What's up guys? Sorry about the update. You know how it goes with Writers block. It's annoying, and also why I have five stories running at the same time. How's it going? I hope all has been good. A few more will come out. I want to get this story's length to that of my other stories, or around it at least. You know, one of the annoying things I find are those people who review as guests and try to criticize other's works. I've seen it in others works, which in my opinion are quite good, and one of my own. Are they just chickens or do they not know? And if you don't like a story, don't criticize every chapter, just leave it. that's what I do. I see no reason to say rude things. Anyway, on with the chapter! Oh, do you guys like Blink- 182? I was listening to their songs and albums as I wrote this.

IMPORTANT_

Do you guys want a slow burn, or kinda go fast and messy? It's not super important which one. I just want to know so I can plan.

Natsu, Erza, and Mira were walking back to the guild, as they were on the outskirts of Magnolia. Gray was god knows where, probably still trying to hide from Erza's punishment which he didn't know wasn't going to happen, well, not to him at least. Natsu noted a strange smell as soon as they were within a mile of Magnolia. Everything was going fine, until they reached the guildhall at least. Giant iron spikes ran the guildhall, and everything was destroyed. Someone popped their head up from the scrap that was their previous guildhall. It was Gray.

"Took you guys long enough. Apparently," Gray said before jerking his thumb back towards the guildhall, "It's been like this for at least a few days now."

"Were we gone that long?" Natsu asked cluelessly.

"Nope. Must have happened as soon as we left," Gray said.

"I agree with Gray. We didn't see this when we had left," Erza stated.

"Let's go talk to the master," Mira said, glancing around. Suddenly, the strange looks they'd gotten made sense.

Natsu watched as the other three walked off to talk to Makarov. He had smelled something as he had gotten near Magnolia. Natsu walked up to the metal bars and ran his hand along one. He noticed the smell intensified as he got closer.

"Dragon slayer magic," Natsu said to himself before running to follow his friends. It didn't really surprise him and if he had to guess it was Metalicana's kid. What was his name? Madsteel Grayhound? Something like that. He came into the guild and found his friends in the middle talking with their Master.

"We aren't going to do anything children," Makarov said peacefully as he sipped out of a barrel of what Natsu smelled to be wine.

"But they destroyed our guildhall," Gray complained. He would have taken off his shirt but was quickly smacked by Erza's metal gauntlet.

"I agree with Gray, Master. We can't just le them walk over us like we're nothing," Mira said angrily. Her mean streak had been rearing its head recently and Natsu doubted that anyone in the guild wanted to take this sitting down.

"Look. Nothing happened. Nobody was hurt, this is the end of this conversation!" Makarov yelled before downing the rest of the alcohol in the barrel next to him. He had the sneaking suspicion that his friends wanted to argue but he shrugged and walked towards what was left of the bar. The thing he was most upset about was the kitchen. No kitchen meant no food and that upset him. He was quickly joined by his friends and they talked about the situation for a bit. Everyone seemed surprised that their master didn't want to do anything but Erza seemed to understand. There was some law about inter-guild conflicts so she figured the Magic Council would sort out any problems they had. Natsu had no real opinions on the matter other than sympathy for his friends. He was sure he'd hate to see his home destroyed so he understood where they were coming from.

Eventually, everyone made their way home though not before Mira told Natsu to meet her around five. Natsu smiled and reassured her that he'd be there. After that, Natsu had walked around for a bit, wondering what to do until five. He didn't really have anything to do. Natsu glanced at his clothes. He didn't really need new clothes. He could always just change these ones into whatever he needed. Natsu rushed off to do some training. Only using fire dragon slayer magic was getting boring. While it was the easiest to use, and the strongest, he felt like his others needed some work and he wanted to let off some steam. A few hours passed before Natsu came out of the forest. He took a quick dip into the spring next to where he was training and cleaned off. If Erza wasn't lying to him, and she never did, he needed to be presentable.

"Hmm… Human fashion. Let's see. Don't think Mira would appreciate it if I was wearing my normal stuff. Igneel would kill me if he found out. I'll just steal a jacket and pants from Gray. He never wears them anyway," Natsu mused while shaking his head before running off to where Gray lived, "Why can't they just be like dragons and not wear clothes?"

Natsu arrived at Gray's house a minute or two later, as it was fairly near the forest. Natsu didn't bother knocking and strolled right in. Natsu saw an open door with a bed poking out rom a corner. Natsu slipped in, opened the dresser and grabbed a black jacket and black pants along with a red button up. Did he need a tie? Best take one even if he didn't. Natsu quickly threw on his new outfit though he struggled with the tie for a bit so he just let it hang around around his neck. He figured he could get some help from Mira with tying it. He easily found out where she lived with his nose. Mira shuddered though she couldn't figure out why. She was, however, suddenly thankful that her dragon slayer friend was not a pervert. He glanced at a street clock as he arrived. It was always good to be a bit early though fifteen minutes was pushing it.

