Essay, Chapter Two.

Negi glanced over Nodoka's, and was glad to see that although her main dominant feeling was uncertainty, and hesitation in the face of men, and many other obstacles, she was also slowly starting to experience confidence, and was becoming more and more aggressive, more able to stake a claim to what was hers, so to speak. Negi smiled, and was glad that she was coming along and overcoming her difficulties.

Negi looked over Makie's, Asakura's, the twins' papers, and everyone else in the class, and he had comments and constructive critisizm for all, but they all did extremely well. After all, it wasn't just a paper to find out about their feelings, it was giving them a chance to write in english, and improve their english sentence structure. That was the real purpose of the assignment. Negi once again picked up Konoka's paper, and reread it, seeing if there was anything else he had missed. It didn't appear so, and the comment he had included was accurate.

Negi set aside Konoka's paper, and looked at the one underneath it. It was Setsuna's, and that made sense, for he had watched Konoka and Setsuna walk up together, to pass in their papers, although Konoka wasn't letting Setsuna see what hers said. The reason why was now all too obvious, he thought.

Negi started reading it, curious to see what kind of emotions an expert swordswoman felt day to day. What was written contrasted sharply with his expectations, and was something he had not forseen.

Every day I feel immense, overwhelming fear. Despite being a graduate of the Shinmei School, I cannot help but fear, for I wonder every day if my skills are enough to protect the one person that means the most to me. It isn't overwhelming all the time, but it is always there, whether it be a nagging feeling wondering if my protectee will be attacked between classes, or the slight twinge of fear I feel whenever someone manages to sneak up on us, although it is usually always Ku Fei, or Kaede. I don't mind the fear though, even though it is a feeling I live with every day, and it is expected to wear me out eventually, it only makes me stronger, sharper. I take the fear, and think, what could I do to be less afraid? The answer is always more training, more sharpening of the senses, and this drives me to become better than I am now. Still, the fear never leaves, and I will never want it to, for the day the fear leaves, is the day I've dropped my guard, and it could be the day someone close to me gets hurt, or worse, I embrace the fear, for it is one of the most comforting feelings I've ever felt.

Another major feeling that is always with me is awe. Never have I imagined that I would get the chance to protect someone so important, the one person whose magical powers may dwarf everyone else's. Awe that someone as lowly, as unimportant as myself has been chosen to protect her. Awe is another emotion that I often deal with on a day to day basis, for every day I see the one I've been chosen to protect, and I stare in awe at her beautiful face, her carefree attitude of which I'm so envious, the way she moves, how sweet she is...

Every day I walk hand in hand with fear, and awe, and never have I ever felt bored or tired from those emotions. They linger around me so much, they seem to be a part of me, and I think that I wouldn't be quite the person I am today if I didn't have those two emotions.

Negi-Sensei, I apologize for the short length of this paper, but I'm not quite as adept at writing my feelings as I am at using my sword.

Negi thought about the paper for a minute, and he could see that she deserved an A for effort. However, just as with Konoka's paper, there was only one thing that was bothering him.

Setsuna, He wrote, When you write "Still, the fear never leaves, and I will never want it to...", and you come to the part where you talk about embracing the fear, that feels like a run-on sentence. Try inserting a period where that comma is, and you'll do fine.

A/N: I thought a bit on what two feelings Setsuna could carry with her all the time, and coming up with one of them as fear seemed a bit contrary to her character, but I wanted to portray her as a character who was not only strong enough to admit to being fearful, but resourceful enough to use that fear, instead of being overcome by it. Also, her second feeling just had to be something to do with Konoka, because we all know that's all she ever thinks about...:D Please read and review.