AN:

"Hello" - normal talking

'Hello' - thoughts

Chapter 21 - Fighting on two fronts

Sometimes you will find yourself in the situation where you will need compromise - it was a line that Naruto had found in the book he was reading the previous night. Currently, he was thinking about it while cooking breakfast for the two of them; strange enough, Mirajane had still not woken up yet despite being nearly 9 am.

'I understand the need to compromise, to find a middle way, but...is this even something we should compromise about?' he thought while he cracked four eggs and poured them into a frying pan.

He shook his head and answered his own question:

'I don't think so! The safety of our child is something that I won't take lightly. How can I let her go fight some of the worst dark mages out there?!'

He flipped the eggs on the others side to fry the yolk too, inwardly sighing.

'What happened to Mira yesterday? She's never been that bullheaded before, she's usually more reasonable.'

Suddenly, a series of quick steps was heard and he saw Mirajane almost sprinting towards the bathroom with a hand covering her mouth. A second later, a retching sound was heard and Naruto hurriedly took the frying pan off from the stove and rushed to the bathroom. Kneeling in from of the toilet seat, the poor girl was throwing up like she was about to die any time then. His nose scrunched at the pungent smell and he cringed at the sight - he was quite sensitive to such a scene after what happened yesterday morning - but he didn't leave. Despite the disgust, he knelt right next to her and rubbed her back gently as to soothe her.

"Hey, you ok?" Naruto asked in worry when it looked like she was done throwing up.

She rose to her feet and went to clean herself at the sink. She looked a bit pale but she smiled at the worry in his voice.

"Nothing to fret about. It's just morning sickness. All pregnant women go through it at some point."

Naruto brought a hand up to cup her face and Mirajane leaned into his touch.

"I'll go finish preparing the breakfast while you shower, ok?"

He was about to leave but she stopped him.

"Stay with me, baby."

Half an hour later, Mirajane was sitting between Naruto's legs with her back resting against his chest, in the bathtub. It was actually the first time they were in such a posture. In the morning they usually took showers together and they were both always too horny to think about something other than going at it. This time, however, it was different. They had not done anything, they only washed each other and now they were relaxing in the bathtub with the hot water reaching up to their chest. It was a feeling of intimacy different than before.

"I reckon you're not mad at me anymore?" Naruto asked.

Mirajane let her head fall on his shoulder and leaned up to kiss him on the cheek.

"No. Actually-" she began to say but she stopped midway.

"Yes?" Naruto egged her on.

"- I think I'm the one that should be apologising."

Naruto made an exaggerated expression of shock.

"You want to apologise?!"

"Yes. I'm sorry, Naruto. I was wrong. My guildmate's safety is important, but the safety of our child matters a lot more than that. You were right to stop me."

"A woman has just admitted she was wrong and she even sincerely apologised... what has the world come to? Pinch me to see if I'm in a dream or not!" he said but then cried out in pain her teeth sunk into the tender skin of his neck.

"I told you to pinch me not to rip out a whole chunk out of my neck!" Naruto yelled scandalized. After living together with her for three weeks he came to realize that she loved biting him.

He felt her grinning against his neck at his words. She stopped biting and began to suck on the place she had bitten. It was going to leave a hickey that would remain visible for at least 2-3 days even with the above-average ability of his body to regenerate itself. He did realize though that, as weeks passed by, the hickeys she was giving him were taking increasingly longer time to heal and fade. He was beginning to suspect that she had found a way to use her magic while biting him for that.

When she was done, she smiled in satisfaction at her handiwork and then let herself fall back against his chest again.

"Jealous little bee." Naruto lightly admonished, but Mirajane knew he didn't mean it seeing how his arms encircled her and hugged her closer to his chest. "I love you so much... can't believe we're gonna have a girl soon!"

She smiled in happiness. She was content. At that moment, it was as though she had completely forgotten that only half an hour before she was emptying the contents of her stomach over the toilet seat. Her smile widened when she felt his hand caressing her belly. She was still in her first 2 weeks of her pregnancy, her belly had not become visible yet.

"There's still more than 8 months to wait. We've gotta be patient."

He hummed in agreement and kissed the top of her wet hair. Life was good for Naruto and Mirajane.

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The fact that 4 legal guilds had made an alliance to fight against Oracion Seis had not escaped Ivan Dreyar's notice. His network of spies had spread its tentacles over all of Fiore.

