Negima FanFiction Discussion

[Kurush]

Spoiler for Section of PotM[I]:

“Did you feel that?” [/I]A voice in the dark asked the other voices down there with it. “Someone used magic up there.”

“Once again?” Another, this one a female, questioned the first. “There is always someone up there using magic.”

“But didn't you sense something else? It wasn't magic we know of.” A third spoke up, and several others mumbled between each other, talking of what it could be.

“What was it? A demon? Rufus? The Emperor Himself this time?” A sarcastic voice said as some dark energy gathered together into one spot. At least the dark energy brought some light into the darkness where they dwell. They were the old and rotten remains of humans once, some turned into bones even, spared away in some extraplanar area.

“No.” A more stern voice (think of the late Tony Jay here), said, silencing a few of the more active voices. “It is time for our return, for this spellcaster is a human.”

“A human!?” Several questioned the stern voice, as more energy gathered in one place. “No human has been able to use magic save Rufus, since our demise at the Githyanki hands. How do you know that this is a human?”

“I have seen her.” The stern voice answered as the dark energy focused on just one spot, then exploded to form one single being, glowing alone in the darkness surrounding it. This human's features were hidden at the time.

“So... finally, after all these eons spent in this wretched place...” It spoke with a voice that sounded unnatural. “...We can finally return to the surface?”

“Yes...” The scrying mage voice answered with a grin if he had a corporal form. “Now, with someone up there, who isn't Rufus... We can finally take our revenge on the Githyanki for our destruction. And all will know that we did away with them, forever!” With that, several voices began their hideous laughter as they began to merge themselves into the corporal form, for it was their ticket up to the surface once again.

”In the Dark of the Night, we were tossing and turning...” One voice started off, referring to their time spent here in this place. “And the Nightmare we had was as bad as can be...”

"It scared us out of our wits,” Another continued from there, as the body they were merging with, collapsed into several body parts in one big pile. “A corpse falling to bits,”

“Then we opened our eyes”, The corporal head began now as the body began to put itself together. “and the nightmare was... me!”

”We were once the most powerful men on the Planet,” A new voice came to as the newly reassembled corpse that began to approach a flat wall to reveal the surface and a great war was being taken place on it. “when the Yanki destroyed us, they made a mistake.”

“Beneath them, we have all thrived, Now one little girl has arrived!!” The scryer's voice came back as the wall revealed a celebrating Nodoka with the rest of her companions, having some good food brought to them as thanks for saving the ship, in the captain's office. “Little Witch, beware, because we're awake!” He finished as his magic spirit was merged into the corporal form, as more and more spirits, most likely inhabitants of this plane they were in, came closer to join in on the magi's small festivities.

”In the Dark of the Night, evil will find her... In the Dark of the Night, just before dawn...” As they kept it up amongst themselves, more and more energy which included fire, dreams, light, frost, lightning and earth gathered into the corporal form and its power kept growing as more and more came into the ever merging form.

”Revenge will be sweet,” A female voice called out as her spiritual form was being sent into their new body that they had created together. “When the curse is complete!”

“In the Dark of the Night,” a chorus cried out as the gathered energy was fully assembled from those who had already gone into the physical form as he decided to add something to this odd song that they had begun singing. “They'll be gone!!”

”I can feel that our powers are slowly returning...” He said as his sense of feel came to him, and he began to glow once again. “Bring me my cloak that was made from the weaves of Hell!” He instructed the spirits of this place, which fetched for him a ragged old mantle, torn and ragged, yet held a certain touch to it, mainly because it was filled with blinking eyeballs.

“As the pieces fall into place, We'll see them crawl into place!” Yet another mage continued as he was merged into their new body that had put on their new cloak. For some bizarre reason, he had a Russian accent of his own. “Dasvidanya, Honya, your grace, farewell!” With that, their form began descending self forming stairs down into a fiery area, containing all their items that had been stored away. (How come that their magic items is stored away in the same place as they- Who cares?! It's part of the plot!)

”In the Dark of the Night, terror will strike her!” The chorus came again as more and more spirits of destroyed magi filled into him and took part in more and more revel of their return to the surface, whilst the corporal mage took a bundle of scrolls written down centuries ago.

“Terror's the least I can do!” He exclaimed as he stored several wands into his cloak and proceeded to grab a few extra books.

”In the Dark of the Night, Evil will brew...” The chorus somewhere kept growing, whilst dark energy began to gather in the roof above him and the other spirits.

”Soon, she will feel,” Another mage spirit, this one focusing on dreams and the mental mind, and the corporal form sang as they merged together into each other. “That her nightmares are real.” The latter finished for the two of them.

”In the Dark of the Night,” More and more dark energy began to gather up in the roof as the chorus that didn't merge themselves into the magi body sang on and on. “She'll be through!”

”In the Dark of the Night, evil will find her,” Finally, the roof of the plane opened up itself as the mage began looking through several staffs to pick one of them. “In the Dark of the Night, terror comes true!”

”My dear, you're a sign,” He started as a new picture of Nodoka came up, being told a few things by Rev'keth regarding something magical they presumed, whilst he himself picked a black wooden staff decorated with beads and small nuggets of gold tied to it with strings. “It's the end of their kind!”

”In the Dark of the Night...” The roof started to ventilate as the corporal mage had finished merging in several magi spirits into himself and then thrust his staff into the floor that cracked underneath the impact.

”Come our minions, rise for your Master,” At that, scores of vicious demons, several large and strong looking that could rip off a grown man's arm off with ease, others small and imp-like in body structure, yet dangerous on their own when left to handling helpless victims. Finally, massive dragon-like beings that didn't have the same scale like appearance of actual flying dragons, and their eye sockets were empty and blank white instead. “Let your Evil shine!”

”In the Dark of the Night, in the Dark of the Night!” The chorus kept going as the demons and their humanoid like companions kept going upwards into the sucking roof that would spew them out into the surface once again.

”Find her now, yes, fly ever faster!” He instructed them as they kept going upwards and out into the open, to fall prey upon a city somewhere in the mountain ridges not far from Glathk.

”In the Dark of the Night, In the Dark of the Night, In the Dark of the Night!” Now the chorus focused their power on their corporal form, so that he could get up there with them as well. He couldn't help but promise them something as he was being sent up there, as his body was temporarily being turned to dust for easy departure.

”She'll be mine!”

~*~

“Achoo!” Nodoka sneezed in her own cabin, granted by the captain for her and Hina. Shame it only had one bed.

“Someone's gossiping?” Her sister asked as she lay on her side of the bed.

“Could be.” The bookworm answered her as she decided to lie down. “But it could have just been a common cold.”

Spoiler for Notes:

I made this because I wanted something else to the current plot in PotM, link below. This is obivously a villain, cause he has one of the coolest Villain Songs; "In the Dark of the Night" originally sung by Rasputin.

Now this is something I wanted others to make, but none I have asked has made something that could resemble this villain. So therefore in one last act of hope of a really cool villain, I turn to this forum.

I do not own "In the Dark of the Night". It is owned by Don Bluth, producer of Anastasia, an expensive Disney knock-off.

Any thoughts on this? And any volunteers for making this villain, just PM me.

[deathcurse]

Originally Posted by isagrimorie

Emily!!! I'm really surprised by the lack of Emily and Yue in fandom too. Isn't this the kind of stuff people eat up? Where was the fic, people?

I'm so glad you wrote this and of course the story would grab my still beating heart from my chest and crush it!

I know, I went to Fanfiction.net and tried to look some up but couldn't find any! So when the plot-bunny ate my head I went along with it .

Originally Posted by Random Wanderer

Emily...

If Akamatsu doesn't bring her back properly, I swear I'll track him down and kick him in the shins.

I'll join you for that! Either that, or fandom revolts by writing Emily/Yue reunion fics....

Originally Posted by Kurush

Spoiler for Section of PotM[I]:

“Did you feel that?” [/I]A voice in the dark asked the other voices down there with it. “Someone used magic up there.”

“Once again?” Another, this one a female, questioned the first. “There is always someone up there using magic.”

“But didn't you sense something else? It wasn't magic we know of.” A third spoke up, and several others mumbled between each other, talking of what it could be.

“What was it? A demon? Rufus? The Emperor Himself this time?” A sarcastic voice said as some dark energy gathered together into one spot. At least the dark energy brought some light into the darkness where they dwell. They were the old and rotten remains of humans once, some turned into bones even, spared away in some extraplanar area.

“No.” A more stern voice (think of the late Tony Jay here), said, silencing a few of the more active voices. “It is time for our return, for this spellcaster is a human.”

“A human!?” Several questioned the stern voice, as more energy gathered in one place. “No human has been able to use magic save Rufus, since our demise at the Githyanki hands. How do you know that this is a human?”

“I have seen her.” The stern voice answered as the dark energy focused on just one spot, then exploded to form one single being, glowing alone in the darkness surrounding it. This human's features were hidden at the time.

“So... finally, after all these eons spent in this wretched place...” It spoke with a voice that sounded unnatural. “...We can finally return to the surface?”

“Yes...” The scrying mage voice answered with a grin if he had a corporal form. “Now, with someone up there, who isn't Rufus... We can finally take our revenge on the Githyanki for our destruction. And all will know that we did away with them, forever!” With that, several voices began their hideous laughter as they began to merge themselves into the corporal form, for it was their ticket up to the surface once again.

”In the Dark of the Night, we were tossing and turning...” One voice started off, referring to their time spent here in this place. “And the Nightmare we had was as bad as can be...”

"It scared us out of our wits,” Another continued from there, as the body they were merging with, collapsed into several body parts in one big pile. “A corpse falling to bits,”

“Then we opened our eyes”, The corporal head began now as the body began to put itself together. “and the nightmare was... me!”

”We were once the most powerful men on the Planet,” A new voice came to as the newly reassembled corpse that began to approach a flat wall to reveal the surface and a great war was being taken place on it. “when the Yanki destroyed us, they made a mistake.”

“Beneath them, we have all thrived, Now one little girl has arrived!!” The scryer's voice came back as the wall revealed a celebrating Nodoka with the rest of her companions, having some good food brought to them as thanks for saving the ship, in the captain's office. “Little Witch, beware, because we're awake!” He finished as his magic spirit was merged into the corporal form, as more and more spirits, most likely inhabitants of this plane they were in, came closer to join in on the magi's small festivities.

”In the Dark of the Night, evil will find her... In the Dark of the Night, just before dawn...” As they kept it up amongst themselves, more and more energy which included fire, dreams, light, frost, lightning and earth gathered into the corporal form and its power kept growing as more and more came into the ever merging form.

”Revenge will be sweet,” A female voice called out as her spiritual form was being sent into their new body that they had created together. “When the curse is complete!”

“In the Dark of the Night,” a chorus cried out as the gathered energy was fully assembled from those who had already gone into the physical form as he decided to add something to this odd song that they had begun singing. “They'll be gone!!”

”I can feel that our powers are slowly returning...” He said as his sense of feel came to him, and he began to glow once again. “Bring me my cloak that was made from the weaves of Hell!” He instructed the spirits of this place, which fetched for him a ragged old mantle, torn and ragged, yet held a certain touch to it, mainly because it was filled with blinking eyeballs.

“As the pieces fall into place, We'll see them crawl into place!” Yet another mage continued as he was merged into their new body that had put on their new cloak. For some bizarre reason, he had a Russian accent of his own. “Dasvidanya, Honya, your grace, farewell!” With that, their form began descending self forming stairs down into a fiery area, containing all their items that had been stored away. (How come that their magic items is stored away in the same place as they- Who cares?! It's part of the plot!)

”In the Dark of the Night, terror will strike her!” The chorus came again as more and more spirits of destroyed magi filled into him and took part in more and more revel of their return to the surface, whilst the corporal mage took a bundle of scrolls written down centuries ago.

“Terror's the least I can do!” He exclaimed as he stored several wands into his cloak and proceeded to grab a few extra books.

”In the Dark of the Night, Evil will brew...” The chorus somewhere kept growing, whilst dark energy began to gather in the roof above him and the other spirits.

”Soon, she will feel,” Another mage spirit, this one focusing on dreams and the mental mind, and the corporal form sang as they merged together into each other. “That her nightmares are real.” The latter finished for the two of them.

”In the Dark of the Night,” More and more dark energy began to gather up in the roof as the chorus that didn't merge themselves into the magi body sang on and on. “She'll be through!”

”In the Dark of the Night, evil will find her,” Finally, the roof of the plane opened up itself as the mage began looking through several staffs to pick one of them. “In the Dark of the Night, terror comes true!”

”My dear, you're a sign,” He started as a new picture of Nodoka came up, being told a few things by Rev'keth regarding something magical they presumed, whilst he himself picked a black wooden staff decorated with beads and small nuggets of gold tied to it with strings. “It's the end of their kind!”

”In the Dark of the Night...” The roof started to ventilate as the corporal mage had finished merging in several magi spirits into himself and then thrust his staff into the floor that cracked underneath the impact.

”Come our minions, rise for your Master,” At that, scores of vicious demons, several large and strong looking that could rip off a grown man's arm off with ease, others small and imp-like in body structure, yet dangerous on their own when left to handling helpless victims. Finally, massive dragon-like beings that didn't have the same scale like appearance of actual flying dragons, and their eye sockets were empty and blank white instead. “Let your Evil shine!”

”In the Dark of the Night, in the Dark of the Night!” The chorus kept going as the demons and their humanoid like companions kept going upwards into the sucking roof that would spew them out into the surface once again.

”Find her now, yes, fly ever faster!” He instructed them as they kept going upwards and out into the open, to fall prey upon a city somewhere in the mountain ridges not far from Glathk.

”In the Dark of the Night, In the Dark of the Night, In the Dark of the Night!” Now the chorus focused their power on their corporal form, so that he could get up there with them as well. He couldn't help but promise them something as he was being sent up there, as his body was temporarily being turned to dust for easy departure.

”She'll be mine!”

~*~

“Achoo!” Nodoka sneezed in her own cabin, granted by the captain for her and Hina. Shame it only had one bed.

“Someone's gossiping?” Her sister asked as she lay on her side of the bed.

“Could be.” The bookworm answered her as she decided to lie down. “But it could have just been a common cold.”

Spoiler for Notes:

I made this because I wanted something else to the current plot in PotM, link below. This is obivously a villain, cause he has one of the coolest Villain Songs; "In the Dark of the Night" originally sung by Rasputin.

Now this is something I wanted others to make, but none I have asked has made something that could resemble this villain. So therefore in one last act of hope of a really cool villain, I turn to this forum.

I do not own "In the Dark of the Night". It is owned by Don Bluth, producer of Anastasia, an expensive Disney knock-off.

Any thoughts on this? And any volunteers for making this villain, just PM me.

"In the Dark of the Night" is an epic song, but I always imagine it as almost comedic...I'm not sure if that's the effect that you want here or not, or if it's just me, but yeah . I'm not quite sure what's happening, but it all seems over the top in the Disney way .

Is this an AU?

[RadiantBeam]

Originally Posted by deathcurse

.....DO IT!!!! Happy fluff fic to counter the tragic one....

...

You did this just to tempt me, didn't you? You knew I wouldn't be able to resist writing something fluffy after reading such angst!

[Kurush]

Originally Posted by deathcurse

Is this an AU?

No, it's actually part of my current Negima fanfic story, Power of the Mind. The link is in my signature. It's part of the coming chapter 33. Well, given everything that has happened in the manga in comparison with this story, yeah, it's an AU, set several months after the MW mega arc. You'd probably have to read the full story to understand, but look here if you just want a quick look through.

[deathcurse]

Originally Posted by RadiantBeam

...

You did this just to tempt me, didn't you? You knew I wouldn't be able to resist writing something fluffy after reading such angst!

Doooooo iiiiiiiiittttttttttt.............. I'd love to read Emily/Yue fluff!

And by the way, I posted Truth and Dying to Fanfiction.net ^^. I made some small edits here and there to hopefully clear up some ambiguity and grammar errors that I found in editing .

Originally Posted by Kurush

No, it's actually part of my current Negima fanfic story, Power of the Mind. The link is in my signature. It's part of the coming chapter 33. Well, given everything that has happened in the manga in comparison with this story, yeah, it's an AU, set several months after the MW mega arc. You'd probably have to read the full story to understand, but look here if you just want a quick look through.

Ah, I see! Sorry, my bad .

[Merctrin]

Wow, thanks for the responses everyone. They were much appreciated.

At this point, I wouldn't say it's necessary to read Liquid Heat to make sense of this, but I will say that it would be a very, very good idea, and it'll probably become necessary in a few chapters.

With that said, here's the first chapter of Taken Day by Day.

Spoiler for Day 1:

Breathe in, breathe out.


Breathe in, breathe out.


Breathe in—


“Luna-chan didn’t have to do any of this.”


Setsuna closed her eyes and prayed for peace.


“That’s because she’s not a mass murderer.”


Tsukuyomi sighed unhappily. “Senpai,” she whined, “that’s not very nice. I haven’t murdered anyone in years.” She paused, and when she started talking again, Setsuna heard her smile. “Besides, I like to take my time with my kills. Mass death isn’t much fun.”


Setsuna couldn’t help it. She opened her eyes and looked at Tsukuyomi. She knew better than this, and worse, she knew she knew better than this, but… “You just said you haven’t murdered anyone in years.”


“That’s because I haven’t.”


“But you have killed people recently.” As if she really needed to ask that.


Tsukuyomi grinned. “Yes.”


“I’m surprised Fate allowed that,” Setsuna said with forced lightness. Shouldn’t the headmaster be calling them in soon? What was the point of making an appointment if he wasn’t going to bother keeping it? “Didn’t he want to avoid unnecessary casualties?”


Her new charge shrugged, looking less than concerned with what her late boss would or would not have wanted. “I think they were very necessary.”


Of course she did. Setsuna drew in a short breath and let it out, trying to remind herself that she had no reason to be disturbed by Tsukuyomi. Whatever the other girl had done, it was in the past. Before her brief mockery of a trial that ended in a sentence that probably didn’t even begin to cover for everything she’d done while she was working under Fate. Now, she barely had the power to compete with some of the more skilled kendo students. And if she was crazy enough to try fighting Setsuna—which Setsuna couldn’t dismiss as a possibility—it wouldn’t be a match at all.


It wouldn’t be like last time.


No, it wouldn’t be. That went without saying. For starters, if they both fought at full strength again, there would be no Kurt Gödel showing up to interfere, and Tsukuyomi would die, solving a great deal of Setsuna’s current problems.


Setsuna closed her eyes again and told herself not to think like that. She could hate Tsukuyomi. She could wish that the girl had been sent anywhere else to serve out her sentence. She could even hate the headmaster for deciding that she was the best choice for Tsukuyomi’s guard if she really wanted to.


But she absolutely could not start longing for Tsukuyomi’s death. Whatever had or hadn’t happened… It was her duty to look after Tsukuyomi now. She didn’t get the option of killing her anymore. She had her duty, and she couldn’t let anything get in the way of that. She wouldn’t let anything get in the way.


She could hear Tsukuyomi breathing just a few feet away from her. The blonde’s stare made her felt like fire to her skin and made her shiver at the same time.


That’s easier said than done.


It would just take some getting used to, that was all, Setsuna tried to convince herself. Since she was a child, she’d only been responsible for Konoka, and that—that was still all she wanted. Keeping an eye on someone she hated instead of someone she lo—cared for would be different.


