Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto and Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima. Anything I write in this story is purely from my thoughts

Chapter 6

"Welcome to Fairy Tail, Naruto," Mavis said with a huge smile on her face.

"Thank you for having me here," Naruto bowed. "Uhm, could you keep my story a secret for now… I don't think they would be quite accepting of me if they knew, y'know…"

"Okay, my boy. Just know that everyone here has their own stories to tell. I'm sure they won't judge if you tell the truth," Makarov said. "They will be surprised, I'm sure of that, but do not fret. Take as much time as you need."

"Thanks, gramps, Mavis-chan. That means a lot to me, y'know." Naruto smiled. "They're a rowdy bunch, aren't they?"

Makarov sighed. "They're a source of my never-ending headaches—"

He paused when he saw the white-haired small girl that had a cold chill run up her spine.

"Is anything the matter, Shodai-sama?" The old man asked.

"I-it's just…" Mavis shuddered. "I remember begging for forgiveness to townspeople for damage caused. All those bills…"

Naruto and Makarov both gave out a round of nervous laughter.

"So, my problems were your once your problems as well," Makarov said.

Mavis nodded. "I guess the spirit of Fairy Tail has reached even this generation as well."

"So, it seems…" Makarov said.

He turned to Naruto who was sending subtle glances towards the door.

"Why don't you see Mira and get you your guild mark, while I catch up with Shodai-sama?" Makarov said.

"Sure, gramps," Naruto said. "I'll see you later!"

The two guild masters watched as Naruto gave a wave and ran out of the room.

Once the door was closed, Makarov turned to Mavis and said, "He's quite the man, don't you think?"

"That's why I chose him," Mavis answered.

"So, tell me Shodai-sama. Why did you need to bring him here?"

"Well..."

FAIRY TAIL MAIN HALL

As the door opened, Naruto scanned the area. Everything was back to normal. Idle chatter was going on all around like they weren't at each other's throats a moment ago.

'That was fast,' Naruto thought. 'I thought they'd still be glaring at each other.'

Naruto quickly pushed that thought aside as she spotted the head waitress on the bar cleaning some cups and went over to her. Some of the wizards were eyeing him warily, but he couldn't blame them. The master did call him to his office on the first day he was here.

Mira spotted him walking towards him. When he was close to her, she greeted him saying, "Hello Naruto! I take it the talk with Master has gone well?"

"It was fine. Nothing serious, y'know" Naruto answered. "Gramps said I can get my stamped from you?"

"Oh, right this way," Mira said directing him to sit on the bar stool. She dug for something behind the counter and produced a stamp that looked like the one the Hokage used to stamp on the documents.

"So, what do I need to do?" Naruto asked.

"Just tell me where I should place the stamp and what color," Mira explained.

"I'll have it in orange! And place it here please," He said showing lower arm.

"Alright," Mira said.

She took Naruto's hand and pressed the stamp on his skin. The blonde was expecting pain to burn through his arm, but he was proven wrong when the stamp was lifted from his skin revealing a symbol of a fairy with its wings spread open in flight and a tail extending downwards.

"Thanks, Mira," Naruto said.

"Don't mention it," She answered.

Naruto looked around and immediately noticed the distinct lack of a buxom blonde and a pink-haired pyro.

He turned to Mira to ask, "Where are Natsu and Lucy?"

"Oh, they went over to Mount Hakobe to look for one of our guildmates," Mira answered.

"Why? What happened to him?" Naruto asked.

"We don't know," Mira shook her head. "A week ago, he took this monster slaying quest. It was supposed to only take him three days which he told his son, Romeo. And now, no one's heard from him since then. The poor boy's worried about him."

Naruto looked at the poor boy who sat by the entrance of the guild. He couldn't help but feel sorry for him.

"I hope his dad's okay," Naruto said. He knew what it felt like to grow up with no parents. Since the boy was waiting for his father alone, he figured that he only lived with his father. He couldn't help but think of the worst.

"Don't worry," Mira dashed his worries. "Natsu is one of our strongest wizards. If something goes wrong, I'm sure he could handle it."

"Yeah, don't worry about them," A new voice spoke from beside Naruto causing him to turn and look at the owner of the voice.

