Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Negima.
4. Of Stalkers And Partners
"Come on," Naruto whined. "Why can't you let me sleep on the couch?"
"Because Negi-brat sleeps there," Asuna answered, not even bothering to look at the blonde.
"But he always ends up sleeping with you," Naruto pouted. "I still suspect that it's your doing, Sho–" he quickly stopped himself from finishing his sentence, when he saw the look in her eyes. "Hehehe, just joking," he tried instead, as rubbed the back of his neck nervously.
"That's because the stupid brat always crawls in my bed," Asuna huffed, being kind enough to ignore what he was going to say. Naruto snorted. "Besides what's wrong with sleeping on the futon, huh?"
"Well noooothing," Naruto began, innocently, stretching out the word nothing. "Except for the fact that you guys always seem to walk on me while I sleep, especially you," he provided grumpily, while pointing accusingly at Asuna. "What the hell are you anyways dreaming about that makes you want to crack my nuts, huh?"
"Nuts? Why are you sleeping with nuts, Naruto-san?" Negi questioned innocently with Konoka in the background, a puzzled look on her face too.
"..."
Both Naruto and Asuna blinked at the naivety of the boy's question, as they watched the boy shrug before he continued to eat his breakfast.
Naruto moved himself a bit, so he was closer to Asuna, "You know, for a genius his stupidity sometimes makes me feel worried… especially considering he's a boy too," Naruto muttered loud enough, for only Asuna to hear.
"Guess even the smartest ones don't know everything." Asuna mused, before she shrugged "Not that we're allowed to talk when it comes to smarts."
"True," Naruto nodded. "Very, very true. But do you think he has any knowledge on the matter?"
"Beats me," Asuna shrugged. "I mean, he might be a teacher, but he's still pretty young, so I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't..." she looked at him, "Why? You want to teach him sex ed, or something?"
Naruto shrugged, "Shouldn't we? I mean, you never know what could happen. Best if he knows certain stuff."
"Not that I disagree with you, but he's not even ten... what sort of stuff could even happen?" she asked incredulously. "And beside that, do you even have any knowledge on the subject yourself? I wouldn't even be surprised if you still don't know how babies are born," she teased.
Naruto rolled his eyes, "Excuse you, but everyone knows how babies are born. You give a woman a kiss and feed her a lot of food and with the power of love she'll change the food into a baby that rests in her belly. You don't let her shit for nine months and boom, you have a baby," he told her full confidence.
"..."
"..."
Naruto snorted,"Ha! If only you could see your face right now, it's so so priceless, ya know," he chuckled, grinning at her, as the girl closed her mouth and palmed her face.
Asuna pinched the bridge of her nose, "..For a moment, eh, for moment I was so worried for you future wife..."
"Have some faith in me, will ya," Naruto grinned at her, before he perked up and turned to the others,"Oh yeah, just remembered, but I have a meeting with the dean after class, so don't wait for me."
Negi perked up at the mention of the headmaster. "A meeting with the dean?" he questioned. "Didn't you have a meeting with the dean a few days ago?"
The blonde scratched the back of his head, "Yeah well..." he trailed off.
A Few Days Ago
"You needed me old man?" Naruto asked/stated as he stood in front of the dean, who was sitting behind his desk.
"Ah yes Naruto-kun," The dean began as he started to stroke his beard. "Eishun mentioned that you're pretty strong."
"Well..." Naruto began as he scratched the back of his neck, "I don't want to brag or anything but yeah, I'm pretty strong," he rubbed his nose and grinned. "Even learned a bit from Eishun."
"Hohoho I see," the old man smiled at him.
Raising an eyebrow, Naruto asked, "Why did you want to know that?"
The dean cleared his throat. "Naruto-kun, as you might already know, I'm the chief of the Kanto Magic Association," he said. Seeing the teen nod, he continued, "Well I've been meaning to ask you whether you want to do some missions for me."
The blonde teen raised an eyebrow, "Missions?"
"Yes, yes nothing special just like the missions you did while you were with Eishun," the old man scratched one of his giant eyebrows. "Don't worry you'll get paid for them. It's your choice whether you do it or not."
Doing missions again, huh? That didn't sound bad but...
"Sorry, I have to decline," Naruto said, smiling apologetically. His mission was to protect Konoka and she was far more important than a few other missions or money. Though, he could always leave behind Kage Bunshins, plus the girl didn't necessarily need a babysitter every second of her life…
"I see," the dean sighed, letting his head drop in disappointment and grabbed his cell phone, pushed at a few buttons, seemingly dialing a number.
Naruto raised an eyebrow, 'I wonder who he's going to call...'
