Disclaimer:

Love Hina and Mahou Sensei Negima is the creative property of Ken Akamatsu, who created this wonderful anime/manga series. Shingetsugan Tsukihime and Fate/stay night is the creative property of TYPE-MOON. Anything not attributed to Akamatsu-san or TYPE-MOON belongs to their respective owners, such as references to Cowboy Bebop (the Swordfish II) that is a creation of Sunrise and Shinichiro Watanabe, BLEACH is a creation of Kubo Tite, and vice-versa. This story is written purely just for fun, guys; please for God's sake, don't sue me! I'm just a high school student with too much free time on his hands! On the other hand, any specific author created characters I created for this fic (despite how unoriginal they may be at times) are mine. So without further adieu, let's get on with the show!

The Surgeon General's Warning:

Read at your own risk. Multiple pairings inside folks, with KanaxKei and KanaxNegi, just to name a few! You never know what you're going to get so read on (I might even do some alternative stuff, if you know what I mean).

Blue Blue Glass Moon, Under the Crimson Air

I Wanna Go To A Place...

Chapter 15:

A Fair Share of Demons

A Love Magister Hina Negima! fanfic by James "Ray" Edwards

Setsuna stared.

At that moment, she would have given anything to be anywhere else but here. It was taking every ounce of willpower for her not to faint dead on the spot, and she was barely holding it together underneath the incomprehensible pressure crushing her body. Her day had just officially gone to hell in a hand basket because the impossible, the extraordinary...

...just walked right through the door.

That Girl. What... What is she... thought the raven-haired girl with increasing alarm. Doing... Here!

Her pupils were dilating wildly, causing her vision to drift in a hallucinogenic haze, a miasma of searing heat. A cold sweat washed down her paling sickly skin as she grit her teeth, trying to hold her ground. She was losing badly.

You shouldn't --- be here. This is --- my... Agh!

She was being overpowered. The twisting vortex of wind sending her hair and clothes whipping in the winds as shallow cuts and goose bumps appeared across her exposed flesh. This incredible killing intent was unlike anything she had ever experienced before! To think she did not sense it all until it was unleashed upon her solely with the precision of certain death.

Wait, that impudent boy... Is he all right? I... GAH!

What crazy power! She could barely think straight anymore. Everything was...in bits...pieces. Flashes of light and sound; it was becoming harder to breath. So weak! Her time was running out, not much longer now.

No! I can still-Ah!

Suddenly, blood blossomed into a shower of crimson sakura petals against the thundering sky, beautiful and terrible...

Mo-chan --- why?

...and the black crow was slain, under a rain of a thousand blades.

"Oi! Koe no ka?"

What?

"Oi! Daijou­­-okay?"

A voice?

"Blink if you can hear me, Sakurazaki-kun!"

Him.

"Ugh...ghhh..." Setsuna groaned weakly as the pinpricks of black and white began to fade away in her hazy vision. There was a face, still blurry, but she could see glasses, small little ones, and a shock of sorrel brown hair. Yes, it was that impudent boy again. He seemed to be --- all right.

Wait, what's this feeling across my shoulders, back... Is he?

Promptly, her vision zoomed into sharp focus and Setsuna found herself powerless to stop the hot blush that graced her cheeks at the sight that greeted her conscious mind.

That warm smile. Why is he smiling so kindly to me after the way I treated him? Why is he cradling me in his arms? I'm --- I'm not a child. If anyone is, it's him. He should be angry at me, condescending, not happy to see me. Why?

"Phew, thank goodness, I was afraid you'd never wake up," Negi told her with a relieved sigh. He was sitting down the floor with his back against the teacher's podium, using as much of his body as he reasonably could to help cradle the raven-haired girl. "You just fainted all of a sudden, and I barely managed to catch you in time. If you had gotten hurt, I would've never forgiven myself."

"H-How --- long?"

"Hehe, somehow I knew you'd ask that, Sakurazaki-kun. Thirty Minutes."

"Thir-ty --- minutes?"

