Chapter 2: The Dragon

When she finally woke up, she realized a numerous of things. The first one, she was in a bedroom that was not hers. Two, she was wrapped inside something comfortable that had fur and she was naked under it. Three, whatever she was wrapped in, the smell was intoxicating. Not in a horrible way. It was kind of earthy, spicy, and musky. She's never smelled anything like it and she really liked it. Four, as her groggy eyes adjusted to her surroundings, they suddenly widened as her hand shot to her neck.

The shards were gone.

Panic set in and as she tried to get up, whatever she was wrapped with, was a little too long for her and the moment she made the move from the bed, she landed face first.

He was trying to get comfortable on the couch as it was two feet too small for his 6'3 frame. He could hear Evergreen, Wendy, and Carla snoring softly from Evergreen's bedroom. He had asked Wendy to spend the night in case something got complicated with the woman, who looked to be around Juvia's age, but that was just a guess.

He groaned and grabbed the pillow and put it over his face, in attempt to fall asleep. Now he was really glad that he had that fight with Natsu and Gajeel. Why did he have to find some random woman drowning in a well when he was planning on leaving soon?

He heard the girl waking up, which was rather unusual since Wendy said it would take an entire day, at the most two, to wake up again.

But when he heard the loud thud in the room, he got up and rushed in through the door. He didn't think twice as he immediately went to aid her, but when he helped her get up, the coat came undone, as it slipped from her shoulder and almost revealing her breast. Kagome had frozen when she heard the footsteps and when she felt strong arms picking her up. That's when she came eye to eye with a man, a handsome man, with a lightning shaped scar on his face and the most unusual gray eye color. She saw his eyes lowering and that's when she noticed she was about to be exposed.

She had sparred multiple times with Sango and Miroku because she was tired of being kidnapped all the time. It seemed, that this was one of those times, and she could put her training to the test. Her right arm was free and with impressive form, she right hooked him right on the face and screamed. Loudly.

Laxus immediately let her go with a groan as his hand went to his face. She was probably just 5'3, and she packed a good ass punch.

And that's when the girls rushed in. Evergreen saw the distraught look on the woman and quickly pushed Laxus out of the room. Kagome stopped screaming finally, but she was still terrified as she could feel a strong aura of dragon traits from him and the small blue haired girl.

Wendy raised her hands in defense, "It's okay! We are not going to hurt you!" She hoped her voice could calm her down.

Kagome ignored the gentle look from the girl. She had fallen for that too many times.

"Where am I? Where are my clothes? and WHERE ARE MY JEWEL SHARDS?!"

"Holy shit she's hot!"

Kagome's eyes widened again as she saw another man running in. She gripped the coat tighter around her.

"For fuck's sake Bickslow!" the blonde man shouted. She then saw the same muscular arm that had picked her up grabbing the blue haired man by the shirt and pulling him out of the room.

"Boss I was gonna give her the little bottle!"

Kagome looked at all of them and glared, "Give it to me, now!"

Wendy hesitated for a moment, but she left the room and got the tiny flask from Bickslow and walked right in.

"This?" she cautiously asked. Carla, who had been on her shoulder the whole time, interjected.

"Child we don't know what that is! Could be dangerous!"

Kagome almost snapped at the white cat for refusing to give it. She couldn't risk losing the shards again. She looked at the two women carefully. If they wanted to harm her, they would've done so already. She remembered that she had been underwater and after that, her mind was blank. They must've helped her so they couldn't be that bad.

Or at least she hoped.

"How about this," she carefully said, her dark blue eyes barely containing the fury of being separated from her shards, "If you give me the flask, I'll be able to feel that I can trust you. But only if you give it to me."

And that's when the blonde came in, with a shirt on this time, and grabbed the flask from the blue haired girl.

"Answer me this," he said slowly as he analyze her with his eyes, "Is this thing dangerous?"

For a moment, she was reminded of Sesshomaru. Probably the height and the glare in his face. He probably wasn't happy about the punch either. She straightened her back and said, "Only on the wrong hands. Now give it to me dragon."

