Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 19: "Lullaby"

(Year: X784)

"This is some nice wine," Naruto mentioned as he sat down, "I'm surprised you had this. Were you planning on celebrating when your mission was over? How cute. You don't mind if I take it, do you? I didn't think so."

'Oi! Naru-boy!'

Naruto continued to examine the bottle of wine, 'Chōmei? What's up? Do you and Fu need something?'

'Yes. Have you ever heard of the guild called Eisenwald?'

'One second,' Naruto looked down to the guy he was sitting on, "Hey, what did you say your guild name was?"

"Ugh..E-Eisenwald…"

Nodding, Naruto's eyes returned to the bottle, 'Yep, I've heard of them. Gaara and I just beat that guild to a bloody pulp.'

'What!?'

Naruto and Gaara were at the edge of a small town with a rather large train station called Kunugi. The people of the town were looking on in awe after seeing the two mages effortlessly defeating the dark mages that had been threating the town mere minutes ago. The duo was on the verge of contacting the army to take the dark mages into custody when Chōmei contacted them.

'Yeah,' Naruto nodded as he stood up from the pile of unconscious bodies he had been sitting on, 'We were heading to the annual meeting of the guild masters when these assholes popped up. They were taking over the town, and when they saw us, they started mouthing off about how weak we were. That lasted about two seconds.'

'Well, okay then. Did you find a flute on those guys?'

'A flute?' Naruto looked over to Gaara, "Hey, do these morons have a flute?"

"Nope. That wine was the best thing I found," Gaara noted, "Why?"

"Chōmei wants to know. I think Fu is looking for these guys," Naruto gave a shrug.

"Well, she has an easy job ahead of her then," Gaara smirked, "But why a flute?"

"I'll ask," Naruto turned his attention to Chōmei, 'They don't have a flute. Why? Is it important?'

'You could say that…'


Fu opened her eyes. With a quick nod, she exited the train's bathroom walked back to her seat, 'This is coincidental.'

'No! It's luck!' Chōmei sounded pleased, 'Erza-girl was smart to ask us to come along. Our luck is what made this easy.'

Fu gave a small laugh, 'I don't think Erza relies on luck, but she was smart to ask me to come along.'

Reaching her seat, Fu looked at her current teammates and smiled, "I just contacted Gaara-kun and Naruto with my Communication Lacrima. It turns out that they've had a run in with Eisenwald."

"Really?" Erza's eyes widened a fraction, "I was just hoping that they would have some information for us."

"They actually did," Fu's eyes twinkled with mischievous, "Apparently, they were delivering something to the meeting of the guild masters. Eisenwald was actually heading there, and they crossed paths at Kunugi, which means we shouldn't get off at Onibas. We should stay on the train for a bit longer, isn't that great, Natsu?"

"Noooooooo…" Natsu moaned in agony as his motion sickness flared up even more. He leaned against the window of the train and tried not to vomit.

"Hahahahahaha!" Fu pointed at Natsu and reared her head back in laughter, "It never stops being funny. The great Salamander can't handle a moving vehicle."

"Gah…" Natsu groaned pitifully.

"It's okay, Natsu," Happy gently patted Natsu's head, "Will fish make you feel better?"

Natsu's response was to gag.

"Good, because I wasn't going to share my fish anyway…"

"Selfish cat," Lucy scoffed. She couldn't believe that she got dragged into this. Mirajane asked her to come in order to keep the group from imploding, but their strangeness was something she was still getting used to right now.

"Well, we better get comfortable," Gray noted as he leaned back in his seat and ignored the announcement that the train was arriving at Onibas.

"Gray, please stop that," Lucy looked away in disgust, "You're not wearing any pants, and I really don't want to see that."

"Damn it!" Gray instantly shot up and looked around, "Where did they go?!"

As Gray desperately looked for his pants, Fu went on to explain further, "There is a problem, though. They didn't find Lullaby even though they beat Erigor."

"That means our target is still out there," Erza frowned, "Whoever is holding that cursed flute will certainly flee as soon as he hears about what happened. It will be impossible to find him—"

Fu suddenly interrupted Erza with a yell as she jumped to her feet and kicked a man that was passing by their seats. The man with black hair pulled back into a spikey pony tail instantly crumbled beneath the force of Fu's kick. The mint haired woman then reached over to the unconscious man and pulled out a demonic looking flute.

"Found it! This dumbass was carrying it in his back pocket!" Fu held up the flute in victory.

"Well…" Erza blinked, "This mission was far easier than I thought it would be."

