Still Waters 3, Book 2: Chapter 3, Festival Preparations Part 1

Monday, June 22nd, 2009, Evening

Four days before the festival, Negi relaxed on his couch and looked over his schedule for the festivities. As always, it would be a very busy three days; what with the requests by his students, teacher responsibilities, and daytime patrols among other things. Something else was bothering him though...one of his students, Endo Haru, seemed to be getting sick. Over the last few days, her complexion had switched constantly between flushed and pale, and she couldn't seem to sit still. It was quite troubling, and just today he had been forced to send her to stand in the hall due to disrupting the class via hyperactive behavior such as suddenly shouting in the middle of class. She had been to see the school nurse as well, but the nurse couldn't find anything wrong...it was most troubling.

Asuna came out of the bathroom, wrapped in a bath towel and drying her hair. "Busy as usual, huh?" she asked as she draped the smaller towel over her head and bent over to get a drink from the fridge.

Negi glanced at her and quickly looked away. 'Asuna-san really shouldn't bend down with a towel that short…' He couldn't see anything from where he was, but if she bent forward just a little bit further... He tore his eyes away and began studying a spot on the ceiling instead. "Yes. The first two days will be chaotic…"

"You're used to that sort of thing, right?" Asuna asked as she took the towel off her head and put it on the counter. She took a good long drink of whatever soft drink she had found, and Negi found himself staring again. Asuna took a deep breath and then continued. "What's the last day event?"

"They are debating between a paintball battle and a water balloon battle. Unfortunately, everyone wants a massive battle of some sort every year now," Negi said, looking everywhere but at a certain unsuspecting redhead.

"Ha! Well, I guess you can't blame them. It was a lot of fun, and I hear that bingo game last year really flopped," Asuna said, heading toward the bedroom.

Negi sighed in relief when Asuna closed the door, and Kamo snickered at his discomfort. Negi flopped back on the couch and threw an arm over his eyes.

"Aniki, you might as well do something about it, your feelings on the matter are obvious," Kamo said from his place on a cushion beside the couch, where he had been looking at a magazine.

"Not now, Kamo-kun. I don't want to hear it from you too," Negi said tiredly.

"Hear what?" Asuna asked.

"Kamo says I like you, that's…all…" Negi trailed off and moved his arm so he could see the person he knew was standing there.

Asuna was standing by the couch, leaning over him with her long red hair hanging free now, eyes wide in surprise and face flushed as she absently held the towel she had come back to get. Negi's eyes drifted from her face down her neck to her chest of their own volition and stopped at the point where the towel abruptly cut off the view.

Kamo snickered. "'The Cup Runneth Over', or so they say."

"Eh…"

"Ah…"

"Ah…ah…ahahaha?" Asuna laughed frantically as she straightened up and pulled her towel up to hide as much as she could. "Ahaha! That's ridiculous isn't it? Ahaha!"

Negi frantically averted his eyes again from the bottom of the towel which, while still hiding a certain vital area, was now far, far, far too high for his liking. Another half inch…he found himself torn between curiosity and dread as he clapped a hand over his eyes and shot up to a stiff, seated position. "Y-yes! Hahaha! Haha!"

"Ahaha!"

"Haha!"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"A-a-a-a-asuna-san, your towel-"

"Yes! I'll…I'll go into the bedroom now! Yes. The bedroom. The room with the bed. Not that I'm going to be laying on it or anything!" she said while waving her arms frantically. Negi nearly fainted at the...bouncy...effect this had on a certain area of her anatomy as her towel started to come loose. "It's just a name! It doesn't mean anything!" Asuna said as she ran for the safety of the other room and slammed the door behind her, coming frighteningly close to losing her towel in the process.

Negi let out a breath he hadn't been aware of holding and collapsed on the couch. "I..I don't think I'll make it, Kamo-kun…"

Kamo snickered. "You should be happy, aniki. You're living with ane-san…your father would be so proud!"

Negi let out an exhausted, semi-hysterical little giggle and pulled a throw pillow over his face in a pitiful attempt to end it all. Unfortunately, the pillow was something Asuna had brought into his place, and it smelled just like her. He dropped it and settled for burying his face in the couch cushion instead. "…kill me now…" he said, his voice muffled.

With the festival only days away, the next day Negi allowed the class to work on their projects for the art gallery; or at least, those who were present. Fully one third of the class was absent today so they could work on their club projects. Most of the students had opted to take the easy, traditional route and went with sketches or paintings, but some students had decided to make art through…other methods.

"Youko-san…I don't believe you are allowed to have a knife on the school grounds," Negi said, concerned.

