I foreshadowed in the last chapter, and I foreshadowed the breaking of my headphones:

"I've had them for ages; they won't break."

Five minutes later she (i.e. me) leaned slightly backward onto her bed – a great snapping was heard.

"Shit!"

Chapter 6: Three Years

He stood perched in a tree. He wore a shinobi foku to disguised himself in the night amongst the trees as he lay in wait, hoping that the boy would find him using magic and his wild senses.

Almost three years after the torturous event happened, Natsu had buried himself deep within his training. For three years he and Gildarts trained like mad men, against the wishes of Gildarts' wife and daughter, only stopping to make sure they were nourished. For three years, Natsu had engrossed himself with the thought of revenge, and it ate away at his mind every day.

Over the three years, Natsu had become a warrior of the third rank and increased his training intensity tenfold. Now, he ran around Gildarts' garden of his manor, which was three times the size of the cave, for several hours a day, and he used massive rocks that weighed more than 100kg to increase his body strength.

Gildarts expected that the boy would be ripped with muscles and taller than an average ten-year-old, but the boy was evenly toned and didn't look like he had much muscle. And, Natsu had just been above average for a ten-year-old boy, being 1.3 meters tall.

He'd also become a mage of the second rank, and he felt incredibly close to his next breakthrough.

His breakthrough to the second rank had occurred a year and a half later after his father was taken. The boy had been in the manor's spacious garden; his eyes closed softly in meditation. He focused on controlling his spiritual energy with the outside energy.

He asked Gildarts to set a flame in front of him, close enough so he could feel the heat it radiated – it reminded him of his father, and the heat that his father gave him, so loving and warm, yet harsh.

He brought the small red dots closer to his body, this time he'd focus on dispersing the flames on his hand and making them explode outwards like a gas canister too close to a fire. With the red dots completely engulfing his hand he punched outwards, his eyes closed tightly and his fist clenched enough to make himself bleed.

He felt the same sensation as he always did when he broke through, a sudden burst of energy and his body stopping for a moment.

The second rank!

Although he'd only broken through to the second rank with his fire element, he could feel the sensation of breaking through with his earth element coming. He hoped it would come soon, as the school his father wanted him to attend to gain magical knowledge would begin in two years.

To enter the school he didn't need to have even become a Mage of the first rank, the school kept students for thirty years – thirty years – so that they could attain rank six as a Mage. But he didn't have thirty years to save his father; he needed to be deity level now!

Gildarts sighed, wondering if the boy was even trying. Although Natsu had said, he'd do anything, even if it meant dying, to save his father, if he wasn't trying now he wouldn't be able to save his father now. Not even in a thousand years would he be able to.

Only recently did Natsu learn that Gildarts was a Ninja Saint and a Warrior Saint, and he immediately wanted to learn how to be a Ninja. But Gildarts harshly told him 'no' because he simply didn't have the power if he wasn't a highly skilled warrior.

But right now, in this ungodly forest, filled with trees that stood higher than most saints flew in the air, Natsu had been tasked with using his magic to find where Gildarts was hiding.

They had chosen five trees, each marked with a different shape – a square; a circle; an 'x' shape; a triangle, and a rectangle – and Gildarts would hide in one of these trees.

This did not use any of the magic that Natsu had already begun to learn, this was the magic that Igneel told him to ignore because it wasn't as strong as the others. This was Natsu wind magic. And, using this magic, he could survey the area using the wind as his guide.

It was, surprisingly to Natsu, very simple to use, but could be inaccurate at some times. The wind would be blocked by any shape in its path, but the wind would go through any gaps. Natsu would watch the green dots as they moved very gently, and he'd have to carefully look when there looked to be a human outlined by the wind in these five trees.

For example, a tree is very stable, so, therefore, the wind would move around it, and there would be no gaps for the air to squeeze between. But, for a human figure, it was completely different. They stood very naturally, and they'd be holes where the arms were not completely attached to the body. Here, the green dots would seep through like water.

The only downfall to this was that the area he could scan was relatively small, but Gildarts had told him it'd increase when he began to train more and break through in the air element magic.

They had been doing this training all morning, and Natsu knew this wouldn't help him break through, so he called out to Gildarts, "How will this help if it won't help me break through?"

Gildarts sighed, and like he'd teleported, he was in front of Natsu within a second.

"There is no point in powering an ability if you cannot use it, therefore you must train it," The red-haired man said, sounding more and more like Igneel as Natsu began to get used to the man, "It is like writing and speaking – you can learn a variety of words, but if you don't know how to use them, it is a waste."

"I'll try this time." The boy said, a fire filling his eyes.

Natsu had grown, not only physically, but mentally. His hair had grown, but with watching his father leave the boy lost much of his child-like ways. His eyes became dead and dull, but they held maturity and knowing.

They continued this training until Natsu knew where Gildarts' location was nineteen times out of twenty...

Gildarts pushed and shoved Natsu as they strolled back the manor.

Natsu wore shorts that were roughly cut above his knee, and he pulled over a cotton shirt, that had had its sleeves were cut off. Whereas Gildarts still wore his black shinobi foku, but without the cloth covering his head and mouth.

You would expect that a Ninja Saint, one of the hardest Saints to find on the continent, would be treated like royalty, living in a great house in a busy and flourished city. But places like that were not for Gildarts and his family, and they preferred the quite countryside.

It was still dark when they began to return to the manor, and the moon seemed to have shone brighter than the sun that day. The stars were like dim lights in the sky, holding memories of the night forever within them.

"You will need new boots soon, and then a proper outfit for the school you will attend," Gildarts broke the silence that lingered like death, and smiled at the young boy ruffling his hair, "I have to go into the city in six months, I have to visit the Hearfilia Conglomerate. But, for your hard work today, I feel it only right to treat you. I will be taking you with me."

"Really?" The brightness that filled the boy's eyes, even though only for a fleeting second, was undeniable, "What is it like? I will be past eleven-years-old when we go, too!"

A child's excitement could not hide in their eyes, and Gildarts knew this well and felt relieved when he saw the boy hadn't begun to hate everything.

Gildarts chortled, and he said, "It is rather large, and is filled to the brim with people bustling about the city. You will have the honor of meeting the head of the company. And, yes you will be, I will have to treat you with something."

"It does not sound like an honour," Natsu cooly said, playing it off like it was nothing, but he seemed excited at the 'treat' Gildarts was getting him, "He is probably one of those men who use their power to control and is corrupt, one's like Igneel told me about."

"This man was a friend of your father's and I," Gildarts laughed as the manor came into sight, "Run ahead, you are probably tired from today. Rest tomorrow – we will continue the day after."

The boy did as he was told, and soon his brown-haired wife came into sight. This family he had built was his pride and joy, and they had taken Natsu in as their own son; he couldn't have thanked his wife enough for allowing the orphan to be in their family, but in return, he agreed he wouldn't take a second wife. He was not planning on taking one anyway...

He kissed her forehead, smiling at his wife of twelve years, and said, "Hello."

"You did not tell him did you, dear?" His wife read him as though he were an open book, he sighed and allowed his wife to continue, "It was not your place to tell him in the first place – allow him to get stronger and find out the truth for himself."

"That is all I can do for now."

The candles in the house flickered out, and Natsu lay on a bed that was not made out of clothes. He'd never felt more out of place than he did here – this did not feel like home to him because Igneel wasn't here...

There needs to be more action... but it doesn't occur till later in the story...

I love fights...