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 27:

Running the Diamond

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

Run.

Run far, run fast.

Run while you can --- but remember this!

You will only die tired.

Run.

With a primal shout, she broke through the upper canopy of violently rustling leaves, a black-brown blur in the lethargic daze of the afternoon. Screams, unnatural with every bit of their eerie pitched squeals, followed in her flight as the dense thicket of undergrowth and magnanimous trees were sundered from their roots. Literally, they exploded apart into splinters and matter in the ensuing cloud of earth and debris. No ordinary obstacle could possibly delay this hunter.

Hollows knew no fear, and they most certainly did not get tired.

Kanako hit the pavement with a loud scuff of her shoes, rolling into a half-crouch to dissipate her momentum, before taking off again into a dead run. Her breath brisk, hot blood fueling her veins with the adrenaline to continue onwards, even as the invisible gargantuan smashed into the side of auxiliary building beside her. A thunderous uproar ensued from the tumult of destruction, punctuated by inhuman screams. Debris and dust burst out of the collapsing building as the Hollow persisted in its pursuit, tearing straight through the Victorian-style structure in an effort to cut her off.

By the raven-haired girl's reckoning, she and the wraith were heading towards one of the practice fields in the athletics quad. Two more blocks through these rows of auxiliary administrative buildings, sidewalks, and she would be at her destination where she could fight freely on open ground unhindered. The only problem was...

Here it comes again! Kanako thought irately, feeling the hairs on the back of her neck tingling sharply.

Another psychic scream tore through the air from behind her, shaking the ground with the force of an earthquake. Instinctively, she leapt to her right, focusing her chakra into her feet to run up along the side of another auxiliary building, before ricocheting off with the piercing energy of a speeding bullet. Shrapnel, shattering glass, and debris ripped apart the expanse, propelling her forcibly further through the violent air, as the invisible phantasm came screeching up behind her, persistent as ever. This was another reason she disliked Hollows so much, especially the big ones; their stamina was simply overwhelming.

What could she do? She could certainly try using Shyunpo to outrun the accursed spirit, but that would be defeating the purpose of fighting it in the first place.

The hazel-eyed girl scowled determinedly, her hair and clothes billowing backwards in the swift current of air, before she landed yet again, hitting the ground running. I can make it there with no problems. The practice field, according to the map I memorized, is only another --- yes, a block and half away now. I know I have used my bloodline limit several times already today, but it actually doesn't drain from my chakra reserves at all. About the only thing that really started tapping into it was my little skirmish with that freakish demon girl, Zazie Rainyday; of course, I shouldn't discount my earlier exchange with the Hollow.

Still, Kanako's chakra control was certainly much better than her dear brother. What she lacked in stamina, she made up for with efficiency. There was no waste or excess with her, and as far as she was concerned, she could still win this fight, despite the nagging minor injuries she had sustained earlier. Her body could file its complaints to her later. Right now, she could only hope that her luck would continue to hold...

...collateral damage tended to be inevitable in the business...

...and Keitaro would NOT approve.

"Ne-ne, Shin-no-mu! Lunch! Can we eat lunch after this? I'm STAR-ving!" cried the exotic dark-skinned girl in dramatic commiseration. Lugging around the equipment for the girl's baseball club was no joke, and between two people, it really was hard work. Ohhhh, it's super heavy duty! Ouchies, my back! Note to self: never volunteer for heavy lifting without a Quantum Gan-Gan Daicon X Type-V Exo-Suit (TM) from Kay-Su Labs. Owwie; BACK in pain! Oooh, so hungry; I'd better double book the baths tonight too... Heavy, super heavy duty!

Shinobu Maehara stifled a humorous giggle for the sake of her friend, as they "strolled" away from the nearby indoor gym building. In spite of knowing that she was perfectly capable of handling herself, Kaolla Su had volunteered to shoulder most of the burden, carrying a long bulging duffel bag loaded with catcher's mitts, helmets, the baseballs, and most of the baseball bats. She, on the other hand, was just carrying a handful of the bats in the cradle of her right arm. The foreign girl always did have a tendency to overdo things. How they managed to end up in the same class together was still a mystery to her, and yet it had brought them certainly much closer together as friends.

"Sure, Kaolla-san; I'm sure Shimura-san won't mind letting us off to grab a bite to eat at the cafeteria," she replied with a smile. "If I remember right, I think Yotsuba-san from Two-A should be helping out with the buffet this afternoon."

