Tsukaima no Chrono

Chapter 4: I'm not a ferret!

Having your first kiss with a good looking girl is usually something to be proud of for a young adolescent boy, it is usually a status symbol representing your abilities to attract the opposite gender and a sign that there is someone that cares for you… In Chrono's case however, he was not at all happy, since his first kiss represented what he knew to be a contract to serve the person with closed eyes in front of him, for all eternity.

"It seems you have now completed your contract with your servant" Professor Colbert acknowledges to Louise, the aforementioned girl with closed eyes.

At this point in time Chrono studies the magical energies acting upon him with interest. I can't believe I've just become a familiar! Arrgh… the Lieze twins are going to have a field day with this. Might as well see what this contract entails… Chrono starts to feel out the meaning behind the arrangement of the magic spell.

Hmm, no signs of my life force or magic power being directly linked to her, looks like it contains a minor loyalty spell affecting both parties preventing us from directly willing to kill each other, a further addendum gives the master a compulsion to take care of me and, oh? What's this, in return for the care granted to me, in times of danger to my master and while using a weapon, I will be granted a boost to my physical performance as well as knowledge to wield the weapon being used in order to protect them. Chrono takes a few more milliseconds to ponder that last portion before continuing on to study the final part of the contract spell.

In recognition of this, the contract will be sealed with this The symbol had no significance in meaning to Chrono's knowledge of magic 'branded' onto the familiar.

As Chrono discovers this string in the spell, his eyes open wider in mortification as his entire body starts to heat up making him roll around the ground in pain.

Looking on this event happening as steam rises from Chrono's body, Louise gently states in a manner normally used for placating small animals. "It'll end soon, it's just etching the familiar rune."

In response to this, not that Chrono could actually comprehend what Louise had said, he clutches his left hand and screams out loud as pain beyond what he had ever felt before in his short life began to cut away like a knife across the back of it. A bright light emits from the hand, displaying the symbol being carved upon it.

Witnessing this Professor Colbert attempts to identify the runes, letting out a fascinated "Oh?" after which Chrono falls unconscious from the pain.

Waking up, Chrono finds himself lying upon a pile of hay inside an ornately furnished room, with a finely crafted wooden wardrobe, chairs, a table with a candle placed at the centre and a extravagant large roofed bed.

Groaning he sits up. What's hay doing in a room like this?

He then hears a voice towards from behind him, he quickly turns around and finds the girl who kissed him saying something he doesn't quite understand…

"So you've finally awoken. After much disagreement, I've given up and decided to take you as my familiar." Chrono's eyes track her as she moves across the room towards the wardrobe.

"Be grateful." Louise says in a bored tone.

Deciding to at least get off the uncomfortable pile of hay on the floor, Chrono stands up. What does she think I am, a farm animal? She could've been at least decent enough to give another human being an actual bed to lie in.

His eyes begin to widen for the second time in the same day, as not noticing the rage in Chrono's mind, Louise begins to undress. Eh? I've heard of this happening in dreams but this is so forward. A very disturbing thought passes through. No! This can't be happening; I can't be related to the ferret changeling in any way! But nothing else can explain this situation, there's no way a girl would just undress in front of a guy they barely know like this!

Chrono's thoughts are interrupted as Louise finishes taking off her skirt and shirt, throwing them at him and covering his field of vision forcing him to struggle as it wraps around his head and making it hard to breathe.

"Go wash those. Even if you don't understand my words, as a familiar you should at least understand this." Chrono finally manages to unwrap the clothing from his head, taking a deep breath he blushes as a vision of Louise in a nightie is given.

Being a sensible and innocent young boy, he normally would've covered his eyes in some way. However since he is of the belief that he is in the form of a ferret currently, he just stared dumbly, taking in the view as not to blow his cover.

"You don't understand the orders of your master? If even orders can't be understood that's worse than a dog…" Louise says in disappointment.

Chrono by now has figured out that he couldn't be holding Louise's clothing in his hands if he had really transformed into a ferret, he checks his hands to make sure. Ferret? No ferret! Yes! I'm not related to that ferret changeling after all!

