Disclaimer:

Love Hina and Mahou Sensei Negima is the creative property of Ken Akamatsu, who created this wonderful anime/manga series. Shingetsugan Tsukihime and Fate/stay night is the creative property of TYPE-MOON. Anything not attributed to Akamatsu-san or TYPE-MOON belongs to their respective owners, such as references to Cowboy Bebop (the Swordfish II) that is a creation of Sunrise and Shinichiro Watanabe, BLEACH is a creation of Kubo Tite, and vice-versa. This story is written purely just for fun, guys; please for God's sake, don't sue me! I'm just a high school student with too much free time on his hands! On the other hand, any specific author created characters I created for this fic (despite how unoriginal they may be at times) are mine. So without further adieu, let's get on with the show!

The Surgeon General's Warning:

Read at your own risk. Multiple pairings inside folks, with KanaxKei and KanaxNegi, just to name a few! You never know what you're going to get so read on (I might even do some alternative stuff, if you know what I mean).

Blue Blue Glass Moon, Under the Crimson Air

I Wanna Go To A Place...

Chapter 35:

Interesting

A Love Magister Hina Negima! fanfic by James "Ray" Edwards

"Why?"

Chachamaru screamed and lunged forwards, crossing the broad expanse in a single bound. Incredible strength, incredible speed; maybe her classmate was not human either, but now that Kanako was back in full form, she was more than prepared. With a smile, she danced gracefully aside with the pivot of her foot, back handing the offending enraged girl away. The warding blow struck her classmate in the face as she landed, sending Chachamaru skidding forwards on the slick broken floor before gravity took over, and she fell sprawling helplessly onto her back with a splash.

Unfazed, the neon green-haired girl tucked her legs in, arching her back inwards, and rose to her feet with an agile kick flip and lashed out with a vicious cutting sweep of her left arm. Kanako skirted back quickly out of range, her shoe clad feet splashing noisily in the pooling water as she cut off her chakra supply to conserve her stamina. She wished to gauge her foe properly this time and had no plans for another bitter brawl she had with Narusegawa. Naru was enough proof that she needed to treat her opponents here at Mahora Academy with a little more respect, as they had their fair share of --- surprises too.

"Analyzing... Threat Level B-Class. Suggestion: approach with caution when detaining subject," Chachamaru rumbled eerily.

What did she honestly think she was? Some kind of machine? The cosplay outfit was cute, but seriously-!

Chachamaru lunged in again, a quick fighting step forward as she thrust her fist in a straight punch the face. A foolish move by all accounts, considering Kanako could easily match her speed with just her natural celerity. The raven-haired girl leaned in, cocking her head aside barely enough to dodge the punch and hammered her elbow into her classmate's gut. There was a startling resistance, more hard than soft that sent a shock of pain up her entire arm. Kanako winced but did not falter and stepped into her opponent's guard with a follow-up elbow smash to the chin, earning herself another sharp spike of pain.

The neon green-haired girl grunted, staggering back lightly, but there was not even the slightest expression of pain on her face. Not to be discouraged, Kanako spun about on her heel, her tattered skirt fluttering in the wind, and lashed out high with a crescent kick to the chest. Again, the tough resistance, the shock of pain, but by gauging the loud thud echoing forth, the attack was much more effective. Chachamaru gave out with a gasp as she was promptly launched off her feet, landing flat on her back with another splash.

And then, she got up again, with the same vitality and urgency in her kick flip recovery, and came at Kanako with another predictable punch. The raven-haired girl pivoted aside, grabbing her opponent by the arm and pulled her forwards straight into a vicious concussive knee to the gut. Chachamaru choked, the wind knocked out of her as the momentum from the blow jerked her footing from right underneath her and sent her under, slipping and sliding away onto her back. The back of her vest and blouse was quite soaked through now, but yet again, she rose up and turned about to face her foe, completely unfazed.

Kanako blinked. "What. The HELL. Are you?"

"Calculation complete, initiating Attack Pattern B-Five. Ikimasu!" Chachamaru answered.

Faster, much faster than before, the neon green-haired girl lunged in with a punch to the upper torso. With a grimace, Kanako just barely caught the punch by the wrist, twisting Chachamaru's arm aside as she stepped in for --- and the hand grabbed her back.

Oh no...

The crushing upper cut quite frankly "rocked" her world. She felt her lower jaw slam into her upper jaw with an agonizing click, her head thrown backwards as she was lifted cleanly off her feet. What incredible strength! She hardly a chance to react before Chachamaru struck with a rapid flurry of blows to her vulnerable stomach, each punch lifting her up just enough to keep her in mid-air. Having juggled her, the neon green-haired girl jumped up and spun, tucking in her right foot to increase her rotation speed.

