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 23

It had been a hell of a week since the war between Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord, and honestly, things could have gone better. Both sides were interrogated by the Magic Council. Every day, the wizards were questioned about the events that had transpired. They were asked the same question, over and over and over. Phantom had it harder though. They were forced to disband almost immediately.

Master basically wept the whole entire week. This was probably the biggest headache he had to face in his entire career as guild master. This was worse than all the damages his children incurred in their missions. This was a guild war. It was serious! Just thinking about it made his eyes water.

Naturally, Natsu tried to run away at first since he was a, let's say, a veteran when it comes to these kinds of things. With all the things he wrecked over the years, he had developed a knack for escaping authority. This time was different, though. They were ready for anyone who would try to escape.

For Naruto? Well, he had horrible flashbacks of the interrogation he had before. It was like they didn't believe any word you told them with how frequently they were questioned. And don't get me started on the documents. He was thankful that Lucy had started to teach him, so he could read and write already, but it was the concept that made that kind of thing hell. There was a reason why he always escaped school back when he was at the academy.

Anyway, the center of all this conflict, Lucy had managed to get out of the slump. She was comforted and cheered up by everyone in the guild, with the help of her friends. They reassured her that it wasn't her fault. It was her dad's stupid decision, and they just handled it like they would handle anyone who would threaten the well-being of their family. She also didn't forget to write about it to her mother. Naruto could understand why she does it though. He does miss his parents after all.

So now, it was time for the guild to rebuild the fallen home. Naruto sat down on a crate munching on a hearty meal placed in an orange bento box. He didn't even know where it came from. It was just conveniently placed on the path he was taking just as he was about to walk by.

Gray and Natsu walked by. They were competing with each other to see who could carry more wood. They were even racing to where they would transport the wood. Honestly, you could even see the sparks in between their eyes as they raced. That did it for them though. They didn't notice the rock on the ground. Natsu tripped over a rock. He unconsciously grabbed onto Gray causing the both of them to fall down and drop the cargo on their shoulders.

Naruto took a moment from his food to look at the commotion that happened. He roared out in laughter seeing the boys stupidly argue with each other. "You guys suck!" Naruto teased as his chest wheezed from the laughter.

"Shut up!" Natsu and Gray both snapped at the blonde, but he just continued to laugh further.

"Hey, what are you eating?" Gray softened as he noticed Naruto's food which was surprisingly not ramen.

"Oh this?" Naruto looked down to his meal. "I found it lying around the construction site. It had my face drawn on top with ketchup. Cool huh? And it's delicious too!"

Gray winced. "How could you eat the food with a drawing of yourself."

"Never mind that!" Natsu interrupted, his stomach growling. "Can I have some?"

Before Naruto could answer, a wave of killing intent washed over Natsu and Gray, but it completely flew over Naruto's head. The two rivals shivered and the dragon slayer immediately spoke up, "On second thought, never mind."

As this was happening, Erza happened to pass by. Noticing the three boys slacking off, she came over and scolded them. "And what are you dunderheads doing?" She said with a hand to her hip.

"Uh, working?" Natsu and Gray answered.

"Oh really?" Erza scoffed. "Then, pick those up and get back to work."

The two boys grumbled and began to pick up their mess.

"What was that?" The S-class wizard growled.

"N-nothing," Gray squeaked to which Natsu added an, "Aye, sir!"

Naruto once again laughed at the two panicking wizards.

Seeing Naruto not moving an inch even after being scolded, The redhead turned her attention solely on him. "And you mister? What are you doing slacking off in the corner?"

"Technically, I am not slacking off," Naruto answered smugly.

Erza raised an eyebrow. The blonde returned the look with a confident look on his face. He gestured over to the main construction site where a dozen copies of the blonde were working alongside the other Fairy Tail Wizard.

"Lucky Bastard," Gray and Natsu grumbled with jealousy as they continued to work.

"I am talking about you," Erza countered. "You should do something productive."

Naruto shrugged and placed his food down. He crossed his fingers in front of his chest and produced a dozen more clones who he ordered to get to work.

