Naked and Falling

AN: Question time #1. Sorry, once again. No harems. #2. Again, theme song of this story is "Letting the cables sleep' by Bush. #3. The secret that is Miss Maggie will be revealed in a future chapter. Sorry. Now please, no more repeat questions. But I will still take questions in my PM box. Enjoy the next chapter.

Chapter Seven: Partners in crime.

"Oh...my head. It feels like a hammer broke right into my skull." Naruto mumbled softly as he trying to turn in bed. Only, it didn't feel like his bed and he couldn't turn over onto his side.

"Wha...?" The blonde hero opened his eyes slowly, the light burning them as soon as he cracked open an eyelid. "Where am I?"

A rather large ceiling came into a blurry view as Naruto tried to raise a hand to his face to rub his eyes. Except, that he couldn't move his arm...or the other one. His eyes were wide open now as he lifted his head off what he found to be a hard floor and took a good look around his current sleeping area. A goofy grin slapped across his face as the memories of last night came to him. The lost ninja was accepted into the guild with open arms and a huge party was thrown to celebrate his entrance to Fairy Tail.

Only, it was unlike any party he had ever been to in his life. Brawls started between random mages every five minutes, drinking contests were initiated constantly through out the night, and food was eaten and thrown all over the place. He remembered Natsu sulking in the corner until Gray challenged him to a fight and they went at it with smiles on their faces. Until Erza got in between them and scolded the two mages like an older sister would to her younger brothers. Naruto was grateful for those two since they had distracted the redhead for most of the night.

The group known as Shadow Gear welcomed him with big smiles as well. Actually, only the small blue haired girl did while the other two had apparent jealous looks on their faces. The girl know as Levy welcomed him further by waving her hands as a multi colored word appeared out of nowhere above her. It spelled out 'Welcome' as it blew up into fireworks. It had amazed him and she explained it was her magic called Solid Script and the words she made were whatever she wrote them out to be. Giving another example, she spelled out 'Fire' and a blue flame shot out at Natsu before the dragon slayer ate it out in full gusto.

From there, following Levy's example, other mages welcomed him personally and some showed him their own magic spells as well. Smoke magic, Take Over magic, Fire magic, Ice magic. There were so many different kinds that he was overwhelmed by the attention and displays of power. Next thing that Naruto knew, Cana came over with two barrels of beer and had him drinking the whole night. He vaguely remember certain moments after that. Dancing with a guy named Vi...something, having an arm wrestling match with this huge guy in orange shorts, and something about him stripping with Gray and giving Mirajane a lap dance before Cana pushed her off and sat in the chair with jewels in her hands.

"Oh, that would explain this." Naruto looked down at his bare chest to see Mirajane sleeping in one arm and Cana sleeping in the other. He shook his head and decided that it would be best that they didn't wake up like this and start fighting all over again. He still didn't understand how it happened. He was having a pleasant coffee break with Mirajane every day like what friends did and with Cana. Well, that was a little on the romantic side, but nothing else had happened between them besides the impromptu kiss.

Somehow, that caused the two friends to go at each other other for his affection. Naruto didn't even know they felt that way! Carefully, he slipped both arms out from under the girls and placed their heads down on the floor softly. He smiled at the two as he stood up with a twinge of pain in his lower back. He stretched his back and popped his neck before taking another look around at the mess of bodies spread around the guild. His eyes widened at the sight of a guy with a broom handle up his ass and shivered at the thought.

The broom however, reminded him of his boss that was most likely expecting him to show up to work for the lunch rush. His hands lightly patted his bare abs and wondered what had happened to his shirt. At least he still had his jeans on so all he needed was his shirt and he could leave for the time being. Naruto's eyes looked around piles of sleeping mages, but he couldn't find his muscle shirt anywhere.

He sighed as he rubbed his unkempt hair before grabbing a handful and tied most of it in a loose ponytail with a rubber band. It looked like he had to fly home without a shirt. He carefully stepped over the passed out wizards as he made his way to the door way and right about the time he reached the door, a hand tugged on his wrist. He looked down to see Master Makarov smiling up at him and nodded towards the outside. The blonde nodded back as they both quietly walked outside the doors before closing them without a sound.

