A/N: SO MANY REVIEWS! I Love it! This is honestly my favorite pair in Fairy Tail and the fact that all of you really like the ideas I have means a lot. :) So anyways let's cut to the chase because I know I left off on a cliffhanger last time. Here is chapter 11 of "Bonds Stemmed from Mourning" :)
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*Disclaimer* I do not own Fairy Tail or any of its characters.
The whole guild was staring in disbelief at the two mages denying what everyone was assuming based off of the special edition of "Weekly Sorcerer" that had been released. Multiple people were eager for an explanation as shouts could be heard in reply to the reaction the Take-Over and Fire Dragon Slayer mages had given.
"Then what is it?"
"Yeah, I'd like to know too!"
"Natsu how did you do it!?"
"Why him?!"
"Why her?!"
"There's no way Ash-for-Brains got a girlfriend before me, let alone Mira!"
"It's not manly to hide relationships from your younger brother!"
"It's not fair!"
"Dammit! Mira beat me to him."
As complains and questions which showed that no one was listening to them kept flying left and right Erza was the one to calm everyone down. She was calm, but deathly authoritative as usual as she emitted her scarlet aura that everyone instantly felt.
"Quiet down." said Erza.
As everyone went silent and all attention turned to her, she continued as she looked at Mira and Natsu.
"Now that everyone has settled down, would you two kindly explain your story because everyone here seems really eager to hear it?"
The two mages sighed gratefully as they started to explain, but Natsu had something to say first.
"Hey Erza, after we explain things I need to talk to you about something."
"Me? Ok sure, where do you want to talk?"
"It's something important so I was hoping we could talk back at my place."
"Ok that's fine. We can head there once we're done sorting everything out here."
Natsu clearly hadn't read the situation correctly so asking her at a time like this to talk in private caused uproar within the guild hall once again. Erza on the other hand always knew Natsu was like this so she gave her answer nonchalantly.
"WHAT THE HELL NATSU?!"
"First Mira now Erza?!"
"Damn he works fast."
"Teach me your ways Natsu!"
"HA! Good luck with Erza, you got guts."
"Natsu! Mira is my Onee-Chan! This isn't Manly!"
"When can I have a turn Natsu?"
This time it was Mira who got everyone in the guild to go silent. She herself was curious about what Natsu wanted to talk about with Erza, but she decided to ask him about it later because she didn't want the guild getting the wrong idea about Erza and her having a new rivalry over a certain pink haired teen that everyone in guild knew as dense and oblivious.
"May I please explain?" Mira said calmly with a beautiful smile, but the purple aura she was giving off had encased the whole guild just as Erza had done earlier, causing everyone to go pale and silent, obediently listening to the barmaid.
"If anyone has any questions Natsu and I would be happy to answer them to clear everything up, but let me make this clear to start things off: Natsu and I are NOT dating." As she said this Mira felt her heart drop, but she showed no signs of it. Natsu had his expression flicker for a second dawning a disappointed look, but quickly recovered. Natsu's brief expression change hadn't gone unnoticed by Erza so she decided to ask about it when she has her private talk with him after the current situation. Questions were flying and the two mages took turns answering when necessary.
"First off, what's this about?" Lucy was the first one to ask as she held up the magazine letting a panel of photographs dangle from the magazine, every single one of them having Natsu and Mira posing together.
Some of the guild members commented on the photos as it was there first time actually seeing all of them, due to having been too busy gossiping about the cover and title.
"Whoah."
"Since when does Natsu dress like that?!"
"I don't know, but I'm not complaining."
"Mmmm Natsu, that question about me wanting a turn was serious."
"Mira is beautiful as always."
"They actually make a really cute couple…"
"They both look manly!"
"Mira's a girl Elfman."
"They liiiiiike each other~"
"I didn't know Natsu could model?"
Comments couldn't be held as everyone looked at the pictures that showed off a new side of the Dragon Slayer that no one had ever seen, as well as the fact that they looked so natural together in every single photo.
"Ok well the thing is, Natsu ended up protecting me from a fan and caused a big scene as usual, but the producer loved it and requested for him to be in the shoot." said Mira, answering the first question.
