Broken Faith 16
Disclaimer : Don't own anything. Nope…. Not Naruto, Not Negima, nothing.
Oh and thanks beforehand, especially some of those that have been with me since the beginning, Turki-sama, bakapervert, Jimbobob, Lazruth, dopplerdee, Vandenbz, 7Winds, AznPuffyHair, Orchamus, Mzr9, Richy1991, G3neSyS, Rialga, Savoxgut, Sile-Undying-Devil, and purpledemon431. If I miss anyone, I'm sorry. Well now, this is the real start of the Mahora Fest. The Kyoto arc was long and the filler + demon arc even longer but we finally got here eh? Woots. I did a lot of things wrong and my writing isn't perfect, I hope to improve more as my story continues, so don't start throwing tomatoes yet.
Hint hint : I wanna get at least 500 reviews before uni starts. Come on people!
Soundtrack List
Rie Tanaka – MOTHER MOON
Tommy Heavenly 6 – Unlimited Sky (Acoustic)
****Broken Faith****
Four figures leapt high above the roofs of Mahora Academy's student city. Before long another 17 more shadowy figures leapt across the same gap in buildings in hot pursuit of the first four figures.
"Tch, why are you being chased by these things Chao-san!" Negi demanded from the hooded figure which was being carried by Setsuna.
"Go-gomen Negi-sensei, I'm actually being chased by an evil magician! These are just her servants!" the hooded figure replied as much innocence as she could muster.
Kotarou mumbled under his breath, "Servants? So I wasn't wrong…. Negi!" He called out.
Negi grunted in reply as he avoided a blast of magic from another group of shadow servants that just ambushed them, "What? I'm a little busy here."
"These things are the same as my Wolf Spirits, it's ok to hurt them!"
Negi smiled in return, "Finally we're getting somewhere, Setsuna-san!"
"Understood." Setsuna pivoted.
"Huh? Wait whaaaa!" the figure screamed as Setsuna threw her straight up in the air before slipping into a Iaijutsu stance, "Negi-sensei, cover me."
The swordsgirl leapt into the air towards their group pursuers, right before she reached them a flash of bright light from behind her blinded the summons, before they could regroup she had already resheathed her nodachi and she leapt back to Negi-sensei's side as the group of pursuers that was behind them fell into pieces just in time to catch a screaming Chao that fell out of the sky.
As she landed with the swirly eyed girl, Negi fired off arrows of magic towards the newcomers that hit each enemy with a headshot with pinpoint accuracy aided along with Kotarou's wolf spirits before slamming the ground and a dome of earth covered them entirely. A few seconds later three mages landed and fired spells at the dome of earth. When the smoke had dissipated, the four of them were nowhere to be seen within the crumbling earth dome.
Three mages landed on the roof, "Tch, they got away with Chao Lingshen and we fell for the bait. It looks like she has mages helping her now and their not weak either if they managed to defeat 34 summons with just two moves. This might get troublesome." A dark skinned male spoke.
The blonde girl that Naruto had spoken to earlier turned to her red haired companion, "Mei, you're the one of the best sensors in St. Ursula. Can you find them?"
The shy girl nodded before focusing, it didn't take long to find them, "Got them. In an alley 30 feet south of here. Nee-san?" she looked to the blonde for further instructions.
Takane nodded before tensing her muscles to leap off only for Gandolfini to stop her, "No. if Chao's companion are truly as good as I think, we need to surround and trap them. Chasing them like we have been doing so far will be useless. Spread out and circle them."
The two girls nodded before leaping away, the male hesitated a while before jumping away as well. He was surprised the blonde he sensed following them hadn't moved yet, and he didn't bother making it a secret that he was following them either.
In the alley
"Hahaha, I'm saved… thanks a lot Negi-sensei. But I was really surprised, in this era there are still people who can fight so well without guns."
"Hahaha…. It was no problem, but Chao-san why were you being chased? And how do you know about magic?"
Before Chao could explain, Kotarou interrupted them, "There's no time for talk. The enemy already found us. One above the rooftops, and another two are about to block both sides of the alley."
Chamo scratched his chin, "I can disrupt their telepathic communications, everything else is up to you Aniki."
Negi moved to peek out of the alley and saw two shadow servants trailing a blonde girl, "Thanks Chamo, that helps a lot, they must have a sensor, if you can block their communications It'll help us get away alot easier. Still there's a problem, I don't want to leave Chao-san alone here while we attack the three that are surrounding us since we can't discount the possibility that there is a fourth hiding somewhere. Setsuna… Setsuna?"
The swordsgirl was staring at her hand in slight shock until she was shaken out of it by Negi calling her name, "Ye-yes?"
Setsuna was somewhat surprised. This was the first time she had been in active combat since she started training with Naruto-sensei 3 weeks ago and the first thing she couldn't help but notice was how sharp and crisp her moves had become. That wasn't all, in battle even when she focused on the enemies, her awareness of everything around her didn't diminish in a tunnel vision, her eyes didn't stop moving and had caught every detail with near clarity. She clenched her fist and a small smile appeared; she was getting stronger. She was honestly surprised by how much she had improved in just three weeks….. Although that probably had something to do with being beaten into the ground while under pressure on a daily basis. Thank Kami, Konoka-ojou sama could heal.
Negi glanced worriedly at the swordsgirl for a while before continuing, "Can you deal with the one on the roofs? Now that they have separated, even though we're surrounded we can easily break through the parameter with only one opponent."
Setsuna nodded before leaping up. Negi turned to the wolf boy, "Kotarou, you and I are going to break through the other side, there's only one person to subdue before the other one arrives, the third is being dealt with by Setsuna, so that one won't be a problem."
Kotarou cheerfully agreed before Negi grabbed Chao by her arm and both of them leapt out of the alley.
As both of them dodged around the multitude of people Negi noted one person who stood out, "Kotarou! There, that red headed girl!"
"Got it!" Kotarou leapt away while Negi continued on his course.
Takane cursed under her breath as she leapt through the alley, spreading out had allowed them to get close without being noticed but it also reduced their combat capabilities as proven by one of their opponents easily subduing Mei with a simple flip while their target got away with the help of another mage. She assumed Gandolfini was also similarly incapacitated since he had missed their cue. How many people were they up against dammit?
She could only spare a few shadow servants to sneak up on the one who had beaten Mei while she herself didn't have a choice except to continue pursuing Chao Lingshen.
With Gandolfini
The dark skinned teacher slowly crept towards the gap where he could barely sense four people, just as he got himself ready a shadow took the initiative and jumped at him from the gap, caught by surprise Gandolfini could only gasped and tried to defend himself.
His gun only got lifted up halfway before it was cut to pieces, leaving only a useless grip in his hand as the shadow stepped into his guard.
The teacher gulped slightly, he could feel his Adam's apple bounce against the very sharp blade at his neck, trying to move his free hand was futile since he could feel another blade pricking his armpit, making sure his free arm didn't go anywhere.
