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

The New Life at Mahora...

Chapter 66:

After Party

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

"Un-believable..." Negi breathed in wonder from his vantage, perched between the older boy's shoulders in a "piggy-shoulder" ride. He had protested strongly at the time when Keitaro had just upped and lifted him off the ground with little effort, depositing him in his present "seat." The brown-eyed young man insisted he would not dream of letting him fall, and besides, Negi deserved the best seat in the house, or so he claimed. Though frankly, Negi was privately grateful for the rescue from the --- uh, well --- overwhelming affections of one Ayaka Yukihiro, the class representative.

Below him, Keitaro laughed warmly, "Didn't I tell you it'd work out just fine?"

"Ah...well..."

"Hehe, for a kid your age, you sure worry a lot, Negi-sempai."

"K-Kora! I'm not a kid, Keitaro!" And of course, I'm supposed to worry! I'm going to be a great magister magi, and it's my job to protect...

"Aa-aa! that's enough the two of you. Teachers shouldn't be squabbling in front of their students. It's highly undignified!" Shizuna-sensei's sharp mezzo-soprano cut in, standing beside them with Takahata in her company. If she had not been around to shepherd off the girls, Keitaro would have probably been unconscious in a twitching heap of his own blood from a monsterous nosebleed.

It was a given fact that the elder Urashima was eternally grateful to her, though he was a touch unnerved by the baleful glare she was throwing directly at him --- only, "Ah-hahaha, why --- um, of course, Shizuna-!"

"That's MI-NA-MOTO-sensei to you, young man! Don't you dare think I'm going to let you off easy after what you did this morning."

"Hiiiiiiiiii! B-But I didn't mean to-" Man, she's scary when she's mad.

"Oh, really now, U-ra-shi-ma-KUN?"

"Oya-oya, Minamoto-sensei, no need to be so tsundere," Takamichi spoke up teasingly in an effort to diffuse the situation. "If you keep it up, Keitaro-kun might get the impression that you totally and madly fell in love with him, quite literally, but you're just being harsh and blunt about it. He is eighteen, perfectly legal, if I recall, so-WAGH!"

THWAP!

"TAKA-BAKA!"

And like a stereotypical hit-and-run romantic comedy heroine, the blonde-haired woman took off crying a river of tears apparently, while bemoaning "how unfair the world was". Respectively, the younger "gentlemen" could only wonder what sort of adult absurdity had just transpired right in front of their eyes. Any attempt to help a presently "KO'd" Takahata-sensei, who was apparently seeing chibified versions of Shizuna orbiting his vision, had to be put on hold when Keitaro and Negi became aware of some rather maniacal cackling.

Scratch that; it was not maniacal; it was megalomaniacal laughing combined with "I'm SO 3v1l!" powerposing. All of this was coming from an auburn-haired girl with thick "nerdy" spectacles and her hair pulled back in a low ponytail like Kanako. Perhaps, she bared a resemblance to Asuna, at least by Negi's opinion, but everything else, especially the narcissistic air she gave off was just plain different.

"Fufufufufu ---- AH-hahahhahaha! I get it now," the girl cackled with a smirk, "So a new rival has finally appeared to challenge Chiu, the Number One Net Idol in the World, has she? But the Great Chiu-sama won't lose so easily to you, Urashima Kanako! --- even if you would make a perfect complement to Chiu to boost her popularity even more, but NEVERMIND that! AH-hahahahahah!"

Negi sweatdropped. "Um, who's that?"

"Don't have a clue, but she must be in our class," Keitaro murmured back with similar sentiments.

"That's Hasegawa Chisame, Student Number Twenty-Five," a feminine voice answered suddenly from right beside them, causing the older boy to jerk aside with a yelp and nearly sent Negi toppling over. "Never has stood out much, but I recall hearing that she's a really big fan of Chiu, the World's Most Popular Net Idol, or something like that."

"Bloody, Kei-I...Wha?"

"S-Sorry, Ne-I...Whoa. Sekkun?"

