Mahou Sensei Negima! Fan Fiction ❯ The Dreamer ❯ Cloudy Weather, Cloudy Hearts ( Chapter 12 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Serac 
Things are starting to get heavy as the story begins the course to its conclusion.....
Anime/Manga: Mahou Sensei Negima! Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Suspense / Romance / Comedy / Action | Type: Divergence | Uploaded On: 09.11.2006 | Pages: 3 | Words: 4.2K | Visits: 264 | Status: Work In Progress
Things are starting to get heavy as the story begins the course to its conclusion.....
Anime/Manga: Mahou Sensei Negima! Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Suspense / Romance / Comedy / Action | Type: Divergence | Uploaded On: 09.11.2006 | Pages: 3 | Words: 4.2K | Visits: 264 | Status: Work In Progress
-----Author’s note: I do not own Negima!, but any other characters and ideas are my own. Tokunaga, I feel your pain. Only at a collegiate level. Stupid school.....Anyway, enjoy, my three or so readers!-----
Asakura took a picture of the rep as she sat down, her legs gone weak after hearing what her teacher had just said. Of course, locking lips with the love of her life for the first, and hopefully not the last, time hadn’t done much for her ability to stand, either. But.....had that light really been more than her soaring imagination? She’d been ecstatic at the simple thought of a dream kiss, but she’d just had a real one, with real magic. Negi had just told her that he was a.....a mage?
Negi sat beside her on the stuffed-to-bursting box, putting a hand on her shoulder as he tried to make eye contact, “Ayaka-san, I’m sorry I’ve gotten you dragged into this.....especially in such a personal way. I never meant to.....to use you, like that. If you’re upset with me, or even angry about what happened, you can tell me.”
Ayaka returned the boy’s sincere gaze with one of pure adoration. The look in her eyes told Negi she wasn’t mad, just a little confused. “Have you been.....magical, ever since you got here, Negi-sensei?”
“Ha, ha, yeah. In Kyoto, the doubles in that kiss game you guys held were actually Setsuna-san’s handiwork.”
“Wh-What? Setsuna? She’s magical, too?”
“Yeah. Actually, quite a few people are in on it. Asuna-san, Nodoka-san, Setsuna-san, Konoka-san, Yue-s.....Are you ok?” Negi broke off, feeling the blonde trembling beneath his touch.
“You mean all of those people knew, but I didn’t?” Ayaka yelled, jumping to her feet. She turned her eyes to Asakura, who took another picture. These would be great to look back on for a smile. “Did you know about this, too?”
“Hell yes, I did. Why do you think I arranged the kiss game, anyway? Well, besides the killing that was to be made in the betting.....” Asakura put her camera away, lowering herself to sit on one of the many boxes, herself. She suddenly wasn’t feeling so good.
“Wait! That means.....Nodoka-san won that game, didn’t she? Does that mean that she.....”
“It does. Like you, she’s one of my partners,” Negi admitted with a little blush.
“One of....? Are there.....more?” She asked, hoping not.
“Actually, Setsuna-san and Konoka-san are both my partners, too. Then, of course, there’s Asuna-san. She was my first.....Ayaka-san, are you ok?” He trailed off, the magical energy fuming from the girl caused him to jerk his hand back. Her hair was starting to lift up into the air, suspended by the dark energy pouring from the rep like a rain-heavy cloud.
“Asuna was your first.....Asuna was.....not me.....that brute of a human.....the red baka ranger.....not me!” Ayaka jumped to her feet, making a dash for the stairs. She had disappeared to the floor below before Negi could stop her.
“Asakura-san, come on, we need to make sure she doesn’t say anything she shouldn’t in front of the others!” Negi made to follow after the rep, but Asakura didn’t move. “What’s wrong? Are you feeling alright?”
“A-Actually.....I think.....I’m g-getting sick.....” Asakura mumbled, falling off of the box with a thud.
“Asakura-san!” Negi shouted, pulling the girl up to a sitting position in his arms. The coin Chamo had used to seal the girl away in began to jump around on the floor, a black aura emanating from it, along with a faint groan.
“Oh no.....an incomplete seal? But with mine and Connor’s magic together, Chamo should have been able to do a perfect seal!”
Asakura groaned softly, moving closer to Negi for his warmth. The boy could feel her temperature plummeting, her skin paling several shades.
“Asakura-san, hold on, I’ll get us help,” He stated, pulling the paparazzi girl up to carry her piggyback, “I’m not sure why things are going wrong, yet.....” He scooped the fidgety coin up and slid it into his pocket, “But I’ll definitely find out!”
-
“Sunshine! Hey!” Connor yelled out into the storm which surrounded him, though his voice fell to nothing under the beat of the rain. “I’m never gonna find her like this.....”