Kanako knew she only had a split-second, but it was all she needed. Through the haze of her pain, she moved her right hand quickly through a series of half-hand seal, molding her chakra into the form she desired.

"Chakra Yoroi!"

A blue aura of chakra erupted outwards from her body with an ear piercing shriek, just as the finishing roundhouse kick slammed into her gut. The armor of chakra responded appropriately, countering the force of Chachamaru's kick with a shockwave of air-bursting chakra that flung the two combatants clean apart. Kanako grit her teeth swallowing back the pained grunt that tried to rise out of her throat. The blow had been softened considerably, but some of it still managed to pass through her armor.

Willing herself to go on, she tucked in her arms and legs as if she were a ball, flipping backwards to right herself, before kicking out with all her limbs. She landed well enough, skidding back on the slick floor only a few strides. Chachamaru was less fortunate. Caught off guard, she flailed wildly through the air before she slammed into the plaza's floor with a splash, rolling to a stop in a crumbled heap from the point of impact.

For a moment, Karakuri did not stir, but then she rose again. She was a soaked mess to be sure, her long hair and clothes clung to her body like a second skin, yet she was not the slightest bit fazed or tired. Kanako frowned at this, naturally. She had to wonder what it was going to take to bring this absurdly stubborn girl down. Should she start using her ninjutsu, and if that was the case, how far should she go?

Chachamaru Karakuri and Naru Narusegawa were two different cases. The latter was an eyesore that had provoked her and --- wait a minute, why was she even thinking about something like this? She should just crush...!

Suddenly, it hit her, a sudden dizzying spell compounded by a wave of nausea. Trembling uncontrollably, Kanako collapsed onto her knees with a gasp. She was sweating profusely, her flesh cold and clammy. Ah, yes; now she remembered Kitsune had warned her about --- side effects. This was it.

Though it felt oddly like deja vu, she had finally reached her limit.

Kanako smirked, as she heard the ominous echo of her classmate, Evangeline's wind up doll, approach her with moderate purposeful steps. So she planned to end this still? Heh, how ruthless of her. "If you want him so badly, he's just down the stairs, you know."

Chachamaru hesistated.

"But I have to thank you too, Karakuri-san. Thank you for showing me something --- interesting about this school. I can only wonder what kind of surprises McDowell is hiding herself. ...See you later."

"Urashima-san!"

The slick floor came rushing to meet her face with a splash. A cold darkness consumed her. She heard no more. She felt no more. She thought no more. There was only --- black.

Ne, Keitaro-oniichan, you'll come soon to take me home, won't you?

After having checked that Urashima was going to pull through just fine, which strangely filled her with a sense of relief, she had hurried off down the flight of stairs from the ruined plaza in search of Negi. Many inquiries and fragmented thought patterns scrambled through her personality layer in a frenzy, asking questions, so many troublesome questions. She brushed them all aside, putting her faith in the raven-haired girl's words.

Wait a minute, when did I grasp the concept of "faith"? Why did I even bring it up? Is not faith something only humans possess? Why should I concern myself with something so --- irrational? Ugh, this is so difficult!

There; her visual recognition scanners identified the brown soles of a pair of dress shoes, children's size four, belonging to one Negi Springfield, Subject File #...

Chachamaru shook her head vigorously, a childish, irrational gesture, even though all she needed to do was send a single command line to terminate that cognitive process. It was a frightening gesture that unconsciously sent "chills" through her upper torso, a sudden loss of heat in her radiator; too --- human. Frowning, she leapt in a single bound down to the bottom of the stairs, landing with a sharp scuff of her shoes against the stone tiles.

"Negi-!" the android girl cried out impulsively before she could stop herself.

He was --- Negi was all right. Her scans indicated that, superficially speaking, his vital signs were at acceptable nominal levels, despite the shabby state of his appearance. He was asleep in peaceful repose on the grass beside the path, holding onto his wizard's staff. Fresh plasma scoring marked his clothes intermittently as if he had been burned just recently, accompanied by tears, grass stains, and smudges of dirt. He had been a battle, but with what?

Suddenly, her motive power actuators began to move on there own, her artificial muscles contracting, much to Chachamaru's shock. Her body was moving on its own without her conscious input! What infernal-ah!

Stop! she commanded fearfully in her "mind," bringing to bear every single terminating command line and protocol she could recall from her databanks.

