Disclaimer:The following story is a fan made work of fiction. Fairy Tail and Mahou Sensei Negima!are owned and written by Hiro Mashima and Ken Akamatsu respectively. Please support their official releases.
Chapter 4
Everything is Under Control
The next day Asuna hummed happily to herself as she wandered. The halls of Konoka's family mansion were wide and open, and it was beautiful morning.
Shortly after the unnerving fight with the demons and meeting the naked pinkette fire mage, Asuna and Setsuna had been summoned by Negi to the great Altar upon which Konoka had been bound by the boy's enemy, the enigmatic Fate. The two ministra, a title which Negi had said was given to those who served as a mage's partners, joined with him to engage Fate and the villain's partner in crime, an Eastern style sorceress named Chigusa.
That fight had gone so much better than the one Asuna and Setsuna had waged against the demons. Negi had managed to trap Fate with a spell of binding while Asuna banished Chigusa's spirit summons, leaving the way open for Setsuna to save their friend from being drained by Fate's spell.
The black-haired swordswoman had revealed her demonic heritage to a shocked Negi and Asuna when Setsuna used her wings to swoop in and grab Konoka as she floated in midair. The black-haired girl had looked as beautiful as an angel to Asuna, and the image had just felt right to her. As though she and Negi were only supporting characters in a story that starred Setsuna and Konoka as a knight and her princess.
Unfortunately, it was then that things had taken a turn for the worse.
As Setsuna flew off with Konoka Asuna and Negi were battling a freed Fate as a giant demon awoke from its slumber beside them. The demon was the crux of Fate's mysterious plan, and its freedom was what the white-haired boy had sought all along. Sealing the beast had taken both Negi's father, the Thousand Master, and Konoka's own father, Eishun Konoe, working together while at the height of their powers.
With just Asuna and Negi around, and distracted by fighting a determined Fate, things had started to look bad for them. The emo looking villain had had them on the ropes as he taunted them over their helplessness. But then an evil greater than either Fate or the sealed demon made its appearance and changed the flow of battle once again.
The Dark Evangel, Evangeline A.K. McDowell, a High Day Walker vampire and another one of Negi's students, appeared from Fate's shadow and blew him away in one blow. Then with the aid of her robot servant Chachamaru, Evangeline had proceeded to annihilate the awakening demon in one massive blast. The vampire's overwhelming power had annihilated the being in an instant and brought the night's battle to a close.
Seeing that the tables had been turned and his plan had failed, Fate launched one futile attack against the vampire before finally running away. It was clear to the orange-haired girl that she and Negi had not seen the last of him, and this worried her. After all, someone with the power to land an attack on Evangeline and escape with his life intact had taken an interest in her and Negi. That could only bode ill for the future.
But those were thoughts for another day. Today was made for Asuna to enjoy with Negi and the rest of class 3-A as they enjoyed the end of their trip to Kyoto.
As Asuna skipped out of the hallway and into an open-air section of the mansion she couldn't help but laugh as she stared into the brightly lit forest. She had defied demons, escaped a pink-haired pervert, fought a sorceress bent on revenge, rescued a damsel in distress and defied a being of frightening power straight to his face.
All things considered that had to be considered a rousing success. She was still alive, her friends were still alive, and she believed that the future would be bright.
The young girl raised her voice higher as she dashed out to do cartwheels on the well-kept grass. It was a glorious day and she was going to celebrate, decorum be damned!
The young girl whirled and twirled along the grass as she basked in the simple joy of being alive. Demons, creepy children, and a perverted idiot had tried their best to end her life, but she was still here.
Eventually, a rumbling noise from her stomach reminded her why she had been skipping through the hallways in the first place. Konoka's father had said that breakfast would be available early in the morning and had asked that Asuna and the others be present so as to be celebrated. Never one to turn down free food, especially if it was anything like Konoka's cooking, Asuna had promised that she would attend.
With the delicious smell of breakfast on the air, Asuna's body was doing its best to remind her of its current state.
"I can sing and cartwheel another time," Asuna said to herself as she passed some neatly trimmed hedges on her way back to the mansion. "Now it's time for food. Mm... food." Asuna giggled in delight, the twin bells in her hair jingling as she bounced up and down in excitement.
