Kuro Arashi: The Black Storm

by Project Arashi

Threads of fate interweave in a tapestry of adventure and magic, colliding with an ancient evil unknown to the minds of men. As destiny plays its hand, chosen heroes must ally with wings of white to protect life itself. An epic Love Hina Negima crossover.

17. Mists of Morning

"A lot of things were falling into place around that time, and it had nothing to do with the upcoming Mahora Festival. In retrospective, it's all very clear to me that that period of time was a turning point in life as we knew it."
- Negi Springfield; 'On a Wing and a Storm'

Chapter XVI:
Mists of Morning

May 6, 2007
Mahora Academy, Japan
0601 hours, local time

It was an oddity on Japanese streets. A Land Rover Defender 130, a rugged all terrain utility vehicle, favored by the British Military for its dependability, being driven by one lone man. Soft sounds of western music filled the cabin as the vehicle made its way through the city. The destination was the Tatsumiya Shrine, a shrine inside the campus, and a regular place where the American-taught Japanese gunslingers frequented.

Lorenzo drove his vehicle into the city-campus, showing proof of identity, meaning his US Passport, his US Department of Defense card indicating his rank, Gunnery Sergeant, 7th Fleet Intelligence, and his papers granting visit, to a curious cop who pulled him over. Nodding, he was directed to the shrine when asked, and parked in an accessible space.

"So..." He said, thinking out loud again. He merely pulled the slides on a pair of Beretta 93Rs. Heavily modified, they looked like the guns used in the movie Equilibrium, and loaded with low-power chalk rounds which contained a nasty electrical spell in each round, it was enough to knock someone cold. His backups were in the car, and with a grunt, got out of the car and stretched. He would walk up to the shrine, and pay his respects to his friend. Ever alert, he still didn't really trust these Mahora guys, and still wasn't fully trusted by the Kuro people either. He had gone through the rituals and other things, when he was approached by one of the shrine priestesses.

"Unclean people are not allowed in haiden," she said. She was a dark skinned girl, just an inch shorter than he was, with a cool, stoic expression. Her hair reached down her back, with a pair of forelocks held in place with ribbons.

"What do you mean?" he asked. He wore a Western business suit, with a large yet somewhat thin enough trenchcoat normally worn in late spring and early fall.

"Berettas. Give them to me or you leave, gunslinger," she said, her right hand reaching forward.

Dumbstruck, he looked down. Sure enough, the extended and overly modified body of the Beretta 93R, the three round burst model of the 92 series, was sticking out from his trenchcoat.

"Shit," he said, as he removed the customized Berettas, each measuring 300mm, or about 11 inches. It was much easier to control in three round burst, especially with the high-capacity 25 round magazine which extended way past the grip.

"Interesting weapons, gunslinger. Next time you enter my temple, leave them with the M14 in your car." She said, taking both weapons after he finished emptying them, as well as his spare ammunition. She took a look at the guns, and scoffed. "Arlington Magic Society. A society renowned for its militaristic training. Comparable and if not, better than the Sandhurst School of Modern Magic. You are the second such mage to enter my temple. Enjoy your visit, Department 13 Agent, you shall pick these up when you are done."

Dumbstruck, he shook his head, and repeated his cleansing and absolution for sins. Deep in prayer, he muttered the few Shinto and Buddhist prayers he knew before switching to the few Latin prayers he was taught from birth.

The dark skinned priestess kept watch over him, and assured he would not cause trouble, still kept watch, his guns and ammunition placed in a box that once held another mage's weapons from six years ago.

Starbooks Coffee; Across Campus

Approaching from out of the fog with a low rumble, a red-and-black Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R pulled into the parking lot of the local Starbooks, and into one of the parking spaces near the front of the business, leaving enough room for another motorcycle to pull into the same space.

After shutting down the vehicle, the rider, clad in riding clothing of a color matching the motorcycle, reached up and doffed the red helmet with the opaque faceplate, revealing none other than Seno to be the vehicle's driver.

Placing the helmet on the chasis of the vehicle before him, Seno leaned back in his seat and stretched his arms up above his head, then cracked the knuckles of his gloved hands. "Well, this is where we're all supposed to meet up, but it doesn't look like anyone else is here yet."

A short distance away, Motoko stared at the red stop light as if issuing a challenge through the shaded visor of her blue helmet. It hindered her progress to the Starbooks that was sitting right before her, and it absolutely refused to change green. Impatiently, she revved the engine once on her customized blue-and-black ZX-6R Kawasaki Ninja to make her protest and reluctantly the stop light finally switched its colors. Giving it a nod, she immediately kicked off and within fifty yards from her starting destination she turned into the parking lot.

Slowing down to a crawl her eyes immediately locked onto Seno and she felt a smile tug on the corner of her mouth. Motoko pulled up beside him and turned the engine off before taking her helmet off. The ride had left her hair wind blown and had she cared to run her fingers through it, they wouldn't have made it very far; it was full of tangles. She held her helmet in her lap and looked over at her husband. "The others have yet to arrive, I take it." She smirked. "Good morning," she added.

"Yeah, we're first here, it seems."

Pocketing the key to his motorcycle, the swordsman swung his left leg over and stepped off on the right side, kicking down the kickstand and checking to ensure that his sword was securely locked in its sideboard holder.

He yawned. "It's too damn early for this. I need something non-coffee with a high caffeine content."

Motoko swung her leg over the seat to get off after securing her vehicle and turned to face him. Her dress attire was casual yet conservative, consisting of standard blue jeans, a white blouse covered by a blue riding jacket, and thongs on her feet. "How long have I kept you waiting?"

Yawning again, he shook his head once as if to clear it, then stepped around the back of his motorcycle to lean in and give Motoko a kiss on the cheek. Then he grinned irritatingly at her. "What happened to 'I'm going to be right along with you the whole way'?"

She couldn't help the giggle that came out of her mouth, or the familiar fluttering of her heart when she was near him. Instead of returning the kiss, she slipped her fingers into his hair and gently played with it, "I had other things I had to do; if I-" she stopped before she started the analogy, deciding that it wasn't a very good one for her husband considering that it had something to deal with the shower rooms.

He inclined his head just so forward and to his left, his eyes closing despite his best efforts; a sure sign that his biggest weakness had been successfully taken advantage of. "Sometimes I wish I'd never told you about that weakness."

Also pocketing her keys, she tore her gaze away from Seno and looked up at the Starbooks building. "Shall we go in while waiting? You could get your caffeine in the coffee house section." She give his hair a playful and light tug before pulling her hand away.

The next two arrivals had gotten there the hard way. But sure enough, Nealla and Kaolla were making their way down the street, headed toward the Starbooks. The two could have been twins, except for the style of their hair. Kaolla's was in it's usual style, and Nealla's hung loose around her shoulders.

The younger of the girls was chattering away incessantly to the elder, the girl with the straighter hair merely nodding, her arms stretched behind her head, moving as though she didn't have a care in the world.

"I know, Kaolla. But I keep telling you I don't have as much of a mind for machines as you do. Do you really need my help?" she asked, shaking shook her head.

"But Ne-ah-laaa! I can't do it without you. I have to have a test pilot!" Kaolla's eyes sparkled as she bounced around the other girl, waving her arms. "Please?"

Sighing, the woman's head slumped forward for a moment, before her brow arched, and she glanced over at the other girl.

"Fine fine. I'll do it. But only because you asked me to, Princess," spoken in that solemn tone as usual, before she allowed arms to lower, arms folding across her waist. Kaolla was in her usual school uniform, but Nealla had traded her usual for a pair of jeans, and a multi-colored t-shirt that hung loose around her upper body.

Kaolla made a face at her identical counterpart. "Stop calling me that here!" she demanded with a stomp of her foot, before she fell into step beside the other girl. "Ne, ne. Nealla, are you always going to follow me around?"

Nealla paused, turning her head slightly, wondering what had brought on the sudden question. "I'm going to stay with you as long as I can, Kaolla." A brief nod, before she gave a shout out, looking up ahead. "Seno!"

After he had been released, he turned and looked in the direction he'd heard his name, to see Nealla and Kaolla coming up the road toward them. "Ah, the first arrivals. We might want to grab a table big enough for all of us." He reached up his left arm, hand held in his classic greeting with thumb and first two fingers out, last two fingers tucked in.

Tatsumiya Shrine

"I take it you are done," the preistess said, as Lorenzo recovered his weapons. To ensure they were in working order, he took one and stripped it down. The maiden surprised him though, by doing the same to the other.

"I didn't tamper with the weapons. Delicate pieces of machinery they are, not as rugged as your rifle." She said, as she matched him in the speed she had in reassembling, loading, and cocking his gun.

"Er...thanks." Lorenzo said as he retrieved his other pistol. She nodded and left, while he got back to his car. Turning the key, he spotted the dark-skinned priestess looking at him from afar, as he backed out of the spot and headed to the meeting place.