"Well do you want me to participate in this or not?" she replied, eyeing him speculatively. "It's only a hobby knife anyway. And how else am I supposed to do ukiyo-e, huh?"

Negi rubbed the back of his neck, trying to think of something to say. He settled for a hesitant "Be careful, and please clean up after you're done," before moving on. He glanced back at Inoue Ai's empty desk, worry plain on his face. Inoue-san, like Possum-san, had gone missing. But Haruna claimed to know where Inoue had gone and had promised to bring her back*, so hopefully things were okay. It bothered him that he couldn't be the one to bring her back, but Haruna had insisted, and he knew he should have some faith in his friends…

He took a long look at Sasaki Rina's sketch and rubbed his chin thoughtfully as he tried to figure out what it was. "That is a wonderful picture of a demon, Sasaki-san," he said after a moment, smiling.

Rina took one look at him and tears welled up. "I…I…I hate you, sensei!" she wailed as she fled the room.

"Ah…I'll get her back," he heard student number twenty five Mori Kumiko grumble as she got up from her seat and chased after the other girl.

"Thank you," Negi said as Kumiko exited the room. He cleared his throat and moved on, pausing at Eva's desk in the back. "Do you have anything prepared, Eva-san?"

Eva, with her head propped up lazily on one hand, looked up at him with half-slitted eyes as her lips formed an amused grin. "Something wrong, 'sensei'?" She looked to be in a genuinely good mood, and it surprised him. 'She has come so far since I first met her,' he thought with a delighted gleam in his eye.

"No, Eva-san. I am just concerned about your entry for the art gallery."

Eva sat up and glanced out the window on the far side of the room. "It's at home."

"I see," Negi said, wondering what she could be planning on bringing; the possibilities were endless. And disturbing. And more than a little frightening. He turned to the student across the aisle, Kondo Kai.

"How about you, Kai-san?"

"Ah…well…" Kai said, hesitantly revealing her notebook, which she had quickly hidden with her arms when Negi came down the aisle.

"Eh? What is it?" Negi asked as he looked at the rough sketch and measurements she had scribbled on the page. It appeared to be some sort of big snake, or maybe an oriental-style dragon? It was hard to tell from the picture...it appeared that Kai-san shared the same sort of drawing ability as Rina.

Kai grinned helplessly and sweated a bit. "It's…ah…it's just plans for a wood statue of a dragon I started a while back," she said. Her face went red and she turned her head as Negi picked up the notebook and gave it a closer look. According to the measurements, when finished the dragon statue would be roughly twelve inches high and eight across at the base.

"Hmm…this is very ambitious, Kai-san. Will you have time to finish it before the festival?" he asked.

"Yeah," Kai said as she took the notebook back. "It's almost done, so I should have plenty of time."

"I like where this is going. Keep up the good work, Kai-san," Negi said, smiling gently at her, completely unaware of the fierceness of her blush. He circled around behind the row and came up the next aisle.

"Nice painting, Mako-san," he said. "I love that yukata." He continued on up the row and stopped at Endo Haru's desk; the girl who had caused so many problems recently was currently slumped over the tabletop, asleep. He shook her shoulder gently. "Endo-san? Endo-san!"

Haru opened her eyes blearily and looked around. "Wha…? Oh, hello, Negi-sensei."

"What about your art project, Endo-san?"

"Oh, that's something I can do at the dorm," Haru said, then laid her head back down.

"Oh…" Negi continued up the aisle and around Possum's empty seat and paused upon seeing Hayashi Fujiko's sketchbook.

"Oh! Nicely done, Hayashi-san!" Negi said.

"Thank you, sensei," Fujiko replied, looking down so she wouldn't have to see his face. Normally she was fine around men, but she found it hard to think or speak straight when she looked at her teacher...

"Superheroes, aren't they?" Negi asked as he picked up the sketchbook and began flipping pages.

"…yes…" Fujiko said, wishing he would stop looking at her pictures. How could he just look at her sketchbook like that? It was just like reading someone's diary…!

"Which comic are they from? Or are they from manga?" Negi asked, completely clueless as to Fujiko's discomfort.

"…they're original," she said after a long, long moment spent squirming under the imagined scrutiny of the rest of the class.

"Oh! I like the clothing and design, Hayashi-san. Are you planning on becoming a mangaka?"

"Oh God no!" Hayashi said in horror, drawing the attention of the class for real this time with her outburst. "Ah, um, I mean, no, sensei. Sorry."

