Broken Faith 10
School Life. How Hard Can It Be For a Ninja?
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Negima, Naruto is owned by Masashi Kishimoto and Mahou Negima Sensei is owned by Akamatsu Ken
Part 1 of 3 of my back to back Christmas Special release. Merry Christmas boys and girls. ENjoy.
Soundtrack List
Fields of Hope – Rie Tanaka
****Broken Faith****
Naruto sweat dropped.
They were walking to town in order to meet Konoka's father after the fiasco in the hotel, and at the moment he was at the back of the group led by Negi and everybody who had been at been present at the Kansai Magical Association. Of the 10 people, 6 people still couldn't look him in the eye without blushing; Asuna, Konoka, Setsuna, Negi, Chachamaru and Kazumi, causing the Saotome girl to occasionally glance at them in suspicion.
He cried silently to himself, it wasn't his fault he had bad sleeping habits.
Desperate times called for desperate measures and all that jazz.
Soon they arrived where Eishun told them to meet up, at a forested mountain somewhere near the Kansai Magical Association Headquarters. The lean man was leaning against the railing and smoking a cigarette as he came into view. Konoka stomped right up to the man and snatched his cigarette before throwing it away, hands at her hips, she started scolding her father.
Naruto smiled as he saw the father daughter interaction. Sometimes he wondered if he would ever be that lucky.
After grovelling to his daughter, Konoe turned back to his daughter's friend and gave them all a sheepish greeting, "It's good to see everyone back to full health and enjoying the remainder of your time in Kyoto," gesturing at the forest behind him, he spoke to Negi, "Your father's home is behind those trees, a narrow three story building'.
Together the group slowly walked up a path shaded by big trees while Naruto, Konoe, Evangeline, Chachamaru and Negi conversed at the back of the group. "I have to thank all of you for your efforts, thanks to you, the resealing of Ryoumen-Sukuna no Kami went without a problem, in fact, due to whatever your group did to him, it'll have to spend at least a century or two to healing the damage before it can return to its former power."
Negi was strangely quiet, "I'm happy that we could help, but what about the Monkey Lady and her helpers? We were so busy fighting the Kishin that we didn't see her escape."
The mood in the small group dropped, "We still haven't been able to find Amagasaki Chigusa, although it's just a matter of time, Tsukuyomi has also left the Shinmei Ryuu school before we could reach her and she has disappeared.
"Wh-what about Kotarou?"
"The Inugami boy? We managed to capture him thanks to a Nagase-san, although he was working for Chigusa, we doubt his punishment will be too harsh, he was easily led and didn't really have any malice and just wanted to find a strong opponent."
Negi breathed a sigh of relief, causing Konoe to smile, even though they had been enemies on the battlefield, Negi was still concerned for the boy which was more than he could say for many others.
Naruto unexpectedly spoke, "What about the Shiro Chibi? Was there any information you could find on him?"
Konoe looked up in surprise, "Shi-Shiro Chibi?" he repeated with a questioning manner.
"Yeah, Fate something or other. It was a complicated name."
"Ah...the biggest problem of the group, KMA has their best investigators looking into that, but i shamefully admit that we could find no records of a Fate Averuncus other than that he was a transfer student from the Istanbul Magical Association that came to Japan to train, it is most likely a false trail and we had no further progress since then."
"I see..."
Soon the group reached a part of the path where the tops of a modern stone building could be seen.
"I'm sorry that it's a bit over grown, no one has been here in 10 years but i try to at least keep the inside clean. Please come in Negi-sensei."
Negi was nearly trembling with anticipation as they all walked in.
It was a rather normal 3 story townhouse, narrow and one of the walls consisted entirely of books which gained the approval of 3-A's librarians.
Naruto looked around, there was a funny feeling coming from one of the upper floors.
Together everyone explored the house; the librarians started salivating and climbed the racks while Kazumi reclined on the sofa. Evangeline trailed her finger across a desk with a clean mug on it. She covertly looked around and brought to mug up to her face with shaking hands.
"Master, don't be a pervert, if you want an indirect kiss, please kiss Negi-sensei."
"Kyaaa! Chachamaru!" Evangeline noticed everyone looking at her and she blushed deeply before blustering, "I-it's nothing, Chachamaru was just saying something stupid again!"
Shrugging, everyone went back to exploring the house.
On the second landing, Negi was religiously looking through some rare magical books as Konoe stepped up beside him with a gentle smile.
"Hey, Negi, Did you find anything interesting?" the question snapped him out of his book fever, "Yes! There a lot of interesting things I want to check...if only I had the time, A-anyway, Konoe-sama. Can you please tell me more about my father? We were...interrupted the last time."
"I see... do you mind if Konoka, Asuna and Setsuna heard this as well? There is something they need to hear."
As the five of them, joined by Evangeline and Cahchamaru went up the stairs, they found Naruto already on the third floor and seemed to be staring intensely at a blank wall. Konoe quirked an eyebrow, the boy seemed to be a sensor of sorts.
"Ah, will you excuse me Naruto-san?"
"Hmm? Oh! Sure," the blonde stepped aside for Konoe to press a switch and a secret compartment folded out of the wall, inside were a few books and a sole picture.
Negi noticed the picture first, "Wh-what is this photo?"
Konoe could hold back a fond smile as he picked up the picture of Ala Rubra, "This is a picture of the Thousand Master, and his comrade in arms. We had a lot of adventures together when I was still young." He passed the picture to Negi.
"Comrades in arms?"
"Yes, from 20 years ago."
"Father..." Negi studied the face of the father he had never met directly intensely until a hand landed on his head and ruffled his hair. Looking up he saw his nii san smirking at him again, emanating a quiet strength as his eyes shifted from Negi to everyone present in turn and jerked his head to indicate the others that were downstairs. Negi smiled back.
His Nii san's silent words were understood.
'You may be looking for your Father, you may not have a family in blood, but look around you and do not falter, I am here, Asuna is here, Setsuna is here, Konoka is here, everyone downstairs too. They are not your blood family, but they are family in the ways that matter.'
Konoe watched the two males from behind as they stood side by side, with a wry smile. It was like watching the birth of people who had the potential and will to be legends in their own right, legends bigger even than the Ala Rubra.
Naruto's hand stayed on Negi's head as they watched the picture being passed around by excited girls, they both noticed a weird expression pass Asuna's face as she studied the picture.