".. Hello Son-in-law... "
Naruto frowned. 'Eishun? What does he need Eishun for?'
"Hohoho I'm fine, how are you?... Anyway I called you to tell you that Naruto-kun has been perving on Konoka-chan..."
Naruto pretty much died that second. His soul had escaped his body through his mouth, while his skin paled immensely, an horrified look on his face. It took a few seconds before he recovered and rage took over. "DON'T MAKE UP LIES!" he shouted as he recovered as a vein popped out of his forehead. That senile bastard!
"Hohoho I don't know what you're talking about," the old man said, feigning ignorance while his eyes were twinkling.
The blonde's eyebrows twitched. "Hmph it doesn't matter. There's no way that Eishun is going to believe you."
"Hmm are you really sure?" the dean smiled, a creepy smile in his opinion. "You and I both know how Eishun is when it comes to Konoka-chan."
Of course he knew. Everyone, who really knew Eishun, knew that Eishun was the overprotective daddy type. He'd believe the shit the dean was sprouting. Just alone the idea, the image – the fantasy – that someone was 'harming' his little princess, was enough to make him start a manhunt. Strange, huh? I mean, what sort of biased father would try to hook his daughter up with someone, while at the same time scaring every man away from her. Anyway, this was a dangerous situation.
Naruto gulped. An overprotective Eishun was the last thing he needed
"Hohoho so what are you going to do?" The dean asked, while putting the phone down. "Are you going to accept my offer then?"
"What? HELL NO!" The blonde screamed. There was no way that he would let himself be blackmailed by another Konoe. He was just not going to accept it, just to spite the old man. Trying to blackmail him… Tch. Who did he think he was?
"Your choice," He said as he grabbed the phone once again. "Son-in-law, I think I saw Naruto harassing–"
"–WAIT!" Naruto shouted and he grabbed the phone. "Didn't you say that it was my choice whether I accept or not?" he tried, desperately.
"It is," the old man nonchalantly said.
Naruto's eyebrow twitched, "You're clearly blackmailing me!"
"No, I'm not," the dean smirked. "It's your choice, I'm only stimulating you."
The blonde jaw dropped, while his eyebrow started to twitch violently, 'How the hell does that count as stimulating!'
"So what's your choice, Naruto-kun?" the dean asked as he grasped the phone out of the blonde's hand.
The blond sweat dropped. Was it just him or did the Konoe family just love blackmailing people?
He sighed. The offer wasn't that bad, besides Negi would be with Konoka if anything happened to her. He could also leave some bunshins behind. Besides, some extra money in the pocket didn't hurt for when he finally found his own place.
The blonde crosses his arms. "Fine, I'll do it," the blond pouted.
"Hohoho you've made the right choice, Naruto-kun," the dean said.
The blonde grunted. "Shouldn't you say something to Eishun?" he asked while pointed at the phone.
"Hohoho he was never on the line," the dean laughed.
The blonde sweat dropped and palmed his face. That damn bastard.
"Anyway I'll see the next time," the dean said.
"Next time?" Naruto questioned.
"Hohoho, yes I want you to meet the other mage teachers and students," the dean replied, before he winked at him. "Oh and, Naruto-kun, let's keep this meeting between the two of us."
The blonde raised an eyebrow but nevertheless nodded.
The dean smiled, "Good... You're dismissed."
Walking out of the dean's office, the blonde sighed. He really needed the comfort of his ramen.
Present
"Oh, you know, same old. Same old," Naruto answered, rubbing the back of his neck.
Negi sighed in relieve, "I was already worried that you had gotten in trouble, Naruto-san."
The blonde sweat dropped at that, "Hehe… not sure how I'm supposed to feel about that being your first thought…"Naruto whispered to himself. "I mean, would it be so hard to believe that we'd be meeting because he wants to praise me for being an awesome teacher." He pouted to himself.
Asuna snorted. "Would it be so hard to believe I got higher than a D on a test?" she asked rhetorically.
Naruto narrowed his eyes at her, as he looked down at her, "You do realize you just insulted yourself, right?"
She held her head high, " Still, point and case."
Negi sweat dropped, 'I don't think that's the correct saying, Asuna-san...'
Naruto rolled his eyes at her, "You're such an asshole, you know that right?" He only got a smirk in return.
"We should leave now, otherwise we might arrive to late at school," Konoka alerted the others, as they all quickly grabbed their bags and made their way to school.
XxX
"Good morning, everyone," Naruto greeted as he walked inside 2-A's classroom.
"Good morning, Naruto-sensei/Naruto-sama!" The class greeted back as he walked towards his desk, a sweat drop on the back of his head. They were still calling him Naruto-sama?
