Chapter 9: Two Bows.
The feast was indeed, a real feast. So much so that even with Natsu and Happy, there was still plenty left over for the rest to munch on. Just like before, everyone was doing something different in the party. Ichigo and Erza were at a table of their own, discussing something. Lucy was off to the side, wondering what the next step in her novel should be. Gray decided to relax with his food in his hands on a chair to the back of the room, steeped in his own thoughts.
Ichigo didn't even know how he got pulled into this… Initially he just wanted some food and relaxation like Gray, but then Erza suddenly comes along and pulls him by his collar to their seat, demanding information. Understandably so. After all, in her world, there is no possible way to reverse the Iced Shell user back to human form. The conversation was rough at the start but gradually turned better.
Erza swallowed her food and continued with her talking (interrogating). "So your friend can reverse time and space to make it such that a certain event never happened? And that is how she primarily heals wounds?"
Ichigo just kept eating, replying between mouthfuls of food. "Yeah, that's how she heals us. Some of us, like me, have certain ways to heal ourselves. But I always prefer it if Orihime is the one healing me."
"So you believe that she can restore Gray's teacher back to her original form?"
Ichigo looked her straight in the eye. If there's one thing he could count on, its Orihime's power for saving people.
"She can do it. She will do it. But you should probably be careful around Gray's teacher when she's human again though… No one knows what being stuck in ice-form for that long can do to someone's psyche."
"I assure you that Fairy Tail will be able to help her recover from anything if needed. We are all about family and care for each other after all."
"That's nice… My, um… Guild is somewhat similar I would say. Some of us don't really give a shit if the others survive or not, but most of us really look out for each other. Take Chad for example, the big guy with tanned skin. He's been there for me ever since I met him."
Erza found herself intrigued at Ichigo's description of his guild. It would seem like they are not such bad people after all. But she knew for sure she would stay away from the blue haired one. He was just trouble.
Ichigo spoke, bringing Erza's attention to him. "So about our sparring match, when do you want to have it? Straight after we get back? Or would you want to wait for a few days and recover?"
Erza deliberated on his question. "I suppose we should wait a few days to ensure that we are at peak performance."
"That's fine with me." Replied Ichigo before digging back into his meal.
Erza took small bites of her food, not finding the appetite to eat with the same gusto as the boys. She stared out of the nearby window and placed a hand over her fake eye. 'Reject an event from happening huh?'
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.- SS,MB-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
The group was gathered at the shore, saying their farewells to the island demons. The island demons themselves also wanted to thank their saviours.
The chief spoke up. "My dear friends, do accept the reward money and key for your troubles!"
Lucy almost jumped at the prospect. Erza stepped in though.
"We can do no such thing. Even though we saved you, these people went off without permission. That makes the quest void."
The chief wanted them to at least have something for their troubles though. "If I cannot convince you to take the money, then will you at least take the key? We have no use for it, and take it as a form of gratitude rather than a bounty."
That was something Erza could live with. "If you put it that way, we shall accept the key." She stepped forward and took the key from the chief's offering hand and handed it to Lucy.
"If that is all we must make our leave!"
Erza and company boarded the pirate ship, Natsu needed some encouragement in the form of a bash oover the head with the blunt side of Erza's sword. They set sail back to Magnolia.
-.-.-.-.-.-SS,MB-.-.-.-.-.-.
Lyon watched the whole thing from his spot in the island. A certain hint of melancholy and regret was present in his eyes. He turned to Sherry. "Sherry… Do you think joining a guild would be fun?"
"Hmm? Well… I would think so Lyon-Sama. Why'd you ask?"
Lyon, stood up and brushed himself off. "No reason… C'mon, we gotta leave this island."
"Yes Lyon-Sama." Sherry bounded off after him, the rest of Lyon's group followed.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-SS,MB-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
"Hello Siegrain." Ultear greets as she walks into the room.
"Hello to you too Ultear, you weren't able to obtain Deliora I assume?" Siegrain replied, smirk on his face.
