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

The Mage and the Swordswoman

Chapter IV "Into the Jungle"

This is the second chapter I am uploading today. Also, I will like all of you to have a moment of silence in honor of those died in the September 11th terrorist attack, in honor of our troops who have fallen in Afghanistan and Iraq, and in honor of those still serving there. I love United States of America, so please respect this opinion, as I am also sad for the Katrina victims and may God have mercy on those who made it through and on those souls who perished.

It had been days since they left the drop off point and the life inside the forest had been kind to Negi, Setsuna, and Chamo, and due to the fact that no accidents had occurred, they were able to continue the trip at the planned pace.

Negi and Setsuna had spoken a lot to each other and whether they noticed or not, Chamo could tell that a strong bonding was forming between Negi and Setsuna, if it had not been there already. However, he decided to keepquiet about it as saying anything about it at this moment would probably only hinder this relationship rather than help it.

"Negi-Sensei, look." Setsuna pointed out a beautiful waterfall to their far right as they slowly trailed along a path created by the archeologists that went before them.

"Wow, this is great." Negi and Setsuna both stopped as they watched the scenery in amazement while they stood within arm distance of each other.

Chamo, who stood on Negi's shoulder wanted to do something as he felt this was the perfect moment, but then quickly Setsuna turned her gaze towards Negi, who was still watching the waterfall, and in her heart, she felt a warm feeling forming.

But then several seconds later, Negi also noticed the gaze and a few seconds later, their eyes locked up.

They both are lost in each other's eyes until Chamo accidentally fell to the ground making a loud thud noise.

"Ooouch." The ermine cried out in pain as he fell onto the ground while the boy and the girl quickly averted their gaze from one another as their facial features began to take on a redder shade.

Then Negi quickly went to Chamo's aid and asked, "Chamo, are you okay?" while traces of the blush remained on their faces.

"Yeah, I am okay, aniki." Chamo for the meanwhile cursed himself for crushing the mood.

"If I didn't fall they would probably be kissing right now." Chamo thought as he got back onto Negi's shoulder.

Then everything went back to normal as Negi and Setsuna returned to their trek deeper into the jungle.

And finally that afternoon, they arrived at the point where they were told was the boundary for the inner jungle.

They were also told that from there on, guardian beasts and other monsters would start to appear. But they were also told that with skills and abilities,whatever they would come across would not be too much of a problem.

As they arrived at the spot they realized that the only thing separating the inner jungle from the outer part was actually a large river with only a wooden bridge connecting the two banks which they believed was constructed by the ruins' builder.

While the sight to them was tranquil as they crossed, but they could feel that something was not right, someone or something was watching them.

"Negi-sensei, did you sense that?" Setsuna asked as they approached the bridge.

"Yes, I did Setsuna-san, but we can only go forward as there is no other way around it." Setsuna nodded as she and Negi continued on with firm steps as they tried their best to control their emotions.

And just when they were about to cross the bridge, what they expected happened: guardian beasts.

Negi and Setsuna immediately took a combat stance as their enemies appeared from circles created on the ground by magical enchantments.

"Beasts with the face of a wolf, legs of lions, and tail of an alligator, it is just the same as in the legends by the locales." Setsuna said in a serious tone as Negi nodded.

"Okay, Setsuna-san, charge right out immediately after I chanted your pact." Negi calmly said as he held firmly to his staff.

Then with a solemn voice he said, "Ras Tel Ma Scir Magister. Sis mea pars per nonaginta secundas. Ministra Negii Sacurazaci Setuna." At that very moment, Setsuna made her move while began to cast another spell on himself.

"Ras Tel Ma Scir Magister Cantus Bellax." And with that said, Negi joined in the fray as a battle mage should.

After making sure that several targets are in a horizontal line, Negi then began chanting one of his strongest spells with a loud voice.

"Ras Tel Ma Scir Magister. Veniant spiritusaeriales fulgurientes, cum fulgrationi flet tempestas austrina. Jovis Tempestas Fulguriens." After those words came, a large bolt of lighting struck away several of the beasts.

And meanwhile Setsuna, after blocking several hits, countered with a strong move.

"Shimenryu, zan gan ken." Immediately a blast of ki flew out from her sword and cut several beasts into two.

The battle continued, but the mage and his partner was simply too far outnumberd and was forced into a corner.

"What do we do now?" Setsuna asked, panting as she tried her best to keep her breath even.

"I guess we can only run for it." Negi replied as he slowly calmed his breath, however, the number of enemies only increased.

"On the count to three, run." Setsuna said as she eye signaled Negi and as a response, Negi nodded.

"One."

"Two."

Then it came. "Three."

Both of them then dashed forward in their attempt to make it across the bridge and deep into the jungle to shake these creatures off their back.

Just seconds before they made it across the bridge, one of the beasts lunges forward, hitting hard into Setsuna's back, causing her to loose balance and fall off the bridge.

Negi cried out her name as he saw all of this happen, and without any second thoughts, he quickly jumped off the bridge to catch her with his staff in hand.

"Setsuna." Negi cried out as he stretched his hand to reach out for hers.

Just as all this happened, Setsuna could see in his eyes, that he truly cared for her.

She wished that time would just stop there, but furthermore, she was deeply worried for him to put himself in such a dangerous position for her sake. So she called out for him to stop and she closed her own eyes to resigned herself to face her own fate.

And though Negi disregarded Setsuna's request to abandon, knew that he would make it in time to Setsuna with things as it was; however, an idea quickly came into mind.

"Ras Tel Ma Scir Magister. Deflexio." That spell came out as fast as Negi could speak .

So instead of plunging right into the waters, a wind shield formed on the water surface bumping Setsuna up giving Negi the extra few seconds he needed to catch her.

Not knowing what happened around her with her vision shut down, the impact she expected never came but instead what she felt was the warmth of Negi's arms.

"Mea virga." That was the first sound she heard before opening her eyes.

"Thank goodness, Setsuna-san that you are safe." Negi said as they floated in mid air on top of the water while they slowly flew down the river.

Setsuna then closed her eyes and fell into deep slumber as she remained in Negi's arms while they slowly flew towards somewhere, somewhere they could finally rest.

1st Edit: 02/09/2011

This chapter took me so long to finish, I even have to use a Latin dictionary to help me on this one. Of course later on, I found a site that has Latin terms in Negima. This chapter took around three hours to finish as I have to type out the Latin phrase for the spells and using the temporary contract. Anyway, I hope you have all enjoyed. Please also read and review not just this story, but my other stories as well. Also, advices are welcome as I want to know how to make this story and my other stories better. Thanks for all of you.