…can't you do it yourself?"

he didn't see the slight look of disappointment on her face "well… it's rather hard to wash my own back. I couldn't do it properly… but I understand."

Thane suddenly felt like he just kicked a puppy "wa-wait, wait… I didn't say I wasn't going to do it… just asking… that's all."

Akira suddenly felt a little better, though she didn't know why. Thane saw her get up and leave the bath. He counted to ten and followed suite, suddenly feeling like he was walking to a chopping block. He saw her sitting down and already starting to wash herself. He hung back at the edge of the bath, suddenly finding an interest in the ceiling. Unknown to him, Her face was beyond red while she washed 'what in god's name am I doing!-? Want me to wash your back? Where did those words come from? I should have simply finished getting my bath and went to get his clothes! Something has been wrong with me for the past week… since I meet Thane-san now that I think about it…'

Thane was also preoccupied in his thoughts 'wash her back? Is this some strange custom that Japanese do? Oh gods… I need to start washing myself in the bathroom from now on…'

"Ok… you can come wash my back now"

'guk!' Those words felt very heavy as he got up. He put his towel around his waist and walked over, sitting behind her nervously. He reached over and grabbed the sponge from her pan and started to lather it up with her body wash. He couldn't help but smell it and noticed the scent of Melon 'I wonder if she smells like this… Oh gods, I'm turning into a pervert…'

he shook his head and started to scrub her back. The fact that she lightly jolted from his sudden touch was not helping his nerves 'You think my nerves are any better?-!' Thane tried to occupy his mind with something, anything at all. He kept taking glances at her skin and noticed how white it was, like fresh fallen snow. He didn't notice that he was slowing down and almost completely stopped, Which caused Akira to slightly turn her Head in confusion

"Thane-san?"

Thane didn't hear her, and without even thinking, slowly ran his finger down the middle of her back. 'it feels soft… like satin…' he suddenly realized what he was doing and started to scrub again with vigor 'Oh gods! What am I doing!-? did she feel that!-? I don't think so… the back has the least amount of nerve endings in the human body…' Thane didn't know it, but Akira had felt it, and her face was bright as a tomato.

"Um…Thane-san…"

The pale youth jumped back in surprise "YES!-?"

"You've been scrubbing the same spot for a minute now…"

Thane started to silently beat his own head in 'focus stupid!' "Right! Sorry! Got my mind on other things right this second! HA HA…" 'yeah like what it would be like if I got my hands on her…2+2=4, 6+6=12, 14+14=28!' letting that little mental exercise cloud his mind, Thane proceeded to finish scrubbing her back and sighed in relief. He turned away and laughed "Ha ha! Ok! Now that were done, you can-!"

"We're not done yet…"

Thane felt his heart stop in horror 'oh sweet Terrathrax, what now!-?'

"Um… I'm pretty sure we are! Just got done scrubbing your back so that just leaves you to-!"

"I need to wash your back"

Thane felt his heart drop into his stomach "What?"

Akira felt her heart suddenly speed up 'what am I doing? He is obviously really uncomfortable with this, I just need to stop this here!'

"You washed my back, and obviously you didn't have anybody to help you with yours, so I want to return the favor…"

Internal Akira was tearing her hair out 'that's not what I wanted to say!-!'

Thane's brain was starting to overheat "Uh… well Akira-san… That's real nice… but seriously, You don't have to! It's not going to kill me if I don't wash my back once!" he started to scratch the back of his head in nervousness. She, however, wasn't about to take a no for an answer "don't be silly, now sit down and let me wash your back…"

before Thane could back away, she grabbed his arm quick as lightning, and with a strength that didn't match her appearance, forced him to sit down. Akira felt a little bit of pride well up inside her, though she didn't understand where it came from as she lathered up the sponge. Thane felt the sponge make contact with his skin and he slightly jolted, doing everything he could to prevent himself from running away. Akira was also feeling nervous for some reason

'oh why did I suggest to do this… I must be going crazy…' though when he had scrubbed her back, she had secretly been enjoying it. When he had touched her skin suddenly, she didn't feel embarrassed, but happy. And as she sat there and scrubbed his back, she kept having strange thoughts of embracing him from behind just to see his reaction. She shook her head again, but it didn't get rid of the feeling. She slowly worked her way from the top to the middle and eventually, She got the whole thing done. But the feeling persisted, and she felt herself getting closer and closer to his back, a heated feeling coming over her mind.

