A/N Hey guys, here's Monday's chapter, and unfortunately I still do have exams, so this will be the only chapter this week. Sorry for that, seriously! However, next week there will be two, definitively. Not much else to add
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or Fairy Tail, or any of their characters, and I make no money off of this.
Chapter 25
Fairy Tail Guildhall: Basement, Morning…
The two previously disoriented females who had been warring over the same person the previous night began to stir from their slumber. They each held a hand on their head and released a small groan as they picked up their upper bodies and looked around the basement confusedly.
It still seemed that no one was awake, as evident by the quiet snores that were coming off of several and the closed eyes of everyone else. At the moment they were the only two awake, and upon realizing this they looked at one another blankly.
"Erza, what…" Mira began, only to stop upon realizing that her hand was currently touching the fabric of a shirt that didn't belong to her or the scarlet-haired woman.
They looked down to see that they had evidently fallen asleep each on one of Ichigo's respective sides, the realization of which caused both of them to blush. Now more than ever they were grateful that everyone in Fairy Tail liked to sleep in given that it avoided a very unwanted explanation on their parts. Well, their relief at that fact was true for the most part at least.
"What happened last night?" Erza asked, the blush on her face gradually disappearing as she continued to gather herself. Despite that fact, however, neither of the two female wizards actually moved from their current positions.
"I remember that we played a drinking game and the last three were you, me, and Ichigo…" Mira said.
"Yes, and when he was eliminated…" Erza began.
The redhead paused before finishing her sentence in order to direct a slight glare and accompanying scowl at her now assumed rival. Mira did the exact same thing upon recalling the previous night's events, but their essential staring contest was cut short upon hearing a small groan from the man that they currently lay atop of. As a result of this, the question of how they would handle recent information being brought to light came to each of their respective minds.
"He doesn't need to know what happened." Erza and Mira said in unison, after which they smiled at one another as a sign that they appreciated the mutual agreement.
"Why doesn't he need to know? You mean about what you two did last night?" Happy asked from atop the nearest table, a blank but cheerful expression on his face.
The two female wizards then looked with confused expressions at the cheerful Exceed. They hadn't even known he was in the guildhall at the moment, let alone awake.
"Um…" Mira trailed off, not entirely being sure of what to do.
Previously they had just assumed the blue-furred cat had fled the second he had annoyed Erza. However, it was now implied that he was aware of the night's events even after his faked departure.
"Happy… how much do you know?" Erza asked with a stern expression etched on her face.
"Not much… just that you two liiiiiike him." Happy said teasingly.
It took almost no time at all for Erza to get up from her position of being nestled up to Ichigo's body before she slammed her fist directly down onto the center of the Exceed's head. The blue-haired feline stumbled in place for a few seconds, but shortly thereafter he fell down onto the table with nothing more than a groan escaping his lips.
"The past twelve or so hours of his memory will now be wiped clean." Erza said in assurance.
"Why did you do that?" Mira asked in a reprehensive tone.
"Because the alternative of being blackmailed by a cat didn't sit very well with me." Erza replied.
"You didn't have to hit him…" Mira pointed out, getting up as well to feel Happy's head in order to check to see if the overaggressive female wizard had cracked his skull.
"I did what the situation called for." Erza stated, showing no remorse in her tone or facial expression.
"We could just have offered him a fish and he'd have forgotten all about it!" Mira exclaimed, though her words fell on deaf ears.
"More importantly, we need to discuss the matter at hand." Erza said, which incidentally caused the white-haired woman to become serious once more.
The two gave the issue their undivided attention, realizing that if they didn't discuss it now then it would somehow come back to bit them. At the very least they needed to express how it was they wished to proceed, and at most they owed an explanation to one another as to why they felt the way they did as well as the gravity thereof.
"Have you confronted Ichigo about the prospect of a relationship?" Erza asked sternly, inwardly dreading the answer.
The one thing that would absolutely ruin her current frame of mind was if the barmaid answered in the affirmative. With how she had been acting around the orange-haired teen thus far, coupled with the knowledge of what had thus far happened between the two, it had become an ever-present worry.
"No, I haven't… and you?" Mira inquired.
It took a few seconds for Erza to even hear the question that was asked of her. She was stuck in a sense of relief immediately after hearing her comrade and arguably closest friend answer in the negative. At this point she at least knew that they were on the same page, more or less.
She still wasn't sure if her relief was more in part because she hated losing at anything or because she truly felt something deeper with Ichigo, but either way she knew she sure as hell didn't want to see him with another woman.
"No… I have yet to bring up anything like that to him." Erza replied evenly.
"Then that just leaves one question… how are we going to handle this?" Mira asked, a serious expression now being etched on her face.
"If last night has told us anything, it's that neither of us is willing to bow out, so I doubt we can reach an arrangement along those lines. Moreover, I don't think it prudent to ignore Ichigo's interests in the matter." Erza replied maturely, though a little part of her wanted to offer the solution of mortal combat.
"That's a good point… then I propose this. We stay out of each other's way, and whoever he makes a move on first wins, no hard feelings. Agreed?" Mira offered, deciding also not to voice the option of fighting over this given that her friend had not put it forward.
"Agreed… actually this situation reminds me of when we were children." Erza replied, putting forth a hand for the barmaid to shake.
"Hehehe, well, minus the armed combat of course." Mira added, taking the hand and finalizing the technical treaty.
"Yes…" Erza trailed off ominously.
'Unless it comes down to it…' They mentally added to themselves.
"TOLD YOU I'D WIN, GRAY!" Natsu shouted, his upper body shooting up from his position on the ground and his facial expression one of tiredness.
The dragon slayer looked around to see that whatever he had been dreaming was just that, a dream. However his roar had seemingly woken up a vast majority of his guild mates. There were many groans and headaches, but some of them just yawned, stretched, and began to move around.
"Why the hell are you so loud?" Gray asked, rubbing his forehead to alleviate the mild headache he was currently afflicted with.
"Sorry… I didn't really try to do that." Natsu said, rubbing the back of his head in a sheepish manner.
"Whatever… anyway, looks like you didn't manage to wake up Ichigo. Ya might wanna go take care of that. Find a stick or something, I don't know…" Gray stated.
The pink-haired teen turned to respond to his friend's words but stopped immediately before doing so. A mischievous glint lit up in his eyes and a wicked smirk crossed his lips. This, naturally, didn't go unnoticed by the ice make user who recognized that particular look from when they were kids.
"What the hell are you thinkin' in that empty head of yours?" Gray asked.
"Ichigo is sleeping…" Natsu began.
"I can see that, you moron." Gray replied in an annoyed tone.