"Yup, Chachamaru-san came by earlier to clean up after --- well --- you-know-what. She wanted to help me carry you to the infirmary, but I decided it wasn't a good idea to move you, so she went back out to find somebody from the faculty that was free, who knew some first aid."

"Fa-culty?"

"There was a huge mess, Sakurazaki-kun! About five minutes after you fainted, there was an announcement over the intercom saying that all classes were cancelled for the rest of the day and that members of the school faculty were to report for a 'team building' meeting. I thought it was completely nuts, but the Headmaster was serious about it. I couldn't just leave you --- so I stayed here."

...What? Why did he... I don't understand it. "Why? Why go through all of this for me?"

Negi blinked at the grave ashen expression on Setsuna's face. "Sakurazaki-kun?"

"I didn't ask for your help, nor did I need it."

"Tsk, I guess I was right that you'd be stubborn about it too."

"Don't think lightly of me, Sensei. I can take care of myself."

"Don't be ridiculous, Setsuna-san!" the bespectacled boy insisted with deep concern in his dark brown eyes, almost as dark as her own. "You fainted dead cold right in front of my eyes! If I hadn't caught you, you would have smashed your head open on the floor, a student's desk, or worse! Did you really expect me to sit by and do nothing again, after what happened to Kagurazaka Asuna this morning?"

Setsuna frowned at the indignities she perceived only upon herself. This enigmatic foreign boy had rescued her from an uncertain fate during a moment of weakness. He had witnessed her failing and was now putting his filthy little paws on her. On top of that, he had the gall to remind her of Kanako Urashima's audacity and address her by her first name without permission, shaming her even more.

How dare he? An impudent little boy who knows nothing of me, interfere with my affairs?

"Let go of me," the raven-haired girl hissed venomously as she tried to sit up.

Imagine her surprised when Negi only held her tighter, cradling her head protectively against the nape of his neck. Some people might interpret this as a rather --- intimate gesture. "Hora, don't try to sit up yet. You're still recovering from your fainting spell. If you get up too soon, you might faint again."

Setsuna blushed furiously. What was wrong with her? The boy was at least three to four years her junior. With her extensive training, it should've been easy to muscle her way out of this predicament. Better yet, what was wrong with him?

"Ah, l-let go of me!"

"No can do; you're still my responsibility, Setsuna-san, even though classes are already over."

"D-Don't call me by first name! I never gave you permission, you impudent boy!"

"I think we'd get along easier if you'd just stop squirming all the time. You were doing it even when you were unconscious, and you mumbled something about a 'Mo-chan' too."

"Ah!" He heard me! What else does he know?

"Come to think of it, I wonder where Aoyama-kun is? She said she was going to go help round up the students. Oh! I hope she heard the announcements. It'll be another big mess-"

"Did you just say --- Aoyama --- as in Aoyama Motoko?" snarled Setsuna as she tried to lift her arms. They were heavy, like leaden weight that she could not even lift them at all. How could she become so weak from a little faint?

"Calm down, Setsuna-san! You shouldn't move yet."

"Don't call me that! Where is SHE? Where is Aoyama Motoko?"

"Look, stop squirming! Agh! I only know that she went to look for your classmates, and yes, her name was Aoyama Motoko."

The raven-haired girl stopped cold. "No."

"Huh?"

"That's not possible. She shouldn't be here. She CAN'T be here!"

Negi gasped as he fought to restrain the raven-haired girl's wild struggles to free herself. "Whoa! What's gotten into you?"

"Do-Ahou! You don't understand! She's NOT supposed to be here!"

"Hey, that's mean, you know. Aoyama-kun has as much right as anybody else to be attending Mahora Academy. She just transferred here today from what she told me, and will be joining our class as Student Number Thirty-Three."

"What? She spoke to you?"

"Of course, she was also pretty insistent that she gets a seat right behind you too. Do you two know each other personally, by any chance? I think you made eye contact with her right before you fainted."

Setsuna blanched.

