Magister Negi Magi is owned by Ken Akamatsu and Kodansha Ltd. Tokyo in Japan, and by Funimation and Ballantine - DelRey in the United States, NOT by me.
SPOILER ALERT! AU story occurring after c189.
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"With the murder of Ayane Nagase during the Meiji Restoration, the line of the Kouga Ninja was brought to a violent end."
-Kasumi Mugen Tenshin. Author of: "A History of the Kouga Ninja."
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Ala Alba in the World of Magic: Tales From the Fireside.
Chapter Thirty: Yuurei Teisatsu, Part 1: Kaede. (Day two.)
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To most, Ninja were viewed as assassins and spies, black-clad and faceless. The stuff of movie and legend.
To the tall, cloaked girl moving through the nighttime darkness of New Ostia's back alleys, being a Ninja was a goal and a reality she had lived and trained to achieve for just under half her life.
("I am Kaede Nagase, Kouga Ninja, I move through the night silent like a breeze...")
Considering what the stakes were this time, Kaede understood that failure would mean more than just a scolding by a busybody crow. Failure could mean consequences worse than death itself, if the few details she'd heard from Anya Cocorowa were any indication.
Nearing the objective of her first real mission as a ninja, Kaede searched for and quickly found a place of concealment. Reaching inside her tattered cloak, she pulled out a tiny, platinum-haired doll dressed as a Japanese school-girl. "Ready to go Sayo?"
Nervous but determined, Sayo Aisaka waited for Kaede to point out their target, then leapt from her worldly form to go attempt a task she alone was uniquely suited to accomplish.
As the faint wisp of Sayo's spirit flitted off towards possible danger, Kaede settled down tightly beneath her cloak to wait.
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Earlier that evening, as her homeroom professor sat on a couch slowly paging through the text and drawings in Nodoka Miyazaki's Diarium Ejus, Kaede had stood ready to render him unconscious, should he suddenly become irrational. Doing himself proud, Negi Springfield remained calm until he finally read the last page of recorded information. Closing the picture diary, he leaned limply against the couch back to stare unblinkingly at the ceiling.
"She was close enough to touch... and I didn't recognize her..."
With Setsuna and Konoka gone with Takane Goodman to see to Misora Kasuga, and most everyone else returned to their own inns or dispersed within the arena suites occupied by the Ala Alba, Kaede, Ku, Kotaro and Chamo had been the only one's present when Nodoka burst into the room with her bombshell revelation that Asuna was still alive.
Taking on the tone she'd used to calm Negi months ago in the hills above Mahora, Kaede knelt and placed her hand gently on his knee. "Perhaps it's best for now you didn't. Even though he seemed surprised by her appearance, a fight at that time would have surely been on Fate's terms. He obviously choose to initiate that meeting, so I can't imagine he would have done so without being prepared for such beforehand."
Back in his normal form for the moment, Negi looked every bit like a lost ten-year old as he moved slightly to look into the sympathetic warmth of Kaede's open, brown eyes. "You knew..."
Unflinchingly, Kaede returned Negi's gaze. "I had a strong suspicion. Ku and I encountered Fate Averruncus and someone we think was Asuna while we were still in Tengboche. It was my intent to inform you of this, but the opportunity failed to present itself, and it seems I've been beaten to the punch tonight by Nodoka."
Standing up, Negi rubbed at the few tears on his cheeks and walked over to the balcony to gaze out at the nighttime lights of New Ostia. After standing alone with his thoughts for several minutes, he turned back to face his friends. "I would like nothing better than to go wherever Asuna is and free her this instant..."
Kotaro Murakami felt the thrill of a potential fight, but could tell by Negi's exhausted look that was their worst possible option... for now...
"...but that isn't going to happen. Most of us have been up for two days. Even if we knew why she seems to be cooperating with Fate, we'd never be able to rescue her without rest. As it is, you and I have a match tomorrow morning, Kotaro. If we loose because of our fatigue, that would be unfair to Ako, Natsumi and Akira." Pausing for a moment, Negi glanced over to where Chamo appeared to be sleeping on a chair, then back to Kaede. "The next best option is to somehow find out for certain if that actually was Asuna."