“Think, Emo, think! Where would she go? Remember, Yuetchi is with her, too! Where would she want to go?” Chamo had to scream to be heard above the blankets of water which were falling over the two.
“She’d want to go to the library, right? But Sunshine wouldn’t want to go there, at all.....right?”
“Who knows? She might want to be alone, and who’s gonna be at the library at this time of the night, in this weather? She definitely won’t go back to the dorm, because that’s where you have to go, too!”
“What about that dojo she goes to? Why not check there?”
“The library is closer, and Yuetchi would take her there! Just get moving!” Chamo snapped, biting Connor’s shoulder.
The teacher stuffed the ermine down into his pocket, rushing off for the distant library island. “Why are you so worried about idiot black? She’s with Sunshine, after all.”
“I’m not just worried about her, Emo. One mage teacher’s already been killed, Takamichi and Evangeline have both been incapacitated.....I just don’t want anyone close to aniki to be next.”
“What if they’ve split up? I won’t be able to save both of them if there are two separate attacks.”
“You really are some kind of stupid, kid. They aren’t gonna split up. Geez, how you pass for a teacher astounds me.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You just don’t understand the ladies.....”
-
Yue pushed the doors to the mammoth library closed, using a stool to reach up and fasten the massive deadbolt, quickly following it up by lighting several candles which she had stored in her desk. Ku Fei was sitting with her back to the desk Yue usually took care of her filing at. Both girls were drenched but neither cared much, at the moment.
Baka black dropped to a sitting position beside baka yellow, neither girls bothering to look at the other. They were both out of breath, it had been nearly a ten minute run through the rain, after all. Yue could hardly believe she had managed to keep up with her Chinese friend, but was somewhat confused as to why she had followed her at all. Sure, she was understandably upset, but running out into the storm to get away from Negi when.....from Connor, to get away from Connor, that’s why they ran. She followed Ku Fei because she shouldn’t be alone after seeing something that upset her so much. That’s why she had managed to keep up with the blonde, that’s why she had even pulled ahead of her to lead her to library island, where they would both feel better. Well, at least Yue knew that she felt better, here.
Ku Fei was, at the same moment, trying to understand why she had run, herself. She’d seen the glow of magic, so she knew it wasn’t just a normal kiss. It must have been one of those.....but.....why would he pick Asakura over her? If he wanted a partner, he could have just said so. She would have jumped at the opportunity to have been more than a student, or even a friend. Why couldn’t he see that?
“Th-There were undoubtedly circumstances which we didn’t know about. What we saw was simply the product of the situation we allowed ourselves to fall into,” Yue broke the quiet, though just barely.
“.....What you mean?”
“Chamo-san said something about sealing her in a coin.....and seeing the actual partnering happen was a lot more colorful than anyone’s described it. If.....maybe they used the pactio to let loose magic into the air, which Chamo used to seal the girl away. Connor-sensei’s hurt, so he couldn’t use magic, and Negi-sensei’s magic might not have been enough raw energy, on the spot. You saw him fall down right after, right? My bet is that they only did the pactios because they needed the magic right then. That’s a good explanation.....”
Ku Fei didn’t really get most of what Yue had just pointed out, but she understood that she was trying to make her feel better. Not that it worked particularly well. Her friend could say anything she wanted, but it couldn’t take back what she saw. Even if it was done out of need for magic, they both looked like they liked it too much for it to be something as simple as that. Connor chose her for his partner, when he could have just as easily picked Ayaka. If she had gone with Connor and Asakura instead, who would he have picked, then?
“They.....get pretty into it,” Ku Fei whispered half-heartedly. Talking any louder than that just yet would hurt her throat, which was pretty sore.
Now Yue had to really question herself. Did she honestly chase down Ku Fei to help the girl, or was she just running with her to get away from the scene she had witnessed? She had admitted to herself that Negi was only ten just an hour before seeing him kiss the rep. He definitely didn’t look like he was ten, then. There was no way anyone could kiss like that without there being some kind of emotions behind the act, right? She already knew that Ayaka would kill for the teacher, and now with an artifact and magical enhancements, she was probably well capable of doing so. Whether Negi had real feelings for the rep or not could change very soon, for the better or for the worse.....
“I know.....they did.....”
“Why you chase me? I be alright alone.”
“I’m not sure. No, you’re my friend, that’s why I chased you. I wouldn’t be much of a person if I left you to sort through your feelings alone, would I?”
“It probably better I do it alone.....”
“.....Maybe. But if you do want to talk, you can come to me.”
Silence won over for the next couple of minutes as the two sat there, both wondering what they should do next. Heading back out into the storm would be stupid. Yue knew where a few beds could be found, so they could stay here for the night. Ku Fei knew she couldn’t go back to her dorm room, because if the storm let up she would have to meet Connor, which she wasn’t sure she was quite ready for, yet.
