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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).

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Blue Blue Glass Moon, Under the Crimson Air

The New Life at Mahora...

Chapter 65:

Time to PAH-TAY!

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

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"SUR-PRIIIIIISSSSSSSSEEEEEEEE!" came the rallying cry of the day.

As soon as they had opened the doors to the cafeteria proper, a combination of squeals, laughter, and confetti had blasted them still on the spot. For her part, Kanako was quick to recover and melted away into relative obscurity with a little genjutsu, a simple illusionary misdirection technique. Of course, it was a little harder than usual since she had to drag Setsuna along for the ride, but she was not about to leave her new friend to the mercy of the mob of giggling hyperactive junior high girls. That being said, those girls were systematically herding Keitaro and Negi (with his glasses back now, gratefully) towards the center of the festivities, both of whom were not able to put up much of a resistance.

The raven-haired girl was frankly impressed by the overall quality and production of the event, not to mention how many of her classmates actually showed up. How they managed to organize and execute this celebration was nothing short of a miracle for such a ragtag bunch. From what she could tell, sitting down at the edge away from the vibrant magnetic center of the party where her dear big brother was largely occupied trying to remain conscious in a sea of "XX" chromosomes, everybody had pretty much shown up. Even Takahata and that buxom Minamoto woman were here, probably as chaperones, with the rumored casanova simply soaking in the pleasant atmosphere, while Shizuna seemed desperately trying to find a certain English boy.

Negi, being as short as he was, was apparently lost somewhere in the middle of that fun-filled melee.

Still, there seems to be some people missing... Kanako began to muse, before she felt the somewhat rough warmth of a lithe hand she was gradually memorizing clasp her own hand. Putting her thoughts on the back burner, she glanced aside and sure enough, there was Setsuna looking concernedly at her with a faint blush.

"Something wrong, Setsuna?"

The raven-haired girl gave a start with a gasp, trying to let go and pull her hand away on reflex, as if she had overstepped her bounds, but Kanako was having none of this foolishness. It was not as if anybody could really notice them very easily with the illusion she had put up; not to mention, they had occupied an empty table along the outer rim of the party. She quickly reversed her hand about and nimbly caught Setsuna's fleeing hand before she could get away, making the girl redden even more, apparently.

"S-Sorry, Kanako-sama, I-I...!" Setsuna stuttered girlishly, her dark brown eyes darting erratically here and there.

Kanako rolled her eyes in turn, wondering if this was some sort of punishment for her earlier transgressions against Negi Springfield, "Do I seriously look like some kind of exotic wild jungle cat to you or something?"

"...A-­Areeeee?"

"So I do look like an exotic jungle cat. Figures."

"N-No-No! Not at all, Ka-Kanako-sama, I was just-um..."

"Compassion doesn't hurt, you know. If you really care about someone, you should have the strength and the conviction to do what's necessary."

"Ka...Kanako-sama?"

"It's your first lesson, ba-ka. Not making a choice at all in a given situation is still making a choice. Silence, too, is a choice. But to us, being an idler is one of the worst choices you can make. It's better to love and be hurt than to never have loved at all, do you understand, Setsuna?"

"H-Hai, I --- I think I do."

"Good, so ask then --- what's on your mind?"

Setsuna's hand trembled nervously in her own, but when she placed her other hand on top it, all trace of doubt seemed to fade away from her finally. The yojimbo girl still could not quite meet her eyes, but at least her voice did not waver when she spoke, "Kanako-sama, why are you alone here? And how come nobody's noticed us?"

"The second one's easy. Just a little genjutsu to suggest them helpfully to keep focusing on Negi-bouzu and Keitaro-niisan," Kanako answered casually, turning her gaze back on the lively party. She was burning some chakra to keep it up, but it was negligible and no big deal to her excellent chakra control. It would take some time indeed to undo the damage the Shinmei Ryu and whoever else, probably that Aoyama scumbag --- Motoko, had done to Setsuna, but she would take her victories where she could. "The first one though..."

"It's --- it's about yesterday, isn't it, Kanako-sama?"

"Fufufu, you're pretty sharp, Setsuna. Not bad at all."

"Aa...thank you, Kanako-sama."

"And you're right, I did make a pretty horrible impression, didn't I? Yes, of course I did. I succeeded. But now... Well, I don't know if I can face these people right now. Some of the things I said were undeniably right, but I also did many terrible things too."

"Mm..."

