Hello all! I return! Would have posted earlier, but my schedule is still up in the air and editing takes forever... Anyway! Hope you all enjoy this chapter!

Review Response: Dear Hazel tree09, hi! My computer is well rested, if as temperamental as ever, thank you for asking/joking. I fell kind of sorry for them too ... when I'm not having so much fun writing their shenanigans. Your hug has been passed on, where it was met by confusion, blushing, and a mumbled thank you. As for Laxus's aura, thanks! I tried my best to represent him. He's such a strong character. You're welcome and hope you enjoy the latest one!

Dear BizzyLizzy, hey there! Cool, I'll be waiting to read it even if it isn't an OCxBickslow story. (Blushes) Oh ... yeah ... my bad. I meant periodic, but my brain told me to put down annual for some reason (shuffles feet slightly and mutters). Glad you like it, I've been having fun exploring the possibilities of Laxus and Bickslow having an epic ... what's the term? Bromance? Eh, anyway, a close-knit brotherly relationship that Freed wouldn't get because he's such a massive Laxus fanboy and Evergreen can't get because, well, she's Evergreen.

Dear The Star In The Night, greetings! Right now, I'd say Bickslow is only half serious. Doesn't make him any less right though. It's mostly just dramatic irony, but trust me, there will be stuff going down when Ivan, Bickslow, and Wren all finally meet.

Dear Guest, hello there! Me too, I don't think I could've afforded a new one at this point in time. (Claps hands enthusiastically) Yes! Laxus with a maniac grin was exactly the mental image I was going for! He is, isn't he? He could have totally been the main character of his own manga (briefly get's lost under swarm of daydream/plot bunnies spawned by own sentence). Ahem! Everyone really seems to like how I describe Bickslow's Figure Eyes abilities, which is cool, I was kinda worried when I first started. Thank you for your compliments and your patience, here is another chapter!

Dear YumiKnowsBest, hello! (chuckles) Read this newest chapter and see!

Dear RunFromTheMedic, greetings! (grins) I take it you are pleased with this development then?

Author's Note: So! Here we are, the official birth of the Raijinshū! Hope you enjoy it, the chapter kinda ran away from me while I was writing it. Random question, how would you all feel if I started a one-shot collection, similar to my transformers Harmonies of a Second Chance, only for this story. It would only happen once this story is a little more established and more canon characters have shown up, but there are a few ideas rattling around in my head I think you guys would like that just don't fit the main flow of the story. I'll probably end up doing it eventually, but I thought I'd see what you guys thought of it. Finally, I think Wren's concern in this story is more than a little valid (you'll see what I mean later). I did some timeline checking while researching this story and realized that all of the chaos that went down in the first four seasons took place IN LESS THAN A YEAR. I mean, Lucy joins the guild on July 2nd X784, and Acnologia tries to blow up the island on December 16th X784. For all of those story arcs to fit, they would've had to take place within weeks or less of each other and yet at the opening of almost every arc we see Fairy Tail members just being ... chill. It would take a normal person months to calm down from even one of those arcs (just look at Lucy before Natsu passed on the infamous Fairy Luck), yet they're all calm and fine within DAYS. I'm not sure what's weirder, that so much can happen to them within just a few months or that they're all clearly inoculated to the chaos... With that in mind, onward! To the next chapter!

Copyright Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail of any references made in this story. The only things I own are my OCs and the plot.

Chapter Thirteen - Birth of the Raijinshū

(One month, two weeks, three days since joining Guild)

Gloria Maxwell was a thief. A good thief too, if not an incredibly famous one in legal circles yet. She was hired frequently by others, though she did prefer to steal only for herself and sell her earnings to various black-market brokers to cover her more extravagant expenses. It helped that the police force were hopelessly incompetent at tracking her down. They never once suspected that the thief ghosting into banks, rich businessperson's houses, and corporate buildings was in everyday life the average, if gorgeous, receptionist with oversized glasses who worked in Magnolia Town's massive, five floor public library.

