Green light (Hisui)

(NaluWriter Here! This is a long one! I'd like to make a response to Moshiyari, No not at all, In fact, she may make an appearance sooner than you think! Anyway's enjoy the chapter! Without further ado "The Little Fire Dragon From The Future" Chapter 12 "Green Light (Hisui)" -NaluWriter Out!)

Mercurius Palace, Crocus

"Are you absolutely sure this is a wise idea, your majesty?"

"Heh, you say that like it's a bad thing."

*Grumble* "I'm sure Fairy Tail has enough credit to their name, do they really need any more?"

Currently, we see the king of Fiore, Toma E. Fiore, speaking with the Holy Knight Chief, Arcadios.

Toma chuckles, "Now, now, is that any way to speak to our saviors?"

The armored knight lets out a sigh, "I meant no disrespect. It's just that, I wonder if any good will come of this."

"Ah, you have nothing to fear. After all, it's one simple recognition award, how much damage could this possibly do?"

Arcadios deadpanned, "Really?"

Probably with good reason, for any time Fairy Tail gets thrust into the spotlight, you just know something is bound to go wrong.

Although, there might be another reason why Arcadios is against this idea. It seems that Toma would like him to personally deliver this award to Makarov. While Arcadios has no real problem with this task, he's a Knight, not a bloody delivery boy! This type of task would be better suited for the magic council or a mail company, but somehow that would take away from the importance of the award. Besides, the last thing the magic council wants to do is give an award to the same guild that has been a consistent pain to them and to all the previous councils. And you just know a mail company will end up delivering it to the wrong place.

So it looks like it falls to Arcadios to ride all the way to Fairy Tail just to present them with this award. The Chief Knight can't help but feel that Crocus will be in danger with him gone. Nevertheless, the King has spoken, so off Arcadios goes.

"Oh, by the way, if Hisui should ask any questions, could you make up some kind of story? She seems to be a little too interested in Fairy Tail lately. While that's not a bad thing, we can't just have her trying to sneak out and trying to find her way to that guild. Someone might try to take advantage of the situation and harm her."

The King's concern was well placed, Hisui was safest here in Crocus. Being royalty had that downside, she would be worth a lot if the wrong person got their hands on her.

"Don't worry, I'll be back before she even realizes I was ever gone." Arcadios assured.

With Toma satisfied, he set off.

Neither one of them was aware that Hisui had been eavesdropping the whole time they were talking, concealing herself behind a curtain.

"Here's my chance to find out what I need to know." Hisui thought to herself. She silently crept out of the throne room, getting ahead of Arcadios who was preparing for the trip. He would be traveling by a horse-drawn transport, so Hisui managed to hide herself in the bulky transports storage part when no one was looking. Hardly the type of place for the Princess, but if Arcadios found out, he would have sent her back to her room, and she would have been upset because she missed out on this opportunity.

Soon the transport departed, with Arcadios none the wiser. Hisui tried to sit back and relax from her cramped seating place, it was going to be a long ride...

Later, Fairy Tail

Typical day at Fairy Tail, nothing really of interest going on. Yet. Almost like their gearing up for a big event to happen.

Rose is currently sitting in Levy's lap, as the bluenette's reading the pinkette a story. Rose really seems to be into this story, staring down at the picture book and occasionally looking up at Levy if she's curious about something. That's usually the way story time is between the two of them. Levy absolutely loves bonding with Rose this way, it gives her an advantage over her competition.

Watching them was Erza, who can't help but feel a little jealous of Levy. Imagine that! The Queen of the Fairy's is jealous of the little bookworm. But an idea began to form in Titania's mind. It happened when Erza observed that Rose couldn't really read very well, being so young. That's why she always went to Levy, so the girl could read to her. It appeared Erza now had the information she needed for her next plan of attack.

Erza rushed over to where Natsu was. He and Happy were once again trying out some really stupid dance moves again, much to the humor of the small crowd gathered there watching them. Erza had to shake her head at the sight of the pair, this would just be one more thing she would have to work on him with so that he would be the perfect mate for her.

"Natsu!" Erza had to yell, to get his attention.

"Yeah, what's up Erza?"

She tried to summon up the courage to ask him what was on her mind, "..."

"Eh?" Natsu asked, he couldn't understand what she tried to say. All that came out when she opened her mouth was silence.

