Partner Konoka PG-13
Niklas "Hawk" Jonsson

Summary: What if Konoka got fed up with the recurring marriage meetings and vented about it to her grandfather? What if Negi showed up a little earlier to his teaching assignment? What sort of amusing mishaps might occur then? Well, here's the Hawk-style version of it!

Disclaimer: Mahou Sensei Negima, Mahora Academy and whatnot are not mine, though I certainly wish they were. The story is mine though, all mine.
If the layout looks screwy or symbols seems to be missing, you're probably reading the quickedit-mangled version of this fic on ff dot net, if it grates on your nerves too much, read it on hawksgalaxy dot com or something.

Feedback/Flames: Yes, please. Both of them are equally fun to read, although I must admit that I greatly prefer the first variety. :)
I can be found on ICQ as 21771860, MSN Messenger/E-mail as iamhawk at yahoo dot com, though not very frequently as real life lately interferes with my online existance more then I'd like. More stories are available at my nifty lil' site at hawksgalaxy dot com or by clicking on my handle up above.

"speech"
emphasis/shouts/Kindred Domination/post-hypnotic triggers
/thoughts/
/telepathy/
translation
+soundeffect/radio/telephone conversation/TV+

Previously, on 'Partner Konoka'

"Konoka-chan, could you let Negi-kun stay in your and Asuna-chans room temporarily, until renovations are done in the teachers dorm? Negi could practise on his Japanese while you and Asuna practise on your English."

/No marriage interviews! No marriage interviews! No marriage interviews/ Konoka cheered mentally, before she snapped out of it as she realized that her grandfather had asked her a question. A weird question, granted, but... She looked over at Negi. Teacher or not, he was only a little boy. A cute little boy. If he'd been a grown up, it would have been another matter entirely, but this she could deal with.

"Sure, that's a good idea!" she agreed enthusiastically. "Plus, he's so cute! I don't think Asuna will mind!"

"That's good." the principal said. /Jackpot/ he cheered mentally. Once Negi got to know Konoka, surely he'd get interested and the foundation for a future relationship would have been created. "Well, I was going to have Shizuna-kun show you around the academy, Negi-kun. But... Konoka-chan, can you show Negi around the campus instead?"

"Sure, grandpa!" Konoka agreed cheerfully, still on a no-marriage-interview-high, inordinately pleased at not having her last two weeks of vacation ruined by a series of marriage interviews.

"Oh, Negi-kun. Here's the class rooster. Study it well before school starts. Takahata-kun left some notes for you in it, I think." the principal added and handed Negi a thin leather-bound book.

"Oh, thank you, principal!" Negi gushed as he accepted the book.

"It was nothing. My door is always open if you want anything. Shizuna-kun can also answer any questions you might have about the school and your students. Good luck, Negi-kun." the principal finished.

"Thank you, principal. I'll work hard, I promise!" Negi swore, then followed Konoka out of the room.

Roll credits

Chapter Two:

"Are you sure that it's okay for me to enter here, Konoka-san?" Negi asked nervously as he shifted from foot to foot in the doorway leading into the girl dorms.

"Grandfather said it was, so I imagine that it is. You are a teacher after all, Negi-sensei." Konoka responded after a few moments, though she had to admit that she hadn't really paid that much attention at all to what had been said as she was still on an emotional high after having been told that all marriage meetings were off while she functioned as Negi's guide. And once that was over, the normal school year would begin, significantly lessening the time her grandfather could devote to arranging these silly nonsensical things.

Of course, the glass of wine she had been allowed during dinner hadn't exactly done much to assist her mental clarity either. Especially not since she had managed to get it refilled without anyone noticing it, figuring that she would be going to need it to get through the day. /Really, setting me up with an old man. What was grandfather thinking/ she mentally fumed.

"O-okay." Negi responded and took a deep breath, then he crossed the doorway and followed Konoka around as she showed him the dorm. "It seems quiet." he remarked after a couple of minutes.

"Not many students beside me and Asuna are here yet." Konoka replied. "School is still two weeks off after all."

"I see." Negi replied and frowned. /So how come there weren't any free rooms/ he wondered, but shrugged it off. Perhaps they had all been assigned and students had started to move in already. After all, Konoka was here, wasn't she?

"Well, here we are." Konoka announced and unlocked a door, holding the door open for Negi who slowly walked into the room and looked around. "Asuna?" she called out, but got no response. "I guess she's still out." Konoka stated.

