The Knight Of Mahora Academy
Period 6: Suck Up, Meet Up, Buck up and Go!
So people wanted to know why Naruto wasn't recognized by Setsuna and Mana in the last chapter. Setsuna has stuck mostly to the supernatural happenings on Earth. She would probably only know The Thousand Master because he was such a big deal that his moniker was passed around among organizations that dealt with magic and Ki. In my opinion, Kaede and Setsuna only knew Rakan's name because while they were traveling around in the magical world they heard stories about his greatness. That's my view of it.
And Mana... Mana's a girl who strikes me as an action type. She doesn't care if you have a famous name or people call you strong, actions speak louder than words. Just because he's a good guy in that world, doesn't mean she thinks he has the best intentions for this one. That's why she just sort of saw Negi as a brat in the early chapters of the series, because he was a kid and not some great legacy just because his name was Springfield. And the same thing can be said about Naruto too.
Once again, personal opinion.
[[[[[[[[Knight]]]]]]]]
"Negi~! Come on! This is stupid! It's bad enough when a student skips class, I don't think a teacher's allowed to!" Asuna noted as she stood on the ladder steps to her bed. "Get out of bed Negi! It's almost 8 o'clock!"
"I can't Asuna-San, I seemed to have come down with a cold. I'm just going to..." The Welsh boy added lamely as he pulled the covers up to hide himself even deeper in his depression.
"I know you were scared but you're a teacher! Get up already!"
As Asuna tried to coax Negi into getting ready for school, Konoka sat on the couch with Kyūbi in her lap. She scratched the top of his head while he rested in her lap, "Poor Negi-kun, he seems really down." She looked down at the little fox in her lap, "What do you think we should do Kyūbi-chan?"
The demon fox just opened one of his eye and looked over to see the bell-wearing girl try to get the little moron out of his bed. He just went back to trying to sleep and ignore the noise so he could get some more sleep.
The bathroom door opened to reveal a wet-haired Naruto, fully dressed in his suit and a toothbrush in his mouth. He wiped the rest of the sand out of his eyes and looked over to see Negi still hiding underneath the covers. He leaned against the doorframe and looked over at Konoka, "Did she have any luck?"
Konoka shook her head in disagreement and looked up at her assistant teacher, "I don't think Negi-kun feels like teaching toady. We might just have to go to school without him."
"Then who's gonna teach our class? Whiskers?! I doubt he even knows how to teach a fish how to get to water!"
Konoka and Kyūbi expectantly looked over from Asuna to Naruto as he brushed his teeth with a bored expression. He looked over to them, "I'd argue with that but she's probably right."
That got Konoka to giggle a little.
Naruto washed his mouth, spit out the paste and walked out with his suit tie in hand. He just looked down at the tie, contemplating a choice to make for the rest of the day. He just shrugged his shoulders and tossed in on his pillow and cover, not bothered to put it on.
He walked over to the bed as Asuna stepped down and just shook her head tiredly. "Still no luck?"
Asuna just turned towards her new roommate with a raised brow and a look that asked him if he saw the little red-head get out of bed.
Naruto walked forward a little and looked over the edge of the bunk-bed, "Negi? Come on buddy...we've got to get you to school. If you don't go who's gonna take care of the class. I'm not coming back to 3-A until the end of the day so you're the only one who can."
Naruto's effort to appeal to the young boy's sense of duty seemed to fall on deaf ears as Negi just groaned and tightened the sheets around him. Naruto just settled back a little and sighed, shaking his head in admittance that the little boy wasn't going to get out of bed anytime soon.
"Well, Plan B."
He jumped up the ladder and grabbed the bed cover. He pulled it off and threw it away, unveiling the young red-head as he lifted his head from the pillow he was buried in. He looked up in surprise, "N-Naruto-San?! Wh-what are you doing here?"
"I live here now." Naruto responded flatly.
Negi's eyes shifted to little white plates when he heard that tidbit of information, "H-huh? When on Earth did that happen?"
Naruto stifled a chuckle when he was Negi's confused face, "Yesterday. Damn you were really out if it, huh? Well anyway-"
He reached out and grabbed the Welsh boy's pants, pulling them back while Negi tried to grip the mattress he was on. With comedic tears coming out the side of his eyes he cried, "No Naruto-San! Don't make me go! And stop pulling, you're showing everyone my undies!"
Asuna and Konoka were watching from the sidelines, the Konoe girl giggling at the scene while Asuna just shook her head with a deflated expression. And Kyūbi was out of sight, covering his mouth with his paws to stop from laughing.
Naruto just kept pulling, "If I have to go to school then I'll be damned that you get a day off. We all have crappy weeks and bad days Negi, it's how we deal with them afterwards that help us move on. So are you gonna keep sulking or are you gonna get out of bed?"
Negi just cried, "Please not today!"
"Okay, second option." Naruto face and voice took on a much darker tone and he smiled evily, "Am I gonna carry you to school naked or do you want to at least get dressed?"
Negi stopped resisting and stayed still for a second. He looked over his shoulder with wide, wet eyes on the brink of sobbing. "Dressed please."
Asuna felt a cold shiver seeing that compromise. 'Are we sure Evangeline is the bad guy here?'
[[[[[[[[Knight]]]]]]]]
"Oh hey look, it's Negi-kun! He's screaming on the back of Uzumaki-sensei!"
"Good morning Negi-sensei! How'd you like the ride?"
"Noooooooo! This isn't fair!" Negi cried while over the shoulder of the new blond assistant. Asuna and Konoka were at the side, the bell-wearing girl carrying his staff and the air-headed fortune teller holding the fox in her arms. And Naruto running in the center, undeterred by the stares he was getting.
