Negima! Magister Negi Magi/魔法先生ネギま！ 1. Preface: Author's Note

**Knowing You Better**

**A Message From the Author**

_I would like to thank everyone who has read this story and reviewed it, and it means quite a lot to those of you who went so far as to add it to your favorites lists. I have been away from the website for over a year, being extremely busy, but I have recently found the motivation and a scrap of time in which I am able to return, and of all of my stories, I feel the need to expand on this one. _

The story is something other than just a oneshot now; rather, it will be a series of moments into the daily life of the couple. Not exactly a story and no harrowing romance tale stretching between dimensions and between armies and armadas. Just a love story – not Shakespeare's tragedy or a KonoSetsu fluff drabble. A love story.


	2. Night Before: Metronome

**Title:** Knowing You Better

**Genre:** Romance

**Rating:** T

**Paring:** Misora x Zazie

**Summary:** Misora loves Zazie, and doesn't mind learning about Zazie little by little as they spend a rainy evening indoors.

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The ceiling fan spun lazily to the pounding of the rain on the roof. Shadows danced along the walls as the television flickered through the exciting chases scene of a movie nobody was watching, and somewhere far off, a telephone rang that nobody heard. Everything was drowned out to Misora in the sound of the rain except for ceiling fan creaking in its gyrations. The fan was getting old, and now it made noise every time it reached a certain point in its cycle; nobody had been able to fix it, and Misora had eventually just gotten used to it. She could have kept time to the beat if she'd wanted to, but the fiery-haired girl was too relaxed in the intoxicating warmth of the covers and the company of her partner to entertain the idea; she just wanted to melt into the bed and lay there forever…if only that fan would shut up.

"Zazie-chan..?"

The form resting against her side shifted, and one hand of the figure's hands moved to Misora's other side to pull itself up. A pair of golden eyes peered into Misora's as the tan-skinned girl moved once more, now laying along Misora's chest, eyes fully awake even though she had just been asleep moments before; it was things like that which always made Zazie Rainyday remind Misora of a cat. The golden eyes didn't blink, and continued to stare into the nun's celadon hues in a manner that anyone else would have found eerie, but Misora understood the question behind them.

"…Why's the fan on if we're in bed?"

The eerie look vanished as quickly as the serious expression on Zazie's face did, and Misora grinned as she saw the ghost of a pout on the acrobat's face. Zazie thought she'd been woken for some pressing matter – to Misora it was extremely pressing; she'd been staring up at the fan the entire time Zazie had been asleep, and upon deducing that Zazie had been the one who turned it on, it had been bouncing around in her head like a game of pinball.

"…Baka…" came the mumbled reply as the girl rolled off of Misora's stomach, flopping down next to her and replacing her head in the crook of the girl's neck.

Misora giggled quietly; Zazie was the easiest person to tease that she knew; something she tried not to take advantage of too often. Even so, sometimes she couldn't resist, and besides – Zazie was already awake. In one motion, Misora rolled over, pushing herself up and hovering over Zazie on her hands and knees like some predatory animal, though her intents were decidedly less.

"Zazie-chan," the girl began as Zazie's eyes opened up again and the smaller girl stared up at her with a mixture of amusement and desire to smack her over the head, "…why don't you ever take a bath with everyone else?"

Zazie seemed to think it over for a moment, putting a finger to her lips in thought – something that made Misora giggle and Zazie swat playfully at her hair in return – before beckoning Misora to lean down.

"…Shy…" she said simply in her whisper of a voice before falling back into the pillow.

Misora nodded, avoiding the obvious follow-up question of asking how that could be so if Zazie enjoyed performing in front of thousands of people in a leotard. She knew that her Zazie and the Nightmare Circus' Zazie were two different people. Instead, she smiled again, and leaning in to speak.

"Zazie-chan, why don't you join my Trick Trio? I can change the name."

Again the girl brought her finger to her lips in thought; this time taking longer to find her answer. She was used to Misora's inquisitive bouts like this one, and besides, she liked telling Misora what little bits about herself she could. Propping herself up again, she whispered her response into the girl's ear.

"…The Narutakis…like the name…"

Misora nodded, understanding the look in the golden eyes that meant Zazie was waiting for the next question, and leaned down again.

"Zazie-chan; why are you in my bed?"

This one caught the golden-eyed girl off guard; Misora could lack her subtlety at times, but that was such a blunt joke of a question that Zazie's entire face reddened for a moment, and she pouted before propping herself up for a response. Misora leaned in, and tilted her head so Zazie could whisper the answer in her already soft tone.

"…Because Satomi's room is too cold…"

Misora promptly pitched forward, giggling hysterically, and Zazie smiled and squirmed as her stomach was used to drown out her laughter. Before Misora, Zazie had only been dully aware of the practice of making a joke – Misora's constant onslaught of pranks and sarcasm must have rubbed off on her somewhat.