Of course, one might ask why a librarian of all people was resorting to thievery in the first place. The answer to which would be that the average librarian's wage was nowhere near large enough to cover her living expenses as well as her addiction to gambling and nightclubs. Also, the more Gloria did it, the more she found that she adored the adrenaline high of successfully pulling off a heist.

She was hoping to get one of those highs by the end of the afternoon. It was a beautiful day, as was Fiore's springtime trademark, and the regular home of Aimé Favager, top female clothing designer of the famous Heart Kreuz company, was dreadfully empty of people. There was no one there to appreciate the valuables hidden inside, no one there to guard whatever money the famous designer might have lying around as pocket change.

Favager-san was off enjoying a day on the town with her fiancé, leaving no one but her pet dog to guard her house, which was a conveniently discreet hour's walk away from Magnolia itself. The dog was an extremely friendly, easygoing thing that had showed no hesitation in devouring the sleeping-pill-laced treat she'd offered it. It was currently snoring away on the porch, completely unaware of all the items Gloria was wrapping up and placing in her sack for … impromptu exportation.

Gloria could feel her giddiness rising as she padded through the house and toward the bedroom. Four rooms in and already her sack was half full with wonderfully expensive items to sell later.

The kitchen had contained silverware made out of genuine engraved silver. The living room had contained that wonderful five-hundred thousand jewel antique painting of the ocean at sunset. The study had held those lovely, lovely old tomes on ancient culture that Gloria would be gleefully keeping all to herself and the parlor had contained several beautiful antiques that at least three of her brokers would be willing to physically fight for if that's what it took to acquire them.

All in all, it was a wonderful haul, and she hadn't even gotten what she'd been hired to get yet. Finally reaching the bedroom-come-workshop, Gloria settled down to business, detouring only briefly to the jewelry box that seemed to be physically calling to her. After clearing out the jewelry box, she moved over to the workshop half of the room. Swiftly, she began unlocking and riffling through drawers and checking the papers littered all over the place.

They should still be here. According to her itinerary, her photo-shoot reveal isn't until next week and her home is the "safest" place to keep them. Especially after those idiots my employer hired before me messed up their getaway after breaking into the Heart Kreuz vault. Even if she was silly enough to put them back in the vault after that incident, the vault itself was broken and still needs to be replaced. So if I were her, I would- aha!

Triumphantly, Gloria lifted the sheaf of papers out of its home drawer and double checked them. Bingo. The president of Tranquillity Couture offered a lot of money to get these dress designs before Heart Kreuz could reveal them. Guess if you can't outdo the competition, you might as well steal from them.

Slipping them into a small case she'd brought along for just that purpose, Gloria then placed the case in the sack with the rest of the stolen items and made her way back down the halls toward the front door, idly spinning the copied door key on her finger as she did so.

Stepping outside, Gloria turned around and politely locked the door behind her to prevent anyone else from getting in. No sense in leaving the place vulnerable to any thug or wild animal that took a liking to the place. She was a thief, not a barbarian. Humming under her breath, she pulled the key out of the lock and moved to place it safely in her pocket, her job complete and well done.

"You know, it's people like you that really, really tick off some friends of mine." The young, completely unexpected voice made her shriek and spin around wildly. Leaning against the right post of the open yard gate, arms crossed lazily over his chest and oozing confidence as if he owned the place, was a boy. He was dressed casually in slightly baggy jeans and a yellow T-shirt that matched his spiky hair. His lazily confident manner was enhanced by how he was studying her with half-lidded, seemingly bored eyes.

Her heart, which had jumped into her throat at his unexpected appearance climbed all the way into her mouth when she realized that the boy wasn't alone either. Standing on either side of him were two other children, a girl and a boy of even younger ages than the middle boy. Though she couldn't read the expression of the blue-haired boy because of his almost ridiculously large sunglasses, the girl was clearly throwing nonverbal death threats at Gloria with her eyes.