Her hand stopped, a breath's away from touching Negi's face, as she crouched down beside him. Chachamaru trembled, her neon green eyes riveted to the spot. "Fear" was a new emotion too. It was a cold, paralyzing sensation, a response that her frame responded natural by "freezing" numerous regulatory systems while turning up her active stimuli input in her sympathetic nervous system beyond approved nominal levels. What was happening to her? Why had she done this, try to touch Negi-sensei --- Negi-kun --- Negi?

Splash.

Chachamaru blinked, her expression in utter disbelief. Her auditory receptors had heard it, the minute sound of a drop of fluid splashing onto her uniform. It was hers, though; she could feel it streaming from the corners of her eyes, a lukewarm saltine fluid.

"Tears."

Was she --- was she "crying"? Why was she crying? Crying was usually a human response to deep sorrow or anguish, while animals typically used it as a means to clean the lens of their eyes of irritants. She --- she did not have "real" tears. Her "tears" were just a salt-based lens cleaning fluid, a recent addition the Professor had added to give her more "human" qualities. At the time, she had asked Saotomi why she had gone through such great lengths when it was ultimately a farce, a charade, a charlatan's tricks made to deceive the common eye.

The eccentric genius's reply was simple: "Well, I don't want to be outdone by my colleague, Rinshen-chan, now, do I? Besides --- it does feel real, doesn't it?"

Real.

What was the definition of "real"? Authenticity? "Genuinity"? If those were the cases, then what was she?

"Che, you don't even know what you really are, do you, Second?"

"No, I guess not, but would you like to know?"

"Of course, you do. Ever eager to please, aren't you, Chacha-boke?"

"Fine, I'll tell you, tell you like it is..."

"You're a fake, a copy, hocus pocus and bogus, a pretender trying to be something its not."

A fake.

If I'm a fake, then what is this --- "warm" feeling spreading through my frame, she wondered wistfully. My databases can't identify it at all. It's indescribable. It simply --- is. I'm --- I'm glad that everything turned out all right.

Wordlessly, Chachamaru leaned over and carefully hauled Negi up, unaware of the glimmer of a smile gracing her face. She had a lot of people to carry today. The combined weight of Urashima-san, Narusegawa-san, and Negi should not be too troublesome. The sooner she got done, she supposed, the sooner she could go feed those poor cats, and then, she could go --- home.

It has been a very long day, and maybe, just maybe, Chachazero would know the answers to her many questions. She must miss her terribly, staying at home all day long, sitting on the shelf by her lonesome self. It must be lonely.

Perhaps some day soon, they could build her a new body so that she would not have to be alone anymore.

To Be Continued...

Author's Note

Geezus, this like Neo ver. 1.5 versus Agent Smith 2.0! You knock her down and Chachamaru just gets right back up. Wonder what would have happened in a real fight, if Kanako was not holding back again? On the other hand, you gotta wonder what goes on at home in the McDowell household. It sure as heck does not sound pretty! What's secrets lie within? And does our favorite android even stand a chance against the horde of girls that are no doubt going to chase down Negi, if things ever do calm down enough around here?

Well, maybe we'll find out on the next episode Glass Moon, and oh, it looks like we're going to have a double-header this week!

Reviewers and readers alike, I'd like to once again thank you all very much for your continued patronage. Of course, I'd like to also politely remind y'all out there that there is a difference between an honest critique and a flame. Any Chip and Dale can say, "j00r st0r7 is up d4 SUXX05s!", which I'd say qualifies pretty well as a flame, albiet with a slightly humorous touch if you look at it from the right point of view. On the other hand, it takes some genuine thought and concern to say what Mister/Miss/It Anonymous put down for his/her/its review for chapter 33. That is an honest critique, perhaps not exactly the most well thought out, but a critique is a critique, so please, let's not be hatin' over this.

Remember, I always encourage each and everyone of you to feel free to comment, review, and/or discuss the story. Your comments can really make a difference, I assure you, and if you're up to it, feel free to ring me up on AIM, or even send me an e-mail (although you really don't need to boost my ego too often). You know how to get in touch with the maestro here.

So without further adieu, I hope you enjoyed the more choreographed fight today and that wraps it up, folks, so until the next time we meet (probably around the middle week): Happy holidays! And BE COOL!

Omake!

Naze Nani Glass Moon Desu

Episode Preview!

Chapter 36:

Report

"Oooo...bannana split sundaes...where's that fluxing HYPER SPANNER?...ooo...bananas..."

Tsudzuku!