Sitting beside Naruto was tall, slim, and tanned young woman with an ample bust. She had long brown hair reaching her middle back with two strands that framed her face reaching her shoulders. Her eyes were large and brown border on the upper part by visibly long eyelashes. Her upper body was largely exposed leaving little to the imagination to any males nearby. It was only covered by a light blue bikini top with a camouflage pattern that was paired with a pair of capri pants with two bands hanging from each leg and a light belt covered in heart motifs loosely tied around her waist. Completing her outfit were a pair of high heeled sandals on her feet, a pair of metal bracers adorning her biceps, and three simple round metal bracelets on her right wrist.

"Why don't we *hicc* get to know each other, cutie?" She asked locking her arm around Naruto's

"Uhm, hey!" Naruto greeted. "Aren't you the one drank those barrels of beers and charged them to the council?"

The lady pouted. "That's your image of me?"

"Well, to be fair, that's the only thing I know about you, y'know," Naruto scratched the back of his head.

"You have a point…" She said her voice trailing off.

"Oh, hey Cana! I see you've met Naruto. He's one of our newest members." Mira introduced the blonde.

"Your name is fishcake, huh?" Cana commented. "Pretty lame for someone as cool looking as you. *hicc*"

"My name does not only mean fishcake, y'know!" Naruto protested his face lightly blushing.

"I'm kidding! I know that!" Cana teased.

She then turned to Mira and said, "One more barrel of beer, please and whatever this cutie wants."

"Uhh…you don't happen to serve ramen do ya?" Naruto asked.

"Coming right up!" Mira said sweetly.

"You got friends to share the beer with?" Naruto asked.

Cana laughed out loud, "That's a good one, fishcake. I didn't know you were a joker."

"But I'm not joking," Naruto reasoned. "And the name's Naruto, y'know."

Mira walked towards carrying a huge barrel of beer to the counter.

"That's Cana for you, Naruto," Mira explained hearing the conversation. "She could drink anyone under the table easily."

Naruto sweat dropped at her statement.

"Nonesense, *hicc*" Cana waved Mira off. "I'm sure you could learn a lot of good things about once we get to know each other. Come on!" She said carrying her barrel of beer to her table.

Naruto looked over to Mira who in turn smiled at him.

"Why don't you go talk to everyone while I cook?" she said. "For now, your friend looks like she needs some help."

"Thanks, Mira," Naruto said.

He then ran to Cana to help her carry her beer. "I'll help you with that."

"Oh, that's sweet of you, *hicc*" Cana said handing her barrel of beer to the blonde.

They didn't have to walk that far to get to the table. As soon as they sat down, Naruto handed over the barrel back to the lady. She popped the thing open and raised it to her face and downed the drink like there was no tomorrow.

'She drinks a lot more than Ero-Sennin,' Naruto thought to himself as he watched the brunette drink like she was in a drinking fountain.

"Ahhh…" Cana sighed in content. "That's the life…"

"Are you sure it's okay drink like that?" Naruto asked. "I mean it's still early in the day."

"Never mind that, *hicc*" Cana waved him off. "Tell me about yourself?"

A FEW MINUTES LATER

Naruto sat there as watching the brunette drink barrel after barrel of alcohol like this was her last day on Earthland. As she drank, she asked the blonde different questions about himself. The blonde was thankful for the Biju inside of him who helped him think of a backstory to tell her. If he were alone, then maybe he could have accidentally told the truth.

What saved Naruto though was Mira delivering the ramen to them.

"Here you go, Naruto," Mira said as she placed the food on the table.

Without even touching the food, Naruto could smell the aroma that it was giving off. It wasn't Ichiraku, but since he was a long way from home, he had no choice. He grabbed the chopsticks and took the first bite. Mira stood to the side waiting to see if she pleased the blonde.

*slurp*

Naruto inhaled his first bite of the noodles into his mouth. He paused for a while to feel the food and savor in the texture. Then, his eyes shot open. You could see his eyes twinkling in glee, and his ears could hear the faint hum of angels singing. In all the years he spent in this world, this is one of the best ramen he tasted.

Mira watched the myriad of expressions that made themselves known on Naruto's face. She wasn't the best cook in the world, but she felt really proud of herself that the blonde was liking her cooking. Though, what the blonde said next really surprised her…

"Mira, your cooking is awesome," Naruto praised. "You would make a great wife!"

That really got the attention of everyone present. Even the drunk brunette in front of her seemingly was rendered sober by Naruto's statement. All the guys around the scolded themselves for not saying that first. And, Mira had a subtle expression of shock on her face that was hidden very well.