"I am technically the most productive one here," He argued back.

Erza sighed and decided to drop the topic. "Never mind. So, you still haven't told us anything. Surely now, you can tell us."

Makarov picked up a snippet of the conversation. He looked back at the blonde and nodded in approval.

Naruto looked down. "I suppose I have dragged this topic on long enough…"

He stood up and looked at Erza for support, "Uhh...Can you walk with me?"

Erza's expression softened and smiled. "Sure."

Naruto walked alongside the red head. He took a deep breath and gathered his courage. It was hard to share this topic with anyone considering his background. Flashbacks of the harsh words the villagers used to call him and the cold stares they sent his way. He never let them get to him, but words hurt more than any punch or stab Madara Uchiha would ever give him. He just didn't want to lose the new family he had gained.

The other wizards relaxed seeing the blonde approaching. They were not gonna lie, it was tiring to rebuild their new home yet rewarding at the same time.

"Go on, Naruto…" Erza gestured for the blonde to begin.

"What's going on, Naruto?" Levy asked, seeing the sad look on the blonde's face.

"Uh...I haven't told you about who I really am, did I?" Naruto began after taking a deep breath.

"Well, we're a lot curious about that burst of golden energy, but go on," Mira said.

"Yeah, about that, it's connected," Naruto resigned himself to whatever may happen. "You see…"

AFTER THE STORY TELLING SESSION

"...and that's just about it…" Naruto took a deep breath after telling them what he needed to say.

The blonde looked up at them with a sad smile, "I wouldn't hold it against you if you hate me. My situation is really...uh...complicated. Despite that, I thank you all for accepting me in this family on Day 1. I really am grateful."

He turned around to walk away. He heard some whispering behind him. That was to be expected. He was about to leave the construction area when an armored hand was placed on his shoulder. Though the steel was cold, he could feel the comfort on the touch. Naruto looked back to see Erza with an understanding look on her face. She grabbed his head and slammed it in her armored chest. "You idiot….You said it yourself, we accepted you since day 1, and nothing will ever change that."

"Yeah man, who cares if you have these demons sealed inside of you," Natsu said, tagging along with the S-class Wizard. "You are still Naruto, and that's all that matters!"

"You guys...You're not bothered by it at all?" Naruto asked, dumbfounded by his friend's reactions.

"Why would we? We all have our stories," Natsu grinned.

"Come, your family has something to tell you," Erza dragged the blonde back to the others.

As they got closer, he heard what the others were talking about.

"So, that's why he talks in that weird language when he attacks!"

"And those weird hand signs, yeah!"

"The fox, if it can make him do all those kinds of stuff, we're going to be unstoppable!"

"Right? Our guild rocks!"

Hearing what his guild mates were talking about had brought him to tears. He wasn't from her...ney...from this world and he was something that the people of his world considered evil. Yet, despite all that, there wasn't a shred of negative emotion that he could see in their faces. They were all happy and excited.

The others noticed Naruto had come back, and they crowded him asking him different kinds of questions. He was so overwhelmed that he didn't hold back the tears anymore.

"Aww, look at him," Mira teased. "He's quite the softy."

"Shut up! I'm not crying, you're crying!" Naruto snapped at the barmaid as he wiped the tears from his eyes. Mira just giggled at the blonde's reaction.

"Alright, alright, give Naruto room to breathe." Makarov broke up the almost stampeding people.

The people parted allowing the small old man to walk in between the crowd of people. "See, my boy? What did I tell you?"

"You were right, master," Naruto said, composing himself. "This is quite the family…"

Somewhere in the compound, the fairies could hear a wailing and a huge amount of water leaking from somewhere.

"Damn, do we have a leak of something," Gray complained.

"Let's just go fix it, like real men!" Elfman declared.

LATER THAT DAY

Naruto entered his shared apartment and called out. "Lucy, I'm home!"

He was met with silence. "That's odd. I thought she was going to rest today."