Erza tried again, with similar results. Natsu sighed, Erza was like this sometimes when having to ask for something, or when a romantic moment was happening. She would stutter and blush, shaking and mumbling incoherently. Isn't she adorable? Natsu thinks so sometimes too.

"Try again." Natsu said.

With his support, Erza managed to quickly blurt out what she wanted, "Let me teach Rose!"

Erza couldn't even look him in the eye, her hands were at her sides, balled up as she awaited his reply.

"Huh?"

Forcing herself to look at him, Erza explained, "Rose appears to have trouble reading, I would like to be her teacher."

Made sense, after all, Erza had taught Natsu how to read and write. So she's also responsible for simultaneously managing to curse him with her awful handwriting, something she suffers from. Now she has plans to do the same thing with Rose. But that's not what's got Natsu so awkward-looking at the moment. He sweatdrops as he recalls how rough her style of teaching was back then. She wouldn't do that to Rose, would she? Hopefully not.

"Uh..." Natsu started, looking over to Rose. She had looked up briefly from her story with Levy when she felt her little ears burning. He hadn't thought about her educational needs that much, maybe it was time for her to start learning a few things. Looking back to Erza, she was looking at the floor, shaking and blushing.

"Man, she's adorable." Natsu thought.

He couldn't help but give into her, he'd have to be a true monster to say no.

"Ok-"

"Yes! Victory!" Erza shouted, cutting him off.

She then hugged Natsu tightly, and placed one on his lips. *Chuu!*

Blushing heavily at her boldness, Erza had to take a moment to regain her composer. Natsu just savored the taste of strawberries on his lips.

Erza then whipped around, and faced the rest of the girls in the guild, with a victorious smirk on her face. That got her quite a few annoyed glares, but that didn't bother her in the slightest bit. Erza was on cloud nine, she felt that total victory was close at hand, and nothing was going to stop that. Of course, this would only last shortly.

Meanwhile, with Arcadios

Finally Arcadios had made it to Fairy Tail. Stepping out from the transport, he stood out in front of Fiore's #1 guild. Without even having to step inside, he could feel the atmosphere from the guild. While it was friendly and inviting, he just knew trouble was just waiting for him. No wonder the magic council never wants to be anywhere near this place.

Sighing slightly, ready to get this over with as soon as possible, he's about to enter the guild, when he swears he hears a sneeze coming from somewhere in the transport.

"That's odd" Arcadios thinks, "Didn't I come alone? Who-" Immediately it dawns on him what was going on: the princess had snuck on board and was acting as a stowaway. The king's not going to like this...

Walking over angrily, he rips open the door to the storage part, and sees the hiding princess.

"Hisui!" Arcadios shouts, so loud that half of Magnolia can hear him.

"H-hi." Hisui stammers a little bit, the dust had made her accidentally give away hiding spot.

Arcadios calmly extends a helping hand to help her to her feet. After making sure the princess isn't harmed at all, he begins to lay into her for her actions.

"Are you crazy?! What were you thinking?! What if something had happened while we were traveling?"

He groans, heads might roll for this over the lack of security when they get back to Crocus. This might be just him overreacting a bit, for some reason he thinks any area outside of the capital is the ghetto or something when the princess is there.

Hisui's cheeks puffed out cutely as she protested, "If you knew what I was up to, you would have said no! You can see the bind I was in..."

"So you thought you'd just come along, without even asking permission?"

The princess turned away from him, pouting, "Why do I need to ask permission, I'm not a child."

"You're acting like one..." Arcadios mumbled under his breath.

"What was that?!"

"Nothing!"

The two of them sighed, believing the other side was out of line.

"You two all right?"

They both turned to see Natsu and most of Fairy Tail standing there looking at them. They had gone outside when they heard Arcadios scream.

"Err, yes, we're fine. Sorry for all the commotion. Right, Hi-"

Arcadios turned to make her apologize, but Hisui never even heard him. All her attention was focused on the child hiding behind Natsu's leg. When Rose saw Hisui looking at her, she jumped out from behind him, excitedly.

"Wow! It's the princess! She's so pretty!"

Natsu looked down at his daughter who was just so geeked up overseeing the green-haired beauty. But something was odd about the situation.

"Hey Rose, how'd you know she's the princess?" Natsu inquired.