"And… what does he do when someone suddenly wakes him up?" Natsu asked.
The raven-haired teen almost instantly got what his comrade had been referring to. Only now the question remained who the unfortunate target of the little prank would be.
"Make Erza do it." Happy said as he walked up to the two wizards.
"I was gonna, but why do you want it to be her?" Natsu inquired confusedly.
"Cuz' she hit me, and I don't know why! Now I can't remember anything that happened last night…" Happy whined.
"Then let's do it." Natsu said with a mischievous smirk.
"I don't know about this… when she finds out, she's gonna be pissed." Gray stated.
"Picture it happening in your head and then tell me if it isn't worth it?" Natsu countered.
Fairy Tail's resident ice mage donned an expression of thought, almost immediately after which it was replaced by the very same smirk that Natsu currently sported. If it turned out to be half as funny as he thought it would be, then he knew the answer to the fire wizard's previous question.
"…okay, totally worth it." Gray replied.
The two then walked over to Mira and Erza, seeing that they had been in a conversation that appeared to be very clearly important to the two of them. However, given what they came there to do they didn't really pay any attention to what the two female wizards seemed to be doing.
"Hey guys, mornin'." Natsu greeted cheerfully.
"Good morning Natsu, Gray." Erza replied.
"Good morning." Mira said.
"Say… Ichigo looks like he's dead asleep. Ya think you can wake him up, Erza?" Natsu requested, gesturing a finger towards the sleeping form of the Substitute Soul Reaper.
For some reason the redhead then turned to look at Mirajane with a superior smirk on her face while the barmaid scowled in response to Erza's expression. That was unexpected for the two wizards who were currently trying to play a rather cruel trick on their friend, but still nothing else but doing what they came to do mattered.
"Of course I can. I am, after all, more suited than her to do so…" Erza said, though her choice of words confused both Gray and Natsu more so than they had previously been.
"Well why would you ask her? Plus, I'd wake him up eloquently as opposed to shoving his body around like an ape." Mira stated, her traditionally cheerful demeanor vanishing in favor of openly challenging her former and evidently once again rival.
'That's the idea…' Natsu thought, fighting back the urge to laugh at the image of the redheaded knight being thrown across the guild.
"How dare you insinuate I would be so brash? I am more than capable of waking him up without doing so." Erza countered, appearing insulted.
"Then be my guest." Mira offered with a confident smile, gesturing a hand towards the sleeping form of the Substitute Soul Reaper.
The currently devoid of armor redhead walked over to Ichigo's body and knelt at his side. She brought her lips towards his ear, pulling back her hair in order so that it wouldn't whip across his face before she spoke.
"Ichigo, it's time to wake up…" Erza whispered, doing so in as sweet a voice as she could manage.
Though it wasn't what one would call seductive, the tone and genuine affection in the scarlet-haired woman's voice caused both Natsu and Gray to drop their jaws. Never in a million years did they think the strongest and most aggressive female wizard they had ever met was capable of something like that. Even so, her voice didn't seem to have any effect.
"Ha! See?" Mira sneered when no reaction was elicited.
"I'd like to see you do better." Erza stated, her voice losing any hint of affection as she got back up on her own two feet.
Mira did the same thing that her redheaded comrade had previously done, a small blush being present on her face as it neared that of Ichigo's. Her lips came within a few centimeters of his ear, which made Erza scowl given that it was practically direct contact.
"You can't be that close!" Erza exclaimed, sounding somewhat worried.
"I'm not touching him, so I can be. Or is it that you feel so threatened by me that this bothers you?" Mira asked with a small smirk.
Erza just huffed in response, but a moment later she realized that despite the idiocy of both Natsu and Gray, they were more than capable of putting two and two together after Mirajane's previous words.
However, when the redheaded requip user turned to make sure that the two weren't growing suspicious, her eyes were met with the sight of two of Fairy Tail's strongest mages with bright red faces, blank expressions, and dropped jaws.
'Well I suppose that takes care of that…' Erza thought, after which she turned her sights back towards her 'rival's' attempt at waking up their mutual target of affection.
"Ichigo… can you wake up now? I'd like to say good morning…" Mira cooed affectionately, her voice so sweat that it caused both Natsu and Gray to stumble backwards and nearly fall over on their rear ends.
In response to this, the scarlet-haired knight began to sweat. That was far better than her attempt, though she would never outwardly admit it, and she was highly worried that she would be directly undermined by Ichigo actually waking up. Despite the presumed effective nature of the white-haired woman's attempt, still nothing happened.
"Ha! Not good enough." Erza stated triumphantly, believing this to have been a victory despite the fact that neither of them had succeeded.
"W-Well maybe he's just out cold. He had a lot to drink last night, after all." Mira pointed out.
"Yes… that has to be the reason, otherwise there isn't a possibility that both of us would fail." Erza commented, simultaneously nodding in agreement. She had to save her own pride too, after all.
"What the hell?! That isn't how you wake someone up!" Natsu roared, confusing both of the female wizards with his outburst.
"Yeah, what the hell was that?! Let's show 'em how it's done." Gray stated.
Mira and Erza watched as their two comrades walked up to Ichigo's sides and began to lightly jostle them. In response, his eyes shot wide open and he became awake, but that evidently was not a good thing for Natsu and Gray.
It took about half a second before they were both grabbed and subsequently thrown into the nearest wall. They did succeed at waking Ichigo up as they intended, but that didn't quite seem worth the pain.
"Dammit… that didn't… work…" Natsu groaned out as he got up from the floor.
"I blame you…" Gray commented, rubbing his spine as he too picked himself up.
"W-What just happened?" Mira stuttered out, being outrageously shocked by the recent turn of events.
"I'm really sorry, but there at fault too. You see, back in my world, my dad had this habit of attacking me when I woke up to keep me alert. It worked really well, but even so there are some drawbacks. Natsu and Gray both know that because they've tried to wake me up that way before, so I guess they must've forgotten." Ichigo mused.
The two women looked at one another with confused expressions, each now realizing that evidently the two mischievous teenagers had intended for them to take their place. That, obviously, wasn't a very pleasant thought for either of them.
"Not the first time, huh?" Mira thought aloud.
"Anyway, I'm sorry you guys." Ichigo apologized, turning towards the mages of opposite elements and offering a genuine regretful expression.
"Don't you dare say you're sorry to those miscreants!" Erza shouted, glaring heaving at the now cowering forms of her teammates.
"W-What?" Ichigo uttered confusedly.
"She's right. Those two tried to get us to wake you up so that we'd end up where they are." Mira said, glaring lightly at the two as well.