Lucy nodded in agreement, "It's so anti-climactic. If this was a story and I was a reader, I would be totally disappointed. I mean, there were so many coincidences. The Sword and the Shield were somehow at the exact right place at the exact right time to stop Eisenwald. The guy holding Lullaby was on the exact same train as us and only Fu noticed. It almost feels lazy, like this situation doesn't matter at all in the long run."

"I don't know," Happy looked around to see Gray desperately looking for his pants, Natsu trying not to vomit, and Fu doing a little victory dance, "I think we should appreciate the humor the situation. Not everything needs to be serious. We need to enjoy these moments where the universe seems to be pulling a prank on us."

Lucy titled her head in thought, "Wow, Happy. That's surprisingly mature of you."

"Fish!"

"And there it goes…"


"Tell us again what happened," The captain of the army squad commanded.

"Oh Kami," Naruto face palmed, "I've told you this three times already. We showed up. These guys caused trouble. We beat them up. That's it."

"But there's almost forty of them! And they have Erigor the Shinigami!" The captain argued, "There's no way you could have beaten them all."

"Really? You're acting like these people were big deals? We beat them all in less than two minutes," Naruto scoffed, "And I'm a Sky God Slayer. All of Erigor's attack made me stronger. This was like fighting a bunch of people trying to beat you in a fight by feeding you."

"You…fool…" A man with spikey white hair groaned from his position on the ground, "I will…have my revenge…on you and…"

Gaara kicked him upside the head, "Oh shut up. You already lost."

"I see…" The captain wiped the sweat from his forehead, "Well, you must admit, it does seem strange. Two people defeating an entire dark guild, especially one that just stole from the Magic Council."

Naruto rolled his eyes, "And this is why I don't usually stick around for the army to show up. Gaara, what would it take to get you to kill me right now."

"Only if you agree to kill me too," Gaara noted.

"Fair enough," Naruto nodded, "The sweat release of death is better than talking to this guy."

"I'm standing right here," The captain frowned.

"Trust me, I know."

"Hey! Naruto! Gaara-kun!" Fu's voice sounded through the area.

"Crap," Naruto suddenly stepped away from Gaara. He then addressed the captain, "You might want to back away."

"Why—"

"GAARA-KUN!" Fu lunged herself at Gaara. The red head quickly caught his girlfriend and held her up. This allowed Fu to wrap her legs around his waist and viciously began to kiss him. Gaara responded with equal vigor and quickly created a dome of sand around them to give some privacy. The captain was easily pushed away by the sand and was sent tumbling back just like everything else around the duo.

"What?" Lucy's eyes widened as she and the rest of the group witnessed Fu lung at Gaara, "What's going on?"

Erza was blushing, "Fu…is a very passionate person. Every time she's away from Gaara for more than a week, she just lunges at him. I've tried to stop her, but she is S-class as well. I've tried to get the other S-class and Master to help, but they think it's hilarious."

"It kind of is," Gray noted, "As long as Gaara hides what's going on in there at least, because I have no desire to know anything about their sex lives."

"Says the guy that's walking around half-naked most of the time," Lucy deadpanned.

"Hey! I found my pants, didn't I?!"

Natsu ignored this and followed Fu's lead. He lunged forward. Unlike Fu, though, he was lunging fist first, "Naruto! Fight me!"

Naruto caught Natsu and suplexed him onto the ground.

"Ah!"

Naruto dusted off his hands, "I win."

"Naruto-san!" Erza smiled at Naruto, "It's good to see you."

"Erza," Naruto nodded at her. He then looked to her companions, "Gray, good to see you have some clothes on."

"Bite me, asshole."

"No thanks," Naruto then looked to see the young blonde woman in the group, "Lucy-hime, hello. I see that you joined Fairy Tail."

Lucy rubbed the pink guild mark that now covered her right hand, "Yeah, I finally did it."

Naruto noticed the pleading look she gave to not reveal too much, "Good for you."

"You know Lucy?" Erza questioned.

"Yeah, I ran into her a few years ago," Naruto shrugged, "She wanted to join Fairy Tail, so I gave her a few tips."

"Naruto-san taught you?" Erza's eyes lit up, "You must be extremely strong, Lucy. We should spar sometime."

"Err…" Lucy began to sweat as she remembered seeing the entire Fairy Tail guild cower before Erza, "Maybe…He really didn't' show me any magic. He just gave some tips on how to be stronger."

"Yeah…" Natsu groaned as Happy helped him up, "He does that with me all the time."