Before she could put on the jets and run off towards the dining area, though, a dark skinned hand appeared from behind a nearby hedge and waved at her. Wondering who it was and why they were trying to delay her from getting some delicious food, Asuna walked over to investigate.
Popping her head over the hedge's side, Asuna saw Ku Fei sitting cross-legged on a comfortable looking blanket. The blonde Chinese girl was digging into a plate of meaty stew, the smell of which made Asuna's mouth water. It was definitely the smell that was filling the air, and at that moment Asuna wanted nothing more than to eat it.
Ku Fei pointed to a nearby pot and gestured for Asuna to join her. "It's not Chao-Bao-Zi-aru, but Mana's cooking is really good," the lean martial artist said in accented Japanese, "You should try some meat-aru. It's delicious and good for the body too!"
Asuna smiled as she twisted her head and looked around. She did not see anyone looking.
With a quick jump, Asuna bounded over the hedge and landed next to her classmate. "Thanks Ku Fei! I was really starting to get hungry," Asuna said as she grabbed an empty bowl and filled it with stew.
This could serve as an appetizer to her meal with Konoka's dad, and she had questions that she wanted to ask the other girl. With a cry of, "Itadakimasu," the orange-haired girl dug in to the stew.
As Asuna ate, Ku sipped from a cup filled with water from a nearby thermos. Birds were chirping in nearby tree, and the already beautiful day just seemed to get better as they talked and visited with one another.
Asuna found herself thinking that Ku Fei made for surprisingly fun company as they ate. The two girls generally associated with one another only when both attended after school make up sessions. It was good to get to know her in a different setting.
As they ate, Asuna tried to ask what had brought the other girl into the woods last night, but could only blink in confusion at the response. For the moment Asuna had finished asking her question Ku Fei began blabbering on about powerful enemies and destined meetings between foes.
It had sounded like something one might encounter in an old martial arts movie, but from the look on the other girl's face Asuna could tell that that Ku Fei was utterly serious. Asuna had tried to rephrase her question, but when Ku Fei repeated the exact same thing she had said before, only in even greater detail, Asuna gave up and asked if the person who had been with Ku Fei in the woods last night had been Mana. If so, then maybe the other girl could answer Asuna's questions instead.
The beautiful, dark skinned woman was a complete enigma to her, and Asuna found herself thinking about what other sorts of skills she might be hiding. Asuna had never expected either Mana or Ku Fei to know about magic.
Ku Fei had answered yes, but had then clammed up tightly. Supposedly anything to with Mana and magic was the other girl's personal business and could only be answered by her.
As she waited for Mana to return, Asuna tried to keep the conversation going between her and Ku Fei.
"Thanks for the meal, Ku Fei. That was delicious!" She clapped her hands together to underscore her words. "What was it made with? I don't think that I've ever tasted something like it."
Ku gave a slight shrug. "Nothing special went into it-aru, except for the meat. Mana and I gathered the ingredients last night as we hunted the destined foe that attacked her. We were really lucky-aru! This is a once in a lifetime meal here in Japan. You see, special meat make all the difference-aru."
Asuna sat still as she processed Ku's words. Some of it had actually started to make sense to her. By destined foe, did she mean the pink-haired pervert who had jumped into the bushes last night?
Then a terrifying thought occurred to Asuna as Ku Fei's words penetrated, prompting a quick gag.
"Ku Fei," Asuna squeaked out as she started to choke. "That destined foe you just mentioned. Are you telling me that this came from a hu-, I mean to say, a hum-, a hu-human being? Did you and Mana skin him alive and cook his remains?"
Asuna looked at her hands as a wave of nausea rose within her belly. She could feel a wail of horror begin to build in her chest at the thought of what she had just done. "Oh God, I just became a cannibal didn't I? Didn't I? Noooo! I'm not ready for prison life! I'm too young to go to jail, and even if he was a pervert, he didn't deserve to be eaten. How could you do this to me Ku Fei? How could you!"
"Eh, ah, Asuna, I don't think -"
"No! No you didn't think did you? That was illegal, and we're all going to pay for it."