He raised an eyebrow and he threw the flask at her. She quickly caught it and brought it to her chest, a pure look of relief and content spreading. Her reaction didn't go unnoticed by the others. She sat down on the bed after she placed the shards around her neck again, her left hand gripping the bottle tightly.

Evergreen sighed, happy that the intense moment was gone. She turned to Laxus again, "I'm gonna go and get her some clothes from my room. Go wait in the living room. Wendy and Carla will stay here with her."

He rolled his eyes at her bossy attitude. He threw a look at the raven haired woman and did as he was told. Once Kagome was alone with the blue haired girl and the white cat, she curiously looked at them.

"Since when do dragons socialize with cat demons?"

Carla looked offended, "Excuse me?"

Wendy shook her head, "She's not a demon, she's an exceed."

Kagome's heart stopped for a second at the word. On her almost three years of traveling back and forth she had never heard such a word. The little voice in the back of her head started to panic and so did she.

So she asked the one question she asked long ago.

"W-where am I?"

Laxus was trying his best to not touch his cheek, which was currently sore, as Evergreen went inside the room with a set of clothes. Because if he touched his cheek in front of Bickslow, the seith mage would never live it down.

"She got you good boss," he snickered as his babies flew around him and giggled.

Laxus' eye twitched, very tempted to zap him back to his apartment. Which hilariously enough, he lived right across from her and Freed to her right.

"One more word comes out of your mouth and I swear to fucking God I will zap you so bad you won't even be able to shower for a year."

That shut him up quickly. Freed shook his head and looked at his best friend, "She almost seemed hysterical asking for the flask. Not even worried about her own self, but what it was inside it."

He grunted, "Yeah I know."

And just then, Wendy stepped out with a very concerned look on her face.

"Um guys," Laxus was the first one up and went to her, "What is it?"

She was biting her lip, as her small face changed into worry and confusion, "You may want to come in…"

They all followed her in, to see the mysterious woman now dressed in pajama shorts and a black t shirt, holding her legs to herself on the bed. Laxus could smell the tears from where he stood. The anxiety was rolling off of her in waves too. He decided to keep his distance, not wanting to freak her out again.

Ever looked at the young woman as she rose her head, her eyes bloodshot from her crying, and then to them, "This is Bickslow, Freed, and the one you punched is Laxus. Guys, this is Kagome, she turns eighteen in a month, and she's from earth."

The room was quiet until the silence was broke the moment Bickslow started laugh, "Well, we are in Earthland!"

And long and behold, Laxus punched him on the back of the head, "She said Earth you idiot, not Earthland."

Freed looked at Carla, "So like Edolas?"

The exceed shook her head, "Edolas was an alternative universe to ours, a mirror image. The way she explained it, it's an entire different world. Probably universe."

Wendy nodded, "She said there are demons there too!"

Freed looked concerned, "Demons? Like the book of Zeref demons?"

Wendy looked confused for a moment until she looked at Kagome, "What kinds of demons?"

She swallowed as she tried thinking how to explain it.

"The demons of where I'm from… or more like, where I would travel to, take into two forms. Either animal affiliation or just humanoid looking. Animal type demons, the stronger ones at least, can take a human like form."

Wendy tilted her head, "Is that why you called me and Laxus dragons?"

The woman started to blush as she could feel the heated gaze of the blonde, "I can sense auras. I've been around a dragon from my time," She shuddered at the memory, "Your traits are very similar to his."

Freed looked beyond intrigued, "How do you sense auras?"

A sour look appeared on her her face but quickly faded away, "It's kind of a long story…"

Laxus surprised everyone as he went to lean against the wall by the door and slid down. He gave them a look, "I doubt we are going to sleep anytime soon. Might as well learn more on where she's from."

Wendy didn't look convinced, "Are you sure? I mean you have that fight later today."

She blushed when Freed, Bickslow and Ever laughed.

"Oh hon," the brunette said, "He'll be fine, trust me."

Laxus then pointedly looked at the woman, "So? You going to continue?"