Taking his position behind the desk, he waited for the class to get silent – 2-A had the habit of trying to distract him from his lessons to have fun with him – before he began his lecture. After 20 minutes he finished his lecture and handed out some worksheets. As the girls were working, he decided to sit behind his desk and start with his lesson preparations for the next class, per usual.
As he finished his own work, he opted to observe his students. In the small amount of time he had spent here as teacher, he'd gotten to know different students. Every class had a few who stood out and reached out to him. Others kept to themselves, either needing a push, before starting conversations with him, or just not being interested. Naruto was determined to get to know all his students on a somewhat personal level.
In class 2-A he had conversed with an handful of girls outside of class. Konoka and Asuna were pretty much on the top, with him living at their place. He had spent some time with Yuna, as they both enjoyed playing basketball. He was a regular customer at Chao Bao Zi, so he ran into Chao sometimes and they chatted every now and then when the girl wasn't too busy.
Aside from that he mostly saw his students during class. He had to admit, they were quite a bit different than what he had expected from the first time he saw them when he walked in with Nitta-sensei. Not the silent class he had expected. Nop. They were loud. Very loud. And touchy. Normally Naruto didn't mind it, being a touchy person himself, but with the headmasters warning, he decided that it was better to play safe.
Anyway, during his last few lessons, had taken notice of few girls.
Haruna – the girl who had no personal boundaries – seemed to spent a lot of time in class staring at him. Just staring. And then every now and then, she'd let out a small perverse giggle. It was obvious that if someone was going to make him look like a big pervert, it was her.
Sakurako was for some reason determined to call him Naruto-sama at every opportunity she had. Naruto didn't really know why, but he decided that it was harmless… Although, what if the headmaster thought that she was calling him that because they had some kind of kinky relationship? …Maybe he'd have to have a little talk with her about her little 'pet name' for him… just to be safe.
The girl named Sakurazaki Setsuna was glaring at him the whole time, even now. He had no idea why, but it freaked him a bit out. At the same time it also pissed him off, so every now and then he'd stuck his tongue out at her, like the mature teacher that he was. It also didn't help that she shared the smell of his oh so mysterious - not so mysterious anymore - 'stalker'. Confrontation was soon in order, he decided.
Anyway, aside from these weird quirks, they still seemed to be working hard during class. Something that he appreciated a lot.
'Unlike someone else,' Naruto thought as his eyes shifted to Evangeline McDowell, a 10 year old looking girl with blonde hair.
From the moment that his class had begun, she had done nothing but stare jadedly in front of her. This wasn't first time she did such thing. To be exact, up to now that was the only thing she did. Sometimes she didn't even join his class. Naruto sighed. He really had to talk to her about it. His eyes flitted over to his watch, noting that they still had ten minutes left before the bell would ring and lunch would start.
"Alright class," he began as he clapped his hands to try and gather his students' attention, which he succeeded in. "Since you've all worked so hard, you're allowed to leave earlier."
The class started to cheer and he couldn't help but smile. The class wasn't that bad. The girls were pretty forward but the class wasn't that bad at all.
The blonde snapped out of his thoughts as he remembered that he wanted to have a talk with Evangeline. Looking around, he saw that the girl was on her way to the door.
"McDowell-san," Naruto called out, making the girl stop walking and look at him. "Could you stay behind for a minute? I'd like to talk with you."
The girl huffed in annoyance but complied. The pair waited a few minutes until all the other girls left. Seeing that they were finally alone, the blonde gestured the little girl to come to him so that she was standing in front of him while he was leaning against his desk.
"Don't worry you're not in trouble," Naruto began, kindly, not wanting to worry the ten year old girl," It's just that I've noticed that you never really work or pay attention in class."
Evangeline just gave him an unimpressed look, before she opened her mouth, "What does it matter?" she asked coldly. "It's not like I'm failing for any subject."
Naruto sighed. "I know but school isn't a place to laze around. It's a place where people get educated and work hard." The blonde smiled. Mentally he couldn't help but sweat drop at himself for the hypocrisy, as he remembered his own attitude towards school, when he was young. Even now. Oh well, he was mister goody two shoes now, it(preaching/talking) was all part of the spiel. "Besides who knows what you can achieve if you just work harder."
The blonde ruffled the girl's hair while ignoring the glare he was receiving. "But anyway I think you're pretty cool for being so smart while you're still a little kid."
Naruto grinned with his eyes closed as he tapped the little girl's nose. He was pretty good with kids... most of time.