"No-aru, that's not what-"
"Oh God. What's Negi going to think of this. It could cause him to go down an even worse path than that pink-haired pervert did. Or Takahata-sensei. Oh dear God in Heaven, Takahata-sensei is going to hate me when he finds out about this."
"Asuna!"
Ku Fei's yell snapped Asuna out of her sobs. She directed a teary glare at the girl's perplexed face. "What, Ku Fei? What now? What else have you and Mana done that will ruin my life and cause Takahata-sensei to abandon me?"
"It's just, do you mean that guy over there?" The Chinese girl finally said as she pointed to a hedge nearby. "He's fine-aru. Just beat up and unconscious."
Asuna stopped sobbing long enough to take a look in the direction Ku Fei was pointing. Hoping beyond hope that the other girl was telling the truth and that she had not just fed Asuna stew made from a human's body, Asuna poke her head over the hedge. She quickly gave a gasp of relief.
Unconscious and hanging by his wrists and ankles from a rather thick pole was the pink-haired man from the night before. No longer naked, he was now wrapped in a bearskin robe, a multitude of bandages, and that ridiculous white scarf around his neck.
Asuna felt sweet relief sweep across her.
"The bear he killed was delicious wasn't it-aru." Ku Fei said as she moved around the hedge to stand beside the man. "Mana and I were happy to run across both of them at once-aru. We were able to kill two birds with one stone by knocking him out and taking the bear for food."
Asuna's tears turned to joy as she continued to sob. "Oh thank you Ku Fei. Thank you! Yes! Praise be to Takahata. Our marriage is saved!"
She then flung herself onto her Chinese classmate, scattering bowls and cutlery everywhere in her haste. "I'm so sorry for ever doubting you Ku Fei. You are a wonderful person and a great classmate. I'm so happy that I could almost kiss you right now!"
"Um, okay-aru. Ku Fei is... happy that you are happy-aru." Ku Fei said as she awkwardly patted Asuna's back with a confused look on her face. "It is no problem, but I am okay not kissing-aru. I like strong boys with muscles. Not soft girls."
Asuna laughed at that and nodded her head. "Me too Ku Fei. But just remember that Takahata-sensei is mine, okay?"
"That's fine-aru. I like better muscles than Takahata-sensei has."
"Hold on there Ku Fei. Are you saying that Takahata-sensei looks bad?"
"No! Not that-aru. I like men like Bruce Lee, or Shio Sasaki, or Apachai Hopachai. Just that."
"Good! Because Takahata-sensei is the greatest!"
"Eh heh heh, sure-aru."
Some time later after Asuna had calmed down and made sure that Ku Fei was in fact not interested in competing with Asuna for their former teacher's affection, Asuna went over to study the pink-haired man more closely.
"So, Ku Fei. Do you or Tatsumiya-san have any idea what this guy was doing out in the woods last night?"
Ku Fei shook her head. "He didn't speak Japanese-aru. Mana and I tried a bunch of other languages too, but he didn't seem to know any of them either-aru."
The Chinese martial artist took a drink from a cup of water which sat beside her before continuing. "Mana was hoping to speak with Negi-bouzu about a spell of translation, but left to take a business call before she could-aru. I think."
Asuna nodded. That made sense to her. She wasn't a mage or anything, nor did she really know much about it, but with Negi being a genius magician and all there was definite chance he might be able to do something about it.
But wait, how did Mana know that Negi might be able to do something like that. Did they know that he was a mage? As far as Asuna knew the two girls had only seen Asuna and Setsuna.
Suddenly worried on behalf of her tiny teacher, Asuna gave voice to her questions and pinned her classmate with a hard stare. If demons and creepy children couldn't stop her from protecting the boy then she could certainly protect him from the likes of her various classmates.
Ku Fei merely smiled. "I'm only a newcomer myself, but Mana is a famous magical mercenary who has traveled the globe-aru. She's really strong, and I think that she has teamed up with Setsuna and the others in the past to do magic jobs too-aru." Ku Fei then shrugged. "If you want to know more-aru, you have to ask Mana yourself. Like I said before-aru, everyone has secrets. I am an honorable keeper of what I am told."
