This and previous chapters of this fic can be found on my website at:
http://home.comcast.net/~fireangel37
Comments and criticism welcome. Please drop me a note if you like this
fic, or even if you don't. Thanks to everyone who has contributed
comments so far.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Rebound Effect: Again!
Chapter 3: Reiteration
Disclaimer: Characters and setting copyright Ken Akamatsu. Spoilers,
those that might appear, would be from the end of the manga series (vol
14). Negima spoilers will be minor in terms of plot. "How magic works"
will be at whatever point I've seen to (currently a chapter in the high
50s).
Again, thoughts are in the style //thought// much like how "spoken"
works.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The fiery orb of Sol had barely touched the horizon as Keitaro made his
way from the secluded spot in the grounds surrounding the Hinatasou back
to the dormitory itself. His memory of the exact order of events from
his youth was hazy, at best, but he could recall his grandmother sending
a fax within the first few days to cement his role as the building
manager.
It was from here that he had managed to gain entry to Toudai. He'd lied
about being in Toudai the first time he had come here, as well. //It's
funny how history repeats itself,// he mused as he walked down the path.
He'd been caught up in the Toudai lie again, though this time he felt
that there would be no need for a third year as a ronin if he were to
take the exam again.
The course of action that he was going to take occupied his thoughts
like an elephant in a Print Club booth and he didn't have any answers.
If this was, indeed, time travel, then changing anything could prove
disastrous. He had never heard of successful time travel, but even if
this were it, he could think of no reason why he would be an ancient
mind in a young body. Something just didn't make sense.
A falling leaf drifted across his path and his eyes followed it for a
second before his hand leapt out, one finger extended to skewer it.
Instead of hitting the leaf, his fingertip brushed the stem and caused
it to pinwheel away with the breeze. //I should have gotten that,// he
noted to himself in a detached manner. His body was definitely that of
his nineteen year old self.
Though in later life, it became apparent that he had always had a lot of
potential with both martial arts and magic, when he was nineteen, he'd
possessed all of the training and ability of an unripe watermelon. He
knew that regaining some semblance of ability wouldn't be hard, but it
would be time consuming.
//Do I have time?// he wondered, not for the first time. Whatever had
caused him to regress in time might snap him back in an instant, or it
might leave him to languish forever, as far as he knew. //Would that be
so bad?// he asked himself, but had no answers to that question, either.
This wasn't a world he was used to, any longer, nor was it the world
where he had been happy in his youth. To return to that world would
require events to unfold as they had the first time.
By the time he had reached the Hinatasou once more, he had reached a
conclusion, of sorts. He decided that he would not make any blatant
attempts to change anything about this time. The girls might have been
the same girls he'd loved and, in most cases, lost, but they didn't know
him or care for him as he knew and cared for them. Getting too close to
them would only make being here harder. If he got sucked back into his
own time, he didn't know if he could handle loosing them twice.
No, he had decided. If he was going to change anything, it would have
to be done gently. //She always said that if she were stronger, that
day would never have happened... Maybe that is the answer. If I can't
directly change anything, then maybe I can change her.//
He nodded to himself, satisfied with that course of action. It wouldn't
matter if he destroyed his own future, if it meant saving their lives.
The love that had grown after that fateful night meant a lot to him, but
looking at the tragedy and the misery the three of them had carried for
six hundred years, he couldn't choose that course for them twice.
Giving that up seemed a steep price, but holding on to it and letting
the horrors occur again seemed an impossible one.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Again and again, the blade descended. Each arc of the sword was
identical to the one before it, and the clarity and truth of the action
allowed her mind to feel the flow and the now. Each cycle of the blade
was another blow in the battle between the flesh and the spirit; another
erosion of the past and present and a reinforcement of the "now". //The
warrior does not think of the future or dwell on the past. With the
blade in hand, there is only the "moment". To grasp the moment is to
grasp...//
Her train of thought was interrupted by something that she could not
place and she opened her eyes. Seated on the railing, not five meters
away, was the Toudai student. She hadn't heard him come up to the roof
where she was practicing, but she had been far into her meditative
state. "Urashima-san," she said very curtly. Her opinion on allowing a
male to stay in the dormitory was relatively neutral, unlike Naru, but
that did not mean she was any less suspicious of him. The fact that he
was now watching her very intently while she practiced was
disconcerting.
When she acknowledged his presence, he offered her a polite smile. "To
cut off past and future thoughts, and not to live within the everyday
mind. Then the Great Way is right before your eyes, yes?" he asked her.
"Urashima-san," she repeated, her voice very calm and even. She managed
to keep her dislike for him and the surprise she felt at his quotation
from showing. "You are perceptive... Are you a student of the sword as
well as of Toudai?"
"A little, I guess. It's one of those things that you just kind of pick
up along the way," he stretched and hopped from his perch, apparently
oblivious to the hard look she was giving him.
"Would you care to have a little match with these things that you "just
kind of picked up", then?" she asked as levelly as she could, though her
annoyance at his cavalier attitude about swordsmanship bled through.
He offered her a grin, "Sure, just go easy on me, okay?"
She nodded to him and went to fetch a pair of bokken from her room.
Within a few moments, she returned and passed one to him. "The way of
the sword is a very serious one, Urashima-san. It is a path which
requires dedication and does not allow for deviance."