Konoe leaned on a railing before he continued with a reminiscent sigh, "I was still a young man when I fought in the war at Nagi's side. When peace returned 20 years ago, Nagi was called the Thousand Master because of his many great and heroic achievements. Amagasaki Chigusa's parents died in that war, that's the reason why she holds such a grudge against the western mages." The gaunt man admitted, "I thought we became inseparable buddies in that war, but 10 years ago he suddenly disappeared. The official records have even stated that his date of death as 1993. I'm sorry I couldn't tell you anymore."
"No… no that's alright. You have done a lot for me already," turning around, Negi gripped the banister tightly.
Chamo spoke from his shoulder, "In the end we couldn't get any leads on your father huh?"
"No… even though we couldn't find anything, just being here, I can feel something. I'm getting closer to him. Closer to finding him and being his equal."
They were both quiet for a while until Kazumi barged in, "Neh~ minna, you finished your complicated conversation yet? It's time to take memorial photos~. I didn't have time to take it at the hotel because…." She glanced at Naruto and blushed deeply, causing Naruto to mope in a corner. "Why? Why can't we just forget that one little incident…. It was a mistake!"
Everyone looked at the moping blonde weirdly.
"A-anyway, let's go downstairs and take it! C'mon, Eva-chan you too!"
As all the girls filed downstairs, Naruto stood up and held Negi back, "Girls, you go ahead and get ready; I need to speak to Negi privately."
All of them looked puzzled but didn't argue, "What is it Nii san?"
Naruto glanced down at Negi before leading him to the alcove where they found the picture, "Negi, don't you think it s weird, in the whole house there is only one picture, and it's inside this one hidden alcove?"
Negi thought for a bit, "Yeah… now that you mention it."
Naruto smiled, "Negi, can you smear some blood on the wall behind where we found the picture?" the blonde said before passing him a kunai.
Negi looked confusedly at the taller blonde but didn't argue before using the weapon to prick his thumb and smearing the blood where his Nii san told him to.
Negi eyes widened as the wall glowed slightly and moved to show a small room, inside was a small collection of books.
But the books weren't what caught his eyes. It was the portrait hanging on the wall opposite them.
Naruto gave a sad smile as Negi stumbled forward, his hand gently trailing across the faces frozen in a portrait of two people.
A handsome red haired man standing behind a proud looking blonde woman in a white dress.
"Kaa san…..?" his eyes shifted downwards where some letters were carved into the wall beneath the portrait.
N.S & A.A.E
****Broken Faith****
When they took the picture, with all the girls standing in a row with Negi in the middle, while Naruto leaned on the wall behind them with a smug smile, all of them had smiles. But the biggest one belonged to a red eyed Negi.
The girls happily chatted as they walked back down the path towards the KMA before meeting up with the rest of their class for the train back to the academy.
Naruto took a deep breath, savouring the last of the uniquely pure air before he went back to Mahora. He was walking at the back alongside Konoe as they watched his classmates act like the children they really were when 5 of them stiffened when they felt a serious flare of demonic energy, far more malignant than the one Chigusa's onis usually emitted.
Naruto turned grim and glanced at the man beside him, silently asking him to guard the others who hadn't noticed before he faded away with a burst of speed.
Konoe turned back to observe the group of middle school students, Setsuna was worriedly glancing at him than back at Konoka, she apparently wanted to go help Naruto but didn't want to leave Konoka with a real demon around.
Evangeline on the other hand looked completely calm, but he noticed the slight magical build up in her fingers as they flexed, the other hand gestured at her attendant, telling her without words to back up Naruto and gather some extra information about the blonde enigma.
Chachamaru nodded and slipped away while no one noticed.
The gynoid followed Naruto until he reached a clearing where they saw Chigusa in her monkey suit violently kicking what appeared to be a small fox kit despite the aura it emitted.
The blonde hadn't noticed the gynoid, having been too worried about another scheme from Chigusa, when he dropped into the clearing his eyes widened, and anger filled his body once more.
He surged forward, his trenchcoat and mask formed even without a summons.
"Bansho Ten'nin!"
Right as Chigusa was about to land another kick on the trembling fox kit she was wrenched away by some weird force and her body flew through the air towards a black clad figure before being violently stopped by a clawed hand that tightened around her throat.
Absently the pissed blonde noted the surroundings, a demonic summoning circle with some blonde hair used as a regent, something she presumably got from their battle with the Kishin. His angry red eyes turned back to observe the choking and struggling Chigusa that he held in mid air like a rag doll.
He spoke, his mask once again giving his voice the demonic, forbidding tone, "You failed to use the Kishin to your bidding, but didn't give up. So using some hair you got from me, you tried to summon a real demon but because you lacked the power to summon a powerful demon you only managed to summon that small kitsune. Was the pain you caused us not enough? Angry with another failure you took it out on an innocent baby? Is your grudge that hard to let go?" she refused to answer despite the fear in her eyes and kept on trying to free herself.
He tightened his clawed fingers again, "ANSWER ME!"
"Ne-never, I'll keep trying until I cleanse the world of Western Mages!" the Monkey Lady managed to choke out.
Naruto gnashed his teeth and was about to squash her head like a pulp when a gentle hand laid itself on his bicep, glancing over his shoulders burning ruby eyes looked into the green calm ones of Chachamaru.
Not wanting Chachamaru to witness a bloody death, Naruto took a deep breath to calm himself down and spoke, "So be it."
Chachamaru saw his ruby slitted eyes flash purple with concentric rings before Chigusa started screaming and writhing in his grip.
Dropping the screaming mage he rushed to the small kit, his mask and cloak shattered into thin air with a quiet tinkling of breaking glass.
It trembled and tried to crawl away despite its broken legs.
Naruto's heart broke in despair at the pitiful lump.
Gently cradling it up, he tried to soothe the small lump of fur in his arms, only to see that its breathing was starting to slow, his tears fell as memories of another kitsune died in his arms and this one was barely bigger than his palms.
"You're not getting away that easily little one, you still have a life to live, and your parents are waiting for you."
Chachamaru observed the blonde as she guarded the prone Chigusa, although it didn't look necessary, whatever the blonde did, it caused her to scream in utter fear to the point where she pissed herself and blacked out.
She watched as the blonde held out his hand and a glowing aura surrounded the hand. Suddenly a flame sparked and the hand was wreathed in the same fire and chains she had seen yesterday.
Naruto simply ignored the pain, even as the youki started to burn his skin and flesh, laying the burning hand gently to the small kitsune's blood soaked chest, he poured his youki in, trying to heal the lump of fur. It was a gamble, but he didn't have time to rush it to a healer, since the small kit was originally a demon, instead of hurting it, the youki should accelerate its healing.
