Dsiclaimer- I don't own Negima.
Woah, Luxa, new chapter already? i'll be honest, I have like, five chapters done. I also have the last three halfway finished, so any delay is just laziness on my part. XD Thank you all (three of you) for your wonderful reviews! :) By the way, Alexander, logging in would be helpful so I could reply to you privately, not where everything I saw can be broadcasted to all...thirty...people who read this. XD Yeah, I didn't really like the philosophy in that chapter, but Oscar Wilde is known for being like that...
This chapter takes place directly after the Ala Rubra one, where Chisame demands to know the story behind the tattoo.
Enjoy! :)
"Hey, Al," growled Chisame.
"Yes?" replied Al pleasantly.
"I'm super dying to know...how'd you get that tattoo?"
Al shuddered delicately. "It's a rather painful subject."
"So?"
"Ah, touche..."
"Stop avoiding me and tell the story!"
"You are a harsh mistress..." sighed Al. "It was the '50s, in Japan, shortly after the war. I had sustained some injuries in battle and was currently relaxing in Japan...in doing so, I somehow got myself involved in the Yakuza..."
Al was woken by his nap on the desk by a knocking on his door. He yawned and sat up, trying to make it look like he'd been doing something important and yakuza-like.
"Come in!" he called cheerily, although he was secretly wishing he was still asleep.
"You have a visitor, sir," said the young man adorned with tattoos. His name was Akamatsu, and he was Al's new secretary after the old one had gotten shot. All in a day's work working with the yakuza, and he was getting excellent healthcare.
"Send them in," replied Al kindly, "Is it business?"
"I'm not entirely sure, sir," confessed Akamatsu. "She just stormed in and demanded to see you."
"Ah," said Al, smiling. "I know who see is. Send her in."
Approximately two minutes later, a barefooted but busty Evangeline A.K. McDowell stormed in.
"You're looking healthy," commented Al. "But I like you better without boobs."
"Go to hell, you creep."
"To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?"
"I heard you became the kingpin of a major yakuza in Japan. Came to see if it was true."
Al spread his arms as if to showcase his office. "It's true."
"Do you have any tattoos?"
"Tattoos?" echoed Al. "No, I don't think I do."
Eva let loose a wicked grin. "I thought not. You can't be a real yakuza without a big-ass tattoo. It shows your bravery."
"Eva, as the head of this organization, I don't think it's necessary-"
Eva pulled out an ink pen and a needle. "Don't worry, I've practiced on oranges."
Al swallowed hard. "That doesn't make me feel any better."
Eva approached him undaunted. "Bend over the desk and take off your shirt."
Al winked. "Kitty, you could've asked me to do that a long time ago...I rather like you taking charge, go ahead and continue...but you don't need to stay in that adult form for me, darling."
Eva wrestled his shirt off him, making him wish he'd had garlic and leeks the night before.
"Trust me," said Eva ominously. "I won't hurt you."
"Are you going to sterilize the needle? What about pain-killers? Do you have a design planned?"
"Don't care, don't care, and yes," replied Eva hazily, concentrating on the large pale canvas that was Albireo's back. "You have back hair. It's gross."
"I know..." sighed Al unhappily. His body hair was one of his greatest banes in life.
"Think of it this way- you won't have to worry about that for the next two hundred years."
Al shivered in fear. "If there any way-"
"No, you big baby. you're always going on about self-control, so grin and bear it."
Al hesitated. "I've never..."
Eva cocked her head. "Never what?"
"I've never...had a tattoo."
If Eva had been drinking something she would've had a spit-take. "Seriously?" she chortled. "You've never had a tattoo? Two thousand years of existence and you've never had a tattoo?"
Albireo tried hi best not to blush, but failed, making him look uncharacteristically adorable. "In my defense, I've had other things going on."
Eva readied the needle. "Nothing like going in full-force. Why go with a tramp stamp when you can go for the whole package?"
Albireo gritted his teeth as Eva starting inking his back. He was certainly used to pain, but he didn't especially like needles, didn't completely trust Eva with her doubtful "design", and...
Albireo had to be honest. It was more than a mild distaste for needles: it was a deep-seated fear he'd carried with him for more than sixteen hundred years. Eva had no idea as she starting inking him that it took every ounce of effort he could muster not to tense his back, not to clench his fists, not to let out the scream that was building up inside him.
"...And that was when Dracula said...Al, are you listening?"
He found with surprise that he was not listening, a very rare occurrence for him. "I'm sorry...I must've gotten lost in thought," he managed, wondering how long this tattoo was going to take.
"Whatever," mumbled Eva. "Not like it mattered."
"I really do apologize," said Al, trying to focus on something other than the awful needle in his back. "This tattoo business is a tad bit distracting."
Eva shrugged. "I guess. I have a couple myself, it didn't bother me none."
Eva resumed the process of tattooing Al's back, and he suppressed the urge to actually shed tears. It had been a very long time since pain had moved him to cry, and he wasn't about to break the trend now.
When Evangeline finally finished, she laughed quietly to herself before saying, "I think I'll do it again, just to make sure it's etched in deep enough...that okay with you?"
Al just wanted to cradle his head in his hands. "Whatever you think is best," he replied cheerily. "Someone sure likes touching me, hmm?"
She slapped his new tattoo in retaliation, and she noted with satisfaction that he flinched.
Eva finally noticed something was wrong when she put the needle close to Al's back (and new tattoo). "You're shivering. Are you cold?"