"Gan-gandolfini-sensei?"
Huh? The attacker knew him?
He finally got a good look at his attacker.
"Sa-sakurazaki-san?"
With Mei Sakura
"Uguu…. I hope I don't fail…."
Mei slowly crept closer to the alley just in time to see Chao being carried by two boys, but they were moving too fast for her to see their faces. Mei fumbled for her broom and tried to defend herself when one of the two boys split away and charged at her. Lifting the broom up she tried to hit her attacker only for him to side step the broom before grabbing her wrists and throwing her onto her back.
Kotarou stared at the groaning girl on the floor in shock, "Huh? You were at the meeting! What are you doing here?"
Before he could say anything else he was hit on the back of his head and everything went black.
With Negi
"Grrrr…. Whoever is following us is freaking persistent. I can't get him off my trail."Negi muttered under his breath, he looked around for anything that could help them, when he found it the boy smiled. "Hold on tight Chao-san."
"Umm… ok? Kyaaaa!"
Negi sped up before ducking into an alleyway, dropping Chao gently onto the ground he motioned for her to be quiet for a while before quietly chanting under his breath with one palm touching the floor as another orb formed in his free hand as he listened to the footsteps get louder.
Takane cursed under her breath again, Chao and her assistant had ducked into a corner, speeding up, she prepared to turn but her foot lost all traction, the floor was suddenly slick and muddy, causing the blonde girl to slip as a figure dashed out of the alley, in a last ditch effort she raised her wand hand only for the figure to step into her guard, pushing away her wand and a glowing palm on her abdomen slammed her into the mud that was once solid cement.
Right as a silhouette passed the alley Negi dashed out, crouching low to the ground, ignoring the small gasp, the red head grabbed a slim wrist and twisted the novice wand out of the way before slapping his palm to his attacker's abdomen, slamming his off balance opponent into the mud, ready to release a point blank Fulguratio Albicans.
Takane's eyes widened before she scrunched her eyelids shut, bracing herself for the pain that never came.
One second.
Two seconds.
Nothing happened and the blonde girl carefully unscrewed her eye lids to see her attacker's palm had been twisted away, saving her from being shocked while she was being shielded by a broad back.
"Sigh…. Negi, what did I say about knowing when to attack and when to talk?"
"Ni-nii-san? What are you doing here?"
Huh? Nii-san?
She was all set to yell and shout when a few more people landed around her, "Takane-nee sama! You're safe!"
"Ah… Naruto-sama you caught Chao Lingshen."
"Naruto-sensei! Negi-sensei! It was all a mistake!"
Huh? Mei? Gandolfini? Takane couldn't help it as a headache started to drum a steady rhythm behind her temples. She had been running about like a headless chicken for nearly an hour, she was sticky and muddy and she had nearly been fried.
Takane was pissed off.
"Everyone! SHUT UP!"
Everyone stared at the muddy blonde girl's outburst. The blonde panted before trying to calm herself, "Will someone please explain what is going on here?"
The dark skinned male stepped up, with Naruto around he didn't want any misunderstandings; "I'm afraid there has been a misunderstanding. You see, we thought Chao-san brought some hostile mages into the Academy, but Negi-san here is actually a member of the Mahora Academy faculty, both Setsuna-san and Naruto-san here are among those who are aware of the magical world with permission." He gestured at the unconscious wolf boy, "He is also a newcomer to Mahora and a friend of Negi's. What I don't understand however is why are you guys are protecting Chao Lingshen." he finished by waving at the sheepishly grinning girl and Negi's entourage.
"Eh? Bu-but, Chao-san is my student! If a student of mine is attacked, it's obvious I'm going to help isn't it?" Negi answered with a frown.
"What? You're her teacher? I see…. That would explain a lot… But you haven't heard about the warning about Chao Lingshen? Naruto-sama you know about this don't you?"
"Hu-huh? What information? Nii-san?" Negi felt like his head was about to explode while Naruto simply nodded, "Chao-san here is a repeat offender of trespassing on Mage only meetings and trying to gather sensitive information about Mages despite being a normal student."
"That's right." Gandolfini gestured for two shadow servants to apprehend the quiet girl.
"Ne-Negi-kun….." Chao sent a pleading look to her homeroom teacher while she glanced at the tall blonde who was simply observing the proceedings. As expected, he wasn't going to interfere since it wasn't his problem, he had just caught her according to orders and that was it.
"Wa-wait! What did she do that was so wrong? And what are you going to with her?"
Takane sighed, "You don't get it do you little boy, Chao-san found out about the magical world by accident, but we didn't think she was a threat so we let her be as long as she doesn't know too much. But she tried to find out more about the Magical world on her own, going so far as to send in her robots to spy on our meetings like the one earlier. Before, we only gave her warnings but this is her third offence so now we have to erase her memories."
"E-erase her memories? Bu-but that's not a good thing to do!"
"I'm afraid we can't help it. Chao-san has repeatedly broke the law, not to mention we have proof that she has been secretly meeting up with the Dark Mage Evangeline-san. We can't take the risk of two criminals like that conspiring together."
"Cri-criminals? That's not true! Evangeline-sensei is very nice!"
"No matter what you say, nice or not doesn't change the fact that Evangeline-san and Chao-san have both broken our laws." Gandolfini refuted.
"Uguu…."
"If there's nothing else, can you peacefully hand Chao-san over to us?"
Negi clenched his fist, "No." he firmly stated.
"What?" the dark skinned teacher looked surprised.
Negi looked at the dark skinned man with clear eyes, "Chao-san is a student of 3-A. a student of my class. As their teacher, I cannot allow you to do something like erase her memories because taking care of their safety is my duty. I'll take whatever responsibility for her actions. So I cannot allow you to erase her memories."
Mei slowly blushed in the background at the sight of the boy's resolve while Takane humphed as she tried to clean as much mud from her clothes as possible.
Gandolfini rubbed his temples, "Sigh…. If you are so inclined…. If she breaks the law again, it will be on your head. Do you understand? If she does this again, I won't be able to help you, and she will still lose her memory. Only this time you will be punished as well by being turned into an ermine."
Takane broke in, "What! After all that trouble we went through, we're letting her go? Even if he says she's his student, we can't just take his words at face value! His just a high school teacher! The risks are too high!"
"If the words of a high school teacher are not enough, what about the words of the East and West's Mage ambassador? A quiet voice broke in.
Everyone turned in surprise at the blonde who had been quiet so far.
"Ambassador? Nii-san?" Negi and Setsuna gaped at Naruto.
"I see….. if it's you, I have no argument. I'll leave it to you Naruto-sama." Gandolfini quickly left as fast as he could, pulling Takane and Mei along with him before they could protest.
"Nii-san? What ambassador are you talking about?"
Naruto glanced at him from the periphery of his vision and waved it off with a grin, "Just something the senile old dean and Eishun cooked up." He looked back at the girl who was staring at her shoes before tapping her shoulder and motioning for her to follow him.
