A/N: All right, new chapter is up!

I don't own Fairy Tail!

I hope you enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 2: Old Friends, a Druid and Avid Readers

July 15th, X793 - Evening

Mitsuko quickly ran into Sakura Village, the sun now dipping beneath the horizon as the moon began to take its place in the night sky, shining down on the two towns. Sakura Village was completely constructed in an eastern oriental style, much like Balsam Village was, and also like Balsam, Sakura Village was known for having wild nightlife, especially around the time of one of the seasonal festivals.

Mitsuko quickly continued through the town, eventually finding her way to one of the busiest streets which was filled with all sorts of merchant stands as well as food stands, and among them were the some of the best food stands in all of Fiore, at least in Mitsuko's opinion.

"Now where was it again," Mitusko mumbled to herself as she looked around for a certain shop, "I promised to meet them there once I was finished with my meeting," she continued as she kept looking, her eyes eventually falling on the food stall she was looking for, a moderately sized restaurant called Inugami Ramen, which was one of the most popular restaurants in Sakura Village and had the best ramen on the west side of Crocus.

Mitsuko quickly made her way to the restaurant, weaving her way through the large crowd filling the street.

"Oi! Miko-chan!" the owner of the restaurant, Nobuyuki Inoue, called out once he noticed her enter the building. Nobuyuki was a short, middle-aged man, standing at 5'4" with a stout, but muscled build. He had tan skin and short black hair with some stubble lining his chin and his forearms were rather hairy as well. Nobuyuki was wearing and all white chef's outfit currently with a black apron over it that had the kanji for Inugami Ramen embroidered onto it.

"Ah! Nobu-san!" Mitsuko called back running over to the older man to give him a quick hug, "How are you?"

"I'm fine, kit," Nobuyuki said in reply before reaching up to affectionately rub the top of Mitsuko's head.

"Nobu-san, I'm not a kit anymore! I'm Guild Master now, remember?" Mitsuko whined.

"Heh, you might think you're a full-grown fox, but you'll always be a kit to me," Nobuyuki chuckled, "Now I'm guessing your hear looking for Ruby and Leah?"

"Yeah! Where are they?" she asked, looking around for her two friends.

"Over there, kit," the chef answered, pointing off to his left towards a low sitting table with two girls sitting next to it on cushions.

"Thanks Nobu-san!" Mitsuko said cheerfully as she walked over to her two friends, "Ru-chan! Leah-chan!"

"Miko!" a sixteen year-old girl named Ruby Animalia called out. Ruby stood at 5'4" with a curvaceous build and a light skin tone. She had big, round ruby red eyes and long hair of the same color, which fell down to the middle of her back while her Kitsune's Garden guild mark was in red on her right shoulder blade. She was wearing a t-shirt that had the Kitsune's Garden guild mark on it under a denim jacket, while she also wore a long red skirt with a pair of knee-high boots. Ruby also usually used her magic to change her appearance to where she had a pair of red fox ears and a matching fox tail as well.

"You're late Miko!" the second girl, a nineteen year-old named Leah Storm, shouted. Leah was the tallest of the three girls, standing at 5'7" with a slight tan and a slender, but well-toned body with a slightly larger than average sized chest with a thin waist and hips. Her rounded, ice blue eyes greatly contrasted with her shiny, jet black hair that was tied into a side braid that fell down to her waist with a thin blue ribbon while her slightly wavy bangs covered her eyebrows and forehead. Leah also had a scar shaped like an "X" on her left cheek and she had another scar started under her left breast and traveled down diagonally to her navel, while her ice blue Kitsune's Garden guild mark was on the left side of her stomach. Leah was wearing a sea green, long-sleeved shirt that's sleeves ended at the elbows, under a white, sleeveless jacket that was worn open and ended at her hips. She was also wearing a pair of white shorts with a thin, sea green belt and a pair of converse shoes of the same color. Lastly, Leah was wearing a black chain necklace with a blue lightning bolt on it and a white glove on her right hand.