Evangeline was angry. Scratch that, she was furious. How dare that, that little boy call her a little kid! A Little Kid. He even had the balls to ruffle her hair and poke her nose. So she did the only thing she could think of... She bit his finger. Hard. Actually she had bitten so hard that his finger started to bleed and her being a vampire there was no way that she would waste such delicious blood.
Naruto, meanwhile, didn't know what had happened. One second he was poking Evangeline's nose and the other second he was wincing before something warm engulfed his finger. Opening his eyes, he looked down only to be met with the sight of Evangeline sucking on his finger with lidded eyes, causing him to freeze.
"..."
"..."
What. The. Fuck.
'GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!' The blonde screamed mentally. 'Why the hell is she s-s-sucking my f-finger?' The blonde thought with a freaked out expression while blushing a little bit. 'Don't tell me that...,' he gasped, his eyes widening, as sweat started to gather around his forehead, 'Don't tell me that she has a crush on me.' Naruto shook his head. No. Impossible. 'Naaaah...' He decided that that couldn't be the case, before his popped wide open, 'Or maybe she has and she just faked not working hard because she knew that I'd talk with her, giving her the opportunity to be alone with me.'
The blonde shuddered and started to cry anime tears. Why the hell was it always him. Curse his handsomeness and awesomeness!
Taking a deep breath, the blonde steeled himself. He had to explain that a relationship between them wouldn't work... and hopefully she'd accept.
'But first,' Naruto thought as he tried to remove his finger from the girl's mouth, who still hadn't noticed her teacher's inner turmoil.
After a few minutes of trying – she sure had a hold on him – the blonde had finally succeeded in removing his finger from Evangeline's mouth, causing the girl to glare at him.
'Don't tell me she's the obsessive Lolita type,' the blonde teen gulped.
Steeling himself, Naruto, gently, put his hands on the girl's shoulders. "I'm sorry!" he began. "It's not you, but me!" he told her loudly, while mentally palming his face, 'Why the hell did I use that line?'
Snapping out of her bloodsucking-daze, Evangeline looked at him as if he was an idiot. 'What the hell is that idiot talking about?'
"I know that I'm amazing, cool and handsome and I know that you have a crush on me b-b-but I'm a teacher and you're my student and that kind of relationship is forbidden."
Evangeline mouth fell open in disbelief as one of her eyes started to twitch, 'Who has a crush on who?'
"Besides don't you think you're a little bit too young for me. You're ten and I'm fourteen." 'Almost fifteen'
Evangeline's eyes darkened while she gritted her teeth, 'Does that idiot think that I, Evangeline McDowell, The dark Evangel, The Queen of Nights, The doll Master and many more, have a crush on him, an idiotic blonde boy?'
Naruto laughed nervously, "But don't worry I'm probably just a stupid and silly crush that you'll forget about." 'I hope...'
Evangeline was fuming, "I DON–"
"Shhhh," the blonde awkwardly put a finger on her lips. "Don't make this any harder."
Ding dong! The bell chime was heard and Naruto couldn't feel more relieved about its timing.
"Ahahahaha that's the bell," Naruto awkwardly laughed as he collected his stuff. "Got to go!" The blonde shouted as he ran out of the classroom. "Don't forget what I told you!"
"I DON'T HAVE A CRUSH ON YOU, YOU STUPID WHISKERED BLONDE!" Evangeline shouted after the blonde.
XxX
"It was nice to meet you all," Naruto smiled widely as he waved a few teachers and students goodbye.
"Likewise, Naruto-kun," Seruhiko-sensei said as he ruffled the blonde's hair before walking away.
"Aah, Touko-sensei!" Naruto called out at the glasses wearing woman, making her stop in her tracks and turn around to face the blonde. "I was wondering whether you and I could spar sometimes since we both wield swords." The blonde grinned in anticipation. "Besides a little bit exercise here and there wouldn't be so bad. It's been a while!"
The woman shook her head at the teen's behavior, a small smile gracing her face, "Of course, Naruto-kun," Touko sent him a wink. "Then I'll count on you to pick a date."
"Roger that!," The blonde grinned as he waved her goodbye. 'That was the last one,' Naruto thought, as he slowly lowered his arm, before turning to face the dean. "So anything else you need or am I dismissed?"
"Hohoho," The dean laughed. "I actually have a favor to ask."
Surprised, Naruto raised an eyebrow, " A favor? From me?" 'Don't tell me he's going to blackmail me again.' He thought to himself as he narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the old man.
"Yeah, " the dean nodded, "I'm planning on giving Negi-kun one final task before he's allowed to become an official teacher. His final task is to ensure that 2-A is no longer worst class," he informed him.