'I-is he serious?' The white-haired wizard thought to herself. 'D-does he really feel that way about me?'

"Oi!" One of the braver guys yelled at the blonde. "Where do you get off saying that, new guy?"

"He has a point Naruto," Kurama said in Naruto's mindscape. "You don't just go around saying stuff like that"

"Don't mind him, Kurama," Matatabi said from the same place. "It might be Naruto's chance to nab a mate. Who knows?"

Naruto ignored them as the people around him continued talking. Mira, who had gotten over her shock, let her air of professionalism prevail.

"Oh, Naruto, you…" She waved off Naruto's statement. "I'm glad you like the food. If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask."

"Sure, Mira," Naruto flashed a smile. "Thanks for the food."

He turned to have another slurp of his food and to see Cana who was looking at him with a frown.

"You don't say that thing in front of your date!" Cana said.

"Wait," Naruto paused. "This is a date?"

"What did you think?" Cana asked.

"Dad!" A little kid's voice yelled in glee getting everyone's attention.

Naruto sighed in relief as he didn't have to answer the question.

This boy was a slim, young boy with straight, dark purple hair with prominent bangs, covering part of his forehead and some smaller strands jutting outwards from the top of his head. He has large eyes and a small, mildly round nose. He wore a dark T-shirt adorned on the front by a drawing of Nakajima, lighter-colored pleated shorts with two large pockets on the back, and simple sandals, each held up by two bands joined by a round button

Everyone turned to look at the scene. They saw Lucy walking alongside Natsu who had a slim, mildly muscular man slung over his shoulder. This man was of average height with short, straight, slicked back dark blue hair. He has linear dark eyebrows, dark eyes, and a prominent nose with a flat, rectangular front. The lower part of his face is covered in quite a large amount of stubble, which includes a thin mustache. His outfit consisted of a knee-length white jacket, often kept open exposing his upper body which was covered in bandages and bruises where the bandages didn't reach. He wore brown, pinstriped pants held up by a lighter-colored belt bearing a snake-like pattern, with a simple, square-shaped buckle and a very distinctive pair of shoes, adorned with a leopard pattern. Around his neck Macao wears a large, serpentine necklace, which is held up by a chain.

"Hey everyone!" Natsu yelled. "We got Macao!"

"Macao! Where've you been?"

"Job was tougher that you thought, huh?"

"You're getting old for this stuff!"

Those were only some of the words that the wizards yelled out to welcome back their guildmate who was seemingly lost. Even that last part was yelled in jest, not some form of harsh words. But those didn't matter right now. What mattered right now was seeing the little boy smile again.

"Dad!" The boy yelled again as he ran into the injured man wrapping him in a hug.

"Ow, Romeo," Macao winced at the impact from his wound. "Watch the wound. It still hurts."

The little boy, Romeo, let go of his father. He stared at him and began getting teary eyed. "Dad…I…I'm sorry."

The injured Macao released himself from Natsu's grip and knelt down to give the little boy an embrace of his own. "No, son. I'm sorry for making you worry."

Romeo decided to let the tears flow from his eyes. "It's okay, dad."

Macao released he hug to look at his son's crying form and ruffled his hair. "Next time when those bullies tease you, ask them if their old man can defeat 19 monsters all by himself."

The boy nodded, then he wiped the tears from his eyes. Natsu, after watching the touching moment, turned around to go home, but before he could get too far, Romeo didn't forget to thank them and Lucy too. After giving Romeo a smile, the blonde entered the guild to look for Naruto she left to go talk to the Master earlier. She smiled as she saw the blonde walking towards her.

"So, how did the talk with Master go?" Lucy asked.

"Oh, it went well!" Naruto answered with a huge grin.

"So, you aren't in trouble?" She said.

"Of course not!" Naruto shook his head. "I told you not to worry did I?"

"Okay, okay, I get it," Lucy began fidgeting. "Since we're both new here in Magnolia…"

Naruto stared at the at her waiting for her answer. That only served to fluster the Celestial Wizard.

"D-don't stare at me like that!" Lucy blurted out when she noticed.

"Sorry," Naruto rubbed the back of his head. "But you trailed off there."

Lucy looked away and deciding to tell the blonde anyway, "Do you want to go with me to look for a house?"

"That's right!" Naruto panicked. "I don't have a place to stay yet!"