Ultear glared at him. "It's a shame but it was already dead. My mother's spell was stronger than I thought it would be."
"Hmm, Deliora's death is certainly disappointing, but it's not critical. I do have to give props to your mother Ur for having the strength to kill a demon using a sealing spell though."
If Ultear's looks could kill, Siegrain would be dead by now. "My mother was a good mage and that was it. Nothing more. Not even her strength is all that special considering the amount of monsters running around today."
"That may be so, but she was definitely an outstanding one. Say, how did you get that cut on your chin?"
Ultear touched the scar faintly, remembering the fight. "The new guild in Magnolia has some potential, that's all I'll say."
"Potential you say?" Siegrain's attention was grabbed. "That's interesting, do I have another candidate for strength other than Erza and Natsu?"
Ultear knew first-hand some of the things that Ichigo is capable of. She spectated the fight between him and the blue haired guy for a while after all. If Siegrain wanted to use Ichigo, she wished him good luck. "Yes, he is definitely a possible candidate. In fact, you might want to try and go for him."
Siegrain let the thought stew and he stared at Ultear from his chair. His smirk grew. "That is certainly a good idea"
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
The Fairy Tail group, with Ichigo, finally reached the shores of Magnolia. Natsu practically catapulted himself off the edge of the ship onto the dock below, kissing the ground and mumbling about how he loved it and how he would never step foot onto boat ever again.
Gray and Erza both picked Natsu up from the floor, placing him on his feet. They had an objective to rush to, and they didn't want the embarrassment he was causing of course.
"C'mon, my guild isn't too far away. If we're lucky, Orihime is still in the guild." Ichigo quickened his pace, almost at a jog. His white overcoat flapping in the wind, and his symbol being highlighted brightly by the sun's ray. The rest of the group nodded and followed him.
They reached the guild and Natsu kicked the doors open, much to the shock of the lower tier Soul Reapers and the displeasure of the stronger inhabitants.
Ichigo's eyes scanned the room, looked for the head of auburn hair and gentle featured face he has come to rely on. His eyes darted left and right before he found her. "Orihime!"
The girl herself was surprised. She practically jumped, dropping the cup of tea she had in her hand. Her head turned so fast, it was a wonder how she didn't give herself whiplash. Her eyes were treated to the sight of her crush and a group of Fairy Tail mages running towards her.
Ichigo reached her and didn't hesitate to start talking. "Orihime, we need you. You need to use your power on some chunks of ice. I know it sounds weird right now, but those ice chunks are Gray's teacher, and we have to help them before the ice melts."
Orihime seemed flustered with both the sudden bombardment of information and the close proximity Ichigo has taken with her. Well, who was she to disagree to any of this. If it helps someone, she'd do it.
"Sure Kurosaki-kun, where's the ice?" she furrowed her brow and placed her pointer and middle finger on her left hairpin.
Ichigo turned back to Erza, "Can you bring the ice out? And lay it on the ground."
Erza gave a brief nod before she reached into her pocket dimension and pulled out a few large chunks of ice and set them on the floor, as close to each other as possible.
"Alright Orihime, do your thing!" added Ichigo.
"Soten Kisshun: I Reject" Orihime's hairpins materialised a dome of orange energy over the chunks of ice. The process was quite an amazing thing to see. The ice first started bending and moulding itself like clay into a silhouette of a woman, before finer details took place in the ice, like hands, fingers, legs, toes. The clear ice started gaining colour, and slowly the head, face, torso, abdomen, arms and legs were back to human. Even the leg that Ur lost was now back in place. The dome was on her figure for a little while longer, before it dispersed. Signalling that the process was done. And there she was. A healthy-looking, human Ur.
Only after overcoming their shock of seeing such an impossible task taking place, did the whole group realise that Ur was as naked as the day she was born.
Ichigo's face now resembled one of the meanings his name possessed. Natsu and Gray both had blushes. Erza was furious though.
With one sweep of her arm, she managed to clobber all three men on the head with the blunt side of her sword. Orihime, went off and returned with huge blanket and draped it over the ice woman's unconscious form. She winced when she saw Natsu and Gray on the floor nursing their heads and Ichigo nursing his standing.