“I.....”
Yue looked over at her friend.
“You think.....I good enough for him?”
Yue’s mouth opened a little, her eyes narrowing in thought, “Why would you ask me that? Why would you even have to ask?”
“Because he.....I try tell him what I feel.....but he ignore it. Why?” Ku Fei looked like she was really hurting over this, and that made Yue upset.
“Because he’s.....a teacher. That’s why. He acts like he doesn’t get what you want to say to him because it’s inconvenient. But love isn’t something that can be controlled. No one can help but feel what they do, and if you love him, then you love him. He ignores your feelings because.....because he’s an idiot.” Yue knew that everything she just said applied to her situation with Negi, the good and the bad. She couldn’t help what she felt for him, and she was a fool for thinking she could best her own emotions. What goes on in the minds of people is truly a complex problem.
“.....You right. But if no one can help it, what if Connor.....like Asakura? That mean I have no chance?” Ku Fei asked, her voice growing a little louder. Having Yue rationalize everything somehow made that everything all the easier to bear.
“No, that’s not how it works. Even if he does have those kinds of feelings for Asakura, which we can’t know for sure, there’s no way to tell how serious he is about it. Does he understand anything about love? Inside, does he want to, right now? We just can’t tell. But if you let him know how you feel, and are there for him when he needs you, even for the small things, you’d be surprised at how he may begin to see you.” Yue knew that if she replaced the instances of Connor with Negi, and the instances of Asakura with Nodoka, she’d be giving herself a pep talk.
“If I his partner, I be there for everything. I show him I better than Asakura, and then he pick me!”
“No, it doesn’t work like that, either,” Yue mumbled, shaking her head a little, “You can’t make it about being ‘better’ than Asakura. You won’t be able to stay friends with her, if you do. No one will be happy at the end of things if they get there through bad times and broken ties.”
“But you have work hard to get anything worth getting. Sometimes.....lose something, but get something better.”
“.....Maybe.....But I don’t want to lose.....”
“Lose what? I thought we talking about me!”
“I-I mean.....sorry, I’m just tired.....” Yue stated, flashing Ku Fei one of her small, rarely seen smiles.
“You mean Negi-bozu? That why you run with me?”
“N-No! Of.....of course not! Nodoka already.....”
“Bookstore girl! That right, she your friend! So you like Negi-bozu, too? Suck to be you, Yue-dono,” Ku Fei admitted with a light smile. So maybe Yue really could sympathize with what she was feeling. She had the same problem, only to greater extremes.
With a sigh, Yue let her chin sink to meet her knees, her arms wrapped around her legs. So even Ku Fei could tell.....granted she had picked up on it because of the slip of her tongue, but still. “Is it selfish of me.....to want to stay Nodoka’s friend, and pursue Negi-sensei as more than a friend?”
“I say that sometimes have to lose something, but get something better. Not always. Who know? Maybe bookstore girl not like Negi-bozu one day.”
Yue didn’t see that as likely, but Ku Fei was trying to make her feel better so she simply nodded.
“You ever want talk, you come see me, too. I help,” Ku Fei slapped Yue on the back with a big smile, her own troubles apparently an issue of the past.
“That’s my girl! Way to come through for a friend,” Connor clapped slowly as he showed himself, completely soaked by the rain.
Ku Fei’s smile disappeared faster than a cake at a kid’s birthday party.
Yue cast a glance over at the door. Still shut, and the candlelight was enough that she could see it was still locked. Connor was too reluctant to use magic while his wound had yet to completely heal, so he hadn’t gotten in like that. What a sneaky person.
“C-Connor-sensei.....” Ku Fei stuttered, standing up, her eyes moving like she was looking for a place she could escape to, “How you find us?”
“Followed my heart, love,” Connor replied casually, letting the sensei bit slide, “There’s something I need to talk to you about.”
“I see enough.....to know what you going to say.”
“D-Did you, now? Well.....whatever it was you saw, exactly, that’s not what I’d like to talk to you about.” Connor, in a single, smooth motion, swept across the distance between them, and had Ku Fei in his arms. Yue felt her face light up. No doubt Ku Fei’s was scarlet. It looked like he was going to ravage her, right then and there.
“Ku-chan, I.....love you,” He whispered, leaning in to the paralyzed Chinese girl.
-
‘The only explanation is that the magic wasn’t pure.....but that means that Connor’s a.....a dark mage? Evangeline uses black magic, I know, but I didn’t realize that Connor did, too. That means he has access to spells and powers that honest mages wouldn’t touch. But would he tap into those kinds of powers? They come at a price, most of the time, and that price can be pretty steep. What must he have given up to be able to use the dark arts?’