She bit back the retort at the way he said it but held back, "Well… oh Kami I don't even know where to begin. Just try to follow along. Around the year 1100, demons roamed my planet, more specifically, in the country I was born in, Japan. There was always a war between humans and demons, so if some of them were to have a romantic relationship, it was frowned upon. Half demons were abused an outcasted by both demons and humans. However, an extremely powerful dog demon general fell in love with a human woman. He already had a son with his arranged mate, to be the heir of their kingdom. But this baby, he was made out of love. The General died the night his second son was born. His mother was able to stay in her village, but once the child grew bigger, people didn't want to be around him," she saw the intrigued and confused looks, "The story is going to come together soon. Just bare with me. The mother got sick and eventually died. The older half brother banished his little brother and after that, throughout his whole childhood, he was outcasted by demon and human villages. The years go by when eventually he heard a rumor about a jewel. A jewel that would grant any wish. He tried taking it but the priestess protecting it was too cunning. Eventually they fell in love and he was going to become human. The day it was going to happen, both of them were deceived and turned against each other. Kikyo died because of her wounds and her body was burned with the jewel, but she pinned Inuyasha to a tree, into an eternal sleep."

Evergreen and Wendy gasped at that. "What happened then?" The bluenette inquired.

"This is where it gets confusing. Five hundred years later in modern day Japan, on my fifteenth birthday, in a well in my property of my family's shrine, a demon centipede pulled me in, putting me five hundred years in the past. Which then, it had only been fifty years after Kikyo's passing. I awoke Inuyasha from his sleep, centipede demon bit me and out of me came out the same jewel that Kikyo was burned with."

Freed looked beyond fascinated, "Reincarnation!"

Bickslow was still trying to figure out the whole thing in his head.

She nodded, "Yeah, I'm Kikyo's reincarnation. Inuyasha saved me but then he attempted to kill me to get the jewel. That didn't work and long story short, I accidentally shattered the jewel with an arrow when I was saving a village boy from a crow demon. We partnered up to look for the pieces, we made friends and we've been looking for all the pieces and have our fair share of enemies. Specially one named Naraku who's also seeking the jewel shards."

She took a deep breath after finishing.

"Were you able to ever go back home?" Carla worriedly asked her. She saw the emotions of the young woman. Her story was all true. No one could elaborate something like that and show as much emotion as she did.

Kagome smiled softly, "Yeah. For almost three years I've been going back and forth from my time to the feudal era. I had actually jumped in the well to go home for a week but I somehow turned up here."

Bickslow was still trying to figure out the time frame and Laxus rolled his eyes, "Stop. You're going to hurt yourself."

Bickslow looked deeply offended.

"You mentioned a dragon earlier," Freed said, "Was it a friendly one?"

Kagome snorted, "Far from it. Ryūkotsusei had an alteration with Inuyasha's father which got him sealed. However because of the injuries, the night Inuyasha was born, his father went into battle to save him but didn't come out alive. Ryukotsusei's seal was broken and Inuyasha had to kill him to make sure he wouldn't kill humans and Inuyasha was able to make his sword, inherited from his father, stronger."

Wendy's eyes were wide, "He killed a dragon with a sword?!"

"Child from what it sounds like, this dragon could've been just as bad as Acnologia."

Kagome turned to the white cat, "Acnologia?"

Laxus grunted, "The Dragon of the Apocalypse. Thanks to that monster we were frozen in time for seven years. Just a few weeks ago we got back."

And just like that, the remainder of the night they exchanged some stories. Kagome was becoming more open and friendlier, now that she knew for sure they were not going to harm her. They explained everything regarding guilds and wizards. Laxus had never seen such fascination from anyone about magic. Kagome looked beyond intrigued and kept asking them questions. It wasn't until she yawned that he decided to continue until a later time.

It was already seven in the morning.

"Why don't we bring her to your match?" Evergreen offered as they all started to get up and stretch, "She will be able to talk to your grandfather and meet everyone else."

He immediately looked at the black haired woman, "It's up to you. You can stay here if you want. I can have the old man come here."

Kagome thought about it for a moment, "No. I'll come. It'll make it easier for me to grasp a little bit around your world."

Bickslow grinned, "Oh you definitely will. You're going to be amazed when you see the boss man fight!"

Fight! Fight!

She couldn't help but giggle at the flying totems as they circled around her head. Laxus found himself almost smiling at her giggle, but he mentally smacked himself.