Hastily, she swallowed back the fear that had risen at being spotted and forced herself to calm down. They're just kids. I don't know why they were passing down the road just as I came out, but they're just kids. I'm a grown woman and an experienced thief. I came prepared for this, no need to panic. Shifting her expression into an innocently baffled expression, Gloria shifted her bag to her other shoulder and slipped her freed hand into her pocket in a practiced, easygoing gesture, "Why, hello there you three. Enjoying the afternoon?"

The middle boy ignored her attempt at civility, "What are you doing?" His voice was blunt and hard, as if he already knew and was just waiting for her to admit it.

Pushing that thought away and refusing to let her poker face falter, Gloria replied with just the right amount of righteous offense, "Whatever do you mean? This is my home."

This time, it was the blue-haired boy who spoke, his voice dripping so much scorn it was a wonder it wasn't forming puddles, "Liar. You're stealing." Something about his tone, the sheer conviction and confidence in his opinion, rattled Gloria.

Swallowing, Gloria faked a laugh and lied again, refusing to let herself be intimidated into making a mistake by children, "Oh, that's what this is about! No, you see, Margaret Town Charity is having a fundraiser tomorrow and since I've had some trinkets and such like floating around my house for some time, I thought I would finally clear it out and give it away to a good cause. This bag was the only thing I had that was large enough to fit it all in."

Again the blue-haired boy rattled her with how swiftly and confidently he snapped out, "Liar."

Carefully, Gloria fiddled with the barrier cube in her pocket, debating the merits of using it there and then and dealing with the consequences of someone seeing her face later. She knew she would still be hard to identify when she wasn't hiding all of her hair under a cap and had her oversized glasses on instead of her contacts. But still, this could potentially ruin her perfect record.

Shifting her face into a stern glare, Gloria snapped, "It's rude to accuse someone of lying without any proof, boy. Especially when I am being perfectly honest!"

The blue-haired boy snorted, "Honest my-" the little girl shifted her glare briefly to him and he amended his intended sentence smoothly, "left foot. You're lying, you're stealing, and it's really ticking me off." Gloria started to retort something but the boy cut her off, his tone becoming more aggressive with each word, "You're pretty, you're well-clothed, you're healthy, and it's obvious that you get to eat whenever you want to. You don't need to steal, but here you are, taking someone else's stuff and never caring how it might effect them. You aren't starving, you aren't half-naked because the only clothes you have are falling apart, you aren't so sick you need the extra money for medicine. So why would you steal?"

The boy paused and then his fists clenched to the point of shaking, "Because it's fun? Really? You're doing this, you're stealing, lying, hurting other people because it's fun?"

How did he know? The fearful thought whipped through her before she could stop it, causing her already paling skin to whiten even further, he can't know. He's just a brat who's guessing for no reason. For all I know, they came here for petty burglary themselves! Hardly anyone uses this road at this time of day, and there are no children living at the other houses in the area, so why else would they be here? "I… I…" Gloria's fingers were wrapped tightly around the barrier cube, ready to throw it at moment's notice.

The blond boy finally spoke up again, "That's enough, Bickslow."

The blue-haired boy, Bickslow apparently, hissed, "But Laxus-!"

The blond shook his head, "I said that's enough. You need to calm down. You've said your piece." Shifting his gaze back to Gloria, he said, "Sorry for my friend. He's excitable."

Gloria felt some of her nerves ease, "I can tell. You should really work on you're friend's manners, eh, Laxus-kun wasn't it?"

One side of Laxus's mouth twitched upward as he straightened up and bowed at the waist, "That's right. You must be new to the neighborhood, right? Just moved in?"

Gloria blinked and scrambled for a response. On one hand, she could lie and agree with him since he acted like he knew the area well. On the other, he could be bluffing and saying she'd just moved in would contradict her previous story. Sticking with her story, Gloria shook her head, "No, no. I've lived here for a while now. Years at least."

