Diclaimer: I do not own Negima or any of it's characters...

Fang Vice Addiction

Chapter Five: Poking and Prodding

By Traingham

Negi sighed as he rested his chin in his hand before opening wide for Chachazero to deposit another slice of food in his mouth with her scythe and blade. Kotaro was observing enviously from his side while Evangeline ate in silence from the other. Satsuki found it quite cute that the twisted puppet was assisting the young sorcerer but Negi didn't feel all that comfortable with being fed by utensils of death.

'Chachamaru-san has been back there for quite a long time. I wonder if she's okay.' Negi thought as he chewed the food in his mouth.

'Don't worry about that disciple. What goes on in a woman's mind is far too complex for you, whether it be human or android.' Negi flinched when he heard the feminine voice in his head. He turned just as Chachazero was about to offer him another helping of food to see Evangeline staring at him.

"W-was that you?" Negi asked with an unbelieving expression gracing his face but the vampiress simply turned back to her breakfast without offering him an answer to his question.

"Master Negi!" the puppet suddenly called to him. "Aren't you hungry?"

"Yeah...I guess I was just hearing things." Negi replies with a off handed wave. Kotaro turned to his friend with a chuckle and said, "I think Eva is driving you batty Negi." The irony of his comment made the young sorcerer want to roll his eyes.

"...Not exactly that far from the truth."

"Uh, what?" the dog-eared boy asked in confusion.

"Nothing." Negi replied dejectedly.

'I was expecting you to at least attempt to reply telepathically but I guess that's just expecting too much, huh?' the voice rang in his head again. This time Negi was sure it was Evangeline's voice so he looked back at her but this time she didn't bother to face him. The young sorcerer sat there looking at her for a good few minutes before submitting to her wishes.

'Can you hear me now?' Negi asked in his thoughts.

Evangeline couldn't help but smirk...

'You're catching on kid.' she replied.

'I KNEW IT!'

SMACK!

Kotaro leaned away from Negi when the vampiress unexpectedly smacked him across the head for no apparent reason.

"Not so loud, you!" she cried out.

"I-I'm so sorry master!" apologized Negi. Chachazero became alert at that very moment and jumped on Negi's shoulder with her two blades poised to attack.

"Give me the word and I'll lay down the marks master." Chachazero said devilishly. Negi's eyes widened in horror at his familiar's words and Evangeline raised an eyebrow in confusion. The puppet was only Negi's for one night and she was already treating her like a complete stranger.

"Lay down your weapons doll." Evangeline ordered Chachazero but the puppet stayed in position.

"Just stop it Chachazero! I don't need you to hurt anybody!" Negi commanded her. The puppet did as told and sheathed her blades before jumping back down on the counter to keep guard over Negi. "I'm sorry master."

"Save it." said the vampiress as she stared at the puppet. "Be careful with her boy...she really is a hand full."

"I'll try to keep that in mind." He patted Chachazero on the head nervously before hearing Asuna's voice come from behind him.

"Where the heck have you been squirt?" the red-head asked worriedly with Chamo sitting on her shoulder. The ermine spotted Chachazero and greeted her mischievously.

"Hey there Zero!"

"Howdy Albert!" the puppet greeted back in a friendly fashion. For some odd reason Chamo was perhaps the only one who could really connect with her. He got down from Asuna and rushed over to Negi so he could take his place on the sorcerer's head.

"You've been missing all night big brother."

"Actually I sneaked in to the dorm room with Chachazero while everyone was sleeping." Negi replied. Asuna towered over him with her hands on her hips and leaned over to him before retorting, "But we didn't hear you leave this morning either."

"I-I guess Kaede has been teaching me well."

"...Right." Asuna mused, rolling her eyes before swiveling them towards Chachazero. "By the way, what do you mean you sneaked in with Chachazero? What were you doing coming to my dorm with her last night?"

"She's my new familiar." Negi replied before feeling Chamo shudder in surprise. "She's not replacing you Chamo-kun! Just think of her as your new partner." The ermine was delighted to hear this news. He hopped on to the counter to extend a paw out to the puppet and said, "Welcome aboard Zero!"

"Great to be aboard Albert." she replied mischievously. "I'm sure it'll be fun working with ya'."

"Wait, wait, wait...wait a second." Asuna was bordering on hysterical. "That crazy little thing is your new familiar? B-but in order for that to be true then ..." Her eyes wandered over to Evangeline. "She had to give it to you, right?"

"Master did give Chachazero to me." replied Negi with a grin.

"Why?"

"Why does it matter to you so much?" Evangeline asked Asuna with one eye closed. "You shouldn't worry so much about what goes on between me and my disciple. That is our business alone...besides..." the vampiress grinned. "I always thought you wanted him out of your hair. Why worry about the affairs of a trouble maker?"