"Why the hell did you hit me?!" Ichigo demanded to know.
"Because you were staring lecherously at an unconscious woman's bare body. That is something I cannot allow."
Orihime pouted slightly as the word "lecherously".
Urahara chose this moment to pop into the conversation. "My, my, Ichigo! When did you become such a pervert? Looking at naked women like this. What would your father say about this?" He feigned a tone of disappointment.
Ichigo's forehead vein looked ready to burst. "Don't you dare try and twist this situation! How was I supposed to know she was gonna end up naked! And if you drag my dad into this, God help me Kisuke I will bash you to Soul Society and back!"
"Geez, no need to get so violent Ichigo. I understand that as a growing young boy, you have your needs. All I'm saying is that, it's probably not a good idea to ogle someone's naked teacher and mother figure when he's standing right next to you. Besides, how could you not know she would be naked, according to what I saw, she transformed into ice. And I didn't see any clothing on that ice." Kisuke grinned toothily. Taking great pleasure in annoying Ichigo.
"Damn it, I am going to beat the shit out of you Kisu-!"
"Ah damn, what's with all the noise? Shut up and let a woman sleep peacefully." A feminine voice cut through Ichigo's anger. The group followed the noise to its source, and found a sleepy looking Ur sitting up, holding onto the blanket that's covering her body.
Gray was shocked beyond belief. "Ur… Ur you're awake…"
Ur set her eyes on the source of the sound and saw someone that looked a lot like Gray. "Who are you kid? And how do you know my name? You look a lot like my student Gray. And of course I'm awake, how is anyone not awake with the kinda noise you bunch are making? And say, why am I on the floor and naked?"
Gray's jaw dropped. How was she still so nonchalant?! And she didn't recognise him?!
"It is me Ur… I'm Gray… We brought you back to normal from Iced Shell…"
Ur's eyes widened as much as they could possibly go. "Wait, no… no, no, no… You can't bring me back… What about Deliora…? No, this is way too messed up… This can't be real… This… This is the afterlife isn't it? What are you doing here so early Gray...? No… no…" She mumbled these words, before she fainted.
Gray sprang into action, carrying his mentor bridal style. "Thanks for all the help, but I need to get her to the infirmary first. I'll tell you all about it next time we meet!"
Gray bolted out the door, making his way to Fairy Tail as quick as he could. The rest of the group followed.
Orihime looked on with troubled eyes. "Will she be alright?" She asked meekly to nobody in particular.
Kisuke answered, "She'll be fine given enough time. She's just too overloaded with information right now."
Orihime took some solace in that, and went to take a mop to clean up her spilt tea.
Ichigo frowned at the sight of the open doors, but there wasn't anything he could do to help. He was feeling weird though, like he was being watched. He turned back suddenly and looked upwards towards the roof. Nothing was there… Strange…
-.-.-.-.-.-SS,MB-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Ultear was holding back tears and sobs. She panicked. She didn't expect to be sensed by Ichigo, so she had to close the hole in the wall she made. But she got enough information. She hugged her knees and out her back against the wall and let some tears flow. 'She's actually alive… She was brought back…'
-.-.-.-.-.SS,MB-.-.-.-.-.-
Ichigo shrugged off his feeling of paranoia and turned to Kisuke. "Oi Hat-And-Clogs. I don't see the rest of the group anywhere. Where are they?"
Kisuke turned to Ichigo. "Well, they're all on jobs. Except Grimmjow. I think Nel and Harribel went together, Ishida and Chad went together."
The news confounded Ichigo slightly. 'They took jobs…?'
The guild doors opened again and Ichigo saw Nel and Harribel walk through, each holding a brown sack. Nel looked at the guild before spotting a mop of orange hair. She squealed. "Itsygo!"
She dropped her bag and launched into a hug from across the guild. She tackled Ichigo to the ground and hugged him furiously. "Where have you been Itsygo?! You suddenly went away for a while without telling us! I was worried!"
