She floated mere inches above him, arms held to her chest and legs curled to the side. Her hair fell encasing his head in a world of white, making his pale skin almost glow. His layered hair fanned out over his bag and the ends of her own phased into his, breading a new mix of colors. His mouth was parted ever so slightly while he breathed, chest moving in a soft rhythm. He looked so calm so peaceful, not at all what he was like a few hours ago. In his sleep he looked more his age. She wished she could join him in sleep. To close her eyes and fall into a sweet but short oblivion. She should have been able to if the gossip and ghost stories that the students liked to tell were at all true. But she couldn't. Instead she would wander around watching as others enjoyed yet one more thing she was denied, she never felt more alone then she did at night. She let one of her hands fall, slowly, hesitant. It crept to his cheek, stopping a meager fraction of an inch from his skin. She traced her hand down to his chin then back up to the line of his hair before she moved to touch him. Her fingers phased into his skin and she bit her lip.

He had been the first person that she was able to touch since her death. An act that brought her to tears some hours ago, but now she wasn't able to. Why? Was it magic? That strange feeling she got when he used it? Her hand stayed in his cheek. The many times she tried touching someone in the past they would always shiver or go ridged, complaining of chills or bad feelings but he didn't. Not a twitch or shiver he just continued to sleep peacefully.

"It's because he's use to it, the presence of the dead." Kalma was looking at her, her head only partially covered by a wing. "That's why he was able to sense and see you back during class."

"But he's so young."

"Life is rarely kind and age doesn't change that. Negi understands this more than most people I have seen. You too should know this, considering how young you died."

She looked away. "I-I don't remember my death."

"Then it is most likely something you don't wish to remember. Ghosts are spirits of mortals that died carrying a deep regret within their hearts or carried to much hate to pass on. The only other natural way for ghosts to exist is if the circumstances of their deaths were tragic." Her single eye held Sayo in place and in its depths she could see the shadows of a truly horrible knowledge. "The despair from their final moments creates a sort of chain, anchoring their souls to the mortal world around the place of their death. This is most likely why you cannot leave the campus. Your own despair won't allow you."

A wet chill raced through her, soaking into her being from head to toe and deep inside she could feel the phantom pain of her lungs seizing. A frozen hand gripped the back of her mind, sensations flashed in its hold; fear, pain, loss, cold, and an unbearable sense of helplessness. Her legs curled to her chest, eyes and teeth clenching while her hands crushed her throbbing head. She opened her mouth to scream, and another joined her.

Negi's body arched, his limbs thrashing wildly, sweat drenched his face. He swung his hand, lashing out at something that wasn't there. Tears spilled from his eyes. "No NO!"

"Sensei!" Sayo moved out of his reach, forgetting that he wasn't able to touch her. His thrashing knocked Chamo awake who was now trying desperately to open the small metal case.

He kicked his chair sending it crashing to the wall. A strangled cry erupted from his mouth. Kalma hopped up his chest, unaffected by his movements, until she stood right over his face. Her eyes glowed with a purple light. "Negi: Wake!"

"ANYA!" He bolted up, almost flinging Kalma before she could flap away. With a desperate almost pleading look he reached out towards nothing. His throat seized, mouth clamping shut to hold back another cry before his chest spasmed. In a flurry he rolled to his hands and knees and retched with a loud sickly howl. His back contracted like a cats as the puddle grew beneath him. When it subsided Negi was left spitting partially digested food and the taste of bile.

Kalma landed on the edge of his desk. "Are you alright?"

He looked at her between the splits in his hair, his head still bowed. His eyes were glossed over with a white sheen but in their depths was a hate so black and absolute as to make the night sky jealous. Chamo ran up to him, cradling two white pills that where quickly snatched and swallowed. "I wish you would have reminded me to take these." He hissed at her.

She tilted her head. "And I wish you wouldn't take them."

"It's not your decision to make!"

"Yes, actually, it is."

A long pause passed between the two before he looked away. With a snap of his fingers the pool of bile vanished. He removed his jacket and wrapped himself up before laying down, making sure to face away from Kalma. Chamo climbed up next to her and curled up to sleep.