"P-Please! Onegai­-desu; Urashima-kun, please get her off of me!" Setsuna cried out pitifully, having swallowed her pride temporarily. Blushing a tomato red, she was apparently being held captive, well --- more like --- being held like a snuggly teddy bear substitute by a very exceptional beauty. Keitaro could vaguely recall he had met some sort of "Bronze Athena" this morning, but could not quite put his finger on it.

Still for Setsuna to break down in public and call him "-kun" meant that she probably was not very comfortable at the moment, "O-kay, um; excuse me, Miss...?"

"Tatsimiya Mana, Student Number Eighteen. Pleasure to meet you, Negi-sensei, and of course, you as well, Kei-ta-ro-sensei," the dark-skinned beauty replied to him. Oddly, she gave him a wink in particular of her alluring lilac-hued eyes before releasing Setsuna, who all but took cover behind him, peeking out at the other astonishingly tall girl with a pouty glare. "Well, the party's been fun. See you all tomorrow then, sensei, Setsuna-san!"

Of course, Keitaro completely missed any sort of subtlety in this exchange, and figured if there was any, he was better off not knowing. He really did not want to make his life anymore complicated by adding a daily love comedy feature to it. Though, speaking of which, this all just reminded him of something he had to ask Setsuna.

But first...

"Hey, Negi-sempai! Mind getting off?"

"Ah! Err, um, sure," Negi replied quickly. Though somewhere far back in his head, he had to admit he was starting to enjoy the extended "shoulder ride" actually. He did not have a clue why he would enjoy such a thing, but he supposed he could always ask Nekane later tonight.

Once he had deposited gently the younger boy on the floor, subconsciously fussing over the kid's clothes and hair, much to Negi's annoyed protest, did he turn to address Setsuna. She was rather absorbed apparently in observing him for some reason, but business came first. He could always ask her later anyways:

"Hey, Sekkun!"

"Ah! U-Urashima-sen-sensei!" I... What was I doing? I mean, why did he do --- that --- just now to the Springfield boy? Fussing over his clothes and hair. They seemed just like --- brothers, family...

"Hora, you can call me 'Urashima-kun' now, if you want to. School's already over, you know."

She blushed, trying to avert her embarrassed gaze yet not doing so at the same time, "B-But...I, well..."

"Ah-hehe, um, if you're not comfortable with that yet, it's okay too. Anyways, you wanna come over for dinner tonight?"

"D-Dinner!" He --- He asked me! He really asked me just like Kanako-sama said he would!

"Whoa, whoa! Time out! What's this again about dinner?" Negi interrupted with a skeptical frown on his face.

"Negi, Negi, just think of it as a happy occasion to commemorate Kana-chan and me moving into our --- that includes yours --- newly renovated apartment, bringing our two families closer together, and sealing our friendship, ne?"

"Oh... Right."

"After all, I get the feeling we're pretty much going to be living in the same 'house' together, depending on how elaborate Konoemon-kouchousan gets."

"K-Konoe-sama? What does Konoe-sama have to do with this?"

"Ah, I didn't get to that during my explanation, did I, Sekkun? Don't worry; Kanako and me will drop the whole story on you tonight. So you coming?"

"Ah, etou, yes, I --- guess."

"Great! Come on, Negi; let's see if we can rescue Kana-chan back from the girls and wrap this party up. After all, you still have to get on her good side!" Keitaro declared proudly with a smile before marching off into the fray.

Negi attempted to protest, but soon reconsidered and quickly followed suite after the older boy. If he left it up to just Keitaro, God only knows what kind of trouble would happen. As for Setsuna, she had the distinctive sinking feeling that her life was about to get more complicated, and yet, she was perfectly happy with it too.

How could she say "No" to his smile? Did she even want to? No, not in the slightest bit.

Elsewhere, things were far from perfect in "Room 643" of the Mahora Academy Female Student Dormitory. The trip back from the Nurses' Office had been silent, deathly still. Not a word had been spoken between them, and tried as she might; she could not find the strength to utter even a sound in her friend's presence. Worst yet, Kirishima-sensei's willingness to abide by a strict patient confidentiality and not report the incident to anyone else had only made trying to get a word out of Asuna Kagurazaka even harder.