Both of Fairy Tail's strongest female wizards were preparing to reprimand Natsu and Gray for making an attempt at getting Ichigo to hurt them. However, a moment later they no longer found the need to as someone else was apparently just as upset, if not more so, than they were.
"You two did what?!" Ichigo roared angrily, a tick mark popping out of his forehead.
The dragon slayer and the ice mage then began to hug onto each other out of fear due to the tone that Ichigo was using. Evidently they feared that they were about to find out how easily he could wail on them when he was conscious.
"What the hell is wrong with you two?! Why would you try to get another friend hurt like that? Moreover, why the hell would you set me up to hit a girl?! I'd never do something like that outside of a fight, especially to those two!" Ichigo shouted.
"Awww… that's sweet of you to say." Mira said cheerfully, after which she ran forward and began to hug the orange-haired teen from behind. Needless to say, Erza was not pleased with this as evident by the stern glare she directed at the barmaid's form.
His anger immediately dissipated and a small blush crept onto his face, though that was likely due to the fact that the white-haired woman was squeezing a bit harder than was needed to convey her appreciation for his words. Natsu and Gray were wise enough to shy away and use this as an opportunity to escape, which worked out very well since the orange-haired teen wasn't in any position to move.
"D-Don't mention it." Ichigo stuttered out bashfully.
Mira relinquished her hold on his body a moment later, after which she turned her heel and made to walk back towards her scarlet-haired rival. She took great pride in the fact that she was scowling so heavily, which only made her content smirk all the larger.
"I refuse to let you get away with that." Erza growled out.
"I just did." Mira chirped, a bright and innocent smile now plastered across her face.
The strongest female wizard in Fairy Tail desired to say more, but before she could do so the master himself walked down the stairs and made a gesture that suggested he wanted everyone to stop what they were doing and listen to his words.
"Listen up children! Now that the celebrations are out of the way, we've got some serious work ahead of us. All of you head outside at once!" Makarov ordered, after which he left the basement and expected the rest to follow.
'I guess we're repairing the guild from scratch today…' Ichigo thought.
Outside Fairy Tail's Guildhall, Several Moments Later…
"…how the hell did you get all of this?" Ichigo asked with a deadpanned expression.
Just outside the very much so destroyed guildhall was more construction material in one concentrated area than he had ever seen in his life, outside of some huge complex construction job of course. Wooden beams, nails, and tools that were oddly similar to those that were present in his world were ample, and somehow the elderly wizard had managed to gather all of it in just a few hours.
"Magic." Makarov answered, though the substitute took it as sarcasm.
"Haha, very funny… or is that actually how this got here?" Ichigo inquired, wanting to make sure that he wasn't just being screwed with.
"Of course that's how I got it here… how else would I?" Makarov stated confusedly.
"In my world answering any question with 'magic' is… you know what, never mind." Ichigo said, deciding to just shrug it off.
"Still, this is a large amount of construction material. Are we simply repairing the guild or do you intend for us to rebuild it from scratch?" Erza questioned.
"We're tearing it down, then rebuilding." Makarov answered.
Many were somewhat unnerved by the elderly mage's reply, but none more so than Natsu, who was visibly aggravated by that claim. That was understandable, though, given that the guildhall was a place he likely never wanted to change.
"Why would we tear it down?! If we just patch it up and maybe add some paint, we could…" Natsu said.
"Calm down Natsu. A guild isn't defined by the buildings it owns, it is defined by the hearts of the people who are a part of it. Our guildhall can be torn down a hundred, even a thousand times, but the spirit of Fairy Tail will persist." Makarov stated solemnly.
The pink-haired teen seemed to just huff in an annoyed fashion, likely due to the fact that he wasn't able to refute the master's words. Despite this, he at least seemed pacified which would allow the destruction of the old guildhall to commence and a reconstruction to subsequently begin.
"So how did you want to tear it down?" Ichigo questioned, seeing that as a necessary piece of information.
"I was just gonna have you blow it up." Makarov replied evenly.
"Why do I have to do it?" Ichigo lightly whined.
For the most part he was reluctant to blow up a place many were sad to see go, which was actually a good reason for not wanting to comply with the master's request. He'd still do it if pressed, but he had to at least try and protest. What he didn't count on, however, was the reply that the esteemed Wizard Saint would make.
"Because you're just so damn talented at blowing up buildings." Makarov replied in a mocking tone, earning a glare courtesy of the Substitute Soul Reaper.
"You're never gonna let that go, are you?" Ichigo asked, already knowing the answer.
"Of course not. Still, I count three buildings you've destroyed in the last week. So stop you're belly achin' and let her rip!" Makarov replied.
Ichigo seemed to mumble something under his breath incoherently before grabbing the wooden Combat Pass on his hip. Natsu and Gray caught his body as they were the two nearest to him, during which time the orange-haired teen unsheathed his sword and walked up front and center.
Within a few moments the light blue energy of the substitute's signature attack began to pulse through the blade of Zangetsu. Shortly thereafter, he brought back his zanpakuto and swung it forth, firing off a sizeable wave of spiritual energy directly at the highly damaged Fairy Tail guildhall.
A large burst of fire and smoke erupted when the attack mad its connection, but that died down in time. When the smoke finally did clear up, the guildhall was completely leveled, its wooden structure being absolutely decimated.
"Wait… what about the tables and stuff we had in the basement?" Ichigo asked, turning back to look at the orange-clad man.
It was beyond true that he should probably have thought of that question before destroying the guildhall, but he was more confused about why the master hadn't seemed to think of it in the first place.
"Don't worry about it, I took care of everything." Makarov replied.
"Let me guess… magic?" Ichigo said.
"Naturally." Makarov replied, chuckling slightly as he finished.
"Of course…" Ichigo thought aloud as he walked towards his body. He prepared to once again enter his human form a moment later however he was stopped by the sound of the master's voice calling out to him.
"Not so fast my boy… you've got a very important role in reconstruction." Makarov said with a sly grin.
"What do you mean by that?" Ichigo asked warily, almost not wanting to hear the answer.
"Someone has informed me that you possess the ability to move from place to place faster than most eyes can see. That, coupled with your strength, gives you the privilege of being our lumber taxy." Makarov stated happily.
The substitute had instantly accepted his fate, but it still remained to be seen who actually informed the master he could do that. He would have been fine with regular manual labor, but using flash step to run around carrying large wooden beams all day was one of the most boring things he could have imagined. As a result of this, he turned back to the group and leveled each of them with a glare.
"Alright, who told him?" Ichigo questioned sternly.
Upon hearing a sheepish chuckle from Natsu, he almost slapped a hand over his face. He enjoyed having the dragon slayer as a friend, so he decided not to do anything about it just yet. At the very least he knew that no one had suggested he be the one to be the 'lumber taxy' so that they could get out of it.