"Get some rest. We will wake you up when it's time."

Kagome yawned again and nodded. Her body was begging for sleep that she did not paid attention when she reached on the floor, grabbed the coat, and wrapped herself with it and fell asleep on the bed.

Knowing looks appeared on the faces of his team and surprisingly Carla, which he immediately shot down with a glare. Wendy giggles softly as she left the room with all of them.

She was beyond fascinated as they walked through the streets of Magnolia. It kept reminding her of the villages she would see in books from England. The stone walls and buildings. The bridges. It was quite a bit of a large town.

Everyone seemed to be in high spirits as well. Anyone that she would accidentally make eye contact with would smile politely.

However she was still unsure of the world, and even though their first meeting wasn't the greatest, she was making sure she wasn't far from Laxus. He was authoritative and seemed to have his head set on his shoulders. There was also the fact that his aura was the strongest out of everyone that she was walking with.

They passed by a bar where a small group of men were drinking outside of. One of them caught a glimpse of her and he got the attention of the rest.

"Damn girl where did you come from!"

"Come join us!"

"Holy shit! Look at that size of ass!"

And that's all it took for Laxus to pivot and land a blow to the man's face, making him crash into the other two. He didn't even break a sweat. Subconsciously, Laxus got a hold of her wrist. Carla raised an eyebrow at the gesture but remained quiet.

"It's a good town but we still have our trash. Just stay close," he gruffly said as he threw a few glares to any man that was looking at her a little too long.

It didn't take them long to reach the park, but when they did, his eyes widened.

Somehow, word leaked about the fight and various vendors set up their shops. T shirts were being sold alongside posters. One with a flame, one with a hammer, and one with a lightning bolt.

How the hell did this happen in a day? He thought with a grimace.

Freed on the other hand seemed proud, "Although it's been seven years the people still respect you. You made your mark here."

Laxus wasn't amused, "Either that or they're a bunch of morons."

Kagome took notice how a lot of people looked at him. Some were with respect, other looks, she couldn't pinpoint.

They continued walking until they reached the clearing where the fight would happen. And long and behold, a chair was waiting for him. He immediately turned to his team, "Who's fucking idea was that?"

A slow clap was heard from behind them. When Kagome turned, her eyes widened when she saw a man, just as tall as Laxus, but with even broader shoulders, approaching them. He had a tattered black cloak on his shoulders, a bandage around his midsection leaving his entire muscular chest exposed, and baggy pants. He was grinning at Laxus and his eyes were shining with mischief.

"Shouldn't a king have a throne?" The man said with a laugh. Laxus didn't say anything, just continued to glare.

"Hello Gildarts," Wendy said politely, smiling at the man.

He quickly smiled at her, "Hello Wendy!" and just then, his attention was shifted to the small woman that was in the middle of Wendy and Laxus. She was literally a foot shorter than the lightning mage.

He grinned slyly, "Oh my, who is this? Never seen you around darling," he bowed, "Gildarts Clive at your service."

Kagome blushed at the display, "Kagome Higurashi."

Gildarts grin widened when Laxus carefully stepped, putting Kagome slightly behind him.

He gave Laxus a look, but decided to change the topic, "Just go easy on the kid. He's very eager to do this." And with a wink at Kagome, he walked away.

"He sounds extremely confident that you're going to win," Kagome commented, "Um, you can let go now."

Laxus looked confused, but as he looked down, he realized he had not let go of her wrist. He quickly pulled away and cleared his throat.

"Sorry," but as he was going to say something else, he caught their scent.

He sighed and just decided to wait and sit by the chair. Wendy smiled and waved, quickly going to the new group that was approaching the clearing. With a boring look on his face, he rested his chin on his hand.

Lucy immediately spotted Laxus as her, Erza, Gray, Juvia, Gajeel, Levy, Panther Lily, Happy and Natsu walked deeper into the park. Her eyes widened when she saw a gorgeous woman with thick long pitch black hair with small hints of blue on it, with a petite but curvy body standing with the Thunder Legion.

"Holy crap!" She exclaimed as Wendy neared them, "Is that the girl you checked?" She asked as she hugged the girl.