Konoka sighed helplessly. She had missed all of her afternoon lectures waiting for Asuna, and now, she had a mountain of notes to copy and homework sitting in front of her desk, none of which she had the heart to work on. It had been a seething, harried Narusegawa-sempai that had returned her friend back to her embrace at the time, but even she could not pry any answers out of the auburn-haired girl.

Sitting across the way, Asuna had pulled out her chair from her desk, plopping herself down emptily in front of the windows that she had opened. There was a faraway look in her mismatched eyes, the bright lively afternoon in contrast of the veiled dark melancholy in those blue and violet orbs. Her right arm, dislocated cleanly in three places, now lay in a sling, bandaged and braced up so as not to put undue stress on the ligaments and muscles that had been hyper-extended. She was on Kirishima-sensei's strict orders not to do anything rash with that arm, as even with painkillers she was going to be sore for at least a week, and her arm needed time to recover properly from the trauma.

Of course, Konoka knew all too well who done this to her friend, but a look from Asuna then had been enough to hold her peace. The look, somewhere between the contending forces of guilt, shame, and untempered hatred, had frightened her. She never dreamed she would ever see such a thing on the determined, righteous girl's face. It was not like Asuna at all, granted she had her faults, but this sort of thing was --- Asuna should have been able to laugh it off. She should have been able to declare proudly that it was just a scratch, nothing major, and there was no way a little thing like this would keep her down for long.

The Konoe heiress, frankly, would have preferred to deal with the broken Asuna, that vulnerable Asuna from yesterday than this completely different person, who now shared the same room as her. It was like being in a cage with an agitated beast, pacing the perimeter of the steel bars, back and forth --- waiting and watching; but for what? Konoka did not know, and oh, how she longed for "human" company. If only she could talk to someone, anybody; if only Asuna would return to her normal self and talk to her about what happened to her, what she was going through...

Certainly, everything would be fine, would it not?

"Konoka," came Asuna's voice suddenly, a cold smoldering flame in her ears.

Konoka yelped at the intrusion, bolting upright in her seat. There was no verbal reply, but she could feel Asuna's --- new eyes --- on her, watching and waiting, and slowly, very slowly, trying her best to compose herself, she confronted her roommate with a weak smile. "A...Asuna-chan? Ah. Anou, when --- when did you get up and walk to the door?"

"Just now."

"Oh." Why? Why is it so quiet all of a sudden? The wind should be blowing through the windows, ruffling the curtains. Something. Anything!

"I'm going to train."

"W-What? T-Training, but-! But, Kirishima-sensei said you shouldn't..."

"I still have my left arm, don't I?"

"But! ...Asuna-chan." She's --- she's walking away from me. I-I... I have to-!

"I'll be back later for dinner. Bye."

"W-Wait, Asuna-!"

The wrenching click of the door closing shut rammed home another nail into the coffin of her failures. A cool ambient breeze began to blow through the open windows, sending the folded curtain fluttering lightly; too little, tool late, as if the world was somehow trying to comfort her. She had failed to get through to Asuna with her words, her feelings falling short of expectation once again, and right when Konoka felt, she was finally beginning to feel at home here, at peace at last.

Everything had changed.

Once they had made sure everybody had pitched in to clean up the cafeteria before going home, Negi had left to retrieve a "personal item" on Keitaro's bidding back at the faculty office, namely his magic staff. The young magi had been tempted to refuse, but a knowing look of authority, an expression that he thought Nekane was only capable of, had been enough to make him reconsider. Besides, Negi figured he had won a great victory, by getting the insufferable "Kanako the Devil Cat" to promise to the newly established legion of "Club KANA," much to the hazel-eyed girl's silent chagrin, that she, their idol would appear at the first club meeting --- whenever the heck that was happening...

Anyways, Keitaro said they would rendezvous with him outside Narutaki Heights, an apartment condo complex about a block or two off campus, which was but one of many especially reserved for the school's faculty. According to what Takamichi had told him just yesterday, rumor has it that the young landlady there, a Miss Kozue Aoba, might actually be a cousin of the Narutaki twins in his own class. He had yet to have an opportunity to meet her personally, though Nekane professed over dinner last night that Kozue-san was a wonderful person.