The sound of the door opening reached her ears and Setsuna’s eyes snapped open. Shizuna walked out of the office with a stack of folders in her arms. When she saw them, she smiled.


“Sorry about making you wait—my appointment took longer than expected. You can both go in now.”


Setsuna nodded and tried not to look too relieved. She stepped aside, waiting for Shizuna to pass. Behind her, Tsukuyomi did the same, though her movements had the annoying effect of putting her even closer to Setsuna. The half-demon rolled her shoulders uncomfortably and turned around.


“You go in first.”


Tsukuyomi had the gall to look surprised. “Huh? Why?”


“I don’t want you walking behind me.”


Now her damned smile was back. “You don’t trust me Setsuna-senpai? I’ve been at your back the entire time we’ve been waiting and haven’t done a single thing wrong.”


Put that way, it did sound a bit ridiculous, but Setsuna didn’t budge. “You weren’t moving then.” Just the idea of Tsukuyomi walking behind her was enough to increase her paranoia. It came from too many weeks of being stalked without knowing it.


Tsukuyomi pouted but didn’t object further. She strode into the office quickly, leaving Setsuna to follow. Surprisingly, there was someone else besides the headmaster still in the room.


“Oh! Hi, Gunslinger-onee-san!


To Mana’s credit, she only raised an eyebrow before nodding a greeting. “Tsukuyomi. Setsuna.”


Setsuna frowned. “What are you doing here Tatsumiya? I thought I was the only one assigned to Tsukuyomi.” Hope flared briefly in her chest. Had the headmaster changed his mind? Was Mana going to be in charge of Tsukuyomi instead?


It died when Mana opened her mouth. “You still are. The headmaster just thought it would be reasonable to make sure that I had no objections to sharing a room with her.” She shrugged. “And I don’t. I can take care of myself, and I don’t really spend much time in our room.”


Setsuna winced and Tsukuyomi’s head shot up from the chair she’d chosen for her seat. Her eyes were bright and intense, reminding Setsuna disturbingly of the way her irises used to turn gold just before their fights. “No? Why not?”


Mana smiled enigmatically. “Now why would I tell you that?”


From behind his desk, the headmaster cleared his throat. Setsuna and Mana immediately looked at him. Tsukuyomi preferred to keep her eyes fixed on Setsuna.


“If you don’t mind, I’d prefer to have this over with quickly. Conversation can wait until later.” Konoemon shuffled several very important-looking papers on his desk and swept his gaze over his three silent guests.


“Good. Now, Tsukuyomi-kun...” He tapped his fingers against his desk and sighed. “Well. First of all, all the necessary documents needed to enroll you as a student have been signed. Since you couldn’t provide us with a family name, you will be attending under the alias Kuzunoha Tsukuyomi, niece of our kendo instructor Kuzunoha Tōko.” He eyed the blonde. “I would strongly suggest that you don’t point out the relation.”


That’s one of the few ways she won’t cause trouble, Setsuna thought. Tsukuyomi was not a social person. She interacted with the people involved in her work, but she’d barely flinched when she heard that out of all Fate’s partners, only one would be joining her at Mahora. She wouldn’t seek some stranger out and brag about who her fake aunt was.


“Next, it has been decided that rather than replace your current seal with something less restrictive, the Ouroboros Seal will remain in place.”


Tsukuyomi sulked as her hand twitched convulsively up to her abdomen. “Does it really have to? I know how to behave myself.”


Setsuna fought back the impulse to roll her eyes. Yes, Tsukuyomi probably did know how to behave herself. That didn’t mean she could. If her earlier words about necessary casualties were anything to go by, even Fate hadn’t been able to keep her restrained. The Ouroboros Seal was a good idea.


It was one of the most restrictive seals that could be placed on someone. Most just blocked off magic from the mage’s control, or, in the case of ki users, prevented ki from being able to exit the body. Those were the ones most typically used on criminals.


The Ouroboros Seal’s use was almost completely limited to the Magical World, and was only used when transporting prisoners through areas that were highly concentrated with magic. Most seals couldn’t have made it through the Gateport.
But the Ouroboros Seal survived on the victim’s own magic and ki. Outside magical interference had very little, if any, effect on it, and any inner interference would die before it gained power. As long as no one intentionally released the seal, it would keep working until Tsukuyomi died.


Of course, it wasn’t without its dangers, which was why it was used so sparingly. Prisons were not always the most hygienic of places, and there had been cases where the criminal’s bodies had given out because they’d been unable to use the most mundane of their magic—the type that kept mages alive for longer and in better shape than most mundanes.


Quite a few had frozen to death because those responsible for them were used to more resilient prisoners.


But Mahora was not designed as a prison. All the Ouroboros Seal meant here was that Tsukuyomi was completely and utterly powerless—no stronger than a mundane.


“Tsukuyomi-kun, this is not something that can be argued.” Setsuna shook herself from her very calming thoughts just in time to see the headmaster glare at Tsukuyomi.


“You are being punished. As far as everyone involved is concerned, Mahora is to be your prison until you reach the age of majority, at which time things will be reevaluated. This is not meant for your enjoyment in any way. Expecting otherwise will do nothing to improve your imprisonment.”


Tsukuyomi sighed dramatically and collapsed into the back of her chair. Her eyes were dull and unhappy. Apparently taking that as a sign to move on to the more general terms of her incarceration, Konoemon continued.


“As you already know, you will be sharing a room with Setsuna-kun.” She looks far too happy about that. “Setsuna-kun, I don’t want you to let her out of your sight.”


“Yes sir.” It was expected, Setsuna told herself sternly. It was the exact same thing he had asked when he told her to watch over Konoka. The only difference was how much she liked the person involved.


She steadfastly ignored the little voice in her head that was busy illustrating just how much of a difference that was.

----------------

Well, she couldn’t say it was unexpected.


Tsukuyomi hummed to herself and sat down on the floor of the closet-turned-dressing room. She dropped the school uniform she was supposed to be trying on next to her.


Most of the restrictions were things she was looking forward to: rooming with Setsuna, constantly being by her side, staying away from people who didn’t know who she really was… All expected, all fun. Wonderful, even.


But the Seal was something of a problem. She’d thought that once she reached Mahora, the Ouroboros Seal would be removed and replaced with something that granted her limited access to her magic—something she could break, given enough time. But no, the headmaster just had to be stubborn.


Tsukuyomi sighed and looked around the empty closet.


Killing anything without her ki would be a challenge. Not the fun kind, either—this was more like when Fate had ordered her to keep an eye on Setsuna without approaching her in any way.


Humans were out of the question. Too difficult and too—


Obvious?


Tsukuyomi blinked as the thought occurred to her. Since when did that matter?
A few seconds later, she got it.


She could kill one of the students, but then she would get in trouble, and the sort of trouble she got in would most likely involve separation from Setsuna, and she didn’t want that. She liked Setsuna, and the thought of being apart from her made her breath catch for some reason.


So. No killing.


…


No, no, no, no, that would never work.


Maybe she could kill in moderation.


No, that wouldn’t work either. Without human victims, she could only kill small animals that wandered into Mahora. That wasn’t anywhere near enough blood.


Wait.


Killing was something she enjoyed. As long as there was blood and violence, she could be happy anywhere. She thrived on it.


But she could survive without it until she figured out a way to get around the Ouroboros Seal. Setsuna was here. Setsuna had orders to stay by her side. She wouldn’t leave.


The strange relieved feeling that Setsuna being alive gave her came back for a second, and her heart pounded in a way that made it hard to breathe. Tsukuyomi shrugged the feeling off quickly—it made her uncomfortable.


She would have to be completely dependent on Setsuna. Maybe for a long time. She didn’t have anyone else, and finding out how to get rid of a Seal that was supposed to be unbeatable without outside help wouldn’t be easy. But not easy was not the same as impossible.


Tsukuyomi took a deep breath and nodded. Doable then. And it was only until she got rid of the Seal. After that, she could have as much fun as she wanted.

Spoiler for Notes:

The Ouroboros Seal used here came out of my own thoughts, though I don't doubt that something like that has been used before somewhere else, since it's not the most unique idea in the world. I did learn what an ouroboros is by reading Fullmetal Alchemist though, if that means anything.

So, next up is Tsukuyomi's first day as a member of Negi's class! How could that possibly cause anyone any trouble? ...Very easily, as it turns out.

Thanks for reading.

[deathcurse]

Originally Posted by Merctrin

Wow, thanks for the responses everyone. They were much appreciated.

At this point, I wouldn't say it's necessary to read Liquid Heat to make sense of this, but I will say that it would be a very, very good idea, and it'll probably become necessary in a few chapters.

With that said, here's the first chapter of Taken Day by Day.

Spoiler for Day 1:

Breathe in, breathe out.


Breathe in, breathe out.


Breathe in—


“Luna-chan didn’t have to do any of this.”


Setsuna closed her eyes and prayed for peace.


“That’s because she’s not a mass murderer.”


Tsukuyomi sighed unhappily. “Senpai,” she whined, “that’s not very nice. I haven’t murdered anyone in years.” She paused, and when she started talking again, Setsuna heard her smile. “Besides, I like to take my time with my kills. Mass death isn’t much fun.”


Setsuna couldn’t help it. She opened her eyes and looked at Tsukuyomi. She knew better than this, and worse, she knew she knew better than this, but… “You just said you haven’t murdered anyone in years.”


“That’s because I haven’t.”


“But you have killed people recently.” As if she really needed to ask that.


Tsukuyomi grinned. “Yes.”


“I’m surprised Fate allowed that,” Setsuna said with forced lightness. Shouldn’t the headmaster be calling them in soon? What was the point of making an appointment if he wasn’t going to bother keeping it? “Didn’t he want to avoid unnecessary casualties?”


Her new charge shrugged, looking less than concerned with what her late boss would or would not have wanted. “I think they were very necessary.”


Of course she did. Setsuna drew in a short breath and let it out, trying to remind herself that she had no reason to be disturbed by Tsukuyomi. Whatever the other girl had done, it was in the past. Before her brief mockery of a trial that ended in a sentence that probably didn’t even begin to cover for everything she’d done while she was working under Fate. Now, she barely had the power to compete with some of the more skilled kendo students. And if she was crazy enough to try fighting Setsuna—which Setsuna couldn’t dismiss as a possibility—it wouldn’t be a match at all.


It wouldn’t be like last time.


No, it wouldn’t be. That went without saying. For starters, if they both fought at full strength again, there would be no Kurt Gödel showing up to interfere, and Tsukuyomi would die, solving a great deal of Setsuna’s current problems.


Setsuna closed her eyes again and told herself not to think like that. She could hate Tsukuyomi. She could wish that the girl had been sent anywhere else to serve out her sentence. She could even hate the headmaster for deciding that she was the best choice for Tsukuyomi’s guard if she really wanted to.


But she absolutely could not start longing for Tsukuyomi’s death. Whatever had or hadn’t happened… It was her duty to look after Tsukuyomi now. She didn’t get the option of killing her anymore. She had her duty, and she couldn’t let anything get in the way of that. She wouldn’t let anything get in the way.


She could hear Tsukuyomi breathing just a few feet away from her. The blonde’s stare made her felt like fire to her skin and made her shiver at the same time.


That’s easier said than done.


It would just take some getting used to, that was all, Setsuna tried to convince herself. Since she was a child, she’d only been responsible for Konoka, and that—that was still all she wanted. Keeping an eye on someone she hated instead of someone she lo—cared for would be different.


The sound of the door opening reached her ears and Setsuna’s eyes snapped open. Shizuna walked out of the office with a stack of folders in her arms. When she saw them, she smiled.


“Sorry about making you wait—my appointment took longer than expected. You can both go in now.”


Setsuna nodded and tried not to look too relieved. She stepped aside, waiting for Shizuna to pass. Behind her, Tsukuyomi did the same, though her movements had the annoying effect of putting her even closer to Setsuna. The half-demon rolled her shoulders uncomfortably and turned around.


“You go in first.”


Tsukuyomi had the gall to look surprised. “Huh? Why?”


“I don’t want you walking behind me.”


Now her damned smile was back. “You don’t trust me Setsuna-senpai? I’ve been at your back the entire time we’ve been waiting and haven’t done a single thing wrong.”


Put that way, it did sound a bit ridiculous, but Setsuna didn’t budge. “You weren’t moving then.” Just the idea of Tsukuyomi walking behind her was enough to increase her paranoia. It came from too many weeks of being stalked without knowing it.


Tsukuyomi pouted but didn’t object further. She strode into the office quickly, leaving Setsuna to follow. Surprisingly, there was someone else besides the headmaster still in the room.


“Oh! Hi, Gunslinger-onee-san!


To Mana’s credit, she only raised an eyebrow before nodding a greeting. “Tsukuyomi. Setsuna.”


Setsuna frowned. “What are you doing here Tatsumiya? I thought I was the only one assigned to Tsukuyomi.” Hope flared briefly in her chest. Had the headmaster changed his mind? Was Mana going to be in charge of Tsukuyomi instead?


It died when Mana opened her mouth. “You still are. The headmaster just thought it would be reasonable to make sure that I had no objections to sharing a room with her.” She shrugged. “And I don’t. I can take care of myself, and I don’t really spend much time in our room.”


Setsuna winced and Tsukuyomi’s head shot up from the chair she’d chosen for her seat. Her eyes were bright and intense, reminding Setsuna disturbingly of the way her irises used to turn gold just before their fights. “No? Why not?”


Mana smiled enigmatically. “Now why would I tell you that?”


From behind his desk, the headmaster cleared his throat. Setsuna and Mana immediately looked at him. Tsukuyomi preferred to keep her eyes fixed on Setsuna.


“If you don’t mind, I’d prefer to have this over with quickly. Conversation can wait until later.” Konoemon shuffled several very important-looking papers on his desk and swept his gaze over his three silent guests.


“Good. Now, Tsukuyomi-kun...” He tapped his fingers against his desk and sighed. “Well. First of all, all the necessary documents needed to enroll you as a student have been signed. Since you couldn’t provide us with a family name, you will be attending under the alias Kuzunoha Tsukuyomi, niece of our kendo instructor Kuzunoha Tōko.” He eyed the blonde. “I would strongly suggest that you don’t point out the relation.”


That’s one of the few ways she won’t cause trouble, Setsuna thought. Tsukuyomi was not a social person. She interacted with the people involved in her work, but she’d barely flinched when she heard that out of all Fate’s partners, only one would be joining her at Mahora. She wouldn’t seek some stranger out and brag about who her fake aunt was.


“Next, it has been decided that rather than replace your current seal with something less restrictive, the Ouroboros Seal will remain in place.”


Tsukuyomi sulked as her hand twitched convulsively up to her abdomen. “Does it really have to? I know how to behave myself.”


Setsuna fought back the impulse to roll her eyes. Yes, Tsukuyomi probably did know how to behave herself. That didn’t mean she could. If her earlier words about necessary casualties were anything to go by, even Fate hadn’t been able to keep her restrained. The Ouroboros Seal was a good idea.


It was one of the most restrictive seals that could be placed on someone. Most just blocked off magic from the mage’s control, or, in the case of ki users, prevented ki from being able to exit the body. Those were the ones most typically used on criminals.


The Ouroboros Seal’s use was almost completely limited to the Magical World, and was only used when transporting prisoners through areas that were highly concentrated with magic. Most seals couldn’t have made it through the Gateport.
But the Ouroboros Seal survived on the victim’s own magic and ki. Outside magical interference had very little, if any, effect on it, and any inner interference would die before it gained power. As long as no one intentionally released the seal, it would keep working until Tsukuyomi died.


Of course, it wasn’t without its dangers, which was why it was used so sparingly. Prisons were not always the most hygienic of places, and there had been cases where the criminal’s bodies had given out because they’d been unable to use the most mundane of their magic—the type that kept mages alive for longer and in better shape than most mundanes.


Quite a few had frozen to death because those responsible for them were used to more resilient prisoners.


But Mahora was not designed as a prison. All the Ouroboros Seal meant here was that Tsukuyomi was completely and utterly powerless—no stronger than a mundane.


“Tsukuyomi-kun, this is not something that can be argued.” Setsuna shook herself from her very calming thoughts just in time to see the headmaster glare at Tsukuyomi.


“You are being punished. As far as everyone involved is concerned, Mahora is to be your prison until you reach the age of majority, at which time things will be reevaluated. This is not meant for your enjoyment in any way. Expecting otherwise will do nothing to improve your imprisonment.”


Tsukuyomi sighed dramatically and collapsed into the back of her chair. Her eyes were dull and unhappy. Apparently taking that as a sign to move on to the more general terms of her incarceration, Konoemon continued.


“As you already know, you will be sharing a room with Setsuna-kun.” She looks far too happy about that. “Setsuna-kun, I don’t want you to let her out of your sight.”


“Yes sir.” It was expected, Setsuna told herself sternly. It was the exact same thing he had asked when he told her to watch over Konoka. The only difference was how much she liked the person involved.


She steadfastly ignored the little voice in her head that was busy illustrating just how much of a difference that was.

----------------

Well, she couldn’t say it was unexpected.


Tsukuyomi hummed to herself and sat down on the floor of the closet-turned-dressing room. She dropped the school uniform she was supposed to be trying on next to her.


Most of the restrictions were things she was looking forward to: rooming with Setsuna, constantly being by her side, staying away from people who didn’t know who she really was… All expected, all fun. Wonderful, even.


But the Seal was something of a problem. She’d thought that once she reached Mahora, the Ouroboros Seal would be removed and replaced with something that granted her limited access to her magic—something she could break, given enough time. But no, the headmaster just had to be stubborn.


Tsukuyomi sighed and looked around the empty closet.


Killing anything without her ki would be a challenge. Not the fun kind, either—this was more like when Fate had ordered her to keep an eye on Setsuna without approaching her in any way.


Humans were out of the question. Too difficult and too—


Obvious?


Tsukuyomi blinked as the thought occurred to her. Since when did that matter?
A few seconds later, she got it.


She could kill one of the students, but then she would get in trouble, and the sort of trouble she got in would most likely involve separation from Setsuna, and she didn’t want that. She liked Setsuna, and the thought of being apart from her made her breath catch for some reason.


So. No killing.


…


No, no, no, no, that would never work.


Maybe she could kill in moderation.


No, that wouldn’t work either. Without human victims, she could only kill small animals that wandered into Mahora. That wasn’t anywhere near enough blood.


Wait.


Killing was something she enjoyed. As long as there was blood and violence, she could be happy anywhere. She thrived on it.


But she could survive without it until she figured out a way to get around the Ouroboros Seal. Setsuna was here. Setsuna had orders to stay by her side. She wouldn’t leave.


The strange relieved feeling that Setsuna being alive gave her came back for a second, and her heart pounded in a way that made it hard to breathe. Tsukuyomi shrugged the feeling off quickly—it made her uncomfortable.


She would have to be completely dependent on Setsuna. Maybe for a long time. She didn’t have anyone else, and finding out how to get rid of a Seal that was supposed to be unbeatable without outside help wouldn’t be easy. But not easy was not the same as impossible.


Tsukuyomi took a deep breath and nodded. Doable then. And it was only until she got rid of the Seal. After that, she could have as much fun as she wanted.