"So, my boy. You enjoyed your welcoming party?" Makarov asked as they slowly walked towards the gates of Fairy Tail.

"More than anything I had enjoyed in a long time. I never really had a family to celebrate like that before." Naruto confessed as the master nodded in understanding.

"Hmm, that's something I understand all too well. Many of the mages here have no families and most have a past they rather no speak about because it's too painful for them. That's why I stress the importance of this guild being a family. We all work together, eat and drink together, play together, and unfortunately at times, mourn together." Makarov explained to the blonde. They stopped at the gates before the old master turned to Naruto and looked up with a serious look in his eyes.

"I let you join because I see you have much pain in your heart. But I also see love, kindness, and a warmth that one rarely sees in a warrior such as yourself."

Naruto's eyes slightly widened at the shorter man's statement. "How did you..."

"I've been around for a long time, son. I can tell when a man has seen war and tragedy in his life. But you've seen more in your short life than I have ever seen in an older man with a lifetime of experience." Makarov confessed before looking away politely. "I will never ask you questions about your past or your magic because I respect privacy among everything us. A man's past is his own and so is his power. All I ask in return is the same courtesy to the rest of your nakama, understand?"

"Yes, I do. Thank you, sir. I never really had someone put so much faith into me like this before. At least, not without jokes." Naruto smiled. "All I ask for myself is that I work at a cafe in town so I might not be around all the time."

"It's no problem. It's not necessary to be around all the time to take missions. The guild is a place to simply have a place to go to where you have nowhere else to go. Speaking of which, I do have a favor to ask of you. I know you were planning to go to work today, but this is important to me"

"Sure. What is it that you need?" Naruto asked as Makarov sweat dropped a little at what he was about to ask of the blonde.

"Well, lately, a certain mage of ours has been stressed out this past week and had been taking more risks than she normally would on missions. I'm a little concerned. I would like for you to go with her on a mission that she plans to take today."

"Me? What can I do? I'm not a thera...wait, did you say she?" Naruto stated deadpanned. "She who?"

"Master, I'm here as you request. You wanted to talk about my mission today." A voice spoke out from outside the gates as Naruto and Makarov turn their heads to see Erza walking up the street to the gates of Fairy Tale. Her eyes quickly steeled at the sight of the blonde as her teeth gritted in anger.

"Hello...Naruto. How are you today?"

"Uh, I'm fine Erza-san. You look...lovely today." Naruto replied nervously.

"That's because I didn't overdo it last night like some people. Stripping and drinking aren't my thing." Erza looked down at his bare chest and tussled hair before quickly averting her eyes away to avoid the slight pink tone from being seen on her cheeks. "Couldn't find your shirt? It's because Natsu burned it up after you gave Cana and Mirajane a lap dance. Something about it being payback."

Naruto gasped as his hands quickly shot up to cover his nipples, missing the tiny blush on Erza's face. But Makarov couldn't help but grin at his idea growing better by the second.

"Well, Naruto. Here's the mage I was speaking about and Erza, this is what I wanted to talk to you about." a huge smile grew on the old master's face and he pointed to the both of them. "You will be partners on this mission."

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"WHAT?!"

"I can't believe Master's making me take you along so you can get some mission experience. This is a A ranked mission!" Erza grumbled as they waited for the train at the Magnolia Town's Train Station. "He should have thrown you with Natsu or something. An easy mission like retrieving papers, not slaying a massive monster!"

Naruto just kept his mouth shut, knowing the real reason that Makarov sent him on the mission with Erza. "If you're upset about the money, you can keep both halves. I'm not really into having tons of jewels on me. I do just fine at the noodle shop."

"Damn right you'll give me your half! I had to pay for the damages at the onsen!"

"Again, I'm sorry, but you did do the damage. I just fell on you and I explained that I was just learning how to fly." Naruto explained once more, but Erza just scoffed and ignored the blonde's apology.

