WolfGear Presents: Negima? The mage and the Gunslinger
Pairings: Negi X ku-Fei Kaede X OC
Chapter twenty: Festival parts 4-confessions and knock out rounds
I don't own Negima!
Well Negi and Ku-Fei where enjoying their date, Jack was doing his part by stopping peoples confessions with a nice harmless rubber bullet, ok it wasn't that harmless but it worked! From his position Jack could snip over the whole plaza. He had another couple in his crosshairs when a shot from the opposite tower took them out before he could.
Jack moved his sites to the opposite tower through his scope he could see the dark skinned form of Tatsumiya Mana, shooting down the confessors." So that's how she wants to play huh?" he mumbled cocking his Rolling block rifle it was a single shot bolt action but he would show the other mercenary the wild west wasn't dead yet, he grinned evilly as he fired another round Mana seem to catch on and fired as well, the shooting match of the century as just begun!
In another part of the festival Kaede was hanging out with the twins, they had finished their shifts at the saloon and where now enjoying the festival, the ninja watched with amusement as the two jumped in side a huge ball bin fitting right in with their younger participants.
"Those girls sure seem like a hand full," a voice said Kaede looks behind her to see Rubi emerge from the crowds with a dark haired girl that was around her age at her side. Rubi followed the ninja's gaze she gave Sayo a little push forward causing her to stumble over her feet.
"Oh sorry I'm Sayo Malone; I'll be joining your class next semester." The introduced herself bowing to the taller girl, she felt a hand rub the top of her head, she turns to see Rubi giving her the thumbs up.
"Is she your daughter Rubi-san? I didn't think you had any children." She was pretty sure that's what the mercenary was talking about after the incident in the bath, when she looks at the girls aura it was a slight mixture of Rubi's and Jack's so maybe they were related.
"Yup I adopted her just a few days ago, we been spending some bonding time together, I was hoping that Jack would spend some time with his new cousin but I haven't seen him around, have you seen him?" Rubi asked the ninja, she wasn't lying about the adoption part completely, it was just easier to leave the reviving a dead girl part out.
"No, I was hoping you would know, He told me had some work for the Dean to take care off but he never said when he would finish. I had hoped we could spend some time together before the tournament started." Kaede said disappointedly she was looking forward to seeing Jack play with the twins it was a really cute site to see.
Rubi put her index finger on her chin, thinking for a moment, the suddenly an idea come to her, she franticly dug into her shirt and pulled out a silver crucifix with pointed edges, that hung on a chain around her neck.
"We can find him with this," she exclaimed the others looks at her strangely, "You see this is a tracking device, it points to all the other ones of its kind. Meaning as long as Jack is wearing his we can find him, no matter where he is!" She place the crucifix in her palm sending a bit of her magic into the tracker, two of the ends lilt up with a blue glow, one pointing east towards the tournament grounds the other west near the entrance.
"That's strange," she muttered it was impossible to tell which one was Jack, but maybe the better question was who was the other one, there were only five of crosses in use currently which meant that one of her brother-in-laws was possibly here right now.
"You said Jack was going to enter the tournament?" she receives a nod from the ninja girl, "Good that probably where's he at let's go meet him, ok" Rubi walks off with Sayo trailing behind her, while Kaede gathers up the twins saying it was time to go, they sigh sad to be leaving the ball pin, but soon perk up when they hear that they're going to meet Jack.
Meanwhile at the festival entrance an unknown person wearing a cowboy entire entered the grounds a bandana covering most of his facial features, "Well what a surprise Rubi here too, things sure are gonna be fun." He said to himself he come all the way Japan to see his how much the boy has grown over the years he knew he wouldn't be disappointed.
Back at the plaza Mana and Jack were relieved from their posts by one of the mage teachers; they had successfully stop 58 confessions both scoring 29 each, they agreed to settle the tie in the area at the tournament. The two mercenaries hurried over to the area it was close to starting time and neither wanted to be late.
At the tournament grounds Negi and Ku-Fei waited for the others to arrive, Kataro was the first because he couldn't hold in his excitement any more currently he was talking with Natsumi about something, Negi decided to leave the two alone for now. Next to arrive was Kaede, the twins, and Rubi with a black haired girl who recognized as Sayo, only she wasn't a ghost anymore! He would have to find out how they managed that later as Jack and Mana showed up. They chatted for a bit waiting for the primarily rounds to begin, soon enough Kazumi's voice boomed over the speakers as she introduced Chao, who then explained her reasoning for buying the event and the rules.
Once she was finished the fighters drew lots to decide their placing Negi and Kataro easy defeated their older opponents and moved up to the second round, Jack and Rubi easy defeated beat the living crap out of their opponents not even giving half of them a look of interest, Jack unfortunately was unable to convince Rubi not to join in the fight so he gave up trying and decided to just go with it. Kaede, Ku-Fei, Setsuna, and Mana defeated their opponents in record time, in the next round Takahata and Evangeline dominated over the poor suckers that didn't have enough sense to flee on sight. In the last round two mysterious people stood in the center of the fighters one wore a brown cloak that hid most of his body, with the hood drawn up so it was impossible to tell who it was, standing beside him was the cowboy from the gate, an aura of danger surrounded both of them, causing the other combatants to band together in hopes of defeating them. It proved useless however as they were blown away without either lifting a finger, making the crowd gape in awe at their power!