"Look here Eva. I don't care about what you are so don't think you can intimidate me."

"Is that a threat coming from you girl? You aren't worth my time." Evangeline watched as Asuna slipped out her card and smirked. "You're gonna whack me with that fan of yours or what?" Negi stood up and got between both girls to break them up.

"You can't be using magic on campus so freely!" Negi cried out. Kotaro frowned at the sudden hiatus of the argument and booed.

"Come on Negi! I wanna see a fight!" he complained before feeling a cold blade tip at his neck. He slowly looked over to the side and found Chachazero poking him with her blade while Chamo stood behind her sweat dropping.

"Best to not interfere canine."

"...Yeah...I'm cool."

Negi suddenly felt the weight of both his familiars using him as a resting post and figured it wouldn't be a good idea to walk with the both of them at the same time anymore. Chachazero took her respective place on his shoulder while Chamo took his place on his head since he was somewhat lighter. The ermine kept on stealing glances at Evangeline since she decided to accompany Negi being that they were both going on a fast from drinking anything with blood. The vampiress thought it would be best if they kept an eye on each other just to be on the safe side. At this point Chachazero was so dedicated to the young sorcerer that if he did slip and ended up doing something reckless she would be loyal enough to cover it up.

"Hey big brother?" Chamo whispered in Negi's ear.

"What is it Chamo-kun?"

"What is Dark Evangeline doing hanging out wit' ya?"

"She's my master."

"So? She's never decided to just hang out with you for no reason before. How close have you two gotten these past few days?"

"You mean...you don't sense a change in my magi aura?"

"You've gotten stronger, that's for sure." the ermine replied proudly.

"...I'll talk to you about it later! I just found out moments ago that-"

"Just in case you forgot, I know what you're thinking boy." Evangeline cut him off. "You might as well tell the ermine now. It will save you two alot more tension in the future." Negi almost face-faulted but managed to stand his ground.

"She can read my thoughts." Negi finished.

"I can see that, but what is she talking about?" Chamo asked curiously. Before Negi could open his mouth Chachazero decided to save him the trouble of answering.

"Master Negi is a vampire." the puppet answered, swinging her legs back and forth. Chamo went pale for a few seconds before going hysterical. This wasn't good at all for Negi if his sister ever found out that he was close enough to the vampiress for her to get her hands on him! Takamichi or the Headmaster might even say something about it if they ever found out!

"This isn't right Eva-san!" Chamo yelled at the vampiress only to receive a dark glare from her.

"I don't see what's wrong with it ermine? The headmaster has respect for me just as I do for him so he wouldn't mind if I decided to have a little fun." she crossed her arms and frowned. "What can Takamichi or the headmaster do to me? Takamichi knows I outclass him and the old man can barely do a thing. I should know since I'm his body guard."

"That isn't the point!" Chamo retorted but Negi patted him on the head lightly and gestured for him to be quiet. Setsuna saw him and Evangeline walking up beside one of the stands they were preparing and decided to approach them. Her eyes wandered to the vampiress for a few seconds before softening her gaze as she looked over to Negi.

"Hi there Negi-kun. It's nice to see that you decided to stop by." Setsuna greeted with a slight bow. "I see that you managed to convince Mcdowell to come out...that's really rare."

"I just wanted her to see how the preparations for the festival were going, that's all." Negi replied with a laugh. "So what are you doing here Setsuna-san?"

"We're setting up Konoka's card reading stand for the festival. It was a hit the last few festivals so we figured it would be a great idea to bring it all back again." she turned when she heard the sound of skates. "Here she comes now."

"It's great to see you Negi-kun!" Konoka greeted the boy excitedly. "So you came to see how we were doing, huh?"

"Yea-"

"You excited for the festival?" she cut him off suddenly. Negi took a few seconds to look at her sweating face before deciding to answer. "Er...sur-"

"I hope to see you at my stand too!" Konoka saw Evangeline and looked between her and Negi before squealing in delight. "Ooooooh! Asuna is gonna be so jealous when she finds out that Mcdowell here is taking you away from her!"

"Actually Konoka, Negi is a little too young for Asu-" Setsuna died off in mid-sentence when her friend whipped around with a smile and sighed romantically.

"Don't they just look cute together?" she asked Setsuna much to Evangeline's irritation. The vampiress grabbed ahold of Negi's shoulder and whispered, "Get me out of here before I take out my irritation on you."

"Y-yes master!" Negi replied quickly. He tapped Konoka on the shoulder to get her attention and said, "Well, we better check out the other set ups before the other girls start to think I'm shying away from them."

"Awww, really?" asked Konoka with a pout.

Evangeline tightened her grip on Negi's shoulder...

"Yeah, really!" Negi cried out painfully. Without a second to spare the two were on their way to get as far away from Konoka as they possibly could. Setsuna crossed her arms and sighed, shaking her head.