"Sorry!" Miko apologized as she walked over to an empty cushion and sat down, "The meeting took longer than I thought it would and Boris-san wanted to talk a bit afterward."

"It probably took longer because you were late and made a big scene about it," Leah sighed, Mitsuko's face quickly changing to one of shock.

"It was all Bakatsuo's fault! I swear!" Mitsuko protested, slamming her hands on the table.

"Don't worry about it Miko, I'm sure that Boris-sama understands that it wasn't your fault you were late," Ruby said, comforting the older girl.

"Thanks Ru-chan, you always look after your nee-san," Mitsuko sighed, "You turned out so nice compared to Leah-chan. She was such a sweet little girl when I first met her. Now she just makes fun of me!"

"You're practically asking to be teased most of the time," Leah mumbled, "Running around like you're a kid when you're 25."

"Do you expect me to sit around sipping tea like a 'responsible adult'?" Mitsuko asked while holding her hands up in the air to form air quotes for emphasis.

"But Leah, don't you still cuddle with stuffed toys?" Ruby asked, causing Leah's face to turn red with embarrassment.

"N-n-n-no…" Leah stammered, "Not that much… anyways."

"Oh? So that sweet little six year-old girl I looked after all these years is still in there?" Mitsuko asked, a mischievous expression on her face.

"Miko…" Leah sighed, knowing full well that the older girl was plotting something, "Can we just order our food already? Call Nobuyuki over here."

"Okay, but I'm getting a bottle of shochu to celebrate surviving my first meeting with Boris-san as a Guild Master," Mitsuko added happily, "Ru-chan will look after me if I drink too much, right?"

"Oh, yeah!" Ruby responded, having looked after the older girl before when had passed out from drinking too much.

"See Leah!?" Mitsuko shouted, reaching over and pulling Ruby into a tight hug, "I looked after Ru-chan when she joined the guild when she was eight and she turned out to be so nice!"

"I get it Miko. You can stop now," Leah sighed, noticing Nobuyuki looking over at them all and calling him over herself so that they could make their orders.

. : + : .

Boris walked through the streets of Apricot Town, which were lit up by street lamps that utilized light lachrimas. Even though Apricot Town's nightlife wasn't as rowdy as Sakura Village's, the main streets were still full of people who visiting the town's various taverns and casinos.

Boris himself wasn't a gambling man, but he knew a few people that were and could get him to play a few rounds, although Boris noticed that up ahead of him was a man who didn't understand the attraction of gambling, although for different reasons than his own.

The 28 year-old man went by the name of Aodh and he was one of Ursine Rampart's S-Class Mages. He was a tall man, standing at 6'1" with a fit and muscular build and a dark tan from being outside so often. His long, dark brown hair was rather messy, falling down to his shoulder blades and over his dark brown eyes at times while his bright red Ursine Rampart guild mark was on his left pectoral. He was wearing a pair of fitted, black pants with a pair of leather boots that ended just below his knees, and he was currently shirtless, as he usually was. Decorating Aodh's back, was a large black Tree of Life tattoo that stretched across the entirety of it and circling each of his arms around his biceps were two black Celtic knot tattoos, although the one on his right arm was a Celtic-styled image of a bird while on his left arm was a Celtic-styled image of a salamander.

"Aodh!" Boris called out, walking up to the S-Class Mage.

"Master Boris," he responded turning to look at his Guild Master, "How are you?"

"Well, all things considered," the older man answered, "Are you watching them gamble?"

Aodh quickly turned to look back at the gamblers inside of the building, although he then turned his head to look back at Boris, "Y-yes… I don't understand why they participate in this activity still. Why would they willingly risk losing what they have earned?"

"I honestly don't understand people's fascination with gambling myself," Boris admitted, "But I imagine they're hopeful they'll get the jackpot if they keep going long enough."

"It still makes no sense. The tribe would not risk what it has earned in such a manner."

