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 48:
The Yojimbo and the Ronin
A Love Magister Hina Negima! fanfic by James "Ray" Edwards
How they had managed not to run into a single inquisitive person in such a busy city like Mahora City was beyond her imagination. Nobody had stopped to question them in the slightest bit, and in fact, other passing bystanders were quite content to leave them be and not call the police. It was baffling to her in every way possible.
She knew they were close to Mahora Academy, and no doubt, Keitaro also knew as well by the subtle anticipatory spring in his staggered limp as she continued to support him. Already they were starting down the broad boulevard, the infamous "Academy Boulevard" with its horrendous pedestrian morning traffic and distinguishing set of twin cable cars. Pedestrian traffic was fortunately nonexistent at this time thanks to the early dismissal of classes. At the rate they were walking together, she had about a good ten more minutes with him, Keitaro Urashima, before they had to part.
Parting... Setsuna thought dispassionately with an inward grimace.
Would she ever see him again? Would she dare to even see him again?
Those questions now struck her, and the other questions from before that she had brushed aside as they settled into each other's company had resurfaced with an acid vengeance as well. Keitaro had chattered cheerfully away about an ordinary day in Tokyo (for him at least) the entire way, fostering a comfortable atmosphere that had lulled away her worries. Setsuna could hardly believe that the powerful yet --- oddly mysterious young man would trust her enough to actually talk about himself, though he did not reveal anything about his family or something especially personal to him.
Nonetheless, it was still a breathless experience for the raven-haired girl. Never before, not even in her wildest dreams would she believe that someone would accept her once they saw the real her: Setsuna of the Uzoku Clan, an abominable hanyou, despicable and untouchable. She was less than human in her own eyes, not even worth trash. It was all part of the many compounding reasons that Setsuna knew why she would never be accepted, she would never be respected, she would never be remembered, and worse yet...
...she would never be loved.
None of that mattered Keitaro Urashima. He had seen her, the real her, the ugly truth behind the counterfeit mask that was Setsuna Sakurazaki, and instead of recoiling away in disgust and resentment, he had --- smiled for her and accepted her. Keitaro was doing what he could within his means to nurture that delicate silver of trust, the bond between them because whether they liked it or not, they had both become intertwined with one another. Today, they had both seen things about each other that should have never been revealed.
Behind his amiable facade, Setsuna could clearly sense the growing seeds of dread because between the two of them, she reasoned he had the most to lose. There was no doubt in her mind that Keitaro was a good man, but the incredible power he held in his grasp as naturally as breathing was something that few could resist. Many would seek him out in a heartbeat, coveting his power, and manipulate him so that they too could wield this power.
It was the same even for her. The only reason she was allowed to live, to continue to exist in this world, "Endless Illusion," was because of her own great potential. She was humble and meek, an obedient tool to be wielded at the bidding of her superiors, her human masters at will. To her enemies, she was a ruthless and terrifying, a relentless nightmare that would not be stopped until the wishes of her masters had been realized into brutal reality.
Her life was not her own, and she lived only by continuing to obey.
Keitaro was kind, perhaps too kind. Once those greedy players sank their fangs into him, he would most surely be destroyed. At the end of the day, Keitaro Urashima was only human, and like any human, he had mortal fallacies: wants and needs, friends, family, dreams, and fears. It would take some time, but even his soul would belong to someone else, an invisible collar around his neck.
Setsuna scowled inwardly at the ugly thought, mumbling underneath her breath:
"I don't want him to be like me."
"Hmm, did you say something, Setsuna-kun?" Keitaro asked her. He could have sworn he heard her say something, while he was deliberating on about his part-time job with Ayasegawa-san's Utsukushi, Utsukushi! Express Delivery Service. His boss was seriously a paragon of narcissism, and he silently thanked the managers at his other part-time jobs were not the same. In fact, they were paragons of completely different and equally disturbing schools of thought.
The raven-haired girl twitched, a faint vein of irritation throbbing on her browat the masculine honorific attached to her name yet again. She would not be surprised in the slightest bit, if Keitaro started calling her, "Sekkun"! Her righteous femininity was in complete uproar. How could he possibly have mistaken her in the slightest bit for a boy, a man, or anything else male for that matter?