This was far from the sort of reaction Negi was expecting. He had sinking feeling in his gut that Setsuna had a history with the newest transfer student, and it was not good one either. The sorrel brown-haired boy wondered if it was luck or some twist of fate that he was adding all the right students on his work-in-progress list. He was starting to get a little disturbed by the frequency of troubled adolescents within his own classroom.

I can hardly imagine how many more there are around campus, Negi contemplated worriedly to himself. Mahora Academy really does have its fair share of demons, after all.

I just hope I didn't come too late to help.

"Help me stand," Setsuna whispered to him softly, startling him out of his reverie. She sounded --- broken.

"Huh?"

"Please --- help me stand."

"Se-Setsuna-san-!"

"No, just help me stand. Right now, I --- I need to be alone."

"Hold on, please hear me out first!"

"...Fine." What was the use to squabble with him anyway? Either way, she needed the boy's help to stand, so she could get away from this place and be --- alone.

"Thank you, Setsuna-san! I --- I just... Please, don't think that you have to shoulder this burden all on your own because --- I'm here now, Setsuna-san, and I'll do whatever I can to help you, whether you come to me or not."

"Why bother? It's none of your business..."

"But it is!"

"...Why?"

"Because I care, Setsuna-san," Negi smiled encouragingly at the raven-haired girl as he gently lifted her chin so that they were face to face. "Isn't that a good enough reason as any?"

Setsuna Sakurazaki did not say another word. She left without word, stumbling many times but refusing to give up. A headstrong girl to the bitter end, but he was not going to let it end here. His voice; it was still traveling, trying to reach her. The bespectacled boy did not how long it would take her to hear his voice, but he would keep calling because he had resolved to help her. It was not because he was a teacher or a magister magi in training.

This was --- different, some thing that he did not have the words to describe yet.

"...Negi-sensei? Negi-sensei, are you alright?" a familiar hushed voice addressed him, filled with polite courtesy.

A hand waved by in front of him, the boy snapped out of his reverie, noticing with a slight audible start at who was addressing him. "Oh! Ah, Chachamaru-san, welcome back!"

"Pardon me, Sensei," Chachamaru apologized to him. She withdrew her hand to her side and gave him a brief bow, clasping her hands together in a customary manner.

"Huh?"

"You were just standing there, staring off into space, and when I first called out to you, you wouldn't respond. I'm sorry if I interrupted something important in your contemplations."

Negi laughed sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. The girl was really well behaved. He was certain that she would hit it off with his big sister just fine. "Oh, it was nothing really. I was just starting to realize that Mahora Academy has its fair share of demons, after all."

"'Demons'?"

"Well, not demons literally, but more like --- demons of the heart, I guess."

Demons of the heart? Negi-kun continues to impress me. His probability of success improves by the minute, and with current projections, he may have more than ten-percent chance of "treating" the Mistress. "I see. Where's Sakurazaki-san, Negi-sensei? Unfortunately, I was unable to allocate a teacher to our aid, but I did stop by the infirmary and the nurse on duty insisted that she would be fine with a little rest and time."

"'A little rest and time,' is it? Geez, I'm feeling bad for just letting Setsuna-san just go off like that. She didn't look too good."

"'Setsuna-san'?" My power regulator! It just --- it just skipped! Scans indicate that it appears to be experiencing an abnormal flux of stress. But am I not even in combat right now! And what are these additional heavy "pangs" I feel in my lower abdomen? According to the Professor's new human interface protocols, these are sure signs of --- Jealousy? What? How could I be jealous of Sakurazaki-san? Why would I be? This is irrational!

"Haha, don't worry too much over it, Chachamaru-san. I'm only addressing her like that because it gets on her nerves. Sakurazaki-kun doesn't seem to respond very well to just plain talk. She'll ignore you or treat you like you're an insignificant, annoying little thing. As long as I keep this up, she'll either hate my guts, or she'll start to actually listen to what I have to say."

"Oh, so she's on your list too?" The minute traces of agitation in her face quickly melted away under a wave of relief. Relief? Why was she relieved? The anomalies in her systems had disappeared too.

