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 11

Naruto and co. marched up to aged oak of the guild doors of the guild doors. As he did so, the scent of aged oak mixed with the musty odor of alcohol met his nostrils. Despite being part of this guild for only a short amount of time, this gave him a homey feel.

"Yo guys! We're back!" Naruto greeted.

"Hey! It's Naruto! And Lucy too!"

"How much were you paid?"

"Did you guys have a hard time?"

"Hmph, beginners' luck!"

Those were some of what the wizards in the guild said as they crowded in front of the newcomers upon hearing the voice of Fairy Tail's newest wizards.

"That's enough, you brats!" The small guild master's voice bellowed as he scolded the wizards the wizards. "They just came back from their job! Give them some space!"

One by one each wizard begrudgingly went back to their seats. They really wanted to hear the story straight from the wizards who went to the quest.

Makarov walked forward and greeted the wizards himself, "I see you brats are back from the job you took. I must say, you two are stupid enough to continue a quest even after the difficulty escalated."

"Master, you feel weird all of a sudden," Naruto commented.

"Never mind that for now," Makarov waved off Naruto's comment. "How was the job?"

"It wasn't too bad," Naruto answered scratching the back of his head.

"He's severely understating it," Lucy muttered deadpanning Naruto's statement.

"Did you say something young lady?" Makarov asked hearing the Celestial Spirit mutterings.

Lucy jumped as she heard the guild master mention her name, "Oh, it's nothing master. I was just saying how hard the fights were."

"Well now," Makarov said. "I would like you three to tell me what happened."

LATER

"I see," Makarov said after the young wizards regaled their story. "I haven't heard of that town in years. I just thought it disappeared, but I guess their predicament was more or less complicated."

"Yes, master," Mira answered. "And thanks to these two, the town is back on its feet."

"To think you would take out the most dangerous assassin in all of Fiore," One of the wizards commented.

"Are you kidding? That's probably a lie!" A disbelieving voice yelled out from one of the many listening wizards. It seems not everyone believed in the newbie's abilities yet. Although, Naruto had to hand it to him, he was new to the guild and hasn't shown any of his abilities as of yet. "You were probably the one who defeated him, right Mira?" The voice continued.

"Oh, no," Mira shook her head meekly. "I hardly did anything. The fights were already finished when I got there."

"Cut them some slack, man!" Gray, an ice wizard with dark hair and was always in his boxers, scolded the owner of the voice in the background. "Mira was there and she can confirm the whole thing."

"In any case, I congratulate you for a job well done," The Master said. "Now, you will have to forgive me for not meeting you in person. I had to leave before you came back. I had a meeting to attend to. I shall take my leave now; the next part of the meeting is coming up." Makarov waved and then disappeared from sight.

"So cool! The master can create clones too!" Naruto said.

"Uhh Naruto, that wasn't a clone," Mira said.

"Oh, what was it then?" The blonde inquired.

"That was a thought projection," Mira answered. "He left created one just before he left."

"Ohhhh, I see…" Naruto said finally understanding the situation. "What's this meeting he had to attend to?"

"I almost forgot you were new here," Lucy commented.

Naruto turned to his partner. "Do you know what it is then?"

"Of course, I do!" Lucy proudly said. "It's a…It's uh…"

"It's a what?" Naruto prodded.

Lucy copied Naruto's signature gesture. "Come to think of it. I don't know too."

"But you said…" Naruto narrowed his eyes at her.

"I am as new to this guild stuff as you, Naruto," Lucy said.

Mira giggled at the interaction. "Perhaps I can shed some light on your questions."

He turned to a wizard with a distinctively large torso wearing a white long-sleeved shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, dark pants, dark shoes, and a pointed hat with the point curving to the left.

"Reedus, may I borrow your light pen?" Mira asked the man.

Naruto watched in awe as Mira wrote in the air as she explained the subject. But, the longer and the more complicated the explanation went, a frown started to build on Naruto's face as he much of a dunce when it came to stuff like this.

"What?" was all Naruto said in the end.

"Weren't you listening to the explanation at all?" Lucy scolded her partner.

Mira seeing the look of confusion in his face decided to simplify things. "Naruto, basically, the ten members of the magic councils are put in charge of all magical guilds in the country. The guild masters in every province are in charge of telling the wizards under them whatever the council decides. The guilds in each province form a league; an alliance of sorts un case of unexpected attacks from guilds that aren't part of the league. These guilds are called dark guilds."