The orange head of hair rose from Zazie's stomach, and Misora's smile came into view, another question forming on her lips, and from the devious glint in her eyes that Zazie knew all too well, this was likely payback for that last joke. However, the chance for hearing it was lost, as a knock came from the door, and with a sigh, the nun rolled to the side of the bed, and hefted herself to her feet, padding out of the bedroom. From the bedroom, Zazie could hear bits of the conversation; rather, the scream and the shouted apology before whoever had come to visit had run off into the rain.

"What was that all about?" Misora said aloud, walking back into the bedroom before slipping back under the covers. Zazie giggled and resumed her place under Misora's chin.

"…You're naked…"

.The sound of the rain was deafening in the silence, and Misora's face reddened before she sighed, noting to herself to give Fumika a nice long talk tomorrow; she couldn't have the more panicky of the twins telling her sister about this or she'd never hear the end of it. Zazie seemed to be dozing off again, and Misora decided to hold off on the questions until next time; she'd learn all there was to know about Zazie in time, she was sure of it.

That fan was still squeaking – she'd forgotten to turn it off on her way back.

"Zazie-chan…why did you turn the fan on?" Misora grumbled.

Zazie looked up, completely serious, and looked into the girl's eyes.

"…It helps you keep rhythm..."

Misora stared back into those gold eyes, and for once, found herself completely robbed of speech – question or otherwise – and decided maybe Zazie had the right idea, and curled up with the girl to go to sleep.

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As you can probably tell, I really love this pairing. Reviews are greatly appreciated, and please tell me what you think about the pairing. I might take requests for Misora and Zazie-centric writing.


	3. Morning: Paralysis

"I do not understand." Zazie murmured for the twelfth time in just as many minutes.

For someone so friendly and talkative, Misora seldom received many unannounced visits at her dorm room; the Narutaki twins having a curfew and her friends from the church seemingly unwilling to commute across the campus save perhaps for Cocone. As such, she had taken recently to staying the night at the fiery-haired girl's dorm, and had quickly caught onto Misora's preference for several solid hours of cartoons every Saturday morning.

She _never _got the jokes.

So to compromise, Misora would always sit on the small of the girl's back as they faced the television from atop the bedcovers, and rub and knead away the strain and tension of a week's high-wire and acrobatics performances. After about an hour and a half Misora would run out of things to massage, and Zazie would pretend to be bored out of her skin and watch the nun flounder in an effort to distract her – it brought a quiet satisfaction to the tan-skinned acrobat's lips.

Misora doubled over with laughter at a serious of colorful explosions and a furious tirade from what Zazie could only reason to be a particularly temperamental rice ball and his motley crew of space-faring condiment compatriots. Silently, she made the note never to ask Misora what her cartoons were about ever again – the last explanation having stunned the quiet girl into a contemplative silence, though even Misora had been unable to tell the difference.

"Ah-"

Whatever verbal complaint she might have been thinking of was cut short as she let out a groan and fell limp against the bed, a series of light pops ringing in her ears as she felt two sets of fingers running along her spine. The fingers reached her neck and Zazie let out a faint squeak, knowing that she only had a second to suck in a breath of air before Misora pressed inwards in an elaborate twisting motion, and for a split second, it felt like the girl had lifted her head clear off her neck.

"Were y'saying somethin'?" Misora quipped teasingly, reaching around to rub at the underside of the girl's jaw. Zazie let out a garbled mess of noise that sent her companion into a wave of giggles, though her fingers remained steady and even. The tanned girl pouted, or rather, tried to, but whatever Misora had just done to her jaw was new – and had she done something different this time? She tried to shift but found it useless, and nothing in her body responded whatsoever.

"Got~cha." Misora sang, leaning down and trailing her fingers down to her sides, "You thought that you figured me out, but I'm reeeally good at being a pest." The girl said, her ever-present grin as devious as ever, and before Zazie could realize it, the fiery-haired girl had rolled her onto her back and was grinning down at her.

"…Obnoxious…" Zazie murmured, or rather, would have, had Misora not done whatever she had to her jaw, and the muffled series of noises only widened the girl's grin as she hovered over her, the same predatory gaze as before returning to her face.

Slowly, knowing that Zazie couldn't do a thing about it, Misora lowered her face until it was just millimeters away. Had she been able, the acrobat wasn't sure if she would have leaned up to steal a quick kiss or to have frowned at the girl for her behavior. The kiss never came.

"Zazie-chan, why do you stay over every Saturday?"

The sudden return of the questioning caught her by surprise, and she looked to find that dreamy faraway expression on Misora's face that she was positive that nobody else ever saw. Without thinking, she moved to touch the girl's cheek, only to find that she couldn't, and bristled slightly. Instantaneously, though, the wiry girl leaned down and nuzzled her cheek, settling down against her.