"And then I went and saved Miyazaki's neck. They probably think I'm some kind of hypocrite too. Tsk, tsk, I feel like a delinquent child who has to finally come clean in front of her parents, and it doesn't feel right at all to be here, even though Negi-bouzu and Keitaro-niisan insisted I come."

"I --- I can understand, Kanako-sama. I've been through --- something similar."

"You don't have to talk about it yet, if you don't want to, Setsuna," Kanako giggled at her warmly. It was a seemingly, completely out of character moment, to see such a girlish light-hearted thing coming from the unusually grave and demure Urashima girl, and yet, it was strangely fitting. "Nii-san would be furious at me, if I hurt you, and I don't think I can live with myself either. I have my duties, but I also care a lot about you. After all, you're my first friend, ne?"

Despite blushing hotter than the sun, at least that was how it felt to her, Setsuna found that she had rediscovered the strength to look at the hazel-eyed girl across from her in the eye once more. It had been a strange day, and it had only gotten stranger over time. This morning the girl had wanted to rip her apart; then, she reconsidered and decided to postpone it; Kanako wanted to rip her apart again when she tried to intervene on her behalf, but then she reconsidered too; and now, here they were together:

Friends.

And now even more amazing, she --- a bastard half-demon --- was Kanako Urashima's first friend.

Setsuna wanted to thank her; to hug her; to cry with her; to do something, anything, but the moment had captured her heart completely. Kanako was... Kanako was... She was not like Kei-uh...Urashima...uh, Shishou, but... Kanako was really...

A beautiful person.

"Oh, so this is where you've been hiding, Setsuna-wanwan!" a familiar voice called out with an exaggerated husky giggle.

Instantly, the raven-haired girl was shocked from her "sparkling dazzling double-shoujo (complete with random cherry blossoms drifting through the) scene" moment. Even Kanako looked positively stunned as a very familiar tall, dark-skinned beauty approached them oh-so-casually. Setsuna had the sinking feeling something embarrassing was about to happen.

"A-Athena?" murmured Kanako, her hazel eyes wide with disbelief. How did she get through my genjutsu? It's not very strong at all, a little parlor trick, but still my immediate radius would still present the strongest area of effect. So how? Either she's really strong-willed or she saw right through it!

"Athena" waved her hand dismissively, "Iie-iie. I'm not a goddess, and I'm pretty sure we didn't get to introduce ourselves properly this morning. Tatsumiya Mana, Number Eighteen, and same class as yours; nice to meet you. Oh, mind if I borrow Setsuna-wanwan..."

"M-M-Mana-tanuki!" Setsuna cried shrilly.

"For a little bit? I work with her, if you know what I mean."

Kanako gaped at the revelation, but quickly composed her demeanor. It was the answer to her earlier question, and it confirmed that Mana definitely was --- extraordinary. "Ah, I see."

"Pretty impressive demonstration the other day, by the way. So can I have her, please? Pretty please?"

"Ka-Kanako-sama, w-wait I can explain-"

Twitch!

"It's --- okay." Kehhh, this --- feeling! "I can --- wait for you, Setsuna. You can leave your things here; I'll take take care of them."

"Oooo, you're already on a first name basis? You two sure moved fast."

"Ah! What are you-eek!"

"What? She said you can leave your stuff here, didn't she? Hmm, be back in a bit, Kanako-dono. I really hope you drop the special effects before I get back though because Miyazaki-kun has been going nuts looking for you, okay?"

"Aa."

Strongly resisting the urge to raise a perturbed eyebrow, Kanako could only sweatdrop, waving the departing duo off, except they were causing a noticeable commotion that everybody seemed to ignore as commonplace at first. Setsuna was protesting loudly and squirming like a cat that had been dropped into water, gesticulating with her arms wildly, while Mana apparently half-groped, half-dragged her away through the joyful throng of her classmates. They were more than happy to point and laugh at the bizarre sight, which only made the yojimbo girl blush redder and protest even louder.

She supposed she would have liked to watch the "entertainment" a little longer, but apparently, the fates had --- other things in mind for her. A familiar head of platinum blonde hair promptly buried itself into the bow of her neck, snuggling in quite happily with a --- satisfied moan, as bronze-skinned arms wrapped themselves around her. The intimate warmth made, quite frankly, Kanako jump in her seat, stiffening like steel, but she refused to lash out instinctively, despite her broiling hot-blooded anger. Unlike that fool of a boy Negi, she could not afford to be impulsive here; this was strictly...