"Alright… what do you need me to take care of first?" Ichigo inquired.
"Glad to see you're in the right spirit. Anyway, that pile of lumber over there… I need you to take it and stack it over on the east side of the construction zone. Make sure not to damage any of them since we need every last bit of material we can spare." Makarov stated.
"Got it." Ichigo replied.
"As for the rest of you… all of you are expected to take part in reconstruction. However, if you are a female and wish to abstain, you may do so under the condition that you cater everyone who is working. Also, you must wear a skimpy maid's unifo…" Makarov said, only to be cut off in the form of a fist crashing down on his head.
"Don't be perverted!" Ichigo scolded.
"It was a joke, ever hear of one?" Makarov asked, rubbing his forehead as he spoke.
"Something tells me that's a lie." Ichigo scoffed.
"So what if it was?" Makarov retorted.
"Do you want to be hit again?" Ichigo said right back.
"I think I'm good… anyway, everything I just said goes." Makarov stated.
Almost immediately thereafter the orange-haired teen cleared his throat as if to imply that the master had forgotten something. It was actually a bit of a letdown for some of the males that he had caught on to Makarov's choice of words, but none of them would voice it given that Ichigo could most likely beat them within an inch of their lives effortlessly.
"…minus the uniform part." Makarov added, albeit begrudgingly.
"Very well." Erza said in understanding.
An instant later the body of the scarlet-haired woman was engulfed in a bright yellow light, a sign that she had opted to use her requip magic. When the transformation was complete, she was revealed to be wearing a yellow, full body construction uniform complete with a hardhat of matching color.
"Is there anything you can't change into?" Ichigo asked, a bit of humor in his voice.
"It never hurts to be prepared." Erza countered.
"Yeah, I guess you're right. I kind of admire that about you…" Ichigo said before walking off to comply with the master's previous request.
At the same time a majority of the guild began to scatter and head off to their designated areas as directed by Makarov. However, two individuals stayed behind, one of them being Erza and the other being Mirajane.
The redheaded female mage was currently standing in place, a smug look on her face as she stared at her comrade and apparent rival in Ichigo's affections. This, naturally, agitated Mira a great deal, though it wasn't because of the slight bit of praise that Erza had just received.
"So… how is your day going thus far?" Erza asked rhetorically, a very upbeat note in her voice that simply rubbed the barmaid the wrong way.
"Big deal, that wasn't even really a compliment… if he ever compliments your masculine looks, then you have the right to grin like an idiot." Mira huffed, crossing her arms underneath her breasts and frowning slightly.
"I know that's true, and I also know that I shouldn't appear as pleased as I do." Erza replied, though her content expression said otherwise.
"Then why are you still grinning like that?" Mira lightly growled, her teeth gritting together as she spoke.
"Because I know it annoys you." Erza replied before walking off.
Mira's eyebrow involuntary twitched out of annoyance, but even so she was able to shake it off and dawn her traditional cheerful and nurturing appearance. The reason for this was simple, and that was the fact that she had no intent of allowing what just happened to slide by. Erza would learn the hard way that there was still a bit of a mischievous side to the former demon of Fairy Tail, and with any luck it would happen within the hour.
Construction Zone, Some Time Later…
"Alright, the lumber is exactly where you asked me to put it." Ichigo stated as he walked up to the elderly mage.
Makarov was currently putting up the framework of the building whist in his giant form, but upon hearing the voice of the Substitute Soul Reaper he stopped what he had been doing and returned to his usual appearance so as to properly address him.
"Very good." Makarov said contentedly.
"Need me to move anymore?" Ichigo asked, sounding very much so annoyed.
"No, you're done as far as that goes… I think. What I need for you to do now is start chopping the lumber right over there. Enter your body, though, I don't want you using that cleaver of yours." Makarov stated.
"This 'cleaver' has a name. It's Zangetsu." Ichigo corrected, obviously not taking very lightly the fact that his zanpakuto was technically an extension of himself.
"Yeah, well, get back in your body, pick up an axe, and name it 'wood chopper' for all I care. Just be quick about it since we've still got a lot of work to do." Makarov replied.
Ichigo felt a vein pop in his forehead at the mockery of a technical part of his soul, but he said nothing. Rather he just chose to go off and find his body, actually being quite proud of himself for not saying anything. The reason why he hadn't was quite simple really, and that was because he assumed Makarov was under a great deal of stress.
They had, after all, just gone to war, he had been injured, and his mind was probably not even paying attention to reconstruction. Obviously the government or the Magic Council would be involved soon enough, which meant only a great deal of stress to the man in charge, even if said man hadn't really done anything wrong in the first place.
A few moments later he entered his body, picked up the nearest axe, stared at the large pile of lumber he had just recently moved, and sighed, in that exact order. This was clearly going to take time, and today just happened to be bright and mercilessly sunny.
'Just ideal conditions for manual labor…' Ichigo sarcastically remarked in thought.
Some Time Later…
"Stupid wooden beams…" Ichigo muttered to himself.
He was nearly done with his recent job, but it took him far longer than he wanted it to. If he had wanted to work construction, he would have taken a job with Chad as opposed to having various sports teams pay him for his participation.
It wasn't that he found manual labor difficult, just that it wasn't exactly ideal in terms of working environment. At this point his thoughts on the matter were only reinforced by the fact that his forehead was covered with sweat, half of which resulted from the heat and half of which resulted from the labor itself.
"I see you're busy working away…" Mira commented as she walked towards the orange-haired teen.
"Hey, Mira." Ichigo greeted, wiping his forehead free of sweat before turning to face the white-haired woman.
He saw that the barmaid was currently carrying a tray with glasses of water on them, likely because she was making sure everyone was adequately hydrated. Still, the company itself was appreciated given that any distraction from his current job was welcomed.
"So are you doing okay?" Mira asked cheerfully, a sweet smile crossing her lips.
"Aside from the fact that I'm pretty much a glorified construction worker, yeah." Ichigo replied, eliciting a slight giggle from the white-haired teen.
"At least you've got glorified in your title." Mira said.
"Heh, you got me there…" Ichigo replied, a small smile forming on his features.
With Erza…
The scarlet-haired mage that held the title of Fairy Tail's strongest female wizard was currently kneeling atop a component of the guild's rafters, examining the job that she herself had just done.
'I need to hammer in these nails a bit better… but other than that I think this section went up very well.' Erza thought.
She turned to look down towards the ground, seeing that her two somewhat involuntary assistants were standing at the ready, just blankly looking up at her for any further orders.
"Gray, go get me another one of the thin support beams." Erza ordered.