Ichigo tried to answer her but all that came out was sputters and chokes. His face started turning purple.
Orihime stepped in, and so did Harribel. "Nel-chan! You're choking him!"
Harribel added in her two cents worth. "Release him Nel. He's starting to turn purple."
When words obviously not enough, the two grabbed each of Nel's shoulders and pried her off Ichigo. Who tried to thank them, but could only gasp for breath.
"Tha… Thanks… guys" He picked himself up and dusted himself off. Orihime's eyes brightened as an idea struck her.
"How about we bake a few pies and give them to the Fairy Tail group? I'm sure they would appreciate it, even more so now that they're taking care of someone."
The rest of the three seemed pleased with that idea.
Ichigo rolled his right arm to make sure Nel hadn't accidentally squeezed the arm out of the shoulder socket, and made his way to the door. "Well, let's get going then"
"Yeah and we can pay for it using the money we just got from our job!" Nel added in cheerily. So the group set out to find a pie shop.
After little walking they stumbled across the bakery Ichigo saw Erza in on his first day here. They entered and the jingle of wind chimes notified the man at the counter of their presence in the store. He was a portly man with a greyed moustache. Ichigo and Orihime both swore that he looked exactly like the chef they saw on canned food items in the supermarket. Usually it would be canned ravioli.
The man greeted them. "Ah new faces! How can I help? Looking for anything in particular?"
Ichigo shot a quick glance to the multitude of breads and cakes on display, and answered the smiling man. "Do you sell any pies here?"
The man's smile grew. "Why, of course we do boy! Blueberry, strawberry, apple, pumpkin, whatever you name, we probably have a pie with it as a filling!"
Ichigo looked pleased. "That's great, we'll take two strawberry pies and two blueberry pies."
The man went to the back for a bit and came out with two boxes with a transparent top. Looking in it, he could see two pies in each box, the two flavours were separated. "There you go my boy! Freshly baked! That will be six thousand jewels."
Harribel took out the necessary bills and gave them to the man. The group bid farewell and left the store, starting their trek to the Fairy Tail Guild.
Along the way, Ichigo took the chance to ask a question that has been bugging him for some time. "Nel, how come Harribel is the queen of Hueco Mundo now? Aren't you and her paralleled in strength? And isn't the Primera still around?"
Nel put a finger to her slightly pouted lips, "Well, I can run Hueco Mundo, but I just don't want to… It's a hassle. I already have all I need with you guys and my Fraccion. And before the Quincy thing, Starrk hanged around Las Noches with Lily-chan and slept whole days off. But during the invasion he went to fight. Once everything was over we found him but he was in really bad condition… He's currently resting at Las Noches. Speaking of which, I really have to thank Orihime-Chan for healing, or is it reviving? The decent Arrancars while you were beating Aizen. I really like Lily-chan, Starrk is also much better to deal with than some of the other male arrancar…"
Ichigo was surprised by the answer. He had no idea the Primera was still healing. While recruiting Harribel and company, she did say that the Primera would be able to join us in some time. He just didn't know it was because he was still recovering. That raised the question too, who had he fought? Perhaps one day, the group would pay a visit to Hueco Mundo…
"I think he'd love to come here Itsygo, he always wanted something like a family" Nel commented.
Ichigo nodded along, "If it's family he's looking for, I think he'll like our little group."
The saw the Fairy Tail guild doors as they turned the street, and quickened their pace. They reached the guild doors, and knocked on it.
And knocked.
And knocked again. Only to be ignored…
Ichigo's temper soared through the roof, he stepped back and readied his leg like a piston. He yelled, "Comin' in!" before kicked the doors wide open, startling the people in the guild. Who looked to be halfway through a party.
Mira recognized them at first glance from her place at the bar counter. But unfortunately… So did Natsu.
"Hey carrot top! What's the big idea kicking open our doors?!" Natsu shouted, painfully ignorant of the fact that he does the exact same thing each time he entered.