"Ohhh, why didn't you say so?" Naruto let out a nervous laugh as he once again entered his signature gesture. The wizards listening in "Sorry for not getting it the first time."

"Oh, it's no problem," Mira said. "I am always happy to help."

After that, Naruto's stomach took that as his cue to let itself known. "Gee! I'm hungry! Now that we're back to the guild, how about some your world-famous cooking! Most especially your ramen!"

"Oh Naruto-kun, you flatter me," Mira waved of his statement. "Give me a second, okay?"

"Will it take long?" Naruto pouted.

"It shouldn't take too long,"

That was the last thing Mira said before she went behind the counter to cook Naruto's favorite food. And as promised, a bowl of Naruto's favorite food was placed in front of him. Naruto took a sniff of his food and sipped the broth. "Man, it feels like I've been gone for too long. I missed this!"

"Geez Naruto, we were just gone for two weeks!" Lucy told him.

"That is two weeks too long," Naruto answered.

Not long after as Mira promised, the blonde's favorite food, the one he considers the food of the gods, was served in front of him. He took a huge whiff of the aroma, then he took a sip of the broth.

"Mmmm," He moaned in delight as he ate his food.

"You really like ramen, huh?" Lucy said as she watched her partner slurp the noodles.

"Are you kidding?" He said in between mouthfuls. "I love ramen!"

Just then, Naruto frowned.

"What's wrong Naruto-kun?" Mira asked fearing the blonde had found something wrong with her cooking. "Is there something wrong with your food?"

Naruto shook his head and looked around at the gathered wizards like something was missing. "There's something wrong here. Natsu should be picking a fight with anyone he sees by now."

"Now that you mention it…" Lucy said realizing the same. "The guilds a little too quiet."

"If you're talking about Natsu, he's right here," Gray answered hearing the two newbie's queries.

And true to his words, the pink-haired dragon slayer had his head on the table sulking.

"What's wrong with him?" The Celestial Wizard asked.

"He wouldn't say, but from what I could gather, he wasn't paid from his last job he took?" Gray explained.

Naruto chuckled after he swallowed his mouthful of noodles, "What did he do? Wreck the whole town?"

"Fortunately, no," Gray answered. "He didn't destroy a stupid book for a client. I mean how hard it is to destroy a stupid book?"

That irked the pink-haired wizard so much that he stood up from his chair and confronted the ice wizard. "I told you I couldn't destroy the book. It meant so much to the client."

"Well, this is the first I'm hearing of it since you wouldn't open your stupid mouth," Gray said. "Probably because of your stupid dragon breath?"

"What did you say ice stripper?" Natsu pressed his forehead of Grey's own forehead glaring daggers at him.

"You heard me dragon breath!" Gray returned the glare and insult.

Pretty soon the two wizards were on the floor wrestling and trying to get the upper hand on the other.

'There's the Natsu we know,' Naruto and Lucy thought.

"Say, what book did he have to destroy anyway?" Lucy asked with curiosity.

"I don't remember the title, but I think it was written by Kamu Zaleon," Happy said from the counter as he nibbled on a fish.

Lucy had stars in her eyes, "Did you say Kamu Zaleon? The famous magician/writer?" He picked up the cat not giving him the time to answer. "I'm a HUGE fan of his! What did the book say?"

"I didn't read it," Happy said.

"Typical," Lucy frowned as she put down the cat.

"But I could tell you what happened when the client took the book," Happy explained. "All of this magicky stuff happened when he held the book and the title changed to…Dear Kaby by Zekua Melon."

"So, the book turned out to be a letter?" Naruto asked.

"Aye," Happy answered.

"Say, if you and Natsu were on the quest, how did you figure this all out?" Naruto asked.

"We didn't," Happy answered. "We just wanted to show the client it was the right book and destroy it right in front of him."

"That's to be expected," Naruto said as he finished the last of the broth in his ramen.

Just then, a strong scent of cologne hit Lucy's nose and small tremor from a barrel of ale shook the counter.

"What's up, cutie?" Cana sat beside Naruto getting awfully close to his personal space. "I heard you stayed in a five-star hotel. Why don't you take me there sometime?"

