Negima

He darted through the forest with grace and speed, his long black hair billowing with the wind. His objective was nearly complete; all he had left was to report his findings to his comrades.

As he sprinted through the wood, it was as if he wasn't there at all…the wildlife paid him no heed and the foliage left no trace of his ever trading a path. It was as though his legs made no movement hand his feet met no ground. But he was moving...and with great speed. His ninja background lent him his stealth…and his demonic blood bought him the silence of the wildlife.

A young woman with deep purple hair leapt down from her place atop a large boulder and began walking towards the entrance of the forest. She lifted her staff up and leaned it across her shoulder. She had been waiting for the return of their seeker, making sure to guard both the entrance to the forest and the location of her comrades if the seeker had been followed.

As she headed for the edge of the wood, she felt a presence coming her way…and fast. She readied her staff in front of her…locked tight to cast the delayed spell she has incanted. Had he been an enemy, she'd have had to call for backup. He appeared from the forest as if he had been created in front of it that very moment. The young woman had so much as blinked when the figure of a dark skinned young man appeared. The young man was the seeker she was waiting for, it was easy to tell. After all, most men don't have dog ears and a tail.

The young woman walked up to the man and placed one hand on his bare chest and the other behind on of his ears. He instinctively pulled her closer as she scratched behind his ear and wrapped the other arm around him. He inhaled deeply, her scent flickering through his head and pulled away from her.

"Sorry, almost lost my senses there. We're not done with the assignment yet," the man said dutifully.

"You're right. Were you followed?" the young woman replied.

"No, but there was a village there, no one noticed me, thankfully."

"This is good…" the woman said slightly irritated. In a moments notice, she took her staff and smacked him across the head.

The man recovered his balance and looked at her with a sense of disbelief, "What the hell was that for?!"

"Kotaro! Do you realize how worried I've been! You've been gone for three days!"

A look of confusion spread across the young man's face.

"Yue, you were told that this assignment would take a little while…I had to move as quickly and as quietly as possible. I could only move through the village at night…if I could have moved faster I would have."

The young woman still looked flustered when Kotaro finally noticed.

"…And I like what you've done with your hair…" he said at last.

A smile spread across the woman's face and she embraced the dog-demon again.

"I didn't really want to cut it, but when we were forced to steal supplies while you were gone, I was the only one to get seen. I had to cut it to keep from being identified by travelers."

"You did it yourself?"

"No, Konoka did it for me before she left for another village. We've been running short on supplies a lot lately."

Kotaro looked in the direction of the camp. He'd only been gone for a few days, but he knew that their base was no long where he thought it was. They'd been forced to move about very secretively lately…it was almost like all of the towns had a sort of grudge against them. But then…they were an odd bunch. The group consisted of two biracial warriors, three powerful mages…one a combat mage, a mage/philosopher, and a woman with the ability to completely nullify magic. Not too many people were keen on assisting the group; mages were usually very weak and biracials were considered taboo.

"Kotaro! Yue!" a voice echoed from the distance.

Kotaro glanced at the area the voice came from. Three people were headed in their direction. Kotaro knew immediately what had alerted the three of his return; the young girl in the lead was holding a book in front of her.

It wasn't just any book…it was a mage's book; one of great power at that. It was the trademark of Nodoka Miyazaki…the wife of Negima Springfield and master of time and space magic. The book of hers was only the first step of unlocking her abilities. She had received the book, which had the ability to peer into the minds of those whose name she called out, in a probationary contract with Negi when they had first met…when they were still just teacher and student. That had been ten years prior or, more literally, hadn't been for another five hundred years.

Nodoka was shorter than Kotaro now, at around five foot five. She had been much taller than him when he had first met her…but that felt like eons ago. Her long blue hair seemed to belie her abilities. She was a young Japanese woman…who would have expected that beneath that calm, quiet demeanor there was a fierce mage with the ability to both control your mind and the space around you.

Behind her walked Asuna Kagurazaka…a woman trained in both Kendo and Shenmei School Martial Arts. Those two things alone would have made her a powerful adversary in her own right, but there was 

something about her that made her even more dangerous. She had the ability to completely nullify any and all magic. She was a scourge to any mage that opposed them.

She was much taller than Nodoka…at least four inches, putting her on par with Kotaro. She had dark orange hair that she constantly wore in pigtails with bells attached to the ties that held them up. The bells had been given to her by a man she had fallen desperately in love with…but as things stood now, the man hadn't even been born yet.