Spoiler for Notes:

The Ouroboros Seal used here came out of my own thoughts, though I don't doubt that something like that has been used before somewhere else, since it's not the most unique idea in the world. I did learn what an ouroboros is by reading Fullmetal Alchemist though, if that means anything.

So, next up is Tsukuyomi's first day as a member of Negi's class! How could that possibly cause anyone any trouble? ...Very easily, as it turns out.

Thanks for reading.

Interesting.....I haven't read the previous story, so I'm probably behind on some of the details . But seeing Tsukuyomi start considering her eventual (attempt to) escape is quite deliciously, connivingly evil .

I like the Ouroboros Seal idea, it will be interesting to see what havoc human-level Tsukuyomi can cause ! (Lots, I bet!)

[deathcurse]

Sorry for the double post.....

Here's the first part of Chapter 2. I've got more in this chapter planned, since not much actually happens, but I suppose I could have the second half be a chapter on its own, I'm not sure . This section mostly adds more small details to the story.

Anyways, for your reading pleasure!

Prologue and Chapter 1

Love and Duty Come in Chains

Spoiler for Love and Duty Come in Chains, Chapter 2 part 1:

Chapter 2
May 3, 2010

“Setsuna.”

Setsuna glanced up and caught the envelope that Mana tossed at her one-handed. Immediately, from the weight she could tell what it was. “Thank you,” she answered automatically.

Mana grunted and crossed her arms, eyeing the other girl sharply. “The other half is in your bank account already, as usual,” she said dryly.

Konoemon had figured out a couple of weeks ago that when he sent Setsuna her monthly paycheck she would simply hand the whole thing to Mana without touching any of it herself. And when he sent her the portion of her pay agreed upon for Mana separately from the small amount he insisted on reserving for her, Setsuna would pass both envelopes over to Mana without looking at either of them anyway. Finally, he had settled with sending Mana both the paychecks every month to ensure that they ended up where they belonged.

The money never mattered to Setsuna. It was only sensible for her to hire another guard for Konoka with it, since all she needed was food and a place to sleep, both of which were provided for her. The arrangement worked out well for everyone, since Konoemon couldn’t hire a second guard for Konoka without causing tension between the Konoe and the Wallward, and Setsuna could put the monthly paycheck she never touched to good use in Mana. She trusted Mana with Konoka’s life.

Although Setsuna was technically Mana’s superior, the tan woman seemed surprisingly determined to prevent Setsuna from forgetting that they were friends. Mana had even managed to get Setsuna to spend her dutiful pocket money on something frivolous last weekend, a decorated fan that was the only adornment in their shared, Spartan quarters. Then again, Setsuna suspected that the thrifty Mana had wanted the fan herself, but knew that Setsuna would put it up on display for both of them. Setsuna wasn’t sure, but the thought had made her chuckle anyway.

“I see.” Setsuna slid the envelope of cash into her jacket pocket then returned to her sit-ups, feeling all her muscles warming up after a night’s stiff sleep. These days, Setsuna found that it was easier to stand outside of Konoka and Kyo’s bedroom door and doze against the doorframe than sleep in a bed. If Mana hadn’t insulted her into going back to their quarters to sleep, Setsuna would probably have spent the night in the hallway anyways even though it was Mana’s watch shift.

At least when she was outside their door, her hearing kept the rest of her brain from imagining. Imagining in her too-soft bed was a thousand times worse than standing silently in a cold hall without betraying any emotion.

Setsuna pulled herself up again, her stomach muscles quivering lightly with the effort. She let the throb of physical exertion push her troubling thoughts back into obscurity again. An extra 50 reps today, just to wipe the last of that heartbreak away.

“They’re going out for lunch today,” Mana said as she restocked her gun magazines, checking each bullet carefully before she slid it in. “You’ll be the sole guard. I’m on stand-by duty this morning.”

Setsuna froze, then flipped to her feet. “Were you? I can’t remember the schedule—”

“I am.”

“…I can pay you overtime,” Setsuna offered desperately, reaching a hand to her jacket pocket. “If you’ll be close guard for the day…” She couldn’t spend today so close to Konoka. Not today.

“I’d rather have the day off,” Mana drawled, and Setsuna winced, knowing that the gunslinger knew and was refusing to budge because she thought that it was for the better.

“Today’s not a good day for me,” growled Setsuna, frustrated and feeling her chest aching. Jerkily, she pulled her black suit jacket on and buttoned it up savagely.

“You have a job; the day shouldn’t matter to you.”

The words slipped out before Setsuna could stop herself. “Fuck you, Mana.”

They glared at each other, the atmosphere tense even though neither of them were touching their weapons. Setsuna sighed first and rubbed her face, finger-combing her hair before picking up Yuunagi. “Sorry. Enjoy your day off.”

“You should eat some breakfast before you go,” Mana suggested with a raised eyebrow, her voice droll. “I think the lack of food has made you too unsettled to handle yourself professionally.”

“I’ll eat,” muttered Setsuna as she opened the door. She wasn’t a fool. But especially today, she had no appetite at all.

After dropping by the kitchen to secure a breakfast wrap and finishing it in two big bites, Setsuna walked through the large house towards the master bedroom. Luckily, it was still early in the morning, so much so that most of the servants were still in bed. Even on the best of days, Setsuna couldn’t stand overhearing their gossip.

“It seems the master and the lady had a good night last night, don’t you think? Young love!”

“If I was the master, I wouldn’t only take the lady once every couple of weeks, I’d go at it every night…” Laughter.

Once upon a time, Setsuna would have hit whoever dared to speak of Konoka that way. But this wasn’t long ago, and they weren’t teenagers anymore…and she didn’t have the sole right to Konoka anymore. Setsuna would just walk silently past the gossiping servants, trying to turn off her demonically keen hearing but failing every time.

Every time she heard them, a little more of her heart broke and turned to dust in the hollow inside her chest.

***

Konoka woke suddenly, disorientated. She thought for a moment that she was in a forest, lying on dying grass. Then she realized that she was in a bed, and wondered where Asuna was and why she hadn’t been woken up by an early alarm clock and Asuna’s ranting about Negi crawling into her bed again.

Then Konoka remembered where she was.

“Awake?”

“Yes,” she said, stretching lightly and pulling herself up to look at her husband. To her surprise he was fully dressed and standing by the bed with a breakfast tray in his hands. “Oh I’m sorry, did I sleep in?”

Kyo set the tray down over her lap and straightened up, brushing his wayward hair from his glasses to hide his awkwardness. “No, I just woke up early. It’s our one month anniversary, and when I asked Hazan she told me to—” He stopped and scratched his head sheepishly.

Konoka giggled, touched that he had asked his cousin for advice on what to do for her on their anniversary. “Thank you, Kyo, it’s really sweet.”

He grunted, and shuffled his feet. Too proper to pull at his neatly knotted tie, Kyo settled for blushing lightly and trying futilely to finger-comb his hair into behaving. “I heard that spell yesterday didn’t go as you wanted?”

“No, I think that the magnitude was too large for the target pieces I made for the testing,” Konoka said through a mouthful of pancakes. They tasted a little odd—the batter hadn’t been mixed properly. But that just went to show that Kyo had actually made it himself, which made Konoka smile at him despite her pique that he had to bring up the wards at every opportunity. “I’ll look it up tomorrow to make sure.”

“As soon as possible would be good,” Kyo nodded, walking over to their dresser and sighing as he picked up his Blackberry. He would get emails every five minutes, either from the Wallward Software company, from the mages he had researching the Koyane Wards or from his dragon of a grandmother, the Wallward family matriarch. Konoka swallowed instead of sighing as well at the thought of their lunch at the restaurant being interrupted by the constant beeping of his phone. “My research team has been really good about staying inconspicuous at the site, so it seems like so far no one unsavoury is the wiser. But sooner or later, someone’s going to notice, and the physical flaw will be easy to exploit.”

“I’ll take care of it tomorrow,” Konoka repeated, cutting into her scrambled eggs with exaggerated patience.

“Something that—” A knock at the door distracted him. The door opened and Setsuna stepped in, bowing sharply.

“Sir, there is a parcel downstairs for you.”

“Ah, that would be the rune text I borrowed from Takamichi-sama,” Kyo said happily, striding for the door before catching himself up and coming back over to the bed to give Konoka a kiss. Reminding herself to relax, Konoka still couldn’t help sneaking a glance at the doorway while they kissed. It wasn’t fair of her to tense up every time she was in the same room with both Kyo and Setsuna, but Konoka couldn’t help making that reflexive wince.

But Setsuna wasn’t there anymore.

“I’ll see you at lunch?” When she smiled and nodded at him, Kyo kissed her hand and left, shutting the door behind himself.

Konoka shoved another forkful of pancakes and eggs into her mouth. “Great,” she muttered to herself, feeling both good and bad, but overall mildly let down. “I wonder if Asuna is up yet?”

She needed to relieve some stress, and Konoka didn’t think that the rest of the household would appreciate her playing Super Mario complete with loud, pounding music and sound effects at this early hour. And Konoka desperately needed someone to tell her that they loved her, as a friend or anything else, and for her to be able to look them in the eyes and truly believe their words.

***

Setsuna slammed her forehead into the wall.

And she did it again.

And again.

God, what’s wrong with you? What happened to all your resolve and promises? Setsuna growled and drove her head into the wall again. This time she heard an ominous crack in the wood. You can’t mess things up for Konoka now! Remember why you did in the first place!

When she had been guarding Konoka earlier that morning, her charge had somehow convinced Setsuna that she should stand guard inside Asuna’s room. Setsuna hadn’t thought much of it then, simply leaning Yuunagi against the wall and repositioning her katana, the better weapon for a smaller enclosed space. She had passively watched Asuna and Konoka engage in a match, both of them uncharacteristically broodingly silent as they played, the only sounds in the room coming from the tv speakers.

Seeing Konoka without a pretence of a smile on her face was just painful.

Seeing Konoka…not faking, exactly, but only passively content with little things instead of shining with general joy, was nearly unbearably agonizing for Setsuna. Because then the demon-girl would start thinking of what ifs and what could have beens, both useless practices that distracted her from her duty to protect her ojou-sama.

Sometime during their gaming, Asuna had cited a need to go take a shower. And somehow during the process when Asuna was exiting her room, Setsuna had found herself holding a game controller and caving in to Konoka’s innocent entreaties to finish the game with her.

Why did you give in? Doing such familiar things with Kono-chan, you’re only making things worse for both of you! Setsuna started to bring her forehead into the wall again but stopped herself when she saw the indentation and cracks in the planks. She scowled and turned around, crossing her arms again and tried to affect the stoic bodyguard routine.

Konoka’s married.

You’re just a servant now…it’s too soon for friendship, you know it, so soon after…

BAM!

“Um, Setsuna-san?”

Setsuna’s eyes snapped open and she glanced sideways in embarrassment from where her head had smashed into the wooden wall. Konoka had jerked open her bedroom door and was blinking in confusion at the sight of Setsuna and the broken wall.

“I’m sorry, Ojou-sama!” Setsuna stuttered, off-guard and stumbling back, bowing and trying to ignore the hole in the wall. Then she straightened again and froze, staring.

Konoka felt a jolt in her stomach when she saw Setsuna’s red eyes widen and her pale guardian freeze and fall silent. Konoka wasn’t vain, but she knew that her red dress and adorned hair made her look good.

From the look on Setsuna’s face, Konoka felt herself blushing and growing warm—the open admiration and burning desire in Setsuna’s intent stare made Konoka’s skin prickle with excitement. At the same time, she felt something comforting and warm pour into her chest, sending her stomach into giddy twirls.

She does still love me, Konoka thought to herself in miserable triumph.

Wanting you isn’t the same as loving you, a nastier part of her whispered back.

“That’s alright,” Konoka said, ignoring the scandalized look from the maid who had helped her with her dressing, and who was giving Setsuna a disapproving glower. Konoka hoped that the maid hadn’t noticed Setsuna’s momentary lapse—the last thing she needed was more animosity between her staff and her best friend. Pointedly overlooking the odd indentation in the wall, Konoka slid her hand onto Setsuna’s upper arm, feeling the other girl tense. “Will you escort me to the car? I’m pretty sure Kyo will just meet us directly there.”

Setsuna bowed once more, carefully keeping a proper distance between them. Her expression had gone impassive again. “It will be my pleasure, Ojou-sama.”

[isagrimorie]

Originally Posted by deathcurse

Sorry for the double post.....

Here's the first part of Chapter 2. I've got more in this chapter planned, since not much actually happens, but I suppose I could have the second half be a chapter on its own, I'm not sure . This section mostly adds more small details to the story.

Anyways, for your reading pleasure!

Prologue and Chapter 1

Love and Duty Come in Chains

Spoiler for Love and Duty Come in Chains, Chapter 2 part 1:

Chapter 2
May 3, 2010

“Setsuna.”

Setsuna glanced up and caught the envelope that Mana tossed at her one-handed. Immediately, from the weight she could tell what it was. “Thank you,” she answered automatically.

Mana grunted and crossed her arms, eyeing the other girl sharply. “The other half is in your bank account already, as usual,” she said dryly.

Konoemon had figured out a couple of weeks ago that when he sent Setsuna her monthly paycheck she would simply hand the whole thing to Mana without touching any of it herself. And when he sent her the portion of her pay agreed upon for Mana separately from the small amount he insisted on reserving for her, Setsuna would pass both envelopes over to Mana without looking at either of them anyway. Finally, he had settled with sending Mana both the paychecks every month to ensure that they ended up where they belonged.

The money never mattered to Setsuna. It was only sensible for her to hire another guard for Konoka with it, since all she needed was food and a place to sleep, both of which were provided for her. The arrangement worked out well for everyone, since Konoemon couldn’t hire a second guard for Konoka without causing tension between the Konoe and the Wallward, and Setsuna could put the monthly paycheck she never touched to good use in Mana. She trusted Mana with Konoka’s life.

Although Setsuna was technically Mana’s superior, the tan woman seemed surprisingly determined to prevent Setsuna from forgetting that they were friends. Mana had even managed to get Setsuna to spend her dutiful pocket money on something frivolous last weekend, a decorated fan that was the only adornment in their shared, Spartan quarters. Then again, Setsuna suspected that the thrifty Mana had wanted the fan herself, but knew that Setsuna would put it up on display for both of them. Setsuna wasn’t sure, but the thought had made her chuckle anyway.

“I see.” Setsuna slid the envelope of cash into her jacket pocket then returned to her sit-ups, feeling all her muscles warming up after a night’s stiff sleep. These days, Setsuna found that it was easier to stand outside of Konoka and Kyo’s bedroom door and doze against the doorframe than sleep in a bed. If Mana hadn’t insulted her into going back to their quarters to sleep, Setsuna would probably have spent the night in the hallway anyways even though it was Mana’s watch shift.

At least when she was outside their door, her hearing kept the rest of her brain from imagining. Imagining in her too-soft bed was a thousand times worse than standing silently in a cold hall without betraying any emotion.

Setsuna pulled herself up again, her stomach muscles quivering lightly with the effort. She let the throb of physical exertion push her troubling thoughts back into obscurity again. An extra 50 reps today, just to wipe the last of that heartbreak away.

“They’re going out for lunch today,” Mana said as she restocked her gun magazines, checking each bullet carefully before she slid it in. “You’ll be the sole guard. I’m on stand-by duty this morning.”

Setsuna froze, then flipped to her feet. “Were you? I can’t remember the schedule—”

“I am.”

“…I can pay you overtime,” Setsuna offered desperately, reaching a hand to her jacket pocket. “If you’ll be close guard for the day…” She couldn’t spend today so close to Konoka. Not today.

“I’d rather have the day off,” Mana drawled, and Setsuna winced, knowing that the gunslinger knew and was refusing to budge because she thought that it was for the better.

“Today’s not a good day for me,” growled Setsuna, frustrated and feeling her chest aching. Jerkily, she pulled her black suit jacket on and buttoned it up savagely.

“You have a job; the day shouldn’t matter to you.”

The words slipped out before Setsuna could stop herself. “Fuck you, Mana.”

They glared at each other, the atmosphere tense even though neither of them were touching their weapons. Setsuna sighed first and rubbed her face, finger-combing her hair before picking up Yuunagi. “Sorry. Enjoy your day off.”

“You should eat some breakfast before you go,” Mana suggested with a raised eyebrow, her voice droll. “I think the lack of food has made you too unsettled to handle yourself professionally.”

“I’ll eat,” muttered Setsuna as she opened the door. She wasn’t a fool. But especially today, she had no appetite at all.

After dropping by the kitchen to secure a breakfast wrap and finishing it in two big bites, Setsuna walked through the large house towards the master bedroom. Luckily, it was still early in the morning, so much so that most of the servants were still in bed. Even on the best of days, Setsuna couldn’t stand overhearing their gossip.

“It seems the master and the lady had a good night last night, don’t you think? Young love!”

“If I was the master, I wouldn’t only take the lady once every couple of weeks, I’d go at it every night…” Laughter.

Once upon a time, Setsuna would have hit whoever dared to speak of Konoka that way. But this wasn’t long ago, and they weren’t teenagers anymore…and she didn’t have the sole right to Konoka anymore. Setsuna would just walk silently past the gossiping servants, trying to turn off her demonically keen hearing but failing every time.

Every time she heard them, a little more of her heart broke and turned to dust in the hollow inside her chest.

***

Konoka woke suddenly, disorientated. She thought for a moment that she was in a forest, lying on dying grass. Then she realized that she was in a bed, and wondered where Asuna was and why she hadn’t been woken up by an early alarm clock and Asuna’s ranting about Negi crawling into her bed again.

Then Konoka remembered where she was.

“Awake?”

“Yes,” she said, stretching lightly and pulling herself up to look at her husband. To her surprise he was fully dressed and standing by the bed with a breakfast tray in his hands. “Oh I’m sorry, did I sleep in?”

Kyo set the tray down over her lap and straightened up, brushing his wayward hair from his glasses to hide his awkwardness. “No, I just woke up early. It’s our one month anniversary, and when I asked Hazan she told me to—” He stopped and scratched his head sheepishly.

Konoka giggled, touched that he had asked his cousin for advice on what to do for her on their anniversary. “Thank you, Kyo, it’s really sweet.”

He grunted, and shuffled his feet. Too proper to pull at his neatly knotted tie, Kyo settled for blushing lightly and trying futilely to finger-comb his hair into behaving. “I heard that spell yesterday didn’t go as you wanted?”

“No, I think that the magnitude was too large for the target pieces I made for the testing,” Konoka said through a mouthful of pancakes. They tasted a little odd—the batter hadn’t been mixed properly. But that just went to show that Kyo had actually made it himself, which made Konoka smile at him despite her pique that he had to bring up the wards at every opportunity. “I’ll look it up tomorrow to make sure.”

“As soon as possible would be good,” Kyo nodded, walking over to their dresser and sighing as he picked up his Blackberry. He would get emails every five minutes, either from the Wallward Software company, from the mages he had researching the Koyane Wards or from his dragon of a grandmother, the Wallward family matriarch. Konoka swallowed instead of sighing as well at the thought of their lunch at the restaurant being interrupted by the constant beeping of his phone. “My research team has been really good about staying inconspicuous at the site, so it seems like so far no one unsavoury is the wiser. But sooner or later, someone’s going to notice, and the physical flaw will be easy to exploit.”

“I’ll take care of it tomorrow,” Konoka repeated, cutting into her scrambled eggs with exaggerated patience.