Asuna sighed and looked at the hog-tied pinkette in annoyance at Ku Fei's repeated refusal to answer any questions about Mana. Maybe she was starting to become used to all of the insanity. Learning that one of her classmates was a world-famous mercenary should have surprised her, but it had not. When you found out that your teacher was a child magician, one classmate was a centuries old vampire and another was an honest to goodness robot, a mercenary seemed rather tame in comparison.
For all she knew, one of her other classmates could turn out to be a time-traveler sent from the future to destroy the world. That, or they had been sent back in time to ensure that Negi survived to carry out some holy plan to save the world. One option was as plausible as the other, but neither one had any bearing on her current situation.
Which brought her back to the pink-haired target of her initial train of thought. The strange man was not known to either Setsuna or Mana, both of whom seemed to have sources of magical information that Negi did not, yet the odd pervert had clearly used magic to kill the horde of demons. Powerful magic. More powerful than anything she had seen Negi use outside of his final clash with Eva.
Asuna gave a tiny harrumph. With him being unable to communicate, that meant she would have to find that annoying teacher of hers before Eva kidnapped him for the day like the vampire had been threatening to do ever since she had saved them from Fate. Asuna would probably have to try explaining Ku Fei and Mana's situation to both of them while she was at it. All of which would be very annoying.
Still, curiosity eventually beat out the possible annoyance of having to deal with an irate Evangeline. And she did owe the stranger for helping her and Setsuna.
"I'll be back with Negi in a minute, Ku Fei," Asuna said as she stood up. "Just keep that guy here until we get back. 'Kay?"
Ku Fei acknowledged Asuna's words and waved as the other girl departed. "I'll be right here-aru. No prisoner has ever escaped from me."
The man gave out a groan as his eyes started to flutter open. Then Ku Fei stabbed her fingers onto some kind of pressure point by his neck. The man slumped back and started to snore. "See-aru? Everything is under control."
It took Asuna almost no time to locate Negi. But it did take quite some time time to explain the situation and pry him away from Eva's demented clutches. The small vampire was in a rather animated mood. Probably due to it being the first time in a decade that she was able to freely move around, and she did not appreciate Asuna ruining her plans to torment the young boy teacher.
Even after hearing the story of his sudden appearance during the battle and apparent power, the vampire had declared that naked pink-haired men had little interest for her regardless of their strength. She had refused to budge no matter what Asuna offered and things had started to turn into an argument between the two girls.
Thankfully, Negi had been impressed enough by both Asuna's description of the man's magical abilities and her threats of bodily harm if Negi didn't help her that he too wanted to see the man. Eva had sulked and yelled and thrown a tantrum no self-respecting vampire should ever throw, but eventually gave in. On the condition that Negi accompany her throughout the city immediately afterwards and serve as her minion until she left.
Finally having calmed the irate vampire, Asuna and the rest made their way back to Ku Fei. Along the way back the group had also picked up Setsuna and Konoka. The black-haired swordswoman had been attempting to run away from everyone over some silly reason, and might have made it away if not for Asuna and Negi throwing themselves onto her and stopping her long enough to Konoka to pile on top and send them tumbling to the ground.
Asuna had yelled, Negi and Konoka had cried, while Setsuna tried to argue with Asuna before joining in on the crying. All while Eva had hid her face behind her hands and muttered about the stupidity of children.
In short order the five of them, Ku Fei, a returned Mana, and Chachamaru were standing in front of the still unconscious pink-haired man. Mana had returned while they were gone, and Chachamaru had appeared out of thin air at Eva's side the moment the group had stepped out of the mansion.
Asuna had been slightly alarmed by her sudden appearance, but it seemed that the girl was still as docile as ever. Chachamaru had not been an opponent since the midnight fight with Eva and had displayed nothing but good behavior since.
The group stood for a short time as everyone waited for someone else to start the conversation. After all, while everyone present had some connection to magic and to each other only Mana and Setsuna seemed to have known about the other's identity as fellow magic users. The air started to get awkward as they waited for someone to break the ice.
It was Negi who went first. The young boy's face was set in a serious expression as he spoke.