Laxus straightened up, a surprised look on his face, "Really? Huh. I didn't expect that, I mean…" the surprised look slid off his face like water in favor of a dangerous smirk, "Favager-san never told my cousin that she had a housemate. I would have thought she'd introduce someone so obviously important in her life to her new fiancé."

All the swearwords she'd ever come across in literature flooded Gloria's mind as she realized she'd been tricked. Her hand whipped out of her pocket, flinging the barrier cube toward the three children and promptly trapping them behind four glowing green walls. Without looking back, Gloria took off down the road, heart pounding as she sprinted away, cursing the entire time in her head.

She'd made it maybe a hundred yards when the sound of thunder rippled through the cloudless day and lightning slammed down into the road five feet in front of her. The shockwave knocked her backwards and onto her butt, a scream of startled terror escaping her lips as she fell. The lightning snapped and snarled in place, an impossible, seething ball of electrical fury right in the middle of the road. Panicking completely now, she rolled onto her hands and knees, scrambling up in an attempt to run back to town off-road. Before her shaking legs had carried her three steps, green light seared in front of her face, cutting off her retreat.

She recoiled with another scream. Her scream hit an even higher octave as three shrieking, tittering … things started zipping around her head like oversized and deadly flies, cutting off from her newest intended escape route.

Swatting desperately at the shrieking things, Gloria whirled to run off the other side of the road, terror lending speed to her feet and causing her to forget all about the bag of stolen goods she had just dropped. Something wrapped tightly around her legs, yanking them out from under her and sending her sprawling face first into the pebbled dirt with a high-pitched rush of air.

Lungs heaving, Gloria rolled onto her back and tried to free her legs from the tight rope-like thing binding them together. Her struggles froze when she finally realized that the thing binding her legs together was inky black and seemed to rise up from its two-dimensional status on the ground in order to trip her up. Her eyes flickered upward to where the mass of lightning had been and instead of crackling light, she found herself staring into the coldly smiling eyes of the boy Laxus.

She could practically feel the blood draining from her face as she choked out, "H-how? W-who?"

Laxus smiled icily at her as Bickslow and the little girl moved to stand in formation around her, boxing Gloria in on three sides, "I told you didn't I? I'm Laxus, as in Laxus Dreyar, grandson of Makarov Dreyar. You know, the Master of one of the strongest magic guilds in all of Fiore?"

All the pieces clicked together and Gloria felt like crying, "Then y-you're not really-?"

Laxus snorted, "The cousin of Favager-san's fiancé? No, I'm not. But you fell for the bluff so beautifully and really, one outrageous lie deserves another doesn't it? Also, you really shouldn't try using those cheap barrier stones against actual mages. Especially ones with long-range capabilities, it really isn't that hard to shatter the stone and break the barrier if you know what you're doing."

Gloria struggled desperately against the magic wrapped around her legs and gasped when two more tendrils formed to pin down her hands, forcing her to lie flat on her back in the middle of the road. A curious whistle pierced the air followed by what sounded like several tongue clicks and Gloria looked dazedly over in the direction of the little girl. The girl was gesturing idly with her hands as she continued to make nonsense noises, causing the black shadowy bands pinning Gloria down to twitch slightly in response, further terrifying the thief.

Bickslow spoke up suddenly and it took a moment for Gloria to realize through her daze that he was acting as a translator, "Wren want's to know what we're going to do now. I mean, we can't just let her go." Bickslow cocked his head to one side and asked in a tone far too casual for a boy his age, "Should we knock her out? It would make it easier to drag her somewhere if she wasn't squirming and screaming."

Laxus seemed to consider it, further cementing Gloria's recently formed opinion that mage children were insane, before shaking his head, "I don't want to if we don't have to. Besides, we're an hour's walk out from the edge of Magnolia, let alone the police precinct. Fairy Tail get's enough censure from the Council for violent methods as it is without reports of us dragging a random unconscious woman through the city. I don't want to give Jiji the headache."