He cocked his head slightly while replying to her. It felt like she was
being studied. "Do you enjoy your practice with the sword, Aoyama-san?"
//So, he turns it around on me,// she noted. "Swordsmanship is not to
be enjoyed, it is to be followed with dedication and purpose."
He held the wooden sword awkwardly, as though he had never touched one
before, and she started to think his demeanor was simply bluster. She
offered him a cold smile. Besting men who thought they were better than
her was one of her favorite activities. He did a few practice swings in
the air and his grip shifted.
"If you cannot find enjoyment in the sword, then why would you follow
it?" he asked as he fell into a stance that seemed vaguely familiar to
her and showed that he hadn't been lying about knowing at least a little
swordsmanship.
She grunted and assumed her own stance, //Why is he telling me these
things? He does not understand the way of the warrior, at all.//
Suddenly, something occurred to her. "Urashima-san, would you care for
some padding? I do not wish for you to become injured." //Much,// she
added to herself.
He shook his head, "I think I'll be okay. I've got thick skin."
He made no move at her and, after a few seconds, she grew impatient and
shifted her leading foot as she prepared to strike. Her bokken came up
and around only to be met by the wooden sword Keitaro held. He struck
back, but she blocked it with little effort. A few more passes
followed, but the result remained the same.
After several seconds of sparing, it became obvious that neither had a
clear advantage in skill. They broke apart and Motoko's eyes scanned
her opponent, appraising him. She felt flushed, though her breathing
did not come quickly. Keitaro, on the other hand, was flushed and
breathing harder than he had been. //He is right about knowing a few
things up, but he has not trained himself diligently and now he fades.
His strength does not match mine,// she realized. They clashed again,
but this time Keitaro was slower and she sent his bokken rattling across
the roof.
"If you were to give yourself over to the path of the sword, Urashima-
san, you might one day make an acceptable warrior," she said, though the
fact that he was not currently a warrior was implicit in her compliment.
"You are correct, Ayoama-san, my body is not properly conditioned to
this activity," he said as he bowed in a gesture of submission, though
his grin was returning. His breathing slowed to normal, but Motoko's
flush did not fade. "I thank you for the chance to cross swords with
someone so skillful."
Motoko could not tell whether he was sincere or if she was being mocked.
Before she had a chance to pursue it further, the sound of someone
clearing their throat broke the moment. Motoko broke eye contact with
Keitaro and stood back, feeling vaguely embarrassed, though she didn't
quite know why.
"My, my, Motoko-san, claiming Keitaro-san for yourself already?" Kitsune
asked from the top of the stairs. "A Toudai student is a good catch,
but you must be really serious to go easy on him like that."
Motoko felt a blush rising, though she wasn't quite sure why. "It's not
like that, Kitsune!" she growled, a little more forcefully than she had
intended.
"Oh, don't get me wrong, you could do worse than a Toudai student if
you're going to give up the swordswoman thing. I mean, he's not too
attractive, but-" Mitsune droned on with an expression half way between
a leer and a smile.
"Kitsune!" She exclaimed as she fought down her embarrassment.
"Umm... I'll just be going now," Keitaro stammered out and headed for
the stairs.
Flustered, Motoko walked toward him, intent on apologizing for Mitsune's
vulgarity. As fortune had it, however, Keitaro tripped over the bokken
which had been wielding during the fight and skated straight into
Mitsune, knocking her down with him on top.
"I'm so sorry, Konno-san," he mumbled as raised himself up. "Are you
okay... oh... umm... sorry?" he asked as it was revealed that the
handhold he had raised himself up with was, in fact, Kitsune's breast.
"Urashima-san," Motoko growled, her eye twitching and her face flushing
with anger. "Zanganken!" she exclaimed as she brought her bokken around
sent Keitaro flying though the air and off the roof.
Kitsune watched Keitaro go flying with a shocked expression but
recovered as she got up and dusted herself off. "You didn't have to do
that, you know. I hope you didn't kill him..."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nostalgia is possibly the oddest emotion to feel while flying bodily
through the air, but it is what Keitaro experienced as he sailed in a
long, lazy arc over Hinata. //I guess I miss the view from up here,//
he thought to himself as the world whizzed past. His personal shield
had saved him from most of the trauma of Motoko's blow, leaving him to
enjoy the view before it came time to land.
"That did not end in a way I would have liked," he mused, as he had a
few seconds to wonder what had gone wrong. He'd always been a klutz,
but he'd been able to tame it as he grew older. Mostly. Right now, he
seemed to be suffering from it full force, however.
"No help for it," he decided as he twisted in mid air with the ground
fast approaching. "Mol Guri Suri Ma!" he chanted as he concentrated.
The approach of the ground slowed but did not stop. Twisting again, he
got his feet under him and ran with the landing, dissipating the force
of his impact over several long strides instead of one dead impact. The
only thing left to do was walk back. //At least that didn't go as badly
as it did the first time around,// he decided. //Mostly, anyway.//
------------------------------------------------------------------------
A/N: "Mol Guri Suri Ma" has no meaning, it's just some nonsense I worked
up for Keitaro's key phrase. I was going to write about twice this much
for this chapter, but I decided to go ahead and release it at this point
since it's on par with previous chapters.
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