"Hooray-Hooray! All you can eat!"

"Hai, but please don't choke on another banana sundae again, like last week. You really should eat slower, Kaolla-san."

Kaolla scoffed confidently at the indigo-haired girl with a wide grin. Ignoring the protests of her pained back, she strode forward at a faster pace, her back straight, her held high, and a jovial bounce to her step against the crushing weight of her burden, "No problem, Shinomu! Because the evil forces of the Turtle Empire will never triumph. Yeah, for great justice! You remember two weeks ago when Mecha Gamera Type-Three went berserk in Kay-Su hazardous materials lab, don't ya? That was the Turtle Empire trying to raid my secret stash of super-good bananas hidden there, and they failed!"

"Anou, isn't it unsanitary to be hiding your bananas there?"

"Nonsense, don't you know that-"

The roar of an explosion shattered the genial banter between the two students of Class 2-F; it sounded close, and it was coming this way. They froze on the spot, a subtle predatory edge slipping its way into their body language, an assertive tension to their shoulders, as they shared a look between one another. It asked a million questions in an instant, but most importantly: the Who, the What, the How, and the Why. Oh, Shinobu and Kaolla knew all about the darker side to this town. It was part of the reason they were here in the first place.

A violent gust of wind brushed past them, all but knocking the duo of girls over as they staggered back, rocked by a second immediate deafening explosion. Shielding their eyes, their Mahora seifuku and hair billowed outwards in the air. Dust and debris buffeted against them, a blinding wave of black and brown, and above it, they could hear the screaming, inhuman howls, both male and female all at once. They, too, knew what it was, and it was virtual right on top of them.

Should they do it?

Blow their cover right here for an instant to deal with such a nuisance?

The walls and windows of Mahora Academy had more ears and eyes than an individual would care to know.

Still, how could a Hollow be here?

It was not possible, unless...

"Ninpou - Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" cried a feminine voice forcefully over the cacophonic, chaotic din.

Shinobu felt the hairs on the back of her neck tingle, her blood racing excitedly, as she sensed the brief surge of power; efficient without the slightest waste. One became three, like a sun orbited by twin moons, followed by the much larger fourth. The first three were definitely human and the fourth was the Hollow, but who could it be? She certainly did not recognize the voice. There was only one confirmed ninjutsu practitioner she knew of for certain on campus. Not to mention, there was something --- strange --- about this chakra signature.

The indigo-haired girl gasped when abruptly she felt a pair of hands wrapping around her waist, lifting her up in a single smooth motion. In a single bound, weightlessness overcame her as the familiar pavement left her feet. Something was carrying her, holding her close; it was the girl --- no, the shadow replications! To her left, she could hear Kaolla give out with an enthusiastic whoop as she too had been carried off by a kage bunshin in the process. A powerful wake rushed past them from below, no doubt from the Hollow's passage, propelling them higher upwards.

"Gomen, but I'll be borrowing one of these," the shadow replication whispered to her in a husky voice, tempered with resolute steel. It was clearly a reflection of the soul that empowered it. She was hardly in a position to protest when it promptly appropriated one of the baseball bats she was still carrying, and hurled it ahead towards its owner. "Now, hang on tight. The landing may be a little rough."

The air whistled past her ears, and a moment later, they landed roughly all right. The shadow replication grunted, its legs straining against the punishing forces of gravity and momentum, while it balanced her own considerable weight, as it skidded finally to a screeching halt. Shinobu could hear Kaolla cheering from close-by and already for a second "ride," no doubt to the bewilderment of the shadow replication. On the other hand, the shadow replication that carried her gently set back on her own two feet, holding her for a brief instant just to be sure that she could stand on her own, before stepping back in fluid grace.

"There, you're safe now," it told her flatly, "and yes, it's okay to breathe now."

Now, the indigo-haired girl had not realized she had been holding her breath, although the actual act of respiration was not that essential to her, considering the meaning of her trueself. Jumping quickly back into character, Shinobu let out with a gasp, gobbling up air hunched over in a rather undignified manner, her face flushed beet red. Opening her eyes up slowly, she caught a glimpse of a short plaid pleated skirt, brown shoes, and calf-length black socks. They were exactly the sort of items that belonged on a Mahora Girls' Junior High school uniform. Did this mean that the owner of these shadow replications was another student just like her?