"I'm certain of it," Boris agreed, "But Apricot Town is no tribe of druids as I'm sure you've realized by now."

"Hm… yes. The closest thing is the guild," Aodh responded before the two men started walking back towards the guild, "How did your meeting with the new Guild Master of Kitsune's Garden go?"

"My old rival surprised me with their choice of successor," Boris admitted, "The Fire Fox, Mitsuko Akagitsune is now the Guild Master."

"The Fire Fox?" Aodh repeated, "She is a caring girl. I think she will do well."

"I hope so," Boris sighed, "But she is still a reckless and mischievous young kit compared to her predecessor, that crafty fox."

"I believe she has the strength to excel in her new position," Aodh declared, "In a few years I'm certain you will see that she is deserving of her position."

"Oh? Rare praise coming from you, considering that she's beaten you a few times now."

"No, I am fine with the defeats, she earned them, but… her fire is… strange," Aodh mentioned, beginning to trail off before starting up again, "She has the fox's fire, but then her other fire that I can't extinguish. It always burns as strongly as her will, regardless of what is done," Aodh explained, "I think that even your northern winds could not extinguish it easily."

"Heh, the kit may turn out being a decent rival after all," Boris chuckled, "Regardless, now that the Fire Fox can't participate in this summer's final event, you won't have to worry about that second flame of hers. We have to make up for losing the past few Summer Festivals."

"Yes. That is true," Aodh agreed as they neared the castle that housed the guild hall, "I will help carry Ursine Rampart to victory this season as well."

"And it will be appreciated as always, Aodh," Boris responded as he opened the doors to Ursine Rampart.

. : + : .

June Kyosho sat in Apricot Town's large library, a novel in her hand as she leaned back in one of the four chairs surrounding a table that sat next to an indoor balcony.

June was a young woman of 24 years and she stood at 5'8" with pale skin that looked a bit sickly. Her build was fit and slightly toned and her dark purple colored eyes were slightly rounded. June's straight hair was white blond in color, falling down a bit past her shoulder blades with a streak of a dark gray running through it on the left side. Her black Ursine Rampart guild mark was on her right forearm and she had a scar on her face that started on her chin. June was wearing a loose, teal colored shirt that's sleeves ended at the elbows with gold buttons and pockets on the chest. Due to the summer heat, she was wearing a pair of dark blue jean shorts with a pair of black high tops. She was also wearing a silver chain, which had a dark amber circle positioned in the middle of it and she also had a lachrima-pod in her pants pocket, the music being just loud enough to where it could just barely be heard by others.

With June were two other members of Ursine Rampart. The first one was a 19 year-old boy named Mark Forrest. He stood at 5'11" with pale skin and a slim and lean swimmer's build, while his black guild mark was found on his forearm. His messy, medium-length black hair stuck up in what seemed to be every direction, but managed to stay out of his round, emerald green eyes. He was wearing a dark green short-sleeved shirt under a black, hooded jacket, which was zipped up, concealing the shirt. Mark also wore a pair of dark gray jeans, black sneakers and a pair of silver wristbands around his wrists.

Like June, Mark was also currently engrossed in a book as he sat in his seat. He had found it be to a very well written novel by the author Kameron Parker, which June had suggested to him, and he had nearly finished it in just that one sitting.

The other person with them went by the name of Osamu Saito. He was a 16 year-old boy who stood at 5'7" with a light mocha tan and a rather skinny build. He had bright hazel eyes that had a gray tint in them as well and his messy, pitch black hair fell over his left eye, completely covering it while a thick strand of hair that stood straight up with a curve. Osamu's navy blue guild mark was on the right side of his neck and he also had a tattoo next to his right eye which consisted of three dots in a line. Osamu wore a pair of dark gray baggy sweat pants with brown sandals. He was also wearing an orange colored shirt that had its sleeves rolled up and a pair of black, fingerless gloves that had orange lining on them.

Osamu too was pouring over a book, although, unlike the other two, he was reading a large tome for the sake of research.

