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 22:

That Weird Girl

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

Sniff.

Sniff.

Sniff-Sniff.

Sniff!

"Zazie wonders..."

Sniff.

Nudge.

Nudge-Nudge.

Sniff!

Sniff-sniff.

"Fufufu..."

Nuzzle.

Nuzzle-Nuzzle.

Lick.

"IIYYYYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" screamed Kanako at the top of her lungs as she shot up suddenly, wide awake and panicked. Her blood was raging hot, ragged breaths gobbling up air ravenously to replenish her oxygen starved body. A cold sweat trickled down her face; she was feverish, but whatever it was she had finally broken through.

Questions shot through her mind at a kilometer per second: Where was she? Did something lick her? What happened to her? Why was she here? And what was this slick feeling on her left cheek?

Lifting up a shaky hand, she tentatively touched the affected area and was surprised even more so, her pupils dilating wildly in shock. It was saliva. The raven-haired girl paled visibly. She had not been imagining things, after all. Something had licked her. Something had the guts to lick her! It had the audacity to violate her while she was not even conscious!

"Who. WHO DID THIS?" she snarled, her hazel brown eyes flashing with fury.

There a laugh, a haunting girlish giggle that sifted through the trees, rustling the leaves, amidst the white mist. Wait, a white mist? Oh, that's right; she had used it. Never mind that stupid detail! Where was this giggling coming from? It sounded like it was coming from --- above her!

Shooting her gaze upwards, Kanako was greeted with a sight that literally stole her breath away for an instant, all of her hot anger draining away to a cold trickle. Keitaro had told her long ago that it was normal for people to get scared of something new, something they had never seen before in their lives. Fear of the new was something she had tried all of her life to overcome by studying as much as she could, but nothing from her textbooks or the Urashima family's forbidden archives could have prepared her for this monstrosity.

In effect, it was a chameleon but in a humanoid form, lacking a tail altogether. Powerful claws on its strong hands allowed it to grip easily to the trunk, while it clung upside down in a rather precarious position. The "flesh" was a perfect camouflage, literally taking on the constituency and smooth texture of the dark bark, while a natural smattering of leaves filled in for hair and other artistic necessities.

However, for all of this stealthy artistry, the spell was broken once the victim gazed into those mismatched telescoping eyes, red and yellow, and the mad grin, revealing the white glistening razor edged fangs.

"Peek-aboo! Zazie sees you!" the demon cooed eerily.

The reaction was quick and vicious, driven by lightning reflexes Kanako rolled away from the base of the tree into a crouch and leapt off her feet. She twirled about in an acrobatic twist and lashed out a with a whistling roundhouse kick, only to meet nothing but air. Surprised, the raven-haired girl landed gracefully on her toes and bounced back, clearing space for her to maneuver unhindered; her electrified senses in a rush of exhilaration. It had been quite some time since she had a good fight, as she rarely had a chance to spar with her big brother thanks to their vow of secrecy.

Today, though, was turning out to be a different story very quickly. Never would she have imagined, not even in her wildest dreams that there was a demon prowling the ground at Mahora Academy. In fact, in this day and age with the triumph of the Mage's Association, it was small miracle alone to see a free demon. Now, she had exactly the sort of justification to convince Keitaro into helping her raze this entire school to the ground! Why, it was all in the interest of public safety!

Sniff!

"Aa-ah! Such a good smell. Zazie feel sleepy."

Kanako tensed up, a look of clear horror on her cringing face. Behind her; the accursed hellspawn was breathing down her neck. Hot!

"FUZAKKEN NA!" the raven-haired girl roared savagely as she spun about, driving back an elbow strike into --- nothing.

Unbelievable! Was she really that much out of practice? Better yet, why was a demon speaking Japanese!

"Here! Here! Zazie here!"

Kanako whirled to her left and there was the demon, standing five strides away, waving happily at her. Its camouflage had changed completely, twisting it into some machination of brown earth and grass to match with the green lawn that it stood upon. Apparently, the chameleon demon could adapt rapidly to changes in its environment, or so she inferred from the visible evidence.