Chao looked up in surprise before meekly following but hesitated before running back to Negi, "Negi-sensei, thanks a lot for helping me. Here. This will help you out a lot in the Festival." The girl passed him a weird pocket watch with a wink before running after the blonde while waving at them.
With Gandolfini, Mei and Takane
"Gandolfini-sensei! What was that? What ambassador was he talking about?" Takane demanded.
Mei nodded in agreement.
Gandolfini rubbed his temples and sighed heavily, "That man isn't a normal student. It's a secret among the mage faculty but he was sealed in the World Tree for Kami-sama knows how long and was only released recently. Shortly after, he was appointed as bodyguard to 3-A, but generally guards Mahora Academy as well. He's the reason we haven't had as many incidents as we used to, especially during the holiday season. After that he worked his way up and somehow gained the trust of Eishun-sama and Konoemon-sama. They both agreed to make him the Ambassador to both the East and West meaning whenever there is a dispute involving both sides and neither heads of the mage association can make the final decision because of their bias, a neutral faction, in this case Naruto-sama, is sent in to resolve the situation."
Gandolfini shivered at the word resolve, both Mei and Takane noticed.
"Wha-what do you mean?"
The dark skinned man pinched the bridge of his nose, "What I'm about to tell you is a secret, you understand?" he received two nods before he was satisfied enough to continue, "About seven weeks ago, we caught wind of a group of mages from Britain preying on Eastern and European mages, specifically young female Mages. I won't go into details, but a contingent of our mages, including me, was sent to deal with as part of multinational task force due to the nature of the crime. Mostly because although the English mages weren't under our jurisdiction and no Western Mages were harmed, the offence was basically committed in our territory. Joining us were mages from the European Union and the Eastern Association. He was basically sent along with us as insurance and that was actually the first time I was in the same group as him although I knew he had been working with us for a few months already."
Gandolfini's eyes took on a glazed look, "We tracked them for a week and finally found their hideout, a warded apartment in the outskirts of London. The whole time he was with us, he spoke only one word answers and didn't mix with us. When we surrounded them we suddenly heard the screams of a girl. Naruto-sama was originally sent only to observe our actions as Ambassador, to ensure that the punishment was fitting, that we weren't biased because even though these were British mages we were dealing with, they did it on our territory, but after hearing those screams he looked at us with these blazing purple eyes and said, 'Stay here.' Two simple words, the longest we heard from him so far and everybody froze. There was a total of 15 people in the Task force. Everyone of us freaking froze. There were at least three archmages amongst us and everything they tried to move again amounted to a grand total of jack squat. It was like the air itself obeyed his command and refused to let us move. Then ignoring all the political implications of what he was about to do, Naruto-sama just started to walk casually towards the apartment like he was someone visiting a neighbour. As he walked an unnatural fog sprung up from behind him and followed his steps, then he simply knocked on the door and when it opened…."
Takane scrunched her eyebrows in interest.
"That was it. The fog suddenly burst from nowhere and it was so thick that we couldn't see anything. The only thing that signalled that he was doing something were the screams from the apartment, and there was nothing female about these screams. 10 minutes later, the only reason I even knew it was so long was because I was looking at my watch when he froze us, the fog receded like it was never there and we saw the blonde walking towards us with a girl cradled in his arms, covered with his cloak. He looked at us and nodded, giving us the ok to storm in. We crept in, expecting the worse, especially because of the screams."
Gandolfini lifted his glasses and rubbed his eyes tiredly as Mei gulped before squeaking, "Th-then?"
"There was nothing."
"Ex-Excuse me?"
"There was nothing. Literally. No blood, no water from the fog, no scorch marks, nothing. We knew there were at least 5 people involved in the scheme and the screams from earlier implied at least 3 males other than the girl, but when we went in, there was only one person sitting in the middle of an empty apartment crying his eyes out. And whatever the blonde did we never knew because the man couldn't even talk anymore, he had screamed until his vocal cords burst. If we fixed them, he screamed until they burst again anyway. He just sat there and stared at the wall like it was the TV, every so often crying like in a nightmare. The other 4, we never found, alive or otherwise."
"Everybody in the squad agreed on two things. Whatever you do, don't piss him off and don't fucking hurt a girl without a good reason, especially if he's nearby. That's about it. Basically, as long as he doesn't break the law, and upholds it according to his duty, I'm not about to paint a target on my back for him to aim at."
Gandolfini suddenly chuckled, prompting confused looks, "When we wrote our reports to the dean, all the report said was 'Naruto-sama ordered us to stay. We stayed. Ten minutes later, case closed with one rescued girl, one insane man and one entire squad of 15 adult mages that are still shitting bricks whenever Naruto-sama even looks in their direction.' Konoemon-sama took one look at those words, ordered some Panadol and shoved the file deep where he wouldn't see it for at least another 10 years. Basically my point is just be careful around him, I don't think he's bad or anything, but he isn't normal even by mage standards"
Takane and Mei looked at each other as Gandolfini left with one last wave, Mei was nearly in tears. She hated ghost stories. Takane smiled gently at her kouhai and petted the girl's head to calm her down as she looked at the setting sun.
Hmm…. What an interesting person.
****Broken Faith****
Play Rie Tanaka – MOTHER MOON
Naruto glanced at the girl meekly following him. Why had he asked her to follow him again? Oh right, spur of the moment. Crap. Why was she being so meek anyway?
He led them to the same pavilion Asuna and Negi were at yesterday unknowingly and sat down on a seat before sighing and observed the girl. To be utterly honest he was very wary of the girl. She didn't have any hostile intentions towards anybody. That much he knew, but for some reason he was very uncomfortable around her but he hid that uncertainty he was feeling with a solid front.
Chao fidgeted under the piercing gaze, she felt like she was 5 years old again and had accidently painted everybody's underwear orange.
Ok so it wasn't accidental.
Naruto-jiji had soothed everybody that wanted to hang her up to dry with the washed underwear before leading her to the cliff where he watched her like he did now. Then he had scolded her. Right before he shot her a thumbs up and furtively looked around before quietly passing her a piece of paper that taught her how to create itching powder. From that day on, she could legitimately tell anyone that complained about her mad scientist tendencies to go yell at Naruto.
"Sigh, just be careful next time. I can't always bail you out."
Chao's eyes started to tear up, whether he knew it or not, those were the exact words he had used on their favourite cliff that very day. How ironic.
Before she knew it she was bawling her eyes out and she had barrelled into Naruto's midriff, hugging the blonde as tight as she could.
"Bwaaaahhh!"
Naruto stared dumbly at the girl clinging to him, what did he do? Shit. What did Chachamaru say that day about being too nice (Implied : Dumb and dense, not that he realised it.) and attracting fan girls again? Oh right, she would laser his balls to hell and back. Ok so that obviously wasn't going to work here.
Awkwardly he patted her back, only to make her cry even harder. Hmm? What was she mumbling?
"Naruto-jiji, don't leave me again…"
Ah crap. So he hadn't guessed wrong. Still... just to be safe.