Bickslow scowled, the freaky chittering things looping lazily around his head as he did so, "Yeah well, Wren will probably get really tired if she has to drag this one all the way there with her shadows and she's going to make a break for it the moment Wren let's go."

Laxus looked contemplatively at Gloria, his expression closer to that of someone who'd found an annoying mutt and was wondering how to take it to the pound without the risk of getting bitten than someone wondering how to transport a captured criminal to the authorities. Gloria felt another bubble of panic and adrenaline rise in her and she struggled against the … shadows holding her down, "L-let me go! I'll do whatever you want! I c-can pay you! Just let me go!"

In unison, all three turned disgusted looks on her, not even deigning to give a verbal response to her pleas before going back to their previous conversation. Laxus snapped his fingers, "Hey, Bickslow, think you could-"

The answer was curt and instant, "No."

Laxus sighed, "But it would really-"

"No." Bickslow's voice was positively frigid, laced with a lot more intimidation that any boy his age should rightfully have been able to use while wearing sunglasses and dressed in a T-shirt with a smiley face on it.

Laxus grunted faintly in disapproval, "Come on, it won't hurt her, and it will keep Jiji from having to deal with more paperwork."

The floating things, which looked suspiciously like tiki dolls now that Gloria had an unwilling moment to study them, spun a little faster in agitation, "Don't care. I'm not doing that to anyone unless it's a life and death situation. Ever. Figure out something else."

An argument started between the two boys over using "that", making Gloria increasingly nervous with the unspoken connotations she was picking up, before the little girl sighed heavily and started walking, Gloria dragging along behind her like unwanted baggage. Gloria squirmed and squeaked in terror as the shadows rearranged into a tight cocoon around her body instead of four separate tendrils, fully pinning her and rendering her helpless as she was dragged back toward town.

It took almost a minute before the two boys registered Gloria's shrieking protests and steady, unwilling, departure. When they did, they both shouted protests and took off after the little girl, Laxus pausing only long enough to grab the bag of loot Gloria had a feeling she would never get to use and sling it over his shoulder. After a few seconds of catching up to the girl, there was a weighty pause and then Laxus said causally, "…Alright then. I guess Wren-chan's dragging her to the precinct." Gloria's main captor dignified that statement with a very unladylike snort and a firm tug on Gloria's moving prison.

Goodnatured banter rose between the three, completely ignoring the now silent thief while Gloria tried to process how her career as a thief had just been brought to an abrupt halt by three children. Children. Inside the cocoon of shadows, Gloria squirmed around until she could successfully palm the item hidden in her right-hand pocket. She didn't want to use it, especially not against children, but she couldn't, wouldn't let her career and freedom end like this.

The moment these … shadows were no longer binding her, she was getting back her freedom.

Rihanna scowled internally while Laxus explained to the officer at the front desk why the three of them were back so soon and with a woman being dragged along in Rihanna's shadows. So much for house hunting. Why is it that Bickslow and I spent three weeks without anything major happening during jobs, but now we get involved in messes just by walking down the road? It really was ridiculous. It was made more so by the fact that this was only their third time reporting to the police precinct in as many days and already Fujimoto-san, the officer who manned the front desk, was mostly unsurprised to see them.

Apparently all Fairy Tail members were cursed to get into outrageous amounts of trouble, no matter how hard they tried to avoid it. Case in point, Rihanna waved at Cana as the other girl emerged from one of the hallways leading deeper into the precinct, sparking a responding wave and a curious look from Cana. Cana looked up at the officer who had been escorting her, smiling a farewell to the man before skipping over to Rihanna and looking over the situation.

Blinking once, Cana turned to Rihanna and casually asked, "Thief, mugger, runaway noble, or international serial killer?"

…. I'm not certain if it's hilarious or horrifying that an eight-year-old can ask that question to a six-year-old in all seriousness and with a straight face. Deciding to freak out over the implications later, Rihanna raised a single finger. Cana, who had been getting much better at reading Rihanna's sign language so long as it was kept simple, sighed, "Oh good, I thought Laxus's luck had transferred over to you completely already."