"I knew that feeling was you," she grated out at her "friend."

Business.

"Unnnn, a good smell," the demon child cooed huskily, "Blood. Ashes. Fire. The Moon. Ummm-unnnn, Zazie loves Kuro-Kuro's smell."

"Che, still talking that nonsense, huh?" What the hell? Blood? Ashes? Fire? The Moon? How is that supposed to be a pleasant smell?

"No worry, no worry, Zazie's play-play friend. No one see. No one see unless Zazie say see. Tee-hehehe!"

Kanako twitched, but she held fast and kept her eyes trained forwards utterly. She refused to acknowledge that she may just in fact be at Zazie's mercy as it would not take much for the demon girl to twist her head aside and tear out her throat with a well-timed bite. There were still plenty of options left to get out of a potentially messy situation, and all she had to do was to keep talking:

"Whatever. Took you long enough to show up."

"Took long? No-no, Kuro-Kuro! Zazie here all the time, anywhere. No one sees, that's all. So BOR-INNNGGG!"

What the hell does she mean by that? "Yes, yes; listen, Rainy...Zazie-san, would you like to be my --- friend?"

In an eerily familiar twist, the demon girl happily cried out in the same inflection and exaggeration of English as she had done so the other day, "BUT! OOOO-OF! COOUUUUUU-RSE! Zazie HAPPY. HAPPY. Really HAPPY. Kanako-chan --- Zazie's FRIEND!"

O-kay, I'm going to have to do something about Rainyday's drama problem. My ears won't be able to take much more of this, thought Kanako gravely with a sweatdrop, and amazingly enough, she noted that no one seemed to have heard the platinum blonde-haired girl's outburst at all. "Good, then you won't mind helping me investigate a few --- skeletons around here, would you? Like --- Evangeline. Mr. IT. And the Hollows?"

"Sure, sure! Zazie be Hero of Justice too!"

"...Hero of-what?" Is --- is she serious?

"Wheeeee! Zazie be Hero of Justice!"

"Eh...hehehehe, sure." She sounds like a character out of a giant robot anime.

"And Zazie's first act: to report suspicious!" the platinum blonde-haired girl declared loudly as she disengaged herself, stomped up to her feet, and powerposed with "The Great POKE of Justice!(TM)" towards the heart of the party.

Kanako sweatdropped, "...huh?" Is she for real?

"Boss Kana-Kuro! Nodoka's party missing play-classmates, Zazie think so. Three --- four --- five --- six! Six play-play friends classmates missing."

"And...how is that-?"

"Hakase Saotomi, Number Twenty-Four; Evangeline A.K. McDowell, Number Twenty-Six; Asakura Kazumi, Number Three; and very suspicious, Kagurazaka Asuna, Number Eight; Konoe Konoka, Number Thirteen; AND LAST --- Aoyama Motoko, Number Thirty-Three!"

Whoa, how the-? thought the raven-haired girl in surprise, before scanning the party herself for the missing suspects. Sure enough, Zazie was right. None of the girls she mentioned were here at all, most curiously absent.

"Nodoka said party for Negi-sensei and ---- tee-hehehe --- Keitaro-anchan-!"

"Hey! Don't use Nii-san's name with such familiarity, Zazie-san!"

"Hai-HAI! Zazie thinks very suspicious!"

She completely ignored me. That little...! Stil --- the girl's right. Kagurazaka and the rest of the brats are strangely missing. Albeit I can understand why Evangeline wouldn't be here; same for Aoyama-teme too, but the others? Kagurazaka wouldn't miss a chance to provoke me so...

"And that Zazie's that! See you tomorrow, Kanako-kurochan!"

"O-Oi, hold on a sec-!"

It all seemingly happened in an instant for her, rising out of her seat, determinedly reaching out with her hand to grasp Zazie by the shoulder. The platinum blonde-haired girl was there, and then, she was not there, a mirage dissipating into a blur of violet. Instead, her hand found its way onto a different shoulder, belonging to an eerily familiar looking timid girl with long bangs masking her eyes. The girl gasped shrilly, bringing the festivities to a sudden surprising halt that froze everything on the spot, including the proud Urashima girl.

Kanako flushed red, easily surpassing the blush reciprocated by her shorter classmate. She had never felt more embarrassed in her life, caught quite literally red-handed by the multitude of eyes that now gazes upon the scene. This had to be some sort of twisted cosmic payback for all the things she did yesterday and probably way before then (God only knows how much), come back to haunt her at last.

