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As Negi approached the temple, he would find that it was surprisingly minimal in how guarded it was. Or rather it wasn't that they didn't have any people to protect it, no one appeared to be making any attempt to falter Negi's approach, allowing the young teacher from Mahora to pass; some of the guards even bowing lightly, paying respect to him while he was allowed passage. None of them spoke, not until Negi came near the actual main entrance itself to the central structure. There, he would find the door closed, but untouched nor guarded, as if waiting for it to be opened by the young teacher, where he would be introduced by the grand hall and close to the heart of the Kansai society itself.

Negi would find that along the outer edge of the room, numerous people, all garbed in ceremonial priest robes or the same outfits that the guards had were all aligning around him. Never too close as Negi sat, all of them seeming quite calm, even welcoming of the boy's presance. And to the front, behind a large, draping curtain of sorts, the tall sillhoute of a man could be seen, and he was approaching slowly. Walking through the cloths and onto a small alter that was no more than a step or two above the ground, the man could be clearly seen. He was a little over six feet, wearing similiar priest robes to the other people, only it appeared to be a bit more ornate and distinguished. He was a little old looking, showing minor signs of age from a few wrinkles, but it was nothing too dramatic. As well, he had short, well trimmed black hair, and upon his brown eyes was a small set of oval glasses, but most of all, he wore a smile, welcoming the teacher as he stood near the end of the alter.

Eishun Konoe; the leader of the Kansai association in Kyoto was the man who stood before Negi, and it was clearly obvious by the way that all the guards and priestly garbed people had knelt down, honoring his presance before them. Slowly, he took a step closer to Negi, still carrying that soft, reassuring smile as if he was not showing off anything about what made him so important, and simply looked to Negi eye to eye, like they were equals. He seemed quite modest for one of the heads, and slowly, he took the letter from Negi before he looked around, a slightly perplexed expression coming to his face. "Negi-san? Did you come alone?" He asked casually, not opening the letter just yet, but looking ready to as he first tried to find out why Negi was here by himself. He would have expected an escort, or that perhaps Konoka and Setsuna would have accompanied him had they known Negi was coming here.

He could see the child was nervous, and he could understand. After all, it wasn't often that people were welcome here with such open arms, and he was just a kid after all, so he was probably frightened from being in front of so many people, himself included. So, as he waited for what Negi had to say, seeing him struggle a bit, Eishun slowly opened the envelope that contained the letter, only to raise a brow at what he saw. This... wasn't right, it wasn't his father in law's writing. And normally he would send a letter with three or four pages, one of them sometimes having a silly drawing of some sort on them. But instead, in this case there was just a single page, the handwriting actually in English, which surprised him that the person who wrote this must have known he could understand it; even more that it was in cursive.



As he read it, it was nearly at the same time that he discovered from the letter about Konoka's kidnapping that Negi stated it as well. He didn't show any shock though, and instead, slowly closed his eyes with a long, deep sigh. A man of his position, no matter what, should never lose his nerves, and instead he needed to tackle this problem intelligantly, and not with a blind anger that he kept hidden right now. This was a lot for him to take, but to know that people were helping, including those of Mahora, it was a lot more reasuring. Not to mention from what he read in the letter, it sounded like there was a person in the shadows who was helping...

Slowly, he handed the letter to Negi so he could read it, the boy would be able to read it since it was his native tongue. Though he was unaware that the boy may even recognize the hand writing as well....

"It's okay." He finally said, his smile notably weakened, but somehow still there as he seemed to remain confident. "I thank you for the information and help you have been offering, but we'll see what can be done as well. I beleive we may just know who the kidnapper is too... and if it is who I beleive it to be, we may be pressed for time."

Eishun raised his eyebrow a little when he saw Negi's reaction. It seemed like he knew something, but he wasn't going to pry. The teacher seemed like he was troubled enough and had too much on his mind. And so, instead, taking the letter back once more and sighing softly, hearing what Negi had said. He was actually a bit impressed by this, after all, he never forgot the fact that Negi was but a child, yet hearing the fact that he had a plan of sorts was something that really gave him confidence in the boy. Something told him that despite his age, he knew what he was doing.

"Yes, that would be best than." He began, taking a moment to adjust his glasses before he turned towards one of the guards behind him, handing him the letter and whispering something to him. Seconds later, the guard departed to the back and Eishun looked back towards Negi. "We do not take threats and will not be abandening this shrine, but I will see to it that some of my best men are sent to aid you. Just do not be so.. reckless. If the kidnapper is who I think it is, she may be expecting all of this..."

Cassandra's voice is projected into Negi's head via the cyst. She sounds excited; the kind of happy, psychotic expression that would be expected from her when she has her 'psycho killer' smile across her face.

'Neeeegi-kun~ I'm going to come and lend you a hand with a few dead friends of mine. Regan told me we were heading here; so could you do me a favor and let the bigwigs know that I'm coming, so they can drop whatever defenses they have set up? I think I heard it was illusionary magic of some kind, but I can't remember; and I'd rather not have my skeletons wander around lost; especially when I'm actually trying to -help-. If they're still umm-ing and err-ing about it, tell them that it is most definitely -the- Doctor Byrde, and that I'm doing this for -free-, as long as they get Grundy something to eat. Anything'll do - even wood.'

Hopefully, that would seal it. Cassandra doing anything for free was almost entirely unheard of. It would probably actually seem more suspicious, had she not stated that last little clause.

The child was indeed impressive. It was such responsibility for a person of his age, yet he certainly proved his worth of it as Negi had taken the initiative to gather everyone and then confront Eishun about something else; something he never would have expected...

"Doctor Byrde..?" He asked slowly, blinking twice as he recognized the name, a slightly stunned look on his face while it tweaked his memory. "Cassandra Byrde?" He asked again, failing to find it possible that such a vampyric creature would be actually assisting them. Such folly was the same as saying they would have the Doll Master; Evangaline come to help, it was ridiculous! ((Or is it? Manga 6 referance. *laughs* xD )) But sure enough, Negi showed him the cyst, proving his... connections with her. As a high priest, he was knowledgable of so many ailments that even something as ancient as this was something he was familiar with. Unfortunately... it was far too obscure and unique to really be something that even he could mend. Though perhaps he knew someone who could... But that was something to worry about another time.

As two more arrived, -the barrier having allowed them entry,- Eishun was able to shake off his initial surprise before he managed to get a grip once again and assessed the situation. "We'll drop the barrier so she may come. But only herself, we need to keep the taint she provokes to a minimum, these grounds are too sacred." He said quite sternly, looking Negi in the eyes with a hardened gaze, no longer smiling either as this entire situation became a lot more serious now. As he did, he snapped his fingers, only turning away for a moment, and outside, Cassandra would notice the barrier had dropped temporarily to allow her passage.