“Something that—” A knock at the door distracted him. The door opened and Setsuna stepped in, bowing sharply.

“Sir, there is a parcel downstairs for you.”

“Ah, that would be the rune text I borrowed from Takamichi-sama,” Kyo said happily, striding for the door before catching himself up and coming back over to the bed to give Konoka a kiss. Reminding herself to relax, Konoka still couldn’t help sneaking a glance at the doorway while they kissed. It wasn’t fair of her to tense up every time she was in the same room with both Kyo and Setsuna, but Konoka couldn’t help making that reflexive wince.

But Setsuna wasn’t there anymore.

“I’ll see you at lunch?” When she smiled and nodded at him, Kyo kissed her hand and left, shutting the door behind himself.

Konoka shoved another forkful of pancakes and eggs into her mouth. “Great,” she muttered to herself, feeling both good and bad, but overall mildly let down. “I wonder if Asuna is up yet?”

She needed to relieve some stress, and Konoka didn’t think that the rest of the household would appreciate her playing Super Mario complete with loud, pounding music and sound effects at this early hour. And Konoka desperately needed someone to tell her that they loved her, as a friend or anything else, and for her to be able to look them in the eyes and truly believe their words.

***

Setsuna slammed her forehead into the wall.

And she did it again.

And again.

God, what’s wrong with you? What happened to all your resolve and promises? Setsuna growled and drove her head into the wall again. This time she heard an ominous crack in the wood. You can’t mess things up for Konoka now! Remember why you did in the first place!

When she had been guarding Konoka earlier that morning, her charge had somehow convinced Setsuna that she should stand guard inside Asuna’s room. Setsuna hadn’t thought much of it then, simply leaning Yuunagi against the wall and repositioning her katana, the better weapon for a smaller enclosed space. She had passively watched Asuna and Konoka engage in a match, both of them uncharacteristically broodingly silent as they played, the only sounds in the room coming from the tv speakers.

Seeing Konoka without a pretence of a smile on her face was just painful.

Seeing Konoka…not faking, exactly, but only passively content with little things instead of shining with general joy, was nearly unbearably agonizing for Setsuna. Because then the demon-girl would start thinking of what ifs and what could have beens, both useless practices that distracted her from her duty to protect her ojou-sama.

Sometime during their gaming, Asuna had cited a need to go take a shower. And somehow during the process when Asuna was exiting her room, Setsuna had found herself holding a game controller and caving in to Konoka’s innocent entreaties to finish the game with her.

Why did you give in? Doing such familiar things with Kono-chan, you’re only making things worse for both of you! Setsuna started to bring her forehead into the wall again but stopped herself when she saw the indentation and cracks in the planks. She scowled and turned around, crossing her arms again and tried to affect the stoic bodyguard routine.

Konoka’s married.

You’re just a servant now…it’s too soon for friendship, you know it, so soon after…

BAM!

“Um, Setsuna-san?”

Setsuna’s eyes snapped open and she glanced sideways in embarrassment from where her head had smashed into the wooden wall. Konoka had jerked open her bedroom door and was blinking in confusion at the sight of Setsuna and the broken wall.

“I’m sorry, Ojou-sama!” Setsuna stuttered, off-guard and stumbling back, bowing and trying to ignore the hole in the wall. Then she straightened again and froze, staring.

Konoka felt a jolt in her stomach when she saw Setsuna’s red eyes widen and her pale guardian freeze and fall silent. Konoka wasn’t vain, but she knew that her red dress and adorned hair made her look good.

From the look on Setsuna’s face, Konoka felt herself blushing and growing warm—the open admiration and burning desire in Setsuna’s intent stare made Konoka’s skin prickle with excitement. At the same time, she felt something comforting and warm pour into her chest, sending her stomach into giddy twirls.

She does still love me, Konoka thought to herself in miserable triumph.

Wanting you isn’t the same as loving you, a nastier part of her whispered back.

“That’s alright,” Konoka said, ignoring the scandalized look from the maid who had helped her with her dressing, and who was giving Setsuna a disapproving glower. Konoka hoped that the maid hadn’t noticed Setsuna’s momentary lapse—the last thing she needed was more animosity between her staff and her best friend. Pointedly overlooking the odd indentation in the wall, Konoka slid her hand onto Setsuna’s upper arm, feeling the other girl tense. “Will you escort me to the car? I’m pretty sure Kyo will just meet us directly there.”

Setsuna bowed once more, carefully keeping a proper distance between them. Her expression had gone impassive again. “It will be my pleasure, Ojou-sama.”

What's this? *gasp* Mana actually turning down money! And encouraging Setsuna to spend?! Truly, the situation must be so severe that Commander Mana must encourage Setsuna to spend and decline money! Hee!

And, boy, does Setsuna have a supreme talent for angst! Although I did chuckle at Setsuna hitting her head on the wall. Its such a Setsuna thing to do!

(BTW, does any one in the Konoe family know/suspect the true nature of Setsuna and Konoka's relationship? I'm just curious if the Headmaster knows.)

Return of the Mario Kart! Only, the more serious version!

[RadiantBeam]

Originally Posted by Merctrin

Wow, thanks for the responses everyone. They were much appreciated.

At this point, I wouldn't say it's necessary to read Liquid Heat to make sense of this, but I will say that it would be a very, very good idea, and it'll probably become necessary in a few chapters.

With that said, here's the first chapter of Taken Day by Day.

Spoiler for Day 1:

Breathe in, breathe out.


Breathe in, breathe out.


Breathe in—


“Luna-chan didn’t have to do any of this.”


Setsuna closed her eyes and prayed for peace.


“That’s because she’s not a mass murderer.”


Tsukuyomi sighed unhappily. “Senpai,” she whined, “that’s not very nice. I haven’t murdered anyone in years.” She paused, and when she started talking again, Setsuna heard her smile. “Besides, I like to take my time with my kills. Mass death isn’t much fun.”


Setsuna couldn’t help it. She opened her eyes and looked at Tsukuyomi. She knew better than this, and worse, she knew she knew better than this, but… “You just said you haven’t murdered anyone in years.”


“That’s because I haven’t.”


“But you have killed people recently.” As if she really needed to ask that.


Tsukuyomi grinned. “Yes.”


“I’m surprised Fate allowed that,” Setsuna said with forced lightness. Shouldn’t the headmaster be calling them in soon? What was the point of making an appointment if he wasn’t going to bother keeping it? “Didn’t he want to avoid unnecessary casualties?”


Her new charge shrugged, looking less than concerned with what her late boss would or would not have wanted. “I think they were very necessary.”


Of course she did. Setsuna drew in a short breath and let it out, trying to remind herself that she had no reason to be disturbed by Tsukuyomi. Whatever the other girl had done, it was in the past. Before her brief mockery of a trial that ended in a sentence that probably didn’t even begin to cover for everything she’d done while she was working under Fate. Now, she barely had the power to compete with some of the more skilled kendo students. And if she was crazy enough to try fighting Setsuna—which Setsuna couldn’t dismiss as a possibility—it wouldn’t be a match at all.


It wouldn’t be like last time.


No, it wouldn’t be. That went without saying. For starters, if they both fought at full strength again, there would be no Kurt Gödel showing up to interfere, and Tsukuyomi would die, solving a great deal of Setsuna’s current problems.


Setsuna closed her eyes again and told herself not to think like that. She could hate Tsukuyomi. She could wish that the girl had been sent anywhere else to serve out her sentence. She could even hate the headmaster for deciding that she was the best choice for Tsukuyomi’s guard if she really wanted to.


But she absolutely could not start longing for Tsukuyomi’s death. Whatever had or hadn’t happened… It was her duty to look after Tsukuyomi now. She didn’t get the option of killing her anymore. She had her duty, and she couldn’t let anything get in the way of that. She wouldn’t let anything get in the way.


She could hear Tsukuyomi breathing just a few feet away from her. The blonde’s stare made her felt like fire to her skin and made her shiver at the same time.


That’s easier said than done.


It would just take some getting used to, that was all, Setsuna tried to convince herself. Since she was a child, she’d only been responsible for Konoka, and that—that was still all she wanted. Keeping an eye on someone she hated instead of someone she lo—cared for would be different.


The sound of the door opening reached her ears and Setsuna’s eyes snapped open. Shizuna walked out of the office with a stack of folders in her arms. When she saw them, she smiled.


“Sorry about making you wait—my appointment took longer than expected. You can both go in now.”


Setsuna nodded and tried not to look too relieved. She stepped aside, waiting for Shizuna to pass. Behind her, Tsukuyomi did the same, though her movements had the annoying effect of putting her even closer to Setsuna. The half-demon rolled her shoulders uncomfortably and turned around.


“You go in first.”


Tsukuyomi had the gall to look surprised. “Huh? Why?”


“I don’t want you walking behind me.”


Now her damned smile was back. “You don’t trust me Setsuna-senpai? I’ve been at your back the entire time we’ve been waiting and haven’t done a single thing wrong.”


Put that way, it did sound a bit ridiculous, but Setsuna didn’t budge. “You weren’t moving then.” Just the idea of Tsukuyomi walking behind her was enough to increase her paranoia. It came from too many weeks of being stalked without knowing it.


Tsukuyomi pouted but didn’t object further. She strode into the office quickly, leaving Setsuna to follow. Surprisingly, there was someone else besides the headmaster still in the room.


“Oh! Hi, Gunslinger-onee-san!


To Mana’s credit, she only raised an eyebrow before nodding a greeting. “Tsukuyomi. Setsuna.”


Setsuna frowned. “What are you doing here Tatsumiya? I thought I was the only one assigned to Tsukuyomi.” Hope flared briefly in her chest. Had the headmaster changed his mind? Was Mana going to be in charge of Tsukuyomi instead?


It died when Mana opened her mouth. “You still are. The headmaster just thought it would be reasonable to make sure that I had no objections to sharing a room with her.” She shrugged. “And I don’t. I can take care of myself, and I don’t really spend much time in our room.”


Setsuna winced and Tsukuyomi’s head shot up from the chair she’d chosen for her seat. Her eyes were bright and intense, reminding Setsuna disturbingly of the way her irises used to turn gold just before their fights. “No? Why not?”


Mana smiled enigmatically. “Now why would I tell you that?”


From behind his desk, the headmaster cleared his throat. Setsuna and Mana immediately looked at him. Tsukuyomi preferred to keep her eyes fixed on Setsuna.


“If you don’t mind, I’d prefer to have this over with quickly. Conversation can wait until later.” Konoemon shuffled several very important-looking papers on his desk and swept his gaze over his three silent guests.


“Good. Now, Tsukuyomi-kun...” He tapped his fingers against his desk and sighed. “Well. First of all, all the necessary documents needed to enroll you as a student have been signed. Since you couldn’t provide us with a family name, you will be attending under the alias Kuzunoha Tsukuyomi, niece of our kendo instructor Kuzunoha Tōko.” He eyed the blonde. “I would strongly suggest that you don’t point out the relation.”


That’s one of the few ways she won’t cause trouble, Setsuna thought. Tsukuyomi was not a social person. She interacted with the people involved in her work, but she’d barely flinched when she heard that out of all Fate’s partners, only one would be joining her at Mahora. She wouldn’t seek some stranger out and brag about who her fake aunt was.


“Next, it has been decided that rather than replace your current seal with something less restrictive, the Ouroboros Seal will remain in place.”


Tsukuyomi sulked as her hand twitched convulsively up to her abdomen. “Does it really have to? I know how to behave myself.”


Setsuna fought back the impulse to roll her eyes. Yes, Tsukuyomi probably did know how to behave herself. That didn’t mean she could. If her earlier words about necessary casualties were anything to go by, even Fate hadn’t been able to keep her restrained. The Ouroboros Seal was a good idea.


It was one of the most restrictive seals that could be placed on someone. Most just blocked off magic from the mage’s control, or, in the case of ki users, prevented ki from being able to exit the body. Those were the ones most typically used on criminals.


The Ouroboros Seal’s use was almost completely limited to the Magical World, and was only used when transporting prisoners through areas that were highly concentrated with magic. Most seals couldn’t have made it through the Gateport.
But the Ouroboros Seal survived on the victim’s own magic and ki. Outside magical interference had very little, if any, effect on it, and any inner interference would die before it gained power. As long as no one intentionally released the seal, it would keep working until Tsukuyomi died.


Of course, it wasn’t without its dangers, which was why it was used so sparingly. Prisons were not always the most hygienic of places, and there had been cases where the criminal’s bodies had given out because they’d been unable to use the most mundane of their magic—the type that kept mages alive for longer and in better shape than most mundanes.


Quite a few had frozen to death because those responsible for them were used to more resilient prisoners.


But Mahora was not designed as a prison. All the Ouroboros Seal meant here was that Tsukuyomi was completely and utterly powerless—no stronger than a mundane.


“Tsukuyomi-kun, this is not something that can be argued.” Setsuna shook herself from her very calming thoughts just in time to see the headmaster glare at Tsukuyomi.


“You are being punished. As far as everyone involved is concerned, Mahora is to be your prison until you reach the age of majority, at which time things will be reevaluated. This is not meant for your enjoyment in any way. Expecting otherwise will do nothing to improve your imprisonment.”


Tsukuyomi sighed dramatically and collapsed into the back of her chair. Her eyes were dull and unhappy. Apparently taking that as a sign to move on to the more general terms of her incarceration, Konoemon continued.


“As you already know, you will be sharing a room with Setsuna-kun.” She looks far too happy about that. “Setsuna-kun, I don’t want you to let her out of your sight.”


“Yes sir.” It was expected, Setsuna told herself sternly. It was the exact same thing he had asked when he told her to watch over Konoka. The only difference was how much she liked the person involved.


She steadfastly ignored the little voice in her head that was busy illustrating just how much of a difference that was.

----------------

Well, she couldn’t say it was unexpected.


Tsukuyomi hummed to herself and sat down on the floor of the closet-turned-dressing room. She dropped the school uniform she was supposed to be trying on next to her.


Most of the restrictions were things she was looking forward to: rooming with Setsuna, constantly being by her side, staying away from people who didn’t know who she really was… All expected, all fun. Wonderful, even.


But the Seal was something of a problem. She’d thought that once she reached Mahora, the Ouroboros Seal would be removed and replaced with something that granted her limited access to her magic—something she could break, given enough time. But no, the headmaster just had to be stubborn.


Tsukuyomi sighed and looked around the empty closet.


Killing anything without her ki would be a challenge. Not the fun kind, either—this was more like when Fate had ordered her to keep an eye on Setsuna without approaching her in any way.


Humans were out of the question. Too difficult and too—


Obvious?


Tsukuyomi blinked as the thought occurred to her. Since when did that matter?
A few seconds later, she got it.


She could kill one of the students, but then she would get in trouble, and the sort of trouble she got in would most likely involve separation from Setsuna, and she didn’t want that. She liked Setsuna, and the thought of being apart from her made her breath catch for some reason.


So. No killing.


…


No, no, no, no, that would never work.


Maybe she could kill in moderation.


No, that wouldn’t work either. Without human victims, she could only kill small animals that wandered into Mahora. That wasn’t anywhere near enough blood.


Wait.


Killing was something she enjoyed. As long as there was blood and violence, she could be happy anywhere. She thrived on it.


But she could survive without it until she figured out a way to get around the Ouroboros Seal. Setsuna was here. Setsuna had orders to stay by her side. She wouldn’t leave.


The strange relieved feeling that Setsuna being alive gave her came back for a second, and her heart pounded in a way that made it hard to breathe. Tsukuyomi shrugged the feeling off quickly—it made her uncomfortable.


She would have to be completely dependent on Setsuna. Maybe for a long time. She didn’t have anyone else, and finding out how to get rid of a Seal that was supposed to be unbeatable without outside help wouldn’t be easy. But not easy was not the same as impossible.


Tsukuyomi took a deep breath and nodded. Doable then. And it was only until she got rid of the Seal. After that, she could have as much fun as she wanted.

Spoiler for Notes:

The Ouroboros Seal used here came out of my own thoughts, though I don't doubt that something like that has been used before somewhere else, since it's not the most unique idea in the world. I did learn what an ouroboros is by reading Fullmetal Alchemist though, if that means anything.

So, next up is Tsukuyomi's first day as a member of Negi's class! How could that possibly cause anyone any trouble? ...Very easily, as it turns out.

Thanks for reading.

I'm actually very surprised that I kind of find myself sympathizing with Tsukuyomi. Not so much with her whole wish to kill and everything, but I can understand how she hates the new restraint upon her life and how Setsuna is really the only person she can truly depend on at this moment. It's a sense of powerlessness and helplessness that she isn't used to, and even for her character, it's rather heartbreaking.

Nice to see how you define the differences with Setsuna of the two people she's going to guard. Granted, she dislikes Tsukuyomi right now, but somehow I doubt that will last very long at all.

Next chapter soon, please?

Originally Posted by deathcurse

Sorry for the double post.....

Here's the first part of Chapter 2. I've got more in this chapter planned, since not much actually happens, but I suppose I could have the second half be a chapter on its own, I'm not sure . This section mostly adds more small details to the story.

Anyways, for your reading pleasure!

Prologue and Chapter 1

Love and Duty Come in Chains

Spoiler for Love and Duty Come in Chains, Chapter 2 part 1:

Chapter 2
May 3, 2010

“Setsuna.”

Setsuna glanced up and caught the envelope that Mana tossed at her one-handed. Immediately, from the weight she could tell what it was. “Thank you,” she answered automatically.

Mana grunted and crossed her arms, eyeing the other girl sharply. “The other half is in your bank account already, as usual,” she said dryly.

Konoemon had figured out a couple of weeks ago that when he sent Setsuna her monthly paycheck she would simply hand the whole thing to Mana without touching any of it herself. And when he sent her the portion of her pay agreed upon for Mana separately from the small amount he insisted on reserving for her, Setsuna would pass both envelopes over to Mana without looking at either of them anyway. Finally, he had settled with sending Mana both the paychecks every month to ensure that they ended up where they belonged.

The money never mattered to Setsuna. It was only sensible for her to hire another guard for Konoka with it, since all she needed was food and a place to sleep, both of which were provided for her. The arrangement worked out well for everyone, since Konoemon couldn’t hire a second guard for Konoka without causing tension between the Konoe and the Wallward, and Setsuna could put the monthly paycheck she never touched to good use in Mana. She trusted Mana with Konoka’s life.

Although Setsuna was technically Mana’s superior, the tan woman seemed surprisingly determined to prevent Setsuna from forgetting that they were friends. Mana had even managed to get Setsuna to spend her dutiful pocket money on something frivolous last weekend, a decorated fan that was the only adornment in their shared, Spartan quarters. Then again, Setsuna suspected that the thrifty Mana had wanted the fan herself, but knew that Setsuna would put it up on display for both of them. Setsuna wasn’t sure, but the thought had made her chuckle anyway.

“I see.” Setsuna slid the envelope of cash into her jacket pocket then returned to her sit-ups, feeling all her muscles warming up after a night’s stiff sleep. These days, Setsuna found that it was easier to stand outside of Konoka and Kyo’s bedroom door and doze against the doorframe than sleep in a bed. If Mana hadn’t insulted her into going back to their quarters to sleep, Setsuna would probably have spent the night in the hallway anyways even though it was Mana’s watch shift.