"So you say. You seemed to be pretty under control when you fought with Natsu and your apparent 'flying over the town' date with Cana." the redhead spat out with venom in her voice. "By the way, what is your magic anyways? Not that I care, but it might be necessary for this mission. Know what? Never mind. I'm not going to let a rookie get involved with this mission. You are purely an observer in this job."

"Wow. You're more of a hard ass than what people say." The words slipped out of Naruto's mouth before he could stop himself. He had to dodge a metal covered fist as Erza reacted to his bold statement.

"Holy crap, woman! Seriously! I heard you were the responsible, level headed, role model in Fairy Tail, but damn!" Naruto backed away a few feet and held his arms up. "Do you solve everything with violence?"

"No...well, most of the time." the armor clad woman had to admit. "Because an iron fist is all people understand in this day and age."

"Is that why you're always wearing armor?" Naruto knew he hit a soft spot as Erza immediately stopped talking to him and waited for the train to come. Naruto sighed as he slowly walked back next to the weapon mage and waited in silence along with her until their ride came and took them away to their misson.

'This is a great start.'

Thirty minutes later, they were heading towards their destination as the silence continued linger between the two mages. They sat in their private cabin seats as Naruto watched the scenery pass by and it hit him that this was the first time he left Magnolia Town since he arrived in this world. He adjusted the collar of the maroon dress shirt he had to buy on the way to the train station because Erza wouldn't let him go home to pick up a muscle shirt. Naruto just buttoned it up halfway and let the end hang out, not bothering to tuck the tail in his jeans.

He sighed as he turned his attention back to Erza who was sitting quietly with her eyes closed. Even though he still thought that Erza was impatient and overly stricted in a sense, he could see so many tells of a bad childhood and how it affected her emotionally. After all, it took one to know one. Maybe that could be their connection to understanding each other better, but he remember what Makarov said about respect each other's privacy and knew there was no way to approach the topic safely.

So, he decided to go another way and brought up a topic that was mentioned earlier.

"So, I'm still trying to figure out my magic. It's a bit confusing to say the least." Naruto tried to break the ice, but Erza wanted nothing to do with it as she remained silent in her seat.

Naruto continued to wear her down as he kept up the one way conversation. "I mean, I can fly and recently found out I can make a empty ball out of some kind of magic, but I have no idea how the two are related. It's some type of red energy that's sort of like Light magic, but with different kinds of properties. Almost like saying, 'I got fire that burns me cold or water that makes me dry'. It's very mind boggling."

Erza sighed, her curiosity finally overtaking her as she opened her eyes and looked at the big grin on the blonde's face. "What do you mean?"

"Well, it's very bright, but feels like something that grows dense like a shadow. It's hard to explain."

"Well, Master Makarov is an expert at discerning types of magic power. Maybe he could help you." Erza offered the advice politely.

"Actually, so am I. I also have another trick that allows me to see the Eternano in the air as it forms into magic for each person. It's like streams of colors floating in the air, it's quite a sight. Strings of magic over around us, kind of like watching music if you understand what I'm saying." Naruto tried to explain what he feels and sees when he's in Mage mode.

Erza couldn't help but get entranced at the blonde's description of the Eternano that surrounds everything in this world and wondered what kind of magic that would allow him to see that. "How do you see Eternano? I know that sometimes raw magic can be seen, but after it's been absorbed by a person and focused."

"Well, my technique sort of allows me to become part of nature in a sense. Like borrowing someone's eyes, only this case, Mother Nature's eyes. It used be to that it allowed me to sense someone's location and their level of power while giving me a massive increase in strength and speed. But now, it's sort of changed into just the former, losing the physical part while giving me a new ability to see magic on different levels."

"How so?"

"I'm still discovering how it works, but I think I'm able to tell what kind of magic someone's able to use by watching their 'color stream' when they are about to attack. It happened to me a few nights ago. So far, that's about it along with what I already told you." Naruto surprised himself on how much he was telling Erza when only a day ago, she was trying to bash his head in...again.

"That's...quite interesting. Could I possibly see how you do it?" Erza forced herself to ask her new rival, curiosity overcoming her desire to beat the blonde silly.

