Disclaimer: I do not own Mahou Sensei Negima, it is a copy righted work of Ken Amakatsu.

The Mage and the Swordswoman

Chapter III "The Real Starting Point"

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Hello everyone. I hope you all are enjoying this story so far. In this chapter, they are finally into the jungle and I wish that I can do a great job on describing the action scenes. Anyway, please read on and enjoy this chapter of the story. That will be it for now from me.

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Negi and Setsuna both woke up to find themselves in a comfortable bed of a hotel near the mission area. With their minds were rejuvenated from the tiredness of traveling, they remembered what they are here for.

Although it had only been less than forty-eight hours ago when they were still another side of the planet, they had no time waste as yhey were here to retrieve magical artifacts and to prevent the them from falling into the wrong hands and

Chamo, the ermine, for the meantime, was still , being the caring master, Negi gently woke his familiar up.

"Chamo-kun, it is time to get up." Negi said in a small voice as he did not want to bother the others in the hotel.

The ermine slowly and painfully got up as he yawned and fell out of the platform his makeshift bed was on.

"Don't worry, aniki, I am fine." Chamo then walks with a limp to the bathroom while Negi watched with a sweat drop forming on his forehead.

But then he chuckled in relief seeing that Chamo was able to get into the bathroom to wash himself up.

At the same time, Setsuna , after cleaning herself up, sat on the floor and began her meditation. And to her relief, she is not bothered by constant weird images of herself with Negi like before; thus she was grateful to the providence for that

The morning went passed as it was a moment of tranquility for both Setsuna and Negi, therefore enabling them to carry out whatever they needed to do before leaving civilization.

Then went the time came for them to leave, both of them went down to the lobby, where they were told by the International Mage Association to wait for their transportation.

And as they waited, Negi, Setsuna, and Chamo talk with one another as usual.

But unfortunately, their conversation was cut short due to the early arrival of their contact.

"Greetings, Negi Springfield, Setsuna Sakurazaki, I am Albert Winters. I will be transporting you two to the location." The contact said as he shook hands with both of them.

"They have loaded all provisions onto my truck." Albert Winters says as they checked out from the hotel.

"How long will take to get to the ruins?" Setsuna asked in passable English.

"Two or three hours to get to the drop off point, then you are by yourself, because it somehow won't allow adults with magical powers to go in and the jungle is too thick to use any vehicle." Winters continued to explain as they boarded the truck with Negi and Setsuna sitting in the back and Winters in the driver's seat..

"I see." Negi said as he took a quick look at Setsuna, who seemed to be lost in thought.

"But don't worry, if you get into any trouble, we will have the other mages teleport you out." Winters added as he drove his truck slowly along the mountain dirt trail while the scenery of South American life surrounded them.

During the next hour or so Negi and Setsuna went through the double checked their personal items such as spell books and other equipments that would be necessary if a combat situation ever arise.

As for Chamo, remained on Negi's shoulder throughout as he listened to their conversation before turning his attention to Winters.

"Your name is Chamo right?" Winters asked as Chamo jumeds into the front of the truck.

"Yes, Mister Winters?' Chamo cocked his head as he replied.

"Well, are your master and Miss Sakurazaki involved?" The middle aged mage asked.

"No, why?" Chamo replied as he sat in the other seat.

"No, nothing, just they look like a good pair together." Winters smiled.

The two hours went by quickly as Negi and Setsuna gone over again and again what they needed to pay attention to while Chamo talked with Winters about Negi and Setsuna.

"Well, this is where you get off." Winters said as he got off the truck and so did the others.

After taking their provisions, Negi shook hands with Winters once more as Chamo sat on Negi's shoulder while Setsuna bowed slightly. And soon afterwards, as the pair were about to enter the jungle, Winter tossed them a pocket watch like object.

"Keep it somewhere safe; it's the tracker so in case of emergency we can teleport you back." Winters called out as Negi, Setsuna, and Chamo waved goodbye and moments later, they disappear into the jungle.

"Well, hope they will make it." Winters thought as he walked towards his vehicle.

Negi and Setsuna trailed along the route they designated by IMA. Along the way, they spoke very little as they walk as they know loud voices would attract unwanted attention.