"Uhhh, what?" Naruto said cluelessly trying to stop his nose from bleeding as the wizard's bosom was pressing closely on his skin. The fact that she was wearing a bikini top didn't help at all. All he could do was back up slightly.

Lucy had mixed feelings on what was happening. She was feeling a pang of jealousy as he watched this unfold, but she pushed that thought out of her mind as she reasoned with herself. She also felt uncomfortable at how forward this wizard was with Naruto.

The Celestial wizard was pushed out of her thought when an orange-haired wizard wearing a wide-collared green coat with spiky brownish-white fur trimmings on the hood started flirting with her. "Never mind them. How about you ditch this loser and we make a love team out of the two of us."

"Uhhh, what?" She dittoed the former shinobi's response.

"My name is Loki, and I think you're beautiful despite me looking me looking through my dark shades. I fear admiring it with my naked eyes. They would probably shatter to pieces."

"Then why don't you take them off," Lucy said as she back up in a similar fashion the way her partner did.

The two blondes jumped when their backs touched causing Lucy's keys to jingle from her belt. They looked at each other causing the two flirtatious wizards to frown.

The jingling keys caught Loki's attention. "Y-you're a Celestial Wizard…"

"Yeah, isn't she cool?" Naruto said trying to change the subject from the ale-loving wizard who was flirting with him.

Loki backed away slowly as if he was scared of Lucy, "Wh-what a quirk of fate…"

As soon as he said that, he turned on his heel running out of the guild screaming, "Sorry! But this is the end of us!"

Lucy sweat dropped at his declaration. "Since when was there an us?"

"That was weird," Cana said getting curious about the situation. "I've never seen Loki run away from a girl before."

"He never was good with Celestial Wizards," Mira said walking up to the counter.

More tremors came this time shaking the whole guild and the faint clanking of metal was heard followed by Loki running back to the guild.

"Shit! Natsu! Gray!" He yelled as if he ran a marathon.

The two brawling wizards looked up from their fight. "Huh?" They both said.

"It's Erza!"

That name was powerful causing fear in the minds of all the wizards present.

"Everyone, get decent!" A random wizard yelled, followed by the scrambling of the wizards to fix themselves. The only ones who weren't panicking Mira and the two newbies.

From the doorway, the silhouette of a hulking figured neared the guild.

"What's all the fuss about?" Naruto asked.

"Are you kidding, man?" Gray said as he slung his arm over Natsu's shoulder.

"She's a monster!" Natsu said doing the same to Gray.

The same fear was getting to Lucy, but to Naruto, not so much. He just had a frown on his face at the over-the-top descriptions the other wizards were giving.

The silhouette came closer to the doors with the accompanying clanking noise getting oh so close.

"Just what kind of wizard is Erza anyway?" Naruto prodded further.

"W-w-we j-j-just t-t-told you," Natsu said.

"Sh-she's a—" Gray tried to say, but he wasn't able to finish as the wizard in question came into view.

Contrary to popular belief, Erza wasn't a monster at all. in fact, she was a young woman with long, scarlet hair and brown eyes, and slender, voluptuous figure. The wizard was wearing a custom-made armor from Fiore's popular brand, Heart Kreauz, which was paired with a blue skirt, and brown boots. What made her silhouette look like a massive monster was massive horn that was almost three times her weight. Oddly enough, it was adorned by gems and jewels. Huh, weird.

"Welcome back," Mira greeted her.

"Thank you," Erza thanked her. "Is master present at the moment?"

"Sorry, Erza. You just missed his thought projection," Mira said. "He's at the annual guild master's meeting at the moment."

"Eeep!" Lucy squeaked expecting the scarlet-haired wizard to get mad.

But Lucy's expectations were shattered when Erza just answered, "I see,"

"E-Erza-san," one of the wizards tried to make small talk. "What is that humongous thing?"

"It's the horn of a demon I slew," She explained. "The townsfolk were so gracious to me that they decorated it for me. I found it pretty so I took it home."

She, then, turned to the wizard who asked, "Why? Will it be a problem?"

"N-n-no!" The wizard denied.

"Anyway, guys…"

Erza was on a roll. She began listing off the troublesome things she found wrong in the guild, including the two wizards who always ended up butting heads. It was like she was the guild master of the guild instead of Makarov. He just found the old man way to lenient.

After her tirade, she just sighed.

"What's going on?" Lucy asked.