"Damn Whiskers, you're pretty cold hearted when you want to be. You're like the Terminator if he was a brat." Asuna added as she ran up besides him, impressed he was able to run almost as fast as her even though he had Negi on his shoulder. Hell, Konoka was only keeping up because she was wearing roller-skates.
"I choose to take that as a compliment and save myself the worry. I know he feels bad but in my experience doing something instead of moping around helps to clear the mind. Believe me, it works." Naruto commented as Negi continued to thrash around on his back.
"Naruto-San! Why?!"
"Sorry kiddo!" Naruto did feel a little bad, honestly. Looking at those big brown eyes was like looking at a starving puppy begging for food. It wasn't that Naruto didn't care, it was because if there really was a vampire than staying in one place all day depressed wasn't the best way to defend himself.
They arrived at the bottom floor of the Middle School building as other female students started swarming in. The three teenagers slowed down at the shoe exchange area. Naruto turned to them, "Well I've gotta go to my first class. I'm helping some guy called-" he lifted up his phone to read the name, "-Kataragi with his history."
"Whatever Whiskers." Asuna turned to her reluctantly accepted roommate and motioned for him to hand something over. Naruto immediately understood and lifted a complaining Negi off his shoulder and onto Asuna's.
"We're already here! I can walk by myself!"
"Yeah. More like run away. I'm not letting you out just yet Baka-Negi." Asuna replied.
Naruto turned towards Konoka as she held Kyūbi, "I'll be back for the last period. I'll see you all then." He reached out to take Kyūbi back but saw Konoka step back a little.
"Naruto-kun~, since we all stay together and you're going to be back at the end of the day..." She smiled and held Kyūbi in a tight hug, beaming up at the taller boy, "Can we keep Kyūbi-chan with us until you come back? Please~?"
Naruto was struck in surprise with that question. Naturally he was going to say no, he never went anywhere without making sure Kyūbi was in his sight. But Konoka was looking at him with such a big smile, and he knew that smile was gonna turn if he said no. Plus what was going to be his excuse, "Sorry Konoka-San, but I'm making sure the ancient demonic being I keep as a pet doesn't do anything to horribly scar the people in your class so no."
Yeah, that was perfect.
Asuna leaned back so she was next to his unscarred ear, "Save yourself the trouble Whiskers. She's gonna get it one way or another, might as well accept it."
Naruto just looked at her in disbelief. He thought about what he should do, before looking down at the fox in question. Without anyone noticing, the fox just shrugged his shoulder with a blank look on his face.
Naruto just sighed, "All right, but be careful with him." His begrudging compliance was completely overwhelmed by her sheer exuberance.
"Yay! Come on Kyūbi-chan! Let's go show you off to everybody!" Konoka just started sprinting to her classroom.
"H-hey Konoka! Don't just leave me behind!"
"Put me down!"
Naruto cupped his hands over his mouth, "If he starts misbehaving just tap him on the nose and say no! Or kick him! Whatever's faster!" He chuckled at his own advice. He knew Kyūbi was probably just going to sleep and not cause any ruckus when Setsuna and Captain Trigger Happy were on his case. But it was always fun to tell people about ways to shut the animal up and see their reactions.
Plus the irritated look on the fox's face was usually priceless.
Now he was all by himself and he needed to get to his designated class on the second level. He started heading towards the opposite staircase and took his time to think about his situation here.
Most of the girls saw his funny little act after the Omiai with Konoka-San and thought he was either; funny, stupid, or in the case of that weird Kung-Fu girl, an evil villain. He also told that lie about Menma as the first thing to come off the top of his head so that was fun too. But hey, if that was there opinion of him from now on then so be it.
Mana Tatsumiya. He now had a gun touting mercenary on his ass with her crosshairs at his back. In hindsight, he probably shouldn't have teased her with that whole panty-incident thing. And he was only making it worse with all the cutesy suffixes and nicknames. But he could dodge a bullet if it came to it and he was tough. Plus, her reactions were worth it.
And then there was the other girl, Setsuna Sakurazaki...
Naruto stopped at the top of the split stairs and rested his hands on the bar. He just shook his head and chuckled. He had no idea she was here and yet...what were the chances?
Konoka was so kindhearted that she might as well walk around in a nun's habit and call herself Mother Teresa. She cooked some of the most delicious home-made food Naruto had ever tasted. She was so kind and considerate, making sure to wake him up for classes when he needed to get ready. And more than anything, she accepted him into her home without any fuss because she didn't mind taking care of people. If that wasn't the mindset of a saint he didn't know what was.
Asuna was different. She definitely wasn't the same as he remembered. She had an attitude, personality, coherent thought and feelings. She spoke out for herself and made sure she didn't take shit from him or anybody in class.
Nagi would've been proud.
It hurt him though. Seeing her look at him like a stranger, like they had never even met before, was like taking a crowbar to the ribs. But Michi told him that she wouldn't remember him even if he tried to jog her memory. So he would start over. If she fell in love with him or if she hated his guts he didn't care.
He just wanted to be a part of her new life.
And lastly, there was the boy at the center of it all, Negi Springfield. Even though he basically looked like a chibi Nagi, their personalities were like two sides of a coin. While Nagi was expressive, outgoing and exuberant, Negi was reserved, calm and collected. Plus with the whole prodigy thing, Negi was a genius while Nagi was a dumbass.