"Got it." Gray replied before walking off.
A moment later the redheaded woman turned her sights towards a series of nails she needed to ensure were properly in place. Upon seeing that one of them was loose, she readied her hammer and gazed down at her target uncaringly.
"Hahaha, don't make me laugh so hard…" Mira's voice cooed from a distance.
Erza immediately stiffened upon hearing a continuous giggle from the white-haired barmaid, after which she began to search for the source of the noise. When she saw that Mira was currently speaking to Ichigo with a bright smile on her face, several things happened in rapid succession.
Firstly, the scarlet-haired woman's face morphed into an angry scowl and glare. Secondly, her grip tightened to the point that she snapped the handle of the hammer she had held in two separate pieces.
"Natsu, I need another hammer." Erza stated.
She, however, made the mistake of not taking her anger-laced eyes off of the respective forms of Ichigo and Mira. As a result of this, she wasn't exactly prepared for the dragon slayers expedient follow through.
"Head's up!" Natsu called out.
Erza didn't even register her comrade's words before the metal portion of the hammer slammed into the back of her hardhat. She almost instantly fell off of the beam and, unfortunately, landed flat on her stomach and face.
"Crap! I'm sorry!" Natsu exclaimed worriedly, obviously not wanting to invoke the wrath of the redheaded semi-demon.
"Ugg…" Erza groaned, picking her upper body off of the ground and rubbing the back of her head. Hardhat or not, it clearly still hurt.
"What the hell did you do now…" Gray said as he walked up towards the two, a thin wooden bean being carried over his left shoulder.
All he saw was Erza sitting on the ground rubbing her head and he just assumed it happened to be the dragon slayer's fault.
"I just… I just threw her a hammer, like she asked me to, and it hit her in the head." Natsu replied defensively in an attempt to make the case that he had done nothing wrong. Technically he hadn't, but Erza was never very rational when she was angry.
"How stupid are you, Natsu?" Gray questioned rhetorically, turning his body around to face the pink-haired teen.
Sadly for the ice mage, doing so had the side effect of bringing the rather long wooden support beam he was currently carrying directly into the back of Erza's head. Her face once again slammed into the ground as a result, being accompanied by a small grunt at the abruptness of the hit.
"Dude, you just hit here with that piece of wood!" Natsu exclaimed fearfully, pointing a finger at the currently collapsed form of their female comrade.
"I did what?" Gray asked confusedly.
In another unfortunate turn of events, the raven-haired teen turned at the exact same instance that Erza picked her upper body off of the ground. Yet again, the long wooden beam nailed her in the back of her hardhat, which effectively sent her face flying into the dirt yet again.
"Crap…" Gray muttered, sweat now dripping from his brow. He couldn't really expect her to be happy right now.
The two male wizards stood in place, practically being paralyzed with fear about what was to come, as Erza picked her entire body up off of the ground. When she directed her vision towards them, an aura of fire seemed to engulf her body from head to toe and her eyes began give off a bright red dangerous glow.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Natsu and Gray screamed in unison as the redhead approached.
It took about a collective five seconds before both of the powerful Fairy Tail wizards were lying on the ground in a lifeless manner. Still, the individual that put them in such a state believed she had gone easy given what they did.
'Morons…' Erza thought, dusting her hands off as she did so.
There still, however, remained the fact that a certain white-haired woman was preventing a 'key component' of the reconstruction effort from 'doing his job'. She couldn't in good conscious allow that to continue, and thus she made to break up what appeared to be a pleasant conversation.
'Yes… that is a good excuse.' Erza thought. It wasn't that her line of thinking was necessarily wrong, it just wasn't the real reason she wanted their talk to stop.
"Ichigo, Mira, the master says get back to work!" Erza shouted.
With Ichigo and Mira…
"Well, guess that's my cue." Ichigo mused.
"Good luck. I'll be by to check up on you later." Mira chirped, though she was inwardly upset that her conversation had been cut short. On top of that she was under the suspicion that the redheaded woman had done so intentionally.
'Killjoy…' Mira thought with derision.
On the positive side, it appeared that Erza was, at the very least, taking her as a serious romantic threat. It was also true that this could also be perceived as bad, but given that thus far she had only believed herself to have felt threatened, she counted it as a plus.
Some Time Later…
Ichigo stood in place, just staring contentedly at the now properly divided mass of lumber he had transported. It was far easier to finish it after having taken a brief break, but despite that he was currently done.
Off to the side sat a moderately sized group of gathered females, some of whom had a frown on their faces given that the 'show' had just ended. It was also a bit of a disappointment that the orange-haired teen hadn't been forced to take off his shirt due to the heat, but nevertheless watching him do manual labor and excessively use his muscles was more than a good allocation of time.
The substitute himself didn't seem to notice, but unfortunately for the group of female wizards, they were the very first thing that a not so happy Erza Scarlet took note of. Much to her added annoyance, they didn't even acknowledge her presence at first. Rather, they just continued to stare at Ichigo and ignore her.
To rectify this, she took a position directly in front of them, sporting a light glare and scowl as she crossed her arms under her breast to illustrate how displeased she was. As a result, the group of mages released a collective nervous chuckle, a sign that they at least took notice that she was there.
"Don't you all have something to do?" Erza questioned heatedly.
"Maybe… but if we did that, then we wouldn't be able to watch this." One of them replied.
"Get back to work…" Erza growled out in an agitated fashion, instantly causing the group of wizards to run and scatter out of fear.
At this, the scarlet-haired woman released a content sigh. It appeared that while she couldn't intimidate Mira, she was more than capable of doing so with others. Perhaps that was a bit cruel of her, but treating someone as eye candy when there was work to do was still not something she could allow to happen.
"I see you're done my boy…" Makarov observed as he walked over to check up on the substitute.
"Yeah, I got it done. What's next, you need me to go get a flying pig?" Ichigo asked, clearly being agitated.
"Oh, well if you wanna talk like that…" Makarov began, a small but wicked smirk coming across his lips.
Ichigo almost instantly regretted his choice of words, though it wasn't because he didn't want to say that as it was more along the lines of him not wanting any more stupid assignments. Luckily for him, however, a certain redheaded woman was nearby to lend him some assistance.
"Sorry to cut in master, but I believe that I could use Ichigo's help for the time being. Natsu and Gray are currently… indisposed." Erza stated, pausing for a moment to find the right word to describe the state of her former assistants. In her mind they had more than earned their fates, though.
The elderly mage hummed in thought for a few seconds, seemingly giving a bit of consideration to Erza's request. While he did want to mess with the orange-haired teen more so than he already had, the guildhall's construction came first.