He arrived to find he just passed by Nealla and Kaolla. Still somewhat shamed, he parked his vehicle in an obscure spot. He could see them, gathering around a table. His orders were clear. Upon discovery, disengage. So far, he hasn't. With a sigh, he gingerly placed his weapon into a carrier, a cloth covered case that doubled as a pack for him, and wearing it like a backpack, he tidied his hair and closed his trenchcoat. He went overkill with his dress, wearing a pair of square-framed dark sunglasses and a grayish beret, he stepped into the Starbooks and headed for the others.

"I guess everyone came late," he said, remembering he was the first to the Mahora campus.

Sabashii drove his way around to the meeting place. Within his vital machine he carried a bevy of gorgeous ladies, comprised of Kitsune, Haruka, Shinobu, and Mutsumi. He had the little lolicon sat between Haruka and Kitsune in the back, with Mutsumi, to him the most important, up front. One kept the guardian of fate close you know. He had some easy listening on his radio for a change, sounded like some jazz, maybe. Almost reminded one of something you'd hear in a James Bond movie at first.

He drove his baby up to the meeting place, and parked it in a space with no one around him. The white haired man opened the door on his end, and walked around to the front of the red car, and predictably, flipped over the hood like he did when he just arrived. After that, now on the car's other side, he opened the door for the ladies, one by one, on each side, and closed the doors when they were out. When he wasn't being a pervert, he's actually somewhat of a gentleman.

"Huh. So this is it. You can feel it in the air. Pretty good stuff. I haven't had a feeling like this in a while... Since my training. You ladies go ahead. I think I want to scout around."

Just beyond the city limits

A hilltop, overlooking the city. Exposed to the day, a mound of pure shadow rustled, as though shifting in the light to get comfortable. But shadows existed on the ground, didn't they? Two-dimensional, unnoticed? That's apparently how the occupant of this particular mound liked it.

"Okay, so, Hctibelttil, you tell me that there's a good reason for me to be here, I come all the way out here, away from the nice and air-conditioned academy, park my perfectly toned ass on this ridge, and expose myself to this nasty sunlight to which you know I detest... for what purpose?" The voice was shifting at all times, curiosity, indignation, anger, laughter, all rolled up into one interesting tone that made for quite the speech no matter how few words were presented in it.

The occupant of the mound was a single male, apparently a young man, who was laying on his stomach and looking over the sheer drop of this particular high hilltop. Beside him, a pair of yellow eyes floated - saying things that only the young man could hear, for he conversed freely.

"Alright, imp, let's see what's what, then..." The mound dissipated, allowing the light to flow across the young man's form. He appeared in clean and pressed clothing of a blue and silver-white ensemble, neither entirely formal but not exactly casual. He wore a pair of heavy-looking black gloves that could almost be considered gauntlets, and black combat boots. His delicately spiked hair, not outrageous as though presented in the punk genre, but not so random as to be considered bedhead, glistened a healthy sandy-brown - he'd obviously just gotten out of the shower recently, the late-sleeper.

Even with his spoken dislike of the sun's light, he narrowed his eyes, drawing a blackness tightly to his form. "I'm looking, I'm loo..." His voice halted momentarily, and a smile played across his clean face... "Target acquired, it's been a long time, Seno." He stood, then, and adjusted the studded choker on his neck. "Thank you, Hctibelttil, you have earned your keep another day, at least. Be glad I'm not your previous owner..."

The young man took a few steps back, gathering the darkness beneath his feet, and took a running leap off of the hillside, sending himself much, much farther out than any normal person should be able to. At the apex of his jump, he did something inside of his jacket, and the mono-wing of a small, disposable glider unfolded from his back, and he began a lazy spiraling descent towards the Starbooks - a curious thing, even though he'd allow only Seno to feel his presence, common people couldn't even see the descending young man, it took a certain level of the "power" to even fix him with a glance. The knowledge of this fact seemed to lend to his overexuberant and entirely immature behavior in this action, a sane person would have walked or gotten a taxi, not thrown themselves partway into a city and choose to glide the rest of the way in.

That said, this man of shadows was in no way sane.

Starbooks, Mahora Academy

"I don't even have any kind of an idea what I want," the swordsman was busily complaining to his wife. "Don't they have anything but coffee in here?"

He squinted across the coffee shop to the menu displayed behind the counter, and gave an abortive wave to Lorenzo as the gunslinger wandered in and approached the table that he and Motoko were sitting at. In actuality, it was more like three or four tables slid together to make sure there'd be enough room for everyone that was going to be there.

Meanwhile, the twins were already inside, with Kaolla begging Nealla to try a specific cup of coffee with a double shot, and Nealla backing away, waving her hands defensively.

"Oh no. I'm not drinking that. I'll keel over dead of sugar shock, or something." She tried to look assertive, and managed to succeed until Kaolla leaped on her shoulders, tipped her head back, and forced the frozen coffee into her friends mouth.

"HGAKGH!" she gave a muffled cry as Kaolla leapt back, laughing gleefully, shaking the cup in her hand.

"But Nealla, it's good! Besides, you need to relax more and I know you well enough to know you do that when hyper!"

The girl meanwhile was clawing at her throat in a comical fashion, as she swallowed and the bulge in her cheek went away, just long enough for her to drop to her knees and grab the sides of her head. "Owwwwwwwww," her cry was a mere whimper, as the onset of a brain freeze hit her.

"Oops. I forgot to mention that happened sometimes. Sorry Nealla." The sheepish look on Kaolla's face was almost as humorous as the usually serious young woman gripping her head while on the floor.

"Nnnnggggahhh," was all that she could muster in response.

And it just goes to show:

Getting a princess bodyguard out for the day? The cost of trainfare.

Getting her to dress like a normal person? An hour's time of bribery.

Watching her get brainfreeze? ... Priceless.

Lorenzo merely sat there, his 'bag' by his side as he sipped an overly creamed and sugar decaf coffee. He was never fond of coffee, preferring tea, but he found by adding like close to 10 packets of sugar and 5 packets of creamer helped. He chuckled too, at what happened to Nealla.

Motoko grinned and pointed over towards the counter with the iced and chilled items on display containing mostly salads. "They've got juice and energy drinks over there, but personally the java chip cappuccino tastes-" She stopped in mid-sentence as she turned around to witness Nealla's reaction. She put a hand over her mouth to stop a giggle. "It'll be interesting to see exactly what all that caffeine will do to her," she mused.

"I think I'll wait. I'm feeling a little more awake now." He yawned, undercutting his previous statement in the process, then waved over the rest of the group that had made it in, sans Naru. Following the moaning and groaning from the counter, and Motoko's comment in that direction, he caught sight of the brain-frosty Nealla.

"I think she has to worry more about mental frostbite than a caffeine high, hon."

And then his phone started to play that distinctive Final Fantasy fanfare. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the silver brain cancer device and flipped it open. "Raven Squadron Contracting. We're running a special this week on glass parking lots: Buy one, get one half off." He winked at Motoko. "This is Raven Five, how may our destructive tendencies serve your purposes today?"

"Seno. I'm going to be exploring Mahora for a while on my own. If you need anything from me I'll get back as expediently as possible, but there are some things I need to do here. Most of them in skirts."

Sabashii pauses for a moment to let that sink in..then he cackles, and resumes speaking into the phone.

"Actually to be honest, I'm going to get some information on my own if possible, from the faculty of the academy, in disguise. I've changed my form into one that will fit in here better. I'll let you know when I get some information or anything important. Just do what you were doing."

And the phone hangs up then..and the signal turns off..so anyone trying to call to his phone would get his voicemail.

"Uhhh...right, k." The swordsman looked at his wife as he flipped his phone shut and returned it to his pocket, then shrugged. "Face-buster said he's got his own stuff to do here. Guess we'll be seeing him later on."

The figure from the hilltop more or less appeared in the chair across from Seno directly. He was staring at the swordsman's face with an uplifted eyebrow. He cast no shadow upon any furnishing or floor, he made no noise upon his arrival - hell, it wasn't even sure if he opened the door to get in. He looked a tad older than Seno, but not by much if he was, his body arched dangerously as if about to spring. He opened his mouth... and cold tumbled from his lips as a frosty vapor in appearance... he looked as if he wished to speak!

"Respawn, lawl." O what words had he spoken so dark and meaningful as to... wait. What?

Slightly alarmed by the newcomer, Lorenzo didn't dare draw his pistols. He instead kept his calm. He'd been surprised enough for the morning anyways. He drank his cup of liquid milk and sugar, shaking his head at the sudden rush of overly creamed and sugared decaf. He sighed, and dug in his pockets for something, producing a small paperback novel and started to read, although he kept the other hand in his pocket, in easy reach for his gun. Shifting his legs a little, if anything went down, he can dodge out of the way, discard the novel and draw the other gun.

Motoko's back had been turned upon the stranger's arrival, but she had felt the hairs on the back of her neck prickle up and knew well enough that something had just gone amiss. Her eyes narrowed as she slid uncounted money (but surely more than enough) across the counter for a java chip cappuccino that she had previously ordered. At the sound of his voice she twisted her body around with her hand subconsciously going to where the hilt of her katana should have been... only to be discomforted by its absence. Damn modern stores and their weapon policies!