That certainly broke the girl out of her flustered state. She placed a hand on her face and shook her head. "You realize that only now?"

"Well…" Naruto didn't know what to say. "Let's just go look for a house."

He dragged Lucy out of the guild, but they stopped when Naruto seemed that he forgot something.

"What it is?" Lucy asked.

"Wait," Was the only response Naruto gave.

He ran back into the guild, spotted Mira, and yelled, "Oh, Mira! Thanks for the ramen! It was awesome! Bye!"

"Don't mention it, Naruto," Mira waved him off. "See you later!"

"Aren't you going to say bye to me, cutie?" Cana said with a mock pout.

"Uh…Bye Cana?" Naruto said, then he ran out of the guild to meet up with Lucy.

"That's what you forgot?" Lucy said.

"It's a legitimate reason!" Naruto countered. "She gave me awesome ramen!"

"Rrright!" Lucy rolled her eyes. "Let's just go…"

THE NEXT DAY

The previous day was interesting to say the least. Naruto and Lucy had joined a destructive guild that causes all the mayhem you would read in the magazine, Sorcerer Weekly. But it was alright. (More that alright if they were being honest.) It was a new home away from their pasts (for Lucy mostly) and a chance to start a new life. For Naruto, it was a chance to meet the guild that his teacher for about 2 years, Mavis, always bragged about when they were in the guild. Although, Naruto wasn't sure if she should call her a teacher since she acted all childish, but that's beside the point.

Yesterday, the two also went out to look for a house together. Most didn't fit the female blonde's taste, but she couldn't fool Naruto as he could see a twinkle in her eyes when he liked the house. One house that did catch her fancy though was a big two room apartment with a shared bathroom.

Well, Lucy asked Naruto if he wanted to share houses since they were both new, and the dimension hopper agreed seeing nothing wrong with it since the house had separate bedrooms and they would share expenses. They'll just be essentially roommates, so there's nothing wrong with this right?

And so, there they were waking up in each room. Naruto decided to let Lucy go first in the bathroom since he heard those horror stories that girls take eternity to get ready in the bathroom. While he waited for the girl to finish, he saw to it to have a hearty breakfast as he promised his mother in the afterlife. He made a meal that was fit for a day in the life of a wizard enough for two people.

When the two were ready to go, they made their way to the guild for another day of work. Lucy had a determined expression on her face wanting to continue making her mark on the guild with another quest.

"Hey Mira!" Naruto and Lucy greeted at the same time.

"Good morning? What can I do for you two?" Mira asked with an air of calmness.

'Hmm… those two are getting quite close,' she thought to herself.

"We're here to look for a job," Lucy asked. "Any suggestion?"

"Well, for starters, you can do jobs around Magnolia for a while to get on your feet," The barmaid suggested.

"And, those jobs are?" Naruto asked.

"Oh, they're just different errands the townspeople ask you to run all around town or to neighboring towns."

Naruto had a displeased look on his face. Memories of his time as a genin came back to him. He remembered that stupid cat that scratched his face when he caught him/her. Come to think of it. He never did get to know if that cat was a boy or a girl. Still, he can't help but feel sorry for it since the poor thing was immediately smothered by its owner once she got him back.

He shook the thoughts out of his head. He was getting sidetracked. But if there's one thing he learned from his days as a genin, it's that he hated the grunt work. (Wait, he still is a genin. Well, never mind hahaha)

"Sorry, but is there anything with some action?" He said. "Even just a little?"

"Don't you think we should take it easy?" Lucy asked. "It's only the first day."

"Nah," Naruto said. "Jobs like those are going to be boring. Besides, how hard can it be?"

"Hmmm… If you say so…" Lucy said.

"Well, I have this escort job if you like?" Mira offered. "You just have to escort this builder to the construction site off the in the mountains off the coast of Hargeon."

"Why do they need a builder there? Don't they have their own builders there?" Lucy asked.

"There's an isolated town located there that would benefit from the creation of a pass that would make going down the mountain much easier," Mira explained. "After the pass, they plan to connect their small island to the main land since it wasn't too far.

"So, it's a job that would take more than a day, huh?" Lucy asked.

"Yes," Mira confirmed.

"How does that sound Naruto?" Lucy turned to confirm with her partner. "Naruto?"

Lucy had turned to see that her fellow blonde had his mouth hung open. It was like that details of the story shocked. She was definitely weirded out by that since to her, everything was pretty normal.