He walked over to Lucy's room and knocked, figuring she was just sleeping. He was yet again met with silence. He shrugged and turned the knob on her door. It was unlocked. He pushed the door open, and indeed. Lucy was not in her room as well.

He entered the room to check for any clues where his fellow blonde went. He looked around and found a note on her table. He scanned the contents and widened his eyes at what he just read.

Before he could process what happened, he heard the voice of his teammates in the living room area of their apartment.

He exited the room and met them.

"Hey Naruto!" Natsu called out. It sounded like he climbed through the window again. "We came to check on Lucy."

"Is she okay?" Erza asked.

"Well, that's just it…" Naruto's voice trailed off. "She's not here, but she left this." He handed them the same note that he just read.

"WHAT?!" The others yelled out after reading what was written.

"She must have taken this harder than we expected," Gray said.

"Do you think she went home for good?" Naruto said, realizing the worst-case scenario. He was about to lose his first friend in Earthland (outside of Tenrou that is).

"If she did, then we better go get her!" Natsu suggested to which the others agreed.

"We better stop her and bring her back home," Erza nodded. "We must remind her of who her real family is."

On the way out of the apartment, they met Loki who was about to knock on the door. The weird thing was, he looked dead tired despite not seeing him the whole day working at the construction site.

"Hey Loki!" Naruto waved. "Where are you doing here?"

Loki smiled weakly. "I was just about to drop these off." He said handing over a set of keys.

"Oh, thanks," Naruto grinned. "I'll give this to her. She was worried sick about where these things went."

The Ring Magic Wizard was about to leave, but Naruto noticed how tired he was. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Loki tried to stay strong. "I'm just...tired…" He lied.

"Oh, okay…" Naruto said leaving that matter if Loki didn't want to share. Being a jinchuriki, he was very empathetic, and he could tell he was lying. But if the womanizer didn't voluntarily give out the information, then he didn't pry further.

"So, do you want to come with us?" Naruto instead offered. "We're going to see Lucy."

"Nah, I'm good. I have a bad experience with Celestial Wizards," He politely declined. "Have fun, though!"

"You sure?" Gray asked again. "She'll want to thank you properly for returning her keys."

"I'm sure, just make sure to say hi to her for me," Loki said. "And tell her…" He flipped his hair back the way pretty boys do. "I'm sorry. We aren't meant to be together…"

"What's not meant to be together?" Naruto tilted his head in confusion.

"Just tell her, she'll know," Loki said. "Later…"

"Dude, you aren't even a couple!" Gray called out to correct the womanizer, but he was just ignored.

"What was that all about?" The blonde asked again since his questions were not answered in the slightest.

"Don't worry about it," Gray waved it off.

Naruto decided to drop the topic since no one was giving him answers. So, he just continued to walk on the street and began dashing over in a direction.

"Oi, Naruto!" Erza called out, seeing the blonde's rash actions.

As fast as the blonde ran away, he came running back. "Uh guys? Do you guys have any idea where Lucy lives?"

Erza sighed. "I thought so. Come on."

HEARTFILIA MANSION

Lucy slammed the door to his father's main study and walked through the halls of her massive mansion towards the room where she changed.

She had given her father an earful and even threatened to face the full wrath of Fairy Tail if ever he tries anything stupid like that ever again. She had even torn the elegant dress she was wearing as a sign of severing her ties with her father and the life she lived as a child.

She was broken out of her thoughts when she noticed the servants she had grown up with feigning ignorance and pretended to be cleaning the hallway and/or studying some books.

"So, you heard everything, huh?" Lucy spoke up with a sad smile.

"What are you talking about?" One of the maids chuckled nervously to which the others copied.

"You guys are terrible liars," Lucy said. "I mean it's obvious."

With her words, the servants all broke into tears. They had been through so much with Lucy that it hurt them to learn that she was going to leave.

"There, there, guys," The young Heartfilia tried to comfort all of them. "I'm sorry I have to leave, but this is who I am now."

"It's okay," One of the maids wiped a tear from her eye. "This was about to come eventually…"

The chef nodded in affirmation. "Though, your mother would be so proud to see you now."