Hisui wasn't dressed in any kind of royal regalia, she was rocking some ordinary street threads. Almost made her look like an ordinary person, if you happened to be blind. Still, Natsu didn't ever recall mentioning the princess before. Sure she's popular and hot, but that still didn't mean she was the subject of people's conversations, they had their own lives. The point is, how exactly was Rose able to know exactly who Hisui was?

"Ummm..." Rose said, not knowing how to reply.

She began to panic as everyone's attention was now on the nervous child. She looked scared as her façade began to falter, and people began to start murmuring about her reaction. So she had only one move left: hide behind her father. Rose whined and hugged Natsu's leg, trying to avoid the spotlight. It worked, thankfully, as Natsu came to her defense.

"Hey, it's okay, nobody meant anything like that." He turned to everyone else and asked them to lay off the third degree. They apologized, but still, it was odd seeing the way Rose was acting.

"Anyway, can we come inside?" Arcadios asked, "That way I can tell you the reason I'm here at least."

Fairy Tail

"Attaboy, Natsu." Makarov sure was proud of him. The master had come down from his office just in time to see Natsu entering with Hisui. Makarov has got to be loving Natsu, it seems like whenever Natsu comes through the guilds doors, he's got a beautiful lady with him. The other guys in the guild are in the same boat, more than a few whistles and catcalls could be heard from them. It got so bad, Arcadios had to be held back from drawing his sword on them, but Hisui just ignored them.

The princess is holding Rose in her arms, she was all to eager to snatch up the child. Rose certainly didn't mind, but the same couldn't be said for the rest of the girls in the guild. Talk about a feeling of complete helplessness, the girls are normally able to say something to each other if they don't like what the person is doing with Rose, but the princess is untouchable and no one can say anything against her, or do anything to her. Pretty sure that would carry a hefty jail sentence, plus Arcadios seems to be a pretty imposing bodyguard.

No one was more saddened by the appearance of the princess than Bisca. Another green-haired girl ready to steal away her Natsu. Now all she's got to her credit, besides Asuka, is that she's the only sniper interested in Natsu. But if a woman named "Quiet" were to show up and have an interest in either Natsu or Rose, Bisca might just lose it. (Reference anyone?)

"I'm here to present to you, Master Makarov, with a lifetime achievement award for your near life-long service as the Master of Fairy Tail, and for raising the people who are responsible for saving Earthland, time and time again."

Arcadios handed Master Makarov a shiny award plaque, spiffy!

"Why thank you. It has been my honor to accomplish such a thing." Everyone smiled... until he kept going.

"But it hasn't been easy, some days I'd like to just-" He made a motion like he was ready to strangle someone. Cut him some slack, he's had it rough.

Even though the plaque certainly was beautiful, and he deserved the recognition, you'd better believe he was always hoping for a more lavish ceremony. A pair of beautiful ladies on his arms, people bowing and declaring him a god, the whole nine yards. Suffice to say, it was a little bit of a letdown, and his face was beginning to show it.

"Oh yes, don't let me forget the best part." Arcadios then said, holding up the large bag he had with him, "Your 2 million jewel reward."

You've never seen an old man move so fast in your life as Makarov did. He was all over Arcadios, tears streaming down his face and his nose running. Everyone sighed, they knew what this would mean: booze money.

"Ahem." Makarov said as he took center stage, trying to get everyone's attention. But he was widely ignored by the members of the guild, they went back to their own business.

"You see, my life story began like this..." Makarov droned.

"We didn't ask for a speech." Arcadios said. He was sitting at a table enjoying a pint of booze given to him. But that didn't stop the Master from continuing on with his story, even if no one was listening.

"So, what's your story?" Natsu asked Hisui.

"Hmm?" Hisui had been so preoccupied with playing with Rose, she forgot why she was even here in the first place.

"Ah, that's right." Hisui said. She then looked down at Rose and continued, "I heard a rumor that you had a child who came back through time to see you, Rose must be this child."

"Yep!" Rose chirped, "Dada calls me his little dragoness." She said this with the proudest smile on her face, not realizing what this will do to Natsu.

"Rose..." Natsu groaned.

"Awww." All the girls said, it was a nice thing Natsu does. The guys had a different reaction:

"Ha! Lame." They started to laugh at him, that was until the girls glared at them to shut up.