"Yet you rarely listen," Naruto mentioned, "Maybe if you did, you'd actually sneak a hit in."

"Hey!" The captain of the army suddenly shouted, "Attacking a member of the army is warrant for arrest! Tell them to get out here."

"Hey, I warned you to move out of the way," Naruto shrugged, "And when they get started, it's not smart to interrupt them. Trust me, we should just wait it out and have some drinks. I just got this great bottle of wine we can bust out."

"Will they really take that long?" Lucy suddenly felt really embarrassed as she realized what exactly was happening behind the sand. Granted, the sand filtered out the noise and the sight, but she still knew what was happening. Of course, this was better than the time when she was staying at a hotel and her neighbors were rather loud…

Yeah. That was worse.

"It depends on Fu's mood," Naruto pulled out the bottle of wine and began to open it, "I've waited up to two hours once. That's when I decided to take up drinking."

'You forget to mention that Chōmei and Shukaku were doing a play by play in your head.'

'And that's why I needed to drink. Thanks for blocking them out.'

'Hey, whatever you hear, I hear, and I really didn't need to know how flexible Fu is.'

"Wait," Erza held up a hand to stop Naruto, "Before we celebrate, we must decide to do with this."

She held up the flute.

"Oh, so you found the flute…" Naruto paused and stared at the instrument, "Wait, is that Lullaby?"

Erza blinked, "You've heard of it?"

"Of course," Naruto leaned in to examine the flute, "It was created by Zeref. Whenever it plays, it kills whoever hears it."

"What?!" That was pretty much the reaction everyone had.

"I-I remember hearing about that actually," Lucy mentioned, "To think…if a dark guild got a hold on that…"

"And that is why I'll be confiscating it!" The army captain suddenly stepped up and took the flute, "This was stolen from the Magic Council. In return for you returning this, I won't arrest you for having it in your possession."

"Gee, thanks," Gray gestured to the guy he was dragging behind him, "This is the guy we found it on, by the way. He's your problem now."

"Of course."

"Kakakaka…Sorry, but no. I'm not going back into storage," A dark voice sounded out from Lullaby. Dark smoke poured out of the flute holes. Soon, the smoke rose up making the flute disappear from the captain's hands. The black smoke then clustered nearby, forming a giant demon made of twisted wood and demonic horns, "Instead, I'll consume your soul!"

"AH!" Happy and Lucy cried out in shock, "It turned into a demon!"

Everyone around began to scream. The town civilians looked on in terror as the demon loomed in front of their town. The soldiers looked like they were about to soil themselves in fear. Even the Fairy Tail mages looked surprised.

Naruto just looked on impassively.

"So it's alive," Naruto mentioned, "Considering Zeref's reputation, I'm not surprised."

"Foolish humans. All talk. No action," Lullaby drawled, "I'll put you out of your misery."

Everyone that wasn't a mage began to run away screaming, even the soldiers.

"Alright!" Natsu grinned as he punched his fist into his free hand, "This is going to be—"

He was quickly silenced as sand crashed into Lullaby causing the demon's wooden body to crack before the pressure.

"Geeze," Gaara noted as the sand dome fell to reveal him and Fu quickly fixing their clothes, "Whenever I start to enjoy myself, giant monsters show up and make a lot of noise."

Fu finished adjusting her skirt, "You're right. This is the fifth time it's happened. I blame you, Naruto."

"Don't look at me," Naruto held up the bottle of booze he was holding, "I was planning on drinking."

"How dare you!" Lullaby shouted out angrily, "I'll kill you—"

BOOM!

Fu lowered her hands after detonating her bombs. Gaara had used his sand to stick her bombs to the demon without anyone noticing, "So you were planning on drinking without us."

Naruto sighed as he tossed the still unopened bottle at Gaara. He then reached to his pouches and pulled out two kunai, "I can't win, can I?"

"Nope," Gaara popped open the wine and took a large sip, "Not when Fu's around. That's one of the many reasons why I love her."

"Oh, you're so sweet, love," Fu smiled at him.

"Yeah, yeah…" Naruto turned to the now smoking and very injured Lullaby.

"Damn you! Damn you!" Lullaby cried he tried to use his magic, but he was unable to breathe out properly because of the holes that lined his body.

"Many have," Naruto shrugged. He channeled his magic to his kunai, "Sky God's Tantō."

"RAW!" Lullaby swiped an arm down at Naruto. He stopped mid-swing, though when Naruto swung his kunai. Long black blades of wind shot out and cut across Lullaby's body. A giant x appeared across Lullaby's chest before the demon fell apart into four separate parts and crumbled to the ground.