Naruto nodded his head, before he rubbed his neck sheepishly, "So what does this have to do with me?" he asked, feeling a bit confused. This seemed to have nothing to do with him.
"Well the final task will include the 'Baka Rangers' and the Library island, so Konoka will most likely join Negi-kun and Asuna-kun," the dean said as he stroked his beard.
Seeing where this was going Naruto sighed. "Ah, let me guess," The blonde began, "You want me to stay behind, right?" he concluded.
The dean nodded, "I want to test Negi-kun and if you go with them you'll probably take the lead. I'd rather see how he acts on his own."
Naruto shrugged. "Sure." Considering the test was coming from the old man himself, Konoka, or anyone for that matter, wouldn't be in danger or anything. Even if she was, Negi was a mage, and Naruto was pretty sure that the boy would protect his students from any dangers. Besides, while Negi seemed to only teach 2-A, Naruto had different classes and he couldn't just abandon them. Even if a sending a bunshin would have solved that little. He would probably do that anyway, seeing as Naruto was interested a bit interested in this final test.
"By the way," Naruto began, eyeing the dean curiously, "How are you so sure that Negi and the others will go to this …'whatever island'? Maybe they'll do something else? Like a big study group, or something."
"Hohoho, don't worry," The dean laughed as he ruffled Naruto's hair. His eyes twinkled a bit, before he continued. "I have my ways."
The blonde sweat dropped at his answer, before he shook his head. "I don't even want to know. Anything else you need?"
The dean shook his head, "No, that was all, you're dismissed."
Naruto nodded. "Cool. See ya, old man," the blonde said as he gave the old man the two-finger salute.
Stretching himself out, the blonde started to walk towards the dorms.
The meeting with the other mages wasn't that bad. He had met a lot of other mages and they were pretty nice. Although a few surprised him. Who would've thought that Seruhiko-sensei was a mage. It also seemed that Yuna's dad was a mage but from what he had heard from Akashi-sensei, she didn't know about magic and stuff.
"...Ruto-kun, Naruto-kun!"
Breaking out of his thoughts, the blonde looked behind to see a pouting Konoka tugging on his sleeve.
"Konoka-san?"
"Mou~ Naruto-kun, I called you a lot of times but you were ignoring me," she pouted even harder, if that was possible.
"Ahh I'm sorry," The blonde scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. "I was just thinking about something." The blonde smiled, "Anyway where are you going?"
"I'm going to get some groceries," The brunette said as she smiled cutely. "Where are you going?"
"Well I was planning on going back to the dorms," Naruto told her, before he shrugged "but since I've run into you, I might as well join you, if you don't mind?"
"That would be nice," Konoka replied happily as she latched on the blonde's arm, making him tense for a second before calming down. "So how did you're meeting go?" she asked him, as they started to move forward.
"Well, you know, meetings are boring and all, but aside from that it went pretty well," Naruto answered. "How was your day? Did anything special happen?"
"Well Negi-kun did act strange today in class..." The girl began as she started to talk about her day while Naruto was listening. Laughing a bit when he heard how freaked out Negi had been about his last assignment.
After half an hour, the two of them were finished with grocery shopping and went to the ice cream parlour for some ice cream. As they were enjoying their cold treats, they couldn't help but overhear a conversation.
"Hey, did you hear? Did you hear?" A girl spoke rather awkwardly loud.
"What?" Another girl asked, just as loud.
"I've heard that the lowest scoring class will be broken apart," The first girl answered.
The other girl 'ooh'ed'."Yeah, yeah I've even heard that the lowest scoring girls will be held back or they have to redo all the grades from kindergarten."
Turning around to face the girls that were talking, Naruto squinted his eyes to get a better look at them. Wait a second... He recognized those girls… One of them was a first year and the other a third year middle school student… Why were they randomly talking about that, and so loud too…?
"Hohoho," The dean laughed as he ruffled Naruto's hair. "Don't worry I have my ways."
Naruto sweat dropped, 'Of course...'
"Naruto-kun," he heard Konoka say before he turned around to face her again. "We should warn Asuna and the others."
XxX
Konoka gasped at what she had heard. "We have to warn the others, Naruto-kun!" She frowned, looking a bit thoughtful. "If I'm right I heard Asuna talk with some others about going to the baths later, so she's probably there right now." She looked back at Naruto. "If we go there now, we can still catch them!"