"It's fine, Hayashi-san," Negi said, sweating as he passed the sketchbook back to its owner. He finished his rounds and made his way back to his desk. After a moment, Mori Kumiko returned with Sasaki Rina in tow, and dragged her back to her seat. Negi thanked Kumiko for bringing the other girl back and, just for old time's sake, pulled out his stack of pactio cards and flipped through them, pausing here and there as he recalled the incidents that had led to the creation of each one. He had well over sixty of them now, and still remembered the incident behind the creation of each one perfectly. Almost perfectly. He knew who each girl was without having to read her name on the card, anyway. He shuffled them and laid out a tarot pattern he had developed with the help of Reiko and Eva a few years back. He flipped the cards in the regular pattern, thinking absently about what the details of each card meant for the class. As he reached for the final card in the pattern, he felt a sudden overwhelming sense of doom. He paused for a moment, then flipped the card anyway.

It was the only dead card in his deck.

Almost two years ago, Negi's friend and fellow teacher Max Linell had finally been able to give up the ghost of his old friend Rikki, and had flown back to the US, where he had visited Rikki's favorite spot, an upthrust of rock on the coast somewhere in California. There, he had apologized to his long-dead friend and given her old, dead pactio card to the sea. He had come back to Japan a changed man.**

A year later to the day, Negi had been wandering on a beach just north of Sendai when he happened across the card, poking out of the sand. Recognizing it immediately and ever one to take omens and mysterious events seriously, he had taken it back to Mahora with him, though he had yet to show it to Max…he didn't know what sort of effect it might have on the big American, and wasn't particularly keen on finding out.

He looked at the card closely, studying the faded colors and admiring again how pretty the girl was in her costume, which looked like something straight out of One Thousand and One Nights. He studied the card and the name written on it: Rikki Suvari…it was a shame she had died.

After a moment he realized someone was watching him and looked up to see Mori Kumiko staring at him with a particularly serious expression on her face. She quickly turned her attention back to the book she was reading when their eyes met, however.

He pushed the incident to the back of his mind and swept up the pactio cards to put away.

Endo Haru was a hunted woman. Er…girl. Youkai. Half-youkai? Or was it more like a quarter? No, probably closer to half. She didn't know, exactly, and at this point, she didn't much care. Only, she had been doing her best to avoid Suzuki Keiko and her endless questions since school let out. It was the same thing that happened after school every day, sadly enough; though usually she was quick enough to avoid the other girl.

"Endo-san, there you are!"

Speak of the devil.

"I'm busy now Keiko-san, I have to go," Haru said, hurrying away from her. Keiko sped up until she was walking alongside the athletic girl…quite an achievement for someone so short. And geeky.

"Where are you going?"

"Club meeting."

"No you're not, your club isn't meeting today."

"Yes it is. They just moved the time is all," Haru said, walking faster.

"Endo-san, why are you trying to hide from me?" Keiko demanded.

"I'm not, I just have things to do," Haru answered, increasing her speed once again. Keiko was all but running now, just trying to keep up. Haru had always felt herself to be too tall, at least until she got into this class. In her current class, her 5'7" was only average; Keiko-san, however, was 4'11", only Evangeline and Abe-san were shorter.

"Endo-san, please stop this, I just want to know!" Keiko pleaded as Haru sped up even more and she fell further behind.

Haru finally slowed to a stop and waited for Keiko to catch up, hands on her hips. The girl deserved some explanation, after all. Getting attacked by monsters, seeing your classmate turn into another monster and kill them, getting your arm ripped up by said monsters and then almost being eaten by said classmate could be quite traumatic for a seasoned mage; the effect on a normal schoolgirl could be much worse.

Haru heaved a sigh and turned to look at Keiko when she finally plodded up. Initial excuses about how she must have had a bad dream hadn't fazed the girl in the slightest, and when it was pointed out to her that her arm wasn't ripped to shreds the way she felt it should be, Keiko had demanded an explanation for that, too. Damn amnesia spell...! Why hadn't the effects set in on Keiko like they had on everyone else? Had there been too much of a time delay...? She ground her teeth in frustration. 'I should have paid more attention when my grandma tried to teach me about magic...' But still... She heaved a sigh. Time to switch to Plan B.

"If I answer your questions, will you leave me alone?"

Keiko nodded as she gasped for air after her unaccustomed run.

Haru sighed again and ran a hand through her hair in irritation. "Fine…fine. Come on, I don't want to talk here."

"Okay!" Keiko said excitedly.

Haru grumbled something under her breath and set out down the footpath.

"Why won't you give up?" Haru demanded almost an hour later. Plan B, 'Lead unathletic Keiko all over the campus until she was too exhausted to follow and gave up', had failed. She had indeed led Keiko all over campus, but Keiko just held on and wouldn't let go, like a bulldog or something. Time for Plan C...except there was no Plan C. Haru let out an aggravated sigh.

Keiko didn't say anything, just doubled over as she tried to catch her breath again.