"He suffers from frequent nightmares." She said to Sayo, answering her before she could even ask the question. Her gaze never left Negi.

Sayo nodded, floating back to the ground. Her own episode forgotten. "What did he take?"

"A filthy little concoction of his own making that mutes his thoughts and clouds his mind." She sneered then she turned to Chamo. "Why did you give them to him? You are just going to make the relapse worse."

He looked back not bothering to shift his position. "Because unlike you I don't enjoy watching him suffer." His voice was calm but had a clear steel to it.

"I do not find pleasure in his pain!" She snapped.

Sayo watched them with a feeling that this wasn't the first time they had had this argument.

"Considering that you could have prevented most of this I'm finding that hard to believe."

She shifted her weight from talon to talon unable to meet his eyes. "...I'm trying to make up for those days."

He said nothing opting to close his eyes and sleep. There was nothing more he could do for Negi tonight.

XxX

Shizuna made her way to class 2-A an hour before classes were supposed to start. The Dean had assigned her to be Negi's teaching assistant and she planned to do the best she could. Thinking about the young teacher sent her mind wandering. Everything about him from the way he spoke to the markings on his skin to how he dressed said a million different things. The files from the Dean and his companion in Whales only served to paint a clearer picture. But the Dean's and Takamichi's refusal to tell her about his past in detail made finding a preferred way of reaching out to him difficult. She understood their reasoning, wanting Negi himself to open up to her about the roots of his trauma before hearing it from someone he apparently despised. That didn't make it any less frustrating.

She opened the door to the classroom to find Negi sitting at his desk looking mildly over a large spread of papers and sipping a still steaming cup of tea. She took note of how disheveled his clothes were as well as the dark bags under his eyes. Behind him his bag and jacket laid sprawled on the floor leaving him in a long sleeved black shirt.

"Morning Negi-sensei."

He turned, startled. His eyes going from lidded to slightly less lidded. "Oh, m'rnin." He slurred.

Shizuna frowned as she walked to his desk. "Are you ok Negi-san?"

He waved her off, refocusing on his papers. "F'n."

His desk was covered in sheets of information about his students grades in all of their individual classes, different versions of the standard Homeroom and English assignments and a few pamphlets about Mahora City.

"Negi-san, did...did you sleep here last night?"

He nodded.

"Does the Dean know."

He shook his head, scribbled a quick note in English and shifted the papers around.

"..is there anything you would like me to help with?"

" 'lmost done."

"Ok, well I took the liberty of brining some paper plates and towels as well as some cleaning supplies." She lifted a plastic bag onto his desk. "I'm sure the girls will bring their own but knowing them it might not be enough."

He looked confused for a moment, staring at her through glazed eyes. "Oh right." He said, his head snapping back. "The party thing." He looked back over his mess of papers, clearly annoyed, and shuffled them into a loose pile at the side of his desk. "Fuck my life." He sighed deeply before downing his cup.

"Negi-san, did you get any sleep last night?" She hoped she sounded somewhat calm. That the worries and flashing panic attacks she had after reading through his files wasn't painted across her face.

He sat back in his chair and rested his feet on the desk. "I don't usually sleep well so I'm used to it."

"You are not supposed to be used to it, that's bad for your health." She scolded, hands on hips and standing straight.

Negi just scoffed. If only you knew.

XxX

"Me telling you, teacher really fast! Me could almost no see him!" Ku chattered off, waving her hands around and hopping. Kaede smiled and nodded pleasantly while her friend told her how their new teacher saved one of her fellow students the day before. The boy had made quite the impression on her.

"It sounds surprising but I doubt he was going that fast, you have good eyes." Ku had a habit of embellishing things that excited her.

She shook her head. Her two side tails slapping against her scalp. "Mm-mm, me telling true, very fast! Went from founder statue to steps in second! Left crack in stone, me show you later!"

"Really?" her normally squinting eyes opened a fraction.

"Mm-mmhh!"

XxX

"I wonder what happened between Negi-sensei and Takahata-sensei." Mana said to her roommate as they made their way to class.

"..."

"You felt the way his aura shifted when the two spoke, and how it dropped right when his headache started."

"..."

"I'm not so sure. By the way, do you have a copy of our history notes?"