Rihanna must have had an inquiring look on her face because Cana shrugged faintly and said, "Ask him sometime about the Crocus City Incident, or the Clover Town Scandal." I'm almost afraid to do that. Is this really a Guild thing and not just a Team Natsu thing? I mean, I knew trouble followed this guild but … really? It happens so much that nobody even blinks at it anymore?

Cana went on talking easily, ignoring the stunned look Rihanna was giving her, "Yeah … I'm not sure if it's just a Fairy Tail thing or if other guilds get it too, but after a while in the guild, all of the members start running into really weird stuff while on jobs. Rumors are that the trouble is even specific person to person. Like, for me, it's gotten to the point where Chief Akiyama calls me in to make divinations on where the major bases are for smuggling rings before ever sending out investigative teams. I'm good too. Ninety-eight percent accuracy. Anyway, Laxus tends to get into chases and fights with the criminal underworld. Macao-san and Wakaba-san keep running into pirates every time they go to a port city, and Enno-san has almost stopped going on jobs altogether because she'd tired of cultists trying to kidnap her. Something about them thinking she's a long lost island empress?"

Rihanna wondered if she should go sit down in order to process this a little better, oh Pantherlilies, she's serious. A random thought popped into her head and Rihanna almost giggled, I guess that means the past few missions we did with Laxus in between training, school, and house hunting were really mild by Fairy Tail standards, weren't they? We only broke up a budding crime syndicate while searching for an old lady's lost dog. Faced down a massive kleptomaniac with an obsession for all things pink and explosive while helping out the local postal service. Oh yeah, and we found that long lost stash of gold stolen from the bank fifty years ago while showing Laxus how my eye magic works out in the woods. Though the last one wasn't a job, really. But I think it still counts.

Officer Fujimoto politely interrupted the conversation, his handcuffs out and ready, "Alright, Wren-chan, you can let her up now."

Looking at the shadow cocoon she'd made around the lady thief, Rihanna cautiously waved a hand, dispersing the shadows slowly. The moment the majority of them had vanished, the previously quiet woman lunged to her feet with a hysterical scream, lunging for the people nearest the door, a long pocketknife gleaming in her hand. She was armed? The frantic thought flickered in the back of Rihanna's mind even as she started to bring up her shadows again defensively, terror ripping through her when she saw the woman lunge for Cana.

Cana squeaked in surprise as the woman suddenly grabbed her by the arms, preventing her from reaching her tarot cards, and held the knife to her throat threateningly. Instantly, all activity in the front room of the precinct froze. Officer Fujimoto, who had been less than three steps away from catching up to the woman and handcuffing her, now went stock-still, his voice dropping to a serious yet tentative octave, "Miss, let go of the girl."

The knife came closer to Cana's throat, the woman pressed too close to Cana for her to really struggle without risking getting hurt, and snarled, "No! I'm not going to prison! I am not going to let my life be ruined by three little … freakish brats!"

Officer Fujimoto was saying something again, one hand extending out behind him to prevent Laxus from trying anything, but Rihanna couldn't really hear him. She was the closest one to the situation, logically she should be doing something to free Cana safely and help take the woman into custody again, but she couldn't move. Rihanna's eyes were riveted on the knife blade hovering so dangerously close to Cana's ivory smooth neck, her mind teetering dangerously between memory and reality as her own throat burned with phantom agony and her lungs rasped with panic.

Blood-no-not-there-stop-think-calm-down-no-breathe! The door in Rihanna's mind twitched dangerously and she redirected what thought processes she still had to keep it shut, her hands shaking violently as rage blended with panic to form pure adrenaline in her veins.

Suddenly, a voice broke through the roaring in her ears, filled with command and rage that somehow snapped her out of her hazy thoughts and back to reality, "You! Drop the knife!" The woman's eyes flicked toward the voice, then widened as a bright green glow overcame their natural color and the hand holding the knife went obediently slack.