Hisui giggled as she tried to console Natsu, "Don't feel bad, I think that's a very sweet thing you call her. You're a good father to your child."

"Uhh..." Natsu said, looking at Hisui as she turned away blushing. He missed a moment with her as he decided to let it go.

"Say, how did you hear about Rose?" While pretty much everyone in Magnolia knew about her, that information wasn't as know the further you got away from this city.

"From Jason. He was here, in disguise."

Jason? The sorcerer weekly reporter? Wow, his experience really paid if he could pull off such a stunt. Hisui also mentioned that she had an informant who secretly worked at the magazine because she's not able to get out and see what everyone's doing, and just like everyone else, wants to be the first one to hear about everything mage related. It's actually thanks to Hisui stopping Jason from publishing this breaking news that the other guilds don't know about Rose. This got her some thanks from the girls in the guild, it spared them some competition. But seeing as Hisui's showing an interest in Natsu, she's still a love rival.

"Princess, we really should be going." Arcadios said, ready to go only when he was ready.

Hisui huffed a bit, but had to concede, she wasn't exactly in a position to complain. The other girls were thrilled, that is, until Hisui decided she wasn't ready to leave the Dragneel duo just quite yet. Thus she proposed Natsu and Rose escort them back to Crocus. You know, for safety reasons. Right... Arcadios could easily see through that, but figured, if it gets them back to Crocus faster, why not? Master Makarov had to order everyone who wasn't named Natsu or Rose from following after them, saying they should put their efforts into preparing for when he comes back.

Outside, Natsu saw the horse-drawn transport and immediately his motion sickness kicked in. He looked so uncool overcome by nausea. Arcadios really meant it when he wanted to get going, so he unceremoniously picked up the Dragon Slayer and dumped him in the transport. Signaling the driver, they set off to Crocus.

On the road

"Poor guy, that weakness of his must be so inconvenient." Hisui thought, watching Natsu's sprawled out form out the seat in front of her. His head was in Rose's lap as she tried to help him out, anyway she could. Arcadios sat to the side of the princess, eyes closed yet awake, ever vigilant in case something happened.

Rose. There was something odd about the way the child was acting on the ride back. Hisui would occasionally get the feeling she was being watched and it turned out to be her. Whenever Hisui would turn from looking out the window to look at Rose, the child would look away, pretending to be interested in something else.

"She keeps doing that..."

A number of reason for the pinkette's actions ran through Hisui's mind. She remembered that Rose came from the future, so it might have something to do with that. Hisui didn't want to think this way, but maybe something had happened to her in the future. So if Hisui was Rose's mother, the way the girl is acting would certainly fit a possible bad scenario where she might have passed away.

Before she could ponder over things further, Natsu's eyes suddenly shot open as his face took on a more serious look. Despite struggling with his magic's handicap, he was able to power through it and warn everyone.

"We're surrounded." Natsu growled out.

"Are you sure? I don't hear or see anything." Arcadios said, but the look Natsu had said so.

The knight banged on the wall of the transport, signaling the driver to stop. Natsu felt instantly revitalized when they stopped moving. He handed Rose over to Hisui, telling her to stay close to the princess.

"Please" The green-haired beauty said, "Call me Hisui." She held Natsu's hand, and looked deep into his eyes. He nodded.

"Right. Stay close to Hisui, Rose. Dada's gonna have a word with these guys." At the end there, he had a wicked grin on his face, he's all fired up.

Arcadios joined Natsu outside, ready to defend the two girls, when they saw them. A huge group of mages, who looked to be of the dark kind. The master stepped forward. You could tell he was the boss because he was the biggest dude there.

"We are the dark guild: Punching Bag! And I think we're here ironically."

Natsu laughed as he cracked his knuckles, "You got that right, you guys are about to live up to your name."

"No you fool! We're supposed to make punching bags out of others!"

A guild member sighed, "See boss, I told you that name was doomed from the beginning. And so are we."

His boss turned to address him, "Oh yeah, that's encouraging. Way to keep the morale going." The two of them began bickering.

"Are they serious?" Arcadios asked, drawing his sword.

"Yeah, pretty much.", Natsu nodded. "Let's just do this thing."