And the most dangerous of them all walked slowly behind the group. The man Kotaro considered his eternal rival and sparring partner, Negi Springfield. His dark red hair greatly resembled that of his father's, with a single lock in front longer than the rest of his hair. At one point in time he had needed glasses, but with such limited means to attain them, he was forced to do without until the magic flowing through his body naturally healed his eyes. That alone showed the group that he was the most powerful.

He was, without a doubt, one of the most powerful combat mages in existence, no matter what time they were in. With the advent of the Cassopedia, he was forced to localize his abilities until he discovered what many mages would have considered enlightenment. His abilities could reach as far as controlling the power of the heavens and earth. Kotaro had once been the unfortunate recipient of one of his most powerful techniques. Had Negi have continued laying into him…Kotaro wasn't so sure he'd be around today.

"How was your trip?" Nodoka asked sweetly. The girl always confused Kotaro: how could someone with her kind of power seem so naive?

"Absolutely wonderful…I just love going days without sleep, jumping from rooftop to rooftop in the middle of the night knowing that if I get caught, there won't be a tomorrow morning," he replied sheepishly.

This comment earned him another whack in the back of the head from Yue. Nodoka was her best friend after all.

Kotaro struggled back to his feet, still recoiling from the blow.

"It went well, I guess," he finally responded.

"And…?" Negi asked, finally catching up to the others.

"I can sense stronger magic from it than usual. I'm almost positive that it's going to start glowing tonight."

"Alright then," Asuna added, "All that's left is to wait for Konoka and Setsuna to return and we can set off."

"But…" Kotaro added in, "A small village is built around it. That's what I was talking about, sneaking around on rooftops."

"They'll be back soon," Nodoka said, staring in her book, "We can travel by nighttime. We should make it there before morning. We should be able to sneak through the village before daybreak."

"There's one more problem," Kotaro finally finished, "The village belongs to the bird tribe."

There was a long silence before Nodoka finally piped up, "They're back."

Negi and Yue both mounted their staffs and began the flight back to the campsite, while Asuna and Kotaro made their way by ground; Nodoka, as usual, rode shotgun to Negi on his staff. While Asuna couldn't hope to ever fly because of her magic cancelling ability (it drains the magic from the staff while in flight) Kotaro merely preferred to use the ground, even though his Inugami magic allowed him the power of wand-less flight.

The campsite was small. There was no need for a huge, extravagant base; the group was constantly on the move. They had to do everything they could to make sure they didn't intervene in anything that was happening at the time, lest it have a lasting impact on the future. Sure enough though, when they reached the campsite, they could see the silhouette of two people in the sunset.

The one in front was around Nodoka's height, with long black hair that was tied back. She was garbed in mostly white and, while it wasn't for any particular reason, it was a 'not so subtle' hint that she was a healer. The one in the back was a different story though. She wore a white shirt that completely exposed her back and her arms and she wore a long black skirt. Her hair was nearly platinum white and it looked as though her eyes were completely white. There was a very large thing that set her off from her companion though…well, two very large things: wings. She had two enormous white wings on her back and, had she not wielded a large Japanese sword and wore the countenance of a warrior…one would have mistaken her for an angel.

Nodoka didn't need to look at her book to see that their plea for supplies had failed. It didn't surprise her; they had yet to receive supplies from any of the villages they had turned to, even when it was Negi and Nodoka who went to beseech their assistance. Most of the time, they were forced to go at night and steal food and water.

Konoka began to say something, but Negi interrupted her.

"It doesn't matter Konoka," he stated calmly, "We're moving out now. The World tree is starting its cycle."

"Well, that's good…" Setsuna responded quickly, "'Cause we've got to go. Now!"

Kotaro looked over in the direction the two had come from. There must have been twenty of them…mages and partners.

"Come on, hurry up guys!" Yue yelled as the ground beneath her feet started glowing.

"Vente Nos!" she yelled, pointing her staff at the oncoming force.

A strong gust of wind forced itself from the tip of her staff, blasting through the crowd and knocking many of them down.

"Forget the rest of the supplies!" Negi commanded, "We need to go now!"

He grabbed Nodoka's hand while Kotaro scooped up Yue. Asuna quickly tied the supplies they had gathered to Negi's staff and hurried him and Nodoka into the air. Kotaro forced Yue to take flight as well when he saw Setsuna launch off with Konoka, and he was left standing there with Asuna.

