Hello, lovies! Sweetie here again, just thanking you all for the follows and the reviews! It just makes me smile so much and I love when someone tells me they can't wait for the next chapter. It fills my heart with joy and motivates me to work harder for all of you! Well, once again, I hope you all enjoy the chapter. Please review and follow because I very much appreciate it!

Chapter 4: On The Way

The sound of running water awoke Laxus from his sleep. He sat up and groaned, stretching his back and feeling a few cracks an pops. This couch was NOT doing well for his back. It felt as if he'd barely slept at all! Scratching the back of his head and yawning, he trudged over to the bathroom door and opened it. "What are you doing awake so early?"

His question was met with a scream and he was blinded by something hitting him in the face. He stumbled back and fell onto his behind before tearing the item off his face. A towel?! "What the hell, kid?!"

"Get out! Get out!" she shouted.

It was then he realized she was sitting in the bath, an angry scowl and a blush across her cheeks.

"What the hell?! So you throw things at me?! You're a little kid! You ain't got anything to hide anyway!" He threw the towel back at her, successfully hitting her in the face before slamming the door and stomping into the kitchen. "Damn kid being so loud in the morning and screaming about stupid stuff."

In the kitchen, there was one of the chairs moved to the counter. He moved it back and reached into the cabinet where he kept the coffee. Blinking, he noticed the bag was no longer there. But he had coffee yesterday. Looking down, he noticed that the coffee pot was full and steaming hot. Had the kid made coffee again? He grabbed a mug from the next cabinet over and poured himself a cup, taking a small sip in case it was disgusting. Surprisingly, she had yet again made a successful cup. He took a few gulps, not minding the heat of it, as he sat at the table. Maybe he should cook breakfast so they didn't have to eat at the guild again. He finished his cup and went to the fridge, grabbing the eggs and bacon and then the pancake mix and syrup from the cupboard. He wouldn't touch the stuff but the bacon and eggs were alright. Wordlessly, he started cooking.

He'd barely finished cooking when Kitanya emerged from the bathroom, fully dressed and a towel atop her head as she rubbed the water from her locks.

"In a better mood, brat?" he asked mockingly.

The child puffed out her cheeks angrily and turned away with a pout. "I'm a girl! Boys can't see girls in the bath!"

Laxus just rolled his eyes at her response. "Never mind. Put some forks and plates on the table."

She pulled the chair out again and climbed atop it to reach the plates and also grabbed herself a cup. After scooting the chair back and setting the table, she went into the fridge to grab the milk.

"Laxus, do you want, milk too?"

"No, I have coffee." He held up the mug in example before bringing the pan over to serve the food onto the plates. "Now sit and eat."

Smiling at the plate, she grabbed it and brought it next to Laxus and then the chair.

"What are you doing?!" he sputtered. "Go sit over there!" He motioned to the space across from him.

"I want to sit with you, Laxus." She climbed into the chair and immediately started to eat her food.

After a few moments of silence - which was pleasing to the blonde - Kitanya looked over at the coffee sipping male. "Laxus, do you want some pancakes?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because I don't like sweet stuff."

"Pancakes aren't sweet. They're pancakes." They weren't sweet like candy or cake.

"They are sweet. It's gross."

"Have you ever tried them?" She stabbed a piece with her fork and held it out to him. "Try a bite."

"No." Geez, this kid was freaking out about taking being seen in the bath but was completely fine with sharing a fork?

"Have you tried them?" she repeated.

"Of course, brat. I used to eat them when I was a kid."

She tilted her head to the side curiously. "Then why did you stop eating them?"

"Because I don't like sweet things." He took a drink of his coffee, brows furrowed in growing irritation.

"But they're not sweet."

"You said that! I said no!"

Kitanya smiled and held the fork up closer to his face. "Pancakes are really good! C'mon!"

A loud sigh of aggravation left his lips and he leaned over, eating the piece in one bite. "There, I did it! Now stop bugging me and eat!" Scowling, he finished off his coffee to get the sickly sweet taste out of his mouth. That syrup just made the sweet breakfast food even more sweet. It was awful!

Kitanya just smiled at him and returned to her own plate.

Entering the guild, the two were greeted by the usual sight of the members breaking into a rowdy fight. Magic being tossed back and forth, furniture flying, shouts and insults spouting forth from mouths. Laxus slapped his hand to his face and groaned. If it wasn't one annoyance, it was another.

"Go sit down somewhere out of the way while I go talk to the old man."

"Can I go too? I want to see Grandpa."

"Eh? Whatcha' calling him 'Grandpa' for? He's just a geezer. Go sit down. Find someone to talk to." He didn't bother to watch her leave his side and he easily moved through the crowd and fighting members. Being used to the brawling, it was easy for him to avoid being hit by anything anyone had to throw about. No doubt it was probably Natsu and Gray that started the fight. It seemed like the two of them were the stem of most of the fights.

He easily found Makarov in his office, no doubt looking through paperwork sent by the council, complaining about the usual damage they cause on jobs.

"Hey, old man."

His grandfather looked up from the papers spread about on his desk. "What is it, Laxus?" Had something happened to the little one? He had noticed she was quite attached to him and he didn't see her clinging to him as usual.

"Any word on finding a place for the kid?"

Makarov leaned back in his chair. "No, not as of yet. Still no one has reported a child missing. I suppose we'll have to look at other options." It would be a shame to do so, though. "Bob contacted me and will be here hopefully, tomorrow or the day after. He wants to ask you a few questions and it'd be better if it was done in person."

Laxus leaned against the door frame, looking around the room casually. "That's fine. The sooner, the better." It would be best for them to finally talk about the guild member he had found. Remembering the subject of what would happen to Kitanya, he returned his gaze to Makarov. "Apparently the kid can use magic."