"So what did you want to know?" Haru asked as she plopped down tiredly on a fallen tree trunk.

Keiko took a few last gasping breaths and brought out a small notebook and a pencil. "Everything."

Haru winced at that. She didn't know if Keiko was ready for this sort of thing, but judging from what she had seen of the girl so far, she was incredibly stubborn and wasn't about to let this drop.

She began to talk.

After the clubs had let out, Taro approached Negi, plainly worried. "Negi-sensei…have they found any sign of Possum yet?" It was the same question she asked every day.

Negi shook his head sadly. "No. Her sister is frantic. She put 'missing child' posters up all over the city as well. Did you know over a hundred people have called in about her? Negi asked. "We had to set up another line and hire someone just to answer all the calls; I guess she was more popular than I thought. Unfortunately, the last time she was seen was the night she was taken by Jonus…"

Taro looked down at the ground off to the side and maintained her silence.

"What's wrong with you two?" someone called out tiredly. Negi looked up to see a familiar figure making its way down the sidewalk.

"Reiko-san! You shouldn't be up yet!" he admonished as he moved to take her by the air in order to help her to a nearby bench.

Sakai Reiko waved him off, looking tired and ragged as she leaned heavily on the cane she had begun using after the ghoul incident. It seemed as though the ghoul attack had taken more out of her than Negi had initially thought, from what he could see.

"It's not bad. Besides, I needed the exercise and I don't think I could stay cooped up in that room one more minute without tearing the head off that stupid nurse you guys set me up with." She carefully lowered herself onto a bench and shifted around until she was comfortable. "So…it's only a month or two away now. What will you do, 'Negi-sensei'?" Reiko asked. Her skin had become very pale and grayish since the attack and, while she had never been a perfect picture of health, she looked very unhealthy now, almost feeble, like someone in the last stages of tuberculosis. But that same aggravating twinkle was still in her eye.

"What's a month or two away, summer break?" Taro asked. She felt as though she was missing something here.

"I have an appointment," Negi said simply, then turned his attention back to Reiko. "How does everyone feel about it? I'm not good at that sort of thing, so…"

"The whole lot of 'em want to go," Reiko said. She grinned slyly up at Negi. "I know you can't say no, can you?"

Negi finally realized Taro probably shouldn't hear this and cursed himself for an idiot for talking about it in front of her to the extent he already had. "Don't you have some homework, Taro-san?"

She shook her head. "Nope. I did it at lunch. What are you two talking about? What appointment? Who wants to go?"

"Why, I'm shocked," Reiko said, eyeing Negi. I would have thought you'd tell the new ones about it too."

"Reiko-san!" Negi said pleadingly.

"Tell us about what?" Taro demanded.

"Why, tell you about his trip to the magic world this summer," Reiko said lightly while Negi's jaw dropped. 'You owe me one for this, Chisame,' Reiko thought as she surreptitiously watched Negi's face for the expected explosion. Chisame had come to her personally to convince her to do it; for some reason she seemed to think it was very important for Reiko to mention the summer trip in front of Taro. She didn't really understand, but she owed the other girl a handful of favors, so...

"Magic world? What's that?" Taro asked, suddenly interested. Her face brightened as she temporarily forgot about her friend Possum, but that was all Negi could be happy about at the moment.

"H-hey, Reiko-san, don't te-"

"The magic world is where mages come from," Reiko said, interrupting Negi's protest. "It's quite a sight, I understand. I'm surprised you haven't heard anything from Eva-chan."

"Reiko-san…!"

Endo Haru finished her explanations to Keiko and sat back, mentally exhausted. Going over all of that again had been painful, to say the least. All the running from town to town as their pursuers caught wind of them; scrambling to escape with their lives as, inevitably, the hunters found their latest hiding place. She was a hybrid, after all. But not only that, the grandchild of a hybrid of the warring Fox and Wolf tribes. Neither tribe would accept such a thing, especially when that hybrid escaped and had children with a human, an even greater taboo than the first. It was odd, really. Her mother, the child of a fox/wolf hybrid, might as well have been a normal human. It wasn't until Endo Haru was born that the hybrid abilities manifested. They had tried to explain things to her of course, things about genetics and hybrid vigor, but she still didn't understand why she had been inflicted with youkai powers and not her mother. Often…she felt cursed with it.

"Wow, that's so awesome!" Keiko chirped.

Haru almost fell off her tree trunk. "What do you mean it's awesome? I got chased out of six different homes in the last ten years because of it!"

Keiko shook her head. "I don't mean that; I'm talking about the potential, here. So, you can change into that big fox-wolf-looking thing, right?"

"Yeah. And…?" Haru asked.

