Juugo: 1 – First Assignment

Disclaimer: I do not own Negima or any of the characters they are the property of their respective creators. Please be aware that no profit is being made from this work of fan fiction.

"When I call your name, my sorcerous graduates…take your mystic diploma that will dictate your career. And remember; a charmed life is a happy life."

I waited there patiently as the other graduates were called forward to receive their diplomas, one by one they walked up to the podium and were handed the small roll of parchment by my grandfather, the head magus. At last, the time came for me to be called and I straightened up slightly, just before my name was called.

"Negi Springfield."

I walked up to the podium, coming to a halt before my grandfather before gratefully receiving my diploma from his hands. He smiled at me for a moment, pleased that I had come so far in the past decade. Taking my diploma in hand, I departed the podium, walking over to where my sister was waiting.

"Congratulations Negi! I'm so proud of you!"

She threw her arms about me, embarrassing me slightly. Feeling my cheeks heating up I pushed her away.

"Sister, I'm not a kid anymore. I wish you wouldn't keep doing that in front of people."

As if to spite me she hugged me again. When she finally released me for the second time we turned our attention to the diploma still clutched tightly in my hand, when opened it would reveal the career I had been chosen for, the one that would lead me down the path towards becoming a true magister magi. Sliding open the scroll I waited for a moment as words began to form.

"A teacher in Japan."

"What?"

My sister immediately grabbed the school away from me, reading it herself to confirm what I had said. A moment later she cornered grandfather in the hall, and was quizzing him intently about the task I had been assigned.

"But Magus, a teacher in Japan? That's on the other side of the world! How can you possibly send Negi so far away?"

"I know, but the diploma has spoken, there is nothing that even I, as magus, can do."

"But…there must…"

"Negi is old enough now to walk his own path in life, his father left here around the same age as well. Don't worry, Negi will be fine."

She stepped backward, even thought I could not see her face I could see how her shoulders were shaking and knew she was crying. Not knowing what else to do I walked over and caught her in a hug, letting her rest her head against my shoulder.

"Don't worry sister, it will be fine."

She looked up at me with red and puffy eyes with unshed tears glistening at the corners.

"But Negi, Japan is on the other side of the world! How will you manage on your own out there?"

"To be honest, I don't know. But I'm sure I'll find a way, I always have before after all."

She calmed a little before reaching up and drying her tears. Then she hugged me once again, putting all her hopes and fears into that embrace.

"I'll be thinking of you little brother, make sure to write me, ok?"

"Ok."

With that she let go and stepped away from me as my attention went back to my grandfather.

"I'm ready to go sir."

"Good, now Negi, the headmaster of the school where you will be working is an old friend of mine. He and your heart will be your guides; I have every confidence in you my grandson."

To my surprise, he caught me in a lose hug before striding off, signalling for my sister to follow. She looked back at me one last time before following along, leaving me to face my destiny…

The flight to Japan was rather long; I spent almost fourteen hours trapped on that plane. When I finally arrived I was surprised at how different everything seemed, Wales is in many ways detached from much of the changes in the modern world, coming to Japan for the first time was like walking into a technological wonderland. I followed the other passengers towards the immigration control, my first real chance to test my Japanese skills. When asked for my name I replied in Japanese, from the look of surprise on the attendants face I guessed I had spoken correctly. This was confirmed when they replied in Japanese, telling me I could go.

Taking my passport I continued to the baggage collection area where I waited to collect my bags before heading out to the front of the airport. I was supposed to be going to the Mahora academy in Tokyo, according to what I had found out before leaving Wales, I would need to take a buss to the main station in Tokyo and then a train to get to the district where the school was located. After a few false starts I managed to locate the correct bus and was soon on my way into central Tokyo, getting off at the central station I began searching for platform one.

"Um, excuse me but where is platform one located?"

The man gave me a puzzled look for a moment and I wondered if I had pronounced my words correctly. A moment later he made a gesture towards a sign behind me, which to my surprise and embarrassment read one dot two. I thanked him before following the sign and heading up the stairs to where the track was located before getting onto the train. The first thing I noticed was that it was air conditioned, something almost unheard of in Wales, of course seeing as the humidity here is so much higher I shouldn't really have been surprised.

The second thing I noticed was the fact that the carriage I was currently in was predominantly filled with girls, almost all of whom looked to be around my age. Already I could feel quite a few glances heading in my direction and more than a few giggles occurring from time to time. When the train shifted suddenly I found myself buffeted on all sides, for an embarrassing few moments I was unsure of where to put my hands. When it finally straightened out, most of the girls turned to me and apologised, making me feel rather uncomfortable. When I felt a hand on my behind I nearly jumped, accidentally letting off a sneeze.

Now of course for normal people this would not be a problem, in my case however it is an entirely different matter. My wind magic has this unfortunate tendency of going out of control when I sneeze, often to varying degrees. In this particular instance it was enough to briefly flip up the skirts of every girl in the carriage, something that left me blushing crimson with my eyes fixed firmly on the roof of the carriage while the girls were all looking down, tinges of red on their cheeks. I was relieved when the train finally arrived at the station I had been waiting for and I dashed out making a brief apology as I went.

I dashed up and down stairs, looking for the exit to the station only to be awed by the tide of humanity exiting from it's gates. From what I could tell almost all of them were students, boys and girls alike dressed in the uniforms I had come to associate with Japanese schools. Unfortunately, due to this concerted rush, it made it rather hard for me to ask anyone for directions, already I was worried that I was going to be late on my first day…not knowing what else to do I set off in the direction the rest of the students were heading, hoping that along the way I would be able to ask someone.