"Everyone's scared of ole Erza. She's just so strict." Mira said. "Especially Natsu here, he tried picking a fight with her, and he got beaten to a pulp. Don't get me started on Loki's flirting."

Erza stepped forward, "May I have a drink, Mira? I am parched from my walk home."

"Coming right up," Mira said sweetly the way she always did.

As the scarlet-haired wizard moved to a barstool to sit, she couldn't help but notice a newcomer. How can she not notice her though? He was staring at her.

"Oh, hello," Erza said. "I don't think I've seen you in this guild before."

"Uhh," Naruto mumbled like his brain broken or something. "B-beautiful red hair…"

As soon as the words left Naruto's mouth, a collective gasp could be heard from ever member of the guild.

"He's dead," One wizard squeaked.

"I beg your pardon?" Erza asked for a double-take.

Naruto shook himself out of his stupor after sensing atmosphere of the guild that felt the others were mourning his funeral.

"Uh, uh, uh, I mean it's nice to meet you, Erza-san," Naruto corrected.

Erza didn't seem convinced. "No, it's not that. You said something about my hair?"

"Nice knowing you, kid!" Macao said.

"He really is dead," The wizard sitting with Macao shook his head.

"Uh, I was just complementing your hair," Naruto decided to tell the truth seeing that he couldn't fool her. "It reminds me so much of my mother's hair."

"Is that so?" Erza said. "Well, I thank you for the compliment."

The whole guild released the breath they were holding. This kid is lucky. He somehow flirted with the scarlet-haired wizard, but he came out of the ordeal unscathed.

"Lucky bastard," Loki grumbled as he walked out of the guild.

"Here you go, Erza," Mira said setting her drink on the table. "I see you've met our new additions."

"This here is Naruto, and the other one is Lucy," Mira gestured to each of the two wizards. "Naruto, Lucy, this is Erza, one of our resident S-class wizards."

"It is nice to meet you two," Erza greeted. "I heard about you're your exploits in that supposed C-class job that turned to an S-class."

Naruto chuckled meekly, "Oh, that was nothing."

"Don't say that," Erza took a sip of her drink. "I commend you for fearlessly completing a job despite the insurmountable odds in front of you. Although, I suggest you refrain from taking any more S-class jobs until you reach S-class."

"R-right," Lucy answered.

With one more sip of her drink, she turned towards Natsu and Gray who were now glaring at each other behind Erza's back, but returned to being friendly when she turned to them. "Which reminds me… Natsu! Gray! I need your help."

"What?!" The whole guild screamed.

"Me? Work with him?" The two wizards in question gave each other a sideways glare.

"No wa—" They never even got to finish their refusal.

"Good, we'll leave tomorrow morning, so you better be ready," Erza said setting down her glass on the counter.

"Wait," Natsu managed. "If I have to go with Gray, I want Naruto to come with us,"

Erza looked over to the blonde then back to Natsu, "Very well. Meet me at the Train Station tomorrow morning."

With that, Erza left.

"No way," Mira muttered loud enough for Lucy to hear.

"Why? What's the matter?" Lucy inquired.

"That's probably Fairy Tail's strongest team!"

MAGNOLIA TRAIN STATION

"Why do I have to work with you?" Natsu grumbled as he once again butted heads with his rival.

"You took the words out of my mouth, flame brain!" Gray return with his own electrifying glare.

Lucy sighed as he watched the interaction. "Can't those two work together even for one second?"

"To be fair, Erza didn't give them much of a choice," Naruto said. "You can go home if you're tired of watching them."

"It's not that I'm tired of watching them…" Lucy explained. "No, never mind."

Lucy decided not to explain. She hated herself for not being able to decline her partner. Just this morning, she woke up the blonde male who was just about to leave for Erza's Job. That baka asked her if she wanted to come, and without thinking, she agreed.

"Wait, speaking of Erza," Lucy broke herself from her thoughts. "Where is she?"

Naruto was also left in his own thoughts. Natsu and Gray sure do remind him of himself and Sasuke as a fresh genin, unable to work together at all. A small smile laced his lips. It was a moment that returned some of his memories. He was cut off from when Lucy asked her question.

"Beats me," He shrugged. "Maybe she's still—"

He didn't get to finish his statement as the ground rumble a little.

"What the hell is that?" Lucy asked.

"Probably Erza," Naruto pointed to the direction wizard was coming from.