"What do you mean 'and'? That's very cool. I'm sure it's got all sorts of uses."

"Like what?" Haru asked sarcastically, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, no one would bully you if you turned into a big wolf and scared them."

"Yeah? And then the exorcists and demon hunters would come and I'd get killed. What's so great about that?"

Keiko thought for a moment. "Then…then your power! You could use your powers to help the weak, like Dog Boy Kojirou!" she said, producing volume three of said manga from her bag.

Haru just gave her a look and sighed before crossing her arms. "That's just a manga, this is real life."

"Then what about that time you saved me?" Keiko asked quietly. "I would have died then, if it wasn't for you."

Haru looked away. "You almost died anyway. And besides-"

"So you're responsible for me," Keiko said.

"…excuse me?"

"It's true. They say if you save someone's life, they become your responsibility. So, if I go and, say, pick a fight with some random youkai, you'll come save me, right?"

"…are you trying to blackmail me?" Haru asked.

"No," Keiko said, smiling. It wasn't a particularly pretty smile; more the sort that indicated massive mental calculations going on behind it, all working toward some pleasant end; for one of the parties involved, at least.

"Look, I can't fight! I don't even know how!"

"You did just fine against those shadow monsters."

"That was different! I had to do something, or…"

"Hmmmm…?"

"That was different," Haru said, turning to the side. Damn Keiko, butting in on her secrets. And the girl was right too, dammit. The whole thing about being responsible for someone you rescued was part of the old ways, but her grandmother had always drilled a sense of honor into her, even all the way up to the day she was killed. Denying it would just feel...wrong somehow. She clicked her tongue in annoyance. "Fine."

"Fine?"

"Fine. I guess I'm responsible for you. But I'm no fighter, so don't go around looking for trouble," she grumbled.

Keiko beamed at her. "Don't worry!"

Possum clutched the cross necklace in the palm of her hand, tears streaming down her face as it burned her skin. She clamped her mouth shut to keep from crying out, but could do nothing to stop the sobs that racked her body.

Finally she could take no more and peeled the cross necklace from the skin of her hand, holding it up by the chain.

It was just as she thought. There was now the shape of a cross burned deep into the palm of her hand.

So it was true, then.

Somehow this, more than the cravings for blood, more than the urge to commit violence, even more than the extreme discomfort of direct sunlight…somehow this simple cross shaped burn on the palm of her hand drove the point home.

"I'm a monster."

But…a little hope remained. Once in a while, some inexplicable part of her perception would change without warning and the dryness in her throat would fade, or she could look up through a drainage grate without being forced to cover her eyes from the glare of sunlight. She sat down on a concrete block she had dragged in the night before and held up the cross necklace by the chain again, looking at it in the faint light filtering down through the leaf-clogged grates high above.

She felt her perception shift again so abruptly it left her head spinning, and suddenly everything seemed real again, and she felt weak, but alive. The burn on the palm of her hand remained though, and she accepted it gratefully. It was an anchor, something for her to concentrate on when things went weird again. She looked back to the marks on the wall, each one for a creature she had killed for blood. Thirty seven rats, seven birds, two bats, and one cat. She regretted the cat most of all; she had always liked cats, but never had one of her own…

…she paused and looked down at her hand. She had been holding the cross necklace for a few minutes now, bundled up in the palm of her hand, and hadn't even realized it. And it didn't hurt.

"What…?" Maybe it had been blind luck and the cross part hadn't touched her skin? She took it up by the chain and shook it a little to get the chain untangled, then held her breath and looked away in preparation for the inevitable pain and the scent of burning flesh as she grabbed the cross with her other hand, clamping her eyes shut.

"…"

Nothing. Just the feel of cold metal.

What on Earth…?

So…she was only a monster sometimes?

"That's crazy," Possum said aloud without even realizing, startled by the echoes that came back.

'crazy'

'crazy'

'crazy'

She shook it off. "Hah, look at me, getting all nervous and jumpy over an echo," she said loudly, listening as the echoes played back and forth through the tunnels, changing the sound into something different, unrecognizable. In her mind it sounded a little bit like a beast at bay.

She stood up abruptly, swaying as her vision darkened for a few seconds. "…blood pressure…" she grumbled. She looked down again at the cross necklace she had found two days earlier hanging from one of the grates in a nearby tunnel. When she first saw it, she had stared at it for a good long time, trying to figure out just what she was seeing. At the time, she had been half out of her mind with worry and disgust and that horrible dry feeling that made her think she could drink gallons of blood…she had hunched down and just stared at the sunlight reflecting off of it for what felt like hours before finally reaching out to take the chain and yank it down from the grate. She had spent several hours after that just staring at it, wondering what it could mean for her if she touched the cross part. Would she explode into dust like vampires on TV? Would she burn up in fire? It had taken until this morning to work up the nerve to test it.