"Very well… but no slacking off!" Makarov ordered before taking his leave.
"Follow me please." Erza requested.
Her desired boyfriend nodded in understanding before the two began to walk towards the nearest zone of construction. Overall, the building was coming along swimmingly and very few setbacks, if any, had occurred. Should things continue to go the way they were, it was entirely possible that the project would be finished by the end of the day.
"Thanks for helping me out back there… I owe you one." Ichigo said, giving the scarlet-haired mage a small but grateful smile.
"If we are keeping score, I believe I still owe you a fair amount. Nevertheless, I am happy to have helped." Erza replied, returning the friendly gesture with a smile of her own.
Some Time Later…
"Do you think this section is sturdy enough?" Erza asked, looking up at a nearby section of rafters.
"I don't know… maybe we could…" Ichigo began.
"Hey, Ichigo!" Mira greeted cheerfully as she walked towards the duo.
"Hey, Mira." Ichigo replied in a friendly manner.
Erza took specific note that she had been ignored, but she half-expected that coming from the white-haired woman. However, with what was said next it was clear that her rival's intent was far above simply ignoring her.
"So can I get you two boys something to drink?" Mira offered in a sweet tone of voice.
"You know damn well it's me, Mira!" Erza exclaimed angrily.
"Oh, I'm sorry… I just didn't recognize you in your outfit." Mira replied innocently.
Her voice was so devoid of malice or any sense of teasing, in fact, that Ichigo completely believed what was said. Erza, on the other hand, had knowledge that he simply did not.
"Bite me." Erza growled out, though a moment later she wished she hadn't.
"Hey, what was that for? She said she was sorry…" Ichigo pointed out, finding it actually very unsettling to see the redheaded wizard bark at the female barmaid so agitatedly.
Mira, as he saw it, was the least likely person to insult anyone in the entire world, or at the very least Earthland. Therefore he really couldn't picture her doing something like that on purpose.
"I-I… I said I was sorry…" Mira sobbed out, tears literally pouring out of her eyes as if they were both independent waterfalls.
Erza looked over at Ichigo and saw him direct a disappointed look towards her, which almost instantly alerted her to what had just happened. Evidently she had walked right into it.
"Happy now?" Ichigo questioned rhetorically, after which he looked back to the wailing form of the 'innocent' white-haired woman.
"B-But I… she just…" Erza stammered out, obviously not entirely sure how to verbalize what had just happened.
"I need a hug!" Mira exclaimed, her voice still heavy with faux-sadness.
It wasn't so much of a statement as it was a spoken intention, which was shown a moment later when Mira lunged forward and wrapped her arms around Ichigo. In response, as opposed to blushing and backing away, he just brought his arms up and rubbed her back, thinking of it as comforting his younger sister.
That, however, was more of an attempt at a distraction given that it was hard to ignore the fact that her ample chest was pressing up against him for the entire duration of the embrace.
'You're the devil!' Erza thought out of frustration upon watching the barmaid pile on salt to her theoretical wounds.
Mira stopped sobbing a second later, though she didn't exit the embrace. Upon seeing that her essential rival was glaring directly at her, she quickly checked to make sure Ichigo wasn't looking, at which point she stuck her tongue out childishly at the redheaded teen. Naturally that wasn't very well received.
"UGH!" Erza grunted out, grinding her foot against the ground out of pure rage and frustration. The absolute worst part about this, in her mind, was the fact that she couldn't do anything about it. She just had to take the loss here, but the 'war' was still going strong.
"Okay… I think I feel better now." Mira said quietly, her visage of faux-sadness returning as she released her hold on the orange-haired teen.
"Good…" Ichigo replied.
"Thanks for that, Ichigo! Now I'm off to go get you two some drinks." Mira stated in her usual tone of voice.
She waved them off a moment later, after which she ran off to retrieve what she had previously said. Ichigo and Erza, at the same time, just looked back up to the rafters they had been referring to prior to the bubbly woman's arrival.
"Alright… I'm heading up there to take a closer look." Erza stated.
The scarlet-haired mage began to climb up the support beam and onto the wooden structure in question. When she had finally reached the series of wooden rafters, she began glancing around for any obvious areas that needed to be reinforced. Surely enough she found exactly what she had been looking for in the form of a large section that was nearly falling apart due to an error in construction.
"Ichigo, can you hand me a screw? This section over here needs to be connected before we can move on to the next section." Erza said.
"Um… okay. But are you sure that you should be reaching that far just to screw something in? I mean, I could just fly up there in my soul form and it wouldn't be a really big deal…" Ichigo reasoned, sounding somewhat concerned.
At this, the redheaded woman allowed a small satisfied smile to form across her lips. Perhaps it wasn't quite the same as an embrace like Mira had more or less forced onto him, but genuine concern was always appreciated.
"Don't worry I will be careful… though I am rather flattered that you are concerned for my safety." Erza stated.
"I didn't mean it like that…" Ichigo replied, averting his eyes and blushing slightly.
His comrade, however, didn't notice this until after she looked down to crab the screw and hammer that she had requested. When she saw the results of her words, she couldn't help but mentally celebrate.
'Yes!' Erza thought upon noticing the blush given that not even Mira had gotten that reaction.
Still, the job at hand was still more important than any happiness that arose from besting her 'opponent'. With that in mind, she turned once again to look towards the section that needed to be correctly reinforced.
"Okay… now if I can just…" Erza said to herself as she began to lean forward in an attempt at reaching for the area.
As it turned out the use of flying powers was not needed as Erza did in fact reach the spot before she began to hammer in the screw that had previously been missing. It took but a few seconds for her to finish, after which she began to retract her body and arms slowly but surely.
Sadly, however, she had lost her balance upon pulling back, which resulted in her stumbling and subsequently falling from the wooden rafter on which she stood. The scarlet-haired teen closed her eyes and braced herself for impact upon submitting to her inevitable fate of slamming against the ground, however when she finally hit something it wasn't quite what she had expected.
The impact was nowhere near as hard as she thought it would be and while it didn't appear that she had been caught it felt as if she landed on something, or rather someone. Whatever she was currently on top of was definitely not the ground.
A moment later Erza picked her head up and opened her eyes, only to be greeted with the sight of Ichigo's face just inches away from her own. She instantly looked down to her lower body to see that somehow she had landed directly on top of him and in a compromising position no less.
Her breasts, which weren't really covered by anything underneath the construction uniform, were pressing against his chest with a great deal of force due to the fact that she had literally landed on him. As a result of noticing this, her face lit up with a deep crimson color, the very same as that of Ichigo's, who obviously understood the nature of their current position.
"A-Are you a-alright?" Ichigo stuttered out, at least managing to find his voice.