"…Yeah…" Naruto looked away from the girl, a small bead of sweat rolling down his face. He was definitely not going to follow the girl to the big bath. Nop. He was not ready to get a sequel for the bath-incident-that-should-not-be-spoken-of. He was lucky the old man hadn't found out about his little bath accident last time, so he was not going to test his luck this time. Naruto coughed in his hand, before he held out his hand. "H– how about I go return the groceries to the dorm, while you go to the baths and warn them. I still need to do a few things"
The girl pouted that he wasn't going to join her, but nodded nonetheless and hurried to the others, while Naruto made his way to their shared dorm room. Once arriving he greeted Negi, who was preparing himself for bed. Asuna was out, so he guessed that Konoka was right about Asuna being in the big dorm bath.
Midterms were just around the corner and Naruto was a tiny bit nervous. He had pretty much fucked up previously, but he had hoped that he had been able to lessen the damage he'd made with the small amount of time he still had. Old man Nitta had covered half of the subject-matter, so that half was safe, he assumed. His half… Well he had used his last two classes to summarize everything they had to know and after he was finished with that, he had some exercises, which he solved together with his students, to show them how to do things. Aside from that, he had put different things online, in case his students wanted more exercises or just needed explanations. He just hoped that that was enough.
He was broken from his thoughts, when the front door was kicked open and a determined Asuna stepped inside the room.
"Get up, people! We're going to Library Island," Asuna announced loudly, looking thoroughly determined.
Naruto sweat dropped once again. The old man really had his ways.
XxX
"So this is Library Island, huh," Naruto whistled as he, the Baka Rangers, the Library Exploration Club plus Negi, who was still in his pajamas, were standing in front of the entrance of Library Island. "Big place," Naruto noted. "Seems a bit like a waste to use all the space on books only." Naruto sweat dropped when he noticed the normally blank faced Yue give him the evil eye. He'd have to refrain from dissing books in front of her, or so it seemed. "Anyway, good luck and have fun. I'm out." Naruto saluted, ready to walk away.
"What do you mean 'I have to go'?" Asuna demanded as she gripped his shoulder.
"Ehh it means that I have to leave,"
"Naruto-kun isn't going to stay?" Konoka asked. "Why not?"
Naruto rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, sorry, you know, got classes and all…"
Asuna deadpanned at him, calling him out on his bullshit. "What classes? It's your day-off tommorrow."
"..."
Oh. Fuck.
"..." The blonde sweat dropped. "I ehh... I have... I'm going to err..." A drop of sweat ran down his forehead, as he racked his brain to come up with an answer. "… I'm going to help the other kids of 2-A? Yep I'm going to help the other student of 2-A." Satisfied with his answer, Naruto nodded his head vigorously. "Yup. Going to be busy helping that class. Busy, busy, busy." He forced out a laugh.
Asuna gave him a blank look, showing him she didn't believe a single word from him. "You totally just made that up," she called him out on his bullshit again, making the blonde glare at her, which of course prompted her to glare right back at him.
"Actually," Negi began, "that is very thoughtful of you, Naruto-san. The other students will probably also need some help, which you can provide, while we're searching for the book."
Asuna rolled her eyes, at how easy Negi was, while Konoka pouted, "Mou~ So Naruto-kun isn't going to come with us."
"Sorry," Naruto looked at her apologetically, pulling his shoulders up. "Have fun, though," the blonde grinned at them, making Negi sweat dropped at the way the blonde made it sound as if they were going on a big adventure. Surely, this would be nothing more than a late night study. The others thanked them, while Asuna just grumbled, before they made their way to the entrance of the building. Before Negi and Asuna entered, they shared one last glance with Naruto.
'Both of you take care of them, all right?'
Asuna blinked, before she rolled her eyes at him. Of course, she would. And if anything bad happened, they had a mage amongst so they were as safe as they could be.
'Tch you don't even have to ask, idiot.'
Both missed the guilty look on Negi's face. Oh well, just a late night study trip. What could possibly go wrong? Always depending on magic was bad anyways, right? Asuna-san had said so herself.
Chuckling the blonde waved one last time before he walked away. Only to stop again. He sniffed the air, before his eyes widened.
'She's here,' Naruto thought as recognized the scent. His stalker was hiding somewhere. Sakurazaki Setsuna was here. What was she doing here..? Naruto shrugged. Oh well, this had dragged on for too long for his taste. Time to make it end. With that in mind he continued his walk, a new destination in mind.
XxX
Sakurazaki Setsuna had only one motive and it was to protect her Ojou-sama, Konoe Konoka. Even if she had to do it from the shadows. So when the blonde teacher arrived at the Mahora, she was cautious. When she heard the he came from Kyoto, she started to mistrust him. Maybe he was one of those persons that were after her Ojou-sama.