"Who's Asuna, Konoka-san?" Negi asked.

"My best friend. We're roommates." Konoka replied after a few moments, suppressing what felt like a stab in her heart as she considered Setsuna, her former best friend, and how distant she was these days. She had been thrilled when Setsuna had come here, but it seemed as if Setsuna had some sort of grudge against her now, barely speaking to her.

"That must be great!" Negi enthused, thinking about how great it would be to have one of his friends with him. Coming to a new country and leaving all that he knew behind was a huge step. He couldn't imagine what had gone through the mind of the ones who had given him this assignment, sending somebody not even in their teens abroad like this! On the other hand, it was a tremendous opportunity and if he did well on this assignment, surely whatever came next would be a piece of cake! "Living with your best friend and all." Negi continued happily, wondering what it would be like if Anya and Nekane had been able to come with him to Japan.

As it was, he'd barely had time to say goodbye to them. But in the end, he decided that getting some experience with living in Japan before starting to teach was more important for his chances of success then lazing about back home.

"Yes, it's great." Konoka agreed.

"Are you sure that she won't mind me staying here?" Negi asked.

"Why would she? You're so cute!" Konoka asked and pulled Negi into a friendly hug, before she wrinkled her nose and jerked away, holding him at arms length. "Eh, Negi-sensei... How long has it been since you last had a bath?" she asked as Negi shrunk under her scrutiny.

"Uh... I was travelling all of yesterday, packing all of the day before that... Uhm... Three days?" he hesitantly offered.

"Well, then I'm showing you the baths next!" Konoka announced and let go of his shoulders. "Get your toiletries, Negi-sensei." she requested as she rummaged around the room for her own.

"Ah perhaps I should..." Negi hesitantly started to protest. He really disliked baths, but didn't quite know how to put it without coming off like a dirty slob, which didn't at all fit with his perception of himself as a proper English gentleman.

"Come on, Negi-sensei!" Konoka interrupted him, staring demandingly at him with a small basket filled to the brim with various hygiene products in her arms. Negi hesitated for a few moments, then shrugged and opened his backpack, bringing out a bottle of shower cream and a bottle of shampoo, which was the extent of his supplies for such an endeavour.

He reluctantly followed Konoka through the building and the two of them soon found themselves standing in front of a large ornate door with kanji on it. 'Grand' was all he managed to understand, as he had yet to master the complex inner workings of written Japanese.

He had no problems whatsoever understanding the female figurine on the door however.

Konoka opened the door and stopped as she noted that he wasn't following her.

"Hm? Come on, Negi-sensei." she urged him on, holding the door open for him.

"Uh, where's the gents?" Negi inquired.

"This is an all-female school, silly. There isn't one." Konoka chuckled and beckoned for him to follow her.

"Ah... ... I'll just wait until you are done, then." Negi declared, then gasped as Konoka went back, grabbed his right arm and pulled him with her into the changing room. "Hey! Wait! Konoka-san!" he protested.

"Don't be silly, Negi-sensei. I don't mind." Konoka assured him as she dragged him along, the door closing behind them with a particularly ominous sound that caused a cold shiver to run down Negi's spine.

"But... But... But..." Negi stuttered.

This was completely unacceptable! He was a proper English gentleman! Granted, he didn't quite know what that entailed, but entering a female locker room surely wasn't part of that, was it? He knew that Nekane had planned on letting him know all of these things before he went, but after he decided to leave early, there just hadn't been enough time for that.

Then again...

He had taken baths with Nekane and Anya before, hadn't he? In fact, all his baths had been taken in the company of others. Usually after they had forced him to bathe, as he usually just took a quick shower instead of a bath. His forehead scrounged up for a few moments. /That's right. I have bathed with Nekane and Anya. Since Nekane never has said anything, indeed, even forced me to do so, it must be okay./ he reasoned as Konoka pulled him over to a bench and forced him to sit down on it.

She walked over to a pile of towels and grabbed four of them, handing him two with a friendly smile.

"There you go. Get ready, Negi-sensei." she instructed him and walked to the other side of a row of metal lockers, from where he soon heard the rustling of clothes being removed.

He hesitated for a few moments, but started removing his clothes with a faint sigh. It appeared as if there was no getting out of this and Negi soon found himself naked, wrapping one of the towels around his waist. He hadn't brought any swim trunks, figuring that he could always buy things like that here in Japan rather then bring some old ones with him, so he had to go commando.