Wendy looked behind her and then turned to the others, "Her name is Kagome!"

Erza was also checking her out, "She's extremely beautiful."

"Is that what you told me about Luce?" Levy asked as she looked.

"Yup!"

Gray snorted, "She's way out of his league."

Juvia gasped at what he said, Another love rival?!

"Look Lucy! Another girl that's prettier than you!"

"Shut it cat!"

But Natsu and Gajeel were in their own world as they neared the man sitting down. A large circle of spectators was created and Kagome stuck with the Thunder Legion so she wouldn't get lost afterwards.

"You're about to witness the power of a Fairy Tail wizard," Bickslow said to her with a mad grin on his face. She smiled slightly since his excitement was rubbing off on her. He had a lot of confidence for Laxus. She could already feel the questioning looks from the others. Soon the questions would start and she wasn't too sure if she was ready for it.

She saw as the pink haired man took a step forward, challenging Laxus first. He had a super easy going grin and as he talked to his blue cat, he was sounding too confident. She was reminded of Inuyasha.

As the signal was given, she shook her head.

"The pink haired one is going to lose."

Lily, who had sneaked to be right next to Evergreen to find out more about the girl heard her.

The fight hadn't even started.

"Why do you say that?"

She was surprised that such a strong voice came out of the body of the small black cat. She saw him coming in with the other challenger.

She crossed her arms as she bit her lip, "That attitude reminds me of someone. Never ends too well."

And then, she felt it. The growth of the auras from both parties as they started to charge up on their magic. Her eyes widened as the pink haired guy, Natsu, as she heard some people call him, be engulfed in flames.

Then, Laxus followed right after with his own magic. Lightning. It flickered around him and his aura seemed to grow as Natsu continued powering up.

This was nothing like she had ever seen before. It was like their elements were one with them. It was beautiful but terrifying as flames and lightning came out of their bodies like a second nature. It made her wonder how much power the wizards held. She felt glad that she had this to distract herself with. She was still suffering some shock for being in another universe after all.

Once the auras got to a certain point, that's when Lily figured out that Kagome was right. If Natsu attacked first, it was game over.

She could feel herself starting to sweat as they continued, when there was that shift of air and in an instant, Natsu was charging towards Laxus.

It ended just as fast as it started. Laxus took a tiny step to the right and knocked Natsu out with a single punch. She saw a lot of people that had the same mark as Wendy and the others, which she deemed them as part of Fairy Tail, openly gawking in pure astonishment. She was impressed too as Laxus took him out with a single move. Now she understood why so many feared or respected him from the people that were watching.

Gajeel had immediately left and that led for a search party to go find him. Some of the members had gone up to her, asking her various questions of who she was and how she knew the Thunder Legion. She was feeling overwhelmed by the amount of excitement in the crowd that she had to start taking deep breaths. She wasn't ready to be questioned by so many. Laxus was walking back to them when he noticed the look on her face. Laxus caught a glimpse of his grandfather and after a very tense short moment between them, he pushed himself through his old guild members as he thought of offering Kagome to take her to his old apartment to rest.

The one reason why he didn't want to go back there was because he didn't want to get attached to being back. But he was left in a sour mood after the look his grandfather gave him and Kagome was overwhelmed.

He lowered himself, "Do you want to leave?"

But, the moment he saw Mira of all people walking towards the raven haired girl, he didn't wait for a response as he grabbed her and teleported.

The moment they appeared in front of the apartment building in downtown Magnolia, she turned to the bushes that were next to her and puked the small breakfast Freed had made for her. Laxus winced, completely forgetting how some people could get sick on their first time teleporting. When he had taken her to Ever's, she had been unconscious.

"Sorry, but if I didn't take you away, you would've been interrogated by the noisiest demon ever."

He heard her small laugh as she finished. She wiped her mouth but then blushed with embarrassment as she turned around, "Sorry. That was super gross."

He snorted as he opened the door, "Seen worse."

They went inside the building, but Laxus was stuck with a little dilemma.

They could either take the elevator and he would be the one getting sick, or he would have to make an overwhelmed universe traveling woman walk up five flights of stairs.