"I don't know how you learned of my secret, Tatsumiya-san, but as your teacher I feel that I have to ask. What did you and Ku Fei-san do to keep this man unconscious for so long? I don't want my students to get in trouble for causing harm to someone who might be an innocent man, but if you did something illegal then it would be best if you told me so that I can help you."
Stepping up beside him, Mana smiled softly. She drew one of her pistols and popped out a shell that she passed to the diminutive teacher. "There is no need to worry, sensei. Most of the wounds you see on his body were not caused by Ku Fei or myself. Since we arrived here Ku Fei and I have been using pressure points to keep him unconscious. Nothing else.
"Wait, most of the wounds were not caused by you? So you did cause some of them?"
Mana nodded her head. "Ku Fei and I came upon him after he had just killed a rather large forest bear. The bear had managed to wound him, and seeing an opening I took advantage of this distraction to shoot him with several high-powered sleeping bullets. Ku Fei also engaged him in hand to hand combat while they took effect and may have gotten somewhat rough with him."
The dark-skinned girl gave a grim smile as she recounted her story. "The man was remarkably durable. Even though he had been injured by the bear, and bore what look to be wounds caused by a Japanese sword of some kind, I still had to hit him with four clips worth of ammunition. It is often harder to take someone alive than it is to take their life, but this man possesses a magic resistance that is far higher than that of the average mage."
She then gave a shrug as her expression faded back to its normal level of clinical dispassion. "As for what will most likely be your next two questions, sensei, please allow me to answer them now. I had surmised your powers due to your last name and place of origin. Everyone in the magical world knows of your father and I am no stranger to its dangers. But," and here Mana gestured to the side, "Ku Fei here is still a newcomer to our world. She had experienced nothing of a magical nature until last night when we both saw you dash through the forest to save our classmate."
Negi blushed crimson as he mumbled something that sounded like an excuse back to the dark-skinned girl. Mana just shook her head and laughed, saying that his determination to save his student reflected well on him as a teacher. The two went back and forth for awhile while Ku Fei chimed in her agreement with Mana's sentiment.
Asuna could only shake her head at the conversation. It seemed that his father's fame kept appearing in unexpected places. Sure, Negi had told her that his dad was famous, but by the way both Eva and Mana spoke it seemed like the guy was a legend.
The kid bowed his head as he replied. "Regardless, I would like to thank you for keeping my secret, Tatsumiya-san. The same to you as well, Ku Fei-san. I promise to extend the same courtesy you have shown me."
Afterward, no one said very much as Negi turned to study the bound man. Asuna had asked Eva if she would be willing to help, but the vampire had only laughed at her and said that such a mediocre activity was beneath her dignity as a vampire.
Grumbling to herself, Asuna ruminated on the differences between mages as Negi puzzled over how to wake Natsu up. Some were perverts while others were stubborn psychopaths. The only sane one of the bunch seemed to be Takamichi, and thank all that was holy that he wasn't like the rest of them. With her current bout of luck it would not have been too far fetched for him to be weirder than the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland.
Once Negi had a good idea of how to wake the sleeping man without harming him, the young boy handed the magic cartridge back to Mana. He then summoned his magic and placed his hand on the sleeping man's head.
The spells within Mana's bullets were quite potent and she had hit the man with quite a few of them. Additionally, whatever Mana and Ku Fei had done to his pressure points was also doing a good job of keeping him asleep and would need to be factored into the spell.
The young mage took a deep breath and reached into the depths of his magic. He shaped and molded it into a powerful spell of wakefulness, tuning it to the energy signature of Mana's bullets. Negi felt Evangeline's eyes on him as he worked, most likely evaluating his skill to deal with this challenge.
He firmed his shoulders. With her eyes on him, Negi would demonstrate just how far he had come.
Negi spoke in a voice that rose as he began to cast his magic. "Ras Tel Ma Scir Magister: Excita!"
With an exclamation at the end, he released the pent up energy and let it flow into the sleeping man before him. The man's eyes began to gently flutter.
A screeching, booming noise split apart through the afternoon air the moment his eyes fully opened.