"I think you scared them away Konoka."

"But they looked so cute with each other!"

Yue, Haruna were walking with Nodoka in a futile attempt to fire her up for her encounter with Negi since she was planning on asking him out to the scavenger hunt that the Library club was holding for the festival. So far all they managed to do was make the timid girl close up to the point that everything they were telling her simply whizzed by meaninglessly.

"Come on already! All you're doing is asking him out!" Haruna agued, placing a hand on Nodoka's shoulder but the girl jerked her hand off quickly so she Haruna wouldn't be able to slow her down.

"I c-can't do this! It's too nerve wracking!"

"But if you don't just suck it in then what good will it be for you to like him?" Yue asked with her usual frown. "He isn't even a full grown man. How do you expect to meet someone with the mentality you have now? Ask him already!"

"I-I..."Nodoka's eyes widened fearfully. "I...I...I...I...I...I..." Haruna waved a hand in front of her face but the girl continued to drone on in shock. She shrugged her shoulders when Yue asked what was the problem and decided to follow Nodoka's line of sight to see Negi and Evangeline walking by in the distance.

"Oh I see the problem." said the manga-ka artist. She tapped Yue on the shoulder and showed her what was the problem.

"That's pretty weird." said Yue as she slurped the juice in her hand through a straw. "Mcdowell is usually nowhere to be seen. For her to even be walking around with Negi-sensei is unheard of."

"You don't think..."

"No,no,no!" Nodoka cried out clasping her hands over her ears. "I can't hear you! La, la, la, la!"

"Whoa, where are you going?" Haruna asked as the girl began to walk away but she was so busy blocking her out that she just kept on walking straight ahead. "I guess we gotta abort for now."

Yue sighed and nodded in agreement. "At this rate she'll work up the nerve by the time the festival is over."

"Did you hear anything master?" Chachazero asked Negi as she looked at the bushes in the distance where the library trio was hiding earlier.

"No." Negi replied. He turned to Evangeline who was looking bored as usual and asked, "Aren't you excited about the festival master?" She turned to look at him and scoffed.

"Excited? Me excited about a festival?" the vampiress grinned evilly and pointed at a group of students trying out costumes and cat ears. "All of this is child stuff. I've been cursed to stay here for so long that all the festival really does for me is annoy me to the point that it drive me insane. Besides, with the World Tree granting wishes this year all I'll be seeing is Magi patrollers scouting the entire area for any unsuspecting couples."

"The World Tree?"

"You're clueless aren't you? Don't you know anything about Maharo campus?"

"Not really."

"I should've known. Every twenty-two years the power of the World Tree at the center of the campus awakens and it's power becomes accessible to those around it. Since the festival is usually centered around it due to it's little romantic legend there's been a few incidents where wishes of love have been fulfilled."

"That's a good thing isn't it?" Asked Negi obliviously.

"Sure it sounds pretty nice but it really isn't all that sweet. Imagine if that stalker of yours, Nodoka decided to confess to you-"

"I don't have a stalker!" Negi cut Evangeline off before receiving a glare that shut him up instantly. "...Sorry about that."

"...As I was saying, if she managed to confess to you around the influence of that World tree's power then you'd become her own personal mindless drone or if she's unfortunate you just might end up going too far and hurting her." The vampiress watched Negi shiver from the very thought and leaned over to him. "You might just end up sucking her dry."

"That's horrible!"

"That's right and for that reason the headmaster hires security to make sure something like that won't happen. That means high-class magisters around the world gather here every twenty-two years and with my reputation all they do is harass me. Who knows Negi? Maybe you might even be picked to be on watch duty and we'll see just how fun the festival is then."

"No fun for you!" Chachazero chanted.

"That really sucks." said Chamo with a groan. "All they ever do is pile up more and more responsibilities. I guess that means you won't be able to join up in the tournament."

"I wasn't really planning to join in the first place." Negi retorted.

"Oh really?" Evangeline asked. "Is that what you and the mutt was talking about back there at the restaurant earlier? I don't see why you shouldn't join up. It would really prove to show how well you've progressed in your training, but if you want to wimp out then do as you wish."

"Really?"

"It doesn't really matter to me if you're afraid." She intentionally went in for a low blow on that one in hopes that it would convince him to go on with it but it turned out it wasn't enough. Fortunately for her someone else was about to come and do it for her. Negi flinched when he heard Ku-Fei calling to him.

'That's not good! She must still be holding something back from yesterday's class!' thought Negi as the Chinese girl ran to him.

"There go you, Negi! I look all over campus for you to speak with you!" She said to him panting.

"Really? Nobody told me you were looking for me."

"I must speak to you in private!" she placed a hand on his back and led him away from Evangeline to a far distance.

"What's the matter Ku-Fei?"

"You attending tournament?"

"Well I wasn't really thinking about it to tell you the truth."