As he poured more and more youki into its small body, he noticed its legs straightening and healing even as his skin tore off and muscles burned. He could see its breathing get smoother and stronger, almost crying in happiness he poured as much youki as he dared.
The Totsuka no Tsurugi cracked slightly.
Chachamaru observed quietly; his actions were confusing, most people were openly hostile towards demons but that might have been because he seemed to be a demon himself. However that didn't explain the overreaction when he saw the hurt fox. She watched him charge some demonic aura around his arm, even as she saw it clearly burn away his skin and muscle. The care and gentleness that he showed, contradicted the menacing aura his arm was emitting, even as he completely ignored the pain he must have been feeling to heal the kitsune, caused the gears in her chest to speed up and jump around a bit.
She wanted him to look at her like that too.
Tilting her head slightly, she wondered where that strange thought had came from.
The influx of youki caused the small kitsune's body to twitch, and it seemed to grow a bit, before the small lump of fur was completely healed and seemed to be resting peacefully, dropping his wounded hand to his side, he cradled the small thing to his chest with his good hand as he fell on to his rump and sighed in relief.
Suddenly he winced as a cool hand gently lifted his burned hand, looking to his side he saw Chachamaru gently lift his forearm while desperately trying not to gasp at the sight of white bone poking out amongst the red. Her stoic expression never went away even as blood stained her fingers as she tried to bandage it as quickly as possible with some gauze she got from somewhere.
He laughed weakly, "Sorry you had to see that…" He winced, "I usually don't lose control that easily and I can't use my youki for extended periods of time. Anything longer than 5 minutes and I usually burn all my flesh away, and that's if I protect my insides with chak-err magic first."
Chachamaru stayed quiet and finished wrapping his hand before sitting beside him and stroked the small bundle of fur that was cradled against his chest with fascination.
He noticed that her bloodstained hand never let go of his bandaged one even as she did that.
He watched her gently stroke the red fur with a weird expression on her face, "You…you're not afraid? Both of us, "He indicated the lump of fur in his arms with a slight nod of his head before gently shifting it to a more comfortable position, "are demons you know."
Chachamaru's lips nearly quirked in amusement, "And my master is an immortal vampire and self proclaimed evil mage."
"Touche," the blonde admitted.
The small bundle of fur twitched before its muzzle lifted slightly and sniffed the air around it, wary of the danger that had just been threatening it. Small bright eyes opened warily and watched the blonde and green haired one curiously as they talked and the green haired one stroked its fur before inspecting itself, whatever wound it had was completely gone and it felt better than it ever had.
Naruto smiled when he noticed the bright ruby eyes and twitching snout, "You're awake little one." The bright eyes swivelled back to meet his sapphire ones with a question in them.
"I healed you as best I could, now let's get you back to your Otou-san and Kaa-san so that me and the nice lady here can go back home."
Struggling to stand up, he moved to the demonic circle, splashing some blood from his bandaged hand he invoked a ritual before a small red rift opened, just enough for the small one to go through.
Lowering it to the ground he watched as the small kitsune warily sniffed the portal, it turned to watch him and Chachamaru who still had his hand in a gentle grip but he wasn't really complaining.
The kitsune put one paw into the portal before glancing back again. It hesitated before pulling its paw back and scampered back to the blonde one. Jumping on to his shoulders the small fox nuzzled the blonde, causing him to smile gently, "You parents are waiting behind that portal you know." It shook its head and nuzzled him again.
Naruto smiled, "You want to come with me and the nice lady?" he asked as he scratched its chin, the resulting purr was adorable.
The kit yipped a bit before seeming to struggle with its jaws, "O-ot-otou-san."
Naruto tried his level best to stop the hot tears.
"C'mon lets go home." Creating a few clones to take Chigusa to the KMA headquarters he started to walk away when the small bundle of fur suddenly jumped on to Chachamaru and nuzzled her as well.
Naruto smiled as he saw the fox beg for attention from Chachamaru who gently scratched its chin.
As the trio walked away, Eishun faded out of shadows, he had been impressed with the way the blonde dealt with Chigusa, just another reason to satisfy his Father-in-law's request. As he sped to rejoin the group which his substitute was guarding, hopefully before the walking trio did, he mused; 'Interesting…he isn't a half blood although it seems like it. The youki wouldn't have had such an effect in that case. A human with access to demonic energy somehow. The blonde is a contradiction of worlds, Human and Demon, opposing natures in one body….'
As Naruto and Chachamaru rejoined the group, Naruto explained what had happened while Chachamaru stood at the back, away from where Naruto was fielding questions from everyone while she scratched the fox's head. It seemed to be watching the blonde and the people that surrounded him when it suddenly scrambled from her grip to sit on her shoulders and put a soft paw on her cheek.
"O-ok-okaa-san." A small voice sounded beside her ear.
Her gears skipped another beat and her processors crashed.
****Broken Faith****
Naruto sat on the train beside Negi, the kitsune resting on his lap, at the back of the train while scratching its head. He looked around to make sure Negi, Asuna and anyone else wouldn't overhear before lifting the tiny kitsune up by the scruff of its neck so they were face to face and quietly whispered to the small lump of fur. "What did you do to Chachamaru-san? She fainted!"
He got no reply other than a very innocent, 'Who? Me?' look and a foxy grin from the small fox before it wriggled out his grip and jumped into his jacket. It didn't take long before he heard small yipping / snoring noises from inside his jacket where he could feel the small warm lump of fur rested.
Sighing at the naughty new addition to his family he leaned back and popped his fedora back on before following the little one's example and going to sleep.
Very soon they would be back to Mahora. Hopefully his first few days with 3-A wasn't an example of how days usually were in Mahora.
"Awwww…. They look so cute," Shizuna sensei cooed at the sight of Negi sleeping in between Asuna and Naruto, "It's just like a father and mother with their child."
"Tch, their just 15 years old Shizuna-sensei," Nitta-sensei reprimanded her.
She pouted.
****Broken Faith****
Naruto blinked.
Then he blinked again.
"Chachamaru-san…. What are you doing in my tent? No, in my futon?"
A tied up Chachamaru stared back, "Ah. I wanted to play with Akako." The small fox perked up hearing the name Chachamaru had given her the day before everyone had separated back to their respective dorms or tents as the case may be. Leaping off Naruto's head, which happened to be her bed, she landed on Chachamaru's shoulder and nuzzled the green haired gynoid.
Naruto sighed before untying the gynoid.
"Are you angry?"