"Te reinga! He aha te tika tupu? Homai ki ahau toku kakahu kua!" The man on the stake was squawking like a blue jay with its tail feathers on fire. "Hoki puku! Toku ringa. He aha I meatia e koe ki toku ringa? Te mamae te! Kia ahau ki raro, koutou whakatara. Kah!"
Negi covered his ears and fell onto his backside while the girls around him had similar reactions. The man had a pair of lungs that could rival a dragon. How could anyone possibly scream that loud without using magic?
The man probably would have continued yelling if Asuna hadn't walked up to him and slapped him on the head with her pactio generated fan. "Shaddup!"
An expression similar to one on a person feeling their skin brushed with nettles crossed his face and Negi winced in empathy. The sting caused by Asuna's fan was not just physical. It could also interfere with a user's magic for a short time and the feeling it caused was anything but pleasant.
After a short moment of stunned silence the pink-haired man narrowed his eyes and bit out a single word directed at Asuna. Asuna returned the look with interest, waving her fan under the man's nose as she did.
As Negi tried to figure out what he should do, he could feel Eva's gaze burning into his back. More specifically, as he turned his head to look, the ancient vampire seemed to be staring at his neck.
Negi shifted nervously while he drew up the collar of his shirt. It seemed that he had somehow messed up in her eyes. He would need to redeem himself before she jumped him and bit into his neck in front of the others.
As Konoka clung to Setsuna's left arm and hummed happily, seemingly ignorant of everything that was going on, Negi stood up and cast his second spell. "Ras Tel Ma Scir Magister: Omnia Verba Loqui!"
Negi dry washed his hands nervously for a moment as he stepped closer and began to unbind the man's hands
"Hello," he said as he worked the knots carefully. "My name is Negi Springfield, a Magister Magi in-training, and these girls are my students. The ones who found you last night were Tatsumiya Mana-san – she's the tall one with dark skin and guns – and Ku Fei-san – who is the short one with blonde hair."
Negi zapped the bindings holding the man's wrists with a quick spell while continuing his introduction. The knots were proving too tough for his small hands to handle.
"Setsuna-san and Konoka-san are the two dark-haired girls behind me. Beside them are Chachamaru-san – the tall girl with green hair – and Evangeline-San who is, um, uh…" Negi paused as he thought how he could describe the vampire without incurring her wrath. "She's a powerful mage, and much older than she looks. So please be very respectful and do your best not to anger her."
Negi's ever present smile faded as soon as the words left his mouth. The air around him had grown chilled and felt of Eva's magic.
Shoot. He really had somehow managed to annoy her after all.
Hoping that she would eventually stop being angry at him, but having no idea how to fix it, Negi continued to speak.
"Last but not least, the orange-haired girl next to me with bells in her hair is Asuna-san." Negi bowed his head towards the man who was now slowly rubbing his joints with both hands as he sat cross legged on the ground. "I apologize if you were hurt when my students tied you up or when Asuna-san hit you with her fan. They are good students, they really are, but they can all be very excitable at times and Asuna-san is often violent. Please forgive their enthusiasm."
Asuna squawked a denial and made as if to swing her fan at him, but a coughed grunt from the formerly tied up man quickly quieted her down. Negi's partner raised her fan as she refocused her attention on the pink-haired man, clearly preparing herself to spring into action if the situation called for it.
Negi pointed towards the man and asked what everyone present wanted to know. "Now, who are you?"
It didn't take long for him to speak. The man placed one of his hands on his fur clad hip and pointed the other one at his chest, digging his thumb into his chiseled chest as his loud voice rang out.
"My name's Natsu Dragneel and I'm a wizard of Fairy Tail, Fiore's toughest guild," the man declared with a grunt. A proud grunt, if Negi guessed correctly. Then the man's eyes flashed with a spark of magic. "But there's something more important than that. I was separated from my guild mates during a fight and haven't been able to find them. If you've seen any of them then tell me pronto. Or you'll get my fist to your face faster than than you can blink."
Then, without so much as a moment of hesitation, Natsu walked over to Mana placed his face close to hers.
"You!" He said, flushing red as he spoke. "What did my balls do to deserve that kind of punishment huh? That was an accident!"