Negi’s mind wandered as he carried Asakura through the dark halls in search of the others. He wished Ayaka hadn’t left him to find his own way back. The coin bouncing around like mad inside his pocket told him that the sealing technique hadn’t completely failed, but as it continued to groan and call for release, he began to wonder just how complete it was.
‘When we released our energies during the pactio, Connor must have let out his dark magic, as well. Since Asakura-san was so close to him, and actually had a part in the pactio, the dark energy had to channel itself through her, as well. But she’s a good person, so the magic is having an adverse affect on her, making her sick. Her soul.....rejects it, in a sense. But Connor.....he’s a good person, too, so why doesn’t the magic hurt him? The only way that he could get by alright would be if he.....did something terrible, to be able to hold it. I’ll have to ask him about it, myself.’
“Negi-bozu,” Kaede’s voice startled the boy so bad he nearly toppled over.
“Kaede-san! Whoa, I forgot all about you! You just sort of.....vanished.”
“I had to make sure the others were alright after we sealed the girl. Is Asakura alright?”
“Oh! No, she isn’t! The pactio with Connor is making her sick, because Connor uses black magic, and Asakura-san’s body is rejecting it! We need to get her some serious help, soon, or.....”
“Or what?”
-
“There, I see it!” Connor shouted, pointing to the huge doors to the library as he rushed through the night storm.
“Do you feel that, Emo? There’s something bad in there.....”
“Then I’d better be serious about this,” Connor groaned, pulling the magic from his wound. The sudden fresh pangs of pain nearly tripped him up, but he kept his balance, refusing to slow down. He wasn’t about to let anything happen to those two because of his weakness. “Forget that!” He shouted, swinging his boot into the door.
Connor and Ku Fei dropped to the ground as the door to the library busted off of its hinges, flying at them with alarming speed. Yue stared at her teacher as he stepped in from the rain, Chamo on his shoulder. She then looked to the spot where Ku Fei and Connor were supposed to be, surprised to find two Ku Feis, who both seemed genuinely stunned to see the other.
They both hopped up, pointing at each other, “Why there another me?” They both exclaimed, quickly looking over at Connor for an answer.
“Great. I can’t tell them apart,” Connor admitted, looking from one Sunshine to the next.
He looked up as he heard shuffling noises, not surprised to find the men in masks falling from the ceiling. The Ku Feis, Yue, and Connor all found themselves surrounded within the span of a second.
“C-Connor-sensei, what’s going on?” Yue asked, scanning the situation but coming up with nothing.
“Don’t call me sensei, sweety,” Connor said, sliding his pen out of his coat.
-----Author’s other, other note: I hope that wasn’t too confusing for anyone, though I’m pretty sure it wasn’t. I’m trying to keep things relatively simple so I can keep up with them, as well. Two quick comments: 1. I didn’t have Negi use Ayaka’s (or another partner of his) card to teleport them to him because it didn’t fit in with what I was doing at the time, and 2. I know the black magic + pactio with good person = oh, crap!, isn’t real in the Negima! World, but I’ve used it, now, so no regrets.
Here’s an alternate way I planned on ending the chapter. One that revolved around Connor’s making up with Ku Fei, and would have been a much simpler way to go:
Connor: (Insert cool guy line, but hold back any serious meaning to them, because he can’t make up his mind on who he likes) (insert interchangeable name such as Sunshine, sweety, love, or something like that)
Ku Fei: (Insert something cute, probably with some stammering)
Connor: (Insert forced laugh, followed by the placing of his hands on her shoulders)
Ku Fei: (Insert blush)
Yue: (Act like things are cute and leave to give them a little privacy, while she’s really going to vomit)
Connor: (Whisper something as he leans in)
Ku Fei: (Whisper something back)
Connor and Ku Fei: (Insert long, romantic kiss described in sensuous detail that I haven’t taken the time to think up, yet)
Connor: (Says something about how he kissed Asakura because he had to, but he kissed Ku Fei because he wanted to)
It would have been something like that, but I can hardly ever pick the happy route (For the emotional people out there, you may as well stop reading because I’m not planning a happy ending. That, for the first time, is not a joke. If some people out there would like, though, I could maybe write two endings, one happy, one not. I’m considering the idea). That’s why I made Asakura sick, and why I made Connor have dark magic which keeps him from forming a pactio with a ‘good’ person. So after Asakura dies, he can take a one way trip down guilt lane which leads him to commit several horrible deeds which I will not disclose to the readers. After Ku Fei dies in an attempt to stop him, Negi and Connor face off in an apocalyptic battle, resulting in Connor’s death, and Negi on the verge of dying. Negi gives the Cassiopeia (which he will get from Chao) to Kotaro, sending him back in time to before Asakura’s death so that he can prevent the pactio from ever happening. Yay! Now no one needs to worry about the possibility of really slow updates, because I just gave you the next few chapters! DON’T WORRY, THAT WAS JUST A JOKE. I just thought of all of that in like, thirty seconds. Sounds like it would be fun, but it wouldn’t really handle any of the issues concerning the actual plot.
