"Gotcha and just in time…" a voice whispered in the distance, carried gently by the wind.
"What magic is this?" Erza demanded but was unable to move from her current position to directly respond to the owner of the distant voice.
"I can't move either," Natsu struggled, trying to break free but failed the same as Erza.
"My body feels so stiff," a displeasing look crossed Gray's face.
Unlike the mages, the ninjas were not surprised by the familiar chakra. They knew who was in their presence, except Kiba, who was still asleep, unaware of who was around him.
"You guys are such a pain to track down–
"Everyone stop!"Lucy yelled.
"Did you have to yell in my ears?" Shikamaru asked dully. With his technique already in use, he continued to study the people present and the battlefield.
Lucy let out an awkward little laugh before proceeding any further.
"Sorry," the blonde bowed slightly before collecting herself. "What's wrong with them? They're not…moving?" she mumbled under her breath, still audible for Shikamaru.
"That's because they're caught in my shadow imitation technique," The said boy stated slightly intrigued with the scene before him. "Ah! I never thought I'd be able to witness something like this."
Natsu sniffed the air a couple of times, "Lucy!"
"Natsu! Gray! Erza!" Lucy shouted back, quite happy to see them, 'Did he really have to sniff the air to know it was me?' Lucy sweat-dropped, 'well that's Natsu.'
"Hey Lucy! Oi Lucy!" Natsu called out.
"What is it?" Lucy responded.
"Where's Happy?" the dragon slayer asked in distress.
"Huh? He was behind me second ago… Wait a minute," Lucy paused, "I'm fine by the way, thanks for your consideration."
"Eh?" a puzzled Natsu hesitated, "No problem Lucy."
"Why do I punish myself?" the blonde spoke as if lost in a world where light was forbidden to enter.
"Lucy?" Erza called out, "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine Erza!" Lucy responded quite eagerly.
Shikamaru sighed, 'Couldn't they save this for later?' he thought.
"That's good to hear or else I couldn't live knowing that my friend got destroyed in battle due to my carelessness," Erza trailed off.
'Destroyed?' The word screamed in mage's head, "That's…very nice of you Erza but I won't get 'destroyed' in battle…right?" Lucy trembled with just the thought of what was said.
"Erza's right!" Gray joined in, "Letting a friend die at the hands of our enemies…"
"Wow," Naruto blinked a couple of times, stretching out the word.
"I know, right?" Sakura too, joining in with Naruto in a moment of shock.
"Ugh, can this get any more dramatic?" Sasuke whispered to himself bitterly.
"Lucy! How could you leave me all alone?" Happy flew out of nowhere and into the celestial mage's chest; tears gushing out of his eyes.
Sasuke sighed clearly dissatisfied with how things played out, "Oh mysterious universe, I was being sarcastic."
'What a headache,' Shikamaru thought, "Naruto, Sakura! I'm releasing my jutsu on you guys. Don't do anything reckless, after all we need him alive," the shadow user warned.
Two dark lines, thanks to the moonlight, quickly withdrew from the said ninjas and made its way back to Shikamaru.
"Don't forget Gray and Natsu," Lucy reminded the shadow user.
"I got it already. Just quit with the yelling," Shikamaru winced as if in pain.
Two more dark lines withdrew from the battlefield, releasing the two mages.
"I can move again," Gray commented, flexing his arms and stretching his legs as if preparing for a marathon.
"Finally!" Natsu exhaled, "I can scratch my nose now." His hand quickly found his nose, "Aaah, it feels so good."
"One of your life goals accomplished, huh Natsu?" Gray commented, turning to face his friend.
"You bet!" Natsu laughed, "It's something you wouldn't understand, Icicle."
"Why you little fire spitting—
"Natsu, Gray!" Lucy quickly shouted, cupping both hands around her mouth, "Don't move!"
"Why not, Lucy?" Natsu whined, tilting his head slightly to view the blonde.
Completely ignoring Lucy's command, "I guess Erza will handle this," Gray stated, turning his back towards Erza and Sasuke and making his way to rejoin the group.
"I said don't move!" Lucy yelled, clearly frustrated.
"Okay then, just relax," Natsu assured her.
'Huh?' Gray pondered, stopping just slightly surprise, "What's that guy doing here?"
"I feel sorry for that guy," Happy spoke whilst whipping the tears from his eyes. "If the 'Mr. Lazy always complaining about work guy' releases Erza," Happy shuddered.
"That's why I'm not releasing her," Shikamaru explained, "We want Sasuke alive not dead…yet."
"I'm not talking about him," Happy gestured towards Sasuke, "I'm talking about you."
"H-Huh? What did I do? I'm pretty sure I saved your friends' lives," Shikamaru stammered, his face filled with dread all the while not moving to avoiding any casualties between the rogue nin and knight.