"Fifteen minutes. I'll wait… five? Five more minutes before I knock," Natsu muttered before sitting down on a bench. Natsu passed the time by using his magic. He created a small ball of fire and bounced it. It left small scorch marks everywhere it bounced. Five minutes passed before Natsu knew it. Natsu stood up and walked over to the door and knocked. A few seconds later, Natsu heard steps and the door swung open.

"Uh Erza, why are you here?" Natsu asked.

"No reason. Wait here, Mira will be down in a second," Erza said nonchalantly, giving Natsu a once over, "Your tie."

"Oh yeah, I didn't know how to tie it," Natsu shrugged, "Stole it from Gray but he wasn't home to help me."

She shook her head and quickly made her way over to her friend and grabbed the tie, yanking Natsu down a bit so she could get at it. Luckily for Natsu, it wasn't long before she had gotten it around him and tied. Natsu smiled and thanked her. Erza told him to wait a little longer and gave him an indiscernible look.

As per his instructions, Natsu waited for a bit. It didn't take long. Natsu was still confused. Sixteen years away from human civilization will do that to a person. Natsu knew exactly what to do in dragon culture, just not… you know. His people's culture. The humans and mages. It was odd, he could literally go out and kill dragons, but was lost in the ways of taking someone out on a date. The pink haired teen heard the door open and looked over. Mira stepped out and walked over to him.

"Natsu," Mira said slowly. Natsu was just the tinniest bit scared, only the smallest fraction of him, just a little, miniscule part of him was scared. Actually, that was a flat out lie, Natsu was scared out of his mind. He was supposed to do something, but what? He had to say something.

"You look nice?" Natsu asked. It was at this point that Natsu realized that he should have followed Gray's advice and written what to say on his hand. Thankfully, he'd had the foresight to ask his friends about some advice. Gray had given him some tips about making things go smoothly and Erza had told her about some of the things Mira liked. And on top of that, Igneel had given him plenty of advice before he set off on his own too.

"Thank you," Mira said happily, taking in his new clothing and ignoring Natsu's utter confusion.

"Oh thank god, she didn't notice it," Natsu muttered Natsu quietly.

"So Natsu, where are we going?" Mira asked as they began walking. She looked rather nice and Natsu found that he liked her hair when it was up though he was pretty sure he just liked her hair in general. he snapped back to the conversation and thought for a second. Luckily, Igneel had prepare him for that exact line, there was always a good way to solve that question. In all honesty, he had no idea where to go, but that was where Igneel's advice came in. Ask her best friend to handle the stuff. Get her to do the reservations and pick the place. So Natsu did exactly that, and asked Erza.

"You know that small place near the outside of town that has really good steak?" Natsu asked. According to Erza, Mira loved steak.

"Yeah, is that where we are going?" Mira asked with a hint of what Natsu thought was hopefulness.

"Maybe," Natsu said, "After, we're going on a walk, maybe something else if it's not too late."

"Late is the best time for a walk," Mira smiled at him. Natsu grinned. He was more of a night person anyway.

"My wish is your command," Natsu mock bowed before laughing. Mira smiled at his antics. Their walk towards the restaurant was easy and comfortable. As soon as they arrived at the little place, they quickly found themselves being seated. The waitress seemed nice and after taking their orders, left them to their own devices. Natsu took in the particular scents around him and found himself asking Mira about them. Due to her cooking knowledge and overall experience, she proved to be an invaluable tool at identifying what they were. Mira noticed that Natsu seemed to have a particularly robust vocabulary when it came to describing the scents around him. Maybe it was just his food addiction.

She smiled at his antics. Not for the first time, she found herself laughing at his actions. She did have to stop him from lighting a napkin on fire though. His etiquette needed a bit of work but she thought it was endearing and a bit adorable. On the other side of the table though, Natsu was trying not to mess anything up. He was having a bit of a hard time acting normal and he couldn't quite place his finger on why. The little man in his head did tell him to just relax and act like himself. As such, he attempted to eat the tablecloth. Mira smacked his hand away from it as it began to lightly smoke. Luckily, it was a steakhouse and most wouldn't notice the slight smoky smell.

