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 31:
Cover-ups
A Love Magister Hina Negima! fanfic by James "Ray" Edwards
"Hey! I'm a skilled amateur; there's a difference!" Kitsune smiled, bearing her pearly white teeth deviously. "Besides, you might pick up something nice. Maybe a temporary chakra booster. Don't know how much, but you gotta be willing to take a little risk to win it big, Urashima-chan."
Great, she's a habitual gambler. I can tell, and that's her poker face too, although I like Haruka-obasan's better. "Hmph, I'll take it."
"Sound great! Nice doing business with ya. I reckon I'll be hearing plenty from you, and trust me, we'll be seein' plenty more of each other too. I'm interning here as a 'special intern.' Don't know what they going to make me do, but it should be fun. I'm also studying on an intramurals program between here at the University Section and down over at good ol' Toudai too."
Tokyo University! She got in to Tokyo U? But how? "Hmmm..."
"I tell you that test was a toughy but I made it. Being EIGHTEEN never felt so great (except not being able to get me some sake legally just plain blows, not that it ever stopped me)! But anyhow, I also already landed me a spot on the school newspaper as a co-editor, so if you got a good scoop, feel free to send it my way."
"Uh-huh." Oh great, on top of that, she's just like Reporter Girl and a drunk; what have I gotten myself into?
"And that's pretty much all I got to say to you because we're running short on time," Kitsune finished. Her timing was impeccable as the green humming chakra emanating from Kanako's hand dissipated at last, indicating that she had either finished healing herself or she had emptied all of her chakra completely. The older foxy girl was betting more on the former than the latter, her gambler's intuition was hardly ever wrong. "Company should be here in five minutes, and I reckon I should clean this mess up before they get here. Don't worry; I'm very thorough. So why don't you pick up Negi-chan and get him out of here?"
Kanako worked her healed shoulder methodically, testing it for weakness. She felt only a few pricks of pain here and there, but she had done a good job overall with limited resources, her chakra reserves dry. "Fair enough. I don't want to be caught up in the mess of things, anyhow."
"A reasonable gal, huh? I like that. Oh! And don't forget his staff, Urashima-chan!"
The raven-haired girl paused before Kitsune, just as she was about to bend down and pick up Negi's unconscious form, which lay on the grass between, as if in repose. Kanako shot the foxy girl a suspicious glance as Kitsune indicated insistently to her left, with a casual jab of her thumb, where the boy's staff lay in the grass. Why did she not want to retrieve herself? A mage's staff was surely a valuable item, right?
"Well, go on. It don't bite, you know."
If this were an offer she could not refuse, she would gladly spit in the fox's eye. Kanako cringed vehemently at Kitsune, her displeasure and mistrust self-evident, as she turned towards her task. Truly, the only remarkable thing about Negi's magical staff was its shape. Otherwise, it was an oddly alluring antique, wizened surely with great age. How it was still in one piece was very likely a by-product of magical enhancements, she reasoned, and when she finally picked it up, well...
...it only confirmed its age to her. It was really old, the texture of the wood coarse to the touch.
Unbeknownst to her, Kitsune's brows were rising precipitously with a most curious curve. She was barely holding back the urge to whistle again in her utmost appreciation for the absurdity in front of her. Then again, she supposed the Urashima girl had much purer intentions when compared to herself, although she had to argue that she was not honestly that bad of a person --- just a little, teensy, incy-wincy bitamoral, that was all.
"Is that all?" Kanako asked her with one last questioning glance. She had set the staff back into the unconscious boy's arms, which curiously caused him to grasp it subconsciously, holding onto it with a firmness that belied its precious meaning to him. The raven-haired girl had then set about hauling up Negi into an "arms carry," hooking one arm underneath his knees and snaking her other arm behind his back securely; a remarkable feat of strength for a girl of her lithe build.
"Uh-huh. Just remember that he'll be hungry for some spicy stuff when he gets up in a few hours. Oh, and little extra bed rest, never hurt a soul too."
"Fair enough."
"See ya around, Urashima-chan."
"I hope not."
Kanako left, strolling silently in spite of her burden. She was a living shadow, carrying the unconscious magi child, back through the thin woods, melting seamlessly into anonymity. Truly, what a remarkable girl that Urashima family had bred and raised. It would be a shame, a terrible waste if she had to be erased in the future.
Kitsune smiled eerily, her eyes opened with a cunning gleam. "You can come on out now --- Kaede-chan."