The little blue cat giggled, "I was just kidding. There's no need to get all worked up. I'm sure Erza will spare your life…maybe," a dark aura encircled Happy as he silently plot his next move in his head.
"That's enough Happy!" Lucy scolded, "Why are you messing with his head? I'm sure Erza will forgive him, I think. She'll understand…"
"Yeah, she's very understanding," a sarcastic tone lingered in cat's voice.
"…on second thought, maybe she wouldn't. She's kinda unpredictable sometimes," Lucy concluded.
"You make it sound as if she's a monster, jeez," Shikamaru sighed.
'This magic! It has to be….'
"DO YOU THINK YOU CAN DEFEAT ME THIS EASILY?" the Great Titania roared, lashing out an incredulous sensation in the atmosphere, "Kage! I'm not going to forgive you for this."
"The hell! How strong is she?" Shikamaru struggled to constrict the Scarlet's movements. "I take back what I said before."
With every bit of movement, in an attempt to immobilize her, the dark lines snaked its way up to the Titania's throat.
"Erza!" the dragon slayer cried out.
"Why you dirty scoundrel," Gray charged towards Shikamaru, cupping one of his fist in the other hand at his side, ready to unleash his ice magic.
"Wait Gray, it's all a misunderstanding," Lucy pleaded, spreading her arms across in hopes to stop Gray from using his magic against Shikamaru.
Slowing down his pace, almost to a stop, Gray retorted, "Lucy, this guy is…"
Upon closer inspection, the ice mage, concluded with surprise and confusion in his voice, "…not Kageyama!?"
"That's right," the blonde quickly confirmed, "When I saw him, I thought he was Kageyama, but it turns out he's…."
"…Mr.-Lazy-always-complaining-about-work-guy!" Happy finished.
"Not this again," Shikamaru whined, still struggling to keep hold of Erza, "We don't have time for this."
"Enough Happy, it's never going to catch on," Lucy scolded, dropping hers hands to her sides.
"Right," Gray sweat dropped.
'While I'm running out of chakra, these people are carrying on like I'm not here,' Shikamaru thought, realization sinking in, 'Wait a minute, why is my chakra being depleted so fast? It's like something is draining it away the more I use it.'
"Wait a minute, Sakura!" Naruto pleaded, alarming everyone close by.
In a blink of an eye, Sakura landed her fist on Gray's face, toppling him over to the ground.
"What the hell was that all about?" Gray retorted while brushing his palm across the bruised side of his face.
Witnessing a vein or two popping up on his comrade's head, Naruto flung himself in the space between Gray and Sakura in an attempt to save his new-found friend from utter annihilation.
"Sakura," Naruto spoke quite nonchalantly, "We're all on the same side for now, so why fight amongst ourselves?"
"Move Naruto!" paying no heed to Naruto calming words, she pushed him out of her way to find the guy, just a few seconds ago she knocked down, back on his feet ready to brawl.
"I don't care if you guys are helping us! You should think twice before raising a fist against us," Sakura warned a dead-serious tone in her voice.
"Funny you should say that," Gray spoke completely outraged, "Your friend here started it! Look at what he's doing to Erza. Don't think we'll just stand by and watch! You're the ones who need to think twice."
"Aye!" Happy flew above Gray's shoulders, agreeing with him.
"Gray, please calm down, you don't understand," Lucy pleaded, trying to calm her friend.
Turning to face his fellow ice-mage, Happy spoke, "Unfortunately…Lucy's right Gray. At least try to understand the situation."
"What's that now?" Lucy inquired.
"Oi! Whose side are you on?"
"Fairy Tail's of course, duh!" Happy said innocently.
Clearly tired of the bickering, Shikamaru raised his voice, "That's enough the four of you…and the flying cat."
"Happy!" Happy supplied.
"Hey, Shikamaru, why are you including me in this?" Naruto complained.
"This is giving me quite a headache," Shikamaru sighed, "Listen, my chakra's running low, so we need to capture Sasuke alive as soon as possible and restrain your friend," he gestured towards the mages, "…because I can't keep this up anymore."
"Fine," Gray sighed.
"Hey you, get those things off Erza!" Natsu roared, jumping into the air to deliver a fist engulfed by flames, "Iron Fist…"
"Don't go jumping and yelling over my head, baka," Sakura scolded, punching the Salamander in the gut; bringing him to the ground.
"Why do you always have to be so grumpy?" Natsu whined, cringing in pain.
'Maybe I should've let Naruto tell me about this Sakura,' Gray thought.
"Okay, here's the plan," Shikamaru started, all eyes on him.
So, it's been quite a while. I got a lot of stuff going on so it's been difficult. :( So sorry on the very late update. Please forgive. -bows-
Anyways...R&R :)
