Hi :) Hope everyone's week is going well. Thank you to MaliBiser, Mirla-chan, Jesssyxo, and Cyberchick135 for the reviews and comments; I really appreciate it. :D Also, Happy Birthday to Mirla-chan; I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to get this done on time, but I managed to do it; I hope you enjoy this new part and that you have a great birthday. :)


Aya briskly walked down the street, her eyes quickly scanned the establishments at the edges, looking for the café where she and her team were having their first mission. Her eyes lit up as she successfully found Fairy Tail Café. She then glanced downwards, opening her locket and checking the time.

9:57.

Aya let out a breath of relief; they weren't late. Still…A frown fell across Aya's lips; she still didn't like cutting it so close. Well at least it was time well used and that crepe was delicious. At this thought a small smile replaced the frown.

Speaking of crepes…

Aya looked around her, seeking a certain pony tailed brunette; she had sort of hurried ahead at a quicker pace for fear of being late and now she felt slightly bad for doing so. She was relieved when she saw him only a few feet away from her and heading in her direction at a relaxed pace. A frown again fell upon Aya's lips at Shikamaru's relaxed pace; she did wish that he would hurry a little more, seeing as though this was their first mission and all. However, as soon as this thought crossed her mind, Aya instantly chided herself.

I shouldn't be blaming Shikamaru. I'm the one responsible for us cutting it so close, what with getting the crepe and everything.

Thinking about the crepe, Aya couldn't help but to remember forgetting her wallet. She shook her head at the thought. I still can't believe I did that. That was so embarrassing.

Naturally, her mind then recalled Shikamaru paying for her. Aya sighed and her fingers fidgeted with the strings of her sweatshirt. She still felt bad about him paying.

However, while she felt bad about him paying, it also made her feel happy as well. Aya's frown once again morphed into a small smile as Shikamaru's words played through her mind: "We're teammates and teammates help each other out."

Aya twirled the sweatshirt string around her index finger, looking up as Shikamaru came by her side. He gave her a brief look, a look that told her that he thought that she had needlessly hurried ahead. His expression was confirmed as he mumbled, "Troublesome girl."

Aya responded with a smile, "Come on, let's head inside before we really are late."

Shikamaru sighed. "This day is going to be such a drag."

While Aya was used to Shikamaru's habitual complaining, his tone conveyed that this was going to more of a drag than the usual things he complained about. This realization made Aya pause and wonder why he found this more of a pain than even yesterday's practice exercise and Ino's bossy tendencies. While she didn't relish the idea of helping out at a café, it didn't seem like it would be too much of a pain, after all it was a d rank mission, surely it would be easier than say a c rank mission.

Aya quickly scanned the front of the building again, her attention drawn by a strange symbol drawn in red; she wasn't sure what to make of the symbol except that it vaguely reminded her of a bird.

As Aya stared at the symbol, her eyes suddenly widened and a groan escaped her lips. She had finally realized why the name of the café hadn't registered in her mind. She originally thought that it was new, but that wasn't the case at all. She hadn't recognized its name because it was the one place in Konoha that changed its name every month in accordance with its monthly themes.

No, not this place.

At Aya's groan, Shikamaru asked, "So still want to be on time?"

Aya turned her attention back towards him, her expression grim, "Come on, the sooner we start this day the sooner it'll be over."

She then refocused her gaze forward and took the first step that would lead her towards her cruel fate. Shikamaru soon fell into step besides her and Aya couldn't help but think that the day really was going to be a drag.


As Aya and Shikamaru made their way to the front of the café, the door opened and their sensei stepped out.

Aya greeted him. "Good morning Asuma-sensei."

At Aya's greeting, Asuma's gaze fell upon his two students. "Morning, Aya, Shikamaru." He paused taking a puff of his cigarette before continuing, "Akemi, the café's owner and manager, is inside waiting for you. She'll brief you guys on what you need to do."

Both Aya and Shikamaru acknowledged Asuma's words with a nod and continued on their way to the door.

Aya entered the café first, the bell on the door chiming and announcing her arrival. Shikamaru followed closely behind her.

"Oh welcome! You two must be the other two genin on Asuma's squad." These words came from a young woman with waist length white hair and dark blue eyes.