She reached into her bag and handed Mana a yellow note pad.

"Thanks Zazie."

"..."

XxX

Chachamaru strolled diligently beside her master Evangeline A.K. Mcdowell. Every now and then the tiny blonde girl would let loose a giggle. Something that was completely unbecoming of her usual behavior.

"You seem to be quite happy today master." Chachamaru spoke, her voice void of any emotion.

"Oh I am." She giggled more. "The son of the Thousand Master, here, of all places." A fit of laughter, that sounded none to pleasant, racked her body.

XxX

As the girls filled into the room Negi and Shizuna just finished moving the desks and chairs around into makeshift benches. Chamo and Kalma had left some minutes prior, deciding to explore the campus as much as they could while school was in full swing. Sayo agreed to go with them seeing how she had know the grounds longer. That and she wanted a chance to talk with her new friends, seeing how Negi would be busy for most of the day. Most of the girls gave the two teachers a pleasant greeting before joining up with their friends. Many of them brought in bags of leftover food and drinks along with a few bags of junk and party favors. A roar went up when Satsuki walked in with Chao, both pushing a cart with the majority of the leftovers as well as a small oven for reheating.

"Now before we start!" Negi shouted out, halting the chaotic shuffling. "I want to point out and stress to all of you that this is most likely a onetime thing. Tomorrow we will be beginning classes normally. No parties, no food after the bell, no random seating. Understood?"

The reply was a glum. "Yes Sensei."

"Bu~t.." he placed a teasing finger against his cheek. "If you girls do well on the remainder of your major tests then I might see fit to reward you." That got him a few cheers. "Now seeing how lucky we are that both the English and Homeroom class are the same and use the same room, (for some reason that got a chuckle from several students) any leftovers you girls have, and judging by the look of things there will be a lot, English today will be a mock lunch time. For today only. Ok?"

"Yes Sensei."

"Just keep everything together and out of the way when you're all done. I don't feel like getting yelled at by another teacher on my second day."

The party went into full swing. Satsuki and Chao served as chiefs with Chachamaru passing out the food and drinks. Something that the three of them seemed natural at doing. For the most part Negi decided to remain at his desk, going over plans for future classes and reading over small introductory packets on how the Japanese ran their schools. Shizuna sat with him and helped where was needed.

"So do you understand how it works?" She leaned in to be heard over the ruckus.

Negi knuckled his head. "I think so." He shifted through his work schedule that Shizuna provided. "So I'm really only teaching this one class for both subjects, no one else?"

"Yes, unlike in western schools here the classrooms belong to the students. Instead of having them rotate to different classes we instead have the teachers come to them. In between shifts off duty teachers usually spend their time in the teachers room.."

"So THATS why they have class names. Guess it's a good thing that I told them to keep things together."

Shizuna nodded. "Also seeing how you are a probationary teacher the Dean felt it best if you were in a more loose position." At Negi's questioning look she added. "The Dean felt it best that you only be assigned a single class rather than rotating. That way you won't feel over burdened and we can use you to sub for any staff members that call out."

"I thought Japan didn't use substitutes."

"Well the group that founded Mahora were westerners so you will find a mix of influences here."

He shifted through a few pages in his pamphlets and glanced through his schedule. "So it's January."

Shizuna raised a brow. "Yes."

"Which makes it the beginning of the final trimester because schools in Japan start in April and end in March." He stated, somewhat strained.

"That is correct."

"And it's one day weekends."

"Yes."

He puffed a breath, shaking his head. "ok."

"Do you understand how to handle the class assignments?"

"I..." He plucked his schedule from the mess. "I start off with home room in the morning. Then go to the teachers room for..whatever."

"To prepare or finalize class assignments as well as taking care of any secondary needs." She offered.

"Right. Then I come back here to teach English in the middle of the day. Then go back to the teachers room to grade everything. Then slack off."

"Then finish your day." She scolded.

Negi waved it away with a light hearted laugh. "I'm just funning with you. What I don't get is this homeroom deal."

"What don't you understand?"

"Well, it's allot like a western homeroom, what with having to help the students with different subjects but.." He pickup a pamphlet and read. "The homeroom class is meant to form a greater part of students' lives. Teachers must play the part of a sort of substitute parent in many ways. You must also aid with the organization of competitive events between home room classes." He gave her a sideways look. "A substitute parent?"