This whole panic attack and vampire thing showed another key difference between the father and son. While Nagi would have ignored any mental trauma and fear like the idiot he was, Negi was getting hit with the full experience of a near-death experience. So this was probably his first time ever having to fight or risk his life, and he knew how much of a toll that could take on a child.
Yesterday night he didn't believe that there really was a vampire in the campus. He had fought against hundreds of monsters and he knew that vampires wouldn't risk their necks by sneaking into a magical campus and attacking students. Naruto honestly thought it was something else...
Until he read over the roster again.
And there was one name that stood out. A scary, boogeyman story that every child in the magical world had heard of at least once. And he had heard stories from the old gang about their meeting with her as well. But even then, he just couldn't believe it.
Naruto walked down the hall with a serious look in his eyes, thinking about what kind of fight it would take to defeat someone like that.
The Dark Evangel. Evangeline A.K. McDowell.
[[[[[[[[Knight]]]]]]]]
"Yaaawwwwwww~."
The little blonde girl on the roof yawned and covered her little mouth with her hand. She closed her mouth and rubbed some sand out of her eye after her latest nap. This was how she usually spent her school days over the recent years. She had been stuck here so long and had become so bored with this school she just snuck out of class whenever she had them. More often than not she just came up to the roof to take a nap.
Evangeline leaned up against one of the walls on the roof and looked up at the cloudy sky. This was just another day in her own personal hell, waiting for a rescue that was never going to come. But now that the boy was here, she wasn't going to have to wait around much longer.
"It's almost lunchtime." The little repeat year student mused to herself as she looked at her feet as they move around, "I hope Chachamaru chooses something good to bring me. I feel in the mood for some Yakisoba bread and coffee milk."
"You know I can't really say what I thought was gonna happen when I met you. I was half expecting you to be talking in an over the topTransylvanian accent. Sells the whole 'evil terror' thing better."
Eva's eyes widened in surprise before she pushed herself off the wall and looked around the corner to see the new blond boy standing besides the roof with his hands in his pockets. She just deflated and sighed, "Oh, it's just you. Shouldn't you be helping teach a bunch of brats how to add two plus two?" She walked away from her spot and further down the roof.
"Shouldn't you be living in a castle. Terrifying the innocents and wrecking havoc on the peace of nations?" Naruto added with a glare as he walked forward but a few feet away from the seemingly young girl.
Eva leaned against the wall and crossed her arms, "What can I say? I guess I'm just taking a vacation, huh?"
Naruto hummed in agreement while nodding his head. "You don't seem to be surprised that I know who you are."
"When you get as old as me, you can spot a kid with magic a mile away. Plus you seemed to be on good terms with Takamichi and unfazed by the Ki directed at you by some of the brats in class. And that fox was a dead giveaway too."
"Figures." Naruto looked over the little girl and felt like he had seen her somewhere before. "Have we met?"
Eva just closed her eyes in disinterest, "Fortunately, I doubt I've ever met a pitiful brat like you in my lifetime. And you would have easily remembered meeting someone as great as The Dark Evangel before."
Naruto just scratched the top of his head at the strange feeling of Déjà vu, "No it isn't that. I think...Nevermind."
Eva opened up one eye to look at the blond man across from her. "So why is a brat like you working at this school? The old man must be getting senile if he thinks that you will be enough to take me down."
Naruto scowled at her self-confidence and ignorance of his abilities. "Actually, I took this job for other reasons not involving you. I didn't even know you were in this school until last night. But if I need to make keeping you in line my job, I'll gladly accept it." Eva just scoffed at the threat as Naruto glared her down, "Let me ask you something. Why is the great Nosferatu hiding in a child's body and praying on middle-school girl's? Fallen from grace, perhaps?"
She was irritated with his smug face when he made a jab at her former infamy but knew that falling into that trap would only end badly for her. "I don't need to tell you anything."
"Yes but if you, one of the most feared women in all of the magical world is resorting to changing her appearance into a little girl than...wait a minute..." Naruto stopped talking when he noticed something was off about the blonde vampire's presence. He leaned in and furrowed his eyes at her, causing her to lean back away from him.
"What are you doing?"
"Your magic...I don't sense any magic coming off your dis-" His eyes widened and stood back up, disbelief evident all over his face. "Is...is this your true form?"
Eva's face turned red and her shoulder stiffened uncomfortably. She tried to look away from his eyes, "W-what does it matter? Even if this is my true form-"
"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Eva was cut off by Naruto's wild laughter as he grabbed his sides and bent over. There were tears coming out the side of his eyes and his breath was starting to wheeze out, "Y-y-you're actually just a brat! Evangeline, the great dark Mage! The terror of the magical world! And she's not even 4 feet tall! HaHaHaHa!"
Eva's face just burnt a little brighter with his indignant laughter at her height. "I AM SO TALLER THAN 4 FEET!"
She couldn't believe this was happening. Even if she looked like a child, she was still the most feared monster in all of the magical world. Every child with a bit of magic in both worlds knew who she was and feared the very ground she walked on. And this bastard was laughing at her for looking like a kid.
It was like those bastards in Ala Rubra all over again.
Naruto tried his best to catch his breath and wiped his eyes clear. "I gotta say, the legends about you come up short...get it? Cause your a chibi!" He failed to hold it back and just started laughing like a hyena, getting a deep growl and poisonous glare from the little girl.