"Okay." Naruto had no problem showing the redhead, just happy she's not trying to kill him anymore. Without a hitch, he slipped into Mage mode as he felt himself becoming one with the magic dancing in the air. Erza let out a small gasp of amazement as Naruto's eyes grew more bright and a line of red appeared below each eye.

"Oh, so it's Eye magic. That's what you are using, a type of Eye magic."

'Ah, Magic lesson number twenty. Eye magic. I wonder why Miss Maggie never said anything. But then again, I tuned out most of it.' Naruto mused.

"I guess then all I need is a name for it." Naruto chuckled. "And figure out my other magic."

"Well, show me again. It just seems to me that you just have no idea about what magic is, so show me that spell you were talking about." Erza smirked, proud of herself that she managed to do something her master can do as well.

Naruto nodded again as he held his palms out and focus as a transparent, red sphere appearing in the middle of his hands about the size of a baseball. "So far, all it's done is hold things inside and protect them like a barrier. I feel like it can do more, but I haven't tried to do much to be honest."

Erza tried to rack her brain on what he was doing and the type it was, but she was at a lost for words as she now understood what he was talking about.

"Have you tried to see your own magic with your Eye magic?"

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"Uh, no actually. I've just used it to find and turn on my magic." Naruto said sheepishly as he shrugged. Erza face palmed at the blonde's lack of common sense and wonder just about how much of his teacher's lessons he's ignored.

"Well, turn them back on and look at your little ball. What does it tell you?" the redhead pointed out in a cocky manner.

Naruto slipped back into his Mage mode or rather, Mage eyes as he looked down at his hands and let his eyes do the work. Instinctively, his mind told him that it was a type of advanced Telekinesis that allowed him to manipulate and condense magic at the sub atomic level. He also discerned that it could be altered to be used in different ways which explained how he was able to fly and create small spheres. It was basically up to him how he could shape and mold his magic. That's why it seemed like Light magic and Molding magic at the same time. One dealt with powerful energy while the other form magic into whatever the mage was taught to mold.

Naruto basically repeated what his mind discerned about the magic to Erza as she nodded at his explanation, impressed at what his eyes could do. She also wondered what the combination of the two could possibly do together, combining the various effects of his magics.

"That actually makes sense in a way. Magic like Pyrokinesis and Molding magic are based on the same principles of them being an advanced form of Telekinesis. But I had never seen anything like yours before. I believe it's the first and only one of its kind. So, all you need to do now is figure out what it's capable of and its limits." Erza explained Naruto's discovery back to him as the train continued to its location and their mission.

For once, Naruto actually paid attention to what he was being taught as Erza explained to him the fundamentals that Miss Maggie had been trying to rammed into his brain for the last two weeks. The difference was now he was an official mage by law and needed to learn how to use his magic for the best of him and his new nakama's safety. Plus, it didn't hurt that Erza seemed to love teaching the blonde about magic and made her for the moment, forget how much she hated him.

Next thing he knew, it had been two hours and they had arrived at destination of their mission request. Erza had just finished her lesson about Requip as Naruto listened intensely much to her surprise. Maybe he wasn't so bad after all. They had gotten out of their cabin and walked off the train as Erza pulled out the mission request and read the name of the requester.

"Says here that we need to see the mayor and according to this map on the wall, it's clear across town. Let's see if we can rent a magic buggy to drive and..."

"That'll take too long. Let's just fly over there." Naruto stated before the red haired sword mage shook her head frantically.

"Oh no, I'm not one of your harem girls that you're trying to impress with a flight up in the sky." Erza retorted, shooting down his idea quickly. "Not to mention that it's probably another chance for you to touch me."

"You're wearing armor! Also, I don't have a harem! I didn't even know Cana and Mira had those kinds of feelings for me and how many times to I have to say that it was an accident?" Naruto exclaimed.

"Right, right. Let's just find a rental place." Erza walked off as Naruto fumed and just had about enough of Erza's attitude, In the blink of an eye, he was behind the redhead as he wrapped his arms around her waist and activated his Mage eyes.

"Sorry, I'm impatient too." Naruto stated as he formed the crimson magic around them and shot off into the air like a red rocket.

"NARUTO!"