Naruto lifted the girl onto his lap before leaning back in his seat with a sigh and hugged the girl tightly. It was a few minutes before her tears stopped enough and he passed the hiccupping girl a handkerchief.
She embarrassedly got off him and sat beside him quietly, "Sorry about that," she mumbled quietly.
"Sigh, so what are you doing back in the past?"
Chao stiffened, "Wha-what are you talking about Naruto-san, ahahah… this isn't some Sci-Fi movie~ I'm just a Martian, not some time traveller!"
Naruto gave her a deadpan stare, "Cut the crap."
Chao slumped back into her seat, "What gave it away?" She asked dejectedly.
Naruto smirked at her, "You just did." Chao stared at him incredulously before chuckling softly.
Naruto decided to clarify, "You really think I wouldn't notice the ramen Chao Bao Zi sells is from my own recipe with my own secret ingredient? Well not really mine, more like a parting gift from Teuchi-ojii san. Or the fact that you knew exactly how to wake me up without getting trapped? I know I never told anyone except a few people from Konoha."
"Then there was the fact that you felt strangely familiar. Altogether I thought it was simply coincidence and brushed it off. In conclusion, either I was being paranoid or you were a descendant of Konoha out to get me or something so I stayed away as much as possible, the other possibility was that you were a time traveller but it was so dumb I dismissed it immediately until you called me Naruto-jiji and I decided to try trick it out of you."
Chao looked at her shoes again, a mixture of happiness, shame and embarrassment at being found out so easily heating her cheeks, she looked up at the blonde and was about to confess all her plans when Naruto held up a hand to stop her, "Don't tell me. If you didn't tell me when I woke up all those months ago, it means you're following some sort of plan and ultimate goal and you couldn't risk me acting differently with the information you could give me. The risk of me doing something would probably screw a lot of things up and with what I'm going to do I don't want the extra headache."
"Bu-but you already know! It won't make any difference, you can't forget what you just realised!" Chao desperately yelled.
Naruto just grimaced, "I'm going to regret this," before he started scribbling something on a piece of paper, "This is something my Father made, your great grandfather I suppose. It'll seal the memory away until a trigger brings it back out, I'll forget this conversation happened, but there'll be a buzz in my head so I know I forgot something on purpose, the more I forget the longer and painful the buzz, that's why I didn't want you to tell me. That will be warning enough for me not to dig deeper."
"Bu-but…" Chao slumped and looked down dejectedly, even though it was a huge risk she had secretly hoped he would agree so that she could unburden everything in her chest, after being so lonely for so long.
Naruto paused in his scribbling before sighing, he sat back up and spread his arms to her, Chao looked at him as her resolve started to crumble again and tears started to fall. Naruto motioned another time; that was all Chao needed as she flung herself at him and hugged the blonde tightly again while tears splashed onto Naruto's shirt. Naruto gently cooed to the girl, "Don't forget the plan. I know you're lonely, but you're here for a reason. People don't just come back in time to see their grandfathers because he slipped a disk while chasing young girls. The choice of not telling me was the right one, time isn't something to toy around with so I don't want to know about it until you finally achieve what you came here for. But even if I forget that you are my granddaughter," Wow… that sounded really weird coming from him, "You are my family, and if the future me isn't completely senile yet, I know I taught you that we idiots from the Namikaze family never give up. Right?"
Chao tearfully nodded into his shoulder, the nostalgic scent brought forth incredible temptation, "I'll do it jii-chan. I promise."
Naruto let her go before finishing the seal and slapping it on his forehead, "When the seal activates, get out of here. If I see you around, I'll connect the dots again, and one headache is more than enough."
Chao cried harder as she pulled herself away from Naruto.
As she started to run away she heard the wind carry his words to her one last time in a soft tone, "There's another reason I don't want you to tell me. No matter how bad things were, knowing that you are my granddaughter alone is reason enough for me to not want to change things too much. At least I know I did one thing right in the future by helping to bring you into this world and I don't want to change that. Know that whatever happens I am proud of you and that I have faith in you."
Chao leapt away with one last look back.
She saw the seal glow brightly and Naruto-jiji slumped back into his seat.
She furiously wiped her tears away, and her chest filled with determination. She wasn't going to let him and Negi-jiji sacrifice themselves for her stupidity again.
****Broken Faith****
Naruto woke up just as the sun was setting.
The blonde stood up and stretched, wondering what he was doing here.
Shrugging it off he walked off.
He suddenly felt like eating ramen at Chao Bao Zi.
****Broken Faith****
Naruto sat high above the rooftops as he leaned against a bell tower. In his lap was Chachamaru, wearing a light green yukata, leaning back into him, her head resting in the crook of his neck. On her lap was a bouncing Akako in human form wearing an adorable white and pink yukata as she gobbled a cloud of candy floss. As promised he had cooked her an awesome dinner, just for her and Akako, then they had dressed up and came to find a good spot to watch the festivities.
When the fireworks started Chachamaru just sighed in contentment causing Naruto to smile in amusement and wrap his arms around her and Akako tighter.
As the tree started to glow Naruto muttered, "For a gravestone it's definitely beautiful."
Chachamaru gave an amused snort before her expression fell. Naruto kissed her cheek, "You have to go already?"
"Yes… I'm sorry I can't tell you what it is about. Master's… companion specifically said not to."
"That's alright. I'm not about to force the issue about women staying home and being housewives."
"Will you be out tonight as well?"
"Yeah, I was thinking I'd go celebrate my first Festival in so long with Negi and the others. I'll leave a blood clone with Akako."
Chachamaru gave him peck on the cheek, "Take care, and… and I'm glad I was able to watch the fireworks with you..." she blushed cutely before leaping away as fast as possible over the rooftops. Naruto sighed as he watched her go, "I guess it's just you and me tonight Akako… Akako?"
The little girl was running around the bell tower happily squealing. She had also completely thrown off the yukata and was currently completely naked.
"Sigh…."
****Broken Faith****
Play Tommy Heavenly 6 – Unlimited Sky (Acoustic)
Naruto walked about the festival, hands in his pockets as he enjoyed the sights, just another person in the mass of people, unknown and unseen as the merrily celebrating people bustled about, he didn't mind, after a very hectic few months he was ready for some alone time. Negi walked by his side as the two of them walked quietly, enjoying the momentary peace from 3-A, it was not that they liked being lonely, it was just they both agreed that the girls of 3-A were very high strung. He had found the red head trying to escape from Ayaka's attentions and had rescued the boy with a henged clone. Stopping by an old style izakaya he smiled, "Negi, let's get something to eat and drink."
Negi shrugged with a grin, "As long as you pay." Before Naruto could reply a new voice cut in.
"Ah Naruto, Negi. Perfect timing."
The blonde perked up at his name being called in surprise. He hadn't expected any company. He looked up to see the dean of all people calling his name. With the old man was Takahata and Shizuna.
He gave a casual grin and "Yo."