"Stop laughing you insignificant little stain! Or I swear I'll make you experience such horrible atrocities that you shall be begging for a quick death before I'm done! I'll peel the skin back from your face, impale you on a stick and let you drop down and pour acid down your-"
"You're making all these threats but all I see is a little girl fresh out of her diapers." Naruto said through a strained and hoarse voice as he completely ignored her very real threats. As her eyes were blacked out by her hair and her shoulders were shaking, Naruto pointed his finger towards her and started wiggling it. "There there Eva-chan, don't be angry. Coochie coochie-"
*Chomp*
""OW! Let go! Let go!" Naruto yelled when Eva bit down into the middle of his index finger and didn't let go. After a few seconds of trying to pull it out Evangeline opened her mouth and let him go.
Naruto shook the sting out of his hand and hissed, little drops of blood coming down the middle of it. He looked over his shoulder with flat eyes, "Did we really resort to biting?"
"IT'S YOUR OWN FAULT YOU DAMN MORON! I DIDN'T COME HERE BY CHOICE! I'M STUCK!" Eva started to huff as she glared at Naruto's back in sheer anger, subtly ignoring the taste of delicious blood at the end of her tongue. "I was sealed in the goddamn school! If I could leave and wreck havoc on the unsuspecting masses I would!"
Naruto was blowing on his red index finger before looking back at the vampire after she yelled that our at him, "Sealed? You were sealed here?"
Evangeline calmed down and decided to try regaining some of her composure, crossing her arms again and kept her eyes cold. "Correct. 15 years ago I was sealed at this school with a curse. My magic and abilities are sealed off whenever there isn't a full moon in the sky, and even then I am still bound to this campus. I was supposed to be released a long time ago but the man who sealed me forgot about it and died."
Naruto stood back up and dusted off his pants, "I've heard different legends and stories that you were finally killed or sealed away for all eternity. But stuck in a school for the rest of your life, that just sucks." He turned back to her with his eyes in a firm, unnerving glare. "But you're still an infamous dark Mage who could harm hundreds of people in your spare time. What guy-what moron would come up with the brilliant idea to seal a vampire in a boarding school filled with innocent people until the end of time?"
"The Thousand Master."
...
Naruto stayed frozen for a moment before cleaning out his ear with his pinky, "I'm sorry. Did you say-"
"The Thousand Master. The Man With A Thousand Spells. The Strongest Mage In Exsitence. Nagi Springfield. Does that ring a bell?" She mockingly asked with a cocky smile as she didn't need to hear an answer. If he was even a two-bit Mage, he knew who Nagi was.
Except after a second he had his head against the wall and just looking depressed and disappointed. "What's wrong with you?"
"Nothing. Just...more of my childhood crumbling apart before my vey eyes."
Naruto couldn't believe what he just heard. His idiot role model from 10 years ago had apparently locked away the most fearsome woman in magical history and then just forgot about her. Although if he forgot about her, that explains why he never mentioned her to him when they were traveling together.
'But even for the very, very low bar I hold for his intelligent choices, this was stupid.'
Naruto just shook his head disappointedly and looked back to the little blonde girl. "Okay then. You're stuck here now because your curse can't be lifted. So are you just attacking those girls and Negi out of boredom?" His voice had a hint of anger in it when he thought about that idea. He hated when people had to hurt others for their cause; he despised it even more when they did it just for fun.
Eva didn't answer his question, just leaning back with a smirk and a raised eyebrow.
He looked at her for a moment until realization hit him, "You did all that to draw him out, didn't you?" Her smirk got a little bigger when he finally started putting the pieces together. "If you have Negi, that's basically the second best choice to having Nagi for yourself. And you're gonna use him to free yourself-"
"By drinking all of his blood." Eva pushed off the wall and started walking off, passing Naruto on her way. "Once I drink the blood of The Thousand Master's descendant, I can use that power to undo the curse and release myself from this infernal place. It would take every drop of blood in his little body to free me but you can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs."
"You're going to kill a child just because of a petty grudge?"
Evangeline turned on the spot and glared at him, "I've been stuck here, by myself, for 15 years! That bastard abandoned me to this place without any chance of escape and now he's dead! I want my freedom! And if I have to make one child suffer for it, I'll take that chance."
Naruto stood still for a moment. Before he turned around to look at the Mage Nosferatu, "I understand that you must feel betrayed, but I won't let you kill Negi because of it. If I have to take you out right now..." He lifted his hand and it became engulfed in an intense flame, "Then so be it."
Evangeline stopped in place and looked over her shoulder to the man, a small smirk still settled on her face. "Oh really? Well, what makes you think I'm alone in this?"
Naruto just looked at her oddly before he heard the sound of an object shooting through the air. He leaned his head to the side to evade a rocket powered fist attached to a long wire line. After it had passed his face he grabbed the wire and yanked it roughly, pulling the very heavy object off its feet and over his head.
Jumping in an arc over his body was a tall figure with light green hair and a plastic bag in her hand. When she landed the empty eyed girl stood by the much smaller vampire across from him. Naruto let go of the wire and the hand was reeled back into its place in the girl's joint.
After the arm returned the tall girl looked towards the blond man and bowed her head respectfully. "Good evening Naruto-sensei. I am very sorry for attempting to strike you like that but it appeared like you were about to attack Master without any way for her to protect herself. Please forgive my actions." She said in a flat monotone before bowing her head again in forgiveness.
Naruto was still a little wide-eyed to see the green-haired girl act like she didn't just use steel wire to attach her arm from 2 meters away. "Are you a robot?"
She nodded her head, "Affirmative. I am Chachamaru Karukiri, Seat #10 and product of the Mahora Research Facility. Please watch over us diligently for the next trimester period." She turned to Evangeline and started to rummage through the grocery bag, "Master, I brought you a bento I made at home and got you some milk to drink as well."