Uni-matrix 01, not… Somewhere deep in the infinity of inter-dimensional space inside TSAB headquarters, inside the infinite library, a young boy by the name of Yuuno Scrya suddenly sneezes then feels very irritated. "I haven't felt this since the last time I saw Chrono, that bastard's probably still alive and having a laugh at my expense again!" Yuuno yells out angrily to the dismay of the other patrons to the infinite library.

Focusing back on a certain room in a certain magic academy in a country called Tristainia in a continent known as Halkeginia, we find Chrono, having forgotten about Louise in his joy or merely ignoring her presence, doing a happy dance, using Louise's clothes as pom poms while he waved his arms, yelling out "Yes! I'm not a ferret!" repeatedly to the annoyance of Louise.

Not understanding the yells or why Chrono was dancing around Louise angrily covers her ears and exclaims "So noisy! Why is it yelling and jumping around like that!"

Placing a fist in the palm of her other hand as if discovering something Louise says "Ah! There's that mute spell that I learned last year!"

Scratching her head with one finger and closing her eyes in a thoughtful pose Louise continues to talk to herself "Um… I think it was something like An-suru-veru-un"

Picking up her wand from the table she chants nonchalantly. "Immediately hold your silence and answer my demand!"

Stopping his dancing as he felt a sudden spike in magic near him, his eyes widen for the third time in surprise as he immediately charges towards Louise. Why is she channelling something as dangerous as antimatter! I've got to stop her! His actions however were far too late as the antimatter generated hit the air molecules surrounding it causing an explosion that threw him back.

Looking down upon a charred and twitching Chrono holding onto two pieces of decimated cloth vaguely recognisable as her shirt and skirt, Louise says in wonderment. "That's so strange…"

"What… What was that…" Chrono manages to eek out in his daze.

Getting up and dusting himself off, he starts to yell at Louise. "What did you think you were doing! Learn to use magic properly you dimwit! That was really dangerous!"

As Chrono closes in on Louise and grabbing her shoulders, ready to start shaking some sense into her, Louise starts to speak in a launguage which Chrono understands.

"I understand, I understand!" Louise exclaims in a stunned tone.

"Did you just say you understand?" Chrono asks. Louise then nods in reply.

"Say something" Louise demands.

Stepping back Chrono thinks Wow, that explosion seems to have fixed my translation matrix.

Out loud he says "You really can understand me now right?"

"What's the meaning of this… It was a spell of silence" Louise timidly states.

Sighing she says. "So I screwed up again"

Louise then asks "What is your name?"

"Chrono, Chrono Harlown" Chrono replies.

"That is a surprisingly normal name, how come you couldn't understand what I was saying?" Louise questions.

Chrono then answers. "I don't know, one second my mother was waving good bye to me, the next I was looking at you!" Internally Chrono thinks. I can't let her know the truth, she can't handle the truth!

Upon hearing this Louise nods once again.

Chrono comes up with a question of his own to continue the façade despite knowing the truth. "How did I get here?"

Louise replies "Isn't it obvious? You were summoned by me, as a familiar."

Pretending to be surprised Chrono exclaims. "A familiar?"

Thinking that it was a stunned expression on Chrono's face, Louise points down at his hand where an unrecognisable line of text despite the translation matrix being on is shown.

Needing some time to absorb all that has happened today, Chrono uses the foot in mouth technique that tends to get him evicted from female presences. "By the way, isn't it kinda cold to be standing there talking to me in your underwear for that long, or are you hot for me?"

Instead of being kicked out of the room after putting Louise into an indignant rage, the following explosion and unconsciousness was not something he had predicted.

-Author's Notes-

That was chapter 4 of TnC, hoped you enjoyed reading it. We have almost made it to the end of episode one in the timeline. One down, thirty six more to go… Wow that's frightening, at 5 chapters and roughly 8000 words per episode… that makes 180 chapters and 288000 words before I finish this story. Hope I'm able to finish this. Enough of my procrastinating, by the way I'm still looking for a beta reader.

Thanks for reading and see you next chapter where we finish episode one.