"Natsu always does go overboard with things…"
"Yeah, but still it looks like they really liked his modeling. Is this a permanent gig for you Natsu?"
"Hmm? Well I wasn't sure about it at first, but Mira convinced me to do it so yeah I guess it is."
"What?! Mira wanted you to continue modeling with her?!" Multiple people from the guild asked in unison.
Mira decided to answer for herself. "Well he had a really fun time doing so and he was really good at it so why not? It's not going to be his top priority, but he agreed to model every once in a while so long as I go with him."
"Why do you have to go with him?"
"Because I know more about the modeling business and he said he wanted me there just in case. It's cute isn't it? All these sides of Natsu no one gets to see." Mira was starting to blush even though she was teasing the Dragon Slayer.
The guild all of a sudden had a dense deathly aura coming from all the males aside from Natsu who was oblivious as usual.
"There's nothing different about the way I act!" Natsu huffed as he crossed his arms showing his childish nature.
"The fact that you don't even realize it makes it cuter." Mira winked at the pinkette.
"Whatever, anyways does anyone have any more questions, because I really need to talk to Erza?"
"Slow down lover-boy, I get that you can't wait for your alone time with Erza and I hope I can be next, but there's a specific topic in this here Special edition that I personally wanna know more about." The female who had said this as she grabbed the magazine out of Lucy's hand and sultrily walked over to Natsu was none other than Fairy Tail's sexy drunk, Cana Alberona.
Mira held a bitter smile as she felt her eyebrows begin to twitch due to watching Cana's continuous flirting with Natsu. Erza on the other hand was blushing furiously at Cana's implication about the two mages upcoming private talk.
"H-he just said he wants to talk with me Cana. Don't get the wrong impression."
"Oh? I know I'm not the only woman in here who thinks Natsu looks absolutely F.I.N.E thanks to this photo collection here and even if you're just going to "talk" us girls have another a pair of lips that we can make use of aside from the ones on our face." Cana said with a wink.
Everyone aside from Natsu who was completely unaware and Cana who was the instigator, had their faces turn furiously red, putting Erza's hair to shame. Some people even had nosebleeds, both male and female and others passed out from the shock of what Cana was insinuating.
"Hm? You all have a second mouth?" Natsu asked getting completely sidetracked at the new info he was hearing about female anatomy.
"Oh? Mira hasn't showed you yet Natsu? You poor thing, how about I teach you all about it and we can skip what I was going to ask you?" Cana asked as she looked at Mira from the corner of her eye while getting kissing distance away from Natsu.
"Well, yeah sure! It would make sense though because I've always wondered how Erza can always be so loud and scary. Mira's technically a Demon too so that wouldn't be surprising either." As Natsu was unknowingly getting himself into a lesson he could never return from he felt a Demon's tail and a heavily armored fist slam him into the ground.
Mira and Erza both activated their magic and hit Natsu out of irritation due to his level of density that had surpassed comprehension. Knowing he wasn't the one at fault for it they both turned on Cana and yelled at her.
"You're cut off!" Mira said as she grabbed Cana's booze, eyebrows still twitching.
"If you have questions to ask him then ask them because I'm exhausted from all of this already." said Erza with a tick mark forming on her forehead.
"Okay, okay, calm down. I was only teasing…well, I still meant it, but I can handle that another day myself. Anyways…" Cana gently placed her hand on Natsu's chin and made him look up at her. "I want you to explain all of this." Cana said still giving him a very flirtatious look as she held the magazine up to the Dragon Slayer's face with a certain page being shown.
"Explain what?" Mira asked because it most likely involved her too.
"This." Cana threw a card up and it projected the page she was referring to for the whole guild to see. Everyone's mouth was dropping aside from a blushing Mira and a nonchalant Natsu. What appeared for everyone to see was the interview questions that were featured in the Magazine as well as it's heading for the article.
"FIND OUT HOW THE HOT SALAMANDER AND SEXY DEMON OF FAIRY TAIL FEEL ABOUT EACH OTHER! (Questions were thought up of on the spot so every answer is GENIUNE!)"
Cana was the first to speak as everyone skimmed through the questions and answers with their jaws on the floor. "What I want is simple, I'm going to read through these questions and both of your responses and I want you two love birds to explain the reason behind your answers." Cana said with a smirk on her face.