"Negi-san. Here in Japan there is a much higher emphases on education and success. Most families place a lot of pressure on their children to do well in schools. Here, a poor education and low grades, even if you make it into a university, can lead to a life of hardships and struggles. Poor paying jobs with long thankless hours, ruined relationships. People have been disowned for these things. As teachers, as people who are going to be guiding these children through the most important part of their lives we need them to see us as family. It creates a bond that sees them doing their best to please us, by getting good grades, and it drives us to do our best to see them succeed."

He rubbed at his face, angry, frustrated, confused. "Why the hell did they place me as the homeroom teacher then." He mumbled the words, more to himself then for her to hear. But she heard them anyway.

Shizuna had been at her job a long time and through the years had learned how to pickup and read any possible meanings that someone's words could carry. Several ideas passed through her mind on how she could get Negi to begin opening up to her, or at least peek deeper into who he was.

"It may not be that difficult." She began tactfully. "Just take from how your parents guided you and adapt it."

Negi chuckled with a surprising amount of humor. "Like I know anything about having parents."

She wasn't sure what surprised her more. The blatant admission or how impassive he sounded about it. But she pressed on. "You grew up without parents?" 'This was not in his files.'

He shrugged but his thinning lips and the twitch in his eyes showed how he really felt. "I was raised by my Uncle and cousin."

She knew she could continue the conversation but his voice had become too distant for her to feel comfortable doing so. "I'm sorry, I didn't know."

He waved her apology away. "It's fine. I just want to know why I'm not teaching something else that suits my skills. Like biology or something."

She thought for a moment, wondering how to play this. "From what I know it was the Dean's idea." She kept a careful eye on his reaction. "Right as you were assigned here there was an opening in the high school and Dean Konoe chose Takahata-Sensei for the position." She made sure to mention both of their names.

Negi's fingers twitched each time she did. For a moment his face remained blank save for the squinting of his eyes. As though he was trying to see something that was right under his nose. Then he sneered and his hand went to the scars on his face.

"Something wrong Negi-san?"

"Nothing."

XxX

The girls did a good job of straightening things before the bell rang, having placed the leftovers atop Satsuki's cart at the back of the room. Negi scribbled a quick note to the next teacher explaining the food and apologizing in advance if any of the girls were distracted during class because of it.

Shizuna acted as his guide to the teachers room, explaining the main purpose of the room and equipment inside. "You'll be given your own desk next to mine and professor Miyamoto the English teacher for class 2E in case you need help with anything."

"Thanks but I'm sure I can handle the class lessons on my own." Negi walked a step behind her. His arms resting behind his head while he looked around the halls.

The door to the teachers room looked like every other door in the school with a little window and a sign on the wall with the rooms name. It was mostly empty inside with classes going into full swing but a few off duty teachers where there to greet them. Negi went along with what would most likely become routine, greeting his coworkers, shaking hands and laughing at small jests.

"Negi-san this is professor Seruhiko, the History teacher for the first years and Professor Mitsuru, the Home EC and Cooking teacher for the fourth years."

"So twelve years old and already a teacher? Boy when I was your age my head was to full of clouds to even think about what I wanted to be when I got older." Mitsuru said. A portly man with short brown hair resting on a plump round head.

Negi shrugged. "I didn't see any reason to put it off. Get a job, get paid, retire early." That got a laugh out of most of them.

Seruhiko spoke up, a man that he could only describe as a pretty-boy with his short grey hair large eyes and slim frame. "But man, to be put in charge of 2-A right off the train." He sucked in a breath through his teeth. "Not even Death-Specks Takahata could manage that lot."

"I'm sure I can handle them better than he did." Negi said, idly picking at his nails. That got another round of laughter.

"Don't go letting him hear you said that."

With a knock at the door another staff member entered the room. A tall, well built man with a shaved head. "Ah you must be Negi-sensei, the Dean has requested that you meet him in his office."

"I'll meet up with you for English, ok Negi?"