"What?" Happy's jaw dropped as Lullaby's body disappeared in dust.

"Wow," Lucy looked on in awe. They took down a demon of Zeref with ease.

Naruto holstered his kunai, "Pass the booze. All this crap's given me a headache."


Naruto glanced over his shoulder to the people following him to a rather old building in the middle of the woods, "You don't have to come with us, you know."

"Nonsense!" Erza gave him a thumbs up and smiled brightly, "It's only fair. You helped with our mission, so we should help you with yours."

"You sure that's the reason you wanted to follow him?" Gray questioned with a sly smirk. That smirk quickly disappeared when Erza elbowed him in the ribs so hard that he began to wheeze out in shock.

"Of course," Erza gave Gray a sideways glare.

"If you say so," Naruto shrugged and continued down the path to the meeting hall, "Don't think that this will be all that exciting, though."

"But it should be important, right?" Lucy's eyes lit up with curiosity, "I mean, you're delivering an important package to all the major guild masters in Fiore. And why did they have you two do it when they have tons of mages that they could assign to do it. Is this a super-secret magical item that can only be seen by their eyes?"

Gaara gained a small smirk, "You could say that."

"Oh! Is it that thing?!" Fu's face brightened, "It taught me so much!"

"That thing?" Natsu tilted his head in confusion, "So it's a book teaching awesome magic!? So cool!"

"Aye, sir!" Happy cheered.

"Not exactly…" Naruto walked up to the front door of the meeting hall and knocked on it. To his surprise, it swung open immediately.

"Naruto! Gaara!" Makarov looked up desperately to the two mages, "You have to help! Mira just contacted me! Natsu, Gray, Fu, and Erza just formed a team! I need you two to find them and keep them from destroying a town or something!"

Naruto pointed over his shoulder to the mages, "Done."

Makarov's jaw dropped. He looked back and forth between Naruto and Fairy Tail mages. Tears of joy began to leak from his eyes, "You two are miracle workers!"

"Tell us something we don't know," Gaara noted as he began to slowly move backwards, gaining some confused looks from the Fairy Tail mages.

Makarov nodded, "So, did you bring the—"

"Oh~ Did I hear Naruto-kun and Gaara-kun!?" A voice sounded from behind Makarov.

Naruto instantly deflated, "Oh Kami, I forgot about Master Bob…"

"Naruto-kun~" An elderly man with a bald head lunged at Naruto. That would have been scary enough for the blond, but the makeup and dress that covered the man made it all the worse for him, "It's so good to see you~ You're still so cute with your whiskers~"

Naruto frowned as Bob pinched his cheeks, "Ish goosh to shee yous too, Masher Bob. Please lesh go of my face."

"Oh, I could just eat you up," Bob winked and then looked around, "And where is that cute Gaara-kun"

"He's in the sand dome," Fu pointed behind her to the dome covering Gaara.

The front of the dome shifted to spell out the words, 'Do not disturb.'

"Silly Gaara-kun~" Tiny wings behind Bob began to flutter as he flew over to the dome. He then used his magic to phase right through the dome, much to Gaara's horror.

"Fu! Help me!" Gaara demanded as the sand fell away, "I do belong to you, right? No one else should touch me like that!"

Fu stroked her chin, "Hmm…I'm going to allow it."

"Fu!"

"Hey! Hey! Hey!" Voices called from the meeting hall. The different masters began to pile out and look at Naruto expectantly, "Did you bring the thing?!"

Naruto nodded. He quickly pulled a small package out of his Requip space, "Here you go."

In the blink of the eye, the package was ripped away from Naruto. The Fairy Tail mages looked on with extreme interest as the masters toe the package open and gathered around it. The younger mages tried to look to see what gained so much interest from such masters.

"It's glorious!" Makarov cried out.

"It's beautiful!" Another one of the masters remarked.

Lucy, however, was not as impressed, "It's porn!"

It was true. The old perverts were all crowding around a brightly colored book with obvious warnings of the book's nature. Every one of the older mages in the circle were blushing and giggling over the adult fiction.

Natsu immediately fell to the ground laughing.

"Old perverts!" Lucy cried in outrage.

Happy had to nod, "Aye, sir. It's a little sad."

"Well, it's to be expected with those guys, right Erza?" Gray blinked, "Erza?"

Erza with an incredibly flushed face had managed to make her way to the group of masters and was trying to subtly look at the book. She was failing badly. This was completely different from Fu who was giggling just as much as the old men.