Clenching her fist instead, she took in the man who had so suddenly appeared; however, having never been one for subtlety it came off as a blatant, thin-lipped, offensive stare down. By now her drink had completely been forgotten, and the employee behind the counter, with little confidence, tried to remind her of its existence as well as to inform her that she had given far too much money. "Um, Ma'am...?"

For several moments, Seno gave the fellow across from him the kind of look that he'd give to any idiot who had just walked in and seated himself across from him, without knowing that the swordsman had him covered with a blaster pistol.

And then he recognized the fool in the jacket, and came up out of his seat to grab said fool by said jacket and haul him halfway across the table as well. "You're supposed to be dead! The fuck are you doing here?"

The young man grinned, giving an exaggerated shrug.

"Sea turtles, mate."

Seno'd feel a light pressure on his offending hand's wrist, paralyzing the hand long enough for the loon to slip free - a second pinch would restore feeling to the appendage before Seno'd realized he lost it. He dropped back into his seat and put his arms behind his head, leaning back. "Being dead wasn't all that interesting, to be honest. I decided I didn't like it anymore." He reached back into his jacket, and produced a jug of sake, which he took a long pull from before replacing it - something of that size shouldn't even fit there.

"So, what's with the operation here? I heard a pop-freak swordslinger was in this crazy group, figured it might be you." He continued talking, without regard for the others in the area.

"Yeah, we came to do a little research on our current enemy at Library Island. Waiting on Boy Wonder and whoever he's going to bring along to show up."

The swordsman leaned back in his seat and waved Motoko over, not seeming to be disturbed by the impossibly-large object pulled from a too-small space. Hell, after all the bag-of-holding incidents he's seen so far...

"So I get a general idea of HOW you're here. Doesn't tell me why you'd be kicking around this joint."

His eye shifted over to the woman that Seno motioned to, and his eyebrow went up. "Hm? Oh, you know me. Or, you did, I'm still confused about my whole existence thing these days." He spoke as though the subject was upcoming weather. "Either way..." He pointed to the Mahoran Visitor badge on his jacket. "When I'm not on... assignment, I more or less live in Mahora, the view is niiiice."

Setsuna pushed open the door with ease, letting the scent of coffee wash over her. She breathed deeply, stepping inside. The usual murmur of voices rose from those within, accompanied by the clatter of cups on saucers. Setsuna's school shoes scuffed the ground as she made her way to the counter, keeping her eyes low. Wandering about by herself really was no fun...She slipped one hand idly into her pocket, fishing for coins, as the counter drew near. Not looking where she was going, she bumped into a tall, dark haired woman who was situated near the cashier. Flames rose in her cheeks as she stammered out an apology, too bashful to even glance up now.

Motoko's 'demon eye's' were torn from their target as another all too familiar body collided into her own. Automatically her left foot swung out to catch her balance as her body twisted around in reaction. Another reaction consisting of a few angry words formed in her mind and had already worked its way into her lips but she kept them still as she recognized the girl. The words were immediately lost and instead of a quick burst of anger she felt a warm glow of love that she shared with her little sister. "It's ok, Setsuna! It's me." She gave a laugh and reassuringly placed a hand on her sister's shoulder.

At Seno's outburst, she released a single sigh all the tension she had previously felt flowed out of her body. At least her husband knew him, if anything else. Glancing over at Seno, she gave Setsuna a warm smile before walking over to husband.

"And who's the dame, just pick her up?" If there hadn't been a table between them, there'd be a nudge-nudge to the ribs.

However, she was stopped dead in her tracks as the word 'dame' entered one ear and exited the other. Dame? Dame? DAME? Her knuckles cracked as both of her hands balled up into tight fists and slammed down onto the table between Seno and his 'friend'. Every lesson of self restraint she had attempted to learn seemed to crack and crumble and all she could think about was his-...

"You DARE to call ME something so low as a.. a.. a..." her voice trembled a bit as she tried to search for the word, but she was unable to bring herself to say it. She was experiencing a familiar sensation of tunnel vision; it had been a long time since the swords woman had felt such a surge of rage.

Nealla and Kaolla had watched the scene unfolding from in front of them with interest, Nealla's hand on Kaolla's shoulder all that stopped the younger woman from doing a flying kick on the ninjaman who had somehow managed to sneak in.

In fact, it wasn't really a hand on her shoulder so much as it was Nealla holding the back of her shirt while Kaolla pulled forward to get away.

"Ne, lemme go Nealla!" Kaolla turned her head, giving the woman puppydog eyes, which were returned with a roll of Nealla's eyes, before she shook her head.

"No, Kaolla. I've warned you before about doing your flying kick. He may not be as invincible as Keitaro. And may get upset." And for whatever reason, this seemed like a typical conversation between two women who looked, and even sounded, like twins.

With Nealla's words, Kaolla grumped, but obediently went to stand in line, before her grumpiness vanished, and she bounced around, preparing to order something sugar laden, and banana flavored.

Nealla sighed, before looking between Seno, and the new addition, and Motoko.

"You probably shouldn't call her a dame. It might have bad results." A sincere nod from the woman, before she stood from her seat, and moved to stand beside Kaolla, wanting to order her own drink before Kaolla drove the cashier insane.

Setsuna glanced up as Motoko spoke, relief and affection flooding over her face as she studied her sister. She didn't have much time for this however, or even to say anything. So, watching the others with slight confusion and bewilderment, she simply raised a brow. It was the only thing that seemed appropriate, short of joining in.

The swordsman grinned that trademark, insufferable grin at his buddy, then gestured with his left hand toward Motoko. "Old buddy, this is my wife, Motoko. Calling her a dame was stupid. She takes exception to those kinds of things."

He then leaned back in his seat. True, in a straight fight, his friend would hardly have any trouble beating Motoko, but that's the nature of the ninja vs. samurai beast. But this wasn't a straight fight, and that meant that Motoko was probably going to use her 9999 female bonus vs. smartassed guys.

The man's right arm twitched lightly, as if heading for his jacket - instinct is difficult to resist at times. He stops though, as Seno began to explain. "Yes, yes, I see..." The young man rubs his chin, as though going over a non-existent beard. He watched the girls from MolMol with some sense of apprehension, not sure what they were going to... wait... did he just say...?

His arm slips out from under his chin, and his head hits the table with a resounding thud. "WIFE?!" He looked back up at the swordsman with a countenance of pure shock. His eyes traveled from the face of his old friend to the angry woman beside him. "But you... what happened to...?" He was obviously flabbergasted, apparently the Seno he'd known would never have settled down.

In a moment's thought, and trying to fend off the impending mad-female attack that all his AGI-dodge bonuses wouldn't help him much in avoiding... his attitude changed completely. Sliding out of his seat, he bowed before Motoko, and slipped a hand out of his jacket with a bouquet of red roses and white daisies.

"These are in apology then, Mrs. Nakakami. Allow me to introduce myself, giving my name as part of my apology." He did not yet rise. "I am Enkou Haiken, formerly of the Enkou nobility, and guardian of the dark. A sample of my many titles." He straightened from the respectful bow, noting the others in the cafe with them, and then extended the flowers to Motoko. "Daisies, to represent purity, and roses to represent passion." His voice had lost that snide, nudging tone, replaced instead with reverence and a solemn ring. Seno would recognize this as Haiken just not wanting to get hit again.

Lorenzo sighed, and the sound of a gun being decocked and the safety being reactivated could be heard, both hands now held liquid sugar and book, as he continued to read. If any shit did go down, Seno would most likely be the receiver of it, from what he heard, or that new guy.

Motoko's eyes fell onto the flowers. The shock of the complete change of attitude somewhat restored a fraction of rationality in the sword woman's head. With that came a rather irritating feeling of confusion. The old Motoko more than likely would have been offended by this gesture, and would have spouted out some type of self-righteous nonsense of the 'insult of compromising of honor, integrity,' etc. etc., and pursue giving the low-life a worthy ass kicking. She took a deep breath and with much hesitation reached out to accept the offer of flowers although she had no idea what to do with such an impractical and useless gift; although had she received flowers from Seno her biased self would have found much more meaning from them. Making a small smile with a polite nod of approval she moved to stand closer to her husband and sat the daises and roses down on a table top to be forgotten.

Subconsciously she rested her left hand on the back of Seno's neck right below his hairline, and tilted her head to the side. "What business do you have here, Mr. Enkou?" she asked with a perplexed look.

Confident he'd escaped an ass-beating for the day, Haiken resumed his previous lazy sitting posture and yawned mightily. "Business... business. Well, I'm a scalper." Haiken reached into his jacket and pulled out a long cord - hanging from this cord were several lumps of gray substance with black silk threads tied about. Obviously, these were actual scalps. Haiken looked pleased with his joke.