"Y-Yes, th-thank you." Erza replied, stammering herself as she was also embarrassed by what had just happened.
For a moment the two just didn't move away from their current position, regardless of the fact that both obviously understood how it appeared. It seemed as if they were both just in a daze of embarrassment and confusion, but that ended the second after the sound of breaking glass came from their right.
Both Ichigo and Erza turned to see none other than Mira with a shell-shocked staring directly at them. To her side was a tray turned upside down with a collection of glass scattered nearby with accompanying fluids that said glasses had previously held. Evidently she had dropped it at the sight of their current position.
"W-What happened?" Mira asked in a tone of absolute confusion.
"I… I f-fell from the rafters after reinforcing one of the areas and Ichigo happened to catch me." Erza replied.
"I um… I didn't react in time, so she kind of just fell on me…" Ichigo added bashfully.
Those words seemed to calm the female wizard a great deal, or at the very least break her out of her shock-induced state. However, a moment later she took up a smile that was a mix of sweet and sinister, that which Ichigo believed was too close to Unohana's scary expression for his taste.
"Then why haven't you gotten up yet?" Mira inquired, her teeth lightly gritting together as she spoke.
In about half a second the two got up and averted their gaze from one another, a deep blush making itself evident on each of their respective cheeks. Still, the fact that they were no longer pressing up against one another was satisfactory enough for a certain white-haired woman.
"Okay… now it looks like I need to go get you two some drinks… again. Only this time I would like it if Erza would be a bit more careful." Mira stated, practically growling at the last word of her sentence.
Erza turned to say something so as to defend herself, but before she could do so the barmaid had left. A little part of her wanted to claim that was intentional, but at the same time she wasn't anywhere near desperate enough to throw herself at Ichigo in such a way. Even if she was, her conscience wouldn't allow it.
"Let's pick up the hammer and screws that fell…" Erza suggested.
A moment later Ichigo nodded in understanding before the two began to collect the tools that accompanied Erza's fall. IT only took a few seconds to collect the screws, but neither of them could really see the hammer. They seemed to finally do so at the same time.
"I got it." They said in unison, each reaching for the handle.
Their hands grazed against one another given that they had attempted to grab it in unison. They remained in contact with one another for a brief moment, but when they realized what was happening the hands were retracted out of embarrassment.
"S-Sorry…" Ichigo apologized, a light blush coating his cheeks.
"I-It's okay." Erza replied.
A moment of silence passed as the redheaded teen grabbed the hammer before they began to walk back over to the area they had been working on. They still had some minor work to do, but for the most part all the annoying work was done.
"I think we should go pull up that section of the wall and then move on to the next zone." Erza reasoned, her blush having subsided as of this point.
"Okay…" Ichigo replied, his usual calm demeanor returning as well.
Some Time Later…
'Calm, soothing thoughts, Mira, calm, soothing thoughts…' Mira mentally recited, struggling to keep her bright and cheerful smile present on her face.
She had once again gotten drinks for both Ichigo and Erza, though she was tempted to not do so for the latter. In her mind what she had just witnessed was intentional on Erza's part, which was likely prompted due to her previous act of rubbing her embrace with Ichigo in her face.
The worst part about what had happened was the fact that Erza managed to make Ichigo's face become the same color as the said mage's hair, and that just really bothered her. Even she hadn't gone so far as to shamelessly throw herself onto him in that manner.
Mira approached the construction area that Ichigo and her rival had been working, at which point she released a heaving sigh of relief. They were actually working this time which was a huge step up from Erza just laying atop the orange-haired teen with her breast pressed against his chest.
"Hey you two, I've got drinks!" Mira chirped, alerting the two Fairy Tail members to her presence.
With Erza and Ichigo…
"It would seem that she's back. We can…" Erza said, only to be cut off.
"Why don't you go and take a break? I can handle this pretty easily." Ichigo stated with a small but friendly smile.
"Are you sure?" Erza asked uncertainly.
"Yeah, I'll be fine." Ichigo assured.
With Mira…
Fairy Tail's former demon fought to urge to glare heavily at the approaching form of her scarlet-haired comrade. However, she knew better than to be that petty at this point. It was surprising that Ichigo wasn't accompanying her, though. He seemed to be preoccupied with using a series of pulleys to raise a section of the walls.
'Well… at least if she's alone I can ask her a few things…' Mira thought.
"Hello Mira." Erza greeted evenly.
A glass of lemonade was then offered to her, though nothing was directly said between the two. Erza took it and began to drink, though she was now highly confused as to why the barmaid hadn't chosen to say anything. She had expected a comment or question of some kind given that she had probably gotten the wrong impression about what she had recently seen.
"So… did you fall on accident or do I have to keep a closer eye on you?" Mira questioned.
The abruptness of the inquiry and the embarrassing connotations thereof caused Erza to nearly choke on her drink. After several seconds of coughing, she turned to look at the barmaid once more with a light blush present on her cheeks.
"Of course it was an accident!" Erza stated defensively, though her words weren't quite received as truthful.
"Really?" Mira asked, obviously not finding the redhead's denial to be honest.
"Yes, why would I lie? I'm not some desperate harlot…" Erza countered, crossing her arms underneath her breasts as if to illustrate a sense of scorn for such behavior.
"The way you were pressed up against him sure made you seem like one…" Mira commented skeptically, though she could tell that her friend was telling the truth.
"Why are you so annoyed by this? Is it because you think I did it on purpose or because he didn't ask me to move?" Erza questioned, an evident smirk forming on her features.
Mira's eyes almost instantly narrowed at the words of the scarlet-haired woman. While she did believe at this point that it was an accident, it remained true that she absolutely detested what had happened. Seeing this, however, only made her rival more content than she already was.
"Two can play at this game, Erza, and you won't get away with this." Mira stated firmly.
Any remark or response that the queen of the fairies would have given died in her thoughts the second that Ichigo walked over to join them, having just finished lifting up the section of walls as he previously offered.
"What were you talking about?" Ichigo asked curiously.
"Nothing of importance…" Erza replied, her former and once again rival nodding in agreement.
"Anyway, here's a glass for you as well. Sorry about the first tray falling on the ground…" Mira said, giving the orange-haired teen the one remaining glass of refreshment she had made.
"You don't have to apologize." Ichigo assured, actually believing for some reason that he should be the one doing so. He didn't quite know why he felt that way given that objectively he didn't do anything wrong, but it didn't really matter so he just pushed it to the back of his mind.
"I hope you like it." Mira said cheerfully.
The substitute brought the glass to his lips and began to drink the glass of lemonade he was offered, but the second he actually tasted it his eyes widened out of shock at how good it actually tasted. It took no time at all for him to finish the rest of his drink, after which he released a content sigh.