"Are you ready, Negi-sensei?" Konoka asked him from the other side of the lockers.

"Yes, Konoka-san." he called back and moments later, she walked around to join him, a towel wrapped around her body and the other held loosely in her left hand.

"Great! Let's go then, Negi-sensei." she responded and her right hand darted out to clasp his own, pulling him with her out of the changing room and into the most impressive baths Negi had ever seen. His eyes bulged as he looked around the immense room. There were eight large pools of varying sizes, trees had been planted indoors and Negi found himself stunned speechless. "This is the Grand Bathhouse of our dorm. It can accommodate over a hundred people at the same time." Konoka cheerfully explained.

"Wow..." Negi breathed, staring out over the incredible sight in astonished silence for a full minute before he was pulled from his silent observations.

"Well, come on. Time to get clean!" Konoka enthused and Negi turned around in the direction of her voice, only to choke at the sight that greeted him. Konoka was seated on a simple pail, the towel resting on a bench next to her as she upended a bucket of water over her naked body.

"Gck!" Negi coughed and instantly turned around, his cheeks furiously red.

"Negi-sensei. Don't make me come over there..." Konoka told him after fifteen seconds of silence.

"But... Bu-b-bu-but you're naked!" he stuttered.

"Wha... Oh. ... Oh! How precocious!" Konoka exclaimed with a wide grin. "Already noticing girls, Negi-sensei?" she asked.

"No! Not at all!" Negi insisted, still facing the other direction.

"Really?" Konoka asked.

"Really! I'm an English gentleman after all." Negi assured her.

"Great. Then it's not a problem. Come on then." Konoka continued, chuckling under her breath as Negi gulped, realizing that he couldn't go back on his words now without letting on that he had noticed her. He slowly turned around and walked over to a second pail, his left eye closed so that he couldn't see Konoka as he did so. He seated himself and hastily yanked the towel off, then upended a bucket of his own over his body, before he hastily started scrubbing himself off.

"Need any help, Negi-sensei?" Konoka asked.

"No need!" Negi hastily assured her, emptying nearly half the bottle of shampoo into his hair due to his nervousness. He was so nervous that he didn't even take note of the fact that he shampooed his own hair without hesitation, due to being so distracted from what he was doing.

"Okay. Let me know if you change your mind." Konoka told him, before she started washing her own hair, humming softly to herself.

Negi didn't respond to that, instead focusing fully on washing every single inch of his body in a desperate attempt to distract himself from the fact that there was a naked girl behind him. He didn't need Nekane to tell him that it wasn't okay for him to ogle naked girls. He and Nekane had taken baths together many times, but only rarely were either one of them naked at the time. He usually wore swimming trunks and Nekane usually had a swimming suit or at the very least a bikini on. It had been years since the two of them last bathed naked together.

"Could you give me a hand with my back, Negi-sensei?" Konoka asked after nearly ten minutes, Negi now being more clean then he could ever recall being, never having washed himself this thoroughly before.

"What!" he exclaimed in shock.

"Could you give me a hand and wash my back, Negi-sensei?" Konoka asked.

"T-t-t-t-t-th-th-t-that's..." Negi stuttered in abject horror.

"What's gotten you all high-strung, Negi-sensei?" Konoka asked, turning around to observe the back of the now madly stuttering young teacher.

"Y-y-y-yo-you're naked. It's not proper." he managed to get out. "I shouldn't be looking at naked girls. I'm sure my sister wouldn't approve!" he continued.

"It's okay if the girl agrees to it, Negi-sensei." Konoka sighed.

"What?" Negi asked, blinking in surprise.

"I don't mind, Negi-sensei. Besides, I do need a hand, I can't clean my own back properly." Konoka answered.

"But... I'm a gentleman, an English gentleman... Looking at girls is bad!" Negi protested weakly.

"You're cute, Negi-sensei." Konoka announced with a gentle chuckle. "It's bad if you do it without the girl knowing, or if she says no and you still do it." she explained. "But I don't mind and I do need your help. Should an English gentleman really refuse to help a damsel in distress?"

"Uh..." Negi started but trailed off. What she said did make a lot of sense. A proper gentleman should never refuse to assist a girl in need and if she truly didn't mind it, then perhaps looking wasn't as bad as he'd first thought. But he still hesitated and wished that he could have Nekane's advice right now. Heck, he'd even settle for Anya's advice although she would no doubt accompany the advice with teasing about being foolish. "Are you sure that it's all right?" he finally asked.