Evangeline just looked at the bag in disgust and looked away from it like a displeased child, "Chachamaru, I told you I wanted Yakisoba and coffee milk. I'm not eating that."
"Master, it isn't good for your health to eat junk food all the time. You need to balance out your dietary choices or else your health will begin to deteriorate."
"I'm a 700 hundred year old vampire Chachamaru, health isn't really one of my strong worries."
"Huh, a robot and a vampire standing on a roof with a bento and milk? I feel like I'm missing the punch line." Naruto commented when he felt like he was ignored from their previous confrontation.
"Oh right, you're still here." Eva turned back to the man and showed a smug smirk at the turned tables. "As you can see, we're going to get to that little brat with or without your intervention. You won't stop us."
Naruto glared a little at her haughty attitude. "What if I was to inform Michi and the Old Geezer about what you were doing at night?"
"If you try to tell Takamichi or the old man what I'm doing, I'll continue to attack students like I did Makie Sasaki. What I did to her," she showed an evil smile and demented eyes. "It'd be a shame if it happened to everyone in class, wouldn't it?"
Naruto's eyes deepened a little when she left that threat open in the air.
"Stay out of our way. The is between me and the Springfield family. Just let me do what I have to and no one else will get hurt. And I'll make sure that I can at least leave him enough blood that he will still survive."
Naruto's eyes were shadowed by his bangs and he had a still face. "If Negi asks me to help, I won't hesitate for a moment to do so. Even if its against someone like you. But..."
He lifted his head and showed a confident smile and bright eyes at the legendary dark Mage in front of him, "If you underestimate him, you're going to be the one to lose Evangeline."
Eva scoffed at his advice, "Just because he shares the name doesn't mean he's anything like the Thousand Master."
"That maybe true, but none of that matters." He started walking forward towards the girl and her robotic partner. Chachamaru took a small fighting stance and Eva just stood there in place. Naruto walked by her side, "It's not the legacy that will decide this Evangeline, it's him. And he will beat you, I just know it."
Naruto left in silence after leaving Evangeline with his last thought. She scowled her eyes and turned over her shoulder to see him leave. After he was gone she looked off in silence for a moment.
"Pfft, dumbass."
[[[[[[[[Knight]]]]]]]]
Naruto didn't regret making an enemy of Evangeline A.K. McDowell. It only made life more exciting when you had someone big glaring at your back. The only problem at the moment was Negi. He truly believed the little Welsh boy could put up a good fight and show that girl who's boss...
If he could just pull his black cloud covered head off the desk first.
It was near the end of the school day and Naruto was back in class 3-A. Negi looked like he hadn't cheered up in the slightest despite being in class the entire day.
"Naruto-kun!"
He looked over to see his new roommate waving him over with a group of girls paying attention to the fox on her desk. She beamed a smile at him, "Kyūbi-chan has been behaving all day. Everybody loves him."
Naruto looked down at the table to see Kyūbi resting on his belly and ignoring all the attention from the girls. What does he do when a bunch of middle school girls start paying attention to him; act like a fat old cat and just sleep. Typical. He never did anything unless it let him go wild.
Asuna just absentmindedly fiddle with her pencil from her spot besides Konoka. "Can't tell who's better, the flea-bag or his owner?"
Naruto laughed dryly. "Haha, clever Bells. So good I forgot to laugh." Asuna just smirked at her self-righteous win, Naruto smiling a little when he saw her smile. And then he looked in the corner of her eye to see Setsuna and Mana looking at him with cantankerous views of him already ruining his vow to keep the fox under a watchful eye.
He just gave them a lop-sided smile and shrugged his shoulder in acceptance.
"Hiya!"
The blond man heard a spunky, cheerful voice get his attention. He turned around to see two shorter girls who were in front of another group looking around. One of them had layered pink hair with two cute little ribbons on the top of her head. She had a bubbly smile on her face and looked so energetic that it strained her just to stay in one place.
Standing a little behind her was another girl who appeared far more sheepish and reserved than the pink-head. She had light blue hair and a small frame similar to the pink-haired girl. She smiled nervously and Naruto noted that her eyes seemed to shift from his face to her surroundings before looking back again.
Naruto turned towards the happy girl, "Hello."
"You're our new teacher or something right? I passed out yesterday so you probably didn't see me then! I'm Makie Sasaki, Seat #16, nice to meet you!"
The other girl was pushed forward from behind by her friend with the one-sided ponytail. She squeaked a little before looking back and giving Yuna a miffed pout. Her friend just grinned and gave her a thumbs up, indicating that it was all right to talk to the new guy. The girl looked back towards Naruto, "And-um- I'm Ako Izumi, Seat #5. We met yesterday but I wasn't able to introduce myself." She finished respectfully with a bow.
Naruto turned to the two girls and bowed his head. "Hi, I'm Naruto Uzumaki, your new assistant teacher. There was a bit too much commotion yesterday for me to introduce myself." Makie jumped in front of him and started looking at his face intently.
"You look familiar? Have we met before?"
"Um..." Naruto remembered seeing this girl in the front of the pack when he met with some of the other girls from 3-A after the Omiai. He had hoped all of this crap was addressed yesterday but it looks like he was about to get another helping.
"Oh!" Makie's face dawned in realization and she palmed her fist. "I remember now! You're Negi-kun's cousin or something, right?"
The blond, all the girls around them and even the formerly sleeping fox all looked at the pinkette with black dot eyes and dumbfounded looks.
"Eh?"
"Yeah you're Negi-kun's cousin or maybe brother...Prince something? I don't know, I just remember Negi-kun when I think about it." Makie looked confused about something and scratched her head.