Rihanna instantly reached out with her magic, latching on to Cana's shadow and pulling viciously. Cana's shadow leaped off of the floor, wrapping around Cana like a thick blanket and pulling her to the ground and away from the woman just as Laxus sent a massive lightning bolt flying from his hand to slam into the woman's stomach. The woman skidded backwards through the glass doors of the precinct entrance, sprawling out on the street where she lay in a twitching heap.

Officer Fujimoto was already following her out the door, yelling orders at other nearby officers as he reached to handcuff the woman before she could recover and cause more trouble. For several minutes, there was organized chaos in the precinct. Other officers helped Fujimoto drag the woman back inside, cuffs around both her hands and her ankles, while another man promptly rushed to get the precinct doctor to treat her for lightning burns and possible other injuries from Laxus's large blast.

Only once the woman had been dragged off down the halls and out of the room did Rihanna relinquish her hold on Cana's shadow, allowing the girl to sit up and look around a touch shakily. Rihanna ran to Cana's side, a thousand and one fears running through her mind, all of them focused around the pocket knife another police officer had just confiscated off the floor.

Cana started to look around, "Wha-?"

Bickslow was suddenly on Cana's other side, a tight expression on his face and his sunglasses lying abandoned on the floor where he had previously been standing, "Cana! Cana, oi! Are you okay? Did she hurt you? Stupid witch, I knew we should have knocked her out!"

Cana shifted her gaze to Bickslow, confusion shining clearly in her eyes, "Bickslow? What … what just happened? How did you make her drop the knife?"

Bickslow froze, then swallowed hard, "W-well you see- The thing is … I … I …" He refused to meet Cana's gaze, apparently at a loss for words.

Rihanna looked from Bickslow, to the discarded sunglasses, then back, a shaky smile blooming on her face as she realized what had happened. Bickslow, the boy who detested his eye magic and loathed to use it for any reason, had practically ripped his sunglasses off of his face so as to have clear eye contact with the woman holding Cana hostage and make her drop the knife. Without any hesitation whatsoever. So you really do care about her.

Laxus carefully picked up the sunglasses and walked over to the three of them, addressing Cana as he did so, "Bickslow used his eye magic, long story. You okay?"

Cana nodded shakily, "Yeah. I'm okay." She frowned suddenly, "I can't believe I just let that happen! I haven't been caught off guard like that in a year!"

Rihanna was the only one watching Bickslow, so she was the only one who saw the flicker of relief that passed over his face before he masked it with a mocking tongue smile, "Well, maybe if you weren't such a Same-boke, this wouldn't have happened. Seriously, why were you just standing there when someone was charging you with a knife? Baka."

Cana reacted as was expected, "Who are you calling a Same-boke? You're the one who brought in a dangerous criminal without checking to make sure she was unarmed!"

Bickslow waved his arms wildly, sending Pappa, Pippi, and the just-added-yesterday Puppu into hysterical spirals, "Oi! How is this my fault? Laxus was the one who wouldn't let me just knock her out and have done with it! If she hadn't been conscious, the knife wouldn't have been a problem!"

Laxus suddenly spoke to Rihanna in a low tone, his eyes flicking back and forth between Cana and Bickslow with amusement, "Are they always like this?"

Rihanna nodded with a sigh. Pretty much. I'm starting to think it's some kind of mutual antagonistic crush. Rather impatiently, Rihanna loudly clapped her hands together, giving Bickslow and Cana a deadpan look the moment they gave her their attention.

Both already knew the meaning of the look and for once, did not require Shadow Slaps to settle down. Instead, Cana let herself be herded to a chair by a concerned officer who double-checked that she was perfectly fine and apologized profusely for having that happen to her while in the precinct. Laxus calmly handed Bickslow back his sunglasses, "I thought you weren't going to use Figure Eyes unless it was life or death?"

Bickslow gave a low growl and promptly put his sunglasses back on, "That was life or death. Besides, no one messes with the guild and gets away with it, right?"