He nodded and turned to leave with a suffering sigh before stopping. "Hey, mind if I borrow two of these?" He gestured to a white mug full of pens and sharpened pencils.

"Oh sure, that's your desk anyway so feel free to take as many as you'd like." Seruhiko laughed.

Plucking to sharpened pencils from his desk waving a farewell to Shizuna Negi left the Teachers room and walked, somewhat idly, to the Dean's office. As the door closed behind him the older teachers shared a smile. "So that's Negi-Springfeild, he seems like a good kid."

Mitsuru nodded. "The piercings are a bit freaky though."

After navigating the schools almost maze like hallways and not even bothering to dowse his mounting irritation, brought upon by lack of sleep as well as several internal issues, Negi walked up to the Dean's door...

BLAM!

..and kicked it open in a single smooth motion. The instant his raised foot touched down his left arm shot out and the two pencils he was holding blurred into twin yellow lines. Konoemon and Takahata's hands snapped up, catching the missiles between two fingers half a foot from their throats.

"What?!" Negi demanded.

"Hoho Negi-kun, as lively as ever it seems. Thank you for the pencil, I just so happened to have used my last one this morning. I could always use a pen I suppose but they just don't feel the same." The Dean sighed, placing the pencil neatly alongside a small stack of papers. "Be that as it may, how was your first day of teaching?"

Negi snarled and reached into his pocket before his hand again blurred out. This time Konoemon caught a small pamphlet regarding the roles of a Homeroom teacher.

"Please stop throwing things in school Negi-kun."

"Your brain must be as dysfunctional as those shriveled up balls of yours old man!"

"I told you he would react like this Konoemon." Takahata sighed, placing his own pencil next to the Dean's.

"A SUBSTITUE PARENT?!" Negi shrieked. "Do you two think you're clever? Do you think I don't see what you're trying to pull?"

Takahata raised a pacifying hand. "Now Negi-kun, please, calm down and let us explain."

Negi's body practically hummed with rage. His hands clenched, his teeth grinded together. An all too familiar feeling began to spread in the core of his mind. Taking deep calming breaths he relaxed before it had time to soak in. His eyes stayed trained on the two and while his body relaxed the hate in his eyes remained. "Thirty seconds, then I'm leaving."

XxX

Shizuna walked briskly down the dimly lit hallway to the Dean's office, back straight and folder in hand. It was almost time for Negi's second class and she had seen neither hide nor hair of the boy since he left the teachers room. Just as she was reaching the door it burst open. Negi stormed out of the office, lips drawn in a thin line and eyes ablaze with barely kept fury. Not even sparring her a glance he brushed by and down the hall. An unsure moment passed her, whether she should follow him or continue her way to the office. 'I'll let him cool off for now.'

Inside she was met with the Dean and Takahata both slumped back in their chairs. "That, went poorly." The later sigh out.

Konoemon nodded into his hands. "I trust him to hold to his vows however, that will have to do for now."

"Should I come back?"

They looked up to her. "No, it's quite alright. Was there something you needed Shizuna-san?"

"Yes." She walked over and placed her folder on the desk. "Why did you not mention that Negi was an orphan?"

The two men sucked in a breath. Both wincing as if they disturbed a newly formed wound.

"Do you recall how I mentioned certain things Negi-kun does not like to talk about?" He spread his hands, as if presenting her with the answer.

"And yet you failed to specify them, leaving me to bring up his parents earlier today."

"Oh, and how did that come about?"

Shizuna chewed on her lip. "When he raised concerns about his role to the students I stated that he should take example from his own parents. He found it...humorous."

He kept his head down in thought for a moment,. "I see.

XxX

Negi stormed down the halls knowing that his next class would start in a few short minutes. The vague tugging in his mind telling that Kalma and the others were still far off. His conversation with the Dean still burned his insides with a pure white hate.

'...vows to protect the students...can't expose yourself...control your hate Negi-kun...must make your vows."

He snarled, his hands coming up and ripping both his snake bite piercings and his brow loops from his face. They phased through his skin without a mark. The metal loops floated above his hand, humming and glowing with magical light. With a simple flick they shot from his palm and blurred out an open window. He spared them the faintest of glances as they ascended into the mid-morning sky.

"Never say I don't keep my word old man."