"I know you can take care of yourself, Asuna," Kotaro began, "And I'm sure that you could hold them off and make it in time, but I don't think I like that idea much."

Asuna looked at him, her massive sword already drawn and held in front of her.

"How about this," he added, "I'll launch the both of us off, and you can stop to magic from interfering with it!"

Asuna nodded and grabbed Kotaro's hand. She had only done this with him once before, but since he didn't use a staff or wand to take flight she knew he would be able to fly the both of them out of there. All she heard was his incantation…short and sweet.

"Inugami Air Fang!"

They were lifted in the air faster than she'd ever seen Negi or Yue fly. Kotaro had been right in assuming he'd need her help in stopping the mages from shooting them down though. At least ten spells were launched at them from the distance…but it looked like much more. Asuna couldn't really do anything about the spells though. All she could do was smack the ones that targeted Kotaro directly with her sword and let the others hit her. It's not like they had any effect on her…all she could feel was a little tingling, next thing she knew, there was an impact…or at least it looked like one. She couldn't feel it and it didn't leave any lasting impression that showed there actually was an impact.

As they flew through the air, Asuna couldn't help but remember how it all happened. Konoka was accidently had a magic overload in Eva's Resort. Under any normal circumstance, Konoka would have just passed out. End of story. But this wasn't any normal circumstance…they were in a magically enriched resort where even a novice could get off some high level spells. And again, had that been all, they would still be in their time. But Negi had on his person the Cassopedia…a gift from Chao Lingshen that allowed one to travel back in the past one day, and only during the three days that the world tree, one of the magical focal points of the planet, was in bloom.

Kotaro had been about to enter the resort when the accident occurred...because Konoka, Negi, Asuna, Yue, Setsuna, Chisame, Fei Ku, Kaede, and Nodoka were trying to leave at the exact same moment. When Kotaro and the others activated the resort at the exact same time, it caused a magic torrent to hit the group. Not only did the torrent set off Konoka, but it set off Negi as well…causing a magical overload powerful enough to obliterate the boundaries of the Cassopedia. The problem was, however, that the Cassopedia had no way of activating itself through magic alone…it had to be turned to operate. 

But it turned out that Chao's plan had been, all along, to move Negi through time…past the third day of the festival…but instead of going forward in time, it went reverse. It threw them back over one thousand years…into the 11th century.

Since then, the group had been making its way forward in time, but not without losses. Chisame didn't survive the trip into the past…it appeared that she was absorbed by the magic along the way…or that she was dropped off in a different time. Fei Ku was a different story.

Sometimes the Cassopedia was slightly off on its targeting and they appeared hundreds of miles away or in the ocean. There were even times where they appeared miles above land…but in Fei Ku's instance, they appeared in China…in the 13th Century. It was one of two times that their plea for assistance was answered gracefully. The group had been forced to appeal to a group of Mongols, and as it just so happened, Genghis Kahn himself was in charge of this set. He welcomed the group with open arms and treated them as honored guests. The party really did enjoy themselves for the four years they lived amongst the Mongols. Yue had even been given an opportunity to speak with Marco Polo himself, and exchanged philosophical ideals with Genghis on a daily basis. It was during this time that Genghis Kahn personally wed Negi and Nodoka and he himself was married: to Fei Ku.

Negi couldn't object to Fei Ku's desire to wed Genghis. He was a brilliant man and a profound martial artist and, while Negi was concerned over the timeline, he couldn't help but remind himself that if he managed to return to his time and stop the Cassopedia from ever being used, the two never would have met in the first place. When the time came to return to the World tree, Genghis even told the group of a place similar to that of the World tree in China. The group owed more than they could ever repay to Genghis, but he didn't want to be repaid. They had introduced him to his wife, so he considered himself in debt to them.

So with fond farewells and many tears shed, the group bid their farewell to both Genghis and Fei Ku. They were fully stocked on provisions, they had learned many new languages, and Genghis had even given Yue a new staff. It was in that instance that they lost Kaede as well. She had decided to stay behind and go to Japan to create the Koga clan. Her basis was that her mother always told her that she looked exactly like the founder of the clan. Whether this was true or not, the group had no power to stop her. She too bid her fond farewells to her comrades and was on her way.