"Come join us. We were just about to go for a few drinks."
Naruto smiled at the cheerful old man, "Just us old farts and a kid?"
"Muuu… nii-san! I'm not a kid anymore."
Shizuna cuddled up to Negi and protested, "That's right! Me and Negi are not old. Just you three." She said with a teasing grin, while Negi blushed at being cuddled like a teddy bear.
Naruto waved at her and Takahata as he joined them. Together they walked into the bustling old style izakaya. The dean had reserved a slot on the top floor with a balcony that faced the World Tree.
"Anybody else joining us?" Naruto questioned.
"Nope, it's just us old farts."
"I said I'm not an old fart!"
Takahata smiled.
The drinks came and they toasted, "To another good year at Mahora, may the Festival be as successful as always." Negi got juice.
"To Mahora!" they talked, laughed, joked and drank bottle after bottle like five normal people. Naruto and Takahata shared an amused look as the very drunk Shizuna persuaded Negi to take a few sips from her sake saucer before grinning simultaneously at the red head who was currently in a head lock as the school nurse force fed him sake.
Good view, good sake and even better entertainment. Life didn't get better than that.
It didn't take long before Negi was crying into Naruto's side while Takahata coughed a few times to hide his laugh.
"It must be hard eh Negi? Being so popular with all the girls, much less your own class filled with girls." Negi started sobbing into Takahata's shirt instead, "Waaahh! I'm like the class teddy bear instead of a teacher; I can't even handle my class properly! Everyone keeps doing whatever they want! Naruto-nii san even had to rescue me from Iincho, if I stayed any longer I would've been molested!"
"Mah mah, just be a little strict and forceful sometimes, then the girls won't push you around so much."
Naruto laughed at the kid before ruffling his hair, "You got to relax a bit Negi. Sometimes you try to act like an adult so hard that it just makes you seem more childish, the more the girls want to cuddle you more." Negi nodded tearfully at the conflicting advice.
"Naruto! What do you think of my granddaughter!" the utterly drunk dean yelled at the blonde and had Naruto been at least partly sober as well he would've seen the trap immediately.
"She's cute now, give her a few years, if she sets her sights on someone, he probably won't even get a chance to refuse. Not that he would even want to. When the time comes Negi and Konoka would make a good match!"
Negi heard and responded immediately, "No freaking way! She's so scary! Have you guys even seen what's in her room?"
The dean completely ignored Negi's outburst and pulled a piece of paper out of nowhere before handing it to the drunk blonde, "Ah good, good. Sign here."
Takahata, the least drunk of the four sweat dropped as the blonde cheerfully signed as he patted the sobbing Negi's back. Meh, the blonde was an interesting person, he had brought cheer to the academy with his peculiar ways. What Takahata really meant was watching him bumble around was insanely amusing.
Once the contract was carefully slipped into his robes again Konoemon changed the subject, "How is your problem with the World Tree?" Shizuna perked up, "Problem? What problem? Anybody with a problem has to see me!" then she fell flat on the table and started snoring.
Naruto glanced at Negi and seeing the boy was already asleep on Takahata's lap, leaned back and sighed, "I'm trying my best. I promised I won't die and I'm not giving up, I'll keep trying until the minute before I blow up, but I'm realistic enough to see that my chances of surviving are dwindling every day." He looked at the glowing tree with a bittersweet expression, "Sometimes I wonder why me? I fought loneliness, fought wars, and now I'm fighting just so I can live long enough to see myself have a family. I really wonder, what is in me that Kami would find interesting enough to keep giving me challenges." Naruto snorted, "But on the flip side, I guess I don't mind. If I sat around and grew old and senile like you. I'd die of boredom before I get the chance."
"Wait wait, what is this about dying? You look perfectly healthy!"
Naruto grinned at Takahata, "Oh I didn't tell you? My seal is cracking because I'm regenerating more power than it can absorb. Worst case scenario the seal breaks completely and the fail safe kicks in. Boom. The reason I was released in the first place was because the seal finally cracked enough for me to get out, but it still treats me as though I'm still sealed so it keeps absorbing my chakra to keep me restrained."
Halfway through his explanation the dean already began to snore.
"I..I see…"
"Ah, don't look so sad, It's not like I'm going to die tomorrow. Not sure when it'll happen since I don't know how much the thing can take. So I'm pretty much like you, you know you'll die, you just don't know when or how. I can't leave yet, look at Negi," he gestured at the sleeping boy, "I can't just leave the kid. If I do, no one's going to teach him how to grow a set of balls. It's not just him either." Naruto smiled softly, "I can't leave everybody else. Chachamaru, Akako, Asuna, Konoka, Setsuna, Chizuru. I don't want to leave until I know they're safe and successful ya know."
The only two that were still remotely awake sat side by side sipping sake. Naruto grinned slightly, "Do you know? This is most normal thing I've done my entire life. Sitting here, drinking sake on a festival with friends. Nobody to fight, no one after my life, no deadlines, no troublesome girls…."
Takahata snorted at the last one.
"Neh Takahata. If I fail, would you mind at least taking care of Chachamaru and Akako for me? I'm not saying you have to be there all the time, I know Evangeline well enough that she would do it properly. But at least drop in once in a while to check up on them."
"You would trust me enough to ask that of me?"
Naruto shrugged, "I know you're a good man and Negi trusts you, that's good enough for me. I'm not exactly popular among the rest of the mages and I can't ask Negi to do it since he can barely take care of himself."
"True." Both men looked at the snoring boy before laughing.
"By the way, I'm thinking about getting a car. Any advice?"
"Heh, sure."
The two men drank till it was early in the morning when they got up to leave Takahata staggered into Naruto, "Geh, you can barely stand, what we gonna do bout these three?" Naruto slurred out.
"Bleh, I know where Shizuna lives, I usually bunk in her house when we're drunk like this. The old fart can stay here. We do this everytime the Festival starts so owners know to shove his wrinkly ass in a free room somewhere. You can get Negi back home yourself?"
"Gahaha! You bunk with Shizuna? Man, Asuna would go bat shit crazy if she knew."
Takahata sobered, "I don't want to hurt her Naruto, but there are just too many things stopping a relationship. Chief of all the fact that I'm 30 years older than her and I don't like her that way, she's like my own daughter sometimes. She deserves someone better than me."
Naruto shook his head, it wasn't his place to comment before slapping the teacher on his back and tried to give the man a thumbs up before settling for a nod since his fingers didn't seem to want to respond properly. He bent over and hefted the boy over his shoulders like a sack of potatoes.
As he stumbled out of the izakaya and waved as Takahata left in another direction, the fresh air seemed to clear some of the throbbing in his head. Enough for him to start stumbling off in the direction of the female dorms. He groaned slightly at the headache, while he would still regenerate from a hangover pretty fast, when Akane was still inside him, he wouldn't even get drunk since she knew to regulate her youki to burn anything bad away, well at least he could get drunk and forget his worries now.