Mark soon came to the end of his novel, quickly closing the book and feeling satisfied with its ending. The young man stretched out his arms before he looked towards the window, seeing how dark it was out, the moon now high in the sky.

"Hey Osamu," he called out softly, catching the younger boy's attention, "It's nighttime already.

Osamu looked up from his tome and towards the window, quickly realizing that Mark was right, before he turned towards June, "Hey June," he called out, the girl not hearing him over her music, "June!" he called again, causing her to look up at him with a quirked eyebrow.

"Hm?" she hummed, pulling one her earphones out so that she could listen to him better.

"It's rather late out," Osamu mentioned, gesturing towards the window, "We should leave so that the library staff can begin closing."

June let out a sigh as she closed her book and stood up, "All right, let's head back then."

Osamu nodded as he and Mark stood up as well, "Just let me go put this back first," Osamu requested as he left with the tome, looking for the shelf he found it on, leaving June and Mark by themselves.

Mark was a quiet boy, who was quite reserved around those he didn't know very well. Although he hadn't been in the guild for all that long so he typically always felt uncomfortable, but it was even worse for him if he was around a girl like June. While she didn't seem all that close with either of them, they were good company for her when she wanted to read.

"So," June said in an effort to break the ice, and rid the air of the awkward feeling emanating from Mark, "How was the book? Kameron Parker's pretty good, yeah?"

Mark's expression quickly changed to one of discomfort and embarrassment before he started speaking, "Uh… Yeah. The book was… pretty good," he answered, trying his best to speak up and not be awkward with the older girl.

"Right," June sighed as the conversation fell back into awkward silence. Trying to carry a conversation with Mark was always difficult for June since he was so quiet and awkward around girls, and her people skills weren't exactly top-notch either.

"All right," Osamu called out as he approached the two of them, "I'm ready," he said as the three turned to walk down the stairs and out of the library.

The library was one of the tallest structures in Apricot Town, only being shorter than three other buildings, being the Town Hall, the Ursine Rampart guild hall and the clock tower. And most buildings in Apricot Town, it was made of stone, although its style of construction was one of the more extravagant ones, as it had hand-carved gargoyle statues and flying buttresses, as well as a tall, central tower on top of the middle of the slanted roof.

The three mage's walk back to the guild was largely quiet, although Osamu turned to look at June when something crossed his mind.

"Hey June," he called out, the older girl looking at him to show that he had her attention, "I overheard today that Cole was going to take you on an S-Class Mission after the festival is over. Is that true?"

"Yeah, each of the S-Class Mages will be taking someone on a mission," June answered, "It's like this every year since Boris likes to see how some us non-S-Class perform on S-Class Missions."

"Is he looking for potential S-Class mages then?" Osamu asked, Mark listening to the conversation intently since he was too shy to speak up around June unless spoken to.

"I assume," June answered, "Although there were no S-Class exams last autumn. He's been rather picky ever since Sahaj's accident last year. We lost a few good mages on that mission," she added in a quiet tone as she remembered the memorial service for them. Even the members of Kitsune's Garden and citizens of Sakura Village had shown up to pay their respects.

"That's right," Osamu muttered with a snap of his fingers, "Sahaj was S-Class up until last summer right?"

June kept silent for a while longer. She wasn't fond of the kind of person Sahaj was before her accident, but compared to the way she was now, she wouldn't want to wish that kind of experience on anyone. There was hardly a day where the former S-Class wasn't in pain now.

"Kotto took her place shortly after," June eventually answered, "You were both fairly new to the guild."

"So Sahaj wasn't strong enough then," Osamu muttered, although June quickly turned to look at him with an angry look in her eyes, although she managed to contain herself.

"I'm done talking about this," June muttered, "I'm going on ahead," she added as she ran over to a building, quickly climbing it and proceeding to head towards the guild via rooftop.

"What got under her skin?" Osamu wondered as they watched her run off.

"Um… I … I think you were too blunt," Mark said, finally speaking up now that June had left, "You came off as… pretty harsh."