Mira was blushing furiously, but Natsu didn't see a problem so he replied without hesitation.
"Sure."
"What about you Mira?" Cana asked.
"I'll do it but…"
"Oh? Could it be that you two haven't heard the other's interview? This makes it so much more fun!"
"Alright ask away already, I still need to talk with Erza and I'm getting hungry." Natsu said throwing his head back in complaint. Mira just sighed, gathered her composure and smiled beautifully at the heaviest drinker in Fairy Tail.
"Ok I'm ready as well." said Mira.
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"Question One for Mr. Playboy: "How long have you known Mira and what have been your thoughts about her?" Your answer: "I've known Mira since I was a kid and she's always been really important to me."
"That's obvious isn't it?"
"Well sure everyone was important to you Natsu, but why is she really important?" pried Cana.
Aside from everyone in the guild, Mira was also giving her undivided attention in anticipation for Natsu's answer because she wasn't aware of any of these questions and his answers.
"Well when I first came to the guild my dad had just left me and yeah Erza taught me things but she always scared me. Lisanna was always nice to me, but I figured she was like that with everyone because that's just how she was. But even though Mira teased me a lot, I noticed that she never did that with anyone else like calling them cute and other things. Since Mira was known for being mean, the fact that she treated me differently made me happy for some reason. After Lisanna's accident, she was the one who helped me get over it and we always hung out together after that for a while until I left to train and even after I came back, she hadn't changed at all with the way she acts with me so yeah. That's why she's so important to me." Natsu ended his monologue with his signature grin.
"Awww." Females around the guild thought that was the cutest reason for an answer they had ever expected to hear from Natsu. Mira found herself looking down blushing furiously with her heart racing
"I can't believe he's thought so much of me this whole time…"
"Question One for our Really Important Barmaid:" said Cana, pulling Mira away from her train of thought. "We know that the Salamander has just recently come back from a long period of training. What were your initial feelings when you first saw him after so long? Your answer: There was a lot that happened between us before he left and when he did I didn't even get the chance to talk to him about it… So when I was saw him again after so long and noticed how much he's grown and yet at the same time, hasn't changed, it made me glad that I get to be around him again."
This time it was Natsu's turn to blush because he didn't know that Mira had been that happy to be around him.
'So what's all this about stuff happening before he left huh?" Cana asked with a grin on her face.
"There's not much to tell because you already know that he helped me get over the loss of my sister, aside from us always being around each other that's pretty much it."
"Oh c'mon quit holding out on us!" Cana complained.
The rest of the guild couldn't take it. Even though these two claimed they weren't officially together it was obvious to everyone else how they felt towards one another. The guys started crying tears of defeat while the girls started gossiping. Some whispers could be heard of groups forming to try and steal the Demon and Salamander from each other before it became official and too late. As the guild started to get louder and louder as people were beginning to talk over one another, a loud voice could be heard booming throughout the building causing everyone to look up.
"QUIET!"
"Oh hello Master I didn't know you were here?" said a smiling Mirajane.
"The guild was suspiciously quiet for a while so I came out to see what it was about." as Makarov continued he looked out to the rest of the guild. "*Ahem* I'm sure that you all would love to hear more about this magazine article, but I think that's enough. As for you two I'd like to speak with you both privately please." said the Wizard Saint as he looked at team NaMi.
"I'll be waiting for you outside Natsu." said Erza as she watched Natsu and Mirajane go into the Master's office.
xXx
"So about this magazine, is it anything I should be worried about?"
"It's nothing Gramps, we'll be fine." assured Natsu.
"It's not you I'm worried about…well not directly at least. Thanks to this Natsu, you've become the male equivalent of Mirajane popularity wise. I also hear that you both had interviews regarding each other?"
"Oh yes, but we don't know about what's in each other's interview aside from the first question thanks to Cana." Mira said with a smile.
"Hmm well, it's none of my business, but maybe you two should discuss it one day. It could strengthen the trust you two share and if the rumors about you being an official team is true then I believe it would be very beneficial in more ways than one."
"Yes we're a team now, but the guild doesn't know it's true. It's not that we're hiding it, we just haven't had a chance to tell them." Mira explained.