Fight or flight?

Cut and run?

Stand and burn in mockery?

What the hell was she supposed to do?

And on top of that, Keitaro-oniichan --- Setsuna --- that brat, Negi-bouzu --- and everyone else was watching! All of them were looking at her. Why? Why now? Why did they have to look at her now?

"Nodoka-san, you remember the present, yes?" Chachamaru's serene mezzo-soprano sliced through the thick stifling tension like a hot knife through butter.

Kanako gaped, barely catching her mouth in time, as she had not even noticed the --- strange neon-haired girl standing beside --- well, Miyazaki Nodoka, the hostess of the "party." Chachamaru was standing there like some kind of Heaven sent guardian angel with a guiding hand on the other shoulder of the faltering soul, giving her strength to forge ahead. The image they formed together was ethereally prophetic, and grudgingly, the hazel-eyed girl had to admit these two did make a startlingly good "pair" of sorts.

Of course, she also had a pretty good idea who Chachamaru's master really was...

"A-Anou, um, HERE; Ka-KANAKO-SAN, pl-PLEASE ACCEPT THIS!" Nodoka addressed her in a surprisingly loud voice for the shy girl's petite frame, as she thrust forward a sizeable stack of coupons in her small hands. "I --- I want to thank you for saving my life, Kanako-san. I'd've broken my neck for sure, if not for you, so --- so please, accept this! These are discount coupons from the school bookstore. I --- awaawaa! --- I know it's not much, but..."

She did not have a clue how she did it, but somehow, Kanako managed to blush redder and blanche whiter. How could such a little thing turn out like this? If she accepted this gratitude, all those idiots would laugh at her and call her a hypocrite! If she did not accept, they would all hate her more and...and...

---

"Ttaku, Kana-chan, you know we can't take pets home."

"B-But, Onii-chan, this little one will-!"

"Yeah, I know, but it's also the rule of nature, isn't it? Hina-obaachan said so herself: 'The strong survive and the weak become food for the rest.'"

"Ah-! That's --- that's..."

"But she also said that emotion, the fire in people's hearts never have listened to reason or the laws of anything much. If it's something they want to protect, something they really care about, well --- forget everything else."

"Forget?"

"Alright, it's decided! You can keep that little one for a while, but once it gets better, you have to let it go free, okay?"

"H-HAI! Kei-oniichan is the best!"

"Whoa, hey now, there's still one more thing."

"Huh? One more thing?"

"She also said this, something she learned from Ojii-chan so she says: 'When you take responsibility for another life, you also have to take responsibility for yourself.'"

---

This memory.

Why would she remember something like that at a time like this? Kanako did not understand it. Of course, she had to accept because if she did not accept, then her dear brother would be furious at her, and... He was looking at her. Keitaro was looking at her! He even had that brat, Negi, riding on his shoulders, so the runt could get a better look, and he was --- smiling, encouraging her to be...

...just herself?

Kanako bit her lip tersely, her furrowed expression a contortion of anxiety and doubt, before finally she gave out with a resigned sigh. She could run away; she refused to run away like a coward because she truly did believe in her ideals. And since that was the case, there was only one course of action:

"I accept, Nodoka-san."

It was like the blasting climax of a crescendo at one of her father's symphonic orchestra performances, leaving the entire music hall speechless. Hironobu Urashima was a rather famous conductor and composer, combined with her mother, Reika Urashima's busy work schedule as the head one of the corporate zaibatsu owned by the Urashima family, she rarely saw either of them. It was probably why Keitaro ended up taking care of her a lot, and why they had two homes in Tokyo, one for her and Keitaro while the other was for her parents, even though they insisted it was to keep the tabloid magazines and "nosey individuals" away.

"But I won't take back my words either. They were said in malice, but they were also true; denial is only delusion. You all saw it for yourselves, the weakness in your own hearts and the superficial bonds you share. Believe what you want. But this is my conviction, and I won't sit by and do nothing, no matter what the circumstances. Become better friends, stronger people; sincerity. It's up to you all what to do with it, that's all."

What happened next was something that Kanako Urashima would never forget, as it was her first encounter with a beast that many had seen and few had the privilege of experiencing first hand: the chaotic phenomenon known as "Fangirls."

SLAM!

"I, Chao Rinshen, declare that Club KANA in honor of our new class idol, Urashima Kanako, be established!" the president and founder of Kanako's fan club shouted aloud, as she stood proudly a top of a lunch table --- powerposing. Kanako would learn later that this strange exchange student from Shanghai was in fact "THE No. 1" of Class 2-A, a superwoman genius who excelled at virtually anything. "Who's with me? My sisters!"