The young man's hand fell to his groin, rubbing it in phantom pain. His actions drew a flush out of most of the girls watching. Eva's mouth twitched from some sort of emotion that Negi couldn't identify. "And did you really need to shoot me with those sleepy things so much? My head feels like I went on a drinking binge with a pal of mine and tried to match her barrel for barrel."
Natsu then shoved his entire left hand at Ku Fei. "And you! My arm – my entire frickin arm – was bleeding from that damn animal whose fur is hanging on me! Next time, don't bash it like a damn volleyball and hang me up with it. It feels like it's gonna fall off any second now. Gah!"
While Ku Fei merely pointed at herself in confusion while Konoka gasped in shock. Her gasp drew Natsu's attention away from the blonde-haired girl and over to Konoka and Setsuna.
"Ah," he murmured softly. He scratched his left cheek with one finger as the red in his face deepened. "By the way, I'm sorry for being naked when I saved your asses from those demon guys. One of my friends likes doing that sorta thing, but I don't. So, well, sorry 'bout that. Again."
Negi studied his students' reactions. Mana's face could have belonged to that of a poker player while Ku Fei still wore a look of confusion on her face from when Natsu had yelled at her. Meanwhile, Setsuna was blushing again while Asuna seemed to be muttering and gripping her fan tightly. Beside them both, Konoka had one hand covering her mouth as she looked at Natsu with pitying eyes.
Other than Asuna's slowly building temper, which frightened Negi enough that he decided to move away from her, things seemed to be fairly good. Unfortunately they were not, and unfortunately his move away from Asuna had carried him closer to one person who was anything but okay.
"Wahahaha! You mean to say that you met most of these girls, and fought against two of them, all while completely buck-ass naked?"
Eva's voice boomed in Negi's ears, forcing the young boy to once again cover them with his hands. Meanwhile, the undead woman's cheerful smile grew wider at Natsu's shamed nod. The older boy seemed to sniff her, widening his eyes as he did.
"That is – that is just too good to be true! Oh Merciful God in Heaven, strike me down now. For mine ears have been gifted with a perverse knowledge that even you would find enjoyable!" Everyone but Natsu looked up to the sky. Unfortunately, it was a clear day without a cloud in the sky and no bolt of lightning came shooting down to smite the disrespectful vampire.
Eva then collapsed to the ground where she proceeded to roll around in the dirt. "Chachamaru, please, please tell me that you recorded all of that, and that you got everyone's faces too. This is just too priceless to let go. This is stupidity on the level of the Thousand Master himself! Oh, God, yes!"
She got up and, in a move that no one saw coming, hugged a frightened Asuna as literal tear of joy streamed out of her eyes. "Oh, thank you for grabbing Negi and taking us here you poor, stupid girl. Thank you! This is wonderful, just wonderful."
Negi stared in consternation at his vampiric student for a little while longer. Sometimes she was cute and normal. Other times, she scared him to death. But right now she just confused him and he didn't know what to do with her. So he tried the only thing he could think of, which was to try to bring the attention of the conversation back to Natsu while Negi did his best to ignore the now breathless undead mage as she dragged Asuna to the ground and continued to roll in joy.
"So Natsu, where are Fairy Tail and Fiore located?" Negi asked. "I've never heard of either. Are they cities? Or are they a fraternal group of some sort?"
Negi was completely unprepared for what happened next. After he finished speaking, the older boy's head had snapped around to look at the boy teacher so fast that the man gave out a cry of pain.
Negi blinked. "Did I say something wrong?"
With a fierce growl and a wild look in his eyes, Natsu grabbed Negi by both of his shoulders.
"What do you mean you've never heard of Fairy Tail or Fiore? Aren't we in Fiore right now?"
The little mage in Natsu's hands rubbed the bridge of his nose nervously before answering. "I'm sorry Natsu-san, but you're not. We are currently located in Kyoto, a city in Japan."
Natsu just stared at the little kid. It didn't seem like Negi's words had managed to reach him. "Um, you know, it's in Asia which is in the Old World."
Natsu blinked slowly as he tried to process what was going on. Thoughts swirled around his head as he desperately tried to assimilate information. Not Fiore, but the Old World. Some places called Kyoto and Japan. He had never heard of any of them, and as his thoughts began to race Natsu felt a familiar sinking feeling begin to grow in his chest.
