Long Lost Love -chapter 2-

Me: Hey Honya-chan come do the disclaimer
Nodoka: m-m-me?
Me: anyone else called bookstore around here?
Nodoka: n-n-no
Me: Then yes you, just read this *hands her a slip of paper
Nodoka: Tara-san does not own Negima, if she did Negi and I would have-I'm not reading that! *blushes and faints*
Me: oops *anime sweat drops* anyway happy reading

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Chapter 2
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The next day Nodoka was back in her bookshop, it was Thursday and the shop still wasn’t busy seeing as everyone was at work. She was doodling on a piece of paper, it wasn’t even a picture, it was just swirls combined in an intricate pattern, the bell rang and she looked up as a young man in a walked in, dripping wet with a hood covering his face, she smiled “Good Morning”
“Morning” he said quietly
“Do you need a hand with something?” she asked
“No thank you I think I can find what I’m looking for” she nodded
“Okay” he disappeared behind one of the shelves for a while, she stared out of the front window at the rain that was pouring, she sighed softly talking with Konoka and Setsuna had helped her a lot she was no longer crying whenever she thought about him leaving her free to once more explore her thoughts about where he was, she wondered if it was raining where he was and if he ever thought about her, she shook her head as if trying to clear a fog, of course he didn’t, he’d probably found someone else by now anyway. The bell rang again and Nodoka looked up to see a familiar looking red-head walk in “As-” she was cut off by a slap “Ow, what was that for?”
“That was for leaving us”
“Okay so maybe I deserved that, how did you-”
“Konoka told me”
“oh” they stood in silence for a moment “Uh, have you heard from anyone other than Konoka and Setsuna-san?”
“No, sorry”
“Oh” she repeated
“Uh, Honya?”
“Yeah?”
“Is this your shop?”
“yeah, I’ve been running it for three years now”
“The nickname seems more appropriate now”
“Yeah, bookstore-girl”
“Did you actually like that nickname?”
“it wasn’t the worst nickname ever” both girls chuckled quietly
“sorry I slapped you”
“It’s fine, like I said, I deserved it”
“No I overreacted, it wasn‘t your fault”
“Seriously it’s fine”
“I think you two should stop trying to contradict each other” came a new voice, both girls looked up at the man that had come in before Asuna, he was holding a book “Can I get this please?”
“Oh yes of course, Asuna-san I’ll only be a moment” She took the book the stranger handed her and scanned it into her register “1000 yen please” she took the money “arigato” she said and the man returned the gesture before leaving the shop with his book. Nodoka turned back to Asuna “what were we talking about?”
“um…never mind, how have you been?”
“alright actually, I got by pretty well, and you?”
“It was hard but I got through” Both girls sighed simultaneously
“Where do you think he is?”
“No idea, wish I knew though” Nodoka began to tear up again
“I do too”
“You really like him don’t you?” Nodoka nodded
“Hai” she dropped her gaze to the floor blushing “I always have”
“I know but, Honya-chan, it’s been ten years, you still love him like you did back then?”
“even more I think”
“Oh, Honya-chan” Asuna hugged her “See this is why you shouldn’t have left, you need to talk to people about this not hold it inside you”
“I know, I realised after I talked with Konoka and Setsuna-san last night that talking about your troubles helps” She smiled
“Yeah, I talked it over a long time ago and finally came to terms with what happened, that doesn’t mean I don’t want him back though, he’s like the brother I never had and I-”
“-can’t help but worry”
“yeah”
“It’s the same with me, only without the brother thing” Nodoka ran her hand through her waist length hair “I’ve spent ten years trying not to worry and yet all the time deep down I knew I was never going to be able to stop thinking about him, I hid my fantasy books and my artifact and locked it all away because I knew that while I was around it I’d never be able to accept what happened, but I couldn’t accept it anyway, more than once I thought about going back to Wales and looking for him but I knew there was no hope” Asuna shook her head
“I wondered about the same thing, flying out to Wales to look for him, but I never did”
“Asuna-san?”
“yes?”
“about your artifact? What did you do with it?”
“my card? I don’t know, I guess it’s in my things somewhere”
“so you shut it away too, it wasn’t just me?”
“No it wasn’t just you, I did try to shut it away, and apparently was a little more successful than you”
“Yeah guess so, me and my clumsiness”
“Did you never get over that?” Nodoka shook her head
“No, I’m still as clumsy as I was in High school” Asuna chuckled softly and looked at her watch
“Oh darn sorry Honya-chan I have to get to work, I’ll probably come back tomorrow or something”
“I’ll be here” she waved as Asuna left the store and went into the still pouring rain, She sat back on her chair and looked at her watch, it was closing time anyway, she picked up her jacket thinking maybe she’d go for a walk and walked out of the door shutting it behind her. She went to put her key in the lock when a hand caught hers, she turned around to see the man from before still with his hood up. She tried to pull away “let me go!” she said sounding braver than she felt
“What’s the matter Nodoka-san? Don’t you recognise me?” he reached up with his free hand and pulled his hood down, Nodoka gasped softly
“N-Negi?” she stammered before fainting dead away.