True to his words, Erza was approaching them with something large in tow. At the mention of Erza's name, the two glaring wizards reverted to their friendly vibe they were showing the day before.

"Good morning, guys! I hope you weren't waiting long," Erza greeted.

"N-no, not at all," Lucy said still nervous about the strict aura that the S-class wizard was exuding.

"Aye!" Natsu and Gray said with their arms slung over each other.

"Hey, that's my line!" Happy protested with a mouthful of fish.

"Don't you think your luggage is a bit much?" Naruto asked. "We're only going away for a few days."

"No, this is enough for the few days," Erza answered.

"R-right," Naruto answered, but he turned back to a hand placed on his shoulder.

He saw Natsu giving him a warning look. "Do not question, Erza!" The pink-haired wizard mumbled.

"Okay?" was all Naruto could say.

"So, is everyone ready?" Erza asked.

"As ready as we'll ever be," Naruto answered.

"Aye!" Natsu, Gray, and Happy said.

IN THE TRAIN

"Urgh…" Natsu groaned as the train zipped to its destination

"Man, you really suck at transportation, ey Natsu?" Naruto commented as he watched the dragon slayer writhe in his chair.

"Do me a favor and go sit somewhere else please," Gray said with irritation in his voice.

*Blug*

The queasy dragon slayer leaned over to the ice wizard and barely held in the puke in his system.

"NO DON'T PUKE ON ME!" Gray yelled as he tried to push the other away. "PUKE ON SOMEONE ELSE!"

*Sigh* "There's no other way," Erza said patting the spot next to her. "Come sit with me."

And so, he did. Nastu groggily stood up and slowly walked towards the spot beside the redhead. There was a small smile on Erza's face as she placed a hand on Natsu's shoulder.

"Don' worry, everything will be okay," She comforted the pinkette.

With that said, the knight's expression hardened, and she slammed her fist on the dragon slayer's gut, effectively knocking him out. This caused the other wizards in their booth to pale in fear at the wizard's harshness.

Erza noticed this and turned to them. "Are any of you feeling queasy as well?"

"N-n-no! Not at all!" The three wizards waved their hands in front of them in denial

"Aye, sir!" Happy said.

"Why didn't you say so?" Erza said as he grabbed the cat by his tail and knocked him out beside Natsu, despite the cat's protest.

"She reminds me of Sakura," Naruto thought as a melancholic smile graced his lips.

After everyone recovered from the shock of Erza knocking Natsu out, Lucy gained a thoughtful expression. "Say, I know Naruto uses Wind Magic, and Natsu uses Fire Dragon Slayer Magic, but I don't know what kind of magic you two use."

"I use Requip Magic," Erza said. "I basically can change my armor and bring out weapons whenever I want."

A magic circle appeared on Erza's hand, followed by a golden light. After that, a small dagger appeared on Erza's hand.

"Cool!" Naruto and Lucy said with stars in their eyes after the redhead's display of magic.

"Fish!" Happy moaned in his sleep.

"And mine is," Gray said slamming a fist into his open palm.

Snow started gathering around his hands, followed by a magic circle. And then, there in his hands appeared a small ice sculpture in the shape of the Fairy Tail Emblem.

"That's just like the ice wizard from our job!" Naruto commented.

"Now that you mention it," Lucy said. "It does!"

"You met another ice wizard?" Gray snapped breaking the miniature sculpture. "What's his name?"

"She was a girl. Although, Naruto thought she was a boy!" Lucy snickered.

"Hey! Some boys can look like girls too!" Naruto defended himself despite the unbelieving looks his guildmates were giving him. "It's true!"

"Anyway, her name was Yuki," Lucy stated.

"Th-that's—"

"Do you know her?" Naruto asked seeing Gray's expression.

The shock disappeared from Gray's face. He turned to the window, and simply said, "No, no I don't."

Naruto shrugged and decided not to prod further, so he changed the subject, "So, Erza still hasn't told us why she needed us."

"Oh, right. I guess I will tell you now." Erza's expression darkened. "Well, on my way back, I met this shady group. They were noisy, talking about random things, when one of them let slip a name, Lullaby."

A/N: DUN DUN DUN! I'm stopping the story here. Sorry, this is just a filler chapter, but I think I'll be sticking to canon for a while. Hope you like this chapter. Bye!