"Play! Play! Play with Zazie more!"

Play? The demon wanted her to play with it? Kanako gritted her teeth in abject aggravation. Was it still a child? No matter, it was time for her to take the kiddy gloves off. Already she had allowed the powers of her bloodline limit to overflow on three occasions, and at the rate she was going, Keitaro and her might as well leave Tokyo tonight. She had given anyone interested in finding them plenty of clues already of their presence.

It was not as if her big brother could be anymore disapproving of her than he was going to be when he found out of her "misdemeanors." Adding one more dent to the mess could not possibly hurt her anymore at this point. Their parents were going to be furious too. They had both forbidden use of the family arts and her powers many, many times, but to the raven-haired girl, it was high time that the world bear witness once more to the awesome might...

...of the Urashima Shinkage Ryu.

"Fine. I'll play with you." A burst of blue chakra erupted from her person, sending her clothes and hair fluttering about as it coalesced into a blue aura that burned wildly. Drawing a deep breath, Kanako focused all of her released energy towards her hands until they literally ignited into bright blue flames that left smoldering transparent trails in the air.

"Pretty! Pretty! Oooo, Zazie want to know!"

She relaxed her stance, easing her center of gravity down, as the muscles in her legs coiled up like springs, preparing her for the moment to pounce. "Urashima Shinkage Ryu - Ougi --- Hakke!"

Suddenly, Kanako struck, the air whipping past her face, crossing the distance that separated her and the demon as if she were a black-brown blur. She would end this foolish game in one blow; a straight shot to the face ought to be more than enough to knock out a demon of this size and not kill it, if she controlled her chakra correctly. When it regained consciousness, heh --- she'd be able to ask it all the questions she wanted!

"Here I come! Meichuudan!"

Her open palm thrust forward with the force of a bullet, sure and straight without hesitation towards the demon's face --- but again --- it dodged. Not even a hair of grass was severed from its head as its hair fluttered from the forced dispersion of air, cocking its head aside casually well before her blow had even arrived. Unfazed, the demon grinned at her with the same maddening energy, baring its fangs openly.

"Abune! Abune! Dangerous, it was!"

Kanako snarled, her pretty face twisting into feral savagery. "Don't get too cocky yet, kisamaaa!"

Not bothering to recover, she lunged in with a headbutt to catch the demon off guard. The attack failed to connect entirely as the creature literally bent over backwards with a girlish laugh, before springing back up like an elastic band to headbutt her back. Their foreheads collided roughly, sending Kanako stumbling back with a pained yelp. Bemused, the demon imitated her reaction with an exaggerated shriek, rubbing its bottom and head simultaneously as if it were a monkey.

This notably put a sharp ticked off twitch in the raven-haired girl's brow. With a rousing battle cry on her lips, she closed the distance swiftly, loosing a slick punch from her left for a body blow. The demon twisted aside, dodging this, and then pivoted in the opposing direction, evading the follow up from Kanako's right. She feinted with a quick jab, causing the demon to turn aside prematurely. Thinking her moment had come, she exploited the weakness, stepping in swiftly with a backhanded chop to her opponent's face. She was certain she had the demon this time for sure.

Again, the unthinkable happened. Using the same incredible strength and agility when it had juked out from her headbutt, the creature contorted its body in a seemingly impossible manner, bending to the side to dodge the chop. The demon sprang back into place naturally, flashing the same mad grin at her as she leapt away to assess the intense situation.

Incredible! I've never seen anything like it, Kanako thought in amazement as stared at the motley humanoid mass of grass and earth. The forbidden texts never said anything about a demon that could fight like this! Its speed, power, and agility certainly exceed mine at my current normal battle strength. Now that I think about it, that blasted thing hasn't moved a single step away from where its standing since we started fighting. I haven't gained any ground at all! What the hell is it?

The demon clapped and waved encouragingly at her. "Saa, saa! Fun! Fun! Play with Zazie more! Please? PLEASE?"