Aya nodded in response, still taking in the girl's appearance. She must be wearing a costume. Aya noticed that pinned to the girl's shirt was a tag with the name Mira written on it.

"I'm Akemi, this café's owner and manager," she smiled, pausing so they could introduce themselves.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Aya Seino," Aya replied with a polite smile.

"Shikamaru Nara," Shikamaru replied with a yawn.

"Nice to meet you, Aya, Shikamaru," Akemi nodded at each of them in turn, a smile still on her face.

"I'm so glad that you guys are able to help out. Unfortunately, most of our late morning and afternoon shift workers cancelled suddenly early this morning because of the flu." She paused, her smile fading and a sigh coming from her lips. "I was lucky to get you guys on such short notice. Anyways, I'm pretty sure that neither of you have eaten here before, have you?"

Aya shook her head; she had gone out of her way to avoid the place. Unsurprisingly, Shikamaru also shook his head.

"Right then. I'm sure you both know this already, but our café is a one of a kind costume café in Konoha. We change our theme each month to a new popular novel or manga. And this month our theme is a manga called Fairy Tail." She paused, motioning to the room around them, before asking, "Are either of you familiar with Fairy Tail?"

Both Aya and Shikamaru shook their heads.

"Right, no worries. Reina can fill you in with the details and tell you all that you need to know, so you can act in character."

At Akemi's words, Aya fought to keep a frown from falling onto her face. She really didn't want to wait on people in costume and even more she really didn't want to have to act like the characters she was dressing up as…It just all seemed really awkward which was why she had always gone out of her way to avoid this place.

Akemi continued, "Right, so I already have your friend Ino getting into her costume and your friend Choji volunteered to help out Cain and me in the kitchen, so you two will also be on the floor."

"Aya!" Aya heard Ino call and turned to see the blond heading towards Shikamaru and her with a big smile.

She stopped in front of Aya. "So what do you think of my outfit? Cute, huh?"

Aya took in Ino's costume. Her hair while blond had to be a wig because it was a more golden blond than her usual pale bond and it was also shorter, slightly past her shoulders with a bunch of hair pulled up into a small high ponytail on the right side. Her outfit consisted of a white sleeveless shirt with dark blue trim and a pleated dark blue skirt. Around her waist was a leather belt and from the belt dangled an assortment of gold and silver keys. A pair of boots that were not quite knee length completed her outfit. Pinned to her outfit was a name tag that read Lucy.

Aya had to admit that the outfit did look good on Ino and told Ino as such. Even though the outfit looked good on Ino, Aya still wasn't too keen on getting into costume.

"You make a great Lucy!" Akemi replied, her eyes wide with pleasure, "Reina, think you could get Shikamaru and Aya here into costume?"

Aya then noticed that another girl was standing a few feet away from them; Aya hadn't even heard the girl enter the room. While the girl had to be the same Reina that Aya had met the other night, Aya hardly recognized the girl who now donned a spiky pink wig, a sleeveless black shirt with yellow trim, a white scarf around her neck, and white pants. Her name tag identified her as Natsu.

"Of course! Come on you two let's get you into your costumes!" The girl chirped, ushering Shikamaru and Aya forward.

As Aya and Shikamaru were herded by the perky girl, Aya snuck a glance at Shikamaru. Shikamaru, meeting Aya's gaze, mumbled, "Troublesome mission."

Aya nodded in agreement with his words. Troublesome, indeed.


As Aya wiped down a table in preparation for new customers, her eyes, for what felt like the millionth time that day darted towards the clock. She inwardly sighed as she read the time: 3:00. There was only one hour left before this mission would finally be done. Truthfully, the day hadn't been too bad; it had been a little daunting at first, especially because she had to wear a costume. She ran her hand through the waist length scarlet wig that she was wearing. She was actually kind of fond of her costume. It wasn't a girly costume like Ino's, but instead it was a costume that radiated toughness and strength; it was the costume of a warrior: The top part of the outfit consisted of armor that seemed like it was made out of some type of foam, gauntlets made of the same material, a dark blue skirt that matched Ino's and similarly matching black boots. It actually made Aya herself feel stronger and more confident; she also found that she liked being someone else that wasn't herself.

