Disclaimer: See prologue
Disclaimer: See prologue
A/N; HA ha! Back again! I can't seem to stop writing this damn thing. But by the sounds of all the great reviews (thank you all) I don't really think you guy's will mind so much. Sorry this chapter is going to be a little sloppy because I did most of it in the Document editor on FF so tense mistakes will get missed by the stupid spell check.
(ADDED NOTE: I tried to fix it up using Word but please if you see an error please point it out in a review. I really want this to be a good story and nothing distracts from a good story more than stupid little mistakes. I'm the world's worst speller. And I think faster than I type so sometimes I lose tense or pre/suffixes.SO PLEASE if you could help me out with that it would be amazing.)
Girl #1 And I'm sorry to say that no one was even on the right track for this one. Quite a lot of time has pasted Negi is 18 now, basically fully grown. I didn't mention his height until this chapter but most people used that as a basis to rule out girls. Also sexuality manifests in each person differently. Usher pretty much said it, "A lady in the street and a freak in the bed." and the other way a lioness could become a lap kitten. (NOTE: BIG HINT!!)
For those of you that wont mind the spoiler, review with another final one girl guess and tell me you don't mind me ruining it for you and I'll message you back with the answer. To be honest I just want to get it off my chest already. It's hard to feel brilliant and not be able to share it with anyone lolz. Speaking of which, I need a beta reader if anyone is interested.
(Shameless Bribe attempt) Beta readers are privy to all kinds of insider info. And can even sometimes influence the course of the story with their opinions. lol but back to business.
Girl #2 A lot of people had the right answer as one of their choices but most people said like four names. Again same offer applies but narrow it down to one if you want the answer.
And most of the people want the details but a good friend of mine reminded me that I could turn a steamy sex scene into 7000 words so I will probably go into great detail on the set up and foreplay and be a little more general when things get x-rated. Don't worry tho, there will be no lack of heat in this story.
Thanx for the feedback if anyone has any specific questions feel free to ask. If it's not something I need to keep a surprise for story reasons I'll tell you.
Enjoy your reading
Donny BlaZe
Chapter 3:
Reuniting
Negi had graduated from his Magister training the same time the girls graduated school. Something he now knew had been planned all along. When he was a teacher, Negi never realized something; Konoka was always very interested and attuned to fortune telling. A fact he dismissed as a trivial middle school hobby. The truth is the reason she was drawn to it was she had watched her grandfather do the real thing as a child.
Negi found out shortly after graduating that the Dean was perhaps the greatest Seer the world had ever known. He had known from the second he laid eyes on Negi who he was and where his future would lead him. Often advice that seemed like educated guesses based on experience, were really the old man making sure things stayed on path. Thinking back on it now, Negi often reminded himself that his debt to the Dean was far too great to be measured in mere gratitude.
The years had been good to Negi. He was just over 6 foot now. His hair was just a touch longer and his face lost its youthful softness. But the depth of the eyes is where the change hit you the most. Oceans have never known depth like that. Eva once said to him that he had the eyes of an immortal except with a glimmer of hope.
He looked remarkably like his father with one major difference. Negi was built more like a Greek god. Negi was 10 years old when he started training under Evangeline. Arguably one of the harshest masters one could have. Yet he never once quit and as time went on, he almost always asked for more.
Shortly after that, Ku Fei began to teach him martial arts. And again he asked for more. Kaede trained him in the ninja arts as well. Then he became interested in swords so Setsuna began training him. Then seeing how efficiently Mana took out enemies he got her to teach him how to All of these trainings ran concurrently. And you couldn't stop Negi from training with anything short of an act of god. If it wasn't for Eva's resort Negi never would have made it through his classes.
The end result was a chiseled physique, the physical stamina of a horse and magical abilities that even most upper level mages couldn't hope to obtain in a lifetime of work. Not to mention mastery of both close quarter combat and ninjustu. He was truly the son of the Thousand Master.
Another way he was like his father was that over the years he'd grown to be much more confident, especially with the ladies. While he flirted with a lot more girls than he actually tried anything with, almost every girl he met either wanted him immediately. Or they got to know him, and then they wanted him. It was not a bad life to live for Negi these days.
After graduation they had continued his search for his father. They'd gotten closer and closer over the years, only to find after every mountain climbed there was another one waiting. Now they'd gotten to the point where they'd stopped following normal leads. Too often they panned out to be just some drunken man in a bar who'd told a story about seeing the Thousand Master in order to get people to buy him drinks.
Now they were taking a slightly different approach. They thought about it logically and came to the conclusion that there were very few reasons as to why someone so powerful would be missing for so long. And thanks to Alberio they know he's not dead.