"Wow, this was really, really good… thanks Mira, you're a lifesaver." Ichigo said gratefully as he handed the now empty glass back to the sapphire-eyed woman.
"Yes, I should thank you as well." Erza added, humbly extending her gratitude despite the very complex relationship the two female wizards currently shared.
"Oh you're welcome. I'm just glad you liked it, I made it myself." Mira stated happily.
"Really? Did you use magic or something?" Ichigo inquired in a curious tone.
"Haha, no silly, I made it from scratch. I'm pretty good at cooking and making… well, just about anything!" Mira replied, a bit of pride in her voice as she spoke.
"Wow, you must be a hell of a cook if you can make something like this taste so different… and I mean different in a good way." Ichigo mused.
At his words, Mira adopted a mischievous smirk for a brief second, which went completely unnoticed by Ichigo but was impossibly not to notice on the part of Erza. She, in response, cringed given that she could just tell she wasn't going to like where this was headed.
"Maybe one day you can come over to my house and have dinner with me and Elfman. You've done so much for us that I feel it's owed." Mira offered with a bright smile, causing the redhead's brow to twitch out of annoyance.
"You don't owe me anything… but, I'd be glad to do that." Ichigo replied. In actuality it was half part due to the company and half part due to the thought of how good the food would be.
"That's great to hear!" Mira chirped, her mood only being elevated as Erza's continued to fall.
"Well I should go see what else needs to be done before the guildhall is actually complete. See you guys later." Ichigo said.
Both of the female wizards waved him off, each of their respective moods being rather different though Ichigo himself didn't seem to take note of that. When he was out of earshot, Mira turned to look at Erza with what was possibly the most self-satisfied, overly content, infuriating smirk she had ever seen grace the face of another human being.
"So… how's your day going?" Mira asked, causing the scarlet-haired woman to stiffen noticeably out of annoyance.
"Big deal, it was one compliment and the gaining of his company for a meal in which your sibling will be present. Don't let it go to your head." Erza stated, a scowl forming on her lips.
"Oh, I know that." Mira replied evenly.
"Then why are you looking at me with that infuriating grin?" Erza practically growled out.
"Because I know it annoys you." Mira replied.
Without any hesitance, the redheaded mage stormed off to find more work to do and potentially see if her punching bags, or assistants depending on her mood, currently resided. Upon seeing this, all the barmaid could do was smile blissfully and take in a deep breath of fresh air. Her day had just gotten infinitely better.
In front of Fairy Tail's Guildhall, Later That Day…
Each and every member of Fiore's strongest guild stood outside their freshly created guildhall. It did take a great deal of effort, but the end result was undeniably impressive. The sun itself was only just setting and yet the new guildhall was complete and ready to go.
It appeared to be exactly the same as the previous one, but the fact that it was created in less than a day was more than impressive enough to warrant a sense of pride for the entirety of the guild.
"Well done, my children. I'd like to give a special thanks to Ichigo for bearing with the excruciatingly boring job I gave him this morning. It helped out quite a bit and made this reconstruction very expedient." Makarov stated.
"Thanks, old man." Ichigo replied, finding a small sense of joy that his work was appreciated. It was far too terrible for him to have not gotten recognition for bearing with it in his mind.
"Now let's go inside and begin once more to look to the future!" Makarov exclaimed before marching towards the entrance.
Many cheered in response to the words of the esteemed guild master as the followed him towards their home away from home. With this, the entire ordeal with Phantom was perceived as a thing of the past, and that did nothing but relieve a majority of the members of Fairy Tail given that they could now move on from a hard fought victory.
A/N Again, sorry, but once more this chapter will unfortunately be the only one during this week. Rest assured, next week I will be able to post two, count on it.
Explanations:
Mira vs. Erza: The two are rivals again, and that shows a bit as the former's old personality shows itself a little bit. This will sort-of continue on up until a certain point, and that's when the romance aspect of the story will start to become a bit more apparent. I mean, it will still be clear on the parts of Erza and Mira, but not so much just yet for Ichigo.
What's Next?: Next chapter will be Ultear's arrival and the investigation, so look forward to it!
Reviews:
Pokemaster94: He'd throw a party, act like an idiot, and then be beaten up by Ichigo, most likely.
Guest(1): I am assuming the next one is also you, and no, I will not be giving Ichigo a title name. Even if it was offered, I doubt he'd accept. He doesn't really care about that kind of thing.
kvchowe: That… is a difficult question to answer. I view the full-hollow form of Ichigo as the absolute strongest thing in the Fairy Tail universe in a crossover setting, and even in the Bleach universe that form is really, really high up there. If I had to say, though, they'd be even or the hollow form would have a slight but noticeable advantage. It's really, really hard to say in all honestly.
hollowichigo12: I hadn't considered that, but rest assured I have a solution for the Edolas Arc.
GirlFish: Now if I told you that, then it wouldn't be a surprise!
hichigo shirosak: I don't really know. The ideas just kind of come to me and I have the diligence to write them out ;).
Heavenly God: In a way, yes.
VOGoshiniki: Again, no problem at all, man. As for Lisanna… I really, really like her character and feel that not enough is done with her. Expect her to be in this story and take what I would call a more serious role in it. She won't be main stage in the sense that Ichigo is, but rest assured that I intend to do more with her than canon Fairy Tail does.
sage of the sexy: My general rule of thumb is that each week I try to post two chapters of at least 5k words. If a chapter is exceedingly long, then I will make it the only chapter of that week. However, because of exams, I have been limited to one chapter a week and, even if they are 10k words long-ish, I still don't like to post once a week for many weeks consecutively. Next week, there will be two chapters posted, but then it will be one a week for two weeks as I have finals, then when I am on break expect two chapters a week to return.
Guest(2): Not entirely sure. The laundry list of Bleach villains is too long for me to go through in good conscience.
KingofthePhantomDragon: I had really, really given this consideration, but I decided to keep that confrontation where it stands in canon. I alter the event a little bit, but in general that fight occurs when it usually does.
Hotstreak's crossover stories: Sorry, can't say ;).
Scarmagista: I'm not too sure what to say to this… I guess that that's a matter of your personal opinion?
Linkonpark100: Maybe, but like I said I just like to have 'options'.
cellum95: Maybe, haven't written the fight yet so I wouldn't know xD.
JansenDaniels32: Yes, I think it would be an interesting fight. However, Ichigo, as he is now, would not be able to beat Acnologia. Most other dragons, sure, but not him.
Guest(3): Again, I have a solution for the Edolas arc, so don't worry about it.