At least when she was outside their door, her hearing kept the rest of her brain from imagining. Imagining in her too-soft bed was a thousand times worse than standing silently in a cold hall without betraying any emotion.

Setsuna pulled herself up again, her stomach muscles quivering lightly with the effort. She let the throb of physical exertion push her troubling thoughts back into obscurity again. An extra 50 reps today, just to wipe the last of that heartbreak away.

“They’re going out for lunch today,” Mana said as she restocked her gun magazines, checking each bullet carefully before she slid it in. “You’ll be the sole guard. I’m on stand-by duty this morning.”

Setsuna froze, then flipped to her feet. “Were you? I can’t remember the schedule—”

“I am.”

“…I can pay you overtime,” Setsuna offered desperately, reaching a hand to her jacket pocket. “If you’ll be close guard for the day…” She couldn’t spend today so close to Konoka. Not today.

“I’d rather have the day off,” Mana drawled, and Setsuna winced, knowing that the gunslinger knew and was refusing to budge because she thought that it was for the better.

“Today’s not a good day for me,” growled Setsuna, frustrated and feeling her chest aching. Jerkily, she pulled her black suit jacket on and buttoned it up savagely.

“You have a job; the day shouldn’t matter to you.”

The words slipped out before Setsuna could stop herself. “Fuck you, Mana.”

They glared at each other, the atmosphere tense even though neither of them were touching their weapons. Setsuna sighed first and rubbed her face, finger-combing her hair before picking up Yuunagi. “Sorry. Enjoy your day off.”

“You should eat some breakfast before you go,” Mana suggested with a raised eyebrow, her voice droll. “I think the lack of food has made you too unsettled to handle yourself professionally.”

“I’ll eat,” muttered Setsuna as she opened the door. She wasn’t a fool. But especially today, she had no appetite at all.

After dropping by the kitchen to secure a breakfast wrap and finishing it in two big bites, Setsuna walked through the large house towards the master bedroom. Luckily, it was still early in the morning, so much so that most of the servants were still in bed. Even on the best of days, Setsuna couldn’t stand overhearing their gossip.

“It seems the master and the lady had a good night last night, don’t you think? Young love!”

“If I was the master, I wouldn’t only take the lady once every couple of weeks, I’d go at it every night…” Laughter.

Once upon a time, Setsuna would have hit whoever dared to speak of Konoka that way. But this wasn’t long ago, and they weren’t teenagers anymore…and she didn’t have the sole right to Konoka anymore. Setsuna would just walk silently past the gossiping servants, trying to turn off her demonically keen hearing but failing every time.

Every time she heard them, a little more of her heart broke and turned to dust in the hollow inside her chest.

***

Konoka woke suddenly, disorientated. She thought for a moment that she was in a forest, lying on dying grass. Then she realized that she was in a bed, and wondered where Asuna was and why she hadn’t been woken up by an early alarm clock and Asuna’s ranting about Negi crawling into her bed again.

Then Konoka remembered where she was.

“Awake?”

“Yes,” she said, stretching lightly and pulling herself up to look at her husband. To her surprise he was fully dressed and standing by the bed with a breakfast tray in his hands. “Oh I’m sorry, did I sleep in?”

Kyo set the tray down over her lap and straightened up, brushing his wayward hair from his glasses to hide his awkwardness. “No, I just woke up early. It’s our one month anniversary, and when I asked Hazan she told me to—” He stopped and scratched his head sheepishly.

Konoka giggled, touched that he had asked his cousin for advice on what to do for her on their anniversary. “Thank you, Kyo, it’s really sweet.”

He grunted, and shuffled his feet. Too proper to pull at his neatly knotted tie, Kyo settled for blushing lightly and trying futilely to finger-comb his hair into behaving. “I heard that spell yesterday didn’t go as you wanted?”

“No, I think that the magnitude was too large for the target pieces I made for the testing,” Konoka said through a mouthful of pancakes. They tasted a little odd—the batter hadn’t been mixed properly. But that just went to show that Kyo had actually made it himself, which made Konoka smile at him despite her pique that he had to bring up the wards at every opportunity. “I’ll look it up tomorrow to make sure.”

“As soon as possible would be good,” Kyo nodded, walking over to their dresser and sighing as he picked up his Blackberry. He would get emails every five minutes, either from the Wallward Software company, from the mages he had researching the Koyane Wards or from his dragon of a grandmother, the Wallward family matriarch. Konoka swallowed instead of sighing as well at the thought of their lunch at the restaurant being interrupted by the constant beeping of his phone. “My research team has been really good about staying inconspicuous at the site, so it seems like so far no one unsavoury is the wiser. But sooner or later, someone’s going to notice, and the physical flaw will be easy to exploit.”

“I’ll take care of it tomorrow,” Konoka repeated, cutting into her scrambled eggs with exaggerated patience.

“Something that—” A knock at the door distracted him. The door opened and Setsuna stepped in, bowing sharply.

“Sir, there is a parcel downstairs for you.”

“Ah, that would be the rune text I borrowed from Takamichi-sama,” Kyo said happily, striding for the door before catching himself up and coming back over to the bed to give Konoka a kiss. Reminding herself to relax, Konoka still couldn’t help sneaking a glance at the doorway while they kissed. It wasn’t fair of her to tense up every time she was in the same room with both Kyo and Setsuna, but Konoka couldn’t help making that reflexive wince.

But Setsuna wasn’t there anymore.

“I’ll see you at lunch?” When she smiled and nodded at him, Kyo kissed her hand and left, shutting the door behind himself.

Konoka shoved another forkful of pancakes and eggs into her mouth. “Great,” she muttered to herself, feeling both good and bad, but overall mildly let down. “I wonder if Asuna is up yet?”

She needed to relieve some stress, and Konoka didn’t think that the rest of the household would appreciate her playing Super Mario complete with loud, pounding music and sound effects at this early hour. And Konoka desperately needed someone to tell her that they loved her, as a friend or anything else, and for her to be able to look them in the eyes and truly believe their words.

***

Setsuna slammed her forehead into the wall.

And she did it again.

And again.

God, what’s wrong with you? What happened to all your resolve and promises? Setsuna growled and drove her head into the wall again. This time she heard an ominous crack in the wood. You can’t mess things up for Konoka now! Remember why you did in the first place!

When she had been guarding Konoka earlier that morning, her charge had somehow convinced Setsuna that she should stand guard inside Asuna’s room. Setsuna hadn’t thought much of it then, simply leaning Yuunagi against the wall and repositioning her katana, the better weapon for a smaller enclosed space. She had passively watched Asuna and Konoka engage in a match, both of them uncharacteristically broodingly silent as they played, the only sounds in the room coming from the tv speakers.

Seeing Konoka without a pretence of a smile on her face was just painful.

Seeing Konoka…not faking, exactly, but only passively content with little things instead of shining with general joy, was nearly unbearably agonizing for Setsuna. Because then the demon-girl would start thinking of what ifs and what could have beens, both useless practices that distracted her from her duty to protect her ojou-sama.

Sometime during their gaming, Asuna had cited a need to go take a shower. And somehow during the process when Asuna was exiting her room, Setsuna had found herself holding a game controller and caving in to Konoka’s innocent entreaties to finish the game with her.

Why did you give in? Doing such familiar things with Kono-chan, you’re only making things worse for both of you! Setsuna started to bring her forehead into the wall again but stopped herself when she saw the indentation and cracks in the planks. She scowled and turned around, crossing her arms again and tried to affect the stoic bodyguard routine.

Konoka’s married.

You’re just a servant now…it’s too soon for friendship, you know it, so soon after…

BAM!

“Um, Setsuna-san?”

Setsuna’s eyes snapped open and she glanced sideways in embarrassment from where her head had smashed into the wooden wall. Konoka had jerked open her bedroom door and was blinking in confusion at the sight of Setsuna and the broken wall.

“I’m sorry, Ojou-sama!” Setsuna stuttered, off-guard and stumbling back, bowing and trying to ignore the hole in the wall. Then she straightened again and froze, staring.

Konoka felt a jolt in her stomach when she saw Setsuna’s red eyes widen and her pale guardian freeze and fall silent. Konoka wasn’t vain, but she knew that her red dress and adorned hair made her look good.

From the look on Setsuna’s face, Konoka felt herself blushing and growing warm—the open admiration and burning desire in Setsuna’s intent stare made Konoka’s skin prickle with excitement. At the same time, she felt something comforting and warm pour into her chest, sending her stomach into giddy twirls.

She does still love me, Konoka thought to herself in miserable triumph.

Wanting you isn’t the same as loving you, a nastier part of her whispered back.

“That’s alright,” Konoka said, ignoring the scandalized look from the maid who had helped her with her dressing, and who was giving Setsuna a disapproving glower. Konoka hoped that the maid hadn’t noticed Setsuna’s momentary lapse—the last thing she needed was more animosity between her staff and her best friend. Pointedly overlooking the odd indentation in the wall, Konoka slid her hand onto Setsuna’s upper arm, feeling the other girl tense. “Will you escort me to the car? I’m pretty sure Kyo will just meet us directly there.”

Setsuna bowed once more, carefully keeping a proper distance between them. Her expression had gone impassive again. “It will be my pleasure, Ojou-sama.”

I really only have one comment for this chapter: Mana is awesome. That is all.

[Merctrin]

Originally Posted by deathcurse

Sorry for the double post.....

Here's the first part of Chapter 2. I've got more in this chapter planned, since not much actually happens, but I suppose I could have the second half be a chapter on its own, I'm not sure . This section mostly adds more small details to the story.

Anyways, for your reading pleasure!

Prologue and Chapter 1

Love and Duty Come in Chains

Spoiler for Love and Duty Come in Chains, Chapter 2 part 1:

Chapter 2
May 3, 2010

“Setsuna.”

Setsuna glanced up and caught the envelope that Mana tossed at her one-handed. Immediately, from the weight she could tell what it was. “Thank you,” she answered automatically.

Mana grunted and crossed her arms, eyeing the other girl sharply. “The other half is in your bank account already, as usual,” she said dryly.

Konoemon had figured out a couple of weeks ago that when he sent Setsuna her monthly paycheck she would simply hand the whole thing to Mana without touching any of it herself. And when he sent her the portion of her pay agreed upon for Mana separately from the small amount he insisted on reserving for her, Setsuna would pass both envelopes over to Mana without looking at either of them anyway. Finally, he had settled with sending Mana both the paychecks every month to ensure that they ended up where they belonged.

The money never mattered to Setsuna. It was only sensible for her to hire another guard for Konoka with it, since all she needed was food and a place to sleep, both of which were provided for her. The arrangement worked out well for everyone, since Konoemon couldn’t hire a second guard for Konoka without causing tension between the Konoe and the Wallward, and Setsuna could put the monthly paycheck she never touched to good use in Mana. She trusted Mana with Konoka’s life.

Although Setsuna was technically Mana’s superior, the tan woman seemed surprisingly determined to prevent Setsuna from forgetting that they were friends. Mana had even managed to get Setsuna to spend her dutiful pocket money on something frivolous last weekend, a decorated fan that was the only adornment in their shared, Spartan quarters. Then again, Setsuna suspected that the thrifty Mana had wanted the fan herself, but knew that Setsuna would put it up on display for both of them. Setsuna wasn’t sure, but the thought had made her chuckle anyway.

“I see.” Setsuna slid the envelope of cash into her jacket pocket then returned to her sit-ups, feeling all her muscles warming up after a night’s stiff sleep. These days, Setsuna found that it was easier to stand outside of Konoka and Kyo’s bedroom door and doze against the doorframe than sleep in a bed. If Mana hadn’t insulted her into going back to their quarters to sleep, Setsuna would probably have spent the night in the hallway anyways even though it was Mana’s watch shift.

At least when she was outside their door, her hearing kept the rest of her brain from imagining. Imagining in her too-soft bed was a thousand times worse than standing silently in a cold hall without betraying any emotion.

Setsuna pulled herself up again, her stomach muscles quivering lightly with the effort. She let the throb of physical exertion push her troubling thoughts back into obscurity again. An extra 50 reps today, just to wipe the last of that heartbreak away.

“They’re going out for lunch today,” Mana said as she restocked her gun magazines, checking each bullet carefully before she slid it in. “You’ll be the sole guard. I’m on stand-by duty this morning.”

Setsuna froze, then flipped to her feet. “Were you? I can’t remember the schedule—”

“I am.”

“…I can pay you overtime,” Setsuna offered desperately, reaching a hand to her jacket pocket. “If you’ll be close guard for the day…” She couldn’t spend today so close to Konoka. Not today.

“I’d rather have the day off,” Mana drawled, and Setsuna winced, knowing that the gunslinger knew and was refusing to budge because she thought that it was for the better.

“Today’s not a good day for me,” growled Setsuna, frustrated and feeling her chest aching. Jerkily, she pulled her black suit jacket on and buttoned it up savagely.

“You have a job; the day shouldn’t matter to you.”

The words slipped out before Setsuna could stop herself. “Fuck you, Mana.”

They glared at each other, the atmosphere tense even though neither of them were touching their weapons. Setsuna sighed first and rubbed her face, finger-combing her hair before picking up Yuunagi. “Sorry. Enjoy your day off.”

“You should eat some breakfast before you go,” Mana suggested with a raised eyebrow, her voice droll. “I think the lack of food has made you too unsettled to handle yourself professionally.”

“I’ll eat,” muttered Setsuna as she opened the door. She wasn’t a fool. But especially today, she had no appetite at all.

After dropping by the kitchen to secure a breakfast wrap and finishing it in two big bites, Setsuna walked through the large house towards the master bedroom. Luckily, it was still early in the morning, so much so that most of the servants were still in bed. Even on the best of days, Setsuna couldn’t stand overhearing their gossip.

“It seems the master and the lady had a good night last night, don’t you think? Young love!”

“If I was the master, I wouldn’t only take the lady once every couple of weeks, I’d go at it every night…” Laughter.

Once upon a time, Setsuna would have hit whoever dared to speak of Konoka that way. But this wasn’t long ago, and they weren’t teenagers anymore…and she didn’t have the sole right to Konoka anymore. Setsuna would just walk silently past the gossiping servants, trying to turn off her demonically keen hearing but failing every time.

Every time she heard them, a little more of her heart broke and turned to dust in the hollow inside her chest.

***

Konoka woke suddenly, disorientated. She thought for a moment that she was in a forest, lying on dying grass. Then she realized that she was in a bed, and wondered where Asuna was and why she hadn’t been woken up by an early alarm clock and Asuna’s ranting about Negi crawling into her bed again.

Then Konoka remembered where she was.

“Awake?”

“Yes,” she said, stretching lightly and pulling herself up to look at her husband. To her surprise he was fully dressed and standing by the bed with a breakfast tray in his hands. “Oh I’m sorry, did I sleep in?”

Kyo set the tray down over her lap and straightened up, brushing his wayward hair from his glasses to hide his awkwardness. “No, I just woke up early. It’s our one month anniversary, and when I asked Hazan she told me to—” He stopped and scratched his head sheepishly.

Konoka giggled, touched that he had asked his cousin for advice on what to do for her on their anniversary. “Thank you, Kyo, it’s really sweet.”

He grunted, and shuffled his feet. Too proper to pull at his neatly knotted tie, Kyo settled for blushing lightly and trying futilely to finger-comb his hair into behaving. “I heard that spell yesterday didn’t go as you wanted?”

“No, I think that the magnitude was too large for the target pieces I made for the testing,” Konoka said through a mouthful of pancakes. They tasted a little odd—the batter hadn’t been mixed properly. But that just went to show that Kyo had actually made it himself, which made Konoka smile at him despite her pique that he had to bring up the wards at every opportunity. “I’ll look it up tomorrow to make sure.”

“As soon as possible would be good,” Kyo nodded, walking over to their dresser and sighing as he picked up his Blackberry. He would get emails every five minutes, either from the Wallward Software company, from the mages he had researching the Koyane Wards or from his dragon of a grandmother, the Wallward family matriarch. Konoka swallowed instead of sighing as well at the thought of their lunch at the restaurant being interrupted by the constant beeping of his phone. “My research team has been really good about staying inconspicuous at the site, so it seems like so far no one unsavoury is the wiser. But sooner or later, someone’s going to notice, and the physical flaw will be easy to exploit.”

“I’ll take care of it tomorrow,” Konoka repeated, cutting into her scrambled eggs with exaggerated patience.

“Something that—” A knock at the door distracted him. The door opened and Setsuna stepped in, bowing sharply.

“Sir, there is a parcel downstairs for you.”

“Ah, that would be the rune text I borrowed from Takamichi-sama,” Kyo said happily, striding for the door before catching himself up and coming back over to the bed to give Konoka a kiss. Reminding herself to relax, Konoka still couldn’t help sneaking a glance at the doorway while they kissed. It wasn’t fair of her to tense up every time she was in the same room with both Kyo and Setsuna, but Konoka couldn’t help making that reflexive wince.

But Setsuna wasn’t there anymore.

“I’ll see you at lunch?” When she smiled and nodded at him, Kyo kissed her hand and left, shutting the door behind himself.

Konoka shoved another forkful of pancakes and eggs into her mouth. “Great,” she muttered to herself, feeling both good and bad, but overall mildly let down. “I wonder if Asuna is up yet?”

She needed to relieve some stress, and Konoka didn’t think that the rest of the household would appreciate her playing Super Mario complete with loud, pounding music and sound effects at this early hour. And Konoka desperately needed someone to tell her that they loved her, as a friend or anything else, and for her to be able to look them in the eyes and truly believe their words.

***

Setsuna slammed her forehead into the wall.

And she did it again.

And again.

God, what’s wrong with you? What happened to all your resolve and promises? Setsuna growled and drove her head into the wall again. This time she heard an ominous crack in the wood. You can’t mess things up for Konoka now! Remember why you did in the first place!

When she had been guarding Konoka earlier that morning, her charge had somehow convinced Setsuna that she should stand guard inside Asuna’s room. Setsuna hadn’t thought much of it then, simply leaning Yuunagi against the wall and repositioning her katana, the better weapon for a smaller enclosed space. She had passively watched Asuna and Konoka engage in a match, both of them uncharacteristically broodingly silent as they played, the only sounds in the room coming from the tv speakers.

Seeing Konoka without a pretence of a smile on her face was just painful.

Seeing Konoka…not faking, exactly, but only passively content with little things instead of shining with general joy, was nearly unbearably agonizing for Setsuna. Because then the demon-girl would start thinking of what ifs and what could have beens, both useless practices that distracted her from her duty to protect her ojou-sama.

Sometime during their gaming, Asuna had cited a need to go take a shower. And somehow during the process when Asuna was exiting her room, Setsuna had found herself holding a game controller and caving in to Konoka’s innocent entreaties to finish the game with her.

Why did you give in? Doing such familiar things with Kono-chan, you’re only making things worse for both of you! Setsuna started to bring her forehead into the wall again but stopped herself when she saw the indentation and cracks in the planks. She scowled and turned around, crossing her arms again and tried to affect the stoic bodyguard routine.

Konoka’s married.

You’re just a servant now…it’s too soon for friendship, you know it, so soon after…

BAM!

“Um, Setsuna-san?”

Setsuna’s eyes snapped open and she glanced sideways in embarrassment from where her head had smashed into the wooden wall. Konoka had jerked open her bedroom door and was blinking in confusion at the sight of Setsuna and the broken wall.