Well, let me know what you’d like to happen next, if you want a happy/sad/both endings, which character I should have die first (yeah, people are gonna be dead by the time I wrap this up. I haven’t gotten any flames yet, but I can guarantee I’ll have pissed some people off pretty royally by the time I write the last chapter.), or anything else. Reader participation rocks. Thanks for reading.....-----
Asakura took a picture of the rep as she sat down, her legs gone weak after hearing what her teacher had just said. Of course, locking lips with the love of her life for the first, and hopefully not the last, time hadn’t done much for her ability to stand, either. But.....had that light really been more than her soaring imagination? She’d been ecstatic at the simple thought of a dream kiss, but she’d just had a real one, with real magic. Negi had just told her that he was a.....a mage?
Negi sat beside her on the stuffed-to-bursting box, putting a hand on her shoulder as he tried to make eye contact, “Ayaka-san, I’m sorry I’ve gotten you dragged into this.....especially in such a personal way. I never meant to.....to use you, like that. If you’re upset with me, or even angry about what happened, you can tell me.”
Ayaka returned the boy’s sincere gaze with one of pure adoration. The look in her eyes told Negi she wasn’t mad, just a little confused. “Have you been.....magical, ever since you got here, Negi-sensei?”
“Ha, ha, yeah. In Kyoto, the doubles in that kiss game you guys held were actually Setsuna-san’s handiwork.”
“Wh-What? Setsuna? She’s magical, too?”
“Yeah. Actually, quite a few people are in on it. Asuna-san, Nodoka-san, Setsuna-san, Konoka-san, Yue-s.....Are you ok?” Negi broke off, feeling the blonde trembling beneath his touch.
“You mean all of those people knew, but I didn’t?” Ayaka yelled, jumping to her feet. She turned her eyes to Asakura, who took another picture. These would be great to look back on for a smile. “Did you know about this, too?”
“Hell yes, I did. Why do you think I arranged the kiss game, anyway? Well, besides the killing that was to be made in the betting.....” Asakura put her camera away, lowering herself to sit on one of the many boxes, herself. She suddenly wasn’t feeling so good.
“Wait! That means.....Nodoka-san won that game, didn’t she? Does that mean that she.....”
“It does. Like you, she’s one of my partners,” Negi admitted with a little blush.
“One of....? Are there.....more?” She asked, hoping not.
“Actually, Setsuna-san and Konoka-san are both my partners, too. Then, of course, there’s Asuna-san. She was my first.....Ayaka-san, are you ok?” He trailed off, the magical energy fuming from the girl caused him to jerk his hand back. Her hair was starting to lift up into the air, suspended by the dark energy pouring from the rep like a rain-heavy cloud.
“Asuna was your first.....Asuna was.....not me.....that brute of a human.....the red baka ranger.....not me!” Ayaka jumped to her feet, making a dash for the stairs. She had disappeared to the floor below before Negi could stop her.
“Asakura-san, come on, we need to make sure she doesn’t say anything she shouldn’t in front of the others!” Negi made to follow after the rep, but Asakura didn’t move. “What’s wrong? Are you feeling alright?”
“A-Actually.....I think.....I’m g-getting sick.....” Asakura mumbled, falling off of the box with a thud.
“Asakura-san!” Negi shouted, pulling the girl up to a sitting position in his arms. The coin Chamo had used to seal the girl away in began to jump around on the floor, a black aura emanating from it, along with a faint groan.
“Oh no.....an incomplete seal? But with mine and Connor’s magic together, Chamo should have been able to do a perfect seal!”
Asakura groaned softly, moving closer to Negi for his warmth. The boy could feel her temperature plummeting, her skin paling several shades.
“Asakura-san, hold on, I’ll get us help,” He stated, pulling the paparazzi girl up to carry her piggyback, “I’m not sure why things are going wrong, yet.....” He scooped the fidgety coin up and slid it into his pocket, “But I’ll definitely find out!”
-
“Sunshine! Hey!” Connor yelled out into the storm which surrounded him, though his voice fell to nothing under the beat of the rain. “I’m never gonna find her like this.....”
“Think, Emo, think! Where would she go? Remember, Yuetchi is with her, too! Where would she want to go?” Chamo had to scream to be heard above the blankets of water which were falling over the two.
“She’d want to go to the library, right? But Sunshine wouldn’t want to go there, at all.....right?”
“Who knows? She might want to be alone, and who’s gonna be at the library at this time of the night, in this weather? She definitely won’t go back to the dorm, because that’s where you have to go, too!”
“What about that dojo she goes to? Why not check there?”