This made the guild master perk up considerably. "Really now? What kind of magic?"

"Plants, I guess. I haven't really seen much of it. I mean, if it comes down to it, I guess she can just join the guild or whatever, as long as she practices and gets stronger."

Turning his head away, the old man grinned mischievously. "Growing attached now, are we?"

Sputtering and growing red with angry, Laxus straightened up and his hands tightened into fists. "No! It's just a pain to take care of the brat so if she joins the guild, she can stay at the damn apartments and I don't have to be a babysitter anymore!"

Ignoring the shouting coming from his grandson, he just waved a dismissive hand. "Have her show me some of her magic after you and Bob talk and then we'll talk about letting her join." Though he really doubted he'd refuse her acceptance into the guild, he'd rather have her stay with Laxus a bit longer. It seemed to do his brat good to have to take care of someone other than himself.

"Che' whatever," he scoffed, brows furrowed and a warm anger broiling in his belly. As if he could get attached to an annoying kid! The sooner she got out of his hair, the better! Not wanting to continue the annoying conversation anymore, he turned curtly and left the room.

As he exited, he scanned the room for the tiny burgundy haired kid that had hopefully listened to him saying to get out of the way. He spotted her at a table with Cana, fidgeting as the brunette displayed cards to her and laughed. Well, at least she wasn't whining and crying like he expected her to do. Maybe she took his scolding from the day previous to heart and decided to stop being a baby. And she was rather out of the way from the fighting so at least she was listening to him. He cupped a hand to his mouth, ready to shout out tp her. He wanted to go train a bit more. And maybe he could tell the kid to show him the extent of her magic. If she was impressive in skill, she could join the guild and get her own place and he could go back to his normal routine.

Right as he was about to call out, he saw something fly in her direction. Before his mind could register what was about to happen, it struck her. A beer mug. Thankfully not a piece of furniture.

He watched with gritted teeth as Cana stare wide eyed at the younger girl, not sure how to respond. Every one in the guild was used to ducking and dodging any thrown objects, it was hard to always keep in mind that there was someone there that wasn't used to their rowdy antics. The sound of impact had been enough to cease the rumble, all eyes on the tyke.

Slowly, her eyes welled up with large tears before a wail tore from her throat. Cana wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders and attempted to soothe her with comforting words.

With fists tightening with anger, Laxus made his way across the quiet room. When he reached Kitanya, he stared at her for a good few seconds.

Having him glower at her, she stifled her sobs to quiet murmurs of pain and sniffling. Just having him look at her like that made her feel ashamed for crying. She rubbed at her eyes with clenched fists and looked up at him, embarrassed.

The blonde knelt down and glared at her sternly. He reached forward and brushed her bangs from her face. Thankfully, the glass had not broken, but there was a good bump rising up on her forehead.

"You're not bleeding. Stop crying." He looked at Cana nonchalantly. "Just get her an icepack or something." He looked back at Kitanya. "We talked about being a baby, didn't we? Don't cry when it's not that bad." He stood up straight, glowering angrily at the other guild members. "And you morons need to stop fighting like a whole bunch of stupid monkeys!" Their ridiculous antics were what made people laugh at Fairy Tail. As strong as they all were, it was hard to take them serious when there were tons of drunken brawls and children fighting. What a bunch of idiots. With his seething irritation, small sparks of lightning shot around.

"Aw, poor Laxy," came Mira's usual teasing voice. "Getting mad that his poor little baby got a boo-boo."

That only fueled his irritation. "Ya little brat!" He took a step towards the ivory haired female. Why was she always so Hell-bent on mocking everyone - especially him and Erza? "If you idiots weren't throwing things around, I wouldn't have to deal with brats getting hit!"

Natsu was the moron to speak up in response. "Well, if it pissed you off so much, why don't you do something about it?!" Flames engulfed his hands and he crouched, ready to battle. The pinkette leapt in the air, fist pulled back and a smug grin on his face. However, before he could even lay a hit, Laxus's fist shot out, striking the younger boy's face and making him practically fly across the room.

"I'm outta' here. Get moving, kid." The blonde slayer didn't wait for Kitanya, she'd follow him regardless. And as expected, he heard the patter of feet as she followed after him. He heard her stop right as he reached the door.

Holding the ice pack to her face, she waved to Cana and smiled. "Bye-bye."

Cana waved in return, a concerned smile on her face. "Bye-bye." Was she really going to be okay with Laxus? He could just be so mean sometimes. And by the way he treated Natsu and the rest of the guild, it was obvious he had no patience. How was he supposed to take care of a little kid? From what she'd heard from Macao - who had been talking with the other adults - her parents were probably dead and her town had been destroyed. The brunette looked down at her cards. Now might be a good time to practice her fortune telling. Closing her eyes, she carefully chose her cards, laying them down on the table. Eyes opening, she flipped each over, jaw set in concentration. She scanned the cards individually, finding the answers to her many questions. Bright orbs widened and she looked over the cards again and again, making sure she was right. The results made a small ghost of a smile grace her lips. She looked out the guild doors and watched the two, the large blonde in the middle of scolding the child out of pure frustration.

Hey, Sweetie here. Sorry for the short and uneventful chapter. I'm trying to update between things going on that are pretty hectic. I really hope you enjoyed it though and another one should be on the way soon. I want to try and update at least one a week. I don't care much for football or the SuperBowl so I'm going to try and type up a new chapter while everyone else is dealing with those festivities. I at least want to keep updating before Majora's Mask comes out next month. I preordered it and I don't know how often I will update once I get it. Once again, please review if you have the time. It is very much appreciated and I hope you all look forward to the next chapter. It's going to be much more eventful. Much love!