First; there was always the possibility that he was missing and hadn't been found because he was hiding and didn't want to be found. The problem in this case was why would one of the most famous and loved people in the world, not want to be found? Was the fame too much? But from all accounts Nagi reveled in the fame. So that really didn't make sense, but it was still a possibility because back then, people had been after his group because they had Asuna. What if he hid figuring that people would assume she was with him. They'd be so busy looking for his famous face that she could be free of them. And if he was ever seen without her the jig would be up and she'd be in danger. So he just stayed hidden
Second; he could've been sent to another dimension. There are at least 7 known dimensions. 3 of them couldn't support human life. One was the demon dimension. Which humans could survive the conditions of, but the locals might prove to be a problem. Though it couldn't be completely ruled out, the Thousand Master might just have the power to be able to survive in such a place. The question would be how long could he hold out. Normal demons wouldn't stand a chance, but the upper echelons of the demon world could lay waste to whole continents. Not exactly beings to trifle with.
Third; it was possible that he was in some kind of trap or prison, something that didn't kill him but left him unable to free himself. It could have been a fail safe for something that he was trying to mess with. Or it could've been the trap of an enemy who has a reason to keep him alive. Either way for no one to know anything about it means either he's in a place so remote no one has been there in 15 years. Or somehow someone is making it that way.
Knowing he isn't dead is one of the only pieces of information they had. 15 years is a long time for a trail to go cold. So now instead of trying to follow his trail they were trying to head him off at the pass. By figuring out where any of the three possibilities would take/leave him, they'd have a slightly better chance to find him or at least rule out where he's not.
Negi woke up the morning after the meeting and he felt great. Not only because of the amazing bath he'd taken the night before, also because the whole group was together again. It'd been a while since they split up and usually even when they were traveling together various members would be off doing different things.
The far off sound of playful chatter was music to his ears. The thought of not having to worry about anyone was like lifting the world off his shoulders. Of coarse they still had this new problem. But right now, it could wait. Negi got up and walked to the window by the look of the sun they had about 5 more hours before they had to leave. Negi planned to enjoy it to the fullest. After getting dressed he walked down the alabaster halls towards the resorts main floor. He soon realized someone was following him.
It was too obvious to be Kaede or Mana. So after turning a corner Negi simply stopped and waited for his follower to catch up.
He was more than a little surprised to see Makie peeking around the corner. Makie however was down right flabbergasted to see Negi standing there waiting for her. Negi reacted first. "Hey there Makie, is there something I can do for you?"
Makie stammered "U-um n-no not really." She seemed to find something on the floor very interesting all of a sudden. Negi was just about to excuse himself, but she rallied at the finish. "I-I was just wondering if you didn't have anything planned for the rest of our time inhere if you'd like to go down to the beach with me."
Negi wasn't sure whether or not this would be a good idea. Makie hadn't taken his first rejection very well. Mostly because of how far she'd gone to impress him. When you do a gymnastics dance in the nude for someone and then they tell you they don't want you, it's a tough blow to take. No matter how many times you tell them that they are beautiful and it's not their fault. It had taken Makie a long time to act normally towards Negi. Lucky since then a decent amount of time had past.
But Negi wasn't sure what her intentions were. And he didn't know if their relationship could take another incident like that last one. At the same time he didn't want Makie to think he didn't care. The truth was out of all the girls Negi found that Makie was one of the few he could really see himself making a life with. She was sweet, caring considerate not to mention highly beautiful.
So in the end he decided that spending the next few hours with Makie didn't seem like a bad idea. "Sure, just let me go get a bathing suit."
Makie beamed. "Okay, I'll meet you down there."
Sasaki Makie was one of the last in the group to find out about Negi's being a mage. It was a tad hard to hide it after the trip to magic world.
After finding out it wasn't long before she too had made a pact with Negi. Her artifact was remarkably similar to her gymnastics ribbon, with a few minor modifications. Seemingly endless extension, the ability to become rigid to any shape desired, it can act as a shield withstanding low to mid level magic and it can turn invisible cloaking anything wrapped within. It was as all purpose as an artifact could get. The only problem was it's limited offensive capabilities. While Makie handled it well and came up with innovative ways of using it, it seriously lacked stopping power. But she loved it all the same.
Makie was one of the girls who had blossomed over the years. Thanks to her gymnastics (which she still found time to practice) she was always in amazing shape. With the curves she'd gained Makie now had a firm yet shapely body. And she was even more adorable now than she was during school. She'd gotten a little taller, standing just over 5'3. She was average height, except for within the group. Most of the girls were here freakishly tall.