Yuna walked up behind her and weakly chopped the back of her head, "Stupid Makie."
"Owie." She complained with fake tears while clutching her head.
The young Akashi girl grinned towards Naruto, "Sorry Sensei, this girl won't have much on her mind except stuff she find interesting. In this case, Baka-Pink is only thinking about Negi-kun." She threw a thumb over her shoulder towards the sulking youth.
"Mou~, stop talking bad about me like that Yuna."
"Baka...Pink?"
The bell started to chime and the warning for the next period started to echo. "Ah, that's the bell. See ya later, Sensei!" Yuna quickly saluted to Naruto before turning to run to her seat, Makie waving goodbye and Ako and the tall ponytailed girl behind her both quickly saying goodbye.
[[[[[[[[Knight]]]]]]]]
Naruto was sitting by the wall with a chair he had gotten from the rows. That Asakura girl pointed to an empty chair by her side and let him take it to sit for the period. But before he took it he felt a cold chill and a shimmer of light when he grabbed it. He decided against taking that chair and just grabbed a spare when from the back, getting some strange looks by a few of the girls.
When class finally started, Kyūbi jumped off the desks and strolled along to sit by Naruto's chair and rest. And Naruto had a teacher's book in his lap to look like he was following along with the class. But in honesty he had his phone on the pages and was looking up the Chiu blog for anything interesting.
Now he was watching as that Ako Izumi girl was reading a passage from her book as Negi looked over the class tiredly. He felt worried about Negi's well being in this case and thought about meeting him outside of class again to cheer him up.
The whiskered teen took a sip from the coke he brought to class to keep his energy up. In the background he heard some of the girls whisper about what was wrong with Negi.
"Um, sensei? I'm done reading my part." Ako said shyly as Negi finally came out of his stupor.
"Oh! Thank you Izumi-San." Negi said before he looked like he was contemplating something serious. "Um, Izumi-San? If a ten-year old asked you to be his partner, would you turn him down?"
"BLARGHFIR!" Naruto spit out most of his drink and choked on the spill back that went back in. Luckily none of the girls were paying attention to his little episode as they were staring at Negi in disbelief.
Most of the more sheepish girls had deep blushes on their faces and even the more outgoing girls were caught off guard by his question. Ako, being part of the former group, was sputtering and finding it difficult to respond.
"O-oh, um, w-well sensei, that's-uh-difficult to talk about! I-I mean I only just became a third-year student and I-" her face turned atomic and she tried to push the attention off of her. "What I mean is that I don't even really have a boyfriend or-or anyone I'm really interested in so thank you for the thought-but-"
"Oh, okay. Um, what about you Miyazaki-San?" Negi asked the meek girl as he wanted to also ask if Naruto-San was okay from his choking scene.
Nodoka's already flushed face almost turned black when her sensei asked her the same embarrassing question, "A-Ah-Ahhh-th-that's-" she tried to calm her nerves while her two best friends silently edged her to answer his question. "Th-th-that would be o-ok-"
"SENSEI! I WOULD FEEL HONORED TO BE YOUR PARTNER!" Ayaka exclaimed as she interrupted Nodoka's brave agreement and got Haruna and Yue to wave their fists at her in anger. "I would be the sail to your ship! I would be the wind beneath your wings! Sensei, I would-"
"What Iincho is trying to say in a far less creepy subtext is that there are a lot of single girls in this class Negi-kun." Kazumi added while Ayaka continued to mutter odd, inappropriate analogies of her desires, "If you asked any one of them, I'm pretty sure they'd take you up on your offer to be your girlfriend."
"Wh-What?! No! I'm not thinking of anything along those lines! I was just asking because-I-um... Oh look at the time! It's the end of the period! I'll see you all tomorrow!" He grabbed his staff and ran off towards the door, getting a blackboard eraser to pop him on the head as he left.
"Oi, Negi! Wait up!" Asuna added as the young Welsh boy ran off. Everyone in class was silent when their sensei left, before they all turned mechanically to the assistant teacher still in the room.
Naruto looked between the students, to the door and then back to them, "Well you heard the man. Class dismissed. Let's go!" Naruto threw his bag over his shoulder and picked Kyūbi off the ground. And ran out the room before he could be caught in the awkward atmosphere.
[[[[[[[[Knight]]]]]]]]
Naruto was walking through the streets of the town after hours and doing a short little report with Gandofini-sensei and his little group. That Goodman girl was still trying to act proud while Mei-chan fumbled with her papers. The perfect foils for a superior and their junior.
Naruto yawned into his hand from the lack of energy after the boring activity. His stomach growled, "I need to fill my stomach with something. Anything."
Kyūbi opened his eyes from atop Naruto's head, "Then find us something to eat brat. I'm hungry too. All those human girls kept trying to get my attention and tried to cuddle me when the Little Red Moron wasn't looking. It was a pain in the ass."
Naruto's eyebrows were twitching in repressed anger at how the damn fox was complaining about having a lazy day. He looked around and noticed that the street was mostly empty so he didn't have to worry about any civilians noticing the talking fox, "Whatever. Get off my head already fur-ball! I don't need your fleas!"
"I don't have fleas. And I'm not coming down. You won't let me change size here in the human world so this is the closest thing I have to being the tallest. Looking down at smaller humans and silently farting on your head..." His eyes sparkled proudly, "I feel at home."
"GET THE FUCK OFF MY HEAD!" Naruto pulled Kyūbi off his head and threw him away, the fox flipping through the air and landing perfectly on his feet. Naruto silently peeved, cursing his damn cat-like reflexes. He wiped off the top of his head just in case, "How did Negi look today?"