'Zazie'? Is that its name? Hmm, it does sound like a female --- that might explain the unusual speed and agility it has. According to my studies, many female demons share the same inherent physical traits as that found in female humans. I can only wonder what fighting a male of this species would be like... No matter. Even at my current level, I can still find out more about her capabilities, and if I want to go that far, we'll see how she handles the rest of my --- repertoire. Now then, let's see how she handles my kicks!

"Hmph, it's not over yet. Let's go!" Kanako shouted as she charged in again.

First, the raven-haired girl dished out with a feint to the face and jabbed quickly towards the stomach with her other fist. Zazie saw through the ploy easily, bending inwards to evade the jab before abruptly contorting backwards to avoid a stinging follow up forearm blow to the face. Kanako persisted, thrusting out an open palm in the hopes of scoring a hit to the demon girl's exposed gut, not to mention to test the speed of her opponent's recovery rate.

Amazingly, the humanoid mass of grass and earth sprang right back up, tucking in rapidly for another spectacular dodge. The demon girl was inhumanly limber and strong, well beyond her expectations. It was like fighting with an anime character who was just ignoring the laws of physics and biology altogether. What a graceful opponent, Zazie's incredible movements appeared to be a combination of many different skills ranging from dance to acrobatics, contorting her body freely at will. Even a Drunken Fist or Suiken fighter could not dodge like her.

Kanako grinned inwardly, as she exchanged more idle blows to keep the demon girl occupied. It was about time to put Zazie's abilities to the test. She feinted one more punch to the face and then suddenly drew back, lifting her right leg:

"Urashima Shinkage Ryu - Taijutsu Ougi! Hyakuretsu Kyaku!"

Her assault was brutal and lightning quick. Ordinary humans eyes could hardly see the rapid flurry of attacks, a hundred rending kicks unleashed in seconds as she used her chakra to push her body briefly to superhuman limits. Even with the demon girl's unbelievable strength and flexibility, nobody should have been able to dodge and much parry the frenzied rain of kicks where they were most deadly at such close range; nobody. Kanako was that confident in her victory.

Yet, again, her expectations were --- exceeded. Perhaps, she would have to start using her ninjutsu, after all.

Zazie's mismatched eyes brightened, her mad grin turning into a smile of pure bliss. She ducked and weaved, laughing merrily as she juked and contorted, slipping through the hair raising fury of kicks, like a needle threading through cloth. Clumps of earth and bits of grass fell off her body from each breathtaking near miss. Between her freakish dodging and the powerful chakra dispersing in the air from each of the human girl's kick, Zazie's camouflage was coming apart literally.

Kanako could only watch in amazement. There; she glimpsed silvery hair, the sleeve of a brown blazer, a pleated plaid skirt, and --- MAHORA ACADEMY's EMBLEM?

"Rooman Kaishou --- Hissatsu! Kaiten Kyaku!"

Suddenly, a burst of red chakra erupted from her body in twin circular rings as the raven-haired girl stepped forward flawlessly, leaving an after-image of herself into a different technique during mid-attack. She pivoted off from her formerly attacking foot, whirling about swiftly with a low leg sweep. Caught off guard at last, Zazie took flight and jumped upwards, somersaulting backwards through the air with an acrobatic twist where she landed several meters off in a feral half-crouch facing Kanako.

The demon girl was visibly tired, her breathing heavy as a sheen of sweat broke out on her crumbling face, revealing the bronze colored skin underneath. Kanako could hardly believe what she was seeing, with much of the camouflage stripped away, the chameleon demon turned out to be a Mahora Academy junior-high student just like her. How was this possible? Was this supposed to be some kind of joke?

Come to think of it, how could demons get tired anyway?

"You're not just any ordinary akuma now, are you?" Kanako addressed her opponent with cool suspicion. There was clearly more to this creature than meets the eye and she wanted to find out what secrets it may be hiding. Perhaps, it might even be able to help her unlock the subtle mysteries she had already encountered in this school, though she was disappointed that she would not have a chance to test her Shyunpo on it.

It would have been interesting to see how much faster the demon girl could go.