Aya's focus shifted to her left arm. She was thankful that the costume covered most of her left arm and that she was able to keep it bandaged. Apparently the character had a tattoo of the symbol that Aya had mistaken for a bird, Reina had told her that it was supposed to be a fairy with a tail, on her left arm, but because of the bandages Reina had put it on Aya's right arm.

As Aya contemplated her left arm, her fingers played with the bangs of the wig. She was glad that she was able to style them so that they covered her left green eye.

However, while the costume was growing on Aya, she was also growing tired from wearing it. The wig, while a very pretty shade of scarlet, was long and as such was weighing down her head and the armor while not super heavy was starting to become cumbersome.

"Hey Aya." Aya, distracted by Shikamaru's voice, looked up. She blinked, her eyes registered the person before her with short black hair, a white button down shirt, black pants, a necklace in the shape of a sword around his neck and with a name tag that read Gray, as a stranger, even though her mind knew that it was Shikamaru. Even though she knew he was in costume, it still felt disconcerting as he appeared to be someone else. From his expression, Aya had a feeling that he felt the same way about seeing her dressed up as Erza.

"Mhm?" Aya managed to reply.

"That table over there requested Erza," Shikamaru replied, pointing towards a table.

"Alright," Aya responded.

Shikamaru lingered and appeared to be debating on whether to tell her something. Aya looked at him questioningly.

Shikamaru, running his hand through his wig and his eyes looking at the ceiling, replied, "One of the customers is that Akane girl from before."

Aya could tell that he tried to keep his usual nonchalant tone, but nonetheless, she could hear the worry in it. She knew that he was remembering how the girl acted during their practice exercise. While Aya admitted that Akane was a little strange, she also knew that the girl hadn't met any harm and was probably a nice person. However, Aya wasn't sure if she liked how interested the girl seemed in her and she was also like Kita in the way that she was high energy and exhausting to be around.

"Thanks for telling me," Aya returned, giving Shikamaru what she hoped was a reassuring smile.

"HEY GRAY, STOP SLACKING OFF!" This came from Reina who was impersonating Natsu.

Shikamaru sighed, muttering, "How troublesome."

Aya couldn't help smiling and replied, "Hey, at least you don't have to wear a long wig and armor."

At her comment Shikamaru's lips twitched, the corners turning up into a smile. "Guess that's something to be glad of, huh?"

"Mhhm," Aya agreed.

Aya expected Shikamaru to leave again, but instead, he remained looking at her, once again seeming like he was debating whether to say something or not.

"What?" Aya urged him on.

"That outfit it may be troublesome, but it suits you," Shikamaru replied, his eyes not quite meeting Aya's and his right hand rising to tug at his ponytail only to fall back to his side after remembering that he was wearing a wig.

At Shikamaru's words, a slight blush painted Aya's cheeks. "Thanks."

Shikamaru nodded.

"GRAY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING JUST STANDING THERE BOTHERING ERZA!?"

Shikamaru sighed, "That girl is just as noisy as Ino."

Aya smiled. "Well we better get to work."

As Aya walked towards the table that Shikamaru had pointed out, she found that she was actually happy and the smile that curved her lips was likewise true and not forced. While she had originally viewed the mission with dismay, she actually found that she was kind of enjoying it. Her mind recalled Shikamaru's words about her outfit suiting her and she felt her smile widen.

Reaching the table, Aya looked up meeting the gazes of Akane and Hiro. Aya had been warned by Shikamaru about Akane, so she wasn't surprised to see her and Hiro being there didn't surprise Aya either, however, there was also a third person.

Aya's eyes widened at this third person, her smile instantly vanishing, and her stomach suddenly knotting up.

No. It can't be. How? Why is he here?

Just like that, Aya's previously happy mood dissipated and she found herself wanting to be anywhere than where she was.


A/N: So I was originally going to make the cafe into a maid/butler cafe, but I had problems writing that and I also needed Aya to wear a wig for plot purposes, so that she's not recognizable, so that was how I ended up doing a costume/cosplay cafe. I decided to use Fairy Tail because it seemed to fit well and it's also another anime that I really like, so I hope that was okay. :) If you have never heard of Fairy Tail you should check out the manga or anime; it's a fun series. :)