Surprised at the sudden question, "No, no, I'm not angry, just rather surprised."
The gynoid sat up, wearing a traditional housewife kimono, "I see. I will take care of Akako today. What are your plans?"
Naruto scratched his head, "I need to speak to the Dean about something. After that, I'm not sure, I might probably check up on Negi. Akako can stay with you today; I'll pick her up in the evening."
Akako yipped in happiness before leaping across the gap to lick Naruto's cheek and leaping back to her spot on Chachamaru's shoulder.
"Very well, I hope you have a good day."
Naruto stared at her.
She stared back, "Yes?"
"Um…. I need to change?"
She didn't move.
"I can't change with you watching?"
"Ah."
****Broken Faith****
After his very interesting wake up call, Naruto strolled to the main Academy building to meet up with the dean. Partly because he wanted to ask about the Mahora seal, he couldn't afford another break down like the one he had before fighting Fate, and to see if he could do something about the tree limiting his chakra and partly because he wanted to give Eishun's reply to the Dean's request.
Knocking on the mahogany double doors he heard a weary voice tell him to come in.
Naruto quirked one eyebrow at the scene that greeted him, the Dean was lying face down on a futon with some contraption keeping a hot water bag on to his back, "What's up with you old man? Old age catching up to you?" the blonde said with a smirk.
"Humph, I don't want to hear that from you considering you're theoretically older than me! Anyway this is because my hand had so many cramps from signing release papers for Evangeline every 5 seconds."
The blonde smiled before kneeling next to the old before asking curiously, "Why would you be doing something like that?"
"We weren't able to find a way to completely allow Evangeline to come help you, the best we could do was a loophole that required me to sign papers every 5 seconds with the changes in the seals matrix, even then, it was severely restricted…."
The blonde waved the old man's concerns away, "We got through and everyone came back safe, that's all that matters. Anyway I came to speak to you exactly about the matrix. I can't afford another slip up like that, so I want to look at the matrix's schematics to see if I can find a way to regain all my abilities permanently, or even temporarily that doesn't involve me first experiencing incredible pain or you crapping out like this again."
The old man grumbled, "As long as it doesn't involve paperwork I'm all for it. I did enough paperwork in that one day to last me a life time."
Naruto chuckled, "What about Evangeline? I don't know her back story but she can't be happy being stuck here. Best case scenario; any changes I do might completely release both of us, but I'm not sure whether you would like that since the lengths everyone went through to keep her sealed here gives me the impression not many people like her."
Konoe adopted a serious expression, "I see…. In return for the schematics I ask that you find any way possible to regain your strength, but I would prefer it if her containment here was unchanged, if it comes to it, you might have settle for your current abilities because I can't risk Evangeline being even partially released without a guarantee of her good behaviour."
"I see… very well I agree to your terms. I'll need the schematics along with any references you might have of modern day ward building."
The dean agreed, a more powerful ally was always appreciated, especially if it came at no cost, "The seal schematics are in my drawer, I haven't had the chance to put them back in the vault yet, any books you may need can be found at Evangeline's home. She has been trying to learn about seals ever since she was sealed here, so I don't doubt she has gathered a very comprehensive library of them, more so than anywhere else you may find in this campus. Just let her know you're finding a way to release both of you and she'll let you take a look."
Unseen by the Dean, Naruto winced and made a face, telling the tiny blonde vampire that, even when it won't happen came too close to hitting home. It was painfully similar to the way he had been manipulated by Konoha as well. But he didn't begrudge the Dean. Leaders sometimes had to make the most painful sacrifices. He knew that much from the memoirs of the Third Hokage that he had been able to sneak away from the Hokage vault.
There was a reason he didn't hate the Sandaime even with what Kakashi said. Simply because he knew better. It was true that the man had allowed the occasional beating as well as the low level brain washing by being the one benevolent person Naruto had to depend on. In his memoirs, the Sandaime wrote that it was something that killed his soul a little bit everytime he had to visit a beaten Naruto in the hospital and slowly ate away at his vitality.
Naruto remembered that he had almost rampaged across Konoha after he had read the Sandaime's confession in his memoirs and he gave thanks everyday that Akane, who was far more mature then he was at the time, had noticed something he didn't in the Sandaime's memoirs and reined his anger in.
Why?
What Naruto hadn't realized and Akane did was that all it truly came down to was a choice between what he suffered as a childhood being forced into Danzo's Root forces or even worse as impossible as that sounded. Faced by pressure from all sides to guarantee loyalty from their Jinchuriki through any number of methods, some even made mention about branding him with the Hyuga's caged Bird Seal, the Sandaime took the least evil path that would still allow Naruto a degree of freedom even if he had to be beaten and scorned for it.
Later on, a clear minded Naruto concurred, faced with either complete slavery, being a faceless, emotionless weapon or a bad childhood, he'd take the latter any day.
Even through the various contraints placed on him, the Sandaime did his best, he may have been forced to guarantee loyalty from Naruto and allow the travesty the boy suffered, but in his own way, he rebelled against the Council. Instead of indoctrinating Naruto to Konoha and its rulers, in the midst of stories of greatness of Konoha; he slipped in gems of wisdom and honor, unknowingly forming the very principles that Naruto would forever live by as well as stories of his Will of Fire.
At the very least there would be one last person to inherit his flames.
Although Naruto had to admit it took a while before he matured enough to realize what Akane did earlier; that the Sandaime hadn't been completely screwing him over and that the old man had genuinely cared for him.
Still he didn't have to like it.
Making a quick copy of the seal schematics he waved at the relaxing Dean before leaping out of the window towards where Chachamaru had mentioned her residence was.
****Broken Faith****
Evangeline sat at the table, watching the blonde opposite her accept a hot cup of tea from her attendant before sipping it slowly. This was the first time she had the chance to properly observe the blonde in person. Her gynoid had already given her a preliminary report on him, ranging from his attendance at her fight with Negi and his demonic heritage.
The only thing she had seen to confirm that last observation was his display during the fight with the Kishin and she could still barely believe it. The reason for that, as much as she hated to admit her failings, from what she could sense, and she was one of the best at sensing, he was completely human. There wasn't even a hint of demonic underlay in his energy signature.
The blonde was an complete puzzle, from his demonic abilities to his unnatural similarity to Nagi Springfield as was his request to be granted to access to her library about seals.