Fu pointed down at the book, "Yeah, Gaara and I tried that once."

"Oh come on!" Lucy looked disappointed. Was this a secret of being a strong mage? Every powerful mage she ever met was extremely insane and eccentric. Naruto was an ass. Gray was a stipper. Natsu was more dog than man. And apparently, Erza was a closet pervert.

Naruto looked over to Lucy and shrugged, "Never meet your heroes."

"Hey! Hey!" Gaara yelled out as Bob continued to smother him with affection, "For the love of Kami, someone help me already."

"Oh right…Forgot about you…"

"Wow, Naruto…" Gray tried to hold back his laughter, "You're such a good friend."


Makarov sat on the roof of the meeting hall. Behind him, Naruto leaned against the chimney. Gaara and Fu were also nearby, leaning into each other and looking up to the night sky.

"Thanks for the excuse to meet you in person," Naruto noted.

"Well…" Makarov lifted a bottle of beer up to his lips and took a sip, "It's not like you to request a meeting away from Fairy Tail. I knew it must be important."

"It is. If we were around your guild members, it might cause panic," Naruto sighed, "Phantom Lorde is about to make their move on Fairy Tail."

Makarov frowned, "Are they know? And how do you know this?"

"Because Lucy Heartfilia is in your guild now. She's the heir to a wealthy name, and her father isn't just going to let her run away," Naruto explained, "With this being such a high profile case, it will gain attention no matter what. It will be bad publicity for him to go with a dark guild, so he's going to use the one legal guild stupid enough to fight against you."

"Yes…Jose's definitely the type of man to take advantage of such a thing," Makarov let out a sigh.

"You're not going to do anything to Lucy-chan, right?" Fu spoke up, "She's a nice person."

"Fairy Tail mages never betray their family," Makarov noted, "Do I need to remind you of that, Fu? I mean, really, helping these two with their plans. I think you deserve punishment."

"No~ Not punishment!" Fu hugged Gaara close, "Save me, Gaara-kun!"

Gaara patted her lightly on the head, "To be fair, we didn't do anything to push this forward. Naruto just tried to make sure the girl wouldn't be useless in the fight."

"True, I've seen the conviction in her eyes," Makarov took another sip of his drink, "She would have joined no matter what. I suppose it can't be helped. What can you tell me about what Phantom Lorde is planning?"

"That I can't really help you on," Naruto admitted, "Getting info on legal guilds is hard with the way I work, and it doesn't help that Jose has kept everything close to his chest."

Makarov nodded, "I see. Then I suppose I will need to take my attention off of Ivan for a while."

Naruto snorted, "Your son won't be a threat for a long time, if ever. No, he's a small fish in the Balm Alliance right now. The big three...now those guys we need to worry about."

"Perhaps, but Ivan has very important information about Fairy Tail. He's a different kind of threat to the guild," Makarov explained.

"Then, when we have free time, we'll beat him until he forgets that info," Fu suggested, "That will fix things."

Makarov lowered his head, "I don't want my son hurt, Fu. I've already lost both of the children I raised, but at least Ivan is alive."

Naruto shifted uncomfortably, "Yeah…"

Makarov stood and began to walk back to the stairs, "By the way, I have to ask, Naruto. Did Phantom Lorde's ace influence your decision to help Lucy?"

"What?"

"Arashi Kazen," Makarov gave Naruto a sidle glance, "How long have you known about him."

"…Since he joined Phantom Lorde," Naruto admitted, "I've needed a way to get to him."

Makarov gained a disappointed look, "And you're using this conflict to get to him. How disappointing. I thought that you might have changed a little over the years."

Naruto shook his head, "I haven't."

"I see…" Makarov turned to face Naruto, "You plan to kill him. Why? Do you hate him?"

"I don't hate him, and I don't plan to kill him. I'm just going to beat him until he can't move anymore."

Makarov glared at Naruto, "That sounds like you're going to kill him."

"I'm not. I promise. I…I just…It's personal, okay," Naruto bit his lip, "I have to do this. It's one of the two things left that Kaa-san asked me to do."

"I see…" Makarov placed a hand on his face, "That foolish girl."

"Don't insult her!" Naruto snapped, "You were that pushed her into asking me! You were the one that let the Magic Council take him!"

Makarov flinched, "I…I didn't have a choice…"

He remembered that day. April had run away after her husband had died. Makarov went to look for her. The poor girl had been so broken up, she was bound to be a wreck. He wanted to be there for her. He never suspected what she would try to do.