Naruto stumbled along with an unconscious red head slung over his shoulders, when he reached Negi's room, he banged the door slightly, not wanting everyone in the building to wake up and label him as a child abuser.
The door was flung open by a worried pyjama wearing Asuna with her hair down, "Negi! Where were you! Wait, Naruto?"
Naruto grinned at the girl, "I'm afraid we've accidentally corrupted Negi."
"What! Wait!" but before the girl could start her rant Naruto had already dropped Negi on Asuna and tried to run away before the girl decided the person that corrupted Negi was him, and it wasn't like she would believe him if he told her that Shizuna was the culprit anyway.
The only problem he could see with that decision was the fact that his legs didn't want to cooperate and Naruto fell flat on his face.
"Sigh…" Asuna face palmed as she hefted the unconscious red head and sweat dropped at the groaning blonde, "I think you better stay here for tonight. You can barely walk and your tent is two hours from here by foot." She only got a groan in reply.
She laid one mumbling idiot on his bed and tucked the boy in before moving to get the older idiot. Hefting the blonde's arm over her shoulder, she supported the stumbling blonde onto the carpet beside the couch in the living room, the idiot was too big for their couch. Sighing again, she went to get Negi cleaned up with a wet towel. They both stunk of sake.
It took an hour before she managed to wipe Negi down, especially since the boy kept trying to cling to her. Sighing, she wiped some sweat from her forehead before moving to clean Naruto. She sat beside the blonde with a small pail of warm water and a towel. He seemed to be sleeping peacefully with one arm slung over his eyes, undisturbed by the fact that he was essentially sleeping on the floor or of the moonlight and the lights of the city that shone through the window. In the dark Asuna blushed slightly as she lifted one hand to caress his cheeks gently. Hesitantly she pulled her fingers back and shook herself as if to chastise herself for being stupid before she started to wipe his face with a towel.
A hand snapped up to grab the hand holding a towel to his cheek before her entire body was flipped onto the floor, right into his arms. Asuna's breath hitched at the feeling of one arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her body flush against his own as her heart pounded and blood rushed to her face at their intimate position. For a few heart thumping seconds she waited for any signs that the blonde was doing this on purpose. Embarassing her on purpose.
Nothing. Naruto was completely asleep. Inside, she tried to make her body forget the fact that this wasn't the first time it was in this position nor was it wise to want to stay here in his arms, that his warmth and firm yet soft torso was not a good place to fall asleep in. The fact that he was breathing softly on her ear wasn't helping her body make up its mind at all.
She kept herself frozen for just a bit longer, inwardly persuading herself that it was because she wanted to make sure he wouldn't wake up and find her in this embarrassing position. Once she was sure he wouldn't wake up she quietly tried to wriggle her way out of his arms.
For something made of flesh and muscle, they were as effective as any cage of steel. Biting her lower and lip and softly cursing the blonde, Asuna struggled harder, only for Naruto's breath to hitch and the arm around her waist to tighten, pulling her body snugly against his own. Asuna slowly peeked back over her shoulder to see unfocused eyes looking right back at her.
Huh…. She never knew his eyes had green flecks in them. Some things you just don't see until you are less than 3 inches away.
She was about to hit her limit and slap the blonde when the blonde unexpectedly smiled sadly at her before burying his face in the nape of her neck. She could feel a few tears fall onto her skin…. Wait… He was crying? When the blonde started to place gentle kisses on her neck she forcefully suppressed the pleasant chills that wanted to run down her back at the sensation of his lips dancing on her skin by going as still as a rock, "I'm sorry… I'm so sorry." The blonde kept mumbling lowly in between nuzzling her neck and placing soft feather like kisses there.
Asuna who was still as stiff as a rock at the arguably pleasurable sensation forced herself to breathe and respond just as softly, "So-sorry for what?" She convinced herself that the fact she wiggled closer into his embrace was just so she could hear the blonde's reply.
"I'm sorry Akane… I can't go to where you are yet. I still have a lot of things to do, I promised them I won't go yet… I'm so sorry…. I can't die yet." His mumblings slowly became incoherent as he sobbed into the back of her pyjamas.
Asuna's eyes softened. Stupid bastard was hiding something like this from them and taking the entire burden on himself again. She looked up at the full moon through the glass and relaxed her body, revelling in the feeling of being cocooned by the blonde's arm.
"Sorry Akane, I guess I'll have to take care of this idiot for you for just a while longer. Heh… but I can't help but be jealous of how devoted he is to you, you are one lucky bitch."
She settled back onto the bicep she was using as a pillow and gave a contented sigh. Might as well enjoy it if she couldn't get away.
Just then she heard the sound of a door opening. Hope blossomed on her face and fell just as quickly as she realised exactly who the door was hiding. A grinning Konoka.
Shii…..
A grinning Konoka who then went back into her room, came back out with a comforter, draped it over herself before tapping Naruto's shoulder.
One second, one swift move and one quiet happy squeal later, the three of them were wrapped in the comforter, one girl using each arm as a pillow.
Damn. She needed to face palm really urgently, or better yet, smack a certain princess upside the head but her arms were still being pinned by Naruto.
****Broken Faith****
Naruto stared at the clear blue sky as planes streaked across it, leaving trails of clouds in the air. The whole of Mahora was buzzing with voices, cheers, the sound of running feet and laughing children, causing a adorable kimono clad Akako that was currently being held by Naruto to squirm, wanting to join the festivities. People were everywhere Naruto looked; hundreds of them, all from a vast array of ages. The majority were teenagers or pre-teens, as befitting of a campus, but there was no shortage of adults; the family of students or just people coming to visit the great festival, that if Yue was to be believed, had morphed into a worldwide event.
She had spent quite some time last night explaining to the two just how big the festival was going to be and some of the things to expect. Like how a vast majority of people may wear costumes for fun, or that millions of yen regularly exchanged hands nearly every festival.
With wide eyes, he, Akako and Negi watched the parade; horses, elephants, giraffes, blob monsters, giant balloons floating in the sky, all accompanied by costumed men and women putting on a show. Naruto neither knew nor cared which animals were real or fake, though he smirked as a giant lizard (a dinosaur) nearly stepped on the very pale Negi. Ah… he remembered his own first hangover, something every man had to go through as a rite of passage into adulthood. Although…. puking on every major building in Konoha for fun probably wasn't very smart.
"This is it! The 78th Annual Mahora Festival Starts Now!" a loud voice announced over the hum of people.
"So, where are we going first?" Naruto asked, shifting Akako into a more comfortable position. The very pale Negi waved his hand to signify it was up to him; he didn't think it was safe to open his mouth and not barf everything up immediately. What the hell happened yesterday? All he remembered was being smothered by something soft then bam. Nothing. Nevermind, he'd just blame Naruto-nii san. Asuna was right; blaming Naruto for everything was incredibly therapeutic sometimes.
While Negi was wearing his usual green suit, Naruto had put on a black t-shirt, a dull, almost red-orange jacket, and light blue jeans, his pony tail tied in a bun today.