She made her way down to the beach and was surprised to see Negi already sitting by the water. "Hey weren't you supposed to be getting changed?"
"I did go change, but I took the easy way down." He smiles playfully.
Makie pretends to pout, "No fair. The next time you're going to fly down I'll just wait for you and make you carry me."
"Sure if you want." He said innocently.
"Negi-kun carrying me through the air in his arms to a secluded spot on the beach? Oohhh sooo romantic!" Makie cooed sarcastically. Her use of the honorific as well as her tone told Negi she was just playing with him.
But two could play at that game. As quickly as she had said it, Negi had taken her up on it. Scooping her up into his arms he flew them to a spot on the beach that couldn't be seen from most places in the resort. When he landed he slowly put Makie down, making sure their bodies slid against each other the whole way down. When she got to her feet she stared up into Negi's eyes.
"No mocking comments about it now huh?" Negi wasn't thinking. He had meant that as an innocently smart-ass response. But the look in Makie's eyes told a totally different story. Apparently time doesn't heal all wounds.
She was on the border of tears and her face was a look of hurt confusion. Negi realized immediately what he'd done. He thought that she was over it. But Makie was very sensitive emotionally and extremely self-conscious. Her eyes begged a question and her quivering lips put it to words. "Why are you toying with me?"
Negi's fears were confirmed, he needed to think fast. "I'm sorry! Honestly Makie, I didn't mean for it to seem like that. I was just trying to be playful."
His words only seemed to make things worse. "That's exactly what I mean! you have no idea how much I'd love for you to take me away in your arms like that!" She turned away from him and spoke through tears. "Negi I wanted you to be my first that night. I knew that you were always surrounded by women so beautiful that I'd have to do something amazing to get you're attention. I was so scared that night. I'd never done anything like that, but I know how much you love my gymnastics so..." Her voice trailed off for a second and Negi was about to speak when she continued.
"Growing up with girls like Asakura, Mana, Kaede and so many of the others it was hard to have confidence in the way I looked, especially my body. But I let all my doubt melt away because I wanted to show you that I could be beautiful too. I danced my heart out for you, showing you all of myself." Again she paused but this time Negi just waited for her to keep going. She needed to get this off her chest.
"When you said no, when you tried to politely tell me that you didn't see me like that, I thought I was going to die. Beforehand I told myself that you might say no, and that I was ok with that. But after putting myself out there like that to have you reject me was more than I could take. I couldn't look at you without being reminded that all I had wasn't good enough. That's why it took so long for me to be near you again. But I love you Negi and ignoring you and not talking to you hurt too. So I decided to pretend like I was over it. That it didn't matter." By this point she'd stopped crying for the most part and stood with her shoulders hunch staring at the sand. She wiped her eyes, took a deep breath and turned to face Negi with all the strength she could muster.
"But it does matter Negi. My heart still flutters when you smile at me and when you took me in your arms and flew me away I almost dared to hope. My heart started to race and I could barely breath, then I find out it's just a joke. You didn't really want to take me here, you just wanted to laugh at me and how..."
She would've continued but Negi had quickly closed the distance between them. He ran his hand through her hair to the back of her neck pulling slightly so she raised her head and looked at him. As soon as their eyes met Negi kissed her deeply and passionately, their lips mashing together. The whole process took about a second.
For just a moment her eyes went wide and she froze in shock. But her body caught up before her brain did and soon she was kissing him back just as fiercely. Arms pulled together as hands were too wild to find anything specific. The kiss lasted a few minutes and when they finally came apart it took another minute to regain their breath.
Makie opened her mouth to speak, she was shaking her head in confused disbelief. But Negi puts a finger to her lips silencing her. He had to set the record straight. "You ARE beautiful Makie. I've always thought so. Just because you don't have a huge breast size or flowing long hair doesn't mean you aren't just as good as they are."
He got close looked her dead in the eyes and lowered his voice talking softly to her. "Makie the night you danced for me, I wanted nothing more then to take you by the hand and make love to you. It was the most amazingly artistic and extremely erotic sight I've ever seen. It took every fiber of willpower to tell you no."
He smiled at her confused face. Her eyes were tearing but this time with a smile. "Makie, I don't think you know. But back then almost everyone tried to seduce me in some way. I know that most of the girls had some form of feelings for me. And if the girls who had feelings for me found out that I was with one of you, it might make people angry or jealous. Our group is so tight I didn't want to be the wedge that pushed us apart. So I decided that the best way to not hurt everyone was to not be with anyone."
He could see her putting the pieces together in her head but he had to say at least one more thing before she got a grip on the situation and wanted to say something. "And I'll tell you this, Mana and Asakura both tired." Makie's eyes went wide in disbelief. "And it wasn't even half as hard turning them down, as it was not to stop you mid dance and take you."