"But before I get ahead of myself..." He twisted his wrist, and the whole thing disappeared in a small wisp of shadow. "A little birdy told me that my boy Seno'd be here today, so I swung by to catch up. Well, less like a birdy, and more of an imp. Useful little demons, mind you, make good messengers." He shrugged lightly. In the past few years, Haiken had definitely changed - he'd never shown any sort of special abilities beyond his incredible skills, and here he was sporting power and abilities like they were going out of style.

"So, what are you guys up to around these parts? I could find out myself, to be sure, but honestly, I am a bit lazy." This last sentence he spoke with a more serious edge, lacking the whimsical and bored tone he'd spoke with insofar. Lifting a black-gloved hand, he brushed his spiked bangs aside, watching Seno intently. Even so, the others in the room would be struck by the intense feeling that they were also under his cold-fire gaze if they had even the slightest bit of awareness.

The swordsman leaned back in his seat and yawned again. Perhaps he should try one of the varied caffeinated drinks that were on sale, at least to stop the gods-be-damned yawning. "As I said, we've all got ourselves a nice enemy of legend that we're figuring to do research on to know how better to fight."

From an adjacent table, Haruka asked, "You wouldn't happen to have heard anything about a man named Namusan Sapou, would you?"

Setsuna squirmed. Having remained completely silent and apparently uninterested for a while now, she was beginning to get restless. She tapped her foot, releasing a sigh. Reaching into her pocket, she fished around for a moment before grabbing her cell phone. She scrolled through her contacts till the cursor stopped on a familiar name. Asuna-san. Call.

A few moments later, Asuna's cheery hello rang down the line. Setsuna frowned.

"Where the hell are you guys?"

"Hey girl," Kitsune said, walking up behind Motoko and leaning over her shoulder, hands filled with shopping bags. "What's all the glaring about? Someone scratch your sword, or something?"

She looked up at Seno and Haiken. One seemed to be peirced by Motoko's eyes.

Haiken noted the difference in air pressure that signaled moving, and heard the slight rustle of clothing and scrape of shoe on floor. He turned his head as Seno spoke, and was about to turn to glance at Kitsune's arrival when Haruka posed her question.

The noble-born froze for a brief moment before rounding on Haruka, a fire lit somewhere behind his eyes. He whispered, something wholly new as he'd been loud and raucous to this point; "Namusan Sapou is no man. And how do you, human woman, know that name?" He took a clearer interest in Haruka, now, apparently Haiken did know something about this Namusan character.

Being that she wasn't allowed to smoke inside the building, Haruka settled for the alternative: a large double-shot. "We know of him because we, meaning some of us gathered here, fought and beat him once on Pararakelse Island. We think he will be an enemy again, so we're here to learn a little more about him."

Haiken leaned back in his chair, gaze thoughtful and seemingly unfocused. He twisted his wrist to the left slightly, with that motion a kunai slid out of his sleeve and into the palm of his hand. He began to spin it around one finger in a carefree manner, not bothering to speak insofar.

"He's a nuisance. If you fought him, he must either be projecting himself back onto the Overworld here, or found a way to escape. He's tried to encroach upon the Shadowplane for many, many years out of mind, only to be denied entrance by we seven Kaisho, or to put it simply, the Shadowed Kings. I don't like him in the least bit, and if he's crossed back over into the living Overworld, then I have several reasons to see to it he's returned or slain permanently." He gave a half-turn of his body, and the motion was a mite bit too quick to see as he turned the chair beneath him, leaning his chest against the back of it.

"Tell me everything that transpired, and leave not a detail out. If I feel you've successfully driven him off, I might deputize the lot of you in my proceedings." Well now, this was different. The slightly annoying man of darkness was actually a king, amongst other things it would seem. His tone was cold, his voice was steely, his words were of command and position. It was time to get down to brass tacks.

Saved by the bell, apparently. Surprised, Lorenzo pulled out a vibrating cell phone. The screen showed that the text was in German. Getting up, he excused himself and left the group momentarily.

"Jawohl?" He would say, as he headed out the door. For the next few minutes he spoke in somewhat strained German to his commander. As usual, he was asking for more situation updates.

Moving to seat herself across from and one seat away from Haiken, Naru took over the job of explaining and detailing the encounter and short battle with Namusan on Pararakelse Island. As she did so, the others who had been there put in their two cents concerning the battle, their impressions on the man, et al.

Meanwhile, when Setsuna heard Asuna answer the demand of their location over the phone, it was as if the Shinmei hanyou had heard it in stereo: "We're right here."

This was spoken both from the speaker of Setsuna's phone, and the doorway of the Starbooks. Asuna stood inside the doorway, grinning irritatingly, her right hand holding open the door as her left flipped shut her phone. The four figures of Negi, Konoka, Nodoka, and Yue were behind her.

Crossing the area, Asuna seated herself on the stool next to Setsuna and ordered a cappuchino. "Sorry it took so long. We had to drag Honya-chan out of bed."

Haiken looked over to Naru as she began to speak, and frowned lightly. There was something odd about her... He politely watched each person as they spoke and added their own experiences into the pot, and he got a feeling from each as he concentrated on them in turn. Yes... they were like him. Well, not exactly like him, but close enough. He wasn't so sure about the guy who smelled like nickel and copper in the corner spouting German, though, he didn't get a chance to speak with him directly.

"Alright then, I'm signing myself aboard your troupe here, and you can all consider yourself deputy Border Enforcers. Sorry I don't have badges for you all... but I get to carry the only one." The kunai, it would seem, was replaced with a chained necklace, at the end of which was an engraving of a closed eye against a black metal-and-stone material. He slipped it back around his neck.

Mutsumi smiled faintly over at Seno's friend. "Ara, joining up with us is not as simple as it might seem."

And then, Haiken would suddenly sense an invasive presence in his mind, tunneling his vision to a green-tinted, warped corridor that pulsed in time with the voice booming in his mind, "Corpses shift and headstones pushed aside, a fate you must abide."

Haiken lifted a brow, watching Mutsumi. "So, it's you..." Meanwhile, inside of the ninja's head... "Silence fills the empty grave, now that I have gone. But my mind is not at rest, for questions linger on. I will ask, and you will answer.."

"Oh, we have company..." He turned to look. "Hiiii, Asunoka! Nodoyu!" He looked back to the Kuro group. "Honestly, there's so many of them these days, it's easier just to remember their names in pairs..." He gave Negi a cold, hard stare. "I see you brought the midget." It could be surmised that Haiken wasn't very fond of Negi. Over the course of his introductions, his glance fell upon Kitsune and he stopped speaking, the hitherto stream of words simply ending.

It took some time for the girls to get their drinks, before returning to the table. The appearance of more company got a slight twitch of the brow from Nealla, while Kaolla sat down, happily slurping the extremely strange mixture she'd managed to get.

Nealla, meanwhile, was sipping a mocha with a double shot, eyes focusing from the people who'd been talking, all over the place, to the new arrivals. Her eyes lit on the one that Haiken had called a midget, and her brows furrowed slightly.

Setsuna grinned, snapping her cellphone closed as Asuna approached. "About time..." she said slowly, giving the group an idle wave. But as her eyes fell upon her precious Ojou-Sama, her cheeks flamed and she averted her gaze. "Ojou-Sama..." she said politely, bowing.

City Streets

Wandering the streets, he passed through a few shops, before staring into one of the store windows. He was then face to face with the same priestess from earlier. Cocking his head to the side, he watched as she paid for her purchases and exited the store.

"Hello again," he said, matching pace with her. He eyed the bag she was carrying. Even if it was carefully hidden, he saw a box of ammunition in the bottom. She noticed this, and sped up.

"Hey! I was just saying hello!" Lorenzo said, matching pace. When he caught up to her though, she rounded about and shoved him.

"What do you need?" she asked, in a somewhat irritated tone.

"Nothing."

"Then why follow me?"

"I have no clue."

"Carry this then," she said, tossing the bag to a somewhat surprised Lorenzo.

"What? I'm going to be needed..." he started to say, before she reached into his pocket and removed a very small electronic chip. It looked like a part of a magazine. Lorenzo's mouth opened in surprise, as she pulled back her hair, showing an earpiece connected to something in her pocket.

"I was wondering what the CIA had to do with Mahora. What you and your group was doing. Yakanatama-sensei's death was also odd, I was unable to get more information and decided to bug one of you. You seemed easiest. I know a few things about you, Ruizu-san." She said, turning the power off on the device in her pocket.

"You can be my guardian for today. I can keep track of you and provide a free service to this school. I already lost track of the white haired guy in the red car earlier."

Lorenzo merely nodded and shrugged. Besides, he was following her around, and she did look kinda nice, pretty, dark skinned...

"I'm also way too young for you. I'm in middle school," she said, noticing him stare at her. Smiling at his shocked reaction, and they went to a few more stores, running her errands.

Starbooks

Haiken was still viewing Kitsune when he felt an inexoriable pull on his extrasensory perceptions. "Wait, this means..." He looked around, and then decided he knew where it was coming from "Ooooh. OWNED!" The ninja pumped his fist, grinning wildly. "Way to go, Mana-san."