"I'm sure, Negi-sensei." Konoka insisted.

"Well... Okay." he replied and upended a second bucket over himself, washing the suds off his body and out of his hair, before he moved over, seating himself behind Konoka. "Uh... What should I do?" he asked, unsure of how to proceed. His baths with Nekane hadn't included washing her, they'd always washed themselves. At least as far back as he could recall.

"Put some of this on one of the washcloths and rub it over my back." Konoka instructed and handled him a bright yellow bottle and pointed at some washcloths to the left of her pail.

"All right." Negi agreed and did as he was told. "Your English is really good, Konoka-san." he complimented her after a minute of silence. "You speak it like a native."

"Thanks. My father always insisted on having me learn foreign languages as I grew up." she explained and shook her head. "English, Latin, French and I even know a bit of German."

"Latin?" Negi exclaimed in surprise.

"Yeah. Like I'll ever have a use for that!" Konoka snorted.

"'Amicitiae nostrae memoriam spero sempiternam fore.'" Negi quoted with a faint smile on his lips.

"'I hope that the memory of our friendship will be everlasting.'" Konoka translated. "You know Latin, Negi-sensei?"

"A little bit." he admitted. He still had a lot of studying left to do, but as so much of western magic was based on Latin, it was unavoidable to become at least somewhat proficient in it. But he certainly hadn't expected one of his students to know any Latin. Just about the only ones to study Latin before university, were Magi. He wondered if perhaps Konoka was magical, before he shook it off as mere coincidence, chalking it up to having a weird father.

"You're an odd one, Negi-sensei." Konoka informed him. "I still can't get around the fact that you've graduated." she added with a bemused shake of her head.

"All done, Konoka-san." Negi finally responded, putting the washcloth down.

"Great. Thanks, Negi-sensei." Konoka told him as he moved away, wrapping the towel around his waist again as Konoka upended a bucket of water over herself.

All in all, it hadn't been as bad as he'd first thought. This was more like having a shower then taking a bath. He could get used to this.

"Coming, Negi-sensei?" Konoka asked and Negi was about to move off towards the changing rooms, before he realized that he could hear Konoka walk away both from him and the changing rooms he was walking towards. He turned around and blinked as he saw her walk towards the largest of the pools, carrying both the towels in her hands, uncaring of her nudity.

"Huh!" he grunted stupidly.

"Come on. We haven't bathed yet." Konoka told him and put the towels down, before she slid down into the water. Negi sighed and rubbed the back of his head, before he shuffled over towards the large pool. He looked distastefully at the water for a few moments, before he reluctantly followed Konoka's example and dropped the towel, then jumped into the water.

He was pleasantly surprised to find that the water was warm. He wasn't used to pools this large being heated to this degree, but although he found it odd to begin with, the sensation quickly grew on him. This was much better then the baths back home, he rapidly decided.

The two of them soaked for nearly half an hour, talking about this and that, switching between English and Japanese to give Negi an opportunity to practise his Japanese, seeing as how Konoka obviously didn't need much practise with her English, which was truly excellent considering her age.

After they were finished, the two of them walked outside for a brief stroll and to cool down a bit after the hot bath, before they made their way back to Konoka's room.

"Oh. Shh, Asuna is asleep." Konoka quietly announced as she opened the door and was greeted with darkness, as well as the soft sounds of Asuna breathing in her sleep.

"Already?" Negi whispered, glancing down at his wristwatch.

"Asuna delivers papers in the mornings, so she usually goes to bed early." Konoka replied and turned the lights on, which caused Negi's eyes to widen. "Oh, don't worry. She's quite the heavy sleeper. As long as we keep the volume down, she'll keep on sleeping." she explained and put the toiletries away, before she glanced around the room, surveying the domain with critical eyes.

"We can put a bed for you over there tomorrow." she decided out loud, regretting the loss of extra living space they had enjoyed. Since it was only she and Asuna who lived here, they had moved the third bed out to get a bit of extra space in their room. She then looked around again, assessing the situation. "But for tonight, I guess the couch will have to do. Is that okay, Negi-sensei?" she asked.

"Sure. Don't worry about me, Konoka-san." Negi replied. "The couch will be just fine." he assured her.

Though we all know the probability of Negi remaining on the couch all through the night, don't we?

The End! ( For now... )