Having remained silent after answering Negi's initial questions, Nodoka now raised her hand to draw his attention. "Professor Springfield? Miss Pepelu recognized Fate after he attacked us. Perhaps she might have some clue as to where he and Asuna would be. I'll go ask right away."
Given a nod, Nodoka retrieved her artifact and departed. Still looking worried, Negi returned his gaze to Kaede. "I still hate to have to use my students to deal with my troubles, but with your skills Kaede, you would probably be the best choice to go see if that was Asuna. You or maybe Sayo. The only problem is we've already lost a day that should have been used trying to confirm the location of the Ostian gate port, even if Yue does think she knows where it is."
Thinking about the possibility of both herself and Sayo going to confirm Asuna's presence, Kaede glanced at a desk clock, then over to where Chamo was now watching the conversation with increasing alertness. "If Nodoka returns quickly enough, and I don't have to go to the far end of the island, I just might have time to go look before the sun comes up." Feeling a bit of nervousness at what she was about to propose, Kaede shoved it ruthlessly aside as impractical under the current circumstances. "Also, considering who our enemy is, and the potential benefits to be gained from doing so. perhaps the time has finally come for the two of us to do... 'that.'"
"Them's the words I like to hear!" Realizing the tension in the room needed a bit of easing, Chamo jumped down from his resting place and ran out to stand between Negi and Kaede. Rubbing his chin, he gave each of the four people in the room a thoughtful look. "I'm sure Kaede and Elder Master Ku would both be good matches for the Negster, but I'm not so sure about you, Kotaro."
Already flustered at the idea of what had to happen for Negi to make a pactio with Kaede or Ku, Kotaro failed to see the teasing look in Chamo's eye. "No... NO WAY! I'M NOT GONNA' KISS NEGI!"
Giving Kotaro a leering look, Chamo continued to pour oil on the fire he'd started. "Don't be such a spoil-sport! Unless he found some way to do Pactio contracts I don't know about, Negi's dad must have kissed Al and Rakan, and maybe even Eishun!"
Every hair on Kotaro's tail suddenly stood on end as he jumped after the still brown and cream colored Chamo.
Watching as Chamo ran under the couch, Ku tried to stay calm, despite the color she could feel in her face. Kissing Negi... she didn't really have a problem with that... but... for a first kiss to be done out of necessity, instead of desire... the very idea left her feeling a little cold. Turning to look up at the outwardly calm, but still slightly flushed Kaede, she pointed at Chamo to distract herself from thoughts about first kisses. "That guy... he really know how to lighten mood, don't he?"
As Kotaro jumped across the couch and nearly fell, Kaede had to nod in agreement. After a 'SMISH!' and a choked sounding "PURHGUHH!" when Chamo tried and failed to run back under cover before Kotaro could catch him, she gave an amused sigh. "We'd best save Chamo, otherwise Professor Springfield won't be making new Pactio's with anyone else anytime soon!"
Shrugging her shoulders, Ku moved to help her companion save the Ala Alba's resident humorist and panty-thief from his bushy-tailed attacker.
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Just as the first rays of direct moonlight began to shine into the alley where she'd left Kaede, Sayo returned.
Kaede held her cloak open to let the frightened spirit girl rush inside, then pulled the tattered edges of the artifact over her head.
By the time a familiar enemy whose presence Kaede had sensed pursuing Sayo found their hiding place, there was nothing to see except the drifting trash and scurrying vermin of an empty alley...
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tsuzuku.
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Author's Notes:
To think I was saying I would be writing longer chapters!
This chapter and the next deal with situations that didn't quite fit with what happens between the end of chapter 29, and the events of day three of the Ostian Festival.
Chapter 31: Solid Sayo.