And now, it didn't burn.

"Thank you, whoever dropped the necklace," she said quietly as she placed the cross onto the burn mark from earlier and wrapped the chain around her hand to hold it in place.

Now that she had something concrete to hold on to…

She sat down, clasped her hands together, and for the first time since leaving Great Grandma's little shack in such a terrifying way, she started to really pray.

Two men climbed to the top of a hill and looked at the city of Mahora spread out below them.

"So…this is it, huh?" the first man said, resting his hand on the hilt of the short sword he wore at his belt. He tapped the small purple stone on the pommel a few times. "Luck."

"It's not so different from Mundus Magicus, I guess. Just no airships. You don't think they'll recognize us, do you?" the second man asked, the black furred ears on top of his head twitching as he spoke.

"Who? The humans? There's no way they would. We've never been here before, and it's not like there's a lot of interaction between the two worlds. Now come on, we've got a job to do," he said as he started down the side of the hill. "Remember Onyx, no magic while we're here. I don't want a repeat of the cow incident."

"Yeah…"

The two made their way down the hill to what looked like some sort of footpath below, which they followed to the outskirts of the city.

"I just can't believe it; a city this size and they don't even have any walls," Onyx said after a moment.

"Stop. Didn't you feel that?" the first man said, holding out his hand. "We just passed through a barrier."

Both men stopped moving and looked around warily. Something was wrong…the air suddenly felt different, and there was no sound of wind or wildlife, not even any birds singing. It was almost a full minute before either one noticed the long haired woman facing them thirty feet away.

She wasn't particularly tall or strong looking and the skirt-and-shirt outfit she wore was adorably cute, not to mention the somewhat oversized beret on her head, but something in her bearing made the brothers hesitate. And the hand she casually propped on her heavily ornamented sword just so made the taller man sweat. Normally anyone who carried a sword that fancy could be discounted as a poser, someone who had no clue what they were doing. But something about this particular girl... The three stood staring at each other for several seconds before Onyx cleared his throat.

"Hello," he said hesitantly.

"Hello," the woman replied in a neutral tone, never taking her eyes off of them.

Onyx wiped the sweat from his forehead and raised his hand shakily in greeting.

"Er…nice weather we're having?"

The woman's slight grin widened a bit, and Onyx heard his brother tap his sword pommel and say 'luck' again.

There was another long pause while the woman looked them over. "What business do you have here in Mahora?" she asked in a friendly tone. But those eyes…Onyx shivered.

"My name is Morrison Blight. My brother Onyx and I are freelance bounty hunters from just outside of Ariadne, in Mundus Magicus. We are here after a runaway bounty. Whom do we have the pleasure of speaking with?"

The woman locked them in a measuring gaze and cocked her head slightly in a way that was surprisingly cute. "I am Konoe Konoka, heiress to the Konoe estate."

He elbowed Onyx hard. "Kneel!" he hissed as he got down on one knee and bowed his head. "My apologies, Lady Konoe, I was not aware." Onyx followed his lead and knelt, albeit more awkwardly. A member of the Konoe family…and not only that, but the heiress! The future head of the family! In the underworld, even royalty bowed to the Konoe head.

The aura of cold, calculating death faded from the woman and her grin became a more natural smile. "You may rise. Now," she said as her voice changed to become cuter and more relaxed. "If you wish to enter Mahora, there are certain rules that must be followed," the woman recited.

Onyx found that he couldn't take his eyes away from her face…she was simply enchanting when she didn't look like she might kill you for looking at her crooked.

"First, you may not use any type of magic within the city short of basic shielding spells or basic glamours. If you try to hide yourself at any time, guardians will be sent to find out why you are hiding. If you attempt to harm the residents, you will be arrested and dealt with in whatever method is deemed appropriate. Don't steal, don't destroy anyone's property, and don't scare the humans. Follow these rules and others, and everything will be fine. Break the rules, and there will be consequences. Do you understand?"

"Yes, my lady," Morrison said, kneeling again. Onyx looked from the woman to his brother and back, and knelt down again a bit too quickly; he had to steady himself by putting one hand on the ground. He snuck another peek at the woman's face. She was just so beautiful…!

"You may rise," she said again.

Onyx found himself staring and turned red when she smiled at him. Morrison elbowed him hard, and he looked away awkwardly.

"Follow me, I'll take you to the office where you can sign in."

"Yes, my lady," Morrison said formally.

The woman glanced at him, then seemingly turned her attention away as she led the way down the footpath.