"Guys…" Lucy shed her own tears. "Thank you for everything…"

It was hard to leave the place she had grown up in. Although she didn't have any experiences with her father, it was hard to leave the memories she had here of her mother and the servants who had practically raised her into the woman she was now.

But alas, all birds had to leave the nest someday.

It tore her heart to say goodbye to each of the servants and tutors in the house. Most of them had advice for her, especially in the lovelife department, which flustered the blonde.

After having a heart to heart with the last of the servants, she changed back into her everyday clothes and left the doors through the massive doors of their mansion. She walked through the garden and made a stop in front of her mother's grave.

She stood in front looking at the grave silently at the tombstone that was marked:

Layla Heartfilia
X784-X777

She also dropped off the flowers she had picked up earlier on the way here.

"Hey mom, I'm back." She began. "I came to say farewell to father. He had gone too far with what he did this time, but don't worry though, Fairy Tail managed to push back her enemies. I am sure father wouldn't try anything. I made sure of that today. I wish you could meet them."

The voices of her guildmates rang through her head. She imagined the usual routine in the guild, the brawls, Mirajane's scrumptious food, and her partner obnoxiously slurping his ramen.

"-cccyyyyyyyyy!" A voice called out, but it sounded almost like an echo.

Lucy chuckled to herself. "It's like I can hear them here already."

"Lucyyyyyyyyy!" There it was again, this time much clearer.

The said girl whirl around to look for the owner of the voice of who was calling out to her. Her eyes widened when she saw a large dust cloud approaching her. As it got closer, the voice was more recognizable, and she would recognize that voice anywhere. It was…

"Naruto?" She gasped as soon as she saw the mop of blonde hair, but he wasn't alone. He also recognized the mop of pink hair, a head of spiky hair, and locks of red hair. They were running alongside the shinobi, though they were struggling to keep up.

Not long after, Happy came flying into her chest in tears while the others came to a complete stop right in front of them. She sweatdropped at the scene.

Natsu certainly gave her an earful for leaving without saying a word and Happy just wailed into her chest crying out her name. The others just watched the scene with a smile on her face.

"What are you doing here anyway?" Gray asked.

"I just came to visit my mother's grave," Lucy answered. She left the real reason why she came here in the first place.

"So that means, your mom's..." Natsu had a dumbfounded look on her face.

"Yep," Lucy said, her spirits high now.

"Man, you had us worried over nothing," Gray sighed in relief.

"Sorry to worry you guys," Lucy said, bowing her head in apology.

"It's alright. It was our fault in the first place for jumping to conclusions," Erza said.

But then, Lucy noticed that her usually rambunctious partner was silent. He even had a pout that you would find adorable on a little kid's face, but somehow, this guy was pulling it off.

"What's wrong, Naruto?" Lucy asked. "Do you have something to say to me?"

She was met with silence. It seems that her partner was giving her the cold shoulder. "Hey Naruto," Lucy prodded further. "I said I was sorry. Look, it's my bad for leaving just a note."

Still nothing. It looks like this was a tough nut to crack but not necessarily impossible. She gave it one more try, "Do you want to get ramen at the guild?" She said with a finger to her lip as if in thought.

Naruto's ear twitched. "...Are we getting miso ramen?"

Bingo. See? With all the time she spent with this childish boy, she picks up a few things.

"Sure, why not?" Lucy said. "So, let's go home, shall we?"

BACK AT HOME

"Ahhh, it's good to be back," Lucy sighed as soon as she plopped herself down on the sofa in their shared apartment.

Naruto stretched. "You're right. And tomorrow, we have to get back to rebuilding the guild."

"The others would have missed your cloning magic, for sure," Lucy commented.

"Yeah, about that," Naruto rubbed the back of his head. "I haven't told you yet, did I?"

"What are you talking about?" She tilted her head in confusion.

"Well, you see…"

Naruto basically repeated the story he told the whole guild. Lucy was as shocked upon hearing the story, but it did clear up a lot of things. It explained why Naruto used another language when he was calling out the names of his attacks, and, more importantly, it cleared up why Naruto didn't know how to read, despite his age. Really, his backstory about being from another continent and just coming to this one only now was just plain unbelievable. He could have at least heard of Fiore.