"Etou...umm, Sekkun, your brow seems to be twitching a lot all of sudden."
Setsuna sweatdropped, her feminine pride taking a sharp mortified blow that nearly sent her stumbling. She was about to give him a curt retort, the lines of scorn and indignation preparing to erupt upon her face indignantly, when an abrupt disturbing thought finally occurred to her.
Why did she care about her feminity now?
"You know, if it's about earlier when I said..."
Her feminity, her appearance, the idea of being a woman, a normal girl her own age had never been issue with Setsuna before ever.
"I was really serious, you know," Keitaro spluttered somewhat nervously in embarrassment. He had never actually complemented another female, especially not one related to him in any way, about her looks before. Flattery was something Kanako had drilled with him extensively too, saying it was an essential "dating" skill, but he never did quite get the hang of it completely. "You really, really, really do look prettier, uh, cuter with your hair down."
She blushed hotly and tossed her head aside in a knee jerk reaction, sending some of her freed raven locks whipping into the ronin's face unintentionally. "Ba-Bakamono! D-Don't say embarrassing things like that aloud!"
"Ow-wow-ahaha! All right, Sekkun, I'll try to figure out a better way to say it next time," Keitaro beamed with a laugh, despite the stinging pain blossoming from his cheek.
Was it because of Keitaro Urashima? Arisugawa-sempai had commented once on her own looks, but even then, she had not gotten such a strong reaction. Besides, he was already involved with Kishyuu-sempai. Why did she care how Keitaro thought of her?
Setsuna glared up at the young man, doing her best to hold back the urge to deck him. However, instead of coming across as threatening, she only made him laugh harder, much to her private ambivalence. She was enamored, mystified, and insulted all at once.
"What are you laughing for, Urashima?" she snapped at him curtly. What is it about you, Keitaro? What is it about you that makes me care, makes me feel like this?
"Tha-that reaction! Hahahah! It's just like Kana-chan's actually!"
Again, that name. Again, he brings up, Urashima Kanako! His little sister... Oh, confound him! Is she the only girl he knows around my age that he can compare me too?
"You might not realize it, but you too are more alike than you think."
Setsuna blinked, meeting his warm gaze with a look of steely inquiring skepticism. "What?"
"Eh-hehehe! Kanako-chan is pretty mature most of the time, and it's often to a point where it borders on terrifying for a big-brother-guy like me. She's been helping me with my therapy for years, giving me lessons on how to complement a girl and stuff like that."
"Hmm..."
"But when I actually get around to saying something unscripted, coming out and saying something that really comes from my heart... Boom! She clamps up, gets flustered, goes red, stutters, and for a moment, becomes any normal girl. She tries to cover up by saying that I shouldn't say embarrassing things like that to her too, just like you do."
Pause.
"...You must be joking."
Keitaro beamed warmly at her. "Nope! A Big Brother's Honor, cross my heart and hope to die, and the whole nine-yards, Sekkun. In fact, I think you two'd make great friends too!"
Were Kanako and her really that much alike? It was not possible, was it?
"Oh yeah, I hope you don't mind the nickname, 'Sekkun'. Setsuna-kun, uhh, I mean!" the ronin explained, fumbling with his words. He really hoped this would not end up with her pounding him into the pavement he was done. "Setsuna-san is a bit, uh, I dunno really. Still, I thought 'Sekkun' would be good. It's strong, kinda cute, and pretty in the same way, anou, well, like --- you."
Setsuna blushed turning away from his gaze and back onto the sidewalk, doing her best to suppress the bright smile that had curled up the corners of her lips. She felt --- strange, a warm nostalgic feeling blossoming in her bosom. Somehow, the seemingly absurd name did not sound so bad anymore. It was like her connection, her anchor to him; something that he had given to her, a gift.
"Whatever; do as you please, Baka Ronin," she conceded with a feigned sigh. "There's no use trying to stop your bumbling ways, so I might as well leave you be."
Keitaro laughed, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. 'Baka Ronin' was a blessing, in his humble opinion, compared to the millions of other things she could have said instead.
"If you say so, Sekkun."