"Kyaaaaaaaaa! KA-NA-KO-SAMAAAAAAA!" cried a swooning girl with bright lavender hair that spilled down well past her waist. This was Misa Kakizaki, Student Number Seven, the infamous leader of Class 2-A's Cheerleading Squad and the soon-to-be "#1 Fan of Club KANA." Fortunately (or unfortunately), her friends managed to catch her in time, that is the other two members of the Cheerleading Squad: Madoka Kugimiya (#11 and future convert of Club KANA) and Sakurako Shiina (#17 and reluctant future convert of Club KANA).

"KANAKO-SAMA! Your words of courage and honesty have moved me so much, can I feature an inspired character of you in my manga? There's magical girls, love-love, moe, giant robots, space aliens, time travelers, demons, ghosts, espers, ninjas and pirates, and with you, it'll be perfect! Please-Please?" This was Haruna Saotome (#14); the resident aspiring manga-ka. Friend of Nodoka. Completely crazy.

"Ara, ara, she really isn't a bad person, after all." Chizuru Naba (#21). Tall, buxom, beautiful, bright chestnut hair, and a super motherly disposition. The really, really scary president of the Astronomy club.

"We wanna join two!" said a pair of voices in perfect unison. The Narutaki Twins. Fuka (#22), the older sister, and Fumika (#23). Their pranks were about to get a whole lot more tricky.

"Waiiii! Let's join the club too, Akira-chan, Ako-chan, Yuuna-chan!" Red-haired devil No. 2, Makie Sasaki (#16). Wild and cheerful. Claim to Fame: Ace on the Girls' Junior High Gymnastics Team. The fire of Class 2-A's "Sports Club Quartet."

"Hm, sure." Akira Okouchi (#6). Quiet and Taciturn. Claim to Fame: Ace of the Girls' Junior High Swim Team.

"Eh, why not? Always good to have more study friends!" Yuuna Akashi (#2). Balanced. Claim to Fame: Ace of the Girls' Junior High Basketball Team.

"I --- I guess, it couldn't hurt..." Ako Izumi (#5), A.K.A. Nodoka Miyazaki MK-II. Faint-hearted and soft-hearted. Claim to Fame: Manager of the Boys' Junior High Soccer Team. How she made it on the team, and still remained there was something that would baffle Kanako for weeks on end, until she finally figured it out.

Last but not least, there was...

"TOTSUGEKI! Charge, KANA Squad-aru!"

At this point, all hell broke loose in an awesome explosion of cheers, laughter, and clapping, as a mob of various girls in the class, led by Kuu Fei (#12) the other Chinese exchange student, seized a stunned Kanako. They threw her up on their shoulders, and proceeded to parade around her around the cafeteria, merrily singing along to an entirely improvised anthem --- "DASH! DASH! Gan Gan Ga-Gan! SCURAMBRU! Here comes the KANA Squad!". This exact song would later come to be known as "The KANA Squad March!" theme.

For her part, Kanako could only weakly protest as she realized the gravity of the situation because in a single act she had gone from "Class Bully" to "Class Idol":

Kanako Urashima had a Fan Club.

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To Be Continued...

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Author's Notes:

Three, two, one: BLAM-MO! And we're live with episode 65!

Misunderstandings do always make for great comedy and drama with just the right --- push, no? Hehehe, as for Negi trying to be the "independent" hero, well, it's only natural from his limited experience; he is trying to live up to the legend of the Thousand Master, and besides, he's a magi for Pete's sake. Shouldn't he be the one to save the day and helping other people, instead of getting saved himself?

Now, let's see what we got here for this episode... Oh! There was a ton of character development here; some of it too cute for me to even put into words. With a little humility, Kanako has gone from Bully to Class Idol, can you believe that? Just to add icing to the cake, she even managed to somewhat make friends with Zazie, though Zazie's completely off the wall as usual, and earn likely even more of Setsuna adoration and loyalty. Of course, Mana and Setsuna do have a rather --- comical working relationship.

So what's gonna happen next?

Perhaps, 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. 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: Semper Fidelis. Always faithful. Carry on.

Omake!

Naze Nani Glass Moon Desu

Episode Preview!

Chapter 66:

After Party

"Didn't I tell you it'd work out just fine?"

Tsudzuku!