"We knocked on the door three times and no one answered so I found a way to make sure you would notice!" Ichigo shouted back. He stepped forward into the guild, walking up to the bar counter with the three women in tow. He cleared his throat and spoke to the woman in white. "Excuse me, but could we speak to Erza? Or maybe the master?"
Mira nodded happily, "Erza is right there at the table to the side." Gesturing to her left. "And the master is still in his office doing some paperwork to have Ur inducted into the guild. She hasn't woken up yet but the master is making plans for her. Coincidentally that's why we're having this party."
"Ah I see, thanks for that." Ichigo made his way to the scarlet haired, armoured beauty.
Erza noticed them coming from the corner of her eye while she was enjoying her strawberry cheesecake. She put her fork down and straightened up. "How may I help you all?"
Ichigo placed the pies on the table, "These are for you and your group, think of it as a 'get well soon' present for Gray's teacher when she wakes up too. We just came here to give you these and find out how Gray's teacher is doing. From the chick at the counter, I know she's still sleeping. If that's all then we should probably be making our way back." As he turned, he felt an armoured gauntlet clamp onto his shoulder.
"Wait, it's thanks to you and your group she's still alive, why don't you settle down and join us in the festivities? You can get to know our group better. Or at least have a meal."
Ichigo was about to refute the offer, but his stomach chose the wrong time to grumble. "Ah damn, fine we'll join you."
The group situated themselves around a large table, big enough to fit them all. Mira walked by and handed the table a tray of drinks and snacks. Natsu, Gray, Lucy and Happy noticed the group and made their way to the table too.
Whereas Natsu, Lucy and Happy took seats and got comfortable, Gray remained standing. He moved himself next to Orihime and at a ninety-degree angle, back straight and arms at his side. "Thank you… so much. For bringing Ur back. I can't ever hope to repay you for this, but I will try my hardest to."
Orihime was understandably flustered. "Eh, no, no, it wasn't much… Please raise your head, stop bowing." Her hands flurried, trying to gesture Gray to return to a normal posture. Ichigo scoffed. He stood up and grabbed Gray's neck, pulling him back up into a straight standing position. "Relax would you? Orihime and our group don't do this kinda stuff for thanks or repayment. Now sit down and eat some pie."
Gray wanted to retort, but he knew that Ichigo was being truthful, and by the look on Orihime's face, he could tell she wasn't comfortable, so he took his seat next to Lucy and got himself a slice of blueberry pie.
Erza cleared her throat, receiving Ichigo's attention. "So Ichigo, when shall we have that spar of ours?"
The table looked shocked, they had no idea they were going to fight. Natsu looked offended, he wanted to spar with the two of them too. "Hey! No fair! I wanna fight Erza and you too!"
Erza would normally have delivered a swift blow to the top of his head with her metal gauntlet, but this time she let it slide. It was actually a good idea. Now that their group was a lot less powerful, perhaps it would be a good test for them. "I approve of you fighting Ichigo, Natsu. What about you Ichigo, do you agree?"
Ichigo shrugged nonchalantly, "Meh, I'm fine with anything. Just don't expect him to be at top condition once I beat him to the ground."
A vein popped at the side of Natsu's head. "What was that?! You think you can beat me?!"
Harribel cut in this time. "Actually I have a suggestion. How about I fight your pink haired friend? I still have not gotten over the comment about Nel and I being weak."
Nel did her best to try and dissuade Harribel from fighting. "It's alright Harribel! No really, I'm wasn't offended at all! Let's just not fight, how about that?"
Natsu picked his own fate though. "Eh, fine. I'll fight you and I'll definitely destroy you!"
Gray and Lucy facepalmed.
"We could have the fight now if you want." Erza stood up, and walked out to the back of the guild, the de facto arena to the Fairy Tail wizards. Erza's exit didn't leave much room to disagree, even if her words said otherwise.
"Well, let's go and get this over with." Ichigo stood up and followed Erza, his vision soon turned black and revealed his inner world, and old man Zangetsu.