"Still, there're two questions I want to ask you." I wished I didn't have to destroy this good mood, but...
"Sure, go right ahead," Keitaro replied unflinchingly without missing a beat. He had known for a while now that this was coming, and Setsuna had probably been waiting to ask him since they had left Mahora Central Park.
His reaction surprised her all right, but the raven-haired girl carried on, falling back on her training to maintain her calm composure, "Earlier, when you said you knew some things about Mahora City, what did you mean by that?"
"They're good people and bad people wherever you go, Sekkun, and Mahora City's no different. However, in my case and yours, it would've been especially nasty if we had stuck around and gotten caught."
"Urashima, you don't-"
"Yeah, you're right. I really don't know much about you, but I have to trust you. If you had been a normal person, it wouldn't have been an issue, but since you're in the same business as me..."
Not an issue? What does he mean by that? "Business?"
"The 'Occult'. Keiji, the other world. Demons. Hollows. Spirits. The supernatural and the paranormal. Magic. That's the business of our lives, Sekkun, the other world within this world that few people ever see. Though I don't know why so many Hollows were after you and in the same place together no less, I know you know about them well enough. A normal person would have panicked in a split second, but you didn't."
"Urashima..."
"I don't know who you work for, or if you even work for anybody, but you and I have become involved, Sekkun. You saw my secret. There are people out there who would kill for the power I possess, they'd use me until I turned into dust, and I've been running away from them for as far as I can remember. It's game of hide and seek that the Urashima family, my family has spent generations playing."
Keitaro's words echoed disturbingly in Setsuna's thoughts, but one phrase in particular stood out like a sore thumb:
"They'd use me until I turned into dust."
The phrase struck a chord with her. It reminded her of Konoka Konoe, the heir apparent of the proud Konoe Clan, the precious charge --- no --- person she had been assigned to protect at all costs as a yojimbo. The task was a great honor, and the notion that it would be given to a yojimbo so young and someone as "special" herself was unthinkable.
At the time, Setsuna had accepted right away without sparing a second thought. It was also perhaps some small way to --- redeem herself for her past sins. She and the young miss, they had been --- close --- when they had been younger: friends. Yes, they had been friends once, just like there was a time where Motoko --- Aoyama-sempai...
Friend; what a strange and wonderful word it was that it invoked joy and sorrow all at once in her twisted lonely heart, and yet, it seemed she had never really considered Konoka's feelings. What was it like to be her, to be shackled with responsibilities and duties long before she was born? No doubt, those expectations had only grown once her awesome potential was discovered. The foreordained cage became more sophisticated, the chains binding tighter, suffocating her.
Would Konoka-ojousama be used until she turned into dust as well? Would she never be free? If she could not be free, then what hope was there for Setsuna of the Uzoku, a mere bastard half-demon?
"I --- I see," Setsuna spoke sullenly in reply. She lowered her gaze as she felt a heavy weight sink into her shoulders, a thick air of blue hanging about her presence.
"O-Oi, Sekkun! It's not your fault, all right? This is --- this is just the way I am," Keitaro assured her with a forced chuckle. Honestly, he did not expect her to take it so hard, but judging by the pale look on her pretty face, he imagined there was more to her reaction than meet's the eyes. Steeling himself, he ventured forth proudly, determined to bring up her spirits. "But it's not all that bad because if it weren't for this power, I wouldn't have met so many different people: good, bad, and all in between. That includes you too, Setsuna."
What he did not mention, was what he was going to have to do to her shortly: the power and ramifications of two decisions, neither of which seemed particularly --- pleasant...
She paused in mid-stride, coming to dead stop with the staccato rap of her shoe-clad feet that was not alone in the slightest. Keitaro had stopped in perfect time with her, and now, he shifted his weight off her. Instinctively, she gently let go of him, noting how his shadow in the strangely soothing orange of sunset stood perfectly straight on its own.
"People can't grow on their own, Setsuna. Hehe, and don't even get me started on living. I was in a real pinch back there, and if it weren't for you, I wouldn't have made it this far. People need each other for good reasons too, and you've helped me out a lot."