Deciding to take a gamble, the raven-haired girl extinguished the blue flames of chakra from her hands and relaxed her stance in the hopes of engaging the demon girl in conversation. This little encounter had turned out to be quite a rigorous work out, and she worked up good sweat out of it. Nii-san and she really needed to spar and train more often. Their incognito lifestyle was starting to make them turn --- soft.

Zazie blinked. "A demon? Zazie a demon? Zazie not demon. Zazie special!"

"How would you explain yourself then? Besides, what's a demon doing being a student at Mahora Academy?"

"Maho-ah, Zazie knows! Zazie see now. Kuro-nya broke Zazie's magic glamour!"

Just like that, the earthen camouflage gave away into a shower of glittering sparks, revealing a rather exotic girl dressed in the standard girl's uniform worn by female junior-high students at Mahora Academy. The unusual shade of platinum blonde hair stood out instantly, her playful reddish-brown russet eyes were every bit befitting of a human. What was even more distinctive was the pair of tattoos, or so it appeared to Kanako, that graced her face: a long vertical red slash that cut straight through her right brow, eye, and right cheek, which gave off the disturbing impression of a scar. The other was a considerable teal colored teardrop just below her left eye.

Zazie stood up and struck a pose, throwing her arms outwards as if in greeting. She smiled toothily at the raven-haired girl, showing that her teeth had reverted to a more human function. However, she was noticeably barefoot and her hands --- well, they still had claws on them, and her fingers were quite --- long. "Ta daaaaaaaa! Here is Zazie!"

"Not a demon, huh? What's with the claws then?" Kanako noted skeptically, ignoring the creature's rather bizarre behavior. Strange, she never actually expected her gamble to succeed. The girl claimed she was not a demon when everything about her clearly screamed that she was one. On top of that, she seemed to have some sort of magical ability too. What was going on around here? How could the magic associations have not discovered such a threat already?

"Huh? Oh, these? Gomen ne, Zazie so forgetful when Zazie use magic glamour."

She closed her eyes and gave her arms a merry shake, standing perfectly still with her hands spread out. It was as if Zazie was basking under the focus of stage lights, but they could hardly even see the sun through the mist that Kanako knew she was responsible for creating. Wait a second, the mist! How did the demon girl get through her mist without perishing?

"Dou-duuunn! Whiiirrrr! Kyunn-Kyuun! Boom-boom! Ba-bang! Alright, my little birds, are you ready? Let's wrap this show up!"

What in the... She can actually speak in proper sentences! Huh? What's Zazie waving her hands around like they were airplanes for and making those sound effects too? Don't tell I'm dealing with an insane demon now!

"Ready, set..."

Oh no...

"Kyuuu-baaaaaaaannnnnnn!"

Suddenly, an explosion of glittering sparks and motley colored confetti gripped the area in a blinding white flash, burning away the concealing yet deadly mist in an instant. Kanako shrieked, clutching at her eyes instinctively as she stumbled back, tripping on her own feet. She landed roughly on her backside, though thanks to the grass, her fall was cushioned somewhat. Ugly thoughts rained through her frenzied mind at a kilometer per minute, asking whether she had been betrayed or if she had been tricked

If only I could see, I'd --- I'd --- what?

The pain; there was no pain in the first place. She could see perfectly, as if nothing had happened. It felt like somebody had flicked the lights off and then turned them on rapidly. All around her now, she could see the glittering sparks falling through the air, accompanied by a festive shower of confetti and red ribbons. Standing before her was none other than Zazie, lending out a pair of friendly human hands, her hands and a big, wide smile:

"Ta daaaaaaaa! Welcome! Welcome to the greatest attraction on Earth! Rainyday Zazie in the East, or Zazie Rainyday in the West. Student Number Thirty-One of Class Two-A; your class, Kuro-nyah! Zazie loves little animals like birds, and best of all --- people! Zazie love-loves people the best! She doesn't really hate anything either, and that's why, Zazie says... Let's be friends, Urashima Kanako --- Kuro-Kuro, new student, transfer student, Student Number Thirty-Two!"

Kanako stared.

This was a joke --- right?

To Be Continued...