“I’m sorry, Ojou-sama!” Setsuna stuttered, off-guard and stumbling back, bowing and trying to ignore the hole in the wall. Then she straightened again and froze, staring.

Konoka felt a jolt in her stomach when she saw Setsuna’s red eyes widen and her pale guardian freeze and fall silent. Konoka wasn’t vain, but she knew that her red dress and adorned hair made her look good.

From the look on Setsuna’s face, Konoka felt herself blushing and growing warm—the open admiration and burning desire in Setsuna’s intent stare made Konoka’s skin prickle with excitement. At the same time, she felt something comforting and warm pour into her chest, sending her stomach into giddy twirls.

She does still love me, Konoka thought to herself in miserable triumph.

Wanting you isn’t the same as loving you, a nastier part of her whispered back.

“That’s alright,” Konoka said, ignoring the scandalized look from the maid who had helped her with her dressing, and who was giving Setsuna a disapproving glower. Konoka hoped that the maid hadn’t noticed Setsuna’s momentary lapse—the last thing she needed was more animosity between her staff and her best friend. Pointedly overlooking the odd indentation in the wall, Konoka slid her hand onto Setsuna’s upper arm, feeling the other girl tense. “Will you escort me to the car? I’m pretty sure Kyo will just meet us directly there.”

Setsuna bowed once more, carefully keeping a proper distance between them. Her expression had gone impassive again. “It will be my pleasure, Ojou-sama.”

Go Mana! It's a little odd to think of her turning down money, but at least everyone's getting their proper share. I can't say that forcing Setsuna to be the close guard was the kindest thing in the world, but it was still very satisfying to see Setsuna's attempts to keep away from Konoka foiled so effectively. Even though it'll definitely cause her more angst.

...Okay, especially because it'll cause her more angst. It's torturous and frustrating, but you write angsty Setsuna really well, and while it might not exactly be fun for any of the parties involved, it is very entertaining.

Oh, and there was Kyo present. Hm. Not sure what to make of him just yet.

*holds out hand* More please!

[Kurush]

Okay, now this is coming up after that, song section in the next chapter, but take it as it is, right now. I don't want to explain everything.

Spoiler for Swim training:

“And I thought the weights were just a metaphor...” Asuna said as she, Ako, Mana, Takeda, Yuuna, Haruna and Kaede were out in the ocean, the first time for Takeda at least. This time the water was calm, tranquil, no storms were raging. But they had been forced into broe the water was calm, tranquil, no storms were raging. But they had been forced into bronze scale armor, each weighing some 12 kg each. It was no biggie for Asuna, Mana and Kaede, but for the rest, it was difficult. “Why are we wearing these to begin with?”

“It was either these or the big rocks.” Haruna, struggling to keep up on the surface with the armor on. “I thought he was joking when he said he was going to add weights to our swim training, but he did it anyway...”

“I'll admit that it's tough to even stay at the surface with this on...” Takeda said, actually ignoring the girl's looks for once. What was surprising to them at least regarding him was that he had springs linked together to compact his body frame underneath the armor he was wearing. “We can barely stay afloat like this.”

“Wouldn't it be better if we all took off the armor?” Yuuna asked out loud.

“No, we must do this with it on.” Mana scolded her. “We would fail this if we skipped it.”

“Mou... it's too heavy...” Ako complained, struggling herself to keep afloat.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa... do you hear that?” Haruna asked them as they heard music being played somewhere. It was a familiar tone, being loud and clear yet there was no one to play the music. “What's that tune?”

“Where does it come from?” Yuuna asked, trying to cover her ears, yet the music still came to her.

“It's telepathic, it plays inside our heads.” Asuna said. “My Magic Cancel doesn't work on it, so I can hear it too.”

“Magic Cancel?” Takeda asked as the music kept playing in their heads.

“Short version, I am able to nullify any kind of magic that is supposed to bring harm to me within a certain area. Telepathy is not harmful so it can bypass that.”

“Ah.” Takeda said as he gathered that.

“I know this tone.” Mana said, and the rest looked at the Sniper. “It's the theme from Jaws.”

Everyone went very quiet at that as Mr. Bunny passed by their head, carrying his trademark branch with him.

“You mean that movie franchise with the-?” Yuuna asked the sniper.

“Yes, the shark.” Mana responded.

“The really big one?”

“Yes.”

“We're doomed.” Haruna lamented on their situation.

“Come on.” Asuna tried to rally their support. “It's just the music playing in our heads. It's not like there is an actual-” She was cut off by Yuuna and Ako seeing something in the distance.

A shark fin.

A great big shark fin could seen about 30 meters away from them, swimming from left to right of their point of view. It stayed afloat as the music in their heads reached something of a climax, then dove back down into the water.

“Shark.” Haruna said.

“I'd say a Great White.” Yuuna added.

“A big one... about a ton, maybe more.” Takeda said as well, unnerved by the shark's presence.

“I could handle it.” Asuna said calmly. “We've done in things bigger than that shark back in the Magic World. A shark shouldn't be much trouble.” With that, she called out her metal fan and dove into the deep waters, leaving the others up there, waiting for a sign to come up. They could swim like hell if it was the shark, but they knew what Asuna could do at least. But a few moments later, the redhead came back up and she had that look on her face that could be read like: Oh Crap. “It's Rachel.”

“Rachel?” Ako echoed the name.

“Rachel...” Asuna answered her, before a big sign came up with handwriting on it popped up in front of them. It read 'You got 100 meters headstart'. That was enough for Asuna. “SWIIIIIM!” She screamed as she bolted through the water for it, armor or not. The redhead was followed suit by the others.

Somewhere else at the time.

“You know, I have to admit, Aristodemus-sensei.” Kenichi told the Spartan as they were in the boat along with Akira the Swimmer, the two teens in their swimwear, whilst the Ancient in a sleeveless cloak for magi, with loose fitting pants underneath at least. “I thought you were going to put me through some hardcore training that would almost kill me after the Elder left.”

“Nah.” Aris answered him. “Ryouzanpaku has already given you the martial art training you need to put your stamp on the world. I just decided to give you a little boost somewhere else. Pretty much why Akira-kun here is also on the boat and not out there looking for us.” He said whilst stepping on to the water. “I'm going to teach you how to use Ki instead.”

“Ki?” Kenichi echoed the word. Akira stayed quiet on this one.

“Every martial art master and their disciple has heard of the term.” The Spartan continued. “Chi, or Ki as Japanese pronounce it, is the very energy we fighters use to fight. The Magic World has heard of it as well. Chi is a form of physical energy that resides in people that has normally no affiliation with the spiritual energy that is called magic. And despite its abundance, very few people has managed to master it to their own will. Chi is there to help a fighter in battle, but there aren't many times when it emerges. This is why martial artists spend much time meditating, to find their own personal source of Chi, and unlock it.”

“Hm...” Akira took in this knowledge. “So, when we focus as much energy as we can into something, that Chi of ours is being used to help give a boost as well?”

“Somewhat to that effect, yes.” Aris answered her. “The problem however, is to discover where Chi is stored. No one can claim that their Chi is stored in the same place as another. Some groups has found that their Chi can be found within their comrades, and when they work together, that Chi is released. Just one example, really. But not everybody can unlock theirs, no matter how hard they try. Some might find it impossible to accomplish.”

“Thanks for the warning, at there, sensei.” Kenichi said, almost disappointed at that fact. “But if I manage to unlock my Chi, what can I do with it?”

“That's a good question. Hayato told me that you are a Sei fighter, meaning you're able to do the Seikyuuken technique.” Aris said, starting to float above them. “Allow me to show it to you in the easy way first. You know that there are roughly two categories, Dou and Sei. Dou is the most common one when using Chi itself. Just like Dou fighters, Dou Chi is directed outward, mostly in the form of energy balls or rays.” To prove it, he gathered his own energy into his left palm, and as visual aid, a great Swastika with an even greater face behind it emerged, focused on the Spartan's hand. “This I learned from Buddhist monks in the Forbidden Kingdom, with focus on exterminating demons. The Six Cycles of Samsara!” He shouted as six giants beams of raw energy slammed down around the boat that the two teens were on, making the ship rock from side to side, and to prevent from falling over, the two teens held on to each other. It was only one wave of energy that had slammed down, so the energy stopped rather quickly. Aris landed to find the two unharmed and some distance between them as well. “Are you two okay?”

“Yeah, we're fine.” Kenichi answered him immediately.

“No damage came to us.” Akira said, somewhat blushing to herself there.

Aris sighed at the sight of the two. “If there were any confusion between you two, well it happens.” At that, the two teens jumped. “Now let's move on. The Sei style of Chi is much the opposite of Dou, as is usual of the two. Instead of using destructive forces of battle, Sei Chi is more focused on the body, with special attention to protection and healing. It is possible to heal yourself using Chi, but that one is very hard to learn from the start. Sei also helps you increase your own toughness and strength, making it look like you're a superhuman. Using this, you could split a tank using only one finger.”

“Split a tank with a finger?” Akira echoed that one. “Isn't that a little too much, Sensei?”

“Not really, it can be done if you practice it.” Aris answered her. “The thing is, most people want stuff to go boom, so they tend to ignore the Sei part of Chi. What some people don't know is that it's the more practical to know between the two. And another, the Chi itself is not determined to just the kind of fighter you are. A Sei fighter can learn how to use his Chi in Dou and vice versa. In fact, it wouldn't really hurt to learn both of them at the same time. That's essentially what I'm going to teach you, Kenichi-kun.”

“Really? That's it? No techniques or anything like that?” Kenichi asked the Spartan.

“...Well if you insist, I could show you some moves from Ancient Pankration, and the pneufma version of Chi. But that's only if you want to. I'm not sure if you need any further technique training from me at all.”

“OVER THERE!” Asuna's voice was heard some distance from them, and nearly the whole swimming group was racing towards them. “Come on! We've found the boat at last!” The Redhead was in the lead, followed by the Sniper and the Ninja, followed by their Boxer fellow. The weird thing was that they all looked very much frightened instead of pumped up. After a quick haul-up, Asuna didn't seem happy at the Spartan. “You... of all the.... Why did you start the theme from Jaws out there!? To scare the life out of us!?” She grabbed Aris' neck pin and shook him viciously.

“...Well, I did say last time that I would toss you out there with music playing in your ears, but I kind of was expecting you to catch on what the theme would be before I sent you out there.” He said calmly first before Asuna got mad again.

“How were we supposed to know it was the theme from Jaws you put in!?” Asuna yelled at him, shaking him once again, his face a blur this time. “And what was it with sending Rachel out there as well, huh? Did you intend to scar us with her?”

“Rachel was only out there to motivate to get going and find the boat as fast as you could. There's a reason why teamwork is called teamwork.”

“Motivate!?” Asuna slammed him against the boat railing and started punching him thoroughly. “Oh, she did motivate us. She motivated us by threatening to take away our pride as maidens!” She ranted on as Aristodemus was being beaten severely by her. “I've never been so scared in my whole life before. I saw her down there in the waters.”

“Well, what did she do to make you so scare-”

“SHE WAS WEARING A FRICKIN' STRAP-ON!” She cried as she continued to bash him into the boat, but she got pulled back by Yuuna and Kaede once the others spotted blood being sent into the air.

“Stop it, Asuna! He's had enough!” The basketball player yelled at her redhead friend. “You don't need to beat him bloody.”

“Hey, where's Ako?” Akira asked, getting their attention, save the bloodied old man. “Weren't she with you as well?”

“Huh?” Haruna asked, looking around the boat to look for their nurse. “You're right. Where is she?”

“Over there.” Takeda said, pointing for them to see Ako swimming towards them, being exhausted on her own.

“...Couldn't at least... one of you... have stayed with me?” Ako called out to them, as she was struggling to catch up to them. She wasn't sure if they heard her, since the splashing of water was being slammed against her face as she kept on swimming to them.

“Come on, Ako!” Yuuna called to her, whooping in the air for her friend. “You're nearly there!”

“Come on, Ako-chan!” Asuna cheered for her. “You've lost Rachel! She's nowhere to be seen!”

“You can do it!”

“Just keep going! You're almost here!”

“Boat is just rig-” Asuna started, but stopped as she saw something in the distance behind the swimming nurse. As the others viewed her, they saw her face going all pale and she shuddered, seeing what it was behind her. “Ako-chan! Push yourself!” She screamed at the blue haired girl.

“Eh?” Ako actually stopped to listen.

“Don't stop, just keep going!” Asuna yelled at the nurse. “You're nearly here! Just keep swimming!” At that, and the tone of her voice, made Ako swim as much as she could, despite the armor wearing her down. “Don't look back! Just keep at it!”

“Asuna, why are you being so worked up?” Yuuna asked the redhead and Asuna didn't respond at first, but she did point to some distance behind the nurse and their faces went pale at the sight of what was behind Ako.

It was the same shark fin they saw earlier.

“SWIM FOR IT, AKO!” Yuuna started off first and soon everyone was shouting for the nurse to swim as fast as she could.

“Old man!” Asuna turned to the Spartan. “Do you think you could-” She had forgotten that she had beaten him bloody and he was still unconscious from the blows. “Crap, my fault.”

“Kenichi-kun!” Takeda decided to take off his armor and remove the springs from his torso to be completely able to move freely. “Let's go!” The two young men dove back into the water and swam for it to fetch Ako out of the drink. They managed to get to the nurse before the shark fin did, and then they swam like hell back to the boat, holding Ako between their arms, and kicked their legs viciously through the water to reach the boat before Rachel caught with them. Only to the viewers', well, view, the shark fin disappeared beneath the water.

“That's not good.” Yuuna said and then yelled at the two men. “Keep going, guys!”

“Hu-eh?” Aris finally woke up and looked around to see what was going on. “What I miss, what I miss?”

“Hey, where'd it go?” Kenichi asked Takeda and Ako, as he was swimming holding the nurse on her right, with Takeda on her left. “Where did the shark go?”

“That's no shark, it's Rachel-san.” Ako said exhausted, being carried by the two men holding her in between them. “The last person you would want to face, ever if you were a young person.”

“Then we're in very deep wa-” Takeda didn't get to finish that because of a high velocity impact attack from beneath them, sending all three of them high into the air at first, followed by a fourth figure as well. It was Rachel, wearing a one-piece green swimsuit and by God, she was indeed wearing a strap-on. It could best be described as a two-pound, black ripped nobbler. The pervert managed to grab hold of Ako's leg, before being slammed away by a charging Asuna, empowered with Kankahou, making the three teens in the air fall down again into the drink, the girl between taking it the hardest since she was the exhausted and weakest of them.

“Why you!” Asuna kept at it, bashing against a grinning Rachel, whilst Ako began sinking into the drink. Of course, that didn't go unnoticed by the redhead. “Ako-chan!” With a quick bash to the pervert's throat, she dived into the water to get the nurse out of there. She was quickly aided by Kenichi, who dove right after her and then they swam up to the boat to get the nurse in their, followed by the man between them. “Is she gonna be okay?” Asuna asked them as the nurse was coughing loudly in the boat, attended to by Yuuna and Kaede.

“She'll be fine.” Kaede said, her eyes open this time. “Quick thinking there, Asuna-dono.”

“Nah, it was nothing really.”

“Can I get some help over here!?” Takeda screamed as he was battling the returning Rachel, with his bare hands in the water, whilst Rachel just came at him. “She's quite persistent!”

“Coming!” Asuna cried back at him and swam back out again to help the boxer. “Come on, Rachel! Time for round 3!” She called out to the berserker, who heeded the call.

“Tsk.” Rachel said before jumping out of the water completely to stand straight up on the surface. “Last I counted, it's time for round 4, then.” With that, she sent some shockwave into the drink, to send the redhead and the boxer high into the air yet again. “Here I come, ready or not!” She cried as she ran on the water with ease, going straight for Asuna first. The boxer managed to grab hold of her leg, making her fall down, but he didn't stand on the water, so he got kicked away by Rachel. Asuna wasn't wearing that heavy bronze armor, so she could come straight at her on the water as much as Rachel could. She came at the berserker with her Muay Thai training earned from Aris when she was younger, and Rachel just accepted the blows whilst dishing out her own attacks. “Now that's better, Asuna-chan. Choosing Muay Thai was probably the best choice for you, since it was designed for warriors to fight on in battle even when they've lost their weapons.”

“Oh, I got better stuff than that!” The redhead called back at Rachel, going for a low kick on her. But Rachel dove down into the water backwards, going out of sight from Asuna. “Where did she-?” Asuna got pulled down into the drink and then groped by Rachel from behind, before she delivered a knee attack, sending her high into the air, along with a huge splash of water, making it seem like a bomb going off beneath the water. “Ah!” Asuna cried in pain from that.

“Asuna!” Yuuna cried as she prepared to dive in whilst Takeda climbed aboard, but she got stopped by the old man sitting next to her.

“No.” Aris told her. “This is Asuna's fight. Let her deal with this.”

“Oh, screw that logic! A friend is in danger here!” The basketball player yelled at him.

“True, but can you keep up with that level?” The Spartan argued, and then they saw a bright light where the two fighters were.

“You...you...” Asuna said as her energy of Kankahou was being charged all around her. She didn't look very happy at all at seeing Rachel going out like this, and Rachel didn't seem to hide the fact that she was in trouble this time.

“Fuck.” Was all she could say before it happened.

“PERVERTED, SHAPE-SHIFTING KAORU-CHAN EXPY!” Was what could be heard of Asuna's voice as a pillar of searing white hot energy slammed down upon the berserker, causing huge waves to occur, sending the boat away from where they were originally. Eventually the rage ended, and Asuna began falling down into the water, exhausted. Only she didn't hit it.

“Good one, Asuna.” Aris' voice could be heard as the two were flying through the air, at least that was what Asuna felt like whilst she was being held by him back to the boat. “Very good one.”

“Heh, thanks.” She responded to him out of energy as they decided to return to the castle where the rest of them trained.

Somewhere down in the drink of that great big ocean of the resort, Rachel managed to resurface, all bruised and out of energy, save what she had to float up on the surface. That blast really did a number on her, since she couldn't move. But there was just one thing that bugged her. “Who's Kaoru-chan?”

Spoiler for Notes:

-Last time, they were swimming in a violent storm, looking for the boat. This time I decided to be more diabolical by sending in the theme from Jaws in their heads.

-Takeda Ikki and Shirahama Kenichi are crossover characters in PotM, for the purpose of telling that it's not just the Negimaverse that is in trouble this time. Takeda is a boxer, while Kenichi is technically speaking an MMA fighter.

-Aristodemus and Rachel are both OCs. Rachel was originally created by a more unknown member of FF.net, Nyrath, who has yet to join this forum. We both own Aris, who is probably the oldest by age and most powerful OC and possibly game-breaker you'll ever see. Ultimately though, he's a side character as well, so he won't have as much impact on the class or Negi for that fact, as the class have on themselves.

-Kaoru-chan is foreshadowing of a future chapter. And a friend of mine on Skype kept calling Rachel a Kaoru Expy, hence the attack cry from Asuna. I just couldn't resist.

Your thoughts on this? Pretty please? I promise I'll try some KonoSetsu for this story as well, I promise if you give your thoughts on this!

[RadiantBeam]

Originally Posted by deathcurse

Doooooo iiiiiiiiittttttttttt.............. I'd love to read Emily/Yue fluff!