When he had learned about his father losing to the sneak attack of a mere S-class mage from Phantom Lord and when Laxus, his son, joined his guild, Ivan thought that the moment to strike Fairy Tail had finally come. But only a few days later he heard that "the Raven" had joined the fairies instead of Laxus. The higher his expectations had been, the more aggravating his disappointment! However, now, it looked like his luck had not completely turned its back to him.

"Are you sure about this, father?" Laxus asked with distaste in his voice at having to call him that.

"I'm 100% sure of this, son," Ivan said and chuckled darkly. "Gildarts has been away from the guild for years and he won't come back any time soon. Same with that Mystogan guy too. Titania is also away, at the meeting with the rest of the anti-Oracion Seis alliance so that leaves only Mirajane Strauss, Naruto Uzumaki and the old man. The rest of them are insignificant."

Laxus couldn't help scoffing.

"Yes. Only the three of them. Freaking piece of cake, right?"

"Do not patronize me, boy!" Ivan snapped snarkily.

The other mages present in the room watched in silence the tense interaction between the father and son duo. But, eventually, Ivan seemed to realize that he owed everyone an explanation.

"Numerically, we have the absolute advantage, especially if we include the guild of bandits that we had made use of in the past. That means that in the battle between the cannon fodder, we win."

Laxus' eyebrow twitched at how he was referring to all the mages below the S-class as cannon fodder. He also thought that the weak were trash but some mages were powerful even if they were not S-class. At the very least, he acknowledged the strength of his 3 teammates - the Thunder God Tribe - and he had a favourable impression about even others outside of his group like Natsu, Gray and even Cana. However, he kept his disagreement to himself because it looked like he was the only one bothered by it; everyone else was smirking wickedly.

"So that leaves only these three. First of all, Nullpudding and you will deal with the Demon, Mirajane while Gajeel will aid me in holding down the Raven."

This time, it wasn't only Laxus that frowned even Nullpudding appeared hesitant.

'That piece of shit was a member of Raven Tail all along? Letting some Phantom Lord trash join the guild... I knew jiji was senile! It's your fault things become like this old man! Fairy Tail becoming mine is for the best of everyone! It's time for you to retire!' Laxus thought, his eyes gleaming with faint lightning.

"Can we trust Gajeel? We rarely ever see him around and we heard rumours of him getting pretty chummy with the damned fairies." Nullpudding said, his eyes narrowed.

"Gajeel has been working as a double agent for me from the beginning. There's no way he'll betray us in favour of the ones that destroyed and disbanded his former guild, Phantom Lord." Ivan said firmly convinced of the Iron Dragon Slayer's loyalty.

Although nowhere near as confident in Gajeel's trustworthiness as Ivan seemed to be, Nullpudding didn't add anything else. Ivan's words were absolute in Raven Tail.

"It rests on you, Laxus, to deal with the Demon. Nullpudding will be there just to support you."

Laxus gnashed his teeth at that. It was almost physically painful for him to admit that Mirajane was more powerful than him but there was too much at stake this time. He couldn't let his pride get in the way. Nothing was going to get in the way of his dream - that of becoming Fairy Tail's rightful master and making it the most powerful guild in Fiore - not even his pride. Therefore, he said:

"The two of us... we can't defeat Mirajane alone."

Ivan nearly burst out loud in laughter. He loved seeing others being humiliated - even if the person in case happened to be none other than his own son. Although he managed to keep it together, his grin became disgustingly wide. He brought his hand to a chest pocket on the inner side of his coat and took out a vial that he proceeded to throw at Laxus.

"What is this?" Laxus asked warily.

He could never forget how Ivan had experimented with drugs and various types of magic on his body, in secret, when he was a child. His hate for his so-called father was not for nothing. Laxus successfully integrating with the Dragon lacrima in his body had also not happened overnight, nor had it happened on the first try. He had had to suffer a lot because of it when he was just a young boy. Ivan had treated him as nothing more than a lab rat.

"That, my son, is what will let you grasp the victory!"

The blonde dragonslayer bristled and a lightning aura started to crackle around his body as he shouted:

"Be more fucking specific! You think I'm still 10 years old and I'll let you experiment on me as you please?!"

Ivan didn't appear to be too moved by his outburst.

"That vial contains a serum that will forcefully activate the potential of the Dragon Lacrima in your body. Your power will increase by several folds. It will grant you the true power of a Dragon Slayer - the Dragon Force!"

"Dragon Force?" Laxus muttered in disbelief. "Was that not -" he started to ask only for Ivan to continue his question:

"- impossible for 2nd generation Dragon Slayers? Yes, normally it is impossible for those that had not been taught by a Dragon to enter the Dragon Force. That's why taking this serum comes with various side-effects."