Thane had felt her stop a second ago, but was confused when nothing happened, until he saw her arms appear by his side and her warm breath on his neck with her body heat inching closer and closer to his back

"Akira…what are you doing?"

The Haze lifted from her mind and Akira suddenly saw that she was mere inches from his back, her head close to his shoulder and her arms closing around his sides. She looked at his face and saw the confusion and shock there. She quickly backed off with a blush on her face "I-I'm sorry! I don't know what happened, I was just-!"

Thane stared at her for a few more seconds before he grabbed the pan and rinsed himself off in the cool water. He got up and jumped into the water, refusing to even look at her right that instant. Thane was bright red and trying to get his emotions back under control 'ohmygodohmygodohmygod OH MY GOD! The skin, and the breath, and the eyes, and the! The! The! God I can't even think straight! What was that!-?'

Akira's mind was in a similar state of chaos 'oh god, what in the world have I done? I don't even know what came over me! I hope he doesn't think I'm a freak…or a pervert! or a freaky pervert...'

The both of them were quiet in their thoughts before anybody said anything "Um… Thane-sensei… I'm sorry about that… I… I don't really know what that was…"

Thane looked back at her "we… we're very tired, that's all. You from your Swimming practice, and me from… certain events. Let's just say it never happened ok?" Thane got up and walked into the dressing room, quickly putting his older clothes on, not even bothering to put his Hair ring back on and simply put it in his pocket. He exited the room and waited for Akira to get dressed.

When she finally got done, The both of them went back to the room quietly, simply letting silence fill the air as they walked. When they got back to the room Thane walked through the door and was greeted by the sound of surprise "Now I remember! I was supposed to bring you clothes! That was it!"

If glares could kill, Yuna would have been dead on the spot. Thane leaped at her and put her in a head lock "YOU! This is your fault! None of this would have happened if you had brought my clothes on time!"

Yuna was trying to worm her way out of the head lock "I'M SORRY! AKIRA! HELP ME!" Yuna reached out for her tired friend, who simply gave her a slightly cold look "I think being like that will do you some good…" Yuna watched in horror as Akira went to the bathroom to get changed. She slowly turned toward the now smiling Thane "aw hell…"

Xx thirty Minutes of serious noogie time later xX

Akira had gotten changed into her Pajamas and was already lying down in the top bunk. Yuna was lying on her bed, holding her smoking scalp with the occasional sniff being heard from her direction. Thane was sitting on the couch in his own black PJ's holding his head at all the stuff that happened today 'they want me to do this for three more months? I'll never make it…'

Thane sighed and thought back to a certain point in the day 'what was that dream about? The pond and the full moon were beautiful, but the girl in the dream was also really gorgeous, even if I never saw her face… but it was still odd. Felt like I should know it…' he turned over and got up to turn out the light 'oh well, I'll worry about it some other time. But I think the only good news that came out of today, was that tomorrow can't possibly be any worse… and that Akira has a nice body…'

Thane scratched the top of his head furiously and shouted out to nobody in particular "Good night!" he turned out the light and jumped on the couch, letting the warmth of his blanket overcome him and put him to sleep.

SO! How was this chapter my lovely's? This was definitely more of a filler/ character development chapter more then anything!I felt that there might have been a little to much forced perversion in the bath scene... but I'll leave it up to you guys to decided that or not~! and the best way to let me know if I did? reviews! so what will happen next with Thane when he comes face to face with... Dodgeball bitch?-! this won't end well...

Oh, and in case any of you are wondering about the dream at the start of the chapter and what it signifies in the future plot? It doesn't mean anything save that I had the very same dream not to long ago, only it didn't involve anime characters... that's about the only thing different. Everything else happened... my mind is a funny place