Kaolla greeted her shadow replication enthusiastically with pure curiosity. She was carrying on without missing a beat, memorizing every single minute detail about this mysterious Samaritan, "Ne-ne, what's your name? Who are you? What class are you from? What was that just now? Please, please? C'mon, tell me, please?"

Not wanting to her only opportunity, Shinobu gazed upwards into the face of her rescuer. Her friend luckily did not notice her stifled gasp of shock as she met those intense hazel eyes, cutting with the sure precision of a katana, no hesitation. Glossy raven tresses tied into a ponytail by a red ribbon, beautiful, graceful, and noble; there was only one other person of quality that she knew of who was like this girl: the one who had saved her ---- from herself, her most important person.

"Kimi wa...dare?" Who are you? You're so much alike, and yet...

The shadow replication turned about face, in perfect synchronization with its twin. "Run along. This was just a coincidence; it won't happen again."

"Wait, don't-!"

Shinobu gave a shriek when the clone promptly exploded into a cloud of white smoke. Surprised, she stumbled back, the baseball bats she carried clattering noisily onto the ground, as she unconsciously shielded her face with her arms. Kaolla was there in a flash to catch her, having discarded the cumbersome load of the stuffed bulging duffel bag containing equipment for the girl's baseball club.

"Shinobu-chan, you okay?" Kaolla asked her worriedly. She had never seen her friend and colleague behave in this manner before, and a look about her at the wanton destruction around them made it quite clear that they should leave as soon as possible. With this much commotion, it was a beacon for trouble, and someone with a curious quirk was bound to investigate the scene. Ohhh, banana sundaes a plenty sound super-good right now. What to do if someone comes? Bananas! I shoulda brought the Kay-Su Quantum Memory Deneuralizer 9000 Proto-B (TM), approved for use against minions of the Turtle Empire with me!

"A Scouter..."

"Huh?"

"Send a Scouter after them!" Shinobu shouted aloud desperately, a wild look overcoming her pretty face. She broke out of the exotic girl's grasp, turned about, and grabbed Kaolla roughly by the shoulders, earning a pained wince out of the slightly taller girl.

"Owie, Shinobu-chan... I think we should be more worried about getting the baseball stuff to Shimu-Shimu-san."

It was irrational, but right then and there, she felt that she had to --- she just had to know the identity of that girl. Who was she? And why did she have those eyes? She had to know. "Don't you understand, Kaolla-san? We can't lose this chance! This could be something important...we have to find out!"

"Sure thing, sure thing, Shinomu! But --- Could you maybe put me down first? I think I'm losing circulation in my shoulders here...oohhhh, dizzy. Need bananas..."

Oh dear, she always did have a bad habit of forgetting her own strength when she got excited.

"Ah! Awuuuughhhh! I'm sorry, Kaolla-san; I'm so sorry!"

To Be Continued...

Author's Notes:

And that's chapter 27 for ya! What's Shinobu's deal? What the heck is Shinobu supposed to be? How does Kaolla figure into all of this? And just what does Kanako plan to do with a baseball bat?

Well, I guess that's something to look forward in the following installments of Glass Moon. I'm not sure how well I did with Shinobu and Kaolla, considering I've never gotten far enough in any story to ever use them. I'd really appreciate some comments on them.

Anyhow, thank you all for your time and 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 maestro here Now, before we go, let's give a shoutout to our brave reviewer who made it through the last chapter:

To the Man with the New-School Flavor, Mister Keikun4238, I'm glad you liked the new-school stuff, man because I aim to please and to entertain you folks. Stay tuned for plenty of other fun stuff, including some old school throwbacks too.

Well, that wraps it up, folks, so until the next time we meet (probably next Friday): Read on! And please, watch your waistlines! I don't want to hear a hoot about anybody choking on turkey while I was gone.

Oh, and by the way, if anybody here is a touch anguished by the deliberate pace of Glass Moon, and can't wait for the next episode, go give my new experimental Naruto-Bleach fic a whirl to tide you over. I think it's pretty decent, but I'll leave it to you all to be the judge of that!

Omake!

Naze Nani Glass Moon Desu

Episode Preview!

Chapter 28:

Batter Up

"This is the end for you! Urashima Shinkage Ryu --- Hiken - BUSTAA! HOME RUN!"

Tsudzuku!