As far as battles went, it was pretty much one-sided. The boss of the guild was the smart one, he used his guild members as punching bags (ironically), so he could sneak up on the two girls hiding. Rose was quick to jump in the way to defend Hisui. Fire swirled around the child, and she shot off like a spear, head butting the dark mage, unleashing her little fire dragon's sword horn. The damage was minimal to none, but you have to admire the plucky girl's spirit.

Hisui watched on with amazement, as Rose didn't even hesitate to act. But she wasn't going to sit back and have a child protecting the two of them. When the mage recovered, he reached for Rose, growling that she would pay for what she did. This set some kind of instinct off in Hisui, an instinct she didn't know she had. Springing into action, The princess proceeded to drop the guild master with a fluffy of kicks and punches, a 10-hit combo that left everyone's mouth hanging open.

"So those secret training sessions the Garou knights gave me, weren't a waste." Hisui thought, mentally high fiving herself. Rose sure was surprised, looks this Princess wasn't so weak and helpless.

Their victory was short lived when a pair of mages had crawled up on top of the transport, intent on breaking into the transport to see what was inside. A short burst of fire from Natsu's maw saw a quick end to that. Arcadios silently cursed himself for letting his guard down, but was grateful Natsu had come along after all. He knew he should have used an ordinary common transport, but nooo, he just had to go first class. No wonder these fools attacked, they say the fancy transport and figured, whoever it is inside, they've got money.

"Now that that's over, what do we do about that?" Arcadios asked after sheathing his sword, then pointing at the sky. From up above came chunks of burning space rocks, Natsu had over did it and called down meteorites on the area.

"Hmmm..., that's a good question. Beats me." Natsu shrugged.

"What do mean?! Can't you stop it?"

"No, not really. This was kind of E.N.D.'s attack." (Made up)

"But you're E.N.D.! Do something! And don't say this is the Fairy Tail way!" Arcadios yelled.

"We could always run to Crocus from here." Natsu offered.

A close up of Hisui's face showed she was serious as she nodded, "I agree, we should travel by foot, we're not too far away." Zooming out revealed she was in Natsu's arms, he was carrying her bridal-style. She had a nice blush as Natsu tried to figure out how she got there, and why she didn't just want to walk instead.

No time to figure things out, the lethal meteor shower was raining down hard, and they needed to book it.

"Where's our driver?" Arcadios asked, remembering that someone else was with them. That guy was long gone, he was only paid to drive, not get involved in their nonsense.

"Wow, pretty!" Rose said, taking in the sight of space debris smashing into Earthland with a vengeance. She was clinging to the back of the knights cape, since her father had his hands full with Hisui.

"Can I get a reset on this day, I'd like to start it over again." Arcadios got up on the wrong side of the bed today.

Crocus

Worn out from outrunning the sudden weather change, the group collapses when they make it safely to the capital.

"Good job everyone, we made it." Hisui said, standing up and dusting herself off.

"Yeah, go team." Arcadios muttered sarcastically.

"Again, again!" Rose cheers.

Maybe later. But for now, they've got more important things to do, namely informing everyone that the princess is safe. Arcadios expected Crocus to be in an uproar, with looting, rioting and maybe the occasional house set ablaze. Looking around, he finds none of those things have happened.

"?"

"You worry too much, Arcadios."

Everyone turns and has to look down to see that it was the King, Toma who spoke. He nonchalantly strolled up to them, expecting their return in one piece.

"I'm sorry your highness, but it's my job to worry about these type of things."

"Still, everyone's alive and well, sounds like a victory to me."

*Sigh* "I guess. We did run into a little trouble, but it wasn't anything we couldn't handle." He then went onto to explain to the King exactly what went down. Toma was a proud smile on his face as hears about his daughter's exploits.

"My little girl's a scrapper! Just like her old man."

Everyone deadpans. "Really?"

Arcadios then turns to Hisui, "That reminds me, how did you learn to fight like that?"

She began to fidget nervously, "Umm... beginners luck? Or maybe I'm a natural?" She tries to play it off by laughing sheepishly.

The knight's eye's narrow as he knows exactly how she did it, "It was the Garou Knights, wasn't it? I knew it!"

"Don't be upset, they just taught me how to defend myself." Hisui said, trying to calm him down and defend the knights.

He turned away, setting off for the castle with his eyes glowing red, "All in the same, I would like to have a word with them." Scary!