The girls had already split off to do their own thing, or more accurately the Haunted House that 3-A had spent the last two weeks working on. Although Naruto did wonder why Asuna refused to look him in the eye this morning. She practically threw together breakfast, jammed some toasts down his throat and left with one in her own mouth. Konoka was no help at all when he asked. She just laughed this really disturbing dainty laugh before smiling (leering) at him and gave a very weird explanation, "Accident that nearly led to temporary blood loss."
"I guess we should get to The Haunted House then," Naruto answered. "I wanna see how is it doing, the girls worked really hard on it." he elaborated.
"That sounds like a good id-" Chamo began, before he was cut short as his perch began to fall from beneath him. Negi, said perch, had begun to sway.
Naruto extended a hand to steady the boy, stopping him from falling over. "Don't worry. You'll get used to it."
"Get used to it my ass. I'm never going near an izakaya with you again." Negi muttered under his breath with not a little malice in his voice.
Naruto chuckled nervously, Negi seemed to really let loose when he was hung over, "Gomen gomen. Anyway, come on, daylights burning, and we have a busy schedule today." With a brief reassuring pat on the shoulder, they were off towards 3-A's classroom.
Before the two had even managed to get to the stairs, they found the corridors crowded by people, all queued up in a line along one wall, all the way down to the ground floor.
"I wonder what the lines for?" Negi asked.
"You don't think it could be the Haunted House do you?"
"Maybe."
As they turned onto the corridor where their class was located, Naruto's suspicion was instantly proven correct. The line ended just short of a desk nearby their class room.
It didn't take long for the girls to take note of them and usher them closer.
"Negi-kun! Evil Naruto-sensei! Naruto-san!" Yuna, Makie and Sakurako greeted cheerfully but not before the other two gave Makie a weird look at her title for the blonde.
The rest of the girls soon followed. All were in rather elaborate costumes; Yuna in her tight red cat outfit, Makie in a black yukata and Sakurako was in a very risqué outfit; it was black in colour, covering only her torso and groin. Her arms were covered by black gloves that ended just before her shoulders; everything she wore had the top edge covered in white fur similar to Yuna. Her legs and shoulders and even hips were completely bare, apart from her black slippers. To finish the outfit off, she wore a pair of bat ears and a snake hairclip, as well as a set of fangs in her mouth that made her more cute than scary.
In contrast to Yuna and Sakurako, Akira and Ayaka were in rather conservative outfits; the former wearing a uniform similar appearance to Sayo, a black sailor uniform, and the latter wearing an off white, flowing dress.
Only two other people were out in the entrance; Fuuka, wearing a long hooded robe and holding a giant butterbur leaf, probably imitating a Minutian, over her head; Haruna, who was wearing a black robe that extended to her feet, and a hat which showed a white bat on the front.
Scratch that, they were all more cute than scary.
"Naruto-san! Negi-sensei! Come and try our Haunted House!"
Negi glanced at his watch before agreeing but Naruto shook his head sadly. He really did want to try the attractions out but his patrol started in a few minutes, "I'm sorry girls, I can't make it now. I have something to do but I'm done by evening, so I'll come by then."
"Awwww…."
Waving at the girls and Negi, Naruto left to find a secluded spot where he could take to the roofs. Akako giggled and urged her father to leap higher with every jump. Smiling, the blonde simply obliged.
He landed in an empty clearing behind the church. His sector was one of the furthest from the World Tree, just barely inside the red zone but he doubted anybody would be confessing in a church, an orphanage or the child care centre near it.
Forming a few clones, he instructed them to form a perimeter and watch out for confessing couples while he walked towards a field nearby with Akako's small hand in his where had seen children playing. He figured he would let Akako play with them while he watched.
"Oh my… Naruto-san? What brings you here?"
Naruto quirked one eyebrow, he hadn't expected her to be the one taking care of all the children today.
Gently nudging Akako towards the other children he sat under the tree's shade beside Chizuru, "I'm surprised to see you here. Aren't you busy with the Haunted House?"
Chizuru gently smiled at the children, "Hmm…. My shift is tomorrow. Today I'm volunteering with the day care. I suppose you could say I don't care much for crowds, and with today being the opening for the Festival, it'll be the busiest day."
Naruto grinned, "And some would say taking care of children is even more stressful then taking care of a stall or something."
"Fufufu, they are all good children. Right?" she called out to the kids sweetly.
Everyone of them gulped at the sweet tone before nodding frantically while Akako simply gave a cute thumbs up in reply before jumping on a boy and rolling him around in the grass.
Naruto didn't know if he should sympathise with them or run away screaming. He settled for just nodding neutrally.
They sat there quietly with the occasional yelp or yell of joy and enjoyed the warm breeze that blew waves across the grass field like an artificial sea while the kids rolled around.
A slight weight settled on Chizuru's shoulder and she peeked down to see Naruto slowly dozing off in the peacefulness, the shade, the warmth and the winds rhythm worked together to lull him like a lullaby.
Smiling slightly, the girl shifted her weight and slowly moved the blonde without waking him up so that Naruto's head was resting on her lap. She hesitated for a bit before running her fingers through his hair, a slow rumbling emanated from his chest, like a large cat purring. Chizuru grinned slightly. She felt it was an apt comparison for some reason. He was such a big cat sometimes. Incredibly lazy on the surface and when the mood hit; he gambolled around like a large kitten but when it came down to it; he was one of the fiercest, most reliable people she knew and on the other hand, mysterious and dark. It was such a pity seeing him pushing himself so hard when he thought no one could see.
He seemed to forget she lived in the female dorm's top floor and since her room's window faced east, she could see his clearing from her room well enough, especially late at night when the flashes woke up her up.
Oh wait, she never told him. Pity. She probably shouldn't mention the telescope either.
A few minutes later a yawning Akako crawled onto her father's chest and fell asleep splayed out on him while nuzzling his torso. Naruto's arms automatically wrapped around her and petted her head causing the little girl to purr softly in time with her father.
Chizuru's grin grew wider; she wished she brought a camera.
A small group of girls gathered and whispered among themselves curiously before pushing a brown haired girl, a regular at the day care, forward. The girl poked her tongue out at the other girls before tip toeing softly up to Chizuru and looked curiously at the blonde and Akako, she looked at Chizuru, her eyes big and bright with curiosity, "Chizuru… are you his this?" she wiggled her pinky finger at the auburn haired girl.
Chizuru just smiled mischievously at the girl before leaning down to place a soft kiss Naruto's forehead and the top of Akako's head before winking at the small girl. The small girl quietly squealed before running off to the other girls to share the gossip.
****Broken Faith****
Sapphire eyes snapped open. Crap, he had fallen asleep. Where was he and where were his clones. Quickly glancing at his wristwatch he groaned slightly. He had fallen asleep for nearly 5 hours. It was 4.45 p.m. and he really didn't want to miss Negi's first date. Those drinks last night affected him more then he realised.