She took a moment to glance away from the blonde at the tiny fox that was apparently his and Chachamaru's according to the gynoid herself, as weird as that statement was. It was currently somehow subverting Chachazero. From the get go, they were incredible friends and the fox somehow understood what Chachazero was saying and her doll somehow understood the fox's yips. At the moment Chachazero was describing her bloody achievements to a very fascinated kitsune.
She looked back at the blonde and was unnerved to see two sapphire serious blue eyes that pierced her the way Nagi's once did. He was getting more and more similar to that idiot every time she looked at him.
Composing herself, the vampire spoke, "You want access to my records and library about seals? And why should I let a stranger like you into my personal library?"
The answer was as unexpected as his stare was unnerving, "Because I can find a way to free you from the seal, or at the very least, allow you a modicum of your powers back."
Evangeline spluttered for a few moments, "A-and what do you think you can do? I'm over 700 years old with great experience with magic, I have been studying seals for nearly 15 years and all I could do was that stupid loophole the Dean used, even then I still needed his help. What can you, a 15 year old hope to do what I couldn't?"
He silently stared at her and Evangeline suddenly felt the urge to squirm in her chair. Quashing the urge ruthlessly, the great Maga Nosferatu squirming because of some boy, what a joke, she returned the stare measure for measure.
They stayed that way for a few moments before he nodded in something resembling satisfaction, "Your insult aside, I take it the Dean neglected to tell you what I am exactly?"
"Huh? You're just a 15 year old brat, what is there to tell?"
She regretted that statement since in her current state, she was no better than a normal weak 10 year old.
His blue eyes flashed purple before she was crushed by a tidal wave of Killing intent, struggling to even prop herself up with her arms on the table, she glanced at the side and noted that even Chachamaru had crashed to the floor because of the gynoid's proximity to her. The only beings that didn't seem affected were the small kitsune that seemed to be watching her, which she only now noticed, had glowing red eyes, and her doll Chachazero which seemed to have been spared because she was the kitsune's friend.
The blonde casually sipped his tea like he was merely taking a stroll, observing the struggling vampire with those unnatural purple eyes. Placing the cup of tea back on the table, he let up on his Killing Intent, causing the vampire to slump back into her chair and almost let out a breath of relief. "You may be 700 years old and some super powerful evil mage that is able to kill me in your fully released state, but make no mistake, I'm no posturing heroic idiot, I grew up an assassin of the shadows and given a reason; I WILL decimate you before you have that chance. Anyway you didn't know the situation, so I'll let that insult slide. But in case that didn't get your attention, I do not appreciate being insulted by a stranger,"
Evangeline winced at the decimate barb, Ok, so he wasn't entirely like Nagi, this blonde was far more cold and ruthless than that idiot. It almost made her sigh in relief the boy wasn't some blood relation.
The blonde took a breath before continuing, "Our dick waving contest aside, what the Dean didn't let you know was that like you, I was sealed, more precisely into the World Tree itself and only recently awakened and although it was an unfortunate side effect of the seal's mixing, I like you, also cannot comfortably leave the border's of Mahora Academy without some sort of back lash. Except in my case, it is a severely limiting of my abilities, even more than it already is at the moment."
Evangeline's eyes widened, "So that's what the old geezer meant when he said the seal matrix was recently changed, he was talking about your release!"
Naruto nodded, "Hence my agreement to work for the Dean while I find a way to…. circumvent our mutual inconvenience. He has agreed to let me look at the Seal schematics and told me that the most comprehensive collection of knowledge about modern day seals belongs to you. Of course I don't expect to borrow your library without any benefits to you, if I can wing it, I'll try to reduce the restrictions the seals impose on you."
Evangeline looked at the blonde in shock, "Y-you can do that? I tr-tried for years but could barely do anything!"
At this the blonde looked sheepish, "I was rather famous before I was sealed for my expertise in seals, especially when it dealt with seals related to restrainment, time and space. I do not expect to find a solution immediately and will most likely have to familiarise myself with modern day sealing knowledge, but this is a good a place to start as any."
Evangeline's mouth silently opened and closed; a glimmer of hope appaered in her eyes. That glimmer dropped a dead weight in Naruto's stomach at the lies he was feeding her.
Sighing in resignation, he decided that he wasn't about subject her to false hope; staring at her again he spoke, "I'll be completely honest with you. One condition to borrowing the seals schematic was ensuring that you weren't completely released, and in the event that releasing myself would release yourself as well I will have to simply suffer along with you."
The blonde vampire's jaw dropped before she started raving about evil old idiots.
"Silence."
Her jaw clicked shut and she stared in shock again at the blonde that had somehow commanded her to shut up.
"Look at it from his point of view. You are almost certain to extract your pound of flesh in revenge for being sealed for so long if you are fully released, as a Leader he cannot take that risk because he is responsible for the safety of every individual here. Can you guarantee you won't start killing again?"
Shamefully Evangeline shook her head.
The blonde silently watched the dejected vampire before sighing, curse his inability to see a suffering female without doing something about it, "I'll make you a deal, like I said earlier, even if the Dean doesn't like it, I'll find a way to reduce the restrictions imposed on you as long as the Dean doesn't find out about it, except in the most dire circumstances. The exact degree in reduction will have to wait until I can fully see and understand the schematics. Agreed?"
Evangeline looked up with new hope before schooling herself, "Very well, it's a deal." She said in a regal manner. They shook hands before she ordered Chachamaru to take the blonde to her private library.
Naruto smiled before giving Akako an affectionate pat on the head before following a stoic Chachamaru to the back of the cottage.
They walked through a dark corridor before arriving at two big wooden doors that were inlaid with security seals. Releasing them, the gynoid led the blonde into a brightly lit room that was unnaturally large for the small wooden cottage that Naruto had earlier entered.
"This is the library, everything you need is here." The gynoid stiffly said before turning around to leave.
Naruto sighed; the new coldness from the gynoid was not entirely unexpected; he had just threatened what amounted to her mother after all.
Walking behind the leaving gynoid he wrapped his arms around her waist and buried his face in the nape of her back.
"I'm sorry about threatening your Master, I know how precious she is to you, but I needed the knowledge she had. I wasn't lying earlier; I really will try my best to help her, if not for your Master, then as an apology for causing you distress." He softly whispered.
Chachamaru stiffened as arms went around her waist, preventing her from leaving. Earlier while watching the blonde that she had classed as, if not a friend then almost certainly a good acquaintance, threaten her Master. The heat in her chest that developed at his audacity had none soft or gentle vibrations she had come to associate with the blonde's actions. It had taken all she had to restrain herself from throwing something at the person who seemed to be antagonizing her Master, even if it hurt her gears for some reason.