"What side-effect?" Laxus asked sharply.

"Let's say that you will receive not only a Dragon's strengths but its bestial nature as well. You'll likely enter a berserk state and become unable to distinguish foe from ally, killing everything in your path... but that is hardly an inconvenience now, is it?" Ivan said and started to laugh obnoxiously.

Laxus' grip on the vial tightened at the mockery in Ivan's words but he put it in his pocket nonetheless.

"With the Demon out of the picture, the only ones left are the master of Fairy Tail and the Raven."

Kurohebi, another mage belonging to the elites of Raven Tail said hesitatingly:

"Master, you are powerful - we can all attest to that - but even you and Gajeel will be hard-pressed to deal with both of them at the same time."

"That's where Laxus' former teammates come in," Ivan said, startling Laxus. He was no longer a member of Fairy Tail but he still cared about Freed, Bickslow and Evergreen. "I'm interested, in particular, in that Rune Magic user, Freed."

Laxus could almost guess what he had in mind.

"Rune Magic might be slow and difficult to use in direct battle. However, it is rather obscure and almost impossible to break once activated. Your former teammate's magic is essential for our plan to succeed." Seeing how Laxus' expression became ugly, Ivan continued: "Laxus, Laxus, don't tell me you still care about those rejects... that's the reason you had still not managed to surpass that girl even after all these years! Your mentality is too weak!"

The blonde Dragon Slayer clenched his fists, on the brink of exploding in rage. His temper had always been terrible and his father had a special talent in pissing him off.

'Gloat while you still can, you shitty geezer! I'll let you blabber until I get my hands on Fairy Tail. After that, I'll make sure to deal with you and your guild of trashbags myself!'

Unaware of what plans Laxus was secretly cooking up in his mind, Ivan said:

"You will get in contact with your former teammate and order him to trap Makarov during our attack on Fairy Tail. With the old man out of the way, it won't be too hard for me a Gajeel to tangle with the Raven for a while until you defeat the Demon. After that, the three of us will make short work of him."

"HOWEVER," Ivan shouted that word as to stress on the importance of what he was going to say next, "if you're pathetic enough to lose against a girl even while amped by the Dragon Force, I still have an ace up my sleeve," he said and glanced at his right towards a strange-looking individual.

It was a very tall figure with blue skin, long blue hair and a huge nose. A large black cloak covered most of its body and a black top hat was on its head. It was none other than Obra!

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Natsu, Erza, Gray and Lucy had left in the morning towards Master Bob's villa to meet with the chosen members from the other guilds in the alliance and plan together with the rest on how to deal with Oracion Seis. With Natsu and Gray away - they were the ones that usually started the guild-wide brawls - the Fairy Tail appeared to be rather peaceful.

Naruto was sitting with Mirajane at the bar's counter sipping together from one big smoothie, seemingly oblivious to the envious stares they were attracting from both the male and the female population of the guild. Cana was blatantly staring at Naruto's wide back while drinking from her barrel and even Levy, a short blue-haired girl, was sneaking glances at him while pretending to read a book. On the other side, Jet and Droy were glaring daggers at Naruto for having unknowingly monopolized their sweetheart's attention while Macao and Wakaba were looking in envy at the happy couple that appeared to be lost in their own little world.

"No wonder Mirajane didn't want to go on a date with me. Curse you all, ikemen bastards!" Wakaba muttered to himself and bit on his cigar, snapping it in half.

Although he was no less envious of Naruto than his drinking buddy was, Macao couldn't help poking fun at him:

"What if Millgana saw you leering like at another woman? She'd whoop your ass, that's what would happen!"

Wakaba slightly shivered at the mental image of his overweight and dominating wife and Macao burst into laughter.

"Che! At least I still got a wife unlike you!" Wakaba retorted.

That was a low blow for Macao. In his youth, he used to be rather good looking and had managed to win over the heart of one of the most popular women in the guild back then, Enno. However, she was known for how flirty she was with her numerous admirers and their marriage didn't last for too long. Enno was not the type of woman to stay faithful and settle with one man. Even after marrying, she continued to flirt with other men and soon enough, she abandoned Macao and her newborn son for good.

Macao and Wakaba were both rather drunk - that's the reason why Wakaba said something that he should have not and that's also the reason why Macao lost his cool right away at that. The two quickly got into a drunken fistfight while several other guildmates watched from the sidelines cheering them on and even betting on who would win. It was a common scene in Fairy Tail.