"No," he replied, his voice completely normal. "I'm fine."
Eva was suspicious now. "You're too good at lying. Something's wrong, isn't it?"
"I dislike repeating myself."
"Al, stop being a douche-bag and just 'fess up."
"Do you promise to put that awful needle away?" he asked, compromising his need for privacy.
Eva was surprised. "I guess so." She tucked it in her dress and crossed her legs, using his lap as a footstool.
"I'm not entirely fond of needles," he confessed. "They're...uncomfortable."
"Since when do you find things uncomfortable?"
His tone was light, but his blue eyes were grave. "It was...absurdly long ago. I should've forgotten by now. It was so long ago that I hadn't discovered magic yet and I was just living the life of a scavenger in the forest when some boys from the nearby tribe or village stumbled across me. I was tired and had not eaten in several days so I was easy prey."
Eva suppressed her natural instinct to be snarky. It was a difficult effort for her, but Al didn't seem t be joking.
He wrung his hands together, this small physical sign of discomfort speaking just as much as the words coming out of his mouth.
"This tribe...to this day, I still don't know where I was, was very proficient in acupuncture...these boys knew how to torment others with needles, and they used me as prey..." Albireo's fingers ghosted his neck, face, and chest, the most targeted parts of his body in the attack. "They started out with the relatively painless things like fingers and eventually moved on to my eyes and mouth...it is not a pleasant memory."
"And that tattoo reminded you of that, didn't it?" said Eva quietly, feeling like a bitch.
"You had no idea. I could've said no if I'd really wanted to."
"Why don't you ever say anything when it matters, you dumbass?" she growled, her blonde hair swishing angrily.
"I guess I forget."
"Bullshit."
Al stood up suddenly. "It's been a long time. You put a lot of work into that tattoo, I'd like to see it."
"Even if needles were involved?"
"I may not like needles, but that doesn't mean I can't like the end product."
Eva rummaged in her skirt. "I think I have a mirror in here..."
"No need," Al replied, smiling. He chanted a spell quickly and a shimmering mirror reflecting his back appeared in front of them.
He clapped his hands in approval. "Eva, I didn't know you were so talented! I like it!"
She crossed her arms in begrudging pride. "I have a few kickass oranges at home." she admitted.
The tattoo was a golden dragon with painfully intricate scales breathing fire over an Oriental mountain with waves lapping at the bottom of the cliff. The dragon's scales were the color of Eva's hair and its eyes the cerulean of Albireo's eyes. The fire was also the same blue, icy and cruel. Al hoped his eyes weren't like that.
"I'm glad you like it," said Eva. "Since you'll be stuck with it for a while."
She retrieved a roll of bandages from who-knows-where and wrapped his sore chest.
"You were right about the hair," he remarked. "I seriously doubt it's going to grow back."
Eva was silent for a moment. "I'm sorry about the needles." she whispered, a little girl's insecurities revealing themselves.
"It's fine,"he reassured. "You have to face your fears sometime, and at least I didn't have to do that in some jungle, surrounded by tribesmen mages who think I'm the devil."
"I wish I'd asked..."
"Why? What could've possibly led you to believe I was afraid of needles? It was no fault of yours. Don't blame yourself, Evangeline."
Despite her adult, busty, figure, she looked at him with the eyes of a child. "You promise?"
He tutted, "So insecure today? I promise, Eva."
She smacked his back for good measure. "Now that you've got a decent tattoo you can be a real man, not some pansy wanna-be."
"I am already the leader of this outfit..." sighed Al.
"I could take you." pouted Eva.
"You probably could," agreed Al. "But never forget about the element of surprise."
"That's what losers say, old man."
There was a pause where Al and Eva looked at each other before Eva ran up to Al and squeezed him around the waist in a facsimile off a hug. He hugged her back, grunting slightly at the pressure on his back. Eva let go of him and grumbled. "You're not allowed to be scared, moron. You're the smart one, you're the one who comforts me, so suck it up and be a man for once in your life."
Al laughed at her obvious showing of her affection for him. "Thank you, Kitty. But remember, I'm only human."
He really did deserve that slap, but it hurt nonetheless.
"Nice," appraised Chisame. "Good ending line. I will admit that you know how to tell a story...on the other hand...what in the name of the Kentucky Derby is wrong with you?"
"Excuse me?" replied Al, slightly confused.
"You've been reading books for two thousand years, and not once did you pick up on the subtleties of picking up vampires? You seem to do fine with mortal women, especially judging by your massive amounts of offspring, but you have no tact with the immortal!"
"That's not true," argued Al. "I've slept with Filius, he's immortal."
Chisame was momentarily at a loss for words. She decided to pretend she didn't hear that statement and continued regardless.
"Are you really that thick, or are you ignoring the signs? She likes you, or at least she used to. No wonder she moved on to Nagi, she must've been sick of waiting for your thick head to get it," raged Chisame. You're hopeless...you didn't even get it with the tattoo? That thing was so obviously about her love for you!"
"You think so?" pondered Al.
"Duh!" bellowed Chisame. "Your inexperience amazes me...I can't watch this anymore. I'm going home."
"Why?"
"To make a chart, of course."
"About what?"
"Your relationship with Eva. Men are so stupid..." Chisame stomped off, leaving Al with his tea. He wasn't upset, though.
Chisame had certainly given him plenty to think about.
What did you think? Reviews are love! :)