"Tomorrow we'll be hosting the tournament finals, we'll also be drawing lots to there will be no waiting now let's see who will fight who in the finals," Kazumi announced "The lineup is as follows…
Round 1-Ku-Fei vs. Mana Tatsumiya
Round 2-Thomas vs. Daigouin
Round 3-Rubi Malone vs. Kaede Nagase
Round 4-Kataro McCoy vs. Jack McCoy
Round 5-Tanaka vs. Takane D. Goodman
Round 6-Takamichi T. Takahata vs. Negi Springfield
Round 7-Setsuna Sakurazaki vs. Mei Sakura
Round 8- Evangeline A.K McDowell vs. Colonel Sanders
…make sure to be here tomorrow and enjoy the festival!"
The crowd dispersed, many went too enjoy the festival a bit more, even though it was close to midnight many of the booths and events were still in full swing, some of the more adult theme attractions were now allowed to open since most of the younger participants, such as kids underage where now sleeping at home.
Negi and the group met up with the other girls of 2A in front of the school, many of them thanked Negi for taking time to come see them, though Negi has yet to actually experience them. After getting away from the girls Negi walks into a nearby alleyway and pulls out the Athena watch, just as he was about to activate it two familiar presences approach him.
"Yo Negi, what cha up too," Kataro yelled approaching the mage, Jack following behind him, "Hey is that the time watch, Jack's been talking about? Sweet let me have a try I want to see more of the festival!"
"Alright, just settle down please. Jack, are you coming too?" He asked the cowboy.
"You bet I promised to spend the day with the twins but patrol got in the way so I want to make it up to them." The cowboy answered rubbing the back of his head, embarrassed he had gotten so caught up with his shooting match with Mana he lost track of time.
The watch pulsed as Negi pumped magic into the device the area around them twisted and warped, making the three a little dizzy. When it was over it was day time again, Negi and Kataro when to help the girls advertise the saloon, well Jack when to the place where he agreed to meet Kaede and the twins.
Kaede waited at the spot that she and Jack agreed upon, they were going to spend the day with the twins after they finished their rounds. She checked her watch again Jack was five minutes late already it was unlike him to be late; perhaps he's run into some trouble? Someone tapped her shoulder on instinct, she spun around ready to defend herself, to her relief it was Jack with the twins riding on his shoulders.
"Hey there, you waitin' for someone special?" Jack asked coyly, Kaede gave him a light punch in the shoulder, causing the twins to giggle at their antics.
"No, just a cowboy who's late, you shouldn't keep a girl waiting you know," the ninja said playfully, she loved this little games they would play; it was funny to see what he would came up with next. Last time he dressed up like a police officer and pretended to arrest her on charges for being too damn sexy.
The twins jumped down from Jack's shoulders, they wore another one of their childish costumes, Fuuka wore a little red riding hood costume well Fumika wore a similar one except it was blue. Once their feet hit the ground they grabbed the ninja in a fierce hug.
"Come on, Kaede lets go have some fun!" they exclaimed pulling the taller girls along, smiling at the girls antics Jack follow along after them.
For the next few hours the four enjoyed various games such as the shooting gallery, ball toss, and horse shoes. The last one was a personal favorite of Jack's as he played a lot when he was younger, with the two warriors supreme skills in accuracy they easy won many big prizes, a frog for Kaede which was funny because she hate them, a wolf for jack, and bumble bees for the twins; please note the prizes were all extra-large meaning they were about the size of a ten year old child and filled with stuffing.
After dropping of their winnings at in their rooms they went back to enjoy more of the festival, the twins spotted Negi and Kataro standing by the horse racing event. The two pink heads pulled the taller teens by the hand well shouting their presence to the young boys.
"Hey Negi, Kataro, want are you doing?" They shouted as they approached them, the two spotted Ayaka riding one of the horses on the track galloping at least five feet ahead of the other horses, they came to the conclusion that they were here for her, "Wow that looks fun I wish we could ride too!"
The twins look at Jack with big pleading eyes, he sighs knowing he couldn't resist them, everybody watched with amazement as Jack puts his fingers to his lips, producing a loud sharp wsisel that pieces through the noise of the crowd. The tapping of hooves against the stone streets is heard as two brown Italian Heavy Draft horses, trotted towards Jack, the crowd parted before the large animals. Jack helped Kaede and Fuuka on one, well he placed Fumika another other than mounted the animal as well.
"These breeds usually aren't in the stables here," Kaede observed taking the reins, she may not know whole a lot about horses but she was certain these were never in the Mahora stables.