"If you are about to fight Ichigo, it's about time you learnt the Hirenkyaku. It's a basic skill every Quincy worth his bow should know. You picked up Shunpo and Sonido rather quickly, you should learn this in no time. Focus on the movement of Reishi beneath your feet. Once you have it, let the flow of the Reishi take you to your destination. You don't have much time to practice, your body is on auto-pilot right now. Try it a few times then return quickly." The old man said.
"Got it!" Ichigo, having already gotten used to the old man's uncanny and rushed teaching methods, sprang into action. He concentrated on the Reishi around him. It was faint, and wispy, but it was there. He used his own spiritual pressure to guide the Reishi to where he needed to go, and he let himself go. It was a new and weird experience for him, to be pulled to a location rather than to dash toward it. He repeated the motion a few more times but he was suddenly yanked out of his Inner World and he saw day light once again.
He was greeted by the sight of Erza standing opposite him a respectable distance away. A crowd had gathered around them. He heard someone call him. "Ichigo, are you ready to start?"
He looked to the side and saw the master of Fairy Tail, judging by the voice, he also asked the question. Ichigo nodded and materialised his bow.
The master gave a set of instructions first. "Alright, I want this to be a friendly spar! No use of lethal force, no permanent injuries, and keep your environmental damage within the borders of the arena! If both contestants are ready, you may fight!"
Erza was first to begin, "Requip: Heaven's Wheel Armour!" A bright flash covered her being before she was revealed, in her stunning armour. With two swords in hand, she got into fighting stance. "Circle Sword!" Multiple swords appeared around her in a circle formation, rotating faster with each turn. "Dance my blades!"
The sharp circle of swords was launched at Ichigo. He didn't look fazed at all.
He charged up a large arrow and shot it straight at the menacing bunch of blades. It broke through all of them, causing the blades to shatter. "You're gonna have to try a lot harder than that to beat me." He started firing arrows at Erza in a steady stream, forcing her to use short bursts of speed and flight to dodge the onslaught of arrows.
Erza wasn't about to let Magnolia's new comers push her into the defensive though, she charged up her own spell. "Blumenblatt!" She dashed toward Ichigo, slicing with her swords in an X-formation. With a quick use of Hirenkyaku, he dodged the slash but he wasn't expecting the huge amount of swords that came crashing down on him. He did his best to dodge, but it was futile against that many swords. Especially when he had little experience with Hirenkyaku. The dust cleared and it showed Ichigo with a few tears in his pant leg and a cut on his left hand.
"Damn… Fine, let's get serious shall we?" Ichigo re-positioned himself and shot a few arrows at Erza, before re-positioning and repeating it again and again. Erza tried to fight back with a few more spells, but with the speed Ichigo was able to move and the fact that long range attacks seemed to be in his favour, he opted to change her armour. "Requip: Blackwing Armour!" She donned one of her fastest armours, and took flight. She used her increased mobility to try and close the gap with Ichigo as much as she could. It proved to be a hard task to accomplished, what with the constant barrage of arrows and his own speed. But she understood the distance he could burst now. How long it took him to shoot. A rough estimate of the speed his arrows went at. And she was going to use it against him. 'Wait for the shot… Wait for the shot… just a little bit more… Right… There!' She prepared her sword. "Moon Flash"
She bolted towards Ichigo, but she was surprised when he moved way too far back than she calculated. 'What?!' She saw the smirk on Ichigo's face though.
Ichigo pulled back the bowstring and gathered some power into his shoulder. "Licht Regen"
Erza knew she was in deep shit when she saw the sheer number of arrows coming her way. "Requip: Adamantine Armour!" She smashed the two parts of the shield together and braced for impact. The onslaught of arrows hammered against her shield and propelled her backwards. The angle they were shot from meant that Erza would crash onto the ground. Hard. And that's what she did. The impact sent dirt and dust flying everywhere. When it settled, it showed Erza in a state that was worse for wear. Her armour was damaged and chipped and the shield was dented and pierced.
Ichigo landed opposite Erza. "Wanna end the fight here? I don't think you can keep going for very long."