Mahora Main Campus
Ten minutes earlier

Sabashii wandered idly into the Mahora area with a bland look on his face. A quick shift, and he slipped into the campus area without so much as a sound. He took the time to let his white hair down, before he rubbed his chin in thought. There was a lot to do around here, but he had to keep his priorities straight. He wasn't here to ogle the women for once; he was here to do some business. The man shrugged to himself as he walked through the Mahora campus grounds, his motions were quick and simple, and he had his portable MP3 player on, the current song the opening to Naruto Shippuden; Hero's Comeback.

His feet touched the ground finally, landing in what appeared to be a music room of some kind. He couldn't help a melancholy smile. As he stood straight, he walked towards a piano, and sat on the bench. The music room was dark right now; apparently nobody would be using it today. The music player was quickly turned off, and Sabashii's hands touched the piano keys. The white haired man, in his younger form, took a long breath..and he played. Slowly his fingers moved over the keys..it had been a while. He had chosen Moonlight Sonata. His eyes closed as he played..and memories passed him by. He really didn't care if he was discovered now. He had to be anyway, so it was fine with him.

A minute or two into Sabashii's rendition of the classical piece, the sound of a pair of clapping hands could be heard. For standing in the room's doorway, leaning against the doorframe, was a man in a white business suit and thin glasses with a salt-and-pepper beard and very light blond hair.

Sabashii chuckled softly, a little strange sounding in this younger body..and the youth that he was stopped playing, but he didn't turn around to face the new person either. He lowered his head, his eyes still closed.

"Takahata, the Death-Glasses. I can tell who you are by the aura around you alone. Of all the people to find me. But it's a moot point. It's just as planned. I wondered if I'd attract any attention with that. I also just wanted to play.."

He sighed then, and turned, looking somewhat vexed.

"The truth is, I needed to speak to someone in a position of authority. This is best suited to my needs. It would have been troublesome if some cute girl had come here. I'd have been distracted. Before you say anything, I'll be brief, and to the point. I'm here to speak with you primarily, as well as conduct a ritual of Holy Light. I could probably do the ritual with Primordial Light and have it be much easier..but I can't use that kind of Mana. Sadly, I'm not part angel. I can't use every color. But, given time..and the focus, I CAN return your dead companion's life. I dislike killing those on the side of justice, even if it's unavoidable."

Takahata took a last, slow drag of his cigarette, then crushed the burning butt betwen his fingers before tossing it into a trash can nearby.

"Holy light, eh? Mana specialists are rare in this day and age, of that element even moreso. It'll be a while until we find someone who fits the bill."

In the process of lighting another cigarette, Takahata paused and gave Sabashii a look from the corner of his eye. "So it seems that the headmaster wasn't mistaken in trusting Julias that you're not such a bad guy after all, Faizel Zu."

The youth-in-form went rigid for only a moment..then he smiled and shook his head, and resumed playing the same tune on the piano. He spoke as he played, paying attention to both the man and the music.

"Do you know how long it has been since I've been referred to by that name? Three centuries. I haven't been called by my real name for three hundred years. I had a feeling you might have known. You're knowledgeable, and your connection to that man.."

Sabashii shrugged and stopped playing once more, looking down at the keys. A lot of memories had been stirred with that name..but he wouldn't let it show too long. It wasn't like him.

"You know it will take time. I've been using the Wicked Darkness so long, and I renounced my holy title, and sword. It will drain my reserves to nothing to bring back a life I obliterated using that dark power. Still, I'm willing to do it. Others are with me, though not at the academy. I'm sure Gandolfini will be so very thrilled.."

He chuckled then, rather pleased. He didn't dislike Gandolfini particularly, but one would get the idea that yanking his chain brought him joy.

Takahata smirked slightly. "I'm sure that, given the vast network of contacts possessed by yourself and Mahora itself, we can find a person or persons capable of assisting in this venture. It will indeed go a long way toward guaranteeing good relations between your group and the mage world."

"It isn't really about that. Relations are irrelevant at this point, Takahata. I'm concerned. Excessively so. Namusan has always wanted my help, being my Djinni blood, and to be perfectly honest there were times I wanted to give it to him. I had nothing more to lose, to be honest. But even though I siphoned part of his power to make my Tortoise Armlet..well, I found a way to cut the wire to him before he could exercise control over me. He's always been angry about that. He's arrogant enough to not hate me for it, seeing me as no threat, but it did annoy him by quite a few levels."

Sabashii shrugged, and crossed one of his legs over the other as he continued to play. The man's fingers danced over the keys with expertise. Obviously he had practiced in the past few centuries, though he was certainly no Beethoven.

"I am concerned there is more. Vandole does not get involved in trivial matters. Namusan awakening is not his province. The Djinn are the province of The One, so it makes me wonder. It means there is a dark spirit involved, and one that is so strong, that Vandole considers it a threat to his domain area of spiritual matters. I've felt around, and even with Mahora's security measures, I've been able to read some energy signatures. You need barriers that keep out mana-enhanced senses. I know it's tough with no expert in Mana..I'll help you. But I need to know. Why is the Reine De Glace here, and on top of it, why can I feel the presence of 'That Man'? Someone of his power here has to mean something big is happening."

Takahata smiled. "Those two? Well, he has been here for quite some time. I imagine his power level was sufficient for you to sense him only because the school festival is drawing near. That's the only time of year he's able to manifest, you see. And as for her? Well, that you can blame on Nagi."

"Ugh, Nagi. That man was incredibly powerful, but incredibly irresponsible. He had a gift, that's for sure. One of the most powerful magicians of his day. As I recalled, he was one of the few with the presence of mind to be able to call up mana. Rare, for someone not of the Lineage."

Sabashii shrugged, and rubbed his chin then, seemingly deep in thought about something..

"I'm concerned. I'll admit it. If Mahorafest is coming, it means I'll have to be scarce. I don't want to be chosen by any errant teams or something, but I have to have the ability to wander around the campus. I can change my form into that of a female, but I'm reluctant to do so. I may not have a choice. I need to do some investigating, because there's a lot more to this than meets the eye."

Sabashii touched his hands together, and murmured a phrase in what sounded like Arabic, before his body shifted, in a spray of white rose petals, into that of a teenage girl. 'She' sighed, and placed her head on the palm, looking supremely bored. It was frightening at how similar Sabashii's mannerisms were to Evangeline's, especially looking like that.

"I'll wander the school. She will be able to most likely know who I am by reading me. She's older than me, so it's doubtful I can hide my aura from her. Beyond that, I'll just have myself introduced as a temporary student or something. I'll create records and a name, it's no big deal. I have to be here when it all starts. I've had some interesting dreams I can't go into just yet."

Starbooks

Seno yawned, again, and cursed. "Well, since everybody's here, we've got no real reason to stick around. I mean, come on. We already wasted nine... Wait, let me check." He reached into his pocket, pulling out his PSP and thumbing through a few screens, before returning the device to his pocket. "Wow, no, we've wasted thirteen pages doing nothing."

Down a few seats, Mutsumi kept her airy smile on, but raised her eyebrow slightly at Haiken. "Oh, I see." She turned to face Shinobu, across from her. "Shinobu, dear, would you focus your aura vision on our new friend?"

"Umm, I'll do what I can," the domestic engineer replied timidly, turning to lock her eyes on the ninja. Her eyes dilated, turning the trademark violet color of her aura sight. "Black. His primary color is dark."

Haiken smirked. "You didn't need any Byakkugan to know that," he commented off-hand.

"Well, you've got a white aura surrounding it."

Mutsumi smiled. "Ah, so the decision is out of our hands," she said. "I did some checking, and for a specialized aura vision like Shinobu's, a Chosen Hero will have a white aura surrounding them. Shinobu, try looking at Setsuna. Does she have the white aura?"

The girl shifted her attention, and a moment later shook her head. "I see red. Her color is red."

Motoko nodded. "Red as an aura is usually an identifying color of demons, even half-demons." Anticipating her adopted sister's feeling of shame at having attention drawn to her heritage, the Shinmeiryu heiress reached over and ruffled the shorter girl's hair.

"But no white aura?" Mutsumi pressed.

"No, no white aura."

"That's handy," Seno commented. "It'll make picking out fellow Heroes easy." He glanced at the watch on his left wrist, then rotated his wrist to pop the joint before clenching a fist and jerking the arm toward his chest. Across the room, Motoko's left arm twitched involuntarily. "Like I said, though. We're wasting time. Let's do this shit."

Setsuna crossed the room, her bravado slightly restored, and flicked her brother-in-law on the forehead. "Don't swear, Seno-dono," she said. "There are kids around."

"I'm sure that little guy, Negi was his name? I'm sure he's heard worse."

Glancing over her shoulder, the half-demon leaned forward and said in a lower tone, "Please don't swear in front of Ojou-sama. It embarrasses me."

He opened his mouth to let out a snarky comment, then remembered the reaction his sword had had to the two of them and smiled, then patted her on the head. "Sure thing, kiddo. And if you flick me again, I'll break your hand."