After a bit more conversation, the food arrived and Natsu found that Mira did indeed like steak. He couldn't blame her. Steak was amazing. He'd ordered something he couldn't pronounce and Mira had had to translate it for the waitress who had been utterly baffled by Natsu's pronunciation. Mira had ordered the same thing though she'd added a small salad. Natsu, for some reason, felt relieved that she could pack so much food away. He smiled as he watched her eat. He'd finished a few minutes ago though that was likely because of his manner of eating. He'd essentially just torn off large chunks of meat and shoveled it into his mouth. Mira chuckled as she'd seen him eat. Where Natsu was unrefined and a bit messy, Mira was the exact opposite and was taking her time. It really was a good steak.

After their dinner, Natsu had pulled some money out of his little requip dimension and attempted to pay for the meal but they both quickly realized Natsu had no idea how human money really worked. She did briefly recall Erza telling him about the required amount of money for sweets when they'd gone to get cheesecake so that explained that.

"Natsu that's too much," Mira laughed, "Way too much."

Natsu scratched the back of his head, "How much do I pay then?"

Mira smiled and took a few of the bills from him and placed them with the check. She handed the rest back to him before narrowing her eyes, "Natsu how do you have money? I know we did an S-class job earlier but even before we did that you had money."

"Oh my dad made sure I had money before I came back. He thought it would be important," Natsu shrugged, "I have plenty of those little bill thingies."

"How much is plenty?" Mira asked curiously. Where did he get all the bills from? Her enigmatic friend was becoming more and more interesting by the day.

"I dunno, probably enough to fill the room?" Natsu rubbed the back of his head, "Is that a lot?"

Mira blinked, "Come again?"

"Yeah Igneel insisted I bring more but I told him I could just make more," Natsu shrugged it off as he glanced at the check. He placed one of the bills Mira had handed him on the table. Erza and Igneel had insisted this was important but he was unsure why. Mira stared at him like he'd said something outlandish (which he had but he didn't know that), "Is that a lot or something?"

"Probably more than most people will see in a lifetime," Mira said. She was well off because of all the S-class missions she used to take but that was still a lot of money to just have, "How did your dad get all of it?"

"He asked a friend of his that lived here," Natsu said nonchalantly as they stood up. He offered his hand and she gladly took it as they got up, "Ice cream?"

Mira smiled at her friend, "Sounds like fun, Natsu."

"Great!" Natsu said happily. He took care not to drag her around like he did last time. He was sure she wouldn't have appreciated that, "How'd you enjoy dinner?"

"I think we'll have to go back there more often," Mira said easily as she linked her arm with his. Natsu was unsure why he was getting stared at as he passed people on the street. Maybe he looked funny. Mira on the other hand was quite used to it and simply brushed it off. It was a bit colder tonight though Natsu acted like a personal space heater and literally radiated heat around him. It was quite comfortable actually. They made easy conversation ranging from the best color (which Natsu insisted was red and Mira insisted was black) to some of their friends. Mira explained that Fairy Tail tended to be a place for misfits and outcasts and that most of the people there had nobody else and found comfort in each other. She referenced herself and Erza specifically though Natsu couldn't help but feel like she was leaving something about herself out. As they got their ice cream and headed back outside, the conversation turned to Natsu and his experiences. She asked him specifically about Igneel and Natsu felt happy to talk about it.

He explained how he didn't know his parents but had a brother before being found by Igneel. He left out some of the parts about Zeref but he figured he'd tell her about it in the future. Mirajane found that Igneel and Natsu seemed to be very similar. Both were goofy and fun loving while also being rather loyal to those around them. All good traits to have. It did make sense though as they were basically father and son. Mira smiled happily as the two conversed. Both seemed to be in high spirits. Natsu considered this date to be a success though he'd wait to see what Mira thought. He briefly noted that she yawned quickly suppressed a comment about how cute she looked. In a not very Natsu fashion, he had spent a considerable portion of the night (at least compared to usual) looking at his date. She really was pretty though he tried to ignore those pesky little thoughts.

She yawned again and Natsu teased her about it being time for them to head home. She smacked him lightly but agreed nevertheless. She'd once again linked her arm with Natsu. While there was the occasional brush against each other or other small form of contact, Mira had never really noticed that his skin was as hot as it was. It wasn't painfully hot by any means but it was definitely hotter than normal humans. She brushed it off though. It was just something that made her friend more unique. Eventually, much to her (and Natsu's annoyance) they arrived at her home. After a quick goodbye and a hug, they set off on their separate ways. Mira briefly wondered if Erza was still awake before getting ready for bed.

Natsu on the other hand was elated. It had been a good night. The food was good, their walk was fun, but his company was the best aspect of the night to be sure. He smiled to himself and began on his normal path towards the forest but another peculiar scent caught his attention. It was fresh, as in a few minutes fresh which didn't bode well. Natsu slightly picked up the pace, rushing towards the direction of the scent. Natsu arrived at a small square in town, with one large tree, and three bodies strung up on it.