Laxus actually looked proud, "Right."

Officer Fujimoto, who had returned from wherever they'd taken the thief, watched the exchange and chuckled faintly, "Looks like you've got quite the budding little team there Laxus-kun."

Bickslow immediately wrinkled his nose in confusion, "Team?"

Another nearby officer laughed, "Team? More like a mini-tribe with how reclusive those two are around strangers."

Rihanna's head came up in astonishment, wait. Tribe. Don't tell me that this- Several others began joking about what this supposed three-person tribe would be called, since apparently all guild-based teams had their own names. Several ridiculous names were bounced back and forth, successfully breaking the tension after what could have been a disastrous situation. Things like "Laxus's posse", "Chibi Tribe" and other such titles that made Bickslow bristle and Laxus roll his eyes.

Suddenly, another officer Rihanna knew, Officer Leavitte, suggested seriously, "How about Raijinshū?"

Everyone paused, looking over at Leavitte in confusion. Seeing the looks, Leavitte pointed at the long black scorch mark on the floor and the blasted-out glass of the front doors, "Well, Laxus is the most talented lightning mage in the city, right? Heck, he'll probably be the best lightning mage in all Fiore once he grows up. He's a budding Raijin and they're his tribe. So, Raijinshū."

All around, expressions turned considering as everyone pondered the reasoning behind the new suggestion. Rihanna watched with helpless fascination as Laxus and Bickslow exchanged glances, a slow grin forming on Laxus's face as he murmured, "Raijinshū … Raijinshū. I like it. What'd you think, Bickslow-kun, Wren-chan?"

Bickslow was glancing from Laxus to Wren, an unidentifiable expression on his face, "But … but aren't tribes like … family?"

Laxus shrugged almost bonelessly, "Yeah, so? We're Fairy Tail and Jiji says that counts just as much as any blood ties."

Bickslow looked simultaneously like someone had just socked him in the stomach and offered him a present, "Raijinshū…" His gaze settled fully on Rihanna, a hopeful, eager, happy look on his face as he waited for Rihanna's verdict. Rihanna, for her part, felt stunned, confused, and vaguely frightened. This … this is the birth of the Raijinshū? But … but only two canon characters are here! What about Freed and Evergreen? She bit her lip uncertainly, Is my presence somehow sparking its formation early? Or somehow preventing Freed and Evergreen from being here? Maybe … maybe I shouldn't. I don't want to ruin everything … But then she met Bickslow's gaze, saw just how happy the thought of being a team, a "tribe", with his little sister and the boy who had accepted him like no other made him, and couldn't find it in her heart to say no.

A smile bloomed weakly on her face and she nodded, causing Bickslow to pump a fist in the air and whoop, "Yeah! We're the Raijinshū! Whoo!" Rihanna politely ignored the various "aww"s that rippled through the room as Bickslow and his tiki dolls practically danced from excitement and Laxus chortled at Bickslow's antics with a crazy grin. Rihanna let Bickslow grab her hands and pull her into an impromptu dance while Cana coaxed a nearby officer into taking pictures and felt her own smile growing bigger the longer she stared at Bickslow's.

In the back of her mind, Rihanna knew that becoming a founding member of the Raijinshū was probably not something to be happy over. After all, their first major appearance in the series was as bad guys and traitors to the guild during the Fantasia Arc.

But right now, with Bickslow acting so happily silly and Laxus herding them patiently out of the precinct while Cana just snorted and denounced that she was not joining their team because Bickslow's crazy might be contagious, Rihanna could only smile and whistle a happy note to Laxus. Because right now, with Bickslow and Cana fighting again and Laxus rolling his eyes good-naturedly, Rihanna felt something she hadn't really felt in over three years since coming to Earthland.

She felt like she was finally home.

Japanese Translations: Raijin - the name of the Shinto deity of thunder, lightning, and storms.

Raijinshū - Raijin's tribe/ Thunder god tribe.