"Did I?" he asked thinking back to what he said, "Drat. I guess I did. I need to work on that more," he finished with a sigh, although Mark shook his head.

"You do a good job of being so mature all of the time, I think," Mark stated, trying to reassure his friend.

"No," Osamu disagreed, "A person must always be calm and mature, unlike my reckless, battle-happy sister, Avalon," Osamu added with a sigh, Mark sighing as well, having met Osamu's sister on more than one occasion now since she was a member of Kitsune's Garden, "She really is a handful," he continued as the two of them started to approach the guild hall.

A/N: And there it is! I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Credits:

Nobuyuki Inoue- Dreadburner94

Ruby Animalia- Pokemon Ranger-Trainer

Leah Storm- princessatj

Aodh- MyDearWatson

June Kyosho- SpuSpu

Mark Forrest- BlackNaito

Osamu Saito- Sakura-Fiction

First I'd like to say thanks to everyone who's sent in a character or two! Right now, at the moment of this posting, the count is at 16 spots filled for Kitsune's Garden and 17 spots filled for Ursine Rampart. So as of this moment, I am accepting 9 more mages for Kitsune's Garden and 8 more for Ursine Rampart. Also, all S-Class and Slayer spots have been filled, so I won't be accepting any more of those.

Also, I have plenty of OCs that use fire/magma based magic, so if you plan on making a character, I would appreciate it if you didn't use a magic of that kind.

Now onto the reviews!

Master of Anime224- Yep, Miko's an interesting one all right. She's an excitable and inexperienced Guild Master. And I'm happy to hear that you enjoy the concept of the story. Also those spots are still reserved for you since you called them.

Origm2012- I was honestly a bit worried that it would be too similar to the Brightholt Chronicles at a base level, but I'm glad that you enjoyed the first chapter! And yeah, I enjoy both Boris and Miko, I tried quite a bit to get two guild masters that were opposites, but still enjoyable and suitable for the job.

Pokemon Ranger-Trainer- Yeah, there will be points in the story where it'll focus on one guild or the other, but there will also be some major story arcs about both guilds. But yeah, it should be interesting to see where the story goes.

MyDearWatson- I'm happy to hear that you liked the start of the story! Yeah, I rather like both Boris and Miko myself. I'm fairly happy with how they've turned out so far. But anyways, thanks for submitting Aodh!

WaterDragonMaverick- I've actually wanted to do something with rival guilds for a while, so I'm rather excited to get this project going. Anyways, thanks for your submissions!

SaiyaStyles- I'm happy to hear that you're enjoying the look of the story so far! And don't worry about how long it's taking to get your submissions in! Better to take your time than to rush it.

FrozenBlast13- Actually, Origm2012 has a story with three rival guilds in it called the Brightholt Chronicles if you haven't checked it out before. So if you find this interesting, go check out his story as well! It's worth the read.

Ogrespi- Yep, should be interesting to see how it all turns out. Anyways, thanks again for your submission!

ThePrinceOfLight- I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed the guild masters interactions with each other! Boris is honestly like a strict grandpa who seems to always have a hidden kindness behind his actions, so he's always looking out for someone it seems, even Miko.

ESombre- Well I'm happy to hear that you think so highly of story already. But yeah, I'm rather excited to get this story going as well.

JJun- Glad you found the first chapter interesting. I look forward to seeing your OC!

lexlovesya- Yeah, I'm fond of the idea behind the story as well and I think it'll be interesting. Anyways, thanks for your submissions!

I'd like thank everyone again for sending in their submissions! I hope I've portrayed everyone correctly so far. And if your character wasn't introduced in this chapter, don't worry, they'll show up soon!

Oh yeah, there's a reference to MyDearWatson's story Thunder Stone in this chapter. I'm interested to see how many of you know what it is.

Anyways, that's all I have for now!

I'll try to have the next one up soon and once again I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Please remember to leave a review!

Your host,

Dreadburner94.