It was in the wee hours of dusk when he finally met up with the others again. Unfortunately, he had forgotten just how big Academy campus was, not to mention how much time had passed with their activities at the party. The air was pleasant with a cooling breeze, as the sky transformed into a tapestry of gold, orange, and yellow. Despite running short on breath from his half-jog, half-run across campus, Negi felt surprisingly in good spirits, and sure enough, there was Keitaro, Kanako, and Setsuna waiting right out in front of the building for him.

"Ah --- hah! --- s-sorry for the wait," he apologized in between puffs of breath, leaning heavily on his knees.

Keitaro greeted him in turn with a bemused laugh, "Hora, hora, I guess magic-enhanced stamina still has it's limits, huh?"

"Ah! U-Urashima-k-kun..." Setsuna blurted out in a nervous stutter, her cheeks flushing red. "You shouldn't-!"

"It's alright, it's alright, Sekkun; no need to be so wound up. Besides, Konoemon-ojiisan runs this place, so I wouldn't be surprised if there were other magicians running around this town. Heck, it's practically a mage's city when I think about it."

"B-But!"

"Come on, let's head on upstairs. If I recall correctly, we're living on the top floor, and I hear it has a perfect view of Academy Campus!"

"Ah, Shi-shishou!" Setsuna squeaked as Keitaro took her by the hand, giving the thumbs up sign to Kanako with his free hand, before bolting off into the complex at full speed.

He had moved so fast that he left literally a miniature dust devil in his wake, accompanied by the Sakurazaki girl's rather comical, shrill cries. For his part, Negi could only blink the dust out of his eyes and cough in disbelief. What the heck had just happened? Did "what the heck just happened" really happen? If so, why the heck was Setsuna calling Keitaro her "Master"? And why was he using the word "heck" so much, darn it!

"Oi, are you just gonna stand there all day?" Kanako's now familiar somber mezzo-soprano broke in, jarring him out of his thoughts with a squawk.

"He --- he told HER?"

"Of course, Setsuna might be new to us, but she's still family. And besides, you should know who she works for."

"Huh-wha?"

"Come on, we can talk on the way up. Be grateful that Nii-san convinced me to baby sit you."

"B-Baby sit me!"

"Well, aren't you being a perfect baby, Ne-gi-bouzu?"

"G-Gah! ...Argh! Never mind, what ELSE did you all tell her and WHO does she work for?"

"Do I have to repeat myself?" Kanako motioned him to follow with an incline of her chin, a remarkably regal gesture by his private reckoning, and despite his reservations, Negi found himself unconsciously following her lead.

"Huh? Wha-hey, wait up!"

"She works for the same people you do, of course. The Mage's Association. Specifically, she works for the Konoe family, as a bodyguard to Konoe Konoka --- Headmaster Konoemon's granddaughter."

"She's --- seriously?" Negi asked hesitantly, as they mounted the stairs up. The apartment complex was pleasantly quiet, allowing them to talk in relative privacy, though he wondered why they were not taking the elevators instead.

"Aa, I sort of guessed already, though I was a little surprised still when she finally told us. Anyhow, she knows everything Keitaro and I know, along with what he learned today, so that leaves you with --- oh --- zero."

"Z-Zero? What do you mean?"

"Isn't it obvious? You won't learn anything if you decide to be a runt tonight at the table, so try to behave, okay, Ne-gi-bouzu."

That girl...Really! Oh, she makes my nerves burn!

The thing was, he never got a chance to make a verbal reply to that last parting shot, as they had already arrived on the fifth floor, the highest floor in the building, and their ultimate destination. Keitaro and Setsuna were waiting for them just at the threshold of his --- well, now --- their apartment, "Suite 505," the occupants being the Urashima siblings, him, Nekane, and Anya. The former "mastermind" was presently encouraging the latter raven-haired girl to flag them over by demonstrating himself, shouting in a loud enthusiastic voice "YAHOOOOOoooo! Over here, Kana-chan, Negi-sempai!" while waving his hands about expressively. Setsuna was noticeably blushing at the older boy's zeal, not able to reciprocate quite his astounding energy with her own embarrassed attempt.