The deadpan tone in which he spoke momentarily worried her, until Motoko wandered over and smacked him in the back of the head. "He's kidding. He's got the overprotective big brother complex, so he'd kill people just for looking at you funny. Ask Shinobu."

The mentioned girl nodded sagely.

The boy teacher cleared his throat. "If nothing else, Seno-san is correct," he said. "We are wasting time here that would be better spent in the library."

Mutsumi nodded. "Let us proceed, then."

"Let's mosey," echoed Seno, Haiken, Kitsune, and Nealla at the same time. Seno said it in his usual snarky, game-ripoff tone, Haiken and Kitsune stopped to stare at each other after the shared wavelength, and Nealla rolled her eyes as she mocked the predictable response from the swordsman.

Tatsumiya Shrine

The two dropped off the stuff they bought in the shrine, where Lorenzo met her parents. Nice people. After conversing with them, he was leaving the shrine when he felt something hit him in the back of his head. Falling forward, he rolled with the fall and ended up in a heap on the first landing. Before he could draw his gun, however, he only saw a boot before being knocked out.

Mana looked at the knocked out gunslinger, her parents nowhere to be seen. Grunting for a bit, she picked him up and put him over her shoulder, before jumping off to the woods surrounding the shrine.

Forest, Exact Location Unknown

Lorenzo came to, well, forcibly. He was soaking wet and propped against a tree.

"Wake up, Gunslinger," a voice said, before the sound of a bucket being plunked into a stream.

Opening his eyes, he merely saw a brown shape, which made him react. Reaching for both of his USPs, he found they were gone, and he was splashed again.

"I'm awake, goddamnit," he yelled. Getting up, he touched his head, and felt a large bruise. Shaking his head for a bit, he coughed and finally got some sense on his bearings.

"Where am I? And what the fuck?" he demanded, finally recognizing his captor. "You have some nerve little girl for taking me captive." Funny, he was taller than her by only an inch. Matched his height in fact with the boots she wore.

Mana coldly looked at Lorenzo, kicking his pistols towards him, as well as the spare magazines. "Chalk rounds, meant only as a marker, or as a really painful nonlethal weapon. Low-grade, about 4 volts, electricity spell, hardened so it can penetrate skin and deliver the painful shock into the victim, thus discouraging them from attacking. I had some doubts about it, but your design can be a handful," she analyzed, admiring one the chalk rounds she took from one of the magazines. "As for you being here. Unfinished contract. Initiated by Cal Devans. Mage of the United States Central Intelligence Agency, Department Thirteen."

"What does Cal have to do with this?"

"She promised me five thousand in US dollars if I were to defeat the next male gunslinger from the CIA to step on the grounds of the Tatsumiya shrine. I later found out the entire Department listed the Shrine as a no-go zone."

"What? No one told me about that!"

"Tough luck. Ready yourself, Ruizu-san."

"Wait, what?" He was going to say more, before a coin passed him in high speeds, burrowing into the tree trunk. Mana's hands smoked from launching the coin, and a stack of coins appeared in her hands.

"Hold on here.." Five more coins, this time splintering the bark is it were from a shotgun blast.

Without thinking, Lorenzo dove forward, and snatched the pistols and ammunition before darting into the trees.

"That's more like it, Ruizu-san," Mana said, walking into the woods after him.

Having abandoned his trenchcoat, which had caught in some bushes, he loaded both pistols. The click of the second mag didn't even finish echoing when he came under attack with 100-yen coins. He ducked to the side a bit, and saw her hiding behind a tree.

"Can we talk about this?" he questioned.

She responded by turning from the other side and letting loose a series of shots. Lorenzo's training led him to present the sides of his pistols in front of him, blocking the shots.

"I guess not." Looking at the pistols, they made little nicks in the USP's slide. "I'm charging you for the slide replacements on these things!" he yelled out, before making his attack.

As expected, she shot at him, dodging them, he deflected a few, some still had force to be lodged into trees. This continued, until he was more or less near point blank with her. A few more coins headed to his position, but impacted on soft earth. Lorenzo flung himself forward, rolling as a trail of coins followed him until he rolled behind a tree.

Mana clicked her tongue, obviously getting annoyed. Lorenzo ducked from the side of the tree, both guns out and pointing at her, and started to run. She ran and kept pace, both running through the trees parallel to each other. Neither daring to fire.

Well, one did. She launched coins, and from the midpoint of the two, clouds of bluish powder erupted, as coins sailed lazily away. Surprised, Mana fired another burst of coins, only to have them sniped from the air by Lorenzo. Both stopped when they entered a clump of trees.

"How's your spending money, little girl?" he taunted, loading both his pistols from behind a tree. Holding both USPs in one hand, he grabbed two magazines and lined them up in the wells, before sliding home. Not caring anymore, he slammed both slides into the tree bark, pulling down, the bark catching on the sights, and while pulling himself up to the branches, he effectively chambered rounds into the barrel. Same deal when he reached a low branch to stand on, she shot where he appeared, only to have him shoot the coins, only this time, each scored a hit.

They both missed one. A chalk round grazed her face, leaving behind a bluish-reddish mark, and a little stinging sensation from the electrical spell, while 100-yen coin cut his cheek.

"Tired yet, Ruizu-san? You must be down to your last spare magazines." She was out of coins, and resorted to a pair of pistols herself, her trademark Airsoft Desert Eagles.

"Only if you are. Your name is Tatsumiya Mana, am I right?"

"Yes, you are Lorenzo Ruiz..." she started to say, before she had to dodge from his shots, using one of her pistols to block a barrage of chalk rounds, dropping it due to the electrical spell that traveled through the mostly metal airsoft guns and up her arm. She inhaled the chalk powder as well, coughing strongly due to the electrical residue in the powder that was now in her nose, lungs, mouth. She did not see him rush her. He had taken advantage of her misfortune to position himself close and to her side. Bad for her, good for him.

"Yipee-ka-yay, shirne maiden," he said while delivering a disabling kick to her side. She rolled with the blow, firing back. A metal BB got Lorenzo's head, as he shot back. When he recovered, she could be seen jumping from branch to branch in the tightly grown trees further into the forest.

"Damn Hamster," he muttered, chasing after her, following her in the trees.

Library Island, Mahora Academy
0737 hours, local time

The island in the center of the lake ran a kilometer lengthways and half that wide, connected to the main city by a two-lane paved bridge suitable for vehicular traffic. Taking up the entire island, the Mahora City Central Library was a modest, yet awe-inspiring monument to knowledge and wisdom. It was said to house a copy, if not the original print, of every written page ever penned by the hands of man.

This having been explained by Yue Ayase, a short girl with a perpetually-dour expression, a box of clam vinegar juice in her hands, and waist-length blue hair pulled into a pair of braided tails. With too many people in the group to rely on Sabashii's car and the twin motorcycles of Seno and Motoko for transport, the procession had commandeered a non-tracked tram car to take to the island. Haruka drove the tram, and her skill indicated that there probably wasn't a vehicle you could put in front of her that she couldn't operate near-flawlessly.

The rest of the group had paired off and taken seats at random. Yue and Nodoka were in the front left, directly behind Haruka, and behind them sat Setsuna and Konoka. Across from Yue and Nodoka were Nealla and Kaolla, with Asuna and Negi and Naru and Mutsumi behind them in sequence. Shinobu and Kitsune were in the third seat on the left row, where Shinobu and Konoka were carrying on an idle conversation about cooking. Haiken sat in the very back on the right side, and Seno and Motoko were flanking the tram on their motorcycles.

"At first I was worried that we'd have to travel into the depths of the library to find the information you're looking for," Negi was saying to the four Kuro heroes on either side of him, "but the Headmaster told me that there's a secret room that contains most of our documents on various magical subjects. It's in the main floor of the library, so we won't have to worry about the various traps that infest the lower levels."

Naru nodded her head at the boy-teacher's explanation. "What's with the discretion on the topic?"

If it was possible, Negi dropped the volume of his voice even lower. "Konoka, Setsuna, Asuna, and Nodoka all know about my magic. Yue doesn't, and I'd like to keep it that way. The less who know about my being a mage, the better."

"Then what are you going to do with her once we get to this room of magic books?" Mutsumi asked airily.

"Well, my idea right now is to have the other girls lead her off to some other part of the library while we're in there. The Headmaster has ensured that one of our mage librarians is on duty this morning, so all we'll need to do is find you the books you need and we can take them out of the library."

Nodding, Mutsumi leaned back on the uncomfortable bench, watching as they drew ever nearer to Library Island.

Setsuna leaned back forcefully into the seat, and flicked a stray strand of her fringe from her eyes. Nervously, she glanced at Konoka out the corner of her eye. Konoka seemed none the wiser, and carried on her culinary conversation without a moments pause. Setsuna blushed, nibbled at her inner lip. Slowly, she edged her hand towards Konoka's, which was perched carelessly on the seatback. Just as their skin was about to meet, Konoka moved her hand to scratch her head. Blushing even more now, Setsuna let her hand fall into her own lap. She cleared her throat quietly, and glanced out the window, cursing herself for being so frightened.