He pulled back and smiled. It took her a split second to react to all this newly found information. When she finally did, she flung herself at Negi wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him hard. While equally passionate it was more frantic than deep. Makie was kissing him like he was going to disappear any second. Despite every fiber in his being urging him on he pulled away, holding her back as she looked up confusion and disappointment in her eyes.
"I'm sorry, I know what you're thinking, but we can't do this." He said trying to catch his breath.
"But why?" She was almost panting, still on the high off of her desire.
For a long moment a large part of Negi asked himself the same question. "For the same reasons as last time. If anyone finds out it..."
"But what if nobody finds out? I can keep a secret if you can." Makie was standing on her toes looking up at Negi with the same eyes that once asked; 'Please Sir, may I have some more?'
Now this is where the inner argument broke down. Because while with ample discussion and a impartial point of view, reasons like 'you can't keep a secret forever' and 'It's hard to live a lie' might come up. But in the mind of a man looking at a girl who is looking at him with eyes like that, the decision doesn't take long enough for those arguments to come up.
He shook his head in defeat and let come close enough for a quick kiss. "But not here, not now. I don't want someone to come looking and find us."
Makie didn't seem to like that answer too much but she was too happy to care. "Okay but I wont wait for long." She winked at him playfully.
They decided to go back after that, mostly to avoid temptation. Once they'd parted ways Negi stopped for a moment on the way back to his room. Looking out over the scenery he took a deep breath and thought to himself, Now that makes three 'secrets'. I wonder how long I can keep this up...
Luckily for Negi the rest of the time at the resort was fairly uneventful. After getting his things together, Negi met up with the every at the exit of the resort. They still had some time but Negi had wanted to set up the new groups. At least that's what he told everyone, but as we all know it was just to make a last minute motivational speech. But in order to maintain the ruse, Negi started with the business at hand first.
"Well like I said last night, I want to change our groups for now, so we can be as safe as possible. I figure for now we should split into two groups. And with everything that is going on I want everyone to be extra cautious. Now I was going to split you guys up evenly and then leave you guys so I could finish what I've been doing. But I decided that if these guys are coming after us then we should have as much firepower as possible. So that means that some of you will be coming with me. So I guess I can't keep it a secret anymore, if some of you know then all of you should. I've been trying to get Kotaro out."
Just after they'd gotten back to the magic world after graduation, Negi and Kotaro had been in a remote region far into the forest when they come across some bandits. At first they seemed like your ordinary stock model criminals, but after Negi and Kotaro refused to give them money, a fight broke out. Quickly the boys realized that these guys were anything but normal, they were Dog Demons. They defeated them easily and immediately after the battle Kotaro began questioning them. It turned out that they weren't far from the place Kotaro's estranged tribe was located.
Kotaro quickly became too curious to help himself and they were on their way to the camp. Mostly he just wanted to check it out. It was very much like a trading post. Except with a harsher feel to it. All the races moved throughout the village and the boys figured they wouldn't have a problem going in and out. But they were wrong.
The Dog Demons could smell the half breed before he even got to the village. They were watched from the very moment they arrived. All it took was for Kotaro to pass Negi the salt after being asked. Suddenly they were surrounded, and this time not by weaklings like the guys in the forest, these were trained killers. The leader of the pack, casually walked in from the street and began to berate Kotaro for breaking the law. Apparently it was the first law of the Dog demons to never obey the command of a human. Normally something as small as passing the salt wouldn't even be acknowledged. But Kotaro was a half breed which made him a target.
The Leader read out the sentence right there in front of Negi. Life imprisonment, for passing the salt.
Neither of the boys took the news well. Immediately they lashed out attacking the group surrounding them. Unfortunately, they were too badly outnumbered and their opponents were tougher than most. Despite his martial art skills without the time to cast any spells, Negi was little match for the feral close quarter combat of the wolf demons. The battle had gotten pretty desperate and in one of the most selfless acts ever Kotaro used the full power of his wolf spirits to clear a path and carry Negi out of there. Negi hadn't seen it coming and before he could do anything he was miles away. As the spirits burned away, the last one turned into Kotaro's face. "Don't you dare come back for me." Negi screamed out in tears as the spirits vanished.
All 16 people snap to attention at the mention of his name. The mood in the room changes from the normal light and carefree, to sullen and serious. Before anyone can say anything Negi continues, "I'm sorry I didn't tell anyone. I just wasn't sure if it was even possible at first. So I didn't want to get anyone's hopes up. Also I feel guilty that while you've all been trying to find my father, I've been selfishly trying' to fix my mistakes." He hung his head, too ashamed to look them in the face. "Look I'm really..."
