A/N: Like others, I have all of these ideas running around that won't make it into a full length story, so I am collecting them here to unleash on an unsuspecting public. My intent is to not only to eliminate some of these pesky plot bunnies, but to also write something different from what I normally do.

First up is Asuna. If you can't stand a little romantic fluff, then press the back key. You have been warned.

Negima and its characters belong to Ken Akamatsu.

As Lovely As …

She stood upon the hillside, stately and serene, and patiently waited for him to arrive. "Patience," she once would have laughed. "Me?" But it was true, Asuna had learned to be patient and understanding and to face each day without the myriad of doubts that once assailed her. Ever since the change …

How long had it been, she briefly wondered. Three years? Four? Or maybe a full score? It didn't really matter, not anymore. Not as long as he came.

'There he is,' her heart sang as the boy now grown into a young man walked up the trail.

"Hello Asuna," Negi greeted her, smiling that smile of his she adored. After reaching his goal of the name 'Magister Magi', he had settled in Mahora and became a fulltime faculty member. "Would you like me to read?"

Without an answer, Negi sat on the ground and leaned his back against her. Even through his shirt she could feel the ripple of muscles, the beating of his heart, and the slow expansion and contraction accompanying each breath the young man drew. As he flipped through the pages, she could see the tiny, black letters against the creamy white pages.

"She won't be angry with me," said Alicia. "Why would she Kate? Every word I wrote her was true. This is the most horrible place in the world. You know it is."

The words cascaded from his lips, enchanting her with their cadence. In truth it didn't matter what Negi read, as long as she could hear the resonance of his voice. Calmed by his presence, she lapsed into reminiscing about times when she was younger.

"What's the matter with you Kagurazaki?" Evangeline had screamed at her during one of the dark mage's infamous training sessions. "You're moving slower than a zombie today."

"I don't feel good," she bellowed in answer.

"Then why waste my time if you're not feeling up to it?" the little vampire shouted back. "Break everyone."

Konoka was at her side instantly. "Are you injured?" her friend asked, eager to practice another healing spell.

"No, I just feel stiff all over," Asuna replied while rubbing a hand along her arm. "Probably one of those 24 hour bugs."

"Maybe you should rest for awhile," Setsuna suggested as the swordswoman approached. "You've been working yourself pretty hard our last few times."

"I'll be fine in a little while," she had maintained.

Konoka stared for moment. "You've got a twig tangled in your hair," the healer told her and then tried to yank it out.

"Owwww!" she had screeched. "Stop it! Stop it! Stop pulling!"

--

The headmaster had looked at her with as mournful an expression as Asuna had ever seen. "After a thousand years, the World Tree is dying," he declared.

"What's that got to do with me?"

"The tree has existed for millennia constantly dying and being reborn," the old man answered. "Near the end of each tree's period of life, a new host is born. And she is called the Imperial Princess of the Twilight."

Words spun around in her mind, like the cage a hamster runs in, but made no sense. "I don't understand," she cried. "What does that mean to me?"

"You were born for a single purpose Asuna," the headmaster said in a voice as awful as a woodsman's ax that bit into a rotting trunk. "You will become the next World Tree when the current one dies."

--

How she had tried to maintain the façade that nothing was wrong. Asuna was another middle-school student, but the changes came despite her foolish denials. Skin grew rough and uneven as hair metamorphosed into leaf bearing stems. Most of her classmates pretended not to notice, though few of them would speak with her. It all came to a head when she, late for class, struggled to open the door.

"How long are we supposed to pretend?" Chisame has yelled loud enough to be heard in the hall. "It's obvious that Asuna isn't going to change back."

"Chisame," Negi said, trying to calm his distraught student. "We must understand Asuna's condition."

"I do understand it," the girl responded. "And there's nothing that can be done."

"Chisame," again his voice called, but the girl would have none of it.

"We've done everything humanly possible to take care of Asuna and put up with her," Chisame sobbed. "No one can reproach us in the slightest."

"No we haven't done everything," the boy replied. Though he spoke in a level tone, Asuna could hear the flash of anger in Negi's voice. "Asuna is still Asuna. We have called her friend; and despite what's happened, she remains our friend."

Crying, trembling, she had been about to leave when Negi said, "Ayaka. Please open the door for Asuna."

Walking into the classroom, she could barely see from the thick tears that ran down her face like sap. "Sensei … I," Asuna said, "I'm sorry I'm late."

"That's alright," Negi responded, smiling at her as if nothing had occurred. "Will you please read the poem listed on the blackboard?"

"I have trouble holding a book," she replied.

Konoka sprang up immediately with an "I'll help" and stood before her with an open book.

"I think that I shall never see," she recited, taking time to carefully pronounce each word. "A poem as lovely as a … a … tree."

Anger surged throughout every fiber as enraged eyes sought out the boy she had thought was her friend and defender. "How could you mock me like this," Asuna wanted to shriek, but the blaze of anger died as she looked into Negi's eyes. His gaze wasn't mocking nor was his smile a smirk. Rather they were compassionate and accepting. Reflecting in the boy's face was something she couldn't name then, but later came to call it love.

--

Negi loved her despite the drubbings, the name calling and her stubbornness. To him, she would always be Asuna. Limbs ached to wrap around the young man reading to her, but she could only tremble in response. He stopped reading and gazed up at her leafy branches. Raising a hand, he caressed her bark in the way a lover would.

The entire class had been with her on the final day of her transformation. The old tree had been removed and given funeral honors while Asuna's feet took root in the soil. Evangeline had stayed behind after the rest had departed. "Now you're trapped like me Asuna," the little vampire had whispered. "But unlike me, you know you'll eventually be released."

A thousand years was a long time and even being a mage, she realized that one day Negi would no longer come to her. But in her late blooming wisdom, Asuna decided that the future should remain in the future. Today she was with one she loved and who loved her in return. It was enough.

--

A/N: This was of course based on the Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka. I owe a debt of gratitude to Greve Piertov Luchinoriconi for suggesting trees over roaches. It makes for a better story that way.

The lines Asuna recites are from the poem "Trees" by Joyce Kilmer. The passage Negi reads is from "The Perilous Gard" by Elizabeth Marie Pope.