And now with his arms around her waist the gears in her chassis developed the familiar soft vibrations again and she suddenly had the urge to melt into the warmth that enveloped her cold synthetic body, despite her CPU railing against their actions, reminding them of what the blonde just did.
The arms left her waist as did the hot breath that played around her neck. She felt strangely conflicted but kept quiet and simply nodded before walking out. Or at least tried to walk out. Her knee joints wouldn't cooperate for some reason.
****Broken Faith****
A blonde sat at a table littered with a large amount of books and piles of papers, two fingers pinching the bridge of his nose as he tried to relax and assimilate everything he had learned. 30 clones had sat among the shelves not too long ago reading every book that could be read here.
A rustling sound brought him back to reality as he opened an eye to see the blonde vampire take a seat opposite him and idly move a finger around to see what he was working with.
Naruto smirked and leered at her, "Lick your feet? I didn't know you had such a fetish, though now that I think about it; it's to be expected isn't it? After all, living for so long, one almost certainly would have developed some kind of weird kinkiness to deal with everything eh?"
Evangeline blushed brightly. "Wh-wh-wha are you talking about! You heard!"
Naruto scoffed, "It's not like you were keeping it quiet out there, but now that I know your kinky fetishes, I'm even more worried for my safety, I bet after I tied you up that day in Kyoto, you really enjoyed it, didn't you? You won't sneak into my bed and kidnap me so I can keep tying you up right? Evaaa-chan~ " Naruto drawled as he leered at her again.
Evangeline's blush burned even brighter, silently seething because her throat seemed to have shut down in the face of his teasing.
Naruto gave a smug smirk at the Evangeline whose mouth kept opening and closing without any noise and turned back to the papers and calculations in front of him.
Silence reigned, partly because the vampire still couldn't speak and partly because the ninja was focusing on other matters.
Evangeline finally decided to shut her mouth since no noise would come out no matter what she did and silently seethed until she composed herself.
When she spoke again, it was strangely soft causing Naruto to look up from his work in surprise, "Why did you make that deal? Despite what you said to Chachamaru, if you hadn't said anything about the Dean I wouldn't have known and would have just granted you access to what you needed without any extra trouble or work."
She was pierced by that really unnerving stare that was starting to make her squirm again as she watched the blonde seem to contemplate something.
"From what I have seen of your attitude, the way you act around others, the power you wield, and the fear you inspire in others, namely Eishun-san, it was enough for me to guess that you didn't have the best experience growing up, and until recently you were hunted and hated because no one bothered to listen to your side of the story, weren't you?"
Speechless again, not because he had deduced that she was feared and hated, but because he realized that in part, her legend was due to no one really bothering to talk to her and understand her motives, Evangeline shakily nodded, causing her male counterpart to nod in satisfaction, "I knew someone like you once. She was a true demon, something you call Akuma nowadays, hated and feared just because she was a demon. Because of certain circumstances, without her own free will, the power she wielded was used to attack my hometown. In retaliation the leader of my home sealed her. For 15 years, like you, she was sealed, but unlike you she was sealed into a small dark cage, not being able to even feel the sunshine on her face or feel the autumn breeze that she loved around her again. Her only companion was me."
She hadn't exactly told him, but he had noticed it himself that whenever she lazed about in the artificial sunshine and breeze of his soulscape, she was always more mellow than usual.
A soft and sad smile that intrigued Evangeline appeared on the talking blonde's face as he reminisced. At the time he did this, Akane had been teaching him the shinobi arts for nearly two years when Jiraiya wasn't around, but hadn't seen fit to show him her humanoid form yet, "It took a lot of effort but I was finally able to partially release her so she could walk in the sun once again, but regrettably it was only was an illusion of freedom because she would never be able to truly leave her cage. Despite that, she never faltered, and enjoyed whatever she had been given. She asked me after that why I did what I did despite her fearsome reputation. I told her I did it because she had become my truest companion. That I did it because I knew the soft, passionate person that hid behind that arrogant fearsome mask she displayed to the world and that alone mattered more to me than some stupid hearsay from some insignificant human."
The blonde pinned her with another one of his trademark penetrating stares, "The circumstances may differ, but like her, I don't truly believe that you deserve this prison, I might not be able to truly free you, but like her, I can at least try to grant you some peace of mind."
Although he had to admit, the reason partially releasing Akane was so easy was because the seal on his stomach had a lot to do with his free will rather than his abilities at sealing which were solely directed at releasing her at the time. He hadn't bothered to expand his knowledge in the sealing arts until after her death, partly because he needed more abilities and partly because the sword currently resting in a seal on his back only worked in a set of unique circumstances. At any other time it was nothing more than a normal albeit unnaturally large claymore. So doing the same for the vampire was likely going to be exponentially more difficult.
Evangeline shakily stumbled out of the library with a lot on her mind but before she did she left a few words, "I know I have no right to say this especially with the way I act, but, pl-ple," Evangeline grimaced and forced herself to say it, "P-please don't hurt Chachamaru." She squared her shoulders, "Even if you out power me now, if you do, I'll do whatever I can to come back and kill you."
Their eyes connected.
"I don't plan to."
****Broken Faith****
Naruto yawned as he walked beside Negi, Asuna and Konoka to his first day of middle school. He had stayed up till late in Evangeline's cottage, and had in fact fallen asleep there, in a guest room. Akako who was currently napping in a nest she had made at the top of his head had been overjoyed that she could spend the night with her new friend.
He didn't know how to feel about that. He had noticed the Doll teaching her how to sharpen her nails for maximum blood spilling with the same block of whetstone that the small Doll used. The kitsune had then scampered up to him and proudly displayed her new nails. He had face palmed and muttered, "That's it, no more Red Bull for you little missy." before picking her up by the scruff of her neck and dragging the protesting lump of fur to bed.
Evangeline on the other hand had stayed out of his way for the remainder of the day and he hadn't seen her since.
He sighed quietly as he walked, there was something wrong with the schematics, not to mention he had to do some leg work back and forth from the tree to update the schematics he had been given.
"Naruto-nii san you ok? You look pretty tired."
He casually waved aside Negi's concern, "Just catching up with some work. Speaking of work, what exactly do we do in class anyway?"
"What do you mean blondie, you've been to class before right?" Asuna asked curiously.
"Eh…. Well where I come from, classes consisted of how to throw metal disks to cause the maximum amount of pain, how to dismantle the human body with the least amount of effort and how to lick our leader's asses."
He was always rather sarcastic in the morning. Especially if he was tired, he blamed it on Akane's influence.