"Like a sad sack of crap. And you said the Old Red Moron just left that Evangeline woman here forever?" Naruto sighed and nodded his head, "Wow, even in death he's still an idiot."
"I want you to watch over Negi until all this crap blows over, all right? I need a pair of eyes on him at all times."
"Yeah yeah, stick to him like a tick, I got it."
As they walked down town a little more to find a place to eat, Naruto finally spotting a place where he saw a lot of people flock to. It looked like two street carts with a neon sigh that said 'Chao-Bao-Zi' on top of it. But it had people swarming around it like moths to a flame.
He took a seat at the bar and looked around at the masses of students and teachers eating together and talking. He was so distracted that he didn't notice a girl stand across from him in the car. He turned back forward to a girl with a wide grin and buns in her hair, "Sup Sensei, ne!"
Naruto just blinked blankly, quickly looking over the dark-haired girl with a combination of braids and china buns for her hair. She had a big, honest smile that accentuated the luminescent blush marks on her face. "Oh...hello...um-"
"Chao Lingshen, Seat #19 of Negi-sensei's class-ne. And welcome to my little place of business-ne."
"Oh, thank you for the-wait! Place of business?"
"Yep! I opened this place just a few years ago-ne! Open for business whenever there are hungry mouths to feed-ne!"
Naruto chuckled with an impressed look on his face, "Wow. Do you do all the cooking?"
"Nope, I could never handle this all by myself-ne! But here, I'll let you meet the cook herself-ne! Hey Satsuki, come say hi to our new customer-ne!"
Another girl with a more robust figure walked over to her friend and bowed her head towards their new assistant teacher. "Hello sensei, I'm glad you could come here to get some food. I'm Satsuki Yotsuba, Seat #30, I hope you will watch over us."
"Of course, thank you Yotsuba-San." Naruto replied.
"Oh, sorry sensei." Chao said with a little worry in her voice, "We don't usually allow pets-ne. For health security reason-ne." The bun-haired girl said as she looked over to the fox with the swinging tails.
"Oh no problem. I'll just throw him on the street and he can-"
"I'm kidding-ne! Of course your fox can eat here-ne! Our treat!" She responded with a huge smile and scratched the fox behind his ears, getting an almost instantaneous result of weakening the fox's legs and waving his tails.
"Are you sure? I'll throw him out of here, no argument." Naruto tried to plea as Kyūbi glared at him.
"It's no trouble. I'll go make some meat buns with vegetables in the center and a chunk of meat in the core. I think that should be good enough for-"
"Ah!" The conversation was interrupted when the same blond china girl from class spotted the whiskered blond sitting at the bar. She narrowed her eyes and placed the pile of dirty dishes down on an empty table, "You again-aru! Are you try to hurt Satsuki this time-aru! I will not let you make move-aru!"
"No no no, stop Ku-ne! Naruto-sensei isn't attacking anyone!" Chao desperately waved her hands to stop the Kung-fu practitioner from starting a needless fight with their customer. "He isn't a bad guy!"
Ku Fei stayed frozen in her stance, looking over to her friend. "You sure-aru?"
"Yes, I should have tried to explain this earlier-ne. That really wasn't Naruto-sensei, he isn't going to attack the school and take over the world-ne." Satsuki brought over some buns for their sensei and pet to eat while the negotiations went on, taking an order for miso ramen. "Right sensei-ne?"
Naruto stopped in the middle of chewing his appetizer to look at Chao and Ku Fei looking. "Scouts honor." He replied with two raised fingers.
"Okay, I believe you Chao-aru." Ku dropped her stance and replied energetically while turning to the scarred man himself. "Sorry sensei-aru! I hope there no more problems-aru!" She proclaimed while clasping her hand and fist in a respected Chinese gesture.
Naruto just smiled and nodded his head. "You diffused that bomb rather quickly."
Chao scratched the back of her head, "Well, Ku Fei isn't exactly the sharpest knife in the box, if you know what I mean-ne."
"Nope! I am proud of what I am-aru! Baka-Yellow of Baka Rangers-Aru!" Ku Fei proclaimed proudly as she stood on a stool and yelled out.
Naruto just chewed his food blankly, "Baka Rangers?"
"You wouldn't know about them sensei, but they're very famous." Satsuki said as she brought over a hot bowl of ramen for their hungry customer. "Most of our class does about average as far as grades go, but we have five members in our class that do worse than everybody else in our grade. Kaede Nagase-San is Baka-Blue."
"Me am Baka-Yellow-aru!"
Naruto slurped up some noodles and savored the magnificent taste, "I heard that Makie Sakaki-San was Baka-Pink."
Chao nodded, "Yep. Then there's Ayase Yue as Baka-Black and finally, there's the leader of the group."
The whiskered teen stopped eating his noodles while the fox continued to munch on the meat buns, "Whose the leader?"
Chao grinned, "Baka-Red..."
Naruto wasn't going to lie, he smiled when she finished that sentence. No, grinning is an understatement, he probably looked like that cat from Alice in Wonderland when he thought he was being cheeky. He was so not going to let her live that down.
He was going to like coming to this place. Good food and good gossip, just what any person really needed.
[[[[[[[[Knight]]]]]]]]
"I'm tellin' ya Aniki, let me help ya pick yer perfect partner! This Nodoka Miyazaki girl is a sure thing!" A high-pitched voice came from the little rat thing talking on the small table in the middle of the room. His so called older brother was acting rather embarrassed at the idea while the twin-tailed girl sitting besides him looked at the ermine in passive judgement.