They both silently followed the compass and the map quietly. This continued on until midday, when finally stopped to rest and eat.

"Need any help, Negi-sensei?" Setsuna asked as they set up a small campfire to cook food.

"Well, nothing really other than to gather some woods, Setsuna-san." Negi replied with a smile as he begins to is able set up the stove and everything else.

And very gladly she obeyed.

The lunch went on peacefully and if others were watching they would have said that they look like a young couple as they shared their food and laughter together.

However, while this went, Chamo watched them carefully and devised his own little plan.

"Well, if this keep up, aniki will have his permanent partner by the end of this vacation." Chamo smiled evilly as Negi and Setsuna cleaned up.

And a few minutes afterwards, the group resumed their travel.

The afternoon part of the trail was a lot more difficult and dangerous than the morning.

This was true especially in the part where they had to cross a river with only a large fallen tree in between while the strong wind blew.

Decided that it was better for them to proceed cautiously, they decided to slowly walked across the fallen tree, and just as they are about cross, a very strong blew through the river valley and with water splashing, Negi slipped.

"Aahhh." Negi screamed as he closed his eyes and expect himself to fall into the rushing waters, but in the blink of an eye he felt a strong hand grabbing hold of him.

"Negi-sensei, are you okay?" Setsuna asked worriedly as her heart rate quickened and her breathing became shallow.

"Yeah, I am okay." Negi said as he tried to catch some breath.

Soon afterwards she quickly pulled him up and crossed over the bridge. And to their relief, the rest of day was rather uneventful.

Then the night came.

As they did during lunch, Negi set up the stove and other things including the tent at the site, while Chamo helped out with Setsuna with gathering the woods.

However, Chamo did not just go along to help, but to further his plan.

"Setsuna-onesan, what do you really think of aniki?" Chamo's question came very suddenly.

The question took Setsuna by surprise and she almost stuttered as she tried to answer.

"Negi-sensei is a good friend and he is someone I am indebted to." Setsuna answered as she blushed a bit and with the sunlight helping, it made her extremely beautiful and cute.

"Well, you don't have to lie to me. We ermines are really sensitive to the romantic feelings of humans, and now you are actually in the top of the list of feelings towards Negi-aniki." Chamo smiled evilly as he said that.

And hearing that caused the young half-demon to stop in her track.

Then Chamo's smile became a friendlier one as he continued on, "Well onee-san, you can't hide it forever, can you? Just let your feelings take the lead." Chamo said and after that, the ermine started his way back to the camp.

"Remember, he won't be like this forever." Then Chamo walked off, towards the direction of the camp, leaving Setsuna there.

Negi, for the mean time walked out of the camp as he found that Chamo had returned and that everything else was done.

Therefore, he trailed along the path that Chamo came back on and when he reached the end of the road Negi stopped as a sight befell onto his eyes.

It was Setsuna standing in the forest with a blush on her face while the setting sun shined her, making her look stunning beautiful and attractive.

This sight stunned Negi mentally and only when Setsuna realized that someone is watching did it end.

"Uh, Setsuna-san, everything else is ready." Negi quickly regained his composure and Setsuna replied with a nod as her face remained a bit of red from the blush. Then she hastily picked up the woods and followed Negi silently back to the camp.

The night only showed how much happiness was between the two of them and when it came the time for them to rest, they both said goodnight to each other allowing Negi to sleep and Setsuna to go on her watch duty

"Maybe, I should do as Chamo-san says and maybe we will find eternal happiness together." Setsuna said to herself as she watched Negi entered into the tent.

"No, I will wait for him until Negi-sensei is ready, no matter how long it is." For Setsuna, that night became the night when she truly determined that she would pursue this feeling.

To be continued…

1st Edit: 08/25/2009

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Hello everyone, what do you think about the story so far? I have a few days left before school starts and the driver license test, so I will try to get as many chapters done as I can. Anyway, so probably for the next few days or so, I will upload two chapters per day if nothing goes wrong. Anyway, check my profile for process on my other stories if you want to and please read and review the other ones as well. Thanks.