To figure whether the blonde was good or bad, she had taken it upon herself to gather information about him until she knew whether he had any motives concerning her Ojou-sama. The only problem was that every time that she would finally find out where he was hanging out, the blonde would change his hang out places. That alone made her suspicious.
Tonight. Tonight she had decided that she would finally find out whether he was good or not. So she went to Library Island and sent a Chibi-Setsuna after Konoka before she started to focus on the blonde again. She watched as the blonde parted with the others and she watched as the blonde froze, stood still for a few second, before he continued on his way.
'Such suspicious behavior,' she thought to herself as she started to follow him.
Naruto finally stopped running as he arrived at a big forest. Nobody would be here. It was confrontation time, "You can come out," he called out loudly enough for her to hear.
"..."
Getting no reaction, he tried again, "I've already seen you."
"..."
A vein popped out of Naruto's forehead, "Oh, come on! I can smell you. I could probably even smell you from a mile away!"
Dodging a slash, the blonde jumped away as a figure landed in front of him.
"H-how dare you!" a flustered Setsuna yelled before she composed herself. "Sorry, sensei, but I have to check whether you're in way or not."
Naruto frowned. 'Check whether I'm in the way or not? What the hell is she talking about,' the blonde thought. Was this a test from Old man Konoemon? To check whether he was a pervert or not? Naruto shrugged. It could, but why would the old man sent someone to fight him… How was that going to show whether he was a pervert or not? That didn't really make sense. Naruto thought a bit about it, before he paled. Or maybe she sent him after him to beat him up and make him confess that he was a pervert? You know, force him to talk and that kind of shit… If that was the case then that man sure went out of his way. It sounded solid, that's for sure.
Well if that was indeed the case, he knew what to do. His mind made and eyes full of determination, the blonde decided to speak. "Don't worry," Naruto began, as he held out his hand in front of himself. "I'm not a pervert."
"…" Setsuna blinked, a bit surprised at what he said. Of all the things he could say, she didn't expect that to come out his mouth. What was this guy playing at? Suddenly talking about perverts... She didn't think her teacher was a pervert; hadn't even thought about it, to be honest. So why would he tell her that all of a sudden. All she wanted to know was whether this guy was a danger to Konoka-Ojou-sama or not. Her eyes narrowed. Wait… Was this some kind of backwards way of him of telling her his evil intentions with her Ojou-sama? How dare he!
"Things have changed then." Naruto breathed out in relieve at that. "Right now, knowing that you're a pervert–"
Naruto sputtered, waving his arms around him. "Wait! I said not a pervert! NOT! You forgot the word not. As in 'am not'!"
Setsune ignored him. "– I'm going to make you regret ever setting your eyes on, Ojou-sama," She finished her voice bordering deadly.
Naruto sweat dropped. 'Well that didn't help. At all. ' Also he had no idea who this 'Ojou-sama' lady was that she was talking about. 'Oh well,' the blonde thought, before his eyes widened. That stance. It was a common Kyoto stance, that of a swordsman stance to be precise. The Shinmei-ryū, if he was right. Definitely. He narrowed her eyes at her, getting a bit more serious. 'Don't tell me she's one of those people from Kyoto that are after Konoka,' he gritted his teeth. 'But she's still one of my students... Kuh I'll just have to disarm her first and then I'll see what I'll do.'
"Come and get me then," he challenged, as he slipped in a sloppy stance.
Setsuna looked at him. This wasn't going to be a long fight judging from his sloppy stance. "Shinmeiryuu: Ultimate Secret Technique: Zanganken!" She slashed at him, before she rushed to him, swinging her nodachi a few more times at him. Each time the blonde had dodged her attack. 'He's fast,' she noted, jumping away when the blonde quickly crouched and threw a kick at her legs, trying sweep her of her feet.
What she didn't expect was for Naruto to disappear from her sight. Her eyes widened when she saw his arm move from behind her, trying to go for a choke hold. Acting quickly, she moved her head sideways, before she elbowed him twice, making him lose his hold. She quickly used this opportunity to ram the hilt of her nodachi into his other side, making him wince, before she jumped away.
'Got some nice reflexes,' Naruto nodded to himself. Oh well, time to finish this and get some answers.
"I'm not done yet!" she screamed, before she slashed at him again. "Zankuusen!"
POOF!
'What? That was a clone,' Setsuna thought with wide eyes. Gritting her teeth, she look around to find her blonde teacher. 'Where is he? On my left? On my Right? Behind me? Above me?'
Up in one of the trees, Naruto smirked when he saw an opening and threw an kunai at Setsuna.
'Over there,' Setsuna thought as she dodged the kunai.
Naruto smirked, 'Got you.'