"They aren't, I had them transported here from home in Texas. I figured since I was going to stay here awhile, I might as well have my trusty steeds with me," the cowboy answered patting the horse on the head.
"You mean these horses belong to you?" the twins asked in wonderment, they knew that owning a horse was expensive and Jack had two of them! Their curiosity about the cowboy just went up a couple of notches, this was however nothing compared to the existence of magic but still it pikes their interest.
"Of course, now let's these gals stretch their legs a bit?" he snapped the rein urging the horse forward, Kaede did likewise following in a gentle trot, she wanted to take it slow as it was her first time on a horse.
For the next hour or so the group trotted along some of the trails that spread throughout the Mahora forest, when Kaede had gotten used to riding the horse she urged it in to a steady gallop, she felt a rush run through her as the breeze lifted her hair back, Fuuka waved her arms excitedly in the air. Beside them Jack galloped next to them with an equally excited Fumika, Jack smirked as he passed the two girls, not to be out done, Kaede urged her steed faster chasing after the cowboy.
When they had finished their little race, which neither of them won or lost, they walked the horses back the stables that Jack rented out, to rub them down, where the twins sprayed water all over the place soaking the taller teens to the bone.
After tending to the horses the four wondered over to a crossplay expo where they once again saw Negi and Kataro with Chisame, Makie and Ayaka dresses as some biblion characters that Jack heard about, the event its self was over but they were still allowed to pick out costumes, with their clothes still water for the water fight earlier they jumped at the opportunity to change, Jack was happy it was free.
They all picked out costumes than changed in the dressing rooms nearby; Kaede emerged wearing a red bandana wrapped around her head, a black leather vest with a red leotard underneath with the back and belly exposed, to top it off cowboy chaps and boots. The twins wore matching pink bandanas; black vests like the one Kaede wore, and white long sleeved cotton shirts, with trousers, chaps and boots. Jack wore a black bandana with shades, a sleeveless shirt with a scarf hanging loosely around his neck, commando pants and steel toe boots.
Now that they were refitted with fresh clothes, they decided it was time to get something to eat, Jack suggested they go to the saloon, saying that since Satsuki was the one cooking that would be the best spot to eat, the girls agreed, the twins ran ahead unable to wait for what was heaven on earth Satsuki's cooking; the two lovers just laughed at their antics and followed behind at a steady walk.
Meanwhile another Negi was busy explaining himself to a certain blue haired girl. Yue had spotted the young mage and questioned him on why he wasn't with Nodoka, with the philosophy girl unaware of magic it was a little hard to explain, luckily fate seemed to be on the young wizards side as the girl found around the time the dated ended, unfortunately it was also at that time his other self just finish destroying any emotional feeling that the bookworm would have about him, causing her to run away crying. It pained him to do it but he wasn't interested, plus he wanted to protect her for her own good, the fact that he had feeling for another confront him a little; it's not like he could love all the girls like he did Ku-Fei, that wouldn't be right and immorally wrong on many levels.
Yue stared hard at the little professor she hadn't heard what he said to the her dear friend to make her cry but she had saw it, though she secretly felt a sense of relief knowing Negi didn't like Nodoka, she tried to suppress the thoughts about trying to confess to the teacher herself.
"Why did you reject Nodoka? She really loves you and you just through her heart on the ground and step on it! She always had a problem with boys till you can and you still did that to her!" She scolded the midget teacher; she wasn't expecting the boy to scold her back however.
"What do you want me to do Yue-san? Lie to her? Lead her on? That would be much crueler then telling her out right, besides I'm her teacher and she's my student, it's forbidden for us to date anyways! If you ask why not wait for graduation, it's because it's not fair to make someone as sweet as Nodoka wait that long for no reason, I already have some I love very much Yue-san, so I would appreciate it you girls would leave me alone for now on! I can't take this much more! I'm just a kid!" he exclaimed by the end of his rant he was panting to catch his breath, Yue stood shell shocked beside him, perhaps he over did it but he wanted to get his point across. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have yelled at you but it's my life Yue-san and I need to make my own decisions."
Yue watch the young teacher walk off, disappearing in the crowds, she clutched at her chest her heart breaking, but in some strange way it felt ok. She didn't have to betray her best friend for boy who had no interest, and he was right Nodoka had to face rejection sometime, she couldn't be babied and it wasn't right to try and change Negi into someone he's not, Yue got off the bench and went to find Nodoka, right now she had to go confront her friend.
Author's note
With this chapter I wanted get a point of view from Kaede in the original storyline she appeared at the tournament with the twins, so I wanted to show what she would possibly do during the festival, with Negi I want to get his feeling across Nodoka and Yue because I think it merciful to tell them out right then lead them along, remember Negi is actually 22 but it's easy forget that you could say he's reverting back to a ten years old, well Jack is just acting the same as usual, though he is smoking less thanks to Kaede lol. The next chapter the tournament is finally going to get underway it going to be action packed or at least I'll try to make as action pack as I can with my mediocre writing skills.