"Yo, Negi kid, one more question," Natsu murmured. "What year is it right now?"
The kid's smile, which had faltered when Natsu had grabbed him by his shoulders, returned at Natsu's question. "Why, it's currently the year 2003 A.D."
2003 A.D. A completely different year, with a calendar marker he had never encountered. Oh, shit no.
It had happened again. It had seriously, fucking happened to him again. Again!
Natsu released the kid as soon as the words left the boy's mouth. He sat down with a horrified look on his face and felt the hollow, empty feeling within his stomach begin to grow. Natsu was no genius but even he could see what had happened.
He was no longer in Fiore. No, he was once again in a world that was not his own, only this time he was all alone with no way to get back. It took a lot to make him lose it, but as he contemplated the horror of his current situation, Natsu just couldn't hold in his feelings.
He let lose his frustrations in a glorious eruption of fire which poured out of every pore of his body.
"Ahhh! Dammit Warrod, Zeref! Damn both of your ancient assess straight to hell!"
As flames blasted from his body and into the sky above everyone around him dove for cover. The only exception was the tiny mage who smelled different from everyone else. That one continued to laugh, eventually passing out from lack of oxygen as the others around them hit Natsu with everything they had, forcing Natsu back into the now welcome embrace of unconsciousness.
END
A/N: With the end of this chapter we see the conclusion of the Kyoto arc in Negima, as well as Natsu's acquaintance with Negi and co in a more… normal manner. This was a major transition chapter, which meant summarizing events in Negima that happened off-screen for those of you who haven't read Negima or who haven't read that part in awhile.
Hopefully I was able to do it in a way that did not bore you to death. While an improvement over the old chapter this was not my favorite one to write or edit. It felt like it dragged at times with all of the information I was shoving into it.
For those of you who are curious (and I've gotten a few PMs on this), Negi and Natsu are the two main characters of this story. Erza and Wendy, Eva and Asuna, as well as all of the others seen so far (and more to be introduced later) will help to carry the plot at times, but Negi and Natsu will be the main workhorses.
Both men will also have a harem (and before you ask, Lucy will not be in either harem. Nor will she get together with Gray. I have plans for her… oh yes do I have plans) because it wouldn't be a Negima crossover without them, and everyone who will be involved will be of mature age by the time it happens (because underage fanfiction romance can stick to the HP and Naruto fandoms and stay far, far away from any of my stories). All I can say at this time is thank goodness for timeskips and time dilation devices!
My question for this chapter is what do you all think about my characterizations thus far? Do they feel right? Or do they feel OOC? I'm trying to keep them as close to canon as possible here in the beginning before the changes start piling up later on. I'm a little worried that I tried to hard to force it and changed my natural style in the process.
On to the comments section!
Ku Fei: Negima's lovable, female version of Rock Lee. She won't be a major part of the story but I have plans to have her play a bigger role than she did in Negima canon. She works as a nice counter viewpoint to the more 'intellectual' characters like Negi and Chisame, without the pure chaos that is Natsu.
Mana: What's to say? She's a badass. And one of the few people in Negi's class capable of utterly owning Natsu at this point in the story if she were to get serious (for those who doubt, look up the end of Negima chapters. She could give end of canon FT Natsu a good fight). She follows Theodore Roosevelt's motto of "Speak softly and carry a big stick," something which I find to be refreshing in the shonen world of yelling attacks and constant power leveling.
Recommended Reading: This time I would like to recommend The Spartan Effect by Gatekeeper333. It is a Halo/Mass Effect crossover and is a fic of epic proportions. It stars a post Halo 3 Master Chief and Cortana who are sent to the world of Mass Effect midway through the events of ME2. It is, in my opinion, part of the Gold Standard of how to write a piece of fanfiction. It has romance, incredible character growth, humor, adventure, and everything else that a good story needs (like good grammar and punctuation). I've never seen any other fic come close to juggling so many different characters so well. As of 11/09/2018, the author is on the final mission of ME2 and has been working behind the scenes on their ME3 sequel as well.
Until next time,
Elsil