She looked up at the blonde and said, "How did the others take it?"

She had to say having a demon sealed in his partner was jarring. She couldn't help but worry about how the rest of them took this news.

Although, he kept insisting that they were good now, whatever that means. Even so, there was nothing demonic about the blonde when she looked at him. He was still the same old Naruto

"They took it surprisingly well," Naruto answered.

"That's good," Lucy smiled. "That means we can keep working together in the guild."

"For sure," Naruto gave her a thumbs up. "Unless the others do something stupid and cause the guild to disband."

The two shared a laugh at that statement.

"Say, if you were this super sneaky ninja or something, how were you able to stay hidden when your outfit basically announces your presence?" Lucy asked in a joking manner.

"Hey! It's my signature color!" Naruto protested. "My clothes had nothing to do with it!"

It was then that Naruto remembered something important. He didn't get a chance to give back the keys that Loki had dropped off when they left.

"Which reminds me! Loki dropped something off before we left to get you," Naruto said, digging it off his pouch.

Lucy's eyes widened as she was once again reunited with her keys. She had been worried sick about where these things went. She thought she had lost them for good.

"Thank you…." She said, getting teary-eyed. She held the keys to her chest like a child she had lost.

"Well, if you're going to thank anyone, thank Loki," Naruto said. "He was the one who found them. Though, he didn't want to come with us when we said we were going to get you back. He said he had a bad experience with Celestial Spirit Wizards."

"It is weird," Lucy nodded. "He doesn't have a problem with other girls. I wonder-"

She didn't get to finish her sentence as her keys began glowing for some reason. A gate was opening even without her casting any magic.

The two blondes wondered what could have caused it, and their answers would be answered briefly. A very irate looking Aquarius appeared in a flash of golden light holding a fly swatter.

Naruto and Lucy began sweating bullets. An angry Aquarius was not one you should trifle with. Naruto didn't even want to ask why she was mad for fear of getting her even angrier.

Luckily, he didn't have to. Aquarius announced it herself. "LITTLE GIRL!" She screamed bloody murder as she stared daggers at the Celestial Spirit Wizard. "I WILL MAKE YOU REGRET DROPPING MY KEYS ON THE GROUND!"

"KYAH!"

A FEW DAYS LATER

Naruto and Lucy were sitting in the guild hall, taking a break from building their home back together. There was still a long way to go until the guild was back to normal. Lucy couldn't exert much effort though. Right now, she was still nursing her bottom from the beating it took from Aquarius. Now, that was one flashback I don't want to get back to.

Fortunately for them, there was some good news incoming.

"Thank you for the hard work, everyone!" Mira game in with a jovial expression on her face. "We can finally take on jobs again!"

The gears erupted in cheers. As much as they loved working on their guild hall and building it up from the ground, they also missed working on jobs.

With that being said, Naruto looked at his partner and said, "Wanna go on a job?"

Lucy sighed. "I don't know...I'm still sore from Aquarius's beating."

"Is she always like that?" Naruto asked, chuckling at the memory now that the irate spirit wasn't there.

"It would probably be worse if you weren't there," Lucy shivered at the thought.

"That I gotta see," Naruto said, curious at what that would be like.

"It would be better if you don't see it," Lucy waved him off.

"Anyway, what do you say?" Naruto said. "Do you want to go on a job?"

Lucy's face brightened. If she were going to be completely honest, she missed going out on jobs with her partner. Just to be clear, she missed the jobs, not the blonde. Hmp… Anyway, she was going to ask what kind of job but...

CRASH

A/N: Here we are again with another chapter. We are getting closer to the Harvest Festival. Who do you think will win the Miss Fairy Tail Contest? I have a really funny one. I bet you're not going to expect who will win. Or maybe you already expect it. We'll see... Anyway, I'll have one or two filler chapters before that, so we'll have to wait a bit. Anyway, see you when next time.