"Takahata-Sensei Takahata-Sensei Takahata-Sensei Takahata-Sensei Takahata-Sensei Arf!"

The strange outburst caught my attention and I looking to locate the source I found it had come from a girl with long red hair done up in two ponytails running alongside another girl with long straight, dark brown hair. As I looked at the red head I suddenly felt a twinge of something, an echo of the future. Never being one to allow others to blindly stumble into misfortune I sped up a little until I was running along side her.

"Sorry to but in, but I just thought you should know, you'll be heart-broken."

For a moment she didn't react and I was about to continue on when she reached out and grabbed me by the collar.

"How'd you like to be broken, eh?"

I was seriously taken aback by her actions, from what I head read the Japanese were a very reserved people, not often prone to such outbursts. Looking over at her friend it became quickly apparent that this was nothing out of the ordinary; obviously this girl was just different.

"What the hell makes you think you can say something like that to someone?"

"Well…it's just that I'm kind of psychic, and your future—"

She cut me off before I could finish, hauling me over so our faces were only inches apart. Once again I was surprised by how strong this girl was, I was certain a teenage girl being this strong just wasn't normal.

"Right now you're future's looking pretty short."

"I was just trying to help! To warn you!"

Her eyes narrowed slightly.

"Is that a threat!

I was relieved when her friend stepped in, gently placing a hand on the red head's shoulder.

"C'mon Asuna, he's a foreigner, he probably isn't familiar with our customs."

Of course, this 'Asuna' girl wasn't listening; she was all too intent on being mad.

"Take it back you jerk!"

By now her hands were on my shoulders and she was shaking me slightly. By now I was starting to get a little vexed by her behaviour, I pulled away from her grasp, before taking a moment to reorient myself. The girl seemed to cool down a little although not by much as was indicated by her next comment.

"So, are you stupid or are you just lost? This is Mahora school district, it's all girls okay?"

Her friend, trying to be helpful decided to chime in then.

"If you're looking for the boys district it's two stops back."

"Right, now apologise and I might put you in the train rather than under it."

That, as they say, was the straw that broke the camels back, or rather in this case, finally made my self-control slip slightly. Putting on my most charming smile I met her gaze before speaking in level tones.

"I just have one thing I have to ask…are all Japanese girls this cranky, or do you just have really serious issues?"

For a moment she simply stood there, spluttering. Taking that as my queue to leave, I turned to depart when there was a scream from behind me and something collided with my back. I turned as I fell, coming face to face with her once again. It was fairly obvious now that she had tackled me from behind, despite that fact I was less than pleased by this development I tried to ensure that I would take the brunt of the fall, rude or not I wasn't about to let any girl get hurt.

I landed on my rear with a thud, with the girl landing on top of me a moment later. Unfortunately, through some cruel twist of fate she ended up falling in such away that her face was level with mine and as her full weight came down on top of me our lips touched…I had barely enough time to recover before I was hauled to my feat, the girl gripping my collar in one hand while she drew back the other to throw a punch…

"Negi? Is that you?"

I looked up to find Takahata standing in the first floor window of the closest building. I was about to call out to him when the girl suddenly released her hold on me before bowing.

"T-Takahata-sensei? I…I…didn't…uh…he…"

Shaking my head at her obvious crush I stood up, brushing myself off as I did so before calling out to my father's old friend my old teacher.

"Takamichi! You nut! How's it going!"

The girl immediately took a step back, her face looked in an expression of total shock.

"'You nut!' Where? Who? How?"

Before I could answer Takamichi called out again.

"I see the welcoming committee found you. Glad to have you aboard…'Negi-sensei', who would've thought?"

The brown haired girl suddenly got a thoughtful look on her face. She turned to me before asking.

"Did…did he just call you…?"

"Negi –sensei?"

I finished for her.

"Why yes…"

I bowed as I introduced myself.

"My name is Negi Springfield and I will be your new English professor."

Suddenly there was an outburst from my left.

"I-I'll kill him!"

Evidently the red head was less than pleased by this news.

"What kind of a stupid joke is this? You're no older than we are!"

Thankfully Takamichi chose that moment to emerge from the building, defusing the situation.

"Calm down Asuna. He's brighter than he appears.

"Well, he'd have to be."

"You'll find out for yourself you know, since Negi here is taking over my class."

She stepped backward, a look of complete and utter shock on her face once again.

"You're not serious Takahata-sensei! If…if he replaced you it would…"

"Break your heart?"

I supplied casually.

"Yes! Break my…"

She stopped talking as she realised what I had done.

"Hey! Who asked you! Of all the stupid, unfair, unreasonable…you nit! You nothing! You…"

Unfortunately, I'm allergic to criticism…

"ACHOO!"

The resulting sneeze blew off her clothes leaving her standing there in nothing more than her underwear. She immediately dropped to the ground, desperately trying to cover herself while blushing furiously. Feeling more than a little sorry for her I shrugged off my coat before offering it to her.

"Here."

She looked up at me, fixing me with a questioning gaze before accepting it and pulling it on. For the first time since I met her she actually smiled, I helped her to her feet and the four of us walked inside.

A/N: And so my first foray into the world of Negima fan fiction begins. Yes, this idea is not new but I hope that my delivery of it might be. Expect this for the most part to follow the manga pretty closely, never seen the anime so that will not be referenced. I'm presently up to volume seven so that gives me a decent amount to work with for now, however don't expect frequent updates as I juggle this with my Evangelion stuff.

I have to admit being English I have in fact been to Wales and funnily enough to Japan (Some of the first segment is based on my experiences) Ok, well, please leave a review, always good to know what people think of my work and I'll see you next time…

Hououza

Chapter preread by That Other Guy