"Stop staring. And close your mouth, you look like some idiot from out in the country on his first trip to the city," Morrison growled at his brother.

Onyx shut his mouth with an audible snap. To tell the truth, he hadn't realized it was open. She was so beautiful, and kind and pretty and…he realized he was babbling in his thoughts and shook his head as he made a rueful grin. "Sorry. I've just never seen anyone like her before."

"Don't forget it," said a new voice from behind them with a palpable sense of menace. Both men whirled around, half drawing their weapons as they did so. Both froze as cold steel pressed against their necks. Neither one had noticed the new woman's presence or had had any hint at all that she was there until she had spoken, and now she had a knife against Morrison's throat and a sword against Onyx's...Onyx licked his suddenly dry lips while Morrison carefully, very carefully, tried to swallow the sudden lump in his throat. The razor sharp knife was already starting to cut into his skin.

"Secchan…let them go. I'm just taking them to the office to sign in," Konoka said, making an expression that was suspiciously close to a pout.

Setsuna gave the two a warning look for ogling her Kono-chan, saving the most venom for Onyx, then withdrew her blades and sheathed them. "Yes, Ojou-sama." She shot a glare at the two brothers. "Next time, come to the city by the front entrance, like the others."

That comment brought up a whole slew of questions, but Morrison wisely decided to hold his tongue for the moment. This 'Setsuna' woman was obviously upset; there was no telling how she would react if he wasn't careful. But still, 'others'? What had she meant by that?

Morrison and Onyx made sure to keep their hands far away from their weapons as the group, lead and by Konoka and brought up at the back by Setsuna, set out again. After walking for a minute or two, Morrison glanced back at the woman walking behind them, and dropped back until he was walking evenly with her, at what he hoped was a safe distance away.

"You…you're from the Crow tribe, aren't you?"

Setsuna frowned irritably, but nodded. "And you are not just a beastman." The beastmen often looked like youkai, but had no more power than a human and in the long run were often considered to be no different.

"You are from the Fox tribe. Black?"

Morrison nodded. "So they tolerate youkai here? I haven't been to Mundus Vetus since I was still a child, so I don't know how things are done here. Do we need to hide it? Or…"

Setsuna nodded understandingly. "Just keep yourself under control and there will be no trouble," she said, eyeing Onyx irritably. That one just couldn't keep his eyes off her Kono-chan… "The office gives out a small book with a list of local laws and customs. Please be sure to read it thoroughly so you don't get in trouble. If you have questions, you can contact the office at any time; people are there twenty four hours a day," she recited.

They walked in silence for a while until Konoka paused at the point where the path exited the trees and entered a wide green field.

"Do you two know how to make a glamour?" Konoka asked as she turned to look at them. "We can't have you going around like that," she said, looking at the black fox ears each had poking out of the long black hair on top of their heads.

Onyx and Morrison looked at each other. "Well…I can, but Morrison…" Onyx said, trailing off.

"There's no helping it then," Konoka said as she took off her hat, an odd beret-like thing, and eyed Morrison, who backed up half a step.

"Ah…I can't accept that, my lady," he said, eyes moving from the hat to her face and back. She was the Konoe heiress; someone like him had no right to accept such a gift from her.

"Nonsense," Konoka said as she strolled up and placed the hat on top of his head. She was just barely tall enough to do it if she stretched her arms up, so Morrison obligingly bent over a little to make it easier for her. He froze in place, feeling ridiculously awkward as he found himself staring down the front of her shirt, horrified at the idiotic mistake that had put him in such a position. 'I should have just knelt down again,' he thought weakly as Setsuna set her deathglare to full power and burned it into the back of his skull.

Konoka took her time carefully tucking his ears under the hat and arranging his hair just so. He realized he was blushing furiously, and ground his teeth in irritation as he heard his younger brother snicker.

"Th-thank you, my lady," he mumbled when she had finished and stepped back.

"No problem," she said cutely. Morrison found himself staring until the Crow woman cleared her throat pointedly and he snapped out of it. He cleared his throat and tugged awkwardly at the collar of his shirt as he looked away, making plans to strangle his brother later as Onyx snickered again.

"Shall we go?" he suggested irritably.

"Wait a minute," Onyx said. "What about our clothes? Will this be okay, or…" he trailed off, glancing down at his clothing. It was the usual sort of ensemble any traveling bounty hunter might acquire; made up of random pieces of light armor that was easy to move in, as well as comfortable but tough traveling clothes. Then there was the problem of their weapons…

"It should be fine," Konoka said pleasantly as she led the way.

"So, Mister…Blight? What sort of name is that?" Kazumi asked as she scanned through the forms the two brothers had filled out.