He tried to get up only to realise there was something or someone on his chest. Glancing down he noticed a peacefully sleeping Akako.
"Shh…. The kids are asleep."
Looking up at the voice he finally realised why his pillow was so soft. Suppressing a groan as a gamut of expressions ran across his face, he looked around to get his balance, sprawled in the shade all around them were sleeping children in various positions. Chizuru herself was surrounded by girls leaning on her and gently snoring. Rarely did anybody get by his sleeping defences naturally. Those that did usually truly had no bad intentions whatsoever, be it lust or anger and were as pure as they came and yet this girl walked right through them as if they weren't there at all.
It was more technical than that but that wasn't the point.
"I'm sorry I fell asleep on you, are you tired?" he whispered back.
"A little. But I don't mind."
Gently lifting Akako up, Naruto sat up and careful not to jolt Akako, placed her where he had been just seconds ago, "I have to go to the toilet. I'll be back as soon as possible."
Without thinking about what he was doing, he quickly leaned down and pecked her cheek before silently walking away with long confident strides.
Chizuru watched him go with a slight blush as she brushed the spot where Naruto's lips had touched her cheek. That was unexpected… but not entirely unpleasant either.
Naruto reached the church and ducked into a shadowed alcove before forming two clones, dispersing one to request a situation report and ordering the other to spend the rest of the day with Akako and Chizuru.
Once he had confirmed nothing had happened, even the one single confession in the church was disturbed by a clone disguised as a barking dog, the blonde leapt off.
****Broken Faith****
As soon as he got within the city he scrunched his eyebrows in confusion. What the hell? There was more than one Negi running around the place, and it didn't feel like clones either. The signature was too solid to be a replication.
He moved towards the nearest one that seemed to be walking around with Mana.
Dropping down from the roof he frowned at the boy, "Negi? Is that you?"
"Nii-san?"
"Naruto-san." The dark skinned girl greeted him calmly.
"What the hell is going on? I sense more than one of you."
"Oh… Oh! Errr, you just came back from your patrol right?"
"Yeah….?" Naruto looked weirdly at the boy.
"I'll explain later, just head towards the Western Quadrant. Track the signature that's closest to Asuna, Haruna and Konoka right now, and don't say anything about seeing multiple me's until I explain the situation." Negi hurriedly explained while the ermine stayed uncharacteristically quiet.
Naruto rubbed his temples, "Alright, but I want a full explanation later got it?"
"Don't worry. You'll get one. Oh and before I forget….."
"What?"
Negi walked up to Naruto smiling innocently before punching Naruto in the gut, "Don't worry. You'll understand what that was for."
Naruto groaned before flipping Negi the bird.
Mana smirked as the blonde leapt away, watching him get floored like that was very amusing, "That was a good punch Negi-sensei."
"I know. I wanted to hit him harder but I suppose it was my fault to start with." Negi replied with a similar smirk.
Mana just laughed.
****Broken Faith****
Naruto landed behind the three girls, his confusion only increased as he saw another Negi leaning against the railing of a roof with Nodoka beside him.
"What's going on here?"
"Naruto-sensei? Wait never mind, just be quiet, we're just getting to the good part." Konoka urgently whispered.
"Um… ok…."
Pushing his questions and what promised to be a blooming headache aside for now, he hunkered down between Konoka and Asuna to watch the dating duo.
With Negi
"I-I'm sorry about that! Tho-those two were my er…co-workers you could say."
"A-ano… it's alright, I don't mind."
Silence fell as the two of them fidgeted, not knowing what to say, Negi felt like the entire date had been ruined because of him. He had to do something to fill the silence and get it back on track.
'Crap, crap, what would Naruto-nii san do? Oh right, something stupid.'
"It's a nice day to talk isn't it? Talking is nice."
"Um... yes it is."
Thud Thud Thud Thud
"A-ano… Negi-sensei? Do you hear something?"
The thudding stopped.
Negi listened for a bit, "I'm sorry I don't hear anything."
With Naruto
Naruto's jaw dropped. 'Talking is nice? Who the hell taught him his pick up lines?'
"Excuse me, I need to do something." He muttered to the three giggling girls beside him. He walked up to a wall and started pounding his head against it. He swore he could feel the earth shake slightly as every straight male on the planet felt the urge to do the same thing he was doing.
Thud Thud Thud Thud
"What are you doing! Get back here, you're making too much noise!" Asuna hissed as loudly and angrily as she could. Naruto meekly went back to her side.
With Negi
'Shit, nothing is going right! How am I supposed to fix this!'
Negi slumped down onto the railing and sighed, "I'm sorry Nodoka-san. The date was going so well until my co-workers disturbed us. We were having such a nice time too; it's entirely my fault."
"No, no," she hurriedly tried to correct him. "There's nothing for you to apolo-"
"I know!" he interrupted her. "Please, tell me if there is anything I can do to make up for it?"
"Make it up to me?" she asked confusedly.
With Naruto
Beep Beep BEEP BEEP
"Dammit Naruto! What's that damn beeping! They're going to find out we're here!"
The blonde fumbled around in his pockets to find the source of the beeping. When he found it, he looked at it dumbly. The tracking device was pointing straight at the couple on the other side of the roof.
"Ah, crud. That idiot owes me for this." Naruto jumped out of the bushes.
"Naruto! Get him before he ruins everything!" all three girls hissed angrily.
With Negi
"Anything!" he pressed. "You just name it and I'll do it! For you, I'll even use magic!"
"DYYYYNAAAA"
"If-if it's okay,"
"MMMIIICCCCCCC"
"I-I want a d-deep kiss with"
"EEEENNNNNTRYYYYYYYYYY!"
"You." she said shyly.
In slow motion she looked up just in time to see Negi in the process of getting kicked away; her class room teacher's face was etched in surprise, his eyes hilariously wide, his mouth opened in an 'O' shape and a booted foot was connected to his cheek. Her eyes slowly trailed up the foot, a lean muscled thigh and ended in a tall blonde that she vaguely recognised as her only male classmate. Briefly she wondered why he seemed to be hovering in mid air with one leg stretched out as if executing a slow motion high jump kick.
Offhandedly she noticed his mouth moving in slow motion, forming words that sounded suspiciously like, "Oh Crap."
Time finally resumed its normal pace and the blonde finally landed, staring at her in shock before looking up into the sky.
A giant white column of light was heading right for him.
"Fu….."
****Broken Faith****
AN : I'm seriously worried about the pairings lol. I have absolutely no clue how to fit all them in with equal time, especially considering my writing style.
Seriously though, my role model for NegimaxNaruto crossovers, Ashaman of Fire, does it way better. He tells the overall picture way better than I ever can, funnier, more original scenes and includes almost all the girls. I'm not that good, and I know a lot of my characters don't get enough screen time. I'm working on it, promise. Although I suppose the characters I do focus on get more development than his does.
Oh btw, Enlightened End? I visited your profile. Wink. I hope my story is good enough to satisfy the warning on your profile.