"But --- But the only reason-!" Setsuna began to protest vehemently, whirling about to face him, her dark brown eyes quivering with unshed tears that threatened to fall. Remorse and self-hate stared at him dead in the eye, so strong that they would have broken a lesser man into doubt and despair, but he was different.
Keitaro smiled warmly. "You needed my help that time remember? Just like I needed you too."
He needed me?
"And honestly --- from my experience at least, you don't really get stronger on your own. True strength, true power, or whatever you want to call it doesn't come from just you. It also comes from the people around you: friends, family, and even the people you don't even know yet. We're all connected in a way, you know.
"Kei...Keitaro..."
"In that moment, I became stronger because of you, Setsuna, and that's good enough for me. Trying to put a number or some amount on it is besides the point because the fact is, it made a difference for the both of us. Even though it's gonna become more troublesome from here on out --- now that we've become involved, I'm still happy to have met you: a sakura girl when the sakura bloomed."
"'Sakura girl'? 'When the sakura bloomed'?"
"'Sakurazaki'does roughly mean 'blooming cherry blossoms,' you know."
What is power? What does it mean to be strong? What were these feelings she had for Keitaro Urashima? Was there a purpose to their meeting, something grander than the human imagination could grasp? What did it all mean? She wanted to know all these things --- and more.
"Train me, Urashima Keitaro," Setsuna stated calmly.
Keitaro paused, his smile never dropping.
Silence.
A pregnant pause growing ever deathly by the second.
It was so silent that even crickets could be heard chirping, even though it was not even night yet, and they were not even out in the country side.
Soon, the power of silence became absolute, drawing in the wind that ruffled their clothes and hair, as a dust devil came whirling by, while a crow overhead cawed in delight, "Ahou ka? Ahou ka? Is he a fool? Is he a fool?"
Silence.
"Say-WHAT?" Keitaro blurted out, his eyes wider than saucers. He could practically catch fish with the immense breadth of his gaping jaws. Oh, he knew it was going to become troublesome, but he never expected THIS to happen!
She did not just say what he thought she die just say now, did she?
"I, Sakurazaki Setsuna, the proud retainer of the House of Konoe, a yojimbo of the Kensai Association trained by the Shinmei Ryu, wish to be apprenticed to you, to be trained by you, Urashima Keitaro."
Oh crap...
Keitaro twitched. He knew that particular look in her dark brown eyes all too well. Hell, she looked just like Kanako too with that look!
...she was really, really dead serious.
To Be Continued...
Author's Notes:
A One, a Two, a Three, and we're live! It's chapter 48 of Glass Moon, with three episodes left to go before the end of Volume 1! w00t, and my oh my! I promise you all WAFF and Drama, and if this chapter did not make you get all googly eyed and fuzzy, then I failed it or you've been through a very long day. But dang, talk about out of the blue --- Setsuna sure moves fast. Keitaro? Training? Apprentice? Sensei? Are Kanako and her really that much alike? Can they really be good friends? Will Kanako let her be friends despite the possibility of competition for the affections of her dear Onii-chan?
And what's with Keitaro? He ain't exactly the king of smooth, but for a hypergynoallergic guy, he sure does know the right things to say! Kudos to Kanako on that, she created the ultimate Harem no Jutsu machine man. What's his next move gonna be? And what did he mean by the other two not-so-pleasant decisions that he did not say aloud to Setsuna? Just what power is the Urashima family hiding?
Well, maybe we'll find out on the next episode of Glass Moon-desu!
Reviewers and readers alike, I'd like to thank you all very much for your continued patronage. We're getting closer to the finish line for Volume 1 AKA "24", and I promise you that Volume 2/Season 2 is going to be even better now that we've gotten all of this exposition and world building out of the way. Remember, I 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.
So without further adieu, that wraps it up, folks (see you around the same time as usual): Let the GONG ring!
Omake!
Naze Nani Glass Moon Desu
Episode Preview!
Chapter 49:
Train me, Urashima-sensei?
"I won't change my mind, Urashima-sa...no, Urashima-sensei. There's no mistake. If I'm with you, I can grow stronger. You're the one who can teach me that which I'm lacking as I am now."
Tsudzuku!