He went with the stairs. As they neared them, he lowered himself slightly, "Hop on. I'll carry you. I'm not gonna make you walk all five flights up."

She found herself blushing, "Why can't we take the elevator?"

He avoided eye contact, "Just get on already."

His tone left no room for argument, but she did as she was told. She carefully got on his back, wrapping her arms around his neck and anchoring her legs around his waist. He positioned her better on his back, and by holding both of her thighs carefully, he started going up the stairs.

He could feel how tense she was and couldn't help but chuckle, "I'm not going to drop you. You can relax a bit."

She blushed as she had hoped he wouldn't notice. But she did. Her arms around him loosened and she found herself leaning against his back. She really hated to admit it, but she couldn't fathom how muscular he was. She could feel his back muscles moving with each step. He wasn't huge like the body builders she had seen in magazines back in her world. They looked like they had been blown like helium balloons. But not him. It was just the right amount of muscles to look powerful and menacing.

It wasn't until he was half way up the stairs that he broke the silence, "I have motion sickness."

She lifted her head from his back right shoulder, "Wait— seriously?"

She blinked in confusion. She never thought someone like him would suffer something so simple.

His tone was filled with annoyance, "It's a trait that all dragon slayers share. Natsu has it the worst. Second worst it would have to be me. Then Gajeel, the bastard that ran away from the fight. His cat let it slip the other day and I happened to overhear. Wendy is the only one I know that doesn't suffer from it."

She couldn't help it. She snorted, "It is super hard to believe that someone as strong as you, which I just saw you knocking someone out with just one hit, could be defeated by a measle elevator."

He couldn't help it. He let out a booming laugh.

"It is quite ridiculous when you put it that way."

She laughed slightly at him. She could feel the anxiety that had been inside her lessening a bit.

Just a few minutes later, they finally reached the fifth floor. He carried her all the way until he got to his door and let her come down as he reached inside his pocket and pulled out a single key.

It was a decent size apartment with all around dark gray walls and very minimal dark furniture. He tossed the key on the coffee table and pointed to a door, "You can crash there. It has its own bathroom. I don't have any girl clothes but I can give you a pair of shorts and a shirt to change into while you wash your outfit," he pointedly looked at her simple jeans and blue shirt, "I can take you shopping tomorrow for you to get some clothes."

She blinked as she was taken aback by the last part. She rose an eyebrow at him as she crossed her arms, "Alright, why are you doing this? Like seriously, you hardly know me but you're giving me a spare room with a shower—"

"It has a bath."

There was a long pause, "T—that's not the point! I mean, seriously. You're being really nice to me. You're opening up your home to a complete stranger. Why?"

He didn't say anything as he walked over to the kitchen and opened a cabinet, retrieving two cups and getting a hold of his coffee machine. Probably one of the major things he missed from his place. He was now glad he had paid a cleaning lady to keep his place up while the months he was gone. She had kept it up during the seven years without pay. He made a mental note to go to the bank and pay her back.

He could feel Kagome's irritation who had not moved from the spot at the entrance. She had her arms crossed and was now glaring at him.

If that was supposed to scare him, it wasn't working. He couldn't take her seriously.

They stayed like that until the machine beeped, announcing that it was ready.

He walked up to her and handed her the mug, which she carefully grabbed while still looking at him.

"I'm doing it because you literally have no place to go. You're in another universe for fucks sake. I didn't take you back to Evergreen's because it's just a matter of time that you would be scarred for life by the animal noises coming from her bedroom as her 'not boyfriend' fucks her brains out" she furiously blushed by his brash comment, "I'm the one that got you out of that well so yeah, I kind of feel responsible. Besides, I would've liked a helping hand when I was feeling lost. Now go. You reek of throw up."

He smirked smugly as she gapped at him after taking a sip of the coffee.

"The only reason I'm not punching you right now is because I'm holding this mug, which if I let go with one hand, it'll tilt over and make a mess. And it's good coffee."

He snorted as his smirk turned into a grin, "I know."

She looked at him shocked, "You gave me this mug on purpose!"

He attempted to look innocent as he sipped his coffee while walking away, "I don't know what you're talking about."