And by the way, I posted Truth and Dying to Fanfiction.net ^^. I made some small edits here and there to hopefully clear up some ambiguity and grammar errors that I found in editing .

Only after you go and post Emily/Yue tragedy, huh?

Oh, hey! I gotta review that! The pairing really doesn't get enough love from the fandom, and sadly I've noticed that the Negima section on FF.net tends to be overrun with KonoSets stories. Which isn't bad, but it's annoying when you want to find another pairing with different characters.

[deathcurse]

Originally Posted by isagrimorie

What's this? *gasp* Mana actually turning down money! And encouraging Setsuna to spend?! Truly, the situation must be so severe that Commander Mana must encourage Setsuna to spend and decline money! Hee!

And, boy, does Setsuna have a supreme talent for angst! Although I did chuckle at Setsuna hitting her head on the wall. Its such a Setsuna thing to do!

(BTW, does any one in the Konoe family know/suspect the true nature of Setsuna and Konoka's relationship? I'm just curious if the Headmaster knows.)

Return of the Mario Kart! Only, the more serious version!

Mana's so hard for me to write properly , since her fandom depiction and her manga depiction differ slightly, and most of what I know about her is fandom . Part of the trouble is, like in some of my other fics, I'm very stupidly jumping into the home stretch of the plot instead of building up from the beginning of the problem ....so in any way that I can, I have to show just how bad the situation has gotten .

Poor Setsuna....she does not have a happy life in this story ....or at least, not in the beginning..... And haha, I had so much fun writing her pounding her head against the wall and mentally freaking out . Setsuna's such a spaz .

(I'm still playing with different effects depending on who knows and who doesn't....but as of right now, Konoemon and Eishun both know that Setsuna loves Konoka, but I'm not sure if they know that Konoka loves her back )

Originally Posted by RadiantBeam

I really only have one comment for this chapter: Mana is awesome. That is all.

And she hasn't even started fighting yet ....

Originally Posted by Merctrin

Go Mana! It's a little odd to think of her turning down money, but at least everyone's getting their proper share. I can't say that forcing Setsuna to be the close guard was the kindest thing in the world, but it was still very satisfying to see Setsuna's attempts to keep away from Konoka foiled so effectively. Even though it'll definitely cause her more angst.

...Okay, especially because it'll cause her more angst. It's torturous and frustrating, but you write angsty Setsuna really well, and while it might not exactly be fun for any of the parties involved, it is very entertaining.

Oh, and there was Kyo present. Hm. Not sure what to make of him just yet.

*holds out hand* More please!

I'm going to have to start slipping out hints at the explanations of why they're all so angsty , but it's going to be a real pacing problem.... Haha, we are all amused by Setsuna's pain? She frets so much it really is quite amusing .

And Kyo appears . And we promptly forget him again .

*typing frantically* Working on it!

Originally Posted by RadiantBeam

Only after you go and post Emily/Yue tragedy, huh?

Oh, hey! I gotta review that! The pairing really doesn't get enough love from the fandom, and sadly I've noticed that the Negima section on FF.net tends to be overrun with KonoSets stories. Which isn't bad, but it's annoying when you want to find another pairing with different characters.

We need to ensure mood whiplash in as many fandoms as possible!

Thanks! ^^ Yeah, and I agree....I like KonoSetsu, but at the same time, it also hits the quantity vs. quality dilemma....not to mention that a lot of other good characters get shafted a lot.

[deathcurse]

Apologies for the double post (I seem to make a lot of them ), but Chapter 1 of Love and Duty Come in Chains is now up on Fanfiction.net .

I'll likely not be able to write more for the next few days, as my school semester is wrapping up and I have lots of final projects to finish . But hopefully other people can post things in the meantime! *cough cough* discretely pokes RB *cough cough* ...........

@Kurush: I read your chapter, but I think that the lack of reading the previous work has me lost in terms of the OCs and what's going on . I'm pretty confused as to what's happening, but the feel seems like the anime Negima!?, where lots of random things happen. I'm surprised that Mana's taking part in the training exercise, she's always seemed like a lone wolf compared to the others. But you may have explained that in your previous story, so apologies if that's the case .

The dialogue seemed suitably quirky for the characters, but that's about all I can comment on, sorry!

[Kurush]

That's the case, perhaps you should read the full story to get the idea of what is going on.

[Ashaman]

Originally Posted by Ancient Death

I suggest some great Negima crossover stories...

Now this one is a favorite of mine...Guess it!: Kitsune on Campus

Thanks for recommending my work, I really appreciate it.

[RadiantBeam]

Originally Posted by deathcurse

But hopefully other people can post things in the meantime! *cough cough* discretely pokes RB *cough cough* ...........

That's a hint, isn't it?

I'll see what I can do. I already owe a drabble request to one friend here, so I've been working away on that, but maybe when I have some free time....

[Kurush]

What he really needs is for one of his father's old pals to sit down with him and give him the whole, unvarnished story, from start to finish. I'd be much easier for him to get a handle on his issues if people weren't hiding things from him, and letting him find out in driblets.

This is what being discussed in the Manga discussion thread, regarding Negi's mental health being the topic, after we talked over Magia Erebea.

With all this going on, perhaps I should add this to my story... anyone care to help me with that? Just so we can get that out of the way in our heads.

And Negi certainly deserves to hear the truth about his father now, not when he's grown up. Anyone up for it to help me talk this over?

[deathcurse]

My fingers just finished typing this out, so it's utterly raw and straight off the press!

Love and Duty Come in Chains

Prologue and Chapter 1

Spoiler for Love and Duty Come in Chains, Chapter 2 part 1:

Chapter 2
May 3, 2010

“Setsuna.”

Setsuna glanced up and caught the envelope that Mana tossed at her one-handed. Immediately, from the weight she could tell what it was. “Thank you,” she answered automatically.

Mana grunted and crossed her arms, eyeing the other girl sharply. “The other half is in your bank account already, as usual,” she said dryly.

Konoemon had figured out a couple of weeks ago that when he sent Setsuna her monthly paycheck she would simply hand the whole thing to Mana without touching any of it herself. And when he sent her the portion of her pay agreed upon for Mana separately from the small amount he insisted on reserving for her, Setsuna would pass both envelopes over to Mana without looking at either of them anyway. Finally, he had settled with sending Mana both the paychecks every month to ensure that they ended up where they belonged.

The money never mattered to Setsuna. It was only sensible for her to hire another guard for Konoka with it, since all she needed was food and a place to sleep, both of which were provided for her. The arrangement worked out well for everyone, since Konoemon couldn’t hire a second guard for Konoka without causing tension between the Konoe and the Wallward, and Setsuna could put the monthly paycheck she never touched to good use in Mana. She trusted Mana with Konoka’s life.

Although Setsuna was technically Mana’s superior, the tan woman seemed surprisingly determined to prevent Setsuna from forgetting that they were friends. Mana had even managed to get Setsuna to spend her dutiful pocket money on something frivolous last weekend, a decorated fan that was the only adornment in their shared, Spartan quarters. Then again, Setsuna suspected that the thrifty Mana had wanted the fan herself, but knew that Setsuna would put it up on display for both of them. Setsuna wasn’t sure, but the thought had made her chuckle anyway.

“I see.” Setsuna slid the envelope of cash into her jacket pocket then returned to her sit-ups, feeling all her muscles warming up after a night’s stiff sleep. These days, Setsuna found that it was easier to stand outside of Konoka and Kyo’s bedroom door and doze against the doorframe than sleep in a bed. If Mana hadn’t insulted her into going back to their quarters to sleep, Setsuna would probably have spent the night in the hallway anyways even though it was Mana’s watch shift.

At least when she was outside their door, her hearing kept the rest of her brain from imagining. Imagining in her too-soft bed was a thousand times worse than standing silently in a cold hall without betraying any emotion.

Setsuna pulled herself up again, her stomach muscles quivering lightly with the effort. She let the throb of physical exertion push her troubling thoughts back into obscurity again. An extra 50 reps today, just to wipe the last of that heartbreak away.

“They’re going out for lunch today,” Mana said as she restocked her gun magazines, checking each bullet carefully before she slid it in. “You’ll be the sole guard. I’m on stand-by duty this morning.”

Setsuna froze, then flipped to her feet. “Were you? I can’t remember the schedule—”

“I am.”

“…I can pay you overtime,” Setsuna offered desperately, reaching a hand to her jacket pocket. “If you’ll be close guard for the day…” She couldn’t spend today so close to Konoka. Not today.

“I’d rather have the day off,” Mana drawled, and Setsuna winced, knowing that the gunslinger knew and was refusing to budge because she thought that it was for the better.

“Today’s not a good day for me,” growled Setsuna, frustrated and feeling her chest aching. Jerkily, she pulled her black suit jacket on and buttoned it up savagely.

“You have a job; the day shouldn’t matter to you.”

The words slipped out before Setsuna could stop herself. “Fuck you, Mana.”

They glared at each other, the atmosphere tense even though neither of them were touching their weapons. Setsuna sighed first and rubbed her face, finger-combing her hair before picking up Yuunagi. “Sorry. Enjoy your day off.”

“You should eat some breakfast before you go,” Mana suggested with a raised eyebrow, her voice droll. “I think the lack of food has made you too unsettled to handle yourself professionally.”

“I’ll eat,” muttered Setsuna as she opened the door. She wasn’t a fool. But especially today, she had no appetite at all.

After dropping by the kitchen to secure a breakfast wrap and finishing it in two big bites, Setsuna walked through the large house towards the master bedroom. Luckily, it was still early in the morning, so much so that most of the servants were still in bed. Even on the best of days, Setsuna couldn’t stand overhearing their gossip.

“It seems the master and the lady had a good night last night, don’t you think? Young love!”

“If I was the master, I wouldn’t only take the lady once every couple of weeks, I’d go at it every night…” Laughter.

Once upon a time, Setsuna would have hit whoever dared to speak of Konoka that way. But this wasn’t long ago, and they weren’t teenagers anymore…and she didn’t have the sole right to Konoka anymore. Setsuna would just walk silently past the gossiping servants, trying to turn off her demonically keen hearing but failing every time.

Every time she heard them, a little more of her heart broke and turned to dust in the hollow inside her chest.

***

Konoka woke suddenly, disorientated. She thought for a moment that she was in a forest, lying on dying grass. Then she realized that she was in a bed, and wondered where Asuna was and why she hadn’t been woken up by an early alarm clock and Asuna’s ranting about Negi crawling into her bed again.

Then Konoka remembered where she was.

“Awake?”

“Yes,” she said, stretching lightly and pulling herself up to look at her husband. To her surprise he was fully dressed and standing by the bed with a breakfast tray in his hands. “Oh I’m sorry, did I sleep in?”

Kyo set the tray down over her lap and straightened up, brushing his wayward hair from his glasses to hide his awkwardness. “No, I just woke up early. It’s our one month anniversary, and when I asked Hazan she told me to—” He stopped and scratched his head sheepishly.

Konoka giggled, touched that he had asked his cousin for advice on what to do for her on their anniversary. “Thank you, Kyo, it’s really sweet.”

He grunted, and shuffled his feet. Too proper to pull at his neatly knotted tie, Kyo settled for blushing lightly and trying futilely to finger-comb his hair into behaving. “I heard that spell yesterday didn’t go as you wanted?”

“No, I think that the magnitude was too large for the target pieces I made for the testing,” Konoka said through a mouthful of pancakes. They tasted a little odd—the batter hadn’t been mixed properly. But that just went to show that Kyo had actually made it himself, which made Konoka smile at him despite her pique that he had to bring up the wards at every opportunity. “I’ll look it up tomorrow to make sure.”

“As soon as possible would be good,” Kyo nodded, walking over to their dresser and sighing as he picked up his Blackberry. He would get emails every five minutes, either from the Wallward Software company, from the mages he had researching the Koyane Wards or from his dragon of a grandmother, the Wallward family matriarch. Konoka swallowed instead of sighing as well at the thought of their lunch at the restaurant being interrupted by the constant beeping of his phone. “My research team has been really good about staying inconspicuous at the site, so it seems like so far no one unsavoury is the wiser. But sooner or later, someone’s going to notice, and the physical flaw will be easy to exploit.”

“I’ll take care of it tomorrow,” Konoka repeated, cutting into her scrambled eggs with exaggerated patience.

“Something that—” A knock at the door distracted him. The door opened and Setsuna stepped in, bowing sharply.

“Sir, there is a parcel downstairs for you.”

“Ah, that would be the rune text I borrowed from Takamichi-sama,” Kyo said happily, striding for the door before catching himself up and coming back over to the bed to give Konoka a kiss. Reminding herself to relax, Konoka still couldn’t help sneaking a glance at the doorway while they kissed. It wasn’t fair of her to tense up every time she was in the same room with both Kyo and Setsuna, but Konoka couldn’t help making that reflexive wince.

But Setsuna wasn’t there anymore.

“I’ll see you at lunch?” When she smiled and nodded at him, Kyo kissed her hand and left, shutting the door behind himself.

Konoka shoved another forkful of pancakes and eggs into her mouth. “Great,” she muttered to herself, feeling both good and bad, but overall mildly let down. “I wonder if Asuna is up yet?”

She needed to relieve some stress, and Konoka didn’t think that the rest of the household would appreciate her playing Super Mario complete with loud, pounding music and sound effects at this early hour. And Konoka desperately needed someone to tell her that they loved her, as a friend or anything else, and for her to be able to look them in the eyes and truly believe their words.

***

Setsuna slammed her forehead into the wall.

And she did it again.

And again.

God, what’s wrong with you? What happened to all your resolve and promises? Setsuna growled and drove her head into the wall again. This time she heard an ominous crack in the wood. You can’t mess things up for Konoka now! Remember why you did in the first place!

When she had been guarding Konoka earlier that morning, her charge had somehow convinced Setsuna that she should stand guard inside Asuna’s room. Setsuna hadn’t thought much of it then, simply leaning Yuunagi against the wall and repositioning her katana, the better weapon for a smaller enclosed space. She had passively watched Asuna and Konoka engage in a match, both of them uncharacteristically broodingly silent as they played, the only sounds in the room coming from the tv speakers.

Seeing Konoka without a pretence of a smile on her face was just painful.

Seeing Konoka…not faking, exactly, but only passively content with little things instead of shining with general joy, was nearly unbearably agonizing for Setsuna. Because then the demon-girl would start thinking of what ifs and what could have beens, both useless practices that distracted her from her duty to protect her ojou-sama.

Sometime during their gaming, Asuna had cited a need to go take a shower. And somehow during the process when Asuna was exiting her room, Setsuna had found herself holding a game controller and caving in to Konoka’s innocent entreaties to finish the game with her.

Why did you give in? Doing such familiar things with Kono-chan, you’re only making things worse for both of you! Setsuna started to bring her forehead into the wall again but stopped herself when she saw the indentation and cracks in the planks. She scowled and turned around, crossing her arms again and tried to affect the stoic bodyguard routine.

Konoka’s married.

You’re just a servant now…it’s too soon for friendship, you know it, so soon after…

BAM!

“Um, Setsuna-san?”

Setsuna’s eyes snapped open and she glanced sideways in embarrassment from where her head had smashed into the wooden wall. Konoka had jerked open her bedroom door and was blinking in confusion at the sight of Setsuna and the broken wall.

“I’m sorry, Ojou-sama!” Setsuna stuttered, off-guard and stumbling back, bowing and trying to ignore the hole in the wall. Then she straightened again and froze, staring.

Konoka felt a jolt in her stomach when she saw Setsuna’s red eyes widen and her pale guardian freeze and fall silent. Konoka wasn’t vain, but she knew that her red dress and adorned hair made her look good.

From the look on Setsuna’s face, Konoka felt herself blushing and growing warm—the open admiration and burning desire in Setsuna’s intent stare made Konoka’s skin prickle with excitement. At the same time, she felt something comforting and warm pour into her chest, sending her stomach into giddy twirls.

She does still love me, Konoka thought to herself in miserable triumph.

Wanting you isn’t the same as loving you, a nastier part of her whispered back.

“That’s alright,” Konoka said, ignoring the scandalized look from the maid who had helped her with her dressing, and who was giving Setsuna a disapproving glower. Konoka hoped that the maid hadn’t noticed Setsuna’s momentary lapse—the last thing she needed was more animosity between her staff and her best friend. Pointedly overlooking the odd indentation in the wall, Konoka slid her hand onto Setsuna’s upper arm, feeling the other girl tense. “Will you escort me to the car? I’m pretty sure Kyo will just meet us directly there.”

Setsuna bowed once more, carefully keeping a proper distance between them. Her expression had gone impassive again. “It will be my pleasure, Ojou-sama.”

NEW PART

Spoiler for Chapter 2, part 2:

Setsuna held the door for the long-legged Kyo Wallward to climb in, catching a glimpse of him sliding over to Konoka before she shut the door firmly, the black glass blocking them from sight. She looked up once to check that the second limo with the Wallward guards was ready to follow before she got into the passenger seat.

A young woman watched her fold herself into the car with a grin. “I’m amazed that you can fit that in here so easily,” Hazan Wallward said, tilting her head at how Setsuna had eased Yuunagi into the cramped cab space. “Have you ever caught it on doorways or anything?”

Setsuna ignored that, although she did smirk briefly in response. “We’re ready to go.”

“Alrighty!” Hazan turned on the ignition and pulled out of the gates, humming idly as they merged into the main road. She took a hand off the steering wheel to adjust her hat, and glanced sideways at Setsuna. “Hm, you look better.”

“What?” Setsuna asked. Honestly, she knew that she probably looked awful—from the stress of being reminded about all the things Setsuna knew that she couldn’t change.

“You had the nastiest cut on your wrist a few days ago,” Hazan explained, tapping below her thumb. “It’s completely gone now.”

“So it is,” Setsuna said shortly.

Hazan hummed in mild acquiescence. Changing the topic, she said, “Kyo told me that you and Konoka-sama have been friends since you were little.”

Setsuna closed her eyes, breathing lightly as she tried to sort out what kind of response to give to that statement. What did Kyo mean when he had told Hazan that? Carefully, she answered, “The Shinmeiryuu assigned me to her when we were young. Eishun-sama took me in before that. Yes, I’ve known her for some time.”

“You guys must have been cute as kids,” Hazan grinned as they pulled up to a stoplight. She took the time to roll the window down and light a cigarette, exhaling politely outside instead of within the car. “I’ve been with Kyo since we were little too. Ethan and I are the only people who could make him drop his nerd-boy act to actually relax, you know?” She tapped the ash off the end of her cigarette and stuck it back in her mouth as the light changed to green, accelerating accidentally with a rough jerk.

“A fighter should take care of her body,” Setsuna commented.

“Right back at you,” Hazan replied, her eyes settling on Setsuna’s face.

Refusing to be discomforted, Setsuna only shrugged and shifted in her seat, stretching out her legs. To her displeasure, she hadn’t grown much since high school, and although she didn’t need the physical height to help her in fights, the added intimidation bonus being tall would have given was missed. Mana still liked to tease her about it some days. “I’m sure the young sir acts differently around those he cares about.”

“Interesting—you don’t call him the “young master”? Everyone else does.”

In a tone that was angrier than she had intended, Setsuna said, “K—Ojou-sama is my only mistress.” Internally Setsuna winced, knowing that she had just given the teasing Hazan a perfect opening to throw in something dirty.