"Why doesn't Zazie-chan like my cartoons? I thought clowns were supposed to be funny."

Misora had shifted and her breath was on Zazie's ear; a strange, warm sensation that made it difficult for the normally-composed acrobat to ignore, and she was aware of the blush that rose to her cheeks. The nun-in-training giggled, and Zazie made the mental note to smack the girl on the head for this as soon as she got control of her arms once more.

"And," Misora began, and Zazie could feel the girl's fingers threading through the hair on the back of her head, "Why is Zazie-chan laying in my bed, wearing my nightgown and enjoying a massage?"

Unlike last night, Zazie couldn't meet the girl's terrible humor with a sharp joke, and even if she'd had her voice, she wouldn't have found it. The fingers playing against the back of her head sent her senses swimming, and she purred faintly, her head lolling to rest against the crook of the girl's neck. Everything had blurred into a pleasant metronomic hum, and Zazie let her eyes droop shut, letting herself be lost in the massaging touch and the faint scents of sleep and citrus that clung to Misora like a silken skin.

She wasn't sure when, but eventually Zazie was dully aware that she was now rocking her head slightly to the movements of Misora's hands. Far off, she could feel the tips of her fingers, but it did not seem to matter, and she let her eyes drift shut, simply wrapping her arms around the pale girl and murmuring quiet nonsense to nobody in particular. She stirred from the pleasant reverie twice more, each time only to intertwine her limbs further with the girl's or to nestle her head underneath the girl's chin, where it was warm and she could listen to her heart beat and smell the citrusy tinge of her skin.

"How late?" She murmured quietly after a while. The sound of the cartoons had disappeared at some point while she had been lost in the pleasant haze, and now she could hear far off a woman reporting forecasting rain and thunderstorms for the week – maybe once the fingers left the back of her head, she could listen for the sound of rain on the windows in the living room.

"Almost afternoon."

Misora sounded tired; she had been awake until the middle of the night and had gotten up early to watch her cartoons. Zazie wouldn't have put it past the girl to have stayed awake this entire time to continue to massage her head and neck. Saturday was a day to sleep in, not whatever it was Misora had done.

"I have to go to practice." The tanned girl murmured softly, not quite willing to pull herself away. Misora smiled faintly and relaxed her hand against the girl's scalp, finally ending her massage, and returning to Zazie the power to reluctantly pull herself up from the comfort of the sheets.

Wordlessly, the acrobat shed the loaned nightclothes and began pulling on the facets and tassels to the leotard she wore in her performances. Misora quietly slunk up behind her, not bothering to try and catch the girl by surprise, and slipped her arms around her. Zazie looked back at her questioningly.

"Still naked…" Zazie murmured, noting the warmth of the girl's skin.

"I gave you my nightgown." The girl replied simply.

"Any excuse."

Behind her, Misora giggled tiredly and raised a hand to stifle a yawn, and for some reason Zazie found herself speaking without thinking.

"Go sleep." She murmured, and wormed her way out of the girl's hug. Misora put on a sleepy pout, but Zazie knew that she was simply being a tease, and began to pull on the long gloves to her costume. When she turned around, adjusting her bells that hung from the various frills of her ensemble, she found Misora still there, staring at her with an uncertain expression on her face. Zazie padded over quietly and darted forward, kissing her on the lips before ducking back.

"Visit…Lunchtime?" She asked, the faintest tone of hopefulness edging into her voice.

"Yeah, of course." Misora replied. Zazie smiled as the dreamy expression returned to the girl's face and turned back to her clothing. She found the long, loose coat she wore up to the highwire that could thrown aside easily to reveal her stage clothes and tugged in around herself, making sure to loop the belt around herself tightly.

"I liked it better without the coat." The junior nun pouted. Zazie sighed and shook her head, smiling faintly, and moved to put her hands on the girl's shoulders, ushering her back to the bed.

Hovering over her in a reversal of hours before, Zazie leaned forward for a quick kiss, and had to struggle to pull away when she suddenly found Misora's arms looped around her, and the nun giggling deviously. Pouting, she suddenly remembered what she had said to herself earlier.

She lightly smacked the girl on the head and ran from the dorm room before the fiery-haired girl knew what had just happened. Misora blinked, surprised, before a loud squeak and crash came from the living room, and she wrapped herself in the sheet's grinning.

After that massage, Zazie _really _shouldn't have been running around like that.

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_Alright, after completely disappearing for nearly two years, I'm returning to fanfiction writing along with everything else! As always, reviews are welcome, and to those of you who commented hoping to see updates, this will be a small apology and hopefully make up for the wait. Enjoy!_


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Negima! Magister Negi Magi/魔法先生ネギま！, Humor, Romance