“The library is closer, and Yuetchi would take her there! Just get moving!” Chamo snapped, biting Connor’s shoulder.
The teacher stuffed the ermine down into his pocket, rushing off for the distant library island. “Why are you so worried about idiot black? She’s with Sunshine, after all.”
“I’m not just worried about her, Emo. One mage teacher’s already been killed, Takamichi and Evangeline have both been incapacitated.....I just don’t want anyone close to aniki to be next.”
“What if they’ve split up? I won’t be able to save both of them if there are two separate attacks.”
“You really are some kind of stupid, kid. They aren’t gonna split up. Geez, how you pass for a teacher astounds me.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You just don’t understand the ladies.....”
-
Yue pushed the doors to the mammoth library closed, using a stool to reach up and fasten the massive deadbolt, quickly following it up by lighting several candles which she had stored in her desk. Ku Fei was sitting with her back to the desk Yue usually took care of her filing at. Both girls were drenched but neither cared much, at the moment.
Baka black dropped to a sitting position beside baka yellow, neither girls bothering to look at the other. They were both out of breath, it had been nearly a ten minute run through the rain, after all. Yue could hardly believe she had managed to keep up with her Chinese friend, but was somewhat confused as to why she had followed her at all. Sure, she was understandably upset, but running out into the storm to get away from Negi when.....from Connor, to get away from Connor, that’s why they ran. She followed Ku Fei because she shouldn’t be alone after seeing something that upset her so much. That’s why she had managed to keep up with the blonde, that’s why she had even pulled ahead of her to lead her to library island, where they would both feel better. Well, at least Yue knew that she felt better, here.
Ku Fei was, at the same moment, trying to understand why she had run, herself. She’d seen the glow of magic, so she knew it wasn’t just a normal kiss. It must have been one of those.....but.....why would he pick Asakura over her? If he wanted a partner, he could have just said so. She would have jumped at the opportunity to have been more than a student, or even a friend. Why couldn’t he see that?
“Th-There were undoubtedly circumstances which we didn’t know about. What we saw was simply the product of the situation we allowed ourselves to fall into,” Yue broke the quiet, though just barely.
“.....What you mean?”
“Chamo-san said something about sealing her in a coin.....and seeing the actual partnering happen was a lot more colorful than anyone’s described it. If.....maybe they used the pactio to let loose magic into the air, which Chamo used to seal the girl away. Connor-sensei’s hurt, so he couldn’t use magic, and Negi-sensei’s magic might not have been enough raw energy, on the spot. You saw him fall down right after, right? My bet is that they only did the pactios because they needed the magic right then. That’s a good explanation.....”
Ku Fei didn’t really get most of what Yue had just pointed out, but she understood that she was trying to make her feel better. Not that it worked particularly well. Her friend could say anything she wanted, but it couldn’t take back what she saw. Even if it was done out of need for magic, they both looked like they liked it too much for it to be something as simple as that. Connor chose her for his partner, when he could have just as easily picked Ayaka. If she had gone with Connor and Asakura instead, who would he have picked, then?
“They.....get pretty into it,” Ku Fei whispered half-heartedly. Talking any louder than that just yet would hurt her throat, which was pretty sore.
Now Yue had to really question herself. Did she honestly chase down Ku Fei to help the girl, or was she just running with her to get away from the scene she had witnessed? She had admitted to herself that Negi was only ten just an hour before seeing him kiss the rep. He definitely didn’t look like he was ten, then. There was no way anyone could kiss like that without there being some kind of emotions behind the act, right? She already knew that Ayaka would kill for the teacher, and now with an artifact and magical enhancements, she was probably well capable of doing so. Whether Negi had real feelings for the rep or not could change very soon, for the better or for the worse.....
“I know.....they did.....”
“Why you chase me? I be alright alone.”
“I’m not sure. No, you’re my friend, that’s why I chased you. I wouldn’t be much of a person if I left you to sort through your feelings alone, would I?”
“It probably better I do it alone.....”
“.....Maybe. But if you do want to talk, you can come to me.”
Silence won over for the next couple of minutes as the two sat there, both wondering what they should do next. Heading back out into the storm would be stupid. Yue knew where a few beds could be found, so they could stay here for the night. Ku Fei knew she couldn’t go back to her dorm room, because if the storm let up she would have to meet Connor, which she wasn’t sure she was quite ready for, yet.
“I.....”
Yue looked over at her friend.
“You think.....I good enough for him?”
Yue’s mouth opened a little, her eyes narrowing in thought, “Why would you ask me that? Why would you even have to ask?”
“Because he.....I try tell him what I feel.....but he ignore it. Why?” Ku Fei looked like she was really hurting over this, and that made Yue upset.