"Not a dull day in this guild at all, huh?" Naruto said in amusement while he too watched how the two middle-aged men were now rolling on the floor, clobbering each other with their fists.

Mirajane giggled in amusement but she didn't turn away from their smoothie. When Naruto turned his attention back to her, he noticed that the barmaid attending the bar that day had brought over a plate of Kuzumochi as well.

"Ugh, how do you keep your silhouette with this kind of diet?" Naruto asked trying to make her feel guilty before she attempted to force-feed him again like in the past.

Kuzumochi - a type of chilled starch mochi - was Mirajane's favourite food. Although it didn't reach the level of worship Naruto held for ramen, her love for Kuzumochi was not too far off. But Naruto has never liked sweet foods that much. He was more into dishes like ramen, red beans soup or meat, especially if it was grilled.

"You're not getting away this time!" Mirajane smiled sweetly and took a piece of Kuzumochi with her fork. "Come on, for so many years, you didn't want to take even a bite! You're doing it just to annoy me aren't you?"

"Guilty as charged!" Naruto grinned unrepentantly. "But I'm still not gonna try it. It's sweet! You know I don't like sweet things!"

"This smoothie is sweet too and I see you having no problems with it!"

"That's different! It's a drink and it has a fruity taste! I generally don't like sweet things!"

"I'd say I'm pretty sweet, you mean you don't like me either?" Mirajane said and faked a hurt expression only for Naruto to chuckle and pinch her nose.

"Humblebrag a little more, it's cute!" Naruto said while he kept his fingers locked on her nose.

A few moments later, after a few punches to the ribs, Naruto finally let go of her nose. He grunted - Mira's punches were no joke - but looking at how red her nose was, he felt no regrets.

"Jerk!" she pouted and felt the urge to smack him when she saw the shit-eating grin on his face. "Come on, Naru, just try it once! I promise I'll also try any one dish you'll want me to try in the future!"

He was about to refuse but a sudden memory made him smirk deviously. It was the memory of the torture that he had had to endure by being forced to eat the food that "Granny Sage" had cooked for him during his Sage Training. He had almost ended up with PTSD because of it. It was that terrible.

"Huhuhu!" Naruto laughed creepily "Alright, I take you up on your offer!"

Mirajane felt an inexplicable shiver travel down her back but she paid it no mind. She was too happy that Naruto finally going to try her favourite food after so many years to care about anything else. She cut a piece of Kuzumochi and scooped it with her fork before bringing it up to Naruto.

"Say aaah-"

Naruto's cheeks slightly reddened. They had done much more erotic things, obviously, but it was the first time Mirajane was going to feed him. There were something special about the situation, it was making his heart throb in a different way. It was unexpectedly exciting and he felt butterflies in his stomach at how cute she looked while she watched him with an expectant look on her face. Mirajane too flushed a little when he accepted being fed and her smile became radiant. She was so adorable at that moment that Naruto had even forgotten that he didn't like sweet foods. In fact, he would realize later on that he didn't even remember how it tasted like, that's how absorbed he was by her charm. She was just precious.

When they finally came about from their own little world, they realized that the other members in the guild were unusually silent - even the fistfight between the drunk Macao and Wakaba had been halted. Everyone was watching the two of them with various expressions on their faces.

"Damn you, Naruto, flexing your perfect relationship like that!" Wakaba yelled and pointed an accusatory finger at the two of them.

"Shut your trap, old man!" Cana also yelled (also incensed because of Naruto never sparing her even a glance) from the other side of the room and threw the barrel she had been drinking from at this head. She was too drunk to aim properly though and the barrel hit Levy instead, sending her tumbling on the floor. Now steaming with anger, Jet and Droy grabbed a whole table and threw it at Cana... With that, it was on: a massive guild-wide brawl ensued!

Everyone began to fight against everyone, with no regards for appearance, gender or social standing. Only Naruto and Mirajane were not taking part in it, watching them in amusement from the side, and Reedus who was sitting in a corner of the hall, busy with painting something. It was the scene of Mirajane spoon-feeding Naruto her favourite food. Reedus' was so talented that the picture appeared almost life-like. He managed to immortalize the faint blush on their faces and even the expression of the deep love they held for each other present in their eyes.

But suddenly, the rowdy mood in the guildhall was abruptly broken when the large doors of the guild were slammed open and Gajeel Redfox rushed inside with a very grave look on his face.

"Where is the Master?" he shouted in urgency. "Call the Master right away! Raven Tail will launch an attack against us today!"

AN:

(Not an English native and I have no beta either. Sorry for any mistakes I may have made.)