To her surprise, Hazan’s next words were serious and mildly imploring. “My cousin…he really isn’t a bad guy, you know?”

Setsuna put a hand on Yuunagi just below where the smooth sheath rested against her shoulder. “I never thought that he was.”

“No,” Hazan agreed. After a pause, she continued, “but you’re on Konoka-sama’s side, aren’t you?”

“The well-being of my Ojou-sama is my sworn duty.”

All Hazan did was to give Setsuna the same sad, knowing look that so many of Setsuna’s friends wore when they looked at her nowadays. Coming from a near stranger, a spike of hollow anger rose inside her until Setsuna caught herself using a quick meditation technique that her sensei had taught her. Calmly, Setsuna pulled out her sunglasses from a breast pocket and put them on, turning to look out the tinted windows.

She didn’t care if it was rude to leave Hazan hanging on the end of their conversation—even through her dark shades Setsuna didn’t trust that her expression wouldn’t confirm the implications in Hazan Wallward’s sympathetic gaze.

They could all speculate as much as they liked, but Setsuna wasn’t going to prove it to them.

There was too much at stake.

And Setsuna had too much to atone for.

***

October 31, 2009

“Not so fast, Kono-chan!” Setsuna protested as her friend dragged them deeper into the woods. Setsuna clutched at Yuunagi and scanned the forest shadows nervously. Konoka was holding onto one of her hands, so she would have to use a different draw to get Yuunagi out of its sheath…would that be fast enough for—

“OOOMPH!”

Konoka had spun around and glomped her, giggling as she kissed Setsuna’s cheek, who promptly flushed red. Knowingly, she teased, “Set-chan, you worry too much!” Beaming and with utter trusting conviction, Konoka said happily, “I’m perfectly safe with you.”

“Kono-chan…” Setsuna blushed, not knowing how to respond to that, although a warm ball of contentment settled in her stomach. She was glad that she had let—let? As if she could have refused!—Konoka talk her into dressing up as a samurai again for Halloween. As Setsuna had hoped, Konoka had gleefully dressed up as the beautiful, matching princess, and spent the whole time at their class reunion Halloween party pressed against Setsuna’s side. The whole night was agonizingly glorious, and more than once Setsuna had to resist the urge to spin around and pull Konoka to her and just…

From the wicked looks she had gotten from Kazumi, Haruna and Asuna, Setsuna knew that she hadn’t been successful at hiding the impulse at all. But she didn’t care much anymore and just smiled sheepishly in reply to their giggles.

After holding their hug for a few more seconds Konoka broke away, smiling. “Come on, I want to show you something!”

Fondly, Setsuna sighed and followed her obediently. A few minutes later, they entered a clearing in the woods. Konoka tugged her along, but Setsuna stiffened, her senses screaming.

Something wasn’t right here.

***

“Is everything alright around the house?” Kyo asked as he waited for Konoka to begin eating before picking up his fork. “Do you need me to move anything again?”

“It’s fine,” Konoka replied as she tried to smoothly cut into her fish with the western style knife and fork. “We’ve finished setting up the furniture last week. Everyone seems to be getting used to the flow of things.”

“That’s good.” Kyo blinked. “May I help?”

It took Konoka a few moments to realize he was indicating her fish fillet, and she gratefully passed her plate over. “Thanks, Kyo. If you have some time tomorrow, could you…” she hesitated, wringing her hands under the tablecloth. “Could you show me some of the electronic books you have?”

“Ah, do you need them for your research?” Kyo grimaced. “I’m sorry, I’ll arrange for—”

“I don’t need them for research,” Konoka corrected him. She twisted the end of the cloth in her fingers. It was all so confusingly painful…Konoka made sure not to glance sideways. From the corner of her eye she could see Setsuna’s polished shoes and pinstripe gray pants. Putting that aside, Konoka tried to find the right words to convey her meaning. “I just…it would be nice if we could just spend some time together, Kyo.”

Her hapless husband looked mildly puzzled. “But we spend time together already?”

Not just as Kyo and Konoka, Konoka thought tiredly, laying her hands on her red silk lap. Always as Wallward and Konoe. “Please?”

He passed her plate back over, the fish cut into equal sized pieces. “Of course,” he said anxiously, then winced when a buzzing sound interrupted them. “Excuse me…” He checked his Blackberry. Konoka sat back with a small sigh, poking listlessly at her food and patiently waiting for Kyo to finish checking his messages.

She leaned her cheek on one hand, looking sideways at her silent guardian. Setsuna was staring blankly off into space, pointedly not focusing anywhere where she might accidentally make eye-contact with Konoka. Some days, Konoka was elated where Mana and Setsuna’s guard rotation put Setsuna as close guard.

But other days, it just made a hard day harder. It hurt enormously when her Set-chan wouldn’t even look at her—and Konoka wanted to just touch her, a hand on the sleeve or back, just to remind herself…But she couldn’t.

It wouldn’t be fair to Set-chan.

So Konoka would just put on another smile and look away.

“Ah, Konoka, that was Grandmother…apparently, they’ve arranged for a family gathering tomorrow,” Kyo told her as he finally put his Blackberry back into his suit pocket. “They’re asking us to present our collected information on the Koyane Wards to both honoured families.”

“That doesn’t give us much time to organize all our data,” Konoka frowned. “And it’s so sudden…I wonder if something happened?”

“Maybe they got more information on the Wards,” Kyo suggested, sipping from his glass. “Konoemon-sama had mentioned to me that he was looking into the family records to see what the previous Ward Guardians had written about their duty.”

“He didn’t tell me that!” exclaimed Konoka, putting her fork down in surprise. “Grandpa told me that he had sent me all his books on the Koyane Wards!”

“He did,” Kyo explained. “He’s looking in the private journals of your ancestors, and those documents can’t leave the Kanto Magic Association.” He noted her expression and added, “Do you want to read them yourself?”

“Maybe sometime,” Konoka admitted. “I know that we don’t have much time right now, but maybe in a few days. Daddy and Grandpa never told me much about my heritage before my magic awakened, so I’m always curious about my ancestors.”

“I think they just wanted you to live a carefree childhood,” Kyo said. He twisted his ring containing the Wallward family crest absently around his finger, his brow lightly furrowed. “So you wouldn’t feel a pressure to live up to any expectations but your own,” he finished, smiling and raking his hair back out of his face again.

Konoka let her gaze drop onto her lap, glancing at her own ring. “I am grateful,” she said softly. “Kyo—”

“Sir!” Setsuna spoke suddenly, her hand on her earpiece and her voice urgent. “Ojou-sama—one of the Koyane Ward stones is cracking!”

***

“Ne, Set-chan, did you know that there’s a legend about this clearing?”

“I didn’t, Kono-chan.” Setsuna set Yuunagi on the ground and closed her free hand over its hilt. Even though her action had brought them to a halt Konoka didn’t seem to mind, continuing to speak excitedly.

“Well, do you see the dragon there?”

Following Konoka’s pointing finger, Setsuna saw a stone dragon in the middle of the clearing through a gap in the circle of monoliths encircling the area. Teeth curled in a grin, the dragon coiled upon itself, its four paws clutching the corners of a gemstone mirror. If she wasn’t getting such a foreboding sensation, Setsuna would have wondered why no one had tried to steal it yet. But every bit of her was screaming to stay away.

“The mirror in its claws is supposed to be magical,” Konoka told her, squeezing Setsuna’s hand. “They say…” She blushed, and smiled sweetly at Setsuna before continuing shyly, “They say that if you look into it, you can see the image of your true love standing beside you. Isn’t that kind of interesting, Set-chan?”

“Interesting,” Setsuna replied absently as she tried to calm herself to figure out why she was so unsettled. It was a harder task than she expected, since the warmth of Konoka’s hand in hers was incredibly distracting.

“It’s just an urban legend, but wouldn’t it be fun to go look?”

“No!” Setsuna said in alarm. She blurted, “I don’t care about that.” Anxiously, she scanned the woods again—even now, there were still insurgents in the Kansai Magic Association, and Setsuna could never forget the near-disaster of their field trip to Kyoto. She wished that they had dragged Negi and Asuna along—the three of them together would have been enough against any enemy who might want to hurt Konoka again.

“You don’t care?” Konoka asked, her tone different from before.

“It’s not worth it,” Setsuna replied, knowing that she should shake her hand free of Konoka’s to be ready to draw her sword at any moment. Something here was seriously bothering her… To her surprise, Konoka released her hand and moved away, her shoulders slumped. “Konoka?” Setsuna yelped when she saw Konoka walking towards the circle of stones and lunged forward, grabbing her friend’s wrist. “Konoka! What are you doing?”

“You might not care,” Konoka said, her voice teary and angry at the same time. “But I do.” She pulled free and continued walking, stepping between two stones and continuing towards the dragon statue at the center.

“Kono-chan!” Setsuna cried, moving forward and coming to an abrupt halt at the edge of the circle. She twitched, sweating. “Kono-chan, stop!”

Konoka whirled around, her hands clenched into fists at her sides. “I always stop! Whenever we hold hands or hug or touch each other! Well, Set-chan, what if I don’t want to stop?”

“Huh?” Setsuna gaped, completely baffled at the sudden outburst.

“Set-chan, you’re so dense sometimes!” Konoka cried out, tears sliding down her cheeks. The sight of her tears made Setsuna inhale sharply, willing to do anything to take that sad expression away from her precious Konoka. Staring at her, Konoka shouted wetly,

“I don’t want us to be just friends anymore!”

***

Setsuna didn’t wait for Hazan to stop the limousine as they pulled up towards the Koyane Ward clearing—she threw open the door and jumped out, tumbling into a controlled roll and racing forward, Yuunagi unsheathed at her side. She could see the cause for the cracking ward ahead, and put on a burst of speed.

“Hyakuretsuouka Zan!” Setsuna slashed Yuunagi into the midst of the dozen demons gathered around one of the monoliths, slicing through two of them before they could react. Setsuna flipped and spun around, but the demons had scattered.

Cat demons! Setsuna let out a yell and pursued the closest demon, dodging its roaring pounce and drove her sword into its chest as it leapt at her. Her momentum and power were stronger, and the shocked demon was flung backwards, howling as it fell and Setsuna’s blade came free with a bloody splash as she continued running ahead. She had surprised the next demon with her unfaltering charge and it sprang sideways to dodge her strike, warier as it began to circle Setsuna.

She sensed another one approaching from behind her and dove, letting the demon pass overhead and gutted it in the same move. Where was—too late! Setsuna was knocked off her feet as the first cat-demon tackled her, its teeth striking at her throat with a snarl.

BLAM!

Grunting, Setsuna tossed the beast off of her, snatching up Yuunagi again. Her earpiece crackled, and Mana’s voice came on, the woman’s tone dry and full of humour.

“I expect overtime pay for coming in during my off-duty time.”

“Ojou-sama?” Setsuna demanded, lunging at another demon while bringing Yuunagi into a series of crescent strikes.

“Kyo has her and his researchers in a barrier,” Mana assured her, every other word punctuated with a loud gunshot. “She’s tending to the wounded.”

Flashes of magic further away told Setsuna that Kyo and his uninjured mages were entering the fight. Combined, they weren’t even close to Negi’s level when her former sensei had been a ten-year-old, so Setsuna didn’t have incredible faith in their abilities. She needed to end this as quickly as possible.

Nimbly she pivoted out of the way of her opponents attack and slashed out, cutting into the beast’s flank before pressing her offensive while the cat tried to retreat.

“Raimeiken!” Setsuna shouted, driving her lightning-infused sword into the demon’s side. She jerked her blade out of the dead demon and cast a quick look around. She had killed four, and Mana had sniped five from her position in one of the tall trees overhead. The mages were finishing off one, which left two more unaccounted for—

“There!” Kyo bellowed, pointing across the field. The two remaining cat demons had snuck along the perimeter of the wards during the fight and were now galloping for the shelter of the woods.

If any escaped, the secret that the Koyane Wards were failing would be out for the whole demon world to know. Already, one of the stones was nearly cracked through, the presence of the demons speeding up its disintegration.

“Set-chan, stop them please!” Konoka cried out desperately.

***

Setsuna gaped at her friend, her eyes wide.

Konoka looked back at her, then silently turned around and continued walking.

“Wait!” Setsuna stammered, stumbling forward a half-step before stopping again. She couldn’t quite make herself cross that invisible line on the ground, even though she wanted to rush over to Konoka and sweep her up in her arms and hold her close until all this confusion went away. But something prevented her from moving… “Kono-chan! Stop, please?”

Konoka was nearly at the statue now, and for a moment Setsuna was terrified that Konoka had looked into the mirror. But she stopped and turned to look back at Setsuna, her eyes still teary.

“If you really want me to, Set-chan, come stop me yourself.”

Setsuna froze.

She didn’t believe in urban legends, but if the person you saw reflected beside you was your true love, then damnit, Setsuna wanted to be beside Konoka…

But every instinct in her was howling to grab Konoka and run, that it wasn’t safe here…

A sob broke from Konoka, and her brown-haired charge began to turn around.

With a single sharp movement Setsuna leapt past the stones, running towards Konoka. For an instant it felt like a web of magical strands caught like spider silk across her body, then it snapped away, letting Setsuna through.

And the dark clearing exploded with light.

***

At that cry, Setsuna gritted her teeth and put on a burst of speed, calling out her wings to propel her into the sky. She swooped towards the ward circle, knowing that her only chance of making it to them in time was to fly through the clearing and cut the demons down before they could vanish into the woods. Almost there…

Suddenly her wings crumpled, and Setsuna screamed as she hit a barrier that burned through her feathers and sizzled in her veins like bolts of lightning. Numbly, she felt herself falling, a second agonizing sensation running through her body when she hit the dirt in a mess of limp limbs.

GET UP! Her inner warrior shrieked, and Setsuna rolled to her feet, Yuunagi’s tip dragging shamefully against the ground for a few feet before she could force into her muscles the strength to lift her sword and run around the ward circle to reach the other side, panting with the strain. But the aftershock of whatever had hit her was too strong—Setsuna’s legs gave out and she hit the ground again, sending up a spray of earth and dead leaves before sliding to a halt.

Gunshots told her that Mana was still shooting down the escapees, and Setsuna prayed that the mercenary would get them both. She herself couldn’t move; every inch of her burned, as if her body was trying to tear itself into pieces. Her wings especially spasmed uncontrollably—if Setsuna couldn’t actually see that they were intact, she would have thought that the bones had snapped in a dozen places from the agony that every movement caused.

But none of that compared to the anguish flooding through her as she lay helplessly in the dirt and loam.

So I was right after all…Setsuna mourned, gasping as a choking despair spread through her.

***

Magic erupted around them, runes flashing into being along the stones and in the ground. The dragon’s eyes flared, and flickers oozed into the surface of the mirror, reaching outwards…

“KONO-CHAN!” Setsuna dove, her wings exploding from her back. The effort was incredibly hard and painful for some reason, but none of that mattered. She caught Konoka around the waist and beat her wings hard, trying to get some lift.

A stray strand of magic crackled beside them, its whip-like tip barely missing them before it dissipated. Setsuna didn’t want to find out what kind of magic was being released the hard way, and she grunted, flapping with all her strength.

“What’s going on?” Konoka cried out, wrapping her arms around Setsuna’s neck and keeping still so that Setsuna could dodge the sparking magical shots.

“I don’t—” Setsuna began, then it happened.

A beam of magic fired from the dragon’s mouth, striking them squarely.

Or more precisely, impacting Konoka dead center.

“KONO-CHAN!”

The impact knocked Setsuna out of the air, turning the world into a dizzying mess of colours and whistling air and the feeling of Konoka’s arms tight around her, with her ojou-sama’s voice shouting in her ear, “I’m alright! I’m alright!” Setsuna didn’t know if it was true or a reassuring lie, but she spread her wings out, trying to catch enough wind to carry them out of range of the stone circle.

If Konoka was still alive, Setsuna will make sure that they make it out alive!

“ARGH!” She screamed, drawing on the strength buried inside her, the strength that Setsuna had always been afraid and ashamed of. It was enough for her to beat her wings in their backwards fall, moving them slowly towards the outer edge of the ward.

Not enough! A hard grey surface rushed at them, and Setsuna curled around Konoka, pulling Konoka’s head against her chest protectively. They struck one of the giant stones hard enough for Setsuna to feel her ribs crunch just as a deafening crack sounded.

“SET-CHAN!” Konoka shrieked, clearly fearing that Setsuna had broken her back from the terrifying sound.

It was Setsuna’s turn to shout, “I’m alright!” before they both crashed into the dirt in a tangle of limbs and wings. Abruptly the rampant magic vanished, leaving the forest dark and silent once more.

Konoka let go of Setsuna’s neck just to grab her around the waist, feeling her for injuries before Setsuna caught her up in a tight hug.

Struggling, Konoka protested fiercely, “Set-chan, I need to make sure you’re alright!”

“You’re okay,” Setsuna whispered, crushing Konoka against her, ignoring the pain in her ribs that motion caused. “I saved you, you’re okay…”

Firmly, Konoka hugged her back, kissing her on the lips then burrowing her face into Setsuna’s neck. “You’ll always save me, Set-chan.”

All Setsuna could do was hold Konoka to her, feeling both of their hearts pounding. Before her, a jagged fissure snaked up the ward stone, the gouge splitting the carved runes on the ancient stone into pieces.

Setsuna stared at the crack, feeling her heart sink into her stomach.

***

“Eight. Nine.”

Two more demon carcasses were carried over to the pyre. Setsuna watched dully, not inclined to help even if she could actually rise and not stumble. The Wallward guards had simply hovered back during the fight, unsure what to do against demonic opponents, while Setsuna and Mana had charged into the battle. It only served to prove her fears that none of the Wallward guards could properly protect Konoka.

Any excuse to make you believe you’re needed, huh?

Another pair of guards dragged over a body, this time in pieces. Setsuna grimaced and glanced once at Konoka, her heart sinking at the gentle healer fighting to contain her horror at the scene. She looked down again.

She couldn’t bear it if Konoka turned that horrified gaze upon her.

She would deserve it.

All of this was her fault.

“Ten.” Kyo counted aloud, his fists on his hips.

“Eleven,” Mana said from across the clearing, her rifle held in a relaxed grip.

“That’s all of them,” one of the guards said.

“Check again!” Kyo shouted, glaring.

“Kyo…” Konoka tried to say, turning from the researcher mage she had just healed, but he cut her off with a brisk gesture.

“There were twelve of them!” He yelled, pacing and tugging at his hair in agitation. “Check again!”

“Sir, we checked!” The smarter guards and researchers had begun to piece things together and were turning dark looks on Setsuna, their faces full of disbelief and disapproval. Setsuna sighed and lowered her head, accepting their anger. They were right, anyway.

Snarling in rage, Kyo whirled upon Setsuna. “You let one of them get away! How could you?”

“Don’t shout at her!” Konoka said angrily, moving towards Setsuna with her fans out.

Setsuna shook her head, wishing she could stand to face Kyo’s accusations but her knees were still trembling and her guts wouldn’t stay still. Kyo ignored Konoka and continued to rant, a tone of desperation escaping in his voice.

“You let one get away—and now all the demons will know! They’ll know about the failing wards, and while they know how to break them, we still have no idea how to fix them at all!”

Finally, PLOT PLOT PLOT PLOT!!! Now excuse me while I go and collapse @_@............