Watching the knight walk away, Toma chuckles, "Ah, he means well."

The King of Fiore then thanked Natsu for all that he did, and asked if he would like to stay the night at the castle. Rose got really excited about this, it meant dinner and she was looking forward to that. Since dinner wouldn't be for a while, that left the Dragneel's some time to relax at the castle. Hisui was more than happy to stay with them, even though it drew a raised eyebrow from her father. Taking Natsu by the arm and holding Rose's hand, Hisui walked off with them, showing off her home.

Toma watched them go off, with an all-knowing smile on his face, "Making your move, eh Hisui?" Good for you, I've always wanted a son. I wonder if Natsu would like this kind of life..."

Training Yard

"Wow, he's really laying into them." Natsu commented.

Currently, the group was passing by the training yard, where they see Arcadios making good on his promise to "talk" with the Garou Knights.

Kama, the leader sighs as they all hang their heads, "I knew this would come back to bite us."

"Don't say that, I certainly appreciate the sacrifice." Hisui said, making her presence know.

"Forgive me, Hime."

Rose broke free from Hisui and ran over to the two ladies of the Knights, Cosmos, and Kamika. Some plant roots wrapped around the eager child, and delivered her into Cosmos waiting arms.

"Hey, careful." Natsu warned.

"Don't worry, I could never harm a child. She's just so beautiful!" Cosmos exclaimed, cuddling up against the giggling child. Rose grabbed some of the pinkette's hair and was admiring it, while Kamika watched on with a soft smile oh her face. While she wasn't like her teammate, spouting about things that were beautiful or cute, she did have to admit she had a soft spot for cute things, though she would never admit it out loud.

"Really, I seem to remember you trying to kill Wendy..."

"Oh that? Well," Cosmos pouted, "She lied to me. I had no choice." That wasn't really the answer Natsu was looking for, luckily Kama spoke up.

"I think what she's trying to say is we're sorry. We were just doing our job, and thought you were the enemy." He then offered a handshake to Natsu, "It was all a mistake, can you forgive us?"

Natsu took him up on his offer, "Of course. It was in the past." The Garou Knights all looked relieved, that is until Kama fell to one knee, still shaking hands with Natsu. The Dragon Slayer had a wicked grin on his face as he looked down at the struggling Knight.

"Then again you did try to behead me." Natsu said, adding more pressure to what to be a bone-crunching handshake. Hisui had to step in and ask him not to wipe out one of the Capital's fearsome assassins.

But he did have a good way they could make it up to him: some sparing to see how strong they've gotten over the years. Kama was pretty much out of it, he had limped over to a medic who could repair his broken hand. The rest of the Knights weren't all for it either, they couldn't stop Natsu before, and chances are they won't be able to either. But Arcadios thought it was a great idea, this would be his way of punishing them for their mistakes. So now Natsu's acting like he's back at Fairy Tail, attacking guys and looking for a fight. The girls all stayed out of it, this seemed like a guy thing.

"Help us, Hime!"

Later on

Dinner was going to be served shortly, so everyone was washing up. Natsu was walking through the halls, "mistakenly" headed for where the girls were bathing. He was about to enter when an iron gauntlet-covered hand gripped his shoulder. For a second, he almost thought it was Erza, but it was Arcadios. The knight led him away from there, to the men's area.

Inside, Natsu and Arcadios were joined by the men of the Garou Knights.

"You wear a mask even in the bath?" Natsu asked Kama.

"What about it? Do you have a problem with that?"

"Whoa, no need for the attitude, I was just asking."

No wonder the guys angry, he has to wear a cast on his hand from now on thanks to Natsu. Now the Dragon Slayer has to deal with this uptight guy until the morning, when he and Rose leave. If only he could have gotten into the women's bath...

Over there, Hisui deadpans as she and Rose were joined by the female members of the Knights.

"I don't recall asking you two to join in."

She really wanted some more one on one time with Rose, but then they dropped in on them. It wasn't so bad, Kamika was washing the princess's back, but the real problem was Cosmos playing with Rose. Hisui's not known to be the jealous type, but right now she could certainly feel that emotion pushing it's way to the surface. Being the bigger woman, she let the Pinkette's play, for now.