The massive surge of magic had made the entire city tremble. It was far worse than even Gildarts's worst moments. Without a moment's hesitation, Makarov rushed to the source. Whatever April had set up, it was far outside the city. After making his way through the forest, Makarov came to a giant crater. Amidst the rising smoke and magic, April knelt holding a screaming bundle in her arms.

"April!" Makarov ran into the large barren crater, "What have you done."

April was crying when she turned to him. She held the bundle close to her arms, "I…I did it. My baby. Mine and Kai's. I finally made it, but…"

Makarov looked at the bundle and flinched, "No…You didn't. You know that magic is forbidden! How could you!"

"I had to try!" April began to sob as she looked down to the distorted creature in her arms, "But I failed! He's suffering because…Gack! Ack!"

Makarov's eyes widened when April bent over and vomited pure blood. She gagged and spit as the blood poured from her mouth and onto the ground below her. Some off the ooze even fell on the artificial infant in her arms.

"APRIl!"

Makrov looked up to the knight sky, "She and her husband had been trying for years to have a child. It never worked out, though. They just…couldn't. Adoption did come up, but before they could decide anything, Kai ran into Bluenote on a mission. Bluenote knew that Kai was April's husband, so he killed Kai as revenge for his loss."

"And April took it badly enough to create a fake child?" Gaara frowned, "How does that even work?"

"Life Make magic. It's a long since forbidden form of magic just like reviving the dead. It's a bit different, though. By taking DNA from Kai and herself, April attempted a ritual that would create a being with the mix of that DNA," Makarov sighed, "She desperately wanted Kai to live on somehow, and she wanted to be the mother of his child more than anything else. The ritual worked, but the Dollotron she created was distorted and the backlash destroyed her insides with a disease. Her life was shortened by several decades."

"But what happened?" Naruto demanded, "Kaa-san's notes said that Arashi was taken by the Magic Council."

"Of course. They couldn't ignore such a huge surge of magic after all," Makarov nodded, "They came to investigate, and the traces of the ritual made it abundantly clear what happened. Because of April's fame and popularity, they were willing to let her go. She was already paying for her decision after all, but they did demand to take the Dollotron."

"NO! He's mine to deal with!" April screamed out. Gildarts had to hold her back to keep her from attacking the soldiers carrying the child away, "You can't take him!"

"Yes, they can, April," Makarov shook his head, "Dollotron's aren't considered real humans and are illegal. They can do what they want with him."

"No! They'll torture him!" April desperately tried to pull herself free, "Just put him out of his misery at least! He shouldn't suffer!"

"April! It's too late!" Gildarts grunted out as April clawed at him, "We can't let Fairy Tail get shut down because of this! If we fight, all of us will be arrested too! Families will be torn apart! Lives will be lost! I know it hurts, but we can't do anything!"

"What if it was your child?! Would you just let them do this?!"

"No! That's why you would have to hold me back! This is for your own good, April. I'm so sorry!"

"NO! NO! ARASHI! HE'S MY RESPONSIBILITY! MINE! PLEASE! ARASHI!"

"April left soon after that, and you know the rest…" Makarov rubbed his face tiredly, "I always felt bad about letting that happen, but there was no other way. It's a tough choice, but I couldn't chose one over one hundred even if he was my grandson by all technicality. I can't believe Arashi's still alive, though…"

"He learned Life God Slayer magic and escaped," Naruto noted, "That's all I know. From what I heard from Yajima and Marissa, the Council looked for him. By the time they found him, he was already a well-known mage in Phantom Lorde. They couldn't just arrest him for no reason without losing face, so they just kept an eye on him."

"Just like you have," Makarov mentioned.

"Indeed, April passed the responsibility onto me, and I will deal with it," Naruto clenched his fists, "No matter what."


"Are you sure you guys don't want to come back with us to Fairy Tail?" Natsu smiled at Naruto and Gaara, "We're going to have a huge party, then Erza and I are going to fight!"

Erza nodded, "A deal is a deal."

"No, thanks," Naruto shook his head, "We have other things we need to do. In fact, we've got a meeting in a week, so we're going to head out."

"What kind of meeting? Is it about fish?" Happy questioned.

"I wish," Naruto smirked, "It's a lot more boring than that, but I got to do it."

"Then farewell, Naruto-san," Erza blushed as looked the blonde right in the eyes, "Until we meet again. Next time, perhaps I'll get to show off my strength as well."