“Because he’s.....a teacher. That’s why. He acts like he doesn’t get what you want to say to him because it’s inconvenient. But love isn’t something that can be controlled. No one can help but feel what they do, and if you love him, then you love him. He ignores your feelings because.....because he’s an idiot.” Yue knew that everything she just said applied to her situation with Negi, the good and the bad. She couldn’t help what she felt for him, and she was a fool for thinking she could best her own emotions. What goes on in the minds of people is truly a complex problem.
“.....You right. But if no one can help it, what if Connor.....like Asakura? That mean I have no chance?” Ku Fei asked, her voice growing a little louder. Having Yue rationalize everything somehow made that everything all the easier to bear.
“No, that’s not how it works. Even if he does have those kinds of feelings for Asakura, which we can’t know for sure, there’s no way to tell how serious he is about it. Does he understand anything about love? Inside, does he want to, right now? We just can’t tell. But if you let him know how you feel, and are there for him when he needs you, even for the small things, you’d be surprised at how he may begin to see you.” Yue knew that if she replaced the instances of Connor with Negi, and the instances of Asakura with Nodoka, she’d be giving herself a pep talk.
“If I his partner, I be there for everything. I show him I better than Asakura, and then he pick me!”
“No, it doesn’t work like that, either,” Yue mumbled, shaking her head a little, “You can’t make it about being ‘better’ than Asakura. You won’t be able to stay friends with her, if you do. No one will be happy at the end of things if they get there through bad times and broken ties.”
“But you have work hard to get anything worth getting. Sometimes.....lose something, but get something better.”
“.....Maybe.....But I don’t want to lose.....”
“Lose what? I thought we talking about me!”
“I-I mean.....sorry, I’m just tired.....” Yue stated, flashing Ku Fei one of her small, rarely seen smiles.
“You mean Negi-bozu? That why you run with me?”
“N-No! Of.....of course not! Nodoka already.....”
“Bookstore girl! That right, she your friend! So you like Negi-bozu, too? Suck to be you, Yue-dono,” Ku Fei admitted with a light smile. So maybe Yue really could sympathize with what she was feeling. She had the same problem, only to greater extremes.
With a sigh, Yue let her chin sink to meet her knees, her arms wrapped around her legs. So even Ku Fei could tell.....granted she had picked up on it because of the slip of her tongue, but still. “Is it selfish of me.....to want to stay Nodoka’s friend, and pursue Negi-sensei as more than a friend?”
“I say that sometimes have to lose something, but get something better. Not always. Who know? Maybe bookstore girl not like Negi-bozu one day.”
Yue didn’t see that as likely, but Ku Fei was trying to make her feel better so she simply nodded.
“You ever want talk, you come see me, too. I help,” Ku Fei slapped Yue on the back with a big smile, her own troubles apparently an issue of the past.
“That’s my girl! Way to come through for a friend,” Connor clapped slowly as he showed himself, completely soaked by the rain.
Ku Fei’s smile disappeared faster than a cake at a kid’s birthday party.
Yue cast a glance over at the door. Still shut, and the candlelight was enough that she could see it was still locked. Connor was too reluctant to use magic while his wound had yet to completely heal, so he hadn’t gotten in like that. What a sneaky person.
“C-Connor-sensei.....” Ku Fei stuttered, standing up, her eyes moving like she was looking for a place she could escape to, “How you find us?”
“Followed my heart, love,” Connor replied casually, letting the sensei bit slide, “There’s something I need to talk to you about.”
“I see enough.....to know what you going to say.”
“D-Did you, now? Well.....whatever it was you saw, exactly, that’s not what I’d like to talk to you about.” Connor, in a single, smooth motion, swept across the distance between them, and had Ku Fei in his arms. Yue felt her face light up. No doubt Ku Fei’s was scarlet. It looked like he was going to ravage her, right then and there.
“Ku-chan, I.....love you,” He whispered, leaning in to the paralyzed Chinese girl.
-
‘The only explanation is that the magic wasn’t pure.....but that means that Connor’s a.....a dark mage? Evangeline uses black magic, I know, but I didn’t realize that Connor did, too. That means he has access to spells and powers that honest mages wouldn’t touch. But would he tap into those kinds of powers? They come at a price, most of the time, and that price can be pretty steep. What must he have given up to be able to use the dark arts?’
Negi’s mind wandered as he carried Asakura through the dark halls in search of the others. He wished Ayaka hadn’t left him to find his own way back. The coin bouncing around like mad inside his pocket told him that the sealing technique hadn’t completely failed, but as it continued to groan and call for release, he began to wonder just how complete it was.
‘When we released our energies during the pactio, Connor must have let out his dark magic, as well. Since Asakura-san was so close to him, and actually had a part in the pactio, the dark energy had to channel itself through her, as well. But she’s a good person, so the magic is having an adverse affect on her, making her sick. Her soul.....rejects it, in a sense. But Connor.....he’s a good person, too, so why doesn’t the magic hurt him? The only way that he could get by alright would be if he.....did something terrible, to be able to hold it. I’ll have to ask him about it, myself.’