After everyone was all washed up, dinner was served. Natsu got to sit next to Hisui, funny how things just happened to work out that way. Hisui hardly wanted to touch her dinner, thinking Natsu would somehow think less of her if he saw her eat. The same could not be said the other way around, Natsu devoured his meal. Hisui didn't seem to mind his lack of dining room etiquette, she held Rose and feed the child in her lap. Even Toma had a good laugh at the way their dinner guests acted, they rarely had the opportunity to dine with others. The dinner was fantastic, some of the best food Natsu ever had.

When dinner was over with, Hisui showed Natsu and Rose where they would be spending the night. Before leaving them, she gave Natsu directions to her room and whispered into his ear to wait until everyone fell asleep before showing up. After a little time had passed, Natsu was all ready to sneak out, but looking around, he saw Rose was gone!

*Sigh* "Better go find her first."

Rose was on the prowl, she thought she smelled something good and was determined to find out exactly what it was. Problem was, she would need a disguise, otherwise, someone might recognize her and send her back to her room. After searching around a bit, she found a large jack-o-lantern head that she could wear and a cape. Perfect. Despite the head being a bit big for her, Rose holds it up with her hands as she walks through the halls of the castle. Pretty soon she runs into a person who works at the castle.

Avoiding the person, she continues her search, which ends up leading to the kitchen. There Rose discovers the cause of the scent, a plate of cookies someone made! She's immediately about to attack the plate for a late night snack, when she hears someone approaching. Doing some quick thinking, Rose uses the pumpkin head she has and turtles up, somehow hiding inside the object. To add to the disguise, she uses a little fire magic to give the impression that someone put some lit candles inside the pumpkin head. It works as another worker comes by and that person just thinks it's another Halloween decoration someone forgot to put away.

After the worker disappears, Rose finally claims her bounty. She absolutely tears into the plate, so much that she fails to notice someone closing in on her.

"Got ya! I thought this might be where you were." Luckily it's just Natsu, whom she manages to bribe with a cookie not to tell on her to anyone else.

Walking back to their room, Natsu tells her to go to bed, even though he's about to sneak out himself. Believing Rose has finally fallen sleep, Natsu creeps out silently, heading for Hisui's bedroom.

"Hopefully she's still up." Natsu thinks. He needs a disguise as well, what better one than the ninja one using his scarf? A guard sees Natsu trying to sneak around, but doesn't pursue him, they don't pay him enough.

Natsu soon arrives and knocks on her door, ready for action. What he wasn't expecting was the door to swing open and Arcadios to be standing there. Not this guy again.

"Go back to your room." The knight orders. When Natsu doesn't, he grabs him by the scarf and drags him away.

Going to bed, but unable to fall asleep, Hisui hears a soft knock on her door. Rushing over to it, she kinda hopes Natsu knocked Arcadios out and came back for her. Throwing open the door, Hisui sees that it's the wrong Dragneel, Rose is there. Trying not to be disappointed, Hisui invites her and asks if she got lost.

"No..." Rose starts, but isn't sure what to say next.

"Oh, did you have something you wanted to tell me?" That helps, because Rose has a limited vocabulary, being so young. She's not able to carry on a conversation like a grown person would.

Nodding, Rose beckons Hisui to come closer, then whispers something into the princesses ear...

Late at night

Now that it's bedtime, the castle has grown quiet. Rose chose to bunk with Hisui, much to the princesses delight. Natsu got back to his room, only find she was gone again. He collapsed on the bed, too tired to figure out where she's at. Normally he wouldn't do this, but he's got a gut feeling that she safe.

It took Hisui a while to fall asleep, the information Rose just told her robbing her of some sleep. So while she waited, she ran her fingers through the pinkette's hair as she snoozed next to her. The simple act left her feeling content, so much so that she felt herself getting sleepy watching the child sleep. She soon dozes off, but not before she remembers what Rose told her, it's the last thing she thinks of before the darkness claims her:

"...you, Mama..."

Huh, that's... a pretty interesting ending! Cliffhanger! Oh man, I can only imagine what you're all thinking. The best part about this one is, it won't get answered for a long time.

In case any of you are confused as to what happened at the end there, Rose did say a full sentence, it's just that I omitted certain parts for the "obvious" reasons, to keep you all guessing.

Is Hisui Rose's mother?

Hmmm...

And with that question in mind, I'll see you all later!