He noticed the other two had stopped walking and were staring at him incredulously, causing him to chuckle sheepishly, "I was just joking. Speaking of dismantling the human body isn't that Ku- err… Ku something, dismantling a lot of people's bodies?"
The three of them spun to see Ku Fei the resident Chinese martial artist fight against an impressive amount of thuggish looking people that were surrounding her.
Kaede joined them from behind, "Ku Fei will be sad you didn't remember her name Namikaze-san."
Naruto shrugged, "I wasn't introduced to her, so you can't blame me for not remembering her."
"Indeed. Anyway, Ku Fei down there is the winner of our annual Academy Martial Arts Contest. So she regularly gets challengers everyday de-gozaru."
"Heh, interesting." Naruto just said as they both watched Ku Fei approach their group and greet Negi.
Kaede smirked, "Just interesting? You must be a very experienced fighter Namikaze-san. Might I ask fo-"
They were both interrupted by a tall spiky haired person that screamed as he charged at Ku Fei from behind the group using them as a distraction for an opening.
Only to run straight into a wall. Or rather into a single finger poking his forehead and seemed to hold him back without any effort. "Tch, I really hate loud noises in the morning and your loud shouting woke my pet." The finger belonged to a certain rather irritated blonde that hadn't had enough sleep and true to his words; a small fox on top of his head yawned cutely and snuffled around his hair as it awoke. "Next time I hear your ignorant shouting I won't stop at just this as your punishment."
"Wha-" before he could say anything else the blonde finger flicked his forehead. The large Karate club member flew back and slammed into a wall hard enough to leave a cracked imprint.
Casually Naruto petted the fox on his head which purred before going back to sleep again before continuing his walk to class, leaving a stunned Negi, a blushing Ku Fei and a calculative Kaede who walked faster to catch up to him.
"Anyway, as I was saying, since you seem so strong, would you mind a spar with me?"
Naruto shrugged, "I'm busy with a project at the moment, so I'll let you know when I'm free." He smirked at the narrow eyes girl, "Oh and I don't mind if you bring your heterosexual life partner along, you know, the one that you sent to dig information on me."
Kaede blushed at her manipulation in Kyoto being found out so easily before excusing herself.
Naruto chuckled before waving at the still stunned Negi, "Oi, you're all going to be late for class if you just stand there you know."
Negi paled and rushed to join them before poking his fingers together shyly, "An-ano…nii-san. Can you teach me how to fight? You were so powerful back in Kyoto and just now you held that big guy back with just a finger."
Naruto dug in his ear, "Eh…. I don't exactly have a style to teach you. The way I fight is more like a bag of tricks. I pick little things and techniques from here and there and mash it all together from experience and tricking my opponent into falling into a trap to land a critical hit, sometimes even at the cost of my own health so to speak. That's not something I can teach you per say, rather something gained through a creative mind and experience." Negi's shoulders slumped in disappointment, something the blonde noticed before he smiled and ruffled the smaller boy's hair.
"Chill, I didn't say I can't do anything, what you need right now before I can teach you anything is a structured foundation and training to build a stronger body, I'm just not suited to lead you through that. 'Because you don't have super regenerative abilities or the time to allow you the same margin of error I did before I became skilled enough to avoid impaling myself,' although the blonde didn't voice that comment, "After that I can add some stuff to mix it up so that you aren't so dependent on one style. I'd recommend Ku-something, her style is a reactive and balanced one that emphasizes maximum results for minimum input, so it should suit you pretty well since most of your power will be directed towards spells rather than physically dealing damage. Once you have the basics down, I can give you some battlefield training to think on the spot."
Negi beamed at his Nii san.
****Broken Faith****
"I think this will be on the test, so don't forget to revise this at home, well that's it for today" Negi said as he ended his class.
The class all stood up to bow him out when everyone sweat dropped.
One person hadn't stood up and that one person was currently sitting at the very back of the class, face down and drooling onto his table. Similarly he had a fox drooling onto his blonde hair.
Ayaka the class president fumed and stomped to the blonde before gently picking up the sleeping fur ball before landing a fist onto a patch of blonde hair.
"RAMEN!" the blonde shouted before dazedly looking around.
Ayaka's face burned in indignant fury, "Wake up you idiot, we have to bow Negi-sensei out! It's bad enough you were snoring throughout class! How can you not listen to our wonderful Negi-sensei!"
The class president received a blank look and a dazed, "Oh… ok…. Wait... why are we bowing to an onion by the way?"
Chao face palmed, thanking whatever Kami that governed the world she didn't inherit that particular gene from Naruto-jiji, while Negi blushed embarrassedly at the front of class.
"Ii-Incho, it's ok. It's no fuss. By the way, Ku Fei, I need to speak to you about something…. But….um…. uh, I shouldn't say this in class." He muttered under his breath before continuing, "Can you wait for me at the memorial in the plaza in front of the World Tree after class?"
Naruto was completely forgotten in favour of the newest gossip about Negi-sensei while Akako quietly squirmed out of the loud blonde's grip and scampered to the gynoid. Nuzzling Chachamaru, she licked the gynoid's cheek before settling back to sleep on her shoulder.
****Broken Faith****
Naruto sat in class with a frown on his face with a bunch of papers littering his desk.
Who knew middle school math was so hard.
"Hey Naruto, you wanna go for Karaoke and bowling?"
He stared blankly at Konoka who was the one to speak, "What's that? Something to eat?"
All three girls sweat dropped. Even Setsuna, who while hadn't experienced any of those herself, at least knew what they were.
Konoka stood in front of Naruto, hands on her hips, something about the pose caused Naruto to shiver. It foretold future pain to his family jewels but he didn't know why. "You don't know what those are? Even Se-chan knows. That's it your coming with us so both you and Se-chan can relax a bit," she grabbed a hold of his arm and pulled him out of his chair,
"Eh? Bu-but I have work to do!"
"No buts. You're coming." Then she stopped and spun around to shoot him with her big teary eyes and trembling, pouting lips, "You don't want to come? It's because you think I'm annoying right? You don't like me?"
Naruto did what Negi did. He crumpled like a wet towel. "Alright alright, I'll come; just let me pack my stuff."
Konoka smiled triumphantly while Naruto saw a sympathizing expression on Setsuna's face. She had apparently been a recent victim of the same thing.
****Broken Faith****
He stared dubiously at the thing in his hand, then he stared at a waiting Konoka.