“Negi-bozu,” Kaede’s voice startled the boy so bad he nearly toppled over.
“Kaede-san! Whoa, I forgot all about you! You just sort of.....vanished.”
“I had to make sure the others were alright after we sealed the girl. Is Asakura alright?”
“Oh! No, she isn’t! The pactio with Connor is making her sick, because Connor uses black magic, and Asakura-san’s body is rejecting it! We need to get her some serious help, soon, or.....”
“Or what?”
-
“There, I see it!” Connor shouted, pointing to the huge doors to the library as he rushed through the night storm.
“Do you feel that, Emo? There’s something bad in there.....”
“Then I’d better be serious about this,” Connor groaned, pulling the magic from his wound. The sudden fresh pangs of pain nearly tripped him up, but he kept his balance, refusing to slow down. He wasn’t about to let anything happen to those two because of his weakness. “Forget that!” He shouted, swinging his boot into the door.
Connor and Ku Fei dropped to the ground as the door to the library busted off of its hinges, flying at them with alarming speed. Yue stared at her teacher as he stepped in from the rain, Chamo on his shoulder. She then looked to the spot where Ku Fei and Connor were supposed to be, surprised to find two Ku Feis, who both seemed genuinely stunned to see the other.
They both hopped up, pointing at each other, “Why there another me?” They both exclaimed, quickly looking over at Connor for an answer.
“Great. I can’t tell them apart,” Connor admitted, looking from one Sunshine to the next.
He looked up as he heard shuffling noises, not surprised to find the men in masks falling from the ceiling. The Ku Feis, Yue, and Connor all found themselves surrounded within the span of a second.
“C-Connor-sensei, what’s going on?” Yue asked, scanning the situation but coming up with nothing.
“Don’t call me sensei, sweety,” Connor said, sliding his pen out of his coat.
-----Author’s other, other note: I hope that wasn’t too confusing for anyone, though I’m pretty sure it wasn’t. I’m trying to keep things relatively simple so I can keep up with them, as well. Two quick comments: 1. I didn’t have Negi use Ayaka’s (or another partner of his) card to teleport them to him because it didn’t fit in with what I was doing at the time, and 2. I know the black magic + pactio with good person = oh, crap!, isn’t real in the Negima! World, but I’ve used it, now, so no regrets.
Here’s an alternate way I planned on ending the chapter. One that revolved around Connor’s making up with Ku Fei, and would have been a much simpler way to go:
Connor: (Insert cool guy line, but hold back any serious meaning to them, because he can’t make up his mind on who he likes) (insert interchangeable name such as Sunshine, sweety, love, or something like that)
Ku Fei: (Insert something cute, probably with some stammering)
Connor: (Insert forced laugh, followed by the placing of his hands on her shoulders)
Ku Fei: (Insert blush)
Yue: (Act like things are cute and leave to give them a little privacy, while she’s really going to vomit)
Connor: (Whisper something as he leans in)
Ku Fei: (Whisper something back)
Connor and Ku Fei: (Insert long, romantic kiss described in sensuous detail that I haven’t taken the time to think up, yet)
Connor: (Says something about how he kissed Asakura because he had to, but he kissed Ku Fei because he wanted to)
It would have been something like that, but I can hardly ever pick the happy route (For the emotional people out there, you may as well stop reading because I’m not planning a happy ending. That, for the first time, is not a joke. If some people out there would like, though, I could maybe write two endings, one happy, one not. I’m considering the idea). That’s why I made Asakura sick, and why I made Connor have dark magic which keeps him from forming a pactio with a ‘good’ person. So after Asakura dies, he can take a one way trip down guilt lane which leads him to commit several horrible deeds which I will not disclose to the readers. After Ku Fei dies in an attempt to stop him, Negi and Connor face off in an apocalyptic battle, resulting in Connor’s death, and Negi on the verge of dying. Negi gives the Cassiopeia (which he will get from Chao) to Kotaro, sending him back in time to before Asakura’s death so that he can prevent the pactio from ever happening. Yay! Now no one needs to worry about the possibility of really slow updates, because I just gave you the next few chapters! DON’T WORRY, THAT WAS JUST A JOKE. I just thought of all of that in like, thirty seconds. Sounds like it would be fun, but it wouldn’t really handle any of the issues concerning the actual plot.
Well, let me know what you’d like to happen next, if you want a happy/sad/both endings, which character I should have die first (yeah, people are gonna be dead by the time I wrap this up. I haven’t gotten any flames yet, but I can guarantee I’ll have pissed some people off pretty royally by the time I write the last chapter.), or anything else. Reader participation rocks. Thanks for reading.....-----