"Well alright then. They'll find out on their own sooner or later so whether you announce it to everyone or not I'll leave for you to decide." said Makarov as he looked at the two mages.
"Thanks Gramps!"
"Thank you." Natsu and Mira said at the same time.
"Of course. Well, that's all that I wanted to talk to you two about. You're free to go."
"Ok, I have to go talk to Erza about something so I'll meet up with you later Mira ok?"
"Yeah that's fine." Mira said with a smile.
"I'll ask him about what he talked to her about later, maybe when we discuss the interviews because I'm actually curious to find out myself about his interview and reasons behind his answers." Mira thought silently to herself as Natsu walked out the door.
"Ok Master I'm going to go work my shift at the bar."
Makarov nodded to her as she exited the office as well.
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Back at Natsu's place two mages were sitting inside getting ready for a serious discussion, one has long beautiful scarlet hair and the other has salmon pink spikey hair that kept the same disheveled look as always.
"You're house is a lot cleaner than I expected."
"Oh yeah, I cleaned up for Mira cuz she comes over a lot."
"He cleans up for Mira? Oh yeah I wonder if this has anything to do with how his expression dropped when Mira stated they aren't together?" Erza silently thought to herself and decided that she would find out everything she wanted to know in this discussion and do her best to help Natsu with whatever he needed her for. "I won't have all the answers, but I'll do my best to answer what I can. However, I also want him discovering things for himself…Let's just see where this conversation will go." Erza kept thinking to herself until Natsu pulled her out of her thoughts.
"Hey Erza, you ok? You were spacing out."
"Hm? Sorry I was just thinking. Anyways, what did you want to talk to me about?"
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A/N: Ok so I have some bittersweet news for you all and I need to take a poll. Instead of starting a completely new FanFic and going off in a different direction instead of the time skip I've decided to make something occur where it will end up going back and having NaMi take that alternate path as a turning point in THIS Fic. I already know how I'm going to do it and I hope you all keep an open mind to the idea because I know a lot of you disliked the time skip so I hope you're all for going back and having a do over. I won't be deleting and re doing any already posted chapters. I have it laid out already about how I am going to make this happen. So as for the bittersweet news, THIS WILL DECIDE THE FUTURE OF THIS FANFIC! So please give me feedback about this in a PM or Review, whichever is best for your convenience and if you have further questions for me I'll be happy to discuss them. So here it is: I have enlisted in the United States Air Force for Special Forces and am leaving for Basic Training in 10 days…Basic training for me will last 6-8 weeks which means I will be inactive as an author for 6-8 weeks. HOWEVER I will definitely be back as soon as possible because I have WAY too many things planned for this that I want to get uploaded for you all. So here is the question that I want your feedback for: Do you want me to wrap up this Fic and make the time where they go back the sequel and start there when I finish Basic, OR do you want me to keep it all in one story and just continue off as soon as I finish Basic. Either way, the Story as a whole will go on :) I'm asking you all this because if you want me to end this one and start its sequel at Chapter One going off of this, then this Fic will end at Chapter 15 and Chapter One from its sequel will pick up from there. I PLAN to make it to chapter 15 before I leave either way. If you want it all to be in one story then I will start again after Basic with chapter 16. If you guys choose to have this end at 15 and I start its continuation as a sequel, then all of you will have to follow me as an author so that you may get notified of the release which will be one of my top priorities as soon as I finish Basic. If you prefer me picking up from chapter 15 and uploading a chapter 16 then all you have to do is follow the story. So either way, this story as a whole will continue for sure after my 6-8 week hiatus. I just want to know how you all want me to go about it. Now then, aside from that CRUCIAL piece of info and my request, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW! Review THIS CHAPTER and tell me what you liked and disliked about it! And then, after your thoughts on this specific chapter tell me your opinion of what I should do with the Fic :) The most important thing is that this FanFic WILL GO ON! \(^~^)/ so Follow me, Follow the story, Favorite me, Favorite the story, and REVIEW/PM me about your thoughts on this chapter and what you want me to do with the FanFic as a whole. :) I cannot wait to hear back from all of you :)
~ I Kurisu I