Of course, Kanako was all too happy to reply with her own characteristically disturbing, super sweet, and totally out of character, "YA-HOOOOOOooooooo! We're coming, Nii-san, Setsuna!"

Negi sweatdropped. She was way too happy, like "Anya frighteningly happy," and he wondered if she may have had a split personality complex. On the other hand, the bespectacled boy was also seriously beginning to question his own sanity. Why, oh, why did something this crazy had to happen to him? He would have more than enough "fun" just trying to survive the rest of Class 2-A on his own without these two impacting his life so drastically in the first place!

Honestly, what was the Headmaster thinking? Did his Grandfather, an honorable Magus and the Headmaster of Meldiana Magic School, know of this plot? And if he did, why was he not doing anything to stop such blatant --- well --- disregard for the law and the safety of the very foundations of magic society itself? This was insane, utterly insane...!

Suddenly, Negi felt a hand shaking his shoulder, causing all but to jump out of his skin with a shrill yelp:

"ACK!"

"Yeow! You didn't have to scream, Negi-kun," Keitaro chided from beside him with a seething wince, as the older boy rubbed his ears soothingly.

Across the way, Setsuna was turning an even redder shade, as she gave him a deeply apologetic look, "Ah! U-Urashima-k-kun, you should pay more respect to the honorable magi-"

"Magi-schmagi, Setsuna. I still think the runt is a runt," Kanako interjected, draping herself sinously across the other girl's shoulders with a feline purr, the action elicting another blush out of Setsuna. Much to his private awe, Negi had not even noticed Kanako's absence until she had appeared again just then; that girl was really something else. "And, by the way, when did I say you could call Nii-san, 'Urashima-kun,' in my presence, hmmm?"

"E-Etou, that's --- well..."

"Now, now, it's okay, Kanako-chan."

"But, Nii-san, you're going to spoil her like that!"

"Oh, come on, it's just for one night, right?"

"Hey, I saw that wink just now, Keitaro-baka!"

If it was not possible before, it was possible now, as Setsuna blushed even harder, consider she was caught between the attentions of the two siblings, much to Negi's private wonder. What the heck was this? Some kind of Japanese anime love comedy?

"Ouch, looks like I got caught, huh, Sekkun?"

"Ah, h-hai, Urashima-sen-sei..."

"Hmph!"

"Um, excuse me, err, what are we waiting for?" Negi asked the trio tentatively. He really felt like an outsider here for some reason. Yes, I'm totally out of place.

Too bad it was Kanako that cut in before Keitaro could speak, using a sharp reply that verbally bit his head off practically, "Silly! For you, of course! You're the Big Master of the House, aren't you? So it's only normal that you welcome us in, since this is our first time coming home, Little Master."

"Err, right..." I think I was just insulted...but I don't get it.

"Sorry, Negi-sempai; Kanako-chan's really big on a few little things, like saying 'I'm home!' when you come home and if someone's home they should reply with a 'Welcome back!'. Yes, it's the little things, but it's also the things that bring people closer together, right?"

Negi smiled helplessly, as he mumbled underneath his breath, "I really hope you're right."

Now, if only Nekane would not freak out when he broke the news to her; oh, how he prayed she would not freak out!

To Be Continued...

Author's Notes:

A-one, a-two, a-three, and we're live! Episode 66 --- setto --- GO!

And the plot continues to thicken. Well, not really the plot itself just yet, more like the characters: some folks be growing apart and some folks be growing together, isn't it just beautiful? Three cheers for cameos and laughs all around, hahaha! Though, perhaps the most disturbing development for this chapter has to be Asuna. Our young starlet has begun walking down an ominous path indeed, leaving poor Konoka behind in the dust. And where will this lead her to? Well, fufufu, I'm the only one who knows about that for certain!

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 67:

Moving in is Embarrassing?

"Um, oops?"

"THIS ISN'T JUST 'OOPS!', NEGI-BAKA!"

Tsudzuku!