As much as it pained Erza to do this, she'd have to end it here. She got what she wanted anyway, a rough idea of what Ichigo was capable of. And he's offering a way to make it a sure fire tie. "I shall accept this match to be a called a tie and stop fighting."
Makarov nodded sagely. "Very well. The fight between Erza and Ichigo is over. No more fighting may commence! It is a tie!"
The crowd had mixed feelings. The ones that bet on Ichigo were disappointed, and those that bet on Erza were relieved. Cana was just unhappy because she couldn't get more money for drinks.
Orihime rushed onto the arena, pins at the ready. The golden dome appeared over Ichigo in no time flat. "Are you okay Kurosaki-kun?"
"Yeah I'm fine Orihime, no need to worry. Thanks for the healing though." He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and smiled. Unknowingly making Orihime light up like Rudolph's nose.
"Eh Orihime, you okay? You're lookin' red. You got a fever or somethin'? Must be all the weird stuff you eat…" He commented offhandedly, looking sick just by thinking of the food combinations Orihime ate.
"Hey! There's nothing wrong with my food choices!" Orihime pouted cutely at Ichigo.
"Oh hey, could you heal up Erza too? I used too much strength on that last attack."
Erza's ears perked up at this, she turned towards the two. "There's no need for you to trouble yourself, I can recover just fine in the infirmary."
"Oh relax, it's much faster this way and she doesn't mind."
Erza looked a little sheepish, but she relented. "Well, as long as she doesn't mind then…"
The golden dome took place over Erza and her bruises and scratches were gone in a jiffy. She was even more surprised when she started regaining eyesight in her right eye. The prosthetic was gone and now was replaced by an actual real working eye. She couldn't believe it… How could this be? She could actually start to feel a tear welling up. Once the power faded, she leapt onto Orihime. Hugging her fiercely and letting a tear go into her shoulder. "Thank you. I don't know how you managed to bring back my eye, but thank you so much."
"Eh? What eye? What happened?" Orihime was just as confused as everyone else.
Erza lifted her head and wiped her eyes dry. "When I was young I lost my right eye, what you saw before was a prosthetic. You have my deepest gratitude for that." She kneeled and bowed.
Orihime wasn't about to have another person bow to her though, she caught Erza's shoulder and pulled her up. Showing a remarkable amount of strength in her relatively lean frame.
"Its fine, I'm just glad I helped."
Erza nodded, and stepped back. Makarov witnessed the whole event, and he was shocked to the core as well. But there was still one more fight to get on with though.
"Will Harribel and Natsu please step forward?!"
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
[A/N] *Kneels and bows for forgiveness* I apologize deeply for the extremely late upload. Had many things to do due to Chinese New Year. This chapter finally finished up the Galuna Arc. And we got a sneak peek at Starrk. He's alive and in Hueco Mundo. As for what I have planned with him I dont intend to let yall know until you see it.
Ur is back, and so is Erza's eye. This should be interesting.
Review reviews time.
To CaitiAthena: at which part...?
To Goost: I might put Ur with Gildarts if the situation arises for it, but for now I'm just planning to work out the resolving scenes. At least now you know how Starrk is doing. The Alverez Empire will be interesting to tackle too. For now though, I'm just planning to work out the first few arcs. Its quite a long way to Alverez from the first arc...
To gunzen: Yeah I realised that after a while that its my story and that I should take charge with it. I'm still leaving some options up to the readers, but for now, I have the core harem members for Ichigo decided and set in stone.
To naruto: Thanks.
To Zero: I wont be having Ur in the harem. Partly because its weird to do so, and partly because I have other plans for her.
To warrior of six blades: Unfortunately, the Kisuke Idea wasn't implemented, but it was quite a genius idea, so kudos to you for that.
to daizuke: This chapter should be more action packed so I hope you enjoyed it.
To Neah Walker17: Im not gonna add Ur to the harem, for reasons stated above.
To Lightningblade49: Thanks. It shouldnt take him long, once he sees her the next time with a scar, he should know.