A slap rang out like a gun shot. "Shut your mouth." For a moment, the whole world went silent and still. No one even saw her do it. But there was Asuna, standing across from Negi like a mother superior who caught you doing the nasty in the confessional.
"I'll never forgive you..." Despite her face being hard as a rock, tears streamed down Asuna's face. If you finish that sentence I will never forgive you. Why the hell would you say sorry for something like that? He was like you brother. And despite all the times we told you it wasn't you're fault we all know you never listened." She softened up and tenderly place her hand on the same cheek she'd just left the imprint.
"Negi, Kotaro was one of us. You could've told us from the beginning and all you we would've said is 'Who's going with you?' If you don't stop hiding things from us I really won't forgive you. And don't think for a second that we'd be mad just because we're out here risking our lives looking for your Dad and you're playing jail break. Except maybe because you're hogging all the fun."
She laughed, "Seriously though, you put this search off for years to help us graduate school. You can take some time now and then to save a friend." A general cheer of approval conveyed the group's feelings on the matter.
Even after all these years Negi was still overly emotional, "T-Thank you all, really. And I'm glad to hear you say that because I'm going to need some help. So he's the plan. Mana, Eva, Setsuna, Konoka, and Nodoka, you'll all be coming with me. As well as Chachamaru. I've been doing some recon on the place where Kotaro is being held and I think I can get him out but I'm going to need all of you to pull it off." His words were met with purposeful nods telling him everyone knew the score. "Ok now for the rest of you; You'll all be looking for clues as to who attacked you. If anyone has seen this cloaked man Asuna described, if anyone has had a similar experience to the one you had. Any little bit will help."
He turned to Asuna, "You have to be extra alert. You're the only one who is immune to their initial tactics. If you think that even the slightest thing is out of place you need to alert the others and get out of there." He sounded like a mother.
"You know, this isn't the first time I've dealt with an unknown enemy." Asuna retorted. "Why don't you just worry about you're end, we'll handle things here." she gave him the cheesy wink/thumbs up combo.
"Okay, fair enough." He motioned her to the side and she followed. In a voice for only her to hear he said. "It should only take us a couple of days, so if we're not back in a week something went very wrong. But do not come after us no matter what. I'm taking about half our total combat strength with me not to mention our healer. If we don't make it back you'd just be killing yourselves by following us. So please, promise me you won't come."
Asuna face broke into a large smile, "No problem. I promise I won't come after you. But only because I know that you won't need me to come." Negi looked her with a puzzled look. She punched him playfully in the chest. "I know you well enough to say with absolute certainty that you wouldn't even have suggested going in, if you weren't sure you could get back. Because you're the type to save a friend against all odds, but not at the cost of another friend."
However, Kodak moments never last long and this one was interrupted by Eva, "Sorry to break up your love scene but let's go. Break time is over."
Exactly one hour after entering, the group reappeared in the small room around the glass dome that held the resort. Chachamaru looked up from her kitten book and greeted the group. "Welcome back everyone."
She quickly found Eva and went to her side. "Did you enjoy your rest master?"
Eva scoffed at her mechanical hand maiden, "Oh, can it. Come on let's go, we have work to do. We're going to get back our dog."
"Master, my memory must be malfunctioning I don't remember us having a dog."
"Oh, just shut up! It bad enough I will have to deal with fleas again..."
Eva continued to complain for quite a while. But the truth was she actually liked the hanyo boy. Negi's always much more fun when he's around.
A/N: Sorry I kind of went on a tangent with the Makie thing but I snuck in the actual storyline in around it.(once I wrote naked gymnastics it was all over). But at least I didn't leave you hanging off of a cliff. Except if you count the fact that next chapter you'll get your first real action scene. (Cue suspenseful music) And I cant seem to help it so far each chapter is longer than the last. The prologue was 1500 words then 3200 and 4500 now 5700. I have another story where the average chapter lenght is about 10,000. but that would mean longer waits between chapters so I'm going to try and keep it to where it is now.
I just like Kotaro too much not to have him in the story. But don't worry he won't be stealing any of Negi's booty.
Sorry for not revealing who the girls are. But that is something that will go on for a few chapters. You might find out who girl #1 was in the next chapter or two. girl 2 you'll find out about a little later
Thanx for reading and reviewing guys. Honestly all the great feedback is what's making me post new chapters so fast. Though it might be like three or four days before the next chapter comes out. I'm not sure yet, the lastest it will be out is Monday 6/23.
Sorry and thanx for reading.
Donny BlaZe