"Naruto?" Lucy tried again.

"Hey, Earthland to Naruto!" The Biju all shouted to get his attention.

"Naruto, I know this sounds familiar, but you don't have to freeze like that," Kurama said.

"What do you mean, Kurama?" Gyuki the Eight-Tailed Octopus Bull asked.

"Back when this runt was a young genin, he basically went through the same mission to the Land of Waves." The fox explained.

Back in reality, Naruto shook himself off of his shock, recovering completely. He sent a mental thank you to his partners for the save and promptly apologized.

"Sorry about that?" he said. "It's just, I think I heard this thing before."

"Hmmm…Maybe you're just dreaming, Naruto…" Mira guessed.

"Who know?" Naruto shrugged.

"So, are you okay with taking this job?" Lucy asked.

"Sure, why not?" The blonde shinobi said. "Where do we find the foreman?"

"He's staying at a hotel just within town," Mira explained. "The address will be on the job request."

"Alright!" Naruto yelled enthusiastically. "Let's go!"

"Uhh… Could we stop by the house to pick up some clothes?" Lucy requested.

"Oh, yeah," Naruto said. "Clothes first then we go."

Mira watched the pair walk out of the guild. A thought crosse her mind as her eyes settled on a particular blonde male.

'I haven't properly thanked him for the help he did long ago,' she thought. 'I'm sure I can think of something…"

MAGNOLIA TRAIN STATION

As a kid, Naruto would question a lot of things. Now that he was mature (Uhhh…he's grown, but I don't think he matured, but he was certainly different from when he was a kid.) Anyway, what I'm getting at is that Naruto had learned to not to question the client they had to protect.

But…

The client was a large man with greying hair and bespectacled eyes. He was wearing a tank top, pants, and a pair of sandals on his feet. Naruto had been constantly sending glances at him giving the him the wrong impression. He was surely called out multiple times by the inebriated worker. But Naruto had to give it to this quest, it certainly had a lot of similarities.

'What's next, I'm supposed to fight someone who looks like Zabuza and Haku?' Naruto thought as he chuckled to himself.

He was broken out of him musings when the client yelled out drunkenly as they walked into the train station. He was constantly hitting on the females that he came across, especially Lucy much to her annoyance. He reeked of alcohol which scared most ladies away, but he sure was as relentless a certain white haired, self-proclaimed super pervert. (I don't think Cana wouldn't be scared away by that though.)

"Naruto!" Lucy yelled his name as once again the relentless drunk was once again on her tail. "Could you at least tell him to stop?"

The said blonde sighed. "Look here Mr. Tazuna. We are here to protect you from the bandits on the way to the town, so could you please keep it professional just for a while?"

"Alright, I'll stop," The builder reluctantly relented with a look of irritation on his face. "But you should stop looking at me with those googly eyes! It's creeping me out."

"What?! I was not looking at you that way!" Naruto said as he moved to slug the wise guy on his face.

"Naruto! Don't assault the client!" Lucy reeled in the blonde.

As Lucy held Naruto back from giving the builder a black eye, he just yawned like he wasn't in danger or something and checked his nails for dirt.

When Naruto calmed down a bit, he looked at the builder with a frown, "You just look familiar that's all. Don't read too much into it…"

ISLAND OF THE COAST OF HARGEON

The train ride on the way there was uneventful (for action that is). They just picked a booth enough for four people and they were on their way. As they travelled, Naruto watched the scenery zip by as the train thundered through its tracks. He was distracted from watching the view when he felt Lucy lay her head on his shoulder after letting out a yawn. The moment was broken though when a snore came from across of them as Tazuna snored loudly as he slept from his position hogging seat.

Waking up like that flustered Lucy to no end. She apologized profusely to him for what she did to which Naruto just waved off. That didn't last long though as they had to board a small boat to reach the island. It was just a short ride. Nothing happening here.

And so, here they were on the mountains not even halfway to the town. They trudged up the uneven ground their feet sometimes slipping down.

Unbeknownst to them, two pairs of eyes were watching them from up in the trees.

"You're ours bridge builder," one of them said as they fired a volley of poison spikes towards the three.

A/N: Yep, I'm kicking off this fic with a familiar escort arc. Ehe ehe I didn't want to follow canon that much since I read reviews in other fics that didn't like that. So this is my not so original arc (?).