"But you must attend. Must be there to represent master!" Ku-Fei said with a smug grin on her face. "I also need you for Kata of martial arts for other students during festival!"

"I messed up last time, remember?"

"You do better this time!" Negi tried to find a way out of it but she turned away and started to ran again. "Don't disappoint master, disciple!" Within a few seconds she was nothing but a blur behind the trees up ahead and it was too late to stop her. Things obviously weren't going his way today and he feared if he was unfortunate enough to come across Ayaka. She always had something planned for him to do with her. A tap on his shoulder pulled him out of his stupor and he turned to see Evangeline tapping her foot.

"What was that all about Negi?" she asked curiously.

"Oh...nothing really master." Negi lied.

"Is that so? Whatever she told you really changed your mood so it had to be something important. C'mon, I won't bite...too hard."

"No, really! I'm telling you the truth!" The young sorcerer saw that she wasn't buying the whole act and decided to make a run for it. "Oh I really should be going to check out how my students are doing on the haunted house right now!"

"I'll come with you then." Evangeline persisted.

"Don't worry about it Master! I'm sure they'll just end up annoying you like last time anyway!" Negi started to gradually move away from her but she grabbed on to his jacket.

"I'm coming." she growled but Chachazero pulled a small pellet out of her jacket and threw it on the ground. As soon as it made impact both magicians were covered in smoke and by the time it cleared up Evangeline found herself standing alone. "That petulant little puppet is going to pay for this! What the hell was that boy so nervous about anyway?" She straightened out her hair and crossed her arms childishly. "I might as well just pick up Chachamaru from the restaurant so I could take her to Chao and Hakase for a check up."

She made one more look around the to see if she could spot Negi running away but got no sign of him so she went on to do what she planned. As she passed near the Starbooks cafe, Takamichi stood up from his seat and walked with her.

"Good morning Evangeline-san." the teacher greeted her gently.

"You spying on me again Takamichi?" Evangeline asked.

"I guess you can say that." Takamichi replied with a chuckle. "I was waiting to see you so I could talk to you about the festival."

"If it has anything to do with the World Tree I don't intend to participate."

"Then I guess we'll take in Negi instead."

"What?"

"He's been training under you for quite some time already right?"

"Yes."

"So it won't be a problem! I see that you two have gotten closer over these few days so I figured you must have developed a trust in him. For you to be so close to him arouses some suspicion but I'm sure there's nothing to worry about."

"What are you getting at?"

"Nothing at all. Just don't try anything funny during the festival and everything will be alright. We already have enough trouble with Chao Lingsen...the student you've been associating yourself with."

"Is there something wrong?"

"Nothing yet."

Chachamaru wasn't sure what she was going to do while her counterpart was around Negi but it was driving her nuts. Last night odd feeling were welling up inside her that threatened to do some damage and it all seemed to have some relation with Chachazero being so close to the young sorcerer. Her radar was telling her that Negi was coming in this direction so she was sure to meet up with him. Sure enough she eventually saw him walking down her path in the crowd of students that were working on their attractions.

"Chachamaru-san?" Negi said her name in a questioning tone of voice. "I though you were over at Satsuki's restaurant."

"I finished my duties over there so I'm having a break." the android replied as she waited for him to get closer. She began walking with him, eyeing Chachazero every few seconds as they walked on. "I thought mistress Mcdowell was with you."

"I...er...it's a long story see?" said Negi awkwardly.

"I see." said Chachamaru. "You are going to see the rest of your students?"

"Yes. I want to see how they're progressing with their festival attractions. It wouldn't be nice if a teacher didn't encourage his student's while they worked."

"Do you mind if I accompany you?"

"N-no." Negi replied before coming to a realization. "Hey Chachamaru, you aren't going to do anything for the festival?"

"...I am holding a tea ceremony."

"That sounds pretty nice. I've never seen you at your tea cermo-uff!" Negi bumped in to somebody before he could finish.

"Watch where you're going sir." Negi looked up to see that he bumped in to a blonde young woman sporting what seemed like a nurses outfit. She had the nurse's cap to top it off and a young red-headed girl stood beside her holding a broom.

"Sorry about that!" he apologized to her with a bow.

"Just watch yourself next time." Were her only words before she continued walking past him with the girl following not far behind. Negi knew they weren't any normal students because they dressed differently and he sensed their magical aura's but he decided not to blow their cover in front of anyone, much less get involved with them.

"They weren't from this campus." said Chachamaru observantly.

"That's right." Negi replied.

"She was kind of hot wasn't she big brother? I guess it was just luck that you managed to bump it to her, huh?" Chamo teased lecherously.

"Cut it out Chamo-kun!" Negi said in embarrassment.

"That was no mere boy Mei." Takane said to her underling. "I'm sure that won't be the last time we see him...or that android."

To be continued...