"Yeah, you won't believe how fast it's growing too. At this rate, I might just have ten students alone on my work-in-progress list! I guess there's more to teaching than just teaching the material, huh?"

"Hmmm."

"Still, I'm glad I managed to make a new friend today and my first one too, Chachamaru-san. Without you, my first day on the job would've been a complete disaster!"

The neon green-haired girl smiled warmly. "Thank you, Negi-sensei."

"Hey, school's out now. You don't have to call me that anymore, remember?" he beamed in turn, completely missing the red blush creeping up his student's face.

"Y-Yes, of course, N-Negi-kun."

"Say, are you doing anything for the rest of the day?"

Chachamaru blushed a deep red, her skin turning visibly red, as her irises reverted to a shade of sky blue. "H-H-Huh?"

"Relax, relax, Chachamaru-san! You're always so high strung."

"O-Of course. I, um..." It was strange. Her malfunctions seem to increased exponentially in frequency around Negi Springfield. Could his presence be generation some sort of electromagnetic phenomena that is causing me to behave this way? Before I met him, and I did not even know how to use the emotion of jealousy.

"You see, since this is my first day here, I was wondering if you could show me around campus. I never actually got a chance to show up in person for the faculty orientation, so..."

"Yes."

"Really? I mean, if you have other plans or assignments to do-"

"That can wait until tomorrow, Negi-kun," the android girl assured with a burst of confidence in her voice. Homework, evaluations, and projects had never been a problem for her. Unlike humans, she was nowhere near as fallible. If it had not been for the Professor's insistence that she kept a modest profile, she could have easily been the top scoring student in the entire school; hence, she only appeared to be above average. "I assure you that I am well ahead of my classmates. This won't be a problem at all, and it would be my pleasure to give you a tour of the campus. If you'd like, I can even show you around Mahora City."

Negi laughed. "Sounds great! Let's go then, Chachamaru-san."

So together the Mechanical Angel and her new "ward" left, side by side; perhaps, with time, this could come to mean something more, but for now...

...Chachamaru was happy.

To Be Continued...

Author's Notes:

Yosh! The show goes on! The drama continues to build. What's the beef with Setsuna and Motoko? It can't be that bad now can it? Ni-hahahhahaha! Negi's certainly got his work cut out for him, but that just means this school year is going to be all the more interesting. Look forward to the clashes, the good times, and the bad times, folks!

Now, I want to pass my words of thanks to the readers and reviewers. We've made it this far thanks to you all, and there's plenty of more great stuff ahead. Remember, I encourage each and everyone of you to always feel free to comment, review, and/or discuss the story. I love hearing from you ladies and gents, and if you're up to it, feel free to ring me up on AIM, or even send me an e-mail. You know how to get in touch with the MC here. With that set aside, I would like to give out a few personal shout-outs to the League of Extraordinary Reviewers from our last line up:

To His Highness, Mister Alpha Draconis1, well I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter because as you can probably guess, this but a sign of the many more "great" things to come.

To the Speaker for the Dead, Mister Havenoname, don't sweat the angst too much, and trust me, I've got some stuff coming down the pipeline that will take care of all this pent up "angstiness" and "high drama" with a bang or two.

To the Fellow Who Got Away, Mister Skuld's Sentaro 5, you just gave me a very good suggestion. Now, I can't promise anything but you helped make sure that Konoka will get a little more screen time in the right places down the lane. Of course, it's pretty much her show for the most part when we finally get to the Kyoto Arc. ;

Well, that wraps it up, folks, so until the next time we meet, rock on! Peace!

Omake!

Naze Nani Glass Moon Desu

New Pairings Sighted?

SetsunaxMotoko --- A Dark Tragedy from the heart of the Shinmei Ryu, unyanya?

NegixSetsuna --- The Magister Magi and the Yojimbo, those who protect. Can they stand together or will they both fall?

And of course, where would we be without the...

Naze Nani Glass Moon Desu

Episode Preview!

Chapter 16:

Black Tidings

Sleep for now, Kanako. The other you is trying to wake up.

Tsudzuku!