Haiken sat in the back, flipping a kunai around in his hand boredly. "They keep trying to ban me out of this place. I don't see what the big deal is, the Library's supposed to have every book ever, right?" He was really talking to himself, rather loudly, then exclaimed - "SO WHY CAN'T I FIND ICHI-ICHI TACTICS!?" He wailed, throwing himself back down in his unoccupied back row and laying back down, hugging his knife.

Kaolla was looking as bouncy as ever, prepared to pounce on anyone who made too much movement. Haiken got that reward, as he leaped up, exclaiming about the book, only to find Kaolla perched on his shoulders a moment later, as though she was light as a feather.

"Are Ichi-Ichi Tactics tasty?"

Haiken grinned. "You bet..." Then he looked up and saw who it was. "Wait, how old are you?" He started giving that shifty look for officers. "I don't want to get caught for soliciting to minors again..."

"Old," Kaolla responded, before monkeying down off Haiken's head, to resume her seat beside Nealla.

Nealla, meanwhile, remained seated, saying little, merely staring at the youngest mage of them. Very little was said or done on her part, merely listening to them talk about the tactics once they entered the library.

"Considering the likelihood of your infrequent magic use, as well as the frequency with which it may end up revealed, due to unforeseen events," this addressed to Negi, "it's likely that most, if not all of your students will eventually learn of your magic usage. While I've heard the penalties are strict, wouldn't it be better to let them know before hand, and then swear them to secrecy? I believe that might be more prudent than sneaking around and ending up going into a panic every time someone else finds out about it."

And then she went silent again, hands folding into her lap. She was a far cry from Kaolla, despite the fact that the two young women were identical.

As the tram reached the library parking lot and Haruka maneuvered toward a group of parking spots large enough to accommodate their vehicle, Negi looked sheepishly at Nealla and poked his fingers together. "Well, I don't want to burden them with that, is all. I want to keep them out of trouble as much as I can."

Nealla, preparing for the stop, regarded Negi with a critical eye. "It seems that more than a few of them have been willing to share your burden. And from what I've heard, many more are willing. But I will defer to your decision, as it isn't my life." Then she stood, smiling down at the younger man. "Besides. Life is too short to worry about it."

Meanwhile, the motorcycle-driving pair pulled up into the parking lot, minimizing space by parking both vehicles in a single spot. As they waited for the tram to stop and its occupants depart, the couple removed their helmets and let them dangle from the handlebars of their motorcycles as they stepped off the crotch rockets.

Sharing a private conversation between themselves, Seno looped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her into a hug, then kissed the side of her head and began to walk toward the library with his arm still around her. Motoko shook with amusement and slipped her right arm around his waist, hooking her fingers in one of his belt loops. One could very nearly see the hearts popping into the air behind them and drifting slowly to the ground like something out of Zelda.

Forest, Exact Location Unknown

Mana and Lorenzo continued to fight. They were down to the barebones already. Lorenzo had no more ammunition left, and after a brutal hand to hand session with the girl, and was shooting back with the unfamiliar weapon.

To many people, this would've been merely an inconvenience. But to a highly trained person like Lorenzo, that affected his accuracy for the first few shots, having been expecting the kick of a Desert Eagle, he overcompensated, and his tilt, although not that noticeable, did nothing but alert Mana to where he was. The continued on, and it was a war of attrition basically.

"Give it up Ruizu-sama, you have no more ammunition left," she taunted, as she fired her own weapon, which then proceeded to have the slide lock back. She tossed the weapon into a clearing, and walked out. He was already standing there in the open.

"You knew I was out of ammo?" she asked, as he tossed his gun back where hers was.

"T'was merely a hunch," he said before stepping forward. She did the same, until they were within striking distance of each other. With a curt bow, they started.

Mana spun to kick him, while he blocked it and went forward to attack, it was in this manner that the two fought, around the clearing, exchanging blow per blow. To articulate every kick, blow, block, and dodge would've confounded even Jet Li's stunt director, so we shall move forward, 30 minutes later. Both fighters were of good training, but in the end, a misstep on her side finished it. With a blow to the stomach, both slumped down. Bruised, with blood running down numerous cuts on their faces, both sporting a black eye and a puffed cheek. Both were breathing heavily. She made a half-assed attempt, he dodged, and slapped her across the head with the back of his hand.

"I lost..." she said, grunting.

He helped her up to her feet, and they collected their things. Leading her back to the stream, he retrieved his trench coat and cleaned himself up. As he washed himself, he felt the hairs on the back of his neck go up, and he dodged the kick Mana had thrown. She fell into the stream, but not without dragging him into it. As they fought again, he wrestled her up and out of the stream before confronting her.

"Fine, you win. Go grab your money," he said, and shook his head, and started in the direction of the shrine, now visible. She followed him, and after appologizing profusely to her parents, who nearly proceeded to beat the living shit out of him, she explained some fabricated story and they grudgingly allowed him in.

"So...how will you collect the money?" he asked, as he sat, in the very awkward Japanese style. He wore a spare set of robes, her father's, and looked around.

"She said you would know."

"I don't." Their eyes locked for a second, and she sighed. It was at that point her father came in, and with a polite bow, gave Mana an envelope, before turning to Lorenzo.

"It has been some time since a Department agent came. We were meaning to give her that account information a long time ago, but we wanted to wait some more." He said, and quickly left. Dumbfounded, both laughed nervously and continued on their earlier discussion before the topic of money had come up.

Library Island

Negi led the group through the first floor of the library, past the rows upon rows of bookshelves crammed full of all manner of material ranging from astronomy to existential theory. Without preamble, he moved toward the stairwell up to the second level, explaining as he went, "The material you're looking for is all on the second floor."

Almost on cue, Nodoka and Konoka fell in to either side of Yue. "Come on, Yue," Konoka said, "Paru wanted us to meet her in the librarians' office for a group meeting." The healer-in-training turned a smile to her guardian. "You can come too, Secchan."

Setsuna returned her Ojou-Sama's smile, and then proceeded to follow, albeit somewhat behind, the other three girls. Her shoes clicked across the library floor pleasantly. As she walked, she glanced up at the bookshelves that towered above them, thinking to herself that she would never have the time, nor the patience, to read them. She didn't have the love of books that Konoka did. At this thought, she allowed her gaze to once again fall upon her precious Ojou-Sama. She watched the way Konoka's behind swayed elegantly above her graceful legs with each step, and found her cheeks soon aflame. Swallowing hard, she lowered her eyes, lest one of them noticed her staring.

As the Library Exploration Committe disappeared to another part of the library, Negi clarified, "The wing where magical tomes are kept is hidden by an illusion spell. The room may seem a little small, but it exists within a pocket dimension and is therefore fairly limitless, and there are unseen servants who can help you in your searches."

Haruka raised an eyebrow. "Are there that many books that are magical in nature?"

The boy teacher nodded. "Yes, Urashima-san. The magical wing contains several hundreds of thousands of volumes, and they're not exactly stored in the most user-friendly manner."

Haiken piped up, from wherever he happened to be at the moment, sliding in and out of formation at random, seemingly. "I suggest looking in the back forty, the light isn't so bright back there, but it's got alot of nasty adult-oriented magick-stuff. I picked a few things up myself, very interesting reading." He gave a lecherous grin, the shadows dancing along the walls - literally. Oh yeah, this guy was crazy.

Kaolla and Nealla both remained silent at this point, following along behind the others. There was little that either girl could say, at this point. The elder of the two did seem a bit preoccupied, though.

Up to the second floor Negi led the group, carrying on a casual discussion with Asuna and a white ermine critter that moved from shoulder to shoulder on both of them as though it were on crack.

Eventually, they reached what appeared to be an out-of-the-way utility door randomly interrupting the ordered rows of bookshelves. Negi glanced around to ensure that no one was watching or listening, then lifted his hand toward the door and closed his eyes.

"Watchful spirits of knowledge and time, allow us through the hidden gateway, grant us access to the wisdom of ages."

There was a flash of magic and light, and the standard office building-style doorway shifted appearance into what one would expect to find at the entrance to a wizened mage's tower: wood of an exceptional grain, with an elegantly-carved maiden in the center of the door, holding a book in either hand, words written on the book in an ancient script.

The maiden's wooden eyes rolled open, and she gazed out upon the group gathered before her. "Ye who seek the knowledge that I keep, answer my riddle true, or in ignorance ye weep."

Seno scowled. "Dammit, riddles. I hate riddles."

"I don't," Nealla's comment was quiet, as she stared at the maiden figure on the door. "It's one of the things I was required to learn." There was a pause, and then, "Besides. Riddles are just brain-teasers. Anyone with even a hint of intellect can solve them, if they just apply knowledge, and try not to think too literally."

"I think I just got called stupid," Seno muttered with a scowl.

"Or a literal thinker, which you are," Motoko replied, nudging him with her hip.

Without further preamble, the guardian maiden's wooden lips moved again. "Where is the only location in which yesterday does not precede tomorrow?"

Naru thought about it for a moment, scratched her head, and then offered, "A history book?"

No response from the maiden.