"Zanganken!" Setsuna slashed at the blonde, totally unaware of the fact that the kunai behind her went poof and that in its place came Naruto, who immediately kicked her off her legs, before her he straddled her while holding her wrist tightly, making Setsuna loosen her grip on her nodachi.
Setsuna glared at the blonde and tried to struggle underneath him.
"I won't let you hurt Konoka-ojou-sama!"
"What's your motive with Konoka?"
Two pairs of eyes blinked.
"Ehhh? Hurt Konoka-ojou-sama? What the– ? I thought that people like you were trying to use her." Naruto said with a confused expression, loosening his grip on her wrist.
Setsuna looked at him as if he was crazy. "P-people like me! Don't you mean people like you! I'm Konoka-ojou-sama's guardian!" Setsuna shouted back.
"Guardian? Eishun never told me about a guardian... Of course!" Naruto gritted his teeth. 'Guhhh that damn bastard. Leaving out important information just for fun. I bet that bastard is laughing somewhere right now.' Sighing the blonde stood up. "It seems that all of this was a misunderstanding," he said as he offered the girl a hand.
"Why should I trust you?" Setsuna asked as she hesitantly grabbed Naruto's hand.
"Well…" The blonde sighed and started to walk while Setsuna followed him. "Believe it or not, Eishun sent me here himself to "protect Konoka."" He told her, using air quotes at the last part.
Setsuna's eyes widened as a look of betrayal mad its way on her face. 'To protect Konoka-ojou-sama? B-b-but what about me? Has the Chief lost faith in me?'
Naruto noticed the look on her face. "Whatever you're thinking, I'm pretty sure that you're wrong," he told her, waving his dismissively . Setsuna turned to look at him, as she saw a fond smile grace his face. "Eishun isn't that kind of a person. Besides, honestly, I think that Eishun only gave me this little side mission to convince me to get my ass out of his house. Sometimes he's such a bastard."
"You shouldn't talk like that about the chief!" Setsuna chastised him, a mortified look on her face at his vulgar language concerning the Chief, before she blinked. "You live with the chief?"
The blonde nodded his head.
"Why?"
"Well... this and that happened and I ended up living with him," Naruto replied, his eyes wandering to the sky.
Setsuna frowned. Hardly satisfied with his answer, yet decided not to questioning him about it any further. Maybe it was an uncomfortable topic for him… Either way it was fine as long as Konoka-ojou-sama was safe. It was none of her business, anyway.
A thought entered Naruto's mind, making him stop his pace, before a grin grew on his face. Facing Setsuna once again, he held his hand out. "So this makes us partners, right?"
"P-p-partners?" A blushing Setsuna stammered out in question.
"Yes," Naruto nodded excitedly. "You know like partners in crime since both of us want to protect Konoka. So we're kind of a team, right…partner?" he tested, with a grin.
Setsuna mentally sighed in relieve. So he meant it that way. Shaking her head, she grabbed the blonde's hand and shook it. "Yes... we're partners," she answered before she let his hand go, and proceeded to walk again..
An awkward silence followed after that.
"By the way…" Naruto nervously began, "you weren't sent by anyone, or something like that, right?
Setsuna blinked in confusion. "…No?"
"Oh. Okay." So the headmaster wasn't testing him… was he?
Another awkward silence followed after that until they finally reached the dorms.
"So.. I guess I'll see you again," Naruto said as he broke the silence.
"Right.." the girl nodded. "Good night sensei," Setsuna said as she bowed politely.
"Ye-yeah good night," Naruto said as he awkwardly bowed. Parting their ways, Naruto walked towards his own room and rumbled in his pockets to find his keys. Finally finding his key to blonde opened the door and walked inside. Sniffing at his armpits, his nose crunched up. Yup. A shower before sleep would do good for his odor. After he had showered, he brushed his teeth, before he plopped on his futon.
He stared at the ceiling, his eyes feeling heavier and heavier by second. 'What a day,' he thought to himself. Eishun sure sent him to one strange place, huh, was his final thought before he fell asleep.
AN: Hehehe, it 2017 already?
Kind of disappointed with the lack of reviews to be honest. I mean, the longest written chapter literally got 5 reviews? Kind of a downer... but meh, can't have everything, I guess.
Anyways chapter 4 has been served, I hope you guys enjoy it (even if only a bit). Fighting scenes aren't really my thing, as you guys may have already noticed. The first arc is a bit more loose than the next arcs, so don't worry I do realize that half of the time a write nonsense. Later arcs will be focused more on detail/story and developing character.
Next two chapters are already written, but I'll have to see when I have time to edit and post them.
As always, I wish you guys a nice day!