The wind shifted suddenly with a sharp gust, sending her clothes and hair billowing with its flow. Leaves carried by the gust danced in the air, soaring whimsically with no purpose or direction of their own, following only the path of the gust. From this veil of green leaves, the outline of a feminine figure appeared, gaining shape and definition, until at last the leaves were dispersed by a clearing gust.
Clad in the brown and plaid red of a Mahora Junior High female student's uniform, a younger girl just about as tall as Kitsune, hough a little shorter, now stood before her. Quite frankly, their close resemblance was more than a touch disturbing as Kaede Nagase wore the same foxy expression on her pretty face. Given a few more years, she would be just as beautiful and amply well-endowed, of which the seeds had already begun to blossom.
The were only two real ways to differentiate between the two: one being Kaede's short grayish-green hair, which was not as short as it appeared, compared to Kitsune's platinum blonde. There was a long ponytail, tied at the nape of her neck by a corded white ribbon, extended well past her waist, not to mention a cowlick that sprouted comically out of her kept bangs. Of course, there was also the huge difference between the passive demeanor of the younger fox girl and the absolutely magnetic presence of the elder kitsune-tan.
"Nin-nin-nin! Ooi, this one has come, de gozaru," Kaede greeted Kitsune with her characteristic laidback ease, waving her right hand.
The platinum blonde-haired kitsune returned the gesture with equal fervor, "Yo, good to see you're well, Kaede-neechan."
"And you as well, Kitsune-aneki."
"Hmmm-hmm," they both hummed in unison, almost as if they were twin sisters. Of course, any casual inquirer if there was something more to their relationship just by the way they referred to one another as sisters; Kitsune, the elder and Kaede, the younger.
"Say, I reckon you took care of that little peepin' tom, didn't ya?"
"Hai, that I did, and it's right here in the palm of sessha's hand."
Kistune raised an inquiring brow as the younger girl reached behind her back, wiggling her fingers (almost magically), and procured a crushed "reconnaissance drone." Chunks of its once perfectly spherical hull, sporting countless "eyes," had been gouged out, exposing sporadically sparking circuitry underneath and, well, other things. It was bleeding a combination of clear hydraulic fluid, brown motor oil, and apparently --- blood, while it made weak chirping noises.
"Well-well, what DO we have here?"
"This one honestly doesn't know, de gozaru."
"Peppy little fella, ain't he?"
Kaede chuckled self-consciously, feeling herself beginning to sweat a little. "Gomen nasai, sessha was trying to capture it intact, Kitsune-aneki, but..."
"Eh, don't worry your pretty little head over it, Kaede-neechan, and seriously, have a little more self respect for yourself, girl! At least when you're alone with me, you should stop with the 'sessha' business."
"Ah-hahaha, of course, Kitsune-aneki. Demo I'm just a genin, that I am, and..."
"Oh Sweet Geezus, no wonder oyaji never gets along well with your old man; hard to believe they were even brothers."
"Ah-hahahah..."
"I gotta thank kaa-san for giving me some leeway in the business, or I reckon I'd been a complete yarou-dono like Eiji-temesan."
"Etou..." Kaede barely held back the urge to openly gawk at the blatant disrespect Kistune was showing for her own father. Eiji Konno was a great man by the standards of the main house! Of course, her own father, Asuma Nagase was a great man too, and he had been born into the main house before marrying into the Kouga. Yes, this was something that always struck her as odd about her squad captain, but then again, she was only a low-level nin, and it was not her place to...
"Stop."
"Ara?"
"You're going into that broody ninja girl mode, I reckon."
Broody ninja girl mode? What's Kitsune-aneki talking about? "I beg your pardon?"
Kitsune sighed airily, press a palm to her forehead. "Oh, we'll talk about it later. Took me ages just to get ya to stop calling me taichou. You Kouga ninjas sure are an uptight bunch, almost makes me glad I turned out to be some miko prodigy."
"But, Kitsune-aneki, it's an honor-"
"Honor-schmonor, how troublesome. Fame, fortune, and a harem of gigolos at my beck and call, 'hun? Now, I like the sound of that."
"Ara sa..." Kaede murmured, as she began to sweat a touch uncomfortably. Holding out the strange mechanical drone, which quite frankly far exceeded any piece of military equipment she even know of, was tiring out her arm, and on top of that, the subject Kitsune spoke of was rather controversial. Simply, it was going against countless generations of time-honored tradition!
"Oh, you can put away the drone now. We'll get a pro to look at that later."
"Ah, of course, Kitsune-aneki."
"Anyways, what d'ya think of that Urashima Kanako girl?" I know you were watching Kaede, so don't deny it now.
Phew, thank you, Kami-sama! I was afraid she wouldn't change the subject. "Urashima-san is it, de gozaru?"