Onyx stiffened and frowned, but Morrison gave him a warning look. They didn't want any more trouble than necessary, especially here; even in Mundus Magicus, to those who had heard of it the city of Mahora was known as a place with a lot of strong people. "It's a common family name among the Black Fox Tribe. It may sound strange to you, but to put it in perspective, your name sounds quite strange to me."

Kazumi grinned crookedly and shrugged. "Fair enough. So, what purpose do you have here, and how long will you be staying?"

"Until we find the bounty we're after," Onyx said. Insult to his family name aside, this girl was pretty cute too…as was the blue haired one seated at another desk behind the long table that divided the room in two. 'I think I'll like this city,' he thought as he made his best roguish grin. The blue haired girl either didn't see, or decided to ignore him.

"Bounty…?" Kazumi asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes. A pair of bakeneko that were last seen heading this way. One of them should be injured…has anyone like that come through?" Morrison asked.

Kazumi shook her head as she passed the papers to the room's other occupant, who began typing the information into a computer. "Not that I'm aware of. But I can't be here all the time, and we have hundreds coming through every day, so…"

"Er…hundreds?" Onyx asked.

Kazumi nodded as the printer in the back of the room whirred to life. She retrieved the printed items, muttered a quick spell over them, then held them out to the two visitors.

"What's this…a badge?" Onyx asked, taking the piece of hard plastic. "'Special Visitor's Pass'?" he asked.

"Press your thumb against the circle on the back for a moment. It'll key itself to your energy signature; that way, if anyone stops you or something happens, just show the authorities this and they'll know you're here legally and who to contact," Kazumi explained. "Think of it as a fancy theater ticket."

"Fair enough," Onyx said as he turned the blank ID badge over. He held his thumb to it for a moment, felt a quick surge of scanning magic, and…then it was over. He flipped the card back over and was surprised to see the information filled in, down to his birth date and blood type.

"Keep it with you all the time, it'll cause fewer problems," Kazumi said.

"So…what's the point of this?" Morrison asked as he looked at his card.

"We've had a lot of problems in the past. And, as I'm sure you know, sometimes youkai and humans just don't get along, so we've been forced to take measures like this," Kazumi explained. "I know it's a pain, but it's something we have to do when there are going to be a lot of visitors in the city."

"A lot of visitors?" Onyx asked.

"A couple thousand so far," Kazumi said. "We're expecting a lot more, maybe as many as ten thousand youkai total, but the regular human tourists are here for the annual Mahora Festival."

"Thousands? Why so many?" Onyx asked as he leaned roguishly on the table and directed his previously ignored grin at Kazumi.

Kazumi just looked at him blankly. "The Youkai Festival," she said, her tone indicating he should know this already.

"Youkai festival? You mean THE Youkai Festival?" Onyx asked as his excitement started to build.

Morrison was grinning now. "Huh, imagine that. We came to the Youkai Festival years ago, when we were kids. I think we may hang around a little longer than we planned," he said, looking at Onyx, who smiled wide.

"Yeah, it would be a shame to miss it."

"Anyway," Kazumi said, butting in. "Here is a list of hotels and other places that are prepared to accept youkai boarders. You're a bit late, so I'm sure a lot of them will already be booked. You'll just have to settle for what you can get. Anyway, don't reveal your identities or the existence of magic to anyone, whether they claim to know about magic or not. Feign confusion or indifference, pretend you're deaf, whatever works. If you expose magic or other supernatural things, you will be punished." Kazumi gave the two of them a level look. "Understand?"

"Yeah."

"Got it. Thanks for the help, miss."

"No problem," Kazumi said, grinning crookedly. "Next!"

*Inoue AI missing – as detailed in the short story "A Robot's Life", which can be found on this site.

**two years ago/Rikki/Max/USA - as detailed in the short story "For Absent Friends", which can be found on this site.

Ukiyo-e – Japanese woodblock prints

Bakeneko – Cat youkai

Author's Note: You didn't think Konoka's just been sitting still for the past six years doting on her Secchan, did you?

Onyx Blight - Stupid Young Bounty Hunter

Born - ?

Height - 6'2"

Likes: Beautiful women, cute women, pretty women, young women, mature women

Dislikes: Old women, angry boyfriends or husbands of women

Little Known Facts: He became a bounty hunter because someone told him it was a good way to meet women, though he is too shy to do much beyond looking and maybe flirting.

Morrison Blight - Tough Bounty Hunting Survivor

Born - ?

Height - 5'10"

Likes: Travel, home-baked bread, a mug of beer after a hard day

Dislikes: When people take things personally

Little Known Facts: He took up bounty hunting because he couldn't stand the thought of working his whole life away in one place.