"Maybe," Naruto looked over to Gaara and Fu. Fu was passionately giving Gaara a long goodbye kiss, "Gaara! We need to head out!"

"Fine—You heard the man, Fu. Sto—mmh"

Fu pulled away, "Sorry! Just one more for the road!"

"Be safe, Naruto," Lucy gave him a small smile, "I hope everything works out for you."

Naruto's lips twitched, "Same for you, Lucy.-hime"

"Come on!" Gaara suddenly stepped by and began to pull Naruto along, "If we stay any longer, Fu will take it up a level."

"Okay,"

"Bye, Naruto!" Natsu waved happily at the retreating duo, "Next time, I'll beat you for sure!"

Makarov smiled at this interaction. At least in situations like this, Naruto appeared normal and kind. The old mage just wished it was real. Even if it was for selfish reasons, Naruto had done plenty of good for Fairy Tail. The boy deserved some peace.

For some reason, though, Makarov felt a knot in his stomach like great trouble was on the horizon for his adopted grandson.


"You didn't tell Makarov the other reason you wanted to meet with Arashi," Gaara noted as they walked down the path to their next destination.

"He doesn't need to know," Naruto noted as he eyed his book on Sky God Slayer magic, "No one does, really."

"Maybe, but it does make you come off as a noble person," Gaara joked, "Can't have that, can we?"

Naruto shrugged, "Whatever helps me to my goals. If I look like a saint, it will be easier to move once all this is done, and we'll need that. Otherwise, I won't be able to learn the secrets hidden in this beauty."

Gaara eyed the book in curiosity, "I have always wondered what all the secrets with God Slayers were about. Once we get that blood, we'll be one step close to killing Zeref and making your dream come true."

"About that…" Naruto's eyes shifted to Gaara, "I see how you and Fu are every time you leave her to follow me. Shouldn't you focus on—"

"No."

"Gaara, I don't want to be reason you and Fu don't work out," Naruto argued, "You should join Fairy Tail and team up with Fu. You two deserve to be happy."

"And leave you alone in the dust? No way," Gaara glared at Naruto, "You're my best friend, Naruto. I will never abandon you. I'll follow you into hell and back if I have to."

"That's what worries me," Naruto shook his head, "I'm fine with dying to achieve my dream, but you…You have more to live for."

"I wouldn't even have this life if it wasn't for you," Gaara looked absolutely furious, "I never forgot that, Naruto. Every bit of happiness I have was because you saved me. I owe you everything, and I'm going to pay you back by helping you get the one thing you want. Fu feels the same. We're on your side until the bitter end."

"Then I'll have to make sure it doesn't come to that," Naruto noted.

"Damn right," Gaara punched Naruto on the shoulder, "Now lead on. We have a meeting, right?"

"Right..." Naruto nodded, "The 'Recruitment' summons in a week. It's really just an excuse to see our powers up close."

"Then that means we need a plan to avoid showing too much. What do you got?"

"I have a few different ideas…"


(One week later...)

"Excuse me, miss, could I get some more tea?"

"O-Of course," The waitress blushed as the handsome man in front of her gave her a charming smile. The air of confidence around him along with his sharp suit made him look extremely important and successful, "Um…Kazen-sama…"

"Just call me Arashi, beautiful," Arashi winked at her.

Gajeel groaned as the giggling woman, "Why do you have to do that with every decent looking woman? You don't even sleep with them most of the time."

"I'm just looking for love," Arashi leaned back in his chair and smiled, "Not all of us live for violence. I think there's more than that. You never know, she might be the love of your life."

"Or she's just the woman that brought you a piece of pie," Gajeel grunted as he bit into his fork and chewed the metal.

"What better way to fall for a girl," Arashi smiled, "And why are you giving me such a hard time? You catcall at women all the time."

"Meh, your polite ass makes me want to blow chunks. They all go gaga over you just because you put so much effort into your vein as hell appearance," Gajeel sneered.

"I enjoy looking my best," Arashi shrugged and ran a hand through his slicked back blonde hair.

"More like enjoy looking like a douche."

Arashi sighed and looked away, "You just don't understand."

"Of course not, dumbass. You—"

"Here's your tea. And I brought you some rolls, Arashi-samAAAH!" The waitress tripped on her way to their table. Hot tea went flying onto the God Slayer while the rolls tumbled to the ground. His suit was instantly drenched with the scolding liquid.

Everyone went silent and turned to the scene. They were well aware that Arashi and Gajeel were important members of the Phantom Lorde guilds, and mages from that guild wasn't known for their forgiving attitudes.