"Yup, considering you brought her up to me first, and frankly, I reckon I was a touch disturbed by the intensity and urgency of your --- little report. You could've given me more than three seconds before the note blew up! I didn't even catch the entire thing, just something about an Urashima and one of your classmates getting beaten the hell out of by her or something."
"She's a formidable kunoichi, maybe chuunin level or higher. The techniques she used were definitely high-level, most of which I've never seen before, that I have not."
"So do you think she's a threat?"
Kaede nearly choked on her own tongue, thanks to the abruptness of Kitsune's direct question. It was one of her superior's odd quirks; one minute she could be the paragon of tact and subtlety, and the next minute, she could be --- bold and blunt as a hammer. "A-Anou sa --- that's a good question, and this one thinks-"
"Hey, didn't I tell you to cut it out with the sessha? You're shinobi, not samurai. Put that head of yours to good use like a true kitsune. It's the little things, Kaede, the little things that brings great success and rains abysmal failure."
Hmm, it seems the taichou must be really serious if she dropped the formalities altogether. Ttaku mou, Kitsune really is something. What she says makes perfect sense, but... Hmm, can I really make chuunin as I am now?
"Still, you shouldn't take it like you're completely hopeless either, Kaede. I don't know why you do it, but you're very determined, plenty of heart, plenty of guts; probably why you tried to fight that Sakurazaki girl head-on, even though you knew you would lose trying to fight like a baka samurai. Stupid is, but lots of heart."
Kaede smiled. "Arigatou gozaimasu, Kitsune-taichou."
"Boke, I told you not to call me that! We're like family, you know," the older girl admonished her yet again with a wink.
Yes, that's why she insisted, I suppose, that we address each other as sisters, even though we're distant cousins at best. Kitsune really is something special. That's why I'll follow her anywhere. As long as I'm with her, I know I'll get stronger, and some day, I'll become a Kage for sure. "Hai-hai."
"So, what's the verdict before I clean this mess up? With the genjutsu you put up, we should at least have another two minutes before Takahata-sensei finally figures out he and his pals are being duped, I reckon."
"I think that Urashima-san won't compromise our mission, or the safety of the civilians, students and staff included, here as she is now. Demo-"
"'But-'?"
"If she really does become a real loser," said Kaede with a grave scowl, opening her eyes wide, "then I'm afraid she'll become a fearsome enemy. To meet a nin who has that much power, so much that she can vanquish a large Hollow that powerful, hurt grievously by the second, and then recover within such a short amount of time is --- frightening. On top of that, she has a bloodline limit that I've never seen before or heard of at all. She IS dangerous."
"If she become a real --- loser, huh?"
This little sideshow could be some fun, after all.
Kitsune beamed brightly. "Saa, saa, let's blow this scene, Kaede-neechan. Ring up, Kazumi-chan to hit the books A-SAP. I wanna know everything about her: likes, dislikes, relations, family, the works, understood?"
Of course, it was always understood. Kazumi Asakura was new; Kaede she had known from a while ago, but like any other team she had been given, she had earned their trust and respect with ease. By the end of the day, Kistune would know everything about Kanako Urashima that she had not bothered to hide or had carelessly left for others to find.
However, it was just the beginning...
Only an idiot would let a golden opportunity like this slip by, and I reckon I'm not about to become the first Konno to be branded soft-hearted bakayarou, period.
To Be Continued...
Author's Notes:
Chapter 31! More conspiracies abound! What's Kitsune true objective? What does she have planned for Kanako? Will Kaede ever become a Kage? Better yet, why the heck is Kanako getting involved with Negi? Should she have just left him with --- ahem --- Kitsune?
Well, maybe we'll find out on the next episode Glass Moon, so stay tuned because we're probably going to get back to back episodes next week!
Once again, I'd like to thank you all very much for your continued patronage. 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.
Also, on the subject of the Reviewer reply shout-out column here, I've decided to switch to using Review Reply feature instead. So if you actually wanna hear what I got to say, I hope your e-mail addy's are the right ones. Yes, it might seem as a bit of a cop out, but I really don't wanna catch drama and fire from the God's up above, if you know what I mean.
Well, that wraps it up, folks, so until the next time we meet (around the usual time again): Peace out! And good luck with exams! There's only two weeks left of the Fall semester! Ganbare! AND FAITO!
Omake!
Naze Nani Glass Moon Desu
Episode Preview!
Chapter 32:
A Push in the Right Direction?
"Che, do you really, really think you're that much better than me, Second?"
Tsudzuku!