Author's Notes:

Hmm, now wasn't that a touch disturbing? Okay, before any of you purists out there ring my neck, particularly the guys who are either way ahead in the manga or have watched the anime religiously, there has been like "ZERO" info Zazie Rainyday. We know next to nothing about her motivation or even how she behaves. Now, since I'm not a big fan of the Negima! anime, I decided to try an experiment, a little originality per say, inspired by a certain official artwork/wallie (see volume 1 Negima!) with all the girls, while Zazie is curiously off in the sunny background, centerfold, with unnaturally long hands/claws.

Don't worry, if something big about her finally comes out stateside, I'll make sure to incorporate it into her character. The same goes for Mana, who's only really had one fanservice-happy cameo appearance in the Kyoto arc. They'll both get their dues, but for now, take it as you will: love it or hate it. But be a little wary now, there is an intelligence beneath all that glamour.

Still, you gotta wonder: are we ever going to get ANY answers, darn it?

Well, and that was chapter 22 for you, folks! Hope you enjoyed it and glad you can join me because there's a whole lot more coming still. Remember, I always encourage each and everyone of you to feel free to comment, review, and/or discuss the story. Your comments can really make a difference, I assure you, and if you're up to it, feel free to ring me up on AIM, or even send me an e-mail (although you really don't need to boost my ego too often). You know how to get in touch with the meister here. And with that said, let's holla-holla back to homies who braved chapter 21's Assualt Reviewer Battery Course:

To the Squad Leader, Mister Havenoname, ho-ho! I'm impressed but understanding the mechanism of human thought and the final result are two different things, amigo. Besides, don't go killing the fun for yourself now; it'd be totally pointless if you know how to read a book, analyze it, do everything --- but! --- enjoy it.

To the Brains of the Outfit, Kippenberger, glad to hear you're enjoying the story, and I'm overjoyed to meet another Akamatsu fan as dedicated with me. Now, I'll congratulate right now on finding out Kanako's proper age and all that too; in fact, your calculations and allusions are entirely correct --- in the anime timeline. I probably forgot to mention it, but I'm going by the manga timeline where everybody starts off a year younger, and Keitaro is only a second year ronin at age 19.

If you don't believe me (trust me, I did a TON of research before I started this project), you can go check volume 1 of your domestic LH manga or I can provide you with a link to a VERY helpful Japanese fansite with tons of info. You see, Keitaro has birthday in around January, factor in the fact that the Japanese school year ends (March or April) in spring and begins in spring (April), spring is also the time period for the Tokyo U entrance exams (which is roughly in Feburary or March, if I recall correctly), plus age 17 would be his senior year, age 18 when he graduates, do the math, factor in the manga, which equals Keitaro, age 18, first time ronin. If you factored in the anime timeline instead where everybody is a year older, then your calculations would be totally correct with Keitaro, age 19, first time ronin, but then Kanako would have to be 15 years and that would open up a whole new can of worms in regards to Negima...

...yeah, let's not get into that; this AU uber universe is crazy enough as is!

Hehe, it's no big deal really, so don't feel bad about it. Besides, our little debate might help out some of the other homeboys around here who really got a huge attention to detail.

To the Love Survivor, Mister Necromonger, hey-hey! Glad to see you made it to the checkpoint (yeah, checkpoint), but I can't promise you I won't do another two episode special week a la Naruto and Bleach. Besides, I want you all to get the good stuff. Oh, and about Takahata, I would love to hear what you like about him; don't be shy now. After all, he's got plenty of fun "stuff" coming with him too. I can't say when --- BUT --- it will happen. Starts humming Certain Victory Lotus Sutra Tune while marking off a few names on his list of Blasphemers and Heretics.

Well, that wraps it up, folks, so until the next time we meet (probably next Sunday): Peace out! And get in touch with your inner Yin to the Yang!

Omake!

Naze Nani Glass Moon Desu

Episode Preview!

Chapter 23:

Gaiety Company

"Can't Kuro-nya feel it? The electricity in the air? Hnnnn, Scary Girl's coming for yoooouuuuuu."

Tsudzuku!