"O-Oh, Kami. I-I'm so sorry…" The waitress trembled in fear.

Arashi did not look to her. Instead, he reached down and grabbed one of the rolls. She expected him to throw it at her. Instead, he just took a bite of the bread.

Turning to her, he smiled, "Thank you."

"W-Why did you eat the roll? I-It's dirty."

"I don't waste food. This is nothing in a time where you're really hungry."

"B-But your suit…A-Are you mad?"

Arashi waved her off, "It's fine. I've been through a lot worse than this. The clothes still work, right? No harm done. And I'm sure the tea was delicious."

"Um…I…"

"Hey, stupid bitch, he's being nice," Gajeel noted, "Thank the man and step away."

"Right…Right…" The waitress slowly stepped away.

Gajeel turned to Arashi, "Love of your life, huh?"

"Meh, I said she could be," Arashi paused a he felt a change in the air, "Oh, they're here."

Gajeel sniffed the air, "Yeah."

Both Phantom Lorde mages turned to see Naruto and Gaara staring at them. Naruto was giving Arashi a hard look, "Hello, Arashi Kazen. You're not what I expected."

"And you're exactly what I expected, Naruto Uzumaki," For the first time, Arashi's smile fell, "Please, take a seat. We have a lot to discuss."


Omake: Fangirls

(Year: X783)

"Kya!"

Naruto paused in his walk, "What was that noise?"

"Ah! Oh Kami! It's Naruto-sama!"

Turning, Naruto saw a group of girls rushing towards him. He had to fight his instincts to defend himself. Based on the way they moved, all of them were civilians. It would be far more trouble than it was worth to hurt them. Still, he hated how they crowded around him.

"Naruto-sama! Naruto-sama!"

"Can I have your autograph!?"

"Marry me!"

"Well would you look at that," Fu stood a good distance away from the action with Gaara right by her side, "Looks like his fangirls finally caught up to him."

Gaara snorted, "Fangirls? He has those?"

"Oh please, every famous mage has at least some fangirls or fanboys in the women's cases," Fu explained, "I remember when I ran into some of mine. One of them offered to cut of his hand to date me. I said no, of course. Only one man for me."

"Damn straight."

Naruto struggled with what to do as the wild girls pulled him in different directions. Luckily, his clothes were sturdy, so they couldn't rip those. That same, however, could not be said for his hair, "Fu! Gaara! Help! I don't know how to handle this without hurting them!"

"Use substitution," Gaara suggested.

"Good—Hey! Give me back my hands! Wha? No! Don't put them there!"

Fu let out a low whistle, "Those girls know what they want."

"Just use your armor seals," Gaara spoke up again.

"Right, I—Holy hell! How did I get shirtless!?" There was no way they could have ripped his armor off like that! It was impossible!

"Such is the unholy power of the rabid fans," Fu nodded sagely, "Something as simple as logic, reason, or physics will never get in their way."

"Help me!"

Gaara popped his knuckles, "I'll just use my sand and—"

Fu stopped him by raising a hand. Her face turned into a deep scowl as she bellowed out a roar, "HEY!"

The fangirls instantly froze. Naruto gave her a thankful look. They were basically glomping themselves onto him at this point, and Naruto couldn't think of way out of this without hurting them and getting in trouble with the Magic Council.

"You see this!?" Fu reached over and grabbed Gaara by the shirt, "This is my man! Any woman that tries this with him gets her ass kicked! You hear me! I don't care who you are! This is where my future babies will come from, and no one allowed to touch him but me! So spread the word!"

One of the fangirls point to Naruto, "What about him?"

Fu shrugged, "You can do what you want with him."

"FU!" Naruto shouted in outrage.

"YAH!"

"I get him first!"

"No, I get him first!"

Naruto tried to struggle free as the rabid fangirls dragged him away, "Fu! FU! Stop joking around! Help me! Damn it, help me! Ow! Stop biting! Hey, don't touch that! DAMN IT! I'll never forgive you for this Fu!"

Gaara gave a low chuckle, "I love you so much right now."

"Oh, I love you too."

"Do you think he'll be alright?"

"Probably not, and he'll probably be pissed at us tomorrow. That's a problem for future Fu and Gaara, though," Fu traced her fingers across his chest, "Present Fu and Gaara have a whole hotel room to ourselves for a WHOLE night."

"That sounds fun, but I might end up laughing in the middle of it if I think of Naruto."

"That's fine. I like when you vibrate."


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