"No matter how you look at this scenario, it sounds like you're trying to sell off Negi for your personal gain."
Chamo jerked back in surprise when the older girl read through his personal motives so easily. "Wh-what are you talkin' 'bout Ane-San-"
"Stop calling me that."
"-I only got Aniki's best interests at heart, Ermine's honor!" He tried to salute with his paws but failed due to his anatomy, "Aniki, ya trust me don't ya?!"
Negi squirmed in place uncomfortably with being asked such an important question so suddenly, "W-well, that's- Ah Chamo-kun, don't put me on the spot like that!" Negi got out of his seat and tried to run away from the embarrassing scene.
But as he reached the door he ran into a taller body that almost knocked him over. He stumbled back with a shaky head and looked up at what stopped him, "What's up Negi? Where you heading off to?"
"N-Naruto-San?! What are you-" Negi then remembered what happened this morning, "Oh! You live win us now, don't you?"
"Yeah, so get used to that buddy."
"Who's this shmuck supposed to-" Asuna grabbed Chamo's entire head to shut him up and not reveal the magic secret to Whiskers
The blond teen noticed the little rodent inside Asuna's grasp and felt compelled to ask, "What's with the rat?"
Asuna tightened her hand to muffle the angry yells from the ermine in her hand, "He's Negi's pet. Apparently he got sent over so Negi could take care of him while he's here."
Naruto took a seat at the table and looked at the little animal, Kyūbi jumping off his perch and walking along the floor. "Is he allowed to keep him as a pet?"
Asuna just looked at him dryly and pointed at the fox, "Are you really one to talk?"
"Touché."
Negi silently sat to the side of Naruto, "Um, Naruot-San, I'm sorry I wasn't paying enough attention yesterday that I didn't even notice you were living with us. I'm sorry."
"That's fine. But what about you, you were pretty out of it for the entire day?" He looked at the shorter red-head and saw that all the conflicting worry on his face had mostly faded away, "You look better now though."
"Yep. Turns out all he needed to do to feel better was take a naked bath with the other girls in the class." Asuna leaned her head on her hand and gave an accusing smile at Negi, "Little Perv."
"Asuna-San~!"
"Hahaha! Way to go Negi! That works as a solution for all guys!"
Negi looked dejected at being called a pervert by the two older teens, "It's not funny. I'm not a peeping tom." He then felt a sturdy pat on his back.
"You okay now?" Naruto asked with a big smile on his face. Negi looked up at the older blond and gave him an equally big smile.
"Yeah!" The two boys bumped their fists like they did yesterday and laughed quietly.
Asuna just looked at the scene, "Wow, now I feel like I'm the third wheel."
"Aw come on Baka-Red, don't be like that. Shouldn't we be happy that Negi's feeling happier now?"
"Sure we should but still-" she jerked and froze in place before she turned her head to Naruto with her neck making loud clicking sounds, "What-what did you just say?"
A coy smile started forming on his whiskered face, "What? The Baka- Red thing? Yeah I heard about it from a little birdy that couldn't wait to tell me." Asuna had a flustered face and look very mad at him for his teasing, "Oh come on Bells it's all right. We all have things we aren't that good at, that's why we try to make up for them with our strengths."
"Who told you?"
"Can't remember. Why don't you call your Aho-zoid and form Bakatron!" Naruto broke down laughing at Asuna's embarrassed expression, even when she reached over and grabbed his collar.
"Don't laugh at that Whiskers! So I have a hard time learning some of the material, so what?! It's not like it matters! Do you know the answers to all the questions you've ever taken?! This stuff is harder than it looks!"
Negi tried to mediate the situation, "I-it's okay Asuna-San, I know how hard you try. Some people just have a hard time remembering math and English and Japanese and history and-"
"YOU AREN'T HELPING! BAKA-NEGI!" Asuna grabbed Negi's collar as well and started shaking both of them in anger. Negi screaming with little tears and Naruto laughing.
"I'm back~! The supervisor says its okay to keep your ermine here for-" Konoka saw what her best friend was doing to their roommates and panicked, "Asuna! Stop! You're going to choke them!"
As this was going on, Chamo decided to assert his position of alpha animal and walked over to the lazy fox. With all the noise in the background he was certain he wasn't going to be heard, "Hey, fuzz-ball."
The fox raised his head and looked at the ermine, "S'up! I'm Albert Chamomile! Ermine Fairy extraordinaire and Negi Springfield's personal manager! You came in with the blond guy, right? Well I just wanted ya to know that I'm boss rat round these parts! If ya want to get into my and Aniki's good graces, do yer best to please us, got it?"
The fox slowly blinked his eyes and got up out of his spot. He sluggishly walked past the proud ermine's stance and whispered...
"If you ever try to boss me around like an underling again, I'll skin you like banana and eat the gooey insides."
Chamo's face turned even whiter after hearing the gravelly voice threaten him so intensely. Even as the fox retreated away, the ermine did his best not to wet himself.
And failed.
[[[[[[[[Knight]]]]]]]]
Done
I really, really wanted to get two chapters of this out in succession but I was to busy trying to write for all the other stories to update for today. And I had a little more on here I put in before I was going to update but it really didn't fit in and would have just thrown off the reading. So if this chapter seemed really filler, I'm sorry about that and I'll try to finish up the Eva arc by next chapter.
And if you guys argue about why Naruto wouldn't know about Evangeline being in Mahora, Nagi was the one who put her there. And he completely forgot about her too. So if its something he didn't remember during that whole five years before he was missing, of course Naruto wouldn't know about it either.
ReadxReview
Thank You and Bye