"So, I'm supposed to throw this," he gestured at the bowling ball in his hands, "at that and knock all of them down?" this time he gestured at the bowling pins down the bowling alley.
Konoka nodded impatiently.
"O…k…."
Shrugging he threw the bowling ball and watched as it sailed through the air and crashed on top of the pins, destroying most of them and leaving a deep imprint where the ball landed.
"Like that?"
Konoka face palmed.
****Broken Faith****
Naruto watched as Konoka demonstrated a beginner's bowling stance and gently rolled the ball down the lane to knock down a few pins.
Her hands to her hips, she spun to face Naruto, "Like that, your aim is to knock down all the pins!"
Naruto took the same pose she did.
Konoka brightened.
Naruto stepped forward and let the ball rip.
The ball shot forward like a bullet and left an inch deep rut straight down the middle of the lane from the force it had been thrown with before destroying the pins, crashing deep inside the machinery and was stuck into the wall.
Konoka face palmed again.
Behind her the bowling alley's owner cried bitter tears.
Asuna shrugged, "At least it was a strike." She said as she watched Ayaka chase Ku Fei around with a bowling ball
Naruto scratched the back of his head, what was he doing wrong? Wasn't this the same as throwing Kunai to hit a target? He even destroyed the target rather than knock it down, that got him bonus points right? Right?
****Broken Faith****
After a tiring day at school, bowling and karaoke, everyone in class discovered he absolutely sucked at singing and following the words on the screen. He didn't mind, he preferred making music that suited his own beat rather than following a predetermined beat. He didn't have any energy left to continue studying the seals and chose to go to sleep.
Climbing into his futon, he petted Akako and gave her head a good night kiss; she returned it with a lick to his cheek before they fell asleep.
Play Fields of Hope by Rie Tanaka
Hours later a dark figure unzipped the opening to his tent and slipped in.
Her lips raised in a quiet quirk as she watched the blonde and his pseudo daughter sleeping. Both of them had thrown off the covers and both of them were asleep on their backs, limps splayed out. One was quietly snoring, the other was quietly yipping.
She smiled quietly at the adorable scene. Akako was unknowingly imitating her pseudo Father.
She quietly knelt beside the small fox and gently rubbed her small white tummy. Adding purrs to the symphony of snoring.
Smiling at the cute purring, the green haired intruder slipped into the futon, between Akako and Naruto.
Almost on impulse, Naruto's strong arms wrapped around her waist and he nuzzled her neck again. He had a weird fascination with girl's necks she noticed. Letting out a quiet sigh, she relaxed enjoyed the warmth that surrounded her, so much like the feeling she had while her Master charged her. She hadn't been lying to him that morning, she really had come in to play with Akako; she just neglected mention when she came in. And then she had heard her Master talk to him about her.
His response only made her gears spin faster as did her Master's hidden concern for her.
She was honest enough to admit that the reason she had been doing this was for the warmth that Naruto seemed to emit especially when he was asleep. It gave her a sense of life. Even if it was false.
It didn't make any sense to lie to herself, especially against all her processor's logic but she couldn't help it.
His warmth was unlike any other.
konna ni tsumetai tobari no fukaku de
anata wa hitori de nemutteru
The heat from him resonated with the warmth inside her as her gears sped up like it usually did.
Like she wasn't just another soulless puppet.
It allowed her to pretend like she was just another normal person.
That it was possible to have a normal life instead of being just a lonely android.
Quietly she also noted that Naruto no longer tied her up whenever she slipped in like this.
Akako stirred and noticed her pseudo mother had come in as she had been doing the past 3 days, stumbling towards the green haired intruder the tiny lump of fur licked her cheek, and with a quiet "Oyasumi Kaa-san," the kitsune splayed herself on top of her mother and father before falling back asleep.
inori no utagoe sabishii nohara wo
chiisa na hikari ga terashiteta
A slight line of fluid leaked out one eye as she smiled sadly and petted the kitsune's head before she rested her head on one of Naruto's biceps and snuggled back into his warm embrace.
natsukashiku mada tooku
sore wa mirai no yakusoku
Soon the gynoid was asleep, dreaming of quiet green fields.
inori no utagoe sabishii nohara wo
chiisa na hikari ga terashiteta
Hoping to soak as much warmth as she could before the day begun again and she had leave this sanctuary.
umarete kita hi ni dakishimete kureta
yasashii ano te wo sagashiteru
inori no utagoe hitotsu kiete mata hajimaru
tayorinaku setsunaku tsuzuku
Neither of them noticed the small smile playing on Naruto's lips.
anata no yume wo miteta
kodomo no you ni waratteta
natsukashiku mada tooku
sore wa mirai no yakusoku
****Broken Faith****
Nothing much to say, just that this is one of two, Christmas Specials I plan on releasing on the 25th of December.
That family scene was heart warming I hope. I tried my best, something for those without a family. It won't replace that special feeling but I hope this helps.
konna ni tsumetai tobari no fukaku de- Beneath a veil so cold
anata wa hitori de nemutteru - You deeply sleep, all alone
inori no utagoe sabishii nohara wo- The melody of prayer; on the lonely fields
chiisa na hikari ga terashiteta - a little light shined
natsukashiku mada tooku - So dear, and yet so far
sore wa mirai no yakusoku - That is the promise of our future
umarete kita hi ni dakishimete kureta - On the day we were born, we were embraced
yasashii ano te wo sagashiteru - And now we search for those gentle hands again
inori no utagoe hitotsu kiete mata hajimaru - The melody of prayer; one vanishes
tayorinaku setsunaku tsuzuku - And all begins again; a powerless, painful continuation
anata no yume wo miteta - I watched as you dreamed
kodomo no you ni waratteta - You laughed like a child
natsukashiku mada tooku - So dear, and yet so far
sore wa mirai no yakusoku - That is the promise of our future
And yes. That Chachamaru scene was familiar wasn't it? I planned for Asuna and Chachamaru to be introduced that way long before this story was to be published. The only difference was the actual fine tuning during the writing since they were done some time ago. I wanted it as an introduction as the heads of the family so to speak. Asuna's brash but straight forward sincerity tempered by Chachamaru's cool logic. Both backed by one insanely powerful powerhouse that actually knows what his doing. Now that the secret is out, i'm sure the many people that have been bugging me about the pairings are satisfied. It MAY be a harem, but these two are definitely in.
Oh, and there was actually supposed to be a third girl that I wanted to be introduced that way. The slot is still up in the air cause I have no idea which girl would give me the best impact so I'm still thinking. Bwahahah.
Have a very Merry Christmas.
John.