Haiken scowled. "The answer is me hosing you down with gasoline and setting you aflame, move the fuck out the way. Don't have time for yo' riddles, foo'." He loped forward and put his boot to the door, attempting to kick it open.

The response to Haiken's kick was immediate and left no question that solving the riddle was the only way in: He was propelled backwards like a thrown football by a concussive magical force, only to be stopped and repelled forcefully by a second barrier ten feet away.

Haruka watched dispassionately. "Neat little system. The defenses on the door blow you back, and a second shield stops you from flying into the sight of any civilians nearby and deals more damage. I imagine that there's also a sound suppressing field around us."

Negi nodded at her as he watched the ninja fall flat on his face. "Mahora takes great precautions to both protect its magical stores and ensure that those of the mundane world do not learn of its secrets."

In the back of the group, Seno nudged his old friend with his boot. "You shouldn't waste your time. I'm thinking that door has SR Plot, ER/Plot, and DR/Plot."

Motoko looked at her husband as though he was speaking another language. "Come again?"

"D&D technical terms. I'll explain if I can ever get you to agree to play."

There were a large number of shouted expletives in several recognizable languages, and a couple in inhuman tone and word. Haiken was seen as a black streak, flying back past the party above their heads, stretched into a flying sidekick, aimed for the door. "RIDDLE THIS, YOU HARDWOOD HARPY!" Well, he was known for his persistence, if little else.

As the Haiken-missile went airborne, Kitsune was busy pondering the riddle like everyone else. Suddenly she grinned, held up a finger, and called out matter-of-factly, "It's a dictionary. A dictionary's the only place where ya find tomorrow before yesterday."

"Correct," the maiden intoned, before fading back into the wood of the door, which then proceeded to open inwards, right before Haiken would've otherwise hit the barrier.

"Count on the resident drunkard to think literally enough to get it," Naru muttered.

Haiken keeps flying, his battlecry ending in a confused gurgle of "Raggle Fraggle! Fucking lag!" and the sound of something large colliding with something larger, and then the tell-tale sound of a cascade of books, a small handful of which came sailing out of the room.

The figure just inside near the door watched the other figure fly, raising an eyebrow as it collided with a bookshelf. He sighed, and rubbed the bridge of his nose under his glasses, before setting them back into place, mumbling, "Note to self: Don't grab it..when you stick it.

Still, at least he wasn't bored now. He had no idea why he was summoned here in the first place, but maybe it had something to do with the interloper. Or interlopers, as the case may be. He could hear voices, and he's sure these aren't in his head. He walked out of the shadows into where the light was entering, still in his school uniform, with his glasses on, and a sword at his side.

"Very clever, Mitsune-san," Negi was saying as the group began to advance. "Quite a clever riddle, considering that it was related to a li-"

"Oi, Negi," Asuna interrupted, nudging the boy teacher's head with her elbow. She had seen the fellow step out of the shadows.

Negi stopped, looked up at Asuna, and followed the direction of her gaze, to spot the armed boy wearing a Mahora uniform. "Oh, um. You are?"

In the back of the group, as attention was drawn forward to the armed boy, Seno pushed forward. Unarmed though he was, he could still provide one useful service: Distraction. But alas, before he could move up to even look menacing, a book came flying out of the room and smashed dead into his face, knocking him to the floor.

In only a mild amount of distress, Motoko pulled her thoroughly-stunned husband up off the floor, looping his arm around her shoulders, and then looked down at the book that had hit him. The title on its cover was "Heavenly Sword: A Complete History of Shinmeiryuu"

Raising an eyebrow, the Shinmeiryuu heiress leaned down to collect the book, turning it over in her hands. "How very...timely... I believe Seno once mentioned that he felt as though some higher being was scripting out his life for purposes of comedic amusement. This feels like just one of those moments."

The schoolboy adjusted the glasses on the bridge of his nose with two fingers, then closed his eyes and nodded, as if listening to something. He sighed, and reached into his shirt for something that looked like a rather large slip of paper, or card. It flashed slightly, and created what looked like a large chariot drawn by two horses, as well as a rider.

"Gather the books on this list."

He reached for a blank sheet of paper, and closed his eyes, and the paper vanished into nothing. What appeared in his hand was a list, made of parchment. Written on it was a list of books. An extensive one at that.

"Place the books in your chariot, and take them to the far table there. Once that is done, you may dissipate." He took his place sitting again after that, looking rather dispassionate about the entire thing. "I've been told I'm to gather certain books for you all. Up until a moment ago I had no idea why I was even summoned here, to be honest. How troublesome."

"Still doesn't tell us who you are, kid," Haruka said matter-of-factly, the fingers of her left hand twitching slightly, an instinctive need to puff on a cigarette.

"Nothing could capably tell you who I am. Who are you? Who are we all? There are a thousand 'yous' within you. The graceful angel you, or the cruel demonic you. Do any of us know who we really are? And can we in good conscience, say we do even when we do not? To know thyself, that is what is most important." He shrugged then. "If you want my name..well, that's easy. I claimed my name long ago. It is Nanjou Masaru. Pleasure to meet you."

Haruka nodded slightly. "Right then...Masaru."

Negi still looked woefully confused, almost on the verge of the arm-flailing panic attacks he was famous for. "You were...asked to gather certain books for us? I suppose then...that there are a lot?"

As if to answer the boy mage's question, the chariot and rider returned, with the chariot chock-a-block full of large, mostly leather-bound, some looking positively ancient, books. The group gathered around the chariot and inspected the titles:

"A Cultural Study of Djinn and Their Characteristics and Physiology"

Kitsune eyed that book's title. "That one's a mouthful."

"No kidding," Naru replied, looking down at the one in front of her: The Complete History of the Heaven's War.

Haruka picked up a large, black book and brushed the dust off its cover. "Legend of the Heaven-Slayer, huh."

Kaolla had previously gone off to lead the non-magically inclined folk alway, but managed to sneak back when their backs were turned, and she popped up beside Nealla without so much as a sound. The elder of the two looked at her not-quite twin, and started going through the pile of books.

"Nealla, that one," commented the girl with the ponytail as she bounced on her feet and pointed at the book near the bottom of the chariot, leaning forward over the edge.

Nealla shook her head slightly and stepped forward, pulling the large leatherbound book free from the bottom, and running one hand over the dusty cover, which read 'On MolMol'

"Interesting. I didn't know there were books like this outside of the Molmolian Libraries, did you?"

Sobering, Kaolla shook her head at Nealla, and the two exchanged a long look before taking the book to a table and cracking the pages, hunkering together side by side to read.

Asuna reached into the pile and extracted an ornate book, its title written in regal script: "Djinnistan: What Is It, Where Is It?"

Standing next to Asuna, Shinobu watched the younger Mahoran girl pick up the large book without any visible strain, and figured that they were all large, but lightweight. And when she tried to lift the book In-Depth Mana Studies, she quickly learned that this was not going to happen.

"Ooh, books," Mutsumi said in her sing-song tone, reaching in to grab the book titled Immortality: Fact and Fiction. She managed to get it out, and spin around as though to drop it on a table and read it, but the heavy book slipped out of her hands and went flying through the air.

Directly toward the collapsed bookshelf and pile of mess that Haiken had gone into.

Masaru adjusted his glasses then, and chuckled. "I've got some information on you all. You're all very diverse." He looked at the teacher of Class 3-A. "You're the genius Negi aren't you? Heh heh. Among Mahorans, I consider you my rival when it comes to being a prodigy."

Negi blinked at Masaru, and the only thing that kept him from going into an arm-flailing panic was Asuna putting her palm on his head and forcing him down. "You oughta look someplace else to find a rival, kid. Negi here can barely wipe his own nose without getting into trouble."

She was ribbing the boy good-naturedly, of course, as was pretty obvious by the grin she wore and the knuckle-rubbing into Negi's scalp.

Haiken was extricating himself out of the pile at the time. "Negi? A rival? I think you need to aim a little higher, kid. Taking a scrawny, no-accou-..." The tome slammed into his head at that moment, taking him into another bookshelf and dropping another pile of books on him.

"ACH! MEIN LAMEN!" He thundered out of the pile, sending the top books into the air to drop unceremoniously back to the ground in a cascade. "What the HELL?" Haiken picked up the original tome that hit him. "Immortality, huh? FACT! I'll prove it! I think you Heaven-types are immortal, so let's give it a test run!"

He figured it had to have been Naru who threw it, what with Mutsumi looking all frail and unbalanced, and he chucked it at Naru. "If it doesn't kill her, she's immortal, or her ass is fatter than it already looks and it bounces off."

Naru, having picked up the history book on the Heaven's War and begun to inspect it, oh-so-conveniently turned so that the heavy book she was reading was between her and the book thrown by Haiken, thus protecting her from its impact.

She staggered back from the force of the blow, then lowered her book and glared at the ninja. "Hey, what the hell was that for!?"

Over near the door, Motoko leaned against the doorjamb and flipped through the Shinmeiryu book. "Another day, more ways we learn to kill each other."